A Short Trip to Hoi An

Hi there everyone!

It's been ages. I'm still in Vietnam. Sometimes it gets to me, being stuck in a big city. I'm just not completely used to it, after growing up in Seattle, where I not only had a forest for a backyard, but there were world-class natural areas less than an hour away. Unfortunately, Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City is a bit lacking in this area. Large parts of the city don't have decent urban planning (or any at all?) and there aren't many parks.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to get out of the city a bit, so last week I booked a flight and spent a couple of days in Hoi An, a town near Da Nang in Central Vietnam. Hoi An has lots of historical buildings with French/Vietnamese architecture, it's quiet, and the food is delicious. Yeah, it's a bit touristy for sure, but sometimes that's not the worst thing. I went to Hoi An last year, so I had some experience.

After arriving in Da Nang, I tried to rent a motorbike, but places wouldn't let me unless I allowed them to hold onto my passport or stayed at their hotels. I wasn't going to let that happen, so I got a motorcycle taxi down to Hoi An for about $10 and got to my hotel. I was able to rent a motorcycle there without any issues.

Relaxing at the hotel. This patio will do!

A quick break from driving in the countryside. The mask doesn't really protect from bad air, but it protects from the sun a bit and I don't get stared at as much from the locals!

My hotel was very relaxing. This time I didn't travel like a backpacker, so I got perks like a spacious room, breakfast, and a pool was nearby. I traveled to the beach, and walked around the old town.

Since it was night time, it was a bit more challenging to get pictures of the old town. The area was lit up with lanterns, but it was definitely crowded! Hoi An is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam.

Add caption

There's a reason there aren't so many people in this water...jellyfish. Big ones.

The beaches near Hoi An weren't as nice or as clean as the ones in Da Nang, but I still found some enjoyment. For my first day, I went to An Bang Beach, but it was full of tourists, jellyfish, and aggressive merchants who tried to rip me off. I always engage merchants in Vietnamese when asking about prices and stuff, so they know I've been here a while.
The next day, I went to Ha My Beach. There was almost no one there! There were a few restaurants, but that was it.

That's more like it! The water was so warm, but still refreshing on a hot day where temperatures were in the 90s.

 The food in the central part of Vietnam is some of my favorite. The two dishes I highly recommend are cao lầu (left) and mì quảng (right).
 

They've got a delicious broth with a kind of chili and garlic flavoring, and the herbs and spices used really enhance the flavor. They're served with various kind of meat. I really could go for one of these dishes right now...

I took a drive on my rented motorcycle to My Son, a site of Cham ruins. Google maps took me on an interesting route, where I got a bit lost, and found an unofficial on-ramp to a highway. It even rained a bit too, so I had to stop by a small town general store to get a coat. The views in the countryside were amazing though!


After driving for over an hour, I got to My Son. Since it was late in the afternoon, all the big tour groups had left already, and it was very uncrowded. It was peaceful and quiet. I could hear birds and cicadas.

An old temple undergoing restoration. Unfortunately, this site was bombed heavily during the Vietnam war, and most structures were destroyed.

My kind of place! Trees, ruins, and a warm, sunny afternoon!

A lonely old building

There were some interesting statues and carvings in the area.

Overall, it was a very relaxing vacation! Two days was enough to see and do quite a bit! I really should get out more and do stuff like this.

Malaysia Trip, Part 1

I realize it's been a month since I got back from Malaysia. I had a great time though! The food was excellent, the people were very friendly, there was lots to do, and most people spoke English quite well.

The famous Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Actually, this picture was taken the day before I went back to Vietnam, as I didn't take many photos when I first arrived!

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 27th. When I arrived, I immediately noticed how it was much more humid than Saigon, as I was closer to the equator and KL has a tropical rainforest climate. Also, I saw a McDonald's in the airport, a sign of civilization. I had traveled to KL with a couple of friends. We took a bus to a train station and then traveled to the city itself. What struck me is how modern Malaysia seemed in comparison to Vietnam. The infrastructure was better. People drove cars instead of motorcycles. The streets were cleaner.

We only spent a night in KL before moving on to Penang. It was a fun night though. After meeting up with a couple more friends, we went to a bar/restaurant with an excellent view of the Petronas Towers and enjoyed some food near our hostel. The next morning, we tried to catch a bus to Penang. We got ripped off though! The taxi driver drove us very far away from the bus station we wanted and dropped us off. We only lost about $3 each, but it still was rather annoying. Like in Vietnam, I guess you shouldn't trust taxi drivers that much...

Our bus to Penang was wonderful! I fell asleep for much of the trip, but the landscape was stunning. George Town in Penang was pretty amazing. More to come soon. Also, I'll upload an album full of pictures.

Chinatown in George Town. We stayed in a very cheap hostel in these parts!

Traveling for Tết

I won't actually spend Tet (the Vietnamese Lunar New Year) in Vietnam. Instead, I'll travel to Malaysia for about 10 days. For Tet, many Vietnamese people return to their hometowns, and Saigon loses much of its population for several days. While that might be an interesting sight, I have a lot of vacation time coming up, so I'd like to travel. I'll arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. At the moment, I don't really have an itinerary beyond that! I hope to see some beaches (of course...), hike through some tropical rainforests, and eat some delicious food.

In other news, I've been driving a rented Yamaha Nouvo scooter around the city, and it's lots of fun! The traffic is insane here sometimes, but I've been getting used to it. I feel like I have much more freedom now! After my trip to Malaysia, I'll try to buy either an automatic scooter or semiautomatic motorbike.

Teaching's alright. It's a lot of work though. I have 21 hours of teaching each week, and I have to prepare lesson plans for all of that. Each class is different. I'm still slow at lesson planning. Got to get more efficient or something...

Also, I really need to send out a bunch of postcards and gifts one of these days.

Back from Phú Quốc

Hi there. I just got back from an amazing Christmas vacation to Phú Quốc island in the southern part of Vietnam. I'm too tired to write much now, so here's a link to a web album with lots of pics. I've put captions under most of the pictures to say what was going on. Enjoy!

https://plus.google.com/photos/113954388427837419799/albums/5962068205017931265?authkey=CJD_vKqnk7OzYQ

An Update

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I last updated. Things were (and still are) pretty stressful for a while, but I'm still here.

I don't like to talk about work too much on a public blog, but it has been an adjustment at times. I still find it challenging to plan 20 hours worth of a lessons each week. Sometimes I don't feel that creative or charismatic, but the show must go on! I don't think I'm a very good teacher yet, but I'm trying to get better.

There's been a lot of change at my company in the last few months. We have a contract with the government to put teachers into the public schools. The issue is that the classes are enormous in these public school classes, it's hard to manage the dozens of kids, and the teaching resources are rather lacking. Some schools don't have AC and are hot as a brick oven. For the moment, I only teach lessons at the private language centers, but I probably will have to change that soon. It might not be so bad. The public school kids seem nicer than the wealthy entitled kids I usually teach.

Second, I feel that I'm trapping myself in an expat bubble. Almost all of my friends work for the same company. One thing I learned from graduate school is that you don't want just one group of friends. I used to hang out with only chemists. Imagine how strange and awkward that must have been! (and it was) I want to have a mix of expats and locals for friends. The language barrier can be an issue sometimes with Vietnamese people. Time to learn the language fast, I suppose! Anyway, I'll try other social opportunities like clubs, organizations, and lessons in things like Salsa dancing. If I only wanted friends from the West...I would have stayed there!

Also, I need a motorcycle. I think I've said that before, but I'm moving on that now. It's not fun thinking about going places in terms of how much I'll need to pay the motorcycle taxi driver. Also, haggling all the time gets old.

There's more I have to say, but I'll let that wait for another blog post. What I write here is only a small fraction of what I'm experiencing on this grand adventure!

Back from Vung Tau!

I got back from Vung Tau and then I was very busy! Today I get to rest a little bit after a somewhat stressful week. Things are changing at my school very quickly after some new leadership was apparently brought in, and I'm not totally sure it's all for the best. We'll see how I feel about things several months from now.

Overall, Vung Tau was pretty nice. I was VERY glad to get out of the huge sprawling city of Saigon for a bit. The countryside was quite beautiful. I really, really missed seeing things like trees, hills, and water. I went with my friends Brian and Olivia. Traveling alone can still be fun, but it's so much more satisfying to share your experiences with others. We got there by taxi, although it would have been better to go by bus. We live and learn, I suppose...

A View of Vung Tau from a Hill.

We arrived on Monday evening not long before the sun set. The city is quite striking at night, but my camera is terrible with low-light situations! I should really purchase a new one soon. We had dinner, talked, and walked around. I can't think of many things that are more relaxing after dealing with the stress of working and adapting to a new life.

The next morning, we had breakfast and went for a swim. The beach was kind of dirty, but I momentarily ignored my need for cleanliness and enjoyed the warm waters of the South China Sea. We had an interesting interaction with some locals. We sat in some beach chairs for about an hour and a half. No one was around or bothered us until the end when we were asked to pay an enormous fee for using the chairs! We left in an awkward fashion. I would have been happy to pay a bit (not the full amount!), but I forgot to in the confusion. Lesson learned for the future: Always agree on prices before using any services around here! (if you can find someone, that is)

Oh...Have I mentioned how aggressive Vietnamese cats can be about getting a bite to eat? I was of course scared for my life.

In the afternoon, we walked around a lot and did some sightseeing. We went on a cable car ride to the top of a mountain, saw an old French lighthouse, and enjoyed some inexpensive local food. Vung Tau is famous for a colossal statue of Jesus, but we ran out of time to see it. We took some pictures from a distance though.

Old French Lighthouse from 1910

There are some beautiful temples all over in Vietnam!

That's a lot of pictures for one post! The next morning, we caught a bus back to Saigon and life went on as normal. Where do I want to go next? Perhaps Phu Quoc Island? I just love tropical islands! I hear the beaches are nice and clean, I could go hiking in some tropical forests, and there's great seafood!

Vung Tau

Today I'll take a hydrofoil down to Vung Tau. It should be interesting! I'll post pictures and other things in the coming days. Finally I'll be able to see the beach. I haven't left Saigon at all since I've been in Vietnam, so I'm really looking forward to this. I'll be going with a couple of friends from my CELTA course.

Also, I'm finally moving into an apartment. Goodbye hotel living!