Written by JaneIt’s been way too long since I’ve done a blog post. Now we are living in Chiang Mai, Thailand! We lived in Danang, Vietnam from May 2016 to June 2017. We moved to Chiang Mai in August 2017 and we are loving it! We live in the Santitham area in an awesome apartment that has a big pool and small fitness center. Once we saw the pool, we knew we wanted this apartment. We have been enjoying Chiang Mai. There are lots of vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to live here. There are also plenty of organic shops, produce, and restaurants, which we love! Brandon and I have been working six days or more per week, so we have not done a lot of adventuring yet. Also, it’s rainy season here, so it’s not ideal weather for chasing waterfalls and going on long drives. We have been hanging out with friends, eating out, and relaxing at our pool. We’ve been to the movies a couple of times (We saw It and Baby Driver). We’ve been to two Chiang Mai FC soccer matches, which were fun! The soccer stadium is walking distance from our apartment. We took a drive to Huay Tung Tao Lake near the city. It’s a manmade lake and very nice with the mountains as a backdrop. Since it is rainy season, we got poured on while we were there. We took shelter under a small hut on the edge of the water. When the rain cleared, it was a beautiful day with an awesome view. It was peaceful to be in nature and have a break from the city. We also saw a small water snake swimming near us in the water! Brandon befriended a couple cats while we were there. When some friends visited Chiang Mai, I went with them to the Huay Keaw waterfall on Doi Suthep (Suthep Mountain), the mountain just east of the city. It was a decent hike and well worth it! We found a small swimming hole in the waterfalls and relaxed there for a while. The waterfalls were awesome! The view from the mountain was beautiful. One of the great things about living in Chiang Mai is that it’s a popular vacation destination. We have already seen many friends who were visiting Chiang Mai while we’ve been living here. It’s great to meet up with friends on this side of the world. We always welcome anyone who want to visit us! Hint hint ;) Phuket TripOur dear friend Matt visited us in mid October for a week. Matt currently lives in China, so it’s easier for him to visit us in Thailand. We hung out in Chiang Mai for a couple of days and then went to Phuket (pronounced “poo-ket”) for three nights. Phuket was awesome! Even though we were only there for a couple days, we really enjoyed it! We stayed on Kata beach. Brandon found us an awesome hotel that was a two minute walk to the beach. From our balcony, we could see the mountains close up. On the first night, we got to our hotel in the evening, so we went to dinner near our hotel and relaxed. The next day, we rented umbrella covered lounge chairs on the beach, relaxed, and swam all day. Brandon rented a boogie board and tore it up in the waves. The waves on the beach were very big and the current was powerful! The water was very blue and clear. It was very nice to be on the beach again! In the evening, we watched the sunset over the beach from our hotel’s rooftop pool. Then we went to Patong for dinner and to see a Muay Thai boxing fight. Matt had not seen a Muay Thai fight before, so we all wanted to go together. It was a fun night! We really enjoy watching Muay Thai boxing matches; those little fighters pack a mean punch! The next day, we booked a full day group excursion to the Phi Phi Islands. The reason I wanted to go to Phuket was to see the famous Phi Phi Islands. A van picked us up at 7:30am from our hotel and took us to the marina. Then we headed out with our group on a speedboat. The speedboat was a pretty rough ride for me because of the waves in the open ocean. The view from the speedboat was amazing! The open ocean was surrounded by islands, mountains, and karsts. After an hour long ride, we made it to the first stop, Maya Beach. Maya Beach is famous because of its beautiful bright blue and clear water and also because it is where the movie “The Beach” was filmed. Maya Beach is in a small cove and it was jam packed with other speedboats. Our boat dropped us for 45 minutes to swim. The small beach was completely covered with other tourists. I didn’t mind it because I have really wanted to see this beach for a long time. The water was a bright blue that I had never seen before. It was ridiculously beautiful. The water wasn’t super clear but I think it’s because there were so many people and boats that the sand was churned up. Maya Beach is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, despite all the other tourists. Next, our speedboat drove us to another beautiful cove with crystal clear water. We didn’t stop to swim. We just drove in and out to see it. Then our speedboat anchored and we got to snorkel for about 30 minutes. The water was super clear and we got to see many colorful fish. Afterwards, we stopped for a buffet lunch with an amazing view! Our last stop on the Phi Phi Islands was a white sand beach. Our boat dropped us off to relax and swim for over an hour. Brandon snorkeled, while Matt and I chilled in the water. The pictures don’t do the view justice. It was beautiful! Afterwards, we said goodbye to the Phi Phi Islands and headed back to Phuket. The van took us back to our hotel and we had our last dinner together with Matt, who flew back to Shanghai late that night. Brandon and I flew back to Chiang Mai the next morning. It was a great trip!
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Written by Jane Brandon, me, and three of our friends took a day trip to Lang Co, a beach town north of Da Nang. We motorbiked the Hai Van Pass, which is a windy, scenic mountain highway from Da Nang to Lang Co. The views from the Hai Van Pass were breathtaking!! We stopped at the highest point of the road. There are a few restaurants up there with amazing views. We ate some lunch and took in the beautiful view. Rain was rolling over the north side of the mountain which cooled down the temperature. I was so glad because it was extremely hot that day!! We waited for the rain to pass while checking out the French ruins at the top of the Hai Van Pass. At the base of the mountain we drove to some natural springs to swim. Our friend had been there before, so we were so lucky that she was our tour guide!! We took some dirt roads into the mountains. It was very peaceful and beautiful. We made it to the natural springs pool, where a family had made a business from damming the natural spring into a pool, building some platforms to rest on, and selling beer and food. It was very peaceful. For a while we were the only ones there. There were also a few super cute puppies there!! They quickly became our friends :) After a few hours, we headed back to Lang Co for dinner. On our drive back, I witnessed the most beautiful sunset over the mountains! It was breathtaking. I kept thinking that I can’t believe that this is my life and that I get to have these experiences without going far from my home (Da Nang). Our friend took us to a restaurant on the water, where we enjoyed the rest of the sunset. At dark, after dinner, we headed back to Da Nang on the Hai Van Pass. We intentionally planned to drive back at night, so that we could see the stars from the north side of the mountain. On the north side of the mountain, the city lights from Da Nang are blocked by the mountain. Almost at the top of the mountain, we stopped to look at the stars. It was so beautiful!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many stars before, even when I’ve been camping. The drive home down the mountain was very peaceful. It was usually just us on the road. It was very quiet except for the crickets we could hear in the jungle. It was nice to break from the horn honking traffic of Da Nang.
The only unpleasant thing about driving the Hai Van Pass was the fifteen trucks full of squealing, hot pigs that we passed. Luckily there were stops along the road with high water hose fountains to cool down the pigs. I’ve never witnessed factory farming before, and it broke my heart to see it in person. Another reminder that being vegan is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Yet another amazing day trip in Da Nang! I’m so lucky to be able to go on amazing trips close to my city. Written by Jane:
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in our apartment in Da Nang with basically useless wifi internet due to a city wide internet slow down. Meanwhile, Brandon is at a fire show on the beach in Koh Samet, Thailand. This afternoon, I got one of my wisdom teeth removed at a Western –friendly dentist where the dentists and staff know enough English for native English speakers to feel comfortable. I had already gone to this dentist to get a cavity filled, and I felt very comfortable and safe. For the wisdom tooth extraction, the dentist only gave me local anesthesia and no laughing gas, unlike how it’s done in the US. After she told me there would be no laughing gas and she started pulling on my tooth, my heart was racing and my stomach was in knots. Even though it didn’t hurt, I let out a small yelp as she was struggling to yank it out. Thankfully the tooth came out very easily, and it was over in about ten seconds. Fifteen minutes and less than $50 later, I was done. Now it’s just sore and uncomfortable, thankfully not painful. I haven’t even needed to take the pain killers I got. Since then, I’ve just been taking it easy, so I figured this would be a good time to blog about our travels this past week. For our work permits, we have to go to a foreign Vietnamese Embassy to receive new visas. We’re both very interested in Thailand, so we chose to go to Bangkok. We also needed to stop in Ho Chi Minh City at the American Consulate to get some documents legalized for our work permit. The work visa in Vietnam is not an easy process. We were happy for a chance to travel and see some new places in Southeast Asia. Ho Chi Minh City Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, for less than 24 hours. We had heard and read that Ho Chi Minh is very fast paced and congested, like most huge cities. Motorbikers don’t follow traffic laws (if there are any?). When we were there, it was very common for motorbikers to drive on the sidewalks to get around the slow moving traffic in the street. Like Hanoi, it’s a full time job as a pedestrian to stay out of the way of motorbikes and cars. I almost got clipped by a motorbike that was driving on a sidewalk full of pedestrians. Luckily I was able to get out of the way in time. We ate at a couple of awesome vegan restaurants and spent all of our time running errands. I was so happy to see several vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the relatively small area that we walked in. One of the perks of living in a big city is more options. Visiting Ho Chi Minh made me even more grateful to live in Da Nang. I love the slower pace and smaller size of Da Nang. It’s more peaceful and laid back. And of course, we love the beach! Bangkok Bangkok is huge! It reminds me a lot of NYC in that it’s huge, dense, and congested with traffic. It has a good vibe, it’s hard for me to describe but I liked the energy of the city. Most people that we talked to knew very decent English, which was a refreshing change. We got into Bangkok after dark and had some issues trying to find our Airbnb as it rained on and off. The first time we got lost, we stopped at the nearest restaurant for food and wifi. The Thai food was amazing!! Then we proceed to get lost again and retreated back to the restaurant where luckily the owner knew where our Airbnb was. The next day we headed out to the embassy to drop off paperwork for the visa. We hailed a tuk tuk outside of our Airbnb. I’d seen them in videos before, so when I saw one I jumped at the opportunity to ride in one. Tuk tuks look like a motorbike with a trailer attached behind it where passengers sit. It fits two people in the small seating area. It’s an awesome way to experience the city and feel the wind on your face. It was really fun! Near the embassy, there was a large market on the street selling prepared food- lots of meat dishes, grilled bananas, and fresh fruit carts. The fresh fruit carts were awesome because they would cut and bag the fruit right there so it was fresh and ready to eat. I loved it! About half of the fruit was served ripe, which was pretty good since it’s hard to come buy ripe fruit in the markets. We loaded up on fruit and headed to Lumpini Park which was down the street from the embassy. Lumpini Park is a large park in the middle of the city, similar to Central Park in NYC but much smaller. The park was very green and beautiful. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city. We found a shaded picnic table near a large creek to sit down and eat our fruit. Right as I was biting into some delicious pineapple, Brandon says, while looking at the water, “Is that real?” I froze and turned to see a large lizard sitting still by the water about 10 feet from us. When we saw it breathing, we knew that Lumpini wasn’t like NYC’s Central Park. We watched as the lizard swam across the creek to the other bank. As the lizard walked up on to the opposite bank, I sat down relieved and continued eating. Seconds later, Brandon said, “Oh shit!” And there was commotion on the other side of the creek. The lizard had crept up on another lizard that we didn’t see sitting on the bank. Now they were wrestling and one fled into the water. We were officially freaked out! We decided to walk around the park some more. I was happy to get some distance from that feisty lizard. I desperately needed to use the bathroom. Thankfully there was a public restroom nearby. Brandon, who had already pointed out that there were most likely cobras in this park, took this opportunity to remind me that in past few weeks two cobras, on separate occasions, were found in toilets in Bangkok. Now I was REALLY scared! The urge to pee outweighed my fear and I luckily made it out of the bathroom without a cobra sighting. As we walked around the park, we saw several lizards on land and in the water. Before our knowledge of these lizards in the park, we wanted to do the swan paddle boats. This quickly changed since we were so spooked by all the wildlife in the park. I felt like I had left the city and stepped into the Australian Outback. We quickly left the park while intently looking out for wildlife. Brandon grabbed some street food outside of the park while we figured out what to do next. We had about four hours to kill before we needed to be back at the embassy to get our visas. We were limited with what we could do because some of the coolest things to do took all day. We hailed a tuk tuk and the driver was super helpful and spoke good English. He said that he could take us to the river where we could take a boat ride in the canals and then he would bring us back to the embassy by 4pm. That was the best idea we had so far, so we hopped in the tuk tuk. For our canal ride, we got a large gondola type boat for just the two of us. I’d love to say that it was a beautiful and romantic boat ride, but it wasn’t. It was a humbling experience. The water was brown and heavily littered. Run down homes lined the canals illustrating the poverty in the city. It’s common for people to sell merchandise out of their boats on the canals. We were approached by a man in his boat full of souvenirs and beverages. We weren’t interested in accumulating any souvenirs, but we wanted to help the man out. We needed up buying a $3 beer for our boat driver. It’s times like these, which have been common in Thailand and Vietnam, that we’re reminded of how fortunate we are. We stopped at a large cluster of wats (temples) during our canal ride. I enjoyed a fresh Thai coconut while we walked around the beautifully ornate wats. Twenty minutes later we headed back to the boat. As we headed back to the embassy, our super friendly driver asked if he could take us by a clothing shop. He told us that he gets free oil if he takes his customers to this clothing shop, even if we don’t buy anything. Happy to help out the driver, we agreed. While I was finishing a mango outside, Brandon went into the shop. As I was standing outside, another tuk tuk drove up and a Western couple briefly went into this clothing store. This must be a common sales strategy for the store. Brandon didn’t spend too much time in the shop. It was a very fancy custom tailor shop, which was something we were not interested in. Our driver said that he wouldn’t get the free oil since I didn’t go in. Eager to help our driver, both Brandon and I went back in to shop. I thought I might find something affordable that I would like. As soon as I entered the shop, a salesman started his pitch. He took me upstairs to look at the fabrics for the custom clothing. He was very pushy, so I was honest and told him that the clothing was too fancy for what I wanted. Immediately, he was hostile and asked me, “Then why did you even come in here? He(Brandon) already came in here and knew what kind of clothes we sell.” I felt very intimidated and didn’t know what to say because he was being so hostile. Thankfully, Brandon stepped in and stood up for us as we made a beeline for the door. Woah, what an experience! We hypothesize that the salesman was tired of the tuk tuk drivers taking advantage of the free oil by bringing foreigner tourists to his shop that weren’t actually interested in buying the clothes. Bangkok was full of surprises for us! After the embassy, we headed back to our Airbnb. We ate a couple meals in our neighborhood and Brandon planned his Koh Samet trip. After the long, eventful day we were exhausted. The next morning, I headed for the airport to go back to Da Nang, while Brandon stayed in Bangkok for another day to explore before venturing to Koh Samet. Since my wifi quality is so weak, I won’t be able to post any pictures with this blog post. For daily updates of what we’re up to, follow us on snapchat (we captured the lizard fight on snapchat). Jane: janeybird1 Brandon: draculaspider Written by Jane: After a few days of searching, we finally found an apartment that we like! We are on a month-to-month lease, so we plan to stay in this apartment while we search for something (hopefully cheaper) and newer. That said, it’s a super cute studio in an expat/tourist neighborhood. It’s not what one may imagine as a typical “tourist” area. It’s an area for people on vacation and expats who live here, but it’s not overly populated and commercial. It has tourist accommodations, like hotels, beach chairs, bars, and restaurants, but it’s not crowded at all. It’s very relaxing, quiet, and laid back. Our apartment is in a hostel, so it’s nice to have other foreigners around. The people who work at our apartment/the hostel are super helpful and nice. The owner hosted a BBQ a couple of nights ago for the hostel, so we met some other foreigners. A few new things about our apartment:
Check out pictures of our apartment below (slideshow). A couple of days ago, we went searching for food for our apartment. I haven’t had much luck finding vegan food at restaurants here. The only vegan restaurant I know of (so far) is pretty far from our place. I love cooking anyway, so I wanted to stock up on ingredients for our kitchen. On the expat community Facebook group, I found an organic foods business. It’s run by one woman who sells organic produce and foods out of her home. She has a cool selection of healthy foods, including rice, moringa pasta (gluten-free), lentils, turmeric, coconut flour, and coconut sugar. We stocked up on rice, morninga pasta, and got some produce. We’ll definitely be back to her shop! Yesterday, we went to our first large, outdoor market. It was a huge market selling produce, meats, clothes, dry rice and beans, and other random stuff. First off there were live chickens crammed into cages (very hard to see, but they were still treated better than chickens in slaughterhouses in the US) and raw meat being cut up and sold at the market. All that combined with the heat resulted in a pretty gross stench. It’s nice to have a fresh market, but it’s super different than the farmer’s markets in the US, since it was dirty and smelly. It’s just another thing to get used to. I came here for something different, and that’s exactly what I’ve been getting. After the outdoor market, we checked out the supermarket. The Lotte Mart is basically a mall combined with a grocery store, movie theatre, and bowling alley. The grocery store had tons of processed snack foods, meat, and milk. There were no “gluten-free” items, which is not surprising. There were no “health foods” that are common in the US. Actually, I would go as far to say that there were no healthy foods in the store except for produce, rice, soy milk, and oatmeal. Brandon was very happy to find oatmeal- his favorite breakfast. In one of the marts/convenient stores by our apartment, we were relieved to find peanut butter without hydrogenated oils, and chia seeds. That’s much improvement from the Lotte Mart. I’ve heard you can find some healthier stuff at some of the other marts. I’m excited to keep exploring the foods here. Last night, we walked down to the beach for the first time. We live about 3 blocks away from the beach, which is one of the main reasons that we moved to our neighborhood. We walked down the beach where we could see Son Tra Mountain (or Monkey Mountain) and the lit up high rises along the beach. We love the beach. It’s very calming. The sound of the waves crashing on the beach and the feel of the ocean breeze is instantly relaxing. We stopped to sit and enjoy the beach. I meditated for a bit to enhance my senses, and then played around with some head stands. We walked home feeling better and lighter than before. I am so grateful to live so close to the ocean and nature. Pictures from the beach... Written by Jane:
We made it to Vietnam! We love it so far. We’ve been very busy travelling and trying to find an apartment. Combined with jet lag and the humid heat, we are exhausted by 5pm every day. Our Vietnam adventure started in Hanoi- we stayed there for two nights to take a break from flying. We stayed in the Old Quarter area, which is poppin’! It’s very dense, crowded, and fast paced. It was nice to be so close to so many restaurants and shops- everything we needed was in walking distance. The traffic is insane. The streets are crowded with scooters, motorbikes, cars, and pedestrians buzzing around with no adherence to traffic laws (not sure they even exist here). It’s controlled chaos. It’s a free for all, but we haven’t seen a wreck yet, so there must be a method to the madness. In Hanoi, there was little to no sidewalk, so walking around was quite stressful trying to not get hit by a motorbike or car. There are lots of street vendors selling a variety of things- food, souvenirs, clothing, services, etc. The vendors in Hanoi tend to be very aggressive, especially to obvious tourists like us. One afternoon, we were walking in search of food and a man, who was sitting on the sidewalk, suddenly grabbed Brandon’s shoe. He quickly proceeded to untie and take off Brandon’s shoe. There was a small hole in the shoe that he wanted to sew up. In a matter of seconds, Brandon’s shoe was in this man’s hands. Brandon let him proceed since he did want the hole sewn up. The man was very nice and knew English well enough to chat up with tourists. When he was done, he told Brandon to pay him $250,000 VND or about $11 USD. Brandon said no way and bartered with him for a few minutes and eventually paid him $50,000 VND or about $2.25 USD. Brandon was strong and stood his ground- he made it look easy. I’m glad I didn’t have to barter. We’re still getting used to this bartering culture. It’s common for locals to take advantage of tourists because they think we’re rich. Our first night in Hanoi, we went to an awesome vegan restaurant (Jalus) for dinner and then walked around the city. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake which was beautifully lit up with lights and surrounded by flower beds. People were everywhere- it reminded us of Times Square in NYC but prettier. It was a very fun and happy atmosphere. When we were walking around the next morning, an older local woman with one leg approached us. She was soliciting us hoping to be our tour guide. She asked us our nationality, to which we replied American. Almost immediately thereafter, she pointed out that she lost her leg in an explosion in the Vietnam War. It was super awkward! Poor lady. We weren’t interested in a tour, so we graciously declined. In Hanoi, we treated ourselves to massages for about $5/30 minutes. We’re thinking about getting weekly massages. After two nights in Hanoi, we headed to Da Nang, where we will be living. We’re super excited to be here and start learning the city that will be our home. Da Nang is a bit calmer than Hanoi- the streets and sidewalks are wider. The traffic is still pretty crazy, especially during rush hour!! We have yet to see aggressive vendors on the street- most people are minding their own business and happy to help us when needed. We’ve been looking for apartments for the past two days. A realtor has been showing us around- we haven’t found a place that satisfies what we’re looking for yet. Tomorrow we’re going to go on our own to look for apartments. We found the neighborhood that we want to live in, An Thoung- it’s a popular expat neighborhood with a laid back vibe, and it’s walking distance to the beautiful beach. We’re very excited to live there! Our current Airbnb is located in a more populated and chaotic neighborhood, so we’re looking forward to more peaceful surroundings. Yesterday we rented a scooter because it’s easier and cheaper than getting cabs. Brandon drove the scooter and he was awesome! He drove in the crazy traffic and rocked it. That’s my baby! We were a good team out on the streets. I practiced driving the scooter in a quieter area, and it’s really fun! I’m a little nervous to get out into the traffic, but it just takes practice. We’re planning on each buying our own scooters. We’ve met a couple of expats who were super helpful and gave us lots of helpful information. It’s so nice to have a strong expat community here. As much as we’re looking for a new adventure, it’s so nice to meet people who speak English and can help us get settled. The food has been amazing!! Everything is so fresh and healthy, besides the meat. There are tons of street vendors in Hanoi and Da Nang, and most have meat sitting out in the heat all day. Thank goodness we’re not big meat eaters. Brandon had the best pho of his life at a small shop with no A/C in Hanoi. We’ve found some delicious vegan and vegetarian places in Hanoi and Da Nang thanks to Happy Cow and Google. It hasn’t been as easy as I thought (I’m not sure how easy I thought it would be), but we’ve made it work. The language barrier has been challenging but Google Translate is a life saver. Also, most of the people we’ve spoken to at restaurants have known a little English. Soon we will have an apartment and be able to cook our own food. So far, I really like the energy in Da Nang. It’s very friendly and relaxed here. Everyone seems to be happy and content, relaxing and minding their own business. We’ve seen lots of people napping in their shops or on their parked scooters. Locals have been very nice to us. We had some issues with our scooter yesterday, and people on the street came over, without asking, to help us on a few occasions. We’re very happy to be here. Not to say that it was been an easy experience, but what’s good doesn't usually come easy. There are challenges but we’re learning more every day, every hour, every minute. The best part of this experience is doing it together. Brandon makes anything fun and enjoyable. He’s my rock, and I’m stronger with him because he’s got my back. We have each other, and I can already tell that we can do anything together. For daily updates, follow us on snapchat… Jane: janeybird1 Brandon: draculaspider |
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November 2017
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