Asia: Markets, Sidewalks, Toilets, Che, Pajamas, Ricefields, Curry and Off-The-Beaten Track

From Nepal to Vietnam there seem to be asiatic trends worth mentioning: 

1.  The markets -- both indoors and outdoors -- are spectacles.  My favorite are the food markets where every variety of food, most of which is simply inedible by anyone with dietary or hygenic standards or of the kind which a compassionate person would never put in their mouth, is sold by hawking vendors, the fetor emanating from the stalls often times too nauseting to linger for long.

2.  Most asian cities and towns have no sidewalks on which to walk, Kathmandu being the worst example.  You are relegated to the streets where the cars and mopeds blithely zip by at light speed.  If there are sidewalks they are usually comandeered by mopeds as a parking lot.

3.  Che Guevera's likeness is everywhere -- sides of buildings, walls, mudflaps, t-shirts, etc..  He is the single most popular icon in every country we've traveled (except of course Vietman where Uncle Ho rules supreme).  Though, it just occured to me that there has been a decidedly communist theme to our travels:  Georgia and Armenia once behind the iron curtain, Laos still communist (though really only on the surface), Vietnam still communist, Cambodia once communist.

4.  Erin has already eloquently and exhaustively discussed the differences in the western and asian toilets.  All that I will say about the matter is that I appreciate the merit of the asian toilet.  Erin doesn't.

5.  It is not uncommon to see women (and some men) walk in public, and go about their business in broad daylight and in the evening hours, donning a spiffy set of comfortable pajamas.  It amuses Erin to no end.  I envy them.

6.  The rice paddy is omnipresent.  It is harvest time and everywhere you go you see the conical hats of the men and women floating on a sea of ripe rice, brandishing their curved blades, bundling the cut rice, and hauling the bundles to their huts for winnowing.  Work in the villages begins at sunrise, then there is usually a break during the midday when the heat is most oppressive, and then back to work in the late afternoon when the light is everywhere red and gold.

7.  Curry seems to be the spice common to all asiatic cuisines.  The thai do it the best, in my humble opinion.  The Cambodians have a tasty version called amuk.  The Laos, no matter how urgent the request, refuse to make their curry spicy for the falang, under the provincial impression (mistaken in my case) that the falang does not have the GI fortitude for "local spicy."

8.  The SE Asian countries make it really easy for the falang to stay on the beaten track, which most falangs do, but make it really difficult for the falang to wander off it.  Transportation becomes much more sketchy, timetables non-existent, roads a lot more rough.  But it is definitely worth the sojourn to the netherparts of SE Asia.  The people are brillant, much less concerned with the mighty dollar and alot more concerned with hospitality and pleasantness.