home?!

My stay in Vietnam has been abruptly cut short by wavering stand-by airline ticket options, so i will be heading home in a couple of hours... good lord! I didn't adequately prepare for this! Right now I'm frantically running around trying to cram all of my life in the last 4 months into 2 measly suitcases, and buy last minute souvenirs and gifts...I'm panicking and about to break the no-smoking streak...just kidding. kinda?

goodbye vietnam, words cannot express how much i'll miss you and how much you have taught me.

this isn't the end of this blog, i still have a lot more to update [:

love,
chau

siem reap

12/18-12/23


My mom, sister and I spent a total of 5 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  To be honest, at first I was a bit apprehensive at the thought of going to Cambodia, and I wasn't too keen on the idea of traveling to an area where mosquitoes are not only abundant but also carry the malaria parasite.  Siem Reap surprised me though.  Coming from Bangkok's polluted and crowded streets, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a charming and quiet little city.  Siem Reap is accelerated mainly by its tourism industry, and strong evidence of this lies in the fact that nearly all the locals in the downtown old market area speak fluent English.  It's a plus being able to communicate with everyone, but after having hordes of children run after and badger you to buy postcards for " only 1 US dollar" all day long, you begin to wonder how such a beautiful country has reduced its people to begging from foreigners.  My heart ached a little for our tuk tuk taxi driver, who waited patiently for us everyday at the crack of dawn (even though we would sleep in til noon, lol...)  so that he would not miss his chance out of a competitive daily salary allowance ($10) from us.


Siem Reap's main attraction is Angkor Wat, the fabled temple which has drawn people from all over the world to behold its beauty.  Angkor Wat is the largest religious site in the world, and within its perimeter   there are also dozens of other temples resurrected from the era of the Khmer Empire, but the aforementioned is the most grand and elaborate.  The tiers of stone cascading down in a lotus-formation and the intricate  carvings within the walls that have been preserved for hundreds of years are breathtaking; It really is no wonder why so many people have made the pilgrimage to come see this.


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Stone carvings in the walls of Angkor Wat

Khmer children playing in the temples

Stone heads guarding the entrance to a temple.  This one has obviously been restored, and its conspicuousness made me giggle [:

View of the moat surrounding Angkor Wat at sunset

Stone ruins.

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currently in: Nha Trang, Vietnam!  Famous for its white sandy beaches, but I have yet to be impressed (I've probably been too spoiled by the nearly uninhabited Phu Quoc island [: ).  The nem nuong cuon here is to die for though; Brodards ain't got nothin on this shit!  Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season, whether you are abroad or at home.  I celebrated Christmas in Saigon, where everyone and their mothers flooded the streets with their motorbikes and partied until 4 in the morning.  Saigon has been the most memorable (no, I did not partake in any of the Saigon Christmas debauchery if thats what you were thinking) and meaningful portion of this trip to me so far.  But that will come in a later post [:

love,

chau

Pattaya!

Today I took a bus from Siem Reap to Saigon.  We paid $22/ticket for a seat on the Mekong Limousine Bus.  Limousine here can be used lightly, as in this case it entails  enduring 14 hours of bumpy roads and senior Khmer folk laughing hysterically at reruns of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean".  My sister and I thought that saving $600 worth of airplane tickets would ultimately compensate for our time (and sanity?) lost, but midway into the trip we began to think otherwise...  But I'm now back in Việt Nam, where thankfully I can read and comprehend everything as opposed to trying to decipher squiggly worm-like script and hopelessly trying to pronounce 15 syllable street names (ahem, Thailand!). I'll miss Siem Reap a lot, but I'll save that for a later post [: Still trying to chronologically document my travels. Damn blogging is hard!

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Pattaya, Thailand

We spent our last day/night in Thailand at Pattaya, since it was the nearest beach to Bangkok (less than 2 hours away).  My sister and I had looked up weather conditions throughout Thailand in order to ensure that we wouldn't end up buying plane tickets only to be caught in a monsoon somewhere, and Pattaya seemed to be our most secure, and cheapest, bet.  It ended up being a bust, though.  The beaches, obviously ravaged by the influx of tourism, were dirty and polluted, and the food! Ohh the food was just not happening. Not much else to say about Pattaya, though.  It's supposed to be notorious for its red light district, but if so then that was concealed pretty well (thankfully!).

 

Stolen from my sister [: The sun setting in Pattaya. Looks are deceiving!

Food quality was so lacking in Pattaya that we had to issue a 'code red' mission on the way back to the Bangkok Airport. Haha.

love,

chau

Adventuring

After four months, my journey in Hanoi and throughout all of Vietnam has ended (despite the fact that I'll be returning to Vietnam in a couple of days, but this time as a tourist!). To recap the last three months to my best and truest ability would be difficult, and I wish I had a legitimate excuse for not keeping this blog updated (do shitty internet and constant power outages at my dorm count?). Looking back on my drafts, I had begun to write an entry to try and commence a daily habit out of blogging:

The half-way point of the program has already passed and I’m left with just a little over four weeks in Ha Noi. When I first arrived here in August I thought December seemed so far away and that I had so much time, and here I am at the brink of November, frantically trying to fill up my daily schedules and take advantage of anything and everything I can do here. In a sense, I feel like I have done a considerable amount. It’s difficult for me to quantify all of the experiences and the lessons that I have learned from this trip so far, on one hand because I haven’t been continually updating this blog (sorry, again!) and on another because I feel that I cannot accurately capture the dynamics of Vietnam through just words and pictures. I have a difficult time expressing my emotions to a larger audience, and I guess that’s just the journalist in me, always trying to relay a story as truthfully and as objectively as possible to the public eye and to not encroach upon it with my nagging opinions and thoughts. A couple of weeks ago in class Thay Gerard reprimanded us students for not updating our blogs, reminding us that it was only in our best interest that we document, in any form whatsoever, our experiences and travels in Vietnam. I guess I’m around two months late, but better late than never right?

HAHAHA. well here I am 4 months later. Better late than never?? I can't apologize enough, and I guess the only person I really cheated out of not documenting my adventures was me. For now, I'll be posting about the present as it unfolds (my journeys throughout SE Asia w/ the big sister and mom!), and I promise to write about Hanoi in the near future.

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Bangkok, Thailand

Thai Buddhist Monks roaming through the airport.

I arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, quite possibly the largest airport I have ever been to. The facilities are vast with awe inspiring modern architecture, and international tourists from all corners of the world scurry in and out through the terminals.

Bangkok embraced me warmly. Literally. The scorching heat and the suffocating humidity almost made me pass out from dehydration, even though I've been through worse (Hanoi summers are exponentially hotter in my opinion!). In my taxi from the airport to my hotel I could see rows and rows of skyscrapers lining the horizon, and, consequently from the expansion and development I presume, layers of thick muggy smog blocking out the sun.  And 7-11's are as ubiquitous here as scam artists, hiding out on every street corner waiting for an opportunity to capitalize on an unsuspecting tourist. Bangkok is lively and bustling though, its streets filled with foreigners and locals mingling and its sidewalks lined with dozens of stalls frying up flat rice noodles. Yum!

Bangkok Airport!

Street food, mmmm

Beautiful structures @ the Royal Palace

Royal Palace. Gotta get my camera sensor cleaned, boo!

My mom enjoying some sticky rice infused with pandan leaves.

"Tuk tuk" three-wheeled taxis

The view from the Golden Mount, 400-something steps above the city

Bells on which people write their prayers and wishes

God rays above Bangkok [:

My big sister enjoying a plate of freshly prepared Pad Thai noodles.

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love,

chau

Hanoi...

I'm so sorry i wasn't able to justify you, through my photos and writing, to the world.

I'm a TERRIBLE blogger, and looking back on my last entry dated nearly 3 months ago I can only cringe at this nearly empty blogspot that i had such ambitious intent on filling. To say that living in Hanoi was the most amazing experience would be an understatement, and I'm truly sorry for not better documenting my experiences to share my journey with everyone.

Catch up posts and pictures are on their way. I'm currently in Siem Reap, Cambodia right now, exploring the rocky ruins of Angkor with my big sister and mom!


Sending lots of love,
chau

Ha Long Bay

it felt surreal that after all these years of listening to my mom romanticize and dream about going to Ha Long Bay, I finally got the chance to experience it for my own. as i sat on the top deck of the wooden junkboat sailing around the majestic limestone formations that my ancestors had once glorified in their love letters and poems, i felt a strange sense of both familiarity and invincibility, ineffably intertwined in my temporary state of spiritual transcendence. at night, my friends and i lay sprawled across the benches on the boat's rooftop, enjoying the warm embrace of the bay's slight breeze and dreamily watching the clear sky dotted with thousands of stars. we were grateful for having each other's company in these moments, but at the same time in our hearts we each reminisced about our friends and families back home, yearning that they too could behold this breathtaking beauty alongside us. i hope that one day my parents will be able to come back to vietnam and finally see and to fall in love ha long bay. hopefully by that time, the waters won't be too polluted [:

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my select shots from ha long bay.






<3

mom&dad

my parents skyping me. aren't they cute?? i miss them. [: