Bouncy Bus

12/30/15

  
   

  

  

  

  

  

    
    
   
In “The hero with a thousand faces”, Joseph Campbell wrote about how all great myths follow a very similar structure. From Hercules to Monkey King to Luke Skywalker: these heros followed a specific path to glory (well, actually, these Stories follow similar paths). A hero is brought out of his world into move of wonders and supernatural. He then fight for a good cause, won, and return home to glory and fame (probably wrote a few memoirs and appeared on quite a number of television talk shows). The story is often divided into 3 parts: departure, initiation and return (you can see why there are so many trilogy movies running around), and the hero will often return with a gift the helps to advance his home world (why do I feel like I am describing the final fantasy series?). It is a surprisingly  simple but profound (does these words even mean anything??) way of telling a story, but we are all suckers for them. In his book, Joseph Campbell suggested why this form of storytelling works so well, and it was a great read or anyone who is interested in mythology, story telling, Star Wars, RPG, etc. By no means am I saying I am following the hero’s journey (although I am on a very long trip), but it is often fun to think of many events in that frame.

It is a rather lazy day today, since I am taking a van from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. Famous for it old city and colorful monks in the morning, I opted to go to Luang Prabang for new year, hoping for a place that is less party and more culture (I may actually regret this decision: vang Vieng is actually a beautiful place with a lot to do and not that many peope). After a quick breakfast, I waited for the bus at the lobby, and met a few families traveling to Vientiane. There were a lot of confusion and people not feeling well, which made me a little anxious about my own van ride: the road to Luang Prabang is notoriously rumored to be twisty and in dire need of repair. The van arrived around 9:10am, and I said goodbye to Vang Vieng (silently. Would have been weird to talk to myself, or to the town for that matter), and received a nice surprised: o had the passenger seat next to the driver (no, not because the driver was pretty/ handsome/ charming/ friendly, it is because that meant I had lots of leg room and a chance to sleep peacefully). As promised, the scenery was wonderful: we twisted and turned on the mountain road, passing fields, mountains, and lots of cows. Also true? The mountain road was indeed in really poor shape, with lots of potholes, breaks, huge cracks and areas with the top layer eroded, leaving on compacted sub base. The journey was both bumpy and beautiful, which validate what everyone had said. I guess the path well traveled does come with pretty accurate reviews. 

Not forging a new path, I decided to do a tour of the Buddha cave, whiskey village and kuan xi waterfall tomorrow with a company. While I like exploring new things, these locations are far from the city and transportation alone costs a great deal. Also, since it is the last day of 2015, I thought I would take a short break and have it easy for a day. We shall see if that decision comes back to haunt me (like gosht if Christmas past retelling me the nativity scene under the menora). Feeling hungry after being passenger for 5 hours, and met the villain of the day: an old lady manning a bbq place. These places are fairly common around Laos streets, and not thinking too much, I just went in and order 1 pork skewer, one chicken skewer and sticky rice. When I went to pay, she claimed 30,000 kips, an amount equivalent of a full dish in a sit down restaurant. I was irritated and annoyed, but had no recourse since she had no menu. I paid and after an hour of wandering the city, decided to go for a run. That also did not last long, since sidewalks ends abruptly everywhere, and I was a little too full from the late lunch (well, more due to the latter). I staggered back to my hostel, changed and went to he night market for a quick dinner before retreating to my bunk (to type this post). 

As I was sitting in my bed, I thought about how this trip is becoming a journey. While there are trials and tribulations everyday (and sometimes all in one day), there are also joys and rewards (mostly ice creams I reward myself). While I had no mentor (unless you count the travel blogs and books I read), I have slowly become better at certain things (like eating less ice cream and keeping my weight down). As the year of 2015 is drawing to an end, I am happy to say I am enjoying my trials so far, but also cannot wait to bring my “gift” back to my tribe to share with them. I am not quite sure what those gifts are, but hopefully, there is some kind of heros’ welcome at the end. (Maybe an ice cream cone?)

Wet Business

12/28/15

   
    
   
   
 
When I went to business school, it was a tough decision. After a lot of people at my previous work told me I was too expensive to be trained as management (and that I was not perceived as slated for the up and coming track). I decided to prove that I was serious about learning to be business management, and decided to go to MBA program (and give up all my savings! Seriously, that program is a big money pit). Unfortunately, the company had no viable local projects, and wanted to send me to another state (and forgo my education. And waste all that money spent). I finally left the company, finished my MBA degree, and then left for a long extended trip (wait…that doesn’t sound so good). It is a strange thing: while I am having a lot of fun, I will occasionally think of how a business can be run more efficiently (especially when I am waiting aimlessly, after staring at the sky, looking at rivers and walking all around the place…). I guess some training just sticks with you (like a really bad pimple on the week of prom).

Today is a big day: I decided to go on a day long trip including tubing in caves, kayaking, and a visit to the famous Blue Lagoon (minus the naked good looking people). I was actually quite excited; not because I have not done all these activities before (well, I watched the blue lagoon and wanted to be there), it is because I have been cutting expense on this portion of the trip thus far. The idea of doing something adventurous and active induced quite the excitement in me, and I woke up, all ready to go (hmm…that last statement could be misinterpreted). I was picked up at 9:15am, and we arrived at the cave tubing place by 10am after several pickups. Apparently, we all have slightly different program of the day: some had mine, and a few had opted for the zip line tour (flying over trees sound good only if I get to wear my underwear on the outside like super man). Fast forward to noon, the huge group of us were sitting waiting for the tubing to start. Turned out: we had to wait for the people doing zip line to finish before tubing. When I was in the dark, floating along in the cave admiring the stone formations and listening to random squeals, my mind wondered if the operation could have been done better. 

Afterwards, we all had a pretty decent lunch and started kayaking along the Nam Song River.The scenery   was breathtaking, the water tranquil and the setting peaceful. As we floated along with the occasional paddle, I noticed some people tubing down the river. There were lots of bars set up on both sides of the bank. Loud music could be heard, and traces of some old ropes, active jumping spots, bamboo sheds for sun tanning, along with some very fancy water sprays in a basketball court could also be seen. From what I heard, these was quite the party spot on 2011, and I could see why. Floating down the river in a tube, with drinks available every few hundred feet, nice high places to jump, and welcoming bars. Actually, it is still quite a cool place to visit. Switch these bars to restaurants and water sport activity centers, it could me transformed into quite a vacation village. 

Finishing up, we visited the blue lagoon- an interesting water hole that is actually very busy with tourists, especially Korean ones. I jumped from the high tree trunk (it is so much easier to jump from high places without my glasses: I could not see anything!), got really cold, and went looking for some hot drinks. Finding none, I shivered along with the group until it was time to get back.

As I sat on a roadside eating satay, sandwich and a mango coconut shake, I wondered again about business opportunities. Laos is actually a very cool place, with tons of opportunity for the right investors. There are so many improvements that be be made, efficiencies to be gained for these activities, and made this into a tourist attraction spot. vang Vieng is already well known to both the western and eastern countries. Yet, at the same time, i wonder if that would be good for the local community. Will these money and fame turn this place ugly? Afterall, tourists looking for fun already ruined this place once with excessive partying, and paid the price with some of their lives. In the end, I guess my MBA program did a good job: not only do I notice business opportunities, I also worry about consequences to everyone. Maybe my old job was right: I am too consciencious to be in their management team afterall. 

(But of course, if they pay me enough….)

Men Spreading

12/27/15

(Short entry alert. I traveled from Vientiane to Vang Vieng today.)

   
    
   
   
    
    
 
With the increase awareness and enpowerment of the feminist movement, we are finally seeing some progress. Although we still lack a lot of female engineers, scientists, and even CEOs, efforts have been made to encourage girls to pursue their dreams. Of course, I am highly supportive of this (I do work in a female owned engineering business after all!). However, there are days when I feel, as a male, I am now at a disadvantage. For example, ever heard of the the term “men spreading” (no, it is not scattering men like seeds in a farm field. Or any weird pornographic image)? It is defined by Oxford dictionary as “men who sits with legs wide apart on public transport, encroaching into other seats”. I personally have seen a few cases, and also know of people who actively and publicly shame these offenders (by posting photos on Facebook and other social media, of course. No one would dare to call these people out in public). 

I woke up brightly and early today because I had to. After spending Christmas in Vientiane, o decided to relocate myself to a more adrenaline inducing place: Vang Vieng (yup, try saying that 10 times fast). This town used to be a sleepy little place for a quiet stop between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Seeing this town is bisected by a river, a few bar owners had the bright idea of setting up tubing excursions: with stops at the various bars along the way. It soon became a party central, with water slides, swings and “happy” (drugs). With deaths every year and an increasing amount of injuries, Laos government finally stepped in and controlled the parties. This is not to say the place has been tame. It is still a huge party place, with lots of bars setting up cushion seats and, a little weirdly, a never ending loop of Friends being played on tv (hopefully they also pay for the copyright…). With this crack down on partying, the town developed an alternative identify: an adventure sport spot. Nowadays, you can do spelunking, rock climbing, kayaking, tubing, zip lining, hiking and mountain biking within the vicinity. And most surprisingly of all: there is a huge number of Korean tourists for reason I do not know (maybe they are all huge fans of Friends?!).

My small shuttle bus came and I hopped on after securing my luggage. Immediately, I noticed something that always puzzles me: people who travel together somehow like to sit at the single filed seats. I do appreciate the attempt at making single travelers mingle with each other, but it also get uncomfortable seating next to someone you don’t know, puta on the headphone immediatelay and then proceed to speed his/her legs. As sexy as that sounds, it also raise a problem for me: how do I tell the lady next to me to close her thighs, especially when she is of a larger size? I mean, I am not sure if she needs the extra space, have rashes that she needs to air out, or she just like to hog space, especially area below waist. If It is a guy, I can simple ask him to close it up, no matter what he is packing. So in the end, I just close my legs and pretend I am a lady for 4 hours over bumpy roads and sudden swerves.

The town of Vang Vieng is a pretty place(if you ignore the roadside trash and weird smell). I managed to get lost: my lodging is called “Mountain view lake side boutique hotel”, and I went to “lake view boutique hotel” instead. Trekking across town twice, I managed to check in, while the receptionist, who is a very well transitioned lady man, Maharashtra to secure me a room even though they overbooked. (She did ask me to see her everyday and say hi.) I booked a kayaking and tubing tour for tkmotrow, and a rock climbing tour for the day after next. With that, I decided to try the tradition: I headed to the party bar early and eat dinner while lounging around watching Friends. It turned out to be the most relaxing feeling ever: and I was not even high.  

As I ate my mango with sticky rice, I wondered if I should have told my fellow lady passenger to close her legs (well, maybe not in those exact words). With the rising feminism, I feel women should be treated like men in these circumstances. Yet, I have been trained not to be rude to ladies, especially since they are more sensitive (well,maybe), and also, they can claim I am harassing them. How do I balance this new world view and my upbringing: The ever lasting need to be approved and not to be rude? I guess I will just do it the usual way: uploading photos while appear poilte in person. 

(No; I did not snap a photo. The looks suspiciously like I am taking a photo of someone’s open legs situation…..ok, back to Friends marathon.)