Thoughts

So I just found out my Grandma Billock figured out how to find and read my blogs! Hi Grandma!  Next goal: get Nana to read it, which might actually be achievable as I just found out she just got her first email address!

I think my last post was a bit negative in terms of me not liking Vietnam. In fact just the other day I was telling my good friend Bobbi that I really don't like the country. Nim Binh changed that a bit for me as I got to interact with locals in a quiet environment and gain a better understanding about their life. I still do not like Ha Noi, and after visiting a few other Asian countries, the Vietnamese were very cold.

While I was in Nim Binh, I hired a driver and a motobike to take me around to all the sites. I was lucky to get a driver who spoke really good English, so I used the opportunity to ask him some questions. The first being about the dogs. As I said before, it didn’t seem that common since there was only one lady in the market selling dog, but a lot more selling chickens, vegetables, and fish. I also noticed a lot of people let their dogs lay around in what we would call a back yard. So I asked my driver if it was common to eat dog, and he replied its very common, and children tend to get a puppy and raise it (similar to cattle). He then proceeded to ask if I would like to try it and with my most polite no thank you, I spent the rest of the afternoon contemplating this. At first I was really bothered by it, but then I thought, would it be that horrible if I didn’t grow up with dogs as pets? I mean it would be a bit hypocritical of me to say it’s wrong and then go eat a hamburger. So, although it is impossible for me to see a puppy, or for that matter, cats and monkeys (I don’t know if they do in fact eat them, just saw a few tied up) in this country and not think about their fate, I accept it is what they do here.
So go give your pup a big hug and let them know they should be grateful they were born into a western society!

The way back to Ha Noi involved a new experience of waving down a bus to jump on it as it slowed down, more stares from all the locals, and in general, feeling like a movie star as people wanted to take pictures of us, touch our hair, and see if we were single. In general, I had some great times in Vietnam, but didn't connect with the country. Furthermore, the food wasn't that great, which was a huge let down for me as I love to eat my way through a country!

Ill do my best to catch up on the Philippines and Cambodia soon, as well as get all my pictures up on Facebook!

Its going to be a rough week, so if you all get some time, I would love to hear about what is going on in your life!

Vietnam

I know its been a while since I've posted, but traveling really takes it out of you. In the past two weeks I have been to three new countries. Although I want to keep this blog in chronological order, it's just not going to happen. I have loads to tell you all about the Philippines and Cambodia, but I'm now in Vietnam and finally have some time to breathe, so I want to share the past few days with you.

I arrived in Hanoi on Sunday Feb 20th, and it took all of about 3 hours to discover I really do not like the city. I couldn't wait to plan a trip out of there. So my friend and I booked a trip to Halong Bay, which is a bay with thousands of limestone isles. We booked the trip with our hostel so there were with many other backpackers and young people on the boat, which made for a good trip. We spent the night out on the Bay on a boat called the Jolly Roger, and did a two hour kayaking trip around the bay which was AMAZING. After Halong Bay my friend and I tried to reschedule our flights, and head down to Siagon, but the cost outweighed the benefit so we decided to jump on a local bus and drive two hours south to a town called  Nim Bihn.
The real adventure started when we arrived at the bus terminal, and immediately  men started pulling are arms towards these buses. We attempted to find anyone who could tell us how to buy tickets, and got a lot of pointing towards the buses. We finally got on a buss, with more people pushing us and every time we asked if this was the bus to Nim Bihn, they just shook their heads and smiled, which I'm guessing means that we were saying the town wrong and they were just saying yes to get us to stop asking questions. So, we sat like uncomfortable cattle in the back of a bus as people stared at us in surprise that we were taking local transportation. At first it was a bit scary then I figured the worst that happens is we head to a different town, get a hotel and jump on a bus the next day to somewhere else. About an hour and a half into the drive we stop for a break. Once again, our whiteness attracts all the stares of the locals as we get off the buss in an attempt to use one of the most disgusting toilets I've had to visit in all of Asia, thus far. Back on the bus and about 30 minutes later, we get yelled at by the driver to come to the front of the bus (which of course is him just pointing at us and signalling us forward), and once the door is opened, we are all but pushed of the slow moving bus in a town we are told is Nim Bihn.
After a bit of walking we found a hostel, checked out the rooms, and decided it is good enough for now so we stay. Since this is a small town, the market mainly consists of food, very little clothes shops, and a welcome change, no tourist shops. As we're nearing the end of the market area, we come to the 'fresh food' section. Live chickens, fish, fresh vegetables, and to my surprise, a cooked dog. I'll spare you all on the detail of what exactly it looked like but I did look back about 20 times as I couldn't believe I was starting at an actual dog. As bad as it sounds, it was not as horrible as I thought it would be. Also, I assume its not as common to eat dogs since I saw about 20 women with chickens, another 10 selling fish, and only one with the dog. Of course as I was walking back to the hostel, I started realizing how many dogs were tied up, and have now decided to not eat meat while I'm staying in this town.

Lunar New Year

Well, Chinese New Year turned out to be less exciting than I had hoped for. I think most of this was on me since I simply just wasn't in the mood to run around town with thousands of other people to the next event. Being someone who does not celebrate in the true Chinese fashions (with family), is like being a Jew on Christmas. Nothing is open. Although in the states Chinese restaurants are open x-mas day, here, as would be expected, they are closed. So Indian food it was :) No complaints since I really do enjoy the food, but the weekend was fairly dull. Almost everything was closed, so I was forced to take lots of nap, exercise more and do some homework. Which I haven't really done the last two since I've been here, so it was a bit of work! I know, I'm not expecting any sympathy here, just soaking it up before I have to go back to working 5+ days a week. I also managed to finalize my next 4 trips around Asia, so Ill have more interesting things to write about soon!

On another note, I'm about two hours from heading to Manila and Boracay in the Philippians. As I mentioned before, I'm meeting a couple friends there, and now, Kyle! He bought a last minute ticket from Perth Australia which happened to have about a 14 hour layover in Singapore, so I got to take him around for a few hours. It was so good to see him after about 2 months apart.

I miss you all dearly! If you have any request for anything from Asia, let me know. I'm heading to Cambodia and Vietnam and plan on doing some supper cheap shopping!

Exciting adventures

So far this week has been filled with good news. My Dad is coming to visit me in April and we're going to backpack in China and hopefully Tibet! I also booked tickets for next weekend to Boracay (supposedly the best beach in the world) and Manila, where I am going to climb an active volcano. It is possible to outrun lava, right? Just kidding, Mom and Dad, I hope! :)
I'm meeting two friends from my USC there who I haven't seen in a while so it should be a good weekend. Then I fly back to Singapore for two days, and then we get a recess week from school! Since I only have class on Mon/Tue I have about 13 days to travel, so I'm heading to Cambodia and Vietnam. Best of all, Kyle is meeting me in Cambodia and we are spending 3 days in Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is, then 3 days Phnom Phen. Its been a while since we traveled together, so it will be a good change of pace! I'm doing Vietnam with one of my girlfriends that I met in Indonesia, she is from the Netherlands and is really cool, so it should be another good 6 days.
Tonight is a start to the Chinese New Year, so I'm doing what every good expat does, going to  and Indian buffet, then heading down to Chinatown to watch fireworks, which I'm pretty sure are illegal here, so that should be interesting.

Food, Food and culture

I decided to stay for a few weeks in Singapore and not travel in a n attempt to relax, and Singapore. Thankfully it somehow, it turned into a jam packed, culture filled, and exhausting weekend.  Since this was really my first weekend enjoying Singapore (the first weekend was spent finding an apartment and the following two, spent traveling), I really wanted to check out some of the more touristy places. Unfortunately, we are currently in one of the two monsoon seasons, and is hasn’t stopped raining in three days.  Which is fairly depressing, and making me rethink my idea that Seattle could be good place to work after I graduate. So I spent the first part of the week attending classes (yes, I do have to go here to pass), with the second half reserved for catching up on sleep and kicking this cough. The bad news is, I still haven’t really slept, the good news, I love Singapore more everyday I’m here. I was invited out Friday to one of my classmates Birthday BBQ’s. It happened to be a Korean BBQ which was my first and I really hope it’s not my last. Food was excellent and the people and location were even better. Coincidently, my roommate’s birthday was the same day and I was invited out with her and her friends to celebrate out in Far East Plaza, a more business night life area.  A great time with new friends!

On Saturday night, the MBA students here organized a Chinese New Years Party for all the Graduate students, which was an absolute blast. They even had a dancing dragon! Sunday was by far the best day. I applied for a host family here in Singapore, and they invited me to lunch at their house. It is a Singaporean family with Malay and Indonesian decent, so the food was AMAZING. Of course the most difficult task was what to bring with me. I was told that if they are Muslim then the food has to be Halal, which I didn’t know, and had no idea if they were. Thankfully, there is a great florist near me, which solved my food issue and proved to be the best option, since 1) they are in fact Muslim and 2) the mom loves flowers.  Back to the food: the dish was similar to chicken soup, but we added noodles, fried onions, chives, and some potatoes thing to. They also bought typical Malaysian dessert for me to try, which I actually ate with my hands (typical Malay style). It was such a great time to understand more about the Singapore culture, and they are such wonderful hosts. They also have 4 children, and the oldest is a 20 year old girl, who has offered to take me all around Singapore and introduce me to her friends, and of course take me to the best shopping places.  I was then invited by two classmates, to a dinner at a Korean Restaurant, and of course that was amazing too.

Oh and If I haven’t made it clear before, I LOVE THE FOOD HERE!

Chinese New Year’s is coming up next week, and I’m told it’s supposed to be incredible here in S’pore, so I’m really looking forward to braving the crowd this week and hanging out in China Town to see what it’s all about!