Vietnam (Part 2)

Sawadee ka,

Alright..so on to part 2 of my Vietnam trip!! On day 2, I took an overnight trip to Halong Bay.  I woke up at 6:30am, yes even on my vacay, to get ready for my day.  After partaking in my complimentary breakfast, I was ready to begin my excursion.  The tour guide came to pick me up at my hotel and after picking up other passengers, off to Halong Bay we went.  The bus ride was 3 hours and it took us through the country side of Vietnam.  This was exciting because we were able to see people working in the rice fields, wearing my FAVORITE cone-shaped hats.  The sun is EXTREMELY hot, so they are LITERALLY covered from head to toe.

After our 3 hour drive, we arrived at the pier, ate lunch on the boat and headed out to Halong Bay.  Halong Bay which means descending dragon, is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This place is one of most BEAUTIFUL places I have seen in my life!! The bay is adorned with limestone cliffs, more than 1600 of them.  Most of them are uninhabited but there are a few fishing villages in the area.  We visited caves, hiked to a high peak that had a beautiful view, went to a beach, went to an oyster farm and just enjoyed the beauty of this place.

Enough reading...time to enjoy the pictures.  These pictures DON'T do this place justice.  It was EXQUISITE, BEAUTIFUL and UNLIKE ANY PLACE I HAVE VISITED THUS FAR!!

Always learning,

Charmel

Rice fields

Vietnamese Spring Rolls 

Workers in the rice fields

My room on the boat

Morning view from the deck

Cave

Cave

Oyster Farm

Fishing village

Vendor outside of the cave

Entrance to the cave

I could literally add ALL of my pics, this place is so beautiful.  I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Vietnam, Vietnam!! Part 1

Sawadee ka,

So, I had a 3 week vacation at the beginning of October and of course my adventurous spirit kicked in and I wanted to travel.  I am trying to knock off ALL of the countries in SE Asia while I am here on this side of the world.  So, the third country that I can now knock off of my list is Vietnam.  I ventured to Hanoi, which is the capital of Vietnam.  It is located in northern Vietnam, about an hour flight from Bangkok.  I was able to arrange to be picked up by a driver and taken from the airport to my hotel and paid $18.00.  After the hotel driver picked me up from the airport we were on our way to Hanoi which is a 45 minute drive from the airport.  The first thing that I noticed was that he had HORRIBLE road rage...he kept blowing his horn EVERY 5 minutes.  At one point, I was like, calm down, we will get there.  Eventually I realized that is just how they drive in Vietnam.  So, my first day there I walked to Hoan Kiem Lake and visited a temple on the banks of the lake.  It was very beautiful, the people were nice and of course wanted to take pictures with me.  The ONLY way that I allowed them to take a picture with me was if I was able to take a picture with them as well, so it all worked out!!!  After that, I walked back to my hotel and realized that there were YARN stores on my street!!  I was in HEAVEN...although i didn't take any crochet hooks with me.

I went to the weekend night market on Sunday night and browsed through the beautiful handicrafts and other items that they had.  I found some really nice 3-D cards and purchased a few of those.  I was at a stall looking for some t-shirts and I met a lady from America.  She was there on a work-related trip and we instantly hit it off.  We ended up hanging out that night and listening to some live music.

On my 3rd day in Vietnam, I took a tour of Hanoi with a tour group.  There were about 20 of us on the tour and we toured the city and learned the history of this great place.  We visited pagodas and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum but were not able to go in because it was closed.  We also visited the Temple of Literature and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.  On my last night in Vietnam, I had the privilege of going to a water-puppet show.  Water-puppet shows are infamous in Vietnam, they were performed in the rice fields as a form of entertainment when the rice fields would flood.  The show was entertaining yet different.  All in all it was a GREAT day and Hanoi is one of my FAVORITE places on EARTH!!! Yes, on EARTH!!


So, one of my friends told me that Ha Long Bay is the PLACE to go when you go to northern Vietnam, so I immediately booked a tour to visit there.  THAT will be in part 2 of the Vietnam blog...stay tuned.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the city

Bicyclist on the streets of Hanoi. I LOVE those hats!!

Bicycle with baskets. Exhibit at the Ethnology museum

Temple of Literature

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Water Puppets

Tour Group

Water Puppet Show

Puppeteers 

Hanoi Opera House

Street Vendor

Night Market Vendor

Ngoc Son Temple Entrance

Ngoc Son Temple on Haon Kiem Lake

 (Stay tuned for part 2...)

Always learning,

Charmel

Koh Chang

Sawadee ka,

So a few weeks ago I went to an island about 3 hours from my city, Koh Chang.  I heard GREAT things about the island and since I had a long weekend, I decided to check it out!!!  It was beyond beautiful. The white sandy beaches, the clear blue water and the graciousness of the people was outstanding.  We took a ferry from Trat (the nearest city) over to Koh Chang and the ride was about 45 minutes.  Also, Koh means island in Thai, just a little tidbit for ya!!  My friends and I spent the first day relaxing on the beach and soaking up the sun.  I also experienced going to a fish spa for the first time!!!  The experience consisted of putting your feet in the water and the fish eat the dead skin off of your feet.  My initial reaction was PRICELESS because it is VERY ticklish at first but I eventually got used to it!!! The second day we took a tour of the island which included visiting a beautiful waterfall, a Chinese temple and an elephant camp.  Every time I visit a new area of Thailand, I am more amazed by this countries beauty!!!  Take a look at the photos and enjoy!!!

Always learning,

Charmel

Welcome sign from the ferry

Ice cream sandwich cart

Chinese Temple

Chinese Temple

Fish Spa

Fish Spa

View from our balcony

Beach Day

Ferry Ride

Sunset

Elephant Camp

Vegetable Guy

Ferry Ride

Khlong Phlu Waterfall

Death Railway Trip

Hello,

My most recent adventure took me to the province of Kanchanburi to learn about the Thailand-Burma railway system.  The Thailand-Burma railway was built during World War II with construction starting in 1942 and ending 15 months later.  The Japanese wanted to build a railway for a safer route for their troops to go from Burma to Singapore.  Many workers were promised great wages and a great lifestyle when they were recruited from their home countries to come and build the railway.  Once they got there and started working, things quickly changed.  An estimated 60,000 POW's were made to work on the railway along with 180,000 men who were used as forced labor from neighboring Asian countries as well as Thailand.  The conditions were horrible and the Japanese army treated the men brutally.  Many of the laborers died due to the intense working conditions.  Also, many of the POW's lost their lives due to cholera, dysentery and exhaustion just to name a few reasons.

There is a move, "The Railway Man" starring Nicole Kidman that is based on a British soldier that was captured and became a POW during this time.

I hope you enjoyed this BRIEF synopsis of my Death Railway experience.  Take a look at the pics below.  Oh, the most mind-boggling thing of all to me, is that this happened in 1942 so JUST 73 years ago!!!

Always learning,

Charmel