Making a snap decision to go to Chennai, India, with a charity was not the first trip for us. We started traveling after my retirement when time became available. And the cost of travel was within our capabilities, especially when you start with a backpack.
My interest in travel goes back a long way. I was a voracious reader in my preteens and in Hungary in the 1950s, one of the best-known authors was Karl May, a German author who wrote adventure stories. He sold over 200 million copies of his books that have been translated into over 30 languages. Even Hitler was a fan of his in his youth and it is rumored that he gave May’s books to his generals for the strategies that Winnetou, the Apache chief in his best-selling series, used against his enemies. Altho May has never been to the US, he wrote about the American West and the Indians, whom he called redskins, and May did meticulous research to describe their way of life and the wars they had with the “pale-faced” people of the east. I and my friends devoured his books. I reread some of his books recently and found them on kindle. I still thought the stories entertaining altho the style old-fashioned by today’s standards when compared to thrillers with constant action. The description of the Indians and life in the old West in the US made a lasting impression on me and created an immense desire to travel in the US.
Besides May, I read the English author, Somerset Maugham, who wrote extensively on India under English colonial rule but also wrote a novel entitled “The Canadian” that described and compared life in England and Manitoba, Canada in the early 1900s. I enjoyed reading the book, and I reread it recently and found that some brits in the novel resembled the British immigrants I met when I came to Canada from Hungary in 1956. I found the cultural comparison between England and Manitoba extremely perceptive and reminded me of my experience in Vancouver in the late 1950s. I read Maugham in my native language and English when Hungarian translations were not available. And Maugham wrote many short stories about colonial India that made me interested in visiting India and the trip to Chennai appeared to be a great introduction to that part of the world.
Although books may give you the trigger to travel, it is when you get to your destination and start interacting with the locals that you experience the true meaning of travel. It is like watching travel pictures versus taking those pictures on site. We were backpackers in those days traveling with one backpack containing minimal clothing and toiletries and we had to interact with people in the hotels and restaurants and arrange our itinerary.
But travel is much more than seeing unique and exotic geographies and meeting different people who speak other languages. When traveling, you compare your beliefs, habits to other people and cultures and you define yourself more and more sharply compared to other peoples. You see poverty in some countries and ponder what your country did right and what the poor country did that resulted in poverty. You inquire about the natural resources that could give them economic leverage and ask about their education system that would be beneficial.
Vietnam interested us initially: we were living in Washington, DC, when the demonstrations against the Vietnam war broke out in the mid-1960s; in fact, I was on the Mall when a huge demonstration took place to end the war. The ongoing war in Vietnam affected many people. So then we started traveling. Vietnam was on the radar and we arranged a trip to go there.
On the first day in Vietnam, I saw a young shoeshine boy on the sidewalk in Hanoi and asked him to have my boots shined. He gave the price before he started and I had my boots on when he was working on it. When he finished both of my boots, he asked for twice the price he gave me, arguing that there were two boots! That got me upset, and I started arguing with him in front of passersby and the store owners next to us came out and watched us. Kathy said to me to just pay the boy, but I was upset and kept on arguing until one of the store owners told me to leave. Looking back now, this seems like a trifle and I should have paid and even given the boy a tip. I am not saying that everybody in Vietnam is out to fleece you, but you have to learn and deal with unpleasant experiences. And in Hoian, we bought shirts and clothing, some silk, so cheaply that we could not refuse; the tailor measured us up in the afternoon and asked us to return the next day for the completed product. And the shirts were ready and beautiful. The tailors worked all night to get the shirts ready; I found the Vietnamese very hardworking people.
At another time we signed up for a tour to visit a floating island close go Halong Bay and arrived at the island where we were the only people. Our group of six had a beer and then we were awaiting the return of our boat to take us back to the mainland. The boat never came and the people on the island offered to paddle us back for a fee. We were all disappointed by this turn of events since we said that we paid for our return trip, but the island people just waited for us, knowing that we had no way to get back without them. It took a young US law student to explain to us we were arguing over less than one dollar each! So we agreed to pay for our return trip.
One of the quaintest experiences we had was when we returned from the north of Vietnam to Hanoi via an overnight train and arrived in the city at four am. The only place that we could stay indoors that early time was at a “travel cafe”, places where they served breakfast and where you could sign up for a trip to sightsee parts of the country. We sat down, put our backpacks on the floor, and ordered breakfast. Next to us was a quiet couple who spoke English. After a while, I asked them where they were from and they confided in us they were from North America. So I persisted. Where in North America? They said that they were from Canada. That perked us up and followed up, only to find out that they were from Ontario! Then, of course, we were interested in where exactly they lived in Ontario to learn that they were from Ottawa! We immediately made friends and continued staying friends ever since.
The interesting part of traveling is that the more you travel, the more you still want to see. We went from Vietnam to Laos and, at another time, to Cambodia and Myanmar when the latter country just opened up for foreigners. I suppose that if you have the travel bug, you can never kill it so long as you thrive on daily discoveries of local culture and willing to visit especially the less popular travel destinations. So when an offer came to visit India with a charity to do some work, we immediately accepted it.
andrasthehun.ca 