Well, I have decided to come home. There is nothing wrong; after much thought I am convinced that it is what I want to do. There are many reasons and I would be happy to talk to any of you about them, so whenever I see you make sure to ask! I am in Beirut now (out of the reach of Syrian censors), then will be traveling a bit before coming home. It has been a while since I wrote on this site so here's what I've been up to......
Immediately when I got to Damascus I met a woman in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). They are, in effect, the state for Palestinians displaced from their homes. They operate in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. They were the organization I hoped to work for and it was exciting to get an "in" so quickly. A few days later I went to a meeting for English tutors and that same day I was scooped up for help by the French woman who is running the UNRWA Vocational Education/Employment project in Syria.
She gave me about 2000 pages of literature either primarily or secondarily related to unemployment among the country's refugees and asked me to write a report about it. It was an interesting project and I put a lot of time into it, handing it to her 2 weeks later. It's about 20 double-spaced pages, should any of you care to read it just let me know. That may not seem like much given the volume of what I went through, a lot of the material was only tangentially related. For example, there would be sections of statistics on poverty--which is strongly related, but not the focus of my paper. The goal of the project was to understand what is known about the causes and situation of unemployment for the population, what is being done to lessen its effects and what attempts are showing signs of success. What I wrote will be distributed (narrowly) in order to inform UN workers who will create a survey asking about people's experiences with UNRWA vocational education and their opinions on how to combat unemployment. What I did was so that people can get an idea of the situation without reading everything.
I met lots of people and have enjoyed many interesting conversations on this trip, I saw some fascinating places and ended up working on a project that I really believe in. Thinking about the additional experiences that I could have had made the decision to come home difficult for me. I am so lucky to have the option though, thank you all for reading and writing to me. See you guys soon!
Kit
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
India, Turkey, to Syria
.............................................................Since I have written....Even in my previous entries I have forgotten to write things that I did, Ithink I will forget even more this time because it has taken me 2 weeks topost again. After I last wrote, I spent another 2 days in Goa, thentrained back to Mumbai and had a day there before a 4:40am flight. Goa isa really pretty place, an understandable flocking point for thousands ofEuropeans in the winter months. I met a few people there but mostly itwas calm and the beaches were empty, making for peaceful runs and somerelaxing sunsets. I got to see the fishing boats setting out in themorning and coming back in the evening. I was only there 2 full days, alot of people spend a month there. That happened a lot on this trip: thefirst people I met in Tokyo had been in Japan for a few months, mostpeople spend around a month in Mongolia because that amount of time isnecessary to see remote areas, the people I met in Hong Kong spent arounda week exploring the vast city, and India... In Mongolia I met a couplewho had spent 6 months there, a man who had spent 3 months there and inHong Kong a couple who had spent 4. All conceded that they had onlytraveled to part of the country and they needed to go back. My time inTurkey was also more hurried than the usual vacationer, and I did not seeany of the eastern half of the country.My time of travel certainly didnt allow me to say I saw all thosecountries but it did provide for a lot of introspection, opportunities tomeet lots of interesting people, and see places in the world where thingsappear so different yet are often so similar.From Mumbai I flew to Istanbul. I only spent a day there, going to someplaces I had missed when I was there a year and a half ago. Afterstudying in Cairo I flew home from Istanbul and had spent time there. Irevisited the Blue Mosque, but spent most of my time on the Asia side ofthe city exploring what the city looked like for residents. I took anovernight train to Ankara, getting in at 7am, and found a hotel. I walkedall day finding the tourist sites (Ataturk's mausoleum, Parliament, a bigpark, the Citadel, a large square memorializing falllen soldiers). Thenext day I woke up early and walked, eventually getting lost in anindustrial area of the north part of the city.i went from Ankara to Goreme, a small town in the Cappadocia region ofsouth central Turkey. it is famous for its 8th-11th century churchescarved into cliffs and funky rock formations. the rocks are called fairychimneys, which are pretty odd and are either phallic or minaret-like. iguess that provides an interesting dichotomy from which you can probe yoursubconscious. one might say that minarets are phallic by themselveshowever.i got in in the evening and watched the sunset from atop a hill with 3czechs and an austrian who were traveling together. one of the czechs wasfluent in czech, german, and english but the other two did not speakgerman. when these two wanted to communicate with the austrian they spokein english. i latched on with them and the next day we went exploring thevalleys where all the architecture is. i took a ton of pictures, its apretty amazing place. some of the caves are low to the ground but for themost part they are higher up, accessible only by climbing. i never fellbut had a few close calls and my arms are still pretty cut up.the region also makes wine and there were wild grapes and apple treeseverywhere. along with the fairy chimneys, the area's claim to fame isits underground cities. these were built as refuge by each town for wheninvading armies moved through the region on their way to bigger and richerprizes. they also came to be used when the area was converted tochristianity. until constantine converted they were persecuted and hidfrom the roman armies in the massive underground cities. the day afterexploring the valleys, the 5 of us rented a jeep to get to the otherplaces in cappadocia (pronounced cappadokya). the car ended up breakingdown and we had to push it quite aways but the day was nice. theunderground city we went to has 8 levels, so it goes a long ways down. the guide we had said up to 2000 families lived underground at one time. there were 4 air shafts and two entrances, all hidden at the time of itsconstruction.my favorite place was the large church at the bottom, maybe 500 squarefeet. probably about 80 feet underground. i sat there quite a whilethinking about how many people packed into this place and wondering whatthey prayed for if they prayed.i left late that night on a bus for antakya (the city formerly known asantioch), another important site for early christianity. nowadays thereisnt much there for history buffs, just a rock church and some romanmosaics. i didnt see either. again, i got in about 7am and found a hotelto take my stuff. i walked around the city all day watching people. imet a fervent turkish dallas cowboys fan who was very disappointed when itold him i dont care much about the NFL. i think he was glad to findsomeone who knew about it though. what an odd thing to encounter.from antakya i took a shared cab to aleppo in northern syria and then abus to damascus. i am now at my sister and brother in law's apartment. the first night i got here i went to a BBQ/party where I met a person inthe UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Administration, they deal exclusively withPalestinian refugees- in Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon). She gaveme the email of a woman who runs the volunteering and sounded veryoptimistic about my chances. I emailed this person the next morning andam still waiting to hear back- like a kid checking to see if its earlyenough to wake up the parents on christmas, i check my email 3 times aday. While waiting for that I have explored some of the city center aswell as the old city and sent my name in for a few other volunteer spotsthat i found on the internet. I am also looking at language courses andshould hear back from them soon.There seems to be a plethora of things I might be able to do but so farnone that I am asked to do. I should be more patient. Hopefully I willhear back soon from different things that will keep me more busy than Ilike.Now I am off to go and talk to the Red Crescent (like the Red Cross, butin Muslim areas) about volunteering for them. After that I will try andfind the campus of the Univ. of Damascus that houses the Arabic program. At my school in Cairo there were flyers of volunteer opportunities forinternational students, so maybe here too.I am going to post more often, hopefully I will have some exciting newssoon on my first day of work and such. An interesting note is that thissite is blocked for users in Syria. I can read my blog but not post onit. Thanks to the censors, my mom is doing the posting from emails I sendher. Thank you mom! Anyways, send me emails. Let me know what youre upto!................................
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
My first three days in India: Mumbai-Goa
I flew in to Mumbai at around 9pm and got a cab to my hostel, it took a while to get there because it is not in a well known area and has only a tiny sign which it seems locals have not spotted. On the drive in, I felt more relaxed than I had the entire trip. The sprawling slums and absolute immensity of the city accentuated the foreignness of my surroundings in a way that large cities and vast wildernesses had not. My hostel itself is in a very poor area though not a shantytown or tent city. Regardless there are homeless families every 20 or 30 feet. Mumbai is enormous, according to a quick internet search it is the third largest city in the world, topped by only Mexico City and Tokyo. It has a larger feel than Tokyo, my guess would be that the city limits do not include as many population centers.
The next morning I woke up around 6:30 and wandered the neighborhood surrounding my hostel looking for food and internet. I was unsuccessful at internet, but found a large fruit, vegetable, spice and chicken market. The smells were incredible, I am repulsed by how chickens smell but it was incredible to have my nose stimulated with different strong scents every 20 feet. By 9 I had caught a bus into downtown Mumbai and I wandered through the colonial buildings, past a sports academy and to the beach. The sports academy was a big green field where people were playing volleyball, soccer, and cricket. I went in and sat down with the guys playing cricket hoping they would let me pitch, hit, or at least throw to show of my arm and maybe get to play. No luck, they were very involved in their game and were not willing to let the foreigner experiment. The beach was disgusting. I had envisioned going swimming, but the first beach was blanketed with trash. The only people on it were searching for either valuables or recyclables, which can be sold for money. The larger beach I went to had a lot of trash floating in the water and I noticed that though there were quite a few people there, no one was swimming. I decided to save my swim for a different part of the sea. Until then I hadn't decided where I would go after Mumbai, I had gotten different suggestions from travelers.
I started walking towards some tall business type buildings away from the beach and again saw a large truck full of young guys being really loud and obviously having a great time. I waved, they waved back and yelled some stuff. I kept walking and noticed they had stopped and were all being pelted with water balloons from an apartment complex and a water truck had a huge hose spraying them. I took a picture to ask the guy at the hostel what the deal was- if they were army, youth corps, volunteers of some sort. They loved that I took a picture of them and demanded that I take another. Then they asked if I wanted to ride with them and if I wanted to wear the yellow t-shirt they were all wearing. My whole trip has been rather planless so I went with them. They loved it and every one of them (about 90 per team, according to the papers, and all in this one truck) wanted to practice their English. They asked if I had anywhere to go that day, I said no, so they took me around until 11pm that night.
Apparently it was the celebration of Lord Krishna's birthday. Lord Krishna enjoyed eating gourds so in remembrance of the god each neighborhood strings up a decorated and painted clay pot full of dyed water about 30-40 feet off of street level. Each team drives around all day forming human pyramids so that a person can climb to the top and smash the container, covering all below with dyed water. The yellow shirt they gave me is now purple, blue and red spotted. As I am not experienced in building pyramids, I was in the throng of people surrounding the pyramid who catch the people when they fall. This happened more than half the time though not always the person at the top. The largest pyramid built by the group I was in was the height of 7 people standing. Immediately after the guy broke the pot, the tower collapsed and he was left hanging onto the rope attached to the pot. Apparently this is not uncommon because he was not fazed by hanging onto a thin rope, suspended 100 feet inbetween two buildings 40 feet off the ground. He just curled into a fetal position, put his back to the ground and let go.
At each of the neighborhoods there was a DJ playing loud Indian music and while waiting for their turn to build the tower the teams dance. I was a hot commodity and everyone wanted to dance with me and have me imitate their dance moves. Here, all the men dance with one another and hold hands in the street. It is the same way in Egypt and Jordan, I would like to know more about a possible relation between this, which I do not see in Europe and the US, and conservative cultures which frown upon much mingling between sexes. The female/male disparities are not as pronounced here, though women are predominantly not the workers where I have been, are not the ones socializing in cafes, did not take place in this festival (and were not allowed into the arenas where the main celebrations were), and were not on the public transit I have ridden.
I always get cautious when I am talking about intercultural differences because there is so much more at play than meets the eye. I also am very critical when I hear other people in these types of discussions. Usually I get so critical because there needs to be a specific "disclaimer" that recognizes the boundaries of what one person can know-from experience as well as from study. Additionally, I think the most important aspect of something like varying positions of women in different societies is recognizing similarities, common threads. This is extremely important when making any kind of judgment or opinion, what I mean is, if someone is going to talk about sex inequality in India or Egypt, for example, I think there must be questioning of problems across the world, especially places where people may not see the inequality. This is parallel to something I have experienced when people ask my opinion on "terrorism." Great quote: "war is the terrorism of the rich, whilst terrorism is the war of the poor." The power to define things like terrorism and equality is the power to define right and wrong. From the infinitisemal speck of what I have seen of Indian culture and the miniscule pebble of what I know about Egypt, I see threads of what I have seen in the US. The problem is the same, steps have been made, bigger in some places than others.
Tangent.....sometimes I do not quite know how I get from point A to B in my head. Back to the festivities. I was a hot commodity for talking and dancing. Everyone wanted to practice their English, shake my hand, dance with me, be my best friend among the others. I am quite positive that I shook 2 thousand hands on the day. The vying for my attention was flattering at first but by 8 that evening it had started to wear on me, they were telling me that other people were liars, would get me lost (wouldn't have been hard!), and were telling me to say bad stuff. I had been saying things all day, I really didnt see much harm in it as it was only to other teammates (and of course I had no clue what I was saying). I had been leading the team cheers which I was sure were OK, to the delight of onlookers and the team. But after some people looked insulted at something I was asked to say, I told them no more. They begged, told me it meant all sorts of not bad things. Two guys were begging me really incessantly to say what another told me "means f*** your mother, they are lying to you, come with me I want ask you to say bad things." So I refused to say anything the rest of the night and one of the guys seemed really hurt, he had taken pride earlier in leadign me around.
I don't want it to sound like I am infantilizing these guys. They were mostly 18-30 and normal people it seemed, but when they were dealing with me it felt like I was the god, not Krishna. They all wanted to be the one buying me food, ask me if I needed water, lead me to the place where we would build, etc. It was very flattering, though because of language barriers they really knew very little about me and I very little about them. To me, this means that largely I received this treatment because of my skin color and nationality. Two things which certainly do matter in this world but their utility is usually obscured.
As I said, I paraded around Mumbai all day with these guys, acting as mascot and body catcher. I can't imagine a better way to really see the city. For the final capping ceremony to the festival, we went to a big courtyard of some relatively expensive-looking apartments. There were 8 huge hoses spraying water over around 2 maybe 3 thousand people inside a fenced off area. There was a big stage with lots of important looking people, loud music, and the balconies were covered with onlooking women and children. Outside the fences were non-participating men, women and children. The whole courtyard like other places was ankle deep mud. I danced with the guys on the team, we and other teams formed pyramids then fireworks started going off, the music stopped and a man started talking. A couple guys grabbed me and told me I had to go onstage. I was mildly embarrassed, but not shocked as I had been pretty much anesthetized to shock by all the events of the day. So, I went on the stage, shook hands with a bunch of guys in suits, smiled for a bunch of cameras, listened to them all thank me for coming, of course thanked them back, and I think I was on a film camera though I was a bit frantic and dont remember everything. Then the guy who I take to be in charge of things gave me a bouquet of roses and the microphone. I yelled "bawn badyen!" into it which I think is a cheer for Lord Krishna and the crowd responded "beli kitay!" I was pretty sure that's not an insult and the massive amount of people didnt take it as one. Surreal.
While I was leaving I started handing out the roses to little kids and shaking hands. I was told to stop because the roses are an honor and were for me. The little kids loved them though, they actually understand the festival and why I was given flowers. So the dump truck took me back to close to my hostel, I got a ride on a motor bike another part of the way, and then the guys refused to let me pay for my own cab the rest of the way.
I have so many more thoughts about the night, I would love to have people to talk about it with. I think the reason I am writing so much is because this way I am sharing it with other people in a small way. It would be nice to experience this with others who know me and who I know. It can be exciting meeting new people every day but there is a lot missing from being around people who know you.
The next morning I set off to catch a train south to Goa, a beach town that is flooded with tourists in winter months. Not so many here right now though it is still very pretty. Small town, green with palm trees, sandy beach, beautiful water. Fruit everywhere and it is very very cheap. Today I bought 5 bananas for about 20 cents and a big rice/vegetable meal for 1 dollar. The train ride took 13 hours, I got in around 2:30 am, and wandered around the town with two Danish guys looking for a hostel. Finally after 4 we found a place that was "open," which meant the receptionist woke up when we knocked on the door. Today I went for a long run on the beach, explored the town, finished a book, and took my one set of clothes to the laundry. My clothes did not make it to Mumbai by when I left, so the pair of clothes I have worn the whole trip smelled awful. Especially after the muddy and sweaty festival. Tomorrow I will do some more exploring then take a sleeper train back for two more days in Mumbai. Then a flight to Istanbul and from there to Damascus by bus and train.
I hope this letter is not riddled with mistakes, I have to go catch a sunset. I am thinking about home and probably all of you who are reading this. Send me emails, let me know how your lives are going!
Kit
The next morning I woke up around 6:30 and wandered the neighborhood surrounding my hostel looking for food and internet. I was unsuccessful at internet, but found a large fruit, vegetable, spice and chicken market. The smells were incredible, I am repulsed by how chickens smell but it was incredible to have my nose stimulated with different strong scents every 20 feet. By 9 I had caught a bus into downtown Mumbai and I wandered through the colonial buildings, past a sports academy and to the beach. The sports academy was a big green field where people were playing volleyball, soccer, and cricket. I went in and sat down with the guys playing cricket hoping they would let me pitch, hit, or at least throw to show of my arm and maybe get to play. No luck, they were very involved in their game and were not willing to let the foreigner experiment. The beach was disgusting. I had envisioned going swimming, but the first beach was blanketed with trash. The only people on it were searching for either valuables or recyclables, which can be sold for money. The larger beach I went to had a lot of trash floating in the water and I noticed that though there were quite a few people there, no one was swimming. I decided to save my swim for a different part of the sea. Until then I hadn't decided where I would go after Mumbai, I had gotten different suggestions from travelers.
I started walking towards some tall business type buildings away from the beach and again saw a large truck full of young guys being really loud and obviously having a great time. I waved, they waved back and yelled some stuff. I kept walking and noticed they had stopped and were all being pelted with water balloons from an apartment complex and a water truck had a huge hose spraying them. I took a picture to ask the guy at the hostel what the deal was- if they were army, youth corps, volunteers of some sort. They loved that I took a picture of them and demanded that I take another. Then they asked if I wanted to ride with them and if I wanted to wear the yellow t-shirt they were all wearing. My whole trip has been rather planless so I went with them. They loved it and every one of them (about 90 per team, according to the papers, and all in this one truck) wanted to practice their English. They asked if I had anywhere to go that day, I said no, so they took me around until 11pm that night.
Apparently it was the celebration of Lord Krishna's birthday. Lord Krishna enjoyed eating gourds so in remembrance of the god each neighborhood strings up a decorated and painted clay pot full of dyed water about 30-40 feet off of street level. Each team drives around all day forming human pyramids so that a person can climb to the top and smash the container, covering all below with dyed water. The yellow shirt they gave me is now purple, blue and red spotted. As I am not experienced in building pyramids, I was in the throng of people surrounding the pyramid who catch the people when they fall. This happened more than half the time though not always the person at the top. The largest pyramid built by the group I was in was the height of 7 people standing. Immediately after the guy broke the pot, the tower collapsed and he was left hanging onto the rope attached to the pot. Apparently this is not uncommon because he was not fazed by hanging onto a thin rope, suspended 100 feet inbetween two buildings 40 feet off the ground. He just curled into a fetal position, put his back to the ground and let go.
At each of the neighborhoods there was a DJ playing loud Indian music and while waiting for their turn to build the tower the teams dance. I was a hot commodity and everyone wanted to dance with me and have me imitate their dance moves. Here, all the men dance with one another and hold hands in the street. It is the same way in Egypt and Jordan, I would like to know more about a possible relation between this, which I do not see in Europe and the US, and conservative cultures which frown upon much mingling between sexes. The female/male disparities are not as pronounced here, though women are predominantly not the workers where I have been, are not the ones socializing in cafes, did not take place in this festival (and were not allowed into the arenas where the main celebrations were), and were not on the public transit I have ridden.
I always get cautious when I am talking about intercultural differences because there is so much more at play than meets the eye. I also am very critical when I hear other people in these types of discussions. Usually I get so critical because there needs to be a specific "disclaimer" that recognizes the boundaries of what one person can know-from experience as well as from study. Additionally, I think the most important aspect of something like varying positions of women in different societies is recognizing similarities, common threads. This is extremely important when making any kind of judgment or opinion, what I mean is, if someone is going to talk about sex inequality in India or Egypt, for example, I think there must be questioning of problems across the world, especially places where people may not see the inequality. This is parallel to something I have experienced when people ask my opinion on "terrorism." Great quote: "war is the terrorism of the rich, whilst terrorism is the war of the poor." The power to define things like terrorism and equality is the power to define right and wrong. From the infinitisemal speck of what I have seen of Indian culture and the miniscule pebble of what I know about Egypt, I see threads of what I have seen in the US. The problem is the same, steps have been made, bigger in some places than others.
Tangent.....sometimes I do not quite know how I get from point A to B in my head. Back to the festivities. I was a hot commodity for talking and dancing. Everyone wanted to practice their English, shake my hand, dance with me, be my best friend among the others. I am quite positive that I shook 2 thousand hands on the day. The vying for my attention was flattering at first but by 8 that evening it had started to wear on me, they were telling me that other people were liars, would get me lost (wouldn't have been hard!), and were telling me to say bad stuff. I had been saying things all day, I really didnt see much harm in it as it was only to other teammates (and of course I had no clue what I was saying). I had been leading the team cheers which I was sure were OK, to the delight of onlookers and the team. But after some people looked insulted at something I was asked to say, I told them no more. They begged, told me it meant all sorts of not bad things. Two guys were begging me really incessantly to say what another told me "means f*** your mother, they are lying to you, come with me I want ask you to say bad things." So I refused to say anything the rest of the night and one of the guys seemed really hurt, he had taken pride earlier in leadign me around.
I don't want it to sound like I am infantilizing these guys. They were mostly 18-30 and normal people it seemed, but when they were dealing with me it felt like I was the god, not Krishna. They all wanted to be the one buying me food, ask me if I needed water, lead me to the place where we would build, etc. It was very flattering, though because of language barriers they really knew very little about me and I very little about them. To me, this means that largely I received this treatment because of my skin color and nationality. Two things which certainly do matter in this world but their utility is usually obscured.
As I said, I paraded around Mumbai all day with these guys, acting as mascot and body catcher. I can't imagine a better way to really see the city. For the final capping ceremony to the festival, we went to a big courtyard of some relatively expensive-looking apartments. There were 8 huge hoses spraying water over around 2 maybe 3 thousand people inside a fenced off area. There was a big stage with lots of important looking people, loud music, and the balconies were covered with onlooking women and children. Outside the fences were non-participating men, women and children. The whole courtyard like other places was ankle deep mud. I danced with the guys on the team, we and other teams formed pyramids then fireworks started going off, the music stopped and a man started talking. A couple guys grabbed me and told me I had to go onstage. I was mildly embarrassed, but not shocked as I had been pretty much anesthetized to shock by all the events of the day. So, I went on the stage, shook hands with a bunch of guys in suits, smiled for a bunch of cameras, listened to them all thank me for coming, of course thanked them back, and I think I was on a film camera though I was a bit frantic and dont remember everything. Then the guy who I take to be in charge of things gave me a bouquet of roses and the microphone. I yelled "bawn badyen!" into it which I think is a cheer for Lord Krishna and the crowd responded "beli kitay!" I was pretty sure that's not an insult and the massive amount of people didnt take it as one. Surreal.
While I was leaving I started handing out the roses to little kids and shaking hands. I was told to stop because the roses are an honor and were for me. The little kids loved them though, they actually understand the festival and why I was given flowers. So the dump truck took me back to close to my hostel, I got a ride on a motor bike another part of the way, and then the guys refused to let me pay for my own cab the rest of the way.
I have so many more thoughts about the night, I would love to have people to talk about it with. I think the reason I am writing so much is because this way I am sharing it with other people in a small way. It would be nice to experience this with others who know me and who I know. It can be exciting meeting new people every day but there is a lot missing from being around people who know you.
The next morning I set off to catch a train south to Goa, a beach town that is flooded with tourists in winter months. Not so many here right now though it is still very pretty. Small town, green with palm trees, sandy beach, beautiful water. Fruit everywhere and it is very very cheap. Today I bought 5 bananas for about 20 cents and a big rice/vegetable meal for 1 dollar. The train ride took 13 hours, I got in around 2:30 am, and wandered around the town with two Danish guys looking for a hostel. Finally after 4 we found a place that was "open," which meant the receptionist woke up when we knocked on the door. Today I went for a long run on the beach, explored the town, finished a book, and took my one set of clothes to the laundry. My clothes did not make it to Mumbai by when I left, so the pair of clothes I have worn the whole trip smelled awful. Especially after the muddy and sweaty festival. Tomorrow I will do some more exploring then take a sleeper train back for two more days in Mumbai. Then a flight to Istanbul and from there to Damascus by bus and train.
I hope this letter is not riddled with mistakes, I have to go catch a sunset. I am thinking about home and probably all of you who are reading this. Send me emails, let me know how your lives are going!
Kit
Monday, August 25, 2008
2 days in Hong Kong
Obviously not enough to see the place. It was originally supposed to only be a 20 hour layover, but fortuitous weather delayed my flight. I got into Hong Kong at 6:30pm and my flight was not until 12:45pm the next day. Enough time to go explore the city, so I took the train, found a walking tour map and set out. I knew the last train to the airport was at 1:00am but was not sure whether I would want to take it back. I explored the Central and Western districts of the city, saw some of the main sights (church, harbor, tall buildings, escalator) and explored a little bit of a residential area near the top of the mountain the city is built on. The escalator is definitely the coolest public transportation I have ever seen, and its free!
The city is built on a mountain and many people live at the top and work at the bottom. To cut down on traffic the city built the escalator, which goes down the mountain during the morning rush hour and then back up the rest of the day. Alongside it is what I take to be the hip social scene, with lots of bars and restaurants. People seemed very friendly to say hello and talk for a minute but after that were involved in other things and did not want to talk to the stinky backpacker.
I do actually smell terrible, even worse now because of my adventures in India. I cannot find a laundry, there is one here but is closed because the owner is sick. Also, since the airline has temporarily lost my bag, I cannot even change my socks and underwear.
I missed the 1am train and did not want to pay for a room for only 5 hours, so I slept on a bench under the escalator. I was woken up numerous times by street cleaners and trash collectors, then woke up at 7:30, explored for another 2 hours, ate breakfast and went to the airport. My flight was cancelled and I was put on one the next day because there was a typhoon just off the coast of Hong Kong. I found a hostel for that night (would've been wet!) and immediately went to it. Once I got there I met 2 groups of 2 Germans, a Hong Kong/British guy, 2 Italians and some New Zealanders. 2 of the Germans and the Italians and I went out to experience the storm, we went and sat down by the harbor for a few hours but were all disappointed as it seems the worst of the storm missed where we were. The papers the next day showed a lot of wreckage but it must have been somewhere not near us. What we saw was maybe 20-30mph winds, decent waves, and rain. Nothing spectacular.
Supposedly the danger in exploring during a typhoon is illegally hung signs which may fall and the bamboo scaffolding falling. I thought it looked pretty unsafe even in calm weather. I had more flight trouble leaving Hong Kong but eventually got to Mumbai, India. I have more to write about my first day in Mumbai, an unbelievable adventure, and will post again soon. I look forward to your comments, I hope I did not make many mistakes in my 2 posts, I have not proofread them!
Kit
The city is built on a mountain and many people live at the top and work at the bottom. To cut down on traffic the city built the escalator, which goes down the mountain during the morning rush hour and then back up the rest of the day. Alongside it is what I take to be the hip social scene, with lots of bars and restaurants. People seemed very friendly to say hello and talk for a minute but after that were involved in other things and did not want to talk to the stinky backpacker.
I do actually smell terrible, even worse now because of my adventures in India. I cannot find a laundry, there is one here but is closed because the owner is sick. Also, since the airline has temporarily lost my bag, I cannot even change my socks and underwear.
I missed the 1am train and did not want to pay for a room for only 5 hours, so I slept on a bench under the escalator. I was woken up numerous times by street cleaners and trash collectors, then woke up at 7:30, explored for another 2 hours, ate breakfast and went to the airport. My flight was cancelled and I was put on one the next day because there was a typhoon just off the coast of Hong Kong. I found a hostel for that night (would've been wet!) and immediately went to it. Once I got there I met 2 groups of 2 Germans, a Hong Kong/British guy, 2 Italians and some New Zealanders. 2 of the Germans and the Italians and I went out to experience the storm, we went and sat down by the harbor for a few hours but were all disappointed as it seems the worst of the storm missed where we were. The papers the next day showed a lot of wreckage but it must have been somewhere not near us. What we saw was maybe 20-30mph winds, decent waves, and rain. Nothing spectacular.
Supposedly the danger in exploring during a typhoon is illegally hung signs which may fall and the bamboo scaffolding falling. I thought it looked pretty unsafe even in calm weather. I had more flight trouble leaving Hong Kong but eventually got to Mumbai, India. I have more to write about my first day in Mumbai, an unbelievable adventure, and will post again soon. I look forward to your comments, I hope I did not make many mistakes in my 2 posts, I have not proofread them!
Kit
My time in Mongolia
I am bad at writing on this thing. After Tokyo, Japan, I spent a week in Mongolia then 2 days in Hong Kong and am now have been in India for 2 and a half days. I am moving quickly, doing my best to explore the cities and countryside of the places I rush through. I am trying to get a feel of what a place is like, a brief glance at fundamental differences between my life and another person's. Traveling, for me, is ultimately introspective despite the new places and new (though brief) friends.
While in Mongolia, I spent a few days exploring the capitol city Ulan Bator. Usually this is just a jumping off point for backpackers on their way to the wild areas of the country. I arrived not knowing where I planned to go, but knowing that I certainly would not see much of the country as domestic transportation is slow through the almost entirely rural country. As has happened 3 times now, I have timed my travel and arrived just in time for unique opportunities. Immediately when I got into Ulan Bator, their Judo olympian won the country's first gold medal ever. Everyone was out in the streets honking and screaming, a nice welcome I suppose. I then explored for one day, met a group of French guys and they invited me to join them on their 3 day camping trip to the west of the capitol. If any of you have a map, we went west to Tsetserleg, then south to Arvaikheer and then back to Ulan Bator. We camped in the steppe which covers most of the country, went to a mountain Buddhist temple, visited remote yurts, rode horses, and saw 2 incredible sunsets.
Even in the sprawling and dirty capitol city, nomadic life has still kept its grip on the population. Congregations of the traditional houses are intermixed with the slums on the outskirts of the city and traditional food is everywhere. Certainly my favorite was the airag (pronounced air-egg) which is fermented mare's milk. The alcoholic content ranges on which time of day it is drank, but it not very high. It tastes kind of like thin sour milk. I also ate some meat dishes- mutton, beef, chicken and had yak yogurt.
Though the countryside is beautiful, Ulan Bator interested me far more because of the politics of the country. Estimates range from the city containing between 30 and 80 percent of the country's population. Regardless it is undoubtedly the seat of urbanization, capitalism, consumption, westernization, environmentalism, and a host of other ism's in Mongolia. To me, the issues regarding this country seemed so much less obscured than in anywhere I had ever been; quite possibly because there are only 3.6 million people in the country.
I had some terrific discussions with people about the things we observed and will remember the country most vividly because of how directly the issues are represented in everyday life. One especially interesting thing about the country is that even in the remote areas, nowhere near anything resembling a city, people have electricity, tv's, and cell phones. These are powered by solar panels which the communist Revolutionary Party has distributed. Some say vote buying, some say government at work. It blew my mind the first time I saw this though, we had driven a full day on mostly dirt roads and we stopped to ask these people if we could camp near where their herd of goats, sheep and horses were grazing. They were watching a DVD music video while drying goat meat, fermenting milk and weaving rope from hair. What a clash it seemed like to me!
Mongolia is a very wild country and thus attracts very interesting and different people. Two Dutch guys had driven to Beijing from Amsterdam through Central Asia, two British had spent 6 months in India riding mopeds and traveled by train through central Asia to Mongolia. It was nice to meet so many people but one day friendships and one night conversations before people move on do not mollify loneliness. I am looking forward to Syria and hearing from all of you.
Next Hong Kong, I will split this up for easier reading.
While in Mongolia, I spent a few days exploring the capitol city Ulan Bator. Usually this is just a jumping off point for backpackers on their way to the wild areas of the country. I arrived not knowing where I planned to go, but knowing that I certainly would not see much of the country as domestic transportation is slow through the almost entirely rural country. As has happened 3 times now, I have timed my travel and arrived just in time for unique opportunities. Immediately when I got into Ulan Bator, their Judo olympian won the country's first gold medal ever. Everyone was out in the streets honking and screaming, a nice welcome I suppose. I then explored for one day, met a group of French guys and they invited me to join them on their 3 day camping trip to the west of the capitol. If any of you have a map, we went west to Tsetserleg, then south to Arvaikheer and then back to Ulan Bator. We camped in the steppe which covers most of the country, went to a mountain Buddhist temple, visited remote yurts, rode horses, and saw 2 incredible sunsets.
Even in the sprawling and dirty capitol city, nomadic life has still kept its grip on the population. Congregations of the traditional houses are intermixed with the slums on the outskirts of the city and traditional food is everywhere. Certainly my favorite was the airag (pronounced air-egg) which is fermented mare's milk. The alcoholic content ranges on which time of day it is drank, but it not very high. It tastes kind of like thin sour milk. I also ate some meat dishes- mutton, beef, chicken and had yak yogurt.
Though the countryside is beautiful, Ulan Bator interested me far more because of the politics of the country. Estimates range from the city containing between 30 and 80 percent of the country's population. Regardless it is undoubtedly the seat of urbanization, capitalism, consumption, westernization, environmentalism, and a host of other ism's in Mongolia. To me, the issues regarding this country seemed so much less obscured than in anywhere I had ever been; quite possibly because there are only 3.6 million people in the country.
I had some terrific discussions with people about the things we observed and will remember the country most vividly because of how directly the issues are represented in everyday life. One especially interesting thing about the country is that even in the remote areas, nowhere near anything resembling a city, people have electricity, tv's, and cell phones. These are powered by solar panels which the communist Revolutionary Party has distributed. Some say vote buying, some say government at work. It blew my mind the first time I saw this though, we had driven a full day on mostly dirt roads and we stopped to ask these people if we could camp near where their herd of goats, sheep and horses were grazing. They were watching a DVD music video while drying goat meat, fermenting milk and weaving rope from hair. What a clash it seemed like to me!
Mongolia is a very wild country and thus attracts very interesting and different people. Two Dutch guys had driven to Beijing from Amsterdam through Central Asia, two British had spent 6 months in India riding mopeds and traveled by train through central Asia to Mongolia. It was nice to meet so many people but one day friendships and one night conversations before people move on do not mollify loneliness. I am looking forward to Syria and hearing from all of you.
Next Hong Kong, I will split this up for easier reading.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tokyo
Hi everyone exclamation point
I cant figure out everything on this keyboard, sorry for the mistakes. I am in Tokyo on a very short stay and will be leaving tomorrow morning. I got lost a bit yesterday trying to navigate the massive subway system but made it to my small ａｎｄ quite cool hostel. I was in a 20 person dorm room where each mattress was boxed in by plywood with small sliding doors. Not for claustrophobic people. I went out to a Japanese restaurant with some other people from the hostel who have been here for 3 months working at a kids summer camp. I wasnt very hungry but I made sure to try everything: fried chicken cartilage, pregnant fish, kebabs, and rice wrapped in bacon.
i went back to the hostel to sleep even though their offer to sing karaoke all night was enticing. i only have one full day here and needed some rest to walk all day. i woke up today at 6 and went to an enormous fish market which im not sure i quite found. it didnt look like what i imagined it would so i am thinking i only found the back of it. basically it was a giant outdoor warehouse with people driving little carts stacked with fish. there was no one walking around buying anything. ｉ ａｌｓｏ ｎｏｔｉｃｅｄ ｆｌｏｒｉｄａ ｏｒａｎｇｅｓ ａｎｄ ｃａｌｉｆｏｒｎｉａ ｂｅｒｒｉｅｓ． since then i have been wandering, taking a few subways but mostly walking. for the rest of the day i am going to explore another area with lots of big buildings, then maybe take the subway to the end of the line and see if i can notice anything different.
tokyo is an enormous city with no real center. it would be nice to have more time here to explore and actually get to ‘know‘ it rather than simply have observed a little of life here. however, it is more expensive than i can afford and i am excited to move on. one thing that i have thought about a bit as i wander is the incredible amount of advertising. i cant accurately call it ａ saturation but it is far more than i remember seeing anywhere else. so i was thinking about what advertising does to people and especially advertising to such a degree. the way i see it, advertising isolates the individual. the individual has buying power and can be targeted as a potential consumer. this potential consumer can buy different images ａｎｄ personalities． ａｄｖｅｒｔｉｓｉｎｇ ｓｅｌｌｓ ｓｐｅｃｔａｃｌｅｓ ｏｆ ｆｕｎ， ｉｎｄｉｖｉｄｕａｌｉｔｙ， ｐｏｐｕｌａｒｉｔｙ， ｃｏｍｐａｎｉｏｎｓｈｉｐ， ｅｔｃ． ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈａｎ ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓ ｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｓ．
as i walked i was thinking about whether there is a connection between the massive amount of advertising, not just in japan, and the overwhelming majority of people here who were walking alone. i know that there is not a correlation this simple, but i thought about whether the ｓｙｓｔｅｍｉｃ pursuit of certain economic ends, as in more and newer material goods, necessitates or inevitably leads to the rushed and individualistically soｌitary ｌｉｆｅｓｔｙｌｅ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏｔｉｃｅｄ ｓｏ ｍａｎｙ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｌｉｖｉｎｇ．
ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｉｓ， ｂｕｔ Ｉ ａｍ ｇｏｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｇｏ ｅｘｐｌｏｒｅ ｍｏｒｅ ａｓ ｍｙ ｔｉｍｅ ｉｓ ｒｕｎｎｉｎｇ short ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｉ ｃａｔｃｈ ａ ｔｒａｉｎ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ａｉｒｐｏｒｔ． Ｉ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔｓ ｆｒｏｍ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ， ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ ｆｏｒ ｒｅａｄｉｎｇ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ｓａｙ ｅｘｃｌａｍａｔｉｏｎ ｐｏｉｎｔ．
Ｋｉｔ
I cant figure out everything on this keyboard, sorry for the mistakes. I am in Tokyo on a very short stay and will be leaving tomorrow morning. I got lost a bit yesterday trying to navigate the massive subway system but made it to my small ａｎｄ quite cool hostel. I was in a 20 person dorm room where each mattress was boxed in by plywood with small sliding doors. Not for claustrophobic people. I went out to a Japanese restaurant with some other people from the hostel who have been here for 3 months working at a kids summer camp. I wasnt very hungry but I made sure to try everything: fried chicken cartilage, pregnant fish, kebabs, and rice wrapped in bacon.
i went back to the hostel to sleep even though their offer to sing karaoke all night was enticing. i only have one full day here and needed some rest to walk all day. i woke up today at 6 and went to an enormous fish market which im not sure i quite found. it didnt look like what i imagined it would so i am thinking i only found the back of it. basically it was a giant outdoor warehouse with people driving little carts stacked with fish. there was no one walking around buying anything. ｉ ａｌｓｏ ｎｏｔｉｃｅｄ ｆｌｏｒｉｄａ ｏｒａｎｇｅｓ ａｎｄ ｃａｌｉｆｏｒｎｉａ ｂｅｒｒｉｅｓ． since then i have been wandering, taking a few subways but mostly walking. for the rest of the day i am going to explore another area with lots of big buildings, then maybe take the subway to the end of the line and see if i can notice anything different.
tokyo is an enormous city with no real center. it would be nice to have more time here to explore and actually get to ‘know‘ it rather than simply have observed a little of life here. however, it is more expensive than i can afford and i am excited to move on. one thing that i have thought about a bit as i wander is the incredible amount of advertising. i cant accurately call it ａ saturation but it is far more than i remember seeing anywhere else. so i was thinking about what advertising does to people and especially advertising to such a degree. the way i see it, advertising isolates the individual. the individual has buying power and can be targeted as a potential consumer. this potential consumer can buy different images ａｎｄ personalities． ａｄｖｅｒｔｉｓｉｎｇ ｓｅｌｌｓ ｓｐｅｃｔａｃｌｅｓ ｏｆ ｆｕｎ， ｉｎｄｉｖｉｄｕａｌｉｔｙ， ｐｏｐｕｌａｒｉｔｙ， ｃｏｍｐａｎｉｏｎｓｈｉｐ， ｅｔｃ． ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈａｎ ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓ ｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｓ．
as i walked i was thinking about whether there is a connection between the massive amount of advertising, not just in japan, and the overwhelming majority of people here who were walking alone. i know that there is not a correlation this simple, but i thought about whether the ｓｙｓｔｅｍｉｃ pursuit of certain economic ends, as in more and newer material goods, necessitates or inevitably leads to the rushed and individualistically soｌitary ｌｉｆｅｓｔｙｌｅ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏｔｉｃｅｄ ｓｏ ｍａｎｙ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｌｉｖｉｎｇ．
ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｉｓ， ｂｕｔ Ｉ ａｍ ｇｏｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｇｏ ｅｘｐｌｏｒｅ ｍｏｒｅ ａｓ ｍｙ ｔｉｍｅ ｉｓ ｒｕｎｎｉｎｇ short ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｉ ｃａｔｃｈ ａ ｔｒａｉｎ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ａｉｒｐｏｒｔ． Ｉ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔｓ ｆｒｏｍ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ， ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ ｆｏｒ ｒｅａｄｉｎｇ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ｓａｙ ｅｘｃｌａｍａｔｉｏｎ ｐｏｉｎｔ．
Ｋｉｔ
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