All the pictures

All the picture albums can be seen at the following link. Sorry you will have to paste it into the toolbar.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney

I had a fabulous experience.

East Coast of Canada and Pictures

The last two weeks of my trip were spent on the East Coast of Canada with my friend from work, Michelle. We toured around Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick and came home via Maine and New Hampshire.

In Nova Scotia we toured the Keith’s Brewery and in PEI we went to the St. Anne’s church lobster supper and to the Anne of Green Gables musical. We went to these things with my brother Dennis, Carol, Laura, Jack and Carolyn.

In New Brunswick we spent lots of time at Michelle’s grandparent’s cottage. We were put to work while we were there. We bottled lobster. We ended up doing two batches so we “put down” 82 lobsters. They are cooked, then taken out of their shells, cleaned, bottled and boiled again. It was a true maritime experience. We went to the wharf and picked them up also.

Check out the following link for pictures of the East Coast. You will have to paste it into your toolbar.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/EastCoastOfCanada

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures.

Well a little more on Africa. It is very cold at night. I had this misconception that Africa is hot. Well I went in their winter and some days it is hot during the day and others, not so hot. In the evening it gets mighty cold. One evening it went down to -7 degrees. I was freezing. I lay in my sleeping bag with three pairs of pants, two pairs of socks (should have been three), two t-shirts, three sweaters, a light coat, my sarong as a scarf, toque and mitts. Luckily Christine in Hong Kong gave me her toque and mitts to borrow. Thanks again. Man it was cold at night. I wore them each night. I lay in my sleeping bag hoping to god it would hurry up and be six am. That was the time we were to leave that sight. They knew it was a cold location (a guy the week before got hypothermia) so we were to get up and take down the tents in the morning and get on the road. Usually we have breakfast, but it was too cold and we were going to stop around 9am to have breakfast. It was still freezing at 9am and we became hobos. We lit a garbage can on fire for warmth at our roadside breakfast stop. It was interesting. They did not check to see what was in the can, so there were little explosion going on and off. Then the can actually caught fire on the outside. It turned out to be burning the paint off the outside of the barrel. Needless to say the next town we hit I bought think socks and a wool blanket. These items made the evenings much more enjoyable.

We had some trouble with our truck or trucks. We ended up breaking down six times and having to switch trucks four times in the last few days. It was a big job to unload every single item off of the truck, but we hoped the next truck would be better. We just kept getting teased as the trucks were just borrowed from another group for a day or so and then we would have to carry on with our sh*t one.

We spent the night in the dessert. It was interesting. We broke down at 11 am. We entertained ourselves by playing dessert Olympics. We had the discus, javelin, shot-put and hurdle events. Then we played musical chairs, pass the toilet paper and finally we put a guy on the roof of the truck and made him be the hoop while we took shots at him, dessert basketball.

I went to the sand dunes and went sand boarding in Namibia. I climbed the 100m dune with my piece of wood (my sled) and slid down the dune head first at 76 km/h. They had a radar gun and I was the fastest person to go down. For each step we took up the dune, we slid two steps back. By the time I would reach the top I would have to empty a cup of sand out of each running shoe. We were to wear covered shoes as our feet were our brakes.

We visited a township on the last day and saw how the poor live in Africa. It was interesting. You are either very rich or very poor in Africa. It was interesting. We saw a dorm room for migrant workers. In each room a minimum of two families live in an 8’ x 10’ dirty room. In the township there were dorm rooms, shacks made of left over lumber and steel or proper houses.

I went to Victoria Falls, a waterfall that is 1.7 km wide. The falls are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was spectacular. I flew over it in a micro light airplane. The micro light looked like a large kite. The falls are in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. So when I was flying I flew through Zimbabwe.
The animals and scenery were absolutely spectacular in Africa. There is some much to offer there. I feel like this was the animal tour, but I know there is so much more culturally to offer, so I will have to go back.

Check out the following links for African pictures. I separated them into four albums in the hopes it would be quicker for you to up load them. Also included are my Ireland pictures and a couple videos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa1Album

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa2Album

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa3Album

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa4Album

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/IrelandAndMyWelcomeHome

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6874432063335198577

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2108636978677755654

Ireland

Well some would say I had the gift of the gab before I visited the Blarney Stone, but if I didn’t have it before I should have it now. For those that don’t know by kissing the Stone you are to be filled with Blarney.

The Blarney Castle and house were on beautiful green grounds. It was lovely to check it out and walk around the premises.

While in Ireland I was able to get in a nice twilight game of golf with Louise. It was great.

I visited Cobh, which was the last port of call for the Titanic. It also has a large Cathedral that we also visited. I went to the Cliffs of Moher, it was gorgeous. That was the only day it rained on me and it only rained for half and hour while we were walking around. It has rained everyday this summer in Ireland.

We went to Malahide for dinner with Louise’s brother and his girlfriend. We went to the local pub and for my fellow Fruli drinkers (a nice strawberry beer) they have it on tap and I had a pint of it. In Peterborough you can only get it at one establishment and the bottles are less than 250ml. It is a great appetizer beer.

I went to Galway bay, Limerick, Cork and through most of the south. I tried to pack in a lot in the week. It was fabulous.

Louise my friend lives in Bray which is 40 minutes outside of Dublin. I got to check out her apartment that she bought (condo I guess here). It is a one bedroom apartment that she had to gut and it cost 260 000 Euros, and you thought housing was expensive in Canada.

We went on a tour around Dublin and went to the Guinness factory. The factory is situated on land that is worth 13 billion Euros. So it is expected that the land will be sold. They have a great museum and tour that will probably remain on the site. It was great to check out the factory and production. They make 13 million pints of Guinness a day there.

I had a fabulous time in Ireland. It was so neat coming down on the airplane into Dublin. It looked like one big green patchwork quilt with all the different shades of green and the bushes separating the fields.

I was met at the Toronto airport by the Keating clan with some GREAT artwork. They had made bristol board signs welcoming me home, Jack helped too. Thanks for your warm welcome and great signs.

Home for a week and off to the East Coast with Michelle from work for a couple of weeks.

Alive and well

Hi everyone. I am alive and doing well. Sorry I have not updated the blog in ages, the internet in Africa, is a little hectic and the opportunity to use it almost non existent.

Africa was amazing and we survived. One day we broke down in the dessert and were 150km’s from a town on the right and 220km’s from a town on the left. Needless to say we were stuck there over night and camped at the side of the road. Luckily they had just done the grocery shopping and we had lots to eat. It was an interesting day. We broke down at 11 am and hung out all day in limbo waiting for it to be ‘fixed’ for the 6th time. Did I not mention this was the 6th time to brake down, of I forgot. At 6pm as the sun was setting we sent up our tents and hoped the mechanic could ‘patch’ the truck over night so we could carry on the next day. The mechanic quit at 1am and it was not fixed. At 4:30am we packed up the truck and moved everything, cooking supplies, books, every last thing in the truck to a temporary one and headed down the road. I will continue this story at a later date along with some more.

Just wanted to let you know I am alive and currently in Ireland. I toured around Dublin with my friend Louise yesterday. I am staying with her for the week. We are off on a road trip today and golfing in the afternoon. Tomorrow I will head to Cork and kiss the Blarney stone on the way. Louise will not be joining me as her friend is getting married tomorrow (Thursday). She says it is cheaper for people to get married in the middle of the week, so some do it then.

Keep checking back once I am home. I will update the blog with more stories and of course the photos.

South Africa, Botswana and Zambia

I am loving Africa, it is spectacular. I am doing an Acacia tour for 25 days through, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. We have been through the first three and are looping back tomorrow through Botswana again. We will be in and out of some of the countries. Anyway, it is great. There are 21 people in my group and we travel around on a large truck. It is comfy, way better than I thought it would be. It has tables between some of the seats so we are able to even play cards while driving down the road. Some days we travel 500 km’s. Tomorrow our group splits up and we get new people and carry on to Capetown, the very tip of South Africa and the others go to Nairobi.

It is cool when you have to watch out for elephants and giraffes crossing the road. We see these animals at the side of the road often and stop to check them out.

We have been on game drives, cruises and stayed at many different campsites. The tents are nice and we have mattress pads to sleep on. It is very cold at night and I sleep with 3 sweaters on and two pair of socks and pants some times. In the day it is pleasant and I layer a lot of my clothing.

We saw cheetahs eating an impala (a small antelope) only 4 feet from our jeep that we took on a safari. They had just caught their kill. The national park is not fenced and our vehicle was open so there was no protection from the wild animals that were only 2 – 4 feet from our vehicle. It has been really cool.

We saw a pack of lions and then we saw a male lion, like the one in lion king approaching our vehicle and his lioness. They were about 200m’s away and walked right up and around our vehicle and carried on to where they were going. That was awesome.

We have seen many elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes and impalas. The animals are spectacular and we are so close to them. It is hard to imagine they are everywhere. When before this I had only seen some of them in a zoo.

The group of people are great and we went on a booze cruise last night and everyone partied it up. It was well deserved. It was all you can drink for 2 hours. We saw a crocodile, hippos and elephants.

In a couple of hours I am going on a micro light plane (it looks light a large kite) over Victoria Falls, which is similar to Niagara Falls.

Sorry I will have to post the photos at a later date as we do not have internet access very often and when we do it is really slow.

Dubai U.A.E. - Pictures

Well I had an action packed few days in Dubai. It was great. What an interesting city. The place is completely under construction. Skyscrapers going up everywhere and therefore cranes everywhere you look. The workers work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, in the heat, oh the heat. It was 44 degrees Celsius each day. It was ok though as it was a dry heat. The suns rays during the day burn off the humidity so I was not sweating profusely.

I went on a desert safari and went off-roading in an SUV over the sand dunes. It was scary. I thought we were going to roll the vehicle cutting across the sand dune sideways and sliding the other way. I got some confidence in our driver and then had a great experience. It was so cool. I even got to drive. That was crazy. It was pitch black and you didn’t know what was ahead after cresting the dune. It was awesome. I also went for a ride on a camel in the desert. It was a little bumpy, but very cool.

I went on a tour around the city for the day and saw all the buildings, malls and hotels, I don’t know who is staying in these places but they are extremely expensive and there are so many of them. The construction is fascinating I don’t know where the people are all coming from or for what. It is hard to believe they need so many buildings being built at once.

The malls are massive. Think of the largest mall you have been to and multiply its ground floor by 2 then add 6 stories. I went downhill skiing at the mall. Yes you read that correctly. It was 44 degrees outside and I was inside skiing on snow. It was interesting. For $50 you can ski for 2 hours. The cost includes skis, boots, poles, socks, a jacket and pants. Luckily Christine loaned me a toque and mitts for Africa so I was able to use those. You were to provide your own mitts and hat, or buy theirs. Speaking of which. I am now in South Africa and went from a temperature of 44 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius. The people at the airport in their snowsuits didn’t know what to think of my shorts.

May not be as frequent with the updates now, but I will try. I am doing a 25 day overland safari through Africa. It should be great.

Check out the following link for photos. Again it seems you will have to copy the address into the toolbar.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Dubai

Macau and Hong Kong - Pictures

I took an hour-long ferry ride to Macau the other day. It is an island off of Hong Kong that is part of China but it too has a separate currency. I got 5 stamps in the passport that day, coming back and forth.

Macau is a nice island with many heritage places to visit and lots of shopping for those that would like that. I am a shopper and I was turned off. I was really hungry and I headed for the ferry area to grab a bite to eat before returning to Hong Kong. There was nothing to be had in the general vicinity. So I walked up the street and saw a mall. I figured it would have a food court and I would be able to grab something there. Well the mall was packed. I mean worse then Christmas Eve shopping at home. There were people everywhere and the cashiers had lineups of at least 50 people deep. It was nuts. I was not able to get anything to eat and was hardly able to get out of the place. They had all the exits and the elevator blocked with merchandize or locked. Talk about a big old fire hazard. I tried 5 exits before I was able to get out of the place. It was nuts.

Macau was very nice to walk around though. Lots of nice old buildings with Portuguese influence.

I went to Chris’ school on Thursday and helped out. It is a nice school in its first year of operation and they have a brand new facility. She teaches year 6 or the same as grade 5 at home. The students can participate in after school activities and one of them is cooking. So we made pizzas with the kids.

We went to the Hotel Intercontinental for drinks on Friday evening to check out the view of Hong Kong my night. We also went to a Mongolian Grill restaurant where you choose the topping you would like in a stir-fry or on a pizza and then you have then cook it up on the spot. It is a favorite place around here. It was very good.

Off to Dubai this evening or morning. My flight is at 12:40 am.

April and Chris have been fabulous hosts and I have really enjoyed hanging out with them. Their apartment is great, is very roomy and in an awesome part of town, the Midlevels, right by the worlds longest escalator.

Check out the following link for pictures, sorry I guess you will have to paste the address in again. For some reason the link will not work.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/MacauAndHongKong

Hong Kong Pictures and Video

I have been touring around Hong Kong for the past few days. I have used the subway, bus, tram and my feet. It has been cool to tour all over the city. Not cool temperature wise though. It is in the high, high 30’s. I went to the Peak and had a great view of the islands and harbour. I took the Peak Tram to get to the top of the hill. It was so steep the car was on a 45-degree angle. Once at the top I had lunch over looking the harbour at Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. It has tons of pictures and paraphernalia from the movie Forest Gump. I also did a very nice 3km circular walk around the Peak through nice vegetation.

Today was a holiday and there was a Dragon Boat Festival on. I took the bus to the other side of the island and checked out the festivities. It was busy. Tons of people around and bad, bad traffic. The festival was neat though. It was just like our festivals at home. There were lots of business, schools and corporations competing against each other in matching outfits. One team had on long sleeve shirts and hoodies. I couldn’t believe their outfits, it was so hot today. They must have been boiling. April (Christine’s roommate) was competing. She was the drummer and was knocked out of the boat during the day. She is not home yet, so I do not have all the details.

It has been very interesting to just people watch and walk the steep streets. Tomorrow I am on my way to Macau, an island that will take one hour to get to my boat.

Check out the following links for pictures and a video of the Dragon Boat Festival. You may have to copy the link into your web address because it seems to not be doing the direct link again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/HongKong

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2341545073049138307

Wolong Panda Center and Super Heros Pictures

Well I made it to the Wolong after a 5-hour bus ride with the locals to go 140 km’s up the mountain. It was an interesting ride. The road had blind corners, one-way sections and many potholes and bumps. I was the only Westerner on the bus. On the way down the mountain it took 7-hours.

I arrived in Wolong where there are no English speaking people to be found and all the signs are in Chinese. The bus driver tried to set me up with a woman who had a Chinese hotel. She could not speak any English. This was not going to work, as I needed to get to the Panda Center each day and figure out how I was going to get back down the mountain, as there was no bus station in the town. It was 10km back down the mountain to the Panda Center and there were no taxis in the town. I needed to know which day I could catch the bus back down the mountain as it does not go each day and I had a flight to catch. I had a lot to figure out before I went to the Panda Center to Volunteer.

I was taken by the bus driver to a “hotel” it had a sign in English and the people there spoke a “little” English. I looked into staying there. It was 300 Y a night ($60) and a car to take me back and forth to the Center was going to be 50 Y each way and I needed to go back and forth four times a day. This didn’t make much sense as it only cost 38.5 Y to get up the mountain. I thought there was a hostel in town so I set out to find it. I knew I could come back to this place if I had to. There wasn’t a hostel but God was looking out for me. I walked up the street and saw Westerners. I went to speak to them and asked do you speak English? They said yes. They were from Texas. I had run into a group of 11 people from a Baptist University going to the center the same days as I was and going back the 6 hours to Chengdu the same day. So I asked and was successful, I stayed at their hotel got a ride with them everyday and went back to Chengdu with them in their bus. The hotel and 3 meals included, transportation etc was 80 Y a day. I lucked out. They were traveling around China and Hong Kong studying the panda bears, wetlands and botanical gardens as part of a three week long ecology course.

The group of students and two faculty members welcomed me into their group. They were so nice and inviting. We worked in groups of three at the Panda Center and we were responsible for the feeding and cleaning of three panda bears each day. I had to smile driving with them to the center, (they had a van and driver) at just how well things work out. I came with no accommodation etc and it worked out way better than I could have planned it and I met some awesome people.

One of the panda bears we looked after was in the hospital wing and was caged for most of the day. We were not told why he was in the hospital but he seemed healthy. One of our other pandas was pregnant and due in a month.

I am in Hong Kong now and the transition from China to Hong Kong went very smoothly. I traveled by all most all means of transportation that day. I went by taxi, bus, plane, subway and we almost went by ferry but we are saving that one for another day.

Christine lives in Hong Kong and teaches at an International School. She lives in the Midlevels on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong is really neat. The streets are extremely steep, narrow and have tons of people and little shops on them. I had no idea there were so many hills here and that they are so steep. They have a very large escalator to help get up the hills when it is working. The two times we have needed it, it has been shut down, but I guess whereever they can conserve energy they should and we just got a little exercise.

Christine’s group of friends had a pub crawl last night that was a super hero themed event. Everyone went out in a super hero costume. I went as Syndrome from the Incredibles, Christine went as Laura Croft from Tomb Raider and April, Christine’s roommate went as Storm. There was Super Dave Osborn. He had his costume made and there were two Poison Ivy’s. You will have to check out the photos.

Hong Kong is very hot and lots of people were sweating in their tights last night.

Check out the following two links for pictures. I don't think it will link these pictures. So you will have to copy the addresses and paste it into the toolbar.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/WolongPandaCenter

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/SuperHeros

Panda Bears China 4 Videos and Pictures

I went to the Panda Bear Breeding Center today in Chengdu China. The pandas are just as cute in real life as the stuffed animals are. The center houses "giant pandas and red pandas." It is estimated that there are only 1000 giant pandas left in the world. The breeding center helps with mating and new borns.

When female pandas deliver their first cub they do not know what to do with it and will harm and kill their young. At the center they watch the interactions so that the cubs do not die. If a panda has twins, which happens 45% of the time they will only care for one in the wild.

It is recommended that you visit the center early in the morning to see the panda bears when they are most active, eating. This was a good suggestion because when I doubled back and checked them out again they were doing what they do best, sleeping.

Tomorrow I am taking the bus to Wolong to a Panda Research Center in the wild. It will take 6 hours to get there, hopefully. I say hopefully as the road is suppose to be bad and a bridge is washed out. Why the bother? I will volunteer at the Research Center for a couple of days, working with panda bears. Who knows, I could be shoveling sh*t. We shall see.

This evening I went to the Sichuan Opera. It was very cool and just across the street. It had tons of musical instruments, dancing, acrobatics, stick puppets, shadow puppets, changing faces (where their masks continually change with out the flick of a hand) and spitting fire.

The shadow puppets were my favorite. The guy could do amazing things with his hands and body. The best shadow puppets I have ever seen. Bets the overhead at school. Check out the couple of pictures I took of it.

Oh god, I almost forgot. At the opera they offer the service of having your ears cleaned. There was a guy just over from me having it done. I sat in the front row so he had the whole audience checking the cleaning out. The views of the show were excellent from the front row and during the performance they serve tea and have shelled peanuts on a small table in front of you. The tea pots have spouts that are four feet long. So all of a sudden coming from behind over your shoulder your tea cup gets filled up.

Check out the following links for pictures and videos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/PandaBearsChengdu

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8000592313441558265

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1209220284511815168

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1775414732159463967

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-897658998735200234

Xian China - Pictures and 2 Videos

I am in Xian, which is in the center of China. It is home of the Terra Cotta Warriors. They were so cool. They are life size warriors made over 2000 years ago. It is thought they were created to protect the Emperor’s tomb. (Don’t quote me on that though.) Anyone I ask is not to sure why they were made. No one is left from 2000 years ago to ask. Farmers digging a well discovered them in 1974. There are horses, chariots and over 6000 life size warriors all made from clay. There are also chariots made from bronze. They believe more are still to be discovered. It was really interesting and to think of the time and money spent 2000 years ago to make these objects. It fascinates me the money these kings and emperors spent on there empires, temples, forbidden cities, walls etc.

In China there are many different “tribes” of people, for lack of a better word. They have very distinct facial characteristics. In Xian there is a large Chinese/Muslim community. I visited their mosque yesterday. It has a beautiful courtyard. I was surprised we did not have to cover our heads, but then we did not actually go into the prayer house, so maybe that is why. The Muslim quarter in Xian is lovely to walk through. It has many venders selling souvenirs, clothing and food. It is a nice old Islamic/Chinese neighborhood.

It was mighty hot yesterday with temperatures above 38 degrees. Today I set out and was presently surprised when the temperature was in the mid twenties.

I went to the city wall today. It is a wall that goes 14km’s around the city in a rectangular pattern. The wall is 12m high and 12 – 18m wide. I did not realize when you go to walk or ride (a bicycle) around the wall you actually do it on top of the wall. It was very peaceful to check out the city from 12m above the ground riding the bicycle I rented. You rent the bike for 100 minutes at a cost of $3.50 and are told to watch the time. I made it around the wall in 80 minutes.

I went to “The Big Wild Goose Pagoda” last night. That is really its name and I have no idea why. It was a tall building that looked like a tower. Anyway at this place there were thousands of locals enjoying the scenery, weather and a little dance. It looks like they are line dancing, but they are doing traditional Chinese dances in the park. Then at the other end of the Pagoda there are many fountains and thousands of people around them watching them rise and fall to music blaring in the background. It was really nice all lit up in the evening. I may visit it again tonight. It reminded me of the Peterborough Festival of Lights, when people watch the boats with Christmas lights on their masts drive around to the music. This was Xian’s version, fountains going up and down to music.

Speaking of lights, man this town does not conserve energy. It is lit up more then Time Square. They even have rope lighting on the guardrails of the highway. I was reminded of the tower at the Galaxy Theater in Peterborough with its lights that go up and down. Now picture a city with skyscrapers in the distance all doing this. It is interesting to travel around here in the evening.

Xian is lovely. Moving on tomorrow evening to Chengdu and Wolong, which are literally in the middle of China. I will volunteer there at a Panda Research Center.

I forgot to tell you about the picture of the pool I have included. Kirsty’s building has a small weigh room and pool. It is a lovely community but they were not having people come look at it. People when looking for housing wanted 2 or 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a pool and a gym. This place did not have the pool and gym so they created each. This brings the people in and then they never use either. I included a picture of the pool for you as it is a funny narrow looking thing.

Click on the following links for pictures and videos. Sorry I had trouble with the vertical pictures again. You will have to tilt your head.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/InterestingPool

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=917238949394158275

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7234336642554213816

Party Pictures

We went to a birthday party in the neighborhood. I have included pictures of it to show you the nice courtyard and area they live in. The food was great. It was catered by an embassy chef.

I went to ch***h on Sunday. Ask me about this experience when I get home. It was interesting but being this country it is not allowed.

They check emails and any internet action. We think my blog was shut down for a bit while they were checking out what I wrote, as I mentioned key places in the city in my photos and blog. They are over paranoid when it comes to internet action.

Yesterday Yuan Yuan and I went to Happy Valley an amusement park. She took the day off and we enjoyed the rides. It is scary how similar it is to Canada’s Wonderland. They have the drop zone, the vortex and a ride through a mountain. Their ride through the mountain is better as it was upside down. Wonderland has more rollercoaster’s, but they still have lots. We had a great day and the sun was shining.

A few pictures of the neighborhood and birthday party are at the following link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/KirstysArea

Summer Palace Beijing, Pictures

Click on the following link for pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/SummerPalaceBeijing

Hello again

I went to Kirsty and Yuan Yuan’s school the other day. I manned the bouncy castle. A teacher won the castle for a day and gave it to the school for a fundraiser. Kids could buy a max of three tickets for 15 minutes each ticket of bouncing in the castle. All the money went to an orphanage they help out. The kids had a great time and me too.

The school is an international school and it very nice. The grade sixes had an exhibition of their projects they spent the last month working on. They were very sophisticated projects. It was an action based inquiry research project. The work produced was impressive. We went out for traditional Chinese food after school.

I went again to school with Yuan Yuan in the morning again the next day. A taxi comes to pick her up each day. There was a book and cookie sale that morning. They again raised money for the orphanage. From there I walked to the Olympic Center. It is still under construction but was cool to check out. I watched the women’s softball team practice. The school is really close to the site. There is a building that they call the Bird’s Nest, I am sure it will be all over the news when the Olympics are on. It has metal pieces around the structure to make it look like a birds nest.

I went to the Traditional Chinese Museum. It has many different houses and old buildings of 56 tribes represented. I got some neat photos with old versus new, as there are a lot of high rises in the background or cranes and construction. From there I went to the Summer Palace. The Empress built this as an oasis. It is over 30 square km’s and I walked around it for 5 hours and did not see it all. There are many cool buildings and it is nice to walk down the paths lined on both sides with willow trees. It is a nice place to just relax and people watch. The locals go to fly kites and chill out too.

Yuan Yuan and I went to The Legend of Kungfu show last night it was spectacular. The acrobatics, kungfu, ballet and marshal arts were amazing. It was about a boy becoming a monk and his struggles. They were swinging from cloths hanging from the ceiling and jumping, rolling, bouncing and kart wheeling all over the place. It was so cool to watch. It was a professional show and the set was really well done too. So cool, highly recommend going to it.

Today I went to a market that had your traditional souvenirs but it also had lots of antiques. During the war and revolution the people buried their possessions and they are just now being dug up. So eyeglasses, pots, bowls, jewelry etc are being dug up.

I got an old wood carved window today. They have really neat wood windows everywhere with lots of carving and detail. Kirsty has four on the walls of her house for decoration and they are also around the city still in use. Kirsty has offered to bring it Ottawa for me as she is going in a couple of weeks. Then I will have to work something out to get it to Peterborough.

There is a party in the complex tonight and it is catered by the chef of the French Embassy. You can rent him for parties for $50. He is using Kirsty’s kitchen right now as it is a surprise party so he is working/hiding out at her place. Roast beef and chocolate cake what more can you ask for?

Beijing sites and pictures

I have been taking in the sites of Beijing the last few days and there are many of them! It was weird being back in a modern city. It took a bit to get use to again. I have been riding the subway and getting familiar with its many stops. Riding the subway is always a novelty for me.

I went to Yonghegong (Lama) Temple and saw the Big Buddha. The Buddha is 18m above ground and 8m below and it is carved from a single sandalwood tree trunk. It is huge and at least 5 m wide. They have all kinds of Buddha’s at that temple. I also went to the Confucious Temple. It was under construction and everything had scaffolding around it. Both of these are in Kirsty’s neighborhood. I ran into people I knew at the Temple from the Great Wall trip. So we hung out for the afternoon and evening and ate scorpion together. Yes that is right, I ate scorpion, tastes just like chicken.

I went to the Temple of Heaven. It is pretty spectacular. The grounds are beautiful with many tall trees and beautiful flowers. Not to mention the architecture of the temples and the echo wall. Got some good photos for math lessons there. The temples are wood and not a single nail was used in their construction. The symmetry and circumferences are spectacular. It is amazing to think they were constructed in the 15th century with such basic tools. The Chinese are talented people. There is amazing history just in architecture in Beijing.

At the Temple of Heaven older people were doing exercises, tai chi and playing hacky sac (Jian Zi). I played with them for awhile, they loved it. A lot of people go to the temples to hang out. The grounds are beautiful so why not.

It was Kirsty and Yuan Yuan’s neighbors last night together so we went out for dinner to a western restaurant in the neighborhood and took a walk through the park. In the park they have exercise equipment for people to use and there are numerous adults there working on their reflexology.

Today I had a huge day of walking. I took the subway to Tiananmen Square and walked from there back to Kirsty’s. I visited many attractions along the way. I left at 9 am and returned at 6pm. I went to the Forbidden City and saw the Emperor’s many buildings and collections. Again beautiful buildings. There was one building containing hundreds of cool clocks.

I went to Houhai a quant part of town with many pubs along the river. I also went to the Drum and Bell Towers.

Once off the main drag the streets are like alley ways and only a single lane if that. Everything from regular sized vehicles to donkeys go down them. It is spectacular to walk through the neighborhoods, weaving through the streets trying not to get lost.

Tomorrow I am going to Kirsty and Yuan Yuan’s school. A single male teacher, no kids won a bouncy castle for the day. He donated it to the school and they are having a fundraiser to raise money for an orphanage. Kids can buy tickets for 15 minutes of bouncing and I am going to man the bouncing castle for the day. The school is very, very close to the National Olympic Sports Centre and Olympic Park so we are going to check those places out also.

Check out my pictures of Beijing at the following link

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Beijing

The Great Wall China - Pictures and Videos

The Great Wall was amazing. I stayed at a large hostel right at the wall and was the only one there. I was in a room for 8 but I was the only one in the whole building. There were three hotel/hostels in the area and one of them had one other person staying at it. It was a girl from Australia. We had a beer together that night on the patio looking over at the Great Wall. The bar/patio was closed so we bought the beer from the shop and drank it on the patio. It was a deserted little town. All the shops were empty too. The accommodation, location and view were great, but I think most people just do a day trip to there. They are missing out. It was a three hour drive from Beijing and I got to climb the Great Wall twice then over two days, in two directions.

So the Great Wall. WOW! Man I have seen some cool things. I hiked 10km's yesterday in the heat (over 35 degrees). I had to buy 6 waters along the way from the harassing people selling stuff and walking with us. I did not mind them being there though, as I needed more water. Today no one bugged me or walked with me trying to sell things. It was a nice temperature today and there was a breeze.

The walk yesterday started in a forest and we hiked up a narrow trail to get to the wall. It was challenging. That area of the wall has not been restored and the walking was rough in parts. It is steep up and down and there are not nice steps to climb on. It was great. I did 18 towers yesterday and it took around 3 hours. I came down on a zip line over a gorge. Today I walked back up to the Wall and went the other direction and did the 13 towers you could do. Then it stops as it is not safe anymore. Today’s walk was on a restored part and had stone steps to climb. After yesterday is was not as authentic. But it was still amazing. The views were spectacular. I climbed to the highest tower. Today I walked at least 10km's. It was all up hill today and then I had to turn around and come back down. Yesterday we were dropped off in a town 10km's away and walked to Simatai were I stayed for the night. I went yesterday with a group of 20 or so. Today I went on my own.

Where I went was not a heavy tourist area as the hiking is challenging and most people opt for an easier walk. It was spectacular. To think they brought all the rocks and mortar up the hills and that it goes on for 600km's. It was built to protect China from Mongolia and if there was a problem there are towers between the wall and Beijing that they would light on fire along the way to notify Beijing. It was a three hour drive from Beijing to get to the part of the wall that I climbed. It was spectacular to climb on.

I am in Beijing now staying with Kirsty and Yuan, her daughter (they are friends of a friend). They are great hostesses and have been so welcoming. Kirsty has been fabulous. She arranged the trip to the Great Wall for me. She did a great job, it was spectacular. Poor her, she worked on report cards, but she got them done. Way to go!

I flew from Vientiane to Bangkok on Thai Airways. It was an hour flight and I got a meal, salmon steak to boot. They also gave each female on the flight a purple orchid corsage. I then flew from Bangkok to Beijing on SriLankan Airlines no flowers, but I did get a free pack of playing cards.

Check out the photos at the following link and three videos. I had a request for more videos, so I am trying. Sorry there is a lot of wind noise in them. I hope they upload ok for you. I am an amateur.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/GreatWallChina

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4612133817433624552

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9004130231350164791

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9004130231350164791

Vang Vieng - Laos Pictures

Click on the following link for pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/VangViengLaos

In Vang Vieng I have been doing the tourist thing. I was floating down the river in a large inner tube going from bar to bar and zip line and rope swing to the next. It was fun but I only managed two rope swings and did a face plant on the second one and that was the end of swinging for me. (No booze was not involved, I was not drinking.) It hurt, my jaw, teeth the back of my head and chest. I thought at first I must have broke my jaw with the impact but, then I came around. I am not as stiff today as I thought I would be. Bruises from hitting the water though.

Some people were doing the swings 20 times in a row. Some of the impacts were like mine, it must have been their beer lao (the brand of beer here) that was numbing their pain. There were some really drunk people and water and booze shouldn't mix. We started at 11am and finished at 6:30 pm, just one trip down the river with 5 stops out of a potential 25. When we got back there were only 20 out of 170 tubers back. If you were after 6pm you had to pay a $2 over time fee. We were aware of the time, unlike others and did not have to pay. Some people were still getting in after 8pm. You see the tuk, tuks come loaded with people and tubes, singing their way through the town, bringing their tubes back.

Along the river side are many little bamboo shack bars that pull you in with long bamboo sticks. It is quite the tourist attraction. I did not take my camera but met a girl who said she would pass on some photos in a few weeks. So stay tuned.

Off to watch an episode of Friends.

I am staying with a girl, Sonya from England. Our room is $4 a night, so $2 each. We found a new hotel today on the river with a pool and used their facilities for the day for $2. Got to catch up on writing my journal, reading and got some sun. We were the only ones there for the day, except when one lady who was there for an hour showed up. Hard to believe. Vang Vieng is a tiny, tiny town, with no street lights. The streets are lit though with neon signs advertising guest houses, places to eat and tours.

The places to eat have lounge areas and depending on your choice of t.v. shows you can watch Friends, Simpsons, Family Guy or movies all day and night (unitl 11:30pm) as everything in Laos closes then. They have pillows to lay on and small tables like coffee tables to eat at. A real backpacker town.

Gibbon Experience - Laos - Pictures and video

Wow, wicked, awesome! Just three words to describe the last week or so. I spent three days and two nights in the jungle. It was so cool. There were ten people in our group. We slept in tree houses. Six of us slept in tree house one and four in tree house three. The six of us that were in tree house one were all traveling on our own. So that was pretty neat and we got along so well. My stomach hurt have laughing so much. We entertained each other so well.

We started the adventure (The Gibbon Experience) off with a two or three hour ride out of town to the jungle. We went on an amazing road they are constructing and we were the only vehicle on it. I wonder if it is being made for trade with China? (Future research). Anyway. Then we got to a river and drove through it. The four wheel drive was switched on the land cruiser and we set off on the terribly rough, washed out dirt road into the jungle. I must tell you that we held our breath and did not cheer until we were out of the jungle on day three. We were warned that we may have to walk into the jungle and that it is a seven hour walk in. It poured rain the whole night before we went so we were holding our breath and praying we would not have to walk. Luckly we did not have to walk and the land cruiser made it in and out. The land cruiser only goes so far though and then you must hike for one and a half hours into the jungle. Talk about remote. There were no lights, no nothing. Once making it to the tree houses the views were spectacular and the sounds amazing. The hiking was involved, muddy and yes I was exposed to leeches. It is weird when pulling leeches off your shoes becomes second nature. Luckly I was spared from their sucking. Some of the others were not so lucky.

The hike was beautiful. We arrived at our tree house and were greated by the guides and a bear. Yes a bear cub. The Gibbon experience was created to stop poaching and our monies from paying for the experience goes to paying guards to protect the forest. So the guards caught a poacher who killed the bear’s mother and the cub is now living with the workers. They had one last year and after a year if took off and went back to the wild. This one too is free to go. When we were leaving it trekked out the hour and a half with us.

The zip lines! Between the tree houses there are zip lines. We would hook ourselves up and zip through the jungle. It was spectacular. There were about 20 different cables. Some were linked together by platforms on trees and others you have to again trek through the jungle to get to. One day we went to tree house five and it was a two hour trek through the jungle with a few zip lines in between to get there. One of the zip lines was 160 m high and 460 m long. It was so cool.

Our food was even brought in on zip lines. All of a sudden the tree would shake and incoming, food would arrive with a worker. The views on the zip lines were spectacular. It was so cool to look down and backwards. I recommend this to everyone. We entertained ourselves all day by swinging in the trees and trekking through the jungle.

One night we made fondue. We used one of the metal dishes over candle light to heat chocolate powder and condensed milk, which we then dipped our fruit in. We found the receipe in the guestbook of tree house one and we improvised with some lanterns and metal and made a stand for it to sit above the flame on. We were mighty proud of ourselves. There was running water in the tree houses from a natural spring that we could drink, but no electricity.

Laos is amazing and so beautiful. I would say it is the most beautiful country in South East Asia.

We took a slow boat down the river. It took two days, around eight hours each day on very erect wood seats with no leg room. Nicole (from Calgary) and I sat in the front seat both days so we had the most leg room. It was beautiful, so beautiful I only cracked out my book during a bit of rain when the tarps were down on the boat and we could not see out. We stopped the one night and stayed on the mainland. The town would be a ghost town if the boats didn’t stop there. It had electricity that came from individual generators and ours was shut off at midnight and started up at 6am, so no fan for sleeping. Between the initial starting point and the end result on the slow boat we only passed through maybe 12 villages that consisted of maybe 10 bamboo houses each. So there was a lot of trees and mountains to check out.

On day two we picked up a minority women with her 4 kids and young baby. One of the kids had a baby chicken in her hand for the journey. Can you say bird flu, again? We picked up so many locals on day two, all with young babies that sat in front of us, so we had to witness a lot of nursing for 8 hours.

Luang Prabang is a great town. With tons of French influence. The streets and buildings are lovely. A very quant little town with great food, service and excellent massages. Laos is gorgeous. The jungles, vegetation, rivers and views are all spectacular.

Check out the photos at the following link

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/GibbonExperienceAndLaos

Check out a video of me on the zip line by clicking the next link. Here's hoping you can view it. The quality is not great, but hopefully you get the idea.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6305227057839096726

Pai Thailand - pictures

Pai is a great town. Most people come for a couple of days and stay for weeks. It is a quant little town. I rented a moped (motorbike as they like to call it) for two days. It was a 100 baht a day and 80 baht a day for insurance. So for two days it basically cost $10. It is nice to be able to just hop on it and tour the countryside. My hotel is a little out of town, so the moped offers quick access to town also.

There are many waterfalls and pagodas to tour around and see, but I like when you round a corner and see and elephant. There are a few elephant camps (places where you can ride an elephant) around my hotel. So that was neat to see the elephants at the side of the road.

I went to one waterfall today and realized I was low on gas. I was in the hills and there was nothing around, so I was hoping I wouldn’t have to walk. I found a little village and asked about gas. I was given a litre of gas out of a liquor bottle and sent on my way. That was great; I was not looking forward to the walk.

The road to the waterfall was paved in parts and not in others. The road was more suited for a dirt bike then a moped and because of all the rain, roads were washed out. I decided to turn around on one dirt road as it was so badly washed out and the bike was going down. Not long after that it started to pour rain. Now I know what it’s like to ride through big mud puddles and be a kid and have mud from toe to thigh.

I had a good dirty day in the mud. It did not rain for long and I was dried out before making it back to town.

I met a woman who does Toro readings and reiki so I experienced that tonight, it was very interesting, ahhhh what the future holds…….

Check out more photos at the following link

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/PaiThailand

I am going to Laos tomorrow and will not have internet access for a few days. So take care. I will be swinging in the trees and sleeping in a tree house.

Elephant Ride - Pictures - Chiang Mai - Thailand

Had an amazing action packed day yesterday. I went on an excursion that consisted of a visit to a village where the “Long neck” tribe lives, an elephant ride for an hour, a caged cable ride over the river, lunch, two hour trek to a waterfall, white water rafting and bamboo rafting.

The long necks were very interesting to check out. Only girls have the wire around their necks and they get it on at age five. Originally it was to prevent tigers from attacking their necks. Now it is for tradition and beauty. Every two years they take it off for cleaning.

There were eight people on my tour and I was the only one that paid to do the Long neck tour part. So I was the only tourist in the village as it is the slow season.

I went for an hour long elephant ride through the jungle it was great. There were two people on each elephant. Oh yes all the people on my tour were French, all from France, though they did not know each other.

We took turns sitting on the front of the elephant it was great. Better than the basket. However the elephant had coarse hairs that were prickly on the legs. Its ears kept flapping my legs as it was swatting flies.

We rode across the river in a cage on a cable line, had lunch and trekked through the jungle to get to a waterfall. The terrain was really rough and my running shoes were slippery when climbing over the large rocks.

We went white water rafting. It was stunning going through the jungle on the river with a few rapids here and there. Then we switched to a bamboo raft to finish the trip.

I then was dropped off in the town to catch the local bus to Pai instead of going an hour back to Chiang Mai and then to Pai. I was to catch the bus on the way through. It already went through. So the guides talked to the rice shop owner who said a mini bus will be going through in half an hour, so I should wait.

I waited with the rice shop owner who was having a swally with the local police man who was in uniform. The cop took a fancy to me and made sure I got on the mini bus ok and that I was set. Me and 12 Thai’s in a mini bus (van). At least we had our own seat unlike that mini bus in Cambodia I took a picture of.

98km’s and three hours latter on the curviest road I have been on in my life we made it to Pai. The guide book says go on an empty stomach if you get motion sickness and for good reason. There was not a single straight stretch. It was crazy. The scenery was breathtaking though. Through the mountains, no towns or lights, just forest and jungle as the sun was setting. I wish I could have captured it in a picture, but too many turns.

I arrived in Pai in the dark and was not met for the first time by a convoy of people offering rides. So I set out walking. The town has a population of 3000 people and it is lovely. I asked an Irish guy at the stop light where Paddy Fields was and he did not know. Kim had suggested that place to me. He drove over to a shop and asked a guy who said the general direction. So the Irish man offered me a ride on his motorbike. I hopped on with my backpacks and was off over the bridge. I was glad I had a ride, it was a far walk, but we were not able to find it in the dark. I opted for another place close by and set out today to find it. As it turns out I will stay where I am as it is a really nice place for cheap. The room is massive, has a bathroom, with hot water, toilet paper and a shower curtain. Hot water and shower curtain I have not had in a long time and Thailand does not supply toilet paper. They use a “bum gun” a hose to spray themselves off and then pull up their pants, with a wet butt. Toilet paper is easily assessable in shops, so I just carry it with me, as do most travelers. It is the low season so my room was a steal.

Pai is an amazing town to just chill out in. I will enjoy one of the many hammocks for the next few days before heading to Laos for the Gibbon Experience.

Check out the following link for pictures of my elephant excursion.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/ElephantRide

Thai Cooking Course - Pictures - Chang Mai Thailand

What a great way to spend a raining day. I did a Thai cooking course today. It poured rain all day so it was a great activity. The course was awesome. There were eight people in the class and we got to make six individual dishes and eat our creations.

The school was in a Thai home and each person had there own element on a gas range to work at. We did lots of chopping, mashing and stiring. It was really good and we got a colour receipe book to take home.

Ricky and Terry you would have loved it and Grace the sue chef (chopping queen) you too would have enjoyed it. The food I made was so flavorful. Hopefully I will be able to repeat it at home.

Going trecking tomorrow, white water rafting, bamboo rafting and elephant riding. It should be a full day.

Link to pictures of the cooking class and a night market.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/CookingCourseChangMai

Chang Mai

I flew today from the south (Surat Thani) to the north (Chang Mai), via Bangkok. I had to take two flights and only had 50 minutes between them. On Air Asia you are not assigned seats, so I was given a sticker to wear that said "guest" and was told to seat at the front. I was told that when I got off the plane my bag would be brought to me. Sure enough I walked out of the plane and down the steps and a guy was there waiting with my bag.

All the passengers were loaded onto a bus that taken to the arrivals area of the airport. I was met there by an Air Asia employee and escorted through the airport to the check in area. I had to recheck in for the second flight. While we were walking there (really quickly) the guy was on his walkie talkie getting me checked in on the second flight. At the desk I was given my boarding pass and told to run to the gate. In the morning the airport was so small the boarding passes were handwritten, now I was at Bangkok an international electronic airport. I made it to the gate with time to spare, even enough time to read for a (short) while. There service was excellent. Last summer I missed a flight in LA and there was an hour and a half between those flights. I ended up having to wait for 7 1/2 hours for the next flight. No escort in that case.

After my last accomadation I have a new standard for rooms. The toilet must flush. My last bungalow had a regular looking toilet, but it did not have a flush option. You had to fill a bucket with water and put it down the fancy looking, really a plane old one holer. It stunk so that is my new standard if the room has a toilet, it must flush. Some rooms have a common or shared bathroom incase you were wondering.

I am in Chang Mai now and will be doing a Thai cooking class and hopefully doing a trek and elephant ride. Hopefully the rain will hold off for it. There has been a lot of rain. I am taking in a large weekend market tomorrow. I ate my way through the night market last night, trying the local shakes and desserts. I passed on the bugs that were for sale. Fried cockroaches, worms, crickets etc.

Full moon party and pictures

Well the full moon party was something to experience. The place I was staying at had a buffet dinner for the guests which was great and they decorated the place up nice. I helped in the afternoon with some of the flowers.

The evening brought rain and tons of wet, drunk and high people. It was interesting to people watch. I hope the rumor I heard that 5 people drowned was just that, a rumor. There were life guards on duty and they manned a sleep area on the beach as well. In the morning I saw them making people get out of the water but in the evening I did not see this, it was dark though.

People were drinking out of “buckets,” (kid’s sand pails). You could buy a mickie and mix for around $10. The bucket left a large surface area at the top and some poor souls were getting there drinks spiked and passing out. The woman I was with on the ferry this morning saw two people drugged this way last night. She said “well they say that is why they call it a party, because you are taking risks.” I bet some people when they wake up will not be wishing they took last night’s risk.

It was interesting man the amount of people and the dancing. It was cool to experience and I am glad I am here to report about it.

I also saw a dirty middle age man pick up a prostitute and take her to a “room.” Oh the things we see. Oh an of course the “lady boys” that Thailand is known for are good for watching also.

I am now in Koh Samui another island in the south of Thailand. I took a ferry this afternoon to try out these beaches. It is raining here a lot and there are a lot of thunderstorms. It is said that global warming has moved the monsoon season up. Hopefully the rain will hold off until the evenings.

Link to pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Thailand

Koh Pang Nang - Thailand

Hello all. I am in Koh Pang Nang (an island in the south of Thailand) for the full moon party. It is on May 1 and is not to be missed. So I am told. I came a couple of days early so I could get accommodation and it is a good thing as it was hard to find a room, let alone in my price range. I am in a bungalow on the beach that hosts the party. So good and close for the festivities. My hotel has a buffet dinner that night for all the guests. If you have not heard of the full moon party it is an excuse for the Thai’s to party each month and each year tens of thousands of travelers flock to Koh Pang Nang to experience the party on the beach.

It is raining and cloudy here and I am getting lots of reading in looking out onto the ocean. No sunbathing, but good rest and relaxation just the same.

I seem to have gotten over the worst of my bug and am back to eating which is a good thing. I still have a sinus cold though which I hope clears up soon so I can go diving in these lovely waters.

Thailand -Bangkok

I arrived in Bangkok the other day. It was an interesting ride and I am glad I had Kim with me to help me find where to stay. She has been here before and knew where to go from where the bus dropped us off. The trip from Siem Reap took 13 hours and started off on a rough road with many pot holes and a lot of dust. The road was not paved that we traveled on for the first 6 hours. The busses air conditioning was not working and the windows were open. By the time we made it to the boarder some of the people's white shirts were covered in red dirt. It would remind you of PEI with the red dirt. Once making it to the boarder, the boarder crossing was pretty dirty and nothing like the nice one between Vietnam and Cambodia. We had to walk through the boarder with our bags and then a ways to meet another bus. This bus was something. It was a double decker so you climb up and into the purple interior studded, mirrored ceiling bus, with great air conditioning. It was an interesting looking bus, it was very clean and cool, but reminded me of some cheesy bar or strip club with it's interior.

Day two in Bangkok resulted in me being sick in Bangkok, not sick of Bangkok but sick. I had to go to the Chinese Ambassy to get my VISA for there. I went by bus (old crappy one) and subway. It was a trec and people were so nice trying to help me get there. I finally got there waited and waited and then waited more when they said it could be ready in three hours. So I went to a food court and the smell of the food sent me to the bathroom. I thought I was going to throw up and I had it bad out the other end. So back to the Ambassy to wait in their lobby, I fell asleep and the guy says no sleeping as I was sitting on the stairs. I ended up vomiting all over their toilet and getting my visa. I took the subway back and then a bus. The bus was terrible. It was so hot and full of people and over an hour long in stop and go rush hour traffic. So I was a sight to not be seen. I vomited into a bag a couple of times and out the window a couple more times. I asked the ticket collector on the bus to tell me when to get off. So there is a tap on my shoulder and I stagger out of the bus, through the people to puke again this time on a tree, then another tree down the road. I was in terrible shape. I made it back to the room to see Kim off (she was going to the south on a 15 hour overnight bus) and visited the toilet many more times and called it a night. I did sleep not too bad and took it slow this morning to see where I was at. I ended up going to the Royal Palace which was beautiful with all it's ornate gold. That was all I could handle in the heat and I have not been sick today. Thank god. Anyway happy to not be puking.

Angkor - Siem Reap Cambodia, Pictures

I have been visiting the Angkor temples in Siem Reap for the last couple of days. It was magnificent. There are so many temples and each one is different. They were made between 900 – 1100, I believe. Don’t quote me on that, a long time ago. It is hard to believe they could have made such fascinating buildings so long ago and today the country is in poverty. It is said that Cambodia was the center of the globe at that time. They think that the population around the temples was over a million people and London England was only 50 000 people.

They do have the tourist thing down though, when it comes to visiting the temples. The roadways between the temples are paved and tree lined. It is a gorgeous ride between them. The temples were spectacular. It was so relaxing walking around them and through the jungle in parts to get to them. I did not expect to be able to go into them, but you can climb all over them. Kim from South Africa and I visited them together. It was so much fun and we did a lot of climbing.

At one temple I was climbing down the narrow steep steps and ended up missing three steps. You should have heard the gasps from the people sitting below having a drink. It was funny, but not at the time. I landed on my feet thank god, but my heart was racing.

I highly recommend a visit to Siem Reap to visit the temples. They are spectacular. I think in the future you will not be able to tour around inside them, or climb on them. That was really cool. It was so much fun and good exercise and the heat, 40 degrees over here. Needless to say it was a hot, hot couple of days.

The pass to get into the temples was $40 for 2 or 3 days and $20 for one day. We rented a tuc, tuc to take us between the temples as they can be up to 30km’s apart and that cost us $15 each, for two days.

It was awesome visiting the magnificent temples. My favorite was Bayon. It had 56 towers with 216 faces “watching” over the people of Cambodia.

I took tons of pictures; check them out at the following link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/AngkorSiemReapCambodia

Link to all pictures

You can look at the photo albums at anytime by going to the following link. You may want to save it to your favorites and then you can look back at any of the photos, instead of searching through the blogs for specific albums. This takes you to them all.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney

Kampot Cambodia - pictures

Well it’s been an adventurous few days. Kim from South Africa and I are still traveling together and we went to Kampot and we are now in Siem Reap, both are places in Cambodia.

We went from Sihanoukville to Kampot via a shared taxi. That is the only way to get there. Busses do not travel there and the train that is suppose to go there, the locals won’t even take. We were told it would pick us up at 9:30 am. It was late and then we went to another guesthouse to pick up three people for the two hour ride. We waited at this guesthouse for over 45 minutes, with the driver telling us, “10 more minutes, 10 more minutes.” Finally I went into the guesthouse and asked what room the people were in. I went to their room and asked what time they had been told, 11 am. I said we were told 9:30 and had been waiting. So about 11:15 and we hit the road. Only to stop at the local market and have the driver attempt to get another person in the taxi. The taxi was a 1980 Toyota Corolla that seats five people at home, but four in the back seat here and three in the front. One straddling the gear shift is no problem. I was in the back and took advantage of the seat beat that was still there and squished in with the other three in the back.

We made it to Kampot, a rural area on the river. It was great. A true Cambodian town, not many tourists and the downtown was very old and dilapidated. The guesthouse we stayed at was awesome. We had a bungalow on the river with three walls ($8 a night). Where the forth wall should have been was open to the river. There were no locks on any of the rooms in the place. It was interesting. It was a very relaxing place. The bungalow was floating in the river on those blue plastic barrels we have at home and also use to make rafts. We had a mosquito net over our beds. It was a great room; we could roll out of bed and jump in the river, which was a salt water river. There were a lot of people hanging out at this place relaxing in the hammocks, reading and swimming. They also had a speed boat and you could go tubing.

You go to Kampot to see Bokor National Park and Bohdi Villa’s where we stayed. We went to town and signed up to go to Bokor National Park with a company that would pick us up at 8 am the next day. We waited again until 8:45 am and a guy came by on his motorbike and asked what company we were waiting for? He said, oh this company is sh**.” Well he was right. They picked us up in a truck full of people. We were in the cab, which turned out to be a good thing as there was something to hang on to and a little cushioning as we climbed the mountain to a deserted village. The village is part of the National Park. With the $5 each person pays to get into the park they could use it to fix the road. It is a terrible road. It is so rough. Picture the worst farm road or cottage road you have been down in Canada and multiple it by ten.

The truck broke down and we tried to walk to the top. Our “English” speaking guide did not speak much English. So we walked up this terrible road for over an hour then stopped and waited for three hours. We were told the truck would be fixed in an hour and a half and that it would meet us. It never came, so we started to walk down. We passed the truck and there was no way that would be fixed anytime soon. You can look at a picture to verify this. So we had to walk down the mountain. It took six hours and no truck came to pick us up. Once making it to the bottom we had to pay to take a taxi back to town. It is also the hottest month of the year in Cambodia with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius. We were dirty, hot, sore and thirsty. So the next scam, 10 of us have to climb into this taxi, again a 1980’s Toyota Corolla and he charges us $1 U.S. each.

Once getting to town and complaining with the company they gave us our money back for the tour, but we had to pay the taxi. The guy said he was sending a car and the guide told him not to come. I am sure the guide was in on the taxi money. As the guide got in a car on the walk down and went to the bottom making us walk. He was to be going to get us a vehicle, but no.

So people discussed our situation with the park and they were going to honour our admission the next day. There is a separate entrance fee on top of the tour to take you to the top.

Day two of trying to make it to Bokor National Park resulted in a different company and another break down.

Three quarters of the way up you could walk part of the trail. Three of us decided we walked enough yesterday and had seen enough of the jungle and we would take the truck up. They stopped to let the people out and shut off the one truck. It would not restart. They attempted to jump start it by rolling it backwards, on the side of the mountain, with us in the back. We yelled stop as it was going over the side of the cliff and we jumped out, when they did not stop. People following us in their car tried to help and the one truck towed the other for a while with black smoke billowing out of the engine on the lead truck. I ended up playing “go fish” with Mija and Katrina from Denmark and Cambodian children that were in the other vehicles while we waited for them to fix the vehicle.

Four hours it took to get up the mountain to the disserted village. It was a happening town in the 60’s but after the war in the 70’s it is in ruins. It is suppose to be haunted. Once making it finally to the top the heavens opened up and it POURED rain. Luckily we were under a sun shelter. It stopped and left a fog around the area, creating a spooky feel. There was a Casino/Hotel, Catholic Church, school and other buildings to check out. It was neat, but seems like a lot of effort to get there and a ton of wear and tear on those vehicles. I would not want to be the guy that has to drive up there every day. The day ended with a boat cruise down the river and a free beer on the boat, as we did not get to go to the waterfall (part of the tour) as it is dry at this time of year.

Kim and I took the bus from Kampot to Siem Reap at 7 am. It had a stop in Phnom Penh for an hour and a half. You could buy a ticket to Phnom Penh and then another to Siem Reap. We bought a ticket straight though to save the hassle once we got to the bus terminal. A good thing as the bus was over sold and we would have had to stay another day in Phnom Penh. So guess what two seats were over sold. Seat five and six, our seats, as they give you assigned seats. They wanted us to get off, but we showed our tickets and we were early and sitting in the seats when the others came. We made it luckily to Siem Reap. We had just said, well it looks like this is working out as we questioned if we would have problems with a ticket from another town. But it worked out and we made it in at 8 pm. A long travel day, 13 hours by bus. My ears were sore as the guy was laying on the horn the whole way. If you watched the road, it looked like we were going to hit every dog, cow, motorcycle or other vehicle in our path. He was insane.

Taking in the walking sites around town today and found a lovely park with nice gardens. We are going to Angkor tomorrow to see the temples. They look beautiful. If you have time search Angkor on the internet.

Click on the following link for pictures, or copy the link and paste it into the browser as clicking on it may not work this time.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/KampotCambodia

Sihanoukville - Cambodia

I am currently in the beach town of Sihanoukville Cambodia. It is not what I expected. There are lots of Westerners settled here and a lot of Cambodians visiting the beach as it is their Khmer New Year. They celebrate for days, so it has been really interesting watching them enjoy the holidays. They celebrate by having continuously large water fights and powder fights, with talcum powder. There are beach areas that are just packed. Close to our accommodation is not packed, which is nice. I am staying with Kim from South Africa and we are a two minute walk from the beach. We are staying in a bungalow for $8 a night. It is up $2 a night because of the New Year, inflation!!

I have been hanging out on the beach reading, taking in the sunshine, waves and people. Tomorrow we are going on a boat trip to three islands and snorkeling for $10. It includes the boat trip, breakfast, lunch, fruit, soft drinks, three islands and snorkeling at each of the islands. Good value.

This town is really interesting, not what I expected. You can even stay here for free. There is a dorm guesthouse across the road that offers free accommodation. It is a room with huge bunk beds. There were 17 mattresses on the bottom and then the same on top. I am sure not much sleeping goes on there, as it is also a happening bar. That coincidently had a free dinner last night. They were passing out flyers saying come for free dinner. We went and it was great, rice, curry, pasta, garlic bread, crazy. I guess they were making their money off the drinks, which were for example $1 for a draft beer.

Phnom Penh - Children's Center - pictures

I went to the "Hopeful of Children Center" yesterday. It is a center for disadvantaged kids, some are orphans, others parents can not care for them. They may have HIV or work for very little money and can not care for their children. Some of them were also living alone on the street. There was one little boy, who looked three years old but is eight and was living on the street. His parents worked at the market and were going to get the food to sell and were killed in the middle of the night. This little boy was living on the street, begging for money and food, but the bigger kids would steal his money.

The center is run my a crippled Cambodian man, who himself lived in a center. He has started this on his own and depends only on donations to keep it going. He had such a spirit and was so great with the kids. Twelve kids live at the center and around 40 joined us to play from the neighbourhood. They come there so they are not in the street or fields during the day while their parents are working. We celebrated the Khmer New Year with them and played games together from 9am - 3pm.

He provides food, clothing and education to the kids. It cost him around $600 - $700 a month to run the center. If you want more info his email is kimny2005@yahoo.com

Click on the following for pictures of the Khemer New Years celebrations at the Center.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/PhnomPenh

Cambodia - Phnom Penh link to pictures too

I am in Phnom Penh Cambodia. I had no trouble at the boarder. The boarder crossing has an impressive building that you cross through with lots of gold turets etc. Then instantly there is poverty. The security guard was trying to make a fast buck by asking people for there immunization cards and if you did not have one, charged you a dollar. They are not required, but I happened to have mine in case I have to go to the hospital I can show what shots I have had.

The Cambodians are lovely, friendly people. I went to a museum about the killing fields today. It is a former high school turned into a torture center and now a museum. All but seven people I believed were killed in the killing fields after being detained here. There were corpses and bones on display and a lot of black white photos capturing the torture. Over two million people were killed during this regime. It made you speachless. It took me back working in a high school and to see this one converted to a detension and torture center. The life these people lived is unbelievable. For example they killed people who wore glasses as it was a sign of intellegence and killed all the educated. They also starved them for years and made them travel all of the country trying to get away. I just finished an interesting book about a girl and her families experience during this time.

I also went to the market. The best market yet. Good shopping deals and cloths. Wish I had more room in my bag.

Tomorrow is the start of their New Year and there will be celebrations for the next few days. I am going to a house for underprivledged children tomorrow. I will help with a games day for the kids to celebrate the New Year. It is from 9 - 3pm and should consist of potato sack races etc. There are a lot of orphans here and lots of places where you can help out.

I was able to easily post pictures today and add captions.

Click on the link for pictures of Dalat, Saigon, Mekong Delta and Cambodia

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/VietnamAndCambodia

Dalat, Saigon, Mekong Delta - Vietnam

Well hello all.

We have had a great day, not your typical Easter. We began the day by checking out of our hotel ($4) and rushing to the bus down the road at a travel agents. We only took our small backpacks and left the others at the shop. I ran then to this place that has amazing fruit shakes for 30 cents the best yet, similar to smoothies. So that was the Happy Easter treat for the girls. I also bought some marshmallow treats for them too. There is no Easter candy here. They loved the Easter shakes. We went on a trip to the Mekong Delta a river system where we ended up taking a ferry to the other side in the middle of the country. If that makes sense. It is in land, a river system that needs a ferry. Anyway. Malaria area, so using lots of bug spray, though have not seen the bugs yet. Touch wood.

We had a boa constrictor around our necks today as it was an attraction at one stop. We tried a lot of Vietnemese candy today and fruit as it was part of our tour. Great coconut candy. We went on three different boats and two busses today touring the Mekong Delta. It was a lovely ride in the row boat again and we wore traditional cone hats on the boat to shade us from the sun. Tomorrow we will visit the floating markets. Where they sell everything out of wood boats and you buy from a wood boat.

So Easter dinner. Oh actually Natasha's other friend (Erin) who lives in Germany, but is from Ptbo (Rick Fines, niece) is with us and Kim a girl from South Africa. Terry we met Erin at the Pig's Ear around Christmas time, small world and that Ptbo connection again Nora. We ate at one of the street venders as they had fresh spring rolls for 500 dong each (16 000 = $1). We wanted to try the local street food again and these looked amazing and were and were so cheap. We had four spring rolls each a great soy sauce (thick concoction) and then other things the lady brought us. She wanted us to try different things. We had rice porage, and another similar thing. She spoke no English but was so happy we were happy, she was aiming to please. The people in the south are NOTICEABLY nicer and do not rip you off, it is great. So that being said my Easter dinner was less than anything you had. For the four of us to eat our Easter meal it cost 60 cents. Total, for all four, that is not 60 cents each. It was so good and light too. Funny. An Easter dinner to remember. Not that my home ones aren't great :)

I went to church last night for Easter. A little daunting. It was at 9:30pm all in Vietnemese. There were other Westener's there though. It was huge and I had to stand. It was a Notre Dame Cathedral, bigger then our cathedral and it was packed. I walked in and they gave me a candle and I stood at the back. It was pitch black and that was a little freaky as I had no idea what the place looked like inside. But then it started and all the candles were lit and it was beautiful, even though I could not understand a word, oh yes I did, Amen. It was long and hot. You know it is hot when the candle drips on your skin and does not instantly solidify. It is 37 in Saigon. Not overly deadly though, can still move around. I expected to not want to do anything. But it is fine sounds worse than it is. So mass was really long. But cool just the same. No stain glass in the church as it was destroyed in WW II.

Was in Dalat in the central highlands for 2 nights. We met Kim from South Africa there. She is also going to Cambodia, a day after me. I am going on Tuesday. We tried great food in Dalat. We toured the markets and the locals hang outs. We ate lots of street food and shared it between the three of us. Each item was usually 2000 dong, around 12 cents. We had shrimp pancake items, pastries with meat and coconut, ice cream with condensed milk. Lots of cool different fruit I have not heard of or seen before. It was really neat.

We then did a motorcycle tour (moped tour) around the country side. I got my motorcycle tour in as I drove Kim and I around for the day. The scenery was beautiful, the best yet. Gorgeous lakes, forests and farms. A full day on the bikes and then a cooking class in the evening. We went to the market in the morning to buy our supplies and we made spring rolls and chicken curry. It was really fun too and we did a great job. I have the recipes so hopefully it will work at home.

In Saigon we went to the Cu Chi tunnels and the war museum, wow. What distruction and crap those people went through. We went through the tunnels which were 80 cm tall (less than 3 feet, dad) and that was double the size they were so Westener's could fit in better. One of the original access holes was there and I got to "try" to fit through. There was not a centemeter to spare with my hips, trying to get through. It was unbelieveable in there and pitch black. The flash worked on the camera and the picture is cool. I will try to post them later. I hit may head three times in there, really hard. In Korea I was not able to take my camera into the tunnels and you had to wear hard hats and I could walk through theirs. Here another story, crawling through, no hard hat and I wacked my head. A neat experience. I would not want to live down there. They actually lived under ground, had a kitchen under there, schools and babies were born in there. It took them 20 years to make their underground town for protection during the wars.

Going to Cambodia on Tuesday at 8:30 am on an 8 hour bus ride through terrible roads for $6. Hopefully the bus will not have any hassles at the boarder, or me in particular. The roads are not great, so it takes over double the time it would at home to get anywhere. Oh and their driving skills and the amount of vehicles on the road. Our bus did get side swiped the other day. Not enough damage to stop though ... carry on.

Happy Easter

Hi there

I am still alive. I will update again in a few days. I have done a motorcycle tour, cooking class and visited the Cu Chi tunnels. Have been having an amazing time. Limited internet the past few days.

Happy Easter everyone.

Natasha has arrived in Nha Trang

Good morning. Natasha has arrived after a long adventure from Thailand to Vietnam by bus, ferry, raft and motorbike. I think it took three full days traveling day and night to cross from Bangkok to Nha Trang. She is safe and sound with a crazy story to tell about how she made it to Nha Trang.

Yesterday we had an action packed day. We went on the boat at 8am and I did two dives. Natasha snorkeled at the same locations. On my dives I saw a large eel, scorpion fish and lots of large coral. It was great. The visibility was 15 – 18m. They were great dives. In the afternoon we hung out by the pool and relaxed. After a shower we went to the spa and treated ourselves to facials, oh the luxury and so different from the north of Vietnam. I would not dare have that done there. It is much poorer and dirtier in the north. We then went for supper and had an amazing meal. We had a seafood hotpot (similar to a fondue), rice, spring rolls, brushetta, grapefruit shape, coconut juice and regular beverages all for under $3.50 each. I was so full. I love trying the different shakes and food. I have been having fabulous seafood and it is so cheap. The other night I had mussels, scallops, rice a salad and a Heineken for $3. That was at a nice restaurant that actually has starched cloth napkins that they lay across your lap.

I have included a link to some more pictures. Natasha and I on the boat. Milla who I dove with, Rusty with his new students in the open water course. The Beer Hoi (a local establishment) where they serve beer for 75 cents for a 2L pitcher or 15 cents a glass. Notice the size of the chairs. They are children’s chairs at home, but are often found in the local restaurants and shops. They also have smaller stools they sit on that are only six inches off the ground and would be a child’s foot stool at home. They must have great thigh muscles as they squat all the time. Their bum cheeks sit on their heels. This is a common sitting position. A picture of the room that is $7 without air conditioning and $8 with air conditioning a night. Then two silk embroidered pictures that I took a picture of. You can not tell they are embroidered they look like they are painted. The detail in the one of the old man was amazing. The work at this gallery was stunning.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/NhaTrangNatashaBoatTrip

Nha Trang - School, Beach photos

For the reason I have stayed in Nha Trang so long, click on the following link for pictures.

Sorry for those of you that think the first pic will be of a nice young gentlemen. It is of the kids at the school I volunteer at each morning, teaching English. These are some of the underprivileged kids at the school that runs on a drop in basis for them. Then a picture of the beach volleyball tournament that was on today. The Louisiana Brew Pub where I spend the afternoons, pool side and then some of the great seafood I eat at night. Check out the large prawns (shrimp) they de-vien them and take the shell off them before they come to the table. You choose which ones you want and they weight them up and bar b q them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/NhaTrangCrazyKimSSchoolBeachVietnam

Pictures from Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang -Vietnam

The first picture is of me in a cyclo with Anne and Andrea from B.C.. We were driven around the city on the cyclos. The next couple of pictures are from the Citadel in Hue. Black and white photos of the market in Hoi An and the motorcycles on the boats crossing to a near by village. Me by the M.A.S.H. jeep that took us into the jungle at My Son to see the temples from the 17th Century that were bombed during the American war. Some have large craters beside them, where the bombs landed. A couple of a hydro worker, check out the ladder. The new red coat I had made in a tailor shop in Hoi An. A picture trying to capture the traffic and tailor shops in Hoi An. A view of the beach in Nha Trang and then me during my scuba diving certification and a couple of views from the boat. Me at the mud baths with an Aussie couple Michelle and Sam.

Click on the following link to see the pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/HoiAnNhaTrangVietnam02

Still In Nha Trang - Vietnam

Well yes I am still alive, sorry for the delay in updating. I have had long, long days with the diving course. Usually 12 hours and then I have to come back to the hotel and do chapter work. I have been bagged. Well, after a long few days and six or seven dives, class work and the exam. I am now PADI open water certified. It was a great course and my instructor (Russell or Rusty) was very thorough.

We did a session in an Olympic size pool, 2/3 of the way full with water, half ass as usually here, they said. It is the navy's pool but they have never seen any navy in it.

The visibility was 8 – 10 m in the ocean. It is usually a lot better but it has been raining off and on. I think I will go again in the next day or two as it has not rained in a few days and I should be able to see more. We saw great big star blue and purple star fish, clown fish (Nemo), damsel fish and really nice large coral. It was better then my last dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Surprisingly there is a lot of coral life here, but I did not see many schools of fish.

I have finally got to chill out at the beach. I was told of this place that rents lounge chairs and has a pool and restaurant. It is not a resort but instead of lying on the sand for $1.50 you can rent a chair for the day and either lay on the beach or by the pool, or switch between the two. You are not harassed there, by the “want to buy, you like.” It is the place to hang out and they will bring you food and drinks, ice cream etc from the restaurant. It is a brew pub, run by an Aussie. When you look around it is hard to believe it is still Vietnam. This town has a little bit better know how on tourism.

There are many hotels going up and I am sure in 5 – 10 years it will be so different. In the South you can notice the American/Westerner influence, remnants of the war, more than in the north.

As usual I have been meeting lots of great people. A lot of Aussie couples, they are great for conversation.

Went out the other evening with my diving instructor and some of the dive masters. We went to a few high class bars and it was interesting to just people watch. There were Vietnamese gay men, “women of the night” and straight people. It was my first exposure to the ladies and that is interesting too. I had read about it, but once you see it, well.

You notice the inner racial couples in this town and you cann’t help but wonder about them. Unfortunately there are a lot of dirty old men with young Vietnamese women and unfortunately there are a lot of pedophiles. There is a woman (Vietnamese – Canadian) that has a campaign, hands off the kids. She works to reduce kids in the sex trade and runs a bar, spa (the one I went to the other day) and school. She offers free English classes to street kids and uses the money from her bar and spa to support her efforts. I volunteered today at the school teaching English. They have volunteer teachers who do 4 week or more stints and then travelers are welcome to stop in at their convenience and offer help. It was interesting, a lot of chaos in the room, organized chaos I guess. I worked with the ones that were not interested at all and unfocused. I had Canada pins in my pocket so we used them as counters and practiced counting. The one boy was really young and not doing any of the work the others were, but when I used the pins with him, he knew his numbers to 6 and we worked up to 12. They do an hour of schooling a day and come when they can. Some just once a week. It is a drop in center.

I had to laugh coming back from my class the other night. There was a women walking down the road pushing a large scale on a stand to check your weight. Why they have them? Who would want to check their weight? They had them in Hanoi too. They are crazy. I cann't think that person is making money. They are constantly trying to peddle something. Terry would like it. You sit at the restaurant and they bring the books to you. "Want to buy, good book". All pirated photocopies of books for cheap and they look real.

There is an arts and craft historical building beside my hotel. It is a lovely set up. They have a guitarist and harp players in the courtyard and mist spraying in those areas. It is relaxing and you can sit down and have a free tea. Inside the buildings are pictures for sale. They are stunning. The pictures, look like paintings but are embroidered with silk. It takes them over six months to do a picture. They truly are stunning. The detail in some of the pictures was amazing. They had an old Vietnamese man’s face and it had every detail. They also have lovely landscape pictures. It truly was spectacular and to think it is all done my hand.

Enjoying now the rest full days of lounging at the beach and reading my book after a month of go, go, see this, check this out.

This afternoon I went to the mud baths and mineral springs. It was an interesting set up. They have many small hot tub size marble tubs that they fill with mud and you lay in them for 20 minutes. Mud makes you very buoyant it was neat to float in it. It is suppose to be good for the skin. My skin does feel softer. Then you go to the mineral shower where hundreds of jets spray mineral water on you from nice granite rocks. Then you go to another tub and they fill it with hot mineral water and you relax in it. An afternoon’s entertainment for a little over $3. They also have hot large pools then that you can swim in and they are 38 degrees, they were too hot.

Nha Trang - Vietnam

Well the train did have air-conditioning and the toilets left a lot to be desired. Man those are gross. The trains are very old, grimy and the toilets, holy the toilets. You just hope no part of your body touches any part of that room and use lots of hand sanitizer once you get out. The doors between the cars did not shut. So when people were smoking between the cars the smoke came billowing into the car and man after 8 ½ hours I felt as if I had smoked two packs of cigarettes. Well enough of that.

It has been raining off and on here. Sometimes it just downpours, but it usually only lasts for five or ten minutes. Nha Trang has a bit slower pace then the other towns so far and it is on the beach. I am staying at a hotel that is half a block from the beach and I can see the water and beach from my room for $8 a night. It is lovely and very clean. No free breakfast at this one though, but free internet.

This town also likes to cater to the Western’s and offers lots of massages and spa packages. So with the rain. I walked into Crazy Kim’s Spa and Gym to check the prices and facilities and ended up staying for a couple of hours. It was great. It was up to North American standards, very clean, sterile and modern. It was nicer then some of the expensive spots in Peterborough. So the ladies reading will like this. I had a deep cleansing facial for 70 minutes, pedicure and foot massage for 60 minutes and steam bath (all I could take was 10 minutes or so) all for less than $16. My skin has never felt so good. She worked wonders on it. If the rain keeps up, I may have to go back.

I also found another spot up to North American standards. I keep saying that as it is very poor here and things are usually grimy and not as bright and modern as in Canada. This place offers diving certification. So you got it. I am signed up to start my open water PADI certification for scuba diving tomorrow. It should take three to four days. I had to fill in a bunch of paper work and answer a lot of questions. I answered yes to one of the questions so I had to go to the doctor and get checked out. The question asked if you have ever had ear surgery. As a kid I had five sets of tubes. So off I go to the doctor. No problem. There is an English French speaking doctor across town. The dive shop (which is mostly westerners working there) got one of their Vietnamese employees to get me a motorbike and told them where to take me and to wait until I was finish and bring me back. Not a problem, as I am constantly being harassed, “motorbike, you like motorbike.” They always want to give you a ride.

So to the doctor a quick ride across town and I was in and out of the office in less than five minutes. Holy speedy, no sitting around waiting there like at home. He checked my ears and filled out the paperwork and gave me the okay. All this for $6.

Oh another crazy thing, trying to find deodorant. I was running low so I was watching out for it. They have many street venders who sell it, but not what I like or Westerns use. So it took a few days and a couple of towns. Luckily I still had some left. I found an A mart in Nha Trang, a large department store, similar to K mart, but a tenth of the size. I found regular Westerner deodorant there and was able to read the English on the Vietnamese glass bottles of deodorant. You got it, glass and they are heavy. Well it turns out they have whiting ingredients in their deodorant to make their skin whiter. Glad I got the regular stuff as I do not need help in the whiting department. So this leads to my other white story. In Hoi An at all those tailor shops all the women would rub my pasty white skin, “oh so nice, nice white skin, so pretty.” It was a bit much. The women here all want to have whiter skin and will wear surgical masks over their faces to protect their skin. Or longer ones that also cover the neck and long satin gloves to cover their arms when they are outside. So in the heat, me in a tank top and shorts I am gleaming white, as I have not been the beach.

The food is excellent. I have been having a lot of seafood even squid (little octopuses) in my seafood pasta. You can eat really well for cheap the most expensive things are $4. They have great fruit shakes for 50 cents. Most things are between one and two dollars.

Yesterday I met this really neat older woman. I went to the beach to read and met this woman there. I never got the book open. She was the first female war correspondent for Holland and was/is a journalist. She has lived in Saigon for the last eight years and was here when the war was on. She was fascinating to listen too. She has been all over the world, seen many wars and lived a very interesting life. Her stories were fascinating. She invited me to come to her house in Saigon when I am there to check out her scrapbooks and clippings from the war era. It was really neat listening to her.