Snorkeling and Beach Parties

Wow, time has completely gotten away from me. I can hardly believe it's been 10 days since I posted a blog/ Then again I can hardly believe I only have another three days in Thailand before I head back to Canada. I suppose I've been having so much fun I completely forgot to check in with everyone and let them know how I was doing. My bad.

Since it would take me absolutely forever and a day to recount everything I've done over the last ten days, I'm just going to stick to the big things. I believe where we last left off I was hiking through the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. Man that seems so long ago. But anyway, after that I headed across the country to Penang, the island that has been called one of the most fascinating islands in Asia. I have to agree; I was there for three days and I felt like I hardly saw anything. The first day was largely lost to transit, but the second day was spent walking around the major centre, Georgetown, and sampling some of the food the area is famous for. I went to Little India and had the best garlic naan ever, I had amazing dumplings in Chinatown, and of course some awesome laksa noodle dishes. I know my mother would tell me I should have taken pictures of myself eating the food (like that's going to happen), but since I didn't, lets move on to the next day.

My second full day in Penang I went to see the "World's Most Scenic Temple." I hopped on a bus that took me the 45 minutes across the island before finding myself at the foot of the temple. I started my hike up this big windy road encased in overgrowth from the jungle. It was a pretty nice walk, but I kept wondering to myself why I wasn't seeing other travelers when I was enroute to a major destination. My question was soon answered when a Malaysian woman stopped me near the top of the hill and pointed to the staircase on the opposite side of the temple. Despite the fact that I felt like an idiot, the woman was really nice. She went on and on about her friend in Toronto, and after many months in Southeast Asia I was extremely skeptical that I was about to get some sort of scam pulled on me. Instead of scamming me, however, the lady pulled out a 1 ringit bill and made two origami hearts out of it, and told me that it would mean that we were friends for life. I was shocked, and so grateful for the gift. You get scammed and ripped off so many times in Southeast Asia, and you become so jaded and paranoid that you forget that sometimes the local people are just genuinely excited to meet someone from a totally different walk of life. Suffice it to say, I was more than glad to have walked the wrong way to get such of a pleasant reminder.

The temple itself was a bit too touristy for my liking, but it did have some amazing views.

That was pretty much the gist of the interesting things I did on Penang. Like I said before, it's a place I'll probably go back to when I return to Malaysia since there was so many things I didn't manage to squeeze in. Such is the problem with such a limited amount of time.

After Penang I took the bus across the border to Hat Yai in Thailand. My border experience was the least fun yet with the officials sending me in a million different directions before I figured out where I had to go. I was the only foreigner on my bus as well, so I was quite lucky I didn't end up left at the border. In Hat Yai I caught my bus to Phuket, and the next morning I set off on a yacht to Koh Phi Phi island, better known as Paradise.

Sadly, I don't have many pictures of Phi Phi right now as my camera took a rather unfortunate dip in the ocea leaving it all but useless. One of the girls I met is going to send me some of the ones we all took together, but until then I can't accurately portray its stunning beautify for you in this blog. If I get them before the next blog I'll post them in that, but if not... oh well I suppose!

Anyway, Phi Phi was absolutely amazing. I stayed at this little hostel called Mr Local and met so many awesome people. The first night I was there I had a quiet night in as I was preparing to get up at six to fulfill a lifelong dream: shark snorkeling. I know what you're thinking: "oh my god, she's even crazier than I thought." But it was actually perfectly safe otherwise I (probably) wouldn't have done it. The sharks we snorkeled with were blacktip reef sharks which are only around 5 feet long and way more scared of humans than we are of them. When we jumped in the water we had to silently swim about 200 metres into where the sharks are because they are scared off by the sound of splashing. It was a really unbelievable experience, and I got close enough to them that I could almost touch one! I'm really excited to do it again with some bigger sharks on my next trip.

Other than snorkeling, basically the only other thing I did on Phi Phi was party... and man did I party. My second night there myself and my dorm mates had a big night out that included dancing on the beach, an impromptu jam session, buckets of alcohol, shots of Thai whiskey, and wandering around barefoot looking for pizza at 5am. Unfortunately for me and one of the other girls, we were doing a snorkeling tour at 8am, and believe me having your hangover hit whilst on a longtail boat is not a good experience. Nevertheless, the tour was amazing. We got to see one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Maya Bay where the movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed (and I may or may not have gotten sick there). We also saw some amazing marine life including turtles, more sharks, clownfish, trumpetfish, giant tuna, etc etc. The rest of my day was pretty much as a waste due to my raging hangover, but I did manage another early night out before disembarking from Phi Phi the following morning. I honestly wanted to stay longer, but I knew I had to move on as I had already spent two more nights there than I originally intended.

And that brings us to where I am now where I'm currently sitting in Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand, in a resort on an extremely remote beach.

How did I end up here? Well let me tell you.

Tonight, there is a party occurring on the nearby island of Koh Phagnan called the Full Moon Party. This party attracts thousands of backpackers and it is known worldwide. I hadn't planned on hitting it up since I had so little time, however my friends I met on Phi Phi had me convinced to go and meet them there. Accommodation on the island is ridiculous during full moon, and you have to book a minimum of four or five nights to get a room. Seeing as how I'm leaving the country in three days, I didn't want to have to do that so I decided to stay on nearby Ko Tao. I figured I would ditch all of my stuff in a decent and secure hotel room and then take the boat over for the party. Oh how wrong I was on so many levels.

I left Phuket for Koh Tao yesterday at 1pm and didn't arrive until 3pm today, approximately 10 hours late. How did that happen? Well, when I arrived in Surrat Thani to catch my boat last night, we were informed that the ferry would not be leaving that night due to high winds. As you can imagine, I wasn't pleased. So, myself and these other two Canadian girls ended up sharing a room in this random hotel in Surrat Thani. The hotel itself was nice, but when I was walking around to get food I saw more than a boat load of prostitutes in less than ten minutes. I was a little sketched out, but we survived the night just fine and made it to the boat the next morning. I have to say, I can't imagine what the hell kind of waves they must of had last night because I swear to god I thought I was going to die on that boat today. By the time we made it to Koh Tao, I was about four and a half seconds away from vomiting all over the person in front of me. I suppose I was one of the lucky ones as I saw more than a few people dangling over the side and being helped out of the boat.

So I made it to Koh Tao, and I thought to myself that maybe I could still ditch my stuff at my hotel and manage to find a boat leaving of Koh Phangan.That was until I found out that the reason the hotel I had booked was so cheap was because it was a twenty minute drive through the jungle away from civilization, officially making it impossible for me to make it there. I was a little disappointed, but the place I'm staying at is actually really beautiful. The beach is really remote and scenic, but I couldn't even buy a disposable camera so I could take pictures of it because there are no stores out here. Just another one of those unfortunate things that always seems to happen to me I suppose. Oh well, after 22 years of it I've learned to take it in stride.

I suppose this is my second last blog, considering the fact that I'm only three days away from my triumphant return to Canada. Since I'm going to have to buy some disposable cameras for my last few days, its doubtful I will get anymore pictures up, however I will definitely leave you with a few closing thoughts at the end of my trip.

Until then, remember, whatever can go wrong will go wrong (Murphy's Law... which I think should be officially changed to Sarah Murphy's Law).

Sarah

Strawberries and Tea

Since I'm currently sequestered in a random coffee shop due to a random torrential downpour, I figured I may as well use my time to do something productive and update my blog. Unfortunately, this one will not have pictures because being the genius that I am, I forgot the memory card for my camera in my hotel room when I went on my trip around the Cameron Highlands. Luckily a few of the people I met on the trip took my email address and told me they would send me some, so I'll have them eventually, but for now you'll just have to allow my words and descriptions to paint a mental picture for you.

Just hold on a moment  for me to get out my thesaurus.

Just kidding (like a need a thesaurus).

Anyway, I have to say, the Cameron Highlands is an absolutely beautiful, fascinating place. Much like Dalat in Vietnam, its cool temperature and high altitude sets it apart from most of the rest of the country. It's surrounded by rolling hills and thick jungle, with the town where I stayed nestled in between the many attractions that bring visitors from across the world. I stayed at this guesthouse where my room was literally a mattress on the floor with about two feet of space at the bottom and on the right, and a ceiling so low that even I couldn't stand up in there. But despite its insanely cramped nature, it was quite comfortable. I did have to put up my mosquito net though since I was being eaten alive, and what a challenge that was in such a small room. I ended up tangled up in it and smashing my head off the ceiling at least thirty times, but I eventually managed to get it to stay up and protect me from a very itchy fate.

Since I only had one full day in the highlands, I booked a tour of the area almost immediately upon arrival. I really wanted to do a jungle hike, but unfortunately it had been raining a lot recently and I didn't have suitable boots or outerwear to do it without ruining whatever clothes I wore. So, I settled on a countryside tour similar to what I did in Dalat but in a minibus instead of a motobike. When the bus picked me up in the morning, I quickly learned that the tour consisted of only myself and two girls from Holland. They were really nice and we got along well from the start so it ended up being a good thing that tour was so tiny. The tour took us to a myriad of fascinating places, the first of which was a massive tea plantation. It was super interesting to learn about how the tea is made, and then of course to be able to sit down and drink some. The tea was amazing, so I bought a little package of it to bring home for people to try. I tried this concoction called a teacinno (combination of a cappuccino and tea) simply because I was way too curious not to, and it actually ended up being pretty nice. I didn't buy any though, because they only sold it in massive packages and I already have enough crap to lug around (I swear I'm going to have back problems after this trip).

After the tea plantation we went to a butterfly farm, which I have to say was pretty cool. Basically, you walked into this greenhouse filled with various species of butterflies (including some resembling small birds in size) and just watched them interact. This giant green and black butterfly even landed on one of the Dutch girls legs (and then was quite reluctant to get off). Outside of the main section of the butterfly farm there were displays of various disgusting insects (including spiders, scorpians, etc) which I did not particularly enjoy. I got the hell out of dodge when one of the employees started picking them up, and I was quite glad that my tour mates shared my sentiment.

The final interesting stop on our tour was the strawberry farm. The Cameron Highlands are known for two things. The first is obviously tea, but the second is strawberries. There are loads of organic strawberry farms all over the place, many of which let you pick your own strawberries. Myself and the two other girls basically gorged ourselves on strawberries and strawberry juice (which is quite possibly the best thing I've ever drank in my entire life). So all in all, despite the fact that I didn't get to venture into the jungle, I had a pretty good time just touring around the countryside.

I arrived in Penang early this afternoon and I plan on spending the next few days exploring Georgetown and the surrounding areas. Then it's off to Thailand for my final trek to Bangkok to make my flight home on December 14th. It's hard to believe I only have 13 days left (12 really, considering I leave on the morning of the 14th). I think I'm going to stay in Malaysia a little longer than I intended since I'm enjoying it so much, but I'm still pretty excited to get to Thailand either Monday or Tuesday or next week.

Well that sums up where I'm at for now.

Until next time, remember, when you're visiting beautiful places, make sure to remember your memory card.

Saraj

Santa Clause and Skyscrapers

Second blog in the matter of a couple of hours! Not such a big feat considering this one will pretty much only take a few minutes, but then again I was working on the other one for almost a whole day so I guess it isn't too bad. This blog entry will only be covering the last two days however, focusing solely on my experience in Kuala Lumpur, the sprawling concrete jungle capital of Malaysia.

I touched down in Kuala Lumpur at approximately 11:30 am yesterday morning. It was a really good thing I checked my itinerary the night before because I spent the last month believing I would be flying out of Phnom Penh at 2:00pm when I was in fact leaving at 8:30am. I took the airport shuttle from KLIA to the city central with a giant Chinese guy city falling asleep on my shoulder (it was much more pleasant when you were doing that Lauren). When I arrived to my guesthouse I was glad I had only booked for one night. Man that place was a dump (and lonely planet recommended?). It was called Wheeler's Guesthouse and I paid almost ten dollars a night to sleep in a room about the size of a closet with a double bed stuffed into it because they had no dorms left.  The cockroaches were complimentary. Suffice it to say, I checked out the next morning and found a guesthouse literally half a block away with a clean, comfortable, air-conditioned dorm room for seven dollars. I'm much more comfortable here, and currently writing this blog in the common room while drinking a complimentary cup of coffee (a big step up from the cockroaches, don't you think?). Lonely Planet, you need to start recommending Explorer's Guesthouse and Hostel and update your freakin' book. Seriously.

Anyway, back on track. Being Kuala Lumpur pretty much makes me feel like I'm no longer in Asia. It's so big, and modern it seems more like you're in a city in the United States or Europe rather than in Malaysia. There are giant shopping malls and skyscrapers everywhere, and far more cars than motorbikes, which are few and far between much to my relief. People are friendly and polite, and I literally have not been touted once. Not for a taxi, not at a market, not for anything. It's amazingly refreshing! Every Western shop, restaurants, and good you could possibly want can be found in KL. From Starbucks, to Subway, to TGIFriday's, I've seen everything!

Yesterday I pretty much spent the entire day exploring the central market and sampling Malay food (which is freaking amazing, by the way). Today, I checked into my new guesthouse and went across the city to see the famous Petranous Towers. Unfortunately for me, the towers are currently closed for renovations until the middle of December, so I couldn't go to the top and get an iconic picture taken on the sky walk, but I did get to visit the shopping mall in the center. Coming to country with a Muslim majority for the first time in my life, the very last thing I expected was pretty much every single place I walked into to be elaborated decorated for the Christmas season. However, that's pretty much what I've been met with.

That's from the inside of the mall near the Petronas Towers in central Kuala Lumpur. Seeing Muslim's dressed in full traditional dress including a hijab line up for pictures with Santa is definitely up there on my list of strangest things I've ever seen. But hey, Kuala Lumpur is a huge multicultural metropolis, and it's awesome to see such diversity.

Petronas Towers

Although there are still a few Asian style markets, such as the central market, shopping malls are a much more common sight. And man, are there a lot of them. I was in a more low market one last night, but the one I was in today pictured above was insanity. I felt more than a little out of place in my old backpacker's clothes walking by places with shoes and handbags that cost more than my flight across the world. Gucci, Chanel, Montblanc, Ralph Lauren; it was all there! And unlike in Vietnam and Cambodia, it was all real. Three thoughts entered my mind simultaneously: 1) I can't afford anything in this mall 2) This is an incredibly good example of the far reaching effects of globalization 3) Mom and Jenna would love this city. Seriously, Kuala Lumpur is like coming to Asia without actually having to be without Western comforts. Although I did see one squat toilet, which even I don't enjoy using, pretty much everything is a huge step up from Vietnam and Cambodia. And to make things better, you can actually shop without being screamed at! And I'm not just talking about in shopping malls, in the markets too! I forget to mention in my previous blog (since it got so long) but the vendors trying to sell you things almost ruined my experience at Ankor Wat. There, you would walk out of a temple and literally be jumped on by ten women shoving goods in your face and saying "you buy! lady you buy! I sell you cheap price!" Even when you clearly went out of your way to avoid them, they would run from wherever they were and just hound you until your driver brought you to the next place. Even when you bought from them they wouldn't be satisfied and would continually hassle you to buy more. Forget browsing, it's more hassle than it's worth. But in KL? Yesterday I spent two hours in the market without being asked to buy something once, and when I was interested in something I actually was able to ask for help. Can you imagine that? Being able to look at things without being hounded to buy them?

I know I'm being slightly harsh, because I do know that the reason vendors act like that in Cambodia and Vietnam is because they are much more desperate for money. But that doesn't change the fact that it's something that can potentially ruin an amazing experience for you, and prevent you from getting things you might actually like to have. And it also doesn't change the fact that I have actually enjoyed shopping in Malaysia thus far, whereas I considered it a burden in Vietnam and Cambodia.

I've really sort of spoiled myself with Western comforts today. Other than spending almost an entire day in shopping malls, I also had coffee at Starbucks, lunch at Subway, and bought a Time magazine from a 7-Eleven. I know it's not what I came to Asia to do, but it's been a lovely break. Today, when I was sitting in Starbucks surrounded by decorations, drinking a holiday themed latte, and listening to Christmas music played on the radio, for just a moment I really felt like I was at home in Canada. I do have to admit, I have felt a bit homesick once in a while during my travels, which is pretty normal, but never more so than I did today. I think at any other time of year it would be easier, but we all know how much I love the holiday season. When I get back, it'll be cool to jump right into it, but the build up is the best part and I feel like my inner clock is telling me it's time to put up Christmas lights and wrap presents rather than haggle for magnets and lay on a beach. Hence, Kuala Lumpur has been nice for me. But it's also been a good reminder to enjoy every moment for the rest of my trip because I know once I'm home and the holidays are over I'll be wishing I was back here. Only two weeks left now, and I'm pretty sure that'll be gone before I know it, if it's anything like the rest of my trip.

I supposed that's it for me now, and I'll just leave you with a few photos from around Kuala Lumpur. I'm heading off to the Cameron Highlands tomorrow for a final respite from the heat before I spend the rest of my trip hopping from beach to beach (jealous?).

Until next time, remember, sometime's the simplest reminders from home are the most comforting.

Sarah

Tuk Tuks, Temples, and The Longest Blog Ever

After an extremely hectic morning of sleeping through the alarm, waking up an hour late, and frantically flying across Phnom Penh in a tuk tuk to barely make it to the airport on time, I’m finally in the air travelling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I figured since I haven’t posted a blog in over a week, I would use my one hour and forty five minutes of flight time to fill everyone in on my travels in Saigon and Cambodia. I’m going to have to try and be really concise here, since a lot has happened, but it’ll probably end up being extremely long anyway.

So last Friday I arrived in Saigon and went to the airport to pick up my friend Lauren who would be travelling with me for the next ten days or so. After only a few hours in Saigon, we both agreed that the city had a much different (and much better) feel to it than Hanoi, First of all, it wasn’t so polluted that you couldn’t see the sun through the haze of smoke and dirt. Second of all, someone actually stopped their car to let us go when we were crossing the street! It was absolute madness. Can you imagine, someone showing courtesy rather than an insane need to get nowhere faster than the speed of light? Unfathomable.

Clearly my sarcasm has not dwindled during this trip.

Anyway, I would describe Saigon as a much more modern and developed city than Hanoi. Then again, I suppose I actually lived in Hanoi away from the touristy areas, whereas I didn’t venture far from the main districts in Saigon so I didn’t get as good of a feel for the city as I did in Hanoi. But I stand by my statement until someone informs me otherwise. Our first night in Saigon consisted of a night out at a few random bars with our roommate Edyta from Poland, and three Australian guys we met at our hostel. We went to a nearby street with many bars and night clubs and were almost immediately accosted by large hoards of people trying to coerce us into drinking at their establishment. It was pretty intense, but also highly entertaining. It’s something I’m certainly not going to miss when I return to Canada, but the touting in Saigon was nothing in comparison to Cambodia. But we’ll get there.

Our second day in Saigon we went to the War Museum which was both interesting and infuriating. As a person aware of the horrors of the Vietnam War and the atrocities committed by the US, but also aware of the corruption of Vietnamese government and their mistreatment of their own people, I found my experience there very conflicting. On one hand I was horrified by the images I saw, and the stories I read, but on the other hand I wasn’t sure how much of what was written I could believe. Every exhibit was spun in a very “pro-Vietnamese government” propaganda sort of way, and that bothered me a lot. I mean yes, sure, a lot of the things the US did during the war were despicable, and the far reaching consequences of their actions there have affected millions of people, and not just in Vietnam (think Khmer Rouge). But statements such as “protecting our country from American imperialism” and “to provide freedom, rights, and equality for all Vietnamese people in a democratic society” really rubbed me the wrong way. Who the hell do they think they’re kidding? The Vietnamese government is a corrupt, authoritarian regime that cares more about money and maintaining power than the welfare of their people on any given day. Any NGO operating in the country to genuinely try and help the suffering population has to pay off dozens of government officials just to be allowed to do anything. For every dollar that goes to a school for disabled children or an orphanage, much more goes to the government. It just sickens me, and although the actions of the US during the Vietnam War sickens me as well, I was infuriated, but not surprised of course, by the tone of the exhibits. Thus ends the first of three political rants in this blog entry (I saw a lot of ridiculous stuff in the last ten days).

On our final day in Vietnam, we visited the Mekong Delta which is about two hours south of Saigon. The river was really dirty, and I wanted to punch our tour guide in the face, but overall it wasn’t a bad trip. The highlight was taking a longtail boat down a narrow stretch of river, even though there was a massive traffic jam because the Vietnamese drive boats just like they drive cars and motorbikes. We also got to try banana wine, which honest to god tasted like taking a shot of crown royal. When we returned from the Mekong, we had a quiet night in the prepare to embark for Cambodia early the next morning.

On Monday morning we left our hostel at around 7:30 am to catch our bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The bus we were on was really nice and we managed to score a seat on the top deck right in front so we got to watch the entre journey through the front window. The Cambodian border was really busy when we got there as there was a large group of English cyclers who were completing a 5 day trip from Saigon to Siem Reap for cancer research (so going on my bucket list, by the way). After waiting in line for almost an hour, we made it through the gates only to be informed we could have skipped the line because we already had our visas. There had been so many people in the building there was no way we could have seen the tiny sign pointed out to us afterwards, but it was still a little frustrating nonetheless.

Before I get to talking about what we did in Cambodia, I just want to say a few things about the annoyances, dangers, and sadness of Cambodia. The moment we arrived in Phnom Penh we were accosted by countless tuk tuk drivers (see picture below) offering us a ride. This is something we would have to get used to quickly, as it was something that would never let up during our entire visit. Luckily, I knew that we were already in the area we needed to be, so we managed to get away from them eventually (even though several followed us down the street). As I was saying before, touting is much more intense in Cambodia than Vietnam. These tuk tuk drivers made the moto guys in Vietnam look like polite gentlemen. Literally ever step you take in Phnom Penh you have “tuk tuk! Lady you need tuk tuk?” or some other variation shouted at you. At first, we laughed it off and ignored them, but when we arrived in Phnom Penh for the second time last night I think we were both ready to blow up at every single one of them. Seriously, if I wanted a freaking tuk tuk, I would ask, and following us down the road screaming “cheap price!” is not going to make me suddenly realize I need you to take me two feet down the road to the place I’m going. Is it easy to tell it was starting to piss me off a little?

Tuk Tuk

Another unfortunate thing about Phnom Penh is the large number of beggars. I didn’t see many beggars at all in Vietnam, as the country has undergone a major economic boost in the last two decades leading most people to be able to maintain a somewhat sustainable livelihood. But Cambodians are not as lucky. It’s impossible to walk down the street in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap without encountering beggars. Men in wheelchairs missing limbs, mothers with small babies, kids less than ten years old, widowed elderly women… it’s just so incredibly sad. And there are just so many of them it is absolutely impossible to give to everyone, and having to sit there and ignore someone who is clearly in need is quite possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I experienced some of this in Peru and Bolivia, but it was much worse here. There are gangs of street kids everywhere who either try to sell you a bracelet or a pirated DVD or straight up ask you for money. Unfortunately, you can’t give money to the children at all because about 99% of the time they are working for an adult and will never see any of the money you give to them. A much better idea is to give them food, which we did a few times, but even then it’s impossible to give to all of them. The unfortunate thing is you can’t tell them no, because if you acknowledge them at all you won’t be left alone for a good hour, so you literally have to sit there completely ignoring their existence. It’s so… just an unbelievably awful feeling.

Another truly awful thing about Cambodia is the sex trade, and man is it ever present. There are hoards of prostitutes literally everywhere, and guidebooks give out stringent warnings about getting massages in the cities as they involve wandering hands more often than not. When night falls, every second tuk tuk driver will suddenly offer not only rides, but drugs, girls, and a host of other things you probably don’t want to imagine. Standing on the street in Sihanoukville waiting for Lauren, I was even offered a prostitute, which disturbed me quite a bit to say the least. What’s even sadder though, is the child prostitution. On our first night in Phnom Penh, Lauren and I were strolling down Sithowath Quay, which is one of the main roads, and we came across a big crowd of people watching some Khmer teenagers dancing by the waterfront. Our eyes were immediately drawn to a girl, who could have been no more than six or seven years old, who was dancing with the older teens. At first, I was highly impressed with the way this kid was how amazingly this kid was able to follow the steps; she was clearly very talented. Then, I noticed her state of dress, her lack of shoes, and general unclean look and I realized she was a street kid. At first, I was really sad that a kid with some much talent had so little opportunity. But things quickly got sadder as it became evident what was happening: she was being showcased. She was wearing a teeny little dress, and accepting tips from onlookers by shoving them in front of her dress. In general, she was following the steps of the teens in the dance class, but quite often she added some of her own… and it was far too obvious that they were taught to her by an adult for a purpose. The way she moved and gyrated… no child should know how to move like that. As her dance moves got increasingly more provocative, it quickly went from incredibly cute to extremely depressing. I found myself scanning the crowd for people looking at her, and obviously most people were because the girl was good. Eventually, I couldn’t stand it anymore I told Lauren that we had to go… it was just too sad to watch a child being so blatantly sexualized. Unfortunately, the child sex trade in Cambodia is a huge problem, and many street children a subject to working in such conditions as they often have no other option.

Okay, so those were the bad things about Cambodia, and now on to the good. Well, the sort of good… how about the interesting. On our first full day in Phnom Penh, Lauren and I caught a tuk tuk out to the famed Killing Fields outside of the city. I have to say, as annoying as all holy hell as the tuk tuk drivers were, riding in a tuk tuk was awesome. It was not only a fantastic way to see the city, but the breeze through open seating offered reprieve from the sweltering heat. When we got to the Killing Fields we paid our entrance fees and were given our audio headsets to silently follow all of the other traveller passing through. For those of you who don’t know, the Killing Fields were used to torture and murder tens of thousands of people during the Khmer Rouge area in Cambodia, where approximately one third of the entire Cambodian population was slaughtered in the brutal dictator Pol Pot and his regime. If you don’t know much about the Khmer Rouge, I’m not going to spend this blog giving a history lesson, as much as I would actually enjoy that. However, if you are interested in learning about it I can recommend some good books, and of course Wikipedia is a good source for a brush up. I would describe my experience at the Killing Fields using many words: terrifying, devastating, haunting… but ultimately, inspirational. I think it’s a place everyone (with the stomach for it) should visit to understand the atrocities committed during that time so people can realize how important it is to join the fight to ensure things like this never happen again. We also visited the Tuol Sleng prison museum, where most of the prisoners during the Khmer Rouge era were kept and tortured. A lot of the things we saw in that museum were gruesome as well, but unfortunately it is not as well developed as it should be due to the fact that more than half of every visitors entrance fee (US $2) goes into the pocket of the museum’s curator, who just so happens to be the son of a government minister (corruption is abound, of course). Overall, it was a day that gave me a lot to think about and one that certainly reaffirmed my lifelong commitment to battling for the rights of those less fortunate than me.

Here are just a few pictures to give you an idea of what I saw and experienced there.

The Killing Fields: A peaceful looking orchard where tens of thousands met their end.

"The Killing Tree": Here, Khmer Rouge soldiers would pry children and infants from the their mothers, and kill them by swinging them around by their feet, and smashing their heads into the tree.

A Collection of Victim's Skulls

After two days in Phnom Penh, we took a bus to Siem Reap, the central tourist hub of Cambodia and the access point to the famed Temples of Ankor. Siem Reap is an awesome little town with a great market (that we spent too much money at), great bars, and great food. We only had time to stay one night, but I really wish that we could have stayed longer. Our first night we basically just chilled out at few bars, enjoying the cheap drinks (50 cents for a glass of beer!) and meeting a few other travellers. We didn’t stay out to late because we had planned to be up for sunrise to head to the temples, but it was still a good time.

The thing that really made my trip to Cambodia, however, was visiting the temples of Ankor. As I don’t feel I have the words to accurately describe how awesome it was, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Getting the picture? (See what I did there.)

Yeah it was absolutely amazing, and I have a lot more pictures but it takes a really long time to upload them.

Once we finished up in Siem Reap we headed to our final Cambodian destination, the beach town Sihanoukville. Unfortunately we were pretty ripped off on the trip there. We paid for a sleeper bus with direct 9 hour service to Sihanoukville, and ended up with a seat bus that left an hour late, and dropped us of in Phnom Penh, leaving us at the bus station to wait almost two hours for another bus. We ended up spending nearly 14 hours in transit, and suffice it to say we were pretty pissed off. Unfortunately, there isn't really much you can do about it. Either way, Sihanoukville was really nice and we spent two days just relaxing on the beach (which included day time drinking and wicked sunburns of course).

Overall, my experience in Cambodia was great. I saw a lot of really sad things, but from a positive perspective is helped reaffirm my commitment to human rights and development. I also had some new and interesting experiences in Cambodia, such as having my feet chewed on by fish (fish foot massage, look it up), getting a manicure from a lady boy (male prostitute that dresses like a woman to turn tricks), and saw cooked insects being sold on the street (like hell I was going to eat those). It's a place I would like to visit again in order to visit the many places I didn't get to see in my week there for sure.

And thus ends my extremely long blog. I'm actually hoping to get another one up about Kuala Lumpur before the night is over to get myself back on track.

But until then, remember, there's a positive side to everything.

Sarah



The Awesomeness of Dalat and Talking Up Vietnam

Before I say anything else, I want to get one thing out of the way:

Dalat is awesome.

Seriously, I had the best time there. It was the first place I’ve visited in Vietnam that I could actually imagine myself living one day. It was seriously abolsutely stunning, and unlike many other places in Vietnam, it's nice and cool due to its location in the central highlands, which was extremely nice after experiencing the humid beach weather of Nha Trang. The only real downside to Dalat was that my hotel was pretty much a dump. The staff were extremely unhelpful and spoke almost no English, which is a real bummer considering I've had really good experiences with hotel staff thus far. Then, when I checked into my room right away I noticed two cockroaches crawling on the bed. I pointed them out to the woman checking me in and she just laughed, killed them, and left me in the room to frantically inspect every crevice. During the next ten minutes I killed approximately 10 more cockroaches throughout the room before I decided to go and ask to be moved. In the first room she brought me to, we found another 3 cockroaches just looking around the room for a few seconds. I did eventually find a room that was suitable and only ended up killing one more cockroach during the next two days, but thit really makes me wonder why they would put me in a room that obviously had an infestation problems in the first place when there were better rooms available.

Unforunately, the terribleness of this hotel did not end with the cockroaches. The hotel had these doorbell things on every door so people could ring them instead of knocking, for some reason, and I guess people felt the need to continually ring them throughout the night (even at four freakin' am). To make matters even worse, my floor had two big Vietnamese families staying on them, and they felt the need to be the least courteous and respectful people in the world and leave their doors open and talk all night. And man, Vietnamese people always seem to feel the need to yell when they talk. It was absolutely horrible, I swear I got about two hours of sleep the first night. Suffice it to say, they will be getting a horrible review from me on the site I booked them with. A piece of advice for anyone planning to travel to Dalat: don't book your hotel before you get there. Seriously, just don't.

Anyway, away from the negative and on to the positive. On my first day in Dalat I got there on the bus from Nha Trang at around 2:00 in the afternoon, and after checking in set out to explore the city. Unfortunately, it was the first city that I found myself in that I could not seem to navigate. Normally I just tear out the map from my Lonely Planet guide and wander around until I find something interesting, but Dalat is not laid out based on any sort of logical scheme or model. It's very hilly (much like La Paz or San Francisco) and the roads split off in a hundred different directions, making a map practically useless. Eventually, after almost three hours of aimless wandering, I found myself on a street with a lot of highly recommended restaurants and chose one, Peace House, to have dinner in. Myself and this other girl from New Zealand were the only people in the restaurant and we ended up striking up a conversation and getting along quite well. After a few hours of chatting, I headed back to my hotel room but not before picking up a bottle of local Dalat wine to try. Believe it or not, it was actually excellent, and at $2.50 a bottle I was more than surprised myself.

On my second day in Dalat, I booked myself a full day Easy Rider tour. The Easy Riders are a group of English (and many other language) speaking guides who specialize in both short and long distance travel in Vietnam via motorbike. Let me just say, I could not be more glad I got over my fear of motorbikes, because the Easy Rider tour was easily the best thing I’ve done since I’ve been in Vietnam. My driver, Quyen, was really great and very knowledgable. I was of course a little hesitant to head off alone into the countryside with a man I didn't know, but he was a total professional and he took me to some absolutely amazing places. Here are some highlights:

The Valley of Love

Paradise Lake

Paradise Lake

Big Gold Buddha

Look Mom! No Hands!

Eco Tour Village

Waterfall

It was seriously even more amazing than it looks. Almost all of the places he took me to I was literally the only person there. I went to a chinese pagoda and sat down for like and hour just because it was so quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately my camera died before the end of the trip, so there was a few things I did not get to photograph. I would really recommend these tours to anyone coming to Vietnam, I wish I had longer (and more money) to do a multi day tour. I have Quyen's card if anyone ever wants it!

So that was my time in Dalat in a nutshell, and much like with Hoi An, I really wished that I had more time to spend there. When I come back to Vietnam someday I'll definitely be doing a full week in the Central Highlands.

Well I suppose that's it for me this time. I'm currently sitting in a cafe in Saigon and leaving to go pick up my friend Lauren at the airport in a little over half an hour. We're spending the next two days in Saigon before heading off to Cambodia. It's hard to believe I've been in this country almost three months, and I'm really quite pleased that I've seen so much of it. The journey from Hanoi to Saigon is approximately the same distance as Halifax to Toronto, so that is a lot of cover in a week, but I did it and I couldn't be happier that I did. I have to say, I'm really going to miss this country, and I would highly recommend it as a vacation spot to anyone interested in travelling. Everything but the airfare is cheap, and it's a perfectly safe place to be (other than the traffic, but you get used to that). I know when I was leaving to come here, a lot of people reacted with wonder and amazement as to why I would ever want to go to Vietnam. But I think the question should be why wouldn't you want to come here? A place where travel is cheap, the people are friendly, and there's so much to see? Vietnam has something for everyone, from beach lovers, to trekkers, to adventure enthusiasts, to city lovers, to those who never want to leave their fancy resorts. I know after spending a few months here I will become an ambassador for Vietnam as a top travel destination; I really think everyone should visit.

So until next time, remember, just because you've heard a place is bad to travel in from people who really know nothing about it, doesn't mean you shouldn't go.

Sarah

Free Drinks and Sunburns

Trains are not really a big thing in Canada like they are in many parts of the world. I know you can get across the country by train quite easily, but it's not something that is used as a frequent method of transportation like it is in many other places.Therefore, on Sunday night I was relatively excited to have my first overnight train experience from Hoi An to Nha Trang.

It started out pretty well. I was sharing a cabin with two Vietnamese men, and a woman with her daughter. Unfortunately, after about an hour the woman and her daughter got off and one of the train workers came in to sleep in the empty bunk. And man... did he ever snore loudly. I put in headphones to try and drown it out and I could still hear him. It was horrible. And then, to make matters worse, the two Vietnamese men got off and my compartment became a revolving door of train workers coming in to take a nap. And of course, being the lovely people they were, they would leaving the door open everytime so I had to deal with loudly talking Vietnamese people in the hallways. It was absolute bullshit, considering I paid for my bed and I should have been able to sleep in it without so much hassle. Suffice it to say, I was more than tired when I finally arrived in Nha Trang the next morning.

Not that it matters anway, because Nha Trang pretty much sucks.

I read in all of the guide books and heard from so many people that Nha Trang was just Vietnam's version of Spring Break, yet being the idiot that I am I planned two days here anyway. I mean yeah, I like to go out and have a good time and occassionaly get a little crazy, but the way people get on here is ridiculous. I think another thing that really ruined it for me is that there was a big group of unfriendly Russians staying in my room who had a well developed group mentality that took away from the usual "communal fun" feeling of hostels. Tonight, there are a bunch of really nice people staying in my room (an X alumni included, believe it or not!) and they invited me out with them but I just couldn't be bothered. I leave pretty early for Dalat tomorrow and I'm so sunburnt I can barely move.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday when I first arrived I met a girl from Quebec in my hostel and the two of us spent the day on the beach just checking out the water and trying to de-porcelainize my skin. The beach was nice, but it was hard to enjoy because we literally had people coming up to us every two minutes trying to sell us things or hand out flyers. We had dinner and went out in the evening, which was pretty fun, but like I said before I really felt like I was at Spring Break and that is totally not my scene. The good thing was that we got like a million free drinks because like every bar on the street by our hostel is willing to give you one to get your business.

Today I did a snorkelling tour of the coral in Nha Trang bay, and I have to say that was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the only other younger people on the trip were three of the aforementioned Russians and they annoyed the hell out of me the whole time since I think they had the combined maturity of a four year old. But there were some really nice older travellers and couples, including a couple from the States that I got on quite well with. The coral was beautiful and I saw a good number of amazing tropical fish. It was my first time actually snorkeling in the ocean so I was pretty excited, and I'm definitly looking forward to doing more of it in Thailand.

The only bad thing about the trip was the awful sunburn I have all over my back. I mean, it's my own fault for forgetting suncreen... but man it's killing me right now! Oh well, at least I'm finally getting some color.

Anyway, I suppose that's it for me now. I catch my bus to Dalat early tomorrow morning, so I hope when I arrive in the afternoon I'll still be able to fit a lot of stuff in.

Until next time, if a guide book says a place sucks, it probably does.

Sarah

Hoi An and and The Dangers of Boredom

So I’m sitting at the train station in Danang and I’ve still got another two hours before I’m supposed to board. I came to Danang a little earlier than I needed to because I thought I would look around a little but honestly I really should have stayed in Hoi An until I had to. Danang is about as uninteresting place as I’ve ever been. Seeing as how it’s the third biggest city in Vietnam I really thought I would find something to occupy my time for at least a little while. Perhaps I’m just not seeing the exciting part of the city, but I looked around all the places Lonely Planet told me to and I honestly have not seen another foreigner in the vicinity. Not that that matters too much, but it makes it a lot easier when you can walk into a bar and strike up a conversation with another lone traveller so you don’t have to see the city alone. But still, there seems to be absolutely nothing to do in Danang. I went to a restaurant to get some dinner and craving a salad, I ordered I vegetarian Caesar. What greeted when me when my plate was certainly not a Caesar Salad. I can best describe it as cucumbers, tomato, and onion covered in mayonnaise. Seriously, how is that a Caesar salad? Then me, being who I am, had to put on a straight face and tell the waitress that I didn’t eat it because I was fuller than I anticipated and not because it tasted like feet.

 I will say though, that the people of Danang are much friendly than the people Hanoi. I‘ve been getting a lot of attention, but mostly smiles and waves so I haven’t minded as much as I did getting scowls and  stares in Hanoi. People also seem far more appreciative of the fact that I at least try to speak Vietnamese, even if I most likely butcher their language every time I open my mouth to speak it. The whole point of this story I suppose, is since I have nothing to do right now but wait for the train, I’ll write a little about what I did in Hoi An just to pass the time.

First off, I will say that Hoi An is a truly beautiful city and I kind of wish I had a few more days to spend there. It’s so much quieter than Hanoi, and the traffic is much less hectic (someone actually stopped for me when I was crossing the street! I was dumfounded). There are also areas of the city that are completely pedestrianized, meaning that there are not motorbikes or cars allowed. When I arrived in Hoi An around 1:00pm yesterday, I was so exhausted after nearly 20 hours of travel that I spent a few hours dozing at my hotel before leaving to explore the city. My hotel was amazing and more than worth the $20 I paid for it. Obviously, it was a night of luxury considering I will be in hostels for most of the rest of my trip, but after living in the squalor of the Thanh Xuan dorm for a few months I think I deserved the break. Anyway, my room had a giant king sized bed, a huge bathroom, and a balcony.

My room... of course I couldn't wait long enough to take a picture before jumping in it.

The bathroom, which was like bigger than the room. I even asked the hostess if I had to share it.

Trying and pretty much failing at getting in a picture from the balcony. After four attempts, I just cut my losses and accepted this was the best I would get.

Again, it’s not something I will be able to afford all the time, but it was a nice treat.

After getting a few hours of sleep, I headed into the city centre to check out some of the shops. The thing Hoi An is famous for is custom made clothing. There are literally hundreds of shops on every street reading to hand make everything from suits to hand bags. I would have loved to get myself a winter coat, but I already have too much stuff and trying to carry that around would be a hassle. So instead, I got myself a pair of custom made shoes to replace the ones I had stolen. They’re lightweight sort of deck shoes, and I got them done in the colors of the Republic of Newfoundland flag (white, pink, and green). I have to say, they look pretty badass. I’ll post a picture of them in my next blog once I actually make it to Nha Trang.

Anyway, after getting my shoes made I went out to the waterfront and had dinner at this cute little place that had wicked cheap beer and really good veggie rice. I spent another hour or so wandering the town before heading back to my hotel for a good night’s sleep. In morning I got up relatively early and took a swim in the pool. Then I walked around the area my hotel was in and had breakfast. After checking out of my hotel and heading into the city centre, I ran into two girls I had met on the bus from Hanoi. Both of them were pretty well travelled, so they had a lot of advice for me, which of course is always appreciated. We had lunch and a drink at a place called the Tam Tam Café which I have to say was a pretty awesome place. The staff were indifferent and inattentive, but the food and drink more than made up for it. After parting ways with them I barely had enough time to pick up my shoes and book it back to my hotel to catch my bus to train station in Danang.

And so here I am, sitting at a random café with like 500 Vietnamese people screaming around me. I know I have a loud voice, but there is no way I can compete with these people… it’s just yelling all the time. It doesn’t help that I have a ridiculous splitting headache and an annoyingly stuffed up nose so I’m especially irritable right now. Oh well, it could be a lot worse I guess.

On that note, thus ends blog number two for the day. I guess that helps to make up for the fact that I only posted one in about a month. Although, since I am on the move now and I want to write about every place I visit I’ll certainly be updating a lot more.

Until next time, you never know if the person next to you has a headache… so please don’t scream.

Sarah

Farewell to Hanoi and Hello to the Open Road

It's been an inexcusably long time since I've updated my blog, but it's funny how quickly time gets away from you. Exactly two months ago today I had touched down in Hanoi, tired, dirty and questioning my sanity. And now, it seems like I merely blinked and suddenly my volunteer placement is over, and I'm on the road to see the rest of Southeast Asia.

I finished my placement at VietHealth on Wednesday, and although I was excited to get going on my trip, it was sad to leave after what felt like such a short period of time. I remember saying to my mom back in August that if I was going to travel on my year off I wanted to get valuable professional skills for when I finally finish school. As much as I wanted to have fun travelling and see the world, that was the most important thing to me. Because development can be a difficult field to break into, and no matter where life takes me in the next few years, working in development is my ultimate goal. In picking Vietnam, I decided I wanted to throw myself directly into the world of local NGOs rather than head to a place like Colombia and further develop my Spanish skills. Even though I didn't become fluent in Spanish during my stay (that would be impressive considering they don't speak it here) I'm understanding Vietnamese more and more each day, so hopefully when I return some day I'll be able to fully learn it. But for now, it's pretty cool that I can have basic conversations and count to 100 in four languages now.  

I really feel as though I accomplished my goal in volunteering in Vietnam as I learned so much at Viethealth, and I view the experience as invaluable. People always say travel is not cheap, and you have to give up a lot to do it. And while they're right, I don't view that as a negative thing because your experience is worth every penny and every moment away from home that it takes to do it.  So I left Hanoi on Friday night with a plethora of new skills, ready to see what the rest of Vietnam and Southeast Asia has to offer me before I return home in the middle of December. And I'm sure I won't regret a moment of it.

My last night in Hanoi was an eventful one. I spent the day finishing up gift shopping for family and friends, and then did up a package to send home which of course cost me an arm, a leg, and part of my head. But I'm relieved that everyone's gifts are on the way home (via airmail, so I'm not worried), and I don't have to lug all of it around in my backpack for the next five weeks. I also had lunch at my favorite Wetsern style restaurant in Hanoi, Provecho. Their mexican food is fantastic, and it's probably the first place I'd recommend to anyone travelling there. In the evening I met up with some of my roommates where we ate at Luna D'Artunno, the place proclaimed to have the best pizza in Hanoi. Believe it or not, they did not disappoint, and the pizza was excellent and only slightly overpriced.

To paint an overall picture of Hanoi for any of you folks who may travel there someday, I would say that it is a very good jumping off point to see the Northern Highlands and Halong Bay, but that the city itself really isn't worth more than a couple of days. Hanoi has some beautiful places, but really you could see everything in two days and be satisfied with your experience. The major downsides to Hanoi are the traffic and pollution, and for many people I can imagine it would be difficult to handle for more than a few days. I thought about writing recommendations of all of my favorite places in Hanoi, but I figured there are thousands of guidebooks out there that list awesome places to visit and it's unlikely someone will come back to my blog just to go to restaurant I recommended if they go to Vietnam in six years. However, I will say that if anyone is planning a trip to Vietnam, I am always available for counsel and happy to make recommendations.

So I left Hanoi Friday night, on a bus ride to Hoi An that took nearly 20 freaking hours. It wasn't so bad because it was a sleeper bus, so I had a bed, but it was still hardly the most comfortable thing I ever slept on. About 90% of the travellers on the bus were Westerners, with only a single Vietnamese family and like six of the drivers random friends. The trip included two sketchy stops for bathroom breaks (since there wasn't one on the bus), including one at 3am to a completely deserted and pitch black truck stop. I wisely decided not to get off at that point, considering I didn't have to go that bad and the squat toilets leave a lot of be desired.

I met numerous other travellers on the bus during break stops, and it occurred to me once I had arrived in my hotel that I did not know any of their names. I knew where they were from, how long they were travelling, and what they did for a living, but I did not know one name. I suppose travelling can be a bit like the movie Zombieland in that way, where they say names don't matter because your time of interaction will be too short for it to matter.

Funny story about the bus. In Southeast Asia, well all of Asia really, people are very funny about feet. In Canada, it is considered rude in most places to enter with your shoes on, but the Vietnamese take it to a whole other level. For example, at work, I would take off my outdoor shoes at the door, then put on a pair of sandals to walk through the lobby, then at the door to the main office take off those shoes and enter barefoot. Then, there was a further pair of shoes used for the bathroom! It was odd to be at first, but I got used to it. Hence, I was not surprised when I entered the bus on Friday and the driver requested that I remove my shoes and place them in a plastic bag. When I got to my bed, I saw that all of the other travellers were tying their shoes onto the railing on their beds, so I did the same. And what happened? I woke up in the middle of the night to find that my shoes were stolen. I'm about 99% sure it was the random Vietnamese guy who was friends with the driver and on the bus for no apparent reason who lay down in the aisle next to my bed that took them. But what could I really do? I didn't see him wearing them, and I'm hardly the type to get into confrontations with random people. So I just accepted my loss, and thanked the universe that he didn't decide to steal my guitar or iPod.

So in replacement, I'm getting some funky shoes made here in Hoi An that I'm going to pick up later today!  I'm in Hoi An, chilling out before I head out to have some breakfest and pick up my shoes. I'm not going to write about what I've done in Hoi An in this blog, and instead I will write about Nha Trang and Hoi An in my next one since I'm staying such a short time in each area. Although I will say that Hoi An is an amazingly beautiful city, and I'm excited to write about it.

I suppose that is about it for me, but I would also like to say that today and for the foreseeable future, my thoughts are with my friend Skylar. In the Thanh Xuan dorm, Skylar was a my roommate. On Friday November 11th, her birthday no less, Skylar received word from home that her father had passed away. I'm hoping she has arrived home in Arizona to be with her family and friends by now, since she left to fly on Friday night, but I still ask for all of my family and friends to have her in their thoughts and prayers.

Until next time, remember how quickly things can change, so always make sure everyone you love knows just how much you care about them.

Sarah

Tam Coc Caves and Last Friday Night

I've been a bit slower at posting this one than I hoped, but life has been busy (and I've been kind of lazy if I'm being honest here). Nevertheless here I am with more tales from my adventures in Vietnam. It's hard to believe I only have about two weeks left in Hanoi before I head out to do some travelling. It's really amazing how quickly time flies. Before I know it I'll be at home wrapping Christmas presents and sipping hot chocolate.

Speaking of time flying, I turned 22 last Friday. I'm sure how that happened, but I double checked my passport and driver's license numerous times and it turns out I was indeed born in 1989, so simple math tells me that it's correct. In some ways I feel like no time at all has passed since I was finishing up high school at Laval, yet I feel like all the time in the world has gone by... if that makes any sense. I suppose I've just experienced so much in the last five years or so that it feels like longer. So Friday entered my 22nd year of life.

And boy did I party like a rock star.

We started out pretty tame with a group of friends and I heading to an awesome little Mexican restaurant called Provecho in the Old Quarter. I was quite pleased with my Enchiladas, I have to say (although they were no where near as good as the ones I make). Plus the owner was extremely friendly, took excellent english, and took really good care of us. You can't really ask for much better than that. After dinner we moved on to the Bucket Bar (which I've mentioned before in this blog) for party time... and boy did we ever party. We actually know the owner of Bucket Bar, so between her free shots and my friends shouting me, I didn't pay for a drink all night. I'll spare you the gory details, as those of you who know me well know just how silly I can get with a few drinks in my system. Suffice it to say, we had a hell of a night.

The next morning, however, was a whole different sort of hell. But again, that's another story I'll save to tell those interested over a couple of beers when I get back in Canada.

The Sunday after my birthday, myself and my friend Lene headed out on excursion to Hoa Lua/Tam Coc. Ironically, there was an English couple on our tour who we met at the Bucket Bar on my birthday... apparently. That really made for a good laugh when we first got on the bus!

The roads in Vietnam need a lot of work. I'm not even close to exagerating when I say they're bumpy; it's literally like riding a horse. As a female, after a while it gets pretty painful, so myself, Lene and a few of the other girls on the bus took to crossing our arms to keep things settled, if you catch my drift. And don't even bother trying to sleep with your head against the window, you'll end up knocking yourself out and sleeping a lot longer than you ever intended. It also didn't really help that there were no seatbelts in the minibus and the driver drove like a lunatic. But hey, that's nothing new, pretty much everyone in this country drives like their hair is on fire, their wife is giving birth in the backseat, and they're going to lose a million dollars if they don't make it to their destination before the person in front of them.

Our first stop (besides the obligatory roadside shop with ridiculously overpriced food and handicrafts) was Hoa Lu, which is actually the ancient capital of Vietnam. So, it of course featured the standard pagodas, temples, and stone roads all too common throughout the rest of Vietnam that I've experienced so far. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. And really, unless you're particularly into them, once you've seen one temple with an ancestor altar inside, you've seen them all. Plus, the touts inside the city's gates were even more persistant than the ones you face back in Hanoi (although I will admit that no one chased me down the street with a basket of pineapples). One thing I saw there that I had never encountered before were "picture touters." These people were lugging around expensive looking Nikon cameras (probably fakes) and they would sneakily take pictures of you and approach like 10 minutes later and try to sell it to you. I was completely befuddled as to what kind of idiot would purchase one of those, until I noticed an American tourist (who had been loudly complaining to his guide about being bothered by the touters) purchase one at an exceptionally marked up rate (total amateur, he didn't even haggle). It's clear that some people simple do not read guide books or do any research before coming to developing nations. Maybe I should have given him the link to my blog.

When we arrived in Ninh Binh (which is the town closest to the Tam Coc caves), we stopped to have a buffet lunch at a restaurant. The place was obviously very touristy and the drinks were way overpriced (package tours in Vietnam never include drinks, that's how they get you), yet I was thoroughly satisfied with the food I received. They had a myriad of vegetarian options, including many fresh fruits and vegetables which I was extremely appreciative of. Perhaps it's because I've gotten used to eating so poorly, but I really felt as though it was worth the money I paid for it.

After lunch we walked to the waterfront and hopped on a boat to explore the caves, which are situated on the river. Myself and Lene got on a boat and set off on the two hour round trip journey down the river through the caves. Rather than give you full run down, I figured I'd just post some pictures, and save you all the trouble of reading (read: I'm feeling lazy)!

The good:

The scenery (featuring my fake Ray Bans that I paid 2 bucks for):

The ducks:

The locals rowing with their feet! (something I am so learning to do... well I'll try anyway):

The bad, which I won't show pictures of, was the extreme amount of pressure put on you by the locals to buy things. It was actually really sad. We were constantly bombarded by people in boats trying to take our picture and sell them to us like in Hoa Lu (I perfected the art of sticking my hands in front of our faces so they couldn't get a good picture). Then, at the end of the trip where we were turning to go back, we were surprise ambushed by hoards of venders selling drinks and food from their boats at ridiculous prices. They tried to guilt us into buying things for the people rowing our boat, and needless to say neither of us were impressed. Then, to make matters worse, the people rowing our boat stopped on the way back and pulled out their own merchandise which they proceeded to try and sell us. And then, of course by the time they finally brought us back to the dock, they wouldn't let us leave without tipping them. The scenary at Tam Coc was beautiful, but tourism has really ruined the experience of it. I would have much rathered renting my own canoe and paddled down myself than dealing with all of that the whole way there and back. Another weird thing was the Japanese tourists who kept taking pictures of us and calling us beautiful as they passed in their boats. I mean... thanks for the compliment.. but is that really necessary? Very odd.

All in all, I would saw the beauty of Tam Coc caves made it worth all of the hassle, but only just barely. It's frustating when you can't even look at a shop without having someone in your face going "madame, you buy? madame, you buy?" several million times. I swear, when I get back in Canada if anyone ever calls me madame again I'm going to blow a gasket.

After we arrived back in to Hanoi I met up with some friends for drinks since it was their last night in Vietnam. I also helped them buy a bag which was fun because I've gotten really good at bargaining. I think I'm a pretty good judge of how much something should cost which is really half the battle, plus I think the vendors usually give me a break because I try to speak to them in Vietnamese. My Vietnamese is getting half decent, which I'm pretty proud of. I can't string together many sentences yet, but I've learned alot of useful words and phrases that have been really helping me in my day to day life.

I suppose that's it for me again, I really have to get some work done before the night is over.

Until next time remember, when you're on the highway in Vietnam... wear a sports bra.

Sarah