Travel during Tet...

Sin jow (hello) from Vietnam! Oh, and while we are at it, Chuc Mung Nam Moi (Happy Lunar New Year)! Mum and I are currently in Hanoi where Tet, the Chinese New Year is being celebrated with gusto. This was a bit of a surprise as neither of us had really realised that it was happening. It has caused us a spot of bother actually because, as I suppose you would expect with a festival, lots of people (in fact most of Hanoi) go on holiday to visit friends and family. This means two things: 1) Most businesses in Hanoi are closed for at least the three days of the start of the Lunar New Year, so it has been a tad difficult to find somewhere to eat in the evenings (especially seeing as Mum is still wary of street food) and 2) Transport and accommodation in the rest of Vietnam are pretty choc-a-bloc with Vietnamese people who are taking the opportunity to travel. This second consequence wouldn't have been an issue but Mum and I decided to change our travel plans a little bit due to the weather. It is really cold in Hanoi, and not just for me after getting used to hot weather...Mum has been cold too, and when we checked the forecast for the next place we were due to visit (Hue), it seemed we were in for more of the same. I personally didn't fancy being cold and wet for over a week, and luckily Mum felt the same, so tomorrow we are flying down to Mui Ne, apparently the most beautiful bit of beach in all of Vietnam, to spend a few days sunning ourselves. I am really looking forward to it! After that we have a few days in Ho Chi Minh, before hopping over to Cambodia to visit Siem Reap, the infamous temples of Angkor Wat and finally Phnom Penh before we part ways. I don't want to think about that bit yet though!

Despite the slight hassle caused by Tet, I am really glad that we happened to be in Hanoi at this time. It's funny because I seem to have ended up doing a sort of festival tour of Asia for my first four and a bit months travelling; I had Durga Puja in Kolkata, Diwali in Delhi, Loi Krathong, Shan New Year, and our New Year in Chiang Mai, and now Tet in Hanoi...amazing when you consider that I didn't plan my travels with any of those in mind! From my experience you definitely get to see the best of a country during their festive periods, even if you don't see it as it normally is. I'll use Hanoi as an example...While wandering around the last three days Mum and I have seen a very different city to what I was expecting from what I had been told about Hanoi. I had met many travellers who had been to Hanoi, and although they had different opinions about the city's merits or shortcomings, all agreed that it was a crazily busy city, overrun with motorbikes, markets, shops and a general sense of hustle and bustle that at times was somewhat overwhelming. Although I am sure that Mum would disagree with me, this is not the Hanoi that we have seen. Yes, there are an inconceivable amount of motorbikes on the roads, following similar traffic rules to the other Asian countries I have been to (ie, not many), and in places, the city has been really busy. In another way it feels like a bit of a ghost town...most shops and restaurants are closed, and in areas without temples or tourist attractions, there seems to be nobody around. However, if you open your eyes as you walk about, you see that all the people you were expecting to be selling Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) or handicrafts on the streets are still there, but they are inside with their families, or they are paying homage at one of the many temples, or they are at the tourist sites, taking pictures with friends. I would rather see it like this. 
 
On Saturday and Sunday, before Tet began, I found the people of Hanoi to be quite cold and distant, especially compared to Thai people who were in general so friendly and warm. It wasn't anything I could exactly put my finger on, but there just wasn't the same feeling of welcome that I had experienced previously. I can completely understand this as Thailand is pretty unique in SE Asia in that it has never been under the control of a Western power, and also in that it has a remarkably peaceful recent history. Vietnam, in contrast, was a French colony for a long time, and in relatively recent history has suffered under one of the most infamous wars ever. Indeed, the first thing that will enter most people's minds at the mention of 'Vietnam' is the horrific war that ended in the 1970s. It sort of makes sense then that people in Vietnam would be slightly more wary of Western tourists than Thai people. However, yesterday and today when Mum and I came across people in the context of Tet, they seemed completely different; lots of people have wished us Happy New Year and several have stopped us to ask where we are from and what we think of Vietnam, and it's been lovely! Apart from the change in attitude, it is fascinating to see the temples, pagodas and monuments that are listed in the guide books as 'places of interest' come to life as much more than just a tourist sight. Every temple we have visited has been completely packed, full of people praying, bowing, offering money, lighting incense and doing many more actions to show praise and honour to ancestors and religious figures. Today we were fortunate enough to go in to a beautiful temple on a lake in the old quarter of Vietnam where there was a group of people dressed in traditional costume performing a music/dance worship. A group of musicians were inside the temple playing traditional Vietnamese instruments (which I find so intriguing - they are different from other Asian instruments I have come across so far) and outside were brightly clad dancers with fans performing traditional dance in front of the altar. We stayed there for ages quite mesmerised by their graceful dancing and the strangely soothing timbre of the music, and that is something we would never have experienced if it wasn't for Tet. For me, that is what travelling is all about, seeing a culture in action, and seeing rich historical traditions being lived in a vibrant and real way in the present day.   

Happy New Year!

Blimey...over a month since I wrote; that is bad even for me! My deepest apologies, but clearly I am having way too much fun out here, so maybe I am not so sorry after all :)

Right...where to begin? Obviously I am not going to be able to write about everything that has happened in the last month and a bit, (or else I would be here for about a week!) but I will pick out some highlights and fill you in as best I can. I guess it makes sense to go back to where I last wrote and move on from there, although that feels like a very very long time ago! I finished at Thai Freedom House on December the 23rd in the end. My last few weeks were a bit strange really; Maria and Lisa both left over a week before me and so it was just little old me in the office for most of the time and the girls in the cafe. In a way it was lovely because with it being only me and the girls we got a lot closer and chatted a lot more. Before they had been really used to Maria and Lisa and a little more shy around me, but the last week and a bit allowed us to develop our friendships. Of course, that means that now I am not only missing the other volunteers I lived with, Maria and Lisa and the friends I made in Ching Mai, but also the girls..brilliant! On an exciting note though, Nong's father has bought her a restaurant to open independently and so I am going to have to go back to see her in action one day (as if I needed another excuse)!

My work for that last few weeks consisted of preparing everything for the next volunteer. Actually, in the end I organised and prepared everything for the whole next module. After marking the tests for my class I realised that their reading was very weak and was holding back their ability to learn English more quickly and so I have put together a whole module (three months worth) focusing on the alphabet and phonics on one hand and simple reading practice on the other. I was a bit worried that the new volunteer would think me a little overbearing because once I got going I ended up literally spelling out everything that she needed to do in quite a lot of detail. I know if I had arrived to that I would have thought the previous volunteer a bit anal, but luckily she seems to be a bit more open minded as I had a lovely email from her thanking me for everything I had done...phew! It's good as well because after discussing it with Lisa we decided that this would be a good way for TFH to operate from now one - each volunteer preparing before they leave the start for the next one, including an evaluation of where each individual student is at in their learning process so that the new volunteer does not have to spend so long getting to know each student's strengths and weaknesses and can get straight in to teaching. Hopefully this will lead to the classes being more effective; I guess only time will tell! 

It's really nice because Maria is now back at TFH in the role of managing director and so I know that for the next few months at least I will have regular updates on how everything is going there. In theory this should help make me miss being there less, although that remains to be seen! I really did love it there - it's such a fab project and doing really great things...really glad that I went :) 

The next major thing to happen was Christmas! I have to say, apart from the day itself, my Christmas was very odd this year. Until December 24th I did nothing Christmassy at all, and in fact I found myself forgetting that it was just around the corner...it was just so bizarre! However, once Christmas Eve hit I did get much more in to the festive spirit for which I am very glad. Originally it had been my plan to leave Chiang Mai straight after I finished work and spend Christmas on the beach but I am so so glad I changed my mind. I realise now that being on my own would not have been a good idea, and that being surrounded by my Chiang Mai family was most definitely a very good idea! I ended up spending it with all the volunteers I was living with at a friend's house and although it was not a typical traditional Christmas (it was 28 degrees for one thing) we did keep some traditions alive. For instance, on Christmas Eve we went to a huge international supermarket and spent an inordinate amount of money on food and drinks for our festivities, and then proceeded to eat and drink our way through the whole of our Christmas. We are nearly all vegetarian and have one vegan so most of our Christmas food was vegan but surprisingly delicious! We had stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta, 'chicken', mushroom risotto, green bean casserole, and for desert I made vegan apple and cinnamon pie. It was really lovely actually, to be in the kitchen preparing and cooking food after so long...hadn't realised how much I was missing it! We also had mulled wine which I made to Dad's legendary recipe and soy nog..a vegan egg nog that was, again, surprisingly good! 

Apart from eating and drinking we did do other Christmassy activities. We all decorated the house together on Christmas Eve - putting up the tree, hanging decorations on the walls, scattering pine cones around the place and generally get a bit over zealous with the tinsel! I have to say, it wasn't quite the elegant and classy Christmas decor that we usually have at home, but it did have a certain charm to it and made us very happy :) Some of our decorations were actually home made, as lots of the other volunteers are in Thailand for an Art Therapy project so are very crafty (in the sense that they are good at crafts, not sly!). At these points I tended to disappear to the kitchen to do some more prep or make another round of drinks...I would not say that crafts are my strong point! Obviously we opened presents, although I did have the most...family Lewis and friends did me proud! I even had a stocking, a small one that lit up with the words "I believe in Santa Claus" on the top of it! We also did a 'secret santa' where everyone bought one present and we exchanged anonymously, although these presents were largely more entertaining rather than being anything you would actually ever think to want! My favourite Christmas activity however, was the bit of carol singing that we did. Just around the corner from Jude's house is a place called 'Hope Home', which is a residential home for disabled children, mainly children with cerebral palsy. The Art Relief project go there regularly to do workshops and at Poni's suggestion we decided to go and sing to them and take them a bit of festive cheer. We had a short 'choir practice' where we haggled over the starting note of each carol so that everyone could sing in unison (wish I had had my pitch pipe!) and taught the words to our German and French volunteers, and then we walked over to the home. The children absolutely loved it. They were really happy to see us in general and clearly remember the volunteers who have been going there, but when we started to sing the smiles on their faces were completely priceless. It was so touching to see how happy it made them to just sit and have us sing to them, and it definitely reminded me what Christmas is all about - such a special experience :) 

In between Christmas and New Year's I had my second trip to Pai, although I have just realised that I haven't actually written about my first trip there on here! Ah well, two in one I guess! Pai is a beautiful little town in the mountains north west of Chiang Mai. To get there you had to drive over one mountain range and into the next one, and the road has over 1700 bends in it! Some of these are very hairy hair pin bends, and the skid marks on the road are testament to how dangerous it can be to get there. Luckily however, both times I travelled with friends and not on the crazy buses that also go there, so was completely safe. The journey is absolutely stunning...once you get up in to the mountains as far as you can see there is just mountain after mountain creating the most gorgeous skylines; it really is breathtaking. Pai itself is so cute - a hippyish place with flowers everywhere, yummy vegetarian food and a night market full of kitsch and adorable (but completely useless) stuff. There are also some hot springs, which I visited on my first trip and a waterfall, which I visited on my second trip. It was funny actually, because the friend I went with the first time has been to Pai many times and assured me that the hot springs we were going to were 'secret' and 'authentic' and not touristy at all. Plus it was free, which both of us liked the sound of very much. When we got there, it did indeed seem like it was secret...we were the only ones in sight. However, within about 5 minutes what seemed to be an entire village of hill tribe people turned up for their daily/weekly/monthly baths! There must have been at least 30 of them, all swimming, washing, laughing, talking and clearly finding the two of us hilarious. So it turns out that the springs is definitely not a secret, but in my experience it was pretty darn authentic and most certainly not touristy!

For New Year's it was a similar group to Christmas and we ended up having a really lovely dinner in a rooftop restaurant right next Tha Pae Gate; one of the busiest bits of the old city. It was perfect because we had  view all over the city of everyone below bustling along, but even more spectacularly, we had a wonderful vantage point from which we could watch all the fireworks and lanterns going up in to sky. In Thailand, anyone can buy fireworks and set them off from anywhere. In one way this is lovely because there are a lot of fireworks going off all night long, which obviously makes for a beautiful night sky. In another way it is terrifying, as you get idiots in charge of fireworks. An example of which would be the Australian men at the same roof top restaurant as us who were setting off fireworks from their hands, right next to where we were sitting. How nobody got burnt or disfigured I will never know! They didn't though, and overall I think the positives out weigh the negatives as far s fireworks and lanterns go...much more fun the Thai way. We did the count down with a huge crown down at Tha Pae Gate after which there was an incredible fireworks display (an official one this time) that lasted a good 20 minutes. We toasted with some bubbly and then headed off to the jazz bar for some live music and time with friends. Seeing as I left on New Year's Day, this was my last night in Chiang Mai and I can safely say that it was a fitting end to the absolutely amazing time I had there. It is such a fabulous city...I definitely see myself going back there in the future sometime. 

I was very sad to leave, but luckily I didn't really have time to wallow in that fact, because my sadness was massively overtaken by extreme excitement that a certain Anna Last was coming out to see me! For those of you who don't know Anna, she is one of my best friends from University; a very brilliant assistant child psychologist who despite being one of the most intelligent people I know, has the ability to say and do some spectacularly daft things, and consequently is one of my favourite people to spend time with :) She flew in to Phuket where I mer her and we had a beautiful 'Love Actually' style reunion, which, in all seriousness, threw me for a loop. I hadn't really thought about how strange and wonderful and wonderfully strange it would be to see somebody that I love so much after not seeing anybody like that for such a long time. I mean, obviously I have developed friendships here where now I have new people to love too, but to see someone who is so dear to me and who I had been missing so much, well it was pretty overwhelming. Consequently I spent our first 20 minutes together just repeating nonsense like 'you're here...I can't believe you're here' over and over again and feeling the need to pinch both Anna and myself to be sure it was really happening. Once I had gotten over that though the catch up started in earnest, and continued, pretty much without let up, for the next 10 days! Both Anna and I can certainly talk, and a few mornings I actually woke up with a slightly sore throat from our chatting the night before. Don't get me wrong, I have loved and continue to love meeting new people and forming new friendships, and that is something I know will continue to make me happy for the rest of my trip, but there is something special about easy conversation with somebody who knows you inside out. That way there is no need for back stories, or explanations, or making extra effort, or worrying about what they'll think of you...you can just be you with no frills and it's wonderful! It was fab as well because although I have obviously been writing stuff on this here blog, and have been speaking to my family fairly regularly, having Anna there for an extended period of time meant that we could talk about the in-between stuff. The stuff that isn't really important or interesting enough to write on here, or that slips my mind when I am on skpye with my family, but which, nonetheless, has formed a big part of my trip. Similarly I got to hear about that stuff from Anna as well, and it felt really good to know that I am now up to date with her...just makes me wish that all of my loved ones could come out for a similar trip! 

We did do things other than chatting, hard as that might be to believe! We stayed in Phuket one night, not by choice but because we were too late for the ferry to our island, and then early the next morning got on to the ferry to Koh Lanta...home for the next 2 and a half weeks (I am still here even though Anna has gone back to the UK). Koh Lanta is absolutely beautiful. In fact I would go so far as to say that it is paradise on earth! We were staying in Kantiang Bay in a very posh (well, very posh for me) resort, in a little bamboo bungalow. Although we were not technically on the beach, we could see it from our balcony hammock, and could be on it within 20 seconds from leaving our little home. The beach in question was stunning; crescent moon shaped white sands, with crystal clear aquamarine waters in front, and lush green forest behind. Here I do mean 'lush' in the sense of healthy and abundant, but I have to say, when Anna used the word to describe something (quite possible a lime juice), it filled my heart with joy! Good old English slang...I'd missed it! Moored in the bay were several traditional long boats, which just added to the tranquil scene..oh my goodness, I really did love it! The restaurant and bar of our resort were right on the beach, so we had breakfast there most mornings and braved the bar until we found a better one up the beach that was built on a platform over the sea. Our bar would have been fine if not for the band that played every night. The musicians were actually pretty good, but the singer was in a world of his own, not out of tune exactly, just out of reality I think! They did a lot of British and American rock and indie numbers, and his interpretation of some classics was, well, I think I will just say 'unique' and leave the rest to your imaginations! We also found some really nice places to eat in the small collection of businesses just off our beach..it was the perfect location because we were far enough from the main party beaches to be able to relax, but had enough to do within walking distance so were never bored.

We also booked on to several tours so that we weren't spending all day every day sunbathing but appreciating the island as well. We went on a snorkelling day, a sea kayaking day, a cooking course, and hired a jeep to look around the island independently as well. I say independently...we met a lovely gay couple from Bournemouth and they came with us in the car. Thank flippin' goodness is all I can say...if it had been Anna and I alone it would almost certainly have been a disaster. I mean, we can both drive perfectly well, but it is slightly different driving our little cars around in the UK and driving a jeep on a Thai island where the roads are not exactly perfect and the other drivers are following a set of rules completely different to yours! Even with Matt and Stephen driving we had our moments...especially when we took a wrong turn and ended up going up a ridiculously steep dead end and Stephen realised that the brakes on the jeep were not the best...luckily through some careful maneouvering and subsequent testing of how best ot use the brakes we got out unscathed and had a very successful day! I loved all of our little excursions but I think the snorkelling was my favourite. We went out on a long boat, and visited four different sites; three for snorkelling and one for lunch. The snorkelling was beautiful..the fish got so close to us, and at one point I found myself in the middle of a small school of brightly coloured stripy fish- it felt like being in 'Finding Nemo'! There was some beautiful coral as well, with bright purple bulbous looking growths on the duller parts that were so vibrant it was hard to believe it wasn't artificial. The only trouble was that it made me want to go scuba diving again really badly and I cannot afford to do so! One of the sites caused a bit of drama, especially from Anna! We were swimming through a cave to get to the 'Emerald Cave', a small bay right in the middle of a huge limestone rock in the middle of the sea which pirates used to use for hiding their treasure. The only trouble was that the water in the cave through which we were swimming for a good 5 minutes was choc-a-bloc full of what must have been millions of teeny tiny jelly fish, each about the size of a thumbnail , floating around in huge underwater clouds. I am sure that if you encountered one or two of these really quite cute little creatures then you would hardly notice them. However, when you are swimming through water that is no longer transparent for the sheer number of them and every one that touches you gives you a small sting...you start to notice. At first it just felt kind of tickly, but very swiftly it got painful, not that I could verbalise this because Anna was completely freaking out and convinced that she was going to die of jelly fish stings. Thus, all of my efforts were spent trying to calm her down and telling her that there are no poisonous jelly fish in Thailand and that at worst it was slightly uncomfortable. Unfortunately she seemed to get a bit of a reaction to the stings and did end up with some redness that lasted a few days, and even more unfortunately I have since found out that there are some poisonous jelly fish in Thailand...I guess this is where I apologise to her! 

I won't go in to detail about our other trips...I feel this blog is already of epic proportions! Needless to say though, good times were had by all. Actually no scrap that...absolutely wonderful, amazing, heart warming and memory creating times were had by all :) 

The fact that Anna has now left leaves me somewhat saddened :( However, the fact that my Mum is coming out ONE WEEK TODAY makes me very excited! Also I am trying not to wallow and instead enjoy my last week in Thailand. How crazy is that?! One week left...I can't believe how fast it has gone! I am still on Koh Lanta at the moment but have moved to a really cute guesthouse where I am paying £3 a night for a dorm room with some very funny people, above a restaurant with delicious organic home grown food, which I am encouraged to use as my home, about 2 minutes from a beach which, although not as beautiful as my last one, does have many funky restaurants and bars on it which are providing much entertainment! I'll be here for a few more days just relaxing because, although I am sure most of you will find this hard to swallow, I have actually had very little chance to relax properly in the last four months! After that I will have a couple of days in Bangkok with a friend I made in Chiang Mai and then it's off to Hanoi (Vietnam) to meet Mummy Lewis! You may have noticed that I am rather looking forward to that :) And to top it all off in a month I will be flying to South America where I will shortly be joined by Miss Carris Headland ready to celebrate Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro...maybe the best party on Earth...life is good!

Hope life is treating everyone else as kindly back home, and indeed round the world if you are one of the friends I have made whilst travelling! I would say that I'll write again soon but as you can see the next few months are pretty hectic for me. I will endeavour to write if I can, maybe a blog less extensive than this one, for which maybe some of you will be glad! 

Until then, lots of love, oh and Happy New Year and Chok Dee Maak Ka (Good Luck Very Much)!

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