A Look Back at Spring in South-East Asia

While my long hiatus from the blogging world might prove that I am the worst person alive at keeping New Year's resolutions, it might just also show that I have had a busy spring, which is completely true! First, I was busy working trying to make money for my future trips, while also trying to soak in what Saigon has to offer, such as great fruit juice and massages. Also, I had a visitor. My brother Kenan came for a week, giving me a chance to show him a little taste of what Vietnam has to offer in the way of bahn mi op-las, beaches, and motorbikes. We spent some days in the city and then traveled up to Hoi An where we rented bicycles and got many clothes tailor made. Here are some pictures of my spring:

My smoothie man just a block away from my house. Within seconds he will whip up a delectable concoction of juices for a very refreshing treat!

With one of my favorite classes on our last day this spring. Fortunately, I am back teaching them this summer. My favorite student (yes, it is true, teachers do pick favorites and least favorites...) is the first boy on the left in the power rangers shirt. Every day he greets me with a concerned look on his face, asking if we will play slap the board (a very popular game with younger students). If I say no he looks simply crestfallen.

Here I have some of my students play the popular "cup game" a friend and I invented. I have them say a conversation to each other that I write on the board. Then I place the plastic cups on their heads before they begin to walk the length of the classroom. Whoever keeps the cup on their head the longest wins his/her team a point. What does posture have to do with learning English? Nothing, but it eats up the minutes at the end of the class and the children love it!

Here Kenan is on the back of my former xe om driver's motorbike. This was his first time driving through the hectic Saigon streets.

A cute, vibrant cafe Kenan and I enjoyed along the river in Hoi An.

Picture break during our bike-ride to the beach in Hoi An.

A week after Kenan came I went with some friends to Malaysia for a few days and then on to a week in Bali. Malaysia was beautiful and the mix of cultures there was fascinating.

And Bali was unbelievable. The first day we arrived in Bali we walked out to the beach to only be rained upon. Yet this rain was fortuitous, as huddled under umbrellas we met a wonderfully generous woman Sandy (who has family in MB of all places) who showed us around and convinced us to leave the next day and go to Gili Island, which is truly heaven on earth. Two hours by speedboat off the coast of Bali, it is a small island (we walked around the whole island in 1 ½) where motorbikes and cars are prohibited. We swam in the crystal clear water, biked in the sand, sunbathed, ate some amazing food, and met some of the nicest people on Earth. One of the places I hope to go back to multiple times in my lifetime.

Here is a local Indian restaurant in KL, Malaysia. The food was absolutely delicious and so cheap! And the people were so nice.

KL's towers. A very modern city, KL has a blend of three cultures: Indian, Chinease, and Malay. While we were there, we traveled around to China town and Little India. The public transportation there was amazing and so cheap, making it easy to see the entire city in a day.

Laura and I visit the national mosque, where we were made to wear these robes to enter. Seeing the Muslim influence in Malaysia was very interesting and reminded me a lot of going to Morocco.

While we were in Malaysia we took a day trip to Melaka, which has a beautiful blend of architecture from its days as a Portuguese colony. Here my friend Laura and I take a ride in this bike-drawn carriage. Adorned with tacky, fake flowers and complete with a cd player blasting Akon, we had quite a tour of the town.

The beach in Bali on our first day after the rain storm.

Ten times as beautiful as this picture here is Gili Island. A haven away from cars and motorbikes the only transportation on the island is your two feet, horse-drawn carriages (unfortunately I never tried this), or bicycles.

Our bicycles for our stay, which were trickier to use than I had anticipated. Not only did the depth of sand vary along the path, sometimes requiring me to get off and walk our bike, but we could never figure out on which side of the road to drive. Having tourist from all over the world accustomed to driving on different sides of the street, I was constantly weaving in and out of people, of course, having some close calls.

A secluded beach we found while motorbiking around Bali. The water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature. I was quite the mermaid.

My friend Jamie and I on our last night in Bali. We went down to the beach to watch the sunset and made some friends with two locals trying to teach us how to surf. After declining their invitation, they brought a guitar to give us a concert free of charge. When they found out I was from Alabama, they immediately went from playing Bob Marley to playing "Sweet Home Alabama."

After Bali I flew immediately up to Chiang Mai, Thailand (I had been there in February) to meet up with some more friends and to celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year, which is basically a massive water fight. The streets bordering the moat of Chiang Mai become crammed with trucks and people lined up to shower one with buckets and water guns filled with water. Happiness fills the air and the locals hand out rice wine to people passing by. Music floats through the air and people dance under the constant spray of water. At one point, we jumped on the back of a pickup truck as it was heading back to our hostel. Instead of screaming at the trespass, the people welcomed us with open arms, handing us rice wine and buckets of water to throw on people. As I didn’t want my camera to get ruined, I don’t have any pictures of the water fight in Chiang Mai, but it was an incredible time and I feel lucky to have experienced it. During our time in Northern Thailand we motorbiked to Pai, a small town on a river about three hours away in a valley of beautiful mountains. While we were there during the protests were going on in Bangkok, we were very safe.

We went to Pai, thinking the water fight was over, only to learn it was still going strong. While we were getting some food at a cafe we discovered their bin of water outside. Here Thom and Jered shower some locals with water.

And here a young monk throws water on me. With the day being so hot, the cold water was actually refreshing.

Motorbiking back from Pai to Chiang Mai.

After returning from the long trip I went to Dalat, a town in the mountains in Vietnam, where the temperature is always spring-like. The food was delicious and I haven’t breathed such clean air in a long time, although that isn’t saying much as I breathe in the daily smog of HCMC.

Here is a view of the city of Dalat in Vietnam after a rain storm. Dalat is known for its beautiful flowers. In the distance, there is a radio tower on a hill, which is fashioned to look like the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower in Vietnam.

While in Dalat we went canyoning. Here I am repelling down a waterfall. This was the scariest of the waterfalls I repelled down as the pressure of the water submerges you completely under water and spins you around, which is why people call it "The Washing Machine." After this run, my guide practically pulled me out of the water by my life jacket.

Finally up for air.

Getting pulled out of the water.

And following all those travels I returned back to the USA for two weeks. It was so nice to catch up with family and friends, but now I’m back in HCMC for the rest of the summer (departure date yet to be decided) teaching, doing yoga, riding Benny around they city, and trying to soak in as much of the culture as possible. A couple of weeks ago I even tried acupuncture! The rainy season is upon us, and I have had my first time biking through streets flooded with water nearly up to my knees. But the rain has brought an energizing cool to the city after the months of exhausting sunshine. Since we are at the start of the season, we have had no overwhelming rainy days, just a sprinkle here and there and sometimes a heavy downpour. But thirty minutes after the rain, the water evaporates, making it seem it never rained at all. Thus, I am not yet tired of the rain, but I’m sure once I start driving in it day after day I will be begging for the sunshine.

Currently, I have some good friends visiting South-east Asia, which has been such a treat. They even convinced me to go up with them next week to the north, so I will have more stories to tell. After everyone back home telling me how much they have enjoyed the blog, I have vowed to keep it back, hopefully, this time for real!

Travels and Traffic

If my blog tonight has a hint of hysteria to it that would probably be due to the fact that I just had to deal with thirty minutes of ferocious motorbike drivers, large taxis and their endless honking, congested roundabouts, delivery men with boxes of toilet paper and steel rods poking out from behind them, teenagers recklessly driving their bicycles, traffic lights that were out of order, and the absence of stop signs at large intersections where a stop sign should be, all in my desire to get home from work. But my complaining is done. I knew what I was getting into when I bought my e-bike, and can I just say that I don’t regret it at all.

Yes, security guards, men on the road, women selling fruit on the street, my ex-xe-om driver (with whom I had to break up with via text message in French telling him I no longer needed his services), my Vietnamese colleagues, basically everyone including my dear maid Cuc might laugh at little Bennie (the story from how my bike got its name would make this blog even longer) when I drive it around town or pull up to park, but I have confidence in its and my ability and I am getting better by the day (not to brag, but I had one friend describe me as fearless in my ability to start riding my bike around town immediately), and by better I mean less wobbly and less inclined to fall over a stoplight or when I take a turn.

And I must blame the fact that I haven’t updated my blog since coming home from my trip on my motorbike. You see, I was so excited to get back to practicing that I have been riding all over town. And somteimes, after coming home from another thirty minutes of exhaling fumes I rationalize that because I am saving oh so much money on driving myself instead of paying someone that I bike to a haven of a coffee shop and splurge on that latte or go to the expensive gourmet grocery shop and buy that imported French cheese or freshly baked baguette or nutella, and then my break is up and I must go back to work.

But enough with my complaining and excuses and my obsession with my bike. Back to the update on my travels.

As I had mentioned in my previous blog, friends and I flew to Bangkok, not really having much of a plan. It ended up being a wonderful trip. We stayed a night in Bangkok, took a night train to Chiang Mai where we spent three wonderful days trekking through the mountains. There were seven of us in the group that traveled together, and only seven of us on the trek plus our two guides.

On the night train to Chiang Mai.

I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect trek. The mountains of Thailand during the cold season were beautiful. It smelled and looked like fall. What a glorious treat to have a fall that in February when we have been living in the Ho’s (Ho Chi Minh City) sunlight. We stayed two freezing nights in hill tribe villages where there was no electricity and where we got to play with children, talk to the locals, sit around a campfire drinking homemade rice wine (which is not good and very strong), and eat delicious food. We also hiked all day, explored a remote cave, went mountain biking, rode an elephant, swam in a waterfall, and floated down a lazy river on bamboo rafts. I could go on and on, but I will let pictures do the rest of the talking.

On our way to the drop off point. We road in the back of this truck for two hours before we had lunch. We climbed up steep hills, as evidenced by the car engine having to cool off.

Group shot having lunch on day one before we began the hiking.

An example of the bridges we crossed along our hike.

Swimming at the waterfall.

On the hike.

First night's accommodation. We all slept in the same cabin. Unfortunately, the mosquito nets didn't do much for providing warmth.

Village life.

The villagers wanted us to purchase many of their homemade goods. Being business savvy, they waited until it was pitch black dark and after we had consumed some rice wine to try to sell us their wares. I bought a bracelet thinking it was red, only to discover the next day that it was bright pink. Some of us tried to give them an English lesson instead, but even that didn't work as one can see by the hat that Thom is wearing.

Bamboo rafting.

Entering the second village where we stayed the second night.

Cute village girls dressed up for the new year.

Breakfast around the campfire.

On the bicycle ride.

Exploring the cave.

Afternoon swim our last day before the elephant ride.

After the trek we went back to Chiang Mai and then Thom and I left the group and took the bus up to Chiang Rai (which is even further north of Chiang Mai) where we rented a motorbike and decided to drive up to Myanmar.

Here I am getting ready for our journey.

Getting across the border proved to be no problem compared to driving the hour up to the border. We had read that they only accept USD in Myanmar, therefore causing us to stop at least four times trying to trade our Thai baht to dollars, only to be told at each of the stops that there were no USD available. After exiting one bank we received a flat tire that was discovered well after we had left the town. We then had to pull up to a small store on the side of the road, point to our tire, and hope that the seventeen-year-old selling car electronics could help us out.

And he did! He even got his mother to watch the store as he drove into town to buy us a new tire (and overcharging us in the process), but we were back on our way.

View from the road up to Burma.

Once we arrived in the border town in Thailand we had to find a place to park the motorbike. We couldn’t take it over the border, as no wanted the responsibility of looking over the motorbike (they can be wheeled away quite easily). Thus, we had no choice but to purchase a room for the motorbike a room and house it in the room during our journey. After one last stop to try to trade money we were on our way over the border.

As I said, getting into Myanmar proved to be no problem. We gave them our passports to keep until we crossed back into Thailand in exchange for a piece of paper that had our picture on it, told where we were allowed to go in Burma, and told how long we were allowed to be there (without a visa we could only go in a certain section of the country). Again, I will let the pictures do the talking (or some of it, I know this blog is lengthy) but even though we only stayed in the border town, it was very interesting to see the country and compare it to Thailand and even Vietnam. The atmosphere was very different for the poverty was more apparent and their were guards with machine guns sitting on many corners throughout town, but it was beautiful and the people couldn’t have been nicer. (And, of course, everyone wanted Thai baht. They all REFUSED USD!)

Our tuk tuk driver who we hired to take us around to see the sites in the city.

Here I am in one of the temples. As I was leaving this man motioned me over to show me some whitening cream that everyone was wearing and helped me put some on my face. He then asked if I would get in a picture with him.

View into the mountains.

At lunch. Unfortunately, I got food poisoning from this meal. Why I would trust a tuk tuk driver to take me to a restaurant in Myanmar where I wouldn't get sick I don't know. But how many people can say they good food poisoning from Burma?

To the right of the river is Burma, to the left is Thailand.

After the afternoon in Myanmar we went back into Thailand and the next day we drove around some more, going down to the Golden Triangle and driving up in the mountains where we stayed in this beautiful town (Mae Salong) literally on top of a mountain. The next night we took the night bus back to Bangkok and the next day went back to Vietnam.

Back in Thailand, here is a view into Burma.

The Golden Triangle. Laos to your right. Burma ahead. Thailand behind me.

Some of the scenery along the drive further into the mountains.

Cute cafe where we ate most of our meals in Mae Salong.

A view of the town from the pagoda.

On the way back to Chiang Rai to catch the bus.

Getting accosted by more people to buy souvenirs.

Arriving back to Vietnam was like coming home to another vacation as there were NO traffic problems and things were so quiet. Stores were still closed, neighbors were gone, construction on the roads had been taken down, and even though I had to teach I hardly had any students as people were still traveling. It was quiet and wonderful and the perfect way to end the trip.

However, as evidenced in the beginning of my blog the city is back alive.

Since this blog entry is already so long I will just tell one more story to end. Recently a friend of mine asked me if my maid could work for her and her roommates on the days she didn’t work for us.

Our maid, Cuc, is amazing. She cooks, speaks English, brings us fruit treats, does an amazing job cleaning, does our laundry, pays our bills (we, of course, give her the money), runs errands, and deals with so many problems because we can’t speak Vietnamese. She may be a tad bit bossy and we do have to hide things we don’t want cleaned or organized, but we all need a bit of bossiness in our lives.

I gladly asked Cuc if she was available to help my friend out. Yet, somewhere along the way things got lost in translation and she became scared that we didn’t want her anymore. She frantically sent me mutliple texts, one saying “But! I like work for you, Beth, and Grey. Your friend, I’ll work more ok.”

I quickly assured her that we loved her and definitely did not want to get rid of her at all. She then responded to my text saying “Thanks! I very like three people, happy, sympathy, union. If 3 people go to USA I never forget 3 people.”

And so, this third of the “happy sympathy, union” wishes you a wonderful week!