Back to the swing of things

Well, it has been a month since we were in Hanoi. I am back into the boring routine. I had only one week of teaching and  the sixth graders  graduated. It is now spring break and because I was originally told that I would only have a week and a half of spring break, I decided to desk warm. Now turns out we have two full weeks. Oh well. I took on organizing and reading the books in the English room. I am actually learning things.

I am lucky, I don't have to try to get to know any more new teachers. Amy-Teacher is going to be teaching 3rd grade English, the art teacher is going to teach 6th grade English, Mrs. Kim is still going to teach 4th and 5th grade English, Minsu-Teacher is going to teach art, and one of the 3rd grade home room teachers is now teaching music. We are still waiting on hearing about home economics.

I am very sad to see the sixth grade students go. They are off to the big scary world of middle school. I saw one student today. She was crying, I asked her why. She sobbed, "I'm old! I am going to middle school!" I may have laughed. Poor thing.

Others are leaving us too. Three teachers are going to different schools (teachers change schools every four years). One of them was a 6th grade homeroom teacher and was very close to our little subject teacher group. She will be missed. The other two I don't know. Another teacher just got to school because she just got off of maternity leave. But she quit teaching for a while. So we won't see her.

On a happier note, finally found the Bau Haus Cafe. For the record Korean Maps suck and the "Eat Your Kimchi" people are terrible at making maps. Turns out we were near it every time we have gone searching for it. We really enjoyed the dogs and Matt had to talk me out of trying to sneak one home! Of course the ones I wanted to sneak are a little large for that.

Welcome Back to Seoul!

Our good luck couldn't hold out for the entire trip, I guess.  Because of our 9 hour layover in China, the customs agents wouldn't allow us through our gate, but instead we had to get tourist visas (thank God we didn't have to pay for them), leave the secure area, and go to the airport check-in. We were told we'd get a free hotel room, but of course we got there and were told that all the free hotels were finished and that we'd have to pay for the hotel room at $30 plus taxi. I was outraged, plus we didn't have $30 with us and neither Matt, nor I had thought to alert our bank that we were going to be in China. Also, I really wanted to have coffee in the morning, so we decided to sleep in the airport. Should have taken the hotel. It was freezing and not a comfy place anywhere to sit. China's view of cleanliness is complete opposite of my own (dirtier than trench toilets). But we survived and managed to get onto the aircraft before hypothermia kicked in.

It felt so good to get back to Seoul after spending nine hours in China. We nearly kissed the ground. And then, after half an hour, we remembered why we wanted to leave Korea for vacation.

Thailand Fall

Matt and I at Bantay Srey

Thailand Fall, according to a Mr. Fish massage worker, is the English translation of Siem Reap. Apparently Cambodia and Thailand (or Siem) are always fighting and Cambodia crushed them in a fairly large battle way back when and named this city Siem Reap.

It is a small, dusty city. The main roads are paved, but side roads are dirt. It has the feeling of a Western boom town, built quickly to hold the influx of tourists. It is a city made up of hotels and restaurants (yep you guessed it, all competing for happy hours). Yet, the town has it's charm. It is full of activity no matter the time of day and into the night, especially on the famous "Pub Street." It even has a Korean street, where many of the shops are Korean and even Korean food.

Our hotel in Phenom Penh recommended a hotel in Siem Reap, so we arranged for a pickup to at least check out the hotel. The one room available the worst room we had seen the entire trip. The ceiling tiles were hanging by corners, dust in the corners of the rooms, the bed was stained with lord knows what, and the bathroom was a tiny, dark little four by five closet. No hot water, and it was right off of the common room where people were drinking, smoking, and playing video games and loud music. I believe the cost of the room was between $15 and $20 a night. Ridiculous for what we had been getting for $15 else where.  We moved on, finding that every hotel we inquired at was completely booked.

A tuk tuk driver by the name of Batman (he drove a Bat-mobile tuk tuk)  hailed us over and said he'd find us a room, even if we had to sleep in his house. So that nice man drove us all over Siem Reap trying to find us a hotel. He finally found a guest house used mainly by Cambodians and the people running it didn't speak any English. But the price was fair and the accommodations were passable, much cleaner than the other rooms we had seen. We only had to kill one tiny cockroach in the bathroom when we first arrived.

Our quest the first morning was to find a different hotel (closer to town because we kept getting lost at this hotel) and to get tours booked for the wats. As luck had it we were carted off to a hotel that was so clean, so airy, hot water, nice workers, a pool down the road, and slightly closer to town. We took it and suddenly we had our own tuk tuk driver to take us around Siem Reap and the wats.

Our first trip was called "the small circle" a circle that included Bayon, Angkor Thom, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, and Banteay Kdei, and of course Angkor Wat. I don't remember much of that day as I was quite sick and the day just seemed to trudge on forever. Day two we did the sunrise at Angkor Wat (it really isn't all that specatular until the sun actually rises behind Angkor Wat). Then we went the 37 km north to Banteay Srey (beautiful trip and beautiful temple grounds), stopped at Banteay Smare, then back to the main park to visit a few of the other temples.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

The temples were amazing. The size (Angkor Wat is about 1 km square) and detail of the temples as well as how the jungle takes over the temples so quickly. Even the amount of tourists amazes me. However, the tourists and the temples started to look the same after a while. I couldn't tell Shiva from Buddha and I didn't care any more. I am so happy I finally got to see the place that would have have it any other way! We got back to Siem Reap, showered, and got back on the tuk tuk to head to the airport.

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a hard city to describe. It is a large city and people are constantly trying to get you to buy motorcycle taxis, rickshaws, tuk tuks or give them food, water, and money. Tourist wander the streets and it sounds like social hour at a UN meeting with all the varieties of languages being spoken. Bars line the streets all competing for happy hour and you can make your choice between Mexican, Turkish, American, French, and Indian foods. If you are brave, you can wander down a side street and try frog, cat, or dog (we only saw frogs and dogs). Still with this hustle and bustle, the city is eerily quiet at the same time. The fact that some thing tragic happened to these people not too long ago is very evident in the vibe of the city.

We had to look a bit to find a hotel at a reasonable price for what was being offered. And many of the clientele were those types where you cannot tell if they are suffering from heat stroke or have been indulging in the drugs that are sold all around you. Also, many of the hotels have signs at the entrance warning people of their policies on sex tourism and children prostitutes  (though apparently most of the molesters are native Cambodians). Tuk Tuks advertise that orphanages are not tourist spots. And I might add that like in Thailand and Vietnam, it is common to see a young twenty-something native woman with a white man in his sixties.

The city is not beautiful. The temples are beautiful with their statues and fine gardens, as well as the gold and jeweled buildings. But it becomes ugly along side the beggars standing in its courtyards or in the garbage piled up outside. Children swarm you and beg for money, food, and water. I remember one group of children sitting with their mother, as soon as they saw us the children swarmed us. Later that day we returned to the spot and their mother was talking on a fairly new cell phone.

We stayed only two full days, escaping by bus to Siem Reap. We didn't even make it to the killing fields, we decided we just didn't want to see them. The bus was another seven-hour journey, this time in an ancient bus with an ancient cooling system. As we sweated into giant puddles, we drove by mansions surrounded by mountains of garbage and streams lapping at the walls of garbage.

Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Cambodia!

We wound up flying from DaNang to Saigon. The flight was delayed an hour because of engine trouble (they were working on the engine just outside the gate so we had a perfect view of the mechanics' puzzled faces). We boarded the plane and had a very nice flight, until landing.  The plane was swaying side to side and when the plane touched ground the plane lurched to one side, then to the other and then to the other before straightening out and slowing down. That was a Boeing 777 by the way, gee thanks Boeing.

So we entered Saigon with a small scare and a great relief to be alive. We then took a taxi to the backpacking area. The taxi driver stopped the meter and tried to overcharge us and refused to stop the taxi. It wasn't until Matt opened the car door at a traffic light as I threatened to report the driver that the taxi driver agreed to negotiate. Then he was a perfect teddy bear.

We stayed in this small guest house on the fifth floor in an attic room. It wasn't bad, but the toilet was outside of the room and the spray hose moved every time someone used water in the house (really scary the first time it happened, thought for sure there was a rat), also the wall between the two rooms in the attic was separated by a short wall, allowing us to hear everything in the other room. That man liked to take showers all night and had a woman and a kid with him on and off all night. And our visit was put to an end with a cockroach running around the bathroom.

We got a bus the next day to Chau Doc, seven hours to the west of Saigon. The highlight of the trip was to watch our giant bus load onto a ferry. Once in Chau Doc we took motorcycles into the main part of the city (three km from the bus station) and got a nice hotel close to the docks. Unfortunately, close to the docks also means rats meandering in and out of the hotel lobby (needless to say, we passed on breakfast that morning). Because of the late hour and it being Lunar New Year's Eve (Tet), we had to eat street food. It was quite tasty, we ate pork fried rice and drank nuoc mia (a drink where sugar cane, lime, and pineapple are squeezed together) while watching the fireworks rise over the pagoda.

We boarded the speed boat at seven in the morning and we were on the Mekong River by seven thirty. The boat ride was more relaxing than a bus would have been. We sat outside, so we got lots of fresh air. It was a great way to see the delta. Houses were dotted along the river, sitting on stilts. In some areas an entire floating village could be seen. We arrived at the Cambodian border around ten in the morning and got our visas. The houses in Cambodia looked very much the same, but the poverty was immediately evident. By 1:30 we were in Phnom Penh.

Hoi An

While in Hue we toyed with the idea of skipping Hoi An and going straight for Nha Trang. But some how, Hoi An won. And I am glad it did. Hoi An was my favorite town we visited in Vietnam. It is located about three kilometers from the South China Sea, allowing us to visit the beach for most of the time we were there (renting a bike for $1 a day is the best way to get there). The town of Hoi An is a UNESCO heritage site, because of the many 16th and 17th Century buildings and the famous Japanese Covered Bridge. It really is a beautiful town. The buildings are a fusion of Dutch, Chinese, and Vietnamese architectural and interior design. Lanterns, flowers, textiles, souvenirs, and tourists spill out of the dark wooden doorways and pane-less windows. If you are looking for a giant straw hat, a VC cap, or a nice suit, this is the place to come.

We had originally thought to stay in the center of town in one of those older buildings. But the rooms are quite expensive for a damp, hot, windowless room filled with funky smells and lord knows what else. So we stayed in a hotel on the edge of town. It was a great hotel, the guide book labeled it as "Asian kitsch," and it was in some ways, but it looked like any of the hotels in Asia. The main thing is that it was clean, comfortable, had hot water, and a pool. The guide book also said it looked out over rice patties--and it did, on a clear morning you could see a sliver of a rice patty on the horizon.

Mainly Hoi An was spent lounging on the beach or at the pool and eating Vietnamese food. I had a very "South Pacific" moment when a little lady came up to me with an arm full of bracelets, rings, and necklaces looped through shoe laces. She undid one shoe lace and pulled out a jade (or maybe glass) bracelet. I was hooked and I wanted it. She said "Very beautiful, very lucky, you buy?" I ask her the price and it was well over the price I wanted to pay for a probably glass bracelet. I told her it was too expensive but she pointed to one of the islands on the horizon and said, "Come from that island. Very special island. Bracelet special. It lucky. Make you lucky. You buy?" With the wind and the mist I was ready for "Bali Hai" to start playing. Matt negotiated the price down to a bargain deal and I got the lucky bracelet and Matt had to listen to me hum "South Pacific."

Hue

We took the open bus from Hanoi to Hue. The bus is cheaper than the train, takes about the same amount of time, and is probably a bit more luxurious. The open bus is like a moving hostel, sleeping around 35 people. Matt and I snagged the back top bunks, giving us five beds to ourselves. We were told the bus had a toilet--lies. The bus made stops every so often where we could run to the  bathrooms and pee. At first it was dirty squat toilets, and then as we got further from Hanoi, dirty trenches. I am proud to say that peeing in trenches and squat toilets is skill that I have greatly mastered.

One that I have not mastered is sleeping on a sleeper bus from Hanoi to Hue. The road must have been built before the Vietnam war and has never been repaired after various bombings. The road was awful! I was buckled in and still was flopping all over the place. Just when the roads got better, the bus would speed up, go around a corner and we'd all skid to the other side of the bus. We once very noisily passed (every one honks like mad in Vietnam) a wrecker pulling a destroyed sleeper bus. I thought for sure I was going to die on that road. Once I finally did managed to fall asleep, we had to stop for an hour because of a car accident. Still every one was honking and emergency lights were flashing. Matt slept through it all. We arrived in Hue after 15 and a half hours on the bus and three to four hours of sleep (for me that is).

Hue greeted us with hotel vultures pressing to the outside of the bus doors. These are the people who meet the tired souls coming off the bus and try to sell them a hotel room. And after you decline they follow you on their motor bike or rickshaw still trying to sell the hotel. Sleepy Carmen was angry and stubbornly insisted that we find our own hotel (and we did). We then walked around Hue with a parade of motorcycles, rickshaws, tour guides, fruit sellers, and jewelry sellers trying to get us to buy their services. We spite them all and ate lunch at a place run by a deaf and dumb person (I think it is an act because I swear to God I heard him say some thing to his wife). But even he sold us a motorcycle tour of Hue. This time we took it, and enjoyed a five hour tour of Hue and the jungle.

I highly recommend the tour via motorcycle and not bicycle. The best sites are away from the city sandwiched between rice patties and jungle and are the sites that have turned to cow pasture. It is quite surreal to see a ruined temple or tomb being eaten by cows and jungle trees. Women dressed in traditional Vietnamese wedding garb or bright red engagement gowns following the groomsmen and a large camera crew over roots and through the mud to get the perfect wedding photo. Men fish at the banks of the now wild moats. And a couple of tourists stop to take pictures of some left over blue and white porcelain tiles.

We turned down the $20/person offer to take motorcycles to Hoi An over the mountains because we were afraid of rain. However, we took the bus and the weather was perfect and the sites were amazing. We really wished we had taken the motorcycles where we could have visited waterfalls and more temples high in the mountains. But we still got to stop at the beach for half an hour before arriving in Danang and Hoi An.

Ha Long Bay

I decided that since we were so far up north, we had to go see Ha Long Bay. After shopping around a bit, we decided that a day cruise would be best as opposed to a two or three day cruise. Apparently it takes that long to see most of the some 2000 islands. Only one island is inhabited by humans, while the other islands have their own unique plants and wildlife (monkeys, lizards, birds, and so forth). We woke up early Sunday morning and took the four hour bus ride over bumpy and muddy roads to the harbor. It had been raining all morning and visibility had been low, so I was worried about being able to enjoy Ha Long Bay. But as luck would have it, the front that we had seen inland had already passed through Ha Long and the bay was very clear, with the mist sitting on top of the islands, giving the illusion of all those pirate movies.

We boarded the wooden cruise ship and enjoyed a little bit of heat indoors and some lunch of shrimp, chicken, fish, squid, French fries, and heaps of vegetables. We then shimmied our way up the ladder to the viewing deck and took as many pictures of the same view as possible.We also managed to escape the women who would row up to the ship, open the window, and try to sell us fruit (though they did try to call out to us).

Our first stop was kayaking. Matt begged and pleaded for me to go, so I went. I got soaked and realized that I am really terrible at rowing, but it was well worth it. I can now say that I kayaked in Vietnam, through caves and between floating houses. Thankfully the wind was blowing enough to allow me to dry off fairly quickly, making me freeze for only a few minutes.

Our second stop was at the caves. We hiked up the mountain to two huge, beautiful caves. Legend has some thing to do with a dragon in the caves, so the Vietnamese government helped this image along by installing colored lights. It is beautiful, but I think regular lights would have been enough, as the cave is beautiful on its own.

Once back in Hanoi, we got dropped off the night market, which resembled the street of Ramkhamhaeng in Bangkok. We walked along enjoying the market atmosphere and stopped at a street restaurant run by boys who looked to be  between the ages of 12 and 17, while their very pregnant mother had either her husband, father, or brother (hard to tell) try on pants she had just purchased at the market. This man managed to still look menacing as he set down his cigarette and tried on the pants right in the middle of the restaurant.

Hanoi

We arrived at our hotel at about one AM. The car stopped at the entrance of a dark, narrow street and we blindly followed, desperate for a place to sleep. We staggered up the five flights of stairs, getting dizzy on the spiral staircase. The room was small, but there were windows one two sides and a balcony on another side, making it appear larger than it was. I was awoken at six in the morning to roosters and the call to prayer from the temple across the street. It was nice to hear the melodic chanting again, but I wasn't so happy to have it at that hour of the morning!

When we headed to breakfast, I ordered bread and jelly, thinking they meant toast. But no, I got a nice large crusty loaf of bread to myself. After brushing off the crumbs and finishing the sweet coffee, we headed out into the street to buy much needed toiletries, reveling in the cheap prices. We skipped through the streets, past sidewalks crowded with street food, fruit sellers, drink sellers, and motorbikes. The streets of Hanoi are chaotic, there are a few cars, lots of rickshaws,  and hundreds of motorcycles. It is an adventure just crossing the street.

The days in Hanoi were rainy and the weather felt more like April or May instead of January. Flowers were in bloom and a fine mist of fires burning in the street (presumably a ritual for the new year) mixed with incense filled the air. It made being indoors unbearable, so we chose to avoid transportation and walk every where.

We walked to the Ngoc Son Temple. It is a small temple, but quite beautiful with it's bright red bridge contrasting with the mist and the light blue entrance way. The temple is surrounded by the Hoan Kiem Lake, giving beautiful views of the water and the city.  Here you can see the famous Hoan Kiem turtle (a giant preserved turtle). After visiting the temple we headed for the Ho Chi Mihn Mausoleum , the one pillar pagoda, and the outside of the Army Museum. Then we hit the nice tourist trap of the water puppet show. It was ok, nice to see, but it's a puppet show.

On our way back from one of these adventures, we stopped into a store to get drinks. We enquired about the drinks to an old lady, who looked up from her sewing or whatever she was doing. Matt and I jumped back about 100 feet and were rooted to the spot horrified. Her lips were sunk in and a dark red stain surrounded her mouth making her resemble an ancient vampire. She has obviously spent her life chewing betel leaves.