I Know I've Been MIA for Awhile, But There's One Thing I want to Know: Am I on Planet Earth?

Sometimes it is hard to believe I am on the same planet that contains the place I call my home.  Equally as unbelievable is that sometimes I forget I am in Asia.  However, I am quickly reminded of these facts the moment I step out of our 'hotel.'  Vietnam is very direct.  When you meet somebody it is customary to exchange names and ages, no matter how youthful or old the person may be.  Interactions are very blunt and I appreciate this, but sometimes I have to force myself to be truthful because common talk here includes things which would be considered extremely rude or inappropriate back home.  People immediately comment on your physical appearance - if they think you are overweight, they'll call you fat.  Today an old man who annihilated me in Ping Pong last week, told me via a translator, that I am awful at the sport.  Ordinary.

The good news is that I am a local celebrity.  I know this is going to sound like an ego trip, but this is my version of events as truthfully as I can put it.  The guys look at me longly and the girls look at me longingly.  Everybody calls me dep trai (handsome).  They love my skin complexion (very white) because it is what they aspire towards, and everyone wants to know how tall I am - other than the other American guy on our trip and one high school student that I teach, I have not met anybody who is taller than me.  The girl students are hot for teacher and sometimes I need to pull the brim of my hat low and duck out of a side door in order to avoid the post class bombardment that is assured to come my way.  Last week on a bike ride home, two girls riding on the same bike told me I was hot.  I halfheartedly hoped I was not understanding them correctly, so I started fanning myself and said "Yes, I am hot, it's very hot out here."  They responded "No, Max dep trai, dep trai."  Sorry ladies, a little… a lot too young.

Speaking of class, it is going way better than I had initially expected.  On our first day of teaching there were 24 students and ten teachers.  By Friday of that week, there were 62 students.  Word got out and it feels good, particularly because there are often prolonged stretches of time in class when the students stare at us blankly and I feel like I am sometimes talking to inanimate objects.  But, they are extremely smart.  They have the best memories I have ever come across; if you tell them a word and spell it out for them, they are sure not to forget it.  Granted, their pronunciation often needs readjustment, they communicate quite well for having taken little to no English and oftentimes they have learned the language only by reading and writing it.  When we were introducing names, we went around once and every student in the class could tell you every other students' name even though barely any of them previously knew each other.  I find this quite stunning.

The people here do not know the meaning of 'it can't be done.' I have witnessed some unthinkable feats of mental and physical fortitude.  I have watched: somebody ride through Ho Chi Minh City with a full size refrigerator strapped to the back of his motorbike,  elderly women walking miles in the blistering heat carrying heavy amounts of produce to and from the markets all-the-while covered in denim from head to toe (to protect from the sun),  a bus that was chopped in half horizontally be welded back together, a girl from our group (Thuy) thread my hammock in 2 minutes with a pair of chopsticks - it had taken me 45 minutes and I had still yet to finish.  In our construction project, we have not used any power tools nor any leveling devices - all the tools have been made from scrap pieces of metal, etc.  In order to bend steel, we fasten a piece of steel to itself and essentially use it as a wrench to gain leverage.  The only things that have been provided are shovels, a wheelbarrow, a steel cutter, and spatula like devices to smooth concrete, otherwise everything is improvised.  In order to make sure things are level, the builders tie strings around rocks and loop them into place, it is fascinating.  The project is going well, I think we were a little behind schedule last week, but the builders caught us up over the weekend, so the foundation is complete.  Now we are building up so that we can have a roof in place by week's end.  Every day I work until I reach physical exhaustion but I find this to be quite rewarding.  My body is just starting to get past the soreness; after the second day on the job, I could barely grip my spoon, much less chopsticks.  By the time we teach the students in the afternoon, I am running on synthetic energy, but the classes seem to flyby which is good.  From 6 AM (when we arrive at work) until 5 PM (when we are done teaching students) my days are a blur smeared by exhaustion and coffee.  I have become a regular at the Wifi shop that serves the meanest coffee in the world.  Often I am too tired to even do anything relevant on the internet, so I drink coffee while the restaurant workers either sleep or watch over my shoulder and smile approvingly and curiously at my computer doings. 

It is hard to believe we have been in Quang Tri (pronounced Wang Chee) for twelve days.  I feel like I have known these Vietnamese students - my roommate in particular - for the majority of my upbringing, yet I feel as though I got to this city yesterday, even though we have done so much in a short period of time.  The tightness I feel with these students, because of cultural differences, produces a line that is tricky to balance at times.  For instance, aside from 'Mushroom' (who is as crazy as I am), it is not acceptable to hug girls or have any contact with them.  Yet holding hands is perfectly acceptable by all.  Even flirting is often seen as distasteful, so at times it is hard to keep myself amused or, should I say, in check.

Other notes: The food is quite good, if you can get past the fact that it is ubiquitously unsanitary by American standards; I have been forced to overcome my aversion to seafood (often it is the lone source of protein) and have even developed a liking for shrimp, squid, and clams.  Even I didn't see that coming.  This next point might be contentious with Ian Rice (with whom I broke bread over some glorious meals in Cambodia), but the best meal I have had in Asia was hands down Banh Xeo last Tuesday.  Given a stipend we dined in a restaurant that initially terrified me.  The menu was a cracked board with 3 options, only one of which they were serving that night and the price was printed next to it on a sheet of paper.   I was convinced that we were the first visitors in quite some time and when the food arrived this suspicion was only furthered - it looked like it had been collecting dust in a closet.  To boot, they stacked all the plates on top of one another in the middle of the table, forming a mound of food that was overwhelming and nearly impenetrable.  The waitress however, rolled my first rice for me and this broke the ice, I proceeded to demolish my plate.  I will never be able to find this restaurant again but I highly recommend it.  Afterwards we drank this weird stuff named Che Buoy.  I picked about 7 ingredients, which seemed to be around the average, and my drink cost 8,000 Dong (about 40 cents), which apparently is quite pricey.  However, my drink included things which would go for exorbitantly more in the United States, namely the stack of pomegranates sitting at the bottom of my drink.  Possibly the most diverse dining experience came last week when we ate French Fries and Mayonnaise, with our chopsticks!

In other news, this past Saturday we visited the 17th Parallel and some underground tunnels among many other things.  The tunnels were stunning.  They only took twenty months to build, they spanned many kilometers, and nearly 400 people lived in them .  Other than the newly installed lights for tourists, they were pitch black, and the ceilings were about 54-60 inches high on average with walls that were about a yard apart.  I cannot imagine living in there for a day, much less 6 years.  They opened up into a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean covered by bamboo and tree foliage.  Actually, the tunnels were so well hidden that after stepping out if them, it became practically impossible to locate where we had exited.

On Sunday I adventured to the local market on my own, which was quite the experience.  The first thing I saw was two old ladies fighting, one hitting the other to the ground with a meter stick.  When the fight subsided, the people around me snapped too,  and began laughing at the realization that there was a tall white man in the presence of this fight.  This obviously made me crack up and start cheering, which was met by more laughter.  It was quite the scene.  For the next half hour I walked around, constantly being followed and photographed, while making certain to not get caught eyeing any particular items - this would have caused a ruckus that I was not looking to stir. 

Side note: it is fun to be the center of attention in the bubble that surrounds me, and I would not have it any other way, but it can also be quite a chore at times.  As I zip by on my bike, there is a pretty constant flow of people eagerly asking my name and excitedly yelling "Hello." Not wanting to disappoint  any of these people I try always to respond,  but it is hard to engage of them, mostly because I would never get where I wanted to go.  It's like there's Paparazzi everywhere, except nobody, me foremost, knows why I am famous, so while I try and soak it all in, I cannot at the same time let it bog me down (if that makes any sense). 

For now that's it.  I will try and post more frequently so that these are not so long in the future and also so that the material is fresher in my mind.  Hen gap lai (see you later)!

Here are some more pictures to make up for my not having posted in so long:

Our Entire Group Outside of the Elementary School (Where we are building the bathroom)

Before Moving All of the Cinder Blocks

Me and Thuy

(From R to L) Phoung, Bao(from Duke Engage), Mushroom, Yours Truly, Toine (HS student - knows everything), Alison, Anonymous

After Dancing with the Vice Principal of the Elementary School at the Opening Ceremony

WiFi Hallelujah

It's even closer than I thought to the hotel we are staying in!  And only for the price of coffee - guaranteed to be the most delicious in the world, per usual.  Like anywhere else, you take your coffee black, if you're a man that is, but it tastes so chocolatey, bitter sweet, that there's really no need to even consider diluting it with milk.

I've been MIA recently, but I that's kind of the norm here in Vietnam, you drop off the grid for a few days until society tugs at you hard enough to rope you right back in.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way - kind of like how I am back at home anyways.  Anyhow, I am currently in the province of Quang Tri, as to the specifics, I probably can't tell you/ don't really know/ you wouldn't know,so we'll just move past the trivialities.  For those of you who don't know the history of Quang Tri, it was essentially the most devastated part of Vietnam during the war.  It was where the country was split between North and South and where America decided to say 'F*in A,' and then bombed away.

My roommate's name is Anh (which means brother) and he is the man.  In the roommate letter I received from him before we met up, he began describing his appearance and then frankly and truthfully wrote "Imagine an Asian boy, and that is what I look like."  Humor is quite humorous in Vietnam.  In one conversation about music with our Vietnamese counterparts, I was told "I like Flamenco music, do you know it?!" "I like pop music, have you heard this song?" (they all know it, but it is nothing any of the Americans have heard) "I like Celine Dion" "Who are the Beatles?" ... = GLORIOUS

Last night we had an opening ceremony (your boy made the opening speech - on behalf of the Dookies and myself) , which consisted of us, several people we are working with, and government officials.  Not only did we botch singing the YMCA reading it off a computer nonetheless - to the confused faces of Vietnamese people who could not quite understand how we knew our own pop culture so poorly - but we did it to some stoic looking faces.  However, these same stoic faces were also the must exuberant when it came their time to sing Karaoke, and they all sang Karaoke.

The days are as follows: breakfast is at 5 AM and you can get one of many soupy options, although Pho (which I highly recommend) is a staple here, or you can stick to the worldwide classic - an egg and cheese sandwich.  Breakfast aside, we eat rice, a lot of rice, and then we sit and eat more rice.  The food is delectable and served family style.  Today, we split into two teams and started our construction projects.  My team is building a restroom for an elementary school.  It is quite a bit further away than where the other team is building a parking structure, but the bike ride there is so beautiful that it's definitely worth the 15 lost minutes of sleep.  Then we have a 3 hour Siesta when I get to kick back in the hammock I set up on the patio outside our room, before it's off to teaching high school kids English.  This too is quite amusing.

See ya when you come visit, because I ain't leaving!  Hey! I do have tar on my heels after all, y'all!

My Life Be Like Whoaa

My friend from the baguette shop. Dude has the coolest hair, he's 21 and he rocks out like a G.

Newest friend from the baguette shop, yes this place is my jam.  Usually breakfast and or lunch.  Sy, the guy who runs the place is the man and very eager to learn about doing business the proper way and is picking my brain as much as I am his.  He also helped translate the conversation I was having with the man pictured below (the one sitting closes to me with the mustache, smoking a cig).  Tri is Buddhist, previously a monk, currently a painter, and he looks very noble.  He gave me a palm reading, fo free! only after he bought me a coffee, and subsequent to pulling on my ear.  He told me I am intelligent, a visionary, and that my ears are a sign of my longevity.  I also apparently have a good luck line down my palm and will live to be 70, but I think this got lost in the language barrier. Maybe it all did, who knows.  But if that's the case, I better get cracking.

Ciao.

So I am writing this at the expense of finishing my reading for my Vietnamese culture class in one hour, but I read about half of the material, which is infinitely more than I normally read for school.  Sorry mom and pops, but let's be honest, the opportunity cost of reading far outweighs the other things I could otherwise be learning.  Anyways, I need to write now because in two days time I have experienced so many new: friends, realizations, observations, situations, and interactions, and I fear that if I do not write now I might have a new vision to describe in the days to come.
Here's what I have jotted in my phone recently:
Before Landing in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)
This place is a riot.  It is hilariously awesome, kind of like the newest Will Ferrell movie, it defines cool and has all the comedy you could ever ask for!
After Touching Down
There are three cranes in my peripheral line of site, the best way to describe this place is that it is just hitting puberty - growing rapidly, yet it needs parental supervision (ie the government) in order to ensure it does not stray to afar.
After the First Night
This place is surreal, even events that took place an hour ago feel like a dream.  Maybe it is so real that it is the most in the moment I feel I have ever been.
In my humble opinion, as a generalization, Vietnamese and Asian Culture overall is one big juxtaposition.  That is the best way I can think to describe it.  Its almost like there is an ever-present aura of imperfect precision.  I'll be the first to admit that before I came here I would have had no idea what somebody saying this would have meant.
Funny Observations
 The shoes here don't have the new shoe smell I am accustomed to.  In fact they don't smell at all - in the mall at least - at the Asian equivalent of 'flea markets' however, they often sell used shoes, but I haven't tried smelling these yet.
2 nights ago was the first time that I noticed 4 people on one motorbike, I'm sure it wasn't the first time I've seen 4 people on one, but it was the first time I was consciously aware of it.
They have toothpicks here, thank Yahweh, but no napkins! What's up with that?!?
The amount of surgical masks here far trumps Bangkok and Hong Kong combined which is quite ironic being that the smog here is nowhere near as prevalent as it is in either of the other two cities.  It seems to serve more as a fashion statement than a functional instrument.  Rarely will you find a plain mask, most are covered with logos of idolized Western fashion stores, brands, designs, etc.
Crossing the Street
This is quite a fun game, essentially equivalent to a real life game of Frogger, except you only get one life.  If you walk with a purpose and stick your hand out every now and again (the pedestrian's equivalent to a car honking) it seems you can get to the other side okay.
For now, chào trẻ em. Later kidssssss!!!!

Facebook Me, Just Kidding :)PPP

This country doesn't have access to Facebook, and it's probably for the better.  This place like the others is not describable to anyone that has never been, and has somewhat been an infusion of the first three stops (HK, BKK, and REP) but in a totally different way.  I'll leave you with this short and sweet imagery, I just watched my new friend play a tune on a $30,000,000 xylophone that was made from pure, 'unaltered' stone that was imported from one of the central regions in Vietnam. And yes, it sounded awesome.

Khmer Lounge

At breakfast, I wanted coconut juice, but this was not on the menu, the one person who recognized 'coconut' told the waiter who then shouted the commands; I turn around to see a boy chopping open a coconut somebody had retrieved from a tree around the corner; this is Cambodia.

New Day New Sunrise, Same Son Different Son - Angkor

We templed in and now we're templed out.  They have so much clutter yet Som has so much clout.  Animals keep playing tricks on my mind and now I'm really freaked out.  Everything is because it was supposed to be; but not everything happens for a reason - maybe that just depends on the season.  Can't break the rhyme cause then flow don't shine, but it still does what is good, and this is all understood.

I've never realized what is doable in 1/2 a day

Although I am writing this several hours later, you'll understand why in a second.
From the time we landed in Angkor through noon today, 'E' and I have:
1. Raged, harder than the rest of the trip cumulatively.  Beers are 50 cents draught and 75 cents at the club - ridiculous markup.
2. Gave the saltwater pool a late night's run for its money.
3. Half awakenly plowed through breakfast.
4. Boarded Sok's car at 5 AM, having slept 3/2 hours.
5. Tore up 4 temples.  Sok (our guide - the first Angkor guide that ever got certified ~ 20 years ago, also wrote the tour books, and is THE MAN to boot) really dug my camera and thus snapped half a thousand pictures.  It's of stuff he sees daily, and is still in awe of.
6. Bought straw hats, a djembe, and awesome t-shirts, among other things. Learning how persistent these little Cambodian children are, they siphoned all our money, both times, with their unbelievable cuteness.
7. Were mentally abused by monkeys.  They were terrifying, and they were having a turf war with the dogs, with Ian and me in the middle, neutral area.  Not as much fun as it sounds, but nonetheless a great experience.
8.  Had a notable, and kingly lunch that included Tuna Avocado appetizers - I'll leave the rest of the dishes to your imagination.
9.  Crushed the pool again, this time finding the mini pool adjacent to it.
10.  Couldn't figure out how to take a nap after walking around for 9 hours in 95 degree heat.

Feel free to add, what have you done?!?!? JK that's totally out of the ordinary. Yet, these people are so down to earth that this place is just something that is not from this planet.

Cambodia, I'll take that for $100 Trebek!

This place is without question in my mind, my favorite in the world.  I'll say it again, MY FAVORITE IN THE WORLD!  Leaving Bangkok was bittersweet (mostly bitter because we boarded a prop jet), but arriving in Seam Reap pitted us with the nicest people I have encountered on this planet.  We met our guide - who I had no doubt would show up - only to be taken to the nicest resort I have ever come across in my life.  Literally, I challenge anybody to name a hotel that is more beautiful and soothing than the FCC in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  I am writing this all at the expense of getting bitten alive by mosquitoes, but alas, I am able to jump in the deep saltwater pool, whenever I find them too unbearable.
Ian and I, drudgingly - due to our tiredness - headed to the town, where we have encountered 1 more American than we had on the entirety of the rest of our trip, four.  We met them because a girl had written profanities about North Carolina, I happened to be wearing a UNC shirt and she went to Duke while her friend had just graduated UNC Medical School.  It was an awesome night.  To say the dollar goes far is one of the biggest understatements of my life.
I would write a lot, lot more, but in the spirit of getting this posted, my computer is about to die and we have temples to explore tomorrow.  Cheers, from CAMBODIA!!!

From Hong Kong to Bangkok

We had some time to kill before our flight and instead of opting for the touristy tram to the Big Buddha, we took the road less traveled, quite literally, and ended up at the outskirts of civilization, Tai O fishing village.  The town was amazingly picturesque and very colorful, and a nice way to end our trip in the bustling city of Hong Kong.  Our flight on Air Asia turned out to be one of the nicest I have ever been on, comfy, trendy red leather seats, plus I got my own row!
We arrived in Bangkok and felt we needed to make the most of our night even though it was past midnight.  We did the only thing that our hotel recommended, the 'Ping Pong show.'  Ian and I were naive enough to think we might actually be seeing some ping pong - that was errant thinking.  The show involved ping pong balls, but we'll leave it there.
The following day we made it to one of the biggest and most brilliant markets I have ever been to, the weekend market at Chatuchuk.  The place was endless, and all about the experience, Ian and I managed to get merely tank tops.  To say we have untrained eyes is understating the obvious, although maybe we can blame the sensory overload, you'll understand this excuse if you've been.  We did however manage to not starve ourselves, eating an amazing lunch that satisfied our yearning for Pad Thai (which it turns out was invented to appease Americans).  It was the most authentic lunch one can imagine, at tables amidst tree coverage, a wooden bench and stalls abound, and also the first time we have seen napkins on this entire trip - granted they were pieces of toilet paper!  At night we headed to (what is pronounced as) Cow Sung road, but I think we arrived on the early side, as the Gazebo rooftop bar was pretty empty at 1:30 when we left.  The area was filled with backpackers and the neon lights and stalls everywhere reminded me a bit of the food section at Ultra Music Festival.
As for today, we did the temples, for which I could not do justice by trying to explain via my writing.  My favorite part however was getting blessed by a Monk at Wat Arun, although blessing myself with holy water dripping from a flower was quote soothing as well. Now off to Mango Tree, a restaurant we accidentally stumbled upon and is very expensive.  Plates are around ~300 baht ($10 American) about 4 times as expensive as the ordinary price elsewhere.  Excited, gotta run!

Exhaustion, Everywhere.

 The last two days (have felt like about four) have been very active and have been very draining both physically and mentally, but mostly physically - and trekking all the while through the slog has only amplified this exhaustion.  We started bu climbing Victoria's Peak yesterday following an enthralling and windy bus ride up the mountainside.  Somehow, in a land of 1.4 BILLION people, Max Harris and Ian Rice were the first people to arrive at the Peak in the month of June!  We thought this was a good idea - we beat both the crowds and the heat and were able to catch the end of the NBA finals game at an English Pub which was quite fun - but it would later come back to bite us, more on that later.  After some much needed rooftop poolside relaxation we headed to the Ladies Market in Kowloon.  Surprisingly, we did not do too much damage, buying just two articles of clothing a piece.  The knockoffs however were unreal, without super-close inspection you might have thought you were getting a pair of Dre Beats headphones for cheap.  Thinking we would come back and rest for awhile before hitting the highly anticipated horse races, we quickly passed and did not return to conscious life until 4 AM, whoops!
Needing to amend our erred ways, we walked to the bars upon awakening, but did not find much, so we instead proceeded to plan our day excursion to Macau.  Thinking we were all set with food plans (it is surprisingly hard to find good Chinese food where you know what you are eating) we arrived at the boat terminal, only to realize that we needed passports to get into Macau.  Two hours later we arrived.  We finally got good, 'authentic' Dim Sum at a Portuguese colonial square and then headed to the casinos.  They were quite bland, aside from the newly opened Galaxy Casino.
More to come soon, including pictures... as soon as I can muster the energy.

First Full Day in Hong Kong aka NYC on Steroids

This city is extremely westernized, in fact the license plates are in English and English is often the leading language on street signs - at least on the Hong Kong island.  The only differences are: there are few homeless people, there are few smokers, and there are not many Westerners here.  Westerners are about as infrequent as breathing masks, which are used to protect against smog, and quite understandably.  The billboards advertising towards woman have as many if not more white women than Asians.
Today I went exploring, quickly realizing that Hong Kong is like a big commercial mall and that my sense of direction, or lack thereof, applies in foreign places.  My favorite part was Hong Kong Park because it had a very cool backdrop, mountains on one side and the pier on the other.  That was, until I might Ian who I utterly startled out of bed.  After asking many people where we could get Chinese food in Kowloon, we found a place that was adequately authentic.  From there we headed to Hutong to grab Sake (my first time ever drinking such), the views of Hong Kong were unrivaled and did not particularly remind me of any city I have been to.
感谢大家 (Cantonese? I don't know.)