Bump to baby on the beaten expat track
Variations of this has been making the email rounds and YouTube for two years now. It’s an oldie but goodie, and still a relevant topic. Three short years in SE Asia has been eye-opening as far as the impact of technology on a society’s development, including its effect on poverty. Worth a watch..
.
Halong Bay on the Gulf of Tonkin, as with other popular destinations, isn’t without the attendant scams and traps awaiting travelers. Getting the most out of any trip is a matter of arriving with an open mind. Expect to haggle and stay flexible; you’d be surprised how far patience and good humour goes. I normally avoid package tours but it’s unavoidable here, unless you have the luxury of time and nettle to dicker your way onto a private boat with the locals (it’s legally not allowed).
As of May 2007: 2day-1night boat trips ranged the gamut of $30 for a small junk to $180+ for an Emeraude cruise. Know your traveling style and philosophy, as there are benefits to all options. For example, the bare-bones trips offer a glimpse into local life that luxury cruises do a very good job of sheltering patrons from. Being no-frills, guests are allowed to haggle with vendors who float by, towing anything from Oreos to locally-caught seafood from boat to boat. They even have the equipment necessary to make a very tasty local meal for you. Guests can ask for an informal cooking lesson in the galley, request a special itinerary or stops not advertised by the booking agent. This interaction with locals and flexibility is limited with the higher-end cruises. Because they have more offerings, guests are charged for bringing purchases on-board, and the advertised schedule is strictly adhered to. But they also offer more comfort, have better amenities and an array of entertainment options. It’s really quite up to the traveler’s comfort needs.
It was the start of the rainy season in May, but the downpours were predictable and short.
That said, words can’t capture the beauty of Halong Bay. 
Interesting activities at dawn…. dynamite fishing. It’s illegal, as it doesn’t just kill fish. The sudden underwater shock indiscriminately pulverises the underlying habitat and destroys the surrounding ecosystem. 
Typical of a longer itinerary is a stay overnight at Cat Ba Island. No white sand and surf here, and no entertainment– there’s a floating village, some swimming and short hikes. Getting invited to a meal is great and isn’t hard to do, as locals are all very friendly and eager to meet visitors–as well as earn some extra cash! Otherwise hit up one of the floating restaurants for a seafood treat that isn’t so hard on the wallet.
Birders might find this is a good stop as the fish farms and constant churning of the water from the junks offer easy meals. There were a dozen black kites and red-whiskered bulbuls, some of them in aerial combat over territory. It’s always interesting to watch fierce smaller birds chase off birds of prey ten or more times larger than they are.
These amazing boats look like they’re barely skimming the top of the water, they’re so buoyant. This woman is cutting some bamboo to strips to repair another boat. Doesn’t it look like the boats are floating just right on the surface of the water?
To see more Halong Bay photos see Keith Kelly‘s Flickr page.
.
No need for big machinery eh. Here’s a team of five Khmer (in flip-flops) pounding away at the building with just a sledgehammer each. It took them about two weeks to take this building down and haul away the debris.
Such a spectacular display of the greatest advances across industries! And I’m glad to see the Bird’s Nest architecturally reflect an Asian context.
Photo courtesy of http://en.beijing2008.cn/ Official Beijing 2008 site
Asian culture, its arts and legacy, is beautiful, that it’s disappointing to see the westernisation of Asia– particularly in Bangkok and other major cities. Phnom Penh itself is exemplifying rapid westernisation and eradication of its heritage. Local officials in ill-fitting western suits and ties often arrive at meetings, and villagers trade in their more useful kromas (all-purpose scarves) in favor of mass-produced generic garbs branded by company logos. And then there’s Hong Kong with its otherwise pretty harbour skyline so totally marred by the marquees and billboards advertising major corporations on top of nearly every building. How is this allowed to happen, to dismiss Asia’s beauty in favor of European notions of class or for capitalistic ideals?
Asians ourselves play a huge part in this. Hordes of students flock to study ballet and master the harps and bass, meanwhile Cambodian artists are hard-pressed to even pay young kids to learn their own elegant classical dances. Ever seen ciseauzs performed in classical ballet pieces by Asian dancers? This music was not created for the shorter bodies and legs, and therefore stretch, of an Asian. While it’s beautiful to see nevertheless, it’s disappointing that western culture is more valued by Asians than our own rich heritage.
On the one hand I appreciate the vast growth and potential I’m witnessing in Asia/SE Asia. And on the other, the various aspects of its politics and culture make it difficult to be entirely supportive of its (and especially China’s) inevitable rise. There’s a balance that still hasn’t been achieved– the pace of change is happening fast. Western ideals of self-actualisation and governance has a place in Asia’s growth, and it’s possible to adopt other philosophies of progress, without Asians having to drop our cultural heritage and roots.
Anyway, I digrees. Here’s a look at the medal counts of participating countries throughout the history of the modern Olympics.
.
Photos courtesy of K Kelly
We just wanted to go for a walk to get some air, after two whole days indoors through several ceremonies. We attended a Buddhist ceremony in Kampong Cham for a friend’s grandmother who passed away 10 years ago. This is the province with the beautiful women, according to many Khmer men in Phnom Penh. It might somewhat be validated by the recent legislative crackdown on weddings to foreigners, to prevent trafficking of women. Apparently Korean men looking for a nice obedient wife tend to look for one to buy/marry in this province, until several miraculously escaped abusive relationships in S Korea and reported it upon return.
But I digress. This couple were guests at the event, and we inadvertently followed them home. When we indicated through various gesturing and mimings that we wanted to walk around the village a bit, they wouldn’t have that– “dangerous”, they said. “Come with us to our house.”
There they served us up some tea and cashew fruits. The lands to and around Kampong Cham are dedicated to farming cashews and rubber plantations. The soil is particularly good for growing very high quality cashews, but they are mostly grown for export to Vietnam and Thailand. The Khmer in turn imports Vietnam’s sub-par cashews to sell to its own people. Rubber is exported to China. It fetches high prices, but not high enough to compensate for the damage it renders the soil after a few years of high yield. The agriculture policy is still not effectively implemented, and besides, there’s very little regulatory capacity not to mention intense corruption when it comes to land and land use. Small farmers are pretty much left to their own devices and vulnerable to the demands of neighbors and subsequent market imbalances. 
They eat the flesh of the cashew fruit here, not just the nut. The older folks especially love it (maybe cuz it’s soft?) dipped into a sauce of palm sugar and water.
We walked back to my friend’s house in the sunset..
I see a fair bit of the road, which makes an mp3 player such a trusty companion. Since I have a lot of down time anyway, I like to take along podcasts. They’re available via online audio/videostreams but my connection speed here is just too slow.
It’s amazing to me how, given the political will, the connectivity infrastructure can be easily put in place. The technology is cheap and getting cheaper. What donor would not provide the funding to connect Cambodia’s population to the world, if requested? But I guess information is power, and so for now Khmers will have to settle for poor internet access. The ‘democratically elected’ government isn’t ready for an educated populace. Having said that, a major factor for Cambodia’s stability is the authoritarian rule, and stability brings in much foreign capital, with the economy seeing robust growth over the recent years.
Anyway, I’m not a serious investor–yet–but keeping up with the global economic indicators seems to be a smart thing to do. I’ve liked the following so far, all downloaded conveniently from iTunes:
Deutsche Welle’s Inside Europe
NPR’s Economy
Bloomberg’s On the Economy
BBC World News Service
I need a good Asia region News/Economy daily podcast that doesn’t focus exclusively on China. Any ideas?