Vietnam/Cambodia

Thanks to the curious readers out there who checked back and my apologies for the slow posting...it's been a busy summer with some additional summer classes (I'm teaching on Saturday during August) it seems like I have had very little spare time. So, my apologies and I hope that my posting with be enjoyable enough to offset the slowness thereof. HA!
As you can see on the right hand side, the Cambodia and Vietnam flags have been added, so YES...the Vietnamese visa was in fact valid and we had no problems getting in to the country!
We started off on Saturday morning at around 5:30 AM and headed up to the Incheon (Seoul) airport. Got there no problem but Sam had just a single entry visa into Korea (I had multiple, so can come and go as I please) and so we had to go get him an update to get back in to the country and that morning I swear 90% of the teachers in Korea were applying for the same thing. We waited and as anyone who knows me well can attest I am an antsy person when it comes to time. We were getting a little close on check in time, and fortunately when we got to the check in line the guy from the airline moved us right up to the front of the line...not sure if it was because we were running a little late or if we just looked like two cools guys (I'd prefer to think the latter) but anyway, we got all checked in and through security no problem. Well, at this point I was cool and calm, Sam however...not so much. Sam HATES flying...he loves to travel but hates to fly, which can pose a bit of a problem since living in South Korea makes it impossible to drive to any other country! We boarded the plane and I could tell Sam was very nervous, for whatever reason even though we bought the tickets at the same time and checked in at the same time, we weren't sitting together, so as people were getting on Sam was pacing up and down the isle. I gave him a questioning thumbs up and the lady next to me said "You know that guy?" I said yes, he's my buddy and she said "what's wrong with him?" HA! I just said he hates to fly and she said "yeah, I can tell!" Anyway, got in the air OK and got to Guangzhou, China OK. The dumb thing there was that even though we weren't even entering China, we still had to go through a check there where they took our passports (I'm a freak about keeping my passport in my hands, especially in a communist country! HA) and after waiting for about 5 minutes they came back and handed back the passports. We had to go back through a security check too and Sam (who's a smoker) got his lighter confiscated! He wasn't too happy about that, since oddly enough in Korea he could take it on the plane and yet even though we never technically entered China they took his lighter! So, it had been a rough morning/afternoon for Sam. I HATE mice and rats (courtesy of my sweet mother) and a few times during the trip I saw one and about jumped out of my skin...Sam chuckled and said "my fear of flying is like having a rat in my face for 5 or 6 hours" and so I have never made fun of him for hating to fly, I think I would literally die if that was the case. So, anyway...Sam had had a rough morning between the flying and the cigarette lighter getting jacked. Anyway, had a 6 hour layover, met some cool people that were waiting as well, met a guy that was teaching in Korea from Colorado and he had lived in Durango for a while, so it was fun chatting with people even though I was excited to get to Vietnam. So, we got to Ho Chi Minh airport after the long layover and relatively short flight, we were a little nervous about the visas working, so I nudged Sam in front of me in the visa line, I figured if he got cuffed or tazed then I could make a break for it back out onto the tarmac or something! He made it through no problem and so I breathed a sigh of relief. Got through and outside and the taxi drivers (as I had read and is so common especially in South East Asia) just hit us, 10 guys all at once saying "get in, get in!" Well, we haggled a bit and asked how much it would be, some people said 20 USD, and finally we found a guy who said 15 USD and we were ready to just get to the hotel. Well, as we pull out of the airport he says "well, you also have to pay 5 USD for some fee, blah blah blah inaudible inaudible" followed by more mumbling. Anyway, dude drives us into Ho Chi Minh and he said it would take "at least 30 minutes" (even though my print off from the hotel said 10-15 AND it was late Saturday night) but we were to the hotel in less than 10. So, he drops us off on the corner and points down the street and says "there!" I couldn't see anything so I was thinking he had just left us out in the middle of the city to perish, so I said "why don't you drive us down the street?" He said it was one way (which was a lie) and so finally we got out. Sam gave him 10 USD and the guy was upset saying we had agreed on 15 USD and we had to pay his "airport fee" (yeah right) and so we said "it only took 10 minutes, you said 30." We just started walking away and he was angry, but we thought "whatever!" So, find the hotel (which was actually very nice for the price) and after checking in I asked the guy "so, how much should we have paid for a taxi ride?" he said "Oh, no more than 5 USD!" HA...so, anyway, we got ripped off the first night. So, our plan was to go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia the next day. I had looked at the map and thought it was about 300-350km and so anticipated a 4 to maybe 5 hour bus ride...well, that was not even remotely close on the time. I have never lived anywhere that has roads like Vietnam and Cambodia...it's almost indescribable the road conditions there. Picture 1000s of scooters everywhere on a two lane road that isn't in very good condition and that's the roads in Vietnam and Cambodia. There's no interstate or express road like the US and Korea, not even close. So, we only made it to Phnom Penh, Cambodia the first night, we didn't get there until around 7 PM and P.P. was only about half way. So, we got a hotel and planned to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum the next day. I had read a decent amount about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Regime of the 1970s but had no idea the atrocities that took place at Tuol Sleng. Basically it was a high school in P.P. that was taken over and used as a torture and prison camp. After Pol Pot took power he wanted to get rid of anyone who he feared might lead a coup against him and it is estimated that between 17,000-20,000 people were held tortured and then killed at Tuol Sleng (also known as S-21). At the end of the regime the Vietnamese army had liberated the city of P.P. and as they approached the last prisoners were killed off. The Vietnamese took pictures of some of the victims that were found hours later, and they were VERY disgusting to say the least. They tortured the people with electrocution, water boarding, strangulation, and about every other thing you can think of. It was equally as disturbing as my trip to Dachau in Germany. Anyway...it made for quite a somber morning. We caught the bus to head on the Siem Riep at around 1 PM and made another LOOOOONG bus ride on up through the Cambodian countryside. We arrived to Siem Riep at around 7:30 PM and we were literally locked inside a gate and had to use one of the tuk-tuks inside the gate for them to even unlock the thing! So, we paid maybe 4 USD for a ride over to our hotel. Got there and checked in and went out and got some really nice food at a really good restaurant for only about 4 USD. That was one thing I noticed, almost EVERYTHING in Cambodia and Vietnam was inexpensive. So, the next day we went off to Angkor Wat, which is a Hindu temple complex and certainly the most famous place in Cambodia (as seen on the flag). It was built around the early 12th century for the King Suryavarman II. We had hired a tuk tuk driver to drive us around the entire day (as Angkor Wat is HUGE!) and so we pretty much cruised around the entire place and saw most of what there was to see. They offered 3 day passes to Angkor Wat but we opted to just get the 1 day and I was plenty satisfied with just one day, it was very amazing and beautiful, but I am always ready to move on and see the next thing! HA! So, we decided to brave the 14 hour bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh the next day (if we had it to do over again we would have flown into Siem Riep and then just taken the bus ride once, but we didn't know...so what can you do?!). So, that's what we did, woke up early and basically rode the bus the entire day back to Ho Chi Minh. As we rode through the beautiful Cambodian countryside I was overwhelmed by the poverty in that country. Houses were barely held together, most places looked like they didn't have electricity or running water (I noticed a lot of town wells) and many people looked sad and hungry. I felt SO BLESSED to have been born where I was and to have all the things I enjoy in my life. I think too often we complain that others have more than we have, or we need more toys, or more money, or a better job, or blah blah blah and there are so many people in this world who have FAR LESS than you and I enjoy. So, not trying to get on my soapbox but it really was a life changing trip for me. I had never seen such poverty in all my life and I promised myself on that bus that I would be grateful for the things I have in my life and remember them everyday.
So, we arrived to Ho Chi Minh late that evening and checked into a hotel, we had a few problems and I think Sam and I were both a little irritated at the hotel staff(they had promised we could use a laptop which then was broken and they had promised Sam he could check his camera and video camera in to their safe and then they said that it was too small!) but after grabbing dinner and relaxing for a bit we were both OK. We had planned to go up to Mui Ne a really nice beach area in the morning. So, we got up early and headed to Mui Ne, not a bad bus ride, about 4 hours. The countryside in Vietnam was quite different from that in Cambodia, much more mountainous and rocky than Cambodia which seemed to have miles and miles of fertile fields. We arrived in Mui Ne and I must say, it was pure heaven! We had reserved a nice resort hotel for one night and I couldn't believe when we got there how amazing it was! We were both elated. We wanted to rent some scooters and ride around the town and coast and so for just 10 USD we rented some scooters from the resort. The town of Mui Ne really cool, very laid back and seemed like a true Vietnamese beach town. There were some other more touristy places, but I'm glad we chose Mui Ne. We rode the scooters around most of the afternoon and enjoyed everything there. The resort wasn't very full and I found out that July is kind of the slow time for Vietnam tourism, most of their tourists are from Europe and don't start showing up until around later September, October time. So, here we were at the amazing beach-front resort and there was hardly anyone there. We chilled out at the pool for most of the evening, just relaxing and enjoying the down time. We had originally planned to just stay one night, but when we were out at the pool we were talking and both easily agreed that we should stay one more night! HA! It was relatively cheap (65 USD) and I am certain that a place like that in the States would have easily been 120-130 USD a night. It was amazing, private beach, nice pool, beautiful grounds...everything you could want! Mui Ne is famous for their sand dunes and so the next day we took the scooters up to the sand dunes and enjoyed looking around and seeing everything. It felt a little to me like my brother's old town of Prescott, Arizona and I had a little deja-vu when we stopped to take a picture, I remembered riding back with Mer and Derek from Wal-Mart and it made me think of them and miss them. We rode scooters pretty much all day, all over the area, down to the beach and the area where they had tons of little, stinky fish! HA! Not even sure what they are (don't know my fish very well) but they didn't smell very good! So, sadly we knew the trip was winding down. We enjoyed our last night in Mui Ne and then took the bus back to Ho Chi Minh the next day. When we got to Ho Chi Minh we walked around and saw some different local sites and visited the market there. We stayed at the same hotel the last night and then headed to the airport at about 6 AM on Sunday. Had another long layover in China and then got back to Incheon airport ready to get home...well, the day we went there it had been raining in the morning and apparently Sam had accidentally forgot to turn the lights off. So...HAHA, we had to try and get jumped off, but the battery was too low, so eventually we just pushed it (it's a stick) and Sam was able to pop the clutch and we were off! We got back to Cheonan around 1 AM and I had to leave for work early the next morning.
It was an amazing trip...one of the best trips I have ever been on. I had a great time with Sam, we shared plenty of laughs and some serious conversations about how lucky we are to live the lives we do. I saw things I'd never seen before, thought a lot about my life and how lucky and blessed I've been. I got to check off 2 more countries on my list (up to 12 now! woo-hoo) and got some cool visas in my passport. I was a little disappointed with some of my pics, I think I set the shutter speed wrong a few places and when it was really sunny I didn't seem to get very good pics. Sam is an amazing photographer and seems to be able to capture certain elements much better than I do, some of the pics here are from his camera, so they are a combined effort. He has an uncanny ability to capture humans, something I seldom do. I usually like the "postcard" pics and he always gets some cool shots of people doing seemingly ordinary things, yet it captures the moment probably much better than a postcard shot. Anyway...I hope you enjoyed the trip update, surely I forgot some stuff but I hope you could get a good feel for the trip.

Good Morning Vietnam!

Well as most of you know one of my favorite things in the whole world is to travel...my hope is to go to at least 30 countries in my lifetime (and hopefully many many more). Well, next Saturday I'll be adding at least one more to my list, well...HOPEFULLY anyway. I have a very interesting story to tell about my hopeful Vietnam trip.
About a month or more ago I had talked to my friend Sam about going on a possible summer trip, he said he wanted to go with me but that he had to work an English camp and couldn't go. So, since I did Thailand at Christmas I figured I'd head to China (there is an AWESOME island called Hainan in soutern China) since I'd never been there. Well, I had booked the trip and everything and the following Monday got a text from Sam he said "I messed up the dates, I CAN go, so let's go somewhere!" I told him I had already booked the trip, but I would try and see if I could just add him to my current trip. Checked with Expedia, they said no go...couldn't just add someone (which makes no sense since the flight I had booked was still listed, and of course I had already booked a hotel, but anyway...) so I decided to just eat the $35 fee and cancel. I was excited about the prospect of having a travel buddy finally for one of my trips...traveling alone can be rewarding, plus you don't have to put up with someone possibly annoying you...you can come and go as you please, see what you want, whatever. On the other hand it's not near as memorable to not have anyone to share the memories with. So, anyway...I asked him where he wanted to go. He said he had never been to Vietnam or Cambodia and I hadn't either, and thus the adventure began.
Well, Sam teaches university and as soon as they finished school he said he would go to the Vietnam embassy (this was about 2 weeks ago) and I thought that sounded great. We had looked online and the listed price for a Vietnamese visa was $50. A little steep we thought, but whatever...so, he went to the embassy in Seoul. He filled out the paperwork, etc. and then the guy quoted him at $85. Huh?! He asked why...why was it so much more. "Well, you know paperwork, blah blah blah" the guy said. So, he told me "sorry man, it's $85!" Ugh...OK, it's not your fault, let's just pay it, whatever. So, Sam goes back to get our passports and visas, and lo and behold...the price had jumped up to $120! OK, now this was getting ridiculous. More fees for blah blah blah...what can you do?! So, very very very reluctantly Sam paid the fee for us. I wasn't upset at him, but NOT HAPPY with the situation. So, Sam's driving home after we've already been beaten and left on the road to die...and the guy (I swear) calls Sam and says "Sam, I'm sorry, I forgot...that was only half of the fee. I need you to deposit another $120 each INTO MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT and then I will just send the money on to the embassy for you." Sam says "No, I'm not going to pay you any more!" and hangs up. So, we met last Friday, we decided we were NOT going to pay this guy any more money. I e-mailed a guy that has a travel blog on Lonely Planet and asked him if he had ever had this happen, he said "no, I've never paid more than $50 for a Vietnam visa." So...we vowed and swore with a blood oath (OK, not really) that we were not going to pay the man/crook/evil bad extortionist/jerk any more money. We had our visas in our passports, with a receipt for $220 and so we're hoping these visas will be good when we get to the airport in Ho Chi Minh next Saturday night. If not...um not sure! HA! We do have a plan B, take Air Asia (which has amazingly low flights) to Thailand or Malaysia, but hopefully it won't come to that. I sure hope when we get to the airport they will just scan the visa and let us in. The guy hasn't called Sam back, and so I hope he realized that we were not idiots and I hope he didn't have the power to cancel them. Ugh...if so, we might have to call Al Capone or Tony Soprano to intervene on our behalf.
So, anyway...haven't even left yet and already a really interesting story. So, the plan anyway is to head to Ho Chi Minh on July 24th, and then off to Cambodia for a few days, then back to Vietnam to ride some scooters and chill on the beach. We'll see if it happens! HA!
Wish us luck!
PS: Sorry the pic of the visa has some paper over it, I had to cover my passport number since I am currently in the witness protection program and don't want to be found!
:)

The Land of the Free...The Home of the Brave!

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July! Oddly this is one of the few holidays I've noticed that I get homesick, maybe it's just the patriotic side of me, but every year (this is the 3rd) I'm away from the States on the 4th I feel a little sad. I'm thankful for the role the United States of America has played over the years and the freedoms that those before us have helped to defend.
I think back to some of the most difficult and trying times in our nation's history and I'm almost brought to tears when I think of the sacrifice that has been made for each of us, to be able to enjoy our daily lives. I was reading the other day about George Washington and the Battle of Trenton when the words written by Thomas Paine were read to raise the morale of the troops:
These are the times that try men's souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
I love reading and learning about history but as much as I appreciate our early soldiers, I never could seem to relate to them as well as those who have fought in the more recent past.
I've tried to read and understand as much as possible about World War II, for some reason I am fascinated by it, not in a weird sense that I think it's "cool" but more so that I am in awe that people who lived during that time were able to accomplish the things they did. It's impossible for me to truly ever comprehend what those men and women did to preserve our freedoms. One of my favorite World War II quotes came from Major Dick Winters. Major Winters seems to be everything that was good about those soldiers and although Winters has received many special accolades over the course of his life, he has always remained a very humble guy. At the end segment of Band of Brothers he quoted a passage from a letter he had received from Sergeant Mike Ranney: "I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said 'No… but I served in a company of heroes…'"

This is one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs and very fitting for the 4th!

Muju Firefly Festival

I'm not sure if you remember last year I posted when I went to Busan for Chuseok that I went through a little town named Muju that was really cool. Well, each year they have a firefly festival and I after going I have no idea why they have the festival as I didn't see one single firefly, but anyway, I guess anything to have a festival. I went early in the day, did some minor hiking and sightseeing. It was a really nice day, overcast but still really nice. It was cool, on the way to see a waterfall and a temple I saw some some people out planting rice, so stopped and got a few pics. I've seen plenty of rice fields, but never actually seen anyone out planting. It doesn't look very fun...there was a guy who ran a big machine to plant, and then across the street there were some older women planting by hand! I think they were just planting along the edges where the machine wouldn't reach. Anyway, after a nice day out, went down to Muju that evening for the festival. Not too much was going on, some food and other vendors, pretty much just a bunch of booths and what not. That night Korea was opening the World Cup playing against Greece, so the little Muju stadium was packed with people watching the game...Korea won 2-0 (the fireworks are after their first goal!) and so everyone was happy! It was a fun way to spend the day.

Welcome to my neighborhood

OK, I finally got some pictures of the lanterns as promised. I have had a few friends say they were curious what some of the things around the neighborhood looked like, so I decided to go out and take a few pics of that too...nothing special, I just snapped these on the way to school the other day, but I thought you might like to see where I am everyday. There are of course some pics of the lanterns, they look really cool...hard to capture that in a picture but I really like seeing those everyday, they're very colorful. My apartment building is really tall, so I couldn't get it all in the picture, I should have taken a picture a few weeks ago, there were some really pretty flowers on some of the bushes out front, but they've all gone away. The big building is the library on Nazareth University campus looking back toward my apartment. I believe Nazareth is a branch of the university of the same name in the States. They are building several new buildings on campus right now. It's a nice campus and I walk through there each day on my way to catch either the bus or the subway. The next picture is looking down from Nazareth to the Ssangyong subway station. The last picture is of course the basketball courts at Nazareth, I've met quite a few cool guys over there playing. They just re-surfaced the courts and they are really nice to play on. There are usually quite a few guys out there playing, so it's always a good time. I might try and get some pics next week out in Asan near my school so you can get an idea what that area is like. They are building several HUGE apartment complexes out there by the school...if I'm still here teaching in a few years we could probably get quite a few kids from there.

I had to post this...

OK, sorry...still no Buddhist lamp pics, the camera is getting a little dusty, I need to recharge the batteries and get out and get some pics. So, tomorrow NO SCHOOL for Buddha's Birthday...

So today, I was walking to the subway station as always...it was a beautiful day, I looked and a girl was walking my way wearing the Gold and Black! That's right, a Pittsburgh Steelers shirt, now...I'm about 99% sure she has NO CLUE who the Steelers even are, but still cool. Then (and this was the BIG shocker of the day) I'm sitting on the subway, and I look and the old guy next to me is wearing a Colorado School of the Mines ball cap! I kid you not! I am 100% (I hate when people say 110% so I'll max out at 100%) sure that the guy had no clue about what the hat said or where that even is. It baffled me to see that, I had never even seen one of those hats in the US. It's common to see Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, etc. and some major college stuff, but Colorado School of Mines?!
Unreal!

A blog with no pics...

Is like no blog at all...BUT...I know it's been forever and I haven't posted and I've thought about this several times, quite a few actually.
So I don't have any pics but wanted to just say HI and let everyone know I think of all of you often. The weather here the last few weeks has been amazing, really nice sunny and relatively warm...still a little chilly in the evenings. I love spring time, all the trees are green again and with Buddha's birthday coming up on the 21st there are lanterns all down the street near my house. Each day I think I need to grab my camera and snap some shots, and I aim to do that...so, maybe I can remember. It looks pretty cool, they are really colorful and I like seeing them when I'm on my way to school each day.
I saw something funny/sad the other night, depending on who you are in the scenario. I was riding the bus back the other night from school like I do each night. Well there was an older guy maybe 65-70 and he was really loud (which isn't common in Korea on a bus) he seemed like he was yelling and stuff, but not to anyone specific. Well, I had my MP3 on and was basically just ignoring him since he wasn't close to me anyway. Well, about 3 or 4 minutes went by and he was still yelling and then I noticed that the bus driver was now telling him to be quiet (I do know that in Korean! HA!) Well, that just escalated the whole thing, and the older guy was yelling at the bus driver now. Well, the bus driver had had enough and pulled the bus over at a gas station. He was older too, maybe around 60, and he went back and got in the old dude's face. Well the old guy started kicking at him, and then got up...then went the rounds for a bit and NO ONE, not one person on the bus even blinked an eye, just stared straight ahead. Well, finally the driver pushed the old guy back into his seat and was walking back to start driving again. Just as he was about back to his seat the old guy jumped up and ran up from behind and kicked the bus driver right between the legs from behind...a spot NO MAN on earth wants to be kicked. The bus driver dropped like a rock and just laid there groaning on the floor of the bus. The old guy was over him laughing and pointing and calling him a "bad guy." Well, still no one said or did anything, and there were guys like my age on the bus. Finally the driver got over and turned off the bus...the funny part is NOW people started grumbling because I guess they were going to be late getting home. About 2 or 3 minutes later some other buses came by and pulled over. They didn't say anything to the old guy (who at this point was just sitting back in his seat like nothing even happened! HA) Well, everyone started jumping off our bus and onto the other buses. I was going to just chill since I wasn't in a big hurry...but then I noticed that it was just me, the crazy old guy, and the bus driver still sitting on the floor on the bus. At that point I bailed out too and jumped on the other bus. I have no idea if the old guy got in trouble or if the bus driver will ever be the same again, but I have NEVER seen anything like that here before. Koreans are usually pretty chill and not very aggressive. I don't know if the older guy was crazy or drunk, or what. Poor bus driver! HA!
So, that's my interesting story of the week. I hope everyone is having a great week...
I watched a movie the other night and at the start was an interesting quote (I love quotes, I usually write them down when I see one I like) from Confucius. It goes:

By three methods we may learn wisdom
First, by reflection, which is noblest
Second, by imitation, which is easiest
And Third, by experience, which is the bitterest