Oh by gosh by golly, it’s almost time for mistletoe and
holly! I’m on the train right now from Prague to Budapest and I’m definitely
feeling the early effects of the fall/winter season upon me, hence why I’m
heading south to Hungary and not north to Poland!
I’m not sure why I’m yet to write my blog post about my huge
adventure in Southeast Asia, I don’t know if I’m just lazy or can’t quite find
the words, or maybe I’m just the most productive procrastinator that you’ll
ever meet. Either way, this 8 hour train ride with no wifi is making it happen,
so thank the forces, of lack thereof more accurately, of technology in Eastern
Europe!
Heather and Annie do Southeast Asia
How did this start?: Second year teaching in Korea, Heather
calls me up round January and springs the idea of another trip, even though I
was planning to go at the end of my second year teaching, I throw caution, all
of my vacation time, and a
relationship to the wind because I was in need of some adventure and with whom
better than my best friend and favorite travel companion, Heather boo boo!?!?
Heather and I are at such similar points in our lives, both dealing with living
and working abroad, trying to make relationships work, but not yet interested
in the things going on back home with everyone getting married and popping out
bundles of joy left, right, and left again! Plus, we have similar interests yet
many differences at the same time, she brings out my more adventurous side and
I’d like to think that I bring out more of a museum or history lover in her?
Haha maybe not…. Either way, she
is a chef, and we all know I have a serious passion for eating my way through
any destination…so we make a good team when it comes to eating and divulging in
food in whatever country we are visiting!
Long story short, we talked a few times throughout our busy
schedules, booked a few flights, took 3 weeks of vacation, and were on our way!
Our trip lasted 23 days. We left on my birthday, May 5th
and returned to our respective countries on May 27th. It seems like
I’m always traveling or setting off on a big adventure on my birthday, I’ve
decided that I like this trend and plan to continue it in the future if
possible!
4 counties, 8 flights, 1 overnight train, 2 long bus rides,
1 border crossing, beautiful beaches, exotic food, delicious fruits, scary
bugs, grungy cities, breathtaking temples, terrifying driving, and more
memories than anyone could hope for! These are just a few things that come to
mind when I think back to our time in Southeast Asia.
Country #1 – Slinging our way to Singapore!
May 5 - Heather and I timed our flights out perfectly to
meet at the airport then we excitedly made our way into the city center. Our
first impressions – clean, clean, doesn’t smell bad, clean, clean, nice people,
people speaking English, clean and did I mention clean? Singapore was a nice
refresher from Korea for me! After dropping off our bags, it was pretty late
but we were hungry so we ventured out for some food, we ended up eating some
delicious part of a chicken that was roasting over some fire on the side of the
street. I also had some honey jelly tea that was pretty great!
May 6- We spent most of our day walking around Singapore
checking out the main financial district area and using the bathroom in every
fancy hotel that we could! There are some extremely nice hotels in Singapore,
some of the nicest ones I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of hotels. (Some
very famous ones there also.) We also walked around the new Marina Bay Sands
resort area and went to the very top of the hotel that looks like a cruise boat
has been docked on top.
May 7 – This day, before leaving the hostel, we notice some
girl stumbling in that reeked of BO. She clearly seemed to still be intoxicated
from the night before (or so we assumed from her behavior). Little did we know
that she would be staying in our room that night. We went out for the whole
day, exploring all the little neighborhoods of Singapore, Chinatown, the Arab
Quarter, Little India etc. When we came back we noticed that she was in our
room and she was laying on her bed talking to herself and making strange
noises, she was dressed in a very bohemian/hippie style and was wearing some
bracelets that jingle jangled everytime she moved. It didn’t help that while
she was talking to herself she was using her hands so there was just this
constant noise and bells and talking and it was just strange! She kept leaving
the room and taking all of her things with her and then coming back and locking
them up and checking like 4 times to make sure it was locked. This went on
alllllllll night long. At one point I woke up and Heather was still awake, we
went out of the room because #1 Heather couldn’t sleep, #2 it stunk so bad in
there, #3 this girl was clearly messed up on some kind of drug (which is highly
unlikely in Singapore considering drugs are punishable by death), or just plain
psychotic. We woke up the front desk guy and made him find us new beds. The
hostel was booked so heather had to sleep in a boys dorm and I had to sleep in
the same room with an entire family! It was a nightmare. Needless to say we
were very tired when we had to leave the next day for Phuket, Thailand!
A few notes on Singapore:
One thing we took notice of in Singapore is even though they
have all these different areas, races, nationalities, and religions, they seem
to live very harmoniously together in such a tiny country! It’s also a great
city for tourists! Their tourism board is doing an excellent job promoting the
city and also making things very clear and easy for the tourists. They even
have a special transport card that allows you unlimited rides for 2, 3 or 4
days! It really came in handy because we used the metro a lot! It’s the little
things like that that make a city so much more pleasant to be in, very tourist
friendly!
There was no stagnant water anywhere either which I’m sure
really helps to cut down on the mosquitoes, two thumbs up for that Singapore!
Again, very very clean! You can’t even buy gum in Singapore! It’s kinda like
Disneyworld!
Also, people were very polite, they said excuse me when they
ran into you and no spitting is allowed in the streets there, so in general I
felt like people were using their manners or maybe they just weren’t being
disgusting… Either way, I felt worlds away from Korea or most of Asia while I
was there. I was very impressed with Singapore and I could see myself
teaching/living there at a time in the future. I give this country 4.5 out of 5
stars!
Country #2 – TITS – This is Thailand Suckas!
May 8 – We had an afternoon flight to Phuket from Singapore,
no problems there, I'm always more calm when flying with someone. We were very overwhelmed though when we exited the airport!
We were bombarded by a gazillion taxi drivers/bus drivers/private cars, all of
which were competing for our transport needs! We settled on a minibus ticket,
which in retrospect was a poor decision! After we bought the ticket we asked
where do we get on and the lady responded with ‘you wait long time.’ So cliché,
eh? Ugh, so we had to wait for at least 8 more people to also buy a ticket
because the van was not leaving until it was completely full! When it did leave
about 45 minutes later, it stopped halfway to our destination at a travel
agency, the scam here is that they take you there to ‘‘translate the addresses
of everyone’s respective hotels’’ so that the minibus driver can know where to
go….AKA this means that they want you to book tours and excursions through
their office and the bus drivers receive commission. If I learned one thing in
SE Asia, it’s that most everything is a scam and someone is receiving a profit
on the other end, that and people will do anything to make a buck here or
there, holla for a dollar! Once we finally made it to our hotel we received a
warm welcome from the 2 gay owners! They were British and as soon as I met them
I felt instant relief that we had booked to stay here, I could just tell it was
going to be a fabulous time. The room overall was very nice except there were
ants occasionally when we had food in the room. At least it was clean compared
to the rest of Phuket! After we got settled in, I messaged my friend Michael
from Korea who was also going to be in Phuket for a break from teaching in
China, he came right over to our hotel, picked us up and took us down to the
infamous ‘Bangla Road’ for a healthy afternoon dose of beers. I was definitely
feeling good after about 2 because we hadn’t eaten for hours, so after that we
grabbed some great Indian food at some restaurant and then returned to Bangla
Road to experience the night in Phuket, Thailand. My eyes were opened to so
many things that night : #1 - I learned what a ping pong show is, and they do
not only include ping pong balls, if you don’t know what I’m talking about…the
simplest way to put it is a show where women do all sorts of tricks with their
goods! Google: ‘Thailand ping pong show’ if you feel you’d like to know more!
#2 – I can now effectively spot a ‘lady boy’ and they are gorgeous, some of
them more beautiful than some of the prettiest girls that I know! #3 – Things
never end after 1 bucket in Thailand….1 bucket means 2 buckets, 3 buckets
usually means the floor. Heather and I luckily escaped any further damage by
playing the ‘we are exhausted because we didn’t get any sleep due to a psycho
in our room last night card’ and retreated around 1 or 2 am for some much
needed sleep!
May 9 – We did a James Bond Island tour this day on the
northern side of Phuket island, we saw the filming location of one of James
Bond movies, I refer to this tour as Jamesy Bond…The tour started with a 2 hour
ride in a minibus with our first stop at the Monkey Temple. It was a huge cave,
we walked through, looked at some Buddha statues, took the in the monkey shit
smell and then on our way out the lady asked us if we wanted to buy some
bananas, Heather and I thought maybe like 1 banana to feed the monkeys, sure
why not? We paid about 20 cents and, to our complete surprise, received a whole
bushel of about 30 bananas! Heather picked up the bag and I’m glad she did
because about 10 seconds later I swear a monkey descended from the ceiling,
landing on her shoulders, and about 4 other monkeys in the vicinity surrounded
her wanting a snack! I was more scared than Heather and she was the one with 2
monkeys climbing on her and being surrounded by at least 10 others, she was just feeding them these bananas like little children and they were
more or less stealing them from her! So greedy! It was pretty crazy! Then, not
to help matters, some Korean guy (what a coincidence) comes over and says to be
careful because they have rabies…(very typical of him to say that in my mind
with their paranoia of disease) STILL, not the best thing to say to poor
heather who has 2 monkeys on her inspecting her! What a moron was my immediate
reaction even though I knew this already from reading my trusty lonely planet
and Heather already knew also to be careful. After the monkey temple our trip
resumed, took us to an area full of so many bugs and loaded us into traditional
Thai boats and off we went to see a Muslim fishing village literally in the
middle of the Ocean! We had a great lunch there, took some pictures and then got
back on the boat to see the James Bond Island… we got off the boat there, took
a walk around, too some photos and then got back on the boat only to make one
more stop at the sea canoeing area. In my opinion, this was the best part of
the tour, Heather and I got a guide who I think really fancied us, or my boobs,
and took us out extra long to admire the beauty that is Thailand, we went
through really tight spaces in and out of small nooks and crannies along these
islands, at some points we had to completely lie down to get in and out of some
of the caves. It was absolutely stunning. I will never forget it. After that,
our tour was over, we headed back to our hotel area, grabbed some great free
dinner at some drunk English guy’s bar/BBQ, purchased a gazillion illegal DVD’s
and went off in search of a great Thai massage! It was quite an experience, the
lady that did my massage bent my body in ways that I didn’t even know it could
go and I’m still pretty flexible from my cheerleading days! It was intense and
my body ached for at least a day or two afterwards. After that, we retreated
early around 10 pm because we were so exhausted to watch some of our newly
purchased DVD’s! That’s what we did most nights in Phuket, got a load of snacks
and goodies and then watched movies in the hotel room, haha, vacation at it’s
finest in our opinion!
May 10 – We signed up for a fancy Koh Phi Phi tour! It was
about 50 USD a person but looking back I’m glad that we paid the extra money
and indulged! We started our morning at a lovely marina where they had coffee
and a light snack for us, and then we boarded this fancy speedboat with about
13 other people. They continuously offered us fresh fruit, ice-cold waters, and
cookies during the whole day, another benefit in my mind! Our tour guide was
gay and fabulous, his name was Coco Chanel No. 1 and he made me laugh all day!
I loved him! Our first stop included snorkeling at Mosquito Island, which was
pretty awesome, the fish were beautiful, and after that we saw Bamboo Island
where we had a great buffet lunch of Thai foods. Next we saw the monkey island
and then went for a swim in the famous blue lagoon where they filmed one of the
Jurassic park movies. Our final and most important stop was on Maya Beach where
the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo Dicaprio was filmed and it was just as
gorgeous as in the movie! The tour was awesome and I’d recommend it to anyone
visiting Phuket! After returning to the main town we went to a night market, where they had lots of bugs to eat, and indulged in some Pad Thai with these
Malaysian girls that we made friends with on the tour. Later we did Dr. Fish,
which Heather did not like! haha And to top the night off, I got a Dairy Queen
blizzard on our way back to the hotel room to watch movies yet again! Great day!
May 11 – We were sad to leave Phuket but decided that it was
probably best for our wallets because we had already spent all of our Thai Bhat
after only being there for 3 days! We shared a taxi to the airport with my
friend Michael who was heading to Singapore for an interview and then back to
China. We got our flight to Bangkok and after some intense map reading, a
subway, and a taxi ride later we found our hostel. Unfortunately, it turned out
to be one of the worst hostels I’ve ever stayed at, they didn’t honor our
reservation even though I had booked it at least a month in advanced. They had
given one of our beds to some other girl who was sick so they wanted to
separate us or we had to change to a different room and still had to pay the
same price! The whole place reeked of Indian food day and night and although I
like Indian food, I do not like the smell 24/7. It was nothing like the reviews
I had read online, I think it was under new management or something because it
was being run by these 3 aloof Middle Eastern/Indian men. When I asked for map
they said no and pointed us to the door and said “left tourist info”…. when we
finally did get a map (from the tourist info) I asked them to show us where we
were on the map, they couldn’t even do that! UGH! I was furious at this point.
The wireless Internet also sucked and they didn’t even speak adequate enough
English to come to any solution on any problem we were having. It was miserable
and not a good start to Bangkok!
May 12 – We started our day off bargaining with a tuk tuk
drive over the price of a ride to the weekend market, after settling on
something fair and said 'no stopping, no shopping,' we hopped in and off we went on a scary yet thrilling ride! The
market was unlike any other market I’ve ever been too! They had everything
under the sun here for sale, and I mean everything! We literally spent all day
there just lost, wandering around to all these different sections and came away
with some pretty good stuff! The most shocking part was the animal section
where I saw them selling little cats that literally looked like leopards, and
baby owls, small gorgeous baby owls and other crazy exotic animals! Who knows
if it was legal! We also saw some good old fashion cock fighting! My highlights
included discovering rose apples, my new favorite fruit and eating a frozen
chocolate covered banana rolled in nuts! At 5 o’clock we were walking around
and then all of a sudden everything and everyone stopped and froze, Heather and
I were worried that the Zombie Apocalypse was really upon us! Turns out, this
happens everyday, everywhere in Thailand for the playing of the national
anthem! Still scared the shit out of us though! Haha We were so hot and sweaty
that day, I will never forget the amount of sweat that poured from my body! We
got showers and then headed down to Khao San Road for some eats and some
shisha, which became a main evening thing for us in SE Asia after dinners.
May 13 – We tried to see the Royal Palace but to no avail
because the King was doing a ceremony that day for the start of the rainy
season in Thailand. So instead, we moronically decided to pay 25 dollars for a
shitty boat ride that took us through the dirty trenches, waterways, and river
of Bangkok, an instant regret as soon as we boarded. On top of that, my
bankcard wouldn’t work to take out money - not a good start to the day. After all those shenanigans we went
to Wat Po, the famous temple in Bangkok that has the biggest reclining Buddha
and I can attest to this, it was really huge! It was beautiful and tranquil.
Later, we grabbed dinner, some more shisha and then packed up for our big day
of travel to Cambodia the next morning!
A few notes on Thailand: It’s an absolutely breathtaking
country with so many amazing things to see and do but it’s overrun with
tourists and scams! So many scams! Everywhere we went we felt we had to be
cautious of being too friendly with the locals because it might turn into some
kind of scam or something! I wish we would have had more time to explore more
of the islands in the South and also head up to Chang Mai but I guess that is
one more reason to go back! Phuket was the best city, Bangkok is not a place
I’d like to go again, it was very dirty, the people are not very nice and it’s
expensive because of all the tourists. We did not enjoy it the same way that we
did Phuket. The fruits here are also amazing. I did see a lot of very large
cockroaches in Thailand though, some that even rivaled the size of the ones I
made my home with in Barcelona! Yikes! I'd give this country 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Country # 3 – Cambodia - The glory that is Angkor Wat!
May 14 – The morning started early because we had a full day
of travel ahead of us! We got to the bus station, bought our tickets and sat
down to wait, we quickly realized that we couldn’t find Heather’s ticket! We
panicked; she went back to the ticket window because we thought maybe she
forgot to pick it up after paying for it. The lady at the window was extremely
rude and unhelpful. We decided she was just going to have to buy another, thank
goodness it was only about 10 USD. We then took turns going to the bathroom,
Heather went first, then me…well when I stood up Heather looked in my seat and
there was her ticket! Turned out my big butt was sitting on it the whole time!
Haha When I got back from the bathroom she told me and I decided I was going to
get her money back for the other ticket! The lady hated Heather so I went up,
smiled nicely, and said we found it! She laughed at me and gave me the money
back! It was probably an indication of a long day ahead but at the time I was
thinking positive thoughts about our border crossing from Bangkok into Cambodia
despite what I had heard and read online.
The bus from Bangkok to the border was really nice, they
even gave us a little snack, a bread roll with….wait…you guessed it…rice cake
inside! YUCK! I hate rice cake and so does Heather but I was the first one to
test out what was inside because we weren’t sure what it was and it looked like
poop. I tasted it and I remember saying, “oh don’t worry it’s just rice cake!’
At the time we found this hilarious!
After arriving at the border, we took a tuk tuk and he tried
to take us to this fake border crossing office like we heard about, we quickly
realized what was going on, left, and walked across the border ourselves. A
random guy began accompanying us even though we didn’t really talk to him or
ask for his help, which I found annoying. When we got to the main office
Heather didn’t have a passport photo for her visa application so this Cambodian
official said, “No photo? 100 baht!” He literally then took the money and put
it straight into his pocket and continued processing our visas! Unbelievable!
We then crossed over and took the provided bus to take us to the next bus
station where we could get a bus into Siem Reap. The random guy that had been
walking with us through the whole thing took the bus with us and tried to get
us to exchange money at the bus station which I knew was a bad idea so I told
him no and wanted us to go ahead and pay for our bus tickets which I was
hesitant about, we asked how long until the next bus leaves and he said 30 -45
mins. So, we bought a bus ticket and then when we sat down with all of our
stuff he wanted us to give him money for ‘helping’ us with crossing the border.
I told him no and that #1 he didn’t help us cross the border, we did that by
ourselves and #2 we never asked him for his help, he just started following and
talking to us! He was not happy, I think heather eventually ended up giving him
1 dollar but this was yet another scam and at this point I was so done with
getting ripped off everywhere we went, that’s the most annoying part of
Southeast Asia! In reality, Heather is a nicer person than me, clearly. lol Then we ended up having to wait like 2 hours for the bus to
leave because yet again, they wouldn’t leave until it was full despite what they told us about the time. This bus was
ancient and I’m not going to lie, I had some concerns about the trip ahead.
When we finally left we had about 3 hours until we would get to Siem Reap, I
was unaware that this trip would also include a 45 minute stop in the middle of
nowhere at some random restaurant/someone’s home where there were a gazillion
and one spiders and bugs everywhere. The bathroom was so scary at this place,
and trust me I’ve seen and used it all! Don’t get me started on the toilet
situation in Korea, supposedly a “developed country.” It was dark and there was just a hole in
the ground (with no t.p.) surrounded by so many spiders and bugs, I believe that I ran out
panicking because I couldn't use the bathroom due to fear. Then, I couldn’t find Heather and I started to panic even more! Then, I wanted to
get some toilet paper out of my bag and try to go again but I had left it on the bus. Then the bus driver
couldn’t get the door open, it was stuck/broken because the bus was from
another time period altogether and also from Korea because all the writing was
in Korean! I assumed maybe they sent over their used buses or something. I eventually mustered up the courage to go despite the spideys but Heather had to stand right outside for me!
When we finally arrived in Siem Reap it was monsooning
outside and I couldn’t get my phone to work to call the hotel and have them
pick us up. We had to take our chances with a tuk-tuk in this crazy monsoon! We
broke out the rain gear and into the little buggy we went with all of our
stuff! It was probably one of the scariest rides I’ve ever taken on any form of
transport. The streets were flooding and the water level was all the way up to
the halfway point of the tires. Basically, we drove through a river. Heather
made a video of my final words just in case we got washed away and died before
seeing Angkor Wat or my mother again!
Once we made it to the hotel safely, we walked in and it was
like walking into a whole different world, a place where I was able to leave
behind the past 24 hours of travel! It also helped that one of my good friends
from Korea, Patrick, was there in the lobby to welcome us with open arms!
Seeing him was such a relief! We had written back and forth on facebook but
hadn’t really made a definite plan to meet up but I had told him where we were
staying and he moved places to stay at the same hotel as us, so that we could
explore Angkor Wat together! Very nice of him! We stayed at this place called the Golden Mango
Inn for about 10 USD a night per person and it was one of the most amazing
places I’ve ever stayed! It was super fancy for the price and even included an
amazing breakfast of hot food in the mornings and a killer swimming pool! The guy that worked at the front
desk offered us a refreshing towel and an OJ upon arriving so that made my
first impression even better after coming in from a monsoon! Ugh, it was just
great! I was so happy that we were finally there, we choked down some burgers
in the lobby and hit the sheets early because we had planned a big day of
exploring Angkor Wat the next morning! What a day!
May 15 – We had a great breakfast and then we tried to rent
motorbikes or scooters so that we could see Angkor Wat that way but we were not
successful. Nowhere would rent to foreigners so we eventually gave up and hired
this tuk tuk driver named Sweetcorn for the day! That was his name, Sweetcorn! haha He was so nice though and turned out to be really great, took us
everywhere we wanted to go for the low price of 15 USD for the day! First, we
explored Angkor Thom, which took probably 4 or 5 hours. I can’t put into words
the beauty and magnificence that is Angkor Wat. It’s amazing to see how advanced
a civilization was so long ago and how much dedication they put into something
so grand and glorious. It’s definitely something I’ve always been fascinated by
and has been on my life long bucket list since World History in 7th
grade. I remember browsing through my history book and seeing a picture of it
while the teacher was rambling on about the pyramids and thinking, “Wow,
that’s something.” Little did I know that one day I’d be able to actually go
there!
We were exhausted and hungry after spending 5 hours in the
sun so we headed back into Siem Reap, the main town, for some eats! First, we
went for some Happy Pizza, if you don’t know what that is, google it! We felt
fine but were still hungry so we also went for some Mexican food and that’s
when it really started to kick in, another monsoon also came so it was perfect
timing for us to just eat and chill out, high as hell. Then we got a tuk tuk
back to the hotel but on the way we made him stop at a mini mart because we had
the munchies! We LOADED up on snacks; I mean everything, even milk and cookies!
At the time it seemed like the hardest decision I had ever had to make! We
literally spent 30 minutes in this gas station/mini mart just trying to pick
out the right snacks. We retreated back to the hotel, we all got into one big
bed and watched illegal DVD’s while pigging out, shortly after I passed out and
slept for 13 hours!
May 16 –We had yet another awesome breakfast at the hotel
and then we went for a swim in their luxurious swimming pool, great way to
start the morning! After that we headed out to Angkor Wat again, Patrick and
Heather bought a bunch of Cambodian children ice cream and then we all feel
prey to the postcards and bracelets that they were selling… it was just too
hard to say no! We also had some BBQ for lunch, which was interesting. I had
some chicken while Patrick and Heather tried some strange things like toad!
After that, we rode an elephant to the top of a mountain, which was pretty cool,
but then it started raining and we had to walk down the path in the rain while
dodging elephant poop! Then we got into our tuk tuk and drove around the big
lap of the Angkor Wat temples. There are so many to see and the area is huge,
there is no way that we could have seen it all in 3 days but we did see the
highlights! We stopped off at the Tomb Raider temple where Angelina Jolie shot
the movie. Some Cambodian guy with 15, 2-inch long hairs coming out of his face
wanted his picture with me, and then he wanted a picture of me with his whole
family! Strange things like this happen to foreign people in Asia, you have been
forewarned. After the temples closed we went into town for some Cambodian BBQ
which was really good, after we left the table a bunch of Cambodian children
ran over and cleared what was left on our plates and that left us feeling sad
and concerned for them. We then proceeded to a night market where we shopped
because that’s what girls love to do! Patrick saw some people he had met on his
travels so he had some drinks with them while he waited for us! After that we
headed to the famous Angkor What? Bar which was a good time, full of us
drinking buckets of booze and some dancing. We stopped at the mini mart on our
way back to the hotel again but it didn’t take us nearly as long to select
snacks!
May 17 – Next morning, Patrick had to leave
really early so we didn’t see him! We said our goodbyes the night before. We
got our flight from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Min city to start the Vietnam leg of
our trip. Let me just say, Siem Reap has one of the nicest small airports I’ve
ever been in, it was clearly made for tourists and was a very modern gem in the
middle of Cambodia.
A few notes on Cambodia: This was my favorite part of our
trip overall. Everyone asks me why and I don’t really know what to say other
than the fact that I had the most fun here! The hotel that we stayed at also
really made our stay here wonderful! The Cambodian people are so nice and kind
and really make an effort to keep the tourists happy and they always seemed
willing to share their country’s sites and culture with us. They are very
welcoming and truly open, which is sometimes hard to find I think. The food
here was amazing and everything was so cheap! The fact that Angkor Wat is such
a marvel also helps! I wish that we would have been able to see more of
Cambodia like the capital and the coast, both of which I’ve heard good things
about. I’d definitely like to go back again for round 2! I'd give this country 4.5 out of 5 stars!
Country # 4 – Vietnam – Good Morning Vietnam, Goodbye money!
May 17 – We arrived in the late afternoon and one of
Heather’s Dad’s friends that he knows through work is Vietnamese. So, he offered
to pick us up, drop us off at the hotel Heather’s dad prebooked for us, and
show us around! The hotel we stayed at was really nice and our new friend, his name
is Terrance was very happy to take us out to lunch so that we could try some
Vietnamese food. We had a whole fish for lunch and a bunch of other stuff, I
was incredibly full. The food in Vietnam is delicious. After lunch he dropped
us off at the War Museum, what a total downer! It was so depressing. I had no
idea what to expect of course but after one point in the museum Heather and I
stopped speaking, partly because the stuff that we saw and read was shocking
and the other part because we were American and I didn’t want anyone to know
that. Our country did some pretty horrific things that I didn’t know about and
although the museum was very one sided, and I understood that, I still felt
somewhat ashamed as if we owed the Vietnamese something. Then, all of a sudden,
some lady came into one of the big rooms and said, “Museum closed,” then, she
turned off all the lights and waited for everyone to leave while locking some
of the other doors! There was still a bunch of people in the museum, probably
about 50 other people so I couldn’t understand why they shut it down like there
was a fire! Strange! After the museum we walked back and passed a church that
was a smaller replica of Notre Dame, which I found interesting. One thing that
I noticed about Vietnam as we traveled through the country was the huge French
influence everywhere in the food, architecture, etc.
May 18 – Terrance picked us up early in his car and took us
to a local place for some Pho, the famous Vietnamese soup. It wasn’t what I was
expecting for breakfast but it was still amazingly delicious! Then he dropped
us off at the zoo. It wasn’t the best zoo I’ve ever been too and one of the
tigers attacked the glass wall because obviously he wanted to eat Heather and
I, so that left us a little frightened! We booked a tour later to go check out
the CuChi Tunnels and then we got pedicures! Cheap, wonderful pedicures! Then
we divulged in some Mexican food and met some expats there teaching English and
we talked to them for what seemed like hours just sharing stories. On the way back to the hotel
Heather bought even more illegal DVD’s!
May 19 –We had to be up early for our CuChi Tunnel tour, the
war tunnels close to Ho Chi Min City. We had to ride in a crammed minibus there
but the tour itself was amazing and we were even allowed to practice crawling
through one of the tunnels that they had made a little bit bigger for the
tourists. I thought it was amazing how smart they were and the methods they
used to survive. They literally thought of every little detail. I don’t know if
I could have survived in some of those conditions but I guess when it’s a
matter of life and death you have more of a will to survive. We tried to take a
boat back but it broke down in the river and we kind of had to drift back to
the dock at the mercy of the mighty Mekong. Our tour guide was awesome though
and we got the bus back with him and it all worked out well. We still had some
time to kill before our overnight train to Nha Trang so when we got back we
went to get our nails done! I got the best French manicure I’ve ever had for 3
dollars! Amazing!
May 20 – We got an overnight train to Nha Trang and when we
got on the train it was what I would imagine boarding the Titanic to be like,
the cabins were older and looked like the crew cabins from the movie. We each
got our own little bed. Heather started talking to this Vietnamese lady and
even though we didn’t talk that much, she insisted on adding us on facebook,
literally looking us up, checking to make sure it was us, and then sending the
friend requests. Then she wanted pictures with us! This kind of thing has happened to me a few times in Korea, I’m not sure
why it’s typical of Asian people to do this, maybe they want more English
speaking, white people on their internet pages or what, but I find it annoying and after
Heather accepted her request on facebook and I did not, she clearly understood
why I usually avoid those situations….haha. Other notes on the train: there was
a guy smoking like a freight train himself in the hallway every 5 minutes so
our whole cabin smelled like smoke and I couldn’t breath, it was awful and
really got me fired up. Then when we finally got to sleep, at 5 am, one hour
before our train was to arrive, they started blasting this horrible music
through the whole train at maximum volume! Heather got angry and when the train
finally stopped she bolted out of there so fast, she wanted to kill someone! We
got to our hotel fast, were able to check in early, so we went back to bed and
woke up again around 11 and headed to the beach!
May 21 – In Nha Trang we spent our days on the beach
relaxing and our nights eating out at a couple of good restaurants, I
distinctly remember a good French one, and smoking shisha.
May 22 – While in Nha Trang we realized that we were not
going to have enough time to take trains all the way to Hanoi so we booked some
short flights. First stop, Hoi An! We got a flight to Hoi An and when we first
arrived at the hotel it seemed really nice until they made us angry later. We then went out to walk around the
city; it had a very European feel to it with an Asian twist, very strange in my
opinion but also very pretty and very quaint. We then shopped and decided to
get some shoes made and then decided to get some clothes made! We spent all
evening at the tailors pretty much designing things! We had a great dinner of noodle dishes that night but then when we wanted to get the shuttle back to our
hotel, they wouldn’t take us so, I got angry because then we had to walk back in
the dark and it was scary.
May 23 – The hotel had a great buffet/hot breakfast for us
that was delicious. Later we went to a European café where we had quiches and
other delectable desserts and then headed to the market where we bought bags,
scarves, jewelry, souvenirs, etc. Then we went back to try on our shoes and
clothes that they had made for us to make sure everything fit, we had to wait
for a few minor adjustments and then we picked everything up right before our
taxi left for the airport. All of our stuff turned out really awesome. We flew
to Hanoi and had already arranged a pick up because we knew we would be getting
in late. We when finally made it to our hostel we showered and crashed, but not
before booking a 3-day tour to Ha Long Bay first starting bright and early the
next morning! Oh the life of a backpacker!
May 24 – Our bus left early and it was packed! 2 Asian girls
kept passing out and trying to sleep on us, which did not go over well with me.
After what seemed like 4 hours we finally made it to the dock where we had to
wait in the baking hot sun with a gazillion bugs to get on this boat. The boat
was not like the pictures in the book at all, it was not nearly as nice. When
we finally got on the boat, our guide could barely speak English. When everyone
was getting their room assignments, 2 of the rooms didn’t have keys, some
people had to room together that didn’t even know each other, and 2 people from
the group 1 girl and 1 boy had to not only share a room together, but sleep in
the same bed together while Heather and I got 2 single beds! It was all messed
up and probably pretty awkward for them! Very poorly organized. After everyone
got settled in we had lunch and met these two cool Norwegian guys. The boat
just cruised around the rest of the day really throughout the islands in the
bay. We did stop at a cave for a while and went inside to explore that and we
also went swimming off the boat later that night and played some card games
with our new found friends, it was a good time.
May 25 – We woke up early as all hell to the tour guide
yelling at us and coming into our room despite him saying the night before that
we didn’t have to be up until like 8…clearly he was mistaken. The whole tour
was like that, he told us one thing and then we did another! Then they tried to
feed us cold eggs for breakfast, we were not happy. Another boat came and picked us up because we had booked one
night on the boat and another night sleeping on Monkey Island. My stomach finally started hurting that morning (bc at some point in SE Asia everyone gets a stomach sickness of some sort) and I was tired at this point. When we finally got to the island
the resort picked us up but then the van wouldn’t start so we had to wait for
another van and it started pouring down the rain. In the meantime, I had to use
the bathroom so I went inside the bus/boat station and there was not a soul in
sight, I used the bathroom and when I came out I was already on the other end
about to exit the station when some lady started chasing me down wanting me to
pay her 3000 dong or 15 cents for using the bathroom. She kept reaching out to
try to touch me so I quickly made it clear for her to not touch me and kept
walking out the exit. It’s not my fault that she left the bathroom unmanned and
it wasn’t like there was any toilet paper for me to use anyways so I don’t know
what she thinks I would have paid her for. This only made me more angry…
After that us and
another couple that were in the van with us made the stop at the
national park on the way to the island because there was a slight break in the
rain. We were supposed to do a hike in this national park but I was not really
feeling up to it but I started the hike with them anyways. We got to the base
of the mountain where it started to go up and I stopped there and decided that
I just didn’t want to do it, and forcing myself to do it would only put me in a
worse mood and that I just need to take a break. Heather went the rest of the
way but they all came back fairly quickly as the hike was too slippery from the
rain, muddy, and filled with a gazillion mosquitoes, thank goodness I doused
Heather in bug spray before she went up. It was clear that I had reached my
cultural maximum limit at the point of the hike and it was best for me to take
those 30 minutes to myself to get back into the right frame of mind. Still,
9:30 am is a new record for me to reach my cultural maximum limit! Way too
early!
After the van and boat we finally made it to Monkey Island
resort, which was nice, we got to sleep in one of those tiki hut things close
to the beach! We ate lunch and I was starting to feel better about the way
things were going, it rained again but after it stopped we went kayaking! It
was my first time and Heather’s first time kayaking in the ocean, it was a
little scary at some points but also really fun! We saw some monkeys, had
showers, and ate dinner with the other couple from the van in the hotel
restaurant. The food they made us was great. THEN, it happened, the funniest
moment in our trip and probably the most terrifying! I was outside on the porch
our our tiki hut spraying my body with bug spray before going to sleep to avoid
malaria when I heard Heather scream, I of course think the worst has happened
because I’m the scared one between the two of us, rarely is Heather ever scared or screaming! Then, 2 of the resort staff
come running over and say, “friend, everything okay?” I of course say, “Oh, yea
yea, everything’s fine, Heather everything’s fine right?” I got a meek yeeeaaa
in response, then as I’m still standing there on the porch I see two things fly
in front of my face that I swear were bats so I ran inside screaming and then
Heather is screaming too and that’s when I see it….this huge dragon moth,
literally the size of a small bird flying around our room! That’s when Heather
and I start flailing about and screaming trying to protect ourselves from this
thing dodging at our heads. Keep in mind that the resort staff, 2 girls, are
still outside our little hut so they knock to see if it’s okay if they come in,
one of them has a broom in her hand and then they see it too and don’t really
know what to do. At this point Heather and I are using sheets from the bed to
cover and protect us, moving about the room but keeping low to the floor. THEN, more staff came and then the dog even came over to
see what all the commotion was about! One of the male staff members came in and eventually handled the situation by killing it after a couple of attempts.
After they all left and we had made quite the spectacle of ourselves, we almost peed our
pants from laughing so hard! This laughter went on for about 20 minutes, non-stop,
almost peeing our pants laughter, about all the mishaps we’ve had so far on
this trip! Nothing quite like a night in the jungle!
May 26 – up at 6:30! Breakfast at the resort was great, I
got 3 mosquito bites on my face and when we woke up the door was wide open. It
stormed all night so things seemed very calm that morning. We left a little
late and our van literally drove through a river back on the main island to get
us back to our boat. It was very scary, driving through water scares me but it
doesn’t seem to phase these people in SE Asia at all! We fnally made it back to
the big boat where we had lunch and then finally arrived back in the Ha Long
Bay port and had to wait forever for our minivan to take us back to Hanoi. When
we finally made it back we didn’t have too much more time before I had to leave
for the airport for my red eye back to Korea! We got our nails done again,
walked around Hanoi and bought a few last minute things. I was sad to leave
Heather but I had to get my plane! We both agreed that there probably needs to
be a Southeast Asia round 2 to do everything we didn’t do on this trip, plus
since we know the territory now and what to expect, things would be a lot
easier next time! I would be able to come more prepared for the bugs.
A few notes on Vietnam: Driving is very scary in this country!
Crossing the street is even scarier! Most of the time there aren’t crosswalks
to rely on and if you want to cross the street you just have to go and walk
slowly so that the cars and 50 million motorbikes have time to judge how they
will go around you. It’s terrifying! Culturally speaking, Vietnam reminded me a
lot of Korea, I get the feeling that their society has very similar principals.
I didn’t like Vietnam as much as I thought I would but the food here was the
best food that we had in Southeast Asia. Great food with a heavy French
influenece and a very large variety of things to eat! Also, we had great nail
services here and for cheap! I felt like with 10 days we saw a great deal of
Vietnam and I’d probably like to go back and spend more time in the north
around Hanoi and maybe see some more beaches but this was my least favorite
country that we visited in Southeast Asia… I’d rather go back to Cambodia or
Thailand, but that’s just me! To each their own!
Heather and I also made a driving guide to driving in
Vietnam, purely for your enjoyment. I'd give this country 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Driving in Vietnam
The only rules are that there are no rules!
Step 1 - Make sure you drive in two lanes at all times if
possible!
Step 2 – If the car in front of you is moving too slowly
honk until they move, never pass for anything!
Step 3 – If ever you do decide to pass, honk and flash your
lights.
Step 4 – When coming to an intersection, honk loudly and
repeatedly flash your lights so that everyone knows you are coming!
Step 5 – Don’t worry about turning your lights on a night,
no big deal.
Step 6 – Use as many distractions as possible, cell phone,
tv, gps, radio, etc.
Step 7 – Honk when passing anything and I mean anything!
Even a cow!
Step 8 – No need to yield to oncoming traffic…drive on
through and hope for the best! BUT, don’t forget to use your horn and your
lights!
Step 9 – It’s okay to drive through rivers or any path with
moving water!
Keeping these simple steps in mind you are sure to have a
stress free driving experience in Vietnam!
Also, some key phrase from our trip that we used in
abundance were:
Rtizy Crackers
Dugay – meaning 2 in Korean
What a steal!
Same same but different!
No stopping, no shopping okay? – Everytime before getting a
tuk tuk!
Single and free!
Eh? - like the Canadians!
I can check Southeast Asia off my bucket list now! Happy times! :)
