Far Away: August 2008

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hoi An - Nha Trang - Mekong Delta

Top - Village where they make pottery

Middle - Booze Cruise

Bottom - Night out

The last few days have been awesome. Hoi An has been fabulous. It's such a great town, with over 600 tailors and cute little shops. The second day I was there, the group rented motorbikes with drivers. We visited 2 villages as well as the beach for the afternoon. This day was so hot, perfect for being on a bike. I was a bit nervous to be a passenger on the motorbike. The way people drive here is, what seems like, reckless, although I realize that it works for them. While everyone in the group held on to the back of the seat, I held tightly onto my drivers hips. This day was one of my best days this entire trip. The villages were great, the beach was really beautiful and the experience as a whole was just very different. On our way home we raced a huge storm that was coming in. The wind picked up and I'll admit I was quite scared. Luckily, we beat the storm!

We headed off to Nha Trang the next day. We were on a day train for the whole day. It was exhausting, and lucky me there were mice again. The only silver lining is that I didn't find out till the end of the trip. Nha Trang is a backpacker destination. It's more of a party town, and is lots of fun. We went on a booze cruise. This involved boating to a few different islands, none of which I got off the boat to see. I did get off the boat to join everyone at the floating bar though. The floating bar expired one hour from the time they set up and whatever they were feeding us made us much closer by the time we got back on the boat. I managed to get stung by a jelly fish, which hurt for a couple days. There were roughly 30 people on this boat and they were from all over. We met a lot of interesting people and had a blast.

The next day we decided that we would like to visit Vin Pearl, a waterpark/amusement park that is located on one of the Islands off of Nha Trang. This was the first day where I didn't feel like I was in Southeast Asia. Vin Pearl has a small amusement park and waterpark and a gaming section as well. Vinpearl is beautiful, but it was quite dead. Which was good for us because there were no lineups. I can't imagine how they turn a profit. We took a cable car over the South China sea to get to the entrance of the park. It was cool. The next day were would be taking our last overnight train of this trip to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) city and then to the Cu Chi tunnels.

Ho Chi Minh, what to say. It is a crazy city. There are roughly 4 million bikes on the road and I think about 8 million people live here. Crossing the road here is scary. We arrived and dropped our bags at the hotel and headed straight to the the Cu Chi tunnels. This was something I was really looking forward to. The Cu Chi tunnels are amazing. We watched a video documentary from 1980 before we started the tour, and it has not been updated since. It's definitely the view point of the Vietnamese, propaganda perhaps. There were some very disturbing parts of the video, for example when they showed young girl, who looked about 13 years old, who was being praised for being an American killer. She was even awarded a medal. The Americans were referred to in the video as "a crazy batch of devils". I couldn't help but wonder how you would feel as an American watching this video? After the video we walked the land that the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong, used to stage guerrilla warfare against the Americans. This land during that time was full of booby traps, land mines and tunnels. I can't put into words how crazy it was to see, first hand, how the Vietnamese fought against the Americans. I entered one of the tunnels, but didn't get that far as the oxygen levels started to drop, it became quite hot and, well, I'm a bit of a baby. History is so wild. I'll attach photos when I get it all working.

We headed back to Ho Chi Minh city for the night as we had plans to take off to the Mekong Delta in the morning to stay with a Vietnamese family. The home stay was beautiful, authentic. The beds were comfortable, no rodents (thankfully) and the family was warm and welcoming. They cooked a fabulous meal and we celebrated our tour leader, Suse's, birthday. We had a cake fight, of course, and called it an early night as we were heading to Ho Chi Minh early, no surprise there. Tomorrow I will be off to Cambodia. I'll miss Vietnam, it was by far the most interesting and beautiful country I have been to in Southeast Asia. The people are warm and friendly and I'm in love!

I will write as soon as I can and post pictures when I can find a computer that will allow it!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Guillotine in Hao Lo Prison
Streets of Hanoi
Bunker at the North/South boarder in Vietnam
North Vietnam

Vietnam

After a full day of travel by bus, plane and boats, Carmen and I arrived in Vietnam on August 18th. It was a full on day, very busy and very hot. But we made it, in one piece...safe and sound. We landed in Hanoi, Northern Vietnam and met with our tour group that evening. Our group is much larger then what we have been used to, 14 people. We have people from Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, England and Canada. That's a good mix of interesting culture and, so far, everyone seems to mesh well. Our tour guide is Australian. We aren't used to not having a local as a guide but so far she's awesome.

I thought the traffic in China was terrible, well it's nothing compared to here. The roads here tend to be much narrower and there seems to be more traffic, it's simply crazy. Besides the constant sound of the horn, which I have sworn to never ever use in my life again, you have the constant paranoia of actually getting hit by a bike, a car or burned by an exhaust pipe, that's how close they get to you. And the heat, it feels so different here, almost unbearable.

The day after we arrived we boarded a private "junk" boat to Halong Bay. We were scheduled to be on that boat for one night. The boat was awesome and we had it all to ourselves which was great! We drifted through Halong bay for a few hours, kayaked and it turns out I suck! That night there was a wild thunderstorm. It was amazing to watch as it completely lit the sky up and made the bay somewhat visible. We cruised the next day, trekked through a cave and headed back to Hanoi for the night.

We had a free day in Hanoi the next day. We visited the body of Ho Chi Minh, who has been dead since 1969. His body, against his wishes apparently, was preserved and is on display in Hanoi. People in Hanoi, and Vietnam in general, cherish him as he was the one that reunified North and South Vietnam. His body looks like wax, which I guess it should considering he has been dead for 39 years. Every year the mausoleum closes and his body is sent to Russia to be kept up, whatever that means??! We were able to see how he lived for different periods of life by visiting his homes, as they have them all in the same complex. It was interesting to learn about. That same day we visited to Hoa Lo prison. Hoa Lo prison is where the Vietnamese kept the prisoners of war during the Vietnam war. It was very strange/eery to see. Of course the information you receive in the prison is undeniably one sided, propaganda. I saw the various dungeons and death row cells. It was very clear to me, given the state of the dungeons and cells, how the prisoners were treated. I was able to walk through a few rooms that had different groups of photos with detailed descriptions for tourists to read. One group of photos were of the American prisoners of war decorating a Christmas tree, eating Christmas dinner and opening letters and packages from loved ones. Somehow, I found that very hard to believe not to mention the pictures seemed very posed. This seemed to be a bunch of bullshit but that's how some museums are in these countries. And I guess I understand, maybe not agree, but I understand.

We left Hanoi for Hue that night. And of course there was a mouse that ran into where 6 of us girls were sleeping. I freaked out and hid out of that bunker until I knew he had moved. Some people plugged the holes in the floor and eventually I fell asleep only for a little bit though. We arrived in Hue and stayed for one night. I decided to go to the beach and sleep as my sleep on the train was poor. We left Hue the next morning on a 4 hour bus ride to Hoi An. We crossed the road that divided North and South Vietnam and were able to see some old war stuff there like bunkers. Super cool!

Today has been fairly relaxed. Hoi An is a beautiful place, small and not a overwhelming in terms of people. We are here for 2 nights then off to Nha Trang.

I can tell right now that I love Vietnam. It's different then the other parts of Asia I've travelled. The country itself has only started to bounce back from war in the last ten years. The people here are great, really warm and kind and the landscape is breathtaking. There is so much to see and so much culture and history to learn about. I am really looking forward to visiting the Cu Chi tunnels in Ho Chi Minh city.

I'll write soon, the computers haven't been that great so far. I'll attach pictures later also, it's not working on this particular computer.

Miss you all!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Last few days

Hello!!

We are still in Kho Phangon and still having a great, relaxing time. The weather here has been quite hot. Yesterday it was 30 degrees at 9:00 am. So I've been sticking to the beach.

Since I arrived in the South I've wanted to get my tattoo finished. Yesterday, I made the decision to do it. I gave the tattoo artist the picture I wanted in the morning and by the evening he had drawn it up for me. It took 2 hours to complete and was a little painful. But definitely bearable, and I do believe that if I got the tattoo with a gun vs bamboo, it would've hurt lots more. I'm glad that after 5 years, the tattoo is finally complete.

Carmen and I have booked all of our travel and are leaving Thailand on the 18th of August. We are starting a 20 day tour in Vietnam, that will take us through both Vietnam and Cambodia. A tour seemed the easier way to go and a good way to ensure we are seeing all that we can. We have had some good relaxation time in the south and I feel that it's time to explore.

Write soon!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Pictures

Cause we haven't done much, all I can offer for now are some photos!!!

Koh Phangan

I have finally arrived in Kho Phangan, and let me tell you, it's awesome!! If you know anything about this place you have a preconceived notion of what it is like here. And it really is all that and more. After a full day of travel we arrived late in the evening, and it feels great to be on our own. Although travels doesn't go nearly as smooth as when you have a tour guide doing it for you. All a part of the travel, I know. It was a hot, hectic, confusing, stressful and rewarding day. We didn't have a place to stay when we arrived. We gambled and ended up getting a cute bungalow right by the beach, which is what we were looking for. There will be a Full Moon party on the 16th of August and it's on the beach where we are staying, perfect! This place really is great. Full of young backpackers, here to have a good time, relax and enjoy themselves. We haven't done much, it's not that kinda place. Di got a bamboo tattoo, that was cool. We've watched a few movies in the local pubs, which I really enjoy. The beach is absolutely crazy at night. It's just been a blast. And I am enjoying these few days of doing nothing, cause Carmen and I are off to Vietnam and Cambodia on the 18th and for 20 days it will be hectic and busy. But it's good, we are looking forward to seeing that part of Southeast Asia. Looking forward to taking part in Kho Phangan's biggest party, the Full Moon. Not sure what to expect, but if the beach was as crazy as it was the other night then I can only imagine how wild it will be on the 16th.

I've been on the computer so much lately trying to organize the last part of Southeast Asia...so when we take off to Vietnam I am giving this computer a break!!!!

Miss you all so much!

Write soon!!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Pictures

Top - Patong Beach

Top - man walking around in a purple thong

Middle - me casually walking out of the water :)

Middle - Our pool at the hotel

Bottom - drinking Pina Colada out of a coconut

Patong Beach

Patong Beach has been pretty cool so far. I've been doing a lot of nothing, which is not strange for this place. Lounging during the day, and drinks at night. I have been making my own schedule, it just feels great!!! We went to a lady boy show the other night at Patong beach, Vegas style cabaret feel. All the women used to be men, so I guess that's the pull and it really is pretty interesting. It was cool to see, albeit a bit strange. Thailand is well known for their lady boys, they are definitely not ashamed down here, and they shouldn't be.

Nothing new to report. I am very happy out here and safe. It's beautiful, wish I all my family and friends could be here to share it with me.

Carmen and I are off to Koh Pagnon in a couple days and we are there until our visa for Thailand runs out. We plan to do as much as possible, as it may be our last week in the South of Thailand . We want to push back our flight to Australia and purchase our tickets to Vietnam and Cambodia. It's hard to actually work when the weather is just so fabulous and you want to spend it all outside.

Carmen and I are doing great. We use caution and are always aware of what's around us. People here are really nice and so helpful. And we are meeting so many travellers, it's just been so amazing.