It's more fun in the Philippines!

Oh, hey everyone!

Sorry I've been slacking on the blog posts...I wish I had a good excuse to offer, but I have none! Ahhhh and there's so much to update you all on!

Singapore was amazing despite the haze (illegal fires from Indonesia and Malaysia).  I ate a ton of ridiculously yummy food and was completely blown away by the harmonious fusion of cultures which makes Singapore such a unique experience.  I also went to my first cat cafe which was, of course, hilarious.  Two thumbs up for Singapore!

Garden by the Bay light show

From Singapore I flew into Manila for a week long orientation.  It started off a little rough when I discovered that all my jewelry was missing from my backpack upon arrival (I had stupidly put it in the top pouch of my bag), but thankfully it only took the daylight and a short ride around town to snap out of my pity party and realize that I have a million blessings in my life.

Manila is a frustrating city of contrasts.  Around one corner you have these beautiful, modern buildings and shopping centers that rival Hong Kong or Singapore and around another you have massive slums like I've never seen before.  Jewelry is a silly luxury and small loss compared to how a lot of people live in this world.  Hello, major wake up call for this girl!

The week of orientation was packed with information sessions, an embassy tour, visits to PNU and a national high school, a museum tour, and...traffic (Manila has the worst traffic in the world).  The highlight for me was definitely our visit to PNU.  The students had a welcome ceremony for us which included, in true Filipino style, singing and dancing.  The students performed this lovely traditional song, and then immediately transitioned into "All About that Bass" which made me choke on my water because it was so unexpected!  Filipinos are known around the world for being performers and boy, it's so true!  It's more fun in the Philippines, haven't you heard?

Love is a strong word...how about I'm indifferent about Manila?

Since I've arrived in Agoo (Pronounced Ah-go-oh), I have witnessed 3 beauty pageants, 2 dance competitions, and practically nonstop singing...I mean, seriously, everyone is always singing.  Which leads me to conclude....we Americans need to lighten up!  We need to sing and dance more because, why not?  It breeds happiness! (P.S. We can do without the pageants.)

Winner, winner chicken dinner!  (My soon-to-be student)

I've been in Agoo (my new home) for 3 weeks now and officially feel settled.  Agoo is small, quaint, and for the most part quiet (exceptions being karaoke, chickens, and goats around my apartment).  I like the walkability of the town.  I can get from my apartment to the university in a few minutes and "downtown" in about 15 minutes.  Tricycles, motorbikes with sidecars, are the main form of public transportation in town and are quite convenient when I don't feel like lugging my groceries for the 15-minute walk back home.  There's a small Dunkin Donuts, a 7-11, and a few Filipino fast food chains (Jolibee, Greenwich, and Chow King) when I feel like eating junk.  Otherwise I have to brave the market for my food shopping needs.  The market is still a bit overwhelming as I figure out which vendors to buy what from and where everything is found, but I will conquer it soon enough!

My home 

Typhoon Lando hit Agoo for three, long days taking out power everywhere.  The first day felt a bit exotic, the second day was when boredom hit (all battery powered devices were dead at this point), and by the third day I was actually starting to lose my mind.  I re-arranged the furniture in my apartment several times and danced around to tunes inside my head just to have something to do!  All the while praying that no goats would come flying through my windows.  I survived on bread and peanut butter and walked around by candle light.  True survivor mode!  The storm made a mess on campus and around town which is still being cleaned up.

I've been busy at school even though classes have yet to start.  I've spoken at several end-of-the-semester seminars/workshops and been active in the Faculty Olympics.  I played on the volleyball, basketball, tug-of-war, and sack racing teams--go DMMMSU!  I even tried my hand at some traditional games like coconut racing and kadang kadang...although I didn't try the greased pole racing.  I'll leave that one to the experts!  Anyway, it's been fun to get to know some new people around campus through the games.

DMMMSU men's basketball

Resume and cover letter writing seminar for seniors

400+ thrilled students :)

This week I need to prepare for all my classes which will start on the 9th.  I'm a bit anxious but also excited to get back in the classroom!  Before classes start though, I'll be traveling to Cebu to be the keynote speaker (eeek!) at a language conference for Filipino English language teachers...pretty big time, right?  I know!  I've only been here for 3 weeks, but I've already grown so much professionally.  I can't wait for what the next 10 months will bring!

My social life is a bit lacking at the moment, but I'm confident that will change with time.  I think back to my time in Korea and how lonely it was for those first few months as I was building friendships...it gives me hope that I will make friends as close as family here as well!  Filipinos are amazingly friendly and welcoming but the challenge, like anywhere, is finding friends my own age, with similar interests, in similar life stages (aka single, no kids).

One professor and his sons helped me buy a mountain bike and have invited me out the last two Sundays for rides.  These outings are without a doubt the highlight of my weekends!  It's great to be back on a bike again and adventuring through the beautiful mountains here.  Now I just need to find a yoga studio to maximize my zen activities!

A lil different from road biking in Iowa

Beautiful countryside

It's hard to imagine the cool temps you all are experiencing in Iowa as I sit here with sweat dripping down my face still, but I love seeing everyone's pictures on Facebook and Instagram.  Keep 'em coming! Also, please please please send me email life updates and/or let's set up a Skype date to chat.  I miss knowing what's going on in your everyday lives.

Miss you all loads and loads!  Sending lots of love from Agoo...

xoxo,

Kelly

Monkey islands

Today is my last full day in Vietnam--I really can't believe how fast the month as gone...sad face!  If you are tracking us on a map, Luke and I made it back full circle to Ho Chi Minh late last night. Today will be filled with working out logistical details (flights and hostel bookings, etc) for my short stop in Singapore before, finally, entering the Philippines on the 4th.  

But I need to catch you all up on the Ha Long Bay adventures...a beautiful ending spot in this beautiful land!

View from Surprise Cave     

We looked at an overwhelming number of options for Ha Long Bay cruises before deciding on the Fantesea (get it, SEA) 3 days, 2 night option.  Since we booked last minute, we were able to negotiate a deal to stay our 2nd night in a bungalow...ooooh, fancy!  The bus from Hanoi was long and bumpy.  We arrived to the port at lunch time, hopped on our boat with 8 other people, and said goodbye to mainland Vietnam.  The weather was perfect as you can see from the photos!  We stopped at Surprise Island first to walk through a cave.  After that, we cruised to a quiet bay for some sunset kayaking with monkeys hopping around in the island trees above us.  The evening on the boat was nice; I did a little reading, had a few cocktails, tried my hand at some squid fishing, and socialized with the others on the boat.

Breakfast was early (7 am!) the next morning and by 8:30, we were all hiking up 400 some steps to another island lookout point.  Five of us (Luke and I plus 3 others) said goodbye to the 2 days, 1 night crew when we docked at Catba Island (the biggest island in Ha Long Bay) and joined up with another pack for our day 2 options.  With the new group, we stopped at Catba National Park for an trek through the jungle, ending in an amazing view across the mountains.  I was completely drenched in sweat by the end, but we all were, so it was okay!  A local park guide nicknamed Monkey Man lead us along the path, and he was absolutely crazy!  He'd be at the back of the pack fanning people one minute, then at the front of the pack in a tree throwing down fruit at us the next.  He also liked slapping the butts of the males in the group...and for some reason, especially liked Luke...haha.

View after 400+ steps

Catba National Park mountain peak

From Catba Island, those who wanted to headed to Monkey Island for some beach time.  Little did we know when we booked our tickets, but Monkey Island was where our bungalow was located!  Everyone else was staying in a hotel on Catba Island.  We felt pretty elitist as we took a private boat ride to our private beach (away from the public swimming beach everyone else was dropped off at) for the rest of the day.

The beach/bungalow resort turned out to be amazing!  There were less than 10 other people there, so it was really, really quiet and the food was fantastic compared to what we had been eating on the boat. The only downside was the strict AC control (only from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.) as everything was powered by a generator.

Monkey Island private beach

Sunset swim

View of our beach from a lookout pagoda
              

The next morning we were picked up and taken back to Ha Long Bay for the ride back to Hanoi.  We stayed at the same hotel each "layover" night in Hanoi, so it almost felt like returning home seeing the familiar, smiling faces at the door when we got back into town.  

With that being said, every stop throughout this whole trip we've encountered the friendliest people at our hotels, hostels, and restaurants.  Vietnam is beautiful in every way!

Leaving is sad, but I'm ready to get settled in the Philippines.  

More updates soon!

xoxo,

Kelly

Super moons and a supermoon

Xin chào!  Happy supermooning to all of you lucky enough to have a good viewing spot!  Iowans, I'm jealous of your crisp, clear sky...is there any way to bottle some up for me?  We didn't get a good view of the supermoon in Hanoi; however, the supermoon did mean the official climax of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The streets of the Old Quarters turned into a giant carnival last night with cotton candy vendors, large stuffed animals, balloons, and dragon dancers galore. 

The supermoon was a tad disappointing, but we have had some some pretty super moon views lately, particularly on the beach in Ha Long Bay.  :)   

The noise of Hanoi's festival celebration was a bit overwhelming after being in the peace and quiet of the Sapa countryside and Ha Long Bay for the past week...which brings me to an update about our past week...

Like I mentioned in my last post, we took off for Sapa via an overnight train.  The ride was comfortable as I was able to get a good amount of sleep until our arrival at 5:30 a.m.  We woke up abruptly (no warning) and before even exiting the train, we were immediately bombarded by bus/taxi drivers.  We knew we had to take a "local bus" another 30 minutes or so to get to Sapa, but we didn't know that the "local bus" would actually be minivans driven by locals.  Turns out I simply cannot bargain prices literally 30 seconds after I wake up--I just wanted to punch everyone in the face (gotta work on that). Luke handled it all better though and actually cut a good deal (we concluded later) with one driver/hustler that easily cut our commute time in half by uncomfortably zipping along the mountain roads. 

We arrived to Sapa and waited at the only church in town for our homestay mom, Ger, to meet us.  We had been given Ger's phone number from other backpackers in Hoi An and had simply called her the day before to ask about a homestay.  My conversation with Ger on the phone was very short and the specific stories from the Hoi An backpackers had faded, so we really had no idea what we were getting into.  Tiny Ger approached us with a big smile in her traditional indigo clothes and bulky jewelry. Her brother rolled up on a motorbike to take our big backpacks, and off we went to get breakfast.  Over breakfast we found out it would be a 4 hour trek to her village--whoa--she pointed at the mountain in front of us and said, "My village is on the other side of that."  Ok, great!  Haha.  

Sapa was completely covered in a misting fog, and as we began our trek it actually started raining full on.  This made for a rather slippery (slide-y as Molly would say) and cold (who would have thought?!) hike over the mountain.  We had no view of the beautiful valley rice fields and distant mountains at all--zero. At our lunch stop, Ger showed us pictures on her phone of the view on a clear day and it was a bit funny but mostly heartbreaking. Here's my picture from lunch...haha... 

Woohoo.

After lunch we had another 1.5 hours at least to Ger's village-up and down, up and down.  It became of game of "Who is gonna slip next?" and more than once I considered sitting down and just sliding on my bum.  We passed through 3 villages before arriving to Ger's village, each one a little different than the one before. 

Ger is part of the Black Hmong ethnic group, which may sound familiar to some of you because there happens to be a large population in the US (refugees from the war).  It was fascinating to learn about her culture during our 2 days together.  There's too much to type out but here's a snippet into her life/culture: She cannot read or write in any language because she never went to school.  Her village didn't have a school when she was a child, but now there are schools nearby ("near" by their standards, not mine) which her 3 children (14, 12, and 4) attend. She learned English by going to the Sapa market with her mother and speaking with tourists and her mother offering homestay visits for some tourists. Girls marry very young, around the age of 15, in their culture.  That age is increasing a bit nowadays but not much (maybe 17).  She wants her son to wait until he's 18 to marry.  To marry, the groom's family must pay for the young bride, so that's why the men are typically older before tying the knot.  The ideal family would be one girl and one boy. The boy is needed to inherit the land/possessions, and the girl is needed for the marriage income.  If a family does not have a boy, families must buy a boy at a very young age from another village family.  The children are told as they get older who their real parents are, but Ger said there aren't any hard feelings because the child knows they have a better life in the new family.  People and animals live in harmony together as the pigs, chickens, dogs, goats, and water buffalo roam as they please throughout the village and homes.  Ger's home was very simple.  No running water, one light, one rice cooker, dirt floors, a wood table, a few wood benches, two plastic chairs, and bamboo beds.  The village is basically self-sustaining. They grow all the food they eat, and if they have extra, they can hike into Sapa to sell.  Most people in Ger's village grow indigo and hemp to make their own clothes.  Here are a few pictures of the house:

Where all the cooking was done

: 

views from plastic chairs

faithful guard dogs (or dinner?)

Ger's husband was in the mountain for a medicine-making trip with one of her sons, so we just met the 14-year-old son.  He was like any other 14-year-old, un-amused by most things, asking to go out with his friends, and making sure his hair was perfect before he did.  When the rain stopped for a bit, we walked from Ger's house into the village market to pick up some vegetables for dinner, met her brother and his family, and walked her daughter home from school.  I had packed some Tootsie Rolls before I left the States which turned out to be a big hit and may have been the reason a few of the neighbor girls decided to hang out for the rest of the day!  Just kidding, Khu and Pain (not sure about that spelling) were the sweetest of girls.  We played together the whole night which was a blast but totally wore me out!  It was raining, so we had nothing to do but entertain ourselves inside with clapping games, flips, dancing, and listening to the girls sing along to Vietnamese songs on Ger's phone.   

Khu and Pain

Luke's art lesson

Kha, Ger's daughter

Dinner was super yummy (rice and fried spring rolls) and then the local moonshine was pulled out...oh jeez...!  We did our best to keep up, but Ger and her friend were born to drink that stuff...haha...so we had to be careful.  We slept early and woke up early the next morning to the roosters.  It was still a bit rainy/foggy, so we played with Khu and Pain (they missed school because they slept late) again until the weather cleared up enough for trekking. 

Trekking the 2nd day was clear once we got down into the valley but still really dangerous and slippery to get there. 

Rice fields

For our moms ;)

It was worth all the slips though because, as you can see, it was absolutely stunning.  We stopped at a waterfall to wash the mud off our shoes, and then went back up the mountain to a village for lunch.  After lunch, we said goodbye to Ger (sad!) and hopped on the back of a motorbike with our bags for a 30-minute ride back into Sapa.  

I'd say the whole experience ranks as one of the top intercultural experiences in my life.  The kind of experience that leaves you questioning (in a healthy way) your values, lifestyle choices, and worldviews.  Sure these people don't have running water, but they certainly aren't lacking in the essentials: love and community with others. It was a privilege to be able to share in a few days of Ger's beautiful life.

We stayed one more night in a noisy hostel (I blame the Aussie boys) in Sapa before taking a bus back to Hanoi for a fancy night out at a classical piano/opera concert performed by one of Luke's mom's friend.

More on that to come--this is far too long of a post! Tomorrow I'll give you all the scoop (and pics) on the concert and Ha Long Bay.

Cheers and love and hugs,

Kelly

North-side! (Peace fingers)

Hey all!

I haven't had access to a computer in any of the hostels we've been staying at so....sorry for the silence!

A lot has happened since the last update and a lot of Vietnam has been covered.  First of all, I'm no longer sore from canyoning.  It was a solid 3 days of soreness though...yikes!  But totally worth every second of it.

Saying "bye" to Dalat was tough.  The hostel was amazing--did I mention before that they cooked family dinners each night for those who wanted to join?  Yeah, and one of the owners (Lin) even took everyone for karaoke our last night in town!  We could have stayed in Dalat the whole time but knew we had to press on to our first beach town...Nha Trang.

The bus ride from Dalat to Nha Trang was absolutely stunning as we spiraled down the mountains to the beach.  Pictures cannot possibly caputre the full beauty, but here's my best shot.

Bus ride to Nha Trang

We had heard rumors about Nha Trang from other backpackers and Lin ("Do you like to watch Russians play?") but nothing truely prepared us for the shock that was Nha Trang.  It really was FULL of Russians.  There was a beautiful Miami-like beach and boardwalk lined with resorts, and everywhere was FILLED with Russians.  Most signs were in Vietnamese and Russian, and when I asked questions to street vendors in English, often the vendors answered in Russian (Me-Do you have avocados? Vendor-Nyet!).  It was surreal!

The hostel we stayed at had a lovely rooftop area where we were serenaded with English cover songs by the bartender (Max) and other hostel workers.  One worker, Tony, took us on a night tour of the city, and when we stopped for a bit after being caught in the rain, he admitted as we watched a foreigner walk past with a bag of groceries, "Before, I would take that, so easy."  He used to prey on foreigners.  That is until he met bartender Max on the beach playing guitar a year and a half before.  Tony had always wanted to play guitar.  Max graciously taught him guitar (and English!) and got him a job at the hostel where he now befriends instead of preys on foreigners every day.  It was a sweet story of how friendship can transform a life.  Hearing his story made me, once again, so grateful for all the sweet friendships I have in my life that have molded and transformed me into a better person. Love you all! 

From Nha Trang, we moved on to Hoi An.  Hoi An is a charming little port city (UNESCO Heritage site) with influences from Europe and all over Asia.

Hoi An port

Hoi An is famous for tailor shops.  Tailor made suits run between $50 and $80 USD.  I could have gone crazy getting tailor made dresses and shirts, but I didn't.  Luke did, however, get a few shirts.  We stayed at a cute, bugalow type hostel along An Bang beach which was quite perfect until...dun dun  duuuunn....the typhoon!  It downpoured for 3 days straight, friends.  Nothing to report for those days really except a sour mood.

For the last day of the typhoon, we were in Hue.  Hue is the site of the old imperial city and very close to Vietnam's DMZ.  

Citadel

From Hue, we took a bus to Phong Nha National Park, famous for the best caves in Vietnam (and the world).  We had heard that everything was closed due to flooding from the typhoon, but we went anyway with hopes the rain would clear up.  And it did!  The first day, nothing was open still because of the flooding but we were able to experience a rare day of motorbiking in the park, free of tour buses and tourists.

Phong Nha National Park

Following a day of rest (both Luke and I caught colds), we were able to explore Paradise Cave and the Botanical Gardens in the park.  In the gardens, we trekked to a waterfall where ropes were set up to climb down it, and we went for a refreshing swim.  We were the only ones there!

We climbed down this

Botanical Gardens waterfall

It was absolutely beautiful, ranking as my top day in Vietnam so far (tied with canyoning)!  Again, I feel like we could have stayed in Phong Nha forever, but we knew we had to press on to Hanoi.  We took another night bus and arrived yesterday morning.  It's shell-shocking to be back in a big city again!  The good news is we are here in time for the chaos of Mid-Autumn festival!  Last night the streets were packed with children, festival dancers, and couples shopping and walking around the lake.

Mid Autumn traffic

As chaotic as it was last night, it was heartwarming to see all the love and excitement flowing from the couples and children.  

Tonight we will take the night train to Sapa, the northwestern mountainous region.  This is the area I have been most looking forward to visiting, so I'm really excited!  There we hope to do some trekking and a homestay---I'm not sure about Intenet in that area, so you might have to wait til we're back in Hanoi for pictures/updates from Sapa!  Ahh, I have to go pack up now!  

Cheers!  Xoxo

P.S.  All the fall pictures on Facebook make me a bit homesick, but I love seeing them!  Drink some extra pumpkin beer and apple cider for me! :)

Oh, and I've started documenting some of the inspirational clothing quotes I've seen, so here's one last thought for the day:

True story

Still sore. 

Canyoning

I survived! It was a blast! And today I'm very sore!  :)

The only pics I have of the day are the ones shared on Facebook due to not being allowed to carry a camera, so as I describe the day, look back at the pics.

The day began with a bumpy ride up into the mountains near Dalat.  There were five of us total from our hostel (me, Luke, Bill, Greg, and Izzy) but combined with another hostel group, there were 12 of us.  The guide explained some basic techniques and had us do some practice abseilling before trekking to our first of four walls.  I went first (because why not?), listened closely to the guides instructions "Jump!" "Lean back" etc, safely made it down the wall, and then gave a big thumbs up to the group waiting at the top.  There was a beautiful waterfall near the bottom, so we enjoyed some swimming and a picnic lunch after the 2nd dry wall run.

Lunch was followed by some all natural watersliding. One slide was solo and the 2nd was with a partner which the guides called the "sexy slide"....hahaha!

Watersliding led us to the first wet wall.  The wet walls proved to be significantly more difficult (as one would imagine) but definitely more thrilling!  You can see the picture on Facebook of me abseiling down that one.  The rope wasn't long enough so at one point we were told to "STOP" and then "JUMP BACK" and "LET GO"!  It was probably a 5 meter fall from there into the water.

But that was nothing compared to the cliff jumping part of the day!  We trekked to the cliff where we had two options, a 7 meter jump and an 11 meter jump.  Everyone immediately feels nervous, I think, even the tough guys because while everyone mentally wanted to do the 11 meter jump, the issue was getting enough of a running start to clear the rock and jungle plants jutting out of side.  I did the 7 meter jump (no clearance issues there) with hesitation but then knew I needed to do the 11 meter.  I'd be so mad at myself if I didn't, right?  I trekked back to the top with Izzy who was also determined to do the big jump.  Of course once we got back to the top, we were freaking out again.  After letting a handful of people go before me, I finally just took the running start and JUMPED!  It was terrifying and awesome!

After the cliff jumping, the last abseiling wall called the "Washing Machine" was a piece of cake.  It's called the washing machine because you abseil for only a few meters then hang as you lower youself into a waterfall (there's a pic of this on Facebook also).  The waterfall pushes and spins you around until you hit the stream of water and are pushed to an area to climb out.  Refreshing!

The trek back to the van was a bit brutal, especially since it started raining but BEAUTIFUL. Couldn't have asked for a better adventure!

Now I'm proper sore, so instead of a cycling tour today, I think I'm going to opt for some motorbiking and a short trek.

Until next time....cheers!

Kelly

Week 1

Oh hello there!

As obvious from the pictures on Facebook, I've arrived safely to Ho Chi Minh.  Woo! Despite the many connections (Moline-Detriot-Tokyo-Manila-HCM), all my flights went smoothly. The sweet Filipino woman sitting next to me on the long flight to Tokyo quickly became my new best friend when I told her I'd be teaching in the Philippines come October. Chatting made the flight go by rather fast, as fast as a 12 hour flight can feel, I guess.  She has invited me to her home when I return to Manila, which I really hope actually happens cuz she's da cutest airplane friend yet!

I arrived just past midnight on the 2nd and apparently missed a pretty spectacular scene. Why? Because September 2nd is Vietnam's National Day--the 70th in fact!  Crowds upon crowds of people gathered in Ho Chi Minh Square to watch a fireworks show, according to Luke and others that were able to witness it.  Flags were everywhere the whole week as people and business are required to hang them from the 2nd to the 7th.

I missed the fireworks, but I did see a pretty good show of street animal butchering not long after arrival! Turned out our Airbnb place was along a major meat market in the city, so around 3:30 from our balcony we watched as the trucks rolled up, slaughtered animals were pulled out, and a team of about 20 people began chopping away. It was quite a sight! And by quite a sight I mean...so eww! 

Our few days in HCM were full and informative thanks to Cuong (Luke's dad's cousin's cousin--haha) and Seamus (a Korea connection through Kayla). I don't have a picture with Cuong but here's my official shoutout to both---you guys are gems! We got the Vietnamese scoop from Cuong and the expat scoop from Seamus, resulting in well-balanced advice about everything from crossing streets to food to bus tickets.

HCM is pretty much like any other big city around the world, so...meh.  We walked around for a day and hit the highlights such as the Independence Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, War Remants Museum (I'll save that for another blog from the Philippines) and Ben Thanh market.  I filled my belly with Vietnamese peach milk tea, coffee, banh mi, noodles, lots of tofu varities, and broken rice. There is definitely no shortage of delicious food in HCM; we didn't even dabble in the foreign or Western food options!

On the third day (or fourth day?  Keeping track of days is of little importance on vacation), Luke and I decided to take a cheesy Mekong Delta tour.  It was your typical tour with lots of stops that mainly lead to pushing products but nonetheless informative and fairly relaxing.

Rice paper

Ho Chi Minh Square

I must say, the time spent in HCM was plenty for me, so I was really excited to hop on the bus for an 8 hour trek to Dalat.  The ride was surprisingly pleasant as the roads were smooth for most of the journey, and I had 3G the whole time. Sidenote:  Get it together, America!  I have far better cell and 3G service in the middle of Vietnam than I did in Iowa!  Plus, I was only airborne out of my seat twice!  

Bus ride to Dalat

So now I sit in Dalat, a beautiful, mountainous Vietnamese honeymoon city in a perfectly cute (and clean!), $3 a night hostel typing you this blog update.  Yes, $3, friends.  I mean, really?!  And we are not staying in dirtholes by any means.  So far the hostel experiences have been great: cheap, cozy, clean, and full of interesting fellow travelers from Hong Kong, Germany, Northern Ireland, France, Singapore, and Canada.  Today will be a "day of rest" of sorts with maybe some simple sightseeing around Dalat.  Tomorrow will be the real fun...canyoning in the mountains!  If I survive, I'll surely tell you all about it!

Peace and love,

Kelly

Hi, I'm Kelly, and I'm a blog neglector.

Let's be honest for a second...is blogging like soooooo 2008?  I mean, do people even blog anymore? Have "stories" simply turned into a string of 10 second clips on Snapchat?

Well, whatever.  Call me Loser Grannypants Magee because regardless I'm bringing back my blog, friends!

Stay tuned for mass updates and/or funny anecdotes from my SE Asia travels and teaching adventures.