Down for the Count

We don't have malaria, or dengue, or TB, but we have something.

It started a few days ago with fatigue and nausea. The next thing we knew, Mitch was becoming an expert in projectile vomit. Apparently, it feels a lot better if you just drank a cold bottle of water.

The worst seems to be over, but both Mitch and I are having trouble forcing down food, and neither of us can garner the energy to leave the hotel room here in Ao Nang. Given our current miserable circumstances (Morgan is fine, albeit bored), I will tell you about how amazing Ton Sai was.



We came to the Railay peninsula on the reccomendation of both the Allynes and Tad Williams. We are so glad we did. Railay consists of 4 primary beaches with a clear price scale. We stayed at Ton Sai, the backpacker/rockclimber beach, in a nice little bungalow. The picture below should give you an idea of what the area is like. We are facing the mainland, with Railay East directly below us, Railay West across the isthmus on the left, and Tonsai across the bay beyond Railay West.



Mitch went rock climbing one day, as this is the biggest attraction at Railay. I can see why Justin and Tad are so fond of it! I also went kayaking with Mitch one afternoon, but for the most part we just hiked around and hung out on the beach.

The coolest place we went was the lagoon, in the center of the peninsulas head. We climbed up to the viewpoint where your orientation photo was snapped, and then back down into a hole in the limestone: a lagoon that connects underground to the sea. It was a climb up and down to get there!



In the end, even after four nights it was difficult to climb in our longtail and head back to civilization.



Mitch is flying home in a few more days, and we are flying to Chiang Mai to investigate a service opportunity we have there (more details to come when they are firm). Our trip has really been coming off the hinges lately, and with the recent illnesses we could definitely use some prayer. Pray for Mitch, that he would be healthy before he climbs onto the first of 4 planes that will take him back to Seattle. Pray for Morgan and I, that we can arrive in Chiang Mai healthy in mind and body, ready to serve. We could also use prayer that we can balance trying to be budget minded with enjoying ourselves and also knowing that God is in control.

Bye for now!

Rubber Sandals

Yesterday I tried to plug our camera in to the computer at our guesthouse to upload more photos. As I was holding the camera, I felt an unpleasant sensation work it's way up my arm to the rest of body. Dropping the camera to the floor, I realized that I had been electrocuted! The USB port on the pc was not exactly legitimate technology.

The guesthouse owner, who is extremely kind, helpful and welcoming, ran to my aid. "It's ok, just wear the rubber sandals," he offered while pointing out the crocs next to the computer.

You can guess how I felt about that, so I tried another internet source, where it took about 10 minutes to upload one photo.

Internet cafe #3 got me electrocuted again, but I have finally found a good source at "Siem Reap Fast Internet," which also happens to be the name of the other cafes...

Anyway, I've uploaded pictures from Angor Wat for you to check out, and here are a couple more good ones from last week:



I was amazed by the sheer number of local people who were involved with the tour in some way:



Happy sailors:



Riverside homes are built on stilts for the flood season:

Tour People

"I think we all need to not see each other for the next5 hours."

Morgan is probably right, so I came to the internet while the Luce gang naps in hammocks. We are in Cambodia, but I want to write about Vietnam. A lot has happened in our first week, and the brief time we spent in Vietnam (though fortunately not as brief as our first attempt) is worth sharing about.

We became tour people on the first day in Saigon, and haven't looked back. The one thing we wanted to see in Saigon was the Cu Chi tunnels; the huge underground network where the Viet Cong entrenched itself just outside Saigon. There was actually an American base only 5 kms away!



We completely lucked out on our tour guide: He was a war veteran who fought for the south ("that's why I have no pension"), so his stories were great and his perspective priceless. You could really tell that he wasn't worried about saying something that would get him into trouble. In the above picture he is showing us sandals made from tire and tubes.

After the war his family was moved out of the city and forced to farm rice for ten years or so. When the Cold War melted under the new glasnost policies in the USSR, Vietnam followed suit, and our guide returned to Saigon and eventually became a tour guide. That English came in quite handy after all! Economically, I honestly can't tell what about Vietnam is actually socialist. Unless socialist simply means that there is only one party and you can't vote. Anyway...



The tunnels themselves were quite interesting. My favorite part was actually going in the tunnels, which have been widened to let western tourists through. It's still quite a squeeze though, at one point it was a downhill belly crawl! I'm pretty sure the original idea was that you would have to be Vietnamese to squeeze into those tunnels.



There was also a display of booby traps, an American tank (can you see Mitchell?), and a shooting range where you could fire anything from an AK47 to an M80. $1 per bullet. Sidenote: Here in Cambodia you can chuck a live grenade for $30, and while it's tempting, I'm not trusting my life to Pol Pot's 30 year old leftovers.



Let's move on to the next day. Mitch was excited to boat on the Mekong, so we booked a three day, 2 night tour that started in Saigon and ended in Phnom Penh. Under $50. Booyah. It was a great trip. I felt that we really got to see what the life of people in the Mekong Delta was like, from rice factories to floating markets to coconut candy to tropical orchards. On the last day we spent about 7 hours in a small boat heading up river into Cambodia. We stayed close to the banks and just observed. It was a wonderfully relaxing birthday. The best way for me to express how great it was it to show you the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites, there are many more on our flickr site (just click on a photo and it will take you there):


Rice paper drying in the sun


Loading melons to sell in Can Tho


Climbing on a "monkey bridge"in a fruit orchard


Huge spider

I'll post more pictures when I get them uploaded, and fill you in on Angkor Wat in the next couple days. Peace!

79 Hours to Saigon

00:00 We leave Redmond at 3:00am to head to SeaTac. After being lectured about having a different name on my plane tickets then I have on my passport (thanks Mom and Dad), United finally gets it fixed and we fly to San Fran.

08:00 We are asleep in the terminal of the San Francisco airport.

10:00 On the plane to Hong Kong!

22:00 Still on the plane to Hong Kong...

30:00 Our third flight, from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). arrives at last.

31:00 There is some confusion with immigration; it seems that you need to procure a visa before arriving in Vietnam.

32:00 We are escorted by guards to a room labeled "Deportees."



35:00 Sleep is intermittent at best.

40:00 We board a flight back to Hong Kong ($800 down the tubes for three round trip tickets)

47:00 We find the Vietnamese consulate in Hong Kong, and fill out the forms to apply for a visa.

47:08 Our visas are ready.

47:15 Rice and a fried egg, the first food I have eaten that was not provided by United Airlines.



49:00 I catch Mitch updating his facebook status to "I feel like I am traveling with the Gooftroop."

52:00 We check into the "Safari Guesthouse" in the Chungking Mansions. Population density of Hong Kong: 100,000 per square kilometer. I think they were all in our building.

53:00 At 6pm local time, we are all asleep.

63:00 At 4am local time, we are all awake.

66:00 Macaroni and ham soup for breakfast.

68:00 A walk in the park. We are approached by enthusiastic birdwatchers, and briefly join their ranks. Mitch works it.



73:00 Wait, where are we?

79:00 We get off the plane in Saigon, and ease our way through immigration. At least I can finally cross "Get deported from a foreign country" off of my list of lifetime goals!

Hope you are all having a less expensive, less stressful, but probably less adventurous time at home. We love you!

The Answers are In!

Q: Tommy, what is your sense about how Americas are received abroad at this point in history?

A: As far as an overall trend is concerned, things are definitely better that when I traveled 5 years ago. I think that people's perception of a country is largely based on its leadership. Given the popularity of Obama on the international scene, especially compared to GW, people seem to be warming up to Americans once again.

That being said, it varies a great deal based on what part of the world you are in. In Kosovo, Americans are beloved and Bill Clinton is a hero. In Serbia, it's the opposite. Recent international policy has a huge effect on these attitudes. In Jordan and Egypt, the fact that we were Americans would elicit standoffish responses. The exception was when somebody was trying to sell us something: "USA number one!"

Q: Morgan, what is your impression about how women are treated abroad, by both nationals and visitors? You have traveled in areas that historically don't treat women so well. I hope that is changing...

A: I can't really answer this question because I didn't personally witness or have many interactions with women, especially in the Middle Eastern countries we visited. I did notice two major differences though: 1) Clothing - obviously, women in Turkey, Jordan and Egypt wear a hijab (headcovering) and wear very modest clothing. 2) Visibility in society - in Dahab, on the Sinai Peninsula, I saw three local women in 5 days. Two of these women were walking down the street with their children and one was working in a shop. In Siwa, Egypt, we counted about ten women during our 2 day stay. The women in Siwa were usually sitting in the back of a donkey cart with their children while their husband or oldest son drove the cart. Even in Cairo, we interacted mainly with men in taxis, restaurants, and tourist attractions.

Q: Both of you: Where did you encounter the best chocolate?

A: We ate a lot of Snickers bars during long bus rides and hike. They were passable, not great. We tried some Salt Chocolate that was made in Slovenia. It was not my favorite. The winner in the chocolate category was a dessert Tommy had in Istanbul. He saw it in a shop window as we passed by so we made a date to stop by there later in the week to try it. It was full of raspberries and chocolate mousse.

Q: Okay, which clothes do you absolutely want to burn? What items are your picking up for leg 2 (things you forgot, or things you used a lot)? New clothing items?

A: (Morgan) I got a little sick of my purple-pink-teal selection of tops. I often felt like a 14-year old. For leg 2 I am taking more black! Also I am leaving behind my shorts and jeans. Shorts - I never wore them, my skirt and dress were much more fun to wear. Jeans - essential on the first half, as it was quite cold and dress was more modest, but SE Asia is too hot for jeans.

A: (Tommy) The varying climates made packing a challenge. We had to contend with hot weather and snow in the same trip. For SE Asia it will only be warm and humid, so we are bringing a lot less! I brought 4 pairs of shoes - running shoes, goretex hiking shoes, flip flops, and chacos. I was glad to have them all. Now I am only taking chacos and running shoes. I had a pair of jeans and dress pants, both of which had "structural failures." Yikes. I am leaving behind my fleece and a few shirts as well, so I have about half the clothes (by volume) that I had before. I am bringing a new round of t-shirts that I am not sick of yet.

Thanks to Sarah and Emily who posted questions about our trip. Nicole, Brian and Bob thanks for the silly ones.

Our flight leaves in 9 hours!

Click on any photo to view our flickr photostream. We love comments.

Home

We've been:

• making surprises
• unpacking
• listening to NPR
• sleeping in cozy beds
• having dinner with friends
• playing video games
• reading mail
• exchanging gifts
• eating too much food
• visiting family
• celebrating the birth of Christ
• romping through closets
• playing disc golf
• packing

We have been blessed by our time at home! Now we are ready to tackle the second half of our trip. Stay tuned!

View photos on our Flickr Photostream. We love comments!