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Eating right while traveling internationally . . . part 1


Robyn Openshaw - Jun 09, 2008 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


Hello friends–I am back from touring 8 countries in the Far East.   Getting trapped by the landslides that had downtown Hong Kong under water the day we left was pretty exhausting.   Fortunately, they held the flight (and 150 others) for a few hours due to the fact that lots of the crew and passengers were missing.   Had we not been delayed almost an hour due to bureaucratic red tape getting off our ship, we probably would have been in one of the taxis floating down the harbor.

 

Instead, thanks to a lot of good karma, we were just in a taxi sitting on the freeway for almost 3 hours (a  futile taxi ride that eventually dumped us in the subway and cost $650 Hong Kong Ding Dongs, which is what I called their money after giving up on keeping track of all the currencies we used).   We miraculously got home to Utah right on time.

 

I have to confess that thinking and studying about how to achieve ideal nutrition for my family and yours seemed indulgent and petty in the face of what I saw.   Whole families in the Phillipines living on top of flattened cardboard boxes in the median of the road.   Others living in corrugated metal shacks.   Very young boys out in the ocean next to our ship on dilapidated boats fishing, just for their families to be able to eat.   The Sultan of Brunei living in obscene opulence while his people go without.   A young couple who chased our bus for 2 hours hoping to sell us a t-shirt, just because I smiled at them as they sped along next to us holding up the shirts and signaling the price.

 

And what broke my heart in two pieces: crippled and blind people begging in the streets in Vietnam.   They told us not to hand out money or we’d get mobbed, but HOW CAN YOU NOT?   I cried every time I saw one of them.   Where is the fairness in the world that some of us get to overindulge on 8-course meals on a cruise ship, while others are in a third-world country, without arms and legs, begging for spare change?

 

I came home with renewed commitment to do more with my energy and financial means to help people in these circumstances.   Tomorrow about how to live low on the food chain, even on a cruise ship.   Consuming fewer resources helps everyone.

Posted in: Mind/Body Connection

8 thoughts on “Eating right while traveling internationally . . . part 1”

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  1. I can’t wait to hear more about ideal nutrition on a cruise ship.

    Denise

  2. That stuff breaks my heart, too. What a terrific thing, to use it as incentive for a renewed purpose. I look forward to hearing how you survived the cruise ship food…which is something I never thought I could do, hence why I’ve never gone. I’m guessing organic is non-existent?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Welcome back Robyn. I understand how you feel, I always have to give money to the people in our downtown area who are homeless. I would fall apart seeing what you did.

  4. Thanks for sharing about your trip. I hope to hear more.

  5. Anonymous says:

    “The Sultan of Brunei living in obscene opulence while his people go without. A young couple who chased our bus for 2 hours hoping to sell us a t-shirt, just because I smiled at them as they sped along next to us holding up the shirts and signaling the price.”

    Don’t make things up. If you haven’t been to Brunei just say so. What you wrote is so full of shyt. There are poor ppl in Brunei but no one chasing buses to sell t-shirts to tourists. Tell me where this happened in Brunei and I will confirm it to your readers if its true.

  6. http:// says:

    Those examples aren’t all from the same country. We were chased by t-shirt peddlers in Vietnam, not Brunei. In Brunei, the sultan was the richest man in the world for 3 years in the 1990’s. His palace is the most amazing thing I have ever seen, the largest residence in the world with over 1700 rooms (13 people live there, including two wives). The country produces 300,000 barrels of oil DAILY (x $138/barrel right now!), and only 380,000 people live in the country. But fewer than 5 percent of them work for the oil/gas industry. A very interesting place, much less poor than Vietnam, and the Phillipines, but still many people living in squalor in metal shacks over the water.

  7. http://? says:

    Yikes…. well, Robyn I can take your word for it, because even on our own continent you see those things-in central and south america people and children spend their entire lives living at city dumps-not visiting, not scavenging-LIVING in the dump-tiny toddlers like my own, surrounded by filth, broken glass and deadly chemicals every.single.day.

    Where does the Pope live?

    How many homes does the average American politician own?

    What are the lifestyles of the leaders in Mexico, Iran, Chile? What do they eat everyday? Where do they shop for clothes for their babies? How much money comes into those countries from exported slave labor and support from richer countries–and exactly how much actually GOES into those countries?

    To argue about geographical points when it comes to poverty/corruption-ridden countries and the third-class citizens that suffer from it is, to be blunt, completely pointless and disgusting.

  8. Anonymous says:

    The Pope might live in something people might call a palace but he’s still a man without possessions. What amazes me the most is how people tend to judge the poor as being incredibly miserable. Some of the most amazing people are poor. They create the most amazing food, have the tightest sense of community (survival), and they SHARE. How many of you have even an ounce of courage, dignity and love that these humble people have? They do not deserve YOUR pity.

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