esler Travel-Log

Trip: 2002 - Southeast Asia
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April 28, 2002

Still Heading Home

Day 43 of my 42 day adventure... You guessed it, I was delayed, stuck in Hong Kong for the night. It's amazing what a little two-hour delay out of Bangkok can do to one's overly complex itinerary. It's also amazing how few options there are for traveling from Hong Kong to Minneapolis. That said, I'm not going to bother you with my ordeal, yet. Instead I'll continue my last journal entry and maybe I'll include a copy of the letter I might send to Cathay Pacific... Like it will matter.

During yesterday's tightly wound tale I was maniacally listing the things I'll miss and not miss from Southeast Asia. Hopefully everyone wasn't holding their collective breath. I know how exciting this journal can get. I also realize that for many living boring and pointless lives my journal is the only excitement in a long and cold winter. And, as soon as JFK stops this war in Vietnam I'm going to enlist. Reality is and interesting thing in my world.

OK, back to the lists. As an FYI, I keep all these flippant lists on my Palm Pilot. They start at various points during my trips or during my life and are usually religiously attended to. Religiously! I have multitudes of lists more boring than the ones I'm sharing (I know it's hard to believe). Things like: lists of people to send postcards to, lists of books read, lists of good travel organizations, lists of digital photo descriptions, lists of used and unused travel check numbers, packing lists, etc... Along with these travel related lists I maintain loads of more long-term itemizations such as: account lists, household data points, to do lists, Christmas card lists (received and sent), a quotation list, a list of visited ballparks, a list of visited countries, etc... An obsession to some, just part of normal life to me. Why does everyone think I'm obsessed all the time? Why? Why? Why? OK, OK, next list. The following list contains (in order) my favorite beers from the trip:

  1. Beerlao, the national beer of Laos was really good and really cheap. Plus, if you say "Jeff Beerlao?" with the right inflection I'll melt. A few of us are working on the business plan to import and market Beerlao in the states. Look for the Super Bowl commercial in 2003.
  2. Singha, Thailand's best and strongest beer. Singha beer accompanied me as I watched the dodgy backpackers arrive at Khoa San in Bangkok at the beginning of my trip and helped get me to sleep each night as I ended the trip in Kho Phi Phi.
  3. Tiger, Singapore's brew. This is what I started with down in Singapore during this trip and this is what I started with seven years ago when I first set foot in Southeast Asia to work in Kuala Lumpur.
  4. Liquon or LiQ as it's shortened in true "Bud" fashion. Liquon is the official beer of China's Guangxi province. Good beer and apparently "natural" whatever that means... "Natural" is the only other English word on the bottle.
  5. 333 or Sim Sim Sim as they say in Vietnamese. I have no idea what 333 stands for in the historic lore of Vietnamese alcoholism.
  6. Beer Hanio, another beer from Vietnam. Beer Hanio was good, but more importantly, the name reminded me of Beerlao.
  7. Halida. I can't actually remember what Halida tasted like, but I thought it would be good to lump all of the Vietnamese beers together.
  8. Qing Tao, my first Chinese beer. I think it was pretty ordinary.
  9. San Miguel. I'm not sure where San Miguel originates from. I think it may be from the Philippines. Anyway, they have it in Hong Kong too and it kind of sucks. At least what I drank didn't leave much of an impression.
  10. Beer Chang has a catchy label, but I couldn't drink the stuff. Beer Chang was as or more popular than Singha in Thailand and cheaper.
  11. Lang Son Home Brew. During my last night in Vietnam I was drinking old plastic Sprite bottles full of this home brew stuff. As romantic as that might seem, it was pretty bad. Besides that, I was up all night thinking I'd get sick. Fun night otherwise. :-)

That's it, that's my beer list. I think this list will cap the adventure as well. Look for my letter to Cathay to follow, but I think I'll close the main Southeast Asia trip journal here. This was a great trip, one of the best ever. I didn't lose 50 pounds like last time, but Southeast Asia really makes for an amazing adventure and shouldn't be missed. It may be loud, polluted, and full of racing motorbikes and tuk-tuks, but there are few places that combine amazing sites, beautiful people, gripping history, relative safety, and abundant Beerlao in any sort of similar way. Next stop Ireland or is in San Diego or New York? Ummm?

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