greetings, again. i left off with what was a riveting tale of my few days in cambodia, which, is all you really need in my opinion.
we left siem reap bright and early (well not so much bright considering it was 6 am) and boarded our first bus that would bring us to saigon/ho chi minh city. this bus was nothing like our bus to siem reap: it was full, smelly, and uncomfortable. i cannot imagine what it would have been like had sarah and i not stocked up on dramamine.
an unpeaceful sleep later we arrived back in phnom penh for the bus switch. the first leg was over! onto the second bus, still dramamined up, i enjoyed being squished against the window while two people shared the aisle seat next to me with absolutely zero regard for my need of personal space. my "accidental" shoves and elbows didnt phase them and my stink eye was repelled without even making them flinch.
we crossed the border and were in vietnam! we arrived at our hotel, madam cucs hotel 127, after an awful cab ride where we were scammed beyond belief. these cabbies definitely know whats up and how to get you when youre down. if we didnt have all of our luggage we would have been out of there in a hot second but clearly we know better and it is better to pay the 5 dollar fare and just get over it. after such a long day we ventured in for some food which was quite difficult - pork uterus is not something i would like to try. we finally found food and then passed out.
our next day in saigon was interesting. the city did not meet my imagined expectations minus the millions of motorbikes that i knew would zoom by me without thinking. i had the idea that saigon would be old world like with pretty buildings and charm thrown into the bustling city life. it wasnt. saigon is just a dirty city with very little i liked, except the market. sarah and i never turn down a good market. we ventured our way through the millions of fake bags, jewelry and lacquered items and came out with a few quality purchases such as our "good morning vietnam" shirts. the day had passed and before we knew it it was time to head to the train station to meet kay in nha trang!
we arrived to nha trang very early in the morning and already our spirits were lifted. nha trang is known as a beach town but even if it didnt have the beach i still think it was more charming than saigon. we arrived at our guesthouse, may huy (pronounced mais oui) where we fell in love with the place and the friendly staff who took great care of us. after another early morning nap we were reunited with our best friend kay who were are going to live with in beijing. we got settled, ate, chitchatted and then hit the beach, had great dinners and explored the local night life. perfect day. repeat 2 more times.
we said goodbye to may huy and boarded our train to hue. another dramamine filled night sleep later and we had arrived at binh minh hotel. hue is a quaint little town with cute shops and cafes. the first day we explored the city and scoped out the river and citadel which is the citys main attraction. the citadels walls are 18 feet thick!!! thats a lot of bricks people. after our tourist bout we decided that our time would be best spent at the pool and buying pictures from local photographers. we came home with some gorgeous prints which totaled about 1 dollar! a little goes a long way in the nam.
the next day we said a tearful and early goodbye to kay and then headed out for our private half day boat tour. we moseyed along the river and soaked up some sun while stopping at various points along the way. the first stop, a pagoda, was gorgeous and sarah and i got in a bit of meditation time. next, we headed to the tombs and then a temple. while the stops were great and interesting the best part was just seeing the city from the "lazy river" and soaking in the city from another angle. we also had a great lunch in the process cooked by the wife of our boat driver. we headed back home and then were on our way to the train station for another long ride to hanoi.
hanoi is what i believed vietnam would be like. the buildings are quaint, the people friendly, and the french influence is obvious. it has charm while still being a bustling city. we stayed in the old quarter which is a great area and has everything to offer. the first day we just got a feel for the quarter and strolled around the lake area looking in various shops and cafes along the way. we soon unleashed our need for silk scarves and now there are none left in the country. get ready for presents, people! hanoi was great for us because we could take our time and relax and do what we wanted when we wanted. we liked lazily soaking up the city and taking our time with the sites and shops. we also took in a water puppet show which was highly entertaining even though we understood nothing. the one downside to hanoi is the patch of skin i am now missing from my lower right calf. word to the wise - be careful and do not slip when getting off motorbike taxis. exhaust pipes are hot and will burn your skin off. it is not fun. despite the missing flesh, hanoi was my favorite city in vietnam. we wined, dined, shopped, and really just "lived".
we are departing for shanghai tonight where we will spend a few leisurely days before embarking on our 9 day tour of china. you will hear of that adventure later.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
There's Nothing Funny about Cambodia
hello, again. i am currently writing to you from hanoi, vietnam. it is our last day here and later tonight we head to shanghai, well, nanning and then take a plan to shanghai from there.
before i get into stories from the 'nam, i must first tell you of cambodia, if i can remember that far back.
we flew from bangkok to cambodia and arrived in phnom penh. our guesthouse, grandview (name is not fitting) was in the midst of a backpacker road with tons of restaurants and cafes where "happy" pizzas are plentiful (at some places you can even ask for extra happy). we had dinner, some drinks and were down for the count.
we woke up early the following morning to head to the SE2 museum, on old high school where pol pot and his regime tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of cambodians whom were assumed to be against the khymer. like walking around dachau in germany, i could feel all that had gone on there. there were pictures of individuals who were brought and killed there under gruesome ways which, excuse this phrase, brought such an awful history to life in my eyes.
after the museum we headed back to grandview for a quick lunch before boarding the bus to siem reap. we had an entire bus to ourselves and after a lovely 8 hour nap we arrived at jasmine lodge. our staff could not have been more friendly and helped us book our tour of angkor wat (the largest religious site in the world). we had been told that getting there for sunrise was breathtaking so we decided to go to bed early to wake up at 4 am. of course, the morning we decide to do this, the sunrise is clouded by a wonderful rain shower. the clouds and mist eventually did clear and we were able to enjoy some of the other temples in the area in full sun. the temples were incredible and depicted such intricate detail of life in cambodia through carvings. many people, we were told, spend about 3-4 days returning to angkor wat, but sarah and i could not have been more content with our 6 hours. i think if we had spent days there the temples would have merged together making the experience far less memorable.
we returned around 11 am and found it to be a perfect time for a nap. after finishing a peaceful sleep we just hung out on our rooftop terrace and read before enjoying a great happy hour in "downtown" siem reap followed by some market stall shopping and then a delicious traditional dinner of khymer cuisine at khymer kitchen.
then it was back to jasmine before waking up early yet again for our 2 buses to saigon.
before i get into stories from the 'nam, i must first tell you of cambodia, if i can remember that far back.
we flew from bangkok to cambodia and arrived in phnom penh. our guesthouse, grandview (name is not fitting) was in the midst of a backpacker road with tons of restaurants and cafes where "happy" pizzas are plentiful (at some places you can even ask for extra happy). we had dinner, some drinks and were down for the count.
we woke up early the following morning to head to the SE2 museum, on old high school where pol pot and his regime tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of cambodians whom were assumed to be against the khymer. like walking around dachau in germany, i could feel all that had gone on there. there were pictures of individuals who were brought and killed there under gruesome ways which, excuse this phrase, brought such an awful history to life in my eyes.
after the museum we headed back to grandview for a quick lunch before boarding the bus to siem reap. we had an entire bus to ourselves and after a lovely 8 hour nap we arrived at jasmine lodge. our staff could not have been more friendly and helped us book our tour of angkor wat (the largest religious site in the world). we had been told that getting there for sunrise was breathtaking so we decided to go to bed early to wake up at 4 am. of course, the morning we decide to do this, the sunrise is clouded by a wonderful rain shower. the clouds and mist eventually did clear and we were able to enjoy some of the other temples in the area in full sun. the temples were incredible and depicted such intricate detail of life in cambodia through carvings. many people, we were told, spend about 3-4 days returning to angkor wat, but sarah and i could not have been more content with our 6 hours. i think if we had spent days there the temples would have merged together making the experience far less memorable.
we returned around 11 am and found it to be a perfect time for a nap. after finishing a peaceful sleep we just hung out on our rooftop terrace and read before enjoying a great happy hour in "downtown" siem reap followed by some market stall shopping and then a delicious traditional dinner of khymer cuisine at khymer kitchen.
then it was back to jasmine before waking up early yet again for our 2 buses to saigon.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Monks, Meditation and Massages
greetings. i deeply apologize for what appears to be the longest gap between posts since the beginning of this adventure. i already got yelled at from gary himself and since no one else is my parent you cant express the need for blogs in such a vulgar manner although i bet youre thinking it to yourselves. so fear not, i am here and ready to share.
when i last left you we had just returned from 6 wonderful days of sun, happy hours and all the rest that goes along with general beach merriment. we took another long train ride and were in bangkok. we decided that after such a long journey and our need to be presentable when showing up to the temple the following day we were in need of a bit of luxury. luckilly, sarah and her mom had been to bangkok before and we decided that it would be worth it to stay at their previous hotel, ibrik. we had a lovely room with a balcony that faced the river in addition to a hot shower which these days has been quite difficult to come by.
we settled in, ate lunch and then perused the local market. i have never smelled so many conflicting scents in my entire life. you could have a fish vendor next to a flower vendor next to a sweets vendor. now take that aroma and multiply it by 1,000,000 and there is the local market in bangkok. a successful t-shirt purchase later, we were back at the river room in ibrik relaxing before our last bit of the high life: dinner at the famed suparta river house. we had a wonderful dinner on the water and treated ourselves to our first glass of wine since leaving australia. we had low expectations of wine in thailand but it was better than goon and thats all that counts!!
the next day we did a bit of sightseeing before heading to our project in the late afternoon. we went to the famed wat pho and saw the reclining buddah, which is incredible. this is one massive buddah and in addition to its enormity it is completely gold from head to toe which makes the sight even that much more spectacular. after bonding with the first of many buddahs, we went to the massage region of the temple (wat pho is the one of the original schools for thai massage) and enjoyed a nice half hour relaxation break. we headed back to ibrik for a last sweep of our room and with a tearful goodbye we left the high life and headed for wat arun.
we must have been a sight for sore eyes. the taxi dropped us off in the middle of the main temple grounds and for about 10 minutes or so sarah and i just stared and wandered aimlessly in hope of finding something that would point us in the direction of the volunteer center. finally someone found us and correctly guessed that we were the newest additions to the volunteer team. the man, known as hartanto or "teacher" as we often call him, is the head of the meditation center and volunteer program.
the center and program was founded by a couple in florida who had known hartanto and wanted to repay their thanks to him after he helped them adopt two thai children. hartanto runs it and in accordance with the thai ministry of education, the center helps thai teens have a better life. the program offers them a year of schooling in addition to jobs at the local hospital and engineering centers. the children are learning english with the guarantee of a job the following year.
we helped to teach these children english in the morning for a few days but then were told that a summer school program had come up and we would be teaching younger elementary school children for the remainder of our time at the center. teaching was great and sarah and i proved to be a great team. there is now a group of 20 thai children who are well versed in "there was a crocodile..." and "everywhere we go..."!! in addition to the elementary school, we taught adults who worked for hitachi electronics on tuesday and thursday afternoons. this class was very fun and we enjoyed working on pronunciation and detail with the adults. some of our classes received very high acclaim!!
we slept at the dorm with the other girls and by the end of our two weeks sleeping on the floor was somewhat natural feeling (yeah, right - the second we got on the sleeper train to chiang mai it was like the hard floor had never happened!)
during the off hours when we were not teaching (which was often enough) we would read, meditate and hang out with the head monk (pra metti; pra means monk in thai). pra metti was the funniest man i have ever met. no matter what you were doing he always seemed to have something more interesting (at least to him) for you to be doing such as chopping coconuts, picking flowers or watching bbc television with him.
i have found that although it is very difficult for me, i greatly enjoy meditation. hartanto taught us that it is not about being at inner peace with yourself. it is the opposite; instead of thinking about calming thoughts or just being one with your thoughts, you are not supposed to do that. you can be aware of thoughts and feelings but aside from that awareness you are not meant to follow them any further. if a bug just bit you or you are thinking about something you forgot to do, just acknowledge that you have thought it and then put it aside. the main idea of inside meditation is to follow your breath and for lack of a better buddhist phrase to finish with, see where it takes you. i have tried to continue with meditation at least once daily since we have finished teaching. sometimes i am successful and others i am not. the key for me is to not beat myself up after a "bad" session just to say that i sat for however long as i did and then know that i will try again later or the next day and maybe have a great session. good or bad, as long as you continue to try thats all that matters.
we left bangkok for a 5 day mini vacation to chiang mai which is in northern thailand. its a good thing we went there after our volunteer stint because i had plenty of saved money that didnt go to guest houses and hostels. thats right folks, youve guessed it, the extra cash went to presents for all of you (and myself, obvi.) chiang mai was the perfect place to relax. we got massaged, ate wonderful food (sarah and i managed to find the only restaurant in thailand that serves bagels and lox!), and graced the local shops and markets with our burning wallets. when we werent burning through money, we were laying by the pool at our guest house and reading.
and of course, we couldnt go to chiang mai without taking a thai cooking course. our course was lovely and the people who we shared the day with were great. our teacher was very enthusiastic and we had a great time learning about thai ingredients and how to prepare: hot and sour soup, chicken pad se ew, chicken with cashews, spicy papaya salad, green curry with my very own homemade curry paste, and sticky rice with mango. by the end of the course (3:30 pm) we could hardly move due to the fullness and took our leftovers home for dinner.
we are currently back in bangkok - we had one farewell nights sleep with the beloved floor - and fly to cambodia tonight for a few days before meeting the lovely kay in vietnam. its amazing to think that we are over half way through this trip and in a mere few weeks will be finished with the moving around every few days; we will finally be stationed in a city!!
thats all for now. keep reading.
when i last left you we had just returned from 6 wonderful days of sun, happy hours and all the rest that goes along with general beach merriment. we took another long train ride and were in bangkok. we decided that after such a long journey and our need to be presentable when showing up to the temple the following day we were in need of a bit of luxury. luckilly, sarah and her mom had been to bangkok before and we decided that it would be worth it to stay at their previous hotel, ibrik. we had a lovely room with a balcony that faced the river in addition to a hot shower which these days has been quite difficult to come by.
we settled in, ate lunch and then perused the local market. i have never smelled so many conflicting scents in my entire life. you could have a fish vendor next to a flower vendor next to a sweets vendor. now take that aroma and multiply it by 1,000,000 and there is the local market in bangkok. a successful t-shirt purchase later, we were back at the river room in ibrik relaxing before our last bit of the high life: dinner at the famed suparta river house. we had a wonderful dinner on the water and treated ourselves to our first glass of wine since leaving australia. we had low expectations of wine in thailand but it was better than goon and thats all that counts!!
the next day we did a bit of sightseeing before heading to our project in the late afternoon. we went to the famed wat pho and saw the reclining buddah, which is incredible. this is one massive buddah and in addition to its enormity it is completely gold from head to toe which makes the sight even that much more spectacular. after bonding with the first of many buddahs, we went to the massage region of the temple (wat pho is the one of the original schools for thai massage) and enjoyed a nice half hour relaxation break. we headed back to ibrik for a last sweep of our room and with a tearful goodbye we left the high life and headed for wat arun.
we must have been a sight for sore eyes. the taxi dropped us off in the middle of the main temple grounds and for about 10 minutes or so sarah and i just stared and wandered aimlessly in hope of finding something that would point us in the direction of the volunteer center. finally someone found us and correctly guessed that we were the newest additions to the volunteer team. the man, known as hartanto or "teacher" as we often call him, is the head of the meditation center and volunteer program.
the center and program was founded by a couple in florida who had known hartanto and wanted to repay their thanks to him after he helped them adopt two thai children. hartanto runs it and in accordance with the thai ministry of education, the center helps thai teens have a better life. the program offers them a year of schooling in addition to jobs at the local hospital and engineering centers. the children are learning english with the guarantee of a job the following year.
we helped to teach these children english in the morning for a few days but then were told that a summer school program had come up and we would be teaching younger elementary school children for the remainder of our time at the center. teaching was great and sarah and i proved to be a great team. there is now a group of 20 thai children who are well versed in "there was a crocodile..." and "everywhere we go..."!! in addition to the elementary school, we taught adults who worked for hitachi electronics on tuesday and thursday afternoons. this class was very fun and we enjoyed working on pronunciation and detail with the adults. some of our classes received very high acclaim!!
we slept at the dorm with the other girls and by the end of our two weeks sleeping on the floor was somewhat natural feeling (yeah, right - the second we got on the sleeper train to chiang mai it was like the hard floor had never happened!)
during the off hours when we were not teaching (which was often enough) we would read, meditate and hang out with the head monk (pra metti; pra means monk in thai). pra metti was the funniest man i have ever met. no matter what you were doing he always seemed to have something more interesting (at least to him) for you to be doing such as chopping coconuts, picking flowers or watching bbc television with him.
i have found that although it is very difficult for me, i greatly enjoy meditation. hartanto taught us that it is not about being at inner peace with yourself. it is the opposite; instead of thinking about calming thoughts or just being one with your thoughts, you are not supposed to do that. you can be aware of thoughts and feelings but aside from that awareness you are not meant to follow them any further. if a bug just bit you or you are thinking about something you forgot to do, just acknowledge that you have thought it and then put it aside. the main idea of inside meditation is to follow your breath and for lack of a better buddhist phrase to finish with, see where it takes you. i have tried to continue with meditation at least once daily since we have finished teaching. sometimes i am successful and others i am not. the key for me is to not beat myself up after a "bad" session just to say that i sat for however long as i did and then know that i will try again later or the next day and maybe have a great session. good or bad, as long as you continue to try thats all that matters.
we left bangkok for a 5 day mini vacation to chiang mai which is in northern thailand. its a good thing we went there after our volunteer stint because i had plenty of saved money that didnt go to guest houses and hostels. thats right folks, youve guessed it, the extra cash went to presents for all of you (and myself, obvi.) chiang mai was the perfect place to relax. we got massaged, ate wonderful food (sarah and i managed to find the only restaurant in thailand that serves bagels and lox!), and graced the local shops and markets with our burning wallets. when we werent burning through money, we were laying by the pool at our guest house and reading.
and of course, we couldnt go to chiang mai without taking a thai cooking course. our course was lovely and the people who we shared the day with were great. our teacher was very enthusiastic and we had a great time learning about thai ingredients and how to prepare: hot and sour soup, chicken pad se ew, chicken with cashews, spicy papaya salad, green curry with my very own homemade curry paste, and sticky rice with mango. by the end of the course (3:30 pm) we could hardly move due to the fullness and took our leftovers home for dinner.
we are currently back in bangkok - we had one farewell nights sleep with the beloved floor - and fly to cambodia tonight for a few days before meeting the lovely kay in vietnam. its amazing to think that we are over half way through this trip and in a mere few weeks will be finished with the moving around every few days; we will finally be stationed in a city!!
thats all for now. keep reading.
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