oh jeez. I don't have time so this will be very quick.
there was no opera that night...our hotel was apparently oblivious...so we got a nice dinner by the lake instead.
the next day we left for a two day boat trip on a traditional Vietnamese Junk Boat. think Asian pirate ship. it was awesome. we had a great group, kayaked between the beautiful jutting limestone cliffs, ate traditional food, saw floating villages, explored caves in the islands, had a great dinner, did some swimming and got to jump off the top of the boat, played hours of drinking games which led to climbing the mast of the ship (I have NO CLUE who started that one...hehe. =P) and eventually some more...uh...swimming. haha. it was a very memorable night. =D
the next day we visited some more islands and then got lunch and headed back to Hanoi. Marissa and I explored for a bit, got dinner, and then I commandeered a dvd player that was left out in the hallway and we watched a few more episodes of Sex And The City while packing to fly out the next morning. I carefully returned the DVD player before going to bed and got off clean. =D
we flew back to Bangkok, Thailand the next morning and spent the day doing traditional Thai things like getting massages, facials, masks, PadThai, bananna pancakes and wandering the markets. Marissa said her goodbyes around 10pm and left for the airport. so now...for the first time...I'm international. alone. what a neat feeling.
I spent the rest of the night trying to kill the last of my cell phone/international minutes and got to bed pretty late.
The next day was mellow. not much to report. I had booked a tour but cancelled it because I can't shell out $40 for a day on the beach. I'm getting pretty poor pretty fast. eeek.
The next afternoon I flew out of BKK and into Hong Kong. it was quite hectic getting in...but eventually I found a bus, found the main area of the city, found an affordable guesthouse with dorms, figured out the currency, got some shopping in, met my dorm-mates (three cool guys studying in China...two from Australia, one from England) who were on a weekend holiday away. we wandered a bit around downtown Hong Kong and eventually ended up in a pretty cool bar...and we stayed out pretty late. maybe 5:30am? yeah. it was a good night.
fyi: I've sworn off fast food forever. watching them eat McDonalds at 5am reminded me of how gross the fast food culture is. two months and going strong! =D
the next day I explored a bit, saw the sights, got some odd food...no clue what it was, but it was pretty good....met up with my group, we all went out for dinner and then I headed off on my own to see the view of the city at night from 'the peak'. it was amazing and I have lots of great pictures. I got back around midnight and went to bed.
my new roommate and I wandered around looking for breakfast in the morning...it's really odd to have to find a store for food. I'm so used to it being on the sidewalk! I tried some break, but it made me feel a bit sick so I found a bananna and a pineapple shake and ate that. yum. we people watched for a while....or really watched people stare openly at us...and then met back up with the group and took a seried of trains across the border and into China. we caught an overnight train into somewhere and then grabbed a bus to our hotel in Yangshuo. which...lucky me...is an international rock climbing hotspot. thank god for natural limestone cliffs. =D
so...it's 9am and I'm going to take a shower and go climbing. later!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
and in an instant all my time has dissappeared.
oh jeez. I feel like time is spinning faster and faster every day and there's just no way to slow it down!!!!
so the next day our boat tour people never came and picked us up, so we called and rescheduiled for the next day...which was fine because it was pouring! we decided to go for a spa day and took a taxi to the local spa famous for it's mud baths. we enjoyed our mud, relaxed in some mineral water and then headed back to town for some food and to book our train up the coast to Hoi An. somewhere along the way I lost my amazing (and expensive) Marmot raincoat. ugh. we ended up wandering all day and then getting dressedup and heading to a local bar/hotspot that was hosting a Reggae(sp?) night. we had some drinks, danced a bit, played pool and met some nice guys who took us out for a late dinner. Marissas guy was from Wisconsin and my date for the night was from Barcelona. after our dinner we went out for a few more drinks and eventually called it a late night.
The boat tour actually picked us up the next day, and we were off for a fun day in the sun. good thing we missed it the day before! we stopped at a few different islands, had a nice buffet lunch on the boat, sang, danced, laid on the beach and got to snorkel in the most beautiful coral reef I've ever seen. it was an amazing day! we got back in the evening and mellowed out for a bit before our train that night. we caught our overnight train to De Nang and then (when we got in at 4am) took a half hour taxi ride to Hoi An. sadly, with the holiday, everything was full so we had to take a hard sleeper to the next town up and then backtrack. we got in and discovered that there were no hotels available yet. we found one that seemed nice and waited in the lobby till almost 7:30 for a room. finally we were given a room and we took a nap. eventually we wandered out into the town of a thousand tailors and met with the shopping city that I'm sure people only dream about.
think it, design it, copy it...who cares! just buy it! you can have anything your heart desires made for you in this quaint riverside town. oh, and for CHEAP. I spent my day designing two pairs of sandals, buying the most beautiful silk dress I've ever laid eyes on, designing a coat, buying and then altering another silk dress that I had found into a dressy shirt and eventually designing from scratch my very own pair of high heels to match my new dream dress...and everything is made to fit me perfectly. I chose the fabric, styles, buttons, clasps, trim...everything. I spent less than $60 on it all and am so excited to get home and wear it!!! (especially the dress and heels...now all I need is an excuse to go on a nice date. any takers?)
that night, feeling quite satisfied from our shopping, Marissa and I wandered down to the riverside and found a quaint resteraunt with fantastic food to share a romantic dinner at. afterwards we walked down the cobblestone streets and followed the river for a while...just enjoying the warm peaceful night. what a beautiful town, what amazing people, what an experience!
we walked around the next day collecting our custom made purchases and sampeling local foods. I took a nice walk by the river in the morning and ate my breakfast sitting on the banks and talking with the wonderful locals. Marissa went off on her own for the morning. we finished herding our purchases by 1...just enough time to head back to the hotel and catch our series of busses to Hanoi. it wasa long day of driving in a cramped local bus before we hit Hue and hopped on our sleeper bus for the night. we had bought tickets for a nice comfy bus but they just put us on the crap bus instead...so we were forced into tiny spaces, couldn't lay or sit and huddled like that for hours. it wasn't the best experience. Marissa was feeling quite claustrophobis...so she went to bed early. I entertained two sweedish boys who were laying next to me (literally they lay you shoulder to shoulder with people on these tiny mats on the floor...like 40 other people) with my laptop and the original Indiana Jones series. We all fell asleep somewhere through the seccond movie and I slept restlessly, unintentionally spooning with two very attractive Sweedish boys. thank god for small favors. haha. we finally made it into town around 7am, got a hotel, took a much needed nap, grabbed some really good vietnamese food and explored the city by foot and in a Cyclo (pedal-powered cart taxi).
all I can say is that this place is a beautiful madhouse and even while I'm typing this I can look out the windows of the hotel and see merchants sitting on the sidewalk selling everything from live fish to pigs feet, herbs, vegetables, clothes and even sex. ick. I just watched a woman take a live fish, throw it on the sidewalk, cut it's head off, throw it in a plastic bag and sell it to a man for dinner. yay. I'm getting used to seeing dead animals everywhere...although seeing the brains, organs, feet, eyes and faces for sale still creeps me out a bit. what I think will always bug me is the smell that these markets always have. and it's unavoidable because the merkets are the sidewalks...everywhere. oh well, I'm getting used to it. =D
time to go clean up,get dinner and go to a Vietnamese Opera with my wonderful date Marissa!
so the next day our boat tour people never came and picked us up, so we called and rescheduiled for the next day...which was fine because it was pouring! we decided to go for a spa day and took a taxi to the local spa famous for it's mud baths. we enjoyed our mud, relaxed in some mineral water and then headed back to town for some food and to book our train up the coast to Hoi An. somewhere along the way I lost my amazing (and expensive) Marmot raincoat. ugh. we ended up wandering all day and then getting dressedup and heading to a local bar/hotspot that was hosting a Reggae(sp?) night. we had some drinks, danced a bit, played pool and met some nice guys who took us out for a late dinner. Marissas guy was from Wisconsin and my date for the night was from Barcelona. after our dinner we went out for a few more drinks and eventually called it a late night.
The boat tour actually picked us up the next day, and we were off for a fun day in the sun. good thing we missed it the day before! we stopped at a few different islands, had a nice buffet lunch on the boat, sang, danced, laid on the beach and got to snorkel in the most beautiful coral reef I've ever seen. it was an amazing day! we got back in the evening and mellowed out for a bit before our train that night. we caught our overnight train to De Nang and then (when we got in at 4am) took a half hour taxi ride to Hoi An. sadly, with the holiday, everything was full so we had to take a hard sleeper to the next town up and then backtrack. we got in and discovered that there were no hotels available yet. we found one that seemed nice and waited in the lobby till almost 7:30 for a room. finally we were given a room and we took a nap. eventually we wandered out into the town of a thousand tailors and met with the shopping city that I'm sure people only dream about.
think it, design it, copy it...who cares! just buy it! you can have anything your heart desires made for you in this quaint riverside town. oh, and for CHEAP. I spent my day designing two pairs of sandals, buying the most beautiful silk dress I've ever laid eyes on, designing a coat, buying and then altering another silk dress that I had found into a dressy shirt and eventually designing from scratch my very own pair of high heels to match my new dream dress...and everything is made to fit me perfectly. I chose the fabric, styles, buttons, clasps, trim...everything. I spent less than $60 on it all and am so excited to get home and wear it!!! (especially the dress and heels...now all I need is an excuse to go on a nice date. any takers?)
that night, feeling quite satisfied from our shopping, Marissa and I wandered down to the riverside and found a quaint resteraunt with fantastic food to share a romantic dinner at. afterwards we walked down the cobblestone streets and followed the river for a while...just enjoying the warm peaceful night. what a beautiful town, what amazing people, what an experience!
we walked around the next day collecting our custom made purchases and sampeling local foods. I took a nice walk by the river in the morning and ate my breakfast sitting on the banks and talking with the wonderful locals. Marissa went off on her own for the morning. we finished herding our purchases by 1...just enough time to head back to the hotel and catch our series of busses to Hanoi. it wasa long day of driving in a cramped local bus before we hit Hue and hopped on our sleeper bus for the night. we had bought tickets for a nice comfy bus but they just put us on the crap bus instead...so we were forced into tiny spaces, couldn't lay or sit and huddled like that for hours. it wasn't the best experience. Marissa was feeling quite claustrophobis...so she went to bed early. I entertained two sweedish boys who were laying next to me (literally they lay you shoulder to shoulder with people on these tiny mats on the floor...like 40 other people) with my laptop and the original Indiana Jones series. We all fell asleep somewhere through the seccond movie and I slept restlessly, unintentionally spooning with two very attractive Sweedish boys. thank god for small favors. haha. we finally made it into town around 7am, got a hotel, took a much needed nap, grabbed some really good vietnamese food and explored the city by foot and in a Cyclo (pedal-powered cart taxi).
all I can say is that this place is a beautiful madhouse and even while I'm typing this I can look out the windows of the hotel and see merchants sitting on the sidewalk selling everything from live fish to pigs feet, herbs, vegetables, clothes and even sex. ick. I just watched a woman take a live fish, throw it on the sidewalk, cut it's head off, throw it in a plastic bag and sell it to a man for dinner. yay. I'm getting used to seeing dead animals everywhere...although seeing the brains, organs, feet, eyes and faces for sale still creeps me out a bit. what I think will always bug me is the smell that these markets always have. and it's unavoidable because the merkets are the sidewalks...everywhere. oh well, I'm getting used to it. =D
time to go clean up,get dinner and go to a Vietnamese Opera with my wonderful date Marissa!
Friday, May 1, 2009
April showers and May flowers.
happy May! this is the last month of my amazing journey and I'm already loving it.
I can't believe I've been gone for two full months already. how time flies. and yet...every day seems like a week. my life has been so jampacked with fun activities, cool people, amazing sights and awesome adventures that I've hardly had time to breathe...let alone sleep! I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in almost a month last night and it felt amazing!
I'm currently sitting in some odd hotel on the oceanside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam. yes...I'm in Vietnam! I love it here already and can tell that the next 9 days are going to be amazing.
so...I don't know where I left off, but I'm going to say what I can remember in my limited internet time.
our last day in Cambodia was really busy. we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh in the early am, checked out the Killing fields and S-21 prison, got some lunch, talked and read up on some Cambodian history...particularly pertaining to the genocide, and then wandered a bit at night. I feel like I've already written this. hmmm. yeah...so we had a nice dinner and then I scooted off to an internet cafe/international call cafe via motorbike (it took forever to find one open at midnight!) and made an impromptu phone call to Brian at work. he seemed pleasently surprised. =D we talked for about 20 minutes and then I called it a night. my driver took me back to my hotel and I passed out in our tiny little room beside the Phnom Penh river.
we left pretty early the next day to hit up Vietnam. 8 hours later we were in Hoh Chi Minh City and scouting out hotels. we finally found one that seemed quite nice (thanks Lonely Planet!!!) and rented a room for a whopping $18 a night. it's a bit pricy in Saigon. seriously. at least breakfast and dinners were free and tea/coffee was available free at any point of the day. we always missed breakfast, but we got two decent ramen noodle dinners in and a few cold tea breaks.
while in the city for two days we managed to hit up some sweet markets, visit the War Remnants Meuseam (oh boy was that intense...both Marissa and I were brought to tears. I was a bit ashamed to admit I was an American upon leaving the Meuseam.), get some yummy Vietnamese food, eat loads of fresh fruit, ride a million different motorbikes, chat eachother up for HOURS (I feel like we're finally in the swing of things and getting along better now than ever before. it's a bit of a relief because I feel like we were butting heads for a little while there. I'm still excited to get some alone-traveling in, but I'll be enjoying her company for her last few days with me.), watch a million episodes of Sex And The City (I bought all 7 seasos for us$6...oh yeah! haha. we rented a DVD player and had a mellow girls night of all American R&R. Ritz crackers, Oreos, Coke and NYC style entertainment. if we could have added pizza we might have ignored the time difference and thought we were home!) and fall in love with Vietnamese hospitality.
Saigon is a beautiful bustling city that is always full of excitement and energy. with motorbikes zipping around everywhere, everyone honking a cautious 'hey, just letting you know I'm right here' and pedestriand truly having the right of way it seems more chaotic than anything else. but, step into trafic and watch the sea of vehicles part like the red sea and reach the other side as safely as if there hadn't been 1.6 thousand people flying past either side of you. it truly is an experience that everyone needs to have for themselves at some point. I've never seen such organized chaos in my entire life. there aren't street lights, only a portion of the intersections are roundabouts, and everyone has the right of way...simultaneously. you can drive on either side of the road (although technically the right side is the corrent side) and if the road gets busy...don't fret! there's always the sidewalk available.
I only really thought about it today, while taking the notorious motorbike to the train station, that accidents can easily happen. I was on the back of the bike trying to maintain balance with my pack perched atop my back. it's getting a bit heavy as it's now laiden with two months worth of souvineers...ugh, and it's absolute dead weight at all times...especially on a motorbike. at one point a zippy little bike cut us off and in doing so he grazed my left leg a bit. it wasn't until that monent that I really thought about how bad it could potentially be to get into a motorbike accident in such heavy traffic. especially with the bag on...I would never be able to bail off the bike with that huge pack on...which seems odd to me because I'm so used to being able to hop off to prevent myself from getting stuck between the bikes. I felt a bit exposed and it got me thinking...how safe is safe really?
we take for granted that we have cars back home, but this is obviously a lifestyle that is maintainable, and there don't seem to be an obsene amount of accidents daily. I'll continue to use the bikes as they are the fastest, cheapest and most efficient method of getting around in these busy cities even though they are a bit dangerous. and fun. =D
it has been quite rainy here lately...it rains at least once a day here, but everything is starting to get greener and soon I'll be in China for the most beautiful time of the year...to see the flowers blooming everywhere! I'm very excited.
okay...to finish this off and walk back across town to my hotel and go to bed. I'm sure Marissa is already dreaming by now. haha. I'm always out way past her bedtime. she marvels at how I'm usually awake before her as well. I guess everyone needs different levels of sleep, and currently my requirement is next to nothing. hers runs at around 6-8 hours for maximum happiness the next day.
today we left Saigon around noon and boarded our train to the infamous Vietnamese coast. we patiently waited our 7 long hours until finally we had arrived. we hired a few eager motos (leaving an ever greater hord of dissappointed drivers behind) and headed into the hotel area of our new home away from home...Nha Trang...beach city extrodinare. we sterted hotel hunting and realized that everywhere seemed to be booked because it's a national Vietnamese holiday. gee...great. haha. I decided that we needed to lose the packs and look a bit less desperate. we headed into a travel agency and asked very politely if they could watch our bags while we found a hotel and that we're looking to do a tour the next day. they seemed happy to help (and maybe make some money off us) and we kept shpooing for our glass slipper hotel (...or to be honest any slipper!). we found a hotel that kindly offered us a mat and pillow in the hallway for free with a hot shower in the morning if we couldn't find anywhere to stay. we thanked them and continued on. (I really would have stayed but I think Marissa was keen on a bed. ahh...to have a free place to stay!) oh well...eventually we found a run down overpriced hotel that I haggled down the room rates to an unworthy $15 a night. we took the room out of desperation and groaned a bit at the current holiday that was taking all the overnight train tickets (we hadn't wanted to waste a day traveling), jacking up the hotel prices, taking all the stupid hotel rooms and as we would later find out...really really jacking up the tour prices. oh well. we can't have it all. we settled in a bit, headed out to book our tour, Marissa gave in and bought a personal pizza, we sat on the beach and talked for a while and now here I am. Marissa opted for the shower/sleep sort of night and I decided to take a different path and wander the city looking for internet. after much wandering I found another hotel boasting internet. I happily sat down and started typing this incredibly long blog. and now you're completely up to date.
okay...I need to head out and get some sleep. we have a full day island hopping tour tomorrow that leaves at like 8am or something silly. I hope everyone has a wonderful day (as it's hardly noon there) and I really hope to hear from everyone soon. it makes my day to get all your emails and comments. keep up the good work. <3
I'm going away now
but I'm not giving up
I'm miles and miles away
but I'm not giving up
I can't believe I've been gone for two full months already. how time flies. and yet...every day seems like a week. my life has been so jampacked with fun activities, cool people, amazing sights and awesome adventures that I've hardly had time to breathe...let alone sleep! I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in almost a month last night and it felt amazing!
I'm currently sitting in some odd hotel on the oceanside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam. yes...I'm in Vietnam! I love it here already and can tell that the next 9 days are going to be amazing.
so...I don't know where I left off, but I'm going to say what I can remember in my limited internet time.
our last day in Cambodia was really busy. we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh in the early am, checked out the Killing fields and S-21 prison, got some lunch, talked and read up on some Cambodian history...particularly pertaining to the genocide, and then wandered a bit at night. I feel like I've already written this. hmmm. yeah...so we had a nice dinner and then I scooted off to an internet cafe/international call cafe via motorbike (it took forever to find one open at midnight!) and made an impromptu phone call to Brian at work. he seemed pleasently surprised. =D we talked for about 20 minutes and then I called it a night. my driver took me back to my hotel and I passed out in our tiny little room beside the Phnom Penh river.
we left pretty early the next day to hit up Vietnam. 8 hours later we were in Hoh Chi Minh City and scouting out hotels. we finally found one that seemed quite nice (thanks Lonely Planet!!!) and rented a room for a whopping $18 a night. it's a bit pricy in Saigon. seriously. at least breakfast and dinners were free and tea/coffee was available free at any point of the day. we always missed breakfast, but we got two decent ramen noodle dinners in and a few cold tea breaks.
while in the city for two days we managed to hit up some sweet markets, visit the War Remnants Meuseam (oh boy was that intense...both Marissa and I were brought to tears. I was a bit ashamed to admit I was an American upon leaving the Meuseam.), get some yummy Vietnamese food, eat loads of fresh fruit, ride a million different motorbikes, chat eachother up for HOURS (I feel like we're finally in the swing of things and getting along better now than ever before. it's a bit of a relief because I feel like we were butting heads for a little while there. I'm still excited to get some alone-traveling in, but I'll be enjoying her company for her last few days with me.), watch a million episodes of Sex And The City (I bought all 7 seasos for us$6...oh yeah! haha. we rented a DVD player and had a mellow girls night of all American R&R. Ritz crackers, Oreos, Coke and NYC style entertainment. if we could have added pizza we might have ignored the time difference and thought we were home!) and fall in love with Vietnamese hospitality.
Saigon is a beautiful bustling city that is always full of excitement and energy. with motorbikes zipping around everywhere, everyone honking a cautious 'hey, just letting you know I'm right here' and pedestriand truly having the right of way it seems more chaotic than anything else. but, step into trafic and watch the sea of vehicles part like the red sea and reach the other side as safely as if there hadn't been 1.6 thousand people flying past either side of you. it truly is an experience that everyone needs to have for themselves at some point. I've never seen such organized chaos in my entire life. there aren't street lights, only a portion of the intersections are roundabouts, and everyone has the right of way...simultaneously. you can drive on either side of the road (although technically the right side is the corrent side) and if the road gets busy...don't fret! there's always the sidewalk available.
I only really thought about it today, while taking the notorious motorbike to the train station, that accidents can easily happen. I was on the back of the bike trying to maintain balance with my pack perched atop my back. it's getting a bit heavy as it's now laiden with two months worth of souvineers...ugh, and it's absolute dead weight at all times...especially on a motorbike. at one point a zippy little bike cut us off and in doing so he grazed my left leg a bit. it wasn't until that monent that I really thought about how bad it could potentially be to get into a motorbike accident in such heavy traffic. especially with the bag on...I would never be able to bail off the bike with that huge pack on...which seems odd to me because I'm so used to being able to hop off to prevent myself from getting stuck between the bikes. I felt a bit exposed and it got me thinking...how safe is safe really?
we take for granted that we have cars back home, but this is obviously a lifestyle that is maintainable, and there don't seem to be an obsene amount of accidents daily. I'll continue to use the bikes as they are the fastest, cheapest and most efficient method of getting around in these busy cities even though they are a bit dangerous. and fun. =D
it has been quite rainy here lately...it rains at least once a day here, but everything is starting to get greener and soon I'll be in China for the most beautiful time of the year...to see the flowers blooming everywhere! I'm very excited.
okay...to finish this off and walk back across town to my hotel and go to bed. I'm sure Marissa is already dreaming by now. haha. I'm always out way past her bedtime. she marvels at how I'm usually awake before her as well. I guess everyone needs different levels of sleep, and currently my requirement is next to nothing. hers runs at around 6-8 hours for maximum happiness the next day.
today we left Saigon around noon and boarded our train to the infamous Vietnamese coast. we patiently waited our 7 long hours until finally we had arrived. we hired a few eager motos (leaving an ever greater hord of dissappointed drivers behind) and headed into the hotel area of our new home away from home...Nha Trang...beach city extrodinare. we sterted hotel hunting and realized that everywhere seemed to be booked because it's a national Vietnamese holiday. gee...great. haha. I decided that we needed to lose the packs and look a bit less desperate. we headed into a travel agency and asked very politely if they could watch our bags while we found a hotel and that we're looking to do a tour the next day. they seemed happy to help (and maybe make some money off us) and we kept shpooing for our glass slipper hotel (...or to be honest any slipper!). we found a hotel that kindly offered us a mat and pillow in the hallway for free with a hot shower in the morning if we couldn't find anywhere to stay. we thanked them and continued on. (I really would have stayed but I think Marissa was keen on a bed. ahh...to have a free place to stay!) oh well...eventually we found a run down overpriced hotel that I haggled down the room rates to an unworthy $15 a night. we took the room out of desperation and groaned a bit at the current holiday that was taking all the overnight train tickets (we hadn't wanted to waste a day traveling), jacking up the hotel prices, taking all the stupid hotel rooms and as we would later find out...really really jacking up the tour prices. oh well. we can't have it all. we settled in a bit, headed out to book our tour, Marissa gave in and bought a personal pizza, we sat on the beach and talked for a while and now here I am. Marissa opted for the shower/sleep sort of night and I decided to take a different path and wander the city looking for internet. after much wandering I found another hotel boasting internet. I happily sat down and started typing this incredibly long blog. and now you're completely up to date.
okay...I need to head out and get some sleep. we have a full day island hopping tour tomorrow that leaves at like 8am or something silly. I hope everyone has a wonderful day (as it's hardly noon there) and I really hope to hear from everyone soon. it makes my day to get all your emails and comments. keep up the good work. <3
I'm going away now
but I'm not giving up
I'm miles and miles away
but I'm not giving up
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