Vacation from my Vacation

The last couple months teaching hasn't felt like a normal job. I work half the week and explore and play basketball against China at the park the rest of the week. Even with that the end of the semester means it's time for a vacation. Living in China gives me a large selection of countries to travel to in close proximity. 

Oh the places you could go

I already knew months before where I wanted to go, I would head over to Japan and the Philippines.

I will probably blog more in depth thoughts on the 2 countries but for now here is a montage of what I experienced in those countries. First up is Japan, I spent a week in Japan. It came out to 5 days in Tokyo and 2 in Kyoto. Enjoy!

Then off to the motherland, the Philippines. 6 days in Manila and 3 days in Puerto Princessa.

Meanwhile in China....

If you are somewhat in the loop with my travels you know that I have been out of Cambodia for over a month. To those skimming through the blog or have stumbled upon it somehow (shout out to the 2 people in Russia, I see you!) it might seem that the post are happening in real time.

nope this is not 24

People have asked me "how is China?" China is a somewhat mysterious place to most of the world. China is so massive that I think my experience in China is not really indicative to what China is like. So, what do we know about China? China is massive for sure, that's a given. China has a lot of history, about 5,000 years of culture and history making for a unique experience which is really dependent on where you are at. When people think of China they think of the major cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc. As for me I am in the Northern China, the city of Yinchuan to be exact

Where in the world is Alex? Northern China that's where.

Yinchuan is small by China standards coming in somewhere around a million people. Of that million people there are about a dozen foreigners. This is a very Chinese place. There are a couple KFCs and Pizza Huts but other than that Western Influence is minimal at best. The first thing that struck me when I arrived here was the cold. Living in California cold is not really that bad of a thing. Not to mention that I was just in Cambodia which is pretty much the complete opposite, weather wise. This kind of cold is comparable to when I use to work at Target and eat ice cream in the walk in freezers (Sup Target people). But with that I could just walk out of the freezer, Yinchuan is a perpetual freezer at the moment. During the day the temperature heats up to a toasty 30 degrees but the mornings routinely lie in the single digits Fahrenheit.

Thanks for the heads up Governator! 

Figuring out what China is like will take some time I think. I am still sort of in my foreigner bubble almost 2 months here. Nobody speaks English here other than people I work with. With each passing day I am doing more "normal" things (got a haircut the other day) and immersing myself into the culture. I am learning the way of people, some of the language, and so far China is quite nice. I feel like this blog post could go on forever about the differences between China and America thus far but I am in no rush. I have 8 months to figure out the answer to the question "What's China like?" 

So far I have: Chinese people like to spit, pick their noses, and drink hot water. I've got a long way to go.

I present to you.....Yinchuan

Oh yeah I teach too

Although, it may look like its all play and no work I have indeed been working as an English foreign teacher. When I decided to leave for Asia what was so appealing was the unknown. Not just the unknown of a foreign country but also the unknown of teaching. My thought process was, "hey I speak English how hard could it be to teach it." Well.....as I found out it is a little more complicated than that.

My training in Cambodia went for about a month and was a lot of information to take in a short period of time. I wasn't naive going in to it. I understood that the company providing the training, LanguageCorps, was still a business at the end of the day. It's their job to churn out teachers at a month at a time and generate a profit. I learned very quickly that as much work that I put in was going to be the amount of success that I got out. I was a number to them and at the end of TESOL course I was going to get my certificate and I wouldn't be their problem anymore. I had a job lined up beforehand in China because that is the only way to get into China, so the worries of unemployment was not weighing over my head.

There were growing pains for sure, during our classes there were good days and bad days. Days that I just froze up during demos and days that I left class feeling like I could really do this. Being out of school for a couple years made the adjustment tougher. Getting back into student mode and the 8-5 class days brought back some remembrance of my college experience. Also, I realized that other than the basics I didn't really no much about English. Noun, verbs, adjectives.....the hell is a gerund? I was a Marketing graduate disguised as a graphic designer. It's safe to say English was not my forte.

  I knew nothing

The staff training us to be future teachers were a mixed bag. What they lacked in traditional teaching qualities they made up with the years of experience of being a English foreign teacher. I found the course material kind of dry and their were a lot of generalizations about teaching in Asia and Asia in general. None of the teachers taught in China, so I didn't really know what would really apply to me. Also, the person running the program was my favorite person so there was that to deal with. As with most endeavors that I take on I just went with it and applied my personal mantra that I have always lived by that all things will work themselves out in the end.

Not a good sign.

And things did eventually work out. I think what made them work was that the people in my group were all pretty like minded. We luckily got the right mix of people and really got along well. They were really helpful in the late night lesson plans and then the subsequent trading of lesson plans when I was too tired to make new ones. It was safe to say we had each other's back in this whole teaching thing. 

One of the biggest questions with I had for myself regarding teaching was, would I like it? Lesson planning is not my favorite thing in the world I am an expert level procrastinator so that really works against me. As for teaching...........IT'S GREAT! It's something that I've gravitated to more so than any other job that I've had. Sitting in an office doing minimal work in San Francisco had its perks but I seldom felt as invested as I feel in teaching. I had my reservations with dealing with kids, kids can be dicks. I like to work a job where I can see a direct result of my the work I put in. When a student gets it in means that the work I put in has paid off and when a student doesn't get it, it means that I need to put more effort into it. It's not always that simple of course. There are outliers but a smooth class feels way better than praise over a good report or a well received design I submit in my old jobs. 

The kids in the above picture are from the SSD orphanage in Cambodia. These kids will be hard to be  replaced as my favorite class of all time. They didn't have much but their positive outlook and enthusiasm for what I had to offer them was great. They kind of get a raw deal given that they are used as a training ground for potential teachers. Imagine having a new teacher every 2 weeks. The lack of continuity of lessons and styles is difficult to say the least. I tried to make the most of my time with them and hopefully I helped them in some sort of way.

I have a long way to go as a teacher and many things to learn. At the time of this blog post I am 1 month removed from Cambodia and a full time English teacher in China (that's another story for another blog post). I have a long way to go in becoming the kind of teacher that I think I'm capable of. Each class is a learning process and I take away new helpful techniques everyday, but I'm going to have fun along the way.

It's not all fun and games....except for the fact that it is.

Bangkok Not So Dangerous

When I visited Bangkok I had come in with expectations of an out of control city where Nick Cage goes around battling Thai gangsters in true Nick Cage fashion. Sure, I say that in jest but still Bangkok has the reputation for the definitive place to expect the unexpected.

It's not this crazy Nick

What I got was a booming metropolis. I mean, sure the nightlife is amazing, I did the whole hostel on Khao San Road. I did see a Ping Pong Show, I get why they call it Ping Pong because that is the tamest portion of the show. I'm guessing woman shoot darts out of her vagina to pop a balloon show would scare people off. We saw some amazing temples, ate amazing food and all in all Bangkok was a great experience.

morning. afternoon. night

It just lacked authenticity to me. It didn't feel like I was in Southeast Asia. I'm not saying everything has to look like 3rd world country but this place was on par with major U.S cities. Such a drastic change from what I have seen so far. Coming from a month in Cambodia where what you see is what you get Bangkok was a little safe to me. The first thing when entering Bangkok that draws your attention are the buildings. Skyscraper after skyscraper in constant competition on who can reach space the fastest. Next is the traffic. Not just traffic because I am use to traffic in big cities but the very fact of traffic lights. In Cambodia stop lights are few and far between and even when there are lights, they are optional (the option is always no). The city part still has aspects of Southeast Asia sprinkled around like; street food, markets, etc. It was just I got an overall feeling of ease that I didn't have in Cambodia.

Walking Dead?

I like exploration and adventure and I know I didn't see all of Bangkok so it is somewhat unfair for me to judge Bangkok as a whole, but it didn't feel like an adventure. It felt like a party dabbled with some culture, mixed with a big city. I think to sum it up best would be to say I felt comfortable there.

A pool as if it appears from nowhere

I will visit Bangkok again I'm sure and maybe the second time around I will be captivated in ways that many others have been, but until then Bangkok I like you, but let's just be friends.

Sunrise over Bangkok not too shabby

Bonus blog! Yes we KANchanaburi

Since my I started my travels I have seen and experienced some amazing things. The realness of poverty in Phnom Penh, the ancient Angkor Wat (no blog post, it's awesome go see it...now!), the pristine beaches of Sihanoukville, a compound leg fracture in Siem Reap (don't do backflips in the rain kids), the aforementioned Bangkok, but nothing compares to the Erawan Falls of Kanchanaburi.

Erawan so nice they put it on there twice.

I may be biased because I enjoy hiking, its the BESTEST thing ever (yes I teach English BTW). But, when you have a waterfall in hike that's a bonus! But, when you have 7 waterfalls in a hike?? Get the fuck out of here that is unheard of! And that is what you get with the Erawan Falls in the small town of Kanchanaburi located west of Bangkok.

We took a bus from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi around noon, I forget how long it was, anything is a short ride after you've done the 12 bus from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. We got a tip from a nice lady in Bangkok to stay at the Blue Star Guesthouse, so we decided to give it a chance and I am glad we did. For under $10 we got to stay in charming bungalows right in middle of the expat restaurant and bar area of the town.

Really Motel 6? I could rent 5 bungalows for that price and only half the amount of poisonous bugs.

We enjoyed the nightlife and got some rest to catch the hour and half bus ride to the national park at 9AM. Standing room only for me but no big deal it was just like a good ol' BART ride without the pee smell and the crazies.

We arrived and began the hike. We got to the first waterfall and it was breathtaking, nature at it's finest. Initially, I was soaking it in and enjoying exploring the waterfall but then realized if this is the first waterfall then they just must keep getting better. Rather than get it and wade around the water it seemed better to trek to the top or we might be here all day...that wouldn't be the worse thing actually. The hike isn't all that strenuous, but the sights are amazing. Waterfall after waterfall the next one better than the last, it was an avid hiker's dream.

Nature is cool

As we were nearing the top, around waterfall 6 we decided to get in because it was pretty empty at the time. The water was perfect given the heat and humidity that is Thailand. To have a waterfall and spring to ourselves for that instant in time is definitely one of the memory bank. A good 30 minutes enjoying Tier 6 we decided to head over to the main attraction. The 7th tier waterfall is said to resemble Erawan the 3 headed elephant of Hindu mythology. I didn't really see it from my perspective but, I also never saw the 3D picture in those old 3D posters, so I wouldn't trust my eyes.

3 headed elephant or nah?

This waterfall lived up to the billing. Amazing. The ability to be directly under such a massive waterfall as drowns down on you with such force(no picture because you kinda have to swim there) is unforgettable. There are pretty sizable fish in the water that nibble on your toes, you can pay for them to do it in the city or go to Erawan where they do it for free!

Without a doubt Erawan Falls has been the highlight of my travels. I wish I had more time in Kanchanaburi and I will try to make it back. There are also hot springs and caves to explore and I do have a thing for caves.

Kanchanaburi thanks for the memories.

Wheelin' and Dealin'

Another memory of the Kingdom of Cambodia......

In Cambodia there's about 3 practical ways to get around town: you can walk of course, take a moto (never felt comfortable jumping on a random person's motorcycle) or you can use everyone's favorite form of transportation the Tuk Tuk.

Buses? nahhhhhh

At first coming to a foreign country and hopping on a Tuk Tuk was a cool experience. Of course we overpaid for the first week or so then it was time to master the art of negotiation. I have watched quite a bit of True Tv's smash hit "Hardcore Pawn," and that is how I approach Tuk Tuks and Cambodian shopping in general. Transportation is probably one the largest expense for me in Cambodia. A place where necessities like food and housing are dirt cheap, transportation felt grossly overpriced.

Steps to every Tuk Tuk ride

1.  Flag down a Tuk Tuk - It's funny if you decide to do some walking around Phnom Penh you will be hounded the calls of 'Tuk Tuk?" constantly. One after another will proposition you with offers for rides. It's funny that even after you turn down a driver in front of another driver the other driver will still ask you. They are a persistent bunch. 

2. Location, Location, Location - You think with the large number of foreigners that inhabit the city the drivers would recognize certain high profile places. There was really own a handful of places that we would go constantly (definite foreign inhabited places) and getting there was always an adventure. Usually a Tuk Tuk driver will just agree that they know the place and drive around aimlessly asking for directions.

3. Let's make a deal - Here is the fun part. There are different tactics to getting a price that you are comfortable with. I could pass for Cambodian so I feel I had some extra bargaining power, but my lack of knowledge of the Khmer language put the stops on that most of the time.  So here's how most negotiations went after the destination was agreed upon:

Driver: (counts the number of people in our party) "6 dollars"

Us: (say there is 5 of us, knowing no destination in Phnom Penh is worth 6 dollars) "No, 2 dollars" (we're really aiming for 3 dollars)

Driver: (laughs like were joking) "There's 5 of you, 5 dollars"

Us: (as a Tuk Tuk with 15 Cambodians drives by) "That's not how it works, 2 dollars"

Driver: "Ok Ok 4 dollars"

Us: (Now we go to close the deal) "Ok, 3 dollars"

Driver: "Noooooo, it's so far, it's busy, etc" 

Here is where an impasse has been reached and you have to hit them with the walkaway.

Us: "Ok, never mind" (start walking away slowly and wait for it....)

Driver: "Ok Ok Ok 3 dollars"
 Us: (We get in and talk amongst each other) "You know we're still not getting the local price." "Yeah."

The walkaway when you know the driver is about to give in

4. Actually getting there - More often than not drivers have no idea where they have agreed to take you. Mostly because of the language barriers, but as a driver who biggest paydays are when driving around non locals, it would be nice to recognize a couple key places in English, but I digress. Normally it's no big deal you just assume it will take longer than it should to get from point A to point B, but sometimes you get that asshole driver. Once in awhile a driver will pull some sketchy maneuvers. 

For example, they will stop at the destination not where you've agreed upon (usually at night) and ask for the money to drop you off wherever he stopped or ask for more to take you the rest of the way. 

Real dickhead move Cambodia

Small anecdote: One time after a night out 2 other companions and I grabbed a Tuk Tuk to head back to the hotel. Seemed like an ordinary driver but we soon found it he was not. He had frequent this route home many time so it was weird that the driver was taking all these different side streets. After we recognized that he was clearly going in the wrong direction something didn't feel right. The driver was going real slow and looking around very suspiciously almost like he was looking for someone rather than somewhere. We had been warned about robberies, so we started to suspect the worse. Then it happened. Two moto drivers going towards us, passed then did u-turns to get behind us. We began prepare for who knows what as they got closer, but ultimately they just passed. That was enough for us to get out and abandon this driver. 

We see a restaurant and tell him to stop. We had agreed on 3 dollars, but clearly we were not there. We gave the driver a dollar and explained that we are not close to where we are suppose to be. He is not reasoning with us and wants the full amount. This goes back and forth for awhile and before it escalates we decide to give him $2 dollars for his shitty effort. That was more than fair and we decide to just walk away. Unable to get another ride we just start walking down unfamiliar dark streets of Cambodia after midnight. Then we see the lights of the Tuk Tuk driver that we just abandoned coming right for us. He is trying to run us down. We quickly get out of the way otherwise he would have most certainly hit us. 

We change directions as he speeds down the street. Thinking its over we get on the main road and try to trek back to something we recognize. With nothing in sight it's easy to hear anything especially the fucking Tuk Tuk driver that just try to run us over coming down again on the side street to cut us off. He stops perpendicular to us and points at us while miming a gun and shooting it. After a dramatic stare down he drives off and continue to walk. After about another 5 minutes walking here come's our favorite driver one more time this time he is going fairly fast, but he drives past us with a new customer or maybe victim. Who knows what that driver's deal was that night, but Cambodia lost a little bit more of my trust that night and it was an interesting 45 minute walk in the dark back to the hotel.

Getting around Cambodia can be really fun. The lack of rules regarding flow of traffic combined with a lack of sense of direction, sprinkled with a handful of rogue drivers makes going around an adventure for sure. Just remember to enjoy the ride.

Riel Problems

"Mo Money Mo Problems," I doubt that Biggie was talking about the Cambodian currency, the Riel. In Cambodia there are two ways to pay: you can either pay in dollars or in Riel, although places say they take cards they don't really.  Paying with dollars is really convenient and I think the locals actually prefer it,  as mostly everything is negotiated in dollars. The Riel on the other hand is when things start to get interesting.

Maybe 4 dollars?

The current exchange rate is roughly 4,000 Riel = 1 dollar. It does feel cool to have a couple million in any currency, but that's where the novelty wears off. The currency notes that I have seen goes as follows: 20000, 10000, 5000, 4000, 2000, 1000, 500, 100, 50. I believe there are larger notes, but like the tooth fairy or Tony Romo winning a playoff game I have never seen it. That means the largest bill being used roughly equates to $5 and the lowest is a meager penny. The beauty of a coin system that even if for some reason you have a dollar in pennies it still not that bad you can roll them up or have a cool fanny pack for your coins. On the other hand, carrying 40 one hundred Riel notes would be ridiculous. The vast amount of bills that you end up carrying starts to accumulate quickly. It would be nice if anything could be bought with the smaller bills, but ultimately that is not the case. The worst part is paying with large dollar bills and getting back a whole bunch of Riel back, when you know they have dollars. Ironically, another tidbit about currency is that if a dollar bill has the smallest mark or tear nobody will take it, while some of the Riel that I've received look like they've been used as emergency toilet paper (just kidding toilet paper isn't a thing here)

My reaction whenever I pay in dollars and get back Riel for change

All in all the Riel is not that big of a problem in the great scheme of things, just an annoyance which I find slightly amusing. If you're ever in Cambodia be prepared to carry a gangster roll of money or you can put it all in your wallet or purse and end up like George.....

Day 1 - Shooting Guns: The Inappropriate Pit Stop

I guess I should start with day 1. After flying for the better part of a day going from San Francisco to Taipei and finally to Phnom Penh, I welcomed the idea of getting some rest and exploring Cambodia's capital with a full energy bar.

I was never that good at Mortal Kombat

Unfortunately, that was not to be the case. Our hosts at the Marady, a 5 star resort (on a scale of 1-100) were kind enough of to organize a trip to the "Killing Fields" on our first day unbeknownst to us. The "Killing Fields" was one of the things I really wanted to see, so I had no problem forfeiting a shower and some rest to soak in the history. After dropping our stuff off, myself and the other 5 teachers to be were put on 2 Tuk Tuks and set off to our destination accompanied by our trusty guides.

Charming at first, Tuk Tuks and I would develop a 

love /hate hate/hate relationship over my time in Cambodia.

Our guides had mentioned something about shooting guns, but I didn't think much of it I just attributed that to something being lost in translation + jet lag. We arrive after a short ride in a place that is not the "Killing Fields", how did I know this? Because we were at restaurant looking place. I'm thinking "oh yeah I guess we should eat, we have been flying all day." We sit down and they give us menus. We open the menu and to my surprise it was not traditional Cambodian cuisine. In fact we were at a gun range. The assorted guns plastered on the wall should have gave it away, but hey I like themed restaurants so I guess I didn't put that together.

Just to run-of-the-mill Mom and Pop shooting range

After a look through the menu one thing stuck out to me. For a low low price of $200 you could shoot a rocket launcher into a mountain! I had read about tourists being offered to blow up cows with rocket launchers during my research of what to expect in Cambodia but, we were at a reputable place I guess and that was not an option. Unfortunately, $200 was out of my price range so I settled on an assault rifle for a nominal fee because "When in Cambodia...." (a phrase our group would use often). 

Sketchy at best

A couple things to note: There was some malfunctions my scope flew off during my rounds and another girl had her gun jam then go off unexpectedly. All in all no one died or got shot so I'll chalk it up as a positive. It was clear that this was a sort of deal between the guides and gun place to bring new business from the new teachers, but hey can't knock the hustle. 

After that we were off to village of Choeung Ek and the infamous "Killing Fields." It just felt weird going from shooting guns to a place where so much atrocities occurred, but I digress. 

                

For anyone coming to Cambodia I don't think there is better first place to visit than the Choeung Ek memorial site. I knew the bare minimum about the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide and after the self guided tour a very vivid picture is painted. Accompanied by audio, going through the different sites is an eerie experience to say the least. Learning about gruesome details about how women, children, and men were executed for no reason is an experience that will last throughout my travels.

Until next time. Here's some music.