Home and shocked
Well, here I am, back in the USA. The return trip was fraught with horrible possibilities. Fortunately all went well. There were many families traveling with me probably returning for the holidays. On the leg from Tokyo to San Francisco, I got to my seat and to my horror there was a couple and small baby sitting in the two seats between me and the window. Directly behind me was a woman traveling alone with a baby. This 8 hours could have been absolute hell. But the Gods of Travel were smiling on me. I was fortunate! Both babies behaved like little angels. There was a total of 10 minutes of crying during the entire trip.
The worst part of the trip was getting my baggage, rechecking it and then having to go back through security in San Francisco. That was when the real culture shock began. Something's wrong when one is practically strip searched after going through security two other times in the same day. Welcome to the land of the free.
I must apologize for posting so little in the past few weeks. My last two weeks in Thailand were spent meeting with people and finishing up my 'sight seeing'. I decided that I would soak up the experiences of the last two weeks and write about them when I got back. So there will be many more posts coming and of course, many many more pictures posted in the next few weeks.
The good part about being back, of course, is being with my family and friends. Ten weeks is a long time to be away. While I missed people hugely, I definitely did NOT miss western culture and values. Being gone for the election was fantastic. I was able to see only the amount I wanted to see and wasn't subjected to the horrible negative campaign ads that Americans are besieged with as the election nears. I also missed much of the early Christmas hype. It is much more palatable when one only has to deal with 10 days of it!
The bad part of being back is being reminded that Americans as a group are obsessed with money, status, and THINGS! What a difference between the Hmong people I visited in Laos and Americans with our Hummers, Tivos, home theaters and huge homes filled with THINGS. The Hmong work hard. They have few if any modern conveniences, yet have plenty of time to spend with family. They laugh, talk and work together and seem as a group much happier than most Americans that I see. No doubt, I did not see everything. With few or no modern medicines and no real ability to deal with medical emergencies, I am sure there are many health issues that I did not see. On the other hand, I did not see a single Hmong person that was more than one or two kilos over the 'ideal' weight. Nor did I see any at all that were starving. The clean mountain air, hard work and laughter can go a long way to improving one's health.
On another note, one thing Americans are much better about is taking care of the environment, at least superficially. So often in SE Asia I see trash all along the roads. The ubiquitous plastic bag defines the landscape in some places. I first noticed that phenomenon in Bali a few years ago. Some of the most gorgeous places in Bali as well as in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia to a lesser extent are ruined by trash dumped indiscriminately. It's worse than I remember America to be even in the 50's. I hope they figure it out before it's too late.
Speaking of shock, I went from Bangkok where the average temperature was about 90 (32 centigrade) just before I left to Evergreen where it is supposed to be 4 below (-19 centigrade) tonight. Yikes!!! It has snowed three times since I have been home. What a difference.
Christmas is definitely coming both here and in Bangkok. I got a note from an expat friend about his preparations for Christmas. He ordered a turkey and stuffing from the local market that caters to farang. It is very rare in Thailand for homes to have ovens. Food is seldom baked in the home. Since he has no oven, he ordered it to be cooked and delivered. Total cost: $100. WOW!!! And that doesn't even include the pumpkin pie. Most farangs do some sort of Christmas celebration. Some go out and some forego the usual farang food and opt for Thai food. Those with Thai wives or girlfriends, always have some sort of Thai food as most Thai people find turkey unbearably bland. Included today are a few pics of pre Christmas in Bangkok.
I put a few more pics up just to keep y'all interested as well. I'll be posting regularly after Christmas to get caught up. I'll also keep you apprised of future plans and just how I can apply what I did while I was there. There must be a way to get some money out of this!!! Come back for much more later.
Have a safe and happy holiday (for those who already had their holiday, I hope yours was safe and happy!!).
Best,
Andy
The worst part of the trip was getting my baggage, rechecking it and then having to go back through security in San Francisco. That was when the real culture shock began. Something's wrong when one is practically strip searched after going through security two other times in the same day. Welcome to the land of the free.
I must apologize for posting so little in the past few weeks. My last two weeks in Thailand were spent meeting with people and finishing up my 'sight seeing'. I decided that I would soak up the experiences of the last two weeks and write about them when I got back. So there will be many more posts coming and of course, many many more pictures posted in the next few weeks.
The good part about being back, of course, is being with my family and friends. Ten weeks is a long time to be away. While I missed people hugely, I definitely did NOT miss western culture and values. Being gone for the election was fantastic. I was able to see only the amount I wanted to see and wasn't subjected to the horrible negative campaign ads that Americans are besieged with as the election nears. I also missed much of the early Christmas hype. It is much more palatable when one only has to deal with 10 days of it!
The bad part of being back is being reminded that Americans as a group are obsessed with money, status, and THINGS! What a difference between the Hmong people I visited in Laos and Americans with our Hummers, Tivos, home theaters and huge homes filled with THINGS. The Hmong work hard. They have few if any modern conveniences, yet have plenty of time to spend with family. They laugh, talk and work together and seem as a group much happier than most Americans that I see. No doubt, I did not see everything. With few or no modern medicines and no real ability to deal with medical emergencies, I am sure there are many health issues that I did not see. On the other hand, I did not see a single Hmong person that was more than one or two kilos over the 'ideal' weight. Nor did I see any at all that were starving. The clean mountain air, hard work and laughter can go a long way to improving one's health.
On another note, one thing Americans are much better about is taking care of the environment, at least superficially. So often in SE Asia I see trash all along the roads. The ubiquitous plastic bag defines the landscape in some places. I first noticed that phenomenon in Bali a few years ago. Some of the most gorgeous places in Bali as well as in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia to a lesser extent are ruined by trash dumped indiscriminately. It's worse than I remember America to be even in the 50's. I hope they figure it out before it's too late.
Speaking of shock, I went from Bangkok where the average temperature was about 90 (32 centigrade) just before I left to Evergreen where it is supposed to be 4 below (-19 centigrade) tonight. Yikes!!! It has snowed three times since I have been home. What a difference.
Christmas is definitely coming both here and in Bangkok. I got a note from an expat friend about his preparations for Christmas. He ordered a turkey and stuffing from the local market that caters to farang. It is very rare in Thailand for homes to have ovens. Food is seldom baked in the home. Since he has no oven, he ordered it to be cooked and delivered. Total cost: $100. WOW!!! And that doesn't even include the pumpkin pie. Most farangs do some sort of Christmas celebration. Some go out and some forego the usual farang food and opt for Thai food. Those with Thai wives or girlfriends, always have some sort of Thai food as most Thai people find turkey unbearably bland. Included today are a few pics of pre Christmas in Bangkok.
I put a few more pics up just to keep y'all interested as well. I'll be posting regularly after Christmas to get caught up. I'll also keep you apprised of future plans and just how I can apply what I did while I was there. There must be a way to get some money out of this!!! Come back for much more later.
Have a safe and happy holiday (for those who already had their holiday, I hope yours was safe and happy!!).
Best,
Andy