Angkor Wat in Siem Reap

Siem Reap reminds me of Chiang Mai in Thailand, because it is a small spiritual city with a lot to offer. This place is on the up and up! If Cambodia plays their cards right they can use the tourist interest in Angkor Wat to rebuild their economy and save the people from devastating poverty. I have spent the last unforgettable 3 days exploring the ancient jungle ruins of Angkor Wat. I decided to spiral from the outer most point into Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is composed of 256 temples.
Day 1: I commissioned a handsome young Cambodian man named Pari to be my motorbike driver and take me out to Kbal Spean. It was a long and gorgeous hike through the jungle to reach this small waterfall and ancient carvings. In the rock alongside the waterfall were carvings of Buddha, Shiva, Vshnu, Lakshmi, elephants, and lotus flowers. After that I visited a large ancient(dried up) pool with 4 opposing carved stone spouts, each one had a different face: 1 horse, 1 lion, 1 elephant, and 1 human face. In the center of the pool was a stone fountain with beautiful and elaborate carvings. I learned that this pool was rumored to cleanse away all sins of anyone who bathed in it. Supposedly, Las Vegas is building an Angkor Wat hotel and Casino and their pool design will be mirrored after this ancient site. The thought makes me want to gag, but people probably think that's cool, I dunno. :p
Anyway, then I stopped off at the Land mine museum. It is funded by the Ottawa group. Gotta love the Canadians for funding this much needed relief fund. There are still over 5 million active land mines strewn about the jungles of Cambodia, and the majority of victims are farmers and children. There is one man: Aki Ra(a Cambodian man with a Japanese name) who worked for the Khmer army and laid down thousands of land mines, and use to feel they were good, because they would protect him and provide food. Now he is aware of how devastating they are and has taken on the duty of removing these land mines. This Ottawa relief fund supports the efforts of him and his group while showcasing his altruistic work in this museum. It was really inspiring and educational.
The last stop of my Angkor tour for that day was Banteay Samre. I walked down a long dirt rd. while children offered me scarves. Scarves?!?!?! It's like 110 degrees out. Why don't they sell fans?! I asked them that, and they laughed at me! :p
I walked through vaulted temple rooms made of intricately carved stone and eventually I found the center. There I stumbled into a temple and met a lovely old man named Mahasra who lit incense and a candle and asked me to pray with him in front of a tomb to Buddha. I did, and it was a beautiful moment. He wrapped a red string around my right wrist and wished me good luck.
Day 2: Pari dropped me off on a beautiful bridge lined with semi-broken Buddha statues that led me to a gate and archway. I walked under a giant arch with 4 Buddha heads, each one facing a different direction. Preah Khan temple was at the end of a dirt rd., and on the rd. were 3 musicians playing traditional Khmer music. I arrived to the dilapidated temple. The base was overgrown with moss, many of the walls were broken due to the surrounding jungle imposing itself upon the ancient ruins, and the horizontal bas relief sculptures on every inch of the temples had my head whipping around in every direction while I soaked in the aesthetics. In the back was my favorite tree in Cambodia. It was growing through one of the rooms crushing it with its roots which sent its tendrils to plummet into the soil anywhere it could reach.
I then wandered through some smaller temples: Ta Som, East Mebon, and Pre Rup
Ta Som had a giant smiling buddha face on the front of the temple, and on the back was a giant tree growing through the rock that created a perfect doorway through the roots. East Mebon looked a little like some of the Mayan ruins I explored in Belize and the Yukon. It had 3 main rooms ascending up a tall stairway lined with lion sculptures. Inside the center room was a Buddha statue under a gold umbrella. Pre Rup means 'Turning the body,' it looked like East Mebon with the 3 towers sitting on a tall pyramid foundation of stone with a tall stairway, but the ground level had ruins of ancient cremation ovens. This is dated 12th century.
Day 3: I explored the temples of Angkor Thom which is a massive ruin site! This site is famous for its hundreds of smiling Buddha sculptures on the exterior temple walls. It is an impressive site. Outside is the Terrace of elephants, which is a long wall with hundreds of elephant carvings and sculptures leading towards or away from(depends your perspective) Angkor Thom. Pari then took me to Ta Prohm/The Tomb Raider temple. Here is the beautiful mossy temples completely being torn apart from the massive jungle trees. The carvings are mostly of Lakshmi and Buddha. This was a beautiful place to explore and take pictures! :)
...and last but not least..*drum roll*...Angkor Wat! Let me first say that I'm glad I saved this for last, because it is so massive and impressive, especially combined with Angkor Thom, that had I started with these temples I probably wouldn't have appreciated the other smaller temples as much for their individual charm. Angkor Wat would dwarf anything because it's so magnificent in size. It's a fortress! The rooms which attach to one another seem to go on for infinity, each room is a place of worship. I could have wandered the central courtyard around the central temple for days just gazing at the carvings. The carvings depicted ancient stories, which I tried to interpret, and then I checked my guide book for confirmation. hahaha! I was usually wrong, but it's fun to create your own interpretation.
In one of the interior corridors, as I was trying to find the exit to Angkor Wat, I saw the contrast of a monks cloth to the grey stone wall. It was beautiful. He saw me and invited me to sit with him. After conversing a short while he told me he had no property yet, but that was because he's in University, and that he would like me to be his girlfriend. He said that I should stop by his temple the following day and he would teach me meditation and the teachings of the Buddha in his room. Later when I told Pari about this he got upset, and said Monks are not allowed to touch a girl, make eye contact, or have a girlfriend! Shame on that naughty monk. His name is Rous, and he's sweet, but I did not go to his room for private instruction. hahahaha!
When I walked the long rd. of the West exit of Angkor Wat I asked many people to take my picture, because this is a famous phot-op, but alas no one could take a proper picture without it being crooked or having a finger in the way, so I had a good chuckle and had Pari take my back to the Jasmine GH for some R & R.
The last 3 nights I've had a very restless sleep. Every time I close my eyes I receive flashes of Angkor temples, movement through jungles, pictures of the carvings and sculptures pass through my mind, and it all feels like a whirlwind. It's very intense!

I will never forget this place, and it was worth the journey to come to Cambodia to see the Angkor temples and walk through the jungles. I feel I will reflect upon this place sporadically with adoration throughout my life. It was very special to me. :)

I will leave Cambodia in a few days, after I do some volunteer work, and I will return to Thailand.

Cambodia

Entering into the country of Cambodia is the easiest thing I've done aside from closing my eyes and welcoming sleep. On the drive I had a strong feeling that I've been here before, and I don't know what that means yet, but the overwhelming feeling of familiarity made me feel at peace.
When I arrived in Phnom Penh at the busy bus station, I locked eyes with a sweet tuk tuk driver and had him take me to the Lazy Fish Guesthouse. When I arrived I smelled marijuana, and noticed all the lazy stoners strewn about watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. What the...? I entered the community porch overlooking a gorgeous view of the lake, and saw a beautiful sunset. There are no mountains, and I've never in my life seen a place so flat and expansive.
I checked into my $3 room and showered. After getting some food and a tall beer, I finally relaxed some. I started to notice the energy of the guests, the staff, and the city in general, and the energy felt really dark. The energy made me feel uncomfortable and anxious. I had a strong intuition that this city is full of pain. I thought of rape and pedophilia, and became disgusted and upset. I realized all of these people were trying to numb out because they felt it too.
I went to sleep early after finishing my new Paul Coelho book.
I arranged the same tuk tuk driver to take me around the following day and show me the sites. I couldn't understand where he wanted to take me, but he understood that I wanted to experience the culture since I had only just arrived. The first place he took me was to the Museum of Genocide, which I didn't know until I walked in. The lady said: "$2 USD," and handed me a pamphlet. I read where I was and what it entailed. It used to be a school but was turned into a prison when the Khmer Rouge took over and threw everyone out of the town. This is where they tortured 12,000 educated men and women before killing them there or on the killing fields. The museum holds instruments of torture and photographs of the dead, some clearly showing how they died (the most shocking being the guy who's stomach was cut out while alive, so the guards could eat his liver). The women's block had barbed wire covering the entire outside to ensure the women didn't commit suicide after being raped by the guards. Since they didn't want to waste bullets, the babies were impaled on a large bloody spike. When I read this information I asked myself what I wanted to gain from my experience in Cambodia. How I would choose to inform myself about the culture and history. Now, I know this existed, and after visiting the war museum in Saigon/Hochimin city I am aware of the gruesome reality of war, and the after effects of Agent Orange 2 generations later, but I did not want to pay money to experience this gore!
I walked out to my tuk tuk driver and told him this is not what I want out of my experience in Phnom Penh. I will not pay money for this! He nodded and took me to the Nat'l museum where I looked at paleolithic art from 6-13th cen. art salvaged from the temples. It was interesting to learn about the Indian influence in art and religion. I didn't know that Cambodian's worshiped Vshnu and Siva.
After lunch I'm going to visit the Grand Palace and then head back to Lazy Fish and kill time with my new book(motorcycle diaries), and chat with some random people until sleep time. I have to be ready for my 6:30 a.m. departure to Siem Reap. Angkor Wat awaits! I've got to get the... out of this city!

25/06/2008
I'm in Siem Reap, only 6 km away from Angkor Wat. I will wake up early and explore the site,
and then I will decide whether or not I still feel I need to leave Cambodia a.s.a.p. I'm so excited to be able to see Angkor! :D I've been waiting a long time for this opportunity.

I miss Mark... sigh. He's my rock. No matter what I experience with other people or through my travels I still think of him fondly. I still want it to be him.
am i crazy? no, I don't think so. He let me go.

Saigon

Saigon/Hochimin City is a city of 8 million people, most of which are on a motorbike wizzing through the city at any given time. Try crossing a crosswalk... Ummm, yeah, very difficult! :o The trick is to look straight ahead as you enter the chaos and allow it to move around you. Maybe this is symbolic of life.
I arrived here from Mui Ne late last night, and had very little trouble finding a cheap guesthouse, and a yummy meal. I was sad to leave my Iirsh kite surfing friends in Mui Ne, especially Paul who was my boyfriend for the week I was there. I mean, how can you have a relationship while you're traveling? It's especially difficult while you're following your dreams, and you don't want to prolong them for an interesting beautiful man who you share a soul connection with in a sticky spot. A sticky spot is a town that you get very comfortable in and end up spending a lot of time. Paul for example took a vacation to Mui Ne from Ireland and ended up staying there for 8 months and becoming a wicked kite surfing instructor, but he returns to Belfast on Tuesday. You can't help falling in love with Mui Ne, because it's such a wonderful place! :) I will return there.
Now I'm in Saigon handling some business. When I left my guesthouse this morning in a sleepy daze I looked into a cafe, and who did I see? My Finnish friend Elina! I run into this girl everywhere. What's funny is that she met a guy who gave her the same book Paul gave me: The Alchemist. What an amazing book! I loved it so much that I read it twice, and plan to find a bookstore today so I can buy more books by this same author.
Elina and I are going to check out some war museums today after I run some errands, and then she may join me into Cambodia tomorrow.
Initially I was going to take a boat along the Mekong River into Cambodia, because I heard several horror stories of people on buses being driven into the middle of mine fields and threatened to be abandoned there while being conned for more money, and obviously I wanted to avoid this scenerio. This happened to a few of my friends. So, I wanted to take the boat tour. It seemed fun and safe for a woman traveling solo. However, I don't want to spend 3 days on a boat! I did 2 days on the Mekong from Thailand into Laos, and it was beautiful, but uncomfortable. So, I'm going to take a bus through a reputable company, and pay a little more to get me to Phenom Penn in 7 hrs. I will arrive during the day, and check into the Lazy Fish guesthouse on the river.
Every experience prepares you for the next...

Mui Ne

I love it here in Mui Ne! This town is a small bubble of coolness. hahahaha! You know what I mean! As soon as I arrived and got settled I was invited to a party with Cristina by some Irish guys, one of whom turned 30, and everyday since we've been chillin together on the beach day-night. These Irish and Aussie guys range from 26-34 yrs old, and they're all Kite Surfing instructors, so they're very carefree and real. Yes, they like to party and I've heard crazy stories about high-season, but they are some of the most grounded people I've met so far. Most of them were wind surfers who came here on holiday and never left once they were introduced to this budding extreme sport. The kite surfing is a little too pricey for me at this time in my life, because of my big upcoming move to Australia in a couple months, so I have to budget still, but the sport is relatively new and is booming there too, so I'll eventually try it. It's amazing to see these men surf the waves and barely flip the handle of this giant kite to fly through the air long distances and do flips and figure 8's. What a rush! My favorite person I've been spending the most time with is a 34 yr old kite surfer from Belfast, Ireland named Paul. He's so intelligent and relaxed. Considering that he was living in Belfast during the riots and bombings of northern Ireland. I've been here 4 days, and I'll stay another 3 for Paul's B-day, and then I have to rush through Saigon into Cambodia, because my visa is about to expire!
I just received word that Pat Bray is working on his passport, Vaccs, and organizing his vacation time to travel out to Thailand while I'm there. It will be so great to see him. Omg! I miss my friends, and I want nothing more than to share this experience with those I care about.

take a breath and relax

I went back to the dive shop for the 3rd time asking to speak with someone who could translate my statement into Vietnamese for the police department. The owner was suppose to meet me at a certain time, and blew me off, but the dive master was present, and he ordered the shop girls to take me to the police department and help me in any way they could, so that I could receive the paperwork needed for my insurance company to reimburse me the stolen $200 dollars. It turns out that Vietnamese cops are corrupt, big surprise there(!), and that it would take a lot of time and money to do an investigation. I told the girls, the dive master, and my friend that I don't want an investigation since I'm leaving early the next day. All I want is the official paperwork/police report. Well, after a lot of time being jerked around by the police, and feeling frustrated by the owner not taking this crime seriously, the girls, dive master Mike, and I did finally translate my statement, with an acknowledgement from the company typed with a certified stamp. This is at least something official that I can take to the American Embassy in Ho Chi Man City/Saigon.

Mike gave me a beer, and he and I had a lovely chat about the event and life. I was starting to relax, and feel more settled in my body again. He left Ireland 6 yrs ago and has been traveling non-stop, and has had many crazy experiences along the way. The owners wife is the one who did the translation, she is Vietnamese, and her name is My(Mee), and she told me that I should go with Mike to Spot bar and whatever I wanted was 'on the house.' She also promised me that her husband would meet me there in 1/2 hr.

1 hr later he strutted through the door. The 4 of us went to a private table where I received an empty apology. If there's anything I've learned over the last 3 yrs. it''s that actions speak louder than words (Thanks Mark :) I learned a lot of valuable lessons from that wonderful man). Let me describe the Blue Vietnam Dive shop owner: He's my an impressive height of 6'3(like Lee), he has narrow set eyes, a large thick nose, with thin bird lips, his hair is kinky and shaved underneath like the early 90's skater look, which makes his hair stick out to the sides, but it's flat on top. He is about 29 yrs old, has olive skin, and a thick French accent. I looked him dead in the eyes after his empty apology and reminded him of his promise to meet me at a set time, described how I'm been jerked around by his company over the last couple days, which reflects him, described to him what had happened, how it should have been handled, and how I'm thoroughly unimpressed by his unprofessional actions and demeanor. I told him how I have connections in the diving world and how if it wasn't for Mike and My that I would do everything in my power to ruin the reputation of his business, but that I feel justified by plan B, and I will go to Saigon and do the best I can with what I have. He left the table to pout and returned to apologize after Mike had a private talk with him around the corner. They returned and ordered a round of tequila shots to smooth things over.

I feel as though the situation was corrected to the best of every one's ability. All that could have been done was done. :)

After a 6 hr. bus ride I arrived in Mui Ne. The landscape of Irish green rice fields cradled by enormous lavender mts. was an awe inspiring sight to see. The motorbike taxi drivers awaiting the tourists at the bus stop were fair in their prices, and I found Cristine at the Mellow guesthouse with no problems. She and I just enjoyed a delicious seafood meal, and tonight we are going to meet some people she met on her bus. She has a special ticket, so we couldn't travel together. I made some new Vietnamese friends: Quc and Bee. I hope that tomorrow Cristine and I can explore around this gorgeous little beach town. There is a relaxed attitude here. I like it, but I don't want to stay in Vietnam much longer. It hasn't been easy for me here! I don't expect Cambodia to be a walk in the park by an means, but after being hit by a lot of adversity a person starts to crave some peace. Near Mui Ne is the largest reclining Buddha in Vietnam, dragon fruit fields, an impressive red canyon that looks similar to Brice nat'l park, white and yellow sand dunes("don't eat that yellow snow"-Frank Zappa), and a clean white sand beach.

I hope the wind pattern with allow us to go Kite surfing tomorrow, which doesn't look likely. Worse case scenerio, she and I will take a jeep or motorcycle tour around the Mui Ne area to explore these awesome sites before I bolt through Saigon(of course handling the embassy stuff, and getting dollars for the Cambodian border), to then take the Mekong River into Cambodia arriving in Phenom Penn.

sigh.

I have so many mixed feelings lately, so Mui Ne is about re-centering before moving on.

Nha Trung

I arrived yesterday after a 12 hr. sleeping bus ride, which was hell on wheels, because I received little sleep due to my head vibrating from the poor conditions of the road. I found myself next to a lovely and very tall English man from South Hampton named Michael who I shared my Ipod with. We listened to Erykah Badu, Radiohead, and Beck before I fell asleep for a spell on and off. After a break around midnight he and his friend re-boarded the bus with a bottle of rum, so we had a drink and rock and rolled along the bumpy bus late in the night on the dark streets in southern Vietnam. A few times when he thought I was sleeping he pulled the covers over my shoulders to ensure my comfort and warmth. I appreciated that. It's a pleasure to meet good natured caring people when you travel.
When Christina and I arrived early morning we ran into our diving friends: Kelly and Rhys, who had already booked us for 2 dives for $40 dollars/$652,000 Dong, and we left immediately. The boat trip wasn't too long, and the sea breeze woke me up immediately. We arrived to Putty Island and started our decent on the first dive. The visibility at this location was fair and we didn't see much marine life. I found out later it was because the dive master selfishly led us to this site to spot a rare clouded ghost fish, which we never saw, and I could have cared less about. It was my first time I was required to wear a wet suit, and I hope it was the last. A person gets really spoiled scuba diving in Mexico and the Caribbean where the water is warm and clear! The first dive was in San Carlos, Mexico and is still by far the best dive ever. The main reason is because I shared the experience with my dad, and my initial reason to scuba dive was to overcome a fear of deep water, which I finally conquered. On that dive my dad and I saw a pilot whale, a pod of 200 dolphin, a 3 ft. long rock fish, sea otters, jellyfish, etc... It was amazing!
So after my first dive in Nha Thrung I was a bit disappointed, but the second dive redeemed itself. On the second dive the water wasn't nearly as cold, and I saw the most interesting coral formations, some of which looked like living stones! I saw 3 ft long bright yellow trumpet fish, puffers, spotted morray eels, needlefish, parrotfish(which I love), and so many specimens of fish that were gorgeous and uniquely Asian. The coral reefs were the big attraction. I wish I could have taken pictures. I had a ball swimming around and enjoying all the life around me.
I wish I had know that while I was enjoying my dive that my wallet on board was being robbed for $200 dollars/$3 Mil. Dong. :( I only just realized what had happened today, and it is a loss I just have to swallow unfortunately. Luckily my passport was with the hotel, and my camera was not taken. I just let the dive shop know. They were of course upset, and I'm on my way now to file a police report so that my travel insurance can compensate my loss.
The dive was lovely and I'm so glad I went.
That night I went dancing at the sailing club in my new dress, and met so many great people. I even saw Michael, my bus friend. He walked me safely back to my guesthouse. Today I'm going to soak in the mud bathes, and tomorrow I depart for Mui Ne to try Kite surfing.
Please keep sending me positive vibes. I need it.
I love you all, and miss you dearly.

Hoi An

Last night Christina and I had the most amazing meal! She is a connoisseur of food, as am I, but she more so. She found a chef named Mr. Kim who has a fantastic reputation for seafood dishes and will create a custom 4 course selection every night for $100, 000 Dong($5). Last night we had prawns, calamari, fish, and crab. Every dish that they brought out to our table had us hmmming with pleasure. WOW!
We were all dressed up to go dancing, but this is a quiet town, so nothing was going on, so we went back to our hotel to watch a documentary on dance on the only English channel we receive. By the way, throughout my travels I have not splurged for A/C, T.V., or any meals above the $1-3 range, so I am really splurging with our $10 room($5 a piece), a/c/ when we turn it on, and our delicious culinary masterpiece for $5! I've been in heaven since I arrived in Hoi An. Today she and I biked to the beach, only 5 km away, and hit up another tailor shop. I'm having some stylin hunter green hiking knock-around trousers made with lots of buckles and zippers for my Cambodia adventure.
I'm so excited!
I just returned from the other tailor shop and my dress looks so avant-garde and elegant. I needed 1 nice dress to wear out and make a statement! I'll take a picture and post it on myspace soon. :) My travel pictures on myspace are available to the public if you have an account you can see them all: Thailand-Vietnam.
I'm just going to spend the next 2 days here chillin.

Hue to Hoi An

I must admit that since the 'event' in Lao Cai I haven't felt quite right. Maybe a little depressed and homesick actually. Nihn Bihn was such a beautiful place that I was distracted from how the incident effected me, and now that I'm in a quieter setting(Hoi An) it is effecting me all at once. I made a few friends at my guesthouse in Nihn Bihn: Dan(Melbourne) and Gareth(Perth). They are from Australia and were giving me the low-down on what to expect when I move to OZ(Australia) in Sept. On the day of my sleeper night bus departure to Hue I walked the city and befriended a 78 yr old Vietnamese man. He served me free green tea from his booth and we laughed together. We could not communicate beyond pointing at things and people and laughing, but it was fun. He had a great laugh! Everywhere I walked people smiled and waved at me, stopped me to talk, or invited me over for beer. I must say I LOVE the people in Nihn Bihn. It was the first time in Vietnam where I felt people were genuinely nice to me without wanting my money.
I went back to the guesthouse and met up with 3 people who were waiting for the same sleeper bus. We had dinner together and got along great. Christina(a hot-tamale from Spain living in London), Kelly and Rhys(Brisbane, Australia). Kelly and Rhys recently had an underwater wedding in Koh Tao, Thailand. We decided to travel together, and I have been rooming with Christina who is teaching me how to salsa dance, and Kelly and Rhys are master scuba instructors who I'm traveling to Nha Tran with in a couple days for scuba diving.
When we arrived in Hue(Hwey) there was a huge 10 day festival of music and dance that none of us were aware of, and luckily my new friends were responsible enough to plan ahead with reservations for our accommodations, or we would have been horribly inconvenienced! Christina and I explored the city by motorbike until it rained, but saw the citadel. It was beautiful and children filled the surrounding park to fly their kites. There are the most beautiful handmade kites in Asia. Unbelievable! When we returned our guesthouse owner told us Kelly went to the hospital for stomach pains, which we later learned it was a stomach infection from dirty food and/or utensils. She's ok now, but a little paranoid and obnoxious. That night we walked along the pier and saw all the local art and took a boat ride around the city. It was a beautiful scenic trip that lasted an hour, but once we were on the boat we were harassed to buy a bunch of useless things.., which none of us did.
We weren't really that interested in Hue, even after the next morning when we explored more of the city by motorbike to see the ancient tombs. It's a pretty city, but I feel as though since I've arrived in Vietnam I have not relaxed. Not like I could in Laos. I constantly feel stressed, so I'm not going to stay in this country until June 23rd. I'm quickly working my way down the coast, but trying to stay open-minded.
That afternoon we all took a 4 hr. bus to Hoi An. This city is known for its tailors! We arrived yesterday night, had a delicious meal(amazing!), and Christina and I found a salsa bar where I practiced my new moves. It was fun and weird drinking Cuban Rum in Hoi An. We're going back tonight!
This morning after breakfast I wandered into a tailor, and I'm having a pair of shorts made as well as a dress and a flowing cotton top. I go back at 7 p.m. for the adjustments! Yay! :)
Tomorrow the big plan is to go to the beach and read.
I need to increase how much I've been meditating, because I feel stressed and my mind is fluctuating constantly. I'm just really homesick right now.

financial rape and restitution

As I rode through the serene and gorgeous mountainous Sapa to Lao Cai on a bumby bus clinging to the curvy road while a young Vietnamese boy puked through the open window, I thought life was pretty good. At least I was safely on my way to my next destination. When I arrived in Lao Cai I was excorted to a table to wait for directions where I would exchange my receipt for a proper train ticket from my travel agency's representative, and was pointed in the direction towards a large blue hotel with a long complicated name. There I sat and waited for the rep. for over an hour. When she finally arrived she looked at my receipt, flipped through her stack of tickets, and shook her head before she walked away. "What's going on?" I asked. Nothing, because she didn't speak English. I felt uncomfortable, and saw a Vietnamese guy sitting with two foreigners. I asked him if he spoke Vietnamese and English. He said yes, so I asked him to please help me. After some back and forth conversation he informed me that there was no ticket waiting for me, and that my recipt wouldn't get me on the train. Ok..."What should I do?" He then told me another person who spoke English with the company would arrive shortly to help me. "Thank you soooo much!"
She did arrive and took me to the train station and introduced me to a man. He took my receipt and shoved it down his pants, and then handed me a ticket from his pocket. I demanded my receipt back and told him it had my bus info on it. He relunctantly handed it over, but insisted on keeping the envelope with all the agancies info on it, and then he immediately left. I was confused, especially when I walked up to the counter to douple check with the train station clerk that everything was in order. A security guard looked at my ticket and started laughing, and then the lady informed me that the train was full, and that I wasn't getting on. "Why?" She told me it was because this was a photocopied ticket. "WHAT?!?!?!?!?" My pulse began to race. I then overheard the same situation with a Chinese couple who looked distressed. I imediately went over to speak to them, and they said they had just spent even more $ to buy another 2 tickets. Well, I couldn't because there were none left even if I wanted to, but I didn't, since I just spent $320,000 Dong at the agency to ensure my safe travels! [transportation in Vietnam is crazy expensive, and there's no way around it, believe me I've tried!]
I asked around, and it looked like I was majorly screwed, so I walked outside and was harassed by con-artist scalpers. Even more perturbed I approached a taxi: "How much will it cost to take me to Sapa now? There are some people who have an appointment for a beatdown!!!!" '$300,000 Dong!' "No Way!!!!" That went on with 5 taxi's until I felt even more emotional and frustrated. Time was running out! I had to fix this by 9 p.m. when the train departed. I walked over to the blue hotel. The young man who I breiftly spoke to prior asked me what was wrong. I started crying. He told me to hold on 5 mins while he cleaned up. Then this lovely young man escorted me through the station, negotiated me through the guards, and got me on the train! It was a hard bench seat amongst crying babies, stinky hacking smokers, in an over-crowded atmosphere with an annoying guy who kept trying to ask me dumb questions about America, but beggers can't be choosers! After I sat down I couldn't hold back the tears again, mostly out of feeling betrayed and hurt. Oh yeah, and I was PMSing!
[my family knows what a joy I am during my time of the month] hahaha!
Then I felt a tap on my arm. I removed my head away from my tear-soaked handkerchief, and looked over to see a cop sitting near me, and the couple across from me looked concerned. The girl asked me what happened? I told them the story and she translated it to her husband and the cop. Language barriers can be so aggravating, but when there's someone to help it makes you so grateful and humbled. The cop looked over my info, wrote something down, and drew me a map how to find the Hanoi office, so I could get this straightened out for my bus fare from Hanoi to Nihn Bihn.
Last night on the train was hell, and my back still hurts, but it's ok. At least I know yoga to work out the kinks. A Blessing! When we arrived in Hanoi the sweet girl walked me to the travel office and wished me luck before leaving. I waited from 5 a.m. until 6:30 a.m. when the office opened. The man who finally allowed me to enter spoke no English(even though everything was written in English), but he could tell I was in no mood to be shoved aside, so he called an English speaking Vietnamese girl who arrived 30 mins later.
She basically told me it sucks to be me in a very smug manner.
I lost it, and in the end she had someone take me to the bus station and she paid for my bus fare to Nihn Bihn before telling me to just 'go.' I went, and once I was on the bus to the destination with some amount of restitution I finally took a deep sigh of relief. My Finnish friend Elina is in Sapa(I bumped into her the day before on the street and we bunked up before I departed), so I emailed her to ask her to please try and get me a partial refund, but I'm not expecting a miricle.
When I arrived in Nihn Bihn I found a cheap guesthouse, took a long overdue shower, had breakfast, rented a bike, and rode out to Tam Coc.
Tam Coc is where many moves are filmed because of it's dramatic Jurassic Park sculpted mountainous views. I made a friend named Win who escorted me by boat through the riverbeds and grottos. She invited me to her home to show me landscape and then took me back to shore.

What an eventful 24 hrs!
Just 30 mins ago when I checked my email I found out I was approved for a 1 yr. working holiday Australian Visa! Wow! That took no time at all. :D You see, USA citizens were only recently allowed to participate in this type of visa late 2007, and many Americans still don't know it exists, so there are several visas available for us. On Sept. 1st I must be in Australia, so this accelerates my S.E. Asia plans somewhat. I will have to skip Malaysia, Borneo, and Indo for now. Boo hoo, right! :) I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything. It hasn't sunken in yet that I'll be living in Australia. YAY! Ok...one thing at a time.