Just spent 26 days in Vietnam. The amount of awesome stuff in that time is unreal, and I should have/could have written many blogs about it all. But, because of all the awesome stuff we were constantly doing… I didn’t have time to blog! So, in an effort to make at least a few hours of the next 35+ hours of travel productive, I will now attempt to write one mega blog for Vietnam…

Let me start by saying this… I have mixed feeling about all of my fun times here in this post-war country. 36 years has not been long enough to right the wrongs, because no time will ever right them and no time will ever even explain them… and here I am having the time of my life on the very land and with the very people that “my people” (if there needs to be that such separation between humans) destroyed. Heaps of disabled and deformed adults walk the streets, thousands of children still born with devastating ailments from all the agent orange basically imprinted on their genes, old tanks, bomb shells, and other weapons of war scattered around the country, and of course the memories left in the minds of those who survived it, who still have no idea why it happened. I could go on for ages about how this has made me feel… visiting the museums, watching the documentaries, reading the books, being in the places… all while sledding down sand dunes, scuba diving, abseiling down waterfalls, laying on the beach, cycling, shopping, kayaking, water sports, sightseeing, partying… and the list goes on!!! What kept me alive and well though were the smiling faces of dozens of Vietnamese people who smiled at me upon finding out that I was American… I will never know why they liked me so much… hell, most Americans are not that friendly to middle eastern visitors to the US!!! In the end I learned to love Vietnam for everything it is today, and despise war more than I ever did before (the latter I did not think possible!)

Time to move on to a few highlights, the good and the bad;

• Ho Chi Minh City- cyclo tour of the city, acclimating to the absolutely crazy traffic, shedding some tears at the War Remnants Museum, our first delicious bowl of pho, a day at the water park, a day in Chu Chi learning about the ChuChi guerrilla army and walking in their underground tunnel city, traditional Vietnamese water puppet show, spoiling ourselves in a $10/person hotel, making our way all over like the locals do- literally 1/10 the price of the stupid tour agencies (2 hour bus ride for 30 cents baby, can't beat that!)

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• Mui Ne- Sand dunes, sand dunes, sand dunes... BREATH TAKING!

• Dalat- cold temps, allergies, local red wine, lots of fresh Vietnamese tea, avacado shakes, a few games of scrabble, CANYONING (trekking through a canyon, abseiling down the waterfalls), tandem bike, pho everyday, all day cycling through the mountains to our next destination on the coast.

Nha Trang- scuba diving x4- once down to 37 meters and getting nitrogen narcosis down there, lounging on the boat eating fresh asian fruits, delaying our departure, delaying our departure again, day on deserted and chilled out Long Beach with our scuba friends, fresh beer from a gas jug, Ice Bar, dancing the night away in the hottest room ever, too much western food, shitty (but free) dorm room that left us scarred and itchy!

Hoi An- designing our own custom clothes and shoes, biking along the old timey streets covered with native lanterns, visiting unesco world heritage site Cham ruins, running out of fuel in the middle of a 4-6 lane bridge on our motor bike, the hottest "sauna" dorm room yet,

• Hanoi- pleasant surprise of a wonderful documentary film festival about Vietnam, Museum of Ethnology, Hanoi Backpaackers Hostel, 3 day 2 night Halong Bay tour (aka- booze cruise, one night on a boat, one night on a private castaway island), actually standing up and riding on my first go at wake boarding, rock climbing, kayaking around the unbelievable limestone rocks in Halong bay, making it through the cave to the hidden lagoon with 40+ other semi-drunk friends, sleeping under the stars on the beach, wonderful street food, saying goodbye to an awesome friend and travel partner :(, and ending an epic 5 months with a bang!
  

Left behind without my bag...!

Aug 1,2011

Im on a bus… as usual… what a surprise! I’m riding 14 hours overnight on a double decker up to Bangkok, to catch a plane to Vietnam. I mind this kind of long travel WAY less than you may think. It’s like a little break from being busy, being hot, and staying in dirty places to sleep. I’ll read, listen to music, blog, ignore the obnoxiously loud thai movie on, and then pop a valium or xanax for a good nights sleep! :) Bye bye Thailand, love you long time!

About a minute ago I just made an almost fatal mistake. Here is the scenario; buses stop every few minutes to pick up passengers at what seems like completely random points, but they also stop frequently for smoke and toilet breaks. I have been on the bus for 5 hours, I have already drank one coke light, and some water, and already started and completed “Tuesdays with Morrie” (btw, great book) and this time we stop and pull into some kind of station. The driver gets out, a bunch of people get out and light up a cigarette, and by my stupid self-demise, I decide to risk it and get off to run to the bathroom. I literally run and pee in .5 seconds and hear the horn beep, just as I run out to see my bus pulling away!!!!! WTF man? I am the only white girl on here, and they all saw me get off, and heard me ask for the toilet, and my stuff was left in my seat. Really!?!? So, I’m there watching my bus drive off in the distance, and there are a bunch of guys around, so next thing I know I hop on the back of a motor bike to chase down the bus, we almost wreck by hitting a huge pothole, and then the motor driver honks at a woman in a truck, and quickly deposits me with her. (All of these people of course speak very little English). She is racing trying to catch up with the bus, which is farther and farther out of sight, and I am freaking out!!! (I have my money and passport on me, but not ALL the rest of my stuff). And just when the story is getting good, we see the bus in the distance, pulling to the side of the road, and as I board, I hear them saying “shs, white people…!” in Thai! HAHAHAHAHA. So, here I am now, watching the sunset out my window, thinking happy little valium thoughts, with 10 hours left to go… I think I’ll hold off on the water for a bit and keep my bootie in this seat until Bangkok at 4 am! LOL. Lesson learned.

I just left Phuket, where Leah and I met up with her mom for a few days. We had fun showing Janet the intricacies of Thai life and Thai food. We found a beach front bungalow with a great view, hung out and acted like the 3 of were still laughing teens at a reggae bar, ventured to Old Phuket Town for some historical back drops, and got lost on scooters while finding a beautiful orchid farm! Then, we happened to stumble on OnOn Hotel, the hostel from "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. Perfect last accommodation in Thailand! Look familiar?

Thailand has been amazing, and as I sit on this bus, recollecting the fun I have had so far, I am a bit sad to be heading to the next, and last, leg of my 2011 Asian journey. Leah and Janet are off for an Indonesian adventure, and I am meeting up with Alicia in Vietnam to make our way from Saigon to Hanoi for the next month. Bye Leah- You have been a great travel buddy, see ya back on the other side of the world! Wish you could taste this weird dried cherry type fruit I just got on the side of the road! :)

Vietnam, here I come baby!

Rai-lay from 28 meters high….

The rasta dude points us up the winding dirt path where we grab a simple native bungalow for 3 bucks/person. Rai-lay is tiny, but it has character. One side has a few upscale resorts, while the other (Railay East) is like another world… rock climbing shops, reggae bars, kayaks, caves, and unlimited cliffs to climb. We choose Highland Climbers, which also doubles as the best old school coffee and tea house in the world, run by a bunch of awesome Thai rasta men. Mark is our instructor, and we jump right into day one of rock climbing and belaying. A few things I learned on day one: # 1- Rock climbing is much harder than it looks. #2- I can actually push my entire body up a wall using only 1 finger and 1 toe. #3-Always watch out for monkey poop. #4- Never give up, just try until you fall, the rope will catch you. #5- “No pain, no gain!” AND, #6- I LOVE rock climbing.

Day two of rock climbing is at a site right on the beach. This day I tackle some climbs that I thought were impossible!!! I was sore from the first day, and convinced myself that I could not make it up the last climb of the day… 30 meters high (99 feet)!!! The last 5 meters of which is basically a flat wall that we are told to “just shimmy” on up! (When it looks hard as my instructor lead climbs to attach the rope, then it must be hard!) I make it up to about 20 meters, where I am stuck in a little cave, thinking “how in the hell am I going to get up and out of this cave?!?” Somehow I defy gravity and manage to get over, pushing onward, determined to do this. At 25 meters the wall is flat, with tiny little holes, and I am already in an unnatural straddling position, placing my foot up to my ear level, then pushing up, stunned that my toehold and my muscles actually came through for me. I make it to 28 meters (92 feet), take a good look around at the view of the bays to my left and right, realize that I just climbed 28 meters, and a few weeks ago I was 30 meters below the sea scuba diving…. I now have a 58 meter personal range of this earth!!!

So anyway, I’m 2 meters from the top, stuck in this crazy position, holding on by my fingertips, and balancing on 1 toe… Mark is belaying me and yelling “just shimmy straight up!”, and I’m like, “oh really? yea, ok, sure thing, thanks for the great advice.” HAhahahaha. I yell down that I’m about to fall, make my best effort to reach the top, and then fall backwards, rappelling quickly back to the ground! I almost cry when I realize that I just did something that I did not think I could physically do. My body and mind came through for me, and the adrenaline rush was crazy! Too often I stick to my comfort zones, and even though I am very adventurous in my life, none of it ever seems impossible. It always seems fun and exhilarating, but the rush and the feeling that I got from doing something that I thought I couldn’t do… that feeling cannot be beat. So, watch out world, here comes a girl that is ready to tackle the hard stuff, and never again will I say “I can’t,” until I at least try!!

We are dead tired after all the climbing and all the sheer adrenaline that rushed through our veins, but head out for a fun filled night at our favorite bars with our friends anyway. We listened to the same singers playing the same songs, sat at the same table and played one round of Yanif as usual, watched the same out of this world fire show, danced to the same music, and ended the night with our favorite people in our favorite bar, just as we had done every night in Railay… and it NEVER got old!!!!

Our last night in Railay was not just our last night in Railay, but it was the last night that just Leah and I would be together on this trip. (The next day we were due to pick up her mom for a few days in Phuket, then they were heading to Indonesia, while I was heading for Vietnam). So, in celebration of our last night together, we did it up right… all the way until sunrise of course!!! :)

Stranded in (or rather, away from) Tonsai beach

I am laying under a cliff against a smelly triangle pillow, on the deck of a bar, observing the interesting dynamics flowing between the climbers above me, the large family of monkeys surrounding the climbers, and the dog beneath the cliff warning the monkeys to stay away from the humans’ food! Could I imagine a place I would rather be???? The answer is no!!!!



It was time to move on from Ao Nang, and although this move was a short one, it was like another world away. We hopped a small, long-tail wooden boat to Tonsai Beach, a boat is the only way to access this tiny hidden bay. There are no cars here on Tonsai, there is one dirt path leading up into the mountain with neighborhoods of native bungalows, substantially more monkeys than humans, the whole place is run by generators that are turned on during select hours of the night, and the people are all laid back rock climber types. PER-FECTION. The beach has about 4 restaurants/bars and there is a dirt path with street stalls for the budget travelers… aka… ME! We came here for rock climbing, which happens to be some of the most unique in the world, with the clear waters and huge limestone cliffs to scale. The weather is not that great the first 2 days, so we ease ourselves into the environment by chillin out and watching the expert climbers tackle cliffs that look impossible to me.

We hang out for a bit and then head over to Railay beach while the tide was out, climbing along the wet rocks that are at the side of the cliff that separates the 2 beaches. The sun set on us as we were finishing the trek over, and we arrived on Railay beach!

We treat ourselves to some pizza, smoke some mint flavored shisha, and watch, literally, the best fire show on earth. I’m talking about 9 chizzled, shirtless, sweaty guys twirling fire and dancing to slow music, bumpin with the hip hop music, and going freaking crazy to rock music; one on top of the other ones shoulders, and then another one puts the ends of the fire lines in his mouth and head bangs, then they go across the seated crowd and throw the fire over the audience and catch it on the other side! Madness…


Time to leave, and we see the tide is in. We trek to the other side of the island and it is dead. No boats, the rocks that we climbed are now covered with water, and it is a little too far to swim in the dark. There is some mysterious path that you can take through the jungle, but we were not up for figuring that one out at 2 am by ourselves. So, we have a seat on some chairs to ponder whether or not to try and party til morning when we can get a boat, get a room on this side for the night, or sleep out on the beach, when I hear the sound of an engine from far away. I grab Leah’s light, and run to the beach, flashing it over and over again. A beat up little wooden boat pulls up and agrees to take us where we need to go for 3 bucks each. They have a deal, and we are dropped back to our secluded bay! How lucky are we!?!?

The next day we grab some kayaks and head out to sea, kayaking through little caves and in between huge limestone rocks in the clear waters. We take a dip as we please, swim around out in the middle of the Andaman Sea, and marvel at the scenery. Alicia, Leah, and I celebrate our last night together, which leads to a MAJOR chill out rainy day the next day, as Alicia takes off for her homeland. Tonsai may be about the chilliest pace ever, but Leah and I are ready for 24hour a day electricity and a more lively night crowd, so we jump the boat to Rai-lay, meet some friends, and schedule our rock climbing for the next day!!!!

Keeping it real...

I’m in a van, what a surprise! I am on an all day trip to get to the border of Thailand and Malaysia to renew my Thai visa. Sounds like fun eh’!?! Get out, get stamped out of Thailand, walk a few meters, get stamped into Malaysia, then stamped out, then stamped back into Thailand. Ridiculous, I know! Anyway, the driver is going way too fast around these curves and Thai music is blaring in my ear. But I can’t complain, I am spending this sweltering day in an air-conditioned van, and that in itself is a little treat after the last few days in the hot sun and in our sauna of a room! I don’t know how many hours I have clocked on public transportation over the past 3.5 months, but it is a lot! You don’t end up in a new town every few days without paying your dues to buses, songtaows, motor bikes, taxis, and tuktuks!

So I have been backpacking in SE Asia for 3.5 months now. I have been to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and I just bought my ticket to Vietnam for August 2^nd. What an adventure it has been! I have lived out of my backpack, slept in some amazing and some not so amazing places, met some interesting people and some not-so-right-in-the-head people, seen the world, eaten some delicious food, and I have found my way through Asia with my best friend! Pretty awesome when you look at it like that huh!!??... or I guess it’s actually pretty awesome no matter which way you look at it!

I am all too aware that it is neither fair nor deserved, but I am one of the lucky ones for this moment, so I am going to live it up. J All the while, never growing numb to how amazing it is and never forgetting that there are suffering and struggling people in the world. It doesn’t affect me lightly that my life is great, amazing, colorful, fun, and interesting, and that a lot of people cannot even use the word “good or decent” to describe their lives. I have teetered between feeling guilty and feeling blessed throughout my entire adult life, including while traveling. I will never feel at peace that I am the way I am because of where I was born, but I have come to a healthy point in which I can acknowledge the disparity and injustice in the world and still live my own life respectfully and humbly. But still, over the past week I have been wondering when enough is enough, or enough is maybe too much…? Am I having more fun and more experiences than I deserve?

M y wonderful friends here recently reminded me that I am spending WAAAY less money per day here on this “holiday” (alternate lifestyle) than I would be on an average, simple life in the US. My $20/day here equals $600/month. I can’t pay rent and still have a life and eat or drive anywhere on $600/month back in the US. And when I think of it that way, I realize that I am not living some extreme, selfish, indulgent life here… I am living on a tight budget, taking the worst possible modes of transportation just to save a buck, staying in the cheapest accommodations with mold, dirt, bugs, and rodents, eating food from street stalls for a dollar, and quite realistically, living a life closer to the way most people in the world live (minus a few of the extra fun things like scuba diving, site seeing, and rock climbing of course). My skin is visibly dirty, my clothes are incredibly soiled, and my hair is literally falling out for some weird unknown reason. But, I LOVE IT ALL!

So as my trip is coming to the last month or so, I remind myself to keep enjoying every day for what it is. I soak in the people and the cultures, and know that I am changed by this experience. I will always be thankful for the opportunity I have to be here, but will no longer feel guilty that all my friends, family, and struggling people in the word are not in my shoes.

So, with one very full passport and only 3 more hours left on this air conditioned van, I’m ready to clear my mind, pop in my head phones, close my eyes, and remember that I am in THAILAND BABY, theres an elephant walking down the street, and tomorrow, I am heading to my most awaited destination yet… Rai-lay….

To be continued…

Beaches, friends, and shananagans in thailand...

The sun is hot, and I'm pretty sure I have a mild sun stroke going on. I have, what like to call, barnacles all over my arms!!! They are tiny water blisters from too much time under the warm rays! But, a girls gotta pay some price for life on the beach, right!? So, I am now avoiding the sun at all costs for a few days! :)

After saying goodbye to the Perhentians, Alicia and I hopped an overnight bus to the west coast of Malaysia and met back up with Leah. We were headed for Thailand again, we just could not stay away from the great beaches and low cost of living here! This time… the islands in the west! After an overnight bus and an interesting border crossing which involved hitchhiking our way into the nearest city, and a few other modes of transportation, we arrived in Ko Lanta.

We arrived after sun fall. Normally this is not a problem, and we find accommodation pretty easily, but since Ko Lanta was in the off season, most of the places were closed. After a long and unsuccessful walk on the beach, with our backpacks weighing on us, we were about to give up and sleep there on the beach… when in a last ditch effort we walked up to the road and found a decent place that would make due for the night at least. The next day we managed to rent a whole tuk tuk (motor bike with a side car) and take it for a spin around the island. The tuk tuk did us well, but could not reach the end of the island that we wanted to get to due to the steep hills. Leah and Alicia did some pushing on a few of the hills that proved difficult for our vehicle, hills that actually turned us sideways on the road when trying to climb them in first gear!!! It was still the perfect day and night!

And because of the tuk tuk we found the accommodation we had been hoping for- a simple native bungalow right on the beach, at a place called Sanctuary. The bungalow was my favorite accommodation yet, due to the fact that the bathroom was open to air, and natural, and the view of the beach from the hammock on our front porch was perfection!

Ko Lanta is in the low season now because the water is rough and boughs of rain come through. But, we were ok with the thought of lower prices and less tourists for a few days. We managed to make a good time out of the deserted place, and loved it for what it was! 3 fun ladies in a semi-deserted beach town = a lot of creative, stupid, but priceless fun!


Time to move on from the deserted and peaceful island of ko lanta, and we ended up here in Ao Nang. Ao nang is a refreshing change for us… it is still the low season, meaning that restaurants (heaps of delish indian food!), diving (off of one of the most amazing sites ever), and accommodations (clean but very hot bungalow) are all super discounted, but there are still plenty of people around and everywhere is still open! Just what we needed after the lonely island of Ko Lanta. Ao Nang was supposedly just a place for us to catch a little boat to Railey, where we had planned to do some rock climbing, but we liked this semi touristy, family oriented town so much, that we just decided to stay for a few days.




Leah, Alicia and I did 2 amazing dives off of a nearby island called Ko Phi Phi. Phi Phi is a little too expensive for us to stay, but it is astounding, and is where the movie “The Beach,” with Leonardo Dicaprio, was filmed. The diving was freaking amaaaaaazing and the scenery above water was stunning too. If only “the beach” really existed, then maybe I would join the commune and stay forever!! ;)

Paradise on a Penny

I’m in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with my friend Alicia. We don’t know where we want to go next, but a few minutes with a Lonely Planet book and a map give us a few ideas. We decide on an island called Tioman, in the southeast. We get directions to the bus terminal that went to Tioman (we thought). We walk our butts all the way there, tired and sweaty, we throw our bags down and I go off to look for a ticket. Turns out, we are at the station that goes north… so if we want to continue with our basically spur of the moment plans for Tioman, then we have to trek our butts to another terminal on the other side of the city. But instead, we just choose a destination marked on the bus company’s windows. Redang it is! The only glitch in our plan is- we know nothing about Redang!! Its not in the book, but the pics look beautiful and we know that we have a nearby backup, should Redang not be backpacker friendly. Alicia and I kill about 6 hours in an indoor amusement park (our last treat before leaving the modern metropolis of KL) and then sleep the night away on a cozy overnight bus. Sadly, our plans for Redang turn out to be a bust, so we head to a guaranteed good time on the Perhentian Islands. And there you have it friends, an example of how all plans are made and most places are visited... random chance plus a little luck, and there you have it… you are in paradise!!!

Imagine this- you take this little speed boat to some islands off of Malaysia called the Perhentians. We are heading to the “small island”. The speed boat pulls up to the island, and we transfer to a smaller water taxi boat that will take us straight to the beach. Long beach that is. No need for a road here, water taxis are how you get to another island or beach and the dive shops, restaurants, and bungalows are lined up on the short white sand beach. We literally find the cheapest accommodation on the beach, a little bungalow for 25 ringgit a night, (about $4 each), located less than a minutes walk from the crystal clear ocean. We throw down our bags, and head out for our first night on the Perhentians! This means walking down the beach a few meters and landing at one of the 2 open air wooden shacks that are the island bars. We have a seat on some mats on the sand, order up a mint shisha, stare at the stars, enjoy some fire twirling, and wonder how we got so lucky.

The next day Alicia will start her Open water dive cert, and I will start my Advanced dive cert. For the next 5 days my life would alternate between diving, hanging out at the dive shop, eating, swimming, perhaps a jump or two off the lighthouse, and sitting on the beach or our front porch at night!

Mostly, we were avoiding our room at all costs. Being a broke backpacker in paradise comes at a cost, you can’t have everything for the price of nothing. So, although our bungalow is suitable, it is not the fanciest thing in the world, with its rotting wood and huge cracks in the floor, no lights, kinda damp mattress, smelly mosquito net, 4 foot monitor lizards wandering the area, a moldy shared bathroom that is a farther walk than the beach is, and a hot tin roof that turns the room into a sauna during the day! Think a fan might help!? The island is run on generators, so electricity is only available from 7pm-7am, but this isn’t the regular kind of electricity… this is the backpackers version of electricity; our fan was not connected to an outlet, no, it was messily attached to other wires running through the rest of the bungalows and all into one outlet from an extension cord located about 100 meters away! Basically the dodgiest electric current you can imagine! So before you get too jealous of our paradise for a tiny price, tell me if you could handle that!?! ;)