Travel Blog Posts
September 16th 2007
Annyong! After dozens of games of Go-Fish, hundreds of WAYGOOK SARAM!'s, and pounds of kimchi consumed, my stint as an English teacher in Korea is *sob* over. I won't go much into the ~technicalities~ of the English business in this blog as Jenni Jen wrote a fabulous guide here but if you want any insight on the sub-legal aspects of the English biz I would be glad to offer advice ^_^ South Korea is a magical fairyland where people pay you $50 an hour to chat at Starbucks and the only "qualifications" you need are to be young and white. I got plenty of that and I figured I'd save just as much money if not more in Seoul as I would back home working at a restaurant, so I spent this summer teaching English in ... read more
June 3rd 2007
Hello! I have been living in Seoul the last month or so. I'm just staying for the summer but I've liked it so far ^__^ HIGHLIGHTS: - AJUMMAS. url="http://www.johnhofmann.com/koreablog/2004/06/q-what-are-ajumma-and-ajoshi.html/" target="_blank"What is an ajumma? Ajumma means, literally, "woman old enough to be married." It's more that that, though. Ajumma is a state of mind. When women cut their hair and curl it and start pushing and shoving a lot like a wild beast on the subway ... they are an ajumma. When a woman starts wearing a visor of a color and size that would give Darth Vader helmet envy ... they are an ajumma. When a woman gets together with her friends and talks so loud that the decibel level of their conversation rivals that of an above-ground nuclear test ... they are an ajumma. ... read more
January 10th 2007
Why yes, Turkish Airlines, I'd love a three day layover in Istanbul! I spent the next 10 minutes staring at a map trying to deduce whether I'd have enough time to sneak into Iran. Turkey's a pretty big country for European standards. Iran would have to wait. Luckily Istanbul was so much cooler than I was expecting, and I had high expectations for it. Istanbul is massive, it's the only city that sprawls across two continents: Europe and Asia, it's the definition of East meets West, and there's a mind-boggling amount of history. This was my first time being in a Muslim country but definitely not the last (I'm looking at you, UAE folk!). The calls to prayer are really neat. Even the ones at 5 AM. Check out my vids! On being a SWF in ... read more
December 25th 2006
When my friend Jelena told me she was going home for Christmas for the first time in four years and said I could tag along I jumped at the chance. What else was I going to do, besides harass my kid brother into asking for a Wii for Christmas so I could subsequently steal it from him? (He didn't get one, "but all my friends did, so I can play theirs". Pfft.) So it was back to Serbia after 18 months. As per usual I got spoiled to death by my Serbian family- thanks so much, Vesna & Branko! What's changed since July 2005: Election time: Serbs love politics! With parlimentary elections coming up on Jan 21st, I got to witness the campaigning in full swing. Jelena's and my favorite: the anti-snail one (see picture below). ... read more
I love the smell of durian in the morning
Published: May 15th 2006Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City
May 15th 2006
Saigon. Shit. I'm still only in Saigon. Whatchu talkin' bout, Willard? I'm loving it here. I flew from Bangkok to Hanoi, right back where I started out more than three months ago. A couple of Israeli boys and I pile into taxi, and since I am a Vietnam veteran of sorts and they know absolutely nothing about Vietnam they look to me for advice. "Thit cho is dog meat, seek or avoid accordingly" and "they drive kinda crazy here" are the only pearls of wisdom I can think of. The Israelis assure me that they can handle crazy traffic, because Israelis drive a lot crazier than us lame Americans. A couple minutes into the ride I hear them start gasping what I imagine is the Hebrew equivalent of "Oh my God, we're all gonna die!". Oh, ... read more
April 11th 2006
We arrived back in Yangon bruised and exhausted but not beaten. We spent the next couple of days walking around the market area, I think that's why we saw 50 times more tourists this time than last time we were in town. It almost didn't seem like the same place, we thought this city was rustic?!?! There are some guys wearing jeans here! That's downright futuristic compared to the other places in Burma. Anyways, we were living pretty cushy the last couple of days in Burma. We made an amazing discovery, Traders Hotel has a set menu with all you can eat soup, salad, bread(!!!), and dessert for only $6 a person. I don't think our waiter had ever seen two people get so excited about having a never ending supply of ice water in a ... read more
April 7th 2006
Bagan is the premiere destination of Burma. I knew I was heading here and I used that fact for justifying the most half-assed attempt at Angkor Wat, ever. I really liked Bagan, it was cheaper and infinitely less crowded than Angkor, riding bikes around the ruins is a blast, and you could tell there was a earnest attempt at upkeep i.e., monks are not picking up garbarge like they do at Angkor. A lot of temples were destroyed in an earthquake in the 70's but a massive reconstruction effort later its looking pretty good. Maybe even too good, some of the temples don't even look like ruins. You better get there soon, though. To whom it may concern, Please don't sell Bagan to a heartless Japanese corporation. Thank you, Kate... read more
April 2nd 2006
Allright, so where the hell is this Mandalay Bay? We're a couple hundred kilometers inland. I asked around and the explanation I got is that there is another Mandalay somewhere in the world with a bay, but I think they're wrong. This is it. So Mandalay sounds like the most wonderfully exotic place ever, but its pretty much a dump. Its dusty and ugly (and when someone from OKC calls a city ugly that is a major BURN am I right? Just kidding, I love ya baby) It's heartbreaking! The power is out the vast majority of the time and as soon as the fan went off in our room we woke up from the heat. We were only there for two days but we spent a considerable amount of time just sitting in our hotel ... read more
Come sail away, come sail away, come and sail away with me, you guys
Published: April 11th 2006Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake
April 1st 2006
After leaving Yangon we spent one day in Mandalay and then got to Inle Lake. Two night buses in three days was pretty masochistic of us, but it all worked out allright. The best thing about night buses is that they are cheap and when you arrive somewhere dead tired at 4:30 AM the people at guesthouses are very cool and have a check in time something ridiculous like 4 or 5 AM so you can have a couple hours sleep and still save money on accommodation. We were staying at Remember Inn in a little bamboo room and we had the luxury of watching HBO in the common room with the awesome staff when the electricity was cooperating. The next day we did the obligatory tourist thing and hired a boat for the day. We ... read more
There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear
Published: March 23rd 2006Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon
March 24th 2006
As I was waiting at the Bangkok Airport busily stuffing myself with enough KFC, Pepsi, and Oreos to tide me over for nearly three weeks of Burmese cuisine I caught a CNN blurb on ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. The government has burned down over 3000 villages and in order to deter the villagers from digging through the rubble of their former homes the junta sets up enough landmines to blow them to smithereens. There are over a million refugees in Thailand alone. That's where I'm going? I met Senti on the plane to Yangon. Senti is 26, British, and a doctor= ideal travel companion. We will spend the next three weeks in Burma together so she will become a main character in this blog.There were a couple twentysomething solo travelers on the plane and most of ... read more
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