Greetings!
I arrived back from Vietnam safe and sound on Friday night. Still not sure what day or time it is (apparently the clocks get set back an hour while I was gone?). Also came back with a nasty cold (I swear it isn't Japanese encepalitis or SARS or anything nasty....okay, well maybe I don't SWEAR, but I am pretty sure). Can't believe there is Christmas stuff up at the airport when I haven't even had Halloween yet. Yikes.
For those of you who left phone/text messages or email, sorry....I will get to it soon!
In the mean time, I got up my travel pictures (also viewable as a slideshow). Or at least the better ones. I took thousands of pictures and tried to weed out the blurry ones. Man, I am a real spazz with the camera. Then I paired it down since you all probably don't want to see 100 pictures that look remarkably similar of Halong Bay, Sapa, monkeys, war planes, or random other stuff.
I also kept a paper journal on this trip (well...I didn't think I would need a journal so I didn't bring one and had to write on scraps of paper since I couldn't find the "journal street" in Hanoi to buy one). I decided to put it up online instead of writing up my usual old trip report email. I am still in the process of sorting through the bits of paper and entering it online.
If I don't talk to you in the next few days, have a happy Thanksgiving,
Betsy
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Email to Friends: Last Message From Vietnam
Hello!
This is the first time I have seen the internet since the last time. Went to a small town in the central highlands that was beautiful and was the only tourist. Visited another orphanage and handed out presents and played for a few hours. Have some adorable pictures of the kids to share when I get home. Also, randomly taught two English classes to little kids. When kids point to a picture of drapes and ask what it is, do you say drapes, shades, curtains, or window coverings? And who knew we had so many words for the same thing? That was interesting.
Went to Ho Chi Minh City but didn't find it as nice as Hanoi. Went through the Mekong Delta and saw the floating markets. Had an issue on the local bus where I had to sit for 3 hours and the ticket taker decided to sit next to me (there were only 2 other passengers in the minivan) and touch my hair, arms, face, and legs even though I repeatedly told him no, stop, and pointed to my ring (that I moved to my left hand after the 11th marriage proposal) and told him I was married. He then motioned for me to sleep and tried to push my head into his lap. The other passengers were not helping and so I spent the whole 3 hours with my legs curled up against my chest and turned my back to him. He finally got back in the front when some women got on near my destination but it was not a great experience as I could not get off the bus since travel in that area is not easy to get.
Now I am off on a small island called Phu Qouc near Cambodia, just relaxing. The first night I stayed in a dump of a bungalow for $12 (higher than average of what I am spending a night). Seems there was some type of large animal living in the roof above the bathroom, as I found small-dog sized poop (not the regular lizard poop) and it smelled. Also a large storm that night left a hole in the roof that rained on my bed. Then the storm took out the power, so I spend a long, dark night huddled up trying to figure out what creepy crawlies were sharing the room with me. So now I decided to suck it up and move into a much better place. But it is a whole $18 dollars a night to not have some demon spawn reptile poop on my head while I am sleeping! Hahaha!
OK - they are closing up here, so I will be on the island until I go to HCMC on the 16th and will fly home and arrive back in Seattle on the 17th.
See you all soon!
Love,
Betsy
This is the first time I have seen the internet since the last time. Went to a small town in the central highlands that was beautiful and was the only tourist. Visited another orphanage and handed out presents and played for a few hours. Have some adorable pictures of the kids to share when I get home. Also, randomly taught two English classes to little kids. When kids point to a picture of drapes and ask what it is, do you say drapes, shades, curtains, or window coverings? And who knew we had so many words for the same thing? That was interesting.Went to Ho Chi Minh City but didn't find it as nice as Hanoi. Went through the Mekong Delta and saw the floating markets. Had an issue on the local bus where I had to sit for 3 hours and the ticket taker decided to sit next to me (there were only 2 other passengers in the minivan) and touch my hair, arms, face, and legs even though I repeatedly told him no, stop, and pointed to my ring (that I moved to my left hand after the 11th marriage proposal) and told him I was married. He then motioned for me to sleep and tried to push my head into his lap. The other passengers were not helping and so I spent the whole 3 hours with my legs curled up against my chest and turned my back to him. He finally got back in the front when some women got on near my destination but it was not a great experience as I could not get off the bus since travel in that area is not easy to get.Now I am off on a small island called Phu Qouc near Cambodia, just relaxing. The first night I stayed in a dump of a bungalow for $12 (higher than average of what I am spending a night). Seems there was some type of large animal living in the roof above the bathroom, as I found small-dog sized poop (not the regular lizard poop) and it smelled. Also a large storm that night left a hole in the roof that rained on my bed. Then the storm took out the power, so I spend a long, dark night huddled up trying to figure out what creepy crawlies were sharing the room with me. So now I decided to suck it up and move into a much better place. But it is a whole $18 dollars a night to not have some demon spawn reptile poop on my head while I am sleeping! Hahaha!OK - they are closing up here, so I will be on the island until I go to HCMC on the 16th and will fly home and arrive back in Seattle on the 17th.
See you all soon!
Love,
Betsy
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