tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50305139544566225902024-03-05T03:56:21.806-08:00Garrett in CambodiaGarrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-69548286867797211092012-09-26T08:01:00.000-07:002012-09-26T08:02:26.210-07:00Return to Vietnam (Pt. III: Hoi An)<b>Hoi An</b><br />
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After the train ride, we arrived in Danang, where we took a thirty-minute taxi ride to nearby Hoi An. After settling in to our room, we rented a couple of bicycles and looked at a few places where we might get clothes made. If you aren't familiar, Hoi An is internationally known for inexpensive, quick tailoring. I ended up with a pair of nice shorts and Leah got a new dress and shorts, all of which was completed within twenty-four hours.<br />
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Okay, so a little bit about Hoi An. Hoi An, with a population of 120,000 is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This well-preserved town serves as a fine example of a Southeast Asian trading port from the 15th-19th centuries. The town is overrun with tourists (I know since I was one of them), so the majesty of the place gets a little lost in how hectic it seems upon arrival. However, during our second day there, when it became easier to get our minds beyond the masses of people, the town became charming, beautiful and inviting. The second morning we were there, we rode bikes across one of the bridges to a small island where we perused an ex-pat owned bookshop. Some of these books I'm fairly sure I would have never happened upon otherwise, and that would have just been a terrible, terrible shame. Among the gems:<br />
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBa060cx6-4LM72JOTpc2J9Ntfh3QZOrHO8p6kZVCJRUvKVmumi3k5E0VB7VmuHoCHQqobJEUC1G2zRhf1fykadKNPp9wTqCUrwyhBZ0qZE9yrORwcijqPjuygcfUzZXQE0IqA3sAnoo/s320/Hoi+An+%252836%2529.JPG" width="240" /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaysgG7aITLbdaQiCGEWNQVTGEgEM7R__otmqgzu9CV42TT3CaWTynAYDeZb1S3yAPdgQCrcn1CDh9OHSpzRvXrdVekeaEEjQyVbOnqV8rXgLz3bdsSkAg-YQlzEGm0D0DbCGfa68_DiU/s1600/Hoi+An+(39).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaysgG7aITLbdaQiCGEWNQVTGEgEM7R__otmqgzu9CV42TT3CaWTynAYDeZb1S3yAPdgQCrcn1CDh9OHSpzRvXrdVekeaEEjQyVbOnqV8rXgLz3bdsSkAg-YQlzEGm0D0DbCGfa68_DiU/s320/Hoi+An+(39).JPG" /></a></div>
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Ah, yes. Badger and Beano. Fine companions they were. I wonder if they would have traveled well together with <i>The Woman Who Rides Like a Man</i> (another artful selection). I'll never know.</div>
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Another great aspect about Hoi An is the market and the myriad of trinkets, clothing, food, and adventures to be had. Some of the treats we experienced included a fried doughnut with a peanut mixture in the middle and another with pulverized black beans. If you ever come across a sweet dessert made with beans, I would suggest you try it (if you haven't already tried something similar). I had never tasted beans in such a fashion before coming to Asia, and it's definitely something I'd like to experiment with in my own cooking. Nom. Nom nom nom. Another thing we did near the market was take a thirty-minute boat ride for 50,000<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">đ</span> (about $2.50) to see the sunset along the river. It was pretty stunning to see alongside the old houses of this well-preserved town.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ11BrqoIbQgxfSfLpWovhgkWILG-aHEZcsvhf-NSm3bSkfocz9WdWUOWCbrkEzKAtxxHZserUdugkPzLPha2rPl-wD0PuGzcd1w1g6b7j4qsgZRQ4lJO8QrRcCJkuFMFQLMrGzqpG5Dw/s1600/Hoi+An+(28).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ11BrqoIbQgxfSfLpWovhgkWILG-aHEZcsvhf-NSm3bSkfocz9WdWUOWCbrkEzKAtxxHZserUdugkPzLPha2rPl-wD0PuGzcd1w1g6b7j4qsgZRQ4lJO8QrRcCJkuFMFQLMrGzqpG5Dw/s320/Hoi+An+(28).JPG" /></a> </div>
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Later, we purchased tickets for 90,000<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">đ</span>/each (about $4.50) which allowed us to enter five sites in the Old Town of Hoi An. One was a home from the early 19th Century, Tán Ký which flooded so often (and in such abundance) that they replaced a good portion of the second floor with a manual lift to preserve everything downstairs during the rainy seasons; a rain in the 1960s flooded the house almost to the top of the ground floor. The other site we saw was a Chinese Assembly Hall, called <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><i>Phúc Kiến </i>which dates from </span></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">1757.</span></span></span><br />
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Speaking of food (was I talking about food? I don't think I was, but that's alright, because who doesn't love hearing about food?), Leah and I were able to take a couple of cooking classes (for more pictures, check out Leah's <a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_234042487"></span>blog<span id="goog_234042488"></span></a>) for very cheap. We found a place called "Green Moss," where the owner showed us how to make vegetarian <i>cau lau</i> (a dish specific to Hoi An since traditionally it was prepared with water from a particular well), pumpkin soup, and <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;">m</span></i><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;">ì</span></i><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;"> q</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">uảng</span></i></span> (Vietnamese nachos [really]):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisaG6MsC7d23AjzfNN9v7lMxsvH7cJVlZAuqHnJ9K2g9HJdSCTS9-V7x6KFMJhoZWZdHN7cOf8dixulq2uZPep4xzKrp1NXKs4CdgpHvTUPeGGoklHRKtHz71tWl53XvHmkVIOYgVrXFM/s1600/Hoi+An+(57).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisaG6MsC7d23AjzfNN9v7lMxsvH7cJVlZAuqHnJ9K2g9HJdSCTS9-V7x6KFMJhoZWZdHN7cOf8dixulq2uZPep4xzKrp1NXKs4CdgpHvTUPeGGoklHRKtHz71tWl53XvHmkVIOYgVrXFM/s320/Hoi+An+(57).JPG" /></a> </div>
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Vegetarian cau lau (uhh) </div>
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<i>Mì Quảng</i> (See. I told you. Vietnamese nachos) </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFoYW9T5E2JWpBZW92a6ZWtXoyzhBkmbB6kJR-DVE57LaqJiyfuahZvyA1FD5Lg0CyxOTKWfuGdVprwOE_OhDeOo2dFNbtemWl3Pns0jRBu4nPEOFs89yorVogUIFjGzXeZ2IcjAVTxs/s1600/Hoi+An+(79).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFoYW9T5E2JWpBZW92a6ZWtXoyzhBkmbB6kJR-DVE57LaqJiyfuahZvyA1FD5Lg0CyxOTKWfuGdVprwOE_OhDeOo2dFNbtemWl3Pns0jRBu4nPEOFs89yorVogUIFjGzXeZ2IcjAVTxs/s320/Hoi+An+(79).JPG" /></a></div>
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We didn't learn how to make this smoked eggplant but it was amazing</div>
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Here are some more photos from Hoi An:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlI3934VR9HbbMsC6zYfajRMQF3i9zKsam9Z6naMGJjG6KBzD8kIXsy5OU0c7yNfrKT_eJfMOxi7eFUXWkzQm2nqPdONxCsPNGQvB7r5dY9as4KjuTx0ry9j8eTRtaF2o0_xrB1BTkMQA/s1600/Hoi+An+(45).JPG" style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlI3934VR9HbbMsC6zYfajRMQF3i9zKsam9Z6naMGJjG6KBzD8kIXsy5OU0c7yNfrKT_eJfMOxi7eFUXWkzQm2nqPdONxCsPNGQvB7r5dY9as4KjuTx0ry9j8eTRtaF2o0_xrB1BTkMQA/s320/Hoi+An+(45).JPG" /></a></div>
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More sweet treats at the market </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwZRmc1ySiztvU0gA-b6Krkg7UM0h2TdyLmaNM9Z1NpJyay8VRn5NBnppFGjnSte1XGIFR2LZqvQ7jrwi0rpRujdKS6YhpOaRfS0SqpVFjXnXyPt9bdv1aYZAs0avqIA2V6-7oKjPMq4/s1600/Hoi+An+(59).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwZRmc1ySiztvU0gA-b6Krkg7UM0h2TdyLmaNM9Z1NpJyay8VRn5NBnppFGjnSte1XGIFR2LZqvQ7jrwi0rpRujdKS6YhpOaRfS0SqpVFjXnXyPt9bdv1aYZAs0avqIA2V6-7oKjPMq4/s320/Hoi+An+(59).JPG" /></a></div>
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Meat Newtons </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzEvva13sHHcebB8oLYVQcCMZ3nh4CDXMtUqgHzB5vQOi4gCX5e5hV4M0i0gm48J_2J3m6Ygbn5Shf7eEdyeiiO6s_8lpupu2osqNs-lS8Fb_U5gWjSw45MBBMT9DBqqu9Wl0CCNoqek/s1600/Hoi+An+(61).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzEvva13sHHcebB8oLYVQcCMZ3nh4CDXMtUqgHzB5vQOi4gCX5e5hV4M0i0gm48J_2J3m6Ygbn5Shf7eEdyeiiO6s_8lpupu2osqNs-lS8Fb_U5gWjSw45MBBMT9DBqqu9Wl0CCNoqek/s320/Hoi+An+(61).JPG" /></a></div>
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Terrifying </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheVz2cFIPRd5rV8ckd5zRU3YnQQc2iIiGUxdc2ONzQlFFUz3vqKEpVFMzd3qg0dKOJSn5fTg0ElPR1S4s2tEtkOJFbcS5fZvw_ouLMEoO5Q5c5IfS8d9IQJFUXHF58Q0LGRYS55t5Cwjs/s1600/Hoi+An+(62).JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheVz2cFIPRd5rV8ckd5zRU3YnQQc2iIiGUxdc2ONzQlFFUz3vqKEpVFMzd3qg0dKOJSn5fTg0ElPR1S4s2tEtkOJFbcS5fZvw_ouLMEoO5Q5c5IfS8d9IQJFUXHF58Q0LGRYS55t5Cwjs/s320/Hoi+An+(62).JPG" /></a></div>
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"Filled with [M]om's heart": does this not concern anybody?! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjGcerRHRTlqeKxfyfiDYAMw6eQwkKTYms8q7t5QD7Zb5mUP-IMwk-YEuVYUOyFrYkHzFVi5MwbV9uIMyekue7RqpPGtTzZfydeLFuK0EpA20QrwLLhlj97zhUW-nFVstiPI5ob8QlZmc/s1600/Hoi+An+(80).JPG" style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjGcerRHRTlqeKxfyfiDYAMw6eQwkKTYms8q7t5QD7Zb5mUP-IMwk-YEuVYUOyFrYkHzFVi5MwbV9uIMyekue7RqpPGtTzZfydeLFuK0EpA20QrwLLhlj97zhUW-nFVstiPI5ob8QlZmc/s320/Hoi+An+(80).JPG" /></a></div>
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Hoi Anese paper lanterns at the night market </div>
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I almost forgot! Our hotel's breakfast included...<br />
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- Omelets (best if enjoyed with large wedge of Laughing Cow cheese smooshed in the middle)<br />
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- Bottomless Vietnamese-press coffee<br />
- Mangoes</div>
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- Bananas</div>
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- Watermelon</div>
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- Chocolate croissants</div>
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- Doughnuts</div>
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- Bread rolls</div>
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- Toast (complete with butter and strawberry preserves)</div>
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- Tomatoes and cucumbers</div>
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- Milk<br />
- Fried rice + fried Ramen noodles (not a favorite but necessary nonetheless to illustrate the extravagant nature of this breakfast)<br />
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After too few of these amazing breakfasts it was already time to return to <a href="http://garrettmatlick.blogspot.com/2012/09/vietnam-pt-ii-pt-i-ho-chi-minh-city.html">Ho Chi Minh City</a> where we'd spend one day before returning to Cambodia. The trip was so relaxing and I'm glad I had another opportunity to see more of the southern half of Vietnam. Hope this post finds you well.<br />
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Talk to you soon,<br />
Garrett</div>
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Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-4043277399416110642012-09-25T02:48:00.002-07:002012-09-25T02:48:53.895-07:00Return to Vietnam (Pt. II: Mui Ne and Nha Trang)<b>Mui Ne</b><br />
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A small, quiet city with a fishing village nearby, this coastal town is worth a visit. The view of the South China Sea just beyond the rich, clay-like red sand dunes with a Tiger beer in hand was a moment that I won't soon forget from the trip. Mui Ne was easily my favorite stop. Leah and I rented a moto (NOTE: We were both wearing helmets and Vietnam is a non-Peace Corps country), which was extremely fun and nerve-wracking, since we both had never driven one before. So, 1) We had to figure out how to operate this vehicle safely, and 2) We had to try not to put the person behind in life-threatening danger. We succeeded for the most part since we're both still alive. It took a couple of days to get used to, but by the time we turned in our second rented moto in Nha Trang, we felt relatively confident with it. Both nights we drove out to a couple of nice restaurants in the center of town and had fish topped with tomato sauce (yum!), scallops with green onion (uhh), and various other types of seafood.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I forgot to mention that tiger prawns were part of the menu. NOM</td></tr>
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The sea.<br />
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The beach.<br />
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The food.<br />
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The small roads navigated.<br />
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If I come back to the southern third of Vietnam, I will return here without hesitation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stretch of beach behind the hotel</td></tr>
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The hotel we stayed at was $25/night (big bucks) and was situated right on its own private stretch of beach. After surveying the area a little, Leah and I realized what luck we had since our resort was on, in our opinion, the most beautiful stretch of beach in the area; shoes were not required to travel from the room to said beach. I also feel the need to mention the breakfast that was included: an omelet, toast, a large plate of various tropical fruit and coffee; it held us both over for awhile.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite photo from the trip</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leah and I had a contest to see who could find the most B.A. sea shells.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the sand dunes</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwDraQq1hYIkVkjRYuNVVfgQISB1-ctz4_gT3uRwi0OYyulDfEdQDtyy32Nnq-Ip8sKmB0UUI9hmbtsTU7geBhzLq79P_07vbGKGrznQQH_hzXCNuHLDs0S-H_iibGHlwoGAL9KE8Q3U0/s1600/Mui+Ne+(9).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwDraQq1hYIkVkjRYuNVVfgQISB1-ctz4_gT3uRwi0OYyulDfEdQDtyy32Nnq-Ip8sKmB0UUI9hmbtsTU7geBhzLq79P_07vbGKGrznQQH_hzXCNuHLDs0S-H_iibGHlwoGAL9KE8Q3U0/s320/Mui+Ne+(9).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Nha Trang </b><br />
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We arrived in Nha Trang (pronounced <i>Nyah Chahng</i>) at around 6:00 PM where we bought our train tickets for the following evening (11:54 PM) to Danang (the third largest city in Vietnam and 30 minutes from our actual destination: Hoi An). We immediately grabbed a couple of motos to our hotel where we rented a moto ourselves and explored the city for a couple of hours. When I say "explored," that's being extremely forgiving to myself to cover up the fact that we were looking for a particular vegetarian restaurant only 15 minutes away. We ended up looking all over the central part of Nha Trang to no avail...until we found it...already closed for the evening. Lucky for us, however, a man who worked next door hopped on his moto and led us to another vegetarian restaurant suggested by our guide book. When we found that restaurant to be closing also, he led us to a third option which- miracle of miracles!- happened to be open (and was passable [the fried broccoli {cauliflower} was pretty good]). We tried to give him 20,000<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">đ </span><span style="background-color: white;">more than once</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">, </span>which he persistently refused. He told us that he just wanted to assist us; the fact that he was able to locate a restaurant that met our needs was payment enough for him. I have to reiterate (from the previous post) how friendly and helpful a lot of people we met in this country were to us on this trip.<br />
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So, a little bit about Nha Trang. With a population of a little under 400,000, this coastal city is a popular vacation spot not just for foreigners but for Vietnamese people too. It is also considered one of the cheapest places in all of Vietnam. I believe I heard that while in Nha Trang, so who knows how true that actually is. Either way, it was not expensive, as was proven by the delicious giant tiger prawns and lobster Leah and I shared for $5/person.<br />
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Some women would travel across the beach looking to sell fresh seafood. They would set their things down in front of you, and when you chose how much of what you wanted, they would grill it (back of photo) right in front of you. One unfortunate thing about this job would simply be the heat. Yes. Working on the beach sounds lovely, but when you're wearing long sleeves and pants in 90+ degree weather, it doesn't sound so lovely anymore.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prawns on the beach</td></tr>
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The majority of the trip consisted of getting much darker (or redder, really). The beach was warm and beautiful and the view over the sea was just as pleasing as it was in Mui Ne. You know what else is pleasing (what a great segue, don't you think?)? Ritter Sport chocolate. It's probably the best chocolate I've ever tasted in my life, and until I traveled to Nha Trang, I thought there were only about half a dozen varieties. I was so wrong. In a convenience store near some of the more "Westernized" restaurants, stood a rack with at least a dozen (probably more) varieties. I won't go into what was purchased, but let's just content ourselves with the fact that it was absolutely delicious. I need to stop talking about this. Next topic: massages. We both wanted to get massages while we were there so we each got one, which were an hour long. They were pretty nice; there were flowers in a bowl of water beneath the hole in the massage table.<br />
Another great thing about Nha Trang is the night market. Apart from the many souvenir shirts and trinkets you can buy, the amount of food stalls and dessert stands seem endless. We shared several dishes between two food stalls: fried crab and shrimp spring rolls, avocado sushi, and scallops with green onion, which we enjoyed with ice cold beers. The last row of stalls served a delicious, goop-y dessert that I mentioned in my previous post: <i>xôi chè</i> .<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">Xôi chè</i><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">!!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scallops with green onion and tangy lime sauce</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGEiDy-30_aqcbeMSTL217PDbawYf2FIQ7qUbzEnlvHH0QAOsW_6YIWJV2cwyhPWXavILaC7dvN3NVm2KdAj5aAvN4j_LqTr_k0OekGPpcdjFx2x6ylgw20tkA3mcseQMUQnd5CShtUD4/s1600/Nha+Trang+(20).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGEiDy-30_aqcbeMSTL217PDbawYf2FIQ7qUbzEnlvHH0QAOsW_6YIWJV2cwyhPWXavILaC7dvN3NVm2KdAj5aAvN4j_LqTr_k0OekGPpcdjFx2x6ylgw20tkA3mcseQMUQnd5CShtUD4/s320/Nha+Trang+(20).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Asparagus and Crap" at the night market</td></tr>
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And so concludes our stay in Nha Trang. A well-deserved nap (you can have those on vacation, right?) was had on the hotel's backroom floor before heading out to the train station for the 10.5 hour train ride to Danang. When I was last in Vietnam, I rode a 16-hour sleeper bus, and it was miserable (painful, uncomfortable, cramped, and smelly). This time, I thought things might be a bit more comfortable on a train (a "hard-sleeper" car with six beds). It immediately impressed me for how opposite the experience was to traveling via sleeper bus. Night trains are superior for one simple reason: I can stretch myself out completely. I fell asleep within 20 minutes and that ride felt much faster and easier than the two five-hour daylight bus rides that preceded it. We arrived in Danang by 10:30 AM the following morning.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh! Be sure not stick your plugs in glasses of water or smoke while wearing tight bell-bottoms in bed. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beach in Nha Trang</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic99od7tDAByQFJtNFsOe_vRnWl_W-asRBzP-5Xf1wRDPV1p76XOW96w3q8BdzfbBOT4oGx5MSAN20CW58wt4mVEFGfSTIrZoxItSXELshnnqATXY4JbKj0nmk28zEGVHc0CGb6cYSz3A/s1600/Nha+Trang+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic99od7tDAByQFJtNFsOe_vRnWl_W-asRBzP-5Xf1wRDPV1p76XOW96w3q8BdzfbBOT4oGx5MSAN20CW58wt4mVEFGfSTIrZoxItSXELshnnqATXY4JbKj0nmk28zEGVHc0CGb6cYSz3A/s320/Nha+Trang+(5).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="color: #222222; line-height: 16px;">Phở bò</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;"> is a staple breakfast food in Vietnam. It's a simple noodle dish with beef except it's much much more. You actually feel like you're a part of the whole process since you can choose how much of what kind of greens you want sprinkled over your soup. Toss in some steamed bean sprouts, dab a little chili paste, pour a little garlic sauce and drizzle (douse) in various thick sauces and you're good to go. You might want to add an iced coffee to that, too.</span></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span>
Read on (in a couple of days) the final part of this trilogy: Return to Vietnam Pt. (Pt. III: Hoi An).Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-13014294978969565042012-09-22T21:26:00.002-07:002012-09-23T01:07:49.872-07:00Return to Vietnam (Pt. I: Ho Chi Minh City)<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I guess I enjoy Vietnam plenty, as I just returned from there for my second time in six months. What I really enjoyed about this trip was that not only was it with different company but the things I saw, how I saw them, and what I did was completely new and exciting. This time around, I was traveling with my girlfriend, Leah, fellow PCV and an all-around B.A (and wonderful writer: check out <a href="http://leahmariemo.blogspot.com/">her perspective</a> of traveling through Vietnam). We only explored the south as opposed to my previous (very ambitious) tour of the entire country in 14 days. We stayed in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon), Mui Ne, Nha Trang (pronounced <i>Nyah Chahng</i>), and Hoi An.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So, what did I notice during this adventure? The first thing that comes to mind is the geniality of the Vietnamese people, especially to tourists attempting to use some very basic language skills (i.e. "hello" and "thank you"). You might very well guess (I did) that, at some point, Vietnam would be so inundated with tourism that the people would grow tired of its visitors. However, we were both treated (most of the time) with a generally friendly demeanor. Another thing I noticed (or rather, noticed again) was the beauty of the country. Due to it's long, latitudinal shape, almost every new place you visit has a slightly different environment, geography and climate; this makes traveling through Vietnam constantly intriguing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Some Vietnamese:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hello -<i> Xin chào</i> (Sin chao)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Goodbye - <i>Tạm biệt</i> (Dahm beht)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes - <i>Vâng/Dạ</i> (Vahng/Dah)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">No - <i>Không </i>(Kong)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you - <i>Cảm ơn</i> (Gahm euh[r]n)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Pho (noodle soup) with beef - <i>Phở bò</i> (Pheuh[r] boh)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Iced coffee with milk - <i>Cà phê sữa </i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; white-space: nowrap;"><i>đá</i> (Café soo-ah dah)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sorry/Excuse me - <i>Xin lỗi </i> (Sum law-i[t])</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Check, please<span style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">! - </span></span> <i>Xin thanh tiền!</i> (Sum done dayne)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Delicious! - <i>Ngon!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll go through the trip city by city:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)</b> -</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So...OH! HEY!..Sorry about that. So, HCMC is a pret....WATCH OUT! AH!...I apologize again. I'll try and find a place where I'm not putting myself in danger of being run over by a moto or seventy. As I was saying, HCMC is a pretty busy city (understatement). The largest city in Vietnam, HCMC houses 7.4 million people, only three times the amount of motos constantly honking and zipping in and out of the many busy streets. HCMC was originally called Saigon before the end of the Vietnam (or American) War when it was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the country's revered leader who was President of the country until his death in 1969. A fun fact about Ho Chi Minh is that his last wish was to have his body cremated and spread throughout the North, South, and Central Highlands; his body was embalmed, and you can see it in Hanoi for a dollar. Almost everywhere you go in Vietnam you will find pictures and/or cartoons of "Uncle Ho."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While in HCMC, we visited the War Remnants Museum, which, as I've mentioned before, made me feel the most aware I've ever been of my being American; it's hard not to have a pang of guilt while traveling from one exhibition to another. Walking through the museum is very trying on the conscience and heart. If you'd like to read more about it, check out my previous post on <a href="http://garrettmatlick.blogspot.com/2012/04/ho-chi-minh-city-saigon.html">Ho Chi Minh City</a> back in April. Aside from that museum, we also traveled to Cu Chi to see the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were extremely small tunnels navigated by the Viet Cong during the war. These tunnels were essential in the success of the North Vietnamese; they navigated hundreds of square kilometers right under American/South Vietnamese occupied territories, transporting weapons and surprising their foes. It is daunting, to say the least, to be down in those dark, damp cramping tunnels for even 40 meters before feeling significant pain through your spine. A couple of very strange things about the tour is the odd juxtaposition of the firing range with the exhibition of traps, tunnels, and the general trying way of life of the Cu Chi people. Yes, I just said "firing range", where you can fire off rocket propelled grenades and AK-47s into a mountain side. It is difficult to explain the feeling of being in that location and hearing gun fire and explosions close by. It is even stranger that tourists come there specifically to partake in the activity.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbJzu9HWaQZIxBX9-qHk7c0okDI3axlgZGjtX-XGD5wUfBA-gO8J9_VLz9s43rhGFyvr68l6MxIxL4h_SQyjYd2VnDEGfZICH8Dksl_ejE5FxwplnuOIIz_5cQdAOP503LrrrHLZWjDE/s1600/HCMC+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbJzu9HWaQZIxBX9-qHk7c0okDI3axlgZGjtX-XGD5wUfBA-gO8J9_VLz9s43rhGFyvr68l6MxIxL4h_SQyjYd2VnDEGfZICH8Dksl_ejE5FxwplnuOIIz_5cQdAOP503LrrrHLZWjDE/s320/HCMC+(5).JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the Cu Chi Tunnel entrances</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On a lighter note, there is some wonderful food in this city, especially the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">phở</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bo, </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the coffee, and the delicious sweet treats at the Ban Thanh (pronounced </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ban tan</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">), such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">xôi chè </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(prounounced </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">soy jay</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">), sticky rice (in a multitude of colors) filled with mung beans, broad beans, lentils, lotus nuts, coconut shreds, agar-agar jelly and saturated with sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk; I'm sure I forgot a few ingredients. This dessert fills you up, and it costs 10,000
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">đ</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Đong) or about $0.49. A typical, filling meal in Vietnam will run you around 40,000
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">đ</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> or about $2. The exchange rate is close to 20,800
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">đ</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (or VND) to 1USD. The food in Vietnam is such a change from the fare in Cambodia. Cambodian cuisine is interesting in that it is a combination of the dishes of its surrounding countries--Thailand, Vietnam, China--but it lacks a certain complexity which is so prevalent in the others. Vietnamese food is definitely packed with tons of flavor and plenty of varying textures. I would go back to Vietnam for a third time simply for the food.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Another note on food and the last day spent in HCMC:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Leah and I got dressed up in our new clothes and caught a couple of motos to a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show, which was lovely (hokey, but fun and lovely), after which it immediately began to downpour. Leah had a thought: maybe going out in partially soaked nice clothes to a dinner we couldn't afford might be a little stressful...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE86YDZ6iKatKB-nPvRsw4BJDu8DucgEZ4xCFQ2SCoFBris9tSF4bBvdQJv151YVnrpSSFc0gVLoWGknh5gZl-yWB-_-WZZ-HxCYAKSDzYcn-UI8rykzSMLAE4RbEmLtuJjUcFUEyhyq0/s1600/HCMC+2+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE86YDZ6iKatKB-nPvRsw4BJDu8DucgEZ4xCFQ2SCoFBris9tSF4bBvdQJv151YVnrpSSFc0gVLoWGknh5gZl-yWB-_-WZZ-HxCYAKSDzYcn-UI8rykzSMLAE4RbEmLtuJjUcFUEyhyq0/s320/HCMC+2+(1).JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay, now for some more pictures (Oh hey! The first picture is of food. That's weird.) -</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFFx1VEwSAL2hxs0XQG0_NtoJrAAg258FlQZVvSzJz4umVVLafx4N7ZFpMA3agcgTnn98-TiR23YbcSCiE1YPPwLKPiWgGW5pvwDhq-cxwhDDiuZzWw-v_uei-Z8rCajdXK9DwBFHOSY/s1600/HCMC+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFFx1VEwSAL2hxs0XQG0_NtoJrAAg258FlQZVvSzJz4umVVLafx4N7ZFpMA3agcgTnn98-TiR23YbcSCiE1YPPwLKPiWgGW5pvwDhq-cxwhDDiuZzWw-v_uei-Z8rCajdXK9DwBFHOSY/s320/HCMC+(2).JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Fried banana rice cakes with tapioca topping</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNIDkHFcx0_Q0dyUhfUYq1-mwOyXxTPRlScNllkFtXAZetteIQG9tmh3wJ8wO3wzLCZGh0mWxAmjXANyLevIWIGmEVYgVjnsrp_PErQM735AqnnCxBZdP7_Z3PIDQFdZq5aeadq1AFEY/s1600/HCMC+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNIDkHFcx0_Q0dyUhfUYq1-mwOyXxTPRlScNllkFtXAZetteIQG9tmh3wJ8wO3wzLCZGh0mWxAmjXANyLevIWIGmEVYgVjnsrp_PErQM735AqnnCxBZdP7_Z3PIDQFdZq5aeadq1AFEY/s320/HCMC+(3).JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I think Leah likes it</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHYd7B3MHuv8pguOGiNU02DebvgfNZD-LvQpD_1DKcaxXioNMNO9RD-3Lzok46NpGAejxgMbGraggRBFTHo8qET6MLy-TayBZxVsuExOZojnMqN6LRSD-hnssGqUEI2aLoN4zfgBoWZo/s1600/HCMC+2+(14).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHYd7B3MHuv8pguOGiNU02DebvgfNZD-LvQpD_1DKcaxXioNMNO9RD-3Lzok46NpGAejxgMbGraggRBFTHo8qET6MLy-TayBZxVsuExOZojnMqN6LRSD-hnssGqUEI2aLoN4zfgBoWZo/s320/HCMC+2+(14).JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A traditional water puppet show, which originated in the North</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Loc7-SCXgW73imfkccrwK73XiTrRsUAH0CxwAsU4pz9sRCGgfios-Pe8RpGVM67aAYpDGC780k4SuRngroUpYXKtJ_ooJN0Jy0PQ-0UilaMYr6G4CYNK_0430fifFjmCJZbtWL_0v0o/s1600/HCMC+2+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Loc7-SCXgW73imfkccrwK73XiTrRsUAH0CxwAsU4pz9sRCGgfios-Pe8RpGVM67aAYpDGC780k4SuRngroUpYXKtJ_ooJN0Jy0PQ-0UilaMYr6G4CYNK_0430fifFjmCJZbtWL_0v0o/s320/HCMC+2+(3).JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBweXgyzdYgP7Q5ZPKrDSOy2Pzd8269orAUYT0MLPA2pP0EIf2KPfF59JqOARpsuxH5nQoEDWYDmpn3Ufae5LBLOhTrATkz1x3Dr7VNgWFZIlV1gN1LnXTHJBU9UQ25OosLEhtpw5RUc/s1600/HCMC+2+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBweXgyzdYgP7Q5ZPKrDSOy2Pzd8269orAUYT0MLPA2pP0EIf2KPfF59JqOARpsuxH5nQoEDWYDmpn3Ufae5LBLOhTrATkz1x3Dr7VNgWFZIlV1gN1LnXTHJBU9UQ25OosLEhtpw5RUc/s320/HCMC+2+(5).JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The trees and the parks were abundant and awesome to behold</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5asxtxxpXK1JTv9sTrsKFDoKk_Tvopxr_mSCadh-pE7nQRGpzCpDi7JRMCe1kXByb97xST9-3IOz_krAvcbOgfkWnxGjSz9XEjtq32ggGgIDs11CU2CrCVFerPC8_ropNA4d7IGQaLk/s1600/HCMC+2+(8).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5asxtxxpXK1JTv9sTrsKFDoKk_Tvopxr_mSCadh-pE7nQRGpzCpDi7JRMCe1kXByb97xST9-3IOz_krAvcbOgfkWnxGjSz9XEjtq32ggGgIDs11CU2CrCVFerPC8_ropNA4d7IGQaLk/s320/HCMC+2+(8).JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Vietnamese build their sidewalks around nature rather than removing nature to make way for sidewalks</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Check out Return to Vietnam (Pt. II: Mui Ne and Nha Trang) (tomorrow) for more on the middle part of the trip.</span></div>
Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-64734984451858565022012-09-01T22:50:00.000-07:002012-09-01T22:50:09.417-07:00Birth Spacing SessionsI'll first tackle a question that might come up before reading the first word of this sentence. 'Birth spacing' (I may have mentioned this before) is phrased as such here due to still-lingering connections that the word 'control' has to the Khmer Rouge. And so, due to the dark memories that this word conjures (and the fact that the word 'control' tends to imply that there are no options), the word 'spacing' is used. Another good thing to know about some commonly shared misconceptions about birth spacing here is that after beginning any method (hormonal or non-hormonal), one cannot conceive again; this explains the introduction of the word 'spacing' (as the span of time between one baby and another need not be indefinite).<br />
<br />
With that said, here's what I've been doing over the past two months with Population Services International (PSI) as part of my primary assignment for my third year with Peace Corps:<br /><br />I am involved with the--beware: acronyms are abound--Communications and Marketing (C&M) department at PSI, more specifically, in the Reproductive Health (RH) sub-department, and even more specifically, the Community Mobilizer (CM) Project. The CM Project in the RH sub-department of the C&M department at PSI(/C for 'Cambodia', if you will) consists of six employees (all Cambodian) who hire and train 600 Community Mobilizers, local 'volunteers' for PSI that are paid $20/month, who set up information sessions in their commune (and surrounding ones) about birth spacing. The purpose of these sessions is to inform women of the importance of birth spacing (it would be important to note here that it is not uncommon for families in Cambodia to have up to ten members [that is mother, father, and eight children], so often, these families become progressively poorer with each child. and their children become progressively more malnourished). They explain the several methods they have to choose from and answer a myriad of questions typically relating to common misconceptions, rumors, and side-effects related to those methods.<br /><br /><i>A common misconceptions</i>:<br />
- When you put in an IUD, you can never bear children again, even if you take it out.<br />
<br />
<i>A common side-effect that is a large deterrent to usage</i>:<br />
- Weight gain with oral contraceptives<br />
<br />
The hope is that at the end of a session, a woman will be interested in one of methods mentioned and be referred by the Community Mobilizer (CM) to a local government-run health center or a private health clinic in the PSI franchise (all run by Cambodians - PSI does not receive revenue enough for profit [at least, not of any considerable amount]).<br /><br />Okay, so now that you have a little background of what the program I'm involved with does, what do <i>I</i> actually do? I go out on "Coaching/Field Visits" with PSI employees to any of the 15 provinces they work in where we do three things: 1) We meet with several groups of women in the communities where the CM lives/works to determine their knowledge of birth spacing and if that CM is active or not; 2) The CM holds an information session on birth spacing where we observe their presentation skills and knowledge on the topic and then; 3) give them feedback. Usually the PSI employee will continue the birth spacing session where the CM has left off; it is often not far into the session. I will typically assist my PSI counterpart (I work with six, but each goes out at separate times and to different regions) in explaining the information left unsaid. What is sometimes helpful is that a woman will ask if different birth spacing methods are used in the United States (or wherever they think I'm from [usually Australia or France]), and to their delight, they discover that they are, in fact, the same methods. This is all 'out in the field' (as they say). When I'm in the office (about 40% of the time), I typically help write up reports and look at plethora of data to then, hopefully, devise new plans to help increase the efficiency of the CM Project.<br /><br />Okay, enough information. Here are some photos:<br />
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Okay, that's all for now. I'll be posting in a couple of weeks about my upcoming vacation back to Vietnam!<br />
<br />
Talk to you soon,<br />
Garrett<br />
<br />
<br />Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-54342065325600736932012-07-25T23:46:00.001-07:002012-08-13T16:39:34.554-07:00It's Been a Long TimeHi Everyone,<br />
<br />
It's been awhile, I know. A lot of things have gone on since we last chatted, so let me catch you up on all of that:<br />
<br />
<b>July 4th -</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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At the end of June, I was asked by the 'choir director' of the K5 anthem sextet if I would like to join in for the 4th of July formal event. I took maybe 4 seconds to decide whether or not I would accept. I remember doing this the previous year and how enjoyable it was to be involved with music again. Last year, I had done the arranging, but this year, Diana (the 'choir director') arranged all of the music and did such a splendid job piecing together not just the <i>Star Spangled Banner</i> but the <i>Khmer National Anthem</i>, <i>You're a Grand Old Flag</i>, and <i>America the Beautiful</i>. The event was held at the Sofitel (one of the most luxurious hotels in Cambodia), and I definitely didn't belong there. We were dressed more akin to servers than to guests at a high-level function. This is exactly why, I believe, it was appropriate that I took home a to-go box of a large wedge of Brie, several pieces of bread, cheesecake, and pecan pie. The poor manager of the event, who looked down on me with pity, (most likely) regretfully agreed to let me take home the leftover food.</div>
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<b>New Apartment</b> -</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">The day before rehearsals began, a couple of friends helped me move into my new apartment in Phnom Penh. Its location is convenient, and it is comfortable; I enjoy coming home to it every day (not that I didn't when I lived in Nimitt, because I definitely enjoyed my home there!). The move surprisingly only took two trips and a lot of sweating (mostly carrying the first trunk [mine] up the stairs [I live on the third floor {or second, if you're living here}]). </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQvhAm-XaHbo4eC2zxWzurqwrWkRsOGP_EmDU9FFnEgnY6xdmtHgJ5JqaqXzrJCBlqrQNG-3Iiq7abRwvVCpohod3y4Zta1BucZT1JilQ9gGdKq8tgDEHdgEEdUvXrkKaUYia_6NgIg4M/s1600/Riding+My+Bike+to+Move+In.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQvhAm-XaHbo4eC2zxWzurqwrWkRsOGP_EmDU9FFnEgnY6xdmtHgJ5JqaqXzrJCBlqrQNG-3Iiq7abRwvVCpohod3y4Zta1BucZT1JilQ9gGdKq8tgDEHdgEEdUvXrkKaUYia_6NgIg4M/s320/Riding+My+Bike+to+Move+In.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me riding alongside the tuk tuk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helpers! Thanks!</td></tr>
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After settling in, several types of food making ensued:</div>
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<b>Food</b> (Yes. This deserves its own section)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTZH0u4WjxB-Dqv5cBU3azV5Iat0uLzz7Rq2n9cYgqbozKVpx-Izb8fWafMMibaMgepvONoR49frTxnilT_fmvizUwPtRGDumDNLBheMmJtVvGuAJ_GPfHpMHvzjbjpPGX4u88M_awcw/s1600/Apanangeana+Fruitshakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTZH0u4WjxB-Dqv5cBU3azV5Iat0uLzz7Rq2n9cYgqbozKVpx-Izb8fWafMMibaMgepvONoR49frTxnilT_fmvizUwPtRGDumDNLBheMmJtVvGuAJ_GPfHpMHvzjbjpPGX4u88M_awcw/s320/Apanangeana+Fruitshakes.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Appangeana Fruit Shakes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELW-12oZtIw9F73WSqqiYUmGWT8AchmDO_clK01G0xqVV_WM5-XCJXLOF9kJhrxntVOHLgsKFv9TnpePxXOTmRo6CLlyyCZMOFAmO8FdjbJV-7h1lTQBoWsdsTS3iCH-q_G-tfeL1oxs/s1600/Third+Breakfast+(Pretty+Good+Omeletes+with+Awesome+Hashbrowns).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELW-12oZtIw9F73WSqqiYUmGWT8AchmDO_clK01G0xqVV_WM5-XCJXLOF9kJhrxntVOHLgsKFv9TnpePxXOTmRo6CLlyyCZMOFAmO8FdjbJV-7h1lTQBoWsdsTS3iCH-q_G-tfeL1oxs/s320/Third+Breakfast+(Pretty+Good+Omeletes+with+Awesome+Hashbrowns).JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omelets and Hash-browns</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3-Tp51Nt_4jfAG1L6fk8daO-6st98YjZnaBZv78ECpbojxST8uP-E1VRnoShAPT-3J7OuMMSNIBIWT0xGsW1d8T4019cSzwIRq9wN2zN0f9Ax-DjDi5t9BdabvZPxvOrV_6IAyiG_EE/s1600/First+Breakfast+(At+the+Mountain+of+Madness+with+Fruit).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3-Tp51Nt_4jfAG1L6fk8daO-6st98YjZnaBZv78ECpbojxST8uP-E1VRnoShAPT-3J7OuMMSNIBIWT0xGsW1d8T4019cSzwIRq9wN2zN0f9Ax-DjDi5t9BdabvZPxvOrV_6IAyiG_EE/s320/First+Breakfast+(At+the+Mountain+of+Madness+with+Fruit).JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Mountains!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjai7Xq8bBM85VeQIGhUawmOPt2c00XIGjxBXCvJFyKKZJRxK4TCX1PUmPk9YmxDwbcoou2RuGRYikgdB80nH_yyvzUJYuNuJvswJXsHl2hH9cW8ALLLbdMLCSkU6fWlY81D6Pr9OdqAM4/s1600/Submission+for+Better+Homes+and+Gardens.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjai7Xq8bBM85VeQIGhUawmOPt2c00XIGjxBXCvJFyKKZJRxK4TCX1PUmPk9YmxDwbcoou2RuGRYikgdB80nH_yyvzUJYuNuJvswJXsHl2hH9cW8ALLLbdMLCSkU6fWlY81D6Pr9OdqAM4/s320/Submission+for+Better+Homes+and+Gardens.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pasta with Salad, Bread, and Wine (and Leah's pose for the cover of <i>Better Homes and Gardens</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIDG87b5np0PVjTpI9dI6whGnM9nUF8F2mBmca5alxKovz5LsRxf3-7IpVetznciKvLnyzo-mY_2UEj5U0-GySzhTZJ-itakZlZ3NOiYDnKhwPV40SK_OEf7AYzEVtnqtYfdVsLojRkA4/s1600/Second+Dinner+(Quinergers).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIDG87b5np0PVjTpI9dI6whGnM9nUF8F2mBmca5alxKovz5LsRxf3-7IpVetznciKvLnyzo-mY_2UEj5U0-GySzhTZJ-itakZlZ3NOiYDnKhwPV40SK_OEf7AYzEVtnqtYfdVsLojRkA4/s320/Second+Dinner+(Quinergers).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lurgers (Quinoa + Lentil Burgers...<i>Get it, Amie</i>)</td></tr>
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I will be posting more pictures, because the culinary experimenting going on in my kitchen needs to be shared.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Starting with PSI</b> -<br />
<br />
I've now been working with PSI for three weeks, and I can tell you, now, that I am going to 1) enjoy working there for the next year and 2) be extremely exhausted by the end of it. The past week, I've been out on a "Field/Coaching Visit" where I've been working alongside one of the PSI staff meeting with women in the community to glean how knowledgeable they are about various birth spacing methods and, more importantly, whether they have ever heard of the local volunteer staff that PSI pays a small stipend. The trip has several purposes. We want to gauge the knowledge and understanding of reproductive health among the community members as well as that of the volunteer (Community Mobilizer [or CM]). As well, we want to gauge the level of presenting skills on part of the CM as well as "coach" them on how to perform a health education session about birth spacing (it's called "birth spacing" and not "birth control" in Cambodia due to the heavy use of the word "control" during the Khmer Rouge era. Also, having children is extremely common in Cambodian life, so using the word "control" might give it the stigma that you may never be able to have children again once you begin using it [and that already exists]); the PSI staff member did the heavy majority of these 'coaching sessions'. This week, we are in Kampong Cham, staying in a remote district town. We've met with 12 CMs already and only have 4 more to go before heading back to Phnom Penh on Friday afternoon. It's pretty likely that I'll be 'out in the field' (or simply, not in Phnom Penh: interpret that as you will) about half of the time. I'll be sure to add pictures and update more often once things really get going, and they seem to be already!<br />
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Phew! That was a lot! I definitely could have made three separate posts with that one, but I just assumed you wanted to brew a couple of cups of coffee while your took your time reading this. Right? Yeah. Yes. Yup. That was definitely the plan all along. Hope everyone is doing well.</div>
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Talk to you soon,</div>
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Garrett</div>
Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-79157800855708765322012-06-20T01:59:00.001-07:002012-06-20T01:59:06.097-07:00Saying Goodbye to a Place I've Known for Two YearsAs I transition from my first two years of service in the Peace Corps to a third, I must leave a place before I can arrive at a very anticipated new one. The feelings are complicated at best. As I say goodbye to each person I have befriended over this long while, I cannot help prevent the rush of memories flooding back to the surface. The good ones definitely remain and will, ultimately, prevail; how we met; what we talked about; the first interaction we had; the extremely kind exchanges that would occur when I would return after a long trip. However, inevitably, as I was saying goodbye to the staff at the health center, it was impossible to deny the feeling that I wish I could have done more. I understand that that is something extremely trivial at this point in my venture (especially as that venture is no longer an unknown and risky one). Notwithstanding, the words and facial expressions exchanged spoke nothing of this. In fact, I was simply in my head over analyzing things. I spent a good amount of time sitting down and chatting with each of those I've made connections with and, ultimately, felt warm about the last two years in my community. It has been a long journey that is still well on its way to somewhere. I'm not sure yet where that somewhere is, but it's not really about the destination; it's about the journey; it's been a good one so far, roller coasters included.<br />
<br />
So, I'm sitting in my room on my last day here in northwest Cambodia awaiting to leave to a place where I can (for the first time) say I'm going "up to" somewhere. I'm not sure exactly where I'll be living quite yet, as I'm awaiting approval on an apartment that was scoped out about a week and a half ago. I'll know all of this tomorrow, and should it be approved, I'll have pictures to post of my new place. If not, I'll be on the lookout for someplace else. Until then, though, I'll happily strum away at my guitar passing the time away until dinner.Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-41790620393295097042012-05-22T04:23:00.001-07:002012-05-22T04:23:30.655-07:00When I'll Be Coming Home or Why I Feel Relived to Hear Bad NewsSo, I could put the date of when I'm headed home for a little R&R, but that would just make reading this post oh so easy, wouldn't it? Also, when have I ever gotten straight to the point? You should know better by now. So, first thing's first: I'm going to start with the latter part of this blog post's title.<br /><br />I was up late the other night, and while it <i>was</i> late, I decided to check my e-mail one last time before heading to bed, because, hey, you never know. It was 11a in D.C., so it was plausible that I could have received an e-mail regarding the Foreign Service Officer's Test (FSOT). As I mentioned before, I had passed the initial written test and essay but had yet to hear back on my Personal Narratives and the results of the Qualitative Evaluation Panel (QEP). Lo and behold, there was an e-mail from the Department of State. There was definitely a bit of anticipation as I read the response, which went something like this:<br />
<br />
"Dear Garrett,<br />
<br />
...because this year, there have been an influx of applicants taking the FSOT and a decrease in the rate of acceptance...After much evaluation by the QEP, we regret to inform you...<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Copy and Paste"<br />
<br />
So, that was that. No cushy job waiting for me when I finish my job in the Peace Corps. However, more positive outcomes prevail over the (hardly) negative ones. My dreams of being a Peace Corps Field Recruiter can still be chased. Grad school doesn't necessarily have to be put off for 4 or 10 years while moving around every 2 years to another country (but who knows, I might end up getting a job that requires me to do that anyway!). Best put, I think, as I was discussing this with someone earlier today, is that if anything, I would have had a much more difficult time enjoying what I have going on in the present were I to be constantly wondering about two years from now. Many of us would like to have "Five Year Plan(s)", but I'm going to be here for another 16 months, and what a waste that would be to not be able to fully focus on what I have at the present moment. Do I have ideas of what I might like to do in the future? I do. They might be a little vague, but they exist. For now, though, I plan on enjoying the next five months and five days until I come home. <---did you get that? (9+7)*3/47x-2H =....<br /><br />Saturday, October 27th<br />
<br />
I'll be home and plan on traveling between Phoenix, Tucson, SoCal, and D.C. until<br />
<br />
Sunday, November 25th<br />
<br />
when I return back to Phnom Penh.<br />
<br />
Talk to you soon,<br />
GarrettGarrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-63739941552920306622012-05-20T08:55:00.000-07:002012-05-20T08:56:20.387-07:00Clarity or Hey! Wanna Know What I'll Be Doing Next Year?So, I finally had this long-awaited meeting with the technical director of PSI/Cambodia and PC/Cambodia's Director of Program and Training. We sat down and had the opportunity to discuss several things, of which I have been patiently (then impatiently [then patiently (then not so patiently, again)]) waiting to find out.<br />
<br />
So, here they are:<br />
<br />
<b>When will I move to Phnom Penh</b>: Most likely, June 25th<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>How many days left physically at site: 27....27!!!! It's really strange. While I am very much anticipating my beginning the next stage of my Peace Corps service, including but not limited to: cooking for myself, having cheese, milk, and pizza readily available, and a toilet the flushes...I am also very sad to leave my village which has treated me so kindly and left me with a feeling of comfort, safety, and happiness (not to mention many friends, countless memories [most of which involved laughter (at my expense [the best kind])]). As well, it has left me with the ability to add brackets within parenthesis and vis versa.</li>
</ul>
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<b>When will I start working for PSI</b>: Definitely, July 2nd</div>
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<b>What I will be doing:</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><b>Training Consultant</b></span></span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Assist Communications and Marketing
department in monitoring, supervision and coaching activities of Interpersonal
communications (UHN </span><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(United Health Network) </b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and CM </span><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(Community Monitor) </b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">programs*) and MVU </span><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(Mobile Video Unit)</b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> activities:</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">
<li> Regularly
join staff in monitoring and supervision activities. Assist PSI staff with monitoring
and supervision functions to improve their supervision and coaching skills.
Help to structure UHN and CM field visits to ensure more IPC
<b>(Interpersonal Communication)</b> direct activities
are observed and to give better feedback to UHN member organizations.</li>
<li>Help to design and co-facilitate trainings
to CM or to UHN members to strengthen programs</li>
<li>Serve as
a key point person to document compliance of IPC<b> </b>activities </li>
<li>Help
develop system where UHN member organizations have clear quarterly areas for
improvement and are supported by PSI to act on those areas.</li>
<li>Strengthen phone support and direct IPC field coaching in CM program</li>
<li>Attend
MVU activities and help to revise show formats and effectiveness of shows as
needed</li>
</span></ul>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Specific to
Child Survival - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Help to design integrated prevention and treatment
messages on diarrhea and Safe Water tabs (including benefits of each
product) that are simple and easy to demonstrate to the community<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Co-facilitate trainings on integrated prevention
and treatment messages on diarrhea and Safe Water tablets to Roving team,
MVU team and CMs<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Attend MVU activities and help to include
integrated messaging during the event<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Help to revise formats and effectiveness of MVU
shows<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Assist PSI staff (coordinators) with improving
their supervision skills</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> 2. Identify areas for collaboration between the
PC and PSI. Develop an implementation
plan that ensures sustainable collaboration between PC and PSI.</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Map areas of PSI's work and overlap with PC</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Train PCVs to understand PSI's approach and
link the individual PCVs behavior change communication activities with PSI's
work.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Assist PSI to deliver IEC </span><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(Information, Education, and Communication) </b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">materials to PC
volunteers and monitor use.</span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> 3. Assist
with photography projects as needed including expansion of photograph bank for
general use and development of photographs for IEC materials when needed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> * United
Health Network (UHN) is a network of local NGOs sub-granted by PSI to implement
IPC activities. CMs are volunteers directly supported by PSI to promote birth
spacing and refer to the Sun Quality franchise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Where will I be living?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Phnom Penh still, however, I am not sure whether it will be in a one- or two-bedroom apartment or a house with multiple people. I'll be finding out all of that in the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to update you when I know. One thing, though: Phnom Penh will have a lot of temptations that I will have to resist in order to not break the bank (i.e. Western restaurants, ice cream, movies, etc.). Honestly, I think I'll be alright, but it's nice to know that soon, should I need to sneak out for a needed break, it's there. One downside, though: I live in a semi-rural village now, right? Well, there's not much to do here, so when I do get to escape to other places (i.e. Siem Reap, Battambang, Phnom Penh), it really <i>is</i> an escape, and then I can ground myself when I get back home to my little abode. However, in Phnom Penh, while there <i>will</i> be escapes like Sihanoukville and Kampot, there won't be the (occasional) quiet that I enjoy out here in the middle of nowhere. </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>When will I be coming home for my 30-day R&R?</b></span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Still waiting on that one, but I'm shooting for autumn. </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>When will I be coming home for good?</b></span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">My new COS (Close of Service) date is now Sep 3rd, 2013</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Yup, so that's about what I know at the moment, and I'm pretty excited for all of it.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Talk to you soon,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Garrett</span></div>
<br /></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-36740839231070626412012-05-09T20:01:00.004-07:002012-05-09T20:33:30.028-07:00A Couple of Photos from My PSI Tech Exchange<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41VA0QRaq_IejmoOs15xnyRgvwDc7PyRyKaRstAcehKw7O8gZt0gJ-UURKK14QkDcLzcOqMttAJnXXesySd0BXjBOH4QAK_Ch2H5VxhXWLresyC9_W9g2ikWwn8J8q5feTL6Voe1gxjs/s1600/MVU+-+Children+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41VA0QRaq_IejmoOs15xnyRgvwDc7PyRyKaRstAcehKw7O8gZt0gJ-UURKK14QkDcLzcOqMttAJnXXesySd0BXjBOH4QAK_Ch2H5VxhXWLresyC9_W9g2ikWwn8J8q5feTL6Voe1gxjs/s320/MVU+-+Children+2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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This little girl was with her family at a Mobile Video Unit presentation about birth control.</div>
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She's probably pretty happy that her parents hadn't seen this video nine years ago.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOK0oTRWPgvr6mdGqQ-FDVoM9qNG0MrHqERC7sbVXO_MN5E-4KBjRdNGMhzA7_lumw8Bn5OPmljBEN7E7EYpT6QESm2tvSJsWp2RxasrhATot06mtbN5prf3901rNfwebSCe18XTuqVI/s1600/MVU+-+Kids+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOK0oTRWPgvr6mdGqQ-FDVoM9qNG0MrHqERC7sbVXO_MN5E-4KBjRdNGMhzA7_lumw8Bn5OPmljBEN7E7EYpT6QESm2tvSJsWp2RxasrhATot06mtbN5prf3901rNfwebSCe18XTuqVI/s320/MVU+-+Kids+2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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This kid just showed up to see what was going on while we were setting up.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOyqpJgEt13wt6pDKm99zHKIJPbIHkMsoIRi1jPrQyg0WcUadikAuRZvHigAHMT9s6KzJeH3CxV6KzbnTQGkXZFT4TP1sIdXO0WOBw2ROeYcPNmxTjXLqzTPlTB-TQb3UGeFmHx1d48TM/s1600/MVU+-+People+Watching+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOyqpJgEt13wt6pDKm99zHKIJPbIHkMsoIRi1jPrQyg0WcUadikAuRZvHigAHMT9s6KzJeH3CxV6KzbnTQGkXZFT4TP1sIdXO0WOBw2ROeYcPNmxTjXLqzTPlTB-TQb3UGeFmHx1d48TM/s320/MVU+-+People+Watching+7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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"Oh no!!! What's going to happen next?!"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMp-znYOu-yfDTcA6olCxC5SmRCmxUWtViL9WC0wyd57LsjDeO84l63yIq8cLX4yU-eyVmIxlwhyphenhypheni85Kzyh2j5JjLvZUxm2MhzbdELQN_h50CNSKht6Ukelg4TTHcv4AGPdKyWmhADBe0/s1600/Happy+Couple+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMp-znYOu-yfDTcA6olCxC5SmRCmxUWtViL9WC0wyd57LsjDeO84l63yIq8cLX4yU-eyVmIxlwhyphenhypheni85Kzyh2j5JjLvZUxm2MhzbdELQN_h50CNSKht6Ukelg4TTHcv4AGPdKyWmhADBe0/s320/Happy+Couple+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyP6Qc1RF59mhcd9xOzXCqWLxKMzBVzwBgC50ZfXq7MoLRXKxq0Ly6qIH9lKcv6Kq2JpjXX8aTqlCZQDDY9UQRMrWVPpoKqDMGAp2AdhjnGNEjTOdm9EVB7E11PlmPplGfyu1lzYSnpl0/s1600/Happy+Family+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyP6Qc1RF59mhcd9xOzXCqWLxKMzBVzwBgC50ZfXq7MoLRXKxq0Ly6qIH9lKcv6Kq2JpjXX8aTqlCZQDDY9UQRMrWVPpoKqDMGAp2AdhjnGNEjTOdm9EVB7E11PlmPplGfyu1lzYSnpl0/s320/Happy+Family+7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This little boy on the left was probably the happiest, most cooperative kid I worked with the whole ten days.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EdwdpqEkLgWcU4WtP7nHyi1E388N7TiDhCn9-7QLhi7Nc9WF-mc6AJrTKOf7HFq12eHx9Ow7brnwxzgkthMOzRpNF4EMAm4-I9a_u6Y80N3CSr1FwWI0_rLSjn3ZIdm7PFsoMoDSh10/s1600/Happy+Women+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EdwdpqEkLgWcU4WtP7nHyi1E388N7TiDhCn9-7QLhi7Nc9WF-mc6AJrTKOf7HFq12eHx9Ow7brnwxzgkthMOzRpNF4EMAm4-I9a_u6Y80N3CSr1FwWI0_rLSjn3ZIdm7PFsoMoDSh10/s320/Happy+Women+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The caption for this was: "Women happy to live their lifestyle"</div>
I couldn't get them to stop laughing...perfect.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLJaU-TvPTlvwJXuHoCyhf2LwTxquyWLbsoc8o5fUl8QbWjIJI_XVa_FALoRwqZ7lR9vGxfr1c9pAvJl8Xc1o4XklHskeLWcb_D_s9Z_rgAMqWOrPUuJXWHbG_tp_LQPRQzFILsXqwtc/s1600/Market+Woman+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLJaU-TvPTlvwJXuHoCyhf2LwTxquyWLbsoc8o5fUl8QbWjIJI_XVa_FALoRwqZ7lR9vGxfr1c9pAvJl8Xc1o4XklHskeLWcb_D_s9Z_rgAMqWOrPUuJXWHbG_tp_LQPRQzFILsXqwtc/s320/Market+Woman+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This woman is just gorgeous and was so photogenic. The literal translation for photogenic in Khmer is "eat camera".</div>
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She sells chicken in the market.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRMXEXD6k3K9HoYDF1qKbULpKY_muUZJ__y4ssc-OG416h9zY02uS8biTuyfljmHcLALJDpW5YK8kOond3buUL8m-N7Yq3iuPFFYZCcLvEPn5XFanEXc7NCjj6enbFU5EQEuNDs_UFDM/s1600/Not+So+Happy+Mom+and+Child+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRMXEXD6k3K9HoYDF1qKbULpKY_muUZJ__y4ssc-OG416h9zY02uS8biTuyfljmHcLALJDpW5YK8kOond3buUL8m-N7Yq3iuPFFYZCcLvEPn5XFanEXc7NCjj6enbFU5EQEuNDs_UFDM/s320/Not+So+Happy+Mom+and+Child+2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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We needed some shots of unhappy families, and this little girl was less than thrilled about something, but it seemed to work in our benefit.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPM7sroAFDbXUAY0F6kB749WgaZMg7a4oDbgv2kwDHCgWRCQhPU5gr6L1mmerrkuujiENJeAbr1P5dhcMz2DyZPmShZDayEovKt0MHc8lGebaFBx410HQ87IgVaowE1g3tgSYNrmCcYo/s1600/Seamstress+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPM7sroAFDbXUAY0F6kB749WgaZMg7a4oDbgv2kwDHCgWRCQhPU5gr6L1mmerrkuujiENJeAbr1P5dhcMz2DyZPmShZDayEovKt0MHc8lGebaFBx410HQ87IgVaowE1g3tgSYNrmCcYo/s320/Seamstress+3.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqrcUNNhJQMr0tCOdIhH7Zz9Ko8ZmxGNIn6sjD8sqrkoVr2_gWDmpwrJh2v5DYCgRQXzc0BB4_ABZevT84qba_5P4TrA2VjT3m089MZvDKAeLL5UPo8Mt_6FtC5KVDadnGH506SiwCxo/s1600/Students+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqrcUNNhJQMr0tCOdIhH7Zz9Ko8ZmxGNIn6sjD8sqrkoVr2_gWDmpwrJh2v5DYCgRQXzc0BB4_ABZevT84qba_5P4TrA2VjT3m089MZvDKAeLL5UPo8Mt_6FtC5KVDadnGH506SiwCxo/s320/Students+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpoemelHfm_ZDfqURyHpJhbCXLcVRzTCgQLTpJn-IewMAxHD2J8I3pw9Smbd2QkzAOx_FB6F1r19VTpVHOhrdejPiw474TNNxTz9tpxk-6vG54n8sWshvB_Shi2BsBftBg8Jk_LeAv2wA/s1600/Students+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpoemelHfm_ZDfqURyHpJhbCXLcVRzTCgQLTpJn-IewMAxHD2J8I3pw9Smbd2QkzAOx_FB6F1r19VTpVHOhrdejPiw474TNNxTz9tpxk-6vG54n8sWshvB_Shi2BsBftBg8Jk_LeAv2wA/s320/Students+6.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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...and this is me, incorrectly lifting these weights. I'm surprised I didn't throw my back out. Props to you Chris, whose weights these belonged to; he wants to add another weight...</div>
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<br /></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-85809526559429788662012-05-07T23:04:00.000-07:002012-05-07T23:07:39.482-07:00Belated News on ExtendingHey All,<br />
<br />
For those of you who don't have Facebook, I apologize for the belated news, but:<br />
<br />
I was approved for extending with PSI in a full-time setting. I will be living in Phnom Penh and may be there as early as late June, but all of that will be defined in a week when Peace Corps program staff, PSI's technical director, and I meet to discuss further my scope of work, start date, housing and other concerns of interest. I currently don't have a great idea of what exactly my day-to-day will look like, so guessing on here would just be pointless and superfluous when I re-post post-meeting next week. Things I do know:<br />
<br />
- I will be extending with Population Services International/Cambodia (PSI/Cambodia)<br />
<ul>
<li>Full-time</li>
</ul>
- I will be one of four PCVs living in Phnom Penh<br />
<ul>
<li>I might live alone</li>
<li>I might live with another PCV as a roommate (that hasn't been approved yet</li>
</ul>
<div>
- I should hopefully begin:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>End of June</li>
<li>Beginning of July</li>
</ul>
<div>
As far as coming home is concerned, I <i>should</i> be coming home late October through late November for obvious reasons (engrossing myself in Thanksgiving fare and weather that won't have me sweating as I walk back from the shower). What I don't know yet is if I passed the Personal Narratives (PNs) and Qualitative Evaluation Panel (QEP) portion of the Foreign Service selection process. If I do, then I'll be invited to the Oral Assessment (OA) which is slated to occur (according to the Department of State's website) between August and November. Should the only time I'm invited to that (if I get invited) be August, September, or early October, then I'll be coming home around then (no need to spend big Gs on a ticket home when I could do it for a couple of hundred). I'll let you know when I do. Until then...</div>
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Talk to you soon,</div>
<div>
Garrett</div>
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<br /></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-49189440180309427432012-04-20T09:50:00.003-07:002012-04-20T09:53:42.158-07:00When I Will Find Out About Extending...So, I've been as patient as possible with finding out about extending and this PCVL position. However, there are vague dates that have been thrown out there. With that, I should know by the end of next week, so keep your eyes peeled for a blog post sometime close to then. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well! All that patience is beginning to unwind...<div><br /></div><div>Talk to you soon,</div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-16721972234988870182012-04-13T02:34:00.003-07:002012-04-13T05:37:46.245-07:00Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)<i>Day 13 + 14 in Ho Chi Minh City - </i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Day 1</i>:</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Our bus from Dalat to HCMC was supposed to be 6 hours long. It ended up being 8 1/2: how long it takes to get from my site to Phnom Penh; it felt like a nice taste of home. So, we arrived into the largest city in Vietnam, our last stop, simply expecting everything to go so wrong (every other group's experiences were terrible). We got dropped off and had no idea where we were. We look at the address for our hotel: Pham Ngu Lau. Great! Our location: Pham Ngu Lao District...so did we get led astray to a general area and not a specific street? We ask a moto driver, and he simply points us in the right direction without giving us much strife for not taking his moto. "That way, to the left," he seemed to say (he was gesturing and speaking in Vietnamese). We turn left, and lo and behold we are on the correct street two blocks from our destination. We walk to our hotel down an alley way and as we walked in he said, "Oh. I'm sorry. I sold your room. You said you would arrive 2:00pm, but it is now 4:30p. I didn't know if you were just going to be late, so I booked a room at family hotel just next door. It is a bigger, nicer room (a family room). It is usually more expensive, but I want to give it to you for the same price as this one. Is that okay?" Is that okay?! What's going on? Excuse me. Excuse me! Can somebody please help explain why everything was working out so well? Hmmm, so our friends that we met in Hoi An had arrived only a couple of hours earlier and text us at that very moment that we got into the hotel that they were at the nearby Subway (<i>Subway!</i>) on the same street as our hotel. <i>What?!</i> We walk to the Subway. It's only 3 blocks away. <i>Hello!!! Why is this working out so well</i>. At this point, by the way, Jill and I were still not feeling well. So, we were in shock. Subway was delicious, if you were wondering. Right before we got there, Jill added, "I bet they'll be out of tuna. Watch." We turn right to walk into Subway: "Tuna special: 40% off. 50,000 VND ($2.50) for one 6" sandwich" <i>Stop it</i>. Stop it. Seriously. We met Rachel and Angela and hung out for the next several hours until Jill and I both retired to our room. We still weren't feeling that great when we saw the commercial for Pizza Hut. We had to. We just had to. We did. We called and ordered delivery to our room one large cheese pizza. It was glorious, enough so that we toasted slices. We called it a night.<br /><br /><i>Day 2</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div>I woke up at 7:40a with a sty under my eyelid. The pain was sharp and intermittent. Here it was. Of course. The last day. I wasn't feeling so hot, and here I was, standing in front of a mirror, staring at my blood shot eye hoping it might go away. At breakfast, I used warm water with napkins as a "hot compress" for my eye and after a couple of hours, it started to feel better. And then, my cold started to go away. And then, my abdomen started to relax. Fantastic. By the way, breakfast was scrambled eggs, half a grilled tomato, baguette, iced coffee with milk, and a sausage (or...a hot dog, I found some mustard and ketchup for it). Afterwards, we went to this park 30 min away which was laced with flowers and statues of dragons. It was pretty beautiful (minus the not-so-pretty water). We all walked around for awhile and eventually ended up on a Ferris wheel (one that moved at a normal rate and wasn't 1/4 the size it should be). After that we headed back to the hotel by taxi. Fruit juice stand? Yes. My selection: guava, passion fruit, orange. After that, Rachel and Angela left for Phnom Penh on their bus and Jill and I parted ways for the next part of the day. She went to get some trinkets for people back in her community while I walked to the War Remnants Museum. For your information, the Vietnam War is referred to as "The American War" in Vietnam, for obvious reasons.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The War Remnants Museum</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div>The museum had a 15,000 VND ($0.75) entry fee. The museum was inundated with tourists of all nationalities (including Vietnamese). I felt almost nervous walking around, ever so aware of my being American. It's hard not to be even more aware of this when you walk into the "Agent Orange and its Effects" room and a young Vietnamese girl, who is walking in front of me, holds the door open for me. The building was four stories tall with a "show room" outside of the main edifice featuring a mock-up of what were prisons for women (where blown-up-picture of several women clinging to the bars of the cell door were gasping for fresh air) and "tiger cages" which were 3m x 2m x 1.5m, the last one being the height, where, during the hot season, 5-7 men would be kept and during the cold season, 2-3 men. Inside the building they had several sections: children's drawings of peace, countries of the world who supported Vietnam at the time, memorials and commemorations to the Americans who opposed the war, the history of American involvement starting with the French in the early 50's, the use of and after-effect of Agent Orange (which has counterparts: white, blue, purple, etc), torture methods used, and a gallery donated by the State of Kentucky of photographs from journalists (half of them Vietnamese). The photographs were stunning and had you staring at them for a little bit longer than the initial glance after reading each one's caption (e.g. "Mr. Ho's three children, dead."). Some of the photos were those you've likely seen (i.e. soldiers crouching through rice paddies) and those you might have not (e.g. a man holding the 1/3 of the remains of a assumed V.C. soldier). I spent a good 2 hour in the War Remnants Museum.</div><div><br /></div><div>After this, I went back to the room where Jill met me an hour later. We're currently watching 127 hours. My day started with friendship and serenity, transitioned to war and violence and seems to be ending with solitude and reflection (and amputations). Bravo to James Franco, by the way.</div><div><br /></div><div>We head back to Phnom Penh, tomorrow. Our travel time on the bus <i>should</i> be six hours, however, it's Khmer New Year, where everyone GETS OUT of the city to go back to their "homeland" (provinces where their families live), so it should be either calm or CRAZY getting in. It should be six hours, but it might take nine. We'll see. Anyhow, I'll probably not post for a week or so. I've done a good amount for now. This is the end of my Khmer New Year vacation, and it was absolutely splendid. Vietnam is a beautiful, beautiful country with delicious foods and some really nice people. I hope at some point in my life I can come back and spend a little more time, now that I have a better idea of what to do, what to eat and where to go.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talk to you soon,</div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-17639713555560261832012-04-11T08:54:00.002-07:002012-04-11T09:34:24.571-07:00Dalat<i>Days 11 + 12</i> <i>in Vietnam: Dalat</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Let's start with the 5 hour bus ride that made one 20 min stop and another 45 min one where the reason we stopped was because of the bus driver's lack of legitimate plates and of any registration papers. He said nothing and didn't speak to the Vietnamese guy on the bus who spoke a little English so that he could inform the rest of us. The bus driver got off the bus, walked away, then disappeared. Where'd he go? No one knew. Then, some people got off the bus 20 min later and walked back. What was going on? We were so confused. Finally, the Vietnamese man was able to help us out after speaking to the police. The bus driver finally came back and off we were to go up large hills where the engine almost failed several times. The bus rocked back and forth pretty violently here and there. Oh, yeah. I felt safe. I was laughing a lot.<br /><br />We reached Dalat. I got off the bus. I wanted my fleece. My fleece! The novelty of wearing one! A couple of volunteers who were already here met us at our hotel, which was swank, by the way: the were two shower heads and 6 sprayers (3 on the left, 3 on the right). There was urinal with a sensor, and an energy-efficient toilet. Even the sink had the option of hot water. Crazy! Best $20 spent! We met up with the rest of the crew, then went off to the market where we bought strawberries (STRAWBERRIES!), mulberries (MULBERRIES!), avocados (AVOCADOS!), and almonds and cashews (NUTS!). I got a kilo of the strawberries for $1, 1/2 of one of the mulberries for $0.50, and three avocados for $1.75. I was absolutely elated. We ended up buying some Delat wine (red and white) and mixed in strawberry and passion fruit juice (respectively). We ended the night eating Pho then going back to big group's hotel to watch Zombieland together. </div><div><br /></div><div>The following morning (this morning), we woke up to a homemade breakfast of local fruits, cornflakes, milk, yogurt, eggs, bacon, ham, passion fruit juice, and coffee. All of this was included in the price of the room. Sierra hung out with us for the beginning of the morning (she couldn't get a ride back to HCMC the day before) and had to wait for the 11p bus tonight (she just left). Around noon, Jill and I took a taxi ride to the cable cars which overlooks the city. We get there and it says "Under maintenance for April 11th"...out of all the days! Anyhow, we saved $3 by not doing that, right? Well, it cost us $3/person for the taxi ride to the cable cars then to the Crazy House, which is a house designed by a Vietnamese architect that would have members of Home Owner's Association in absolute hysteria. It basically looks like a giant tree trunk and has stairs that go every which way. You can actually stay in one of the ten rooms, each with its own strange difference. After visiting the Crazy House, we walked back towards the hotel. Or well, we thought we were heading back towards the hotel. We found a couple of drivers and write down the name of the hotel. They have no clue. Where were we? They didn't know our hotel, and everyone near our hotel knew of it. We get back in the right direction, and its the other way. It was actually quite a ways away from our hotel, but we were so happy to make it back. We spent the rest of the night chatting until going to dinner at a semi-fancy restaurant where I had sweet and sour pork with snap peas, bell peppers, cauliflower, and tomatoes. I had to leave early as I came down with something. I don't know what it was, but it hit me hard. I went white as a ghost, so I walked back to the hotel. It was amazing how much the fresh air helped. I'm fine, now. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I'm in bed watching <i>Homeland</i>. We thought it was a movie before looking it up. It's really good so far. Okay, off to HCMC/Saigon, tomorrow.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talk to you soon,</div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-69981475093872331402012-04-10T18:25:00.003-07:002012-04-10T20:40:14.841-07:00Nha Trang<i style="font-style: normal; ">Days 9 and 10 in Vietnam</i>: Nha Trang (pronounced Nah Chahng [in Vietnamese])<div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">We arrived in Nha Trang around 7:30a. got off the bus and got cursed at by a moto driver when we wouldn't go to "his" hotel. Good start, I think. So, we walked around and found a $5/person/night hotel...it wasn't that nice. So, we had someone take us to a hotel in my Rough Guide, Seaside Hotel. We walk in, and they ask us if we want to see a "Seaside" room. "Sure," we say. It's a giant room with a big bed, albeit dirty, a/c, and hot water. How much? $20. We really didn't want to carry our stuff around any further (we'd been doing that enough), so, again, we say, "Sure." The room, btw, has view of the coast, and it was worth it. Immediately after settling in, I get my laptop out and check my e-mail/Facebook. I had previously asked some other PCVs who were traveling in Nha Trang if they could book us a room, but didn't hear back from them. Facebook message from Katie @ 1min after I logged off of the internet before our 12 hour bus ride here: "Hey! We booked you a room for $10/night right in the center of town, and the owner's are really friendly!" Whoops. Still worth the room.</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">We got our swimsuits on and immediately headed for the beach, which was beautiful. After jumping into the semi-warm water and laying out for a little, we headed back and met the three volunteers who were in town (they were heading to where we had just come from in 6 hours). First place we went to: <i>Louisiane</i>...what's good there? Local brewed beer on tap, and it. was. heavenly. Holy crap. Both Tim and I stared into the bottom of our glasses and almost simultaneously went after the last drop of our drinks. It was fantastic getting to meet up with them and hang out (and get to have them show us around and tell us what was good to do). Once our friends left on their 6:15 bus, we went out and tasted some more good foods and ended up crashing pretty early (9:30p).</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Day 2 was one of our best days on the trip. We woke up, researched spas, then got an hour-long Swedish massage for $9.50; it was heavenly. We took a short trip to a fruit shake stand and got two drinks made for $1/each:</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">1) Avocado, Asian pear, strawberry, aloe, milk, sugar, and ice (blended);</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">2) Aloe (mostly), orange, milk, and sugar over ice.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">From there, we took a decent walk to the beach where we found many people selling various types of seafood on the beach: lobster, scallops, giant prawns. Some were cooked, some were fresh. Luckily, we ran into a Vietnamese-American woman who was traveling with her husband. She helped us bargain. Our deal:</div><div>Giant lobster, giant prawn, 8 scallops = $10 ($5/person). Succulent is really the only word I can use to describe the tenderness of the meat. And what a better way to enjoy what probably would have been a $50 meal on the beach looking out over the sea. After lunch, we spent our sweet time in the water and catching rays on the beach before doing what, we thought, should have been incredibly simple: getting our tickets checked for Dalat (our next stop).<br /><br /><i>The Open Tour Bus Ticket Debacle</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div>We arrived at our bus company's station (a long walk) and told them we planned on leaving for Dalat the next day. "No, I'm sorry," the kind man who worked there told us, "your ticket is for Mui Ne, not Dalat." </div><div><i>Uhh, no. That's weird</i>. "No, sorry, we paid for Dalat."</div><div>"Sorry, sir, but this pen strike through Nha Trang to Dalat and Dalat to Saigon means that you paid for another ticket. This: cancelled."<br />"HOGWASH, I SAY!!! HOGWASH!!!"...okay, I didn't really say that, but I did ask him to call the company in Hanoi, and they said that our ticket numbers were registered for Mui Ne, not Dalat. </div><div>"It will be 130,000 VND ($6.50) per ticket to change this, or you can call the travel agency that arranged your ticket, and if they are willing to pay the money, then you can change your ticket."</div><div>Well, that seemed real likely, but we tried it anyway. We got a ride back to our hotel and called up the place we stayed at. After a long chat, it seemed there was a misinterpretation about what we wanted to do. We originally planned on going to Dalat first to meet up with our friends and then head back to Nha Trang with them continuing out the rest of our trip together (most of it, anyway). Our friends changed their plans slightly, and we adapted to it, but we were positive we <i>never</i> said we wanted to go to Mui Ne. The bright side to this (even though its never a bright side to anything to pay more money) was that if we had the correct tickets, it would have been $10 more (remember the $6.50 ticket change?), so we went back to the bus company and said we would like to change our tickets. It was a woman this time, somebody different. <i>Oh no! She isn't aware of our plight!</i> We tell her what happened and that we would like to change our tickets.</div><div>"100,000 VND ($5), please."</div><div>Silent victory dance. Sometimes, <i>sometimes</i>, not doing things exactly the way you plan them to happen can have a positive outcome.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, it's 6:00p. What should we do? Eat, of course. Eat <i>everything</i>. Rather than going to a restaurant or some small shop for a meal, we ate a bit of everything. Our dinner:</div><div>-Bahn xeo (with shrimp and squid) (this is the fourth time we've eaten it, and each time has been incredibly different. Perhaps I'll write simply about that.</div><div>-Bahn Mi (the sandwiches)</div><div>-Spring rolls (don't know the name)</div><div>-Sweet rice with sugar and peanuts (just tasted)</div><div>-"Potato wedges" (french fries, but good ones)</div><div>Total cost: $1.50</div><div>We also found our way to a few bars to relax. One of them was a really relaxing place called "Guava" with an American (?)...North American owner. The next one was called "Why Not?" (where we had the french fries, or chips as they call them everywhere else...or "french fried" on menus in Cambodia). The last place was called Red Apple (?). It had a heavy backpacker atmosphere. It was okay. We ended up back at our hotel, prepared our bags to be packed, then passed out (11:00p). Time just moves so much slower here in Asia. It's so easy to lose track of time but to have had none of it really spent at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Day 3 (leaving Nha Trang), we showered, packed our bags, then went down stairs to gather our passports. First, though, they had to check the room to make sure we didn't mess it up. They came back:</div><div>"Problem. Yes. Room. Problem."<br />"Huh?"</div><div>"Problem."<br /><i>That's nice</i>. "What problem?"</div><div>"The gra..."<br /><i>wt..</i>"Huh? The what?"</div><div>"The gra..."</div><div><i>Hmmm yeah </i>"Can you write word down, please?"</div><div>"Gra"</div><div>Jill and I look at each other. <i>Yeah, that's not a word</i>.</div><div>"Yes. Gra. Problem."</div><div>"We do not understand."</div><div>So, she opens up Google translate, and the intended words "Bed stations".</div><div><i>Yeah, that didn't help at all</i>. Still lost in translation. We thought that maybe she meant bed stain? Nope. Definitely didn't spill anything. <span style="font-size: 100%; ">Mind you, we were barely in the room and it was dirty when we got there. She began to put our passports back in the drawer. We almost grabbed them and left. We kept insisting that our bus was leaving in 10 minutes, so finally just as we were about to forcibly retrieve our passports, she gave them back. We got to the bus station and we were off in about 30 min (our bus didn't leave until 7:30a).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; ">I'm in Dalat, now and have plenty to say about our bus ride of confusion and seemingly certain death.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Talk to you soon,</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Garrett</span></div><div><br /></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-74218036593898979062012-04-07T02:07:00.004-07:002012-04-07T20:44:30.834-07:00Hoi AnWe arrived in Hoi An about noon. A woman told us she could find us a hotel for $5/person, great. Our new friend from New York hopped in with us and off we went...to the one place I looked up on TripAdvisor that had about 80% of the comments in the "Terrible" category. We walked in, and it smelled extremely mildewy; bad start. We see the rooms, and the shower head is broken and the scent of chlorine from the pool reached the room. We left. Our friend was meeting someone at another hotel, so we checked it out, and it was perfect, so all three of us crashed for $5/night (a/c, (extremely) hot water, great service). We stayed for two nights.<br /><br />Hoi An is a beautiful, quaint, fairly touristy little town that's 30km southeast of Dalat, Vietnam's third largest city. It's on the coast, so it was a mere 5km ride one way and 3km the other ($1/day bike rental) past rivers and rice paddies, a fairly nice way to spend your day. The water was excellent, and weather was warm. It got hot on the third day, but it was still nothing compared to Cambodia, as there were plenty of sea breezes coming in from the east.<br /><br /><div style="font-style: normal; ">So, what was the first thing we wanted to do within 30 min of being in Hoi An? Go to the beach, of course. We rented bikes for $1 (for the day) and rode to the far beach (5km) all the while checking out the custom tailor shops along the way. W<span style="font-size: 100%; ">e crossed the river...</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz-kEz4uscBmQ9DAuae_f_4Jy4xeEoyZU5hxS61hh3vWCLi6uxYeLmEMPQur7lOAMKgl6uSt_zKUg05vkmkpQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">...to get to the beach, and it was a fantastic view with an ocean breeze that I had been missing for sometime. There were plenty of uphill treks, but that just meant that the way back down would be that much more fun (and easy). We ordered amazing fo<span style="font-size: 100%; ">od an</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">d some shakes that were disappointing, because they weren't cold. The water was cool but felt so</span><span style="font-size: 100%; "> refreshing. I've felt so removed from Cambodia since coming here, however, my travel mates and I can't help but compare certain things (like the fact that a lot of the men we have encountered have been very aggressive, even so much to be considered rude [by our standards, at least, even comparing that to Cambodia]). A lot of the food is similar, so it's easy to make comparisons there, however, the food is much more complex here in terms of flavor/ingredients. For example, the pho (noodle soup) is very similar to goydeeyoo (Cambodian version), except that any added spice (hot) in the Cambodian dish is a simple red pepper or a sweet chili sauce whereas they have a spicy-buffalo-wing-like sauce that doesn't just add heat but adds flavor. It's a very welcomed change.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br />So, that brings me to some of the food we ate:<br /><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><i>-Ban vac </i>(or <i>White Rose</i>): small rice flour dumplings with pork inside</div><br /><div style="font-style: normal; "><i>-Ban xeo</i> (<i>Ban Chaio </i>in Cambodia): rice flour pancakes filled with beansprouts. You add various herbs (like cilantro and mint) in the "pancake" then wrap it in thin rice flour paper, dip it in a thin sauce, then enjoy.</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">-<i>Ban Mi</i>: again, a meat/pate/herb/chili sandwich (baguette)</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">-Ban something??: essentially, Vietnamese nachos (but on wantons)...so good</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><i>Clothing</i>:</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Hoi an is known for being one of the tailoring capitols of the world. It's its main attraction when it comes to tourism. You can come here and get custom-tailored clothing for cheap (a fitted suit for around $100). I ended up getting a nice black dress shirt and a silk white tie made (I'm in love with the tie). I'll post pictures of them later. Jill got a couple of dresses and a pair of shorts made, and to be honest, while she was getting them refitted, I had wished I had gotten another shirt and a couple of more ties made...another reason to come back to Vietnam. There are clothing shops <i>everywhere</i>. You physically can not go farther than 20 meters without running into a whole bunch of them, hundreds. Some are better than others, I can only assume; I think made a good choice.</div><br /><div style="font-style: normal; "><i>Market</i>:</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">The last day we spent in Hoi An, our goal was to just ride around and get a last go at some local food (after picking up our clothes). We found the market while riding around on bicycles. We found the market pretty easily (right on the river). The food was bountiful and ripe; the tomatoes were enormous. After scouring the fruits and vegetable, we found our home for the next 45 mins: the food stalls. We a<span style="font-size: 100%; ">te </span><i style="font-size: 100%; ">mi quang</i><span style="font-size: 100%; "> at the first place, and it was to die for. It was essentially pho but with crunchy wantons, a different type of noodle and a generous portion of boneless (yeah, boneless) chicken. The next stop was more </span><i style="font-size: 100%; ">ban xeo</i><span style="font-size: 100%; ">, except this time around, these "pancakes" were not sponges of grease (back story: we went to this sit-down food-court of local food [wooden picnic-table-like benches], and ordered </span><i style="font-size: 100%; ">ban xeo</i><span style="font-size: 100%; "> for a second time. The first time, they were fluffy, but firm and dense [all in a good way]. The second time around, they</span></div> were essentially sponges of greases, dripping with what could have been several clogged arteries. Did I eat all of mine? Yes. Did I also eat one of Jill's? Yes. I did that, too. Also, at this place [and in a lot of Vietnam], you can order what's called "fresh beer". It's home brewed and served straight out of a reused bottle [of what, I can't recall]. How much, you ask? 4,000 VND or $0.20. It was pretty good.), they were (did you have to go back and read the first part of the sentence? Yeah, I thought so) thinner and served with dried bananas and a spicy peanut sauce (drool). After this, we both got mixed fruit shakes, both served with dried banana chips, some jelly, and cherries. There were no scoops of durian in these fruit shakes (I kinda like durian, though). All of this cost us a mere $2 each. Vietnam is wonderful for this.<div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">After the market, we got sandwiches <span style="font-size: 100%; ">made for the bus ride and chilled out until getting to the bus company office before, yet again, being treated poorly before reaching our next ride.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEG_wRlESlUGYL73u8PeQXMoPSXKf28m-7c8almMd4KDkXCKWf4K0d2qzigF9Er6t-CwRdspDwhljlOKcMHrKt59qAt7kOpnv1IVnzRYWTspJVXZ8Ttr_lYpCNGEmRJcwrgFdVmXJ5-0/s1600/Hoi+An+%252842%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEG_wRlESlUGYL73u8PeQXMoPSXKf28m-7c8almMd4KDkXCKWf4K0d2qzigF9Er6t-CwRdspDwhljlOKcMHrKt59qAt7kOpnv1IVnzRYWTspJVXZ8Ttr_lYpCNGEmRJcwrgFdVmXJ5-0/s200/Hoi+An+%252842%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728869560437507810" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div><i>Ban Mi</i> sandwich</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvIvIkCDfRc9-emJtYqJ2IHOGlB4oCYmjNmGZxW0WrD8ZJOaO0VkVdVPkunJTBkmHk6icz-knIVsEPkvwLvfrCf2OJJ4DppwUWXR5bgjNJGRn015er_tfXmUymUbbGmUwt5-8wA2npNE/s1600/Hoi+An+%252827%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvIvIkCDfRc9-emJtYqJ2IHOGlB4oCYmjNmGZxW0WrD8ZJOaO0VkVdVPkunJTBkmHk6icz-knIVsEPkvwLvfrCf2OJJ4DppwUWXR5bgjNJGRn015er_tfXmUymUbbGmUwt5-8wA2npNE/s200/Hoi+An+%252827%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728869552469845810" style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Jill sporting one of her new dresses with the designer, Lina</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsd-rpHQsWnIa99rA0EdFGN9yFE_O8wh82bWDepsyMmXIHGQdE8AONwLi-pJFA50I_27naPw6W94bfvb40yVVc0UGgdZgZ1JsF3rkDYff_M8p7e1MyQXw80r2S3I3vttsIRJr-IfyEw4Y/s1600/Hoi+An+%252835%2529.JPG" style="font-size: 100%; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsd-rpHQsWnIa99rA0EdFGN9yFE_O8wh82bWDepsyMmXIHGQdE8AONwLi-pJFA50I_27naPw6W94bfvb40yVVc0UGgdZgZ1JsF3rkDYff_M8p7e1MyQXw80r2S3I3vttsIRJr-IfyEw4Y/s200/Hoi+An+%252835%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728870145519803778" style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Fruit shake </div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpSO575q3hRk7W8kZzcF3QvZgunevnzlX5ym61PPcmc4CaHxKCGlQ0_UJHllWANqRJ7zZeebtzFLdRzUMcGPCYtVHm6SHfEEqZu3jESmgLmScU7xgL6cYbIAyWbmNH5IesVktFl0EJmI/s1600/Hoi+An+%252831%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpSO575q3hRk7W8kZzcF3QvZgunevnzlX5ym61PPcmc4CaHxKCGlQ0_UJHllWANqRJ7zZeebtzFLdRzUMcGPCYtVHm6SHfEEqZu3jESmgLmScU7xgL6cYbIAyWbmNH5IesVktFl0EJmI/s200/Hoi+An+%252831%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728870142645089378" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Market</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8k9bsL96mcyl1Hd57qtHvbjHR3veMZsBDmIkDYLPaLt-30953MZ2OxKO_BCD6pDwu1B1tuPt07skdwLcpznyj-HDiTRNu4xiBEjCdE1Sxj5scmk5rqGtDmXzhWysVgfyHsnLx2D_M0w/s1600/Hoi+An+%252825%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8k9bsL96mcyl1Hd57qtHvbjHR3veMZsBDmIkDYLPaLt-30953MZ2OxKO_BCD6pDwu1B1tuPt07skdwLcpznyj-HDiTRNu4xiBEjCdE1Sxj5scmk5rqGtDmXzhWysVgfyHsnLx2D_M0w/s200/Hoi+An+%252825%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728869543492170898" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Eating pho at a nice restaurant</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PtWL2hRPVfdMr1Lvs-PS2BxDnILWV-L6GRUh4_mqpOgwux275-WoTwWiGhLOltQJvGp32GKFIiqa7BQ7JThfzGI9tPdldf4mITEvN0GWz3XTMWOSRRnsHv-eWD_lBl9k7C7QvbDd9no/s1600/Hoi+An+%252819%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PtWL2hRPVfdMr1Lvs-PS2BxDnILWV-L6GRUh4_mqpOgwux275-WoTwWiGhLOltQJvGp32GKFIiqa7BQ7JThfzGI9tPdldf4mITEvN0GWz3XTMWOSRRnsHv-eWD_lBl9k7C7QvbDd9no/s200/Hoi+An+%252819%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728869536656898322" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">River on the way to the beach</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigblP2PdZcsREA5IKetgUFuE7yFtAaRnSHvMvS1M4xd7jVeWrU_u1cLn37gDDgVV8hXkjkfQCEzxqi5JRw_HSfHW3l9-F_qB3W-jkNBjrfjGC18trFhQ3oVSsjSkEbEbHYzn_2KL0GGko/s1600/Hoi+An+%252846%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigblP2PdZcsREA5IKetgUFuE7yFtAaRnSHvMvS1M4xd7jVeWrU_u1cLn37gDDgVV8hXkjkfQCEzxqi5JRw_HSfHW3l9-F_qB3W-jkNBjrfjGC18trFhQ3oVSsjSkEbEbHYzn_2KL0GGko/s200/Hoi+An+%252846%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728869526449230162" style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Our guesthouse</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Talk to you soon,</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Garrett</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Also, I got my camera fixed in Hoi An for $40. A bit pricey but better than buying a new camera. Yay! It was fixed. I took plenty of pictures for a day and a half, and then, it broke again. If only I had the determination to go back to Hoi An (I'm in Nha Trang, now) and demand my money back.<br /></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-18095688449661587132012-04-05T19:33:00.002-07:002012-04-05T19:55:10.065-07:00Like Sardines,<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; ">we were packed in as tight as possible is several vans. It already sounds like we (whoever we are) were being kidnapped, but in fact, we were not; we were being transferred to the bus station. A young guy came from around the corner to the guest house where Jill and I were waiting. He told us to "hurry, hurry, hurry" and get to the bus. We followed him, and we ended up on some side street, where a minivan that was packed-full of people was waiting. They tried to put my stuff in there. Nope, sorry, I'd like to be in the same vehicle as my belongings. Another van showed up, with one spot, they tried to get me in it and Jill to take another one. Sorry. No, again. We'd rather not be split up by some strangers in vans that were, hopefully, headed to a bus. So, they wait for the third van to show up. Jill got the seat, I got the gutter between the seat and where the door track was. Makes perfect sense, right? All while this was happening, these men were so incredibly rude. It was a pretty bad experience, but of course, my travel buddy and I made the most of it. After about 15 min (maybe longer), we ended up at the Camel Bus Company office, where we exchanged our receipt for the real set of bus tickets we paid for and proceeded to the sleeper bus, where we were yelled at to hurry up. Once we got on, there weren't any bed/seats next to each other, so we split up. I was towards the front, and Jill was unfortunately towards the back where, well, I'm sure she'll write a post about it. Back to these "bed/seats". They were clearly made for people with a maximum height of 5' 1". I'm 6'. This obviously doesn't work for me. I had to practically put my knees up by my ears to "stretch out". I constantly felt like I was in some sort of strange erotic position...for 12 hours. I read for the first 2 hours, then proceeded to stare out the window, bewildered by the neon lights that draped this city just south of Hanoi. Then, I turned my head towards the TV, where they were playing some cheesy Vietnamese romantic pop songs (which sounded like they came from the early 90s). </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Ahh</i><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">, I thought</span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">, this kinda has a comfortable familiarity to it</i><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">. And then, it had all the familiarity I needed, and so much more when I drifted my head once more a little farther below the TV to stare at the road where it was apparent how insanely fast (and insanely bad) this guy was driving our bus. I decided there was a fourth option to stare at, a better option: my eyelids. So, I slept in and out every hour until we reached Hué, the ancient capital of Vietnam. We got off the bus, got our ticket ripped out (we were going straight past Hué) and got shoved on another bus that was headed to Hoi An (our destination). Oh, there was also a fight that broke out there, too. </span></span><br /><br /><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">We chatted with a Croatian man who was traveling with his mother for awhile and also with our new travel partner, a girl from </span>Manhattan. This is definitely one of the perks of traveling by the perils of this form of transportation: meeting people...and an American, nonetheless. You don't run into them that often. Well, I'm in Hoi An, and it's absolutely fantastic. We'll probably stay here for a few days given how relaxed the atmosphere is. There's a beach, which is 5k away (we get there by a beautiful bike ride through rice paddies and a river...more on that later), an "Old Quarter" which is very quaint with amazing food. Yeah, you know, I'm just gonna save this all for the next post on Hoi An. Well, I'll just say one more thing about it. It's the tailoring capitol of the world. I think I might get a shirt made.</span><div><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span >Talk to you later,</span></div><div><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">Garrett </span></span></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-65960508072021147802012-04-04T02:40:00.003-07:002012-04-05T19:55:24.428-07:00Halong Bay/Hanoi<i style="font-weight: normal; ">Day 4 and 5 in Vietnam</i> -<div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div><b>Halong Bay </b>-</div><div><br /></div><div>Today we woke up on Cat Ba Island, packed up our stuff, then headed back on the boat to Halong City. The views were gorgeous, once again, as we headed back to the docks, getting relax on a nice two hour boat ride. Once we were there, we boarded back on the same bus that took us there and started the 4 hour trek back to Hanoi. We ended up finding out that the Irish girls, Sue and Kelly, decided to ditch Laos and head down south instead. At this point, Jill and I decided to break off from Bryan and Maria, who both decided they wanted to continue seeing the north. I feel like this is a good incentive for me to come back to Vietnam, as I've had a pretty good experience here so far. We exchanged contact information with Sue and Kelly and we'll be meeting up with them in Hoi An in a couple of days. Tonight, we slept early (10:30p).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Hanoi (Pt. 2)</b> -</div><div><br /></div><div>Today, we woke up late (9:00a), and only because my alarm went off to remind me to get my camera fixed. It turned out that the place we tried out was $35-40, probably because it was short notice (they initially said it would take two days, though I didn't ask how much it would have been then. Today was easy. The night before, we purchased an Open Bus (sleeper) ticket (which lasts for 2 months) which has stops at Hué, Hoi An, Nha Trang, somewhere else, and Ho Chi Minh City. This means all of our transportation (maybe minus Dalat) is completely taken care of for Vietnam: so nice. So, today, things we did:</div><div><br /></div><div>- Visited the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum:<br /><br /></div><div> - What made this place so cool is that it's, as expected, all Vietnamese artists. We got to see paintings, carvings, sculptures, and ancient doors from the 13th Century up to the late 90's. It was really fascinating to see the progression of styles, mediums, and subjects through the years. Most interesting, I thought, were the paintings from the 70s and early 80s, depicting scenes from the war. The contrast of paintings from the mid-80's onward was so stark; the colors got brighter and the paintings had a lighter quality about them.</div><div><br /></div><div>- Visited the Water Puppet Theatre:</div><div><br /></div><div> - Water puppetry is an ancient art of Vietnam using marionettes over a 3 ft. deep tank of water. They told a story in Vietnamese (so I have no clue what happened, save a fish turning into a dragon, a man and a woman falling in love, and (of course) some slapstick humor of men catching men with nets (on accident) rather than the fish. The show started with a few songs played with traditional Vietnamese instruments and continued through the water puppet performance. Aside from having negative leg room, the show was a welcomed change and a lot of fun. I suggest you check it out on YouTube. I'll post a video when I get the chance (the internet isn't fast enough here.<br /><br />Okay, so my travel mate and I are waiting at the hotel where we will be picked up by our sleeper bus at 6:30p for our 16 (?) hour bus ride to Hoi An. We've got plenty of snacks, our iPods and Kindles are charged, and we're read to head to Central Vietnam. I'll update you as we go along the way.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talk to you soon,</div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-45066645370833743472012-04-02T05:59:00.004-07:002012-04-02T17:39:56.553-07:00Halong Bay<em style="font-style: normal; ">Day 2, 3, and 4 in Vietnam</em> - <strong style="font-style: normal; ">Halong Bay</strong><br /><br /><strong style="font-style: normal; ">Day 1 of Halong Bay</strong>:<br /><br />We woke up at 6:30a to make sure we had time to pack, get some breakfast, look for an open mart to buy toothpaste (I couldn't bring it on the plane to Hanoi; on that note, I had completely forgotten that I had my cologne packed in my bag, so the BKK security had to confiscate it. I won't lie, I was pretty disappointed by that) then finally get breakfast (Pho) at a nearby stand before boarding our 8:00a bus to Halong Bay. The bus ride was about 3 1/2 hours long and half of it was listening to one of the tour guides (thankfully, not ours) talk about how it is a good thing that most of the groups had "big, strong men" to protect the "lovely lady" from the "big Chinaman" who would hurt them. When Bryan shut the window, he commented: "You see?! It is very good you have a stong man to do this. Very easy for the man, so the woman does not need to worry." Obviously, this is a cultural thing, but everyone on the bus laughed awkwardly about it.<br /><br />Once we made it to the harbor, we bought some more snacks (as snacks would've been a little more expensive from this point on. We all boarded a small boat, and my first thought was, "Yeah. This is where we'll be sleeping. We spent all of that money to sleep here? Yeah, okay. I can believe that." Have my standards lowered this much? I mean...I have readjusted my exectations to meet the reality of my situation. Yes. That's a much better way to say it. Anyhow, this boat was just transport to the actual vessel we were staying the night on. The boat was three stories and our room was <em style="font-style: normal; ">very</em> fancy, much fancier than most of the hotel rooms I've ever stayed at in Cambodia. We had a view out into the bay that was breathtaking. Shortly after putting our stuff down, we were served lunch which vastly exceeded our humble expectations of rice and fish soup (though all three of these things were involved).<br /><br /><em style="font-style: normal; ">Here are some things we did during Day 1:</em><br /><br />-View some of the 1969 islands in Halong Bay<br />-Explore the "Surprise Cave" (so many tourists there!)<br />-Kayak around the bay (so much fun)...there were Vietnamese vendors that worked out of paddle boats and would come up beside you trying to sell you beer.<br />-Climb to the top of one of the islands<br />-Watch people jump into<em style="font-style: normal; "> really</em> cold waters<br />-Fish off the back of the boat (unsuccessfully)<br /><br /><em style="font-style: normal; ">Here are some people we met during Day 1:</em><br /><br />-Family from Melbourne, Australia with two incredibly adorable and smart kids (6 and 7)<br />-Two girls from Ireland (one was from Dublin and the other was from somewhere in the western parts)<br /><br />We ended up hanging out and chatting with these folk a lot. They definitely helped make the trip a bit more enjoyable than it already was.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong style="font-style: normal; ">Day 2 of Halong Bay:</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />We woke up to a chilly day in the middle of Halong Bay and didn't feel rushed at all. It was absolutely blissfull; it's hard to put into words. We took hot showers, got dressed, packed, ate breakfast, then simply relaxed on the deck for about an hour before we arrived to Cat Ba Island.<em style="font-style: normal; "> There, we did these things:</em><br /><br />- Climb to the top of the island (Jill and I chilled out halfway up after my camera broke; hopefully, I can get that fixed back in Hanoi)<br />- Check into our fancy hotels (seriously, the money we spent was well worth it)<br />- Get lunch<br />- Go to Monkey Island, chill out, do some trekking, watch monkey be drunk (these were the monkeys you read about in magazine stories that steal your beer)<br />- Relax for awhile<br />- Had dinner with the family and I, for some reason, thought the 6 year-old girl, whose question I answered, would understand the words "monitoring" and "evaluation". Whoops!<br />- Hang out with my travel buddies...which is what I'm doing right now. So, I'll post about <em style="font-style: normal; ">Day 3</em> when it happens.<div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div><i>Here are some pics</i>:</div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXvaY-m1a0niJOIr0wSXJM1mJB1ajrLiFfNA77T2p0aEwqQEaBImOd7EFfjmPen7IJzcTyun9T_LfJIncb0etg1iog2UXAEbfqAaEUWxhvzh9O_5zKiNxu5G_Ke-mUHy_gO-_2E9tJfk/s200/DSCN0192%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726953601038342626" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPXYSOP5TdfG0AkjHaiMYa8Q82gcKc5WHMp3513_6_7iTP1PRFyxx8Tln_vqfa3O5jrJ__yUlKdqla5zd4a-zWo5PIHkyTEXOD4E6t0-MnWPUV1LYrC6fpVZ6oV9zbKUsHSCAt46WurJE/s200/DSCN0224%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726953618941668866" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcueDqo58uavs0tyiycT55ZfwVEeZwBXh9UNOyNqloGlVBiPHBWVwXpkFiCW7qCV1Z89o4OAuWuPWEFeQ5NbYQ1OQTx150fCu3BijPkKcXd5Uz7zmn_6IWvty_oSD-af1wvJI-L_dyN3I/s200/DSCN0234%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726953613938156114" style="font-size: 100%; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Ayc8PeuSQPHcFqu07D9pw5svuDG4SI-Audd8uw7RADnj1_wd3fPv7tZTC2L1K3389d7A6fa4_iy4KjS4Mu3DVKcVChFtR4uCh3dxsn88oD87w_Ukl-0cl6k1kF8aDN9KF0XaqYlAlWw/s200/DSCN0246.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726955194435651058" style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px; " /></div><div><br />Talk to you soon,<br />Garrett<div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-31401798480947918972012-04-02T04:12:00.004-07:002012-04-07T02:29:40.415-07:00Hanoi<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Day 1 in Vietnam: </span><b style="font-style: normal; ">Hanoi</b><br /><div style="font-style: normal; "><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">We arrived at the airport at 10:35a and got on a bus to Hanoi (the airport is 30k north). Before we boarded the bus, we got attacked by some taxi driver trying to tell us that it was only $20 for a taxi to Hanoi. This was not true, according to my guide, which said $15. So, we said no. After several attempts, he showed us $16 on his phone. No thanks (still), we'll take the $2 bus that ended up taking us to our hotel for $12 night, was in the heart of the Old Quarter and happened to house the Sinh Café travel agency which booked our Halong Bay tour (read the next post).<br /><br /><br /></div><div>Hanoi is <i>so </i>congested, it's ridiculous. My travel group almost got run over on multiple occasions. The streets are pretty narrow, but they're overrun with motos, and there is no right of way for pedestrians (so, good luck). We walked around the lake, which was right near our hotel and is what really makes Hanoi's Old Quarter so beautiful. We walked for the majority of the day trying to find information about more options aside from Sapa to do in the north. We were looking to get off the beaten track, but we had a lot of difficulties, because the travel agencies we asked (because we knew they spoke English) would not give us <i>any</i> information on how to get to Ba Be via public transportation. They were hoping we would choose another destination that included in a group tour package.<br /><br />So, rather than spending all of our time doing this, we spent a majorit- of it trying new foods:<br /><br />-Pho - Noodle soup with beef (so good and what seems to be the main food to try in Vietnam)<br /></div><div>-Another Pho-like soup - More greens and different noodles and cuts of meat.</div><div>-Small doughnuts with sweet rice inside. So good.<br />-Sticky rice-flour pockets with beef inside. You dip it in a broth-like soup where you add your level of garlic, peppers, cilantro and mint. (I'm sorry, I wish I could remember the names! I'll update this when we get back to Hanoi [I'm on Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay right now], when I can write down the proper names.</div><div>-Meat pate and pickled vegetable sandwiches (similar, but better, to some sandwiches in Cambodia)</div><div>-Soy Che (pronounced: soy jay) - Sweet rice with a ginger sauce. This is a sweet dessert-like treat.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll add more foods that we try as this goes along. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyhow, we didn't get to really <i>do</i> much in Hanoi this first night, so I look forward to seeing museums, mausoleums, water puppet shows and more when I get back.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CEa6NELJK8lyxd888bGM5W0Pgv2f6TCA7P-HJe_2U17P8PPX6mNUxDtKNhclq4GZydgrWc9xWhzrSZ416akEMJHQGj80SP4A8LxZRxurmw40Yj7cFcbragfgqJ0CmhmFwue-rLs_xaQ/s1600/Hanoi+%252841%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CEa6NELJK8lyxd888bGM5W0Pgv2f6TCA7P-HJe_2U17P8PPX6mNUxDtKNhclq4GZydgrWc9xWhzrSZ416akEMJHQGj80SP4A8LxZRxurmw40Yj7cFcbragfgqJ0CmhmFwue-rLs_xaQ/s200/Hanoi+%252841%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728586932518683250" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqyFtUFFSTyzZrkLaeP1os-ZAkhkLkOTtTYyLYXbl5APWXRO1mQAuoFeoUQutRI6NEvu1L5YGYvXthJubmOgK6bIJfs7qbTU7MVhlxhv2GLcbgCVDf646Z8NDw31QfN7C0yCb07vvdC4/s200/Hanoi+%252848%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728586938693202850" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5_sCnds5V1m97MmKxfAxKSBX_eEf-QWlRBb9ekeID3ZwCKC9T6DPhjsmNdhq3fu7pCimq1__qOp2t6Jr61rRl2fqZrdRKrZjcr37VEXTiJUv67XDZXgDdo8tC2THw8DHyXZ2pf2fj_U/s1600/Hanoi+%252821%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5_sCnds5V1m97MmKxfAxKSBX_eEf-QWlRBb9ekeID3ZwCKC9T6DPhjsmNdhq3fu7pCimq1__qOp2t6Jr61rRl2fqZrdRKrZjcr37VEXTiJUv67XDZXgDdo8tC2THw8DHyXZ2pf2fj_U/s200/Hanoi+%252821%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728586923935968242" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSUHwBW8wOh9yAhyergue6mBeSuJoQbjcY5CSixRiLcmH-87Q1GqIzjaWRRRZNqvT1vcDQM_nGqbDk3tYXejO39SSXCvHyf_pjyPqZCwO4jeUTTclKga5JP7G8smzVwu3LAyhKXpDQSo/s200/Hanoi+%25285%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728586914854096594" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqgh1UrU3kQviU1dFmQtuQvGzH2JEcPyxaF9cN3XRcQjFVBais6Qe19S17u1-6yuRM0Xq_n1U0pnCg7AJj4VBwT2J2EVfHum94aomDTwSyIc35OqfWK12h7v9O1ZGxuEbpGC2Sjusa0I/s1600/Hanoi+%25281%2529.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqgh1UrU3kQviU1dFmQtuQvGzH2JEcPyxaF9cN3XRcQjFVBais6Qe19S17u1-6yuRM0Xq_n1U0pnCg7AJj4VBwT2J2EVfHum94aomDTwSyIc35OqfWK12h7v9O1ZGxuEbpGC2Sjusa0I/s200/Hanoi+%25281%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728586911423171314" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipXjTvBVrizKZTyXO0US81QRlncMhamiImdMdne6VeHyaRYNrZwPdOjt6wvl5PT_Hl04Haj38Uv715Axt3vlb6JC59E7jwVadYuqJFeOqmHX4fge0IWB61y6vBURcRymWhkUro-ehyphenhyphenKag/s200/Hanoi+%252849%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728587981119396722" style="font-size: 100%; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></div><div><br /></div><div>Talk to you soon,</div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-76151893595049440482012-03-27T00:40:00.002-07:002012-03-27T00:58:55.534-07:00Day 7 of Technical Exchange (Kampong Cham - Lauren's Site)Hey there, so today was my last full day in Kampong Cham, and it has been a fantastic one so far. I only had to wake up at 6:30a today and had a great pork and rice breakfast at 7:00a which included condensed milk and ice with a splash of coffee, so I was sugared up and ready to go! Today, we traveled to Lauren's site in Bos Khnor (pronounced: Boh K'now). We met Lauren at her health center, which she's been repainting and fixing up for awhile, now. You can really tell the fantastic work that she's done there as you pull up and see the faded sign and some of ceiling and unpainted parts. I was very impressed. After we walked in, we immediately went to one of the nurses in the back and explained again (Lauren had explained the day previous to her health center director) what we were there for. Shooting, today, was surprisingly easy. Within 15 minutes, we had a pregnant woman who was willing to have her photo taken and some random construction worker who was mixing cement outside. We got several shots of a couple walking in and greeting the midwife, sitting down for a consultation and two of two separate women staging a birth (it was actually quite classy). Additionally, we got some portrait photos that we may be able to replace with some we had shot already. <div><br /></div><div>We left the health center (by the way, we originally drove past the health center for about 10km...whoops) around 10:45a and went to Lauren's house where we hung out. I got to see her home, which was really quite nice. Her host mother made us food and we bought some Cokes to pass around. Lunch was fish and soup with rice. After this, we hopped in the car and got this one shot labeled: "Woman Enjoying Her Lifestyle": this basically means a few women sitting around a table laughing and having a good time. We had bee trying to get this to happen the past 3 days! We found our "talents" within 5 minutes and got the shots within 40. The women who helped us were in such a bright mood, which allowed for some great photographs! Once we finished up there, we dropped Lauren off and headed back to K Cham town, where I am typing up this blog post, now. It's really nice to finish the day around 2:15p. I look forward to getting some other work done and simply relaxing. Maybe I'll even take a nap! I haven't been to take one this whole week, and it's just been a travesty!</div><div><br /></div><div>The plan for tomorrow is to go out and do a couple of more shots at a nearby health center, grab some lunch, then head back to Phnom Penh (hopefully, we'll arrive around 4p or so). I pack up my stuff tomorrow morning, sleep in Phnom Penh tomorrow night, then head back up north where I'll make my way up to Bangkok and leave for Hanoi on Saturday where I'll be there and the rest of Vietnam for 2 1/2 weeks!!! I'm so excited.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talk to you soon,</div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-29869350322712033222012-03-26T09:03:00.003-07:002012-03-26T09:49:02.268-07:00Day 6 of Technical Exchange (Kampong Cham - Kampong Cham)<span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">Finally! Today, I got to wake up at 7a, fall back asleep, then wake up again at 7:30a. I took my time, showered, then headed to breakfast at Destiny, where I had mixed nuts (cashews, peanuts, and almonds) with </span>muesli, yogurt, and mixed fruit (bananas, ripe mangoes (the best part...'tis the season), apples, and pineapples). It was definitely worth the splurge. Ah! I'm hungry for it again just writing about it....</span><div><span ><br /></span></div><div><span >Today was slower, because we had to change our plans to take some photos for another PSI project which involved "entertainment workers" (EWs) or prostitutes. So, today, I started off my work day by going to two different brothels. I'm still unclear about the exact project PSI has in mind, but I'm fairly positive it has to do with promoting the use of contraceptives to EWs in order to mitigate the spread of HIV/AIDS. That's one of PSI's main sectors here. The other three are: Child Survival, Family Planning, and Malaria Prevention. Anyhow, back to the story, I was in a brothel. I walked into a barren wooden house with spaced out floorboards. There was a brown leather couch to the left that was completely torn apart. The left side of it had a giant hole filled with newspapers and various fabrics so that one might find some comfort when sitting down on it. One of the girls stood up, and walked over to her room, which simply had a mattress on the floor and pictures of various Cambodians with different hair styles on the wall (not really that far off from the norm). I took shots of her putting on make up and talking on the phonewith the obligatory product placement of "OK" brand condoms (which PSI manufactures and produces) in various places. After that, we walked back out and had her sit with another one of the girls on the couch. To be honest, some of my favorite shots are the ones that won't be used. Bunsak kept talking to the girls and making them laugh, and that was fantastic. Most people picture EWs with faces devoid of emotion, but these girls were sassy and had plenty of laughs when given the opportunity. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">The second place we went to was even darker than the first. I had to set my camera to 6400 ISO, which is extremely light sensitive (we had no tripod). It might lessen the quality of the image a little, but the lighting was perfect. I'm so glad we weren't forced to use a flash (I try to avoid it if I can). Anyhow, there were 5 or 6 red plastic chairs lined up in a row along the wall which I assume were meant for the girls to sit in when a client would come in a to "choose a girl". We had five girls sit down as if they were simply waiting for someone to come along, and these were the most striking images of the day. Each girl had a drastically different expression and pose. We ended up shooting two of the girls individually, one in her room (all the rooms had locks on them), and the other leaning against her door post. The last girl's room had no windows, and the only light was a small light bulb that gave off a low red-orange glow. All of the girls signed consent forms for PSI, (PSI attempted a photo shoot like this in the past but never had any consent forms/compensation in place at the time, so they've been cautious to use any of their past images) and we were on our way to continue our photo shoots for the IUD health education game.<br /><br />We got three shots after this and then got lunch. After lunch we spent 2 hours looking around and found no one to photograph. We finally found a woman and her husband who seemed willing. We spent 30 minutes waiting for them to get ready and another 30 shooting. While getting ready to place her thumb on the consent form, the wife changed her mind and decided she did not want her image being used. It was absolutely her call, and I completely understand why she made it. So, 3 hours went by and nothing. We spent another 45 minutes driving around, and at that point, it was, well, pointless. So, we headed back to the hotel where we got back just a little after 5p. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">I finally got the plug-in for Photoshop so that I can read/see/edit RAW files from the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. I've gone through about 20GB worth of images and still have more to go through. I'm trying to get it down to 50-75 images (from 2000 [this far]) for my folder of slightly edited and shrunk photos (all of the photographs were 23MP and approximately 60MB per file. I got it down to 40kb (pretty good, yeah?).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Okay. Phew! I've gotten through writing about 6 days of my tech exchange. Only two more days to go, and then it's off to Vietnam!!!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><br /></span></div><div><span >Talk to you soon,</span></div><div><span >Garrett</span></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-24275284566609008362012-03-26T08:40:00.002-07:002012-03-26T09:02:42.985-07:00Day 5 of Technical Exchange (Kampong Thom - Jane's Site)<span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">So, as I said before, I got up today at 6:00a to meet for breakfast then head out at 6:30a, as Jane's site in Kampong Thom (the next province over) is about 85km away and takes about an hour and a half to travel there. On the way there, I got some work done on my laptop, read a little, and listening to my iPod. I was really looking forward to visiting Jane at her site, as I had mentioned visiting a long time ago, and it just never worked out. I talked the talk, but I wanted to walk the walk (as I attempted to explain to Bunsak...he used this idiom pretty often since he inquired about its meaning). Anyhow, when I arrived in Baray, Jane was busy Skyping with family in America (which always takes priority over anything else). This was fine as it gave us some time to explore around and get a few shots in, and we actually managed to get in 5! Jane met us at a nice restaurant (which hosts volunteers [usually from Malaysia and Singapore] who pay a pretty penny for it) 3k away. The waitress asked what I wanted. I ordered an "</span>omelet", which was $3 for a small plate, so I declined and asked for this fish/vegetable soup which was $2. Well, I guess things got lost in translation, and I ended up getting both. $5 for lunch in a village is ridiculous, by the way. However, it was crazy delicious and well worth it. After lunch, we threw Jane's bike (like Lindsay's) in the back of the truck and headed back to her town...and then turned back, because we forgot the list of shots (whoops!).<br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; "><br />When we got back to her town, we tried to find some women working in the field. At least, that's what Jane and I thought. We were training behind some truck going about 3 mph. This went on for 15 minutes until Jane asked Do'lah (the driver) why he was going so slow. They thought we were going to tell them were to stop to get to Jane's house. Whoops, again! We stopped at this house where several women were relaxing. We went over and did our spiel, and they seemed to be willing to go out to the fields with us. However, they thought it might take awhile to meet us there, so we all just hopped into the truck, Jane, Bunsak, and I in the back (which was difficult with the bike bike in the bed). After fearing for our lives for 15 min and ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the scenery around us, we arrived at this magical patch of green/golden-brown rice paddies, where we were able to get some fantastic images. This was definitely one of the most successful days, and it was an "adventure"!</span><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; ">After the photo shoot and some jackfuit and coconut juice at the house where we found the women, we dropped Jane off at her house, and I got to see where she lived. It's really fun knowing exactly where people sit/lie down when they're chatting with you on the phone/online. It was a cozy nook with plenty of pictures and inspirational quotes; I was impressed. After we said our goodbyes, Do'lah, Bunsak, and I headed back to Kampong Cham. Again, going in and out of sleep was prevalent. We stopped at a PSI staff member's house and sit-played for a good 15-20 min before arriving back in Kampong Cham Town, where Kellie and Katie (whose site I visited on Day 3) met me to get dinner at a small mee cha (fried noodles) stand and had tuckalucks (fruit shakes with condensed milk). Another volunteer who lived in the provincial town, Stu, met us there. You know, overall, I've gotten to meet up and hang out with a lot of volunteers since the beginning of this technical exchange, and it's been one of my favorite aspects of it. Alright, that's all for today's story.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; ">Talk to you soon,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; ">Garrett</span></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-80216523280301465952012-03-26T08:00:00.003-07:002012-03-26T08:39:47.086-07:00Day 4 of Technical Exchange - Kampong Cham (Lindsay's Site)<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">So, as you read earlier, I got back to the hotel at about 11:15p and typed up all of those blog posts until about 1:30a when I got to bed. Today started at 6:00a, so my alarm was set for 5:30a. There was not a lot of sleep involved. There actually hasn't been much sleep involved this whole time, but that means I'm working hard, right? So, where was today's trek? I very large district town about 100k away from the town, fairly close to the Vietnamese border. </span><br /><br /><span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">We met Lindsay at a grocery store in her town. That's right, I just said, "...grocery store..." She put her bike in the back of the truck, and we went from there. The first shot we did was of a "happy family with smiling kids". It was a pretty good photo shoot, and I had a fun time helping make the family laugh to get those great teeth to show. You know, in this country, there are a lot of not so pretty smiles, but we just happened to be lucky coming across some great ones this past week. After this shot and some unsuccessful attempts at a couple of others, we dropped Lindsay off at her house and chatted with her family, who gave us iced coffees that were probably 80% condensed milk. Saying that they were sweet would be an understatement (her family has a coffee grinder in the back, by the way. Lindsay has said it is both a curse and a blessing; it's loud in the morning but it often smells fantastic). We chatted with Lindsay's family for a little while as she's headed back to America soon to begin her Masters/PhD in Theater; she's pretty awesome. After we left, we went and got some images of women in different professions including a manicurist and a seamstress. Both of them turned out great! We then got a few more happy family/sad family pictures before picking Lindsay up again.</span><div style="line-height: normal; "><br /><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">The next part of the trek was a 2 hour "adventure" (according to Bunsak) through random parts of Lindsay's district she hadn't explored yet, which was cool to be with her for that. The families we met up with were very nice. I think I remember one woman saying no to taking her picture (this happened a few times). Afterwards, we dropped Lindsay off and headed back on the 2 hours drive to Kampong Cham. We intended to stop at the rubber tree plantation to get some more shots but passed out before we even reached the factory and were in and out of sleep for most of the ride.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Tonight, I met up with Kellie to get dinner at Lazy Mekong Daze where we got ice cold Sprites, coconut shakes and giant pizza baguettes (SO GOOD!) and chatted away until about 8:30p when we headed over to the MSF</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "> <span >(</span></span><span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span >Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders) house, which was a 3 minute walk from the hotel I've been staying at, and watched <i>The Artist</i> on the top of their three-story house. Giant white cloth, projector, pillows, a beautiful breeze and (the best part) pretzels made by a German volunteer with one bowl of mustard and another of honey to dip it in. Amazing! It was a great night. We got to bed around 1:30a (again), and this time I had to be up at 6:00 (better, right?). Needless to say, it wasn't difficult to fall asleep.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span ><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span >Talk to you soon,</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span >Garrett</span></span></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-84700576009317773002012-03-23T10:27:00.004-07:002012-03-23T10:46:08.595-07:00Day 2 of Technical Exchange (Kampong Cham - Chris' Village)<span style="font-style: normal; ">I woke up at 7a, showered, packed, then headed to PSI's office at 8a. We left around 9:15a to Kampong Cham province. There was plenty of talking </span><i>and </i>napping in the car on the way there. We checked in at our hotel (fan room), got lunch, then promptly headed to Chris' (PCV) village where I actually did my training more than a year and a half ago. Oddly, I had not been back since then. I know, it sounds terrible, but I live 12 hours from there! Yes, Rachel, if you're reading this, I know you've been back 3 or 4 times. Way to make me look bad! Anyhow, it was fantastic getting to hang out with Chris and have him suggest a few places for us to shoot. It was amazing getting to see Taboung Kamum district again. That place is gorgeous. Seriously, if you've ever tried to picture what Cambodia looks (or should look) like in your head, that's this village. It's surrounded by rubber trees and it stays green year-round.<div><br /></div><div>Our first shot was of a poor-looking family (this probably sounds strange to you all back home, but in Cambodia, pointing out socio-economic distinctions is not uncouth. In fact, many people would be happy to come up to you to say "Hey! It's been awhile. You looked prettier before. Oh, and you're a lot fatter. Did you eat a lot of rice when you were away?" and they would mean nothing harmful by it). It went really well. this is probably one of the most striking images that was taken so far (I'm at the end of Day 3 right now). I can't wait to get a hold of all of these photos from Bunsak's laptop. I really enjoy feeling this productive. I hope this is something that can continue into next year (which I should know about by the end of next month, which is so soon!!!! ...but I wanna know, now! I want it, now!)<br /><br />After the photo shoots, which went until about 4:30p, I saw my host family from training, which was so fantastic. They were really happy to see me, and the kids had grown so much (it had been about 18 months!). My host dad brought out jake chop (banana chips with caramelized sugar...this stuff would be excellent in a bowl...with cold milk...and a spoon), nom bao (giant dumplings with pork and a duck egg), and some Coca-cola. We chatted for about 30 minutes, and then I had to head back to the provincial town. When I got back to town, I met up with Kellie (another PCV) and grabbed some food and chatted about the mysterious and fascinating histories in our families.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Talk to you soon,</span></div><div>Garrett</div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030513954456622590.post-621248445725834122012-03-23T09:54:00.007-07:002012-03-23T10:46:46.680-07:00Day 3 of Technical Exchange (Kampong Cham - Sam and Katie's Village and Skun)<span style="font-style: normal; ">Woke up at 6:15a. Great.<br /><br />I was so tired. But, I had to get up. I thought to myself, "Why did I agree to do this technical exchange for so many days?!" I met Bunsak (the other photographer) and Do'lah (the driver) downstairs at 7a to head out to breakfast. We all got some pork and rice and iced coffees and headed on our merry way to a village 35km away form the provincial town of Kampong Cham, where my friends Sam and Katie (PCVs) live. After several concussions (I'm sure) and plenty of bruises on my left arm (yet to be seen)--the ride was bumpy, to say the least--we arrived at their village with the absolutely beautiful Mekong river flowing right in front of us. It was just breath taking. The first thought on my mind was "how did those two get so lucky?!" Sam met us at the river and Katie followed shortly thereafter. They took us to the market where took several shots of two women (one selling coconuts, the other selling chicken). The shots we got at the market were fantastic. The lighting was just absolutely perfect. After the market, we took some shots at the bank (we needed nine photos of women in different occupations), then headed to the health center (where Katie works) and took some shots of one of the midwives. After that, we went to the primary school next door. The students adorably all "Joom-reap-soo-ahd" (yes, I can make that a verb; it's a formal "hello", by the way) us and we got some striking shots of two students writing in their notebooks.<br /><br />At this point, we headed towards a random house where Bunsak's cousin apparently lives. Of course, in typical Khmer fashion, we sit-played (sat down and chatted) for 20 min and drank from coconuts. After this, we went to Sam's house and got her neighbors to come over and take shots of them smiling at their children laughing and playing with toys (fantastic!). Okay, so, at this point, I believe it's important to note that it's two men going to random villages asking women if we can take their pictures and put them on cards for a game about birth control ("birth spacing" in Cambodia). Surprisingly, about 90% of the women we asked said yes. Again, it's important to note that we are extremely honest when asking their permission. We state everything, they take a couple of moments to think about it then say, "Yeah, okay. Sure." (or "Bahn..." or "Ja Jaa")<br /><br />So, after Sam's, we went and had lunch at a near-by house and chatted about idioms, Afroman, and the Khmer Rouge. Yes. All of those topics came up in conversation over the span of about 45 min. The man who spoke about the Khmer Rouge told us that he was one of the soldiers that replaced some of the Vietnamese ones when they came in to oust the Khmer Rouge. He still has some scars for shrapnel (from a mine) that entered his thigh and his head. After lunch, we found a woman carrying a couple of cartons of eggs and did a photo shoot of her looking depressed (this game is going to be sets of cards of matching opposites) with a crying baby. It worked out pretty well, and she seemed to be pretty glad to help us out (also important to note: the women sign agreements and are compensated).<br /><br />We couldn't find anymore people to take pictures of in Sam and Katie's village, so we headed out to drive around one of the national highways to take one more shot, which we found, and it turned out pretty well. When we finished up with that photo shoot (pause. I just need to let you know that today was crazy hot. I think I, now, have a permanent sweat stain [in the shape of a "v"] on my shirt....continue), we drove to Skun district to meet up with another PSI mobile video unit (MVU) that had an event in a very rural town that evening. Basically, what MVUs do is park in various villages, set up film projectors, a giant projector screen and a small tent. They show a drama with a strong health message (and various plots that involve cremations, police arrests and knives...) about the importance of birth spacing (again, the same as "birth control"). After the movie, the emcee asks for four volunteers to come up to the main banner and answer questions about the movie. When they're done, everyone claps, and they'r given some PSI swag. They then have to tear open the packaging and put on that swag as fast as possible to win various prizes (kroma, sarong, money [?]). After this, they put on some hilarious Chinese B movie that's dubbed in Khmer with Chinese subtitles. In order to put on this event, PSI contacts the commune chief who tells everyone to attend. There were about 200+ people at this event. My job was to help photograph the event, and I think I got some pretty good shots (again, photos to be posted mid-April). It was a LOT of fun, however, I was beat. The day started at 6:15a and there were no mid-day naps! It was a travesty, an absolute travesty! However, by the end of the day, I was absolutely elated at the opportunity I was given to come out here and help make some of the components of this health-education game and get to know the staff at PSI a lot better. I'm very excited for tomorrow!<br /><br />Bunsak, Do'lah, and I got some late dinner (10:30p) and headed back to the hotel, where I am, now, typing this out.</span><div><br /></div><div>Alright. I'm tired (I also wrote these first three days out of order, which just goes to show how tired I am). I wrote "Day 1" with Day 1 material. Then, I wrote "Day 2" with Day 3 material. Whoops. Ugh. I'm off to sleep. Tomorrow, I'm off to visit my friend Lindsay (another PCV) who lives about 100km (2 hours) from the provincial town. I'm very excited to see her and her site again. Note: at first when I mentioned that I could probably contact some PCVs in the province of Kampong Cham, the technical director said, "Oh! That's fantastic. How many people are out there?" I told her about 10, and that if they wanted to venture out into any other province, that I would know people there. She responded to that with "This is the power of Peace Corps." Whoo! Go Peace Corps! <div><span style="font-style: normal; "><br />Talk to you soon,</span></div><div><span style="font-style: normal; ">Garrett</span></div></div>Garrett Matlickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00061103287377407753noreply@blogger.com0