I thought returning to Europe after living for 4 months in Asia would be hard. As I was leaving my Bangkok life, I had tears in my eyes. I of course knew that one day I would return to Asia, but it felt so final. Like I would be missing out on a whole side of me if I left. But, fate always has a way of knowing what is best for you. My return to Europe meant finding Rob again, it meant enjoying Europe in a whole different way than before, and it meant accomplishing what I set out to do it the first place- getting my Masters. And what better place to be than Geneva. With Lac Leman, the Rhone, Boulangeries, hearing 5 languages at once often, being close to the mountains, fresh air and smiles out of self-pride.
Tag: adventure
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The Mae Song River, Laos
What was once the considered the soul of the Lao people, the Mae Song, today is considered the soul of the lost. They depise what it has become, because it is now the resting place of unrested souls. Ask me about this.
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Vang Vieng, Laos
When you only have about a week to spare and you are in Bangkok, go to Laos. The travel is pretty simple. Air Asia flys into almost everywhere from Bangkok, and where it does not fly to, you can bus to. I am not going to say it is going to be the most comfortable ride ever, but you will get there. I did it. And I loved every minute of my journey. From Bangkok, I took an Air Asia flight to Udon Thani in Thailand. From the airport, I found a bus that would take me to the Thai-Lao Friendsip Bridge, where I could get my short-stay visa. After exiting immigration, into Laos, it gets funny. Every taxi cab driver asking to take you where you would like to go, because from the immigration terminal, the bus terminal is a bit of a ways. So, chatter chatter chatter, you look safe, sounds great. Though I forget my taxi cab drivers name, our short 20 minute journey is unforgettable. So, I get into the back of his cab, old leather blue seats, ceiling carpet pinned to the roof, no radio, oh and it is a mercades.. an old mercades, the kind where there is no entry point to the front from the back.
So, we drive, we chat, I play bob marley for us, asking him if he knows the artist- he doesn’t. We giggle at the fact that we do not fully understand each other. And then it happens. Screeeeeechhhhhhhhhhhhhh, boom, ouch. Someone just slammed into the back of us and I cannot get out of the car.
How did this happen? Well, this cute little woman on a moped, tried to park her bike on the sidewalk and she didn’t settle it down before walking away. So, as she steps away to purchase her coffee, she sees in the back of her eyes that her bike is falling into the street. She bends down to pick it up, not looking at what is coming (possible decapitation), so we break. HARD. Slam, boom, I am stuck in the back of a wrecked vehicle. My poor taxi driver gets out, yells at the woman, yells at the man who just hit his sole source of income, and then thinks- and helps me out the car, over the front seat and out (for my door is jammed). I get out, thinking, what the heck is going to happen now? I needed to catch the next bus to get to Vang Vieng on time, and now where am I? Then I hear voices behind me inside the coffee shop. So, I go in and I wait. I buy a beer and wait. An hour later, after paying the taxi half his money, he calls a friend of his to come pick me up and drop me off at the bus station. Thankfully. And with no physical damage done to anyone, my new bob marley fan of a friend is left waving to sort out his own problem. Yikes.
But, I think, I want to get to Vang Vieng. I have hostel reservations and am supposed to meet up with my friend Michael. He will worry if not. So, to the bus station I go. I arrive pretty late, Michael is no where in site. So, I find wifi and facebook him. You can find me at “——–“, with a beer and some food. Hours later he shows, whew. And we begin to explore Laos, chat by chat, through mosquitos, new Lao friends, new British friends, watching screwed up tourists with hurt faces from falling, and little by little capturing the fact that Vang Vieng is not the real Laos. It is party tourist Laos. But, being there with no time to travel else where, we took it for what is was and sought to find the trueness of where we were: somewhere between lost and found.
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Ta Phrom, Angkor Wat Complex, Siem Reap
As long as your roots are strong, you can grow any place you like. Lesson learned. Attempting to live the same.
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Daily Life in BKK
What I have, I most certainly take for granted. Even though I am constantly thanking God for my wonderful family, friends, and the path he has placed me on. As I walk through downtown Bangkok, it is easy to forget where I am… and continue daily life. But then, I have that moment, which comes every time I travel away from my base… Inside my head, I draw a little map of the world… and imagine a red dot in Houston, TX … then a line that crosses thousands of miles of ocean, land, and the 7 billion people who live in this world… all the way to another dot in Bangkok. It is crazy how far away I am. But, I guess coming from such a close family…I never feel that far.
My everyday encounters can be summed up by the buzz of a foreign language, the strumming of the BTS (public trasit above), Motorcycle Taxis- asking me if I want a ride, searching for a fresh breath of air, smiles all around me, fruit stands, coffee stands, my computer, articles, papers, writing, thinking about life, how blessed I am.
Just came back from Cambodia yesterday, and that is a whole different story soon to come.
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Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
From Hanoi, we set out via private car to the port of the Gulf of Tonkin for our excursion to Ha Long Bay. The port is a mess of tourists, all being herded by vietmanese cattle drivers. You there, no no, come come, you wait. ATMs are hard to come by, and you need cash, so make sure to pull out your DONG here. Play on words, but seriously, pull out your DONG (Vietmanese Currency). Although some may accept USD.
After about an hour of moving from here to there, we got on our boat. Though I was simply a tourist, I felt like a pirate. Of course, all the boats are made to look like pirate ships and therefore make you feel all ARRRGG, but even though you know its a trick, the boats do the job. As a tourist, in the mist of the bay, I set out for an evening at sea. Darting through islands, looking at the stars and sipping cocktails. Eventually I make my way to your room, and settled in for a pirates nap. As I woke up in the early morning, after a soft night of sleep at “sea”, I was taken aback by the beauty of the bay.
Ha Long Bay is a designated World Heritage Site and feels like a magical land you seek only on epic, pirate’s tale kind of adventure. It is one of earth’s most spectacular beauties. Halong translates as ‘where the dragon descends into the sea’, and as legend claims, the islands of Ha long Bay were created as a great dragon from the deepest part of the mountains, sped towards the coast, creating valleys and crevasses in its midst. And as the mighty dragon dove into the sea, he filled the valleys with water, leaving only the peaks for human eyes to see.
As we carved our way to the end of the bay, I was seriously on the look out for that dragon. Ha Long is that mystical and beautiful.
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Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
The salvages of war can still be seen. The lack of governance and extreme poverty shine, like the new pair of Channel heels a Western woman stomps around in. Pollution so thick, grabbing one molecule of it seems feasible. Labor, especially for women, so back breaking… I could feel the pain as I sat my happy ass on the bus. The concept of development and developing countries, for the first time, is clear. And in all of this, I still came out amazed by the sheer brilliance and drive of the average Vietmanese man and woman. This connection I witnessed between my world and theirs, and the understanding I gained, will forever be with me.
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Hanoi, Vietnam
EasyJet in Europe, easy, AirAsia in Asia, maybe easier. Flying around Asia from Bangkok is so simple. So when planning my next trip, Vietnam seemed a simple choice. The plan was to fly from BKK to Hanoi, spend an evening in Hanoi and then take a 2 day, 1 night trip to Ha Long Bay, then take a train to Ho Chi Minh. Planning was pretty minimal. All I really needed to do was to make sure my flight was booked to Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Minh, and reserve hostels. Easy. For traveling to Ha Long Bay, let me tell you folks, you do not need to book this way in advance. I was on a pretty tight schedule because of school, and I didn’t even book it in advance. All I did, was upon arrival to our hostel in Hanoi, ask our hotel manager “Peter” to arrange the 1 night trip for us. We paid for our hostel, then the trip and out for sight seeing we went. Hanoi, I think, is the most polluted city I have ever been to thus far. Every person is wearing a face mask, trying not to suck in the air. The number of mopeds is really truly crazy, way more intense than Bangkok. But, one thing really cool about Hanoi is street food. The Pho, of course is delicious, but what is even better is seeing people squat to eat it. Like squatting for prolonged periods of time is easier than standing. Funny. Now, even more funny is trying to do it yourself. Try it. Sit sumo squatted with your heels touching the floor while eating. It’s close to impossible for an Anglo. But, the Vietnamese are no stranger to it, it’s their norm. Hanoi, I think, is not what you expect from Vietnam. Somehow, I had imagined Vietnam to be cleaner than Thailand, more pristine. But, it wasn’t. Cleanliness wise, it was a step down, but in terms of edginess, it was lighter and softer than Bangkok. Imagine coughing fumes while swirling in light, that is how it felt. Go to Hanoi, you will love it.
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Blessed
Tonight is one of those nights where I can’t stop thinking about how blessed I am and all of what life has brought me thus far. I am born into the most beautiful, loving kind and crazy-perfect family; brought up in the best way (with my loving family by my side), played college volleyball at a school that I am still proud of, received one of the best educations in the USA. In just the past 2 years (since graduating college), I have traveled outside of the U.S. to Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, moved to Switzerland and have been attending Webster University for my Masters. At Webster, I am blessed to be the pupil of professors whose backgrounds range from BBC spokesman, to authors, to humanitarians, to humanitarian agency workers, former ambassadors and more. Slowly but surely I am becoming intellectually worldly- and this fact leaves me proud and thoughtful. At the moment, I am continuing my quest for knowledge in South East Asia; living in Bangkok, Thailand and traveling all around the region. And, tomorrow or in 4 hours, I leave for Vietnam. I can’t sleep because I love this life (and run on sentences).
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Koh Chang, Thailand
So this weekend, I took my first big girl trip all by myself!!! This is something I have been craving to do for a very long time. Something about being strong enough, independent enough, smart enough to travel alone. It was amazing. I made some good friends, had relaxing beach time, read my book, and got to see a little more of island Thai life. I of course, talked to myself ALOT. Walking myself through the quietness of being alone and the ingrained fear. Making mental notes of the beauty and the courseness. And by the end of the trip, I was floating freely in my independence.
Now back to my suedo real world.
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Moving to Bangkok
So, I have moved to Thailand now. Why you ask? Well, the obvious answer is for the adventure of it, exploration. How did I get to do this, is probably a better question. I managed this by deciding to study abroad from my abroad study in Geneva. For the next four months, January through the end of April, I will be continuing my Masters Program at Webster, University, here in Bangkok. Lucky for me, I convinced my friend Robby to do his last semester here in Bangkok as well. So, just last week, we hopped on an ever long flight from Geneva to here. We had a 12 hour layover in Qatar, which was quite weird I would say. Our little layover, meant my first steps into a Muslim country, with mosques inside airports, certain types of food, and women covered from head to toe. It was an experience. Something that I am glad I have experienced. While we were not incredibly happy about the food, it was pretty gross actually (I will blame that on the airport, not the country), the people were rather friendly. So, some card playing, a bit of sleep, and some chatting. Perfect. Next stop, Bangkok.
Upon arriving to Thailand, Robby and I were just so excited! I was literally bouncing up and down at every sight. So excited for the newness and to be on the complete other side of the world from home. As we arrived, Poon from Webster was waiting at the airport for us. Though it took us a while to find him, with no cell phones, no internet, and no way to find someone besides simply using our eyes, we found him. With rumbling Qatari stomachs, we were hoping that the first thing on the to-do list was Thai Food. Unfortunately, Poon was scared to engage our stomachs in any more battles- so he thought McDonalds would be appropriate. Of course he did- I thought. Two Americans- McDonaIds is the answer. Woof. I didn’t have the guts to tell him that I do not eat McDonalds. I mean, the whole flight to Bangkok, I was reading up on courtesies, Thai phrases, gestures, ways of working, the works. So, I regretfully ordered. Ew. But, okay, our American stomachs were fine. After dinner, Poon drove us to our new apartment building, by the On Nut BTS station. Our landlords warmly welcomed us- Sawatikah (head bow), we did it back. And with Robby on the second floor and I, on the third, we settled in our new rooms and new lives. Of course, sleeping is not really an option. I am way to excited. Tomorrow, my new adventure begins.
Kap kun kah.
Allison A Janssen 