For this trip, I went to Bangkok, Thailand and Hoi An, Vietnam. Me and Talia decided to spend the end days of Passover in Bangkok because they are known to have a great chabad. It did not disappoint. We arrived Wednesday night, got dinner at the restaurant, and since we could not drink at bars and experience the real Bangkok nightlife, we decided to get a bottle of wine from chabad and watch a movie at our hotel. Typically hotels have wine openers, but ours happened to be halal (and had large no alcohol signs), but we managed to open it by pushing the cork in, and watched the hangover 2, which takes place in Bangkok.
The next day we toured around the grand palace and a few other temples. It was super hot so we went back to the hotel, got a cheap massage, and got ready for the holiday to start again. We spent most of our time from Thursday night until Saturday night at Chabad. The food was pretty good and we met a lot of nice people. It was a very secular Israeli crowd, but there were a few other people observing the holiday/attending all the meals.
Saturday night, when Passover ended, all I really wanted was a bagel or slice of pizza, but since this was our last trip to Thailand and our only non kosher for passover meal, I decided I needed Pad Thai. We decided to go to the same vegetarian restaurant where we did our cooking class in Chiang Mai (they have a few Bangkok locations as well). When we arrived, the place was packed because apparently on Saturday Nights they have an all you can eat buffet for about $4.80. Luckily, they were able to seat us (at someone elses table). Even more luckily, the buffet included pad thai.
After dinner, we went to a really cool market. At this point in my travels, a night market is a night market- some are nicer, some are bigger, but they are essentially the same. This, however, was actually different. It was more of an artsy vintage flea market. We walked around there all night, got lost a bunch of times because it was so big, and headed back to our hotel to pack up and sleep before our early flight.
The next morning we flew to Hoi An, Vietnam. We decided to stay at the same chain of hostel which we had stayed at in Hanoi. For $7.50 a night we got a place to sleep, free breakfast, and an hour of free beer a day. The Hoi An location was even nicer. From the windows you looked out on to rice paddies, there was a pool, and a free shuttle to their beach club. After dropping our bags, we decided to go to the old town for lunch and tailors.
For lunch we had Banh Mi, a sandwich on a baguette (I got a fried egg, tofu, and veggies), from a place that Anthony Bourdain made famous by saying it's the best Banh Mi in Vietnam. Despite their 'fame' and line wrapped around the block, they haven't jacked up their prices too much (my sandwich was $1).
After lunch we went into a few tailor shops. Hoi An is known for having a lot of tailors. I had done research before and found one with good reviews, so we went there first and got fitted for a black work dress. We were told to come back the next day (the dress would be done by then but they could make any adjustments). Then, while walking around more, we wandered into another tailor shop which had a large book of ideas. Me and Talia both found stuff we liked, and I ended up ordering a pair of nice pants and a romper. I was slightly worried about this place, because the woman helping me was pushy and rude, whereas the previous store had been so nice. When she lifted my shirt to measure my waist she looked actually frightened and exclaimed "Oh my god! Your skin is so white!" It was hard not to laugh for the rest of the fitting.
The next day, we did a morning bike tour which included a lantern making workshop, took us through the old town, and ended on the beach. We got lunch from a cute beachfront vegan place, before biking back to the old town for our tailor fittings. We first went to the dress place- mine fit well but I had her make it a tiny bit shorter. Then, with the lowest expectations, we went back to the other place. To my surprise, the stuff actually came out really well. The pants had to be adjusted a little, but overall I really liked them.
Tuesday, our last day in Hoi An, we walked around the old town some more, got some souvenirs, picked up our final products from the tailors, and went back to the beach. Overall, Hoi An was a really cute, charming place.
Talia had to get back to Singapore to study, and was taking a flight (with a stopover) that left in the middle of the night. I decided to stay in Vietnam until Thursday night (when there was a direct flight to Singapore). Since I had seen what there was to see in Hoi An, I booked a Wednesday morning bus to Hue, Vietnam, and a hostel for Wednesday night. This was my first time travelling solo, and it was definitely an interesting experience. As I was getting ready for bed early on Tuesday night (in anticipation of my 7:30 am bus) I dropped my phone in the toilet. Yes, I know, completely my fault. Anyway, I went downstairs to reception and someone who worked there got me a bag of rice. Talia was already asleep (and was leaving at 3am), and so I had no way to wake up for my bus. The person from the front desk of the hostel promised that she'd make sure I was awake, so I went back to my room, left Talia a note that I broke my phone (since I wouldn't be able to text her), and went to sleep. At 7:30, someone from the hostel woke me up. Unfortunately, my phone still would not turn on. I scrambled to get ready, since the bus was supposed to leave at 7:30, but thankfully it didn't arrive until closer to 8.
Despite the fact that it was broad daylight, the bus was a sleeper bus. Since I could not take a picture, I'll just have to describe it. When I started walking on, the driver grabbed my foot and started screaming at me in Vietnamese- apparently you have to take your shoes off. The seats, which are supposed to serve as beds, do not fully sit up, but I could also not fully stretch out because my legs were too long for the bed. It was only 3 hours though, and I managed to sleep since I had no other form of entertainment. When the bus arrived in Hue, it dropped us on the side of the street. Something different about Hue from other places I've travelled is that it was very hard to find people who speak English. I managed to get a taxi to my hostel (which was probably a 5 minute walk, but its hard to navigate with no phone or google maps). I checked in, sent my parents an email from reception letting them know what had happened so they didn't get worried by my lack of contact, and asked how to get to a phone repair store.
Hard copy map in hand, I made it to the place recommended by the hostel. They were just selling new phones, not fixing old ones, but they pointed me to a place across the street. This was a much smaller, less legitimate looking place, with an apple sticker on the window, and three men sitting on the floor eating lunch. When I came in they cleaned up lunch and one guy completely took apart my phone. We communicated solely by google translate on his phone. After taking it apart he typed "It has water damage. 3 days." Yes, I knew it was water damage. After a little clarification, I understood that it would take 3 days to fix (and $20), so when I told him I was leaving the next day he said he couldn't fix it.
Obviously this was a little disheartening, but I still wanted to make the most of my time, so I walked from there to the imperial city. I took a short tour around, and then walked through the citadel for a while. It was very cool, but again, no pics. I got a sandwich for lunch, and read my book while I ate, because without a phone, there was really nothing else to do. On my walk home I stopped at another phone repair store, but again they said it would take longer than I had. I'm only about 50% sure that they actually gave me back all the pieces of my phone, but whatever, it's not like it works anyway.
That night I got dinner, hung out at the hostel, and went to sleep again with no alarm. Every time someone in my dorm room woke up, I'd ask them what time it was, before going back to sleep. Eventually, around 9:30, I got up, got breakfast with some people from my room, and then walked around and went on a dragon boat tour. I had a little time to kill before my taxi to the airport, so I sat in a coffee shop and read. Because of my lack of phone, and because I wanted to see the Hai Van Pass, I decided to take a taxi to the airport (the bus that I took on the way there goes through a tunnel, so you miss the view). The people at the hostel really tried to sell me on the motorbike thing, but I politely declined (you're welcome, mother). So, I had a 3 hour drive with a very nice driver who spoke no English. We stopped at a lookout point on the hai van pass (google it, it's really pretty). I tried to ask the driver if I could use his phone to take a picture, but that did not translate well. He did ask to take a selfie with me (I guess some words are just universal), but I did not get a copy of that. Obviously, I was 4 hours early for my flight, so I read some more. I made it back to Singapore late Thursday night- happy to have access to my computer, which felt like my first connection to the outside world.
Some reflections on travelling alone and travelling with no phone: Travelling alone was much less scary than I thought. When I told friends that I was staying 2 days longer than Talia on my own, they questioned why I would do that. Honestly, it was not a big deal at all. A lot of people at these hostels were doing the same thing, and everyone is really friendly. Obviously, breaking my phone complicated things. Yes, I know, it was my fault. And yes, I guess I am now just one of those people that has all these things "happen" to them. When I told my parents about my phone, they said "Wow, this sounds like something that would happen to coby. It's so unlike you." (No offense cobs). However, it was also unlike me to lose my passport. Maybe studying abroad has "changed me"- I guess we'll just have to wait and see. All that being said, my lack of phone gave me a new found respect for my parents/grandparents generation. How did people get around before google maps? I remember printing out map quest directions for long drives when I was younger, and even that seems foreign at this point. How do you know which restaurant to eat at if you can't google the menu beforehand, or read tripadvisor reviews? Did people used to carry around full blown alarm clocks with them before they had cell phones? How did you wake up?! It was definitely difficult to not have all these things that I have grown to rely on, but I was glad to see that despite the logistical challenges I could still figure it out.
I spent Friday dealing with my phone situation. Iphones in Singapore are extremely expensive, and the apple store said fixing mine would cost a minimum of $500 (would be cheaper to fly back to Vietnam and have it done there). Even a used Iphone 4 with a shitty battery life was not cheap, so I decided my best option was to get an android. I am now a "proud" owner of a Xiaomi Redmi 5. I'm still learning how to use it, but it does the trick.
Since then I've done some studying. I've also gone shopping, gone swimming, and this past weekend I went to the national museum of Singapore. Now I have 2 tests on Wednesday and 1 on Thursday, so I guess it's crunch time. I also leave for Australia on Thursday night, and I'll be home in 2.5 weeks from now. It's pretty crazy how quickly the semester went by. Next blog post will probably be in America, hopefully only with good stories.
