Wow, feels like it's been a really long time since I updated this thing! Since the last post, we haven't really moved much... we've simply been exploring Bangkok... and we love it! We both agree that it's one of the coolest cities we've been too, and neither of us would have a problem living here if we needed to for one reason or another. It' s huge... we didn't even realize how huge until we got here. For comparison, New York City comes in at about 8.3 million people right now.... Bangkok comes in at 8.1, so they're very similar. We've covered quite a bit of ground here, using taxis, tuk-tuks, buses, minivans, and the famous Skytrain (think the subways of London, but above ground).
Probably the most eventful thing we've done lately is Christmas shopping. Shopping in Bangkok is a thing to experience. We started by going to "The Mother of All Markets". It's a market that's only open 2 days a week, and it's 15,000 stalls of everything you can imagine. Over 200k people visit it per day, and you can absolutely get lost walking around it. They sell everything from food to clothes to antiques to electronics (real, stolen, and fake). We got most of our shopping done there, for budget reasons. After that, we headed to the Siam Square, which is the most impressive mall complex I've ever seen. It's divided into 3 separates malls, each between 5-8 floors with bridges crossing in between over the streets. Ice Skating, a massive aquarium and restaurants are everywhere, and Lamborghini, Porche, Bentley, Audi, Lotus, and Maserati all have showrooms filled with ultra-expensive cars. Anyway, cool stuff.
In 2 days we are heading to Myanmar! We don't really know what it will be like, and are very anxious to find out. We've read that cell phone access doesn't exist, and that internet access can be hard to come by. What's more, being in that it's an oppressive military government, internet access is extremely monitored. Some basic websites such as Hotmail are often blocked, so if we don't update anything for awhile don't be surprised!
Oh, and we haven't seen a drop of rain since Nov. 16th. The dry season here is DRY.
Since we are back in Thailand make sure you check the Thailand link on the right side for new pictures, all of the ones we took in Bangkok are posted!
That's probably about all for now. Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Finishing up Cambodia
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Rabid Monkeys and Salesmanship
Well we're pretty much killing time now. We were originally supposed to leave Phnom Penh a week ago, but then found out that getting a Burmese visa takes 7 days and that'd we'd get it on Friday the 4th (yesterday. However, as Michelle noted in the last message, I got bit by a monkey, which has made things more complicated. I e-mailed a western doctor in town asking if there was any risk from the monkey I 'met', and also did a lot of searching for information on the rabies threat specifically within Phnom Penh. I learned that rabies kills more people here than Dengue Fever and Malaria combined, and the doctor responded immediately telling me to come in ASAP. I visited him on Thursday and started the 5 shot vaccination plan. You have to get the shots on certain days, and Phnom Penh is the only city in the whole country you can do it, so we're going to have to stay here a bit longer to get the first 2, go to the beach for a few days, and then head to Bangkok where we can get the rest right before we fly to Myanmar. I'm fine though, insurance covers most of the vaccination (after you're bitten, they won't cover anything preventative), and we're both glad I'm not taking the risk by skipping the vaccination.
We've tried to illustrate in some of our previous blog posts how aggressive and numerous the salesman are around here. Be it for food, taxi rides, books, or anything else, we seem to be under constant assault (as westerners) from these good people who are trying to scrape out a living. In an effort to give a better picture of just how many of these people there are, yesterday I counted how many offers we got. This came about partly of boredom, but I thought it could be interesting too. The offers I decided to count are ONLY for transportation services such as taxis, motorbike rides, and tuk-tuks (a kind of 2 wheeled carriage hooked to the back of a motorbike). When walking the city these drivers will ask if you want a ride, and if you say no they'll often start shouting out the names of tourist destinations, presumably hoping to hit one that interests you. Anyway, the grand total for yesterday was 103. In about 4.5 hours of walking, we got offered a ride 103 times, not including duplicate offers from the same people. This also doesn't include the infinite number of offers for drinks, books, restaurants, pot (very common for me), cocaine (rare), opium (even more rare) or just general begging on the streets. [Note: we don't any drugs, period]. We've known we get asked a lot, but eventually you just learn to ignore it and you start to forget how often it really is.
Assuming everything goes smoothly, our next post should be from the beach!
We've tried to illustrate in some of our previous blog posts how aggressive and numerous the salesman are around here. Be it for food, taxi rides, books, or anything else, we seem to be under constant assault (as westerners) from these good people who are trying to scrape out a living. In an effort to give a better picture of just how many of these people there are, yesterday I counted how many offers we got. This came about partly of boredom, but I thought it could be interesting too. The offers I decided to count are ONLY for transportation services such as taxis, motorbike rides, and tuk-tuks (a kind of 2 wheeled carriage hooked to the back of a motorbike). When walking the city these drivers will ask if you want a ride, and if you say no they'll often start shouting out the names of tourist destinations, presumably hoping to hit one that interests you. Anyway, the grand total for yesterday was 103. In about 4.5 hours of walking, we got offered a ride 103 times, not including duplicate offers from the same people. This also doesn't include the infinite number of offers for drinks, books, restaurants, pot (very common for me), cocaine (rare), opium (even more rare) or just general begging on the streets. [Note: we don't any drugs, period]. We've known we get asked a lot, but eventually you just learn to ignore it and you start to forget how often it really is.
Assuming everything goes smoothly, our next post should be from the beach!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Still in Phnom Penh....
...but heading to the beach on Saturday! We've been hanging out waiting for our Burma visas, which should be ready on Friday. I'm totally recovered from Dengue, but Jason got bit by a monkey in the city so we're keeping an eye on that. It doesn't appear to have broken the skin, but we're still aware of the risks it could pose. We were visiting a Wat in the middle of the city that was surrounded by trees, and there were a bunch of monkeys all over! It was pretty crazy to be so close to them, they didn't seem too bothered by the people around. Jason was sitting taking some pictures and a very small one walked right up to him and bit his arm.
Today we visited the Killing Fields, which is one of the mass grave sites that the Khmer Rouge murdered and buried people. After being imprisoned at Tuol Sleng which we visited last week, truckloads of prisoners were taken out to this area about 15 km outside of the city. The centerpiece is a large memorial stupa, which is filled with skulls, clothing, and other bone fragments of victims that were found at the site. We could go inside of it and the skulls are actually out in the open, not behind glass. It got to me a bit being so close to over 5,000 human skulls. Outside of the stupa are markers indicating where mass graves were discovered. The largest had 450 bodies, another had 166 headless bodies, and another was 100 bodies of women and children. There are countless small pits in the ground that were smaller graves. Over 8,000 people were killed and buried at Choeung Ek, which is the site we visited, and the largest of the Killing Fields. When walking around the area there are still remnants of clothing sticking out of the ground, as well as bone fragments scattered in different places. A sign marked a tree that was used by executioners to beat children and babies against, and a pile of bone fragments laid beside it. The whole experience was really overwhelming, and I'm glad we didn't go on the same day we went to Tuol Sleng. It's just so hard to understand how something like this could happen, and has happened many times before, and continues to happen today. I always wonder about the Cambodians I see that are old enough to have been alive during the Khmer Rouge regime--did they work under the Khmer Rouge, were they forced into labor or tortured by them, were there families killed by them? Jason said it would make an interesting book to go into the city and talk to people about their experience and role during that time.
On a lighter note, on our ride back to the city from the Killing Fields we drove past a motorbike that had a whole pig sliced open draped across the back of it. It was so disgusting; its hooves were dragging the ground, and its insides were totally exposed. It looked like it was probably alive this morning! We got a picture of it so hopefully it will get posted soon.
Today we visited the Killing Fields, which is one of the mass grave sites that the Khmer Rouge murdered and buried people. After being imprisoned at Tuol Sleng which we visited last week, truckloads of prisoners were taken out to this area about 15 km outside of the city. The centerpiece is a large memorial stupa, which is filled with skulls, clothing, and other bone fragments of victims that were found at the site. We could go inside of it and the skulls are actually out in the open, not behind glass. It got to me a bit being so close to over 5,000 human skulls. Outside of the stupa are markers indicating where mass graves were discovered. The largest had 450 bodies, another had 166 headless bodies, and another was 100 bodies of women and children. There are countless small pits in the ground that were smaller graves. Over 8,000 people were killed and buried at Choeung Ek, which is the site we visited, and the largest of the Killing Fields. When walking around the area there are still remnants of clothing sticking out of the ground, as well as bone fragments scattered in different places. A sign marked a tree that was used by executioners to beat children and babies against, and a pile of bone fragments laid beside it. The whole experience was really overwhelming, and I'm glad we didn't go on the same day we went to Tuol Sleng. It's just so hard to understand how something like this could happen, and has happened many times before, and continues to happen today. I always wonder about the Cambodians I see that are old enough to have been alive during the Khmer Rouge regime--did they work under the Khmer Rouge, were they forced into labor or tortured by them, were there families killed by them? Jason said it would make an interesting book to go into the city and talk to people about their experience and role during that time.
On a lighter note, on our ride back to the city from the Killing Fields we drove past a motorbike that had a whole pig sliced open draped across the back of it. It was so disgusting; its hooves were dragging the ground, and its insides were totally exposed. It looked like it was probably alive this morning! We got a picture of it so hopefully it will get posted soon.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!!
It certainly doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia--it was 90 degrees today, and for our big meal we shared a chicken sandwich. But it's nice thinking about everyone at home getting together today!
We arrived in Phnom Penh about 4 days ago and had quite a few things planned... unfortunately however, I got quite sick, so we've been laying low for awhile. The morning that we left Siem Reap I woke up feeling very achy and stiff with a bit of a headache. During the 6 hour bus ride I was miserable--I could hardly move my neck and became very dizzy and lethargic. We got to town and I had no appetite but made myself eat a bit and head to the room for the night. That evening was probably the sickest I've ever been! I could tell I had a high fever, Jason confirmed that, but we didn't have a thermometer so I'm not sure how high. I had really bad chills, and after I had fallen asleep I was woken up (as was Jason) by my body shaking really hard. I felt like I was freezing, even though Jason said I was burning up. I couldn't control the shaking and Jason went downstairs to look up what could be going on. We were both worried it could be malaria, so he found an American clinic that had a 24 hour phone line he called. They said to come by in the morning for some blood tests. That evening I got physically ill a few times and had a lot of trouble walking up the stairs to our 4th floor hotel room(bad time to be so high). The next morning we went to the clinic and at that time my temperature was 102.5, which we could tell was quite a bit lower than it had been the night before. They did some blood work and are pretty sure it was dengue fever, which is a mosquito born illness that is pretty nasty. Fortunately I'm already feeling better! Still not great by any means, but we found a nice hotel (with an elevator!) that is up away from the noise of the streets and very nice (aside from the spider incident; see below). It was a miserable couple of days but the worst is definitely over.
Today we went to the Tuol Sleng museum, which was an infamous S-21 prison operated under the Khmer Rouge. It was originally a high school, but after the Khmer Rouge took over it was turned into a brutal prison. It's estimated that up to 20,000 people were imprisoned here, and only 12 of them survived- it's like the Auschwitz of Cambodia. I had read so much about the place, but actually seeing it was quite haunting. You could almost feel the horrible things that happened there. The Khmer Rouge tortured thousands of innocent Cambodians there, and those that survived the torture were sent to the Killing Fields for execution. The prison still had intact cells and torture areas, and they've done a good job of creating picture and information displays. The pictures consist of mug shots of the prisoners, bodies after torture, and piles of actual human skulls found in the killing fields. There were also skulls on display that had bullet holes and evidence of trauma (hammers, axes, etc). Some of the pictures were of children as young as 5, both men and women, elderly people, and monks. Jason took some pictures which may be posted tonight.
On a lighter note.....last night we got back to our hotel room and on the wall was the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen outside of a cage. It was probably about 5-6 inches, and we could see his huge fangs. I offered to go get the guys working downstairs to kill it, but Jason stepped up and took care of things! There was no way I would sleep in there with that thing. He used a big sandal and missed on his first swing, but got it the second time. We posted a couple of pictures of it but they don't even begin to illustrate its size. On a seperate topic, we've noticed that on some of the movie channels there are English movies that are also subtitled in English, but the subtitles are clearly written by someone who is not a native English speaker. Some of the things that end up being written are hilarious and are not even close to what the people said... yesterday I laughed harder than I have in years. The guy said "This chick I'm seeing makes these unbelievable pineapple pancakes." The subtitle said "This chicken makes these unbelievable pineapple pancakes." It may not be as funny reading it but it was priceless.
For now we have to stay here until at least Tuesday to get our Burmese Visa, and I imagine by then I'll be doing a lot better! After that we're heading towards the Cambodian coast which should be pretty nice. I know there are other things to share but I'm still so out of it that I will try to post a more interesting update in a few days! Thanks for all of the well-wishes from everyone, and enjoy your yummy dinners!
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Note from Jason: FINALLY, all pictures are up and we are 100% up to date for the first time in weeks. And FYI, I simply couldn't capture the feel of the museum we visited today (see above)in color, so that's why it's all in black and white.
We arrived in Phnom Penh about 4 days ago and had quite a few things planned... unfortunately however, I got quite sick, so we've been laying low for awhile. The morning that we left Siem Reap I woke up feeling very achy and stiff with a bit of a headache. During the 6 hour bus ride I was miserable--I could hardly move my neck and became very dizzy and lethargic. We got to town and I had no appetite but made myself eat a bit and head to the room for the night. That evening was probably the sickest I've ever been! I could tell I had a high fever, Jason confirmed that, but we didn't have a thermometer so I'm not sure how high. I had really bad chills, and after I had fallen asleep I was woken up (as was Jason) by my body shaking really hard. I felt like I was freezing, even though Jason said I was burning up. I couldn't control the shaking and Jason went downstairs to look up what could be going on. We were both worried it could be malaria, so he found an American clinic that had a 24 hour phone line he called. They said to come by in the morning for some blood tests. That evening I got physically ill a few times and had a lot of trouble walking up the stairs to our 4th floor hotel room(bad time to be so high). The next morning we went to the clinic and at that time my temperature was 102.5, which we could tell was quite a bit lower than it had been the night before. They did some blood work and are pretty sure it was dengue fever, which is a mosquito born illness that is pretty nasty. Fortunately I'm already feeling better! Still not great by any means, but we found a nice hotel (with an elevator!) that is up away from the noise of the streets and very nice (aside from the spider incident; see below). It was a miserable couple of days but the worst is definitely over.
Today we went to the Tuol Sleng museum, which was an infamous S-21 prison operated under the Khmer Rouge. It was originally a high school, but after the Khmer Rouge took over it was turned into a brutal prison. It's estimated that up to 20,000 people were imprisoned here, and only 12 of them survived- it's like the Auschwitz of Cambodia. I had read so much about the place, but actually seeing it was quite haunting. You could almost feel the horrible things that happened there. The Khmer Rouge tortured thousands of innocent Cambodians there, and those that survived the torture were sent to the Killing Fields for execution. The prison still had intact cells and torture areas, and they've done a good job of creating picture and information displays. The pictures consist of mug shots of the prisoners, bodies after torture, and piles of actual human skulls found in the killing fields. There were also skulls on display that had bullet holes and evidence of trauma (hammers, axes, etc). Some of the pictures were of children as young as 5, both men and women, elderly people, and monks. Jason took some pictures which may be posted tonight.
On a lighter note.....last night we got back to our hotel room and on the wall was the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen outside of a cage. It was probably about 5-6 inches, and we could see his huge fangs. I offered to go get the guys working downstairs to kill it, but Jason stepped up and took care of things! There was no way I would sleep in there with that thing. He used a big sandal and missed on his first swing, but got it the second time. We posted a couple of pictures of it but they don't even begin to illustrate its size. On a seperate topic, we've noticed that on some of the movie channels there are English movies that are also subtitled in English, but the subtitles are clearly written by someone who is not a native English speaker. Some of the things that end up being written are hilarious and are not even close to what the people said... yesterday I laughed harder than I have in years. The guy said "This chick I'm seeing makes these unbelievable pineapple pancakes." The subtitle said "This chicken makes these unbelievable pineapple pancakes." It may not be as funny reading it but it was priceless.
For now we have to stay here until at least Tuesday to get our Burmese Visa, and I imagine by then I'll be doing a lot better! After that we're heading towards the Cambodian coast which should be pretty nice. I know there are other things to share but I'm still so out of it that I will try to post a more interesting update in a few days! Thanks for all of the well-wishes from everyone, and enjoy your yummy dinners!
-----------
Note from Jason: FINALLY, all pictures are up and we are 100% up to date for the first time in weeks. And FYI, I simply couldn't capture the feel of the museum we visited today (see above)in color, so that's why it's all in black and white.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Things that Happen
In the last blog post we were in Chaing Mai, Thailand, and since then we took an overnight bus 12 hours south to Bangkok, stayed a day there, and then jumped on a train to head to Cambodia. As usual, the transportation and border crossings were an adventure (take that how you will). The bus to Bangkok was straightforward... it was a crummy and very uncomfortable (due partially to the people in front of us who leaned their seats back into our laps) but nothing too unusual. We arrived in Bangkok at about 7am, and took a taxi to the local train station. We had heard that trains to Cambodia were dramatically cheaper than buses, so we went to go check it out- and we’re very glad we did. The train to the Cambodian border was about $1.75, and took about 5.5 hours. On the other hand, the bus took 4 hours (supposedly) and cost about $17- the choice was obvious. The train left the next morning at 5:55 so we had a day to kill in Bangkok, which we spent recovering from the overnight bus and miling about the area. While we were hunting for a place to stay, Michelle ran into an interesting situation. She walked into an old guesthouse and asked about rooms and asked to see one, and the man working it said ‘OK’ and told her to leave her bag there and he’d take her up to see it. She said it was OK, she didn’t mind carrying the bag upstairs (leaving all your worldly possessions in an unknown lobby is not a good idea) and he blew up on her... started yelling that if she didn’t leave her bag she couldn’t see the room. Not sure what he was trying to accomplish out of that, I assume he would know that if he yelled we would leave (we did). Odd, and an unusual introduction to Bangkok.
Anyway, the train the next day was great. The views were great, it more comfortable than the bus, and we met a couple of people from San Francisco and Brazil that we talked with. Upon arrival we got a taxi to the border, and the driver dropped us off at a little stand where lots of people were filling out visa forms and all the normal stuff. The shuttled us in and gave us the forms which we filled out. He quoted us the visa price in baht, which we paid, but as soon as we did we did the calculation in our head and it came out to over double the price of what a Visa normally is. I asked why, and the guy gave me a reason that didn’t make much sense. I tried to clarify and his answers and responses got even more incoherent, so I asked for the money back and said we’d just try walking up to the border on our own, because I didn’t he was running a legit operation. He refused because he said they were already processing the visa (an outright lie). The people we were traveling with had not paid yet, so we told them not to, which pissed off the border guy who had previously been very nice. We got our Visa, as promised, but it was $45 instead of $20. From what I could tell, this official looking stand was filling out the forms, calling the official border (1/4 down the road) and having them do the visa, and charging us $25 extra for the convenience. I’m sure the official border guards were getting a kickback as well. So we got screwed, but all the people we traveled with got through for the normal $20, and they bought us dinner that night to make up for the lost cash. Nice folks! It is frustrating though, because we are aware of the scams and are very careful, but you walk into them anyway. They really do a good job of screwing people.
After making it past the first border checkpoint, we were approached by people offering us taxi rides to Siem Reap after we crossed the border. This is pretty common. The going rate in the guidebook was $50 US for a taxi (split between all 5 of us), which fluctuates, so we were happy when we got a guy to come down to $35 US for the same thing. He agreed to meet us on the other side of the border and take us the rest of the way. We all crossed over, and then while walking to the Cambodian border (it’s about 1/4 mile between the Thai border and the Cambodian border) we see the same guy who was supposed to drive us to Siem Reap on the side of the road, handcuffed, and getting manhandled by some cops/border patrol. Not sure what happened as we didn’t stick around, but I’m assuming he tried to cross illegally and got caught or something. Anyway, we found it quite hilarious.
After this incident we elected to go take a bus instead of a taxi. It was fun and went smoothly since we all just sat in the back and talked the whole time (felt like high school). We stopped about halfway through the drive, and when backing out of the restaurant our driver ran into a power cable that was hanging down pretty low, knocking it down and causing quite a mess. Just another hilarious daily incident that happens on the road.
Cambodia is an interesting place so far. Siem Reap is a pretty small (200k people-ish) city that is very poor, but also happens to have Angkor Wat, one of the biggest and best temples in the world. Because of this you have massive 4-star hotels lining a road in one area, and then ½ mile into the city you have extreme poverty. There are nightclubs and fancy restaurants in the middle of the downtown area that charge a lot of money for a western meal, and then right across the street (literally) there are local food stalls that serve great local dishes for $1. Consequently, and sadly, this has created a typical situation of haves and have-nots accompanied by the inevitable- begging. The begging has undoubtedly been the worst here of anywhere we’ve seen so far. It’s constant and unavoidable, some people trying to sell books, others little handicrafts, many just asking for money. Lots of people have signs written in excellent English (I’m curious who writes them) that says their name, their situation (poor, orphan, amputee, etc) and that they don’t want to beg for money but they have to. Even within the Ankgor Wat temple grounds we were under constant assault of little kids as young as 5 trying to sell us stuff and telling us how bad they need the money. However, as hard as it often was (especially for the sweet hearted Michelle) we never bought anything. These were kids that as young as 8 or 9 were already dropping out of school to try and make a living hawking stuff to foreigners, and we simple don’t want to support that. We’re sure most of what they were told to say (and most kids said the exact same lines, word for word) was taught to them by the parents, which is where most the money will go, so the last thing we want is to pay someone for taking their kids out of school. Michelle and I talked a lot about it, and we both strongly feel that the government should make it illegal to have kids working (or even adults in some cases) within the park, which is a highly regulated area. They should have designated food vendors and products to sell, and they should be sold only by employees of the park. Jobs should be given out to kids who have finished high school, encoring them to stay in school... these are pretty simple ideas that would probably make a huge difference in the long run.
To exasperate the entire situation, many of the people we’ve seen begging and selling stuff have been disabled. Landmines seem to be the leading cause, and consequently young kids are the biggest victims. Single, double, and even triple amputees are commonplace. I did a bit of research after noticing this, and in Cambodia there is apparently 1 amputee for every 259 people- a ridiculously high number. Not that long ago the Khmer Rouge tore this country apart, and landmines had been placed all over the country by many groups- fortunately, the U.S.A. not being one of them (unlike Laos, where they are mainly ours). Many of the people that approach us and ask for money are in a wheelchair, on crutches, and in at least once case so far have had people pushing them in carts because they have no hands or feet at all. It’s absolutely tragic.
On a lighter note, the currency system in Cambodia is very odd. The official currency is the Riel, which is valued at about 4000-1 against the US Dollar right now. However, about 75% of stuff is quoted in USD, and ATM’s give out USD as well. Even more oddly, there are no US Coins, only bills. If something is 75 cents and you pay with a $1 bill, you will get change in Riel- 1000 of them. It’s a tough system, because breaking a $10 bill can be nearly impossible at some places but you can’t carry around stacks of 1’s all the time just because of the size. It’s a weird, hybrid system that makes price negotiation a hilarious endeavor. No one generally drops their prices below $1, they just start trying to add more stuff.
Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat, as I mentioned earlier, and it was awesome. It was a far superior visit than any other I’ve had to old ruins, dominating over even well known sites like the Mayan town of Copan in Central America. However, it was so cool that there isn’t really a ton for me to say about it, and I’ll let my pictures do the talking. I’ve got well over a hundred pics, and the internet here is slow, but I’ll work on it when I can. In the mean time, the rest of the pictures from Thailand should be online now.
That’s all for now, but I leave you with this-
Quote of the day:
Me (brushing teeth in bathroom): What movie is coming on now?
Michelle (watching TV): Umm... “15 and Above”. I have never heard of that, have you?
Me: Uhhh.... that’s probably the rating.
Michelle: hahaha. Yeah.
(It was Silence of the Lambs)
Anyway, the train the next day was great. The views were great, it more comfortable than the bus, and we met a couple of people from San Francisco and Brazil that we talked with. Upon arrival we got a taxi to the border, and the driver dropped us off at a little stand where lots of people were filling out visa forms and all the normal stuff. The shuttled us in and gave us the forms which we filled out. He quoted us the visa price in baht, which we paid, but as soon as we did we did the calculation in our head and it came out to over double the price of what a Visa normally is. I asked why, and the guy gave me a reason that didn’t make much sense. I tried to clarify and his answers and responses got even more incoherent, so I asked for the money back and said we’d just try walking up to the border on our own, because I didn’t he was running a legit operation. He refused because he said they were already processing the visa (an outright lie). The people we were traveling with had not paid yet, so we told them not to, which pissed off the border guy who had previously been very nice. We got our Visa, as promised, but it was $45 instead of $20. From what I could tell, this official looking stand was filling out the forms, calling the official border (1/4 down the road) and having them do the visa, and charging us $25 extra for the convenience. I’m sure the official border guards were getting a kickback as well. So we got screwed, but all the people we traveled with got through for the normal $20, and they bought us dinner that night to make up for the lost cash. Nice folks! It is frustrating though, because we are aware of the scams and are very careful, but you walk into them anyway. They really do a good job of screwing people.
After making it past the first border checkpoint, we were approached by people offering us taxi rides to Siem Reap after we crossed the border. This is pretty common. The going rate in the guidebook was $50 US for a taxi (split between all 5 of us), which fluctuates, so we were happy when we got a guy to come down to $35 US for the same thing. He agreed to meet us on the other side of the border and take us the rest of the way. We all crossed over, and then while walking to the Cambodian border (it’s about 1/4 mile between the Thai border and the Cambodian border) we see the same guy who was supposed to drive us to Siem Reap on the side of the road, handcuffed, and getting manhandled by some cops/border patrol. Not sure what happened as we didn’t stick around, but I’m assuming he tried to cross illegally and got caught or something. Anyway, we found it quite hilarious.
After this incident we elected to go take a bus instead of a taxi. It was fun and went smoothly since we all just sat in the back and talked the whole time (felt like high school). We stopped about halfway through the drive, and when backing out of the restaurant our driver ran into a power cable that was hanging down pretty low, knocking it down and causing quite a mess. Just another hilarious daily incident that happens on the road.
Cambodia is an interesting place so far. Siem Reap is a pretty small (200k people-ish) city that is very poor, but also happens to have Angkor Wat, one of the biggest and best temples in the world. Because of this you have massive 4-star hotels lining a road in one area, and then ½ mile into the city you have extreme poverty. There are nightclubs and fancy restaurants in the middle of the downtown area that charge a lot of money for a western meal, and then right across the street (literally) there are local food stalls that serve great local dishes for $1. Consequently, and sadly, this has created a typical situation of haves and have-nots accompanied by the inevitable- begging. The begging has undoubtedly been the worst here of anywhere we’ve seen so far. It’s constant and unavoidable, some people trying to sell books, others little handicrafts, many just asking for money. Lots of people have signs written in excellent English (I’m curious who writes them) that says their name, their situation (poor, orphan, amputee, etc) and that they don’t want to beg for money but they have to. Even within the Ankgor Wat temple grounds we were under constant assault of little kids as young as 5 trying to sell us stuff and telling us how bad they need the money. However, as hard as it often was (especially for the sweet hearted Michelle) we never bought anything. These were kids that as young as 8 or 9 were already dropping out of school to try and make a living hawking stuff to foreigners, and we simple don’t want to support that. We’re sure most of what they were told to say (and most kids said the exact same lines, word for word) was taught to them by the parents, which is where most the money will go, so the last thing we want is to pay someone for taking their kids out of school. Michelle and I talked a lot about it, and we both strongly feel that the government should make it illegal to have kids working (or even adults in some cases) within the park, which is a highly regulated area. They should have designated food vendors and products to sell, and they should be sold only by employees of the park. Jobs should be given out to kids who have finished high school, encoring them to stay in school... these are pretty simple ideas that would probably make a huge difference in the long run.
To exasperate the entire situation, many of the people we’ve seen begging and selling stuff have been disabled. Landmines seem to be the leading cause, and consequently young kids are the biggest victims. Single, double, and even triple amputees are commonplace. I did a bit of research after noticing this, and in Cambodia there is apparently 1 amputee for every 259 people- a ridiculously high number. Not that long ago the Khmer Rouge tore this country apart, and landmines had been placed all over the country by many groups- fortunately, the U.S.A. not being one of them (unlike Laos, where they are mainly ours). Many of the people that approach us and ask for money are in a wheelchair, on crutches, and in at least once case so far have had people pushing them in carts because they have no hands or feet at all. It’s absolutely tragic.
On a lighter note, the currency system in Cambodia is very odd. The official currency is the Riel, which is valued at about 4000-1 against the US Dollar right now. However, about 75% of stuff is quoted in USD, and ATM’s give out USD as well. Even more oddly, there are no US Coins, only bills. If something is 75 cents and you pay with a $1 bill, you will get change in Riel- 1000 of them. It’s a tough system, because breaking a $10 bill can be nearly impossible at some places but you can’t carry around stacks of 1’s all the time just because of the size. It’s a weird, hybrid system that makes price negotiation a hilarious endeavor. No one generally drops their prices below $1, they just start trying to add more stuff.
Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat, as I mentioned earlier, and it was awesome. It was a far superior visit than any other I’ve had to old ruins, dominating over even well known sites like the Mayan town of Copan in Central America. However, it was so cool that there isn’t really a ton for me to say about it, and I’ll let my pictures do the talking. I’ve got well over a hundred pics, and the internet here is slow, but I’ll work on it when I can. In the mean time, the rest of the pictures from Thailand should be online now.
That’s all for now, but I leave you with this-
Quote of the day:
Me (brushing teeth in bathroom): What movie is coming on now?
Michelle (watching TV): Umm... “15 and Above”. I have never heard of that, have you?
Me: Uhhh.... that’s probably the rating.
Michelle: hahaha. Yeah.
(It was Silence of the Lambs)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Up to date!
Since arriving in Thailand we've had a nice, relaxing time. We've been to multiple open-air markets, spent many hours at our hotel pool, walked a ton of the town, took an all day cooking class, and even watched the Broncos get stomped by the Steelers on Monday Night Football (Tuesday Morning Football for us). We'll be sad to leave, but we'll probably be heading to Bangkok within the next few days in order to get an advance visa for Myanmar, and then heading to Cambodia for a few weeks.
The reason for the post, however, is that I wanted to tell everyone that the blog should be up to date for the first time in weeks. Every picture we have taken has been uploaded- there are quite a few more from Laos and now a lot in Thailand. As you may notice, the blog format has been updated as well, with a rough itinerary and a map of our travels that I'll try to keep updated as we move.
Thanks for reading!
The reason for the post, however, is that I wanted to tell everyone that the blog should be up to date for the first time in weeks. Every picture we have taken has been uploaded- there are quite a few more from Laos and now a lot in Thailand. As you may notice, the blog format has been updated as well, with a rough itinerary and a map of our travels that I'll try to keep updated as we move.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sabaidee!! (hello in Lao)
We had such a fabulous last week in Laos! Since our last update we spent a couple of lazy days in a town called Nong Khiaw, and then quite a bit of time in Luang Nam Tha. We knew that in Luang Nam Tha we wanted to do some trekking and had it recommended by many people. On the bus there from Nong Khiaw we met 3 girls that were planning to do the same thing, and decided to try and book a trek together in order to make it cheaper. We had such a great time with the girls--2 were from Sweden and 1 was from England. We stayed in the same hotel and spent quite a bit of time together. The next day we were looking for treks and met a couple from the US that was also trying to book a tour. We ended up finding an awesome tour that consisted of a day of trekking, spending the night in a small ethnic village, and kayaking the next day. We spent the next day riding bikes around Luang Nam Tha and surrounding villages--there are countless ethnic villages surrounding the city and it's interesting how easy it is to distinguish between them. We spent time getting to know the girls we had met and the couple from the U.S. Everyone got along so well and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone!
The next morning we started our hike, which was about 10 km through the forest. It was quite steep but really enjoyable. We didn't see any animals because everyone was chattering the whole way, and it flew by! The last part of the hike was along the river which was nice, and we passed through a few villages. The villages are pretty amazing--the palm houses are well constructed, there is a lot of order to how things are done and where things are, and everyone seems to have a role in making it work. The village we stayed in was no different. We were entertained by the pigs, goats, cows, chickens, children, dogs, and cats running loose everywhere, and all of the animals seemed to have babies! We laughed by how entertained we were, considering you can find all of those things running around Missouri! About 30% of the money we paid for the trek goes straight to the village we stayed in, and they helped prepare dinner and our sleeping area. All of the meals we ate on the trip were incredible, and eaten off of banana leaves. We had sticky rice, spiced beef, pumpkin soup, tomatos, and of course Lao Lao (the infamously potent Lao whiskey). The village chief and 2 other men ate with us and kept passing the Lao Lao. Our guide was able to translate so we could all talk with each other, and we learned a lot about the chief and the inner-workings of the village. After dinner we all sat around a fire and drank warm beer, which wasn't too bad because it was quite chilly out. The next day we got to go kayaking all day! Jason and I have kayaked together quite a few times, but apparently are not very good partners. There were 4 kayaks with 2 people in each, and we definitely got stuck on rocks the most. We ran into an overhanging tree once and I fell in the water, and later sailed right into a rock and tipped over! The 3 bags we had fell out and I tried to grab them in the current while Jason righted the kayak. The current was so strong I couldn't pull the bags I'd grabbed and it was hard to get back in the kayak--one of our paddles and a bag floated downstream but our guide grabbed them. We had a great time with it though and were laughing the whole day. That night we had to say goodbye to everyone, as we were all going separate ways the next day. We both agree that Laos was such a nice surprise and left us relaxed and satisfied when we left. The landscapes were beautiful, the people were friendly, and the beer was cheap and good.
Crossing the border to Thailand was a breeze. The entire process of checking out of Laos, taking a ferry across the Mekong, and getting into Thailand took about 15 mins. Compared to our 2 hour ordeal getting into Laos, this was a treat. We arrived in Chang Khong on the border, and sporadically decided to take a late night bus to Chiang Mai that would leave at 6:30. We had a few hours to kill in Chang Khong, and while we were there an awesome night market started to line the streets. Food stalls were everywhere with countless types of Thai food, baked goods, drinks, fried chicken, sausages, and lots of other yummy treats. We started regretting our decision to leave that night, especially since we were exhausted from the trek. Fortunately we got the ticket moved to the next morning! So we spent a few hours at the market eating the best fried chicken we've ever had (who knew it was in Thailand!) and sampling lots of different food. Yesterday we took the bus to Chiang Mai, and it was easily the best bus ride we've had on the trip. The road was paved, our driver was sane, and it wasn't through mountains. Chiang Mai so far is wonderful, and we plan to spend quite a few days here. We've pretty much decided to devote our Chiang Mai budget to food! Which I'm of course happy with. We're taking a cooking course, which includes a morning session learning 7 dishes and an evening class with the same thing. We also get a tour of the market, cookbook, and most importantly we get to eat everything!! There are many open markets here which all have very cheap and good food--last night was a Sunday market that was just incredible! We got to have some excellent sushi, more fried chicken, quail eggs, noodles, "ancient ice cream" (Jason's new obsession), and kebabs. Tonight we are going to the Night Bazaar, which promises more cheap and yummy food, and supposedly has a Burger King close by as well! And there are a few Mexican restaurants in town, and a Starbucks....I could go on forever about the food! Needless to say we're loving Thailand so far.
We have some other exciting news--we booked our plane tickets to Myanmar! (Burma). And what's more exciting is Nancy, the girl from England that we went trekking with, is coming too! She had been planning to go but it fell through, and it happened to work out she could go when we are. So we split up for now, but are planning to meet in Bangkok on December 22 to fly out, where we'll be until January 15th. Obviously this means we'll be spending Christmas, New Years, and both of our birthdays in Myanmar which we didn't plan, but it just worked out. We're not envisioning any crazy New Years parties, but it should be an interesting place to be for all of that.
We'll be in Chiang Mai for a few days, then take the bus to Bangkok. We won't spend much time there though because we'll be there for awhile next month waiting for our Myanmar visa. I can't believe we're already on our third country, it's flying by! Hope everyone reading this is doing well, we miss you all :)
---------
Addition by Jason:
We made a rough itinerary for the rest of our trip which I figured I'd post, since a lot of people have asked about it. It should now be in the sidebar. Also, I put together a nifty little map that should help give everyone a visual of where it is we have been... I will update it as we move along. I'm still working on posting pictures (from Laos), and it probably be a few days before they are all up.
The next morning we started our hike, which was about 10 km through the forest. It was quite steep but really enjoyable. We didn't see any animals because everyone was chattering the whole way, and it flew by! The last part of the hike was along the river which was nice, and we passed through a few villages. The villages are pretty amazing--the palm houses are well constructed, there is a lot of order to how things are done and where things are, and everyone seems to have a role in making it work. The village we stayed in was no different. We were entertained by the pigs, goats, cows, chickens, children, dogs, and cats running loose everywhere, and all of the animals seemed to have babies! We laughed by how entertained we were, considering you can find all of those things running around Missouri! About 30% of the money we paid for the trek goes straight to the village we stayed in, and they helped prepare dinner and our sleeping area. All of the meals we ate on the trip were incredible, and eaten off of banana leaves. We had sticky rice, spiced beef, pumpkin soup, tomatos, and of course Lao Lao (the infamously potent Lao whiskey). The village chief and 2 other men ate with us and kept passing the Lao Lao. Our guide was able to translate so we could all talk with each other, and we learned a lot about the chief and the inner-workings of the village. After dinner we all sat around a fire and drank warm beer, which wasn't too bad because it was quite chilly out. The next day we got to go kayaking all day! Jason and I have kayaked together quite a few times, but apparently are not very good partners. There were 4 kayaks with 2 people in each, and we definitely got stuck on rocks the most. We ran into an overhanging tree once and I fell in the water, and later sailed right into a rock and tipped over! The 3 bags we had fell out and I tried to grab them in the current while Jason righted the kayak. The current was so strong I couldn't pull the bags I'd grabbed and it was hard to get back in the kayak--one of our paddles and a bag floated downstream but our guide grabbed them. We had a great time with it though and were laughing the whole day. That night we had to say goodbye to everyone, as we were all going separate ways the next day. We both agree that Laos was such a nice surprise and left us relaxed and satisfied when we left. The landscapes were beautiful, the people were friendly, and the beer was cheap and good.
Crossing the border to Thailand was a breeze. The entire process of checking out of Laos, taking a ferry across the Mekong, and getting into Thailand took about 15 mins. Compared to our 2 hour ordeal getting into Laos, this was a treat. We arrived in Chang Khong on the border, and sporadically decided to take a late night bus to Chiang Mai that would leave at 6:30. We had a few hours to kill in Chang Khong, and while we were there an awesome night market started to line the streets. Food stalls were everywhere with countless types of Thai food, baked goods, drinks, fried chicken, sausages, and lots of other yummy treats. We started regretting our decision to leave that night, especially since we were exhausted from the trek. Fortunately we got the ticket moved to the next morning! So we spent a few hours at the market eating the best fried chicken we've ever had (who knew it was in Thailand!) and sampling lots of different food. Yesterday we took the bus to Chiang Mai, and it was easily the best bus ride we've had on the trip. The road was paved, our driver was sane, and it wasn't through mountains. Chiang Mai so far is wonderful, and we plan to spend quite a few days here. We've pretty much decided to devote our Chiang Mai budget to food! Which I'm of course happy with. We're taking a cooking course, which includes a morning session learning 7 dishes and an evening class with the same thing. We also get a tour of the market, cookbook, and most importantly we get to eat everything!! There are many open markets here which all have very cheap and good food--last night was a Sunday market that was just incredible! We got to have some excellent sushi, more fried chicken, quail eggs, noodles, "ancient ice cream" (Jason's new obsession), and kebabs. Tonight we are going to the Night Bazaar, which promises more cheap and yummy food, and supposedly has a Burger King close by as well! And there are a few Mexican restaurants in town, and a Starbucks....I could go on forever about the food! Needless to say we're loving Thailand so far.
We have some other exciting news--we booked our plane tickets to Myanmar! (Burma). And what's more exciting is Nancy, the girl from England that we went trekking with, is coming too! She had been planning to go but it fell through, and it happened to work out she could go when we are. So we split up for now, but are planning to meet in Bangkok on December 22 to fly out, where we'll be until January 15th. Obviously this means we'll be spending Christmas, New Years, and both of our birthdays in Myanmar which we didn't plan, but it just worked out. We're not envisioning any crazy New Years parties, but it should be an interesting place to be for all of that.
We'll be in Chiang Mai for a few days, then take the bus to Bangkok. We won't spend much time there though because we'll be there for awhile next month waiting for our Myanmar visa. I can't believe we're already on our third country, it's flying by! Hope everyone reading this is doing well, we miss you all :)
---------
Addition by Jason:
We made a rough itinerary for the rest of our trip which I figured I'd post, since a lot of people have asked about it. It should now be in the sidebar. Also, I put together a nifty little map that should help give everyone a visual of where it is we have been... I will update it as we move along. I'm still working on posting pictures (from Laos), and it probably be a few days before they are all up.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Quick Update
We're in Thailand! We've got a ton to write about now that we have good internet access again, but neither of us really feels like doing it at the moment, and we've got a bus ride to Chiang Mai in about an hour. However, we wanted to put up a note letting everyone know that we've left Laos (sadly) and are now in Thailand (yay) where we'll be for a couple of weeks. I've got a lot of pictures from Laos to put up, but I'll probably only get up about half of them today. The rest (the good ones, especially if you like cute Lao kids), along with a big blog update (from Michelle) should be up tomorrow.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Laos is great!
Laos is great!
So far, we can safely say that all of the problems we had getting into this country have been warrented by the great experiences we've had upon arrival. The people are nice, the traffic is easy, the landscapes are beautiful and the food is very diverse (in a good way). We started in the capital of Vientiane, which was a delightful little town. It's the biggest city in the country, but at only 250k people was easy to get around. From there we moved on to Vang Vieng, which has probably been the biggest surprise on the trip so far. It's a small town at the foot of some gorgeous limestone mountains, strewn out along a fast moving and clean river. Our hotel room ($5/night) sat right on the water, and there was a restaurant that went out to the water where we spent most of our nights. Inner tubes were available for floating and the view was absolutely stunning, so we sat in the water for hours at a time just taking it all in. In the city center (if you can call it that) there were numerous "video bars", which are essentially just restaurants that play TV shows off DVD's. Oddly, FRIENDS was the big show, and at any given time you could find 3 or more restaurants playing it. We went to these places for a good cheap meal, and stayed to watch 5-6 episodes of a 100% American show. Fun stuff! At one point we also rented mountain bikes... nice TREK bikes to do so some offroading. We rode quite a long ways into the mountains and through numerous little villages, and stopped do a hike into a cave. It was a fantastic ride, although we both got fried by the sun.
Which brings us to the next topic- the heat. It is ungodly hot here. We like hot weather, the hottest stuff that Missouri offers has always been OK by me, but here the sun is so intense it has really caught us off guard. You can feel it burning you on short walks, and even the dark skinned locals wear pants, long shirts and hats most the time. We don't have A/C, so the only way to cool off is in the shade or in a river. Mosquitoes were a problem in Vang Vieng, so we slept under a mosquito net which made it even hotter. Slowly though, we think we'll get used to it. It's just part of living in a place like this... just one of the normal everyday things you get used to. Similarly, just a couple of nights ago a 2ft+ lizard crawled through the open window of our bungalow and shot up the curtain onto the wall- scared the crap out of us. The next 15 minutes or so were spent trying to coax the big guy out the door. It's this kind of stuff that really makes the trip what it is!
Currently we are in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos, and we just had an awesome evening. We visited a night market put on by a local minority group (Hmong People )which had tons of handmade clothing, paintings, scarves, figurines, alcohol, etc. We got a few cool little souvenirs, including a small bottle of Lao Whiskey with a scorpion in it... potent stuff. There were also tons of food stalls... people had grills and lots of animals on sticks. We got grilled chicken, a foot long sub with chicken, cheese and veggies, a plate of noodles and beans (3 different noodle types) and 3 handmade fruit shakes (Lime, Lime-Apple, and Papaya). These were too cool... it was just a bunch of plastic cups with fruit in them, and you pick the cup you want (based on the fruit inside) and they put it in a blender with some ice for you. Best slushes I've ever had, and that’s saying quite a bit. And for those that are curious, the grand total for all the food and drinks I just mentioned was about $4.
Tomorrow we start heading into much more remote areas... some of which are accessible only by boat and only have power a few hours each day (via generators). We'll be working north and then west towards the border with north Thailand, and it's possible we won't have internet access for a week or more, so don't be concerned if you don't hear from us!
-------------- Pictures from Laos should be up shortly
So far, we can safely say that all of the problems we had getting into this country have been warrented by the great experiences we've had upon arrival. The people are nice, the traffic is easy, the landscapes are beautiful and the food is very diverse (in a good way). We started in the capital of Vientiane, which was a delightful little town. It's the biggest city in the country, but at only 250k people was easy to get around. From there we moved on to Vang Vieng, which has probably been the biggest surprise on the trip so far. It's a small town at the foot of some gorgeous limestone mountains, strewn out along a fast moving and clean river. Our hotel room ($5/night) sat right on the water, and there was a restaurant that went out to the water where we spent most of our nights. Inner tubes were available for floating and the view was absolutely stunning, so we sat in the water for hours at a time just taking it all in. In the city center (if you can call it that) there were numerous "video bars", which are essentially just restaurants that play TV shows off DVD's. Oddly, FRIENDS was the big show, and at any given time you could find 3 or more restaurants playing it. We went to these places for a good cheap meal, and stayed to watch 5-6 episodes of a 100% American show. Fun stuff! At one point we also rented mountain bikes... nice TREK bikes to do so some offroading. We rode quite a long ways into the mountains and through numerous little villages, and stopped do a hike into a cave. It was a fantastic ride, although we both got fried by the sun.
Which brings us to the next topic- the heat. It is ungodly hot here. We like hot weather, the hottest stuff that Missouri offers has always been OK by me, but here the sun is so intense it has really caught us off guard. You can feel it burning you on short walks, and even the dark skinned locals wear pants, long shirts and hats most the time. We don't have A/C, so the only way to cool off is in the shade or in a river. Mosquitoes were a problem in Vang Vieng, so we slept under a mosquito net which made it even hotter. Slowly though, we think we'll get used to it. It's just part of living in a place like this... just one of the normal everyday things you get used to. Similarly, just a couple of nights ago a 2ft+ lizard crawled through the open window of our bungalow and shot up the curtain onto the wall- scared the crap out of us. The next 15 minutes or so were spent trying to coax the big guy out the door. It's this kind of stuff that really makes the trip what it is!
Currently we are in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos, and we just had an awesome evening. We visited a night market put on by a local minority group (Hmong People )which had tons of handmade clothing, paintings, scarves, figurines, alcohol, etc. We got a few cool little souvenirs, including a small bottle of Lao Whiskey with a scorpion in it... potent stuff. There were also tons of food stalls... people had grills and lots of animals on sticks. We got grilled chicken, a foot long sub with chicken, cheese and veggies, a plate of noodles and beans (3 different noodle types) and 3 handmade fruit shakes (Lime, Lime-Apple, and Papaya). These were too cool... it was just a bunch of plastic cups with fruit in them, and you pick the cup you want (based on the fruit inside) and they put it in a blender with some ice for you. Best slushes I've ever had, and that’s saying quite a bit. And for those that are curious, the grand total for all the food and drinks I just mentioned was about $4.
Tomorrow we start heading into much more remote areas... some of which are accessible only by boat and only have power a few hours each day (via generators). We'll be working north and then west towards the border with north Thailand, and it's possible we won't have internet access for a week or more, so don't be concerned if you don't hear from us!
-------------- Pictures from Laos should be up shortly
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Vietnam to Laos
Well, we had our longest bus ride yet from Hanoi to Vientiane--22 hours!! They weren't the most enjoyable hours...the bus was overfilled because the last 2 rows were filled with about 50 cases of barley tea. We were convinced they were probably drugs that we were assisting in smuggling to Laos, because why would you want to bring so much barley tea to Laos? The people operating our bus were actually quite unpleasant which made the ride a bit worse as well. We were on a sitting bus instead of a sleeping one to save money, so it was a pretty tight fit, and about halfway in started to smell quite a bit. One of the people working for the bus was flirting with 2 girls sitting in front of us, and reached over them to lean their seats ALL the way back onto us, so Jason and I had very little space for most of the ride. We arrived at the Laos border about 2 hours before it opened, so we had to sit on the bus and wait. They turned it off including the air, and since Jason and I were in the back it became almost suffocating with so many people and no air! Finally the border opened and we left Vietnam without any problems, but getting into Laos was a bit more challenging. Jason and I felt very preapred: we had our money ready in US Dollars (they prefer that), we had our passport sized photos, we had pens—lots of other people were scrambling around to come up with enough money or didn’t have everything they needed. We filled out the visa applications and were one of the first people to turn our paperwork in. They processed them and told us it would be $72 for our 2 visas. We handed them the 4 $20 bills we had, and watched as they examined each one carefully, and handed 2 of them back. One had a small ink stain, and the other had a little tear at the top of the center that happens when they’ve been used and folded. We told him we didn’t have any other money, were from the U.S., and the money was certainly legitimate. They said they couldn’t take them. There was a money exchange in the same building so Jason brought our 20’s to them and asked for 10s in return. He accepted one of them, but not the other. So we had $60 for our $72 visas, and no way to get any other money. We asked them what we should do and their suggestion was to go to the ATM 30 km inside of Laos….obviously if we could get into Laos we wouldn’t have a problem! While this is going on almost everyone else has gotten through, with the exception of some people from Chile, Germany, and Sweden. Each had separately called the Laos embassy before coming and were told they could get transit visas for 2 weeks for free, so they had no money to pay for their visas. They ended up having quite the confrontation with the people at the border crossing who said it wasn’t true and they must pay. They refused to call their embassy to check, and began yelling at the people and demanding their passports. And hour and a half later they were able to borrow money and get through, and we found another American who traded us one of her $20s and we got through. When he handed me $8 in change the $1 bills were all very dirty, so I demanded he give me clean ones instead! It felt like a tiny piece of redemption. It wasn’t the best first impression of Laos, but things got much better after we arrived in Vientiane!
Getting off the bus was wonderful, and we found a place to stay right by the Mekong River. We walked around and both noticed how quiet it is—there isn’t constant honking and yelling! People drive normally, crossing the street is easy, and everyone seems so laid back. They have good cheap beer and food and everyone we’ve met has been wonderful so far. We are spending a few days here recovering from the crazy bus ride and taking care of some finances and laundry. We don’t plan to spend the full month here, so we should be able to take our time and not have to worry about visas expiring. In a couple of days we’ll take the bus to Vang Vieng, and there we get to go tubing down the Mekong, and possibly rock climbing! We’re excited to get to check out a new country for the next few weeks.
Getting off the bus was wonderful, and we found a place to stay right by the Mekong River. We walked around and both noticed how quiet it is—there isn’t constant honking and yelling! People drive normally, crossing the street is easy, and everyone seems so laid back. They have good cheap beer and food and everyone we’ve met has been wonderful so far. We are spending a few days here recovering from the crazy bus ride and taking care of some finances and laundry. We don’t plan to spend the full month here, so we should be able to take our time and not have to worry about visas expiring. In a couple of days we’ll take the bus to Vang Vieng, and there we get to go tubing down the Mekong, and possibly rock climbing! We’re excited to get to check out a new country for the next few weeks.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Off we go
We've covered a lot of ground and had a change of plans since the last post, but the last week or so has probably been the most enjoyable one so far. From Hanoi we took a public bus to Halong City, the gateway to Halong Bay. For some reason, instead of taking us to Halong City, the bus literally dropped us off on the side of the highway where two guys on motorbikes were conviently waiting to pick us up. They extorted some ungodly sum out of us to take us the rest of the way, which we couldn't really do anything about because we didn't even know which way we were supposed to walk. On arrival, the city was dead.... barely a tourist or a local to be seen. From what we could gather, most people tend to book their tours of Halong Bay while they are actually in Hanoi- they take a tour bus to Halong City, get strait on a boat, and then once off the boat already have a tour bus back back to Hanoi waiting for them. Consequently, there is very little in the city at all, and we milled about for a few hours trying to find a good deal on a tour. We started by going to a nice looking hotel and asking about tour prices. We were quoted $62 per person for a 2 day tour with 1 night sleeping on a boat in the bay. We though this was too high, so we explored the dock area and after an hour or so of intense negotiations, we managed to secure a tour through a nice fellow for the price of $69 for a 3 day 2 night tour, including 1 night on the boat and a second night on an island we had wanted to visit anyway. He also threw in a free bus ride back to Hanoi when we were done, and a free stay at his hotel that first night. So we jumped in a cab with this gentleman and he took us right back to the hotel we started at. Turns out it was the same place, go figure.
The tour was fantastic. Halong Bay was truly incredible and unlike anything we've ever seen, far exceeding our expectations. We rode through the massive bay (over 3000 islands) for hours on top of the old wooden boat, went kayaking, and had a decent nights sleep on board. The next day we were dropped off on Cat Ba Island (the biggest in the bay) and got to climb a good sized peak to a view reminiscent of Jurassic Park. It was a short, 2 kilo walk but climbed somewhere around 700 feet. It took about 30 minutes each direction, maybe a bit more. Afterward we were taken to our hotel on the other side of the island, and from there we walked for a mile or so to a beautiful beach with only a few other people on it. It was definitly the prettiest beach on the trip thus far. The next day we jumped a boat (which by the way, was near sinking the entire time) back to the coast and then hopped on a bus back to Hanoi. We decided while on the way back to skip out on the city of Sapa, which was supposed to be our next stop. To go, we would be cutting our visa expiration a bit too close for comfort. Also, the train tickets to Sapa were extremely expensive, and it would cost quite a bit more to get to Laos after that. That being said, we booked some bus tickets to Laos for this evening and we *should* be there by this time tomorrow.
Since we're leaving Vietnam, here a a few of our thoughts and observations that might be entertaining or informative.
1.) We both agree that the best way to describe Vietnam is one word is 'chaotic'.
2.) For some reason the people here love the movie and music of 'Titanic'. We have seen it on TV multiple times, and the soundtrack is played all over the country in both English and Vietnamese. The soundtrack is even blared on loudspeakers in the streets.
3.) There are signs that say 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy New Year' all over the place. We have no idea why, but they've been in every city we've seen.
4.) Late night Vietnamese TV is hilarious. On a couple of occasions, it has consisted of two teenage kids sitting in front of a TV playing a soccer videogame against eachother. There is an announcer, and each kid even has a cheerleader that watches the screen and cheers at the appropriate time. Very entertaining stuff.
5.) We went to the 'Hanoi Hilton' where John McCain and other U.S. Pilots were held. Apparently, the U.S. pilots were treated extraordinarily well and the whole ordeal was more like a vacation than a prison. On the other hand, the Vietnamese that were imprisoned ealier in that same place (by the French) were tortured, murdered, and abused. Propaganda? Nah.
6.) KFC and Pizza Hut are MUCH better in Hanoi than they are in the U.S. 3 weeks of rice and noodles may have play a role in that.
7.) There is definitly a cultural difference between North and South Vietnam. The north is more aggressive, chaotic, and slightly less pleasant overall. We don't think this has anything to do with the war, but it's interesting nonetheless.
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Pictures from the remainder of Vietnam should be up momentarily!
The tour was fantastic. Halong Bay was truly incredible and unlike anything we've ever seen, far exceeding our expectations. We rode through the massive bay (over 3000 islands) for hours on top of the old wooden boat, went kayaking, and had a decent nights sleep on board. The next day we were dropped off on Cat Ba Island (the biggest in the bay) and got to climb a good sized peak to a view reminiscent of Jurassic Park. It was a short, 2 kilo walk but climbed somewhere around 700 feet. It took about 30 minutes each direction, maybe a bit more. Afterward we were taken to our hotel on the other side of the island, and from there we walked for a mile or so to a beautiful beach with only a few other people on it. It was definitly the prettiest beach on the trip thus far. The next day we jumped a boat (which by the way, was near sinking the entire time) back to the coast and then hopped on a bus back to Hanoi. We decided while on the way back to skip out on the city of Sapa, which was supposed to be our next stop. To go, we would be cutting our visa expiration a bit too close for comfort. Also, the train tickets to Sapa were extremely expensive, and it would cost quite a bit more to get to Laos after that. That being said, we booked some bus tickets to Laos for this evening and we *should* be there by this time tomorrow.
Since we're leaving Vietnam, here a a few of our thoughts and observations that might be entertaining or informative.
1.) We both agree that the best way to describe Vietnam is one word is 'chaotic'.
2.) For some reason the people here love the movie and music of 'Titanic'. We have seen it on TV multiple times, and the soundtrack is played all over the country in both English and Vietnamese. The soundtrack is even blared on loudspeakers in the streets.
3.) There are signs that say 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy New Year' all over the place. We have no idea why, but they've been in every city we've seen.
4.) Late night Vietnamese TV is hilarious. On a couple of occasions, it has consisted of two teenage kids sitting in front of a TV playing a soccer videogame against eachother. There is an announcer, and each kid even has a cheerleader that watches the screen and cheers at the appropriate time. Very entertaining stuff.
5.) We went to the 'Hanoi Hilton' where John McCain and other U.S. Pilots were held. Apparently, the U.S. pilots were treated extraordinarily well and the whole ordeal was more like a vacation than a prison. On the other hand, the Vietnamese that were imprisoned ealier in that same place (by the French) were tortured, murdered, and abused. Propaganda? Nah.
6.) KFC and Pizza Hut are MUCH better in Hanoi than they are in the U.S. 3 weeks of rice and noodles may have play a role in that.
7.) There is definitly a cultural difference between North and South Vietnam. The north is more aggressive, chaotic, and slightly less pleasant overall. We don't think this has anything to do with the war, but it's interesting nonetheless.
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Pictures from the remainder of Vietnam should be up momentarily!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Crash!! (Again)
This morning we arrived in Hanoi after a 17 hour bus ride. It turned out to be quite an interesting ride--4 hours in we hit someone on a motorbike!! Jason said they actually ran into the side of our bus and weren't paying attention, so it was nice to know it wasn't our driver's fault. I felt the bus jerk quickly to the left then heard a loud "thud" on the right side. We stopped and some of us got out to see what was up. We aren't sure how bad the man was injured, but he was taken to the hospital (on another motorbike of course!). We were told he would be okay. A crowd of locals had gathered around to see what had happened, and as soon as the man was taken away, Jason and I became the center of attention. We had about 20 kids surrounding us, pulling Jason's hair, poking us, and giggling. One guy emerged named Hai who spoke decent English and translated for us with everyone. The young girls were captivated by Jason's hair, and gave him a round of applause when he put it in a ponytail on top of his head. They all wanted to take pictures with us and shake our hands, and told us many times how beautiful I was and how handsome Jason was. Later they asked me to sing a song, so I sang "You Are my Sunshine," and they sang a couple of songs for us. They asked many times how we felt about Vietnam, and we told them how beautiful it was and how nice all of the people were. Hai responded that Vietnam was very poor, and the people were short (they kept referring to how tall Jason and I were!) He said they were very gentle and smart though, which we certainly agree with! Another couple from our bus from Portugal joined us and he was very tall, and the kids had a great time trying to jump up to his height. Between his height and Jason's hair they were easily entertained! We couldn't communicate well with everyone, but there was tons of laugher and giggling; definitely the highlight of the trip so far! We talked with them for 2 hours while they fixed the bus, and when we had to leave Hai said "I hope someday in the future we will meet again." I hope so too.
Today we are checking out a few things in Hanoi, and tomorrow we go to Halong Bay! It's probably the highlight of Vietnam and I'm very excited to go. The following day we will come back to Hanoi, then take the train north to Sapa. We'll spend a day or so there, then head for the Laos border! Hopefully we are done with vehicle accidents, we're hoping the train will be a safer way to go!
Today we are checking out a few things in Hanoi, and tomorrow we go to Halong Bay! It's probably the highlight of Vietnam and I'm very excited to go. The following day we will come back to Hanoi, then take the train north to Sapa. We'll spend a day or so there, then head for the Laos border! Hopefully we are done with vehicle accidents, we're hoping the train will be a safer way to go!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
What we did today
We did it! Today we think we sucessfully found the only mean people in Vietnam. We got some bikes from the hotel (back on two wheels, yay) and rode about 4km out to the Hoi An beach. Michelle had read in the guidebook that it was OK to park your bike on the beach, but that some people had set up little operations to try and charge you to park in certain areas. Well as we rode up we were yelled at and flagged down and told to park our bikes in a certain area because they were not allowed on the beach. After we did, the guy tried to charge us 20 times the already illigitmate amount the guidebook had stated. We said nevermind, we'd park somewhere else, and asked if there were any free areas around. The guy just told us to get our bikes out of there, and was of absolutly no help. So on the way out we passed the guy who had initially flagged us down. Hoping he would be more helpful, I asked him if he knew of any other place we could go that was free. He just kept yelling 'No!' and motioning for us to pay or leave, then he got out a big stick and kept hitting a sign that said how much it cost and smacking our bikes trying to get us out. I got out the guidebook and pointed to it saying I knew it was free somewhere... but the guy just kept yelling and getting more aggressive. Quite frankly, they were both totally full of crap... I couldn't even get either of them to look me in the eye when we talked. I tried, they just turned away when I looked at them and told us to 'go home'. pff.
Anyway, working off the assumption that the beach was probably bigger than just that little area, we rode back a short ways and then headed north (parallel to the beach) to see if there was some other way to get there. There was, and after only 1/4 mile of riding we were rewarded with free parking for our bikes, cheap beer, comfy chairs right on the water, and beaches as far as we could see in either direction - with no people. In fact, it was by far the nicest beach we've seen thus far. Since the road we took actually connected to the beach we had originaly tried to go down (behind the 'security guard') we rode up from behind the guard on the way back just to waive and smile, but he was gone. Dang.
Off to Hue tomorrow.
Anyway, working off the assumption that the beach was probably bigger than just that little area, we rode back a short ways and then headed north (parallel to the beach) to see if there was some other way to get there. There was, and after only 1/4 mile of riding we were rewarded with free parking for our bikes, cheap beer, comfy chairs right on the water, and beaches as far as we could see in either direction - with no people. In fact, it was by far the nicest beach we've seen thus far. Since the road we took actually connected to the beach we had originaly tried to go down (behind the 'security guard') we rode up from behind the guard on the way back just to waive and smile, but he was gone. Dang.
Off to Hue tomorrow.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The last week
It's been awhile since we last updated, but it's been a great week! After the last post we spent 4 great days in Dalat. After wrapping up there (we were both sad to leave) we took a 6 hour bus to Nha Trang. We only stayed 2 nights there, party because we couldn't get in the ocean, but mainly because we only have 30 days on our Visa and if we don’t pick up the pace we’ll be cutting it a tad to close for comfort. So, at 7 pm last night, we got on an overnight bus to Hoi An.
An overnight sleeper bus is a thing to behold. They are behemoths on wheels... easily towering over every other vehicle on the road. They fit so many people on that it's unreal… the beds are 2 high (bunks) and are barely wide/long enough for your average Vietnamese person, much less an American (even I was slightly squished). Your feet slip into a small narrowing cubby that slides underneath the person in front of you. This is probably hard to imagine, and I never got a good picture, but you are essentially trapped up to your knees, so extricating yourself from your ‘seat’ is a process of wiggling and fidgeting. The bus sleeps three across, so you are also right next to other people. Two things came to mind as we rocketed down crummy Vietnamese roads packed in that sardine can: 1.) My Mom would absolutly freak out if she ever got into this situation. In fact, there is absolutely no force on this earth that could possibly hold her on this bus once she walked in and saw how cramped it was. 2.) I kept flashing back to the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has a bunch of Asian people sleeping in his chest of drawers (Carl Farbman drawers, I believe?). Michelle and I were both on the top bunks, so the swaying of this massive vehicle did a pretty good job of keeping us awake for the 11 hour drive. We didn’t get sick though, so we’ll call the trip a success.
Anyway, Dalat was fantastic and is our favorite place so far, although that might change for Michelle soon. The cool weather was great, and the look and feel of the city was slightly European but distinctly Vietnamese. We toured some great waterfalls and other sites and basically just bummed around for a couple of days… just like you should on vacation. Our hotel had Discovery channel and we had the good fortune of being there during Asia’s yearly “Shark Week”, so that was cool. Nha Trang was also nice, although it was extremely touristy. We easily saw more westerners there than everywhere else combined (thus far) and consequently the street vendors and salesman were much more aggressive and annoying. We ate more good food, sat on the beach, and walked a few miles to an awesome Buddhist Monastery. Now we’re in Hoi An, which is covered with tailoring shops where you can buy custom fitted clothes at dirt cheap prices. For example, a handmade, custom fit silk dress runs somewhere in the $15-$20 range. As I write this, Michelle is scouring the Jcrew and Athropolgie websites trying to find a picture she can print and show the tailors. You can buy fitted suits as well, which I’ve been considering, but I probably won’t end up getting one.
We’ve had a lot of interaction with locals over the past week, most of which has been great, and a few things come to mind as being particularly interesting (at least to me). First, we were constantly being approached by people who tried their hardest to start up conversations. Sometimes the conversations were just friendly conversations, other times they very abruptly turned into sales pitches. Either way, if there is no where to be the conversations can be a lot of fun, mainly because the locals have a tendency to blurt out everything they know about the U.S.A. right then and there. We’ve had people tell us stories (which may or may not be true) about relatives in the U.S. We’ve had people start randomly naming off U.S. cities and landmarks (New York, California, Sea World) only to smile and walk away when they finished. We’ve had more than a handful of people say something like “Barack Obama, number 1!” or tell us about how much they love him. And among the salesmen, the fact that they once served with the South Vietnamese Army during the war seemed to be a great way to try to get us to buy things. As we move into north Vietnam (we are in the middle right now) Michelle and I are very interested to see if and how the sentiment towards us changes.
The most interesting thing that struck me during all of this was a simple passing comment our hilarious and eccentric tour guide made a few days ago. He was giving us a simplified, broken-English version of Vietnamese history and said “Vietnam was ruled by minorities (the Vietnamese) for many, many years. Then the French ruled for 100 years, then the Americans for 20 years, and now the Vietnamese again.” I found this particularly interesting, because you’d be hard pressed to find an American anywhere who would say that the United States ever actually ‘ruled’ Vietnam as the French or Vietnamese themselves ever did. Even staunch proponents of the war, people who initiated, designed and executed it like LBJ, Nixon, or Kissinger would never say that we ‘ruled’ it: we were there for a purpose and never intended to stay. But it doesn’t seem like people here necessarily view it that way. Regardless of our reasons why, from their viewpoint the Vietnamese were not in control of their land, and so we were viewed as their rulers. This is a decepitivly simple concept and a gross diconnect between how Americans want to be viewed and how they are actually viewed. And sadly, 30 years later, we still do a poor job at representing ourselves correctly, as our two current wars will attest.
Finally, this blog’s layout has been updated a bit, as I’ve added links to our pictures to the right hand side of this page. Each country will eventually have it’s own link and gallery. I will probably update those pictures more frequently than we update the actual blog, so check back occasionally.
That’s all for now.
P.S.- Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize? Seriously? Lol.
An overnight sleeper bus is a thing to behold. They are behemoths on wheels... easily towering over every other vehicle on the road. They fit so many people on that it's unreal… the beds are 2 high (bunks) and are barely wide/long enough for your average Vietnamese person, much less an American (even I was slightly squished). Your feet slip into a small narrowing cubby that slides underneath the person in front of you. This is probably hard to imagine, and I never got a good picture, but you are essentially trapped up to your knees, so extricating yourself from your ‘seat’ is a process of wiggling and fidgeting. The bus sleeps three across, so you are also right next to other people. Two things came to mind as we rocketed down crummy Vietnamese roads packed in that sardine can: 1.) My Mom would absolutly freak out if she ever got into this situation. In fact, there is absolutely no force on this earth that could possibly hold her on this bus once she walked in and saw how cramped it was. 2.) I kept flashing back to the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has a bunch of Asian people sleeping in his chest of drawers (Carl Farbman drawers, I believe?). Michelle and I were both on the top bunks, so the swaying of this massive vehicle did a pretty good job of keeping us awake for the 11 hour drive. We didn’t get sick though, so we’ll call the trip a success.
Anyway, Dalat was fantastic and is our favorite place so far, although that might change for Michelle soon. The cool weather was great, and the look and feel of the city was slightly European but distinctly Vietnamese. We toured some great waterfalls and other sites and basically just bummed around for a couple of days… just like you should on vacation. Our hotel had Discovery channel and we had the good fortune of being there during Asia’s yearly “Shark Week”, so that was cool. Nha Trang was also nice, although it was extremely touristy. We easily saw more westerners there than everywhere else combined (thus far) and consequently the street vendors and salesman were much more aggressive and annoying. We ate more good food, sat on the beach, and walked a few miles to an awesome Buddhist Monastery. Now we’re in Hoi An, which is covered with tailoring shops where you can buy custom fitted clothes at dirt cheap prices. For example, a handmade, custom fit silk dress runs somewhere in the $15-$20 range. As I write this, Michelle is scouring the Jcrew and Athropolgie websites trying to find a picture she can print and show the tailors. You can buy fitted suits as well, which I’ve been considering, but I probably won’t end up getting one.
We’ve had a lot of interaction with locals over the past week, most of which has been great, and a few things come to mind as being particularly interesting (at least to me). First, we were constantly being approached by people who tried their hardest to start up conversations. Sometimes the conversations were just friendly conversations, other times they very abruptly turned into sales pitches. Either way, if there is no where to be the conversations can be a lot of fun, mainly because the locals have a tendency to blurt out everything they know about the U.S.A. right then and there. We’ve had people tell us stories (which may or may not be true) about relatives in the U.S. We’ve had people start randomly naming off U.S. cities and landmarks (New York, California, Sea World) only to smile and walk away when they finished. We’ve had more than a handful of people say something like “Barack Obama, number 1!” or tell us about how much they love him. And among the salesmen, the fact that they once served with the South Vietnamese Army during the war seemed to be a great way to try to get us to buy things. As we move into north Vietnam (we are in the middle right now) Michelle and I are very interested to see if and how the sentiment towards us changes.
The most interesting thing that struck me during all of this was a simple passing comment our hilarious and eccentric tour guide made a few days ago. He was giving us a simplified, broken-English version of Vietnamese history and said “Vietnam was ruled by minorities (the Vietnamese) for many, many years. Then the French ruled for 100 years, then the Americans for 20 years, and now the Vietnamese again.” I found this particularly interesting, because you’d be hard pressed to find an American anywhere who would say that the United States ever actually ‘ruled’ Vietnam as the French or Vietnamese themselves ever did. Even staunch proponents of the war, people who initiated, designed and executed it like LBJ, Nixon, or Kissinger would never say that we ‘ruled’ it: we were there for a purpose and never intended to stay. But it doesn’t seem like people here necessarily view it that way. Regardless of our reasons why, from their viewpoint the Vietnamese were not in control of their land, and so we were viewed as their rulers. This is a decepitivly simple concept and a gross diconnect between how Americans want to be viewed and how they are actually viewed. And sadly, 30 years later, we still do a poor job at representing ourselves correctly, as our two current wars will attest.
Finally, this blog’s layout has been updated a bit, as I’ve added links to our pictures to the right hand side of this page. Each country will eventually have it’s own link and gallery. I will probably update those pictures more frequently than we update the actual blog, so check back occasionally.
That’s all for now.
P.S.- Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize? Seriously? Lol.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
From Palms to Pines....
We made it to Da Lat! I have no idea how, as it was the most terrifying bus ride I've ever been on. We expected Vietnam to be rolling hills, but no, there is some serious elevation here. We also expected a 3 hour bus ride which turned out to be over 6. Six hours of winding up narrow mountain roads in a huge bus, precariously close to the edge (I saw one vehicle down there), often with other huge buses coming towards us. We kept thinking we must be close, because we were reaching the tops of the peaks, but then we would cross the pass and drive up higher peaks! I'm not sure what the elevation here is but will try to find out today. So far we LOVE Da Lat! The weather is beautiful, crisp and a little cool (probably like the weather you have in Missouri about now). We found an incredible hotel, $7/night for a private room with hot water, television, free internet access, and it's very clean. And the room is pink and white :) We think we might stay here 4 nights since we both slept the best we have since we got here last night. Today we plan to just explore Da Lat, and tomorrow possibly tour outside of town a bit, as there are supposed to be pretty waterfalls and lakes. We are both very happy with where we are right now!
Funny side note--the other day at the health clinic the nurse told me she thought I was Vietnamese when I first walked in! So apparently I really can blend in anywhere. At the same time another clinic worker slowly approached Jason's hair and gently pulled a curl and watched it spring back. He looked absolutely amazed, and told Jason his hair was "pretty and beautiful." He definitely will not be mistaken for Vietnamese.
Since we have free internet for a few days I imagine we'll be on here fairly regularly, so look for updates! This town is supposed to be very kitschy so hopefully we can get some fun pictures.
Funny side note--the other day at the health clinic the nurse told me she thought I was Vietnamese when I first walked in! So apparently I really can blend in anywhere. At the same time another clinic worker slowly approached Jason's hair and gently pulled a curl and watched it spring back. He looked absolutely amazed, and told Jason his hair was "pretty and beautiful." He definitely will not be mistaken for Vietnamese.
Since we have free internet for a few days I imagine we'll be on here fairly regularly, so look for updates! This town is supposed to be very kitschy so hopefully we can get some fun pictures.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Minor Update
Since the 'incident' (which hereto for is how we will refer to the motorbike occurance) we haven't done much. We sat on the beach for about 6 hours yesterday, got tan, ate food, and have visited the clinc once per day to get re-bandaged. Today, since we're leaving the city, they were nice enough to give us brand new unopened bottles of some cleaning stuff, cotton, and bandages so we can do ourselves up. They charged us, but it was just under $3 so no problem. I'm also happy to say that despite the ungodly humidity, we're both healing up well. Today we head to Dalat... the city itself is at around 5,000ft of elevation, so the cool, dry mountain air will probably help even more. That's all for now.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Read Michelle's post first! (In addidtion...)
Hello... just wanted to add a few things to what Michelle said! To reiterate, we are both fine. The ordeal messed up our budget for a few days, but we can make up for that. Physically, it's nothing a few 65 cent beers won't fix, althought we did exhaust our gauze and some other medical supplies a mere 3 days into our trip. =0
The area we were in when we crashed was pretty much the middle of nowhere. It was a beautful drive out to a very small village. The road we were on was a very fine powdery red sand, so it could have been much worse. The camera that broke (not related to the crash, Michelle did it!) was my cheap Canon camera that I've had for a couple years, not my nice DSLR- so we'll still get plenty of pics. However, we were very dissappointed to have not gotten pics of the beautiful countryside, quaint little village (not a foreigner in sight, except the two of us sliding across the ground) and extremely nice people (but terrible drivers). We're in great spirits at the moment... everyone was so nice about it all (the people that drove into us on the wrong side of the road, the nurse, the mechanic that fixed our tire, even the owner of the motorbike) that it's hard not to be.
I'm sure everyone wants pics... so here has been our day thus far-
http://cid-fb8cc05f73293d8d.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Trip%20Pictures?uc=1
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We've gotten a lot of comments about the Tsunami/Typhoon that hit this part of the world. Just to clarify, the tsunami didn't hit here, it was primarily in the South Pacific. Central Vietnam DID get hit by a typhoon right as we were arrrving (we passed through some turbulance on the plane) but all we saw of it on the ground was some heavy rain. No worries!
We've got 2 more days here in Mui Ne, then off to Dalat!
The area we were in when we crashed was pretty much the middle of nowhere. It was a beautful drive out to a very small village. The road we were on was a very fine powdery red sand, so it could have been much worse. The camera that broke (not related to the crash, Michelle did it!) was my cheap Canon camera that I've had for a couple years, not my nice DSLR- so we'll still get plenty of pics. However, we were very dissappointed to have not gotten pics of the beautiful countryside, quaint little village (not a foreigner in sight, except the two of us sliding across the ground) and extremely nice people (but terrible drivers). We're in great spirits at the moment... everyone was so nice about it all (the people that drove into us on the wrong side of the road, the nurse, the mechanic that fixed our tire, even the owner of the motorbike) that it's hard not to be.
I'm sure everyone wants pics... so here has been our day thus far-
http://cid-fb8cc05f73293d8d.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Trip%20Pictures?uc=1
---
We've gotten a lot of comments about the Tsunami/Typhoon that hit this part of the world. Just to clarify, the tsunami didn't hit here, it was primarily in the South Pacific. Central Vietnam DID get hit by a typhoon right as we were arrrving (we passed through some turbulance on the plane) but all we saw of it on the ground was some heavy rain. No worries!
We've got 2 more days here in Mui Ne, then off to Dalat!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Crash!!!
It's hardly noon and we've already had quite the day! We woke up this morning and watched the sunrise over the ocean, and both commented on how it was hard to believe we were in Vietnam, looking at the South China Sea. We were quickly thrown back into the reality of Vietnam once we rented our motorbike for the day and started off! The plan was to go to 2 different sand dunes, a waterfall, and just explore. As you know we owned a scooter and also drove one around Honduras, however, driving motorbikes here is a completely different experience for many reasons. 1) They are small and have small tires which Jason said made it more difficult, 2) They are manual transmission! Which took some getting used to, there were a lot of screeech/jerk forward moments as Jason got used to it. Also the rear brake is a foot brake, and the front brake is hand. 3) We're driving in Vietnam, which means it's a free-for-all. The road is divided into 2 lanes to be used as each individual chooses. Beyond that it's a maze of other motorbikes, trucks, bikes, people on foot, and animals wandering in front of you on the street. If someone is coming towards you or you hear a horn, you move right. And it seems to work in theory until.....
someone is driving right at you on a dirt road on the far right side and isn't moving!
About 12 miles away from where we were staying we were exploring a small town and driving down a dirt road, when 2 guys on a motorbike were on our side of the road coming at us. It was unclear what they were doing or if they would move, and got close enough that Jason made a sharp right turn. Moments later we were skidding across the gravely road on our sides. Once we and the bike came to a halt we were surrounded by locals coming to help and make sure we were ok. One women had some type of green ointment she was putting all over our gashes and the guys that almost hit us were picking up our bike. Before we knew it we were each on the back of a bike heading to the local clinic where they fixed us right up for less than $2! We're ok, but kinda beat up. I have a pretty deep gash in my right arm and a good scrape on my leg, along with some road rash. Jason's injuries were wider-spread but not as deep, with a big scrape on his hand, and scrapes down his right side, elbow, and knee. We were pretty embarressed (even though it was not Jason's fault!), but everyone was so helpful! The guys who took us to the clinic brought out bike to the shop to get air in the tire and then sent us on our way. We barely made it home because of the busted tire, but are only having to pay about $30 to fix the bike, and less than $4 to fix ourselves :)
Unfortunately this means we can't get in the ocean any more, so we'll spend the next few days sitting on the beach with some beer. Oh and the worst part is our camera broke! Not from the crash, it just stopped working, so we have no pictures of the crash or clinic or people that helped us. Don't worry though, we're fine!!! Just a little embarressed and beat up :-/
someone is driving right at you on a dirt road on the far right side and isn't moving!
About 12 miles away from where we were staying we were exploring a small town and driving down a dirt road, when 2 guys on a motorbike were on our side of the road coming at us. It was unclear what they were doing or if they would move, and got close enough that Jason made a sharp right turn. Moments later we were skidding across the gravely road on our sides. Once we and the bike came to a halt we were surrounded by locals coming to help and make sure we were ok. One women had some type of green ointment she was putting all over our gashes and the guys that almost hit us were picking up our bike. Before we knew it we were each on the back of a bike heading to the local clinic where they fixed us right up for less than $2! We're ok, but kinda beat up. I have a pretty deep gash in my right arm and a good scrape on my leg, along with some road rash. Jason's injuries were wider-spread but not as deep, with a big scrape on his hand, and scrapes down his right side, elbow, and knee. We were pretty embarressed (even though it was not Jason's fault!), but everyone was so helpful! The guys who took us to the clinic brought out bike to the shop to get air in the tire and then sent us on our way. We barely made it home because of the busted tire, but are only having to pay about $30 to fix the bike, and less than $4 to fix ourselves :)
Unfortunately this means we can't get in the ocean any more, so we'll spend the next few days sitting on the beach with some beer. Oh and the worst part is our camera broke! Not from the crash, it just stopped working, so we have no pictures of the crash or clinic or people that helped us. Don't worry though, we're fine!!! Just a little embarressed and beat up :-/
We're here!
Well, we made it! The flights were long both smooth, with no major hiccups and minimal jetlag. Saigon was great, we spent a couple of days there meandering about and getting adjusted, and then this morning we caught a bus to a beach town called Mui Ne (about 5 hours). Travel has been extremely easy so far, much easier than was thought it would be. The people are nice, and everything is cheap! For example, today we've booked a basic beachfront bungalow ($7, $3.5 per person), had a meal consisting of drinks, fried rice, red snapper w/ garlic and chilli ($5 including large tip) and breakfast of huge banana pankakes ($3ish). We've come in right at our 12 month travel budget every day, even in the most expensive city, which is great
We haven't had any huge problems so far... but we've madea few rookie mistatks. Most notably, we took our anti-malaria medication this morning at 6am (on an empty stomache) right as we walked out to go get breakfast. Apparently that stuff works fast, because by the time we got to the restaurant 15 min later we were both throwing up. Alas, it passed quickly and we're great now!
We purchased what's called an 'open-bus' tour in Saigon, which is really a pretty neat deal. It was just under $40/person, and it allows us to take a bus from Saigon all the way up to Hanoi (approx 1000miles) and get off at any of the stops we'd like to. Mui Ne is the first stop. In a few days we'll head to a mountain city called Dalat, then on to Nha Trang (another beach town), Hoi An, Hue, and then to Hanoi. The buses are very nice, with air-con, nice seats and on the longer rides even sleeper reclining seats. Not a bad deal! Feel free to Google any of these places, pictures should be easy to find.
Tomorrow we'll probably rent a scooter and go check out the huge sand dunes that run into the ocean just outside of town. Beyond that, we'll just be lounging around.
That's all for now, take care!
We haven't had any huge problems so far... but we've madea few rookie mistatks. Most notably, we took our anti-malaria medication this morning at 6am (on an empty stomache) right as we walked out to go get breakfast. Apparently that stuff works fast, because by the time we got to the restaurant 15 min later we were both throwing up. Alas, it passed quickly and we're great now!
We purchased what's called an 'open-bus' tour in Saigon, which is really a pretty neat deal. It was just under $40/person, and it allows us to take a bus from Saigon all the way up to Hanoi (approx 1000miles) and get off at any of the stops we'd like to. Mui Ne is the first stop. In a few days we'll head to a mountain city called Dalat, then on to Nha Trang (another beach town), Hoi An, Hue, and then to Hanoi. The buses are very nice, with air-con, nice seats and on the longer rides even sleeper reclining seats. Not a bad deal! Feel free to Google any of these places, pictures should be easy to find.
Tomorrow we'll probably rent a scooter and go check out the huge sand dunes that run into the ocean just outside of town. Beyond that, we'll just be lounging around.
That's all for now, take care!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Taking Off!
So the day is finally here....we fly out at 9:20 tonight out of Springfield! We fly from Springfield to LA, then LA to Taipei, Taiwan, then from there to Saigon (the flight from LA to Taiwan is 14 hours!). We arrive in Vietnam at 9:50 am Tuesday morning, which is actually 9:50 pm Monday night in Central time. Hopefully we can update pretty quick once we arrive! Thanks to everyone for all of your support and well wishes, we're pretty stoked! Here's our actual flight itinerary:
China Airlines flight #7
Los Angeles International (LAX) to Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE)
Departure (LAX): September 28, 1:15 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (TPE): September 29, 6:10 AM CST (morning)
Class: Economy
China Airlines flight #781
Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
Departure (TPE): September 29, 7:30 AM CST (morning)
Arrival (SGN): September 29, 9:50 AM ICT (morning)
Talk to you from Vietnam! :)
China Airlines flight #7
Los Angeles International (LAX) to Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE)
Departure (LAX): September 28, 1:15 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (TPE): September 29, 6:10 AM CST (morning)
Class: Economy
China Airlines flight #781
Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
Departure (TPE): September 29, 7:30 AM CST (morning)
Arrival (SGN): September 29, 9:50 AM ICT (morning)
Talk to you from Vietnam! :)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Unemployment......
is fabulous!! I may not think that if we didn't have a bunch of money saved, but I think I'll get used to not working pretty quick. This last week before we leave has been filled with last minute preparations, tying up loose ends, and spending time with/talking to family and friends that we won't see for awhile. Yesterday we actually packed our packs which went MUCH better than expected, we didn't have to leave anything behind that we wanted! To pack we actually put my pack inside of Jason's in order to save space, save money on checked baggage fees, and make sure our packing stayed under control. We also both have a small backpack we'll carry on the plane, but at this point it all fits! Jason will post pictures of the packing endeavor later. I still have a couple of items I need to get and fit though so hopefully it still works! For those of you that are wondering, here's a little list of clothing I'm bringing:
5 tshirts/athletic shirts
1 pr. convertible pants (they're pants, capris, and shorts, and are amazing!)
1 skirt
1 pr. running shorts (we'll see if I actually ever run)
1 lightweight pullover
1 rain jacket
6 pr. underwear
3 pr. socks
flip flops, sport sandals, and tennis shoes
And that's about it! I need another bottom or 2 which I'm still figuring out, but if you see me wearing the same thing in every picture you know why. We'll do laundry in our room a lot in the sink, and sometimes pay to actually use a washing machine. I'm pretty excited for now makeup, blowdryers, or heels. This week I've been dressing up though since I won't get to for a year :) That's about it for now, it's kind of a sad week with all of the good-byes, but this time next week I'll be in Vietnam!
5 tshirts/athletic shirts
1 pr. convertible pants (they're pants, capris, and shorts, and are amazing!)
1 skirt
1 pr. running shorts (we'll see if I actually ever run)
1 lightweight pullover
1 rain jacket
6 pr. underwear
3 pr. socks
flip flops, sport sandals, and tennis shoes
And that's about it! I need another bottom or 2 which I'm still figuring out, but if you see me wearing the same thing in every picture you know why. We'll do laundry in our room a lot in the sink, and sometimes pay to actually use a washing machine. I'm pretty excited for now makeup, blowdryers, or heels. This week I've been dressing up though since I won't get to for a year :) That's about it for now, it's kind of a sad week with all of the good-byes, but this time next week I'll be in Vietnam!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Less than 3 weeks...
Yesterday was the 3 week mark until our departure...wow! I think we're pretty prepared at this point, this biggest task left is selling/packing up the things we aren't taking on the trip. We have 2 garage sales this weekend (come by if you're in Springfield!) and after that it's crunch time to clean out the house. Jason and I have both been getting a lot of questions about the logistics of the trip, so I figured I'd try to answer some here. Feel free to ask more if I miss any though!
FAQ's
What are you going to eat?
We'll eat local food, often from street vendors. LOTS of rice and noodles. Jason wants to try dog, I'm up for trying most of that stuff! I started eating meat again so I'm ready to eat it there. We're going to try and eat 2 meals a day to help our budget, but I get pretty pissy when I'm hungry so we'll see how that actually goes :)
Where are you sleeping?
We're staying in hostels for the most part. Some people thought we were camping in the jungle the whole time (no way!). Pretty much a room with a bed and shared bathroom, sometimes dorm-style rooms, pretty much the cheapest option we can find.
How long will you be gone?
Based on our budget we could stay for about a year, but we'll pretty much stay until we run out of money or are just ready to come home.
Is it dangerous?
For the most part, no. Of course there will be some places that aren't as safe, just like there are in the U.S. But we're pretty well informed as to where these places are and we'll be cautious.
Where are you going?
We're going to Southeast Asia! Which is pretty much straight south of the Eastern half of China. We're flying to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam, then traveling to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Then we plan to fly to India and go to Bangladesh and Nepal. This is totally flexible though, so who knows, maybe we'll end up in Iraq after Indonesia!
Are you bringing a gun?
NO
Will you have a phone?
No again.
Internet access?
Yes, pretty regularly. We'll update as much as we can!
How long did you have to save for this?
We started saving in August of last year, so it's been a solid year of working our asses off and saving like crazy.
What are you packing?
Not a lot! We each have a fairly large backpack, and are packing as minimally as we can. I'm bring about 4 tops and 3 or 4 bottoms, and 3 pairs of shoes. I imagine Jason will bring less. We have to carry a years-worth of malaria medication, as well as some over the counter stuff. We'll post pictures of our packs once they're packed!
Do you know the language?
Not a word. But in the majority of places we'll be able to communicate in English with a lot of people, and it's amazing how well you can get by with hand signals. We have a small translation book with 5 languages in SE Asia as well to help us get by.
I think that sums it up pretty well. I'm starting to get a little nervous about it, mostly to leave family and friends. But it's pretty much all excitement! Let us know if you have any other questions, and thanks to those who have been so supportive and helpful! I especially want to thank my parents who are letting me store my car at their house among other things, and are helping with some of the logistics while we're gone. They're also celebrating "Early Christmas" for us this week and taking us to the airport. The trip would be a lot more difficult without them, so thanks for all of your help!
FAQ's
What are you going to eat?
We'll eat local food, often from street vendors. LOTS of rice and noodles. Jason wants to try dog, I'm up for trying most of that stuff! I started eating meat again so I'm ready to eat it there. We're going to try and eat 2 meals a day to help our budget, but I get pretty pissy when I'm hungry so we'll see how that actually goes :)
Where are you sleeping?
We're staying in hostels for the most part. Some people thought we were camping in the jungle the whole time (no way!). Pretty much a room with a bed and shared bathroom, sometimes dorm-style rooms, pretty much the cheapest option we can find.
How long will you be gone?
Based on our budget we could stay for about a year, but we'll pretty much stay until we run out of money or are just ready to come home.
Is it dangerous?
For the most part, no. Of course there will be some places that aren't as safe, just like there are in the U.S. But we're pretty well informed as to where these places are and we'll be cautious.
Where are you going?
We're going to Southeast Asia! Which is pretty much straight south of the Eastern half of China. We're flying to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam, then traveling to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Then we plan to fly to India and go to Bangladesh and Nepal. This is totally flexible though, so who knows, maybe we'll end up in Iraq after Indonesia!
Are you bringing a gun?
NO
Will you have a phone?
No again.
Internet access?
Yes, pretty regularly. We'll update as much as we can!
How long did you have to save for this?
We started saving in August of last year, so it's been a solid year of working our asses off and saving like crazy.
What are you packing?
Not a lot! We each have a fairly large backpack, and are packing as minimally as we can. I'm bring about 4 tops and 3 or 4 bottoms, and 3 pairs of shoes. I imagine Jason will bring less. We have to carry a years-worth of malaria medication, as well as some over the counter stuff. We'll post pictures of our packs once they're packed!
Do you know the language?
Not a word. But in the majority of places we'll be able to communicate in English with a lot of people, and it's amazing how well you can get by with hand signals. We have a small translation book with 5 languages in SE Asia as well to help us get by.
I think that sums it up pretty well. I'm starting to get a little nervous about it, mostly to leave family and friends. But it's pretty much all excitement! Let us know if you have any other questions, and thanks to those who have been so supportive and helpful! I especially want to thank my parents who are letting me store my car at their house among other things, and are helping with some of the logistics while we're gone. They're also celebrating "Early Christmas" for us this week and taking us to the airport. The trip would be a lot more difficult without them, so thanks for all of your help!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Getting Shot
Michelle and I both have to go get 6 shots in the next couple weeks. Fun stuff! Everything else is coming together though... we've got most of our prescriptions already, including enough anti-malaria medicine for over a years worth of travel.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
80 Days!!
Wow I can't believe how close the trip is getting! Everything is coming together really well--we're getting things worked out with doctors, medications, vaccinations, insurance, etc. Next week I have to get 5 shots in one day--yikes! We have a hostel booked for the first 2 nights in Saigon, and have worked out a pretty solid budget. At this point it's looking probable that we'll do Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Nepal, and hopefully Bangladesh. We'll probably be gone for about 9 months-a year based on where we want to go and how much money we have. Jason is much more disciplined with the finances so I'm glad he's going, otherwise I imagine I'd blow through it all in about 3 months because I kept finding things I just HAD to do or buy. It's about 6 weeks until I get to give notice to my job (I literally daydream about doing this) and I'll probably quit Target earlier in September. There's still a lot to take care of but September 27 is approaching very fast!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Ready to Go
Well we leave in 4 months and 3 days and are more than ready to get the hell out of here. It might be a long summer, but at least we will be saving money and won't be in school.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I'm here too!
Ok I figured out how to get on this too, so I think we're set up for our joint blog for the trip! Tickets were bought last Wednesday and we leave September 27th from Springfield, and arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on September 29th. We got one-way tickets so there's no return date at this point! I've gone through and trimmed my finances as much as I can to work on saving harder for the trip since it's only about 5 months away now!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
New Camera
Just bought a new camera, I'm really looking forward to getting it. Although I know the basics concerning the technical aspects of cameras, and on my little point and shoot I have tweaked the settings a bit, my new Canon XSi won't even be on the same playing field. I got a bargain deal on it at $649, and although I am now broke, I've got enough once in a lifetime trips coming up that I think it is validated. It was shipped to me today, should be here by Friday. Should have a good time this weekend trying to become a real photographer, haha.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Hmm... what to do.
Haven't really figured out what to use this blog for just yet... but I will. Have simply been doing more research and reading about blogs and other social media lately, which is actually turning out to be quite interesting. I've been using social media for a long time, and I know that is is valuable to people of all ages and for many different reasons, but watching Harvard scholars talk about it is kind of cool.
Also, due to some good news on the financial front, the trip to Asia might be expedited. It's possible I may leave in October (as opposed to November), and may stay a month longer. I'm also going to Utah over spring break for some outdoor activities, to check out the University of Utah for grad school, and to look for a place to live. And I think I might buy a new camera. Exciting.
Also, due to some good news on the financial front, the trip to Asia might be expedited. It's possible I may leave in October (as opposed to November), and may stay a month longer. I'm also going to Utah over spring break for some outdoor activities, to check out the University of Utah for grad school, and to look for a place to live. And I think I might buy a new camera. Exciting.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Beginning of the Beginning
This is the start of my personal blog. I haven't figured out exactly what to do with it yet, but I will. When I leave for Asia, this will be a a documentation of the trip. Until then, we'll have to wait see...
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