travel – Page 2 – Jen Goes Rogue

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.

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 Bangkok, Birthday, Prices, SE Asia, Thailand, travel

Bangkok Birthday Madness

You all are owed a Hong Kong post. I’ll try to get to that, but I feel this one is best to write fresh, because it’s been a doozy of two days. Let’s start on October 21st.

Khao San Road is the most famous street in Bangkok. When you think of sin and excess and ladyboys, you’re thinking of Khao San. It’s about a 10 minute walk from our hostel, which was intentional, because prices are good here and entertainment is clearly easy to find. Bangkok is a great many things, including a highly religious city with ornate golden temples and Buddhist monks in their beautiful orange draped robes walking the streets, but it’s known for the sin. We’re old, we don’t need much sin any more, so we’re here to witness sin more than imbibe it (save a few beers, of course!).

Earlier in the day we had went to a shopping mall, a huge monstrosity that has shops as you’d expect, with stores and walls and whatnot, but also vendors set up in an open style floor plan packing in as many people selling as much cheap crap as you can imagine. We know the rules here in Thailand, to truly be respectful, you have to wear pants that cover your knees or more and shirts that cover your shoulders. The outfits on Khao San aren’t what you’d call respectful, but they’re not expected to be. You can wear little to nothing and be OK there. If we’re to go to the famous temples we need to dress properly. So, after trying to get vaccinated and forgetting our all important passports, we decided to skip the heat, get into the mall, and buy some clothing items that show the proper respect Thailand deserves. Jason didn’t find much, but I grabbed two scarves, one shirt, and one pair of long pants that are very common here in Thailand. They’re light material, open and free flowing, and have elastic on the bottoms so they don’t drag on the ground. All this for about $15 USD and lunch for the two of us for about $4 USD. Pretty good!

Now back to Khao San, where our heroes are taking pictures, drinking beers in the streets, and getting ready to sit down to a nice meal of Pad Thai (a national dish) for again about $3 – 4 USD. My camera is my phone (something I now am seriously considering changing) and so I often have it out taking shots of damn near everything. Wearing my new Thailand approved pants, I snap this picture below (didn’t realize how bad it was) and slide the phone back into my pant’s pocket. Well, these new pockets aren’t really phone approved and it slides right out and into the wet wash puddle that you see below. Whoops! Phones and waters don’t mix! Happy birthday to Jen!

I scramble to grab the phone as quickly as possible and RIP my pants in the process. HUGE HOLE! UGH! Jason, being the sweet man that he is, immediately jumps up and tries to find rice from the nearby 7-11. Meanwhile, I’m taking napkins (thank GOD this place has them, so many don’t) and trying my best to clean the dirt water off my phone. This is wash water that the street vendors use to clean their food dishes. It’s nasty. My phone starts freaking out. Turning off and back on again. It’s going into cardiac arrest. Jason returns with the rice and a flimsy plastic bag. Immediately, we empty the rice into the bag and deposit the seizing phone. I try to get rice all over it and massage it around and, of course, the bag tears a hole and now rice is coming out. Great. All the while I’m angry/upset and taking it out on Jason (not fair of me). He’s upset because I’m upset. The server finally comes to our table to take our order and I tell him I don’t want to eat, I want to go back, I’m so done with the night.

I storm home, Jason in toe, and go straight to our room. I transfer the bag to a better, stronger bag and pray. I’m still upset and Jason is too, so he leaves for a walk around to block to cool down. I brush my teeth, read some post on the internet about how life could be so much worse, and go to bed feeling guilty for how immature and upset I was over this stupid piece of property.

In the morning it’s my birthday. I’m not well. Physically, I’m fine, but emotionally I’m drained and depressed. Birthdays are kind of stupid. They’re suppose to be your special day and that level of expectation always leads to disappointment. I wake up at 6:00 a.m. and write Jason an apology letter. I see my mom has given me a sweet birthday tribute on Facebook. I’m crying. I’m up till 8:00 when I crawl back into bed to see if I can sleep and give Jason a cuddle. He accepts it, which is more than I can ask for after being nasty to him, but I still can’t sleep. I think of my family and friends. I think of my dad. I miss those that I love and wonder, “What the hell am I doing here?”. Before I left I knew my birthday would be difficult and I’m proving myself right in the moment.

Eventually, after being up and down and up again I do fall back asleep for a few hours. I wake up, tell Jason how sorry I am, cry some more, for a long time, and then eventually get the strength to go out for the day. Depression feeds on stillness and quiet. It wants you to sit and wallow. When you move, it helps move it away from the foreground and into the background. I suffered from clinical depression for years as a teenager. I recovered after finding some purpose in life in my mid-twenties and thankfully didn’t require medication, but I still know what depression looks and feels like and I certainly felt some of that on my birthday. Long term travel can be tough; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but at least you’re afforded the opportunity to experience something new every day you want to. Far later in the day than I had originally planned we did just that, we left to experience something new and see a sculpture garden in a museum.

Entering the main road from our neighborhood we swam in a sea of people wearing all black. We’d been in Thailand for days and had seem many wearing black, but not to this degree. We trudged, slowly, so slowly that when Google said it would take 10 minutes it took nearly 20 to get near our destination. All black. Merchants sold black clothing on the street for those not prepared. Food stalls fed Thai people all manner of eats. Free water and bread was given out. It was hot, but the people wore black. We did not, and so we felt out of place, but knew we’d be forgiven or at best ignored as tourists. Traffic was stopped. People were out of cars as there was no hope of moving for some time, but they packed into buses waiting for them to pick back up again so they didn’t miss their chance to move from the crowds. These crowds, in numbers we’ve never witnessed, were later estimated between 150,000 to 250,000. We had no idea it would be like this. A true moment in history is taking place here and we, by pure chance, have the honor and privilege of witnessing and taking part in it (video from yesterday as pictures do no justice).

We never made it to the sculpture garden, but I don’t think we could have even if we tried. It was located through the masses and this was clearly more important than seeing some carved rocks. We did grab lunch, pad thai from a street vendor on the same property that a McDonald’s is on, then headed back to the hostel to rest till going out for birthday dinner and drinks.

Months ago, when we booked our stay in Bangkok, we planned to go to Mikkeller for my birthday. It’s a special Western treat of amazing craft beer and rich foods we couldn’t get elsewhere. Getting to the restaurant was a journey in itself. We’ve relied on Google Maps so much that when they aren’t accurate it really throws us. After some serious tech issues we did finally make it on the bus, paid our 6.50 bhat (about $.20 USD) and asked the attendant who takes the money if we were going in the right direction, just to be sure. Google said we’d be able to take the bus most of the way, which was great because it was raining and a long walk wasn’t what either of us wanted. The attendant eventually seemed to say sure and we settled in. At least GPS works without WiFi, so we could follow along the route to make sure we were heading the right way. As we’re nearing an expected turn the attendant seems to indicate we should get off. We know we’re suppose to go further, but maybe the bus is doing something different today (who knows around here) so we jump off and start walking. We’re still over a mile from the bar, but we figure better to get off than go the wrong way. After about 15 minutes we see a bus stop with our bus number on it, and then a bus, in the right direction that we were heading…. We didn’t need to get off, but oh well, onward we go.

Mikkeller couldn’t have put themselves in more of a dark back alley if they wanted. Shrouded in trees we were sure we were lost over and over again. After nearly giving up twice we see a the light and the familiar cartoons of the Mikkeller brand. Wow… What a trip! You can’t really see my face here… but man was I done!

When we got in, all was well. The food was amazing (so much richer than we’ve been eating!) the beer was superb, and the service was lovely. They had coloring books and colored pencils and so, of course, I had to color! My favorite. At some point I say to Jason, “This is really expensive, I wonder if they don’t take credit cards.” He says, “They can’t expect you to carry thousands of bhat around. They’re an international establishment. They have to take credit cards. If they don’t I’d be insulted.” Well, they do, but just not tonight. I was heading to the bar to get one final birthday beer when I see a “No c/c. Sorry” sign. I said, “You guys don’t take credit cards?” The server says, “No, we do, but the machine is down right now. I’m working on it.” OK…. I refrain from getting another beer to not rack up more tab and tell Jason the news. The bar is never able to get the machine working while we’re there and, long story short, we left with Mikkeller’s banking information and no charge (thus far) for our most expensive meal. Oh Bangkok…. (that’s the name of the hostel next door to us too. Now I know why.)

At least there’s Uber here! We had a really nice ride with a great English speaking Thai person who told us about his province in Thailand and gave us some free lessons in Thai. I learned how to properly say thank you and hello (I was saying them wrong before, of course). Jason gave a tip and still the ride was about $4 USD for 6 miles. Whew! We tried to get one more beer at the 7-11 when we got back, but it was after midnight and so Bangkok was telling us it was time to call it quits.

We still have more days here in Bangkok and then Thailand itself. Chiang Mai is next. Then, we go to Malaysia next month. The journey continues! Thanks for listening! ลาก่อน (goodbye in Thai)