Erika's great adventure!: Back online

Hi everyone,

I've been remiss and haven't updated my blog in a while. Let me see if I can give a quick recap. This is the first of several update blogs and then I'll start blogging about what's happening now.

The Harpswell girls trying jelly beans

My last blog posting was on November 4th of last year. My Mom arrived on November 8th and spent a month with me traveling through Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia; DaNang, Hoi An, Sapa and Hanoi, Vietnam; Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi, Thailand. We had a wonderful time together despite some health problems I encountered. I came down with a form of dysentery, probably E. Coli or Campylobactor in late October. Three weeks later, my ankle swelled and became painful and after waking up at 4:00 in the morning in incredible pain and not able to put any pressure on my ankle. I was diagnosed at the emergency clinic in Phnom Penh with Reactive Arthritis, a genetic auto-immune reaction to a stomach enteritis. The arthritis also spread to my knees and hands and made it necessary to alter plans occasionally. Fortunately it seems to have mostly resolved in the last five months and likely won't reoccur. I'm just thankful that it wasn't something worse.

A woman selling vegetables in Hoi An

My friend Chi Lien showing us how to make Banh Xeo or Vietnamese spring rolls

Hoi An floods every year but this was just crazy!

In that month, we spent a lot of time in markets, drinking umbrella-decorated cocktails and trying lots of the local foods. Of course I also appreciated the non-Asian food as well particularly Italian, Mediterranean and, of course, Mexican cuisine.

Saying good bye to my Harpswell girls

In Phnom Penh, my Mom met the Harpswell girls I had been working with for three months and I said some, sometimes tearful, goodbyes to them. We had some amazing breakfasts at The Living Room and The Shop and enjoyed Russian Market and all the wonderful silks on display. We brought home an entire suitcase full of our purchases at the end of the trip but it was so much fun just to find our treasures.

In Siem Reap, we explored the temples, indulged in delicious fresh mango daiquiris and mojitos at Moksha, and enjoyed our guesthouse, the Golden Mango, with the delightful Wann as our host. Of course, we also spent a lot of time in the markets and exploring the little shops throughout SR.

I became close friends with Kristen, another volunteer, in Cambodia

Enjoying mango daiquiris and mojitos in Siem Reap

The colors of the monks robes against the temples was stunning.

Taking time out for a water break. Too bad they're celibate; they're cute!

The nuttiness of Hanoi.

On to Vietnam, where it was pouring rain and ended up flooding the streets of Hoi An. Mom met some of the friends I had made when I lived in Vietnam last spring and we had amazing massages, pedicures, manicures, sea salt scrubs and mud wraps at the spa where one of my friends works. It was about 3 hours of bliss! We loved the food, especially the fresh pomello salad at Streets and everything at Cargo Club. We had a "small world" experience in Cargo Club. One of my Mom's coworkers told her his wife would be in Southeast Asia the same time we would be. My Mom tells me this and then starts looking around jokingly but not 20 feet away sat four people from my hometown, including her coworkers wife. That was crazy! In DaNang, we visited another friend I had volunteered with and Mom saw where I lived when I was volunteering in Vietnam.

Sapa

The lake in Sapa complete with little boats.

The view from our hotel.

The Hmong woman carry their children on their backs while they sell their wares.

On to Hanoi, which is crazy and the traffic is beyond hectic. I saw more accidents in Vietnam in 3 months then I had seen in my entire life prior to this trip! We walked around the city center before catching a night train to Sapa. I loved Sapa. It's a mountain hill station situated 8 hours from Hanoi. We stayed in a darling guesthouse with beautiful views of the town and we drank mulled cider and had delicious soups and other warm foods because it was actually quite cold. I highly recommend it. Sapa is known for great hiking but my knees weren't allowing me to do much so we mostly walked around the town and bought handicrafts from the local Hmong people.

Spectacular, huh?

We loved this little cafe and ate there frequently.

These women were very friendly

Mom, Maya and me

After two flights, from Hanoi to Bangkok and Bangkok to Chiang Mai, we finally reached Chiang Mai. On my previous visit to Chiang Mai, I had met a friend of a friend, Maya, who used to live in the Santa Barbara area but is now one of tens of thousands of expats who live in Thailand. We enjoyed visiting with Maya again and we also did a cooking class, where we learned just how many calories are in Thai food, and a trek, to burn of all of the said calories. It turned out that the trek covered the same route as part of a previous trek I had done in Chiang Mai, but it was still fun. On our trek we visited waterfalls, rode elephants and bamboo rafted down a river (well really more of a stream). We also went to more markets, including the massive Sunday market, where we bought more textiles, earrings, including some made with beetle wings, and tried various foods at the food stalls. We also talked to a monk at a temple in a program called "Monk chat" and learned all about his life. He was a cute 24 year old from a nearby province. Apparently when he was ten, he wanted to try a novice monk program with his best friend but when his friend dropped out after two weeks, he wanted to as well but his mother wouldn't allow him to. Monks are extremely well respected and receive a good education, but, just as priests in the Catholic religion, they are required to be celibate. Our monk told us that they usually eat twice a day but if they've been having "unpure thoughts", such as kissing a girl, then they only eat once a day and spend the rest of the time praying. Poor guys.

Carefully chopping ginger, shallots and chillies.

Delicious!

Tom Yum soup with lots of veggies.

From Chiang Mai, we flew south to Phuket and took a boat to Koh Yao Yai (which means big island) where stayed for three nights in a cute bungalow at a little guesthouse overlooking the ocean. I had the flu for two days so I didn't do much and Mom got some reading done. Next, we traveled to the next island, Koh Yao Noi (which means small island) for two nights at a guesthouse perched on top of a hill with stunning views of the bay. Yao Yai was a little quiet but Yao Noi was the perfect combination of non-partier atmosphere with enough restaurants and cute little beach eateries to keep us busy.

Our final stop was Bangkok, where we visited Chatuchuk market, which is the massive weekend market in the north of the city and saw UNESCO, where I would begin an internship in March. We had our last dinner at Cabbages and Condoms, a Disneyesque non-profit restaurant which raises money for HIV awareness and gives out condoms to customers instead of mints at the end of the night. It was a nice end to a great trip.

More updates to come.