Blogs from Asia - page 15008

Hello Everyone, We made it back to Seattle safe and sound. Of course we had a different kind of weather greeting than when we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. For this final blog we wanted to cover a few highlights, send a few more pictures and give you an overall picture of Vietnam and its people. On the plane back I asked Michelle what the highlight of the trip was for her. I wasn't surprised to learn that it was the same as mine, the boat trip through the water coconut jungle with Lai our waiter from the Hoi An Beach Resort. Just getting into an area that very few tourists see and spending quality time getting to know him and meeting his family was truly special. A few more highlights included getting to meet ... read more

A day of travelling took us North East to Kompong Cham via Sukon famous for its tasty Tarantulas. Sara, who had been bragging about her intention to try one, chickened out and didn't even go for a peeled frog. I gallantly decided not to show her up by refraining also. From Kompong Cham we hoped to get a boat to the town of Kratie. Unfortunately it turns out that the boat doesn't run any more so the next day we continued the rest of the way by bus. Kratie is probably most famous for being one of the last hideouts of irrawaddy ( or flat-nosed ) freshwater dolphins. They live in a very localised deep bit of the Mekong here and are very easy to see by boat or even from the shore. They look pretty ... read more

Last night I had dinner and beers on a road near Khao San, but a little more chilled out. Sat on a really cool patio set on the sidewalk, with live music - a Thai guy with his acoustic guitar singing Eric Clapton and other similar type music, also in Thai. Quite relaxing and laid back. A Norwegian couple joined me and we talked the night away (only til about 9pm because I got up early today!) Actually set the alarm clock this morning to go to this market very early. All the street stalls that sell food and flowers and hotels and restaurants that have flowers go to this market early in the morning for the best deals. It was so cool - not a one tourist around, just watching the hustle and bustle of ... read more

Hello out there in blogville, So...you may be familiar with Brett Yellen, China's preeminent statue poser. But alas, I will now gain fame on a much larger scale as a recording artist. Look out Beatles, Elvis, and Rolling Stones...here I come. However, rather than the rock and roll, I will have chosen to make my name in the spoken word genre. Two weeks ago the other exchange teacher and I received word that we would be recording dialogue to help the Jingshan School students prepare for the massive national exam. Basically, and this isn't over hyping the test, this exam is the make or break moment in a Chinese student's life. Picture the SATs...but much much bigger. Needless to say that much preparation and stress goes in to this exam. However, this test is not simply ... read more

Hi Peeps after our last blog we had a good meal on the rooftop and watched the siloute of the taj in the background/did i say charlie had a tear in her eye when we first saw it. the next day we did a bit of a tour of agra then sat in the taj grounds for sunset. we are not going to try to explain how amazing this place is as famous writers and poets whould struggle to convey it.So it one of those places you have to see for your self. The next day we set of for bhuratpur which has a would heritage bird sanctuary/We ended up staying for 3 days a lovely place called jungle lodge.But the town had no internet access for 5 days/This is somthing we are getting used to ... read more