Devoted readers of this page have noted that for the past two months my girlfriend and I have been traveling from Hong Kong to Istanbul through Central Asia: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Interest in Willard’s 2008 ambitions was slight in Turfan; Massachusetts health care policy was not the talk of the town in Bishkek; and U.S. takings policy was little discussed in Istanbul, so my postings dropped off.
What? You didn’t notice? Well, surely the fact that BMG’s commentary has tightened to laser fineness and our signal-to-bloviation ratio has plunged in the last 60 days did not escape your attention. Welcome back to the Good Old Days.
The first thing I have to report is that U.S. citizens should feel free to hop on a jet and travel to any of these delightful countries. Fox News would have you believe that the reservations clerks at Kyrgyz Airways will take your measurements for orange jumpsuits when they book your ticket, and Tiny Donald and his cohorts at the Department of Fear urge patriotic Americans to spend their lives in homes sealed with duct tape, emerging only to work for large corporations and vote Republican. In fact, however, if you travel — even to Muslim nations on the front lines of the WOT — you will likely find, as we did, that you can freely identify yourself as a U.S. citizen and will be treated with the utmost of hospitality.
More, perhaps, on current goings on in these countries, from post-revolutionary Bishkek, still gutted in parts from the violence of a few months ago; to the U.S. airbase with 1,200 airmen at Kyrgyzstan’s main airport; to the anti-Soros movement in Tbilisi; to the abandoned Cold War watchtowers on Turkey’s eastern border, at a later date. Let me know if you are interested.
On to first impressions of our sunny summery Olde Towne after a few months in the Second and Third Worlds. First, the relative wealth of this country is stunning. In much of the world ordinary people struggle to get enough to eat every day. No one appeared to be starving in the countries we visited, but a lot of people were spending a very large amount of time and effort for a pittance — by which I mean enough to buy carbohydrates for the next 24 hours. In Xinjiang, for example, many break rocks into gravel by hand for their daily noodles; in Georgia farmers use hand scythes to cut hay. It makes one feel a bit twisted inside, in this context, to step into a pet laundromat the first day back where the starting price for a self-service dog wash is $15. I don’t fault the proprietors or the customers of this fine establishment, but I can understand how the father of four breaking rocks all day in the blazing sun for $0.75 might feel a bit resentful.
Second, the degree to which the U.S. is obsessed by race is unique. Newspaper headlines blare examinations of racial differences, racial healings, racial tensions, racial crimes, convictions, cures … Most other countries, by circumstance, neglect, oppression, or homogeneity, avoid these discussions entirely. Their lines form around other expedients.
Third, the weight. Our country, through genetics, diet, or sloth, contains an unusual number, relative to many countries, of very large people. It is only when one travels that one realizes the degree to which the obesity epidemic has permeated our entire society. We went to many supermarkets on our trip, for example, and in not one did I spot any low-calorie, low-fat or sugar-free foods — except for Orbit gum by Wrigley’s of Chicago.
Finally, the cars. Private cars were little used in most of the places we visited, except in relatively affluent Almaty and Istanbul, and the cities on China’s coast. Buses, trucks, taxis and trains were plentiful but single-driver sedans infrequent. The result? Not a single traffic jam for us from one end of Asia to the other.
Welcome back!
Thank you for your comments re: the differences between the way we live and the rest of the world lives. We keep trying to tell Americans to wake up and smell the coffee in terms of how we’re lazy bastards who want it all handed to us on a plate where people in other countries work very hard for what used to be called “The American Dream.” Last year I had a friend posted to Cameroon who encouraged me to send ANYTHING I could for the people there who had nothing. I started what was briefly called “The T Shirt Project” because it occurred to me that our drawers are FULL of T shirts from every fundraiser east of Sacramento. I collected from other people (including summer weight clothes, kids clothes, etc.) and sent them to her (easy because we could use US government pouch which was inexpensive and efficient) and she gave them to a local convent that ran an orphanage.If anyone has a good connection overseas where sending books, clothes etc. will be efficient, I’d be glad to start up again.
wow. how cool is that. seriously.Only thing that would worry me would be food and maybe air conditioning.
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I lived in Ireland for a year, 01-02. I’ve traveled quite a bit through Europe in the past 10 years. While Europeans aren’t as grandiose as Americans, they too are beginning to show signs of suffering from fat-assedness.Avoiding massive rolls is fairly easy, it just requires a change in lifestyle or two. For me: * I ride my bike about 6 miles a day, 3 days a week, and for a few other trips each week — maybe 22 to 25 miles a week. Propelling yourself a mile (walk/run/bike) consumes about 100 calories. So, there’s 2200 to 2500 calories burned a week, instead of driving. And, in my case, not only is it far cheaper, its much faster (Kenmore Sq to Kendall Sq). * I don’t eat American fast food. I probably eat from McDonalds/BK/TacoBell/Wendys… 7 times a year. Sure, I’ll get takeout Chinese, and sometimes a pizza — but not too often.That’s it. Exercise a little, eat fresh fruit and veg, and quit buying so much damned crap. Living a healthy happy lifestyle isn’t much more complicated than that.P.S. Second to last paragraph, you misspelled unusual as “usual”.