Travel Philosophy – Page 3

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review, Travel Philosophy tagged asia, beaches, beer, guesthouse, holidays, malaysia, religion, travel

Paradise Muddled — Losing and Finding My Place in the World

If there’s one thing life is exceedingly good at it’s being in flux. Change is constant. When on the road, change is more omnipresent than going through the routine of life at home. True, holidays, birthday, weekends, all of these break up the mundane, but when you’re existing in a new city, country, and timezone on a rotating basis you’re faced with change in a new sort of way. While often positive, change can throw you into sadness when you were happy with the ways things were or refresh you when you’re so f’ing done.

It’s been just under three months of straight traveling and, I’ve got to say, I’m tired. It’s not from the constant motion, that is something that I strangly embrace better than sitting idly. I’m a mover, not a sitter. I’m simply tired of being away from home. The holidays are hard for everyone, whether you’re a fan of your family or trying to find the first ticket out of town. For me, I’m missing the normalcy this time of year brings. Cookies, christmas trees, holiday parties, wrapping presents, silly sweaters, they’re all reasons to love December. Being without them this year means Jason and I will be most likely losing weight during December instead of gaining it. There’s a plus!

This is my first year away from home during the holidays and second year without my dad, ever. His birthday is New Year’s Eve, so the holidays were even more special to me because of this. I loved having Lauer’s cake with him before heading out for a night with my friends. I can’t describe the guilt I feel for being away from my mom right now. The importance of family is even more greatly magnified in it’s absence. Being away feels unnatural. No matter where in the world I am I’d feel this way, so Malaysia or otherwise, I should be home for the holidays.

The irony in all this is, the last place we stayed was emphatically our favorite thus far in terms of feeling homey. Langkawi, Malaysia, had so much to offer that extended beyond the food and beaches. In Langkawi, we met people that we really connected with. We made six(!!) new friends at our guesthouse! More than anywhere else we’ve been, for certain. These are folks that we are looking forward to keeping in touch with and who are sharing journeys much like ours. The guesthouse itself was really conducive to people meeting and spending time in the commons area. Beers from the vending machine were $.50 (best price on the island!) and there was coffee, tea, and food on demand 24/7. So, you could basically stay up all night drinking and making friends, which we did on three separate occasions, and had an amazing time doing it.

One of the couples we met are world travelers from Britain who are going from Southeast Asia to Asia to South America on a year long journey. They’re our age, which was pretty refreshing when most of the folks we’d met thus far were in their early twenties. Nothing wrong with early twenties people! I have made plenty of friends 10 years younger than me and love the general positivity and freshness of that age, but meeting people our age on their “gap year” was a welcome surprise. We are so grateful that we met you all Hannah, Paul, Charlie, Aggy, Kate, and Mike Willy Holder! I’m sorry we didn’t get a few pictures together! <3 <3 <3

Beyond the people, although it’s quite difficult to go beyond people, Langkawi was small enough for us to feel comfortable renting our first motorscooter while big enough to give us a variety of activities. Going to the beach everyday is enough, but there was far more than available. I can tell you immediately from getting to the guesthouse I thought, “I wish we had booked another week.” Malaysia has very high vice taxes, because it’s a muslim country and muslims don’t drink, so while the true price of alcohol is rather cheap here the tax is exorbitantly high. Langkawi is a duty free city, meaning it’s tax exempt. If tax wasn’t included our beers would cost $.50. Today, at the store, the beers priced at about 2.00 each, or $12 for a 6 pack of crappy beer. This was the same thing we found all over Malaysia. Even if a bar or store wants to charge less they can’t due to tax regulations.

Prior to Langkawi we spent one week in Penang, or colonially known as Georgetown, another tropical island in Malaysia, but without the remote and extensive beaches. It was more of a city with resorts dotting the coastline that weren’t easy to get to, so we mostly stuck with the city center. Penang is hip. The street art is rich and abundant. You can tell they encourage creativity here. Another huge plus, this place had the best Indian food I’ve ever had! Truth be told, I wish I had just eaten Indian food the whole time I was there because I foolishly thought I’d find more Indian food in Kuching and Langkawi and have yet to find the right stuff. Nothing beats fresh, properly cooked naan bread. Nothing! And this stuff was cheap. I’m taking under $2 per meal. We had Indian food for Thanksgiving, because I’m not a huge fan of turkey anyway and, as they say, when in Malaysia!

Before Penang we were in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, or KL locally. KL was a true melting pot of the poorer, former Malaysia and the rich capitalism that’s coming to take hold. The Petronas Towers were the world’s tallest building for a few years and are still a symbol of progress in Malaysia. There is no qualm here in their embrace of fossil fuels. They love dinosaurs and have erected statues of oil molecules and have dino parks throughout the city. Corporate sponsorship is not hidden nor frowned upon like it is in the US. Petronas actually means Petroleum in Malaysian, so their state capital’s symbol to the world is the Petroleum Towers. To each their own.

Perhaps this embrace of petroleum is the reason why walking was fairly dreadful in KL. The city is not intentionally built for pedestrians. We were at the central transit station trying to get to the closely located major tourist destination, the botanical gardens, and it took us over 30 minutes to walk what should have taken us under 10. That’s because there is no proper civil engineering in KL and roads are basically thrown on a map wherever they’ll fit, which forces you to take taxi’s. We are not great taxi takers, we would rather slug through a stupidly difficult walk instead of succumbing to the several dollar charge that is an unnecessary taxi ride in our minds. So, we slugged and dangerously dodged cars and were pretty unhappy with the structure of KL.

On the bright side, the Batu Caves, just outside of KL, were the first place either of us had encountered wild monkeys and provided a great get away from the city. After about an hour on their subway we arrived to find history, beauty, and some interesting creatures surrounding us. The caves are 400 million years old and the Hindu temples here were originally built up in 1891. The main golden Murugan statue that greets you at the base of the 300ish steps is 140 ft tall. During our visit Murugan was under construction, but c’est la vie. Upon summiting the cave entrance we were handed a bucket of rocks, each, as our way of “paying” for entry. This wasn’t necessarily required, but the construction worker at the base of the caves said, “You been here before? No? You take this”. So, we walked up 300 steps with a bucket of rocks! Builds character!

Today, in Kuching, we’re laying low. This would seem like a great thing for me right now and my weary traveling bones, but in fact it’s making me a little crazy. We planned it this way, but I don’t sit idly well. Jason, on the other hand, is a fantastic sleeper and sitter. He doesn’t mind days in front of the computer, coding or watching movies. I panged with guilt and frustration over this, whether at home or away, but especially during the most delicate time of year that is the holidays. So, since we arrived, I’ve read one short book and am about 1/3rd of the way through a 2nd along with beginning French lessons via an app again. I might pick up on German too, what the hell! While the guesthouse isn’t perfect it’s great for the price ($16.50 per night in total) and the staff are immensely kind to us.

Since I was a child I learned about Borneo and filed it in the, “I’ll never get to go there” category. Well, I’m here, Kuching is on Borneo, the oldest rainforest in the world and one of the most biologically diverse places that exists. Granted, we’ve seen zero biodiversity as of yet, being in the little city of Kuching, but it’s our goal to go out and explore the rainforest very soon. We hope to see some hornbills and proboscis monkeys in person, while avoiding alligators and vipers, oh my! But, while we’re not jungle trekking, we’ll be laying the lowest we’ll have been this entire trip and having lazy days walking around the quaint waterfront, talking to the guesthouse staff, and generally relaxing. Maybe it’s a good time to adjust some habits, pick up some new ones, or let go of old ones that don’t serve us any longer. Resolution time is coming!

Miss you all! I am thinking of you during the holidays. The holidays don’t mean a thing if it’s not for your friends and family that make them special. I love you and thank you for making my life special and meaningful.

6 Oct

By Jen Hawse on Asia, Travel Philosophy, Uncategorized tagged asia, flying, food, food porn, japan, kyoto, nintendo, osaka, taipai, taiwan, tokyo, travel

The Rising Sun Has Set: Departing Japan

For those following along at home, here are some stats about our journey. We’ve been traveling now for 23 days and thus far we’ve had:

7 Accommodation locations
5 Cities visited
5 Flights
5 Museum visits
3 Countries visited (not counting China since we just had a layover there)
2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited
2 Typhoons missed, but several days of rain
2 Illnesses for Jen
1 Checked bag, everything else has been carry on

Travelling for the long term isn’t like going on a week long vacation. When you’re on a quick vacation you pack whatever you want, spend money like it’s no big thing, and generally just live it up hard seeing the sites, eating and drinking, and having fun. At least, I do! But, this long term travel requires a much more measured pace when possible and much more planning to save money along all available points while also trying to get the most out of every location you visit. Talk about balance!

Yesterday, we flew in from Japan after two weeks there. We visited three major cities, Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Each city has it’s own history and personality, along with pleasure and pain points. Getting to Tokyo itself was a bit of a struggle. Our flight was delayed by a few hours from Seoul and the train ride itself from Narita airport to Tokyo took 80 minutes. We had thought we’d arrive around 8:00 p.m., but it was nearly 11:00 p.m. when we got to the AirBnB. The directions we had weren’t “enter this address and walk there via Google maps”. It was a bit more complex than that. Thank goodness we printed out the four page picture directions our host provided!

When we finally made it, dropped our stuff, decided we should eat, and headed out for the night it was nearly midnight. Outside, there was a construction crew still working on a tall building. We were staying in the busiest nightlight district in the city, Shinjuku, so that was quite a trip to see not only this entire neighborhood electric and drunk and bright as day at midnight on a Wednesday, but a construction crew soldering and hammering and working their butts off in the middle of the night. First Japanese culture shock.

My camera phone can't capture the madness — My camera phone can’t capture the madness

Tokyo itself was a bit much for Jason and I, we have to admit. While we’re so glad we went, it was like placing NYC on top of NYC and then in some places putting another NYC on top of that. Overwhelming is the right word, expensive is another good one, delicious works too, but crowded is probably most appropriate. Every shot I took that tried to capture the scope of people failed. 13.4 million people live in Tokyo and over 19 million tourists visit Japan each year, many going to the capital to see the craziness of Tokyo themselves.

Overwhelming, but well worth it. Going to the world famous fish market, navigating the swarms, trying free samples of who knows what, and getting a big platter of the best sushi we could find was a memory we won’t soon forget. Neither is eating lean to mid to fatty tuna from a street vendor for a few dollars that melted in your mouth and required not a drop of wasabi or soy. Heaven. Getting a vending machine beer was a hit too! Bowls upon bowls of ramen will keep swimming in our minds for months to come. I hadn’t eaten much ramen before. Everyone’s had their share of Cup Noodles in the leaner times, but true Japanese style fresh ramen is different and something I began to crave after a while. One of the chain restaurants has a sign that says, “Try three times then you’re addicted!” and, they’re right! By the end I could have eaten ramen every day and will probably carry that love with me for a long time coming.

Navigating Tokyo is an art. It takes practice. They have ticket attendants at automated machines that help poor tourists such as ourselves find the right line and pay the proper fees. There are three organizations that operate lines in Tokyo, so it’s not one integrated subway system like we would have anywhere else. If you’re on the JR line you can’t just transfer to the IC line without getting off, going out, getting a new ticket, then going back in again. It’s a hassle. There are 158 transit lines in Tokyo and, according to Wikipedia, “40 million passengers use the rail system daily at 14.6 billion annually”. We stayed in Shinjuku, and again according to Wikipedia, ” Shinjuku Station is the busiest train station in the world by passenger throughput.” If you’re going to dive in, DIVE DEEP!

After a week in Tokyo we were ready to put some breaks on the madness and go to a calmer place, Kyoto. We jumped on the plane and headed first to Osaka, the second largest municipal city in Japan and still on the mainland. It was a 2 hour flight, nothing too crazy, and we fairly quickly made it to our AirBnB for the night. This place was hilariously small. Like, there was no floor space at all. The only floor space we had was in the bathroom and right at the entryway. The bed took up the entire room, and it was a double. People live here! People cook in these apartments and they have physical belongings and even raise children. They spend their lives in apartments that we’d call closets. Physical space constraints might be tight in NYC, but I can’t imagine they’re near what this was in Osaka. It was only one night, but it was illuminating to see how people there live.

Osaka is fun, hip, and artsy. We had two nights in there, sandwiching our Kyoto trip, and on our second night we stayed in a capsule hotel in Little America. I don’t know if it was actually called that, or just embodied it with the pint sized Statue of Liberty on top of a tall building, rap music, and endless streets filled with American fashion and plethora of English, but it felt like Little America. Unfortunately, I was suffering from a bout of traveler’s diarrhea, something I am afraid is about to become far more common with me, and so I had a pretty shitty time, no pun actually needed.

The capsule hotel was something I really wanted to check off our list. It’s this crazy concept where you sleep in shipping container sized room with people on all sides of you. It’s strictly in Asia, as far as I know, and I figured one night to see what all the hype is about should be fun. If I’d know I was going to be ill I’d have went for a real hotel, but you can’t predict the future. Regardless, it reminded me of staying in a hostel, only a little nicer actually. You had your own space and walls at least. In a hostel it’s bunks and curtains if you’re lucky. Much like a hostel, the women above me was loud and her alarm wouldn’t stop beeping at 5:30 in the morning. We were getting up at 7:00 so… not feeling well + annoying person above + having to catch a train to a flight = bad night’s sleep. Almost two days later and I’m still not fully recovered, but feeling much better than before at least!

Ground control to Major Tom. In the capsule hotel (double waters for the belly) in my Japanese pj’s.

Last location update is for Kyoto, the culture capital of Japan. Kyoto is temple town. There are 1,600 + temples in the city, in fact. Kyoto is shrines on every corner. It’s bamboo forests and endless orange gates. It’s hip and artsy, but not as stuck up as Tokyo. It’s peaceful while still being rather touristy. Our AirBnB in Kyoto was one of my favorites. We had sleeping mats instead of a bed, so every night we pulled down the mats and put them back in the morning to open the room up. There were no chairs in the apartment, just floor cushions that you put on legless chair seats so you could sit back. We had a kitchen, which we used to make PBJ for breakfast most of the week, and free coffee and tea, which helped us save money. There was no burner, so we couldn’t cook, but we didn’t expect to. The shower was big enough to have a curtain! What voodoo! The room felt homey and the city, the former capital of Japan (To-Kyo, Kyo-To), was lush with green.

img_20161002_180550785 — Fushimi Inari Taisha first temple lite up at night

We loved Fushimi Inari-taisha, the golden orange arch walk way leading up a mountain to a city vista. Once you get past the hoard of visitors in the beginning it’s quiet and less crowded and full of kitties! Many kitties live on the mountain, a happy surprise. Keeping with the animal theme this particular area has dozens of fox sculptures, who are regarded as messengers. Foxes holding scrolls and keys are found throughout the shrine and look mischiefly adorable.

One our last full day we went to the bamboo forest Arashiyama for a rainy walk amongst the tall, green stalks. I was feeling poorly so it was very difficult to get me motivated to move, but I’m glad we went. The sunset alone was worth the effort. If we’d arrived earlier we’d have done more, but the thing about long term travel is you do what you can, when you can, and you don’t push yourself to the limit because you are always moving and you need to preserve yourself while doing the best you can to do it all.

Today, we’re in Taiwan, a place I was feeling enamored with prior to our arrival and now am striking less so. It’s dirty. I know I’m going to see dirtier places soon, but this is the dirtiest place I’ve ever been. Last night we went to a market that smelled of very fresh sewage. Mix that with garlic, fish, and general rubbage and that’s been Taipei so far. I’m very nose sensitive, plus stomach is still crampy, so it’s taking some getting used to. I’m positive we’re going to find the bright side of this island. We’ll discover the places I know exist from my studies. But, for today, we’re resting up, getting my stomach back in order, and doing laundry (something else you do on long term trips!). Then, later on, we’ll hit another night market and wish for the best!

Sayounara for now, my friends!

Did you know, Nintendo wa founded in and still operates in Kyoto. It's over 100 years old. — Did you know, Nintendo wa founded in and still operates in Kyoto. It’s over 100 years old.

By Jen Hawse on Travel Philosophy

Turkey: That Bird Has Flown

When we first started planning our trip the #1 place in the whole world I wanted to visit was Istanbul. Why? Have you seen pictures of Istanbul?! It’s like holding up a multicolored jewel up to the light. It sparkles and dances with brilliant radiance. It shimmers in the sunshine. Tilt it to the left and it’s colors have changed from green to gold. Tilt it to the right and the gold is now blue and purple. The depths of beauty derived from looking in keep you wanting to more deeply explore.

Cultural intersections are my favorite places in the world. The seashores of religious, racial, and national identities, washing together, creating a swirling mecca of food and fun. Biodiversity is important in our environment, it keeps things in check. Cultural diversity is important in our human experience, it shows us we’re not homogenous and yet we’re all still just people. New Orleans is one of my favorite examples of this. French Creole fused with Canadian, American Indian, and Vietnamese influences make for some of the most fun experiences and best tasting food in America. Turkey has these characteristics in spades.

If you’re a news junky, like myself, you’re well aware that Turkey is going through a little bit of a tummy ache right now, so to speak. They’re feeling crampy and downtrodden and flushing their system. At writing, 50,000 people have been fired throughout Turkey for coup sympathizing. They’re stripping judges, university leaders, teachers, and police of their livelihoods. 265 people died in the coup itself. The once vibrant democracy is feeling more and more like a dictatorship every day and there’s no foreseeable end in sight.

For our safety we will skip Turkey, even though we wouldn’t have arrived until March or April of 2017. By then, I fear the situation will be much worse and the Syrian refugee crisis will have taken an even greater toll on the country. The refugee crisis will continue to afflict Europe as well, and we’ll have to closely monitor the situation on the ground to see if it’s safe to travel throughout the destinations we’ve predetermined. Regardless, we’re out of the country for 330 days, lest we face a big fine, so we’ll figure it out somehow.

One day, I’d love to visit Istanbul and stare into the shimmering jewel that is that beautiful land. For now, we’ll watch and pray from a distance.