Please keep the economy together until I get back

OK, so the political situation in Thailand has just turned violent, (read more about it above) and Indonesia's stock market just tanked so badly today that they had to suspend trading. I'm feeling increasingly like the world is going to hell, making it more in more difficult for me to explore why I'm on this trip in the first place. Can y'all hold it together until I get back? I'm leaving Bangkok tomorrow, off to far flung provinces in Thailand. I'll be back in the big, polluted, sleazy, chaotic city of Bangkok in about a week. before I head on to Bali. Bangkok is a mess, but as the pictures above hopefully show, it can also be quite beautiful.

one night in bangkok...

Actually, several nights in Bangkok. I got in on Saturday, but haven't had the money to publish this post until today, Tuesday. My bank, if you could it call it that, has decided to freeze my ATM card because of some pretty suspicious activity, namely, me using it in Thailand, clearly a very suspicious country. So 44 year old me had to run to my mommie to save my sorry ass by wiring some money Western Union. You can actually live pretty cheaply in Thailand, but the 150USD I changed at the airport isn't going to make it two weeks. More about Bangkok in my next post, hopefully in a day or two, but let me take a moment to gush about Cambodia.

The ruins at Angkor are endless, immense, and elaborately detailed. A three day pass with a private driver barely scratches the surface. I managed to see 20 temples in various states of preservation and ruin, within a 40 km radius of Siem Reap over three full days. For me, the highlights included that iconic image of Angkor Wat's towers; the enigmatically smiling 15 foot tall faces at Bayon; and the trees growing from the roof of Tha Prohm.

Just south of Angkor sits the ever expanding tourist city of Siem Reap, once pretty much nothing, now over 200,000 people. I stayed at a guesthouse above an Irish Bar, Molly Malone's, just so I could be sure there'd be English speaking people around. I needn't have worried, everyone there speaks English. The town is growing by leaps and bounds, and you had better hurry over there before it starts swallowing up the temple ruins.

The people of Cambodia amaze me. After 20 years of civil war, they are curious, quick to smile, and like a good laugh. My driver, Tong, lost his father in the early 70's for the subversive activity of teaching math at university. The Khmer Rouge emptied the cities of Cambodia, and forced everyone to farm. By the time they were forced to flee the country, over 2 million people, 1/4 of the population, had died. The country was left one of the poorest places on earth. But Tong was too young to remember this, and is doing well by his pretty wife and new son. These people have been to hell and back and still manage to thrive, even prosper.

Wow.

Panic in Needle Park

OK, so it's Monday. I'm leaving for Angkor Wat, Cambodia tomorrow.

As I learned at the Hong Kong Museum of History yesterday, the British started Hong Kong as a depot to push opium on the Chinese. See the British loved Chinese tea, but the Chinese could think of nothing they wanted in trade. Cash would be fine, but the British weren't really interested in a trade balance deficit, so they created a demand in China that hadn't existed before: opium. Once the Chinese were addicted, British commercial interests were assured.

Is any of this sounding vaguely familiar?

So Hong Kong is based on the ugliest kind of capitalism, and that's probably still true today. It's still all about the shopping, cheap labor, crappy exports, one of the world's busiest ports, etc. There's no fresh water (it's imported from China). There's almost no place to grow anything. The water's so polluted that almost all of the fishing villages are gone. The air pollution is frequently, like yesterday, almost unbreathable.

Why did the Chinese government want it back? 150 years ago there was nothing here. But 10 years after the handover, it's still booming. It's such an anachronism. Everywhere you go there are still little Britishisms, like the cute British-accented voice on the subway warning you to "Mind the gap." And I suspect that's what the government in Beijing is after: British and Hong Kong capital.

So, I'm leaving tomorrow. I've loved Hong Kong: the grit, the neon, the food, the shopping. It's like New York, but with better scenery. Still, my mind is already firmly fixed on Cambodia.

For schedule and fare information, press 1 now

T minus three days and counting. So nervous and excited, I can barely sleep. For those of you who don't already know, here's the first half of the schedule, or at least the part that's already figured out:
2008.09.23 Leave New York
2008.09.24 Hong Kong
2008.09.30 Siem Reap, Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
2008.10.04 Bangkok, Thailand
(Ayuthaya, Lopburi, Phetchaburi, and Hua Hin possible side trips)
2008.10.16 Chiang Mai, Thailand
(Hill Tribes trek as a possible side trip)
2008.10.21 Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
2008.10.26 Jogjakarta, Java, Indonesia
(Borobadur and Prambanan as possible side trips)
2008.11.05 Sydney, Australia
(Blue Mountains as a possible side trip)
2008.11.10 back in New York
2008.11.15 San Jose/Monteverde, Costa Rica
2008.11.22 Lima, Peru
2008.11.24 Cuzco, Peru
(rather obvious but not yet planned side trip to Macchu Picchu)
2008.12.02 Quito, Ecuador
2008.12.04 Intrepid Travel cruise of the Galapagos
2008.12.12 back in New York for Xmas/New Years
I'll be in NYC for about a month, but I'll be pretty bust planning the secon half, doing jury duty, and visiting everyonjhe over the holidays. I'm leaving again 2009.01.13 for Morocco, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, India, Japan, and Vancouver, and I'll be back in NYC the beginning of Aprilo. I have all of the plane tickets for this, but haven't arranged anything else.

If anyone has any advice about these places, please let me know. If you need to reach me, try my e-mail: bobfyke@gmail.com or (less frequently used) bobfyke@ekit.com. I will also be using an international phone card, so if you want to leave me a voice-mail, let me know.

Back to the present

So, I finally got a new digital camera and a journal. I know it's kind of lo-tech to photograph the journal, but who likes typing at a keyboard anyway?

FAQ

It's a brutally hot Sunday afternoon, and I'm sitting in my barely air-conditioned living room posting on Charles's laptop, since my computer doesn't have an internet connection. I may not be posting for a while coz I need to get some trip-related stuff done, like, say, buying the plane tickets, getting insurance and visas, going to my doctor and getting vaccinations, that sort of thing. But I thought I'd take a moment to explain a little further what I have in mind, and to thank you all for your indulgence.


Where am I going?
Well, last week I posted a preliminary itinerary, but I think I should explain how I got there: I took a map of the world and filled in a black circle for every place I've been (USA, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, and 10 countries in Europe), and left an open circle for every place I want to go to (basically everywhere else). Since I've only got one lifetime, I thought I might narrow this down by trying to avoid countries with governments that are probably nastier than ours, and focus on cultures that I've always wanted to visit. You may have also noticed there are a lot of architectural highlights to this itinerary: the Pyramids, Hagia Sophia, Taj Mahal, Borobadur, Angkor Wat, Sydney Opera House, Macchu Picchu, etc. I am extremely worried about this becoming a list visual events I can tick off, but I am an architect, so I can't help myself. Finally, the airlines themselves placed some restrictions, offering discounts for "around the Pacific" or "around the World" tickets.


I also thought it would be great to visit people in other countries. And this is where you come in. While I have old friends in Australia, and a new friend in Turkey, I would be honored to visit anyone you kinow as well. This isn't about finding a free place to stay. It's more about about meeting people I can talk with about their experiences in a different culture. Some of my friends have offered to put me in contact their friends abroad, and I really want to encourage this. I thought I might bring a gift from the last place I visited, to thank them for their help.


When am I going?
This is based entirely on my work schedule. I have a couple of projects I didn't feel comfortable leaving, and the end of September felt like plenty of time to get them done. Based on this, I started looking at climate maps and statistics, and realized that September to March would be perfect for the Southern Hemisphere and the Tropics, and would suck for anywhere north of here. I'll probably still get soaked in Bangkok, but it'll be a warm rain. Keep in mind that if you're packing for summer and winter on the same trip, you're packing a lot of extra clothing.


Why travel alone?
Because when you travel with someone else, the trip is completely different. When you are by yourself you're approachable. When you're with someone else, you're not. Because I beleive that travel can change your life. Because I love that moment when you first arrive somewhere unknown and everything is new and exciting. Because I don't really know what I want to do with the rest of my life, and going back to school sounds ridiculously expensive and time consuming. Because I'm looking for answers when I don't even know what the questions are. The only good analogy I can give you is that I double majored in French and Architecture at university because after two years of architecture school I was ready to give it up, and a year abroad in France reminded me that architecture is actually a noble profession.


How much is all this going to cost?
Actually, almost no one has asked me this, but I could use your thoughts on it anyway. I'm budgeting $10K for the two sets of plane tickets, and $10K for the daily necessities like hotels and transportation and food anjd stuff. I have 3 quotes on the plane tickets, and they're all around $10K. I'm figuring $140/day or $1,000/week in developed nations, and $70/day or $500/week in less developed countries. I hope this will cost in the neighborhood of $20K. Too much more will start to frighten me. On the other hand, if I see a sherwani in Delhi or Calcutta; or a sarong in Bangkok or Ubud, and I just have to have it, well, then I guess I'll just have to have it.


What am I going to bring?
This again is not so much a question other people have been asking me, but more a question I could use the answer to. I've been on two bike trips in France where we carried less than 15 lbs in paniers, coz anything more was pedaling too much weight around. Only trouble is, you're travelling around in biking gear. A padded bike short is a necessity when you're biking six hours a day for a week and a half, but it doesn't look pretty when you're dining in a restaurant. So I'm thinking of only bringing a backpack, maybe slightly larger than the North Face bag I've been using for years. With two herniated disks, I can't walk around with a lot of weight, so I guess I.m just gonna haveta keep it simple. Any thoughts on gear and clothing?


What am I hoping to learn?
Brad said I could take pictures of people's backsides and develop a book of "Big Asses of the World". I think trying to write a book would be a good idea. Perhaps one that sounds less like an internet porn site. At any rate, I'm hoping to write and sketch and take pictures and maybe the occassional video or audio piece, so, again I could use some advice. My digital camera has finally become unreliable, after taking 17,000 photos, so what should I replace it with?


It's funny how that last paragraph, presumably about a serious question, almost immediately became about consumption. Which brings me to the serious questions I would like this trip to answer:
1 What is it like to travel now? What fills in that space between privileged observer and the observed?
2 How is the world dealing with communications technology? Do people in Cambodia care about Ipods or instant messaging?
3 How's the whole capitalist globalization thing going? What does it mean to be from a particular country? What are the limits of advertising throughout the world? Does anybody really care about global warming?
Oh, and I'm hoping to eat really great food and see really amazing architecture.


One last thing before I say thanks, I'm wondering what you all are hoping for. I started this blog as a way of keeping in touch, mostly because I'm afraid that spending six months traveling by myself can get terribly lonely. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts and questions, especially about the form this blog should take. I've often found blogs to be far too personal in the past, as if the people who were reading it didn't matter at all...


So thanks to everone for your interest, especially Mark, and Sharyn, and Dean, and Gunilla, and Bernadette, and Martha, and Sarah, and Patty. I've gotten a lot of e-mails offering advice and people to visit. I've also heard from some people I haven't spoken to in a while. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Which way did he go, George?

This is my first blog ever, so be gentle.

As some of you may know, I am planning on taking at least six months off work and travelling around the world. This blog is intended to document the process, and to communicate with my friends while on the road. One of the first things the blog asks you for is a profile, including a photo. I spent this morning looking through my digital files and realized I have taken over 46,000 photos since my first digital camera in 1999. Pictures of all kinds of things like flowers and mushrooms, a dozen marriages, tons and tons of buildings, camping trips, and many fabulous vacations in places like Oregon, Vermont, London, Lisbon, Berlin, Vienna, Belgium, New Zealand, and Brazil.

You'd think with all that travelling, I'd be satisfied. Why am I doing this? In some fundamental way, this is a spiritual necessity for me, a need to reconnect with the beauty and wonder of the world. I've been feeling beset by problems lately. I'm frustrated being an architect, which pays reasonably well, but is hardly as socially useful as I thought it would be, and is seldom as creative an outlet as I would like. I'm also feeling like I'm grappling with a lot of other people's emotional and mental health issues, frequently at my own expense. And I'm finding it harder and harder to like the direction my virtual society is taking; the direction my ethically and economically bankrupt country is taking; and the direction my consumerist, unscientific world is heading in. I think that a journey is the answer to these issues, in terms of seeking out other voices, finding new experiences, sifting through new data, staring at things in wonder and awe, working through my own thoughts, and sharing them with others. I think such a voyage must, necessarily, be taken alone.

Oh, and I can not shake the feeling that such a trip might be impossible in a few year's time.

I have some big concerns about this journey. First and foremost, I'm worried about being alone and stuck inside my own head. When you travel with someone else, you share thoughts immediately about the things you are experiencing. It affects the way you see everything. When you travel by yourself, the only critical voice is your own. I've been travelling solo since I was 15, but I've never even contemplated something on this large a scale. I'm also worried this trip will be wasteful and self indulgent, so I'm trying to frame it in an experiment context that has questions that need to be answered. Last, but not least, since I'm planning on going to a lot of places I've never been before, I'm afraid of being hurt: getting some disease I've never heard of; having everything stolen; or just being stuck in a place where I don't speak the language, can't read the signs, and don't understand what the hell is going on.

So far this is all in the planning stages. I owe a debt of gratitude to Mark Chung, who turned me on to this site, and AirTreks who are working on my two around-the-world tickets. I also thank Jackie Green, who told me about Intrepid Travel. I thank all of the friends and family who have been incredibly supportive and excited about this; but most of all I thank Charles, who against his better judgement is willing to put up with me and this.

I am currently planning on starting this trip in late September, in two installments, with a with a three or four week hiatus back in New York around Christmas and New Year. The proposed itinerary so far is:
1 Hong Kong
2-3 Bangkok, Chang Mai, Angkor Wat
4-5 Bali, Borabadur, eastern Java
6 Sydney
7 Santiago
8-9 Lima, Cuzco, Macchu Picchu
10-11 Quito, the Galapagos
12 Mexico City

then 3 or 4 weeks in New York, followed by:

16 Marrakesh
17-19 Athens, Rhodes, Ephesus, Istanbul
20 Cairo and the Pyramids
21-23 Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Himchal Pradesh, Varanasi, Kolkata
24-25 Kyoto, Nara, the Japanese Alps, Tokyo
26 Vancouver

then home.

What I need from you is your opinion. Am I missing something obvious to you? Is there someone I should meet up with, or bring your wishes to? Let me know what you think.