Two Weeks in Vietnam

After leaving Phnom Penh I found myself in Saigon, a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City, a.k.a. HCMC. I headed straight to my guesthouse house from the airport to wait for my friend Andrew, who would be joining me for the Vietnam and Laos portions of my trip. He eventually made it to the guesthouse and we promptly headed out into the Saigon night for a couple beers. The following day we relaxed and sorted out some details (money, further travel etc.). We also booked a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels for the following day. These tunnels turned out ot be quite interesting; they were used by the Vietcong guerillas during the American War, and are located just outside metro Saigon. They had widened some of the tunnels so that tourists could go in (about half of our group ventured in). Andrew and I both did this, but I really don't think I would have been able to fit in, let alone survive, in the original tunnels. The next day we went to the War Remnants Museum. This museum was much more intriguing than I expected. It had the normal interpretation of the American War from the Vietnamese point of view, but this was not nearly the most interesting part. There was also a large photo exhibit, all the photos in which were taken by journalists of various countries who had been killed in the war. I realistically say that it was the best photo exhibit I've ever seen.


Following that day we grabbed a bus north, to the beach town of Nha Trang. The first hotel we wanted to stay had been torn down, but we got really lucky with our second choice. We ended up in the Perfume Grass Inn, which is the best overall place I've stayed in Asia so far. On our first full day in Nha Trang we took a boat trip out to some islands off the coast. It was relatively interesting, and let us do some swimming in the South China Sea. On this excursion we also encountered the Vietnamese vintage known as Dalat Wine... you can use it to clean paintbrushes, or drink it... and that's enough about that. The next day we were feeling rather lazy and decided to sit at the Louisiane Beach Club, watch the very large waves roll in, and sample some very good food and drink. This place brews their own beer that could rival many brew pubs in Canada; especially the wheat beer.

After that we jumped on an overnight bus for the central city of Hoi An. Hoi An is a beautiful old town that wouldn't look out of place on the shores of the south of France. Unfortunately we didn't have much time there, and the weather was rather awful the whole time. One thing made the journey there worthwhile; the dinner we had at th Mango Rooms restaurant was sublime, some of the best food I've had in Asia. If you're in Hoi An, go to the Mango Rooms! We didn't really do much in Hoi An except wander through the old town and try to stay relatively dry.

The next leg of our journey began with a taxi ride 30km north to the city of Danang, where we boarded an overnight train to Hanoi. Andrew and I shared our canbin with four Vietnamese, and we always had an audience for our games of rummy (I believe we played around sixty hands). We arrived weary and in search of a hotel. We were shown to the Hanoi Spirit by a tout, we decided it would do for one night... it barely did. Thankfully we were able to get into a great palce, the Thuy Nga, the next day. From there we began our explorations of Hanoi. First among these was a day trip to the marine park of Halong Bay, three hours south of Hanoi. Halong Bay is gorgeous, but our tour guide is wound far too tight to be a guide, the definite highlight was the hour Andrew and I had in a kayak. During this time we decided to roam Halong Bay at will, disregarding the instructions to stay close. The weather was fine, there was little to no current, and we wanted to get our money's worth.



After getting back to Hanoi we decided to make it an early night, and hit some of Hanoi's sights the next day. First stop was the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnology. This was quite a good museum that had an interesting focus on many of the minority tribes/cultures that live in Vietnam. It's also apparently a very popular spot for wedding photos. Next on the list was the Confucian Temple of Literature. It was a very nice, peaceful temple; but nothing Andrew and I hadn't both seen before. The last sight we went to that day was the Ho Loa Museum a.k.a. "The Hanoi Hilton". This was the prison where downed American pilots, such as John McCain, were held during the war. However the majority of the museum focused on the Vietnamese struggle for independence from the French, and only had a small section on the American War. We called it a day after that and resolved to get up early the next morning to pay our respects to Ho Chi Minh. We found Uncle Ho's embalmed corpse the next morning, and after waiting in a few different lines, were able to get a quick look. For me the procedure was just as interesting as seeing the man himself: no talking in line, certainly no laughing, no stopping, no hats no sunglasses, no shorts, no cameras, etc. But it was free.

The next day we headed to the Hanoi airport to begin what would become, unknowingly, our long trip to Luang Prabang in Laos. This is where we are now, and you'll hear more about Laos in a few days. Stay tuned.

Holiday in Cambodia

I just arrived in Saigon to 32 degree heat and a torrential downpour, so it seemed like a good time to update the blog. I had a great twelve days in Cambodia, I definitely enjoyed my time there more than Myanmar or Thailand. I arrived in Phnom Penh and was lucky enough to be met at the airport by my Khmer friend Sophia, whom I met through my friend Mike in Seoul (Check the first Thailand blog entry circa July). From there it was straight to the venerable Foreign Correspondents Club for a beer on the terrace. By this time it was already 11pm and I checked into a rather dodgy Chinese guesthouse. By 8:30am the next day I was quite ready to say goodbye to said guesthouse, and ventured out into Phnom Penh for breakfast with my friends Sophia and Vann.



After breakfast I checked myself into the Okay Guesthouse, it was even better than the name implies; quite a good place to stay if you're in Phnom Penh. After that it was off to the Vietnamese embassy, where I was able to get my visa processed in less than twenty-four hours. After getting those things sorted out it was time to do some tourist stuff. First stop was the Royal Palace. It was a rather impressive building, but it was so hot that day it a little more difficult to appreciate. After that Sophia took me to the National Museum of Cambodia, of which I had heard many good things. I was underwhelmed by the collection of artifacts, however it seemed like a large portion of the museum was closed for renovations. Easily the most impressive part was the building itself, and it was quite nice to sit in the courtyard for a while.

The next day I was on my own, and after sleeping in in the morning I went to Toul Sleng Prison, a converted school where the Khmer Rouge used to hold and torture prisoners before sending them to the killing fields. It was quite a sobering experience to say the least. Very little has been changed at Toul Sleng since the Khmer Rouge left, and you can still see the bloodstains on the walls in certain places. That was enough for one day, and I retired to my guesthouse.

The next day I made the forty minute tuk-tuk (3 wheel motorbike taxi) drive to the killing fields. For me Toul Sleng was a more powerful experience, although the giant pile of human skulls was certainly a chilling reminder of what had happened in this unassuming chunk of farmland not too long ago. After that I had a complete change of pace and went to check out the Russian Market. It's essential just a big, Asian, covered bazaar. However I was able to get a good deal on a couple short sleeve dress shirts; good for dealing with immigration agents and the like.

After a couple of somber experiences in Phnom Penh I decided it would be a good idea to hit the beach for a couple days, so I grabbed a bus down to the resort town of Sihanoukville. I really didn't do much except be lazy, eat, drink, and read. There was potential to do a lot more there, but I really just wanted to relax for a couple days. After days I headed back to Phnom Penh for one night, and then took a bus to Siem Reap; the jumping off point for visiting Angkor Wat.



Angkor Wat is the most impressive man-made set of creations I have ever seen. I bought a three-day pass and spent an average of nine hours a day exploring various temples. One of the highlights was getting up to watch the sun come up over Angkor Wat. It was quite busy, but still a very enjoyable experience. Immediately after the sunrise I headed to another famous Angkor temple, the Bayon. At 645am I had the place almost to myself, and it was great to wander around this beautiful temple before all the tour buses arrived. The temples were great, but they were almost all incredibly crowded. I would very much have liked to see them before the tour buses descended en masse. Even through these crowds you can't hide the beauty of one of humanity's greatest achievements. I think the pictures I took tell the story better, so I will add some to this entry when I return to Canada. Also, on the way out to one temple my tuk-tuk hit a cow. I was fine, the driver was fine, but the cow was a bit shaken up. Please insert bad "t-boning a cow" joke here.

I also found a couple nice cafes in Siem Reap, and the Blue Pumpkin deserves special mention. If I had more time there it would have been very easy to spend the hot hours of each sitting in one of these great cafes. One other thing I did in Siem Reap was visit the Landmine Museum. This is a very small museum run by a Khmer who was a former child soldier for the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese, and also receives some funding from a Canadian NGO I believe. It contained more information on landmines, and landmine removal than anywhere else in the world I dare say. All proceeds from museum go towards the continued de-mining of Cambodia. You can find more information about it here: www.cambodianlandminemuseum.org . That brings us to Saigon, where I sit now. The flight was only forty-five minutes long, and I got a complimentary upgrade to business class... I think I'm going to like Vietnam.

Burmese Daze

Myanmar was like stepping back into the 1950's. I landed in Yangon (Rangoon), a city of 5 million, and emerged into 36 degree heat, an airport from the dawn of time, and cars that looked like Fred Flinstone should be at the wheel. It was quite a first impression, I must admit. Myanmar is probably the poorest country I've ever visited, and as seems to be the rule with most poor countries, the people were remarkably friendly. I stayed Yangon for a few days and saw the normal tourist sights. Easily the most impressive was Shwedagon Pagoda, a Buddhist temple with a stupa made of 7.5tons of gold. It was one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen, and if you're not familiar with it goole some pictures of it. Other than that I saw more temples than I could shake a stick at, and after seeing them all I was very ready to see something, anything that wasn't a temple. I decided to kill a couple hours walking around the main market in Yangon, Bogyoke Aung San, it was quite a sight to behold. I didn't even buy anything, but it was fun to walk around.



After having my fill of Yangon I hopped a plane to Bagan. I would Bagan is the heart of Myanmar; the ancient and spiritual capital. Bagan has around 4000 10-12th century temples in a 40km2 area. I had two full days to explore, and on day one I rented a bicycle, bought a map, and did my best Indiana Jones impression. This was a great way to see the temples, but having a bike that wasn't world war one vintage would have been much better. I stuck mostly to the paved roads, venturing down some sandy trails when it looked like the temple might have a cool view. I found a completely deserted temple, climbed up, and watched the sun start to go down. Then I headed back to my guesthouse for a cold shower and a warm beer feeling completely satisfied and utterly exhausted. The next day I decided to venture out to some of the more far-flung temples, but knowing my bike would never make it, I went on horseback (with a guide of course). This was alright, but the guy wouldn't really show me any of the temples way off the beaten track, and I wasn't really able to find that one great empty temple.

The next morning, before the sun came up, I boarded a boat for the 12hr trip to Mandalay. Mandalay is Myanmar's second city, and the last capital before the British came to town in the 19th century. My first day in Mandalay I saw some temples and climbed Mandalay Hill and got some great views of the city. That night I went out for dinner, and the beef curry made me rather ill. I did absolutely nothing for the next two days, and even now my stomach isn't 100%. Sufficed to say Mandalay left a bad taste in my mouth... pun intended.

Now my Burmese Daze (transport nightmares) began. The supposed six hour bus trip to Inle Lake in an air-con bus turned into 12hrs, and there was no air-con, but there were chickens! The bus trip was worth it though. Inle Lake was my favourite place in Myanmar, it was also cool at night, I had to wear a jacket! The one full day I had there I took a boat trip through the area and really got a taste of local life... and the Jumping Cat Monastery. The monks there have trained cats to jump through hoops, by voice command, in order to get donations for their monastery. Inle Lake, and the Shan State in general, is one place I'd go back to in Myanmar.



Getting away from there proved to be quite the challenge. Ideally I was going to fly, however I didn't quite have enough cash left and in Myanmar there are no banks with international facilities and credit cards are useless; you bring all the money you need with you. I was going to take the bus back to Yangon, 16hrs but I didn't have much of a choice. Unfortunately the bus was sold out, so I had to resort to plan"c"; the train. I wouldn't wish a non-express Burmese train on my worst enemy. 32 Hours later I arrived in Yangon, I think I had gone a little bit insane by then. The worst part was sitting on the train at a station approximately 1/3 of the way to Yangon for 5hrs... the army guy who was obviously on the train to make sure I didn't do anything, shall we say, contrary to the national interest wouldn't or couldn't tell me why we weren't moving. He just kept telling me "train 8am Yangon!". By this time I knew that wasn't true, and we arrived much closer to 8pm. After one night in Yangon I was on my way to Cambodia.

Now I'm sitting at my guesthouse in Phnom Penh writing my blog, internet access in Myanmar does exist, but is strictly regulated by the government. I've seen some thigns in Phnom Penh already, but that's for another entry. I'll post said entry from Siem Reap or Saigon, not sure yet.

Thai Time: Northern Edition

After finishing my year teaching in Korea, I headed off for the warm mountains of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai to precise. After spending a day in transit (Seoul to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Chiang Mai) I arrived at the Eagle House 2 in Chiang Mai. My room was big and clean, but those are pretty much the only good things I have to say about the place. It was noisy, the staff was unpleasant, the restaurant was plain bad, and their tour guides were not very knowledgeable. Apart from that I had a great time in Chiang Mai. It's a really laid back city, a great place to unwind from a crazy couple weeks in Seoul. While I was there I took a day trip to the highest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon 2500m, and visited a Karen (one of the hill tribes in the area) village. I did that with a guide, but everything else I went and did on my own.

Chiang Mai is a city of temples, and I visited three of them, but I could have easily visited 30 if I had been so inclined. The first temple I went to was Wat Chiang Man, just up the street from my hotel. It was a pretty serene place, but not too visually spectacular. It's the oldest temple in Chiang Mai and did have a rather impressive stupa, with a number of elephants carved around it.


The next day I headed out to visit two temples. The first one I went to was Wat Phra Singh. This is generally considered the most impressive temple in the city, and it certainly was beautiful. I walked around there for an hour or so and then headed for a forest temple, Wat U Mong. This wat turned out to be the most impressive Buddhist temple I have visited so far. I think part of the appeal was because I was the only tourist there; just me and the monks. it was built by a group of monks, led by an alleged clairvoyant monk. I don't know if he was clairvoyant or not, but he certainly made a beautiful temple. there were a number of brick lined meditation tunnels underground, with random shrines every few dozen meters. It was an eerie place to walk around alone. I tried to take some pictures, but the light wasn't quite good enough. This however inspired me to buy a small tripod when I got back to Chiang Mai, now i should be able to get some really good low light shots.

Those were pretty much the higlights of my trip to Chiang Mai, but problems getting my visa for Myanmar forced me back to Bangkok 2 days earlier than planned. Without going into great detail my guesthouse told me they'd have no problem getting a visa for me, days before I needed to leave. Next thing I know they told me there were no Myanmar visas being issued to anyone; I didn't believe this. I went to another travel agent and was told no visas until the 22nd; I didn't believe that. So I decided to take matters into my own hands, and after some Lonely Planet online searching changed my flight back to Bangkok and was able to get my Myanmar visa in one day, on the 13th. I did have to be at the embassy at 6am, but I got it done in one day for less than they wanted to charge me in Chiang Mai. If the job has to be done right, you have to do it yourself I guess.

So tomorrow I head back to the airport and set out for Rangoon, Mandaly, Bagan, and Inle Lake. I did the Thailand portion of my trip on quite a tight budget, but I think I will spend a bit more in Myanmar, stay in some nicer places. I have no idea what internet access will be like in Myanmar, but I expect it's rather limited. On the 28th i head to Cambodia, and will probably blog about my Myanmar trip at that point.

A Chill in the Air

Fall has arrived in Seoul, I had to figure how to turn the heat on in my apartment, and spicy soup dinners can once again be enjoyed without sweating through all clothing. However my time in Seoul is very short now, I've got all my flights set and leave Nov. 6. For those of you interested here is a partial itinerary:

Nov. 6 leave Seoul and arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand via Hong Kong and Bangkok. The next week will be taken up by chilling out in Chiang Mai, possibly spending a night or two in some smaller mountain town, and most certainly a two or three day trek into the hills to visit the 'hill tribes' (Karen, Hmong, Ahka, Lahu, etc.).

Nov. 14 leave Chiang Mai for the dark territory of Yangon, Myanmar. I'll spend the next two weeks in this country well off the beaten path. My schedule here will be looser, I'm sure transportation will not always be ideal, to say the least. Ideally I'd like to visit Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, and Inle Lake or Hsipaw but we'll see what happens.

Nov. 28 leave Yangon bound for Phnom Penh and a holiday in Cambodia. My plans will probably not stray too much from Phnom Penh and Angkor/Siem Reap. I'd love to get up into Preah Vihear, but it all depends on time, cost, and road conditions.

For all of the above I will be on my own, and it should be quite an experience but on Dec. 10th all that will change. On that glorious Sunday I fly to Saigon to meet my compadre Andrew. From there we will explore Vietnam, probably focusing more on the northern regions around Hanoi before crossing into Laos and visiting Luang Prabang. As long as I'm back in Bangkok by Dec. 31st it will be a great trip.

So that's that... and the rest of the Beijing stuff is coming, really it is.

A Few Notes

Firstly, if you're tired of reading my blog, or want more from Canadians that are, or have been, teaching in Korea check these sites out:

seoulpurpose.blogspot.com

yonnybee.blogspot.com

mickileepaul.com/blog/

As for a non-blog website, check this one out if you like Asian food: asiafood.org

Secondly, I'm rather looking forward to my trip to Southeast Asia and have been trying to think of some of the all-time best movies set in the region. So far I've come up with these:

Air America
Good Morning Vietnam
Apocalypse Now
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Killing Fields
Bridge Over the River Kwai

Thats a start, but would like to encourage you to post a comment with any appropriate additions to the list. Remember, they need to be set in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, or Malaysia to qualify. Thanks.

Finally another installment of my Beijing tales should be up in the very near future.

Dateline: Beijing, head-on

We awoke on Monday morning and, after a leisurely and unspectacular hotel breakfast, decided to head for Tiananmen (the gate sotuh of The Foribidden City, not the square) and The Forbidden City. Thankfully our hotel was a mere twenty minute walk from Tiananmen. While successfully navigating the broad avenues of Beijing the streets were becoming more and more crowded, when we got close to the gate the concept of elbow room had left us about six blocks back. Now I'm used to the crowds of Seoul, but this even made me feel cramped for space. It would not surprise me if 100 000 people passed by Tiananmen that day. Tiananmen is a famous place, most of you would probably recognize the giant painting of Mao that hangs on the wall, and the top of the gate was where he proclaimed the birth of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and is a mandatory photo op for the Chinese. We climbed up to the top of the gate and looked out on the sea of people below, and across the road in Tiananmen Square and could instantly believe that 1.3 billion people call the PRC home.

After that we made our way into the Forbidden City and the crowds began to thin out, China is a poor country and admission wasn't cheap. It was quite an impressive complex of buildings, life as a Ming or Qing emperor would have been very posh. Unfortunately a couple of the larger buildings were being restore before the 2008 Olympics, and we were unable to go in. After we'd wandered around for a couple hours we exited to the north, went into a park whose name I can'e recall, climbed a hill and had some excellent views of The Forbidden City. By this time heading back to the hotel for some food and sleep was priority one.

After regrouping with a good night's sleep we decided to head straight back into the heart of Beijing, and check out the area around Tiananmen Square. The plan was to hit Mao's masoleum, the Great Hall of the People, Chinese History Museum, Monument to the People's Heroes, and the square itself. Mao's final resting place was the first stop, but Mao was closed that day... and the soldiers inside the compound were busy playing basketball. Next we tried to get into the Great Hall of the People... it was closed as well. This was probably the biggest disappointment of the whole trip, it's supposed to be quite a cool building for anyone with a sense of modern Chinese history. Next we decided to climb a gate at the south end of Tiananmen Square, and it gave some amazing views of the world's largest public square. Then we decided to amble across the square and check out the Chinese History Museum; only half of that was closed. However I did get to see was replicas of Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, David Beckham, and Hu Jintao among others. The Musuem of the Chinese Revolution is in the same building, and seemed to be quite interesting, but there was no English at all.

Despite a couple unfortunate closures these first two days in Beijing were good ones. They provided a nice contrast of old and new Beijing, and the old and new China. In more ways than one those two Chinas still sit astride each other, and are hurtling into the future together, for better or worse.

Dateline: Beijing, initiation

"We need total coverage!" - Lacerda, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

In the spirit of the above quote I've decided to break up my tales from Beijing into a currently indeterminate (probably 3 or 4) number of entries. It was most certainly a fantastic, and it was great to see my dad... and have a whole week off work. Beijing was a city I wanted to visit for a number of years. For me it was the essence of historical China; that great eastern power that us in the west can barely comprehend, let alone completely understand. I know I'm not even close to being able to comprehend China, but I'm going to try and articulate some of my experiences in Beijing with no specific goal. If I can offer a little bit of insight into this fascinating city, even better!

I landed in Beijing and emerged from forty-five minutes of customs, etc. to a sea of people. Unfortunately the driver I had been expecting was not among them. I waited around the terminal for a while, and eventually bought a $20 phonecard and called my hotel, wondering where the driver was. They said there had been a mis-understanding (more on this later) and they would send a driver right away... then the phone wouldn't give me my card back; $20 for a 3min. phone call. Eventually my driver arrived and was very apologetic, even sporting a conciliatory cell phone charm. After a quick ride into the city I arrived at my Ming-dynasty guesthouse, and quickly learned that my reservation had been cancelled because my father, who was scheduled to arrive the day before, had not shown up yet.

Thankfully I was able to secure a different room and immediately hit the internet room, trying to figure out what vortex my dad had inadvertently slipped into. Rather quickly it became clear that he had forgotten that he was travelling over the dateline and had made the reservations a day early. These things happen. He did eventually arrive, and after an average dinner and an above-average scotch we began to plan our assault on the megaopolis that is Beijing.

Stepping Back in Time: Kyeongju

Last week was a great week at work, mainly because we had the day off on Friday. My friend Bora and I seized this oppurtunity and took a trip to the Silla dynasty (think late Roman Empire time period) capital city of Kyeongju, in Southeast Korea. After a very early morning train trip to Daegu, and then on to Kyeongju we were presented with a place that seemed like a giant, open-air museum.

First on the agenda was an ancient temple, Bulguksa. The temple complex is something of a national icon, one of the pagodas, Dabotap, there appears on the 10won coin. It was quite a beautiful, and very active temple. From there were took a 3.2km hike to the Seokguram Grotto. This hike was probably one of the most pleasant ones I've taken in Korea for the simple reason that there was almost no one else on the trail! Every previous hike I've taken in Korea has been as busy as a rush hour subway, and it really takes away from the experience. I guess in a country as beautiful as Korea everyone wants to get out an see it, and everybody is fifty million people in an area the size of Vancouver Island.

After that pleasant walk through the woods we were at Seokguram Grotto. This place is one of those rare places that you can really feel the historical and religous importance. In a small temple set halfway up a hill there is a beautifully carved Buddha with a jewel in his forehead, at sunrise the light hits the jewel and is supposed to quite something to see (the impression I got was that it was something like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones is in the ancient map room). It was the most remarkable sculpture I've seen in Korea, and something I will always remember.

When we made it back into town it was time to eat. Gyeongsangbuk-do, the province Kyeongju is in, isn't renowned for its cuisine, so were opted for Japanese... and after a bunch of sushi and some warm sake we realized we'd missed the last train home. Thankfully it was easy to find a hotel for the night, and had an extra morning to explore Kyeongju thrust upon us.

That morning began with a trip to see some royal burial mounds, Tumuli. In all honesty they just look like grassy hills, but with Silla royalty inside them. One of the tombs, Cheonmachong, has been excavated and we were able to walk through it. We walked through the park for a while and then hoped in a cab to Anapji Pond.

Anapji Pond is an old royal garden/park. It was another beautiful place to walk around for a little while. An additional feature of the park our the giant koi that stalk you. If you stand by the pond's edge the fish will swim over to you, expecting to be fed, if you walk to another spot they follow you; it was kind of funny and kind of creepy.

By that time we had to hop on a train back to Seoul. All in all it was a very short but enjoyable trip. Kyeongju is a great city, very historical and much more relaxed than Seoul, I'd love to go back. Also, I must say travelling in Korea is much easier when you have a Korean with you... maybe that's part of the reason Kyeongju felt more relaxed.

This time next week I will have just arrived in Beijing for a week of holidays. I really can't wait to get there. It's a city I've always wanted to visit and now I get to spend a whole week there. Expect a significant blog entry sometime after I get backto Seoul on the 8th.

Back to B.C. (and elsewhere)

Thanks to the travel blessing that is the internet I was able to book a ticket from Bangkok to Vancouver, via Taipei on Dec. 31... so, quite obviously, that's when I'll be home. But now for the interesting part, my planned trip through Southeast Asia has made a slight change of course. My original plan was to start in Hanoi, make my way down the coast of Vietnam to Saigon (just sounds better than Ho Chi Minh City), then on to Cambodia, Laos, Bangkok and Northern Thailand, and finally Myanmar (Burma).

The my friend, compadre, co-conspirator, etc. Andrew Scambler confirmed his interest in joining me for the Laos/Vietnam portion of my journey. I believe he'll be coming over here in early Dec., so now the plan looks like Northern Thailand and Myanmar first, followed closely by Cambodia, and then meeting Andrew somewhere (Bangkok, Vientiane, Hanoi, etc.) for our journey through Vietnam and Laos. Needless to say this is a very exciting development for our hero (me). I was quite looking forward to travelling alone; however after a month, a partner in crime may be much appreciated.

First and foremost, two more weeks of work and then a week in Beijing. I'm excited to spend a whole week of holidays in one city, should be a good opportunity to both relax AND see the sights.

Thai Time

It's taken a while, but I've finally written about my five-day four-night trip to Thailand. It was definitely an enjoyable trip, although not nearly long enough. I left Seoul with my friends Mike and Jon early Saturday morning, five and a half hours later we arrived into the furnace that is Bangkok this time of year. We successfully negotiated a bus to the domestic terminal of the airport and got on a short flight to Ko Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand.

Stepping off the the plane on Ko Samui was like stepping into another world; I've never been to an airport consisting only of thatch huts. It reminded me a little of airstrips built in the Pacific region during World War 2, but I definitely felt like I was on vacation. We were met at the airport by a couple Cambodian girls, friends of Mike's. We headed straight from the airport to the ferry dock bound for Ko Pha Ngan. A couple hours later we arrive on the famous/infamous backpacker island of Ko Pha Ngan. It was already dark so finding a place to stay and some food were top priorities. We got ourselves sorted out and headed out for a couple beers in the town of Haad Rin; you could definitely tell it was low season, not much was going on.

The next morning we packed up and headed to another beach , Haad Yao. This beach was one of my favourite places. The five of us shared a bungalow right on the beach; it provided the relaxed atmosphere I sorely needed. We stayed there two nights, and I quite enjoyed it. Monday afternoon Mike and I went to get massages on the beach, at $6 an hour it's tough to beat, and the massage was fantastic... until it monsooned after 30min. and we got absolutely soaked. I wish every place had cheap massages on the beach, should be a basic human right.

The next day was hilighted by riding some elephants. It was a very touristy thing to do, and wasn't overly exciting... but hey, now I've ridden an elephant through the jungle, have you? After the elephants we ate some durian, had some dinner and made the last night on Ko Phan Ngan an early one.

The next morning we packed up and headed back to Ko Samui for two days and one night. We headed to Haad Lamai on Ko Samui. We did some shopping (Ko Samui is much more commercial than Ko Pha Ngan) and some swimming on our first day on Ko Samui. The next day we were off tothe Ang Thong Marine Park. This was most certainly a good outing, on the first island we went to we were greeted by monkeys in palm trees on arrival. Immediately after that we set out on a hike that led to some quick spectacular views. We went back to the boat, ate some lunch and headed to the second island. On the second island we set out for a highly enjoyable couple hours opf kayaking and snorkelling. I got to see some really colourful fish, and kayaked through some interesting limestone caves. We went straight from the boat to the airport and slowly made our way back to Seoul. We flew out at 11:30pm and had to work the next morning; absolutely a long day at work.

So that's what I did in Thailand, but it doesn't really encompass the hilights. To me the best parts of the trip were the Thai people and the Thai food. If there is a country with more genuinely friendly people, I certainly haven't been there yet. The food, well lets just say everything I had, noodles, a lot of seafood, curry, etc. were things that I could surely eat everyday. Thailand is a country I'd like to go deeper into, I'm looking forward to spending more time there without feeling so rushed. This trip merely whetted my appetite, I'm really excited about exploring Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Ayuthaya. This was my first trip to Southeast Asia, but it will be the first of many.

A Dirty Blog Entry

I spent this last weekend covered in mud... at the Boryeong Mud Festival. It's basically an excuse for hundreds of people to jump around in the allegedly healthy mud and act primeval; all in all a fantastic time.

I grabbed the slow train from Yongsan to Daechon on Saturday morning, and three hours later we were on the East China Sea and ready to be mudded, as it were. The "we" for this trip consisted of many of my friends, Americans, Brits, Canucks, Koreans, South Africans, even an Ethiopian; everyone loves the mud.

First stop was our minibak; essentially a big room where you dump your stuff and pass out in many hours later. Ours held at least 20, including Gareth's South African cousin who chose to sleep in the closet... when the room was empty. Next Stop was the beach, we did the big walk to take in the scene, beers were next on the agenda. I hung around for a while, caught up with some people I hadn't seen for a bit, then me and my dirty friends jumped in the mud pit and joined in the wrestling; very primeval. We all battled each other for a while and then decided to play in the ocean. There were some fairly decent waves and the water was warm, a lot of fun again.

We all eventually wandered back to the minibak, got changed, lit some fireworks, and slowly made our way down the beach for dinner. It took us a while (and a horrible batting cage with no lefthanded booths) but we finally sat down for what ended up as a delicious dinner of shellfish and soju.

After that we split off into various groups to enjoy the night as we saw fit. I eventually met up with some friends on the beach and got into the meat of things; a spirited soccer game of foreigners versus Koreans. We had size, heart, and the best goalie in East Asia, and the Koreans had skill. We played one team and disposed of them 2 - 0.

The next game was epic, we played the full 90 minutes... I think. We controlled the wings with our speed, but the Korean's skill clogged up the middle (my yelling out "put the body on him" from my central defender and de-facto captain spot definitely helped clog things up). We played out hearts out but lost 2 -1 on a pinball goal, but I've never played better in my life, so I was happy at least; I was able to make plays with both my left and right feet... don't laugh, it's big for me.

My next stop was bed, followed by a relatively early morning. After waking up, Peter and I, a new character recently added to the ECC cast here from St. John's, went to the train station and we grabbed a couple standing room tickets for the trip back to Seoul. The three people we sat in between actual cars with were mildly psychotic, but nothing I haven't seen before. It rained the whole way and the flooding is quite bad in Seoul now, but not to worry dear readers, I live on the fifth floor.

Back in Seoul I spent the next day at an English bookstore purchasing JPod by Douglas Coupland and at Costco purchasing food by the lowest bidder and Chinese beer. For the record, Canadian Costco cards work in Korea.

Next week will be insane, I'll be teaching 50 classes instead of my normal 36 while covering for a teacher on vacation in India. After that week I'll need a vacation... good thing I'm headed to Thailand on the 29th; bliss on the beach for a few days I hope. Don't expect anything until I return from Siam; if I did write something it'd only be about how much I really need a vacation, and nobody wants to read that...

Through the Looking-Glass: A Weekend in North Korea

I spent this last weekend in possibly the most isolated country on Earth, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (a.k.a. North Korea). I left Seoul at 11:50pm Saturday night. The bus trip was a rather giddy one; beer, anticipation, and world cup quarter-finals on satellite t.v. were the order of the day. We stopped at 4:30am for a very, very early breakfast (mine consisted of pastry and beef jerky). The next stop was the South Korean side of the DMZ, a very modern building in which everyone was processed in a relatively fast and orderly manner. Following that we boarded a different bus for the trip through the DMZ to Geumgangsan, DPRK.

I''ve never been more intimidated entering a country as I was entering North Korea. After seeing NK soldiers and rocket launcher jeeps from the road we reached the NK immingration "office", which was in reality a big white tent. We had to line up in for different lines, in a set order. Some people were asked multiple questions (mostly Americans I think) but I was allowed entry without a single question. I guess I either look trustworthy or scared out of my mind. After making it through the border we proceeded to board the bus again, we were instructed to never, NEVER take pictures from the bus. There were soldiers about every 50m along the road, if they saw a camera they would raise their red flag... and all hell would presumably break loose.

The hotel we stayed in was a five-star joint (built by Kim Il-Sung's wife), complete with listening devices, as an Irish member of our tour found in his room. Directly after arriving we went for a hike to a waterfall, it was beautiful in a rainy way. That night many people went for a tour-sponsored dinner; but when the guides declined so did I, and from everything I heard the dinner was awful; pork with hair on it. Me and my friends stayed in the hotel bar and drank fantastic NK beer. After that we celebrated Canada Day in a North Korean Karaoke bar with Americans, Canadians, Englishmen, Dutchwomen, South Africans, and Irishmen. Post singing we were able to watch England lose to Portugal.

After a very short night we headed out on another fog/rain filled hike. Post hike we went for lunch and did a little bit of shopping. The bus back to relative (but that's another entry) freedom left at 3:30 and following a severe interagation of one of my idiotic American tour-mates who decided to take a picture of a soldier we were back in the south, and 6hrs from Seoul.

All in all it was quite the trip. The little things will be the things I remember most. I had a very brief, and quite illegal, conversation with two NK mountain guides who wanted to know all about Canada and Seoul... before their boss arrive. I saw potential for the best photo I ever would have taken, but would be in jail now, of two uniformed NK soliders on the side of the road playing guitar and playing with a dog; Pullitzer stuff if I've ever seen it. The level of control there made me glad to see the M-16 carrying SK soldier for the first time ever when we crossed back into the south. However I don't feel that I saw the real DPRK, I saw a sanitized, controlled tourism experiment. While that's true, at the same time I'll never forget this trip, I went to a place where few go, and as much as Hyundai tried to make it seem like we were still in the south, it was clear to be that this country is as tightly controlled as any on the planet.

A Few Travel Notes

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm off to North Korea this weekend. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, I'd imagine very few people know what to expect in the 'other' Korea. I'm going to resist the temptation to speculate on what I may encounter, and will instead wait for the facts to come from the actual experience. Sufficed to say, it should be a very interesting weekend.

In other news, I purchased a ticket to Beijing for my October holiday. I'll be meeting my dad there and checking out many cool things in and around Beijing. I'm also considering a third trip to China when my contract finishes; I'm toying with the idea of starting in Tibet and ending up in Bali. That would absolutely be my dream Asian trip. It would present many challenges, but that's half the fun right? Anways, keep the comments coming, especially thoughts on the Tibet-Bali idea would be appreciated.

A Sea of Red

Utter insanity is the only way to describe it. I have never seen any place (town, city, province, country) grind to a halt the way Korea did for the Reds opening match of the 2006 World Cup. The game began at 10pm local time, after finishing work at 8:15 I met my friend Terry and we headed out for some dinner. Walking into the market area near where I work and he lives was like walking into a sea of red, everyone had Korea jerseys on. We grabbed a quick bite and proceeded to look for a good place to watch the game. There were many screens on the streets, practically at every storefront, be we decided we'd rather sit in a pub and enjoy the match the proper way... six bars later (in a small suburb of Seoul) we were finally able to get a seat in the back of a bar called Solle. By kickoff the bar was packed, and the soju was flowing (for the Koreans, Terry and I had a light night, long tournament after all). Togo scored first and I'm pretty sure you could here the gasp from Jeju to the DMZ. The second half was a different story, Korea scored twice after a Togolese red card... the place went crazy after the tying goal, and absolutely wild after what eventually became the winning goal. At the final whistle free beers for everyone in the bar were the order of the day, and I wasn't about to complain. Terry, Mike (who joined us for the second half), and myself stuck around for a bit to finish our fried chicken and free beer and were taught one of the Korean national cheers (which we already all knew) by a very... enthusiastic (to put it politely) woman from the table next to us. It was an interesting experience to be sure. I think everyone should try to be in a soccer-mad nation for at least one World Cup, it's an event unlike any other... but what if Korea wins? I think you may be able to hear us in BC...

The madness of the beautiful game

As you all well know the World Cup has begun (I'm writing this in the one hour break between the Australia/Japan game and USA/Czech Rep.) and Korea is into it. As most of my audience is Canadian, I'll put it in Canuck terms; think of Olympic hockey... and multiply by ten. Every game is on at least three tv channels here, I'm not normally allowed to where jeans to work, but am allowed to if I wear a red(the team colour) t-shirt supporting Korea, even my kindergarten kids know what's going on. Not to mention walking into any store and seeing more red than Moscow circa May 1 1946. The level of passion in the average person for soccer here is unbelievable... and Korea hasn't even taken the pitch yet! Names like Park Ji-sung and Lee-young Pyo seen to appear in every other sentence on the street. Stadiums built for the last world cup are sold out; simply to watch the games on big screens. I can't wait to see how nuts this country goes when the Reds play Togo tomorrow night...

A Long Weekend on a Small Island

Well, I'm back in Seoul now after a fantastic Saturday - early, early Tuesday morning trip to Jejudo (Jeju Island). It's a little of the tropical Pacific stuck off the southern tip of Korea. It's a very lush, peaceful island... far different than Seoul: I actually saw real-live grass!!!

We (Mike, Erin, and I) arrived around 8:30pm Sat. night after a one hour flight. We went straight from the airport to our hotel, which was a little bit off the beaten path but had quite nice rooms and a fantastic owner. We believe we were the first ever foreigners to stay there; the owners took our picture to put on their website. After we dropped out bags off we headed back into Jeju-si (Jeju City) looking for some dinner and a couple pints. Saturday night in Jeju-si is less lively than a Tuesday night in Seoul during the worst snowstorm; sufficed to say we wandered around aimlessly for a while. Eventually we grabbed some pizza at a restaurant that was empty except for us. After having the food taken care of the pints were next on the list, easier said than done. We wandered around for what felt like a long time looking for a bar that no longers exists; stupid Lonely Planet. However LP did redeem itself, we went into The Doors bar (listed in LP), complete with massive Jim Morisson mural. It was a tiny basement bar, maybe six tables. We had some fine Belgian lagers, requested all the music we wanted (best music collection I've found in Korea), talked to some locals, and had a great time.

We awoke Sunday morning to a beautiful day, a day when you could really see why Jeju is compared to Hawaii. We took a cab to the bus station in Jeju-si and headed off to the Sanbangul-sa (-sa means Buddhist temple). I've seen a few cool Buddhist temples in Korea and China, but this one was something special. We had a short climb up part of a mountain where we found a single monk sitting in a cave with an app. 10ft Buddha, with allegedly healing waters flowing from the back of the cave. It was a really beautiful place... and the water tasted pretty good. We walked out of the temple and headed to a monument to Henrik Hamel, the first foreigner to reach Korea. It was pretty unspectacular, but I got a picture of myself punching a statue of Gus Hiddink, the former Korean national soccer coach (they were both Dutch). From there we walked the 20 feet to the Yongmeori coastline, it reminded me of Atlantic Canada or New England. We walked around the cliffs and rocks and the sea, then Mike decided it'd be fun to try and climb some of the cliffs. He did eventually descend relatively unscathed, but I walked ahead a bit and found a nice rock to chill out on for a while... until a Korean family decided to camp out right in front of me, but it was very relaxing nonetheless. Following that we headed back into Jeju-si for some uninspiring seafood and a good nights sleep.

We were out the door at the crack of 10am the next day, again to the bus station. This day's destination was, first off, the Gimnyeong Hedge Maze. It was a hedge maze, we got 50% off because we walked in 20min. from the highway. It was a decent hour or so, but nothing too special. Another 15min. up the road lay something very cool indeed... the Manjanggul lava tube caves, which we think are a provincial park, but not entirely sure. The best description of the caves would be a lava-formed subway tunnel, almost perfectly symetrical in a lot of places. We walked as far as possible in the caves and then headed back to Jeju-si to catch another bus to Segwipo, on the SW of the island. In Segwipo we went to Cheonjiyeonpokpo (pokpo means waterfall). It was a pretty cool waterfall, not B.C. cool, but not bad hehe. We had a chance to get some photos at the waterfall for about 10min. before being utterly swarmed by a Korean school field trip; a good time to leave. It was starting to get late so we caught a bus back to the hotel for our final night on Jejudo. After getting back to the hotel, we figured we needed to hit the beach while on the island, even if it was 11pm. We walked down to a beach by our hotel, Mike and Erin went swimming, but I live on an island in Canada, and felt no need for hypothermia that night. I did a much more civilized thing: I sat on the sand, drank a beer (perfectly legal here), and laughed at them. Six o'clock came early the next morning, we went to the airport and got on the plane, after all it was a work day... a very, very long work day.

As you can clearly tell it was a great trip; a relaxing, green interlude from life in sometimes-soul-sucking-Seoul. Before leaving for Jeju I also made some future travel plans with my friend Mike, we're off to Geumgangsan (san means mountain)... did I mention Geumgangsan is in NORTH KOREA?!?! A very cool oppurtunity indeed, a bit pricey, but too good to pass up. We're going with a group from Adventure Korea, whom we've been to Daedunsan, Soraksan, and Namhaedo with. Needless to say I'm very excited to be driving (quite rare, most people arrive by boat or plane) into possibly the most isolated country in the world; I do lead a charmed life.

Keep the comments coming, they're great!

A Few Random Comments from an Average Week in Seoul

As my blog is brand-new I thought I'd post a few little anecdotes about the random things that go around here, and really make the days interesting. Where to begin... Many fashion conscious young ladies these days have taken to carrying small dogs around in hand bags; I saw someone take it one further on the subway. Going to work one morning the woman beside me had, not a dog, but a rabbit in her purse! I've never seen it before, I'll probably never see it again, but I'll always remember the day I took the subway to work with a rabbit.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays at work I teach various levels of CNN classes (basically watching a short video, listen to a tape, and do some worksheets associated with the material), the first lesson I taught was about unusual foods. At the end of the lesson I asked my kids what their favourite foods were and one student drew what we later figured out was a blowfish (fugu); enter Homer Simpson (only Simpsons afficianados may 'get' the rest of this)! He was trying to tell me about it, I cut him off and pointed at the drawing and said "Poison, poison, poison, tasty fish!" He chuckled a bit and agreed with me. Even if he didn't know, he was just cross-culturally educated by The Simpsons!

On a more serious note, the last CNN class I taught that night was about a handicapped volleyball team in Cambodia. The video itself was a bit sappy, but I got to teach the kids (who are one of the most advanced classes at my school) more than just English for once; we had a lengthy discussion about Cambodia and landmines. I left feeling like I'd actually taught them something more worthwhile than a few English words.

I'm off the Jeju Island for three days this weekend (monday off) with my friends Mike from Peterborough and Erin from Saskatchewan, and will probably post something about the trip on next Tuesday or Wednesday my time.

P.S. One of my students brought me incredibly good chicken wings tonight, and I later found out her parents own the restaurant; she WILL get a good grade... if the wings keep coming!

A Mission Statement... Sort Of

Well, I've entered the 21st Century and got myself a blog. If I tried to imitate my favourite writers I'd fail miserably, so I'm going to do my best to find my own style. Living in Seoul, South Korea I've been given the great opportunity to see and do many, many cool things. So why didn't I start this blog six months ago? I have no reason, but having just moved into a fantastic new apartment this seems like as good a time as any to start one. Hopefully I'll be able to convey some of my experiences in Asia through this blog. I don't intend to be overly serious, I'll tell some stories, make some observations, and hopefully get a lot of feed back. So here goes nothing...