Jordan: A Near-Perfect Trip During the Off Season in a Pandemic

We spent nine days and 10 nights in Jordan spanning over New Years 2021-2022. It was an amazing trip and about the perfect amount of time to spend in Jordan and see the major sights. We found the country to be safe, the people friendly and welcoming and tolerant. So much of what we see in the media paints a negative and inaccurate portrait of Islamic countries. This marks the seventh country that I have visited that have a significant Islamic population (including Israel). I have always found the people to be incredibly hospitable, the call to prayer comforting, and the people to be unfailingly tolerant.

This trip ended up being a little different than most of the trips we take. Generally, we prefer to rely on public transit or walking rather than renting a car. In Jordan, renting a car was the best option — particularly during a pandemic (Note: we are both thrice vaccinated, took PCR tests prior to and upon arrival and have no issues with wearing masks). Normally, we AirBnB or stay in mid-range hotels (if I am travelling alone, I will sometimes stay in a private room at a hostel at 55 I have aged out of dorm life). This time we stayed in several 5-star places. It just worked out that we found some good deals and in the case of Marriott, had points to cover it.

Itinerary:

Day 1, Amman: We boked a 6-hour walking and street food tour through www.bookingjordan.com. For food, we ate hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush at Hashem, Kunefe at Habibah, Shwarma somewhere, visited the ruins, a souk, drove through Rainbow Street and visited a bakery. Overall, it was a good overview of downtown Amman.

Day 2: We returned to the airport and rented a car and drove north to Jerash and Um Qais. Jerash is probably the largest and best-preserved ruins in Jordan (Petra excepted). It is worth seeing, but as Freddy our guide from Day 1 said (ruining ruins for us forever): All ruins are basically the same, they were built by the Greeks, recycled by the Romans, and recycled again by the Muslims. Now that’s an oversimplification for sure, but it’s not wrong. Tanya was very impressed by Jerash, me less so as I have been to Ephesus, Pompei, and Meknes in the past. Jordan does not do a great job of posting interpretive signage around the site as a general rule, so hiring a guide might be helpful.

Umm Qais is another set of ruins in the far north of the country. We did not spend much time there, but I would recommend everyone go there for two reasons: (1) the ruins are uncommon in their use of basalt, and (2) incredible views of the Golan Heights, which the locals call Syria, but is controlled by Israel. Well into the late 20th Century the local community had an elementary school on the site. The site is not well preserved, but in my opinion was stunning and well worth driving an hour or two north from Jerash.

We then drove south, following the River Jordan to the Dead Sea, arriving after dark and enjoyed a forgettable pizza at one of the restaurants in the Dead Sea Marriott.

Day 3: It was New Years’ Eve and like in America, a day where prices are raised for a rather ordinary dinner. The air temperature was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the water in the Dead Sea was lovely. If I were to make a list of things you should do before you die, floating in the Dead Sea would be on that list. It is otherworldly. Don’t get the water in your eyes or open wounds, most of the healing powers are BS, but it is an amazing experience. The rest of the day was spent spaing around. I got an exfoliating scrub, a mud wrap and a massage from a Russian woman named Victoria who has lived in Jordan for 14 years and married a Jordanian man about 4 years ago. Tanya spent the day lounging and reading. She is not in my league as a hedonist.

Day 4: Drove t Petra via Mount Nebo, the Church of St. George (Madaba), and Karak Castle. We didn’t really plan to stop at Mount Nebo, where Moses was first shown the promised land by God because Who Cares?, but we literally drove right by it. It actually exceeded expectations. The original church has bee rebuilt and there are some mosaics inside and great views outside. Afterall, God could choose any place for his real estate tour and he chose this one.

After Nebo, we drove into Madaba to view the oldest mosaic map of the middle east in the Church of St. George. Meh. Sorry. We just weren’t into it.

We drove on to Karak Castle, a crusader castle. What this typically means is that the castle was built by Muslims to defend against crusaders. This castle is huge and well preserved. Well worth a stop. And then we drove on to Petra. After viewing our guest house, we made the game time decision to switch to the Marriott.

Day 5: Petra. It is all that. We arrived around 7:30am and during the off-season, in a pandemic, the crowd was not too bad. To get to Petra, the entrance from Wadi Musa is well-marked with a visitors’ center and museum. We were told by various guides, hotel clerks, waiters, other tourists the “best” way to see Petra and with most things there is no “best” way. Several told us to allow 8-9 hours, if going through the front and 5-6 if going through the back. Going through the back, it is not well-marked and a guide is necessary (or follow the crowd?)

Eventually, we settled on going through the front and spent about 4 hours. The point is that there is no real right way to do this. Starting at the visitors’ center, it is about mile walk over open terrain to the Siq (slot canyon) which is partially natural and partially hand carved. The Siq is about 1.5 miles to Petra. If this is all there was, it would be worth stopping. The sandstone walls, the ancient drainage structures are worth the walk. When you get to the end of the Siq, it opens onto the Treasury which is the Nebaetan hand-carved building that had nothing to do with treasures, but has that Greek banky look to it, so the name stuck. Turning around here was worth the trip. We soldiered on and roundtrip, hiked about 8 miles. There are many more carved buildings dating to the Nebaetans and a pretty decent amount dating to the Romans. We did not complete the hike to the Monastery. This would have added several more hours up almost 1,000 steps, or a short 25 minute donkey ride. We opted to head back to Wadi Musa and enjoy a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants there and watch ugly European tourists be abusive to Jordanian waiters.

Day 6: We drove through some of the thickest fog I have ever seen to Wadi Rum. The driving was very slow with caution flashers on the whole way. When we arrived at Wadi Rum, a guide picked us up at the meeting place and transported us to his bosses house where we booked a “Jeep” tour of Wadi Rum and would later to the camp. Our guide was 20, he said, unmarried and very proud of his truck because it was blue. Now this is a different standard than in the US. This vehicle would not meet safety standards in the US. It had no seatbelts as in physically missing. The driver hotwired the truck to start it. It had keys in the ignition, but hotwiring was necessary. two of the windows were inoperable, the passenger door did not fully open because of previous wrecks. Anyway, this Toyota pickup was our “Jeep” for the tour. Our guide was very sweet and showed us around Wadi Rum for two hours, we got out and hiked at a few locations and then went to camp where we sat around a fire and talked to other campers: Croatians, American/Venezuelan, and anti-sematic Germans. Eventually some hard partying Italians showed up. We were served dinner and breakfast the following morning. Wadi Rum is beautiful and mostly unspoiled.

Day 7: We drove on to Aqaba on the Red Sea and stayed in a stunning hotel. We didn’t expect much of Aqaba and actually liked it more than we thought we would. Tanya spent most of the time in the hotel working. I decided to try Scuba diving. I had never done it before, but found Aqaba International Diving a short walk from the hotel, who for $35 (gear included) would take me on a dive in the Red Sea, one of the world’s great dive spots. This was clearly baby steps. We walked in from the shore and the guide held my hand the entire time. We stayed in about 20 minutes and he took me down to about 8m. He said that was really good for a beginner. Frankly, this was a highlight for me. If you haven’t tried Scuba, you might like it.

Day 8: We drove back to Amman and returned the rental car. The rest of the day was spent resting at the Opal Hotel.

Day 9: We went into Amman and wandered around a Souk, Rainbow Street and ate a bit, sat in a café, and had a penultimate kunefe (we had another at dinner in the hotel.) Rainbow Street is hip, well-known and full of dining and shops. We had amazing falafel at Al Quds, a street side window. The rest of the day was spent in the spa at the hotel.

Nights 1 and 2: Shams Al Weibdeh, Amman — a boutique hotel in Al Weibdeh part of Amman. A nice hotel where the rooms have a setting room and kitchenette separate from the bedroom. If you leave the hotel and walk to the right, there’s a hipster area with many restaurants.

Nights 3 and 4: Marriott Dead Sea Resort — a 5-star resort on the Dead Sea. It was gorgeous, fabulous and quite expensive, but thanks to Bonvoy points - free.

Nights 5 and 6: Marriott Petra — we had originally booked a room at a guest house. When we arrived, there was no one there and the place was in poor repair, smelled, etc. We decided to take a loss on that 2 nights/2 people/$22 deal and burn 50,000 Marriott points. It was nice — not Dead Sea nice, but well above average.

Night 7: Beyond Wadi Rum Camp — certainly our lowest bar, but also one we are most fond of. When you pull into Wadi Rum, there are a bunch of these types of Bedouin camps. They pick you up in a parking lot and transport you out into the dessert provide a nice permanent tent, dinner and breakfast.

Night 8: Kempinski in Aqaba — Wow. The nicest place we’ve stayed in a very long time. Again, we got a deal. Off-season, pandemic, but a gorgeous facility right on the beach at the Red Sea.

Nights 9 and 10: Opal Hotel in Amman — A gorgeous hotel strategically located midway between the airport and downtown so that it’s close to nothing. The facility is beautiful with an amazing spa. The hotel observes a lot of Islamic rules such as being dry, serving hookahs in the restaurants and having separate spa facilities with different hours for men and women (not sure why you need separate facilities AND different hours, but they didn’t ask me). We liked everything about the hotel, including the restaurants, but probably wouldn’t recommend it because of its inconvenient location.

Renting A Car: We rented a Chevy Aveo with an automatic transmission from Dollar at the Amman airport. We did this from Day 2 until Day 8 of our trip. Day 1 and Day 9 were spent in Amman and we did not feel the car would be worthwhile. Ubers are pretty easy to catch in Amman and I would recommend them over taxis as there are issues with taxis in Jordan.

As with all international car rentals, always buy as much insurance as they will sell you. Your US insurance is worthless in Jordan and I really wouldn’t trust the credit card insurance either. According to the Dollar Rep, the insurance they sell at the counter only covers collision, so you might check into a comprehensive policy elsewhere. I bought one on-line when I was in Cyprus from Allianz and they paid a claim with no questions. I did not need the insurance here, but it’s worth it.

Also, most of the cars here are automatic. This is unusual in many countries. The car rental rep asked me if I could drive an automatic. I said yes, thinking if you can’t drive an automatic, what can you drive? I later talked to a Croatian man who seemed somewhat traumatized by the experience.

Driving in Jordan: I grew up and learned to drive in rural Missouri. It’s not that much different than driving in Jordan. It’s country rules where the main rule is: Don’t hit anything. To the uninitiated, it can seem chaotic, but drivers are generally paying attention and want to avoid an accident.

Food: Street food is very cheap although not always easy to find. In driving around the county, we had trouble finding places we could pull off the highway and eat. There are many cafes that serve only coffee and tea, but not many that serve food other than the odd baked good. When available, street shawarma, falafel, and the like can be had for less than a dinar. In restaurants, most entres run 8 to 9 dinar. This seems to be the case in all restaurants. Fine dining doesn’t seem to be a thing here. The national dish is Mansaf which is lamb with rice in a yogurt sauce. We had chicken musakhan in the Opal Hotel. It seemed that the waiter was offended that we chose this over Mansaf as it is Palestinian. We had both and preferred the musakhan which is served with a flat bread, carmelized onions and spices.

Overall, the food is going to be familiar to most Americans (at least those traveling to Jordan). Middle Eastern food does not vary greatly from country to country. All claim to have the best hummus (Hashem in Amman is the clear winner here IMO), the best falafel, etc. There are many vegan/vegetarian options (though some Eurotrash at the Kempinski wasted our time complaining about the lack of vegan options on the dinner menu when we were trying to check out.)

Summary: We loved it. It was one of our best trips. We are not sure we need to go back. We love the Middle East and Islamic culture, but there’s a certain sameness to it across the many Islamic countries that we may visit others before returning to Jordan.

Rules for Selecting Beer

These rules are important and universal, so don’t fuck it up.

1. Resist the urge to fill every tap with one of your favorites. Your taste is probably not very good. This is particularly true if you’re a beer connoisseur or aficionado.

2. How important is Hops? It’s important, but not that important. It is as important as carrot is to carrot cake. If you substituted sweet potatoes, nobody would notice. Resist the urge to overhop everything.

3. This brings us to IPAs: No IPAs until you have three taps. After that, keep it to under 20 percent of the total.

4. Avoid hazy and unfiltered. The brewer is just trying to make you pay more for less.

5. Doubles, Triples, Quadruples: Just say no. Respect balance. If you think you need four times something, put four times the amount of air you need in your tires or or take four times the prescription, or have a quadruple bypass. Just don’t do it to beer. Or carrot cake. It has enough already.

6. If you’re opening a bar, having a party, whatever, choose your beer for what people like — but don’t choose Bud Light. In fact, never choose mass produced swill.

7. Say you’re opening a bar and have only one tap, what beer should you choose? You should question why you’re opening a bar with only one tap.

8. Two taps: I think Boulevard got it about right when they started their brewery with Pale Ale and Wheat. Something heavy and light. I would consider a Kolsch here for the light.

9. Three taps: If you insist, add your fucking IPA here. But, make it a single, filter it, absolutely no New England-style IPA. The I stands for India. Learn your fucking geography or convince me that the Iroquois drank this. I would probably add a stout. So my three would be Kolsch, English-style bitter and stout.

10. Four or five taps: I would probably have an IPA and a sour here to broaden the range.

11. Six to 10 taps: You can get creative here. Throw in a personal favorite, maybe even a barleywine. You can even add ONE more IPA.

12. More than 10: Respect the previous rules and go to town. Hell, add a double, a triple and a quadruple if you like. Just remember to clean the taps periodically so they don’t silt in.

It’s really pretty simple. Follow these simple rules, don’t fuck it up and everything will be fine.

Bangkok. The End of the Road.

Tanya first suggested we go to Bangkok in 2016. I was resistant at the time because we only had a week and I thought it would cost too much and take too long to travel there and back. I countered with Maine. Growing up in New York and going to college in Rhode Island, she thinks of Maine the way I think of the Ozarks. After some cost comparison that determined the costs were about the same, we decided to spend a week in 2017 in Bangkok. We enjoyed it so much that when I took off a year to travel in 2019-2020, I included a month in Bangkok. It was to be the start of the Asia leg of my travels and ended being the end as well.

I saw many of the most popular tourist sites during that 2017 visit. This left me a lot of time to eat, get massages and explore the rest of the city. It also left time for a couple of side trips to Chiang Mai and Pattaya.

As much as I adore Thailand and Bangkok, it’s not without problems. In terms of both wealth and income inequality, Thailand is among the most unequal in the world. This is evident in the beautiful high rise buildings and expensive cars and in the older neighborhoods that are being razed to make way for them. Zoning in Bangkok resembles Houston in its lack of planning. The air quality in Thailand is bad. Many people were wearing masks before Coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the scene. According to Mastercard, Bangkok is the most visited city in the world. This is good and bad. The people are used to tourists and most seem to speak at least some English which makes getting around easy. Nearly all signs and menus have both languages. 

Transportation

During this second trip, I was determined not to use taxis or tuk tuks, which meant that I needed to learn Bangkok’s public transit system. During our first visit, I found taxis and tuk tuks annoying to the point of contempt. Both will take advantage of tourists any chance they get. The taxis in Bangkok are metered. With tourists, most of the cab drivers would prefer to not use the meter. This will never work in your favor. For example, I had to take a taxi in from the airport because my flight got in after the public transit closed at midnight. I got in the cab and driver started to pull away and noticed that he had a towel over the meter. I asked him to run the meter. He told me, no, it was 700 baht (~$22). I knew from the last time I was in Bangkok, the meter price was about half that. I got out of that cab and found another cab and it was 430 baht ($14) on the meter. That is the only taxi that I used on this trip.

As for tuk tuks, they will take you just about wherever you want to go for whatever you want to pay. Sound like a good deal? The problem is that they’re going to drop you at a tailor, a jeweler or various other businesses. Apparently, these merchants pay the tuk tuk drivers’ in exchange for them bringing tourists by. I have offered to pay extra NOT to go to these businesses to no avail — you’re still going. Excellent deals on tailoring and jewelry are available in Bangkok, but not at the shops that the tuk tuk drivers will take you to. So, I try and avoid taxis and tuk tuks whenever possible. 

For public transit, Bangkok has a metro system (MRT), skytrains (BTS), bus rapid transit (BRT), ferry boats and buses. Using these systems, it’s possible to get just about anywhere in the city. I used the MRT, BTS, BRT and boats and ferries to get around. I never attempted to ride the city buses although they seem to be a viable option. The BRT and the BTS work together. You can buy a Rabbit card that works on both of these systems. The MRT is separate, has a separate fare schedule, and has its own cards available. I do not believe that these cards offer a discount; in fact, the Rabbit card costs 100 baht. It is merely a convenience if you plan on being there a while. The ferries are also separate and cost 15 to 18 baht per ride, but are an excellent way to get around the city. The boats have flags that indicate what type of boat they are. The orange line are express boats and don’t stop at every stop. and the no flag boats are local and make every stop. In addition, the major riverfront hotels have free cross river ferry service. There are also tourist boats and there are longtail boats available for hire when you want to go somewhere the commuter boats don’t go. I would make use of all of these to avoid taxis and tuk tuks. It is important to get to the right pier. At the larger piers, there are several docks side-by-side which service each of these types of boats.

Sights

Temples

As a culture, Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, but also has significant minority populations of Hindus and Muslims. There are also a small number of Christians dating to the Portuguese trading days. On this second trip the only temples I revisited were Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and Wat Pho (the Reclining Buddha). There are a number of other impressive temples to see in Bangkok, so pace yourself. Wat Arun is located on the opposite bank of the Chao Phraya from most of the other tourist sites in Bangkok and is accessible by an orange flag boat or a cross river ferry. It features very intricate mosaics and is done in the Khmer style of architecture. While there, one of the last bastions of the Portuguese-Thai community, Kudichin, is a short walk from there. This community actually predates Bangkok and has a church, a few bakeries. and a small museum. Aside from that, the community is organized in much the same way as other older communities in Bangkok, with narrow winding streets. 

Wat Pho is huge and impressive to see. It features more than just the Reclining Buddha on its grounds, including three monuments built by past kings. It is also where Thai massage was invented and is still available. It is more expensive there than elsewhere in the city, because…tourist trap? Wat Pho is near the Grand Palace and the Jade Buddha. This part of Bangkok I try to avoid except for when visiting tourist sites. The restaurants cater to tourists and as a result are subpar and overpriced. There are also a number of scams afoot that should be avoided. 

Museums

Bangkok is not a great city for museums. The Bangkokian Museum and the Jim Thompson House are both interesting for a look into life in Bangkok during a certain time. The Museum of Siam was very interesting and its collection explored “Thainess” or what it means to be Thai. The Bangkok Arts and Culture Center has rotating shows of contemporary art and shops maintained by artists. 

The Erawan Museum was interesting, but struck me as more of a temple or shrine than a museum. It is quite far on the BTS to get there. It’s main feature was a 27m tall stature of a three-headed elephant, a temple and many other elephant statues. Perhaps the most impressive building that I saw was the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya, which is reachable by bus on a day trip. The Sanctuary of Truth is a beautiful, ornate structure carved out of teak that sits on the beach of the Gulf of Thailand. The structure is not protected from the elements and is continually decaying and parts are being constantly being repaired or replaced. Workers are always on site. To enter the building, hardhats are required. It is sad and maddening that this is allowed to happen, but it is also hopeful that it is constantly being renewed.

Khao San Road and Patpong

A couple of well-known Bangkok spots that can be avoided are Khao San Road and Patpong. Khao San Road is where backpackers used to head and some still do. It has many hostels, lots of neon and presents a commercialized ideal of Bangkok. I really saw no reason to spend much time there. 

Patpong is Bangkok’s most famous red light district. It has a night market, sex shows and other stuff that could be had for less money somewhere else. I walked through Patpong and was lured into a sex show that promised such attractions as “Pussy playing Ping Pong”, “ Pussy blowing out candles”, and various other tricks. Of course, they lure with a cheap drink. I was there early in the evening and maybe that’s why it wasn’t crowded. It seemed like I was the focus of the show. 

I was led to a small round table with a Ping Pong paddle on it about 10-feet from a stage set at bar height. On the stage were several women in bikinis with flat expressions on their faces, gyrating to some sort of music. The middle woman had removed her panties. As the music played, a two-tier birthday cake with lit candles was produced. This woman inserted a straw in her vagina and squatted over the cake, aiming the straw at a candle and blew it out. She moved on to the next candle and the next, eventually blowing out all of the candles on the cake. As I glanced back and forth across the stage, the side dancers gestured inviting me to join them in a side room. As I sat there, the waitress put a balloon in my hand. I tried to give it back, not realizing this was part of the show. In my naivety, I thought the balloon was a door prize and not a prop. I was instructed to hold the balloon up, still not understanding what was going on. As I held the balloon, the woman inserted a straw in her vagina. It may have been the same straw or a different straw, I didn’t understand what was going on until the balloon exploded in my hand. She had shot a dart with her vagina to explode the balloon.

More music and dancing and pussy-related tricks ensued. I was not comfortable and wanted to leave. The girl wearing only the bikini bra sat down on the edge of the stage facing me. A punch bowl full of ping pong balls was set beside her. As I watched, she loaded balls into her vagina. Before I fully understood what was going on a ping pong ball flew past my head. The waitress picked up the paddle and placed it in my hand. I started returning service. I had not played Ping Pong in years. I think I did alright returning service. 

I asked for the check and was directed to the end of the bar where I was immediately set upon by the waitress, the dancers, the DJ (who I didn’t even realize existed), the bartender and probably a few others with demands for tips. In the blink of an eye, I had given out 2,100 Baht (~$65) for a 100 Baht drink. I decided I was leaving then and headed toward the door. The waitress started to step in front of me and I lowered my shoulder. She stepped back and I left. I had been interested in this playbill since Tanya and I were in Patpong three years ago. Seeing the show in person and all that goes with it was anticlimactic. It was also expensive and a little unnerving. 

Muay Thai

Muay Thai, or Thai boxing is the national sport of Thailand. There are Muay Thai shows for tourists all over Bangkok. They are priced for tourists and they are shows. There are also places to go to see the real thing. Clearly the best deal is at Channel 6 stadium. Channel 6 broadcasts Muay Thai fights every Sunday afternoon at 2:30 live from Channel 6 Arena located near the Chatuchak Weekend Market. The fights start on time, move quickly with very little down time between bouts and are free to the public. They have a special section reserved for foreigners. The dress code requires long pants and collared shirts, basically golf attire. If you forget, there are venders outside selling clothing, so you can quickly change. Muay Thai would be high on my list of things to see in Bangkok. At Channel 6, the Thai people bet on the matches, which is why they segregate the foreigners. I went one time and after that, the Arena was closed due to COVID-19. As it is close to Chatuchak (same BTS stop), it makes for a good Sunday to walk around the market, have lunch at one or more of the myriad food stalls and head over to the fights. 

Tailoring

Expertly tailored clothes are available at many locations in Bangkok. On both of my trips, I had clothes made. Typically, this takes a couple of days. First, selecting the articles and being measured, followed by a fitting a day or two later. The final products will be ready a day or two after that. Both times, I stopped at tailor shops in Silom. I am told that better prices can be had in other neighborhoods. Silom is near the financial district and is geared more toward business clientele. The people working in these shops generally speak very good English. I cannot vouch for the service offered in other parts of town, but tailored clothes are available at bargain prices in Bangkok.

Cuisine

Thai cuisine is one of the most interesting and varied in the world and extends far beyond Pad Thai. Most westerners with a small sense of adventure will not find it too objectionable. If anyone tells you about eating dogs or insects in Thailand, they are probably misinformed. What you will find is delicious food at all hours of the day and night. It is also not all spicy. In fact, Pad Thai should be sweet. A central tenet of Thai cooking is that all dishes should be salty, spicy, sour and sweet. The typical Thai table will have at least four condiments on it, one representing each of these four flavors. If a dish is too spicy or salty for your tastes, these condiments are added to balance the flavor. A Thai cook will not be offended by using any or all of these. Thai also do not use chopsticks that much (a few dishes are eaten with chopsticks). The proper way to eat Thai is with a fork in the left hand and a big spoon in the right. The fork puts food in the spoon and you eat from the spoon.

I took a night food tour by tuk tuk (my only tuk tuk ride of the trip) and I also took a cooking class. I would recommend both. On the 2017 trip, we took a walking food tour during the day and I would recommend that as well. The culture is very closely tied to the food and so, learning about the food is a good way to learn about the culture. As I said before, the food is not freaky or weird, but it can seem that way to a westerner, thus, having some knowledge of the cuisine before you start exploring can put you at ease when trying to navigate Thai restaurants and food stalls. 

Like all Asian cuisines, Thai eat a lot of rice. They also eat a lot of noodles. The most famous dish in Thailand is of course, Pad Thai, a dish not eaten that often by Thai people, but still tasty. Pad Thai came about in the post-WWII era because it was cheap. At the time it was also sweet and the only meat in it were small, dried shrimp. It has evolved. Pad is simply the Thai word for stir fry. So, anytime you see the word ‘pad’, it is going to be something in a stir fry. Other famous Thai dishes include a variety of curries, laab, green papaya salad, pad kra pao and tom yum. The papaya salads and tom yum both come in many different forms. Laab can be made out of about any meat or fish. According to the woman who taught my cooking class, KFC even has a fried chicken laab. Laab incidentally, is minced meat with spices. 

Probably the most important Thai cooking is done on the street. Food stalls line the streets in many parts of Bangkok selling soup, meat on a stick, roti and about anything you can imagine. This food is all safe to eat and very cheap. There’s a sort of intermediate step of food courts which combine seating with food stalls that I have found to be a good place to eat. These are also not hard to find. When eating at the food stands and courts, there may not be an English language menu available, so it’s a bit of a leap of faith whether it will be good or not. Pick something that looks interesting or good and try it. Whatever it is, it likely costs less than two dollars. So, try it and if you don’t like it, try something else. 

Thai cooking also uses a lot of eggs. They will be scrambled in a stir fry such as Pad Thai, made into an omelet, fried in a wok (outstanding method for frying eggs), or scrambled on roti and drizzled  with sweetened, condensed milk for a breakfast. 

Massage

Another big part of Thai culture is massage. There are Thai massage places all over. These are legitimate businesses that give massage. They are not in the business of prostitution. Now, if someone approaches you on the street with pictures of naked women in suds asking if you want a massage, that is not a legitimate massage business. That is prostitution, which is illegal in Thailand. Most massage places in Bangkok will offer three main types of massage and some may offer more. The main types are: foot, Thai and oil. Other types that are sometimes offered include aroma oil, herbal compress, hot stone and various combinations. 

While in Thailand, one should at least try Thai massage. Whereas oil massage uses oil or lotion rubbed into the skin in combination with pressure, Thai massage uses no oil. You will change into pajamas and the massage will be a combination of applied pressure and forced stretches. Understand that there will be some pain associated with Thai massage. The pressure will be applied with hands, elbows, forearms and feet. In many cases, they will walk on you. They will also intertwine their bodies with yours and force you into positions to stretch muscles. I tried both Thai and oil and came to prefer the Thai. The oil massage is akin to Swedish or Chinese massage you can get anywhere. Massage prices can be as low as 120 Baht/hour ($4) for Thai or foot massage in parts of Bang Rak to 300 Baht/hour ($9) in most parts of the city. Oil types of massage cost a bit more.

In a nutshell, Bangkok is very accessible and modern. It is used to seeing tourists and offers an inexpensive introduction to Asia.

Traveling from Bangkok to Kansas City during a Pandemic

I made the decision to cut my trip short and return home on March 15, 2020. My Thai visa expired March 17, 2020, and I had two options: to leave Thailand, or to extend my visa. My plan had been to go on to Cambodia, but this was no longer an option. Cambodia now banned US residents from entering due to the spread of the virus in the US. Within a day of Cambodia’s announcement, Vietnam also announced travel restrictions. Myanmar and Laos, had neither reported a single case of COVID-19 and that was as troubling. With cases all around them, to not report a single case seemed like more of an indictment of their public health systems than a demonstration of the robustness of these systems. Cases were also on the rise in Malaysia and travel there would be restricted within days. As I cast about for places to go after Thailand, the world seemed to be closing in on me. If I extended the Thai visa, what would the world look like in mid-April? I could foresee a situation where I had to leave Thailand, but could go nowhere, including the US. 

I bought my ticket from Bangkok to Taipei to Los Angeles and a second ticket from Los Angeles to Kansas City that day. As I traveled from Bangkok to Kansas City on March 17 and 18, 2020, cases of COVID-19 increased from 169,387 cases worldwide to 214,894. 

For background, I started making arrangements to travel on December 27, 2019, four days before China reported its first case of COVID-19. I also bought a travel insurance policy at that time as I planned on this trip lasting four months and there seemed to be ample opportunities for something to go wrong. When I left for Thailand, on February 16, 2020, new cases in China were declining from day to day, the US had only 15 confirmed cases and Thailand had 33 confirmed cases. The virus appeared to be coming under control. By mid-March China was reporting new cases at the rate of a few a day, Thailand had a total of 82 cases, the US had thousands of cases and Europe was on fire, reporting tens of thousands of cases.

On March 15, it became clear that curtailing the trip was becoming my only option. As the Israeli politician Abba Eban observed, “Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other alternatives,” I was now behaving wisely, I hoped. I had been resistant to returning to the US because southeast Asia appeared to have the disease mostly under control, while the US struggled to come to terms with the pandemic. The US bungled its testing, the President downplayed the severity of the disease and discounted its contagiousness. He even implied it was a hoax, lied about the country’s ability to respond, and still refers to the disease as “Chinese.” The US looked as though it might become the next epicenter of the outbreak. Traveling by plane and potentially into the eye of the storm seemed like a bad decision, but I had now exhausted all other alternatives.

I met my friend Taweesak for lunch the day before I left Bangkok. Taweesak is an artist who has taught and studied in the United States, but now lives in his native Thailand. He said that a difference between western thought and eastern thought was that in the west, we tend to develop a hypothesis and test the hypothesis, whereas in the east, more emphasis is placed on observations of the physical world.  These differences in thought process are learned at a very early age and when in doubt, we revert back to these processes. It’s not quite our reptile brains kicking in and taking over, but more our toddler brains.

This difference in the thought process has colored the responses to pandemic in eastern and western countries. Both cultures have the same weapons in their arsenal, including:

• Hand washing or sanitizing

• Public health checks

• Cleaning public spaces

• Covering one’s face and the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Practicing social distancing

• Practicing social isolation

• Quarantine, curfews and restricting commerce

In Thailand, all of these solutions were implemented to one degree or another. By the time I left Bangkok, the standard procedure to enter most public buildings was to be greeted by someone with an instant read thermometer, a bottle of hand sanitizer and a sticker. All of these were mandatory. Your temperature was checked, hand sanitizer was squirted in your hand, and you were rewarded with a sticker. This occurred at the airport in Bangkok (though I don’t think they were giving out stickers). When I deplaned in Taipei, they were waiting with hand sanitizer and instant read thermometers. In LA and Kansas City, hand sanitizer was not provided though everyone seemed to agree it was a good idea and many brought their own. My temperature was not checked in either place. The lack of sanitizer may have been a result of the US being caught off guard by a large scale pandemic that had been building for months because in normal times, most grocery stores provide hand sanitizer at their entrances. I assume that the lack of public health screening was also a result of the government being caught off guard and of a government structure of the US that doesn’t lend itself to quickly adopting best practices.

In Thailand, workers could be seen in public spaces wiping down handrails and escalators, anywhere someone might have touched. I didn’t notice these workers in the US. I don’t know why this is, but my suspicion is that Americans like things just so and don’t want to acknowledge that cleaning is an effort. Asians observe the world and accept that things need to be cleaned. Americans like to believe it’s magic and that the cleaning stay as out of sight as much as is possible. It also helps hold the wages down. 

One of the most obvious differences is that large numbers of people in eastern cultures cover their faces, whereas this is nearly unheard of in western cultures. There are several reasons for this, including poor overall air quality in large Asian cities and the response to the Spanish flu of 1918. Those aren’t important now, but they do come back to Taweesak’s point. If I were to tell you that there was an airborne hazard, whether it be smoke or dust or a virus, the first reaction would be to cover one’s face. Whether it’s desert nomads or firefighters or surgeons, they all cover their faces. This is simply a response to an observed condition without any need for a tested hypothesis.

Before I go further, I should note that Asian governments are as resolute in their support of masks as Western governments are in their opposition. Hong Kong has publicly stated that masks prevented the epidemic from taking hold there (though some residents criticized their government because masks were more readily available in Macau), the top public health official in Thailand attacked Caucasians with an ethnic slur for not wearing masks, saying that they should be expelled from the country for spreading the disease by not wearing masks.

When western thought enters, we want to see evidence showing that covering one’s face is effective. From what I can tell, those studies don’t exist. We do have studies showing that respirators in the workplace in hazardous environments must be properly fitted and have the proper cartridge for the environment to be effective. So, with no study addressing our concern, we apply the closest ones we have. In the west, this means that not only do we not wear masks because we can’t insure that they are properly fitted and have the proper filter, we actively tell others not to wear masks. Western thought was formalized in the scientific method and evolved into a system where scientific discovery is published in journal articles and is open to peer review and can be criticized. In order to operate in this system, one must possess the self confidence to put their opinions out in the world knowing they will be attacked and the hubris to attack the ideas of others. The unpatentable idea of covering one’s face is never studied because no one wants to fund a study to prove something where no one stands to profit. There may also be some xenophobia against Asians, as the Thai minister had displayed against Caucasians.

In the airports in Bangkok and Taipei, nearly everyone was wearing a mask. On the planes out of Bangkok and out of Taipei, the flight crews were all wearing masks as were most of the passengers. At LAX and at MCI, almost no one was wearing a mask. On the flight to Kansas City, the flight crew was not wearing masks and only two passengers (including me) were covering their faces. 

The West has invested a lot of emotional and intellectual energy in the not wearing of masks. The East has accepted that wearing masks helps. The evidence proving or disproving the efficacy does not exist, but the East followed their intuition. The West reverted to their toddler brain and as we know, most toddlers would prefer to just run around naked and screaming.

The practice of social distancing and isolation is much harder to maintain in both cultures. Both cultures seem to embrace the practice in principal. In practice, the West probably does better, though neither were practiced very successfully in airports or on planes. Particularly in the large cities of the East, people are crammed tightly together on public transit, in food stalls or wherever you are. Spaces are just tight. This probably another reason that Asians have embraced masks. Outside of airports, the West tends to be more open, cars are a more common mode of transport. Distancing and isolation are more a way of life. 

Quarantines, curfews and the closing of businesses are probably the most draconian measures taken to combat the spread of disease. Everyone seems to understand how these work. In China, quarantines were implemented quickly, but still more than 80,000 eventually came down with the disease. I am not aware of this being done on a large scale anywhere else in Asia. Quarantines and curfew have now been implemented on a large scale in Europe. One would think that this would be nearly impossible to do in Europe, but the situation was getting so out of control so fast, that the public appears to have accepted it. In the US, the federal government does not have the authority to implement these measures. State and local governments have the power of policing. This leads to uneven implementation, though by now, most areas have settled on some form of limiting commerce.

No one knows how or when this pandemic will end. Undoubtedly, millions of people will contract the disease and tens of thousands will die from it. At this point, the Asian countries appear to have done the best job of containing the spread, but at this point, the spread could ebb and flow several times and we appear to be a long way from being able to declare victory. It is clear that many will die and trillions of dollars of economic output will be lost before the virus is brought under control and it should be fought with every weapon in our arsenal. Some measures are more easily implemented than others, but none should be discounted. Xenophobic and ego-driven attacks are not helpful. We have a common enemy and don’t need to fight each other.

What's Eating Me Today, aka I Got a Pretty Good Bitch On

Anyone who really knows me knows that I am a pretty moderate person. I tend to be rational and logical in my thoughts and reactions. I avoid emotional decisions and think about outcomes. Tanya (and this isn’t about her) is more prone to jump in with both feet. This is true to the extent that I have inadvertently coined the second most used phrase on the KU campus, “Tanya Half.” Seriously, even the Dean says it.

But I digress, what’s been eating at me for the past few days or weeks is just how stupid people are. That was a little harsh, but really, I’m kind of bummed about the critical thinking skills of otherwise intelligent people. People who manage not to starve, come in out of the rain, pour piss out of a boot fail at simple risk analysis. This is not new. From Pascal’s wager through H.L. Mencken to Kurt Vonnegut, many before have observed that people aren’t very good at making decisions for the benefit of all (and by subtraction themselves). Climate change is the big looming existential disaster looming.

Of course, in the shorter term, Coronavirus is the one that has my attention. Is it a big deal? Maybe. To best answer that question, ask yourself how much you care about your loved ones, or society. Does anyone close to you have a compromised immune system? Or, are they a cancer patient, a senior citizen? If you can answer ‘no’ to all these, them you can say, “Fuck You Society, I’m Living for me.”

I have had two different doctors and scads of other people point out that Coronavirus isn’t even the worst communicable disease out there. There are far more cases of influenza and deaths from influenza in any given year than what we’ve seen from Coronavirus. First, CAN WE ONLY TRY AND SOLVE ONE PROBLEM AT A TIME???? What kind of imbeciles are you? Second, the same measures that an individual takes to combat Coronavirus are also effective in stopping the spread of influenza. Let me repeat and bold that for emphasis. The same measures that an individual takes to combat Coronavirus are also effective in stopping the spread of influenza. I have posted/commented/said numerous times over the past few weeks something to the effect of “can’t we all just agree that stopping the spread of communicable diseases is a good thing.” No one has agreed with me. I would like to think that’s because people think it’s so obvious that there’s no reason to agree. Evidence leads me to believe that people just don’t agree.

Most Americans do not object to washing their hands (doesn’t mean they all do it), but go a step beyond that to say, covering your face (something that has been commonplace in Asia for years) and Americans react as if they’re being asked to turn in their guns (another irrational Americanism). Part of this is because of sketchy advice given by the CDC and WHO, both of which acknowledge that covering one’s face is effective at preventing passing the disease to someone else. There’s seems to be a disconnect between giving the disease and receiving the disease. If you stop either you have stopped transmission. For example, a friend and self-proclaimed germaphobe, doesn’t cover her face. The same friend was grossed out by someone sneezing into a microphone prior to handing it to her. Obviously, had his face been covered this would not have been a problem. If you can’t draw this line, I don’t know how to help you.

We should at least realize that not stopping the spread of communicable diseases is what leads to things like “the Black Plague”, “the Spanish Flu”, SARS”, you know the epidemics with names. Psst, the reason they have names is because they started with a few cases, then a few more, then exponential growth. Surprisingly, none of these were a big deal when they started.

I could say a lot more, but Nero is warming up the violin and I’m getting hungry. So, no more shouting in the abyss for tonight.

Travel in the Time of a Global Pandemic

Tanya has encouraged me to cut the trip short, but leaving on a long haul flight seems like a high risk option. There are few realistic methods of early detection. The airport has armed screeners with instant read thermometers which may catch the most egregious cases. Hand sanitizer is readily available, sometimes with employees just walking through the crowd squirting it in your hand. At the muay Thai fights were even giving people surgical masks as they entered the arena.

Meanwhile, there are reports out of the US that baggage handlers in Los Angeles and New York have tested positive for COVID-19. Most of the cases reported in the US are near Seattle (where my feet were last on US soil), San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, in short, the largest international terminals. In addition, there are no nonstop flights to the US out of Bangkok. The most common connectors are through China, South Korea, and Japan, all have had outbreaks. Flights through China and South Korea have been canceled. It is possible to go west and connect at Singapore or Europe, which are hardly better options as both places have experienced outbreaks. In short, travel to the US is not without risk.

As I sit in Chiang Mai on March 5, 2020 (the day Tanya was supposed to be traveling to Bangkok to meet me before her flight was canceled), there have been 95,266 cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) reported world wide, 3,285 of those have resulted in death, and 53,219 have recovered. The death toll will certainly climb upward as there are 42,074 unresolved cases in the world and these numbers are not static. New cases are found each day, people die and recover each day.

A disease, once contained to China has now gone global with cases reported in more than 70 countries. The worldwide cases are likely to match the number of cases in China in less than 10 days as growth in China has slowed to fewer than 200 new per day and other parts of the world are in the midst of an exponential growth phase.

The growth of the virus in nearly every location is very similar. First, a few cases appear, then a few more. Authorities tell people to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer, wear masks (in the east, not necessary if you’re in the west). Authorities don’t act quickly enough and after seven to 14 days, the virus hits an exponential growth where new cases are added at the rate of 25 to 50 percent per day and compound. Authorities have their “Oh Shit” moment and start closing airports, schools, canceling public events, etc. until the growth is brought under control. Of course, to this point, we’re treating each individual country as a discrete entity where cases start, they grow and the die. All this leads us to travel.

Travel is undoubtedly the worst thing you can do during a pandemic. The way diseases spread is primarily through human to human contact. If people never leave their homes, the only people they can infect are others in that home. The disease dies with the people in the home (or the people recover, they don’t have to die). The risk associated with travel are increased when travel is done by plane or cruise ship as these are transporting a large number of people in a mostly enclosed vessel with recirculating air.

So, why did I decide to travel during a pandemic? I bought my ticket to Bangkok on December 27, 2019, China started reporting cases on December 31, 2019, and Thailand reported the first international case on January 13, 2020. At the time I left on February 16, 2020, Thailand had reported a total 33 cases with no deaths and 12 recoveries. I deemed that it was safe to go as there were no large scale outbreaks outside of China. WIthin the last week, the number of reported cases in South Korea, Italy, and Iran have all run into the thousands and multiple other countries have hundreds of cases. If I had waited to buy my ticket even a week, I probably would have waited another week, and then probably another and probably would have arrived at a different result, such as South America where there is only political unrest to deal with.

Ethically, I think the thing to do is stay in one place or at least stay away from the areas where the virus is spreading rapidly. In terms of economics, I didn’t want to lose the money. I did buy travel insurance, but travel insurance doesn’t have a ‘cancel for any reason’ clause. Financially, the best move is to wait as long as possible in hopes that the airline will cancel the flight. If the airline and I differ on whether it’s safe to go to a particular destination, then I have to make the decision that is in the interest of my health and ethics. My next move is to Cambodia on March 18, 2020, a country that has only reported one case. Which of course leads to the question, can the Cambodian government be trusted? I do not know the answer to that.

This leads me to explore the positives and negatives of my next move. As Tanya has pointed out, by returning to the US, at least we would be together should something happen to either of us or a close family member (of course, with the aforementioned travel insurance, should I get sick, they will pay up to $300,000 for medical evacuation). She’s right though, should the disease spread and affect any close family members I may not be able to get back due to travel bans. It is also possible that Trump will have an ‘Oh Shit’ moment and shut down all US airports indefinitely. It would be a bold move, probably effective, and might score him points with his base who only ever fly to a cruise ship with an all you can eat buffet. So, yeah that’s possible. As I mentioned before I significantly increase my risk of contracting the disease merely by travelling back to the US and entering through one of these international airports. I am caught between a rock and a hard place.

As a veteran of countless safety training courses throughout my career, it’s been drilled into me, Question: “Who’s the most important person on the jobsite?” Answer: “You are. If you don’t take measures to protect yourself, you cannot protect others.” This philosophy is consistent across all safety training from airplane safety training where they tell you to secure your face mask before assisting others to OSHA-sanctioned training courses.

Is it safe to be in Thailand? Americans tend to believe that America has the best medical care and most resources in the world. In terms of resources, the US is a wealthy country with vast resources that tend to be distributed in a very uneven way. Americans are deeply suspicious of government, but paradoxically trust government agencies like the CDC to protect them. Thailand, though I have very little knowledge of how they allocate their resources, does seem to have very good medical care. Having the earliest known cases outside of China, they have limited the spread to just 43 cases and one death since January 13. The US reported its first cases several weeks later and now has 157 cases and 11 deaths. So, on the surface Thailand seems to be handling COVID-19 better than the US both in terms of stopping the spread and in terms of medical outcomes. There’s a lot more that goes into these numbers than just the numbers, so indicting the US medical and public health officials on this alone is not fair.

The public health campaign in both countries has been similar with both stressing hand washing, hand sanitizer, avoiding physical contact. The main difference that I can see is that Thai officials recommend the wearing of face masks in public and US officials have come out against this. As I mentioned above, I have had a number of safety training courses over the course of my career. The respirator training sections have always stressed that the equipment must be used properly for maximum benefit. This includes the right equipment, proper fit, etc. They always cite workplace safety studies completed by NIOSH or MSA. The rationale aligns very closely with what public health officials are advising publicly. I have not been able to find any studies either proving or disproving the efficacy of surgical masks or dust masks to prevent the spread of communicable disease. I assume that public health officials are basing their advice on these workplace safety studies that are looking at very different sources, contaminants, and threshold values. For workplace safety, the assumption is that the worker will be exposed to contaminants for the entirety of their shift. and possibly career For public health, the concern is an instantaneous exposure from a sneeze, a touch, etc.

Further, all officials seem to agree that the wearing of masks are effective to prevent someone who has the disease from spreading it. Officials also agree that a person can have the disease and be contagious without knowing it. If you can have the disease and not know it and the mask is effective in preventing carriers from spreading the disease, it follows that people should wear masks to stop the spread of the disease. Also, we are in the midst of a global pandemic. We all need to buy into the idea that stopping the spread of communicable disease is good. A big stick approach is in order.

Also in Thailand, hand sanitizer and masks are both somewhat available. I bought hand sanitizer last night and have seen masks for sale, but brought some with me. and haven’t bought more. Reports are that both are in short supply in the US. I would attribute this to a different mindset between the two places. Thai do not seem prone to panic buying. This may be because they don’t have the disposable income or extra space to store a six month supply of things to live on. It is the culture here to only keep a few days of food and supplies on hand at a time. The US has the peculiar ability to ignore a problem to the last possible moment, then launch into panic buying mode. This results in shortages of critical supplies in stores and disruptions in the supply chain. The last guy in the store ends up with a few cases of diet Dr. Pepper, brillo pads and dill pickle flavored corn chips. No masks, no hand sanitizer.

So, at this point the best course of action seems to be ride out the situation in Thailand and hope for the best for me and for my family in the US. If something happens, hopefully, I can make it back. Hopefully, the virus will be contained and I can execute Plan A, though some modifications appear likely. I think that’s the best decision for now. Stay tuned.

Canvassing Iowa

I have limited experience working in political campaigns and I must say, I enjoy almost none of it. Knowing that, I agreed to go to Iowa and canvass for Elizabeth Warren in the final two days before the Iowa caucuses. Canvassing is basically the act of knocking on doors, asking people who they intend to vote for, handing out campaign information and reminding the person to vote or caucus. It is almost never going to someone’s home and trying to convince them to vote for one candidate or another. Sending volunteers out to argue with people is just never an effective strategy.

My immediate take away from canvassing in Iowa was that Iowa’s devotion to maintaining its first in the nation status has cost nearly every resident of the state approximately $250. Why $250? Because that’s about the cost of having a Ring Doorbell system installed. For those not familiar, Ring manufacturers a video doorbell that can be monitored from inside the home or from a smartphone. Here, I am using Ring as a generic term as there are a number of manufacturers of similar systems. In my working life, I knock on about 200 doors per year. I would say that, within one hour of canvassing, I saw more Ring doorbells than I have seen in my lifetime to that point.

I canvassed in a working class neighborhood and about half the houses had one of these. Where one of these was installed almost no one answered their door. The political junkies of Iowa love their outsized importance in our Presidential election system. The average Iowan really seemed to be suffering from election fatigue. Most people had received multiple visits from multiple campaigns over the last few weeks and wanted it over.

I likely fall into the political junkie class and would welcome people coming to my door and being part of the process. I have always wanted to participate in the Iowa caucuses. In my previous nine Presidential election cycles, I have only caucused once, for Bernie Sanders in Kansas in 2016. This is because I have lived in primary states and longed to live in a state with a caucus. I have also watched the Iowa caucuses on CSpan on several occasions.

The Iowa caucuses hold much more excitement than the later caucuses, like Kansas. Iowa is the first in nation, every candidate is looking to knockout their competition or score a surprise upset, or they’ve written off the mostly rural, mostly white state as not part of their strategy.

Ideally, I would actually participate in the caucuses. I toyed with the idea of renting an apartment, getting a driver’s’ license, registering to vote and actually going to the caucus. Ultimately, that was costly, time consuming and could end up making me a poster child in a Kris Kobach ad, though this scheme could be legally done. Instead, I canvassed.

Having said all that, canvassing is important. It is an ineffective way of getting out the vote, but it is less ineffective than nearly every other way we have found. If who our elected officials are is important, and I believe they are, being a part of the process is important. The holy grail is to find a way to participate that is enjoyable and effective and so far that doesn’t exist for me.

Why I Support Elizabeth Warren

Before any candidates announced their intentions for 2020, I started thinking about what type of candidate I wanted to support. This post is an attempt to organize my thoughts into a cogent philosophy.

For this exercise, I think it is useful to view an election as a market. In doing so, it is important to understand that the electoral market is not symmetrical. It does not afford each participant equality at the start and does not seek equality at the finish. Candidates that are connected to the party or have the backing of those deep within the party have a better chance. The ability to raise money greatly impacts a candidate’s chances.

For a long time i wanted this election to address systemic prejudice. When Barack Obama ran, I did not think that an African American could win the Presidency. A perfect storm brought on by eight years of buffoonery that included two wars and an economic disaster set the stage for Obama. In any other year, that may not have been assured. The system — the parties and donors, favor older, white men. Before the first debate, I decided that my ideal candidate would be a woman of color age of 55 or under (not a boomer). Only one candidate met this criteria (Kamala Harris) and I never warmed to her.

To date, we have had no women Presidents, one President of color, and 24 Presidents who were 55 or younger. Of the candidates in the evengual 2020 Democratic field, seven were women, seven were people of color, and 14 were 55 or younger. In total, 19 or the 29 candidates in field met one or more of these criteria.

So, the question that was important to me was, why are these external features more important to me than their beliefs or policies? The short answer is that I don’t think they are, but let’s start by choosing from these 19 and deciding if one or more of them have policy positions, experience, intellect and the temperament that I am comfortable with as a President.

So, why should the first cut be based on these external factors? Answer: systemic prejudices are resistant to a market solution. The party elites tend to be old, white guys or tend to think of old, white guys when they think of a President (45 of 45 Presidents have been men, 44 of 45 have been white men, and 31 were white men over 55). So, it seems there is not equality at the start of the process nor at the end.

In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman on the Supreme Court. It took twelve years before Ruth Bader Ginsberg became the second, 16 more years before Sonia Sotomayor became the third and only one more year until Elena Kagan brought the total number to three (O’Connor retired in 2005.) So, 39 years after the first woman was appointed as the 102nd justice, 3 of the next twelve were women — not exactly equality, for 25 percent of the court.

For African Americans, the story is much worse. Thurgood Marshall was the 96th justice, appointed in 1967. Clarence Thomas replaced him as the 106th justice in 1991. It looks like we will wait until he retires before appointing a third African American justice. So, for the past 53 years there has been exactly one African American on the court.

In professional sports, a seeming meritocracy, the NFL color barrier was broken in 1946, when four players entered the league. The first black to start a game as quarterback didn’t happen until 1968, until then blacks were not allowed in the ‘skilled’ positions. The first black did not become a head coach until Art Shell in 1989 (actually, in both cases the correct answer was Fritz Pollard in the 20s when the NFL was hardly professional). The point is that integration is not equality and that it is, in fact, a long way from equality. The mere fact that it still makes news points to the fact that we are unequal in so many ways. It is a struggle every step of the way to reach equality. Women still earn less than men, black families still face a significant wealth gap, and there are still huge gulfs in the number of elected officials who are women and/or minorities. Without a constant push, the movement from integration to equality occurs at a glacial pace.

So, in choosing between the 19 candidates who met one or more of my criteria, six (Michael Bennett, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Julian Castro) were deemed worth a closer look. I initially ranked them as Booker, Gillibrand, Warren, Harris, Castro, Bennett. This was based on their policies, temperament and continued consideration of the external factors mentioned above. The reason Warren was initially lower was larger due to her age. I considered age to be important because candidates should be looking to the future and interested in addressing subjects like climate change. I was, and still am, considered that older candidates do not take this seriously.

Once the campaign got underway, I started paying attention to candidate interviews and following the campaigns. Booker dropped a little in my eyes because he did not seem combative enough. Warren moved up mainly because I liked the way she framed her message in terms of corruption. All candidates saw this as a problem, but Warren seemed to really understand its depth and the importance of rooting it out.

Gillibrand, I liked because she was comfortable running as a woman and never wavered from that. Harris, I never quite figured out what her campaign was about. Castro, I like a lot and think he might be the most viable VP candidate. Bennett, was the least interesting of the bunch.

So, Warren rose to the top. The knocks on her are that she changes her mind, she was less than honest about her native heritage and she’s too liberal (or not liberal enough). First, I don’t see changing one’s mind as a negative most of the time. People who make the most right decisions tend to be those that are willing to change their minds. Warren began as a Republican and through her years of academic research reached the conclusion that some of her long held beliefs were wrong, based on the evidence. She changed her mind based on the evidence rather than cling to bad opinions. I can respect that. As for her heritage, I don’t care about her heritage. People are told things by their parents or grandparents all the time that may or may not be true. Coming from Oklahoma, it was very plausible that she had native ancestry. I don’t begrudge her for not vetting her ancestors. As for her positions, she is a little to the right of me. No candidate is going to match me perfectly (Sanders probably comes closest, but didn’t make the cut based on his age, whiteness and maleness.)

So, I am left with the best, imperfect candidate. Warren moves us closer to equality, she also possesses the intellect and temperament to be President. That’s who I am supporting now. If there comes a time when her candidacy is no longer viable, I will move to someone who is still viable. I will vote for any warm turd that opposes Trump.

Best, Worst and Stats of the First Four Months of Travel

It is the end of 2019 and I am home for the holidays. I wanted to summarize my thoughts on the first four months of travelling to 16 countries in a good old list.

Distance walked: Total 1001.70 miles; Average 8.14 +/- 3.07 miles; Median 8.1 miles

Steps: Total 2,205,417; Average 17,930 +/- 6,728; Median 17,648

Floors: Total 1,988; Average 16.16 +/- 14.83; Median 12.

Favorite Country: Spain. Nothing was hard in Spain. The public transit was great. Intercity rail was great. The food was great. The museums and tourist sites were first rate. As a bonus, the costs were reasonable too.

Most Interesting Country: Morocco. Morocco exists at the junction of Africa, the Middle East and Europe. There are three official languages (Arabic, Berber, and French). There is also an understanding of English and Spanish by most people. The old cities (medinas) are a labyrinth. There are mountains and deserts. It takes more than eight nights to unpack this place.

Country I would most like to return to: Israel. I spent six days in Israel which is not nearly enough to gain an understanding. Jerusalem, as the center of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic worlds, it is the most consequential city in the western world. It deserves more time.

Place I would most like to spend in exile: Almaty. The landscape architecture of this city is fantastic with wide boulevards, big parks, and people making use of these amenities. It has great public transit in the city (outside the city, it needs improvement.) It has a beautiful natural setting. My favorite Russian bath or hammam is there (Arasan). All that and it is dirt cheap. One could wait out the end of the Trump era and not spend much.

Place I would least like to go back to: Cyprus. It has beautiful beaches and mountains, good enough food, some interesting historic sites, but it is difficult to get around. You need a car and the driving is on the left. I cannot drive on the left.

The most expensive place I visited: Israel. That factored heavily into my decision only to spend six nights here. The capsule hotel in Jerusalem was $34/night.

The least expensive place I visited: Kazakhstan. The subway in Almaty was something like 22 cents to ride. Most meals were under $5. A flight from Astana to Almaty was $32 including a check bag and seat selection on SCAT.

Best Value: Naples. Naples was so much cheaper than the rest of Italy. Italy had a large variance in cost. Venice and Rome were quite expensive. Bologna was reasonable. Naples was cheap. A margherita pizza would set you back about $4, a drinkable bottle of wine could be had for about $2. A week in an AirBnB in a good location was $200. There’s also Pompeii and Vesuvius and a lot of other things. It could be a lot more expensive and still be worth visiting.

The most underrated place: Azerbaijan. There’s a lot of money in Azerbaijan. There’s also poverty and corruption. It was the world’s first oil boom and one of the oldest cultures on earth. There’s war, islam, tea and exclaves. A lot to explore and deserves another trip.

The most overrated place: Georgia. It was not bad, I just found it lacking given the recent hype it has received. Cappadocia deserves an honorable mention. It also, was interesting, just over touristed and doesn’t quite live up to the hype.

The easiest place to get by speaking only English: Greece. I gave up even trying to speak Greek. Everyone seemed to speak English.

Best Tourist Trap: The Dead Sea. It is all about the tourist, but it is otherworldly.

Worst Tourist Trap: Riding a camel. They are ball busters. A couple of laps around the parking lot is enough. There is no need to go through the desert for two hours. Don’t ride the camel.

Friendliest People: Uzbekistan. Probably at least in part a function of the fairly small number of Americans visiting, but I made it into several photos. The people were very welcoming.

Best food: Overall, I would say Spain. There’s a wide variety of food available in Spain. In Israel, I was surprised by actually liking the falafel. I have never been a fan in the US. Naples is the ancestral home of pizza and an amazing style of ragu. Istanbul had several of my favorites. It’s hard to go wrong with meat on a stick and kunafe is just a gift from the Gods. I also really enjoyed the Moroccan cuisine.

Best wine: Georgia. One of the oldest vitricultures in the world. Their winemaking process differs from most others due to the contact time with the whole fruit in the fermentation. They make two varieties of red, I prefer the sweeter of the two.

Best Dessert: Kunafe. It’s my true love. Overall, I didn’t eat that many desserts. Gelato in Bologna was also very good.

Memorable food: Kunafe in Turkey at many different locations. Ojakhuri in Georgia (caramelized pork with potatoes and onions). A pizzeria on the outskirts of Naples where I had a pizza with peppers. Ragu in Naples. Falafel in the muslim quarter of Jerusalem; Falafel in eggplant with tahini in the market in Jerusalem; Many dinners at La Mina in Madrid. Tagines in Morocco; Seafood and rice in Lisbon; Meals by an African chef ordered over Google Translate in Lisbon. Restaurants in the neighborhood in Istanbul. They were lowkey and the servers got to know you and welcomed you back.

Most overrated food: Khachipuri — The Georgian bread and cheese dish that is all the rage. I don’t see the point. Add a red sauce, swap out the cheese for mozzarella, maybe throw on some fresh basil and you would have something.

Food Mistakes I have always made and probably will continue to make: Eating in high end places. When Tanya and I travel (particularly in low cost areas), we tend to make a reservation at a high end restaurant. When she joined me in Istanbul and Madrid, they were no exceptions. We ate at Asitane in Istanbul and Sobrina de Botin in Madrid. Both meals were good. We enjoyed our time there, but rarely bring them up.

Best Bath/Hammam: Arasan Baths in Almaty. Two types of saunas, a steam room, two types of cold tanks, a swimming pool., massage, scrubs. You can luxuriate for hours and spend under $50. Second place: Taze Bey in Baku. Weird as hell and more expensive. Definitely visit if you are ever in Baku.

Worst Bath/Hammam: The stinky sulfur baths in Tbilisi. At $12, it was overpriced.

Best Ruins: Ephesus outside of Seljuk in Turkey. Gigantic and with excellent interpretive materials. Pompeii and Volubilis (Meknes, Morocco) do not compare.

Best Public Transit: Spain with an honorable mention going to Uzbekistan.

Most pleasant Transit: High speed rail in Uzbekistan. The Spanish-built trains were smooth, quiet and fast.

Most interesting Transit: Kazak rail which had none of the pleasantries of Uzbek rail. It was 14 hours from Nukus to Beynau in an old Soviet sleeper car packed to the gills with Uzbeks. Vendors walked through the selling pieces of fish, chai in old vodka bottles, bread, clothes and anything you might want. I was a bit of a novelty, being the only American. The generosity of the Uzbeks was amazing, offering me food, gat, and chai. A woman flirted with me over Google Translate.

Worst Transit: A nine hour bus from Baku to Tbilisi. I sat next to a crazy, old Turkish man who seemed bent on starting a fight with the guys in front of us.

Worst Drivers: That’s a tough one. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Naples are all in the running.

Flights (20): Kansas City-Newark (United); JFK-IST-Nursultan (Turkish); Nursultan-Almaty (SCAT); Almaty-Shymkent (SCAT); Aktau-Baku (SCAT); Tbilisi-Ankara (Turkish); Istanbul-Budapest (Easyjet); Budapest-Istanbul (Easyjet); Istanbul-Thessaloniki (Turkish); Thessaloniki-Paphos (Ryan); Paphos-Tel Aviv (Ryan); Tel Aviv-Rome (Ryan); Milan-Naples (Italy Air); Naples-Milan (Italy Air); Milan-Madrid (Ryan); Madrid-Marrakech (Iberia); Fes-Valencia (Ryan); Valencia-Porto (Ryan); Lisbon-Azores-Boston (Sata); Boston-Charlotte-KC (American).

Minivans (4): Shymkent-TashKent (border); Beynau-Aktau; Marrakech-Fes (tour lasting two nights); Meknes-Fes

Trains (14): Tashkent-Samarkand; Samarkand-Bukhara; Bukhara-Khiva; Nukus-Beynau; Tel Aviv-Haifa; Rome-Florence; Florence-Bologna; Bologna-Venice; Bologna-San Marino; Bologna-Milan; Madrid-Toledo; Toledo-Madrid; Fes-Meknes; Porto-Lisbon

Car with driver (1): Khiva-Nukus

Bus (3): Baku-Tbilisi; Haifa-Jerusalem; Jerusalem-Tel Aviv

Rental car (1): Ankara-Cappadocia-Konya-Denizli-Seljuk-Istanbul

Guided Tours (15): Registan in Samarkand; Old City in Baku; Gobustan in Azerbaijan; Stalin in Georgia; Hot air balloon in Cappadocia; Food tour in Budapest; Food tour in Istanbul; Dead Sea tour in Israel; Walking tour of Jerusalem; Food tour in Bologna; Food tour in Naples; Sobrina de Botin tour in Madrid; Food tour in Marrakech; Desert tour in Morocco; Food tour in Lisbon.

Where I Stayed:

Hotels (39): Samarkand (2); Bukhara (2); Khiva (2); Nukus (2); Aktau (2); Tbilisi (5); Ankara (2); Cappadocia (3); Seljuk (2); Istanbul (10); Rome (2); Florence (1); Milan (2); Boston (2)

Hostels (12): Nursultan (2); Almaty (4); Shymkent (1); Tashkent (2); Haifa (1); Fes (1); Valencia (1)

Pod (3): Jerusalem (3)

AirBnBs (65): Baku (8); Konya (1); Denizli (1); Budapest (8); Thessaloniki (6); Paphos (5); Tel Aviv (2); Bologna (8); Naples (7); Madrid (8); Marrakech (3); Meknes (2); Lisbon (6)

Transit (5): Flights to Nursultan (2); Bus to Tbilisi (1); Desert tour of Morocco (2)

Countries visited (16):

1. Kazakhstan: 9 nights

2. Uzbekistan: 10 nights

3. Azerbaijan: 8 nights

4. Georgia: 5 nights

5. Turkey: 20 nights

6. Hungary: 8 nights

7. Greece: 6 nights

8. Cyprus: 5 nights

9. North Cyprus: A few hours.

10. Israel: 6 nights

11. Italy: 20 nights

12. Vatican: A few hours.

13. San Marino: A few hours.

14. Spain: 9 nights

15. Morocco: 8 nights

16. Portugal: 6 nights

Total Out of Pocket Cost: $12,147

Estimated Value of Points/Miles Used: $5,757

Cost not using points: $17,904 (a fictitious number).

Do you have any questions for me?

Observations, Rules and Lessons Learned from Travel

Having travelled for four months this fall and before I set out again in February, I wanted to reflect on the trip. Some of these observations will prove to be more universal than others. Some may just be wrong. The order is random.

1. Travel blogs need to be taken with a grain of salt. When I started planning, I relied on travel blogs quite a bit, thinking that they would lead me to interesting off the beaten path places. What I found was that most blogs consisted of lists of the “Top xx things to do in YYYY.” These invariably included the same sites that every other travel blog included.

2. There are no research standards or ethics requirements for blogs. This basically means that they can publish whatever they want and get paid by whoever they want. Some of the information you get could be good and helpful, but that’s just a coincidence.

3. Don’t give or take restaurant recommendations. Particularly if you are in a large city. Particularly if you’re eating local. Particularly if you are going downscale. I’m always amused at people that proclaim that the best pad thai in Bangkok is at XXXX or the best pizza in Naples is at YYYY. Has anyone tried all, or even a statistically valid sample of the pad thai restaurants in Bangkok to offer a considered opinion? Now, if I am looking for a high end restaurant, where there are only a few, sure I will consult some reviews. If I’m looking for the best Mexican restaurant in Bangkok, I would love to hear your opinion. How many could there possibly be and they are probably all terrible. Best of a local delicacy, I will handle that one on my own.

4. Eat local. In a lot of places the best restaurants don’t have names, or at least I never look to see what they are. It’s only logical that the best Thai food in the world is in Thailand, and the best Israeli food is in Israel. You’re not going to find it better or cheaper anywhere else.

5. Look for short menus — not long lines. I have received the advice many times to look for places with long lines to eat in. That means the food is good and it turns over, so it hasn’t been setting under a heat lamp all day. I don’t follow this advice, partly because I hate lines. I tend to look for places with only one or two items on the menu. I had amazing falafel in the muslim quarter of Jerusalem. You ordered by quantity because there was nothing else on the menu.

6. History and archeology are all about rich people. The Tombs of Kings archaeological site in Cyprus is not a burial site at all, but a wealthy neighborhood on the beachfront. The homes consisted of rather primitive caves. Absent from the site were residences for the less wealthy, the people who likely dug the caves for the wealthy homeowners. I suspect that once construction was complete the builders, or diggers, were probably never in the caves again. The poor were likely huddled under a tree or pile of thatch to stay warm. There is no record of their lives. This is a scene that is repeated throughout the world.

7. Americans are not the worst tourists. They don’t travel enough. I have run across tourists from around the world. Tour groups are the worst tourists. They take up lots of space, are pushy and lack self awareness. Solo travellers or couples are as varied as the countries they come from with some being unobtrusive and others are difficult. If you’re wanting, the worst solo or couples, they are on Ryan Air.

8. Travel is just transport — don’t romanticize it. Some like the idea of taking a train across a country or continent, others like the idea of travelling by sea. I have nothing against either of these, but I am more interested in being places. My preferred mode of transportation is some combination of low price and shortness of travel. Increasingly, this meant flying a discount airline such as Ryan, Wow!, EasyJet, SCAT or TigerAir. I exact no pleasure from sitting on a train. I don’t hate it, I just want to get somewhere. I do kind of hate long distance buses and will always try and avoid them.

9. In Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey, street dogs and cats abound. The dogs are periodically collected and vaccinated, the set free again. These strays are fed by locals and tend to be unobtrusive. I took comfort in seeing these animals as I walked around these areas. This seems more humane than animal shelters.

10. The best way to get around is on foot. On this recent trip, I walked an average of 8.14 miles +/- 3.07 a day, 17,933 steps +/- 6,788, and 16 floors +/- 15. THe means were 8.1, 17624, and 12, respectively. You notice things on foot that you miss otherwise.

11. Take public transit where available and walking isn’t feasible. It saves time and often money. It also builds a valuable life skill and makes one more at ease with the area.

12. Travelling for an extended period in my 50s didn’t change my world view much. I have long distrusted capitalism and believed that, if the world is going to survive, we have to find a better way to keep score. That’s not only necessary from a standpoint of climate change, but a growth based model of existence is not sustainable. We cannot keep adding people and gadgets to the earth and expect things to continue as they always have.

13. People in different cultures essentially want the same things, they just may not know it. Certainly in the less touristed countries you stand out more and are more of a novelty. This tends to make people curious and welcoming. From a standpoint of religion, I felt most comfortable in Islamic countries and least so in Buddhist countries. Muslims, as a tenet of their faith are welcoming and interested in learning and seem to not be that interested in money. Buddhists seemed to live in the mind and are not that interested in the outside world. However, they send their priests out to beg. Sorry for the gross generalizations.

14. Jet lag is mostly in the mind. That’s easy for me to say because I never seem to really be affected by jet lag. It seems that the people who have the most trouble with jet lag are the ones with the most elaborate plans to deal with jet lag. My strategy for dealing with jet lag is, while on the plane, read until I’m tired, then sleep. Eat something and drink something when offered. Repeat. If the flight gets in during the daytime, do daytime things. If it gets in at night, sleep. Pretty simple.

15. In today’s world loneliness is not a big problem. Telephones can be used cheaply from just about anywhere, social media is good for staying in touch. I think technology has made trips like this and long separations easier. Don’t get too hung up or curmudgeonly about technology destroying the world. Embrace it where it makes things better and set it aside where it doesn’t.

16. The value of travel is perspective, or seeing the world different angles. Having too narrow a worldview is harmful. If more Americans traveled more, it might put to bed the concept of American Exceptionalism.

17. The US image abroad seems to be a mixed bag. I spoke to some Kurdish merchants in Turkey about a week before Trump pulled out of Syria. They loved the US because the US always supported them, I am not sure what they would think now. Overall, I think our image is worse than it once was, but other countries have elected their own despotic dipshits lately and that obscures our own.

18. The world is fascinating and not scary except in isolated situations.

19. Travel doesn’t have to be as expensive as one thinks. Staying in hostels, guesthouses and AirBnBs greatly reduce the cost as does eating from street vendors. Flexibility can reduce transportation costs significantly.

20. Adaptability is a valuable trait. Not every meal is going to be great. Sometimes you have to eat something not understanding fully what you are ordering. If you don’t like it, it’s not likely to make you sick, it’s just not to your liking. Be open to new experiences and embrace surprise.