From the monthly archives:

April 2010

Friends in Great Places

by Keith on April 30, 2010 · 3 comments

Gratuitous use of a baby picture

Friends are great, and I think that ours are some of the best. But friends with spare bedrooms in Hong Kong are amazing! Since we are traveling and living off savings for a year, it is nothing short of a miracle that I have a friend with a spare bedroom in one of the most expensive cities in the world. The hospitality of my friend Mike, his wonderful wife Danae and their 9 month old, super smiley daughter Isla was amazing. After 7 months of sleeping in hostels, hotels, buses, trains and even boats, the break of staying with friends in their home was a welcome one. I can barely put into words the joy that unrestricted and free access to a nice washer and dryer brought to Amy and me. Beyond top rate lodging, the Niederbergers, who have been expats in Hong Kong for the last 7 years, showed us a side of Hong Kong that I am not sure we would have seen on our own. The first taste Mike had waiting for me however was not a local one.

As my previous post on beer indicated, I have generally been less than impressed with the local brews. So my mouth watered as Mike brought out of his fridge ice cold Yuengling Lagers, smuggled back from his last trip home to Pittsburgh. This was just the start of a very fun weekend in one of Hong Kong’s great nightlife areas, Lan Kwai Fong. The great hospitality did not stop with the nightlife.

On a misty Sunday morning the 5 of us hiked the Dragon’s Back, a 6k trail that runs along the lush green hills on the south part of the island. It was hard to believe that this vast green natural space was only a 10 minute taxi ride from the dense urban center of Hong Kong. At the end of the hike we stopped for lunch and a beer or two in Shek O, a small coastal town at the very Southern tip of Hong Kong island. The beach bar there even had a special on Brooklyn Lager for only 20HKD (~$2.60), which in Hong Kong is practically free. By this point I was getting spoiled on good American beers and the expat lifestyle.

At 7 months into our trip this was a great thing. With our arrival in China, Amy and I have started to feel the pull East from across the Pacific. From here on we begin heading towards home, jobs and all that comes with our normal lives (take note here future employers), and that feels pretty good. Much to the relief of my mother-in-law, we never intended this trip to be a transition to lives as digital nomads. For us the trip so far has been what we wanted it to be, an amazing experience. But like any experience it too will end. It is one I would repeat it in a second, and will recommend to anyone. It is something we will treasure everyday for the rest of our lives, but the small taste of a “normal” life in Hong Kong was great. I find myself looking forward to our return to Philly in about 4 months, but not before I have a chance to eat sushi in Japan, dive the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and snowboard in New Zealand. I still have some important goals yet to achieve this year.

Also be sure to check out of selected pictures from Hong Kong here.

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Songkran 2010

by Amy on April 27, 2010 · 3 comments

A rainbow of shiny plastic guns erupts, spewing icy-cold water on laughing strangers passing by. Buckets of water warmed by the sun float out above the crowds, tipped just so to drench from head to toe. Hands covered in talc-paste come at your face, your hair, your sunglasses from every direction. Within minutes everyone is a wet, pasty mess, and it is impossible not to smile.

Welcome to Songkran, the celebration of the Thai New Year. Keith and I had been looking forward to our first Songkran since the beginning of our trip planning. We had heard from other travelers that this was one festival not to be missed and planned the Southeast Asian leg of our trip to ensure that we’d be back in Thailand for the celebration. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

Keith and I made our way around the Khao San Road area and within minutes were soaked through to the skin and laughing amidst the arcs of water flying all around us. When it’s over 100 degrees, being doused with ice water every few minutes is definitely the most comfortable approach to being outside. We followed the joyful crowds and slowly moved through the center of the celebrations on jam packed Khao San Road. Never before had we experienced such a carefree mass of humanity, everyone grinning from ear to ear and joining in the goodhearted fun.

The Thai people are famously laid back and peaceful, and we were both struck with the thought that such a public celebration in any city in the United States would easily devolve into a dangerous or even tragic situation. Yet here, hot and crowded as it was, we were engulfed by smiles and the spirit of fun.

Then we reached the end of Khao San Road. The crowd thinned out. The laughter was suddenly muted. Instead of plastic toy water guns, the shops were lined with bullet holes. Instead of streams of water and talc, the asphalt was stained with blood. A makeshift memorial arose in the middle of the street with pictures of the dead, flags and twisted metal debris replacing the colorful buckets and beer cans of the party taking place just meters away. Just four days earlier, this was the site of a violent clash between the Red Shirt protesters and government troops that left 24 people dead.

The juxtaposition of such a peaceful celebration and such violence was surreal. How could such sadness have occurred just four days before such joy? It was a gruesome reminder of how quickly a peaceful crowd can turn dangerous and of the three days we spent mostly holed up in our Bangkok hotel watching the news and trying to rearrange our travel plans.

A few days later we were safely out of Bangkok and watching the headlines of increasing tension, police raids and more violent clashes. We will try to remember Songkran for the friendly, easygoing people, the beauty of the throngs of humanity letting loose in the world’s biggest and most entertaining public water fight. But I don’t think we’ll forget the shock of suddenly swallowing our joy and being confronted with the reality of the price that those fighting for a political voice have paid.

In other news, Greenbiz.com recently published an article we wrote about a renewable energy company that we met with in Cambodia. Be sure to check it out here.

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Curiosities in Bhutan

by Keith on April 22, 2010 · 6 comments

During our nine days in Bhutan, Amy and I were often presented with the striking architecture of ancient Dzongs, the jaw dropping Himalayan vistas and the tremendous warmth of the Bhutanese people. There were some surprises though. I have listed out my top 4 below. If you have been to Bhutan and there was something else that was a surprise to you, please let us know in the comments.

1. Best Friends
Looking at Bhutan on a map it appears to be a small country wedged tightly between two of the biggest superpowers on earth, India and China. With that geographic proximity, I expected that there would be significant influence from both countries within Bhutan and thought that the Chinese would have a larger presence due to their strong influence throughout the rest of the region. I quickly saw that while Bhutan has its own unique culture, it is strongly linked to India. This is due somewhat to geographic constraints; the road south to India is an easy one compared to the one north to Tibet and China. The other factor is China’s annexation and treatment of Tibet. Bhutan witnessed this and knew that strong regional alliances were going to be critical if it wanted to maintain its independence. So Bhutan prioritized the development of strong trade, commercial and even military alliances with India. India’s military even has multiple bases within Bhutan, which is quite surprising for a country that is so fiercely independent.

2. Critical Use of Hydroelectric Power

Notice the PV Panel on the Roof

Bhutan not only generates 100% of it domestic electricity from hydro-power, but by exporting the excess to India hydro-power generates the single largest source of revenue for the government, at approximately 30%. Many of these projects are initially funded by India and are repaid by Bhutan by supplying cheap hydroelectric power. The Bhutanese government promotes this cheap and environmentally friendly electricity source as an alternative to the use of wood or other carbon-dependent energy sources. Our guide mentioned that there is a goal of moving to nearly free electricity for the rural Bhutanese. And for the most remote yak herders at the highest elevations in the mountains the government provides free photovoltaic panels. And while this free electricity initially sounded like an amazing idea, I worry that providing any limited resource for free is not a sustainable course. Eventually Bhutan will run out of hydro capacity and will then need to begin focusing on efficiency. Instead of waiting until that day comes, why not create an incentive structure that promotes the initial adoption of electricity while also encouraging efficiency from the beginning?

Six Levels of Reincarnation

3. Where’s the Beef?
There is plenty of meat on the menu in Bhutan – beef, pork and even fish. So learning that no animals in the country are raised for their meat was peculiar. Where does all the meat come from? Turns out it is all brought in from India already butchered as Bhutan is a strict Buddhist country and prohibits the killing of any animals within its boarders. As we learned in the Punakha Dzong, in Buddhism there are 6 states of reincarnation: Nirvana, God-like, Human, Animal, Hungry Ghost and Hell. The goal is to move towards Nirvana, but if you lead a life filled with lies, murder and deceit then you risk moving down a state and being reincarnated as a cow. With these beliefs I can understand the desire not to kill a pig that has a chance of being the reincarnation of your nasty old uncle. But outsourcing to India seems to be upholding the letter but not the spirit of the law.

4. No nacho chips?
With the amount of chilies and cheese that are consumed in Bhutan you would think that there would be a huge market for nacho chips. The national dish is a condiment/topping/spice that in the words of our guide, “without chilies and cheese the Bhutanese would die.” So no surprise that they have a bowl of the spicy concoction at breakfast, lunch and dinner. I came to really enjoy it on the meals of rice, vegetables and imported meat. The cheese is a soft cow’s cheese that is cooked into the sliced chilies. The biggest challenge with this dish is the huge variability in heat. Just when I thought I had figured out the exact amount to add to my meal I would get a surprise with a batch that was twice as spicy as the last. The green chilies they use seem to be pretty variable in how spicy they are thus keeping me on my toes. But I am convinced that a business selling crisp corn tortilla chips to the tourists would make a killing. It would be a great snack along with the local brew, Druk 11,000, whose tagline is “Super Strong Beer”.