Imagine, if you can, a topless vietnamese sailor singing the Beatle's Yellow Submarine while his mates accompany him with out of tune drums and a scratchy guitar on a boat full of tourists taking part in a scuba diving tour in the middle of hong an bay in Vietnam.
now stop imagining it and actually live it:
Friday, April 13, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Sleep? No, thank you, I'm allergic.
I just had to tuck my mom in to bed cuz she was high on ambien and stumbling around the house. LOL. I don't blame her, I know exactly where those little pink pills will take you.
I've been home for a few weeks now but I think I'm still jetlagged. Some nights I'll sleep 3 or 4 hours, other nights I'll pass out for 13 hours. I tried using various combinations of sleep deprivation, coffee and sleeping pills to crowbar my melatonin secretions into a semblance of regularity, but all those tactics probably did more harm than good.
I don't know what it is about me and sleep. I've always had a one way relationship with sleep, i.e. I wanted it, it didn't want me.
Unhealthy patterns are the problem. My life has no rhythm. Working nights at the restaurants means I come home late and therefore go to bed late. And not having any obligations most mornings means I have no reason to sleep early or rise early, or even at a regular time. Add up the random late weekend nights, an on-off caffeine addiction, an occasional alcohol habit, a 7-month stint as a hotel night auditor, a couple of round the world time zone trips and I suddenly realize I haven't slept well for the past 28 years.
I sometimes wonder if all the problems in my life stem from this lack of sleep. Isn't it fair to assume that if one slept better, one would feel better? More energetic and optimistic about life? There aren't many things in life where I say to myself (and actually believe) "if only I had _______, I would be happy", but I suspect sleep is one of the necessary's for a fulfilled life.
"Would you like some sleep, sir?" the college student in the tuxedo politely asked.
"No thank you, I'm allergic." I replied. He looked at me blankly before giving me a polite smile and quietly moving onto the next guest.
My dinner companion sitting to my left turned to me and exclaimed, "you're allergic to sleep? how can anyone be allergic to sleep?"
"It's true. I can't have sleep."
"what happens if you sleep?" he asked.
"I get constipated."
"have you tried chewing Valerian root?" he offered. I had to give this gentleman credit, he stuck with me despite my off-putting, but sincere, answers to his questions.
"I've tried it, only to find out I'm also allergic to Valerian root".
I watched my dinner companion sip his champagne as he weighed his options. Then, with a heavy sigh, he managed a "and what happens when you chew Valerian root?"
"I fall asleep".
oh, and the internet. Can't forget to mention that. why would I want to sleep when I can internet?
I've been home for a few weeks now but I think I'm still jetlagged. Some nights I'll sleep 3 or 4 hours, other nights I'll pass out for 13 hours. I tried using various combinations of sleep deprivation, coffee and sleeping pills to crowbar my melatonin secretions into a semblance of regularity, but all those tactics probably did more harm than good.
I don't know what it is about me and sleep. I've always had a one way relationship with sleep, i.e. I wanted it, it didn't want me.
Unhealthy patterns are the problem. My life has no rhythm. Working nights at the restaurants means I come home late and therefore go to bed late. And not having any obligations most mornings means I have no reason to sleep early or rise early, or even at a regular time. Add up the random late weekend nights, an on-off caffeine addiction, an occasional alcohol habit, a 7-month stint as a hotel night auditor, a couple of round the world time zone trips and I suddenly realize I haven't slept well for the past 28 years.
I sometimes wonder if all the problems in my life stem from this lack of sleep. Isn't it fair to assume that if one slept better, one would feel better? More energetic and optimistic about life? There aren't many things in life where I say to myself (and actually believe) "if only I had _______, I would be happy", but I suspect sleep is one of the necessary's for a fulfilled life.
"Would you like some sleep, sir?" the college student in the tuxedo politely asked.
"No thank you, I'm allergic." I replied. He looked at me blankly before giving me a polite smile and quietly moving onto the next guest.
My dinner companion sitting to my left turned to me and exclaimed, "you're allergic to sleep? how can anyone be allergic to sleep?"
"It's true. I can't have sleep."
"what happens if you sleep?" he asked.
"I get constipated."
"have you tried chewing Valerian root?" he offered. I had to give this gentleman credit, he stuck with me despite my off-putting, but sincere, answers to his questions.
"I've tried it, only to find out I'm also allergic to Valerian root".
I watched my dinner companion sip his champagne as he weighed his options. Then, with a heavy sigh, he managed a "and what happens when you chew Valerian root?"
"I fall asleep".
oh, and the internet. Can't forget to mention that. why would I want to sleep when I can internet?
Monday, April 2, 2012
Saturday, March 31, 2012
embers
"That is our human fate," said his mother. She was sitting at her mirror, staring at her fading beauty. "One day we lose the person we love. Anyone who is unable to sustain that loss fails as a human being and does not deserve our sympathy."
- page 41, "Embers" by Sandor Marai
This is the kind of book I like to read.
- page 41, "Embers" by Sandor Marai
This is the kind of book I like to read.
"same-same, but different"
After all I've seen and done on my trip, I'm not ungrateful for what I have. So, I can't say I hate my life...but...I don't know. Lets just say I have a powerful urge to drink right now.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
New York Traffic
They say traffic in new york is really bad. lots of honking and reckless driving in willful ignorance of the rules of law.
They say there are many immigrants in new york, from the middle east, India, Asia, etc ...
They say many cab drivers are immigrants who can't even speak english.
Therefore, is the traffic in new york bad because 3rd world driving norms have been imported via immigrant cab drivers?
They say there are many immigrants in new york, from the middle east, India, Asia, etc ...
They say many cab drivers are immigrants who can't even speak english.
Therefore, is the traffic in new york bad because 3rd world driving norms have been imported via immigrant cab drivers?
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Postscript: postscript
It feels like I never left. I am sitting here typing and watching Tegan & Sara videos; I'm pretty sure this was exactly what I was doing the day before I left... Four months ago.
I noticed my blog has a whiny tone to it. Like a diary, it has become a medium for me to vent my negative energy.
it's 5:13am in the morning now. I think I'll go get coffee, have my last cigarette and watch the sunrise.
I noticed my blog has a whiny tone to it. Like a diary, it has become a medium for me to vent my negative energy.
it's 5:13am in the morning now. I think I'll go get coffee, have my last cigarette and watch the sunrise.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Postscript: Taipei
While searching for a plane ticket on kayak, I found the best itinerary in the world. It was 700 dollars for a one way ticket home with a 16 hour layover in Taipei. I decided to take advantage of that long layover and squeeze in one more country/city into my trip.
During my researching phase, I learned that Taipei Intl. Airport has a program for long-layover passnegers. There are two half-day day-trips into the city and country you can sign up for at the airport and the amazing thing is that it's totally free. Every airport should do something like this. But in the end I decided to strike out on my own because I didn't like the itinerary of the tour I would have had to take.
Armed with google map printouts, advice from wikitravel, and my resurgent mandarin chinese I arrived in Taipei at 10pm and checked into my hostel at midnight. This was one of the coolest looking, nicest hostel/guesthouses I've seen. I think this could be a Protip: In big, international cities, stay in guesthouses/hostels because they are great value and really pleasant places to stay (whether or not your on a budget). There was nobody at the reception since I was checking in at 12am and checking out at 6am. The front door was password protected but there was a hotel phone out front and I called the posted number for the english speaking extension; nobody answered. I remembered I was bilingual so I called the chinese number and the guy told me the passcodes. Since no one would be working during my six hours stay there, I was supposed to use the honor system and put my money in the little red box next to the kitchen fridge.
I wandered around the deserted, empty downtown streets for an hour before going to bed at 1am. Is there anything in the world better than strolling down a deserted empty city street late at night?
For some reason, I thought Taiwan would be as hot as Vietnam. It was not. It was not as hot.
woke up around 6am (didn't sleep well because of early departing backpackers) and started to do my self-guided tour. I eschewed all the typical tourist sites. You know how I feel about tourist traps. I decided to check out the University. I thought The Taiwan Univeristy campus would be a pleasant walk with cool looking buildings. It was okay but it was not like UW or UCLA. Protip: large university campuses are cool places to see and maybe even do things as a tourist. But it was still an interesting walk. The buildings are utilitarian and it was so early in the morning that there were no students around. In fact, there were more white haired senior citizens doing Tai Chi around the campus than there were students. The main library was closed! 7am on a Monday morning and the main library was closed.
Then I headed to YongKang Street, famed for it's eateries. Again, it was still too early in the morning and most of the restaurants were still closed. So I went Taipei 101 (here). It was a rather cloudy, windy and cold day; my day in Taipei. I didn't get to see anything from the 400 meter up observatory. That's not true; I saw a lot of clouds.
Then I went back to YongKang St. and ate at a place famous for their Steamed Juicy Pork Buns. They were good. Their other dim sum items weren't that great. There was the daily crowd of tourists at the front of the restaurant lining up to get in when I left.
Then I ate some more food at other shops along YongKang St. Then I had to leave for the airport. I almost didn't make it back in time because of transportation. I arrived at the gate with 30 minutes to spare.
Then I flew for 7 hours and caught up on movies. I swear, 90% of the movies I've seen in the past 3 years have been in-flight entertainment system movies.
Then I arrived home; felt my usual disgust at the Honolulu Airport's facilities, services and staff.
It reminded me of an article I read about how difficult it is for tourists to come to America. They want to spend money in our country and do some cultural exchange but the government seems to throw all these barriers and hurdles in their way. The article stated that travelers are more afraid of the TSA and border agents than of terrorists or accidents; they are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing while going through immigration. I realized I felt the same way. What does it say about our country when people are more afraid of the government than terrorists?
Taipei was a cool city. I liked it. I realized if I was going to live in a big city, it would definitely be in a nice, international, modern Asian big city. I don't know what is about nice, international, modern Asian big cities, but they do things right.
During my researching phase, I learned that Taipei Intl. Airport has a program for long-layover passnegers. There are two half-day day-trips into the city and country you can sign up for at the airport and the amazing thing is that it's totally free. Every airport should do something like this. But in the end I decided to strike out on my own because I didn't like the itinerary of the tour I would have had to take.
Armed with google map printouts, advice from wikitravel, and my resurgent mandarin chinese I arrived in Taipei at 10pm and checked into my hostel at midnight. This was one of the coolest looking, nicest hostel/guesthouses I've seen. I think this could be a Protip: In big, international cities, stay in guesthouses/hostels because they are great value and really pleasant places to stay (whether or not your on a budget). There was nobody at the reception since I was checking in at 12am and checking out at 6am. The front door was password protected but there was a hotel phone out front and I called the posted number for the english speaking extension; nobody answered. I remembered I was bilingual so I called the chinese number and the guy told me the passcodes. Since no one would be working during my six hours stay there, I was supposed to use the honor system and put my money in the little red box next to the kitchen fridge.
I wandered around the deserted, empty downtown streets for an hour before going to bed at 1am. Is there anything in the world better than strolling down a deserted empty city street late at night?
For some reason, I thought Taiwan would be as hot as Vietnam. It was not. It was not as hot.
woke up around 6am (didn't sleep well because of early departing backpackers) and started to do my self-guided tour. I eschewed all the typical tourist sites. You know how I feel about tourist traps. I decided to check out the University. I thought The Taiwan Univeristy campus would be a pleasant walk with cool looking buildings. It was okay but it was not like UW or UCLA. Protip: large university campuses are cool places to see and maybe even do things as a tourist. But it was still an interesting walk. The buildings are utilitarian and it was so early in the morning that there were no students around. In fact, there were more white haired senior citizens doing Tai Chi around the campus than there were students. The main library was closed! 7am on a Monday morning and the main library was closed.
Then I headed to YongKang Street, famed for it's eateries. Again, it was still too early in the morning and most of the restaurants were still closed. So I went Taipei 101 (here). It was a rather cloudy, windy and cold day; my day in Taipei. I didn't get to see anything from the 400 meter up observatory. That's not true; I saw a lot of clouds.
Then I went back to YongKang St. and ate at a place famous for their Steamed Juicy Pork Buns. They were good. Their other dim sum items weren't that great. There was the daily crowd of tourists at the front of the restaurant lining up to get in when I left.
Then I ate some more food at other shops along YongKang St. Then I had to leave for the airport. I almost didn't make it back in time because of transportation. I arrived at the gate with 30 minutes to spare.
Then I flew for 7 hours and caught up on movies. I swear, 90% of the movies I've seen in the past 3 years have been in-flight entertainment system movies.
Then I arrived home; felt my usual disgust at the Honolulu Airport's facilities, services and staff.
It reminded me of an article I read about how difficult it is for tourists to come to America. They want to spend money in our country and do some cultural exchange but the government seems to throw all these barriers and hurdles in their way. The article stated that travelers are more afraid of the TSA and border agents than of terrorists or accidents; they are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing while going through immigration. I realized I felt the same way. What does it say about our country when people are more afraid of the government than terrorists?
Taipei was a cool city. I liked it. I realized if I was going to live in a big city, it would definitely be in a nice, international, modern Asian big city. I don't know what is about nice, international, modern Asian big cities, but they do things right.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
27 and 358/365th
I have climbed mountains, I have crossed deserts. I watched countless bodies burn on funeral pyres and I performed CPR on a dead man. It all has to mean something, right?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Taiwan!
Heres a picture of angkor wat in cambodia. 
I have grown quite attached to some of these material objects that have traveled around the world with me. I've traveled eight and a half lengths of string around the world and these things have been with me the whole time (since central america): my shorts, my board shorts, my belt, my backpack of course, my messenger bag, my travel alarm clock and my trusty faithful Prada toiletry bag.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Three Pics
This is why you don't eat street food. A woman cleaning and gutting raw chicken in the city river.
That tank of greenish liquid in the over sized syringe looking thing is motor bike gas. These little stands are found all along the road because the bikes can only hold a few liters of fuel at a time. 
More pseudo-inspirational quotes. From the surf shop, whose owner survived the war with tales to tell. So after listening to her stories it's not really pseudo-inspirational, it's just inspirational (inb4 James).
Things to do when I get home:
go to walmart, bask in its beautiful flourescent capitalist glow
eat a hamburger
drink a cup of coffee
make a kite
go to pali lookout
fly a kite (at number 5???)
get drunk on red wine and watch Lost in Translation
go to Honolulu Zoo
get Right.
go to Honolulu Zoo
get Right.
[antonym of disaster]!
success? Whatever the word is, I got to surf. I met a cool italian surfer dude who showed me a secret surf shop with proper boards and the best burgers in town (the awesome local woman who owns the shop was awesome). I went out to the beach break in front of the shop and caught one good head high wave. The conditions weren't that great, the winds were still mucking things up and I was out of shape and hungover but it was fun, I was surfing in Vietnam.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Disaster!
Disaster! The wave here has potential but the on-shore winds are blowing hard again. I hope, but kind of doubt, the wind will be calm in the morning. Not only that but the surfboards/bodyboards availabe here for rent are a joke. Two of the three boards don't even have fins or leashes and they're full of cracks and dings. The other surfboard is better, but not by much. One of the bodyboards is completely devoid of laminate and leash. The other bodyboard has holes and grooves in it for skegs and the "leash" is scrap string and velcro. And no fins of course.
I arrived safely after a sleepless 12 hour overnight sleeper bus ride to Da Nang. I found Hoa's Place, the cult-status surfer/backpacker guest house at Non Nuoc beach. The vibe is here is nice, very much a boardshorts and no shirts on the beachfront type of thing.
I arrived safely after a sleepless 12 hour overnight sleeper bus ride to Da Nang. I found Hoa's Place, the cult-status surfer/backpacker guest house at Non Nuoc beach. The vibe is here is nice, very much a boardshorts and no shirts on the beachfront type of thing.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Macro Vacations
I call these backpacking trips, "macro vacations". It's not just a break from your job, it's a vacation from your way of life.
I'm headed to 6 feet, 10 second swell in Da Nang. Wish me luck.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Cu Chi Tunnels
went to the popular Cu Chi Tunnels exhibit right outside of Saigon. It's an exhibit of the tunnels the Viet Cong lived in and fought from during the war. It was pretty interesting. I got to crawl through the tunnels and see all the different booby traps the VC used to deter GI's. I shot an AK-47. It was fun.
And it shows why an imperialist invading force can never defeat and win against a dedicated homegrown guerilla insurgency that has the support of the local population.
I had to pay 15 dollars to fire 10 rounds with the AK-47. I thought it was a bit expensive. The bullets looked pretty old and possibly war remnants. Then I started laughing at the thought that the Vietnamese were selling Americans their own war bullets back to them.
I realized that only rich westerners with too much time on their hands would pay money to crawl through a dirt tunnel.
Home
I've decided I'm going home when whichever one of these things occur first:
1. I finish my bar of soap
2. my razor becomes too dull to use
3. my camera memory card gets full
Halo Guest House, De Tham, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
I really hate this hostel I'm in right now. I've stayed at worse places that were more expensive, but something about this place and the way they do things here has gotten under my skin.
The last thing they do at night is turn on the AC and the first thing they do in the morning is turn it off. And they keep the AC just cool enough to say it's not warm. An employee comes into the dorm every 30 minutes, not to service the dorm, not to empty the trash can full of used toilet paper, but to turn off lights they deem unnecessary and to close the door even though people are inside. The english signs they have posted around are grammatically incorrect and almost incoherent, but the people that staff this travel-agency/hotel company speak fairly good english. They ask that we don't wear shoes in the dorm, but the floor is filthy. It is a 12 bed dormitory in a large room, but they have one fan for the twelve bodies that occupy the space in this 35 degree celsius weather. They gave me two different keys for the lockers and both of them opened lockers that already had other people's things in it. Af you're unlucky enough to sleep next to the window, the evening is full of traffic noise and bad cover music from the bars outside. One of the employees took a nap in one of the beds during the hot vietnam afternoon, I'm sure he was dirty and sweaty and I'm sure he didn't change the sheets for the next customer who was going to pay for the bed.
The only redeeming factor is that they charged me a half-night for my last day here because I am catching an overnight sleeper bus to Nha Trang.
I'm still going to downvote the fuck out of this place on tripadvisor.com
update: they're not on tripadvisor.
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