Saigon

Our first day was going to be a time to take in the history of Saigon a.k.a Ho Chi Minh City. A travel agent told us that most of them would be closed because of the Tet Holiday. The New Year's celebration continued to bog down our plans. She suggested a massive flower display which centered on the Year of the Dragon. Many houses will put up a tree similar to the one pictured. After that we walked around and headed for the Reunification Palace, which was open, just like the lady misinformed us. Sometimes I hate being a tourist. It was later in the afternoon and we wouldn't have time to go to the Palace and the War Remnants museum in the same day. We wanted to see the museum more than the palace so we went a few more blocks to see if that was open too. Sure enough, 0-2 with that travel agent lady. They were both open. At least we saw one of them while we were there. Things closed fairly early in the evening so we went back to the hostel to relax.

Day two was a day trip to the Mekong Delta. We were disappointed in the tour. They told us that we'd see a fishing village and some rice patties, but we never did. Our conclusion was that it may have been a seasonal thing. We went island hoping and saw a coconut candy making place - good eats. Then an island where they made honey and banana wine.  The next island was lunch. Then we tried local fruit and heard some local music. Our last bit of fun on the Delta was a row boat ride. It became a bit crowded on this small creek, but It felt very jungle-ish. The whole thing was more a tourist trap to buy their products than an up close look at life on the Mekong. It was not what we expected. Still hungry from snacking and a light lunch, we ate Subway for supper. I will remember this only because of the currency exchange in Vietnam. Every 1 U.S. Dollar converts into 20,000 Vietnam Dong. When my Subway meal rang up the cashier said, "That will be 110,000 please." I imagined myself in America and having a cashier tell me to pay that amount for anything. It would be outrageous! Not in Vietnam. Here, I was a millionaire.

The last day in Saigon was spent out at the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels were dug by the Vietnamese during their wars with the French and then expanded during the war with America. You must understand also, during our stay in Saigon, we experienced a lot of propaganda about the war and all of it was anti-American. The various things they told us were how they dug out tunnels, how they made weapons to fight against Americans, and how they lived in the tunnels. They even made a cleaner and bigger tunnel for tourists. We could fit our "McDonald's bodies in these tunnels," as our tour guide put it. Saigon didn't go so well, but I took away a new perspective and viewpoint of the war between them and us. Both sides did lots of damage and war is never a nice thing. Here's a shout out to all you veterans, families of veterans, and current service men and women. Thank you for your sacrifice and work at securing freedom and safety for the United States of America. We are a country unlike any other and it is thanks to brave people like you. Thank you.

That ain't right!

After reluctantly leaving the majestic temples of Cambodia, we were off to Vietnam. Our flight was in the evening so we had a chance to sleep in and rest our feet from all of the walking in the heat at the temples the day before. In order to kill some time in the afternoon, we checked out a silk farm. The tour was "free," but the tour guide expected a donation from us. It was an awkward moment as Peter fished around for some bills to pay the man for his brief service. We didn't buy anything from there, because it was all hand-made, authentic silk. It was beautiful, but out of our price range.

We went back to the hostel to collect our luggage and then off to the airport. We got in line and then to the counter and everything was going well. The nice lady asked for our letter for entry. Letter for entry? I know the service I contacted about the Vietnam visa said we couldn't arrive by road entry, so I booked the flight several days earlier. I had a letter that said the visa service was going to send my entry letter, was that good enough? She practically said about my phony letter, "That ain't right!"

"Well can't we at least get on the plane and get our letter and visa at the airport in Vietnam like every other international airport?" She answered, "That will cost you about 400 U.S. dollars per person. It is cheaper to do it here." I was thinking, "That ain't right!" They were nice enough to let me use their office and check email with the visa service. The problem was that we wanted to go to Vietnam during the Lunar New Year. Bad idea! All of the normal operations shut down and you now have to pay lots more for the same service. That ain't right!

I received an email from the visa service when I was traveling to the airport that said they would process the letter if I confirmed payment and flight details. I expressed my urgency and wondered whether they would receive and process the letter because it was nearing 5pm. I didn't know working hours for these types of things. All the other airline offices seemed to be closed as well. Our flight left in 90 minutes and I had no letter to get on the plane and if we got on the plane it would cost a boatload when we got off in Vietnam. Not again!

Perhaps the only reason why their office was still open was that another customer missed a flight and was now trying to find another one. She wasn't happy either. I finally got word back and confirmation for processing the letter . . . which would take about 30 minutes. Once I gave the "OK," I would need to wait another half hour before it was ready to print. It was now nearing 60 minutes before our flight's departure, not boarding, departure. Those 30 minutes seemed very long. As I waited anxiously in the office, the airline rep calmly told me that I should probably go to the check-in counter soon because it would be closing. "Yes," I replied with a smile, "I'm doing my best." The email finally arrived and we walked hastily to the check-in counter where we were an hour prior with no letter of entry. Now we could board the plane properly and enter Vietnam.

The only other wrinkle in this travel day was paying for the visa. We had no Vietnamese currency, so we had to withdraw from an ATM. They had no ATM s on the floor where immigration was, only past immigration and customs. We had to get special allowance to pass through and get the money. No ATM where you need to pay for a visa? - That ain't right! After all of this, we eventually passed the unfriendly immigration officials who gave us a very merry unwelcome to Vietnam. I hoped this wasn't a sign of things to come. Taking out your anger on tourists who've had a long day, say it with me, "That ain't right!"

Angkor Wat

Cambodia

I can't tell you every travel story. Somehow I ended up in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The world famous Angkor Wat temples are built in and around this city. You may remember them from the Disney movie The Jungle Book. King Louis sings "I Wanna Be Like You" in one of the temples and his band of monkey friends are dancing around him. I didn't see as many monkeys but this was one of the highlights of my journey.

We got up early to eat breakfast near the first temple. It was our backdrop during the morning hours. We hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day. In Cambodia, they hitch up a carriage to their motorbikes and haul people around (pictured). The temples were constructed in the early 1100s A.D. as shrines to the Hindu god Vishnu. The main temple has carvings in the outer walls (pictured is Vishnu himself). Some of them were converted to Buddhist temples when the previous rulers were conquered. These shots are from the main temple that you see on all the postcards, pictures, and also on the Cambodian flag.

Our next stop was one of the "face" temples. These were the most interesting and the maze-like structure created some cool photo angles to catch these faces. As we wound our way through this temple we also noticed at some of the corners a hideout for bats. The floor gave it away. It stank of bat droppings and we had to take a little detour for fear of a fresh load ending up on us. Other than the bats you just had to be careful of falling rocks, jagged rocks, and spiders. I safely avoided all three. The weather was also blistering hot with temps in the upper 90s. It was probably our hottest day on the trip. We spent almost all of it outside and in the sun. We drank lots of water and found shade when possible. We didn't think too much of it.

We finished out the morning with some other smaller temples that got more into the jungle. After lunch we headed to a temple that is seen in the film "Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie. It is falling apart and some of it is because trees are growing up and around the rocks. The last one we visited was similar to the first only on a much smaller scale. I can't really tell you a whole lot about each other than it was really awesome to be there and see it all. I hope my pictures can give you some idea of the sites at Angkor Wat.

Thailand

After over 12 hours of travel time from Kunming, Phuket (poo-ket) greeted us with warm weather, plenty of sun, and relaxation time. This was the "lay-around" part of our trip. We crashed at the hostel for a bit then ventured out into the heat (90+ degrees) and humidity to walk along the beach. This is the post when I rub it in to all of you who enjoyed cold temps and snow in January! The sand was white and the waves rolled onto my feet with the cool water. . . mmmmmm. I didn't take any photos at Patong Beach because I had the fear of catching someone that I didn't want to. This beach had a definite European feel. I saw a lot more than I wanted to! Still tired from the trip, we napped in the afternoon before supper. At night, Patong comes alive with street restaurants and open air markets. Here's where we ate supper (pictured left). Everyone is your "friend" on the island. "My friend, come here. I give you special price." I met enough "friends" for one day.

We all slept in and spent most of the day at Kata Noi Beach (right). It was a little bit south of where we stayed. We picked it because it was quieter, cleaner, and more appropriate. We swam, relaxed, read, floated, and let our pasty white bodies fend off any interested ladies. Mmmmmmmmmmm beaches.

Our big tourist thing was a day trip to some of the smaller islands on the northeast side of Phuket. One of them is called James Bond island (left) because part of "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed there. The scenery was gorgeous (end of post). The food on the boat was good. The atmosphere was very laid back and the weather was clear and great. We took two different canoe runs around some coves. This was pretty awesome. I went through this tiny opening (above right) and then it opened up to these cliffs on all sides (below right). Huge rocks with vines and jungle and monkeys - I had no words. We had a lot of sitting on boats, but the people were great and they wanted to show you how Phuket parties.



We went to the beach again for our last day in Phuket. This time it was Karon Beach (left). It is the longest beach in Phuket and because of this it was less crowded than the others we went to. Mmmmmmmm beaches. The waves weren't as big and the water wasn't as clear, but it still felt nice. We had a big meal for supper to take in the seaside culture. Peter had tiger prawn and stingray. I ordered a red snapper. Andy didn't take too well to the seafood so he ate a traditional Thai dish. All of this was given at a "special discount" by our "friend" who ran the restaurant. It was good and lots of meat and spices.

If it seems like I've visited a lot, this only marks the halfway point in my travels. Our last day in Phuket marked two weeks on the road. I still have much to share with you. Thanks for continuing to read about and follow my life here. Thank you for your talks with Him and sharing my story with others so that the chain reaction of the Good News continues to spread to the ends of the earth!

Divine Detours

Now it's time for the second installment of Darin's travel horror stories. Buckle up, it might take a bit. The group and I had just finished a great day at the Stone Forest and we all had a good night's sleep. When Peter went online to book a hostel, he also checked his email. He received a note from his mom that recent terror threats had occurred at the Bangkok airport and that American citizens should not travel into Thailand. If they do, they should use extreme caution and contact the embassy. This is the good news that started off our day. Since we had been pretty disconnected to the news and current events, we didn't know how serious these threats were or if the attacks had been carried out. Apparently, they caught the first guy who planned to set off a bomb, but the second guy was still on the loose. Our plane tickets were booked and we took the note of caution, but continued with our plans to Thailand. (I kept this story from my mother until now for various reasons.)

When it was time to depart the hostel and say farewell to the big group, Peter, Andy, and I continued on with our massive, heavy bags to hail a taxi and start our short jog to the airport. We planned to leave the hostel 3 hours before our flight's departure time to leave us plenty of time at the airport just in case anything went wrong. Oh, it definitely was not according to plan from here to Bangkok.

The airport was about a half-hour away by taxi and we were in the downtown of Kunming so finding a taxi would be easy, right? Wrong. Every taxi we saw was occupied and every free taxi was picking up people who shoved their way in front of us or could easily run to the taxi without huge bags on their backs. Yes, we were running after taxis. We tried different streets, splitting up, but after 45 minutes we still had no taxi. Kunming is not that large of a city, but it was now beginning to be rush-hour. Our next option was the bus system. The three of us have become professionals in Wuhan, so with a phone call to our friends still at the hostel we asked for a bus number and stop info. They had local knowledge from the hostel check-in desk.

We got on the bus and figured out at which stop to get off and transfer to the next bus line which would take us to the airport. At this point I will thank Him for technology, the capability to text Chinese characters, and friends with exceptional language skills to get things right. After serveral texts and phone calls, we got off at the right stop. Now we just had to transfer to the next line, go three stops, and then go into the airport. It was now about 5:45, our flight left the runway at 7 pm, we were still doing alright. It would be close, but the traffic was better on the outskirts of town and we were almost there.

COMMERCIAL: Check out Peter's blog (on the left) to read about the 16 hour train ride from another perspective. He includes a video which might help you visualize our adventure.

We ran into traffic again: construction. After three stops we got off and looked around, but it didn't look like the airport at all. In fact, it looked a lot like the street and building where we got on this bus. It was the same building and the same street only, we were on the exact opposite side of the street. We had just got on a bus, gone three stops to the airport stop like the bus maps said, but we got off on the other side of the street where we just got on in the first place! We pointed to the bus sign with the list of stops showing concerned and confused looks. We pleaded with the Kunmingers around us to tell us how to get to the airport stop by a series of points, arms thrown up in the air, and broken Chinese words. They pointed to the other side of the street and back in the direction from which we had just come. This road which we were on was like a major interstate/highway in America. This means that there was no real "legal" way of crossing safely. The slender Chinese citizens could fit through the fence sideways, but our "stronger" builds could not fit and it was a bit too tall and unreliable to jump.

We had to go down the road a bit and cross through a break in the fence line. We threw our luggage over and played Frogger among the traffic to get to the bus stop we arrived at 20 minutes ago. It was now just after 6 pm and we were within an hour of our international flight leaving the airport! We got back on the same bus and found out it was only one stop and not three. This bus just happened to say the English name of the stop too.

The three of us hustled to the check-in desk, which was empty, scrambled through customs and security, which was empty, and made it to our gate at the scheduled boarding time for the flight. 10 minutes later we found out that our flight was delayed until 9:30 pm. Now it was two hours of waiting instead of immediate boarding. The Father has a sense of humor and reminds us who is in control at all times. We finally got off the runway around 10 pm en route to Hong Kong to make our connection. The original flight plan had us spending two hours in the Hong Kong airport, but that time had evaporated in Kunming while we waited for the HK flight. As we went along, I did the math in my head and the connecting flight in Hong Kong was scheduled to depart before our estimated time of arrival in Hong Kong. If we missed our connecting flight in HK, we would miss our flight the next morning to Phuket from Bangkok. The connecting flight was crucial.

I informed the flight attendants and they assured me that we would be first off the plane and escorted right to our gate for quick departure. We were the first off the plane and we did get escorted to our gate, but that flight was delayed too. We sat for another 20 minutes to catch our breath before departing from HK to Bangkok. It was now about 1 am. Do you see how this is all working out no matter how bad it seems to get for us?

We arrived safely in Bangkok around 3 am and slept until our check-in time of 6:30 am. We slept in the airport; the same airport which just days earlier was dubbed a terrorist threat and dangerous for American travelers. When has He ever left you? When will he forsake you? Our Father and Brother are always with us, guiding, protecting, and guarding our lives. And when harm befalls us, we look to him for help and he saves us. That is why He came, that is why he will come back: to save us. Wherever we are, He is always with us, now and forever.

Kunming

Our hostel in Chengdu helped us book some cheap plane tickets. We really didn't want to deal with trains for a while. We got in pretty early and checked out our rooms. We ate an area specialty for lunch: under-the-bridge noodles. They bring out a large personal bowl of hot broth and you throw in a combo platter of your choice. I got a couple strips of meat, veggies, and a healthy portion of noodles. It's kind of like a hot pot. You mix it all in and let it sit for a minute, then enjoy.

After lunch Brian, Andy, Peter, and I went to the Dwarf Empire. Peter found this on the top 10 weirdest places in the world to visit. This just happened to be a half hour drive outside of Kunming, China. It was also in the list of top 10 things to do while in Kunming. We didn't know what to expect. I saw some picture that Peter showed me online, but the whole thing sounded like a strange adventure. The scenery out there was beautiful (above). The story behind this special village is that a millionaire wanted to do something good with his money, so he created a place where dwarfed people could live and have a livelihood. If they lived elsewhere in the cities, they probably would not have jobs and they would be severely discriminated against. They showcase their talents for visitors, but the whole experience was very odd. They had a lot of odd things in their show too. Part of it felt like a circus, but part of it felt like these people are doing the best with what they have been given. It was a most awkward experience. (The king is pictured).

After catching up on sleep and talking about dwarfs a lot, we spent most of the next day at the Stone Forest. It was about 90 minutes outside of the city, but it was well worth it. The weather was beautiful and the sky was very blue - a change from the dirty, smoggy cities. This forest was special because it was made by the Creator. Has anyone ever gone into the effects of what massive amounts of water might do to the earth and large amounts of stone? This site remains a mystery as to just how all of it came about, but water seems to be involved, and I believe it is another visible evidence of the Almighty's power and plan for this earth. What beauty and majesty he shows us! Some of us came to the conclusion that we would just camp out for a couple days, sleeping by the rocks and climbing around trying to find the next gorge or crevice to crawl through. If only we had the time. We had fun walking off the beaten path. We found a lot of Chinese tourists on the path next to the "highlights" of the park, but the more interesting things were away from that, where things were quiet and we felt like the whole forest was ours. Take in the sites and give thanks to Him for his amazing creation!

There were plenty of other things to do in Kunming, but a lot of them were outside the city and usually required more than one day to see. We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the nice weather, but what travel journey isn't complete without a RAT. I never saw it, but as we ate our last meal in Kunming at a mediocre pizza buffet, Peter came back with a plate of food and a giggle in his throat. "A huge rat just ran from there to there right after I filled up my cup!" Or at least it went something like that. "Not just any rat," he said, "a fat ugly rat." And it had to be in our restaurant! Once again, the phrase that reminds us why we see, smell, taste, hear, and bump into the things we do comes into play: "This is China." And now it's time for another horrifying travel story. Stayed tuned for the next blog post!

Chengdu

After the marathon endurance test of a train ride, we checked into the hostel and did a little exploring. We set up a massage appointment to work out some of the aches and pains from the trip. This gave us comfort and we also found comfort in our food for dinner. Chengdu is located in the Sichuan province of China. The province is famous for its spicy food and hot pot. You go to a restaurant and order plates of meat and vegetables Then you throw them in the giant pot in the middle of the table which is filled with seasonings and spices. It cooks the food in a few minutes and it's ready to eat. The spicy was spicy and the non-spicy was flavorful. I love Sichuanese hot pot!

The next morning we took a trip to see the famous Chengdu panda institute and research center. They house the largest population of pandas and they breed them in order to keep their population from dying out. We saw old pandas and we saw young pandas. Most of the time they just hang out and eat bamboo, but we caught them in the morning when they are more active. . . eating bamboo. After the pandas, we walked around town during the afternoon to take in the sites and then after supper we attended another staple for the Sichuan province: the opera. Have you ever seen an opera with fancy costumes, lots of makeup, and fast changing faces? That is also a famous Sichuan thing. Not only did they sing and dance, but they included some other variety acts. The evening had a Chinese opera singer, an Erhu solo (look it up), shadow puppets, a marionette, a flute and horn solo (Chinese style), a comedy act which included fire, and the changing faces. All of the dialogue was in Chinese, so some of it was lost in translation.

Our last day was spent looking for a pizza place that sounded really good. The problem was our source was almost ten years old. Doesn't a place called Redbrick Pub and Pizzeria sound delicious for lunch? We didn't find it, so we went to a place that sold a mean burger and some awesome ice cream desserts. What a nice place to stumble into. We splurged a little bit, but we remembered the train ride that got us to this city and we justified our pricey lunch. Next, we headed toward the Tibetan part of town. There were lots of monks and lots of Buddhas and I heard a different language too. These mini cities really show the cultural history and complexity of China. The area was decorated for the upcoming new year. We went back to the hostel and relaxed after a day full of walking. Our next stop was Kunming and this time there would be no train!

Sleepless without a seat

If I had a hard time sleeping on a soft seat, I hadn't experienced standing room. When we arrived in Xi'an we had to book train tickets right away. The only problem was everyone goes home for the new year. No trains had seats. What happens with the most populated country when there aren't any train seats left? You fit as many people on the train as possible by charging them to stand in the aisle for the entire length of the train ride. Our trip from Xi'an to Chengdu just happened to last almost 16 hours.

This was an experience that made me say, "I am thankful for soft seats." Our train left Xi'an later in the day and we even bought tiny stools on which to sit in the aisle during the train ride. If you sit in the aisle, people will walk up the aisle to go to the bathroom, to refill their water, or simply to walk up the aisle. Service carts with food and other trinkets also come through every 10 minutes or less. Whenever I sat on my little stool it may be for a matter of 1-2 minutes. Then I had to stand up, collapse the tiny stool, and let whomever was walking through to squeeze by my fat American body.

If this hasn't peaked your interest yet, within the first hour 2 of our 6 stools broke. We feared for the others and began to sleep in shifts. Of course, my stool was one of them to go. Just before the stool broke, I enjoyed the company of the gentlemen around me as they lit up their cigarettes in the cabin instead of going to the end of the cabin by the doors in between cars. (Can you hear the sarcasm?) These men were 37 going on 4 and they also made this trip enjoyable.

I spent most of the night leaning against a seat trying to sleep while standing and jostling as the train bounced up and down and yanked back and forth. Thankfully, the next morning some passengers got off at one of the many stops we made on the way from Xi'an to Chengdu. A few seats opened up and as people walked around the train cars, I got to sit down from time to time. I caught 15 minutes of sleep here, 5 there, and 3 in another seat. About 2 hours from Chengdu, 3 of us made it to the dining car just to sit down from as long as we could. The lady wanted us to buy something of course, but it was a small price to pay in order to sit down.

This is one of my travel horror stories. Standing room on a slow train from Xi'an to Chengdu = character building. I have so much more to be thankful for now. May you never complain about the leg room on planes again.

Xi'an

How does someone start out the biggest journey of his life? You get on the wrong train, of course. Peter, Andy, and I had a soft seat train to Xi'an, but just after we got settled in to our seats with lots of leg room and plenty of space, a gentleman walks up and tells me that I'm in the wrong seat. I was in the right seat, but on the wrong train. The train was just across the walkway (the red one). His train was leaving in 60 seconds, so they held the door which had just closed and reopened for the dumb foreigners who didn't know which train to board. As soon as I left the train, the doors closed and it left for Shanghai (the complete opposite direction). Our train was the usual crowded space with the struggle for sleep - see previous post.

The first stop in Xi'an was the famous Terracotta Warriors site. This ancient burial site was uncovered and is still being worked on to reveal an emperor's thoughts about the afterlife. He set up all these warriors to guard his "kingdom" after he passed away. They uncovered 3 different sites, but these pictures came from the biggest one. The rest of the day was spent in the Muslim Quarter. There is a big influence there and a long history of Islamic influence in the city. Xi'an used to be the capital city of China during several ancient dynasties. It was also the end of the Silk Road - fun fact.

Day 2 in Xi'an brought some disappointment, we went to see a museum and a pagoda, but they were closed that day. So we went to a different pagoda, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. It was a foggy/smoggy day so the picture isn't too clear, but you get the idea. It is a Buddhist temple area and we did not go up to the top because it was foggy/smoggy and too expensive. We also spent some time at the House of Helen. She has a shop in the downtown area and she sells Chinese scrolls with passages on them from the Book. She takes requests and writes them out on the spot. I will tell you her full story when I get back.

Our last day in Xi'an was a hike up Mount Li. We wanted to go up Mount Hua (check out pictures online to see why) which is one of the most famous mountain peaks in China. This also makes it one of the most expensive to climb. We saved a lot of money and climbed the smaller one which was still very difficult (see the stairs). It took us a couple hours and we braved the cold and wind just to catch a hazy picture of below. At least we had a nice relaxing train ride to look forward to on the way to Chengdu, right? If I complained about being sleepless in a soft seat, just wait until I tell you about the train ride from Xi'an to Chengdu!