dispatches

Landslide!

Waiting

From the Sky Ghetto to Medan

HONG KONG, China -- Hong Kong was cold—much more than I remembered it—which came as a surprise.  I was expecting a sub-tropical middle ground between Korea and Malaysia—no jacket required--but was instead greeted by an indifferent city whose skyscrapers were smothered in a Seattle-like misty piss.  I wasn’t so far from home after all: Bone-chilling rain and suicidal skies?

HONG KONG, China -- For the first time visitor, Hong Kong can seem overwhelming at first. Yet, the tightly-packed sidewalks teeming with people, the streets and alleyways darting this way and that, the seemingly endless stream of neon signage and the snail’s pace traffic on the roadways, are all part of the charm of one of Asia’s most dynamic and adventure-filled cities.

When the British first arrived in 1841, Hong Kong was little more than a backwater made up of about 20 villages and hamlets at the outer edge of the massive Chinese empire. For the British trading fleet looking to expand their own empire, the deep, well-protected harbor made it perfect to settle in and set up shop.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- I rummaged through my Khao-San-Road-Bangkok-style-fisherman-pants to scrape together all the Thai Bhat I could find. Soon, I would be on my way and it was time to trade them for Taiwan dollars. I carry with me everything that I own,  my guitar, a backpack and whats left of my Korean Hagwan fortune acquired after teaching a few years in the ROK.

It seemed like so much more when I left.  But that was fourteen weeks ago. Fourteen weeks of traveling through India, Nepal and Thailand. Between the rickshaws, somosas, sleeper trains, Airasia flights, zorbing, paragliding, Annapurna trekking, Kingfisher beers, Dal Bat, Samsong whiskey buckets, street pad thai, tuk tuks, cigarettes and all other wicked vices better left unsaid.

Now I’m here in Taipei with my girl, Karla Louise, and about $3,500USD to my name.  

NAIROBI, Kenya - Traditionally, the Maasai rely on meat, milk and blood from cattle for protein and nutritional needs. People also drink cattle blood for special occasions. It is given to a circumcised person (esipolioi), a woman who has given birth (entomononi) and the sick (oltamueyiai).

MATAKING ISLAND, Borneo -- I came across a Bajau family this month in Mataking Island, a 40 acre-private-diving resort located in the Celebes Sea in Borneo. It took about an hour to walk around the island and one morning, right after sunrise, I saw two fishermen cooking breakfast in a blackened can in an open fire on the beach.