don’t call me a backpacker…

Nope.  Never even opened the bottle.

How about a little round of applause for my iron stomach!  Eating street food all across the world, at times literally inches off the street (see Vietnam pictures.)  I did want to make it out of India before I started bragging.

Ok, my doctor also gave me Atropine (which is for milder stomach problems) which I took a few a couple times.  The one close call I had was in Denpasar, Bali, at the bus station.  I got there way too early and had to kill time and get some lunch, and the options were limited.  It was a muslim place where all the food is made and sitting in the window… it was good, I was nervous, but no major problems.

I still have to face Morocco however…

Another food story – I finally had something so disgusting I couldn’t finish it.  Dateline: Madrid.  I had read that Tapas places usually specialize in one or two dishes and that’s what you see people eating.  So I pointed at something that looked like a plate of saucy meat that many other people were eating.  The guy said something like “orejas con something or other,” and I said “si.”  The texture was so gnarly I couldn’t get them down.  It was like 3 layers on each piece of meat, a big layer of fat, a tiny layer of decent tasting meat, and a hard disgusting layer.  I was baffled.  Finally I saw the English menu on another table… pigs ears.  The first and last time.

A lot of people asked about whether language would be a problem on this trip.

When I saw Indonesian people talking to French people…
Thais talking to Danes…
Germans talking to Israelis…
Vietnamese talking to Portuguese…
North Indians talking to South Indians…

Guess what language they all spoke?

ENGLISH!

What language do you speak? English! This gives you a decided advantage on traveling to faraway lands. A lot of southeast Asian people also told me I am easier to understand than a lot of people they talk to. Let me tell you, language is no excuse not to go somewhere in this day and age. I don’t speak any of the languages of the countries I went to and got all of my needs met. (I made the not-so-brilliant choice of studying Latin in high school. /cry) Just try to learn a few of their words, speak slowly, don’t use contractions, and smile a lot.

And… always carry a pen. I’ve actually formed a rather close bond with my pen, we’ve been through so much together. Or it may be a sign of losing my mind due to traveling this long alone.

(From what I’ve read, Russia and China are two big countries where you may run into zero English, if you are planning such a trip.)

Almost everyone I encountered in Asia would actually try very hard, and even apologize for bad English, to which I always would apologize in return that I don’t speak their language and tell them they speak great English. Many even were trying to learn, or would want to talk because they wanted to improve.

An interesting note I picked up is that people from countries where American films and TV are dubbed in native language, as opposed to hearing English with subtitles, makes a huge difference in their learning English. Notably French, Spanish, Chinese, and German, countries where the population is big enough to spend the money to dub foreign films. Vietnam for instance, the only place I went to see a movie, they get subtitles, so they hear English more.

Last night I watched E.R. in Spanish, it was difficult and kind of disturbing.

Speaking of Spanish, this is the one language I actually know a lot more words, phrases, and the basics going in. But I am far from conversational, sadly, and definitely can’t keep up with the rapid pace.

Spain however, is so far the worst country I have found at finding English speakers. It’s kind of what I pictured France to be like. They don’t speak it, and some are a bit snobby about it. But it’s going ok and I’m going to know a lot more when I leave. I bought la diccionario.

One major note, the official countrywide language of Indonesia is called bahasa Indonesia. There were literally hundreds of tribal languages in the Indonesian archigapeligo before they put this common language together. It uses english (cough * Latin) alphabet and no tones like other southeast asia languages.

hello = halo, name = nama, doctor = dokter, beer = bir, polisi = police, etc…

If I had known how easy it was to speak, read, and learn, I would have started that one before I went. It also explains why they can easily learn English. So if you are planning a trip there, I highly recommend learning it if you want to interact with the people, I certainly will.

Plane crash in Java right after I leave Java…

New Years Eve bombs in Bangkok shortly before I go there…

Train bombs in India just after I leave India…

anyone noticing a pattern here? The reality is these things happen anywhere and everywhere.
But what I really wanted to say here, is I have felt totally safe traveling alone in just about every place I’ve been.

Truth be told, I was a little nervous at times in Java, but nothing happened, and the people from Java that I met were some of the nicest along the way. I did choose Mumbai because it is well known to be much safer than Dehli, the capital, and I felt very safe there.

The American media and government seem to want to make you believe that the rest of the world is this wild and dangerous place. It is not. Many people I meet in Asia think that everyone in America carries guns and you’re likely to get shot if you visit New York City. Now you and I know that is not reality (but not that far from the truth either, haha.)

Obviously if a country is at war, like India/Pakistan, there are greater dangers in those areas. But everywhere I’ve been has been fine. So there’s that.

Ok, almost ready. Many errands every day, lots of apartment cleaning, still. Making sure all my rents are paid. Haven’t had much time to chill, but hey – i’ll have plenty of time for that in Bali and Thailand (where it looks like the high was 88 today…)

I bought a new MacBook Pro (Yays!) against the advice of many friends who said “don’t take a laptop! Take a break! get away from it!” It became a very controversial topic. Let’s remember people, I have made a living with these little boxes. I do want to take a break, but there are some things I need to do, and keep up with, and it will be my sole communication device. It will be lonely at times by the way, esp if it’s raining.

Furthermore, with my 6+ month free test drive of a 15″ MacBook Pro, I can say without hesitation this is the greatest portable computer ever made. There is no substitute.

So I also bought Season 1 of Weeds today, to take for my viewing pleasure. I heard it was a good show. T.V. shows on DVD are a great idea for this kind of trip, but damn are they expensive. I figured I’ll check Hong Kong for bootlegs, hehe.

Cleaned out my closet… (this picture doesn’t do the stainage on these jeans justice)

(more…)

Questions people have been asking in real life, uh, as opposed to here on the web.

Where are you going, and what is a round-the-world ticket?

I think I’m going to see about 10 countries, depends on how everything goes. Around the world across SE Asia, India, and the Mediterranean. Cost, interests, and weather, in that order had to do with the planning of my trip. More on that later…

You can buy a ticket (actually many tickets) that can stop in an almost unlimited number of stops, as long as you keep going one direction, for what it would cost for 2 or 3 round trip international flights!

There are several companies which specialize in round-the-world tickets. In the end I bought from Airtreks, right here in San Francisco. Their flash-based planner is awesome. The agent I had was very patient with me. It takes many, many emails and phones calls when trying to plan a trip like this. My ticket ended up costing around $3k.

Air Brokers is another good agent, they have good pre-planned specials. American Airlines also offers them through their One World Alliance. Sounded too ominous, so I stuck with airtreks.

Have I found a subletter for my apartment?

Yes I have. A Friend of a friend (and her boyfriend for part of the time) from the east bay music circles will be keeping my apartment warm for me for three months. It was not without stress. My landlord was being a pain, and communication broke down at times. But things seem to all be coming together now. I thought about moving out, but still hope this gives me the most flexibility and a place to come home to.

Have I found a home for my fish?

Yes, Room 103, the 2nd grade class at Rooftop Elementary will be happily watching over my fish. Miss Kate was gracious enough to oversee this challenge, and so far the kids are loving it.

Will you take a cell phone or laptop?

Well my goal all along was to keep in touch via my laptop. That was assuming my company would be nice enough to let me keep it, which they didn’t. So this week I’m trying to find a new one.

I really hate cell phones already, so the idea of getting my first personal cell phone now, is not appealing. Sure, call me for $2.50 per minute, no prob! My experience was if you have your own quad band phone you can buy local pre paid phone cards, so there’s that. And others who have been to Asia said you can buy disposible phones over there. heh.