I just don’t get it

•February 3, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Since day one of living in Ho Chi Minh City, there have been many things that have caused me to chuckle or shake my head in confusion.

Over three months down the line, I am still baffled by every-day actions of the people around me. Thought I’d share some bewildering happenings around the city:

*Dry shaving – men sit on their front stairs or on the side of the street and shave with a disposable razor. No water, no shaving cream. Why not do it in the bathroom in the privacy of your own home? Who knows…

*Road construction marked by a stick – yes, thats right. If there’s a big pot hole, or construction up ahead, prepare to be warned by a single branch, stuck into the road.

*Throwing up while still driving a motorcycle – I saw this for the first time last week. Over the front of the handle bars, and on we go. Why not stop, if only for safety’s sake? Couldn’t tell ya.

*All Westerners look alike – HA! I showed a picture at school today of a posh white lady from a magazine. One little boy asked “Is that you??” I couldn’t help but laugh because there was admittedly a time when I said that all asians look the same. Dream on kid…

And the list goes on. Perhaps I’ll update this on a regular basis…there’s no shorage of amusing sights here that you just can’t wrap your head around.

New Year, New Look

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Out with the old and in with the new! The old look was boring me…new colours for a new year. Enjoy!

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Click to see larger!

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Serenity on Ko Phangan

Living Abroad

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

It’s quite an amazing thought to sit and think of how you ended up where you are right now. Sometimes I picture the globe with a little red dot where I am, and a little red dot at home on Vancouver Island. No matter where I am, I always stop and think ‘how the heck did I get here?!’

Never did I think that I would be living in Vietnam, teaching in public schools and working for a magazine. Life is so unpredictable. I think because of that I’ve learned not to worry about things too much. As my life has shown so far, it’s not going to go as you planned or predicted, so just go with the flow! Live for the moment and enjoy where you are.

There’s nothing more perplexing than finding yourself in a foreign land with no idea what you’re doing. You’re then forced to make connections, put yourself out there, and adapt to your environment. It’s a real challenge because you don’t have the comfort and support of those you would at home, but it’s all the more rewarding.

To sit back and think about what you’ve accomplished and what you’ve experienced without help from others is enlivening. They’re small steps and small daily rewards, but after time it’s a great sense of accomplishment.

There are those at home that haven’t traveled, and I know it’s not for everyone. But I think at some point in your life you need to get out of your comfort zone and open your eyes to new ways of living. Travel has been by far the greatest learning tool for me, and the most memorable times of my life. It’s when I feel the most satisfaction, the most alive, and the most myself!

We live in an amazing world with amazing people. I’m glad to be experiencing it.

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Pete and I at the hotel on Ko Samui

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

paradise near Phuket airport

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Watching from afar, the masses of people at Notre Dame Cathedral, countdown to Christmas

•January 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Array of beverages available on the beach. Each one as classy as the next.

Thailand, Dec.25-Jan.6.

•January 17, 2010 • Leave a Comment

I have always felt like Thailand would be my favorite country. I woke up in Phuket the day after Christmas on a beautiful beach near the airport. We arrived in the dark of night, with no clue where we were, but after cracking the window of our bamboo bungalow, I knew I was in the country I’ve been waiting for.

Thailand is gorgeous, and we had a wonderful time, but we certainly had our fair share of bad luck along the way as well.

We arrived in Phuket late Christmas night. After getting through customs we grabbed our bag off the carousel which had been broken into. The lock was broken off, and the zipper wide open. We quickly searched through, but it didn’t seem like anything was gone. Then I saw my make-up/jewellery bag making it’s way down the baggage carousel. I ran over and grabbed it and saw that most of my jewellery was gone.

We made a claim with AirAsia, then got in a dodgy taxi, wanting nothing more than to go to bed. The driver said yes yes, he knows where those bungalows are. Half an hour later, he pulls over on a wooded, pitch black winding road and asks us where it is. How the *&$# are we supposed to know?!

After driving back and forth down a poorly lit, small town road, we decided that we weren’t going to win this battle. We told him to take us back to the airport. En route to the airport, we finally found the road for our bungalows. Off to bed we went.

We spent five days on Ko Samui island, on the Eastern side of Thailand with some friends from Adelaide. Our days comprised of swimming, riding motorbikes, eating and drinking. We stayed on Chaweng Noi beach, a beautiful spot with clear warm water.

New Years Eve we took the ferry over to Ko Phangan Island, an hour from Ko Samui. We were about to take part in a full moon/New Years Eve party on Haad Rin beach, along with 50,000 others.

We walked onto the beach and were greeted with a jump-rope that was douced in gas, and lit on fire. Daring idiots took turns jumping in, and laughing with glee as their foot got caught and their hair almost caught on fire. This was too much to watch!

The drinks available on the beach are plastic buckets, filled with an entire mickey of alcohol and a mix of your choice. As expected, my memory doesn’t go too far into the night.

At 7 a.m. we picked ourselves up off the beach and got a tuc-tuc back to the hotel. It was too early to check in so we passed out on the beach. We woke up when the hotel maid came to tell us our room was ready. Pete was walking with a bit of a limp that was in hindsight, a sign of bad things to come.

After sleeping an entire day (my birthday) we woke up on the morning of the 2nd. I took a quick look at Pete’s foot and thought we should go to the clinic. The doctor there took a quick look and said it should have been stitched up, but it was too late for that, so he cleaned it, and wrapped it up.

The next day we took a bus trip which was meant to be six hours. After switching buses about 4 times, and being squished into each one like sardines, we were already six hours in. We were at a stop and waiting to switch to another bus going to Phuket. The bus they had waiting was going to Patong, a little bit further, and you had to pay another 200,000 Baht.

My anger was getting the best of me, as this was the last day of our trip and not how I wanted to remember Thailand. We snuck like fugitives onto the Patong bus after being told that the Phuket bus would be another two hours before arriving.

We threw our bags on and slipped into two spare seats. Each stop my heart raced and my veins pumped with fear that the driver would realize we hadn’t paid and kick us off.

We finally made it to Phuket, as the rest were transfered on to Patong, 12 hours after we departed.

When we arrived back in Phuket Pete was meant to get his foot cleaned a re-wrapped. But the doctor said it needed to be stitched…4 days after the incident! He stuck 3 needles in the wound then stitched it up. Off we went to the airport to fly home to HCM. BUT, bad things come in threes they say! It turns out that my visa renewal on arrival needed an approval letter from the Vietnamese Embassy. Two more days in Thailand…

Instead of going back to Phuket, which we hated, we opted for Patong. It was supposed to have a nice beach. Into the town of fat ugly tourists we went! Fat middle-aged men with young Thai boys, or girls, or ladyboys. It was repulsive. Like a brothel. The beach wasn’t any better. Plastic lounge chairs lined the beach, only inches apart. There was no sand other than that under your chair. Fat hairy men flirted with their purchased girlfriends and drank themselves to obesity. We played travel Scrabble and watched movies and wished we were home.

On the 6th we finally arrived home in HCM. I never thought I’d be so excited to be in HCM. It actually felt like home, or some sort of familiarity.

We’ve now been home for about two weeks, but Pete’s foot saga continues. There is now word that there are some foreign bodies in the wound. And it’s too infected at the moment to cut them out. And he had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics! It’s been a tough run, but I think I see a light at the end of this ridiculously long tunnel!