Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

I am happy to report that I survived last night without anything else going wrong, and while that sounds a little exaggerative on my part, I assure you it is not!  Just one more night here and I should be in the clear… for a little while at least!  Thankfully today we did not have to spend any time in the hotel, or in Ha Noi.  Today we got to visit Ha Long Bay on a private boat tour!  We got on the boat at about 11 in the morning and hung out and sketched for about an hour or so, waiting for the crew to serve lunch.  I am not a huge fan of seafood, but the majority of the food they served us was pretty good!  I had to remove the head, shell, and tail from the shrimp I ate, and had to eat the crab meat out of the shell.   Talk about fresh seafood!  They also served fried calamari and some type of fish that still had some bone in it.  I did not eat either of those; the texture is a little too much for me.  The thing with an Asian diet is that I never feel full; but I am probably a lot healthier eating the foods that I have been lately!  I think I may have even lost a few pounds!  Anyways, back to Ha Long Bay!

The boat cruise was a great way to relax and finally slow down for a bit.  The bay is absolutely beautiful!  A slight haze covers the entire bay almost all the time, which may seem like a hindrance, but it actually makes it look even more beautiful!  Rock silhouettes appear to be jutting out of the water in the distance so it looks like you are surrounded by them.  No words can describe! 

The Bay is where several Vietnamese make a living off of aquaculture.  They live in the bay on houseboats and have floating structures that trap the fish.  It was a very unique thing to see.  The boat dropped us off on an island to visit a famous cave.  The cave had formed both stalactites and stalagmites over the years due in part to continuous sea water erosion.  It is probably the coolest cave I will ever have a chance to see!  After the cave, our boat took us back to the mainland where we boarded our bus to head back.  The thought of heading back to the “hotel of doom” was so dreadful at the time that I just decided to sleep all the way back! 

My plans quickly changed as I was distracted by the beautiful drive home.  Rice fields and vegetable patches dominated the landscape, and every now and then a cluster of three-story, French-style homes would appear right in the middle of all the fields.  It is amazing to me that the Vietnamese’s lives depend on these fields.  They spend their entire existence in the fields grooming their crops just to make a living.  It is the same with the aquaculture in Ha Long Bay.  I cannot imagine growing up knowing that you have no choice but to take over the family crops one day; but most of them do not think of it that way.  To them it is just their way of survival.  Compared to other countries I have visited so far, this seems to be the most difficult conditions to live in.  The Vietnamese farmers do it because they have to, and somehow find happiness in it all!  Now that is some inspiration!

Ha Noi, Vietnam and the "Hotel of Doom"

Right now Vietnam is the worst ever in my book of World Tour experiences!  Today was a day of emotional highs and lows.  I just simply cannot handle this place.  I know there could be much worse things in life, but everyone has things they cannot deal with; mine is dirtiness.  Ever since we have been in Vietnam I have had major issues with this.  For example, I will probably have to get some new tennis shoes soon because mine are so filthy from just walking through the streets this week!  We ate at Fo Restaurant and the floors were so slippery with filth, I almost fell a couple times.  The smells differ on every street corner, but they all have one thing in common; they smell terrible!  Restaurants wash their dishes in the street.  I could go on, but I think it would just freak me out more.

I was looking forward to a relief from it all when we arrived at our hotel; however, it only seemed to magnify things.  To begin with, as we were unloading the bus our driver started chucking bags into the dirty street.  Les was so mad about it that he slapped the guy in the back and started yelling at him, which seems like a bit of an overreaction, but then again, Les has a very short fuse!  Anyways, several bags were affected and covered with things I do not even want to identify.

We got our keys to our rooms, but there was is only one elevator, so I decided to take the stairs.  Between the first and fifth floor there were 3 mattresses in the stairway along with random pieces of furniture, to the point where it was hard to make it up the stairs.  That was my first indication that something funky was going on here.  I walked into our windowless room and my heart dropped into my stomach.  It looked like one of those motel rooms in movies that drug dealers work out of. 

Used, worn-out sandals were the first thing I saw in the room, followed by the sound of my shoes sticking to the floor.  The walls were a yellowish color with dirt; our beds the same.  My roommate and I immediately began to check for bed bugs.  One bed had a blood stain on it.  Another just a foam mattress with three layers of aged mattress covers.  Thankfully though, no initial signs of bed bugs, even though our friends found some in their room.  Tonight I will not be sleeping in my bed, rather on top of it with my luggage because the floors are not fit to set anything on them.  I do not even feel comfortable using a pillow.  I laid towels on top of the comforter thinking it would be a bit cleaner to sleep on, turns out the towels are stained as well.  We opened our refrigerator to get a drink, maybe help us relax a bit, only to find mold and warm beverages because it wasn’t working right.  And I have not even mentioned the smell; imagine a mixture of smoke and mold.  Sarah just came out of the bathroom and told me our tub will not drain at all, so now we have to use Adam and Dan’s bathroom to shower.  Last but not least, there is mildew growing on the ceiling in the bathroom.

All that being said, I think I can begin to talk about the rest of my day.  We had an early flight that I dozed through most of the time, and immediately began a tour of the city after that.  We visited a temple, ate lunch, walked through an architecture school, and sat in on one of the world’s best water puppet shows, which I also happened to doze though.  For some reason I have been really sleepy today.  Since it rained pretty much the whole day, we were not able to walk around and experience the city much; I am really not too mad about that either.   Anyways, we had a little time to kill before dinner so our guide took us to a nice coffee shop.  Yes, I just said a NICE coffee shop.  I ordered a Vietnamese Coffee with milk and enjoyed it so much I decided to order an iced Vietnamese Coffee with milk.  Monica, Jen, and I also split two desserts while we were there and had a pretty great conversation about our futures.  I told them about the EMI internship I would like to apply for and they seemed to be excited for me, which got me excited for it as well.  So this was definitely my emotional high of the day.  Everything else was pretty much downhill after that.  But I quote my friend Aubree, “If you can survive this, you can CONQUER ANYTHING!”  The key word being if… She was right, though, when she said, “God led you here for a reason.”  There is a reason in everything, so the best thing to do is embrace what I do have and let Him work through all the rest.  Once again, God sent me a positive influence just when I needed it!  Will I ever learn?

Saigon, Vietnam

I spent most of yesterday just sitting around.  That sounds incredibly boring, but for me it was one of the best days I have had so far.  Our early flight from Cambodia to Vietnam was delayed until late afternoon, so all we could do was hang around the hotel until that time.  This means I was able to sleep in, get some homework done, and still have lazy time to eat and drink in the shade by the pool.  It seems like God knew exactly when I needed a mental health day. 

We left Cambodia at about 5:55p.m. and had a very quick flight to Saigon, Vietnam.  We were met by our guide at the airport and then chauffeured to dinner for a nice full course meal, complete with live music. 

This morning we all boarded the bus, way too early, as usual; no one really knew what the guide had planned for us.  About a 90 minute bus ride later we pulled into the Cu Chi Villages, a place that was heavily bombed and damaged during the Vietnam War.  The main attraction in the village today is the Cu Chi Tunnels that the Vietnamese soldiers used to defend and fight against the Americans.  At home, we always hear the Americans’ side of the story; today was all about the Vietnamese.   I still do not know enough about the history to go into any of the details, but it was definitely interesting to experience and learn about their side of it.  Everything was either preserved or replicated to accurately illustrate the days of war.  I climbed inside a trench and barrack.  We saw a soldier climb into a hidden barrack in the ground.   Several different kinds of trap demonstrations painted an eerie picture of American soldiers becoming hunted prey.  I even crawled through 100 kilometers (a little over a half of a mile) of underground fighting tunnels, which was a neat experience, but one I will never do again. 

My favorite and most memorable thing from today was shooting an AK-47 at a range onsite Cu Chi.  There is a shooting range where visitors can pay to shoot various types of guns.  As you walk throughout Cu Chi you can hear people shooting in the range from a distance.  It is an effect that really adds to the experience.   The further you walk on the site, the louder the gun shots get.  It is a chilling experience, but I think also a little disrespectful to the past.  Being there today really brought the Vietnam War to life!

Also today we got to visit an architecture firm in Saigon that is run by a Ball State Graduate student and his business partner.  It was great to ask questions about the firm and discover architecture in a different culture.  We were shocked to hear that a senior architect’s salary in Vietnam is on average $1,000 per month.  I guess I will quit complaining about an American Architect’s salary now, or any American job for that matter.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We left Kuala Lumpur early yesterday to catch our flight to Cambodia.  It was a relatively easy day compared to the airport troubles we have had in the past.  Cambodia customs did not even check our bags. 

The few stories I have heard about Cambodia always mention how incredibly hot it is; Cambodia has definitely proved itself in that area on this trip.  I would compare it to the dog days of summer in the Midwest, except for the fact that it is always this temperature here, 95 degrees and humid.  I am so thankful for the past two summers working in the heat at the park.  It has been great training for this climate.  Touring all day in this heat is a lot different than touring all day in 55 degree weather, which is what I am used to.  Climate aside, I have enjoyed Cambodia very much so far!

The only attraction in Siem Reap and the rest of Cambodia is the world heritage site of Angkor Wat.  Angkor Wat is huge, large enough to be a city.  There is evidence of architecture dating back to very early centuries, some temples as early as the 10^th century.  Angkor Wat temple, the heart of the site, is the largest temple in the world and possibly the most famous.  Each border of the temple is close to a mile long.  Throughout both days we have visited 4 temples and the King’s Palace.  Angkor Wat was the best, followed by Ta Prohm Temple.  It is the place where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider.  I like it because a certain type of trees began to grow on the walls of the temple.  It is amazing to see.

It is hard to imagine these ruins in the height of their day.  The extravagance must have been unprecedented.   I am amazed by the design and construction of it today, not to mention thousands of years ago.  Angkor Wat is unique in construction because the ruins are pieced together with smaller pieces of stone.  In comparison, a lot of Greek and Roman architecture is carved from much larger pieces.  Another unique thing is the detailing and decoration.  Our guide explained to us that the temple decoration existed only for the Gods.  It was never intended to impress people.  Due to this fact, you can see detailing on almost every inch of stone.  It makes me think of how trivial I am when I get upset because my laser cutting is not cooperating.  The hand craftsmanship of Angkor Wat is unbelievable for its time!  It makes me wonder… How great could my projects be if I took on that attitude? 

In addition to Angkor Wat there is a night market in Siem Reap where you can get clothing and souvenirs for cheap!  I got several things for myself, my family, and my friends, all for about $20.  The hospitality here is great!  Tourists mean everything to Cambodia’s economy, so everything here is focused on that.  When we first arrived at our hotel, we were greeted with frozen towels and a cold beverage.  The same thing happened at a local restaurant.  During the tours as we got on and off the bus, free water and towels were available to us.  Anywhere we got off the bus, children and women surrounded us trying to sell postcards, jewelry, or food.  It does start to get very annoying but I have to constantly remind myself that it is their only way of living and income.  Their voices will forever be stuck in my head! “Lady! Lady you like to buy something? Lady, I have you size in different color!  Lady! I make deal just for you!”  Regardless, it can still be very fun to shop in a place like this because everything is unique and dirt cheap.  I just have to be in the right mood for it!

This afternoon we had a few hours after our tour before it was time to leave for dinner.  Several of us hung out in the pool and enjoyed the swim-up bar.  It was the perfect way to cool off and relax after a hot and muggy day.  Plus the drinks were delicious!  For dinner we got to experience a Cambodian buffet and dance show.  Both were very interesting and different, but awesome!  After that we went by the night market again where I made a few extra purchases. 

Tomorrow we fly out of Cambodia into Vietnam.  While I am ready for something new, I cannot say that I am all that excited about Vietnam.  This will be interesting!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I continue to be more and more uncomfortable as we work our way deeper into Asia.  There are just way too many people here for me.  Plus it has been hot and muggy.  I do not want to complain; but the heat makes everything feel even dirtier than it already is!  Malaysia has been interesting because it is a mix of several different Asian cultures.  The country-side is beautiful, but Kuala Lumpur has not been too impressive.  Then again, it is hard to appreciate a city like Kuala Lumpur coming from UAE and Singapore.  It is a very run-down city.  I am not a huge fan of the food either.  I like some Chinese food, but it has to be in moderation.  I have been in Asia for 4 days and I am already sick of Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and Malaysian type of food.  Too bad I will be here for the next two weeks. 

Yesterday was mainly a travel day to Kuala Lumpur, with a little free time in the evening.  We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant.  The food tasted pretty good; I just hated the texture!  Today we spent half of the day touring the city, visiting Menara Tower, Masjid Jamer War Memorial, King’s Palace, Batu Caves, and the Petronas Towers.  Batu Caves was my favorite destination of the day!  The cave is one that was once used for a Hindu Temple.  It was awesome to see the caves and climb 250+ steps just to enter, but my favorite part about it all was the wild monkeys.  Several monkeys live near and around the caves and basically snack off of all the tourism waste.  It was so cool to see the monkeys in the wild. 

Our tour for the day ended at Petronas Towers, once the tallest building in the world.  We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant in the towers, and walked out to see a monsoon-like downpour outside.  Here was our predicament at that point.  Today was our last chance to ship things home before several upcoming flights.  It was currently 3p.m. and the post office closed at 5:00p.m.  It was about a 20 min walk back to the hotel where we had to get our stuff to get ready to send.  We could have waited for the rain to die down but we risked getting to the post office in time if we did that.  So Devin, Courtney, Drew, and I decided to book it to our hotel.  We rain-proofed ourselves as much as possible, buried our electronics in our bags, and made a mad dash for our hotel.  We were doomed from the start because I have never been outside in rain as heavy as this was.  In fact we were pretty much the only people crazy enough to be on the streets the entire way back to the hotel!  I was completely soaked within seconds.  We got back to the hotel just as the rain let up, almost as if it were mocking us!  We quickly grabbed our stuff to ship home and headed for the post office.  After asking for directions 3 times, we finally found our way with about 40 minutes to spare.  It ended up being about $20 to ship, so super cheap!

 Long story short, our trek through the monsoon was totally worth getting to send a load of stuff home, and it made for some great memories.  At one point we were all running through inches of water in the streets because they were so flooded.  We probably looked like box of crayons running around with our bright colored rain gear; green, blue, yellow, and red!  Thank goodness I will never see any of these people again. 

Anyways after that, we all treated ourselves to a Valentine’s dinner at Outback.  We decided it was time for some American food again!  I was so happy!  I got a steak and dessert!  You would be surprised to know how hard it is to find a steak around here.  Happy Valentine’s Day to me!!!

Singapore, Singapore

Well I survived yesterday’s long day of travel and successfully made it to Singapore.  We had a 4 hour flight followed by a six hour flight with a connection in Delhi, India.  Our first flight left at midnight, which means the airplane seat was my bed for the night.  Needless to say, I only got about 3 hours of sleep.  We arrived in Singapore around 6:00 in the evening.  I was tired, hungry, and grumpy!  Thankfully this should be one of the worst travel days we have.

Singapore is a tropical climate so it was pouring when we got off the plane.  The weather cleared up for us just in time to get some dinner, but it was still super muggy outside.  After dinner at an Asian Cuisine restaurant, I had the best donut I have ever had at a small bakery.  I even bought an extra for a snack the next day.  Late last night we Skyped in with the accreditation team from BSU’s Architecture Graduate program.  Every six years the college has to be evaluated to earn their accreditation.  That is happening this semester, so the team was interested in talking with us students on World Tour. 

Today we visited Gardens by the Bay; it is a fairly new garden in Singapore with an awesome landscape and building integration.  Next we went to the Marina Waterfront.  It was beautiful, but we did not stay long because it started raining again.  Our next stop was Chinatown of Singapore where we visited a Buddhist temple.  This was a very odd experience; I still do not know how I feel about it.  I was definitely interesting to see, but very different to see everyone worshipping a Buddha statue.  We ate lunch in Little India.  I tried the roasted duck rice and was a little skeptical about it, but Dan insisted that it would be tasty.  It was tasty but it still had bones in it so I did not handle that very well! 

We got to return to the hotel for the afternoon because later on was our night safari.  A group of us were going to send stuff home but the post office was closed.  It was the last day of the Chinese New Year Celebration.  I returned to the hotel bummed and discovered that my Moroccan Bowls package was rattling.  I opened the packaging and sure enough, broken!  The large bowl is cracked in about 3 or 4 places, and a small cup is shattered!  I was so mad and upset that I decided just to take a nap.  2 and a half hours later, my roommate came back and thankfully it woke me up, or I would have missed the Night Safari.

The Night Safari at the Singapore zoo was pretty cool.  I have seen most of the animals on the safari before, but the fact that it was a safari made it unforgettable!  After the safari Dan, Devin, and I walked from the hotel down to the Marina on a quest for food and a great view.  We were starving so we got ice cream first because it was quick.  We then walked down to the marina, where there was amazing local food for cheap!  At the marina was a huge festival celebrating the Chinese New Year.  Food, performances, shops, and rides dominated the Marina.  We sat in some bleachers up above and took it all in while we ate and drank.  Even though I didn’t have the best start to the day, I had a pretty great ending.  This morning I woke up to ants snacking all over my extra doughnut; I lost an earring and noticed it halfway through the day; I found out my bowls from Morocco were broken; and I still have not been able to send my stuff home.  As I recall all of this, I realize my problems could be much worse, so I will be happy and leave it at that. 

Singapore has been fantastic!  There is such rapid growth of vegetation, I could be in the center of the city and still be surrounded by trees and flowers, but beauty comes at a price.  In Singapore you could be fined for chewing gum, j-walking, eating or drinking in public, and littering just to name a few.  It is another modern city with beautiful skylines day or night.  This is one of the places I would love to come back and spend more time in.  I have not had internet for a while, and it is really starting to take its toll.  I miss everyone so much, but it is already day 41 of 103, so I need to enjoy it before this amazing trip slips away!

Abu Dhabi, Day 2

There is no sound more frightening than that of a fighter jet outside my hotel window in the middle-east.  I saw a lot of cool stuff, but the thing I will remember most about today is that sound.  Dan Render a Ball State CAP graduate was giving us a presentation on Masdar City when the sound of the first fighter jet drowned out the room.  I was expecting to hear or feel an explosion at any minute.  Thank goodness that never happened.  The jets passed by a couple more times before we found out that they were just military training.  I thank God that is all it was!

Dan worked on Masdar city for quite some time while it was being developed.  Masdar City is a prototype for a future energy model city by achieving zero-carbon emissions.  Basically the whole city is built to support a very sustainable lifestyle, and the design sets the stage for sustainable cities of the world.  Because Dan worked on the project he was able to give us some great insider information.  I will not bore you with it all, but I will share this:  The city developed a new transportation system along with the design.  Today I got to ride in a self-driven car.  It is supposedly controlled by magnets and operates similar to a robot.  You hop in, select a destination, and off you go!  I felt like I was in a movie like The Jetsons or WALL-E.  So we rode in these “pods” and explored the existing city and construction of Masdar City. 

We also were able to visit a major land development company in Abu Dhabi called Aldar.  We were presented with a huge development along the waterside of the city.  It was so cool to have a behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest developers in Abu Dhabi.  I loved learning how business works over here.  While in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, I got inside looks on the jobs of a designer, a sustainability project director, and a master-planning developer.

Another fun event of the day consisted of a quick visit to Ferrari world, which is an indoor theme park.  The building was more interesting to me than anything, because I am not the biggest fan of cars, but still very cool!  The last stop of the day was at The Grand Mosque.  We got there right at dark so we were able to see the structure lit up, which I think is so much cooler than during the day.  In order to enter, all women are not allowed to expose skin, especially their head.  I had to borrow a friend’s scarf to wrap my head just so I could enter.  My scarves were packed under the bus.  The mosque was so beautiful though that the trouble was worth it! 

Tonight I get to sleep on a plane.   I am so not excited!  We are on our way to Singapore, so that is cool.  I am just ready to be there already.  Abu Dhabi and Dubai were a great experience.  It really opened my eyes to classism on a broader world scale.  All the money of the world is going there basically because they have oil, the one resource everyone depends on.  They have clearly chosen over the years to invest that money into city development that, so far, has catered mainly to the rich.  The way I see it, the world’s money is stacking up into skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where fancy buildings are being built just because they can.  Yeah it is awesome!  But it is such a waste!