Airport ShenanigansNoi Bai International Airport Terminal: 140k VND for a bowl of phở . . . that's extortionate . . . you should be ashamed. . . For reference, expensive "meh" phở in the city is like 70k. Good street phở is like 30k. AirAsia: Cancelled original flight (this was a few weeks before the trip) and automatically rebooked us on the flight the day after we were supposed to leave . . . aka the day we were supposed to start rafting. 2 online support service sessions later, we're rebooked on the correct day but a longer flight going through Bangkok (not direct anymore). But never got the confirmation email . . . cue 3rd session where I was told that the email was sent to . . . well, not my email address . . . turns out is an autogenerated email from the website I booked the tickets through. And no, AirAsia won't change the email address. I can either confirm with the booking website (all in Vietnamese) or just trust that we're rebooked properly. It all worked out in the end. Primary Adventure: Rafting in Pai, Thailand
On the way back, we were stopped at inspection point. Apparently the max number of passengers in the back of a truck is 7 . . . seems like a weird number to me but whatever. The driver had to pay a 1000 baht (~$33 USD) fine (paid under the table because over the table is 5000 baht) then we continued on our way maybe 15 min later. It was during this stop that the catfish (still in a bag under the seat) decided to have its dying thrashes. It scared the shit out of the British girl who didn't know it was under her seat. Nice bit of comic relief while waiting for bribes to occur. We continued the windy roads back to Pai stopping to let guides off in/near their villages and arrived back in town around 7:30pm. Secondary Adventure: Elephants... by now it's January ... So quick version ... Elephant tongues feel super weird and slimy. How do I know? We fed them sticky rice balls and due to their sticky nature, it's best to directly deposit them in the elephant's mouth. Bathing elephants is largely an exercise in futility. As soon as they get out, they went to find a nice dusty place and throw dirt all over themselves again ... it acts as sunscreen so it's actually a good thing. Side AdventuresExplanations in captions.
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Disclaimer: I knew all of what I'm about to say before on an intellectual level but experiencing it was something different. So in the US, no one even blinks an eye when someone of a different ethnicity speaks English. As Americans, we generally expect the people in our country to speak English. Travelling throughout Europe, there are SO MANY languages being spoken all the time ... usually the masses of tourists. But what struck me was hearing Indians, or Africans, or Koreans speaking fluent Italian with one another. In my ever-expanding world view, it seemed odd at first; I wasn't expecting to hear Italian from them. But why not ... I was in Italy after all. It sounds silly I know but take some time to think about it. Would you be surprised if you heard an Indian person speaking German or a Korean person speaking Spanish? Same goes for little kids. My first thought at a little kid speaking German was "damn, that's impressive." ... followed 2 seconds later by "wait, that's what they learned to speak." it's easy to be impressed by people speaking a language you don't know. It's easy to assume people that look like you will speak your language. It's harder to realize or believe that the people that don't look like you can speak other languages than you might expect. I've given up being surprised by who speaks what language. It's all communication. The kids are still asking if they can have ice cream and how much longer this line is going to take ... you just can't understand their language. For some reason, these revelations didn't really hit me in Vietnam ... even though I'm a white person who can speak some conversational Vietnamese. Ironically, when I was in Spain and people assumed I spoke Spanish (I do ... just not well), it was flattering.
3. Children are assholes and parenting is hard. I cannot count the number of kids I wanted to kick in the face because they were doing stupid shit. And their parents are either just watching them or not even paying attention. I had a kid at the aquarium who was standing on my left with a good view of the tank but I guess he wanted to be where I was, so he walked to my right side and basically pushed me out of the way. I looked down at him like "WTF dude" ... parents just looked at me like "What?" 4. Many adults are either assholes, idiots, or just lack self awareness. Museums with signs at the start of EVERY room saying "No photography" ... in picture form too ... enter room and see people taking photographs. I feel sorry for the museum staff in charge of saying "no photos" 10984 times per day. People at the airport who think they can quietly merge into the front of the line for boarding without you noticing. People at the hostels who come in at 2am either from a late flight or from partying then proceed to turn on the lights and sound like a bull in a frickin' china shop. Do you even see the other 7 people in here already sleeping!?! And then there are the people who ask the front desk "do you know why my phone isn't working here?" --> "Well, where are you from?" --> "US" --> "Do you have an international plan?" --> *blank stare* ... or better yet "no, but can't I still use WhatsApp to call people?" --> "only if you're on Wifi" --> "Do they have Wifi in Rome?" . . . Bless your heart honey
I completely forgot to include this in the Greece post but thought it was so cool I should still share it. So as I was flying into Rhodes, we passed over many of the Greek islands. I had a window seat so I was looking out the window at a lot of them. Off the coast of a few of them (just offshore) were rows of circles, like very neatly organized, clearly man made. My first thought was pearl farming. In Vietnam some of the pearl farms near Cat Ba put baskets of oysters in the ocean to make pearls. It took a few islands before I realized that these circles are bigger than the houses that dot the islands... those would be some big baskets. So back to square 1, no idea what these things are. After a lot of creative Googling, I found out that they are for fish farming. The math puzzle from Vienna
Placa de Catalunya I went to collect my Barcelona Pass because they don't do a mobile version here ... also had to find a print shop because it was "mandatory to bring printed voucher" to exchange for the actual pass. Barbaric I say! Anyways, had to walk through this park to get on the Metro. There were multiple people there feeding the pigeons and holding them ... never seen that before. It was like Mary Poppins or some shit. Museu de la Musica - Museum of MusicFree museum with the pass. It showcased instruments from around the world, both past and present. They also had an interactive section so I can now say I've played the harp and the cello. Some stuff not in pictures that I thought was cool: - Many of the early violins, cellos, and basses had 5 or 6 strings. I think the first 4 stringed violin I saw was from the 1400s or 1500s - Tabs, like for guitar music, have been around since the 1600s Le Monumental
Sagrada Familia**My pictures aren't that good. You should google more pictures. This church, officially named a basilica by the pope, was designed by the architect Gaudi and is still unfinished from like the 1920's or something. Gaudi, from what I read, did much of his designing by experimentation using models as opposed to mathematically designing the space with accepted methods. This lead to many of his unique designs and is why he's still famous in Barcelona. The church was left unfinished for many years but the project has been picked up by new architects who are working to finish it in the design style of Gaudi. Random Stuff* Observation after walking around for a day: almost every male between 16 and 30 years of age seems to have at least one earring ... I'm not sure how I feel about this trend. **Other places I went but not listed: - the beach: saw a lot of topless women ... many of them older ... it was an experience - a couple of aerial classes ... nice and sore for the plane ride back to Hanoi Picasso MuseumThe pictures are mostly in chronological order I think. Museu de Xocolata - Chocolate MuseumL'AquariumParc GuellParc Guell was originally a parcel of land owned by this guy named Guell. The intent was to create a housing complex for the upper echlon of society in Barcelona. There were to be 61 plots of land on this hill. The architect of the site was Gaudi (famous around Barcelona). Unfortunately, a few years into the building, they realized that the location wasn't super accessible or convenient so the rest of the project was scrapped. A few years later, the land was donated to the city as a park. Personally, I think that if this had panned out into a full blown development, it would've been awesome to live in.
Gelato Chronicles Continued
Around Rome (some of it maybe famous but IDK)Trevi Fountaina) I did not expect Trevi Fountain to be so massive ... you could have a SeaWorld show in that thing! b) I did not expect the square where the fountain was to be so small. The fountain took up 90% of it at least. Colosseumwaited in line for 2.5 hours... luckily the line was 99% shaded. Besides the heat walking around in the Colosseum, I'd say it was worth the 12 euros. Palatine Hill and Roman ForumAbsolutely massive. I don't think I even saw 50% of what I could have seen. Without a guided tour, there isn't really a designated route so I just wandered around looking at stuff. A lot of it was in the sun so I tapped out after 1.5 hours and got gelato instead. I did overhear a guide saying that 12 years ago, the park with Palatine Hill and the Forum were free but no one ever visited. After they started ticketing and charging, it became super popular ... go figure. Catacombs di PriscillaThese are the only catacombs within the city walls of old Rome. They contain over 40,000 loculi (graves) spread over two levels. The top layer was very maze like since it was completed in sections. First for the older rich families, then for christian martyrs then for the general public (many Christians). The bottom layer is laid out in a grid because it was intentionally planned after the top level filled up. Most loculi on the top level are empty and open - raided by barbarians who thought people were buried with treasures. Almost all, if not all, of the loculi on the bottom level are still sealed. Original loculi are sealed with roman slab bricks. Later, to preserve parts of the catacomb a different type of roman brick was used to brick up in front of the loculi (entire walls). Rich families had a room for their loculi. We saw one with a fresco on the ceiling. and saw others that had a hall instead of a room but still done in frescos. The guide discussed christian symbols such as the fish and anchor. The cross wasn't used as a symbol of Christianity until after Constantine legalized the religion. Unfortunately for you, I didn't take any pictures because lighting and I don't think we were allowed to ... no one else tried to take any so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was mildly spooky and cool. PantheonVia Appia AnticaThe plan was to go to the bike shop at the San Sebastian Catecombs, rent a bike for a couple of hours and ride the Via Appia Antica and park areas. Turns out, the bike shop either isn't there anymore or the person who runs it was late setting up shop. Plan B ... I seem to be doing a lot of Plan B's in Europe this summer ... the next closest bike rental is a 40 minute walk and has a minimum rental of 4 hours. The walk across the park to where the metro line is is also a 40 minute walk. I only have 2 hours until I need to get back to the hostel to get ready for my afternoon wine tour. So I just walk through the park meandering down the trails and enjoying the lack of city sounds. Seen but not pictured: a flock of sheep with a big red dot on each one's back, an artist who had walked in with his easel and canvas to paint a section of forest. Good use of the morning I'd say. Day trip Wine TourFun facts from the wine tour:
Vatican CityThe museums: wait 2 hours in line to save 18 euro then walk through lightly air conditioned halls of antiquity with a couple thousand of your closest friends ... many Europeans are not big on deodorant. You fill in the blanks there. Anyways, did see some cool stuff and the Sistine Chapel. I might have been more impressed by the Chapel if a) there were less people in it, b) people actually listed to the signs everywhere saying "Be respectful. Stay silent. No photography or video." ... seeing as they didn't the guards constantly were saying "No photo!" and c) every other ceiling in Europe wasn't ornately painted/carved/both St. Peter's Basilica: Holy shit, that church is massive! I'm talking like 10-20 normal sized churches could fit into it. Or like 5 mega churches. Also saw the tomb of the popes under the basilica (no photography allowed). You know, after seeing so many churches and castles and what not, it makes me wonder like ... what if instead of giant displays of wealth and fancy stuff, novel idea here ... what if you lived/worshiped/worked a bit more modestly and used that money to help the people you're supposed to be serving/helping in the first place? ... you know, just a thought. Beautiful church though |
ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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