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Published: October 11th 2006
It’s back - better and longer than before. I've also attached some of my favourite photos from the trip, including many which haven't been published online before.
See if you can make it to the bottom - I dare you!
Looking back Indie and I finished our trip one week ago in Krakow, Poland. Since then we’ve both been spending time with family and friends, enjoying home life once again. Bizarrely, the day we came back to the UK was exactly 13 weeks since I left this country, and 13 months since Indie departed.
Now that I’ve had time to organise photos etc, and to reflect on the best parts of our journey across Asia, here is the final blog of ‘Ian Does Asia’. Read on to uncover:
Our final days
Dorming with Desi (it will make sense soon…)
Highlights of East-West
Some stuff we haven’t shared yet
Another thought-provoking piece from Indie Our last few days After going out for drinks then staying up most of the night packing and saying goodbye, Indie and I took a 25-hour train trip north, from Bucharest to
Krakow. The journey was nowhere near as good or as comfortable as our Russian rail experiences, but fortunately we were sharing a compartment with a friendly girl from Krakow (who, randomly, had just finished an AIESEC traineeship in Bucharest!). She supplied us with local information and recommended some cool places to eat and see in Krakow. Other than that, the journey was fairly typical of our many long-haul train trips - Indie and I spent several hours bullshitting, debating the relative merits of movies we like, places we’ve been, that kind of thing.
Krakow was cool. Very touristy. It was strange to see so many overweight people (mainly British tourists over the weekend) after seeing almost none in Asia. I liked the cobbled streets in the centre, and the buildings were picturesque and well-preserved. There were also many bustling outdoor cafes and bars, and we sampled some decent Polish food (potato cakes with goulash) and beer. It was a good place to end the trip.
Dorming with Desi This is the title of Indie’s film idea, which he hopes will propel him to glory and international acclaim. Indie’s aim of becoming the ‘great brown hope’
Cambodia - changing faces, from East to West
Indie bargaining with the seller kids at Angkor Watrests on the story of a white guy from the UK who goes travelling with a British-Asian man. The story centres on their adventures together, focusing principally on how the white guy learns from the Asian guy; thus opening his mind to new and previously unknown ways of living. Sound vaguely familiar? Well, far be it from me to commandeer own Indie’s film idea! Here’s my (different) interpretation of ‘Dorming with Desi’:
Indie has been a sound guy to travel with, as I imagined he would. It’s fair to say that we have become better friends as a result of our journey from East to West. Of course, if you spend 24 hours a day with one person - for three months - then there are inevitably going to be things about this individual which will eventually frustrate you. But these are easily and quickly forgotten. What’s more, by our regular banter and by taking the piss out of each others’ character traits, there was little room for bottling up anger. We are very different people, but I think that’s been a useful thing for us. Our different personalities have balanced well, and we’ve been able to laugh off
frustrating and unpleasant experiences during our travels.
At the start Indie was quick to lose his temper and ‘lose the head’ when things didn’t work out. I remember him going completely ape-shit at Vietnamese chancers who tried to rip us off. Throughout S-E Asia and China, I tried to placate his frustrations, encouraging him to remain level-headed.
However, at some point the roles reversed. Throughout Central Asia and Russia, I was the one getting mad about innocuous things that didn’t work out, while Indie would tell me to chill out. It’s strange how this happened.
In short, travelling with someone whose background, heritage and personality is so different from my own has broadened my horizons. This is a positive thing.
Highlights of our trip Our epic train journeys through Russia and Eastern Europe gave us ample time to debate the relative merits of the many places we’ve visited.
*Best country: CHINA! Completely different from anything I’d seen before. Busy, loud and chaotic. At the same time colourful, vibrant and exciting. The best food ever. A country of real transformation and one I am already keen to return to.
This is closely followed by Russia. Of all the countries I have visited, this is the one with the richest and most fascinating history. It’s a nation of vast expanses of Siberian nothingness, beautiful churches and imposing architecture. Then there are the people - warm, welcoming and helpful. We were astounded by the depth of Russian hospitality.
Third would be Laos, a surprising gem of a country. Landlocked between hectic, loud and crowded Vietnam, and China (no need to explain its magnitude), Laos is an oasis of calm. A chilled-out, relaxing place of orange-clad monks, blue skies, rolling green fields, rice paddies and quiet monasteries.
*Most beautiful country: Kyrgyzstan - vast, towering mountain ranges; rich forestland, untouched ‘jayloo’ pastures, clean air and pristine holy lakes. Simple car journeys through the countryside take your breath away. Only five million people - simply stunning.
Vietnam also has a great blend of jungle, mountains and idyllic beaches. There, we saw awesome rocks jutting out of rice paddies in the middle of nowhere, a ‘The Beach’-esque location, and the mysterious Mekong River. China was also awesome - Lake Karakol (to which I dedicated an entire blog) was beautiful beyond description.
*Best food: China - I liked Chinese food back in the UK. However, I assure you that I had seen nothing until experiencing China. It’s not just that the food is fresh and full of flavour. It’s also everywhere. In any random café on any random street, you will find good and usually healthy food. Besides, a dish may be based on the same ingredients in different restaurants, but it probably won’t taste the same.
Light, aromatic and packed with flavour, Vietnamese food comes a close second. Fresh herbs like mint, coriander and basil are mixed with chillies, ginger roots, garlic, coconut, mango, limes, and other delicious foods. The results are superb - I’m definitely looking up Vietnamese restaurants in London. Laos food - mainly laap (don’t know what it is? Read here
Read here) - is out of this world.
Some things we’ve kept quiet - until now! *In Laos, we got talking to a strange man in the lobby our hostel - he was one of the many ‘hangers on’ that you encounter in Asia. I refer to these people who hang around hotels/restaurants, who appear to have some kind of tenuous
affiliation to the place, who sometimes work and sometimes don’t. Anyway, he was telling us how he loves to take drugs and pick up girls. His far-fetched claims were a bit odd, and he came across as a weirdo. We decided to offer him some of Indie’s multivitamin tablets, which, we assured him, were the latest drugs craze from the UK. We said the high would be unlike anything he’d ever had the pleasure of experiencing, and we added that he’d have to wait at least half an hour before it kicked in. He seemed thrilled, so we said goodbye and went off to catch a bus, leaving this strange man waiting for a much-hyped high which never materialised!
*In Kyrgyzstan, we moved into a small youth hostel which was run by a group of local students, all of whom spoke good English. The guy who opened the door to us held out his hand for us to shake. As I shook it, he greeted me with
“Hi, Muslim!” I didn’t know quite how to take this, so I replied hesitantly
“no, I’m not Muslim” He continued to smile:
“No, I’m Muslim!” This was getting
a bit odd. I wasn’t sure how to handle this friendly, but strange man. I explained
“I understand, but I am not Muslim” By this time he, too, was looking confused. Indie had started laughing to himself. I was definitely not getting the joke.
The guy started to look a bit exasperated. Friendly, but exasperated… He patiently said
“You do not understand. My name is Muslim!” Indie was in hysterics.
*In Vietnam, I also witnessed
the incredible rage of Indrajit Shah. We wanted to check out of a hotel only a couple hours after checking in, cos we realised we didn’t want to stay in the town. We knew we should pay for the room, but as it was still early afternoon and we had hardly touched the room, we figured we should pay half. That was fair, as it would give the hotel staff the chance to clean the room in 5 minutes, then sell it to someone else for the night. However, the guy behind the desk at reception (who had sold us the room) refused to give our passports back unless we paid for the full price. We tried to reason with
Kyrgyzstan - changing faces, from East to West
With our guide, Nizod, and cook, Shezad, at the end of the trek to the Holy Lakes this guy, to no avail. At one point he held our passports in his hand, playing with them. He even ignored us, taking a phone call and speaking to his cohorts. This infuriated us, especially Indie. I grabbed my passport back, but the guy soon realised and wouldn’t hand over Indie’s. Indie’s attempts at speaking reasonably and calmly fell on deaf ears. Normally such as calm, reasonable man; Indie underwent a rapid transformation. He unleashed ‘the fury’:
“GIVE ME MY PASSPORT BACK. GIVE IT BACK RIGHT NOW! IF YOU DON’T, I’M PHONING THE POLICE!” A few seconds of being exposed to the incredible rage of Indrajit Shah were enough to convince this pedantic man to hand over Indie’s passport and accept half of the room fare. I was completely taken aback, but it was very funny.
Goodbye, and good night I’ve attached a map showing our route. I admit it’s a wee bit budget (the Travelblog website didn’t offer any cutting-edge graphics options) and the website randomly, inexplicably decided to add a part jutting out towards North Africa, which never occurred! Nonetheless, it shows how we got back to the UK.
During our
three months abroad, we did many different things. We rode bikes and sweated our lives away in Vietnam; probed Chinese taxi drivers about their thoughts on Tiananmen Square; marvelled at aesthetically stunning Moscow metro stations; ate eye-wateringly spicy food and drunk home-brew in Laos; climbed ancient temples in Cambodia, and completely exhausted ourselves while trekking through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
We also chatted with Russians about the pros and cons of the USSR; got into heated arguments with Kyrgyz taxi drivers; bargained with Laos market traders; drunk tea in a field near the Tajikistan border; stayed in a Kyrgyz yurt on the banks of a majestic lake; ate deep-fried cactus in a Beijing restaurant; and wandered drunkenly through the streets and bars of Moscow. We met some very cool individuals and saw some wonderful places.
Our trip is over. Indie is now back with his dear Anokhee, and with his family. He is about to do some interesting voluntary work and is looking into jobs or further studies.
I am about to move to Colombia to see my darling Rochy. I cannot wait. I will hopefully spend three of four months in Barranquilla doing some kind of
work before moving to London to start real work with Capgemini.
Watch this space.
We have had a wonderful time in Asia, and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading it.
This leaves me with only one thing to share with you: another fascinating insight from Indie.
Have you heard of West Papua? West Papua is a land to the west of Indonesia. Like many Asian lands it fell under the control of colonisers and this particular land was under the control of Dutch colonisers.
In 1952, the Dutch had recognised West Papua's right for autonomy and started to prepare the country for independence and self rule which was to be granted in 1970. During these years, Indonesia began to stake claims on West Papua. The Dutch, heavily concerned about this, increased and sped up its technical and education initiatives and even set up a naval academy. Also during these years, gold and copper mines were discovered in certain areas of the country. These discoveries were reported in US newspapers.
During the early 1960s Indonesian troops mounted invasions upon West Papua. While this was happening
the US covertly put pressure on the Netherlands to surrender control of West Papua to Indonesia and eventually this took place in August 1962. This was known as the 'New York Agreement' and was approved by the UN in September of the same year. Total control of West Papua was handed to Indonesia on May 1st 1963 until an 'Act of Free Choice' was held to determine the true will of the people.
Before this so called 'Act of Free Choice' was held, the Indonesian government gave a US mining Company an exclusive 30 year license to mine for copper and gold in the Timika region of West Papua. Well there's a surprise!!!! The government also committed acts of genocide, terrorism, suppression and torture on native Papuans, especially those who strove for freedom and on those who non-violently fought for independence.
Come 1969, the 'Act of Free Choice' finally took place. Before and during the vote many Papuan tribal leaders were illegally imprisoned and people were constantly threatened with death unless they voted for Indonesian rule. Those appointed by the UN to observe the voting procedure left after only 200 out of over 1000 votes were cast. The
entire operation was laced with deceit, murder and greed.
The Western Superpowers stood idly by and ignored and cries of the suppressed Papuans. I guess if they actually stood up for these people they would have lost their mining contract. And we can't have that, can we? But why aren't they doing anything now? One reason maybe that they do not want to cause tensions with the predominantly Muslim Indonesian government.
Over the last 10 years native Indonesians have been migrating to West Papua. These migrants are nearly all Muslim and only 30 years ago this area used to made up of Roman Catholics, Protestants and a wide array of tribal all with their own unique culture and way of life. Genocide is not just killing a certain race but it is also killing a certain culture and eventually not even memories of these diverse peoples remain.
I ask again.... Have you heard of West Papua? See
www.freewestpapua.org This will be my final entry. I hope that some of the things that I have written over the last three months have provoked something within you.
I would like to thank Ian for allowing some space
on his entertaining blog and also for being a great guy to travel with. We had a great time on our adventure and although it is over there will always be the memory! (Wow... that's deep)
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Rochy
non-member comment
I've liked it!
It’s been fun to read your blog, to get to know Indie and specially to get to know you better. I think this has been a wonderful experience for you. And... I’m looking forward to seeing you. Te amo.