Last weekend (at least that was when I started writing this post, now its several weeks after the even and we've learned that Vettel has won the Drivers Championship) was the inaugural Korean Grand Prix. Having a chance to see an Formula 1 race live was just too good to pass up. Surprisingly those in charge of bringing F1 to Korea chose to build the track on a peninsula on the south west coast of Korea, rather than in the north near the heavily populated and much more developed Seoul region. It worked well for me though as the race was now going to take place a mere 150 kms from my home. There would never be a better opportunity to see the F1.
The race itself had been besieged over the past several months due to construction delays. They had decided to build the track on a swamp, which required that they wait nearly a year for the land to drain before construction could begin. Then in the months leading up to the race the construction crews were beset by 53 straight days of rain which delayed construction to the point that the track only got final F1 approval 13 days prior to the green light and racing. The normal time frame for such an inspection was 3 months. So going in we knew that there were going to be some hiccups, but having lived in Korea for more than two years, one gets used to such things. The important thing was being able to see the race.
The track having been built in a somewhat isolated part of Yeongam (near Mokpo), the race organizers made shuttle bus services available to bring people to and from the track. Our group waited at one such location which was to be serviced by a shuttle bus every ten or so minutes. After waiting for more than a half hour we were told that the shuttle service had been discontinued. So we started to walk.
It would have been about 10-12 km walk and there was no time to waste as qualifying was only an hour away. Luckily the generosity of Koreans came to the fore once again, as people who were driving to the track stopped picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. It would have taken us forever to reach the track on foot.
The roar of the engines racing by was amazing. It was a sound you could feel. It was exhilarating.
Unfortunately, after that things were rather underwhelming. The stands that we had tickets for weren't finished so people were being packed into different seating areas. All the walkways around the track were dirt and gravel so when it rained everything became a mud pit.
When race day came we were told that our stands still weren't completed and that we would have a choice of where we could sit as a result. Fortunately this setback worked in our favor as we were able to get great seats that would allow us to see nearly half the track.
There were a lot of things wrong with the track and the organization. I will not dispute that but I had a great time.
I went into the weekend wanting to see an F1 race and that is exactly what I got to see. It would be easy to focus on all the things that went wrong, but in reality what went right simply overshadows all of that.
I can't wait for my next chance to see an F1 race live.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Running the numbers
Came across an article recently that provided the following information:
Conventional wisdom says that 10-12% of the human population is homosexual.
So if you were to look at the US, using a population of 300 million and 10% of those being homosexual, the homosexual population of the US should be 30 million.
Now assuming that there is no gender bias concerning homosexuality, 15 million of those are men.
We are told that "one in five sexually active gay and bisexual men has the AIDS virus."
So that means that 3 million homosexual men in the US have AIDS.
That is 1% of the US population and doesn't take into account the heterosexual community of 270 million people.
However the Kaiser Family Foundation (a research and policy organization in Washington, D.C.) says that "overall, less than half of 1 percent of Americans have the AIDS virus."
So just one small portion of the US population (homosexual men equaling 5% of the US population) already outpace this calculation.
Concerning HIV infection routes:
So if heterosexuals account for 3 times as many infections as homosexuals, what are we looking at?
So 20% of homosexual men have contracted AIDS. Women are infected at a lower rate so a safe estimate might be a 1% infection rate amongst homosexual females (iv drug use and other transmission vectors) which would add 150,000 to the AIDS infected homosexual community.
So the estimated total for those infected with AIDS amongst the American homosexual community would be 3.15 million people.
Now if there are three heterosexual people who have AIDS for every one infected homosexual person (based on WHO numbers) we are left with a total infected population of 9.45 million heterosexual people. Add in the homosexual community numbers and you get a total of 12.6 million. This is greater than 4% of the US population and far far above the listed the "less than half of 1% of the US population" as stated by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So what should one believe?
Then comes this study from Britain which says:
Members of the homosexual community: 3 million
Number of AIDS infected gay men: 300,000
Number of AIDS infected gay women: 15,000
Total: 315,000
Number of AIDS infected heterosexual people: 945,000
Total number of infections: 1,260,000
This infection rate would be much more in line with the "less than half of 1% of the US population" (1% of 300,000,000 = 3 million, 0.5% = 1.5 million) as stated by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So it would seem that either AIDS infection rates are far far more than estimated (1000% more) or the percentage of homosexual humans is far less than commonly assumed.
Just interesting to look at the numbers.
Two numbers in this article made me wonder. The first was the rate of infection amongst homosexual males. The second was the overall infection rate amongst the American population. It just didn't seem to make sense.
Conventional wisdom says that 10-12% of the human population is homosexual.
So if you were to look at the US, using a population of 300 million and 10% of those being homosexual, the homosexual population of the US should be 30 million.
Now assuming that there is no gender bias concerning homosexuality, 15 million of those are men.
We are told that "one in five sexually active gay and bisexual men has the AIDS virus."
So that means that 3 million homosexual men in the US have AIDS.
That is 1% of the US population and doesn't take into account the heterosexual community of 270 million people.
However the Kaiser Family Foundation (a research and policy organization in Washington, D.C.) says that "overall, less than half of 1 percent of Americans have the AIDS virus."
So just one small portion of the US population (homosexual men equaling 5% of the US population) already outpace this calculation.
Concerning HIV infection routes:
The World Health Organization estimates that [U]heterosexual transmission has accounted for 75% of the HIV infections in adults world-wide[/U]. The remaining 25% are primarily due to the use of contaminated blood and blood products, needle sharing by intravenous drug users, and homosexual/bisexual transmission. Heterosexual intercourse has been the dominant route of transmission in Africa, Asia, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Indeed, in the United States, AIDS ceased being primarily a disease of gay men in the early 1990s. Data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the proportion of new cases reported among homosexual/bisexual men decreased from 47.3% in 1993 to 43.3% in 1994. While the rate of AIDS among American gay males decreases, there has been a recorded increase among women and minority groups. Women accounted for 18.1% of total AIDS cases in 1994, up from 16.2% in 1993. In the same years, the number of American Blacks with AIDS increased from 36.1% to 39% of total new cases, while Hispanics with AIDS increased from 17.7% to 18.7%.
So if heterosexuals account for 3 times as many infections as homosexuals, what are we looking at?
So 20% of homosexual men have contracted AIDS. Women are infected at a lower rate so a safe estimate might be a 1% infection rate amongst homosexual females (iv drug use and other transmission vectors) which would add 150,000 to the AIDS infected homosexual community.
So the estimated total for those infected with AIDS amongst the American homosexual community would be 3.15 million people.
Now if there are three heterosexual people who have AIDS for every one infected homosexual person (based on WHO numbers) we are left with a total infected population of 9.45 million heterosexual people. Add in the homosexual community numbers and you get a total of 12.6 million. This is greater than 4% of the US population and far far above the listed the "less than half of 1% of the US population" as stated by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So what should one believe?
Then comes this study from Britain which says:
More than 480,000 people or one per cent of the UK's adult population regard themselves as gay or lesbian while a further 245,000 or 0.5 percent say they are bisexual, according a study published by the Office for National Statistics.So if we do away with the conventional wisdom of 10% and use this more recent 1% estimate, the numbers would break down like so:
The data has been collected by the new Integrated Household Survey (IHS), which is the largest social report ever produced for the ONS.
The 450,000 individual respondents to the survey provided the biggest pool of UK social data after the national census, the statistics service said.
Members of the homosexual community: 3 million
Number of AIDS infected gay men: 300,000
Number of AIDS infected gay women: 15,000
Total: 315,000
Number of AIDS infected heterosexual people: 945,000
Total number of infections: 1,260,000
This infection rate would be much more in line with the "less than half of 1% of the US population" (1% of 300,000,000 = 3 million, 0.5% = 1.5 million) as stated by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So it would seem that either AIDS infection rates are far far more than estimated (1000% more) or the percentage of homosexual humans is far less than commonly assumed.
Just interesting to look at the numbers.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Matrix theology
A couple friends and I were talking the other day about the Matrix and I had an idea that I wanted to explore. I thought I would do so here. I'm just spit balling this. Trying to remember the movies as best I can while working out my idea. I hope it makes some semblance of sense.
****
When one looks at the Matrix, it is impossible not to see Neo as a Christ-like figure. A being who died and rose from the dead, through which the saving of humanity becomes possible.
Looking at it from that perspective one can follow Christian themes throughout the movie.
I'm not saying that the Wachowski brothers were writing a Christian allegory for the 21st century, but I am willing to say that the world which the Wachowski's created in the Matrix trilogy is rich enough for people to delve deeper and to explore it from different perspectives.
So you have Neo as Christ, who after his resurrection informs the powers of the Matrix that he is going to show the people "a world without you." Now if we take the Christian allegory forward, the main opposition to Christ is Satan. So if Neo is Christ then whoever is controlling the Matrix would be Satan.
Christ came to free humanity from enslavement to Satan by showing them the reality of their existence. Neo will now free humanity in the same way.
Which leads us to humanity. When we see humanity, they are essentially dead. Alive in a biological sense but in no way able to live their lives with fullness. They are kept enslaved to the machines through the Matrix. Never able to perceive reality but constantly distracted and lied to so as to keep them from questioning the reality of their existence.
But there are some who are able to break the veil, to perceive the Matrix. To see the Matrix for what it is, a system of control that maintains their enslavement. People such as Morpheus, who herald the coming of the One who will free humanity from bondage and end the war. From the Christian perspective Morpheus is John the Baptist. Calling forth people to believe in the coming of the savior. Like John, Morpheus is ignored and discredited by those with authority.
The way that Neo or people such as Morpheus are able to free people from the control of the Matrix is by showing them the reality of the Matrix, but in the end it is the slave that must choose to be free. In the Matrix, even Neo must be saved, but it serves the purpose of showing the incarnation of Neo. When simple mortal man is able to enter into the Matrix and alter it to meet his own needs. He has in essence become a god within the Matrix and over time outside the Matrix as well.
The Matrix is like the spiritual world. A world that we are blind to. A world we are kept from seeing by those who would seek to keep us in bondage. God operates in the spiritual world but is kept hidden from many by the distractions of this world. We are kept looking everywhere but there so that we don't question reality and by questioning realize that there is so much more than what we see or feel. Just like those in the Matrix. Yet there is something within humanity that is like an itch that reminds us of something more than what we see.
So Neo is able to free humanity from the Matrix. We are told in the movies that since the emergence of Neo as The One, there have been more people saved from the Matrix than at any other time. Neo is able to make people aware of their true reality and allow them the opportunity to exercise their choice to be free or to be a slave. Many are freed. We see that some even when knowing the truth still wish to be blind (see Cypher).
But what choice?
We are told from the Architect that the first few attempts at the Matrix failed miserably. The problem lied in the fact that humanity had no choice, even if it was only available to them on the barest of subconscious levels. There still needed to be choice. People needed to be able to exercise free will even if they never did, the option needed to be available to them.
Free will is a problem for the machines, but it is necessary in order for humanity to thrive. So they allow for free will but build in a system of controls through which they attempt to divert the blowback from the freeing of humanity. Humans are freed and end up in Zion. Over time the exercise of free will manifests in a systemic anomaly which produces The One. The One is then subverted to the cause of the machines by allowing freed humanity to be destroyed in large part while only saving a few in order to maintain the opportunity for the exercise of free will.
So humanity's history under machine enslavement is a cycle of freedom and slavery. Once too many become aware and pose a risk, they are done away with so that humanity reverts to slavery and beginning the cycle once more.
We can see a parallel in the nation of Israel. Whose history as laid out in the Bible is one of adherence to God and falling away. Restoration and betrayal. Over and over again, the nation of Israel goes through this cycle. Sent into exile; restored to Israel. Exile. Restoration.
But the cycle ends with Neo just as it does with Christ. Rather than choosing to be subverted to the cause of the machines, Neo ends the cycle through an expression of love. John 3:16 ringing any bells?
Again, I'm not arguing that the Matrix is a Christian allegory. There are a vast array of elements that are integrated to make up the whole. I do think though that Christianity is a part of it though and one can see distinctly Christian elements in the movies.
Another element would be Smith as Satan. Smith becomes the god of the Matrix whom Neo must fight and defeat in order to secure humanity's salvation. We are told in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." The final climactic battle between Christ and Satan as seen in Revelations is played out for us on the big screen in a rainstorm.
The thing that saves humanity in the end is self sacrifice. Jesus on the cross.
We can see that Smith has power in the Matrix but it is limited. He can see things but he can't necessarily understand them. He is blinded to his eventual downfall. We are told that Satan knows scripture, but despite this he will still be defeated much like Smith who with the power of the Oracle could see much but understand little. So what he saw as his moment of triumph was in actuality his moment of defeat.
Its a fun exercise and one I think I could take deeper if time permitted.
At least its something to think about.
****
When one looks at the Matrix, it is impossible not to see Neo as a Christ-like figure. A being who died and rose from the dead, through which the saving of humanity becomes possible.
Looking at it from that perspective one can follow Christian themes throughout the movie.
I'm not saying that the Wachowski brothers were writing a Christian allegory for the 21st century, but I am willing to say that the world which the Wachowski's created in the Matrix trilogy is rich enough for people to delve deeper and to explore it from different perspectives.
So you have Neo as Christ, who after his resurrection informs the powers of the Matrix that he is going to show the people "a world without you." Now if we take the Christian allegory forward, the main opposition to Christ is Satan. So if Neo is Christ then whoever is controlling the Matrix would be Satan.
Christ came to free humanity from enslavement to Satan by showing them the reality of their existence. Neo will now free humanity in the same way.
Which leads us to humanity. When we see humanity, they are essentially dead. Alive in a biological sense but in no way able to live their lives with fullness. They are kept enslaved to the machines through the Matrix. Never able to perceive reality but constantly distracted and lied to so as to keep them from questioning the reality of their existence.
But there are some who are able to break the veil, to perceive the Matrix. To see the Matrix for what it is, a system of control that maintains their enslavement. People such as Morpheus, who herald the coming of the One who will free humanity from bondage and end the war. From the Christian perspective Morpheus is John the Baptist. Calling forth people to believe in the coming of the savior. Like John, Morpheus is ignored and discredited by those with authority.
The way that Neo or people such as Morpheus are able to free people from the control of the Matrix is by showing them the reality of the Matrix, but in the end it is the slave that must choose to be free. In the Matrix, even Neo must be saved, but it serves the purpose of showing the incarnation of Neo. When simple mortal man is able to enter into the Matrix and alter it to meet his own needs. He has in essence become a god within the Matrix and over time outside the Matrix as well.
The Matrix is like the spiritual world. A world that we are blind to. A world we are kept from seeing by those who would seek to keep us in bondage. God operates in the spiritual world but is kept hidden from many by the distractions of this world. We are kept looking everywhere but there so that we don't question reality and by questioning realize that there is so much more than what we see or feel. Just like those in the Matrix. Yet there is something within humanity that is like an itch that reminds us of something more than what we see.
So Neo is able to free humanity from the Matrix. We are told in the movies that since the emergence of Neo as The One, there have been more people saved from the Matrix than at any other time. Neo is able to make people aware of their true reality and allow them the opportunity to exercise their choice to be free or to be a slave. Many are freed. We see that some even when knowing the truth still wish to be blind (see Cypher).
But what choice?
We are told from the Architect that the first few attempts at the Matrix failed miserably. The problem lied in the fact that humanity had no choice, even if it was only available to them on the barest of subconscious levels. There still needed to be choice. People needed to be able to exercise free will even if they never did, the option needed to be available to them.
Free will is a problem for the machines, but it is necessary in order for humanity to thrive. So they allow for free will but build in a system of controls through which they attempt to divert the blowback from the freeing of humanity. Humans are freed and end up in Zion. Over time the exercise of free will manifests in a systemic anomaly which produces The One. The One is then subverted to the cause of the machines by allowing freed humanity to be destroyed in large part while only saving a few in order to maintain the opportunity for the exercise of free will.
So humanity's history under machine enslavement is a cycle of freedom and slavery. Once too many become aware and pose a risk, they are done away with so that humanity reverts to slavery and beginning the cycle once more.
We can see a parallel in the nation of Israel. Whose history as laid out in the Bible is one of adherence to God and falling away. Restoration and betrayal. Over and over again, the nation of Israel goes through this cycle. Sent into exile; restored to Israel. Exile. Restoration.
But the cycle ends with Neo just as it does with Christ. Rather than choosing to be subverted to the cause of the machines, Neo ends the cycle through an expression of love. John 3:16 ringing any bells?
Again, I'm not arguing that the Matrix is a Christian allegory. There are a vast array of elements that are integrated to make up the whole. I do think though that Christianity is a part of it though and one can see distinctly Christian elements in the movies.
Another element would be Smith as Satan. Smith becomes the god of the Matrix whom Neo must fight and defeat in order to secure humanity's salvation. We are told in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." The final climactic battle between Christ and Satan as seen in Revelations is played out for us on the big screen in a rainstorm.
The thing that saves humanity in the end is self sacrifice. Jesus on the cross.
We can see that Smith has power in the Matrix but it is limited. He can see things but he can't necessarily understand them. He is blinded to his eventual downfall. We are told that Satan knows scripture, but despite this he will still be defeated much like Smith who with the power of the Oracle could see much but understand little. So what he saw as his moment of triumph was in actuality his moment of defeat.
Its a fun exercise and one I think I could take deeper if time permitted.
At least its something to think about.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Filipino fun
Five years ago, 2005, life was pay cheque to pay cheque. Working in a job that was going nowhere. I was spending a year out of university. Life was pretty much all about getting by and saving money for teacher's college.
Now its 2010 and life couldn't be more different. I've been living in South Korea for 2 years. I've visited China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The blessings continued to flow this summer as I got to continue my travels by visiting the Philippines.
The main purpose of choosing to visit the Philippines was to learn how to scuba dive. The Philippines has been gaining a reputation as a world class dive location and compared to many places (including Thailand) gaining your open water certification is rather cheap. I did some looking and chose a nice resort on a very tiny island in Visayas called Malapascua.
Malapascua was a tiny island in the middle of the Visaya Sea a half hour north of Cebu island. Other than dive resorts there is only a few small fishing villages. In fact the island doesn't even have electricity 24hrs a day. Wandering around the island was wonderfully informative. Seeing tiny villages, families living in small little huts, poverty that I have never experienced and smiles everywhere. Watching children swim in the sea hunting for urchins and tiny fish. Living hand to mouth, day to day all the while laughing and playing. It was wonderful to see.
Scuba diving was amazing. I had gone snorkeling once when I was in Jamaica but have never come anywhere near this. The resort that I chose was in partnership with National Geographic which was one of the reasons I chose them. They were professional and responsible. My teacher was an excellent diver from Singapore who loved diving and enjoyed sharing her passion with others. She was very patient with me which I appreciated.
The biggest problem for me was equalizing the pressure in my ears as I went under. I had to go real slow. My teacher was extremely patient and let me call the shots rather than putting pressure on me to speed things up or calling the dive early. Things were allowed to progress at my pace which I really appreciated. I've got no pictures, other than those in my mind but I can say that it was one of the best experiences I've had. Simply amazing.
It was a great week of relaxing evenings, beautiful beaches, nice people and diving during the day. Perhaps the best week of vacation I've ever had.
My second week was spent relaxing in Panglao Island, a tiny spec of an island off of Bohol island. This week was all about doing nothing, just relaxing. I stayed at a nice hotel near Alona beach. The hotel had a nice pool that I was able to swim in every day. Walks along the island roads, along Alona beach, beautiful weather and a venture off to the Chocolate Hills. Nothing too exciting during this week which exactly what I was looking for.
All in all the Philippines was exactly what I wanted.
* * * * *
One of the things that struck me the most was how the children on Malapascua acted. In the west we are told that happiness comes through possessions. Not happ?, Buy something. Still not happy? Buy something else. We work hard on eliminating personal interaction. Socializing has become texting or chatting online. Instead of being face to face, its face to screen. Walk down the average street and most people isolate themselves through mp3 players and smart phones. Eye contact is a rarity.
We are so friggin' rich in the west by comparison its impossible to truly comprehend. GDP (gross domestic product) per capita in the US was $46,000 in 2009. They rank 11th in the world (in case your wondering 1st is Liechtenstein at $122,100). Canada's GDP per capita was $38,200 in 2009 (ranked 27th). The Philippines by comparison was $3,300 in 2009 (ranked 162nd). I'd be surprised if the people living in those fishing villages on Malapascua even had half that much money. Yet they were friendly. When walking through the villages, they would say hello and smile. Never put a hand out. Never even hinted at money. Kids running around laughing and playing. Smiles on their faces. It was rather striking. People with so little should be sad; depressed even. They aren't though.
Money doesn't equal happiness.
Possessions don't equal happiness.
That is a lesson people in rich countries need to relearn.
* * * * *
Now its 2010 and life couldn't be more different. I've been living in South Korea for 2 years. I've visited China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The blessings continued to flow this summer as I got to continue my travels by visiting the Philippines.
The main purpose of choosing to visit the Philippines was to learn how to scuba dive. The Philippines has been gaining a reputation as a world class dive location and compared to many places (including Thailand) gaining your open water certification is rather cheap. I did some looking and chose a nice resort on a very tiny island in Visayas called Malapascua.
Malapascua was a tiny island in the middle of the Visaya Sea a half hour north of Cebu island. Other than dive resorts there is only a few small fishing villages. In fact the island doesn't even have electricity 24hrs a day. Wandering around the island was wonderfully informative. Seeing tiny villages, families living in small little huts, poverty that I have never experienced and smiles everywhere. Watching children swim in the sea hunting for urchins and tiny fish. Living hand to mouth, day to day all the while laughing and playing. It was wonderful to see.
Scuba diving was amazing. I had gone snorkeling once when I was in Jamaica but have never come anywhere near this. The resort that I chose was in partnership with National Geographic which was one of the reasons I chose them. They were professional and responsible. My teacher was an excellent diver from Singapore who loved diving and enjoyed sharing her passion with others. She was very patient with me which I appreciated.
The biggest problem for me was equalizing the pressure in my ears as I went under. I had to go real slow. My teacher was extremely patient and let me call the shots rather than putting pressure on me to speed things up or calling the dive early. Things were allowed to progress at my pace which I really appreciated. I've got no pictures, other than those in my mind but I can say that it was one of the best experiences I've had. Simply amazing.
It was a great week of relaxing evenings, beautiful beaches, nice people and diving during the day. Perhaps the best week of vacation I've ever had.
My second week was spent relaxing in Panglao Island, a tiny spec of an island off of Bohol island. This week was all about doing nothing, just relaxing. I stayed at a nice hotel near Alona beach. The hotel had a nice pool that I was able to swim in every day. Walks along the island roads, along Alona beach, beautiful weather and a venture off to the Chocolate Hills. Nothing too exciting during this week which exactly what I was looking for.
All in all the Philippines was exactly what I wanted.
* * * * *
One of the things that struck me the most was how the children on Malapascua acted. In the west we are told that happiness comes through possessions. Not happ?, Buy something. Still not happy? Buy something else. We work hard on eliminating personal interaction. Socializing has become texting or chatting online. Instead of being face to face, its face to screen. Walk down the average street and most people isolate themselves through mp3 players and smart phones. Eye contact is a rarity.
We are so friggin' rich in the west by comparison its impossible to truly comprehend. GDP (gross domestic product) per capita in the US was $46,000 in 2009. They rank 11th in the world (in case your wondering 1st is Liechtenstein at $122,100). Canada's GDP per capita was $38,200 in 2009 (ranked 27th). The Philippines by comparison was $3,300 in 2009 (ranked 162nd). I'd be surprised if the people living in those fishing villages on Malapascua even had half that much money. Yet they were friendly. When walking through the villages, they would say hello and smile. Never put a hand out. Never even hinted at money. Kids running around laughing and playing. Smiles on their faces. It was rather striking. People with so little should be sad; depressed even. They aren't though.
Money doesn't equal happiness.
Possessions don't equal happiness.
That is a lesson people in rich countries need to relearn.
* * * * *
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Forgiveness
Last night I went and seen the movie Inception. It was an awesome movie that I would encourage people to see, but this post isn't about the movie. Its about a thought I had while watching the movie. A thought that was new to me and one that I wanted to explore more. A thought concerning forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not a new concept. Joseph was entreated to forgive his brothers for their ill-treatment of him in selling him into slavery. The psalms tell us that with God there is forgiveness. The Apostle Paul tells us that those who are forgiven are blessed. He also instructs us that we should forgive others just as God has forgiven us. We are told that if we confess our sins they will be forgiven and will not be remembered.
Forgiveness brings peace and unity. Forgiveness is just as important for the forgiver as it is for the person being forgiven. Perhaps it is more important for the forgiver. If I wrong you and you forgive me, you gain the peace that forgiveness grants whether I accept your forgiveness or not. In this sense forgiveness is not a conditional act.
I was reminded of this in the movie Inception. A character comes to the point of forgiveness and it is only through forgiveness that freedom can be realized and progress achieved. We are told that it is healthy for us to forgive others. That in forgiving those who wrong us we are able to let go of the burden of hatred and vengeance. The act of forgiving releases us from this weight, it frees us to be at peace and to love. It enables happiness and community. If we cease to forgive then relationship is impossible and the weight that bears down on us is a destructive force in our life.
We can see that for us, forgiveness is vitally important.
Does the same hold true for God?
This was my thought while watching Inception. That the act of forgiving is an important act for us for all of the reasons listed previously. The same must hold true for God.
When Adam and Eve sinned against God, communion with God was irrevocably broken. Only through God's forgiveness could the relationship be mended, because it was humanity that was the transgressor. God would justifiably be angry. No matter what Adam and Eve did or what what we do, forgiveness cannot be forced. Just as in human terms, forgiveness can only come from within the forgiver and then only freely. It can not be compelled if it is to be true.
This leads me to two separate thoughts, both of which have been previously articulated by the Apostle Paul.
The first is that one should not see our sinful acts as a way of bringing peace to God. While it is true that when we forgive we are blessed by being divested of our burden of anger and vengeance, we don't go about seeking to be wronged so that we can forgive. It is important and vital that we do forgive when wronged but nobody wants to be wronged solely so that they can grant forgiveness. The same holds true for God.
The second is that forgiveness cannot be achieved through our own efforts. The forgiveness of God leads to salvation and salvation is not the result of our works, but rather it is God's gift that can only be experienced through faith in Christ Jesus. Just as we cannot force a person to forgive us through our own actions, we can't force God to forgive us our sins through our actions.
As it turns out this idea isn't new to me. I may not have consciously thought of forgiveness from God's perspective in this manner but the path had been laid out before me to follow.
Forgiveness is a wonderful blessing and I'm grateful to God, that I can know God's forgiveness through faith in my Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus.
Forgiveness is not a new concept. Joseph was entreated to forgive his brothers for their ill-treatment of him in selling him into slavery. The psalms tell us that with God there is forgiveness. The Apostle Paul tells us that those who are forgiven are blessed. He also instructs us that we should forgive others just as God has forgiven us. We are told that if we confess our sins they will be forgiven and will not be remembered.
Forgiveness brings peace and unity. Forgiveness is just as important for the forgiver as it is for the person being forgiven. Perhaps it is more important for the forgiver. If I wrong you and you forgive me, you gain the peace that forgiveness grants whether I accept your forgiveness or not. In this sense forgiveness is not a conditional act.
I was reminded of this in the movie Inception. A character comes to the point of forgiveness and it is only through forgiveness that freedom can be realized and progress achieved. We are told that it is healthy for us to forgive others. That in forgiving those who wrong us we are able to let go of the burden of hatred and vengeance. The act of forgiving releases us from this weight, it frees us to be at peace and to love. It enables happiness and community. If we cease to forgive then relationship is impossible and the weight that bears down on us is a destructive force in our life.
We can see that for us, forgiveness is vitally important.
Does the same hold true for God?
This was my thought while watching Inception. That the act of forgiving is an important act for us for all of the reasons listed previously. The same must hold true for God.
When Adam and Eve sinned against God, communion with God was irrevocably broken. Only through God's forgiveness could the relationship be mended, because it was humanity that was the transgressor. God would justifiably be angry. No matter what Adam and Eve did or what what we do, forgiveness cannot be forced. Just as in human terms, forgiveness can only come from within the forgiver and then only freely. It can not be compelled if it is to be true.
This leads me to two separate thoughts, both of which have been previously articulated by the Apostle Paul.
The first is that one should not see our sinful acts as a way of bringing peace to God. While it is true that when we forgive we are blessed by being divested of our burden of anger and vengeance, we don't go about seeking to be wronged so that we can forgive. It is important and vital that we do forgive when wronged but nobody wants to be wronged solely so that they can grant forgiveness. The same holds true for God.
The second is that forgiveness cannot be achieved through our own efforts. The forgiveness of God leads to salvation and salvation is not the result of our works, but rather it is God's gift that can only be experienced through faith in Christ Jesus. Just as we cannot force a person to forgive us through our own actions, we can't force God to forgive us our sins through our actions.
As it turns out this idea isn't new to me. I may not have consciously thought of forgiveness from God's perspective in this manner but the path had been laid out before me to follow.
Forgiveness is a wonderful blessing and I'm grateful to God, that I can know God's forgiveness through faith in my Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
What's the point?
I'm a Christian.
I won't say that I'm a good Christian. I have my problems and my struggles, but I have faith in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus for my salvation. I have faith in the love of God and His sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Which one should expect when someone identifies themselves as Christian.
The label of Christian implies the person holds to certain beliefs: the incarnation of God in the person of Christ Jesus; the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus; that all have sinned and that salvationcan only be found in the person and sacrifice of Christ Jesus. These are the central tenets of the Christian faith and can be seen in both the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.
The Apostles Creed
During the course of the interview Ms. Sewel identifies herself as a Christian, or more accurately, a liberal Christian. Yet she denies virtually all of what Christianity entails. Even the atheist Hitchens sees this.
Mr. Hitchens goes on to say:
Hitchens then helps get Sewel to the heart of the matter:
Mr. Hitchen's final point is the one that shows us how far Ms. Sewel's supposed Christian faith is from actual Christianity.
You see, Marilyn Sewel identifies herself as a Christian, but denies Christ. She has taken Christ out of Christianity and put in His place herself. She has transformed the eternal truth of Christ and His resurrection into a transitory interpretation that has no implication outside of the mind of individual. She has made the faith little more than a comforting thought in order to wrap herself in the trappings of Christianity so that when people see her they will think one thing all the while being ingnorant to the fact that her proclomations of Chrisitian faith are a disguise that she uses to gain respectability and a following for her heretical ideas.
She has no idea what Christianity is. More importantly she seemingly has no idea of what she actually believes in. She doesn't want to believe in the God of the Bible, so she makes the Bible a collection of stories that can be seen as metaphor or simply ignored. She has stripped the Bible of its power and substance. Yet she is too weak psychologically to openly deny the existence of God as that would remove her disguise and be seen for who she is and for what she believes.
She says as much herself:
God is a mystery to her?
She doesn't know if God exists or not?
The resurrection never happened?
God doesn't intervene in the world?
These are the claims of a Christian?
God is a mystery to her and yet a Christian response to the challenge of knowing God is that He provided not only His inspired word, the Bible, so that we may know Him but also provided for us His indwelling Spirit. A Christian won't claim that God is completely knowable but it is possible to know Him.
She says that God does not intervene in the world and yet the crux of Christianity is God's intervention into the world in the incarnation of Christ Jesus. I won't say that God micro-manages human experience but it is impossible to claim, as a Christian, that God does not intervene in the world.
The focal point of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is the one point on which all others depend. To deny the resurrection is to deny Christianity, yet Ms. Sewel does this and yet still claims to be a Christian. Its an impossibility.
I appreciate Ms. Sewel's honesty during this interview. She acknowleged her lack of understanding of core Christian doctrine and belief. She acknowleged her true nature as a non-Christian. I only wish that she would continue her honesty and drop the label of Christian as she only does it harm.
I won't say that I'm a good Christian. I have my problems and my struggles, but I have faith in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus for my salvation. I have faith in the love of God and His sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Which one should expect when someone identifies themselves as Christian.
The label of Christian implies the person holds to certain beliefs: the incarnation of God in the person of Christ Jesus; the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus; that all have sinned and that salvation
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The thing that I don't understand is why people feel the need to take on a label that identifies them with a series of beliefs that they simply don't hold. I know its not uncommon. Some people do it wrap themselves in something that gives their actions or ideas an air of respectability, significance or authority. Counting on the fact that many people simply can't tell the difference between what is true or false.
For instance there is Fred Phelps, a famous "Christian" zealot who declares to anyone who is within line of sight how much God hates everyone. However if one reads the Bible one sees that far from hating humanity God loves humanity and strives for reconciliation. Perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible starts with "for God so loved the world ..."
During the course of the interview Ms. Sewel identifies herself as a Christian, or more accurately, a liberal Christian. Yet she denies virtually all of what Christianity entails. Even the atheist Hitchens sees this.
MS: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian, and I don't take the stories from the scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make the distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?
CH: I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningul sense a Christian.
Mr. Hitchens goes on to say:
[The Apostle] Paul says, very clearly, that if it is not true that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then we the Christians are of all people the most unhappy. If none of that's true, and you seem to say it isn't, I have no quarrel with you.
Hitchens then helps get Sewel to the heart of the matter:
MS: Well, probably not, because I agree with almost everything that you say. But I still consider myself a Christian and a person of faith.
CH: Do you mind if I ask you question? Faith in what? Faith in the resurrection?
MS: The way I believe in the resurrection is I believe that one can go from death in this life, in the sense of being dead to the world and dead to other people, and can be resurrected to new life. When I preach about Easter and the resurrection, it's in a metaphorical sense.
CH: I hate to say it - we've hardly been introduced - but maybe you are simply living on the inheritance of a monstrous fraud that was preached to millions of people as the literal truth - as you put it, "the ground of being."
MS: Times change and, you know, people's beliefs change. I don't believe that you have to be fundamentalist and literalist to be a Christian. You do: You're something of a fundamentalist, actually.
CH: Well, I'm sorry, fundamentalist simply means those who think that the Bible is a serious book and should be taken seriously.
MS: I take it very seriously. I have my grandmother's Bible and I still read it, but I don't take it as literal truth. I take it as metaphorical truth. The stories, the narrative, are what's important.
CH: But then, show me what there is, ethically, in any religion that can't be duplicated by Humanism. In other words, can you name me a single moral action performed or moral statment uttered by a person of faith that couldn't be just as well pronounced or undertaken by a civilian?
Mr. Hitchen's final point is the one that shows us how far Ms. Sewel's supposed Christian faith is from actual Christianity.
You see, Marilyn Sewel identifies herself as a Christian, but denies Christ. She has taken Christ out of Christianity and put in His place herself. She has transformed the eternal truth of Christ and His resurrection into a transitory interpretation that has no implication outside of the mind of individual. She has made the faith little more than a comforting thought in order to wrap herself in the trappings of Christianity so that when people see her they will think one thing all the while being ingnorant to the fact that her proclomations of Chrisitian faith are a disguise that she uses to gain respectability and a following for her heretical ideas.
She has no idea what Christianity is. More importantly she seemingly has no idea of what she actually believes in. She doesn't want to believe in the God of the Bible, so she makes the Bible a collection of stories that can be seen as metaphor or simply ignored. She has stripped the Bible of its power and substance. Yet she is too weak psychologically to openly deny the existence of God as that would remove her disguise and be seen for who she is and for what she believes.
She says as much herself:
MS: If you would like for me to talk a little bit about what I believe ...
CH: Well I would actually.
MS: I don't know whether or not God exists in the first place, let me say that. I certainly don't think that God is an old man in the sky, I don't believe that God intervenes to give me goodies if I ask for them.
CH: You don't believe he's an interventionist of any kind?
MS: I'm kind of an agnostic on that one. God is a mystery to me. I choose to believe because - and this is a very practical thing for me - I seem to live with more integrity when I find myself accountable to something larger than myself. That thing larger than myself, I call God, but it's a metaphor. That God i an emptiness out of which everything comes. Perhaps I would say "reality" or "what is" because we're trying to describe the infinite with language of the finite. My faith is that I put all that I am and all that I have ont he line for that which I do not know.
God is a mystery to her?
She doesn't know if God exists or not?
The resurrection never happened?
God doesn't intervene in the world?
These are the claims of a Christian?
God is a mystery to her and yet a Christian response to the challenge of knowing God is that He provided not only His inspired word, the Bible, so that we may know Him but also provided for us His indwelling Spirit. A Christian won't claim that God is completely knowable but it is possible to know Him.
She says that God does not intervene in the world and yet the crux of Christianity is God's intervention into the world in the incarnation of Christ Jesus. I won't say that God micro-manages human experience but it is impossible to claim, as a Christian, that God does not intervene in the world.
The focal point of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is the one point on which all others depend. To deny the resurrection is to deny Christianity, yet Ms. Sewel does this and yet still claims to be a Christian. Its an impossibility.
I appreciate Ms. Sewel's honesty during this interview. She acknowleged her lack of understanding of core Christian doctrine and belief. She acknowleged her true nature as a non-Christian. I only wish that she would continue her honesty and drop the label of Christian as she only does it harm.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Part 6: Bangkok
What to say?
I didn't like Bangkok.
During my time in Bangkok I kept trying to figure out how I would describe Bangkok.
My first attempt is that Bangkok made me feel like an ATM; having my buttons pushed by so many hands trying to find the right combination that would have me spit out money.
My second attempt is that Bangkok is like a filthy dollar store seeded liberally with hookers and massage parlors.
In all honesty by the time I got to Bangkok I was rather tired of it all.
I found cities are like coins; dual sides. The first side is the city itself. The second side are the attractions the cities offers. Cities are something that I use, rather than something I appreciate. When I went to Hanoi it was for Ha Long Bay, and the Hanoi Hilton. Phnom Penh was for Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields. The cities themselves held no interest for me.
I found Bangkok had little of interest. The markets were filled with cheap knockoff crap. Seeing an eight or nine year old girl hanging out in front of a whore house with some of the workers was depressing. The Lamborghini and Maserati I got to see there were kind of cool.
The best part of the week was my final day in Bangkok when I hung out at the Siam mall and got to see Avatar in Imax 3D.
I didn't like Bangkok.
During my time in Bangkok I kept trying to figure out how I would describe Bangkok.
My first attempt is that Bangkok made me feel like an ATM; having my buttons pushed by so many hands trying to find the right combination that would have me spit out money.
My second attempt is that Bangkok is like a filthy dollar store seeded liberally with hookers and massage parlors.
In all honesty by the time I got to Bangkok I was rather tired of it all.
I found cities are like coins; dual sides. The first side is the city itself. The second side are the attractions the cities offers. Cities are something that I use, rather than something I appreciate. When I went to Hanoi it was for Ha Long Bay, and the Hanoi Hilton. Phnom Penh was for Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields. The cities themselves held no interest for me.
I found Bangkok had little of interest. The markets were filled with cheap knockoff crap. Seeing an eight or nine year old girl hanging out in front of a whore house with some of the workers was depressing. The Lamborghini and Maserati I got to see there were kind of cool.
The best part of the week was my final day in Bangkok when I hung out at the Siam mall and got to see Avatar in Imax 3D.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Part 5: Chiang Mai
I wasn't quite sure to expect from Thailand, or at the very least, Chiang Mai. Everybody I talked to about Thailand before I left had mostly focused on the beaches, a few ventured as far north as Bangkok, but finding people who had been to the north of the country was few and far between. I did have a few friends who had been to Chiang Mai the previous year and they loved it, but I was still at a bit of a loss as to what I should or could expect. How much like the other places in Thailand that I had heard about would Chiang Mai be?
I found by the time that I got to Chiang Mai that the travel was tiring me out. I found myself feeling listless and bored by everything. Luckily I had booked an overnight stay at the Elephant Nature Park while I was in Chiang Mai, so I had something to look forward to.
My first full day in Chiang Mai I spent wandering the old city and taking in the different temples and places of interest. I found it all rather uninteresting. After all the wats in Cambodia and then even more wats in Laos, the prospect of looking at still more wats was less than appealing. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful to look at, but they hold no significance for me other than as decoration. Not being Buddhist or having any interest in Buddhism really made the numerous wats in Chiang Mai seem more like an obligation than sites of interest.
The next two days were spent at the Elephant Nature Park, which was an amazing place. To learn about how the elephants are treated in modern Thai culture was a real eye opener. It was also very sad. The opportunity to not only see elephants up close but to feed them by hand, to get in a river with them and wash them, to stand at their shoulder and rub behind their ears was something that one can't truly express in words; it has to be experienced.
The elephant has a complicated place in Thai culture. On one hand it is a sacred animal, much like a cow in India. You find representations of elephants at all the wats that you go to. On the other hand they were traditionally beasts of burden for the people. For much of the previous century (if not much much longer) elephants were used in logging. That all ended in 1989 when the government decided that too much of Thailand's forests had been cleared and a ban on logging was issued. This left the people who owned logging elephants in a quandary; what to do with these expensive animals?
Some were used in illegal logging operations. Some were sold off to legal logging operations in Burma. Some were made into tourist vehicles so that visitors to Thailand could go on elephant treks. Some were trained to perform in shows for tourists. Still others were trained to go begging in the city streets with their mahouts.
The problem with this, and one question that I've never heard a westerner who was interested in visiting elephants in Thailand was, how do you get an elephant to do these things? The unfortunate reality is that they are tortured into submission. Once their will had been broken through day after day of torture at hands of a mahout, they would then be trained for their new jobs. Sure some elephants are born in captivity, so to speak, born to a domesticated elephant, but many are found in the wild and broken.
There was one elephant at the ENP that had been used in an illegal logging operation. She got pregnant and when it came time to give birth her masters would not let her. Instead she was forced to continue working and while dragging a log up a hill she gave birth. Her calf rolled down the hill and died. The mother was heart broken and refused to work. Her mahout shot rocks into her eyes with a sling shot to get her moving again. After a week or two she again refused to work and started lashing out at the humans around her. Her mahout shot out her other eye with an arrow, figuring that a blind elephant would be easier to handle. This is just one story of the dozens of elephants at the ENP. Thankfully there is a wonderful woman named Lek who has made it her life to save these elephants and give them a life.
I don't blame tourists for being interested in elephants or wanting to see elephants while in Thailand. Far from it. I completely understand the attraction, but knowing what I know now, I would strongly encourage anyone who is thinking of seeing these wonderful creatures while in Thailand to do so in a way that doesn't harm them, that doesn't require their torture or continued agony.
For my last full day in Chiang Mai, I went white water rafting. I'd never been and figured that it would be a lot of fun. It was and I'd love to go again. The river I was on was said to be a level 2, so nothing too daunting but there were some fun parts. I even fell out of the boat in the rapids and got a few scrapes for souvenirs. It was a great time.
Having been to a number of cities both during and prior to my travels, I can honestly say that they hold little interest for me. Chiang Mai, for me, will be elephants and little else.
Next: part 6 - Bangkok
I found by the time that I got to Chiang Mai that the travel was tiring me out. I found myself feeling listless and bored by everything. Luckily I had booked an overnight stay at the Elephant Nature Park while I was in Chiang Mai, so I had something to look forward to.
My first full day in Chiang Mai I spent wandering the old city and taking in the different temples and places of interest. I found it all rather uninteresting. After all the wats in Cambodia and then even more wats in Laos, the prospect of looking at still more wats was less than appealing. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful to look at, but they hold no significance for me other than as decoration. Not being Buddhist or having any interest in Buddhism really made the numerous wats in Chiang Mai seem more like an obligation than sites of interest.
The next two days were spent at the Elephant Nature Park, which was an amazing place. To learn about how the elephants are treated in modern Thai culture was a real eye opener. It was also very sad. The opportunity to not only see elephants up close but to feed them by hand, to get in a river with them and wash them, to stand at their shoulder and rub behind their ears was something that one can't truly express in words; it has to be experienced.
The elephant has a complicated place in Thai culture. On one hand it is a sacred animal, much like a cow in India. You find representations of elephants at all the wats that you go to. On the other hand they were traditionally beasts of burden for the people. For much of the previous century (if not much much longer) elephants were used in logging. That all ended in 1989 when the government decided that too much of Thailand's forests had been cleared and a ban on logging was issued. This left the people who owned logging elephants in a quandary; what to do with these expensive animals?
Some were used in illegal logging operations. Some were sold off to legal logging operations in Burma. Some were made into tourist vehicles so that visitors to Thailand could go on elephant treks. Some were trained to perform in shows for tourists. Still others were trained to go begging in the city streets with their mahouts.
The problem with this, and one question that I've never heard a westerner who was interested in visiting elephants in Thailand was, how do you get an elephant to do these things? The unfortunate reality is that they are tortured into submission. Once their will had been broken through day after day of torture at hands of a mahout, they would then be trained for their new jobs. Sure some elephants are born in captivity, so to speak, born to a domesticated elephant, but many are found in the wild and broken.
There was one elephant at the ENP that had been used in an illegal logging operation. She got pregnant and when it came time to give birth her masters would not let her. Instead she was forced to continue working and while dragging a log up a hill she gave birth. Her calf rolled down the hill and died. The mother was heart broken and refused to work. Her mahout shot rocks into her eyes with a sling shot to get her moving again. After a week or two she again refused to work and started lashing out at the humans around her. Her mahout shot out her other eye with an arrow, figuring that a blind elephant would be easier to handle. This is just one story of the dozens of elephants at the ENP. Thankfully there is a wonderful woman named Lek who has made it her life to save these elephants and give them a life.
I don't blame tourists for being interested in elephants or wanting to see elephants while in Thailand. Far from it. I completely understand the attraction, but knowing what I know now, I would strongly encourage anyone who is thinking of seeing these wonderful creatures while in Thailand to do so in a way that doesn't harm them, that doesn't require their torture or continued agony.
For my last full day in Chiang Mai, I went white water rafting. I'd never been and figured that it would be a lot of fun. It was and I'd love to go again. The river I was on was said to be a level 2, so nothing too daunting but there were some fun parts. I even fell out of the boat in the rapids and got a few scrapes for souvenirs. It was a great time.
Having been to a number of cities both during and prior to my travels, I can honestly say that they hold little interest for me. Chiang Mai, for me, will be elephants and little else.
Next: part 6 - Bangkok
Monday, February 08, 2010
Part 4: Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang was a weird place for me.
I was very conscious of the need to try and conserve money after having to purchase a new one while I was in Vietnam. It was also a place where I had nothing planned.
Luang Prabang is a fairly small place. I went everywhere on foot and got to see a good portion of the town/city. It was a bit more touristy than I had anticipated. I had read that as you go further north in Laos you'll encounter less of a tourist footprint. This was not the case in Luang Prabang.
Don't get me wrong, it is far far better than a tourist trap like Siem Reap. I didn't have children chasing after me begging for money or for me to buy something. I wasn't pestered every five feet by a tuk-tuk driver. I wasn't offered a prostitute everytime I stepped outside at night. Actaully on my final night in Luang Prabang I was walking back to my guesthouse and a guy asked me if I wanted a woman. It was the only time in happened in Luang Prabang and it helped to add a little shadow to what had been a rather quaint picture of the town and people.
Luang Prabang is located at the junction of two rivers; the main river being the Mekong. If you use the Mekong as a reference point as it runs north south, the first street along the river is full of guest houses and restaurants over looking the river. Go over one block and you get a street filled with tour companies, guest houses and restaurants. This is also the street where the night market is held. Given the size of the town, I was surprised by the number of restaurants and guesthouses. Tourism had made its impact known in Luang Prabang.
There really isn't that much to see in Luang Prabang. There are a number of small Wat's, including the one in the centre of town. There is a museum detailing how the Laotian royalty lived. There is a lively night market on what I call Restaurant Row that begins nightly at 5pm. Stall after stall of silk and silver, t-shirts and trinkets. A shoppers delight. But mostly Luang Prabang is a jumping off point to locales further afield. You can make day trips to a water falls, or some caves. Go and visit some nearby villages or go jungle trekking for a couple days.
One place that I enjoyed was a small cafe called L'eterier run by a couple of Canadian expats. They had a good selection of books for sale or loan, a nice menu and each night they showed movies in their loft. Given the lack of festivities in Luang Prabang, I took in two movies with about ten other travelers.
As for the people, they were quite friendly and nice. They weren't pushy or intrusive. There was definitely a slower pace of life here and it can either drive you crazy or give you that pause in rush that you need.
All in all, for me it was a nice relaxing time where I got to wander the town and just rest after more than a week of daily running around. If I were to go back though I'd definitely like to take better advantage of what Luang Prabang has to offer in terms of experiencing northern Laos.
Next: Part 5 - Chiang Mai
I was very conscious of the need to try and conserve money after having to purchase a new one while I was in Vietnam. It was also a place where I had nothing planned.
Luang Prabang is a fairly small place. I went everywhere on foot and got to see a good portion of the town/city. It was a bit more touristy than I had anticipated. I had read that as you go further north in Laos you'll encounter less of a tourist footprint. This was not the case in Luang Prabang.
Don't get me wrong, it is far far better than a tourist trap like Siem Reap. I didn't have children chasing after me begging for money or for me to buy something. I wasn't pestered every five feet by a tuk-tuk driver. I wasn't offered a prostitute everytime I stepped outside at night. Actaully on my final night in Luang Prabang I was walking back to my guesthouse and a guy asked me if I wanted a woman. It was the only time in happened in Luang Prabang and it helped to add a little shadow to what had been a rather quaint picture of the town and people.
Luang Prabang is located at the junction of two rivers; the main river being the Mekong. If you use the Mekong as a reference point as it runs north south, the first street along the river is full of guest houses and restaurants over looking the river. Go over one block and you get a street filled with tour companies, guest houses and restaurants. This is also the street where the night market is held. Given the size of the town, I was surprised by the number of restaurants and guesthouses. Tourism had made its impact known in Luang Prabang.
There really isn't that much to see in Luang Prabang. There are a number of small Wat's, including the one in the centre of town. There is a museum detailing how the Laotian royalty lived. There is a lively night market on what I call Restaurant Row that begins nightly at 5pm. Stall after stall of silk and silver, t-shirts and trinkets. A shoppers delight. But mostly Luang Prabang is a jumping off point to locales further afield. You can make day trips to a water falls, or some caves. Go and visit some nearby villages or go jungle trekking for a couple days.
One place that I enjoyed was a small cafe called L'eterier run by a couple of Canadian expats. They had a good selection of books for sale or loan, a nice menu and each night they showed movies in their loft. Given the lack of festivities in Luang Prabang, I took in two movies with about ten other travelers.
As for the people, they were quite friendly and nice. They weren't pushy or intrusive. There was definitely a slower pace of life here and it can either drive you crazy or give you that pause in rush that you need.
All in all, for me it was a nice relaxing time where I got to wander the town and just rest after more than a week of daily running around. If I were to go back though I'd definitely like to take better advantage of what Luang Prabang has to offer in terms of experiencing northern Laos.
Next: Part 5 - Chiang Mai
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Part 3: Siem Reap
The third stop on my tour of southeast Asia was Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Siem Reap was different from Phnom Penh in a number of ways.
First it was much smaller. It was also much more tourist oriented, which is to be expected when your the main gateway to the Angkor Archeological Park. Hundreds if not thousands of tourists must descend on Siem Reap each week in order to catch a glimpse of these nearly 1000 year old marvels.
My first day in Siem Reap began by taking the boat from Phnom Penh. It took about 5 hours and was comfortable enough but after two days of intense heat and little sleap I wasn't feeling the best. So I checked in, took a shower and had a nap before heading out for a little stroll in the evening.
My second day took me out to the Angkor Archeological Park. The first stop and perhaps the most impressive was Angkor Wat. Simply amazing. Blazing heat and 5 temples took their toll. My third day was spent in bed ill. Thankfully I had an AC room by that point. What a difference that makes.
The third day was spent taking in another 5 temple complexes. All were much smaller than the Angkor Wat complex and so it made for a nice day.
The evenings in Siem Reap seem to revolve around Pub Street. Two blocks of restaurants which are all generally packed with tourists. There are massage shops everywhere and a couple of nice markets selling everything from silver to silk.
There were three things that made my stay in Siem Reap better than Phnom Penh. First was the guesthouse where I stayed. Nice, clean rooms with hot water and AC are a God send especially after a long day in the heat. The owner was a nice guy willing to help with anything. Second were the attractions. Exploring the Angkor complexes was harder physically given the number and heat, but they were much less draining than the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Prison. Third was a nice tuk-tuk driver that was knowledgeable and very helpful. He made exploring the park quite easy.
Never having made a trip like this before I'm learning a bit about myself as a traveler. One of the main things I've learned is that I a clean private room with AC, a TV and hot water. There are cheaper options about (one person told me about a place for $1 a night) but the extra cost is worth it for me. Not that $10 to $15 a night is expensive.
Cambodia as a whole was interesting. Meeting people who seemingly didn't know what the Killing Fields were blew my mind. I would have thought that the people there would be resentful of the west for part we played in helping to subject them to genocide. Perhaps there is some of that lingering in the background; somewhere. But in general the people seem to be too busy living their lives to get caught up in the recriminations of the past.
Next: part 4 - Luang Prabang
Siem Reap was different from Phnom Penh in a number of ways.
First it was much smaller. It was also much more tourist oriented, which is to be expected when your the main gateway to the Angkor Archeological Park. Hundreds if not thousands of tourists must descend on Siem Reap each week in order to catch a glimpse of these nearly 1000 year old marvels.
My first day in Siem Reap began by taking the boat from Phnom Penh. It took about 5 hours and was comfortable enough but after two days of intense heat and little sleap I wasn't feeling the best. So I checked in, took a shower and had a nap before heading out for a little stroll in the evening.
My second day took me out to the Angkor Archeological Park. The first stop and perhaps the most impressive was Angkor Wat. Simply amazing. Blazing heat and 5 temples took their toll. My third day was spent in bed ill. Thankfully I had an AC room by that point. What a difference that makes.
The third day was spent taking in another 5 temple complexes. All were much smaller than the Angkor Wat complex and so it made for a nice day.
The evenings in Siem Reap seem to revolve around Pub Street. Two blocks of restaurants which are all generally packed with tourists. There are massage shops everywhere and a couple of nice markets selling everything from silver to silk.
There were three things that made my stay in Siem Reap better than Phnom Penh. First was the guesthouse where I stayed. Nice, clean rooms with hot water and AC are a God send especially after a long day in the heat. The owner was a nice guy willing to help with anything. Second were the attractions. Exploring the Angkor complexes was harder physically given the number and heat, but they were much less draining than the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Prison. Third was a nice tuk-tuk driver that was knowledgeable and very helpful. He made exploring the park quite easy.
Never having made a trip like this before I'm learning a bit about myself as a traveler. One of the main things I've learned is that I a clean private room with AC, a TV and hot water. There are cheaper options about (one person told me about a place for $1 a night) but the extra cost is worth it for me. Not that $10 to $15 a night is expensive.
Cambodia as a whole was interesting. Meeting people who seemingly didn't know what the Killing Fields were blew my mind. I would have thought that the people there would be resentful of the west for part we played in helping to subject them to genocide. Perhaps there is some of that lingering in the background; somewhere. But in general the people seem to be too busy living their lives to get caught up in the recriminations of the past.
Next: part 4 - Luang Prabang
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Part 2: Phnom Penh
Man it's hot!
I mean it's bloody friggin' hot!
After having spent the previous five days in Hanoi, where the temperature hovered around 15C, arriving in Phnom Penh and its 33C heat was a real kick to the system.
After having had my camera stolen, the subsequent dent in the budget led me to pick a place because it was cheap. Big mistake.
Don't get me wrong, the people were very helpful and friendly but the concrete room with no hot water left a lot to be desired. Sure it had a fan but when the night time temperature only drops to a cool 25C it does little to help with the sleep. As such I spent two rather restless nights in Phnom Penh.
I was never my intention to stay long in Phnom Penh. I mostly only went there to see the Killing Fields. As such my impressions of the city will be brief.
The day I got into town I walked for an hour in the afternoon heat in order to save a few bucks and to find the Tuel Sleng museum; once known as S21. Tuel Sleng was once a high school, but when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power they transformed the school into a prison of unspeakable terror and torment. Walking around what were once classrooms it was impossible to be emotionally detached. All of the photos of children, the cells, the barbed wire, and the skulls took a real toll.
That night I went for a walk along the river and ended having about an hour long conversation with a Cambodian University student. He kept talking about how happy he was to be able to speak English with someone. It was a nice change of pace from all of the other times when your constantly being implored to buy this or that or to find out if you want some drugs or a prostitute.
It was during this time that I recognized the problem with traveling alone; at least from my perspective. Traveling by yourself frees you to do what you want, when you want and how you want. For me though the problem begins when the sun goes down. I'm not a partier, so hitting up the clubs holds no appeal for me. Its that time between dinner and bed that can make you feel lonely.
On my second day in Phnom Penh, I decided I would rent a scooter. Great idea I thought. It only cost $4 for a day and would save on a lot of tuk-tuk costs and provide for a nice ride out to the Killing Fields. That lasted all of about a half hour. Before I even left the city I was pulled over by the police who claimed that it was illegal for me to drive in Cambodia without a Cambodian drivers license. The normal course of action was for them to take me jail and for me to pay a $100 fine. After a little of this show, the lead cop called me over to him and said that if I paid the $100 to him I could avoid the jail. After a couple minutes of me trying to convince him that I didn't have $100 on me, he took what money I had and told me to get lost.
My $4 scooter was costing me $27.
So according to my guide book, to get to Cheung Ek (the Killing Fields) you needed to take the main road heading south out of town. It said that it was about 15km south of the city. Well after driving for a good amount of time and having gone through a town and a village I was pulled over by more police. I'm sure you can figure out what was going through my mind at this point. Fortunately these police were helpful and politely told me that I had gone too far the wrong way. That I should go back to the town and follow route 2.
So I go back to the town, get onto route 2 and follow it for what seems like a dozen kilometres without any success. I stop and ask someone for directions. They can't speak English. So I ride back to town ask at one gas station. They don't know what Cheung Ek is. So I go to a different gas station. They too don't know what Cheung Ek is. At this point I'm flabbergasted. How could these people not know of one of the main sites of atrocity in their nation? Luckily someone came into the gas station who did and they were able to provide me with a map.
So off I set again and after another 30 - 45 minutes I finally found it.
The centre-piece of the site is a huge stuppa filled with skulls dug up from the graves that had been uncovered. Many of the original buildings had been torn down. A number of the graves that had been excavated were fenced off and had signs telling you about what had been found there. One of the more gruesome remainders of the Khmer regime was a tree that they used to smash the skulls of children against.
When it came time to leave Phnom Penh, I can't say that I was unhappy to leave. I think that I will always remember Phnom Penh as a depressing place due entirely to the fact that much of my time there was spent confronting the evidence of genocide.
Next: part 3 - Siem Reap.
I mean it's bloody friggin' hot!
After having spent the previous five days in Hanoi, where the temperature hovered around 15C, arriving in Phnom Penh and its 33C heat was a real kick to the system.
After having had my camera stolen, the subsequent dent in the budget led me to pick a place because it was cheap. Big mistake.
Don't get me wrong, the people were very helpful and friendly but the concrete room with no hot water left a lot to be desired. Sure it had a fan but when the night time temperature only drops to a cool 25C it does little to help with the sleep. As such I spent two rather restless nights in Phnom Penh.
I was never my intention to stay long in Phnom Penh. I mostly only went there to see the Killing Fields. As such my impressions of the city will be brief.
The day I got into town I walked for an hour in the afternoon heat in order to save a few bucks and to find the Tuel Sleng museum; once known as S21. Tuel Sleng was once a high school, but when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power they transformed the school into a prison of unspeakable terror and torment. Walking around what were once classrooms it was impossible to be emotionally detached. All of the photos of children, the cells, the barbed wire, and the skulls took a real toll.
That night I went for a walk along the river and ended having about an hour long conversation with a Cambodian University student. He kept talking about how happy he was to be able to speak English with someone. It was a nice change of pace from all of the other times when your constantly being implored to buy this or that or to find out if you want some drugs or a prostitute.
It was during this time that I recognized the problem with traveling alone; at least from my perspective. Traveling by yourself frees you to do what you want, when you want and how you want. For me though the problem begins when the sun goes down. I'm not a partier, so hitting up the clubs holds no appeal for me. Its that time between dinner and bed that can make you feel lonely.
On my second day in Phnom Penh, I decided I would rent a scooter. Great idea I thought. It only cost $4 for a day and would save on a lot of tuk-tuk costs and provide for a nice ride out to the Killing Fields. That lasted all of about a half hour. Before I even left the city I was pulled over by the police who claimed that it was illegal for me to drive in Cambodia without a Cambodian drivers license. The normal course of action was for them to take me jail and for me to pay a $100 fine. After a little of this show, the lead cop called me over to him and said that if I paid the $100 to him I could avoid the jail. After a couple minutes of me trying to convince him that I didn't have $100 on me, he took what money I had and told me to get lost.
My $4 scooter was costing me $27.
So according to my guide book, to get to Cheung Ek (the Killing Fields) you needed to take the main road heading south out of town. It said that it was about 15km south of the city. Well after driving for a good amount of time and having gone through a town and a village I was pulled over by more police. I'm sure you can figure out what was going through my mind at this point. Fortunately these police were helpful and politely told me that I had gone too far the wrong way. That I should go back to the town and follow route 2.
So I go back to the town, get onto route 2 and follow it for what seems like a dozen kilometres without any success. I stop and ask someone for directions. They can't speak English. So I ride back to town ask at one gas station. They don't know what Cheung Ek is. So I go to a different gas station. They too don't know what Cheung Ek is. At this point I'm flabbergasted. How could these people not know of one of the main sites of atrocity in their nation? Luckily someone came into the gas station who did and they were able to provide me with a map.
So off I set again and after another 30 - 45 minutes I finally found it.
The centre-piece of the site is a huge stuppa filled with skulls dug up from the graves that had been uncovered. Many of the original buildings had been torn down. A number of the graves that had been excavated were fenced off and had signs telling you about what had been found there. One of the more gruesome remainders of the Khmer regime was a tree that they used to smash the skulls of children against.
When it came time to leave Phnom Penh, I can't say that I was unhappy to leave. I think that I will always remember Phnom Penh as a depressing place due entirely to the fact that much of my time there was spent confronting the evidence of genocide.
Next: part 3 - Siem Reap.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Part 1: Hanoi
If you read my previous post you already know that I'm on a 4 week trip through south east Asia. My first stop was Hanoi, Vietnam.
When I arrived it was wet and overcast. It would stay that way for the full 5 nights I was there. I stayed four of those nights in the Old Quarter of Hanoi; just to the north of Hoan Kiem Lake. My first impressions of the city were that it was dirty, crowded and insane. There was garbage in the streets (in fact I watched as at the end of the day businesses would sweep all their garbage into the gutter; it would later be picked up), people pissing in the streets and various other things.
My impression of the people is incomplete as all of those I met were either serving me, or trying to get me to buy something from them. I even had one guy follow me for 4 blocks trying to get me to take a ride on his motorbike (scooter actually and a popular form of taxi in the congested city). I had to duck into a restaurant so that he would leave, but in fact he still hung around for about 2-3 minutes seeing if I'd come back out.
In all I saw the Army Museum, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the downed B-52, the Hanoi Hilton and a performance of water puppets. All of this was in the city.
For 2 days - 1 night, I took a boat cruise through Ha Long Bay. It was spectacular. The sun never shone but it wasn't hot and the boat was wonderful. Some the best food I've ever eaten was on that boat; all fresh seafood (and I'm not a fan of seafood) that was incedibly delicious. We toured through the bay, were taken to a floating fishing village and then to one of the many caves that dot the more than 1000 islands.
My impression of the city changed a bit as the days went by. I couldn't help but think of the city as being akin to a medieval city struggling with change. Hanoi even more so. Its hard to lay aside our western notions of modernity and right and wrong. It constantly shades how we (or at least me) see the world around us.
When I first got there I was unconsciously making comparisons between Hanoi and other western capitals; it paled in comparison. It was easy to forget that they had only been without war for the past 30 years. It was easy to forget that as early as 70 years ago they were wearing loin cloths and living in tribal villages. The west forced them modernize at the barrel of a gun and continuous wars that stretch as far back as the 1890s ending only in 1979 with their defeat of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Given this reality (?) its hard to judge the city and people of Hanoi (and perhaps Vietnam as a whole) harshly. They weren't given the opportunity to enter the "modern world" or interact with the western world on their own terms. Given this I'm actually surprised at how congenial and friendly the people of Vietnam were to westerns who come parading through their streets looking for cheap goods, cheap thrills or even worse. Sure one could argue that they are only that way in order to get money from us, but aren't we to blame for that?
A side note: During the tour of Ha Long we went to a floating fishing village. It was essentially a fish farm. Each house had an area that had a net and in that net they raised various fish. They would go out and actively fish the waters of Ha Long, using what they caught to eat, to supplement their farm stocks or to feed to their fish. This was a small village containing approximately 55 families. One of the highlights for me was seeing their school. It was explained to us that the school only goes up to grade 5, and that the children only go half days (morning or afternoon). The teachers lived on the main land and would boat out to the school a week at a time. We were told that the school was limited in this way as it was determined that the children really didn't need any more education considering the fact that they would live and most likely die in that village. One doesn't need calculus to raise fish. It was easy to look down your nose at such an attitude but it is the wrong reaction. Its really not all that different than the way we were even a hundred years ago. In fact the classroom was a huge improvement as only 7-10 years ago none of the people who grew up in that village ever went to school.
The one down side to my Hanoi experience was that my camera got stolen. I had just gotten back from my overnight cruise through Ha Long Bay and thought I'd grab a bite to eat. I took my camera with me to look over the pictures and videos that I had taken up to that point. I set it down and allowed my mind to wander. I lost track of it. When it was time to go, my camera was gone. An expensive lesson to be sure, but the real cost is in the loss of the pictures.
Next: Part 2 - Phnom Penh
When I arrived it was wet and overcast. It would stay that way for the full 5 nights I was there. I stayed four of those nights in the Old Quarter of Hanoi; just to the north of Hoan Kiem Lake. My first impressions of the city were that it was dirty, crowded and insane. There was garbage in the streets (in fact I watched as at the end of the day businesses would sweep all their garbage into the gutter; it would later be picked up), people pissing in the streets and various other things.
My impression of the people is incomplete as all of those I met were either serving me, or trying to get me to buy something from them. I even had one guy follow me for 4 blocks trying to get me to take a ride on his motorbike (scooter actually and a popular form of taxi in the congested city). I had to duck into a restaurant so that he would leave, but in fact he still hung around for about 2-3 minutes seeing if I'd come back out.
In all I saw the Army Museum, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the downed B-52, the Hanoi Hilton and a performance of water puppets. All of this was in the city.
For 2 days - 1 night, I took a boat cruise through Ha Long Bay. It was spectacular. The sun never shone but it wasn't hot and the boat was wonderful. Some the best food I've ever eaten was on that boat; all fresh seafood (and I'm not a fan of seafood) that was incedibly delicious. We toured through the bay, were taken to a floating fishing village and then to one of the many caves that dot the more than 1000 islands.
My impression of the city changed a bit as the days went by. I couldn't help but think of the city as being akin to a medieval city struggling with change. Hanoi even more so. Its hard to lay aside our western notions of modernity and right and wrong. It constantly shades how we (or at least me) see the world around us.
When I first got there I was unconsciously making comparisons between Hanoi and other western capitals; it paled in comparison. It was easy to forget that they had only been without war for the past 30 years. It was easy to forget that as early as 70 years ago they were wearing loin cloths and living in tribal villages. The west forced them modernize at the barrel of a gun and continuous wars that stretch as far back as the 1890s ending only in 1979 with their defeat of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Given this reality (?) its hard to judge the city and people of Hanoi (and perhaps Vietnam as a whole) harshly. They weren't given the opportunity to enter the "modern world" or interact with the western world on their own terms. Given this I'm actually surprised at how congenial and friendly the people of Vietnam were to westerns who come parading through their streets looking for cheap goods, cheap thrills or even worse. Sure one could argue that they are only that way in order to get money from us, but aren't we to blame for that?
A side note: During the tour of Ha Long we went to a floating fishing village. It was essentially a fish farm. Each house had an area that had a net and in that net they raised various fish. They would go out and actively fish the waters of Ha Long, using what they caught to eat, to supplement their farm stocks or to feed to their fish. This was a small village containing approximately 55 families. One of the highlights for me was seeing their school. It was explained to us that the school only goes up to grade 5, and that the children only go half days (morning or afternoon). The teachers lived on the main land and would boat out to the school a week at a time. We were told that the school was limited in this way as it was determined that the children really didn't need any more education considering the fact that they would live and most likely die in that village. One doesn't need calculus to raise fish. It was easy to look down your nose at such an attitude but it is the wrong reaction. Its really not all that different than the way we were even a hundred years ago. In fact the classroom was a huge improvement as only 7-10 years ago none of the people who grew up in that village ever went to school.
The one down side to my Hanoi experience was that my camera got stolen. I had just gotten back from my overnight cruise through Ha Long Bay and thought I'd grab a bite to eat. I took my camera with me to look over the pictures and videos that I had taken up to that point. I set it down and allowed my mind to wander. I lost track of it. When it was time to go, my camera was gone. An expensive lesson to be sure, but the real cost is in the loss of the pictures.
Next: Part 2 - Phnom Penh
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Once in a lifetime
I haven't written in a while.
Not that I haven't wanted to, but I guess I just never bothered to take the time.
On Saturday I begin, what for me, will be the trip of a lifetime. A four week tour through south east Asia that will take me to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
My first stop is Hanoi, Vietnam. There are many things to see and do in the capital of Vietnam, the most important for me is Ha Long Bay.
Considered by many to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, I've therefore secured an overnight stay on one of Ha Long Bay's many islands. A two day, one night stay that will see me touring the bay on a private junk, kayaking, visiting a floating village, and exploring many of the caves that dot the area.
Next on my list of visits is Cambodia. I'll stay in both Phnom Penh and Siem Riep. My stay in Phnom Penh will be a short one but while I'm there I'll be visiting the Killing Fields of Cheoung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. A tragic piece of human history. My stay in Siem Riep will be longer as I want to explore the Angkor Archeological Park.
My next stop will be Luang Prabang, Laos. I think that one of the best things about my stop here will simply be to take some time and relax and watch Laos. Laos is becoming more popular with tourists but its not the tourist mecca that my other stops will be.
After the relaxing and slower pace of Laos I'm heading off to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The highlight of this stop will be a two day, one night stay at the Elephant Nature Park. Its here that I'll get a chance to feed and bathe elephants and see them in action. Definitely something you can't do in Canada.
My final stay will be Bangkok. I've heard different things about Bangkok; some good, some bad. I guess that that is the point of travel, to see the world for one's self. One of the highlights of my stay in Bangkok will be a day trip out the smaller town of Kanchanaburi. Many would know this site from the movie Bridge on the River Kwai. While the movie is mostly fictitious, the historical reality of the Death Railway is real and something of interest for me.
Twenty-eight days.
Four weeks of traveling through SE Asia is something that I would not have dreamed possible even a few short years ago.
It becomes a reality starting Saturday.
Not that I haven't wanted to, but I guess I just never bothered to take the time.
On Saturday I begin, what for me, will be the trip of a lifetime. A four week tour through south east Asia that will take me to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
My first stop is Hanoi, Vietnam. There are many things to see and do in the capital of Vietnam, the most important for me is Ha Long Bay.
Considered by many to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, I've therefore secured an overnight stay on one of Ha Long Bay's many islands. A two day, one night stay that will see me touring the bay on a private junk, kayaking, visiting a floating village, and exploring many of the caves that dot the area.
Next on my list of visits is Cambodia. I'll stay in both Phnom Penh and Siem Riep. My stay in Phnom Penh will be a short one but while I'm there I'll be visiting the Killing Fields of Cheoung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. A tragic piece of human history. My stay in Siem Riep will be longer as I want to explore the Angkor Archeological Park.
My next stop will be Luang Prabang, Laos. I think that one of the best things about my stop here will simply be to take some time and relax and watch Laos. Laos is becoming more popular with tourists but its not the tourist mecca that my other stops will be.
After the relaxing and slower pace of Laos I'm heading off to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The highlight of this stop will be a two day, one night stay at the Elephant Nature Park. Its here that I'll get a chance to feed and bathe elephants and see them in action. Definitely something you can't do in Canada.
My final stay will be Bangkok. I've heard different things about Bangkok; some good, some bad. I guess that that is the point of travel, to see the world for one's self. One of the highlights of my stay in Bangkok will be a day trip out the smaller town of Kanchanaburi. Many would know this site from the movie Bridge on the River Kwai. While the movie is mostly fictitious, the historical reality of the Death Railway is real and something of interest for me.
Twenty-eight days.
Four weeks of traveling through SE Asia is something that I would not have dreamed possible even a few short years ago.
It becomes a reality starting Saturday.
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