A Bowl of Stupid

I’m going back to Vietnam next week for a few days. So today, instead of finally leaving Hong Kong Island, I went to the Vietnam embassy to get my visa. And I wound up exploring the Wan Chai neighborhood.

Wan Chai has earned a reputation as Hong Kong’s Red Light District. But from what I saw, I’m guessing either it doesn’t hold a candle to Bangkok’s many red-light extravaganzas, or things don’t get started in Wan Chai until the sum goes down.

Regardless, my posts about this trip are starting to resemble a soundtrack rather than a descriptive travel blog. I was playing the following song for most of the afternoon. It’s brand new, the video is (for now) only on Local Motion, and can only be seen back in the States (unless you’re using an ‘anonymity’ web-proxy program … ahem).

Like a lot of the new music coming out lately, it hearkens back to the type of shit they were producing in the 1980′s — saxophones, heavy keyboards, and more melodic songs. The video is a short version of the song.

Watch the video if you can, and then go over to the KEXP site and download the MP3 and listen to the extended version. It made for a great day walking about the city.

The Dears – Disclaimer

I’ve been in Hong Kong for almost a week now. It really is a remarkable city. Two of my friends from Bangkok told me after they visited here last year that Hong Kong island is a monument to humans’ engineering and technological prowess. There are massive skyscrapers stretching from Victoria Harbour all the way up the mountain-side to Victoria Peak.

For lack of a better comparison, it’s like Manhattan built onto the side of a mountain.

As with New York, the city never sleeps and the atmosphere is truly international. But Hong Kong is also truly Asian — you can see that by taking off down any small dingy side street where they’re butchering and selling meat and fish wholesale right out in the allyway.

My days have generally consisted of wandering the streets of the island and Kow Loon, bebopping about on the MTR train line, and just sorta taking it in. My nights have been spent getting pissed with one of my best mates from Miami, at whose place I’m staying.

And while that too has been fun, it’s also ridiculously expensive to party here. Add that with the fact that this particular weekend is the biggest of the year — the ‘Hong Kong Sevens’ rugby tournament is going on this weekend. It’s one of the biggest displays of drunken debauchery I’ve ever heard of, let alone been involved in (peripherally, at least). It was going on my first weekend here, and I’m still a bit overwhelmed by the sight of running water and 24 hour electricity. So despite all the fun I was having, by 4 a.m. in the morning the whole scene got to be a bit much for me.

Plus, ever since I got here, the weather really hasn’t been cooperating. It’s been brisk out (hovering at about 20 C / 68 F), with an omnipresent rain and mist. Add that to the multitude of neon lights and millions of people, and it feels a bit like I walked onto the set of Blade Runner.

It really is a spectacular city, and I recommend that anyone who has time, and significant cash reserves, visit at least once in their lifetime. I’m not sure how long I’m gonna stay for now, but I just saw that it’s raining again back in Bali for the next week — so it may be a while.

The mist is burning off a bit this morning, so I went for some coffee and took a nice 3 hour walk about town. A great Bon Iver song popped up on my iTunes, and although the lyrics themselves are a bit melancholy, the song made for a good soundtrack.

Bon Iver — Skinny Love

Ahh, another day, another airport departure lounge — today folks, we’ve got Kuala Lumpur in the den with the candlestick (cuz it’s Halal) on the way to Hong Kong.

Thought I’d take this opportunity to post one of my favorite new songs. It’s the latest from Neko Case, the first single off her latest 2009 CD, Middle Cyclone.

Despite her incredible talent and having been on the scene for the last 10-odd years, until recently, she still remained somewhat of a cult favorite. Indeed, Middle Cyclone is her first album to reach the Top 10 on the US Billboard Charts. Take a listen, it’s pretty good shit.

So I kinda screwed up again. Not big, but enough to make me wanna kick myself again.

Y’see, I had planned on going straight from Australia to visit one of my best friends from Miami now living in Hong Kong, but since I was traveling with a surfboard and only beach clothes, I decided to head back to Bali for a few days first.

I had the chance to buy a 7 day Indonesian visa for only US$10. But instead, I wasn’t sure how long I was staying, so I laid down the US$25 for a full 30 day visa. Mistake number one.

I also had the chance to save money by purchasing the tickets to Hong Kong last week. But instead, I bought them today, only 3 days before I leave, thus costing me about another extra US$90.

From what I’ve heard about Hong Kong, I’m sure that’ll be a drop in the bucket in terms of what I’, gonna have to spend while I’m there. But at this point — with no job prospects and income sources being depleted at a staggering rate — I’ve gotta start watching my finances a bit more carefully.

So that’s it. From today onward, no more hookers, heroin, or hash for me. I’m on the wagon, folks.

I was off the grid traveling for a couple days. I’m back home in Bali now. The following was written in yet another airport departure lounge … this time in the Melbourne airport.

Well, I’m leaving Australia. After less than 2 weeks total.

I know, I know … I had initially planned on staying in Australia and/or New Zealand for at least a month, and possibly more. But a variety of factors took hold that have made returning to Asia much more appealing to me right now.

First, it was just really too expensive in Australia in comparison to Asia. I mean REALLY expensive. I think I spent more money in Oz in 10 days that I’ve spent in Asia in the past six (6) months … TOTAL. So there’s that.

Second, and more importantly, I may not be physically able to be ‘reintroduced into the world. ‘I’ve had so many ‘pseudo-anxiety attacks’ since I first got here that it’s not comical, even on a self-depricating one (which is saying something since I typically love making fun of myself as much as anyone). Honestly however, the sensory overload, even when I’ve been traveling by myself, has been simply overwhelming.

For example, my friends here (thanks to Nicole, Jenna and Thress for showing me such a great time in Melbourne) took me out, showed me around, and introduced me to some really great people.Yet after 10 days here, when I took the train for lunch in downtown Melbourne today (which isn’t nearly as pretentious as Sydney), I was still sufficiently freaked out by the whole experience. Now I know how it must feel for small-towners to visit New York for the first time.

Indeed, I felt much much better when I got back to the smaller, artsy beach area of St. Kilda, where I’ve been staying for the past couple of days. The trip downtown kinda reaffirmed my beleif in the concept of a collective consciousness — I just felt the stressful pace of all those people working and shopping and going to school in hustle of Melbourne’s downtown, which in turn stressed me out since I’m not on that same level.

I’m heading back to Bali for at least a week or two. We’ll see how the waves are, and then I’m heading onward again to see one of my best friends in Hong Kong for a bit. We’ll see how it unfolds.

You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough.
~William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

Man, I’d forgotten just how delicious an emotion anger can be.

I’ve been working on managing my anger (and other emotions) through Buddhism, meditation, and yoga ever since I first got to Asia. I’ve been doing it for a variety of reasons — in Asia, it’s culturally unacceptable to get angry in public (i.e., everywhere), it’s generally healthier to focus your anger towards such positive outlets (i.e., yoga, surfing, etc.), and because I’m just generally trying to be a nicer, more mature person (i.e., I’m getting to the age where it’s just unbecoming to be angry).

But as I noted in a recent post, pushing those emotion too far away also has consequences. Like letting TOO many things slide without a fight. Like a failure to acknowledge when someone else has been mean or rude or reckless with you. Like diffusing the emotions so often that it becomes emasculating.

Right now, however, I’m over it. Now? I’m just mad. No, strike that — I’m fucking pissed off.

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve felt this way. And you know what? It feels good. Because it is rage justified. And anger fuels better decisions.

I don’t care if it renders my behavior immature, or surly, or what-the-fuck-ever other judgment call is thrown back at me. It’s unnatural to remain smooth, calm, and unaffected by the frustrations experienced in life. And if there’s no slack — either I’m too soft or I’m too surly — fuck it. it’s nice to be happily pissed off again, if only for an hour or two.

It reminds me of who I am, and that I’m still alive.

The sheer stupidity to which I sometimes live up to the title of this blog is staggering. And for how much insight I can often glean when reading people in how they deal with others, it is also staggering at just HOW wrong I usually am when I try to apply that same insight into my own life (the only reason I know is when people have told me months, or even years, after the fact).

But more distressful than either of those things is the fact that, even after all these years, I still sometimes pout like a little boy when things don’t go my way.

I’ve always been a brat, yes, that’s true. But I had conquered (or at least begun to master) the silly little temper tantrums I used to throw when things didn’t go my way.

But all this living alone, and doing everything I want, and going wherever I want, whenever and however I want — day in and day out for the last 3 years — has softened me up again to the point where I’ve forgotten how to deal with things, and people, when I DON’T get to do what I want. And I’ve returned to that place I was at when I was a stupid little boy — acting like a complete ass until I get my way.

It is not who I am. And, after a couple days reflection, I just want to beat myself about the head and neck with a handful of cocktail straws. But unfortunately, it’s something I need to deal with again.

For the moment, I’m too tired, and too angry with myself to explore — in words, at least — how best to deal with my apparent loss of maturity and self-control. And I’m hunkering down against a massive case of sensory overload and culture shock here in Sydney right now.

I really am a bit worried about how, and if, I’ll be able to readjust when I finally do return to the herd.

With that being said, I’m heading out of Sydney to visit friends in Melbourne for several days. Then I may stay with another friend in the small coastal town of Woolongong to get some surf, and try to clear my head a bit. Because it’s all just a bit much at the moment.

I’m in Coolangatta (Gold Coast), Queensland, Australia.

It’s been about 1 and one-half years now since the last time I was in a Western country. So yes, I am feeling very much like an Amish kid on vacation in the big city. But regardless, today was an absolutely awesome fuckin’ day:

• I am in an English speaking country again.
• I can drink water from the tap again (an added benefit, considering a bottle of water costs 3 freakin’ dollars).
• I’ve been hanging with my good friend all day again.
• I bought a sick new surfboard (a 6’4″ Darren Handley, cuz apparently surfboards are the ONLY things cheaper here than in Asia).
• I watched the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, the first stop of the 2009 ASP World Pro Surfing Tour.

And, most importantly:

• I ate real cheese for the first time in almost 2 years.

Yes, I’ve still got an extreme case of culture shock. But the cheese helped.

I like it here very much. I really do.

It’s 3:30 in the morning. I’m sitting in the Darwin airport in the midst of a 3 hour layover before my flight to Sydney.

It’s my first time out of Asia, and back into a western country (effectively), since October 2007 — almost 1.5 years ago.

In all my travels throughout Asia during the past few years, I’ve had to deal with stupid regulations that make no sense, security personnel willing to ‘bend’ immigration rules for the right amount of cash (typically no more than US$20), and all kinds of visas and security checks. But in all that time, despite the sometimes lengthy lines I’ve faced, I never had a problem with the system breaking down.

Until now. I swear, Irony will outlive us all.

I got to the airport here in Darwin about an hour ago. But their computer systems have been down all night, and they’ve been unable to process anyone through immigration all during that time.

It’s no skin off my (admittedly rather large) nose. The immigration folks have been exceptionally magnanimous about the whole situation. And My connecting flight isn’t for another few hours. But I find it incredibly ironic that the first time in almost 16 months that I come back through a ‘civilized’ country, and they can’t even get me through the front door.

Welcome back to the machine.

I’m back in Bali for a week or so before heading down to Australia for a while. I don’t know just how long I’m gonna be there, but I’m thinking in the 4-6 week range (depending on fundage).

Ironically, I’m having a pretty nice time here in Bali right now. The surf (although small) has been fun, the beaches are relatively clean, and the rainy season seems to have stopped (for now at least). Moreover, the same group of friends I was traveling with through Borneo last month are here. Which has made this week even better.

Like I mentioned, I head to Australia on Sunday — Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Sydney … and working my way down to Melbourne.

Once again, if anyone has any suggestions as to where I should / need to go along the Eastern Seaboard, please either comment or drop me a line — I’m always up for hitting great restaurants, towns, and (most importantly) surf spots!