I hope this blog finds you well. I have returned to Tongliao after six weeks of backpacking Southeast Asia without Malaria, with short hair (ahh!) and with a massive caffeine withdrawal headache. I have eaten some of the best food I’ve ever had, eaten the unknown several times, met amazing people from all over the globe and spent 62 of the last 68 hours of my trip on trains.
I binged on Starbucks in Hong Kong, spent entire days in a hammock on Ko Pha Ngan, rode elephants in Southern Thailand, caught a pickpocket trying to steal my camera in Hanoi (the first time I ever hit an older man- he didn’t know who he was messing with!), and fell in love with the children of Cambodia.
I survived hostels with mice and lizards in Phnom Penh, slept under mosquito nets in Guangzhou, and stayed in a $3/night bungalow 15 feet from the Gulf of Thailand. Most of our trip was unplanned, oftentimes arriving late at night after a full day of traveling, in a frantic search for a hostel. Sometimes we booked flights at the last possible minute, spent extra days in cities we thought we’d be leaving sooner, and lost track of the days of the week. This has done wonders for my high-strung, super planned, always on a schedule, type A personality. (I, of course still had a small calendar stashed inside my backpack that I looked at from time to time…) but you’re all going to be shocked when you see me in September!
I want to apologize in advance for the quality of my writing in this blog. I had it nearly complete when my school computer crashed and I lost the entire thing. So now I am rewriting it from memory and a little irritated. I also traveled so much and saw so many things, that I had to cut it down a lot! So what I’ve done is to write one large blog with sections. Each has a title for the country. I also picked two or three things to write about for each country because I would have written another novel if I had included everything I saw. I know this is not my best writing, but I really hope you all enjoy!
OFF WE GO!
Before we left, the seven of us sat at a table and wrote out all the places we wished to visit during the trip. Agreeing that traveling in small groups was a brilliant idea (and our patience with some more than others was running thin), we created our own itineraries, compared them, and chose places to meet up. Mike and I both dying to get out of China, split off and traveled to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok Thailand, and Singapore (a country the others had no desire visiting). We figured that with the Chinese New Year fast approaching and travel prices rising, it was smarter to get out of the country as fast as possible. This turned out to be the best decision we made on the trip. The Chinese New Year is the largest migration of people in the world and it was brought to a standstill as a result of the large storms hitting China. As we traveled, we continued to read horror stories on CNN about robberies and assaults on the trains because millions of frustrated workers couldn’t get home.
Saturday January 12, 2008: The morning we all had been waiting for since the day we signed our contracts. We hopped on the 12 hour day train from Tongliao to Beijing, leaving behind a 20 degree below zero morning with our big backpacks ½ packed with minimal clothing and the biggest and most obnoxious smiles China has ever seen. AJ, Ian and Cait had all traveled back to America right after Christmas leaving the four of us in a bitter cold Inner Mongolia and still teaching!
After one night in Beijing, we met up with AJ and Ian who had both arrived the previous day. The following morning, we made our first split; Mike and I flew from Beijing to Guangzhou, while Julianne, Kim, AJ, and Ian traveled down the coast of China, stopping in Nanjing and Shanghai. Cait, who had spent an extra week in America, met up with them a week later in Hong Kong.
GUANGZHOU
The point in our visit to Guangzhou was as a 2 day layover before Hong Kong. We didn’t really have any expectations of this city but we were pleasantly surprised! We stayed at the Pearl River International Youth Hostel on the boardwalk of the Pearl River. Our views were beautiful and the area was young and busy.
On our second day, we took the boat across the river to Shamian Island, an instant immersion in Guangzhou’s colonial history. It consists of only a handful of small, quaint streets, but it was once inhabited by the French and the British.
(Look for the old lady getting her haircut in the street!)
One of the coolest moments I have ever experienced happened at lunch on Shamian Island. We were indulging ourselves in some western food at a small restaurant called “Lucy’s.” We were sitting on the porch when we noticed that the only other people sitting in the other tables were foreigners. A man (from Kentucky) with a Chinese child was eating lunch at a table and he suddenly struck up a conversation with a British family at the next table. The man and woman sat with their 8 year old biological son. The man from Kentucky explained to them that he had just picked up his 8 year old adopted daughter and they were going home to the states in a couple of days. The other family, from Britain, explained that they had waited for 3 ½ years to adopt a Chinese baby and they were finally picking her up this afternoon. I immediately got goosebumps and Mike and I sat there silently ecstatic for that family. The two families chatted for a bit about the process and the wait time…they were so unbelievably happy, it was so great!
That night we took the Pearl River Cruise through Guangzhou. The views were spectacular and the city looked so alive at night. We were so surprised at our stay in Guangzhou. We ended up having a really great time but it was just the beginning and the next morning we jumped on a 6 hour bus to Hong Kong!
HONG KONG
If you are interested in visiting Hong Kong and you don’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese, no need to worry. English is everywhere! Mike and I always ate at the small restaurants on side streets, full of locals and every time we ordered in Mandarin, the waiter said, “Okay thanks, coming right up!” Hong Kong is huge, confusing, and western. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the city, but there was so much to do and see!
We waited until the second night to take the Peak Tram to 552m high Victoria Peak because we heard the only point in going is to see the view. Since the clear days are quite rare in Hong Kong, we rushed at the opportunity when we noticed we may actually have a good night. It was definitely worth the view!!!
Taking advantage of the gorgeous night, we jumped on the Star Ferry on Hong Kong Island and traveled across to Kowloon Island for another spectacular view of the city. The Bank of China building is clear in all of these pictures because it’s architecture is so unique!
I think I was most excited for Hong Kong Disneyland! You only need a few hours here because the park itself is relatively small. They have all the classics; Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland. I went on Space Mountain for the first time in my life (we actually went twice) but for rides, that about all the adult fun they had. What made HK Disneyland so great were the lack of people! The lines were non-existent and Mickey and Minnie walked around the park without mobs of people!
It was definitely worth seeing but it wasn’t quite as good as the real thing! That will probably be how I feel the next time I’m in Epcot and visit China, definitely not the real thing!!
MACAU
We were only in Macau for two days but I don’t remember sitting down for two minutes (except for a triple grande skim cappacino of course!) I think we covered all of Macau in those two days. Macau’s history is really interesting but it would be easy for anyone to overlook this with the new development…Macau is quickly becoming the Las Vegas of the East. I was standing next to a cannon on the Monte Fort, built by the Jesuits in 1617, looking over the Casino Lisboa. It is like Macau has two faces, but I guess that’s what makes Macau so interesting!
Mike and I developed a great travel mindset early on in the trip. While we kept our “yellow bible,” the Lonely Planet Southeast Asia Guidebook on us at all times, we avoided the lodging and eating sections as much as possible. Instead, we stayed in the non-touristy areas and ate at the hole-in-the-wall restaurants. This indeed kept our minds wide-open and our pockets a little heavier.
Most restaurants laughed at us when we walked in mainly because they spoke PORTUGEUSE and their menu’s had no English. “Well,” we thought, “we’re pretty used to this.” So we walked right into the kitchen, pointed at the ingredients and voila—a $2 meal and a new friend.
We walked along the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro which is home to the beautiful Largo do Senado. It is a swirling black and white tiled square surrounded by colonial buildings. There are cafes and shops that line this area but it was terribly confusing, being surrounded by Cantonese, Portuguese, and an old European feel. It was so quaint and beautiful (and it had a Starbucks!)
We made our trek up the 338m, Macau Tower and had a spectacular view of Macau. It is home to the world’s highest commercial bungee jump and outdoor walkway (no rail). I did a lot of crazy things on this trip but THAT was not one of them!!!!
My favorite site to see was the Ruins of the Church of St. Paul which was built in the early 17th century. In 1835, a fire erupted and destroyed everything except for what we see today. Some say that it is the greatest monument to Christianity in Asia. The numerous stone steps before it make ascending it an experience in itself. The ruins were beautiful and the crypt that contains the remains of Vietnamese and Japanese Christians martyred in the 17th century behind it, was definitely creepy!
BANGKOK, THAILAND
As I sat on the plane from Macau to Bangkok, Thailand, I decided to read up on Bangkok. My guidebook described Bangkok as “hands-down the coolest, grittiest, cockiest capital city in the region.” And that is exactly what it was. Bangkok was HOT, and I mean this in the most uncomfortable of senses. I think I took three showers a day and hand-washed my clothes more times than my time spent in China! Bangkok is a city that never sleeps, and believe me, we did little of that!
The people of Thailand love their King! There are shrines of their King all over the city, especially in the middle of rotaries. Many of these shrines scream “LONG LIVE THE KING.” I couldn’t help but look at our country and realize the lack of “Long Live The President” shrines scattered around the old US of A. (sorry no more political jokes).
Our one major touristy stop was the Grand Palace, the former royal residence. We tried to visit it the first day in Bangkok, but were told that we were inappropriately dressed. Sorry for this misunderstanding but it is 100 degrees outside! We returned the following morning dressed more like a crisp fall day with a bottle of water in one hand and my guidebook fanning me off in the other. The Grand Palace was certainly grand and unbelievably beautiful. This area is the Vatican City of Thai Buddhism and this is one of the countries’ most holiest sites. We had to take our shoes off and kneel to the Emerald Buddah. The sides of all the buildings were covered in what looked like jewels of many colors. It was any little girl’s dream palace!
Bangkok was one city where we let our guidebook guide us to our lodging. We chose the Khao San Road which ultimately made me believe that Bangkok is the biggest party city in the world. We were surrounded by backpackers galore… most of which were Australians and Europeans. (We actually did not meet any Americans in Thailand). As we walked along this infamous street, we just kind of watched the madness that seemed to be a nightly occurrence here. In Bangkok, they drink towers (see picture). This is 4 liters of their wonderful Chang Beer, which I ended up referring to as “elephant beer” during the entire trip. I think there was a reason why the waiter laughed at us when we ordered it for two…the results were not pretty.
SINGAPORE
This is a picture of our hostel!
Singapore was the most diverse country we visited on this trip. It had two of my favorite things…eating and shopping!!! We stayed in the Little India section of the country at a great Australian hostel with a bar below our room and a beer garden out back. The thing about Singapore is that it’s HOT. Our fan in our room did nothing for the humidity that we suffered from being so close to the equator but the cold drinks below our room kept us hydrated and cooled off! Haha.
One of the touristy things we were told to do was the Night Safari. We got on trams as the sun set and walked on the trails amongst nocturnal animals like tigers, leopards and giraffes. It was definitely the most unique zoo I have ever been too. We were so close to these animals and I felt like I was on a ride the entire time. The following evening we took a cable car to Sentosa Island, which provided us with beautiful views of the area. We sipped on Singapore Slings (mmmmm) and walked around the amusement park-type island.
Singapore has hawker centers, which are open air stalls that are under government control and are safe to eat at. Mike ate the famous Chilli-crab which I had a taste of and ooo how I regretted not getting that! It was awesome. We also visited the shopping Mecca Orchard Road, which made me feel like I was at home. It was completely western with all the famous designers and all of the big American stores. Singapore was a great place to visit because it was safe and clean!!! We made sure not to chew gum or spit (all of these are illegal) and we even stayed away from jay-walking.
PHUKET, THAILAND
After two fun weeks, we met up with the other seven for three really fun days in Phuket, Thailand! Phuket was strongly affected by the Tsunami and it was very clear that the damage was large. The resorts, restaurants and buildings lining the beaches were brand new and gorgeous. I found it extremely interesting that no one spoke of the Tsunami. We were told that it is just something that no one wants to discuss. It happened, and it has passed. No one dwells on it.
Phuket was extremely touristy! Phuket reminded me of the beach screen savers and backgrounds that some computers have pre-installed. It was picturesque! The water was so clear and calm and the sand was so soft. It took a day to get used to all the people trying to sell us dresses, headbands, and bags on the beach! I would be lying out and suddenly a man with 50 sundresses would be standing on top of me!
One of the best days on this trip was the day in Phuket when the seven of us went elephant trekking and white water rafting in the jungle (southern Thailand). I woke up the next morning with bruises galore because I was all over that raft and all over everyone on it! The elephant trekking was definitely an experience. We had so much fun!
KO PHA NGAN, THAILAND
I know it’s cliché but if I could describe my week on the island in one word, it would be paradise. Ko Pha Ngan sits on the eastern coast of the country in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. Our excitement was obvious the moment we jumped off the ferry and stood there, wide-eyed staring at the water and the coconuts. Our only problem at 10pm the night of our arrival was the question of where are we going to stay? Of course we hadn’t booked anything in advance. It may have been obvious that we had no idea what we were doing because a moment later, we were surrounded by ten Thai men, trying to get us to stay at their guesthouses and bungalows. After pushing several expensive ones away, I was approached by a man with a photo album. He tried to sell me his bungalows but I interrogated him with three important questions. 1) Are you on the beach? Yes 2) How much is a bungalow per night? $3USD/night 3) Do you have hammocks? YES!!!
Cait brought me Britney magazines from America!!!!!!!!
Ko Pha Ngan is notorious for their monthly Full Moon Parties, which we unfortunately missed by one day. We didn’t seem to mind when we woke up the next morning to check out where exactly we were staying (we couldn’t see much that night we arrived). As I opened my bungalow door and stepped out onto my porch I noticed the turquoise water 15 feet from me, the swaying coconut trees scattered around our private beach, and the hammocks!!!!!!!!!
I basically spent my days either on the beach, in the water, or on the hammock. I think I pinched myself several times and asked myself again, “wait we’re paying 3 bucks a night for this?” Ko Pha Ngan is devoid of an airport and the island’s roads were more like a pile of rocks but it was so quiet and relaxing. (I was okay with the fact that we missed the out of control Full Moon Party).
CAMBODIA
Since I’ve been back to Tongliao, my friends and co-workers have asked me which country was my favorite to visit. I am quick to say Thailand because I had never relaxed for so long in my life, but my mind kept coming back to Cambodia. I loved Cambodia! We began by visiting the amazing Angkor Wat, one of the world’s greatest achievements, and ended with the haltingly sadness of one of humankind’s darkest moments.
We began our trip in Siem Reap, the most well-known city in the north of Cambodia. While I can talk about the charming rural town, with an old French feel, I must spend my time writing about humanity’s most audacious architectural achievement, Angkor Wat.
The temples of Angkor, capital of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer empire, are massive and stunning. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, the Cambodians wished to build the world’s largest religious building. There are hundreds of temples that survived today (the guidebooks suggested spending a week here!) but unfortunately we could only devote one day. Angkor Wat is a source of inspiration and national pride to the Khmers. There is a great beer named after it in the country!
We visited the popular temples which obviously were crowded with tourists, but the immense beauty took over as we climbed over the ruins. My favorite temple was Ta Prohm, which was recently used as a set for shooting both Tomb Raider and Two Brothers.
I found our time spent in Cambodia was very rewarding because for such a poor country, it was absolutely beautiful. It was very clear that this was a country still suffering and trying to rebuild after two decades of war and isolation after the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal 1975-79 rule.
We traveled down to Phnom Penh and spent a day learning about the atrocities that occurred in this country just 40 years ago. We visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where 17,000 men, women and children were executed by the Khmer Rouge. It now is a memorial surrounded by 129 mass graves, which have been disinterred.
As we walked around the city, I looked at the older men and women who still lived here and thought to myself, “they survived.” I was actually a bit embarrassed at the fact that I knew nothing of this part of history. I had never taken a class or studied about this piece of history. Walking through the killing fields and stepping on human bone and clothing poking from the churned ground was mind-blowing.
My favorite part of Cambodia was our bus rides. Traveling from the Thai/Cambodian border to Siem Reap, the journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, and the bus ride from Phnom Penh to the Vietnam border was amazing. We traveled though the country of Cambodia and witnessed poverty at its worst. One room homes held on stilts were scattered amongst the countryside and shoeless children returned there after a day at school. I found the landscape of the country to be amazing and the kids looking up at the bus windows waving violently to be adorable! I loved Cambodia.
VIETNAM
Our stay in Vietnam was very quick and rushed. We realized that we spent a little too much time on the island, which left us only one week in Vietnam. Back in December when I was reading up on our trip and researching different cities, I wrote the city “Hoi An” into our itinerary. It’s on the central coast of Vietnam and I was pretty excited to spend a night or two here. Unfortunately, this city had to be cut out of our trip. Instead we spent half of the week in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and then flew to Hanoi, in the north for the end of the week.
We stayed in a great little guesthouse in the Pham Ngu Lao section of the city and it was a backpacker haven. There were foreigners everywhere! I had a large Vietnamese coffee everyday (okay fine, I actually had two a day) and they were delicious, especially after 2 weeks of thai coffee! Ho Chi Minh was a big party city. We all met up again and went out to the backpacker bars in our section of the city and met some really interesting people. I met two Irish girls who had just graduated from their University (like us!) and were teaching and volunteering in Ho Chi Minh City. We also met up with a guy named Ulysess, from Brazil. When the four others were in Shanghai, they met him and spent a few days hanging out with him and they had been talking ever since…He had been working for an American bank for five years and then just quit. He wanted to travel the world and indeed he was. He has been traveling since September and will continue until next September, visiting up to 35 countries. (Talk about dropping all your things and leaving!)
Ho Chi Minh City was a great shopping city! It is any gadget or technology lovers heaven. I have never seen guys almost begin crying joyously after finding PSP and PS2 games for $1. (I guess that’s a really good price?) We also found any television series for pennies. I felt ashamed when I found Sex and the City (the series) ten bucks…I spent wayyyy too much on this in the states. The guys bought the first three seasons of Lost which has taken over my life the past two weeks since I’ve been back (I’ve done nothing else!) We also bought all five Best Picture Oscar nominees and had an Oscar weekend the week we got back. (Personally, Juno was my favorite!)
We had such a good time in Ho Chi Minh City because everyone was relaxed and happy to see each other. Southeast Asia was so accommodating to backpackers. The best thing is the laundry! You can imagine how my clothes looked after weeks of backpacking, but in all the cities we went, we were able to get our laundry done ($1/kilo). I think my clothes were in a state of shock after seeing a washing machine for the first time in five months. (We were able to do this a few times on our trip!)
We eventually took a break from the partying and the shopping and visited the Vietnam War Remnants Museum. To my great surprise, I looked around and was surrounded by Americans. This was the most Americans I had encountered in the past five months and they were all ironically here.
This is me and AJ on an American plane at the Vietnam War Remnants Museum
I was taken aback by this museum. It was so incredibly anti-American and the propaganda was actually quite unbelievable. I obviously said to myself, “Hey you’re in Vietnam,” but it was just so shocking. (We definitely didn’t learn the extent of this in school and I was a history major!) The photos of the Agent Orange victims were disgusting and the photographs of the worldwide reaction to the war were disturbing.
This is "Agent Orange" section of the museum...it was very scary.
I started to flip through a visitors’ book at the entrance of the museum. It had been a widely visited place by people from all over the globe and many with strong opinions. Most entries were very anti-American and full of anger. It was no surprise to me that this feeling is continuing to this day with the current politics in our country. We have run into this many times in our five months as ex-pats and met our fair share of livid USA detesters, but we just smile, nod and walk away. I think you learn more about your country when you’re away from it, which may be a bold statement but this is how I’ve felt.
Because our time was limited, we booked flights hours beforehand from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, Vietnam. We stayed in the Old Quarter section, a very charming yet busy part of the city. It was also the coldest we had been on the trip…we realized that our hot sunny days were over. The best part of Hanoi was walking around the streets of the Old Quarter and visiting the small shops. Hanoi is known for its beautiful and cheap silk! It’s also known for their tailor shops where you can walk in, design your own outfit and it will be finished the next day. Unfortunately our time there was limited so I couldn’t take advantage of this shoppers’ dream!!
This is the entrance to Hoa Lo Prison (known as the Hanoi Hilton).
On my second day in Hanoi, I ventured off on my own to explore the city. On my way, I stopped at the Hoa Lo Prison (the Hanoi Hilton). The Hanoi Hilton was a prison for American pilots captured as prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. This huge complex was full oh photographs, old documents and ‘prison memorabilia.’ I had expected to see photographs of the prisoners in poor conditions, and after the War Remnants Museum, I was sure I’d see more anti-American sentiment. Instead, I saw photos of John McCain playing basketball, setting up a Christmas tree, studying Vietnamese, and playing volleyball. There was also a presentation of American’s protesting the war at home and all over the world. I left the prison-turned museum a bit confused. I thought I would be seeing cruelty but instead I saw what seemed like big boys at summer camp.
This is John McCain's uniform when he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war.
TRIP HOME
After a few fun days in Hanoi, the seven of us reunited and discussed the important issue of getting home! I sat in a small internet café and mapped out each and every possible way to get back to Tongliao (with all price ranges). It obviously came down to two options and both involved a 24 hour travel day to Kunming, China: 1) fly from Kunming, China to Beijing (a total of 2 ½ hours) or 2) take a 2 day train from Kunming to Beijing (a total of 48 HOURS!!!) The price difference was significant but we all had to make our own decisions.
With our money left in Southeast Asia, four of us (me, Julianne, Mike and Kim) had no choice but to accept our fate and purchase our first and last two-day train tickets. The other three, with just a little more wiggle room than us, wasted no time and were in Beijing in hours.
This is Mike, Me and Ian crossing the border into China from Vietnam.
Before we could embark on this lengthy journey, we had to get to Kunming and like I mentioned before, this was a 24 hour trip! We took an overnight train (12 hours) from Hanoi, Vietnam to the border at Lao Cai. After WALKING to China (we thought this was pretty cool) I had my beloved Lonely Planet China guidebook confiscated by the security guards because it’s forbidden in China! With just an hour to spare, we boarded an all day, 12 hour bus from the border to Kunming, China. This was MISERABLE—We spent about an hour on a paved road and the rest on rocks and we stopped twice to relieve ourselves in holes side by side. I can’t completely complain though because I saw southwestern China and it is absolutely gorgeous. It’s amazing to think that we traveled from the southwest of China to the northeast in about four days and I saw just about all of it! China is a magnificent country.
This is Cait, AJ and me before we boarded the overnight Vietnam train to the border...these two travel days were brutal.
It took us 24 hours to get to Kunming and we had one day to prepare ourselves for the big train trip. Mike and I found a supermarket and stocked up on snacks. (When I return to America I will never touch Ritz crackers, Oreo’s, or dried bananas again!) I’m going to be honest, the trip wasn’t that bad! The four of us talked our ways into getting a four person soft sleeper together. (We actually had to pay two men off to let us all be in the same cabin). The worst part was the food cravings. I counted down each hour until I could have my Starbucks!! We were so disgusted with eating crap and we all refused to eat the instant noodle bowls that every other passenger violently slurped and decorated their shirts with that we stuck to our ritz cracker breakfasts and oreo dinners.
This is Mike and Julianne snacking on the 48 hour train to Beijing. This is at hour 28.
To be completely honest with you all, the trip was not that bad. I wish I had more to tell you but it was kind of relaxing. I don’t think there will be another time in my life when I will spend two full days in my bed! I read two books, practiced some mandarin, and wrote this blog. I don’t know if I will ever do it again, but it was an experience I will never forget!
BEIJING
Beijing has become a ‘second home’ for most of us. We visit frequently and feel very safe and confident traveling around the big city. We arrived at 10am and prayed to God that we could purchase train tickets that day for Tongliao. (Yes that sounds crazy…just getting off a 48 hour train and then jumping on another 12 hour train) but we couldn’t wait to get home. Plus, if we had to stay over a night or two, we had to pay for hostels and more food! Our great luck continued and we had four tickets for the 3:30pm train, which would get us into Tongliao at 4:30am the next morning. That gave us five hours to kill and we knew exactly where we were headed.
Kim spent all her money on souveniers and was forced to purchase this poorly made "Diesel" knockoff in Thailand. The straps broke, the wheels stopped rolling, so she was forced to drag this thing all around Beijing.
We basically ran to our favorite western restaurant in the city of Beijing – Grandma’s Kitchen. I have never in my life, eaten the way I did that afternoon. The four of us ate like we hadn’t eaten in 72 hours…oh wait, that’s because we hadn’t! I was literally sick to my stomach but it was so worth it! I didn’t eat anything until lunch the next day.
Julianne, Kim and I on the 12 hour train back to Tongliao. This is 8 hours after we got off the 48 hour train.
The four of us made it back safely to a surprisingly warm early morning in Tongliao, China. Twenty degrees felt good for Inner Mongolia and since we ditched our winter jackets in various cities along the way of our trip, we were thankful it wasn’t colder.
This was the trip of a lifetime. I was able to spend time in such a great part of the world and I met amazing people. It’s now back to reality, if you want to call this reality. Second term has started this week and I was so happy to see my students. I’m also back to studying Mandarin and I have begun the dreaded “JOB SEARCH.” As my mom has said to me several times already, “It’s time to stop delaying your entrance into the real world.” So I will keep you all updated on those exciting developments.
I hope you enjoyed my trek across Southeast Asia blog. I had the time of my life…I left my money and my hair in Southeast Asia and I wouldn’t have done anything different (except I wouldn’t have cut my poor hair in Vietnam!!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment