SE Asia Wrap up and a bonus political rant
Rural Nepal was majestic, serene and spectacular. The Sherpa people were generous and appeared to be very happy and content in their lives. It was an amazing adventure, and since we survived our jeep ride from Phaplu to Kathmandu, gave us a great story to retell for years to come. Our fellow volunteers were a good group, and Sherpa Mountain Adventures did a great job taking care of us. Kathmandu introduced us to the "street life chaos" that was to come in Vietnam. The only negatives of this part of the trip was of course Donna's injured finger, and unfortunately the trashy nature of the country. ( there was trash all over the trails) ..this was a theme in all of SE Asia, and seems to go along with high population density and and poverty in this region. An environmental ethic does not seem to exist, and is hard to foster, when the majority of the population is very poor and just trying to survive.
Vietnam and Cambodia were fascinating and chaotic and was unlike anywhere we have ever been before. We saw so many amazing sights (Chaotic Hanoi, serene Halong Bay, historic Hue, beautiful Hoi An, bustling Saigon, and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam; historic Phnom Penh, the amazing Temples of Angkor, and the rural nature of Battambang. Intrepid Tours did a great job - we had a good guide in Cambodia and a fantastic guide (Phu) in Vietnam. We really enjoyed our tour groups and felt very fortunate to have such a good group of Brits, Aussies, Canadians and a German and fellow American. Phu called us his "lovely group" and his "happy group". Both guides gave us good backgrounds on the countries .. we learned how Vietnam used to be "dour Communists" during the time of Soviet influence and are now "happy communists" now that the Russians are gone. China is seen in general as the big bully of Asia, and particularly in Vietnam there is lingering distrust and resentment towards the Chinese, since 1,000 years ago Vietnam gained its independence from China (memories are long). We learned just how incredibly brutal the Khmer Rouge were in Cambodia and the horrific extent of that genocide. One interesting note was the contrast between communist Vietnam and "democratic" Cambodia. Police presence was much more noticeable in Cambodia than Vietnam (I would have guessed before going that it would have been the reverse), and even though Vietnam's political system is very tightly controlled, it's economic system seems to be pretty capitalistic. Cambodia is a democracy in name only - it's really a dictatorship having the same prime minister, who is an ex Pol Pot regime crony, running the country for perhaps the last 30 years. Corruption is rampant (according to our guide and human rights watch) and mainly because of the Khmer Rouge genocide, but also because of the widespread corruption, the country has been only slowly recovering.
We felt totally safe everywhere we were, and in spite of the utter chaos of the large cities, it all seemed to work reasonably well.
So on to the brief political rant. We now have traveled to a moderate number of countries around the world and met and talked with a number of folks ( five different countries just with our fellow travelers on this trip) and a consistent topic of conversation is American politics, and the "crazy and embarrassing nature" of the US Republican party in particular. Folks from other countries (and I'm generally talking about other western democracies) find the Republican contenders for President to be a laughing stock. In general, conservative parities around the world would generally fit very nicely within the US Democrat party. Conservative parties that are ultra conservative that might share some positions with the US Republican party are small and generally fringe parties in her countries. For example we met a Canadian on this trip who was a supporter of the former Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper (who lost the recent election in Canada to Justin Trudeau, but who was the PM for about ten years) and he absolutely cannot understand the craziness of the US Republicans. He said that the conservative party in Canada would fit nicely within the US Democrat party (and I can tell you from my Adventure Canada trip that the liberals in Canada thought that Stephen Harper was an extreme right winger). Two issues come up over and over again with folks outside of the US - Americans love affair with guns and the "controversy" over universal healthcare. They are truly baffled (so am I) how healthcare isn't seen as a basic right and the obvious way to deal with it is some kind of universal healthcare...and even more baffled about the insanity of guns in the US. More people die in gun violence in the US than anywhere else in the western democratic world and by a huge margin....our crazy daily shootings grab the headlines and are very disturbing, but the largest number of gun deaths in the US is actually suicide...the facts tell us that more guns do not make us safer....but this is an emotional issue not a fact driven issue (I think most politics is emotion driven, not fact driven) Whatever you do "Don't confuse me with the facts, because I already have my mind made up" - i.e. this is what many people in the US do essentially. Ok, well there is much more to say, but since no one reads this anyway, and if you are on the other side of this issue, nothing I say will likely sway you anyway,,,so let's look at a few photo favorites from our SE Asia adventure.
Vietnam and Cambodia were fascinating and chaotic and was unlike anywhere we have ever been before. We saw so many amazing sights (Chaotic Hanoi, serene Halong Bay, historic Hue, beautiful Hoi An, bustling Saigon, and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam; historic Phnom Penh, the amazing Temples of Angkor, and the rural nature of Battambang. Intrepid Tours did a great job - we had a good guide in Cambodia and a fantastic guide (Phu) in Vietnam. We really enjoyed our tour groups and felt very fortunate to have such a good group of Brits, Aussies, Canadians and a German and fellow American. Phu called us his "lovely group" and his "happy group". Both guides gave us good backgrounds on the countries .. we learned how Vietnam used to be "dour Communists" during the time of Soviet influence and are now "happy communists" now that the Russians are gone. China is seen in general as the big bully of Asia, and particularly in Vietnam there is lingering distrust and resentment towards the Chinese, since 1,000 years ago Vietnam gained its independence from China (memories are long). We learned just how incredibly brutal the Khmer Rouge were in Cambodia and the horrific extent of that genocide. One interesting note was the contrast between communist Vietnam and "democratic" Cambodia. Police presence was much more noticeable in Cambodia than Vietnam (I would have guessed before going that it would have been the reverse), and even though Vietnam's political system is very tightly controlled, it's economic system seems to be pretty capitalistic. Cambodia is a democracy in name only - it's really a dictatorship having the same prime minister, who is an ex Pol Pot regime crony, running the country for perhaps the last 30 years. Corruption is rampant (according to our guide and human rights watch) and mainly because of the Khmer Rouge genocide, but also because of the widespread corruption, the country has been only slowly recovering.
We felt totally safe everywhere we were, and in spite of the utter chaos of the large cities, it all seemed to work reasonably well.
So on to the brief political rant. We now have traveled to a moderate number of countries around the world and met and talked with a number of folks ( five different countries just with our fellow travelers on this trip) and a consistent topic of conversation is American politics, and the "crazy and embarrassing nature" of the US Republican party in particular. Folks from other countries (and I'm generally talking about other western democracies) find the Republican contenders for President to be a laughing stock. In general, conservative parities around the world would generally fit very nicely within the US Democrat party. Conservative parties that are ultra conservative that might share some positions with the US Republican party are small and generally fringe parties in her countries. For example we met a Canadian on this trip who was a supporter of the former Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper (who lost the recent election in Canada to Justin Trudeau, but who was the PM for about ten years) and he absolutely cannot understand the craziness of the US Republicans. He said that the conservative party in Canada would fit nicely within the US Democrat party (and I can tell you from my Adventure Canada trip that the liberals in Canada thought that Stephen Harper was an extreme right winger). Two issues come up over and over again with folks outside of the US - Americans love affair with guns and the "controversy" over universal healthcare. They are truly baffled (so am I) how healthcare isn't seen as a basic right and the obvious way to deal with it is some kind of universal healthcare...and even more baffled about the insanity of guns in the US. More people die in gun violence in the US than anywhere else in the western democratic world and by a huge margin....our crazy daily shootings grab the headlines and are very disturbing, but the largest number of gun deaths in the US is actually suicide...the facts tell us that more guns do not make us safer....but this is an emotional issue not a fact driven issue (I think most politics is emotion driven, not fact driven) Whatever you do "Don't confuse me with the facts, because I already have my mind made up" - i.e. this is what many people in the US do essentially. Ok, well there is much more to say, but since no one reads this anyway, and if you are on the other side of this issue, nothing I say will likely sway you anyway,,,so let's look at a few photo favorites from our SE Asia adventure.
Amazing pictures!!!!
ReplyDeleteLove all of these pictures! (And I agree with you on the political rant) :)
ReplyDelete