Post 6: Witnessing Ayutthaya

With the arrival of Paul, we made a spontaneous decision to make a trip north of Bangkok, to visit the ruins of Thailand's ancient capital Ayutthaya. A 70KM trip took 3 hours in the shaky third-class train, which felt even longer in those rock-solid, right-angled wooden seats. Though the contrast in comfort made our arrival celebratory.The train station offers storage services for backpacks. A lightened load gave us the necessary mobility to maximize our exposure to the wonders of Ayutthaya.


The best way to tour Ayutthaya is by bicycle, you can rent one of these transportation mechanisms across the train station for 40 baht a day (US $1.30) - unlimited mileage, zero gasoline consumption, environmentally friendly, so why not? The rental shop will even provide you with a set of locks so you can make appropriate stops without worrying about loss or theft. A ferry took Paul and I and our bicycles across the river and into the town of Ayutthaya. And there we were, free to wonder in this magnificent town.

I stood on the edge of the platform, stunned. Perhaps it was the thunder or the lightning or the fearless rain that awakened the Ancient Wonder, as time relapsed and history brought alive. Visions engineered and self-assembled in my head. I felt the wealth and the glory of the kingdom that once were. I pictured the vibrant colours of the court. I visualized the power of the commons, erecting the palaces and the temples, layering the walls and the courtyard, stone by stone, brick by brick. Pride and power lifted Thailand to its height. This was the center of South-East Asia, where I stood.

...

Yet in front of me lies pieces from the past: dulled-shine, weathered-rocks, fractured-braces, featureless-sculptures, aggregating to a fictitious-reality and a palpable-dream. All the life left are that of the wild dogs - sniffing, searching.

Ayutthaya collapsed under the prowess of the Burmese in 1767.

Even the great  f
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Post 5: Inconveniences

As I stepped out of the Bank of Thailand Museum, a man approached me. His name is Chae. A brief greeting evolved into a casual conversation. This was one of my first encounters with the locals in Bangkok. What I thought was an outgoing man turned out to be a mastermind behind an intricately designed scam.

At some point, visitors to Thailand will be asked to visit some sort of gem or silk store in return for a discounted taxi or tuk-tuk ride. Of course, once you're at the store, you'll endure high-pressure sales tactics. As far as that goes, $10 US and half-an-hour of your time make up the upper limit of your loss.

So of course, clever men like Chae devised cleverer schemes.

Thailand is known as the "land of smiles". People are very friendly, or appear to be very friendly. Chae introduced me to 5 "touristy" spots. He even hired a tuk-tuk to take me to those places, all for 20 baht (60 cents US) because there was a "government promotion". At each of these spots, his men were waiting for me. They were coordinated to initiate casual conversations. And in each of these conversations, would be something in common: something about a duty-free purchase on jewelries. At some point, there would be a man - like a designated hitter in baseball - poised to hit a home-run.

At one of the temples waiting for me was a banker claiming he works in New York. I guess this is the perfect way to grab my attention - after all, Chae did see me walking out of the Bank of Thailand Museum.

Unfortunately, my interest in banking dictated most of the conversation, and this "Thai banker" named Tanin Boonma very soon blew his identity (or lack thereof). Nevertheless, he fulfilled his duty by telling me about the duty-free jewelry purchase. Without paying 195% in luxury tax, one could purchase, say, a $5,000 jewelry set then sell it in the US or Canada or triple the amount. Of course, the jewelry set would come with some certificate and insurance. Mr. Boonma explained in details how in the past 15 years he shipped the jewelries to US, and how he sold them to Tiffany & Co. for triple of what he paid for. At last, he pulled out a receipt dated yesterday.

Home run.

Curious of the scheme, I played along, returning him a little inconvenience.

At the jewelry store, everything the sales manager told me corresponded with what I learned earlier from various people, making the scheme more believable. There was the usual sales pressure tactics, and other "customers" who are more interested in talking to me than looking at jewelries. When I felt I understood the scam, I looked for a way out. I asked to take a picture of a pair of earrings. The manager flat out rejected my request, and I used that to reject her offer and walked out.

Impressive. Con-artists like Chae found a way to turn our greed into the upper limit of our loss.

The next day, I went back to the corner where I met Chae. And there he was again, busy on his cell phone, co-ordinating his men. The same tuk-tuk driver hang around, disappointed at yesterday's loss.

Andrew and I negotiating with tuk-tuk drivers

Post 4: In and Out

Yesterday I caught up with my friend Andrew from college. Though our time was limited to a day, as he was concluding his month-long journey in South-East Asia, we had a grand time exploring Bangkok. Our improv traveling put us on a commuter boat to East Bangkok, where we discovered a part of Bangkok that is more honest with prices. As I shipped him out last night, I picked up my childhood friend Paul from the airport. What better way to catch up on the lost times over the open road?

In the next little while, we'll be very mobile. Our plan is to tour Bangkok in 4 hours, hop on a train to the Thailand's ancient capital of Ayutthaya some 70km north of Bangkok. We'll return by dusk to catch the sunset ferry. And have a few drinks to cool off at the night market.

To save a little bit of time and money, we'll take whichever train over-night train that's available to get closer towards Surat Thani. It is now 6:43AM and we better go.

Epic journey time? I think so.

Post 3: First Things First

What’s the first thing you should do when visiting South-East Asia? Different people will tell you different things, depends on who you ask. It usually boils down to ‘how to say something’ in the native tongue - “Fuck off!” if you’re American, and “Sorry” if you’re Canadian...

Just kidding. And excuse my language.

But before you learn the “Hello’s” and “Thank you’s”, and “Where’s the washroom”, what I think is the most important first-lesson is how to cross the road. You are bound to have to cross a road at some point during your travels, and this isn’t so straight forward in South-East Asia. There are two “unconventional” problems. First, not all roads have traffic lights with a little green dude that lights up and tell you when to cross. Second, even if the lights are in place, not all drivers follow those signals. Avoid getting killed is probably everyone’s top priority.

Crossing a road is more complex than it appears; I think of it as in terms of game theory and amateur psychology. The game is played many times per second throughout the walk. It only ends in the top-right quadrant when the person crossing the road walks and the driver stops. Of course, both players need to co-operate to win!

The most interesting outcome lies in the top-left quadrant, which is a high-risk situation where both the driver and the walker stop. The game then becomes a signalling game based on amateur psychology. The person crossing the road needs to analyze whether the driver will slow down or stop, and the driver needs to decide whether the person will move or not. They make their decisions based on the signals they observed. Since the foreign traveler and the driver are both unfamiliar with interpreting the other’s signal, they may be stuck in this outcome. As we all experienced before, indecision in the middle of the road is a dangerous business...

So to cross a road safely, it starts with observation – watch how the locals do it, study their body language or any other signal they may send. If there’s no one around, then create signals of your own that are obvious to the human race, such making eye contact with the driver and pointing in the direction you’re going before you move.

Stepping off the Bangkok Sky-train yesterday, I crossed my first 6-lane Thai road in under 8 minutes. It’s all part of the journey.

Pedestrian bridge near Pantip Plaza - Bangkok, Thailand

Post 2: Dimensions

Some people say lightning doesn't strike twice... I recently found out that it does. Last night, I missed my flight again. I planned to have breakfast in Hong Kong, dinner in Bangkok. I guess I'll have to save that for another time. The city doesn't want me to leave just yet. There is something magical about Hong Kong. Often we travel to places in our dreams. This morning I woke up in a 19th century castle by the sea. For a moment I wasn't sure whether I'm in the dream world or the real world. The word "deceptive" describes Hong Kong pretty well for me.

There is an age old problem of representing 3D space on 2D plane. People try to do this more often than you'd think. The obvious example is the map. On a piece of map, Hong Kong looks incredibly small and easy to navigate. In reality, this is the farthest from the truth. The uneven geography and mountainous terrain added many layers and complexity to the city. The curvy streets and intertwining roads made navigation less boring and mistakes more frequent. What appeared to be a 10 meter walk turned out to be a long climb along a steep slope!

Certainly there is a vertical dimension to Hong Kong that is often misrepresented. Those who have been to Hong Kong can attest, the city taller than it is wide. Hong Kong is densely planted with skyscrapers. The list below may come as shocking, the list ranks world's cities by the number of skyscrapers. Hong Kong tops the chart with over 2,300 buildings over 100m, totaling 333km!

1	Hong Kong	2354	333,836m
2	New York City	794	109,720m
3	Tokyo	556	73,008m
4	Shanghai	430	59,958m
5	Dubai	403	66,248m

14

Toronto

216

27,867m

48

Montreal

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Backpacking through the financial district of Hong Kong earlier this evening was awe-inspiring, yet I've only scratched the surface of this magical city. In the next four months I'll look deeper and unravel dimensions beyond the physical space.

Three outstanding buildings

Post 1: Windy City Warm-Up

Athletes don't compete without a warm-up. As a mid-distance runner, I find my warm-ups longer than the race itself. After all, a proper warm-up tunes the mind and the body for optimal performance.

Before my expedition South-East Asia even began, my stop-over in Chicago turned into a legitimate day-trip with hell breaking loose. But between the lost baggage and missed flight to Hong Kong were some grand times. I felt the strong wind in Windy City, it prepared me for the storm I'm about to experience in the next few weeks.

"Probability" is a funny thing. Mathematicians say it always evens itself in the long-run, but economist will tell you we're all dead in the long-run. Somehow, on August 21st, the unthinkable happened; the metro broke-down in the middle of a tunnel while on my way to O'Hare international, causing a delay. I missed Flight UA895 to Hong Kong. Unbelievable. Have I actually met the end of my journey before it began?

I did not get furious, nor was I upset. I sat at the O'Hare airport waiting area like a piece of wood and watched thousands of travelers pass by in front of me, trying to figure out a way to "even out" the probability. Newtonian physics predict classical dynamics, and the breakage of trains, the only thing unpredictable is people. So I that's where I placed my chips.

I walked over to Air Canada counter and explained my situation. The counters are quiet, as usual. The Air Canada agent put aside her Fifty Shades of Grey and listened to me attentively. She was very understanding. We began discussing various options, and even that of flying somewhere else and get a transfer to Hong Kong. But in the end, she looked at me, looking sadder than I was she told me there is "absolutely nothing" she could do. I nodded and thanked her for all her help. I thought about turn around and start hitch-hiking back to Canada, yet that's when probabilities evened itself out. The Air Canada agent checked the screen one more time. There was a cancellation.

Air Canada flew me back to Toronto, arranged pick-ups and accommodation, provided meal vouchers, and shipped me off to Hong Kong the next morning all for free.

It's going to get windy, and there'll be storms ahead. So what do we do?
Never ever EVER give up. Ever. Especially on humanity.

Intro: Expedition South-East

It's the kind of summer that are so eventful, that it seemed shorter with each memory. I enjoyed the family times, beer and friends, guitar and bon-fire, and weekend trips in the midst of a hard week working at the factory, and a few other bumps on the road...

Three years ago I took you along with me to the French countryside. Two years ago, it was South Africa. And in the next month before I start my exchange term at University of Hong Kong, I'll be writing about my travels in South-East Asia. Major destinations include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Mount Kinabalu, and Hong Kong. Please feel free to email me your address, I'll be sending post-cards!

After a turbulent first half to 2012, I feel that this is a journey I need to make; on the road, discovering the wonders of the people and places, seeking truth to matters of life, jumping hurdles... and growing, as the person I am to become.

Something is only worthwhile when we do it with a purpose. Below is a list I made the top 10 things I'm going to accomplish:

• Hike half-marathon (21km) on foot
• Spend a full day and night on the beach
• Train with a Muay-Thai boxer
• Watch a cock fight
• Swim beneath a waterfall
• Spend a day on the sea with fishermen
• Visit remote villages and tribes on bike/motorbike
• Mediate at a monastery
• Dive in the Indian Ocean
• Watch sunrise from the peak of Mt. Kinabalu

Let the summer begin.
Friends, I'll see you soon.

A One of a Kind Religion: Fishing

This summer I picked up a new hobby in fishing. I've gotten so into it that I'm considering upgrading my "Conservation" fishing permit to a "Sport" license. In my countless fishing trips near-by and afar, I'm starting to grasp the spiritual aspect of fishing.

Fishing is like a religion, it starts with faith. You've got to believe without seeing - the same mystery force behind the kind of blind love, unconditional help, and reasonless pursuit. Despite the stories you hear, the fishing signs you see, the articles you read, or whatever Google Image brings up, and even your own experiences, the thought of "maybe there are no fish here today" somehow always come across one's mind. Believing is the hardest part; it's the part that defies human logic and principles of experimental methods. To fish is to take this leap of faith. It starts the moment you believe that there ARE fish in the lake.

The ritual aspect of fishing is more clear-cut. The way a fisherman preps his tackle box and hooks his bait is as consistent as any celebration. As a church-goer gives all his attention to the priest, eyeing him, carefully listening to his words,  through him he connects with God. And the fisherman? His eyes are locked on the float, hands tight on the fishing rod, trying to "feel" the perhaps-non-existent-fish through the subtle movement of the fishing line. Each vibration, each shock gives him new hope. Then comes patience... perhaps one's worst virtue, denies church-goer entry to heaven, and fisherman his catch.

Religion is but a back-and-forth rally between faith and reality.
I guess the only way to understand it is to be at the lake every Sunday ;)