Monday, October 29, 2007
Cambodia memories
oke up at 3:40am today to get to the airport to take a flight into Cambodia! in cambodia, we took taxis and tuk tuks around everywhere trying to get the vietnam visa settled. My passport is now full of lovely stickers from everywhere =) We ate at this place that was run by an NGO today and all the money they earned went towards this charity for running a home for street children that was write behind the restaurant. And the waiters and chefs were the older streechildren who were being trained to work in the future. How cool is that? the food wasn't bad either...we had this kind of food called tapas and its basically like a bunch of small snacks like sun dried tomato hummus on wonton chips...stuff like that. It was yummy! Reminded me a bit of hte food i eat in california
Thailand Memories
Bangkok so isn't what I expected it to be, it is REALLY smoggy and I think my lungs must be black now. But I saw the future king today! That was after almost getting heat stroke from waiting at the palace in the sweltering heat for what seemed to be a lifetime. And afterwards I saw an old man feeding pigeons and it made me happy, way more happy than the king did actually.
Today was a lot of fun! A van picked us up in the morning along with, surprisingly, other people who were from America. It was a bit refreshing just randomly meeting people who was from the same country in such a far away place. Together, we drove into the jungle and first stopped at an elephant farm. The elephant's skin felt a bit like dried up mud or rough paper with bristles sticking out! We rode one around the hill, but my favorite part was the end when we got to feed them bananas. The elephants grabbed bananas with their long noses and put it into their mouths beneath. It was so cool! Might have actually been my favorite part of the day. Then we headed further up the mountain and neared the river. We boarded bamboo rafts and then went down stream. It was a peaceful, tranquil ride that was often interrupted by families and children wading in the water and engaged us into water warfare. Needless to say, we were completely soaked (once again!) After grabbing a quick but delicious lunch of thai food, we went hiking in the hills and I made the stupid mistake of going most of the way in flip flops. But it's all good, I changed into sneakers and made it to the waterfall which actually wasn't all that impressive but the exercise was good. What I really liked though, was walking to through the countryside to visit two villages. One of the villages specialized in making cloth, and there were roosters and pigs running freely around. I bought a bracelet from this little girl because she made it, hopefully it won't break!
For dinner, I had a bowl of noodles close by to the hostel because we didn't want to travel far. The food tastes a lot like Chinese food actually. Tomorrow we are heading up to some cities north of Chiang Mai, and maybe even go into Myanmar! Not sure about that part though.
It is now early morning in Chiang Mai and we are waiting to go on our trekking adventure into the hills! Yesterday was so much fun as it was Thai New Year and they celebrate it in a festival called Songkran. They were not kidding about how wet and crazy it gets, we got soaked to the bone several times ALL DAY LONG as the streets were packed with people throwing water on each other in super soakers, hoses, buckets, etc! Food is delicious as well. We happened to find really good cheap restaurants for Thai food in beteween walking around the city and looking at the Wats (temples). So gorgeous they were too!
Oh, you should see these pants that I bought. They were called fisherman pants, but I call them grandma fat pants. I'm wearing them right now because they are super comfy, and it is a shame they make me look like an auntie. I think you will laugh if you see them! But I like a lot.
Today was a lot of fun! A van picked us up in the morning along with, surprisingly, other people who were from America. It was a bit refreshing just randomly meeting people who was from the same country in such a far away place. Together, we drove into the jungle and first stopped at an elephant farm. The elephant's skin felt a bit like dried up mud or rough paper with bristles sticking out! We rode one around the hill, but my favorite part was the end when we got to feed them bananas. The elephants grabbed bananas with their long noses and put it into their mouths beneath. It was so cool! Might have actually been my favorite part of the day. Then we headed further up the mountain and neared the river. We boarded bamboo rafts and then went down stream. It was a peaceful, tranquil ride that was often interrupted by families and children wading in the water and engaged us into water warfare. Needless to say, we were completely soaked (once again!) After grabbing a quick but delicious lunch of thai food, we went hiking in the hills and I made the stupid mistake of going most of the way in flip flops. But it's all good, I changed into sneakers and made it to the waterfall which actually wasn't all that impressive but the exercise was good. What I really liked though, was walking to through the countryside to visit two villages. One of the villages specialized in making cloth, and there were roosters and pigs running freely around. I bought a bracelet from this little girl because she made it, hopefully it won't break!
For dinner, I had a bowl of noodles close by to the hostel because we didn't want to travel far. The food tastes a lot like Chinese food actually. Tomorrow we are heading up to some cities north of Chiang Mai, and maybe even go into Myanmar! Not sure about that part though.
It is now early morning in Chiang Mai and we are waiting to go on our trekking adventure into the hills! Yesterday was so much fun as it was Thai New Year and they celebrate it in a festival called Songkran. They were not kidding about how wet and crazy it gets, we got soaked to the bone several times ALL DAY LONG as the streets were packed with people throwing water on each other in super soakers, hoses, buckets, etc! Food is delicious as well. We happened to find really good cheap restaurants for Thai food in beteween walking around the city and looking at the Wats (temples). So gorgeous they were too!
Oh, you should see these pants that I bought. They were called fisherman pants, but I call them grandma fat pants. I'm wearing them right now because they are super comfy, and it is a shame they make me look like an auntie. I think you will laugh if you see them! But I like a lot.
Southern China memories
I FINALLY found an internet place
(after like 2 days of looking around) that has a WEBCAM and was really
excited. Should have been good news right? Except one problem persists:
the entire computer and all its programs are in CHINESE and I cannot
understand any of it! Could barely make it onto the web and for some
reason the Yahoo site is blocked. And I don't think it has Skype or MSN
messenger! aiiyiah. Anyways, by now you
probably guessed that I have made it safely into China, right now I am in
this city called Guilin and just left another city called Nanning. It
kind of sucks not knowing Mandaring because there is absolutely NO
English! Just tonight a group of guys (the taxi driver, security guard for
the hotel, and other rickshaw drivers) were laughing at me in a circle
when they found out I couldn't speak Chinese. I was like um...thanks guys
for making me feel welcome. But it's true when i say that I will be
totally lost here if it wasn't for my mom who knows at least enough to get
around. The scenery again is really beautiful though. The past two days I
spent many hours on a bus and enjoyed looking at the passing
countryside/rice patty fields/mountains/vilages/rivers/lakes/etc. The city
of Nanning looked actually a lot like Singapore to me, except a dirtier
and more chaotic version. Guilin...hm...i don't know how it looks like yet
because by the time we got here it was dark.
(after like 2 days of looking around) that has a WEBCAM and was really
excited. Should have been good news right? Except one problem persists:
the entire computer and all its programs are in CHINESE and I cannot
understand any of it! Could barely make it onto the web and for some
reason the Yahoo site is blocked. And I don't think it has Skype or MSN
messenger! aiiyiah. Anyways, by now you
probably guessed that I have made it safely into China, right now I am in
this city called Guilin and just left another city called Nanning. It
kind of sucks not knowing Mandaring because there is absolutely NO
English! Just tonight a group of guys (the taxi driver, security guard for
the hotel, and other rickshaw drivers) were laughing at me in a circle
when they found out I couldn't speak Chinese. I was like um...thanks guys
for making me feel welcome. But it's true when i say that I will be
totally lost here if it wasn't for my mom who knows at least enough to get
around. The scenery again is really beautiful though. The past two days I
spent many hours on a bus and enjoyed looking at the passing
countryside/rice patty fields/mountains/vilages/rivers/lakes/etc. The city
of Nanning looked actually a lot like Singapore to me, except a dirtier
and more chaotic version. Guilin...hm...i don't know how it looks like yet
because by the time we got here it was dark.
Hanoi, Vietnam memories
We got stood up at
the airport by this hotel that was supposed to be there and pick us
up...so we had to scramble to find another one and by the time we got
there it was pretty late. I am in Hanoi, Vietnam right now! Haven't seen
ANY of it yet, because it is still evening we spent yesterday getting
there. The buildings here are very narrow and tall though..something about
the property tax being based on the width of the building..not sure. The last day in Cambodia was uneventful, as my mother and I are
both down with colds we just spent it hanging around the hotel and
somewhat walking around the town for a bit. There is this store in
Cambodia that especially sells crafts that are made by disabled people
from villages, which I thought was cool. Actually another cool thing I
really liked about Cambodia in general was the amount of NGOs that are
there to help out the country. We ate at this restaurant called Friends,
which was a restaurant where they trained street children to work in the
restaurant business so they were the waiters, hostesses, and even the
chefs who created the menu! Bought a used book called Lord of the Flies to
read...it was highschool reading but I never did it so I figured now might
be the time to catch up. So far it hasn't been bad but I think there is a
lot of symbolism in there that I am not getting yet.
Well the reason why I didn't write yesterday was because it was spent
dealing with the chinese embassy bureaucracy which wasn't too fun. Today
will be about the same as we have to go back there again, after spending
this whole morning there as well. Anyways, so I have just been spending
online looking for jobs and what I could possibly do when I get back home.
It's starting to hit that perhaps I am way too idealistic for my own good.
Maybe it's time to buckle down and accept reality you know? Kinda
realizing that I need to learn a lot more about the real
world/business/etc if I'm ever going to really get somewhere. I guess just
having dreams isn't good enough if there is no way for them to ever become
concrete hehe! Hopefully I can find a way to integrate my dreams with
reality...i think that will be my goal. One of my fears though is that
after begining working, I will just let my dreams go and just fall into
the cycle of wake up, work, go home, eat, sleep, wake up, etc.
Overall, I like the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. There are a lot of cafe's
everywhere as well as art galleries. At the same time, there at A LOT of
motorcycles! I'm starting to master the art of walking across the street
while motorcycles come roaring by and around me, because no one seems to
care much about the stop lights.
Today we got in a minivan and it drove us to Halong Bay in
Vietnam. Then we got on a boat and cruised around it...and it was
gorgeous! Love love loved it, there were just many many lush green islands
all around us and the water is really calm and the sky was blue and the
whole ordeal was just so nice and peaceful! Got a bit of a sunburn though
i think. And on the way to one of the bigger islands there were a lot of
the fishing "kelongs" you told me about...like the ones we saw at Palau
Ubin. I bet they catch the fish we ate on the boat. It is actually a
decently popular option to spend the night on the boat out in the bay. My
mom and I decided to spend it on the island instead, but I think a night
out on a boat in the bay would have been really romantic for couples...the
sky would have been amazing to say the least! Can you imagine all the
stars that a person would be able to see while lying on the deck of the
boat at night? Some trouble...i was having issues trying to find Orion's
Belt tonight in the sky. There were too many stars so I could figure out
which one was what!
I'm back from Halong Bay now, and am now back at the
hotel in Hanoi. Halong Bay is truly a gorgeous place, I would definitely
reccomend it to you if you were ever feeling the want to travel to
Vietnam. Another part that was cool about the past two days was that I got
to meet other travellers from Malaysia, Denmark, Italy, Australia, and
Holland! It was cool how people all over the world, who on most other days
live lives thousands of miles away from each other, come together all on a
boat to experience one of the wonders of nature. Today was a bit more
cloudy than yesterday, but I liked how the photos looked more today for
some reason. I told the other travellers a lot about why I liked Singapore
and I think they are more interested going there now!
the airport by this hotel that was supposed to be there and pick us
up...so we had to scramble to find another one and by the time we got
there it was pretty late. I am in Hanoi, Vietnam right now! Haven't seen
ANY of it yet, because it is still evening we spent yesterday getting
there. The buildings here are very narrow and tall though..something about
the property tax being based on the width of the building..not sure. The last day in Cambodia was uneventful, as my mother and I are
both down with colds we just spent it hanging around the hotel and
somewhat walking around the town for a bit. There is this store in
Cambodia that especially sells crafts that are made by disabled people
from villages, which I thought was cool. Actually another cool thing I
really liked about Cambodia in general was the amount of NGOs that are
there to help out the country. We ate at this restaurant called Friends,
which was a restaurant where they trained street children to work in the
restaurant business so they were the waiters, hostesses, and even the
chefs who created the menu! Bought a used book called Lord of the Flies to
read...it was highschool reading but I never did it so I figured now might
be the time to catch up. So far it hasn't been bad but I think there is a
lot of symbolism in there that I am not getting yet.
Well the reason why I didn't write yesterday was because it was spent
dealing with the chinese embassy bureaucracy which wasn't too fun. Today
will be about the same as we have to go back there again, after spending
this whole morning there as well. Anyways, so I have just been spending
online looking for jobs and what I could possibly do when I get back home.
It's starting to hit that perhaps I am way too idealistic for my own good.
Maybe it's time to buckle down and accept reality you know? Kinda
realizing that I need to learn a lot more about the real
world/business/etc if I'm ever going to really get somewhere. I guess just
having dreams isn't good enough if there is no way for them to ever become
concrete hehe! Hopefully I can find a way to integrate my dreams with
reality...i think that will be my goal. One of my fears though is that
after begining working, I will just let my dreams go and just fall into
the cycle of wake up, work, go home, eat, sleep, wake up, etc.
Overall, I like the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. There are a lot of cafe's
everywhere as well as art galleries. At the same time, there at A LOT of
motorcycles! I'm starting to master the art of walking across the street
while motorcycles come roaring by and around me, because no one seems to
care much about the stop lights.
Today we got in a minivan and it drove us to Halong Bay in
Vietnam. Then we got on a boat and cruised around it...and it was
gorgeous! Love love loved it, there were just many many lush green islands
all around us and the water is really calm and the sky was blue and the
whole ordeal was just so nice and peaceful! Got a bit of a sunburn though
i think. And on the way to one of the bigger islands there were a lot of
the fishing "kelongs" you told me about...like the ones we saw at Palau
Ubin. I bet they catch the fish we ate on the boat. It is actually a
decently popular option to spend the night on the boat out in the bay. My
mom and I decided to spend it on the island instead, but I think a night
out on a boat in the bay would have been really romantic for couples...the
sky would have been amazing to say the least! Can you imagine all the
stars that a person would be able to see while lying on the deck of the
boat at night? Some trouble...i was having issues trying to find Orion's
Belt tonight in the sky. There were too many stars so I could figure out
which one was what!
I'm back from Halong Bay now, and am now back at the
hotel in Hanoi. Halong Bay is truly a gorgeous place, I would definitely
reccomend it to you if you were ever feeling the want to travel to
Vietnam. Another part that was cool about the past two days was that I got
to meet other travellers from Malaysia, Denmark, Italy, Australia, and
Holland! It was cool how people all over the world, who on most other days
live lives thousands of miles away from each other, come together all on a
boat to experience one of the wonders of nature. Today was a bit more
cloudy than yesterday, but I liked how the photos looked more today for
some reason. I told the other travellers a lot about why I liked Singapore
and I think they are more interested going there now!
Myanmar thoughts
Greetings from Myanmar! I think out of all the countries I have visited in southeast asia...this one was the biggest culture and standard of living difference that I have experienced. The men here all wear towel like skirts called longees and so do the women and the cars are all 20 years old it seems. There are no big shopping malls or chain stores/restaurants and poverty is everywhere. It is seriously like stepping back 50 years. But we went to a temple today and it was the grandest most beautiful untouristy thing I have ever seen.
I haven't been eating
a lot lately because my mom refuses to eat at places that are outside or
the local food stalls by the road...something about food poisoning.But
honestly if like 95% of the population eats at those places it can't
possibly be that bad. It probably is where the best food is too! But in
Myanmar about 95% of places are like that, so it might become an issue.
However, I'm excited to see more
of Myanmar though! It's a good place to do some soul searching and just
reflecting about life as we know it...because it is SO differnet here it
seems. I'm heading back to the airport and flying to a different part of
Myanmar in a couple hours
so I am in another part of Myanmar right now...my mom and I were
supposed to rent a boat today and go out to this lake...except I got
really sick and had to spend all day today in bed! Doesn't that stink? May
have spoken too soon about the food hehe. I have a fever and just spent
today reading The Da Vinci Code while everyone else at the hostel went to
the lake and had fun. It's a pretty good book though I must say.
Yesterday I was freaked out on the plane
because it was a propeller plane and I have never taken one that small
before. The airport we landed in was literally in the middle of nowhere,
as it was just a house surrounded by grassland...it took an hour on a
sketchy taxi ride to get to this lake! But it was cool as we got to pass
through villages and see oxen pulling carts and the like.
I was literally in bed the entire
day and night! well...besides the hour when I was put into a jeep and sent
to a doctor in town. I haven't been this sick in a while actually. This
doctors office, let me tell you, is like nothing you have ever seen before
(at least I haven't seen it before). It was about the size of two of your
rooms, and on the dirt caked walls were hanging cobwebs. It was dark and
all the tools like thermometer and scissors and whatnot were just strewn
across this old wooden table. I really hoped he cleaned the thermometer
befor he stuck it in my mouth...it wasn't a disposable one and can you
imagine all the mouths it has b een in? The doctor himself was just in an
undershirt and didn't know English that well. But whatever he gave me some
medicine. I took the medicine later that night and it made me puke!What
kind of medicine does that? so sketch. Aiyyiah i think i just have to wait
this one out. but the cool thing was riding in a Jeep..that was fun,
despite feeling sick, riding in a jeep is almost always a blast. So today
I just spent it again resting and started on another book, The Life of Pi.
It's quite famous in the states and pretty good so far. It's about a boy
who is stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a hyena and a
tiger.
Yesterday though still weak in the stomach I climbed into a speedboat and
went around a beautiful lake which was pretty awesome. It was huge,
serene, and filled with...floating tomato gardens and rice patties!
Surrounding boats around us had fishermen and people picking seaweed. We
stopped at several markets and some factories that showed us how cloth,
cigars, and umbrellas were made (a bit random but it was pretty
cool...seeing things transform from raw to good). But my favorite part was
just cruising around the lake and wishing you were there too. I think you
would like it...the water was blue and calm and clear so you can see the
fish and seaweed below if you look hard enough, and the skies had birds
with funny yellow beaks... and people waved as they passed by on other
boats. The village probably has some of the nicest people on the face of
this earth...when it was time to leave i was so sad to leave the
guesthouse because they treated us like family there!
I'm so sorry about the internet situation... it takes literally one minute
to get a page to load! I don't know what to do about it. Hopefully when I
leave Myanmar in a few days and go to Cambodia, it will be different.
The lake where I was at and actually Myanmar in general has probably been
the country most different to what I am used to.
Today I woke up at 620 to catch a plane and now I am back in the
capitol...it's much more crowded, dirty, and overall poor than the village
but our hotel is right smack in the center of everything so it's nice. My
mom read an article about people here using fabric dye instead of food dya
in the food and it is making people sick or something. So now i have no
idea what we are going to eat!
Well
like i said, I just got back from Myanmar and am back at the same hostel
in Thailand (if you ever find yourself in bangkok... i have a good hostel
for you) i hope that we will be able to use the webcam soon...as soon as i
find an internet place with one and figure out how to use it...my face
will be in that cam before you can say cheese! hopefully it will work =)
are webcams hard to set up?
Myanmar overall was the most different experience...it made me really miss
the luxuries of Singapore and home...just simple things like having
consistent electricity (i was showering and everything just blacked out!)
or having internet that works and a workable infrastructure...i definitely
appreciate those things a lot more now.
I haven't been eating
a lot lately because my mom refuses to eat at places that are outside or
the local food stalls by the road...something about food poisoning.But
honestly if like 95% of the population eats at those places it can't
possibly be that bad. It probably is where the best food is too! But in
Myanmar about 95% of places are like that, so it might become an issue.
However, I'm excited to see more
of Myanmar though! It's a good place to do some soul searching and just
reflecting about life as we know it...because it is SO differnet here it
seems. I'm heading back to the airport and flying to a different part of
Myanmar in a couple hours
so I am in another part of Myanmar right now...my mom and I were
supposed to rent a boat today and go out to this lake...except I got
really sick and had to spend all day today in bed! Doesn't that stink? May
have spoken too soon about the food hehe. I have a fever and just spent
today reading The Da Vinci Code while everyone else at the hostel went to
the lake and had fun. It's a pretty good book though I must say.
Yesterday I was freaked out on the plane
because it was a propeller plane and I have never taken one that small
before. The airport we landed in was literally in the middle of nowhere,
as it was just a house surrounded by grassland...it took an hour on a
sketchy taxi ride to get to this lake! But it was cool as we got to pass
through villages and see oxen pulling carts and the like.
I was literally in bed the entire
day and night! well...besides the hour when I was put into a jeep and sent
to a doctor in town. I haven't been this sick in a while actually. This
doctors office, let me tell you, is like nothing you have ever seen before
(at least I haven't seen it before). It was about the size of two of your
rooms, and on the dirt caked walls were hanging cobwebs. It was dark and
all the tools like thermometer and scissors and whatnot were just strewn
across this old wooden table. I really hoped he cleaned the thermometer
befor he stuck it in my mouth...it wasn't a disposable one and can you
imagine all the mouths it has b een in? The doctor himself was just in an
undershirt and didn't know English that well. But whatever he gave me some
medicine. I took the medicine later that night and it made me puke!What
kind of medicine does that? so sketch. Aiyyiah i think i just have to wait
this one out. but the cool thing was riding in a Jeep..that was fun,
despite feeling sick, riding in a jeep is almost always a blast. So today
I just spent it again resting and started on another book, The Life of Pi.
It's quite famous in the states and pretty good so far. It's about a boy
who is stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a hyena and a
tiger.
Yesterday though still weak in the stomach I climbed into a speedboat and
went around a beautiful lake which was pretty awesome. It was huge,
serene, and filled with...floating tomato gardens and rice patties!
Surrounding boats around us had fishermen and people picking seaweed. We
stopped at several markets and some factories that showed us how cloth,
cigars, and umbrellas were made (a bit random but it was pretty
cool...seeing things transform from raw to good). But my favorite part was
just cruising around the lake and wishing you were there too. I think you
would like it...the water was blue and calm and clear so you can see the
fish and seaweed below if you look hard enough, and the skies had birds
with funny yellow beaks... and people waved as they passed by on other
boats. The village probably has some of the nicest people on the face of
this earth...when it was time to leave i was so sad to leave the
guesthouse because they treated us like family there!
I'm so sorry about the internet situation... it takes literally one minute
to get a page to load! I don't know what to do about it. Hopefully when I
leave Myanmar in a few days and go to Cambodia, it will be different.
The lake where I was at and actually Myanmar in general has probably been
the country most different to what I am used to.
Today I woke up at 620 to catch a plane and now I am back in the
capitol...it's much more crowded, dirty, and overall poor than the village
but our hotel is right smack in the center of everything so it's nice. My
mom read an article about people here using fabric dye instead of food dya
in the food and it is making people sick or something. So now i have no
idea what we are going to eat!
Well
like i said, I just got back from Myanmar and am back at the same hostel
in Thailand (if you ever find yourself in bangkok... i have a good hostel
for you) i hope that we will be able to use the webcam soon...as soon as i
find an internet place with one and figure out how to use it...my face
will be in that cam before you can say cheese! hopefully it will work =)
are webcams hard to set up?
Myanmar overall was the most different experience...it made me really miss
the luxuries of Singapore and home...just simple things like having
consistent electricity (i was showering and everything just blacked out!)
or having internet that works and a workable infrastructure...i definitely
appreciate those things a lot more now.
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