First Impressions

(From June 16 email)

Hello Family!

I want to apologize for taking so long to send another email. In short, the past two weeks have been wonderful and filled with very different experiences.

As I said in my previous email, it had been six years since we visited Koh Tao - and as we were leaving we noticed signs for a seven-11 under construction near the pier. We knew we were in for a change, but didn't realize to what extent. We knew that the 2004 tsunami had damaged much of the Andaman Sea side of S. Thailand - what we didn't expect was the booming commerce and construction that it created on the Gulf of Thailand side (and Koh Tao). The island has undergone major growth and our resort has undergone minor (but very nice) improvements. There was now a bar and at our not so private resort. Roads were constructed, very nice resorts were on the tops of previously empty hillsides, our beach was crowded... but they now had espresso and proper cafes and western-style restaurants. Of course Tom was very excited and we ate at the only two Italian places on the island!

The weather for the first 4-5 days was beautiful. Sunny and warm days were spent reading and relaxing. Then the weather changed. We encountered monsoon rains and the last half of the visit was somewhat frustrating. "Big rains" made it difficult to sleep through the night and we were anxious to get off the island. The last night was very windy and Tom kept getting up every couple of hours to look at the sea. We had train tickets back to Bangkok and it was imperative that we made the connection to Chumpon. The boat off the island was no paradise. We were on a large catamaran that sat about 75 people, so we knew it was safe. But the seas were very rough. Waves of about 2 meters made the 1.5 hour trip hellish. Tom clutched a plastic bag in case he needed to vomit and I sat with my eyes closed trying to stay as still as possible... a difficult task given the environment. We got to Chumpon and then the next day took an 8hr train back to Bangkok.

We stayed with Tom Kerr from the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) in his lovely Thai-style home (compound) and had a great visit. Tom and Tom worked together on the Tsunami-Katrina exchange program and it was nice to see a different part of Bangkok. We arrived Saturday night and spent hours talking. Sunday we had a relaxing morning after the best sleep we've had since we arrived. Tom's house has a comfortable bed - and it was difficult to wake up! Sunday afternoon we went for a 3hr Thai massage! Three hours! I never even knew the had massages for three hours - but after living in Thailand for 11 years Tom K. couldn't do anything less than that. It was wonderful - and for approx. $30 we couldn't complain. We ate dinner at the night market near his house and woke up very early Monday morning to catch our flight to Hanoi.

Wow - Hanoi is really something else. First impressions are lasting and we were a bit frustrated upon arrival. The banks at the airport don't exchage travellers cheques - only cash - and we were walking around the lobby area until someone finally decided to exchange our money. The Vietnamese people are very different from the Lao or Thai; aggressive folks approached one after the next. They told us we must take a taxi to the city (not true) and that the bus would take 30 minutes to leave (false information) and that the wouldn't take us directly to the guesthouse... It was the aggressive dishonesty that caused a very challenging first impression.

We originally thought that we could rent bicycles in the city and have a pleasant experience sight-seeing and touring around... until we saw the roads! There does not seem to be one traffic law in town! There are motorbikes everywhere and they dart in and out of cars, trucks, busses, bikes which travel on both sides of the street and fight for their own piece of the road. It is difficult to walk across the streets - let alone join the masses on two-wheeled traffic. For now, we will stick to our feet! The bus didn't take us to the guesthouse we requested, which was a blessing in disguise. A very nice family-run hotel proprietor has given us a good deal on a lovely room with a balcony, air con, hot water, and free internet! (We are again connected!) He even let Tom borrow his cell phone (after he bought his own sim card) so that he could call different offices and confirm his meetings for later this week. We are happy and pleased to encounter such wonderful hospitality in the midst of many fast-moving people. There seem to be two prices in Hanoi - one for foreigners and one for the locals. We ate lunch at a delicious shop on the street and the young man sitting near us told us in near perfect English what the price was... but when it came time to pay an extra 10,000 dong charge was added to the bill. At the end of the day things are pretty cheap and being in a country where we do not know the language makes negotiations tough. We quickly learned our numbers and food items (pork, fish, chicken, beef and rice) so that we could moderately get by. It seems like many people have a basic understanding of French - so it will be fun to explore those influences as well.

So far the first day has been hectic. We are not used to seeing so many people everywhere - it is like New York. Even Bangkok is very relaxed in comparison.Perhaps we can try to set up a Skype call while we are here? Our room has a telephone, so we can gather more information and make sure we can accept an incoming phone call. It doesn't look like this computer has a place to plug in the headphones... but there is plenty of time for further investigation. We will be here for 9 nights.Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a good Father's Day celebration. We were thinking of you!

Love to you all,Steph and Tom