Jen Goes Rogue – Page 7 – Travel wide, but not to hide.

By Jen Hawse on Politics tagged home, hope, hugs, love, Politics, progress, reaction, US Election

Politics Unusual — Riding the Election Rollercoaster Overseas

In 2008, I was abroad in Europe when the economic crisis began. There, unlike where I am now, newspapers were in English and the headlines all told of the terror that was to come. We were shocked. The story being told was that our financial system was a farce, predicated on lies, conceived out of greed, and created to destroy the middle class. While some lost fortunes overnight many didn’t yet know how horrifying the results would end up being for Americans or the world at large. What we did know is that the world was watching us and they were just as afraid as we were.

A similar storyline is being played out today. The world is watching us and they are also afraid. Germany’s deputy chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, said: “Trump is the trailblazer of a new authoritarian and chauvinist international movement. … They want a rollback to the bad old times in which women belonged by the stove or in bed, gays in jail and unions at best at the side table. And he who doesn’t keep his mouth shut gets publicly bashed.”

Watching the election results on Wednesday morning was a stressful, tearful, and draining event. Many of you woke up to the news, having probably some inkling that upset may be coming, but not enough evidence to be sure, so better sleep and find out later. What a waking nightmare. The polls were wrong, weren’t they? Do you know why? It’s in part because no one wants to be called a racist, bigoted, misogynist so they just lied and said they weren’t voting for Trump. Simple as that. The polls also seemed to ignore the great echo chamber that we live in. Never did I know how much reverberation existed around my own inner circle until now, but it’s clear that since nearly every news outlet I follow and Facebook friend I have called it for Hillary that we have no clue what’s happening with the center of America. That, my friends, is a shame.

In the coming days and weeks more analysis will reveal exactly what happened and why Trump was able to secure a path to victory. As we digest this, and mourn for the devastating man that is now going to be our president, it’s important to remember a few things:

We’re in this together. Outside of my few Trump supporting family members, the rest of you feel like everything has fallen apart and the country has been set ablaze. You feel confused as to how so many people could be so stupid/selfish/careless/ignorant. You feel scared of what’s going to happen in the coming months, not just for yourselves, but also for those who aren’t white straight males and who could very well face real physical violence over emboldened extremists. You’re unsure how a total mandate for Republicans is going to look for human rights for all parties of government. All fair points. I’m scared too! But, remember, we’re feeling this together. You are not alone in your feelings.
Blaming won’t fix this. Several of you won’t like me saying this, but it’s pretty well accepted that Clinton wasn’t actually a great candidate to begin with. That was made abundantly clear when the Dems didn’t come out to vote for her in the numbers needed to defeat Trump. Need proof, see the chart below, it’s right there. I’m not blaming anyone for this, but I’m saying Clinton’s lack of appeal meant she just couldn’t rally support. It didn’t help that she actively pushed for Trump to be the nominee, but that’s another Wikileaked email story. In the end, people preferred the change making types they saw in Bernie and Trump over the status quo of Clinton, and they won, so you can’t really blame them either. Playing the blame game keeps you distracted and unless you’re using it to figure out what needs to happen to fix this for next time you are only hurting yourself.
Change doesn’t make itself. There are some congratulations to be made for the Trump supporters and voters, they made it happen. Their candidate prevailed against everyone’s expectations except their own. They did it. Now, if you don’t like that it seems to me the best thing we can do is take a page out of their books and start making some changes ourselves. Since Republicans have the government tied up for at least another two years, and government is a slow and arduous way to make progress anyway, I think working on a community level to ensure progressive issues are heard and supported is our best hope. Easy for me to say, I’m all the way around the world! But, there’s work all of us can do, big and small, in the streets and online to move us forward. Volunteering with organizations that are doing great work already matters. If legislation comes through that we don’t agree then protest is fully within the realm of possibility right now. Phone calls and letters to elected officials do wonders. While it may only be a small consolation now it’s this work that makes the biggest impact later.
We’re all in this together. Remember, at the end of the day, we’re all Americans. We’re all hoping for a peaceful democratic process. We want healthy families and happy children and it’s important to realize that America is a great nation. I’m sure several people have unfollowed and unfriended me over the years on Facebook over remarks they don’t like, but I don’t wish them harm. Once the big sting has worn off I’d love to see people organizing and, as Trump said, “it is time for America to bind the wounds of division”. Maybe right now it doesn’t feel like wounds can be healed. They’re so fresh and there may be far more hurt to come so we’re cowering a bit, but I hope we can all do more than play lip service to the feeling of America being a pretty awesome country.

Being away is difficult. I’ve said it on social media and I’ll say it here again, I wish I could be home to start working on the ground on issues that matter. I want to find places to volunteer my time and hug my friends and build community together. Being away means I’ll have to find the best alternatives to this and really study up on what we can do next. I need to understand the other side, for myself, and know that there has to be more than hate and racism there. I know for some it’s an economic decision. For others it’s an inability to support any democrat. For others still it really is racism and hatred, but I know that isn’t how all of his voters see it. Being informed works both ways.

Hug your families for me. Kiss your kids. Be good to one another. I miss you, friends.

2 Nov

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review tagged asia, Buddha, Buddhism, Carol, China, City review, Ferries, Hong Kong, travel

Living Well in Cozy Hong Kong

Swept up, it’s fair to say, in the day to day living of travelling is why it’s been two weeks since leaving Hong Kong and I still haven’t written about it. That and it was a mixed bag of lived experiences, but isn’t that always the way?!

Hong Kong was very special for Jason and I, because my wonderful and sweet Aunt Monica connected us with an old family friend who lives there, Carol, and her husband Andreas. Carol and my Uncle Ed used to ride the train together decades ago into work in DC. During their morning commutes they started talking and became friends. That friendship has transcended the years and still to this day they keep in touch.

Carol moved away from Maryland years ago and eventually landed in Hong Kong with her German husband. She’s raised two children there, who are going to university in various parts of the world, and she herself travels quite frequently. The day after we left she was on her way to Australia for a week to visit the largest rock in the world. It takes three whole days to hike around it and that was one of many planned excursions on her journey. All while nursing an injured knee.

For my older readers who worry about their limitations and perhaps feel they have reached the end of their adventurous years, I’d say see Carol’s example of how to live well, stay active, and don’t stop exploring. Below is the selection of their travel library.

The world is wide, but start small and you’ll see more of it than having never starting at all.

Carol is not only well traveled, she’s also the best host anyone could ever ask for. Hong Kong is quite expensive and we’re budget traveling, so having a place to stay there was wonderful enough, but she provided so much more for us than just that.

img_20161014_105703513 — Breakfast at Carol’s house! <3

In Taipei, as you recall, we were wet and weary. The AirBnB was shitty, it rained literally every day, often pouring to the point that the day was completely shot, and the city itself wasn’t particularly clean or inviting. By the end I grew fond of it’s quirks, and I know we would have had a great time if only the sun would have come out, but circumstances being what they were we were ready to go. While still in Taipei, Carol asked me what we liked to have for breakfast. Goodness, we normally just eat a piece of fruit and maybe a coffee if we’re lucky, or nothing at all, till we stumble hungrily into the streets seeking food. Hangry Jen isn’t happy Jen, but when you carry everything on your backs and must keep the weight down to a minimum you don’t have great food options. We let Carol know that we’re not picky eaters and anything at all she wanted to share is enough for us.

OK, we didn’t eat any of these, just paid to take the picture, and this is actually from Bangkok and not Hong Kong, but just saying, we’re not picky!

We left Taiwan in the rain and landed in Hong Kong in the rain. “What are we getting into?”, we thought. But, our anxiety washed away when we saw Carol. She was gracious and kind enough to pick us up from the airport. Not since we left had we been in someone’s vehicle (not even a taxi), so it was nice to go for a drive around Hong Kong and have a guided tour from an expert. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, so Britain influences much of the island still, including their driving on the “other side” of the road. I tried to climb into the driver’s seat when we got in, not realizing this!

Hong Kong is a hilly land, with curving narrow roads and a network of islands, 263 of them in the 427 sq mile territory. Over 7.2 million people live in Hong Kong, an “autonomous territory”, which boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Formally know as “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China”, it’s world’s tallest city, with the greatest number of skyscrapers. Those tall buildings lay host to a financial powerhouse that offers great tax benefits for corporations and personal tax freedoms for those who live there. If you’re not sure about Asia, but want to visit the region, then I encourage you to consider Hong Kong as a starting point (although Seoul will forever be my favorite).

Nature is surprisingly prevalent in Hong Kong, with less than 25% of the total land developed and 40% being completely reserved for parks and wildlife. That means you’re never more than a few minutes by ferry, bus, or car out from the domineering city and into nature preserves. To get to the wider expanses it’s more of a hike, but well worth it. Unfortunately, given our short stay, we didn’t get to see all of the nature parks that we’d liked, but that gives reason to go back. We did get a good and sweaty hike in on Lamma Island (pronounced like the animal Llama) that offered wetlands, fishing villages, steep climbs, and trail side vendors selling fresh fruits and ice cream. I opted to get a honey lemon drink from a beekeeper while hiking up a particularly arduous hill. You could see his bees buzzing out of the hive and around the surrounding area. Very charming!

Another Hong Kong memory was made at the Tian Tan Buddha, or colloquially known as the big Buddha. It was a journey to get there, taking nearly three hours via a bus, then ferry, then onto another bus that drove with great speeds up steep and curvaceous mountain roads. You don’t realize how prone you are to motion sickness until you’ve been tested like that! But, the nausea was well worth the reward.

The enormous bronze Buddha was erected in 1993 and is a major tourist attraction in Hong Kong. There’s a little village situated by the bus station that reminded me of Disneyland, as it felt very sterile and new. In the village, you can take a gondola up the mountain for sweeping views (which we did not do, but you could!).

We opted to skip the touristy bit and head straight for the 112 ft. Buddha. Along with the Buddha there’s a Buddhist monastery that was founded over a century ago, which is absolutely stunning. When we were there they were performing service and the chanting swept me away. All day long I could listen to the monks rhythmic voices harmonizing prayers. Every opportunity I’ve had to stop and take in their chanting throughout this trip I’ve done so. Prayer by chant is music made sweet and savory at once, with words I’ll never understand that surely ask to fulfill the desires that all humans have, for love and compassion, forgiveness and peace.

Carol always had great ideas for us on what to do and where to explore next. She also took us out for a night on the town with Andreas when he came back home for the weekend. Andreas works from China 1/2 the week, often flying out from there to all over the world to do business, so his time at home is short and precious. Still, they spent some of it with us and took us to a great Mediterranean restaurant and then for drinks in Lan Kwai Fong, where teems of people filled bars and the streets. Women held up signs advertising specials on 12 shots at a time to bring in patrons. We opted for a German bar celebrating Oktoberfest and drank German beers with the German who prefers Japanese beers instead; go figure! Carol and Andreas had fully intended on leaving us out to party it up, but we are old folks with little wallets and little interest in that scene any longer anyway, so we headed back in a taxi with them and had a nightcap at their home instead.

Carol and Andreas took us out for one other memorable meal of Dim Sum with two of their close friends. Dim Sum is like Chinese tapas, little plates of dumplings, meats, tarts, puddings, and other tasty treats. On Sunday morning, for traditional Hong Kong brunch, we went to Maxim’s Palace. Located in City Hall, with chandeliers lining the ceilings, this beautiful restaurant takes no reservations so you either come early or wait hours for a table. We came early, arriving right about 10:00 a.m. and didn’t have to wait at all, but the huge crowd out the door after we left must have been hungry.

Their international friends were another German and a Brit. They’d also lived in Hong Kong for a few decades and really loved the place. While we talked with them of travel, their city, their children, and their lives, the conversation ended up focusing on the US and our upcoming election. They were baffled, as Jason and I also are, about what is going on in America today. I had little consolation for them, other than to say we’re not voting, but if we were it wouldn’t be for Trump. Their level of nuance for American politics from people who have never lived in the US is stunning. What do you or I know of British or German politics? What about the entire continent of Asia? I myself am woefully ignorant, even with my college education and desire to be a globally aware citizen. They’re not, so as I’ve noted before, the world is watching and from what I can tell it doesn’t like what it’s seeing.

Moving on! Jason and I share a deep gratitude to Carol and Andreas for hosting us. We wouldn’t have had nearly as great of a time in Hong Kong without them and being in their home felt so cozy it was almost like we were transported back to our homes in the states. I definitely said to Jason more than once, “Do we have to go?” to which he replied, “Well, Carol’s going to Australia a day after we leave, so yes, we do.” Fair point, but my goodness her heart is so warm and she’s so caring that we couldn’t be more thankful for her hospitality. We just wish we could find a way to repay her for her kindness. I think we’ll aim to be the best hosts we can be and live by example when we return back to the states and have a home of our own. Carol, you and Andreas are always welcome to stay with us! We took this shot on our last night in Hong Kong after Carol’s helper, Cherry, made us a traditional Filipino meal of chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and rice. Simply mouthwatering!

Their doggy Shiba and I became fast friends too. Loved this little lady!

There’s so much more to say about this magical week, but we’ll leave it here for now. Thanks for following along the journey!

1 Nov

By Jen Hawse on Asia tagged America, Animals, Bangkok, Health, Medicine, SE Asia, Snakes, Thailand

Medical Tourism in Bangkok

Update: I wrote this two days ago, but haven’t posted due to changing cities and lack of internet in Bangkok. So, we’re doing better now!

I’m feeling a bit guilty. Travel is about the experience of constantly diving into the unknown. In the past two days we have not dove, but mostly stayed afloat in the serene waters of our new hotel room (this one has a bathroom en suite!). Why are we sitting and not wandering? Because, we’re both a little under the weather and we’re needing our rest, regardless of my guilt.

It’s true, this is my third illness in the past six weeks. Travel has taken a beating on my normally healthy body. The generally strong and healthy one in the relationship, Jason, is also under assault and feeling lethargic from cold symptoms. Woe is us, right? No, of course not, just another admission about what’s real and ultimately not glamorous on our budget travels.

I don’t mean to dwell on illness, truly, but I do want to spin you a story about our past few days.

When we arrived in Thailand last Wednesday it was very late. We didn’t make it through immigration until after midnight. It took us about 45 minutes to figure out which mode of transportation we were going to take to leave the airport itself and then once we were on our way our Uber driver got lost at least twice (yes, there is Uber in Thailand). By the time we got to our guesthouse it was after 1:30 and we were exhausted. The plan was to get vaccinated here in Bangkok the next day.

Why did we wait this long to get our travel vaccines? Because, as you can read in one of my first posts, it would have cost us over 3x’s in the US as it does here for the exact same drugs. Let me answer your looming questions: No, our insurance wouldn’t cover them in the US. Travel vaccines are elective and thus not covered. No, we don’t think they’re any different over here, in fact we know they’re the exact same drug from the exact same manufacturer. Medicine is globalized. No, we don’t think we were taking an unnecessary risk in waiting because we are going to be in developed areas for the 4 – 6 week period while the vaccines take hold. No, the US isn’t world class in care, they’re just world class in health costs. Thailand has excellent hospitals and they say if you’re ill anywhere in SE Asia to run to Thailand for treatment, if you can. No, you can’t get vaccinated for malaria or dengue fever, you can only take preventative measures, so the mosquito risks are all ones we have to take on ourselves through DEET and long sleeved cloths. I digress, but we weighed this very carefully and decided to get vaccinated in Bangkok well before leaving the US.

Jason asks me Wednesday night if we’re getting vaccinated on Thursday, the day after we arrive. I tell him no, we’re going to want to sleep in as best as we can and we should wait till Friday when we can get up early and go. So, Friday comes and we’re running a little behind, as is our way, but we get out and jump on the bus to the clinic. Truth be told, I’m scared. I’m scared of getting vaccinated anywhere, not just Thailand. I think the anti-vaxxers got to me, because I fear things like loss of limb function and death. If I got vaccinated at home I’d have the exact same worries. I just don’t want to do it. The funny thing is, needles don’t scare me at all, just the stuff in them! So, I’m moody and nervous. We’re almost there though, on this very slow moving non-airconditioned bus and Jason says to me, “Fuck! I forgot the passports!” I didn’t realize, but you need a passport for the international immunization documentation packet that they give you. It’s handy for going into countries that actually require pre-vaccination (although none do on our trip). Well, there goes that! We skip vaccines that day, then Saturday (my birthday), then they’re closed Sunday and also Monday, because of a government holiday, so that means on Tuesday we have to get vaccinated to make sure we have time to recover before we leave on a 12 hour night train on Friday.

Tuesday, late at night, after we book our AirBnB in Chiang Mai and Jason falls peacefully asleep I start freaking out. My throat has a huge lump in it. It’s swollen. This happened very suddenly. It hurts to move my neck! This is crazy! Right before I left I found a swollen lymph node in my leg and had a little freak out, but it felt nothing like this. I’m a tiny bit hypochondriac, so this huge and painful lump isn’t boding well. I think my throat is closing up it happened so quickly. I try to sleep, but can’t with my pounding heart and worried mind. Tomorrow we’re getting vaccinated; maybe I’m making this up in my head! Maybe I’m believing I’m sick to trick myself out of getting immunized. After about an hour of basically having a panic attack I wake Jason up. I apologize, tell him not to get angry with me, but just help me calm down because I can’t do it myself right now. He gets up and starts talking logic, like, “No one dies in their sleep from a closed up throat.” (But, do they?!). “Stop touching it, it’s probably not that bad, and you’re going to make it worse.” “Just got to sleep, it’s after 3:00, and you’ll be fine.” Eventually, exhaustion takes hold and I sleep.

Waking up, my throat is still swollen, but not much better or worse. Jason has a little cold, he’s had one at this point for a few days, and no matter what happens we’re getting vaccinated today. We grab our passports, the cash, and head out. Other than the lump and soreness, I feel physically fine (very mysterious indeed).

We get to the hospital, which we’d read a blog online about before the trip explaining the ease and affordability of travel vaccines, and find the place to be a little oasis in bustling Bangkok. Not only do they have a travel clinic, they also have a World Health Organization snake farm here where they milk poisonous snakes of their venom to work on anti-venom therapies. You can visit the snake farm and see these slithery little guys in action for $6 USD. We planned on a double whammy of vaccines and snake farm in one trip!

The hospital staff has lunch from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m., and we arrive about 12:30. We we grab a tea in the courtyard and fill out some paperwork as we wait. I’m, of course, nervous. At 1:00 we head in, grab our number, and wait our turns. The process is smooth and there are both foreigners and Thai here getting shots. There’s even a Buddhist monk in his beautiful orange robes. After we register and get our paperwork packets we have our temperature, blood pressure, and pulse taken and then head in for a consult with the doctor. During the process we overhear an American asking about how it works. He’s alone and so I say to him, “We’re doing the same ones you are!” Maybe he was nervous too and I wanted him to know he wasn’t alone.

Well, the process is so quick that we basically spend the entire time moving from station to station with our new friend, Kevin. This is good for me, because it takes my mind off the clear and impending doom the vaccinations will surely cause me! Kevin, on the other hand, is chill and definitely not nervous, but happily chatted with us the whole time. Thanks, Kevin!

After the doctor’s consult, which he recommended we get Hep A, Typhoid, and Japanese Encephalitis, we go to the pharmacy to pick up our vaccines. Yes, you personally pick these up and take them with you to the nurse who will give you the shot. We paid, in total, for the two of us, less than $150 for all three shots, plus administration fees. In the US it would have been 10x’s as much.

The nurse sticks me with three needles, I wince, she tells me to relax, I apologize, and we call it a day. We get our immunization documentation packet and are told to wait a few more minutes (to ensure no serious complication arise) and we’re done here.

After getting shot, we part with Kevin, wish him well on his journey through SE Asia and to Australia, and head to the snake farm. Boy, are we in luck! They’re having a show with all the snakes on display! We get to see vipers, pythons, and rattlesnakes from all over the world. At the end they invite you to get a picture with an albino python and I just had to! My dad fiercely feared snakes, but I just love them. I don’t know why, but I think they’re fascinatingly beautiful animals that deserve respect and want to harm you far less than we harm them.

Vaccines complete, snake farm check, it’s about time to head back. But first, lunch! We go to a nearby mall, get some Japanese ramen (it doesn’t compare to Japan, but I’m afraid nothing ever will) and then treat ourselves to ice cream for being good patients. As we’re doing this Jason is getting sleepier and sleepier. I am, strangely, feeling fine, but that throat lump is as big as ever! We head back to the hostel and call it a night.

The next day we’re moving hostels and I’m still worried about my neck. Swollen lymph nodes indicate your body is fighting an infection, and my lymph nodes are still enormous. If you can’t figure out where your infection is happening it’s a real problem. If you can, you take proper care to fix it, and you’ll be fine. I can’t figure it out so I’m googling while trying to talk to our AirBnB host in Chiang Mai and pack up properly before check out time. After days of searching, and being told by Jason to stop touching it, I’m just making it worse (grrr), I find the answer.

There are two types of strep throat, one is viral and one is bacterial. Viral causes swollen lymph nodes and makes you feel overall ill. Bacterial strep is generally a child’s disease, but it can happen in adults, and is something people can acquire from large crowds. We have been in some of the biggest crowds I’ve ever encountered. Bacterial strep makes your tonsils swell and have pus cover them (sorry, gross, but true). I take my phone’s flashlight, shine it in my mouth and hold up my mirror, and see I 100% have bacterial strep. An answer! How do you treat this? A common 10 day regimen of penicillin. Easy.

To be sure it’s bacterial strep, though, you need a strep test. So the first place we go after leaving our hostel is to a travel health clinic. They have no strep test, so we go to a pharmacy and they have none either. Crap. I don’t want to wait to treat this and google isn’t showing us where travel health clinics are. I’m so sure of what this is that trying to find a clinic is just going to prolong the infection, which is dangerous. We decide the best course of action is to pick up some antibiotics from a pharmacy, amoxicillin, and start treatment. The 10 day regimen is $10 USD. Back home, without insurance, how much do you think that would cost? Well, considering you can’t just go into a pharmacy and get antibiotics you’re looking at a doctors visit + the prescription, so I’d say around $400 from what I’ve witnessed as of late with the US health care system. Or, it’s $10 in Thailand. If we’d gotten a strep test it would have probably been another $10 USD. The progressive US, am I right?!

So, today, we’re resting again. Jason is still fighting his cold, because getting vaccinated on top of a cold means your immune system is fighting doubly hard, and I feel fine but don’t want to risk exacerbating the illness by stressing my body. The swelling is dropping and while it still looks nasty I feel completely fine.

Tomorrow, we leave the hostel at noon, exploring with our packs on all day, then jumping on a train to Chiang Mai for a 12+ hour journey starting at 7:30 at night. We’ll be in Chiang Mai for 17 days, so hopefully we can cook some (yes!) and dig into the landscape a little more than we have here in Bangkok. There are elephant reserves where you can feed and meet former circus elephants, but you cannot ride them. It’s a little pricey, but it’s what I’m going to spend the birthday money my mom sent me on 🙂 Thanks, Momsie, so much!

Thanks for listening and stay well, my friends!