I See Asia # 2

Dear reader, let's continue my current exploration of Asia.

As I noted previously in the first part of "I See Asia" essay, the initial impressions were completely different from what I expected and from what I have seen on the pictures before my journey. Tourists often talk about beauty of local places, tranquillity and peace, smiling locals and temptations of nightlife, but as always, one has to make up his own mind about such things. As it happened, the very first place I visited was awful - Sihanoukville in Cambodia and it was probably the worst possible introduction to this part of the world and for the longest time I was deeply unhappy about where did I find myself. With all the understanding and compassion I could muster, still I became miserable with such huge amount of poverty, depression and dirt everywhere - even if one takes in account the old proverb that "there's no place like home" and understanding that different parts of the world have their own ways, still reality was ugly. I love travelling and have always found excitement in seeing different things, but there was absolutely no beauty in Sihanoukville or its surroundings. 

At certain point I started to accept it is what it is and what to do, instead of being all depressed, I might as well see more of it. The picture above was taken in a restaurant somewhere in Da Nang, Vietnam - it looks nice but in reality its just lots of leaves + what you don't see on the photo, gentle reader, is that restaurant was rat-infested, which i realised with horror once I finished my lunch. Very, very crowded place with tiny houses everywhere, seems that taxes force locals to built what is basically room above the room, with such close proximity my guess is that there is no such thing as privacy. 

Komodo Island in Indonesia seems like a interesting place, it is the only place in the world where one can find giant carnivorous lizards called "Komodo Dragon" that freely roam around and with all its exclusivity, poor lizards still don't have its peace because hordes of tourists come to gawk at them. I understand this is the only way locals can make any kind of money so they encourage tourist excursions to come here and take pictures, but naturally its just a gimmick, these are wild animals and its not guaranteed that you will see any. Tourists being tourists are often too excited to think about safety and not only you can get attacked if you come too close to lizard's offspring, but occasionally the heat of the sun is too strong and people are just falling down like coconuts. Because our time there was limited and I didn't like the idea of squeezing with all those people, I saw the island from the safe distance. I have also been in places like Martinique and Mauritius so I guess it is true that I have seen more places by accident that other people have seen intentionally.

At certain point I had to make up my mind: will I stay frustrated always on the ship (very far from any human habitation) or join shore excursions that always welcome volunteers. They are physically exhausting as they involve lots of walking, hours of driving in uncomfortable buses and taking care of wobbly guests (who find themselves all hot, sweaty and not really enjoying what they expected will be great adventure) + often upon the return I don't rest but have to actually get to work but everything considered, I decided to bite the bullet and volunteer, otherwise I will be forever stuck in the industrial terminals. So the very first place I went to visit was Lombok in Indonesia which was quite interesting as we went around ancient temples (up & down the stairs, way too dangerous for my overweight old ladies who would all tumble down if I didn't help them, gentleman that I am). We all went to check the smoke in the corner of the temple, expecting some kind of offering or flowers burning or perhaps human sacrifice but were disappointed to discover it was just a garbage burning. Well at least they burned it, unlike elsewhere where they just live in the middle of it. Tour guide insisted we have to visit local pearl shop - we spent more time in a darn shop than in far more interesting local history Museum Ampenan but it all backfired at our tour guide because the only thing shop owner got was buses full of people who wanted to use the WC. In the museum (which was surprisingly interesting) I saw lots of interesting things, including some unbelievably designed sandals (apparently known all over Asia) and I learnt that locals call the sun Matahari while the earth is Bumi. In other words, we bask in the divine light of Greta Garbo but we actually live in the ass.

Years ago I talked to a colleague about beautiful places we visit and he mentioned Bali as his favourite spot. So I was intrigued and curious to see this famed beauty. I imagined tranquillity and incense smoke wafting trough the air, while locals shimmer and dance all around me. We are Siamese if you please. Well, now I decided that this guy was one of those people who probably never stepped out of luxurious hotel resorts, which are unreal tourist destinations. These are - as expected - extremely clean and well kept because they are part of big money-making business. But go anywhere out of these packages and you face HUGE, cosmic amount of plastic garbage everywhere - up the hill, down the hill, barefoot children, monkeys and cows chewing on plastic. So on one hand, you have locals with their sweet disposition and patience, on the other the reality of plastic pollution covering every single step (except rice fields, thankfully). Being famous tourist destination, Water Palace in Seraya was a pretty place but I was far more impressed with a little jungle village Tenganan because this was reality, not some fake tourist package. We had lunch at resort & spa Rama Candidasa which felt exactly as what foreigners expect from Bali: everything clean and neat, only young faces serving with a smile. Old, wrinkled and dwarfs are carefully tucked away in Tenganan, with their touching little flower offerings to Gods placed at the steps in front of the shops.

Bangkok impressed me as being HUGE, almost scary in its size. According to our tour guide it has around 11 million inhabitants and it shows - tiny rinky dink houses shadowed by huge, modern skyscrapers with signs "long live the king". The very first thing I went to see was temple Traimit Witthayaram that houses enormous sculpture of Buddha, made completely from gold. Apparently no one remembers the origins of the statue, which was initially covered in plaster to hide it from invaders centuries ago and it was only in 1954. that by accident rain washed away the plaster. It is quite impressive but I couldn't help thinking about Biblical golden calf - totem is totem, after all, no matter how you call it. We also walked trough local famous Yodpiman market which mind you, is not the prettiest or the nicest market I have ever seen - its just exotic, that's all, but nothing like markets in Barcelona or Budapest (or my own Zagreb) which are joy to visit. I genuinely enjoyed the river cruise which gave us all a chance to see Bangkok from different perspective, including temple Wat Arun and obligatory visit to Gems Gallery, overpriced local jewelry shop that nobody cared for (this is something locals expect foreigners would like to see, but in fact visitors are much more curious to see something unusual than to shop - and even if they shop, they want bargains, not diamonds and rubies which they can get at home). 

I must mention something really interesting and that was Sanctuary of Truth in famed nightlife spot Pattaya - where the rest of my colleagues and visitors usually focus on joys of hedonism, my main interest was this unique temple carved completely from the wood (it is still a work in process). Compared to other ancient temples, this one is relatively new (dating from early 1980s) and its purpose, as I understand, is to celebrate Eastern Philosophy. It is a breathtakingly beautiful place and curiosity is that there was no nail in sight, everything has been carved, really unique place.

Nha Trang in Vietnam was by far my favourite spot - it was all clean, civilised and pretty, in fact it looks and feels almost like Copacabana (or Spanish coast). Yes, you can say its all commercial and focused on foreign visitors (its a huge vacation spot) but I don't care, after being stuck with rat-infested restaurants and barefoot children chewing on plastic garbage too long, I was delighted to arrive in a place that has beautiful buildings, nice hotels and beach with trimmed trees instead of dirt, poverty and dust. I always had great time just walking and browsing in Nha Trang, this time I noted quite large number of Russian tourists, apparently it is a very popular destination for them. Unfortunately no more Nha Trang this year for me, as we change destination now and sail to the North, which actually feels exciting because yours truly is now all set to discover China and Japan.