TravelStream™ news feed for member bbart0012 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bbart0012 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:15:51 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215900780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215900780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215900780/tpod.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:15:51 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Davenport, Iowa, United States

Car ride home was uneventful. I just wanted to add this one to finish my Trip up. I'd been traveling for 28 hours from the time that I left the Hostel at 4 in the morning. And I gained a day on the way back. Anywho, trying not to be very jet lagged and get back into the routine of school next week. Thanks for following along with my travels. Cheers!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215626640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215626640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215626640/tpod.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:12:37 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Chicago, Illinois, United States

So i had an 11 hour flight from Tokyo to Chicago. I decided to take a couple of sleep aid pills to help me sleep for a bit after we took off. It kind of worked, i slept for about 2 hours during the first part of the flight. I was sitting in the back of the plane next to a girl from Japan, and i don't think she spoke very much english, so we didn't converse at all. Movies on that flight were horrible, i think i watched street kings w/ K. Reeves twice.
After we landed, going through customs was rediculous. they were giving me a hard time. I was like are you serious? They asked how long i stayed in vietnam and thailand. so i answered. then it was the what did you do while you were there? Trying to explain the whole clinic abroad thing to someone that doesn't understand is time consuming so I just said i was there for travel. Then he asked what all did i see. After that he saw my face like what the hell, so he added that he had never been to either place. I wanted to reach across the desk he was behind and start strangling him. But i knew that wouldn't go over very good, so that is when i added in the whole clinic abroad thing. He seemed fine with that and stamped my passport and let me go.
At that point i wasn't very happy, turned my phone on while i was getting my luggage. Called Nate and he was waiting in the bar just outside of the luggage pickup. His flight only got in about 2 hours before mine, so that was good timing. Erik was picking us up and was only about a half hour away. So i made a few calls while we were waiting, then Erik was there.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215626400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215626400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215626400/tpod.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:03:19 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Tokyo, Kanto, Japan

So I know this is a few days late, but I need to finish up my blog. Last place i left off was at the Lub D hostel in Bangkok. I decided to stay up the rest of the night so i didn't oversleep and miss my flight back home. So a lot of internet surfing and hanging out with new people was on my agenda. I decided that drinking anything would not be a good thing, so I was dry and sober for the night, plus all of the people that we had been hanging out for the previous few days were gone, so that was a positive for me to not drink for the night.
About 4:00 I had all my things packed and ready to go. I already scheduled a Cab to be called for me, so when i got downstairs, to my surprise, they had a cab ready for me. Luckily, two girls were leaving for the airport at the same time, so we split the cab fare. We negotiated a fare of 400 baht and he paid the tolls. So between the 3 of us, it was about 13 dollars. They were headed back to Singapore, and were asking about my travels on the 30 min. taxi ride to the airport.
At the airport, I decided to buy a book incase i wanted to read on the flight home. I found a pretty cool book about health and how important the brain is in health and how it can be used to develop new nerve pathways to help certain ailments. Enough about the book. I think i had to go through about 3 security checkpoints before I reached the gate. I had about an hour and tried to read while i was waiting. No go, i was too tired and couldn't focus. So we finally got on the plane and headed out to Tokyo. It was a 6 hour flight, luckily everyone had their own TV screen, so i was able to choose what movies i wanted to watch. The girl next to me was from chicago and slept the entire way except for the last 1/2 hour. That is when i found out about her travels and what not.
Now in Tokyo, had to go through ANOTHER round of security and at the gate. There is a sushi place just across from our gate and i decided to get some sushi while i am in JAPAN. It was crazy good and i got a bottle of Hot Sake, which was a very good way to finish up the meal. So there i was just waiting for the plane to get ready to go.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215526200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215526200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215526200/tpod.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:10:15 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Bangkok, Thailand

So the last time I left off I was in Hua Hin. After I left the coffee shop, Nate and I decided we wanted seafood for dinner, so we walked down towards the beach and the row of waterfront seafood places. Just as we went into the place, it started to rain a little bit. Go figure, we want to eat seafood on the waterfront patio and it starts to rain. So we sat under the roof area. The entire deck was open and just a roof over about 1/2 of it. The rain only lasted about 10 min. and it was pretty light, but we still had an awsome view. Nate got a squid dish and I got prawns(basically shrimp with the head and legs still on it) fried up with a Tamarid sauce. We both had a beer and sat around after eating for about 15/20 min and took some pictures and what not.
We then decided to stop at the super market to grab some beers there and chill out on the patio at the hotel and watch the night traffic for a while. We both had another cigar(if you can call it that). Black and milds were the only cigars we could find, so we settled for those. About 9 or so, we were up to going out since we didn't have plans except to get back to Bangkok the next day. Nate wanted to hit up the Irish pub, so we went there for a couple of guiness, which actually turned out to be pretty cool b/c the Federer/Nadal match was going on. So we watched that while we drank our guiness and I also had a Kilkenny.
Since the Irish pubs are pretty expensive, after 2 beers we decided to head out. Ended up at the same bar from the night before, playing pool and hanging out. The owner was crazy happy that we were back for some reason, she gave us a free beer at the end of the night again, this time for being "loyal" customers. She also gave us a shot of some sort of candy alcohol that she had made up. I think it was rice wine/liquor with some sort of purple sugar in it. It was strong but not too bad.
The bar was quite the experience for that night. There were some more girls at the bar from the previous night. Assuming they were "working". Being from the Midwest, this whole sex industry just baffles my mind. I don't understand it, but at the same time, for them, it's a way of life. One of the "extra" girls was playing pool with us, and mind you neither nate or I had any interest, at all, in taking anyone home. But right in the middle of the pool game, another girl came up to her, said something, and my opponent had just changed. The girl that i was playing in pool, headed out to a table just outside the bar. About 5 min. later, she came back and said something in Thai to the rest of them, and they all gave out a giddy cheer. Then she grabbed her handbag and then left. Both nate and i looked at each other in disbelief. We knew it existed and what not, but when the other 3 or so girls were so giddy that their friend had just sold herself, kind of a kidney punch from reality. Basically that it is their way of life here, crazy as it seems to me being from Iowa, but it's just intertwined in their culture.
After we assessed the situation, nate and i decided to stay in the bar. The area wasn't a red light district, but the presence of the sex industry was there. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the first time i've felt the sex industry's presence on this trip. It is the first time i've seen them all happy about a fellow "worker" going home with a guy.
So we got back to playing pool and watching a Yankee/Red sox game that must have been from the previous day. When all of a sudden, we hear this woman yelling opposite the bar from us. I look over and she rears back and tried to slap her husband/boyfriend. Apparently this sort of thing has happened before because he saw it comming a mile away, so no contact was made. The owner of the bar didn't even tell them to settle down or anything, she just came over and started talking to us and let the event take it's course. The guy settled her down, but she still looked pretty mad. It was kind of funny but i don't think this was a first time thing for them b/c she had a shiner that was about a week or so old. Sounded like they were from germany or eastern european, so more cluture exposure for Nate and I.
After that, nate and i decided we've had enough culture exposure and wanted to leave. This is when the owner, offered us another beer, on the house for being loyal customers. We didn't want to be rude, so we accepted, drank that beer and then went back to the hotel. It was around 1 and we weren't ready for sleep. We each had 1 can of beer, so we went back to our patio plan and talked till those beers were finished and headed to bed.
The next morning, we got up and ready to leave. I was done before nate, so i went over to International News Coffee for breakfast while he was finishing up. He came over after he was done and grabbed breakfast. We decided that after our bus experience, we didn't want to experience that again, so we would take the train. We took a taxi up to the train station and they proceeded to tell us that the next train for bangkok wasn't going to be there till 4 and it was 11. Luckily there was a guy that spoke pretty good english and told us about these "mini bus" taxis to bangkok. So we figured that was a good way to get back, since it wouldn't take near as long and they leave just about every hour.
We started to walk to find the place, sunburnt backs w/ our backpacks, fun stuff. We walked all over the place and it took us about an hour and a few stops to ask where it was. After we got there, the ticket was only 200 baht, which is about 6/7 dollars. There were were 12 people packed inside this Toyota conversion van that had a benzene engine. We didn't realize that it was a benzene engine untill we stopped to fill it up and saw the pumps. Both nate and I thought that was pretty cool b/c you never see anything like it in the states. We thought it was cool until we realized that they have to stop about every 70 km to fill back up. Then we realized why we don't have the benzene engines in the states. It was a 220 km trip and we had to stop 3 times to fill up. It was cheap to fill up, but time consuming.
The trip took 2.5 hours, so about an hour and a half shorter than the bus, so we were pleased. They dropped us off in front of a huge mall area. Just as we got into Bangkok the rain let loose. So we grabbed our packs and ran for shelter inside the mall. We got a game plan and decided to get a taxi back to the hostel.
While back at the Lub d, we checked in, and I found my luggage in the luggage room in tact and nothing missing. Which I was extremely happy about b/c all of my gifts from Vietnam and my kg of coffee was in there. I was a little worried when i left it b/c they have a disclaimer about the luggage room, saying that they are not responsible for lost or stolen luggage. Even though it is behind locked doors, but they let you go in and pick up your own luggage, they don't have a tag that you give to them and they go get it.
So we got settled in our room and came downstairs for a beer. Traveling always takes it out of you. Nate and I ran in to a few of the people that were still at the hostel from before we left. A couple of brits, scottsman, couple of people from the US and we met a guy from polland that showed up after we left. So nate and i headed for dinner. Thai food one more time for him before he left back to Vietnam. After we got back we met up with the group again, hung out in the bar area of the hostel and had a few drinks. Nate and I wanted to go back to the night market to get gifts and souviner type stuff. After we got back the group of ppl were still downstairs hanging out.
Nate wanted to take it easy because he flew out today and he might run into problems with getting back into vietnam b/c they stampped his visa as used and it wasn't good for multiple entries. Hopefully everything works out for him and he doesn't run into problems. So after a while a group of people were going out, I wanted to go out one last time but nate wanted to just hang out, people in the group were doing both things so we both we good to go.
I left for the hostel while everyone else was eating McDonalds(i couldn't do it, McD's in thailand are you serious?). As soon as I crossed the street, I saw something I NEVER in a million years thought i would see. There was a guy walking with a baby elephant that was about 6.5/7 feet tall. He was trying to get people to pay to feed it. After I told him that I didn't want to pay to feed it, he kept walking. I went to grab my camera to take a picture of it, reached in my pocket and no camera. I took it out after dinner at the hostel. MAN was i pissed.
So now back at the hostel, i had decided that i was going to try to start to acclimate myself to the transition in time zones so the jet lag wouldn't be so bad. Since I just had to see nate off around 11 today and nothing else going on except pick up a few more things at the street venders for gifts, I decided i was going to stay up as late as possible. A bonus is that they hostel bar doesn't really close down, so I ordered a few more beers and stayed up till about 5/530 in the morning talking it up with Elliot(brit) about sports and the difference between american sports and the rest of the world. It was a good time and experience.
Then it was off to bed. I got up around 9 while nate was getting ready for his departure. We had breakfast at the hostel, and he took off around 10 30 for the airport. I got online, checked up on some email and what not. Then ran to exchange some more money and walk around a bit for my last day. Bought some more stuff at a street vender that I didn't have money for the night before.
Got back to the hostel and threw in a couple of sleep aid pills to make me crash. So I crashed from 2 till about 730. Got up, shaved and headed out for dinner, went to the same Thai place as the night before but ordered a squid dish in oyster sauce. Stopped at the street venders to pick up my last few things on my way back to the hostel. Now here i am, just need to pack, and i'm going to try to stay up till i have to leave for the airport aroud 430, don't want to oversleep and not make it back to the states. So i'm going to pack and try to get some of my paperwork finalized from clinic abroad. I've got all the notes done, just need to go through and record on a tally sheet what i adjusted on everyone, spinal/extremity and what not. Mind numbing stuff, but has to get done and i've got time tonight, so might as well. Well all, the next and last update will be after i get back to the good Ol' US of A. Can't wait to talk to everyone. Cheers!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215329640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215329640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215329640/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:20:57 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Hua Hin, Thailand

Ok, so the last time I updated I was in Bangkok. We left the hostel around 11 and got a cab to the bus station. Cab took about 40 min. to get to the bus station. The cabs in Thailand are a little bit safer/not as scary as in Vietnam. So we get to the bus station and get out ticket to Hua Hin. We found the bus and it took off about 5 min. after we got our bags on and seated. It started out ok, the bus wasn't very good but it had AC so we couldn't complain. We heard that the ride was supposed to take us about 3 hours.
At about the 3 hour mark, the bus got packed and I had no idea how close we were to Hua Hin, To make things better, every stop they made, they didn't announce where we were at or anything like that. So i was kind of getting stressed b/c i was on the side of the bus where i couldn't see any street signs or signs saying how far we were from Hua Hin. The other thing going through my mind was that the bus was packed and they were basically just stopping at roadside bus stops, no bus station or anything like that. So if we found out it was our stop, there was no way that we were getting off at that stop. Luckily the lady that was selling tickets was paying attention to where we were going and made sure that we knew that our bus stop was comming up.
So after we get off the bus, there was a guy that came up wanting to give us a ride to our hotel. Nate said ok, and little did he know we were getting rides to the hotel on scooters. Our big huge backpacks and all. The guy that gave me a ride, seemed to know exactly where we were headed after nate told him and was being impatient with Nate's drive, so we took off. BAD SITUATION! I had no idea of the name of our hotel and the guy took me to the wrong place. Nate didn't show up and I was like what the hell? Now I realize how much we rely on cell phones back home. I had no way of figuring out where nate was or anything like that. My only lifeline was this scooter driver that got me LOST. He got on the phone and talked to nate's driver. So we went to another place, again now where nate was. The lady that came out front asked if i wanted to look at a room and told me a price. I said that I already had reservation, she shook her head no. I looked at the cab driver and said we were still in the wrong place. Luckily it was right around the corner from where nate was and he was standing out on the balcony of our room when we were driving by. So we were back in business!
It was the 4th of july so after we got settled in to the room, we decided to explore around and find a place to eat and have our own little celebration. I wanted a burger, since I couldn't grill my own. So we found this Australian place that served burgers and what not. We had a few beers there. After dinner Nate and I both looked at each other and decided that we were just going to go back to the room and chill the rest of the night. We were beat from our travels from Bangkok. What a couple of partiers, I ended up falling asleep around 8 30 on the 4th of july and nate said he decided to go to bed around 9 30.
Yesterday we got up around 8 and hit up the World News Coffee right across the street for breakfast. Over beakfast we decided we were just going to sit on the beach for the duration of the afternoon. We got out to the beach around 11 30 and were walking around. We ended up paying some resort 100 baht to sit on their chairs for the rest of the day. They also served beer and food if we wanted. We took turns getting in and out of the ocean to cool off. We each had about 4 beers while we were there, and I played the game of trying to stay under the umbrella out of the sun so i didn't turn into a lobster, no such luck. We left the beach around 4, the tops of my feet were bright red, but nothing else seemed that bad.
After we got back, we cleaned up and nate was starting to turn red, and I was still in the clear except the tops of my feet and my forehead. We went to a Thai restaraunt for dinner and then everthing started to kick in with the sunburn. What is wierd about this sunburn is that it looks 100x worse than it feels. It seriously looks like one of the worst sunburns that i've ever had, but i barely feel it. My back and the tops of my feet are a little tight and that's about it.
On the way back to the hotel from dinner we decided we were going to get some beers and hang out on the balcony outside of our room for a while. We were watching the night traffic and just hanging out. About 10, the two beers that each of us had bought were gone so we decided to find a bar to play pool in.
Before we found a pool table, there was a brewery that is run by the hilton, so naturally i wanted to stop in. We sat down and looked at the menu, THEY DON'T EVEN MAKE THEIR OWN BEER! What the hell, don't call yourself a brewery and not make your own beer. Anywho, we decided to stay for one beer, which was definately a good plan because of the story to come out of it.
We were sitting there hanging out sipping on our beers when I notice a group of about 5 guys and 1 girl at the table behind nate. They are all wearing green shirts, not the same shirt but everyone had some sort of green on. Then i saw one guy sit down and take out a HUGE wad of money. Going through my head is nothing good, gang/mob or something. To top it off the wait staff won't let anyone sit back in their section. So I'm trying not to make eye contact or seem too interested in what they are doing. But naturally what do you look at when someone says don't look over there. After about 10 min the light above them shut off. I was like what the hell, is something going down over at that table or what. I could just imagine me being followed by the gang members because I was too interested in what was giong on at their table, so I was just trying to lay low. About 2 min after the light turned off, half of them got up and went inside of the place. Then after another min. the other half went inside. So i'm a little more calm now, that the gang isn't 15 feet away from us. As i'm finishing up my beer i look inside and see that the "gang" is the band that is playing at the place tonight. I haven't laughed so hard once I figured out that they were the band. Oh man, it was hilairous! So we were on our way to look for pool.
We found a place that had pool for free.While we were talking we decided that doing anything outside today, would be a bad idea, so we decided that we were going to stay out and close the bar down. Thailand is the total opposite of Vietnam. In vietnam everything closes around 11, here nothing really opens up or gets busy till about 8 or nine. Plus beer is cheaper at the bar we were at than the Hilton, so free pool and cheaper beer.
After our first game of pool, which nate won, there was a girl about 10 years old trying to sell roses and what not. Both nate and i looked at her and were like what, am I going to buy him a rose? She wouldn't leave. We started another game of pool, she came up to me and said she was good at pool and wanted to play nate. She boasted about being able to beat nate, so i said go ahead. After about 2 turns she came over and said that if she won, i had to buy her a rose. I said what the hell, no harm here. Nate ended up winning the game, so i didn't have to buy a flower for her. She STILL came up to me and was said, you buy flower? I told her "No, you lost, I don't have to buy a flower." She called me a bad man and proceeded to pinch me twice on the back and once behing my right arm. That made me extremely happy since the sunburn was setting in. Good deal that after that she left me alone and went to bother nate. At one point she actually hit him w/ the roses.
So we closed the bar down at 2 15, they gave us 1 free beer at the end of the night, which i don't think we really needed. Since our hotel was right around the corner from the bar we accepted the beer then left and went to the hotel.
We woke up today around 8 then tried to go back to bed and finally "got up" around 10. Since it is hotter than hell here and the sun is in full force, we've just been lounging around in the hotel watching the 2-3 channels that have english on them and did some laundry. Now i'm all caught up, we are going out for a bit tonight then we head back to Bangkok tomorrow morning. I think we are taking the train back up to bangkok, it is supposed to take longer but we feel a little more comfortable riding the train after our bus experience.

Talk to you all again soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215139200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215139200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1215139200/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:26:27 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Bangkok, Thailand

Hello everyone! Where did i leave off?
So after my last blog, we headed out for dinner. Thai food in Bangkok. It was pretty darn good. I got the red curry. Never had it before but i'm a fan. After that nate and I wanted to go and grab a beer somewhere, so we went to the English pub, Duke of Wellington. Not a bad pub, overpriced but what can ya do? They had some live music, two guys trying to cover english songs. Somewhat entertaining.
After that we came back to the hostel and went to bed. Yesterday morning, we wanted to head to the grand palace. On our way there, we were talking to an older man on the way to the train station. He told us that we needed pants and a collared shirt. We knew about the pants and had them in the backpack, but we both just had on T-shirts. So we decided that wasn't in the cards yesterday so we decided to head over to see the US embassy. We got a little lost on the way there, and headed the wrong direction. But we ended up finding it, we wanted to ask if they were doing anything for the 4th of july because we were talking to a canadian that said that the canadian embassy had a little something for their national holiday. So we got there and were going to take a picture in front of the US embassy but the security guards said that we couldn't. We thought it was kind of BS, so we didn't even ask them about the 4th of july. So we figured we'd just celebrate the 4th on our own.
After all of that walking, from 9 30 till 1, we figured since nothing was really going on that we would take a nap. After the nap, we were talking to a couple from New York. They were heading to a Thai Boxing event, but it was all the way across town, so we didn't go. We figured we'd catch one the night we get back to bangkok. We also found out that our hostel we were staying at was booked for the weekend, we were hoping to extend out stay 1 night, but no luck. So we have to plan on seeing the grand palace and reclining buddha the day we come back from Hua Hin. So we booked out stay when we come back at the same hostel and our stay down in Hua Hin(the beach town).
After that we wanted to eat dinner and head to the night market. We tried to find another Thai restaraunt, but it was too busy and we ended up eating at the same place as the night before. I ended up getting a garlic beef in oyster sauce, wanted to try something new, it was pretty good. There was a Tuk Tuk driver that recognized us from the night before. (a Tuk Tuk is a 3 wheeled cab thing. It's kind of cool b/c there is only one back seat and you can't sit upright, it's basically almost laying down. I've got some pictures of it) He was trying to get us to go to a "massage" place just like the night before. We weren't having any of it, so we talked him down from 60 bat to 40 bat to take us to the night market, but we had to go back and get on the internet to book our hostel down in hua hin first.
So the Tuk Tuk ride to the night market was an experience, weaving in and out of traffic on a 3 wheeled taxi. Crazy. The night market was huge and similar to the street stands. We walked through and figured out some things that we wanted to buy when we came back to bangkok before we fly out. Then we went to find a beer garden. We found one that had some live music. The beer garden was huge. I had a Edinger Weissbrau(wheat beer) and we listened to the music. The live music had dancers and everything. At one point they all got in place and played YMCA. I had to get pictures of that. it was funny. We headed back to the hostel around 11. Had to bargin w/ a couple of Tuk Tuk drivers for the way back. The first guy we talked to wanted 200 bat to get us back here. We just laughed and walked away. We ended up talking a guy down to 60 bat(about 2 bucks).
After we got back to the hostel we ended up hanging out w/ a Brit and a Scotsman. We had a few beers with them and then headed to bed around 1/1:30. That's it for now. We are packing up and catching a bus to Hua Hin. Should be an experience. I should be able to update my blog down in hua hin, but if not i'll update everything when i get back to bangkok. We are going to be in hua hin till monday morning. So if i don't update my blog till then, don't be surprised. Talk to you all soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214997420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214997420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214997420/tpod.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:48:09 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Bangkok, Thailand

Where did we leave off? We had a free day in Ho Chi Mihn City. Woke up around 7 and ate breakfast around 7 45. Ended up going to the market around 9 30 or so. Pretty neat. Just a big building with anything and everything that you could want. We walked in and it was in the food section. They had fresh shrimp and all other kinds of fresh seafood. A shrimp jumped out of the tub while we were walking by. Nate and I were both in the market for a new watch, so we walked around a bit and found a place that sells watches. We both eneded up buying two of them. I got mine for $55. I got a Rolex and a Tag Heuer. I know they are fake but oh well. After that neither of us had any more money on us, so we went back to the hotel to get some more money and then headed back to the market. When we got back the only thing that i got for myself was a set of 10 chopsticks in a very nice case. I bought a few other things for people and we headed back to the hotel.
On the way back, Dr. Donabaugher asked if we wanted to stop for a beer, Nate and I couldn't disagree, so we stopped at the old officers club during the war for a beer. She ended up buying beers for us, once again couldn't argue that. After that we went back to the room and decided to get massages. Apparently my person was better than nates, but neither of us were very impressed. Took a quick nap after that and started to get some stuff packed up for travelling. Jen decided that she was going to take 1 suitcase back for us so we could lighten our load to thailand. Very nice of her.
For dinner Palmer paid for our last dinner and we went to this hotel called legends and got the buffet there. It had anything and everything you could possibly want(just like the market). I at a ton of sushi and ordered an argentinian ribeye(nothing like back home). After that a small group of us went back to the Lion brewery. We all got Liters again, then we said our goodbyes to everyone that had to leave the hotel at 4 30.
Nate and i got up around 6 30 because we wanted to leave the hotel by 8 to get to the airport. We didn't know how traffic would be in Saigon so just to make sure we wanted to get to the airport early. We got a cab and it took about 45 min. to get to the airport. We got to the gate about 1 1/2 hours before our flight, so i guess we didn't have to leave so early, but better safe than sorry. After all the run around and switching gates in the airport, we got on the flight and it only took off about 40 min. late. We think that in vietnam they shouldn't put times on the flights they should put 11 40ish, because they NEVER leave on time.
ON the way here, we were in decent for Bangkok and hit a huge wall cloud and had the worst turbulance i've ever been in. We prolly dropped about 200 feet in about 1-2 seconds. then jerked side from side pretty good. after that little 10 second bout everything was fine. We got through customs and our baggage got here fine. On the way out, we were talked to about the taxi by some "official" taxi service. It ended up costing us $40 to get to the hostel and we rolled up in a BMW. Kinda ironic, going to a hostel and getting there in a BMW. After we got our room at the hostel, which by the way, isn't as bad as i thought it would be, nate and i decided to explore some. Our hostel is close to a pretty happening district of town. We scoped out a few places to eat and a few irish and english pubs to check out while we are here.
So now we are gonna head out to get some real Thai food in Thailand! Can't wait! Well that's about it for now. We are going up to the Grand palace area to see some temples and what not tomorrow, so tomorrows blog should be pretty decent. Talk to you all again soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214873340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214873340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214873340/tpod.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:13:58 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Yesterday was a travel day from Dalat to Ho Chi Mihn City. We didn't have to leave till noon, so we got up and packed all of our things. Then nate and i decided we would go to get a massage. We walked about 5 min. to another hotel that had massage in it and turns out that they don't open till 2 for massages. So we decided to just walk around a bit and ended up picking up 1 kg of coffee beans. After that we just hung out in the room for an hour or two before we had to be downstairs for the bus.
The bus left and we went and had lunch at a roadside tourist trap place. It ended up being pretty cool. They had a waterfall area. After we ate most of us went inside the waterfall area. You had to pay 10,000 dong to get in but i feel it was worth the 60 cents. There was a trail that went all around the pond area where the waterfall dropped in to. So you could walk behind the waterfall. We got some pretty good pictures. On our way out we saw an ostrich with a saddle on it. Apparently you could ride the ostrich. I didn't think that the bird could hold my fat @$$ so i decided to not get on the bird.
So we got back on the bus and had about a 1/2 hour drive to the airport. We were at the airport an hour before we had to fly out. It was a pretty small airport, so not much to do. Unfortunately our plane ended up being late and we had a longer wait at the airport. Flight was on a puddle jumper again, i think this has been our 7th or 8th flight since we started the trip. A lot of plaine rides.
So back to Ho Chi Mihn city. We stopped for dinner at a fairly nice place just around the corner from our hotel that served seafood. It was all pretty good, minus the Durian flavored rice. For those that don't know, durian is a delicacy over here. It's a fruit that basically smells to me like rotting flesh. YUM! But i was a trooper and tried the rice. Wasn't too strong of a durian flavor but you could tell it was in it. After dinner we got checked in to the hotel and waited for our bags to show up, we had them trucked down from Dalat. Nate, Jen, Christi and I had a beer in the hotel lobby bar while we were waiting. They were too expensive(1.90/bottle) so we headed out to find a little pub after we got our bags.
We ended up finding this place that nate and i saw while were were here at the begining of the trip. It was called Lion restaraunt and brewery. Right up my alley! So we sat down and they only had two types of beer, Dark and Blonde. Naturally i got the dark. Both nate and i got liters, which by the way were only 4.25/liter. A lot better than the prices at the hotel.
While we were there, I was talking about brewing my own beer and mentioning that i would love to get up by the fermenters and take a picture. Jen ended up asking the bartender about it and i didn't figure they would let me. To my surprise he didn't even hesitate to say yeah it would be fine. so we got some pretty cool pictures of nate and i up on the platform that is around the fermenters. I was stoked about that. After that we just came back to the hotel and went to bed. Now here i am, we have a free day in Ho Chi Mihn city. I'm going to get some shopping done and hopefully send some stuff home via mail so i don't have to lug it around thailand with me. Well it's been fun. More updates to come soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214751780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214751780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214751780/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:36:07 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Dalat, Vietnam

Hi again. Been two days since i've updated but had a busy 2 days. Started off with our last day of clinic which was a saturday. We had 300 people scheduled for that day but it seemed fairly slow. We had planned on only adjusting a half day and that is what we did. Everyone was ready to be done with clinic and it was good that clinic was slow because if it was not slow, i think some people would have been at each others throats. Mainly because everyone just wanted to be done. I only adjusted 7 people on sat. Partly because nate had a patient that required a lot of work, so i didn't want to bring anyone back when i wouldn't have use of the table. Speaking of my table. I decided to sell/donate it to the local hospital. Dr Tran said that they wanted a table and since i was going to have to ship it back home b/c i didn't want to drag it around Thailand, he ended up offering me $150 for it. Not too bad, i'll just get a new one when i get back home, plus it would have cost me 50 to ship it to the states anyways. So it was a win win situation for both of us.
After clinic we stoped at a local place in Dalat for lunch and then headed to drop off some more donations. First we stopped at a disabled home and donated 10 wheelchairs. We only stayed long enough to drop them off and hear some words of thanks from the director. After the disabled home we went to another orphanage and donated 1 ton of rice and gave things that we brought from the states to the children. This time around, there were a lot of children at the orphanage. We played with them for a while and then when it was time for us to leave, they sang us a few songs, both in vietnameese and english. Very cute!
After that we had from 1 till 630 free before we had to be at dinner for our farewell dinner with the translators. I decided to just lay low and take a nap. At dinner they had local/heritage music and dance while we were eating. Nate and i sat with out Translator Wang. He was showing us the ins and outs of how to prepare the food that they put on the table. It was a soup that you had to put the meat and vegetables in to cook before you ate. It was pretty neat. After dinner, Dr. Countryman had some words to say and gave each of the students best/most likely awards along with a gift. The gifts were either bottles of wine or coffee. I got wine. My best/most likely was a low blow from dr. countryman. He is from Nevada, IA and went to University of Iowa. So naturally he poked fun at Iowa State. I was the biggest fan of a losing football team. Everyone got a kick out of it. I lauged about it too. Actually i kind of expected that from him.
After that was over, our translators got up on stage and sang us some songs and what not. Then it just turned into another party with the health officials. It's kind of wierd how business is done over here. I think i've said this before but business is done over drinks instead of lunches and what not. After the festivities were over in the hotel reception area we all decided to walk down to a club and have some more drinks there. Kind of fun, a lot of techno, which i'm not really in to but still an alright time. We ended up back to the hotel and in bed around 12 30 or so.
After waking up at 9, i know crazy, we had breakfast and hung around the hotel for the rest of the morning till we were to meet with Wang for an early lunch. He had an apptitude test for english at 2, so we wanted to wish him luck and buy him lunch before his test. So around 11 30 he showed up and we went to the pizza place just across the street from the hotel.
So we wished Wang good luck and ran into another translator that was comming back from church. We called this other translator Short round, just like the Indiana Jones movie. He looks almost exactly like him and a lot of his mannerisms are very similar. He wished us luck with all of our travels and then took off. Then nate and I wanted to head up to a meditation center for the buddhists, so we rented some scooters and headed that way. It was kind of neat b/c we had to take a "enclosed ski lift" to the meditation center. Of course cost more money to ride there, oh well.
There were about 7 or 8 buildings at the place and monks were learning there. It was actually really cool. After that we decided to ride the scooters around the lake and went back to the hotel. Had the buffet for dinner and now here i am. We leave for Ho Chi Mihn tomorrow then a free day. Well that's about it, like i've said, i'm taking lots of pics and after i get back, check this out and i'll have all of them up. Hope all is well and I'll update soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214607240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214607240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bbart0012/1/1214607240/tpod.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:19:34 -0400 Vietnam - Clinic Abroad

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Dalat, Vietnam

Hey! It's sat. morning at almost 6 and i'm tired but need to keep up with my blogs so i don't forget to put anything in. It's crazy here, b/c i really have no idea what day it is, the only way that i know is because someone said something about it being friday yesterday. Anywho, yesterday was another clinic day.
Started out the morning early again b/c we were leaving the hotel at 6 30. It was another hour and a half bus ride to the place where we were setting up for clinic. I did not have all of my paperwork done from the day before, so I tried to do that on the bus. Only problem is that trying to write notes while riding a bus through the mountains is tough, plus i don't do well whith reading let alone writing in a car. So i almost made myself sick on the way to clinic but stopped just before i got sick.
One major difference yesterday was that we did not set up clinic in a hospital, we ended up in a High School. Everybody was somewhat burned out from the previous day's adjusting, so everybody was kind of dragging ass. I ended up taking a nap during lunch, so that revived me to some extent. I saw ~35 patients yesterday, and I was trying to take it slow. I need one more physical to finish up my clinic requirements so i will get that done today, our last day of clinic. We saw a few more children today. One baby that i saw had some sort of hematoma or something, the back left quarter of his head almost looked burnt, but the hair was still growing and he was happy go lucky. So whatever he had didn't seem to be bothering him that much. So i adjusted him and sent him over to the medical doctors to see about his skin condition. Other than that, a lot of headaches and low back pain. Nate had a baby that we're pretty sure had measles. We both had our booster shots w/ in 8 years so, hopefully we don't come down w/ measles.
On the way home I talked to our translator to see if he wanted to go out to dinner with Nate and I. He wanted to so we agreed to meet at 7 to go to eat. Between clinic and dinner, we just showered and worked on Soap notes. For dinner we went to a little Vietnameese place just up the road from our hotel. The food was simple but very good. After dinner we decided to go to a cafe and grab a cup of coffee and chat. We talked about a lot of differnt things about the country and what Wan(our translator) wanted to do after he was done with college and what not. It was kind of cool b/c we were sitting outside beside an intersection that was fairly busy. Neat just watching how things work on the road in another country. About 9 30 we were all pretty tired and decided to head back to the hotel.
I finished up some laundry when we got back and headed to bed. Now here i am. Only a half day of clinic today then to another orphanage. Man, i don't believe how quick this trip has been. It is almost over, then we have 7 days in Thailand. Can't wait for the time to relax. I will keep on with the updates. Talk to you all very soon.

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