Itchyfeetbc's Guestbook

Yep, I can image the police person laughing after you yelled at a scooter driver. Who are you to interfere with the normal flow of traffic? Scooters have the right of way, not pedestrians! Frankly, having been over there, I am not sure whet
her taking a tuk tuk is any safer than walking.

Everywhere I have been in Southeast Asia, renting a driver and car made sense, except in Singapore, where the public transportation is good and you could walk to many places in the island state. The cost of a car and driver may seem high i
n local terms, but when you consider the amount of time you will be in a foreign city and how much it cost to get there, the cost for car and driver is reasonable. But, if you get a driver with a heavy accent, you may not get value for your money as you may find it difficult to figure out what he or she may be saying. I have never been to Myanmar, but your photos have made me consider visiting the country the next time I am in the region.

Hope you kept your mouth shut while riding the long boats as the water spray can be quite toxic. I always got a kick out off seeing some people along the river have their feet in the river water while watching tv. The tv had to be mounted h
igh on the walls in their homes as their abodes would be flooded by seasonal rains or waves made by boats as they pass.

When I think of Southeast Asia, my mind immediately calls up Bangkok - a place I have visited several times since the 80s. It has people, lots of people living in quite varied circumstances - some along the railway track, so when the train
passes, people loose their main "road" and shop fronts. Others live along the not-so-clean river that they use for cooking, washing, and hygienic situations. Others live in luxury condo buildings. In the 80s, I was working in Malaysia. When I told my Malaysian colleagues that I was going to Bangkok for the weekend, they smiled and giggled as, from their point of view, the only reason I could be going to such a sin city was for sex. I stayed at the Dusit Thani downtown and dined at the rooftop restaurant that served really good food. On my return to my room, I shared the elevator with Michael Jackson and two body guards. No, I didn't ask for his autograph. On my second trip to Bangkok, I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. Despite the humidity, I liked to dine outside on the river's edge - especially at night. The hotel was not the most exquisite in design and features, but it had the best service I have ever had at the hotel. Though, I no longer stay at the Mandarin, as Bangkok has so many clean and convenient hotels, I do return to the Mandarin for lunch or dinner and to contemplate the complicated history of this part of the world.

When you see the children going to school on their bikes in uniform they appear happy and much like most kids. Unfortunately they are likely in the minority because schooling is not free nor is medical. One business owner said that there ar
e the rich 1%, a very small middle class and the poor. As Clayton stated it seems the young people eventually become disillusioned. It is difficult to leave the country. There are no free services because there is no tax collection. It will interesting to know what change will happen in the next 20 years. It seems some countries Japan. South Korea and Turkey are moving forward but it is not so easy for others.

While in India many trips ago, I saw a motorcycle, just like the one in your photo packed with live caged chickens, whisk by my car. A couple of kilometres down the road, I came across an accident. There was the motorcycle all twisted and o
n fire. Guess BBQ was on someone's menu that night.

Thanks Clayton- this is something I've been curious about for a long time. Because we live very fortunately here we assume that these people are miserable in their situations but that's likely only because we are comparing our standard of l
iving against theirs. Maybe they think we are crazy to own such luxuries and have such high debts. It's an interesting thing to think about and apply to my own life- maybe it would be better to have less but then would you miss the things you have up? How long until you don't miss them? Random thoughts.... Hope you are well :) t