Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Philippines: The One Bad Thing
I am generally a positive person and I hesitate to complain about things, especially when I’m on vacation in tropical paradise. When you put good vibes out, good things happen. However, I do realize that without bad, good wouldn’t exist. Is anything awesome if everything’s awesome? Would we enjoy the sunny days so much if we never had to endure the cold, rainy ones? Wow, this has become a really long setup to a complaint, huh? Well, I promised myself I’d blog about the entire trip, and this is a part of it too. This is a story about the ‘cold, rainy day’ that I endure in order to enjoy the rest of the trip even more.
The one blight on this trip (aside from my horrific sunburn which has entered the stage of blistering and peeling that leaves me reminiscent of a leper) has been Mark, a guy staying here in the same resort as my friends and me. Mark’s age is hard to determine because of his extreme tan, but I’d say he’s around 50. He is here vacationing with his son, who is Swedish, and Mark is purportedly from California, and spends half of every year in Sweden. Mark has a deep, deep tan, and a swarthy body similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unfortunately, I’m talking Arnold now, not in his Pumping Iron heyday. And, also unfortunately, Mark wears a Speedo like Arnold does. Mark has white-blonde hair that curls around his ears. But enough about his appearance, that’s hardly what makes him detestable.
Mark tells tall tales, incessantly, and pretty much every one of them involves him having sex with someone or more than one someone. He’s extremely inappropriate, slow-talking, often drunk, and clearly a pathological liar (today he told me he has only been photographed 3 times in his entire life). And he’s unavoidable. Our resort is small, with the cafe and pool in the courtyard area, and my door opens straight up to the area where the tables are. So if he’s out there, I cannot leave my room without being spotted and spoken to. I also cannot enjoy being out by the pool or eating at the cafe without worrying about his imminent appearance. And Boracay is a very small world, so I can’t even avoid him on the beach.
Today at sunset, I was lying on the beach reading and had my headphones on - two big indicators that I want to be left alone, right? He came and sat down next to me (gigantic ugh moment), wanting to take pictures of the sunset. By this point, any time I see him I speak in terse, non-leading sentences and look for the quickest escape route. He asked what The Unbearable Lightness of Being is about (I have come to realize I hate this question, because I am almost always reading something that is too complex to explain briefly, and usually it means I’ve been interrupted in my reading), and I said it was a love story. What’s funny is, with almost anyone else, I would never describe anything I’m reading as simply “a love story” for fear of being pegged as a shallow, Danielle Steel fan. I want people to know that I read ‘smart-people books’. I wear my badge of intelligence (a little too) proudly. And the book could hardly be described as merely “a love story” but of course I was trying to get rid of him. His response? “I don’t believe in love. Do you believe in love?”
Geez. How can you answer that succinctly? But I tried. I answered “I don’t know, I guess I’m too young to have it figured out yet.” And then he asked if I was interested in older men. How do you say to someone older than your dad, ‘yes, I am interested in older men, but not necessarily men who have children older than I am’? So I just said ‘no’. I wasn’t about to go down that road with him. He then said it was because I wasn’t Russian, because Russian girls know that older men can teach them things, but Texas girls only want dumb, young guys who can’t teach them anything. At this point I was picking up my things to go, and I just said, “Yeah, I guess so. I’m going to dinner now.” And walked away to him remarking something along the lines of “Go to dinner with your young, stupid guys.”
Wow. The nerve. I’m not even mad, just amazed that this person has managed to A) live this long behaving in this manner and B) be financially successful enough to be on vacation here. Obviously he’s been on vacation for quite some time, and I have to believe the Sweden story because he told that one in front of his son to me and my other Swedish friends, who then spoke in Swedish with the son, so I consider that a confirmation of at least that one point. But who would hire this guy? Better yet, who would procreate with this guy? At least one stupid chick in Sweden I guess. Ugh.
The one blight on this trip (aside from my horrific sunburn which has entered the stage of blistering and peeling that leaves me reminiscent of a leper) has been Mark, a guy staying here in the same resort as my friends and me. Mark’s age is hard to determine because of his extreme tan, but I’d say he’s around 50. He is here vacationing with his son, who is Swedish, and Mark is purportedly from California, and spends half of every year in Sweden. Mark has a deep, deep tan, and a swarthy body similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unfortunately, I’m talking Arnold now, not in his Pumping Iron heyday. And, also unfortunately, Mark wears a Speedo like Arnold does. Mark has white-blonde hair that curls around his ears. But enough about his appearance, that’s hardly what makes him detestable.
Mark tells tall tales, incessantly, and pretty much every one of them involves him having sex with someone or more than one someone. He’s extremely inappropriate, slow-talking, often drunk, and clearly a pathological liar (today he told me he has only been photographed 3 times in his entire life). And he’s unavoidable. Our resort is small, with the cafe and pool in the courtyard area, and my door opens straight up to the area where the tables are. So if he’s out there, I cannot leave my room without being spotted and spoken to. I also cannot enjoy being out by the pool or eating at the cafe without worrying about his imminent appearance. And Boracay is a very small world, so I can’t even avoid him on the beach.
Today at sunset, I was lying on the beach reading and had my headphones on - two big indicators that I want to be left alone, right? He came and sat down next to me (gigantic ugh moment), wanting to take pictures of the sunset. By this point, any time I see him I speak in terse, non-leading sentences and look for the quickest escape route. He asked what The Unbearable Lightness of Being is about (I have come to realize I hate this question, because I am almost always reading something that is too complex to explain briefly, and usually it means I’ve been interrupted in my reading), and I said it was a love story. What’s funny is, with almost anyone else, I would never describe anything I’m reading as simply “a love story” for fear of being pegged as a shallow, Danielle Steel fan. I want people to know that I read ‘smart-people books’. I wear my badge of intelligence (a little too) proudly. And the book could hardly be described as merely “a love story” but of course I was trying to get rid of him. His response? “I don’t believe in love. Do you believe in love?”
Geez. How can you answer that succinctly? But I tried. I answered “I don’t know, I guess I’m too young to have it figured out yet.” And then he asked if I was interested in older men. How do you say to someone older than your dad, ‘yes, I am interested in older men, but not necessarily men who have children older than I am’? So I just said ‘no’. I wasn’t about to go down that road with him. He then said it was because I wasn’t Russian, because Russian girls know that older men can teach them things, but Texas girls only want dumb, young guys who can’t teach them anything. At this point I was picking up my things to go, and I just said, “Yeah, I guess so. I’m going to dinner now.” And walked away to him remarking something along the lines of “Go to dinner with your young, stupid guys.”
Wow. The nerve. I’m not even mad, just amazed that this person has managed to A) live this long behaving in this manner and B) be financially successful enough to be on vacation here. Obviously he’s been on vacation for quite some time, and I have to believe the Sweden story because he told that one in front of his son to me and my other Swedish friends, who then spoke in Swedish with the son, so I consider that a confirmation of at least that one point. But who would hire this guy? Better yet, who would procreate with this guy? At least one stupid chick in Sweden I guess. Ugh.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Philippines Day 5: DJ Jenny in the HOUSE!
I awoke, completely disoriented, to a banging on my door and a loud male voice yelling “Room service! Room service!” Although it did seem completely out of character for my subdued Swedish friends to behave this way, I was thinking it was one of them and I hopped out of bed, throwing the door open and yelling, “Quit being so loud! Good grief!” and then I turned around without even really looking to turn on the light and up the air conditioner. THEN I turned back around to see what he wanted, and realized, it’s Scott and Rosie! My friends from Busan made it to Boracay and booked a room in the same resort as I me! I was so excited because we had had only limited contact, and they knew where I was staying, but I didn’t know exactly when to expect them.
Scott is a bartender at one of about 10 bars all the English teachers and other westerners in Busan frequent who also teaches English at a Busan middle school, and Rosie is his girlfriend who has only moved to Busan within the last couple of months. We aren’t super close, but we’ve definitely had some fun times together at the Basement, where Scott works. The foreigner community in Busan is very small and close-knit because we all hang out at most of the same places, and we always have fun when we run into each other. I only learned they were coming to the Philippines last week, so we had only tentatively planned to meet up and hang out, but this worked out perfectly.
I introduced them to Klas and Daniel, and we all hung out around the pool for a while before going for pizza at Cocomangas later that evening. Note: there are Filipino children running around presumably unattended everywhere here, including this bar. It’s completely different from the US, and all I could think of is that Reese Witherspoon movie where she says “You’ve got a baby? In a bar?” But it seems to be pretty normal and acceptable here. So okay, I’ll roll with it.
After a couple of drinks and pizza, we were all still sitting around our table, which at Cocomangas are these elevated, wooden sort of cubicle type things filled with bean bags with a low wooden table in the center. We weren’t super close to the dance floor, but the music was pumping, and I remember Scott accusing me of not being ready to have fun. Um, is that challenge? I’ll show you fun, Scotty.
We danced and then headed across the road to this Filipino club on the beach and danced there for a little while before heading to another place where you could lay on bean bags out on the sand. We all hung out under the stars for a little while before Daniel and his girl, Marni, broke away to head back, and Rosie and Scott were pretty wiped out from their day of early travel, so they left too. Klas and I talked for a while and then headed down to Summer Place, which was within walking distance of our hotel, and was the place we had gone to dance the night before. After that we almost immediately split up, and I headed to the dance floor to be the Fun Police for the second night in a row.
Summer Place is also on the beach and it's awesome, and I just wanted to dance, dance, dance. The thing is, everyone thinks I'm SO drunk when I'm really just dancing, having a good time, inciting everyone else to dance more. I couldn't help thinking that if John or Sarah (or both - I can hardly imagine) were here, we would OWN this place. I mean, the DJ (DJ Jacob in the HOUSE!) invited me behind his booth to dance, and put the DJ headphones on me, just like DJ Jesus on my friend Damon's t-shirt. This literally happened. It felt like I was in a movie or something. Okay, it’s not like it was Tiesto or Armin, but still. I'd like to think I'm that good of a dancer, but it’s probably that they’ve never seen a white girl dance before. Although, to be honest, I do have some pretty good moves.
My Filipino "best friend" (Maui, this tiny little girl I had met the night before and ran into again last night. Throughout the night she would say “I love you, you’re my best friend.” It was adorable.) just kept asking if I was okay, thinking I must be wasted (this makes me wonder if I really am dancing well or if I’m just flailing around like an epileptic...?) It was really sweet of her, looking after me, but I assured her that I never drink that much, and I am always completely in control. She’d also come check on me if a guy was talking to me, and ask “Are you okay?”, ready to come to my rescue if the guy was being a bother. So sweet and cute.
So, tired from all the dancing and from fending off potential dance partners (why can’t they understand that I dance alone? Near you maybe, but not with you. This isn’t a ballroom, it’s a discotheque.) I finally made my way back down the beach path to my room. What a cool night. What a blast. I’m never going to forget this feeling.
Scott is a bartender at one of about 10 bars all the English teachers and other westerners in Busan frequent who also teaches English at a Busan middle school, and Rosie is his girlfriend who has only moved to Busan within the last couple of months. We aren’t super close, but we’ve definitely had some fun times together at the Basement, where Scott works. The foreigner community in Busan is very small and close-knit because we all hang out at most of the same places, and we always have fun when we run into each other. I only learned they were coming to the Philippines last week, so we had only tentatively planned to meet up and hang out, but this worked out perfectly.
I introduced them to Klas and Daniel, and we all hung out around the pool for a while before going for pizza at Cocomangas later that evening. Note: there are Filipino children running around presumably unattended everywhere here, including this bar. It’s completely different from the US, and all I could think of is that Reese Witherspoon movie where she says “You’ve got a baby? In a bar?” But it seems to be pretty normal and acceptable here. So okay, I’ll roll with it.
After a couple of drinks and pizza, we were all still sitting around our table, which at Cocomangas are these elevated, wooden sort of cubicle type things filled with bean bags with a low wooden table in the center. We weren’t super close to the dance floor, but the music was pumping, and I remember Scott accusing me of not being ready to have fun. Um, is that challenge? I’ll show you fun, Scotty.
We danced and then headed across the road to this Filipino club on the beach and danced there for a little while before heading to another place where you could lay on bean bags out on the sand. We all hung out under the stars for a little while before Daniel and his girl, Marni, broke away to head back, and Rosie and Scott were pretty wiped out from their day of early travel, so they left too. Klas and I talked for a while and then headed down to Summer Place, which was within walking distance of our hotel, and was the place we had gone to dance the night before. After that we almost immediately split up, and I headed to the dance floor to be the Fun Police for the second night in a row.
Summer Place is also on the beach and it's awesome, and I just wanted to dance, dance, dance. The thing is, everyone thinks I'm SO drunk when I'm really just dancing, having a good time, inciting everyone else to dance more. I couldn't help thinking that if John or Sarah (or both - I can hardly imagine) were here, we would OWN this place. I mean, the DJ (DJ Jacob in the HOUSE!) invited me behind his booth to dance, and put the DJ headphones on me, just like DJ Jesus on my friend Damon's t-shirt. This literally happened. It felt like I was in a movie or something. Okay, it’s not like it was Tiesto or Armin, but still. I'd like to think I'm that good of a dancer, but it’s probably that they’ve never seen a white girl dance before. Although, to be honest, I do have some pretty good moves.
My Filipino "best friend" (Maui, this tiny little girl I had met the night before and ran into again last night. Throughout the night she would say “I love you, you’re my best friend.” It was adorable.) just kept asking if I was okay, thinking I must be wasted (this makes me wonder if I really am dancing well or if I’m just flailing around like an epileptic...?) It was really sweet of her, looking after me, but I assured her that I never drink that much, and I am always completely in control. She’d also come check on me if a guy was talking to me, and ask “Are you okay?”, ready to come to my rescue if the guy was being a bother. So sweet and cute.
So, tired from all the dancing and from fending off potential dance partners (why can’t they understand that I dance alone? Near you maybe, but not with you. This isn’t a ballroom, it’s a discotheque.) I finally made my way back down the beach path to my room. What a cool night. What a blast. I’m never going to forget this feeling.
Philippines Day 4: Funny Anecdote
When I first met Klas and Daniel, they told me that their stereotypical idea of an American guy had been confirmed by a scene they had witnessed on the beach earlier that day. Two American guys yelling “Woo-hoo! Yeah!” and fist-pumping and running around all hyper... sounds about right. And sounds about like Scott, my friend who was soon to come meet up with me in Boracay with his girlfriend Rosie. So that kind of made me smile because nobody doesn't like Scott, but I was betting they'd think he was a trip. Swedes are pretty reserved people, certainly not boring, but calm, so they thought the way the American guys were acting was pretty funny. I told them that my goal as an expat is to be an ambassador proving wrong any bad stereotypes Americans might have overseas, which is true. I’m working on giving us a good name as best I can.
So fast forward to later that night, we were walking from one place on the beach to another dance club called Summer Place, and I saw a guy with a Dallas Cowboys jersey on. And what did I do? I ran over to him yelling “Dallas, yeah! Woo-hoo!” and high-fived him.
The Swedes just looked at me, smiling and said, “You just did the thing.”
Ha ha. I did that exact same thing. You can take the girl out of America...
So fast forward to later that night, we were walking from one place on the beach to another dance club called Summer Place, and I saw a guy with a Dallas Cowboys jersey on. And what did I do? I ran over to him yelling “Dallas, yeah! Woo-hoo!” and high-fived him.
The Swedes just looked at me, smiling and said, “You just did the thing.”
Ha ha. I did that exact same thing. You can take the girl out of America...
Friday, February 19, 2010
Philippines Day 4: It Starts Getting Really Good
I woke up and headed seven steps outside my door to the outdoor resort restaurant/bar/cafe type thing for 'breakfast' at around 12:30pm. As I was sitting there enjoying my American breakfast, these two guys sitting near me were trying to ask for mustard and the waitresses were not understanding what they wanted. So since I am am ever-helpful, and a friendly Texan, I took the menu and pointed out the mustard on the hotdog pictured there. The guys teased me about eavesdropping, and we struck up a conversation. The restaurant had no mustard on hand, by the way. (Weird sidenote: I realized I now have an aversion to mustard because Marcus is extremely allergic to it. Seriously, it was a tiny internal struggle to actually help anyone acquire this condiment.)
Turns out these guys are Swedish, Daniel and Klas, and they are my next door neighbors here at Alice in Wonderland. They teach English in Vietnam, and speak at least 3 languages (Swedish, English, and German) fluently. They're really great! And this is EXACTLY what I needed, some people to hang out with who were non-threatening and cool. Perfect. We ended up hanging out the whole day at the cafe and then at the beach, and then going out to a dance club together at night.
The club was a place called Cocomangas, which incidentally was a suggestion given to me by a friend of a friend who lives in Manila, so it was double-stamped as a good place to go. There were so many Koreans at Cocomangas dancing that I felt right at home. It really made me smile.
I went up to a table of what I thought were Koreans, and asked "Korea?" (again, I am just so friendly), but it turns out they were from Taiwan. So of course, I'm like "My best friend Sarah is from Taiwan!" and we cheers-ed to Taiwan. Or to Sarah, I'm not sure which, but I know we made a connection.
The clubs were a blast, and because I sometimes become the Fun Police (as in, if someone doesn't seem like they are having enough fun or "dancing hard enough", I'll either go up to them or catch their eye and make a gesture like, come on dude, have fun, dance!) I think everybody else had a good time too. And it was really good to feel like I had someone looking out for me, even if I hadn't known them a day ago. THIS is exactly how I had hoped (and known) the trip would go. And it was only Thursday.
Turns out these guys are Swedish, Daniel and Klas, and they are my next door neighbors here at Alice in Wonderland. They teach English in Vietnam, and speak at least 3 languages (Swedish, English, and German) fluently. They're really great! And this is EXACTLY what I needed, some people to hang out with who were non-threatening and cool. Perfect. We ended up hanging out the whole day at the cafe and then at the beach, and then going out to a dance club together at night.
The club was a place called Cocomangas, which incidentally was a suggestion given to me by a friend of a friend who lives in Manila, so it was double-stamped as a good place to go. There were so many Koreans at Cocomangas dancing that I felt right at home. It really made me smile.
I went up to a table of what I thought were Koreans, and asked "Korea?" (again, I am just so friendly), but it turns out they were from Taiwan. So of course, I'm like "My best friend Sarah is from Taiwan!" and we cheers-ed to Taiwan. Or to Sarah, I'm not sure which, but I know we made a connection.
The clubs were a blast, and because I sometimes become the Fun Police (as in, if someone doesn't seem like they are having enough fun or "dancing hard enough", I'll either go up to them or catch their eye and make a gesture like, come on dude, have fun, dance!) I think everybody else had a good time too. And it was really good to feel like I had someone looking out for me, even if I hadn't known them a day ago. THIS is exactly how I had hoped (and known) the trip would go. And it was only Thursday.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Philippines Day 3: Checking Things Out
Still sleep-deprived, I slept much later than I had intended. This turned out to be no problem since I wasn't planning on laying out on the beach anyhow, due to my high level of crispiness. So I just walked up to the main street and took it all in.
The level of destitution here is staggering. I've never seen anything like it. Everything seems to be aimed at the tourist, so there will be a 'resort' or hotel next to a big field of dilapidated buildings/trash and building materials. And then there will be a little corner store type thing in a hut, filled with basically convenience store goods. There are probably more Filipinos around than tourists, which was a surprise to me. There are also a lot of people begging for money, which I didn't really see in Thailand, or in Mexico, which are the only other tropical holidays I've been on. I have to say, it's hard to see, knowing that I'm here on vacation. I feel something like guilt, but at the same time, most of these people make their livings off the tourism so it's a strange dichotomy, sort of a vicious cycle. It's hard to get your head around.
After I walked through town, I walked the beach, going left from my hotel where I had gone right the night before. I found a place called Cowboy Cocina, so of course I had to stop and eat there. Had some delicious chicken and sweet corn soup for lunch, and then proceeded back to the pool at my resort. Since it was finally in the shade, I took a dip to cool down my poor, burnt skin, and read some of The Unbearable Lightness of Being (which so far, is a little depressing). Then I took a nap (because of course I needed it), and got up the gumption to go out and make new friends. It felt sort of like going on a first date, where you really don't want to go because there's the chance of awkward conversation or uncomfortableness, but I made myself go out. I promised myself I would 'get out there' and meet some people, which proved to be the right decision.
I headed back down to the beach, looking for a bar I had seen walking the night before where they had live music. I wanted a place where I could sit up at a bar and not look too conspicuous and lame being on my own, and I found it at Charlh's Bar. The band was set up behind the bar, which was a half-moon shaped with plenty of room behind the bar for the bartenders to move around without the band being in the way. Saldi, the singer of the first band, immediately pointed me out and dedicated a song to me, a John Mayer song, if I remember correctly (Asians who sing American songs LOVE John Mayer). It was very sweet. Then I met a couple of Canadian brothers on holiday, Trevor and Jared, and ended up hanging out with them the rest of the evening. I'm hesitant to admit to anyone that I am traveling alone (because the friends I am meeting here are still in Manila), but I felt pretty safe with these two guys because they were brothers and they really didn't try to hit on me or anything. And I also sort of felt like Saldi was looking out for me.
All in all, a really nice Day 3. Hopefully (most likely) an indicator of how great the rest of the trip will be.
The level of destitution here is staggering. I've never seen anything like it. Everything seems to be aimed at the tourist, so there will be a 'resort' or hotel next to a big field of dilapidated buildings/trash and building materials. And then there will be a little corner store type thing in a hut, filled with basically convenience store goods. There are probably more Filipinos around than tourists, which was a surprise to me. There are also a lot of people begging for money, which I didn't really see in Thailand, or in Mexico, which are the only other tropical holidays I've been on. I have to say, it's hard to see, knowing that I'm here on vacation. I feel something like guilt, but at the same time, most of these people make their livings off the tourism so it's a strange dichotomy, sort of a vicious cycle. It's hard to get your head around.
After I walked through town, I walked the beach, going left from my hotel where I had gone right the night before. I found a place called Cowboy Cocina, so of course I had to stop and eat there. Had some delicious chicken and sweet corn soup for lunch, and then proceeded back to the pool at my resort. Since it was finally in the shade, I took a dip to cool down my poor, burnt skin, and read some of The Unbearable Lightness of Being (which so far, is a little depressing). Then I took a nap (because of course I needed it), and got up the gumption to go out and make new friends. It felt sort of like going on a first date, where you really don't want to go because there's the chance of awkward conversation or uncomfortableness, but I made myself go out. I promised myself I would 'get out there' and meet some people, which proved to be the right decision.
I headed back down to the beach, looking for a bar I had seen walking the night before where they had live music. I wanted a place where I could sit up at a bar and not look too conspicuous and lame being on my own, and I found it at Charlh's Bar. The band was set up behind the bar, which was a half-moon shaped with plenty of room behind the bar for the bartenders to move around without the band being in the way. Saldi, the singer of the first band, immediately pointed me out and dedicated a song to me, a John Mayer song, if I remember correctly (Asians who sing American songs LOVE John Mayer). It was very sweet. Then I met a couple of Canadian brothers on holiday, Trevor and Jared, and ended up hanging out with them the rest of the evening. I'm hesitant to admit to anyone that I am traveling alone (because the friends I am meeting here are still in Manila), but I felt pretty safe with these two guys because they were brothers and they really didn't try to hit on me or anything. And I also sort of felt like Saldi was looking out for me.
All in all, a really nice Day 3. Hopefully (most likely) an indicator of how great the rest of the trip will be.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Philippines Day 2: Lesson Learned
No sleep while traveling + very little sunscreen + mid-day Boracay sun and sand = a lovely nap = Jenny is burnt to a crisp.
Then I went back to my hut and slept some more in the shade on the bamboo hammock on my porch.
Sunburn is painful, but still totally worth it. But my sleep schedule is still completely screwed up. Oh, well, I'll make Day 3 a 'Walking Around' day and stay out of the sun as best I can.
And I'll also cover myself head to toe in sunscreen. Won't make that mistake twice.
Then I went back to my hut and slept some more in the shade on the bamboo hammock on my porch.
Sunburn is painful, but still totally worth it. But my sleep schedule is still completely screwed up. Oh, well, I'll make Day 3 a 'Walking Around' day and stay out of the sun as best I can.
And I'll also cover myself head to toe in sunscreen. Won't make that mistake twice.
Philippines Day 1: Manila Airport Extravaganza (Read: Possible Fiasco Averted)
My first foray into lone-traveling, and I’ve already learned a few good things... I never knew I could be so patient, so ready to learn, and so laid-back, as I am traveling in a foreign land for the first time. It’s the way you have to be, or you’ll go crazy. There’s no point in letting things get you down, so you just go with the flow. Even if the flow seems sometimes ridiculous and full of completely unforeseen stumbling blocks.
One of these stumbling blocks was that Monday, the day of my departure, was a Korean holiday for the Lunar New Year. Hence no restaurants by my apartment were open for me to get some food before I left, and the banks were closed, meaning no money-changing to be had. This is where it would have been nice to have someone who worried about things more. But as Bret Davis would say, it’s only money. So I ate what little leftovers I had in my house, packed up my cat to take to stay with West Virginia, and hopped in a cab. After I dropped her off, I was on my way to Gimhae Airport.
My flight from Busan to Manila left at 9:30pm Busan time, and arrived in Manila at 12:30am Manila time. The airport security here in Manila is pretty extreme - you can’t even enter the airport without a your itinerary printed out. So my original idea to just arrive at the airport and immediately buy a ticket to Boracay and stay within the airport overnight was thwarted, to say the least. Also, the Domestic Departures part of the airport is a few km away from the International Arrivals area, not just one gigantic airport as I had assumed. So after retrieving my backpack from baggage claim, I found an airport transport service that took me to an extremely seedy looking travel agency (subsequent to taking me to exchange money in an even more seedy-looking money exchange place) to book my flight for Boracay. It was a little more expensive to go straight to Boracay and to take the earliest flight possible, but as I had already decided that finding the hostel I had booked in Manila and getting a flight later in the day would waste valuable beach time, I booked the 7am flight. This gave me about 6 hours to kill. Yep, I was a time killa in Manila.
My driver apparently did not understand that I needed to go to Domestic Departures Terminal 3 (which turned out to be very similar to any other airport I’ve seen in Asia, save for the extreme measures of caution to even get into the door), and he dropped me off at what I have to assume the Mesquite airport would look like, were it located on the seediest part of Maple Avenue. It was TINY, and without even a shop or anything to eat within, but across the taxi-parking area there was a tiny hut which sold some snacks and cokes and things. There was a wooden, painted sign that said “Waiting Area” and about 5 rows of plastic chairs, outside, but covered like an outdoor picnic area, the chairs filled with sleeping and not sleeping Philippinos presumably 'waiting’.
As I went up to the entrance to the ‘airport’ (looking for a power source so I could continue watching movies on Maxine), the security guard informed me that I needed Terminal 3, and I should take another taxi there. I had not mastered the exchange rate by this point (and, let’s be honest, I probably won’t bother), so I pretty much was at the mercy of the cabbie, but after a short drive, we arrived at what looked much more like what I had been expecting. A modern, albeit pretty much empty, airport where I would be spending the next 4 or 5 hours of my life. I curled up in a corner near a plug (Philippines trivia: they use the same plugs as in the US here), and hunkered down for a few more hours so I could board my flight at 7am and arrive in fabled, gorgeous, heavenly, utopian Boracay at 8:10am on a Tuesday. Then I’d be just a ferry ride away from paradise. And I like ferries.
So here I sit, typing in a corner next to a fire extinguisher (fire hazard?), at 3am in February, beginning another little adventure. This time on my own. The two overwhelming feelings I'm having right now are: pride - look at me, I can do anything! And my rear end is completely numb from the hard floor.
One of these stumbling blocks was that Monday, the day of my departure, was a Korean holiday for the Lunar New Year. Hence no restaurants by my apartment were open for me to get some food before I left, and the banks were closed, meaning no money-changing to be had. This is where it would have been nice to have someone who worried about things more. But as Bret Davis would say, it’s only money. So I ate what little leftovers I had in my house, packed up my cat to take to stay with West Virginia, and hopped in a cab. After I dropped her off, I was on my way to Gimhae Airport.
My flight from Busan to Manila left at 9:30pm Busan time, and arrived in Manila at 12:30am Manila time. The airport security here in Manila is pretty extreme - you can’t even enter the airport without a your itinerary printed out. So my original idea to just arrive at the airport and immediately buy a ticket to Boracay and stay within the airport overnight was thwarted, to say the least. Also, the Domestic Departures part of the airport is a few km away from the International Arrivals area, not just one gigantic airport as I had assumed. So after retrieving my backpack from baggage claim, I found an airport transport service that took me to an extremely seedy looking travel agency (subsequent to taking me to exchange money in an even more seedy-looking money exchange place) to book my flight for Boracay. It was a little more expensive to go straight to Boracay and to take the earliest flight possible, but as I had already decided that finding the hostel I had booked in Manila and getting a flight later in the day would waste valuable beach time, I booked the 7am flight. This gave me about 6 hours to kill. Yep, I was a time killa in Manila.
My driver apparently did not understand that I needed to go to Domestic Departures Terminal 3 (which turned out to be very similar to any other airport I’ve seen in Asia, save for the extreme measures of caution to even get into the door), and he dropped me off at what I have to assume the Mesquite airport would look like, were it located on the seediest part of Maple Avenue. It was TINY, and without even a shop or anything to eat within, but across the taxi-parking area there was a tiny hut which sold some snacks and cokes and things. There was a wooden, painted sign that said “Waiting Area” and about 5 rows of plastic chairs, outside, but covered like an outdoor picnic area, the chairs filled with sleeping and not sleeping Philippinos presumably 'waiting’.
As I went up to the entrance to the ‘airport’ (looking for a power source so I could continue watching movies on Maxine), the security guard informed me that I needed Terminal 3, and I should take another taxi there. I had not mastered the exchange rate by this point (and, let’s be honest, I probably won’t bother), so I pretty much was at the mercy of the cabbie, but after a short drive, we arrived at what looked much more like what I had been expecting. A modern, albeit pretty much empty, airport where I would be spending the next 4 or 5 hours of my life. I curled up in a corner near a plug (Philippines trivia: they use the same plugs as in the US here), and hunkered down for a few more hours so I could board my flight at 7am and arrive in fabled, gorgeous, heavenly, utopian Boracay at 8:10am on a Tuesday. Then I’d be just a ferry ride away from paradise. And I like ferries.
So here I sit, typing in a corner next to a fire extinguisher (fire hazard?), at 3am in February, beginning another little adventure. This time on my own. The two overwhelming feelings I'm having right now are: pride - look at me, I can do anything! And my rear end is completely numb from the hard floor.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Jen Makes Hay While the Sun Shines
So in very Korean fashion, I was informed by my school last Monday, the 8th, that I would have 2 weeks off after our 3rd grade graduation on Wednesday. While one of my reactions was “Heck yeah!” another one of my reactions was, “This is information that would have been nice to have known WEEKS ago!” Because then I could have gone home for two weeks and been around for Snow-pocalypse 2010. But by that point, flights were way too expensive and involved multiple layovers... and, sadly, it was just not worth it. But it was a really tough call - I’d love to be home with my family, especially for my baby sister’s Sweet 16.
Sooo I decided in order to assuage the pain of a missed trip home, I should probably just head to another beach for 2 weeks. I considered just going back to Thailand because I loved it so much there (another annoying thing, I had to come back for less than one week of work before having 2 more weeks off... could have stayed in Thailand for a month, grrr), but then I thought I’d get more bang for my buck if I went somewhere I’d never been before. Another stamp on my passport, so to speak.
Somewhere not too far, somewhere I can go straight from Busan (without having to take that $50, 3-hour trip to and from Seoul in order to fly out). The obvious choice was the Philippines. I got a 4-hour, non-stop flight from Busan to Manila, but I think that as soon as I get there, I’ll just head straight for the Philippines’ most well-known and what is supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Boracay. And then I’m just going to lay on the beach, read tons of books, and catch up on my Thailand/Philippines blogging. (Oops. Total blog procrastination on my part.)
I do have a few friends who will be in the Philippines at the same time as I will, so I may or may not meet up with them, but either way, I’m happy. I’ve never travelled alone like this before (unless you count Barcelona and Busan, but those were more complete moves, not just backpacking expeditions). And I bought a new camera so I’m ready to roll.
Life is so sweet.
Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Lunar New Year!
Sooo I decided in order to assuage the pain of a missed trip home, I should probably just head to another beach for 2 weeks. I considered just going back to Thailand because I loved it so much there (another annoying thing, I had to come back for less than one week of work before having 2 more weeks off... could have stayed in Thailand for a month, grrr), but then I thought I’d get more bang for my buck if I went somewhere I’d never been before. Another stamp on my passport, so to speak.
Somewhere not too far, somewhere I can go straight from Busan (without having to take that $50, 3-hour trip to and from Seoul in order to fly out). The obvious choice was the Philippines. I got a 4-hour, non-stop flight from Busan to Manila, but I think that as soon as I get there, I’ll just head straight for the Philippines’ most well-known and what is supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Boracay. And then I’m just going to lay on the beach, read tons of books, and catch up on my Thailand/Philippines blogging. (Oops. Total blog procrastination on my part.)
I do have a few friends who will be in the Philippines at the same time as I will, so I may or may not meet up with them, but either way, I’m happy. I’ve never travelled alone like this before (unless you count Barcelona and Busan, but those were more complete moves, not just backpacking expeditions). And I bought a new camera so I’m ready to roll.
Life is so sweet.
Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Lunar New Year!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Jen's Blog Title is a Total Misnomer
So I thought this blog was going to be about me teaching English, while, in fact it is about all the things I do while not teaching English here in Korea. So then I thought, why not give my blog a little makeover? You know how I love being up-front about things.
"One thing about Jen is you always know where you stand with her."
I'm nothing if not brutally honest.
So this is the interim name for my blog. Another option is Life is a Playground. Because that's the truth here. We do what we want, when we want to, and sometimes we 'teach' those little rascals a tiny bit of English when we're required to go to school.
Any other appropriate title suggestions are welcome. But not if they're lame. Only clever entries will be considered. Duh.
"One thing about Jen is you always know where you stand with her."
I'm nothing if not brutally honest.
So this is the interim name for my blog. Another option is Life is a Playground. Because that's the truth here. We do what we want, when we want to, and sometimes we 'teach' those little rascals a tiny bit of English when we're required to go to school.
Any other appropriate title suggestions are welcome. But not if they're lame. Only clever entries will be considered. Duh.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Day 3: An Excursion from Bangkok
A few things I neglected to mention in the previous post: Our hotel was listed as the Boonsiri Palace on the website where we booked, but when we got there, the sign outside said ‘Boonsiri Place’… Um, excuse me, Thailand, but there is a slight difference between a palace and merely a place. Luckily, it was still perfectly nice place to stay. Just one of those funny little “miscommunications” that happen when you travel. Also, there are tons and tons of stray cats in Thailand. They clearly haven’t been watching The Price Is Right over there. AND on our walk home from Khaosan Road we stopped at another street vendor selling these amazing Chinese donuts, pretty much like funnel cakes without the powdered sugar, so crispy and delicious. Oh, and they always give you a straw with a drink in Thailand. Always. Even with a bottle of water you buy at a convenience store. I don’t quite get it, but I like it. And Eminem is REALLY popular over there, still, even the old stuff. Must have heard Slim Shady 15 times. Okay, so on to DAY 2.
On our first day at our hotel, we had booked one of those packages where they take you around to do a bunch of tourist-y type things with a bunch of other tourist-y type people. Our ‘bus’ was picking us up at 7 for our excursion, so we awoke at around 6 (probably the earliest I’d woken up since the beginning of vacation… scratch that, DEFINITELY the earliest, if you don’t count being up at that hour because I was still awake from the day before), but it was like Christmas morning – the excitement and anticipation had me hopping out of bed.
Our ‘bus’ turned out to be one of those big vans like you ride in on a church ski trip, so that was pretty okay, and it was the five of us (me, Marcus, Sarah, Cameron, and Paul), a lady who I think was Chinese but never said a word, leading me to believe she didn’t speak English, and a young couple from the UK who were on holiday for 2 months, and had just spent a month in Bali. Which, from the sound of it, is where I will be holiday-ing next.
Our first stop was the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, on the way to the Bridge on the River Kwai. We didn’t stay there very long, and I did take some pictures, although you feel a little silly smiling all brightly around a bunch of graves of dead soldiers. It wasn’t really a somber place though; it was a big open square field with rows upon rows of plaques for the soldiers, and a big monument in the middle. And it was a bright and sunny day.
Next we went to the Bridge on the River Kwai, where there is a war museum and a bunch of people hawking souvenirs. The war museum was really interesting – my favorite room was this one with just walls covered with prints of different photos from war. Most were from WWII, but there were also photos or depictions of Napoleon and George Washington and many other random war heroes or images. And you could walk all the way across the Bridge, although there wasn’t really much point, except just to say you did. On the far side of the Bridge was mostly more jungle. One thing though, there were no guard rails or netting or anything on the Bridge, you could just fall in the River or really hurt yourself if you had an accident – not like in the US where all the authenticity of the thing would be eroded by a bunch of crap put in place to keep lawsuits from happening.
Then we were off to ride on a river raft. I think for most of us, this was our favorite part, and it ended far too quickly. We rode in these motorized canoe-type things out to the bamboo rafts, which had some sort of hut on them in the center where most of us could sit in the shade. It was the first boat I had been on in months, and it reminded me how much I used to want to own a boat. Floating through the water on a warm day in Thailand – what could be much better? When the rafting came to the end, we had to climb out onto the bank, which was on the other side of the river from where we had entered, so we then had to cross this bridge to get back across to our ‘bus’. And I don’t know if ‘rickety’ is an extreme enough word to describe how crazy THIS bridge was. It felt like that bridge in Indiana Jones, where you’re sure it’s going to snap at any time, or one of the planks will crack and your foot will shoot through and you’ll rip your leg open. But I wasn’t scared because I’m super brave. And I also just kept my eyes on the prize. Needless to say, we made it without any injuries, but it again amazed me how cavalier they were with our lives. We didn’t even know we’d have to cross the bridge until we were there. That would never have flown in the States.
Next WE RODE ELEPHANTS! We drove to this jungle area where the elephants were kept, and they had a saddle-type thing for 2 people to ride in. The elephant drivers were basically just kids, and they sat bareback on the elephants’ necks. We went on a short pathway around some trees, and it really wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, even though it’s still a pretty cool feather to have in your cap, I guess. I mean, not every accountant I know has ridden an elephant. But then again, I’m no longer an accountant. :)
Then we had lunch at this outdoor sort of pavilion type place, family style Thai food that was just amazing. There was some sort of omelet, a chicken and vegetable and pineapple dish that I thought I wouldn’t be into but which was my most favorite, and I can’t remember what else, save for the fact that it was delicious. I swear, the food in Thailand made the trip worth it all on its own.
We briefly stopped at a park with a waterfall that reminded me of Turner Falls in Oklahoma. There were some adorable Thai babies playing naked in the pool at the bottom, and Sarah and I climbed to the top and acted like we had just conquered Everest. It was glorious.
After that, the last stop of the day was the Tiger Temple. It seemed sort of like a petting zoo, or Samuel Farm or something because there were just gorgeously colored roosters and water buffalo and peacocks and cows roaming around. And a camel. I don’t know. It seemed a weird assortment of animals to me, but hey, it was Thailand. And apparently all animals love Marcus. They take to him for some reason (if you read my earlier post about our trip to Dr. Fish, same story, those fishies wouldn’t get off his feet). So all these baby cows were sort of following us and the camel had to be shooed away by a worker (thank goodness because I wasn’t in the mood to be spit on). THEN we went down to where the tigers were kept. There were probably about 20 of them, all chained, and all drugged, by the looks of it. However, another tourist mentioned something about them being drugged, and the handler was very adamant that they were not drugged, and was really unhappy that anyone would say that. So who knows? Maybe tigers are just extremely sleepy… like people on drugs. The handler would make you all hook up to each others shoulders to walk over to the tiger and then tell you exactly where to stand, where to put your hand, and then he would take a bunch of pictures of you. And we moved around to about 4 or 5 tigers doing that. A real bummer about having lost my camera is that there were about 5 pictures of me with a tiger, with Sarah being grabbed and held back by one of the handlers in the background. By the photo progression, it seemed like she just would not learn. We laughed about it a lot after that.
Finally it was time to head back to Bangkok. The places we had been were about 2 hours away from Bangkok, so we all had a nice nap in the van on the way home. It was around 7 when we made it back, so we went to a different area of town for dinner, just the 5 of us, where I had my 2nd Thai green curry of the trip, which was fabulous, but Marcus’s meal took the cake. He had fried prawn cakes and then these delicious fresh, raw prawns with a dipping sauce we all went crazy over. It had the texture of sort of a relish, and was sort of spicy and pink colored, but not really sweet. We imagined it to contain onions, garlic, peppers, and… that’s where we couldn’t figure the rest out. But it was amazing. The area was extremely dead, I guess due to it being a Monday night, so we headed back to Khaosan Road for a little bit before hitting the hay. The next day we would fly down to the tip of Thailand to Surat Thani and catch a ferry to the island of Koh Samui for 3 days.
But of course, we couldn’t leave Bangkok without one more night out on the town, and as luck would have it (as it always does, and especially on this trip), Sarah and I discovered the coolest bar. I had seen it the previous day as we wandered, it was on the second floor and had a balcony overlooking Khaosan Road, and was inappropriately named Roof Bar, considering it was not on the roof. But maybe they just meant that it had a roof. Who am I to judge? Point being, there was an Asian guy singing western favorites, some Bob Marley, Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and plenty of others everyone knows the words to, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, and Jason Mraz (Fact: Asians love to play acoustic and sing Jason Mraz). The bar was filled with beautiful people from all over the world, we were on a balcony outdoors on a balmy night, familiar songs were playing, I was with friends I love… and I realized that when I envisioned my dream life as an adult, this is what I had imagined. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It was a perfect moment.
And THAT was only Day 2. We hadn’t even seen the beach yet.
On our first day at our hotel, we had booked one of those packages where they take you around to do a bunch of tourist-y type things with a bunch of other tourist-y type people. Our ‘bus’ was picking us up at 7 for our excursion, so we awoke at around 6 (probably the earliest I’d woken up since the beginning of vacation… scratch that, DEFINITELY the earliest, if you don’t count being up at that hour because I was still awake from the day before), but it was like Christmas morning – the excitement and anticipation had me hopping out of bed.
Our ‘bus’ turned out to be one of those big vans like you ride in on a church ski trip, so that was pretty okay, and it was the five of us (me, Marcus, Sarah, Cameron, and Paul), a lady who I think was Chinese but never said a word, leading me to believe she didn’t speak English, and a young couple from the UK who were on holiday for 2 months, and had just spent a month in Bali. Which, from the sound of it, is where I will be holiday-ing next.
Our first stop was the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, on the way to the Bridge on the River Kwai. We didn’t stay there very long, and I did take some pictures, although you feel a little silly smiling all brightly around a bunch of graves of dead soldiers. It wasn’t really a somber place though; it was a big open square field with rows upon rows of plaques for the soldiers, and a big monument in the middle. And it was a bright and sunny day.
Next we went to the Bridge on the River Kwai, where there is a war museum and a bunch of people hawking souvenirs. The war museum was really interesting – my favorite room was this one with just walls covered with prints of different photos from war. Most were from WWII, but there were also photos or depictions of Napoleon and George Washington and many other random war heroes or images. And you could walk all the way across the Bridge, although there wasn’t really much point, except just to say you did. On the far side of the Bridge was mostly more jungle. One thing though, there were no guard rails or netting or anything on the Bridge, you could just fall in the River or really hurt yourself if you had an accident – not like in the US where all the authenticity of the thing would be eroded by a bunch of crap put in place to keep lawsuits from happening.
Then we were off to ride on a river raft. I think for most of us, this was our favorite part, and it ended far too quickly. We rode in these motorized canoe-type things out to the bamboo rafts, which had some sort of hut on them in the center where most of us could sit in the shade. It was the first boat I had been on in months, and it reminded me how much I used to want to own a boat. Floating through the water on a warm day in Thailand – what could be much better? When the rafting came to the end, we had to climb out onto the bank, which was on the other side of the river from where we had entered, so we then had to cross this bridge to get back across to our ‘bus’. And I don’t know if ‘rickety’ is an extreme enough word to describe how crazy THIS bridge was. It felt like that bridge in Indiana Jones, where you’re sure it’s going to snap at any time, or one of the planks will crack and your foot will shoot through and you’ll rip your leg open. But I wasn’t scared because I’m super brave. And I also just kept my eyes on the prize. Needless to say, we made it without any injuries, but it again amazed me how cavalier they were with our lives. We didn’t even know we’d have to cross the bridge until we were there. That would never have flown in the States.
Next WE RODE ELEPHANTS! We drove to this jungle area where the elephants were kept, and they had a saddle-type thing for 2 people to ride in. The elephant drivers were basically just kids, and they sat bareback on the elephants’ necks. We went on a short pathway around some trees, and it really wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, even though it’s still a pretty cool feather to have in your cap, I guess. I mean, not every accountant I know has ridden an elephant. But then again, I’m no longer an accountant. :)
Then we had lunch at this outdoor sort of pavilion type place, family style Thai food that was just amazing. There was some sort of omelet, a chicken and vegetable and pineapple dish that I thought I wouldn’t be into but which was my most favorite, and I can’t remember what else, save for the fact that it was delicious. I swear, the food in Thailand made the trip worth it all on its own.
We briefly stopped at a park with a waterfall that reminded me of Turner Falls in Oklahoma. There were some adorable Thai babies playing naked in the pool at the bottom, and Sarah and I climbed to the top and acted like we had just conquered Everest. It was glorious.
After that, the last stop of the day was the Tiger Temple. It seemed sort of like a petting zoo, or Samuel Farm or something because there were just gorgeously colored roosters and water buffalo and peacocks and cows roaming around. And a camel. I don’t know. It seemed a weird assortment of animals to me, but hey, it was Thailand. And apparently all animals love Marcus. They take to him for some reason (if you read my earlier post about our trip to Dr. Fish, same story, those fishies wouldn’t get off his feet). So all these baby cows were sort of following us and the camel had to be shooed away by a worker (thank goodness because I wasn’t in the mood to be spit on). THEN we went down to where the tigers were kept. There were probably about 20 of them, all chained, and all drugged, by the looks of it. However, another tourist mentioned something about them being drugged, and the handler was very adamant that they were not drugged, and was really unhappy that anyone would say that. So who knows? Maybe tigers are just extremely sleepy… like people on drugs. The handler would make you all hook up to each others shoulders to walk over to the tiger and then tell you exactly where to stand, where to put your hand, and then he would take a bunch of pictures of you. And we moved around to about 4 or 5 tigers doing that. A real bummer about having lost my camera is that there were about 5 pictures of me with a tiger, with Sarah being grabbed and held back by one of the handlers in the background. By the photo progression, it seemed like she just would not learn. We laughed about it a lot after that.
Finally it was time to head back to Bangkok. The places we had been were about 2 hours away from Bangkok, so we all had a nice nap in the van on the way home. It was around 7 when we made it back, so we went to a different area of town for dinner, just the 5 of us, where I had my 2nd Thai green curry of the trip, which was fabulous, but Marcus’s meal took the cake. He had fried prawn cakes and then these delicious fresh, raw prawns with a dipping sauce we all went crazy over. It had the texture of sort of a relish, and was sort of spicy and pink colored, but not really sweet. We imagined it to contain onions, garlic, peppers, and… that’s where we couldn’t figure the rest out. But it was amazing. The area was extremely dead, I guess due to it being a Monday night, so we headed back to Khaosan Road for a little bit before hitting the hay. The next day we would fly down to the tip of Thailand to Surat Thani and catch a ferry to the island of Koh Samui for 3 days.
But of course, we couldn’t leave Bangkok without one more night out on the town, and as luck would have it (as it always does, and especially on this trip), Sarah and I discovered the coolest bar. I had seen it the previous day as we wandered, it was on the second floor and had a balcony overlooking Khaosan Road, and was inappropriately named Roof Bar, considering it was not on the roof. But maybe they just meant that it had a roof. Who am I to judge? Point being, there was an Asian guy singing western favorites, some Bob Marley, Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and plenty of others everyone knows the words to, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, and Jason Mraz (Fact: Asians love to play acoustic and sing Jason Mraz). The bar was filled with beautiful people from all over the world, we were on a balcony outdoors on a balmy night, familiar songs were playing, I was with friends I love… and I realized that when I envisioned my dream life as an adult, this is what I had imagined. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It was a perfect moment.
And THAT was only Day 2. We hadn’t even seen the beach yet.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Day 2: Bangkok, Khaosan Road
We awoke decently early considering how late we'd been out the night before, and our plan was to walk around and just get our bearings. We were only to be in Bangkok for 2 days and 3 nights, so we decided the first day to go back to Khaosan Road and explore. Khaosan Road is maybe a half a mile long from end to end (I'm terrible at estimating distances, plus they're on the metric system), so you could walk it for hours. I can only liken it to downtown Playa del Carmen in Mexico, except for if Playa was like 12,000 times better - less 18-yr-old drunken Americans, more history, more Europeans, and just less cheap crap they think Americans will want. We christened Thailand 'Buddhist Mexico'.
Our first stop was an outdoor smoothie place where they chopped up the fruits in front of you and served them at a table out on the street. They cost 40 Baht, which is about $1. So of course, I had 2. So delicious. We then hit the street for some shopping, and it was a potpourri of travelers, hawkers, tuk-tuk drivers, henna artists, street-food carts, and tons of outdoor shops selling jewelry, sunglasses, sundresses, swimsuits, watches, purses, shoes, books (in ENGLISH!!!), pirated movies and cd's, pharmacies, restaurants with outdoor patios, massage shops, hair braiders, and so much more. And everything was ridiculously cheap, but also of really good quality, not just the cheesy souvenir type shirts and key chains you'd see in most tourist-y places. There were so many cool shirts and beautiful dresses, I thought I was going to buy half of Thailand before we were through, and the food was so good I was going to eat the other half. Sarah and Marcus both got henna tattoos while I wandered around, marveling at all the incredibly attractive people. It was a feast for the eyes. I mean, I can see good-looking Korean people every single day in Busan (because Koreans are generally very attractive, at least partly owing to the fact that physical appearance is a very high priority here in Korea), but there were so many exotic, gorgeous, tanned, worldly-looking travelers, most on holiday for months from Europe (which made me extremely jealous). The people-watching was unbeatable.
After we spent almost all of the Baht we had for the day (probably the equivalent of all of $17 American), our feet were tired, we were hot, so we decided to take a break at a place with a bunch of Bob Marley decor, in an alleyway off Khaosan Road. The locals all spoke pretty good English, I assume because of the touristic nature of the area, so we sat and talked to the owner of this tiny little literal hole in the wall while we enjoyed a Tiger beer and some real Cokes from glass bottles (for whatever reason, Korean Cokes don't taste quite right, but Thai Cokes were real Coke, so we drank them like crazy). After we got our second wind at the Bob Marley joint, we went back to our hotel to clean up and found our friends Cameron and Paul, who had shown up that day. After we all cleaned up, we went back to a place we had passed earlier called the Cool Corner, sat outside on this street that was in a grove of trees, and I had the first of the 6 Thai green curry meals I would have on the trip (I figured, hey, I LOVE this meal and where else can I get it so authentic and so delicious?). We all got a different entree and every single one was simply amazing. The food there was a dream, and I was sooo glad I was with people who didn't mind sharing.
After our insanely good dinner, we decided to walk it off and ambled down the street some more, then decided to go for Thai massages. Which. Were. Incredible. I got a one-hour foot massage plus my first pedicure since Dallas for what would be $9 American. Ahhh it was glorious. After that, it was home to bed because we had booked an all-day excursion and were being picked up at 7am the next morning for our big adventure. Not only was Day 1 a success, it was merely a harbinger of the amazing things to come.
Our first stop was an outdoor smoothie place where they chopped up the fruits in front of you and served them at a table out on the street. They cost 40 Baht, which is about $1. So of course, I had 2. So delicious. We then hit the street for some shopping, and it was a potpourri of travelers, hawkers, tuk-tuk drivers, henna artists, street-food carts, and tons of outdoor shops selling jewelry, sunglasses, sundresses, swimsuits, watches, purses, shoes, books (in ENGLISH!!!), pirated movies and cd's, pharmacies, restaurants with outdoor patios, massage shops, hair braiders, and so much more. And everything was ridiculously cheap, but also of really good quality, not just the cheesy souvenir type shirts and key chains you'd see in most tourist-y places. There were so many cool shirts and beautiful dresses, I thought I was going to buy half of Thailand before we were through, and the food was so good I was going to eat the other half. Sarah and Marcus both got henna tattoos while I wandered around, marveling at all the incredibly attractive people. It was a feast for the eyes. I mean, I can see good-looking Korean people every single day in Busan (because Koreans are generally very attractive, at least partly owing to the fact that physical appearance is a very high priority here in Korea), but there were so many exotic, gorgeous, tanned, worldly-looking travelers, most on holiday for months from Europe (which made me extremely jealous). The people-watching was unbeatable.
After we spent almost all of the Baht we had for the day (probably the equivalent of all of $17 American), our feet were tired, we were hot, so we decided to take a break at a place with a bunch of Bob Marley decor, in an alleyway off Khaosan Road. The locals all spoke pretty good English, I assume because of the touristic nature of the area, so we sat and talked to the owner of this tiny little literal hole in the wall while we enjoyed a Tiger beer and some real Cokes from glass bottles (for whatever reason, Korean Cokes don't taste quite right, but Thai Cokes were real Coke, so we drank them like crazy). After we got our second wind at the Bob Marley joint, we went back to our hotel to clean up and found our friends Cameron and Paul, who had shown up that day. After we all cleaned up, we went back to a place we had passed earlier called the Cool Corner, sat outside on this street that was in a grove of trees, and I had the first of the 6 Thai green curry meals I would have on the trip (I figured, hey, I LOVE this meal and where else can I get it so authentic and so delicious?). We all got a different entree and every single one was simply amazing. The food there was a dream, and I was sooo glad I was with people who didn't mind sharing.
After our insanely good dinner, we decided to walk it off and ambled down the street some more, then decided to go for Thai massages. Which. Were. Incredible. I got a one-hour foot massage plus my first pedicure since Dallas for what would be $9 American. Ahhh it was glorious. After that, it was home to bed because we had booked an all-day excursion and were being picked up at 7am the next morning for our big adventure. Not only was Day 1 a success, it was merely a harbinger of the amazing things to come.
Jen Finally Blogs About Thailand
Preface: I have to start by saying that this was the unparalleled, most incredible, most enjoyable, perfect vacation I've ever had. I loved every minute of it. Even the part when my camera got stolen and I fell into an invisible ditch while searching for it, possibly spraining my ankle and definitely scraping up my knees. I would have taken a picture of my black and blue club foot for the blog, except for the aforementioned lack of camera. Regardless, all of my friends managed to hang onto their cameras, and pictures will be posted. That being said, here goes.
Day 1: Seoul/Beijing
Our flight left Seoul at 11am, so we traveled there by train the night before and stayed in a hostel near the airport. The hostel was fun - 3 bunk beds and an upstairs loft. It was my first hostel experience, and I feel like it was a pretty good one. It was Friday night, so none of our roommates were there when we got in and we just had sort of a little-kid sleepover, giddy with excitement about our trip. We woke early the next morning and bundled up because Seoul was FREEZING. Way colder than Busan. It was a bummer because we needed those clothes and coats just for the beginning and the end of the trip, but we still had to tote them around the entire time during the (super awesome) tropical warmth of Thailand.
In the morning, we took the airport limousine (which happened to be just a bus, another one of those things lost in translation in Korea) to the airport and hopped our 2 hour flight to Beijing. Based entirely on the international terminal in Beijing, I think Beijing sucks. It was cold, and really boring, and getting through customs took FOREVER. One funny thing about Asian airports I've noticed is that they are full of designer stores and duty free shops and very few restaurants with bad interpretations of western food, whereas most of the American airports I've been in are full of fast food and places with bars.
Our layover was for 5 hours (terrible plan, not doing that again), and there's only so much Gucci and Louis Vuitton and Coach you can window shop when you're not interested in that kind of thing anyway. They did have a Pizza Hut with a perfect replication of American Pizza Hut pizza, so that lessened the pain. Also we had met a girl another teacher from Busan, Christine, on the plane and befriended her and ran into one of our friends, Jordan, who we knew from Jeju Island, (the flight seemed to be about 90% foreign English teachers on winter holiday), so we at least had some friends to hang out with. After napping near our gate, we finally boarded for our 5 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok.
I had already finished the 2 books I had brought along for the trip by the time we reached Bangkok (being a fast reader has never been such a hindrance before). The English book selection here in Busan is extremely limited, so I'll read just about anything I can get my hands on, but luckily these books weren't just consolation prizes, they were actually desirable. They were The Giver by Lois Lowry and Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, in case you're wondering. Both were enjoyable, but The Giver is one that will stay with me forever. It is magnificent. (Thank you to the lovely and incredible Angela Tennison for the suggestion).
Night 1: Bangkok
We FINALLY reached Bangkok at a little after midnight (which would have been a little after 2 on Korea time), and I immediately changed into a sundress and flip flops in the airport, having already decided that I was never returning to Korea again. It was just too warm in Thailand to ever imagine leaving. We then had about a half hour cab ride to the area where our hotel was, which was near Khaosan Road in Bangkok, a very popular tourist area. Even though we were exhausted from the trip, we were also much too excited to go to sleep, so we cleaned up a little and walked the short couple of blocks to Khaosan. What a sight to behold... It was teeming with people: street vendors, bars with plastic chairs and tables out on the street, people selling clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, and anything else you can imagine, adorable little Thai kids trying to sell you flowers (I personally think it was past their bedtime). And by this point it was around 2am there, albeit it was a Saturday night, and unlike in Texas, things don't shut down early.
We sat down to have a Tiger beer, the Thai equivalent of a Miller Lite I guess, (also available were buckets - yes buckets - of Thai whisky and coke with a bunch of straws for sharing) and to just enjoy being outside and not being covered from head to toe with 3 layers of clothing. Then, who did we run into? Our new friend Christine and the friends she had been meeting up with in Bangkok. Sometimes the world is so small it amazes me. So we sat for a while, people watching (which we never tired of the entire time - it was just so refreshing to see so many people who were not Korean - mostly there were tanned Europeans and Aussies, very few Americans unless they were Americans via Korea like us), reveling in the fact that we had finally made it to our vacation destination. We eventually went back to the hotel to rest, but not before having the first of the copious amounts of delicious meals we had in Thaliand - pad thai from a street vendor for the equivalent of about $.75. Ah, the food. I will go into MUCH more detail about the food later.
So that was our first night. It set the tone for a fantastic trip. And it only got better from there.
Day 1: Seoul/Beijing
Our flight left Seoul at 11am, so we traveled there by train the night before and stayed in a hostel near the airport. The hostel was fun - 3 bunk beds and an upstairs loft. It was my first hostel experience, and I feel like it was a pretty good one. It was Friday night, so none of our roommates were there when we got in and we just had sort of a little-kid sleepover, giddy with excitement about our trip. We woke early the next morning and bundled up because Seoul was FREEZING. Way colder than Busan. It was a bummer because we needed those clothes and coats just for the beginning and the end of the trip, but we still had to tote them around the entire time during the (super awesome) tropical warmth of Thailand.
In the morning, we took the airport limousine (which happened to be just a bus, another one of those things lost in translation in Korea) to the airport and hopped our 2 hour flight to Beijing. Based entirely on the international terminal in Beijing, I think Beijing sucks. It was cold, and really boring, and getting through customs took FOREVER. One funny thing about Asian airports I've noticed is that they are full of designer stores and duty free shops and very few restaurants with bad interpretations of western food, whereas most of the American airports I've been in are full of fast food and places with bars.
Our layover was for 5 hours (terrible plan, not doing that again), and there's only so much Gucci and Louis Vuitton and Coach you can window shop when you're not interested in that kind of thing anyway. They did have a Pizza Hut with a perfect replication of American Pizza Hut pizza, so that lessened the pain. Also we had met a girl another teacher from Busan, Christine, on the plane and befriended her and ran into one of our friends, Jordan, who we knew from Jeju Island, (the flight seemed to be about 90% foreign English teachers on winter holiday), so we at least had some friends to hang out with. After napping near our gate, we finally boarded for our 5 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok.
I had already finished the 2 books I had brought along for the trip by the time we reached Bangkok (being a fast reader has never been such a hindrance before). The English book selection here in Busan is extremely limited, so I'll read just about anything I can get my hands on, but luckily these books weren't just consolation prizes, they were actually desirable. They were The Giver by Lois Lowry and Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, in case you're wondering. Both were enjoyable, but The Giver is one that will stay with me forever. It is magnificent. (Thank you to the lovely and incredible Angela Tennison for the suggestion).
Night 1: Bangkok
We FINALLY reached Bangkok at a little after midnight (which would have been a little after 2 on Korea time), and I immediately changed into a sundress and flip flops in the airport, having already decided that I was never returning to Korea again. It was just too warm in Thailand to ever imagine leaving. We then had about a half hour cab ride to the area where our hotel was, which was near Khaosan Road in Bangkok, a very popular tourist area. Even though we were exhausted from the trip, we were also much too excited to go to sleep, so we cleaned up a little and walked the short couple of blocks to Khaosan. What a sight to behold... It was teeming with people: street vendors, bars with plastic chairs and tables out on the street, people selling clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, and anything else you can imagine, adorable little Thai kids trying to sell you flowers (I personally think it was past their bedtime). And by this point it was around 2am there, albeit it was a Saturday night, and unlike in Texas, things don't shut down early.
We sat down to have a Tiger beer, the Thai equivalent of a Miller Lite I guess, (also available were buckets - yes buckets - of Thai whisky and coke with a bunch of straws for sharing) and to just enjoy being outside and not being covered from head to toe with 3 layers of clothing. Then, who did we run into? Our new friend Christine and the friends she had been meeting up with in Bangkok. Sometimes the world is so small it amazes me. So we sat for a while, people watching (which we never tired of the entire time - it was just so refreshing to see so many people who were not Korean - mostly there were tanned Europeans and Aussies, very few Americans unless they were Americans via Korea like us), reveling in the fact that we had finally made it to our vacation destination. We eventually went back to the hotel to rest, but not before having the first of the copious amounts of delicious meals we had in Thaliand - pad thai from a street vendor for the equivalent of about $.75. Ah, the food. I will go into MUCH more detail about the food later.
So that was our first night. It set the tone for a fantastic trip. And it only got better from there.
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