Guess Who's Back?

In Bangkok, that is.  I told one of my friends I was coming home on Sunday and she thought it meant the States.  Sorry to disappoint, but I'm still in Bangkok for another two months.  Well, sort of--I'll be traveling for most of it.

I got back from Vietnam/Cambodia on Sunday.  It was a jam packed 11 day trip and I have TONS of pictures to share, so unbuckle those seat belts, grab a beverage, and get ready for a longggg post.

Thursday morning we woke up before the crack of dawn and flew into Hanoi.  Little did I know, it was going to be raining!  Temperature: 50 degrees.  Can I please also note that I brought one pair of pants to Thailand because I didn't think I would be going anywhere cold.  When we arrived, the minibus from the hotel dropped us off super far from our hostel so my friend and I walked for over an hour in the freezing rain.  Great start.

But St. Patty's Day was excellent.  We met a ton of people working and staying at the hostel and I learned the lesson that the places you go are made so much better by the people you meet.  Friday we walked around the city more and left that night on a sleeper train for Hoi An, a coastal town halfway down the country.  The sleeper train was interesting but totally fun.  The scenery when we woke up was beautiful, making the two hours we had to be awake very enjoyable.

St. Patrick's Day Celebration!

Hanoi

Prison where John McCain was held for 5 years.

Random cathedral.

I think this was an American aviator outfit.

Gilded Turtle.

Hoi An ended up being the cutest town ever.  All of the buildings are this adorable yellow with matching signs.  We rented bikes one day and rode all around the city and to the beach.  I lost my key at the beach, obviously, and it was a huge hassle to get the spare.  The guy tried to cheat me which was unbelievably obnoxious, but I ended up paying what I felt was fair.

Beautiful Hoi An.

Japanese Bridge.

The nearby beach.

We stayed in the city two and a half days before flying to Ho Chi Minh/Saigon.  I didn't particularly care for the city.  There are some pretty cool cites, like the War Remnants Museum, but mostly I felt unwelcome as an American.  The Cu Chi Tunnels were awful.  If you ever go to Ho Chi Minh, don't go!  I thought an extensive, underground tunnel system sounded interesting but it ended up being a huge propaganda trip that explained the guerilla warfare tactics used against the American soldiers in the most insensitive manner.

Reunification Palace.

Sweet entryway.

War room in the basement.

This was intense.  Medals from a soldier.  Inscription: "I was wrong.  I am sorry."

Another cathedral.  This was one's called Notre Dame.

France was here.

Cu Chi Tunnel entrance.

We were in Ho Chi Minh for two full days and left on the third for Cambodia.  We traveled straight to Siem Reap which ended up being a full day of travel on a bus but it was really cool seeing all of Cambodia's countryside.

Before I "leave" Vietnam I'd like to share with you some things I learned/realized while in Vietnam.  First, they seriously overuse their horns.  Like obnoxiously so.  I thought people in LA honked their horns a lot, but they have NOTHING on Vietnamese drivers.  Second, their currency is stupid.  I can respect that some things are different but it's just dumb. 21,000 Dong to 1 USD.  Why does it need to be in thousands?  Third, fourteen million people reside in Ho Chi Minh, and there are nine million motorbikes.  It was intense to say the least.

On to Cambodia.

Near Siem Reap is Angkor Wat and several other temple structures.  This was THE BEST part of the trip.  We did 18 temples in two days.  I couldn't move my limbs at the end of the second day, but I was in heaven.  We climbed temples, investigated ruins, and saw the genius of an ancient civilization.  I was running around like a little kid in a candy store.  Literally.

Everyone needs to go there in their lifetime.  It is so unbelievably rad.  There's something for everyone.  You can climb up temples, go all through them and around them, and the royal palace and Baphuon are so totally awesome.  I can't describe in words how excellent this place was.  You'll just have to go and see for yourself.

On a totally not related side note, there is a bar in Siem Reap called "Angkor What?"  So creative!

Angkor Wat.

It looks like that pool in the final season of Lost. 

A smaller, yet beautiful, temple.  Literally smaller.  I barely fit in the door. 

Sunset terrace.  That pool area has held water for 900+ years.

So easy to walk on, really.

Tree: 14  Temple: 0

So many of the roofs were like this.  I don't know if the holes were on purpose or if they just
 got that way in the past 900 years. 

An example of the stairs we climbed up and down.  My legs still hurt. 

View from the top! 

They built a reclining buddha into the wall!
If you can't see it, I apologize because it was so cool.

ELEPHANT!

Tuesday I leave again for Laos.  We're spending a week there and then going to Chiang Mai for Songkran.  Get this, Songkran is Thailand's water festival aka A NATION WIDE WATER FIGHT.  This is what I've been waiting for alllll semester.  I'm getting a super soaker this week and going to go crazy.

Cheesetatsitc

So at the outpost of this blog I promised myself that I wouldn't put any personal, boring, politcal, blah blah blah stuff on my blog.  Mainly because people don't want opinions they want happenings and info. on the culture at hand.  I'm about to pseudo break that promise and share my total and absolute excitement about going to Vietnam.  So, if you don't want the cheese, then here's your disclaimer.

I know I touched upon it in the last post, but I don't think I did it justice.  I AM SO EXCITED TO GO TO VIETNAM.  Vietnam is a place I grew up hearing about.  It was the first televised war, where the American people got to see men in action and the actual happenings that were occurring overseas.  I don't think images have been so jarring since the Civil War, when Americans fought against Americans--the last war the US has experienced on its own territory.

I grew up hearing about Vietnam, in fact it's one of the few "contemporary" American issues the AP US History tests on.  And I get to go there.  I am so fortunate that I get to experience a place that an entire generation was exposed to and hoped to come home from.  The Vietnam War is definitely still a touchy subject in America today, and it will probably remain so for many years to come.  But this country, whether or not we agree with the war or not, was experienced by a large portion of our population and that should not be forgotten.

I'm not a huge planner.  In fact I really don't like the anxiety that comes with it, but I told the girls I'm traveling with that I absolutely must go to a Vietnam War museum while I'm there (most likely in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)).  Learning the viewpoint of our "enemy" seems very important to me, because that's how you learn--form the opinions of others who don't necessarily agree with you.

I'll definitely keep you all updated on my travels, but I wanted to post this purely to share my excitement.  This is a country I've heard about over and over again in American media, and now I get to see it.

Gooooooooood Morning, Vietnam!

Yes, this week I'm headed to Vietnam.  I leave very early Thursday morning and am unbelievably excited. For those of you who didn't go to school with me or just don't know, I'm a huge American history buff.  Going to a country that has left such a lasting memory in the conscience of America should be a great learning experience, but also a lot of fun for my inner nerd.

I'm a little bit confused about our agenda, but I know the general plan is Hanoi, some city in the middle, and to end the week long trip a couple days in what you Americans will know as Saigon.  On the way home we're stopping in Angkor Wat in Cambodia for two days to see all of the spectacular ruins it has to offer.  As I mentioned when discussing Lopburi, I'm a huge fan of ruins so I'm definitely excited for that as well.

It'll be nice to get out of Bangkok for awhile.  I've been in the city for about two weeks straight now, and though it's good to be acquainted with where you're actually living while you're abroad, I do need a break. I'm a little sad I didn't travel more in the beginning, but my travel plans for the rest of the semester are pretty intense so I should be making up for lost time.Don't get me wrong, Thailand is amazing, and I'm definitely glad I came here.  It's just I want to see and experience other places in southeast Asia as well.

The one thing I do admire about Thai society that isn't really available elsewhere is the kindness that seems to be deeply instilled in every Thai person.  Honestly, being taken advantage of here is definitely not the norm.  Most people are just really nice and totally willing to help.  Cab drivers almost always try and talk to me about where I'm from and what I'm doing in Thailand, and every time I go to a bus station all of the workers somehow miraculously can tell where I'm going and point me in the right direction.  Even the airport is full of nice people.  Going through security there was one of the best experiences I've had.  The nickname is correct -this place definitely is the land of smiles.

I had to buy a backpack for the Vietnam trip and other excursions coming up which was very interesting.  Being a negative on the scale of 0 - Bear Grills I had no idea what to look for.  I honestly stood there debating whether or not it was worth it to pay 200 THB extra to get the backpack in purple.  I decided against it.

Finally and unfortuantely, I have to end the post on a sad note.  One of my favorite teachers of all time, Mrs. Dr. DeJovine, and probably the wisest woman I've ever met died recently.  May she rest in peace and I hope your praryers go out to her husband, Mr. Dr. Dejovine, the inventor of low-remission fuel aka the gas we drive.

The Monkeys Are Taking Over the City!

This past weekend I went to Lopburi.  It's a town a couple hours north of Bangkok where monkeys actually rule the city.  They run around town like stray animals, swinging from electric lines and jumping down to steal from unexpected passersby.  There was a lady there selling corn to feed to the monkeys.  Those who were unwise enough to do so became new climbing poles for the monkeys.

Monkeys have definitely been here.

Just swinging from telephone wires, NBD.

Man turned into monkey climbing pole.

We got in around noon on Friday and just wandered around the city, looking at the different ruins.  It's kind of cool because you're allowed to climb on top of them which gave the whole trip a more experiential feel. I get that you're supposed to preserve things, but I'm not going to lie, I liked climbing up the giant towers.  This city seems to have just built itself around these ancient ruins.  It's very cool to be exposed to these stone buildings that are so old, since the oldest things in the US are max, 400 years old.

Nature hasn't been very nice to Buddha.

It was nice to get away and break up the week in Bangkok.  It's midterm week now so I have to be an actual student and study.  I only have one on Sunday so it's a relatively easy situation.  However, I did have a couple projects due two weeks ago so I see my lack of formal tests as totally fair.

I did break up the week of inactivity by venturing back to Chinatown and exploring for dim sum.  I had a craving and man was it satisfied.  I tried dim sum at two places, and though they both had nothing on Tim Ho Wan, they were still pretty tasty.

I leave for Vietnam on the morning of the 17th.  We're doing a 10 day trip and stopping in Cambodia on the way home.  I'm excited to see Angkor Wat because I love ruins.  Visiting Chichen Itza my senior year of high school made Cancun one of the best family vacations the Orrs have ever had.  Unfortunately, Angkor Wat doesn't make it onto a couple Seven Wonders of the Modern World like Chichen Itza, but Im still stoked.