jessica's tales: email 2



August 23, 2009
still alive in asia...


hey guys,

hey kids - hope you all are havin a great summer...

so yes - i am still alive in asia...i told you i was bad with the email writing - but this is pretty bad even for me i will admit that! i am currently in vietnam and less than a week away from the end of this adventure! i kno i last left you in china...and i have been doing this email over a couple of weeks - so get ready for a long one lol...i wont do the day by day play by play for the countries after china in as much detail - as i really cant remember what happened like 3 days ago - let alone 6 weeks ago!

so when i last left you i believe we were in xi'an, china...day 2 there me and mum walked the city wall (well only 1/4 of it until mum started to cry about it) then we went back to the muslim market and finally found the great mosque...it was quite lovely and very uncrowded which was beginning to be a blessing for the historical sites...very nice and cool there...then we met jam and headed to the big goose pagoda a little outside of the city - the taxis were sooo cheap like a 20 min ride was like maybe $5 if i remember right - try to get that in the peg - that barely gets you on transit tom! anyways that night we had a group dinner and we went for mongolian hot pot - so you each get a pot and cook your food in like boiling broth...kinda like mongolian fondue i guess!...it was pretty cool only a few minor burns and hot splashes sustained by a few of the spazzier group members (mum). then that night a few of us headed to the square and tried to fly kites and got our drink on...we picked up something that we likened to maybe chinese vodka or rubbing alcohol - it pretty much tasted like burning - but mixed with some sprite and juice it was all good...we bought some kites and tried like fools to fly them - even the locals pitched in the help the pathetic whiteys - we did manage to get some air time so that was cool...

the next day we caught a day train to yichang which was the starting point for our 3 gorges yangtze river cruise...we got in super late and it was sooo humid for midnight - i was dreading the sweating of the next day...apparently this area was one of the 'furnaces of china' - great...next day had a bit of a wander to the local supermarket to stock up on food for our 'cruise'...then a few of us brave enough to keep walkin in the humidity went onto a childrens park where the highlight was a bunch of baby bunnies for sale!...i played with one for a while and wanted to take them all home with me sooo badly - their living conditions were pretty poor and i may or may not have seen a dead one on the ground - but i do think he was just napping...at least that's what i keep tellin myself...

we boarded a bus to get to the boat and for some insane reason it was still boiling on the boat...i guess she wasn't kiddin bout the furnace part...we had some time to kill so some of us went ashore for a dinner at a local place where i was introduced to my second favorite new chinese food - garlic shoots - very good and actually kinda surprisingly sweet! back to the boat with delayed disembarking, but we passed the time with some excellent karaoke - our guide jenny even did an awesome rendition of 'my heart will go on' complete with scenes from the titanic - which of course we all wanted to re-enact on our boat! cant seem to get away from that damn ms. dion - but she is 'da best singer in da world' so why was i surprised lol...the rest of the chinese singers were very subpar after jenny - somewhere between nails on a chalkboard and cats dying - but at least they were entertaining!

the next day we went onto a smaller boat to explore the gorges and then got onto a sandpam (?) which was like a 15 person boat that had to be steered and manouved by boatmen...we had a funny guide who sang us some songs...the boatmen worked really hard to boat our asses around...up until maybe like 10 years ago they actually used to do it naked! maybe now that tourism is picking up some modesty was in order...it certainly would have been another '3 gorges' that we prob didnt need to see lol...at least it was cooler deep in the gorges - the 'cruise' boat was still super hot...i call it a 'cruise boat' because i dont want to give the impression of high luxury here - im pretty sure our toilet was emptying on our bathroom floor! and for some insane reason not one chair was to be found on any of the decks...and i wont mention the cockroach incident...but all in all it wasnt too bad and at least we were able to get our groove on pretty good in the bar with the chinese kareoke crew! however dinner on the boat was prob the worst food we had in china - but there were some mysterious meatballs that i alone seemed to like...i think most of the group recognized my somewhat adventurous eating - which by the way i can now say i have tasted chicken foot! and i prob dont recommend it...it was a birthday in the group and after a brief stop at the port city we had a little red champagne and some chinese rice krispie treats on the upper deck before the boat staff gave us a cultural/karaoke show...then a bit later some more karaoke ensured with me, mum and jam - and it was apparently mums first time doing it! pretty funny - then had a dance off with some chinese friends and went thru all the standards like sprinkler, shopping cart, bus driver etc etc - needless to say the whiteys won that dance off! especially when i started raving...thats right - sandstorming it up...jesus.

off the boat super early and back to yichang for a night train to a little town called yangshou...for sure the chillest place we went to in china...this was right in the heart of the karst mountain areas - very scenic and beautiful! got an orientation tour early and some of us headed to a restaurant that served western brekkie - some great bacon sausage and eggs that we were all craving...yang was very touristy so there were a lot of westerners there which i didn't really like - but then that means a lot of western style restaurants...not gonna lie had pizza 2 days in a row! but sometimes you need a bit of that...after scorpions and chicken feet!

that afternoon a group of us went to this water cave which was awesome...we took a public bus there and then got to the ticket office - where we were instructed to tell if anyone asked that we paid 320 yuan for our tickets when we actually only paid 65 (about $10) so that was a bit funny - fyi book thru the hotel to get much better prices! then we boarded another bus for the bumpiest ride known to man for quite a while...then got to this little area and boarded small boats that we headed into the caves on - had to go into super small opening so would not be for the clausterphobic (mum)...got off the boats and then proceeded to walk around these massive caves for prob close to 2hrs! it was waaay better than i expected...the girl who took us in kept asking us what we saw in the formations - it was pretty funny how off we were with our answers - but aparently every second one was like a beautiful lady washing her hair or looking in the mirror...had to use your imagination a bit! there were also definitely bats flying round too so that was kinda freaky! they had an awesome swimming hole and a bit of a waterfall - i was dying to do some swimming with all the hot weather we were dealing with so that was awesome...then we hit up the mud baths and that was literally like being in poop soup - it was super freaky gettin in at first and it def took some gettin used to - there was a mud slide that a few of us tried (me obvs) and that was pretty funny...then we showered off and headed to the hot springs (which may or may not have been real but they were very nice anyways!) we were supposed to catch a public bus back to town but it was raining a bit and we weren't exactly sure how to catch the bus so we flagged down a large tourist bus and hitched a ride with them for like $1.50 back to town - it was pretty funny - we all had to stand in the aisle and all these chinses ppl were like wtf...

that night we went to this lightshow that took place on the water with a backdrop of the karsts and it was awesome - our guide said it was like the best thing to see in china and she was right - it was directed by the same guy who did the beijing opening ceremonies so if you saw that you know what i mean - 600 ppl all local fishermen or vendors take part in it and it was pretty cool...we were 7th row but no one sat in front of us so it was a great view - and luckily no rain! it seemed there that the weather could change like every 30 min...our guide said the weather was like a woman - always changing her mind...no idea what that means tho...

the next day me mum and jam took a hot air ballon ride over the karst countryside - it was amazing to say the least - to go on a hot air balloon ride was cool enough but to do it over china with mum and jam truly was once in a lifetime - they were unsure if we were going to proceed because it was a bit windy - but we went ahead we were the first to go up and i think the only ones who could see some of the sunrise...a highlight was actually landing in the road - we overshot the field we were going to land in so our pilot calmly proceeded over a house, massive powerlines (cleared by a foot) and then used the trees to help us land on the highway...the semitruck driver barrelling towards us wasn't too impressed but the pilot just waved him thru and we touched down 2 secs later...pretty unreal. we totally landed in the middle of traffic - and then having to deflate the balloon blocked like the whole highway...never coulda pulled that shizz off in canada thats for sure (well without making the 6 o clock news!) the rest of the day we cruised down the li river for some more karst action and then at night went and checked out some cormorant fishing...pretty weird. that night hit up some dranks with the group and hit up a had to be gay bar...or at least gay night! l-a-d-y b-o-y action...

the day after mum and i hit up a cooking school in the countryside and i now know how to use a wok and dumpling steamer - well i know the technicalities of it but left to my own devices prob have no hope in hell to replicate anything. have the recipes nevertheless so if any of you want to brave a chinese night with me...(dont get too excited - i will prob actually rescind the offer if you ever ask!) then hit up the market and bought some souvies - then boarded the night train to hong kong!

we were able to see some of the eclipse the next morn on the train - we did have to make do with triple sunglasses as viewers which was pretty funny to see...got a bit sick on the train and decided eating or drinking was not the best thing - however then when we finally did get into hong k (had to exit mainland china first and then enter hong kong - wierd process) i almost passed out on the subway! i have never fainted before and its like they say - blacking out and seeing spots! mum said my lips were even white! so thank god i didn't pass out on the subway or even worse when we were going thru the border becuase that prob woulda been automatic quarantine! (btw if you ever feel like passing out - get your head between your knees and get as low to the ground as you can - thanks kim!)

that night we headed to the harbour to view the crazy skyline and then took the ferry to hongkong island and up victoria peak. our tour ended the next day so said some goodbyes that night and the rest the next morn - sad to say goodbye to everyone...but looking forward to hearing their next adventures too!

next day headed out to another island and viewed the worlds largest outdoor seated bronze buddha - so yes that does mean there must be the worlds largest standing gold buddha somewhere (and i actually saw the reclining gold one in bangkok!) then back to the harbour at night for the light show...the next day me and mum headed back to victoria peak to see it in the daytime. that aft i was able to hook up with a friend from architecture and meet him for lunch and check out his studio - very cool chris! then we headed to the airport for out flight to delhi...

i guess i still wasnt over my hong kong sickness as my first memory of india is of me puking in the backseat of our premium private van about 10 min into the 40 min ride....im sure our guide and driver were well impressed with that...that and the fact that the bag mum emptied for me contained her dirty underwear which somehow got left behind in the van that night...again, first impressions with our lovely driver shiva not so good...but by then end of it we were all very good friends (he drove us for basically the whole 2 weeks in delhi, agra and throughout the rahjastani cities). he was jamies indian brotha - although they never got to walk around and hold hands which i think jamie was very dissappointed in...haha. i dont think i ever got used to seeing two straight men walk around and hold hands very affectionately - which is the thing to do in inja...pretty panda eh foley?

so india was a blur of forts, palaces and temples dotting the landscape - people, vehicles and animals crowding the streets - and always tradition, religion and pure insanity hung heavy in the air...the architecture was crazy, ornate highly detailed and decorated...the traffic (always a mix of the above mentioned forms) was insane, life in your hands (or drivers hands) please let me cross this street in one piece adventures, and the indian culture was in your face everywhere - ranging from the awesome like the colourful saris and turbans and the roadside barber stands - to the awful like the street peeing men and the deformed crippled beggars.

the people were all quite great and a simple smile was usually returned when offered - which was a good icebreaker for the mutual curiousity that was evident on both sides. unlike the chinese who would actually come up to you and ask to have their picture taken with you - there were a few shots taken of me that were supposed to be sneaky but pretty obvious - but i was doing the exact same thing with my camera, so hopefully i wasn't as obvious! i loved seeing all the women and men in their traditional gear - we were hard pressed to find that in japan or china. the women in rajastan were always fully decked out in the most vibrant hued saris with about 10 pounds of jewelery everywhere on their bodies - including some huge nose rings on some of the rural ladies...regardless of where they were - shopping in the street or working in the fields, they were always beautiful. the pops of colour that were scattered across the desert always made the long car trips interesting...

the women in india did the crazy carry stuff on your head trick, which i dont think i have seen to such extremes before. but then again all transport in india was always taken to the extreme. they loved to overload anything that moved to the max - and then push it about 50x past the max once more! a typical bicycle cart would be piled with whatever about 10 feet in the air. a typical bus would have about 50 ppl packed inside with another 40 on top and 10 hanging off the sides. a typical camel or elephant would be hauling about 3x their weight. i have to say my favorites tho were the straw trucks that were bulging over about 20ft onthe top and both sides, so that the truck was always on the verge of toppling over - unbelieveable. the constant honking i had to endure in india will forever be ingrained in my mind - i think there are probably no less than 20 horn sounds that i could now distingush - of course the musical ones were my favorite! the random wildlife crowding the streets added a lot to the already over-excited streets. everything from of course cows to monkeys, elephants, camels, goats, peacocks and pigs roamed the roads at their leisure...it was hard enough to dodge the cow pies let alone bull horns which sometimes came dangerously close to an appendage...!

the weather was not as bad as i expected it to be - we did a lot of sightseeing early in the morn or later in the aft to miss the worst of the midday heat - which was perfect for a sweat machine like moi. we missed the monsoon in dehli by like 2 days which was super lucky as it basically shut down the city for a day! we actually had great weather all along which i was super grateful for when it came to some of the higlights of the trip like taj mahal and exploring the ganges at varanasi - which are both must sees if you visit india. the river ghats on the ganges are the sacred pilgrimage spots where people come to bath and also where people are brought to be cremated along the river. pretty weird to see people carrying around dead bodies on their way to the river. we watched sunset prayers and the sunrise bathing, and it definitely was the heady experience i was hoping for. all in all i'd say india was exactly as magnificent as i was expecting it to be and i recommend it to all of you. it does push your limits sometimes, but its well worth the effort of keeping an open mind!

so after about 2 weeks in india, next up was thailand - bangkok, then to chang mai in the north for some hilltribe trekking. bangkok was much better than i had heard it was - there are definitly some scammers quite willing to rip you off (note: when a random thai guy says the main tourist attraction is closed for the day - it's better to not just take their word for it - seriously mum). it is also a must to make sure the taxi meter is turned on or the tuk-tuk fare is known in advance to avoid some rip-offance! the first day we hit up the major attractions like the grand palace and wat pho - home of the huge golden reclining buddha - and then met up with our second tour group and had dinner together. on the way randomly ran into my friend jenelle from high school (on her honeymoon!), which blew my mind and totally brings new meaning to 'small world'...after dinner went to a lady-boy cabaret show! ive never had men make me feel so ugly before! some of these 'gals' were absolutly beautiful and i can bet have fooled a lot of unsuspecting men!

the next day we hired a longboat and explored the canals of bangkok. we stopped at a riverside temple and i released an eel back into the water - guaranteeing me a 'smooth life' for doing so - unless i eat a eel again in this lifetime (shouldn't be a problem as i am not a 'real' sushi eater anyways...) that night we boarded the 14hr sleeper train to the north - this train was a lot better than the chinese 3 bunk 'prisons on rails' that we were expecting. these trains actually had bench seating and tables and then the 'bed master' came along and made comfy beds for everyone - but the highlight of the thai trains was the on board western toilet - ahh luxury...

chang mai was pretty laid back and a nice small city with great restaurants and bars and night market shopping! we also visited an elephant farm where the elephants played soccer for us and did some amazing paintings! i think this stuff has been on tv - they were really good, it was bizarre - super smart animals. then we went to tigerland and actually went into the big cat cages! we petted and lounged with baby lions and big momma tigers - quite scary - these were raised in captivity so at least they werent wild and the trainers were with us the whole time. still, all i could think of was that i didnt want some big cat going all seigfried and roy on me...that would suck. but it was all good - a few nervous moments when the cats would move suddenly - but we all made it out in one piece! later that night saw another temple and got blessed by a monk - so should be all good on the karma front for a while!

we headed out to the hills for our trek, and although some of us were really dreading it (mum) it it wasn't that bad at all. the first day the team motored up the hill making it a bit tough, but then we changed the game plan for the second day and tried to remember to enjoy the scenery around us. the second day we also got a break because we had a elephant ride the rest of the way to camp. our elephant didnt seem to follow directions too well and we had a few impromptu elephant races where he was determined to stay in the lead. needless to say after hanging on for dear life from start to finish my hand was stained with black paint from the back of the iron seat for about 3 days after!

the last day in the hills we hopped on bamboo rafts (the real deal - like ass soaking wet if you sit down deal) and floated down the river for about 4 hrs...swam a bit, and i was in heaven. after lunch we piled into our road sickness inducing machines - which are the open back of truck taxis that is the transport of choice and we headed back into chang for our last group night together which included dinner and a cultural show. we also did the releasing of a traditional thai paper lantern (very beautiful tradition) and then some drinking (bottle service!) and dancing at a local club...till 4:30am apparently...needless to say the thai cooking class i signed up for the next morn was more like torture than tastiness...later that day we boarded the overnight train back to bang, and then the next day a flight for some holidaying in cambodia!

cambodia was similar to thailand but seemed more tropical on the whole. the people were extremely friendly - sometimes waving hello to us first...cambodia is quite a heartbreaking place - it has only been about 20 years since all the fighting for their country stopped. the khmer rouge reign in the late 70s was devastating to the country and saw the murder of millions of cambodians at the hands of the communist regime. there was a killing field close to siem reap but we decided we didnt want to see that. the country is still about 20% landmines and there are many survivors of the landmines who have now trained as musicians and are trying to support themselves this way rather than begging. the poverty was pretty obvious here - but still the people seemed happy.

the first city we were in was siem reap - the gateway to the ancient angkor ruins which we spent 2 days exploring. siem reap has a really good vibe and felt very safe the whole time. pretty touristy, so of course had some good bars and restaurants...more importantly tho, the ruins beyond the city were quite awesome - our favorite being the jugle temple that was featured in tomb raider!...a boat cruise took us to see the countryside and the large lake of floating houses and markets and even floating basketball court! we were also able to take some time to enjoy some massges (thai style which is the masseur using their bodies to massage yours - and you get to wear cute pyjamas!) and some of us indulged in some luxury manicures and pedicures...yes jamie really enjoyed himself at the spa...haha. on our last night we had a memorable moment as we were heading to the night market and a little boy of maybe 3 or 4 came up to me and started walking with me and holding my hand - we werent quite sure what was going on - he was smiley and babbling away while walking with us...i told him to take me to his mama - and with that he started to drag me towards i thought his mama but took me into 7-11 and took me directly to the formula isle...of sourse i happily bought him a container of formula...by this time jamie had also found a little friend...of course coming out of the store about 15 other kids and babies swarmed us and it was super hard to walk away from them...but at least a few bellies got full that night.

the other city we visited was phnom phen (sp?) and this was the capital and much larger...even though it was a larger city it is not as touristy. we did see the national museum which held all the sculptures from the ruins and the grand palace where the king resides was quite cool as well. we only had one night there and spent the evening along the riverside at a restaurant famous for all the permanent collection of photos from the khmer rouge regime time. very cool place and some awesome pizza and sangria! the next afternoon we were off the vietnam!

after a bit of a hiccup at the airport where our bags were mistakenly misplaced with some VIP bags (cuz apparently our backpacks have a very regal apperance?!) we were reunited with them and off for some Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) action! first stop was a restaurant where i met the love of my life - deep fried pumpkin flowers stuffed with prawn meat...i truly am a goner for those beauties...and after some interesting spring rolls in cambodia which im sure had fish in them (horrid) - was quite relieved that the vietnamese spring rolls are more to my liking. i think the vietnamese food has been my favourite so far...

had a quick tour of some of the citys landmarks and was able to see what a pretty city HCMC is. lots of greenery and tall trees all over. the most memorable thing about the city will be all the motorcylces that flood the streets at every turn...at least ppl are wearing helmets here tho! it was amazing to see all the things ppl would load on there bikes here also - probably some favorites were mirrors, armoires, coat racks, and wire baskets...sometimes this was a 2 person operation, but mostly just the (crazy) lone rider...

from saigon we drove to the mekong delta area and had 2 days of boating the river and canals - stopped at historic houses, greenhouses, coconut candy and puffed rice factories...an impromptu stop at a brick making factory was quite interesting actually...did you know it takes about 3 months to make bricks? well neither did i...hopefully i havently caught the malaria as the mekong is pretty prime area for it...actually the mosquitoes here and cambodia have been the worst of the trip, but still about 1 million times better than at home...speaking of millions i have recently become a millionaire since travelling vietnam...thats right - actually a multi millionaire! just today i took out another 2 000 000 as i spent my first 2 000 000 quite quickly...spent 350 000 on jewelry alone yesterday! and its not a good meal unless i drop at least 100 000...the cdn dollar is about 16 500 vietnamese dong...i will relish this while it lasts for sure!

after the mekong we boarded a flight to nha trang where i currently am - this is the place where the vietnamese come for beach vacations so its not totally touristy and still quite beautiful - we were hoping our hotel would be close to the beach and we scored big time with the beach being across the road! water is quite clear and the most perfect temp...we have had some awesome weather here - thank god! we have had a few good storms in the evening and when we first flew into vietnam it was like monsooning out - so we were a bit worried about the weather for our beachy time! but its been all good! spent like 7 hrs on the beach yesterday and made friends with the local beach sellers especially with one pretty hilarious 10 yr old very savvy little girl...the kids that are in school have quite amazing english - you have to pay for all schooling here so you see quite a few kids selling stuff to help pay for school...they are all very industrious and jack up the prices about 4x so at least they are getting a decent profit to help themselves...the other beach sellers included lobsters and shrimps which are cooked for you on a portable makeshift charcoal bbq, fruit sellers, bread and rice cakes sellers, beach massagers, and of course all the standard touristy crap...most things get very quite around lunchtime/early afternoon as its pretty standard napping time for a lot of vietnamese...(think this would fly in canada?) although i think the typical day for an average person is about 15hrs of work..we always seem to have the same staff in the hotels late at night as in the early morning...most of the cities do seem to get very quite around 10pm, which seems to be standard closing time for a lot of shops and stuff...

this morn mum and i did yet another cooking school vietnamese style...like the others this included a trip to the local market which i think the craziest thing was seeing frogs being skinned alive with one cut in the belly skin only! then they are still hopping around skinless! super creepy...also mouse meat is a treat which just seems a bit pointless to me - but one of their cooler eatables is snake meat! havent tried that yet tho as i've only come across it raw in the markets - and im not that adventurous! this cooking class i think was my fave, as we used a lot of pineapple (crazy cheap here!) and i flambed for the first time! im totally a pro at cooking with fire now - ill give you all a demo sometime - just have the extinguisher nearby...

this aft hit the beach again and decided to try parasailing - we watched some ppl go up yesterday but the first ones to go up were 2 chicks who totally wiped out in the water at first - super embarassing! so of course that was my fear, that i would wipe out with all these ppl watching! but i decided if i didnt go becuase of that i would totally be mad at myself for being a pussy...so i signed up without really being able to think that hard on it...i saw some ppl yesterday land on the beach but most landed in the water which i totally wanted to do and avoid the embarassment of eating sand or skinning knees...so just as i was about to go up i say to the guy - "so end in water" and he was like "no water - end beach" and i started "um dont want to..." and before i could finish the sentence i was lifted up in the air! once i was up i was so happy i didnt bail getting up there, but of course now in the back of my mind there was the bail factor on the landing that seemed way more likely than the liftoff! but i was able to just enjoy the ride and try not to freak myself out too much when looking down and letting go of the ropes...i would totally do it again it was quite cool...the ride was pretty short but less than $20 so i think pretty worth it...and my beach landing was as graceful as my take-off! i simply floated down and was caught by the guys waiting - very smooth - thank god! the water today was a lot choppier than yesterday so i think thats why they didnt want to do a water landing - and i think i would have been more scared landing in the water as the waves were pretty rough...so good to know they consider all these things!

tomorrow we are off to hanoi and then we have a halong bay cruise (limestone karsts areas) and overnight on a junk boat...then back to hanoi for another night and then an evening flight to seoul. we have the day in seoul which we plan to quickly explore before heading back to the peg...

so obvs i wont be writing again (not that you are used to a flurry of emials from me lol) but i will see most of you guys soon! let me know who wants to come see my 5000+ photos...there may even be a flambe in it for you! that is if you dont really value your eyebrows...

love jess