Just a quickie. Don't have much time, being pulled around left, right and center by relatives, go here, see this, see that, etc.
Happy New Year everyone! First off, I'm glad to say that I'm blessed for not being anywhere close to the earthquake and the tsunamis that have just hit throughout Southern Asia. I pray to God that none of my friends that I've made along the way were there.
Anyway, lastnight was crazy! Here in the Philippines, instead of stocking up on alcohol for New Year's Eve, they stock up on fireworks/crackers. The noise slowly started at about 7pm and progressively got louder and louDER and LOUDER, non stop until about 1am. The drinking doesn't start until about 2am after everyone's loaded up on a midnight meal. During the attack of the fireworks, everyone wears facemasks in order to prevent black boogers. I can only imagine what it must really sound like being in a war ridden country. Once it was all over, all you could see is a cloud of smoke. What a BANG!
Friday, December 31, 2004
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Family (Manila, Philippines)
So we finally made it to Manila at 9pm on the 25th. Right after getting off the plane, there was an attendant with a sign "ESTRELLA" on it ready to escort us through the immigration line, VIP style. Then my cousin who works there was on the other side to help grab our luggage and zip us through customs. The whole process which normally takes 30 minutes or more, took 5.
Outside the airport (awaiting family/friends are not allowed in the airport, they have to wait outside underneath signs indicating surname letters), I was greeted by my Aunt and Uncle and then my father and his friend. Wow, was a welcome wagon.
Once back to my Mother's house everybody greeted me and we all sat around and had some wine and cheese. At the house, there's a patio where everyone always congregates, next door to the house lives my cousin and his family and beside him, live my Uncle with his family. They all congregate at my Mom's house though. The whole thing was really surreal, people I've never met (except for my Aunt) were all calling me by my Mom's nickname for me, Deannie.
Everybody just hangs out all day, nothing to do but eat and talk, eat and talk. People come and go, play a game, come in for a few minutes to see what's happening and then leave, come back later, eat again, etc, etc. Have you ever seen the movie 'Friday'? The whole day, just sitting around, well its like that, minus the drugs. Maybe, once the holidays are over it won't be so much people, I'll find out soon enough.
Culture Shock
As for the public, its weird to hear everybody speaking in Tagalog, the Pilipino language. I can understand most of it, but have trouble when its being spoken quickly. Everyone keeps urging me to speak it but I'm scared to try and embarass myself. Last night my niece was speaking to me in Tagalog and I felt bad because I couldn't communicate with her, I knew what she was saying to me, but I couldn't talk back. Well I tried to, it worked somewhat. The thing is everyone speaks english just as well as tagalog. They do a mixture of the two langauges. Quite odd.
I'd say that its very different here from the rest of the countries I've visited. I think its a little different though because I'm out of the backpacker scene. But regardless, it feels much different, maybe it because I'm Filippino myself, I don't know.
It very westernized here. We went to a huge mall yesterday, crazy busy, filled with almost all the fast food chains from back home, lots of similar stores, etc. However there's also lots of Filippino food as well, yesterday I ate 'day old chick', not chicken, chick. You figure it out.
Outside the airport (awaiting family/friends are not allowed in the airport, they have to wait outside underneath signs indicating surname letters), I was greeted by my Aunt and Uncle and then my father and his friend. Wow, was a welcome wagon.
Once back to my Mother's house everybody greeted me and we all sat around and had some wine and cheese. At the house, there's a patio where everyone always congregates, next door to the house lives my cousin and his family and beside him, live my Uncle with his family. They all congregate at my Mom's house though. The whole thing was really surreal, people I've never met (except for my Aunt) were all calling me by my Mom's nickname for me, Deannie.
Everybody just hangs out all day, nothing to do but eat and talk, eat and talk. People come and go, play a game, come in for a few minutes to see what's happening and then leave, come back later, eat again, etc, etc. Have you ever seen the movie 'Friday'? The whole day, just sitting around, well its like that, minus the drugs. Maybe, once the holidays are over it won't be so much people, I'll find out soon enough.
Culture Shock
As for the public, its weird to hear everybody speaking in Tagalog, the Pilipino language. I can understand most of it, but have trouble when its being spoken quickly. Everyone keeps urging me to speak it but I'm scared to try and embarass myself. Last night my niece was speaking to me in Tagalog and I felt bad because I couldn't communicate with her, I knew what she was saying to me, but I couldn't talk back. Well I tried to, it worked somewhat. The thing is everyone speaks english just as well as tagalog. They do a mixture of the two langauges. Quite odd.
I'd say that its very different here from the rest of the countries I've visited. I think its a little different though because I'm out of the backpacker scene. But regardless, it feels much different, maybe it because I'm Filippino myself, I don't know.
It very westernized here. We went to a huge mall yesterday, crazy busy, filled with almost all the fast food chains from back home, lots of similar stores, etc. However there's also lots of Filippino food as well, yesterday I ate 'day old chick', not chicken, chick. You figure it out.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Stranded at the airport on Christmas day! (Bangkok, Thailand)
How typical is this? Of course its never happened to me before, but now I can say that it has!
From our guesthouse, you're able to book a mini van to the airport for a cheap fee, well Jeremy and I forgot to book one yesterday so we weren't able to catch one. Instead, we hurried and caught a taxi ride instead for a lot more money. We arrived at the airport at 9:30am, only to find out that our 12:00pm departure flight to Manila has been delayed by several hours. We're flying with Kuwait Airlines and the plane hadn't even left Kuwait yet for some reason. Our suspected departure now is 4:30pm, I've got a couple more hours here at the airport. We probably won't arrive in Manila til about 9 or 10pm, there goes Christmas dinner with the relatives I guess. At least the airport's playing Christmas music, that's a nice bonus!
Thai Style
Bangkok, being the modern mecca it is, there's a definite feel of Christmas in the air, however I think their definition of Christmas is only based on Santa Claus. Jesus, who's Jesus? Oh well, its nice to see a bunch of Thais wearing those red Santa hats everywhere.
The other night Jeremy and I went to a movie theatre that was showing "The Polar Express". We were lucky that it was in English with Thai subtitles. However, in the movie there's parts where it has things that are in written in Thai! I don't wanna spoil the movie, but at the end of the film where you're supposed to read what written on the train tickets, we have no idea what it says and its an important part when a big thing is revealed.
Last night (Christmas Eve) the two of us went up the Baiyoke II sky tower and had a huge international buffet overlooking all of Bangkok. Stuffed myself with everything of course, including some turkey and cranberry sauce. Yummy.
Afterwards, at around 10:45pm we tried to venture off to find a Catholic Church to celebrate midnight mass. This was a little problematic, every Thai person we asked had no idea what a church is.
"Church... you know... Cathedral?"
"What? City tour?"
"We go to church... Christmas, you know, Christmas?"
"No, no, no... Christmas no today... Christmas tomorrow.... closed, you go hotel... sleep"
Well we finally made it to this beautiful cathedral built by Portugese in the 18th century. We got there around 11:15 and discovered that they had a mass at 10pm, not midnight. Oh well, we still got to partake in the festivities. After the mass there was juice and baked goods being served, of course we were too full bastards who couldn't have another bite though. Inside the priest was at the altar calling out numbers (in Thai) and the people sat in the pews with what appeared to be raffle tickets stuck to the back of chewing gum packs. The congregation was giving away some fancy, all-out Christmas presents; including blankets, rice-cookers, bicycles, electic fans, huge teddy bears and the grand prize, a refridgerator! Wow, I wish my church did that.
Okay, I'm gonna see if can finally check in my luggage. Once again... Merry Christmas!
From our guesthouse, you're able to book a mini van to the airport for a cheap fee, well Jeremy and I forgot to book one yesterday so we weren't able to catch one. Instead, we hurried and caught a taxi ride instead for a lot more money. We arrived at the airport at 9:30am, only to find out that our 12:00pm departure flight to Manila has been delayed by several hours. We're flying with Kuwait Airlines and the plane hadn't even left Kuwait yet for some reason. Our suspected departure now is 4:30pm, I've got a couple more hours here at the airport. We probably won't arrive in Manila til about 9 or 10pm, there goes Christmas dinner with the relatives I guess. At least the airport's playing Christmas music, that's a nice bonus!
Thai Style
Bangkok, being the modern mecca it is, there's a definite feel of Christmas in the air, however I think their definition of Christmas is only based on Santa Claus. Jesus, who's Jesus? Oh well, its nice to see a bunch of Thais wearing those red Santa hats everywhere.
The other night Jeremy and I went to a movie theatre that was showing "The Polar Express". We were lucky that it was in English with Thai subtitles. However, in the movie there's parts where it has things that are in written in Thai! I don't wanna spoil the movie, but at the end of the film where you're supposed to read what written on the train tickets, we have no idea what it says and its an important part when a big thing is revealed.
Last night (Christmas Eve) the two of us went up the Baiyoke II sky tower and had a huge international buffet overlooking all of Bangkok. Stuffed myself with everything of course, including some turkey and cranberry sauce. Yummy.
Afterwards, at around 10:45pm we tried to venture off to find a Catholic Church to celebrate midnight mass. This was a little problematic, every Thai person we asked had no idea what a church is.
"Church... you know... Cathedral?"
"What? City tour?"
"We go to church... Christmas, you know, Christmas?"
"No, no, no... Christmas no today... Christmas tomorrow.... closed, you go hotel... sleep"
Well we finally made it to this beautiful cathedral built by Portugese in the 18th century. We got there around 11:15 and discovered that they had a mass at 10pm, not midnight. Oh well, we still got to partake in the festivities. After the mass there was juice and baked goods being served, of course we were too full bastards who couldn't have another bite though. Inside the priest was at the altar calling out numbers (in Thai) and the people sat in the pews with what appeared to be raffle tickets stuck to the back of chewing gum packs. The congregation was giving away some fancy, all-out Christmas presents; including blankets, rice-cookers, bicycles, electic fans, huge teddy bears and the grand prize, a refridgerator! Wow, I wish my church did that.
Okay, I'm gonna see if can finally check in my luggage. Once again... Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Above the Clouds (Bangkok, Thailand)
Ahhhh... Bangkok, the central hub for travellers going through S.E. Asia. Back to where Jeremy, Jenny and I started 10 weeks ago and is now my 5th time back. Back to the infamous Khaosan Rd, where one can buy anything imaginable from the hundreds of street vendors that line the road. Items including fake ID cards, bongs, switchblades, pirated CD's, imitation brand name clothing, or even get a tatoo or dreadlocks right on the spot. So many travellers get stuck here, which is easy enough to do with all the western novelties in the surroundings. Its nice to see the look on the travellers who have just arrived, the ones who are fresh, eager to be a 'backpacker'. They have that look on their face, wide-eyed and ready to face the world, ready to face challenges, ready to get shitfaced and throw up in some foreign city.
I got to witness some spew myself during our 24hr bus ride coming from Laos. The roads wind around hills and mountains and its quite easy to get car sick. All I knew was the bus stopped for some reason and next thing I knew there's a Lao lady outside wiping her own vomit off her pants. Yummy.
Anyway, it was weird, we woke up at 5:45am yesterday morning and were at our guesthouse here in Bangkok at the same time and went staight back to bed. The only thing was, a whole entire day had passed and we're now in a different country. Not all of it was a waste, actually it was quite worth it.
After sleeping on the bus for a couple of hours after we had first departed, I awoke and looked out the window. It was about 8:30 am and the sun had already been up for a while now and was shining through our windows. As I said, we were driving through the beautiful mountain ranges that engulf most of Laos. Within all the valleys a huge layer of clouds filled the gap, it was almost as if I was looking at a lake with a light fog over top the water. On the outskirts of this lake were the hilltops that popped out of the clouds, pure magic. We were driving above the clouds! Its something that I'd been waiting to see ever since being in Laos. I knew that it had to happen early in the mornings, but I was never high up enough or awake early enough to see it. And for those 5 minutes or so as we drove around each bend in the road on either side of the bus, it was as if I we were driving through Heaven. God's had welcomed us to enter His house. And at that point, I was the one who had that wide-eyed look on my face and I remembered why I travel.
Gone Fishin'
So before leaving Laos, Jeremy and I stayed in these 2 little towns/villages (Nong Khiew and Muang Ngoi) that lay along the Ou river. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful they are, once again, they are surrounded with the untouched mountains/hills, so green and lush, almost unreal. The accomodations we had is some of the cheapest I've stayed in. We paid $1 each for a room big enough to fit a double mattress on the floor. We paid $0.50 each for our own bamboo bungalow hut that had a balcony with two hammocks over looking the river. Only one of the 2 had electiricity and we had to use candles during the evening, its more exciting that way.
So in Muang Ngoi we befriended this local Lao guy, named Hamphoun, who worked at a restaurant/tour agency. We ended up playing cards with a bunch of his friends who didn't speak a word of english, but cards need not words I guess. The following day we went on one of Hamphoun tours to go fishing. I was really excited, hoping to catch many fish. Hamphoun brought another guy along with him to act as another tour guide I suppose, that's good we could always use the company.
So on the way to the boat we had to carry 2 fishing rods made of bamboo sticks and a short fishing line and hook. Okay, real primitive I thought, adds to the experience. Hamphoun and friend carried two large fishing nets. Anyway, the day turned out to be 'okay, you two wait here, we'll go fishing with the nets'. Hmmm... the thing is these nets are very complicated, you have to walk deep into the river and lay it out over a large area and then make some noise to scare the fish so they get caught up in it. It would have been fun to try, but that wasn't part of it, we just sat there all day and did nothing. At one point we used our bamboo rods, but that was a joke. I got to dig for worms as well, that was actually the highlight of the trip for me, too bad it only lasted two minutes. Oh well.
At the end of the day, the two fishers caught approximatley 15 small fish. We went back to the restuarant and fried them up. Delicious.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Its now the 2:00am on the 24th here in Bangkok. If I don't hear from you, I'm assuming that you're having a wonderful holiday! All the best.
I got to witness some spew myself during our 24hr bus ride coming from Laos. The roads wind around hills and mountains and its quite easy to get car sick. All I knew was the bus stopped for some reason and next thing I knew there's a Lao lady outside wiping her own vomit off her pants. Yummy.
Anyway, it was weird, we woke up at 5:45am yesterday morning and were at our guesthouse here in Bangkok at the same time and went staight back to bed. The only thing was, a whole entire day had passed and we're now in a different country. Not all of it was a waste, actually it was quite worth it.
After sleeping on the bus for a couple of hours after we had first departed, I awoke and looked out the window. It was about 8:30 am and the sun had already been up for a while now and was shining through our windows. As I said, we were driving through the beautiful mountain ranges that engulf most of Laos. Within all the valleys a huge layer of clouds filled the gap, it was almost as if I was looking at a lake with a light fog over top the water. On the outskirts of this lake were the hilltops that popped out of the clouds, pure magic. We were driving above the clouds! Its something that I'd been waiting to see ever since being in Laos. I knew that it had to happen early in the mornings, but I was never high up enough or awake early enough to see it. And for those 5 minutes or so as we drove around each bend in the road on either side of the bus, it was as if I we were driving through Heaven. God's had welcomed us to enter His house. And at that point, I was the one who had that wide-eyed look on my face and I remembered why I travel.
Gone Fishin'
So before leaving Laos, Jeremy and I stayed in these 2 little towns/villages (Nong Khiew and Muang Ngoi) that lay along the Ou river. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful they are, once again, they are surrounded with the untouched mountains/hills, so green and lush, almost unreal. The accomodations we had is some of the cheapest I've stayed in. We paid $1 each for a room big enough to fit a double mattress on the floor. We paid $0.50 each for our own bamboo bungalow hut that had a balcony with two hammocks over looking the river. Only one of the 2 had electiricity and we had to use candles during the evening, its more exciting that way.
So in Muang Ngoi we befriended this local Lao guy, named Hamphoun, who worked at a restaurant/tour agency. We ended up playing cards with a bunch of his friends who didn't speak a word of english, but cards need not words I guess. The following day we went on one of Hamphoun tours to go fishing. I was really excited, hoping to catch many fish. Hamphoun brought another guy along with him to act as another tour guide I suppose, that's good we could always use the company.
So on the way to the boat we had to carry 2 fishing rods made of bamboo sticks and a short fishing line and hook. Okay, real primitive I thought, adds to the experience. Hamphoun and friend carried two large fishing nets. Anyway, the day turned out to be 'okay, you two wait here, we'll go fishing with the nets'. Hmmm... the thing is these nets are very complicated, you have to walk deep into the river and lay it out over a large area and then make some noise to scare the fish so they get caught up in it. It would have been fun to try, but that wasn't part of it, we just sat there all day and did nothing. At one point we used our bamboo rods, but that was a joke. I got to dig for worms as well, that was actually the highlight of the trip for me, too bad it only lasted two minutes. Oh well.
At the end of the day, the two fishers caught approximatley 15 small fish. We went back to the restuarant and fried them up. Delicious.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Its now the 2:00am on the 24th here in Bangkok. If I don't hear from you, I'm assuming that you're having a wonderful holiday! All the best.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Damn the crowing cocks! (Luang Prabang, Laos)
So we've been in a chilled out town called Luang Prabang for the last few days. Its been a lovely place just to relax. I'm getting more into just relaxing as opposed to feeling that I should be doing something more productive. I've come to a conclusion that I don't always have to be on the run, I can sit and enjoy simple things like reading novels and watching films. I can sleep in and not have to feel guilty about wasting the day. This doesn't mean I've stopped yearning for unique opportunities to come along, I've just stopped hunting for them, if one pops up, perhaps I'll do it.
Anyway, Jeremy and I have been staying in this guesthouse with paper thin walls. At night time we can hear the people next door breathing and shuffling around in their beds. We may as well be in a dormitory. On top of this noise we also hear these damn roosters outside doing their "cock-a-doodle-do's" all night long. Aren't they only supposed to do it a few times when the sun rises? Why do they do it at 11:30pm, 1:00am, 3:00am, etc, etc. And its not just one rooster, there's a large gang of them. One will crow, then 3 will crow, then 4 more from another part of town will crow, its non-stop! I think they're getting revenge on all the carnivores who eat poultry. Damn those crowing cocks! No wonder I sleep in!
"I'll be home for Christmas"
Well not really. Jeremy and I need to be in Bangkok by the 24th of December. So we'll spend Christmas Eve in Thailand, hopefully we can find a church somewhere that does midnight mass. I'm sure there'll be many westernized things to do, asian style. Does that make sense?
On Christmas morning, instead of us opening presents under the tree, we'll be heading off to the airport and taking a flight to a place I feel I already know, but have never once been to. The Philippines. Ah yes, the country where my parents were born and raised.
My relatives will be picking me up at the airport and will then take me to my Mom's house. Yes, it truly is my Mom's house, although she doesn't live there. She too will be on an airplane on Christmas day and will arrive in the P'ppines on the 26th. Not to mention, my father who I have not seen in a few years will be in the Philippines in a different city and will be rendez-vousing with us at some point.
So I won't be at home for Christmas, but it sure will feel like it to some extent. Unfortunatley, without my siblings, my Uncle and my cousins and of course my Grandmother who passed away in February. And yes, my dearest friends.
Anyway, Jeremy and I have been staying in this guesthouse with paper thin walls. At night time we can hear the people next door breathing and shuffling around in their beds. We may as well be in a dormitory. On top of this noise we also hear these damn roosters outside doing their "cock-a-doodle-do's" all night long. Aren't they only supposed to do it a few times when the sun rises? Why do they do it at 11:30pm, 1:00am, 3:00am, etc, etc. And its not just one rooster, there's a large gang of them. One will crow, then 3 will crow, then 4 more from another part of town will crow, its non-stop! I think they're getting revenge on all the carnivores who eat poultry. Damn those crowing cocks! No wonder I sleep in!
"I'll be home for Christmas"
Well not really. Jeremy and I need to be in Bangkok by the 24th of December. So we'll spend Christmas Eve in Thailand, hopefully we can find a church somewhere that does midnight mass. I'm sure there'll be many westernized things to do, asian style. Does that make sense?
On Christmas morning, instead of us opening presents under the tree, we'll be heading off to the airport and taking a flight to a place I feel I already know, but have never once been to. The Philippines. Ah yes, the country where my parents were born and raised.
My relatives will be picking me up at the airport and will then take me to my Mom's house. Yes, it truly is my Mom's house, although she doesn't live there. She too will be on an airplane on Christmas day and will arrive in the P'ppines on the 26th. Not to mention, my father who I have not seen in a few years will be in the Philippines in a different city and will be rendez-vousing with us at some point.
So I won't be at home for Christmas, but it sure will feel like it to some extent. Unfortunatley, without my siblings, my Uncle and my cousins and of course my Grandmother who passed away in February. And yes, my dearest friends.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
10km/hr (Vang Vieng, Laos)
After being in a very hectic Vietnam, I've quickly grown accustomed to the Laos lifestyle. After a tremendously long and jam-packed 22 hr bus ride we made it into Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. It just hosted the 10th annual ASEAN summit and is quite proud of it. The country is known to be quite underdeveloped and poor. Well, in Vientiane you'd never be able to tell. They definitley have some cool, modern architecture there. Unfortunatley there's not much to do. So we left after 2 days of strolling around and doing nothing.
We're now in a tiny little town called Vang Vieng. Once again, there's not much to do here. Its beautiful though, with lots of mountains and caves surrounding it. There's a river to go tubing or kayaking down and a clear lagoon to swim in. Other than that there's a tonne of restaurants that cater to backpackers by showing old re-runs of "Friends" and a variety of movies. I've caught up with a lot of friends! I got to see the final episode!
So anyway, we've discovered that in Laos there's no hassling, no bussling, no stress. Its nice. However, I'm still looking for something more meaningful to do, there's a farm here that's set up for volunteers to come and go as they please and help out with farming and building mud houses, etc. I'm not sure its what I'm looking for. Its not the labor that turns me away, its just my instincts that tell me its not what I want right now. I'm keeping my options open.
I hope everyone's Christmas season is going well and stress free. Remember what its really about ok?
We're now in a tiny little town called Vang Vieng. Once again, there's not much to do here. Its beautiful though, with lots of mountains and caves surrounding it. There's a river to go tubing or kayaking down and a clear lagoon to swim in. Other than that there's a tonne of restaurants that cater to backpackers by showing old re-runs of "Friends" and a variety of movies. I've caught up with a lot of friends! I got to see the final episode!
So anyway, we've discovered that in Laos there's no hassling, no bussling, no stress. Its nice. However, I'm still looking for something more meaningful to do, there's a farm here that's set up for volunteers to come and go as they please and help out with farming and building mud houses, etc. I'm not sure its what I'm looking for. Its not the labor that turns me away, its just my instincts that tell me its not what I want right now. I'm keeping my options open.
I hope everyone's Christmas season is going well and stress free. Remember what its really about ok?
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Muddy Fool (Hanoi, Vietnam)
For the sake of me putting down in words what I've done in the last while I'll just spit out some stuff. Then I'll tell a few tales.
Hanoi, Vietnam's capital; big and polluted. Lovely place though, with lots of lakes and expensive (in Vietnamese terms) restaurants. Watched a water puppet show, puppets dancing around on the water, got a free fan and cassette tape for going. It was about 1 hour... I'd say it was about 45 minutes too long.
Went to Ha Long Bay, a renowned World Heritage Sight! Lots of big grottoes, saw them by boat. Entered two different caves, gigantic ones! Full of stagalite formations that, with lots of imagination and 3D poster type concentration, make up lions, dragon heads, fairies, a woman's breast, and a man's penis. Went kayaking, went into a secluded lagoon surrounded by grottoes, loud echoes! Went up a small mountain to see the view of the grottoes, lots of slippery rocks to climb. Weird guide brought us to the top of the mountain, he sang a song for us at the top then laughed and screamed a lot, what was he smoking?
Just got back from Bac Ha, where Jeremy and I did a three day trek through the terraced mountains. Fell 4 times due to tonnes of squishy squashy mud that's been created by all the rain. (In case you don't know there's been a typhoon in Eastern Asia, lots of flooding in the south, only a light daily rain in the north). Slept overnight in different villages with different ethnic minorities. They wear really, really colorful clothing. Hung out with our two guides who didn't speak much english and tried to teach them card games, (that was challenging) and they tried to get us drunk by shooting glasses rice wine.
Ripped off!
So now its 11:39am, 7hrs 39 mins ago we got off our overnight train that arrived in Hanoi at 4am. In order for us to get to the train station we had to sit on the back of a Motobike for 1.5hrs, I'm not complaining about that though. The bike ride was nice through the mountains at sunset. In about 7 more hours we'll be boarding a 22hr bus ride into Vientienne, Laos. I'm sure I'll have a few grumbles about that.
Anyway, we actually had an option to take a local bus to the train station or the motobike. The bus takes 3 hours though and we took the bus on the way up so we said forget it. Getting on that bus was a huge struggle! Not with our luggage, but because I had to argue with 3 locals at the train station at 6:15 in the bloody morning the other day when we first arrived. I hate these touts who try to take us for all we've got, they take advantage of your disorientation. First of all its early in the morning and I've just awaken and secondly, I have no idea exactly how to get to Bac Ha due to its lack of tourism. There were many other tourists at the station but were all going to a place called Sapa, we decided to take an alternate route for once. Its nice to do so, but makes things a little more complicated.
In my guide book it says a bus should cost 35,000 VND, the bastards at the station were telling me 70,000 VND per person! Bullshit! These guys don't work at the station mind you, they're just trying to earn a buck by either getting you to go to a hotel where they earn commission or use their mode of transportation, etc. Of course, if you go into the ticket office and ask for some help not a single person says a word, they just look at you and point to the touts. You know that in their heads they're thinking, 'oh you poor bastard, sorry I'd like to help but then the touts will hate me'. Or maybe its possible they're thinking 'You rich foreigner, you'll have to survive those touts... haha'. Anyway, I went on with these guys for about 15mins, back and forth
Hanoi, Vietnam's capital; big and polluted. Lovely place though, with lots of lakes and expensive (in Vietnamese terms) restaurants. Watched a water puppet show, puppets dancing around on the water, got a free fan and cassette tape for going. It was about 1 hour... I'd say it was about 45 minutes too long.
Went to Ha Long Bay, a renowned World Heritage Sight! Lots of big grottoes, saw them by boat. Entered two different caves, gigantic ones! Full of stagalite formations that, with lots of imagination and 3D poster type concentration, make up lions, dragon heads, fairies, a woman's breast, and a man's penis. Went kayaking, went into a secluded lagoon surrounded by grottoes, loud echoes! Went up a small mountain to see the view of the grottoes, lots of slippery rocks to climb. Weird guide brought us to the top of the mountain, he sang a song for us at the top then laughed and screamed a lot, what was he smoking?
Just got back from Bac Ha, where Jeremy and I did a three day trek through the terraced mountains. Fell 4 times due to tonnes of squishy squashy mud that's been created by all the rain. (In case you don't know there's been a typhoon in Eastern Asia, lots of flooding in the south, only a light daily rain in the north). Slept overnight in different villages with different ethnic minorities. They wear really, really colorful clothing. Hung out with our two guides who didn't speak much english and tried to teach them card games, (that was challenging) and they tried to get us drunk by shooting glasses rice wine.
Ripped off!
So now its 11:39am, 7hrs 39 mins ago we got off our overnight train that arrived in Hanoi at 4am. In order for us to get to the train station we had to sit on the back of a Motobike for 1.5hrs, I'm not complaining about that though. The bike ride was nice through the mountains at sunset. In about 7 more hours we'll be boarding a 22hr bus ride into Vientienne, Laos. I'm sure I'll have a few grumbles about that.
Anyway, we actually had an option to take a local bus to the train station or the motobike. The bus takes 3 hours though and we took the bus on the way up so we said forget it. Getting on that bus was a huge struggle! Not with our luggage, but because I had to argue with 3 locals at the train station at 6:15 in the bloody morning the other day when we first arrived. I hate these touts who try to take us for all we've got, they take advantage of your disorientation. First of all its early in the morning and I've just awaken and secondly, I have no idea exactly how to get to Bac Ha due to its lack of tourism. There were many other tourists at the station but were all going to a place called Sapa, we decided to take an alternate route for once. Its nice to do so, but makes things a little more complicated.
In my guide book it says a bus should cost 35,000 VND, the bastards at the station were telling me 70,000 VND per person! Bullshit! These guys don't work at the station mind you, they're just trying to earn a buck by either getting you to go to a hotel where they earn commission or use their mode of transportation, etc. Of course, if you go into the ticket office and ask for some help not a single person says a word, they just look at you and point to the touts. You know that in their heads they're thinking, 'oh you poor bastard, sorry I'd like to help but then the touts will hate me'. Or maybe its possible they're thinking 'You rich foreigner, you'll have to survive those touts... haha'. Anyway, I went on with these guys for about 15mins, back and forth
- No, I'll only pay 35 thousand!
- No, you're wrong, guidebooks are wrong. You better hurry, the bus leaves at 6:30am.
- That lady just said 50,000...
- She's wrong, she doesn't know anything at all, she only works for the trains, not the buses...
- Ok fine, I'll pay 80,000 for the both of us! Ok, let's go!
- No, no, no, that's not the price...
- Ok fine, I'll pay the correct price of 35 thousand each
- Hahaha.... you might aswell walk for that price.... goodbye.
- Ok, 100,000 VND, let's go!
- No, price is 140. Quickly, the bus is leaving soon.
- C'mon, we've been good friends now for 10 minutes, give me a good discount will ya?
- Ok, ok, 130 thousand Dong... hurry, the bus is leaving!
Back and forth, back and forth. They kept threatening the bus will leave soon, told lies like the driver is his brother, its much, much farther than Sapa and therefor the price is more expensive... those bastards. The second we got on the dodgy, tattered bus a man comes up to us pretending to be the ticket/money collector says, please pay now. I give him 150,000 and he says to me "You give me 160." I almost shouted back 130. Then he goes to the actual bus worker and gets change for me, hands it over and gets off the bus so it can depart. Jeremy says he remembers seeing him at the beginning of the conversation when we first arrived off the train platform. So what happened is he paid for our fares and then him and his friends divide the rest of the change leftover. We don't know exaclty what the real price was but we know that its no where close to 65,000 VND each, maybe only like 20,000 or so.
The sad thing is that in Vietnam, there's a double pricing system for foreigners. It happens all accross the country and not much can be done about it. The only real thing that you can do is shrug your shoulders and say "Oh well." When it comes down to the conversion 35,000 VND = $2.33 USD and 65,000 VND = $4.33 USD, so I only lost out on $2. Its the principle, not the fact, I know. The fact is, or as I'd like to think: I'm helping to feed someone and his/her family.
Daily Excercise
I'd like to say that this is about me, but no. One of the greatest things I've experienced here in Hanoi is this lake right in the middle of the city surrounded by a park with benches. Each day the locals get up early in the morning (we watched them at 4:30am today) to do their daily workout. Lots of them just stand by a post or a tree and wave around their arms and legs frantically in the air, its their version of stretching perhaps. Some do tai-chi in big groups, others do an organized aerobics class, or dance with a large red fan. Others will run or do these intense sit-ups. Some walk slowly, some walk quickly. Some wear shorts, other wear dress pants. Some of them stand there and do something completley out of the ordinary, perhaps thinking the weirder they look the more effective it will be. For example, we saw this one man with his arms to stretched staight out to his sides and spinning around endlessly as if he were mimicking a tornado. Umm, I believe that works out your equilibrium, maybe he's trying to strengthen his balance?
Jaded
After a nice correspondence with a dear friend from back home (you know who you are), I've been able to label what I've been feeling latley, jaded. After travelling for so long I'm at the point where I haven't yet been there, but I've already done that. I don't know if I can sit through another conversation that fellow backpackers have about the 'crazy traffic' here in S.E. Asia. I know I'm not ready to go home, but I'm ready to experience new things. I'm trying. Hence going to Bac Ha as opposed to Sapa, it was a bit of a challenge and I enjoyed it, even the arguing with the touts!
When I was in New Zealand I discovered a symbol that the native Maori people use in their life. Basically its a spiral or the shoot from a fern tree, symbolizing new growth and prosperity. I'm going to use this as an inspiration to keep growing as I travel and find different things that will be more meaningful to me. I've only got 3 months left on my trip and I want to make them worth it.
Speaking of change... I'm learning to do new things on my blog. Hope you like it. Soon there'll be pictures too! For example... here's a link! Koru Symbol
Talk to you from Laos.
Definition of a Blog
Saw this article in the Vietnam News so I looked up the website: Merriam-Webster Online
Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2004
Based on your online lookups, the #1 Word of the Year for 2004 was
Blog - noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
Click on each of the other words in the Top Ten List for their definitions in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
2. incumbent
3. electoral
4. insurgent
5. hurricane
6. cicada
7. peloton : noun (1951) : the main body of riders in a bicycle race
8. partisan
9. sovereignty
10. defenestration"
Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2004
Based on your online lookups, the #1 Word of the Year for 2004 was
Blog - noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
Click on each of the other words in the Top Ten List for their definitions in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
2. incumbent
3. electoral
4. insurgent
5. hurricane
6. cicada
7. peloton : noun (1951) : the main body of riders in a bicycle race
8. partisan
9. sovereignty
10. defenestration"
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