Your calculations are correct, that's like a million damned words!!
I've now got pictures up covering the entire trip up to the three and a half month mark (Zagreb to the Parhentien Islands in Malaysia) at the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/to.bentropy
Still to come: A few more from Malaysia and Vietnam!
Catch my flight home tomorrow at 9:40 a.m. Malaysia time. Would be more keen on it if my nose hadn't just now, in the last 16 hours or so, turned into a veritable faucet. My body's such a pussy, can't even deal with transitioning from a/c to sweltering heat several dozen times a day. Hopefully the torrent will abate prior to bording. If not I may have to greet my grandparents with kleenex plugs sticking out of the ol' shnozz. Savour that image.
Love
Ben
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Two posts in two days??? Wh-wh-WHAT!!!???
I've decided that yesterday's post was shitty and didn't do justice to Vietnam. And today was awesome so I wanted to write about it. And internet is absurdly cheap (typical) and convenient (less so).
So today I rented a motor scooter to take part in the law-and-orderlessness that is taking to the road in Vietnam. It was nice to not have to stop at red lights, and intense having to be aware 100% of the time of what's happening in 365 degrees. Taking some of the pressure off is that the other scooterists are acclimatized to just such a driving environment and thus are thus highly adept at reacting in an instant to any of an infinite number of driving contingencies. Plus, no one really goes faster than 40 kph. I ended up renting the most expensive bike because it was the only automatic. It set me back a whopping 12 dollars (including gas) for the day. The cheapest one was only about 6 but I haven't had any experience with standard transmission motorcycles and thought that as I was travelling alone, safety was worth the six dollar premium.
The countryside around Hue is stunning; a mix of rice patties, jungle, meandering and lotus covered rivers, elegant buddhist graveyards (a lot of people died in Vietnam in the last 50 years), and accentuated by elaborate and colourful monuments, temples and old imperial tombs. There's a mildewed grandiosity to the way the Vietnamese build things. It reminds me of what I know about french-Louisiana, although the French influence is heavily complimented by the Chinese and other Asian influences.
Side note: I've just been sneezed on. Pet peeve: the Vietnamese don't ever cover their mouths. It was particularly offensive while packed into a sealed bus with 70 other people breathing recycled air for 14 hours.
Back to description of the countryside: The colours are fantastic as well, all saffrons, turqoises, stained yellows and reds that fit in almost organically among the natural greens, browns and greys.
The people are just as photogenic as the landscape, self-posessedly wearing a fusion of traditional wear with the sortof clothes I've seen in every developing country I've been to, and doing quotidian things in interesting ways - using these complicated looking bamboo and net contraptions to fish, carrying goods balanced in baskets strung from either side of long polls, moving livestock by binding its hooves together and tying it to the back of a motorscooter (I saw live cows being moved this way). I kept seeing the napalm girl from the famous picture that came out during the war. Where usually the difficulty in telling East Asian strangers apart I find vaguely shameful and mildly amusing, when they all become the napalm girl it's downright upsetting.
I'm excited for the next 6 days.
So today I rented a motor scooter to take part in the law-and-orderlessness that is taking to the road in Vietnam. It was nice to not have to stop at red lights, and intense having to be aware 100% of the time of what's happening in 365 degrees. Taking some of the pressure off is that the other scooterists are acclimatized to just such a driving environment and thus are thus highly adept at reacting in an instant to any of an infinite number of driving contingencies. Plus, no one really goes faster than 40 kph. I ended up renting the most expensive bike because it was the only automatic. It set me back a whopping 12 dollars (including gas) for the day. The cheapest one was only about 6 but I haven't had any experience with standard transmission motorcycles and thought that as I was travelling alone, safety was worth the six dollar premium.
The countryside around Hue is stunning; a mix of rice patties, jungle, meandering and lotus covered rivers, elegant buddhist graveyards (a lot of people died in Vietnam in the last 50 years), and accentuated by elaborate and colourful monuments, temples and old imperial tombs. There's a mildewed grandiosity to the way the Vietnamese build things. It reminds me of what I know about french-Louisiana, although the French influence is heavily complimented by the Chinese and other Asian influences.
Side note: I've just been sneezed on. Pet peeve: the Vietnamese don't ever cover their mouths. It was particularly offensive while packed into a sealed bus with 70 other people breathing recycled air for 14 hours.
Back to description of the countryside: The colours are fantastic as well, all saffrons, turqoises, stained yellows and reds that fit in almost organically among the natural greens, browns and greys.
The people are just as photogenic as the landscape, self-posessedly wearing a fusion of traditional wear with the sortof clothes I've seen in every developing country I've been to, and doing quotidian things in interesting ways - using these complicated looking bamboo and net contraptions to fish, carrying goods balanced in baskets strung from either side of long polls, moving livestock by binding its hooves together and tying it to the back of a motorscooter (I saw live cows being moved this way). I kept seeing the napalm girl from the famous picture that came out during the war. Where usually the difficulty in telling East Asian strangers apart I find vaguely shameful and mildly amusing, when they all become the napalm girl it's downright upsetting.
I'm excited for the next 6 days.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Thought I heard a rumblin' / callin' to my name
Vietnam!
Been here for a few days and it's like night from day from Malaysia. For one thing beer isn't jacked up to first world prices by a sin tax. In fact not much is jacked up once you get haggling. Considering that and the dwindling days left in my trip I think some major major shopping is in order. Beyond that I've been duly impressed by the country (although somewhat exasperated as well). It's truly frenetic although in a way that is distinct from the freneticness of Beijing. Millions of motor scooters anarchically swerve through every major street and every single one of them seems to want to give you a ride. I don't really have time for a major post right now but just to give a short advert as to my whereabouts I've spent the last three days cruising through the impressive Halong Bay archipelego. A series of islands that protrude vertically from the soupy green water of the gulf of Tonkin. It was like floating into one of those oh so exotic landscape wall scrolls that everyone seems to bring home from Asia. I bought some pearls and made friends with some Brits one of whom basically was the brother-in-law from Match Point. I learned from him that apparently 'Eton these days is mostly for new money.' I liked him a lot, for all that he was very good natured. I wasn't really at my social best though, I was feeling introspective and couldn't decide whether I really wanted to play the social game of who sits at what table etc. that's inevitable when you stick a bunch of twenty-something strangers together on a boat for three days. The result was that I pretty much did all of the group activities, but dragged my feet a bit. In hindsight it was a pretty shitty attitude to take. It's far better to either commit to the party, or commit to being a recluse. I did get pretty smashed playing Asshole the first night though. I ended in the # 2 seat. Drinking games are vicious.
Got back to Hanoi yesterday and immediately caught an overnight bus to Hué. Got here at 9 just as a major thunderstorm was breaking. Walked around a bit but mostly just went from restaurant to restaurant to take refuge and gorge myself on they ultra-yummy Vietnamese food. Tomorrow I'm going to rent a scooter and go check out some tombs, and the next day I'll head for the DMZ.
Heart.
Been here for a few days and it's like night from day from Malaysia. For one thing beer isn't jacked up to first world prices by a sin tax. In fact not much is jacked up once you get haggling. Considering that and the dwindling days left in my trip I think some major major shopping is in order. Beyond that I've been duly impressed by the country (although somewhat exasperated as well). It's truly frenetic although in a way that is distinct from the freneticness of Beijing. Millions of motor scooters anarchically swerve through every major street and every single one of them seems to want to give you a ride. I don't really have time for a major post right now but just to give a short advert as to my whereabouts I've spent the last three days cruising through the impressive Halong Bay archipelego. A series of islands that protrude vertically from the soupy green water of the gulf of Tonkin. It was like floating into one of those oh so exotic landscape wall scrolls that everyone seems to bring home from Asia. I bought some pearls and made friends with some Brits one of whom basically was the brother-in-law from Match Point. I learned from him that apparently 'Eton these days is mostly for new money.' I liked him a lot, for all that he was very good natured. I wasn't really at my social best though, I was feeling introspective and couldn't decide whether I really wanted to play the social game of who sits at what table etc. that's inevitable when you stick a bunch of twenty-something strangers together on a boat for three days. The result was that I pretty much did all of the group activities, but dragged my feet a bit. In hindsight it was a pretty shitty attitude to take. It's far better to either commit to the party, or commit to being a recluse. I did get pretty smashed playing Asshole the first night though. I ended in the # 2 seat. Drinking games are vicious.
Got back to Hanoi yesterday and immediately caught an overnight bus to Hué. Got here at 9 just as a major thunderstorm was breaking. Walked around a bit but mostly just went from restaurant to restaurant to take refuge and gorge myself on they ultra-yummy Vietnamese food. Tomorrow I'm going to rent a scooter and go check out some tombs, and the next day I'll head for the DMZ.
Heart.
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