kanzis_slave

I was never really interested in Asia until I took a trip to visit a relative teaching in China. It was April 2003 in the height of the SARS epidemic. As all the tourists, businessmen and most of the journalists fled the country by then, I was witness to a lot of things regarding the epidemic in mainland China that still have never been reported by the Western media. While in China I had a number of adventures, including hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge, made famous by Michael Palin, who hiked it a few months later for his series "Himalaya." I was in China through June, when the outrbeak began to subside, at which point I continued a series of adventures through S.E. Asia. After wandering through Thailand and Cambodia, I finally settled in a small fishing town in Vietnam. There I abandoned my foreign tourist lifestyle and began living like a local in a typical country house in a small village outside of town. During the week I planted gardens, shopped in local markets, went to cafes with my friends, attended weddings, birthdays and funerals, worked at a Vietnamese-owned restaurant, went for hikes in the mountains--did everything that normal [poor] people do in the course of their daily life. For a little while I lead a very different life on the weekends, going in to Saigon to dabble in the music and celebrity scene. I did a bit of consulting, marketing, assisted with shooting of music videos, journalism and interviews, etc.

I've been published and interviewed in a few Vietnamese language magazines, but most of my English language pieces will be published in late 2007, early 2008 (read more in the first comment below). I'm currently writing a book about my first 2 years in Vietnam--and shopping around for a publisher. I'm also a frequent contributor to the Thorn Tree on LonelyPlanet.com, as well as ThingsAsian.com.

I first saw Anthony's show No Reservations when I came back to the USA to visit family, and have been a big fan ever since. I enjoy his point of view and sympothize with his passion for Vietnam and the rest of S.E. Asia. He really gets it. It's nice to see someone who loves the region but has a realistic view of these countries--that no matter how long we live there, no matter how well we speak the language, even if we marry a local and set up housekeeping, we will always be outsiders. It's the biggest frustration of being an expat.