TravelStream™ news feed for member ruthie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ruthie en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sat, 29 Apr 2006 10:35:02 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/east_med/1144593180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/east_med/1144593180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/east_med/1144593180/tpod.html Sat, 29 Apr 2006 10:35:02 -0400 Cyprus, Egypt and Greece

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Astromeritis, Cyprus

day 4 - Aphrodite's rock, Limassol, Lefkara
day 5 - Troodos: Kakopetria, Kykkos Monastery
day 6 - Astromeritis
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/east_med/1144333860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/east_med/1144333860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/east_med/1144333860/tpod.html Sat, 29 Apr 2006 10:32:45 -0400 Cyprus, Egypt and Greece

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Polis, Cyprus

day 2 - in Pegeia with Pat and George
day 3 - up north to Polis, Latzi, Pomos, Kato Pyrgos. Baths of Aphrodite.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122739260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122739260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122739260/tpod.html Sat, 30 Jul 2005 01:30:28 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hanoi, Vietnam

it's been another busy couple of days! i've been trying to sort practical things out, although not without some trials and tribulations on the way!

firstly i decided i would get some laundry done. it was obvious what i was wanting, as i was carrying a bag of dirty clothes down the street, so a guy stopped me and took me down this tiny street to where there was apparently a laundry place. there were no signs or anything, but he started rapping on this big metal folding/sliding door thing. eventually a woman came out, obviously just having woken up, and she took the clothes and started counting everything out. she wanted to charge about a dollar to wash 2 pairs of knickers!! she couldn't understand the look of horror on my face, so she got cranky and slammed the door again. hmph!

i eventually found another place right in the middle of the old quarter (having carted bags of dirty laundry round for hours). i left my stuff there and agreed to pick it up later. it didn't really occur to me that i might not be able to find it again, but luckily i did! my sense of direction isn't *that* bad afterall. you have to totally rely on remembering what you've seen. the streets have numbers, but not necessarily in order. some places are just little tiny spaces between two other "shops" where someone has squished their business into. it's cool though, i really love it.

next i had to get some new tops and underwear (it's cheaper on the whole to buy new stuff than it is to do laundry!) the old quarter is split into streets selling one thing. so you have silk street, mirrors street, pictures of Ho Chi Minh street (well, seems that way!)...i was with Tanya and we luckily found the clothes and underwear streets. buying clothes was so hard though! everything is so tiny here, because the people are so much smaller. there were looking at us in horror when an XL wouldn't fit...jee, thanks! in another shop, i found a couple of t-shirts that would have been ideal...there were two people sitting on the floor in the shop so i showed them the stuff and asked how much (you barter for everything)..but they totally ignored me! it wasn't just that they couldn't understand, but they blatantly didn't care. it was weird, because usually there are people hanging off you screaming you buy, you buy, you buy... i eventually got the attention of one other guy, but he was playing on a gameboy type thing and totally not-caring that i wanted to buy stuff off him. i was asking how much and he just shook his head, not even bothering to look up! it was so frustrating!! ignoring people isn't at all rude in this culture, so i can understand that he simply didn't care, but it was still annoying!

when i went to buy underwear, i had the lady trying to make sure it all fitted...which was really helpful and oh so nice of her, except for the fact that we were stood in the middle of the street! i don't get embarassed, but it's hard not to feel just a little bit stupid when young western male travellers are walking by and laughing! it'll no doubt be a story for them to e-mail home, anyway!

we then went on a hunt for tampons. you have no idea how much trouble we had with that one! outside one shop there was a big sign saying "tampon" and we got all excited thinking they must be advertising themselves as a rare place selling them...but no. tampon means those rubber stamp things for making designs on paper. good job we can see the funny side! i was in a supermarket last night and actually found some though. it must be the only place here that sells them...i could make a fortune selling them to other backpackers!

the other night we went out to a kareoke bar. they are such a huge thing here but it's strange. you pay for a room and you sit and sing to each other! we had so much fun though, and given our rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, it's probably a good thing there was no one else listening!

yesterday i did some wandering and shopping. i bought a really gorgeous handbag, so had to go and get a dress made to match it!! like you do. i am going for a fitting later. i can't wait. it's a silk ballgown and it cost me 27 quid. the bag alone would have cost that at home! these tailors were funny...fussing around like i was cinderella or something. pinning things to me and bringing out new things and do you like this, and that would look beautiful, and how about a skirt and 6 tops and oooh, kimonos are nice too...it's cheap, but you could soon run out of money! they are so persistent, but you can bargain quite easily and i seem to have a way of working prices right down :)

this morning i went out to the Museum of Ethnology which was obviously right up my street. it'll be better when i actually get up to the border though, but it was a good museum to wander around. getting back into town was somewhat interesting. i ended up on a moto-come-wheelchair-come-tuk tuk contraption which was even more scary in the traffic! even the Vietnamese people were looking at it strangely. the guy probably knocked it up last night.

i've also been to a photography exhibition - Vietnam: A decade in images. black and white photos by Peter Steinhauer and Nguyen Hoai Linh. an American and a Vietnam native who have become friends and put this stuff together between them. this particular expo is a celebration of the 10th year anniversary of 'normalisation of US-Vietnam relations'. it was awesome to see, and inspiration-providing!

i need to get photographing again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122575700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122575700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122575700/tpod.html Thu, 28 Jul 2005 04:00:05 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hanoi, Vietnam

phew. well, i made it to Hanoi!
after a few days in Hue, i got on an overnight sleeper train up to Hanoi...which was an experience. quite possibly the most uncomfortable night's sleep i have ever had but i should't complain. i was in first class with a soft sleeper. sounds wonderful, doesn't it? it does until you realise that the definition of the above is a bumpy hard horrible bed with a piece of crappy carpet laid over the top. great fun!
it was fun though...the people i am travelling with at the moment are all young and so we are having a blast just chilling out, playing cards, swimming, being idiots. it's really holiday like which is much needed right now!
we arrived in Hanoi 13 hours later..at about 6am..then caught a bus straight out to Halong City, where we then caught a boat out into Halong Bay to cruise the huge limestone karsts. it's a stunning area. i sat on the front of the boat all day just trying to take it all in! we also lept off the boat and swam and stuff...nice to be able to just BE and not DO.

this morning we came back to Hanoi though...hard to drag myself away from there - could have stayed forever! Hanoi is hot again, but seems nice! not seen much of it so far, but plan to do some shopping today and not a lot else, and then do the rest of the things i want to do before i leave for Sapa on Monday.

not got much else to write! hope you are all ok, and thanks again for the lovely e-mails. will do my best to reply to as many as i can before the computer gives up on me!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122317520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122317520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122317520/tpod.html Mon, 25 Jul 2005 04:32:00 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hue, Vietnam

despite feeling absolutely and utterly exhausted, dehydrated, drained etc, i am having a blast in central Viet Nam! it's a cool area. we left Hoi An yesterday morning. the night before that (don't ask me what day it is/was/will be!) we did the cooking class...that was actually a lot of fun! we cooked spring rolls, fish in banana leaf and shrimp and papaya salad...and it was pretty successful. no one died, anyway.

Tanya and i tried to get a moped back home. there was one guy waiting on the side of the road so we got his attention and told him we needed 2 bikes. he just shook his head and told us both to get on his bike...he thought it was brilliant that he'd picked up 2 girls and could drive us both home. to say it was a little cosy, would be my biggest understatement yet...but it was sooo fun! he thought so too...he was in hysterics and we ended up going a really long way back via so many small streets just so he could beep at other locals and shout WOOHOO really loudly as we whizzed past. it was amusing, to say the least! he definitely wasn't any sort of a licensed driver - if they even have licensed taxi-type drivers over here, i'm yet to find out - but it was a good way to wind up our stay in Hoi An! since then we have realised that not even the locals ride three to a bike - there will be 2 plus a small child, but never 3 adults. or a man and several pigs strapped to the back, but that's a bit different!

yesterday we got the bus up to Hue...we stopped at China beach, drove over the Hai Van pass (luckily we had quite a careful, slow driver this time!), via Lang Co beach and then to Hue. i'm staying actually within the Citadel walls which is cool. it's so relaxing in these smaller towns. the pace is so slow and the people are friendly and laid back. i feel like i have a few days holiday after the emotional drainage of Cambodia and before i go trekking up near the Chinese border. it's nice to do nothing!

last night i was in the pool until about 1am...it's strange, the guy we travelled through Cambodia with, is now travelling down from Hanoi, and i bumped into him in the pool here last night! and there were other people there so we were chatting for hours. i met a Glaswegian girl who has agreed to save the world with me!

today, a heap of people hired bikes (with drivers!) and we have spent the day out in the countryside around Hue. it's so beautiful. the weather is awful...rainy and grey...but it's been an absolute hoot whizzing round the streets on the back of bikes in cheap, brightly coloured, plastic and supposedly waterproof ponchos! lucky there was a pink one, although i wasn't impressed when it split down the back.

you'd think we would have stood out a mile from all the locals. we went out into really rural off-the-beaten track areas. thing is, most of the locals were wearing the same damn ponchos, only difference being that they have beautiful conical hats to finish the look! it was nice to be out in the middle of nowhere, seeing life as it actually is, not how it is put on for passing tourists. people were washing clothes in the river, trading subsistence crops, tending to the rice paddies, whiling away the morning in hammocks. the pace of life is so slow and people are so happy and stress-free for it. it's amazing to think that many people are so intent that these 'sort' of people should become more 'modern' but actually i think that would be the worst thing. who are we to say that our hectic, ridiculously stressful, disease-filled lives are the way forward?! stupid morons...that's what.

the children thought we were awesome. waving and shouting hello. they loved slapping our hands as we drove past.

i've been thinking so much today about how people are all the same. there is such a global hierarchy and you can really sense it if you just watch how visitors interact with locals. visitors seem to think they are so superior, especially as they are rich and have money to travel and cameras and they have every right to do what they want and be as rude as they want, and the locals are simply there to put on a show so that they get travel experiences. it's not that people shouldn't travel, but i'm amazed at how disrespectful SO SO many people are.

humans are humans. we have so much in common, every single human being. we are made the same, we share the same planet, we all have the need to dress in ridiculous ponchos when it rains. we all have emotions, thoughts, ideas, opinions. we all need certain things and don't need others...yet so very few people seem to realise it. it's so strange - i don't get it! i don't understand how people can think that just because people in, say, rural Hue, don't have houses made of bricks with glass in the windows, they are somehow inferior. or just because there are powercuts so often here and transport doesn't run on time, that people are ignorant about how to live. it's so frustrating to witness it like i really seem to be doing at the moment.

in actual fact, like i said in Cambodia, many people here are friendlier than anyone i have ever met in the Western world (there i go myself...using those stupid world divisions...you know what i mean) and they are probably happier and healthier in some ways and less stressed. they live for each day. it's more an observation about Cambodia than here (as there are much fewer "poor" areas in Viet Nam), that while the people may not be economically rich, they are certainly the richest people i have ever met in spiritual/emotional/humane terms. i know which rich i'd rather be.

back to the bikes though. my driver was called Mr Bean. i think it was probably Mr Binh, but it sounded like Mr Bean. i couldn't help but smile. he was an avid Chelsea, Arsenal AND Manchester United fan but was quite emphatic on several occasions about how much he hates heavy metal music. they're funny...i guess they just want to practise their english! at one point i asked where we were going next and he just shrugged and gave me a very un-reassuring "i don't know!"...a few minutes later, after some very deep contemplation, he turned around and said..."somewhere else". i beamed! that's what i love so much about these countries!!! no rules, no time, no obsession with things being arranged and organised and perfect. it's so refreshing.

in the end we drove through all sorts of places. it's a beautiful area, even with the rain, with the Marble Mountains as a constant backdrop. we saw several cemetaries (so much nicer than our grey, dreary ones...which says a lot about the country as well), we saw a one-armed lady making conical hats, we stopped and chatted to a lady making incense on the side of the road, we went and were fed at a monastery. we went to pagodas (well, i collapsed in a hammock on the side of the road and never actually saw the pagoda or tomb or whatever else there was!) and we were on a boat on the Perfume river for a while too. it's been exhausting, but great fun.

i want a moped and i want a total abolition of road rules in Britain. it's so much easier just to drive. just see a space, drive into it, and you have your own 'lane'. so long as you beep your horn to let someone know when you're behind them, you can't go wrong!

right now though, i want my bed! i absolutely have to sleep.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122147000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122147000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122147000/tpod.html Sat, 23 Jul 2005 05:09:50 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hoi An, Vietnam

i can't believe you actually got an update yesterday! as i sent the entry, the computer crashed and said it hadn't saved it...but here i am today and it has! very strange. anyway, i came to re-try to write what i said yesterday but seems there is no need. had to update the location though, in case you were wondering if i was just confused about exactly where i am.

Hoi An is still wonderful. i picked up my washing this morning and the guy is determined that i will hire a bike this afternoon to go to the beach. i can't walk past him without having it all set up for me! it's cute, but it gets just a little annoying!

we went out last night and wound up partying in some bar in the historic town, which was fun. then we swam until about 1am, which was also fun...probably not for those people trying to sleep though. and then my roommate was really really stupidly drunk, so that involved a few hours of making sure she kept breathing. god, that annoys me! we had to prop her up with pillows, so there was much bed/pillow sharing last night. not the most comfortable thing when it's 36 degrees!!

you're supposed to buy tickets to be in the historic quarter. we've simply been told that if we are asked, we tell the guy we lost them already! but i mean, what are they going to do? kick us out?! i find the whole thing pretty amusing, that tourism is a huge factor here with all the tailors and stuff, yet they won't let you in without a ticket.

today i have been wandering around town. i bumped into my 2 Canadian friends again and spent some time shopping with them. now i am seeking air conditioned refuge, and will probably go and clean myself in the swimming pool again. it's nice to know that the chemicals are killing the grime, rather than the shower water that is dirty itself anyway.

i am leaving here tomorrow. i am going to cycle out to the beach in the morning i think. i am still having urges to run around. then i'm heading to Hue via the Hai Van pass which is apparently stunning. i keep meeting people who are travelling south, it's good to hear what's good and what isn't!

i've hardly taken any photos here, simply because it is too photographically perfect! it is hard to do it justice. plus, i got cranky because this morning i spent ages waiting for a cute old wrinkly Vietnamese lady to walk in front of this most perfect backdrop wall i found, with the baskets across her shoulders...which happened plenty of times but always just as a motorbike whizzed in front. not impressed!






[Dad - are you actually serious that the postcard arrived?! i never thought you would see that. Cambodia aren't well known for their postal system anyway, but when i went to post it in Phnom Penh (after i somehow survived the road crossing incident) the lady literally just put an airmail stamp on it and pushed it aside. no frank or stamp. from what i've heard, you're lucky it got there! i've also heard that it isn't uncommon for the clerks to peel used stamps of old envelopes and stick those on! anyway, glad you got it. it's not a common thing at all. i was in a little arty type shop, and there was a stack of black and white photo type cards...and that's where i found it. way better than a tacky touristy crap one.

Jack sounds delirious. hunting trees? that doesn't sound quite right. and i'm a bit concerned he's going to bring a pygmie home as a souvenir.

excellent that you're moving house by the way. that'll give me a few extra rooms!]


[Phil - i shall publish that book! it will be the sequel to your techshit book. we'll be rich and then you can have a private camp in Botswana for next to nothing...and that new camera. you wrote me 21 lines of techshit about it. you must be excited!! not many photos in Hoi An, but i have some gorgeous full head shot portraits of Vietnamese women in conical hats...and i have a banana lady too. i have to branch out in the markets.]

[Anne - i can't get onto pbase here, but i will certainly try again when i am somewhere with better access. and i will also write to you properly in an e-mail then too. as for your concerns - i'm feeling much better. and my back is being helped a lot by swimming. love to you all!]

[Lisa - thanks for your comment chicky, but i had to delete the entry and repost to sort the map stuff out. gutted! maybe you can repost?! ;) X]

[Kahlie bean - my rucksack apparently still hasn't arrived!!! hope you are ok. i have been trying to figure out the calling thing, but i haven't managed yet. e-mail me? XXX]

[Paul - will e-mail you separately when i can too. thanks for sorting that ebay rubbish out. they must think strikes are reeeeeally scary!]



think that's all. sorry if i missed anyone who e-mailed. can't actually reply separately as yahoo crashes, but yeh, will do when i get to the city again.

will write again very soon. take care all! x
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122056820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122056820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1122056820/tpod.html Sat, 23 Jul 2005 04:28:43 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hoi An, Vietnam

augh! so so happy today. was really sad to say goodbye to the girls this morning but now i'm in Hoi An and i'm really loving it already! it's where there is a huge sewing industry - there are silk shops everywhere you look and you can get clothes made up to fit within hours. MY kind of shopping. clothes fit you. you don't have to fit the clothes. if only it was this cheap in England.

i am currently in a little bar. i came in because they have real funky music playing loudly and the people were dancing around...then they said i could use the net, i've been offered a tailor fitting later and invited to a party on Festival Island tonight! probably won't go, but it's lovely to be surrounded by friendly people, and EXCELLENT to be out of the city.

besides, Hoi An is beautiful. really quaint, and just how i imagined it. i have been relaxing this afternoon and i feel so so much better. i have some energy back, finally. always helps.

tomorrow i plan to spend the day shooting. i've not really done that for a few days and i miss it. plus, it would be criminal not to here! and i will probably sit and get to know some locals. that always makes me smile. i get sick of other backpackers...as lovely as it is to chat to them it's nice to actually meet the people who make these places what they are. i might also hire a motorbike and head to the beach for an hour or so. i feel like running along the beach like a mad woman, so i will do. i'm a bit scared about the motorbike thing!! i could hire a normal push bike, but the sound of a 3km ride in 36 degree heat sounds a bit much! i'm so lazy.

i just gave every bit of clothing i have - bar what i have on right now - to a laundry guy on the street. i'll get it back tomorrow morning, all lovely and clean and folded and smelling nice...for 30p. yay! how good is that?! wish i could pay someone 30p to do all my laundry at home. i have up to now just been washing clothes in the sink with crap shampoo and water that is pretty manky...it'll be nice to feel clean again.

anyway, the highlight of my day here really ISN'T laundry...honest!!

you would not believe how many women actually do wear conical hats. it's kinda stereotypical in a way, but i'd say about 95% of people have them. i want to bring one home, but i know it will drive me nuts having to carry it around...and wearing it isn't really an option in Cambodia! wearing my krama here attracts funny looks.

i'm doing a cooking class tomorrow night...haha! that should be, um, interesting. a laugh though no doubt.

not sure i have much else to say. it feels so good to be back on my feet again. travelling is so miserable otherwise. i'm thinking i will stay here a few days longer, but we'll see. i have a sleeper train booked up to Hanoi in a few days, but i could get a bus to catch that later than planned. i just really love it here. but we'll see. i guess i love most places i am experiencing!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121997540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121997540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121997540/tpod.html Thu, 21 Jul 2005 11:12:19 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Saigon, Vietnam

i'm ready to leave this busy city for sure! it's crazy. it's another love-hate thing...i'm guessing from past experience that i am feeling all this stuff because it is another big city of contradictions. things crash and collide. luckily not the motorbikes, but i've had a few near misses. imagine a whole road full of motorbikes driving in which ever direction paying no attention to road rules or traffic lights. it's chaos. organised chaos, though...if there's any sort of a system, it does seem to work!

i'm exhausted. we just went out for a last night meal. my friends are leaving tomorrow!! they are flying back to Melbourne. Tanya will still be here though, and a couple of yanks, and i will be able to meet up with Ness in the UK. but still, it's always sad to say goodbye and go separate ways.

just watching the city whizz by is totally exhausting. yesterday we all jumped in cyclos and got them to drive us round the city for an hour. we ended up at the War Remnant's museum...loads of photographs from the American war. it was amaaaaazing and i got my gallery fix. it was really interesting to read the captions. obviously, everything here is written from the Vietnamese perspective. it's made for many deep conversations since! the Americans especially were very offended by the museum. that in itself was quite a stir.

today i went to the Mekong Delta with the people i travelled through Cambodia with. it was great to see outside of the city. we went on boats, and to a really bustling fruit market. it's been a long day, but i'm glad i went.

i leave here really early in the morning. i have to get up at stupid o-clock to catch a flight to Danang...well, i have to get up so early because most of the contents of my backpack is all over the hotel floor. whoops. it's so hard to pack it all in, especially at 5am! not looking forward to that task.

got my Cambodian visa sorted out yesterday so i can go back in 3 weeks. i was imagining i would have to trek across the city to find the consulate, but i managed to somehow communicate with body language and pens/paper to a Vietnamese travel agent what i wanted, she gave me forms, i gave her photos and money, and my passport and visa landed back in my hands at 7am this morning. how's that for service?! i can't believe it. such a relief to have no hassle about that.

anyway, i'm totally shattered as you can probably tell by the lack of thoughts! i am looking forward to getting out of Saigon though, and travelling up north. i shall let you know how many more amazingly disturbingly confusing things i encounter on the way! this area is incredible. difficult, but incredible. saying that, i am finding Viet Nam SO much easier than Cambodia in a it's-not-so-poor-and-horrifying way, but i still prefer the latter. i can't wait to go back, but i also can't wait to enjoy everything Viet Nam will offer in the meantime.

ok. i'm waffling. i have to get to bed! it just seems like such a task to get back across the city, through the 3 million (no exaggeration) motorbikes.

i can't check my e-mails tonight (yahoo mail apparently doesn't work after 6pm!! righto) but will try again soon.

take care all x
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121768400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121768400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121768400/tpod.html Wed, 20 Jul 2005 04:11:03 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Saigon, Vietnam

another long journey! i left Cambodia yesterday afternoon on a boat down the Mekong River. yesterday morning i went to the orphanage and spent time with the kids and helped them with their english. it was fun, and i have more concrete plans about going back to teach there now. just for a week or so, but they are so keen and eager to learn, i will make them fluent!! one boy turned it back on me, and tried to get me to count in khmer. he made me repeat it over and over...jeez, such a difficult language! they also tried to teach Khmer dancing and they LOVE dancing the macarena. they are incredible kids. so full of energy and life and a will to make the most of this opportunity.

anyway, the boat trip was, um, bumpy...and wet when the rain started but actually thouroughly enjoyable. i curled up and slept for the first bit then chilled out and read for the rest. got through Cambodian depature no trouble...reached Viet Nam arrivals and the guards were busy playing volleyball! you've gotta love a country with no rules and stress. well, this whole area is that way.

road rules didn't exist in Vietnam until 2002, and even now they don't really. there are traffic lights in certain places but red doesn't really mean stop. it just kind of means, think about stopping or don't drive quite so recklessly. if there's a traffic accident, it's always the fault of the larger vehicle. they sort compensation out on the side of the road, and keep going. there are 2 lanes and they are generally stuck to on busier roads...altough a "middle" straddling lane is invented, where anyone can drive. if two vehicles are approaching head on, it's the one who's biggest who can keep going. it's all quite funny to watch. if you didn't laugh, you'd cry in fear! if you want to overtake, you beep your horn. kahlie, you'd love it. the horns sound really musical too. it's so comedic. everyone beeping just to pass a cyclist. when you yourself are walking down a street and someone comes up behind you and beeps, it is totally alarming, but it's simply a friendly warning.

crossing the street....woah! i thought bangkok was bad! yesterday Ness and i tried to cross in Phnom Penh to the post office...there were bikes EVERYWHERE. and then, there were cars on the side of the road trying to reverse out into the bikes, pushing them all into one mass in the middle, with 2 nearly-squished british girls in the middle. again, you've just got to laugh! here in Viet Nam there are even MORE bikes, and you just have to walk. you get to the edge of the road and you don't look. there's no point. regardless of what's coming, you walk. slowly and steadily. the bikes steer round you. if you slow down or stop or speed up, you confuse their judgement and get flattened. it is the most terrifying experience! i still instinctively look both ways (yes! i do!) which is fatal, as then i know exactly how many hundreds of bikes are hurtling both ways.

stayed in Chau Doc last night, which is a small town near the border, on the Vietnamese side. a really chilled laid-back place. the sort of place where everyone stares at you because you look like an alien from outer space as a westerner.

got up at 5 this morning to go and find more chicken ladies in the market, but i was locked in the hotel! i wasn't impressed. the guy was fast asleep in a mossie tent on the foyer floor, with a bike chain around the door.

eventually got out. a market full of fish and nasty meat stuff was a bit much to stomach so early though!

then left on the bus for Saigon. have been ill again today but am reasonably content. it's just one of those places where you get on with things.

not much else to report! am feeling too drained to be any more than factual.

Viet Nam is a stark contrast to Cambodia economy and infrastructure-wise...which is nice...to have roads that are paved, and some pavements etc. it is also very french, which is nice too. i just still can't wait to get back to Cambodia though. i sense i am going to love Viet Nam, although first impressions are of a nation much less friendly than the Khmer people. their English also isn't as good, which i find strange i guess. maybe when i get out of this big city, it will mellow out a bit. it's so energetic here...it's a city that is well and truely hurtling into the 21st century.

well. enough typing for one day.
thank you all for the lovely comments and e-mails! very much appreciated.
glad i'm keeping you entertained, too! it's good to come and write. it's more of a journal for me, but it's cool to be sharing it.

anyway. take care all, and i'll be in touch again soon :)
R/RX/E/B XXX
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121846400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121846400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthie/s.e.asia_2005/1121846400/tpod.html Wed, 20 Jul 2005 04:02:18 -0400 South East Asia 2005 - A journey through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Saigon, Vietnam

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
]]>