Tinyblog update, becauseI have a trainto catch andthisspacebar super sucks. Also, I can't putpicturesup fromthis computerand without somephotos, what'sthe point? I'llbe brief (maybe...), and give fullupdatewith photosand whatnot later. Longstoryshort:
Iwent from KL toPalau Perhentian Kecil (overnightbus), where I spentafew days on thebeach, diving, havingSnickers shakes, andchattingwith Amelied'Orleans, Amelie de Paris, andRachel. Left the island thismorningand ferry-bus-bus'd to the Thai border, where I have justcrossedand am takinga 17 hour train to Bangkok soon.HopefullyI'll get to Kanchanaburi in a fewdaysand head to an elephantrescue from there.
Ifyou think this is hardto read, try Thai! Gobbledeegook. (slur unintended)
Feelingconfident and sticky. Soooosticky.WhenI get home,shower and icecream for sure.
I wasthe first foreigner Sabri hasever swam with. Lots offun.
lifeat home - baseline 7 of 10, fun moments are 9 of 10.
lifehere - basline 4? of 10, fun moments are 10s forsure. Bigtens.
Baseline willincreaseas Igetbetterat traveling (alreadyhas some), andfunmoments morecommonas I relaxandappreciatemore (already do).
Loveyouall.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
i'm alive
The the head flight attendant guy, who has a thick Chinese accent and starts all his announcements with "good evening ladies and gentleman, boys and girls..." like a ringmaster, announces that we'll be touching down in Taipei shortly.
TAIPEI?! Why are we going to Taipei? I'm not supposed to be going to Taipei. I want to know why we're going to Taipei. Minor freakout.
Apparently my ticket was issued way back when LA to KL was nonstop. That's no longer the case. Taipei to KL is another 4h40m. Boooooo.
Here's my flight to Taipei:
I'm in the clouds!*
Ooooh, land! And it's pretty, with clouds rolling through black green valleys. I like this.
Wooowwwww, this place is gorgeous! Lookit that river!
THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH! I LOVE TAIPEI! I'VE NEVER IN MY LIFE WANTED TO GO TO TAIWAN AS BADLY AS I DO RIGHT NOW!
KL from the air? Meh.
Anyway, eventually I make it to Kuala Lumpur (KL), and find my way to Elma's. I'm staying at Elma's place; in the photo below, that couch is my bed. We met online. Very normal. She's the matriarch in the photo on the wall, with her 7 children, 2 daughter-in-laws, and 1 grandchild. Elma's one of 14 children. Her father had 3 wives.
Thoughts on getting off the train in downtown KL, in chronological order:
First thought - KL is a very Muslim city.
Second thought - KL is way more Chinese than I expected.
Third thought - Okay, where am I? [checks map: heart of Chinatown]
Fourth thought - I'm an idiot.
At home 6'2" is kinda tall, but here... yeesh. White people are also rare; I stick out hard. Touts are minimal, but they're there (their). Got here yesterday, and the scammers were ready:
This guy came up to me, maybe 50 years old, speaking excellent English, very friendly. I needed to find an internet cafe, and this guy spoke English, so I bite. C'mon Jake, innocent until proven (you know where this is going, but really, that was my thought). He asks me where I'm from, and points me towards an internet cafe. We're walking the same direction, so I say hi. His daughter's going to go to USCD. A woman comes out of nowhere on my right: "Say, you should meet our daughter! Where are you staying tonight?"
So that sucks. I don't want to spend my whole trip as a mark. Maybe I'll learn to avoid/ignore it automatically, the way I don't even see meat options on menus anymore. Anyway, got to the internet cafe, where I am right now. Plunked down $2 for 3 hours here.
3 hours?! What are you doing for 3 hours online?
You have no idea how hard it's raining. I've never heard such loud rain. Animals are lining up in twos, I swear. This happens every afternoon, from about 3-6 or so. Internet cafes are indoors and have a/c. The rain is so loud and constant it sounds like construction.
Oh, I'm kinda a travel superhero. 11 hour time difference, no jet lag. I went to sleep at 10pm, awoke at 7am. And BootsnAll travel forum has, after fiery orations and vitriolic debates, bestowed upon me the honor of "Most Valuable New Member of March 2008." I'd like to thank the Academy...
Obviously this is a long blog post. It's still raining buckets.
* - Tell the truth, I was thinking: lookit how the clouds stratify! So neat! Like when you mix oil and water, and let them settle, and drop a raisin in, and it floats on the boundary? It's neat to see that there are different kinds of clouds, with different densities, and each floats on its respective layer of air. And obviously then the atmostphere has such a density gradient. I wonder if the gradient is smooth and continuous, or with discrete... anyway.
Clouds also follow coastlines, which is neat to see from the air:
And for a bonus, here are the Philippines:
TAIPEI?! Why are we going to Taipei? I'm not supposed to be going to Taipei. I want to know why we're going to Taipei. Minor freakout.
Apparently my ticket was issued way back when LA to KL was nonstop. That's no longer the case. Taipei to KL is another 4h40m. Boooooo.
Here's my flight to Taipei:
I'm in the clouds!*
Ooooh, land! And it's pretty, with clouds rolling through black green valleys. I like this.
Wooowwwww, this place is gorgeous! Lookit that river!
THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH! I LOVE TAIPEI! I'VE NEVER IN MY LIFE WANTED TO GO TO TAIWAN AS BADLY AS I DO RIGHT NOW!
KL from the air? Meh.
Anyway, eventually I make it to Kuala Lumpur (KL), and find my way to Elma's. I'm staying at Elma's place; in the photo below, that couch is my bed. We met online. Very normal. She's the matriarch in the photo on the wall, with her 7 children, 2 daughter-in-laws, and 1 grandchild. Elma's one of 14 children. Her father had 3 wives.
Thoughts on getting off the train in downtown KL, in chronological order:
First thought - KL is a very Muslim city.
Second thought - KL is way more Chinese than I expected.
Third thought - Okay, where am I? [checks map: heart of Chinatown]
Fourth thought - I'm an idiot.
At home 6'2" is kinda tall, but here... yeesh. White people are also rare; I stick out hard. Touts are minimal, but they're there (their). Got here yesterday, and the scammers were ready:
This guy came up to me, maybe 50 years old, speaking excellent English, very friendly. I needed to find an internet cafe, and this guy spoke English, so I bite. C'mon Jake, innocent until proven (you know where this is going, but really, that was my thought). He asks me where I'm from, and points me towards an internet cafe. We're walking the same direction, so I say hi. His daughter's going to go to USCD. A woman comes out of nowhere on my right: "Say, you should meet our daughter! Where are you staying tonight?"
So that sucks. I don't want to spend my whole trip as a mark. Maybe I'll learn to avoid/ignore it automatically, the way I don't even see meat options on menus anymore. Anyway, got to the internet cafe, where I am right now. Plunked down $2 for 3 hours here.
3 hours?! What are you doing for 3 hours online?
You have no idea how hard it's raining. I've never heard such loud rain. Animals are lining up in twos, I swear. This happens every afternoon, from about 3-6 or so. Internet cafes are indoors and have a/c. The rain is so loud and constant it sounds like construction.
Oh, I'm kinda a travel superhero. 11 hour time difference, no jet lag. I went to sleep at 10pm, awoke at 7am. And BootsnAll travel forum has, after fiery orations and vitriolic debates, bestowed upon me the honor of "Most Valuable New Member of March 2008." I'd like to thank the Academy...
Obviously this is a long blog post. It's still raining buckets.
* - Tell the truth, I was thinking: lookit how the clouds stratify! So neat! Like when you mix oil and water, and let them settle, and drop a raisin in, and it floats on the boundary? It's neat to see that there are different kinds of clouds, with different densities, and each floats on its respective layer of air. And obviously then the atmostphere has such a density gradient. I wonder if the gradient is smooth and continuous, or with discrete... anyway.
Clouds also follow coastlines, which is neat to see from the air:
And for a bonus, here are the Philippines:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
planes are not my forte
I'm not scared of them. I'm just stupid.
I leave for the airport in 3 hours. Some stories, all true:
* I've shown up to the airport to find I booked my tickets the wrong way (Chicago -> Berkeley -> Chicago is no way to visit home from school...)
* I've shown up to the airport to find my flight wasn't that day.
* My mom told me I'd better get tickets home for Thanksgiving before they get too expensive. About 2.5 weeks before Turkey Day, I booked my tickets and they were downright cheap. Jake one, Mom zero! Tuesday before I came home, I was chatting with the folks: "See you Thursday!"
folks - "Why are we seeing you Thursday?"
me - "Um, because it's Thanksgiving."
folks - "Thanksgiving's next weekend."
me - "Ut oh."
(Whatever. Makes up for the time we were all going to meet in Portland for Thanksgiving, and my family never showed up. Very funny.)
* I've missed flights that were correctly booked. (If you've never missed a flight, you've spent too much time in the airport.)
* I've done everything right and got to the airport on time, but then fell asleep at the gate. Ever wake up in an empty terminal? I have twice. It stinks. Why didn't anybody wake me?!
So, this should be an adventure.
I'm antsy and a little nervous, of course, but I'm excited as hell. This trip has been in the works since February of 2007, and it starts IN THREE HOURS!!!
Goodbye beautiful Chicago! Hello monsoons!
That weather forecast is for real.
This will be quite the adventure. I love you all.
I leave for the airport in 3 hours. Some stories, all true:
* I've shown up to the airport to find I booked my tickets the wrong way (Chicago -> Berkeley -> Chicago is no way to visit home from school...)
* I've shown up to the airport to find my flight wasn't that day.
* My mom told me I'd better get tickets home for Thanksgiving before they get too expensive. About 2.5 weeks before Turkey Day, I booked my tickets and they were downright cheap. Jake one, Mom zero! Tuesday before I came home, I was chatting with the folks: "See you Thursday!"
folks - "Why are we seeing you Thursday?"
me - "Um, because it's Thanksgiving."
folks - "Thanksgiving's next weekend."
me - "Ut oh."
(Whatever. Makes up for the time we were all going to meet in Portland for Thanksgiving, and my family never showed up. Very funny.)
* I've missed flights that were correctly booked. (If you've never missed a flight, you've spent too much time in the airport.)
* I've done everything right and got to the airport on time, but then fell asleep at the gate. Ever wake up in an empty terminal? I have twice. It stinks. Why didn't anybody wake me?!
So, this should be an adventure.
I'm antsy and a little nervous, of course, but I'm excited as hell. This trip has been in the works since February of 2007, and it starts IN THREE HOURS!!!
Goodbye beautiful Chicago! Hello monsoons!
That weather forecast is for real.
This will be quite the adventure. I love you all.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
holy hot weather, batman!
Average monthly highs, in Farenheit:
..........Chicago...Berkeley...Delhi....Cairo
June ......80............70..........101........93
July .......84............70............94........93
Wowza. Those are averages! So apparently India is hot. And you can't drink the water. And I'm supposed to avoid ice. Terrrrrrrific.
I'm a little worried about the heat. BBC has a little column titled "discomfort from heat and humidity" for India. The June and July listings say "extreme." And I have 154 anti-malarial pills I'm supposed to be taking, but if I'm in India in June (and I will be), and the average daily high is 101, that means some days it'll be what, 110? Will the pills melt? I'm kinda serious.
In other news, I officially left my job at UChicago, and have moved out of 915 Lytle, where Cam has upgraded roommates from Jake-the-friend to Leah-the-fiancee. So I'm now unemployed and living with my parents, but shhhhhh.
I've decided to attend UW-Seattle. Here's the line I'm using to answer the standard question: "I want to study how smaller evolutionary units combine to form larger units. Like: how do your individual cells cooperate to form you?" The research goes by a bunch of names: evolutionary game theory, network theory, levels of selection theory, evolution of cooperation, etc. A couple neat snippets, if you're interested:
Gaia hypothesis - as David Grinspoon put it: "life doesn't happen on a planet, it happens to a planet."
iterated prisoner's dilemma - defection is always better than cooperation, and yet...
viruses show tragedy of the commons - not just ivory tower nonsense, this stuff is for real
Also, I like squirrels. Especially squirrels who like me because I have bread.
..........Chicago...Berkeley...Delhi....Cairo
June ......80............70..........101........93
July .......84............70............94........93
Wowza. Those are averages! So apparently India is hot. And you can't drink the water. And I'm supposed to avoid ice. Terrrrrrrific.
I'm a little worried about the heat. BBC has a little column titled "discomfort from heat and humidity" for India. The June and July listings say "extreme." And I have 154 anti-malarial pills I'm supposed to be taking, but if I'm in India in June (and I will be), and the average daily high is 101, that means some days it'll be what, 110? Will the pills melt? I'm kinda serious.
In other news, I officially left my job at UChicago, and have moved out of 915 Lytle, where Cam has upgraded roommates from Jake-the-friend to Leah-the-fiancee. So I'm now unemployed and living with my parents, but shhhhhh.
I've decided to attend UW-Seattle. Here's the line I'm using to answer the standard question: "I want to study how smaller evolutionary units combine to form larger units. Like: how do your individual cells cooperate to form you?" The research goes by a bunch of names: evolutionary game theory, network theory, levels of selection theory, evolution of cooperation, etc. A couple neat snippets, if you're interested:
Gaia hypothesis - as David Grinspoon put it: "life doesn't happen on a planet, it happens to a planet."
iterated prisoner's dilemma - defection is always better than cooperation, and yet...
viruses show tragedy of the commons - not just ivory tower nonsense, this stuff is for real
Also, I like squirrels. Especially squirrels who like me because I have bread.
Animals love you if you feed them. It's always a little knock to the ego to go into Shedd's Caribbean Reef for maintenance (when you don't have a food bucket); none of the animals pay any attention to you. All along, it's not me they've loved! Those callous fishies, so capricious with my tender heart...
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