The greatest city on earth & Asia’s Las Vegas… What’s not to love about these two, right? After a day of bumming that included the famous ‘water puppet show,’ we left the friendly confines of Hanoi for the modern marvel that is the existence of Hong Kong. We had almost 3 days there to check out all we could, not enough to discover all of the wonders our friend Laurel had so graciously offered, but enough to give us the vibe of city life that should suffice for, basically, all of eternity. We got into HK in the middle of the [View Full Entry]

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Before we took off for the urban jungle of Hong Kong, we felt it necessary to get the most out of Hanoi that we still could, since we’ve both grown quite fond of the minimally organized chaos, cluttered beauty, and labyrinth-esque streets of the Old Quarter (the heart of downtown Hanoi). It was raining as we arrived on the train from Sapa, and welcomed with open arms, yet again, to the hostel we stayed at over a week ago. The girls at the Hanoi Guesthouse are so amazing, becoming fast friends with Cass… “Cassie, you think everything, ‘sooooo good!’” There w [View Full Entry]

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A quick turn-around, literally like 4 hours in Hanoi showering at the guesthouse we weren’t even staying in that night (how nice of them!), and we were right back in a taxi heading to the train station for an overnighter to a small village in one of the farthest reaches of the country, Sapa. We had two days planned sandwiched in between to overnight train rides- really looking forward to sleeping on a rickety old train through the mountains of northern Vietnam. Regardless, we’ve been told it would be more beautiful than Halong Bay, which is a tall order, but in [View Full Entry]

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We knew before getting to Vietnam, this place was absolutely breathtaking, but when you actually are immersed in the beauty in all directions, it is hard to put into words. Halong Bay is about 160 kilometers east of Hanoi and home to more than 2,000 Dr. Seussian shaped islands. We spent three days and two nights in the bay that could possibly be voted as one of the new ‘7 Wonders of the Natural World,’ and it sure has my vote. The trip started with a three hour drive to the bay with some interesting commentary on the Vietnamese culture from [View Full Entry]

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Well, more like Crazy (pause) Beautiful. Yeah, we made it… so... Happy (well deserved) Summer Vacation everyone (fist pump), and Gooooood Moooorning Viet... no, that’s just too cheesy, even for me! But seriously, It really feels great finally getting our well manicured plans underway when starting an extended trip like this. Not only have we been looking forward to this because of the marathon school calendar we just finished, but for us, being American citizens, we have a history with this country. It certainly isn’t, but is growing rapidly, the backpacker’s desti [View Full Entry]

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Jeju Island, Korea Honeymooners Island… Korea’s Hawaii… A Tropical Paradise… “Very Famous in Korea.” All those adjectives, and more have been used to describe Jeju no matter who or when it has come up in conversation since we’ve been here. Obviously curious to see what this tropical utopia is all about, my friend Tom and I, decided to take advantage of some time off of school to down to this island off the southern coast of Korea. We spent four days there, slogging through the misty remnants of the typhoon that has caused so much destr [View Full Entry]

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Over the last 10 months I’ve come to realize that being an adventurous person in this part of the world is a relative term. A huge step that both Cass and I have taken is becoming a bit more adventurous with what we eat. The majority of the time, we have no choice in the matter, i.e., teacher dinners or basically any time Jon G. is with us, but we’ve emerged on the other side with some giggles, wrinkled eyebrows, murdered taste buds, and a newfound respect for what people have on their plate in this part of the world. From [View Full Entry]

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Recently, we're just putting in our time are our required 'summer camps.' I have lucked out and only recieved a sentence of 8 days of camp, while Cass is being locked up for three weeks. For whatever reason, her school counted our days off a bit different than my school- but, as it is with the majority of things in Korea, everything is circumstantial and we just do what we're told. Regardless, all of us weigookins, are either gearing up for, or already on our epic summer vacations. We have officially ironed out plans to spend a week in Hanoi, Vietnam [View Full Entry]

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Months ago, things started popping up on facebook like, “Korean Mudfestival 1 friend is a fan.” More recently I’ve had conversations like, “Do you know mud festival? Very famous in Korea.” Even more importantly, sandwiched between Turkey’s Camel Wrestling Festival and the UK’s Cheese Rolling Festival, the Boryeong Mud Festival ranks 3rd on a London newspaper’s list of the [url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/festivalsandevents/5188191/The-worlds-weirdest-festivals.html?image=2] ‘World’s Weirdest Festivals.’ I’m a [View Full Entry]

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The closest thing to yesterday’s celebration of the 4th of July was the summer after I graduated high school. I was working at a summer camp in Connecticut. I went into Hartford to watch the firework show with two Australians, an Irishman, and an Englishman. Yesterday, similar to that, we celebrated the 4th as a crew of English teachers from around the globe on the beach of the Han River in Yeoju. Americans, English, Canadians, South Africans, even some Koreans came down to take part in the American summer tradition, a 4th of July barbeque. I was still wiped from an [View Full Entry]

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