I'm very happy to let everyone know that I received good news in my last few email exchanges with Agii, regarding his sister Aiman's brain tumor and surgery. I should have posted this earlier but I've been distracted by friends, family and the greatness that is Colorado for the past few days.
Agii informed me that Aiman's surgery was a success, with the doctors removing 98 percent of the tumor and discovering that it's benign so no gamma knife surgery is needed. She is having trouble swallowing food and speaking but is recovering as expected and should be back to normal within the next month or so. Because of the money we raised and help from Laura and Scott, Agii didn't have to sell his home, his jeep or his business property to pay for the costs and has informed me that he is back to his normal routine of teaching. A huge thanks from Agii and myself to everyone who contributed and offered support and also to Travis Hellstrom, who made the whole process much easier by being one of the kindest and most supportive, helpful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
I will update again in the not too distant future. I'm currently house sitting, trying to catch up with friends and family, and looking for a job.
Be Excellent To Each Other. A blog by Matthew Becker.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Vietnam part 2
So I've finally returned to the U.S. and am currently in Colorado. Being in Cambodia without internet access, then traveling to California, then coming to Colorado..these are my excuses for not keeping the blog updated. :) I'll write more about my trip home and my feelings about being back in the U.S. as soon as I get caught up on Vietnam, uploading pictures, etc.
After a couple days in Da Lat, we took a bus to Nah Trang, a more touristy, coastal town. The bus trip was only a few hours but the scenery on the trip was incredible. We were driving down windy mountain roads, jungle everywhere, cliffs with waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet. The only way I can think of to describe it was to say that it felt like we were in Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs of course. Despite the views, the bus ride wasn't particularly pleasant, featuring a typical Vietnamese driver who drove too fast, took corners to fast, hit the brakes too fast, so yeah, we were thrilled to listen and smell the result of his driving skills as a few of the other Vietnamese passengers took advantage of their sick bags. Good times.
Nah Trang was a beautiful town, much more touristy and catering to travelers with travel agencies, guesthouses, hotels with great beach views, a variety of delicious restaurants, and even a really cheap gym/fitness center. The beaches weren't too crowded and the water was a beautiful bluish green color. We spent some time on the beach, spent a lot of time eating at different restaurants and just relaxed for the most part. Looking back, Nah Trang was one of my favorite parts of the trip and I wish we would have stayed there longer.
From Nah Trang we took a train overnight to a town called Hue. Hue is known for having a citadel which has a bunch of famous monuments and temples. We wandered around the outside of that area and didn't find much to do before hopping on an evening train to Hanoi. Our entrance to Hanoi wasn't the most pleasant as we arrived to pouring rain early in the morning and were greeted by guesthouse owners who believed that they could charge us anywhere between 18 and 27 dollars, during the non touristy season, for rooms that were clearly worth 10 or less. We eventually found a decent hotel that was willing to negotiate with us and gave us a decent rate. Needless to say I didn't get a great first impression of the capital, the biggest city, and northern Vietnam. The next few days in Hanoi consisted of us being rained on, having a hard time finding a nice place to have a cheap beer, and aside from a delicious French restaurant named 'Cafe de Paris', finding a decent place to eat. It was around this time that we decided it wouldn't make sense to go to Laos and that we should fly back to southern Vietnam instead of spending another 24 plus hours on the train. We landed some pretty cheap tickets through Jetstar and set about planning our trip to Ha Long Bay.
I almost don't want to write about the trip to Ha Long Bay because I don't want to remember how maddening and ridiculous it was. We arranged a trip with a tourist agency for a really good price (first mistake) that would consist of a bus ride to the bay, a boat ride and one night on the bay, meals, a room on the boat, and a couple of stops at some scenic areas, kayaking, etc. The trip was going ok until a number of us purchased some beers on one of the islands to bring on to the boat. The prices for beers on the boat were absurd and when you are trying to travel on a budget, you take advantage of cheap beers whenever you can. The boat 'manager' explained to us that we would be charged for bringing the beers on the boat and when we explained to him that we had not been informed of that supposed 'policy' he told us we wouldn't be getting our passports back unless we paid. This is where the boat experience started going downhill. There were some great moments, doing some kayaking in the beautiful water, surrounded by massive rock islands covered in greenery, one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen, jumping into the water from the top of the boat, and late night karaoke and drinking games. The rest of the trip consisted of the manager and crew being incredibly rude and abrasive towards us and the other passengers, arguments about paying for drinks that either were never purchased or had already been paid for and being mislead about air conditioning, fans, food, etc. I took a lot of great pictures though. :)
After another day in Hanoi, we flew to Ho Chi Minh, spent some time buying gifts and souvenirs, and boarded a bus back to Phnom Penh. The last few days in Cambodia were spent with some friends and shopping at the market for more gifts and souvenirs. On the night of September 5th, Hanna took off for Los Angeles and the next day around noon I did the same. I've copied links to my two Facebook albums with pictures from the Vietnam trip below. I'll be back on to write a bit more soon. In the meanwhile, please enjoy the pictures. :)
Vietnam part 1 (Ho Chi Minh, Da Lat, Nah Trang, Hue)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098492&id=72206395&l=2f6ece7e9c
Vietnam part 2 (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099409&id=72206395&l=23c8e08b63
After a couple days in Da Lat, we took a bus to Nah Trang, a more touristy, coastal town. The bus trip was only a few hours but the scenery on the trip was incredible. We were driving down windy mountain roads, jungle everywhere, cliffs with waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet. The only way I can think of to describe it was to say that it felt like we were in Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs of course. Despite the views, the bus ride wasn't particularly pleasant, featuring a typical Vietnamese driver who drove too fast, took corners to fast, hit the brakes too fast, so yeah, we were thrilled to listen and smell the result of his driving skills as a few of the other Vietnamese passengers took advantage of their sick bags. Good times.
Nah Trang was a beautiful town, much more touristy and catering to travelers with travel agencies, guesthouses, hotels with great beach views, a variety of delicious restaurants, and even a really cheap gym/fitness center. The beaches weren't too crowded and the water was a beautiful bluish green color. We spent some time on the beach, spent a lot of time eating at different restaurants and just relaxed for the most part. Looking back, Nah Trang was one of my favorite parts of the trip and I wish we would have stayed there longer.
From Nah Trang we took a train overnight to a town called Hue. Hue is known for having a citadel which has a bunch of famous monuments and temples. We wandered around the outside of that area and didn't find much to do before hopping on an evening train to Hanoi. Our entrance to Hanoi wasn't the most pleasant as we arrived to pouring rain early in the morning and were greeted by guesthouse owners who believed that they could charge us anywhere between 18 and 27 dollars, during the non touristy season, for rooms that were clearly worth 10 or less. We eventually found a decent hotel that was willing to negotiate with us and gave us a decent rate. Needless to say I didn't get a great first impression of the capital, the biggest city, and northern Vietnam. The next few days in Hanoi consisted of us being rained on, having a hard time finding a nice place to have a cheap beer, and aside from a delicious French restaurant named 'Cafe de Paris', finding a decent place to eat. It was around this time that we decided it wouldn't make sense to go to Laos and that we should fly back to southern Vietnam instead of spending another 24 plus hours on the train. We landed some pretty cheap tickets through Jetstar and set about planning our trip to Ha Long Bay.
I almost don't want to write about the trip to Ha Long Bay because I don't want to remember how maddening and ridiculous it was. We arranged a trip with a tourist agency for a really good price (first mistake) that would consist of a bus ride to the bay, a boat ride and one night on the bay, meals, a room on the boat, and a couple of stops at some scenic areas, kayaking, etc. The trip was going ok until a number of us purchased some beers on one of the islands to bring on to the boat. The prices for beers on the boat were absurd and when you are trying to travel on a budget, you take advantage of cheap beers whenever you can. The boat 'manager' explained to us that we would be charged for bringing the beers on the boat and when we explained to him that we had not been informed of that supposed 'policy' he told us we wouldn't be getting our passports back unless we paid. This is where the boat experience started going downhill. There were some great moments, doing some kayaking in the beautiful water, surrounded by massive rock islands covered in greenery, one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen, jumping into the water from the top of the boat, and late night karaoke and drinking games. The rest of the trip consisted of the manager and crew being incredibly rude and abrasive towards us and the other passengers, arguments about paying for drinks that either were never purchased or had already been paid for and being mislead about air conditioning, fans, food, etc. I took a lot of great pictures though. :)
After another day in Hanoi, we flew to Ho Chi Minh, spent some time buying gifts and souvenirs, and boarded a bus back to Phnom Penh. The last few days in Cambodia were spent with some friends and shopping at the market for more gifts and souvenirs. On the night of September 5th, Hanna took off for Los Angeles and the next day around noon I did the same. I've copied links to my two Facebook albums with pictures from the Vietnam trip below. I'll be back on to write a bit more soon. In the meanwhile, please enjoy the pictures. :)
Vietnam part 1 (Ho Chi Minh, Da Lat, Nah Trang, Hue)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098492&id=72206395&l=2f6ece7e9c
Vietnam part 2 (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099409&id=72206395&l=23c8e08b63
Friday, September 3, 2010
Vietnam part 1
Apologies for how long it took me to make this blog post but over the past two and a half weeks, I didn’t spend much time online or at a computer. On August 17th, Hanna and I left for our planned trip to Vietnam and Laos. We arranged to take a boat down the Mekong River, across the border and then to take a bus to Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon. The boat ride, while very loud, was pretty nice. Being on the water was pretty relaxing and I took a lot of pictures. After a few hours on the boat, leaving Cambodia required dealing with the always delightful Cambodian border police. I had overstayed my Cambodian visa by two days and the charge for overstaying is ‘officially’ five dollars a day but in this particular instance, the border police mentioned something about 30 dollars in ‘fees or taxes’ or some such nonsense. After a bit of arguing, pleading and notifying them that we are English teachers and don’t have much money, they finally conceded and let me get away with paying only what I was required to pay. I could probably spend a few paragraphs ripping on how corrupt and shitty the police and border police of Cambodia are but it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Anyways, after crossing the border, making it through Vietnamese customs with no problems and some more time on the boat, we arrived in the town of Chau Doc, where we stayed the night in a guesthouse on the river. We wandered about the towns for a few hours, had some great food and took some pics. The next morning was spent eating breakfast, going on a boat tour to check out Vietnamese floating fish farms, and checking out a local village, mosque and some other sites. The few hours during lunch and after were spent on a bigger, more comfortable boat that slowly continued it’s way down the river. We eventually took a bus into Ho Chi Minh City, which was surprisingly much more developed that I expected. After wandering around a bit we managed to find a cheap guest house and went in search of food. We spent a few days in Ho Chi Minh, enjoying the amenities that have not been afforded by Phnom Penh the past few months, especially the movie theater. We saw both “Inception” and “Salt”, both of which we really enjoyed, while munching on some delicious and much missed popcorn. Ho Chi Minh is a pretty nice city to spend a few days in. There are some great sites to see, some museums worth checking out, especially the ‘War Remnants Museum’, which really gave me a much more accurate picture of just how costly the Vietnam War was. We walked all over the city and I took hundreds of pictures, which I will try to get uploaded to Facebook or Photobucket as soon as possible.
Based on information we’d heard from friends who’d traveled in Vietnam previously, Hanna and I expected Vietnam to be more expensive than Cambodia. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite a bit cheaper, especially with the low cost of ‘pho’ at a number of restaurants, often available for a dollar or a bit more. Travel across the country proved to be pretty cheap and easy as well, with a number of bus, train and plane services all over the country. Unfortunately, this leads to there being far too many travel agencies, many of whom have no problem ripping off foreigners, claiming to provide the cheapest available bus tickets while charging quite a bit more. Luckily, we figured out quickly that it’s much easier, smarter and cheaper to buy tickets directly from the bus companies when possible. Another thing I noticed about Vietnam, at least southern Vietnam, which I will probably touch on further, later on, is that the Vietnamese seem very indifferent to foreigners and tourists. Aside from the people who actually work in the tourist industry or street vendors, many Vietnamese people don’t seem to care much about people visiting their country. They are also a bit cold and less friendly. While in Thailand and to an extent in Cambodia, people are very friendly, open and quick to cater to foreigners and travelers, the Vietnamese just kinda go about their business and don’t pay much attention to foreigners. Anyways, more on that later.
From Ho Chi Minh, we went to Da Lat, a mountain town a few hours north, by overnight bus. Da Lat came highly recommended by our friend Chris, who is also working in Phnom Penh and did some traveling in Vietnam. After arriving early in the morning, checking into a guesthouse, passing out for a few hours, and eventually waking up to explore the city, the first thing we noticed about Da Lat was the lack of foreigners and businesses catering to foreigners. In most even somewhat popular tourist destinations, it’s easy to quickly find the ‘touristy’ areas, filled with t-shirt and souvenir shops, travel agencies, and restaurants and cafes offering western and Vietnamese food. It took hours of us walking around and exploring the city of Da Lat, which was quite beautiful and modern and reminded me very much of a mix of some mountain towns I’ve been to in the U.S. and European towns I’ve seen pictures of, before we found the touristy area, which wasn’t all that touristy. The roads were very windy and twisty, up and down, with businesses and apartments closely pushed together, surrounded by hills and mountains, beautiful green forest areas, rice paddies, and gardens. I took a lot of pictures in Da Lat but the photos do not do the city and surrounding countryside justice in the least.
Ok, I’ve been temporarily distracted by my desire for lunch. I will continue with more about Da Lat and the rest of the Vietnam trip, along with some pictures, asap.
Anyways, after crossing the border, making it through Vietnamese customs with no problems and some more time on the boat, we arrived in the town of Chau Doc, where we stayed the night in a guesthouse on the river. We wandered about the towns for a few hours, had some great food and took some pics. The next morning was spent eating breakfast, going on a boat tour to check out Vietnamese floating fish farms, and checking out a local village, mosque and some other sites. The few hours during lunch and after were spent on a bigger, more comfortable boat that slowly continued it’s way down the river. We eventually took a bus into Ho Chi Minh City, which was surprisingly much more developed that I expected. After wandering around a bit we managed to find a cheap guest house and went in search of food. We spent a few days in Ho Chi Minh, enjoying the amenities that have not been afforded by Phnom Penh the past few months, especially the movie theater. We saw both “Inception” and “Salt”, both of which we really enjoyed, while munching on some delicious and much missed popcorn. Ho Chi Minh is a pretty nice city to spend a few days in. There are some great sites to see, some museums worth checking out, especially the ‘War Remnants Museum’, which really gave me a much more accurate picture of just how costly the Vietnam War was. We walked all over the city and I took hundreds of pictures, which I will try to get uploaded to Facebook or Photobucket as soon as possible.
Based on information we’d heard from friends who’d traveled in Vietnam previously, Hanna and I expected Vietnam to be more expensive than Cambodia. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite a bit cheaper, especially with the low cost of ‘pho’ at a number of restaurants, often available for a dollar or a bit more. Travel across the country proved to be pretty cheap and easy as well, with a number of bus, train and plane services all over the country. Unfortunately, this leads to there being far too many travel agencies, many of whom have no problem ripping off foreigners, claiming to provide the cheapest available bus tickets while charging quite a bit more. Luckily, we figured out quickly that it’s much easier, smarter and cheaper to buy tickets directly from the bus companies when possible. Another thing I noticed about Vietnam, at least southern Vietnam, which I will probably touch on further, later on, is that the Vietnamese seem very indifferent to foreigners and tourists. Aside from the people who actually work in the tourist industry or street vendors, many Vietnamese people don’t seem to care much about people visiting their country. They are also a bit cold and less friendly. While in Thailand and to an extent in Cambodia, people are very friendly, open and quick to cater to foreigners and travelers, the Vietnamese just kinda go about their business and don’t pay much attention to foreigners. Anyways, more on that later.
From Ho Chi Minh, we went to Da Lat, a mountain town a few hours north, by overnight bus. Da Lat came highly recommended by our friend Chris, who is also working in Phnom Penh and did some traveling in Vietnam. After arriving early in the morning, checking into a guesthouse, passing out for a few hours, and eventually waking up to explore the city, the first thing we noticed about Da Lat was the lack of foreigners and businesses catering to foreigners. In most even somewhat popular tourist destinations, it’s easy to quickly find the ‘touristy’ areas, filled with t-shirt and souvenir shops, travel agencies, and restaurants and cafes offering western and Vietnamese food. It took hours of us walking around and exploring the city of Da Lat, which was quite beautiful and modern and reminded me very much of a mix of some mountain towns I’ve been to in the U.S. and European towns I’ve seen pictures of, before we found the touristy area, which wasn’t all that touristy. The roads were very windy and twisty, up and down, with businesses and apartments closely pushed together, surrounded by hills and mountains, beautiful green forest areas, rice paddies, and gardens. I took a lot of pictures in Da Lat but the photos do not do the city and surrounding countryside justice in the least.
Ok, I’ve been temporarily distracted by my desire for lunch. I will continue with more about Da Lat and the rest of the Vietnam trip, along with some pictures, asap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)