Day 52 - Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon)

Today the three of us got up to go to the Royal Palace that is now just a museum since the fall of Saigon in 1975 during the war. The real palace is now in Hanoi, but this palace has not been touched since the end of the war. All the remnants including war strategy maps and furnishings were left behind.

Then we went to the American War Remnants Museum. This was an interesting museum, because they showed most of the portrayal of the war through photos, very few words. The first exhibit gave the history of the war including maps and statistics, but the next exhibit was just pictures taken of the villages, the soldiers, and destruction. The third and fifth museum (the biggest exhibits) showed the affects of the toxic chemicals that were used during the war that on the villages, the people, and the crop lands. If a picture did not portray someone who was burned or wounded from the direct attack of the chemical it was a picture of someone who had a birth disorder or got another body deforming disease because they ate food from crops that had the chemicals in the them. They say the chemicals are still causing many birth defects to this day. Not only was it hard to look at some of the pictures but the homeless people on the street brought the whole reality to life with heads that were bigger than two basketballs and no limbs with burned faces. It is a reality that is hard to miss in the country. I would have taken more pictures but I did not want to see some of the images again.

We spent the rest of the day going to the Notre Dame Cathedral, seeing another Chinese pagoda, enjoying a traditional Vietnamese meal where we made our own summer rolls, and shopping in the large market.

BUT that does not cover the two highlights of the day... First, it started to rain so we went into a department store to wait and the first song we heard was by Kenny Chesney. Here are three Americans singing and dancing in the middle of the store. It was great! AND that night the Vietnamese football (soccer) team played Thailand for the Southern Asian championship and WON for the first time ever!! It was a moment in history for the country so the street went insane. At one point in an intersection there were at least 20,000 people waving flags, banging pots and pans, and standing up on their motorbikes screaming. I have never seen any sporting event like it!! What a night to be in Vietnam!!

Day 50 - 51 Mui Ne

Last night we left Hoi An on an overnight bus to Nha Trang to rent a motorbike and driver for 2 days into the central highlands of Vietnam but when we arrived in Nha Trang in the morning is was rainy, so we made the decision to stay on the bus for another 5 hours to go to Mui Ne, a beach town along the coast that is famous for it's red and white sand dunes and the best surf waves in Vietnam. We got a bungalow on the beach with Steph, a girl from Boston who is teaching in Japan, and hung out for the afternoon. The next morning I got up and rented a motorbike to go to the check out the sand dunes. I guess this wasn't something I planned to see but neat to see a small desert (not quite so hot) in that part of Vietnam. Also to make up for my snow deprivation this winter I went sledding in the sand dunes!! You don't move quite as quickly as you do on snow, but still fun!! I also hiked along a stream through the canyons and then headed back to the beach for the afternoon. We headed down to Ho Chi Minh City that night (aka Saigon) to meet Steph who took an early bus.

Day 48 - 49 Christmas in Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An by about noon on Christmas Eve and checked into a hotel. This is a beautiful tourist town that is very influenced by the French roots of Vietnam (Vietnam was controlled by France for many years in the 1800's and 1900's and the traditions are still heavily influenced by food and architecture). The small town is known for it's cheap tailor shops where everyone gets clothing made in a day (a three piece woman's suit cost $50), French and Vietnamese cafes, and the beach area along the coast. We spent the day shopping and walking through the streets and markets. That night Lindsey and I went to a Catholic Christmas Eve Mass that was filled to capacity in an outdoor plaza (Catholics make up about 10% of the population due to the French influence and makes for the 2nd largest Christian population in Asia). Although the mass was in Vietnamese the Priest read the Christmas story in English and French!! (NOTE: We sat next to a Vietnamese man who spoke English so he tried to interpret the service for us. At one point he leaned over and whispered in my ear that he spent Christmas in 1978 and 1979 in the war fields. That was the only comment that I received about the war from a Vietnamese person. We found that all the Vietnamese people were very nice and courteous towards us the entire trip.)

After the service we celebrated Christmas with a woman from England, a woman from Germany, and a man from Portugal (we had met them all on the Halong Bay trip), who also brought a Chinese woman they met on the bus, two guys from England that Lindsey and I met on the bus, a girl from Australia who I met at the guesthouse in Hanoi and a French guy she met at her hotel in Hoi An! It was like a celebration of Christmas all over the world!

On Christmas Day Lindsey and I rented bicycles for the day and rode all around town, out to the beaches, and through the countryside to a fishing village. It was a great way to spend Christmas day! AND I met the first people from Minnesota and Chicago! There was a family sitting next to us at lunch who saw that I was wearing my Twins hat and asked if I was from MN. I guess the parents had grown up in MN and he is now working for General Mills in Switzerland. Come to find out they also lived in St. Charles, IL, for a few years!! Small world!

Day 45 - 47 Halong Bay

We decided to take a three day tour of the Halong Bay area, which is located about 3 hours east of Hanoi on the Sea of China. This area is famous for the 3,000 small islands off the coast.

Day 1: We left Hanoi in a minivan with 15 other people to go to Halong Bay and then boarded a sleeper boat to set off out to sea for the next couple days. After lunch on the boat we stopped on an island called Vinh Halong Bay to see a cave that is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It definitely deserved to be one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, because the cave formations were fantastic! We then sailed into an old floating fishing village where the people sustain themselves by fishing and living in homes on the sea year round. We boarded a small motorboat that took us into some of the bays of the islands and specifically showed us where one of the James Bond movies was filmed. From there we went to another island to get into kayaks that we could use to paddle around and watch the sunset (by far the highlight of the day!) The day had been a bit cloudy all day, but we got to see an amazing sunset!! Then we had dinner and slept on the boat that night.

Day 2: After breakfast on the boat we docked on Cat Su Island, which is a national park on one of the islands, and boarded a van that took us to the foothill of the mountain range on the island. We trekked to the top of the mountain and down in about 3 1/2 hours to see the views of all the islands. After the trek we checked into a hotel in a small town on the island and hiked around the beaches and town for the afternoon to enjoy the scenery! I am not obsessed with sunsets or anything, but we sat on our balcony that overlooked the fishing bay and watched another beautiful sunset!

Day 3: Today we got up and boarded the boat back to the mainland. After arriving in Hanoi late in the afternoon we grabbed dinner and boarded another bus for the 17 hour bus ride to Hoi An!!

NOTE: If you follow our trip via a map we followed the coast all the way to Ho Chi Minh City and although I don't have a lot of great picture we really got to see a lot of the countryside and villages via the bus that cost about $50 to get about 40 hours from North to South over the week. We literally followed the coast along the ocean and even when we were in the mountains the coast was right below. It was fun just sitting and looking out the window at all the surroundings!!

Day 44 - Hanoi, Vietnam

Lindsey and I arrived safely in Hanoi, Vietnam, the capital city, this morning on a flight that took about 2 hours from Bangkok. We had a bus drop us off in the middle of the Old Quarter (the tourist district) and we found a nice guesthouse to stay in for the night. We decided to get oriented with the city that has very narrow, confusing streets with lots of traffic and people walking around (you actually have to walk in the streets cause the sidewalks are full of vendors). We first went to the Hoa Lo Prison which was a Vietnamese/French torture Prison before the start of the Vietnam war for citizens who went against the political reigns. The forms of abuse and torture that those people endured were graphic and disturbing, especially for the women. Then during the Vietnam war (or as the Vietnamese refer to it "the American War") it become the holding area for the U.S. POW, including John McCain. The museum had a whole exhibit that showed the POW's being captured, enjoying their free time playing basketball, enjoying feasts of food, receiving presents and letters from their families and finally being released. It gives the world the idea that they were not harmed and life was good as a captive when most people would probably believe that they were tortured everyday and reduced to confined living areas. I would now believe there is middle ground to both sides of the story.

(Picture of the hallways of cells in the prison and the suit that John McCain wore when he was captured)




We then went to the first Confucius temple I have seen in Asia. Northern Vietnam is very influenced by the Chinese culture. The temple actually use to be a school where they taught the Confucius students, so there was beautiful writing carved into walls along the walkways that were ways they preserved the beliefs of the teachers.


That night we enjoyed an internationally recognized water puppet show at a theater, which is an ancient Vietnamese form of entertainment for rice farmers. The puppets are actually dancing in the water and portraying different stories about the children, the kings, and the Vietnamese way of life on the river beds.

Day 42 - 43 Christmas Season

Christmas is in full swing a Nantawan School. This whole week I have been preparing Christmas lessons, decorating my classroom with Christmas ornaments, and practicing with the kids for their big Christmas show tonight (4 hour production). Yesterday we had a Christmas party in our homerooms where the students shared white elephant gifts and brought it tons of food. It was fun to see how excited they were for the day!

All around Thailand Christmas is celebrated with gifts, trees, and Christmas music, but the people are all Buddhists so it is really just a consumer holiday. I doubt any of my students know the true Christmas story about the birth of Jesus, but they do sing Christian songs at school for their program. In fact the last song we are doing with the entire school tonight is the Sister Act version of Joyful, Joyful (I'll post video later). It has been nice to be surrounded by Christmas things during the holiday season but a bit sad not to be surrounded my family and friends who celebrate the true meaning! I think the two things I miss most during the season is real Christmas cookies (not the ones in tins like they have here) and the snow. (but I seem to be surviving 80 degree days just fine!) I had my kindergartners build a big snowman this week in class but we had to use poster board and it just wasn't the same!

Well I actually get a nice two week break for Christmas and New Year's. My friend Lindsey, who was in the TESOL course, and I are flying to Vietnam in the morning for a two week backpacking trip across the country and into Cambodia! We are excited to spend a couple weeks exploring the mountains and beaches! I'll try to keep my blog updated!

****I have added a 4 pictures above of my kindergarten girls (TL), my 1st grade boys in their Chinese puppet costumes - hence the makeup (BL), the school production of Joyful, Joyful (TR) and myself with 4 of my 1st grade girls. Below is a video of my 1st grade girls doing a traditional Thai dance!!

Day 38 - My Condo

The school has given me a condo to live in while I am teaching here at a place called the Casita's. I have a three bedroom, two bath (two floor) condo with a small kitchen, dining room, and living room. There is a pool and fitness area for me to use which is convenient. I think the biggest adjustment for me is just that I have never lived on my own, but I have been busy every night so far which is nice! There are several teachers and some students living in the 6 building complex so it is nice to know others are near. It is about a 4 minutes ride to school in the morning and a van comes to pick us up and drop us off each day. I live about 1/2 mile from a large market and about a mile from the nearest Tesco Lotus (big grocery store/mall). I don't see to many forangs in my area, but like I have said before it is not too hard for me to get into Bangkok. If anyone is coming to here I have extra beds and I am only 10 minutes from the airport (if there is no traffic!)

So for everyone who was asking if I was living in a grass hut I'm not... I actually am pretty spoiled with this place and I have only had to kill one cockroach so far!

**Here is a link to more pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/jglesne/MyCondoInSamutPraken?authkey=C9jvXn2-SR8#

Day 34 - Constitution Day

Well today was another Thai national holiday... Constitution Day, so I got the day off from school! I went into Bangkok to bum around to figure out where everything is located and see some of the tourist attractions! I took the Sky Train (it is about a 20 minute taxi ride from the sky train station) to Victory Monument that acts as a mid point of the city where a significant number of bus lines run to and from. From there I walked to the King's residence to see the grounds but I found it was closed for the Holiday. I continued my walk to the Golden Mount (Wat Saket) which was constructed in the 1800's on an artificial by King Rama III. It is famous for the Golden dome on the top of the hill. From the top you can see the entire city in every direction. Then I moved onto the Wat Ratchanatdaram also built by King Rama III on the canal and is famous for the square pillars around the premise. I spent the afternoon at the National Museum which was wonderful. I couldn't take pictures there but some of the highlights included funeral and ceremonial floats of the King and Queen that were 50 ft tall by 100 ft long, ancient ceremonial thrones made of gold, water puppets, musical instruments, and more Buddha figures than I have ever seen in my life. I walked about 10 miles looking at different places and enjoying the city today! I ended the day at a large mall where I met some friends for dinner.

My impressions of Bangkok so far are these: Traffic is AWFUL! I use to hate an hour commute in Chicago, but getting around Bangkok can take three hours (especially by bus!). However, with that being said they do have an efficient, clean, and new Sky train and subway system that moves swiftly once you are able to get to a station. These stations are not always central locations in big areas of the city. This city has grown tremendously in the last 20 years from what I understand so when you are walking around you will come to a large hotel or skyscraper full of condos and right next door will be a small house made of metal where the family is cooking over a fire pit and fishing from the polluted canals for their dinner. A little different than most large cities I have visited. I also found there is so much to see and do it will take a couple more days of exploring to see everything!

*** Here is a link to more pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/jglesne/ConstitutionDay?authkey=2W2Sh3SUWVE#

Day 29 - 31 Happy Birthday to the King!

On Friday it was the King's birthday which is recognized as a Thai national holiday. The King is the most respected person (beside Buddha) in the country so of course he gets a day that honors him. The current King in Thailand has been in reign for over 60 years, but little known fact he was actually born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was a great saxophone player who played with Benny Goodman (a well known American Jazz musician)!

For his birthday they have a huge celebration that is televised live from the palace in Bangkok and includes all day festivities, a speech from the King, and a fireworks display at dusk. At approximately 7:30 on Friday night my friends and I were sitting on the ocean in Hua Hin at seafood restaurant and everyone stopped in the middle of their meals to stand and sing to the king for about 10 minutes. We didn't know what they were saying so we sang Happy Birthday instead! (Note: Every Monday everyone in the country wears yellow shirts with the King's emblem on the left breast, because it is his favorite color so I have had to add yellow to my wardrobe since arriving in Thailand.)

Due to the Holiday we didn't have school on Friday so 3 of my friends and I went down to Hua Hin (about a 3 hour bus ride Southwest of Bangkok) for the weekend to meet some of our others friends who are teaching there. We stayed in a guesthouse that was propped up on stilts over the ocean, so when we woke up in the morning the tide was right under our room! It was a nice relaxing three day weekend that was spent on the beach, reading a couple books, enjoying a campfire on the beach, exploring the town, and devouring some great seafood!! Life is pretty rough right now....

Day 28 - Update from Bangkok

We just found out that the protesters are leaving the airport this afternoon, which is a good sign for the entire country. Unfortunately this has cost the Thai economy millions of dollars and placed a sad image on the country's tourism industry.

But from what we hear this is not over yet.... It seems that the election process here is very corrupt and has been for hundreds of year which is why these protesters do not think the Prime Minister should be in power. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. Again thanks for all the prayers and concerned emails!

Day 27 - Nantawan Trilingual School

Tonight I took an overnight bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to start my new teaching job at Nantawan Trilingual School about 10 km directly South of Bangkok (about 2 km from the Gulf of Thailand). I arrived at school by 7:30 am and was in the classroom monitoring midterm exams by 8:30!! I guess it was good to be thrown into things right away, because I could meet the students and other teachers. I will be a homeroom teacher for about fifteen 1st graders and then will teach 2 periods (40 minutes each) of ESL to 1st graders and 2 periods of ESL to second graders in the morning. In the afternoon I will teach 1 or 2 periods of ESL (or fun and games as I am told) to Kindergartners!! I am excited about my schedule!

Nantawan is a private primary school for students in preschool - 6th grade (the families of the students are very wealthy). There are about 350 students in total at the school, so the size is wonderful. (they had prepped us to have 40 - 50 students in the class like most Thai schools, but I will only be teaching 9 - 11 students). The students learn to speak English (which they are suppose to speak 70% of the time), Chinese, and Thai. The English level of these students is very high. They understand everything you say, but it sounds like they need help writing and forming the correct sentences! Everyone seems very nice and encouraging so far! I have the website for the school if you want to check it out. I will post more pictures in the weeks to come, but at least you can see the facility! http://www.nantawan.ac.th/

The school also provided me an apartment to stay in near the school. I'll post more about that soon....