The Wanderful Life of Jasmine

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

First week in the motherland - Vietnam

It's officially been a week since I've arrived in Vietnam.
I feel as if I've been here for so much longer than a week.
Every day has been very eventful, visiting place after place and one relative after another.
I've lost track of who is who, where I am, and even how long I've been in Vietnam.

The flight to Vietnam was extremely tiring. My father and I spent about 22 hours in a plane and 6 hours in layovers.
Right after getting off the plane, I realized how humid it was. The humidity just hits you and makes you feel sweaty and gross instantly.
On the drive home from the airport, I had my first experience with traffic in Vietnam.
I was shocked that mopeds/motorcycles were weaving around cars, and people were crossing in front of moving traffic.
I almost had a heart attack when a guy jumped out right in front of our car to retrieve a soccer ball.
Traffic in Vietnam is seriously like some sort of challenge course where everybody's life depends on their ability to dodge each other.
It's mind blowing how people aren't getting hit left and right.
The sound of honking fills the busy streets. Some honks mean "careful, I'm about to cross this intersection" and other honks mean "get the hell out of my way before I hit you."

Before Vietnam, I had never ridden on a moped or motorcycle. I had always wanted to ride on a moped (in Italy with a handsome Italian guy.) However, my first moped ride wasn't quite as romantic. Instead, I was gripping on to my aunt for dear life with a ridiculously terrified expression on my face. I feel like I've experienced so many "almost crashes" riding on mopeds here.

Before heading home to my uncle's house, we stopped at a restaurant off the street. I had my first Hanoi beer and stir-fried pho. I was scared to eat, afraid that anything could upset my stomach. When we arrived at my uncle's house, I was ready to plop onto a bed and pass out.
Instead of a bed though, I had to plop onto a woven mat on the tile floor. It was definitely not the most comfortable sleeping situation, but I was tired enough to pass out. In Vietnam, many families still sleep on woven mats on either hard floors or wooden beds. While it's good for your back, it's not exactly comfortable. Another difference I realized my first night was the bathroom. Not all bathrooms in Vietnam have toilet paper...instead they all have a nozzle to spray water for cleaning the privates. Also, most bathrooms don't have a bathtub or a shower room. There's just a shower nozzle by the sink and toilet and a drain on the floor. The modern houses, however, have bedrooms and bathrooms similar to those in America.

My first week in Vietnam was spent visiting many relatives on my father's side of the family as well as a few on my mother's side. I've met so many relatives that I've seriously lost track of who is who. It's somewhat overwhelming to suddenly have so many people introduced into your life.

While most of my time was spent in various parts of Hanoi, my father and I also took 1-2 hour trips out to the rural countryside to visit the older generation of relatives. It was interesting see the places where my ancestors came from and where some of my relatives still live. The rural parts of Vietnam were definitely a lot different than the capital, Hanoi (obviously, right?). The good difference was that the roads weren't insanely hectic, but the bad difference was that most places didn't have air conditioner. It was suffocating being out in the countryside with no air conditioning as Vietnam is a very humid and hot country. I felt so exhausted and at times felt like I was going to pass out.

Besides the uncomfortable weather, one of the hardest thing for me to get used to in Vietnam is the dirtiness of things. Growing up, I've always been somewhat of a "clean freak." I tend to wash my hands a lot, get easily disgusted if the silverware I'm using isn't spotless and can't eat anything that flies have flown in. So...as you would imagine, it was quite difficult to push my "clean freak" habits aside. A lot of places in Vietnam don't have hand soap, a lot of times silverware isn't very clean and flies landing on food is a common occurrence (mostly in the countryside).

Eating Vietnamese food everyday wasn't very hard to get used to as most of the time, it's very delicious. I've had the opportunity to try soo many tasty new dishes here. Luckily, so far, I haven't had any stomach problems. When I first arrived in Vietnam, I was so scared to eat anything in fear of upsetting my stomach. However, now, I feel quite at ease in trying new foods. (I really hope I'm not jinxing myself...) When coming to Vietnam, eating street food is a must. It's kind of fun sitting at a street stall and people watching while eating the local dishes.

Before going to Vietnam, I was told that I should barter before purchasing anything. Coming from America, I definitely did not have much experience bartering. Even after a week in Vietnam, I still don't feel quite comfortable doing it. Luckily, I go around with my cousins and they're quite skilled at doing so. Thanks to their help, I've avoided being ripped off quite a lot. If coming to Vietnam, it's advisable to go around with a local. Because if people know you're a foreigner, they might just try to rip you off.

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I started writing this blog post exactly a week after arriving in Vietnam. However it's been more than a week now. It's somewhat difficult to just sit down for a chunk of time and write as I've been almost constantly on the travel or without Wi-Fi access. Anyways, the next post will be on my weekend trip to Sapa.

I have just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City in Saigon. The next couple of days I will be visiting relatives in Vung Tau. Then I will be traveling to Nha Trang and Da Lat. I will possibly be going to Da Nang and Hoi An in the middle region of Vietnam before returning to the North.

About three more weeks left in Vietnam. :)

Hai Phong countryside

Making fresh sugar cane drinks

Hai Phong countryside

Meal in the countryside

Pagoda in Hai Phong

Students practicing martial arts in the pagoda

Martial arts equipment

King Bao Dai Palace

Another meal in the countryside

Hanoi night market

Hanoi Temple of Literature

Hanoi market- fabric heaven

Hanoi market- fresh fruits/veggies

Hanoi Royal City

Inside Hanoi Royal City

Inside Royal City

Friday, June 6, 2014

The Road to Hollywood

After our stay in San Francisco, we headed out to our next stop--Los Angeles. There are several possible routes to get to L.A. from S.F. The long route is the coastal route that takes about 9-10 hours. The short route takes about 6 hours. For the first 2-3 hours or so, we took the coastal route which was beautiful. We had an amazing view of the mountainside and the ocean. However, we decided that we didn't want to drive for that long, so we switched over to the shorter route. I never quite realized how flat Oklahoma actually was until the drive through California. It seemed like the slopes and hills were endless.

We didn't actually stay in the center of L.A. Instead, we rented an apartment in the city of Marina Del Rey. We were about 5-10 minutes from Venice Beach and about 25 minutes from Santa Monica Beach. The apartment was super nice and spacious. It was definitely a lot better than the small, old and slightly creepy hotel in San Francisco.

After unpacking in our new apartment, we headed out to Korean town in L.A. We went to a Korean restaurant and spotted our first celebrity--a famous Korean chef that appears regularly on Korean T.V. Since I don't watch Korean T.V., I didn't know who she was. But my Korean brother-in-law and sister recognized her.

On our second day in So Cal, we headed to the beach. Our first beach stop was Venice Beach since it was very close to our apartment. The beach was very clean and the atmosphere was great. We spent a few hours relaxing on the beach, taking lots of photos, and creeping on a beautifully sculpted lifeguard that looked like he belonged on an Abercrombie advertisement. After spending a few hours on Venice Beach, we headed to the well-known Santa Monica Beach. There was much more activity on that beach than on Venice Beach. Instead of just lounging in the sand, we decided to rent bikes for an hour and bike along the beach. It was a lot of fun and a great way to take in the sights. When our hour was up, we took a stroll through the pier that was filled with food stands and bustling with entertainment. After we had enough of the beach, we headed down to L.A. to see the famous Hollywood sign. The navigation took us up a hill towards the sign, however, the route was blocked off before we could actually get to the sign. Sooooo....we parked our huge van and trespassed into the blocked off path and took some pictures near the sign before heading down. YOLO, right?

For our last day in So Cal, my parents wanted to visit Little Saigon, which has the most Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. We spent a few hours eating and walking around the Asian Garden Mall. Then, we decided to head back to L.A. and visit the center of Hollywood. We strolled along the Walk of Fame and took touristy pictures with the stars on the ground. The Walk of Fame was crowded with tourists, people dressed as celebrities, and street shows.

While I can't see myself living in San Francisco, I can definitely see myself living in So Cal. I love the beaches, the weather and the atmosphere in general. It seems like a fun place to live for a while. I can't wait till my next trip to California now!

A pit stop on the scenic route from S.F. to L.A.

Venice Beach Boardwalk

Venice Beach

Santa Monica Beach

Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Beach view from pier

Santa Monica Pier

Hollywood Sign

Car spotted on Walk of Fame

Road to Hollywood

Shopping center in The Road to Hollywood

The start of The Road to Hollywood

Michael Jackson impersonator

Chinese Theater

Walk of Fame

Chinese Theater

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I left my heart in San Francisco

After spending two days in Las Vegas, we rented a 15 passenger van and headed out to our first destination in California--San Francisco.
The road trip there wasn't too long and took only about seven hours.

We arrived to San Francisco late at night and checked into our hotel. Our hotel was the Fitzgerald hotel that was located on Post street, just a few blocks down from where many iconic movie scenes were filmed. The hotel was completely different from our Vegas hotel. It was not very modern and had a tiny old style elevator with a manual door and gate. The rooms were fairly small and cramped. However, I didn't mind that the hotel was old and small since I've definitely been in hotels that are much older (in Rome) and much smaller (in Paris.) What I did mind was that our hotel rooms were somewhat spooky...

While we were unpacking our stuff during our first night, my oldest sister exclaimed "Hey guys, look! look!" When my other sister and I turned around, we saw the opened drawer that she was pointing at. We were a bit confused at what we were supposed to be looking at. Then, my oldest sister exclaimed that the drawer had just opened on its own...We reasoned that the floor of the room was not leveled, which in turn causes the drawer to slide open. I'm not sure if any of us actually believed this, but it was better to have a logical explanation than to suspect paranormal activity. Over the course of the next two days we experienced our hotel door and bathroom door shutting on its own as well. The first night I ended up with nightmares and couldn't sleep very well. It didn't help that we were right next to the a main road where peace and quiet didn't exist. Luckily, the next two nights I was exhausted enough to quickly fall into deep sleep and not wake up in the middle of the night.

During our first day in San Francisco we met up with my mom's childhood friend that she hadn't seen in over 40 years. He and his wife bought us tickets for the double decker tour bus and so we all got on and toured San Francisco by bus. It was very hot that day, around 94 degrees, which we were told was extremely unusual weather for S.F. The bus tour was around 2-3 hours and it took us to all the popular spots in the city such as the famous Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39. After the bus tour, we headed down to Chinatown for a late lunch. Then, my mom's friend headed home and my family and I ventured out to do some exploration on our own. We explored North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf our first day. Afterward, we headed back to my mom's friend's apartment for dinner. Later that night, we stopped by Union Square before heading back to our hotel. We spent about half an hour at Union Square just chit chatting with each other. I was sitting with my siblings on some steps while my parents and my mom's friend was sitting on a bench just a few feet away. Suddenly a homeless man walked to the table in front of us and slammed his fist on it violently. In my head I was thinking "oh god, please don't come over here", but unfortunately he did. As he started to walk over, I stood up. As I was about to walk away, my sister told me to stay in Vietnamese. I knew that she didn't want him to perceive that we were frightened. When the homeless guy got to us, he started talking nonsense and then asked for a penny. When my mom's childhood friend told the homeless guy that we didn't have any money, he's slammed his fist on something else and walked off angrily. My heart was pounding so fast that all I wanted to do was to return to our "haunted" hotel.

On our second day in San Francisco, we toured the Alcatraz prison, walked around Pier 39, ate overpriced seafood at the Fishermen Wharf, and visited the crookedest street in S.F. a.k.a. Lombard Street. After we descended the steep slope down from the Lombard Street, we stopped at a café for some drinks. Since San Francisco is known for the cable cars, we decided to hop on one to get back to our hotel. All the seats in the cable car that arrived were full, so we had to stand up and hold onto the poles. The ride back to the hotel was definitely fun but kind of scary. It almost seemed like a rollercoaster ride going up and down the slopes. I wonder how many people fall off the cable cars each year...since there's nothing holding you in, you're basically just holding on to the pole for dear life.

While I think San Francisco is a very beautiful city, I don't think I would ever want to live there due to the homeless people situation. We were almost always surrounded by homeless people everywhere we went in San Francisco. It's definitely a problem that the city needs to resolve...

"I left my heart in San Francisco

High on a hill, it calls to me
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars
The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care"