you know what? i think i'm growing up. it's probably not hard to believe given the circumstances of being in a new situation in a different country...but it's taken awhile.
i'm learning from the past how to stand up for myself and not be treated poorly. i deserve more respect and dammit, i'm out to get it.
anyway, i had my ismt101 final today and i got there at 8:30 only to find out that it had been rescheduled for 10. after that i slept and bummed all day....and now tomorrow i will have to study sooo much for my logistics test but after that, i will be free!!! until july when i start chinese...
my family comes here in about 10 days, i can't wait!
24 May 2008
21 May 2008
spinning like a whirlwind
These last days in Hong Kong are dwindling so fast! I only have 25 more days until I go home and see my wonderful family and friends and of COURSE, my DOGGIES!!! Yes, I am obsessed with them and no, I do not care what you have to say about it.
On the homefront, things have gone sour in one of my relationships with a friend. I just now realized that he didn't treat me right for some years now, and it's time to let go. This happens a lot to me, and I don't think it's just a weird coincidence, but obviously something to do with myself and how I view myself and treat myself. And I am ready for some change in my life because honestly, drama is draining.
I hugged Katherine goodbye today! So sad. Then Vish wrote to me from his home too and that made me feel a little sad as well. I just realized that it's getting late in may and I thought June was so far off but it indeed my friends, is not. I just finished the third of my finals and now I have two left to go, one of which I just finished making my study guide for.
I sort of just want to get out of here. I am lacking motivation to be happy in Hong Kong, and I didn't expect it to end this way.
So bittersweet.
On the homefront, things have gone sour in one of my relationships with a friend. I just now realized that he didn't treat me right for some years now, and it's time to let go. This happens a lot to me, and I don't think it's just a weird coincidence, but obviously something to do with myself and how I view myself and treat myself. And I am ready for some change in my life because honestly, drama is draining.
I hugged Katherine goodbye today! So sad. Then Vish wrote to me from his home too and that made me feel a little sad as well. I just realized that it's getting late in may and I thought June was so far off but it indeed my friends, is not. I just finished the third of my finals and now I have two left to go, one of which I just finished making my study guide for.
I sort of just want to get out of here. I am lacking motivation to be happy in Hong Kong, and I didn't expect it to end this way.
So bittersweet.
18 May 2008
the beginning of the end
woe is me! classes have ended and its only a few short weeks before finals and the entire semester finishes as well. i can't believe it! part of me is really sad and trying not to be emo while another part of me is pretty excited to go home. it's just that everyone says nothing changes when you go home...everyone is doing the same thing and can't relate to you. and no one wants to hear about your travels over and over, but obviously they're a huge part of your life and who you are....so yes. it might be a difficult transition at home. but i look forward to it anyway.
people have been planning going away parties and get togethers and it's freaking me out a bit. ghoribet already left, katherine and beata are leaving this week...and stupid david leibman is in laos so we all are feeling a little deprived. went to a toga party on thursday, then to jen fo's performance and club 9 on friday, then out to oyster bar, dragon i, cliq, volar and home base last night with my best boys. i love those guys so much!! theyre the best.
so now i have some work ahead of me if i want to do well or at least acceptable on my last three finals and paper. then its done. but im taking two classes this summer so the fun continues!
anyway i'm going to live this up. it's too short.
<3 me
people have been planning going away parties and get togethers and it's freaking me out a bit. ghoribet already left, katherine and beata are leaving this week...and stupid david leibman is in laos so we all are feeling a little deprived. went to a toga party on thursday, then to jen fo's performance and club 9 on friday, then out to oyster bar, dragon i, cliq, volar and home base last night with my best boys. i love those guys so much!! theyre the best.
so now i have some work ahead of me if i want to do well or at least acceptable on my last three finals and paper. then its done. but im taking two classes this summer so the fun continues!
anyway i'm going to live this up. it's too short.
<3 me
07 May 2008
malaysia & singapore
i've recently returned from a trip to singapore and malaysia with an awesome group of friends for a week of traveling...let me recount my experiences!
wednesday: we arrived into singapore late at night without any hotel reservations or an idea of what to do. so we headed to fragrance hotel in the red light district on a private minibus and as we approached, were alarmed at the lines of hookers on the streets. the drive there was pretty as i have decided singapore is quite pristine and fairytale like.
thursday: after a little morning mrt hiatus, rizzardi frances and i made it to the the killaney restaurant to meet alex and kristen. we had some odd jam with our toast and then headed to the bus station to hop a 2.40 ride into malaysia. after we got to jb, it turned out that we had to wait HOURS before the next bus to mersing. so we stayed in the bus station, mainly in mcdonalds, just sitting. we ate some weird sweet potato chips and banana chips and alex bought blood diamond. then we finally boarded the bus and ended up in mersing at omar's backpackers hostel. let me tell you...omar is a big deal in mersing. we had dinner at a pirate cove place with our new friend from england, ben, and then headed to bed. well that didn't work out so well because of the whole nasty-bed-eew-ouch-mosquitos-killing-us-loud-noises-incessant-scary-chanting-burning-hot-with-no-ac issue.
friday: we got up pretty early to catch the boat to tioman island. the ride there was quite comfortable and cold and i slept like a baby. when we arrived, the island was so gorgeous and i couldnt wait to get off the boat. we ended up at abc and stayed i
n a pretty bombass bungalow. the mosquito net wasnt quite big enough and there was no ac but i slept well. we went out on the beach and i drew pretty things in the sand with coral and a rock and eventually the tide rose so we headed in. that night we had curry at some place and brought our duty free wine with. because of the wine, i was able to sleep well. oh and malaysia enjoys stray cats.
saturday: we headed back to mersing and had a little group dispute. frances wanted to still go to taman negara the national park but we decided it was too far to trek in a short amount of time. so after much debate, she headed away and we took a slow, diesel burning, odd van to endau rompin for some jungle time. we were greeted by a pretty cool guy who didnt mind that we didnt have enough m
oney with us...and then sent to our awesome bungalow. since we didnt have electricity until 7pm, we sat around playing spades and other card games in the hot hot heat. then i did some yoga and hopped in the shower. afterwards we went to dinner and had some weird shit and then went to a night walk in the jungle. we saw some cool stuff like tracks, an ant nest, awesome foliage and the like. after being bit by a red ant and wanting to chop my knee off, we headed in for some rest in our COOL air-conditioned room.
sunday: we woke up early to have breakfast which was spicy ramen noodles without soup and then headed out to hike toward a waterfall. after peeling leech after leech off of my feet and alex being bitten by a few through his crocs, we ended up at a beautiful waterfall that was about 70ft high. we jumped into the water and on the way up the pressure killed my ears and the pain lasted for QUITE SOME TIME. like a FULL DAY. owch. then we drove to mersing and then got on a bus to johor bahru and ended up in singapore late at night. we waited for a bazillion years to get the bus to the next customs check point and then hopped a moving bus without paying to get there. we ate at a cafe outside our hotel (yummy indian food) and then headed into our bombass room with the bombass three person bed and watched blood diamond and drank jim beam coolers.
monday: today i found out that singapore is amazingly beautiful! we slept in late and then checked out of our hotel, leaving luggage behind. we took a taxi to the boat quay and had a vietnamese/singaporean lunch next to the water. aferwards, we walked along the quay and headed to the esplanade. on the way we saw the merlions and the second largest ferris wheel in the world! (and rats!) at the esplanade, lisa and i shopped around a bit while alex ventured into the violin shop and played us a few tunes. we then went to st. andrews catherdral which was beautiful but exteremly hot and then spent two hou
rs in the singapore art museum. i actually enjoy art more than i had originally thought! after that we had dinner at delhi, a nice restaurant in little india and then headed off to our night safari. we watched a 'creatures of the night' show and then went on a little safari where i discovered a CAPYBARA which is the world's largest rodent hwich is like a sheep but a hamster. then it was off to the airport!
so overall view of the trip:
malaysia is beautiful, but hot and buggy and has ants that are on steroids. the malay language is interesting.
singapore is awesome, but i would be afriad of being caught chewing gum orsomething. the old architecture in conjunction with the modern buildings is beautiful! the water is gorgeous and the sites are nice but the prices are a little too high.
now its time to explore taiwan. :)
wednesday: we arrived into singapore late at night without any hotel reservations or an idea of what to do. so we headed to fragrance hotel in the red light district on a private minibus and as we approached, were alarmed at the lines of hookers on the streets. the drive there was pretty as i have decided singapore is quite pristine and fairytale like.
thursday: after a little morning mrt hiatus, rizzardi frances and i made it to the the killaney restaurant to meet alex and kristen. we had some odd jam with our toast and then headed to the bus station to hop a 2.40 ride into malaysia. after we got to jb, it turned out that we had to wait HOURS before the next bus to mersing. so we stayed in the bus station, mainly in mcdonalds, just sitting. we ate some weird sweet potato chips and banana chips and alex bought blood diamond. then we finally boarded the bus and ended up in mersing at omar's backpackers hostel. let me tell you...omar is a big deal in mersing. we had dinner at a pirate cove place with our new friend from england, ben, and then headed to bed. well that didn't work out so well because of the whole nasty-bed-eew-ouch-mosquitos-killing-us-loud-noises-incessant-scary-chanting-burning-hot-with-no-ac issue.
friday: we got up pretty early to catch the boat to tioman island. the ride there was quite comfortable and cold and i slept like a baby. when we arrived, the island was so gorgeous and i couldnt wait to get off the boat. we ended up at abc and stayed i
n a pretty bombass bungalow. the mosquito net wasnt quite big enough and there was no ac but i slept well. we went out on the beach and i drew pretty things in the sand with coral and a rock and eventually the tide rose so we headed in. that night we had curry at some place and brought our duty free wine with. because of the wine, i was able to sleep well. oh and malaysia enjoys stray cats.saturday: we headed back to mersing and had a little group dispute. frances wanted to still go to taman negara the national park but we decided it was too far to trek in a short amount of time. so after much debate, she headed away and we took a slow, diesel burning, odd van to endau rompin for some jungle time. we were greeted by a pretty cool guy who didnt mind that we didnt have enough m
oney with us...and then sent to our awesome bungalow. since we didnt have electricity until 7pm, we sat around playing spades and other card games in the hot hot heat. then i did some yoga and hopped in the shower. afterwards we went to dinner and had some weird shit and then went to a night walk in the jungle. we saw some cool stuff like tracks, an ant nest, awesome foliage and the like. after being bit by a red ant and wanting to chop my knee off, we headed in for some rest in our COOL air-conditioned room.sunday: we woke up early to have breakfast which was spicy ramen noodles without soup and then headed out to hike toward a waterfall. after peeling leech after leech off of my feet and alex being bitten by a few through his crocs, we ended up at a beautiful waterfall that was about 70ft high. we jumped into the water and on the way up the pressure killed my ears and the pain lasted for QUITE SOME TIME. like a FULL DAY. owch. then we drove to mersing and then got on a bus to johor bahru and ended up in singapore late at night. we waited for a bazillion years to get the bus to the next customs check point and then hopped a moving bus without paying to get there. we ate at a cafe outside our hotel (yummy indian food) and then headed into our bombass room with the bombass three person bed and watched blood diamond and drank jim beam coolers.
monday: today i found out that singapore is amazingly beautiful! we slept in late and then checked out of our hotel, leaving luggage behind. we took a taxi to the boat quay and had a vietnamese/singaporean lunch next to the water. aferwards, we walked along the quay and headed to the esplanade. on the way we saw the merlions and the second largest ferris wheel in the world! (and rats!) at the esplanade, lisa and i shopped around a bit while alex ventured into the violin shop and played us a few tunes. we then went to st. andrews catherdral which was beautiful but exteremly hot and then spent two hou
rs in the singapore art museum. i actually enjoy art more than i had originally thought! after that we had dinner at delhi, a nice restaurant in little india and then headed off to our night safari. we watched a 'creatures of the night' show and then went on a little safari where i discovered a CAPYBARA which is the world's largest rodent hwich is like a sheep but a hamster. then it was off to the airport!so overall view of the trip:
malaysia is beautiful, but hot and buggy and has ants that are on steroids. the malay language is interesting.
singapore is awesome, but i would be afriad of being caught chewing gum orsomething. the old architecture in conjunction with the modern buildings is beautiful! the water is gorgeous and the sites are nice but the prices are a little too high.
now its time to explore taiwan. :)
26 April 2008
minnesota, hail to thee.
so it's been quite some time (two weeks) since i've written. i guess i've been busy with life!
yoga has been becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life and i am grateful for it. i've discovered that it's my coping mechanism. when my long-term relationship ended last year that's when i first discovered yoga and it healed me for the time being. then i got better and fell out of the yoga loop and only went once in the winter. but since being in hong kong, ive gone about 10 times and each time is a new experience. i gain strength and peace of mind and learn more and more from each teacher. it's the one chance i get to have a quiet mind in this fast-paced stressing environment. it's my escape.
but it only goes so far.
i still have so much here that is on my mind and that im letting drag me down. im longing to go home, but at the same time trying to enjoy the remainder of my time here. i love some of my friends here, but i really want to be with my friends at home. and some people here don't treat me right. they just don't and i'm beginning to finally realize that i deserve more than that. it's interesting how before you pay attention to someone, they strive for it and work so hard to get you to notice them and want to spend time with you all of the time. then you give them an inch and it's over. but it's all so temporary here anyway.
i just need to get back home and get back into the minnesota swing of things.
honestly, i miss mn so much.
yoga has been becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life and i am grateful for it. i've discovered that it's my coping mechanism. when my long-term relationship ended last year that's when i first discovered yoga and it healed me for the time being. then i got better and fell out of the yoga loop and only went once in the winter. but since being in hong kong, ive gone about 10 times and each time is a new experience. i gain strength and peace of mind and learn more and more from each teacher. it's the one chance i get to have a quiet mind in this fast-paced stressing environment. it's my escape.
but it only goes so far.
i still have so much here that is on my mind and that im letting drag me down. im longing to go home, but at the same time trying to enjoy the remainder of my time here. i love some of my friends here, but i really want to be with my friends at home. and some people here don't treat me right. they just don't and i'm beginning to finally realize that i deserve more than that. it's interesting how before you pay attention to someone, they strive for it and work so hard to get you to notice them and want to spend time with you all of the time. then you give them an inch and it's over. but it's all so temporary here anyway.
i just need to get back home and get back into the minnesota swing of things.
honestly, i miss mn so much.
15 April 2008
i love my new yoga headband.
Or "joga" as Seb calls it. (Those Brits...) Anyway, I'm beginning to love yoga as I try out different classes and instructors. I also got a new lululemon (canadian yogawear brand) headband and it works wonders. I don't have hair in my face and I feel awesome! So I wear it all the time, even to bed sometimes...Anyway, I envy one of my teachers because not only is she fit, but she is super down to earth and has really wonderful advice to give about aligning yourself with the present and living in the moment. If you find yourself misaligned, it's okay but realign yourself because NOW is the only time you can enjoy. (Sounds simple but it really isn't....I'm always thinking of the past or looking to the future).
I've started hanging out more wiht Betty and Eva and they are both sweethearts! We have a lot of fun together, do schoolwork together, and a lot of other stuff. Last weekend we went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Soho and then out to Avenue to party it up! Oh and the day before I brought Betty to Soundwill Plaza to have our nails done for her bday present. Anyway, Betty and Eric are hosting a yacht birthday party this Saturday on the harbor and I am so very excited! I love the harbor!
I'm trying to plan one last trip now...even though my parents wouldn't approve. I also want a fancy lifestyle.
That's all.
I've started hanging out more wiht Betty and Eva and they are both sweethearts! We have a lot of fun together, do schoolwork together, and a lot of other stuff. Last weekend we went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Soho and then out to Avenue to party it up! Oh and the day before I brought Betty to Soundwill Plaza to have our nails done for her bday present. Anyway, Betty and Eric are hosting a yacht birthday party this Saturday on the harbor and I am so very excited! I love the harbor!
I'm trying to plan one last trip now...even though my parents wouldn't approve. I also want a fancy lifestyle.
That's all.
09 April 2008
it's getting hot in herre.
That's right! Hong Kong is now the tropical, icky-weathered place I imagined it to be. I'm just glad it took this long for the little country to realize it was off in temperature. I have made use of my air conditioning and it is amazing. One aspect of my res hall that is not so amazing is that there is a cheese thief on the loose that I have dubbed "cheese monster." I wonder what CM's motivation is...hunger, lack of resources to buy own cheese, pure evil...? Joce and I are trying to figure out a trap for said thief. :)
You know how I was feeling so down lately? Well I might not have expressed the feeling quite so explicitly in my blog, but really, I wasn't feeling too hot for a myriad of reasons. But after doing pretty well on a midterm, getting time to myself, working out and doing a little retail therapy, I feel a bit better. I even painted my nails all gold and glittery, something I have found to be very HK. The only problem with gold, glittery nails is that that gold glitter is a bitch to get off. Since I want to paint my nails with silver glitter tonight, I'll leave it on until I get a manicure (I'm treating Betty for her birthday) and then make the manicurist take it off. Bahaha. Take that.
Anyway, I've been thinking about life. It's too big of a topic for me to normally tackle but I feel like I should make some changes in my life to optimize...my existence I guess. Ha. That sounds odd. I am too hard on myself and too easy on other people, mainly those of the opposite sex. I'd like to change that.
What's more is...
I'm starving for home.
I am starting to eat better, which is a somewhat difficult feat in oily, msg-infested Hong Kong.
I love to work out, I'm doing interval training now (per Jeremy).
I want to learn Chinese so bad.
I want to go somewhere...sitting in Hong Kong is boring me a bit.
I love economics and learning about development...I should study that more.
I also should study more, so I am going to go do that.
But anyway, relationships and issues in dealing with them are what's on my mind lately. I don't know where to go, how to go, or if I want to go...from here.
You know how I was feeling so down lately? Well I might not have expressed the feeling quite so explicitly in my blog, but really, I wasn't feeling too hot for a myriad of reasons. But after doing pretty well on a midterm, getting time to myself, working out and doing a little retail therapy, I feel a bit better. I even painted my nails all gold and glittery, something I have found to be very HK. The only problem with gold, glittery nails is that that gold glitter is a bitch to get off. Since I want to paint my nails with silver glitter tonight, I'll leave it on until I get a manicure (I'm treating Betty for her birthday) and then make the manicurist take it off. Bahaha. Take that.
Anyway, I've been thinking about life. It's too big of a topic for me to normally tackle but I feel like I should make some changes in my life to optimize...my existence I guess. Ha. That sounds odd. I am too hard on myself and too easy on other people, mainly those of the opposite sex. I'd like to change that.
What's more is...
I'm starving for home.
I am starting to eat better, which is a somewhat difficult feat in oily, msg-infested Hong Kong.
I love to work out, I'm doing interval training now (per Jeremy).
I want to learn Chinese so bad.
I want to go somewhere...sitting in Hong Kong is boring me a bit.
I love economics and learning about development...I should study that more.
I also should study more, so I am going to go do that.
But anyway, relationships and issues in dealing with them are what's on my mind lately. I don't know where to go, how to go, or if I want to go...from here.
08 April 2008
here in these deep city lights, a girl could get lost tonight
sometimes that is just how i feel, lost...not to mention, overwhelmed and frustrated with hong kong. sometimes, the overcrowded streets where you can barely move or breathe are just too much to handle and after being in mongkok about three times this week, i've definitely had my fair share.
what's more is that last weekend i alienated myself and studied, watched a tv show, and bummed around for the entire weekend while my friends went out. they planned a trip to taiwan that's a boy's deal and doesnt get to involve me. so that kind of sucks since i've wanted to go there for a while but couldn't get anyone to go because they all said 'there's nothing in taiwan.' well shit.
on top of that, not being in minnesota is getting to me...and now that im doing the whole beijing thing, it's going to be even longer before i get that taste of home again. and a bit of a tiff occurred the other night that just makes me stressed out and it is definitely not worth it...obviously in hind sight.
i also failed to plan well so i missed yoga twice...after making it out to causeway bay already...so wasted trips. but i bought some cute clothes today so i guess that is a plus! also i had a midterm yesterday that was fairly easy given that i studied so much and i have one on thursday that i must study for but lack the motivation to. oh and on yoga, i had the teacher from hell the other day because she was pretty harsh and bitchy, but it makes it better i guess when she corrects my posture and such. but there was no music and i was super dehydrated because i didn't drink enough h2o before hot yoga, go me!
anyway that was my complaining for the day.
katharine and i might go to hot yoga tomorrow! jen fo wants to go with sometime too! :)
what's more is that last weekend i alienated myself and studied, watched a tv show, and bummed around for the entire weekend while my friends went out. they planned a trip to taiwan that's a boy's deal and doesnt get to involve me. so that kind of sucks since i've wanted to go there for a while but couldn't get anyone to go because they all said 'there's nothing in taiwan.' well shit.
on top of that, not being in minnesota is getting to me...and now that im doing the whole beijing thing, it's going to be even longer before i get that taste of home again. and a bit of a tiff occurred the other night that just makes me stressed out and it is definitely not worth it...obviously in hind sight.
i also failed to plan well so i missed yoga twice...after making it out to causeway bay already...so wasted trips. but i bought some cute clothes today so i guess that is a plus! also i had a midterm yesterday that was fairly easy given that i studied so much and i have one on thursday that i must study for but lack the motivation to. oh and on yoga, i had the teacher from hell the other day because she was pretty harsh and bitchy, but it makes it better i guess when she corrects my posture and such. but there was no music and i was super dehydrated because i didn't drink enough h2o before hot yoga, go me!
anyway that was my complaining for the day.
katharine and i might go to hot yoga tomorrow! jen fo wants to go with sometime too! :)
29 March 2008
my country
i promise that when i get back to hk i won't do these recaps so often. it's just that in a third world country on vacation, it's not that easy to have a good internet connection. so here we go!
24/3: we woke up super early and headed to the airport for hue. when we got to hue, we met our tour guide and immediately started touring. we saw the same things ive seen before but having and english speaking guide was key. we went to two emperors tombs, the imperial city, thien mu pagoda and to a traditional folk song show boat ride. it was a lot of touring temples and things that began to look the same. but the architecture and the use of yin and yang within it are pretty neat-o. or as jbo and i would say, super cool.
25/3: we left beautiful hue for da nang and our tour guide immediately brought us to hoi an. there we toured a silk factory (complete with worm farms and all) and i felt bad for the worms, even though they are just worms. but they could have been butterflies instead of being boiled for their cocoon. shit man. then we went to the old village of hoi and saw some old house (really that's all it was to me), the japanese covered bridge, a chinese assembly hall (which was neato frito) and then had coffee and pancakes on the water. i also met an old man that i fell in love with and so i gave him some money because he was awesome and because i took his picture. then it was dinner (i also fell in love with the waitr) and that's all.
26/3: marble mountain! it was only 200 steps but we had pitstops to admire buddha statues. then we went to the marble factory where they make tons of crazy elaborate statues and i bought a little buddha for my room. i think this one is siddhartha, the original. then we went to the museum of the cham people in vietnam and looked at their relics or artifacts or whatever. then it was time for yet another flight, this time from danang to hanoi. from hanoi we drove 3 hours to ha long bay and ate dinner. michael and i walked through the night market, had fruit at club 18, got foot massages and went to sleep.
27/3: our tour guide, nicknamed leo for his lion eyes, brought us to our private boat in ha long bay. we cruised and spelunked for four hours and had lunch on the boat. the scenery there is just so amazing, i could go back a few more times. i could do without the bat caves though, oh god. well we drove back to hanoi and went to the fiditour office to book another tour to sapa. kevin met us at the internet cafe we go to and brought us to have cha ca at cha ca la vong on cha ca st. HA. it was so yummy! then we booked it to the train station, hopped on le train and went to sleep. exciting night, i know.
28/3: sapa turned out to be amazing! we sat in the hotel for an hour or two before visiting cat ca village and trekking through the terraced rice paddies. alogn the paddies there were tons of baby pigs and goats and cows and buffalo and chickens and doggies. i love baby animals. or even animals in general. i sat next to a buffalo and he didnt even get mad. :) then we went to a mountain and got an awesome view of the city of sapa which is more like hills and houses and awesomeness. the climb wasn't too bad and the view was very rewarding. on the way up we met two ostriches, so cool. they are definitely dinosaurs. i love dinosaurs. then we had the rest of the night free so we walked around the market and called it a super early night.
29/3: city tour at 9:30 and it only lasted like 30 minutes. so after being bombarded by hmong ladies selling stuff, i pinky swore two of them that i would buy something later on. those tricky ladies. then jeremy asked the guide to take us to a valley or anything we could hike through. so jeremy, michael and i jumped down a bunch of terraces and it was sort of a difficult task because each one was almost my size and that's a far jump for that many jumps. michael decided to head back up to the village and i was determined on going further so jeremy and i climbed down and ran into a tourist on the path. the nice guy from australia had a guide with him and let us follow them to another village, but we only went half way because of time constraints. we trekked to a small waterfall type river thing and sat in it on top of rocks to cool our feet off. afterwards, jeremy and i hiked back by ourselves and boy was i tired and dehydrated! we got to the top, had a bite at a cafe michael was at and then headed to another village. we saw a house of one of the villagers and they had buffalo meat and hooves just chillin out. (eew).
the place was super dirty, there was an open fire and tons of mosquitos and smelliness. i can't imagine living like that. i suppose they don't know anything else and would think our way of living is absolutely nuts too. who needs all that luxury? (i like it) then we attempted to go in a cave but these little shits wanted to charge us for it and we didn't pay because its a public cave and so the shits turned the lights out on us. the only good thing aout the cave (besides it being a cave) was that it was freezing cold.
afterwards we headed back to lao cai and had dinner. we had to spend some time before the train departed so we spend an hour on the computer, which happens to make time pass by quite quickly. all aboard and we went to bed.
30/3: shit shit shit. it's now 8:30am, ive been up for three and a half hours and i am tired, groggy, bug bitten to the max, sunburned for the first time ever, smelly, sweaty, a cockroach just ran by my hand and i can't check into the guesthouse until 12 so i cannot shower for another 3.5 hours. fuck. there are these really lame tourists here who are fighting with mgmt over 6000d which is like....idk, less than 50 cents. and also i want to put my contacts in because sweaty glasses are gross. and my pants are ripped from trekking into that damn cave yesterday. so now i am crabby. but on the UPside, i just spent like an hour talking to nancy and although i now miss her more, i love her so much and it was a good talk! :) linda and eric attempted to gchat with me but theyre stupid joint account pissed me off and then they had to go back to work and it was 'game time' for eric. maybe ill call kevin. i dont like hanoi today! :( wahhhh.
24/3: we woke up super early and headed to the airport for hue. when we got to hue, we met our tour guide and immediately started touring. we saw the same things ive seen before but having and english speaking guide was key. we went to two emperors tombs, the imperial city, thien mu pagoda and to a traditional folk song show boat ride. it was a lot of touring temples and things that began to look the same. but the architecture and the use of yin and yang within it are pretty neat-o. or as jbo and i would say, super cool.
25/3: we left beautiful hue for da nang and our tour guide immediately brought us to hoi an. there we toured a silk factory (complete with worm farms and all) and i felt bad for the worms, even though they are just worms. but they could have been butterflies instead of being boiled for their cocoon. shit man. then we went to the old village of hoi and saw some old house (really that's all it was to me), the japanese covered bridge, a chinese assembly hall (which was neato frito) and then had coffee and pancakes on the water. i also met an old man that i fell in love with and so i gave him some money because he was awesome and because i took his picture. then it was dinner (i also fell in love with the waitr) and that's all.
26/3: marble mountain! it was only 200 steps but we had pitstops to admire buddha statues. then we went to the marble factory where they make tons of crazy elaborate statues and i bought a little buddha for my room. i think this one is siddhartha, the original. then we went to the museum of the cham people in vietnam and looked at their relics or artifacts or whatever. then it was time for yet another flight, this time from danang to hanoi. from hanoi we drove 3 hours to ha long bay and ate dinner. michael and i walked through the night market, had fruit at club 18, got foot massages and went to sleep.
27/3: our tour guide, nicknamed leo for his lion eyes, brought us to our private boat in ha long bay. we cruised and spelunked for four hours and had lunch on the boat. the scenery there is just so amazing, i could go back a few more times. i could do without the bat caves though, oh god. well we drove back to hanoi and went to the fiditour office to book another tour to sapa. kevin met us at the internet cafe we go to and brought us to have cha ca at cha ca la vong on cha ca st. HA. it was so yummy! then we booked it to the train station, hopped on le train and went to sleep. exciting night, i know.
28/3: sapa turned out to be amazing! we sat in the hotel for an hour or two before visiting cat ca village and trekking through the terraced rice paddies. alogn the paddies there were tons of baby pigs and goats and cows and buffalo and chickens and doggies. i love baby animals. or even animals in general. i sat next to a buffalo and he didnt even get mad. :) then we went to a mountain and got an awesome view of the city of sapa which is more like hills and houses and awesomeness. the climb wasn't too bad and the view was very rewarding. on the way up we met two ostriches, so cool. they are definitely dinosaurs. i love dinosaurs. then we had the rest of the night free so we walked around the market and called it a super early night.
29/3: city tour at 9:30 and it only lasted like 30 minutes. so after being bombarded by hmong ladies selling stuff, i pinky swore two of them that i would buy something later on. those tricky ladies. then jeremy asked the guide to take us to a valley or anything we could hike through. so jeremy, michael and i jumped down a bunch of terraces and it was sort of a difficult task because each one was almost my size and that's a far jump for that many jumps. michael decided to head back up to the village and i was determined on going further so jeremy and i climbed down and ran into a tourist on the path. the nice guy from australia had a guide with him and let us follow them to another village, but we only went half way because of time constraints. we trekked to a small waterfall type river thing and sat in it on top of rocks to cool our feet off. afterwards, jeremy and i hiked back by ourselves and boy was i tired and dehydrated! we got to the top, had a bite at a cafe michael was at and then headed to another village. we saw a house of one of the villagers and they had buffalo meat and hooves just chillin out. (eew).
the place was super dirty, there was an open fire and tons of mosquitos and smelliness. i can't imagine living like that. i suppose they don't know anything else and would think our way of living is absolutely nuts too. who needs all that luxury? (i like it) then we attempted to go in a cave but these little shits wanted to charge us for it and we didn't pay because its a public cave and so the shits turned the lights out on us. the only good thing aout the cave (besides it being a cave) was that it was freezing cold.
afterwards we headed back to lao cai and had dinner. we had to spend some time before the train departed so we spend an hour on the computer, which happens to make time pass by quite quickly. all aboard and we went to bed.
30/3: shit shit shit. it's now 8:30am, ive been up for three and a half hours and i am tired, groggy, bug bitten to the max, sunburned for the first time ever, smelly, sweaty, a cockroach just ran by my hand and i can't check into the guesthouse until 12 so i cannot shower for another 3.5 hours. fuck. there are these really lame tourists here who are fighting with mgmt over 6000d which is like....idk, less than 50 cents. and also i want to put my contacts in because sweaty glasses are gross. and my pants are ripped from trekking into that damn cave yesterday. so now i am crabby. but on the UPside, i just spent like an hour talking to nancy and although i now miss her more, i love her so much and it was a good talk! :) linda and eric attempted to gchat with me but theyre stupid joint account pissed me off and then they had to go back to work and it was 'game time' for eric. maybe ill call kevin. i dont like hanoi today! :( wahhhh.
23 March 2008
bats, rats, snakes & dogs
it's the fourth day of my spring break trip in vietnam and i'm loving it...so here are a few recaps and impressions of my love, vietnam.
thursday: we arrived in hanoi at about 7pm and after looking around at flight prices and hotel information, we hopped into a cab and told the driver to bring us to 'city gate hotel' in the old quarter. after being lost for some time, he made a phone call and pulled over to the side of the street about a minute later. (sketch) the hotel owner came to the car and opened the door, presenting a business card of the hotel we were looking for...yet both jeremy and i couldn't seem to find the actual hotel we were supposed to be staying at. the manager found out we didn't have reservations and directed us to the sister-hotel, sunflower. we picked a room for $15 a night and then we went to dinner at a jazz club and walked around hoan kiem lake. hoan kiem lake at night is not that great. do you know why it's not that great? because BATS SWARM overhead and RATS crawl on the ground. RATS.
friday: we slept in until 12pm and then headed to a cafe for caphe sua da and some breakfast. afterwards we bought a ton of dvds for dirt cheap (mistake buying at the beginning of the trip since our bags were already heavy...) and then we walked around hoan kiem once again. hoan kiem is surrounded by stunning trees that are hundreds of years old and some dip down into the water. anyway, we walked to the pagoda in the middle of the lake and took a few pictures before heading to an internet cafe where i had soda chanh. after that and after being played by the hotel owner, we got on a plane en route to saigon. tien, ha, huy and co were eagerly awaiting us (so cute) and took us to our driver (same one we had last january) and then found us a hotel. then it was night night time.
saturday: the day started at noon again. hey, we're on vacation right? so we went to eat at the yummy restaurant that my mom was telling me about and that my dad loves eating at and who did we see? julie, jb & sam from hkust! then we went to the reunification palace, this time with an english speaking guide, which made it much more interesting. after that we headed to the war remnants museum that seemed to demonize the americans with photos of results of agent orange and phosphorous bombs. there were also two jars of preserved, deformed fetuses that were affected by agent orange and it was difficult to look at. bleh.
then my family dropped us off at the hotel (tan my dinh) and kevin, jeremy, michael and i went to ben thanh market to look around and the boys bought some snacks and we sat down to eat bun xeo which was actually very good for being at a dirty vendor. then we went to kevin's friend's house (baller) and had a beer before heading out to eat dinner in the big city! after a yummy dinner of ca ri tom (shrimp curry) we went to the 23rd floor of the sheraton and had a drink that lasted two hours while we overlooked the city. i never knew saigon was so immense! we headed to the club called bounce where we had free bottles, fruit, and perrier (compliments of kevin's buddy) and then headed back home for some rest.
sunday: we woke up at 8ish and had breakfast at the hotel. tien, huy and huy's brother came to meet us and then we picked kevin up and headed straight to cu chi. after about an hour or so, we arrived in cu chi and they actually charge foreigners more as tourists are seen as supporting the attraction while locals are there for nationalism strengthening. we toured the village and saw some traps and things and then headed over to watch some slanted view of cu chi movie. it was so awful! i felt brainwashed. "the cute and gentle of the fields girl became a hero for killing american soldiers" "american soldiers bombed our people, our schools, our pots and pans, even our buddhas" "he became a war hero and received three awards. one award for killing american soldiers, one award for shooting american planes, and one for..." (i forgot what the last was for, but im sure it was something against the americans)
after the movie that we ditched before it was done, we went into the tunnels that were extremely small, even after some were 'widened for western tourists.' we entered the underground through tiny holes where we had to put our arms in the air to fit through and then traveled 100 meters in the dark, dusty, dirty, not to mention TINY, tunnels. these tunnels are miles and miles long (the whole thing is about 200km) and they're so genius (if you want to call it that). i couldn't believe that the vietcong/nlf could dig these, even though it took them about 17 years total. their booby traps were scary too. they have punji sticks at the bottom of the traps (which are sharpened bamboo sticks) sticking up with feces, poision, or other contaminants coating the tips of them so that infection would quickly spread to the americans who were pierced by them. frack.
after cu chi we went to tien's house and had the best lunch ever. we had clams, shrimp, bun beo, rau muong, bread & curry, watermelon and drinks. yum! michael liked the bread, jeremy liked the squid...success! afterwards we got dropped off, which brings us to this point right now. on the way to getting dropped off we saw at least 25 weddings being held because apparently saturday and sunday are the only available days for workers to get married so they all do it in the same area of saigon at the same time. (who gets married during the weekday anyway?)
tomorrow we leave at 5:40am to get on a plane to hue and start our tour of the central part of vietnam! we have a private guide for hue, hoi an, da nang and ha long for the next four days, it's going to be awesome.
until then han gap lai! (see you later)
thursday: we arrived in hanoi at about 7pm and after looking around at flight prices and hotel information, we hopped into a cab and told the driver to bring us to 'city gate hotel' in the old quarter. after being lost for some time, he made a phone call and pulled over to the side of the street about a minute later. (sketch) the hotel owner came to the car and opened the door, presenting a business card of the hotel we were looking for...yet both jeremy and i couldn't seem to find the actual hotel we were supposed to be staying at. the manager found out we didn't have reservations and directed us to the sister-hotel, sunflower. we picked a room for $15 a night and then we went to dinner at a jazz club and walked around hoan kiem lake. hoan kiem lake at night is not that great. do you know why it's not that great? because BATS SWARM overhead and RATS crawl on the ground. RATS.
friday: we slept in until 12pm and then headed to a cafe for caphe sua da and some breakfast. afterwards we bought a ton of dvds for dirt cheap (mistake buying at the beginning of the trip since our bags were already heavy...) and then we walked around hoan kiem once again. hoan kiem is surrounded by stunning trees that are hundreds of years old and some dip down into the water. anyway, we walked to the pagoda in the middle of the lake and took a few pictures before heading to an internet cafe where i had soda chanh. after that and after being played by the hotel owner, we got on a plane en route to saigon. tien, ha, huy and co were eagerly awaiting us (so cute) and took us to our driver (same one we had last january) and then found us a hotel. then it was night night time.
saturday: the day started at noon again. hey, we're on vacation right? so we went to eat at the yummy restaurant that my mom was telling me about and that my dad loves eating at and who did we see? julie, jb & sam from hkust! then we went to the reunification palace, this time with an english speaking guide, which made it much more interesting. after that we headed to the war remnants museum that seemed to demonize the americans with photos of results of agent orange and phosphorous bombs. there were also two jars of preserved, deformed fetuses that were affected by agent orange and it was difficult to look at. bleh.
then my family dropped us off at the hotel (tan my dinh) and kevin, jeremy, michael and i went to ben thanh market to look around and the boys bought some snacks and we sat down to eat bun xeo which was actually very good for being at a dirty vendor. then we went to kevin's friend's house (baller) and had a beer before heading out to eat dinner in the big city! after a yummy dinner of ca ri tom (shrimp curry) we went to the 23rd floor of the sheraton and had a drink that lasted two hours while we overlooked the city. i never knew saigon was so immense! we headed to the club called bounce where we had free bottles, fruit, and perrier (compliments of kevin's buddy) and then headed back home for some rest.
sunday: we woke up at 8ish and had breakfast at the hotel. tien, huy and huy's brother came to meet us and then we picked kevin up and headed straight to cu chi. after about an hour or so, we arrived in cu chi and they actually charge foreigners more as tourists are seen as supporting the attraction while locals are there for nationalism strengthening. we toured the village and saw some traps and things and then headed over to watch some slanted view of cu chi movie. it was so awful! i felt brainwashed. "the cute and gentle of the fields girl became a hero for killing american soldiers" "american soldiers bombed our people, our schools, our pots and pans, even our buddhas" "he became a war hero and received three awards. one award for killing american soldiers, one award for shooting american planes, and one for..." (i forgot what the last was for, but im sure it was something against the americans)
after the movie that we ditched before it was done, we went into the tunnels that were extremely small, even after some were 'widened for western tourists.' we entered the underground through tiny holes where we had to put our arms in the air to fit through and then traveled 100 meters in the dark, dusty, dirty, not to mention TINY, tunnels. these tunnels are miles and miles long (the whole thing is about 200km) and they're so genius (if you want to call it that). i couldn't believe that the vietcong/nlf could dig these, even though it took them about 17 years total. their booby traps were scary too. they have punji sticks at the bottom of the traps (which are sharpened bamboo sticks) sticking up with feces, poision, or other contaminants coating the tips of them so that infection would quickly spread to the americans who were pierced by them. frack.
after cu chi we went to tien's house and had the best lunch ever. we had clams, shrimp, bun beo, rau muong, bread & curry, watermelon and drinks. yum! michael liked the bread, jeremy liked the squid...success! afterwards we got dropped off, which brings us to this point right now. on the way to getting dropped off we saw at least 25 weddings being held because apparently saturday and sunday are the only available days for workers to get married so they all do it in the same area of saigon at the same time. (who gets married during the weekday anyway?)
tomorrow we leave at 5:40am to get on a plane to hue and start our tour of the central part of vietnam! we have a private guide for hue, hoi an, da nang and ha long for the next four days, it's going to be awesome.
until then han gap lai! (see you later)
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