Pics or it Didn't Happen (Part 1)

PHO!!!!  Pho is a traditional Vietnamese dish.  You can find it literally everywhere in Hanoi and for $3 or less.  You have to eat it with a spoon and chopsticks, there is just no other way to eat it.  

This is the outside of Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi.  The sign is in French because Vietnam was a French Colony.  

This is John McCains suit.  They have a whole display about John McCain and his role in the Vietnam War and his time at Hoa Lo.

The streets of Hanoi.  I took this sitting on a teeny tiny plastic stool while drinking Saigon Beer.  This  street corner is jam packed with locals and tourists drinking beer and eating snacks.  PSA:  Asians love Minions...

The streets of Hanoi.

This is the entrance of the Temple of Learning.  This was the first university in Vietnam back in the 1070s, that's why it looks like I am in China.

Shoutout to the fisheye lens from Aunt Melissa.  The Temple was beautiful.  Since we went in the late afternoon there weren't that many people there which made the experience a lot more enjoyable. 

The university was started around Confucius.  There are lots of Confucius statues all around the Temple.  I don't know much about Confucius or the beliefs around him, but it was really fascinating seeing a completely different type of worship

BAHN MI.  This was my sandwich that was my breakfast one morning.  We sat on the side of the road and ate it while it POURED rain.

Traditional wedding outfits of Vietnamese people.  This was at the Vietnamese Women's Museum.  

Vietnamese women carry their babies like a backpack.  

I obviously was fascinated by the fashion exhibit.  

My bed in the overnight train!!!!  Just thought it would be fun to document this lol.  It was really hard and the blanket was like a potato sack, but it was about the experience.

The start of our two day trek in Sapa.  We got to trek with the local women who were kind and helped us through the trek.

This is one of the women who trekked part of the first day with us. 

The pictures just don't do it justice.  The rice terraces make Sapa famous, and a place tourists want to travel to.

Just observing nature.

Water buffalo are everywhere.  They are really valuable for the farmers in Sapa since they can do a lot of the work for the farmers.  

One of the Red Dao women.  You can tell she is part of the Red Dao tribe because of the red turbin/wrap on her head.  The women carry goods and crops in these woven basket backpacks.

The group!!!  Kristen, Amanda, and Me!!  It was really cold and slightly rainy.  We were really poorly prepared for the weather.  I had to buy two coats....

I just had to share this.  The Red Dao women are known for their herbal medicine remedies.  This is me in a herbal tea bath.  You can literally see the steam coming off of it...It was BOILING hot, but felt and smelled really nice.

Just enjoying life.  Shoutout to my backpack!!!  That thing is fabulous.

LAMB!!!  Lamb was our trek guide.  She was so knowledgable and kind.  Here she is standing in front of a bucket of indigo dye.  The Vietnamese women dye fabrics indigo, and make the traditional costumes from that fabric.

The kids in the village were absolutely amazing.  Seeing how they are growing up was fascinating.

This women made our 6 course dinner, and let us all stay in her home.  She was amazing.   She is holding her grandson who was adorable.

So much green scenery.

It was unreal.

Just proving we were there.

We just missed the big rice harvesting season.  The rice terraces were empty when we were there.  All of the rice had been harvested about 3 weeks earlier.

This girl made me laugh.  I was going to give her a high five.  I also really like her outfit...

YANGON, MYANMAR!!!  I made it.

The buildings and infrastructure in the city was crazy.

Taking in the architecture in the city.

The entrance to the Schwedagon Pagoda!

Walking into the pagoda was breathtaking. 

There I am!!  Of course I am in another rented skirt.

Places like this just don't exist in the US or anywhere in the world other then SE Asia.  Seeing places like this is why you come to SE Asia as an American.

So much golddddd

Taking it all in.

The group!!!!  All of our skirts (longyi) made the Burmese people laugh.  I think seeing Westerners in their traditional outfit was funny to them, but they also thought we looked beautiful.  The whole experience was unique.

The intense gold of the pagoda made the sky look purple at night.  The pagoda looks even more opulent at night.  

The big white tower is the National Monument in downtown Yangon.

This is the big public park in the center of the city.  The big white building is the City Hall.  The architecture looked very Spanish.  The building was beautiful and really old.

I couldn't get over the sky.  Coming from cold, rainy Vietnam, Myanmar was really hot.  The sun was really intense.  Also those are two of the most modern buildings in the city.

The streets were filled with fruit.  SO MANY PEOPLE AND FRUIT.  I spent my 2 days in Yangon basically walking the streets and taking in the culture.  It was unlike any of the other places I have traveled to in SE Asia.  

All of these experiences feel like they were months and months ago.  In actuality, they were 3 weeks ago.

Happy Mischief Night from Thailand.

This is just a snapshot.  

Love

xoxo

The Trek

The Loyola Bangkok program is defined by a 7 day trip taken to northern Thailand called, "the trek".  When you ask anyone who has come to Bangkok to study abroad what their favorite part about their time in Thailand was almost everyone says the trek.  Every year for as long as the Bangkok program has been running at Loyola (about 20 years), the entire group goes to Chiang Mai in the north and treks in the jungle of Thailand.  I can say without a doubt that the past 8 days have been some of the most fullfiling and amazing days of my entire time abroad.

With absolutely no break and relaxation after Vietnam and Myanmar, all 38 of us and Father Kelly got on a bus that was going to be taking us to Chiang Mai (about a 13 hour bus ride).  Knowing we would all hate our lives going for 13 hours straight, we made stops along the way.  Our first stop was Bang-Pa In, the summer royal palace of King Rama V, one of the many kings of Thailand.  We all got the opportunity to walk around the palace and enjoy the weather.  Walking around the grounds in the middle of October felt more like the middle of July.  The palace and gardens were absolutely gorgeous, and really well taken care of.  Bang-Pa In is the mini-Versialles of Thailand.

After walking around the palace, we got back on the bus and took it about 2 hours to Sukhothai.  Sukhothai is one of the ancient kingdoms in Thailand.  We arrived in the late afternoon to our hotel for the night.  The hotel turned out to be a resort (shout out to Father Kelly for hooking us up).  We got to swim around in the pool, and that night we had cocktails at a wine bar and an amazing dinner(it was a buffet, and I ate everything!).

The next day we all woke up and went to the Sukothai Historical Park where we all rented bikes and biked around the ruins.  The bikes were old and rickety, but made the whole experience more fun and entertaining.  Sukhothai is one of the ancient kingdoms and former capital cities in Thailand and has tons of ruins and temples that have been designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The ruins reminded me of Angkor Wat but on a much smaller scale.  After biking around we all got back on the bus and went another 4 hours to finally arrive in Chiang Mai.  We settled into our hostel (a little different then the resort the night before...), and went exploring Chiang Mai.  Chiang Mai is a city in northern Thailand that over the past few years has become a popular place for tourists to visit.  We arrived on Sunday and got to walk around a night market and get dinner.  Chiang Mai is a busy city, but also quiet.  It has a completely different feel then Bangkok.  A fun part of the culture in Chiang Mai is that there are no taxis in the city, and the entire "old city" is enclosed by a moat.  

On Monday, we all woke up and took a trip to Wat Doi Suthep.  The wat is located on a big mountain just outside of Chiang Mai.  We walked all around the wat, and took lots of pictures.  It was an interesting experience being there since I had just visited the Schwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.  Doi Suthep felt like a miniature Schwedagon.  We then headed to the umbrella factory in Chiang Mai.  The umbrella factory is a small outdoor museum that shows you how umbrellas are made.  Not all of us went, but it was a fun little side trip to see another part of Chiang Mai. 

We arrived back to the hostel and wanted to go explore more of the city.  Inspired by Sukhothai, Kristy, Carissa and I decided to rent a bike and bike the city.  With a map in our hand and a coffee shop to go to (thanks to Father Kelly), we set out on what turned out to be quite the adventure.  With cars, songtaos, and motorbikes, the streets were busy, and riding a bike in them was interesting.  After riding along the main road (highway) that parallels the moat, we arrived at a park to look at our map and realize we had ended up at the entire opposite end of the city.  We had only biked for about 30 minutes and we had basically gone around the entire old city of Chiang Mai.  Finally figuring out where we were going, we arrived at Fern Forrest Cafe, a cafe tucked away in the city that was absolutely adorable.  I got iced coffee and apple pie with vanilla ice cream to remind me of the fall weather back at home (that I have been missing).  The crazy biking adventure turned out to be totally worth it, and we got to see a ton of the city, and yet again, it was another rickety, old bike.

Knowing we had a meeting about the upcoming trek, we rushed back to the bike shop to make the meeting.  We arrived at the meeting on Monday night all anxiously awaiting to hear more about the trek, and more importantly, which group we were going to be in.  The 38 of us were separated into 3 "tribes" that we were going to spend the next 4 days trekking with.  The anticipation and speculation around which trek group everyone was going to be in was crazy.  After being separated into our groups, we all went to a Muay Thai fight that same night.

The fight was a fun experince.  The main event was an American vs a Thai boxer.  To say the least, the 38 of us really got the American going.  All of us were screaming the entire time.  I didnt think I would like the Muay Thai fight, but it turned out to be a ton of fun, and something that I needed to do since I am in Thailand, and Muay Thai is so traditionally Thai.

The next day we woke up, and found out who are leaders for the trek were going to be.  Along with the 11 other students in my tribe, we were led by Spencer (a Teach for Thailand teacher) and Cole (an ex Teach for Thailand teacher who now lives and works in Bangkok).  We also had two Thai trek guides, Sammy and Oh La La (yes, that's his name) who were absolutely amazing.  The 16 of us made up the "Karen Tribe" and we all spent the next 3 days trekking together.  All of us were nervous, but excited.  In typical Father Kelly fashion, we were all told nothing about what to expect or what we were going to be doing, just a lot of trekking and hiking mountains.

The trek officially started on Tuesday the 20th.  We all got into a songtao that took us to a orchid garden where we got to walk around and then to a market.  At the market, Spencer and Cole bought a ton of fireworks that they were going to set off along the trail basically to keep our minds off the hills we were climbing and how much we were all sweating.

Eventually we were dropped off at the side of the woods where we got out, and started our trek.  The first day we trekked about 8 km to eventually reach the village where we were going to stay for the night.  The village was filled with animals everywhere, and in the afternoon, we got to play soccer with the boys in the village.  That night we ate an amazing homemade dinner (like all the food I ate over the 4 days) and played some games that the trek leader came up with.  I also got to try snake that the family we were staying with had cooked and were going to make into a soup.  It turned out to taste like really dry chicken.  That night we all got to know each other more, and heard ghost stories about ABAC and C Building from Cole.

The next day we were awoken by roosters and started another day of trekking.  We trekked for about 2 hours to be met by elephants.  All of us knew that riding elephants was part of the trek, and when we finally saw them, all of us got excited.  It was a pretty cool experience, and just being on one was awesome.  I couldn't leave Thailand without riding an elephant, so I was pretty pumped.  We then arrived at the second village.  The village was right along a river where we all got to put on bathing suits and swim around.  The kids in the village also went into the water and played with us.  All of the girls in my group banned together and taught the little girls to play chicken, and they showed us how you could climb a rock and jump into the water.  They were all so cute, and totally fearless. After swimming, we all "showered" and had dinner.  That night was by far the best night of the trek.  The family we were staying with and the little girls taught us how to dance and we all sang about elephants together in Thai (or at least attempted to).  We then played games that the village people had come up with.

The next day, we found out that the first 4 hours of trekking wasn't trekking, it was rafting down the river near the village on a bamboo raft.  We were split into 3 groups and our trek bags were placed on the raft and we floated on.  It was a fun experience, and we had some friendly competition among the rafts.  All of us wanted our raft to be the fastest.  We were then told that we were going to be trekking 4 km uphill, but once at the top we were going to be at the village where we were staying for the night.  Spencer and Cole told us that the 4 km uphill were the worst part of the whole trek, so mentally all of us were preparing at lunch.

Together, we were able to climb the mountain.  Those 4 km were definitely the hardest part of the trek, but finally making it to the top was the best feeling.  Arriving at the village and looking out, you actually felt like you were on top of the world.  On Thursday night, all three of the trek groups came together and celebrated what we had accomplished.  We all stayed in the same village and ate dinner, danced by the fire pit, and played games against the other tribes.  It was such a bonding experience, and when all of us finally were reunited, it was like a high school reunion all of us were so excited to see each other.

The next day I woke up to see the sunrise.  Since we were so high up, clouds had formed below us overnight.  You felt like you were in the sky.

All of us then had breakfast and started our last official day of trekking.  All 38+ of us climbed down the mountain and went swimming in waterfalls at the bottom of the mountain. We then trekked a little bit farther to go white water rafting.  Everything we got to do was such an experience, and a memory I will never forget.

That night we all arrived back in Chiang Mai, exhausted, ready to collapse, and completely covered in dirt.  On Saturday, we all went to a Jesuit retreat house in Chiang Mai to reflect on the experience and our time abroad so far.  It was a good way to wrap up the trek and really take in everything we had done and gone through.  On Saturday night, all of us went out to a nice dinner where we had a cocktail cruise before dinner.  The entire trek was sunny and hot, but the moment we went outside in our party clothes, it started to rain.  Saturday night was the last hurrah of the trek.

Sunday morning was the official end to the trek.  All of us woke up early and got on a plane to go back to Bangkok.  After almost 3 weeks of travel, I am exhausted but feel so lucky to be experiencing  the things I am.  

What makes the trek so special is that it incorporates every reason of why people come to Thailand for study abroad.  The experience of trekking the Thai jungle and staying in villages in remote areas in northern Thailand is an experience you don't get in Europe. Riding rafts down rivers, riding elephants through the jungle, and seeing what it is like to live in a village is an experience like no other.  All of us survived 4 days without electricity, any real running water, and a normal toilet to use.    Not everyone I know could survive that, but that is why the trek is so special and unique to Thailand.

I came back to ABAC having eaten snake, bug bites all down my legs, caluses on my heels, a cut on my finger, the ability to take cold bucket showers, use squatters, and a shattered iPhone screen, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it.

The trek is almost like the Christmas of the Bangkok program.  Everyone comes to Thailand looking forward to and anticipating the trek.  I can now say that I did it and survived.  I fly back to the US in less then 2 months.  That is actually crazy.

Love
xoxo
K

Shout out to my trek group, Karen for life.
Sam Chemali, Emily Cocco, Courtney Rhodes, Kate Spence, Brittney Powers, Kristy Donohue, Mark Massaro, Bob Anderson, Nick Bahr, Brian McAvey, Jeremy Stephenson, and to the leaders, Spencer DiGiorgio, and Cole Pennington, we have a bond that no one can fully understand.

Vietnam and Myanmar ('Nam and 'Mar)

In 8 days I saw two countries, flew four times, took two night train rides, and have seen and experienced things that I will never forget.  I am completely exhausted, and tomorrow I leave for 9 days trekking and exploring Chiang Mai.

On the 8th, I travelled from Bangkok to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam in the north with a fellow accounting major, Amanda, and a friend, Kristyn.  We arrived in Hanoi and settled into our Airbnb.  The two bedroom apartment turned out to be the nicest place I have stayed in SE Asia.  The beds were so comfy, and the elevator opened right into the apartment (very Blair Waldorf!).  We dropped our bags and went looking for authentic Vietnamese Pho.  Pho is a staple in the Vietnamese diet.  Traditionally pho is a broth with rice noodles, beef, and herbs like green onions and cilantro then you can add anything you would ever want.  We stumbled upon a restaurant and got the most delicious pho I ate in all of Vietnam.  Just from walking the few blocks to the restaurant, we noticed how different Hanoi felt from Bangkok.  

Vietnam was a colony of France, and most of the city still has a large French influence.  All of the streets are lined with cafes, and the architecture screams of the French Riviera.  The city is filled with motorbikes.  It was overwhelming how many motorbikes there were in the city, criss crossing the traffic and street corners.  Every time we crossed the street, it was like playing a game of frogger.  Hanoi as a city felt very quaint and cute, however there was still a big city feeling.  It was a blend that is unique to cities.  Hanoi had a feeling similar to Quebec.  

After our pho, we walked around the city and went to the Hoa Lo Prison.  Hoa Lo is the prison where American POWs of the Vietnam War were held, in Vietnam, the war is the American War.  It is also the prison where John McCain was placed after his plane was shot down by the Vietnamese.  The museum was really interesting and it was funny to think about this large prison placed right in the middle of the downtown of a big city.  Another perk of Hanoi was that every museum that we went to, we showed our student ID and paid less then $.50 to get into the museum.

That night we went exploring in the city some more.  We found a restaurant that was filled with locals all sitting around, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and watching the Vietnam soccer team play.  We sat outside and got to hang out with all the locals. The lifestyle in Hanoi is really cool.  The streets are lined with small plastic stools and tables where all the locals sit in the middle of the day and night to eat, drink beer, and hang out with their friends and coworkers.  It is a really relaxed lifestyle.  

After dinner, we wanted to experience the famous Bia Hoi Street Corner in Hanoi.  Bia Hoi is cheap beer ($.25) that is produced in Vietnam that you can drink on the street while sitting in a plastic stool. This street corner in Hanoi is famous for it.  When we got to the corner, the street was packed with both Westerners and Asians all drinking beer and eating snacks. We sat down and got a beer and then ventured on to find another bar and try more beer.  I stumbled upon a bar that had a deal, "Free Beer For Everyone".  Sure enough, we sat down, and each got a free beer and ordered a mix drink, "Buy One Get One Free".  After sitting on the street and enjoying our three drinks, we went inside to dance.  When we went in, the bar was packed with local Vietnamese who were dancing and drinking beer like water.  All of the Vietnamese people were so excited to see Americans that they all wanted to buy us free drinks and dance with us.  Along with drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, Vietnamese people love to "cheers".  Sure enough, we all cheers probably 15 times over the course of the night.  The vibe was fun, the music was good, and the people were all so friendly and welcoming.  Unlike Bangkok, the lights in the club turned on at midnight (super early) and we went back to our Airbnb exhausted.

The next day we slept in and woke up to explore more of the city.  Hoan Kiem Lake is the lake that marks the center of the downtown of Hanoi.  Hoan Kiem is surrounded by restaurants and shops, and of course tons of motorbikes driving all around it.  We walked around the lake and got lunch.  We met up with another friend (named Kate, of course) who told us that she had just gotten a prescription pair of glasses for $20 down the street.  I thought I couldn't pass the deal down so I also got a pair after lunch.  The four of us then walked to the Temple of Literature.  The temple was the first university in Vietnam.  When it was built in 1079, Vietnam was part of China and the Chinese dynasty.  The entire thing looks right out of Beijing.  It is stunning, and there are statues of Confucius throughout the entire temple.

That night, I had an interview with PwC for an internship (fun, fun).  After the interview, we walked around trying to find some food for dinner.  Even at 9:30, it is difficult to find places that are open to eat.  In general, Hanoi is a city that doesn't stay up late.

The next day was our last day in Hanoi.  We woke up, and got Bahn Mi sandwiches.  Bahn mi are sandwiches that are sold on the side of the street in Vietnam.  A Binh My is a sandwich with pate, ham, carrots, cucumbers, and cilantro and it is all put on a baguette.  It was delicious, and cost $1.  We ended up going back to get another one for dinner.  We then went to Giang Cafe.  Giang Cafe is the birthplace of "Egg Coffee".  Egg coffee is coffee that is topped with a foamy egg custard type cream.  It is extremely decadent.  The whole drink has the taste of tiramasu, and everyone in the packed two story cafe was drinking them.  We then went to the Vietnamese Womens Museum.  The museum was beautiful.  It showed the role of women in the home, in agriculture, in Vietnam history and wars, and their fashion.  It was amazing to read about how much women do in Vietnamese culture, and how important they are in everyday life in Vietnam.  

That night we boarded a night train that would take us to Lao Chi to a van that would take us to Sapa in the northwest part of Vietnam (close to China!!).  After 8 hours on the train we finally arrived in Sapa on Sunday morning and began the two day, 24 kilometer trek through the villages and rice terraces of Sapa.  The views were absolutely stunning and so incredibly unique.  The lifestyle in these villages in unlike anything I can describe.  All of these people are farmers that are living off of very little money.  These families live simultaneously with their animals that work for them.  From pigs, to chickens, to duck, to water buffalo, the animals were all around.  The children in the villages were adorable and were fun to wave and say hi to.  Along the trek, we stopped and ate at different villages.  

We arrived at our homestay and settled into our new home, and met our host family.  The family was quiet and lovely.  My family was a Grandmother, her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. That night, they all cooked us dinner, and by dinner I mean 7 different dishes of delicious chicken, tofu, spring rolls, vegetable, and of course rice, lots and lots of rice.  Along with our dinner, we had homemade rice wine.  The rice wine was one of the strongest things I have ever tasted.  It burned my entire throat.  It smelled like wine, but tasted like really cheap vodka to the point where it tasted like nail polish remover.  

Our host family was part of the Red Dao tribe.  The Red Dao women are known to be excellent with herbal medicines and home remedies.  One of the their remedies is a tea bath.  After dinner, I got the chance to try out one of these tea baths.  I jumped in, and was shocked by how hot it was.  After adding some cold water I began to enjoy the experience.  The water smelled amazing, and felt amazing on my muscles that were sore from trekking 14 kilometers.  

The next morning we woke up to the sounds of roosters and continued our trek.  Our guide, Lam, was an angel.  She made the experience worth it.  Her English was perfect and she got to tell us all about Sapa, the villages, the tribes that live in Sapa, and of her life.  Our trek group was myself, Amanda, and Kristyn, but also a 30 year old woman from California and three late twenties Cyprian women.  The 7 of us grew really close, and all of them had really cool stories to tell.  Tishia are San Fran friend is traveling the world.  She works for a greeting card company and had recently spent three months in the Philippines, and is now working and traveling her way through most of Southeast Asia.  She still has 9 months of traveling ahead of her.  The three Cyprian girls were hilarious.  Hours after talking to all of them, we found out that two of the women were flight attendants on Emirates.  They told us all about Dubai, where they both live about 10 days of each month, and some of their funny flight experiences. 

We arrived back in the Sapa town center exhausted and smelly (we didn't shower for 3 days...).  We then got back on the night train to take it back to Hanoi where we would go directly to the airport.  On Tuesday, after spending all night on the train and all morning in the airport, we flew from Hanoi to Bangkok to Yangon, Myanmar.  

A group of 8 of us finally made it to Yangon on Tuesday night completely exhausted, but knowing we didn't have a ton of time.  With bad wifi, we decided to take the circular railroad on Wednesday morning to get to see not only the city, but also some of the rural suburbs.  The train ride was 3 hours and cost $.30.  The train ride was filled with locals which was fun, and we got to see so much of the countryside that surrounds the hustling capital city.  After getting off the train, we spotted the one Westernized thing in the entire city, KFC.  Craving ice cream, we all went in and got some.  

All of us then headed to one of the markets in the city.  We walked around and bought some souvenirs.  It was nice being in a place that wasn't filled with tourists since we weren't being harassed to buy things.  We then walked to from the market to the Shwedagon Pagoda.  Yangon is famous for some of the most beautiful and largest pagodas in Southeast Asia.  A pagoda is a place of worship for Buddhists however, it is different then a wat or temple in that it is specific for Buddhists.  

The Shwedagon Pagoda is absolutely beautiful. It is absolutely massive, and at night, the gold looks even more beautiful against the dark sky.  Though it is the big attraction in Yangon, being at the Shwedagon Pagoda didn't feel as touristy as I thought it would.  We walked all around, and took pictures with some Asian families (of course).  The whole thing was so different then anything you would see in the US or Europe.  Buddhism is something that makes Asia so unique and special.  The experience of being there is indescribable.  After the pagoda, we walked and got some dinner.  The day was full of walking and we were all tired.

Thursday was our last day of travel.  We woke up, and went to go see another pagoda in Yangon.  The Sule Pagoda is much closer to the downtown city center.  It is right next to city hall, and the national monument.  Right near these attractions in a big public park that was beautiful.  We sat in the park for a little and then headed to Chinatown.  There wasn't much of a Chinese influence in Chinatown however, we did find about 7 different donut shops....

In the Myanmar culture, both men and women wear long skirts called longyi, all day, every day.  These skirts are tied at the waist and are made out of beautiful fabrics with different patterns and colors.  Some of the longyi that the Burmese women wear are intricate and ornate.  All over the city you can find shops and stalls selling all different fabrics for longyi.  In Chinatown, we stumbled upon a little shop that sold lonyi.  We all got to buy one.  Though I am not sure whether I will wear mine, the fabric is beautiful and could be a pretty tapestry!!  After 3ish days in Yangong, we then headed to the airport to fly back to Bangkok.  

After 8 days of travel, I was completely exhausted and feeling a little sick.  Vietnam and Myanmar were so completely different.  Vietnam was a beautiful country with a influence of French culture on every corner.  The food was amazing, and the people were so warm and welcoming.  From the bustling city of Hanoi, to the rice terraces and farmers in Sapa, the country was beautiful, and I only saw two places in the entire country.  

Myanmar was such a unique experience as an American.  Only recently were the boarders in Myanmar opened to tourists.  Not many people think to go to Myanmar.  Yangon was completely underdeveloped.  The infrastructure was unlike anything I have seen.  It is definitely the smelliest city I have ever been in....from the street food everywhere, to the garbage, the whole city had interesting and changing smells at every corner.  Myanmar is known as the undiscovered gem of Southeast Asia.  However, Yangon is not the place to go in Myanmar, but with the limited amount of time and desire to keep travel quick and easy, Yangon was the easiest place to go.  To all future travelers, I would go to Bagan or Mandalay Bay.  

Arriving in Bangkok felt like I was home.  Walking into my room at ABAC and having my clean clothes and shower waiting was such a nice feeling.  I have experienced and seen things that many Americans won't get to experience and I wouldn't change any of it.  

Tomorrow I leave for "The Trek".  Every group for as long as the program has been going goes on a trek in northern Thailand near Chiang Mai.  We are all exhausted from our traveling, but we are all excited to see what the trek is all about.  People come back to Loyola saying the trek is the best part of the 5 months here, so we will see....

Love from a girl who has clothes all over her room and a backpack to fill
xoxo
Kate

ALSO, I took close to 300 pictures in 8 days so I will be posting those for you to check out and compare to Google.