Brief background: In summer 2005 my son, David and my best friend, Jeff and I went to
Getting Ready
Just one thing: if you read this travelogue, please don't send any news.
When I push the "any key" to send this it means that it's 12/6/2006 and in just a little while we are walking out the door, getting into Chris' car (thanks, Chris), and heading for the airport ... Photo: Flying in to HK
From my journal 9/26/2006: 28 years ago, the first time Leslie and I went to Asia together our flight left DFW early in the morning. Leslie's father, Brooke was driving us to the airport. It was dark and raining and we were going through a construction area on the freeway that loops around downtown. There were lane changes and lights flashing and it was a scary ride and at some point in the confusing drive, Leslie's Mom, Jean says, "Faster, Brooke, faster!" Leslie and I looked at one another and cracked up - we knew then that the trip really had begun - and we were going to just ride it out, whatever came our way. What a great RTW journey that was: HK, 
... just a few hours ... until we leave ... until we fumble through the stressful check-in & security process (Mr. Brain Dead at your service - that's what one of the security people in Houston called me summer 2005, except she left off the Mr. part) ... until we're sitting in the DFW airport - still in Dallas, but already totally gone ... until we're on that big 747 headed across the Pacific, walking around the cabin, checking out the other people, eating, reading, legs getting kind of heavy, napping for a few minutes at a time - stiff neck, walking around the cabin, reading, eating (some pretty good food this time - we're flying Cathay Pacific) ... it's a long flight and who cares about comfort - there's no place I'd rather be, except arriving in Hong Kong, of course. Cruising through security/immigration in HK, changing a few dollars and getting a public transpo card ... walking out of the terminal down the long ramp to the right ... getting on the A21 bus and the great ride into the great city - day or night, always a great ride deeper and deeper into the city ... Getting off in Mong Kok ... heading to the Dragon Hostel ...
How does this sound as a plan? We'll eat as often as possible in places that have chairs with backs. Taking a line from Noodle Pie (on bun cha at Bun Cha Hang Manh Hanoi in
The plan is to fly DFW-LAX-HK. We're scheduled to arrive in
We'll know more about the end of the trip when we get closer to the end. We may spend time in
I'll try to post every 3-4 days. If you were along for the ride in 2005: I think this one will be different. No first time to a motherland, no battlefield returns. But, first time in >20 years for Leslie and me together in
DFW – Hong Kong
(We are having some difficulty with regular internet access, so I'm writing this as I can - not editing to the extent I would like)
We got through security at DFW okay (if confused) and found the gate and settled in for a long wait. I walked back to the bank of monitors to check our flight and a thrill shot through my body. We are on the way! Photo: Breakfast on Cathay Pacific (we brought our own Tabasco)
American from DFW to LAX, full plane. Leslie brought a "tripnic" - chicken salad, potatoe (here's to you to DQ) salad, slaw, sandwich, nuts - all very nice. Sat next to a large, intrusive guy sitting with his legs splayed, way into my space. After about five minutes I asked him to move and he did, but still, very much there. Leslie and I had aisle seats across from each other - excellent.
Song of the day: Eurotrash Girl.
Smooth move from domestic to international terminal at LAX. Wait an hour and onto that big Cathay Pacific 747. When Leslie made reservations for the flights we used a website that has seating charts of the planes flown by all the major airlines. Our seats were great on this 95% full flight. All the rows have 3 or four seats except for 6 rows of 2 seats each and we got the best of these - it was like having an extra 3/4 seats-worth of space. The trip got better and better. I was walking around and so was Leslie, except she spent a lot of time hanging out in the back talking with people.
I was standing in the back of the plane and saw a mother loving on her ~3 year old child - really dedicated - so sweet and beautiful. It was like when I was at the monitors in the airport - the trip intensifying.
We ended up sleeping almost none. It's just too exciting. Leslie is a great travel buddy. Down the dusty road again.
Story in the South China Morning Post about AIDS activists in India helping Burmese people get treatment and a place to stay in India - showing, once again the possibility of being ... beautiful, beyond your dreams ...
Got into
Long ago we were in HK and found an unusual hotel called The Ritz - not ritzy, but still, nicest place we've ever stayed in HK. A few doors down was a restaurant where they served macaroni in a kind of soup with ham on top. Today (it's Saturday) for breakfast we went to a small place around the corner from our GH where we ordered omelette and toast and got macaroni in a kind of soup with ham on top and two fried eggs on the side - hmmm. Not bad - not especially good, but not bad. The thing is, when traveling on a budget, you don't always get what you expect, but usually it's okay. Photo: What you see when you walk out of the building where our guest was - early morning
Next stop, Ferry to
Missed ferry we'd planned on taking, then back to Tsim Sha Tsui and
One huge difference between traveling now and in the past is that now we are in touch with people in the
Hong Kong photos on Worldisround 2006-2007 and 2005
Bangkok: David
At last - David. A happy day to be with our son again.
Got into new
David and Stephane (David's friend from BK) picked us up and we went straight to Stephane's flat in the Japanese area of BK - walking into his flat was like walking into an upscale CK/LK house. Photo: Stephane's condo
Hit the streets and discovered BK is, in fact, "same-same, but different" - traffic is brutal, air and noise pollution extreme, people generally nice (even, in some cases when behind the wheel - maybe because of our age). Got an okay snack and back to flat. Leslie slept & DK and I worked on computer together. Good and easy to be back with Dave, sitting side by side, kind of mashed together, happy as clams. Lots to be happy about here!
We went to dinner at a small Thai restaurant: green curry, tom kha gai (piquant coconut soup with chicken), beef with crispy fried basil leaves on top, laarb (chicken, lime, onions, etc.), some kind of omelet, rice, and of course prik nam pla (chillis & fish sauce). On the way back to the flat, stopped and got some sticky rice with coconut milk and mangoes on top - WooHoo! Thanks, Stephane. I pretty much passed out around 9:30 and awoke in the middle of the night with Thai version of
In the morning felt fine except very tired. Leslie and David off to change money and shop. I dozed into the early afternoon and Stephane and I had lunch at the Ho Ho Hong Kong Cafe.
In most respects, this s a relaxing time. Good for us all to be together. Stephane's home is beautiful - spacious, polished teak floors, objets everywhere (from
Am going to fix this when we return: piece of shrimp or crab on top of thin sliced lemon grass, basil or other herb, cut up lime with rind, Indonesian soy - all in a cone made of betel leaf. Photo: From Bangkok taxi
In final analysis, BK just a very relaxing stopover for Leslie and me. Time to be with David, eat well, talk, hang out ... relaxing until Friday morning.
We saddle up and headed out for 0700 flight. Got there in in good time, checked in (no overweight bags) and then there was a huge bottleneck at passport control. The clock ticking, British woman behind us saying over and over gain, "Oh. this is very stressful, very stressful (like we needed a reminder). Finally another station opened next to ours and we dashed up for instant clearing (except one of the British woman's sons tried to cut in between Leslie and me). We end up literally running for the flight and were the last people on. Man next to me was passed out - oh, so that's why this seat is empty. Otherwise a good flight.
Immigration at
So Linda and her father picked us up and took us first to a big Chinese restaurant for a breakfast of omelet, soup, and whatnot; then on to David's apartment a block from Psar Tuol Tom Pong ("Russian Market"). The market is in what appears to be in some respects a pretty radical neighborhood (in summer 2005 it was at this market that we saw a man lying face down in the mud and a man whose face was completely burned off). On the other hand, there are some nice houses there. Photo: Outside Russian market
We walked up the three flights of stairs to DK's apartment and into the aircon bedroom room where a St. Mark's hanging was on the wall - Leslie touched it and kind of whimpered - it all still felt pretty radical. We hung out for awhile and then while Leslie and David took a nap I walked over to the market for some coffee and to see a lady I met last trip - Khai Sreang, who looks like she's been sick.
That night we went to Linda's house for dinner. Up another three flights of some very dark stairs and on to a balcony where a charcoal fire was going. We met a lot of people and then sat down to a dinner of curry, baguettes, beef/green tomato salad,
Awoke in the middle of the night and sat on balcony for awhile. The city still, faint smell of wood and charcoal smoke, jasmine (in pots on the balcony) fragrance, occasional dog barking. In the morning birds singing, more wood/charcoal smoke, dogs barking, motos, children on bikes. Across the way a servant girl sweeps the dust, slowly. Photo: From inside David's apartment
Got out on the streets around market before market opens, except side streets are also markets - fish, meat, vegetables, household goods, etc. By the time I got back around 0900 I was feeling that old dragged out feeling and by the time we got to a restaurant there were waves of abdominal pain.
We continued on though, to the hospital for a wonderful visit with a man named Rithy, A PA (and MPH) who runs the telemed program as well as seeing patients in primary care. The telemed program connects the main hospital with outreach teams and clinics in rural areas. About 10 minutes into the visit I had to lie down on the floor - which, this being
Song of the day: Beethoven String Quartet, opus 130. Photo: Outside David's apartment
Sunday: we piled into a car - actually there were two cars full of people (and over the next few hours, families on motos trickling in) - for a visit to Sang Van's house. The house is is in a semi-rural area outside of
The lane runs along side a small river. On Sang Van's side of the road the houses are mostly traditional wood on stilts with a social area underneath for sitting, lying on the platform or hammock, cooking and so on. SV's house is one of the only new stucco ones we saw. Between the road and the river poor people live in small mostly stilted houses on plots maybe 15x15 feet. No electric going to these homes. Photo: Cooking at Sang Van's
So I'm walking up the road to take some photos. A few children gather around (who ever saw such a thing as me). They got closer and closer and there was that wonderful smell of smoky bodies, sweat, fish. So we're standing outside a house all in a clump and someone hands me a photograph of an Anglo child and on the back is written, "Hi, I'm Tiffany. I'm 5 1/2 years old. I live in
There is a girl with drops of sweat, like beads, on her nose and upper lip - just there the whole time I was there - just there like her life lived 10 feet from this dusty road sleeping on a cast away bamboo mat on the bamboo floor of this dusty, dirty house that never saw a fan; that would be a whole lot better house if it had a pig living under it like the neighbor's house; and she's looking at me. Maybe the smell isn't so wonderful to her - like she can even smell it. She's looking at me.
Song of the day: Mr. Jones "We all want something beautiful ... I wish I was beautiful"
Linda's dad comes out to get me for lunch: whole steamed fish, fried eel or snakefish with ginger, fried ribs, beef salad, soup, something else, rice, water, cokes, beer. After lunch I sleep on the platform with the wedding DVD blaring like a Blue Cheer "wall of sound" - I awake, sweating, but just from the heat, not the fever I've had since yesterday.
Why are we at this house? I'll just lay it out for the more dedicated readers to put together. Sang Van's first husband was killed by the Khmer Rouge early on. She kept most of her children alive through the bad years and escaped to
Monday: David took us to the hospital where he works: the Sihanouk Hospital of Hope (operated by Hope International). We walk through the crowds of people sitting on benches out front, waiting, hoping to be seen. A woman named Gerlinda takes Leslie and me on a tour through the hospital - urgent/primary care (200+ patients/day), emergency, tuberculosis (by now, hard for me to speak as the tears are just ready), pharmacy, medicine, surgery, library (books dating 1982-2001), and now back to the car and on to HIV/AIDS (lots of cachectic, jaundiced people) and finish at the AIDS hospice. Photo: Hope Hospital
Gerlinda is 34, from a poor family in the
Back about 1982 the Dalai Lama reached out to me and took my hands in his and said, "Keep doing this work." Today Leslie says something about the need for people who do the work to be reincarnated. I didn't say anything, but thought, yeah, that's what we're trying to do through faith/works, through schools, through song, art, prayer, living.
I'll sing your song the best I can. I'll sing mine the best I can. Oh, I wish I could live a 1000 years. The smell of sweat, smoke, bodies, sweat standing on her nose ... Keep doing this work. Sure, nothing better to do, that's for sure. Photo: TB unit at Hope
Phnom Penh photos on Worldisround 2006-2007 and 2005
The Road to
We are on the bus to Siem Reap. Cambodian dream passing through the bus window ... teak houses painted blue, unpainted, on stilts. Shuttered windows, tin roofs, tile roofs, thatch roofs. Rice growing green, green green. Banana trees, mango trees, coconut, sugar palms, bamboo. Farmers working long long row to hoe. Groups of people sitting by the road - dark clothes, dark skin. Gasoline sold in recycled bottles - liter for 1000-3000 Riels. Children, chickens, pigs, brahma cattle, water buffalo, haystacks, stacks of bricks.
Clotheslines, clothes, bougainvillea cascading over doors, over gates. Water lilies - wats - monks, orange robes swirling. Woman pushing a bicycle through the water across a shallow pond.
Morning glory, glory, glory glory. Women with bright sarongs, swirling - laughing women, black hair, kramar (head-scarf, neck scarf) - walking, grace, beauty - children running. How can I be seeing this?
Dikes/padi/farmers bending, plowing, planting, fishing, fish-traps, walking down that dusty road. Big clay water jars, hammocks under the houses, chickens everywhere. Store with 20 different things for sale. Store with 50 different things for sale!
Field full of trash, plastic bottles, sacks, whatever. Kilns, house with many bags of rice beneath.Bags of charcoal, children running, playing, girls playing quiet, careful, standing, watching the bus go by. In the padi, cows and buffalo, many with birds on their back. Egrets in the rice, egrets flying. I understand about 10% of what I'm seeing. Photo: We're on the bus
Most of the schools in
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good.
On the road, motos, bikes, trucks, buses, cars cows, chickens, dogs, people, carts pulled by people, oxen, motos. Now off to the left out of nowhere a 40 foot high pile of boulders rises out of the flat land. Across the countryside, tall sugar palms stand in the classic picture of
Passing through a small town with streets full, markets busy and quickly back into the countryside. Thatched houses, rice drying on mats in the dirt yards. People by the road selling small stacks of fruit on small tables. Dusty road, dusty people.
On the TV - of course there is a TV, this is an Asian bus - one of the Chinese kung fu movies shows endless loops of the baddest dude in the dojo kicking some serious bad-guy butt - untill the final fight with an equally bad dude - and in the end, our guy wins!
Cows walking across the road and honking has no effect, so we stop and children standing by the road wave and I wave back. Photo: From the bus
Clumps of bamboo growing, bamboo fences, bambo plaited for house walls, split bamboo platforms under the houses, bamboo trellises for vines growing with long beans and bitter melons, gourds hanging down, stacks of wood, spirit houses, altars, incense burning smoke rising in the light, in the shade. Yonder stands your orphan with his gun.
We didn't go to Tuol Sleng, the torture facility in
Leslie and Bunny to
In Siem Reap and staying at Sydney Guesthouse - aircon triple with hot water for $20. Not much happening in streets around GH. Went to open air restaurant across the street for amok curry, beef with chillies, fried vegetables, noodles, and rice for dinner. As with so many of the other places we've eaten, the chairs had backs - nothing but the best for you, baby.
Found a tuk-tuk driver (or rather he found us) and arranged to visit Angkor Wat for sunset and then the next day as well ($15). Sunset beautiful. Quite a few tourists, but as before, walking around to the side of the temples and nearly all the tourists are gone (certainly all the Japanese and Korean tour groups) - just a few backpackers around.
Up at 0400 and out the door at 0500 for a cold ride in the dark. The long walkway to the main temple is paved with uneven blocks, but fortunately, boy scout me has a little LED flashlight in his camera fanny pack (bum pack for the Brits out there), so we bopping on up the walkway, no problemo. When we got close Leslie and David went left (the more popular direction) and I went right to what Leslie calls the frog pond where there were only 2-3 other people. I sat on the ground and watched the sun come up and listened to the pond awaken. When the sky was light I walked into the edge of the forest to listen to another awakening.
The decision to take our own tuk-tuk vs. the bus pushed by the GH is clearly a good one: we are on our own at our own speed and can pass on by the place with 20 tour buses clustered at the entrance.
Bayon is a huge pile of stones with faces set in stone. It is a labyrinth of dark passageways, shrine rooms and breaking into the light, pathways set high among the towers and faces.
At Ta Keo we all take a relaxing quiet walk around the outside wall - level, no steps or stairs up or down. When we get to the south side David takes off for the top and Leslie and I sit on the steps below. On to the Terrace of the Leper King and then stop for breakfast at one of the open-air cafes. Photo: Bunny at Bayon
Ta Prohm has more tourists, but is still good. The outer edge is cool and quiet, without people. It is so much cooler in December than in June, but we are getting tired. Next is Banteay Kdei and Siah Sreng, two adjoining small structures that were very quiet. Little up and down walking, which we all appreciated. The whole time at these temples we saw 6-8 other people, other that the omnipresent children selling this and that.
Back at the GH we all fell out - a tiring, very good day (except we only saw one monkey). Photo: Bantay Kdei
Notes on
- By mid-morning everyone looks pretty dusty and hot, so forget about dressing anything but comfortable.
- Shoes or sandals must be comfortable for walking and climbing long distances - some of the steps are amazing: 14" risers and 4" steps. Wear socks.
- No white pants. Have to sit on stones.
- I think a day pack for water and a small guidebook is a good idea. Some of the climbs require hands - if not going up, then certainly going down.
Photos of Angkor on Worldisround: 2006, 2005
Back in
Back to
Leslie and I up before sunrise …
Rooster crowing, we’re sitting on the balcony,
Watching the sun come up over
Market setting up down the street,
People walking up the dusty lane.
Days into days. Cool season in
Days into days,
Dusty days warm,
I’m here, I’m gone,
Gone 40 years, gone,
Long gone, down the line.
Song of the day: Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past (our hope for years to come)
Photo: Pak and David
Walked over to the big market, Psar Tuol Tom Pong … “Hello saaa … Hello madam … What you want? You like? Hello saa, have a look …” And back on the street through people selling vegetables , fruit, vegetables, fish, meat (whew, we’re almost past the meat) and more meat, neat piles of entrails (glad it ain’t hot), woman with a basket 10 or 12 inches deep in eels squirming, sliding around and she’s fishing out the best ones (I guess) for a customer. Back to David’s apartment and the three of us go to breakfast at a place that sells grilled beef and an egg on a hot iron skillet (like fajitas) with a baguette for 2500 Riels(~.65 USD). Hot tea is free. David walks back to his apartment and Leslie and I walk to Wat Tuol Tom Pong.
We can’t get inside, so we sit and watch children play outside the school on the temple grounds. The bell rings for recess and the children go slowly back inside except for one boy who runs over to a tree to urinate and then he’s gone too. Four country women walk slowly across the school yard, faded/bright sarongs, kramar like turbans. A young man engages us in conversation – In Lay is his name. He’s come from a province to
I’m here, I’m gone
40 years gone
Living like a ghost in the world
40 years down the line
Circling back
My mate, Jeff, on patrol
For 40 long years
I’d be careful around him if I were you
Leslie said once,
“I always feel safe around you and Jeff.”
Back at the apartment … Woman from downstairs just brought us a pot of rice, an onion omelet, and a small pot of vegetables with pork and shrimp. Alright!
Last night, Linda’s Mom, Pha Ouk, and some other people came over. We served watermelon, bananas, and Sprite. They brought bananas, persimmons, and beer. Photo: Chanmony
Another day … the girl from a few houses over showed up with her Grandmother next to our balcony (all the houses are connected side by side). Chanmony is 9 years old and speaking excellent English. In school taking French and Thai as well. Really a scholar. Later we met her Grandfather. Nice people. Chanmony wants to be a doctor – it seems very likely for her.
Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, we’re headed to
Christmas in
Flew to Saigon Christmas Eve (many people still call it
Everything in
(Don't we ever see sights? Is travel just one market, street scene after scene - and the food, do we ever quit talking about the food? Well, we have seen some sights, but streets, markets, food, and people are the best part for us.)
Went back to the Zoom Café for shrimp with lemon grass, chillies, onions – as good as I remembered. Pineapple shake good, too. Photo: Breakfast on the street
Many, many more prostitutes around this time around (song of the day: Ramones: I Don’t Wanna Grow Up). Guys sitting in open-air bars along the street with bored and astonishingly pretty women. Almost all the men drinking Tiger beer and eating peanuts (“little salty pellets of loneliness” – Jack), maybe wondering, is this it? And the answer is, yeah, man, this (whatever this is) is it.
For breakfast Christmas morning went back to the charcoal pork chop place in an alley off Bui Vien. I guess the cops have forced all the charcoal grills off the sidewalks, because where many were before, none are now. But the food is great wherever the chops are cooked – a plate of rice with pork chop and fried egg on top, with a little salad in nuoc mam on the side for 12,000 dong. Woman in the next stand fixed me a café sua da (strong coffee and sweet condensed milk over ice) for 5000 dong. One USD = 16,000 dong. Walking along the street, into a lane, into an alley, deeper, and all of a sudden click deep into
What a night. The bar across the street was rocking like some kind of Australian winter break and late into the night drunk guys singing Christmas carols and after O Holy Night, they broke into, For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow. Leslie woke up in the middle of the night with a deep chill, feeling bad. Took ibuprofen – feeling better in the morning, but dragging. Photo: Where many of the guesthouses are in Saigon
Leslie had some breakfast and came back to the room to sleep through the morning. She awoke feeling, “I’m fine.” Uh-huh. So, anyway we started off walking for Ben Thanh Market. Got some nice silk bags in the tourist area, and in the daily life area, some stainless steel coffee filters for café sua da. Then to the center of the market for an unparalleled food court experience. There are 50-60 stands selling every good thing, and as you walk through, women try very aggressively to guide you to their stand – pushing menus in front of you, calling out their specialties, blocking the way, pulling at your arm. At one stand the woman reached over and plucked the menu out of a seated customers hands! We ended up at exactly the same stand and with the same woman as once before and eating the same thing (bun thit nuong – charcoaled lemon grass pork on noodles and lettuce, cilantro, etc.) + café sua da. Onward to the shake stand for mango shakes. Leslie dragging now, so we head back to the hotel through the park with young lovers on benches, old people, young people, school having a field day with two by two sprints on two sidewalks.
Across the insane traffic with Leslie holding hands with David and me – whatever you do, do not hesitate or change speed or course once your course is chosen. Do not even look at the motorcycles, cars, trucks, bikes bearing down on you – the only way to do this is to put your life in the hands of 300-400 anonymous motorcyclists. Then we’re back in the hotel – even in the cool season
It’s good being in
Pork chop and rice with café sua da x 2 again for breakfast. It is a well-known fact that eating a lot of pork chops and related when in
After breakfast we went to the US Consulate to get more pages for David’s passport. Talked with a Vietnamese man from
Next day we took a short (day-long) tour of a tiny part of the
The best part was at the end when we got on small boats (5 tourists and 2 women paddling) to slip down some of the narrow canals. My mate, Ron was on river boats when he fought in
Leslie had not realized we were going on these little boats and she gave me the evil eye when she realized what was about to happen. I made some clever remark and my sweet little wife said, “Shut the f___ up!” By the end, though, she liked it. Getting from boat to boat was pretty amazing. This is not your litigious avoid all risk or I’ll sue you for my own careless stupidity American-style setup. Anyway, no doubt about it, Leslie continued her tradition of keepin’ on truckin’.
Impressions of 
Foot and street traffic all about accommodation – if you hesitate people will push past you, but nobody is aggressive (though often insistent). If you do not hesitate, people will accommodate you. Things work, which is not always the case in
Vietnam photos on Worldisround: 2006 and 2005 - Hue & Hoi An; also Saigon 2005
Song of the day: As Long as I’m in This World (I am the light of this world)
From Saigon back to
Hope International is different from the religious organizations I’ve encountered. (The past 6-7 years lead me to despise the term, “faith-based” – to the extent that I never say it or write it except now – “faith-based” in my experience is a faddish term to describe a perversion of faith and religion – but that’s just me – offended at the idea of using patients (not to mention Jesus) as a means to an end, i.e., personal, organizational, or religious gain VS. patients as the bottom line – but that’s just me.)
Anyway, everyone we’ve met at Hope (Gerlinda, Rithy, Gary, Karen, Ian) seems strong – stand up guys – in the words of Jeff, who went to one of the toughest schools in the world (
That night we packed for an early morning departure. Right before we left at 0600 the woman from a couple of doors down (Chanmony’s Grandmother) brought us each a silk kramar and ceremoniously put them around our necks and off to
An odd note: The Air Asia flight had the most aggressive, pushing, line-butting collection of Asians, Anglos and whatnot we’d seen in
We’re leaving early in the morning for
And now ... we're home ... and thinking of the next ...