All by Myyyseeeellllfff…..

Music: Nite Jewel

Isn’t life magnificent?  One minute you’re travelling the world (read: asia) with one of your best buddies, the next you’re sitting in an internet cafe, all alone, super bummed and one day away from a whole new adventure.

Cheer up son!  I think that’s what the English lad i’ve been spending time with would say to me.  So I guess I’m not that alone…BUT I WILL BE!  Tomorrow!  AAaaaaAAA!!!!  Lindzy!  With no one to talk too!  Good lord have mercy!

For the last three months I have been attached to the hip with Natalie, travelling from country to country, doing absolutely everything together, day and night.  We had one day apart when I went to Angkor Wat (coolest ever!!!) and since Nat had already seen it, opted for nursing a nasty hallowe’en hangover.

Now she’s gone.

With Leah.

Without me.

Leah has just finished her year contract with Toyama Amity and came to meet the two of us in Chiang Mai.  We trekked with our new English buddies for three days out in the jungle, cuddled some tigers, night trained it to Bangkok, clubbed it up, met up with Katrina and Jason (friends from home that I havn’t seen in a year and a half!!!) and raced around markets.

After being a duo for some time, Nat and I have enjoyed the luxury of numerous friends.  We met two lads on the bus/boat/bus from Laos to Thailand, Tom and Rich and no one has been able to seperate us for the last 7 days (not even Thai girls….;) that ones for you Tom…).  Thats when Leah came back into my life.  Then we came to Bangkok and I got a taste of home when I spotted Katrina and Jason in our hotel lobby.

I know.  Friends galloooooore!!!!

I’d forgotten what a great threesome Nat, Leah and I make.  I’d forgotten how comfortable and natural it is to be with Leah and how much she makes me laugh and smile.  I’m almost 100% certain she grew tired of me within the first ten minutes of our reunion and my one million questions. I just wanna hug her face alll the time!

It was so good to see Katrina again as well (parties guelph style!! wootwoot!).  I’d forgotten what a good friend she is.

It was also excellent to meet new friends.  We’ve met some good ones on this journey, but I’ll have to give the crowns to these boys (though two Canadian girls from Laos are very close runner ups).  They are super funny and genuine dudes.  I’ll be sad to see them go.

Almost as sad as I am right now.  Natalie and Leah are off to explore more of Thailand and make their slow way to Australia (where apparently everyone is going….except me.)  Katrina will thankfully stay put with her job and her boyfriend Jason in Bangkok (weekend visits?!?).  Tom and Rich… well, because of all the riots and chaos in Bangkok, they’ve closed the airports, so these poor guys are stuck in Bangkok till they can get their cancelled flight rescheduled to Australia (see! everyone!).  And then there is me… off to teach some more English  in the Northeast of Thailand, where schools are highly underfunded and volunteers are desired.  Alone.  Only English speaker. 

Yikes.  With the sadness I feel at the loss of losing Natalie and Leah its hard to be excited about this new adventure.  Come to me in a week.

Where Am I?!

Music: Boys Noize

At the moment I am hanging out in Thailand.  The hanging out part won’t be for long though, on December First I start doing some volunteer work out in the north east of Thailand.  The last month has been gorgeous though!  Clearly, so much fun that I havn’t been able to blog it up.

Vietnam feels so long ago, its strange to write about it.  Natalie and I spent a full three weeks there.  We finished off in Saigon (probably my least favourite part of Nam) for our last touch of Vietnam city life (aka, dirty, loud and hot) then strolled down to the Mekong for a lovely boat ride into Cambodia.

Unfortunately we only had time for 2 weeks in Cambodia.  I really liked Cambodia, but its funny thinking back, two things that stand out in my mind are: sadness and the biggest friendliest smiles I have ever seen.  Strange a bit eh? 

The sad part obviously comes from the (relatively) recent genocide.  One day in Phnom Penh checking out killing fields and museums can sure put a damper on a travellers high.  Furthermore the poor begging children and the land mine victims arn’t all that uplifting either.  The saddest thing I have ever seen was the look on a young boys face (about eight or nine) after he took a hit (is that what you call it? a hit?) from a plastic bag full of gas.  An eight year old.  Huffing.  Unreal.  It broke my heart. 

We also spent a day at an orphanage, playing with kids whose parents are too poor to take care of them.  But the smiles, the smiles are the best in Cambodia.  Even after all this tragedy they give everyone their happiest smiles and cheekiest grins. 

Clearly a highlight of Cambodia was Angkor Wat.  Holy hell amazing!  Something everyone should see for themselves… so go!!!  I’d go on and on about it, but seeing isn’t the same as hearing about it. If you’re lucky i’ll show you pictures.

So yah, sadness and smiles.

The Tale of Camera Number 2

After finishing the North part of Vietnam, we headed further south for the center.  We made stops in Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne.

The joy of travelling Vietnam (other than all the amazing things you can do, see, learn and people you can meet) is its geography.  This country must be one of the most traveller friendly places I have ever been (shhhh to all of those pointing out that I havn’t really travelled much!).  It’s a narrow country, making it easy to travel from North to South (or South to North if you choose).  We didn’t need to spend more than three days in one place, and we were able to book tickets for our next spot with only one day notice (unlike how annoying it was how early you had to book in China… blahblahblah olympics, national holidays …).

Vietnam was therefore very in and out.  Get in, get freshened up, get out, do your thing, see what you gotta see, do what you gotta do, eat what you’re meant to eat, drink where you are meant to drink, book next ticket, wake early, grab a snack for the road, get your travel pillow ready, arrive in the next town, repeat.

Hue was quaint, with a beautiful old Citadel and amazing old tombs.  I enjoyed.  This is where Natalie bought a new camera.  She wanted badly to capture the trip on her own, and not just take my pictures.  Understandable, we all have a different way of looking at things and capturing our memories.  She got an excellent deal too!

Hoi an was good for what it promised: good tailors, good shoemakers, old well preserved french architecture and flooding in the wet season.  Nothin like sitting at a bar, drinking $0.50 pints watching the river fill up, spill onto the street, and slowly creep up to your feet till they have to close the bar down and close the street down for that matter.

Nha Trang, heaven on earth.  Well, maybe not that good, but it was good.  After a few busy cities, it was awesome to lie on the beach all day, soaking up the hot sun, swimming in the ocean and having ladies with baskets on their heads cut up fresh fruit for you to munch on. 

Natalie has this pout that she does whenever she looks in a mirror.  It’s something that I can’t help but mock her about.  She doesn’t even realize she is doing it, but it’s funny for me every time.  I can’t do it as well, but she enjoyed taking photos of me trying to pucker up in a pout as perfect as hers.

This was the last we saw of her camera.  Most likely it was stolen at a bar we hung out at that night.  Whan whan whaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn.  There’s someone out there, wondering what the ef I was doing.

We headed for our next beach paradise, this one less touristy.  Mui Ne is about 15 km long and lies along a beach front comparable to Nha Trang.  Apparently it has a surfing season, but I saw none of that.  Its lined with beach resort after beach resort and Nat and I could not complain about our $8 bungalow on the waterfront, or the ladies that gave you massages on the lounge chairs on the beach.

Thats about as resorty as i’ll go.  The place may actually have been more touristy than Nha Trang, but you wouldn’t know since everyone is hiding out in their resorts.

  There’s something unappealing about staying on a resort while travelling.  You arn’t really travelling, it feels like.  You’re ignorning the fact that people actually live around this make believe place, working and not just relaxing on a beach day in and day out.  Makes one feel a little shallow too.  It was nice to spend a day on the beach free of annoyances and something that we had to do or had to see, but one day was enough, and it was time to get back to reality.

  We did ventured into the village where the people actually live, saw the fishing village and did some sand sledding. 

You heard me.  Sand sledding.  Mui Ne also has huge sand dunes which tourist come to check out, photograph, and take a slide down on a sled.  It was … interesting… sledding in snow is better, i must say.

Time in Vietnam is running out.  Only two places left to go!  I have so far fallin in love with Vietnam and have found a reason to come back. 

Marriage!  No really!  No I havn’t found someone in Vietnam I want to marry.  It’s the tailors in Hoi An.  Its perfect, everyone can get their outfits tailor made (wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, tuxes, after party dresses, beach dresses… how many dresses do you get at a wedding?  Honeymoon dresses…) and then you can have bachelor/bachelorette parties on the beach, where the beer is cheap!  Mostly I just have dreams of tailor made dresses.  I’ll let you guess how many I got done in Hoi An (don’t worry, I didn’t jump the gun and get anything white… i’m not that keen). 

Biggest regret: I didn’t get hand made boots.  Whyyyy?!  How do I live with myself?!?!