I'm about 48 hours away from leaving my house for my graduation trip.
I don't like having long count downs, you know - 17 weeks until [enter super fun activity here]. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just makes me feel old. Like my life isn't really worth living until then. 48 hours, I can deal with not doing much except running around like a maniac to prepare for my trip.
So I'm a travel junkie. This started when I had a work term in Boston (first time I stepped foot off of Canadian soil!), and then my 4 months of exchange in Singapore consisted of various adventures in Malaysia (Kuala Lampur and Taman Negara), Indonesia, Thailand (Bangkok and Krabi), Vietnam and Cambodia. Major, major dosage of traveling for myself, a newbie. Then a couple of short trips, with my family to Cuba and Montreal last summer. Tres fun.
Traveling felt much like having my eyes opened for the first time to all the wonders I had no idea existed in the world. I felt so naive and ignorant. So insignificant, yet realize it is people -- individual much like you and I -- who shape the history of our world. Since it was my first time traveling, I was learning a lot. I was lucky to have friends who have had some experience traveling before, and they were equipped with Lonely Planet guides and first aid kits, and other essentials.
I also learned a lot myself. I learned that I loved learning about different cultures and also about where I came from. My dad was born in Vietnam and my mom was born in Cambodia. I was blessed to have the opportunity to visit their homeland.
I learned (not just believed) how fortunate I was to be born in Canada and have so many opportunities (freedom, women's rights, education - to name a few) that many people can only dream about. I saw -- first hand -- how fortunate I was to be given the opportunity to be multi-lingual, and how there are so many languages I want to learn. I also learned how much culture is reflected in the languages of different countries. In my feeble attempt to learn Vietnamese.
I learned that no matter where I go, no matter how many cool sites I see, the best part of journey is coming home and being able to share it with the people I cared about. My family and friends.
I also learned a lot about myself as a traveler. I learned that I am definitely not a country hopper. I would much rather spend more time in one single country and immersing myself in it's culture than seeing many countries in a short amount of time. It feels unjust for me to spend only a couple of days in country and claiming I have "been there."
I also don't like to herded around like cattle. You know those, like those Chinese tours, where they stop at a city and you have 15 minutes to explore. Then you're herded back onto the bus for another 10 hour ride. Yea. Not my cup of tea. It feels unjust to the country I am visiting and to the people who are visiting.
So unless the place I'm traveling to is unsafe without a guide (ie. trekking in the Himilayas, Central and South American (?) ), I usually try to stay away from tours. Another exception is when I want to learn a lot the history, especially at historically significant sites. I can only get so much from staring at rubble :)
I will keep updating this blog with stories of my travels, so check back if you are interested. In the meantime, here are some of the things on our itinerary:
Watching Egyptian Belly dancing. Maybe take some classes? So beautiful!
Visiting the port of Alexandria. Named after Alexander the Great from the Greek Empire.
Of course, the Pyramids of Giza. I have to ride a camel here.
Visiting the Western Desserts. Ever heard of sand surfing? What else would you do in a dessert, right?
Diving in the Red Sea. I heard they have awesome wreck dives. Good thing I know how to swim this time around!
Visiting Mount Sinai. Isn't this gorgeous?
Visiting the mosques and museums of Cairo.
Visiting Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Hello, Ramses the Great and King Tut. King Tut was actually a very insignificant figure in terms of contribution to the Egyptian History, but more to come on that later.
Of course, I have to ride a felucca along the Nile. This looks so peaceful and gorgeous.
_____________________________________________
Update: I just transferred some of my old posts (from my exchange term last year) of my travels to this blog. I also added some more pictures -- some mine, others googled. I also realize my grammar was not-so-good, so please bear with me. The links in this post link to the respective entries. Or you can do what I would do, and just look at the pictures! Enjoy =)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Count down to Egypt and Germany begins ...
Singapore [archive]
It was nice and sunny this morning, and now its raining again. The rain keeps it less humid, so I'm not complaining much, except on the weekends, when I want to go to the beach.
I'm still just settling into classes. Haven't been to my Viet one or Japanese one yet. Viet doesn't start until next week. My civil engineering classes seem alright so far, taking water resource, construction project management, and CE materials and steel structural systems.
There seems to be so much going on on campus, much more than waterloo. there are so many plays, production, sports. Or maybe at waterloo I just don't see them advertised. There is definitely a lot of student body spirit, here.
This is a view from my old apartment.
The cars here -- like everything else -- are so clean! Seriously, they all look like they've just been driven off the dealership lot! When I was living off campus, I saw people wiping them down every morning. Wiping the dew off, I guess. I later learned that its so expensive here to own a car -- since they are trying promote more public transportation and limit the number of cars sold every year.
I heard that for even a very basic car, such as the Honda civic, costs about $70K Singapore (conversion rate is about $1cnd = $1.3 sing). So basically, if you can afford a car, you can afford to pay someone to wipe it down every morning! amazing. I think we wash our car every month or so at home! Even less in the winters.
The people here are very serious about what they do. Whether it be sweeping the sidewalks or cleaning the garbage. They seem to always be busy and concentrating on whatever it is they are doing, and happy to be doing what they are doing.
Oh yea, there are so many more Dove and Oil of Olay products here than Canada. Or maybe I should say different. I guess they must be the Asian division or something, because they seem to be catered towards Asian women.
For instance, I bought a shower gel, and its got "pearl powder known to help whiten skin naturally. Its rich and creamy foam, with nourishing milks proteins, gently cleanses away dull dark skin to reveal smooth, fair skin." and they have the same stuff for face too. Some of the more strong "whitening" products are really expensive. its funny how in North America, we have bronzers and self tanners, and here we have whitening products. lol...
People text like crazy -- or SMS as its usually referred to. Its cheaper than calling, so thats what they do. I'm getting quite good at it now. Yea right. I am so glad that my phone has the feature where it will guess the word. It would drive me crazy if I had to press the button 2 or 3 times just to get the letter I want. I'm lazy. I know.
Time to do some hw. Apparently, its supposed to be pretty competitive here since everything is bell curved. Since I've missed the first week of lectures, I should do some reading. Course notes are so cheap here. I think you really just pay for the paper. And books are pretty cheap too. I might buy my books here. My concrete texts (though i havent bought it yet) was only $44 sing, which is about $35 cnd! Wow. Its really ridiculous how much we're ripped off in Canada!
I finally get to meet the people in my res with a res party later tonight. Apparently here, if you have your door open, it doesn't really mean, "hey come meet me..." It just means that they have their door open. I learned that when I was being friendly to the first person who opened their door on my floor. She seemed to be confused as to why I was introducing myself, and it was a somewhat awkward conversation. Lesson learned.
The food. I'm in heaven. Seriously. So delicious.
There are so many malls here. There really isn't that much to do in Singapore. So people shop. A lot. If you can afford to, that it. Here are some pictures along Orchard Rd. The other picture is taken in Vivo City. It looks much like a playground with stores in it, due to all the bright colours.
Kuala Lampur, Malaysia [archive]
Thursday 19 Jan 2007:
Me and the NTU gang meet at Woodlands MRT station to take the local bus to get into
Turns out we could’ve taken the 170 bus, which would’ve taken us directly into the Lakan bus terminal. The bus ride into Malacca was about 3 – 4 hours (I forget) and the bus was pretty comfy, although a bit cold!
When we get into
We had some trouble finding a place to stay, be eventually found one, the Gold Leaf Hotel. The ride there was a bit sketchy at one point, the cab driver took this side road, which just looked like a deserted alleyway at 11:30PM, and our first thought was, “Oh, great, he’s meeting up with some people and going to rob us.” I was really scared! In the morning when we walked by it, it just turned out to be a construction site.
We paid RM20 per person, for 2 rooms, which worked out to be about $6 per person CND. ($1 sing = RM 2.26, and $1cnd = $1.3 sing).
Friday 20 Jan 2007:
After an unrestful night of sleep, we’re up and embarking on our Malaysian journey at about 9 30AM.
We head for coffee at the Discovery Cafe, which didn’t have too much to see / experience, but coffee is always good. The Discovery Café was mentioned in the our guidebooks, so I think that’s where some of its tourism comes in.
The server was quite intrigued when we said we were from
We head to
We took a walk around china town, there were many old temples there. Almost all the stores we passed by had people burning the gold and silver paper, or hell’s money for their ancestors. The temples were quite busy, and the smell of incenses was everywhere. There were even some incenses that were taller than me! They sure let out a lot of heat!
We got a little tired of Malacca, a lot of things were not open until later in the afternoon due to a Muslim religious event. We also wanted some beach experience, and it was a perfect day for the beach.
Asking around, we get directions and suggestions to head to Tan Juan Kling, which wasn’t in any of our guidebooks. Taking a cab there, we check into the “motel.” A double bunk bed room, for the five of us. Poor Steve sacrificed and took the floor.
We drop off our stuff, change into swimsuits, and head out to the beach. The water was perfect, and the sand was hot. There were a lot of people fishing around the area. We later find out, from walking along the road that fishing is a way of life for a lot of the people in this village.
This is a picture of Drew and some of the local kids. They had a jolly good time playing with a piece of plastic while Bernice and I were in the internet cafe their parent's owned sorting out some stuff.
We didn’t really have any meals during the day, just a series of snacks along the way. Committing to a meal would have meant missing out on all the other good food. People were just selling things along the street, such as fried bananas and various other little bites. We stayed on the beach and watched the sunset and it was beautiful. A perfect ending to a perfect day on the beach.
Saturday 21 Jan 2007:
Another night of bad sleep, but we were up to hear the roosters crowing, and it was a beautiful morning at the beach. After a breakfast of roti, we head to Kuala Lampur.
This is a picture of me and a local mosque.
KL was quite the experience. First stop was
This is a shot of the marketplace in Chinatown. Crazy, I tell you. But I loved it.
I did score a pretty good deal on a purse with Bernice :). Spent pretty much the entire day there, and it didn’t really stop raining.
Sunday 22 Jan 2007:
There was a mall KLCC right next to it, and it was so ritzy. I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between that and the Eaton Centre really. Or any other Canadian or American mall for that matter.
We also went to the KL aquarium, which was pretty neat. Nothing amazing, but it was nice.
We decided to stay later, and have a nice dinner at a nice restaurant, you know, without people screaming at you for what to order and stuff. We had really good service at this place called the Royal China Restaurant or something like that. And then we went to see the
We leave on the last bus, a sketchy, but cheap, to get to
Lucky for us we took everything! Cuz when we got out of customs the other side, the bus was gone! There was about 20 other buses waiting, but none of them was ours…
So we hitch a ride off another bus passing by so we can get to the other side of customs, and then we wait for about an hour for the transit buses to start running, and then take that home. HOME, finally. And I was able to shower, and make it for my 9AM class.
So this concludes my little adventure!
Bintan Island, Indonesia [archive]
So 2 weeks ago, a bunch of us head over to Bintan Island in Indonesia. The gang included: Bernice, Phil, Steve, Akhil, Andrew and myself :). We take the MRT down, and then a bus to get to the ferry terminal, and then a ferry to Bintan. The ferry ride was nauseating, but I managed to fall asleep, or else things could have gotten unpleasant. :P
Akhil and Andrew had already arrived the night before and had sent us a taxi to take us to our "resort" on the beach. There were so many taxi's haggling us to go with them. I believe they also charge a very high rate. It was quite a long drive, and at times dangerous, but perhaps that's how they drive in Indonesia.
I was scared when our driver tried to pass the truck in front of us, by going in to the oncoming traffic lane, and a big truck was heading straight towards us!
Upon arriving at the beach, we split up into 2 rooms, a 2 bedroom room by the water, and a 4 bed room by the shore. I wouldnt feel safe if it were just bernice and I in a room, it definitely felt a lot safer with the guys.
The beach was nice, but there wasn't too much to do, so it was relaxing just spending time lying on the hammock and chilling. Played a bit of volleyball, and I haven't done that in a while! We also met a bunch other NUS exchange students who happened to be staying at the same place.
Dinner was really great, we had chicken curry. It was interesting, we have to order our food about an hour or so before, that way they can go to the market and buy the ingredients and cook it. talk about service! :) not to mention it was delicious! super yummie.
The next day, we hired a driver and car (it is difficult to get around without a car, the area is very rural) and take a little tour of some of the touristy parts of the island. We went to the fishing marketplace, which was mostly on posts elevated about muddy areas.
Some homes just sold foods, and some trinkets at their front doors. Although the houses were very simply built, when I looked in the front doors, they all seemed to be very neat and tidy.
We went to visit a temple, and a small waterfall. The waterfall was very small, but nice, I didn't think it was anything too special. When we got to the entrance way, there was a table there, and this lady just went to sit at the table and collected money for us going into to look at the waterfall. I am not even sure if they owned the place, but they just collected money from it.
It was a 2km hike to the top of the waterfall, but we couldn't make it in our flip flops. Some of my friends went the following weekend, and they went to the top, but they said there was nothing to see at the top. all they got from the 2 hr hike was a bunch of mosquitoes bites!
They said they thought there would be a big waterfall at the top, but there was nothing really to see. the waterfall view was better at the bottom.
I must say that the food in Indonesia was not as good as what we had in Malaysia, and definitely not as safe. There were only hawker stands where we were, and the food had really been sitting out all day at the warm temperature, so I don't think its very safe to eat.
We didn't really have a choice -- besides starving. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or really sick...
Indonesia was definitely an experience. i'll always remember the houses there, all built on posts in the muddy lands, even though the outside is simple and poor, the inside of the houses (the front doors were open) were always clean and tidy. the people seemed to be happy doing what they were doing, and relaxed. the owner of our resort, used a type writer and a coloured peice of paper to make a business card for us. its hard to imagine that just an hour and a half ferry ride away, is Singapore. Indonesia seems to be a completely different world.
O yea... this part was disturbing! Andrew told me that when he informed our guide that he had more friends coming, the guide asked if there were any women coming, because he said that had a place that they might be interested in going.
See, I thought that he meant, if women were coming they wouldn't go since it might be too tiring or dangerous. However, what he meant was that he was going to take them to prostitutes! I was quite shocked when I found that out.
On our way back to catch the ferry to take us back to Singapore, we passed by what was downtown of the little island. I wasn't sure what to say, when one of the locals trying to get money from us, told us that a certain street was like their equivalent of Orchard Rd.
Orchard rd is this fancy shopping street in Singapore, and its very clean and fancy, like much of Singapore, so it was quite a shock when this person compared this old, run down street to Orchard.
Indonesia was a good experience, and I am glad i went. I am sure the mosquitoes really liked us as well, since we were bitten alive during our sleep. I will always remember its spicy food. I was so glad to not eat curry when we came back! :) I still like curry, but the same tasting curry for an entire weekend, as very high spice levels, is a bit too much for me!
Bangkok, Thailand [archive]
First stop of our trip, Phil, Bernice, Akhil and I are on the same flight to Bangkok, Thailand. The flight went smoothly, we took TigerAirways, budget airline. One of the things I am starting to notice here in Asia is the emphasis on class differences here.
For instance, there was a separate terminal built just for the budget airlines, which was painted in bright yellow, compared to the chic and modern look of the rest of Changi Airport.
They all had packs, except for me, but I manage to cram almost 2 weeks worth of clothes and other daily necessities into my good old Adidas backpack! I was quite impressed with myself! ;)
We take a taxi and head over to Khao San -- backpackers central in Bangkok-- and find a hostel for the night, and head for some food. Pad Thai street style is very different than the Pad Thai I was used to in Canada -- I prefer the westernized version.
Dessert was banana and chocolate roti. Yummie.
I had one mission in Thailand - to buy Thai pants! I really haven't done much shopping since coming to Singapore, but these pants were a must have for me! They are so comfy, and breezy.
After a good nights rest, Akhil met up with his travel group the next morning, and Phil, Bernice and I start our 10 day trip together. We spent the next day doing touristy things around Bangkok, including visiting the Emperial Palace and the Reclining Buddha at the temple.
The temples (especially at the palace) were beautiful. I really admire the architecture and the amount of detailing in each of the temples. All the outside of the temples, and statues were covered in colourful gems and crystals. The walls had murals depicting a story of a king or prince... I overheard a guide telling this. :)
We didn't get scammed too many times, just a few, that we knew of. There was the pigeon scam when we were walking through the park. Some people were offering us these packages, and I have learned to just cross my arms, wear my sunglasses, smile and keep walking.
Sometimes people try to thrust something into your hands, and then demand money for, so I'm always weary. Anyway, the people were trying to get us to feed the pigeons. Bernice and I walked away, but Phil stayed behind, and fed the pigeons, and was later demanded to pay $5 US -- for bird food! We don't even spend that much on people food!
Walking around and sweating the entire day, I could foresee that I would be very tanned by the end of this trip... :P
After the temple and palace, we head back to the marketplace for some food and relaxing. I also searched for my Thai pants! The people at the marketplace, and the temple, I found weren't too friendly.
The ticket guy at the temple said something then laughed at Bernice, and I was called stupid by one of the ladies selling clothes! Not to mention this other guy that got pissed off at us cuz he thought we were taking too long to decide on which pants to buy!
I am sure that not all of Thailand is like this, because where we were staying was very touristy. It's just unfortunate that those had to part of the memories we had of Thailand.
That night, we relax, and order fruit shade after fruit shake (a trend that will continue into Cambodia and Vietnam), and enjoy the rest of our evening before heading off to spend the night in the airport, to catch our early flight out to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Bernice and I ask Phil to exchange stories, sort of like a bedtime story to put us to sleep. Instead, he tells us a riddle that we spend half the night trying to solve! The riddle: A man walks into a restaurant and orders an albatross. After taking a bite, the man leaves and kills himself. Why?
Siem Reap, Cambodia [archive]
So, we sort of took a little detour when we went to Cambodia. We flew into Phnom Penh (south), but take a 5 hour bus ride north to get to Siem Reap, so that we can see the ancient temple ruins of the Angkor era. We were scammed several times in the process.
My most vivid and scary memory of Cambodia was when we first got off the bus. A herd of 30 - 40 men stampeded towards us, in what seemed to be a mad rush to grab each one of us.
It turns out that they weren't out to kill or abduct us, as was my first impression, but to find a customer to take into town on their motorbike or tuk tuk. The bus stop was at a rural station, and we needed to get into the marketplace.
My modes of transportation expanded with my very first tuktuk ride. It was pretty much a little carriage thing attached to the back of a motorbike. I was afraid that I was gonna fall out of it, the roads were very bumpy and super dusty.
We had a little difficulty finding a guest house, since most of the ones we went to were booked. Which was alright, cuz we ended up staying in one that was slightly more pricier, but definitely nicer. When I say pricey, I still mean only $20USD a night for all three of us. Some places were about $10 - $15 USD.
I must say, that shower was probably the best shower in a long time.
We go off in search of some good Cambodia food for dinner, and try Fish Amok (curry fish dish).
We also bump into a little boy selling Lonely Planet guidebooks to tourists like us, I was impressed by his business skills. I later learn that kids here grow up fast, basically if you can learn to walk, you can sell something. Children in Cambodia area always selling things to tourists, whether it be bracelets, books, postcards, anything.
One little girl was following me for almost 15 minutes trying to persuade me to buy bracelets from her. I find it really sad that they live in so much poverty, no child should have to grow up with so much hardship.
Every child should have an opportunity to be a kid, although this is not the case in so many places. It really makes me feel so fortunate and appreciate my childhood. What I took for granted everyday, is the dream of so many other children in the world.
The fruit shakes of Cambodia are amazing. They are made of real fruits and taste super fresh and yummy. The best one by far was the banana shake I had a the temple club. It was super thick and very banana-ie! We have shakes with breakfast and dinner, and desert. Its always a little journey to search for the perfect shake every night. They are super cheap - even with the super inflated tourist price, only $0.50 USD a shake.
We only ate 2 meals a day, the heat makes you lose your appetite.
The next day, we head to Angkor! The temple ruins are amazing! They are so beautiful, and its hard for me to imagine what it must've been like during the construction of these temples. We go to a few temples, including Angkor Wat (my favourite) , Angkor Thom - Bayon Temple (another favourite), Ta Phrom (jungle temple where Tomb Raider was filmed!), and more.
Each of the temples had something distinct about it. For instance, the Bayon Temple had four faced Buddhas on top of their buildings, and the Ta Phrom temples had big huge trees growing all around them.
We got a 3 days pass, and we went back to watch the sunset, and the sunrise among the ruins. I find myself quite fascinated with the ruins. I love taking pics with the ruins, there is just something mystical about a ruin that still remains after a fallen civilization.
It's like I am stepping back into time. Of course, I took way too many pics of all the temples, too many of sunset, and way too many at sunrise. I'm surprised that I didnt run out of memory!
We take a tuktuk around the temples, and it brings us back to our hostel at the end of the day. The temples close at 6 30 pm everyday, so we have quite a lot of time to go chill before bedtime each day.
As mentioned earlier, chilling time usually consists of a few fruit shakes and exchange of stories / discussion. They will be missed dearly when I go back to Singapore and Canada... Must get myself a blender and make my own shakes in Waterloo!
We make plans to head back to Phnom Penh, and from there take a ferry along the Mekong River to Chau Doc in Vietnam. The Mekong River is one of the largest rivers in Southeast Asia and feeds many countries, including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to name a few. My mom actually grew up near where we took the ferry.
Unfortunately, I took a gravel (afraid of being seasick from my last ferry ride in Indonesia), and was sleeping for much of the peaceful and beautiful ride along the river. The sights that I was awake to see were amazing, and so beautiful. There is so much life along this river.
Vietnam --southern [archive]
Phil, Bernice and I spent the longest part of our trip in Vietnam. We took the ferry along the Mekong river, and ended up at Chau Doc, Vietnam. We stay in Vietnam for one night, and catch the earliest bus out to Can Tho the next morning, at 5am (yes, we like to get up before dawn a lot on this trip :P).
Chau Doc was actually very nice. The part we stayed in was very bustling and there was tonnes of great food. We just ate at one food stall after another. Dinner was some really yummy rice noodles, and then came dessert (coconut milk and ice), then more dinner : the Viet subs - actually tasted really similar to the ones in T.O, some Pho - also tasted similar to the one my aunt makes, and more dessert!
I was actually quite happy, because most of the stuff I have had before, whether in T.O. or at my aunts house, and I am proud to say that they are very authentic tasting :)
Our hostel here is not as nice as the one in Siem Reap, well, I guess this is what we get for 7USD a night for 3 people. There were some bed bugs, so I tried to sleep as covered as I could... and Bernice said there was a lot of mosquitoes in the bathroom... but she scared them all away and it was quite safe by the time my shower came along! The little joys of traveling!
We leave at 5AM, the next morning on a Cycloe! Oo... those must be the most sketchiest thing I have ridden on. It's basically like bicycle with a seating attached to it with wheels, and all three of us, and our bags barely fit on it.
The ride there was actually quite an experience in itself! There isn't really a public transit system there, so the entire way by bus, the people would be trying to get more riders waiting along the road, and pick them up and drop them off, kind of like a transit system. Needless to say, it took us almost an additional 2 hours to get to Can Tho.
After arriving in Can Tho, we try to find where we can get a tour for the floating markets. We arrive in the city center and are very much lost as to where to head to next. As we ask for directions, we bump into a guy who happens to be the owner of family run guest house. He looks at our Lonely Planet guide map, shows us where he is in the guide, and offers a tour for us.
We all hop on the back of a motor bike -- there were no cabs around, and motorbikes was the only choice of transportation at that moment. I was so scared! I mean, this is dangerous! But, we didnt really have a choice. I later learn very quickly during my trip that this was how people in Southern Vietnam get around!
I believe in Canada, we call this suicide. Seriously.
We actually miss the busy time of the floating market, since we didn't get out onto the river until almost 9 - 9 30. The best time to see the market is around 7 am - 9 am, since most of the sellers want to avoid the heat. But, we still got to observe some the floating market, and it was definitely something interesting.
There would be boat loads of pineapples, or another fruit, and these people would live on these small boats! We later get scammed at a lunch place they took us to! Must be careful with these tours! But, the lunch was nice none the less, and it was definitely a cool experience having lunch in a boat floating peacefully along the Mekong River.
After Can Tho, we catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh city. We didn't spend much time at HCM at all, just took a public bus from one bus station to another (there is a seperate bus station for buses going to and fro from the south, and northern Vietnam).
Luckily, we catch the last bus from HCM to Nah Trang, the beaches of south central Vietnam along the eastern coast. It is a 11 hour bus ride, but since it was a night bus, we actually got there in 8 hours, and are kind of stuck at the bus terminal at 3 30 am!
Nothing like a nice bowl of Pho and some strong coffee at 3 30 am to keep us awake until we embark on our walk into the beaches and market area of Nah Trang. I must say that the mosquitoes were really bad for me in Vietnam.
They especially liked to feast on my left ankle! Even if my entire calf is exposed (wearing capris) they still only go for the ankles! GRrrrr..
We roam around looking for a room. It's interesting the networks of people in places like Cambodia and Vietnam. Everyone seems to be connected to each other.
For instance, the guy that brought you on the motorbike will bring you to a guesthouse of someone he knows, and the owner of the guest house might bring you to a restaurant of his friends... and so on.
We find a room for 13USD a night, with AC, satellite tv, hot water, own bathroom, everything that we could hope for! :) We settle down and then head out to the beaches like bunch of idiotic westerners only to be burned by the hot hot sun. Oo... my SPF 30 sunscreen failed me so miserably!
The next day, despite the amount of pain we are all in, we take a diving trip out to the coral reefs. Phil and Bernice are certified divers, but I am not, so I have to do down with a guide. None the less, it was a really cool experience!
It was so beautiful, I really only imagined such beauty existed in movies and books. I was honestly blown away by the beauty of the coral reefs. I felt like I was the Little Mermaid. I had never seen such clear waters, been so close to different fishes, touched so many marine plants.
It was just a really amazing experience, and made me want to learn more about it, and also preserve it. Its really amazing how you can watch things on tv (discovery channel, movies, etc), and think you have an idea of what something is, but when you come face to face with it, you are speechless, and realize that you really actually had no idea at all.
Ok, ok. Enough babbling about diving... but yea, it was the most amazing part of my trip!
We spend 3 days in Nah Trang, and it was actually really nice to relax and be in one place for a few days. The seafood there was amazing! We went to a pretty nice seafood place, and altogether it was 20USD. There were a lot shakes in Vietnam also. :) The bread here was also really good! Really fresh! I like Vietnamese foods!
After Nah Trang, it was time for Phil and Bernice to head up north to Hoi An, Hue, and eventually Ha Noi.
It was time for me to head back south to HCM to meet up with some of my relatives! 3 of my relatives are from North America, and just so happened to be visiting relatives here.
My grandma's sister has kids here, and we stayed with them :). They were really nice, and made sure that we had good food all the time! :D
It's getting late now, and I need to get up somewhat early tomorrow to do laundry, so I will end this post here and continue it another time!
This trip has been really fun, and I love visiting new places. The people I encounter on my trips continually amaze me. They show me, through overcoming their hardships, that the human spirit truly is stronger than anything that happens to it! (forgot where that quote came from...)
Krabi, Thailand [archive]
Just this past weekend, Steve, Phil, B. and I take a trip to Railay beach, in Krabi, Thailand. Railay is the place to go in Southeast Asia for rock climbing. Steve and Phil left on Tuesday to go climbing and Bernice and I followed on Thursday.
The flight went well, we took a cab from the airport to reach Ao Nang -- a really touristy beach with boats going to the different islands in Krabi.
Railay Beach is a peninsula which can only be reached by boat. Bernice and I join a few people who are waiting for a long tail boat which will take us to Railay. There are tonnes of these limestone caves and walls all over Railay, and this is where the climbers climb :). The beaches had white sands, that were so soft, and the water was so clear.
This trip was quite different from the other trips that I've been taking with my travel buddies, since we stayed in one place the entire time. It was more relaxing this way, and we spent much of the time roaming the beaches. There were 4 main beaches, 2 on the east side and 2 on the west. The peninsula was pretty small, and can easily be walked in about 20 minutes.
I got bitten pretty badly on this trip. I am now convinced that the tastiest part of me are my ankles. Its where all the mosquitoes head straight for! I can spray my entire calf, and leave everywhere above me knee unsprayed, and they would still find that ONE spot on my ankle with a little less bug spray and bite there twice! grrrrr ...
Other than that the trip went relatively smoothly. I find myself to be a bit irritated easily on this trip, I think that was due to a combination of my 30 something bug bites, and being a bit traveled out. I had to concentrate really hard to not scratch them... they were super itchy!!!
This is probably one of my favourites shots again the two limestone cliffs in the water.
The little guy would crow every morning at 5AM, and would not stop until he saw someone come out of our bungalow. At the end of the trip, I would wake up after it crowed, at 5AM, walk outside, stand there for a few minutes to make sure it saw me, then go back to sleep! And it worked! :)
Yes! I'm able to outsmart the rooster! My life is now complete.
The food was really good, although not cheap. B. and I tried muesli, and our first attempt was quite unsatisfying. It was basically some mush mixed with yogurt and dried fruit. The second time we had it -- at a nicer restaurant -- was quite good. I think I'll take this back with me to Canada, its a really healthy breakfast.
We also had barracuda our second night, and it was a very interesting texture. Very firm meat for a fish. We also had curry every night! Awesome-ness.
The Thai pancakes (aka Roti) was also very good, and that was often desert. I especially like the pineapple roti with condensed milk or honey sauce. We were on a mission for mango sticky rice, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be. We were either too early, or too late, or they had finished selling out for the day! :(
The guys mostly climbed, and B. and I entertained ourselves by chilling along the beaches, and enjoying the beach atmosphere. Our first day there, we slept in (despite the rooster), and spent the rest of the day on the beach. It rained in the afternoon for a bit, but the rocks shielded us away from most of the rain, but did not keep the mosquitoes away. Darn it.
Below is Steve and climbing with Phil belaying. Looks neat, eh?
In Vietnam, where I did my first dive, it was one-on-one attention, and diving in a group made me more uneasy. The visibility was poor, and it was hard to look at the fish, because once I took my eyes off the dive master, I would be a bit panicky until I found him.
I even lost the group once, and kept floating towards the surface. I panicked at first, then tried to calm myself down, and told myself that I could always get to the surface slowly. I later started seeing some bubbles and followed them down to find my group. And then I stuck with the dive master the rest of the time.
That's myself and Steve on the long tail boat while Phil and Bernice did their last dive.
Although I was a bit disappointed in this dive, I still got to see some pretty cool stuff. I saw a sting ray, a sea horse, and a lion fish, amongst other things, such as corals and some pretty tropical fishes. I made sure to take a picture of myself in a wet suit, this time!The third day, B. and I met up with Steve and Phil for a hike / climb to a view point at the top of one of the mountains. As we waited for the guys to finish their climb, we take pictures of the monkeys just hanging out in the trees near by. There are also lots of little crabs in the sands due to the low tide. I felt like filling up their holes with sand to see what happened, but I was afraid they would come out and bite me. Yes, I'm scared of tiny crabs.
Below is a view of the peninsula from where we climbed to the top of one of the "mountains."
I need to get a few pictures of me climbing this. The view at the top was gorgeous! We could see most of the peninsula from there. And we see even more monkeys. They even seem to "pose" for pictures. Smart little guys.
We head back down for some lunch, and play some Risk before the guys go off for more climbing. Dinner than night was more Indian food at our hostel's restaurant, and we watch MI:II.
Oh yes, that night was when I took a shower with a cockroach. I saw him just as I was starting to shower, and tried to wash him away but couldn't. He ended hiding under the sink on this little ledge. At that point, I felt a bit bad for scaring it so much, and decided we could co-exist during my shower. That was one of the quickest showers I've taken!
It was an interesting massage. Some parts were just really relaxing, and other times, was very painful! I think, my favourite was the head massage. It was pretty painful when she stood on me. Ouch. I really thought my legs wouldn't be able to take it. I'm surprised I'm not in too much pain today!
This is a picture of me on the long tail boat on our way back to the Krabi, to get to the airport.
We went to Krabi town, which is pretty close to the airport. I get to do some souvenir shopping, but wasn't able to pick up too many things since I was out of money at that point.
Being on the long tail boats, I wonder how much tourism could be destroying the natural habitat of Thailand (and other areas), if people are not careful. These boats can't be good for the environment, but they are the main means of transportation for tourists.
The coral reefs, and the natural beauty of this island is amazing, but I notice that there quite a bit of litter on the beaches. It makes me sad that something so beautiful might not exist, if we don't do something to preserve it.
Below is one of my favourite sunset shots with the boats in the background. Very peaceful. Despite mosquitoes.
Coming Home =) [archive]
This trip was great. The best part by far was being able to travel so much. Having stayed in Canada for most of my life, until living in Boston for my last work term, I have lived a very safe and sheltered life.
I guess it was time for me to see how other people in this world live, to learn and also appreciate what I have more.
I think one of my favourite parts of traveling is visiting ancient civilizations. Seeing the remnants of a fallen civilization is a constant reminder that this is life, that we leave behind is all that future generations have left of us. I also really enjoy seeing places where my parents grew up.
Living in Canada, I have so many opportunities that I don't realize the hardships and challenges my parents had to overcome on a daily basis.
I also saw a lot of poverty, especially in Cambodia. I think Cambodia was the poorest country I had visited. It was really sad that this is how children live in some parts of the world.At the same time, it was very humbling to see that the people of Cambodia did not feel sorry for themselves, but struggled to live their lives everyday.
Even though the country was torn apart by war not too long ago -- the Khmer Rouge genocide occurred only in 1970's -- people learn to pick themselves up, persevere and work towards a better future. Visiting these places has made me want to learn more about them, learn from the history, and become a better person.Seeing and visiting relatives in Vietnam was also another eye opener. I really don't realize how much I take for granted, living in a country such as Canada.
For instance, I never really think twice about leaving the country, there is never really a problem, as long as we have our passports and proper visas. The people of Vietnam can't really leave, and if they do, even for a visit, it is very difficult.
Here, I am on exchange in Singapore, and visiting another country about every other weekend. It's just a huge difference in the amount of freedom. I guess since Canada is so huge, it's not too big of a deal to not be able to leave the country, but Vietnam is quite small, I almost feel claustrophobic thinking about that. Ok, maybe not claustrophobic, but it is very limiting.
It's so weird, this will be my first birthday without my close family and friends around. It doesn't really feel like it. I can't believe that I'm 23 already. I hope I don't look it. I know one of the perks of being Asian is that you don't look your age. So as long as I look younger, then I'm happy.Besides, no one has really mistaken me for older than I am, usually I'm told I look a few years younger, I've been told that I look 19 - 20. Except this one time, when one of my sister's friends thought that I was her mom!!! I will choose to ignore that one!
Anyway, I won't feel like its really my birthday until I have celebrate it with my friends and family! So I cant wait to go home!
I really miss home! I'm so glad that this exchange is only 4 months. I love traveling, but I'm ready to go home. I miss being with the people I love and care about. As a UW coop student, I have had learned from most of my work terms, and most of the time, I learn about what I don't want to be doing.Applying the same theory here, I have learned from this exchange what is really important to me.
Even though I will definitely love to travel more, and see more places, and even go back to the places I've seen to visit them again, the most important part of the journey is going home. And home is where my family, friends and where my heart is. Having lived in a few cities, I appreciate Toronto even more, and love it even more.
I can't really picture myself living anywhere else, maybe Boston, but other then my family won't be there.
I really love the atmosphere of Toronto, it really is a beautiful city, and I never realized what a beautiful city is until I've visited some other cities. Toronto is home sweet home, and I can't wait to be back. I'm gonna appreciate it so much more when I'm back, me and some of the exchange students were joking around how we would buy a lonely planet travel guide to T.O. and just travel within TO.
Thanks to everyone who has supported me so much during this exchange term. It's the thoughts of you, that make me feel like I'm home, even though I'm half way around the world. And, I can't wait to get back home... I think this song sums up how I feel
It feels like home to me
It feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me
It feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong
Taman Negara, Malaysia [archive]
It looks like this was my last trip for the exchange term -- Taman Negara! I'm quite sure that I've hit my travel limit, now. This last trip was an experience in itself. I finished some laundry very last minute and basically took clothes out of my laundry bag, folded them, and put them into my backpack.
When we got to the train station, the last tickets to get to the rain forest was sold out! So, we had to decide