I Love Tailors and Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An last night. We flew which was very nice because we are able to spend more time in both Hanoi and Hoi An. Hoi An is quiet a nice change from the busy city of Hanoi. Liz said she now understands why I liked the smaller places so much better. Today was a day spent looking at different tailors and figuring out what I wanted made. It has been very exciting! My first fittings when very well and I'm excited to see the end results. We might need another suit case. The weather has warmed up more to my liking which means that it is nice and hot. Having a pool is wonderful for a mid-afternoon cool down. Other than more fittings tomorrow I'm not sure what we will do.

Back from Halong Bay

So I think the next few blogs will be on the short side with no pictures. While we have a computer in our room (*exciting for me*) I think this computer has a bug on it and I'm not willing to find out the hard way by plugging my memory card into it. So pictures will come soon.

On Monday we left for Halong Bay via a tour. The weather wasn't horrible the whole time but overcast and misty - so we couldn't see all that far. However, it did give the area a cool mystical vibe. The weather has been slightly on the cold side for me, I have been having to bring a jacket just in case, but my parents think that this is warm coming from Seattle. I'm glad I got to see Halong Bay but am a little disappointed. One thing I can't get over is how dirty places are. The water on the bay was nasty. It looked like there had been an oil slick with bottles, bags, and other crap floating on the water. I had no desire to swim after seeing the water. Other than that we had a nice trip - lots of food.

This morning we saw Ho Chi Mihn's body and did a little touring of his things. While going through the mausoleum I was waiting for Ho's eyes to open and for him to sit up straight... it didn't happen though.

Tomorrow we fly to Danang and will spend a few days in HoiAn and Hue before going to Cambodia.

Terry still can't get over the traffic here. He says it is like playing on the freeway. They are getting better about being able to cross the street though. Liz says she just closes her eyes.

Family Has Arrived!

My parents have arrived! They have managed to at least stay up to 8pm and I bet they will make it for one or two more hours. We walked around a little and have had dinner. It has been fun showing them around Hanoi. I think the traffic has scarred them more than a little bit. Terry says it's like walking on the freeway. Tomorrow we set off on a three day tour of Halong Bay. I'm hoping the weather will clear up and be warm for a little swimming and kayaking. More to come when we get back.

Hanoi

I'm back in Vietnam. I spent a little while in Saigon to make sure I didn't have any problems before catching my flight to Hanoi. Hanoi is great! I'm staying at a nice hostel where I have met lots of people to hang out with. Yesterday we had a group of 8+ walking around the city. Hanoi is an easy city was get around in. Today I'm going to see Uncle Ho's body. My parents come tomorrow and I'm super excited! This is the longest we have been a part. Hanoi is nice a cool. Pants would be good to wear but I can't be bothered to find them in my bag.

Angkor Wat, Kids, and 12hr Bus Rides

Wow, the last four days were amazing! Taking 43 kids to Siem Reap was a wonderful thing to be able to be a part of. The trip had its ups and downs, just like any trip, but luckily we are all still in one piece and didn't loose anyone! We departed on Thursday at 8am on our 12 hr bus ride. We had 14 volunteers plus a few extra people so we didn't have enough seats for everyone - kids had to triple/quadruple up. Jo and I, at one point, each had a kid on our lap. We gave each kid a travel sickness pill after breakfast. For someone reasons locals can't handle the bus rides! I don't understand. No kids threw up on the bus which was wonderful. This was the first time a lot of the kids had been out of S.ville, let alone stayed at a guesthouse, so they were loving sharing a room and having a tv and bathroom. Plus all of the kids were dressed in their Sunday's best - most of the time the kids aren't very clean and some even smell like wee.

Day two started with feeding the kids noodles and heading for Angkor Wat. Emma, another volunteer, and I shared a group of 6 teenage girls. Talk about not a very fun group to hang out with. One or two of the girls had been before and didn't want to look around while the others were doing okay. It was a very fast look at everything. We found monkeys and treats to eat a long the way. I'm not sure what I was expecting of Angkor Wat but it didn't match what I thought it should. After lunch we went to Bayon. Bayon was my favorite. You could walk around it and have it towering over you in a way that I didn't feel at Angkor Wat. The kids had fun exploring while Emma and I tried to find our kids. Part of our group had fun disappearing while we had our backs turned. It was a hot, hot day - in the 90s and we all were wilting by the end of the day. After dinner we left the kids with baby sitters while we went into town for dinner. The first day was a very big success!

At the bar of the restaurant we went to, there was a photograph of Angkor Wat with a person in it... I looked at it and had this moment of knowing exactly where the photographer had stood to take that picture and I was amazed because I had been there and seen that shot. Seeing everything was amazing. However going with kids made it all quick trip and I look forward to going back with my parents so I can take my time and see everything properly.

Day three we started with breakfast and got on the bus to Ta Prohm. This is the one that has the tree roots everywhere. Only two of the kids wanted to go in so we set the rest of our group on a bench and went exploring. It was amazing to see these huge trees with their root growing over the temple but I was expecting more of them. I think everything is a little smaller than I thought it would be. We took the kids to the market to eat while the volunteers went elsewhere - we were getting sick of Khmer food. The afternoon was spent at another NGO where we had a little cake and movie time.

Day four was the bus ride back. We were planning on leaving at 7am with breakfast at 6am but it just didn't work. Jo (who is one of the main people) and I got up at 5:45 to go to the market to find bananas and bread for breakfast while the rest of the slightly hung-over volunteers got everyone up. Everything took longer than it should have yesterday. We had one volunteer who was sick and couldn't get on a bus without a bathroom - we waited that out to see if the meds would kick in. I wasn't feeling the best and one of the other volunteers had an herbal supplement that would calm your stomach down. Well, I took that only to start having an allergic reaction to in an hour into our bus ride. With antihistamine in my system and my epi-pen ready I didn't need to stop at a hospital. This was neither the time nor place I really would have liked to have something happen. We were still 5hrs away from Phnom Penh. We had one volunteer who was puking most of the ride from too much alcohol the night before. Our lunch stop was at a restaurant with vendors outside that sold fried tarantulas! When I saw a live one I went running in the other direction and when I heard there was a large live one of the bus I was almost ready to pass out. So yesterday wasn't a great day for me but the kids did great on our drive back.

Overall, I think the CCPP has been the project that I have liked the most and felt that I have had the most influence at. I’m sad to be leaving and hope that I can come back at some point. I can’t believe that my four months of volunteering is up! October feels like it was forever ago. I am now onto Part V of my trip, I will meet up with my parents in Hanoi and our 3 weeks will go very quickly. In a way I’m not ready to come back to Seattle. Being here is like being in Lala Land – the outside world doesn’t seem to exist and I haven’t had to worry about what will happen when I come home. Tomorrow I leave for Saigon and then on Thursday I will fly to Hanoi.

Week 3 in Cambodia

Paint cups - we have the thrilling job to remove the dried paint each morning.

I have had an amazing time in Cambodia and don't really want to leave. While I still don't enjoy starting to sweat at 8:30 in the morning, sleeping in a room that is 84 degrees, and getting poked, prodded, and/or slapped - I'm getting use to it now and to an extent don't mind it. I'm getting better at remembering to drink 3 times the amount of water that I would normally drink. I now only flinch/squirm half the time kids pokes me in the side and to make up for everything I love the hugs. I think the part I love so much of this project is how much the kids look forward to my attention and care. I love being able to give a kid a hug or hold them when they might not be getting this attention at home.

Andrew, Louise, Sandi, and I at the underwhelming waterfall.

Sandi and I playing with the shrimp we were going to eat for dinner.

In my last week at CCPP we will be taking a four day trip to Angkor Wat with about 40 of the kids ages 10-17. We will have two 12 hour bus rides and two days looking at Wats. All of the kids are excited and I'm overwhelmed by the idea but it will be an amazing experience being with the kids. This trip is a huge deal for them to be able to do this. I will then get to experience Angkor Wat again with my parents a few weeks later.

Me and Kosol - I bought one of his paintings.

This is what it looks like when we have a full house painting in the morning.

I'm getting to this strange place where a month ago I wanted to go home (I was homesick) and now the idea that I only have 5 weeks left is sad. I will be leaving Cambodia to meet up with my parent in Vietnam which I am very excited about but now that it is so close doesn't seem real. When I was leaving for Laos from Thailand I was on skype with Terry in tears because I was so freaked out about going to a different country and the idea of going to Vietnam or Cambodia on my own was no problem. I'm getting a hang of the traveling on my own and things have worked out well for me. I'm excited to be able to show my parents around. The tables have switched for us and while they are nervous and don't know what to expect I'm more carefree and know a little on how things will go. I get to be the tour guide this time and that excites me.

Thang aka "Hot Lips" - it's lunch time and he's eating it all.

Me and Teb hanging out in the studio.

I was thinking back on the last year and am so happy with my decision to travel. In a lot of ways I'm not sure how I have changed but think that once I get home I will start to see things differently. Last month I questioned whether being away for four months was a good idea and now I wouldn't change a thing. I really love being on my own and experiencing such different things. With that being said, I really do miss having the people I care about so far way. Someone asked me if I would want to stay once my parents left and part of me says yes. I think it would be fun to be able to have a long weekend at home and then come back here. There is still so much that I won't get to see that I want to. I have also had people tell me that they couldn't do what I am doing and right now this doesn't seem strange at all. At times I forget that I am in a different country and I like that it feels familiar.

You can check out more pictures of Cambodia at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33972836@N04/ - these are Andrew and Louise's pictures.

Khmer Experiences

I have experienced a Khmer baby christening and a wedding in a spand of 24 hours. The baby christening was for one of the men who works at CCPP. It was a fun, authentic, event - dinner, dancing, and karaoke. The evening consisted of a lot of Angkor beer and ants! The ants were in a beef dish and before I knew what it was I thought it was good. After thinking about it too much I couldn't eat anymore of it because I could then see the ant bodies! I got to hear a few wonderful tunes via karaoke by the guys I work with. Afterwords included dancing at another bar with my CCPP volunteers. The next night we went to the wedding of the son whose mom runs the shop next door to us. We really didn't know anyone other than our little group and it our group was much quieter at the wedding - we were all recovering from the night before. It looked like everyone else was drunk, there was dancing, more karaoke, and more new food to try (but nothing like ants).

Today was our day off. Andrew, Louise, Sandi, and I went to the local waterfall. The waterfall was underwhelming - dry season. After that we got tuk-tuked around and saw a little more of S.ville. It was fun to see outside our little touristy area. It was a nice day of no kids but not really a long enough break to recover from the hectic week with the kids.

Just a few minutes ago the power went out - something that isn't so strange anymore but is always a drag. This time it wasn't out for very long. Tomorrow starts my third week here. In just a few weeks my parents will be here and my trip will be winding to an end. It seems like I left so long ago and doesn't seem real that I will be back in about a month and a half.