He's Gotta Have It

Image by raysto via Flickr

Its good to admit when you have a problem, when you realise that your dark need to satiate your overwhelming urges forces you to seek out the street in search of feeding that thirst that can never be fully quenched in the way it was that first time.

My problem first started in Vietnam, Saigon to be exact. I hoped that Hanoi would change things, but it didn't. It only got worse. I figured that once I got back to Canada, I could let it go, forget about things and put it behind me once and for all. Pick up the pieces and move on. But I couldn't.

Thus it was that I found myself wandering the streets of Chinatown, peering into darkened doorways, looking for that familiar lettering that let me know that the mist rising from that impossible bowl was purveyed here, that the agonising drip of the brown elixir into the cauldron of stilled whiteness might be gleaned within these florescent walls and that I could be made whole again, if only for a moment.

As I walked in, I felt my desperation permeate the room. I needed it bad and I needed it now. I can barely enunciate as my choking throat gasps out the order. It seems like an eternity, but within a few scant moments it arrives.The edible version of my great white whale.

A steaming hot bowl of pho and a Vietnamese iced coffee. I squeeze the lime, add the sprouts and tear off the leaves of whatever that herb is and dig in. I eat, mesmerised by the coffee slowly dripping before me. And for a moment the world is perfect.

I think to myself, yeah, Hanoi was pretty awesome, but Toronto isn't too shabby either.

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The Hanoi Bride

Our lives are full of moments in which we strive to be better people, all of us at once both student and teacher to one another with roles constantly reversing. But events are what put the exclamation marks on our existence.

This was a picture I snapped while walking through the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam. As I was walking down the street a bride exited from a nearby building, and I managed to coax my crappy, but ever faithful Kodak to capture this image.

As the whole street joined me to look at this touching scene, I felt a sense of shared engagement and joy with all who were present. Except for the bride, of course, because for her, it was an event. For the rest of us, it was a moment.

I was also thinking; my goodness, that is one lucky groom.

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How I Inadvertently Smuggled A Weapon Onto An International Flight

Seriously, it was an accident. A stupid mistake that could have caused me great aggravation. In this age of paranoia I am slightly reticent to even post this. I only do so as a cautionary tale for all travelers and a warning to those who keep us safe while flying.

It all started in Hanoi, when I tried to check my luggage for a flight to Bangkok. The Air Asia agent informed me that my bag was overweight. This was because I had zipped my backpack to my larger bag and was trying to check the whole shebang. While this may have worked in Chicago, the purchases I had made on the way had pushed me over the edge. I moved a bunch of books to my carry on and all was fine.

I made a mental note to remove the backpack from my checked luggage on my flight home. So thats what I did. The thing is that if one wants to carry on a bag that was previously checked, one should study its contents. In the rush to catch an early morning flight, I did no such thing.

In the early hours of a Bangkok airport morning this fact dawned upon me as security politely asked me to step aside. Compliantly, I stepped to the side. My bag was opened and to my great humiliation, the security guy pulled out a knife.

I was mortified, but very fortunate that the knife did not cause me a delay. The knife was confiscated and I was allowed to proceed to another checkpoint, just outside the departure lounge. I had never seen this sort of secondary checkpoint, and I was surprised and annoyed, yet confident that like most flyers I had nothing to hide.

Nonetheless I was still checked through, and off I went to the flight. The thing is that I still had a knife on me, though I did not know it at the time

While I was surprised in Bangkok, I was truly mortified at Narita. To see another knife pulled from my bag as I was called to the side yet again was humiliating.

I know what you're saying. "Why is this moron traveling with two knives, when it is pretty clear that he can't handle one?" Personally, I blame everything on my travel guru, Miss Jocund. Prior to heading to Africa, she recommended that I buy a knife, but I did not. While traveling through Ghana I had several occasions where a knife would have been very handy. That is why she is a guru and I'm just a blogger.

So, prior to leaving for Asia, I bought a knife, which I packed. On the eve of my departure, Miss Jocund gave me a knife. I threw it in, mostly because it was a better knife. I had no idea that I had unwittingly carried a weapon on a flight until security in Japan caught the second knife.

Thank god that this happened prior to the underwear bomber. Believe me, I have learned my lesson about knowing exactly what is in your carry on.

The thing that I find the most unsettling is the fact that I had two similar contraband items and only one was found

Not much point in catching the first thing if you can't catch the second.

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