Technology

Stepping into the First World

We’ve gotten pretty used to chaotic, challenging, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes annoying, sometimes outrageously inefficient, sometimes completely unsuccessful situations and interactions during our travels throughout India and Nepal. It’s the developing world, it’s poor, and it’s packed with people struggling to survive. That’s what you put up with, but it’s a fight worth having, because the rewards, tastes, interactions, lessons, and experiences are so worth it.

When we stepped off the flight from Nepal to Thailand, we entered a different world – a world of functionality, efficiency, comfort, and relative peace and quiet. It’s amazing how you come to appreciate the little things when they’ve been absent so long. A few things that put smiles on our faces:

  • No honking!
  • Highways, with lanes that people stay in, and traffic laws that are followed!
  • 24-hour electricity!
  • Drinkable ice!
  • Air-conditioned taxis with leather seats!
  • 7-11 stores every 100 meters, full of everything an American 7-11 would have (plus alcohol)!
  • Vendors actually listen when you say “no thanks” and leave you alone, often while maintaining a smile the whole time!

While the creature comforts are nice to have again, there are some cultural trade-offs that made everyday interactions a bit more bland. White people are everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Aussies and Brits galore, complete with their boisterous (and fun) attitudes. Local people just are not as interested in us, who we are and where we’re from. Initiating interactions is more difficult, as they are a more reserved culture very accustomed to tourists.

For better or for worse, we’re happy to be here. It might take a bit more effort to get away from the crowds, but the cultural traditions are equally as intriguing, the food is equally as amazing, and who doesn’t like a little comfort after roughing it for, say, 4 months!


Technology Can Be Brilliant

Our technology got ripped off in Ecuador during the first month of our trip. Bummer.  Bringing e-connectivity on a trip like this is exactly what I intended to escape, so perhaps it was rather good to be forced offline.  But, because I am continuing to work in certain capacities, and because the backpacking world is now miraculously full of wireless signals, it’s been quite convenient to have a computer with us. So, when ours got stolen, I was fairly quick to look to replacing it. Due to a fortunate set of circumstances, and a few good friends, getting us back online and up to speed didn’t take long at all. A special thanks to Mark Lewis and the ladies at Adventures Within Reach for purchasing and transporting the new machine down to us in Peru! You saved us a good couple hundred dollars!

What I was most bummed about after the theft was not the computer itself, but rather the data on it. I had spent a good bit of time transferring files, music, and photos to our brand new netbook, and we also had a good bit of non-backed up info from our first 3 weeks. Anticipating that our computer might disappear along the way at some point, I had signed up for Carbonite, an online auto-backup platform. Unfortunately, the internet connectivity in Ecuador, while widely available, is not very fast, and I found during the trial period that it would take me two months to back up 2 days worth of photos. So, I scrapped that, and hadn’t determined a proper backup plan when the computer disappeared.

So now we’ve got this new computer, but no music or files available. Everything music and work-related is backed up on an external drive at home, but what good does that do me here? Enter my new favorite online program – GoToMyPC.com. Shear brilliance (and convenience)! I had my dad plug my external hard drive into his constantly-connected computer, download a bit of software and voila!, I was able to log onto his computer, and simply drag and drop my files from my external drive to my new netbook in Peru. I’m blown away at how well it works. Sure, big files take a while to transfer, but the access is there, and at my convenience. And, I can now back things up from my computer here to my drive back at home. Brilliant.

Here’s to hoping our new technology lasts us through the rest of the trip!


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