i did it my way...

i know some loyal readers will be disappointed.

i don't know how to say this other than to say i'm home.

good things must come to an end. well at least for now.

it was a crazy final couple of days in asia. it was fun though (in a logistical kind of way). it was the closest i could come to "trains, planes, automobiles". there was the flight from BKK to Macau, the boat ride to HK, the HK subway/train system to my friend's, wasta, place in the New Territory, the bus to HKG for the flight to YVR, then finally the flight home to YYC.

i was ready to bust out of the airplane cabin on the trip from HKG to YVR.

at least, i got to see wasta (see below). we, his bud steve and gf candy, went out that night and reminisced about the good ol' days in pakistan, india and nepal over dinner at a thai restaurant. he picked up the tab (for brunch, as well)!! if you find yourself in HK, make sure i give you instructions on finding his house. ha!! anyways, it was 7 years since we last saw each other. so, it was really good to see him still really wasted. ha!


would you believe thai people actually talk like this? (l to r: wasta, bubba)




if he's out there reading this, wasta thanx again for your hospitality. like i said, i think we'll meet up again sometime. hope it's not another 7 years between visits.

as for me, it feels very weird to be home. even weirder than previous trips.

observations, so far:

damn it's quiet here. i'm not scared of silence but calgary's a city with a million people, eh? c'mon peoples and make some noise. look alive. man alive.

there aren't not many afro-canadian people in calgary.

damn it's cold here. people are complaining about the oppressive summer heat here. i've lived in 30 plus temps since leaving ethiopia in early may.

since i came home, calgarians have been killing each other left and right on the news. 4 were murdered with guns, 1 homeless bum was beaten senseless by a gang of thugs, 1 woman was murdered despite people hearing her cries for help, 2 calgarian men were killed in a hit and run incident, and last but not least a kid was deliberately pushed into the path of an on coming LRT (train)... i find it ironic that people worry about my personal safety when i'm traveling in places like africa. africa's tame compared to calgary in terms of violent crime, eh.

i renewed my library card immediately.

i've begun running again. man, i'm outta shape.

i've resumed a north american diet. man, we eat alot of meat/protein. i don't think my stomach knows how to process it all. it's going right through me.

i weighed myself. after a month of continuous eating, i'm only at 160 lbs (72.64 kg or 13 1/3 stone). i swear i packed on at least 5 to 10 lbs. since egypt. i was 200 lbs. at the beginning of the trip.

ed. note:

1) apologies to friends in calgary. it takes me awhile to acclimatize to being home again. we should go for beer soon.

2) i will publish more photos soon.

3) anyone know of any job openings in cowtown?

the wasta...

north korea numba one!
© 2004. the wasta.


mummy!!!!!!!!!!
this western capitalist pig just took my picture. run for our lives!!!
© 2004. the wasta.


rush hour in pyongyang 1.
© 2004. the wasta.


rush hour in pyongyang 2.
© 2004. the wasta.


the big cheese: meesta kim sr.
© 2004. the wasta.


hot south korean chicks.
© 2004. the wasta.


SARS in HK.
ok, which one of you just sneezed...
© 2004. the wasta.

"wasta" is a term i learned on my last trip to tibet. it applies to a "longterm" traveler. not any longterm traveler. i'm talking about a destitute westerner who seems to be drifting amongst the masses in places like india wasting away his/her life. how can i put it in north american terms? a wasta is a freeloading, wacky smoking bum who wanders from country to country for years and years.

on that same trip i met my friend jonathan smith. he's an english ex-pat living and teaching english in hong kong for years and years. we met in the hunza valley in the very north of pakistan in a paradise called karimabad. he had already spent a few months traveling along the silk road through western china and pakistan. i'm not sure how long he'd been wasting away in the hunza before i met him. all i know was this guy was kind of funny, in an amusing kind of way. one thing led to another (not in that kind of way) and we ended up traveling through the rest of pakistan, northern india and trekking in nepal for something like 2 months. that's a long time.

we managed to hit every museum of ghandaran art in northern pakistan, to get the wool pulled over eyes by a "friendly" doctor in rawalpindi, to dine at the pizza hut in lahore, to make friends with a "tortured" monk in dharamsala, to visit the guru of sikhism in the golden temple in amritsar, to climb mount rakaposhi, to fire off kalashnikovs in dara, to drink ourselves into a stupor in amritsar. never a dull moment.

anyway, i remembered jonathan smoked alot of wacky. traveled alot. vowed never to return to the UK. we laughed at the bums we encountered along the way. he kept calling them wastas. well, i've never heard of that term before. he explained. from that moment on, wanka (murray arthur - a kiwi we happened to pick up along the way) and i would call him the "wasta".

meeting people is obviously the reason why i travel. if there were more jonathan smith's out there, the world would be a better place. he's "stuck" in HK for the next while with his teaching position. he should get the hell out of there.

my tribute is posting some of his travel photos. click here to see more of his photos.