Surprises in Asia

Local fascination with tourists

Indonesian people like to have their picture taken while posing next to a tourist. While visiting the Monas tower in Jakarta we were approached by 4 or 5 different groups of people (mostly schoolchildren) who wanted the to have their picture taken standing next to us. One man even asked Csilla to pose while holding his baby.

The reasons behind this fascination have remained largely unclear to us: is it that foreigners are unusually tall, have unusually pale complexion (even after spending 6 months in tropical countries), wear funny hats, or have facial hair? Or does it bring good luck if one is featured on the same picture with a foreigner. (Note that Asian people do all kinds of weird things in the hope for good luck: release caged birds, feed fish, burn paper money, etc.)

The above picture is taken in Prambanan a couple of days after the surprise. Here we were already used to being the object of locals' photography.

Rice fields

Terraced rice fields observed during the train journey from Jakarta to Yogyakarta.

Vertical plantations

Gunung Bromo and a Hindu religious ceremony

Mount Bromo sits in the Tengger caldera, next to [BUG: how many] other volcanoes and a Hindu temple. The local people have been throwing offerings (plus what seems to be regular garbage) into the caldera making it look a bit like a garbage can. After seeing some 10 volcano craters during this trip, Gunung Bromo is finally a one that smokes: a huge column of sulfurous smoke rises out of the pit.

We arrived at the base of Gunung Bromo right at the beginning of an annual religious ceremony [BUG: what was the name?]. The local Tenggerese people constitute of small pocket of Hindus that remained after Muslims spread all over Java (other Hindus went to the Bali island). The temple was crowded inside and outside surrounded with vehicles. Everybody had come either in a jeep or on a motorbike.

The ceremony was quite short, 1h at most. It consisted of some sitting and praying (men and women where sitting in the separate parts of the temple), accompanied by some singing and (mainly) percussion music. In the end the priests sprinkled the participants with holy (?) water. Most people then rushed away, but some stayed to eat. Some of the food was placed in front of the holy statues. We offered one of our biscuits to Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. (Not sure if it was polite or appropriate.)

Leeches

Loud thunder

Tubing down the Bohorok river to the village of Bukit Lawang heard a loud thunder sound which surprised because so loud thunder I had never heard before.

It thunders and rains around Bukit Lawang almost every evening, at least in May.

Elaborately painted buses

first seen in Thale Noi.

Fish of the Chao Phraya river

Fish fighting over food, people feeding them with bread (and not fishing them), dead pigeon, nearby temple. At Tha Thewet (Tewes).

It is also possible to buy little fish, frogs and turtles and release them into the river (for good luck?).

I had seen feeding of the fish in São Paulo, Galapagos, Georgetown, etc. and was always surprised by the concentration of fish that is causes, but the fish of Bangkok take it to a whole new level.

Khao San Rd.

Fish massage

Weird law restricting the sale of alcohol

Tried to buy a bottle of wine at 16 o'clock in Bangkok, but it turned out that wine (any alcohol?) can be sold only 11.00-14.00 and 17.00-midnight, unless you want to buy 10 liters. (Tried in the ChinaCentral (?) supermall and in a 7-eleven.) Don't know what is the motivation behind this law...

The above photo was taken 2 months after the first surprise when I was not surprised anymore but simply annoyed.

Wax sculptures of famous Buddhist monks

The wax sculptures in the Thai Human Imagery Museum are extremely lifelike, especially the sculptures of the famous Buddhist monks (about 15 sculptures) on the first floor. Little details like wrinkles, birth marks and spots on the skin, blood vessels under the skin, etc. have been carefully carved into the sculptures.

I hadn't really seen good wax sculptures before, e.g. I've never visited the Madam Tussaud's museums.

Drove over a dog

Second-hand bookstores in Chiang Mai

Many bookstores. Wide selection: not just travel guides, mainstream novels, and spiritual literature, but also e.g. popular science. Several shelves even for Finnish books. A bit expensive though, on average books cost about 200–300 THB. Photocopies of Lonely Planet cost 150 THB (new original is 950 THB). How did this second-hand bookstore scene emerge in Chiang Mai, of all places?

Elephant skin

Feet on the back of the elephant; mahout's hook — bleeding behind the ear; flies biting — bites bleeding; violent scratching against rocks and trees.

Hippos at the Chiang Mai zoo

The look on the Lahu people's faces

Leeches

Compared to the leeches encountered while trekking in the Gunung Leuser National Park (see surprise 2010-05-29), the leeches of Nam Ha (?) were much more aggressive and abundant.

Rain moving in

Reflecting wall decorations in Wat Xiang Thong

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum

Water puppet performance

1h show at the Water Puppet Theater, mostly for the tourists. Ticket price 40k or 60k. The 10 puppeteers who are not visible during the performance. Band includes more string instruments than a gamelan band (e.g. single-stringed zither, dan bau). Puppets include buffalo, villagers, frogs, fish, lions, king Le Loi, giant golden turtle, boats, ducks, fairies, and the four Holy Animals (unicorn, phoenix, dragon, turtle). Unfortunately missed the most technical move (was focused on the band instead) — King Le Loi handing the magic sword back to the Giant Golden Turtle.

Hanoi traffic

There is no subway or SkyRail in Hanoi. No public buslines [BUG: check]. Instead everybody owns a motorbike. Streets are filled with a continuous flow of motorbikes; zebra crossings and even traffic lights are not respected; constant honking, for no apparent reason; side walks are used as motorbikes' parking space, so there is no place for pedestrians. Worst during Saturday evening in the Old Quarter.

Tall narrow houses

Tall but very narrow buildings with fancy balconies observed along the road between Hanoi and Halong City.

Tide

Spent the night in a small resort on a small island near the Cat Ba island. The resort was a row of bungalows squeezed between a 30-meter vertical cliff and a short strip of sand by a small bay.

In the evening observed the tide getting stronger with water covering the sandy beach completely, in the next morning all of the water had been sucked out of the bay. Locals were collecting mussels from the bottom of the bay.

[BUG: learn about the possible tide cycles]

Wikipedia: Ha Long Bay has the typical diurnal tide system (tide amplitude ranges from 3.5-4m).

Bus with beds

Took an overnight bus from Hanoi to Hue. Instead of seats, the bus had beds. There were 6 rows of 3 columns of 2 layers of beds + bed space for about 6 people in the very back, i.e. 42 places in total. When entering the bus one has to take the shoes off. Also, the bigger daypacks are not allowed on the bus. Had to argue long with the bus driver to be allowed to take my bag on board. First I though this rule is there to make sure that the aisles are kept free e.g. so that people can easily go to the toilet at the back of the bus. Later it turned out that the bus, which was scheduled to make just one stop between Hanoi and Hue, actually stopped at every village to pick up people who would then sit/sleep in the aisle. Bus drivers' way to earn some extra money.

Otherwise it was quite comfortable: could sleep better than in a South-American long-distance bus.

Tailor scene in Hoi An

Every second house in the old town of Hoi An hosts a tailor shop. You can have your measurements taken for a fancy suit or dress, or immediately buy a fake Lacoste polo-shirt, as cheap as 4 USD. T-shirts with Vietnamese motifs cost 2 USD.

Similar tailor scene exists in the touristy area of Banglamphu in Bangkok, but in Hoi An the concentration of tailor shops is much bigger.

Cao Dai kitsch

Cambodian snacks

A mobile food stall next to the Royal Palace complex in Phnom Penh featured the following selection of food: worms, crickets, grasshoppers, two types of small bird, cockroaches, frogs, and large spiders.

Unfortunately was not allowed to take a photo.

Cambodian People's Party signs

everywhere...

Small hospitals in Kratie

People walking around (or driving on motorbikes) with infusion bags attached to them.

Motorbike accident in down-town Siem Reap

Huge casinos in Poipet

Cow

Monday morning 10 o'clock traffic in front of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Worse than Indonesia and Vietnam (honking!) combined. An army of cute yellow-and-black taxicabs. Double-decker buses. Large crowds of people, mostly men. And a cow in the middle of all this.

The above picture is taken approx. an hour later when the same cow (?) had wandered a little further (where there was not that much traffic).

Pigeon tree

The amount of pigeons sitting on a tree close to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

Garbage

The pile of garbage lining the way to the Haji Ali's Mosque.

Camel in Ahmedabad

Camel on the street in the center of Ahmedabad.

Elephant in Ahmedabad

Elephant on the street in the center of Ahmedabad. While camels and elephants are working hard, carrying heavy loads, there are also many cows and donkeys in the streets in central Ahmedabad, but they just roam freely or just relax in the middle of the busy traffic.

Indian transvestites

Two transvestites walking around in the Ahmedabad–Mumbai train, clapping their hands and touching peoples heads. Didn't understand the purpose of this, maybe was a form of begging although I didn't see anybody giving them money.

Flooding in Mumbai

Took a taxi from the Dadar train station to the airport. It was raining heavily and some of the streets were flooded to the extent that people were walking knee-deep in the water. The buses that were passing by created major waves, locally rising the water levels even further. Viewed this all from the cozy air-conditioned taxi.

Chungking Mansions

Full of small guesthouses scattered over the whole building. Full of Indians and Africans (whom you don't see that much in other parts of Hong Kong). View to the shaft between the blocks, full of rusty AC units.

It is a legendary building, featured e.g. in Wong Kar-wai's film "Chungking Express".

Hong Kong skyscrapers in the night

The nighttime view from the tip of the Kowloon peninsula to the lit up skyscrapers (especially the tallest, ifc two) of the Hong Kong island. At 8pm some of the skyscrapers put on a synchronized light show with musical background for about 15 minutes.

A puzzle in the Hong Kong Science Museum

The Mathematics-section of the Hong Kong Science Museum contained a puzzle with an elegant solution which I failed to figure out on my own — two wooden pieces were connected into a cross by metal rods (not visible), the task was to take to cross apart.

The solution was simply to spin the cross to move the rods (4) to the 4 ends of the cross breaking the connection in the middle. This cannot be achieved in any other way (e.g. by shaking the cross).

Picnic?

Sunday; in the elevated walkway around the ifc mall; large number of women sitting on/in cardboard boxes; eating and playing cards; some working on their laptops. Was it a Sunday picnic in a city with few parks?

Views from The Peak

Hong Kong dollar paper notes

Visited the museum of Hong Kong Monetary Authority on the 55th floor of ifc two (this beautiful skyscraper has 88 floors in total but only the 55th is accessible to tourists) and learned that Hong Kong dollar paper notes are issued by 3 different note-issuing banks, each using a different design. The 93/94-designs were updated in 2003 (the 1000-note has received even 3 updates since 93/94) but the old notes were not demonetized. This has lead to the confusing situation that 40 different notes are used to represent 6 different nominations (10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000).

See also: UI to money.

Aberdeen cemetery

A large tomb-covered conical hill surrounded by the forest of 40-storey residential buildings.

Macau jerky

Rectangular sheets of meat sold in the old town of Macau. The sellers push you to sample it but I have said no so far.

The building of Grand Lisboa

The building of Grand Lisboa hotel and casino is shaped like a flower (or a flaming torch?).

Fisherman's Wharf

Theme park / shopping mall. Many houses in different styles: Florida Art Deco, Venice, Holland, Roman amphitheater, etc. Gives a nice contrast against the glass wall of the Sands casino across the street. Almost empty on a rainy Saturday. Is everybody sitting in a casino?

The Venetian

The Venetian is the world's largest casino. [BUG: by which criteria?] Replica of Venice (or replica of Las Vegas' The Venetian which is the replica of Venice) complete with canals and gondolas (both outside and inside of the building), Rialto Bridge, [BUG] Tower, Doge's Palace, etc.

The price of Beijing metro

... is just 2 CNY, for any distance and changing of lines.

Hutong

Many public toilets and silent electric bikes.

Kite fliers

Waitress and her snot

While taking our order in a restaurant in the Xi'an Muslim district the waitress kept [BUG: nina löristama], instead of blowing her nose and getting over with it. I had heard stories about such things happening in China, but such a vivid demonstration while one was thinking about food was surprising.

Views during the Beijing-Helsinki flight

... to the deserts in Mongolia and a river in Russia (close to Abakan).