Home Sweet Home

For the last few days I have been trying to write my final post. Its hard for me to put into words what I feel about my experience and how I feel about being home. It is great to be home. I can’t wait to catch up with my family and friends but I know its going to be an adjustment. I felt a little bit of culture shock just trying to get through the airport in San Francisco. There are so many things I am going to miss about Thailand and SE Asia.  Being back in America feels so different already.

Where are all the motorbikes?

What do you mean I can’t get a meal for a dollar?

Everyone here speaks English! People can actually understand me!

I no longer have to carry around toilet paper and hand sanitizer everywhere I go.

There are other tall people… with blonde hair!

What happened to all the fresh produce markets?

I am no longer a sweaty mess ALL the time! 

Things I won’t miss about Thailand

-squat toilets

-bugs!

-not being about to speak the language

-the weather. It’s too hot!

-the dogs

-not being able to buy clothes that fit!

-being stared at constantly

Things I will miss about Thailand

-the people

-the food!!

-U-Thong

-public transportation

-coconut ice cream

-drinking a 5 baht soda out of a plastic bag

-7-11

-hearing the word “farang”

-the friends I made

-beautiful beaches

-fresh fruit

-mai pen rai attitude

-simplicity of life 

My journey was absolutely amazing and I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. I am so grateful that I was able to have this experience. It is going to take a while to adjust back to life in America but for now I am happy for some clean clothes, a nice western meal, and my own bed to sleep in! J

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged the find the ways in which you yourself have altered"
-Nelson Mandela


Thanks to all of you who followed my blog!  Stay tuned for my next adventure!

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was great. One of my favorite “big cities”.   I was particular impressed with how clean the city is and how efficiently it runs. They have an amazing subway system that made traveling around the city convenient and easy. I was pretty lucky to be traveling with Olivia, who had lived in Hong Kong for a few months and is also fluent in Cantonese. She was able to show me around and introduce me to the Hong Kong hot spots

My time in Hong Kong was spent eating, attempting to shop (of course nothing in my size) and enjoying all the wonderful things Hong Kong has to offer.

Some highlights included a trip to the 55^th floor of the IFC building (the tallest in HK) to see a gorgeous view of the city, riding the star ferry across the bay, taking a day trip to see the “Big Buddha”, and seeing the beautiful skyline at night. It was also great just to sit and people watch and observe  the hustle and bustle of daily life go by.  

 Hong Kong in a way was a nice transition home. It is more modern and definitely more expensive then the other place we have been so it won’t be such a shock when I get back. I fell in love with the city and hope to have the opportunity to go back someday. 

Reflection

I can’t believe that I only have a week left in SE Asia. Time went by way too fast. I don’t think it has really set in that I am LEAVING. Two weeks in Vietnam flew by and now I am back in U-Thong attempting to pack up everything from the last 8 months. I keep thinking back to my first week in Thailand and how far I have come and how many amazing things I have done and seen. It doesn’t seem possible that it is finally coming to an end.

I have really mixed feelings about coming home. Of course I am very excited to see my family and friends. It will be nice to stay put somewhere for an extended period of time. I am pretty tired of wearing the same 7 shirts every week and smelling like sweat and dirty feet. It will be nice to be able to unpack everything and not have to live out of a backpack for the first time in almost 3 months. There are a lot of things I miss from the States that I am excited to go home to.

On the other hand I am very sad to leave. I have gotten used to Thailand. I have learned a bit of the language, made some great friends, and feel very comfortable here. It’s going to be a big change.

Olivia and I spent one final day in Bangkok. We met up with a friend and had a delicious meal, got a final Thai massage, and went shopping at JJ (chatachak) market for last minute gifts and souvenirs. It was a really great day but I got really sad when I thought about how it was the last time I would be in Bangkok. Hopefully I will be back one day.   

 Time to say my good-byes to U-Thong and finish packing. L   

Vietnam Part IV- Halong Bay and Tom Coc

Halong Bay was kind of a disappointment. We signed up for a two day, one night tour of the bay where we would actually get to sleep on the boat. I was super excited about the tour and it was one of the main reasons why we came to northern Vietnam. Unfortunately the tour did not go as planned

 It took us half the day to get to the Bay. Halong city is about 4 hours from Hanoi. Once we got to the pier there were hundreds of foreigners all trying to stay together with their guides and board the correct boat. Organized chaos. We finally got on our boat, which was really nice, and enjoyed a lovely Vietnamese lunch. After lunch we were informed that there was a storm moving in and that we wouldn’t be able to sleep on the boat. Bummer. I was really looking forward to waking up on the boat and maybe even watching the sunrise over the bay. So we sailed around the bay for about an hour, enjoying the nice sunny weather before the storm was expected to come in. The bay is actually pretty amazing.  The huge limestone cliffs look like a mountain range coming out of the water. Unfortunately we had to cut our tour short because we needed to dock on Catba Island where we were going to stay the night at a hotel. From the dock it was an hour bus ride around to the other side of the island. Catba island was OK. There was tons of construction going on, and not much to do in the town itself. It was kind of a let down as I was really hoping to enjoy a night on the boat.

The next morning we woke up early, only to find out that it was still cloudy and rainy and that we may not even be able to get back on the boat. Luckily after about an hour it cleared up just enough so we could board the boat and sail back to Halong city before it started down pouring. We were on the boat for about an hour but you couldn’t really see much due to the weather. We arrived back in Halong City and then immediately got back on the bus back to Hanoi. For a two day tour we spent maybe two hours on the boat. We didn’t get to see much of the bay which was pretty disappointing. Oh well. Mai Pen Rai. Can’t control the weather! 

The next day we decided to do another day trip to Hoa Lu temple and Tom Coc. The day started off with a two hour bus ride. We got off and toured the Hoa Lu temple which used to be an ancient capital of Vietnam. After seeing the temple we took an hour long bike ride through the countryside. It was beautiful. The weather was cloudy and foggy but it was actually quite a nice ride. Tom Coc is known as the “Halong Bay on Land”.  The landscape looks similar to that of Halong Bay, with the enormous cliffs, minus the water. We arrived in Tom Coc, had lunch then our group was spilt up and we each boarded a tiny row boat. Our guide took us on a two hour trip down the nearby river which was really beautiful. The guides actually row with their feet! It was crazy. The scenery was gorgeous and overall it was a really nice day trip. It definitely made up our disappointing Halong Bay trip. Glad that we were able to get out of Hanoi for a bit and enjoy the countryside of Vietnam.

Vietnam Part III- Hanoi

The bus ride to Hanoi was pretty miserable. Due to a booking error and a Vietnamese holiday we were unable to get seats on the overnight “sleeper” bus and instead ended up on the “sitting” bus. We were the only foreigners on the bus, they blasted Vietnamese karaoke music all through the night, and I was sitting next to an old lady who had no sense of personal space and had no problem making herself completely comfortable (at my expense). Let’s just say I didn’t get much sleep. The icing on the cake? When we arrived in Hanoi and retrieved our bags from underneath the bus we discovered that our bags were covered in….you guessed it... SHRIMP PASTE. If you don’t know what shrimp paste smells like, consider yourself lucky. It is the most god-awful stench you will ever smell. How our bags got covered in shrimp paste remains a mystery. Luckily after some serious scrubbing we were able to get the majority of the smell out. 555.

Hanoi, much like Saigon, is a crazy city. The traffic here is the worst I have seen. There are thousands of motorbikes everywhere. There are no traffic lights or real cross walks. Traffic is really just a free for all. Constant beeping of horns. Crossing the street is even more terrifying than Saigon. At least in Saigon they would slow down or stop for you. In Hanoi, they just honk at you and expect you to get out of their way. Insane.

Hanoi is actually a pretty interesting city. Each street in the city has a “specialty”. If you need shoes you can go to one street and you will find 30 different vendors all selling shoes. Need sunglasses? Go to another street and you will find an equal number of shops that only sell sunglasses. There are also no real “markets” in the city. If you want fruit or fresh produce, just wait for a Vietnamese woman wearing a conical hat to ride by on her bike carrying pineapple, bananas, fresh flowers, etc.   Quite convenient actually.

I didn’t really enjoy my time in Hanoi. I found the city to be dirty, crowded and noisy. The city is small enough to walk around but you can’t really walk anywhere because there are no sidewalks. I got pretty tired of trying to dodge motorbikes, cars and other obstacles along the street while trying to explore and enjoy the city.

Luckily we were able to get out of the city for a few days on a couple of day trips.