A (Very) Brief Tour of Vietnam

A cozy train ride from Saigon to Hue

Hello wonderful Family and Friends,

Greetings from Manila, Philippines.  We arrived here a couple days ago and are currently working on preparations to head to the southern region of the country to assist with relief work in an area that was affected by recent storms.  We would really appreciate your prayers for guidance and clarity as we try to sort out where God might have us put our hands to work serving the Filipino people while here. Thank you!

In the mean time, though, we'll catch you up on the happenings of the past couple weeks with our continued travels through Southeast Asia.

After leaving the wonderful ancient temples of Angkor Wat, we did in fact have the chance to brave several more long and often overnight bus rides to and through Vietnam, beginning with a sleeper bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  What makes the sleeper bus so special is that the seats are permanently reclined with just a wee bit of space between you and the ceiling or bunk above, forcing you to nestle into your seat, hug your valuables close and hope for some sleep.  These seats are also appropriately  called "spooning" seats by backpackers mainly because the space is so tight you have no choice but to snuggle up next to your seat mate.  Joe and I initially had seats on opposite ends of the bus but (very) thankfully my assigned seat mate was willing to switch places with Joe and we both managed to catch a few bumpy hours of sleep under our fuzzy (and a bit smelly) blankets given to us.

View from the train of Vietnamese workers in the rice paddies

Our next ride was from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City after a lovely early morning breakfast on the banks of the Mekong River at a restaurant thematically decorated like the Bayon temple of Angkor Wat which produced excellent coffee and a bathroom with toilet paper (a rarity in Asia).  This next bus ride was an easy 6 or so hours (we were thankful to be in the upright position again) with a very efficient border crossing into Vietnam.  Vietnam requires visas to be purchased in advance which we took care of while in Siem Reap, Cambodia, so we cruised across border control and enjoyed the rest of our bus ride with Vietnamese music videos to keep us entertained.

We had no idea where the bus would let us off in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and were pretty excited to find ourselves alighting within walking distance of the Saigon Backpackers Hostel which we had booked in advance. (Reminder: "walking distance" on this trip is loosely defined as anything under 5km or so.)  Upon arriving in HCMC, the thing that sounded most appealing to us after several weeks in Asia was a burger and a movie.  So, we enjoyed a burger at a place called Lotteria and walked to the local theater where we saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  Not exactly the most Vietnamese evening, but very fun and especially nice to experience some familiar comforts.

This city's name changed from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City in 1976 after the Vietnam War and is currently home for about 9 million people.  It is a bustling city with narrow streets, endless streams of motorbikes, lots of street food (like the famous Pho noodle soup or the massive fried shrimps on a stick Joe enjoyed a couple times; essentially a shrimp doughnut!), locals wearing the signature Vietnamese conical hats and crowded markets.  Joe and I found a couple of treasures at the popular Ben Thanh Market including a pair of (fake) pearl earrings for me and some dried persimmons for Joe to munch on.  I was especially impressed with the intricate 3D pop up paper cards being sold for a dollar each and the beautiful bowls made out of coconut shells also for a dollar. We also got to cruise around in a small wooden fishing boat for an hour on the Saigon River, which provided a nice vantage point from which to see the skyscrapers, shipping boats, and a few floating market stalls.

We spent a total of one week in Vietnam which is not nearly enough time to enjoy such a vast and interesting country.  Vietnam is slightly longer than California and also situation on a coastline.  The weather change from North to South is stark with HCMC in the South having an average temperature in January of about 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees F) and Hanoi in the north with an average of roughly 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees F). We missed several highly recommended sights due to such limited time like the Mekong Delta, the beaches at Nha Trang, the architecture Hoi An and the terraced rice fields of Sa Pa... doh!  But, we did enjoy our time spent in HCMC, Hue, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.

We took the overnight train from HCMC to Hue and it was just wonderful but nothing like our unforgettable four-day Tazara train ride in Africa back in October.  This was really comfortable!  Soft beds, clean compartments, duvets, clean sheets and the train didn't feel like it was going to jolt off the tracks at any minute... glorious!  The views were also memorable as they began to get more and more green and jungle-like as we headed north.

We didn't have a place to stay in Hue, but upon arriving at the train station a nice fellow offered us a free ride to his Binh Duong II hotel and a room for just $10/night with a very nice view of the city which we couldn't pass up.  That evening we stumbled upon a wonderful spot for dinner in a tiny upstairs restaurant called Lac Thuan run by a lady born deaf and mute.  She was surprisingly very easy to communicate with through gestures and she had the most warm and wonderful smile.  The beef noodle soup, spring rolls and friend banana cakes with coconut ice cream for dessert were wonderful!

The next day after breakfasting on our balcony, we enjoyed visiting the citadel which acted as the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802-1945. It was here, in the Forbidden Purple City that the seat of the emperors was located. We also visited the elaborate royal tombs of Tu Duc and Khai Dinh via a motorbike tour of the surrounding countryside.

In Hue, we realized we had just about three days left in Vietnam (eek!) and somehow wanted to get ourseives to see some cool caves we heard about as well as to the famous Ha Long Bay. A lovely tourist agent showed us how to make that all possible and for the next three days we were shuffled around like, well, tourists.

We joined a group up to see the amazing "Paradise" cave in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang region of Vietnam only discovered in 2005 and tourists have just been allowed to visit it since 2010.  The cave is a total of 31km long and even has an underground river passing through it.  We were only allowed to go 1km into the cave (but for $100 we could go 6km and see this underground river... maybe next time? ;)) but this 1km was massive and absolutely stunning with all sorts of interesting limestone formations of stalactites and stalagmites. We also learned that the worlds largest cave, Son Doong, was recently discovered in the same region in 2009, though it isn't yet open to the public.

After another exciting overnight bus ride up to Hanoi, (this time I had my own "bed" and Joe was cramped in the way back of the bus between four other travelers) we joined a tour group for an overnight junk boat ride on Ha Long Bay.  Although the whole thing was a bit pricy and very touristy (as warmed by Mom Schweichler), we enjoyed fantastic foods and views while being escorted around without having to worry about a thing.  We met a few new friends on our boat too, including a Greek man, an Irish fellow, and a lovely lady from Spain who only spoke Spanish and for whom I was able to do some translating.

Ha Long bay truly is amazing with thousands of green and lush islands of various sizes and shapes.  Highlights included swimming in the bay (we were the only ones to brave the rather chilly waters during our designated "beach time"), squid fishing with our new Vietnamese friend Trong (Joe actually caught a squid and Trong cooked it up on the spot for us to eat!), Tai Chi on the boat deck in early morning, and vegtable carving class where we tried to make carrots look like flowers (mine did not).

After our final evening at the extremely friendly and helpful (they wouldn't even let us check in until we had drunk a cup of tea and eaten from a fruit platter) Finnegan's Hotel in Hanoi and dinner on the street with our Greek acquaintance, we said goodbye to Vietnam and headed off to the airport for out next destination: Singapore!

Unfortunately, I really don't have any deep or interesting thoughts to offer to this post and sorry if this has been a bit boring to read as we sort of just went from thing to thing through Vietnam (and most of SE Asia for that matter!).  But, the most special thing really for me about our time in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam aside from the interesting sights and tasty foods was most certainly the time shared with Joe.  As many of you well know, Joe and I have spent more time apart than together during the almost 10 years we've known each other and to be able to spend daily time with each other with just the two of us is an incredible gift that we are both thoroughly enjoying.  We didn't know anyone in SE Asia before arriving and weren't staying with friends, so this was such an enjoyable time to just hang out with each other and enjoy our friendship!  We actually met a really sweet gal in the Hanoi airport at the table across from us at Burger King (yes, we admit we did eat at BK) who commented on how well we got along and what a strong couple she thought we seemed and wanted to know how we came to have such a nice relationship.  We were so encouraged by her words and can truly say that all this time together on this trip so far has in fact strengthened us as a couple and we are so grateful for this season in our lives and especially grateful to God's continued grace to shape us more into His own image. 

Until next time!  As always, thank you for reading!!

love,

Carol

Wat We Saw in Cambodia

To whom it may still concern,

Faster than we could imagine possible, it was time to say goodbye to the land of Pad Thai, and start our 24 hour long bus ride to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Some attentive readers might wonder how it could possibly take 24 hours to travel approximately 1,000 km (just over 600 miles), but one can easily rectify their faulty reasoning in this matter by accounting for the fact that 1) six different buses and a tuk-tuk were actually used to transport us from point A to point B, 2) the bus route took us back through Bangkok for the third time where we spent a couple wee hours of the morning drinking coffee at Burger King and watching a frog hop around the gutter, 3) we had to navigate past three different scam "visa offices" at the border, and 4) the current condition of the roads in Cambodia. Good times were had by all though, and it would not be exaggerating to say that both Carol and I were in very good spirits when we finally arrived in Siem Reap well after nightfall. We were alive, we were in Cambodia, and we had avoided the classic border scams. Needless to say we were very proud of ourselves, and it kept getting better.

Carol and the world's largest religious religious monument (Angkor Wat)

Carol had found a wonderful place on the internet ahead of time, but the problem with the internet is that everything looks wonderful. Anyone with a digital camera and a computer can turn their shack into a veritable sparkling diamond resort for potential wayfarers. But, that's just the way it is, and I'm as guilty as anyone (most photos I take are timed to just barely avoid a pile of garbage, powerline, or dreadlocked tourist). Tangent. Anyhow, the point is that we liked The Golden Mango Inn very much, and it was equal to its slick website in every way imaginable. The pool, included breakfasts, and free tuk-tuk rides into the city center were very much appreciated.

Siem Reap is home to about 170,000 people, and is namesake of Ang Chan's victory against a Siamese invasion back in the 14th century. However, it has become a tourist destination primarily because it sits just a few kilometers from the incredible Angkor Wat temple complex, originally built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple, converted to a Buddhist monastery, abandoned for a few hundred years, and the re-discovered by the West in the mid 19th century. Aside from being a photographer's dream come true, Carol and I found ourselves deeply intrigued by the history of the Khmer people that engineered and built Angkor, Thom, Bayon, numerous other Wat, and nearby temple cities, as well as the massive network of canals and waterways that supported the Khmer empire agriculturally in the dry seasons.

Joe at the Land Mine Museum

Our stay in Siem Reap was far too short, but included a visit to the Cambodian Land Mine Museum, a tour of the Angkor National Museum, a date night on Pub Street, an evening at Phare (the Cambodian Circus), and of course a day of visiting the various temples of Angkor by bicycle. From a PT perspective, Carol especially enjoyed watching several musical groups comprised of men who had lost limbs to land mines play traditional Khmer music. We won't attempt describe every detail here, but each experience was unique and impressed us in its own way. Hopefully the photos will speak for themselves a bit.

On a parallel line of thought, I think Carol and I may be getting better at being 'tourists'. It was a somewhat new experience for us in Thailand, and one that left us feeling a bit washed out because there was no 'work' to keep our minds and hearts directly occupied. But, as strange as it seems to put into words, we're steadily learning to value our time together and with God no matter what the circumstances; good or bad, busy or restrained, frantic or relaxed. We like ourselves when we are 'useful' or 'busy', but relying on usefulness to generate or dictate our identity is simply not an option. We reject the notion that once our perceived value diminishes (whether through our own choices or according to some social or cosmic definition), we become less worthy of invoking self-love and might as well give into despair. Not that we give up discipline and responsibility while outside of our daily routine (for instance, while traveling), but instead practice defining these aspects of the Christian life outside of adherence to a specific routine or cultural context so that when circumstances shift later in life for better or worse, our core behaviors do not. I may be repeating old ideas (hopefully not old heresies), or simply justifying my own existence, but it seems to me that this is all part of the process of learning to "be still and know that I am God".

Reviewing what I've written in this installment thus far, I must concede that it is rather preachy, and sparse on specifics and details. This is always a danger when so many new experiences transpire between journal entries and conglomerations of entertaining stories once remembered vividly blur into vaguely academic sounding prose. But, since it is the myriad of day-to-day happenings that Carol and I value so much about this trip, I'll leave off with two specific, but random and possibly trivial examples of how we are being blessed along the way.

Bayon Temple... bring extra memory cards for your camera

First, just this morning as we were leaving the Saigon Backpackers Hostel (one of thousands of places to stay in Ho Chi Minh City), Maddy walked in the door. This is only weird because Maddy is a friend that we met over a month ago while walking late one afternoon in the middle of the Himalayas. That night the three of us had shared a room in the only 'hotel' for miles around, and heated ourselves tea to keep warm which we drank out of plastic Coke bottles cut in half. But, suddenly the three of us were chatting again in Vietnam and sharing stories about post-trek blister recovery. Unexpectedly good times.

Tuk-Tuk Ride

Second, about 4:00am while waiting for our Bangkok bus transfer (midway through the aforementioned epic 24 hour bus ride to Cambodia), Carol noticed that one of her favorite earrings was missing from her ear. Bummer, but nothing serious, and after retracing our steps once we gave it up as a bad job and went back to trying not to fall asleep face-first into our Burger King hash browns (it had been a long night on the bus). It wasn't until an hour and a half later that Carol and I were sitting on the curbside a half mile down the road, that I 1) mumbled something about wishing we had looked harder for the earring, and 2) looked down and saw the earring about three feet from us (it was only one foot from where the frog had been) with not even a scratch on it. It was a good moment, and to spice this up with some deep spiritual truth, I'll put a link to the story of the widow and the lost coin.

Anyway, it's time to put this episode to bed now so that we can move on to even more ridiculous stories that will probably involve yet another really long bus ride. Until then...

Peace,

Joe

Chiang Mai by Scooter

To whom it may concern,

An ancient device used to keep monks fit

Writing from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (aka. Saigon), it is my honor to have been nominated to produce this two-part update on our most recent adventures in Thailand and Cambodia. Having been inspired by watching The Desolation of Smaug last night with Carol at a downtown movie theater (English, with Vietnamese subtitles), I will try to keep the stories just as epic, but the duration a bit more reasonable.

The astute reader will recall that our previous post was written from Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand, a fantastic place to try new foods, explore temples, try other new foods, admire handicrafts, go back to trying old foods, and of course watching Muay Thai kickboxers try and kill each other to the strains of traditional Thai music.

With regards to gastronomical observations, I won't go bore you with details, but... Chiang Mai Breakfast World. Enough said. Anyhow, between fantastic meals, Carol and I participated in a wide variety of healthier activities, which included (but were not limited to):

• Riding our scooter around town
• Dodging elephants on our scooter
• Learning to 'filter' on our scooter through traffic
• Finding extremely remote national parks on our scooter
• Getting lost on our scooter trying to find extremely remote national parks
• Riding our scooter up to the summit temple of Doi Suthep at sunrise

One of many scooter outings into the wilds of Thailand

Additional highlights that did not involve the scooter were also memorable. For instance, we got the chance to have lunch and attend church with friends Paul and Robyn who work for TLC, an English language training center, coffee house, and church in Chiang Mai. Despite the fact that the students were still on break, it was clear that this was a very busy place, with loads of college students participating in the classes and using the cafe as a place of study and conversation with the teachers and volunteers. We even got to join in the traditional Sunday lunch that was generously provided after the service and meet some of the other volunteers and staff that help keep the organization running.

Chiang Mai Breakfast World

We also enjoyed a fantastic dinner in the old city with Frank and Crystal, a couple from Seattle, WA that we met by pure chance one afternoon. They were just starting out on their own long term adventure in South East Asia, and it was a great opportunity to swap stories and recommendations of things to see and do. Frank's enthusiasm about the Seattle Seahawks was also entertaining, and brought my thoughts back to Olympia readily, wondering whether there would be any conflicting shreds of support for the 49ers left over in the Stevick house.

On that note, I will sign off and continue the narration in another post to avoid any TLDNR responses.

Cheers,

Joe

Thailand: Playing the Tourist on Koh Chang

มีความสุขปีใหม่! 
(Happy New Year!)

Scenic viewpoint on the island of Koh Chang, Thailand

Hello and Happy New Year dearest friends and family members,

Joe and I had a wonderful week in southern Thailand and have been excited to share a little more about our time spent on an island called Koh Chang ("Koh" means island and "Chang" means elephant).  Thailand has hundreds of islands and Koh Chang is the second largest (155 square km) after the well known Phuket.  It is a gorgeous tropical island with lots of lush greenery and classic white sand beaches with warm, clear water for swimming and snorkeling.

Warapura's Buffet Breakfast (round 1)

We spent Christmas at a very peaceful yet high-spirited resort called "Warapura" with an amazing breakfast buffet (omlets, french toast, fruits, bacon + thai food too!), a brightly lit and colorful Christmas tree, swimming pool and even a Thai Santa Claus that made his (well, her) appearance Christmas eve.  Post-Christmas we downgraded ourselves for budgetary reasons and cozied up in a little seaside bungalow for the rest of the week for a mere $12/night at "Paradise Cottage" (also a nice place, just minus the hot showers, soft bed, breakfast buffet, and friendly personality, but with the addition of cockroaches and a rat friend).  

Carol getting into the Christmas spirit

We thought we'd only stay in Koh Chang for a few days but quickly got used to a routine of sleeping in, eating, jogging, exploring, eating more, swimming in the sea, eating, and dozing off to the sound of hip hop music and late night European partiers lulling us to sleep and found ourselves staying put for a full week.  In that short time we had no trouble gaining back the weight we left back on the Annapurna circuit in Nepal ;)

I should mention a little bit about Christmas eve at Koh Chang since it was most unique.  We had Thai food for Christmas eve dinner and then wandered onto Lonely Beach and found a variety of beachfront parties happening at various hotels.  We opted to hang out at the party that advertised a fireworks display but had a couple hours until they were due to go off so sipped on a coconut shake, participated in a pub quiz where we won a box of bonbons (mostly thanks to Joe knowing from whom the grinch stole Christmas and knowing Santa's original suit color prior to Coke's interference. see bottom for answers! It also helped that we were two of very few sober people lucid enough to play), and chatted about what our families would be up to at this time back at home.

Santa plays with fire!!!

Before the fireworks shot off, we got to see fire performances including flame baton twirlers and swinging of ropes with flame balls on the end.  They were very impressive!  The excitement really heated up, though, when the fireworks that were intended to be shot off over the ocean tipped over and instead spewed in several directions including right over the audience.  It felt a little bit like Bilbo's birthday party!  Forutnately, no one was hurt.  Christmas eve at Koh Chang definitely has a bit more of a New Years Eve than Christmas Eve feel, but we enjoyed the festivities and especially phone calls back home to our family and a video Cassidy sent of the Stevicks all playing "Christmas in Killarney" on ukeleles. 

Carol's first scooter driving experience!

The main mode of transportation around Koh Chang is via SCOOTER!  So, we couldn't resist and rented a scooter for a day and zipped around the island with stops for more coconut shakes, a waterfall swim and scenic overlooks.  Joe bravely even let me take a turn driving and coached me well even though we did end up in the bushes at one point.  (Not to worry, we weren't even going 5mph... just an attempt at a u-turn that didn't quite work out!)

Snorkel adventure or tropical Titanic remake?

We also spent one day on a "snorkel cruise" which from a distance probably looked a bit more like a scene from the movie Titanic (dozens of bodies in bright orange life-jackets strewn across the surface of the water around derelict boats) than the intimate and romantic snorkel excursion I was imagining.  We opted for the budget friendly snorkel cruise that advertised four islands/snorkel spots in one day and did notice that the boat looked a bit large in the advertisement but didn't quite grasp the monstrosity of this thing until boarding the next day.  We weren't sure how we and about 400 other people were going to manage snorkeling at four different locations but somehow it all worked out and we even got fed lunch, fruits and a chicken skewer snack along the way (plus met another Australian couple who also wondered why the four of us were the only non Chinese tourists on the boat).  At one point we thought maybe the 5th stop would take us to China!  But, the fish were amazing and we loved seeing several types of anemonefish (think Nemo!), corals, sea urchins and lots more underwater beauty. And, as promised, the boat (ship) brought us safely back to the port at Koh Chang around sunset.


Although the purpose of this trip has never been tourism per se, we did have a wonderful time relaxing and defrosting after some chilly weeks spent in Afghanistan and Nepal and were glad to get to wear shorts and t-shirts again and catch some sun rays.  

After about one week down in Koh Chang, we hopped a six hour minibus back to Bangkok and enjoyed McDonald's for New Years Eve dinner (I never thought I'd want a break from Thai food), and squeezed our way amongst the masses for overhead fireworks in front of the "Central World" shopping center and reminisced about the many ways God has blessed us this past year and wondered with excitement about what is to come in 2014.

New Year's Eve in downtown Bangkok

For now, we've found ourselves 10 hours north of Bangkok in the city of Chiang Mai and will keep you posted on the happenings in this part of Thailand.

Until then, may God so bless you this new year!  Thanks, as always, for reading our blog!

With love and joy,

Carol




Answers: 
The Grinch stole Christmas from the Whos of Whoville
Santa's suit was green before it was red