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posted by Ryan Rowe
I’ve travelled a bit and seen many inspiring things but those that I fancy the most are places of natural beauty - mountains, the jungle, countryside fields, waterfalls, and the beach, to name a few. After this trip, the mountains of Nepal and the backwaters of Kerala, India were the highlights. 
.
Anyway I’ve been travelling for 15 days now nd a few days ago Olivia rejoined me for a tour of Kerala, one of India’s southernmost states and one of the most beautiful part of India I’ve seen during my travels here (even nicer than Goa). Thanks honey for joining me for your first trip to this country.
One of our main objectives was an overnight trip on a houseboat through the tranquil and meandering backwater network of canals, rivers, and lakes. This is a very popular activity for travelers to Kerala (both Indian and foreigners) and a lot of our friends in Abu Dhabi have told us about how beautiful it is. And they weren’t wrong! But beware of the booking process. Houseboat operators will charge the price they think you can afford to pay, not what it is ‘worth’. We paid 5500 rupees (US$122) for a private room with air-conditioning and bathroom on a 5-BR houseboat, including three meals (lunch, dinner and breakfast the following morning, eating such things as fresh prawns, coconut rice and fresh pineapple and bananas). We brought our own supply of Kingfishers on board too. We also had the boat to ourselves - the group that had booked it cancelled at the last minute and so the owner was desperate to take any money in that he could.
Starting from the small town of Alleppey, which is one the main starting/ending points for backwater cruises, our houseboat travelled down a narrow canal, the sides of which were lined with other houseboats and the homes of local people. We would occasionally get a glimpse into their daily lives, as they bathed or washed their laundry in the calm waters at the doorstep of their homes. Palm trees fringe the shores of the many lakes and rivers, the sounds of worship or song from the various temples, mosques and churches waft over the water and birds alight on clumps of floating moss and lilies. Aside from tourism and fishing, farming seems to be the other major economic activity of the backwater community.
By way of background, the backwaters were formed when water from the Arabian Sea overflowed rivers flowing into the sea down from the Western Ghats mountain range. Various barrier island chains were formed. Manmade dykes were created to form an irrigation system for low-lying fields in order to allow the farming of rice, cassava and yam. It is on these dykes, only a few metres wide, that local farmers live. I find myself wondering for how long such an irrigation and transportation system has existed, and how much of it is man-made and when it was constructed.
Hanging out on a boat like this for 24 hours provides a perfect place to feel like you are getting away from the rat race and enjoying what the world has to offer. Be it taking in the beautiful scenery, intense conversation with another, reading a good book or immersing yourself in deep thought and contemplating the meaning of life, this is a good place to do it. The best way for me to wind down a trip through a though-provoking place such as India.
Tomorrow, the beach, at Varkala.
November 29th, 2009 at 21:22
posted by Ryan Rowe
So I’m in Varanasi - one of the holiest cities in the Hindu religion - and I’m sick. 
I’d only been here a couple of hours when I started feeling the rumblings in my tummy. The prime suspect is a vegetarian meal I had at a local restaurant - I ordered bruschetta and I guess the chopped tomato is what done it for me! The restaurant is highly rated so I guess I let my guard down.
Before the shit hit the fan (so to speak) I managed to get in an hour watching part of a cool concert series happening at Assi Ghat. the group on stage had a great drummer/tambores player, an accordian-like instrument and some kind of strings instrument and finally a lead whose singing style sounded like he was speaking very rapidly . Eric I bet you’re curious I got photos and will post soon.
Since then I’ve spent the last 24 hours in my room in bed or on the toilet.
Except for a 20min walk I took tonight while trying to find an ATM. You know if I had to describe India in one word it would be ’shocking’. The filth, the noise, the poverty, the smell and the chaos. At night these are all magnified. The long creepy shadows in the streets, the incessant beeping of the motorcyclists and auto-rickshaws and the glare of their headlights cutting through the haze that hangs in the city air, the thick acrid smell of something burning (not bodies but more like wood - like a stove fire - and it burns the nose and the throat), stray cows EVERYWHERE yes stray cows, and of course the street-dwellers - the poor and homeless who beg, the street workers who sell - and the touts, those super-friendly random guys who walk up to say “Helloooooo, how are you? Where are you from?” as if a totally innocent question when they are really just trying to make a quick buck whatever way they can.
Varanasi had it all in that 20 min walk. I just hope that I get to see some more of the cool, cultural side of Varanasi in the one day I have left before I go to Kolkata (the side you keep telling me about Mick!). If I feel better tomorrow morning I plan to take a stroll along the ghats and maybe even a boat ride up the Ganges. We’ll see!
November 28th, 2009 at 16:09
posted by Ryan Rowe
On Thursday morning I left the Pokhara Valley on a tourist bus (so-called only because most of the passengers were tourists but which was in fact a ‘local’ bus - see below!) and headed south to Lumbini - the birthplace of the Buddha. The bus took the Siddhartha Highway (note: Gautam Siddhartha was Buddha’s name prior to achieving his enlightenment at Bodhgaya in India) which is a 160km stretch of narrow road through the mountains located south of the city of Pokhara. The scenery was breaktaking - at 7am the sun was just rising and the valley below was covered in fog with the lush green mountainscape rising up out of it like cliffs out of the ocean. I have a beautiful picture which I will upload when I’m back. If you read about bus crashes in the mountains of Nepal in the newspapers, I would imagine this is the place! Places I’ll add to an itinerary for a future visit are Tansen and Sirubari (two mountain villages) and Tashiling (a Tibetan refugee camp).
After seven hours of winding roads on an uncomfortable seat, I arrived in the dusty town of Bhairawa, where I looked for transport to Lumbini. An excited local approached me and urged me to go with him for the trip.
“How much?” I asked.
“30 rupees sir”, he said, spitting a long stream of sweet-smelling tobacco juice into the ground beside him.
“How long until you leave?”
“5 minutes sir!”
“Really? 5 minutes?” I said with a wry smile.
“Yes sir!”
Thinking it would be more like 20 (in fact it turned out to be 40) I climbed on board. The resulting trip turned out to be even more uncomfortable than the preceding ride through the mountains. Picking up new passengers every five minutes, idling in heavy traffic with fumes filling the bus through the open windows, dodging the myraid of obstacles on the single-lane road (cows, pigs, chickens, goats, donkeys, and dogs). Not to mention bicycles with 2 or 3 people on them, cycle-rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, tractors, trucks, cars and buses. Of course the sensible driver will use his horn liberally to indicate he is approaching from behind and is also willing to drive on the wrong side of the road (which is the right side, not the left side) in order to avoid oncoming traffic and consequently lift his foot from the accelerator. Bring your ear plugs! Oh, and if you ever wondered how many people you can fit on a bus in Nepal, the answer is as many as you want!
Anyway it isn’t anything I didn’t sign up for. Bring it on!
Lumbini, as I mentioned, is known as the birthplace of the Buddha. Almost immediately upon arriving, I met a Buddhist monk named Choki from Karnataka, India. He had travelled by bus for over three days to Nepal to visit Kathmandu and then come to Lumbini for the Golden Jubilee Ceremony of the 41st Throne Holder of Sakya Order His Holiness The Sakya Trizin. Lol… I wasn’t able to communicate clearly enough with Choki to understand the significance of the event so further research needed. He did tell me that the festival would last for six more days.
Choke told me he had been born in India and his parents were originally from Tibet. He had taken a vow of celibacy. He had no desire to get married and seemed a very pious man. Curious, I asked how old he was.
“37″, he said, and to me, “what is your age?”
“31″, I answered, and he said with a twinkle in his eye, “So I am your elder!”
It turned out that there were several thousand monks attending while I was there so the timing of my arrival to Lumbini was very serendipitous!
The whole area is very peaceful and there are people everywhere, praying and chanting. These include monks and tourists, many from China, India and Japan. Did you know that there are an estimated 350 million Buddhists worldwide? It is the world’s fourth-largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
Anyway, Choki took me around Lumbini, introducing me to various Buddhist holy sites in the area. The ones that interested me most were the following:
1) Maya Devi Mandir: an archaeological site with brickwork from 300 BC and which is thought to be Nepal’s oldest known man-made structure. The site is enclosed by a building, and to enter it you must take off your shoes. Inside you get to see the excavated site (not impressively detailed/explained) but the centrepiece is the spot where the Buddha is thought to have been born. It is presumed so based on a stome that the Indian Buddhist emperor Ashoka placed there. At the spot there is a sculpture where you can see pilgrims placing prayers on a slip of paper and tucking it with money into little cracks (you are allowed to touch it).
Lana - where did you come up with the name Devi for your charity? (Lana is a friend from my days at Concordia University in Montreal - she started a group in Canada called Devi to collect beauty products, toiletries, and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and donate them to people in need, since so much goes to waste (think of airlines and hotels for example). Great initiative! Please check out her project here:
2) Eternal Peace Lamp: a flame that burns brightly 24 hours a day and has the following inscription oin a plaque next to it: “This Eternal Lamp was set aflame on November 1st, 1986 by then His Royal Highness Prince Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev to commemorate the International Year of Peace. The flame was brought from United Nations (New York, U.S.A.) to integrate peace and harmony among the global community.”
I don’t know what is meant by the flame was ‘brought’ and I don’t know if it has really been burning non-stop for the last 23 years - am curious to know. But one interesting fact - the prince mentioned is suspected by conspiracy theorists to have arranged the massacre of his family including the presiding king, leading to his ascension to the throne in 2001. Some of you may be familiar with Nepal’s political troubles over the last decade or so. Gyanendra was deposed as king in 2008 and stripped of his royal privileges for reasons unrelated to the death of his family (in which he has never been implicated).
3) the beautiful garden and temple prior to entering the area known as the Sacred Garden: a very tranquil place that was donated to Lumbini by a Tibetan monk who was a teacher of the Dalai Lama (according to Choki) - he died two years ago. Not sure of his name but I am keen to look it up.
Interesting factbite which I didn’t know - the Dalai Lama was presented with honourary Canadian citizenship in 2006. Only four other individuals have ever been granted such an award: Raoul Wallenberg (Holocaust hero), Nelson Mandela, Aun San Suu Kyi, HH Aga Khan. The honourary citizenship does not entitle them to rights of a normal Canadian so it is merely symbolic. The Dalai Lama also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
4) Morning Puja with the monks: This was a meditation session attended by over a thousand monks at least, of ages from 7 or 8 years old to 80 at least. All had their heads closely shaved and some carried books with writing in Sanskrit in them (I think). They all wore robes that wrapped around one shoulder, some were red and others were orange. What I found interesting was that you could not tell who was rich or poor from the clothes they wore. I took a peek inside the temple where a ceremony was underway. Choki was obliged to participate so he couldn’t provide me with much background information.
Yesterday morning I left Lumbini and headed to Sunauli, where I crossed the Nepal-India border on foot and caught a three-hour local bus to the town of Gorakhpur. This time I bought myself two seats so that I could have a bit of leg room! At 55 rupees each I decided to splurge for the comfort! Gorakhpur is where I intended to arrange my onward journey to Varanasi and then Kolkata, hopefully via the Indian train system. I had been trying for days to arrange this online / through tourist agents (marking everything up for fee of course) in Nepal but had had no luck. As a last resort I decided I would be willing to cough up USD 200 for a flight to Kolkata if I had to. After my experience on the buses I was not going to go through it again especially on a 20hr journey to Kolkata! But then something told me I should leave my fate with the gods and maybe I would have more luck going directly to the train station in Gorakhpur, in India itself. And I did! I got lucky and managed to get Second Class A/C tickets for both destinations.
So that’s it! I’m on the train now to Varanasi and getting tired of typing on my blackberry… More stories later!
November 25th, 2009 at 20:47
posted by Ryan Rowe
Been a busy trip so far! Olivia joined me on my last of three days in Kathmandu and then yesterday morning, we flew to Pokhara with Buddha Air on a twin-prop airplane! Pokhara is a Nepali town nestled at the foothills of the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas. Unfortuately her trip was a short one - Olivia left this afternoon and will rejoin me in Kerala (India) a week from now.
Meanwhile I am still in Pokara and will head south on my way to India tomorrow. The itinerary described in my last post has changed a bit. Due to limited time I’ve had to cancel my planned visits to Chennai and Hyderabad. Instead I’m going to spend more time in southern Nepal and northeastern India with the objective of educating myself a bit about Buddhism and Hindusim.
A trip yesterday to the World Peace Pagoda with Olivia (it is an enormous Buddhist shrine at the top of a mountain outside the town of Pokhara) has inspired me to visit as many of the four major sites on the Buddhist pilgrim route as I can (namely Lumbini, Kushinagar, Sarnath and Bodgaya). By way of background - Lumbini was the Buddha’s birthplace, Bodhgaya was where the Buddha achieved enlightenment, Sarnath was where the Buddha delivered his first sermon and Kushinagar was where the Buddha died. While I have always been curious to learn more about Buddhism (Matt Petchsy - this is your fault!) my encounters with Buddhist lore and religious sites here in Nepal have now brought that desire to the fore.
I should be able to visit these places with relative ease over the next 4-5 days as I travel from here to Varanasi and then on to Kolkata.
As you may know by now, my first visit to Nepal did not include plans for a trekking trip to the Himalayas. But after five days here, I have decided that this is something I’d love to come back for in the near future. Olivia has a preference for Everest Base Camp (EBC) so this is on the to-do list! She has shown me new appreciation for mountain scenery. The trekking season is best in October/November but there may be alternate times we can go, as I know the father of a friend of mine trekked to EBC at a different time of the year (Mike do you know the details?). Small fact bite - Nepal has eight of the world’s ten highest mountains! It also extremely small and is sandwiched between giants India and China, landlocked with no access to the sea. The precipitous terrain precludes agriculture from being a major economic activity and also makes it difficult to develop efficient and effective telecommunications and transport infrastructure. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world - average income per person is US$470 (it’s artifically high due to the large number of Nepali migrant workers working in Middle Eastern countries).
As the country develops economically, people have migrated to the cities in search of work of course. Kathmandu has not escaped the environmental effects of this growth - pollution here is atrocious. Many local people (and some tourists) walk the streets wearing face masks to block out particulate matter in the air. You will be sneezing black by midday if you know what I mean and your eyes will water during taxi rides through streets choked with traffic! The city is known to have one of the worst levels of air pollution in Asia. Am trying to think of why this city would have higher than normal levels of industrial / automobile pollution - any ideas? Part of it is probably the thousands of diesel-burning motorcycles zipping around the city (public menaces)! Another thought I had was that perhaps the problem is exacerbated by the mountainous terrain surrounding the city (it traps the air - this is the case in Mexico City for example) but I’m not sure. Interested to look this up…
If there is one thing I will never forget about Nepal - it is the prevalence of middlemen in every commercial transaction! This is most likely to occur when booking tickets for tourist excursions but applies to almost anything else you can think of. Your hotelier will offer to arrange anything and everything you want to do in the city, from taxis, to meals, to entertainment, to laundry service. No one does anything for free in this country - there is always a commission to be made - so go straight to the source if you can!
One of the notable excursions from Katmandu was a day trip to Bhaktapur, about 16km away, but what a world of difference. The tranquil town is well-known for its traditional style of architecture and way of life. The city’s inhabitants are largely Newari - the dominant ethnicity in Nepal. It is a city meant for walking, with its narrow streets and lanes, cobbled with stone. I spent about 45 minutes hanging out at the corner of one such intersection watching mostly townsfolk go about their activities. This ranged from two old men playing chess, to local women gathering buckets of water at the public tap.
The town’s buildings tend to be no more than three or four stories high and most are made of wood or brick of a burnt peach colour. Imagine a city where every building is permanently cast in the setting sunlight! Of each building, the lowest level is usually a storefront or a workshop which opens directly on to the street (no sidewalk) and you are free to walk in and inspect their wares.
I poked my head into one such workshop and was invited in by a young fellow who looked to be in his early 20s and was kneeling forward over a pot filled with hot coals. He explained that he and his brothers were busy preparing molds that would be used to cast brass artefacts for export to Germany. His family has been doing so for least three generations and they were the only such tradespeople in town. I did not ask whether he or his brothers had finished their school before joining the profession) (the youngest brother - about 10 - was there at the time). He taught me a bit about his work, and the various steps in the process from raw material to finished goods. Funnily enough, having spent time observing their work and noting that they were the first step in the supply chain - I figured I did not (or should not for fear of offending them) need to negotiate/bargain. In hindsight i almost cetain that I paid nearly double what the ‘fair price’ was. But then that brings to mind, what is a ‘fair price’ for something it took them 15 days to manufacture with their bare hands. This was the highlight of my trip to Bhaktapur.
I also befriended a local fellow named Arjun, who holds two jobs - as a bartender and a waiter - in the tourist area of the city. He offered to show me around one afternoon and take me to a local Buddhist temple. On the way to our destination, we stopped at his home. He invited me and as per local custom, I took my shoes and socks off. He lived in a single room with a mattress on the floor. He shares a bathroom with a couple of other people who live in what could be called a converted apartment. His prize possessions range from a DVD player to a poster of a gorgeus young Bollywood actress in a skimpy bikini. He has a library of books on cocktail-making, and his ’savings’ are in the form of assorted banknotes inserted between the pages. There was a large 20L plastic bottle of water sitting in the corner. Before we left the house he put tonic in his hair and put on some deodorant. And he offered me some too. :p
So - he has a steady income, access to fresh water, a working toilet and electricity, and he has clothes on his back. He even bought me lunch that day (for 90 rupees - about US$1.50). Would you call him poor? What is poverty, really? Is it someone who cannot afford to buy what we in the Western World deem to be important or is it someone who cannot afford to buy what they consider necessary to live comfortably? This whole idea of the ‘poor’ being defined by one dollar a day seems flawed to me… There are millions who live off of subsistence farming, they may own a small plot of land and have food on the table but if they don’t earn an income, would we call them poor? Any thoughts?
The internet cafe is closing now but I suppose a good way to end this post would be to explain its title. Namaste is a Hindu greeting and means both ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. What you are actually saying is ‘I salute the god within you’. As I leave Pokhara and head down to India it seems like a good way to sign off… more stories on Nepal when I can
Tags: asia, nepalNovember 21st, 2009 at 10:11
posted by Ryan Rowe
I started my 15-day backpacking trip through Nepal and India yesterday, by flying into Kathmandu.
I’ll be staying here for a few days - but have not yet made a real plan of things to see or do. At the moment I’m just wandering the streets talking to some of the locals. Today I’m planning to visit a local temple where monkeys run free. And I discovered the local brew during my adventures last night in Kathmandu’s nightlife (more on that later). It’s called Gorkha and it’s quite tasty!
On the 23rd my girlfriend Olivia will join me from Abu Dhabi and we’ll head over to Pokhara - perhaps engage in some adventure sports, check out Devi’s Fall and perhaps an Everest flight? Keeping the schedule open for surprises.
On the 25th Olivia will head back to AD and my plan is to then head south by bus in the direction of India. I’d like to visit a national park if possible - Chitwan National Park is in mind - and get some photos of elephants and tigers - Masood thanks for helping out with the camera, this wouldn’t be possible without you!
Then, onward to the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in India. The city is situated on the Ganges and is where Hindus cremate their dead and dispose of the ashes in the river water.
Next stop Kolkata (perhaps better known by its English name Calcutta) where my plan is to visit the Parivaar orphanage which is run by a friend of a friend. They adopt destitute children and school them under a rigorous curriculum. From what I understand - all of their staff live at the orphanage and work for free!
After that I might visit Hyderabad to see a friend - Raj Koona - but this is still not sure. Depends on how cheap the flights are dude! Then on to Chennai (formerly known as Madras) which is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, and the origin of many of the migrant workers I wrote about in an earlier post on labour camps.
Final destination is Thiruvaranthaparum (formerly known as Trivandrum) in the state of Kerala, where I am crossing my fingers that Olivia will be able to rejoin me for a few more days, for some beach-play and a tour of the backwaters.
Despite four previous visits to India, I have never visited any of the above cities… in particular Thiruvaranthaparum and Chennai are the hometowns of many of the Indian migrant workers (construction labourers, security guards and office boys) that I have interacted with back in Abu Dhabi. I am really excited about this trip since it will be give an insight into their origins. Should be a blast…
Ok, that’s it for now, will come back to you later with some more detail about my time in Kathmandu!
Tags: asia, india, nepalNovember 10th, 2009 at 20:11
posted by Ryan Rowe
Last Friday night, a private fundraiser was held here in Abu Dhabi to support the Tabasamu Education Fund, a Kenya-based charity I have been working closely with for over a year (my role is primarily marketing / strategic partnerships and fundraising efforts here in the UAE). See end of this post for more info on what the charity does.
The concept behind the fundraiser is to provide a venue, music, and beverages in return for a contribution at the door of 100dhs (US$30). Importantly, we do not deduct any amount to cover the expenses of hosting such parties - these are all borne out-of-pocket so that 100% of proceeds goes to the charity. My flatmates kindly agreed to co-host the party and co-sponsor the costs with me. Thanks so much to Cat and Dilip!
Two previous such fundraisers have been held during 2009, raising nearly US$5,000. But this most recent one was much more successful - being attended by over 200 people, running from 8pm until 5am and raising nearly US$14,000 (we received a matching corporate contribution from a locally-based company)! This amount is enough to fund the education of at least 14 Kenyan children for a year each.
Such a large amount would obviously never have been possible without the individual contributions and support of everyone who attended the party. So, a huge THANK YOU.
Special thanks also go to:
DJ Hassan and DJ Shadi - for agreeing to play pro-bono for the entire night and arranging sound equipment. Music was fantastic! thanks! (if you want to catch them again head to Boogie Box at Left Bank on 27 November)
Elias - for the ice, for the signage, helping out with the collection of contributions
Khalid - for helping out with the ice runs
Andy and Ali - for lighting and helping out at the bar, and elsewhere as needed!
Marah - for the donation box and making the run to Ikea for various odds and ends
Ema - for the sangria, the raffle tickets and greeting people and collecting donations.
Suparna - for the jello shots!
Aaron and Brinston - where do I start? Couldn’t have done it without you.
Jasmeen for creating the posters that we used to increase awareness of the cause
Olivia - for photography and moral support 
I’d also like to thank our corporate supporters for the raffle:
Il Porto Italian Restaurant and Sushi Bar - for their donation of three lunch vouchers each for four people (won by Payal, Suparna and Jason)
Royal Meridien Hotels - for their donation of champagne brunch for two on the Shuja Yacht (won by Khalid)
Sheraton Hotels - for their donation of lunch for two at Flavours (won by Sven)
====
About Tabasamu Education Fund (TEF)
TEF is a fully volunteer-based charitable organisation helping to educate Kenyan students at primary, secondary and university levels. Launched in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2006, the organisation identifies individual children and young adults from marginalised, under-privileged, or otherwise needy backgrounds, and supports them financially, logistically and emotionally to stay in school and maintain good standing.
Cost of Education in Kenya
Approximately US$8,400 is required in order for a child to obtain a full primary and secondary education in Kenya. A university degree can cost up to an additional US$8,000 if the student makes it into what is known as the regular programme, meaning that they scored in the top 30% of their graduating year and the government in turn subsidises the cost of their higher education. The other 70% of high school graduates in Kenya who do not qualify can only attend university if they can afford to pay the fees charged by private institutions, which can be far out of their financial reach given Kenya’s official monthly minimum wage is approximately US$37. Some sources estimate that about 85% of children in Kenya attend primary school, 24% attend secondary school, and only 2% attend higher educational institutions.
Achievements
To date, TEF has funded 42 students to complete all levels of education as follows:
- 22 primary students; 17 secondary students; 4 university students;
- 22 males; 21 females; aged 8 to 24 years; and
- 66 education-years funded with US$70,000 raised from donors in 9 countries.
The group currently comprises 8 boys and 20 girls. Kenyan provinces covered include Rift Valley, Northern, Central, Western and Nairobi.
TEF provides funding for school fees, boarding fees, extra tuition, transportation, uniforms, books, medical coverage and any other school-related needs. The annual funding cost for these students can be between US$600 and US$2,000.
For more information on the charity, please visit their website here or join the facebook group here.
We are also looking for reliable and energetic volunteers if you are interested in getting involved in one way or another. Feel free to contact me…
Tags: abu dhabi, africa, kenyaOctober 28th, 2009 at 20:56
posted by Ryan Rowe
The below article and video from CNN shocked me at first - to see that people could live like this.
Then, toward the end of the video, commentary from the government is provided and made me think again. If what they say is true, and people can live in better conditions somewhere else but choose not to (for whatever reason) then do they really have a right to complain?
This article is reposted from the CNN website.
Link to the original article: Living in a cage in Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China (CNN) — If you have ever complained that your apartment is the size of a shoebox, consider the living space of Hong Kong resident Chung For Lau.
Chung lives in a 625 square foot (58.06 square meter) flat here with 18 strangers.
The place is sectioned into tiny cubicles made of wooden planks and wire mesh. Everything he has acquired over the years — clothes, dishes, figurines, a tired TV set — is squeezed into this tiny cube, a modernized version of what is known here as a cage home.
With all the buzz over Hong Kong’s exorbitant luxury property (like the recent record-breaking sale of a $57 million duplex), it may be hard to believe that people have been living in cage homes in this city for years.
But with Hong Kong home to some of the most densley-populated urban districts in the world, real estate has always come at a premium, no matter how small.
Chung’s cage is a newer yet less-desirable model, we are told. The wire mesh one, which resembles an over-sized rabbit hutch, is apparently more comfortable.
Occupants have less privacy, but the temperatures don’t get as high as in the wooden-mesh variety. A thermometer in Chung’s home reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Sometimes it gets so hot, Chung said, that he wants to die.
Chung used to be a security guard. In the good old days he earned about $500 (HK$3,875) per month. But as the economic crisis set in, his full time job went to part time work until he was laid off this past summer.
As he stared into his bank passbook, Chung lamented that he wouldn’t be able to make the $150 rent (HK$1,160) this month — these cubes aren’t cheap.
They are stacked on two levels — $100 (HK$775) for a cube on the upper deck and $150 for the lower bunk.
The lower cubes are more expensive because you can just barely stand upright in them. Do the math and the apartment owner is collecting roughly $2,500 a month (HK$19,375) from these people.
The 19 occupants share two toilets. A small rubber hose attached to a leaky faucet is what they use to wash themselves. Social workers who monitor the apartments said the electricity is donated, so a few of them have TVs. One person on the upper deck has an aquarium.
One social workers said that because of the recession these homes are being occupied more frequently by those made jobless — people in their 30s and 40s. The social worker said none of the younger people wanted to speak on camera for fear their chances of finding work would be hurt.
Chung, 67, is now waiting for welfare to kick in and is on a long list for public housing. The government says it is doing its best to meet its citizens’ needs, but Chung says he has lost all hope. Economic recovery or not, he feels forgotten.
Tags: asia, hong kongOctober 16th, 2009 at 11:20
posted by Ryan Rowe
Whenever I watch this video it moves me to tears. The number of times Ive been rude or impatient (or even mean) with my parents for the silliest reasons…. Even today, I still occasionally make dumb and hurtful remarks which belie the behaviour expected of a 31-year old man.
When I was young, I often forgot how much my parents had done for me. The good values they tried to instil in me, the education they worked so hard to provide for me, and the warm bed and roof I had over my head as I grew up. I think of how they continued to believe in me when I did not know what to study in school, or when I failed in sports most other kids my age were good at, or provided encouragement and financial support when I decided to travel instead of work for a living (quite spoiled I am…).
As my parents and siblings get older along with me, I find myself becoming sensitive to the fact that I have less and less time to spend with them. This video drives home the message that life is short and we should be kind and patient with the ones we love, because when they are gone, we will miss them more than we can ever imagine. If you havent seized a day lately, a great way to do so might be by reaching out to someone you’ve lost touch with or have had a disagreement with!
This post was inspired by Olivia Giangiulio.
Tags: familyOctober 13th, 2009 at 19:41
posted by Ryan Rowe
Hi,
Further to my earlier posts/articles/photos from my trip to Kenya, I just watched a a recent video from CNN highlighting the effects of drought on the Samburu tribes in that country. The area focused on by the video is not far from where I visited in September 2009 (Isiolo, in Eastern Province). I thought I would share it with you as it made my experience even more real and gave me further insight into the devastating effects of the drought on the local people, their crops and their livestock and how it is causing people and animals to starve, face malnutrition or thirst due to the lack of water.
Many images in the video are similar to those I posted in my articles during September 2009.
What I did not know before visiting Kenya but learned about after meeting a German woman who works with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was that there are hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees on Kenyas western border with Somali. This woman has been involved in working with Dadaab, the worlds largest refugee camp with over 300,000 people living there. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) is also working on the ground in Dadaab. Here are two articles from UNHCR and MSF which provide background on the situation:
The resources of the organisations are already stretched but now additional assistance is needed to assist the victims of the drought, which is not just a nation-wide phenomenon but affecting other East African countries. Read more here:
World Food Programme - Kenya
Red Cross Red Crescent - Field Operations in Kenya
Those of us not in the field can help by supporting their efforts with financial donations, without which they would not be able to do their work! If you would like to make a contribution, please contact me so I can help you make a greater impact through various matching donation programs! Such programs would allow you to match up to double the amount of your donation…
Tags: africa, kenyaSeptember 30th, 2009 at 18:29
posted by Ryan Rowe
This is an extremely compelling and impactful video. I urge you to watch this. There are children all over Africa who have been orphaned by civil war or tribal conflict or AIDS or famine and become the ‘head’ of their households, …taking care of their brothers and sisters, when they themselves are barely old enough to work. This means that they cannot attend school and break the cycle of poverty.
If you are interested in making a contribution to an excellent, well-run charity on the ground in Africa, with little overhead, which funds the academic dreams of children who would otherwise not be able to afford to go to school, then visit the Tabasamu Education Fund at their website or on Facebook.
I personally vouch for it. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
We can all make a difference, with an active voice, our time, our money. It’s just a matter of doing it. Let’s seize the day.
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