Vietnam & Cambodia

Travel week 3ish... my winter holiday 2008 travels began in northern Vietnam with Clint and Dale. We made our way down the coast and then in Saigon they flew back and I crossed over to Cambodia to make my way to Thailand. Pics, in reverse order of my trip. Starting with Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia...


Bayon, near Angkor Wat...

Street vendor in Battambang, they were good carrying stuff on their heads like that...

My motorbike and driver for the day in Battambang. I'm now officially addicted to biking around the countryside on motorbikes...

A Cambodia cockfight which evidently takes place every Saturday and Sunday. We were the only females watching...

The boat ride from Battambang to Siem Reap...

Traffic in Phnom Penh, everyone rides bikes here...


Tuol Sleng Museum, what used to be a prison camp during the civil war in the late 70s...
Skulls of prisoners at Choeung Ek killing field outside Phnom Penh...


Waterfall in Dalat (Vietnam)...
Local children in a minority village in Dalat...

Nha Trang beach...



Dale, me and Clint by the lake in Dalat...

Dalat countryside, the mountains behind are supposed to look like a lady...

Local kids...

Scenes from our bike ride in Hoi An...




Me, the Buddhist statue, at some ruins in Vietnam...

Vietnam &

Summer 2007 Travels Part I

Travel pics from the summer. I started in Yantai and just made my way south and west. The best part of traveling in China is that you don't really have to make plans in advance. You can just wait till you get where you're going and then decide where to go next. The first place is Hangzhou. It's outside of Shanghai and the Chinese claim it's one of the most beautiful places on earth.


At a park called Lushan, a couple hours to the north of Nanchang.


Me with the group of Chinese students I met along the way. They volunteered to be my guide for the day.

A big temple in Nanchang. Nice from the outside although I have to admit I was templed out at this point so I didn't bother to go in.

In Yangshuo, a really nice area to the south of Guilin.

One of my biking days in Yangshuo. Beautiful area to just rent a bike for the day and go.



Dinner time. One of the many night markets across china. You simply sit at one of the "restaurants" and order something that they've got laying out. Then they cook it for you and there you go. And usually very tasty.




I took a wrong turn one day biking and ended up biking up the side of a mountain. Tiresome at the time but great views.

Some caves and natural mud baths. I don't know if it's really good for your skin or not but it's definitely hard to get off your skin and clothes.


Hiking back after the caves and mud baths.

Temple in Kunming, Yunnan province.


Some hand carved doors in Dali. They were everywhere so I'm assuming this is something Dali is famous for.

The lovely displays of vegetables available at each restaurant in order to entice you to come in and eat.

One of the gates surrounding the old town of Dali.

The famous three pagodas in Dali.



High-5s with the great buddhas in Dali.

And this means???... Stay off the grass?

The lake area in Dali. Louise and I took a detour biking and ended up in the area.

Local Bai minority person.

More street bbq. More or less you can get anything put on a stick and cooked for you.

Overlooking Lijiang.

Louise and I at a park in Lijiang.

Travel with Mom & Dad

So only a few months late... here's pics from when mom and dad came to visit in late June. A whole year in China! It was refreshing to hear people talk with a North Carolina accent again. The first pic is in Beijing, in front of Mao's picture at the entrance to the Forbidden City.


Here's the three of us inside the Forbidden City.

Chinese lawn-mowers.

Inside of one of the buildings in the Forbidden City. The interior decorator who did this must have decorated every building in China because they all seem to have the same ornate furniture.

One of the many statues outside the buildings.

Notice it's all rows and columns of 9. Evidently this is a very imperial number.

Mom and I in Tiananmen Square. A very hot, hazy day!

The Summer Palace

Oh what cuties!

Dad's favorite toilet! He uses only the best in China.

Mom and Dad at the Summer Palace.

An acrobatics show in Beijing.

Us at the Great Wall.

Mom and Dad climbing the Great Wall... Come on! Just one more step! Haha

Our guide was kind enough to let us drive by the Olympic stadium and take a picture. However, at the time he asked I didn't realize drive by and take a picture actually meant stop while on the highway and lean out the window to take a picture!

Mom being Chinese.

Xi'an

Don't litter!

McDonald's is everywhere in China. My theory is that McDonald's is America's way of slowly taking over the world. We're going to put McDonald's in every country and the people will become addicted to it. Then after 20 years or so when it starts to make everyone fat and sick, we'll just sit back and laugh cause then the rest of the world can't say anything about fat Americans.

Us at McDonald's... helping contribute to the success of McDonald's. However it is a very good strategy to have clean bathrooms and air-conditioning in McDonald's in China.

The famous Terracotta Warriors.

They do look fearsome. Arrggg!

The national bird - the crane.

I'm starting my own war! Whoever decided cannons are old-fashioned is completely wrong.

Someone's pet pig, just roaming the streets of China. Maybe he's the head pig - leader of the pack!

Three Gorges Dam

The water level when the project is complete in 2009.

Nothing like a little bit of exhaust to get your day started.

So was our cabin part of the civilized unit or were we in an uncivilized unit?

A special performance one evening.

We had to wear the most ridiculous amount of gear for this really simple little hike. I think the whole way was roped off and either paved or matted. I know it's better to be safe than sorry but...

The Three Gorges Dam

Evidently nobody is allowed to commit suicide at the Three Gorges Dam.

Tibet

Starting from the end of my trip, here are some pictures of Tibet. This first is from a religious dance we saw some monks performing in Sakya...

Local women watching the dancing...

Mt. Everest... (Permits and red tape make getting here annoying but once it's all done, amazing!)

Me in front of Mt. Everest...

Mt. Everest Base Camp, 5200 meters high - makes just walking tiring...

The road to Mt. Everest was scenic but an off-road rough ride...

Sakya, a town on the way to Mt. Everest...
Local Tibetan children, they LOVED to have their photo taken then look at their image in the camera. Many Tibetans have sunburned cheeks - the sun here is extremely intense...

Brooke, showing one of the many pictures she took...

The drive from Tingri to Mt. Everest, everyone was in 4-wheel drives...

Sakya monastery...

A house in Sakya...

Day 1 of the 6 day cross country drive to Mt. Everest...

Monastery in Shigatse...

Employees in Lhasa performing their morning exercises/having a morning meeting before opening the store...

Jokhang Temple in Lhasa...

Me at Yamdrok-Tso Lake...

Tris and I at Nam-Tso Lake, evidently the highest lake in the world...

The highest point of the road right before Nam-Tso Lake (5190 meters)...

Locals at the lake...

A Yak at Nam-Tso lake. Nicely decorated so you could pay to have your picture taken on it...

Anybody want any Yak meat? The good news is you know it's fresh since it was just killed and hung to sell...

Monks are everywhere in Tibet...

Potala Palace...

The streets of Lhasa...

These little bike-taxis are everywhere...

The Philippines

The last week in April and the first week in May I somehow ended up in the Philippines. It was originally going to be Thailand but that obviously didn't happen so... the Philippines. I ended up going by myself but was extremely lucky and met a guy on the same flight to and from China. After we figured out we'd be there the exact same amount of time it was an easy decision to travel together.

Many pictures of the Philippines follow. However they're in somewhat random order. This first picture should be on the cover of Lonely Planet. It's the jeepney, the common means of public transportation throughout the Philippines. It's a combination of a jeep and a bus, and always about to fall apart. Yet despite needing several parts replaced, it is always brightly decorated and extremely cheerful looking - much like the people themselves. Therefore (and I've discussed this with other Philippines travelers), the jeepney is somewhat of a metaphor for the Filipino people (who may not be rich but always seem happy) and should be on the cover of Lonely Planet...

Here we have a lovely beach in El Nido. And of course the tiny little boat that we hired for the day to take us to all the random beaches...

The beach in Sabang...

The hostel we stayed at in El Nido was really cool. Upstairs they had little pod areas that overlooked the water. There were cushions and a place for a cold drink. You could easily spend hours just lounging and watching the scenery...
Sunset in Port Barton...

Me after a very tiresome walk back from the underground river. It didn't help that it had to have been 100% humidity...
Pretty boats, although less pretty when you realize you'll be spending 6 hours on one in order to get to the next place. (Objects are smaller than appear in photo.)

El Nido...

There were jellyfish everywhere on this one beach we went to and at first I was afraid to get into the water (notice all the dots of jellyfish on the left in the picture below). However, this tiny little Filipino boy kept just picking them up and throwing them out of the way. We tried to make the universal hand motion for "are these not jellyfish that sting you when you touch them?!?" but he kept picking up more and throwing them out of the way. He actually picked up the one below and gave it to me to hold. HOWEVER, what we later realized is that the top part doesn't sting you - the part I'm touching. Yet the part facing up will sting you. In this picture I was still blissfully unaware of the impending danger...
Waterfall in Batad that I spent what seemed like forever climbing up and down terrace steps to get to. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I'd get to take a dip in the water once I made it there...

Traditional houses in Batad...

A small village surrounded by rice terraces...

And jump back to Palawan (here's where you notice the pictures are out of order). I think this was on one of the tiny islands in El Nido, however one beautiful beach kinda starts to look like all the other beautiful beaches after a while...

Me and Hugo about to set off on our underground river tour. I can say the hard hats were unnecessary, although they do make the picture look more dangerously exciting...

Local women in Banaue. Despite the fact they just happened to be sitting around wearing this, I don't think this is what they wear everyday. It's probably because they were near the tourist shop...

A local parade that we stumbled upon...

Me in one of the many tricycles I had the joy of riding on. They're a tight squeeze and a guaranteed bumpy ride, but have a terrific breeze. You can't tell but to the left there's a little motorcycle attached to what I'm sitting in...

Walking on the rice terraces. At some points it got really steep and falling to my death entered my mind. It also made me laugh cause in the US there would be railing on all the steep parts, which would of course have taken away from the experience...

Guess who?

Back in Manila. This is Malate Street, which at night becomes a fabulous place to get dinner/beer, listen to some live music, relax, and watch the sunset...

Rice terraces again in Banaue...

Local Filipino children...

We arrived less than a month before elections so everywhere we went there were posters attached to all the buildings. Some of the posters made me laugh cause they looked more like wanted posters than campaign posters...

The bus from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. Let's just say the buses aren't luxury class. Despite the heat I was grateful the bus had no a/c because on the past two buses I took with a/c I nearly froze to death. What made it worse was being freezing cold inside the bus and knowing that right on the other side of the window (which didn't open) it was incredibly warm...

Sunset in El Nido...

One of the many beaches surrounding El Nido which we visited...

One of my favorite beaches. I think this one was called Secret Beach (for obvious reasons). You swim through that tiny little hole in the rocks and when you get to the other side there's an amazing hidden beach about the size of half a football field.

Me, doing a little snorkeling...

Part 2

Yay! My internet's faster again for some reason. So I'm taking this opportunity to update my pictures. The first, and obviously the most important, here's Huanghuang (literally translated as Yellow Yellow). He's the family's dog, who liked to accompany me when I went to the outhouse...

The house...

One day Fei and I got a little bored and decided to go into town. To make a long story short, this is me in a traditional Chinese regal outfit (the hair's not all mine). Oh, and I'm definitely not denying I'm a naturally pale person, but special lights were also used to make us look paler...

The yard. Outhouse to the left, house to the right, entrance behind me...

While I was there one of the family members had a baby. I'm guessing this is the maternity ward at the hospital. I think that when we visited the baby was 6 days old. (It's the thing on the bed that everyone's gathered around)...

Me and several relatives. The girls to my left and right are both deaf sisters. The one standing on my left side was "lost" 8 years ago and this was the first time she'd been back. What I got from the translation was that she was tricked by someone 8 years ago, kidnapped, and then sold to her husband. Her husband's the short one on the back row. Behind his back, the general consensus was that he's ok for her (gave her a child), but he's too short. Guess which one's me...

Fei and her grandpa...

Entrance to the village...

A road in the village where I liked to take walks. On sunny days it felt super nice...

I have also recently discovered that my lunar birthday is March 1st - which in the year 2007 falls on April 17th. Therefore, I will be celebrating my birthday again today. Wish me a happy lunar birthday!

I've decided to make up an email for some of the unedited comments. If you want me to send you a copy either post a comment on the blog or send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

Chinese New Year Part 1

I'm honestly not sure where to begin. Let's see, I guess there's the whole no heat during the freezing winter or how about no indoor plumbing? Maybe the fact that there were no private showers? I'm guessing now I have everyone's attention...
Overall my holiday was an awesome experience. I've been living in China for about half a year now but sometimes it still feels like I get a tourist's view of the life here. I teach English, so I'm constantly surrounded by English and fellow westerners. Also most of my friends are westerners and sometimes it's amazing how long I can go speaking to only them.
Yet that's not what I'm necessarily looking for. Sure, it's necessary to stay sane, but I'm in China and that's what I want to experience. With all that said, I got that experience during the month of February. I left Yantai on January 27th with no particular plan in mind. I knew I was going to be staying with a student who also became my friend, but I knew very little about where she was from.

Her house, and entire village for that matter, was not what I was expecting. People seemed to lead a very simple life, which at times was refreshing. Then there were the times I just wanted to eat anything that didn’t have msg, wanted to have heat so I didn’t have to wear two pairs of thermals at all times, wanted to hear a conversation in English, etc.

Her family was awesome. Despite the fact my Chinese is extremely limited and her family spoke no English, we got along really well. Many afternoons I’d go “visiting” with the mom. Here’s a typical day during the month… wake up about 7:30. Wash face, brush teeth, eat a meal (notice how I didn’t say breakfast), go for a walk (this was my necessary time with just me and my mp3 player), lounge until lunch, go visit one of the neighbors and talk at least 2 hours while constantly being offered tea and sunflower seeds, visit someone else, return for dinner, talk while drinking tea and eating sunflower seeds, wash face, brush teeth, bed.

I did learn an incredible amount of cultural information though. For example, fireworks continue throughout the night and day for about a week or two surrounding the actual New Year. (This is also much more dangerous than would be allowed in the US, or maybe my opinion is just biased due to the fact I came close to getting hit by one.) On the New Year morning, the family eats jiao zi (dumplings). Afterwards, the adults go from house to house wishing everyone a happy New Year. In the days after the New Year there are certain days one can’t wash clothes, hair, or shower. There’s a day to visit the graves of the family ancestors. Showers aren’t necessary but about once a week (this differs from my personal opinion), and everywhere you go people will give you something to eat – even if you’re not hungry. It’s very welcoming to have people pushing food on me but after a while, no means no.

There’s also a big difference in conversation. In China many conversations focus on money. People liked to ask how much I made, how much I paid for things, how much something would cost in the US, how much I think they paid for something. All of these questions made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Even if I were the poorest person in the world, in their eyes I would always be rich simply because I’m American. Usually I would deal with questions I didn’t want to answer by either saying I didn’t remember or pretending to not understand what they were asking.

At this point there are still a billion things I could tell about my break but I don’t feel like writing anymore. I’ll guess I’ll just sum up by saying I had a good break. Everyone was extremely nice, despite the cultural differences that sometimes made me want to pull my hair out and if I had to do it again, I would. Now some pictures to reward those who read the whole thing, or skimmed to the end...

Here's me with the family... (Me, Fei, Mom, Dad, Didi) (Laolao, Laoye)

Me and Laolao, Fei's grandmother. She was one of my favorites...

Didi (Hanhan), Mom, Fei...

*Due to the exceptionally slow upload time right now, more pictures to come later.