Take nothin but photos leave nothin but footprints

The teenager I never was.

2011-09-26T01:00:00.000+10:00

Travelling through country towns has been quite the experience. I'm not a big city girl, especially after witnessing the hectic pace of Sydney's CBD, but I'm a city girl nonetheless. The job I have right now doesn't allow much time for proper sightseeing. We usually work in a town for a few days and hit the road again immediately. So when my South Australian boy and I get the chance we always grab the van and drive off in search for adventure while the rest of the boys chase aftersmall-scaled nightlife.

Bonding through our casual use of pot and our appreciation of nature, we caught the sunset and then drove deep into the Mirima National Park in Kununurra, WA with the pretense of an attempt to find "Candy Mountain". Equipped with a pillow and blanket, we climbed onto the roof of the van, lay on our backs, and let the stars shrink us in size.

I (of all people) taught him how to find the Southern Cross, we made up constellations, we laughed, and we fell silent. And then we kissed.

I think of all my first kisses. They all carry nostalgia in some way, but I can't believe a five minute drive led me somewhere so beautiful. So, I envy those growing up in places like these. I've found more romance atop a six-seater Hyundai in the middle of a forest (or in the middle of a beach) than a dark closet full of clothes. And maybe it's because mSAb is seventeen, maybe it's because of where we are, or maybe it's because of both, but for once I felt like a teenager.

And maybe it's just fantasy. Maybe it's in my head. Or maybe it's in the moment and that's where I love to live; and somehow I find it much easier to do when you aren't distracted by the chaos of highrises and bright lights.

Man Urinates in JetStar Plane Aisle

2011-06-29T10:48:00.000+10:00

And only gets a warning

The incident occurred six hours into a flight from Auckland to Singapore, when a male flyer is alleged to have relieved himself in the aisle, nzherald.co.nz reports.
The spray is said to have soaked a man’s leg and a female passenger’s scarf.

Passengers said the man was seen mixing whiskey in a Burger King cup with a friend before the incident.

"Everyone was yelling at him and he slowly became aware that he was being uncouth,” passenger Amos Chapple told nzherald.co.nz.
“He pulled up ... and wobbled back to the other end of the plane."

MEANWHILE I get told I can't board the plane unless I change out of my t-shirt that says "Calm your shit" because I'd be offending other patrons. This was with Qantas, who owns JetStar.

Whaaaa.

2011-06-23T13:04:00.000+10:00

Update, update, update!

Never Forget You

2011-06-19T01:50:00.001+10:00

Just a thank you to my lovelies that made it out to fare me well :)
Miss and love you so much <3

And of course I miss the ones that had other affairs and/or slept in ;)

Week 2: I got a freaken job

2011-06-16T21:15:00.000+10:00

Just as boring as the other vid. ;)

A daily dose of humanity

2011-06-10T20:46:00.000+10:00

I'm trying to look for the signs, trying to see what life really wants to tell me. I've learned a whole lot during my trip to Australia, but coming home as been a lesson in itself.

I returned to the same environment, to the same people, but things were different. I was different. Not radically, but definitely noticeably. At first I thought the things I saw in the people closest to me were newly risen, but I soon realized that the insecurities that they carried had always been there, and I was just too distracted to notice.

I had spent almost three whole months day in-day out travelling with Jen, my new best friend. She's smart, she's fun, and she's gorgeous... but she doesn't think so. And it killed me. It absolutely killed me that this beautiful person--on the inside and out--could not see herself the way I did. I had never faced anything like this in my life. All my friends are confident people, believe in themselves, and love themselves as I love them--or so I thought.

As it turns out, I was completely wrong. I came home to my introverted, self-hating friends. The same ones that make me feel incredible, worthy, beautiful are the ones who talk themselves down, lack belief in their capabilities, and deem themselves unworthy of love. And I was so torn.

How do I get people to believe in themselves? I could say all I want to them, I could give them all the self-help books in the world, I could send them links to inspirational videos... but there is no specific formula to light the spark of belief inside each individual. I spent my entire time with Jen battling with these thoughts, and when I came home I still found myself at the front-lines.

------------------------

One day on the SkyTrain I was heading home from downtown. A man was standing while another man and his wife were sitting down. The sitting man, clothes rough and stained from construction work, noticed the standing man, donning an expensive-looking business suit, and gestured for him to sit in the available seat before him. They both smiled, and the standing man took the seat.

An act of kindness, so small and unnoticed in this world, and I had the honour of witnessing it. I was almost moved to tears. There is goodness that need not be searched for, but simply paid attention to. But we cannot recognize it if we do not know of it in the first place, and the only place we can first know it is in ourselves.

Love yourself, otherwise you will not know how to love others.

Here we go again

2011-06-08T14:29:00.000+10:00

I know, I know, I've been doing a shit job of keeping updated. What can I say? I'll try my best the second time 'round :) Here's all I got for ya for now.

FUCK YEAH EVERYBODY

2011-03-22T10:51:00.000+10:00

Let's play Zumi Zumi!

Currently volunteering for a 9-day bicycle tour. Last night we had a volunteer party and not wanting to just sit around sipping on white wine I got all our new friends (all of which were Asian! Woohoo! (basically the only Asians out of the 1200 people)) to play some drinking games. I don't know what you'd call it--conceited maybe--but it makes you feel awesome when you look around and see all eyes on your table because you're having the most fun! We even got some German girls to play with us too and they introduced to us a few of their own games.

My sincerest apologies for lagging behind on my blog. I've been on the move really often and it's hard to find motivation to keep up with this when it's the end of the day and all you want to do is sleep. I know I'm a million weeks behind on my vlogs :( I'll see what I can do!

I'm in Western Australia at the moment and I'm travelling around with the bicycle tour as a way to see WA and to not have to spend much money doing it! They give us food and we sleep in tents (like everyone else) and move from town to town every day. It's really awesome. The cyclists ride on average 50km a day... something I probably couldn't do daily... But it's been pretty fun! I'm here with the American girl, Jen, and she's seriously become a best friend. We're so alike! Evelyne decided to hit up the East coast sooner so she met up with some other people and is there as I type. Unfortunately they've been hit with a lot of rain :( I wish she was here in sunny WA!

That's all for now. I miss you all but I don't want to go home!! :)

Decisions, decisions.

2011-02-28T13:11:00.000+10:00

My mom wants me home for her 50th birthday which falls on Mother's Day this year (May 8th), but I also want to make the most of my working visa. I'm pretty sure what I will do is fly home for that and fly back here afterward and officially leave Australia in July. But I would need to work super hard to pay for that extra flight, and then I'd have no money saved to travel elsewhere because this country is so damn expensive!

I considered just blowing all my money on the East coast and then head home in May and forget about working, but I thought about how I'd feel sitting in my room and I'd probably want to kick myself for not staying in Australia longer. I didn't pay $1800 just to visit a few cities, yenno?

I wish I had more time. I just really want to be back in Vancouver in the summer and for my birthday... and maybe for another person... Otherwise I'd never leave.

I guess I know what I want. I just don't know what to do.

On aurait du

2011-02-28T12:52:00.000+10:00

Jen, Evelyne, and I headed down to Melbourne for a few days. I know Melbourne is supposed to be wonderful, but I guess because we arrived disoriented, stayed in a way-too-busy hostel, and found out we needed way more money than we had to do the things we wanted, we were really discouraged and that changed the way we saw the city for the rest of our stay.

One thing I really appreciated here was its architecture. It's simply amazing to see and every time you look up, you're guaranteed to be more amazed at the buildings than the sky.

I definitely want to come back in a few weeks with a fresh perspective and see things that I too quickly walked by. When we were hanging with a bunch of French guys, they split up and we hung out with just three of them, but Evelyne was trying to explain to me "on aurait du"... as in we should've hung out with the other guys instead. That's kind of how I feel about my trip to Melbourne. We should have thought things out better.

We are definitely going to plan the rest of our trips with care. Things always work out in the end, but they don't always work out fantastic, yenno? It's not like our entire stay here was terrible. The hostel wasn't really TOO bad, it was just the kitchen area that gets super busy all the time. And we did have our fun :) Apparently after a few glasses of wine I speak pretty decent French. Hehehe..

Australia Vlog: Week 1

2011-02-20T11:29:00.000+10:00

Sorry it took so long. I know I'm a week and a half behind. This did not turn out as nicely as I had imagined, but whatever. Next ones will be better :)

CouchSurfing: Pros & Cons

2011-02-16T15:03:00.000+10:00

Okay. This site is amazing! If you haven't heard of it, or the idea of it, it's basically a great way of networking with travellers. If you're travelling and need a place to sleep you can find someone in the area with a spare couch or bed that's willing to let you stay for a couple of nights for free :) Hold on. Sounds creepy right? Not really. It's easy to figure out if you can trust a person or not by the feedback given by previous travellers, looking through how detailed their profile is, and there's always something called trusting your gut feeling.

Aside from using it as a way to save money on accommodation, it's an easy way of seeing if like-minded people are up for the things you want to do.

For example, I've been super down this past week because I really need to get my adventure started but have yet to find any motivation to do anything :( I was looking through the message boards for Australia and found someone in Sydney looking for a travelling buddy! So I messaged her because we both want to go to Melbourne and other places in Australia, and we met up to go to Manly Beach yesterday with another girl that she met through CouchSurfing. We're going to Melbourne next week! And then we'll find a way to Adelaide, Uluru, and Alice Springs. I FINALLY HAVE PLANS!! WOOHOOO :)

Unfortunately, some people misuse the site as a way to hook up with people, like this 26 year old guy from Sydney who messaged me. At first it seemed all friendly he was just asking how I liked it and how long I was planning to stay. I asked him where he'd recommend to hang out and places to avoid and he immediately says, "I know some bars around my neck of the woods," which was not really what I meant to imply. I complained about the price of alcohol here and he says:

So the first thing I hear when I read this message is Ms. Jack's voice telling me a few hours before I left to the airport, "Don't be too trusting. Trust your intuition." That and the whole okay this is creepy alarm starts ringing, especially after having a look at his profile to see that he's 26, and that his preference for CouchSurfers was specifically female, and that the only two people that gave feedback were girls talking about him showing them good beer or something like that. So I stopped replying. I told Evelyne and Jen (the two girls I met) the story and they had stories of their own. I wait for the day women don't have to worry about what men are up to. HA.

But seriously... the only cons I've found so far are creepy guys, which most often only women have to deal with. The fact that I met two awesome travelling buddies has said a lot :)

I'll tell you more about the girls once I get to know them!

Travel expenses: Week 1

2011-02-13T17:56:00.000+10:00

$2 - Wifi card at the library x2
$19.95 - shampoo & conditioner
$39 - cell phone
$30 - cell phone top up
$11.50 - pho
$6 - swimming pool
$4 - bank account fee
$8 - currency exchange fee
$21.50 - groceries
$4.30 - train ticket
$4.70 - Japanese food (udon)
$5.30 - ferry ticket
$10 - a mixed drink
$8 - Asahi beer
$22 - taxi from a train station to home
$15 - gay club
$4 - fries after club
$64 - taxi from club to Ale's home
$5 - Church donation

Grand total of: $284.25

That's week one... and I didn't even remember EVERYTHING. Oh dear :((((((

Staying away from alcohol and taxis.

You don't know art.

2011-02-13T17:28:00.000+10:00

I'm sorry Canada, but forget your "mosaic". You've no idea what multiculturalism or diversity is.

Granted, Sydney's suburbs are divided and it is clear what cultures are strongly present the way the neighbourhoods of certain streets are in Vancouver... but travelling to the city made me feel like there was more diversity here than at home. It wasn't that there was a better proportion of Caucasians, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indians... but there were more ethnicities from absolutely everywhere.

If only the rest of the world could look like this.

Ma crib

2011-02-07T14:54:00.000+10:00

Love at first sight

2011-02-07T12:50:00.000+10:00

It wasn't an immediate attraction, but I knew I was going to be open and give it a chance. I had to. What else was I going to be here for? I mean, the first few days started off pretty slow. Nothing much happened. But the moment the ferry took us through the waters, I fell in love.

Sydney, you are too amazing and I have yet to even get to know you.

Jocelyn, Vicky, Linda (cousin), & me

Journal Entry #1

2011-02-04T11:08:00.001+10:00

So I've been documenting my trip in so many ways! Pictures, videos, blogs, journals. It's kind of hard to put everything together. Ariel got me a huge notebook which was exactly what I was looking for!! It's nice to finally write on paper for once, with the intention of just speaking to myself and not an audience. But I'm posting them up anyway, just because. They're really scattered thoughts, and just things I wrote down while on the plane from Auckland, NZ to Sydney, AUS.

I walked home from the library yesterday. It was getting pretty dark. I almost got lost.... But I made it! BAM! I know my way around :).... almost. AND I HAVEN'T CRIED SINCE. Yay.

To Anonymous #1 from my last post: Yea! I've watched quite a few episodes before and I am SO JEALOUS. To the point where I actually can't stand watching more because I feel like I should be doing those things rather than watching them do it :P

To Calvin: The legal age in Australia is 18. Guess how old I am? BOOYAH!

What the hell am I doing in Australia?!

2011-02-03T17:14:00.000+10:00

Travelling for twenty four hours is pretty brutal. I felt incredibly gross :( The vegan airplane food was pretty sweet stuff, though! Plus sides: you get food before everyone else, it actually tastes really good (compared to other stuff I've had, besides Cathay Pacific food (that stuff wins always)), no animals were harmed in the making of your meal. Down side: nil.

Answering everyone's questions all at once:

There are a lot of Vietnamese people. Seriously. Think of all the Chinese people that you see in East Van/Chinatown/Metrotown/everywhere and replace that with my people. I can't decide whether it's awesome or not. We'll see.
What is awesome is walking through Cabramatta (a suburb insanely populated by Viets) and finding vegan Vietnamese restaurants so easily. Like damn. So proud.
It is pretty hot and humid here, which is another reason why I feel like I'm in Vietnam. I just want to jump into a swimming pool every minute I'm standing outside.
It is currently 7:35pm here. Which means it is 12:35am in Vancouver. Do the math if you're elsewhere :)
I'm staying at my cousin's friend's house and paying $50/week for rent.
I will not bring home and/or ride a kangaroo or koala bear. You're asking a VEGAN?!
I have yet to run into any hot aussies, sorry ladies.
I have only spent a day and a half here, I have not done anything yet besides eat and swim outside.
I have no plans, are you kidding?

I spent five minutes crying inside a library (where I currently am) because my cousin had left to go home and that was my first time literally being alone. It's so scary. I just want to be able to crawl into my bed.

Anyway, I'm going to keep updating my Facebook status since it's the easiest way for everyone to know what's going on. End of the week will have a video hopefully! Sorry if I don't respond to all of your messages quickly. I'm trying to keep my time on the computer limited.

Until next time!
<3 V

Good morning, Vancouver, and good night

2011-01-31T21:54:00.000+10:00

Click for a larger view! And to find the airplane underneath the moon!

Stayed up for the sunrise yesterday. I actually haven't even slept yet since, and it's been almost thirty hours in total. This past week has been so hectic. I didn't give myself enough breathing room from one activity to the next. It's been really nice seeing everyone before I leave, but all this running around has left me so tired that I can't even sleep... At least I said no when I knew I couldn't do something. (Sorry KT & Flowers. I promise you delectable vegan baked goods when I return ♥)

When I was admiring the sunrise, I was about to walk away when I noticed an airplane taking off. It was a pretty beautiful moment. I'm not going to say that it finally hit me that I was going to leave the next day, but the feeling of anxiety did grow stronger.

I'm still not excited. I'm still only just scared out of my mind.

"Are you excited?"

2011-01-29T21:13:00.000+10:00

I wouldn't call this excited. I'm scared more than anything. I don't know what to expect.

And honestly? The biggest thing on my mind right now is how I haven't started packing yet and how I still have to clean my room. Seriously, of all the shit going on in my life that is currently my biggest worry. As it should be, it's a fucking disaster zone.

A part of me wishes I hadn't told so many people about my trip just so it'd be easier to back out and cancel my flight :P I don't know if I actually would but that's how I'm feeling right now. I think it's mostly because I feel so unprepared, but this is coming from someone whose life is defined by spontaneity and does everything on an impulse.

Anyway, welcome to my travel blog where I will update about my five months (pending) in Australia. If you are new here and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment (or anything remarkably witty to say, like: OMG SOOOO COOOOOL.) If you are a frequent reader, a "Bookmark" button should be located in middle of your Internet browser's menu bar for simple access to this fantastic blog, which is provided for free by some really cool hippies. Take some time to read through the safety precautions located at the bottom of this blog post, grab a soy latte, fasten your seat belt, and enjoy the vicarious ride :)

Read this before I talk too much:
I promise to all my teachers that are reading this to not swear so fucking much (haw haw), but if I get too excited about something I hope you'll understand! A 12-year-old looking girl like me? Vulgar language? NEVER!!! (100% of my friends are rolling their eyes at that.) But I definitely will keep this Safe For Work, so that you can read this while your class writes about a journal topic that they think is for marks, but isn't really.

Now that I think about it though, I don't know how this could even get N(ot)SFW to begin with....

TALKING TOO MUCH. Enjoy! :)

I'm not that good a this

2010-08-05T07:50:00.000+10:00

I hate how I'm really bad at blogging about my travels. Anyway, to sum up my trip to California, here is what I wrote on my personal blog:

Home is where the heart is
& I’ve left a piece of it back in San Francisco… though I sure am happy to be back in Vancouver.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I was sure impressed and amazed at how suited I was for the city, or how suited the city was for me. I can’t wait to one day go back and live there.

I’m not going to lie, a lot of my prejudice for the United States has lifted. I suppose years of schooling has made me become pretentious in a way, for all the times Canada has looked better than the US in so many situations and continues to apparently rise above. It just made me realize that the decisions made by the government or the majority of a country are not in itself the decisions of every individual residing there, and so it is completely unfair to be so surprised to learn that the person sitting behind me on the street car could very well be from my country of origin. (Duh, no brainer right?) A place does not determine a person, though a person can determine a place.

I am forever grateful that I didn’t spend my week there seeing the city through the eyes of a tourist, even though I have only barely skimmed the surface. It’s made me realize that I still don’t know the city I live in well enough either, but I am now determined to change that.

Every time I travel, my eyes open up wider than before. Every time I travel, the world seems so gigantic and I feel so incredibly small. Every time I travel, it’s hard to figure out where I fall in the grand scheme of things. But every time I travel, I learn even more about myself, of my hopes, my dreams, and my desires.

Seven days, and I have learned so much.

Castro

2010-07-12T06:01:00.000+10:00

I was so excited to finally get to be here. This was where history was made, and this was where Harvey Milk spent his time. I only wish he were around... If I had seen him walk out of the theatre or out of a restaurant, I would've ran up and hug him without hesitation.

I couldn't help but feel the love while I was in Castro, even if I and my friends don't fit the LGBT category. We tried finding this vegan ice cream store but it apparently didn't exist... (we found out later on it had closed down weeks prior.)

We had finally gotten to Castro Camera and I stopped dead in my tracks. I tried envisioning the documentaries I watched and the video footage of the place entered my mind. Can you believe that this was real? I wish I were able to walk in and be greeted by a smiling face. I need a wide-angle lens anyway ;)

Now I think it's going to become a little museum of some sort. There were informative displays in the window and some memorabilia.

We went to eat at Harvey's afterward, a restaurant in place of once a historical pub and now serves as a tribute to the wonderful man. The food was great and there were a lot of vegan options. LOVE!

Can't wait to come back when I'm legal.

Things never short of in San Fran

2010-07-12T05:46:00.000+10:00

sandwiches
vegan options
Walgreens (more frequent than Starbucks)
smoke shops
graffiti
donuts
pigeons
liquor (you can buy it at 7-11)

Vegan turkey sandwich with vegan cheese. YUM!!

I'm not complaining... (could do without the pigeons, though.)

Today I crossed the Golden Gate bridge

2010-07-11T21:17:00.000+10:00

and didn't jump off.

I do believe life must seem so incredibly horrid before finding the urge to take the plunge of death. And I mean seem.

When I peered over the railing I couldn't help but think of the idea of suicide and found myself overwhelmed with sadness at the thought of it, whether the act is committed by someone else or yours truly.

Telephones are on the bridge for those seeking help.

I am not against suicide, but I don't encourage it. Hear me out. What I mean is I empathize with it. Things really can get that bad. The struggle within ourselves is to find a purpose or a meaning to our lives, and if you give up trying to discover it and can no longer find the will to live then by all means suffer no more. However, I believe there is always a way to find what you are searching for no matter what--you just have to stay hopeful. I used to think that it was possible for a person to really have no reason to live, but I now disagree. Varying as it can be, there is always a reason. Always.

I'm not going to lie, the thought has crossed my mind but I don't doubt this isn't the same for others. They're just thoughts, and they sometimes pass.

Has it really only been three days?

2010-07-09T19:14:00.001+10:00

Our days seem so long. I'm really glad that we didn't get the 7-day bus pass for $24 because we've been doing a whole lot of walking around. As far as the destinations may seem, the walks are a good way of really seeing the surroundings. Bus tickets are $2.00 for adults and $0.75 for students (17 & under)... too bad I didn't bring my ID. I really like this transit system. It's really old, but very efficient. Many buses run until 5AM, and even then other ones will have started, so there is never no way home.

Things you'd have to get used to in San Fran:

the constant sound of firetrucks wailing
the occasional smell of urine
litter
random people talking/shouting to themselves
homeless people being everywhere (unlike living on one specific street/block)
pigeons

After dinner, our bus driver had given us bus tickets that lasted through the "late night". We decided to take advantage of pretty much unlimited bus time by heading to Castro. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do for underage kids like ourselves (aside from K Wong.) So we hopped on a bus heading toward Fisherman's Wharf. When we got there, we were disappointed once more to find closed businesses. There really is no night life in San Fran is there? Where do all the teeny boppers hang out?!

I am in love with San Fran

2010-07-09T18:56:00.000+10:00

The only things I need to survive:

1. Green smoke shops

2. Vintage stores

3. Peace and tie dye

4. Love and acceptance

....and LGBT rights for my friends :)

5. Great vegan food

All of which can be found on this one street called Haight Street. As previously mentioned, it is fuuureeaken awesome. We finally explored it on foot and I definitely recommend visiting it if you're ever in town! Afterward we went to Castro and enjoyed some good food at Harvey's, a restaurant dedicated to the memory of Harvey Milk.

I love it here. Don't expect me to return.

San Francisco!

2010-07-07T19:39:00.000+10:00

What a long day. Where to begin? My photos will continuously be updated here on flickr :)

DEPARTURE & ARRIVAL
Driving from Vancouver into the United States was a little interesting. K Wong, Chizzak, and I were tired from lack of sleep yet full of excitement for the rest of the week. After being dropped off at the airport in Bellingham, WA by K Wong's sis (Marble), I instantly felt homesick for Canada. It wasn't in the way in that I wanted to go back, of course I wanted to go to San Fran, but the atmosphere of the people and the place just made me so grateful to be Canadian. However, that is a terribly premature feeling. I will get back to you in a week.

click photos to enlarge

Flying with Allegiant wasn't too bad. You can't expect much for such a short flight (about an hour and a half) but I wish there was food :( We were so hungry, the only thing we could do about it was sleep it off.

Finally arriving in Oakland, CA we hit up the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and skytrained to San Francisco. The weather was a bit dreary but it was only morning yet. It took us a bit to understand the ticket machines but I finally figured it out. It's not like back home where you choose the ticket you want first and then pay afterward, you put money in and then subtract the cost until it is the exact price of what you need to pay (which is a lot more complicated if you ask me...) We got off at Montgomery station, and soon realized none of us had the smarts to memorize the Travelodge address. A quick pitstop at Peet's coffee shop with WiFi allowed me to look it up on my handy Macbook. We were at 575 Market St. and our place to stay was at 1707 Market St. We decided to walk.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
We walked about two blocks before realizing we were in the wrong direction! So in total, we walked fourteen blocks until we got to Travelodge. We were carrying our luggage, and although it wasn't too heavy we were starting to get pretty warm from the exercise. As tiring as it was, I was really glad we didn't bus instead. We got to really see San Francisco during its peak hours and boy, was it busy.

Their buildings and buses look very old and full of history. Each building, whether looking torn or looking grand all had a look of character, and I absolutely loved that. Beautiful graffiti art exploded in the alleyways and street walls. Halfway through our walk, the blocks suddenly began to look a little rough and was very reminiscent of Vancouver's Downtown East Side, only with far less people littering the streets. And just as suddenly, the streets looked nicer again. Either way, I liked what I was seeing... (Aside from the ten McDonald's, RadioShacks, Walgreens, and Starbucks seen every other block.) I liked how it was the way it was and it didn't do anything to cover it up, as old as the buses may look or as many cracks as a building may have had. Finally arriving at the inn, all we wanted to do was just pass out in our room.

TRAVELODGE (Civic Center)
For the cost of about $90 a night ($100 or so on weekends) (for one adult and one child) the room was quite alright. The bathroom door doesn't close properly, but that's okay we worked out a system :P There's a fridge, a microwave, a fan, a heater, multiple lamps, a working TV, and most importantly one king size bed (which is actually quite spacious for three people.)

PHO GARDEN
After settling down and trying not to pass out from fatigue and hunger, we planned our route to meet up with Chizzak's friend for a late lunch. The bus system isn't too confusing. In fact, it's very much like the old system we had in Vancouver, or the one that is currently in Victoria, BC. They seem pretty old, and its walls are littered with graffiti, but again... I think it gives it character.

As we wove through the streets of San Francisco, Haight St. had definitely won my heart. It was like the Main St. of Vancouver, only five times as long and ten times as interesting. I can't wait to explore it.

We arrived at Pho Garden a little early and walked around the residential area for a bit until Jenna (Chizzak & Fi's friend) came with two of her friends, Brittney and Abby. Their reason for choosing this place was due to their apparently infamous Pho Challenge.

In one hour, you must finish your bowl of Pho which contains 2lbs of beef and 2lbs of noodles. If you succeed, you won't have to pay for your meal, will be placed in their Pho of Fame and take home the bowl as a trophy. If you lose, you must pay the $22 and get a t-shirt to take home. That is A LOT OF FOOD!

"Challenger acknowledges that there are risks of personal injury, illness and possible loss of life..." SAY WHAT?

Holy cow. Unfortunately (or is it fortunate?), the girls couldn't finish their food. But it was still interesting to watch. Meanwhile, I enjoyed my vegetarian meal, which I thought was awesome of the restaurant to have.

Being vegan in San Francisco isn't too hard as there are so many restaurants I'm dying to try out.

The only difficulty is finding late night grub that doesn't involve animal products, which was what I encountered. After stuffing ourselves, we parted ways with the girls and made our way to Walgreens to stock up on water. We made the mistake of not buying munchies when we thought of it....

NIGHT OWLS
We passed out at about 7PM (seriously) and woke up around 11PM feeling hungry. K Wong and I decided to head out in search of food, with 7-11 in mind. Again, we started off by walking in the wrong direction, and ended up purposely taking a detour in hopes of discovering an avenue of some sort lined with late-night restaurants. We walked around for about half an hour, through City Hall and everything, and had no such luck. It was a very nice walk though.

We stopped by this 24Hour sandwich shop (very much like Duffins) near our inn, got a sandwich for Chizzak, and embarked on yet another painfully long walk to 7-11. Twenty minutes had passed and the street we were looking for was nowhere in sight. We found a map and realized we had a LONG way to go. Feeling tired, yet again, we settled on returning home and getting more food at the coffee shop from before at All Star Cafe instead.

Thankfully they had something I could eat! The food was actually pretty good and very inexpensive. Scouring the streets of San Fran at 1AM for food, what a way to end the night!

P.S. We are doing vlogs, but they won't come out until after we're back. Keep an eye out though! :)

I'm terrible, I know

2010-07-06T20:33:00.000+10:00

Alright, so I lied when I said I would continue to update about my trip to Vietnam LAST YEAR, HAHA! Anyway, you can look at the pictures I took with my film camera here.

Woops...

2010-01-08T20:05:00.001+10:00

BOY have I been neglecting this! Firstly, it was because I had no internet connection where I was staying, so I did try to write as much as I could and save it on Microsoft Word. However, I ended up slacking off and went and enjoyed the rest of my vacation without thinking of blogging :P I told myself I'd get around to doing it when I got back but made the excuse of not having all my pictures scanned and onto my computer. Now that I do, I'm out of excuses.

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What a long trip it’s been! Sorry for neglecting to blog more :( On our third day here, we went to visit my grandma on my mother’s side. She and my aunt live on the other side of the bridge connecting Bai Chay and Hon Gai (two areas that make up Ha Long.) Dave and Kirby were still passed out, so we left without them after breakfast.

A lot has changed in my grandma’s area. The elementary school in front of her home was knocked down and they are currently building a high school. There’s also this huge building by it with a coffee shop, an arcade, and an Internet Café. Those high school kids will probably get awesome breaks haha.

Everyone had gathered at my grandma’s: my aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends. We had the traditional type dining experience—on the ground and cross-legged on mats :P The food was good and I had a fun time watching Korean music videos on TV.

I went upstairs shortly after to explore the house, and it was all fairly the same as before. I noticed the house had been painted a light blue inside, and the yellow walls were gone. The blue is much nicer :) My cousin’s son Nhat Anh, 11, had hardly grown since I last saw him, but he was still just as cute as ever. While on the second floor, he brought out a freaken TASER! My brother and I were thinking, WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING WITH THAT?! And WHERE and HOW did he get it! John called up Billy and then when he entered the room Nhat Anh turned it on and Billy’s reaction was pretty funny =P Kids these days…

Everyone ended up coming upstairs and enjoyed the balcony for a bit. Later on after we all headed back home, this time with all my cousins as we had room for them in the hotel. When we got back we went for Good Coffee before heading to the beach and… well… had some good coffee.

The little bugger with the taser :P Nhat Anh.

Vietnam Day 2: Settling In

2009-07-28T15:03:00.000+10:00

Quynh shared my room with me because she didn’t want to ride home so late in the night on her motorcycle. I showered and went to bed and fell FAST asleep. In the morning, she was already gone since she had work, and my brother came in to check up on me. I then learned my throat was pretty sore from trying to yell over the music. All from trying to talk people out of drinking too much. I need to figure out a more effective and efficient way of doing so, because talking it out is pretty useless :P

Anyway I got ready and started packing, because I thought we were going to head to Bai Chay (where my dad’s hotel is) and took a while. My brother finally tells me that there was no need to pack up so soon, we were only going to breakfast T__T! At the café, it felt really weird. I had ordered Banh My Pate, which I expected to come out like those Viet subs… but I got a real sandwich with toasted bread slices, tomatoes, lettuce, and pate. I sat there listening to English music, reading the English menu, watching my brother’s friends eat their cheeseburgers and tuna sandwiches, and felt a little depressed. Here I came excited to be immersed in my family’s culture, but so far all I’ve found is my own.

I couldn’t wait to head to familiar territory—I really wanted to see my cousins. We took a three hour ride from Hanoi to Bai Chay, and I felt more at home. We got to my dad’s home (formerly a hotel long ago) and got our swimsuits out! Billy and Nicole didn’t feel well, so Tony, John, Kyle, Kirby, Dave, Daniel & I headed out to the beach. I’ve never experienced something like this before and it was really cool. There were a lot of people, and the water was ridiculously warm. I noticed that not many females were rockin’ the two-piece and so didn’t feel comfortable taking anything off. My little sister came along afterwards, and trying to convince her to get in the water, I had to carry her and walk into the water fully clothed. It was worth it though to get her comfortable with the swimming :P The guys were throwing around a football, and attracted a lot of attention. Soon people were joining in, and we were definitely having a good time :)

Meet Dan
That night we had dinner at a restaurant near our place and had lots of seafood. I was full after just the shrimp and crabs. One of the waitresses was sitting down with us feeding my sister and I figured she was a family friend. Turns out she was my cousin… WTF LOL.

Kirby, Dave & Kyle trying to eat crab

Walking back to the hotel, I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was sitting inside. MY COUSINS!!! :D (from my mother’s side). I was so happy to see them. Hoang, Duong, and Tung are the three boys from my mom’s side who are close to my age and together we make quite the adventurous team B) ! Que Anh is Tung’s younger sister, and it really doesn’t seem like she grew at all these past two years, haha. Tung, on the other hand, is so goddamn tall now! He’s even taller than Hoang, who is turning 18 on the 26th, and I think is only 14? Or 15? Must find out.

Duong, Hoang, John, Tung & Que Anh

My brother’s friends went to get massages while we stayed to catch up with our cousins and aunt. We ended up going for a walk and went to the night market they have there. It’s just a complete tourist trap and my brother had this silly idea to pretend we didn’t know Vietnamese and see if anyone would rip us off. Let’s just say we got found out near the end of it, and my brother got told he’d get his ass kicked one day LMAO. My aunt was not impressed. We sat down for some drinks after. I had iced coffee, which turns out didn’t really work on me. When we got back to the hotel we said our goodbyes and they left to go back to Ha Long Bay.

With my brother’s friends still not back yet, John and I decided to go to an Internet Café before the night winded down and everything closed. It was pretty useless though because I wanted to go on Hotmail, and every time I did Internet Explorer would just crash on me T__T I was left with Facebook, but no one is up at 10AM! (Except Jeanette HAHA.) I couldn’t even work on my blog because I typed everything out on my laptop first. Epic fail.

When we got back we came right after everyone else got home, and learned that although they received great massages (and more for some…) they all got ripped off, and had paid the “white price” haha. Some people had been confused into paying a tip, when really there was no need because everything had already been paid for, in which the extra money was already included. We hung out outside for a long while and then ate some midnight snacks.

Right now, I am extremely tired, but super paranoid. While I was showering I started to remember all those ghost stories my cousins had told me during my last visit. Now, the place I’m staying at definitely has no creepy history, but just thinking about bad spirits wandering around Vietnam scares the heck out of me. If there’s one thing I’m sure to believe in, that’s ghosts/spirits, even if I haven’t had any personal experiences with them. I think what’s really bugging me is the fact that I have to sleep alone in my room. I’m going to have to sleep eventually, but I think it’ll be with the light on. Damn, my laptop is almost out of batteries and I don’t think it’s safe to plug mine into the outlets here. I will have to find an energy converter lying around. The sun doesn’t look to be rising anytime soon :( Why am I such a baby!!!!!

Live on arrival

2009-07-26T23:38:00.000+10:00

So with where I left off last, turns out we weren’t taking the Vietnam Airlines. I got on the plane wondering why the flight attendants didn’t look Vietnamese and had Chinese nametags—we were flying with Dragonair (AKA, where all the Cathay Pacific rejects go ;) JOKES…) The food wasn’t that bad, but the Mei Goreng was definitely not so LOL! The flight on Cathay Pacific was good, though my neck was sore for a bit. I don’t know why, but I sort of enjoyed the turbulence we had. It felt like being on a rollercoaster, hehe.

John, Daddy, & me

Upon arriving in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, I felt pretty anxious. I couldn’t believe I was really here, and I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve only ever visited in Winter and Spring. Walking from the plane to customs, I told my brother, “Dude, it even smells like Vietnam.” And he agreed. I don’t know what it is but there’s this distinct smell that reminds me of nothing else but here (it’s not bad or anything.) I think it’s partly the humidity that attributes to it, who knows. After a long line up with customs, we met up with the rest of my brother’s friends who were only there 20 minutes before us. After picking up our luggage we went out and were greeted by my stepmom, little sister, and my stepmom’s side of the family. At first I thought the weather wasn’t too bad until we stepped outside to get in our rides. It was only 10AM and we were already being choked by the warmth and humidity. Welcome to Vietnam. =P

My brother and his friends sat in the bus we were renting while I rode with my dad, sister, stepmom and her family. It was a little weird because I had no idea who they were and had never met them, but turns out two of the guys are my “nephews” even though they’re older than me by a lot. In the Western family tree, these guys actually aren’t my nephews, but there’s no real translation for how I address them in Vietnamese. My little sister is so adorable; she speaks much better Vietnamese than me! When she saw Jeff, she immediately grabbed him and hugged him the entire car ride. She fell asleep on me in the car =) Man, she’s tiny!

We arrived at my stepmom’s mother’s for some Pho Ga =P We were going to spend the night in Hanoi, so my brother and his friends got to get dropped off at the hotel to shower. Through my dad’s logic though, it somehow made more sense to have me shower later on… What a terrible idea. I was feeling pretty grumpy while eating because the two kids of someone in that house were dragging Jeff around and throwing him about. My heart died inside when he hit the ground :( I freaken sleep with that!! Also, I felt really sticky and gross and my mosquito bites from back home were acting up. When food was finally prepared, I have to admit I was quite disappointed. The pho was quite bland, BUT! I don’t want to complain too much, I’m on vacation!

After my brother and his friends finished eating (it was quite funny with seven Caucasians eating in such a small Vietnamese dining room) I finally got to shower!!! However, shortly after stepping outside the sweating commenced immediately. I met up with everyone else who were sightseeing at a lake. Tony was sweating beads LOL. I wasn’t doing too bad, but Dave had to take his shirt off. In the temple, everyone was giving him dirty looks, and someone had said. “Put your shirt back on,” in Vietnamese. I don’t know much about Vietnamese tradition and culture when it comes to things like these, but it was obvious something like that was disrespectful =P

The lake is a major tourist attraction, and with that comes hustlers! With such a huge group of people, we were targeted like crazy and they wouldn’t leave Dave alone, despite us walking such lengths. They had girls that were probably only seven years old selling things! One of them had told Dave, “You’re a bad man.” WOW! Its funny how of all things they knew in English, it was how to tell people off. Things had gotten really heated because they wouldn’t leave us alone despite telling them we didn’t want anything. It got to the point where they started swearing at us in English, which set my dad off, and he started bitching at them in Vietnamese. INTENSE!

He wouldn't be left alone LOL.

We stopped by to rest and cool down at a Café, and then did some more sightseeing around Hanoi. I couldn’t believe I saw a KFC! Or a Shiseido, or a Clinique, or a Nike store…. OR BUBBLETEA! What the heck? I’ve never really toured Hanoi like this before so I guess this is why I’m so surprised.

As the sun was setting, we headed to eat dinner at this buffet. This was the biggest buffet I have ever been to. There were so many choices and different types of food. There was sushi for crying out loud! The food was good, but I had more fun walking around looking at everything rather than eating it. A family friend’s daughter joined us, whom I apparently have met before but was too young to remember. Her name was Quynh and she was the same age as my brother, and pretty much everyone else (23). She was really cute, and being Dave’s wingman, I told him to chat her up. She had learned English after university and it was actually really good! We were trying to convince her to go clubbing with us, but Dave’s charm wasn’t working on her. So, Dan stepped in. It was hilarious, but I felt bad for Dave because I had failed him :( Dan worked his magic, and she finally agreed to come dance with us =)

We all headed back to the hotel to freshen up, and then off to the club we went! Now, clubs in Vietnam generally aren’t like the ones back home. For one, I was allowed in HAHA. Two, there isn’t a dance floor, you just stand around some high tables, drink Hennessy, and eat fruits. Where you’re standing IS the dance floor. Quynh had brought her friend along and boy, was she tall! It’s pretty difficult to have a conversation in the club as the music is ridiculously deafening. I didn’t drink, but I still had fun dancing, and used up a lot of my voice to get Kirby to quit drinking so much. Dave was already on a high and watching those two dance was pretty entertaining. Tony and his girlfriend, Nicole, weren’t with us, but they did miss out on his younger brother, Billy, get drunk. The waiters/waitresses fill your cup up literally every two seconds. My dad, stepmom and other friends of my dad were with us as well. The two nephews of mine were also there, but being my dad’s minions they didn’t drink so they were clear headed to take care of us. They’re both really sweet and made sure everyone was okay.

At 12AM the party was over, and most of us stumbled to our bus. Seated to my left was a drunk Dave with his thumb stuck in a waterbottle, and a piss-drunk Billy who opened the bus door while it was in motion so he could puke. This was only Day One. LOL

Vietnam Day 1: AIRPORTS!

2009-07-22T10:07:00.000+10:00

I think if you were to throw me anywhere... I will still be able to do the same thing I always do: eat & sleep. Cathay Pacific is a wonderful airline, their food is really good and it's so comfortable even if you're only in the Economy Class. My brother's seven friends, that are travelling to Vietnam with us, had to take the China Airlines because we had booked tickets too late, and couldn't get the same flight for all ten people. Right now I'm in Hong Kong, waiting to board the Vietnam Airlines. The other group had a stopover in Taipei, however. Hopefully none of their flights are delayed and we'll arrive in Vietnam just about ten minutes after them :)

Apparently there is going to be a solar eclipse in Asia today. Awesome? I wonder if I'll get to see it. My sleep schedule in Vancouver was so messed up that I'm feeling really good right now. It's 8AM here and 5PM back home--pretty much when I'd be normally waking up, eh?

OH MY GOSH they're boarding now :) I wish I had put my USB cable in my backpack so I could upload photos, but I'll edit this post later.

Now, for a two hour flight. Last time I flew with Vietnam Airlines... their food wasn't very good :( We'll see....

My brother and I were laughing our heads off at this. RUN AWAY from the fire!!!

In case of flood.... run this way?! LOL