I've been home for a little over two weeks now. I'm taking summer classes at UNC and have transitioned quite smoothly into my pre-semester existence. My passport is now safely locked away in Raleigh, but I'm planning on using it again very soon.
Studying abroad was hands down the best decision I've made, and it will have been the highlight of my college experience. When I originally decided to go to Asia, I hoped to learn some about a region that I knew very little about and come home with a different perspective on the world. I never expected to become as attached as I did. I know I'll be back at some point - hopefully sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying being back and am getting ready for an amazing senior year. Eventually I'm going to put up all of my pictures (or at least more of them), probably on webshots, and I'll put the link up here. Huge thanks to everyone for keeping in touch and for all the positive blog feedback. It's been fun!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
More than Great
I was originally planning on posting some pictures from my Australia trip, but it appears that the server is incompetant at the moment. It's going to be dull without the pictures, but I'll try to embellish it a little.
I spent my first week in Sydney exploring the city while Juliana was finishing up her classes. I was able to walk around and figure out the public bus system a little bit. It's the type of city that is best experienced by just walking around and exploring, and even though I don't have much detail, I absolutely loved it. Last Thursday, I went to see the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House, which was lovely, and I also visited a few museums. On Friday night, we went to see the Sex and the City movie, which opened here that weekend. The crowd was absolute madness! It was nice to see the movie in an actual big city, and we actually got on TV when they filmed our line entering the cinema (that's what they call them here).
On Saturday, we left for Cairns, which is the main tourist town near the Great Barrier Reef. The four days we spent there were an absolute whirlwind, and I think I did just about everything possible to characterize my Australian experience. I still can't believe how much I saw in just a few days! (And rightfully so, for how expensive everything was!)
The first day, we took a cruise to the reef and snorkled at two sites. Yes, I snorkeled! With a life jacket on, of course. I am definitely willing to get in the water if there is a Great Barrier Reef involved. It was incredible to the point where I'm not even going to try to describe it. We rented an underwater camera and got tons of pictures, which came out pretty well although they aren't nearly as vibrant as everything was in person. The first site was at Michealmas Cay, where we snorkled off of the beach, and the 2nd site was in the middle of the ocean - we had to jump straight off the boat. It was pretty amazing. And rainy, so we were getting tossed around a little bit during our viewing experience. Overall, the day was amazing and never really sunk in.
The 2nd day we headed up to Kuranda, which is a town on the top of a mountain surrouded by rainforest. We went to the Kuranda Koala Gardens, where we "cuddled" Koalas, fed kangaroos and wallabees, and watched some crocodiles do absolutely nothing (my experience here has led me to believe that crocodlies never move unless they absolutely have to). Again, pictures would make this description a lot more interesting! We took the scenic railway back to Carins, which took us through the rainforest and past some waterfalls.
Day three was another organized trip - this one to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, which is the spot on the coast where the rainforest meets the reef. It was pretty wild seeing the multi-colored water (again, need pictures) and a thin strip of sand lined with tropical rainforest. Our first activitiy a boat ride down the river to spot wildlife - definitely a stereotypical "crocodile hunter" experience, especially with the enthusiastic Aussie guide. We saw a couple little crocs and scores of birds, but didn't come across the 4-meter-long dominant male croc, Scarface. I think I preferred it that way, especially since I had the inside seat closest to the bank. We hiked a bit through the forest, which was incredibe, and wound up (as I said) on the beach. It was pretty wild (literally!).
The day we left, we took a half-day morning cruise back to the reef, this time to Green Island. At first it seemed like the day was going to be a bust: the weather wasn't cooperating, and the people we saw that were attempting to snorkel didn't seem to be having any luck. After a quick debate, we decided to go for it an attempt to snorkel anyway. Turns out, you just had to swim a bit further out and away from the "beach" area, and the reef was amazing. It was a little different than before - I think there were a lot more fish, and bigger fish, and the coral was a little more spread out. At one point when I was exploring, I turned and found myself face to face with a giant turtle (not sure about the use of the word "giant" here, but the thing was pretty big, I promise!). We had been told that spotting of a turtle is one of the most rare and exciting sights for reef-goers, but I was so shocked that I turned and swam the other direction! I eventually got up the courage to go back and watch a little bit, but only from a distance. It was a big turtle!
Overall, the trip to Cairns was amazing and action-packed and basically surreal. I saw every type of wildlife imaginable: held a koala, literally found Nemo (he was inside a sea anemone) and about 1499 other types of fish, got in a staredown with a sea turtle, searched for crocs, and listened to birds in the rainforest. Not bad for a long weekend.
Today was my last full day here, and Juliana and I went to see Edward Scissorhands at the Opera House (in the opera theatre). It was a great show, and we took lots of pictures around the area. We also walked across the Harbor Bridge in the morning, which turned out to be quite a hike and landed us on the wrong side of the harbor, leading to us nearly sprinting through the city and missing the beginning of the play.
I can't believe that I leave tomorrow and that I'm actually going home. The Australia trip was a very effective buffer and probably saved me a lot of emotional stress (my complete awe at everything didn't really leave much room in my mind for other emotions). Still, I know there is a lot that awaits me when I get home, and I'm excited about a lot of it and scared about a lot of it and anxious to see what the summer holds. I am so glad that I came to Australia - it's basically an entirely separate trip from the semester in Southeast Asia (attached only for scheduling purposes), but it has been equally educational and incredible in so many ways. I suppose I'll get those pictures up sometime soon when I'm back in the good ole US of A.
I spent my first week in Sydney exploring the city while Juliana was finishing up her classes. I was able to walk around and figure out the public bus system a little bit. It's the type of city that is best experienced by just walking around and exploring, and even though I don't have much detail, I absolutely loved it. Last Thursday, I went to see the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House, which was lovely, and I also visited a few museums. On Friday night, we went to see the Sex and the City movie, which opened here that weekend. The crowd was absolute madness! It was nice to see the movie in an actual big city, and we actually got on TV when they filmed our line entering the cinema (that's what they call them here).
On Saturday, we left for Cairns, which is the main tourist town near the Great Barrier Reef. The four days we spent there were an absolute whirlwind, and I think I did just about everything possible to characterize my Australian experience. I still can't believe how much I saw in just a few days! (And rightfully so, for how expensive everything was!)
The first day, we took a cruise to the reef and snorkled at two sites. Yes, I snorkeled! With a life jacket on, of course. I am definitely willing to get in the water if there is a Great Barrier Reef involved. It was incredible to the point where I'm not even going to try to describe it. We rented an underwater camera and got tons of pictures, which came out pretty well although they aren't nearly as vibrant as everything was in person. The first site was at Michealmas Cay, where we snorkled off of the beach, and the 2nd site was in the middle of the ocean - we had to jump straight off the boat. It was pretty amazing. And rainy, so we were getting tossed around a little bit during our viewing experience. Overall, the day was amazing and never really sunk in.
The 2nd day we headed up to Kuranda, which is a town on the top of a mountain surrouded by rainforest. We went to the Kuranda Koala Gardens, where we "cuddled" Koalas, fed kangaroos and wallabees, and watched some crocodiles do absolutely nothing (my experience here has led me to believe that crocodlies never move unless they absolutely have to). Again, pictures would make this description a lot more interesting! We took the scenic railway back to Carins, which took us through the rainforest and past some waterfalls.
Day three was another organized trip - this one to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, which is the spot on the coast where the rainforest meets the reef. It was pretty wild seeing the multi-colored water (again, need pictures) and a thin strip of sand lined with tropical rainforest. Our first activitiy a boat ride down the river to spot wildlife - definitely a stereotypical "crocodile hunter" experience, especially with the enthusiastic Aussie guide. We saw a couple little crocs and scores of birds, but didn't come across the 4-meter-long dominant male croc, Scarface. I think I preferred it that way, especially since I had the inside seat closest to the bank. We hiked a bit through the forest, which was incredibe, and wound up (as I said) on the beach. It was pretty wild (literally!).
The day we left, we took a half-day morning cruise back to the reef, this time to Green Island. At first it seemed like the day was going to be a bust: the weather wasn't cooperating, and the people we saw that were attempting to snorkel didn't seem to be having any luck. After a quick debate, we decided to go for it an attempt to snorkel anyway. Turns out, you just had to swim a bit further out and away from the "beach" area, and the reef was amazing. It was a little different than before - I think there were a lot more fish, and bigger fish, and the coral was a little more spread out. At one point when I was exploring, I turned and found myself face to face with a giant turtle (not sure about the use of the word "giant" here, but the thing was pretty big, I promise!). We had been told that spotting of a turtle is one of the most rare and exciting sights for reef-goers, but I was so shocked that I turned and swam the other direction! I eventually got up the courage to go back and watch a little bit, but only from a distance. It was a big turtle!
Overall, the trip to Cairns was amazing and action-packed and basically surreal. I saw every type of wildlife imaginable: held a koala, literally found Nemo (he was inside a sea anemone) and about 1499 other types of fish, got in a staredown with a sea turtle, searched for crocs, and listened to birds in the rainforest. Not bad for a long weekend.
Today was my last full day here, and Juliana and I went to see Edward Scissorhands at the Opera House (in the opera theatre). It was a great show, and we took lots of pictures around the area. We also walked across the Harbor Bridge in the morning, which turned out to be quite a hike and landed us on the wrong side of the harbor, leading to us nearly sprinting through the city and missing the beginning of the play.
I can't believe that I leave tomorrow and that I'm actually going home. The Australia trip was a very effective buffer and probably saved me a lot of emotional stress (my complete awe at everything didn't really leave much room in my mind for other emotions). Still, I know there is a lot that awaits me when I get home, and I'm excited about a lot of it and scared about a lot of it and anxious to see what the summer holds. I am so glad that I came to Australia - it's basically an entirely separate trip from the semester in Southeast Asia (attached only for scheduling purposes), but it has been equally educational and incredible in so many ways. I suppose I'll get those pictures up sometime soon when I'm back in the good ole US of A.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Traffic laws? What are those?
Here's a brief overview of our trip to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), for the sake of completing the blog. After our UNC program ended on the 25th, my friend Brennan and I headed to HCMC for 4 days. The bus ride there totaled about 24 hours, including stops, but it was a "sleep" bus, which meant it had beds, sort of like a sleeper train.
HCMC was completely different from the other cities we visited in Vietnam. It was much larger, more populated, and more urban, not to mention the traffic was absolutely insane. Lights and lanes are optional at best, and most people drive on whichever side of the road has the least traffic. Crossing the street typically involved walking straight into an oncoming barrage of motorcycles, hoping that the drivers would swerve around us. I usually either closed my eyes or tried to shield myself by walking close to a Vietnamese person. Aside from the challenges of crossing the street, I really enjoyed my time there and also learned a lot from the people I talked to and the places I visited.
Organized tours and day trips dominate in Vietnam, and I took two during my four days in HCMC. The first day, Brennan and I took a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which is one of the sites with fully restored Viet Cong tunnels open to the public. We saw some traps and bunkers that had been set up by guerrillas, crawled through part of the tunnels, and watched some "educational" videos that were - to put it nicely - anti-American. The site also boasts a huge shooting range, where we purchased a few bullets and shot AK-47s - an experience I'm glad I had but would never like to repeat. I don't even know if I came anywhere near the targets because I was too busy reeling from the noise. They provide you with headphones (Lonely Planet describes them as "DJ-style") which do absolutely no good. I pride myself in having seasoned ears (thanks to years of drumline), but this thing left everyone's ears ringing for quite a while.
Day two was spent exploring the city and visiting the primary tourist sites. We went to an art museum, Reunification Palace (formerly the government site of South Vietnam), and the War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes before the country patched up relations with the US in 1995 and began receiving American tourists). The museum was loaded with pictures of American soldiers committing atrocities, tortures inflicted on prisoners of war, and also images of people throughout the world protesting the American involvement in the war. It was a little overwhelming.
Day 3 I went off by myself and took an organized tour of the Mekong Delta, which is the rural region that makes up the southern part of Vietnam. The trip included boat rides down the Mekong and its canals, handicraft demonstrations, and the sampling of coconut candy and rice wine (which was bad, but not as bad as banana wine, which tasted like a 99% pure alcohol and 1% rum, and "snake wine," which is rice wine that has a snake head floating in the bottle)(I didn't personally try the snake wine). We also were able to bike through a village, which would've been nice had I not been the last one to get a bike. Mine had defective breaks and a chain that caught about 1 out of 4 times I pedaled, making me look like some sort of cartoon character pedaling at warp speed but only moving about 2mph.
The last day, we explored the city on our own, and I was determined to talk to some cyclo drivers about the war. We'd been told earlier (from reliable sources) that South Vietnamese soldiers who had fought with the Americans were essentially stripped of their rights and sent to re-education camps for up to 9 years after the war ended. When they were released, they were unable to resume their previous careers and could only legally take a few jobs - most of them now work as either tour guides or cyclo drivers. We'd had a very spirited and informative tour guide earlier in the trip, but unfortunately, the only cyclo drivers I was able to talk to that afternoon were either too young to be soldiers or too creepy to talk to. This was disappointing, because after hearing the Vietnamese (communist) perspective and American perspective on the war, it would've been nice to get some feedback on how the war affected the South Vietnamese.
The last escapade of the trip was the ride to the airport. We made the brilliant/idiotic decision to take motorbikes (remember the traffic described earlier?). With bags in tow and helmets secured, we whizzed through the masses for quite awhile before my bike was suddenly flagged down by a pair of cops by the side of the road. My driver pulled over and looked like he was about to cry. Of course, no one spoke English, so I was just standing there while the cops yelled at the guy, checked his license, and filled out forms. The driver looked so distraught that I figured: this guy is illegal, something we were doing is illegal, he's about to get deported or thrown in jail, they're going to try to take me away, something terrible is happening. Turns out, my driver had run a red light and was being fined about 100,000 Dong ($6). Of course, his income is so low that this small fine WAS enough to bring him near to tears. This came as a huge wake-up call to me - another example of how Asia is drastically different from the US.
I'll close with that, as this "overview" turned out to be everything but brief...
HCMC was completely different from the other cities we visited in Vietnam. It was much larger, more populated, and more urban, not to mention the traffic was absolutely insane. Lights and lanes are optional at best, and most people drive on whichever side of the road has the least traffic. Crossing the street typically involved walking straight into an oncoming barrage of motorcycles, hoping that the drivers would swerve around us. I usually either closed my eyes or tried to shield myself by walking close to a Vietnamese person. Aside from the challenges of crossing the street, I really enjoyed my time there and also learned a lot from the people I talked to and the places I visited.
Organized tours and day trips dominate in Vietnam, and I took two during my four days in HCMC. The first day, Brennan and I took a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which is one of the sites with fully restored Viet Cong tunnels open to the public. We saw some traps and bunkers that had been set up by guerrillas, crawled through part of the tunnels, and watched some "educational" videos that were - to put it nicely - anti-American. The site also boasts a huge shooting range, where we purchased a few bullets and shot AK-47s - an experience I'm glad I had but would never like to repeat. I don't even know if I came anywhere near the targets because I was too busy reeling from the noise. They provide you with headphones (Lonely Planet describes them as "DJ-style") which do absolutely no good. I pride myself in having seasoned ears (thanks to years of drumline), but this thing left everyone's ears ringing for quite a while.
Day two was spent exploring the city and visiting the primary tourist sites. We went to an art museum, Reunification Palace (formerly the government site of South Vietnam), and the War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes before the country patched up relations with the US in 1995 and began receiving American tourists). The museum was loaded with pictures of American soldiers committing atrocities, tortures inflicted on prisoners of war, and also images of people throughout the world protesting the American involvement in the war. It was a little overwhelming.
Day 3 I went off by myself and took an organized tour of the Mekong Delta, which is the rural region that makes up the southern part of Vietnam. The trip included boat rides down the Mekong and its canals, handicraft demonstrations, and the sampling of coconut candy and rice wine (which was bad, but not as bad as banana wine, which tasted like a 99% pure alcohol and 1% rum, and "snake wine," which is rice wine that has a snake head floating in the bottle)(I didn't personally try the snake wine). We also were able to bike through a village, which would've been nice had I not been the last one to get a bike. Mine had defective breaks and a chain that caught about 1 out of 4 times I pedaled, making me look like some sort of cartoon character pedaling at warp speed but only moving about 2mph.
The last day, we explored the city on our own, and I was determined to talk to some cyclo drivers about the war. We'd been told earlier (from reliable sources) that South Vietnamese soldiers who had fought with the Americans were essentially stripped of their rights and sent to re-education camps for up to 9 years after the war ended. When they were released, they were unable to resume their previous careers and could only legally take a few jobs - most of them now work as either tour guides or cyclo drivers. We'd had a very spirited and informative tour guide earlier in the trip, but unfortunately, the only cyclo drivers I was able to talk to that afternoon were either too young to be soldiers or too creepy to talk to. This was disappointing, because after hearing the Vietnamese (communist) perspective and American perspective on the war, it would've been nice to get some feedback on how the war affected the South Vietnamese.
The last escapade of the trip was the ride to the airport. We made the brilliant/idiotic decision to take motorbikes (remember the traffic described earlier?). With bags in tow and helmets secured, we whizzed through the masses for quite awhile before my bike was suddenly flagged down by a pair of cops by the side of the road. My driver pulled over and looked like he was about to cry. Of course, no one spoke English, so I was just standing there while the cops yelled at the guy, checked his license, and filled out forms. The driver looked so distraught that I figured: this guy is illegal, something we were doing is illegal, he's about to get deported or thrown in jail, they're going to try to take me away, something terrible is happening. Turns out, my driver had run a red light and was being fined about 100,000 Dong ($6). Of course, his income is so low that this small fine WAS enough to bring him near to tears. This came as a huge wake-up call to me - another example of how Asia is drastically different from the US.
I'll close with that, as this "overview" turned out to be everything but brief...
Seeing Red
It's raining cats and dogs (and kangaroos?) outside, so I'll go ahead and put up some pictures of Vietnam.
UNC girls:
Hoi An:
Our group in front of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in Hanoi:
Street in Hanoi:
Every once in a while, you run into something like this:
UNC girls:
Halong Bay:
Hoi An:
Monday, June 2, 2008
Bye-Bye Bangkok, Hello Sydney
After a hectic week of surprises, I made it safely to Sydney this morning. My flight was 9 hours on Birtish Airways, and it was luxurious compared to the bus rides and Air Asia flights that I've been taking. I watched about 6 episodes of various sitcoms from the TV database and had no problem sleeping the rest of the way.
I arrived this morning around 7 and painstakingly went through immigration and customs. Still, they were much easier than I'd been led to believe. The night I returned to Bangkok from Vietnam, I happened to check online to find that, contrary to my previous belief, I would need a visa to enter Australia! Crikey! I then found a laundry list of goods that customs does not allow into the country, including wood products and dirt that is caked on shoes (fear of disease and danger to endemic species). Then, I read that I would only be allowed one checked bag, since my flight does not cross an ocean - a problem for me, since I am continuing straight to the US and have everything with me. Also, all of this happened on a weekend, so nothing useful was open. Needless to say, I was panicked for most of my last day in Bangkok.
A hasty online ETA (alternate visa) application, two boxes of shipped goods, several phone calls to automated customer service computers, and a hefty excess baggage fine later, I made it through. Juliana met me at the airport, and we took a taxi to her dorm, where I promptly fell asleep. In the evening, we took a bus downtown to Circular Quay, where I saw the Harbor Bridge and Opera House lit up in the distance. Then we headed to an ARL rugby game between the Sydney Roosters and the Wests Tigers: Australia's version of Monday Night Football. The Roosters won, and to say that it was entertaining would be an understatement. During the 2nd half, it started pouring, and all of the fans stayed until the end (it wasn't a close game) and remained quite spirited. A far cry from home, especially UNC games where most of the golf-clapping fans leave at halftime to beat the traffic.
As for leaving Thailand, the goodbyes were tough. I had one last dinner with my Thai friends and Sara, and lunch the next day with other international students. It didn't really hit me that I would be leaving, and now I'm too overwhelmed by the fact that I'm in Australia to think too closely about it. Still, I felt like I'd left Thailand before I even boarded the plane - the waiting area was full of Europeans on a connecting flight from London, and the entire flight staff was British.
I'm definitely experiencing price shock, and I'm sure the culture shock will follow. I suppose Sydney is a good buffer between Thailand and the US - I'm still traveling and experiencing new things, but this new culture is much more similar to my own. I'm getting used to things like speaking English, drinking tap water, flushing toilet paper (which you can't do in SE Asia), and seeing white people everywhere. Not to mention the quadrupled prices.
The end of my Vietnam trip was amazing - I loved Saigon and learned a ton there, but I'll have to recap it later. The plan now is to explore Sydney this week and head to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef this Saturday. I'm sure it will fly by! (And my bank account will be run dry.)
I arrived this morning around 7 and painstakingly went through immigration and customs. Still, they were much easier than I'd been led to believe. The night I returned to Bangkok from Vietnam, I happened to check online to find that, contrary to my previous belief, I would need a visa to enter Australia! Crikey! I then found a laundry list of goods that customs does not allow into the country, including wood products and dirt that is caked on shoes (fear of disease and danger to endemic species). Then, I read that I would only be allowed one checked bag, since my flight does not cross an ocean - a problem for me, since I am continuing straight to the US and have everything with me. Also, all of this happened on a weekend, so nothing useful was open. Needless to say, I was panicked for most of my last day in Bangkok.
A hasty online ETA (alternate visa) application, two boxes of shipped goods, several phone calls to automated customer service computers, and a hefty excess baggage fine later, I made it through. Juliana met me at the airport, and we took a taxi to her dorm, where I promptly fell asleep. In the evening, we took a bus downtown to Circular Quay, where I saw the Harbor Bridge and Opera House lit up in the distance. Then we headed to an ARL rugby game between the Sydney Roosters and the Wests Tigers: Australia's version of Monday Night Football. The Roosters won, and to say that it was entertaining would be an understatement. During the 2nd half, it started pouring, and all of the fans stayed until the end (it wasn't a close game) and remained quite spirited. A far cry from home, especially UNC games where most of the golf-clapping fans leave at halftime to beat the traffic.
As for leaving Thailand, the goodbyes were tough. I had one last dinner with my Thai friends and Sara, and lunch the next day with other international students. It didn't really hit me that I would be leaving, and now I'm too overwhelmed by the fact that I'm in Australia to think too closely about it. Still, I felt like I'd left Thailand before I even boarded the plane - the waiting area was full of Europeans on a connecting flight from London, and the entire flight staff was British.
I'm definitely experiencing price shock, and I'm sure the culture shock will follow. I suppose Sydney is a good buffer between Thailand and the US - I'm still traveling and experiencing new things, but this new culture is much more similar to my own. I'm getting used to things like speaking English, drinking tap water, flushing toilet paper (which you can't do in SE Asia), and seeing white people everywhere. Not to mention the quadrupled prices.
The end of my Vietnam trip was amazing - I loved Saigon and learned a ton there, but I'll have to recap it later. The plan now is to explore Sydney this week and head to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef this Saturday. I'm sure it will fly by! (And my bank account will be run dry.)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Vietnam
Our program is officially over! I've said goodbye to just about everyone except for a few who I will see in Bangkok when I get back, and it's definitely strange to think about this all ending. I am going to upload all of my pictures when I get back to Bangkok, and I think I'll just post them within the old entries.
In Vietnam, our group (the UNC group, on an organized tour with our professor) visited Hanoi for 3 days, Halong Bay for a night, Hue for two days, and Hoi An. I loved Hanoi, and the boat trip around Halong Bay was possibly my favorite experience of this semester. We also visited several health facilities and schools in Hanoi and Hue, which was a neat experience. In Hanoi, we visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, which was packed with both tourists and Vietnamese paying their respects - Ho is the leader of the original Communist party here and is credited with the unification of the country even though he passed away just before Saigon fell. After our tour of Halong, we took the overnight train to Hue, which was actually fairly nice. Hue is best known for its Citadel, which was a major battle site during the American War (yes, that's what they call it here), and for the tombs of old emperors that lie just outside the city. We visited a few of those and a couple pagodas before continuing to Hoi An for the final day. Hoi An is a port town, surrounded by fishing villages, and we were able to take a boat ride up the river and explore a little bit yesterday and this afternoon.
I've loved Vietnam so far, except for the unbearable heat, and I definitely plan on coming back at some point. One nice thing has been the lack of Western institutions - fast food, recognizable brands of everything - which I think gives the cities a lot more character. Also, in general, less people speak English than in the other countries I've visited, so we feel a little more out of our comfort zone. Not to mention the guilt of being American here, even though none of the Vietnamese seem to mind (after all, they "won" the war). At one point, a man came up to me and asked me where I was from, and when I said "America" he replied "ooooooh!" and whipped out a picture of George W. Bush to show me. I told him (through gestures, since he spoke little English) that I wasn't such a fan of GW, and he laughed quite heartily.
Continuing with the theme of visiting only cities that begin with "H," a friend and I are leaving in a few hours for Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) for the next four days before flying back to Bangkok. The bus ride is a whopping 21 hours, and I'm trying not to think about the logistics of that too much. I am also bracing myself for the shock that will occur when I get to Australia and see how expensive everything is there. It's already pretty bad trying to make plans and realizing that I will spend more on single activities there than I have on entire weekend trips in Southeast Asia. Still, I'm very excited! And I'm getting more and more excited about seeing everyone when I get back, although I know that after a few weeks I'll be bored of NC and itching to travel again.
In Vietnam, our group (the UNC group, on an organized tour with our professor) visited Hanoi for 3 days, Halong Bay for a night, Hue for two days, and Hoi An. I loved Hanoi, and the boat trip around Halong Bay was possibly my favorite experience of this semester. We also visited several health facilities and schools in Hanoi and Hue, which was a neat experience. In Hanoi, we visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, which was packed with both tourists and Vietnamese paying their respects - Ho is the leader of the original Communist party here and is credited with the unification of the country even though he passed away just before Saigon fell. After our tour of Halong, we took the overnight train to Hue, which was actually fairly nice. Hue is best known for its Citadel, which was a major battle site during the American War (yes, that's what they call it here), and for the tombs of old emperors that lie just outside the city. We visited a few of those and a couple pagodas before continuing to Hoi An for the final day. Hoi An is a port town, surrounded by fishing villages, and we were able to take a boat ride up the river and explore a little bit yesterday and this afternoon.
I've loved Vietnam so far, except for the unbearable heat, and I definitely plan on coming back at some point. One nice thing has been the lack of Western institutions - fast food, recognizable brands of everything - which I think gives the cities a lot more character. Also, in general, less people speak English than in the other countries I've visited, so we feel a little more out of our comfort zone. Not to mention the guilt of being American here, even though none of the Vietnamese seem to mind (after all, they "won" the war). At one point, a man came up to me and asked me where I was from, and when I said "America" he replied "ooooooh!" and whipped out a picture of George W. Bush to show me. I told him (through gestures, since he spoke little English) that I wasn't such a fan of GW, and he laughed quite heartily.
Continuing with the theme of visiting only cities that begin with "H," a friend and I are leaving in a few hours for Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) for the next four days before flying back to Bangkok. The bus ride is a whopping 21 hours, and I'm trying not to think about the logistics of that too much. I am also bracing myself for the shock that will occur when I get to Australia and see how expensive everything is there. It's already pretty bad trying to make plans and realizing that I will spend more on single activities there than I have on entire weekend trips in Southeast Asia. Still, I'm very excited! And I'm getting more and more excited about seeing everyone when I get back, although I know that after a few weeks I'll be bored of NC and itching to travel again.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Homestretch
I'm in the midst of my last week in Thailand, which is also the first week of our research course on health economics. We've spent the past two days attending lectures and visiting health organizations and the evenings trying to finish all of the things on our Bangkok "to-do" lists that never got done during the semester. So far, mine has included visiting the city park during a public exercise session (one of the highlights of the Bangkok experience), getting tailored suits, tackling the giant weekend market, and buying pirated DVDs from mall vendors.
Street aerobics at Lumphini Park - every evening at 5 and 6:15pm:
Street aerobics at Lumphini Park - every evening at 5 and 6:15pm:
Aside: I remember writing a while back about how much I enjoy watching CNN World, particularly the ridiculous news headlines. As I was writing that last paragraph, I looked up and saw "Drunk 'darth vader' escapes jail" trail across the ticker. This was followed immediately by "overweight nude to set art world record," then "Madonna: New, different, 'Hard.''
The Malaysia trip went very well. By this point in the semester, most of us have shifted from very detail-oriented, efficient travel into a more lackadaisical system of exploring. My friend Judy and I arrived on Penang first and stayed in the town of Georgetown for three days while our group assembled. Activities included a visit to Fort Cornwallis (can you tell that Malaysia was a British colony?), Penang Hill and its view of the island, the world's largest (and possibly only) toy museum, and the botanical gardens. We also rented motorbikes the day we got there, both because it's the easiest way to get around the island and because we've always wanted to try it. Judy had rented a motorbike on a previous trip, but this was my first attempt at it, and everyone accurately described my driving as "less than confident." Still, it was a nice way to get from point A to point B, even if that 'way' included me driving so slow that I was being passed by rickshaws and hawker carts.
We left the following morning for the Cameron Highlands, an inland region of Malaysia known for agriculture and beautiful, rolling hills. We didn't know what to expect, but after being sidelined by pouring rains for an afternoon/evening, we had a chance to explore the area the next morning. The weather was refreshingly cool, and the scenery was beautiful. We visited a tea plantation and a strawberry farm, the highlights of which were naturally the delicious tea and strawberries. That afternoon, we left on another bus for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The bus ride took us winding through the jungle and featured several inexplicable "rest" stops, but we eventually made it.
Cameron Highlands:
We only had one full day in K.L. due to the rain delays, but we decided to stick to our original plan and visit a nearby theme park. This was a debatable decision considering that we were sacrificing our only day in the city, but it proved to be well worth it. The park was in the Genting Highlands, another cool mountain region, and to get there, visitors take the Genting Skyway, a 3.4 km cable car ride over the tropical rainforest. Needless to say, that experience made the whole trip worth it.
The theme park was a wealth of fun and a surprisingly cultural experience. We discovered that Asians (generally speaking) are easily excited and very animated on rides, especially thrill rides like roller coasters and free falls. The entire park was so high up that it was in the clouds, which made the vertical drop ride particularly scary since there was no visibility (we rode it four times and had a collective panic attack each time we reached the top). Throughout the day, we met a surprising number of Iraqis and had some very interesting conversations, including meeting a peacekeeping soldier who had friends in North Carolina. Still, all things considered, the highlight of our day was definitely observing the reactions - both sounds and facial expressions - of our fellow park goers. We also staged photos on roller coasters, the best of which was actually our first effort, which I've included here. We picked four poses that we felt symbolized our day's experience - the trademark Asian peace sign, motion sickness, fake-smoking, and an unnecessarily petrified facial expression that was actually outdone by the woman behind us.
The last morning, we visited the Petronas Towers, the largest twin towers and formerly the tallest buildings in the world. Visitors can visit the skybridge connecting the two towers, but there is a quota on the number of people who are allowed up each day. We were planning on going there early to ensure a spot, but everyone's cell phone ran out of batteries and we woke up frustratingly at 10am. Having missed out on our one experience in the city, we took a few pictures from the bottom (see below) and headed straight to the airport. Even though I didn't spend much time in KL, I liked the city. It was cleaner and seemed better organized than Bangkok without being as overwhelmingly Western as Singapore.
Now that I'm back, I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends and not miss anything during my last week. The monsoon season has arrived early, so after months of barely having any rain, we are now seeing torrents on a regular basis. Thailand wasn't hit by the cyclone, but it's been rough hearing about all the trouble in Burma, especially because I was there so recently (twice this semester, actually) and spoke to migrants and refugees. It's tough being so close and knowing that there's essentially nothing that can be done to help.
After a week of class here, we'll travel as a group to Vietnam on Saturday and spend a week traveling and visiting health organizations there. After the program ends on May 25, I will spend a few extra days in Vietnam with a couple classmates and then fly back to Bangkok the following Friday. We're planning on spending some time in Ho Chi Minh City, possibly stopping some along the way, and mainly trying to piece together the war history by visiting various memorials and sites. I can't believe that the semester is almost over, but I think I'll be ready to go home when the time comes.
Monday, May 5, 2008
South of the Border
Greetings from Malaysia! This is sort of my last break/trip of the semester, setting aside our class trip to Vietnam and my side trip to Australia. So I suppose that isn't a very good stat, but in any case I've had my last Thai overnight bus ride, which was to Satun, on the southwest corner of the country. The Thai-Malaysia border is very violent, so we bypassed it altogether by taking a ferry across to the island of Langkawi.
Langkawi is basically a beach resort island, but it was still nice, and we spent a night there before catching another ferry this afternoon to the island of Penang. Once everyone meets up here, our group will be six people, and we'll continue south to Kuala Lumpur before flying back to Bangkok. I've liked Malaysia a lot so far. It's a Muslim country, and the women wear traditional headscarves - making it a little odd with bikini-clad tourists strolling by the locals. Still, everyone is very nice and receptive to travelers.
I don't have much else to say right now, but I'll report on the rest of the trip when I get back.
Langkawi is basically a beach resort island, but it was still nice, and we spent a night there before catching another ferry this afternoon to the island of Penang. Once everyone meets up here, our group will be six people, and we'll continue south to Kuala Lumpur before flying back to Bangkok. I've liked Malaysia a lot so far. It's a Muslim country, and the women wear traditional headscarves - making it a little odd with bikini-clad tourists strolling by the locals. Still, everyone is very nice and receptive to travelers.
I don't have much else to say right now, but I'll report on the rest of the trip when I get back.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
On the Ground
The past two weeks have been quite a whirlwind. We've basically been whisked all over the Kanchaniburi province of Thailand, which is located west of Bangkok near the border with Burma/Myanmar. We spent the first 6 days in a village living with families there. I lived with my former roommate, Sara, and two Thai friends, and our host family was great. We played with the youngest son and his friends and got the whole family into a few very spirited games of bingo. Overall, though, we discovered that village life is very boring. The only real thing to do is drink, which is basically what the villagers do 24/7. We took a few excursions from time to time and worked on our research, but there was still a lot of down time. We worked in pairs for the research, and my topic was ethnicity, specifically the lives of Burmese immigrants in the village. We interviewed several families in our village and also visited a nearby refugee camp (thanks to a personal connection from one of our village hosts), which was a great experience.
Our first visit to the refugee village (being escorted by guards):
After we left the village, we were taken to the town of Sangklaburi, which is right on the Burmese border. We arrived in the afternoon and had nothing to do all evening since the town was so small. The following morning, we were taken to visit an NGO which we knew very little about. It turned out to be an interesting organization, though, that works with illegal Burmese migrants. We visited some factories on the border and walked through the small gate that the workers come through illegally each day. It was pretty wild. So now I can say that I've been to Burma illegally, if only for a few minutes. Our final activity that day was a visit to a brothel, where we spoke briefly with the sex workers (through translators, of course). It was an interesting and intense experience for all parties involved. It was also extremely awkward considering that we were not adequately prepared for such an intense day!
That afternoon we drove straight to Kanchanaburi City, where we stayed for three days. There was a lot more to do there, which got our morale back up. We visited the WWII cematary dedicated to prisoners of war who lost their lives during the construction of the Thai-Burma railway (by the occupying Japanese). We also visited a few museums, the best of which was called the Death Railway Museum - it had a lot of really interesting information, and unlike most Thai museums, had full English paragraphs that were not completely laced with grammatical errors (that is one huge setback of most Asian museums - they definitely do not get a native speaker to edit their captions and displays!). That afternoon, we had lunch next to the bridge over the river Kwai, which was a section of the railway bombed by Allied forces during the war. I walked partway across the bridge, but it was quite a safety hazard and I wound up getting scared and turning back.
The whole UNC group in front of the bridge:
The final two days of the trip were spent trekking through Erawan National Park with two environmental professors. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The first day we hiked up the seven steps of Erawan Falls, one of the most famous and beautiful waterfalls in Thailand. We swam at the top step, and a few minutes after we started back down, it started to pour. It sounds terrible, but it was actually really fun to slip and slide down the mountain. Sometimes we had to use vines to propel ourselves down through the mud. It was quite entertaining, plus refreshing after hiking in the hot sun all day, and it felt like some sort of George of the Jungle movie. We spent the night in a bungalow in the park, and the second day we had a park ranger guide and did some more hiking through a more remote area of the rainforest. We literally went through the middle of the forest, climbing over fallen bamboo and cutting our way through vines. We hiked for a few hours to a cave, which we then explored for a while before heading back to clean up and ride back to Bangkok.
The top step of Erawan Falls:
We arrived back on Friday night, and since then I have been staying with a friend at my old house. It's been interesting and a tad awkward being here with all of the new people, but it's also fun. I realized two days too late that the Indians-Yankees games have been on TV here, but I'm watching a replay of one of them right now. It's making me very happy to see baseball (especially because I already know that they're going to win!). Tomorrow we give our research presentations from the trip, which should be interesting considering we all did very different topics and there wasn't much cohesion between the various trips and activities during the class. Still, I enjoyed my topic and talking to the Burmese immigrants and workers.
Also, for the first time all semester, I am homesick. I lost a close high school friend last week, and I now find myself constantly thinking about home and wishing I could be there. Please keep the family and friends of Cameron Wagner in your thoughts and prayers (if they are not there already). Cameron was a fellow percussionist, star hockey player, loyal softball cheerleader, and one of the nicest guys I've ever known. He was loved by all that knew him and will be greatly missed.
Our first visit to the refugee village (being escorted by guards):
After we left the village, we were taken to the town of Sangklaburi, which is right on the Burmese border. We arrived in the afternoon and had nothing to do all evening since the town was so small. The following morning, we were taken to visit an NGO which we knew very little about. It turned out to be an interesting organization, though, that works with illegal Burmese migrants. We visited some factories on the border and walked through the small gate that the workers come through illegally each day. It was pretty wild. So now I can say that I've been to Burma illegally, if only for a few minutes. Our final activity that day was a visit to a brothel, where we spoke briefly with the sex workers (through translators, of course). It was an interesting and intense experience for all parties involved. It was also extremely awkward considering that we were not adequately prepared for such an intense day!
That afternoon we drove straight to Kanchanaburi City, where we stayed for three days. There was a lot more to do there, which got our morale back up. We visited the WWII cematary dedicated to prisoners of war who lost their lives during the construction of the Thai-Burma railway (by the occupying Japanese). We also visited a few museums, the best of which was called the Death Railway Museum - it had a lot of really interesting information, and unlike most Thai museums, had full English paragraphs that were not completely laced with grammatical errors (that is one huge setback of most Asian museums - they definitely do not get a native speaker to edit their captions and displays!). That afternoon, we had lunch next to the bridge over the river Kwai, which was a section of the railway bombed by Allied forces during the war. I walked partway across the bridge, but it was quite a safety hazard and I wound up getting scared and turning back.
The whole UNC group in front of the bridge:
The final two days of the trip were spent trekking through Erawan National Park with two environmental professors. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The first day we hiked up the seven steps of Erawan Falls, one of the most famous and beautiful waterfalls in Thailand. We swam at the top step, and a few minutes after we started back down, it started to pour. It sounds terrible, but it was actually really fun to slip and slide down the mountain. Sometimes we had to use vines to propel ourselves down through the mud. It was quite entertaining, plus refreshing after hiking in the hot sun all day, and it felt like some sort of George of the Jungle movie. We spent the night in a bungalow in the park, and the second day we had a park ranger guide and did some more hiking through a more remote area of the rainforest. We literally went through the middle of the forest, climbing over fallen bamboo and cutting our way through vines. We hiked for a few hours to a cave, which we then explored for a while before heading back to clean up and ride back to Bangkok.
The top step of Erawan Falls:
We arrived back on Friday night, and since then I have been staying with a friend at my old house. It's been interesting and a tad awkward being here with all of the new people, but it's also fun. I realized two days too late that the Indians-Yankees games have been on TV here, but I'm watching a replay of one of them right now. It's making me very happy to see baseball (especially because I already know that they're going to win!). Tomorrow we give our research presentations from the trip, which should be interesting considering we all did very different topics and there wasn't much cohesion between the various trips and activities during the class. Still, I enjoyed my topic and talking to the Burmese immigrants and workers.
Also, for the first time all semester, I am homesick. I lost a close high school friend last week, and I now find myself constantly thinking about home and wishing I could be there. Please keep the family and friends of Cameron Wagner in your thoughts and prayers (if they are not there already). Cameron was a fellow percussionist, star hockey player, loyal softball cheerleader, and one of the nicest guys I've ever known. He was loved by all that knew him and will be greatly missed.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Water, Water, Everywhere
Happy Thai New Year!
(Don't worry, I didn't shoot an albatross.)
I've spent the past 10 days traveling with my friend Whitney. We spent the first five days in Laos, essentially making a loop across the northern part of the country, then spent 4 nights in Khon Kaen with our friend Lilly, who had roomed with Whitney when she studied abroad at UNC last year. Several of our friends had visited Laos the previous weekend, after exams, and had returned with a mirage of stories ranging from hilarious to horrifying. We planned our journey accordingly and set expectations very low, since we'd heard not-so-great things about Laotian public transportation.
We left last Friday for the northernmost Thai-Laos border crossing. Since the holiday was approaching and it was a weekend, the bus station was packed, and all that was left was a 2nd class bus (this is two classes down from the VIP busses that we typically take on overnight journeys). We feared the worst (Would there people seated on stools in the aisle? broken air-con? chickens on board?) but wound up being pleasantly surprised when the bus was normal. Still, the ride was a whopping 14 hours!
We arrived in the morning, crossed the Mekong and the border into Laos, then spent the day and night in the Laotian border town of Huay Xai. We bought tickets for a two day slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. My guidebook had said that these boats were hit or miss - some would be closed with no windows and packed to the brim with people, others would be open to the beautiful scenery. We asked to see the boat in advance and peered down the river to find an entirely blue boarded boat that looked about as safe as floating a trailer down a river.
Deforestation, Laos-style (also note the color of the water):
We spent the night trying to convince ourselves that we could survive the hellish two-day journey that awaited, a situation that was worsened by the news that the boat would stop for the night in a small village with no electricity. After hours of panic, we awoke to find that the boat's "walls" that we'd seen the day before were in fact just tarps, and the boat that awaited us was open and quaint-looking. We got the bench seats in the front, which made the ride a little more comfortable (everyone else was stuck for 10 hours with no legroom). The scenery was beautiful, and it was quite a pleasant ride. We stopped for the evening in Pak Beng, and the village with no electricity turned out to be perfectly fine, with normal bathrooms and lights and fans run by generators. So at that point, after three stages of panic and worry, we'd had no real difficulties.
The second day we woke up ridiculously early to regain our front row seats and discovered that our boat had changed. This new boat sported 4 or 5 rows of airplane-style reclining seats for the lucky few who arrived first. They looked tremendously out of place, as if they'd been recycled straight from a van or bus, but they were really comfortable! As a result, the second day's boat ride was very nice, and we got some nice scowls from the late arrivals who were forced back onto the hard benches.
Observe the difference between boat #1 and boat #2...
Luang Prabang is a very interesting colonial city, with remnants of French and Western influence without the typical evidence of globalization. There were nice restaurants and cafes lining the streets, which we flocked to for every meal, and inexpensive spas. There was also a handicraft market nearby, where we were able to buy a few gifts for people and some artwork. We had a little bit of drama when the guesthouse we'd reserved double-booked and wound up kicking us out of our room after they'd given it to us (it was quite weird), but other than that our 2-day stay was very smooth.
Our final transportation adventure in Laos was a bus ride back down to the capitol of Vientiane, which borders Northeast Thailand. I was most scared about this trip, but again it exceeded our expectations. Don't get me wrong, it was still miserable - 10 hours of topsy-turvy, winding mountain roads that would make even the calmest stomach churn. But unlike our friends (Adam, whose bus got caught in a rainstorm, leaked on him, then got stuck in the mud, forcing everyone to climb out and push, and who then later had a Laotian man throw up on him; and Judy, who was seated on a stool in the center aisle holding a Laotian child that vomited on her the entire ride), we had only one sick person on our bus and no major delays. We arrived in Vientiane at 4:30 in the morning and waited at the bus station until sunrise. We caught a morning bus to the border and crossed back into Thailand, where Lilly's parents were waiting to pick us up.
The dock in Luang Prabang:
Lilly and her sister didn't arrive in Khon Kaen until the next morning, so we spent the first evening with her family enjoying the mutual challenge of trying to communicate with a combination of simple English/Thai words and hand gestures. Her parents drove us back from the border, and her mom had loaded the car with pillows and also packed some "welcome food" for the 2-hour ride: slices of fruit, banana chips, and hot tea (in a teapot). Their house is on a rice farm, where they run the family business of milling and shipping rice. Her parents, sister, two aunts, uncle, and grandmother were all living there during our visit, which made for a lot of fun. One highlight was the discovery of Lilly's old drumset, which led to me eventually having to play a mini-concert for the entire family - quite an experience.
The second day we visited a fortune teller and were given extensive, fairly detailed descriptions of our "lives," as translated by Lilly and her sister. Mine included an international and statistics-based career path, marriage at the age of 29, and warnings against swimming and lower-back problems. Lilly and I were both told that we would gain weight, which we played up that evening at a buffet dessert table (why fight the forces of nature?).
While we were in Khon Kaen, we were able to see a lot of the traditional rituals of Songkran, the Thai New Year celebration and water festival. We visited a temple during our third day there and then woke up to give food to the monks the following morning at 6am - this is the Buddhist ritual of making merit. Another tradition during Songkran is to pour water and flower petals over Buddha statues to cleanse them, which we did at both their house and the temple. That afternoon, Lilly's uncle drove us all around town to see the first day of the water celebration. Basically, everyone in Thailand heads outside for three days and sprays water on each other. People line the streets with hoses and squirt guns and ride around in the back of pick-up trucks with buckets of water in the back. It is virtually impossible to go anywhere in Thailand without getting completely soaked during these few days. Of course, this isn't too bad considering the high in Khon Kaen yesterday was 41 degrees Celsius.
The temple in Khon Kaen:
I was sad to leave Khon Kaen this morning. We flew back to Bangkok and had a very lackluster day lounging around Salaya, doing some last-minute packing for Kanchanaburi, and trying to avoid getting drenched. Tomorrow morning we leave for the village, which should be great other than the heat. Now I really should get to bed... I've been up so early the past few days that I think I've forgotten what sleep is.
(Don't worry, I didn't shoot an albatross.)
I've spent the past 10 days traveling with my friend Whitney. We spent the first five days in Laos, essentially making a loop across the northern part of the country, then spent 4 nights in Khon Kaen with our friend Lilly, who had roomed with Whitney when she studied abroad at UNC last year. Several of our friends had visited Laos the previous weekend, after exams, and had returned with a mirage of stories ranging from hilarious to horrifying. We planned our journey accordingly and set expectations very low, since we'd heard not-so-great things about Laotian public transportation.
We left last Friday for the northernmost Thai-Laos border crossing. Since the holiday was approaching and it was a weekend, the bus station was packed, and all that was left was a 2nd class bus (this is two classes down from the VIP busses that we typically take on overnight journeys). We feared the worst (Would there people seated on stools in the aisle? broken air-con? chickens on board?) but wound up being pleasantly surprised when the bus was normal. Still, the ride was a whopping 14 hours!
We arrived in the morning, crossed the Mekong and the border into Laos, then spent the day and night in the Laotian border town of Huay Xai. We bought tickets for a two day slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. My guidebook had said that these boats were hit or miss - some would be closed with no windows and packed to the brim with people, others would be open to the beautiful scenery. We asked to see the boat in advance and peered down the river to find an entirely blue boarded boat that looked about as safe as floating a trailer down a river.
Deforestation, Laos-style (also note the color of the water):
We spent the night trying to convince ourselves that we could survive the hellish two-day journey that awaited, a situation that was worsened by the news that the boat would stop for the night in a small village with no electricity. After hours of panic, we awoke to find that the boat's "walls" that we'd seen the day before were in fact just tarps, and the boat that awaited us was open and quaint-looking. We got the bench seats in the front, which made the ride a little more comfortable (everyone else was stuck for 10 hours with no legroom). The scenery was beautiful, and it was quite a pleasant ride. We stopped for the evening in Pak Beng, and the village with no electricity turned out to be perfectly fine, with normal bathrooms and lights and fans run by generators. So at that point, after three stages of panic and worry, we'd had no real difficulties.
The second day we woke up ridiculously early to regain our front row seats and discovered that our boat had changed. This new boat sported 4 or 5 rows of airplane-style reclining seats for the lucky few who arrived first. They looked tremendously out of place, as if they'd been recycled straight from a van or bus, but they were really comfortable! As a result, the second day's boat ride was very nice, and we got some nice scowls from the late arrivals who were forced back onto the hard benches.
Observe the difference between boat #1 and boat #2...
Luang Prabang is a very interesting colonial city, with remnants of French and Western influence without the typical evidence of globalization. There were nice restaurants and cafes lining the streets, which we flocked to for every meal, and inexpensive spas. There was also a handicraft market nearby, where we were able to buy a few gifts for people and some artwork. We had a little bit of drama when the guesthouse we'd reserved double-booked and wound up kicking us out of our room after they'd given it to us (it was quite weird), but other than that our 2-day stay was very smooth.
Our final transportation adventure in Laos was a bus ride back down to the capitol of Vientiane, which borders Northeast Thailand. I was most scared about this trip, but again it exceeded our expectations. Don't get me wrong, it was still miserable - 10 hours of topsy-turvy, winding mountain roads that would make even the calmest stomach churn. But unlike our friends (Adam, whose bus got caught in a rainstorm, leaked on him, then got stuck in the mud, forcing everyone to climb out and push, and who then later had a Laotian man throw up on him; and Judy, who was seated on a stool in the center aisle holding a Laotian child that vomited on her the entire ride), we had only one sick person on our bus and no major delays. We arrived in Vientiane at 4:30 in the morning and waited at the bus station until sunrise. We caught a morning bus to the border and crossed back into Thailand, where Lilly's parents were waiting to pick us up.
The dock in Luang Prabang:
Lilly and her sister didn't arrive in Khon Kaen until the next morning, so we spent the first evening with her family enjoying the mutual challenge of trying to communicate with a combination of simple English/Thai words and hand gestures. Her parents drove us back from the border, and her mom had loaded the car with pillows and also packed some "welcome food" for the 2-hour ride: slices of fruit, banana chips, and hot tea (in a teapot). Their house is on a rice farm, where they run the family business of milling and shipping rice. Her parents, sister, two aunts, uncle, and grandmother were all living there during our visit, which made for a lot of fun. One highlight was the discovery of Lilly's old drumset, which led to me eventually having to play a mini-concert for the entire family - quite an experience.
The second day we visited a fortune teller and were given extensive, fairly detailed descriptions of our "lives," as translated by Lilly and her sister. Mine included an international and statistics-based career path, marriage at the age of 29, and warnings against swimming and lower-back problems. Lilly and I were both told that we would gain weight, which we played up that evening at a buffet dessert table (why fight the forces of nature?).
While we were in Khon Kaen, we were able to see a lot of the traditional rituals of Songkran, the Thai New Year celebration and water festival. We visited a temple during our third day there and then woke up to give food to the monks the following morning at 6am - this is the Buddhist ritual of making merit. Another tradition during Songkran is to pour water and flower petals over Buddha statues to cleanse them, which we did at both their house and the temple. That afternoon, Lilly's uncle drove us all around town to see the first day of the water celebration. Basically, everyone in Thailand heads outside for three days and sprays water on each other. People line the streets with hoses and squirt guns and ride around in the back of pick-up trucks with buckets of water in the back. It is virtually impossible to go anywhere in Thailand without getting completely soaked during these few days. Of course, this isn't too bad considering the high in Khon Kaen yesterday was 41 degrees Celsius.
The temple in Khon Kaen:
I was sad to leave Khon Kaen this morning. We flew back to Bangkok and had a very lackluster day lounging around Salaya, doing some last-minute packing for Kanchanaburi, and trying to avoid getting drenched. Tomorrow morning we leave for the village, which should be great other than the heat. Now I really should get to bed... I've been up so early the past few days that I think I've forgotten what sleep is.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Pictures
sunset on Ko Chang:
Kata beach on Phuket:
Tourism on steroids at Patong:
Wat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai:
Views from the
rooftop bar:
Salaya main street:
Kata beach on Phuket:
Tourism on steroids at Patong:
Wat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai:
Views from the
rooftop bar:
Salaya main street:
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Everything in Transit
I feel like I've spent the majority of the past two weeks traveling from one place to another - sitting on a bus or at a bus station or on a boat, zipping around Bangkok on the skytrain and the subway, or frantically flagging down motorcycle taxis trying to get all of my errands done before leaving Salaya.
The past two weekends (before I moved out of Chaiyapruk), I traveled around
The first weekend we hit the southern beaches for a couple days. We went to a really small, less-developed island called Ko Chang, which was really simple and pretty. Then, since I wanted her to see
I wound up liking Phuket, especially compared to Ko Phi Phi. If you take it at face value – a tourist destination full of farangs and (as a result) western influences – it’s quite nice. What made it preferable to Ko Phi Phi was the strong Thai presence on the island. There were public buses, sawngthaw, and little street eateries geared at locals.
The 2nd weekend we went to Chiang Mai, a city I’d been wanting to return to since my first trip was tainted by food poisoning. We opted for a one-day trek, which was basically a condensed version of my first trek with less hiking and more driving from place to place, and replacing the overnights in villages with visits to “villages” (by which I mean their authenticity was questionable). The rest of our trip, we wandered around the city, visited several temples, including one on a mountaintop outside the city (called Doi Suthep), spent a wad at the amazing night market, and ate great food. I’m glad I was able to go back to Chiang Mai, and I’m also glad I got to ride an elephant without being worried about getting sick off the side of it.
For the days surrounding exams, we hung around Salaya and
Right now, I’m in Luang Prabang,
In other news, I missed the final four game but just saw the score (yikes). For my boat and bus ride entertainment, I’m currently reading Barack Obama’s book, which is amazing and highly recommended. And I’m following baseball season closely (at least under the circumstances) and am very excited about it!!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Same Same But Different
Things have been moving along fairly smoothly here the past few weeks. We were all comparatively busy with the end of the trimester, hence the lack of updates. I finished up with classes last week and just finished my last exam a few minutes ago. All I have left is a final paper and I'll be officially finished with my trimester at Mahidol.
Me, Fin, Whitney, Lilly, and Sara:
People are starting to move out of the house and fly home, which is sad. For UNC students, this is basically the halfway point in our program, but from now on we'll be traveling as a group rather than studying as exchange students. I'm sad to leave Mahidol because I'll miss all of the Thai students that I've met here. The classes here weren't totally satisfying, but I learned a whole lot more from just living here and traveling, anyway. I'll also miss some aspects of the house and a lot of the silly routines that I've developed over the course of the trimester (for example, raisin bread, iced coffee, and smoothies from the stands at school, crazy motorbike rides to and from school, and mass consumption of Frosties and Cocoa Frosties in the ice cave) .
Here's our largest Chaiyapruk house group photo, with a handful of pepole missing, taken at the neighborhood restaurant (we're all sporting peace signs in the style of Jung, the lone South Korean of the group):
I'll officially move out of the house on April 3. One strength of this UNC program is that we have lengthy breaks to travel on our own, but the drawback is that we are not provided housing during this time. I'm a little nervous about essentially living out of a suitcase for the rest of the semester. Our first break lasts from now until April 14. I'm still not sure where I'll be going, but it will likely involve a trip to Laos with friends, a few days in Bankok, and some possible beach time.
From April 15-27, the UNC group will be in the western province of Kanchaniburi, living in a homestay and observing village life. We're working in pairs and will be writing about specific aspects of the culture. From there, we have another 2-week break followed by a course on healthcare economics with a UNC professor. We'll spend a week in Bangkok and another week in Vietnam before finishing up on May 25.
From there I will stay in Vietnam for a few extra days, fly back to Bangkok and stay with a Thai friend for the weekend, and then fly to Sydney for 12 days. I've officially booked my flight home (to good ole RDU) for June 13.
P.S. As I discovered earlier today (when I tried to edit using Internet Explorer), my blog is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox. Yep.
Me, Fin, Whitney, Lilly, and Sara:
People are starting to move out of the house and fly home, which is sad. For UNC students, this is basically the halfway point in our program, but from now on we'll be traveling as a group rather than studying as exchange students. I'm sad to leave Mahidol because I'll miss all of the Thai students that I've met here. The classes here weren't totally satisfying, but I learned a whole lot more from just living here and traveling, anyway. I'll also miss some aspects of the house and a lot of the silly routines that I've developed over the course of the trimester (for example, raisin bread, iced coffee, and smoothies from the stands at school, crazy motorbike rides to and from school, and mass consumption of Frosties and Cocoa Frosties in the ice cave) .
Here's our largest Chaiyapruk house group photo, with a handful of pepole missing, taken at the neighborhood restaurant (we're all sporting peace signs in the style of Jung, the lone South Korean of the group):
I'll officially move out of the house on April 3. One strength of this UNC program is that we have lengthy breaks to travel on our own, but the drawback is that we are not provided housing during this time. I'm a little nervous about essentially living out of a suitcase for the rest of the semester. Our first break lasts from now until April 14. I'm still not sure where I'll be going, but it will likely involve a trip to Laos with friends, a few days in Bankok, and some possible beach time.
From April 15-27, the UNC group will be in the western province of Kanchaniburi, living in a homestay and observing village life. We're working in pairs and will be writing about specific aspects of the culture. From there, we have another 2-week break followed by a course on healthcare economics with a UNC professor. We'll spend a week in Bangkok and another week in Vietnam before finishing up on May 25.
From there I will stay in Vietnam for a few extra days, fly back to Bangkok and stay with a Thai friend for the weekend, and then fly to Sydney for 12 days. I've officially booked my flight home (to good ole RDU) for June 13.
P.S. As I discovered earlier today (when I tried to edit using Internet Explorer), my blog is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox. Yep.
Monday, March 10, 2008
When Throngs of Singaporians Attack
(for non-fans, this is a play on the Incubus DVD title, "When Incubus Attacks")
Singapore is a really nice city - way different from the rest of Southeast Asia. I think it's pretty unique in that things run very smoothly and the city is extremely clean and safe. On just about every road, you can see skyscrapers in all directions, but there are also trees and small, aesthetically pleasing buildings. In other words, it's a huge city without the claustrophobic feel of NYC or the sickening smells of Bangkok. Sounds pretty good to me!
We stayed at a neat hostel in Little India and had some great food there. Activities included...
- Crazy shopping street and malls - basically all we could afford were Starbucks and McDonalds sundaes
- Temples in Chinatown
- Asian Civilizations Museum: a really cool museum with all things Asian, including drums/gamelan, old Quran scripts, Buddha statues, and a whole lot that I can't remember.
- Singapore Art Museum, where, by the way, we were interviewed by a television station. I had to comment on art. No comment on that.
- Incubus concert, of course
- Singapore Zoo & Night Safari (super cool! and world famous, I think)
- Esplanade: a huge performing arts center which was holding a music festival
Here's a view from the river area on a lovely overcast day. Also notice Singapore's trademark symbol, the Merlion, in statue form (no clue where that originates):
Singapore is a really nice city - way different from the rest of Southeast Asia. I think it's pretty unique in that things run very smoothly and the city is extremely clean and safe. On just about every road, you can see skyscrapers in all directions, but there are also trees and small, aesthetically pleasing buildings. In other words, it's a huge city without the claustrophobic feel of NYC or the sickening smells of Bangkok. Sounds pretty good to me!
We stayed at a neat hostel in Little India and had some great food there. Activities included...
- Crazy shopping street and malls - basically all we could afford were Starbucks and McDonalds sundaes
- Temples in Chinatown
- Asian Civilizations Museum: a really cool museum with all things Asian, including drums/gamelan, old Quran scripts, Buddha statues, and a whole lot that I can't remember.
- Singapore Art Museum, where, by the way, we were interviewed by a television station. I had to comment on art. No comment on that.
- Incubus concert, of course
- Singapore Zoo & Night Safari (super cool! and world famous, I think)
- Esplanade: a huge performing arts center which was holding a music festival
Here's a view from the river area on a lovely overcast day. Also notice Singapore's trademark symbol, the Merlion, in statue form (no clue where that originates):
The Incubus concert was absolutely crazy. It was all general admission, and we pushed our way to almost the very front-center by the time Incubus started. However, all hell broke loose when they started playing, and everyone rushed the stage. Basically everyone in the front was crushed and packed so tightly that we didn't even have our feet on the ground half the time. It was not a fun experience, so we headed for the side and wound up having a nice time and a great view. But I can say I was front and center for two songs, even if I was too busy trying to stay vertical to even pay attention to the music.
Here's one of my better pictures from the concert:
The Singapore Zoo is great as far as zoos go. It's located on a peninsula and part of a natural jungle, so a lot of the animals are free ranging, and those that aren't are very comfortable (except perhaps the polar bears, but they get a plush underground area). Plus, basically the entire island is environmentally friendly. The animals were all very close to us, and I got some really great pictures of all the big cats, all the typical safari animals, and just about every primate imagniable.
And the only animal pictures I'm able to upload at the moment... the orangutans were free-ranging and directly above us:
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Lost in Translation
Last night I was successfully able to direct a cab driver all the way from Bangkok to my house, using a combination of gestures and Thai. I was so proud!
Temple entrance at the Grand Palace in Bangkok:
A lot of Thai people know some English, or at least key words. But a lot of times it's still hard to communicate because they say the words with emphasis on the wrong syllables. We've learned that the key is to say the word or phrase again, but stressing the final syllable of each word. So, for example, Victory Monument becomes Victo-REE Monu-MENT. Financial accounting becomes finan-SHUL accoun-TING. And suddenly we have successful cross-cultual communication! Unfortunately, there is not a similar instant-fix in the other direction... when we mispronounce Thai words, we tend to recieve a chuckle and a blank stare.
It's very easy to pick up key words or phrases in a new language... things like "hello," "not spicy," or "turn left." It's an entirely different thing to try to hold a conversation. The problem is that when I react to things, my reflex response never comes out in Thai. Or English. My friends and I tend to respond in our previously studied foreign language. For me, that's Spanish. Here's a sample conversation:
*in Thai*
Me: Salaya?
Cab Driver: Salay-huh?
Me: Salaya, Mahidol University
C.D: Oh, Salaya! Near Buddhamonthon park?
Me: (in Spanish) Sí!
C.D. *confused, since "si" in Thai means either color or four, depending on the tone*
And another sample:
Me: Excuse me, where is the sky train station?
Nice person on street: Oh, sky train? *responds a mile a minute in Thai*
Me: *panic* Qué?
Both: Gee, this is awkward!
In the case of awkward situation #1, I'm trying to get in the habit of saying "ka" (proper response), but that only makes the person think that I speak more Thai than I actually do, leading inevitably to awkward situation #2. A vicious cycle.
I am learning my way around Bangkok little by little. After school, I'm starting to take the bus to VictoREE MonuMENT and then the sky train into Bangkok. One of the malls has a Subway (the restaurant chain), Starbucks, and an English-language bookstore, which makes for a nice afternoon of studying and browsing travel guides.
Yesterday, I spent the day with my friend Alison (from the UNC drumline) who is teaching English in South Korea and was in SE Asia on her break from school. It was really nice to catch up and compare experiences, and it also gave me a chance to see all the "touristy" things in Bangkok that I hadn't visited yet. We saw the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), and Wat Pho (the giant reclining Buddha). I also discovered another great form of public transportation: the long boat down the river. Between that and the sky train, we got to see a lot of the city in just a day.
Temple entrance at the Grand Palace in Bangkok:
A lot of Thai people know some English, or at least key words. But a lot of times it's still hard to communicate because they say the words with emphasis on the wrong syllables. We've learned that the key is to say the word or phrase again, but stressing the final syllable of each word. So, for example, Victory Monument becomes Victo-REE Monu-MENT. Financial accounting becomes finan-SHUL accoun-TING. And suddenly we have successful cross-cultual communication! Unfortunately, there is not a similar instant-fix in the other direction... when we mispronounce Thai words, we tend to recieve a chuckle and a blank stare.
It's very easy to pick up key words or phrases in a new language... things like "hello," "not spicy," or "turn left." It's an entirely different thing to try to hold a conversation. The problem is that when I react to things, my reflex response never comes out in Thai. Or English. My friends and I tend to respond in our previously studied foreign language. For me, that's Spanish. Here's a sample conversation:
*in Thai*
Me: Salaya?
Cab Driver: Salay-huh?
Me: Salaya, Mahidol University
C.D: Oh, Salaya! Near Buddhamonthon park?
Me: (in Spanish) Sí!
C.D. *confused, since "si" in Thai means either color or four, depending on the tone*
And another sample:
Me: Excuse me, where is the sky train station?
Nice person on street: Oh, sky train? *responds a mile a minute in Thai*
Me: *panic* Qué?
Both: Gee, this is awkward!
In the case of awkward situation #1, I'm trying to get in the habit of saying "ka" (proper response), but that only makes the person think that I speak more Thai than I actually do, leading inevitably to awkward situation #2. A vicious cycle.
Victory Monument:
I am learning my way around Bangkok little by little. After school, I'm starting to take the bus to VictoREE MonuMENT and then the sky train into Bangkok. One of the malls has a Subway (the restaurant chain), Starbucks, and an English-language bookstore, which makes for a nice afternoon of studying and browsing travel guides.
Yesterday, I spent the day with my friend Alison (from the UNC drumline) who is teaching English in South Korea and was in SE Asia on her break from school. It was really nice to catch up and compare experiences, and it also gave me a chance to see all the "touristy" things in Bangkok that I hadn't visited yet. We saw the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), and Wat Pho (the giant reclining Buddha). I also discovered another great form of public transportation: the long boat down the river. Between that and the sky train, we got to see a lot of the city in just a day.
The reclining Buddha: 
That's about all of the news from here. Next Wednesday we leave for Singapore, and Friday is the Incubus concert! I'm excited. Also, Maroon 5 is in Bangkok on Monday, but we keep forgetting to buy tickets. Hopefully it isn't sold out yet.
That's about all of the news from here. Next Wednesday we leave for Singapore, and Friday is the Incubus concert! I'm excited. Also, Maroon 5 is in Bangkok on Monday, but we keep forgetting to buy tickets. Hopefully it isn't sold out yet.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
One man's trash is a child's treasure
(Slightly out of order, but still continued from earlier.)
I made the return journey from Cambodia again with my friend Judy. For the trip back, it is cheaper to take a tourist "bus" all the way from Siem Reap to Bangkok, with a stop at the border crossing. We departed Siem Reap in a beat-up "bus" which I'd say had the amenities and safety features of an NC public school bus circa 1920. We barreled along the bumpy road for about three hours, Little Miss Sunshine horn blaring the entire way, before stopping at a rest stop. It was there that Judy realized that she'd left her wallet under her mattress at our guest house. (Rule #1: it is never a clever idea to hide things under your mattress!)
We held up the bus and made phone call after phone call, using our bus driver's phone and an unfortunate vendor as our translator. Eventually it was settled that the guest house would send the wallet on a motorcycle taxi to the border at Poipet, where we would meet it... and of course pay for the taxi. We waited at the border for about three hours.
While we were waiting, we sat with a Cambodian bus company worker on a bench, staring at the barbed-wire fence that I assumed was the border with Thailand. We hadn't had time to pick up snacks before we left and had subsided up to this point on a giant bunch of bananas. Judy had a can of almonds left in her bag, and we took the opportunity to open it during the long wait.
The Cambodian man kept talking on his cell phone, telling us that the taxi would be there in an hour, and then repeating the same estimate every 30 minutes. I still don't know if he was trying to scam us, but from the outcome of the afternoon I'm thinking that he was on the sincere side. We talked to him a little bit about the Cambodian government, although he was clearly uncomfortable at times, and also about his aspirations to save his money and eventually open up a food stand on the street. That was his wildest dream, if he could be so lucky... operating a street stand. The path to riches. He kept asking us about our "holiday," and we were embarrassed to tell him that we were traveling with school. We opted not to tell him our tuition price when he asked. He told us his salary, which I converted to be a little less than a dollar a day.
While we were waiting, Cambodian children would walk by and pick through the trash can, picking out bottles and wrappers and collecting them in plastic bags that they carried. One kid made a particularly long stop to stare at us, and Judy decided to give him some of her almonds. He came over and stood for a very long time, not smiling, not making any noise, just eating the almonds as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. We wound up giving him the entire can, as well as all the rest of the food that we had in our possession at the time. He needed it a lot more than we did.
While he was eating by the handfuls, still not making any facial expressions or noise, another kid came over. The first child offered him a little food, and we bought them a bottle of water to share. He ate about half the can and then closed the lid and put the can in the bag with all of his trash. He then presented Judy with an empty bottle, as what we assumed was his payment for the food she'd given him. Obviously these kids aren't accustomed to being given things for free.
We were carrying a long tube that held one of our friends' posters, and Judy decided to start playing with it to ease the tension. The kids loved it. I pulled out the two Cambodian flutes that I'd bought from children at the temples, intending to juggle with them, and this wound up leading to a massive swordfight. Judy with the large tube, myself and one of the kids with the flutes, and the second kid with the water bottle. Needless to say, my small flute did not stand a chance against my opponent's water bottle, but we had fun.
Finally, the first kid smiled, and his expression changed to pure joy. We tried to talk to him but determined that he was either deaf, mute, or both. I noticed that he was missing one of his toes and had scars on his legs. Still, the joy on both of the boys' faces was incredible. We played the flutes, horsed around, and tried to communicate verbally (without much luck, but with a lot of comedy).
While we were playing, the Cambodian man and his friends finished eating lunch and threw away their leftovers. A few minutes later, the child went over to the trash can to pick through the contents, eventually pulling out a half-eaten fish carcass and chowing down. He took several bites, then gave the rest to his friend, and dug through the trash for more food - leftover rice and vegetables on a bug-and-dirt-covered plate.
When they finished eating, we went right back to playing, full of joy and energy. I honestly have never felt such a powerful combination of happiness and sadness. I wanted to cry, and I still do every time I think about it. By the end of it all, the flutes were completely disgusting. I let the kids keep them and received a trashed used bus ticket and candy wrapper as payment.
Surprisingly enough, and despite our high skepticism and occasional fear, Judy's wallet returned intact and with all the money and cards still safe. We had to miss our bus due to the wait, so we crossed the border and headed to the Thai bus station. The return to Thailand was glorious. I've never been so happy to see the King's face (which is proudly displayed, along with Thai flags, on just about every lamp post or bridge in Thailand) or to be on a slightly rickety 2nd class Thai bus (the key word here is Thai, and honestly anything would've better than our Cambodian "ride"). I still don’t know what to make of that trip, but I feel like I learned more in three hours than I’ll learn in any of my classes.
I made the return journey from Cambodia again with my friend Judy. For the trip back, it is cheaper to take a tourist "bus" all the way from Siem Reap to Bangkok, with a stop at the border crossing. We departed Siem Reap in a beat-up "bus" which I'd say had the amenities and safety features of an NC public school bus circa 1920. We barreled along the bumpy road for about three hours, Little Miss Sunshine horn blaring the entire way, before stopping at a rest stop. It was there that Judy realized that she'd left her wallet under her mattress at our guest house. (Rule #1: it is never a clever idea to hide things under your mattress!)
We held up the bus and made phone call after phone call, using our bus driver's phone and an unfortunate vendor as our translator. Eventually it was settled that the guest house would send the wallet on a motorcycle taxi to the border at Poipet, where we would meet it... and of course pay for the taxi. We waited at the border for about three hours.
While we were waiting, we sat with a Cambodian bus company worker on a bench, staring at the barbed-wire fence that I assumed was the border with Thailand. We hadn't had time to pick up snacks before we left and had subsided up to this point on a giant bunch of bananas. Judy had a can of almonds left in her bag, and we took the opportunity to open it during the long wait.
The Cambodian man kept talking on his cell phone, telling us that the taxi would be there in an hour, and then repeating the same estimate every 30 minutes. I still don't know if he was trying to scam us, but from the outcome of the afternoon I'm thinking that he was on the sincere side. We talked to him a little bit about the Cambodian government, although he was clearly uncomfortable at times, and also about his aspirations to save his money and eventually open up a food stand on the street. That was his wildest dream, if he could be so lucky... operating a street stand. The path to riches. He kept asking us about our "holiday," and we were embarrassed to tell him that we were traveling with school. We opted not to tell him our tuition price when he asked. He told us his salary, which I converted to be a little less than a dollar a day.
While we were waiting, Cambodian children would walk by and pick through the trash can, picking out bottles and wrappers and collecting them in plastic bags that they carried. One kid made a particularly long stop to stare at us, and Judy decided to give him some of her almonds. He came over and stood for a very long time, not smiling, not making any noise, just eating the almonds as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. We wound up giving him the entire can, as well as all the rest of the food that we had in our possession at the time. He needed it a lot more than we did.
While he was eating by the handfuls, still not making any facial expressions or noise, another kid came over. The first child offered him a little food, and we bought them a bottle of water to share. He ate about half the can and then closed the lid and put the can in the bag with all of his trash. He then presented Judy with an empty bottle, as what we assumed was his payment for the food she'd given him. Obviously these kids aren't accustomed to being given things for free.
We were carrying a long tube that held one of our friends' posters, and Judy decided to start playing with it to ease the tension. The kids loved it. I pulled out the two Cambodian flutes that I'd bought from children at the temples, intending to juggle with them, and this wound up leading to a massive swordfight. Judy with the large tube, myself and one of the kids with the flutes, and the second kid with the water bottle. Needless to say, my small flute did not stand a chance against my opponent's water bottle, but we had fun.
Finally, the first kid smiled, and his expression changed to pure joy. We tried to talk to him but determined that he was either deaf, mute, or both. I noticed that he was missing one of his toes and had scars on his legs. Still, the joy on both of the boys' faces was incredible. We played the flutes, horsed around, and tried to communicate verbally (without much luck, but with a lot of comedy).
While we were playing, the Cambodian man and his friends finished eating lunch and threw away their leftovers. A few minutes later, the child went over to the trash can to pick through the contents, eventually pulling out a half-eaten fish carcass and chowing down. He took several bites, then gave the rest to his friend, and dug through the trash for more food - leftover rice and vegetables on a bug-and-dirt-covered plate.
When they finished eating, we went right back to playing, full of joy and energy. I honestly have never felt such a powerful combination of happiness and sadness. I wanted to cry, and I still do every time I think about it. By the end of it all, the flutes were completely disgusting. I let the kids keep them and received a trashed used bus ticket and candy wrapper as payment.
Surprisingly enough, and despite our high skepticism and occasional fear, Judy's wallet returned intact and with all the money and cards still safe. We had to miss our bus due to the wait, so we crossed the border and headed to the Thai bus station. The return to Thailand was glorious. I've never been so happy to see the King's face (which is proudly displayed, along with Thai flags, on just about every lamp post or bridge in Thailand) or to be on a slightly rickety 2nd class Thai bus (the key word here is Thai, and honestly anything would've better than our Cambodian "ride"). I still don’t know what to make of that trip, but I feel like I learned more in three hours than I’ll learn in any of my classes.
Monday, February 25, 2008
If all beaches were this gorgeous...
... I'd go more.
This past Thursday was a Buddhist holiday, so we got a long weekend off from school. Most of the international students took this opportunity to head to the Southern part of Thailand. A few friends and I opted for the province of Krabi and the island of Ko Phi Phi, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches here.
It was definitely a nice place, but it was also very touristy. We were surprised at how few Thai people there were and how many foreigners. There were particularly a lot of Swedes there for some reason, which we found interesting. We sometimes referred to the area as "Little Stockholm." Overall, though, it was nice to be able to relax and look at some scenery. It also forced me out of my analytical post-Cambodia state, which was quite a relief.
The bus ride was 12 hours, overnight. We took a tourist bus back, which was very awkward since we're used to riding Thai buses. The rest stops were definitely set-ups with food at much higher prices than normal, and we felt weird being the only people on the bus that actually knew that. I'm definitely avoiding big tourist locations from now on.
Also, Ko Phi Phi is one of the islands that has recovered most from the tsunami. We saw some of the before/after pictures, and the recovery looked incredible. But I think that other regions in Southern Thailand (with the exception of Phuket, the main tourist beach in Thailand) have had more trouble reviving their tourism industries.
This past Thursday was a Buddhist holiday, so we got a long weekend off from school. Most of the international students took this opportunity to head to the Southern part of Thailand. A few friends and I opted for the province of Krabi and the island of Ko Phi Phi, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches here.
It was definitely a nice place, but it was also very touristy. We were surprised at how few Thai people there were and how many foreigners. There were particularly a lot of Swedes there for some reason, which we found interesting. We sometimes referred to the area as "Little Stockholm." Overall, though, it was nice to be able to relax and look at some scenery. It also forced me out of my analytical post-Cambodia state, which was quite a relief.
The bus ride was 12 hours, overnight. We took a tourist bus back, which was very awkward since we're used to riding Thai buses. The rest stops were definitely set-ups with food at much higher prices than normal, and we felt weird being the only people on the bus that actually knew that. I'm definitely avoiding big tourist locations from now on.
Also, Ko Phi Phi is one of the islands that has recovered most from the tsunami. We saw some of the before/after pictures, and the recovery looked incredible. But I think that other regions in Southern Thailand (with the exception of Phuket, the main tourist beach in Thailand) have had more trouble reviving their tourism industries.
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Riel World
As I mentioned earlier, this weekend was our huge trip to Cambodia and Angkor Wat. The trip was epic, and my blog entry is going to turn into a novella, but I want to be thorough simply for my own well-being. So if you get some time, grab a cup of coffee and a scone and have a read.
Angkor Wat from the back/side
Angkor Wat is located in the city of Siem Reap, one of the two major cities in Cambodia (the other being the capitol, Phnom Penh). To get to Angkor Wat from Bangkok, you first have to take a bus to the Thai border (4-5 hours), then go through immigration and walk across the border to Poipet, Cambodia. From Poipet, you can either take a bus or a taxi to Siem Reap (3-5 hours). We left on Thursday and arrived that night, spent Friday and Saturday exploring Angkor Wat and the other temples, then headed back on Sunday.
I must confess, I spent quite a bit of the ride home sorting through our wealth of Cambodia puns for the perfect blog entry title. This one won because it is both lame and fitting. Cambodia’s local currency is called Riel, but the country actually uses the US Dollar as its primary currency and Riel mainly just as change. The current exchange rate is 4000 Riel to the dollar, so if you buy something for 50 cents, you’ll pay 1 dollar and get 2000 Riel back. Ironically, we had no US money and were stuck running to ATMs to avoid getting ripped off trying to convert our Thai baht back to dollars.
The trip itself was an absolute whirlwind of emotions which I can hopefully organize as follows (temple pictures dispersed throughout).
This temple was buit to last, but the door was built TOO SMALL...
The Journey to Siem Reap
The problem with Cambodia is that everyone and everything is trying to scam you. I will elaborate on why later, but for now just know that Westerners are literally walking dollar signs. We knew this going into the trip and prepared. Our group was five people, but (long story short) we split up for most bus rides and immigration. The border was mayhem, and my friend Judy and I had to be very, very aggressive to get across without being scammed. First, people on the street tried to overcharge us for “arranging” our visas, but we knew to keep going. Then, when we got to the official government office, THEY tried to overcharge us, giving all these excuses as to why the price had “increased.” We wound up basically shoving $20 (the proper, listed price) and our passports at the guy, and he gave us our visas. Once we were across the border, we had to find a taxi ride, and of course they tried to overcharge us as well. We had to insist, then walk away, and also lie about not having enough money. If you open your wallet and they see that you have money, your bargaining power is gone. I hid most of my money so that when I opened my wallet, only a few dollars were visible.
We took the taxi because the bus takes much longer and arrives late at night, forcing its riders to stay at a more expensive guest house (yes, the scams are that elaborate!). The road from Poipet is about as basic as it gets. Dirt road, lots of construction. I’ll come back to that aspect later. Our ride was a little over three hours and was bumpy the entire way there. There was next to nothing on or around the road. Most of the way, we could look out the windows and see miles and miles of open field with nothing in the distance (and yes, this prompted exactly one reference to the Who song). Occasionally, there would be villages with huts or people. Other users of the road included the occasional bus/car, motorbikes, bicycles, schoolchildren, cows, and other animals. Our driver would honk every time we passed anything on the road, and during busier stretches our car sounded exactly like the van in Little Miss Sunshine (the horn sounded exactly the same, too). That made me smile. The picture of the road that I’ve included is the only one I took of the ride… it was out of the back of the car after a particularly busy cow-crossing. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my camera out in time to catch the cows as they were swarming our car and only got them in the distance.
The road to Siem Reap... during a particularly lively stretch
At the end of the ride, all of a sudden, the road became paved. We then saw street lights. A median appeared, lined with bushes and trees. Painted lines and lanes appeared on the road. Then the city came. Huge resort hotels, one after another. Massive, fancy, just like you would see in the US. We’re talking $300-700 per-night luxury resorts. Then a bustling street of restaurants and bars lined with tourists. We got out at the taxi station (i.e. parking lot) and took a tuk-tuk to our guest house - a modest, simple guest house that served its purpose for the three nights that we were there. We got dinner and went to bed, knowing that we would be getting up at 4:30 to get to Angkor by sunrise the next morning.
The Temples of Angkor
Of course, the Angkor Temples tourist police tried to scam us when we went to get tickets. They told us there would be an ATM, and then there wasn’t, so we didn’t have enough US money. We wanted 3-day passes, which cost $40, but we didn't have time to bargain and wound up paying about $47 each in a bizarre combination of baht, riel, and dollars.
As far as the temples are concerned, Angkor Wat is only the tip of the iceberg. It is the most preserved because it was the only one that continued to be used throughout history, but there are dozens more scattered throughout the area. Quite a few are overgrown by jungles and forests, and all are falling apart to varying degrees. We saw eight temples in all, which is not even half of what is there, but we went to the most famous ones. All of them are basically wide open to exploration, so you can go inside and climb up through everything. The big three are Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is amazing because it is entirely overgrown with trees and jungle. I’ve posted a picture of how the tree growth looked, but the temple itself was massive as well. Bayon was my favorite of all the temples, mainly because I liked the layout and the statues. It was literally a real-life Legends of the Hidden Temple. We felt like little kids exploring and learning, completely in awe of everything. I could’ve spent a week or more there. I’ll scatter some pictures and hopefully put them all on webshots eventually when I get better internet. Each temple had amazing architecture and intricate carvings and designs on the walls. My favorite part part of Angkor Wat was the set of Bas Relief galleries (6 in all, I think) that lined the perimeter of the temple. I’ve loaded two pictures, one showing the size of one gallery and one showing the intricacy of the carvings.
Of course, these temples are trafficked by thousands of tourists… or rather, thousands of walking dollar signs. Around each temple there are stalls filled with Cambodians trying to sell you everything from food to paintings and postcards to photocopied travel guides. The thing is, they also send children to run around and sell merchandise. From the minute you step out of your tuk-tuk and try to walk somewhere, you are accosted by children who have been trained to sound like aggressive broken records: “Hey lady, you buy? You buy? One dollar. Two one dollar. Okay, you buy?” They are trained to use exactly the rhetoric that will invoke sympathy and get money out of tourists. Some will carry a smaller sibling with them to look more pitiful. Some try to impress you by asking you where you’re from and then listing off random facts about your country. “Oh USA, capital Washington DC, first state Delaware last state Hawaii, president George W Bush… etc.” We even got accosted inside a few of the temples. They persist, figuring that you’ll buy something to get them to go away. They follow you and block you from walking or getting back into your tuk tuk. The nature of it all is disturbing, but the best way to get by is to be aggressive. If you’re feeling uncomfortable reading this, you’re feeling how I felt the entire time.
Bayon: outside and inside
Cambodia
Set apart, independently from everything else, Siem Reap would be a nice town. It’s very touristy, but there is good food and a lot to do there. However, thinking about it in the context of Cambodia, I was never comfortable there.
The bottom line is that Cambodia is poor. There is drastic, visible poverty, and the contrast in Siem Reap hit me in the face like nothing I’ve ever experienced. There are two sources of frustration that are both so intense that I'm still having trouble processing them.
1) The realities of the tourism industry
2) The contrast between Siem Reap and the rest of Cambodia
Angkor Wat is a wonder of the world that is visited by tourists from all over the globe. Sounds like a great thing for Cambodia, right? Not. Every single enterprise in that country, from the hotels to the gas stations to the temples themselves, is owned and controlled by foreigners. Yes, even the pride of Cambodia, ancient Khmer architecture, doesn’t belong to Cambodian/Khmer people. The Cambodians that we talked to told us that some Korean guy pockets all the money from Angkor Wat. The restoration is carried out by other countries. The natives themselves, most of whom are struggling to survive on less than a dollar a day, are reduced to begging and taking advantage of foreigners. Cambodians scam you is because they have to. It’s the only way for them to get revenue from the tourism in their country. As a Westerner, I will never be able to interact genuinely with these people because to them I represent their source of income and also essentially their oppressor. Quite a burden.
Ta Prohm
Historically, Cambodia has been through so much that you’ll have to just look it up if you’re interested. Think: invasion, corruption, and horrid genocide. In recent history the country was run by a tyrannical regime that executed all the educated people in the entire country. Now it is simply being exploited by foreigners. The sad part is that tourists enter and exit Cambodia without learning a single thing about the people or the culture. Even if you wanted to, it’s difficult to find authenticity in such a tourist-oriented town, and there’s absolutely no dialogue about the issues there. I wanted to learn about Cambodia, but I didn’t even know where to start because I felt like nothing about Siem Reap was actually Cambodian.
I feel like at some point when you visit a country, tourist or not, you have to step back and think about where you are or show some interest in the local history or culture. I was completely appalled at the general obliviousness of the masses. I understand that most people fly into Siem Reap and don’t see the dirt road that we saw, but you can tell from the children at the temples that there’s a problem. Did I mention the rumor that the Cambodian government is bribed to keep the road unpaved so that most tourists fly in? That way they don’t see the poverty and are more apt to stay at the 5-star resort. The impression that I got while I was there was that Cambodians and tourists alike are just pawns helping the rich pad their bank accounts.
Ta Kao
My friends and I learned how to say a few words in Cambodian, and the locals seemed shocked every time we used these words or expressed an interest in their culture. I honestly don’t think that most visitors take any interest in them. Rather than ramble and rant further, I want to offer an anecdote or two of people that I met along the way, but I'm going to do it in another post because this one is already so long. On the final day of our journey we had some delays at the border and had several interesting experiences there, but again, I've dragged this out enough. I’m not 100% happy with what I’ve written, but I’m also entirely spent.
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