Bangkok

Overall, I wasn't impressed with Bangkok. It's just a big city with very little character. As a tourist there are lots of pagodas to visit and the architecture of those is cool, but I wouldn't want to live there. It was just a big, dirty city congested with too many cars.

That said, on Monday I did a bike tour with my friend Adrie that was enjoyable. The city part was alright, but then we crossed the river in a longtail boat (with the bikes shipped over too) and rode on a narrow elevated pathway in the jungle on the other side. That was the highlight because it felt like we were nowhere near the city. And technically, our guide said we were no longer in Bangkok once we crossed over the river.

On Tuesday I walked to a museum where there were some traditional Thai houses on stilts, along with pottery, jewelry, and tools that had been excavated from throughout Thailand. It was a cool museum and I had nothing else to do so I took my time. Then I went and got two massages: a 1 hour foot massage and a 1 hour traditional Thai massage, all for 240 Baht (~$7). Thai massage is different than a normal massage. They move you and bend you all around. A few times it hurt my hips some because of the way they were bending my legs, but overall it was definitely worth it!!

I got back to Pyeongtaek yesterday (Wed) evening and now (Thurs a.m.) I'm back in school already.

8 days of teaching including today, and 12 days total until I'm home!!

Ha Long Bay

For those of you who know me well, this will come as a big shock. I am officially over my fear/disgust of eating sea creatures that are either squishy or have legs. While on a boat in Ha Long Bay I tried clams, squid, and shrimp. I actually kind of liked all three, though I doubt they are anything I'll ever crave. I even ripped the head, skeleton, and legs off the shrimp! The next day I was going to try the shrimp again but the brain (brown liquid) oozed out when I tried to rip off the head, so that was it for that. I couldn't eat it the second day. But, that's still a major accomplishment for me. Lately I'd realized in walking through markets that just looking at the sea creatures no longer disgusted me like it had a year ago. So, I figured what better place to try seafood than at a place where it's as fresh as it's ever going to get.

I knew it was fresh because we stopped at a floating village for a little while and I was told the crew was buying our dinner. While they were doing so I got off the boat and walked around. There was a fishery right there under the floating village. Trapped in nets were big and small fish of various species, crayfish, crabs, etc. And for the first time in my life I got to see cuttlefish in person. If you don't know what a cuttlefish is watch the video I linked to. These were small cuttlefish, not much bigger than the size of my hand, and because they were surrounded by brown nets they weren't doing much in the way of color or texture variations with their skin, but they were still cool to watch.

I'd have to say Ha Long Bay has been the highlight of my trip. I walked through a natural cave in one of the karst formations, swam in the bay, and kayaked. To top it all off I slept on the deck of the boat (they call them junks, but I don't know why) floating lazily under the open sky! There were other boats all around as well, but it was surprisingly quiet and peaceful and it was the best night's sleep I've had this whole trip, until 4:30 a.m. that is. It started to rain and I had to go downstairs to my cabin. But then I couldn't sleep so I sat under the deck roof and took pictures as the early morning sky brightened. By 6:00 I was still the only person awake on our boat so I went for a swim for almost an hour. At first I was a little freaked out because I'd seen what animals live in the water the day before, but that faded the longer I was in. It was almost a perfect morning.

Unfortunately after that nice morning we faced a 3+ hour drive back to Hanoi and then I had a late flight to Bangkok and didn't get in until 1:00 a.m. I'm wishing now that I had never made my return trip leave from Bangkok. If it hadn't been for that return flight I would have skipped Thailand all together and just stayed in Vietnam longer. After being scammed by a tuk-tuk (3-wheeled taxi) driver today, I was ready to call it quits altogether. If I can get my flight changed without a fee to leave tomorrow afternoon with Adrie, that's what I'll be doing. I'm tired, cranky, and in no mood to be in a big city. I'm all vacationed out and don't think I can take much more city sight-seeing.

Only 15 more days until I leave for home!!!

Hanoi

I'm back in the 6-person dorm room. A few people left so I was asked to either move back to the dorm room or pay the increased price of the double room. After moving my stuff again I spent the morning at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. His mausoleum is MASSIVE and he is embalmed in a glass case for viewing inside just one small part of the building. Security was tight and the dress code strict. I was wearing a spaghetti strap summer dress and had to buy a scarf to cover my shoulders with in order to be allowed in. All electronic devices had to be left at the front and picked back up on the way out. The complex itself is a large beautiful park area that includes the presidential palace, Ho Chi Minh's summer home, his house on stilts, and a one-pillar pagoda from the 11th century. The whole complex would have been very serene and peaceful if it hadn't been for all us tourists.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Old Quarter and doing some shopping. Unfortunately, by the time I remembered the Hanoi Hilton (Hoa Lo Prison) the museum itself was already closed. I walked there anyway and saw the outside, which is now overshadowed by the Hanoi Towers hotel and shopping complex. There was an older Vietnamese man in a business suit who was having his picture taken at the front entrance of the prison. I wondered if he'd been a former inmate but I thought it might be rude or insensitive to ask.

Finally, I walked around Hanoi at night. It was just as busy as during the day with motorbikes, cars, and people. I did a lap around Ho Hoan Kiem, the lake in the Old Quarter. It was really pretty with the city lights reflecting off of it, but not exactly peaceful since it's surrounded on all sides by busy roads, without much buffer between lake and road.

Next, I'm off to Ha Long Bay for some nature time!

Vietnamese cooking and stuff

It already seems like ages ago, but it was really just yesterday that I took a cooking class at the Red Bridge Cooking School in Hoi An.

The day started in the Old Town Central Market. I'd already walked through the market on my own because it was right next to my hotel, but the guided tour was definitely helpful. The guide told us the names of fruits, vegetables, and herbs that I wouldn't have known otherwise. He also told us some stories, like when we came across some baby ducklings. He said that when a couple is going to get married they buy a baby duckling and raise it up until it's big. Then on their wedding day they kill it and the duck is eaten during the wedding feast :(

After the market we took a boat trip up the river to the cooking school, where our class was taught in an outdoor traditional-style thatched hut. But, first we took a tour of the school's herb garden. I never knew what lemongrass actually looked like until now. Next we sat down to watch a demonstration of each thing we were going to learn, then we tried to make it ourselves. I really enjoyed the class and we got a copy of all the recipes, so I can't wait to do some cooking when I get home!

Immediately after the cooking class I caught a normal bus to Hue, where I connected to a sleeper bus to Hanoi. The sleeper bus was something I've never heard of anywhere else so I had no idea what to expect. I'd say it was a bunch of bunks but that wouldn't do it justice. You'll have to wait for photos. It was both nice and not. Nice that I could lay down for a 14 hour drive, but not nice because I was on a top bunk in the middle of the bus and afraid of falling off throughout the night because the bus driver did lots of swerving around other vehicles. I got into Hanoi around 6:45 this morning and spent the day walking around the city with a guy from Switzerland who I got switched into a room with. He just got here yesterday so I think he wanted some company. It's strange being in a two-person room with a male who is not my husband, but it's part of the adventure I guess. Plus, I'm only at this hotel tonight and tomorrow night, then I think I'm going to try to get to Ha Long Bay before heading to Bangkok. Laos is getting scratched from my itinerary because of travel logistics.

trains, "buses," and in between

I took a sleeper train to Quang Ngai (pronounced wan nyeye, or something like that) last night. Each berth slept 6 people, which is considered a hard-sleeper because its more cramped than the soft-sleeper, which sleeps 4 to a berth. I shared it with a Vietnamese family with two young boys. The family didn't speak any English, other than one of the mothers pointing out the window and saying "beautiful" about the mountains this morning. The boys were quiet and cute. I tried to take a picture of them out in the hallway, but they got shy and went running back into the room. The train ride was incredibly comfortable and the scenery upon waking was beautiful. We were getting closer to the mountains.

From Quang Ngai I took a xe om (the motorbike taxi again) to My Lai, where the massacre took place in 1968. I found out it is pronounced Me Lie. Having read a book about it a couple of years ago, I wanted to pay my respects. I knew it was going to be a difficult place to visit, and it was. More than once I wanted to just sit down and weep, but the xe om driver was waiting to return me to Quang Ngai, so I walked and weeped. I overheard a tour guide say that there are 7 survivors who live in her village and they will never forget that day.

How many people do you think can fit in a 15-passenger van? Fifteen, right? Wrong! After My Lai, I wanted to take a bus about 60 miles north to Hoi An. The xe om driver took me to a corner of Highway 1 and sort of rushed me into a waiting van. I knew it wasn't anything sketchy because the guide book talks about them and they're called "open bus tours". Well 2 hours later and after eventually cramming 24 people into the van (that includes the driver), I made it to a different corner of Highway 1 where I had to take another xe om to Hoi An. During that 2-hour ride I definitely experienced the Vietnam that many tourists probably don't see. I was the only non-Vietnamese person in the van. The woman on my left was falling asleep with her head resting on my shoulder, the woman on my right got sick then tossed her little baggie out the window. Every time I thought we couldn't possibly fit anyone else, the "bus" would stop and get more people! It was kind of nuts. But I made it to Hoi An in one piece. After a much-needed shower, some food, and drinking lots of water I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Old Town of Hoi An.

One other thing...I love baby cows but I think baby water buffalos actually have them beat on the cuteness scale! I saw one on the train this morning.

Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, as the locals still call it, is by far the busiest city I've ever been too! It even surpasses Shanghai. Today's city tour guide said there are 4.5 million motorbikes just here in Saigon (he said there are ~24 million in the whole country). Sitting outside my hotel, or anwhere for that matter, there is constant motion. There never seems to be a lull in the traffic, which also means never a lull in the noise. There is constant honking, but not the "I hate you, got out of my way" type honking. More like, "here I am" type honking to make sure you're alert and aware. The tour guide actually suggested crossing streets with our eyes closed, and didn't seem to be kidding. The locals do generally seem to cross streets at a casual pace to give the motorbikes time to judge when and where to go around them. It seems to work so I've been following their example, but the urge to dash for it is definitely there at times.

I am loving the food! I've had fried tofu with lemongrass, fried springrolls, pho (noodle soup), a fried potato/egg concoction from a street stall, and durien bubble tea. All fantastic! Why did William have to be sent to the food dregs of the earth?!

I'm in Saigon again tonight then tomorrow, maybe on a nighttime sleeper train, I'll head north. I haven't decided where yet. This is where a travel buddy would come in handy because I am so indecisive by myself.

some things I forgot....

There are some things I've realized need to be added to the "miscellaneous" post of a couple days ago.

• it is not uncommon to see young Korean couples in matching outfits, and not just matching colors, but actually the exact same outfit. It's more than a little disturbing if you ask me.
• remember the Seinfeld "man purse" episode? You've entered Korea. Young Korean men frequently carry man purses, and as imagined, don't look a bit masculine doing so.
• William doesn't think I conveyed the innate dangerous-ness of the 4-way-yellow intersections. We went through one yesterday on our bikes at the same time as a bus driver thought he had the right-of-way so yes, William, you are right. They are very dangerous!
• I still can't believe Korean women wear high heels every day in any outfit. Tonight we saw a woman wearing a t-shirt and jean shorts with black tights and high heels. Did I mention it's 90 degrees and humid outside? Why would anyone in their right mind be wearing tights?
• you can tell the little old women who've worked in the rice fields their entire lives because they are literally bent over at the waist, permanently. Their upper bodies are perpendicular to the ground. It's sad to see these 80- to 90-year-old women walking this way still pulling carts behind them filled with groceries, cardboard, or something else. It's always women, too. I've never seen a man bent over so badly here.

I'm sure I'll probably think of more things to add to the list when I get back from my trip. Until then I miss anyone and everyone who might be reading this!!