Well the time has come. This is my last night in Singapore, as tomorrow morning I will be getting on a plane to begin my loooooong journey home. I am so ready to go home to re-unite with my friends and family, and to get back into "normal" life, as I once knew it. I have so much to look forward to this summer that it's hard not to be excited about going home. However, that being said, Singapore will always have a special place in my heart....my temporary "home away from home" which has granted me with such amazing opportunities of both world and self-discovery.
During our recent trip to Bali (which I returned from today, and wasn't the greatest trip I've had thus far due to a nasty bout of food poisening), it came up in conversation a few times about our "most memorable moments" during these past few months. It got me to pause and reflect on my time here, remembering the good, the bad, the ugly, and the absolutely life-changing.
As I'm sure you may have guessed from my 9-billion word post on my Cambodia trip, Cambodia was, by far, my favourite country that I've visited here. My number one most memorable and cherished memory from this entire exchange was the day we got to volunteer at Savong's orphanage and school. There is nothing else in my life that I can compare that day to, and it is a memory that I will always hold dear. I am still planning on fundraising for these orphaned children this summer, and am also interested in figuring out how we can get them connected with an NGO for sustainable funding in the future. These nine little boys, with mismatched dirty clothes and hearts of gold, really gave me something to think about. If they have absolutely nothing, and can still be so kind and so happy, what would their lives be like if they knew where their next meal was coming from, or if they could see they had a future? I have a passionate curiosity to find out.
In addition to wanting to help these children, I think I may have decided what I ultimately want to be when I grow up! That's a relief, because I graduate in August, and really had no idea what my career path goals would look like. I am a planner by nature; Ilove to plan and coordinate events. At one point I thought I would want to be a wedding planner (and I'm sure I would still love to do that) but now, after seeing the poverty, and the need for assistance in places such as Cambodia, I am compelled to do more....... I think that I want to marry my passion for planning, and my passion for helping those who are without, and work in some kind of coordination/planning role for an international aid NGO, working to reduce poverty in countries in places of extreme need.
Some other highlight memories from this exchange include:
-Janene and I sitting on the top deck of our Haloong Bay cruise boat early in the morning, before anyone else was up, sipping tea, while the boat sailed slowly and calmly between the small limestone islands. There was a light mist, and the ocean was like glass: probably one of the most peaceful moments I can recall ever having.
-Swimming in a waterfall in Nha Trang, Vietnam, after hiking up a small mountain.
-Angkor Wat, in Cambodia
- Spending the day on a private beach in Ko Tao, Thailand, with nothing to do all day but float, read, sleep,and eat.
-Watching Janene pet a penguin for the first time
- Full Moon Party in Thailand
- Weekend in Bin Tan, where we got to know the other exchange students from our school, NTU.
I'm sure there are plenty more that I will think of later, but these are a few that come to mind right away.
It's hard to think that I've been here for four months, and that this exchange has really come to an end. It's been an incredible journey, and I know that I am a changed person from my experiences here. One day, I hope to come back to Southeast Asia and do more travelling with Sean, showing him the things that I got to experience during my time here.
That being said, I am extremely excited to return home and begin the next chapter of my life, whatever it may bring.
So long, Singapore, thanks for everything.
xoxo
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Much Ado About Nothing
I know what you're thinking: I've been terribly neglectful of my blog. I apologize. The problem is, there hasn't really been anything of interest to write about. The day after we got back from Thailand, I started feeling very ill, which continued for the next few weeks. After seeing the on-campus doctor a number of times, he referred me to a Endomologist at one of the private (read: pricey) hospitals here. I had a bunch of tests done, including an endoscopy and a stomach biopsy. They found a stomach bacteria called Heliobacter Pylori. Apparently I could have picked it up in Vietnam (likely) or Cambodia (even more likely). If untreated, this bacteria can cause ulcers, or even stomach cancer, so I'm glad it's been discovered. As a result, I've been on intense antibiotics for the past week, taking 20 (no exaageration) pills each day. Starting tomorrow I'll be down to only 10 pills a day. They seem to be helping a lot; I'm able to eat again, and I'm not confined to my bed in pain anymore, so all is well. Hoping it will be all better by the time I get home. What is it about Asia and crazy bacterias? I always hear of people coming back from places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, with super crazy, super intense bugs. I guess we HAVE been to some pretty dirty places, so I shouldn't be all that surprised.
So, we are all done classes now, and studying for exams. Joy. A few days ago our massive Com 470 research papers were due (the one that we were granted to write, instead of taking that Financial Risk death course). Mine came in at 28 pages.......and I was more than happy to hand it in and get rid of it. It's nice not to have to think about it anymore. The title of my paper was "Small but Mighty: Environmental Sustainability in Singapore." I have a passion for sustainability, and was President of the UVic Business Sustainability Club last semester, and the Director of External Communications the semester prior to that, so the interest is definitely there. That said, it was actually not too bad of a paper to research; I learned a lot about what Singapore is doing in the name of Environmental Sustainability (which is A LOT, by the way)......the other thing that came out of my research was how very little CANADA is doing for the same cause. Singapore's Green Plan is very detailed, with set, specific goals to meet, such as reducing food waste by 30% by the year 2012......they're already at 9%. Canada, however, has goals like "conserve water and make sure it's clean". It's so vague, and modest, and down-right frustrating. If this tiny little country of 4.5 million people can be so environmentally sustainble, and so responsible, why can't we? Why aren't we leaders in environmental sustainability? It's incredibly frustrating. I'm so proud of Singapore for all that it is doing, and yet so disappointed by our own country at the same time. While the Singapore government is dragging it's population (in a good way) towards environmental sustainability, Canada is simply whispering a gentle suggestion that we should start thinking about it. Awesome.
Sorry for the rant. I guess I'm still in my analysis mode from my paper. I guess I liked writing about it more than I thought? ..... :)
Heather and I actually did a quick little trip to Kuala Lampur last week, on a whim. Just two days, one night. One evening we were studying together in my room, and started talking about the fact that we were bummed we never went to KL, seeing as Malaysia is RIGHT there. We started batting a few dates around, none of which worked. Then I said (half jokingly) "we could go tomorrow morning?" And with that, at 9pm, we booked our flights, went to bed, and were at the airport by 5:30am the following morning. We shopped, and saw the Petronas towers, and shopped, and went for dinner, and shopped. It was great fun, and definitely the break that we needed.
The day after we got back was Janene's 22nd birthday. As I'm sure I've mentioned in a previuos post, she loves penguins. Obsessively. It is one of her life-long goals and dreams to pet a penguin. The morning of her birthday, her and I went to the Jurong Bird Park, just because she wanted to see penguins on her birthday. While we were looking at them, I had an idea, and went to talk to the staff. It took about 25 minutes, and a bunch of phonecalls, but it was worth it. The penguin zoo-keeper brought Janene into a little roped off area, and put a penguin right in front of her to pet it. It was incredibly cute, she was so overwhelmed. I got it on video, so she can re-live the moment. It was so nice of the staff at the zoo to let her do that, and was a great start to her birthday. Then we went shopping for the afternoon (naturally), and the five of us got dressed up for a nice dinner out at Indochine. It was definitely a great day.
Now we're stuck studying until April 22nd, when our final final is. We have Services Marketing on the 16th, Corporate Lending on the 20th, and Malay on the 22nd (which, by the way, will be the end of me, I'm sure of it).
April 23rd, however, will be a good day. That day, we leave for 8 fun-filled, sun-filled days in Bali, and we will definitely need the R&R after this study binge we're in the middle of. It will be our last Southeast Asia trip, so we're going to make the most of it with as much relaxation as possible.
I'm home in 16 days. 16 days. When I got here, that number was something like 134. I can't believe it. It feels like the time has flown by, yet at the same time I feel like it's been years since I've been home. A lot happens in four months, when you're travelling, and I think that this was an amazing growth experience for me. Nothing opens your mind like being chucked into unfamiliar cultures. I am so glad that I took advantage of this opportunity. It's truly been life changing.
Well, with that said, I probably won't be writing again until right before I go home to Canada. Unfortunately I can hear my Malay notebook calling me "belajar, belajar!!" (study, study). How do you say "shut-up" in Malay? hmmm...should look that one up.
So, we are all done classes now, and studying for exams. Joy. A few days ago our massive Com 470 research papers were due (the one that we were granted to write, instead of taking that Financial Risk death course). Mine came in at 28 pages.......and I was more than happy to hand it in and get rid of it. It's nice not to have to think about it anymore. The title of my paper was "Small but Mighty: Environmental Sustainability in Singapore." I have a passion for sustainability, and was President of the UVic Business Sustainability Club last semester, and the Director of External Communications the semester prior to that, so the interest is definitely there. That said, it was actually not too bad of a paper to research; I learned a lot about what Singapore is doing in the name of Environmental Sustainability (which is A LOT, by the way)......the other thing that came out of my research was how very little CANADA is doing for the same cause. Singapore's Green Plan is very detailed, with set, specific goals to meet, such as reducing food waste by 30% by the year 2012......they're already at 9%. Canada, however, has goals like "conserve water and make sure it's clean". It's so vague, and modest, and down-right frustrating. If this tiny little country of 4.5 million people can be so environmentally sustainble, and so responsible, why can't we? Why aren't we leaders in environmental sustainability? It's incredibly frustrating. I'm so proud of Singapore for all that it is doing, and yet so disappointed by our own country at the same time. While the Singapore government is dragging it's population (in a good way) towards environmental sustainability, Canada is simply whispering a gentle suggestion that we should start thinking about it. Awesome.
Sorry for the rant. I guess I'm still in my analysis mode from my paper. I guess I liked writing about it more than I thought? ..... :)
Heather and I actually did a quick little trip to Kuala Lampur last week, on a whim. Just two days, one night. One evening we were studying together in my room, and started talking about the fact that we were bummed we never went to KL, seeing as Malaysia is RIGHT there. We started batting a few dates around, none of which worked. Then I said (half jokingly) "we could go tomorrow morning?" And with that, at 9pm, we booked our flights, went to bed, and were at the airport by 5:30am the following morning. We shopped, and saw the Petronas towers, and shopped, and went for dinner, and shopped. It was great fun, and definitely the break that we needed.
The day after we got back was Janene's 22nd birthday. As I'm sure I've mentioned in a previuos post, she loves penguins. Obsessively. It is one of her life-long goals and dreams to pet a penguin. The morning of her birthday, her and I went to the Jurong Bird Park, just because she wanted to see penguins on her birthday. While we were looking at them, I had an idea, and went to talk to the staff. It took about 25 minutes, and a bunch of phonecalls, but it was worth it. The penguin zoo-keeper brought Janene into a little roped off area, and put a penguin right in front of her to pet it. It was incredibly cute, she was so overwhelmed. I got it on video, so she can re-live the moment. It was so nice of the staff at the zoo to let her do that, and was a great start to her birthday. Then we went shopping for the afternoon (naturally), and the five of us got dressed up for a nice dinner out at Indochine. It was definitely a great day.
Now we're stuck studying until April 22nd, when our final final is. We have Services Marketing on the 16th, Corporate Lending on the 20th, and Malay on the 22nd (which, by the way, will be the end of me, I'm sure of it).
April 23rd, however, will be a good day. That day, we leave for 8 fun-filled, sun-filled days in Bali, and we will definitely need the R&R after this study binge we're in the middle of. It will be our last Southeast Asia trip, so we're going to make the most of it with as much relaxation as possible.
I'm home in 16 days. 16 days. When I got here, that number was something like 134. I can't believe it. It feels like the time has flown by, yet at the same time I feel like it's been years since I've been home. A lot happens in four months, when you're travelling, and I think that this was an amazing growth experience for me. Nothing opens your mind like being chucked into unfamiliar cultures. I am so glad that I took advantage of this opportunity. It's truly been life changing.
Well, with that said, I probably won't be writing again until right before I go home to Canada. Unfortunately I can hear my Malay notebook calling me "belajar, belajar!!" (study, study). How do you say "shut-up" in Malay? hmmm...should look that one up.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Calm Before The Storm
Last week we went to Thailand for 5 days, with a group of about 14 other exchange students from our university here in Singapore. Yes, we had to skip a few days of school to do this, but it was worth it. We left Singapore Monday night, and returned very late Saturday night.
We flew from Singapore to Bangkok, Monday evening, and spent the evening at our really nice little hotel. The next morning we were catching an 8:45am flight to Ko Sumui, where we would then take a ferry to Ko Panyang. At least we thought we were. Turns out our flight was actually at 8:15am, and since it was a domestic flight, that half-hour makes a huge difference (we only showed up at the airport an hour before). So we missed our flight. Not a great start to the day, but what are you gonna do. Luckily, there was room for us on the next flight (very luckily, actually), but the only seats available were first class. So, we paid the difference for the first class ticket (which was only about $60 CDN, since it was just a short flight), and as a result enjoyed the many perks of flying business class such as the lounge where internet access, snacks and coffee/tea are offered......for FREE. Also, even though the flight was only an hour, we were served a full meal on the plane. Now if only we managed to get bumped to first class for our trip back to Canada, without the price tag....I think I'd be able to handle that.
Our first of two nights in Ko Panyang was the original reason we went on this trip: the full moon party. This is an all-night party on the beach that happens every month, with the full moon. Thousands of people come every month from all over the world, and it's one pretty crazy, but fun, night. It was basically like having 6 or 7 different night clubs but on the beach, in the sand, all with different types of music. We had a pretty large group, so we all felt pretty safe, adhering to the multiple-buddy system. Lots of fun. We got back to where we were staying around 6:30am, and watched the sunrise from some hammocks on the beach before we made our way to bed.
After two nights in Ko Panyang, we took a 1.5 hour catamaran ferry to Ko Tao, where we spent the final two nights of our trip. The first, we all stayed together staying on the main beach close to town, where we went out for some drinks and local food. By the way: street vendor Pad Thai is AMAZING......so are street vendor peanut butter and banana pancakes. Definitely a good night.
The second night, most of the group we were with had to leave the island to head back to Singapore, as they had booked an overnight bus back to Bangkok rather than the connecting flight that we had booked. Janene and I decided to branch out to see a bit more of the island, and to get away from all the touristy-stuff, so we did some research, and found a fantastic little 'hotel' on Freedom Beach, where we stayed in a cute little bungalow just steps away from the beach. We got there around noon, and it was absolutely inCREDible. There were probably only about 4 other people on that beach, which was a nice change from the busy beach we had just come from. We laid in hammocks and read our books, we swam, we floated, we ate lunch (twice in 2 hours, actually......which did not go un-noticed by the serving staff.......who were also not too shy to laugh about it pretty much right in front of us......) and it was exactly the afternoon that we were looking for. The water was crystal clear, and beautiful turquoise, there was not a single cloud in the sky, and the water was like bath water. I was so relaxed that I almost fell asleep while floating on my back in the water....the ocean water is so salty that it makes it ridiculously easy to stay afloat. Unbelievable. That night we went out for dinner in the little village nearby, at a restaurant on a boardwalk that jutted right out onto the ocean.
The next day, it was time to head back to Singapore, and the trip was at an end. It was a great couple of days, with the perfect amount of relaxing beach time. I am absolutely, positively, head over heels for Thailand. I love it. If you haven't gone, you need to, because I'm pretty sure it's the definition of paradise. Out of all the places I've been on this exchange, Thailand has been the most beautiful, and Sean and I will definitely be going there together one day, hopefully in the near-ish future.
Coming home from Thailand was a bit of a sad return to reality......"what reality?" you may be asking yourself. Yes, you're right, I've had it pretty darn easy here these past few months, but now it's crunch time. For the next five weeks, we will be staying in Singapore (gasp!), to do schoolwork (GASP!!) and study for exams (crap). After exams, we have a week before we head back to Canada, which we will be spending in beautiful Bali, and then it's good-bye Singapore, hello regular life. I think I'm down to only about 41 more big sleeps before that day comes.
A few weeks ago the thought of leaving here broke my heart, and may have caused some palpitations as well, but now I feel like I'm ready to go home. I feel like I've done everything I've wanted to do here (save for Bali), and seen everything I've wanted to see. Perhaps this readiness to go home is a direct result of the fact that I'm going to be up to my eye-balls in boring, stinky school work for the next five weeks, and therefore have little to look forward to, or maybe I'm just ready to return to my normal life. I have a lot of great things to look forward to this summer, and I'm definitely missing my family and my insanely supportive husband.
I'm glad that I've reached this readiness on my own because I feel that, although it will be sad to say good-bye to Singapore and my temporary life here, it will be less heart-wrenching because I'll be looking forward to going home.
I register for my summer courses next week, and if I get the schedule that I'm aiming for, my class schedule is going to be pretty great. I have to take summer courses this year, because of the way my program is set up. UVic Business wants all their students to end on an academic semester, all together. I'm looking forward to this, because I haven't seen most of my school friends for 8 months or more, because of people being on co-op or exchange. It'll be nice to all be together again for our final four months. Come August, I'll be graduating, and then reality is really going to hit. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be 'when I grow up', so August can take it's sweet, sweet time in getting here. Ya hear that, August?
I feel like I'm all of a sudden going to have to start making adult decisions in an adult world, which I'm excited for, but terrified of at the same time. I'll have to make a career move, and Sean and I are going to be purchasing our first home shortly after that career move is made. Life all happens so fast sometimes, too fast.
Hopefully this whole "homework and studying" business will go by fast as well.........something tells me not quite fast enough.
We flew from Singapore to Bangkok, Monday evening, and spent the evening at our really nice little hotel. The next morning we were catching an 8:45am flight to Ko Sumui, where we would then take a ferry to Ko Panyang. At least we thought we were. Turns out our flight was actually at 8:15am, and since it was a domestic flight, that half-hour makes a huge difference (we only showed up at the airport an hour before). So we missed our flight. Not a great start to the day, but what are you gonna do. Luckily, there was room for us on the next flight (very luckily, actually), but the only seats available were first class. So, we paid the difference for the first class ticket (which was only about $60 CDN, since it was just a short flight), and as a result enjoyed the many perks of flying business class such as the lounge where internet access, snacks and coffee/tea are offered......for FREE. Also, even though the flight was only an hour, we were served a full meal on the plane. Now if only we managed to get bumped to first class for our trip back to Canada, without the price tag....I think I'd be able to handle that.
Our first of two nights in Ko Panyang was the original reason we went on this trip: the full moon party. This is an all-night party on the beach that happens every month, with the full moon. Thousands of people come every month from all over the world, and it's one pretty crazy, but fun, night. It was basically like having 6 or 7 different night clubs but on the beach, in the sand, all with different types of music. We had a pretty large group, so we all felt pretty safe, adhering to the multiple-buddy system. Lots of fun. We got back to where we were staying around 6:30am, and watched the sunrise from some hammocks on the beach before we made our way to bed.
After two nights in Ko Panyang, we took a 1.5 hour catamaran ferry to Ko Tao, where we spent the final two nights of our trip. The first, we all stayed together staying on the main beach close to town, where we went out for some drinks and local food. By the way: street vendor Pad Thai is AMAZING......so are street vendor peanut butter and banana pancakes. Definitely a good night.
The second night, most of the group we were with had to leave the island to head back to Singapore, as they had booked an overnight bus back to Bangkok rather than the connecting flight that we had booked. Janene and I decided to branch out to see a bit more of the island, and to get away from all the touristy-stuff, so we did some research, and found a fantastic little 'hotel' on Freedom Beach, where we stayed in a cute little bungalow just steps away from the beach. We got there around noon, and it was absolutely inCREDible. There were probably only about 4 other people on that beach, which was a nice change from the busy beach we had just come from. We laid in hammocks and read our books, we swam, we floated, we ate lunch (twice in 2 hours, actually......which did not go un-noticed by the serving staff.......who were also not too shy to laugh about it pretty much right in front of us......) and it was exactly the afternoon that we were looking for. The water was crystal clear, and beautiful turquoise, there was not a single cloud in the sky, and the water was like bath water. I was so relaxed that I almost fell asleep while floating on my back in the water....the ocean water is so salty that it makes it ridiculously easy to stay afloat. Unbelievable. That night we went out for dinner in the little village nearby, at a restaurant on a boardwalk that jutted right out onto the ocean.
The next day, it was time to head back to Singapore, and the trip was at an end. It was a great couple of days, with the perfect amount of relaxing beach time. I am absolutely, positively, head over heels for Thailand. I love it. If you haven't gone, you need to, because I'm pretty sure it's the definition of paradise. Out of all the places I've been on this exchange, Thailand has been the most beautiful, and Sean and I will definitely be going there together one day, hopefully in the near-ish future.
Coming home from Thailand was a bit of a sad return to reality......"what reality?" you may be asking yourself. Yes, you're right, I've had it pretty darn easy here these past few months, but now it's crunch time. For the next five weeks, we will be staying in Singapore (gasp!), to do schoolwork (GASP!!) and study for exams (crap). After exams, we have a week before we head back to Canada, which we will be spending in beautiful Bali, and then it's good-bye Singapore, hello regular life. I think I'm down to only about 41 more big sleeps before that day comes.
A few weeks ago the thought of leaving here broke my heart, and may have caused some palpitations as well, but now I feel like I'm ready to go home. I feel like I've done everything I've wanted to do here (save for Bali), and seen everything I've wanted to see. Perhaps this readiness to go home is a direct result of the fact that I'm going to be up to my eye-balls in boring, stinky school work for the next five weeks, and therefore have little to look forward to, or maybe I'm just ready to return to my normal life. I have a lot of great things to look forward to this summer, and I'm definitely missing my family and my insanely supportive husband.
I'm glad that I've reached this readiness on my own because I feel that, although it will be sad to say good-bye to Singapore and my temporary life here, it will be less heart-wrenching because I'll be looking forward to going home.
I register for my summer courses next week, and if I get the schedule that I'm aiming for, my class schedule is going to be pretty great. I have to take summer courses this year, because of the way my program is set up. UVic Business wants all their students to end on an academic semester, all together. I'm looking forward to this, because I haven't seen most of my school friends for 8 months or more, because of people being on co-op or exchange. It'll be nice to all be together again for our final four months. Come August, I'll be graduating, and then reality is really going to hit. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be 'when I grow up', so August can take it's sweet, sweet time in getting here. Ya hear that, August?
I feel like I'm all of a sudden going to have to start making adult decisions in an adult world, which I'm excited for, but terrified of at the same time. I'll have to make a career move, and Sean and I are going to be purchasing our first home shortly after that career move is made. Life all happens so fast sometimes, too fast.
Hopefully this whole "homework and studying" business will go by fast as well.........something tells me not quite fast enough.
Monday, March 2, 2009
I'm A Little Teapot
I got home from a week in Cambodia yesterday. I have to say that my trip to Cambodia was the most unreal experience, and was definitely the best trip I've been on so far. I can't even put into words the intensity of this past week, but I'll try best I can to describe what I experienced. I get emotional just thinking about it, because it was an extremely eye-opening experience that I am truly greatful to have had. Let me start at the beginning. We (myself, Janene, Tia, Lauren, and Mitch) landed in Phnom Phen, Cambodia's capital, around 7:30am.....a very early start to the trip. We crammed into a cab, and went directly to our guesthouse where we would be staying that evening. After checking in, and some breakfast, we booked a tuk-tuk for the day to take us to different "must-see's" around the city. For those of you who aren't familiar, a tuk tuk is a 2-4 seater cart hitched to the back of a motor-cycle. They're pretty bumpy, pretty cheap, and pretty easy to find in places such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The first shock about Cambodia was how unbelievable, scorching HOT it was. We weren't expecting the extreme heat, and it hit us like a tonne of bricks. So much hotter than Singapore. It must have been about 40 degrees every day we were there. I have never sweat so much in my entire life.
Our first stop on this day trip was the Phnom Phen killing fields. This was a pretty difficult place to be, emotionally. I didn't know too much about the genocide that took place in 1975 in Cambodia, but I sure learned a lot about it that day. First we went into a monument that was built by the government in remembrance of the victims of the genocide, and it contained thousands of skulls from those who were murdered in that very place, by the Khmer Rouge. If we looked closely, we could see that most the skulls had fractures in them, from blunt force trauma, which is how most of the victims were killed; this is because their murderers didn't want anyone outside the killing fields to be able to hear what was going on, so they would bludgeon them in the middle of the night, while they played loud music to muffle the screams. Shocked? So was I. I could tell you so much more in the way of details about what took place in those killing fields, but I won't. I won't because I feel if you're interested, you'll look it up, and if you're not, I don't want to burden you with the sadness of what happened. The Khmer Rouge were responsible for 1.5 million deaths, or 1/5 the entire country's population, and their motto was "to keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss." Unbelievable. I learned a lot that day about what the Cambodian people had been put through just over 30 years ago, and I gained a deep respect for them.....especially those who were old enough to remember. I'm sure their life stories would be gripping. I also learned that humans can be extremely evil, and are capable of far more than I imagined. I no longer will take my sheltered life for granted.
After a somber couple of hours at the killing fields, we continued our tour to the Genocide Museum. This was a highschool campus that had been taken over by the Khmer Rouge during the genocide, and used as a torture prison, before sending the victims to the killing fields....much like a concentration camp. There were rooms that showed the different torture devices used, and large rooms filled just with pictures of the victims. I didn't even get to see all of these rooms, as I was so overwhelmed with grief for these people, and shock about what took place there, that I had to remove myself and sit outside. Men, Women, boys, girls, young children. No one was spared. As sad and horrific as learning about this, and seeing these places was, I feel that it was an extremely valuable experience, as it not only gave me insight on Cambodia's history, it gave me extreme respect and understanding for the Cambodian people. It also made me truly thankful for living where I do.
After the genocide museum, we spent some time at a local market, and then headed to a beautiful monestary. When we arrived, we were all wearing shorts and tank tops, which is a big no-no in a monestary. No shoulders or knees can be shown. So, we all had to buy the T-Shirts being sold at the admission counter (I guess this happens often), and we used scarves that a few of the girls bought at the market to wrap around our waists as make-shift skirts. Let me tell ya, we were stylin'......and sweaty. The monestary was beautiful with dozens of monks walking around the grounds. There were about a dozen buildings which were all very ornate. I spoke with one of the monks for a while, who was staying at the monestary for 3 days to write his exams. He was 26, and could speak 6 different languages, including English quite well. I had an extremely blonde moment, and at the end of our conversation, I introduced myself and stuck out my hand to shake his. He looked at me like I had the plague, and stepped back away from me. Right. I forgot. I'm female, and to monks, I might as well have the plague, because they're not allowed to have any physical contact with females. Including hand-shakes. Whoops. So I gave a little awkward laugh, and an equally awkward little wave, and went on my way. Good thing I didn't try to give him a friendly hug, or a pat on the back.
The next morning came very early, as we got on a bus to take us the four hours to a village on the beach called Sihanoukville. We had to find a place to stay, so we looked at a few different options. At our last stop, a place which I don't even remember the name of, we took a look at one of the rooms to see if it was the place for us. Right before we got to the room, I said "my standards are pretty low, as long as it has air conditioning, and a decently warm shower, I'm happy". It had neither. But we stayed for two nights because it was less than a five minute walk to the beach, and that was a huge plus. That afternoon, we headed to the beach pretty much right away, and met many of the locals. We got beach chairs on the beach, and every 30 seconds (no exaageration) someone was coming up to us asking us to buy massages, pedicures, manicures, fruit, post cards, bracelets, or just plain asking us for money. The hardest part was the children. There were dozens of children walking the beach trying to sell their bracelets. These kids were anywhere from the age of 8 to 17, and their poverty was obvious. We spoke with a few of them, as their english was surprisingly comprehensive. At one point, one of the girls, 23, came to my chair, put her basket of fruit down at my feet, and plunked herself down in the sand beside me. She started asking me questions about where I was from, how old I was, etc. Then she noticed my wedding ring. She found the fact that I am married extremely interesting, and decided to tell me her boy troubles. We ended up having a half-hour conversation where she talked, and I gave her advice. I kept thinking "I sound like my mother", saying things that I'm positive she would say if she were sitting there at that very moment. At the end of our conversation, the girl asked me if she could make me a friendship bracelet. She whipped out some thread, had me hold onto the end, and very quickly made me a beautiful little bracelet "to remember" her by. It was adorable. When I saw her later, I tried to give her money for the bracelet, which she wouldn't take, saying that it was for friendship, not for profit. I instead bought some pineapple from her for a very self-inflated price, which she accepted.
The following day, we had booked ourselves a day trip to some islands, which we got to by longboat. The day started off cloudy, but cleared up by lunchtime, giving us the perfect weather for our outing. The first stop the boat made was to snorkel near an island. Prior to the snorkeling, they had warned us all about the many sea urchins that lurked under the water, and told everyone to be careful as they were very dangerous. As someone who isn't really into snorkelling due to losing a contact lense or two in the past, I stayed on the boat. It wasn't long before one of the other tourists on our boat was dragging himself out of the water and holding his foot. Turns out he hit a sea urchin with his foot, and had 8 puncture wounds with purple ink in them. Me being "Soccer Mom", I whipped out my trusty (not so) dusty first aid kit that I had brought along in my day pack, and got to work. I gave him 2 benadryl capsules, cleaned the wounds with antiseptic first aid wipes, applied topical benadryl to the wounds, and then bandadged him up. He was about 25, and the woman he was travelling with looked to be his mother. She just sat there watching me, while I administered first aid to her son, while speaking to someone on a cell phone to determine if we should return to shore to seek medical attention for this guy. In the end it sounded like he would be okay, and that it would just hurt for a few hours. Thankfully he was. Janene also needed some patching up, as she hit her knee on something while she was in the water. One more example of why you should never travel without first aid supplies. It always seems to be needed. I got asked a few times that day "are you a nurse?" Nope, just overly prepared.
One of the islands we stopped on for a few hours was Bamboo Island, and it was absolutely incredible. We played in the water, laid on the beach, and hiked to another beach for more water and beach-laying. We also had lunch on the beach that was cooked over a small fire by some of the locals. Barracuda! It was sooo good, and something that I don't think I would have tried, had it not been the only option. Whatever the seasoning was they put on it, made it amazing, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Right before we sat down for lunch, one of the older Russian ladies from our boat was hobbling out of the water, and also needed some first aid due to a sea urchin injury as well. Thank goodness those things weren't lethal, or we would have lost a few that day.
I thought I was being careful, with my SPF50 that day, but turns out I could have used a lot more caution. I realized once we got back to where we were staying that I was burnt. Badly. Everywhere. My forehead, my nose, my chest, my arms, my shoulders, my legs. Everywhere. It's been almost a week, and I'm just losing the overall pink hue now......and my nose is peeling. Extremely attractive, I'm sure you can imagine.
That night,after taking a tuk tuk to up a mountain to watch a beautiful sunset, we went out for a delicious dinner on the beach at a small local restaurant with the ocean lapping only about 15 feet away from where we were sitting.
The next day was a long one. We had a 10 hour bus ride (split into a 4 hour, and a 6 hour, with a one hour stop in Phnom Phen for lunch), to get to Siem Reap. Our first bus was full, and the seats were pretty cramped and uncomfortable, with assigned seating. The next bus (the 6 hour ride) was also assigned seating, and Janene and I couldn't believe our luck. There were two seats at the front of the bus that were about 1.5 times larger than the other seats, upholstered in leopard print, and had about 5 times the leg room, with a front seat view of out the picture window at the front of the bus. Somehow we were assigned to these seats, making our 6 hour bus ride highly more enjoyable than the first four hours.
We arrived in Siem Reap around 8:30pm, after dark, and we were extremely happy at that point to have a male with us. The bus had pulled into a dusty small parking lot, off a dark alley where there were tuk tuk drivers waiting to drive people to where they needed to go. We got to the Mandalay Inn, and were extremely pleased to find that it was the nicest place we had stayed the whole trip. It was about 4 stories, with a large lobby, a small restaurant outside, and beautiful wooden bannisters that wound upwards with the stairs. Our room had air conditioning, AND a hot shower. I couldn't have been happier. Also at the Mandalay Inn, three other friends joined our group, making us 8.
The next morning we went to see the floating village. Apparently there is a fairly substantial group of people who, because of their Vietnamese descent, are not welcome in the city of Siem Reap, and have been banished to live on a river located out of town. We took a boat to take us to the village so we could see what this was like. Like most other things we had experienced in Cambodia, it was shocking. These people were extremely poor. They lived in floating shacks that they had built. The water was a disgusting shade of brown, which smelled like feces. This water was their toilet, their bath water, their source of food (fishing). I could only imagine all the different diseases they had purely from this water. It was sad to see how they lived, but again, an eye-opening experience causing me to be extremely thankful for what I have.
That afternoon was the best part of my entire Cambodia trip, and my entire exchange. That afternoon, thanks to some research and planning by Lauren, we had the opportunity to volunteer at a school and orphanage. I'm going to have to try very hard here to convey exactly what I experience that afternoon, because it's so overwhelming that I think it will be a challenge.
We were picked up a a few boys who looked to be around 18 years old. They drove us about 20 minutes outside the city to the middle of pretty much nowhere. We arrived at a small four-room concrete block, and when we got out, we were greeted by a small crowd of small, smiling faces, who each said "Hi my name is ------, what's your name? Nice to meet you", while extending their arms for a handshake. We had arrived at the orphanage, and I immediately fell in love with each of them. We then met a man named Savong, who is 27, but with a tired looking face, looks to be in his mid thirties. He welcomed us, and we crowded around him in a circle on the front porch of the orphanage while he told us a little bit about it. I'll try to remember as much detail as possible.
Savong, like many Cambodians, grew up in a very poor family. As a boy, he desperately wanted to go to school, and in Cambodia going to school costs money. Most days, he would end up going without a meal or two each day, so that his parents could send him to school. Finally, this was no longer an option, and he had to leave home to work, due to the lack of funds. He got a job working in a guesthouse, where he made about $15 a month. He studied hard, whatever he could, in the evenings, and worked hard during the day. Finally, he joined a monestary, where he was given education, a place to sleep, and guaranteed three meals a day. He lived in this monestary for four years, while he studied, and once he achieved the level of education he wanted, left the monestary to pursue his goal. His one goal, his one wish, was to meet people who could help him create a school where he could provide free education to children like him who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to school. He achieved this goal, and in 2005, with the help of some sponsors, built a school, which now educates many children. At this school, he often has people from other countries volunteer for extended periods of time; anywhere from three days to three weeks, teaching the children in English.
After opening the school, Savong came into contact with some children who needed so much more than an education. These children had no parents, no place to live, nothing. He desperately wanted to help them, and through the one-time donation of a man he knew about a year ago, he built a four room concrete block, to house these orphans. He has taken in 9 boys, who range from the age of 6 to 17. These are the sweet smiling faces that greeted us when we arrived. The most recent addition to the group is a 6-year-old boy who was rescued by Savong when his mother tried to sell him into slavery. Savong heard about this through a friend, and took the boy in.
Savong pays for these boys to live out of his own pocket. He has no sponsorship for the orphanage. It costs $15 a day to feed these 9 boys (and this is on a simple diet consisting of mostly rice), and often he has only $3 or $4 to buy food for them. When he can, he works giving transportation to tourists in a tuk tuk or the one vehicle he has. He also has his own family of a wife, a 4 year old, and a 6 month old. He is at the point where he is turning away boys in need because he simply can't afford to take them in. The boys each have one set of clothes, none of which fit them well. One of the boys was wearing a pink zip-up girl's hoodie, and it was about 40 degrees outside. That's all he had. They had no shoes. They sleep on the hard concret floor each night with no pillows, no sheets. Their toilet is a hole they have dug deep in the ground. I don't even know what they do for water.
After hearing his story, and most of us were in tears, we felt compelled to do something. We had brought a bag of school supplies with us, but that seemed like so little compared to what these children needed. So, Savong and his brothers took us and all the boys to a nearby market. Here, we bought all the boys clothes, and shoes, toothpaste, and food for the next few weeks. They were ecstatic. I'll never forget the smiles on their faces while they were picking out sandals from one of the stalls.
I'm a planner by nature. I love to plan events. When we get home to Canada, the girls and I are going to plan a fundraising event to raise money for this orphanage to send to Savong. I need to do something to help these kids. Forgetting about them is not an option. Not doing anything is not an option. They need help, severely, and I need to do what I can to assist them. Also, I want to see about setting up some kind of fund or something so that funds can be raised and money can be sent to them on a regular basis. I have no idea how to go about this, but if any of you know someone who has done something like this before, or has any idea about how to go about setting something like this up, please let me know. My email address is terracasey@shaw.ca.
After the market, we got to spend a few hours at the school. First we did some speaking in front of a class of older children, and then got to sit and talk with them for about half an hour so they could practice their english. Then we got to teach a large class of smaller children, around the age of 10. Their teacher asked us to teach them a song from where we are from. We chose "I'm A Little Teapot", and for the next hour we taught them the lyrics and the actions of the song while they practiced over and over again. It was priceless. That song now has so much more meaning for me, it was so adorable to hear all their little voices trying so hard to get the english pronounciation of "here is my spout".
This was by far the best day of the trip, for me, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet those boys, and Savong, and to help them in the small way that we did. I'm excited to see what more we can do for them, and I have high hopes that we can help them significantly.
The next day was our temple day. We left our hotel at 5am to go to Angkor Wat, so that we could see the sunrise over the temple. This is apparently THE thing to do in Siem Reap. I personally would have been just as happy to arrive at 9am. The sun didn't really "rise" over the temple, it just gradually went from dark to light. However, we did get to take advantage of the coolest part of the day, which was definitely beneficial. Angkor Wat is so much more interesting than I thought it would be. It was huuuuuuge, and so neat to be able to walk around such an old temple that was such a symbol in the Cambodian culture (it's even on their flag). After walking around the temple for a few hours, we had breakfast at a nearby local restaurant, and took our tuk-tuk to another temple. This one was even cooler. Parts of it were crumbling and I would call it "ruins" more than a full on temple, but it was so neat to see it. There were huge trees that the temple was built around, with their roots winding in and around the structure. I can only imagine what it would have looked like so many hundreds of years ago when it was first built.
Since we had been up extremely early that day (4:30am), we headed back to Siem Reap for a one-hour full body massage at a local spa, and a much-needed afternoon nap. Later that afternoon, we went to a third temple, which was also very interesting, and then headed to a fourth located about a 1.5 KM hike up a hill. We arrived at the top (very, very, very sweaty) to watch the sunset, with a couple hundred other tourists. It was a little cloudy, so the sunset wasn't as incredible as we had hoped, but it was a cool experience nonetheless.
The next day, we flew out of Siem Reap early in the morning, and arrived back in Singapore around noon (Sunday).
When I left Vietnam, I couldn't wait to get back to Singapore, but leaving Cambodia was a different story. I felt connected to Cambodia, after learning all that I did during the week I was there, and I wasn't ready to leave. It was sad to say good-bye. Despite the extreme poverty, the people there are truly kind-hearted, and I was happy there. I almost went to Bali for reading break instead of Cambodia, to lie on the beach for a week, and relax. Cambodia was anything but relaxing, but I am so glad to have gone. I think that week was a huge eye-opener, and a life changing experience. I couldn't have asked for a better trip.
I am leaving for 5 days in Thailand next Monday night. We are going, with about 20 other exchange students, to a full moon party in Thailand on March 10th, and then staying for a few extra days to check out some of the nearby islands. I'm looking forward to it, but have a lot of school work to get done this week before going, so it's going to be a busy week. Quiz in Corporate Lending tomorrow, so I guess I should go study.
I am officially past the half-way point, and down to less than two months until I return to Canada. This saddens me. Although I miss home, I am experiencing things here that I know are once-in-a-lifetime, and I'm so thankful to be here.
Our first stop on this day trip was the Phnom Phen killing fields. This was a pretty difficult place to be, emotionally. I didn't know too much about the genocide that took place in 1975 in Cambodia, but I sure learned a lot about it that day. First we went into a monument that was built by the government in remembrance of the victims of the genocide, and it contained thousands of skulls from those who were murdered in that very place, by the Khmer Rouge. If we looked closely, we could see that most the skulls had fractures in them, from blunt force trauma, which is how most of the victims were killed; this is because their murderers didn't want anyone outside the killing fields to be able to hear what was going on, so they would bludgeon them in the middle of the night, while they played loud music to muffle the screams. Shocked? So was I. I could tell you so much more in the way of details about what took place in those killing fields, but I won't. I won't because I feel if you're interested, you'll look it up, and if you're not, I don't want to burden you with the sadness of what happened. The Khmer Rouge were responsible for 1.5 million deaths, or 1/5 the entire country's population, and their motto was "to keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss." Unbelievable. I learned a lot that day about what the Cambodian people had been put through just over 30 years ago, and I gained a deep respect for them.....especially those who were old enough to remember. I'm sure their life stories would be gripping. I also learned that humans can be extremely evil, and are capable of far more than I imagined. I no longer will take my sheltered life for granted.
After a somber couple of hours at the killing fields, we continued our tour to the Genocide Museum. This was a highschool campus that had been taken over by the Khmer Rouge during the genocide, and used as a torture prison, before sending the victims to the killing fields....much like a concentration camp. There were rooms that showed the different torture devices used, and large rooms filled just with pictures of the victims. I didn't even get to see all of these rooms, as I was so overwhelmed with grief for these people, and shock about what took place there, that I had to remove myself and sit outside. Men, Women, boys, girls, young children. No one was spared. As sad and horrific as learning about this, and seeing these places was, I feel that it was an extremely valuable experience, as it not only gave me insight on Cambodia's history, it gave me extreme respect and understanding for the Cambodian people. It also made me truly thankful for living where I do.
After the genocide museum, we spent some time at a local market, and then headed to a beautiful monestary. When we arrived, we were all wearing shorts and tank tops, which is a big no-no in a monestary. No shoulders or knees can be shown. So, we all had to buy the T-Shirts being sold at the admission counter (I guess this happens often), and we used scarves that a few of the girls bought at the market to wrap around our waists as make-shift skirts. Let me tell ya, we were stylin'......and sweaty. The monestary was beautiful with dozens of monks walking around the grounds. There were about a dozen buildings which were all very ornate. I spoke with one of the monks for a while, who was staying at the monestary for 3 days to write his exams. He was 26, and could speak 6 different languages, including English quite well. I had an extremely blonde moment, and at the end of our conversation, I introduced myself and stuck out my hand to shake his. He looked at me like I had the plague, and stepped back away from me. Right. I forgot. I'm female, and to monks, I might as well have the plague, because they're not allowed to have any physical contact with females. Including hand-shakes. Whoops. So I gave a little awkward laugh, and an equally awkward little wave, and went on my way. Good thing I didn't try to give him a friendly hug, or a pat on the back.
The next morning came very early, as we got on a bus to take us the four hours to a village on the beach called Sihanoukville. We had to find a place to stay, so we looked at a few different options. At our last stop, a place which I don't even remember the name of, we took a look at one of the rooms to see if it was the place for us. Right before we got to the room, I said "my standards are pretty low, as long as it has air conditioning, and a decently warm shower, I'm happy". It had neither. But we stayed for two nights because it was less than a five minute walk to the beach, and that was a huge plus. That afternoon, we headed to the beach pretty much right away, and met many of the locals. We got beach chairs on the beach, and every 30 seconds (no exaageration) someone was coming up to us asking us to buy massages, pedicures, manicures, fruit, post cards, bracelets, or just plain asking us for money. The hardest part was the children. There were dozens of children walking the beach trying to sell their bracelets. These kids were anywhere from the age of 8 to 17, and their poverty was obvious. We spoke with a few of them, as their english was surprisingly comprehensive. At one point, one of the girls, 23, came to my chair, put her basket of fruit down at my feet, and plunked herself down in the sand beside me. She started asking me questions about where I was from, how old I was, etc. Then she noticed my wedding ring. She found the fact that I am married extremely interesting, and decided to tell me her boy troubles. We ended up having a half-hour conversation where she talked, and I gave her advice. I kept thinking "I sound like my mother", saying things that I'm positive she would say if she were sitting there at that very moment. At the end of our conversation, the girl asked me if she could make me a friendship bracelet. She whipped out some thread, had me hold onto the end, and very quickly made me a beautiful little bracelet "to remember" her by. It was adorable. When I saw her later, I tried to give her money for the bracelet, which she wouldn't take, saying that it was for friendship, not for profit. I instead bought some pineapple from her for a very self-inflated price, which she accepted.
The following day, we had booked ourselves a day trip to some islands, which we got to by longboat. The day started off cloudy, but cleared up by lunchtime, giving us the perfect weather for our outing. The first stop the boat made was to snorkel near an island. Prior to the snorkeling, they had warned us all about the many sea urchins that lurked under the water, and told everyone to be careful as they were very dangerous. As someone who isn't really into snorkelling due to losing a contact lense or two in the past, I stayed on the boat. It wasn't long before one of the other tourists on our boat was dragging himself out of the water and holding his foot. Turns out he hit a sea urchin with his foot, and had 8 puncture wounds with purple ink in them. Me being "Soccer Mom", I whipped out my trusty (not so) dusty first aid kit that I had brought along in my day pack, and got to work. I gave him 2 benadryl capsules, cleaned the wounds with antiseptic first aid wipes, applied topical benadryl to the wounds, and then bandadged him up. He was about 25, and the woman he was travelling with looked to be his mother. She just sat there watching me, while I administered first aid to her son, while speaking to someone on a cell phone to determine if we should return to shore to seek medical attention for this guy. In the end it sounded like he would be okay, and that it would just hurt for a few hours. Thankfully he was. Janene also needed some patching up, as she hit her knee on something while she was in the water. One more example of why you should never travel without first aid supplies. It always seems to be needed. I got asked a few times that day "are you a nurse?" Nope, just overly prepared.
One of the islands we stopped on for a few hours was Bamboo Island, and it was absolutely incredible. We played in the water, laid on the beach, and hiked to another beach for more water and beach-laying. We also had lunch on the beach that was cooked over a small fire by some of the locals. Barracuda! It was sooo good, and something that I don't think I would have tried, had it not been the only option. Whatever the seasoning was they put on it, made it amazing, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Right before we sat down for lunch, one of the older Russian ladies from our boat was hobbling out of the water, and also needed some first aid due to a sea urchin injury as well. Thank goodness those things weren't lethal, or we would have lost a few that day.
I thought I was being careful, with my SPF50 that day, but turns out I could have used a lot more caution. I realized once we got back to where we were staying that I was burnt. Badly. Everywhere. My forehead, my nose, my chest, my arms, my shoulders, my legs. Everywhere. It's been almost a week, and I'm just losing the overall pink hue now......and my nose is peeling. Extremely attractive, I'm sure you can imagine.
That night,after taking a tuk tuk to up a mountain to watch a beautiful sunset, we went out for a delicious dinner on the beach at a small local restaurant with the ocean lapping only about 15 feet away from where we were sitting.
The next day was a long one. We had a 10 hour bus ride (split into a 4 hour, and a 6 hour, with a one hour stop in Phnom Phen for lunch), to get to Siem Reap. Our first bus was full, and the seats were pretty cramped and uncomfortable, with assigned seating. The next bus (the 6 hour ride) was also assigned seating, and Janene and I couldn't believe our luck. There were two seats at the front of the bus that were about 1.5 times larger than the other seats, upholstered in leopard print, and had about 5 times the leg room, with a front seat view of out the picture window at the front of the bus. Somehow we were assigned to these seats, making our 6 hour bus ride highly more enjoyable than the first four hours.
We arrived in Siem Reap around 8:30pm, after dark, and we were extremely happy at that point to have a male with us. The bus had pulled into a dusty small parking lot, off a dark alley where there were tuk tuk drivers waiting to drive people to where they needed to go. We got to the Mandalay Inn, and were extremely pleased to find that it was the nicest place we had stayed the whole trip. It was about 4 stories, with a large lobby, a small restaurant outside, and beautiful wooden bannisters that wound upwards with the stairs. Our room had air conditioning, AND a hot shower. I couldn't have been happier. Also at the Mandalay Inn, three other friends joined our group, making us 8.
The next morning we went to see the floating village. Apparently there is a fairly substantial group of people who, because of their Vietnamese descent, are not welcome in the city of Siem Reap, and have been banished to live on a river located out of town. We took a boat to take us to the village so we could see what this was like. Like most other things we had experienced in Cambodia, it was shocking. These people were extremely poor. They lived in floating shacks that they had built. The water was a disgusting shade of brown, which smelled like feces. This water was their toilet, their bath water, their source of food (fishing). I could only imagine all the different diseases they had purely from this water. It was sad to see how they lived, but again, an eye-opening experience causing me to be extremely thankful for what I have.
That afternoon was the best part of my entire Cambodia trip, and my entire exchange. That afternoon, thanks to some research and planning by Lauren, we had the opportunity to volunteer at a school and orphanage. I'm going to have to try very hard here to convey exactly what I experience that afternoon, because it's so overwhelming that I think it will be a challenge.
We were picked up a a few boys who looked to be around 18 years old. They drove us about 20 minutes outside the city to the middle of pretty much nowhere. We arrived at a small four-room concrete block, and when we got out, we were greeted by a small crowd of small, smiling faces, who each said "Hi my name is ------, what's your name? Nice to meet you", while extending their arms for a handshake. We had arrived at the orphanage, and I immediately fell in love with each of them. We then met a man named Savong, who is 27, but with a tired looking face, looks to be in his mid thirties. He welcomed us, and we crowded around him in a circle on the front porch of the orphanage while he told us a little bit about it. I'll try to remember as much detail as possible.
Savong, like many Cambodians, grew up in a very poor family. As a boy, he desperately wanted to go to school, and in Cambodia going to school costs money. Most days, he would end up going without a meal or two each day, so that his parents could send him to school. Finally, this was no longer an option, and he had to leave home to work, due to the lack of funds. He got a job working in a guesthouse, where he made about $15 a month. He studied hard, whatever he could, in the evenings, and worked hard during the day. Finally, he joined a monestary, where he was given education, a place to sleep, and guaranteed three meals a day. He lived in this monestary for four years, while he studied, and once he achieved the level of education he wanted, left the monestary to pursue his goal. His one goal, his one wish, was to meet people who could help him create a school where he could provide free education to children like him who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to school. He achieved this goal, and in 2005, with the help of some sponsors, built a school, which now educates many children. At this school, he often has people from other countries volunteer for extended periods of time; anywhere from three days to three weeks, teaching the children in English.
After opening the school, Savong came into contact with some children who needed so much more than an education. These children had no parents, no place to live, nothing. He desperately wanted to help them, and through the one-time donation of a man he knew about a year ago, he built a four room concrete block, to house these orphans. He has taken in 9 boys, who range from the age of 6 to 17. These are the sweet smiling faces that greeted us when we arrived. The most recent addition to the group is a 6-year-old boy who was rescued by Savong when his mother tried to sell him into slavery. Savong heard about this through a friend, and took the boy in.
Savong pays for these boys to live out of his own pocket. He has no sponsorship for the orphanage. It costs $15 a day to feed these 9 boys (and this is on a simple diet consisting of mostly rice), and often he has only $3 or $4 to buy food for them. When he can, he works giving transportation to tourists in a tuk tuk or the one vehicle he has. He also has his own family of a wife, a 4 year old, and a 6 month old. He is at the point where he is turning away boys in need because he simply can't afford to take them in. The boys each have one set of clothes, none of which fit them well. One of the boys was wearing a pink zip-up girl's hoodie, and it was about 40 degrees outside. That's all he had. They had no shoes. They sleep on the hard concret floor each night with no pillows, no sheets. Their toilet is a hole they have dug deep in the ground. I don't even know what they do for water.
After hearing his story, and most of us were in tears, we felt compelled to do something. We had brought a bag of school supplies with us, but that seemed like so little compared to what these children needed. So, Savong and his brothers took us and all the boys to a nearby market. Here, we bought all the boys clothes, and shoes, toothpaste, and food for the next few weeks. They were ecstatic. I'll never forget the smiles on their faces while they were picking out sandals from one of the stalls.
I'm a planner by nature. I love to plan events. When we get home to Canada, the girls and I are going to plan a fundraising event to raise money for this orphanage to send to Savong. I need to do something to help these kids. Forgetting about them is not an option. Not doing anything is not an option. They need help, severely, and I need to do what I can to assist them. Also, I want to see about setting up some kind of fund or something so that funds can be raised and money can be sent to them on a regular basis. I have no idea how to go about this, but if any of you know someone who has done something like this before, or has any idea about how to go about setting something like this up, please let me know. My email address is terracasey@shaw.ca.
After the market, we got to spend a few hours at the school. First we did some speaking in front of a class of older children, and then got to sit and talk with them for about half an hour so they could practice their english. Then we got to teach a large class of smaller children, around the age of 10. Their teacher asked us to teach them a song from where we are from. We chose "I'm A Little Teapot", and for the next hour we taught them the lyrics and the actions of the song while they practiced over and over again. It was priceless. That song now has so much more meaning for me, it was so adorable to hear all their little voices trying so hard to get the english pronounciation of "here is my spout".
This was by far the best day of the trip, for me, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet those boys, and Savong, and to help them in the small way that we did. I'm excited to see what more we can do for them, and I have high hopes that we can help them significantly.
The next day was our temple day. We left our hotel at 5am to go to Angkor Wat, so that we could see the sunrise over the temple. This is apparently THE thing to do in Siem Reap. I personally would have been just as happy to arrive at 9am. The sun didn't really "rise" over the temple, it just gradually went from dark to light. However, we did get to take advantage of the coolest part of the day, which was definitely beneficial. Angkor Wat is so much more interesting than I thought it would be. It was huuuuuuge, and so neat to be able to walk around such an old temple that was such a symbol in the Cambodian culture (it's even on their flag). After walking around the temple for a few hours, we had breakfast at a nearby local restaurant, and took our tuk-tuk to another temple. This one was even cooler. Parts of it were crumbling and I would call it "ruins" more than a full on temple, but it was so neat to see it. There were huge trees that the temple was built around, with their roots winding in and around the structure. I can only imagine what it would have looked like so many hundreds of years ago when it was first built.
Since we had been up extremely early that day (4:30am), we headed back to Siem Reap for a one-hour full body massage at a local spa, and a much-needed afternoon nap. Later that afternoon, we went to a third temple, which was also very interesting, and then headed to a fourth located about a 1.5 KM hike up a hill. We arrived at the top (very, very, very sweaty) to watch the sunset, with a couple hundred other tourists. It was a little cloudy, so the sunset wasn't as incredible as we had hoped, but it was a cool experience nonetheless.
The next day, we flew out of Siem Reap early in the morning, and arrived back in Singapore around noon (Sunday).
When I left Vietnam, I couldn't wait to get back to Singapore, but leaving Cambodia was a different story. I felt connected to Cambodia, after learning all that I did during the week I was there, and I wasn't ready to leave. It was sad to say good-bye. Despite the extreme poverty, the people there are truly kind-hearted, and I was happy there. I almost went to Bali for reading break instead of Cambodia, to lie on the beach for a week, and relax. Cambodia was anything but relaxing, but I am so glad to have gone. I think that week was a huge eye-opener, and a life changing experience. I couldn't have asked for a better trip.
I am leaving for 5 days in Thailand next Monday night. We are going, with about 20 other exchange students, to a full moon party in Thailand on March 10th, and then staying for a few extra days to check out some of the nearby islands. I'm looking forward to it, but have a lot of school work to get done this week before going, so it's going to be a busy week. Quiz in Corporate Lending tomorrow, so I guess I should go study.
I am officially past the half-way point, and down to less than two months until I return to Canada. This saddens me. Although I miss home, I am experiencing things here that I know are once-in-a-lifetime, and I'm so thankful to be here.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Cambodia Bound
Tomorrow morning, at 6:45 am, we fly off to a week in Cambodia for reading break. We're flying into Phnom Phen, and out of Siem Reap, getting back to Singapore on Sunday, March 1st. We're going to see a lot of really interesting things on this trip, like the killing fields, Angkor Wat, etc.
I think that this trip is going to be pretty intense. By intense I mean interesting, heartbreaking, and culture-shocking. I heard there is a lot of poverty, with many people just sleeping on the streets in Phnom Phen. Apparently it's far worse than any poverty we saw in Vietnam.....and there was quite a bit in Ho Chi Minh City.
I'm a little nervous about seeing the Cambodia Killing Fields. I have heard that from a culture and educational stand-point, it's a must see, since it is such a big part of Cambodia's history, however, I know it will be hard to see a place where so many innocent people lost their lives at the hands of monsters.
I am really looking forward to seeing Angkor Wat, as I've heard from so many other travellers that it is a "must see".
What I'm not looking forward to is getting up at 3:30am tomorrow morning to go to the airport.....gonna be a tough one.
I think that this trip is going to be pretty intense. By intense I mean interesting, heartbreaking, and culture-shocking. I heard there is a lot of poverty, with many people just sleeping on the streets in Phnom Phen. Apparently it's far worse than any poverty we saw in Vietnam.....and there was quite a bit in Ho Chi Minh City.
I'm a little nervous about seeing the Cambodia Killing Fields. I have heard that from a culture and educational stand-point, it's a must see, since it is such a big part of Cambodia's history, however, I know it will be hard to see a place where so many innocent people lost their lives at the hands of monsters.
I am really looking forward to seeing Angkor Wat, as I've heard from so many other travellers that it is a "must see".
What I'm not looking forward to is getting up at 3:30am tomorrow morning to go to the airport.....gonna be a tough one.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tick Tock, Tick Tock
Wow, time has really flown by these past few weeks. It's hard to believe it's already been a few weeks since my last post. We've spent the last couple of weekends in Singapore, and it's been really nice to just hang out here, not having anywhere that we needed to be. We went out a few nights with other exchange students that we've met here, did some shopping, went to the zoo, saw a bit more of downtown Singapore, and just took it easy.
Last week, there was an organized Internatainal Cultural Night in our residence building, where all the different countries where all the Hall 16 students are from, were on display. The five of us put together our Canada table pretty last minute, and didn't really know what to do for it. We really don't have that much "culture" that can be that easily displayed, because Canada is comprised of so many different cultures. We decided to do our best with what we had: we all dressed in red and white, had "Canadian Pizza" from one of the canteens here, which is actually CALLED 'Canadian Pizza', had a laptop going through a slideshow of Canadian scenery, and had another laptop playing a previously aired hockey game. I couldn't tell you who played...nor who won. Our booth was pretty cheesy,compared to some of the amazing displays that some of the other countries put together, but we did our best, and the 6 pizzas were gone in minutes. There was a lot of great food there that night too, and we got to try some amazing things. At the India table, there was a girl doing Henna, so Janene and I both got Henna tattoos, which are just now starting to fade.
On Monday, Janene, Tia, and I, along with Lauren and Mitch (who also go to UVic, but are attending a different Singapore university on exchange) are heading off to Cambodia for a week for reading break. Yes, I know what you're thinking "how can you need a 'break' after all the non-reading you've been doing?"....it's true, we've had it pretty good...but if they're giving us another opportunity to head off somewhere fabulous, why not, right? I can't believe that we're leaving in less than a week for this trip, when it feels like we just got back from Vietnam. I'm expecting Cambodia to be somewhat like Vietnam in terms of culture shock, and the "feel" of the country (don't ask me to explain that, because I can't), but I could be way off. We'll just have to see.
This past Saturday was Valentine's Day, and it happens to be the first time that Sean and I have been apart on Love Day in the eight years that we've been a couple. It was definitely weird to be thousands of miles away from each other on a day that we've always been together. Saturday morning, however, a bouquet of roses showed up at my dorm room door :) In an effort not to be lonely and to have someone special on this special day, Janene and I got dressed up and went to a beautiful, romantic Japanese restaurant downtown, in the Pan Pacific Hotel, called "Keyaki". The food was incredible, and I'm pretty sure most people thought that we were there as a couple. And when they didn't think that we were a couple, they were making jokes about how we didn't have 'someone special on Valentine's Day'. Thanks. After dinner we took a cab to the Merlion (a giant statue of a half-lion, half-fish that shoots water out it's mouth), and walked around the boardwalk. On our way there, the cabby (after making sure we 'didn't have anyone special on Valentine's Day') told us that the Merlion could be our boyfriend, and shouted "say hi to your boyfriend for me!" as we got out of the cab. Really? Really. We were not really phased, considering we both do have someone special, AND we were each other's 'someone special' for the evening, but imagine if we were single, and lonely, and really sensitive about it? I guess Asians think it's hilarious to be alone. Everyone's a comedian.
We got some good news last week. One of the courses we were in, and were approved to take by both our home university and our exchange university, was Financial Risk and Insurance. It's an advanced investment course that focuses on derivatives, futures, puts, calls, etc., stuff we'd never learned about prior to our coming here. We clearly don't have the prerequisites for this course, and we were all panicking about failing it because it was past the "add/drop" date in the semester. For the past few weeks we've been in discussion with UVic, asking them to allow us to drop the course, and write a paper instead, which is usually an option for exchange students who can't find enough courses taught in English at their exchange university. Finally, after several conversations about it, UVic conceded, and we are no longer required to complete the course. Whew. No matter how much I would have studied for that course, I definitely would not have been able to pass, so this is a huge relief. Now we are required to write a 6000 word paper on an aspect of Business in Singapore. It can pretty much be anything we want, as long as it meets the few guidelines we were given. I'm still trying to solidify what my topic will be, and then I'll have to start my research. I'm extremely happy that I don't have to take Financial Risk......extremely happy. School is picking up, with projects and quizzes, etc. (no midterms!!), and studying is a little challenging when it's gorgeously, scorchingly hot and sunny outside (42 degrees the other day, with the humidity!.....that's 108F!), and the pool is calling my name, but I'm not even a little bitter about it, because I don't have Risk anymore. So life is good.
When I get back from Cambodia, March 1st, I will be at the halfway mark for this exchange. It's incredible to think that I've been out of the country, away from home, living in Asia for two whole months. I miss home, but I'm going to miss it here too....and I'm not quite ready to think about leaving yet. I'm sure I'll be ready to go once the four month mark hits, but for now, I'm enjoying it as I know the second half (only 71 days left!) is going to fly by even faster than the first.
Last week, there was an organized Internatainal Cultural Night in our residence building, where all the different countries where all the Hall 16 students are from, were on display. The five of us put together our Canada table pretty last minute, and didn't really know what to do for it. We really don't have that much "culture" that can be that easily displayed, because Canada is comprised of so many different cultures. We decided to do our best with what we had: we all dressed in red and white, had "Canadian Pizza" from one of the canteens here, which is actually CALLED 'Canadian Pizza', had a laptop going through a slideshow of Canadian scenery, and had another laptop playing a previously aired hockey game. I couldn't tell you who played...nor who won. Our booth was pretty cheesy,compared to some of the amazing displays that some of the other countries put together, but we did our best, and the 6 pizzas were gone in minutes. There was a lot of great food there that night too, and we got to try some amazing things. At the India table, there was a girl doing Henna, so Janene and I both got Henna tattoos, which are just now starting to fade.
On Monday, Janene, Tia, and I, along with Lauren and Mitch (who also go to UVic, but are attending a different Singapore university on exchange) are heading off to Cambodia for a week for reading break. Yes, I know what you're thinking "how can you need a 'break' after all the non-reading you've been doing?"....it's true, we've had it pretty good...but if they're giving us another opportunity to head off somewhere fabulous, why not, right? I can't believe that we're leaving in less than a week for this trip, when it feels like we just got back from Vietnam. I'm expecting Cambodia to be somewhat like Vietnam in terms of culture shock, and the "feel" of the country (don't ask me to explain that, because I can't), but I could be way off. We'll just have to see.
This past Saturday was Valentine's Day, and it happens to be the first time that Sean and I have been apart on Love Day in the eight years that we've been a couple. It was definitely weird to be thousands of miles away from each other on a day that we've always been together. Saturday morning, however, a bouquet of roses showed up at my dorm room door :) In an effort not to be lonely and to have someone special on this special day, Janene and I got dressed up and went to a beautiful, romantic Japanese restaurant downtown, in the Pan Pacific Hotel, called "Keyaki". The food was incredible, and I'm pretty sure most people thought that we were there as a couple. And when they didn't think that we were a couple, they were making jokes about how we didn't have 'someone special on Valentine's Day'. Thanks. After dinner we took a cab to the Merlion (a giant statue of a half-lion, half-fish that shoots water out it's mouth), and walked around the boardwalk. On our way there, the cabby (after making sure we 'didn't have anyone special on Valentine's Day') told us that the Merlion could be our boyfriend, and shouted "say hi to your boyfriend for me!" as we got out of the cab. Really? Really. We were not really phased, considering we both do have someone special, AND we were each other's 'someone special' for the evening, but imagine if we were single, and lonely, and really sensitive about it? I guess Asians think it's hilarious to be alone. Everyone's a comedian.
We got some good news last week. One of the courses we were in, and were approved to take by both our home university and our exchange university, was Financial Risk and Insurance. It's an advanced investment course that focuses on derivatives, futures, puts, calls, etc., stuff we'd never learned about prior to our coming here. We clearly don't have the prerequisites for this course, and we were all panicking about failing it because it was past the "add/drop" date in the semester. For the past few weeks we've been in discussion with UVic, asking them to allow us to drop the course, and write a paper instead, which is usually an option for exchange students who can't find enough courses taught in English at their exchange university. Finally, after several conversations about it, UVic conceded, and we are no longer required to complete the course. Whew. No matter how much I would have studied for that course, I definitely would not have been able to pass, so this is a huge relief. Now we are required to write a 6000 word paper on an aspect of Business in Singapore. It can pretty much be anything we want, as long as it meets the few guidelines we were given. I'm still trying to solidify what my topic will be, and then I'll have to start my research. I'm extremely happy that I don't have to take Financial Risk......extremely happy. School is picking up, with projects and quizzes, etc. (no midterms!!), and studying is a little challenging when it's gorgeously, scorchingly hot and sunny outside (42 degrees the other day, with the humidity!.....that's 108F!), and the pool is calling my name, but I'm not even a little bitter about it, because I don't have Risk anymore. So life is good.
When I get back from Cambodia, March 1st, I will be at the halfway mark for this exchange. It's incredible to think that I've been out of the country, away from home, living in Asia for two whole months. I miss home, but I'm going to miss it here too....and I'm not quite ready to think about leaving yet. I'm sure I'll be ready to go once the four month mark hits, but for now, I'm enjoying it as I know the second half (only 71 days left!) is going to fly by even faster than the first.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Vietnam
Well, we are back in Singapore, safe and sound, after a ten day expedition through Vietnam. As I mentioned in my last post, I was expecting a culture shock on this trip, and I got one. It was a really great trip, but after ten days, I was more than happy, make that ecstatic, to come back to Singapore which has so quickly become "home".
I'll start from the beginning. We left Singapore on Thursday, January 22nd, in the afternoon, and flew once again with Tiger Airways (budget). All 5 of us girls rocked our hot pink "Happy Family" T-shirts that we made (with a permanent marker), which made it ridiculously easy to spot each other in the airport. Also, we had "Made In Canada" written on the back, so to make sure we weren't mistaken for Americans. :) You might be wondering what this "Happy Family" business is about. Let me explain. The first day we checked into our residence building on campus here in Singapore, we were walking the halls trying to find the elevator to get us to the cafeteria (naturally, because eating is our favourite hobby here....I'd have to say even above shopping.....you'd be shocked at the amount of food we eat on a daily basis here). Anyways, we passed a clothes drying rack in one of the hallways with a towel drying on it that said "Happy Family" on it. We thought it was pretty funny, and walked around for the next few minutes saying "Happy Family". About five minutes later, still in the hunt for this cafeteria, we finally realized we had walked in a circle, because we once again passed this towel. From then on, for some reason, we've started calling ourselves (the five of us, who generally travel in a pack) "Happy Family", of which I have been dubbed the mother.
So, anyway, we arrived a few hours later in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) and after finally getting our Visas, we got a cab to take us to Luan Viu Guesthouse, where we we staying for the next few days. I can't even put into words the traffic chaos that takes place in this city. It's UNbelievable. To illustrate this, while driving to our guesthouse, we saw a man covered in blood being pulled off the road after being hit by some type of vehicle, and we're pretty sure he was dead. We were pretty shaken up by that. There are literally HUNdreds of motorbikes, and some cars, just weaving and swerving all over the roads in this city, with absolutely no regard for other motorists, or pedestrians. Once we got near our guesthouse, we got to the fun part: crossing the street amidst this chaos. I have never been so terrified. Nor have I ever been so close to being run over, as I was so many times in Ho Chi Minh. Our Guesthouse was really nice and clean, exactly what we needed, and I'd recommend it to anyone. The staff were friendly and helpful, and it was in a good location. We found some dinner at Aleez Boo, a restaurant nearby, which we frequented frequently over the next few days. We gained a valuable tip from one of the waitresses there: don’t eat the chicken in Vietnam. Apparently when it’s in a dish, it’s ground up, bones and all. And when it’s not ground up I guess it’s just poor quality? We weren’t completely sure what the deal was with the chicken, but we were more than happy to stay away from it based on her warning.
Friday morning we had breakfast at our guesthouse, and decided to find the market, which we had heard good things about. Shopping? Us? Like moths to a flame. The market took us a while to find, and it involved crossing the street to get there......several times......during which we would all link arms, while shuffling and whimpering, until we made it safely to the other side. One of the roads we had to cross was particularly scary, and we spotted a few guys who looked like they were tourists too. We somehow managed to use them as human shields, and got them to cross the road with us. Over the next few hours, we actually bumped into these guys (5 of them total, from Australia) a few times, and ended up talking with them a bit, which led to all ten of us hanging out for the next 2 days that we were in Ho Chi Minh City. They were all really nice guys, we all got along well, and it was nice to have some males looking out for us in the city of Chaos.
We eventually found the market, and shopped, shopped, shopped. The knock-off bag selection was incredible, and it took us a while to get tired of it. Once we did, we met the guys and went for lunch. After lunch we were in the hunt for a spa, because someone had heard there was a place where there were blind masseurs, which was supposed to be amazing. After about an hour of walking aimlessly through Ho Chi Minh in hunt of this place, and just as we were giving up, we stumbled across a beautiful spa where most of us ended up getting massages. Janene and I somehow ended up booking what seemed like a couples massage, facial, and body scrub, for three hours. Great way to de-stress from a long day of shopping and road-crossing.
That night, all ten of us went out for dinner, and everyone (save for me, Janene, and Heather) did a shot of snake wine. Don't know what snake wine is? Let me enlighten you with the Wikipedia definition: "Snake wine is an alcoholic beverage that includes a whole venomous snake in the bottle. It originated in Vietnam and can be found around Southeast Asia. The snakes, preferably venomous ones, are not usually preserved for their meat but to have the snake poison dissolved in the liquor."
Mmmmmm......I bet you're thirsty now, aren't you?
Saturday we met the guys for breakfast, and then went to the Vietnam War Memorial Museum. I knew very little about the Vietnam War before going, and I learned a lot about what took place, and how the Vietnamese people were affected by it, not only at the time, but for generations. It really opened my eyes to the terror that these people have faced, and it gave me a lot more respect for their culture and ways of doing things. To be honest, it was actually very emotionally difficult to go through this museum and look at some of the pictures that I saw. I hadn't been prepared to be so moved by it, and although I was a little shaked after seeing some of things I saw there that day, I'm glad we went.
Saturday night, we said goodbye to the guys, and got on an overnight sleeper bus (a bus with little beds on it, making the 12 hour bus ride far more bearable), to go further north to Nha Trang. We got a great spot on the bus at the very back, where there was a row of 5 beds next to each other, and extra room to put our carry-on bags behind us. Before I left Canada, I got a prescription filled for Immovane, a very strong prescription sleeping pill that my doctor prescribed me last summer when I had bad insomnia. Each of us took half of one of these magic blue pills, and slept pretty well, considering our bodies were literally launched in the air a few times from the bumpy roads. So well, in fact, that at 6:30am the next morning when we arrived in Nha Trang, we woke to find that the bus had stopped, and everyone had already gotten off the bus, leaving us sound asleep at the back in a group spoon. Nice.
In Nha Trang Heather and Janene stayed at the Backpacker's Hostel, which they really liked, and Tia, Danielle, and I stayed at a nearby guesthouse, which we really liked as well. After a short nap (since we were a little groggy from the sleeping pills, and because it was too early for anything to be open yet) we went out to get some breakfast, which we discovered was amazing, and soon became our favourite meal of the day. The weather in Nah Trang that day was apparently the worst they had experienced for a looooong time (I heard someone say 'years'!), and it was just overcast, a little cool, and it rained for lweather wasn't nice enough to really do much, and being that we have internal magnets for this type of thing, we found a nice little spa, and booked ourselves in for mani's and pedi's. Tough day.
That evening happened to be Chinese New Year's Eve (which is a big deal). We went out for dinner, and then to a bar for a bit of dancing, where we met up with a large group of people also staying at the Backpacker's Hostel. Then we set off for the beach, where there were thousands of people waiting for the fireworks show to start at midnight. While waiting for them to start, we decided it would be fun to play in the ocean (in our clothes), which soon became quite the novelty because of how strong the current was, and how big the waves were. We had a lot of fun being five year olds, and then watched the fireworks, which lasted about 20 minutes, and were way better than our Canada Day fireworks that we have every year in the inner harbour. For 30,000 Dong (about $3 CAD), we bought a big paper lantern to light and send off into the sky, which was a lot of fun. Our evening was filled with hearing a lot of “Chuk Mung Nam Moi”, which means “Happy New Year” in Vietnamese. In addition, we fell in love with our new favourite song, called “Happy New Year” by ABBA. If you haven’t heard it, you should download it and give it a listen. It is the cheesiest song we have ever heard, and it was playing ALL over Vietnam for the full ten days that we were there. Somehow we’ve never gotten sick of it, and although we don’t know all the words, all five of us would break into loud, flamboyant song whenever it came on....which was usually several times a day. However, somehow Happy Family didn’t get offered a record deal. Hmmmm.
The next day, we slept in a bit, had a late, and amazing, breakfast, and then hit the beach which was located just down the road from where we were staying. After a few hours of paradise, Janene, Heather and I went to the mud bath and mineral water outdoor spa for the afternoon, which Danielle and Tia rented motorbikes to take themselves on a little tour a few sights they wanted to see. Before long, Tia’s motorbike was on top of her, and their tour was cut short. She was okay, but got a scraped knee out of the deal.
Our final day in Nah Trang we had booked ourselves on a private day tour. It was the smartest thing we could have done, because it was amazing. We left around 10:30 in the morning, and had our own driver and a local tour guide named Viet.....from Vietnam....which we thought was pretty funny. Viet taught us a lot about the government and the way the country is run. He really emphasized that the government doesn’t care about the people at all. If the government wants to take over land, and there are people living on it, the government displaces those people, takes the land, and doesn’t provide them with a new place to live. Pretty brutal.
Viet took us to a small fishing village first, where we got to see the harbour. The shoreline was filled with garbage. It was unbelievable. Apparently since this particular village is not a tourist village, the government provides no means of waste management, and the garbage from the village just gets thrown into the ocean, because they have nowhere else to put it. I kept thinking of the Sustainability Club and what we could do to help organize some kind of waste management system. Maybe an international field-trip project wouldn’t be such a bad idea sometime in the future...hmmmm...
Next, Viet took us to what he says is the most beautiful beach in Vietnam. Blue water, white sand, what could be better? So, we march out onto the beach, strip into our bikinis and set up camp on our towels, play in the waves a bit, and enjoy the beach. This didn’t last too long before we had a group of locals come up to our tour guide and ask if they could take their picture with us. Since they asked (most people here don’t, they just snap), we didn’t mind. We actually got a really cute group shot with them. However, over the next half hour we started noticing a lot of cameras coming out of the woodwork...and not just still cameras. Video cameras. Viet did his best to try to shoo them away, and tell them in Vietnamese that they were not allowed to film us, but there were so many of them, there was not much we could do about it. We noticed that we were not only the only white people on the beach, we were also the only ones in bathing suits. There were lots of people playing in the ocean, but they were all wearing pants and shirts, even in the water. After several failed attempts to get the cameras to go away, we decided it was time to leave.
We then went to a tiny little local “restaurant” (it was basically the front livingroom of someone’s house), and had some amazing local Vietnamese food, which we all ended up feeling sick from later, but it was good at the time. After the restaurant, we went to a mountain to hike up to a waterfall, which we swam in. Definitely a cool experience. The water was really, really cold, but it was worth it. We had a lot of fun. The best part was on our way back down, we ran into a group of local boys, ranging from age 9 to about 14. They didn’t speak a word of English, and we didn’t speak a word of Vietnamese, but we sang together all the way down the mountain. It was incredible. One of the boys would make some random sing-song sounds “boo-lay boo-lay boo-lay BOOO!” and we would echo back to him, all together. It was so fun, we laughed the whole way down.
That night, we had our last meal in Nah Trang, and got on another sleeper bus. This time we popped our magic pills a little earlier, so that we wouldn’t have to worry about not waking up in time to get off the bus at our destination. This time, we slept like babies, again in the back row all together, and again, snuggled up to each other. We arrived in Hoi An around 7:30am, and checked into the nicest place we stayed our whole Vietnam trip, the Southern Hotel and Villa. We had a great buffet breakfast at the hotel, and then spent the day walking around downtown. It’s a very small town, so it was a pretty chill day. All the girls got clothes made by the local tailors, which is apparently the thing to do in Hoi An. That night, we all took a Vietnamese cooking class, where we learned how to make various Vietnamese dishes. The chef was hilarious, and the dinner was really good.
The next morning, Heather, Janene, and I left the hotel early to catch a one hour flight to Hoi An, while Tia and Danielle got on a 17 hour bus ride to Hoi An around 1:30pm. When the three of us arrived in Hoi An, we checked into our hostel (the Hoi An Backpacker’s Hostel) and then walked around town for about 8 hours. The biggest priority that day was to find warm clothes to buy. We were leaving the next morning for a 3 day, 2 night boat tour around Haloong Bay, and we heard it was ridiculously cold there at night, and we didn’t really have much in the way of warm clothes. It probably wouldn’t have been such a hard thing to find if it weren’t still Tet holiday, which is the Vietnamese Chinese New Year holiday that goes on for......who knows how long. It seems our entire trip in Vietnam was Tet. When we were looking for clothes in Hoi An it was “oh, not many places are open, because it’s the first day after Tet.” A few days later it was “well, it’s the third day after Tet, so....” I kept wondering when Tet ends, and I think the answer is: whenever they feel like it. It definitely made it challenging, but we managed to find jackets and sweaters, and leggings from street vendors, and thank goodness we did, because it sure did get cold on that boat at night.
The next morning, Tia and Danielle met us at the hostel early in the morning, and we left for a 3 hour drive to Haloong Bay, where we got on a three-level, wooden boat and cruised for about 2 hours, during which time we passed more than 2000 limestone islands. It was beautiful. When we got out there, we kayaked around the islands for about two hours, and then had dinner on the boat, and mingled and got to know the other people a bit. We were woken up the next morning by blasting music at 7am, got up and had breakfast, and packed up our stuff to leave the boat. We got off the boat and onto Cap Ba Island, where we were taken to a mountain to hike. We hiked all the way up (which was pretty steep in some parts), and the view at the top was amazing. That afternoon we had a “free” afternoon to do what we wanted, and we stayed in a 3-star hotel, which was pretty comfortable. For our free afternoon, we just took it easy; had lunch, went to an internet cafe, had some tea on the rooftop patio, and had a nap. For dinner we went to a local restaurant with the 20-person group we were travelling with, and then went to bed.
The next day we went back to the boat in the morning, cruised for a few hours back to Haloong Bay, drove three hours to Hoi An, and then went to the airport for our trip back to Singapore.
I love Vietnam, had a great trip, and saw a lot of amazing things, but I was thrilled to come back to Singapore, and never realized before how much I truly love Singapore. It’s so developed, and beautiful, and safe here. I’ve always said that I could never picture living anywhere else than Victoria. However, if I had to live somewhere else for a few years for whatever reason, I think I could live in Singapore and be quite happy. Don’t worry Mom, I’m not moving anywhere, I’m just saying..........
10 days in Vietnam was definitely the perfect amount of time, and I’m glad we went. It was definitely a bit of culture shock, and more of a culture experience than we had had to date, and it is a trip I will always remember.
For reading break, at the end of February, we are going to do a week in Cambodia. I’m looking forward to seeing what that will be like, and I’m sure I’ll have some stories from that trip.
This weekend we’ve stayed in Singapore, which is abnormal for us, and I’m loving it. Janene and I went out for dinner with some people from school last night downtown, and the scenery was beautiful, the vibe was amazing, and we fell in love with Singapore all over again.
Today we’re finally taking Janene to the zoo. Right now she’s picking out her outfit for the penguins. That’s right. She’s been thinking about her Penguin outfit all week. She’s wearing a white dress with black buttons down the front and just asked me “do you think the penguins will think I’m one of them, and come play with me??” I don’t know how to tell her that I don’t think so.......it’s bound to be an entertaining afternoon.
I'll start from the beginning. We left Singapore on Thursday, January 22nd, in the afternoon, and flew once again with Tiger Airways (budget). All 5 of us girls rocked our hot pink "Happy Family" T-shirts that we made (with a permanent marker), which made it ridiculously easy to spot each other in the airport. Also, we had "Made In Canada" written on the back, so to make sure we weren't mistaken for Americans. :) You might be wondering what this "Happy Family" business is about. Let me explain. The first day we checked into our residence building on campus here in Singapore, we were walking the halls trying to find the elevator to get us to the cafeteria (naturally, because eating is our favourite hobby here....I'd have to say even above shopping.....you'd be shocked at the amount of food we eat on a daily basis here). Anyways, we passed a clothes drying rack in one of the hallways with a towel drying on it that said "Happy Family" on it. We thought it was pretty funny, and walked around for the next few minutes saying "Happy Family". About five minutes later, still in the hunt for this cafeteria, we finally realized we had walked in a circle, because we once again passed this towel. From then on, for some reason, we've started calling ourselves (the five of us, who generally travel in a pack) "Happy Family", of which I have been dubbed the mother.
So, anyway, we arrived a few hours later in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) and after finally getting our Visas, we got a cab to take us to Luan Viu Guesthouse, where we we staying for the next few days. I can't even put into words the traffic chaos that takes place in this city. It's UNbelievable. To illustrate this, while driving to our guesthouse, we saw a man covered in blood being pulled off the road after being hit by some type of vehicle, and we're pretty sure he was dead. We were pretty shaken up by that. There are literally HUNdreds of motorbikes, and some cars, just weaving and swerving all over the roads in this city, with absolutely no regard for other motorists, or pedestrians. Once we got near our guesthouse, we got to the fun part: crossing the street amidst this chaos. I have never been so terrified. Nor have I ever been so close to being run over, as I was so many times in Ho Chi Minh. Our Guesthouse was really nice and clean, exactly what we needed, and I'd recommend it to anyone. The staff were friendly and helpful, and it was in a good location. We found some dinner at Aleez Boo, a restaurant nearby, which we frequented frequently over the next few days. We gained a valuable tip from one of the waitresses there: don’t eat the chicken in Vietnam. Apparently when it’s in a dish, it’s ground up, bones and all. And when it’s not ground up I guess it’s just poor quality? We weren’t completely sure what the deal was with the chicken, but we were more than happy to stay away from it based on her warning.
Friday morning we had breakfast at our guesthouse, and decided to find the market, which we had heard good things about. Shopping? Us? Like moths to a flame. The market took us a while to find, and it involved crossing the street to get there......several times......during which we would all link arms, while shuffling and whimpering, until we made it safely to the other side. One of the roads we had to cross was particularly scary, and we spotted a few guys who looked like they were tourists too. We somehow managed to use them as human shields, and got them to cross the road with us. Over the next few hours, we actually bumped into these guys (5 of them total, from Australia) a few times, and ended up talking with them a bit, which led to all ten of us hanging out for the next 2 days that we were in Ho Chi Minh City. They were all really nice guys, we all got along well, and it was nice to have some males looking out for us in the city of Chaos.
We eventually found the market, and shopped, shopped, shopped. The knock-off bag selection was incredible, and it took us a while to get tired of it. Once we did, we met the guys and went for lunch. After lunch we were in the hunt for a spa, because someone had heard there was a place where there were blind masseurs, which was supposed to be amazing. After about an hour of walking aimlessly through Ho Chi Minh in hunt of this place, and just as we were giving up, we stumbled across a beautiful spa where most of us ended up getting massages. Janene and I somehow ended up booking what seemed like a couples massage, facial, and body scrub, for three hours. Great way to de-stress from a long day of shopping and road-crossing.
That night, all ten of us went out for dinner, and everyone (save for me, Janene, and Heather) did a shot of snake wine. Don't know what snake wine is? Let me enlighten you with the Wikipedia definition: "Snake wine is an alcoholic beverage that includes a whole venomous snake in the bottle. It originated in Vietnam and can be found around Southeast Asia. The snakes, preferably venomous ones, are not usually preserved for their meat but to have the snake poison dissolved in the liquor."
Mmmmmm......I bet you're thirsty now, aren't you?
Saturday we met the guys for breakfast, and then went to the Vietnam War Memorial Museum. I knew very little about the Vietnam War before going, and I learned a lot about what took place, and how the Vietnamese people were affected by it, not only at the time, but for generations. It really opened my eyes to the terror that these people have faced, and it gave me a lot more respect for their culture and ways of doing things. To be honest, it was actually very emotionally difficult to go through this museum and look at some of the pictures that I saw. I hadn't been prepared to be so moved by it, and although I was a little shaked after seeing some of things I saw there that day, I'm glad we went.
Saturday night, we said goodbye to the guys, and got on an overnight sleeper bus (a bus with little beds on it, making the 12 hour bus ride far more bearable), to go further north to Nha Trang. We got a great spot on the bus at the very back, where there was a row of 5 beds next to each other, and extra room to put our carry-on bags behind us. Before I left Canada, I got a prescription filled for Immovane, a very strong prescription sleeping pill that my doctor prescribed me last summer when I had bad insomnia. Each of us took half of one of these magic blue pills, and slept pretty well, considering our bodies were literally launched in the air a few times from the bumpy roads. So well, in fact, that at 6:30am the next morning when we arrived in Nha Trang, we woke to find that the bus had stopped, and everyone had already gotten off the bus, leaving us sound asleep at the back in a group spoon. Nice.
In Nha Trang Heather and Janene stayed at the Backpacker's Hostel, which they really liked, and Tia, Danielle, and I stayed at a nearby guesthouse, which we really liked as well. After a short nap (since we were a little groggy from the sleeping pills, and because it was too early for anything to be open yet) we went out to get some breakfast, which we discovered was amazing, and soon became our favourite meal of the day. The weather in Nah Trang that day was apparently the worst they had experienced for a looooong time (I heard someone say 'years'!), and it was just overcast, a little cool, and it rained for lweather wasn't nice enough to really do much, and being that we have internal magnets for this type of thing, we found a nice little spa, and booked ourselves in for mani's and pedi's. Tough day.
That evening happened to be Chinese New Year's Eve (which is a big deal). We went out for dinner, and then to a bar for a bit of dancing, where we met up with a large group of people also staying at the Backpacker's Hostel. Then we set off for the beach, where there were thousands of people waiting for the fireworks show to start at midnight. While waiting for them to start, we decided it would be fun to play in the ocean (in our clothes), which soon became quite the novelty because of how strong the current was, and how big the waves were. We had a lot of fun being five year olds, and then watched the fireworks, which lasted about 20 minutes, and were way better than our Canada Day fireworks that we have every year in the inner harbour. For 30,000 Dong (about $3 CAD), we bought a big paper lantern to light and send off into the sky, which was a lot of fun. Our evening was filled with hearing a lot of “Chuk Mung Nam Moi”, which means “Happy New Year” in Vietnamese. In addition, we fell in love with our new favourite song, called “Happy New Year” by ABBA. If you haven’t heard it, you should download it and give it a listen. It is the cheesiest song we have ever heard, and it was playing ALL over Vietnam for the full ten days that we were there. Somehow we’ve never gotten sick of it, and although we don’t know all the words, all five of us would break into loud, flamboyant song whenever it came on....which was usually several times a day. However, somehow Happy Family didn’t get offered a record deal. Hmmmm.
The next day, we slept in a bit, had a late, and amazing, breakfast, and then hit the beach which was located just down the road from where we were staying. After a few hours of paradise, Janene, Heather and I went to the mud bath and mineral water outdoor spa for the afternoon, which Danielle and Tia rented motorbikes to take themselves on a little tour a few sights they wanted to see. Before long, Tia’s motorbike was on top of her, and their tour was cut short. She was okay, but got a scraped knee out of the deal.
Our final day in Nah Trang we had booked ourselves on a private day tour. It was the smartest thing we could have done, because it was amazing. We left around 10:30 in the morning, and had our own driver and a local tour guide named Viet.....from Vietnam....which we thought was pretty funny. Viet taught us a lot about the government and the way the country is run. He really emphasized that the government doesn’t care about the people at all. If the government wants to take over land, and there are people living on it, the government displaces those people, takes the land, and doesn’t provide them with a new place to live. Pretty brutal.
Viet took us to a small fishing village first, where we got to see the harbour. The shoreline was filled with garbage. It was unbelievable. Apparently since this particular village is not a tourist village, the government provides no means of waste management, and the garbage from the village just gets thrown into the ocean, because they have nowhere else to put it. I kept thinking of the Sustainability Club and what we could do to help organize some kind of waste management system. Maybe an international field-trip project wouldn’t be such a bad idea sometime in the future...hmmmm...
Next, Viet took us to what he says is the most beautiful beach in Vietnam. Blue water, white sand, what could be better? So, we march out onto the beach, strip into our bikinis and set up camp on our towels, play in the waves a bit, and enjoy the beach. This didn’t last too long before we had a group of locals come up to our tour guide and ask if they could take their picture with us. Since they asked (most people here don’t, they just snap), we didn’t mind. We actually got a really cute group shot with them. However, over the next half hour we started noticing a lot of cameras coming out of the woodwork...and not just still cameras. Video cameras. Viet did his best to try to shoo them away, and tell them in Vietnamese that they were not allowed to film us, but there were so many of them, there was not much we could do about it. We noticed that we were not only the only white people on the beach, we were also the only ones in bathing suits. There were lots of people playing in the ocean, but they were all wearing pants and shirts, even in the water. After several failed attempts to get the cameras to go away, we decided it was time to leave.
We then went to a tiny little local “restaurant” (it was basically the front livingroom of someone’s house), and had some amazing local Vietnamese food, which we all ended up feeling sick from later, but it was good at the time. After the restaurant, we went to a mountain to hike up to a waterfall, which we swam in. Definitely a cool experience. The water was really, really cold, but it was worth it. We had a lot of fun. The best part was on our way back down, we ran into a group of local boys, ranging from age 9 to about 14. They didn’t speak a word of English, and we didn’t speak a word of Vietnamese, but we sang together all the way down the mountain. It was incredible. One of the boys would make some random sing-song sounds “boo-lay boo-lay boo-lay BOOO!” and we would echo back to him, all together. It was so fun, we laughed the whole way down.
That night, we had our last meal in Nah Trang, and got on another sleeper bus. This time we popped our magic pills a little earlier, so that we wouldn’t have to worry about not waking up in time to get off the bus at our destination. This time, we slept like babies, again in the back row all together, and again, snuggled up to each other. We arrived in Hoi An around 7:30am, and checked into the nicest place we stayed our whole Vietnam trip, the Southern Hotel and Villa. We had a great buffet breakfast at the hotel, and then spent the day walking around downtown. It’s a very small town, so it was a pretty chill day. All the girls got clothes made by the local tailors, which is apparently the thing to do in Hoi An. That night, we all took a Vietnamese cooking class, where we learned how to make various Vietnamese dishes. The chef was hilarious, and the dinner was really good.
The next morning, Heather, Janene, and I left the hotel early to catch a one hour flight to Hoi An, while Tia and Danielle got on a 17 hour bus ride to Hoi An around 1:30pm. When the three of us arrived in Hoi An, we checked into our hostel (the Hoi An Backpacker’s Hostel) and then walked around town for about 8 hours. The biggest priority that day was to find warm clothes to buy. We were leaving the next morning for a 3 day, 2 night boat tour around Haloong Bay, and we heard it was ridiculously cold there at night, and we didn’t really have much in the way of warm clothes. It probably wouldn’t have been such a hard thing to find if it weren’t still Tet holiday, which is the Vietnamese Chinese New Year holiday that goes on for......who knows how long. It seems our entire trip in Vietnam was Tet. When we were looking for clothes in Hoi An it was “oh, not many places are open, because it’s the first day after Tet.” A few days later it was “well, it’s the third day after Tet, so....” I kept wondering when Tet ends, and I think the answer is: whenever they feel like it. It definitely made it challenging, but we managed to find jackets and sweaters, and leggings from street vendors, and thank goodness we did, because it sure did get cold on that boat at night.
The next morning, Tia and Danielle met us at the hostel early in the morning, and we left for a 3 hour drive to Haloong Bay, where we got on a three-level, wooden boat and cruised for about 2 hours, during which time we passed more than 2000 limestone islands. It was beautiful. When we got out there, we kayaked around the islands for about two hours, and then had dinner on the boat, and mingled and got to know the other people a bit. We were woken up the next morning by blasting music at 7am, got up and had breakfast, and packed up our stuff to leave the boat. We got off the boat and onto Cap Ba Island, where we were taken to a mountain to hike. We hiked all the way up (which was pretty steep in some parts), and the view at the top was amazing. That afternoon we had a “free” afternoon to do what we wanted, and we stayed in a 3-star hotel, which was pretty comfortable. For our free afternoon, we just took it easy; had lunch, went to an internet cafe, had some tea on the rooftop patio, and had a nap. For dinner we went to a local restaurant with the 20-person group we were travelling with, and then went to bed.
The next day we went back to the boat in the morning, cruised for a few hours back to Haloong Bay, drove three hours to Hoi An, and then went to the airport for our trip back to Singapore.
I love Vietnam, had a great trip, and saw a lot of amazing things, but I was thrilled to come back to Singapore, and never realized before how much I truly love Singapore. It’s so developed, and beautiful, and safe here. I’ve always said that I could never picture living anywhere else than Victoria. However, if I had to live somewhere else for a few years for whatever reason, I think I could live in Singapore and be quite happy. Don’t worry Mom, I’m not moving anywhere, I’m just saying..........
10 days in Vietnam was definitely the perfect amount of time, and I’m glad we went. It was definitely a bit of culture shock, and more of a culture experience than we had had to date, and it is a trip I will always remember.
For reading break, at the end of February, we are going to do a week in Cambodia. I’m looking forward to seeing what that will be like, and I’m sure I’ll have some stories from that trip.
This weekend we’ve stayed in Singapore, which is abnormal for us, and I’m loving it. Janene and I went out for dinner with some people from school last night downtown, and the scenery was beautiful, the vibe was amazing, and we fell in love with Singapore all over again.
Today we’re finally taking Janene to the zoo. Right now she’s picking out her outfit for the penguins. That’s right. She’s been thinking about her Penguin outfit all week. She’s wearing a white dress with black buttons down the front and just asked me “do you think the penguins will think I’m one of them, and come play with me??” I don’t know how to tell her that I don’t think so.......it’s bound to be an entertaining afternoon.
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