final reflection

I started writing this on the plane ride that completed my circumnavigation of the globe, back in early December. I worked on it over several writing sessions, never quite finishing it; thus, I kept putting off posting it. It’s not finished still, but I chose to post it anyway, lest it never left my desk.

After looking forward to being home for weeks, at the final moment before my voyage came to an end, as my plane began its descent into the glittering Bay Area below, I was suddenly struck with trepidation that I’d overhyped it to myself, that the disappointments and difficulties I’d encountered in my travels had caused me to wax nostalgic about my life at home, exaggerating the good beyond their true nature and discarding the bad.

Thankfully, I found that I was grateful to be home, reconnecting with people that I hadn’t seen in half a year or more. We were warned on SAS that it can be difficult to cope with “reentry”, struggling to convey our experiences as more than just nice stories and readjusting to the American lifestyle. However, I didn’t experience culture shock going into Ecuador or any of our ports on SAS, and I didn’t experience “reverse culture shock” coming back home (unlike my experience going directly from Ecuador to SAS). I’ve been disturbed by how easy it has been to settle back into life in the US, with luxuries like reliable high speed internet, hot showers, and water you can drink out of the tap. For all its shortcomings, growing up in America is an incredible privilege. We complain vociferously about our government, the two party system rife with corruption and politicking. We have our share of problems, but we are still a functioning democracy, guaranteed the right to air our grievances.

One of the more insightful questions I’ve been asked is, “are you more optimistic or pessimistic about the state of the world and its future?”. I suppose I am cautiously optimistic. I’ve seen many causes for hope – the generosity and patience of perfect strangers everywhere, the amazing work that RIDE is doing with microcredit in India, and countless NGOs like it. The interconnectivity and unprecedented prosperity of the world gives me hope that we can end extreme poverty – if we have the political will to do so.

At the same time, there are many hurdles that not only challenge the fulfillment of such an idealistic vision, but also threaten the stability of world as we know it. The state of the environment is a cause for grave concern. Global warming itself could cause major displacement of peoples, food shortages, and a loss of biodiversity, but it is only the most visible issue amongst a slew of environmental problems, such as the imminent collapse of many fisheries (the main source of protein for the people of many poorer nations) and farmland soil erosion. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, is devastating communities, disrupting the social fabric as teachers can no longer teach, health care workers can’t help, orphans are left to fend for themselves and a lack of basic knowledge about prevention allows the virus to continue spreading rapidly in a vicious cycle. As resources become scarcer, nationalism rears its ugly head, fueling resentment and justifying violence against neighbors.

What is to be done in the midst of these overwhelming challenges? Some people think that to help the people in Southeast Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa, we in the Global North have to make large, permanent sacrifices in our living style. While I think there are many compelling reasons for us to change our consumeristic lifestyles, the belief that development is linked to foreign aid in a linear fashion is erroneous. Economic development can occur when a complex set of factors are favorable, and capital is only one of these factors. Moreover, economic development does not result simply from the dispersal of concentrated wealth. Foreign aid can help catalyze the process initially, but economic development should be self-sustaining. In addition, aid can actually exacerbate the situation, because it provides a perverse incentive for mismanagement and corruption if not properly distributed and monitored.

While China and Vietnam are enjoying tremendous growth rates (around 9-10% GDP annually), some places are not developing along with the rest of world. Burma is an example of a country that has cut itself off from the global community, whose economy languishes while its people suffer. Within countries that are developing at a respectable rate, marginalized populations are often being bypassed and do not see their standards of living increasing along with everyone else. Child labor and other forms of exploitation are major issues in the new global economy. Development always leads to greater disparity initially, as those with resources are the first to take advantage of new economic opportunities. Historically, disparity then decreases over time with the rise of a middle class. The question is, how long it will take for these trends to trickle down to the poorest and most marginalized populations?

Nothing is a panacea – not microfinance, nor technology, nor debt relief. The issues are much more complex, and therefore the solutions must also be so. Addressing the issues facing the modern world requires concerted effort and resources.

The stakes are high. It feels overwhelming to attempt to hold all these issues, the hopes and terrors of the world, in my mind at once. But in the end, we cannot afford to ignore the issues of the developing world. Addressing them is not just for idealists. The grievances of frustrated people in the Middle East, for example, threaten to destabilize societies wherever they have influence, sending shocks throughout the entire global community. People become desperate and resort to desperate measures when they see no stable and attainable way to improve their situation and their children’s futures. If we wish to maintain (and hopefully improve) global security, it is imperative that we step up and use our considerable influence to engage constructively. My hope is that through supporting initiatives to provide people with education, health, dignified means to improve their lives, and the security to pass the fruits of their labor onto their children, we can together create a stable, prosperous world.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Covering up

Egypt is a predominantly Muslim country – 94% Sunni, by official census. To me, the most striking evidence of its influence in the culture was in women’s dress. There are four main styles of dress. The vast majority of women wore headscarves, but for them the headscarf has become another accessory. Their scarves are color-coordinated with their outfits, decorated with embroidery and sequins. There are many different styles of wearing a headscarf – so long as it covers your hair. Many, especially young women, wear makeup and earrings. Their dress is Westernized – jeans, fitted tops, heeled shoes.

The second group of women wore loose robes and the headscarf. Their robes and headscarves were usually soberly colored, with subdued decorations – brown or black, though I also saw green and maroon. Notably, these robes are worn over other clothing. Plenty of these women were also wearing jeans, visible beneath the hem of their robes. The coverup is just worn to go out in public.

The third group of women were fully covered. They wore loose robes, the headscarf, a veil, and often gloves. The only part of them that was left visible was their eyes. The vast majority of these women were completely dressed in black, though I saw brown a few times. There was no embroidery or other decoration on their robes. These women represented a larger portion of the female population in rural areas, unsurprisingly. (In contrast, the first group of women, in Western dress with the headscarf, were completely absent from the village we visited). On the train from Cairo to Alexandria, I watched two fully covered women going about the cumbersome process of eating while wearing the veil and gloves. One of them finally took over a glove to fix the sandwiches they were eating. In Cairo, I noticed a women incongruously fully covered in black, but wearing strappy high heels (at least 2″).

The last group of women wore Western dress and didn’t cover their heads. They represent a very small proportion of the population. The majority of them are Christian women.

From everything I’d heard before arriving in Egypt, I expected the women to be subdued, timid. What I found was quite the contrary. Egyptian women were some of the most outgoing I’ve met on this trip. They talk to strangers – men and women, locals and foreigners. I was taken aback when a fully covered woman in the Bahariya Oasis waved at me as she passed. Like the people in most of the ports we’ve been in, they stared at us, the foreigners. But unlike my experience in any other port, when I caught their eye they didn’t quickly look away; rather, they held my gaze and smiled, so I could see the curiosity welling up in their dark, expressive eyes.

While I’m not in a position to judge Egyptian culture, I cherish the right to express my individuality in the way I dress. When women don the full coverup, veil and all, they erase all marks of their identity. I heard various opinions regarding the veil while in Egypt. Some feel that it levels the playing field, forcing people to get to know women’s personalities, instead of focusing on their outward appearance. Westernized Egyptian women, on the other hand, are alarmed by what they feel is the invasion of a foreign influence into their culture from Saudi Arabia. These women fear that they will lose rights they have fought hard to obtain, as conservativism in the culture grows along with the number of women wearing veils.

Egypt

In Egypt I camped in the Western Desert, saw the Great Pyramids at Giza, and went around Cairo & Alexandria. It was a relief to step out into the dry heat of Egypt, after the tropical humidity we’d experienced since Japan.

We took a desert safari from a local guide to the White Desert, camping out for two nights. It was fun to see the interesting geological formations, but the best part was the vast silence of the desert, a void that swallowed up the small sounds we made. For the first few hours in the desert your ears ring with the unaccustomed absence of white noise. You don’t realize how much the hum of lighting, air conditioning, machinery, and distant voices fill the “quiet” in civilization. I stayed up after everyone else had gone to sleep and sat in the sand, looking at the stars and listening to the silence. It was absolutely intoxicating – I didn’t want to go to bed. Both days that we camped out I woke up before anyone else, just before the sun came over the horizon. I slipped out of camp to watch the sunrise in the quiet of the predawn desert. The whole experience was incredibly powerful. Strangely, after I got back into civilization I could close my eyes and recall the silence – the way you recall a favorite song.

In Alexandria I spent half the day in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a beautiful modern library built on the site of the legendary Library of Alexandria, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. It has the world’s largest open reading room, capable of serving 2000 readers at a time. The library is beautifully laid out, with generously sized desks everywhere, elegant stacks, and lovely soft lighting. The library was built by the Arabs during the rise of the Islamic empire, and grew in fame to the point that scholars came from all the over to consult its impressive archives. The original Library suffered from a series of fires, some of them politically linked, and fell into disuse and disrepair. The modern library was constructed in the 70s, to a design chosen through an international architectural competition. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina really captured my imagination as a center of knowledge, freely accessible to all who wish to learn. Sitting down at a reading table, I could imagine scholars over the centuries doing the same thing, drawn to this place from all over the ancient world.

Born Into Brothels

For all of you looking for an excuse not to study for midterms or do some cleaning, I highly recommended the documentary Born into Brothels. This film chronicles a photographer’s experience getting to know the children of prostitutes in Calcutta’s red light district. Noticing their fascination with her camera, she gives them the opportunity to snap photos. Their pictures give a unique window into life in this corner of society. I was struck by how articulate and aware these children are, particularly the girls, wanting only a chance to go to school and escape “joining the line” as their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers have done before them.

Microcredit – breaking the cycle of poverty

Through an SAS trip, I visited the organization RIDE (Rural Insitute for Development and Education) in Kanchipuram, a village in the state of Tamil Nadu. Over the course of two days we learned about the work that RIDE does, including releasing bonded child laborers, operating bridge schools to help these children transition into mainstream education, and making microcredit available to women in the community.

Child labor is illegal in India, but as the founder of RIDE observed, there is a law for everything in India, and no one pays any head to them because they are not enforced. The children in this particular area are bonded at a stone quarry, or in the silk weaving industry. Some of them are as young as 4. They work from 7am to 7pm, with a 30 minute break for lunch (a small cup of rice). Parents sell their children into bondage because they don’t see the value of education – they don’t believe it will help their children get anywhere. (There are many problems with the public education system in India). Instead, they feel their children should contribute to the family income, like everyone other member of the household. (Most bonded child laborers live with their families).

Many, if not most of the multinationals in India utilize child labor, directly or indirectly. If they are not directly employing child labor, they are subcontracting to firms that use child labor. Some of the companies named included Ford, Hyundai, and Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is one of the companies most dependent on child labor – 58% of its work force are minors.

RIDE operates bridge schools where freed child laborers can adjust to being in school before they are transferred to mainstream education. We had the opportunity to go to a bridge school and play with some of these children. Some of them had terrible scars all over their faces, from mining accidents at the quarry.

In addition to taking children out of these terrible working conditions, RIDE strives to address the root causes that motivate parents to sell their children into bondage – poverty. RIDE strives to reduce poverty by providing microcredit to rural women in the state of Tamil Nadu. I became interested in microcredit last year and have since become convinced that it is a compassionate, sustainable way to give people a hand up out of poverty. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, microcredit is lending small amounts of money – as little as $20 – to those in extreme poverty. Traditionally, banks have not granted loans to such people because it is not profitable to do the administrative work for such a small amount of money. In addition, banks are skeptical about the fiscal skills of people who have never managed capital. In lieu of collateral, microcredit lenders require instead that borrowers come in groups (usually 5-15) and pledge for each other. One or two members of the group can take out a loan at a time; when they have repaid their loans, the next few can take out loans.

Borrowers take their loans and invest it in the tools they need to set up a simple business – for example, buying a cow or a sewing machine. They can immediately start to generate income, some of which goes towards paying back the loan each month. The average repayment period is 10 months. When they have repaid their loan, they are eligible to take out a new, larger loan to expand their business. Microcredit organizations around the world have an average repayment rate of 98-99%.

In addition to the basic economic principles of microcredit, there are certain social features that are common to most microfinance organizations. Many microcredit organizations focus on or lend exclusively to women. All provide a network of support for the borrowers, such as training in basic accounting, counseling on business plans, vocational training, and regular “check in” meetings to ensure that borrowers are on track for repaying their loans.

What seems like such a simple concept has far reaching social effects. Women around the world who have had access to microcredit have gone from having no source of income to being able to pay for medicines, feed their family, accumulate savings for financial security, and put their children through school. In some cases the woman’s income surpasses that of her husband. Women’s role in society – the respect they are accorded and rights they exercise – begins to shift as they become financially empowered. I had the opportunity to interview some village women who have taken out microloans through RIDE, and I was struck by how confident and vocal they were, in a culture where women are traditionally housebound and timid. I heard stories of how they have marched into the district magistrate’s office and demanded answers as to why certain policies had been enacted. While initially men resisted this social change, when they saw how their wives could earn income they became supportive of microcredit, some of them even bringing their wives to join a borrowing group. As microcredit spread to a new village, men began to accord more respect to all women, whether they had taken out loans or not.

The UN has cited microcredit as a major strategy for meeting its Millennium Development goal of halving poverty by 2015. Last week, the Grameen Bank (the first microcredit organization, established in 1983 in Bangladesh) and its founder, Muhammed Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It is significant to note that the award was given in Peace – not Economics. In explaining its decision the committee recognized that in order to address much of the violence in the world today, we must first address the desperation that drives people to such acts – desperation that is rooted in poverty and the inability to fulfill basic needs.

additional reading

• RIDE
• Poverty Fighters: read stories of entrepreneurs in the developing world using microloans to lift themselves out of poverty
• Kiva: this website gives you the opportunity to contribute directly to an entrepreneur’s microloan and follow their progress in establishing a business

India

I expected to be overwhelmed by India. We had been told that nothing could prepare us for the poverty, chaos (both good and bad), and diversity we would experience. While there was a great deal to see and learn, I wasn’t overwhelmed. Part of this is certainly because I stayed in the south, and didn’t get up to the northern states where people are poorer and more desperate. Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to get an in-depth look at life in India at several social strata.

The highlights of my 5 days in India were going to IITM (Indian Institute of Technology – Madras) and meeting some CS students, the SAS field practica – “Child Labor in Rural India” and “Working Women’s Forum” which allowed me to see firsthand the impact of microcredit operations, and meeting Rama, a refreshingly honest auto-rickshaw driver (Google “auto rickshaw” to see what these tiny vehicles look like).

IITM is one of the 7 IITs, popularly referred to as the “crown jewels” of the Indian education system. It is located in Chennai (Madras was the British name for the city). It took us a solid 2 hours to finally find some students to talk to – they didn’t have a visitor’s department and were perplexed as to what we were doing there. Finally, an administrator in the Placement Office (career center) just called a couple students who work for him to come show us around. They came expecting that we were recruitment officers wanting to offer them jobs, but were happy to take us around anyway when it became apparent that we were just students. It was very interesting to learn about Indian perspectives and attitudes on IT and globalization (for example, India is infatuated with Google). I was surprised by how worldly and informed these CS students were, compared to their counterparts in China, and indeed even in the US. With China, much of this can be chalked up to the government regulation on information, particularly internet censorship. As for the US – complacency? The top jobs are all in the US now, but there is a lot of up and coming talent globally, and they have their eyes on those positions.

I grilled those IITM students about IT in India (and they grilled me in return), but I’ll refrain from going into that in detail here. Ask me if you’re interested in what I learned.

I’ll talk about microfinance in a separate post, so I’ll jump right to talking about Rama, the auto-rickshaw driver. In Chennai, all the rickshaw drivers know that Semester at Sea pulls in every 6 months, and they can make a killing ripping us off outrageously if they all collude to keep prices high. Rama refused to play this game, and charged us the local rate – 1/16 of what the other drivers were asking. He explained that “bad money will burn in their pockets” – he believes in kharma. Rama is a Sri Lankan refugee. He was an electrical engineer in Sri Lanka, but when he brought his family to India due to the civil war in Sri Lanka (which continues to this day), he found that he could not get a job as an engineer unless he paid the right people. Refusing to do this, he ended up driving a rickshaw.

Rama has 3 daughters. One of them is married, and he struggles to put the other two through private education (the public school system is terrible). One of them is in college studying history; she wants to be an elementary school teacher. The other one is in high school and wants to go into law. Rama said that while we were here, we were like his own daughters. He held our hands as we walked across the street – “because Indian traffic is very different from what you are used to” and made sure we made it safely back to the ship. On the last day, he bought strings of jasmine flowers to pin in our hair, explaining that this is what Indian fathers do for their daughters on special occasions.

Rama wants to save up enough money to buy his own rickshaw, so he can earn more money (the one he currently drives is rented from a company). He tells me that the next time I come to Chennai, he will drive me around in his own rickshaw. His daughters are sometimes a little exasperated with him because he comes home so late, but they know he is happy taking care of the tourists he meets. I certainly appreciated all of his help and honesty, and wish him the best of luck.

trapped in Burma

It’s hard to imagine how anything could rival my experience in Vietnam, but Burma (Myanmar) was another amazing experience. This was the first country I did completely indy – I had no SAS trips. I went around with a few other students, seeing the Golden Rock Pagoda, Shwedagon Paya, a Buddhist monastery, the white elephants, and Scott market. The highlight of my trip, however, wasn’t the sights we saw – it was the people we met.

Burma was taken over by a military junta in 1989, which remains in power today. It is one of the most isolated countries in the world, having only recently reopened to foreign investment and relaxed restrictions on tourism. When it was a part of the British empire, Burma was one of the most prosperous and advanced of the British colonies. In the 80s the UN ranked it among the 10 poorest countries in the world. Since then, the economy has improved somewhat, but many people still feel that Burma is slipping backwards in development. The people have endured decades of repression and economic stagnation. Criticism of the government has been brutally put down. Plainsclothed secret police patrol the streets, listening for a whisper of dissent – particularly when Burmese interact with foreigners. Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been under house arrest on and off for years.

We were warned before disembarking that attempting to discuss politically sensitive issues with Burmese would certainly get the person interrogated, and possibly thrown in jail or worse (Burma has a record of human rights abuses). Accordingly, we did not ask about such topics, but from my 5 days of interaction with the Burmese I could tell that many of them are bursting with desire to tell us what they have suffered and what they want for the future. Often they would come close to saying something sensitive, then shy away.

We had the good fortune to meet a monk, Aung, who has been teaching himself Spanish (note: name changed for his protection). He hopes to get a sponsorship to a monastery in Mexico. When he discovered that we spoke Spanish, words poured out of him – criticism of the repressive government, of their detached economic policies that have ruined the economy, the censorship of information. Aung is an incredibly articulate and thoughtful person, speaking both English and Spanish beautifully (mostly self taught). Despite all the restrictions has managed to become very well informed about the world. He comes from a fairly disadvantaged situation, even for Burma – he is one of 5 children in a family of peasants; his father died when he was very young. He joined the monastery when he was 11, and through this avenue has managed to become educated. I was struck by how much he knew about American political history (particularly of Lincoln and FDR), and about current world situations.

Aung challenged all my preconceived notions about what a monk is like. He is full of energy, singing along with the radio in the taxi, always joking and laughing. He likes to watch soccer and didn’t get much sleep during the World Cup. He has a Gmail account (supposedly blocked by the government) which he accesses through proxies. He is intense and passionate, not serene and detached. Aung is such a broad-minded and curious person, trapped in a country that has isolated itself and peers out at the world nervously and suspiciously. If given the chance, I am certain he would be an active and engaged global citizen. I fervently hope he will have this opportunity.

observations in Vietnam

Vietnam’s tropical fruits are amazing. My relatives took me to buy mangos, durian, and oranges (which are in season) from the market. I have never had such richly flavorful fruit before – it really makes a difference when it’s grown in an actual tropical climate vs. a hothouse.

Traffic in Saigon: everyone rides motorcycles or mopeds, and people don’t pay much attention to traffic regulations. Interspersed between the motorcycles are cyclos (like a bicycle with an attached carriage for a passenger; human powered taxi), some taxis and cars, and the odd truck or two. No one stops for anything – everyone deftly weaves around obstacles and cross traffic. The scariest thing to do is make a left turn – you just plunge into a wall of oncoming traffic. As a pedestrian crossing the street, you’ll be waiting a long time if you’re looking for a break in traffic. You just have to step off the sidewalk and walk at a constant pace, making eye contact with moped drivers. They’ll dodge around you, so long as you don’t change your pace or direction (so don’t stop or break into a run).

In China & Hong Kong I was usually addressed in Cantonese or Mandarin when I was only with other Asian students, but when I was with white friends we were all addressed in English, even if the local person only spoke a couple words of it. I don’t know whether it’s because I look partially Vietnamese, or whether it’s because the people are not as accustomed to Asian tourists, but everyone expected me to be able to speak Vietnamese, from the official changing money on the ship to every shopkeeper and passerby.

Ben Thanh Market & Cai Rang Floating Market

[I wrote the following report for my Ancient Technology of Food class]

In Vietnam, I had the chance to both explore the Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City and the Cai Rang Floating Market in the Mekong Delta. In Ben Thanh Market, past the aisles of shops selling every manner of durable good there are food stalls, and beyond that there are stands selling produce. In the back, there is a “wet market” where you can buy meat. The produce stands had every kind of vegetable and fruit neatly stacked on display. Some of the stalls had little display racks that look exactly like short supermarket aisles in the US. Everything was sold by weight, and often bundled for easy purchase. Nearby the produce stalls were bulk goods stalls that sold dried beans, flour, rice, and related items by weight out of open sacks. I counted at least 5 varieties of white rice, a sack of black rice, and a sack of brown rice at one stand. The most interesting section, however, was the “wet market” where organs were laid out on plates for purchase (including brain, kidney, liver, heart, intestines, stomach, and other organs I couldn’t identify). Chunks of muscle, of course, were also for sale. Nothing was refrigerated or on ice. There were also buckets of live seafood and fish in water for sale. If you wanted to buy a fish, the woman would gut it right there for you in front of your eyes.

On the bus ride out to the Mekong Delta, we passed acres of flooded rice paddies lining the highway. Though we didn’t see any water buffalo, presumably because this wasn’t a time of year when their labor is required, we were told that one of the most common ways for children to earn a little pocket money is by watching water buffalo after school and during their vacations. We visited a farm in the delta and got to see women weeding plots with small hand tools. We also saw a man chest deep in the river, harvesting something that looked like watercress. The produce is placed in baskets that are hung one on each end of a pole, which is carried over the shoulder to small motor-powered watercraft (like canoes) to be taken to market. As we drove up the river we passed many such vessels, mostly transporting fruit (especially lychee and logan); there were also some transporting pineapples and herbs. We got to the floating market early, at 8 am, and observed locals buying and selling produce. The floating market is located at the juncture of seven canals, and is composed of a collection of boats anchored near one another. Most boats only sell one item, though I saw some larger vessels selling two or three types of vegetables. Every boat advertises what it is selling by securing a sample to a long bamboo rod that is tied like a flagpole to the boat. There were pineapple boats and potato boats, watermelon boats and orange boats. I noticed a proliferation of tubers (sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, radishes, turnips, and beets); there was also a lot of fruit. Noticeably lacking was rice. There was a grocery boat that sold amenities like salt and sugar, but residents must obtain their rice in some other fashion. As we made our way back, we also observed some fishermen taking crabs out of a trap in the river.

Both of these situations show that in Vietnam the markets are still closely tied to the consumer. There are very few intermediary steps between the farmer and the consumer – particularly in the delta, where food goes is sold directly by the farmer to the consumer. For urban consumers, trade lines must be relatively efficient, and new product is delivered daily; otherwise, raw meat could not be kept unrefrigerated and live animals could not be sold. Presumably, meat is bought fresh and consumed on the same day. All parts of the animal are used, including all the internal organs & hooves we saw for sale; they are not wasteful.

The importance of the ocean as a source of seafood was highlighted by the abundance of live crabs, mussels, squid, and other animals we saw in the wet market, and their presence in many local dishes. Concerning the variety of produce, I noticed many tubers (sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, radishes, turnips, carrots, and beets) for sale. However, I did not find that many tubers in Vietnamese cuisine. There were some pickled turnips and carrots, and I tried some sweet potato chips, but otherwise they were curiously absent. Especially striking is the lack of potato in food, when I saw many boatloads of potatoes in the market. There was also a proliferation of fruit: watermelon, pineapple, oranges, lychee, logan, durian, mango, dragonfruit, and others I did not recognize. The availability of fresh fruit is evident in the diet: fresh fruit juices are relatively inexpensive and easy to obtain, and fruit is served with every meal. Fruits have also been worked into savory dishes, such as pineapple in sour soup and winter melon soup. Finally, rice continues to be an important part of Vietnamese diet as well as a major export, as shown by the miles of rice paddies and the abundance of rice varieties available at the Ben Thanh Market.

pirates!

We are refueling in Singapore (though not allowed to get off the ship) and going through the Strait of Malaca (I think). These are apparently the most pirate-infested waters in the world, so we’re pushing through at 26 knots, nearly our top speed (we usually go around 17 knots). There’s a pirate watch stationed, and our ship is being escorted by police boats. We have been reassured that it is extremely unlikely that we’ll be targeted, because there are so many people on board. Usually they go for cargo ships with a lot of valuable freight and only 4-5 crew aboard. Nevertheless, we peer around in the gloomy mist that has shrouded our ship and reduced visibility.