We got about 360 photos and 8 videos from the trip, but we removed many duplicated, and the ones that didn't turn out so good to some up with a grand total somewhere between 200-250. Facebook only allows 60 photos per album (well, there is a way around this, but I have yet to figure it out), so there are four separate links. The photos are well commented, so please take your time:
Now is the video part of our tour, I will embed them from youtube, they aren't the best quality, but I think they're pretty fun.
This first video is just us waiting at an intersection. This is seriously a standard intersection, with light to medium traffic. The congestion is a huge problem here.
This next one is us crossing the street. You just had to walk in a straight line at a steady pace, and traffic would flow around you. It was actually kind of fun! Especially at night, wearing black ;-)!
This next one was during our cab ride to the Ho Chi Mihn museum. No more comments needed.
This next one again hardly needs a comment, only set up. This happened during our rainy, miserable boat tour... Which turned it into our fun... Awesome boat tour:
Two extreme bad ass people PARASAILING...
The last three are all feeding the monkeys at Monkey Island:
I hope you enjoy all of the media, we enjoyed the vacation!
Hello Blogosphere, I was going to write a full recap of our trip, but I thought I'd just write a short summary which we gathered on the way back to Yeosu, and then just put the emails I wrote to my family on the blog, since they captured my feelings at the times.
Here is the first email, recapping the first few days in Vietnam, and going to Nha Trang:
We made it safely into and out of Ho Chi Mihn City (HCM). We had few problems, which was really nice. Vietnam is much significantly, visibly, poorer then Korea, which leads to some interesting things, and some very sad things. For example, Mothers will use their children to try and sell cigarettes or gum to tourists who are out at night. We even saw one mother training her less then two year old child for this future job.
The weather has been in the 80's, or so, which was quite nice compared to around freezing. It is really humid, even more so then the weather in Minnesota Summer. The architecture really reflects the french colonial period of Vietnam. The buildings are tall, skinny and colorful. Some of them still visibly damaged from the war. We got to about 3 mueseums in HCM, one of which was a war memorial museum. It was really neat, but sad. There were hundreds of pictures of wounded or dead children, elderly, or other civilians.
We ran into a little trouble getting to and from Nha Trang. We had to take the 6AM flight this morning, which meant that we had to "wake up" at 4AM. More accurately this meant that Megan and I slept for about an hour combined. There were no flights coming back, period. We are going to have to take a night train, on January 1st (one day early), we will arrive back in HCM at about 7AM. The nice thing is this will allow us ample time to find all of the deals around our neighborhood (district one). The bad thing is we have to spend an extra day breathing in the fumes of 10000000000000000000 motorbikes.
The weather in Nha Trang was rainy when we arrived, and cloudy for most of the day. We are going to go on an all day boat tour of the islands of Nha Trang tomorrow, for some snorkling, sea food, etc. The next day we will (likely) go scuba diving. Nha trang air is much cleaner then HCM, but the markets are more expensive. I think the people in HCM might even be poorer then those in Nha Trang.
Here is the next email after we had completed the boat tour:
Today has been another rain filled day. We did nothing but walk around near the beach and do a little bit of shopping when the rain let up for about an hour or two. It has not been a good vacation, beach, sun, and relaxation wise... Korea was much more sunny, we have yet to see the sun in Nam, haha. We are making the best of what's available, but as far as it goes, Nha Trang doesn't have a lot to do in the rain. It is like being in Vallyfair in the winter... Not much going on. What now turns out to be a blessing, which we thought was a curse, is that we are going back to Ho Chi Mihn City one day early. This will enable us to find some kind of day time tour and get some more shopping in.
One good thing is Nha Trang has cheap beer (between $0.80-$2) that also tastes better then Korean beer, and cheap, good Western, Thai, Vietnamese, basically any kind of food you can ask for. I have been living it up with delicious burgers, and other things not available in Korea. Also, the people here speak much better English. I think it is due to two things. A cultural difference between Koreans and Vietnamese people, Vietnameses are more inclined to try to speak, and many Koreans just like speaking Korean, only. Also Vietnam is much more touristy, so all of the people speak English, so they can communicate with Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, French, and other Western tourists who come here.
Yesterday we had an all day / all rain island tour of Nha Trang bay. It ended up being pretty fun, but a bit miserable at times too, when driving the boat in the cold, wet rain. I swam for a while but could not snorkel since the visibility is terrible from the rain. Megan and I also tried parasailing, which was pretty fun. We recorded a video, so look forward to that. THe tour guide also did some singing and dancing, with live music from the crew. The drummer had to be about 13 years old. There are much looser child labor laws here, like I'd mentioned in my earlier email.
Here is the final email I sent from Vietnam, it goes over our touring in Nha Trang, the traveling, shopping, and the rest of our time in Nam:
We are setting up for our final night here in Ho Chi Mihn. We took the night train back from Nha Trang, which actually went pretty well. We arrived in HCM at about 6:45AM, took a cab to our hotel, dropped off our things, ate breakfast and then caught a tour bus out to the Co Chi tunnels. The Co Chi tunnels were the tunnels that were instrumental in the VC beating the allied forces during the Vietnam war. We learned a lot about the history of Vietnam during this trip as well, and had a pretty good tour guide. We had a chance to walk through the tunnels, which were quite a bit wider then the original tunnels, and get some good photos. We are at about 300 total for the trip, so I'll try and find the best of those to show everyone. The other good thing was that the weather cooperated today, finally. We were able to stay dry during the tunnel tour. A fun thing of the tunnel tour is the diversity of the people on our trip. We had Americans (us), English, Irish, German, Chinese, Korean (us), Russian, French people on the tour. You really learn how English is truly the global language when you have a group like that.
We got back at about 4PM, then went out to dinner, and did a lot of shopping. The goods here are so cheap that Megan and I were able to buy new large backpacks (like the BWCA trip size ones), and a bunch of other tourist trap kind of decorations for ourselves and friends (and maybe family ;-) ) as well as a few food items we cannot find in Korea (popcorn). I think I said this already, but Vietnam is much more international then Korea. I have enjoyed food from about 6 different cultures and world regions. In no particular order: Vietnamese, Thai, Russian, Chinese, American, English, and maybe a few others.
Yesterday was a fun, but also slightly miserable day. We had a few hour long tour fit in right before our night train to HCM. We took a private van out to "monkey island". Basically many monkeys live on this island, and then they have this cruel show we see at the end, were the monkeys are forced to perform and look really unhappy. The good part was we got to feed them, and it didn't rain. Next, we were supposed to see a waterfall, by the name of Bo Hahn (or something). We took, about a 45 minute drive down a flooded country road to get to the cold, wet jungle path. After about a 1.5 KM walk through TREACHEROUS terrain (I was wearing $1.50 flip flops btw), we got to the waterfall, but it was so flooded we couldn't stay long. Then, about 100 meters into the return trip, my $1.50 flip flops BROKE!!! I had to walk 1.4KM through the Vietnamese jungle on this rocky path BAREFOOT! In the end it wasn't terrible, but I think I took some solid steps towards the pain threshold of a Buddhist monk.
New Years Eve was really cool. Though the weather was really bad, we had a dance party on the beach. The Sailing Club had a big DJ set up on the ocean front, and we got to go out there. The rain started down pouring, and we all got soaked, but it was all in good fun. During the day we say a cool old Buddhist temple called Chom Tower, and then went to a mud bath, and the guys of the trip got a 45 minutes massage. It was the first one of my life. It was pretty cool, and relaxing. The traditional Vietnamese way is for the masseuse to walk on your back, so that was interesting.
Tomorrow we may take a tour, or we may sleep in and just burn time bumming around HCM, finding interesting things to take some more photos of. Ho Chi Mihn and Vietnam has been a lot of fun, and a needed break from teaching. Although the weather hasn't been great (or even good for the most part) we made fun out of it. I was able to get closer to Jeff, and Hye Gyoung and have a lot of fun a lot the way.
Finally, the last night we took the night flight back from Saigon after basically sitting around all day. We decided that we were not interesting in a five hour train ride back to Yeosu, so we canceled out tickets (95% refund, 2 hours before time, pretty awesome) and then bought two tickets back for W180,000. We arrived back at noon, and basically slept and heated up the house for the rest of the day. Afterward, winter camp started, I was bit by a dog, we met our new co-worker, etc. This will all be in another blog.
We are about 12 hours until we take our train up to Seoul for the trip to Vietnam. It is finally here! We also reached the five month milestone today. We arrived in Yeosu on July 24th, and will be here until July 31st, 2009 (working at least). It is also Christmas Eve. We had to work today, which wasn't too difficult since we did mainly Christmas activities, but we took our middle school students out for a party day. We went bowling for about an hour and a half (after we were supposed to be finished for the day). Neither Megan or I minded. The kids absolutely loved bowling. Two of them had bowled a few times before, and two of them were having their first time bowling. For the first game the kids were cheering 4/5 pin throws like they were a strike. It was a lot of fun. It is also rewarding to give those kids a break from studying. They go to school all the time, and if not they are in after school hagwons. The South Korean educational system is so competitive, but it really breaks the kids spirits, sometimes.
We are packing tonight, then getting up at about 6AM to get in touch with some of the family on Christmas Eve... From there we leave at 11:30AM from the train station (two blocks from our house). We arrive in Seoul (Yeongdeungpo-gu) at about 4:30PM, then at some point we take a bus over to Incheon. I think we will stick around in Seoul for just a bit to get some western food for our Christmas dinner. The next morning we are off to Vietnam!! I will try and get online at least once or twice in Vietnam, and post on the blog... or at least email. In the mean time you can check out the weather in Nha Trang Merry Christmas Eve!!! Happy New Year!
Hello blogosphere. Dave here. I really thought I'd crank out a few more blogs in December, but we got pretty busy. We are three work days from leaving Yeosu for a week. I've been really busy working on various things outside of work. Planning, web development, etc, so this time has been flying by. We haven't even started packing for Vietnam yet, but we are only bringing one bag and one backpack between us, so we will be traveling quite light. I think that we'll buy a lot of cheap stuff in Vietnam, and maybe even a second bag if we get enough! We have to use backpacks because everyone travels by motorbike in 'Nam, so luggage does not fit that system well. By looking forward to this trip I think both Megan and I overcame the burn out we had been experiencing at the start of the month. When you talk to other teachers, everyone goes through it. You get sick of the teaching hours, the students, the often confusing (by Western standards) communication of superiors, and other random problems that come up. This vacation is really coming at the perfect time. Jeff has said that it will be like a reset switch has been hit, and you can roll through work for another few months. I am looking forward to that.
동침 Dong Chim!!
This weekend was the Yeosu (foreigner) Christmas Party. Megan and I decided to find some nice Christmas sweaters to wear. They actually turned out pretty well, but I had to cut the turtle neck off of my sweater with a scissors! The party was at the same place as the Halloween party - "Ebada". Some people in town set up a really cool deal with a local orphanage. The "cover charge" for the party was either a gift for the kids, or a donation. A lot of people were also going to the Orphanage on Christmas day to give the presents and play games with the kids, but for obvious reasons we couldn't make it. We sang some Christmas carols, and had some delicious egg nog. I never knew egg nog was so good! I provided the party music again, and I think that went pretty well... As far as satisfying the tastes of people from 5/6 countries can go.
This evening we took a short trip out to Man-sang-ri beach to have a meal of FRESH oysters. They catch them in the morning, and serve them in the evening. Jeff paid for the entire Kim family to eat out. That was really nice of him. The oysters tasted GREAT. Basically the server puts a big plate of oysters over a flame on your table, and you just take them and eat them. You wear a handsome white glove to grab the boiling hot oyster, and then pry it open (if it is still closed) with a knife and scrape it out. I had raw oysters before which were OK, but cooked are great. It also speaks volumes to how my food pallet has increased. When I first got here I don't think there would be much of a chance that I'd try a food like that. I would NEVER had considered it back at home. Nowadays I didn't even give it a second thought - because it's so good!! I think my tastes have changed just a bit from when I've left. I mean I even (sort of) like Kimchi now and Megan loves it!
Well, we have a few pictures from both the oysters and the Christmas party, so check them out. I am looking forward to warm weather, and hopefully checking out some interesting sites while we are in Nam, so expect some blogging!
Merry Christmas everyone. We miss you so much! I hope to hear from each and everyone who reads the blog!! Trust me, even a one or two sentence comment or email makes our day.
Merry Christmas everyone! Here are the latest pics! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season and enjoying yourselves. I didn’t think I would miss being home as much as I have lately. I thought that with our Vietnam trip and the lack of Christmas celebration here I wouldn’t be homesick, but that’s not the case. I miss being home during this time of year, I even miss the snow (just the pretty stuff not all the storms). I miss the cookies, the songs, the feeling you get from being with family and friends. I miss the Christmas Eve parties, Christmas day food, and the Christmas Story movie marathon, haha. I’m lucky that I have Dave here to keep my spirits up. I’m also glad that at the Nareabong (singing room/Karaoke) they have Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You,” which I can’t sing but love trying. We are also very lucky for the wonderful x-mas packages sent to us, thank you to all of our families! My mom sent Dave and I a singing snoopy and another dog for our classrooms and the kids love them! The kids are so entertained by the movement and music, they think it’s the best thing in the world. Dave’s mom sent us a couple of Christmas books one being The Night Before Christmas which has wonderful illustrations. When I read the story, even to the “bad” classes, the students listened in silence while gazing at the pictures. Dave and I are really excited to take out our middle schoolers on Christmas Eve. Instead of class we are taking them bowling so that should be a lot of fun. I don’t even know if any of them have ever been bowling before. These kids definitely deserve a little fun because all they do is study. When asked “what will you do on Christmas, you have no school or Academy” the response is “study.” You can just tell how stressed and tired they are even before they talk. I can’t wait to see their reactions.
I’ll give you a little update about our Vietnam trip, but look forward to a very long blog entry about it when we get back. We are leaving on Christmas day to spend five long hours on a train to get to Seoul where we will meet up with Jeff and Hyegyong. We will most likely have a fun night in Seoul (including a western style meal!) and then hop on a plane the next morning where our destination is Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We will spend a few days there in 80 degree weather sightseeing and shopping. Then we are off to Nha Trang to spend the remainder of our trip lying on the beach and possibly scuba diving???! Overall, our trip is ten days long. We are going to spend Christmas and New Years in Vietnam, that pretty cool! I think this trip will be relaxing and hopefully re-energizing at the same time because when we get back from Vietnam Dave and I have a full schedule at the Hagwon with winter camp. We will be working in the morning and in the evenings, and even though it will be long and tiring it will hopefully bring in some extra money for our next trip
Here are a few pictures of the snow in Yeosu (it only lasted for about 10 minutes), and some Noreabong action. I’m really starting to like this Noreabong idea, I wish there was something similar back in the states. It’s a great workout too because all I end up doing is dancing, haha. This also might seem a little random but living over here where I have to speak so literally I feel like I am losing my vocabulary or that it is just getting rusty. Sometimes when I write or say a word I haven’t used in a long time it strikes me as being incorrect. I am so used to speaking as little as possible to my students, keeping my sentences short, simple and to the point so they can understand. Back home I could use complex words without thinking about their meaning because it was natural, but over here I think about the meanings of words much more (even small words). It is a really strange sensation when you are speaking to think consciously about the words you are saying. Languages and communication can be kinda crazy sometimes, haha!
Well sorry for that random thought but I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Dave and I appreciate all of your love and support. Keep up the e-mails and comments we love hearing from you. See you all next year!
Being (almost) born and raised in Minnesota, I know December to be a bone chilling month that is only justified by the fun events of Christmas and New Years Eve to make it worth while. I have found out that other places in the world are not like this. It is currently December in Yeosu, and it is still significantly higher then freezing. It feels like those days in March or April, when it's still technically cold, around 50F back in Minnesota, but it has been so damn cold all winter that you are walking around in shorts and a tshirt, but in December! I cannot believe it... I won't rub it in, I mean it's not that much better, and my house is just as cold, but I am able to be outside and not curse under my breath the entire time, which is nice.
We have some pictures to put up from the last few weekends (this is a link to them). These are from three different events. The first one is from the Thanksgiving party at Jeff's house. Unfortunately there are only a few stray photos from that night. The next weekend (11/29-30) Megan and I took a trip to the next town over, Suncheon (순천). We visited the "famous" tourist sight, which is Suncheon Bay (click for more info). It was about a 30 minute drive, and the first time I'd driven out of Yeosu. It was easy to find as most signs were in English, plus I figured out how to read it in Korean just in case. Saturday was quite cold and windy, so we didn't stay for long, but we got some cool pictures. We then went shopping at some of the big stores, Home Plus and E-Mart. We bought some clothes for the first time. Once in a while you can actually find a size that'll fit a Westerner, but not every time. That night we stayed in and I just did some work at home.
Sunday was the big foreigners Thanksgiving party. It is getting pretty neat now, since we have met many of the foreigners, so we can have a chat in English with some people, and catch up. The food was AMAZING. Shannon (from California / New Jersey) went to the closest big city (Gwanju) and picked it up. It tasted delicous. There was a lot of cool people there and a lot of good food.
Last night (Wednesday night) Jeff, AJ (Upscale) and I went to a concert at a local night club. This was a kind of strange Korean style club called a "booking" club. You can read more about "Booking" if you'd like, but the just of it is, guys just point to a girl they want to talk to, then the waiter drags them over. We didn't partake, because we just wanted to see the famous Korean rapper MC Mong (MC 몽). We had to wait until 12:30AM for the show to start, and it lasted about 25 minutes, but it was pretty cool. We were the only foreigners in the club, so we stood out. MC Mong also noticed this, so he said "where are you from?" To which Jeff replied "We are Americans (미국 사람 입니다). He then gave us props, and gave Jeff a fist pound, which was cool. All of the Koreans around tried to grab onto him when he did it. It is so strange being in the minority..! A famous celebrity still notices you.
The next weekend will be pretty good, and it is now only 3 weeks on the dot until we leave Yeosu to head to Ho Chi Minh City!! Pretty unbelievable. I will leave you with the MC Mong Song that was stuck in my head all day, I'm crazy (for you!)
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