Train Journey through Vietnam

As a kid my family would go on a local train's dinner ride. I don't remember much, just vague emotional impressions of happiness and excitement and that glorious Washington scenery. Once I got a little older I would ride it by myself to visit my sister at college in Bellingham, or south to see relatives in Portland. I'd make excuses for not driving, or being driven. Why the train was best for the environment, that it was safer. I honestly simply wanted to be on a journey.

Cars make me sleepy or nauseous, planes eliminate the feeling of having gone anywhere. So quickly and in such a different realm do they transport you, moving through cotton high in the sky makes a journey seem more a break from reality. Trains though, trains follow the curve of the land and wind through it with a romance I don't find most places. Trains let you walk around, sleep more comfortably. You see what's outside and have nothing to do put pay attention to it.

From Ho Chi Minh we took the train to Hoi An (and would take it again from Hue to Ho Chi Minh but for that trip I was drugged up on cold medicine so there are no pictures or thoughts really). We boarded at night, too dark to see outside and instead the rocking motion put me to sleep.

Woke at six to new light filtering through the window. Ignored the time and spent the next few hours taking shots that would be blurry and obstructed and never convey the majesty of the land. Drifted to sleep, woke, read, watched, repeat. Landscape kept shifting between farms, coast, mountains, cities, and jungle.

I'm often alone in my devotion to the railway. The bathrooms are disgusting, trains are slow, tracing their path with a relaxed air. It’s a foolish sensibility I have, but trains are still my favorite way to travel.

Pictures of Ho Chi Minh City

Arrival to Vietnam

These phone numbers were all over town.

Wall with interesting texture.

This past week was Khmer New Year in Cambodia, and I got the week off of work. A friend and I packed our bags, and hopped on the midnight bus to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon. Cities I find hard to get to know in such a short period of time, especially with only Lonely Planet as a guide, so take this entry with a grain of salt (and note that several people I ran into thought HCMC was the highlight of their trip).

I can't resist a stray dog.

We spent two days in Ho Chi Minh City, and most of it was aimless walking in the city. The first day we wandered the parks, the tourist market, and finally the Jade Emperor Pagoda (especially gorgeous roof, and lovely light). Pho was eaten for lunch, but the non-beef version of a beef noodle soup was not as tasty as pho I had before becoming vegetarian. As night fell we slipped into a showing of the circus with a new friend from the hostel, half the acts were enjoyable, half were poorly done farce. Day two started out with serious perusing in the antiques shops, where it turns out I can't afford any. Afterwards it was to the history museum and the zoo despite my better judgment. Predictably, the zoo made me sad, far too little space for the animals. The history museum was alright, but not a lot of information was provided in English.

Inside a stunning pagoda.

The city was conspicuously clean in comparison to Phnom Penh, and there were much fewer people hawking goods or begging. Green space was abundant (including a park with a ride that made car alarm sounds.), most streets had crosswalks and traffic lights. Every moto driver carried a spare helmet for passengers. Aside from a few wonderful older buildings, the city was modern and plain, the neighborhoods blended into each other creating a constant stream of look a like buildings.

Fun colored crabs sold on the street.

I didn't personally enjoy the city that much, but I saw so little. There were lovely aspects to be sure, and there was the parts where everyone tried to rip us off (including changing our room price halfway through the night, bringing us things we didn't order and charging for it, and market prices starting at four times those in gift shops), but overall it lacked the vibrancy I want in a city. Even the market was organized with clear aisles, a sharp contrast to the stifling heat and condensed feel of markets in Cambodia. I suppose I found in the absence of chaos an absence of character. The city was fine, but it wasn't anything more than that to me, just a city, and a boring one at that. Luckily Vietnam had many other excellent adventures in store.

This heat is killer

I like to complain about a lot of things. Sometimes I complain about Phnom Penh, I make fun of how it has only five things for tourists to do, how despite the fact that every single weekday morning at the same time I walk the same place, the tuk tuk drivers still ask if I need a ride (I complain about that one a lot).



But the thing is, I really like Phnom Penh. It is hot and it is dirty, and those lecherous tuk tuk drivers don't get any less annoying with time. But it is also a city full of delightful surprises, places I haven't explored yet, mass jazzerobic classes along the river front. Friday night I accidently ended up listening to live music for an hour with a pot of tea. Sunday morning I listened to my flat mate play her accordion.



I've learned enough Khmer to explain that I don't need a tuk tuk because I'm going for a stroll, which gets me bales of laughter each time. I've learned enough Khmer to say that I know prices for Mangos are not a dollar a kilo, and to know which sellers will give me a fair price. I've learned enough Khmer to say that I work in Cambodia and don't rip me off. I haven't learned enough Khmer to not go through hilarious charades every time I visit the tailor.



I eat either a mango or half a pineapple a day. On days when I remember to look up, Phnom Penh has lovely architecture left over from other times. On days when I don't I'm fascinated by the complex entrepreneurship that has arisen over trash collecting.

My Cambodia experience is night time adventures trying to scale statues, pancake breakfasts, and all sorts of market adventures. I'll end this entry before I start complaining about the April heat.

Monkey Island Dreams

Things Cambodia is good at: Having a lot of national holidays. For some reason I'm still unclear about, there was no work Friday and I took advantage of a long weekend traveling with three friends to Sihanoukville and Koh Rong, an island three hours away. Koh Rong was literally so beautiful that of the four of us, only three came back. And who can blame my friend for wanting to stay a bit longer on a deserted tropical island with white sand beaches? Without me there constantly making LOST references?



Sihanoukville wasn't too exciting, crowded beaches filled with people hawking trinkets and snacks (including grilled squid), too crowded for my tastes. We had fun though, but were sad we hadn't chosen to spend the whole weekend at Koh Rong the moment we docked on the island.



Everything about that island was excellent, from dinner (squid and barracuda curry, see previous post for pictures) to swimming late at night under the moon. I was only too sad to board the boat back and start the journey to Phnom Penh.



But back to Phnom Penh I went, back to work and cries of 'tuk tuk lady?' and all the wonderful things that come with living in the city as well. Tonight the office is screening a movie about poverty, and walking down the street I'm overwhelmed with evidence of prostitution and child beggars, and I miss the bliss of an island where you can ignore (for however brief) everything wrong and live a little luxury before the guilt sets in.



Not to guilt you either, or make things sound bad. My life in Phnom Penh really is lovely, and I'm having an amazing time in Cambodia, but empty pristine beaches and dirty city streets form quite the contrast. Still, it was nice to settle in, buy a pineapple from my favorite vendor, and curl up on the couch with a good book (Amerika by Kafka at the moment).



In short, what a lovely detour for a weekend. Some days I can't quite process that I live a bus and a boat ride away from spending the night in a bungalow on the beach. Then again, some days I can't quite process I'm lucky enough to live in Cambodia let alone vacation.

Tasty Things I Have Eaten in Cambodia

Happy New Years!

I’ve been in Cambodia for well over a month now! It feels weird that Seattle is still battling cold weather while I’m sweating in a tank top and skirt. The time difference of fifteen hours isn’t much good for talking back home, I tend to wake up my parents in the wee hours of the morning just to have a chat. Luckily everything else is wonderful and I’m settling into life here quite well.



2010 was a crazy year. I lived in Portland, Kyrgyzstan, traveled across Canada, moved back to Seattle, and now Phnom Penh. I learned a new language and promptly forgot it, I lived without running water, I helped build a house, I had my first year without school since I started pre school, and I bounced back from a long stretch of unemployment. Hopefully 2011 will be a little less eventful (civil strife I’m looking at you) but just as full of amazing opportunities.




For New Years my newest flat mate, my co-worker, and her Dad headed to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is so different than Phnom Penh, designed (at least the sections we were in) for the tourist, with more aggressive panhandling and tuk tuk drivers. However, it quickly becomes clear what draws people to this town, Angkor Wat is a stunning set of ruins. No ropes, no fences, just amazing and intricately carved temples in various states of restoration that you can climb all over.



I spent New Years eve itself sick with food poisoning, what a way to start 2011. We also had ‘Dr. Fish’ massages, where you stick your feet in a tub of water with little feeder fish and they eat away the dead skin. Quite the odd sensation, and hard for someone with as ticklish feet as myself, but fun until they found my bug bite. Then a little painful. But everything else was incredible, and it was nice to get out of Phnom Penh for a bit.



So much so that I'm heading out of town this weekend as well. Happy New Year!

How are you? How are you.

I had my first Khmer lesson Monday. There is something about learning a new language that never fails to make me feel like an infant. You’re completely helpless and don’t understand anything, and at the same time everything is totally new and beautiful and the world is filled with more possibilities than you can comprehend. There is also nothing like being able to appreciate the beauty in a new language, listening to it aesthetically devoid of meaning. Learning the literal translations that sound like poetry. To say tea you say water of the leaves, and for juice it’s the same; water of the pineapple. Something about that tickles my soul.



On the technical side of things pronunciation is difficult, but sentence structure is easy. There is no need for past or future tense, and no conjugations for different genders and people. Of course I could be getting this all wrong, I've only just started. The thing about languages is when I learn a new one my head tries to fill in the gaps with the same experience, other languages I’ve learned. So it goes down to Kyrgyz and then if no Kyrgyz maybe I know it in Russian, if not Russian than Spanish, and finally English. I’ve lost so much (everything except for scattered phrases) of all these languages but I always retain a few things.



How should I describe my experience: Should I tell you of seeing an elephant in the street? Going to the royal palace and seeing these fantastically beautiful buildings with golden roofs against a blue sky? Did I tell you of tasting a mango spleen, the white pearly center almost too sweet against my lips? Of seeing my first Cambodian rain fall gently into a pool while I sat reading on a pavilion without any walls?



This is a nation that rises at dawn, or far before that. With my jetlag I’ve been rising with them, staying in my room listening to the sounds of the city awaken. At night it’s a different story, by nine the streets are emptying, some tuk tuk drivers are asleep in their vehicles. But in the morning before the sky has lit up and warmth has seeped into every thing already things have begun to bustle.



The pictures; the Royal Palace, the Royal Palace, some marionettes in the Russian market, me with fresh passionfruit juice (so delicious), and the view from my bedroom window.