I will explain the title of this post later on, so please stay tuned. Honestly, not even sure where to begin. I guess Thanksgiving? My vice principal invited us over to her house for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal! November and December were extremely stressful at work, but at the end of December before break things started to die down enough where I was able to plan and prep for the full week after break! I also finished up my second class for my TESOL certification. It was so nice to not bring my laptop while traveling!
Thanksgiving :)
Turkey Dinner!
The trip started off really rough. I left on Thursday night. Well on Thursday I received an email from Expedia saying my flight changed. I was supposed to fly from Kuwait City at 10:45 pm to Colombo (Sri Lanka) and then leave Colombo at 6 am so I would get to Bangkok around 9:30 am. I then had a separate itinerary to go from Bangkok to Vietnam. Well, Expedia said my flight from Colombo had been changed almost a full 24 hours! This would mess up my flight to Vietnam. I called Expedia to ask why it was changed and to get a new flight. Well they asked me to hold and they called the airline. The airline said that I called and requested to change it! HA! After three different calls to Expedia, they said I would have to have the airline figure it out at the Kuwait airport. Great. THEN I logged into the Expedia app and it said my flight from Kuwait was canceled! So I checked online and it said it was changed from 10:45 pm to 4:00 am the next day. SO I called Expedia again. They said that no the flight is still scheduled for 10:45. Well, okay if you say so. I go to the airport, and when I get there I see 4:00 on the board. I was so mad. I asked people in line and they had no idea it was even delayed. I marched to the front of the line and signaled to an airline employee (making it look like I just had a quick question) and this was the conversation that followed:
Me: "The flight has been changed to 4:00 am?"
Employee: "Yes"
Me: "okay, so what are you going to do to get me to Bangkok tonight?"
Employee: looks at me strangely..."There's nothing we can do."
Me: "Well why is this flight delayed so long?"
Employee: just stares at me
Me: "Okay, so I need to go to Bangkok, I don't need to go to Sri Lanka, how can you reroute me?"
Employee: "There are no other routes"
Me: "yes there are, last time I went to Thailand, I flew to Mumbai."
Employee: "no, I don't think so."
Me: "Well I did, so can you look to see if you have any other routes I can take?"
Employee: " No we don't"
Me: "Okay, then check other airlines."
Employee: stares... "we don't do that"
Me: "You're telling me that you don't partner with any other airline here?"
Employee: "No"
Me: "Okay, well then I would like to cancel my flight and book through a different airline and get to Bangkok"
Employee: "There are no other flights to Bangkok tonight."
Me: "How would you know that if you don't partner with any other airline? This flight was to Colombo, not Bangkok, so how do you know all this without even checking?"
**another employee swoops in.... "I will help you find a flight to Bangkok"
BOOM! boy gets me a direct flight to Bangkok that left at 11:30 pm that same night! Sometimes it pays to be feisty :)
Vietnam: Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
My trip started off in Hanoi. I got in pretty late (well late for this grandma, around 11 pm), so I just went straight to the hotel and slept. I ended up sleeping until 1:00 pm haha whoops. I didn't have any real plans in Hanoi. I just looked up the main things to do and saw they were all in the same area, so I just decided to walk there and go with the flow. I stopped at a Starbucks first, then headed to Hoan Kiem Lake. I walked around the lake and pretty much everything I saw on "Things to do in Hanoi" were around this lake, so it was perfect. I took my time walking the lake, snapping pictures, visiting the market, eating lunch, and going to a puppet show! It was so nice to be outside in crisp, cool air :)
While walking around the lake I was stopped by a few girls, they asked me if they could talk to me and practice English. Of course, I said "Yes!" We had a nice conversation getting to know each other, they were all around 19 or 20. While we were talking, three of their friends joined in. They taught me how to say "thank you", "hello", and "goodbye" in Vietnamese, but since they taught me all three at the same time, I forgot how to say all of it :( I am definitely not a linguistic learner.
After chatting with them, I stopped for lunch and then continued my walk around the lake. On the other side of the lake, a guy stopped me and asked me if he could practice his English too. We also had a nice conversation. I was impressed with his English, he said he had only been learning English for 4 months! He told me that he comes to the lake every day to see if he can find English-speakers to practice his English with. I was so impressed with his dedication to learning. After chatting with him, I went to the market and then to the puppet show.
The puppet show was the "Thang Long Water Puppet Show." It was pretty neat, and it was in Vietnamese, so I didn't understand a lot of the stories. After the puppet show, I went back to my hotel since it was dark and I like to be safe and sound in my hotel room at dark (so don't worry about me Mother!).
The next morning I went for a little walk again, and then headed to Ha Long Bay. This was the main reason for me coming to Vietnam. When I got to Ha Long Bay, I checked into my hotel, ate, and just relaxed for the evening. I scheduled a boat tour of Ha Long Bay for the next morning at 7:00 am (so early for a vaca), so I wanted to be in bed early.
The boat tour was hands-down my favorite part of my trip to Vietnam. The sights were unreal. It was a 6-hour tour. I was the only person on the boat that wasn't Asian. I sat at a table for one. They also paid like special attention to me and boated me to places alone. I don't know if it's because I booked it through the hotel or what. It was pretty confusing, pretty hilarious, and pretty awkward. I got so many pictures with strangers. I had four different pictures on the cruise ship with strangers (they asked if they could get a picture with me). Lifestyle of the rich and famous, I guess. I could totally handle being a celebrity.
On the boat tour, the first stop was a cave. It was pretty cool, but to me all caves look the same. I walked through it pretty quick, so when I got back to the boat I was the first one. I expected that I would just have to wait there, but I guess not. They boated me back to the cruise ship alone. When I got back to the cruise ship, I sat down, and then they found me again to boat me (alone) to the next stop. The next stop was the Ti Top Mountain (something like that). This was my favorite. It gave a great view of the Bay. I COULD NOT STOP TAKING PICTURES. I know all my pictures look the same, but when you're there, you're like "wow this is so pretty, this looks so different, oh wow no this is even prettier" click, click, click and then you look at the pictures and you know they all look the same, but you don't care one bit! Also on top of the mountain, my disguise didn't work and I was recognized as a celebrity, and I took about 12 more pictures with strangers.
After the mountain, I boated back to the cruise ship (alone again), ate lunch, and then we just boated through the bay. The view never got old.
The next day, I went to the downtown. I walked around the area, stopping at the market and snapping pictures. It was rainy that day, so i was very thankful I went on the boat cruse the day before when it was sunny. Then the next day (I have no idea which day of the week I am on), I walked around near my hotel and then headed back to Hanoi. I took the bus from Ha Long Bay to Hanoi, it was ridiculously cheap. When I got to the bus station, I was bombarded with people shouting. Most were yelling about if I needed a moped ride, but one was a taxi driver, so I chose him. I showed him the address to my hotel, and he had no idea where to go (we were still in the parking lot of the bus station), and so we stop. He takes out his phone to read more carefully (the light) and then (no joke) I look up and there are 15-20 men surrounding us. They are all talking in Vietnamese and they are all helping trying to figure out where this hotel is located. It was so nice, and it was so funny, I just started laughing. I couldn't stop. Finally someone asked me "airport?" and I said "yes!! by airport" - that helped, but it was still a challenge to find it. We saw it off the freeway, but he didn't know how to get there, so he pulled over on the freeway, got out of the car, and waved at the hotel. I still have no idea how anyone in that hotel saw him, but one of the workers at the hotel came out, walked up the hill and grabbed my suitcase. So I think "yep, this is happening." I pay the taxi driver, grab the rest of my stuff, step over the guard rail and walk down the hill.
The next day I left for Thailand.
While walking around the lake I was stopped by a few girls, they asked me if they could talk to me and practice English. Of course, I said "Yes!" We had a nice conversation getting to know each other, they were all around 19 or 20. While we were talking, three of their friends joined in. They taught me how to say "thank you", "hello", and "goodbye" in Vietnamese, but since they taught me all three at the same time, I forgot how to say all of it :( I am definitely not a linguistic learner.
After chatting with them, I stopped for lunch and then continued my walk around the lake. On the other side of the lake, a guy stopped me and asked me if he could practice his English too. We also had a nice conversation. I was impressed with his English, he said he had only been learning English for 4 months! He told me that he comes to the lake every day to see if he can find English-speakers to practice his English with. I was so impressed with his dedication to learning. After chatting with him, I went to the market and then to the puppet show.
Hoan Kiem Lake
My friends :)
Puppet Show
The next morning I went for a little walk again, and then headed to Ha Long Bay. This was the main reason for me coming to Vietnam. When I got to Ha Long Bay, I checked into my hotel, ate, and just relaxed for the evening. I scheduled a boat tour of Ha Long Bay for the next morning at 7:00 am (so early for a vaca), so I wanted to be in bed early.
The boat tour was hands-down my favorite part of my trip to Vietnam. The sights were unreal. It was a 6-hour tour. I was the only person on the boat that wasn't Asian. I sat at a table for one. They also paid like special attention to me and boated me to places alone. I don't know if it's because I booked it through the hotel or what. It was pretty confusing, pretty hilarious, and pretty awkward. I got so many pictures with strangers. I had four different pictures on the cruise ship with strangers (they asked if they could get a picture with me). Lifestyle of the rich and famous, I guess. I could totally handle being a celebrity.
On the boat tour, the first stop was a cave. It was pretty cool, but to me all caves look the same. I walked through it pretty quick, so when I got back to the boat I was the first one. I expected that I would just have to wait there, but I guess not. They boated me back to the cruise ship alone. When I got back to the cruise ship, I sat down, and then they found me again to boat me (alone) to the next stop. The next stop was the Ti Top Mountain (something like that). This was my favorite. It gave a great view of the Bay. I COULD NOT STOP TAKING PICTURES. I know all my pictures look the same, but when you're there, you're like "wow this is so pretty, this looks so different, oh wow no this is even prettier" click, click, click and then you look at the pictures and you know they all look the same, but you don't care one bit! Also on top of the mountain, my disguise didn't work and I was recognized as a celebrity, and I took about 12 more pictures with strangers.
After the mountain, I boated back to the cruise ship (alone again), ate lunch, and then we just boated through the bay. The view never got old.
One of my many solo boat rides
Seriously, I can't get sick of this view.
The next day, I went to the downtown. I walked around the area, stopping at the market and snapping pictures. It was rainy that day, so i was very thankful I went on the boat cruse the day before when it was sunny. Then the next day (I have no idea which day of the week I am on), I walked around near my hotel and then headed back to Hanoi. I took the bus from Ha Long Bay to Hanoi, it was ridiculously cheap. When I got to the bus station, I was bombarded with people shouting. Most were yelling about if I needed a moped ride, but one was a taxi driver, so I chose him. I showed him the address to my hotel, and he had no idea where to go (we were still in the parking lot of the bus station), and so we stop. He takes out his phone to read more carefully (the light) and then (no joke) I look up and there are 15-20 men surrounding us. They are all talking in Vietnamese and they are all helping trying to figure out where this hotel is located. It was so nice, and it was so funny, I just started laughing. I couldn't stop. Finally someone asked me "airport?" and I said "yes!! by airport" - that helped, but it was still a challenge to find it. We saw it off the freeway, but he didn't know how to get there, so he pulled over on the freeway, got out of the car, and waved at the hotel. I still have no idea how anyone in that hotel saw him, but one of the workers at the hotel came out, walked up the hill and grabbed my suitcase. So I think "yep, this is happening." I pay the taxi driver, grab the rest of my stuff, step over the guard rail and walk down the hill.
The hill off the freeway, where the cab driver dropped me off
The next day I left for Thailand.
Thailand
Flight to Thailand was smooth sailing. We all met at the hotel. Ashley was already in Bangkok, and Jessie was coming later that evening. It was so exciting when we were all there! We went to the Asiatique night market. We got some delicious Thai food for dinner, walked around, shopped, and wore our Reindeer antlers :)
The next day we went to the floating market. It was something I really wanted to do the last time I was in Thailand, but it didn't work out, so I was really excited! The floating market was really neat. The market was a lot bigger than I anticipated. After the market, we went to our Float House hotel. It was so pretty to be on the water, we were literally floating on water. We could feel the waves in our room! It was also really secluded and on a river. We could jump off our floating balcony right into the river! We only spent one night here. The next day we went to Erwan National Park and hiked the seven waterfalls. So pretty! We swam, had fish give us a natural fish pedicure, and slid down a rock slide! We headed back to Bangkok, so we could catch our flight the next morning to Krabi.
Floating Market
Our Floating Hotel
Waterfalls at Erwan
From Krabi, we took a boat to the island Phi Phi. It was about a two hour boat ride. The island was so pretty. We were hooked. Our hotel was perfect. It had a pool with the view of the ocean and a beach. While at the island we sunbathed a lot, relaxed a lot, and saw a fire show. One day we went kayaking to Monkey Beach. We only saw two monkeys at the beach, but it was still neat. Then we decided to kayak to this rock ledge thing. Bad idea. The waves were so big, I mean, I am talking the perfect storm. Jess and I were in the same kayak, so we had an advantage. Ashley was alone. A boat came and hooked up her kayak to it, and pulled her back into the bay area where it was clam. He asked us, but I said no we were okay. I am stubborn and wanted to do it ourselves. It took awhile. Our arms were burning, but we did it!
Monkey from Monkey Beach
Our kayaking adventure, after we made it through the "storm"
Now is the time, where I will tell you where the title of this post came from. While at Phi Phi, Jess and I went scuba diving. Never again. I don't regret it. It is, however, one of those things that I will only do once (like when I went bungee jumping). I was apprehensive about it, because of the water animals (sharks, jellyfish, etc.) but I found while underwater, it was more so the "oh hey I am really deep underwater and my breathing is relying on this tank". The first dive was okay. I was ready to come up before the time was actually up. I was fine, but it felt like we were down there so long. The second dive was just for photos, and I had a freak out. When I was underwater I got some water in my breathing piece. I did the wrong thing to get the water out and started choking. I freaked out. I signaled to go up, and I couldn't even tell we were going up, so I kept signaling to go up. The instructor was so unbelievably calm and great. We were up in no time, and he helped calm me. I will confess, I cried. It was really scary. We still had one more dive, and I wanted to do it to prove that I could. The last dive I did really well. I was glad I did it, but I am good with the one time experience.
Ready to take on the water!
Snorkeling (we all snorkeled before scuba diving)
Yes, I held hands with someone the whole time while scuba diving
After Phi Phi, we went back to Krabi. We spent time by the pool, going to the markets, and we even took a cooking class. We also went out for New Years. It was really cool seeing the fireworks and lanterns on the beach over the ocean. When we got back to Bangkok we had to say goodbye to Ashley. Jess and I had one more sleepover before we had to say goodbye.
Heading to Krabi
Yeah, chef skills, what up.
It was such a fantastic trip. Thailand will always be one of my favorite countries. I am especially thankful to be able to spend the Christmas and New Years with friends.
Next vacation will be to Italy in April, and guess what!?! I get to meet my best friend there! Maria is meeting me in Italy! We will get a whole week together to explore :) I could NOT BE ANYMORE EXCITED!!!! I am unbelievably thankful that even while so far from home, I can meet so many of my friends in other countries. My friends are the best.
My Kids
Here are some pictures of my kids. Ever since we got back from break, it has been just a different atmosphere. Things were pretty well before break, but now everything clicks. We have such a fun environment in our classroom. I love my kids and I am so excited to see them everyday. They have been so curious, loving, helpful, kind, and hard-working. This is my favorite kind of progress.
Skype Screen Shots
Making plans for ITALY :)
Cain in my million dollar letter jacket
Much Love,
Leah
