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!