byebye Bangkok

We'll miss you!

view from our apartment

extras

Did I mention that we are in Bangkok this week? I don't think I did. We decided to end the trip here so we could do some shopping and have city time. We got a little crazy last night, so that's why I'm blogging a lot today. We're not doing much else. Well, Brad is lying around and moaning. He thinks we were ruffied. I think we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Anyway, I've been organizing pictures and realized we neglected our little camera this trip. Since we got the big fancy camera we don't use the point and shoot much. But it has some fun features and takes pretty good pictures. Here's a few:

Can you believe we lived out of these for 6 weeks?  I unpacked my whole pack for the first time when we got back to Bangkok and I was shocked to see all the stuff I had in there.

This lady rowed her boat around Halong Bay to sell to tourists on the big boats.  I thought she was working pretty hard so I bought a pack of cards from her.  I like how the water looks in this picture.

Hanoi airport

This guy has some questions to answer.  1) Why aren't you wearing underwear?  2) Doesn't the feeling of the wind blowing on your butt make you realize that it's hanging out?  3) Do you maybe want us to see your butt?

Bangkok at night

funny money

There was a little parade down our street yesterday, but that's not why I put this picture up.  There's a story to go along with it.  OK, before I go on, I just want to say, I'm not making fun at all...not like the guy with the butt.  Anyway.  Right behind these kids there was a leper.  He was a cop directing traffic.  I've never seen anyone with leprosy before and it was just so....horrible.  It made me feel sick.  You know how when you see someone with a bad injury your stomach turns into a hard little ball?  That's how I felt.  And then I felt worse for feeling sick.  And Brad was like, "Don't feel bad.  He has a job.  He's happy.  He's probably a really great guy."  And I don't doubt that, but I couldn't get over it.  Brad also says it's because of people like me that lepers have to live in colonies.  I didn't have much fun at that parade. 

Reflection

Reflections are the hot thing in education now.  Learn.  Now reflect on what you learned.  I didn’t like it as a student, but I make my students do it anyway.  Turns out they are better reflectors than I ever was and they’ve taught me a thing or two. 

So, here we go.

What I did

Traveled through Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.

What I learned

Of the three countries, Laos has the best spring rolls.

Brad and I can spend 51 days together and get only mildly annoyed with each other.

How to say hello in three languages. 

And some other stuff.

What I did best

Planning.  Booking flights, finding places to stay, looking up bus times.  I live for that kind of thing. 

What I need to improve

Ok, this is where I actually wanted to do some serious reflection, because I’m feeling a little anxious and concerned about something.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot. 

All summer Brad and I eagerly sought out new cultures.  We ate the food, talked to the people, wandered the streets, and just really enjoyed ourselves.  We loved the places we went and fully embraced their uniqueness.  It was good. 

When I think about going back to India, I think: one year.  I have to get through one year and it will all be over.  And that’s bad. 

I know why, but don’t really know why I am so resistant to India. 

What I know is that we couldn’t explore India with the ease that we’ve explored Southeast Asia.  India is a little dangerous.  The food can get you, rats can bite you, the heat can make you dead, or at least very, very cranky.  Walking is nearly impossible with obstacles like holes in the ground, piles of human waste, motorcycles on the sidewalk, if there even is a sidewalk.  Sometimes the smells are overpowering and the noise is always intense.  We get sick a lot. 

It’s easy to find an excuse to stay in at night.  Lock the door, make a casserole, watch a sitcom and try to pretend I’m not in India at all.  But I know that I’ve got to do better than that. 

So, this coming school year I’m going to really try to enjoy India.  Other people have done it, so I know I can do it too.  My plan is four-fold:

 1. Don’t hang around people who complain about India
2. Don’t complain about India
 3. Read more about India
 4. See more of India

I told you, I’m good at making plans.  Let’s see if I can follow through.

the end

We rolled into Bangkok last night around 10, ending our long journey.  But don't worry: the adventure continues.

Paradise Pics

It occurred to me just how lazy we've been when I went to find pictures to post and realized, whoops! we hadn't taken any.

And we really shot ourselves in the foot because today wasn't a great day to take pictures. It was cloudy and the tide stared out really low.  At first we were a kind of worried to see the water so far back, like, ummmm, is there going to be a tsunami?!  But so far, so good.

The low tide gave me a chance to show Brad the Holy Bowl, an awesome piece of coral that I found while I was snorkeling, but couldn't locate later to show Brad.  This morning we were able to walk right up to it.  Isn't it amazing?!  If you're saying no, then 1) forget you and 2) it looks better underwater.  The purple glows all the way around.  

The Holy Bowl

low tide

the beach was just populated enough for good people watching, but lots of personal space

you almost don't need a snorkel

a story

Like getting all the meat from the coconut shell...this is going to require an enormous amount of effort.

OK, so, here I go:

Long before this trip even began I had dream, a vision, you might say, of how our vacation would end. On a white sand beach with turquoise water, with a book and a cocktail and the sound of waves crashing...

The dream was perfect. The reality was hard to find.

It stared in Phuket, but we didn't stay there long. All trip we'd been hearing how crowded, touristy and commercialized Phuket was, so we just passed through the airport there, then headed north to Koh Lak, where we were it. For three days we didn't see a single other tourist.

We enjoyed the peace and quiet, but got bored of staring at just each other's faces, so we moved on, across Thailand to the island of Koh Samui. And for three days we saw nothing but tourists.

You know Goldilocks? You know where this is going. But we're not there yet.

We thought we were there when we stepped off the boat in Koh Tao, a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand lush with palm trees and bright blue seas.

But for a while, a short, panicky while, it wasn't it. We couldn't find the place. We went to six different hotels all around the island. They weren't right. After trudging around in the midday heat we were both stinky and cranky and beginning to turn on each other when....!

We found it.

And it's (say it with me)

just right.

Goodnight.

on an island

so, you may not hear from us for a while. just know, we're doing good. real good.

recap

Up until now I was proud of myself for keeping the blog up to date. But the beach laziness is really setting in and lately we haven’t had good internet connections. So to get this up to date, I’m going to have to go back a ways.

Let’s start with Hanoi.

Hanoi

With the exception of almost every place in India, Brad and I can usually arrive in a new place and find our way pretty quickly. Normally we use a point of reference, like the skytrain in Bangkok or the canals in Amsterdam, and navigate from those. I’m not saying we’re navigational geniuses or anything, just that we have a good system, and don’t often get dreadfully lost and confused. But in Hanoi we never had a chance. In Hanoi we spent over two hours looking for a restaurant that was just three blocks from our hotel.

We stayed in the old quarter, which is made up of what Brad called “Harry Potter streets.” Or really narrow, winding alleys jutting off a couple of wider, but still narrow busy streets. There are sidewalks in the old quarter, but they’re not for walking. The stores are tiny, so the sidewalks are crammed with the spillover of goods and the shopkeepers themselves, who sit on stools outside where they can catch the action and gossip with neighbors.

This leaves everyone else to the streets, trying to walk and avoid getting hit by bikes, motorbikes, cyclos and the odd car or bus. This is hard to do because there are other distractions like tiny ladies carrying huge loads on bamboo poles or unfamiliar animal parts on open grills. And each street seems to have a theme, streets filled with shoes, or liquor. And everyplace, every single one has at least one birdcage.

So that’s how we spent our days and nights in Hanoi, winding around the dark and chaotic streets and taking it all in. Every time we went out we said, “Oh, we should have brought the video camera!” But we never seemed to remember to.

There was another thing we missed capturing, and I’m truly sorry about this, but I’ll try my best to describe it: On the bar in the back of a little restaurant there were two big jars. The first one was a simple concoction of a huge lizard in brown liquid. The other was more complex, containing, from what we could tell, a snake, a couple geckos, some seahorses and a crow. The label said, “Whiskey. Good for man’s sex.” I tried to go back to take a picture of it, but of course, I couldn’t find the place.

Hoi An

We spent three nights total in Hanoi, then caught a flight to Danang in central Vietnam. From there we went to Hoi An.

Hoi An also has an old quarter, but everything there is set up for tourists, so in a way it felt like Disney World. We didn’t go into town too much, but spent most of our time at the beach or in our wonderful, beautiful hotel that I want to make my home forever.

We had a great time tooting around on our scooter, laying by the pool, reading books, eating good food and just generally being lazy. But we did spend a couple of hours being productive and doing some truly hard work: wardrobe building.

The thing to do in Hoi An is visit one of the hundreds of tailor shops to get fitted for custom suits, pants, skirts, dresses, tops, underwear, anything! We did a little research and decided to go to Yaly’s, a huge tailor shop nicely situated on our edge of town.

To get our clothes made actually was kind of a lot of work. First we had to pick out the design. I did this by looking through magazines and catalogues and marking dresses I wanted copied. Brad brought in pants and a shirt that he liked and they copied those. We also selected the fabric. We’d read that it’s best to bring your own fabric, but since we’ve been living out of backpacks for over a month, that wasn’t a possibility. I didn’t think it was a big deal, though. I’m no expert, but I thought the material was really nice. They had a lot of cotton/silk blends and that’s what I tended to choose.

I’m a little embarrassed to tell you how much we (mostly me) got there, so I’m going to preface it by saying: I live in India. Don’t judge.

I got 12 dresses and a skirt.

Brad got 4 dress shirts, 4 pairs of pants and two shorts.

GASP!

Oh, my GOD! What did that cost you?!

800 bucks.

800 bucks for two brand new, custom tailored wardrobes. Thank you, Vietnam!!!

the Hotel:

Could live here forever.

Tailoring

We found this picture in the tailor shop. Now we can say we have the same tailor as Mick Jagger!

This is a different tailor shop, but I wanted to give you an idea.

Around Hoi An

biker babe. HA!

Back to Thailand

Eventually we had to leave. We discussed what to do next for a while, and decided we were done with cities. So even though we flew through Saigon and Singapore, we didn’t stop. We did enjoy their airports, though.

Mostly, we wanted to get back to Thailand, and the beach. And now we’re here. We are the only people at our hotel and we have the whole beach to ourselves. It’s low season in southern Thailand, and I know why people stay away. It’s a little cold, and a little rainy. If you were coming to escape cold weather elsewhere, you would be disappointed. But if you are here to escape the stinking hot and disgusting, relentless sun of southern India, well then, you’re happy as can be.

lazY

That's how I get when I'm at the beach. But I have to get a move on this morning, because we're heading back to Thailand, via Saigon and Singapore. Will be a long travel day.

So, while we're sitting in airports I'll have time to tell you about Hanoi (highlight: grilled chicken feet on the street) and Hoi An. I'll post it all up once we get a good internet connection.

South China Sea

We have found the beach! Our vacation has finally reached the relaxation stage. I keep telling Brad, "I feel like I was born for this." And he says, "I don't know what you mean by that."
like a fish in water
like a buffalo on a prairie
like a chicken in a coop
That's how I feel.

Maybe you're thinking, "I'm so sick of stupid Sarah and all her fun times, she runs around the planet then makes me feel guilty about not leaving a comment." So, I'll tell you about the bad day we had before I get back to the good.

It started on Wednesday morning, in line at the airport. Brad took one look at my face and asked if there was something the matter. Before I could even stop it I was standing there, tears streaming, blubbering: my baby niece only knows me in pictures, this is the longest we've ever been away from home, I miss my friends, I miss my parents, I miss everyone back home, and SHIT! I'm even crying as I type this. So, there it is, I'm really, really homesick. And it felt the worst on Wednesday. Somehow being in line at the airport triggered it, and put me in an all-day slump.

Things got worse once we got to Hoi An, and checked into a piece of crap hotel. We've had some bad hotels on this trip, bedsprings that I worried would tear my leg open, moldy curtains, that kind of thing, and by late evening on Wednesday I'd just had it. I was done.

Then I picked myself up, brushed myself off (had to, the room was dirty) and started all over again.

Now we're here:

We tripled our hotel budget ($25) so it's a big splurge, but I don't think I mind. We have an outdoor shower and bathtub, a nice soft bed, a DVD player and all the bootleg DVDs we bought in Hanoi (Mad Men and Modern Family are our current favorites). There's also a pool and a good cook who brought us plate after plate of Vietnamese food for dinner last night. And the best part is, they've loaned us the hotel scooter, which takes us right to the beach.

So, I'm happy again. But still homesick. Anybody want to come visit? We've decided to stay a while.

Halong Bay

Mom, your wish is my command!

But I should say, this picture was unintentional. I asked the lady carrying this load if I could take her picture, and before I knew it I had her hat on my head and her bamboo around my shoulders. A fortuitous miscommunication. We also got some good bananas and lychee out of the deal.

Happy 4th of July

from Vietnam


Yesterday our taxi driver said, "USA and Vietnam used to have war, but now we are good friends. No problem."

Well, thank you taxi driver, we are happy to be here.

We're in Hanoi now, the capital. It is a crazy, hectic city. Last night we just wandered around and ate good food. Our big plan for today was to go to the Temple of Literature, a Confucian temple that was also the country's first university. It's a really nice, shady spot with lots of trees and ponds, but the thing I liked best about it was the turtles. I should say, they're only concrete turtles. The turtles hold up tablets commemorating the students who successfully completed their doctorate exams.

The university stopped running in 1779, but today students with an upcoming exam still come to the temple to rub the turtles' heads for good luck. I watched one girl rub every single turtle head and there were maybe 50 of them.








I love test-luck rituals. The Colombian kids used to dramatically cross themselves before and after exams, but I've not noticed any rituals in my new group of kids, so I bought a little turtle for them. I named him Hochi.

After Ho Chi Min. Who, I admit, is someone I'm completely ignorant about. But I do know he was a commie, and like I told Brad, “I’m not doing any commie crap today.” Nu uh. Not on the 4th of Ju-ly. So when we walked past Ho Chi’s mausoleum, we didn’t go inside. We took jump pictures instead.



You know what’s funnier than a jump picture? A failed jump picture. HA! hahahahahahahaha

After that our camera died (revenge of Ho Chi Min I suspect). But I can tell you about the rest of our day.

We ate a good lunch.

I bought a dress while all the shopgirls laughed at me. Yes, shopgirls, I know that to you I am huge. But in my country I am normal-sized, so shut it.

We had drinks at a fancy hotel on the water and watched a man paddle a boat with his feet, while he used his hands to pull up his nets. It wasn’t a show or anything, just his fishing spot. I wish I’d had my camera for that, for you. Maybe we’ll go back. It would be a big sacrifice to go back to the fancy hotel on the water and drink more delicious drinks, but I’ll do it. For you. SPEAKING OF! My mom is the only one who leaves comments here and I know there are people reading this thing. Show me some love! Not that your love isn’t enough, Mom! Kisses! x0x0x0x0!

Kisses to you all. I’m off to bed. Tomorrow we wake up early to go to Halong Bay.