All By Myself

               Sometimes when you’re traveling everything just happens perfectly and smoothly. Bangkok was not one of those times. On the 7-hour bus ride over, Hannah was feeling a bit queasy with some stomach pains (which is not abnormal given her carsickness). However, it was fairly clear later that night/next morning that something else was wrong. However, given her need to be next to the toilet, we couldn’t yet make a trip to the doctor. She decided she would sleep as much as possible, and I decided that it would be a good time for me to go out and take a quick 4-5 hour tour of the city. (This is my account of Bangkok seeing as you all probably don’t want Hannah’s version as it was limited to the hotel room.)

               Google maps can be deceiving. I saw that the temple I wanted to go to was not too far away (or so I thought), and I decided that I would try to walk it and see the city at the same time. I was walking for about an hour and half before I realized that the river was much much further than I had originally thought. I decided to take a tuk tuk to Wat Phra Keaw, but when I arrived, I was informed that it was closed for visitors until 1 PM. So, I was recommended some other places to go.

               First on the list was “Big Buddha.” I have no idea if that’s the actual translation or if that’s just what they tell the tourists. Overall, I was unimpressed as I had seen things similar to it in Korea. Next up was “Lucky Buddha.” Again, nothing really special, but I did learn some important information there. Apparently, one week of the year, the Thai government rewards their citizens by giving them the manufacturing price on quality fabrics used by Armani and other high-end brands. This year only, they opened it up to foreigners. So, that ended up being my next stop.

               I have to say that the salesmen/tailors there are very very good at their jobs. As soon as I walked in, someone was there giving me some water and showing me fabrics. I declined buying a suit (which I’m half regretting now cause once you buy something during this event, you get a membership card that allows you to buy at that price for the rest of your life. A custom fitted Armani suit for less than 200 bucks is not a bad deal at all.) I thought about something cheaper, like shirts. The man didn’t miss a beat and responded, “Of course sir. We have a great deal on 20 shirts.” After explaining that there was no way on earth that I would wear/need 20 shirts, I talked him down to 7. After some haggling over the price, we finally agreed on a deal. After making the purchase, I was informed that I would need to come back later for a fitting (which I didn’t want to do because I had a sick wife to get back to. Turns out it was all OK though because she was still sleeping.)

               I then visited the big temple Wat Phra Keaw. It was kind of surreal. Part of me felt like I was exploring Disneyland, another part of me felt like there were way too many people, and the final part of me was just thinking, “It is WAY too hot and sunny out right now.” I couldn’t see any of pictures because of the brightness of the sun and the reflectiveness of all the surfaces there. If I were an ant on the sidewalk, I would have fried quickly. As it is, I’m not an ant and just have skin to be sunburned. Nothing like laying down that good first degree burn for it to peel into a nice tan. I ended up rushing through the whole place while crushing water bottles left and right. Fortunately, I did get a few good pictures and a few more decent ones.

               After that, I killed some time at Starbucks and a restaurant. Then came time for the exciting adventure of being lied to. As I was walking to take a tuk tuk back to the tailor’s shop, they talked me into a reduced price if I went to another store first. Apparently, they get free gas cards for taking people to different shops. However, after walking out of the store, the driver told me that he wouldn’t take me to the other place, and he wouldn’t budge on it. Instead, he took me to the river to take the river boat there. I ended up not paying him anything because of it, and he didn’t seem too upset about it. I guess the free gas was enough. The river boat was a cool experience, but I then had to divine where the tailor’s shop was once I got off. All I had to go by was a business card with an oversimplified map. I thought I was lost on more than one occasion, but I ended up making it there (an hour later than intended no thanks to the tuk tuk driver). My shirts did fit perfectly and felt great though.

               After arriving back at the hotel, Hannah and I went to the hospital. The doctor said that she most likely had cholera from ingesting contaminated food or water. He gave her some medicine, and we headed back for the hotel. She has been sleeping a lot which is probably the best thing for her. And yes, she has been staying very hydrated through it all. The doctor said that she should be feeling better in 2 to 3 days. You can all be praying that she makes a full recovery from this. We have an hour plane flight today to our next destination, Krabi.

Sweating the Small Stuff

Cambodia was . . . interesting. We started off on the wrong foot. The airport was pretty ghetto too. After we arrived at the Siem Reap airport, we had to get off on the tarmac and walk a bit to immigration. One thing many of you probably don’t know about Cambodia is that they mostly use American dollars because their currency is very unstable. Their currency (the Riel) is used as change instead of coins. To my knowledge, the fee for a visa into the country is $25 (which is paid and processed at the airport). However, it is very normal for them to state a higher price (otherwise known as a bribe) of $30. No problem, we had $63. And then the problems started. We needed 2 passport photos (which we accidentally packed in our luggage instead of our carry-ons). Also, for some reason, they were charging $32 per visa which left us a dollar short. I was freaking out at this point and quite nervous, when they counted our cash and said, “One more dollar.” (Hannah says that she saw an ATM before the immigration line, but I didn’t see any.) Luckily, I was able to bribe him with some Malaysian money that we had left over which he grudgingly accepted. We were told to go to a different spot where, vuala, our passports were with visas inside. Crisis averted.

After taking a tuk tuk (small carriage pulled by a small motorcycle) to our hotel, we decided to relax a bit. I’m really kicking myself for forgetting to take pictures though. Our hotel was AMAZING! I was a bit skeptical about the 4-star rating it had, but it didn’t disappoint. (If you want to, you can look up pictures of Moon

The next day, we set out to see the temples. By the end of the day, I had taken over 500 pictures. These temples were really cool. What made it even cooler was how the jungle was slowly overtaking them. Nearly every stone and rock used to make them was intricately carved with designs and figures. I can’t even imagine the amount of work that went into them. Another thing that impressed us was their size which was definitely much taller than I imagined. We learned that first day that Richard Simmons would have no bright career in Cambodia. “Sweating to the 80’s” kind of loses its appeal when you’re sweating all of the time. It wasn’t so bad in the shade, but the sun was a killer.

We spent the next day in the town looking around at the different tourist traps. I was shocked by how cheap everything was: a large fruit smoothie for a dollar, a 30 minute foot massage for a dollar. A meal for 2-3 dollars, it was a miser’s paradise. After walking around for some time though, I began to feel something different. I noticed how impoverished a lot of these people were, and I think it affected both of us in a way.

Hannah was feeling a little bit sick before we left for Bangkok on the bus. Now that we are here, she still isn’t feeling much better, so you can pray that she will be back to her usual self in no time. She was a trooper on the 7-hour bus ride. We’re just at the hotel now taking it easy. In 2 days, we’ll be on a plane to Krabi, Thailand.

What's That Smell?

“Malaysia truly Asia” is their slogan, but I think a better one is, “Why didn’t you live here for 5 years instead of Korea.” Hannah and I really enjoyed our short time in this country by packing basically everything into one day. By the end of the day, we had walked over 30,000 steps and had been all over the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. I’ll attempt to take you through our day.

It started at 7 AM with free breakfast on the hotel rooftop. After that, we took a taxi to the Batu Caves. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about the history of it, but I was able to deduce that it is now used as an Hindu temple. I’m not sure if it was the statues all over the place or the guy with a ton of heads, but all in all it was pretty cool. It was also our first encounter with monkeys. I went into full-blown tourist mode and just took pictures of everything without any shame. A new fruit? Take a picture. A monkey! Take a picture. Hannah steps in monkey poop! Take a picture.

After the caves, we taxied back to the hotel and then walked to another Indian temple called Sri Mahamariamman. I began to realize that a lot of Hindu temples are the same. It kind of reminded me of going through a Disney ride with all of the figurines on the side. Thankfully, there was no music to accompany the tour. We were also surprised to find a Chinese temple right next to the Indian one. Turns out, we were right next to Chinatown, and who doesn’t love a good look around Chinatown.

Later on, we met up with Hannah’s friend who worked at Cedar Point. It was really nice to have someone show us around the city, and we were super grateful for it. We had a delicious lunch followed by a horrible dessert. If you have never heard of a durian, count yourself lucky. I really don’t know how to describe it. Personally, I don’t think English (or any other language for that matter) has the capable words. It took me most of the day before I realized that it had the same texture as America’s most disgusting fruit: the squash. But then I realized that whereas I only threw up upon ingesting squash, I only wanted to erase my memory after the taste durian. It's so bad that people are banned from riding public transport after eating it. Our hotel even had a sign saying no durians allowed. The worst part about it is that the smell and taste stay with you. Every time you burp, you wish you hadn’t.

After lunch, we went to the national mosque. This marks the first Islamic country that I’ve been to, and it was an experience/culture shock for sure. I’ve seen the traditional garb before, but not nearly as wide-spread as it is there. Apparently, there are 3 religions in the country. Those of Chinese decent are Buddhist, those of Indian decent are Hindu, and those of Malay decent are Muslim. I believe it’s even listed on your passport/documents. Sharia law is in effect if you are listed as Muslim, and we were told about some marriages that were forced on people because they were touching. Fortunately for us, the Muslim garb and culture are not enforced on non-Muslim people, so we could walk around the customary American shorts and t-shirt. We did, however, have to abide by a dress code when entering certain places. Luckily, they either gave us this or let us rent them.

At night, we went to the iconic Petronas Towers. You can’t go to Kuala Lumpur without making that a stop. They look very impressive at night all lit up, but we didn’t take a trip to the top because we were told it was definitely not worth it. Yeah, you’re really high, but there’s not much to look when you’re inside the best thing to look at.

Exhausted at the end of the day, we got back to the hotel and quickly passed out on the not-rock-hard non-Korean bed. The next day, we tried some new fruit (I have no idea what it was called) and headed out for the airport and our next stop: Cambodia!

A Journey of a Thousand Steps

We’re finally away. For me at least, it seemed like an incredibly long week. Not only was every day super busy, but we also had to arrange for leaving the country. Surprisingly, I wasn’t really sad though. I was sad saying goodbye to certain students, but the actual act of leaving wasn’t that bad. I thought it would be really difficult, but it turns out that I was totally ready. I guess it helps having an awesome and cute person to travel with.

               We arrived at the airport early mostly because I’m paranoid about missing planes. It has never actually happened to me, but when using public transportation to get from point A to B it is sometimes difficult to predict what will happen. “What if the bus is full? What happens if there’s a protest and the bus doesn’t come for 2 hours?” (That last one has actually happened to me once although not on my way to the airport thankfully.) Another reason we got there early was because we canceled our internet and phone contracts and realized that people must not have been able to survive before modern technology. In all seriousness though, I think this trip will be good for us. One of Korea’s vices that I’ve fallen headfirst into is the need to be “plugged in.” Korea is known for having the best wifi in the world and a real leader in internet speed. I’ve become so accustomed to it that I will have to relearn how I used to act before it. Maybe I’ll try that thing called talking. I heard people used to do it.

               We’re really looking forward to our vacation now. I’m actually writing this in the airplane partly to pass the time, and partly because once we hit the ground, we’ll be running. In less than 48 hours after landing, we’ll be going to Cambodia and Angkor Wat. We both wanna see as much as we can. I’ve been told by many that this is a very American style of doing vacations. I guess most people spend 5 or more days in one place. To think that they waste their vacations relaxing.

               This is counting as our second honeymoon. Our first was cut short by my FAVORITE airline, United. They have just the best customer service . . . . OK OK. Enough of them. We aren’t flying United for this trip (or ever again if I can help it). There are a few things that I’m really looking forward to. 1) I’ve heard the food in Southeast Asia is better than “Grandma’s cooking.” (No offense Grandma, you know the key to my heart.) ;) It’s also apparently very cheap. Rumor has it that you can buy a big meal for 2-4 dollars. If you want street food (and are willing to risk the food poisoning) then you end up paying 50 cents to a dollar. 2) Massages! I’ve never actually had a professional massage before in my life, but seeing as whenever Hannah’s hand touches my back, I turn into Thumper, I have a feeling I’ll really enjoy them. Depending on the country and where you go, you could pay anywhere from 10-20 bucks for an hour which is still more than I got as a child being told “Minimum wage is less than 6 dollars an hour.” 3) I’m really excited about Angkor Wat. I have a feeling I’ll be sorting through about 500 pictures from the 2 days we’ll spend exploring it and other temples in the area. 4) Phuket should be great. 8 days of soaking in the sun (or the rain since it technically is monsoon season) on a tropical beach and taking cruises of the Phi Phi islands. We also plan on canoeing through sea caves!

               I’ll post this after we land and I find some wifi. Stay tuned for more in 2 days after our grand exploration of Kuala Lumpur!

Departing the Land of the Lees

     7 days. It is almost unreal to think about it, and yet we have been ready for this for quite some time. Leaving Korea is a day I always knew would come, but now that it's here, I'm not sure how to feel. I'm really looking forward to our vacation across the world and the new memories it will bring (hopefully), but at the same time we are seeing friends for the last time. Expat life: the struggle is real.

     So, I decided to start blogging to let everyone kind of follow what we do and where we go on our vacation. Our destinations include (in this order) Kuala Lumpur, Siem Reap, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (again), Beijing, Rome, the Vatican, Skopje, Greece, Prague, Munich, Innsbruck, Venice, Milan, Istanbul, and finally Chicago. (Google Maps is your friend.) This vacation will be the product of countless hours worth of research and planning. We're hoping for a successful trip with few complications, but we also are expecting Murphy to show up and rear his ugly head of mischief. In either case, it should be an interesting story for anyone reading.

     Living in a foreign country has taught me to read emotions better and guesstimate what people are saying, but the language barrier is probably the biggest thing I'm worried about and trying to plan for. After all, body language has its limitations when you're trying to say, "I'm being chased by a pack of ravenous monkeys." On the plus side, Google Translate now works in many languages without the use of internet. You can easily download the language onto your phone. It even works be pointing your camera at signs to translate. Technology can be pretty cool sometimes.

     My goal is to write a blog every time we switch locations. I plan on including pictures with (hopefully) a humorous account of what happened. We'll see if I can stick to that regimen, but if not, don't worry. I'm sure it just means that we are enjoying ourselves and not being chased by a pack of ravenous monkeys.

     We haven't been allowed to tell our students that we're leaving yet. This Monday is the first day that they will find out, and I'm not looking forward to what follows: "Why don't you want to be a teacher?" "Why are you leaving?" and of course the inevitable "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" some students will undoubtedly exclaim. I guess I could always just answer, "Because of that" but of course the answer is much more complicated. I have enjoyed my time teaching here in Korea, but I've realized that teaching is not for me. Hannah will hopefully have a successful career in it in the future, but the more I thought about it, I couldn't see myself teaching. But then again, I never would have seen myself as a teacher before Korea either. I guess we'll just have to see what God has in store for us. We're willing to go and do whatever he would have for us.

     I don't think either of us are having a problem with motivation during class right now, which is a blessing. So, until next week, you can be praying for us in our departure and final preparations.