Bangkok, Baby!

We arrived this morning in Bangkok after taking the overnight bus from Hat Yai. The bus left last night at 8pm and we finally disembarked just before 11 am this morning at the Bangkok Bus Terminal. We caught a taxi to our hotel, had a light lunch, a rest – did some laundry and exercise – and then I went out for my first little wander around Bangkok.

I have never been to a city like this before. I cannot imagine there are any other cities in the world like this. It is crazy. It is busy and hectic, full of locals and full of tourists. And the tourists are from everywhere – all over Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia/New Zealand, and, of course, North America. I have never been to a place with so many tourists from so many different places (well now that I’m thinking about it maybe NYC….) but it is just crazy.

For my first stop on my wander I made my way to a fruit vendor to pick up a snack. In Hat Yai fruit cost THB$20 for a piece of fruit (or about US$0.75). I just assumed it would cost the same here so I ordered a piece of fruit. There were two Russian men ahead of my in line who were hassling the vendor really hard about the prices. The vendors are known to rip tourists off here in Thailand, but the Russian man was being overly rude – I would’ve ripped him off if I was the fruit man. Once the Russian left, the guy cut up my fruit, I handed him the THB$20 and that was that. I never actually asked him how much it was and he never told me. We both just knew it would cost THB$20. So much easier than getting into a big argument with the fruit vendor like the Russian man did. (I actually did this same thing with another fruit vendor late – handed him a $50 and he handed me $30 back – no discussion about price.)

Fruit in hand I headed through the markets which were packed. One nice thing about the markets here is that they don’t hassle you much to look at their products like they did in KL. It gets really annoying so it is nice to be able to browse without too much hassle from the vendors. Another difference from KL is the vendors seem to sell more useful items – clothing, shoes, bras, socks – and less touristy junk. Not that there isn’t touristy junk, because there is, but there seems to be lots of “real” things there – and Thai people as well browsing along with the tourists. This seems rather unusal. Most places we’ve been there are touristy places and local places and they don’t overlap much. Here it’s all one-and-the-same.

After getting a few more snacks and being rather overwhelmed by the market I decided to head back to our hostel. I was only a few blocks away where I heard a bit of commotion and saw a girl lying in the street just next the curb outside a taxi. At first I assumed she was a really drunk tourist who had fallen from her drunkenness but it turned out to be a girl having a seizure. She obviously has them often because the two friends she was with knew exactly what to do – thank god – so I left. But really? In my first small walk around Bangkok I meet overly rude Russians, get totally overwhelmed by the plethora of tourists at the market, and then see a girl having a seizure in the road. This place is way too much for me! I was scared to leave the hotel room again but Elizabeth dragged me out in the evening. We took another wander (thankfully no seizures involved this time) and then had a quick meal. I am now falling asleep and it’s not even 8 pm. I am going to watch a quick show on Netflix and then off to bed. Hopefully I’ll wake up tomorrow back on the Singapore schedule – early. I can get up, go for a little wander by myself in the morning for an hour or so, do some exercises, have some fruit, have a coffee, just enjoy a little alone time and then off to do some exploring.

Night!

New Year, New Country, New Adventures

We arrived in Thailand today, January 1, 2015. New year, new country, new adventures.

We decided a few days ago to come over the border and go to the closest big city, Hat Yai. We had heard about Hat Yai a couple weeks ago from Tom, a new friend we met at our cafe in Penang. He used to live and Hat Yai and said he really liked it because there were not many white people which made it a more authentic Thai experience. When I looked up Hat Yai originally on Lonely Planet I shied away from it because there was a terrorist attack here in 2013 that killed 3 people and injured 400. Southern Thailand can be a rough place as there are religious extremists here who sometimes carry out terrorist attacks. After spend another week or so researching Thailand, and not being able to find anywhere in the southern half that we really wanted to go to (or that we could afford) we committed to Hat Yai.

With this commitment it meant we would be crossing over into Thailand along the southern land border - something else we have heard lots about both good and bad. We confirmed a hotel room, bought our bus tickets, and started to get excited.

We mentioned to a few people that we were going to Hat Yai and then we continued to get more and more input about our decision (I'll come back to this topic shortly). We found out there isn't much to do in Hat Yai (except prostitution, it's the prostitution capital of Southern Thailand). We were told there would be lots of Malaysians here as it is close to the border and much cheaper than Malaysia. From research online we found there is almost nothing for a tourist to do in Hat Yai - except "massage parlours" and actual massages. But we had committed so we were going and we were going to be excited about it, and we were going to have a back up plan just in case we got here and felt unsafe and wanted to leave.

This morning we woke up around 7 am, got ready and headed down to the McDonalds, bags in hang, to catch our van to Hat Yai. Almost every time we walked down our street in Malaysia we were constantly honked at by passerbys and taxis, both to congratulate us on our white skin and see if we need a ride. This morning, when we would have been happy to pay almost anything for a ride, none of the taxis would pick us up. It took us almost 30 minutes to trudge down the street with our suitcases and backpacks, about twice the normal speed, but we made it to McDonalds about 10 minutes ahead of our departure.

Being the morning after New Years there weren't many people about. We sat on the steps outside McDonalds until our van (Thai Van 5236) pulled up for up. The van from the outside looked quite flash - rather new, very dark tinted windows, almost a bit gangster (except for it being a van). We couldn't see into the van at all so we were a bit nervous, or at least I was, I cannot speak for Elizabeth. The driver loaded our suitcases into the back and then opened the side door. There were three Malaysian men (2 of Indian decent, 1 Chinese) sitting in the middle row. We could have either climbed into the back row or sat in the front row. Obviously we chose the front.

We then went down the road to a hotel and picked up there Asian tourists - a mom, dad, and teenage daughter. They sat in the back row to the mother's obviously disappointment. Then to another McDonalds where we picked up to other Asian tourists and then a third stop where we got our last passenger, a young solo female traveler - maybe 30 years old and Asian. And then we were off to the border with a completely full van.

The van drove along, about 50kms/hour over the speed limit, to the border stopping once for a potty break. Then, about 15 kms from the border, everything changed. We were going alone just like normal when the driver pulled quickly over to the side of the road and stopped very closely behind a stopped semi truck. Another van pulled up right behind ours, our driver got out, went back and talked to the other driver, and then came back. The solo female traveler, who was likely Thai or Malaysian and knew the driver as she must do this route often, started looking around nervously and getting rather excited. She then told the guy next to her what was going on - which was apparently rather dramatic based on her hand motions and voice - and that was that. We had no idea what happened and tried to ignore the whole incident. Maybe sometimes it's better just not to know?

About 5 kms later we pulled into a rest stop. The driver pulled behind the rest stop building, not in front like the other vans, had us get out for our 10 minute break, and then took all of our passports and disappeared. We had no idea where he was going with our passports or why. I didn't want to go too far from our stuff so I stuck by the van. And since we were likely hiding the van behind the building from whomever we stopped by on the highway - or something related to it - I was just trying to not think about what was happening. And we hadn't even crossed the apparently dangerous land border yet. Yikes!

After about 15 minutes the driver came back, passports in hand, along with Thai arrival and departure cards. We paid him each RM$1 for our departure cards/passports and then we were back in the van and off to the border.

As we approached the border we passed through one Malaysian checkpoint with militar guards with large automatic weapons. Although they were clearly heavily armed, they all looked like they were more excited about their impending lunch break than they were about searching our van. Plus, the gun was slung over his shoulder in a way that didn't look like he could respond too quickly anyways. Or at least not faster than I could duck under the window. He waved us through.

At the first border, where we officially left Malaysia, everything went very smoothly and quickly. The lines were very short and they had 2 immigration staff to each line. When it was my turn I went up to the window and the guy started asking me about my time in Malaysia - how long I'd been there, where I'd been, where I was coming from, etc. He then asked if I would be coming back to which I replied "Probably not." He then replied "that's good." I jokingly asked him what that meant, if he didn't want me back in the country, and he said no, that wasn't it, but there were no jobs. I told him we were going onto Singapore to get jobs and he asked me what I wanted to do there. I told him we were planning to work in a restaurant. He suggested I model. Flattering I guess. He was very nice. I have never had a customs agent tell me not to come back to a country because there were other places to go - although I do agree there are better places than Malaysia.

Then it was off to the Thai border. Again we waited in line there, everyone from our van in the same line. When I got up the counter I hadn't filled in where I was going in Thailand so I had to scramble to get that done. The immigration officer told me I could have a 30 day visa (I thought I would be getting 15). He asked if that was okay and I said yes. Then we had a nice playful back and forth of about 6 exchanges where he kept saying "Not Okay?" and I would say "Okay" and so forth until he finally stamped my passport. Elizabeth only got 15 days - Australians!

We had heard the day before that the visa was going to cost us RM$120 or about USD$30. We both had enough cash on us in both Malaysian Ringgit and US Dollars to cover the cost but we never had to pay anything. I am really just not sure how all this works. Why some people say you have to pay, why others say you don't, what the difference is.

With our money still in our pockets we got back into the van and then all drove over the border together. They never checked our bags, never asked us about contraband, never checked the van, it was much, much easier than I expect. There were officers around with machine guns, and multiple road checkpoints after we got into Thailand, but it was just so easy. Once again a better than expected experience.

We finished off our bus ride to Hat Yai, got into our first Tuk Tuk from the bus stop to the hotel (where we were terribly ripped off, but compared to US prices it was still reasonable), went out for our first fabulous Thai meal (the food is exponentially better than Malaysia), and then took a 2 hour nap in the room. After that we had Thai Massages of 1.5 hours each for THB$300 or about US$11. We will be getting another round in 2 days. Than dinner in the city - another fabulous Thai meal - some people (and elephant watching) and then back to the hotel to exercise and blog.

For the elephant watching, while we were sitting at dinner reading to each other from the book I bought about temporary migrant workers in Malaysia, an elephant walked around the corner. Now we are eating in probably the busiest part of Hat Yai - the tourist area where there are lots of people and cars and bike, and then an elephant just wanders around the corner. It was a very young elephant - or at least small, maybe only 6 feet tall - and was with a guide, but I have never seen an elephant just wander around the corner in the middle of a city. So cool and so weird!

Anyways, that's all for now.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years Eve last night. We were in bed early in preparation for our big travel day today. Best of luck in the New Year and I will keep you all up to date with regular blog posts about our continued travels and adventures.

Best!

The World Race

Tuesday morning we had breakfast with 2 wonderful American girls, one after the other, who are traveling the as part of The World Race.

We first met Rachel when I invited her to join us for breakfast. I immediately recognized her North American accent and it turns out she grew up in Wisconsin and attended University of Wisconsin – Madison. Rachel was happy to join us, was very friendly, and we started right in with our incessant questioning.

After graduating from Madison 7 years ago with a degree in English and religious studies, Rachel got a job working for a Christian magazine doing customer service work – answering phones, talking to people about the magazine, etc. Although this job was paying the bills, Rachel did not enjoy it. After a few years of working for this company Rachel was ready for a change. She decided to move to Georgia where she initially stayed with family friends, renting the granny flat on the lower level of their house. She got a job with an Internet marketing company and was able to put her degree to use and do something she was passionate about.

For 5 years Rachel poured all of her energy into her job where she was doing writing for company, something she loves. They were a start-up company and she really felt like she was doing something important. After 5 years, however, the company downsized and Rachel’s job was eliminated. She was very angry that they eliminated her position after all the time and energy she put into her work and the difference she was able to make for the company.

With this change in her situation Rachel took a week off from her life in Atlanta and went up to a cabin in the woods to try and figure out where to go from there. Rachel’s faith is very important to her and she spent the week praying and asking God to show her the way, where to go from here. During this week God made it clear to Rachel that she had been given the gift of time. In Rachel’s words, God showed her that “you have the time to do what you want to do.”

Upon returning to Atlanta Rachel started researching what she could do from this point forward. When she came to the homepage for The World Race she starting crying, she knew she had found what she needed to do. She immediately applied for the program, in February of 2014, and left America only 5 months later, in July. Rachel sold everything she owned, dropped her remaining items off at her parent’s place in Wisconsin, sold her car to her younger brother in Wisconsin, and had left her entire life behind in America.

Since July, Rachel has traveling to 4 countries in South America – Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia – as well as Japan and Malaysia here in Asia. She had been traveling in a group of 43 young adults from America, with one Canadian and one Costa Rican. The program brings them to 11 countries around the world where they spend 1 month in each place doing service project and spreading the word of God. The program costs $16,000 for each participant, which they must raise themselves through donations from friends, relatives, and anyone willing to donate.

Rachel mentioned that she comes from a “dysfunctional family.” I did not ask more on this – although I wish I would have. Her father was not very supportive of her decision to go on this trip, as he did not support the idea of her spreading “her western god” to people in other cultures. (I will be very honest here, I am glad she brought this up because this would be my reaction as well.) In talking about her father’s reaction she elaborated on this criticism of the program explaining that they work with Christian organizations that are already established in these communities. The people who use these organizations already know that they are Christian – they are not spread god’s word to anyone who is not already familiar with it.

With each organization they work with, in each community, they help by doing what every work the organization needs done. They do not come in with their own agenda – to teach English, or distribute food, or build houses – but rather fill in whatever gaps need to be filled in that community at that time. And most importantly, according to Rachel, they give the people who are currently working there a break. As Rachel explained, many of the organizations they have visited so far are short on staff, not short on money. At one orphanage they helped at there was a housemother who lived at the orphanage and was responsible for 13 kids during the overnight hours completely on her own. As volunteers there they were able to offer her time to rest and were able to assist her with her workload, making her life easier if only just for one month.

The first 6 months of the trip have made a large impact on the way Rachel thinks about international relief and humanitarian work. She had learned about what works (working with local organizations that are already well establishing in the community) and what doesn’t (large organizations coming in and trying to “fix” a community’s problem). She had learning that much different can be made by simply loving people. She sees the work that they are doing as “being light in a dark place.”

The trip has also changed Rachel as a person. She has learned to “go with the flow” and not plan so much for what is ahead. She enjoys greatly the work that they have done but does not see her life as being dedicated to long-term missionary work. As far as what Rachel will do when she returns to America – she hasn’t thought about it and doesn’t plan to until she is done with The World Race.

In addition to Rachel we also met Adrienne, another American on the same program. (We spoke with them separately and I am starting to prefer talking to people on their own. They are more honest, more open, and one person cannot dominate a conversation which I possible when you have 2 people together.) Adrienne is 23, from Louisiana and graduated from LSU with a degree in psychology in May of 2013.

During college Adrienne worked as a domestic assistant for the very wealthy owners of a large fast-food chain. She made good money at this job but was on-call pretty much 24/7. At a moment’s notice she was expected to help with whatever they needed. Adrienne was great at her job and upon graduate they wanted to keep her on full-time but Adrienne was not interested. Despite the great pay ($18.95/hour after taxes) she was not interested in continuing with the long hours and lack of free time.

Instead, Adrienne decided to work as a leadership development coordinator for her sorority, Kappa Delta, traveling the country working with chapters, as they needed it. For this job she lived out of her suitcase from August-December and January-May. (As I’m reading this I am wishing I would have asked about this – with this job she likely had little free time. She didn’t have a home or apartment as she traveled continuously for 9 months, except Christmas break. I wonder how she saw this job in comparison to the last one as they both likely gave her little free time.) Midway through the year, when she was home for Christmas break, she helped one of her friend, Kristen, pack for her The World Race trip. At the time Adrienne didn’t know anything about the program. While she was helping her friend she found herself getting mad and jealous because her friend was going and she wasn’t. Adrienne assumed the trip only left in December and since her job was based around the school year she figured she wouldn’t be able to go.

As she was leaving the friend’s house she stopped to talk to her friend’s mom who mentioned that trips leave at many times throughout the year, not just in December. Adrienne went home, was up all night researching the program and applying. That was December 28^, 2014. She left in July. She hasn’t looked back since.

Like Rachel, Adrienne isn’t really planning for her return to America yet. And this trend seemed to continue with other volunteers from their trip that we spoke with. Adrienne may want to move to New Orleans (where I told her I would visit her one day). She is interested in doing ministry work either in New Orleans or leading shorter term trips for college students around the world. But she isn’t trying to think about going home – and that’s probably a good think.

Learning to live in the moment seems to be something travel teaches everyone. There isn’t a point in planning because things never work out according to plan. Being open to possibilities and being flexible provided experiences better than anything that could be planned. Living in the moment is key, not wishing for the future or focusing on the past.

I want to wish the best of luck to Adrienne and Rachel. Can’t wait to hear how the trip turns out.

If you want to follow their journeys around the world shoot me and e-mail at annabelle.c.joyce@gmail.com and I would be happy to pass along their blog information.

Native English Speakers

 Disclaimer: As I am changing the general content of my blog to talking about other people we meet and sharing their stories (vs. talking about my life) you are going to have to bear with me as I try to figure out how I am going to share this information and learn a new writing style for doing this exact thing. I am not very happy with today’s post but I know only practice will make me better. I am sorry if these posts are going to seem more like the first posts from my blog – reciting facts, not telling a story – I just need to keep doing it, every day, and by the end of next year I’m sure it will be better. I also need to refine my interview technique so I can get more specific or thematic information from people that are more interesting to later share on my blog. There is a fine line between letting someone take the conversation where they want it to go, tailoring it to their specific experience, and trying to gather something similar from everyone.

Monday morning we had breakfast with Jennifer, a 42-year-old professor who lives in Toronto with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. Jennifer is a professor of Public Health Policy and her husband is a professor of Computer Science. She has worked the last few years at the University of Toronto but will be teaching this next year at Concordia University of Edmonton in Alberta, CA.

Jennifer’s PhD was in history, with her doctoral thesis focusing on resistance to vaccination. Upon graduation she could only find one job in history, in Galveston, TX, but her husband could not find a job there. As they obviously wanted to be together in a place where they could both work she took a shot in the dark and applied at U of Toronto as a Public Health Policy teacher, selling herself as this based on the connection between public health policy and her doctoral PhD. She got the job and spent the first year she was teaching learning along with her students.

For the last five years Jennifer and her husband have been living in and restoring a stone house outside of Toronto. When they bought the house 5 years ago they took on the project of restoring the house but then Jennifer got pregnant and the work become more than they were prepared for. Between raising their daughter and restoring the old stone house themselves, Jennifer feels as if she has been more consumed than she could have imagined. The work has been very hard, it has been “too much work” and she is worried that they have spent too much of their life working on this renovation project. Jennifer is glad that they are finished but is not sure that the project was really worth it. (It is so nice to hear people honestly admit things like this. At no point did it seem that Jennifer was trying to make the project seem easier of better than it was. It is so great to hear people’s honest feelings about something, that maybe they did something they shouldn’t have done, maybe they made a mistake).

With this feeling of being overly consumed these last years with their renovation project and parenting, Jennifer and her husband have finally finished with the home and are now on a sabbatical trying to figure out what these next years should bring. They are away from home for 4 months, having left December 9^th and staying away until the end of March. They hope that in this time they will find some clarity about what their next 5 years should be spent doing. I am looking forward to following up with Jennifer at the end of their journey to see if they have found some clarity.

Jennifer and her husband met in their residence hall back in University (not sure if it was when they were studying for their BA or for their PhD). Jennifer was looking for hot water and her now husband helped her find it. When they were on their first date Jennifer told her husband, “I don’t want to have children. If I get pregnant I’m getting an abortion.” She had no intention of ever having kids but has since obviously changes her mind and they have a lovely 3-year-old daughter. Commenting on loving you children Jennifer said, “You learn to love your child.” I have never heard someone say this before – how refreshing as well.

As I talk with more and more people every day it really helps to readjust expectations. You don’t just love your child; it is something you learn to do. How lucky I feel to hear real people share their honest opinions, beliefs, experiences in an unfiltered way (or at least if feels unfiltered).

After finishing up with Jennifer and having a chat with Roland we moved on to another café since we do not always feel all that welcome the one we like. I really don’t know why we keep going back – except it’s really the only good place to hang out in town – but I just really wish they enjoyed our presence more. Now I almost feel like staying longer at the café each day so they have to deal with us, almost as punishment for their inhospitable attitudes.

We went over to China House, another café here in town, and tried to enjoy ourselves there. Once again, a place that could really benefit from Elizabeth’s and my outgoing personalities, attention to detail, and general desire to provide outstanding customer service to everyone. Sitting there enjoying out tea a woman came in by herself, wandered around a bit lost for a while and when she walked past our table for a second time we invited her to join us.

Emma, a 34-year-old teacher from Sydney, has been traveling around Asia for the last 4 weeks. We met her on the last afternoon of her trip just hours before she flew back to Australia. She has seen Nepal, India, Malaysia, and Singapore. She had done the trip by herself, a mixture of guided tours and her own exploration. We didn’t really interview Emma like we have the breakfast people so I don’t have much more to say about her – I didn’t take notes so I don’t remember the details as well – but we had a wonderful lunch with her. And, she has a 30-year-old brother who is single and may be moving to Singapore, Elizabeth is excited about that!

That evening for dinner we ate at Sushi Tei at the mall again. We were so exhausted in the afternoon that we went back to the hotel and took naps for a few hours. Not sure why we were so tired but we both needed it – me especially as I was getting very crabby! And that was that day.

The People I Meet

So I think for this next year of my blog I am going to start focusing more on the people I meet than on the things I do. These aren't necessarily mutually exclusive since it will take much time to meet new people every day and thus the people I'm meeting are most of what I will be doing. For 2015, one of goals is going to be to have breakfast with someone different every day, thus forcing me to meet someone new everyday and learn about their story. I have been piloting this goal this last week and it has worked quite well. It is actually so interesting to meet new people all the time we have actually been eating breakfast and lunch with someone new pretty much ever day. People have just such interesting stories, and almost everyone's story connects to another person's it's just fascinating. With that said I'm going to launch into the people I have met over the last few days.

Sunday, December 28: Breakfast with “The Doctor”

Now before I start I am going to tell you that I am going to refer to the person we met as The Doctor. This is not his name, but because I haven’t actually cleared this story with him yet I am going to refer to him as The Doctor here. I have also left out part of our conversation until I get permission from him to publish it.

We met The Doctor at the cafe as usual. He was sitting alone outside. He had been helping clear plates a bit here and there, and I couldn't tell if he worked at the cafe of not. Now we have been going to the cafe every day since we arrived in Penang but the customer service has never been that great. When we walk in in the morning we can never tell if they are happy to see us or not. We might get one or two hellos, but nothing enthusiastic and nothing to hint at the fact that we are there everyday, spending money, and even sending new people there are well. This obviously annoys Elizabeth and I, but we like the food and coffee so we put up with it, but we wish we had another option and could go somewhere where they better appreciated our money and time and patronage. Anyways, since I thought The Doctor might work there, I wasn't sure if he'd want to join us - thinking they might not like having us at the cafe - but I figured what's the worst that can happen, he says no? So I went for it and he hesitantly accepted. Of everyone we have had breakfast with to date he was the most resistant.

Turns out The Doctor used to work at a cafe, from June to September of this year. The Doctor is from Penang, 100% Chinese – third generation, and trained as a doctor in Ireland (hence the nickname I gave him). He finished medical school in 2006 at the age of 28, making him now 36 years old. He speaks Chinese, Malay, and English and believes Hong Kong would be the ideal place to live. I'm sure you're wondering why a trained doctor was working at a cafe this past year and that is where The Doctor’s story gets really interesting - and honest.

After finishing medical school The Doctor realized he wasn’t really passionate about being a doctor, he was passionate about making money. He felt that people who are doctors should be passionate about being doctors, not about the financial aspect of being a doctor. He admits that this isn’t actually true across the field (many doctors are motivated by the money) and he also believes he could be a doctor as a profession and do just fine, but he really wants to make money and doesn’t believe that he should be a doctor if he isn’t passionate about it. Once he makes all this money he wants to travel the world forever without worrying about cost.

So, after not choosing to continue in the medical field The Doctor instead chose to come back to Penang and try making money in other ways. He got a loan from his parent’s family business, a successful Seafood business located on the west coast of Malaysia, and decided to start flipping properties around Penang. Although I am not sure how long he has been into the real estate business he has been successful and since repaid the loan to his family with interest. According to The Doctor, however, the market here is starting to get too expensive to continue being profitable and thus he is now looking for a new business venture. (We suggested he take the plastic bag drinks to the nightclubs in the west – still waiting to hear what he thinks about that. Imagine, being able to dance and not have to hold your drink in your hand. And no setting down your drink so no date rape drugs. Ingenious!).

The best part about meeting The Doctor was the insight he was able to give us into life here in Malaysia. As I briefly mentioned in my previous post, I purchased a book about temporary migrant workers here in Malaysia. They come from many surrounding countries because there is more money to be made here than there is back home. Now this was really quite difficult for Elizabeth and I to believe. From what we have seen so far, it is clear that Malaysia is still a developing country. Much of the infrastructure is not well maintained; people do follow many of the basic rules that make societies work – like road rules, and things are so cheap here it is hard to imagine employees get paid much. And this is what The Doctor confirmed, they don’t get paid much. The average café worker here might make RM$6/hour. That’s under US$2/hour. Less than US$2/hour!! Can you imagine working for that amount of money? I cannot. I would not. I would be insulted if someone offered me RM$6/hour. I would not work for that much money. And RM$6/hour is actually above the minimum wage.

To think that people come form other countries, can make more money here, can compensate for the higher cost of living, and still send money home is unimaginable. I don’t even want to think what people are paid per hour in places like Bangladesh and Burma. Maybe RM$2/hour, about US$0.75. Not sure, but that would be my guess. Until reading this book, and talking with locals like The Doctor, it had never occurred to me that people would come to Malaysia to make a better life for themselves. I just didn’t/still don’t really realize how poor it must be in other places. I am now very interested to see what these other countries are like. I mentioned this to The Doctor – how I can’t imagine this, since I can at any time return to America and get a job there making so much more money he told me I am “blessed.” This is very true, I am “blessed.” I speak English as my first and native language, I am a citizen of America – the most powerful and influential country in the world, I come from a well-off family, and I will hopefully never have to work for RM$6/hour or less.

So for a bit more about the average worker’s life/compensation. We will use a café worker for this as this is what The Doctor was able to give us the most insight to. So a café worker might be making RM$6/hour. They would typically work 6 days per week and 10 hours per day, so 60 hours per week. At RM$6 per hour that is RM$360 per week; in US dollars that would be just over $100 per week. Food can be had for about RM$3 per meal and rent is maybe RM$300 per month. So let’s do the math. RM$360x4=RM$1440 per month in income. Less RM$300 for rent is RM$1140. Less another RM$300 for food (roughly) is RM$840. Less other random expense, you might be lucky to save US$100/month, maybe. But that is considering you are renting (or even sharing) a room in an apartment, eating very cheaply, and probably not going much. Elizabeth and I have already spent more than this – we probably spend about RM$100/day on food, if not more. Granted we are not trying to be too cheap – breakfast along between coffee and bagels runs us RM$30 – RM$40 per day – but things add up. And they are living off maybe US$450 per month. That’s per month, not per week. What is the rest of Asia going to be like?! And one last quick fact – the minimum wage (of RM$900 per month) has recently gone up.

Here’s one more example: mascara. I currently use a Bobbi Brown mascara that costs about US$25. In the US this was roughly more than 1 hour of my wages, and I thought that was a big pricey. I bought it because I liked it but it seemed a bit spendy. When I moved to NZ this same mascara cost NZ$60 which was 3 hours of my wages there. I refused to buy it for that price and instead had my mother ship it to me from the US where I could get it significantly cheap, ever after paying the shipping costs. Here in Malaysia it costs RM$95 which is like US$27 – quite reasonable if you are making money in US dollars. But what if you were getting paid RM$6/hour. That would take you 2 full days of work to buy that. Two days of work to buy mascara! That is insane! I do not know who shops at these malls here, who can afford anything here, when they are making less than US$2/hour. It is just unbelievable.

After spending our morning with The Doctor we split up again to do our own thing for a few hours. I went back to see my Chinese seal man and ordered a seal with the character for “Explorer” on it. I’ll be picking it up Wednesday morning. Then I had lunch at a local café where I met two Canadians, Brayden and Natalie, who are currently teaching English in Korea. They are there for two more months and will then be moving to Thailand where Natalie wants to teach English another year and Brayden will try to find some other job – he wasn’t in love with the teaching. Then it was back home. Elizabeth went to see the hobbit and all her favorite characters died. I did my bodyweight exercises (another goal for 2015 – do 4 sessions/week) and then we had dinner. After dinner we once again ran into Amanda and set up breakfast plans for the next morning, Monday, with her and Sam. And then we set up breakfast plans with Bob (Mr. Marley) from Starbucks for Tuesday. And that was Sunday.

Magic

Ever since we arrived in Penang we have been staying up late and getting up late, very different than our routine previously where we were usually out of the hotel room by 9:00 or 9:30. In Penang we are lucky to get into town before 12:00. Saturday was no different. Up late and into town late we had a quick breakfast and then each went off for a separate afternoon of exploring. I had a few errands to run – I went to see a local artisan about getting a traditional Chinese seal made and another to see about business cards – and Elizabeth wanted to find a nice place to read in the sun. We split up just before 12 with a plan to meet back up at 2.

My errands were accomplished quickly. I picked out the stone piece for my Chinese seal and decided I would give myself an evening to think about what to put on it. Typically you have your name engraved in Chinese characters but I just didn’t like this idea. Since my name is in English and names don’t really translate I didn’t like the idea of putting my name in Chinese characters on the stone. Instead I decided I would put something more meaningful – and a proper Chinese character – I just had to decided what. The cost: RM$180 (approximately US$50). It could have been cheaper but I really liked a more expensive stone and I figured I’m probably only going to get one in my life so I might as well get one I like, right? And in reality it’s only US$50 – not all that expensive. For the double sided business cards I want it will be RM$60 for 200 cards (US$17). I am going to stamp my business cards with my seal so I didn’t commit to the business cards either as I needed to measure the stone, etc… The business cards will be ordered on Monday.

Since these tasks didn’t take long and I had lots of time left before meeting with Elizabeth I thought this would be a good time to walk around and try to improve my poor photography skills. I wanted to make some sort of goal for 2015 around photography but haven’t committed to anything yet and don’t think I will. Instead I will just practice taking more photos – more artistic photos, not just photos of me doing things – and see how it goes. If I think my skills start to develop maybe I’ll buy myself a fancy camera for Christmas next year.  (On this, I think my blog will be changing a bit this year. Not on purpose, per say, but because I just feel like I’m developing and changing so my blog should as well. I will likely be including less photos and videos – not that I won’t be making them, but it is very time consuming to upload them all – and doing longer written posts. This is basically what I’ve been doing the last few weeks anyways and I like it. I am really starting to enjoy the writing part of this, I feel like I’m starting to see some real improvements from my abilities when I started, and want to keep going with that. Also, when I do post photos they will likely be more “artistic” and less just photos of me standing next to things. A way to try to develop a new skill.)

While I was walking around Georgetown and Little India taking pictures I stumbled upon a bookstore so I decided to go in. Since leaving Asia I have purchased 5 books total. Without a job now I have so much more time to read. This particular bookstore was full of books about Malaysia and South East Asia. Although I had three unread books back in the hotel I decided to buy another. There’s no better time than now to read about Malaysia. Plus one goal I have for 2015 is to read at least one book from an author from each continent. Great time to buy a book that will feed into this goal! I looked through the Malaysia section, spoke with the shopkeeper, and finally decided on a book, Politics of the Temporary, written by a doctoral student in Chicago. The author, Parthiban Mundiandy, was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur by immigrant parents from India. The book recounts his experiences interviewing temporary migrant workers in both Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown, Penang (where we are currently staying) for his doctoral thesis. I will get more into the book in later posts, but in the first 24 hours of owning the book I read over 60 pages. The stories are fascinating and it is so nice to read a book about places I have been – Bukit Bintang in KL, Chinatown in KL, Jalan Pudu in KL. It gives so much more meaning to the stories.

This brings me to another topic very briefly, the stronger connection I now feel with world issues. I first noticed this a few weeks ago with the hostage situation in Sydney. Elizabeth and I were watching the news and heard about the hostage crisis at Martin Place in Sydney.  Normally when something like this popped up on the news – about a crisis in another country – I would have thought “that’s really too bad” or maybe “how scary,” but when this happened I had those same thoughts but on a stronger level because I walked by that very shop when I was in Sydney last year. That incident which I honestly would have cared very little about two years ago interested me much more since I could have been in that shop when it happened. I never actually went into the Lindt shop when I was there but who’s to say I wouldn’t have. I like how traveling makes things that happen in other parts of the world so much more relevant to my life now. The hostage crisis in Sydney, temporary migrant workers in Malaysia, these are all things that I now care about more than I ever would have before.

Okay, back to the story of the day’s events. After purchasing my new book it was time to meet back up with Elizabeth. I arrived at the café a bit early and decided to get myself an apple juice. Another goal that I have for 2015 is to have 5 fruits and vegetables every day. (I know it’s not 2015 yet but I ma piloting all my goals now to make sure they are actually reasonable. I’m not only picking easy goals, but I also don’t want to set myself up for failure which is why the photography goals have been scrapped – it just wouldn’t happen.) When Elizabeth arrived she also ordered a juice and we sat there reading or chatting or something.

While we were sitting there I noticed a man sitting alone at the counter and invited him over to join us. He accepted and thus began our afternoon chatting with Roland. I have no hesitation saying that Roland is the most interesting person we have met since we left New Zealand – maybe the most interesting person I have met since I left America.

For a bit about Roland, he is 36 years old, from France, and has been living in Asia for over ten years now. When he first came to Asia he lived in Japan, but has since moved from there to Phuket, Thailand and then down here to Penang. When Roland was in his early 20s he was heavily involved with MMA fighting. He lived for 4 years in NYC and then moved to Japan at the age of 25. During his time in the states he even did a fight in Fridley, MN – pretty cool, isn’t it? At some point during his 20s Roland was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He eventually had to stop fighting and went back to France for treatment.

Despite the efforts of the doctors and the best conventional medicines available his condition continued to worsen. After years of decline, both physically from the MS and mentally from the strong medications, two years ago Roland was confined to his wheelchair 90% of the time. 

During the time that his condition was worsening, Roland kept hearing about a plant called Ayahuasca. He heard about in things he was reading, on the TV, from people he came in contact with. Eventually he decided to do some more research for himself.

Ayahuasca is a plant from the Amazon rainforest with healing properties. Although the history is not known since there are no written records from the Amazon before the Spanish Conquest, it is believed Ayahuasca has been in use by Amazonian tribes for over 2,500 years.  There are many places in the Amazon where you can go on retreats and use the drug for it’s healing properties – both physical and mental.

Roland, at this point interested in alternative medicines for help with his MS, decided after much research to go to an Ayahuasca retreat center in the jungle in Peru for 6 weeks. During this time he did a 10-day fast, 7 Ayahuasca ceremonies, and daily purges. He recounted learning much about himself – both the good and the bad – and well as about those around him. The retreat was not easy, and he would not recommend it for other people – unless they feel a calling to do it, but he could not be happier that he went.

Since leaving Peru Roland’s MS has not only stopped progressing, but many of the effects have actually been reversed. He no longer uses a wheelchair and says his condition is continuing to get better. His outlook on life has also completely changed. He avoids stress in his life and just tries “to go with the flow” as best he can. Roland has emphasized that the largest positive effects he has seen from the Ayahuasca retreat is the healing of the mind. No matter how much his condition improves he will never go back to the stress and negative mental energy of MMA fighting.

Now to the Magic part of the day, after Roland we no longer about to do MMA he switched to Magic. He meets regularly with a teacher here in Penang and practices his tricks at Mugshot with random customers. Since we fell into this “random customer” category we got to see a few card tricks. Not only does he do magic tricks but he also reads body language – he did a lying exercise with us. I didn’t pass at all but Elizabeth did. He wasn’t far off though on her. It was very impressive. I told him to look up Lie To Me online and watch it.

Anyways, Elizabeth and I were both absolutely fascinated by his story. I have never heard anything like it before. MMA fighter to magician. Sick with MS in a wheelchair to walking assisted with only one crutch. It was truly fascinating to hear the journey his life has taken. It was a self-admitted “roller coaster” as everyone’s life is, but he’s got to have one of the most interesting roller coasters out there.

After this amazing encounter there really isn’t anything that could top that for the day. After parting ways with Roland we headed back home on the bus. Elizabeth had her first minor bout with food poisoning in the afternoon and so I went to dinner by myself. I had Japanese Fish Katsu at the hawker center just down the road and it was one of the best meals I’ve had since leaving NZ. When I got back Elizabeth was feeling much better. I continued reading my new book before bed. And Elizabeth made one comment that more of less sums up our experience so far. I was telling her that I was chatting with a mutual friend of ours, Ana (who I went to Samoa with), on Facebook about her University classes. Elizabeth’s response was “Is Ana still studying in NZ?” I reminded Elizabeth that we only left NZ two and half weeks ago so, yes, Ana was still studying in NZ. But her comment couldn’t have better reflected that fact that it feels as if we have been gone forever. I can honestly say I feel like I never even lived there. Time has been going so slow – with all the new experiences we are having every day – that it almost feels like I’ve been here in Penang forever. I can barely even remember Singapore – except how much I loved it and that I want to go back. It is just amazing that we have only been gone 16 days and yet feel like we never even lived back in NZ.