Vietnam

So, this blog hasn't worked for a while, so I haven't posted in a long time. It's finally working again, so I can update ya'll even though I don't think anyone is reading anymore. Since I last posted I have traveled north through Vietnam making a handful of stops. I'll some them up for you list style:

Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City): A totally insane city with the craziest traffic I have ever witnessed. 9 out of 10 people there ride motorcycles, and there is absolutely no regard for "traffic laws" what so-ever. Every possible inch of space on the road is spoken for, and the whole "left lane, right lane" thing is a joke. Everyone drives as fast as they want in the direction they are going, and just dodges and weaves. Cars on the other hand, are an entirely different threat. Think of that movie "Speed" with Keanu Reeves, where there is a bomb on the bus and if they drive under 80 it will blow. When you hear a horn blaring in the distance, you better dive out of the way because that sea of motorcycles is about to part and someone driving a van/bus/truck is about to blast through regardlesss of who is in there path. Saigon highlights include the Da Me Waterslide Park, with such experimental slides as the "Space Bowl"; and the Cu Chi tunnels, which the Vietcong used in the "American War" as they call it. And yes, that is their real name.

Nha Trang: Waist of time

Hoi An: This town is a tourist mecca, but was still really cool and worth going to. It's basically a bunch of really old buildings on a river front that managed to survive all the wars. It looks a lot like a small Italian village. The highlight of this stop was renting a motorbike, and riding it to the coast and through the country side to Marble Mountain with Kyle. In Marble Mountain there are a bunch of caves with Buddha's carved in the walls and what not. The only other people there were a group of Buddhist nuns and their perverted tour guide who tried to molest me. If you want to know more about that you can ask me in person. The caves were awesome though.

Hue: The original capital of Vietnam before the revolution, and the place where most Vietnamese go to college. Lots of ancient palaces, tombs, people who want to practive their english, etc.

Ha Noi: After a beautiful train ride, we arrived in Ha Noi, capital of Vietnam. Unfortunately we arrived at night, and couldn't manage to find a hotel with an available room anywhere. After walking around for about an hour, dodging every scammer in town (one of which said that ifwe didn't stay in his hotel the Vietnamese mafia would kill us), we found a place. We stayed in the Old Quarter, which is similar to the French Quarter in New Orleans. The only reason to stay in this city is the Bia Hoi, which is locally made beer that has no preservatives and must be drank in a week. Every corner has a keg set up and sells pints for 3,000 dong, which is about 15 cents.

Halong Bay/Cat Ba Island: Now we are in Halong Bay, which is the picturesque place many people associate with Vietnam. Picture giant lime stone rock formations pertruding out of the water, with lots of fog and nice people. We are on Cat Ba Island right now, and just went for a trek through the jungle, which looks a lot like the place Jurassic park was filmed. I think it is definately the most diverse and unusual looking terrrain I have ever been in. Tourist season is over, so the hotels are desperate. That means that Kyle and I have a room with a balcony overlooking the bay, for $5 a night. Pretty good!

From here we fly back to Thailand for Thai new years. I might come back early with Kyle on the 21st, but I am not sure yet. This place is exhausting to travel through. The only way to get to know local people is to live here, and if you are just traveling through than all they see is $$$$$. Most of the day consists of avoiding scams, but it is worth it for the cool people you do meet and the amazing places you see. Enough for now!

Vietnam

Sooo, I think that I last wrote sometime when we were in Phnom Penh. Since then, we have gone to Vietnam and have been spending a lot of time in the Mekong-delta region, which has been a really interesting experience for me. As many of you know, I am from Stockton, which has a huge South-East Asian population. This is partly because the landscape is so similar to that of the area around the Mekong river, which means that people could adapt easier when they came over. So, having grown up there with so many Vietnamese/Cambodian/Laosian people around me, I've always wondered what there side of the world actually looks like and what their lifestyle is like compared to ours. And now, I am finding out!

We entered Vietnam by slow-boat, the first half of the time on the Mekong river, and the other half passing through cannals and tribuataries once we crossed the border. The boat was tiny, and the canals provided for some really cool sights. At times they were only 10-15 feet wide, guiding us through the occasional village full of waving children and curious adults. I got some great pictures of these massive water buffalo that like to bathe in the river occasionally a couple of feet from the boat. Eventually we docked in a small town called Chau Doc. The town doesn't see many tourists, so it was a breath of fresh air and we stayed here for about 3 days and just relaxed. While there we went on this crazy bike ride through the country side to another smaller village based on a Mountain side. From the top of the Mountain you could see all around the valley with all of it's rivers and deltas, etc. I think it was probably one of the better experiences I've had before. Afterwards we ate at this little family retaurant where not one single person spoke english, and the menu was entirely in Vietnamese. When Kyle Tried to explain that she is a vegetarian, she was served a plate full of Chinese sausage which I gladly ate for her.

After Chau Doc, we went to another small city called Can Tho, where Kyle's friend Evan is studying at the University. Kyle and I were on our own at this point, which was actually somewhat of a relief. Not because we don't love our friends, but just because its nice to get a breath of fresh air everyonce and a while. Got that Trenton! When we finally met up with Evan, he tooks us to a Monk's restaurant for some vege food which was interesting. I think got some stomach issues as a result, but who knows. The next day we helped teach an English class he has, which was amazingly fun.

Now we are in Saigon which is insane. Gotta go!

Scammed!(bound to happen), Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh

So we finally got scammed. Apparently it's the oldest trick in the book, according to a message I later read hand-written by a tourist on the back of a bus seat. Long story short, we took the bus from Koh Chang to Siem Reap, and at the border crossing into Cambodia, you change buses because cars are not aloud to cross. So you get to the border and meet your "guide"who helps you along the way with visa stuff, etc. He talks to you the whole time, tells you the do's and dont's of Cambodia and really builds trust on a fast pace, taking advantage of a bunch of nervous travelers who are looking for someone to fill that role. So he tells us that you cannot trust ATM's in Cambodia, and that we should all withdraw as much Thai Baht as possible and then exchange it at the currency exchange he'll take us to, but we have to be quick because the bus is leaving. Then, everybody exchanges their Baht for Reil, not knowing the exact exchange rate cause it's not the dollar, and the guy is gone. Horded on a bus, and ten minutes later we all realize that the exchange rate was wacked out. Most people lost close to a couple hundred dollars, but I had a funny feeling the whole time, so I only lost about $50. Oh well, live and learn. Could have been worse.

So we took that long and hellish bus ride down the bumpiest road I've ever seen for 9 hours to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. A Cambodian man told me that the airline industry pays the government to keep the road bumpy so more people will fly. In the end though, it was worth it. Angkor Wat is probably one of the most phenominal things I have ever seen. These massive stone structures are over 1000 years old and still have carvings in perfect condition. I'll try to post pictures when I can.

Also while in Siem Reap we went to the local children's hospital to see a cello performance. This Swiss doctor named Dr.Beat Richner performs every saturday to benefit the hospital. In between songs he lectures for about 10 minutes about Cambodia, the kids, hospital, etc. It was very depressing, but important, experience. According to the Dr., who has been working here since 1973, 65% of Cambodians have tuberculosis. This tuberculosis perpetually weakens their immune systems, causing dengue fever epidemics on a nearly indefinite basis. It's all masked from tourists though, and in the mean time only 3-4% of profit from tourism stays in Cambodia because all of the hotels/resorts are owned by Westerners. Also, the WHO only provides financial support if you follow their stucture for treatment, which calls for privatization to promote "responsibility" among the poor. Ridiculous. Basically I feel overwhelmed with guilt for coming here only for tourism. A lot of the problems here are a direct result of my countries foreign policy, past and present, so if Cambodian people are going to be kind enough to share their country with me I feel like I should be willing to help in exchange. So far I've done little things, like donate clothes to an orphanage, eat at NGO restaurants, support street venders, etc., but I'd like to do a little more if possible.

On a more positive note, Micah and I rented bikes the other day and went for a long and interesting bike around town. I think that was the best experience I have had so far, because we were just cruising around neighborhoods seeing regular people and partially escaping the tourist trap. Plus navigating traffic is an adventure in and of itself. We are in the capital city Phnom Penh for a few days now. Getting Vietnamese visa, going to the killing fields, museums, etc. I think I want to head NE from here to the elephant stomping grounds in the jungle. We'll see though. Time is flying by so fast, I am thinking about changing my ticket to stay longer. I'm really looking forward to Vietnam. I think that is enough for now. Sorry if this entry sounded negative, I guess I just had a dramatic reality check and wanted to get it off my chest is all. -Ben

PS Germans are pompous assholes.

Koh Chang

So after spending a couple of days in Bangkok, we decided to get out of dodge. Bangkok didn't end up being as bad as I thought it would. We met a super nice Thai student outside of the University who broke Bangkok down for us and drew on Trenton's map the places he insisted we visit while we were in town. Highlights included the 15 story Buddha as well as haggling over prices to get a suit tailored. Basically if it wasn't for this guy we would have been lost and confused. See dad, not everyone is trying to scam us!

From Bangkok we went to an Island called Koh Chang off of the south-east coast, where I am now. I've never been in any kind of tropical climate before so it has been a pretty amazing experience for me. Right now I'm staying in a thatch roofed hut literally on the beach for $6 a night. We hiked through the jungle to a huge waterfall where you can swim near the bottom, which was one of the more beautiful things I have seen. The only setback was this group of about 15 obnoxious English frat boys who were chanting school slogans and horse playin' while we were up there. Fortunately one of them dropped a couple 100 Baht on his way out, which I found and gladly used to buy dinner that night. Thank you Manchester United!

Although I have been having a lot of fun so far, I've had mixed feelings about Thailand. There hasn't been one point yet where I have felt like I was I guest in someone else's culture. I like the feeling of having to adapt to someone else's lifestyle and traditions, but here it is the opposite. Everything everywhere is catered towards tourists. This must of been what it felt like to visit one of the French or English colonies. It's all Australian/European/Americans living laveshly with poor Thai people always there ready to serve. Although the majority of them are extremely kind and happy people, I can't help but feel a guilty sometimes. Hopefully I'll get more of the experience I am looking for once I get out into rural Cambodia/Laos, which will be soon. I'm thinking of going to India for a couple of weeks now too, so we'll see what happens. Gotta go for now. Until next time. -Ben

So it begins...

So earlier this afternoon, after the longest flight ever, we finally arrived at Bangkok. It met every one of my expectations as being dirty, polluted, loud and overwhelming. Our first walk around town left a real bad taste in my mouth and made me want to leave the city as soon as possible. Kyle and I just went for a night walk in the rain though, and I think things aren't quite as crappy as I thought. We are staying in a big market area called Khao San Road, so right when you step outside the door, your assaulted with a full blitz of lights, sounds and aromas from all of the street vendors who are selling everything from clothes, massages and oddly titled food items such as the "hotdog demon", which ironically has no hot dog involved in any part of it. The minutes are runnin low so that means its time to sign off. I'll write more when I get a chance, and Kyle sends her love. -Ben