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Asia
Indonesia
Singapore
Cambodia
Vietnam
Hong
Kong
China
Mongolia
| General Thoughts on Asia |
The primary differences between Cambodia, Vietnam and China can be easily compared to the three little pigs.
Cambodia is the straw pig. The houses are literally made of straw. The infrastructure is weak all around.
There's almost no indoor plumbing or electricity outside the city center. The roads are mostly dirt and rock.
Some new ones are paved. If the Big Bad Wolf comes by, Cambodia is done for- or maybe more accurately,
the wolf just left after a 20 year reign of terror- so they're rebuilding and hopefully out of a few materials other than straw.
Vietnam is the wood pig. Again the houses are wooden outside the city center. There is electricity but not always
plumbing or good sanitation. They are modernizing and standards of living don't seem too bad, but people still
use Oxen instead of tractors to plow their fields. The cities are both ancient and modern with internet cafes
and restaurants and old women carrying heavy baskets on poles across their shoulders. There are restaurants with
international standard food- although there is not much international cuisine available- very little French even.
They are just starting to develop joint ventures. Roads are paved, but not nearly wide enough for the crazy traffic-
mostly motorbikes and bicycles playing chicken with cars and trucks.
China is the brick pig. On the train all the way from Hong Kong to Shanghai we saw nothing but brick structures
and well ordered farm plots. The roads are paved and even have separate bike lanes. Shanghai is a truly
cosmopolitan city with a brand new metro system and many new buildings. There is every kind of cuisine
available. Even Beijing which feels more rustic ( as rustic as a city of 18 million can feel) than Shanghai
seems like a pretty solidly modern place. In smaller towns like Suzhou they have burgeoning businesses making
computer chips and Chinese software.
Other thoughts about Asia
Singapore is way over rated. Its kind of like Asia lite. Everything we found there we've somewhere else cheaper
and more interesting. (Except the Night Safari which was awesome) It has a reputation for being very tourist friendly
but we found it to be more tourist trappy full of scam after scam to separate us from our cash.
Nothing is too big to carry on your bike with you- even a family of 7.
Old women really know how to use their elbows in a crowd and the young women are clearly old women in training.
I have no problem shoving my way through, but Jason always seems a bit hesitant to elbow old women and children
out of the way- even though they're more than happy to knock into him.
Its very easy to amuse the Chinese. They will watch paint dry- literally. Jason has been doing some drawings and has
a continual crowd of admirers watching his every pencil stroke- sometimes offering advice. We get pointed at and
laughed at in public- I know you're all thinking we look pretty funny so it figures, but this is a little extreme. People stop
us and ask to take pictures of us posing with their kids. They seem highly amused by us. Little kids point and then cover
their mouths before being dragged away by their parents.
Diapers are unnecessary in Beijing. We saw at least ten very little boys wearing crotchless outfits- letting it all hang out.
A Mexican tourist from the University Volleyball team competing in some kind of university olympics in Beijing
(the Forbidden City was crawling with athletes all wearing special id badges) found it so funny that he asked to take a
picture with one of these little boys. We watched from afar as he held up the little boy with it all hanging out for the camera.
The volleyball player barely kept a straight face.
In Cambodia and Vietnam, Karaoke is the only live entertainment other than folk ensembles for the tourists.
Women tour guides are much more proactive than male guides. The guys tend to be very hands off. The girls tend to hover.
Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages.
Frog legs are pretty tasty.
Duck tongues taste a little weird.
That's all I can think of for now. I promise I will get caught up on the old travelogue. We'll probably be "out of touch" again after Tuesday - for at least 10 days if not 2 weeks- Mongolia and Siberia- doubt they'll have great internet hook ups, but you never know....
Love and kisses
Carolyn and Jay