Southeast Asia Wrap-up

We’ve left Southeast Asia yesterday. What I will miss from Southeast Asia:

• The cheap and excellent food. Thai food is my favorite. Shakes made of fresh fruits are plentiful and cheap.
• The infrastructure and the fast pace of Southeast Asia’s big cities. From Hong Kong to Singapore, it is apparent that hot money if flowing into Southeast Asia’s flagship cities. There is no doubt about it; the 21^st Century will belong to Asia.
• Southeast Asia’s diverse cultures and religions.
• The people. Indonesians (that does NOT include Balinese people) and Filipinos are some of the nicest people we’ve met during this trip.

What I will not miss from Southeast Asia:

• Pollution. It’s hard to be positive about the state of the environment in Southeast Asia. Most rainforests have disappeared and have been replaced with plantations. Waterways in cities are heavily polluted and worst of all, Asians do not seem to mind at all. Changing mentality is urgent.
• Air quality. This goes hand in hand with pollution. Most big cities are smoggy and the quality ranges from terrible (Manilla) to fair (Singapore).
• The way Asians treat animals. Elephants, tigers, birds, sharks, fishes, etc, if you love animals, you’ll hate to see how they are treated here.
• Dismal hygiene. Hygiene in some of the countries I visited was some of the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. Many public toilets with no running water, no toilet paper, and of course no soap. There’s filthy water everywhere on the ground and the place absolutely stinks. No, I won’t miss that.