Day 93 - Luck

The upper deck of an A380 (which, by the way, looks a lot like the lower deck of an A380) is a fitting location to write these final words on what will hopefully be Part 1 of 2 of this blog. Without much to say of a very rainy final day in Saigon - apart from a visit to the very cool Cafe Apartments, a building destined to be demolished that was instead turned into a cluster of small independent shops and cafes, and a quick stop at the very colonial post office to buy stamps so I can send one postcard to the one person I know who still cares about postcards - I will do my best to finish off without too many clichés or too much sentimentalism despite my pretty pathetic emotional state at this point.

I had obviously never travelled for this amount of time before and I must confess that the day I got on a 6.30am TAP flight in Lisbon feels like about a decade ago, but at the same time I also have to admit I am not quite ready to call it a day. My next stop would have been Australia and New Zealand, where I would have most definitely had to work for a month or two just so I had enough to survive until the New Year - while I probably would have travelled quite differently had I been properly unemployed and travelling for twelve months, I also feel like I have underestimated just how much in the toilet the Great British Pound is at the moment… In any case, Oceania would have almost definitely been radically different from India, Southeast Asia and Japan, and most of all I sincerely hope I actually make it down there next time around.

As I have mentioned before, India was my favourite stop on this trip. It is hard to name one reason why, although its vastness and diversity, the complex character of its people or the sheer natural beauty that surrounds the numerous examples of exquisite Mogul architecture would probably make a good top three. Travelling around by train was a great way to appreciate the lesser seen parts of the country, and the hours I spent hanging from open doors trying to get one decent snapshot of the scenery that surrounded us were certainly well spent. Despite the constant hassling from people on the street, some of whom trying to be helpful and others quite the opposite, the Indians I got to know along the way were kind-hearted, warm and appreciative of life in a way that a lot of us “white people” should probably learn a thing or two from. While I feel like I have got a decent grasp of places like Varanasi and Jaipur, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I left regions like Goa and Ladakh reluctantly and eager to come back for a lot longer than three days. Combined with the fact that Ana and I pretty much missed the whole of Mumbai (but can tell our grandchildren we witnessed the worst floods in over a decade!), this leaves me pretty confident I will be back in the country of Gandhi, Cricket and Paneer Butter Masala before long.

Walking amongst the skyscrapers in Tokyo only a couple of months after leaving the chaos of India could have been a big shock to the system, but thankfully I had a smooth transition via Southeast Asia. The reasons Japan is number two on my list could not be more different from why India is number one. The Japanese people’s honesty, integrity (the Yakuza aside) and pride in their work made our short tour an absolute pleasure, but at the same time Pete and I could not help but feeling we may have caused some suicides along the way - you know, for inadvertently leaving a tip or making an evidently unreasonable request that cannot be fulfilled. While India was beautiful in its bi-polar monsoon weather, either suffocatingly hot and humid or pouring it down with rain, Japan’s almost constant drizzle made it just like I had imagined it while still giving us a couple of brief breaks and a pair of beautiful hazy sunsets with Mount Fuji in the background. Together with Pete’s company (I challenge anyone to spend a week travelling with him and name a better partner) and my first Typhoon experience, all this made Japan an utterly memorable venture.

Myanmar is Southeast Asia’s soon-to-be-discovered pearl and I count myself lucky to have seen it before it is. The staggeringly beautiful landscapes of Bagan, with an infinitude of stupas poking out of the forest until the horizon, the serenity and traditional lakeside life of Inle and the trip back in time on the train to Thazi felt like the perfect antidote to Vietnam - places that are so special just as they are, no one should be allowed to touch them. Another outstanding travel partner in Renu, who always offered a different (and often hilarious) perspective and somehow managed to lift my spirits when things nearly went terribly wrong (a few hours after nearly killing me for taking her on a 14-hour train trip), helped a lot but, to the Burmese people’s credit, sitting in the Yangon circular train for three hours doing nothing but people-watching was the perfect way to transition to my meagre few days of solo-travelling. 

Having endured nearly half a century of civil war and being hit by a Tsunami towards the end of it for good measure, the constant kind and mellow smile on the face of nearly every Sri Lankan person Ana and I came across will never cease to amaze me. Do not get me wrong - the beautiful country that survived the aforementioned half-century of hell would be more than enough to warrant a visit, be it the stunning tea-country landscapes of Ella and Kandy, the colonial charm of Galle or the wild purity of the Yala natural reserve, but Ana and I could not get over thefact that its people’s hospitality and sweetness are Sri Lanka’s biggest assets. The fact my sister fell in love with the locals as soon as we arrived made travelling with her as pleasurable as any of our previous trips together.

Much like Japan was a bit of a shock to the system for someone coming from Burma (going from a train trundling at 20kph for 14 hours to one firing away at 200kph is something else), arriving in Singapore was equally overwhelming. Comparing it to Japan is probably unfair, since there is only so much you can fit in an area comparable to a small suburb of Tokyo, but for the race week we spent there it was a thoroughly enjoyable place to be. As Amar and Alice poetically described in their own blog, jumping between the concrete jungle of the city centre and the monkey-filled real jungle that surrounds it was undoubtedly great fun. Watching 17 of the World’s best race car drivers (plus Jolyon Palmer, Lance Stroll and Marcus Ericsson) pushing their cars’ limits only a few metres in front of us, dancing to Calvin Harris and ending our night at a club atop the most iconic hotel in the city? Simply surreal.

The Khmer people’s second half of the twentieth century was every bit as brutal as any place in the World, and despite that (much like the adorable Sri Lankans) everyone has a smile for you, whether you are loitering around the countryside at sunset or sleepily trying to make it to Angkor Wat for sunrise. The temples are impressive and impressively crowded (even in the low season), but the remnants of the horrors of the Khmer Rouge were definitely what will stick with me the longest. This also marked the last part of the trip I had the pleasure of Ben’s company, who possesses the perfect combination of an easy-going attitude and an almost unrivalled availability to party at a minute’s notice.

Finally, there is very little I can say about Vietnam that will come as a surprise to you. A classic backpacker destination ever since the country started opening itself to the World after four decades of nearly uninterrupted conflict, it is undoubtedly a country with beautiful places and kind people. While until this second stop I felt like the backpacker culture has taken a lot of its authenticity away, I now feel like it actually brought it a different charm - but at this point I still feel like the country has gone too far in adapting to the needs of travellers. Nevertheless it was still a pleasant experience, with Ben and Mari’s company bringing plenty of added value.

For those of you who have not (and cannot be) bothered reading the previous 92 posts (I do not blame you), this one should at least give you a half-decent idea of what is in them - or maybe even make you want to actually go back and binge (although I must warn you - they are no Game of Thrones). In any case, I must thank those who did bother reading some of it and I hope it has been at least half as enjoyable for you as writing it was for me. I also hold a faint slither of hope that my words and pictures have motivated you to maybe plan your own trip one day, or at least awakened the travelling bug that I believe is somewhere inside all of us.

As I have mentioned recently, many of my British friends mockingly wished me luck “finding myself” as we said goodbye. That was never the point - I do not think I would like to know myself any better than I do, especially since I like being surprised every now and then. Moreover, I feel like I come back to Europe with more questions than answers and most of all with a realisation that may sound cliché, but is nevertheless indisputable  - the circumstances in which I was born are the single biggest player in defining the circumstances in which I am now. On one hand, that makes me feel like a fool for ever thinking I had played any more than a very minor role on how I got to this point, and on the other it makes me feel pretty bloody lucky to have been born where and to whom I was. If my lucky run continues for another few years I will do all I can to make this blog live up to its title one day. Until then…

Cheers,

J-Wowww