Tag: recounted

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asia on my mind – the top ten list (part four)

and finally, the conclusion to my very long list (which is ironic because my intent was to be concise):

9. retreat from technology
during our last stop in bali, MGS and i attended a kecak performance one evening held in a temple courtyard. the audience was assembled in a semi-circle around the performance area and the temple was beautifully lit in the background with spotlights. we arrived to snag a few seats along the side with good views over the short people sitting in front of us. i was super excited to see my first, live kecak. i grew more excited when the lights dimmed and a priest came out to perform blessings. he then lit a torch in the center of the yard, which cast a dramatic, warm glow across the yard. this was going to be awesome… BUT…

almost immediately, the tourists around us whipped out their cameras, blocked our views, and started taking picture after picture after picture. i thought this would eventually stop as the performers flooded out from the temple — i mean, one would think folks would be respectful enough to put their cameras away, but no. they repeated a merciless pattern of snapping a photo, showing it off to their companion, then carrying on a meaningless exchange about how great the shot was only to repeat it again and again through the entire performance. it became so distracting that i had to get out of my seat and move away.

i mean, how can someone be so concerned about capturing the moment instead of being in the moment? did they realize how much they actually missed because they were so concerned with playing their toys? what idiot does that shit?

oh wait. me.

i have such a love-hate relationship with technology… and by technology, i mean any and all products and programs that are designed to help us connect with the people and world around us, but distract us from being present. it’s almost as if society today is being trained to believe that if you didn’t tweet it, it didn’t happen; if you didn’t take a picture of it and post it on flickr, it didn’t exist; or if you didn’t write/respond to email RIGHT NOW, you’re as good as dead. it’s come to the point where it’s like: do we set out to do things these days for self satisfaction or so that we can write about it later in a facebook status and get ego-driven, comments-and-likes?

i don’t know whether it was a conscious or subconscious decision, but i didn’t use my computer that much and used my camera less and less as the trip progressed*. i didn’t realize the full impact this would have on my daily enjoyment of the trip until that performance. the more i abandoned technology, the more developed, profound, and visceral my memories became. i was more engaged with the people and things in front of me. i felt really alive in a way i haven’t felt in a long time, as if discovering my five senses once again.

that said, i highly recommend shutting off your ipads, ibooks, and iwhatevers to focus squarely and solely on i. it is such a liberating feeling. perhaps i will designate a day where i don’t touch my laptop or phone unless i really have to…

* “less” is a completely subjective term! my less might still be more than the average human being.

AND finally, my #10 highlight of the trip…

10. just getting the fuck out of the country aka i love my passport stamps!
excuse my french, but who doesn’t like to leave the country every once in awhile? america is great, but there are so many places that i need to see before i kick the bucket. i’m so glad to have checked off five from my list and to have stamps in my passport to show off.

this trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity that i will not soon forget. my hope is to travel through europe or central and south america next. no more big cities, though, unless they’re super romantic and not overly commercialized.

well, that’s all folks! thank you asia — i miss you and hope to be back in a few years!

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asia on my mind – the top ten list (part three)

my asia list continues:

6. eating
a sample of the food that it’s mah belly:

7. enjoying sunsets

of course, china had some of the most beautiful sunsets because of all the pollution in the air…

8. water

i’m pretty determined to own water-front property in a few years. that’s going down on my goal’s list. i don’t necessarily like to be IN the water. i just like to sit by it and watch the ripples and waves and listen to it swooshing to and from shore. it kills me to see trash in the ocean/sea. the times we went snorkeling or kayaking, there was SO much trash just floating around in these otherwise, pristine waters. we made it a habit to pick up the trash and bring it back to land. MGS loaded his kayak with so much, i was surprised he was still afloat! the kayak renters gave him a thumbs up when they saw what he had done. i blame the stupid tourists.

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asia on my mind – the top ten list (part two)

continuing on with my asia top ten list! by the way, i was looking at old photos and totally forgot that i started the year in europe visiting my friend YF in london and MGS in spain and just ended 2010 in asia. why didn’t i get a airline points credit card?! anyway, moving on:

3. being a responsible tourist
merriam webster defines tourism as “the practice of traveling for recreation.” even though there are outlets now for ECO-tourism or SERVICE-tourism that are slightly more community-conscious, what tourists really want is to go to a foreign place to soak in culture and take pretty pictures. then there are also the expats, men and women who have settled in asia long-term or permanently. ideally, an expat would immerse him/herself more into local life, but as i’ve learned, this is not always the case. too often tourists and expats alike engage in bad behavior that i feel is both really insulting to the locals and makes them, and in turn, the country that they’re from, look plain, old ignorant (it’s no wonder why americans have such a bad reputation abroad).

i kept asking myself during my travels, especially in southeast asia: at what point does tourist/expat’s hegemony conflict, change, or even ruin local values and culture? am i being a participant in the disneyfication of small villages as a tourist who supposedly wants to experience the local life, but also wants all the creature comforts of home whether that’s a cup of good coffee, a bar that’s open late, etc.? also, who the hell am i to assume the local way of life is changing for the worse?

i don’t have any answers, but i did question my role as a tourist a lot in this trip and always tried to be conscious of the consequences of my actions, which leads me to …

5. gaining perspective
i was always really quick to judge the people, government, and media in the countries we visited. why are these streets so dirty? why are people spitting? why are these commercials so horrible? why don’t these people recycle? yet, the truth is, i’m sure folks who visit the U.S. have an equally strong reaction even though in the end, our two countries are really not all that different. for instance, i would be so grossed out by all the trash in bali. but really — it’s not that the bay is any cleaner. it’s just that i’m used to it. by getting out of the country, i’m able to return with greater perspective on my way of life here and examine how i can make my community a better place to live.


4. new years in bangkok:
if there was one event or evening that i could single out as being THE most memorable from my asia trip, it would have to be new years and it is all summed up in this picture:

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eat that frog

so strange how quickly i’ve fallen back into my old routine in just my first day back in the states: wake up, turn on my laptop, make a breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee, check email and facebook, check the news, check facebook, check email, check facebook, think about going to exercise, check facebook…

i thought this was a new year dude! got to break these awful habits. speaking of which, i was reading theater bay area magazine and — as if the gods have resolved to help me with my apathy — there was an advice column about this exact topic. an actor wrote in saying how he hates new year’s resolutions because they never work out. he suffers from the worst plague of all — procrastination — and though time quickly passes, he has no accomplishments to show for it. the columnist had a few suggestions, but the one that stuck out the most is to “Eat That Frog”:

Brian Tracy wrote a little book on procrastination called Eat That Frog based on the old saying, “If the first thing you do when you wake up is eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen to you for the rest of the day.” Your “frog” is the most difficult task on your to-do list–the one you are most likely to procrastinate about. If you look at your to-do list, circle the “frog” and “eat” it first, it will give you energy and confidence to power through whatever else you need to do for the rest of the day. But if you let it sit there looking at you all day while you do a hundred other less important things, it will slowly sap your energy, and at the end of the day the thing you most needed to do still isn’t done. I have found this image helpful. When I find myself butterflying between different tasks, circling around things and not really getting anything done, I just say, “Oh come on, Velina! Eat the frog!”

my frog is writing so instead of my usual bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee, i’m going to have me a big ol’ helping of words each morning from now on. wish me luck!