Rooftops are always a way to see a place. When I lived in Portland, I enjoyed a wonderful view of Mt Saint Helens from my rooftop. While I have not been granted rooftop access where I live, some of the apartments I’ve been to offer fine perspectives of their neighborhoods and beyond.
Several stories up in the air, rooftops offer a delightful breeze in the balmy summer, and of course the sunsets never get old.
One way to spend free time in the city is to frequent museums and public exhibits. This photo was taken at an exhibit about lunch hour in New York City at the New York Public Library in Midtown. While I did not particularly crave any of this depicted food, I did learn about historical school lunches and the development of today’s many culinary options.
Another accessible public spectacle is Socrates Park, where anyone can go for free to view the large-scale outdoor sculptures.
It is a relaxing place to enjoy the East River from the western side of Queens.
There are also countless landmarks, public displays and clustered, yet orderly, pieces of scenery that I’ve overlooked throughout the years, and I am just beginning to notice.
Taking it to the outskirts, I went to Rockaway Beach for the first time last month, and have returned, as well as made plans to return in the future.
Under the ground level, riding the subway can be a learning experience. Last week, in the tunnel, I was even enlightened as to what the inside of a payphone looks like.
These particular museums, sculpture parks, beaches and subways are there to please, educate and transport the public. However, on a personal level, to connect with the beings in my surroundings, I believe I am destined to find the cats of each town, city, country and continent.
Whether they are on scratching posts, in the grass, on a bench or someone’s lap, I will notice them.
Walking around the streets, I’ve even had some encounters with some unexpected animals.
So, it’s been about two months since I’ve been back. At first, it was strange adjusting back to this culture. The weirdest thing was the dimensions of space-to-human usage.
In most of Southeast Asia, people got around by low-powered motor scooters. Here, scooters are usually luxury products (unless used by food delivery service drivers), and huge cars aremore abundant.
Rather than hundreds of drivers crammed into the same road going about in every such direction at low speeds, there are big cars driving along wide, multi-lane streets at high speeds. The American highways were at first a huge shock, but I am at the point where they are becoming normal again.
Some things I’ve been doing seem like they’ll always be the same. For instance, Grand Central, as long as I’ve known it, remains static. Maybe during times in the past it was grittier or more accessible to the public, but today, it is the same luxurious, crowded, semi-long distance train terminal I’ve always known.
There have also been some changes around town. I’ve noticed that the 99-cent pizza craze has taken off on a new level. A few years ago, they were few and far between, but now, some places even conduct price wars where they reduce the price to 75 cents to compete with their neighbor! While this cheap pizza may not be top-notch, the regular pizzerias have graced me with the beloved style of slices that I will forever compare all other pizzas to.
Readjustments have been made to American household appliances. I messed up using a drip coffee machine for the first time, but was able to figure out a clothes dryer again right away (such dryers were pretty much non-existent in Asia). Though I barely ever use an oven, it is pleasant to have that as an option once again.
Being American, it is also hard to match the endless consumer options we have at home with those abroad. Though many people live in excess, as it’s so easy to do, I can basically access any food or other useful product I’d desire.
Some things I’ve been doing have been the same. Riding the subway, going to Central Park walking around the East Village have all been similar.
The Union Square Greenmarket is an exact replica of what I remember it as. Walking around it is aesthetically pleasing, but all of the smells can’t help but make me incredibly hungry.
I’ve been to Bryant Park dozens of times, in the past and present.
However, this is the first time I’ve embarked on the carousel cat.
New things are always a treasure. I’ve ventured to Astoria Park in northern Queens. On a nice day, this is a great place to bring some Greek groceries from one of the local stores and relax on a bench. I also embarked on Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, and discovered where a high concentration of live-action cricket-playing is located. I walked along with High Line, and decided that as beautiful as the view is, it is better to go on in bad weather, when it is not flooded with tourists.
The Staten Island Ferry ride is also a new thing I’ve done. The smell of the water, views of the Statue of Liberty and sight of planes taking off and landing into the Newark airport are all pleasant.
In the Coney Island/Brighton Beach area, some of the businesses I remember have shut down to make room for new development, but the people and overall feeling of the place remains the same.
I mean, real estate developers could never kill the integrity of one’s ability to walk around the boardwalk with a cat on the shoulder!
Though I have not been itching to travel long distances lately, there are still many places to explore that are not too far away.
So, it’s all finally coming to its end. The year and a half that I’ve spent in Asia has been reducing itself to its final months, weeks, days and soon hours, before I embark on a 24-hour plane ride back to New York City.
Bell House in Vigan, Philippines
It’s difficult not to reflect or try to remember certain themes or occurrences, even when I am in states of not being attached to the fact that it’s really happening. I’ve been traveling throughout Southeast Asia for about six months, and it’s gotten to the point where it’s become my reality, and doesn’t even feel like a trip any more. Perhaps it will feel more like traveling when I’m not actually here.
Of course there are many things I’ve learned, about myself and the places I’ve seen. I’ve gained new perspective even on being American and the United States itself.
Tiger in Kaohsing, Taiwan
This has been the longest I’ve traveled at once. After a year of South Korea, the weather was headed towards fall, where I decided to skip the cold this time around. First stop was Taiwan, where we motor-tripped around the perimeter of the island, and that was followed by an island-hopping adventure in the Philippines.
Lizard in Malacca, Malaysia
From Manila, Philippines, we flew to Singapore, quite possibly the cleanest city I’ve seen. When I was younger, my impressions of Singapore were that you’d be arrested for chewing gum or littering. When I got there, however, I did not see one cop the whole time, and people were even jaywakling. I only spent two days there before heading to Malaysia and into the cities of Malacca and Kuala Lumpur, learning about the multi-racial aspects of what makes the country what it is.
Lake Toba, Sumatra
Ten days of Sumatra, Indonesia, involved wonderful lake views, volcano trekking and hot springs. It was then we flew back to Malaysia to Penang island, then to the Cameron highlands, a low-temperature tourist spot full of green tea plantations and other assorted temperate agriculture.
Guest house window in Vientiane, Laos
A few weeks in Vietnam was a mixed experience. Then it was through Cambodia, stopping in its biggest city, Phnom Penh, then making it up to the provincial towns on the northern route. We then spent a week in Laos, starting from the south on the river island of Don Det, then the provincial city of Pakse and capital city, Vientiane. Vientiane was very laid-back and hardly a bustling metropolis, and it somewhat reminded me of Binghamton, New York, being full of empty buildings and pedestrian-less streets.
Canal in Bangkok, Thailand
We ended up in Bangkok for a week, a wonderful city of canals, cats, markets and street food. I traveled on my first sleeper train before a brief excursion to Koh Lipe, an island in the sea in the south, before making it back to Malaysia.
Anyway, most people can acknowledge that it’s not about the biggest list of places you travel or how many sites you’ve seen versus how far you got away from the tourist trail, but what you get out of it, whether at the time or during a session of reflecting. Of course I’ll emphasize the good and the adventurous when I look at pictures and tell others stories, but there have certainly been periods of downs during my travels, whether it’s sketchy food, allergic reactions to bug bites, lies and rip-offs or air conditioners breaking on boat rides where all the people are packed in like sardines.
Motorbike shop in Ulsan, South Korea
There are of course big things I will miss about Asia. For one, I’ll miss the casualness of everyday life. In America, I feel as if there is too much officialdom, that I’m always being watched and that I always have to consider the legal consequences of simple actions. Asian food will never be the same when I return, whether spiced incorrectly or just not being up to substantial quality. I’ve consumed many different versions of rice and tofu that I’ll certainly wish to eat again. I’ll miss riding a motor scooter without repetitive visits to the DMV, and checking into a place to sleep without having to give a form of valid identification and copy of a credit card before I even pay the enormous fees.
And, there are of course things I have missed about the US. It will be pleasant going back to where I can truly speak English the way it is on my mind, without modifications to people of other cultures. People, places and food are of course a big factor, but there is also the general feeling of truly belonging to a place and being part of it. There can of course be problems when you’re expected to keep up with the expectations of your society, but this is a standard that any local living in their own country has to acknowledge, whether or not they choose to follow these norms.
Toy vending machines in Tokyo, Japan
Perhaps I’ll return to Asia one day. Maybe I’ll make it to the places I’ve missed in the countries I’ve traveled, or go further on into new places like China, or Burma, or Nepal. But, for now, the time is coming to leave this travel experience as what it was. While it will likely affect me in the future in ways I may not even realize, it is an experience that is meant to have a designated start and finish.
I will make my return home this weekend. Though I’m full of anticipations, wonders and predictions, I’ll really only know what it holds after I arrive.
If you’ve heard about anyone’s trip in Cambodia, you’ve probably heard of the tuk-tuks, which are covered carriages attached to motorbikes. Unless you have your own method of transportation, you will more than likely end up on one of these at some point. They move very slowly, and since they are open-air, are a nice way to view a city. From my experience, these drivers are usually nice, but you will need to haggle with them for the price before you get on board.
We crossed this bamboo bridge in Kampong Cham, which was bumpy and made a lot of noise, but we got across the way there and back.
Climbing these stairs in the heat is quite a challenge, but at least it gives a pleasant view downwards.
It was too hot to do anything really, so we took a midday heat break by the outer entrance of a temple, and made friends with a cow.
This cow was very bored sitting next to this pond all day, and kept mooing. Its owner eventually acknowledged its restlessness, untied it and took it for a walk.
We didn’t actually make it to the temple after this break, we just enjoyed the scenery around it.
When it cooled down a bit in the evening, we journeyed to the site of a former US military airstrip.
It hosted some stone structures which were useful to climb up and get a view.
This spot seemed the best place in town to enjoy a fine sunset.
The red dust in Cambodia is very much present, particularly in more provincial locations. I would recommend taking sunglasses and a face mask around if you’re riding a bike or motorcycle. It is unavoidable, and will get all over your skin and clothes, particularly when a larger vehicle is coming towards you. There was a cat at my hotel that was supposed to be white, but because of this dust, was a kind of reddish color.
Vietnam is definitely the land of “Things on Bikes”. Here is a man driving with over a dozen jackfruit attached to baskets on his scooter. These smelly but tasty fruits are incredibly dense and heavy.
Bananas are another common crop, hence their presence on scooters. The vast majority of people do not own cars, but scooters and/or bicycles. If you wander off of the main roads and into the alleys or deep into the countryside, you’ll find that many of the lanes are so narrow that a car couldn’t possibly fit on them.
Not only produce, but livestock, is carried around on scooters. Here is a man with a selection of chickens fastened to the back of his bike. I’ve also seen ducks, and even pigs, riding as passengers.
People even use their scooters as beds to nap during the hot hours of the day. I have no idea how they are able to maintain such balance.
This was taken from a pagoda in Dalat. Due to its mean facial expression, I think it is supposed to be a guard.
We also stopped by the Valley of Love in Dalat, a perfect place to take cheesy photos. For anyone who is interested, they host a fine selection of plastic big cats.
We traveled to Lak Lake one night to do a homestay in a longhouse. Upon arrival to the cafe that arranges these homestays, we discovered they had an elephant to the side. I think the elephants in this town are only used for tourists to ride into the lake.
In this small town, the animals definitely seem part of the community. Pigs, dogs and chickens graze around between the properties. While nice to look at during the day, they do make it hard to sleep at night, by constantly barking or crowing in the dark.
Many miles later, we made it down to the busy city of Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City. Being the biggest city of Vietnam, it consequently seemed to hold the highest concentration of traffic. It is normal to find people driving the opposite way down one-way streets, on sidewalks, right into busy traffic, or anywhere a bike may possibly fit. Though it seems chaotic, traffic does go on like it does anywhere else. One just cannot drive the way they do in their home country while riding around in Saigon.
After a few days in this busy, crowded city, we decided to take a nature break and go check out a mangrove forest. This part of the country is the Mekong Delta, so all of the land is separated by small rivers, which requires taking a ferry from one point to another.
Once we got there, we wished we had a boat to go around, rather than a scooter.
Off the long, flat, paved road, we found one of the muddy paths leading into the depths of the mangrove forest. If you head down one of these, make sure you wear some sturdy hiking or rubber boots, as a few inches of mud will stick to your shoes.
We walked down this path until it got too muddy and slippery, and admired the sturdy, intricate roots that these trees stand from.
The wet mud on the ground is full of little holes that tiny crabs crawl into and out of. If you look closely (in the picture or in nature), you can spot a mudskipper. I don’t know if these creatures need to hide from many predators, but they certainly do embody a good camouflage tone for such an environment.
Like most places in Asia, rice is a staple food in Vietnam. Here, I find myself eating it every day.
Therefore, like most rural regions in this continent, rice is grown all over the place. Especially in flat lands, one can find so many stretches of rice fields. Some are smaller and just look like they feed families, but others look like they grow it to sell.
In the hill country of the Central Highlands, coffee is a huge crop. I learned that most of the beans are Robusta, but some are Arabica. Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee exporter, after Brazil, and this rural drive certainly made it seem so.
In the driveways of this region, the farmers carry the coffee beans out to dry under the sun.
After we were out of the Central Highlands, the weather got hotter, and all of these green, dread-locked plants started appearing.
I was wondering what they were, until we got up close, and discovered they were dragon fruit cacti.
We’d been eating these our whole trip, but still had never seen one grow. Now, we were surrounded by them, and couldn’t escape if we tried.
Here is a shot of the finished product of coffee, and the finished fruit of dragon. Coffee in Vietnam is served very strong. It is given on the spot to drip right before you drink it. Often, people need to consume it with condensed milk, as the taste is too intense, but some can handle the thick bitterness and drink it black. Most of the time, Vietnamese coffee is accompanied by green tea, which helps neutralize the flavorful caffeine and sugar.
Monkeys are also fans of dragon fruit, for future notice, whenever you happen to run into a monkey and have a dragon fruit handy (and preferably a knife to cut one up). I was able to toss this piece to this monkey, in which it caught with its two hands!
This market is in the city of Dalat. Supermarkets are not common in most of Vietnam, but markets are. Even in towns that have a big supermarket, markets still dominate how produce is sold.
Apart from plants being grown to eat, there are also plants used for other factors. For example, rubber tree plantations are common in Vietnam.
Up close, it kind of looks like they are wearing visors around the tap. Sort of like the ones that older women in Korea wear, for anyone who has seen those.
Looking at them as a whole, though, they look extremely carefully planned, mathematically measured on all dimensions.
So, it’s been quite the educational experience driving around Vietnam, getting to learn about the different crops and other products I’ve been consuming here and elsewhere, where they come from and how they are processed from the earth. Even so, there are so many things I’ve eaten or seen and still not known the name of, let alone have any idea about the agricultural process it takes to create them.
First starting out in Vietnam, we were trying to figure out what to do. We were in the central coast of the country, and as Vietnam is a long, coastal country, we could either make a move north or south. That gave us some time to check out the tourist sites around us.
This is from Marble Mountain. It was full of caves, Buddhas and candles.
We went to Hoi An for a couple days, which was probably the most touristy place so far. We drove out to My Son from there, to check out some Cham ruins.
The ride there and back was full of rice fields.
We rented a scooter went up to Hue from there, and on the cloudy ride, this was on the way there.
In Hue, we bought a scooter from another foreigner, so we had to return the first one to Hoi An. So, I got to learn how to drive semi-automatic for the first time, in a foreign country, in the rain!
Though a good skill to have in these parts, these types of bikes do not exist in the United States, so it is only a temporarily useful skill.
After returning the bike, we made a decision to head southward, as the weather was warmer.We ended up spending days riding for hours and hours at a time, observing the agricultural and natural scenery, stopping at night in small towns. Vietnam has so many visitors that even in the smallest, off-the-map villages, we ran into other westerners. During one of the rides, we noticed this foot bridge. We only took a picture of it from one side, as it looked a bit sketchy to cross.
Most of the area we passed was largely rural, hence the omnipresence of cows. In some towns, at any point, a cow, pig or dog can run out into the middle of the street while you are driving. This might be very dangerous in a car, but on bike, you have more opportunity to maneuver, plus you aren’t driving too fast anyway.
Through the hills, some of the driving can get quite windy, so you’ll be forewarned. Some signs even let you know that the area has a high cow population.
Many of the landscapes reminded me of parts of California or the Southwestern United States I’d been to. I realized how little I knew about Vietnam before I had actually come.
From the movies, I thought it was all jungle, but in reality, the natural surrounding is quite diverse.
Rubber tree plantations are quite fine places to stop for a picnic, with all of the symmetrical cleared space, plus the umbrella-effect from the top of the trees.
Apart from landscape, this is a very populated country, so lots of different types of houses and buildings line the road.
This is from the ferry across Lake Toba to Samosir Island. The journey did not start here, however, as it was preceded by a five-hour bus ride and flight into Medan. However, things became quite relaxing at this instance, at the largest volcanic lake in the world.
We ventured out around the island one day. Rice fields are abundant as ever.
Some wetter than others.
In these parts, washing machines are uncommon and dryers barely used. Many wash their clothes right in the lake and dry them to the breeze. It creates the fresh touch from the lake-fresh wind and water, a result that detergent and fabric softener designers often attempt to replicate in their products.
Some goats roam around, but others remained tied to the traditional Batak houses.
Heading uphill to see some cows roam.
View of a hill, from up another hill.
Yet more rice fields on Samosir Island, seen from an aerial view.
Dense concentration of trees. Hiking through this area is not too pleasant, as it’s full of vines and roots and mud, but there are nonetheless trees to temporarily calm the trekker.
The next stop was Berastagi, and we embarked on the main activity of the area, climbing Mount Sibayak, an active volcano.
Towards the hike up to the crater lake, everything starts smelling like sulfur. One can even pick up little yellow clusters of pure sulfur.
Two fumaroles around the crater’s edge. One can hear them steaming from about a mile away, and they sound like old cars driving around bends. It’s rather foggy due to the gas, so the visual component of the crater lake is not so apparent.
Total visibility of the scenery is not common, but is pleasant regardless.
We got lost on the way down, but ended up in a valley of greenery and misty peaks. The right way down ended up being through former metal steps that were mostly torn apart by mudslides, not to mention countless trees that had been uprooted and twisted in every direction over the once-designated hiking path.
In a land full of natural disasters and geologic wonders, one just has to stick to his or her primal instincts to make it down through the jungle.
This is the beach behind where we stayed in Moalboal, Cebu. You can make out the next island, Negros, in the background. Most people travel to this city for scuba diving, but as I don’t practice that sport, I spent most of the time dazing away at beaches like this.
Here’s a lake up a volcano in Negros, the next island. It’s a refreshing break to go up in elevation and escape the intense heat and humidity.
The jungle road on the way back down to town. Half of it is paved, half is not, so it can be quite bumpy, then smooth, then bumpy, but full of tropical plants the whole ride!
These lazy bum cats lived on our porch in Boracay. They would meow on and off all day to be fed, and whenever we’d go outside or open the door, they’d run into our place like they owned it. If we ever went outside with food, they’d start jumping up and try to bite it out of our hands, before we’d brush them off. They were friendly company, nonetheless.
As the Philippines is a country of thousands of islands, a popular mode of transport is by ferry. Bridges are not very common, so travelers will usually end up on a boat at some point or another. Some are big, some are small, some are sweaty, some are air-conditioned. Some are built up well, but others make it so you get splashed with ample seawater during your ride.
Vigan sausages are not vegan. They are made of pork, like most of the food in this country.
The vans are known as Jeepneys. They are a common way to get around in a city. They are kind of like a collective open-air van taxi, bigger than a car, smaller than a bus. Many of the drivers paint their Jeepneys in their own fashion. Some are very colorful, and many have Christian sayings like “God-powered” or “Jesus is lord”.
Another popular mode of transport is the tricycle. It is a motorcycle attached to a cart that has a wheel underneath. These are cheap to ride, but you’ll usually have to talk down the initial price offer with the driver if you’re not a local.
This bell tower offered a delightful view of a cemetery and mountains off to the east. This window was about one story high, so it was fortunate to have such a window not be screened or barred off from the outside. One must be careful to sit there and not fall, naturally.
An old mansion with antique furniture, also the site of some Tom Cruise movie.
Cat cafe on a winter day, Ulsan, South Korea.
A leashed kitten in Ulsan, South Korea.
An Indonesian biker kitten.
Black cat on the streets of Tokyo, Japan.
Kittens cooling off under a bench in Malacca, Malaysia.
Fluffy cat battles fluffy toy in Taipei, Taiwan.
Cat resting in a restaurant booth in Taipei.
Friendly calico in the Philippines.
Variations of the same cat in Lake Toba, Indonesia.
Three kittens in Penang, Malaysia.
Cats forming a pleasing color scheme in Penang.
Sometimes, they reposition.
Tabby cat resting by newspapers in Penang.
Cat bored by the nighttime street action in Bangkok, Thailand.
Cat trying to sell some bootleg DVDs and microphones in Bangkok.
Cozy black kitten in southern Vietnam.
Laotian cat resting on its dirt floor, and simultaneously matching it.
