Wales, Laos, Abu Dhabi

'Round the World- Wales- Country #100! , and Laos too! - and, unfortunately, current events. Oct 2023

It's been several years since I've written one of these, but with a full day of travel from the very pretty UNESCO-heritage building-coded Laotian royal city of Luang Prabang back to our "home" in Penang, including a four and a half hour transfer in crowded BKK airport [new airport, old code transferred tho old airport remains in use], and a book that I'm not thrilled with [The Silk Roads, a new history of the world by Peter Frankopan] , it seems worth my time, and I do have some interesting things to say.

Travel since the pandemic had been limited to BC & visiting family until last December's return to Baja. It had been a trying 3.5 yrs btw Malaysia trips until last May, tho our current one is our 4th since, and as of last fall's drive to East Coast Peninsular Malaysia I've now been to all 13 Malaysian states [still haven't been to Newfoundland, tho I married a Newfie, nor to about 15 US states]. Our most interesting destination prior to this trip was the wind-swept, empty beach and reef-lined pizza-slice shaped [and sized, at 3x2km] island of Salt Cay in the Turks and Caicos, where there are more feral donkeys left from it's status as a center of the salt trade [salt pans still present] until abandoned mid-1900s, than humans, and the airport was completely devoid of humans-I mean zero- until 15min before our plane was scheduled to leave, landing with the 2 airport staff on board [still got a very complete bag security search by one of them].

This is actually our second trip around the world this year. This time by design, first visiting family and friends in Ont/Qc before flying into Manchester [where Li Jun, JC's nephew, is studying law and joined us for North Wales], touring Wales, which starts ~1hr west of it, then stopping for 48h in Abu Dhabi, before continuing east to KL/Penang for a long stay, with the 8d side trip to Laos and the cross-Pacific return thru Taipei still 11d away. The first one was courtesy of United Airlines in May, when they cancelled our SF-Singapore flight at the gate in SF [initially just a 10min delay due to a broken seat in business class, offering $1500 for someone to voluntarily switch to economy, which rapidly escalated to $2500, then $5000, then washroom sink broken as well, then part needed to fix it in Houston so they will get us a new plane -SF is their hub-, but old plane didn't leave gate and pilot and crew timed-out 2hrs later, so flight is cancelled] instead taking us on a 53-hr misadventure [horrific, but good to know both I and my GI tract can survive it] back across North America and the Atlantic to Zurich before connecting to Singapore, ultimately returning as intended cross-Pacific 23d later.

Now I suspect some of you may have objected to the title of this email, being of the opinion that Wales is not a separate country. I spent a fair amount of time considering this, before deciding that I would count it. Officially the UK is made up of 4 separate countries [while Great Britain refers to the island encompassing England, Scotland and Wales, excluding North Ireland]. I asked several English and Welsh their opinions on this and all agreed- including the X-ray machine security guard at the Welsh parliament in it's capital of Cardiff, who was understandably emphatic about it! Having now spent a week travelling, and especially driving, around it, I can now personally state that it certainly feels like a different country from England with unintelligible and unpronounceable road signs, many of which are not accompanied by an English translation [sort of like Quebec!]. "ll" is a hard blown "thL", "f" is pronounced like a "v", while "ff" is an "f". "dd" is pronounced "th" for starters. There was a kingdom of Gwyedd for several centuries around 1200, which I presume is where one of my least favorite celebrities, Gwyneth Paltrow, derives her name [I was surprised to learn that Catherine Zeta-Jones is also Welsh- somehow I thought she was Latina/Spanish- although there is no letter J nor Z in the 28 letter Welsh alphabet]. "Wales" is named "Cymru" and pronounced "kumree".

The Welsh parliament has had increasing independence over the last decade, and one of their more controversial decisions has been to lower the speed limit in towns to 20mph, and even on some separated highways to 50mph. Apparently, there has been a considerable public backlash against this, with the flag's red dragon being replaced by a large red snail.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/wales-traffic-lower-speed-limit-1.6985184#:~:text=Wales%2C%20one%20of%20four%20countries,moving%20at%20a%20snail%27s%20pace

At times this, combined with countless speed cameras, made otherwise very scenic driving [picturesque brick towns, roads covered by a ceiling of tree branches, smaller countryside 2-way lanes 1-car width with hedges high enough to obstruct view of farmland in some places] quite aggravating- hopefully I won't be returning to a mailbox full of "speeding" tickets, tho it did give me time to try to read their signs!

The designation "Prince of Wales" given to the heir to the English throne is actually a sore point. It was started by Edward 1 in 1301, given to his newborn son after he conquered Wales and built many of its castles to maintain his power [Wales has the world's highest density of castles]. Charles was given the title in a pomp ceremony which he disliked in beautiful Caernarfon Castle, and spared William the same on the title's recent transfer, and is considering eliminating it in the future.

Travel highlights included several walks along the beautiful rugged coastline, scrambling up rocky Tryfan mountain in near-zero visibility [the weather was mostly rainy, with a windstorm], the seaside towns of Llandudno, with nearby Conwy and castle, as well as St. David's, and many other very picturesque brick small towns not worth naming. Trail-running up the Great Orme and Sugarloaf mountain, touring Caernarfon castle and a coal mine [Wales was a major supplier of coal in past centuries, with Cardiff the world's top exporting port of such] , searching out some small Neolithic crypts btw farmer's fields, then a 58-letter town: LLanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogoggoch, [after having a local, Miles, who had recognized me from the prior day's hike pronounce it for us! 2nd longest place name in the world- NZ has an 85-letter-named hill] and seeing the locks at high then low tide on the Bristol Channel, which has the world's SECOND largest tides, on which sit Cardiff and the south of Wales. [for the non-Canadians getting this email- the rest of us have long known that #1 is the Bay of Fundy, in Eastern Canada near where JC studied at Acadia U for 8 months].

A short stop in Abu Dhabi was not only desired [1st time there, was in UAE's larger Dubai- now among world's 2or3 busiest airports, and top ten tourist destinations - in 2008], but also cut our Etihad flights costs by ~half. The heat is an unliveable 44c, like walking in a giant hair-dryer. ~90% of the UAE's inhabitant are foreign nationals- we met mostly Indians and Nepalese, most planning to stay for a few yrs to make $, then return home, most young and single or having families back in their home country seen maybe 1x/yr, but relatively happy with their situations in AD. Glitz and skyscrapers, somewhat less than Dubai and somewhat more conservative, tho can't say I noticed the difference [JC thought she did for glitz]. 24-48hrs is all you need unless you want to partake in the like of Ferrari-world or Louvre Abu Dhabi. Our most interesting stop was the Capital Gate 35-floor skyscraper that holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s most leaning tower – 18 degrees westwards, over four times more wayward than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Taking the elevator down a very-well made-up 23yo Emirati girl elegantly-clad in all-black Islamic gear joined us, leading to our only contact with a true local. Her english was perfect, and she spent her early years growing up in Cornwall, England. Her English Mom, who already had many Muslim friends, met her Emirati father there, and surprised him by converting without his prior knowledge of her plans. She, herself, is already married, but doesn't feel too restricted by living in the UAE. She mentions that, unlike her Mom, she is somewhat conflicted as to wearing head-cover at home or when she gets on a plane and travels, but seems to expect to come around to it, stating that God [capitalization hers, not mine] sees what is in her heart, and her husband doesn't force her, but gets religious "points" when he tells her to. We spoke for ~5 min in the lobby [her friends waiting for her in a car], of course there is much else that I would have loved to discuss with her...

After time relaxing and seeing family in KL and Penang [air quality an issue for a significant part of it- disagreement btw Malaysia and Indonesia over how much of it is due to burning in Sumatra], we headed to Laos for 8d, the last country in SEAsia for me to visit. We initially had planned 3 days in the capital of Vientiane, but left after 1nt having seen the major sites [what wat is what/ what wat is that? - a "wat" is a Buddhist monastery, while a "that" -is the Lao word for a Buddhist stupa, but pronounced "tat" as in "Thailand"], and unhappy with a smelly hotel and motorbike-polluted town, and lucked out with 2d at the near-empty Sanctuary Resort hotel on the large Na Ngum reservoir with kayaks and excellent bikes, a bike-ride thru villages that had me singing U2's "a highway with no one on it", at least until some large metal piece double-ruptured my tire in a sudden "explosion" ~5km from the hotel on the way back- a passing pick-up truck gave us a ride.

Next was Vang Vieng, a small city set in an incredibly beautiful Chinese-painting-like karst mountain setting, with a rapidly flowing tributary of the Mekong running thru it. Now being remade into a touristy adventure travel center, for about a decade or two until about ten years ago it was an unlikely party town for drunk and high river-tubing westerners until a dozen or so deaths occurred

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/07/vang-vieng-laos-party-town#:~:text=Vang%20Vieng's%20tiny%20hospital%20recorded,old%20Dorset%20man%2C%20Benjamin%20Light

[unknown to me, Laos has recently won awards as a travel destination, mostly for Europeans and now rising #s of Chinese]. Electricity shut-offs 3day-times in a row. We kayaked down the river [JC with a guide in hers], and I also went into a long cave [many in area] with just a flashlight for about 20min 1-way, alone on the way back after having hooked up with someone who exited at the far end, I briefly had trouble finding the way back in a better [or-worse] -than bargained for caving experience. Last was the very pretty Luang Prabang, on a bend of the Mekong, with its central hill, and clean, quiet [other than tourists] unesco-heritage wat-lined center, by far the highlight of Laos for most visitors, though nothing to compare with Cambodia's Siem Reap / Angkor Wat.

With only a couple of exceptions, Laotians are extremely friendly and helpful- we have been to many places where the guidebooks claim such, but this was the only time I recall truly feeling that to be the case. The exceptions included the immigration officer who refused my US $20bill for visa on arrival payment due to a tiny tear in it [I should have known better-same happened in Cambodia, fortunately I had some euro, otherwise I would have had to go to an ATM, then get in back of line- JC was elsewhere not having needed a visa], and someone who demanded "expensive" payment [which we were planning to offer] for taking our bikes in his truck parked lazily roadside with him lounging nearby after my flat- we walked off and stopped those that helped us only seconds later, still in his view- they were clearly among the wealthier Lao and refused payment when offered.

There is clearly a large smoking problem here, harder drugs are, in theory punishable by death, tho Vang Vieng suggests otherwise. Beerlao is the country's top export. Butterflies are everywhere, many types, and large enough to serve as umbrellas! I've never been anywhere like it, except in butterfly farms. Otherwise we didn’t see much wildlife, and no elephants [only 800 left, centuries ago known as "the land of a million elephants". The food exceeded expectations, Vietnam's equal [was also part of French Indochina], and close to Thailand [best Pad Thai I've had since then], but well short of Malaysia. Larp most noteworthy dish., a minced meat or fish ceviche-like salad.

Laos, with only 7 million inhabitants is much less populous than its neighbours. Though still the poorest and most corrupt SEAsian nation,it has been developing rapidly with recent average annual GDP growth of 7.4%. Malaria down ~99% in last decade- prophylaxis only needed in far south. Much investment has come from China, with recent construction of a new China-Laos Friendship Highway linking Vientiane and Vang Vieng, allowing speeds up to 120km/h [truly a highway with no one on it, we saw only a handful of other cars/buses during our hour on it- so quiet and pollution-free that even though helmet-less [none at hotel], I tried to get on it with my bicycle in VV leading to the anticipated couple of young ladies running out waving their hands at the toll entrance to stop me, I tried unsuccessfully to convince them that it was much safer than the parallel moderately-crowded, truck and motorbike exhaust-polluted, pothole-ridden, old hwy, before consigning my lungs to their fate.

Also in Dec 2021 China opened the first high-speed rail line [160 km/h] in the country, and possibly all SEAsia with intentions to link all the way down to Singapore. This timing was very fortunate for us- making the trip from VV to LP under an hour, versus what we previously thought was a choice btw returning to Vientiane to fly [booked for $26ea just in case, have been trying for days unsuccessfully to inform them that we want to cancel] or a 4-6hr mountainous road ride thru territory that had banditry problems under a decade ago with warnings still present not only in our outdated guidebook, but also Cdn and UK govt websites [banditry no longer present, but road can close if it rains]. The train itself is great, but the logistics around it are involved, to say the least. You cannot book online- only some agents promising to do it for you- we weren't sure if the train was real and actually in service until checking with our hotel-furthermore, the booking can only be made 3 days in advance, and in person at the station by someone who has a Laotian bank account, with passport pictures of the travellers in question [lack of electricity at our hotel preventing photocopying forced us into the rare and worrisome decision of surrendering our passports to the hotel staff to accomplish this]. Nevertheless, the train was full, about half with Westerners, most of the rest likely Chinese travellers. Next, like a young man with a new car, the Chinese are very obsessive about what they let on it- we were warned by a guide at our hotel, seconded by social media, that they would take away anything with a flammable symbol on it- including bug spray and shaving cream- I peeled off the label, hid it deep in my bag and didn't get searched, while JC pulled a bait and switch on them having 2 bottles together [bedbug and mosquito sprays] and then showing them the one that had an "airplane-safe" label on it.

The other "highlight" of the trip was a short basketball practice with a member of the national female wheelchair basketball team [we hit 4of5 bounce-pass shots] at the nat'l disabled gym in Vientiane [I walked in to look around as the UXO visitor center had closed], and then a successful visit to the small UneXploded Ordinance visitor center/ museum in LP. Laos was the theater for the "secret war" btw the USA and the North Vietnamese as it was the location of the "Ho Chi Minh trail" used by the NVs to supply the Vietcong fighters in South Vietnam. In an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the flow, Laos became the most-bombed nation in history, with a tonnage equal to all of WW2. 30% of cluster bombs fail to explode on impact, and clearing these will likely take another 100yrs. Several dozen still get killed or maimed by these every yr in the country, ironically made worse by the availability of cheap metal detectors leading to attempts at income supplementation in the scrap metal & souvenir trades [the latter, previously illegal, is now apparently legal, supplied by a private company from govt collections].

Few, if any, American troops fought on the ground in Laos' own losing battle against its Pathet Lao communist forces, which took over in 1975, exiling the king to a 're-education’ camp, where he and family died a couple yrs later under suspicious circumstances only acknowledged in the 1990s. Instead they trained a battalion of Hmong Hill Tribesmen to do their dirty work, ultimately leading to ethnic strife and Hmong refugees, many of whom ended up in the USA [as featured in Clint Eastwood's Grand Torino movie, that we recently enjoyed], with issues ongoing.

Laos remains officially communist, but much like larger neighbors to the north, the reality is far different, with one-party authoritarian rule of a capitalist society being much more accurate. Full relations with the USA were re-established in the 1990s, and Obama visited in 2016.

Normally in trip emails I only comment on current events in the countries visited, however the recent and ongoing tragedies in Israel and Gaza, and the world's reactions require otherwise. What follows is mostly intended for the non-Jewish recipients of this email. For my Jewish friends and family I hope none of you have close contacts who have been murdered, maimed or kidnapped. I am sure you have all been at least moderately affected and know people who have been severely affected.

What is going on now is the worst stuff that has happened to Israel and the Jewish people during my lifetime. Some of you may be surprised at the importance of Israel to me, given what you know about my very strong opinions against religion in general and about the logical impossibility of god. However being Jewish is not about belief, it is a cultural heritage that both for better and worse is unchangeable. The Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were killed regardless of their beliefs [many were ultra-modern atheists, Hitler actually hated such Jews even more per something I read at Auschwitz a few years ago], remains the single most important modern event that has shaped my life and thinking. In the words of Joe Biden, which echo what I have long known, "the world watched then, it knew, and the world did nothing." A ship full of Jewish refugees docked in the USA and Canada, but was refused entry- sent back to Europe and death in the gas chambers. Bombing runs over Auschwitz in 1944 could have saved close to a million lives, but were not ordered. This is why I strongly believe that Israel, as a Jewish State, is required for the protection of all Jews, at least until the time hopefully comes when humanity completely gives up religion, the silly and divisive stories of our species' tribal childhood, and the hatreds they engender, thereby making our differences only cultural heritages that can be celebrated together by all.

When I was younger I believed peace in the middle east was something that was going to happen. During a summer school trip to Israel [during which I spent a month on a kibbutz just outside a northern town that Israel was forced to evacuate yesterday due to Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon, and another month travelling the country] we were sat down in the West Bank and given a hopeful joint speech by an Israeli and Palestinian. Despite obstacles, the path to peace seemed obvious, and it actually remains so. There really only is one practical option, and it was spelled out by Bill Clinton in his failed attempt to achieve such at the end of his presidency in July 2000 with then Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, and former[?] PLO terrorist leader, turned Palestinian Authority {PA, they remain in charge of the West Bank} leader, Yasser Arafat.

The two-state solution requires the Palestinians accepting Israel's right to exist and ceasing all hostilities, in return for Israel's exit and them getting their own independent country, which would include part of "holy" Jerusalem, which would be split. The Palestinians would have to give up the "right of return" [potentially with financial compensation] to the lands they had left during Israel's war of independence in 1948. They were asked to leave the country by the surrounding Arab nations who attacked, and were expecting to destroy Israel immediately following it's formation by the UN/UK, those that stayed behind are currently Israeli Arab citizens, with full rights, including the vote, although I don't doubt that Jewish force contributed to the decision to leave for many of them. Functionally this is when the Palestinians became a true people, differentiating them from the other surrounding Arabs. The Arab countries, rather than absorbing them into Jordan, Egypt and Syria, chose to keep them as refugees for generations, in what has amounted to a tremendous public relations win for the Arabs, but ontold misery for the Palestinian individuals involved. [the West Bank and Gaza were part of Jordan and Egypt then, and only came under Israeli occupation following the 1967 war, after those countries decided they didn't want those lands back when Israel gave back other territories it had conquered during that war, after the Arab countries again attacked Israel in another unsuccessful attempt to destroy it].

In Clinton's opinion, as was reported then, it was Arafat who refused this plan. Was he too corrupt/evil to truly want peace? Was he too scared of being assassinated by some of his more radical colleagues if he accepted compromise? Or was he too stupid to see that this is the best offer the Palestinian people can ever expect- allowing a full right of return is just not something Israel can ever agree to as there are now too many Palestinians- it would then force Israel to choose between remaining democratic [forbidding an Arab majority the vote] or Jewish. It is far from certain that Israel would have ultimately accepted the plan either [prime minister Barak did, but would have had to seek wider approval], trading "land for peace" is fundamentally unsafe, particularly for such a tiny country with an even thinner middle- once done the land is gone, any ongoing peace remains at the mercy of one's adversaries behaviour, especially unreliable when they are fractionated, with more extremist groups never even claiming to accept the agreement to begin with.

Things have deteriorated further since. Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in 2005, and maintains no presence there whatsoever [news reports referring to Gaza as "occupied" are factually wrong- it is under blockade from both Israel and Egypt to prevent weapons, but not other goods, from arriving]. It was after Hamas came to power after a democratic election in Gaza in 2007 [there has not been another since], and forcefully ejected the PA including by murder, that I changed my mind about the potential for peace, and became of the opinion that I would not see such during my lifetime. Hamas does not accept that Israel, or its citizens, have any right to exist. It's charter calls for the obliteration of Israel, and the killing of Jews.

Their actions make it clear that Hamas also does not care about the Palestinian people beyond the purpose they serve in having their suffering further international public outcry. Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as shields and pawns. If they cared about their people they would not keep their headquarters and weaponry in, and fire rockets from, civilian buildings. They know full well this will force Israel into targeting such structures [Israeli policy is to send out warnings to evacuate first]. What did Hamas think Israel was going to do after this horrific attack? Just walk into the Mediterranean Sea? They had no concern over the tremendous grief their actions was bound to cause the Gazan population - in fact it was doubtlessly part of their strategy, and remains so.

Consider the perverted irony of the following:

more Israeli deaths- bad for Israel, good for Hamas

more Gazan deaths- also bad for Israel, and good for Hamas

I am by no means trying to excuse everything Israel has done in the past or is doing now. The settlements on the West Bank I view as being purely inflammatory. However no amount of economic or political oppression or poverty can ever justify intentional cold blooded mass murder of civilians. If Hamas could have killed 10thou or 100thou Jews then they would have. If they could destroy an Israeli hospital with a bomb, then they would- furthermore they, and many of their supporters elsewhere in the world, would actually celebrate it. I am deeply disturbed by the failure of many to condemn Hamas, and by journalists, including from the CBC, stating that Israel's oppression justified such. Helps explain maybe, but justify, NOT EVEN CLOSE. I therefore support Israel's goal of eliminating Hamas, if not necessarily all the means [I certainly have no intent of defending specific military incidents]. Saying one opposes what is happening now in Gaza is easy, however, realistically, what else can Israel do? Accept the status quo, and just wait for this to happen again in a few years? If Hamas really found what is going on now to its people unacceptable, it could free the hostages, stop using its people as human shields, or even surrender and let international diplomacy determine the next leaders of Gaza- Israel has made it clear that it will not be them. However no one expects that of the only self-interested terrorist organization. How come there is no international outcry against what Hamas is doing currently?

Ironically this horror-show does open some potential in the long-term for peace. If Israel can succeed in its goal of destroying Hamas [which may not be possible], and the Gazans choose new leaders [possibly the PA] who are willing to negotiate realistically and honestly, then maybe Clinton's roadmap can be resuscitated. Right now, however, Israelis understandably have no interest in such, and I can't say I'm hopeful that either side will be willing to walk the only road that can ever exist towards peace in the foreseeable future.

Religion and god also deserve much of the blame here. Beyond being the ultimate cause of centuries of Christian-Muslim-Jewish hatred and atrocities, and therefore the underlying reason behind the need for a Jewish State, they also play a more immediate role in the current situation. Israeli ultra-religious [who are rapidly increasing in number compared to secular Jews, and hold the political balance of power, pushing Netanyahu even further rightward] and settlers believe that god has gifted them an Israel that goes well beyond current borders, and will always oppose splitting Jerusalem, the Jewish eternal capital. Religious extremism and belief is even much more common among the Gazans, whose Hamas govt controls schools, teaching hatred of Jews, and that martyrdom means an eternity of paradise to follow. How many of the teenage boys who attacked Israel on Oct 7th were expecting to land in heaven with 72 virgins all to themselves only moments later? How much does this expectation of their future in paradise contribute to Hamas' lack of caring for the mortal lives and living conditions of the rest of the Palestinians? With eternal paradise close at hand, is the current temporary suffering of their people little more than the equivalent of the pain of a needlestick in getting one's vaccinations? Not only do I not believe in a god who, being all-knowing and all-seeing, created conditions that would lead to the current conflict, but I couldn't respect such an entity were it to exist.

I am happy to discuss any of the above in more detail should any of you wish,

Stuart