So long Asia

Since it's still monsoon season in SE Asia, I've decided to pack my bags for drier (and hotter) regions. God knows why in this politicized environment, but I'll be heading to Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt next.

I'm so stoked: all my childhood Biblical stories are gonna come to life.. Just in Jordan alone there's:

• Moses striking the desert rock to get water
• Aaron's burial place,
• Mt. Neb, where Joshua (my namesake) took over the mantel of Israel's first judge (and Moses burial place) -- btw, anyone read that part in the Book of Jude where the Angel Michael fought with Satan over Moses' body.. what's that all about?
• Cities of the Moabs and Ammonites and Edomites
• Herod's castle where John the Baptist was beheaded,
• Jesus' baptism site..
• Petra (!),
• Crusaders castles,
• the Dead Sea,
• Lot's cave...

Not to mention Istanbul and pharaohs and the Ottomans so on and so on. I'm tempted to make it over to Israel – my biblical brain would explode – but I have to wait to see how the security situation develops...

I won't get to everything.. but I never expected to be in this region on this trip.. it's a spur of the moment lark kind of thing, but I can't wait -- since I have no expectations or comprehension of what's over there.

Update: Ironically, or interestingly – I don't know – Bangkok police just defused a bomb intended to assassinate a high ranking minister here... and 3 separate bomb blasts occurred in Turkey designed to scare off tourists.. hmmm.. I'm leaving a placed that was bombed to go to a place that was bombed... to a country that sits next to a country that may continued to be bombed...

Last thoughts on Thailand (and Asia):

My greatest achievement in Bangkok has been to figure out a way where I can practically walk the entirety of the central shopping district either in the air-conditioned comfort of the malls or under the Sky Train canopied platforms. It's quite an accomplishment, considering the horrid state of Bangkok's sidewalks, those sweaty, dirty, narrow, dank, and polluted strips of broken concrete..

It's been awesome to have Joe come out – and for three weeks! – cause I think Thailand is one of those countries where there are so many touristy things to do that having a buddy along for the ride makes it all the better. That and he's bailed me out a couple of times:

Jumping off his motorbike to help me hold onto my motorbike from falling down the Koh Tao hills..Giving me cash after I lost my wallet (two days ago) – otherwise, I'd be shitting in my pants..Gamely trying all sorts of street food with meSuspending his diving holiday cause I had an ear infectionActually having some sort of first aid kit for my burns, scratches and cutsLending me his Gameboy on long boring bus ridesLetting me play with his digital SLR

Big props to the kid.

I'll miss the food. Being the egg that I am, I can't help but love Asian food.  And SE Asian food has so many goodies that it boggles the mind.. I'll be sorry to leave it. My favorite newly discovered dishes?

• China: Hunan fried fish & liao xiang bao (Shanghai dumplings)
• Vietnam: Bun cha
• Malaysia: Goat curry (Penang spices)
• Laos: Grilled lemongrass river fish & laap
• Cambodia: Chicken amok
• Thailand: Boiled chicken, rice and broth & pork ball noodle soup

I am excited,  however, to go to a different continent, one where I don't blend in with the locals, where people are sure to treat me as a traveler and all the good and bad that comes with that impression.  In Asia, I've found that there are varying levels of treatment: a) towards locals b) towards foreigners and c) towards foreigners of the same distinction.  In some places, treatment towards foreigners of the same distinction has been polite curiosity at best and outright aggressive at worst.

But then again, I'll miss the warmth of the people (especially in Yunnan and Laos); the poverty hit close to home – as did the peeks I've had into the lives behind the smiles presented to tourists... it's been weird, to live in Vietnam and traveled around the region, to identify myself with the people here and yet know that I can never belong; there's a guilt to traveling in Asia brought on my my self-identity, and to a certain extent, created by the people I've met...

What am I? Just a traveler through the region, having fun on the cheap (at the expense of the societies here), and one day I'll return to life in the States and start that mid-career and that aspiring middle class life...

But I can't help but think of the kids shouting hellos in Laos, or the mine victims in Cambodia, or the kind old ladies in China, the stony-eyed girls here in Thailand, or the hard-nosed market women in Vietnam; the monks, the buffalo farmers, the restauranteurs, the land ladies, the schoolkids, the bus drivers – all the random passerbies who were helpful, or funny, or insightful in their own way – their lives will go on, and what have I, as a traveler, have contributed beyond escaping with a few photographs, some fond personal memories, and the pretense that I've learned something?

So, Asia is jumbled in my brain, like Lego pieces scattered after a tantrum. Maybe I'll sort it out on the road.

Onwards, then.

Well, though their lives will go on the way they were... you might contribute something to them. You could come back and write some travel articles and shine a light on their corner of existence so that others will know about them. :)

Posted by: sanguine smile | August 30, 2006 at 02:52 PM