http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Kate-Hildebrand/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Kate Hildebrand en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:55:51 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:55:51 +0000 If you're heading to Thailand don't take a bus. Just don't do it. Really. No. Don't. Thus went an article in a Siem Reap city guide I picked up about 5 hours after I had just invested 12 in a bus ticket from Siem Reap to Bangkok. I thought that was rather melodramatic. The road from Siem Reap to the Thai border is notorious but the alternative the guide offered was hiring a taxi and dri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-44190.html http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Arctic/blog-350067.html AnnyongAfter dozens of games of GoFish 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 sublegal aspects of the English biz I would be glad to offer advice South Korea is http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-198779.html 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. 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-164885.html 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 th http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-120413.html 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 mon http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Serbia/blog-119770.html My two weeks in Serbia went by so fast It was an awesome experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity to live like a local in former Yugoslavia and see my friend at the same time one of the best decisions of my life I would say. Here's some anticlimatic pics. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Serbia/North/Pancevo/blog-15172.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-54967.html Woohoo Tomorrow I leave OKC bright and early connect in Chicago and a couple of dazed hours in the Tokyo airport before I land in Hanoi late on the 16th.My plan for these four and a half months is4 weeks Vietnam from HanoiSaigon3 weeks Cambodia3 weeks in Thailand10 days in Burma March 1729th4 weeks Laos2 weeks in Beijing and Xi'an China2 weeks back through VietnamFly home out of Ho http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oklahoma/Edmond/blog-34609.html 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 i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Yangon/blog-52083.html The last couple of days have been hard physically and mentally but they have blown my mind. Picking up where I left off I was walking back from the internet cafe when I passed by another bia hoi stand. They said bia bia and motioned me over so I joined them. They spoke pretty good English probably better than the other bia hoi place I frequent. The were vets and we talked about the war. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-36981.html I've been having an absolute blast the last couple of days. Are you kicking yourself for not coming with me Because you totally should be.So first time in Asia first time in a communist country which I suppose isn't that unheard of as there's only 5 and I'm not heading to North Korea any time soon and first time traveling by myself for this long. No work No school Just funThe flight ov http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-36421.html Bagan is the premiere destination of Burma. I knew I was heading here and I used that fact for justifying the most halfassed 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Bagan/blog-52074.html I opted for the day pass to Angkor Wat which Lonely Planet calls a crime but Lonely Planet's way too dramatic. Angkor Wat is Disneyworld for fat middle aged package tourists. They're dreadful All day long they stepped on my fingers and pushed me around and did not apologize. So Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world or so I've heard and THE tourist destination of south http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-43589.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Mandalay/blog-52065.html 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 430 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 cou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-52045.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Yangon/blog-48295.html I stumbled off the Hell Train into the rain. I stupidly did not accept the cyclo drivers offers and started walking with all of my very heavy crap until I was soaked and angry. I hated Hue. Luckily that didn't last too long. I found a cyclo driver and he carted big old me and all my stuff to the backpacker's alley. I gave him a big tip because I feel pretty bad when someone half the size of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-38919.html It was one hell of a week. There's nothing quite like speeding around on the back of an old Honda Federal through the Vietnamese countryside. I should have been killed a thousand times over or at least been hideously maimed but I survived the week relatively unscathed except for a stomach bug that all 3 of us Westerners got. I saw so many things that I'm getting quite overwhelmed trying to fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Central-Highlands/blog-41335.html Vang Vieng is a strange little town. I was planning on avoiding it entirely but a stopover here breaks up the Vientiane Luang Prabang bus ride 9 hours of whipping around hairpin turns through the mountains of north Laos quite nicely. I knew I would hate Vang Vieng before I got here. Its one of those places you either love it or hate it. I tried to keep an open mind why did I have to act l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-45772.html