Our Southeast Asia Adventures At An End

Home again. Home again. What was the first thing we did after arriving back in the states? Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Two of them. I don't think i will eat rice or noodles for a year. It has been so great to be back home. Connie made a big bag of cookie dough to satisfy Chris's withdrawals. Our sheets are not only not pee-stained, but they also smell clean too! The bathroom has a toilet seat and toilet paper, and the hot water shower was a deluxe commodity. I have not seen one cockroach since being here. I love America.

Our last week in Vietnam was so much fun; a great way to end our adventure! For the most part, the trip was a success. One downside: receiving counterfeit money from an ATM. Really?No wonder no one will take our U.S. bills if their crinkled or slightly ripped...We spent the first part of it at Kataba island, a big vacation spot for the Vietnamese during the summer, and the second half of it in the city of Hanoi. It was hilarious to come around the corner and see so many of the Vietnamese swimming in the ocean, fighting for the shady parts of the water to avoid any kind of suntan.We kayaked around the lime stone cliffs at Hanoi Bay- beautiful!!
While Chris did most of the rowing, I valiantly called out the direction we should steer. Some might say that's just the natural born leader in me. We came upon some locals farming oysters. They scoop up buckets of sand where oysters grow and cultivate until the fishermen harvest them to sell.
We boldly rock-climbed 6 different cliffs on a small island. It was beautiful! We both got pretty bruised up, but are anxious to continue such a thrilling hobby- so much fun!


After rock climbing, we rode by a small water village on our way back to the big island. The guide told us that the families there have never known anything different other than being raised in their boat homes on the sea. It was beautiful!
Chris got his fill of "good sea food" one night.
A persistent lady wanted me to buy a pineapple and had us take a picture like this.
Souvenir shopping. Love it.
There are rarely any trash cans anywhere- but when we do come upon some, hold your nose!!!
If only we could get live animals through customs...
It rained and poured the entire time for our last two days in Hanoi. This is us just after visiting the temple of literature. We also went to a nearby museum to see the body of Ho Chi Min that has been preserved by the russians since the 1960s! Unfortunately, it was closed for the day. We did google pictures of it at the hostel- kind of bizarre! I told Chris if cremating my ashes and setting them free over the ocean doesn't work out, then this doesn't seem like a half bad idea either to properly preserve my legacy.

Goodbye Vietnam!

And now for the long awaited "after shot":
Classy.

We are so grateful and feel very blessed to have had such amazing experiences, growth opportunities, and chances to serve others across the world. Thanks again friends and family for all of your support! If anyone is interested in following up with the projects we helped to begin in Thailand, the Help International Web-sight has a team blog with updates and the status of the service projects.

Sawadikaaaaa!

Vietnam

We left Cambodia on a sleeper bus at midnight for Southern Vietnam last Wedensday. Southerrn Vietnam is so refreshing after the dirty, scamming, and crowded Cambodia experience. This is just before loading up on the midnight bus: We stayed at a small family-run hostel around the backpacking district of Ho Chi Min City. We both loved the city and almost stayed there for the rest of the trip! We canceled our plans to train/bus all the way up to the North and bought two cheap plane tickets to enjoy some more days in Vietnam.

We visited two Vietnam "American" war sites where we saw the Cu Chi tunnels the Vietnamese navigated through to advance past the U.S. It was incredible how small the tunnels were- and that people lived in there for months at a time! Everyone laughed when Chris went down the tunnel as he is so much taller than everyone else here. It was disturbing to see the different traps they had built and the types of torture they performed on the U.S. soldiers.

After exploring the tunnels we visited the museum/memorial of the Vietnam war. It was VERY interesting to see the war from such a different perspective. Needless to say, both the tunnel tour and the museum were very anti-American. It made me anxious to learn more about the war, and showed me how influential propaganda can be. The Vietnamese don't view the war so strongly as a conflict between the South and the North, but more so as an invasion of the U.S. It made both Chris and I feel ashamed for some of the things the U.S. did throughout the war, and are likewise doing now in the Middle East. We've been told that the attitude towards Americans is not as accepting in the North, and since we've gotten here, we both now claim to be from Australia, in hopes to prevent any over-charging/disagreable treatment.

Yes, they really wear these hats here- and it's not just for the sake of tourism! Plus, mom, you should be happy to know, they are NOT for "all the snakes that fall from the trees". They are actually very nice to wear as they shade from the hot sun, and act as umbrellas in the rain. Chris is considering a new business idea for the U.S.....

Once again, Chris tried to get me to hold the snake, but I would not. This one was a Boa Constrictor.

This was part of one of the tours we took of the South- so much fun!

We visited the water markets in the South- really cool. We took a boat out to the different vendor boats that were selling anything from fish to fruit to hats to pepsi.

This was a family that went on the two day tour with us- they reminded me alot of our own family as they had too older girls and a younger, very funny boy. It was fun to have them follow us around throughout the trip. It was not fun to spend the night between the two days throwing up and dry heaving. I think the chicken I was given at lunch was spoiled. Either that, or it was the 15 coconut candies I ate when we were given free samples at the coconut candy island. Chris, the great husband he is, took great care of me:)

The traffic in vietnam is craaaazzzzyyyy. In Cambodia it was crazy as there are no street signs or stop lights and people just kind of go in between people. But in Vietnam, there are millions of motorcyles and cars weaving in and out of eachother. To cross the street you are just supposed to start walking across- make no sudden movements, and "the traffic moves around you". We took some really cool videos of each of us crossing the street.

The street of the family-run hostel we stayed at in the South:

We got some clothes made!!! It was soooo cool; first we went to a market where there were hundreds of vendors selling material. After we picked out our material we took it to a vendor and they made us coats, suites, skirts, and shirts in just two days. I looovvveeeee them, and it was way cheap!! Thanks Mom and Dad for the birthday money!

Chris getting ready to board our flight to the North:

Last night, after treking through the city of Hanoi, two taxis, and a hopping a midnight bus that promised to drop us off in the country town of Ninh Binh we arrived at a hostel at about 2 in the morning. There isn't much accomodation for tourists, but it has been such a nice day to get away from the hustling busy tourist cities. Today we borrowed some bikes from the hostel and road out to some limestone caves where we paid a lady to row us through the river that weaved through the 15 limestone caverns. It was cool to stop every once in a while and visit the different Buddhist shrines/temples hidden throughout the valleys.

BIG Buddha, Bungalows, and Orange Hair

Our first week traveling around has been quite the adventure! Here are a few of the things we have learned along the way:

How to take successful self-portraits. Before and after shots never get old. Look forward to a fantastic "After shot" in two weeks...

How to meditate in a Buddhist wat with three weeks of backpacking gear on your back. We had some time to kill in Chiang Mai while we waited for our flight to take off for Phuket, so we visited some Wats before heading out.

How to successfully fit three people on a motor bike while dodging the craziest traffic you've ever seen at 80 kilometers an hour. The largest Big Buddha statue in the world was totally worth the near death experience, even if it meant being sandwiched between Chris and a big Thai man who decided to double the price we originally agreed on for a ride to the site mid flight. (“No- I meant 200 baht there and 200 baht back!....)

How to kick it, Thai -native- island style. We stayed in a Bungalow on our first night at Ko phi phi, I guess you get what you pay for.….Outdoor bamboo shower, mosquito attacking, roach fested dwelling and all. But, because it is no longer the season for tourists, prices were 50% cheaper than regular- and we felt like we had all the islands to ourselves!!! We were dissaponted that we couln’t scuba dive as the seas were to rough from the monsoon season. I geuss that just means we will have to come back again.

What to do when one of us needs the sun, and the other some shade:

How to make friends with the drunken locals on the island and jam out to Zombie with then. (“Not one lesson”)

How to eat three rotees for breakfast. A rotee is everything goodness in a napkin: deep fried crepe with sweetened condensed milk, lot of butter and oil, and nutella.

How to ride a scooter. We rode all over Ko Lanta island- so much fun!! But don’t temporarily turn it back in only to find that the gas you filled it up with the night before was syphoned and resold back to you. Oh- and look out for elephants passing through.

Chris learned just how amazing a pedicure is. Looks like I have a new pedicure buddy!

I'm not sorry to say that one thing we did NOT learn was what cows tongue tastes like. However, Chris willingly ordered frog's legs last night for dinner....

How to build a sand wat of success.

Baz Lurhman said it best; "Wear sunscreen"....Or at least marry a wife who knows how to accurately apply it.

We took a van and a ferry from Ko Lanta to Krabi, an all night sleeper bus from Krabi to Bangkok, and arrived just in time to catch the 6 hour train ride from Bangkok to the border of Cambodia at 5:55 A.M. Advice: Do not get scammed by the lying border personnel. Twice. Cause we did. (Even after we had read warnings of it in the guide book) We were still able to receive our Cambodian visas, we just had to pay $30 more than the actual price. Also, don’t leave ANYTHING valuable in your bag that isn’t on you in the bus. It will save you a phone call to Wells Fargo to report a stolen credit card. But it was worth the unfortunate experiences to get to Cambodia. Do wake up at 4:30 AM to see the temples of Ankor Wat and the faces of Bayon at sunrise: beautiful!!

Chris learned the pleasure of getting a "special fish foot treatment"...Gross.

Do go to the Russian market in Phnom Pehn- We bought some DVD’s for a dollar a movie! However, do not attempt this at home:

Sure, you can buy fish from the Cambodian central market; but I wouldn’t advise buying the fish at the stand where the woman is clipping her toenails by the counter.

No matter how much the Cambodian ladies at the hair dressing booth in the central market assure you that they can give you blonde hair of extensions, from asian black locks—"for just One hunded dolas!"; do not be convinced. It will turn orange, and then yellow. We however did not follow such advice as I now have orange-yellow tangled locks of beatuty. The determined Cambodian stylists used about 5 boxes of bleach and one last final box of "expensive platinum die” to achieve the butterfinger golden color. Once again, I geuss you get what you pay for, but good thing I won the Help International Photo contest prize of $250! Right, Chris? This is a picture of the desperate attempt to bleach black hair:

They should come out in three months....

Today we visited the Pnohm Pen killing fields and the museum S21. S21 was originally a highschool, but then converted into a torture camp for the victims of Khmer rouge. When they no longer had room or use for the prisoners, the throusands of innocent people were taken to the killing fields where they were brutally killed with tools such as machetis, spiked trees, and other gardening tools to preserve bullets as the country no longer had any structure or any kind of wealth. It was incredible to learn of something so horrific that has happended so recently. Our tour guide was quite emotional as he showed us around the museum as most of his family are dead from the tragic experience.

We are having a lot of fun- we miss you guys!