{"id":10837,"date":"2017-03-21T09:41:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10837"},"modified":"2017-03-21T09:41:29","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:41:29","slug":"its-almost-thai-me-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10837","title":{"rendered":"It’s Almost Thai-Me to Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 weeks left<\/strong>. I can\u2019t believe my flight from Saigon back to Chicago leaves in exactly 6 weeks from now. Sometimes it feels like I have 6 more months to go, and sometimes it feels like I\u2019m supposed to have left already. My outfits have consisted of colorful pants and too-sweaty t-shirts, I have a general disdain for anyone who drives their motorbike on the sidewalk, my wallet is emptier now than I thought it was going to be, and my playlists consist of a mix of travel-inspiring and homesickness songs (Rivers & Roads, anyone?).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was having a low week a couple of weeks ago where I really didn\u2019t want to be in Saigon anymore, not because of Saigon itself, but just being away from my support system, (first round study abroad homesickness y\u2019all) so I made myself a list of accomplishments. So tacky, I know, but when I looked at all of the things that I\u2019ve done so far, the ways I\u2019ve grown as a traveler and as a person, it\u2019s pretty incredible what can change in the course of a couple of months.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Everyone usually hates when I remind them how much time we have left because it\u2019s a gentle reminder of the idea of returning home and the pressure of not missing out on anything while we\u2019re still here. In honor of the limited time left, I took advantage of this past weekend to visit the southern half of Thailand before jetting back over to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a concert. Once again, I had a day where I was in three different countries in the course of 24 hours, which is unfathomable to me seeing as before I showed up to Vietnam, I had been in ONE other country other than the US. Many expats and Viet-Kieu (Vietnamese who grew up outside of Vietnam and have returned) that I\u2019ve met are very surprised to hear that Vietnam was my second country. As I\u2019ve found, Vietnam is not for the weak or the faint-hearted, let alone solo-traveling around SE Asia. In all, my trip to Thailand consisted of 24 hours in Bangkok, two and a half days in Krabi, Thailand, and 24 hours in Kuala Lumpur. Here are a few of the more interesting little moments I observed in my time in Thailand:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Wai<\/strong>: The Thai greeting consists of a slight bow with palms pressed together in front of you. It\u2019s similar to the Indian namaste and the Cambodian sampeah This in itself isn\u2019t the most interesting thing I saw, but it was the fact that as people were driving their motorbikes, they would BOW to other people as they got into another lane, kind of like the wave we do in the US. If you\u2019ve ever driven a motorbike, you understand how difficult this is to do. Most didn\u2019t press their hands together, but still. Also this is completely different from the way that Vietnamese drive what with the intense beeping, constant cutting off of each other, and the skillful avoidance of accidents (for the most part).<\/p>\n

Speaking of motorbikes<\/strong>, I finally had a female grab driver! Since being in Vietnam I\u2019ve had one woman taxi driver and not a single woman grab driver. Needless to say, I did a little internal fist pump. I also watched someone flossing while driving their motorbike, and also saw someone driving with an open flame in their basket. Y\u2019all, literally ANYTHING happens on a motorbike. If you can imagine it, it happens.<\/p>\n

The death of the king:<\/strong> It’s been more than 100 days, but people are still paying their respects to the King at the Grand Palace and huge murals and pictures of him are everywhere. Never have I seen such deep respect for someone who’s passed away.<\/p>\n

Evolution:<\/strong> As I pulled away from the Krabi airport, I noticed there were street signs with pictures of what Krabi used to look like\u2026 3 million years ago?? After getting in at 9pm, I had some questions.<\/p>\n

Cute couple things:<\/strong> Putting in eye drops for each other, but continuously missing. I don\u2019t know why I found this hilarious, but I guess on your fourth flight in 6 days, anything outside of the safety instruction is comic relief.<\/p>\n

Scales outside of every convenience store:<\/strong> Because who doesn\u2019t want to know what they weigh after unashamedly stuffing themselves with three rolls of oreos and cheap drinks.<\/p>\n

Other things of interest included motorized uni-wheels, a golden monk blessing a group of small children and a husky caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aside from the basically normal (but interesting to me) little moments, I saw beautiful cliffs and beaches in Krabi, rock climbed until my arms gave out on an outdoor 5.10 route, and had a life-changing night at the Bethel worship night in Kuala Lumpur. I\u2019m extremely blessed to be here in Vietnam, and it does come with its challenges. On Thursday our group heads out for 12 days on the road through Central and North Vietnam where we\u2019ll get to see a whole different side of the country. Homesickness can be hard, but letting it stop me from taking in all that I can while I\u2019m here is not on the agenda. I\u2019ve been pushed to find inspiration in places I never have before and have learned what it\u2019s like to be truly independent and how to love alone time. The lessons I\u2019m walking away with can\u2019t fully be captured in words, but I hope I\u2019ll be able to hold on to what I\u2019ve learned here long past when I return home to the States. For now, I still have more cafes to discover, more mountains to climb, more papers to write, and more life to live. Catch you on the flipside!\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some more musings:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man on top of the mountain didn\u2019t fall there\u201d \u2013 Vince Lombardi<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Novaturient (adj): A desire to change and alter your life.<\/p>\n

Coddiwomple (v): To travel purposefully towards a vague destination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 weeks left. I can\u2019t believe my flight from Saigon back to Chicago leaves in exactly 6 weeks from now. Sometimes it feels like I have 6 more months to go, and sometimes it feels like I\u2019m supposed to have left already. My outfits have consisted of colorful pants and too-sweaty t-shirts, I have a … <\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,78],"tags":[359,360,362,509,575],"class_list":["post-10837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-vietnam","tag-loyola-chicago","tag-loyola-study-abroad","tag-loyola-university-chicago","tag-study-abroad-2","tag-vietnam-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}