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Monday, January 28, 2008

Best of Everything

Looking back on almost a year of travels, I have been reflecting on my most poignant experiences. Here are a few.

When You Think of Cambodia

Just what comes to mind?


Well, let's start with the genocide of the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge regime. An unspeakable atrocity, with some 2 million murdered, roughly a third of the population at the time. It wasn't exactly a party for those who survived, either.


Instability followed the 1979 Vietnamese invasion, until the mid 90s, when strongman Hun Sen was able to fully assert control over the political life of this country. So stability is relatively recent. And by and large, it remains something of a backwater, certainly seeming so to me after arriving from go-go sophisticated Saigon.


The visa regime here is liberal to say the least. While the world community has taken Cambodia's stability and development quite seriously, with all sorts of NGOs, volunteers and other do-gooders setting up shop, the fact that pretty much anyone can come and stay, in a country beset by staggering poverty, is basically an invitation for all sorts of nefarious types as well.


It should be obvious that such was not the intention. More than any other place I've visited, Cambodia welcomes outsiders. Other places are like, "Hello, hope you like it and spend some money; enjoy your stay". Cambodia is: "Welcome - come and share this beautiful country with us". Really. It is quite heart-warming. People are genuinely friendly, and between that and the rather large and permanent community of expats, it has been wonderfully easy to meet and make friends.


But I had to get the genocide stuff out of the way first. I visited the infamous S21 interrogation prison, which, most cynically, was a converted secondary school. The same day, I also went to Choeung Ek Memorial, the so-called Killing Fields, which was basically an extermination center. There was a tower with skulls of victims, where you can pay your respects, and around the grounds, there were a series of pits where victims were buried in shallow graves. A few mass graves remain as well. It was eerie and gruesome.


Then I went to the king's palace. Not as spiffy as the one in Thailand, at least it was more cheerful than the genocide stuff.


US dollars are the de facto legal tender in Cambodia, and prices are most reasonable. Phnom Penh has the feel of a provincial capital, with only one mall and no high rises. Filled with classical and neo-classical Khmer architecture, it exudes no small amount of charm.


Cambodia is my last country, before Dubai and America. I'm content to just chill and reflect on an amazing year of travels.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Karaoke Queen


Miss Saigon turned out to be an insufferable attitude queen, so I ditched her after about a week, and went over to James. Somewhat less pretty, but with a singing voice to die for (what a tenor!), and finally a man strong enough to slake several months of pent up lust, he deservedly wins the award for best lover of this trip. Our first evenings in Saigon were spent at a gay karaoke club, where he would bring the house down, and I, after a couple of beers, would take the microphone, and with luck would not have tomatoes thrown at me.

As I wanted to see a bit more of Vietnam, but a trip to the north was ruled out due to cold January weather, we decided to hit the beach at Nha Trang (photos here). Admittedly, after the Andamans, Pattaya, Kovalam, Bali and Pulau Weh, I’m kind of beached out. But hey, it was beautiful, with fine white sand and set against a backdrop of green mountains jutting out of the calm bay. We went by first class train, and after suffering through the rolling stock of Indian Railways, it was a veritable pleasure in comparison.

One fine day we hired a boat and went on a tour of the neighboring islands. For lunch, we went to a fish farm plus restaurant, where we chose our own tiger prawns and fish, and they cooked it up. Overpriced as it was, it must be said that it was truly delicious, and although there was enough food for four, we managed to finish it ourselves. Overeating is a constant risk in Vietnam. The food is just so amazing that you can’t help but gorge yourself at every sitting. And Saigon must rank as the best city in the world for eating, if you are rating local fare. Another memorable meal was at the Lac Canh restaurant, where we ordered raw beef, pork and goat and barbequed it ourselves at the table on the portable hibachi they so graciously provided.

Another day trip was to Vinpearl Park, which promised to be something like Sentosa à la vietnamienne. Well, same same, but different. There were a few amusement park rides, a game arcade that was kind of fun, and a water park. Beside the water park was a perfectly coiffed beach, where I sat down and enjoyed myself, although it was rather windy and the water was cold, so I had to be contented with the chaise longue.

Throughout, I have kept up my job search in Silicon Valley, which is now in full swing. Round One didn’t net me the post I wanted, but only on a technicality, so all in all, it is going well, even from so far. I suspect Round Two will actually net me a real job. For all those who are envious of all my comings and goings and adventures, I have to say that I really want to get back into a normal routine and life. At the beginning of this trip, I was ambivalent about San Francisco. It was more of a default option, if none of my fantasies worked out. Of course they didn’t, but shattering all those myths was actually a liberating experience, as I was also able to throw off any number of other addictions and compulsions in the process. Now I am quite ready to face the big corporate world on my terms and win at the game, about which I find myself far more sanguine than when I last left that fast-paced lifestyle. And instead of being rich in a poor country, how about being rich in a rich country?!

And soon it is off to Cambodia, the last real country on my itinerary. I haven’t even bought the Lonely Planet. I’m just going to chill in Phnom Penh and play it by ear. Of course I have to see the Killing Fields and Angkor Wat, but beyond that, I’m really just biding my time.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Miss Saigon

Although my preference in musicals slants more towards Bollywood than Broadway, Miss Saigon does seem an appropriate title for this chapter. Indeed, life is like a movie: you are the director and main actor. Disregard the plot of the Broadway production. This is Skye Frontier’s Adventures in Indochina.

First of all, if you haven’t yet seen my pictures of this booming and cosmopolitan metropolis, now’s the time to do so. The first thing you notice is the traffic. Chaos the likes of this I have never seen. This is Scooter City. Driving in all directions is the norm. While in India, honking is just to announce your presence as is more or less constant, here it is only to narrowly avoid a head-on collision. Given that drivers and riders completely disregard traffic directions and signals, this occurs several times on any given trip. Then there’s the sheer volume of vehicles. And yet, it flows. No gridlock. That in itself is remarkable.

The food in Ho Chi Minh City (or HCMC for short) is scrumptious beyond all description. I’ve eaten some pretty good grub in my perambulations, and while I’m (only slightly) hesitant about awarding Vietnam the ultimate culinary crown, it would at very least have to rate in the top three cuisines anywhere and of all time. Everything is so fresh and delicious and creative and well presented. I find myself looking forward to each meal, and it’s a challenge not to stuff myself. I’ve hooked up with Bau, who also happens to be a foodie, and fortunately for me in so many ways, is also a fitness buff. Daily trips to the gym have gotten me back into shape and are ensuring that all this food doesn’t go to the wrong places. Indeed, having unsurprisingly lost weight in India, the daily workouts have produced the flattest tummy I’ve have every sported. So there.

Bau kindly made reservations for the first hotel, but it was only for one night, since I happened to arrive at the tail-end of high season. Although very nice, I had to seek alternative accommodation the very next morning. Being stupidly precipitous, I took the first room I found, which of course was cheap, but unbeknownst to me, was located right next to a nightclub. And it was Friday night. And up three flights of stairs. The following day, although quite disoriented from three consecutive nights of sleep deprivation (my flight to Jakarta was delayed, allowing me barely four hours of shut-eye before arriving in the Socialist Republic), I resolved to find the best value I could, with silence as the primary consideration. Lac Vien, on a quiet side street just off the main tourist drag, fit the bill, and while more expensive than other hotels and guest houses I’ve stayed in throughout my journey, if truth be told, it was time for hot showers and a constant fast internet connection. And it’s a great value for the money. OK, I admit it. I’m officially tired of traveling. It’s been nearly a year since I’ve held gainful employment. And I’ve got shpilkes for some semblance of constancy. I want my own bed. I most definitely want my own kitchen. I want to see the same friends day in and day out. And I most definitely want a car, preferably an Audi A4 convertible.

I decided in the early days to check out the museums and sites of note in the downtown area. Certainly the most arresting was the War Remnants Museum. The shocking photos of victims of Agent Orange and Napalm filled me with revulsion over US hypocrisy regarding the current idiotic rhetoric about chemical and biological weapons. This was a massive deployment of WMDs by the US military, paid for at taxpayer expense! Another cool venue was the Independence Palace, seat of government of the Republic of South Vietnam. Truly and architectural wonder, and perfectly preserved, it stands as an achievement of the Vietnamese people in regaining their sovereignty.

This country was destroyed by the Vietnam war. Ten percent of the population perished. The economy lay in ruins (and ham-handed socialism afterwards certainly didn’t help matters either). You have got to see Saigon today. Everything is rebuilt to even greater glory than before. The economy of Vietnam is the second-fastest growing in Asia, after China, and the fastest in Southeast Asia, clocking in annual spurts of some 8%. In short, it’s booming. There has also been a generational shift, with a majority of the population having been born after Reunification. It seems, at least on the surface, that they’ve put the past behind them. And boy have they moved on. You just gotta admire the Vietnamese.

The other such venue I saw was the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum. The greatest work of art was the building itself (although the Main Post Office is rather grand, too). As art galleries go, I had a good browse around and rather enjoyed a number of the works.

Currently heavily involved in a job search, it seems prudent to stay put and stay organized. What’s more, Têt, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year is right around the corner, falling on February 7th this year. As such, the plan is to stick around until then, and watch events play themselves out, on all fronts. The scenario sort of reminds me of Bangalore, but with a much higher quality of just about everything. I moved on from there, after three weeks, feeling that I had truly seen what there was to see and done what there was to do, with no regrets. I’ll bide my time a bit longer here, with no lack for entertainment and things to do and achieve.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Boring Banda

You know you’re in a one-horse town when the chief draws are mosques and as yet unrebuilt tsunami sites. Had a really eerie feeling visiting mass graves, one with 14,000 buried, another with 46,000. Here are the photos.

I spent the first two days in Banda Aceh with Maxim and Nabil, two Arab guys from Quebec City studying at Laval, whom I had met on Pulau Weh. They’re cycling down the length of Sumatra, taking a month to do it. Quite cool, actually, and it was nice to spend the time with them. Nabil was helpful in pointing out that Pulau Weh is Kilometer Zero, i.e. the northernmost point in Indonesia. It serves as an interesting experience of contrast to chalk up, especially after having visited Kanyakumari, the southernmost point in India (and another major tsunami site in its own right).

New Years Eve was spent in the Country Steak House, one of the few places in town where you can get beer. But they closed at 10 PM, so it wasn’t exactly a blow-out. New Years Day was spent with a nice Sino-Indonesia girl from the hotel, who took me around in an SUV packed with female relatives and tons of kids, to do the rounds of greetings with friends and family around town. First time I ever celebrated New Year’s on the day itself, rather than the night before.

Indonesia as a country is a culinary wasteland, too, and I’ve found myself constantly hungry for the last month. Anyway, the star attraction is yet to come: Big City Saigon. After this, it will be all fun, all the time. And eating my fill!