Dr. Mark Nan Tu 涂南博士

周游中国参加旅行团的话，你会发现很多旅行社的报价很低。低到什么程度呢？比如石林一日游，有的旅行社敢报80元/天，包门票，来回空调车票，导游，酒店接送，中午午饭，可石林的门票就80元，别说利润，旅行社得每人赔几十元。可天下没有免费的午餐。旅行社能生存下来只有他们的办法，他们的利润冲你的购物里来，在石林的旅游路线上，拉我们去了五个购物点，每个购物点与导游的分钱 方法是：每个下车的游客不管买不买，都给旅行社5/元，买的游客另给导游提成，羊毛出在羊身上，购物点买的东西就非常贵，而且都是没有市场价的东西，如玉 器，珠宝，特产茶叶，深海鱼油等保健品。云南有一个叫《七彩云南》的，乍一看，以为是一个风景点，可那是云南最大的旅游购物点。专对老外。

长话短说，我云游四海，来到古城西安，包了一车奔兵马俑，回来路上去临潼看华清池，来回100公里，司机只要80元。太便宜了，回来的路 上，司机说可以开上骊山看一个道观，本人大喜，车子在道观门口停下，购买45元的门票，司机特别强调门票包讲解费。功夫对佛教，特别是藏传佛教有些研究， 还听过达赖喇嘛的讲解。可对道教没有任何研究，有人讲解着然很好。

李道士讲的还是不错，对每一个典故，画卷，都讲得很好。李道士讲我来得正好，60年一遇的开光会正在举行，不要错过机会，可以求个签，让道长解释一下，请个法物回去保个平安。

每到一个殿，李道士都问要不要烧香，求签，或拜佛（捐点公德钱），我都表示不需要，到了最后，李道士看实在是我不买，几乎用哀求的口气说，你就请个龙凤香，60+30，一共90元。我实在不想再驳回他，于是说：道士有所不知，我是不可以拜道教的，实在对不起，我信基督教.

The Internet café is owned by Thomas a Norwegian guy in the early 30s. He is married to a Thai woman and this is his Thai biz. He spends a few months in Thailand every year and goes Norway to run another biz the rest of the year. After a bottle of Siam beer, he started to complain about the corruptions in Thailand. Thailand is one of the most corrupted countries in the world.

Thailand left with me very bad taste. Besides the dirty street, lack of concept of service, the sex industry, I was scammed three times in 6 days.
1: The most famous gem stone scam: http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/Scams/Sapphire.shtml

2: A Taxi driver wanted 200 baht when the actual fare should be 79. He did not have the meter on. I knew the fare as I took the taxi there in the morning and the fare was 79 baht. “Here is 80 baht, keep the change” I left the taxi.

3: A Tuk Tuk driver wanted only 20 baht to get me from the Grand Palace to the Gold Mount and the back to my hotel in Maha Rat Rd. The normal fare should be at least 60 baht. I knew some thing is fishy here. What the heck? I will take this challenge. As soon as I am on the Tuk Tuk, the driver asked me if I can spare a few more minutes in a souvenir store close by. “No way, the gold mount closes at 4pm and I need to get there,” I sounded angry. Tuk Tuk diver insisted. “Only a few minutes.” “Sorry, I do not have a few minutes, I need to get to the Gold Mount” “May be after the Gold Mount”? He is persistent. “Maybe” I did not want him to bring me to a deserted street and beat me up by a few Thai bouncers or boxers.
I spend about 20 minutes in the Gold Mount. I got out from another door. I headed straight for a taxi. I handed over the name card of my hotel to the taxi driver. “Meter, please” I said. As my taxi zipped through the front gate, I could see my Tuk Tuk driver was still waiting at the gate. “asta la vista baby”.

No doubt that Cambodia is a poor country. After years of war and the four tragic years under the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot’s leadership which killed estimated 2 million people, Cambodia which was once an artistic and religious power, is now in the process of rebuilding.

Riding on the back of the tuk tuk, I was going to the River Tonle Sap. I have been visiting all the temples in Angkor Wat for the past 3 days. I needed some changes.

On the way to the Tonle Sap river, my tuk tuk stopped for gas. I noticed a military SUV with a pair of loud speakers mounted on the top. There were some announcement came from the speakers.

“What are they saying?” I pointed to the SUV and asked the tuk tuk driver.
“Oh, they are getting these kids to go to school to study at night.”
“But today is Saturday and it is a weekend.”
“That is why they are only going to school at night and have the day off to help with the family business.”

Cambodia needs a lot of foreign investment. However, most of those are concentrated in the tourism industry. Cambodia needs to build its infrastructure such as roads, telecommunication, and most important of all, Cambodian kids need education.

On the tour boat at the Tonle Sap river, I had a few kids following my boat. They put up a victory sign and said: “Good Luck. Mister. One dollar .“

I handed out a few one dollar bills to them. “Go to get a book with the money.”

No doubt that Cambodia is a poor country. After years of war and the four tragic years under the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot’s leadership which killed estimated 2 million people, Cambodia which was once an artistic and religious power, is now in the process of rebuilding.

Riding on the back of the tuk tuk, I was going to the River Tonle Sap. I have been visiting all the temples in Angkor Wat for the past 3 days. I needed some changes.

On the way to the Tonle Sap river, my tuk tuk stopped for gas. I noticed a military SUV with a pair of loud speakers mounted on the top. There were some announcement came from the speakers.

Traveling in SE Asia, I was constantly annoyed by the service people who do not speak much English.

I booked a trip from Ko Chang Island, Thailand to Siem Reap Cambodia at 11pm, last night. I was supposed to be picked up by a bus at 700 – 800 am from the hotel lobby. As expected, the bus did not show up. So I called. “Will my bus come?” “Yes.” “When will my bus come?” “Yes.” “But it is already 800am and my bus did not come.” “Yes.”

So, I had no choice but to get into a taxi and went back to the travel agent. After much talk, the travel agent owner decided to drive me to catch up with the bus which was supposed to have left. Any way, to cut the long stories short, I was finally in the Cambodian side and sit in a Toyota, Camry driven by a Cambodian young kid. He had a driver’s license displayed on the wind shield which showed a totally different picture but has a birth year of 1979.

The ride from the boarder to Siem Reap was a pleasant one. I was sitting on the front and there was a French family sitting at the back. Finally, we arrived at the Siem Reap. The night street was lighted by the glow of the shinning new luxury resorts. I had already booked a hotel so as the French family. I showed the driver my hotel name card. “Can you get to this place?” “Yes.” “Do you know the place?” “Yes.” “How far are we?” “Yes.” Well, here comes the yes again. We all read that the taxi driver will some times drive you into a dark part of the town and have all of you stay in a partner guest house where you will be over charged. Actually, I do not mind at all as the surcharge was no more than a few dollars. But I had already booked the hotel so I need to get to this hotel as soon as possible.

After struggling with the driver and on and off the busy street for over one hour, I found my hotel. I shake hand with the driver, “Good drive, I enjoyed it” I said.

I checked in and sit down to have a delicisious Cambodian dinner with Angkor beer. I called the taxi driver who was recommended to me by my friend back in Bangkok. “He speaks a bit English.” She added.

I am now in the internet café again. I happened to find out that both the hotel owner and the internet café owner speak a bit English. I would happily pay a bit more for any service people who speaks English.

I will tell my taxi driver tomorrow to put a sign on his taxi: “I speak English.”

Traveling alone can be fun at times when you meet interesting people.

I was sitting in a bar at Siam Reap, Cambodian watching a documentary of Angkor Wat, drinking a coke and eating my fish fillet. A man in his 60s walked in and sit across me. He was white and had a cow-boy hat on and looked well-fed and prospers. “What do you want for drink?” “Asked the waiter?’ “Diet Coke please.” He answered.

I was very uncomfortable when a stranger watching me eat my dinner. So I decided to break the ice. “American?” I asked.
“How do you know?”
“Well, only American (woman)orders Diet Coke”
He was apparently embarrassed. “Yes, the doctor told me to watch my weight”. “Traveling alone?” He asked
“Yes, how about you?”
“Me too.” He replied

So we chatted about the US politics, the foot ball, traveling in SE Asia and we compared with the “service” in these SE counties. “You know one of the main problem I had in this part of the world is that the girls do not speak much English, here, let me tell you a story.”

Once I met this girl in Bangkok. She was super nice and she even carried the bags when we went shopping. “I told her that in America, man are suppose to carry the bags” She said that this is Thailand, women are equal. You know, I love Thailand.
At night ,we came back to my hotel. She helped me with the bath and finally we were on the bed. Then she asked. “Do you have a condo?”
“Yes, I do have a condo.”
“Show me your condo.”
I was very surprised. My condo is in the US. Why does she want to see my condo?
“Sorry, I can not show you my condo, my condo is in the US, I do not have a picture with me.”
Apparently, she was not happy. “Condo, condo.” She cried out load.
I thought may be she wants me to buy her a condo in Thailand. “How much is a condo in Thailand?”
“Cheap, cheap.” She replied.
“Really?” This is really bad. I mean I can get a full service in Darling (Nana plaza) for $65 + tip. Why should I buy her a condo? I was angry. “No, no condo.” I said.
“No condo, no love making.” She insisted.
So, we dragged on and on. I was pretty tired the next morning. I finally got so pissed off by the whole condo episode and I called my friend who spoke Thai.
“Could you please ask her why does she want my condo? “

My friend spoke to her and then she passed the phone back to me.
“Jerry, please go across the street to the 7/11 store and get a Durex.”

I am sitting in an internet cafe at the Ko Chang island, Thailan. The cafe owner greeted me: Ko Ni Chi Wa. (Japanese equivlant of Hello). “Sorry, I am not a Japanese and do not speak Japanese” “Korean?” she asked. “No, I am a Chinese”.

Throught out the North America and now in SE asia, I have been mistaken as Korean or Japanese. Not a single time that I was greeted with familar “Ni Hao” This makes me wonder when the Chinese will start to roam the world, not as illegal immigrants shipped in by containers but as tourists and explorers.

Across the street, the resturant has a TV set which is showing the Star TV movie in English. Yeap, after this artical, I am going to walk across and order my favorate Thai dish, – fried squid on rice. I will watch Nicholas Cage.

How many times that I have to say that I am a Chinese?

离开美国这几年，在加拿大温哥华住过，在中国北京住过，衡量利弊，还是决定回中国去发展了。这次回明尼苏达，这个我居住，奋斗过10年的地方，隔壁的老Rod还和以前一样，住在1954年他买的房子里面，Lueck夫妇已经从Owatonna搬到Rochester,处于半退休装态。35W和94号高速路和几年前一样。

1月的明尼苏达非常寒冷，厚厚的积雪要到4月份才会化掉，我是出生于中国南方，长在中国南方的人，刚来的时候非常不适应这里的寒冷，这次回来我更加坚定了我离开这里的愿望。

我去了在Minneapolis的学校，去了Snelling Ave.上的Barns and Nobels 书店，去了St. Paul的那家越南Pho店，服务员还是那个，去了St Paul的Qinn’s Kichten, 老板娘居然还能认识我，我刚来这里做学生的时候，经常在这里吃饭。

我也去看了Lueck家在Rochester的房子，这是一栋新的房子，我还在他家住了几天，Lueck退休以前是一个牧师，夫人是个保加利亚的移民，一辈子没有正式工作过，两个人虽然在物质上并不富裕，但是精神生活很重质量，他们经常在美国各地露营，也每过几年出国旅游，去过世界上很多地方，我在他家的地下室看到从70年代一直到今天的国家地理杂志。

明尼苏达在我离开这几年没有什么太大的变化，就像其他美国的地区一样，这里的人过着日复一日，年复一年的同样的生活，很多人的周末娱乐就是到北部的苏比里尔湖露营，这里的人以自己是MidWest人自居，但是什么才是MidWest人呢？他们自己也不清楚。只有明尼苏达的土话:you bet yah. (意思是没问题）MidWest，包括明尼苏达，威斯康辛州的人在电影Pearl Harbor上被好莱坞搞笑，这里的人的确很土，而是思维保守，连学校里面评选系主任都要是Angol Saxon的后代。

 不管如何，在这里我度过了10年的时光，有欢笑，有悲哀，这里的一切伴我成长，我上学，工作，创业，买房，买车，过着和这里的人一样的生活，有时都觉得自己是这里的一部分了。

但是，我还是不属于这里，每次看到周围的邻居去教堂礼拜，看着他们的各种节日，他们开party时的场面，我就知道这里不属于我。而且一个几十年不变的社区和发展缓慢的社会不适应我的性格和年龄。

10年一觉美国梦，我要离开美国了，中国那片各种报纸上说的Land of Oppotunity在等着我。再见了，美国！

St Paul街景

宁静的Rochester

一片新的社区在Rochester. 这是美国房地产最后的疯狂，2006年开始美国房地产下跌，幅度达30%

Lueck工作的教堂

谁说美国说有的路都免费，弗罗里达和纽约我都见过缴费的路，这是我们的大切

商场里的东西好像比其他地方贵一点，旅游城市嘛，可以理解

蓝天，碧海，棕榈树，弗罗里达的印象

漫长的KeyWest 路上的一个桥

海鸥

闲情逸致

海滩边的售货亭

大沼泽是世界上惟一一块短吻鳄与普通鳄鱼共存的地方，也是美国最大的国家级保护区之一。

以下图片拍摄于2002年2月美国弗罗里达州

大多数人在美国是自己开车旅游，好像只有弗罗里达这里很多人是坐大巴旅游

大沼泽里的鳄鱼

大沼泽里的龟

水下世界