The last blog ... kinda sad, huh? We were so sad about coming home. Kathryn and I both thought we could stay another month or so.
We flew back into Singapore and went straight to the hotel. It turned out to be a very nice hotel near the airport. The staff was rude, but the rooms and facility were nice and we were on the club level so that was a nice bonus as well.
At the beginning of our adventure, Singapore felt so foreign and exotic, but coming back this time we all felt like we were home. It is such a western city with western ways. They obey traffic laws, have a similar standard of living to us, etc. Cori even made the comment to grandma in an email that she thought she would like to live there. I think the pancakes that morning for breakfast put her in love with Singapore because they tasted like home.
After getting in around noon, we went to subway for lunch and then checked into our room. Our other room wasn't ready yet so we decided to go to the pool for a little while to relax. It was cloudy and sprinkled on and off, but we didn't care. Since we were on the club level, after we got cleaned up we went to the free happy hour from 6-8 and eveyone filled up on the heavy appetizers and fruit from our room. Everyone but Kathryn and I called it a night and went to bed early.
Kathryn and I went down to Chinatown to finish some shopping. Since we were staying near the airport, it took about 20 minutes to get into town and on the way, we had a very chatty cab driver. He talked about eating dogs and cats and snakes and rats. He said not to eat the rats in Singapore because they were poison .. ok ... point noted. He also said to never eat cats because they were poison. He let us know that sea snakes were really good eats and we should have some. All the way to town, talking and talking until we were ready to throw up by the time we got there.
Much to our surprise after being in Vietnam and Cambodia, Chinatown rolls up the streets at 10pm. Everywhere else we went markets got really busy about 9pm I think because it finally had cooled off enough to want to shop. We bought a handful of things and sat down to an ice cold coconut milk before heading back. On the way back, our cab driver was also very chatty and told us that in the area we were staying in there were a lot of man ladies. He said they were so pretty until they talked...vey interesting again! He also drove so incredibly fast through the winding streets that we thought we might just die in Singapore. We made it safely back to the hotel and went to bed.
The next morning, Kathryn and Chuck were up early so they went to breakfast and then came back and woke us all up about 9:45 as breakfast was ending at 10:30. After berakfast, we got all cleaned up and headed down to Orchard Road to do some shopping while Chuck and Cori went to check out the local fire station. Orchard Road is the Singapore equivalent to Rodeo Drive in California so needless to say we didn't buy much. Next, we met Chuck and Cori at the Merlion and took some pictures. The Merlion is the most famous image of Singapore and is a statue of a mermaid/lion cross that spits water into the harbor. It was nice.
The girls then headed to lunch and the hotel while Chuck and Chase went to lunch in Chinatown. Chuck hadn't been to Chinatown in Singapore yet and Chase was wanting a ring from there. We had lunch at a hawker stall near the hotel and then went back to the hotel to change into our swim suits. Against our better judgement, we walked down to the beach which was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The beaches in Singapore aren't that great as it's such a busy port. We had to walk past a ferry terminal to get there and as we were walking we saw something in the water. Kathryn thought it was a snake, Caitlin and Cori thought it was a turtle and I thought it was a lizard. It made it's way to shore and it was about a 4-5 foot long moniter lizard. It came up to within about 4 feet of us and stopped to check us out. After this encounter, we did not feel like going to the beach anymore so we turned around and headed back to the hotel.
The hotel had two pools - one on the roof and one ground level. We hadn't been to the ground level pool yet so we decided to try it out. One wall of it was acrylic so you could see right in it. That was super cool to the kids. The weird thing about it was that you had to walk through the restaurant to get to it. We knew dinner started at 6:00 there so we left at 5:50 to relocate to the roof top pool. It felt a little odd walking dripping wet in a towel through the restaurant to the front elevators to go upstairs ...
We went back and showered and met up with the boys. None of us was really up for much so we tried to go to bed early for our long trip back.
Saturday morning, we took the 6am shuttle to the airport and started our journey back. It was a 7 hour flight to Tokyo. We had about an hour in Tokyo which was just enough time to walk down to our gate and then it was an 11 hour flight home. The flight was packed and a little bit hot so we didn't sleep well. We were so glad to see mom and dad (grandma and grandpa) and get in the suburban to go back to their house. Mom made tacos by request and they were so good!!
We were all in bed by 9pm and then Chuck and I were up at 4am this morning. Hopefully we will be all back on schedule by tomorrow in time to go back to work.
Hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventure as much as we enjoyed living it!
Until next year ...
Love, Kristen
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
cambodia part two, by both
Only one full day in cambodia and so much happened ...
So we left the nunnery and all felt really enlightened. What an amazing experience that most wouldn't get to do.
Questions by Cori about the nunnery:
why was that little lady's teeth black
why was that lady so little
why did that lady have no hair
why do ladies have boy haircuts
what were all the ladies doing on their knees
why do they sing songs that way
Questions fielded, we were on the way to the floating market.
It was a 15 minute or so ride through the COUNTRY. We were really in the middle of nowhere. We could see inside of many peoples' homes which consisted of recovered building materials making a one or two room house. Children as young as about 2 were playing togehter on the side of the road and in the road. Most of the younger children were naked. Cows were wandering on the side of the road. There were a few stands selling water and other items along the way. There were stray dogs everywhere. Oh - while we're on the subject of dogs ... yes, some people there do eat them. No, it's not a normal menu item. It's more of a black market type item that isn't really talked much about. Black dog's meat is the most highly prized dog meat on the market. They do not eat cats. The road was narrow, bumpy and not paved. Poverty was rampant...very different from ANYTHING we have ever seen. People in the US only think they are poor compared to this. Sometimes parents have to go out fishing and it's so far that they will be gone a night or two leaving their young children to fend for themselves for a couple of days. There is no school that is compulsory and the school that exists is only through grade school. The lucky children leave home around 12 and go to the bigger cities to live in a nunnery or with friends to go to high school. Parents here spend a lot of time training their very young children to sell things both on the river and in tourist areas. There are kids as young as 3 and 4 selling things and they are very pushy. If we never hear 1 dollar again it would be too soon.
Ok - we arrive at the place where we catch a boat to the floating market and village and buy boat tickets. We then douse ourselves in bug spray much to the delight of the locals and walk down what must be the steepest "ramp" I've ever walked down to the dock. On the dock, our tour guide talks to the boat drivers and then chooses us a boat. We have to walk across another boat to get on it and then all take our seats. It's about 2 lawnchairs wide and 25 feet long. The water looks exactly like coffee with cream in it. Kathryn kept saying it looked like a river from the show river monsters. We warned the kids not to touch the water and were off. On the way, we did wind up getting splashed a little bit and I'm certain we'll come down with a dreaded disease from it. We went past more one room houses and saw more very young children just out playing near the water with no adults in sight. We saw a about 5 year old girl on a boat with her dad driving near us. She was the cutest little thing. Soon, she was hopping over to our boat, while both boats were in motion, to try to sell us drinks. It was really disheartening that her dad was using her like that. Next, we saw another boat passing with two young boys and a dad. When they got close enough, we realized that they had about 6 foot long snakes wrapped around them. Kathryn was freaking out a little bit since she doesn't love snakes and we all knew they would be hopping onto the boat in mere seconds. Our tour guide said something right because the boys didn't hop aboard...
We finally arrived at the floating village. It was just as if not even more poor than the homes we saw on the way. People lived on flating platforms with various different structures built on them. There was no plumbing or electricity. We saw people doing various bits of daily life - cooking dinner, washing clothes, etc. We pulled up to a floating market and got off the boat for a few minutes. We saw a boy who was about 7 in a large salad bowl/pot paddling around there. There were also two boats there that had ladies with their tiny babies. They construct a sort of playpen for babies on their canoe type thing out of sticks which one was in. Of course they all asked for money. Cori of course had to go to the bathroom and they did actually have a bathroom there. I took her in there and very nearly fell through the floor when I stepped on a rotten board. It was so gross and we had to "hanitize" after that one. Lots of hand sanitizer on this trip ... They raised crocodiles there at the market as well so we went over to the raised platform and peered down at the crocodiles. They use them for food and for their hide. They also sold them to somewhere in Thailand. We bought a couple of little souvenir type things and a container of pringles strangely enough and headed out. While we were leaving we were asked for money again. Oh - I forgot - there were some teenage boys there with more snakes and Caitlin and Chase both held them for a little while. Kathryn wasn't thrilled again.
The entire lake we were on was only about 5 foot deep ... very strange ... the rainy season has just started and it should be up about 20 feet before it's over. When we got back to the docks, there were little boys just slightly older than Cori that took Cori's hand and helped her up the ramp. It was very cute.
We were back in the van and kinda happy to be there. Our driver and our tour guide had been with us for over 15 hours at that point so we headed back to the hotel and let them go. It cost us $30 for each of them for the day (total of $60). The average annual income for a farmer in cambodia is $250. That's annual ... for a tour guide or driver, it is about $75 a month.
We packed up and went to bed since we had to be up early for a flight back to Singapore. Oh - the water in the showers there was very iron rich so it smelled like we were showering in blood...just thought I'd mention that.
Well - that's Cambodia in a nutshell!! Our favorite country on this trip!!
Hope all is well with everyone!
Kristen
So we left the nunnery and all felt really enlightened. What an amazing experience that most wouldn't get to do.
Questions by Cori about the nunnery:
why was that little lady's teeth black
why was that lady so little
why did that lady have no hair
why do ladies have boy haircuts
what were all the ladies doing on their knees
why do they sing songs that way
Questions fielded, we were on the way to the floating market.
It was a 15 minute or so ride through the COUNTRY. We were really in the middle of nowhere. We could see inside of many peoples' homes which consisted of recovered building materials making a one or two room house. Children as young as about 2 were playing togehter on the side of the road and in the road. Most of the younger children were naked. Cows were wandering on the side of the road. There were a few stands selling water and other items along the way. There were stray dogs everywhere. Oh - while we're on the subject of dogs ... yes, some people there do eat them. No, it's not a normal menu item. It's more of a black market type item that isn't really talked much about. Black dog's meat is the most highly prized dog meat on the market. They do not eat cats. The road was narrow, bumpy and not paved. Poverty was rampant...very different from ANYTHING we have ever seen. People in the US only think they are poor compared to this. Sometimes parents have to go out fishing and it's so far that they will be gone a night or two leaving their young children to fend for themselves for a couple of days. There is no school that is compulsory and the school that exists is only through grade school. The lucky children leave home around 12 and go to the bigger cities to live in a nunnery or with friends to go to high school. Parents here spend a lot of time training their very young children to sell things both on the river and in tourist areas. There are kids as young as 3 and 4 selling things and they are very pushy. If we never hear 1 dollar again it would be too soon.
Ok - we arrive at the place where we catch a boat to the floating market and village and buy boat tickets. We then douse ourselves in bug spray much to the delight of the locals and walk down what must be the steepest "ramp" I've ever walked down to the dock. On the dock, our tour guide talks to the boat drivers and then chooses us a boat. We have to walk across another boat to get on it and then all take our seats. It's about 2 lawnchairs wide and 25 feet long. The water looks exactly like coffee with cream in it. Kathryn kept saying it looked like a river from the show river monsters. We warned the kids not to touch the water and were off. On the way, we did wind up getting splashed a little bit and I'm certain we'll come down with a dreaded disease from it. We went past more one room houses and saw more very young children just out playing near the water with no adults in sight. We saw a about 5 year old girl on a boat with her dad driving near us. She was the cutest little thing. Soon, she was hopping over to our boat, while both boats were in motion, to try to sell us drinks. It was really disheartening that her dad was using her like that. Next, we saw another boat passing with two young boys and a dad. When they got close enough, we realized that they had about 6 foot long snakes wrapped around them. Kathryn was freaking out a little bit since she doesn't love snakes and we all knew they would be hopping onto the boat in mere seconds. Our tour guide said something right because the boys didn't hop aboard...
We finally arrived at the floating village. It was just as if not even more poor than the homes we saw on the way. People lived on flating platforms with various different structures built on them. There was no plumbing or electricity. We saw people doing various bits of daily life - cooking dinner, washing clothes, etc. We pulled up to a floating market and got off the boat for a few minutes. We saw a boy who was about 7 in a large salad bowl/pot paddling around there. There were also two boats there that had ladies with their tiny babies. They construct a sort of playpen for babies on their canoe type thing out of sticks which one was in. Of course they all asked for money. Cori of course had to go to the bathroom and they did actually have a bathroom there. I took her in there and very nearly fell through the floor when I stepped on a rotten board. It was so gross and we had to "hanitize" after that one. Lots of hand sanitizer on this trip ... They raised crocodiles there at the market as well so we went over to the raised platform and peered down at the crocodiles. They use them for food and for their hide. They also sold them to somewhere in Thailand. We bought a couple of little souvenir type things and a container of pringles strangely enough and headed out. While we were leaving we were asked for money again. Oh - I forgot - there were some teenage boys there with more snakes and Caitlin and Chase both held them for a little while. Kathryn wasn't thrilled again.
The entire lake we were on was only about 5 foot deep ... very strange ... the rainy season has just started and it should be up about 20 feet before it's over. When we got back to the docks, there were little boys just slightly older than Cori that took Cori's hand and helped her up the ramp. It was very cute.
We were back in the van and kinda happy to be there. Our driver and our tour guide had been with us for over 15 hours at that point so we headed back to the hotel and let them go. It cost us $30 for each of them for the day (total of $60). The average annual income for a farmer in cambodia is $250. That's annual ... for a tour guide or driver, it is about $75 a month.
We packed up and went to bed since we had to be up early for a flight back to Singapore. Oh - the water in the showers there was very iron rich so it smelled like we were showering in blood...just thought I'd mention that.
Well - that's Cambodia in a nutshell!! Our favorite country on this trip!!
Hope all is well with everyone!
Kristen
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Cambodia - our first full day part one
We woke up so early this morning and I'm not going to lie. I thought about not getting up. I mean - at sunrise, sunset or in the day isn't it the same place? I only had about 4 hours of sleep ... but I got up and got Kathryn and the big kids up. We were downstairs in plenty of time and our driver and tour guide were on time too.
We got to the temple complex and had to buy our tickets. They put your picture on your ticket and our pictures are not too pretty. We parked and started the hike up to Angkor Wat. Our tour guide was amazing. He knew a ton about not just the temples, but the area in general. He was in his 20's and very personable.
He took us to one of the libraries of the temple where we sat on the steps in the dark waiting for the sunrise. It was very peaceful and pretty. There was even a little pony grazing near us while we watched the sky lighting up. several more people came to our special place so we moved across the entry walkway to the pond so we could see the reflection of the temple in the pond at sunrise. There were many people selling books, pictures, breakfast, etc. Several people approached us asking if we would like a chair to sit down in (for a fee).
We bought two paintings for $30 and they wound them up into a straw holder for us. We decided to go back to the hotel since it was so close and get some breakfast. We got some breakfast and woke up Cori and Chuck. We then headed back out to the temples and saw two more temples. They were stunning. It was really amazing to see all of the work that had been done by hand to honor their gods. Very impressive ...
After those two temples, we had a great lunch at an open air restaurant near the temples. We wanted our tour guide to sit with us and eat, but he was not allowed to.
We dropped the boys off at the next temple and all of the girls went back into town for our cooking class.
( the portion below by Kathryn)
We arrived at our cooking class about 20 minutes late, but here it's no worries. The cooking class was at a restuarant, so we sat down at a table and they brought us a menu. They told us to choose an entree and an appetizer. We all looked at each other with some confusion because we were so incredibly full from just eating lunch. Then the lady explained that we could choose anything off the menu to learn how to cook. We all were excited and chose something we would like to make back at home. Cailtin chose a spicy shrimp salad and cashew chicken, Kristen and Cori chose vegetable spring rolls and baby corn and pork, and I chose pumpkin soup and fried vegetable noodles. We waited a few minutes and then came to get us and bring us to start cooking our meals. We all followed them up the stairs into their "teaching kitchen". Now, just to remind you, nearly everything in Cambodia is open air, and this was no different. So, it's the middle of the day and hot and we were in the kitchen with hot stoves. They gave us all an apron and a chefs hat. We put them on and got to work. We were assigned a station and intructed on chopping and cutting and preparing all of the vegetables and then our meats. Our cooking instructor told Kristen to skin the carrot and tarrot root and gave Cori this huge knife to cut up the onion. (I thought it was a little backwards but it seemed to work out) Caitlin chose two recipes that had alot of vegetables and were very work intensive, so we were all finished and were able to sit and rest before moving on while Caitlin was still working. It was so hot by this time that we were going through water like crazy and sweating through our chef hats. (I guess after living here you must adjust to this heat and humidity. We were all so hot, but the staff seemed unphased) When we were finished cooking all of our meals and they were on the table spread out, we were all impressed with the sight of our perfectly prepared meals. Most cooking class participants then go back down stairs to the restuarant and enjoy eating the meal they prepared... We were all still so full from lunch, and the heat has seemed to make us a little less hungry, so we took it in to-go containers. The to-go, or as they call it here, take away comes in a little different form. They brought up three to go styrofoam containers and a box of little plastic bags that looked like the tinest shopping bags. They poured the noodles, rice, soup, etc. into the little baggies and then placed them into the containers. It was different that what were we used to, but got the job done. Since we didn't eat our meal there we were finished early and went downstairs to get a cab back to the hotel. The restuarant had already called our driver (we didn't know they did this until we were downstairs, does everyone know everyone in this town???) It was a very nice luxury to have them so in tune with our time to have already called our driver and about 5 minutes later. our driver arrived and brought us to the hotel.
We had about 20 minutes to relax before we went on our next adventures. Our driver and tour guide came back to the hotel and picked us up and we headed to the nunnery. (The nunnery here is different here. It's a Buddist nunnery where men and women who are nuns live.) We arrived at 4:10pm and there were over 20 nuns in the temple area on their knees praying. (They pray at 4am and 4pm for two hours each session) We walked in and since our tour guide actually lived at this nunnery when he was younger, many of the nuns knew him and were smiling when they saw him. One of the nuns came out of prayer and wanted to show us where she lived and accept the offering we had brought. (Chuck went to the store with our tour guide and they bought milk and tea and sugar) The nuns can only eat from when they wake up at 4am until noon. Then they are only allowed to drink, so our tour guide made the suggestion of what to bring to Chuck. The nuns are not allowed to work so the only thing they have to eat is what the villagers donate. When the nun brought us to her house she showed us and explained to us (through our guide as a translator) how they only sleep on the floor with a mat. The home was a 12x12 square with a bamboo mat on the floor and a couple of pictures of friends or family on the wall. They said they do not have the luxuries of a/c or a bed or anything that makes them too comfortable and could take away from their dedication and prayers. We all kneeled down and Chuck presented the food (actually just liquids) to her and she was so thankful and said a prayer for us and wished us a safe trip back home. It was very interesting to be able to see the nunnery and have the opportunity to go inside and have someone explain everything as we went. I know Kristen talked about our tour guide ealier in this blog, but he really went above and beyond. We were very lucky to have him not only take us to the temples, but bring us to the nunnery and show us how they live and where he grew up. (Many of the people his age and younger were left without their parents when the war was going on. He was split up from his family at the age of twelve and went to the nunnery for support.)
This one has gotten long so we'll go for now and finish up our day later....
K & K
We got to the temple complex and had to buy our tickets. They put your picture on your ticket and our pictures are not too pretty. We parked and started the hike up to Angkor Wat. Our tour guide was amazing. He knew a ton about not just the temples, but the area in general. He was in his 20's and very personable.
He took us to one of the libraries of the temple where we sat on the steps in the dark waiting for the sunrise. It was very peaceful and pretty. There was even a little pony grazing near us while we watched the sky lighting up. several more people came to our special place so we moved across the entry walkway to the pond so we could see the reflection of the temple in the pond at sunrise. There were many people selling books, pictures, breakfast, etc. Several people approached us asking if we would like a chair to sit down in (for a fee).
We bought two paintings for $30 and they wound them up into a straw holder for us. We decided to go back to the hotel since it was so close and get some breakfast. We got some breakfast and woke up Cori and Chuck. We then headed back out to the temples and saw two more temples. They were stunning. It was really amazing to see all of the work that had been done by hand to honor their gods. Very impressive ...
After those two temples, we had a great lunch at an open air restaurant near the temples. We wanted our tour guide to sit with us and eat, but he was not allowed to.
We dropped the boys off at the next temple and all of the girls went back into town for our cooking class.
( the portion below by Kathryn)
We arrived at our cooking class about 20 minutes late, but here it's no worries. The cooking class was at a restuarant, so we sat down at a table and they brought us a menu. They told us to choose an entree and an appetizer. We all looked at each other with some confusion because we were so incredibly full from just eating lunch. Then the lady explained that we could choose anything off the menu to learn how to cook. We all were excited and chose something we would like to make back at home. Cailtin chose a spicy shrimp salad and cashew chicken, Kristen and Cori chose vegetable spring rolls and baby corn and pork, and I chose pumpkin soup and fried vegetable noodles. We waited a few minutes and then came to get us and bring us to start cooking our meals. We all followed them up the stairs into their "teaching kitchen". Now, just to remind you, nearly everything in Cambodia is open air, and this was no different. So, it's the middle of the day and hot and we were in the kitchen with hot stoves. They gave us all an apron and a chefs hat. We put them on and got to work. We were assigned a station and intructed on chopping and cutting and preparing all of the vegetables and then our meats. Our cooking instructor told Kristen to skin the carrot and tarrot root and gave Cori this huge knife to cut up the onion. (I thought it was a little backwards but it seemed to work out) Caitlin chose two recipes that had alot of vegetables and were very work intensive, so we were all finished and were able to sit and rest before moving on while Caitlin was still working. It was so hot by this time that we were going through water like crazy and sweating through our chef hats. (I guess after living here you must adjust to this heat and humidity. We were all so hot, but the staff seemed unphased) When we were finished cooking all of our meals and they were on the table spread out, we were all impressed with the sight of our perfectly prepared meals. Most cooking class participants then go back down stairs to the restuarant and enjoy eating the meal they prepared... We were all still so full from lunch, and the heat has seemed to make us a little less hungry, so we took it in to-go containers. The to-go, or as they call it here, take away comes in a little different form. They brought up three to go styrofoam containers and a box of little plastic bags that looked like the tinest shopping bags. They poured the noodles, rice, soup, etc. into the little baggies and then placed them into the containers. It was different that what were we used to, but got the job done. Since we didn't eat our meal there we were finished early and went downstairs to get a cab back to the hotel. The restuarant had already called our driver (we didn't know they did this until we were downstairs, does everyone know everyone in this town???) It was a very nice luxury to have them so in tune with our time to have already called our driver and about 5 minutes later. our driver arrived and brought us to the hotel.
We had about 20 minutes to relax before we went on our next adventures. Our driver and tour guide came back to the hotel and picked us up and we headed to the nunnery. (The nunnery here is different here. It's a Buddist nunnery where men and women who are nuns live.) We arrived at 4:10pm and there were over 20 nuns in the temple area on their knees praying. (They pray at 4am and 4pm for two hours each session) We walked in and since our tour guide actually lived at this nunnery when he was younger, many of the nuns knew him and were smiling when they saw him. One of the nuns came out of prayer and wanted to show us where she lived and accept the offering we had brought. (Chuck went to the store with our tour guide and they bought milk and tea and sugar) The nuns can only eat from when they wake up at 4am until noon. Then they are only allowed to drink, so our tour guide made the suggestion of what to bring to Chuck. The nuns are not allowed to work so the only thing they have to eat is what the villagers donate. When the nun brought us to her house she showed us and explained to us (through our guide as a translator) how they only sleep on the floor with a mat. The home was a 12x12 square with a bamboo mat on the floor and a couple of pictures of friends or family on the wall. They said they do not have the luxuries of a/c or a bed or anything that makes them too comfortable and could take away from their dedication and prayers. We all kneeled down and Chuck presented the food (actually just liquids) to her and she was so thankful and said a prayer for us and wished us a safe trip back home. It was very interesting to be able to see the nunnery and have the opportunity to go inside and have someone explain everything as we went. I know Kristen talked about our tour guide ealier in this blog, but he really went above and beyond. We were very lucky to have him not only take us to the temples, but bring us to the nunnery and show us how they live and where he grew up. (Many of the people his age and younger were left without their parents when the war was going on. He was split up from his family at the age of twelve and went to the nunnery for support.)
This one has gotten long so we'll go for now and finish up our day later....
K & K
to Cambodia - and beyond!!
So we arrived at the airport and much to our surprise, the international portion of the airport was very modern and closer to what we are used to (we still boarded from a bus and walking up the stairs, but SOME people could board through the walkway STRAIGHT FROM THE AIRPORT!!) This was our last Vietnam Airlines flight and we were a little bit glad about that with the delays and sketchy flying we had experienced. We checked in and the airline attendant told us that the rain was giong to stop and we would not be having any delays. Wow - I thought that was a bold prediction since the past two times were delayed at least once. He turned out to be right!!
Ya know, every airport bathroom we have been in almost, there has been something gross about it. Either it was really old, realy small for a bunch of people, or someone was throwing up. Well, this time someone was having diarrhea - really, really loud. Nice.
We boarded without a hitch and the flight went well. It was a little bumpy, but other than that, quite normal! When we arrived at the Cambodian airport, we were surprised at how nice it looked on the outside. It was a really pretty building and as we walked across the tarmac we took some pictures of it. On to form hell ...
We had to get a visa on arrival for Cambodia which cost $21 per person. There were several stations to go through. First, fill out your forms. that takes awhile with 6 of us, but by now we have a system where Kathryn and I take all of the passports and Chuck herds the kids to a central location. Then, pay and give them your passport. Move to a new line and watch your passport get handed through several people. At the new line you can pick up your passport with the visa in it. Next, we headed to immigration, excited to be through the process. Immigration turns us back because we hadn't filled out our arrival cards. Back to the central area for the kids and back to the forms for Kathryn and I...OK, back to immigration and we get through this time. Last, fill out the customs forms and turn those in. It took us so long that our driver from the hotel left. :( Plan B - get a cab. We were able to get a decent cab and started on our way to the hotel. We past several large fancy resorts which we were not staying at. We then turned onto a very narrow road and started down the bumpy path. There was definitely a lot of local life going on this road! We saw people buying petrol ... from used 2 liter bottles, watching tv outside, children playing in the street, etc. We pulled up to our hotel ...
The staff from the hotel actually came out to the cab to greet us and knew exactly who we were. They took our bags and brought us inside to sit down and have a cold drink and cold towels to wash our faces and hands. Nice start. Then, they asked us if we would like some informaiton first or to see our rooms first and we said information. Two of them gave us all of the information we could need and answered all of our questions. Anything we asked for was "yes of course" or "can". Example - "can you help us get a driver for tomorrow to see the temples?" answer" "can". It was very funny. By the time we were shown to our rooms, we had arranged a driver for the next day, a tour guide for the next day and cooking classes for the following afternoon. We hiked up to our room on the second floor (mind you the ground floor is called ground here so floor one is what we would call floor two ... i guess you could say we were on three - with no lift in this hotel). No worries - all of our luggage was carried up for us.
We begin to look over all of the information given to us and realize that we probably still had time to make the traditional Khmer dance performance and dinner that night. I call downstairs to see. "can"
Our driver comes and picks us up at 6:50 for the 7:00 show and we arrive about 7:05, but no worries. The show starts in a little while after we've had a chance to make our plates from the buffet. We had a small discussion about how our first night in Cambodia we were eating off a public buffet and how we would probably all wind up sick. Prior to leaving the hotel, we had debated about if we should bring bug spray or not. Malaria is rampant here and although we are on anti-malarials we don't want to be bit up either. We brought the bug spray because most things here even if they are inside are still open air.
The food was good and there were more options than I thought possible. We all found plenty to eat and were able to try some new things too. I should mention at this point that Cambodia is 95% Buddhist so when we walked in, there was a large altar to Buddha as there is almost everywhere when you walk in. This will become key later so don't forget this part.
We were sitting eating and enjoying the show when we noticed that the bugs were starting to get a little bad. The show turned out to be more like international night at Cori's school, but all of the kids loved it and it was dirt cheap for dinner and a show. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see a worker lady chasing something and coming towards us. Then Kathryn jumps. Something large had hit her in the calf under the table. Lucky for her, I had seen it and it was NOT a bug. Hooray...but it was a mouse. It ran off in the direciton of the other diners so we then felt safe again.
The bugs worsened and Kathryn went out front to spray herself down with bug spray. All of the taxis and drivers out there watched her in amazement and laughed. We learned from her experience and went into the bathroom to spray the rest of us down.
Here is the point where I know I have been gone for too long...Kathryn and the big kids got ice cream. Cori of course then wanted ice cream too. Kathryn warned me not to get the vanilla because it had hair in it. It didn't stop her from getting the other flavors though. Instead of saying gross - no ice cream for us, I vowed to scoop around it or get another flavor. Sadly, the vanilla was gone so someone else must have eaten that hair. We had strawberry.
When Cori finished her ice cream, she was not quite full. She said I want a blueberry muffin. I told her that there were no blueberry muffins. I knew this from going to the buffet 4 separate times to scoop out all of the baby corns for her out of one particular dish. She argued that she had SEEN blueberry muffins right next to the pyramid of oranges. This immediately rang a bell and I had to explain to her that those were offerings to Buddha and not for us to eat. Remember when I said not to forget that they were all Buddhist? There was a stack of muffins on one side and a pyramid of oranges on the other side on the altar to Buddha. She disagreed with me - nuh ah ... she thought I was just being mean and not letting her have a muffin. I told her that people had brought those for the statue and she really disagreed then and looked to Kathryn for confirmation. Kathryn confirmed and the muffin discussion then ended...
After the show, we rode back to our hotel and got our wake up call set for 3:45am. We didn't get to bed until 11pm so we knew this would be a stretch, but we had to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Caitlin, Chase, Kathryn and I did get up on time and off to see the sunrise. We let Chuck and Cori sleep.
Well, more later - hope all is well with everyone!!
Love, Kristen
Ya know, every airport bathroom we have been in almost, there has been something gross about it. Either it was really old, realy small for a bunch of people, or someone was throwing up. Well, this time someone was having diarrhea - really, really loud. Nice.
We boarded without a hitch and the flight went well. It was a little bumpy, but other than that, quite normal! When we arrived at the Cambodian airport, we were surprised at how nice it looked on the outside. It was a really pretty building and as we walked across the tarmac we took some pictures of it. On to form hell ...
We had to get a visa on arrival for Cambodia which cost $21 per person. There were several stations to go through. First, fill out your forms. that takes awhile with 6 of us, but by now we have a system where Kathryn and I take all of the passports and Chuck herds the kids to a central location. Then, pay and give them your passport. Move to a new line and watch your passport get handed through several people. At the new line you can pick up your passport with the visa in it. Next, we headed to immigration, excited to be through the process. Immigration turns us back because we hadn't filled out our arrival cards. Back to the central area for the kids and back to the forms for Kathryn and I...OK, back to immigration and we get through this time. Last, fill out the customs forms and turn those in. It took us so long that our driver from the hotel left. :( Plan B - get a cab. We were able to get a decent cab and started on our way to the hotel. We past several large fancy resorts which we were not staying at. We then turned onto a very narrow road and started down the bumpy path. There was definitely a lot of local life going on this road! We saw people buying petrol ... from used 2 liter bottles, watching tv outside, children playing in the street, etc. We pulled up to our hotel ...
The staff from the hotel actually came out to the cab to greet us and knew exactly who we were. They took our bags and brought us inside to sit down and have a cold drink and cold towels to wash our faces and hands. Nice start. Then, they asked us if we would like some informaiton first or to see our rooms first and we said information. Two of them gave us all of the information we could need and answered all of our questions. Anything we asked for was "yes of course" or "can". Example - "can you help us get a driver for tomorrow to see the temples?" answer" "can". It was very funny. By the time we were shown to our rooms, we had arranged a driver for the next day, a tour guide for the next day and cooking classes for the following afternoon. We hiked up to our room on the second floor (mind you the ground floor is called ground here so floor one is what we would call floor two ... i guess you could say we were on three - with no lift in this hotel). No worries - all of our luggage was carried up for us.
We begin to look over all of the information given to us and realize that we probably still had time to make the traditional Khmer dance performance and dinner that night. I call downstairs to see. "can"
Our driver comes and picks us up at 6:50 for the 7:00 show and we arrive about 7:05, but no worries. The show starts in a little while after we've had a chance to make our plates from the buffet. We had a small discussion about how our first night in Cambodia we were eating off a public buffet and how we would probably all wind up sick. Prior to leaving the hotel, we had debated about if we should bring bug spray or not. Malaria is rampant here and although we are on anti-malarials we don't want to be bit up either. We brought the bug spray because most things here even if they are inside are still open air.
The food was good and there were more options than I thought possible. We all found plenty to eat and were able to try some new things too. I should mention at this point that Cambodia is 95% Buddhist so when we walked in, there was a large altar to Buddha as there is almost everywhere when you walk in. This will become key later so don't forget this part.
We were sitting eating and enjoying the show when we noticed that the bugs were starting to get a little bad. The show turned out to be more like international night at Cori's school, but all of the kids loved it and it was dirt cheap for dinner and a show. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see a worker lady chasing something and coming towards us. Then Kathryn jumps. Something large had hit her in the calf under the table. Lucky for her, I had seen it and it was NOT a bug. Hooray...but it was a mouse. It ran off in the direciton of the other diners so we then felt safe again.
The bugs worsened and Kathryn went out front to spray herself down with bug spray. All of the taxis and drivers out there watched her in amazement and laughed. We learned from her experience and went into the bathroom to spray the rest of us down.
Here is the point where I know I have been gone for too long...Kathryn and the big kids got ice cream. Cori of course then wanted ice cream too. Kathryn warned me not to get the vanilla because it had hair in it. It didn't stop her from getting the other flavors though. Instead of saying gross - no ice cream for us, I vowed to scoop around it or get another flavor. Sadly, the vanilla was gone so someone else must have eaten that hair. We had strawberry.
When Cori finished her ice cream, she was not quite full. She said I want a blueberry muffin. I told her that there were no blueberry muffins. I knew this from going to the buffet 4 separate times to scoop out all of the baby corns for her out of one particular dish. She argued that she had SEEN blueberry muffins right next to the pyramid of oranges. This immediately rang a bell and I had to explain to her that those were offerings to Buddha and not for us to eat. Remember when I said not to forget that they were all Buddhist? There was a stack of muffins on one side and a pyramid of oranges on the other side on the altar to Buddha. She disagreed with me - nuh ah ... she thought I was just being mean and not letting her have a muffin. I told her that people had brought those for the statue and she really disagreed then and looked to Kathryn for confirmation. Kathryn confirmed and the muffin discussion then ended...
After the show, we rode back to our hotel and got our wake up call set for 3:45am. We didn't get to bed until 11pm so we knew this would be a stretch, but we had to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Caitlin, Chase, Kathryn and I did get up on time and off to see the sunrise. We let Chuck and Cori sleep.
Well, more later - hope all is well with everyone!!
Love, Kristen
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Ho Chi Minh City
We arrived late in Ho Chi Minh City and went straight to the hotel. It turned out to be very nice. It was a traditionl hotel in District 1 which is the middle of the city. It had a lift! Thank goodness because we were on the 7th and 8th floors! It cost $28 per night per room and included breakfast. It would have been 20 per night, but we needed triples.
We just barely woke up in time for breakfast and went downstairs. They were serving Pho, spaghetti, eggs, toast and fried rice. The oranges are different here - super sweet and green on the outside. They are so good! All of the fruit is really exceptional here and we are eating a lot of it. Also, when you order juice, they take the whole fruit and juice it right that minute for you. We have already established that I will be buying a juicer when I get home.
After breakfast, we arranged a private car to go to the Cu Chi tunnels which is about an hour away. We all fell asleep on the ride there so I can't tell you much about it. When we got there, we were surprised that it was so expensive to get in. It cost about 400,000 dong which is almost 20USD. That is a fortune here. Our ride there and back was 40USD. When you go to the tunnels, you start with a film that Cori and I skipped as I knew it probably wouldn't be kid friendly. She took a million pictures of things in the jungle and then we joined up with the others and our guide. Our guide took us through the jungle and showed us a lot of different things. He showed us booby traps and entrances to the tunnels that were so small only Caitlin and Chase could fit in them. He also showed us how they set up their kitchens and vented the smoke away. We ate tapioca and drank tea just as they would have at the time. There was an opportunity to fire different weapons, but it cost 1.50USD a bullet so we didn't try. We instead ate more taro ice cream. I think you get the picture that we aren't coming home much lighter ...
We located our driver and headed back to town. It seemed to take a long, long time. We rested for a few minutes when we got back and then headed out to a night market. It was a ton of fun to bargain with everyone and buy some cool things. It's a little bit funny though because we had to pay 10,000 dong (50 cents)for a bottle of water and Chuck was so sad about that. We are used to paying 5000 dong a bottle. Our perception is now from a dong point of view and anything approaching 20000 ($1) is expensive.
We woke up the next morning ready to go! We went to the war museum and the reunificaiton palace. I think we all enjoyed the war museum for different reasons. I met a very nice vietnamese lady and we talked while Cori enjoyed the children's peace education area and everyone else explored the museum. Reunification palace was closed for lunch so we just looked around a little bit outside (and were harrassed by many, many songtho drivers).
We packed up for the airport and stopped to eat at an Asian fast food chain called Lotteria. I think it originated in Korea and is a little funny. I took a picture of their poster showing a boy and his dad holding what we would think are onion rings over their eyes. They are squid rings though. It was good and had normal ketchup which is a bonus. Most of the ketchup here is very vinegary and tastes almost spoiled. The kids had Milo to drink which has quickly become their favorite beside tropicana twister which they have almost everywhere.
On to the airport - more later!!
Kristen
We just barely woke up in time for breakfast and went downstairs. They were serving Pho, spaghetti, eggs, toast and fried rice. The oranges are different here - super sweet and green on the outside. They are so good! All of the fruit is really exceptional here and we are eating a lot of it. Also, when you order juice, they take the whole fruit and juice it right that minute for you. We have already established that I will be buying a juicer when I get home.
After breakfast, we arranged a private car to go to the Cu Chi tunnels which is about an hour away. We all fell asleep on the ride there so I can't tell you much about it. When we got there, we were surprised that it was so expensive to get in. It cost about 400,000 dong which is almost 20USD. That is a fortune here. Our ride there and back was 40USD. When you go to the tunnels, you start with a film that Cori and I skipped as I knew it probably wouldn't be kid friendly. She took a million pictures of things in the jungle and then we joined up with the others and our guide. Our guide took us through the jungle and showed us a lot of different things. He showed us booby traps and entrances to the tunnels that were so small only Caitlin and Chase could fit in them. He also showed us how they set up their kitchens and vented the smoke away. We ate tapioca and drank tea just as they would have at the time. There was an opportunity to fire different weapons, but it cost 1.50USD a bullet so we didn't try. We instead ate more taro ice cream. I think you get the picture that we aren't coming home much lighter ...
We located our driver and headed back to town. It seemed to take a long, long time. We rested for a few minutes when we got back and then headed out to a night market. It was a ton of fun to bargain with everyone and buy some cool things. It's a little bit funny though because we had to pay 10,000 dong (50 cents)for a bottle of water and Chuck was so sad about that. We are used to paying 5000 dong a bottle. Our perception is now from a dong point of view and anything approaching 20000 ($1) is expensive.
We woke up the next morning ready to go! We went to the war museum and the reunificaiton palace. I think we all enjoyed the war museum for different reasons. I met a very nice vietnamese lady and we talked while Cori enjoyed the children's peace education area and everyone else explored the museum. Reunification palace was closed for lunch so we just looked around a little bit outside (and were harrassed by many, many songtho drivers).
We packed up for the airport and stopped to eat at an Asian fast food chain called Lotteria. I think it originated in Korea and is a little funny. I took a picture of their poster showing a boy and his dad holding what we would think are onion rings over their eyes. They are squid rings though. It was good and had normal ketchup which is a bonus. Most of the ketchup here is very vinegary and tastes almost spoiled. The kids had Milo to drink which has quickly become their favorite beside tropicana twister which they have almost everywhere.
On to the airport - more later!!
Kristen
Monday, July 19, 2010
Goodbye Hoi An, wish we could have stayed longer by Kathryn
Hoi An has definitley been my favorite place so far on this trip. It's a relaxed beach town with a very welcoming fun feel. We didn't get a chance to explore much of the city, but from what we did experience it was great!
So, as our adventure rolls on I have come to realize more and more the little things that I miss. I was especially reminded of them when we arrived at the airport to depart for Sai gon... First I would like to retract anything negative I have said or thought about ANY of the airports in the US. I would also like to retract my previous opinion of American Airlines and their bad delays. Okay, with that being said we had another flight on Vietnam Airlines from Da nang to Sai gon. We were enjoying our time in Hoi An and were running a little late to get back to the hotel to catch our ride to the airport. We hopped in the cab and he got us to the airport in a very timely fashion. (Timely is what the cabs here are know best for, because with no real traffic rules everything goes) Which turned out to be for no real good reason because when we went up to the counter they told us our flight was delayed for mechanical difficulties. (I was thinking great, another flight like the last one!) They said one hour. So, our 8:30pm flight turned into the 9:30pm flight. In an airport that we are accustomed to back home, we would walk around, shop a little, maybe relax in a restuarant, but here you have one option; to sit in your chair tight up next to everyone else who's flight has been delayed. It's crazy the number of people packed into the airport like little sardines. I had plenty of time to think about how thoughtfully designed the airports back home are for setting up the seats angled in different directions so you are not sitting classroom style with very little room between rows. (but I guess you can't pack in nearly as many people) There were several other things I was reminded of while sitting in the airport... (Which luckily had air conditioning this time) I think people in different parts of the world think different things are gross. For example, here a grown person with your finger shoved as far up you nose is completely normal. In fact, we have seen that everywhere since we have arrived in Vietnam. Soap seems to be optional here as well. (So, the "Soap is optional" Williams family fits right in) Bugs are just things that co-exist with the humans here. It's really gross and they have lots of bugs here.
Back to our flight out of Da nag, it was delayed almost an hour and 45 minutes. So, here again we were getting to our new destination late, not knowing where our hotel was exactly or what we were going to find when we got there. The flight was actually good, no excitement on the way to Sai gon. It was an hour flight that was in a huge airplane. (The size of the one we took from Tokyo to Singapore) We arrived at the aiport and again unloaded on the tarmac out the back of the plane from a stair case and took a standing only shuttle bus to the terminal.
I am not sure what I will do when I go back to boarding a plane from an indoor airport that has a nice air conditioned tunnel to board through and has the luxury of shopping and eating and relaxing in our own space. It will hopefully remind me of how lucky I am to live in Texas!
So, as our adventure rolls on I have come to realize more and more the little things that I miss. I was especially reminded of them when we arrived at the airport to depart for Sai gon... First I would like to retract anything negative I have said or thought about ANY of the airports in the US. I would also like to retract my previous opinion of American Airlines and their bad delays. Okay, with that being said we had another flight on Vietnam Airlines from Da nang to Sai gon. We were enjoying our time in Hoi An and were running a little late to get back to the hotel to catch our ride to the airport. We hopped in the cab and he got us to the airport in a very timely fashion. (Timely is what the cabs here are know best for, because with no real traffic rules everything goes) Which turned out to be for no real good reason because when we went up to the counter they told us our flight was delayed for mechanical difficulties. (I was thinking great, another flight like the last one!) They said one hour. So, our 8:30pm flight turned into the 9:30pm flight. In an airport that we are accustomed to back home, we would walk around, shop a little, maybe relax in a restuarant, but here you have one option; to sit in your chair tight up next to everyone else who's flight has been delayed. It's crazy the number of people packed into the airport like little sardines. I had plenty of time to think about how thoughtfully designed the airports back home are for setting up the seats angled in different directions so you are not sitting classroom style with very little room between rows. (but I guess you can't pack in nearly as many people) There were several other things I was reminded of while sitting in the airport... (Which luckily had air conditioning this time) I think people in different parts of the world think different things are gross. For example, here a grown person with your finger shoved as far up you nose is completely normal. In fact, we have seen that everywhere since we have arrived in Vietnam. Soap seems to be optional here as well. (So, the "Soap is optional" Williams family fits right in) Bugs are just things that co-exist with the humans here. It's really gross and they have lots of bugs here.
Back to our flight out of Da nag, it was delayed almost an hour and 45 minutes. So, here again we were getting to our new destination late, not knowing where our hotel was exactly or what we were going to find when we got there. The flight was actually good, no excitement on the way to Sai gon. It was an hour flight that was in a huge airplane. (The size of the one we took from Tokyo to Singapore) We arrived at the aiport and again unloaded on the tarmac out the back of the plane from a stair case and took a standing only shuttle bus to the terminal.
I am not sure what I will do when I go back to boarding a plane from an indoor airport that has a nice air conditioned tunnel to board through and has the luxury of shopping and eating and relaxing in our own space. It will hopefully remind me of how lucky I am to live in Texas!
Danang, Hoi An or day 1 of beach life
So after our big rest 3 to a bed, we woke up refreshed and ready to take on the day. We had missed breakfast already so we took leisurely showers/baths and then ate downstairs in the hotel restaurant. It was all decked out like there should be a wedding there and it made us all laugh a little bit.
Chuck and Caitlin headed out of Danang for Hoi An to check into our new resort and go to My Son while the rest of us got ready for a day at the beach. Chuck and Caitlin checked into the new hotel which was very interesting, but nice and then went and toured an ancient temple grounds about an hour outside of Hoi An in the jungle. They had artifacts and lots to explore out there and both of them loved every second of it. I think if we had come a year or two later, that site would have been way different. They just have artifacts laying around that you can walk right up to and touch. I bet it will be some sort of museum or something soon.
The rest of us got a cab and had him take us to China Beach. It was so nice. We saw some of the traditional basket boats on the beach and walked all the way down to the original resort we were supposed to stay at. We got a cabana there and played in the ocean and then swam in the pool for a little while. We had to have some more taro and coconut ice cream after all that playing outside before we headed down to Hoi An. Kathryn and I are going to miss that stuff.
We headed down to Hoi An and went to silk road to do some shopping. Chase got a kick out of taxi because it couldn't idle. If we weren't moving forward it stalled. This isn't really unusual. We came upon the silk factory there and they gave tours so we took one, but not before I got the "Delhi Belly" as the Indian people here say. I did spend a while in the silk factories one stall restroom with no toilet paper. I had to use the butt rinser which thrilled Cori. I think she's going to make us install one when we get home. It's just basically a hose with a vegetable sprayed at the end of it. Moving on, we toured the silk factory from baby silk worms to weaving the fabric and it was super interesting. We also saw the amazing embroidery work that they were doing. Some of the pictures they were making took two people up to 8 months to complete. I just can't imagine going to work to work on one picture every day for 8 months!
We left the silk factory in a little bit of a hurry because of my belly and headed to the hotel. When we pulled in, let's just say it didn't have any curb appeal. The lobby was nice which gave us hope. We had to walk along the trail to our room past the pool and it was very tropical. The whole time Cori kept saying " this isn't our hotel. Let's go back to where we slept last night". We've taken to calling her little Emily - sorry Emily! Once we got into the room and Chase broke the toilet paper roll by climbing in the window, we realized that it was in fact very, very nice. Unusual, but nice. There was a window with no glass, but just shutters separating the bathroom from the bedroom. There were three twin beds - two right next to each other and one down a few stairs ... Also, we had two of the rooms facing the back of the property so we overlooked someone's little farm complete with farm animals. That darn rooster crowed/roostered/cockadoodled what ever you say ALL NIGHT LONG. They also had dogs that howled all night. It was kinda in the country so during the day, the side gate was opened and you could walk right out into some rice fields which was cool. We are still a little bit puzzled about the rice and how it grows/is harvested, but we're working on that. We ate dinner on the roof that night at a japanese style raised platform table. It was good, but just as we were finishing dinner, the largest grasshoppers you have ever seen started hopping around the roof. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but the wait staff got excited and began harvesting them and putting them into a baggie. They didn't eat them in front of us ...
We booked a snorkeling trip out to Cham Island for the next morning. We woke up and enjoyed some breakfast before going. They swung by and picked us up in a little bus and we went down to the dock. There were 18 of us total - 3 divers, a dozen or so snorkelers and some spectators. It was definitely not a speed boat and the sea was a little bit off flat so of course Chase got sea sick. He was sitting over by the rail in the very first seat and I see him start to look sick. I told him to go to the back of the boat and he was very put out by that. The boy has thrown up on every boat he's ever been on - I don't know why he can't remember to do it at the back of the boat yet!! We arrived at the first snorkeling site soon after that and it was pretty. Not the best snorkeling I've ever seen, but nice. The sea was the exact right temperature and the perfect color of turquoise. Soon after we got in the water, we noticed stinging sensations. Nothing too serious, but stinging none the less. That's when we noticed that there were jellyfish about the size of half of the palm of your hand. We snorkeled around getting stung from time to time, but after the third sting, Cori had had enough. To tell you how mild they were, she didn't cry or really complain even too much, but she didn't like the sensation either. She and I got back on the boat and the people there once again doted over her. They rinsed her off with the fresh water and even combed out her hair. They also gave her 5 ankle bracelets which she is still wearing. Then she and I laid down in the shade on the boat and napped for 15-20 minutes. The kids and Chuck jumped off the second story of the boat a few times. Kathryn stood up there for quite awhile, but chickened out ... you had to step over a rail and balance on the edge to jump off. We picked up and moved to a second snorkeling spot. Yeah - no jellies! Cori rode on my back and put her face in the water and we snorkeled like that for awhile. I'm sure it looked pretty funny, but it worked for us! She loved seeing the starfish the most I think. They were the brightest blue. We picked up again and went to a beach for a barbeque next. We were starving at that point and I was glad I had smuggled two big slices of bread out of breakfast for Cori as she couldn't wait. The barbeque was really good. It wasn't a back home barbecue though. We had noodles, sticky rice, whole fish cooked in foil, some water spinach (which Cori can't seem to eat enough of the way it's prepared here), spicy calamari, and some egg type thing. Oh - they also served fish tail soup, but only Chase ate some of that. We then relaxed on the beach for awhile before heading back.
When we got back to the resort, we jumped in the pool for a minute and then took showers for our flight to Saigon (preferred here to Ho Chi Minh City).
I'll have to update our flight from Danang to Saigon and our day here in Saigon later as we're off to the market now.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Love, Kristen
Chuck and Caitlin headed out of Danang for Hoi An to check into our new resort and go to My Son while the rest of us got ready for a day at the beach. Chuck and Caitlin checked into the new hotel which was very interesting, but nice and then went and toured an ancient temple grounds about an hour outside of Hoi An in the jungle. They had artifacts and lots to explore out there and both of them loved every second of it. I think if we had come a year or two later, that site would have been way different. They just have artifacts laying around that you can walk right up to and touch. I bet it will be some sort of museum or something soon.
The rest of us got a cab and had him take us to China Beach. It was so nice. We saw some of the traditional basket boats on the beach and walked all the way down to the original resort we were supposed to stay at. We got a cabana there and played in the ocean and then swam in the pool for a little while. We had to have some more taro and coconut ice cream after all that playing outside before we headed down to Hoi An. Kathryn and I are going to miss that stuff.
We headed down to Hoi An and went to silk road to do some shopping. Chase got a kick out of taxi because it couldn't idle. If we weren't moving forward it stalled. This isn't really unusual. We came upon the silk factory there and they gave tours so we took one, but not before I got the "Delhi Belly" as the Indian people here say. I did spend a while in the silk factories one stall restroom with no toilet paper. I had to use the butt rinser which thrilled Cori. I think she's going to make us install one when we get home. It's just basically a hose with a vegetable sprayed at the end of it. Moving on, we toured the silk factory from baby silk worms to weaving the fabric and it was super interesting. We also saw the amazing embroidery work that they were doing. Some of the pictures they were making took two people up to 8 months to complete. I just can't imagine going to work to work on one picture every day for 8 months!
We left the silk factory in a little bit of a hurry because of my belly and headed to the hotel. When we pulled in, let's just say it didn't have any curb appeal. The lobby was nice which gave us hope. We had to walk along the trail to our room past the pool and it was very tropical. The whole time Cori kept saying " this isn't our hotel. Let's go back to where we slept last night". We've taken to calling her little Emily - sorry Emily! Once we got into the room and Chase broke the toilet paper roll by climbing in the window, we realized that it was in fact very, very nice. Unusual, but nice. There was a window with no glass, but just shutters separating the bathroom from the bedroom. There were three twin beds - two right next to each other and one down a few stairs ... Also, we had two of the rooms facing the back of the property so we overlooked someone's little farm complete with farm animals. That darn rooster crowed/roostered/cockadoodled what ever you say ALL NIGHT LONG. They also had dogs that howled all night. It was kinda in the country so during the day, the side gate was opened and you could walk right out into some rice fields which was cool. We are still a little bit puzzled about the rice and how it grows/is harvested, but we're working on that. We ate dinner on the roof that night at a japanese style raised platform table. It was good, but just as we were finishing dinner, the largest grasshoppers you have ever seen started hopping around the roof. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but the wait staff got excited and began harvesting them and putting them into a baggie. They didn't eat them in front of us ...
We booked a snorkeling trip out to Cham Island for the next morning. We woke up and enjoyed some breakfast before going. They swung by and picked us up in a little bus and we went down to the dock. There were 18 of us total - 3 divers, a dozen or so snorkelers and some spectators. It was definitely not a speed boat and the sea was a little bit off flat so of course Chase got sea sick. He was sitting over by the rail in the very first seat and I see him start to look sick. I told him to go to the back of the boat and he was very put out by that. The boy has thrown up on every boat he's ever been on - I don't know why he can't remember to do it at the back of the boat yet!! We arrived at the first snorkeling site soon after that and it was pretty. Not the best snorkeling I've ever seen, but nice. The sea was the exact right temperature and the perfect color of turquoise. Soon after we got in the water, we noticed stinging sensations. Nothing too serious, but stinging none the less. That's when we noticed that there were jellyfish about the size of half of the palm of your hand. We snorkeled around getting stung from time to time, but after the third sting, Cori had had enough. To tell you how mild they were, she didn't cry or really complain even too much, but she didn't like the sensation either. She and I got back on the boat and the people there once again doted over her. They rinsed her off with the fresh water and even combed out her hair. They also gave her 5 ankle bracelets which she is still wearing. Then she and I laid down in the shade on the boat and napped for 15-20 minutes. The kids and Chuck jumped off the second story of the boat a few times. Kathryn stood up there for quite awhile, but chickened out ... you had to step over a rail and balance on the edge to jump off. We picked up and moved to a second snorkeling spot. Yeah - no jellies! Cori rode on my back and put her face in the water and we snorkeled like that for awhile. I'm sure it looked pretty funny, but it worked for us! She loved seeing the starfish the most I think. They were the brightest blue. We picked up again and went to a beach for a barbeque next. We were starving at that point and I was glad I had smuggled two big slices of bread out of breakfast for Cori as she couldn't wait. The barbeque was really good. It wasn't a back home barbecue though. We had noodles, sticky rice, whole fish cooked in foil, some water spinach (which Cori can't seem to eat enough of the way it's prepared here), spicy calamari, and some egg type thing. Oh - they also served fish tail soup, but only Chase ate some of that. We then relaxed on the beach for awhile before heading back.
When we got back to the resort, we jumped in the pool for a minute and then took showers for our flight to Saigon (preferred here to Ho Chi Minh City).
I'll have to update our flight from Danang to Saigon and our day here in Saigon later as we're off to the market now.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Love, Kristen
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