Price of Information - (Bangkok, Thailand)
I find it hard to believe that I will finally be in India (And Sri Lanka - a mini-South India it’s been said) in about 2 weeks. The assault on my senses all at once is definitely accelerating. From everything I know - India stands alone as the most different and mind blowing country that one could travel to. There are certainly individual places all over the world that stand out, but for a singular country - India must be it.
From my Chinese-American viewpoint, India, along with Arabia, and most anywhere in Africa strike me as the most exotic and “exciting” areas in terms of culture I have yet to experience, or that I could experience. I’ll add now - parts of Indonesia to that list now. Okay, Papua New Guinea too.
I distinctly point out my ethnicity because for others North and SE Asian countries could be more compelling than any that I just mentioned. One person’s everyday is another person’s fascination after all. While living in North/SE Asia certainly hasn’t been my everyday in life, when you speak one of the major languages and you are exposed to it through family / ethnic heritage and earlier childhood trips (Taiwan) the allure isn’t quite so dramatic - although I was thrilled to visit China in 2002! I can still remember the feeling right before we arrived. Seems like an eternity ago...almost.
Of course...places like the island nation of Palau with its underwater world could be on this list too of exoticness I suspect. You can swim with stinger-less Jellyfish! (Although - I read somewhere that warming water temperatures killed off a lot of them recently) But, only if one counts the vertical depth. As for the mind blowing reference above - I’m speaking more of the results of the “modern” (In the last several thousand years) human hand, not nature in a larger sense - we are part of nature after all. I hope this makes sense.
...speaking of Palau.
Underwater Fantasy
Based on my positive recent diving experiences I have now also went ahead and decided to fly to the small Pacific Ocean island of Palau. Besides diving I’ve strategically placed Palau on my schedule as a place to rest after my initial exposure to India / Sri Lanka and SE Asia. After all, Palau is a tiny island paradise and also English is a primary language there. I have 2 full weeks!!
Diving and writing are my plans. Palau is in a Compact of Free Association with the USA. I have no idea what this really means, but they do use the US Postal service.
Buying my ticket via the Continental Airlines website couldn’t have been easier. All electronic! Manila , Philippines - Koror, Palau round trip - US$537. I’ll add buying my London - USA - London ticket for late April on American Airlines was extremely easy too. It is also an e-ticket. Only US$540!! (Though strangely I was quoted closer to US$800 at the local Bangkok AA office - good thing I called the US reservation #!) The wonders of modern technology. Someday soon my multi-carrier world trip ticket will be electronic too. While I’m not sitting in Business Class on those flights, American does have extra room for coach and the Continental flight should be sufficiently empty to sprawl out I’m guessing. A much better bet than British Airways coach / economy - which flat out SUCKS!
Oh...I almost forgot to mention why I titled this journal as such. The price of my Lonely Planet India guidebook is 1150 Baht / US$30. Next to a LP China guidebook I bought before this is the thickest and heaviest guidebook I have ever bought I think. The LP India book was first published in 1981 and is now on it’s 10th edition (August 2003). There is so much information packed in this book that it practically hands the country on a silver platter to independent travelers. It is so easy to take for granted how “easy” travel is relative to the past - to nearly any point on the globe - especially for English speakers and readers. Early travellers to India certainly didn’t have such a luxury of information. While I first cringed at the price of the book (So used to buying discount guidebooks on the net) - when I thought of the volume of information in the book I realized it is a bargain.
I’ll also sing praise about the electronic encyclopedia I have installed on my laptop. Microsoft Encarta 2003 DVD. If you stop to consider the sacrifices of all the people in the past who contributed to the knowledge now contained on this single DVD (Fully installed on my HD - no disc required) it is staggering. The World Atlas feature is incredible in itself. Over 1 million points on the globe. 1.6 million? The information is amazing, check out the Microsoft website yourself for more details. Very handy on a world trip.
As for knowledge. Here is an interesting link to some entries I copied out of MS Encarta regarding calendars and dating. After reading it - I realized my incredible ignorance - especially after sending out my New Year’s mass email.
Encarta_New_Years_Day
From my Chinese-American viewpoint, India, along with Arabia, and most anywhere in Africa strike me as the most exotic and “exciting” areas in terms of culture I have yet to experience, or that I could experience. I’ll add now - parts of Indonesia to that list now. Okay, Papua New Guinea too.
I distinctly point out my ethnicity because for others North and SE Asian countries could be more compelling than any that I just mentioned. One person’s everyday is another person’s fascination after all. While living in North/SE Asia certainly hasn’t been my everyday in life, when you speak one of the major languages and you are exposed to it through family / ethnic heritage and earlier childhood trips (Taiwan) the allure isn’t quite so dramatic - although I was thrilled to visit China in 2002! I can still remember the feeling right before we arrived. Seems like an eternity ago...almost.
Of course...places like the island nation of Palau with its underwater world could be on this list too of exoticness I suspect. You can swim with stinger-less Jellyfish! (Although - I read somewhere that warming water temperatures killed off a lot of them recently) But, only if one counts the vertical depth. As for the mind blowing reference above - I’m speaking more of the results of the “modern” (In the last several thousand years) human hand, not nature in a larger sense - we are part of nature after all. I hope this makes sense.
...speaking of Palau.
Underwater Fantasy
Based on my positive recent diving experiences I have now also went ahead and decided to fly to the small Pacific Ocean island of Palau. Besides diving I’ve strategically placed Palau on my schedule as a place to rest after my initial exposure to India / Sri Lanka and SE Asia. After all, Palau is a tiny island paradise and also English is a primary language there. I have 2 full weeks!!
Diving and writing are my plans. Palau is in a Compact of Free Association with the USA. I have no idea what this really means, but they do use the US Postal service.
Buying my ticket via the Continental Airlines website couldn’t have been easier. All electronic! Manila , Philippines - Koror, Palau round trip - US$537. I’ll add buying my London - USA - London ticket for late April on American Airlines was extremely easy too. It is also an e-ticket. Only US$540!! (Though strangely I was quoted closer to US$800 at the local Bangkok AA office - good thing I called the US reservation #!) The wonders of modern technology. Someday soon my multi-carrier world trip ticket will be electronic too. While I’m not sitting in Business Class on those flights, American does have extra room for coach and the Continental flight should be sufficiently empty to sprawl out I’m guessing. A much better bet than British Airways coach / economy - which flat out SUCKS!
Oh...I almost forgot to mention why I titled this journal as such. The price of my Lonely Planet India guidebook is 1150 Baht / US$30. Next to a LP China guidebook I bought before this is the thickest and heaviest guidebook I have ever bought I think. The LP India book was first published in 1981 and is now on it’s 10th edition (August 2003). There is so much information packed in this book that it practically hands the country on a silver platter to independent travelers. It is so easy to take for granted how “easy” travel is relative to the past - to nearly any point on the globe - especially for English speakers and readers. Early travellers to India certainly didn’t have such a luxury of information. While I first cringed at the price of the book (So used to buying discount guidebooks on the net) - when I thought of the volume of information in the book I realized it is a bargain.
I’ll also sing praise about the electronic encyclopedia I have installed on my laptop. Microsoft Encarta 2003 DVD. If you stop to consider the sacrifices of all the people in the past who contributed to the knowledge now contained on this single DVD (Fully installed on my HD - no disc required) it is staggering. The World Atlas feature is incredible in itself. Over 1 million points on the globe. 1.6 million? The information is amazing, check out the Microsoft website yourself for more details. Very handy on a world trip.
As for knowledge. Here is an interesting link to some entries I copied out of MS Encarta regarding calendars and dating. After reading it - I realized my incredible ignorance - especially after sending out my New Year’s mass email.
Encarta_New_Years_Day
<< Home