tales from thailand: March 2013

So I can't believe I am writing this post in Hoi An, Vietnam! Our backpack adventure has finally begun and we are on our third city in Vietnam. We are traveling throughout the country on their open bus system, 40 US dollars for a 6 city bus pass- pretty sweet deal! Most of the buses are overnight buses.. Our first experience was pretty decent. Although I woke up in the middle of the night with someone sleeping in the aisle next to me - completely boxed in to my seat ! My seat was surprisingly comfortable, but I am lucky that I am short because the seats are not designed for tall people with long legs (aka Ethan). We are departing Hoi An tonight on another over night bus - really hoping its new and clean like the last one ! We are moving on to Nha Trang.. A popular tourist spot that is known for its beaches and snorkeling.

So rewind to last Wednesday, when Alexis and I arrived in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Skye, Ethan, and Emily were scheduled to arrive Wednesday night, but our friends Faith and Emily were already in the city so we met up with them after settling into the hostel. Hanoi is a very overwhelming city- there are absolutely no traffic laws and the motorbike drivers DO NOT STOP! The city is much more condensed and way smaller than Bangkok so it is much more crowded and chaotic. We walked with Faith and Emily to the old quarter of the city and explored the area around the famous lake. The architecture in Vietnam is very european influenced and the city of Hanoi seems much more historic than cities in Thailand. Faith and Emily were catching the overnight bus that night so Alexis and I grabbed some dinner and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. Unfortunately they had a bus mishap- what was supposed to be a 22 hour bus ride turned into 31 hours so we didn't meet up until the next morning. We explored more of Hanoi that day but oddly, all of their tourist attractions are closed on Fridays. We saw where Ho Chi Minh's body is preserved but didn't get to see the actual body. We wanted to visit a military museum but that was closed as well... So we walked around the larger lake and then visited Maison Centrale prison which was used throughout Vietnamese history. One of its most famous uses was for American airforce pilots during the war. John Mccain was wounded and kept in the prison and their was a special exhibit with his army gear and suit. That night we visited the walking street but weren't impressed with the souvenirs. We were impressed with the local dish, Pho, which is a Vietnamese noodle soup. The next day we were heading out of the hectic city of Hanoi to visit Halong Bay on an overnight boat tour.

So far our trip to Halong Bay has been my favorite part of the trip. There are over 2,000 islands in the bay and they are all gorgeous! On our tour, we were sleeping and eating on a small tour boat with 10 cabin rooms and a nice rooftop deck. We stopped at 3 islands on our tour, one to visit a cave, one to do some kayakingC and one to climb 500 steps to a pagoda with amazing views of the bay. The food was surprisingly delicious and it was a very relaxed tour. I wasn't super excited to head back to the horns, whistles, and traffic of Hanoi.

Our next journey was on the overnight bus to Hue, a city that we had heard mixed reviews of. We decided not to stay long and after the overnight bus arrived at 9 am, we grabbed some breakfast, walked around the ancient citadel and then waited for the next bus to Hoi An. I was happy with our decision because Hue didn't seem too exciting and I don't think we missed out on anything by only staying for 6 hours.

After a 3 hour bus trip to Hoi An, we settled into a guesthouse with a very strange vibe. There were notes in our room from previous guests that the staff had stolen from them so we decided to change hotels the next day. The city of Hoi An is much more relaxing than Hanoi or Hue and the chill beach atmosphere makes it easy to settle in. The first night we headed to the walking street which is a historic area of town along the river. There are no motorbikes or cars allowed in the area after 8 pm and the historic architecture is really neat. So far Hoi An is my favorite city - but the journey is just beginning!! Our first full day in Hoi An we rented bicycles and rode 6 kilometers to the beach. The beach is super relaxing and not too crowded. The second day in Hoi An we rented motorbikes and drove about 45 minutes outside the city to visit My Son historic park. These are ruins from the ancient Indochine holy land. The ruins themselves weren't that interesting but the motorbike ride was beautiful (especially because I was on the back of Skye's bike) and the mountains surrounding the park were gorgeous. Yesterday, we hit the beach in the morning and then took the motorbikes to Danang to visit Marble Mountain, about 25 minutes away. Marble Mountain was really cool with caves, buddhas, and temples to explore throughout the mountain. There were some pretty cool views from the top and overall it was a pleasant surprise considering how touristy the local area was.

Today is our last day in Hoi An and I am going to miss the peaceful atmosphere and our dinners along the river. In general I really like Vietnam so far, although some of the vendors are more aggressive than Thai vendors, but the local people seem to speak better english than Thai people. At first I wasn't loving Vietnamese food but after being here for just over a week I have discovered that they make delicious spring rolls, pho soup is tasty, and cau lao is a Hoi An special dish with pork, noodles, and sweet and sour soup.

These blog updates are coming from my iphone so I will have to add photos from the journey at a later date! We are moving on to Nah Trang then Ho Chi Minh city then on to Cambodia. So far so good and I am looking forward to the adventures to come !

I cannot believe how fast the past 5 months have gone by! I am officially done teaching and it definitely has not hit me yet. I still feel like I will walk into class next week and have the students welcome me with the traditional "Good Morning Teachaa" greeting. Thursday of last week was officially our last day and the teachers threw us a going away party with lots of traditional Thai food and pizza! It was really said saying good bye to some of our co-workers- they were the only friends Alexis and I had in Salaya! Even with the language barrier and communication struggles, I knew that the fellow teachers in our office would have been there for Alexis or I if we had a problem and they were all very friendly and welcoming towards us. At the farewell party, Alexis and I were presented with certificates and small gifts. Some of the goodbyes were tearful and I will miss them all very much.

Earlier in the week, Alexis and I had to make a farewell speech to the entire school at the morning ceremony. It was so bizarre because it felt like only yesterday we were giving our introductory speeches!! The Director presented us with fancy mugs that displayed the school Logo and then we had a special goodbye meeting in his office where he told us we were forever welcome at Kanchanapisek and if we were ever in Thailand we could stay with him and his family. That's the thing about Thai people - they are so kind and welcoming!

Now on to the students. Oh man am I going to miss some of the little cuties that I taught! The last few weeks of teaching were by far my favorite because I was giving conversation quizzes where I got to work with students one on one. Lecturing in front of the classroom I had very little patience with the large group of chaotic children but working with them one on one made me realize that they are all very sweet individuals. Thai Valentine's Day really made me realize how much of an influence I have had on these students and I am very happy to have positive feedback from the students. I will miss playing the games that I played with them, like Hangman, The Hot Seat, Jeopardy, and Scategories. Some of their answers were so creative! Their level of excitement for any mention of Justin Bieber or One Direction will stay in my memory forever and anything Stitch or Winnie the Pooh themed will forever remind me of my students.

One class in particular really warmed my heart on the last day of class. I teach them on Mondays so last week when I walked into class, instead of saying "Good morning Teachaa" like they have to, they had prepared a speech for me. The entire class stood up and read off a speech in English saying "Teacher Shannon is beautiful and an amazing teacher. We will remember you always. Thank you Teacher." I was so thrown off, usually I have to respond with "thank you, you can sit down" but I was truly speechless! Tears sprung to my eyes and I couldn't believe they had planned that out together. I was touched by their adorable effort and I wanted to hug every single one of them!

Although the Thai school system can be extremely aggravating, and there is little to no structure in the classroom, I am going to miss Kanchanapisek very much. I have always loved working with kids, and this experience has brought my love for kids to a whole new level. Between artwork, games, and conversations- I have seen a lot of creativity in these students and I hope each one of them lives a life full of happiness. Even though my time with them was short, this experience will stay with me forever and whenever I am having a bad day I am going to think back on my teaching experiences- young Thai children "wai-ing" me, the laughs that resulted from a poor english translation, and the smiles a simple game of hangman brought to their faces. While teaching was a very tiring experience, the good definitely out weighed the bad and I hope that my basic teaching skills will help these students in some way! Thank you Kanchanapisek for all of the amazing memories and I will never forget this experience <3