Getting back into the swing of things.

Vacation is almost over, life is starting up again. The traveling part of vacation is done. I'm glad to be back in Yeosu. I had some great experiences but in all, I'm glad to be back. The best part is, I don't have to be back at school until March 2nd, so I have a week to just chill. That's great, seeing as how all the new people (Katie and Charlsey) just got here.

I feel like I need to take a week to process everything that I saw. These are some things I learned:

1. Traveling is easy and difficult at the same time. Plan well but don't overplan. Be flexible.
2. Traveling by yourself is hard but a unique experience. That being said, traveling with just one other person is also hard. 3 weeks with just one other person can be trying.
3. The random people you meet on your travels can sometimes be the best parts of your trip.
4. I feel so privileged to speak English as my first language. All of the people I met on the trip that weren't native English speakers had to converse with me and a good majority of the other people they met in English, a language not preferred by them.
5. No matter what you think, there are always people in the world that are worse off than you.
6. People can be so cruel to each other. Seeing the Killing Fields in Cambodia and hearing villagers' stories in Vietnam really put a lot of things in perspective.
   
7. Some of the most genuinely happy people in the world have close to nothing.
8. Good food with good people makes even the hottest longest day better.
9. The world is full of wonder.
10. Pictures don't do the real thing justice.
11. Vacation is 100 times worse when you get sick.

Going along with number 11, I'm still not better. I really haven't eaten a decent meal since Nha Trang. A few times since I've been back I've gone out with people for dinner but I just have no appetite. My dad thinks I picked up a parasite. The Korean doctor thinks I have gastritis.

Korean healthcare is great. I was in the hospital (you go to the hospital instead of a clinic for walk ins) for less than 10 minutes. In that time I had my exam and got a prescription. Another 4 minutes in the pharmacy next door and I had my 5 day supply of medicine all put into individual "serving" packets. Real convenient. All in all, the visit to the hospital cost me 3,600 won ($3) and my medicine cost me 5,700 won ($5) for a 5 day supply of 5 different medicines.

Of Course...

I would get sick my last days on vacation. The night we left Nha Trang I somehow caught the Plague. Fever, shakes, sweating, nausea, the whole shebang. Don't worry, the sleeping bus was extra luxurious...NOT. A sleeping bus just has a bunch of little compartments way too small for anyone to cram themselves into. Not to mention we were at the back of the bus so it was a very bouncy ride.

Needless to say, my last day in Saigon was kind of a drag. I couldn't leave the hotel room. I couldn't even stand up for 5 minutes without feeling like I was gonna pass out. Even today, I left the room just long enough to get my last minute souvenirs and I still almost passed out in an intersection. Its great to travel sick...

The flight from Saigon was also horrible. With every foot we gained in altitude, my headache got worse. Oh by the way, I have a 15 hour layover in Hong Kong. If there is anywhere I don't want to spend more time, its in Hong Kong. I asked the Cathay Pacific lady if there was a hotel nearby that could stay at (it was about 11pm when I landed). She gave me a flier for the airport pay-lounge. I had to pay the rest of my trip spending money (950 HKD) and STILL had to put 114 HKD on my credit card. For what? A special one night deal. I can use the sitting area, get food and drinks, use the internet, AND I get my very own sleeping cubicle for 6 hours. Ooooh boy. Here I thought I was going to come back to Korea and be able to have extra money...nope. I had to use it all and then some.

I just want to be back in Yeosu in my own bed.

Don't Be Lazy.

I don't think I ever want to leave Nha Trang. Mix 3 parts beach with 8 parts partying and 2 parts cheap massages and that about sums it up. I want to open a bar/hostel here.

Unfortunately we couldn't find the infamous booze cruises but we did find something good. It was a boat trip around to some islands and a really dodgy aquarium. The most fun part was definitely the floating bar. And by floating bar they mean a piece of styrofoam with some plastic flowers. One of the boat attendants swam around topping off our cups with cheap red wine as we floated around in tubes.

We met some cool people from Australia, England, and Canada on the trip and we all decided to get dinner and drinks afterwords. Drinks turned into 2 liter cocktails that get served in a vase and many many buckets. Surprisingly the bars close pretty early here.

While recovering on the beach today we got ambushed by people selling things. At first it was massages on the beach. 150,000 dong ($8) for an hour massage on the beach. Southeast Asia is great. Then it got out of control. The ladies started doing Julie's nails and threading her legs. They just kind of start and wait for you to say no. But you can't really say no. Then this lady came by selling bracelets. I'm pretty good at saying no to these vendors but this lady was different. As soon as I said I didn't want a bracelet she said "don't be lazy". Is that like "you won't"? Needless to say I bought a bracelet. She also made me buy an anklet for Julie. The best part was when we were bargaining. She wanted 120,000 dong and I wanted 100,000. We got to 110,000 then she said "rock, paper, scissors...you win, 100,000. I win, 120,000". Best bargaining tool ever. We played, she won, I paid. It was almost as funny as when we paid for some pictures in Cambodia with dollars, won, riel, and baht.

Sadly vacation is coming to an end. Tomorrow night we're taking a night bus to Saigon. I'm kind of excited to sleep on the bus. Instead of seats it has these weird bunk things. 3 levels of bunks. It'll be interesting...

Being American

Has never been so awkward.

First let me preface this story. Julie and I left Cambodia on thursday. We took a boat down the Mekong River to the Vietnamese border town of Chau Doc. The boat ride was really nice. On this big longboat there were only Julie, a Japanese couple, the boat staff, and I. Chau Doc was a cool little town. Less touristy but definitely a major traveler hub. It was also strange to have our D-List celebrity status back. We took a cyclo (bike chariot rickshaw looking thing) from the pier to our hotel. That night we booked a 2 day Mekong Delta package that would drop us off at Ho Chi Minh City, better known as Saigon.

The tour was alright, 3 meals and 1 night accomodation plus transportation for $31. I don't even know what the price is in dong. Yes, the official currency of Vietnam is the Dong. Anyways. As part of our tour we went to a minority village where (shockingly) they wanted us to buy things. Then went to a fish farm (not as cool) then we went on our way to the town of Can Tho. There were 2 options for the trip. Hotel and homestay. We wanted a little more authentic experience so we chose the homestay. In Can Tho we got on another boat and went to this little village (I forget the name). The house was awesome and the feast for dinner was some of the best food I've ever eaten. We basically made our own spring rolls. The owner of the house, Hung, took us on a tour of the village. Thats when things got awkward.

Everyone's first question is "where are you from?". Never before have I been ashamed to say America. Upon hearing that, people would talk in Vietnamese and point at us. Then Hung would tell us that their [insert relative here] was killed by an American solider. They were also not shy to tell us that during the war the Americans dropped over 500 bombs on the village in 48 hours, killing 700 people. THEN they took us to see a bomb crater. Most awkward moment ever.

Now we're in Ho Chi Minh City, better known as Saigon. Much less awkward. Tomorrow we're going to Nha Trang to chill on the beach. I also hear their booze cruises are legendary...

Cambods,

as my cousin calls it has been...intense. Thats pretty much the only way to describe it. It all started on the 12 hour ferry/bus/walk across the border/another bus/tuk tuk ride from Koh Chang to Siem Reap. We rode, as the Swede we met put it, the "scam bus". That's right. the scam bus. According to his guide book the scam bus is a package deal that seems pretty cheap (700 Baht /$21 to get all the way from KC to SR) but takes as long as possible. This is so that the Thai travel companies can charge you more for your Cambodian visa (we paid 1,200 B- $36 when it should have only been $20) and so that tuk tuk drivers can swarm upon you as soon as you get off the bus ride to take you to a guesthouse that gives them a hefty commission for sending travelers their way. In short, it was good that we booked our hostel ahead of time because we were, as they want you to be, too tired and annoyed to put up much of a fight. We could at least say (and mean) that we already had arrangements.

The town of Siem Reap was really nice. Despite being tourist central it had a lot of character. The guesthouse we stayed at, the Palm Garden Lodge, was amazing. The rooms were big, clean, and the bed was a tempurpedic. They also give you free breakfast and when we left they sent us on the road with a to go lunch for free! If you're ever going to Siem Reap, definitely stay there.

The temples were awesome. Angkor Thom was great with all its temples. Ta Phrom was straight out of Tomb Raider. Angkor Wat was nothing short of spectacular. All the temples were everything I wanted/thought they would be.

After the temples we took a bus to Phnom Penh. The six hour ride was intense but we drove through some really cool countryside. Its sad tho, to see how poor the people are here. It really makes me thankful for what I have. Today we visited the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum. Both were sobering experiences.

The Killing Fields were so sad. The Khmer Rouge executed tens of thousands of people and buried them in mass graves there. As a memorial there is a huge white stupa. Inside are tons of skulls that were dug up, and a pile of clothes that they found in the graves. 86 graves were exhumed and 43 are still left buried.

The museum was scary. It was originally a school that was converted into a prison/torture center for the prisoners of the Khmer Rouge. Its left almost exactly as they found it. Blood and handprints on the walls, broken beds, shackles on the floor. 14 victims were found just left in their cells. It was hard to walk through the museums and see the pictures of the victims (pre and post torture). The Khmer Rouge exterminated so many people for being intellectuals, educated, professors, diplomats, anyone who didn't fit into their communist regime.

We had hoped to see the Grand Palace and Wat Phnom after the sad things as a pick me up but our tuk tuk driver took us in the opposite order. Maybe a western dinner can get us out of this funk...

As for tomorrow, we're hopping on a boat to Vietnam. Our first stop is the Mekong Delta, then to Na Trang and then to Ho Chi Minh City. We wanted to go to Laos for a few days but the transportation was just too expensive. We would've had to fly because well...there's just no convenient way to get to where we wanted to go, and 2 days on a bus were not an option.