Lost in transit

Book Review: Smile When You're Lying

[Note: I posted this on my site, Nerd's Eye View, too. But expats, wow, this book is for you, too. I'm a ex-expat now, but haven't fully recovered. And I fear remission.]

Maybe it’s because I’m female. Or maybe it’s because I’m a prude, or, who knows what it is, but I always find it troubling when sex tourism gets treated more with irony than outrage. Gonzo travel guys seem to visit these places and merely raise an ironic eyebrow over their tourist priced beer while not being particularly bothered one way or the other about the fate of underaged prostitutes or women who make money by writing banners with markers stuffed in … oh, you get it. It disappoints me when these otherwise funny, smart, insightful, (many positive adjectives here) seem to give sex tourism a get out of scrutiny free card. I have to read the sections in question in “Smile When You’re Lying” again to confirm this is correct and that I’ve not put the book down with a false impression.

That’s all I’ve got by way of criticism about Chuck Thompson’s hilarious, painful, scathing, and again hilarious book. It was especially excruciating to read it following our press junket. We both indulged in and were victims of all the things Thompson takes down in his book - the freebies, the PR rep hosted cocktail hours, the nonexistent support for our trip from the publisher, and still, I sit at my desk every day involved in the terrible evil of writing noncritical prose about our destination. Forgive me, Thompson, for I have sinned, and am surrounded by sinners.

I spent the two days it took me to read the book - I could not put it down - alternating between groaning and laughing. Thompson takes potshots at travel writers, editors, expats, English teachers abroad, the programs that sponsor them, Paul Theroux, and the nicest guy in travel, Rick Steves. Rick Steves! Who takes shots at Rick Steves?

Sadly, he’s right on with most of it. Most commercial travel writing is insipid. Real travel stories, those about getting ripped off by four Catholic schoolgirl types or the ridiculous things expats will do to cope with the crippling boredom of being isolated in a culture not your own (a-hem) never make it to ink. Editors need to sell ad space to hotels and airlines and oh, Expedia, and stories of your (you thought) near death at the roadside are not going to encourage readers to travel.

True story: I once wrote a story about the lodge out on Lake Quinalt on the Olympic Peninsula. It’s a lovely place, but they gave us a room with no view (fine) over the kitchen (noisy). I gave the place a decent review - it’s a nice place, actually - but I also suggested that visitors might want make sure they’re not over the kitchen or the restaurant. The editor killed that remark, and it wasn’t in interest of word count. I also wrote a piece about sailing in which I opened with my great dislike of watercraft, but that got reworked to. First person adventure, be gone! All of a sudden, I love boats. Dude. I hate boats.

I loved the writing in this book. Thompson spins a travel tale the way it should be done, leaving out none of the good stuff that sets the scene, glossing over none of the ugly details sitting just off screen. He’s got unflinching nerve - talk about biting the hand that feeds you - doesn’t spare himself when it comes to criticism, and he’s just plain funny. Smile When You’re Lying is a great read for expats, travel writers, wanna be travel writers, and people who think travel writers have it easy. Hilarious.

Sidebar thing I’m pysched about: You don’t read that stuff in magazines, but the sheer mass of Travel Stories on the Web means that the stories are getting told. They’re hard to find in all the noise, but while publishers are overlooking them, travelers are telling them on their own. Woot for that.

Hey, I’d like to give you my copy of this book. The PR folks sent me a review copy and now, I’d like to give it away. If you want it, post a link to your “never gonna be published” travel or expat story in the comments at Nerd's Eye View We’ll pick a winner by some as of yet undetermined manner and I'll send you my copy. You’ve got until January 2nd to post your links, I’ll send the winner my copy of the book sometime after that. If you can’t stand to wait, you can buy a copy of the book from Chuck Thompson’s site.

Election Day II

As mentioned in my earlier post, a few weeks ago was the federal election here in Australia. By now you've probably heard that Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party swept into victory on what the press popularly termed a "Ruddslide". I went to an election party that evening, all of us left-leaning types who couldn't wait to say goodbye to John Howard, and the mood was running high throughout the night. Whoops and hollers greeted the returns as each Labor-winning seat was announced, and they got louder and louder as it looked more and more certain that John Howard's 11.5 years in power was finally coming to a close – and with the coup de grace of having lost his own seat in Parliament as well as the prime-ministership: when it was announced that Bennelong had almost certainly gone to Labor challenger Maxine McKew, a former telejournalist, the room went wild.

After Howard conceded and Kevin Rudd gave his acceptance speech, the mood in the room was palpable. At least one person was, I kid not you, moved to a few tears. After more than a decade, their long national nightmare was finally over, and finally they had some hope for the future of their country. One of Rudd's first acts was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol (Howard's Australia had been one of the notable holdouts besides Bush's US), and he has also stated that the Australian government will offer a formal apology to Australia's Aboriginal people for the Stolen Generations. Also in the works are a repeal of the hugely unpopular new workplace reforms that Howard forced into effect (and which are credited with his downfall). All of these were alluded to in Rudd's acceptance speech, and afterwards we went outside to bat down the plaster pinata heads of John Howard (filled with gold chocolate coins) and his health minister, Tony Abbott, a right-winger and staunch Catholic notoriously against things like birth control, accessible abortion, RU486 and stem-cell research – when the Abbott head broke open, a rain of wrapped condoms fell onto the porch.

My feelings of being a political bystander notwithstanding, it was an amazing experience to watch such a significant moment in another country's history, to see such a watershed even take place in person. I may not have been able to cast my vote as a citizen, but as a resident I celebrated the results as heartily as anyone. And it made me realize something: I should really try to plan to get back to the US for Election Day, because if Howard's loss of power is anything to go by, the parties in the US next November are going to be phenomenal.

New dimensions

It's a strange feeling when you have lived in a country for 15 years and think that you've pretty much figured it all out and then you suddenly realize one day that there is a whole world out there that has passed you by completely for all those years.

We bought a couple of pretty good bicycles a few months back and have joined up with a couple of friends riding in the beautiful hills surrounding Taipei, which must be about as ugly as a big city can be. Lots of traffic, more pollution and even uglier square concrete blocks for houses, often covered in those small ugly tiles that makes them look like they are bathrooms turned inside out with the toilet converted to the tail end of the elevator shaft that always sticks out on top of the buildings.

It then becomes a true revelation when you understand that an hour on the bicycle will bring you up on a mountain with almost untouched forest, beautiful views, no cars, buses or scooters, clear, fresh air, birds, cicadas and the sound of mountain streams and rivers. And some pretty heavy breathing, of course.

A couple weeks ago, we took our bikes apart, bagged them and took the train down to the southeast of Taiwan for a three-day ride from the Pacific to the Taiwan Straits and crossing over the island's central mountain range at elevations of almost 3,000m.

The stunning views became more spectacular as we climbed. At times it felt like being on Huang Shan in China again or entering a Chinese landscape painting with trees or pavilions perched on high cliffs enveloped in clouds, and sometimes I almost reached that euphoric state that you can get to when you're sailing and everything runs like clockwork and you don't have to speak and you hear nothing but the sound of the wind and the boat cutting through the seas. Supreme.

It didn't even matter that it rained for two of the three days. This really is the Ihla Formosa, incredibly beautiful so long as you make the effort to get out of the city. It really was a supreme experience, and we're already planning for the next trip of two or three days. Or four.

So after almost 15 years in Taiwan, I am surprised to have discovered a whole new dimension to living here. Don't become too complacent and think you know it all. You never do.

(Here is the write up of the whole tour if someone's interested)