Going Out With A Bagan!

So how I came to pick Myanmar on my trip is a little random.  I saw a two week trip (to include a river cruise) to Myanmar from one of the gay travel companies that I get email from.  Two weeks is too much, but I clicked on the link and it got my mind thinking.  Obviously I wanted to go to Yangon since it was the former capital and biggest city.  But once I saw pics from Bagan I knew I had to add to the itinerary.  So that's why I was at the Yangon airport at 0445 in the AM.  After one of the most scariest taxi rides in my life, I swear he was either high or couldn't stay awake, I checked into my Air KBZ flight to Bagan.  Air KBZ, you mean you've never heard of it?  Yeah, me either.  It's one of about four domestic airlines in Myanmar.  And the only quick way to get to Bagan.  And my intinerary is packed, to say the least, so Air KBZ it was.  The flight was a little over an hour in a ATR-72.  A 100 person prop job.  But it was fine.

Landed in Bagan, got my bag, and found my tour guide waiting for me.  I had a little over 24 hours in Bagan and I wanted to make the most of them.  Before we left the airport, I got my ticket to the Bagan Archeological Zone (BAZ).  We went to my hotel to drop my bag and then it was off for a full day of touring temples and stupas (or pagodas).  According to Min (my guide), a temple is something you can walk into, while a stupas (or pagado) is a solid monument.  There are close to 4000 temples and stupas in the BAZ.  Yes, 4000.  Just on the drive from the airport to the hotel we saw dozens.  Over 800 were damaged in the big earthquake last year, so that just left 3200 for me to visit.  And no I didn't really try to see them all.  I put myself in my tour guide's hands and just went along for the ride.  He did a great job!

From the airplane, looking down on Bagan (well technically Nyong-U which is where the airport is) the countryside was dry and oddly familiar.  Dry, dusty, some open fields and some small groups of trees that provide much needed shelter from the hot sun.  Oh, now I remember, it reminds me of Kenya.  Seriously.  If it weren't for the temples, I could easily have been in Kenya.  When I was in Angkor, I did my tour via tuk-tuk which was fine.  But most of the roads around the BAZ are dirt roads and I would have been choking on dust the whole time so I was glad for the air-conditioned car.  Touring by e-bikes is also popular, but with the dust, pass.

Most of the temples and stupas were built between the 11th and 13th century during the height of the Kingdom of Burma.  Some of the temples are huge with multiple Buddhas in them and some are really small little buildings with a single small Buddha in it.  Most of the larger temples have four Buddhas facing each primary direction.  There are four different types of Buddhas.  There is the sitting Buddha (most popular I think), then the standing Buddha, the reclining Buddha and then the traveling Buddha.  When Min explained that to me I realized that I hadn't seen a traveling Buddha yet.  So in one of the temples, we found one.  It's basically a standing Buddha with a cape and his hands are grasping the cape.  Kind of interesting.

The temples and stupas here are different than Angkor Wat as they didn't really use standstone at all.  Almost all of the temples here are built with red bricks.  And then for some of the larger more important temples, the brick is covered by plaster so they could paint on the walls.  In addition to the damage from the earthquake and from the villagers (wait for it), the damage from ants is pretty significant.  Why ants?  Well the plaster was made with sugar, so the ants would try to extract the sugar from the plaster ruining the plaster and paintings as they go along.

The BAZ was created in the early 1990s by the military running the government who recognized the need for hard currency from the tourists while they were under various sanctions from the US and the West.  The villagers used to live in Bagan itself, but the military kicked them out and moved them to New Bagan.  Which was kind of harsh, but the villagers had also been stealing the bricks from the various temples  and stupas for years, so it actually helped preserve the area.  Interestingly enough, UNESCO came through in the early 2000s and declined to make the BAZ a world heritage site mainly because they didn't approve of the restoration techniques that government was using.

As we drove around looking at temples, you could see the temples under reconstruction or being repaired from the earthquake.  Many of the tops of the temples were covered in bamboo scaffolding (which looked cool but definitely not safe) that was held together by rope made of coconut husk fibers.  There was a big team from India at one of the temples helping to do the restoration.  As the home of Buddhism, the Indians send money and personnel to help restore some of the important temples in Bagan.

After lunch, we hit a couple of more temples and then I needed to go to the hotel to rest a bit.  It was hotter than hades and I just needed some serious AC.  After our mid-afternoon break, it was back for more temples and then we went to one of the minor temples to climb it to watch the sunset.  So this was a better experience than Angkor.  There were other people on the temple (thought it definitely wasn't as packed as some of the major temples), but for the most part they were quiet and it was nice to just watch the sun sink into the humidity and haze on the horizons.  After sunset, I went back to the hotel, jumped in the pool, had a cocktail and dinner and then crashed.  

So I think ending the temple touring part of my trip here in Bagan was a great way to close out this part of my trip.

TBT: Temples By Taxi

I should have hired a guide.  Or at least a driver.  But now, I'm like, I can so tis on my own.  Which I did, but I basically trekked from one end of Yangon to the other via taxi.  And remember my comment about how traffic wasn't that bad yesterday?  Wow, what a mistake.  Traffic was horrible.  

Okay, we've got lots of ground to cover so let's break it down! 

1.  Koe Htat Gyi Pagoda.  My first stop and a 4K kyat taxi ride.  Shoes off as you enter the temple and then it's a nice hike up the hill (btw, this is a theme here in Yangon) to the temple.  This temple was actually built in the mid 20th century, but it houses a huge sitting Buddha from 1558.  It's actually five stories tall, so yes it's it's pretty huge.  In addition to the main Buddha, there were easily two dozen other Buddhas in this temple.  I love the way they've incorporated modern life into the temples.  Behind the head of the Buddha are electric lights to signify his godliness.  Kind of cheesy, kind of cool.  But definitely different.  You won't see the RC's adding LED lights to create a halo for Jesus! 

2.  Kyauk Htat Gyi Pagoda.  A short walk, and an exercise in frogger crossing the road, was another temple.  This one is famous for the 230 foot reclining Buddha.  As I approached the road, obvious foreigner and tourist that I am, a couple of men offered to help me.  I really don't want/need a guide and I was trying to be polite, but their insistence was a bit annoying.  This would happen at several locations and I just tried to smile my way through it.  So there are four basic types of Buddhas.  Sitting (crossed legged), standing (with one or two hands out), reclining, and then the walking Buddha.  I haven't seen a lot of the walking Buddha's yet.  Most of today was sitting Buddhas, with a couple of notable exceptions.

3.  The Shwedagon Pagoda.  A 3K kyat ca ride away, this is the major temple of Yangon.  And it's really more like a temple complex.  You walk up to the temple from one of 4 different staircases (North, South, East, & West) which are thankfully covered of else you'd be sweating before you even go to the top.  As I made my way up the final set of stair, having already removed my shoes at the entrance, I walk up to pay my foreigners entrance fee.  And I was judged.  Poorly.  Apparently my shorts, which easily cover my knees, were not long enough.   So I had to buy a lingyis which is sort of like a sarong.  It's a skirt that men wear here in Myanmar.  While some dress in western clothing, quite a few of them dress in lingyis.  And I must say, I was almost rocking it.  If I hadn't been wearing a pair of shorts underneath it would probably be even comfortable.  I wonder if I could work this look at my job?  Pair it with a nice crisp white shirt (which is how the locals wear it), and I would look suitably professional.  Ish.  And if anyone complained I could always claim I was pulling a Caitlin Jenner.  Oh never mind.  No one would believe that.  The Pagado itself is a giant gold covered stupa (tower) that is surrounded by smaller temples with hundreds and hundreds of Buddhas.  As I walked around, I was actually quite amazed at how many Buddhas there are.  And apparently they aren't the same.  There are different images of Buddhas that have different religious meaning.  So that explains the dozens of smaller temples just jammed packed with Buddhas.  I was there in the late morning so the sun was directly overhead, but the sun reflecting off the gold was really amazing.  <Insert obligatory reference to the heat>. What I found interesting is that so many people were in the temples just hanging out in the shade. Oh some were definitely praying, but some were just kicking back.  And the number of people on their phones was just fascinating.  

4.  Across the street was the Maya Wizaya Pagoda.  Another golden domed pagoda, but what was different for this temple was that the interior was hollow.  The inside is decorated to resemble a forest at night and the ceiling decorated with astrological signs.  And again, lots of Buddhas.  Mainly sitting ones.

5.  A 3K kyat cab ride down to the Botataung Pagoda.  So this temple is famous for having a hair and two other relics from Buddha.  A hair.  Okay.  So interestingly enough, you could go inside the stupa (tower) of this temple and it was just room after room where the entire wall was gilded in gold.  From the floor to the ceiling.  A little gauche for me, but okay.  

6.  A 2K kyat cab ride and were were at our final stop, the Sule Pagoda.  Built in the middle of a traffic circle, this pagoda is surrounded by small shops on the outside, but inside is the traditional golden stupa and many, many Buddhas.  It was cool, but I was hot, tired, and so ready for lunch. 

After lunch (which was nothing special), I went back to the hotel which was another 2K kyat.  So my day to taxi touring cost 14,000 kyat.  Or a little over $10.  So not bad.

After resting a bit, I headed to the SkyBar lounge for a cocktail or two while I watched the sun set.  The Shwedagon Pagoda turns these amazing shades of gold in the later afternoon and as the day turns to night the Pagoda is lit up and it looks magical!

Off to Bagan in the AM! 

When You Have Time To Spare

Travel by Air! 

That's what Dad would say all the time.  Especially when he got hit with delays, etc.  But in our jet-set society, it really is just a requirement.  There's no way I could travel to even half of these countries without flying.  I mean, it was hard enough to get approval for this much time off.  If I had to rely on boats and busses to get around, I think I would have made it to the Bangkok, been there a couple of days, and then probably had to turn back around again.  So it's an necessary evil.  But one that allows me to explore lots of interesting and cool places.  Plus secretly, I sort of like flying. 

So the Siem Rep airport was actually nicer than the Phnom Penh airport.  And you had to walk through the expansive duty free section before you could get to the gate.  Damn you Disney and your gift shop at the end of every ride!  My flight was on Thai Air Asia.  And it was fine.  It's one of the low cost airlines in Asia and it didn't have horrible reviews.  Siem Rep to Bangkok.   DMK (Don Mueang International Airport) is Bangkok's BWI.  Now that may not be fair to BWI since I haven't been there in years, but DMK is where all of the low cost airlines fly out of and the airport is a little bit shabby.  I originally had a 3+ hour layover.  But due to the plane's late arrival, it was more like almost 5.  But I sort of new that today was a wash from a travel perspective anyways.  Oh, FYI, the monks get early boarding even if they aren't in first class.  Which they probably never are anyways.  But I think that's kind of cool.

Made it Yangon and breezed through immigration due to the visa I got back in DC before I left.  Got my bag and caught a cab and headed into the city.  Myanmar is one of those weird countries that's sort of in it's own time zone that's 30 minutes off from Bangkok.  But I mananaged to set my iPhone and FitBit, so I'm good.  The traffic into downtown wasn't horrible.  Oddly enough though, it seem like the drivers actually use the lanes that are marked on the road.  So that's new.   

My hotel.  Well after two posh boutique hotels, I'm back to a big tourist hotel.  Okay, when I was doing my planning, Yangon was sort of a last minute add and I was a little bit anxious about coming here.  So I decided to play it safe and go with a big tourist hotel.  It's fine, really, but it's not like my last two hotels.  I do think the air con is a little bit better though.  My room is huge and I love the rainfall shower head.  I guess my only complaint is that I want to know who thought a full length mirror in the shower was a good idea?  It's not just my body dismorphia issues, the thing gets wet no matter what you do.  So someone had to clean it every day!  That's some poor planning and not helping with my body image issues.  

Anyways, after cleaning up, I headed to a traditional Burmese restaurant called Danuphyu Daw Saw Yi for dinner.  Located in what I would call a dive location, I was greeted warmly and then shown the dishes available that night.  Fish, shrimp, beef, chick, curries, etc.  I played safe and went with the beef.  Plus an eggplant dish and another veggie dish as well.  Plus it comes with rice (natch!) and a sort of collard greens type soup.  The meal was actually pretty tasty and I had a ginormous beer as well.  For 7000 kyat.  Or $5.  So not bad.   

Tomorrow it's back to temple trekking! 

I chose poorly

So after two days in Siem Rep traipsing around the temples, I decided to try something different.  Why?  I'm not really sure.  But I decided to go on a tour of one of the floating villages on Tonle Sap.  Tonle Sap is a huge fresh water lake in the middle of Cambodia.  It's actually the latest fresh water lake in South East Asia.   And you know me, if it involves a boat, I'm in!

The tour started fine.  They picked me up from my hotel and asked me if I wanted to go to a lotus farm on the way.  Sure.  I'm trying to go with the flow on this trip.  But as we headed out of town, the living conditions got worse and worse.  By sticking to the big cities and the temples, I've managed to avoid, or to at least overlook, the poverty in these countries.  But it was hard to avoid on this tour, because it was everywhere.  The lotus farm was fine.  Off the side of the road into a huge pond where there were thousands of lotus plants.  Fun fact, in addition to the lotus flower, there is also a lotus fruit which you could eat.  Umm.  Pass.  Then it was off to see the stilt village.  Houses built on stilts because of how much the lake level changes during the rainy season.  And as I'm sure you can imagine, the houses are ramshackles with missing planks and corrugated tin roofs.  My tour guide wanted to know if I wanted to go into the village and I said no.  So we continued to Tonle Sap.  

There are four different floating villages on Tonle Sap.  Two are Vietnamese, one is Cambodian, and one is a mix.  There's some sort of tension with the Vietnamese that I'm not getting.  But we we approached the lake, the tour guide was talking about how the people living in the floating villages fish, bath, and yes go to the bathroom in the lake.  They do bring in bottle water from the shore for cooking and drinking.  And one look at the lake made that obvious.  The water was the most disgusting mud like liquid I've ever seen.  We boarded a small boat which I had to myself and we headed up the channel to get to the lake.  As we went by, I could see all of the garbage and plastic bags along the shore.  I'm fairly certain it was in the water and just left behind when the water receded during the dry season.  Lovely.  We made it to the lake and it's so big you can't seen anything on the horizon.  And it was still that gross mud color water.  So this tour is basically a tourist trap.  We passed by some floating houses and even a floating school before we got a floating tourist stop where they had fresh water crocodiles in a cage.  Ok, sure.  Took some pics.  Just go with it Trey.  Afterwards, we headed to the larger boat which had a nice view and where I would have lunch.  Mind you, it's 10AM.  So yes, I'm having a beer and lunch at 10AM.  Don't judge.  Thankfully I brought my Kindle so I escaped into the trashy sci-if book I'm reading.  After about an hour, I was ready to leave.  As I did, I noticed some of the children swimming in the water.  Fairly certain there isn't a big enough tetanus shot in the world if I were to fall in the water.  Thankfully I was back at the hotel a little after noon and just curled up on a lounge chair by the pool with a mojito.  As one does, right?   

Eating.  Yes, I'm eating, but I'm not making it a priority or searching out the best places to eat.  First, I'm not that much of a foodie.  I try at times.  But second, I'm not really a big fan of Asian food.  Everything is with rice or noodles.  So the thought of paleo is a joke.  On the plus side, all of the food I'm eating is probably organic.  And I'm still off soda, so there are some healthy choices I'm making.  I did have the local specialty (with chicken) call Amok.  It's a pretty good coconut based sauce with some interesting spices in it.  Spicy warm, not spicy hot, so that was good for me.  There's a place called "Pub Street" that is where all of the "fine" dining establishments are.  $.50 beers?  Sure, why not.  And last night with it being Valentine's Day, it was packed and decorated with hearts and stuff.  I asked Bob, my tour guide, the day before if they celebrated V-day here and he said mainly the young people. I did see a gorgeous young bride in her wedding dress walking down the street and my first thought was:  "Gurl!  You are dragging your amazing dress down this dirty street?  What were you thinking?"  Yep, I'm that gay.  

Off to Myanmar! 

T3: Trey's Temple Trot

Yes we are going back for a second round of temples.  Yesterday was the Small Circuit (Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm).  Today is the Grand Circuit.  Five smaller temples that are a bit farther away and thankfully weren't as crowded as Angkor Watt and the other temples on the Small Circuit.  Since I wanted to do sunset at one of the temples, it was a late start.  The downside being that we would be out in the heat of the day.  But you gotta do what you gotta do.  Bob and the tuk-tuk driver met me and off we went.

First up is Preah Khan.  It was built by the same king (Jayavarman VII) who built Angkor Wat and it was built for his father (Ta Prohm, the Tomb Raider temple was actually built for his mother).  So he built a lot of temples.  It's quite a large temple and there is a big outer wall as well as an inner wall for the temple.  Despite the fact that it's in the jungle and has been infiltrated with trees, it's in better shape than Ta Prohm.  But there is still plenty of damage that they are in the process of trying to fix.  The temple is a combination of Hindu and Buddhist religion so there are statues and sculptures of Hindu Gods like Vishnu, Shiva, etc as well a Buddhist symbols like Naga, the multi-headed snake.  Bob gave me some time to walk around which was good, but then there was some miscommunication about when and where to meet.  So I basically lost my guide.  I ended up walking to the tuk-tuk driver and have him call Bob.  Oops.

After lunch, we headed to Preah Neak.  So this is a much different "temple".  And I'm using air quotes because it doesn't really have a temple structure to it like the other temples.  Set in a middle of a huge reservoir, there is a man made island that is the home of Preah Neak.  So walking across the causeway to the island was pretty cool.  But once we got to the island, the temple is actually a set of five square ponds.  In the main holy pond are two Naga statues as well as a horse statue.  On each side of the main pond are four smaller square ponds representing the four elements.  Each pond has a small grotto like structure that houses an elephant statue (representing water), a horse stature (representing air), a lion statue (representing fire) and a human statue (representing earth).  Unfortunately we couldn't get close to the smaller structures, but it was still pretty cool.

Up next was Ta Som.  Another temple built by J the 7th.  He really was quite the builder.  This was another amazing temple set in the jungle where the trees have overtaken and overgrown the temple.  The nice things about these temples is that there are fewer people here so you can wander around quite a bit.  One thing I do that to complain about.  Every guide book I read said that when you are visiting the temples, your knees and your shoulders need to be covered.  And yet at every temple, there is always someone (usually a girl) wearing a tank top or a sleeveless dress who is stopped from entering and then proceeds to throw a fit.  Really?  Like how did you not get the message.

After Ta Som, we were off to Eastern Mebon.  Built in an ancient man made reservoir, this temple was built by Rajendravarmen II and has five towers that look like mountains in the center of the temple.  Again, another fascinating temple.  This one had elephant statues at each corner as well as some statues in the main temple complex.  One of the things that was different with this temple is that they didn't use as much sandstone, it was more brick.  Which is impossible to carve.  So the bricks all around the temple are dotted with holes that were used to attached decorative plasterwork.

And finally, we got to Pre Rup.  Also built by Rejendravarmen II, it is a pyramid shaped temple (yeah, more climbing) with the uppermost of the three tiers having five lotus towers.  This temple was used for cremation, so there were small structures on the temple that would be used to burn bodies before their ashes were taken up to the temple on the higher level. Unfortunately we got to Pre Rup around 330PM and sunset was  at like 6PM.  So after we walked around a bit, Bob and I had a couple of beers.  I mean, we needed to kill some time.  Afterwards, I climbed back up to the top to wait for sunset.  Note to self, bring my kindle on future trips for when I get someplace early.  Cause I know it's going to happen.  As I was waiting, the crowd started to build and I was eavesdropping on some of the conversation.  A group of young Americans were there talking about all of their travels across South East Asia.  Traveling here is cheap, especially if you are going the backpacker route, but that's definitely not my style.  I'm assuming their parents are paying for this experience while they are in college.  I sort of bit my tongue trying not to be the grumpy old man.  Oh well, good for them.  Sunset was a bit disappointing.  The sun sort of just disappeared into the humidity on the horizon.  So not really worth it.  Oh well.

Overall still a pretty spectacular day!

Tomb Raider Edition Y'all! (T.R.E.Y!)

Wait for it, it will make sense. 

Sunrise at Angkor Wat!  One of those must things to do in Siem Rep.  So I set my alarm clock for a 0420 wake up to meet my guide at 0500.  But why sleep till 0420, why not wake up at 0311?  Something is seriously not right with me.  Anyways, I met my guide (Bob) and the tuk-tuk driver and off we went.  And I was LOVING IT!  The pre-dawn morning was a bit cool and on the tuk-tuk it was almost chilly.  Which felt awesome.  My poor guide was shivering.  Anyways, we headed to get tickets (which they are very strict about) which was only a minor zoo, yes, at 5AM.  Got the ticket and headed to Angkor Wat.  Glad I brought my mini-flashlight since walking on all of these uneven stones in the dark could have been treacherous.  When we got to Angkor Wat and the reflecting pool, it was already crowded.  But I managed to find a semi-decent spot and then it was time to wait for sunrise.  It really was very pretty but not quite like the zen experience I expected it to be with the three to four thousan people surrounding me jostling to get a good pic.  BTW, if one more person hits me with their selfie stick, I will grab it and us it to bludgeon them to death.  Just sayin.

 After sunrise, I met up with Bob and we we headed into the temple complex.  The first thing we did was go straight to heaven.  As one does, right?  Heaven is the upper tier temple and is access controlled so you get their first before the queue becomes too long.  After a very short wait, I climbed up to Heaven (loving the climbing by the way!) and wandered around the upper tier's galleries taking pics with the great view of the temple compound.  There were four (now empty) pools at this level, one for each of the elements (air, earth, wind, and fire) that people would bathe in before they went into the temple rooms to pray.  I'm glad they access control this level as I'm sure it could get packed later and it was nice to be able to wander a bit without bumping into people left and right.  

Angkor Wat was built in the mid 1100s as a temple to the Hindu deity Vishnu.  So originally the temple was Hindu, then it changed to Buddhist, reverted back to Hindu, and then reverted back to Buddhist. Apparently the King decided to change the national religion.  Talk about executive overreach.  And how exactly does that work.  "You are all now Buddhists?"  So you do see some signs of Hindu art in the stone carvings, and come combination, but there's also a lot of places where the previous religion's artifacts were just removed.  Which is kind of sad.  As we walked around the lower level, Bob explained that there are four things that damage the temple:  religion, revolution, colonialism, and weather.  Well check on religion and weather is obvious.  Bob would point out the areas where bullets had damaged the amazing stone carvings depicting early Cambodian life.  Check for revolution.  And colonialism?  Well how many statues and heads of Buddha were removed and sent back to museums in France, the UK, etc.  So that all makes sense.  

As we continued to make our way down through the temple complex, I went to explore one of the many libraries.  Why is it that all of the temples I've been to around the world have very steep and shallow steps?  Mayan, Incan, Egyptian, and even Cambodian.  They all have steep and shallow steps.  I get the small feet part of the shallow steps, but why so steep? Still it was fun to climb, and snap some pics, but I'm being extra careful about getting back down!  After wandering a bit more, and taking more pics, we headed off to breakfast.

 While Angkor Wat is the largest temple, not a mile away is Angkor Tom (which when Bob said it sounded like Uncle Tom!) which is an ancient walled city which was very cool.  When these temples were being built, approximately one million people lived in the Angkor Wat area, so many of them would have lived in Angkor Tom.  Our tuk-tuk driver drove us through the very narrow entrance and we made our way to Bayon which is the main temple in Angkor Tom.  Bayon once had 54 towers with 216  faces on them (4 on each tower looking in each direction), but the temple has definitely been damaged and worn down, but you can still see lots of towers and the very cool faces on them.  Again, Bob started with the less crowded lower level and we walked the circumference of the temple looking at the 1.2km worth of stone carvings depicting live in Cambodia then.  In the stone carvings, if the people had long ears, they were Cambodian; if they wore hats, they were Vietnamese; if they had beards they were Chinese.  And needless to say there were lights of war fighting scenes.  Cambodia is the oldest country in Southeast Asia and Vietnam was once it's vassal state.  After walking around the lower leve, we climbed up to the upper level which was packed.  But such great views of the stunning architecture, the towers, and the stone faces.  It was really great.  Though the sun was up at this point and it was definitely getting hot!  

After Bayon, we started making our way to the last temple on the Small Circuit, but I asked to stop at some random temple on the way.  Ta Keo.  Bob wasn't thrilled as there wasn't much to be said about this temple. It has been abandoned during the construction of the temple so it's not complete and it had no stone carvings.  According to Bob, during construction it was struck by lightening which is a bad omen, so they abandoned it.  Still it was a temple, so I climbed it.  And took a few pics.   

Our last temple for the day was Ta Prohm.  Or as it's known on the tourist guide circuit:  the Tomb Raider temple.  Unlike Angkor Wat which was carved out of the jungle years ago and now had wide open fields surrounding it, Ta Prohm was still deep in the jungle.  When it was abandoned centuries ago, the jungle sort of swallowed it up and it's easy to imagine what it looked like when the European explorers "discovered" it again in the mid 1800s.  With the invasion of the jungle, the trees have been slowing destroying the temple.  Large part of the temple were under repair and some were closed where the trees, and their roots, have de-stabilized the temple making it unsafe for tourists.  But still we had a chance to wander around and I think Bob took my pic in front of a giant weird white tree that Angelina Jolie picked from an orchid from in the movie.  Will need to watch the move again.  Apparently the weird white tree is actually a parasite eating another tree underneath it.  Still kind of cool. 

After walking around Ta Prohm.  We headed back to the hotel. I wanted lunch, a swim, a massage, and a nap.  Which I did in that order!  Overall a great day! 

A Strong Dollar

Yes I'm folllowing the news in the US, but thankfully it all seems a world away.  Or half a world away at least.  I assume the madness of the man who would be king (MWWBK) will still be going on when I return.  But what I do know is that a strong dollar is good for those traveling abroad.  And here in Cambodia, the dollar is king.   

When I landed in Phnom Penh, I hit the ATM at the airport and it gave me dollars.  Not riels.  Which annoyed me a first.  I've got plenty of dollars.  But it was useful since I needed dollars to pay for my visa.  Afterwards, I hit the currency exchange.  $130 is equal to 490,000 riels.  Their largest currency is 20,000 riels.  Which is about $5.  So I had a wad of riels that could barely fit into my wallet.  And I definitely didn't need them.  Everything here is in dollars.  Tuk-tuk rides, museum entrance, rooftop cocktails, you name it.  Even in the markets.  It's just insane.  Of course, I ended up paying a lot of my stuff in riels since I needed to use the currency I had, but I'm not going to get anymore. 

After my soul crushing day at the genocide museum and the killing fields, I hit another rooftop bar and then found a place for dinner.   I'm still jetlagged, so I'm not really going out much.  And that's okay.  While I'm very popular on the gay "social networking apps", I'm afraid the interest isn't mutual.  Plus I'm saving myself for my future Australian husband, Aiden.  Or Jack from New Zealand.   

My last day in Phnom Penh, I hit the Russian Market.  It's apparently run/owned by the Russians, but all of the shopkeepers looked Cambodian to me.  I was on a mission for a suitcase lock, a pair for shorts, and a linen shirt.   I scored on the lock and the shorts.  Not so much the shirt.  Overall I think I've done a fair job packing for this 8 week trip.  It's the hiking in New Zealand that's thrown a wrench in my wardrobe planning as I need some cold weather clothes.  Otherwise it would all be shorts and t-shirts.  BTW, I have no idea how the backpackers do it.  I've got my big rolling duffle, my backpack, and my CPAP machine.  Oh, that's right, they are young and healthy and don't mind smelling.  With some of the low cost airlines I'm flying, my checked luggage has to be less than 22kg.  Or 44 pounds.  When I left Bangkok, I was at 18.5kg.  So I'm good for now.

After the market I went to Wat Phnom which is the major temple in Phnom Penh.  It's on this man-made hill in the center of town and as you climb up the smell of incense is over powering.  But it was interesting to walk around and check out the temple and see the hundreds of Buddhas.  Afterwards, I went back to the hotel for a traditional Khmer dry massage which was interesting.  And then another rooftop bar for drinks and dinner.   

Today, I took the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Rep which is the city just outside of Angkor Wat.  The bus ride was fine, but long.  6 hours.  Having said that, it was cheap, $15.  Oh, back to money.  So I developed a very detailed, some may say anal, plan for my trip to include flights, hotels, tours, etc and I even had a budget that included per diem for my expenses.  I'm a little over my budget mainly because I didn't include all of the transportation costs associated with being in a foreign city.  Taxi and tuk-tucks cost money and they see me (white, blond, well blond-ish) and so I'm sure I'm getting gouged as compared to the natives.  But oh well.  Since none of the signs are in the Roman alphabet, I'm sort of at their mercy.  It's not a big deal.  But just something to think about in the future when I do my next big trip.  Tomorrow I'm doing sunrise at Angkor Wat!  

Man's Inhumanity To Man

April 17th, 1975.  I was only 8 years old.  I think we were living in Fort Monroe VA at the time.  That's the day Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and began the systematic torture and killing of millions of people.  I probably heard about it at the time, but it's not covered in most US history books (I don't think my AP History class got beyond the Cuban Missile Crisis).  So I had heard about it, but I really didn't understand it like I understand the Holocaust.   

When on a trip like this, it's easy to do the fun stuff, drinking cocktails on rooftop bars, visiting temples, go shopping in local markets.  It's hard to do the not fun stuff.  But it needs to be done.  We are all witnesses to history in one way or another and it's our responsibility as human beings to learn about the atrocities that are committed so we can make sure they never happen again. 

When Pol Pot came to Phnom Penh, he emptied the city.  He forced the city people out into the countryside to work in labor camps, tearing up families in the process.  Many died as part of that process, but that was just the beginning of the horrors that would descend on this country.  Not far from my hotel is the Tuol Sleng Museum.  It's a former high school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a "security center".  S-21, as it was called, was one of the most infamous torture centers in the country.  Between 14,000 and 20,000 Cambodians were imprisoned and tortured here.  They were beaten, electrocuted, hung by their wrists behind their backs until they passed out and then "revived" by dunking their heads in big urns filled with waste water and sewage.  Some of them were tortured three times a day and there were medics there to make sure none of them died before there were supposed to.  The Khmer Rouge made them write confessions to being Vietnamese or CIA spies or whatever they wanted.  And they kept good records.  There are rooms filled with pictures of the many victims who were tortured here.   It's heartbreaking.  And S-21 was just one of almost 200 "security centers" across the country.  When the Vietnamese liberate Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge, they killed almost all of the prisoners at S-21.  Of the thousands of victims, there are only 7 known survivors.  Seven.  At the museum, there is a small area with 14 white tombs that hold the remains of the last 14 victims of S-21.

When the prisoners were scheduled to be executed, they would be taken by trucks at night to Choeung Ek, one of the almost 400 Killing Fields in the country.   In the beginning, there would be 300 prisoners for execution a month.  Then it became 300 a week.  And then 300 a night.  They would play loud propaganda music to cover the sounds of the screams.  Bullets were expensive, so the executioners would use farm equipment like knives, axes, machettes, clubs, to kill their victims.  They would be tossed into mass graves and then covered in DDT which helped mask the smell of the decaying bodies as well helped kill any who might still be alive.  Over the course of the Khmer Rouge's reign, almost 3 millions were killed.  Out of a country of 8 million.  Over a third of the population.  Gone in less than 4 years.  

At both Tuol Sleng and at Choeung Ek, you can hear stories from both the survivors and the Khmer Rouge guards/executioners.  The survivors tell of their fear, their torture, the loved ones they saw beaten, raped, and killed.  The former Khmer Rouge?  Many of them were uneducated child warriors.  I'm not saying that to excuse them, but to provide a frame of reference.  They spoke of how they were ordered to do the things they did.  How they didn't have a choice.  Which sounds hauntingly familiar with the stories I've heard from former Nazi's after the Holocaust.  How do you become so desensitized, so unable to see your fellow man, your countryman, as someone deserving of life?  How do you accept orders to execute another human being?  Over, and over, and over again?   

When Pol Pot marched into Phnom Penh, I was only 8.  Fairly certain I was already wearing glasses by then.  If I had been born in Cambodia, not the U.S., I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be alive today.  Wearing glasses was a sign of being an intellectual, of being soft, which would make me an enemy of the state.  So my skull would probably have been one of those crushed by a hammer or machete before my body was tossed into a mass grave. 

I hope and pray that we as human beings will learn from these horrible examples of man's inhumanity to man.  One way we can work to prevent future genocides is to remember and honor all of the victims who lost their lives.   It's been only 40 years since Cambodia was decimated by the Khmer Rouge and it's amazing to see how they've recovered and grown.  But it's still a very dark shadow that's not too far in their past.  

Phnom Penh!

I arrived in Bangkok in the middle of the night, so my impressions of the city as the taxi took me into town were a bit muted by the darkness.  Yes there were some lights, but not that many.  And I was on a highway most of the way.  As I approached downtown, most of the big buildings had turned off their lights (I mean, it was almost 2AM), but I could still their darkened shapes across the horizon.  The contrast with Phnom Penh could not have been more severe.  The flight was fine and after a small delay with my visa, I headed into town.  So the airport is not big and the parking lots was basically packed dirt.  Do you want to know why so many people here have surgical masks on?   Well it's the dry season here, so the dust is just insane.  Add in all of the exhaust fumes, and you'd want a surgical mask as well.  Which is why taxis are better than Tuk-Tuks here.  Leaving the airport, the main road was like strip mall hell.  Even as we approached the city, the buildings for the most part were low rise buildings (2-4 floors), and few mid rise buildings (5-10 floors), and very, very few high rise buildings.  Oh, and the traffic.  Insane.  I used to say that driving in Italy was like driving on the dark side.  The driving here is just beyond belief.  Cars, scooters, bike, motorcycles, busses, lorries, big trucks, you name it.  All on the road with basically no stop lights or rules.  It was like seeing a swarm in action.  The interesting thing is that everyone just accepted that it was crazy and didn't get upset about it.  In DC there would be road rage every 2 blocks.  Here?  People just give two short honks of their horn saying:  "hey, please move over a bit, I'm trying to get by."  It's all crazy, but it seems to work for them.

I made it to my hotel and was very pleased by my choice.  I did a lot of research on my hotels and I had chosen wisely!  While my hotel in Bangkok was a nice Marriott style hotel in a good location, The Plantation was like a tropical Kimpton!  Walking off the street, there's a huge courtyard with a koi pond and statues and then when you get into the inner compound, there are lush trees to keep the resort cool.  And an amazing pool!  After settling in, I had lunch at the pool.  I took a short nap and then I headed off to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda which were just a short walk from my hotel.  The compound included a number of cool building with Khmer roofs and ornate building.  Interestingly enough a lot of the statues and decorations were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge so there are concrete replicas of many of the ornaments.  Still pretty in a weird way.  After walking around the Royal Palace compound, I went over the Silver Pagoda which is named after the 5000 silver tiles on the floor.  It is also the home of the Emerald Buddha (another one!) though this one is made of green Bacharrat crystals.  No photos allowed inside, so that's a bummer.  

After the Royal Palace, I went to the National Museum which was nearby.  Housed in a very pretty terracotta mansion, it is filled with Khmer sculpture including a lot of artifacts that have been moved from Angkor Wat to the capital for safekeeping.  The mansion had a great courtyard and the sculptures were very interesting.  Oh, I checked with "the google" for the skinny vs. fat Buddha.  So the real Buddha is skinny.  There's a Chinese folklore deity call Budai that is the fat one.  So not the same thing after all. 

I went back to the hotel for a shower (#AlwaysSweating!) and then headed to "Friends" for dinner.  No, it's not named after the US sitcom "Friends".  It's a nearby tapas style restaurant that help street children get started in the hospitality business.  So that was kind of cool.  And the food was good.  Afterwards I went to the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) for a drink on their rooftop bar overlooking the Mekong River.  And then it was time to crash.  

Bangkok Remix

So sadly I have not been hitting the clubs here in Bangkok, so I have no idea what the kids are listening to these days.  :-)   But that's okay.   

Another early get up to the gym and then the Sky Train and the Express Boat up to Wat Arun.  Wat Arun is the third major temple complex in Bangkok and the only one on the left side of the river.   The capital used to be on the left side, and then it moved across the river where KPW and Wat Pho became the major temples.   Anyways, Wat Arun has a Khmer style tower that is pretty distinctive.  Sadly most of it was covered in scaffolding, but it was still pretty.  And you could climb part of it!  Instead of gold leaf, it's covered in ornate flower mosaics made from broken porcelain.  So it's really kind of cool.  It was also not nearly as crowded so I was nice to wander a bit.  

Afterwards I made my  way back across the river to walk through Chinatown.  So the good thing is that I found one of the big markets that not only had tons of vegetables of every kind you can imagine, but also the flower market!  Orchids, azeleas, roses, you name it.  And they were making all sort of weaths and other types of arrangements with the flowers.  Later I saw them for sale outside of the temples.  Not sure why I didn't notice that before.  The whole place was just an amazing combination of smells and it was out of the sun so that was good.  So it smelled devine and it was out of the sun!  The bad thing is that I either completely underestimated how long it would take to get to the Golden Buddha, or I got lost.  Or both.  And I've mentioned the brutal heat/sun, right?  But I finally found the Golden Buddha and checked it out.  I feel a bit odd when the Thais come in and start praying in front of me.  Not sure why since it would be just like someone coming into a church in Europe and start praying.  But it just feels a bit different.  Anyways, at this point my feet were just done!  I took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and climbed onto a lounge chair that was in the pool area and just relaxed for a bit.  When you've walked 16K steps before noon, you can take a break.

My last night in Bangkok I had two quentissential experiences.  Please note that I didn't say good.  First I got a massage.  A real one with oil.  I've always got dry skin so I figure being slathered and pummeled in oil would be good.  Meh, I've had better.  I got asked twice if I wanted the "special" massage.  And I said no.  The third time she specified exactly why it was "special".  Um, still no.  

Second, I went to have dinner at the hawker area of Chinatown.  Basically there's this stretch of a road in Chinatown where all of these stalls cook various foods and you sort of eat your way down the street.  It's supposed to be delicious and cheap!  Well it was definitely cheap.  After my super spicy dinner the night before, I stuck to what I knew.  Pork buns, pork wontons, & noodles with roasted duck.  So the thing is that in addition to these stalls on the side of the road, they've put out little tables where you are on the sidewalk or literally in the gutter.  So as you are eating, you get a pretty horrible combination of cigarrette smoke (because EVERYONE is smoking), car exhaust since the cars are RIGHT THERE, and every once in awhile a nice rancid smell from the sewer.  So no matter how good the food is, if what you are smelling is not great, it's hard to really enjoy the meal.  So it was an experience, but not one I'm sure I'll try again.    

Back to the hotel to pack before my flight to Phnom Penh.   

Temples, Temples, and More Temples

So I have to say the Thai people are super nice.  Everyone is very polite, always smiling, bowing, etc.  Just very nice.  I'm trying to speak a little Thai and have mastered hello (Swa-sdi) and thank you (cow coom krap).  But even google translate got stuck on "volcanic zit", so I just walked into the pharmacy and pointed to my face.  "Ah blemish" he says.  No, a blemish is a small red bump, this thing is terra-forming my face.  So the downside of looking so young is that I still break out.  Yea me!  Happy 50th!  Ugh.  But I digress.   

So Monday AM, after working out while the Super Bowl was playing, I headed to the Wat Phra Kaek (WPK) and the Grand Palace.  There's a BTS SkyTrain station just two blocks from my hotel, so I headed there and fought my way onto the train.  It was packed, but two stops later, everyone got out and it was empty.  Their train is one long train, not individual cars like our Metro, so you could literally roll a bowling ball down the entire length of the train.  I got off at the river to transfer to the express boat system that shuttles people up and down the river.  I love water transportation (Navy background, go figure) and it was cool to experience the city from this perspective.  And the boat was packed.  It's not just for tourists.  Everyday Thais used it to get around also.  And it was cheap.  15 baht = 43 cents.  

WPK is also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and was the former home of the Thai king.  

So I had purposely bought these really long, European looking shorts since all of the tour books said you had to have your knees covered to go into the temples.  Well, as I (and the other THOUSANDS of people) approach the entrance to the compound, I get judged poorly.  Nope.  Not long enough.  Now I think in most circumstances, I could have slipped by, but they are still officially morning the old king so they are super strict.  So I got to borrow a pair of what could only be called balloon pants.  Unfashionable and hot.  What a combo.  But it was worth it once I got inside the compound.   The architecture was just amazing.  And I loved the "yaksha's" which are Hindu ogres who watch over the compound.  I also loved the "kinaree" which are golden half swan, half women creatures from Hindu-Buddhist mythology as well.  I did make my way into the Emerald Buddha, but they wouldn't let you takes pictures inside the temple.  Interestingly enough, the Emerald Buddha isn't made of emeralds.  It's actually made of a type of jade.  And it's actually not that big.  But it was still cool.  BTW, blistering hot and I'm drench in sweat.  Yea!  Now I'm in the provided pants and a linen shirt and while I like to complain (and I'm so good at it!), tens of thousands of Thais are still coming to KPW to pay their respects to the old king.  And they are all dressed in black.  All black.  There's a special part of the compound that's only open to the mourners, so they have them staged in various areas so the other tourists can get through.  But I just can't imagine wearing all black and then waiting hours to get through the compound.   After a couple of hours wandering around KPW, I escaped and found a restaurant nearby which had AC.  So score.     

After lunch, I walked down to Wat Pho which is famous for it's 4m long reclining Buddha.  I managed to slip through the clothing police this time!  The reclining Buddha is cool, all in gold leaf of course, but it's hard to get a picture that shows the scale of it.  It's really huge!  Another amazing compound and oh so cool architecture.  The really cool spires are called chedi.  There are four of them meant to represent the first four kings of the Chakri dynasty.  And I loved the various galleries of Buddhas.  You've got the standing Buddhas, or you can have the sitting Buddhas. BTW, none of these Buddhas are fat.  When did he get fat?  I'll need to look into that.  

After Wat Pho, I was tapped out.  Plus I had been in the sun for a good 6 hours and I was just beat.  So I hopped a water taxi and then transferred to the BTS SkyTrain to make it back to my hotel for some needed downtime.  For dinner I went back to the gay street and had something so spicy I started to cry.  Just not good.  As I wandered back, I found a night market and sort of looked around and stumbled upon a red light district.  While I like "Thigh Bar", I think "Super Pussy" wins for klassiest name.  And yes they were offering different kinds of shows.  And the guys trying to lure customers in didn't understand why I didn't want to come in.  Pass.  Hard pass. 

One Night In Bangkok

Okay, so I I had to do it!  Yes it's a cliche, but a fun one!

Let's get the logistics out of the way first.  I got to Dulles way early so I could enjoy some time in the First Class Lounge sampling the champagne.  Which I did.  And then boarded the flight to Narita.  The flight was fine, just very, very long.  Over 14 hours.  There was a reason why I've been hoarding my frequent flier miles for this trip.  So I could sleep.  Yeah, not so much.  I slept maybe 3 of them.  Landed in Narita.  Again to the first class lounge.  Which had sushi if you were so inclined.  I was not.  In theory I had a 40 minute connection.  Try two hours.  They had to get a new plane.  An A380.  A guppy.  Which I had never flown on before.  So that was cool.  First class for Royal Thai Airways was upstairs.  So that was nice.  Their slogan is "Smooth As Silk" which sadly the flight was not.  Bumpy the whole way.  We must have changed altitude dozens of times to try to find some smooth air.  Nope.  And the flight was seven hours.  Seven LONG hours.  Ugh.  Arrived at Bangkok just a midnight.  One of the perks of being first class is someone whisked me (and the other first class passengers) to immigration where we had our own line.  Got my luggage and headed to grab where a taxi when the heat and humidity just hit me like a brick.  81 degrees at 1AM.  Really.  Fine.  I've resigned myself to basically sweating this whole trip.  I'll deal.  I made it the Pullman G hotel around 2AM.  Quick shower and then crawled into bed.  Quick question.  When it's 81 degrees at midnight, do you really need a duvet on the bed?  #HotSleeping = Not Sleeping.

Up early, of course!  But today was the easy day.  I wanted to go to the Chatuchak Weekend Market.  Not ready yet to brave the public transportation system, I took at cab.  The guide book suggested getting there early and I was there before 10.  So not bad.  It's one of the world largest markets and it's kind of insane.  It makes the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul look like the Galleria.  The C-market is a warren of little shops selling every thing from kitchen stuff to clothes to art work and everything in between.  I mean, who doesn't want a three foot tall metal statue of a Transfomer?  It was fascinating, and a little too easy, to just get lost wandering the maze of little stores.  Bangkok is all about the smells and the market was just a microcosm of that.  You'll pass an aroma store (good), then dried fish stalls (ugh), and then come across an open air kitchen that smelled divine.  So it was cool.  Always on the hunt for a cool t-shirt I noticed that the new hip brand (and surely a knock off) is the Heroin brand.  Yes, the T-shirt would have a famous city (Osaka) and then the word Herion.  Umm.  No.  My favorite t-shirt was the one that said "I'm Not Perfect, I'm a Limited Edition."  It only came in a tank top, so I passed, but I'm going to use that when I updated my Match.com profile!  After wandering a bit and just dripping in sweat, I stopped at one of the food stands called Islam Salam where I got the curry noodles with chicken.  Someone said one that if you eat spicy food you'll be less hot.  They lied.  Still hot and now sweating like a pig.  Lovely.  Which made my decision to get a foot massage in a small air conditioned room that much easier.  And it was Devine.  And $6.  After making a small purchase, I went back to the hotel to nap.  The sun was brutal and I needed some quiet time in the dark.

After a really good disco nap, I got up and put real clothes on.  Pants and a linen shirt.  I was off to cocktails at one of the many roof top bars.  I had chosen the SkyBar at La Bua Tower since it was relatively close to me so I grabbed a tuk-tuk (and open air jeepney kind of thing) and headed over.  Taxis are airconditioned and have meters.  Tuk-tuks allow you to breathe the fumes of Bangkok's millions of cars and you have to barter with them.  Ugh.  Anyways, I got to the SkyBar just a 6PM and made my way to the roof.  You actually step down from the top floor where the restaurant is to the bar and viewing platform is.  Hmm, so this viewing platform is not for the squeamish.  It's an amazing view, but the railing is basically 3 feet tall.  There is not safety glass or netting.  And you are on the 61st floor I think.  So it's a good drop down to the ground.  Just don't look down.  I ordered a Pink on the Roof (vodka based) which was $25!  It was delish, but you are paying for the view so I took some pics of the sunset.  It really was quite pretty as the sun set into the humidity/smog on the horizon.  As I waited for the night to fall, I ordered the Pop Star (tequila based with a pineapple popsicle in it!).  Again, pretty fricken bueno!  As dusk turned to night, the city lit up and it was pretty amazing.  Such a great view!  Well, since I really couldn't have another drink here, I went back to my hotel and changed back into shorts.  BTW, I'll complain about the heat all the time, just take that as a given.  Anyways, I walked down Silom Rd down to the Gay Street.  Yep, that's what they call it.  Shocking that it's so close to my hotel.  Had three more drinks (vodka & soda), spring rolls, and chicken fried rice for $28!  I'm loving the exchange rate.  But after the food and drinks, I bonked hard.  Went back to the hotel to crash.  No late night partying for me.  So that was my first night (and day) in Bangkok.  Not too bad.    

There And Back Again

For those Tolkien fans, you know that's the subtitle to The Hobbit.  I've always loved that book, and that title.  It implies a great journey and a safe return.  And that's what I'm about to embark upon, a great journey.

On Friday I leave for a two month sabbatical.  Technically it's an "extended leave of absence" which means it's unpaid and I have to pay for my benefits while I'm gone, but I like the word sabbatical better.  And what am I doing on this sabbatical, what quest?  Well, mainly travel.  I'm going to Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.

So the question I always get is, why those place, why now, etc.  Well when I left the Navy, I spent a month in New Zealand and a month in Australia.  BEST TIME EVER.  And I've been with my company for over 15 years now, and I just had a certain milestone birthday, so I'm like why not?  I mean, this whole trip will probably be less than a new sports car.  So just chalk it up to part of my continuing mid-life crisis.  I'm going to Australia and New Zealand to hopefully recapture/relive some of the wonderful experiences I had the first time I was there.  And then (with exception of a short port visit to Pattaya Beach when I was in the Navy), I've never been to Thailand, Cambodia,  Myanmar, and Fiji.  I've always been fascinated with Angkor Wat so I wanted to do that and I've recently discovered Bagan so I'm making a quick trip there when I'm in Myanmar.  And Fiji?  Well a little beach time in a hut on a sparkling blue lagoon sound just about perfect, right?

When I did this last time, I was young and fairly carefree.  I'm a little bit more anxious about this trip.  It's a little bit out side of my comfort zone.  Plus going to Asia means shots!  I've had two Hep A/Hep B shots, two Japanese Encephalitis shorts, a polio booster, a series of typhoid pills, and I'll start my malaria pills when I get on the plane.  So good times.  But I'm sure it will be all worth it.  

Anyways, please follow along on my travels!     

I'll Be All Right

I'll be all right.

I’m white.  And male.

I’ll be all right. 

With the new defense spending, I’ll probably even make more money.  And I’ll probably get a tax cut. 

So I’ll be all right. 

When the wall is built and people are rounded up and sent back to their countries, I’ll feel sorry for them.

But I’ll be all right.

When the Muslim ban is enacted, I’ll feel sorry for the Syrian refugee family my church was sponsoring. 

But I’ll be all right.

When Roe vs Wade is overturned, I’ll feel sorry for the victims of rape and incest who won’t be able to get an abortion, or the mother who has to carry an unviable or even life threatening pregnancy for nine months.  

But I’ll be all right.

When the religious freedom acts are passed and a baker, who would rather vote for a thrice married serial adultery than make me a cake, is allow to discriminate against me, it will hurt a little.  I’ll feel a little less than equal.

But I’ll be all right.

When the Affordable Care Act is overturned, my friends with HIV or any other pre-existing condition who won’t be able to get insurance and can’t afford their meds will suffer and die.  

But I’ll be all right.

But so many of my friends, my family, my neighbors won't be.  Nor will the so many people who I don't know but who will suffer if these policies are changed.  

I hope that I am wrong.

I pray that I am wrong.

I pray that we'll all be okay.

Snowflakes and Safe Spaces

Christmas Eve I went to church with my Mom because I'm a good son.  Or try to be.  Being a life long Episcopalian going to church isn't a big deal for me.  But Mom goes a Nigerian Anglican church.  Long story, but I'm obviously not comfortable there.  And there's an even longer story about the head priest there that causes me to take everything he says with a grain of salt.  Suffice to say, I'm listening closely to what is said, what isn't being said, and what's being implied.

He wasn't 2 minutes into his sermon when he mentioned snowflakes.  And not actual snowflakes, but what snowflakes mean now.  I'm paraphrasing, but something about Millennials with their over hyped up sense of self worth and their precious and fragile egos.  So two minutes into the sermon and I'm already over it.  To be honest, I think this was a throw away comment before he got to the main part of the sermon, but using that term in such a denigrating way didn't seem very Christ like.  Certainly on Christmas Eve we should try to be welcoming, inclusive, and not speak down or about people who aren't like us.  Right?

I'm late to the "Snowflake" and "Safe Spaces" culture war.  I'm not a millennial and I don't even interact with them that much.  So these terms seem strange to me.  I know there's an argument against such politically correct terms like safe spaces or trigger warnings.  Like anything, it can be taken to extremes that make it ridiculous.  Everyone, including millennials, need to be able to handle honest and open discussions about the significant issues facing our country and society.  

But lately these conversations have been more than honest and open.  They've become ugly.  A lot of these conversations have become combative and include terms that a lot of people find offensive.  And not just offensive, but words that cause some fear in people.  

I've heard the word faggot a lot.  I've heard it casually used in public where people just assume everyone nearby is straight, or don't even care if the term is offensive.  I've heard it used as a slur late a night from a car passing by and walked a little bit quicker to my home or car.  It's a word that is used as a weapon.  It really has no other purpose.

As we have these important conversations about our country and society, if you really want to convince the other person about your point of view, then we need to be more empathetic with that person.  We need to listen and we need to be careful with the words we use to make our points.  Using words that someone finds offensive will turn them off to whatever you are trying to say.  And case in point, I have no idea what that Christmas Eve sermon was about.   

Bottom line:  If you can't make your point using words that don't offend people, then you need a better vocabulary.        

The Coming Civil War

I've been flying a lot in the past month or so and I've watched Captain America: Civil War a couple of times.  First of all, it's an awesome movie.  And Chris Evans is dreamy.  So bonus.

But there's a line in the movie that's been stuck in my head lately.  The villain says:  "An empire toppled by it's enemies can rise again.  But one which crumbles from within?  That's dead . . . forever."

And I think of the American empire.  There is no external threat that we can't defeat.  But are we tearing ourselves apart, are we crumbling from within?

All of the pillars of American society (Congress, President, Supreme Court, Media, even the Military) have the lowest approval ratings in history.  Structurally America is not at its strongest.

The 2016 election has not only shown the depths of our division at a purely partisan level but also exposed a level of sexism, misogny, homophobia, xenophobia, and racism that is a cancer to the body politic of America.

And not everyone even agrees with that.  People have their own news, pushing their opinions, and facts aren't even facts anymore.  Fake news has become the norm.  People deny reality ignoring provable facts and instead choose those "facts" that advance their agenda.  And more and more, that agenda is not for the common good, but to protect those in power, to protect the wealthy, to protect their position in society.

In the movie, the villain maneuvers Iron Man into fighting Captain America in order to help destroy the Avengers.  And I think the villain (well one of the villains) in the 2016 election was Vladimir Putin.  He used information, misinformation, and cyber warfare to advance his agenda of weakening the United States by making us fight against each other.  And he succeeded.

At the end of the movie, Tony Stark sits alone after the Avengers have fallen into disgrace.  Captain America has stayed true to his ideals and at the end of the movie, it's clear that in the next movie Captain America will bring the Avengers back together.

If America is going to survive, we need to help remember our ideals.  Truth, liberty, and justice for all.  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Our freedoms so clearly articulated in the bill of rights.  And we need to remember that we are one country, not two parties, not 50 states, but one country.  And whether you live in DC or Kansas, California or Florida, that we are all Americans.  And we need to figure out a way to come together based on these ideals.  I don't know how that happens in today's political climate, but that's what we need to do to avert the coming civil war.    

If Today Is Your Birthday

Let's see what the stars are saying for me this year:

You have a distinctly dual nature that, at your best, makes you versatile, and at your worst, downright confused (and confusing!).  While a great lover of peace and harmony, you are also determined and fiery.  While idealistic, you mostly have your feet on the ground.  In relationships, the need for partnering and cooperation is strong, but freedom also matters to you.  You are a natural counselor, offering excellent advice.  There is usually quite a bit of drama and colorful emotion in your relationships, whether it's because you bring this to the table or attract these kinds of people.  

And for the year:

Jupiter harmonizes with your Sun this year, suggesting that you have a stronger than usual desire to improve and learn. This is a fortunate aspect that implies optimism and confidence are with you, and you are able to attract fortunate circumstances into your life as a result. Problems are easier to resolve this year. You can attract happy and helpful people into your experience. Travel opportunities are likely. Matters related to universities, higher education, organized religion, publishing, legal affairs, and foreign interests proceed smoothly. This is an excellent year in which to seek advanced training or to further your education. Sun/Jupiter aspects often correlate with ceremonies that formally acknowledge past achievements. You are likely to enjoy good humor, optimism, and a larger perspective on matters.

You have much enterprising spirit this year, and there can be special professional and personal opportunities. Your faith in your ability to produce and to win takes you places you perhaps never imagined. You are able to see the “big picture”, which helps you to plan effectively. Negotiations, deals, legal matters, reasonable speculation, and travel are generally favored, as are positive outcomes in competitive activities.

You are especially interested in setting goals and challenges for yourself this year, as well as taking the necessary action to meet them. You may meet or interact with others who encourage or inspire you in some way to have more confidence in yourself. Your energy levels are generally strong this year, and your sense of timing better than usual.

You can feel energized and inspired creatively at this time, ready to fight for something you believe in. You find it easier to assert yourself and your desires. Bursts of creativity and energy help you to further your goals. Healthy risk-taking is likely this year, as you are more able to spot an opportunity when you see one. It is easier than usual to break free from habits that have previously held you back from going after what you want in life.

You are enterprising and able to visualize larger goals, but you are also ready to work hard to achieve them. You are dynamic and energetic, but also very realistic.

This is an excellent year in which to advance projects revolving around communications – writing, speaking, selling, and so forth. Your reputation may be enhanced through word of mouth. Making new contacts through learning and mental pursuits figures strongly as well.

Intuition runs high this year. You are more sensitive artistically, your imagination is stirred, and you have an increased appreciation for subtleties. You are inspired and could even inspire others with your words. Some of your hunches could be prophetic. You are thinking more creatively, and express yourself with more sensitivity, compassion, and warmth.

Your creative side is powerful but not always reliable this year. Energy levels can be up and down, so take advantage of the “up” times for pursuing your goals. Your optimism is catchy and draws others to you. Speaking and writing projects go especially well. Your mind is inventive during this period, and you find the most success in areas that benefit from new ideas, methods, and applications.

This year is a period of constructive accomplishment. You are practical and realistic, and your judgment is especially sound. You also derive much satisfaction from practical achievement. It would behoove you to identify and focus on finding pleasure in the simple things that make you happy.

Independent work is favored and competitive activities thrive this year — your passions and enthusiasm run high, and the trick is to channel this extra energy constructively. The period ahead is one of new initiatives, greater self-understanding, and engaging projects. It’s strong for enterprise and connecting with supportive people. You easily find extra energy to pour into your pursuits, although you may be placing a lot of pressure on yourself to succeed at times this year. Pacing yourself will be important to stay healthy and happy. Business and ideas are both practical and innovative.

Hillary Is A Killer!

I went up to Ptown for the Thanksgiving week.  I had a nice, relaxing, week, but with the wind it was brutally cold.  But I survived. The wind and the cold reminded me that last year my electrical bill in the winter was insane.  And I wasn't even there.  Per my condo rules, I have to keep the thermostat at 55 degrees so that the pipes don't freeze.  And I guess doing that cost me a lot of money last year.

So this year I thought I would take some time to winterize my condo.  Put weatherstrips down, some caulk around the window, etc.  I'm lucky that there is a hardware store just around the corner so when I forget stuff (which I always do) I can just walk back over.

On my second trip to pick up weather strips, I was in line behind a guy who was asking about  bumper stickers:

"I"m looking for a bumper sticker."  - Random Guy.
"They are all over there," says the Guy Behind The Counter.
"I"m looking for a specific one." - RG
"They are all over there.  That's what we have." - GBTC

"I'm looking for one that says 2016 Election = Disaster." - RG

And then it happens:

"Well that's all we have.  And I'm not sure I agree it was a disaster.  I'm glad Trump won.  Hillary is a killer.  I don't want a killer to be President and Hillary is a killer."

Now I had stood in line minding my own business and was kind of amused about the bumper sticker conversation until we got to the "Hillary is a killer" line.

So Ptown is blue.  Like not even Navy blue.  Try deep indigo blue.  But I'm sure there are Trump supporters there, but the whole "Hillary is a Killer" thing threw me for a loop.

Look, I know there's an argument to be made that she was somehow responsible for the deaths in Bengazi.  But there have been something like 8 official investigations and they all prove she didn't do anything wrong.  And even if she did, I really don't think you can call her a killer.   But this guy was.  Repeatedly.

I stood there and didn't say a word.  The check outline is the wrong place to have any type of real conversation.  And how do you talk with someone who is convinced that Hillary is a killer?   What facts or basic elements of reason could I use at this point that he would listen to and actually consider?  What could I say to change his mind?

So I just stood there until it was my turn, I paid for my purchase and left.  Feeling more than a little bewildered and definitely very sad.    

Why You Should Attend A Gay Wedding Now!

While you still can.

And no this isn't a political post.

I've been honored to attend two gay weddings this year.  And they were both fabulous.  I mean, that goes without saying, right?  But more than that, they both touched me deeply.

Yes I'm a sucker for weddings and tend to get emotional.  Shocker I know.

But witnessing two people profess their love for each other in front of their family, friends and community is a wonderful thing, right?  In both instances the couples had been together a long time.  One couple had been together for seventeen years!  When they first met, gay marriage wasn't even a thing.  Much less legal in all 50 states.  They had loved each other, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, and now after all of these years they finally had the ability to get married!  It was really wonderful and powerful to see and to be a part of.

Soon gay weddings will sort of disappear and there will just be "weddings".  Oh, Tom and Joe met playing flag football three years ago, they got engaged last year, and now they are getting married.  Boy meets boy (or girl meets girl!), they start dating, they fall in love, they get married.  It's just the way things are.  Routine.  Normal.

And that's a great thing where young gay couples just assume they can get married.  Like it's no big deal.  That's such great progress.

But will their weddings have that sense of victory, of justice, of love succeeding against so many odds?

I'm not sure.

So if you get invited to a gay wedding.

Go!

I Can't Sell Science!

So I'm listening to the West Wing Weekly podcast, which is awesome, so I'm slowly re-watching the West Wing.  Which I love.  Such a great series.  And it's really weird to be watching it 15 years later in the current political climate that we have today.

"I can't sell science" says the snarky pollster in response to a comment that the American Medical Association says that addiction is a medical issue.  The argument is that more money needs to be put into treatment, not enforcement.  And Toby responds, "It's science, why do we need to sell science?"

Because we do.  For some reason science has become politicized in a way that sort of just boggles my mind.  You can use facts to justify your opinion or your policies, but the facts themselves should be undeniable.  And we shouldn't have to "sell" science.  

Science is sexy.  Without science we wouldn't have the internet, iPhones, snapchat, you name it.  But for someone reason "science" fell out of favor.  When you can create your own little dystopian version of reality and have "news channels" reinforce that version of reality, then we need to "sell science."  That's just the sad state of affair we live in today.  

But part of my, the decidedly un-Christian part of me, wants to go up to the science/fact deniers and say fine.  If you don't believe in science.  Then no more healthcare for you.  Medicine is based on science.  So if you don't believe in science, then I don't think you should have healthcare (unless it's the purely religious kind where you pray away your cancer and/or use voodoo dolls.  What-evs.)  

Now the even funnier thing is that in this episode, the challenge is that if you shift resources from enforcement to treatment that you'll be called "soft on crime."  So true.  But today there is a common understanding that the  opioid addiction in our country is out of control and both political parties are looking at real, constructive, ways to deal with it.  Based on science.  

Oh the irony of it all.