Backpacking through Asia -- the preparation

After getting laid off from my comfortable job in the Silicon Valley, I decided to do some travel for a month with a couple of constraints -- to keep the trip within a month, to spend as little money as possible and to experience new cultures. Here then, are the steps I took in preparation for the trip. If there are things I should have done better, please suggest them.

1. Research: I used Google search, Lonely Planet and backpacking entry on Wikipedia to see what other people more experienced with budget travel have done. I checked with some friends who had undertaken similar trips. The key thing is to keep baggage to a minimum.

2. Budget: I arbitrarily chose $4,000 for the entire trip, including airfare, accommodation, food, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses. By and large, I managed to complete the trip within this limit. Go, me!

3. Where to go: I was contemplating many destinations including New Zealand, South Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. I settled on South East Asia and South Asia for reasons of economy and also the fact that I had not traveled much there at all.

4. Air tickets: Cathay Pacific has a fantastic deal called the All Asia Pass, which allows "unlimited" travel between 18 cities in Asia for an unbelievable amount of $1,299 for 21 days or $1,499 for 30 days. I chose the latter. Malaysian Airlines has a similar Access Asia pass for $1,399 , but that would mean flying out of Los Angeles. Thai Air has similar packages called Round the World with THAI and Visit ASEAN Airpass, but the pricing is not yet clear and requires additional planning.

I decided to get the All Asia Pass and the next challenge was to find a travel agent to finalize my travel plans. I discovered that the airline websites are useless for these tickets. After unsuccessfully searching through Google and Yahoo!, I found my travel agent on Craigslist. Airbound is the travel agent and located in downtown San Francisco. They are really nice and very accommodating. Give them a call at 1-877-424-7286. They deal with all the previously mentioned air tickets.

5. Destinations: After deciding on the starting date for travel (September 18th, I settled on Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur (with a brief visit to India), Bali (Indonesia) and Seoul (South Korea) in that order. I allocated about 4-5 days for each destination. I'm grateful to Mayona Lim at Airbound for helping me finalize the list. Initially I had included Japan and Vietnam, but Vietnam fell through because it requires a visa and Japan would have meant too much travel. All said, my airfare came to $1,720 including all taxes.

6. Visas: If you are an US citizen see the Foreign Entry Requirements for which countries require a visa. As stated above, Vietnam requires a visa, while all others require none. Incidentally, I had to obtain a visa for India too.

7. Accommodations: I used a combination of Lonely Planet books, Hostels.com and friends' recommendations for lodging. Where possible I stayed in guest houses, which are cheap, reliable and typically near tourist destinations. You have to spend a lot of time picking places, especially on Hostels.com. I learned that it's not worthwhile deciding upon them in advance. Most places will allow you to book and, if necessary, extend your stay upon arrival. However, be prepared to move if you don't find the accommodation to your liking. Another option is to simply use the recommendations in the Lonely Planet guides. For the most part, they are pretty accurate.

I had previously stayed in Youth Hostels and had good experiences with them. This was going to be my first experience with guest houses. Staying in established hotels meant paying a lot more money than I could have afforded, and of course the accommodation and prices are ho-hum. If you've seen one hotel, you've seem them all. Guest houses on the other hand cater to travelers and/or backpackers on a tight budget and each has its own personality and idiosyncrasies. Naturally, you have to trade in the your privacy for the cheapness. The chance to meet interesting people from all over the world more than made up for the privacy. I was a little older than the average backpacker, but no matter. In future, I intend to do more travel this way.

8. Miscellaneous: The final step in preparing for the trip was to buy a medium backpack ($120 at REI), a day pack (almost new from Craigslist), memory cards for my camera (2GB @ $50 at RadioShack), batteries, additional passport size photographs, and not to forget the excellent and indispensable Lonely Planet Guides (Hong Kong and Macau, Seoul and South Asia ($80 for all three guides).

Now it's off to Asia.

So you got laid off, downsized, rightsized -- What next?

About two weeks ago, I got laid off from my well-paying job in the Silicon Valley, which by itself is neither news nor newsworthy. It has happened to millions before and it will happen again. What's more important is to concentrate on how to cope with this situation.

Corporate America is finding more ways than ever to become profitable or more profitable, for the shareholders "demand" this, notwithstanding the fact that many employees are themselves stockholders holding either stock options or 401 (K) plans. As companies grow ever larger and cross national boundaries, individual employees affected by these changes have to become more proactive in countering these changes. So, here are a few things I have learned and am actively putting into practice. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary!

1. Live within your means. I know it's easier said than done, but frittering away your money on frivolous things is really not worth it. Do you actually need a double-whipped, venti, cappuccino latte everyday? Or for that matter, a pair of $200 jeans, a $50,000 car, dinner at fancy restaurants or the next fanciest cellphone?

2. Save money on a regular basis. It requires a little bit of discipline to get into this habit. Most people save money via 401 (K) plans or IRA. Do a little more and you will be surprised at how quickly your savings add up. You can then afford that vacation you've always wanted. Another little aspect to this is to never accumulate credit card debts. I've been fortunate enough not to have any credit card interest payment since 1996. Yay!

3. Work to live, not live to work. A wise man once said: "no one on the deathbed ever said, I wish I'd spent more time at the office." Do not misconstrue this to mean that you do the bare minimum on the job to keep your job. What I am saying is don't kill yourself on the job, otherwise you will be deeply disappointed when that layoff comes, and come it definitely will.

4. Constantly update your skills. This is a no-brainer really. After all, what your next employer will be interested in is what you can bring to the job, not how many hours you put into your previous job.

5. Never burn your bridges at work. Yeah, I know, we all have managers with whom we don't always see eye-to-eye. If you don't get along with your direct manager, ensure that you've made other allies at work; they may be able to provide good references for you.

6. Maintain and cultivate your network. Keep those business cards handy. Every person you meet at work outside of your direct network may become a good source for future jobs. On another note, join professional networking websites such as www.linkedin.com. It's also a good source to look up old acquaintances.

7. Don't take it personally. The business of business is to make money, period. So if you get laid off, think of it as a new lease on life. You can re-examine your options and think about how to get the next best job.

8. Have 6-8 months' living expenses. It does require a lot of discipline, but once you have the comfort that no matter what happens, you can live for at least 6 months without any income, you are that much better off. In my case, I don't have any mortgage payments to worry about. Another reason to live within your means, I suppose.

9. Have some "me time". Go ahead take that holiday you've always wanted. There is more to life than going to work each and everyday like a zombie. Many Americans are not used to living with themselves, and when a layoff comes, it becomes that much more difficult when you don't devote time to your self development.

10. Stay healthy. This is the best time to go to the gym regularly. You don't have the excuse of not having the time. This is also the perfect time to ride that bike, go on a hiking trip, travel, avoid junk food etc.

11. Read. It doesn't matter what you read, as long as you read something. And by the way, turn off that TV. A friend of mine once said -- and wise words at that -- TV is not a medium of communication, it's a substitute for communication. As for me, I've started reading again the complete works of Shakespeare, footnotes and all. Man, it's such a pleasure.

12. Get back to your cooking. Most Americans, don't find time to cook when they are so busy working. Try new cuisines -- the internets (sic) have tons of them.

13. Visit the local library. Yeah, almost every town or city has one or more libraries. They do have DVD's, books, cassette tapes you may want to check out. Go ahead, it's free.

14. Don't get too comfortable. After 6 months or so, lethargy begins to set in. Be careful.

15. Get off your ass and get the next job. Now that you've spent a relaxing time, get back to work. You will feel energized, I promise.

Ibidy, ibidy, ibidy, that's all folks!

Short Wave Radio – Is Anyone Listening Out There?

I'm going to reminesce about my late teens and early 20's in India -- about shortwave radio. It is (or used to be) – a free resource for entertainment, religious broadcasts, political propaganda, world events, listening to foreign language broadcasts etc. and gave me hours and hours of entertainment. First, a brief background. It is a radio transmission that occupies its own spectrum of frequencies just as do medium wave (or AM as it is more popularly known in the US), FM, analog and digital television, cellular telephone, GPS etc. Transmissions are typically in the electromagnetic spectrum designated by meter bands such as 13, 16, 19, 25, 31, 41, 45 and 49. It came into prominence during WWII, when people flocked around their home radios listening to BBC make its historical wartime announcements. After WWII, governments found a new use for the SW radio as an effective means of propaganda (or information). You can read all about the technical aspects of shortwave radio here.

What accounted for its popularity during and after the war? Well, very simply it is cheap to produce and transmit, consumes very little energy, a readymade worldwide audience and reach. Moreover, people who listen to shortwave are usually in poorer nations, where electricity is scarce and other electronic goods all the more expensive – relatively speaking of course. For example, we had a vacuum-tube operated radio (made by a company called Bush, I believe). Later on during my college years, I acquired a battery-operated 4-band Philips transistor radio with MW, SW1, SW2 and SW3 (with the frequencies split along the bands mentioned earlier). As an aside, I saw my first TV transmission in 1982, when my beloved city Bangalore got it during Asian games. We didn’t get a TV until 1985!

What I was addicted to was shortwave radio – a constant companion. I listened to all sorts of programming – BBC, Radio Australia, Radio Deutschewelle, Radio Moscow, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Radio France International, Radio Canada International, Voice of America, Morse-code transmissions and of course All India Radio. (India was then a tightly-regulated economy, where the Central government following the Soviet model, controlled all electronic media. Radio entertainment for the masses consisted of limited hours of AM/SW radio with music, agricultural programming, official news, a few radio plays and on some rare occasions, English pop music.) Some of my favorite programs were produced by BBC – My Word, My Music, World News, Led Zeppelin’s BBC recordings, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Top of the Pops etc. Late nights, when I studied or read something, you could have listened at a very low volume the crackling sounds of SW.

Some of the Cold War propaganda battles between USSR and USA were indeed conducted on shortwave. For example, Radio Moscow used to jam VOA by mysteriously shifting its frequencies close to VOA and if you were not careful your radio would have drifted over to Radio Moscow. "American-sounding" announcers from Radio Moscow would suddenly talk about a vague version of jazz -- nothing you and I would recognize. Ah, how I wish I could listen again to those shortwave battles of those Cold War years, if not for the reality, at least for the entertainment value! Not for nothing was my nickname “radio-active guy”.

All those lovely things belong now in the crusty dustbin of history. My world has become more and more digital including streaming Internet radio, iPod, podcasts, SACD, DVDs, satellite radio, MP3s and so on. Someday in the not too distant future all this too shall pass we will look back wistfully on today's gadgets. Wonder what the future holds!

Impressions of Switzerland

Last week I took up on the generous and hospitable offer from Jeyanthi, Dinakar, Pallavi and Sruthi to spend a short, yet sweet mini-vacation to Switzerland. Thank you all very much! The Panyams currently live in Vevey, the home city of the international food giant, Nestlé. During the course of the trip, I managed to visit Lausanne, Geneva, parts of the Swiss Alps and the beautiful almost-Mediterranean town of Montreux that is internationally renowned for its Jazz festival. I also managed to squeeze in some typical Swiss foods like Roesti, Raclette, fondue and Rivella.

I will not bore you with the history, geography etc. about Switzerland. You can read all relevant information here. Needless to say it's a beautiful country, no matter what time of the year. It's impressive that the lack of natural resources, with the exception of the Alps of course hasn't stopped the Swiss from doing quite well economically. What makes the country tick (cue in the Swiss watches here)? It's the people and their perseverance that permits them to enjoy one of the highest standards of living anywhere in the world. Most Swiss are well educated, well informed, environmentally conscious, fiercely patriotic and hard working. They have made a judicious habit of avoiding wars with neighboring countries over the past 100 or so years, and oddly enough maintain a standing army that can be called into action at a short notice. (As an aside, this was the first time in my life I saw anyone carry guns openly -- actually two well-scrubbed Swiss youths while taking a train en route to Vevey.) Incidentally, of course, they profited from both sides during World War II -- so that can't hurt their economy either.

I thought I would not have any problems conversing with the locals there, given my language background, but I was in for a rude surprise. Speaking French was relatively easy, because it doesn't differ that much from standard French. However, Swiss German gave me all sorts of trouble. The many dialects of German (variously spelled as Schweizerdeutsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzertütsch, Schwizertitsch) spoken in Switzerland are not easy for someone used to Hochdeutsch or standard German. It's a lot more guttural and it varies from town-to-town and village-to-village. Unlike the Germans, however, the Swiss use their dialect in all situations. The written language, on the other hand, is only mildly different than the German used in Germany or Austria, and therefore, reading the newspapers and directions was no problem at all. I tried to converse with many Swiss Germans during my trip to Zermatt and I can honestly say, I understood 50% of what they were saying. Maybe if I spent 5 years there!

In Geneva, of course, they speak French and I had no problems whatsoever. An interesting aspect of Genevans is that they freely mix English words with their French and it's humorously known as Swinglish. Their French confrères resist the preponderant English language in everyday life. It's also very weird to hear about many people who live in France, but commute daily to their jobs in Switzerland. Imagine their tax situation! English is widely used in advertising and you can see billboards that will be quite familiar to most English speakers. Most Swiss people I spoke to, did speak English quite well and it is in fact the lingua franca of Nestlé.

The public transport system is fantastic and everything works with a Swiss watch-like precision. Their attention to timeliness must give the Germans a fit I imagine and that -- is not easy. How expensive is Switzerland, you ask? Simple, very. Food, public transportion, gasoline, dining, shopping -- everything. The only thing that's free is the air. I wouldn't be surprised if they find some way of charging for that too!

Most Swiss I met were cordial, if not friendly in their disposition -- perhaps due to their dependence on tourism and Gastfreundlichkeit. Most Swiss believe that their products are superior to everyone else's and are often right. Just go to a grocery store and see the natives buy Swiss produce in spite of their cost. As I mentioned earlier they are environmentally conscious and you can see proof of that in their daily newspaper reports, where air quality is a major discussion area. But, man do they smoke! Everywhere. I understand that only in the past couple of years have they made more public areas smoke-free. This is the surprising part though -- no fat people! Given their predilection for outdoor activities and use of public transportation, they are generally very fit and fit looking. And I thought San Francisco was a very healthy city!

If you need to see wealthy folks, go to Geneva. I did, and never have I seen so many Ferraris, Maybachs, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins in one single day! The Genevans are truly loaded. As an aside, you see very few SUVs on the roads or even on the mountain roads inspite of deep snow accumulations and steep streets. You would assume it has something to do with gas prices or "safety", but I doubt it. They already lead expensive lifestyles and a paltry $5.00 per US gallon at the pumps is not going to deter them from buying gas guzzlers. I could go on, but that would only bore you to death. Ciao and merci vielmal!

PS. For a more humorous and enlightened treatment of the Swiss, try to get a hold of a book called "Laughing Along with the Swiss", by Paul Bilton. You will not be disappointed.

The Emperor Has No Clothes; And The Democrats Have No Balls

Looking at my location and profile, it's not hard to figure out where I fall on the political spectrum. Just this past week the U.S Congress extended the provisions under the Patriot Act, and this riles me to no end. The Bush administration has yet to please me - economics, politics, international policy, environment, labor, utilities, R&D, healthcare, Hurricane Katrina and just about any issue. What I wanted to mention here is the lack of Democrat leadership in the Congress.

I know that this administration has displeased many, many people over the years and you only have to look at the ratings GWB has been getting recently. The sad thing is that it's taken more than 4 years after 9/11 to figure out the emperor has no clothes. This is the worst administration ever in the history of this nation - no doubt about that. I really don't know where to even begin with my criticisms of GWB! In all these missteps and fiascos, I've to ask myself, where have the Democrats been? It seems that after 9/11, the Democratic Senators and Congressmen have been complicit in the mistakes of this government having signed away their right to say anything against GWB under the guise of patriotism.

To my mind, there are very few Democrats I would even imagining supporting during the upcoming elections in 2006 or 2008 for that matter. The only people I can remotely consider are Russ Feingold, John Murtha, Al Gore (despite having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in 2000), Howard Dean (I am one of the Deaniacs), Barack Obama and Dennis Kucinich. Hillary Clinton? Please! She has repeatedly supported this government in this war in Iraq despite ample evidence to the contrary. She and many others are just Republican-lite and I have no intention of helping them.

Both Democrats and Republican politicians feed from the same trough and each just wears a different suit. The political action committees have both parties in their pockets and no amount of hand wringing will distract from this fact. While the Republicans don't seem to have a problem speaking to their base and core demographics, whom do the Democrats represent and whom do they speak to? Why are the Democrats running for office so ineffectual in their campaigns? It's not that they are any less stupid than the Republican counterparts. Is it then a lack of communication, fear of offending a few people, political correctness, dissipated strategy, lack of power, lack of conviction, or any other reason? Maybe they just don't care! Who gives a flying fuck to average people crying out for politican representation, right? As long as me and my family make do (like the rich Republicans), the hoi polloi can go to hell.

I am really, really distressed at the direction this country is heading. I fear for Democratic prospects in 2008. I can foresee nominating someone ostensibly smart as the Democratic nominee only to throw away the goodwill garnered during the runup to the elections due to some silly, trivial reason such as a misplaced scream, smoking and not inhaling, being "weak on crime", not being photogenic enough for television etc. Bleeecch! What then is the solution? I would really like to see publicly financed elections so we can have some substantial debates on what the real issues are -- education, environment, continued prosperity, jobs, healthcare and so on. Until then I have to console myself with reading books, keeping my job and hoping that things will somehow turn out all right. Oh well!