Not currently blogging

Life is too busy to blog with any consistency, so I'm taking an indefinite break from the blogosphere. I'll let everyone know if/when I start blogging again.

More Books, and update

Since making my reading list post, I have picked up a few more novels: "Norweigan Wood" by Haruki Murakami and "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller. My next book purchases will be law school books. Joy.

Also, I am sorry for not posting more often about my travels in Vietnam. My laptop is dying, I lost my memory stick, and internet access in Vietnam is less than stellar...so I have no real way of uploading photos to the blog. Without photos, a blog post would just be me rambling, and we all know that no one reads those posts. Since no photo tops this post, perhaps some of you haven't even gotten this far.

Anyway, I might make a few posts once I get back to the States just to round things off. Unless law school immediately consumes my life. Which it likely will.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

If you like big cities with more than their fair share of ambient noise, filth, and prostitutes, then Saigon is the right city for you.

Ok, so that description does not hold true for all of the city, but it certainly holds true for Pham Ngu Lao, the main backpacker district in downtown Saigon. I got the impression that this area of Saigon hasn't changed all that much since circa 1970, the notable exception being that a hodgepodge of backpackers have now replaced the hodgepodge of American GIs. To be fair, the Dong Khoi area of central Saigon was extremely nice, at several locations even bordering on chic; the top revenue-generating Gucci in all SE Asia is located here (or at least that's what I'm told). Not exactly a tale of two cities -- I imagine that prostitutes can be found in Dong Khoi, though there would probably be a price differential -- but the contrasting areas do give Saigon something of a diverse cityscape.

Notable parts of my stay included a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, soaking up all of the overt propaganda (and I thought Laos was bad...), and hanging out with a fellow Berkeley alum. All conveniently represented in the photos below.

A shot of the vibrant night scene in Pham Ngu Lao.

A shot of the not-so-vibrant dinner scene for the lone traveler.

At the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Chillin' with a bust of Ho Chi Minh at the Cu Chi Tunnels. His face is predictably omnipresent in Vietnam.

One of the many propoganda posters that blanket the city. This one caught my eye because it appears that there is an AK-47 wielding backpacker on the far right. I suppose everyone has their place in the revolution...

Me and Crystal, a friend of a friend and fellow Berkeley grad. She and her dad run a factory that manufactures wooden shutters, and I was stoked to get an offer to tour the factory. As always, it was very good to spend time with Berkeley folk.

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang was the second and final stop of my journey through Laos. The central area of town has been selected as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its blend of traditional Lao and colonial French architecture. UNESCO definitely got this one right. The old town is built on a peninsula between the Nham Khan and the Mekong Rivers and is situated in a valley surrounded by verdant, cloud-covered mountains. It may be overrun with tourists -- of the backpacking and the suitcase-ing varieties -- yet the reason why is quite evident: Luang Prabang is stunningly beautiful. Notably, there are about a dozen wats (temples) in the town and the historic streets are all the more mystical for being tread by innumerable saffron-robed Buddhist monks.

Sunset over the Mekong on day #1 in Luang Prabang.

One of the many wats in town.

A group of novice monks crossing the river to reach the peninsula.

Sunset from a hill in central Luang Prabang on day #2. No sunset photo from day #3 because it was pouring down rain.

The town of Luang Prabang is gorgeous, however its attraction as a tourist city goes beyond the century-old wats and colonial facades. It is also the perfect base town to explore the local eco-tourism industry. I booked a tour that included kayaking on the rivers as well as a short elephant ride. Despite a copious amount of rainfall, the experience was nothing short of amazing. It didn't occur to me until later that these were my last moments with the Mekong, the river that has been a staple image throughout my time in SE Asia. I am very happy that I got to have some quality time with the river, cruising around on its muddy brown waters (apparently, in Laos, only that color during the rainy season) and communing with the striking natural beauty that it engenders.

Mountain, river, feet.

Kayaking pose. The helmet was a novel addition, though the life-vest smelled like other people's sweat. Ew.

For our elephant ride I volunteered to be the mahout. Elephants are surprisingly hairy, and the course hairs and rough skin are quite uncomfortable after a short while. Still, riding an elephant is awesome.

Along the Mekong River.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Laos. Everyone had told me to go there because "it won't be the same in 10 years." I tend to agree with their assessment. At the moment Laos is extremely chilled out, but it is only a matter of time before infrastructure is developed and the country begins to resemble its more developed neighbors (probably good for the Lao people, but not so good for the tourist looking for the road less traveled). I wish that I had more than 5 days in Laos, but I suppose that leaving so many places yet unvisited gives me all the more reason to go back. Maybe I'll wait 10 years and see how things will have come along.

Summer Reading List

One of the things that I have most enjoyed about summer is having the time and energy to read for fun. During law school (and during undergrad, for that matter) I spent so much time reading for classes that the last thing I wanted to do at the end of the day as a means to unwind was open yet another book. Below is a list of what I've managed to get through this summer. As you can see, in addition to my Cambodia reading list, I've started to get into development.

• The Civil Law Tradition, by John Henry Merryman &Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo. A quick survey of, you guessed it, the civil law tradition for us common law folks.
• The Tragedy of Cambodian History, by David Chandler. An overly detailed account of Cambodian political history from 1945-1980. Notably, Chandler does not believe that the acts committed by the Khmer Rouge are technically genocide.
• The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, by Ben Kiernan. An overly detailed account of the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia, 1975-1979. Kiernan's whole schtick is arguing that the Khmer Rouge committed genocide.
• Cambodia: A Political Survey, by Michael Vickery. A political history of Cambodia from 1979-2006. First half is a well-founded critique of the geopolitical forces that caused the UN and US (and most of the rest of the int'l community) to SUPPORT the Khmer Rouge after they were overthrown; the second half uses this critique as a starting point for a misguided apology of the current Cambodian government.
  
• First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung. A readable, first-person account of living through the Khmer Rouge period from the perspective of a small girl. It is basically an autobiography, the author having moved to the US after managing to get out of Cambodia post-79.
• Buddhism Explained, by Laurence-Khantipab Mills. A rather un-Enlightening overview of Buddhism with a primary focus on Theravada traditions in Thailand.
• Emergency Sex (and other desperate measures), by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thompson. An extremely entertaining series of autobiographical vignettes of 3 UN peacekeepers during the 90s. Starts out in Cambodia during the 1993 UN-sponsored election.
  
• Red Lights & Green Lizards, by Liz Anderson. A mediocre autobiographical account of a 60-something volunteer working in Cambodia during the early 90s.
• Globalization and Its Discontents, by Joseph Stiglitz. A damning analysis of IMF policies and the way that they serve as obstacles rather than aids to development. A very top-down view of economic development focused on international institutions.
• The End of Poverty, by Jeffrey Sachs. An appeal for the most developed countries to drastically increase the amount of aid that they give to developing countries. A euphorically positive (simplistic and naive?) view of the relationship between foreign aid and development.
  
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, by David Landes. A history of economic development, written in a witty style that makes it much more readable than most history books attempting to span 1,000 years.

Vientiane, Laos

So begin my journeys.

First stop, Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. I stayed for one and half days and mostly cruised around the city, digging everything that I could in the short time that I was there. Of course, being the capital of a tiny, landlocked, economically disadvantaged nation, Vientiane isn't exactly full of "must see" tourist stops. A couple of monuments, some temples, the National Museum, and a big crazy Lao version of the Arc de Triomphe...and that was about it. Word on the backpacker trail is that Vientiane is a "non-destination," a necessary stop-over on your way to more exciting places like Luang Prabang (see upcoming post).

While it wasn't the nicest or most memorable place that I've seen, I disagree with the conventional wisdom (if prevailing opinion among backpackers may even loosely be defined as "wisdom"). I liked Vientiane. It has the same chilled-out, slow-paced atmosphere that was present in Cambodian provincial towns, giving it a quaint backwater vibe that I quite enjoyed. It is a great place to drink a slow cup of morning coffee, read a book, and feel somewhat unobtrusive despite being 10 times taller than everyone. Also, hour-long foot massage for $5? You can't go wrong.

Patuxai monument...French neo-classicism meets SE Asia. In a remarkable display of blunt honestly, the official sign notes that "from a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete." All of the propagandists must have been busy working on the museum (see below)...

At Pha That Luang, a stupa that sits on the site of a previous stupa which, according to legend, was built by the Indian emperor Ashoka to house a piece of the Buddha's breastbone.

Lao-style wat (temple), slightly different from Cambodian architecture, but mostly the same. As a native to SE Asia would say: "same same but different."

I must admit, before arriving to Laos (read: before digging into the Lonely Planet section on Laos), I had no idea that it was a one-Party, authoritarian "communist" state like China and Vietnam. It is. As if there was any doubt, these two jokers are featured prominently in the National Museum. Because Marx and Lenin are Lao.

It's a little tough to read, but this sign in the National Museum, which introduces one small section on the second floor, states that the exhibits show "the fighting to liberate the country against the American imperialists and their puppet soldiers from 1954-63."

Tons of Buddha statues line the wall of this wat.

Another one of the wats I visited, after the clouds had mostly cleared a bit of blue sky crept out.

Lea Hai, Kampuchea!

"Good-bye, Cambodia!"

That's right, my internship at the ECCC, and hence my time in Cambodia, has come to a close. The past three months have been amazing. I learned a lot in the course of my work, I met some great friends and mentors, and I got to explore some of the beauty that is Cambodia. All in all, a very successful and enjoyable adventure.

But the adventure is not over yet.

Before going back to Cambridge at the end of August, I will spend the next three weeks traveling around Laos and Vietnam. I am very excited to once again return to life on the road in a manner more akin to my previous travels.

Stay tuned for postings and pictures!