So How Was It?
Christian Muñoz ·
Whenever somebody asks me that question "So how was it?" the first thing that flashes to my mind are the most random things. From my most recent Southeast Asian trip: climbing Mt. Fuji under the Milky Way with only jeans and a shirt, walking the no man's land border between Vietnam and Laos, dancing and teaching a little salsa with a North Korea girl in a restaurant in Pyongyang, having endless conversations in Singapore, smelling the fresh crabs in Matsusaka, transexual chefs cooking in Thailand, riding a bicycle drunk on my first night in Beijing, eating bugs and tarantulas in Cambodia, being invited into a countryside home in Vietnam, trying hot dog soup in Kaesong, fixing a friend's door using tape and chopsticks in Japan, severe turbulence on the way to Hanoi, looking around the crowd experiencing an intense yet peaceful emotional moment to the point of crying during the Arirang Mass Games, holding a Chinese baby in my arms, wandering the city and beaches of Busan alone, watching my friend's dream come true getting married in Seoul, South Korea, burning in the heat of Daegu, learning the Korean alphabet in 3 days, sleeping on the floor mats in a Tokyo home and waking up to a scene of an orgy, cooking pupusas in Karastsu, getting chased by tuk-tuk drivers and massage ladies in Phuket, relaxing by the beach in Japan with my long-time friend, being spied and photographed upon in the DPRK, climbing the huge steps of Great Wall of China, being smothered all over by a married Japanese woman, trying Malaysian food for the first time after 2 days of no sleep, getting confronted by a bull in Laos, being eye-balled by everybody on the 30 hour train ride to Shanghai, being in the Japanese studio hearing the rehearsals of a kick ass band, goofing off in the few hours in Nagoya, escaping Hong Kong, inside a muslim wedding, cruising the water caves in Ha Long Bay, beating old Chinese men in drinking after hearing them talking shit about vodka, not verbally talking but "drawing a conversation" with the Vietnamese bus driver, getting a marriage proposal in Phnom Penh, watching my friend talk dirty to his friend while in the public metro, getting a burrito that made a Transoceanic flight from SFO to ICN, going to a Sento completely naked, making horchata for friends in Japan, eating donkey meat, by the time these and other thoughts flash into my mind, I smile yet don't know where to begin to answer.
Total Countries Visited:
1. United States of America
2. Mexico
3. Canada
4. Ukraine
5. Finland
6. South Korea
7. Japan
8. United Kingdom
9. Sweden
10. Poland
11. Lithuania
12. Latvia
13. Estonia
14. Russia
15. Turkey
16. Greece
17. Bulgaria
18. Romania
19. Hungary
20. Spain
21. Andorra
22. Slovakia
23. Transitnistria
24. Hong Kong
25. China
26. North Korea
27. Vietnam
28. Laos
29. Cambodia
30. Thailand
31. Malaysia
32. Singapore
Total Distance Travelled:
137,703 kilometers / 85,569 miles
Airplane: 97,359 km / 60,499 miles
Bus: 17,268 km / 10,731 miles
Train: 15,533 km / 9,652 miles
Car: 6,347 km / 3,944 miles
Boat: 1,177 km / 732 miles
Foot: 18 km / 11 miles
Total Time Travelled:
2.745 years / 83.5 months / 143.14 weeks / 1,002 days
And the story continues...