Dispatch #19: Home Decor

My mom asked me to post pictures of my new apartment, so I'm posting a few today. There are only pictures from my bedroom because that's really the only room that I've made any effort on. The common spaces in the new apartment are still in flux. If anything exciting happens, I'll keep you posted.


The bed and photos wall:


The gallery wall:


The books and photos wall:


There are more detailed photos at my Flickr site (I've added notes to them). Check out this, this and this.

Dispatch #18: The Coteau, again

Well, I'm back, back in the land of real Diet Coke, trustworthy tap water, predictable public restrooms, and English as the most common first language, and it's good to be home.

My final flight left Tokyo around sunset yesterday evening and our plane proceeded to chase the sun across the Pacific and North America. We caught up with the sunshine (and returned to afternoon/early evening), somewhere over the Rockies. About 9 or 10 hours into the flight, I opened my window and confronted what looked like a familiar sight and, upon checking my flight tracker, I confirmed that it was, indeed, the Dakotas. The sky was perfectly clear and after a few minutes of watching the prairie glide by, I identified Aberdeen in the distance (with a little help from the flight tracker).

Almost immediately, I noticed the speckled effect that is created by the numerous lakes of the northeast part of the state. I don't think I've ever viewed the state from that high before and, as it turns out, the coteau is pretty easy to identify. I kept the window open long enough to spot, without help from the flight tracker, the place where Big Stone Lake and Lake Traverse form the the divot in the border between South Dakota and Minnesota. At that point, I returned to my reading.

I took somewhere close to 2000 photos while I was in Asia and I've also offered to host my traveling companion's photos on my Flickr site. So, if you're interested in seeing what I've been up to, check in there over the next few days. My photos should all be up in the next few hours, and I'll work on organizing them and adding my friends' photos in the next few days. If you don't have the address of my Flickr homepage, email me and I'll send it to you.

Dispatch #17: It's Independence Day in Vietnam

And we're in Saigon. Not surprisingly, given the brief refresher-course in Vietnamese history that Nicole and I gave ourselves this afternoon, there's not a great deal of celebration happening here. In fact, other than the large number of flags and government-issued banners and posters on display, today seems to be a day like any other.

We spent the last few days in Hue, Danang and Hoi An, all of which are beautiful. Nicole and I both caught colds, so the last two days in Hoi An (possibly the hottest and most-humid place I've ever been) were something less than comfortable. We flew into Saigon last night and I spent much of today walking around the city, in the rain. Despite the rain and sickness and the endless entreaties from street vendors and cyclo drivers, I still love this country. It's hard not to respect a people who have endured as much as the Vietnamese and it really is a gorgeous place.

Tomorrow morning, we're taking a bus to the beach at Mui Ne and the next day another bus to the town of Dalat. We'll spend about 48 hours in Dalat before flying to Hanoi and then back to Bangkok. On Friday, we return to New York. This trip has been incredible, but I'll be ready to head back to the U.S.

Dispatch #16: Organized Chaos

First things first: I love Vietnam.

We've spent the past four days in Hanoi and Halong Bay and I'm smitten. Halong Bay is easily one of the most remarkably beautiful places I've been. We took a junk boat from Halong City into the bay and then explored a huge cave, kayaked, swam and hiked around and on the limestone islands.

And Hanoi? Crazy, but in a way that is not at all overwhelming or frenetic like Bangkok. The traffic is terrifying, but we've slowly become adept at stepping into the street and trusting that the hoardes of motorbikes will simply stream around us (rather than killing us, which is what four girls used to walk signals would expect). We're staying in the Old Quarter and on most of the corners there are bars selling draght beers (bia hoi) for what we've calculated to be 12.5 cents a glass. One of the guidebooks described beer as the "new tea" in Vietnam and considering the number of people nursing a glass right now (it's 9am), that seems about right.

If you have a few minutes, google the Ho Chi Minh Museum. We went there the first day and it's now my favorite museum, ever (yes, it beats out the Spam Museum). We also saw HCM's embalmed body this weekend. Bizarre.

Early each morning, loudspeakers blast what I'm assuming to be government announcements into the streets and that's kind of annoying. Aside from that (and really, it's a communist country, so the announcements shouldn't be a huge surprise), I really love it here.

Dispatch #15: Beach, Cambodia, Beach

So, here's the last week in super-fast recap:

Koh Chang was pretty.

Cambodia and Angkor Wat are overwhelming.

Koh Samui is probably even prettier than Koh Chang. And the water is really calm.

Dispatch #14: Bangkok

We've spent the last three days exploring Bangkok and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm pretty relieved to be moving on tomorrow. The city is definitely interesting and there are a number of truly remarkable things that we've seen and done. However, the heat and the noise is more than a little oppressive.

On our first day here, we started out by walking around Chinatown which is an assault on the senses. The narrow sidewalks are crowded with every kind of street vendor possible as well as hordes of moving people. The roads are filled with hectic and loud traffic. On top of that, the cooking smells and exhaust fumes combine to form a sort of haze over the entire area. It's overwelming. We spent the rest of that first day walking around the city and ended up at a rooftop bar at one of the city's tallest hotels. New Yorkers that we are, we all felt better with a good drink and a good view. That night, I was also able to meet up with a friend I've known since high school who is also traveling through Thailand on her bar trip.

We spent Day Two doing most of the big tourist attractions (temples and palaces). Wat Pho was probably my favorite if you're in a Googling mood.

And today, we visited a huge open air market. Aside from the heat, it was a great way to spend the morning and early afternoon. The exchange rate makes shopping here pretty fun. After that, we had a decidedly American afternoon: we went to a huge mall, filled primarily with American stores and restaurants, and watched The Bourne Ultimatum at the mall's movie theater. It was a nice, air-conditioned break from the city.

Tomorrow we're headed to Koh Chang, another island. It's much more developed than the last island we visited, so it might not be as peaceful of a beach experience. There are, however, a lot more activities on the island -- waterfall hikes and elephant treks among them. I'm looking forward to it.

Dispatch #13: Thai keyboards are easier than Japanese keyboards

Carolyn and I have spent the past few days on the island of Koh Mak, in the easter Gulf of Thailand. Virtually everywhere we've been on this and the surrounding islands looks like a movie set. Blue ocean, white sand beaches, palm trees, etc. It rains a lot, but the rains are very predictable and tend to stop from mid-morning to late afternoon, which is kinda perfect.

Today, we took a boat (it's technical classification is probably "dinghy") to the neighboring island, Koh Kahm to go snorkeling. It was pretty fantastic. Although, I should note that I've never snorkeled before, so my standards might not be reliable. In other generic news, the people here are just as friendly as the guidebooks promised and the food is consistently excellent.

And now, I'm headed back to the cabin for a much-needed shower. We only have cold water on the island, so I'm really looking forward to a hot shower in Bangkok tomorrow. The result of the combination of salt water, cold showers, and curly hair is something slightly less than attractive.