Nomadic Lifestyle
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Jet lagged and overstimulated, I’m not up for writing a rodomontade on my trip to Taiwan. Instead, I’ll just put a photo gallery here with a few quick notes about yesterday afternoon’s outing to Taipei 101. At 508 meters, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world until 2004 when it was overtaken by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It does, however, still hold the record for fastest elevator in the world, moving at ~37 mph. Sweet!
If you’re reading this from one of the various rss feeds/facebook…whatever other off-site reader, you will be able to get the full experience of the photo gallery by visiting vagabumming.com
If you’re reading at the site – clicking the “piclens” link below will bring the photos up in slideshow/shadow box style with captions/descriptions on some of the photos.
Will @ June 5, 2010
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Travel, about: me
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One of the great things about traveling the world is, of course, experiencing different cultures. Now, I say that without ever having given a great deal of thought to what the word “culture” really means. I just think of it to mean that people who live in a certain place tend to have similar ideas on spirituality, values, beliefs etc. The dictionary definition that best fits the word culture in this context is this:
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
Looking at culture and trying to define it for myself brings up some interesting thoughts. First, I truly believe that individuals can be defined more clearly through their culture than they can through their race. This is significant for me because lately I have found myself rejecting the label “Caucasian” when referring to my own race, as I have no knowledge of any ancestry from the Caucuses. The other popular choice seems to be “White”, but that conjures immediate images, not of race, but of the culture of suburban America.
A few days ago, I started what will be a few weeks of airports/airplanes and hotels/chain restaurants en route to Taiwan. My current leg of this journey has me visiting the mainland U.S.A. to say goodbyes to loved ones and close friends. So, right now, I’m in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, UT and I’m realizing that the more time I spend away from this type of setting, the more I loathe being around it. It seems that the culture of suburbia is to consume. The preferred method of self expression is to show off what you have purchased. Secondary to this, it seems that producing large numbers of offspring and getting them involved in as many things possible, i.e. soccer, dancing, hockey, this team, that team is some sort of pinnacle of success in this culture. Making up for one’s own empty existence by trying to live vicariously through your children? Is that what this behavior is all about? There appears to be, perhaps three different hairstyles amongst the women in suburbia, and the only acceptable choice for the menfolk seems to be a short-cropped haircut and goatee (yes, this is STILL popular?). Caked-on make-up seems to be very definitive, and don’t even get me started on the [complete lack of] fashion exhibited in suburbia. It is the cult of the soccer mom. This is a culture demands its followers become wage-slaves. An existence that I am happy to be free from and have no desire to return to. It would appear that I am in the minority in rejecting this type of lifestyle, so I suppose I probably have it wrong, but in the end, I can say that I have truly found happiness in rejecting the pursuit of consumable goods and placing freedom at the very top of my list of personal values.
This brings me back to the question of race/culture. I guess I still don’t know what groups I belong to, but I damn sure know which ones I want no part of.
Will @ May 17, 2010
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General, Nomadic Lifestyle
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Looking ahead at working in a foreign country for at least a full year I am very excited about the language. It’s kind of a ‘bucket list’ item of mine to become conversationally fluent in a foreign language. I’m certain that I have a capacity to learn other languages. During my forays into Spanish speaking countries I have picked up quite a bit and have gone past “survival skills” to “basic conversational fluency”. I really would like to go beyond basic conversation though. To communicate humor, feelings, etc is what I strive for.
There are several languages spoken in Taiwan, due to various historical occupations as well as indigenous languages that have somehow survived. The official language of Taiwan, however, is Mandarin Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. A few weeks ago I didn’t really have a firm grasp on what that meant, exactly, but alas, the Lonely Planet guide to Taiwan has come to build my understanding. From the guidebook:
by altering the voice’s pitch within a syllable, the meaning of a word is completely changed. Getting your tones wrong can have embarrassing consequences – wǒ gǎnmào, for example, means ‘I’ve caught a cold’, while wǒ gàn māo means ‘I copulate with cats’!
Here kitty kitty 
I’ve managed to actually figure out what each of the different types of accent marks indicate as far as intonation are concerned. Baby steps.
Will @ April 29, 2010
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Antarctica, Contract & Seasonal Jobs, General, Income & Jobs, Nomadic Lifestyle, Overseas Jobs, Travel
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Vagabumming in Asia perchance?
Yes. I’m in absolute awe at the possibilities that life has presented me. I mean, I’ve had it pretty good for a long time, but I’ve really found myself appreciating that fact for the past year and a half or so. I’m so completely blissed out for such long periods of time that sometimes I begin to worry that I’m manic. But no, no mania here, I’ve just been blessed with a wonderful life.
So, this fact that life is wonderful, I’ve found, can’t be taken as a small piece. It can’t be isolated from the rest of my life. That’s to say that decisions that I’ve made and actions that I’ve taken all came together to put me exactly where I am right now at this very moment. While there have certainly been rough patches in the past; and I often think that if I would have known then what I know now that I would have done things differently, well, I think I’ve abandoned that line of thinking too. All of those events that I may have resented before have contributed to my current state and I am unwilling to give this up, regardless of what any alternate past may have produced.
Right about now, you’re wondering, “what the hell, Will, what are these possibilities you speak of and why all the introspection?” Well, wow, where to start? As you likely know, I’ve been doing contract work in Antarctica for the past six years or so. I’ve done some amazing things, including spending a winter at The South Pole, a winter at Palmer Station and several seasons at McMurdo Station as well as visiting quite a selection of field camps and research sites on the continent of Antarctica. I can remember, very clearly, how completely overjoyed I was when I the possibility of working in Antarctica was first presented to me. Something that I hadn’t ever even considered before, something that was far beyond my wildest dreams ended up becoming a reality and is now a huge part of who I am. I remember last winter at Palmer Station when, for just a moment, my mind was able to really grasp how utterly privileged I was to be doing what I was doing and getting paid for it. Sailing INSIDE a volcanic caldera who gets to do that at their job? I never thought I would, that’s for sure.
Now, if the job itself isn’t special enough, what about the time off and travel? During my long periods of time off I have been privileged to surf in Mexico, ski in Canada, Wyoming, Colorado, France, Norway and even Kashmir. I’ve seen what is surely one of the most macabre churches in the world, traveled all over central Europe by rail, visited the lochs of Scotland, gazed upon Big Ben, communed with nature at Machu Picchu, been amazed at the passion exhibited by Tango dancers in Buenos Aires, stood in awe at the power of nature at Iguazu Falls, been fascinated by the remnants of an ancient society at Easter Island, surfed in Ecuador and found a home (of sorts) in Hawaii.
I was all set to try and get myself hired to go on an overland traverse on Antarctica for this upcoming season. Yes, 80 days of staring through a windshield at barren, flat white, eating T.V. dinners and pooping in a bucket sounded very appealing to me, like a grand adventure even. But alas, the universe has thrown something even more exciting in my direction. So, it looks like I’m taking at least a one-year hiatus from The Ice.
What’s Next Then?
Well, I pursued and have been offered a position in Taiwan. I’m not entirely comfortable posting much detail here, but the position is at least related to the same type of work I’ve been doing and is almost exactly what I was doing in Korea (if you knew me in those days think BIG TRUCK!!).
So, there you have it. Brand new adventure coming up and I expect to post more details about my upcoming move as they become available to me. For now, if you’re interested in the exact location you can see it on a map here: Kaohsiung (pronounced “COW-shung”). If you haven’t already, might I suggest you subscribe via RSS or you can even get email updates. Both of these services are free, don’t include any advertising and are a great way to keep up to date with what I have posted.
P.S.
I am SO looking forward to taking a surfboard with me to my next job!
Will @ April 21, 2010
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Budget Travel, Nomadic Lifestyle, Travel
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My travels in South America wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Easter Island (a.k.a. Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua depending on your preferred language). Few places on the face of the earth offered me what Easter Island did in mystery and intrigue. The statues (called moai) have had a great deal of appeal to me ever since I first became aware of their existence. I rank Easter Island right up there with Stonehenge in my “great mysteries of the world” list.
Moai in the quarry
I had seen pictures of the iconic moai of Rapa Nui before and was very intrigued. Of course, I have read snippets about them here and there so I had an idea of what learned scholars figured them to be, but nearly everything that is known about the existence of the moai and the original residents of Rapa Nui is based mostly in hypothesis and theory. I think that it is wonderful that the true meaning behind the statues on Easter Island may never be known and will be kept a secret from humankind for the rest of eternity.
Rapa Nui is a relatively small island about 2500 miles off the west coast of Chile. The island is all by itself and is often touted as the most isolated place on earth. To give that some perspective, in these modern times, that’s a five-hour flight with nothing between take-off and landing but open ocean. During that five hour flight I remember being slightly annoyed by a crying baby on the airplane and I remember being a bit uncomfortable due to the lack of legroom. Annoyed and uncomfortable only until I start to think about the ancient people who first came to Rapa Nui. I have no frame of reference to help me even get a vague understanding for what these people must have gone through to get there. How many days (weeks, months even?) must one spend on a canoe to go…2500 miles on a previously uncharted course? If I was uncomfortable and annoyed on a five hour flight, these people must have been absolutely mad after endless days at sea in a canoe. Being exposed for that long on the ocean, they surely encountered bad weather. Inevitably they lost people, supplies, and food. What about water? Where does one get drinking water on a crossing like that? And after the ordeal of getting there…they find…NOTHING! Easter Island is fairly small and rugged. Sure, there is evidence that it was much more forested when the original Rapa Nui arrived but beyond trees and lava there isn’t much to the island.
So, after much suffering they land on an isolated island, have no external stimulation…what better way to pass the time than carve some statues out of lava. Oh..and then, after the monumental task of carving them, they move them to their platforms (called Ahu)…which are MILES away from the quarry. Madness. Pure Madness, I’m sure, is what drove these people to do this work and eventually de-forest themselves nearly out of existence.
photo gallery works best when viewed at vagabumming.com
Will @ January 13, 2010
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