A Fascinating Uzbekistan Trek

Hey friends! I just got back from an epic adventure through Uzbekistan, and I have some stories to share. The first thing that struck me about Uzbekistan isn't just its rich history or stunning architecture – it's how the country seems to exist in multiple periods at once.

Let's start with some wild observations: EVERYONE here drives a Chevy. I'm not exaggerating – it's like General Motors won a monopoly game in real life. All Uzbeks we talked to were more than willing to tell us, with groans and eyes rolled, that the government owned half a stake in the Chevy plant in the country, which encouraged the government to levy extra taxes on any other brand of imported car. That said, there was also a shocking number of electric cars in the country (apparently, they are free of extra taxes). I wasn't expecting so many electric cars, but it makes sense - the country struggles with having enough gas that people can afford.

The journey took us from Nukus to Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand. The drives between cities were wild - particularly in the western area. Our driver from the Aral Sea deserved a standing ovation for navigating what I can only loosely describe as "roads." At one point, we saw Turkmenistan on the other side of the Amu Darya River. The drivers told us how a lot of people come to Uzbekistan from Turkmenistan to have more freedoms from their oppressive leadership, and Uzbeks have to steathfully travel in the country to get their cheaper rugs. Border countries are complicated, huh?

Speaking of which, there's something remarkable about how Soviet influence lingers here. The older generation's nostalgia for Soviet times reflects this. However, anyone under 35 years was strongly against Russia/Putin/Soviet interests. Cultural rift, I guess.

Here's something else that'll blow your mind: we saw FLAMINGOES. In Central Asia! In some reedy area! And, because of who I am, I must mention that seated toilets were considered for the handicapped, and TP was for purchase only at public restrooms. At least they had public restrooms, though some were just holes. Beggars-choosers, right?

Random but important observation: everything was SO blue. I loved it. And speaking of love, the older folks here have this interesting nostalgia for Soviet days, while the whole place is simultaneously racing toward rapid development. It's like seeing multiple centuries existing at once.

The cultural experiences here are rich, though sometimes challenging for Western palates. The food situation was... interesting. While incorporating interesting ingredients like green noodles and various yogurt-based dishes, the food was subtle in flavor – perhaps too subtle for those used to more aggressive seasoning. What surprised me most was finding vinegar spicy by local standards, which put the local palette into perspective. I think we'll be avoiding dill for a while.

The "plov experience" (which is their way of saying rice pilaf) everyone talked about was underwhelming. Though I have to say, the bread-making process was cool – I got to check out their traditional ovens and everything.

Another wild observation: Every "lemonade" here was a lie. I tried something called Tarhun (tarragon soda) that was labeled as lemonade, and let me tell you, my taste buds are still filing complaints. On the other end of beverage surprises, we tried fermented camel's milk while in the Nukus desert, and it was fizzier than I had expected and super tangy.

Okay, now that we got the weird stuff out of the way, let's talk about the journey.

We started in Tashkent for a day, where I took a vegan food tour in the city's oldest bazaar. I saw how clearly traditional customs remain strong, particularly around tea rituals, and the people maintain their historically peaceful nature. This feels especially meaningful given the region's complex history and equally complex present-day border situations. Unbeknownst to me, the food in the bazaar would be the tastiest food on the trip. I also ambled around a little bit to see how much the architecture is still very Soviet but punctured with Persian influence.

NUKUS - ARAL SEA

Moving through the country from west to east, each city reveals a different facet of Uzbekistan's identity. 

We took a small plane to Nukus the next day to start our journey. The city served better as a gateway to other destinations than a destination itself. The drive from there offered my first real glimpse into the country's landscape. This scene remarkably resembled parts of Africa, with its colorful dresses dotting the dusty roads, women walking in groups and sweeping with sticks, and half-built homes standing testament to rapid development.

We were there to see the remnants of the old Aral Sea. It was the most sobering part of the trip. It's heartbreaking. For those who don't know the history, the Aral Sea was the second-largest inland freshwater lake in the world. In the 1960s, the Soviets decided to drain the lake to start growing cotton, and the lake started to disappear (as did its bustling fish canning industry and tourism).

Standing there, you can almost feel the wind searching for the waters that once were. It's a stark reminder of the environmental impact of the old Soviet era, made even more poignant by the visible effects of drought and desertification across the region. We drove on the old, empty seabed for hours to get to a cozy yurt camp at the little remnants of sea north of the country. It was dry and quiet, and we felt like we were on the edge of the earth. 

It was clear on our trip that the country didn't have the same reverence for archeological preservation and conservation as others. There were several instances where they brought us to ancient sites that were neat, but we shouldn't have been there. Such as a hauntingly beautiful 14th-century Kazakh burial ground, where ancient tombstones tell stories through their shapes – circles for women, forks for men. And an old Mongol fortress. We really, really shouldn't have been there, traipsing around. But we were. It was also uncomfortable to drive around in the middle of nowhere on an old seabed- which clearly had never been made for cars to drive around on. I swear, several times in our 2-day drive, it looked like the car was going to give up a tire, and we would die in the open with our driver and no one else in sight. Not even a camel.

In the end, we could still see the cotton fields that people were still picking from because they were, I guess, stuck in a capitalistic loop. The drivers offered us to go outside and take pictures with some cotton pickers, which Alex and I vehemently declined....for multiple reasons.

XIVA

The cities grew more magnificent as you head east. Khiva was a gorgeous preserved piece of history, its ancient walls hiding an ingenious architectural trick. The city remains wonderfully quiet despite the growing number of European tourists (particularly Italians - so many retired Italians) discovering its charms. Way back in the day when there was conflict, the residents cleverly built fake tombs outside the walls to trick enemies, which I thought was very cool.

We got pulled into a small fledgling silk museum with very persuasive ladies. There, they let us try our hand at silk processing and weaving (which we weren't good at) before they coaxed us to buy some silk.

We stayed inside the walled city and saw so much beautiful blue architecture. It was lovely to walk around at dusk, with fewer tourists, and enjoy the quiet echoes of the streets while seeing ancient mosques and towers that loomed overhead.

After a few days in Khiva, we hired a car to drive us to Bukhara on some empty, straight roads.

BUXARA

Bukhara - a major stop on the Silk Road - presented itself as more commercialized yet maintains authentic pockets of daily life. The lovely, quiet mosques there were still being used, and they were more strict with people entering with modesty (and many tourists protested needlessly). We often walked around to see tombs, go to museums, and look at the artwork plastered throughout the city. We even bought two beautiful carpets there because we are adults. We also wandered around old water storage areas (an active construction site no one was at) and admired the old buildings. We also walked through a very nice park that was large and green.

Though small, the city's Jewish quarter adds another layer to the region's rich cultural tapestry. The city's non-touristy areas offer a glimpse into real Uzbek life, where the past and present coexist in fascinating ways. Perhaps Uzbekistan is like the United States but a thousand years ahead in its development. It's a place where ancient wisdom meets modern challenges, cultural preservation battles with progress, and the future remains as uncertain as it is promising.

There, I did have what may have been the most disgusting soup I've ever tried. It was intentionally cold and felt like a five-year-old put things into a pot and called it soup - potatoes, cream, vinegar, dill, and seltzer. I didn't eat it after a few bites. It's called okroshka, and apparently, it's an acquired taste I didn't have.

We then took another train to Samarkand, further east.

SAMARKAND & SHAHRISABZ

Samarkand, Central Asia's crown jewel and oldest town, felt more like Paris than Central Asia. The Russian influence is stronger here, with imposing buildings and grandiose architecture that commands attention. The city's monuments are now enhanced by modern light shows, creating an interesting juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary that somehow works perfectly. 

Samarkand was more used to tourists and had some ornate and beautiful tourist sites. At night, they lit up the old college with a fun light show for an hour. We saw a fun old observatory on a hill. We also went to see some old and breathtaking tombs, but I found it strange that so many people were posing for pictures in front of them. 

We took a day tour to Shihrisabz, a once-important city where Timur was born that was razed by a leader in recent history. It was a kind of desolate area, but impressive. Apparently, the palace was ginormous - like, toweringly huge - but most of the palace materials were repurposed when they pulled the city down. What remained was the lower fortress gates, which were still astonishing even if dwarfed by the original gate height. We also went to see the empty tomb of Amor Timur there, which was underground and very simple, and finished th small visit in an enormous bazaar.

We stopped at a site with some pretty stone outcroppings on our way back. Apparently, it was a popular tourist site among Europeans. We discovered this because the Germans filmed a US Western film called Apache in the 1970s. If that doesn't hurt your brain, nothing will.

Afterward, we took our final train ride back to Tashkent to catch our flight home. Our last meal was a NYC-style pizza at a place called "Little Italy" in Tashkent during a power outage. It was a nice way to close the trip - a mixture of cultures and oddities.

Final thoughts: This place is fascinating—it's peaceful and historic. However, I could have used more flavorful food and, you know, a functioning stomach (yes, we got food poisoning at some point). I also wish I had prepared better for intense sun and minimal shade.

New Zealand Road Trip

This is 6 months late, but...better late than never!

In August and September 2023, I spent time with my partner in New Zealand (also called more commonly there as Aotearea). In the first week, I worked with a client in Auckland, and we extended my trip by 11 days to explore the North and South Islands. We moved around for this trip - we were practically in a new town daily! Overall, we had a nice time on this trip! New Zealand is beautiful and full of lush rolling hills and rocky mountains that can be dramatic. But it wasn't our favorite trip to date, partly because we overcommitted ourselves and planned on driving a lot, and it wasn't as whimsical as our previous trips because we had a lot of distance to cover.

Overall Reflections

We had some impressions of things worth sharing before getting into some details.

• A Mix of Aussie and Brit: When experiencing the culture in New Zealand, we determined that the country was between the laid-back vibes of Australians and the pressure for proper systems of Brits. This is not surprising, as it is part of the Commonwealth and has a Pacific Island culture similar to that of Australian Aboriginals. What this also meant was that there were a lot of meal pies, slow speeds, and quiet places.
• Sparsely Populated: It seemed to us that the country was largely not populated even though some cities exist. There's just a lot of land and people living remotely in the country. Partly this was due to many farms with lambs and cattle, but there was also a lot of quiet land otherwise.
• Seasons Matter: We came in its off-season, which was a bit out of our control because I was there primarily for work, but it made our trip very cold, wet, and windy. We were either always cold or hot, which made us come down with some colds. We have agreed that we should come back sometime in the summer, which is also peak tourist season - we now understand why.
• Driving Wasn't Fun: We were also in the car a lot because New Zealand is larger than we expected, and the roads are much windier than anticipated! Much of our driving was for hours weaving around mountains and hilly terrain, making it not terribly relaxing to have a road trip across the country. It also meant we had to forgo places we were interested in seeing because we needed more time. For example, we wish we had seen more of the northeast of the South Island. Ultimately, we agree we should have planned to see less and probably focus on one island for our trip.
• Animals Everywhere: We saw a lot of animals on our travels, from keas harassing us for food on the South Island to other birds everywhere. New Zealand's native animals are all birds, many of which are flightless, like the little endangered kiwis. We also saw a lot of roadkill on our trip.
• Quirky Accommodations: On our drive, we stayed at many different kinds of lodging - all of them slightly quirky! From a trout lodge to a shipping container and a BnB in a Slavic-cum-American-cum-Kiwi household.
• Beautiful Public Toilets: The country seems to pride itself on having good, reliable access to public toilets. Even in less-populated areas, we can always find a clean, functioning, and nice-smelling toilet building. Many are decorated with whacky art and designs, which appeal to toilet nerds like me.

Travel Notes

Auckland

During the first five days in the country, I was bound to Auckland, facilitating workshops. I really liked it - the weather was pleasant there, and we enjoyed a quiet lake outside the city in Mount Wellington. We went into the city for a night and enjoyed a lovely meal at the pier. The pier in Auckland is peaceful and has a fun park that includes an installation of old silos that are now art. I was surprised to see a public swimming area in the heart of the city, as well.

Queenstown & Milford Sound

We then flew to Queenstown, marveling at the snowy mountains below us. We then drove down to the Milford Sound for a few nights. The drive showed us just how winding the roads are...and how dramatic the South Island's landscape really is. We enjoyed the Sound in the lodge there, though it was constantly raining while we were there. We took a treacherous boat tour of the sound's fjords - it was windy and rainy - and while the visibility wasn't all that great, we saw many waterfalls pummelling water down the fjord cliffs. We also saw a few penguins from far off, enjoying some rocky shelter. At the lodge, a baby kea kept coming over to us to look (and sound) pathetic and hungry, but we followed directions and didn't give the poor guy anything to eat.

On the day we were going to leave, the weather cleared up in the morning for a few hours so we could walk to the port and see the fjords in all their majesty. It didn't last long, though, and we had to leave early because they announced they were shutting down the area for a few days due to an incoming snowstorm. We drove out a few hours before the full closure started, and the snow started falling on us slightly. The idea of driving on snow on those winding roads terrified me.

We returned to Queenstown and stayed at an old dairy warehouse before continuing our drive north. We enjoyed hopping around the downtown area and strolling through its parks, even with the chilly breeze getting to my bones a bit. We also spent some time in the Kiwi Park to see some kiwis in person, but they shouted at our tour group when we entered the dark room. I could have spent more time there, though I'm not big on skiing or heights, including the other major tourist attraction - a funicular.

Lake Tekapo

We drove towards the central part of the South Island, and it was surprising how much the landscape changed from craggy mountains to a browner range of large hills covered in brush and distant mountains. We then paused at the badlands - Putangirua Pinnacles - and looked at the surreal structures. I felt a bit nervous, and my gut warned me of something I didn't like, so we bounced. We also saw beautiful blue reservoirs along our drive.

Once we got to Lake Tekapo, we were hit with a brutal cold wind that made us feel freezing! And the town looked half unmade. It was as if the town had been built a week before we arrived - our hotel was made of shipping containers. We had three restaurants to get into for dinner with a slew of confused-looking foreigners from tourist bus groups. Fortunately, we accomplished our goal of visiting the lake - we took a late-night stargazing tour and looked up at a really incredible starscape that almost seemed impossible. This area held many of the country's observatories because of its clear skies and limited light pollution.

Christchurch

We drove to Christchurch for our final visit to the South Island. It was an interesting city but not a place we felt like staying. It hasn't fully recovered from the 2011 earthquake, and the city felt silent and empty...and tired compared to the other areas we had visited. It almost felt like a Kiwi version of Cleveland. It was pleasant enough, though, and we saw some pretty waterways. The old university was rebuilt after the earthquake to become a town recreational area.

Wellington

The next day, we flew to Wellington, the bottom of the North Island. Our flight got delayed, and we learned it would be a bumpy hour. A Kiwi from the area told us to gear up to be jostled around like never before, and we all started talking about things. His name was Justin, and he invited us (after a windy landing) to lunch at his favorite spot near the airport. It was pretty tasty! He then gave us a quick tour of Wellington in our rental car before we dropped him off. We also dropped off our luggage at the hotel so we could start cleaning our laundry.

Our trip north changed slightly, as we found disappointing news that our big planned adventure—visiting Kapiti Island to have a night tour of kiwis in their natural habitat—had been canceled due to the weather. We're sad about this but made the best of it and toured Wellington more than planned. That town is really windy, and that's normal!

We walked around a lot, and saw some fun things like the lobster toilets that Lonely Planet made famous years ago. We also visited Te Papa, the national museum that shared the country's history and interactive areas about its nature that had Maori influence. It was lovely - probably one of the best museums I've visited - and we stayed warm there for a bit. After, I ate some delicious fish pie and pavlova at an old local restaurant, and we ate dinner with a colleague friend who lived in the area.

Before we continued our journey north, we also visited the nature reserve - Zealandia - but had to cut it short because the sky opened up on us in the middle of our visit.

Turangi & Rotarua

We first drove to Turangi, which didn't have much there. It was a trout fishing mecca popular with octogenarians, and I ran into them while walking around town and past the river. And our lodge was covered in trout art. But the river was peaceful, and the quiet was a nice break.

The next day, we continued our drive north towards Rotorua. Our first stop was Wairitomo Glowworm Caves to see the glowworm caves. We really enjoyed this! The first part of the tour included a visit to the stalagmites that resembled a cathedral, and then the guides cornered us into the back, turned off the lights, and showed us all of the blue, glowing worms hanging in the back of the cavern! We then got into a boat and floated around the glowworm caves in darkness for a few minutes before heading back out - all very pleasing to the eyes.

In Rotarua, we stayed at an odd little BnB that was more like a guestroom in a heavily populated family house—not our favorite, but it was just for a night. At night, we agreed to go to Te Pa Tu, a Maori village that they transformed into a dining experience. There, we learned about Maori games, snacks, and old house setups. They performed songs before bringing us to dinner in a pretty dining hall.

The next day, we also visited Te Puia, where we saw active geysers in a park with Maori artists building big pieces of art before heading out again.

Driving to Auckland

We stopped at the Big Dog/Big Sheep buildings on our trip back to Auckland. I was so pleased to see that they were public toilets! These buildings on the side of the street were shaped with corrugated metal like a dog and sheep. They have since added another building that looks like a ram. This stop was right before we headed to a farming town for dinner.

Our dinner was at Hobbiton. I know, people complain about how over-commercialized it is there, but we were really pleasantly surprised!! We started with a slow walk through the Hobbit movie set area, with the tour guides sharing detailed and interesting stories. We ended up in the tavern, where they fitted the tables with a hobbit's food feast for all of us. Honestly? It was really delicious! Probably one of the best meals we had while in New Zealand.

They also apologized to us for some construction work they were doing and gave us free hobbit mugs, but honestly, I barely noticed it because they do such a good job keeping the magic there, even with the construction.

Afterward, we drove for a few hours, and we stayed in an apartment complex that perplexed me tremendously for about an hour before we found the entrance.

Beyond Auckland

For our last night in the country, we drove up from Auckland to Ruakaka for my sake. There are a lot of cool public toilets further north around there, and I was determined to see them. The first one was in a small town with beautiful, artistic toilets that looked like the hulls of fishing boats. The next stop was at Ruakaka, where we could see the Hundertwasser toilets. These toilets were some of the first famous public toilets in the country, and apparently, the government used them as inspiration to make other pretty toilets, like the others we saw along our road trip. The town had also put in a newer model of the toilets nearby to house a library, art center, and RV showers for the transitory guests they see regularly.

We stayed in a community halfway between there and Auckland, at a quiet couple's house that wasn't near much but had a lovely sunset view next to the water. Once we woke up, we returned to Auckland to grab some curry pies and visit the Botanic Gardens before our evening flight home.

Rwanda Redux

 

This will be brief, but I feel like logging it somewhere.

I went to Kigali for the first time in over a decade since I moved there in 2012. I went to a conference, which was fine.

I was shocked by how much Kigali had changed, yet not at all. When I lived there, the roads were nice and clean - and that's still the same. But so much of the city had been built up since I was there! There were stores and restaurants everywhere - I remember struggling to decide between 4 restaurants back in the day. There were more commercial buildings, flash, and everything you'd expect in a Southeast Asian country - which obviously Rwanda is not. But you can tell it's working on the economic side of things. 

There are also many fancy hotels—a Marriott, a Radisson Bleu, and a Sheraton. In the past, there were guest houses and the once-upscale Serena Hotel (now seen as old and tired). The conference center is small but effective, whereas there used to be none.

On my last day, I went to Nyamirambo for a food tour. There wasn't much there, except for a bus stop where I lived. Now, it's like a downtown area hopping with businesses and restaurants. I was walking down streets that used to be trees or empty spaces. There's even a car-free street with street art and open-air cafes. The food was fine, though I never considered Rwanda a culinary haven.

And yet, the things I frequented when I lived there were also there - the Chinese restaurant, the Japanese restaurant....all of them. It was like the city plunked around its existing infrastructure, a bunch of new, shiny stuff that buttressed and competed with the older stuff.

While so much had changed, I could still see the trauma of the genocide seeping out of some of the shiny new structures. People were shy or nonverbal, and a lot of people who were working in the shops and such still stared at me like I either did something wrong or was super novel to them, though there were white people everywhere.

What surprised me most about Rwanda was how much I had changed since then. The things that used to bother me—the idiosyncracies of the road laws, the stares, the inability to get certain drinks or foods—didn't anymore. Several things that would have triggered me while living in Kigali only made me roll my eyes and sigh while smiling before moving on while I visited. 

I'm a much more seasoned traveler now, taking much more stuff in stride than I did back then. So much upset me when I lived in Rwanda, and I think, I didn't know better in many ways and hadn't yet developed acceptance or coping mechanisms to deal with the differences. 

So, while Rwanda has clearly changed and grown and become a more sophisticated destination, I have, too.

Short Stay in South Korea

A few weeks ago, I ended up in South Korea to support a water conference. Yes, it was during the never-ending COVID pandemic. Let's walk through the process to get past immigration, and the week I was in the country.

With all of the COVID-related restrictions and requirements, getting into South Korea was....hard. The conference had managed to file for attendees to have guarantee exemption waivers, which was where most efforts went. I filled out tons of forms (multiple times). I had to rearrange my schedule for the trip to make sure I was compliant with the quarantine rules since I was only allowed to stay up to 2 days before and after the conference. Major bummer. Had we not had the quarantine exemption forms, I could have stayed much longer....but I would have had to be quarantined in a government-run COVID hotel for about 2 weeks (that I'd have to pay for) before the conference. Which wasn't really an option for me. I still had to isolate for a day with the quarantine exemption to make sure I wasn't sick. I only got this form a week before the trip, though, so I hadn't planned much for the trip.

On the plane, I was oddly surprised to see that the Korean Air plane had to make a large detour around the borders of North Korea. I wasn't surprised that it happened - I am well aware of the tensions between these countries - but I was surprised just how real the tensions were. We had to add another hour of flying to ensure we didn't bother anyone up north.

Once we landed in Incheon Airport, there was a 3-hour process of waiting in lines and going through several immigration checks (I think I counted 5?) to ensure our COVID paperwork was in order and our regular immigration forms. Those who weren't quarantine exempt were shepherded to a blocked-off area to wait for the quarantine bus. Luckily, I was allowed to continue my travels. Unfortunately, I wasn't done traveling to get to my destination.

I had to take a 90-minute subway ride to Seoul Station from the airport, where I would grab a 2-hour KTX train. The conference was in Daegu, a large southern town coined as the country's water hub. I grabbed a gimbap surprisingly loaded with wasabi and got on the night train south. After the train ride to Daegu, I immediately got my PCR test that would confirm my quarantine exemption in 24 hours and shuttled off to my hotel. To wait.

I like to stay in hotels that are not big traditional chains like Marriott and Hilton because I feel like I lose some of the experience of immersing into a culture. I had chosen to stay downtown at the Toyoko Inn. It felt like a hotel geared towards Koreans, which I enjoyed experiencing. It wasn't super fancy, but I wasn't looking for that - I just wanted a bed and a toilet. The hotel had an electric bidet seat (to my delight!), and breakfast was a bunch of Korean items like kimchi, seaweed soup, and rice. People wore the hotel's slippers in the lobby and canteen area (I also observed a lot of slipper wearing on the plane). They also had a lobby locker that offered hotel-owned pajamas, though I didn't use them.

Once I got the PCR all-clear, I went out on my second night to walk around downtown Daegu. Daegu has about 2.5 million people, so downtown was full of people shopping in stores and walking the chilly winter streets. Daegu is a traditional herbal medicine center, and I walked around the city and saw a mix of flashy shops and humbler herbal stores. 

While I was walking around, I stupidly realized how much Korean script would be everywhere, which meant I really had little idea where I was, what I was doing, or what urgent instructional signs wanted me to do. The Koreans with whom I interacted mostly struggled with English (fair enough, I was in their country, after all), which often meant I was on my own to figure out if (and pray that) I was complying with rules and customs.

I was cloistered off at their large conference venue for much of my time in Daegu, supporting the conference. Frankly, the conference was kind of sucky for many reasons I don't want to get into. I questioned why I was in Korea a lot during the conference. What I will share from the conference I'll share was their struggles with food. On the first day, they had forgotten to provide vegetarian lunches - a lot of us international people were vegetarian, so this became a problem. My food restrictions are medical, though (I'm intolerant to land meat now). When they found out mine wasn't a choice, the conference team began to panic to figure out how to feed me. Coming up mostly short for over an hour, they came back to me with a bowl of canned tuna on rice. They also gifted me a surprisingly heavy brass goblet to apologize for the flub, which they explained was a traditional point of pride for Koreans. So now I have a brass goblet.

I ended up hanging out with many Africans during the conference - most of them are studying in Korea for their PhDs, so they were used to the seemingly confusing and complicated systems and protocols. I had mentioned my surprise with how confusing things felt in Korea. One Tanzanian guy (who wasn't studying in Korea) lamented that he felt he was basically dumped in the country and left to figure it all out. The students acknowledged that, sadly, that is a Korean feature - there seems to be some unspoken assumption that everyone will just figure out how to get by in Korea, alone. Much of the conference's downtime included comparing notes about what worked, what didn't work, and what not to do from our experiences. I suspect this could be cultural, which means Koreans also have to learn to fend for themselves. This could explain why Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the OECD nations, since young people may be left to their own devices and struggle.

I did get to escape the conference for a day to attend a Christmas Fair in the conference center. It was fun to walk around the stalls and see what kinds of things Koreans were buying for the holidays. They had bidet seats (yessss), dog outfits, gadgety toys, and lots of dried fish. My favorite find was an orange sweater that said "Montana - Pinot Noir". I don't associate those words together ever, but sure!

On the last day of the conference, we went on social tours of the region. I picked the temple food cooking class at Donghwasa Buddhist Temple. It was fun! The temple has been around for over 1500 years, and we got to see a very old Buddha carved into a rock wall. The place was very peaceful, and though there were more stairs to climb than we had expected, the location is surrounded by beautiful natural sights.

On the same day, I returned to Seoul and went to bed early at the hotel. I had things to do!

On my only free day in the country, I hired a car to drive me around. The first stop was Suwon, a 40-minute drive out of Seoul. As we drove to Suwon, I realized how densely packed the country is. I saw clusters of high-rise apartment campuses everywhere, especially outside the city. Korea is one of the most densely-populated countries globally, but I hadn't realized it meant that people even living in the suburbs had to live 30-40 floor complexes.

In Suwon, I visited the Mr. Toilet House (read the blog about that here). It was a really neat family museum about toilets, and I enjoyed walking around in a quiet area of the country before getting back into the thick of people. While I was in Suwon, I also visited the UNESCO heritage site that is the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. Suwon was a big fortress in the 18th century, and the wall around the original city was huge. I enjoyed walking along the wall, seeing dogs playing around on the old steps, and peaking into old fortress huts with elaborate green-pink floral designs. I also visited the Temporary Palace for the king in Suwon, which was neat; instead of European fortresses all inside heavy stone walls, this palace was a bunch of modular wooden rooms connected by large outdoor walkways.

I returned to Seoul for the rest of the day after that. I did some shopping before walking through the old Bukcheon Hanok Village (a traditional Korean village pre-Japanese occupation) and visiting the Changdeokgung Palace during golden hour. The palace grounds were similar to the temporary palace I saw earlier in the day, but it was much grander (unsurprisingly). The shopping was ample; I had to remind myself that I didn’t have the luggage space, though Korea is a very affordable place and has ample handcrafted and beautiful things.

Before I left Korea the next afternoon, I also visited the Cheonggyecheon area, which is a revived stream that they made into an artistic walkway for people to enjoy. It was really beautiful - I highly recommend visiting it if it's not too cold near the water. I wish I had had more time (and energy) to see more before I left, but I feel like I got a good crash course in Korean culture and sightseeing before I left.

Some of my other general observations when walking around Daegu and Seoul:

• MASKS: Everyone wears masks in public spaces, even when walking outside. Korea's mask mandate seemed pretty strict and likely enforced, and people dutifully wore their masks properly and without fuss. Honestly, it made me feel very safe while in the country, and I was happy to oblige with wearing a mask all day. 
• MEAT: People gush about Korean food, and I can see that it probably is heaven for people who can eat meat. For me, the food was tasty and fine, but I wasn't super enthralled by everything I ate. Temple food is vegetarian, of course, but I found there weren't many temple food restaurants available during my visit. Those were booked up weeks in advance.
  For example, I went to one restaurant and requested several times to make a cheese bibimbap with "NO MEAT." They happily confirmed "no meat" on the dish I ordered. Once the hot pot came out, I saw a pile of ground beef on the top. When I asked them why they included meat when I said no meat, they said, "Oohhh we thought you meant no raw meat!" They held a bowl  for me while I scooped the meat off of the dish. 
• FERMENTED: Most of what I noticed with the food I could eat was that the vegetables were mostly served pickled or fermented with chili pepper (hello, kimchi for every meal!). It makes sense, considering Korea has a history of sandy soil that isn't always the most nutrient-rich. I suspect the vegetables they do have they need to ensure are preserved - hence, fermentation. Still, I really missed fresh veggies by the end of the trip.
• SENSORY OVERLOAD: When I walked around in the commercial areas, Korea felt overwhelming to my sense. The shopping areas were full of flashing lights from different storefronts. Different shops blasted music or audible welcomes on the streets, competing for sound space. This was compounded by the additional Christmas displays shining and singing everywhere. A lot of the big displays I saw around shopping areas contained cartoon teddy bears, too.
• SUGAR: I also smelled sugary baked goods everywhere, which makes sense considering Korea may have one of the higher diabetes rates out there. Being a celiac, I couldn't try any of these sugary treats, but they smelled really decadent.
• UNDERGROUND: I was surprised to see that, while there was a lot of shopping happening outside on the streets, a lot of the shopping was available underground in subway terminals. This ranged from bakeries to electronics shops, fashion shops, and bookstores. I like the idea, especially as the weather continued to get colder over the days of my visit.

Would I go back to Korea? I wouldn't mind it if there were other conferences there I needed to attend. However, I would rather see other places again before seeking out Korea.

Evacuating Kenya (Goodbye for Now)

Goodbye, friendly sidewalk home

I had never imagined that my departure would have come about the way it had - one month early, last-minute, and wearing a face mask. 

I had plans for April, the last month of my time in Kenya, too. I was going to Naivasha for a weekend to meet hippos. I was absolutely hell-bent on finding a dikdik in the Karura Forest. I was contemplating taking the train to Mombasa for another weekend. And I was planning to visit a colleague in Malawi for my final week on the continent. Instead, I didn't really get to say goodbye to any of the friends I had made in Nairobi and escaped the borders closing on me, which would have left me somewhat stranded during the COVID19 pandemic.

Two weeks before I had found out I was going home, I had started self-isolating, anyway. I had previously been in Uganda for a conference and had picked up some sniffles between Kampala and Nairobi, so I was playing it safe. Shortly after, the office decided to implement working from home practices and most of my colleagues started calling me while they, too, started to socially isolate. I had limited my travels to only the grocery store for those two weeks, save one trip to DHL to ship home things, as I had a sinking feeling that I may have to evacuate the country at any given moment and didn't want to leave anything behind.

Kenya at the time had only 7 confirmed cases of COVID19 (while NYC had about 9K, for comparison), and the country was acutely aware of its healthcare limitations and did not want to test the system. Kenya started canceling public events, shutting down schools, encouraging people to us M-PESA money over cash; and airlines started to slow down their services. Rumors were going around that the borders were going to close any minute, but they were just rumors. I had decided to stay put unless I had received some kind of ultimatum from the US or Kenya - I was better off in a warmer climate where my asthma wouldn't get triggered and I could relax on the lawn outside for hours. Not to mention that US was considered the global hot zone for COVID19. 

Sadly, three days after I made that decision, in late March the US government did, in fact, send out an ultimatum to US citizens overseas - either come home now or don't come home, and we're not going to help you get out. Shortly after, Kenya announced they were probably going to close the border soon, so Kenyan residents should probably get out of the country if they can. My decision was made for me.

The morning after, I made my way to the Kenya Airways office to change my departure to "as soon as possible". My Uber drove through traffic on a beautifully sunny day in Nairobi, and the country looked almost as if nothing was happening with the world. Cars were crowding the roads, people were walking around. My Uber driver had casually shared with me that Kenya would probably be fine from COVID19, because the virus wouldn't survive well in warm weather, so no one was particularly worried yet. I ended up hearing that a lot throughout that day as I frantically packed my bags and worked out my logistics, and I was worried that Kenyans didn't seem to be understanding the severity of the virus. To be fair, East Africans typically need to worry more about diseases like Ebola, which is endemic in that region and a very violent way to die. Still, it felt surreal watching the headlines of a world on fire while many Kenyans around me were living as if nothing dangerous was afoot.

I got to the crowded airline office and found out that "as soon as possible" was two days in the future since all of the other flights had been sold out overnight, and the only available seats were Business Class. I gulped down the steep airline fee to upgrade to Business Class and secured my spot on a now-sold-out plane back to NYC, taking off in a little over 48 hours. In those 48 hours, I paced and called Mr. CT Lawyer multiple times to frantically figure out how he'd pick me up at the airport and how we'd arrange me to live with him in quarantine for 2 weeks after I landed. I wasn't able to see any of my colleagues or friends - Kenya was starting to make it hard to meet up in groups, and I had begun to think that maybe I should steer clear of people anyway, so I spent time hanging out with my housemates when I wasn't in planning mode calling the US. I also started to find out that a lot of my other foreign colleagues were frantically packing up and going home, as well - to Canada, Australia, and the US. 

At least my friend who Uber drives in Nairobi (Calvin) agreed to drive me to the airport and see me out of the country. On the day of departure, he picked me up and drove me through the now-deserted city streets (which were full only 2 days prior). We got to the airport in record time, and I was there far too early for my flight, so he agreed to sit with me in an outdoor airport cafe for my final dawa (oh, how I miss those already) before takeoff. While we sat sipping dawas, Kenya announced the border closing would be in three days, and that the number of cases had more than doubled within 24 hours.

The airport was mostly empty, save for whoever was flying to JFK or Jo-burg that night. The airport was tense and silent; you could tell no one wanted to be near each other. Everyone was wearing a face mask, now, and we all looked around with wide eyes and anxiety, quietly hoping that the planes would get into the air and not have a surprise announcement from the arrival country that no more planes would be allowed in. It was a long wait inside the terminal.

I knew my airplane was sold out, but I hadn't realized just how crowded the waiting room would be. Everyone wore masks and darted glances at everyone near them, trying their best to inch away from whoever was nearby in hopes of feeling some kind of safety that wasn't going to come for another 15 hours. You could tell much of the plane's passengers had had no intention of leaving Kenya at any time before the ultimatum, too. Many of the people on the plane were families with infants who probably shouldn't fly 14-hour legs across the globe. Others wheeled around elderly parents who apparently did not want to stay around while the country figured things out. The elderly parents looked jarred - I wondered if some of them were being torn away from homes they had not wanted to leave, with pleading adult children who had secured dual passports for the family two decades earlier for a moment exactly like the one we were suddenly in.

Once we loaded into the airplane, we all pulled out packets of wet wipes and started vigorously cleaning our seats and surroundings. We shared wipes with others, but otherwise, no one wanted to interact, other than sharing bulging eyes, as if trying to convey the thought, "can you BELIEVE what we're going through, right now?!"

I found out soon after take-off how lucky I was to get a business class seat - the flight was much more bearable with anxiety because I could put my feet up and actually sleep. And the bathrooms were clean and big. On one bathroom visit, the stewardesses started to talk with me and shared that they were hoping that the US would ground all planes before they would have to return to Kenya. Apparently, while we were loading into the plane at the Nairobi airport, the Kenyan government had started to enact a new rule which meant that anyone landing in the airport from that moment on would be automatically shuttled to a forced hospital quarantine for 2 weeks....paid by the quarantined. They were hoping that they would, instead, be forced to shack up in a hotel in NYC and wait it out there while on the airline's watch. Unfortunately for them, that didn't happen.

I've never been so scared landing anywhere as I was when I landed into JFK that morning. We all left the airplane with masks on, expecting hours of testing lines and screenings before we could get out of the plane. Instead, we found ourselves walking from the airplane to the luggage belts in about 5 or 10 minutes, with only one stop for us to get quickly stamped by mask-less customs agents. The airport, other than our flight, felt completely abandoned. It only made me want to get out of the airport faster. My family picked me up shortly after to start my voluntary 2-week quarantine as the world blazed around me.

Pimping Out Matatus

(White) Jesus Boda

I noticed something awesome about a month into my visit here that I feel like sharing briefly now.

It started with an early morning work commute when I first noticed a Jesus Boda. This boda was wrapped with numerous pictures of Jesus all over its exterior - on the wheels, on the front, on the side, by the wheels. The boda was pimped out with Jesus! And, more perplexingly, a white Jesus (I could have sworn he was black or Arab?).

I began looking for bodas with fun, elaborate designs while we drove to work in the morning. I was audibly delighted whenever we drove past fun designs, and my driver friend Calvin let me know that this was actually quite common in Kenya, and especially for matatus. 

Sure enough - I started noticing that the matatus have incredible, vibrant designs on them. Many of the matatu designs were flashy and brightly painted - many include Drake, Rihanna, P.Diddy, and other celebrities I don't recall. Some of these matatus blast music that can deafen bystanders while driving past, while others install movie screens on their seatbacks. I wondered why.

Luckily, Calvin could explain it all. There's a culture of pimping out vans here, and for good reason; the fancier your matatu is, the more passengers you get. The more passengers you get, the faster your matatu gets filled up. The faster your van gets filled, the more trips you can run in a day. The more trips you can run in a day, the more money you can make. And when this chain reaction happens, you end up kind of winning at the matatu hustle.

Matatus look for different ways to pimp out their rides. Some install the movie screens in the seatbacks because passengers become willing to pay more for their ride if they are entertained while stuck in traffic. Others blast the music to give the air of a mobile night club (with flashing lights, of course), to entice some passengers to feel like their commute is a fun party.

It all costs a lot of money - Calvin estimated that some people can spend $10,000+ to pimp out their matatus. But, if done well, a matatu can recover the costs of the "pimping out" within a year. And the nicer matatus tend to have better drivers (because they can pay them more), which means even better odds they'll fill up with people willing pay for their services.

And there are even competitions for who has the fanciest, most pimped out matatu, which can get the winning vehicle a nice pot of money. I've seen a few Facebook groups that simply admire the amazing decor of some matatus, and I have to say - I'm always impressed with the flamboyancy of them.

Of course, some matatus are simple vehicles - utilitarian. I guess they have really popular routes, so they may not need to focus on the fancy frills of matatu culture (or they just can't afford to decorate).

Nairobi is brimming with matatus, and I think someone could have a really fun time making a photo album of all of the unique, colorful matatus and bodas here. I don't think that will be me, though (I'm never ready with a camera); I'd be happy to pay for that coffee table book, though!

Note: It took me 2 more months before I found (white) Jesus boda again so I could take a picture of the guy with his bike after grocery shopping. The picture delights more more than I can express.

Kenyan Healthcare

My beautiful birthday cake