i guess it can't always be sunny now can it? i'm in hoi an, vietnam at the moment... which is near the beach but it's been overcast and cold... so no beach time for me, unfortunately.
one thing i've learned on this trip...is that you most likely will run into the same people again so the whole..."who cares... when are you going to see these people again" theory doesn't apply. for instance... when i was in sihanoukville (i feel like i've told this story already bear with me again) cambodia at the vietnam consulate, a couple came in to also get their vietnam visa. didn't think much of it. was in kampot at a bar when the couple next to me asked..."did everything work out with your visa?". it was that couple. then when i was in saigon... i was taking pics on the rooftop... i turn around and they're waving at me. crazy. and then... was coming back from lunch in dalat and saw the couple standing outside my hostel. small, small world. luckily i like this couple. they're really cool. from the netherlands. :) but yeah, i've been running into the same people. i guess that's what happens.
oh dalat... i loved dalat but mostly i liked it because of the place that i stayed. i got there after a night bus at 7am or so...so tired. and was greeted by anni who was so nice and sweet. she gave me a hug and said that she could switch my bed so that i could have a bed immediately. yay. that's what i did. i so needed a nap. the hostel itself is their home. two girls and their mother live there and run the whole place. yes, it is a bit cramped, but it really did feel like family. each night mama and the girls prepared dinner and everyone staying could join. it was a big spread and only for $2. and not to mention beers were 50 cents each. big ones. it was a great way to get to know the other travelers. and this place seems to attract people who are just great. no douche bags. after dinner we would hang out and exchange stories. one night we went out for karaoke. it was absolutely insane. SO much fun. really just a great group of people from all over. all ages. i THINK i was the oldest but of course...i don't really feel that way. :) i have a young heart.
i was also in the mekong delta before which i enjoyed. i did it on my own and not part of a tour so i decided to stay in a homestay which wasn't so much a homestay. i had a private bungalow across the street but the family prepared breakfast lunch and dinner each day. it was yummy. the family was nice even though the only one who spoke english was the father. the mother of the father was really nice and was always offering me treats... watermelon, mango candy, etc. i liked her. the whole family was helpful and sweet. it's amazing how much you can communicate when you don't know the language.
tomorrow i go to hue... and then to phong nha ke bang national park to see the caves. i am excited about this because i haven't heard anything bad about it. i will be staying at pepperhouse homestay there which i am looking forward to. the reviews on tripadvisor seem to be good... authentic rural vietnam. and i know one girl who stayed there and loved it. suggestions are super critical when traveling. after that, probably up to hanoi and then halong bay then back to hanoi and....fly to.... somewhere. not sure where.
i can't believe it's been four months already.... four and a half months. sometimes it feels like it's been a while and sometimes i feel like i just started. in total i will be away for six months. woah! six months! i can see myself not staying in the states too long. the idea of teaching english somewhere is starting to get really appealing as is volunteering. i just don't think i want to go back to normal life. i've talked to some travelers who miss their homes and their "normal" life... but i don't feel that. at all. is that weird? should i miss boston? i don't really. oh well.
i'm just gonna keep on keeping on.... :)
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
i really wish i could blog while walking...
because i always have ideas as i walk. ALWAYS... and then i get to my kindle or a computer and i forget nearly everything. like now. but here is a perfectly good opportunity to blog while i figure out what i want to do for the day. okay... well i know what i want to do, it's just a matter of when i actually want to do it.
cambodia.... wow... i love that country. it's so special. it really is. yes, i did mainly touristy things and hung out in the guesthouses with mainly westerners, but the interaction with the locals when i did have it was great. and one of my most memorable things was in battambang when i was going to the killing caves (which is mindblowing on its own) and being taken through this village... every child was there waving, smiling and saying hello. they were so happy. all of them. it was just really sweet. the killing caves themselves were pretty humbling... to know that people were bludgeoned to death because they had an education, a decent career, wore glasses, spoke another language, etc... by their own people.. then thrown through a skylight... just.. disgusting. and this happening only back in the 70s... just. unfathomable really. the killing fields in phnom penh were even more intense. to hear how they killed people there was just.. disgusting. children too... killed. i never knew a thing about cambodia growing up and honestly only read up on the khmer rouge this past summer, but it really is just mindblowing. and i was really turned off by the visitors in both of these places who were taking photos. i don't know. to me it just seems inappropriate to take photos of it. it was really weird even just to have a tuk tuk driver bring me there. just a really emotional day both at the killing cave in battambang and the killing fields in phnom penh. cambodia is just special and i hope to get back there sometime and work or volunteer. as you all know i'm not one for children... at all. but those kids in cambodia... oh my goodness, they warm my heart. i would love to work with them. this is a huge thing for me to say... not only for the kid factor but also because i never have a desire to return somewhere i've already been. i saw a couple ads when i was in kampot about volunteering there. cambodia's version of the peace corps.
cambodia is just special.
why does this happen to me? i can never remember what i want to say in a blog.. but when i'm out and about i have all these ideas. i really should start taking notes on my phone or something. there's always so much i want to share... and then i just blurb. i'm a horrible blogger. i apologize.
vietnam, so far, has been great. things are quiet in ho chi minh city right now because it's tet... chinese new year. for all of you who care what animal it is the year of, it's the horse. tet is like thanksgiving, christmas and new years all wrapped into one. i was lucky enough to meet up with my friend huan who i worked with in boston. he moved back to vietnam 2 years ago. he welcomed me into his family's house and out with his friends. i always think it's amazing for someone to welcome you into their home. and for it to be part of the holiday celebration... that's just really sweet. we went to his aunt's house new years eve (jan 30). and basically it's like thanksgiving. lots of food, lots of drinking. his uncles can drink. and they kept filling up our glasses. if the beer was cracked open, we were expected to fill our glass up to the top. i had 3 or 4... and then huan's aunt and cousin were going to the salon to get a head massage and their hair done. they invited me along. who was i to say no? i was buzzed a bit at this point. so i got my hair done... then came back and kept drinking. i didn't understand anything that was going on, except for "yo" which means cheers in vietnamese. easy to remember. one of his uncles loved cheersing me just because that was the only thing i could say. :) that night was new years eve and we went out downtown to a bar called broma. there were a lot of westerns there.. and some locals too. we were at a rooftop bar and there were fireworks at midnight. i thought there was going to be a countdown but i couldn't hear anything. then there was a dj playing random tunes... come on eileen, a-o let's go, other songs that i can't think of. met this cool couple from england and new zealand who teach english here and have been teaching here for 4 years. that night i stayed at vinh's (huan's bf) family's house. i met his parents and sister early in the morning and then we went to huan's coworker's house. there were about 5 or so kids there. on chinese new year they have this lucky tree and there are envelopes with money on them. guests are offered an envelope of their choice. we were also offered grapefruit (or something which looked like grapefruit) as good luck. the children then got in a line in front of the grandmother who had envelopes in her hand. she wished each child luck and handed each an envelope.. and lucky money was inside. then the individual families stood in front of the grandmother and were offered a lucky envelope as well. that reminded me of christmas. it was really cool to witness, actually. i'm sure most westerners have no idea what happens during tet. i had no clue. so it was very special to actually observe it all. :) even if they spoke vietnamese and i didn't completely know what was going on at the time. i just smiled and nodded. afterwards, we went back to huan's aunt's house and had lunch. the same spread was out. lots of food. just plates with food on them every inch of the table. it reminded me so much of thanksgiving. and like thanksgiving, i needed a nap after i ate. we left shortly after that and huan dropped me off at my hostel. which is where i am now.
so.... since i didn't want to rush through cambodia or vietnam, i decided to extend my trip! :) instead of coming back on february 5, i am now coming back march 26! i will be in vietnam until february 25 since that is when my visa runs out. so i have a whole extra month to play with. not sure what to do... was thinking... philippines, indonesia (flores or other islands east of bali), or myanmar. or going back to cambodia to volunteer. what to do? what to do? not a bad problem to have.
okay, this was enough useless information for you to ponder. i'm going to have to figure out a way to make more informative blogs. :)
cambodia.... wow... i love that country. it's so special. it really is. yes, i did mainly touristy things and hung out in the guesthouses with mainly westerners, but the interaction with the locals when i did have it was great. and one of my most memorable things was in battambang when i was going to the killing caves (which is mindblowing on its own) and being taken through this village... every child was there waving, smiling and saying hello. they were so happy. all of them. it was just really sweet. the killing caves themselves were pretty humbling... to know that people were bludgeoned to death because they had an education, a decent career, wore glasses, spoke another language, etc... by their own people.. then thrown through a skylight... just.. disgusting. and this happening only back in the 70s... just. unfathomable really. the killing fields in phnom penh were even more intense. to hear how they killed people there was just.. disgusting. children too... killed. i never knew a thing about cambodia growing up and honestly only read up on the khmer rouge this past summer, but it really is just mindblowing. and i was really turned off by the visitors in both of these places who were taking photos. i don't know. to me it just seems inappropriate to take photos of it. it was really weird even just to have a tuk tuk driver bring me there. just a really emotional day both at the killing cave in battambang and the killing fields in phnom penh. cambodia is just special and i hope to get back there sometime and work or volunteer. as you all know i'm not one for children... at all. but those kids in cambodia... oh my goodness, they warm my heart. i would love to work with them. this is a huge thing for me to say... not only for the kid factor but also because i never have a desire to return somewhere i've already been. i saw a couple ads when i was in kampot about volunteering there. cambodia's version of the peace corps.
cambodia is just special.
why does this happen to me? i can never remember what i want to say in a blog.. but when i'm out and about i have all these ideas. i really should start taking notes on my phone or something. there's always so much i want to share... and then i just blurb. i'm a horrible blogger. i apologize.
vietnam, so far, has been great. things are quiet in ho chi minh city right now because it's tet... chinese new year. for all of you who care what animal it is the year of, it's the horse. tet is like thanksgiving, christmas and new years all wrapped into one. i was lucky enough to meet up with my friend huan who i worked with in boston. he moved back to vietnam 2 years ago. he welcomed me into his family's house and out with his friends. i always think it's amazing for someone to welcome you into their home. and for it to be part of the holiday celebration... that's just really sweet. we went to his aunt's house new years eve (jan 30). and basically it's like thanksgiving. lots of food, lots of drinking. his uncles can drink. and they kept filling up our glasses. if the beer was cracked open, we were expected to fill our glass up to the top. i had 3 or 4... and then huan's aunt and cousin were going to the salon to get a head massage and their hair done. they invited me along. who was i to say no? i was buzzed a bit at this point. so i got my hair done... then came back and kept drinking. i didn't understand anything that was going on, except for "yo" which means cheers in vietnamese. easy to remember. one of his uncles loved cheersing me just because that was the only thing i could say. :) that night was new years eve and we went out downtown to a bar called broma. there were a lot of westerns there.. and some locals too. we were at a rooftop bar and there were fireworks at midnight. i thought there was going to be a countdown but i couldn't hear anything. then there was a dj playing random tunes... come on eileen, a-o let's go, other songs that i can't think of. met this cool couple from england and new zealand who teach english here and have been teaching here for 4 years. that night i stayed at vinh's (huan's bf) family's house. i met his parents and sister early in the morning and then we went to huan's coworker's house. there were about 5 or so kids there. on chinese new year they have this lucky tree and there are envelopes with money on them. guests are offered an envelope of their choice. we were also offered grapefruit (or something which looked like grapefruit) as good luck. the children then got in a line in front of the grandmother who had envelopes in her hand. she wished each child luck and handed each an envelope.. and lucky money was inside. then the individual families stood in front of the grandmother and were offered a lucky envelope as well. that reminded me of christmas. it was really cool to witness, actually. i'm sure most westerners have no idea what happens during tet. i had no clue. so it was very special to actually observe it all. :) even if they spoke vietnamese and i didn't completely know what was going on at the time. i just smiled and nodded. afterwards, we went back to huan's aunt's house and had lunch. the same spread was out. lots of food. just plates with food on them every inch of the table. it reminded me so much of thanksgiving. and like thanksgiving, i needed a nap after i ate. we left shortly after that and huan dropped me off at my hostel. which is where i am now.
so.... since i didn't want to rush through cambodia or vietnam, i decided to extend my trip! :) instead of coming back on february 5, i am now coming back march 26! i will be in vietnam until february 25 since that is when my visa runs out. so i have a whole extra month to play with. not sure what to do... was thinking... philippines, indonesia (flores or other islands east of bali), or myanmar. or going back to cambodia to volunteer. what to do? what to do? not a bad problem to have.
okay, this was enough useless information for you to ponder. i'm going to have to figure out a way to make more informative blogs. :)
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