2 weeks into Burma

I am really liking Burma!!!

- Visited a Blind's Home yesterday and that was an experience I cannot forget!
- Bought my first longhyi!!
- Have extended my stay here so I won't be leaving until 18th April (which means I won't go into Thailand anymore and will go straight to London after here). I now have the chance to experience Burmese New Year and their 4day Water Festival (13th-17th April) during THE hottest month of the year-ahhh!!
- Have been invited to go with Naing's family to Mandalay (second largest city) during the water festival where the event held there is much more spectacular than Yangon.
- Have been invited by Bebe's principal to come to the Kindergarten school and read to the children, yay!
- Was brave enough to accept the invite and have lunch with an American man. It was a good decision because we talked hours about our travelling experiences (he has been backpacking for 1 1/2yrs!) and we happily left it at that. Just the company I needed =)
- Got to know Khatta (waitress at the Mandarin restaurant whom I gave a book to) and found out she is the same age as me, has got a husband and two children!!!! What a b**** her owner is, she won't let Khatta have anything that customers give her (i.e. gifts, tips etc) and takes it from her! The owner is now demanding Khatta to bring in the book that I gave her!!! Khatta bursted into tears last night =( She needs to work another 12days to get her 1mnth salary before she can quit. Poor girl. She only gets 1000kyats/day and already her total bus fare for the day is 200kyats(...and to think I tipped a little girl 1000kyats the other day). I wish I can just give her money so she'd quit but I know she won't accept.
- Khatta has kindly invited me to visit her home (it's a priviledge to try any home-cooked food!).
- Have been brave enough to start conversations with fellow foreigners =)
- Am starting my lessons for the orphans tomorrow, ahhh!

OANH'S BDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OANH!!!

I hope you had a lovely day today miss, sending you best wishes and lotsa hugs all the way from Asia ;)

xxx

8th day in Burma

Plans have changed and I will visit the Blind's Home on Saturday.

I just bought an Origami book for 8500Kyats which is about $10! It's quite expensive but I couldn't be bothered sweating any longer to find a cheaper book elsewhere. I've spoken to Naing about my plans at the orphanage and he is happy with it all. I've decided to teach at the second orphanage I visited and it will go on for 3wks, starting next Monday 27th March (which means I will extend my stay in Myanmar). I'm off to the monastery tomorrow evening to inform the monk of my plans and to get the green light before I get everything prepared for the first lesson (yay! I get to be a teacher!!). I will still need to work on my Burmese. So far I can only say the basic.

I pray I pray that I can do this and that my plan will work out well

PLAN:
There will be about 100 orphans to teach and I will teach 20 orphans/day from 10am-4pm, MON-FRI for 3 weeks (I will have the weekend off).

10am-12pm: Activity
12pm-1pm: I will provide them their lunch and a soccer ball to play =)
1pm-3pm: Activity
3pm-4pm: Origami / Games / Colouring in / Painting?

These 2hr activities will include teaching them how to say "Hello, what is your name? My name is.....", Colours, Numbers and Facial features including little games and rewards in between. That is probably all I can teach considering each kid can only have 3 lessons! Still, all is very exciting!!!

I went to the Post Office the other day and I asked 2 cute guys for help in sending a letter away since the place was extremely confusing! Luckily they can speak English and ended up buying me the stamp (only 50Kyats!) and sending it off for me! How cool is that?! They were very helpful (as compared to others who just stared at me) and I really wanted to invite them to coffee or something but I thought twice and I didn't ask. What were they to think of me?! I wouldn't mind the company though... am getting a little bored with just reading my book, practising my burmese and trying to figure out where to have my 3 meals everday. But then again, it is safer this way and my boredom will end soon. So I simply said thank you to them both and waved goodbye. I went to eat at a Chinese restaurant the other day and the waitress Khatta was also very kind. She can speak little English (she's a university student) and since her owner couldn't speak it at all, she told me not to tip her as her boss will take it. She spoke to me most of the time I was there and I just had to come back the next day to give her an english book (Alice in Wonderland) since I couldn't tip her. She was very happy and I guess we became 'friends'. I will take her to eat pizza one day as she has never had it before. And also, the company would be nice. People here are pretty friendly but I always think twice if they have a second motive e.g. money. Once, a man personally walked me to where I wanted to go and asked for 1000Kyats afterwards for his help but I told him No and that I would've found the place myself if he didn't volunteer to help. He nodded and left ;) But a man today accompanied me wherever I went (he too was a university student) and helped direct me from place to place but didn't ask for money ever. Instead, he gave me his email address and told me that he is in the period of exams but wishes to accompany me again in a months time if I wish. Is that friendly or what? I have no thoughts about the whole thing though...

Remember the "i-love-you" girl? Well, I told Yadahna (manageress at the Guesthouse I'm staying at) about it and she laughed but said not to worry. The sales assistant basically wanted to be my friend =) Phew! Here, they are not accustomed to gays & lesbians and that is such a relief! - not that I have anything against it but it's comforting to know that they just want to be my friend, and nothing more! Terry, you are right-people here are very friendly and a lot of them like to chat, thank you for the great advice =)

I cannot access Hotmail but I can access MSN-Web Messenger. I have created an email address as follows:

kll_huynh@sailormoon.com (yes sailormoon, don't ask!)

so please please, if you need to email me, email me at this address whilst my stay is in Myanmar. Oanh and David- I really need you guys to email me with what I need! Thank you!!!

Did you know that I can pass as someone from Myanmar? Someone from the chinese region. Unfortunately though I still get a lot of staring eyes and I just hate it!

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I hope everyone is well =)

Keo- How was your first day at your new job?
David- I can't access my Hotmail so I don't know what flight to book to Turkey! Can you TRY to book for me first and I'll pay you later? If it is not possible, how about you email me your CC details and I will forward money into your bank account so you can do the booking? OR email me the itinery again and I will try my best to book it myself. Ta!
Oanhsta- Please please email me what I want to my new email address, thank you!! =)

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It's 6pm, time to eat (again)!

MUM'S BDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY! xxx

=)

5th day in Burma

Wow, my dream came true when I visited the orphanages 2 days ago! There are about 150 orphans at each of the monastery compound I visited and to see the number in person it was simply overwhelming. The evening had given me such bliss I can only put the evening down on paper as there was just so much to write about. I managed to write over 10pages the day after into the journal that Trinh and Oanh had kindly given me for this trip- thanks babes! =) I will therefore only keep it short in this blog.

Prior to visiting the orphans we went and bought 360 bags of pudding cakes (each bag containing 2 pudding cakes) and it was packed away into 6 large bags where Naing, his friend and myself carried 2 bags each to the car where Naing's wife Ohm and daughter Bebe were waiting for us. Afterwards we went to buy bananas and I must say, I never knew there is such a thing as a banana store and so I just had to take a picture! We bought 20 bundles, each containing 10 bananas. We bought extra food because there are monks also. Anyway, first monastery we went to and there were a lot of monks (about 100) whereas the second only has 1 monk. We talked about what I can do (there isn't much-it is abit hard as no one can speak English, even the monks) before distributing the food to the orphans. Naing told me that the kid's daily meals are "miserable" and whatever we give, they are very thankful. At the second monastery I thought the kids were preaching whilst waiting in line for their food but they were actually thanking me and well-wishing me =) The kids were so thankful each and everyone bowed to me when I gave them their portion. It was the kids lucky day as they were all earlier invited to a local's house who cooked them all dinner! We waited around 15mins for them to come back and when they did, we distributed the food to them- my food became their "dessert" =) I felt extremely happy about myself and could only smile and bow with them. It definitely reminded me of my mum when she kindly distributed a few kilos of ricegrains to each and every household in my grandfather's community several years back in Vietnam. What a feeling.

On Monday evening I will be going with Ohm to a Blind's Home. Her brother is blind and he teaches there and Ohm is kind enough to take me there to see what they do. It will be very interesting.

I am interested in helping out at the second monastery I came across as there are a few females here as compared to none at the other monastery. One of the buildings here was actually built through a $70,000USD donation given by a Vietnamese monk who lives in Canada! If I can do it, there are 150 orphans to teach and so little time... I've been racking my brains for the last two days as to what I can teach and I'm still racking to get it all right, for all the ages. A lot of plans are in the air and if all goes accordingly, I may extend my stay here. We will have to see. In the meantime, I will work on my Burmese language.

I now know that anything can be accomplished.. if you set your mind to it. You just have to be brave!!! - I'm still trying to get there.. slowly.


1. Taking pudding cakes out of crates and into large bags
2. Banana Store in front of the owners house


3. Orphans waiting patiently for the food distribution. Some are praying.


4. With the help of Ohm, Naing and his friend I distribute a pack of 2 pudding cakes + banana to each and every orphan at the monastery.



5. To make sure everyone gets to eat their share, we made them eat on the spot =)
6. Food donation to the monks (they will save it for breakfast since they cannot eat after midday)

2nd day in Burma

I'm in Burma (Myanmar)!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!

I arrived last night and this place is definitely a culture shock! Luckily I bought the Myanmar Lonely Planet (Trinh, you're gonna kill me because I didn't bother to get the extremely cheap version in Vietnam so it costed me 1700BAHTS at the airport!- but it is sooooooooooooooo worth it coz I go everywhere with it-it's a must! I had to transit for 5hrs at Bangkok Airport before getting to Myanmar and I I managed to spend over $100USD! I bought this lovely MAC eyeshadow kit for just under $45 and i love it!!!- not that I will wear it here in Myanmar though. A little expensive but I just couldn't resist! Can you believe Cosmopolitan magazine costed me 545BAHTS which is approx. $13?!!! Sheesh! I bought it coz I was extremely happy to see something in English and I've been missing these magazines badly!!

Well, I am staying at a Guesthouse (PYIN OO LWIN GUESTHOUSE II, RANGON) as introduced by Terry and the place has JUST the basic neccessities with a very much needed air con. It is on level 3 and it is such a walk! I felt sorry for the boy downstairs who helped lug my 30kg luggage up those stairs.. i gave him 1000KHATS as a tip (which is a lot- enough for a very decent meal) since I had no change on me and the poor boy deserved something for that great effort. There is no TV in the room so i will be able to get some reading done (I am lugging around 3 x Lord of The Rings and am determined to read it all on my trip!)

Everyone here wears this "sarong/skirt-like" piece called a Longyi with any type of shirt.... even the men! Apparently it is one (or the only) asian country that doesn't conform to western-style clothing. So you can imagine me in any sort of pants is out of the ordinary! The weather is extremely hot over here and the longyi actually relieves people from such heat. I might just get one tomorrow..... I've been sweating profusely here in my long pants (tailored in Vietnam for hot weathers) and short sleeved t-shirts. I have so many singlets but only wear it in my room because no one here wears it outside... not even in such heat! It's apparently regarded inappropriate and too revealing. So I'm ok with it... i'll just sweat away here in Burma and let the world see my shiny face everyday. There are fans in many restaurants but I don't know why they don't turn them on!

Oh, the other interesting thing is their sunscreen. It is a combination of sunscreen, moisturiser and perfume. It is a light soft-yellow colour paste called Thanakha and some of the women (and men) apply it to their face and it is very noticeable (think of geishas, but only it is yellow paste and much lighte). Some apply it to their whole face whilst others apply it in a more interesting way and only on their cheeks. The most unusual I've seen are people who have it in a round circle shape (up to 4cm diameter!) just on the cheeks- it is as though they lightly stamped the paste on either side of their cheeks with a sponge or something- very unusual, i might just give it a go hehe

I have been cautioned not to smile too much when I'm travelling on my own from people back home so I haven't done much of that here. But today, when i thought it was "OK" to smile and say thankyou to a sales assistant who helped me when I was in a supermarket, she then followed me abit in the store before coming up to me to say "you're beautful".... followed by "I love you" whilst holding onto my arm! What the?!! I was so shocked I didn't know how to respond but to kind of nod and HALF-smile and quickly got what I needed and went to the check-out desk. Ugh!

SO Burma is a 1/2hr behind Vietnam which means its 3 1/2hrs behind Australia. I called my relos in Vietnam so that they can know I'm safe (my grandpa got a little angry with me before when I didn't call him to let him know I was fine on my Vietnam tour) and it costed me $3USD/min! Sheesh!

Oh yes, one more thing... I met one of Terry's friend named Naing at his gem/stone jewellery store to exchange some money and we've organised for me to go with his family to two orphanages tomorrow. Him and his family come to these orphanages with food once every two weeks and he says the children here are ecstatic to see them even when their car just pulls into the place! I'm so excited!!! I've bought quite abit of children's books back home (and some kindly donated from Keo, thank you mr!) so I'll bring a few first tomorrow and distribute it out. I'm also forking out $50USD tomorrow to buy a large batch of small pudding cakes (almost 700 in total!) and bananas (with the help from Naing) to split amongst the two orphanages. At each hold approx. 120 children and I will check out both places before deciding where and what I would like to do over here. I am so excited and am so happy to have met a family who does this sort of work in their own time that I could just cry! Seriously! Tomorrow is a day that I've been dreaming of... wow!

Well it is now 6:15pm and I'm gonna have Indian tonight (I see Burmese people as a cross between Thai and Indian) at Golden Chetty just down the road before checking out the Sule Paya Pagoda. I hope they have a picture menu coz there is one dish I just love to eat and I hope they have it! (I should've wrote the name down when I ate with you and Nina, Terry!)

The sun has set so I'm now happy to leave this air-conned Internet Cafe..

=)

Oh by the way, due to security reasons over here Hotmail, Msn and Yahoo cannot be accessed...ugh

4 days remaining... (Ba Ria)

Yes you guys may as well kick me up the ass coz I ended up being on a drip yesterday for 2 hours. It was nothing major, I sort of voluntary asked to be on it coz I was feeling slightly weak (it is most likely due to all the constant mini-travellings i've been doing here and all the rice ive been eating!) but never realised my mum would take me seriously coz I've never been on it before! And within an hours time a doctor came around, checked my blood pressure and hooked me onto the drip! I slept throughout the 2 hrs and when i awoke and the drip finished, I was feeling well again. I am feeling a lot better now but I MAY be on another drip today for 4 hours when my uncle (who is also a doctor) from Bien Hoa comes down here to my grandparent's place. I've tried assuring everyone here that I am feeling 100% but since i'll be travelling around still, they want me to be on the safe side just in case! So I can't complain.. we can only wait and see... Ugh!

Well, at least my sniffles has stopped- yay! Since yesterday though, but that that is only because I didn't step out of the house! Mum keeps making me wear that awful sheet to cover my face whenever I'm on the road to prevent dust (plus the sun!!!) from getting in contact with my skin but it's so ugly and uncomfortable!!! Double ugh!

Anyways, Ill be heading into Saigon on Sunday evening with my mum to rest up and relax at a hotel again before I fly off to Myanmar on Tuesday- i'm so excited!!!!!! =)

Oh, I've decided to shorten my stay in Thailand (that is after Myanamar and before hitting the UK) from 10 days to 3 days now just to do abit of shopping and that will mean that I will be in UK earlier than expected! Better email my friend now....

3 weeks into Vietnam, 1 week remaining!

Holler!!! hehhehe

Man, I really have a sinus problem... I'm getting into this really bad habit of taking medication everyday!! I take Claratyne daily and Polaramine nightly! (thank you for organising the meds sis!) There is not much I can do when I've already been told that I'm allergic to dust... hmph! But yesterday I bought some fresh leaves to make Green Tea (as tasted in Hue) and I'm loving it! I'm hoping that it can replace all my medication and so when I'm feeling sick, I'll just drink the tea (add some ginger in it) and all will be good! -therefore Eucalyptus can be my last option ;)

SO the last weekend i went to Chau Doc (Kent, i totally forgot you were born in Vietnam!) and the travelling is such a bugger. A 9hr drive to just visit a temple is not worth it in my eyes.The road is simply crap- it is so bumpy I could hardly keep my eyes closed and get some rest!- though it was really overwhelming to see so many ppl from all over Vietnam come to one spot! It is overly crowded- much more than what you would normally see at our temples during the Chinese New Year!

Well, my mum is now in Vietnam with me (yay!) and she's here to stay for 10days (everyone here were spewing coz i didn't tell them!) I'll be leaving here next Tuesday to Myanmar and she'll be leaving 2days after me and heading back to AUST. It was so hard to hide the fact that my mum was coming to Vietnam from her sisters when I was with them 24/7 on the Chau Doc trip!!! hehehe I had to lie to them so many times and in the end they were suss that something was up but were never certain hhehehe Well, Mum and I had 2 relaxing days in Saigon when I got back from Chau Doc. There in Saigon we went for a 1hr body-massage at Dermalogica (which was muchly needed) and costed us each 140,000VND which works out to be about $12AUS!!I'll probably go back for a 1hr facial before I head off. Everything is soooooo cheap here I've been spending so much!!! BUT so far, i'm within budget =)

I've been pretty well lately... I've been sick a few times but nothing major. All I can say though is that I'm really sick of rice. I've had it for almost every single meal and yesterday and the day before I swear, i wanted to throw up after every meal! At first I didn't know what it was that was giving me the stomach pains until I thought about rice and ugh, i felt even worst!! So since then I've been steering clear of rice and all is well =)

Billy- yes I went to visit the tombs and some of the kings' palaces back in the ancient days but unfortunately I didn't understand much coz my tour guide was vietnamese. But the palaces are crazy! It is somewhat like in the chinese movies we see. In Hoi An i didn't get anything tailored but I probably will get a tailored suit in Thailand when I get there.

What I realise in Vietnam is that ppl love to eat! And I know back home a lot of ppl do also ( for sure my girlfriends back home do!!) but here ppl go out purposely to buy food to eat and bring home to cook! When I went to Chau Doc i swear my relos kept on stopping along the way to buy food to eat in the van!! Throughout the whole journey they ate ate ate whereas i tried to sleep sleep sleep. The food they were eating just didn't appeal to me.... it required peeling or cutting which means you have to get your hands dirty to dig into the food and I didn't want to do that. I can't stand to have sticky hands on the trip (or even the slightest!) If there is water closeby, maybe that's another story =) But overall, the food really just didn't appeal to me. Whilst they all looked around for food to buy at Chau Doc I was looking for something else to buy.. something to use or wear! hehe but there was no luck of that. Whereever I go ppl are always buying food. I would love to get accustomed to it and know how it feels to eat like there is no tomorrow (I'm sure both Trinh and Oanh would love it if I do hehe) but since schooling days my motto has always been "I eat to LIVE" and not "I Live to EAT" hehehehe- if only!!!!

I went to Cho Ba Ria today to buy some materials to make some long pants to wear in Myanmar since there are no pants over here that is regarded as long on me. Their long pants become my 3/4 length pants and as my sisters always tease me, i definitely look "dorky" in them hehe! So i went to buy materials to purposely have some long cool pants to wear in Myanmar where the weather can get really hot. Apparently ppl in Myanmar cover up quite abit also so that's another reason for the long pants. I can't wait to hit Myanmar... there it will definitely be a culture-shock for me (not like Vietnam as this is my 4th time being here) and I'll definitely be on my own for a good month without knowing anyone or having anyone to rely on. I've got a luggage load of warm clothes for when I hit the UK after Myanmar and Thailand and unfortunately I will have to lug it up 3 levels to this Guesthouse that Terry has organised for me to stay at in Myanmar! There are no lifts so I'll have to ask the taxi driver to help me lug it up. So i should stop my shopping in Vietnam now before my luggage gets too heavy for the taxi driver to lug it up 3 levels!- and worst, i then wouldnt be able to buy anything else in other countries!!!

My sinus is really driving me crazy. Last night I slept in one room with a fan whilst 6ppl (including my mum) had to sleep in the next room with the aircon on. I feel really bad for hogging the room but it is better that I have one room to myself because throughout the night i sneeze, blow my nose, cough and toss n turn. Anyone who sleeps beside me will definitely won't be able to sleep! There are nights when I sleep soundly but as long as there are dust and an air-con around, i can't guarantee when those days are.... ahhhh!

Anywayz, I have 1 week remaining in Vietnam so I'll make the most of it. A few more days stay at my grandparents place beforeI spend the last 2 nights in Saigon.

Time to go and eat another meal...

P.S. Girls- hope you all have a blast at Bunnary's hen's night!!!!! Shame I have to miss out but continue to keep me updated with those emails- have fun!!!

2 weeks into Vietnam

Wow, I just got a call from my mum and she just landed in Ho Chi Minh City!!! heheh I can't wait to see her! Unfortunately she doesn't want any of our relos to know that she is here just as yet. My mum wants me to go to "Chau Doc" with my aunties this weekend to do some praying at some very highly regarded temple whilst she stays in Saigon to do her own things and then Sunday evening on our return trip she wants me to ask my aunty to drop me off in Saigon to meet a "friend" for a few days. There I'll meet my mum and stay in Saigon for a few days before we both go surprise our grandparents in Ba Ria- can't wait! [Jimmy, if you are reading this, don't tell your dad ok???!!!!! Because if it manages to get to grandma or grandpa, you'll get in trouble from my mum! and you'll get in trouble from me also when I hit Holland! =) ]

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Well! I just came back from a 5day tour to Hoi An-Danang-Hue-Phong Nha (up to the centre of Vietnam) and it was OK (just OK). I had to go by myself because my cousins had to work and study which would've been fine with me if I didn't let my aunty do the booking. She managed to book me into a tour of only 10ppl of which all are vietnamese including the tour guide!! It wasn't my idea of a tour really because I didn't understand half the things the tour guide said so half of the historical stories and facts I had to miss out on! I thought my vietnamese was alright but going on this tour made me realise otherwise. A lot of the vietnamese vocabs I don't understand and they have a lot of slang words which made it even more difficult. The tour guide tried to be as helpful as possible by trying to use different words to replace the words I don't understand but there was no point- I didn't understand them also! It didn't matter whether I ask them where we are going or not because I wouldn't even know what or where it is so I just had to wait til we got there hehe I slept in the tour bus several times to save them from trying to explain it to me! The ppl on the tour were quite nice and it was my very first time using the words "anh, chi and EM"!!! hehehe That was a big change. My favourite place is Hoi An because its so peaceful there its just lovely. No wonder there are so many tourists staying around there and freely riding bicycles around. It isn't hectic like Saigon at all where you constantly here cars and bikes beeping or having people dragging you by the arm into their store to buy stuff. Here you don't need to bargain as prices are pretty much set and its pretty cheap. A Highly recommended place to visit in Hoi An is Pho Co, a town that remains ancient. I love it there!! This will be the first (and last) experience being with a bunch of vietstas as the next trip I'm on there will definitely be foreigners just like me AND an english tour guide! The good thing out of this tour though is that it allowed me to see how beautiful Vietnam is. The scenery is absolutely amazing!!! - and the rest, I can only laugh it all off =)


Pho Co ; An ancient palace
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Im hungry.. not long til I go eat KFC with my aunty, uncle and their kids. Apparently it's OK to eat chicken over here if it's cooked well and with the chicken at KFC, it's just that (so I hear)! We'll just have to see tomorrow.... ;)

I was out with my aunty earlier on and I bought myself a white-gold ring for the very first time! I bought it so it would go nicely with my recently manicured hands, Ooh la la!

Time to eat!