... a wedding invitation! My former landlady's (now that I'm back in Hue, I'm living with friends and not at the Hue Help homestay)son is getting married on Monday. I have been hoping for almost 4 months now that I would experience a Vietnamese wedding and here's my chance!
Of course, I'm just happy I get to buy a new dress and shoes!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
What's "Urgh, I'm so stupid" in Vietnamese?
I write this from the lobby of the guesthouse I'm staying at in Phnom Penh. That's right, I'm in Cambodia.
It started off intentional, as I spent a week in Siem Reap visiting all the temples, which I'll get back to in a sec. I then got a bus from Siem Reap via Phnom Penh, which was supposed to take me to Ho Chi Minh City back in Vietnam. Unfortunately, my extended visa (which I thought was valid until the end of July) expired as soon as I left the country for Cambodia last week. Oops. I burst into tears at the border, and fortunately one of the immigration staff was nice and helped me get a bus back to Phnom Penh. So I spent 17 hours on a bus and ended up here....
Here, being Phnom Penh, isn't actually that bad. It's a big, bustling city, but after a week in Hanoi before Cambodia I don't really mind the traffic anymore. The strangest thing about being here is that this is the first time in three and a half months that I only have myself for company. This is something I am not really used to, having grown up with a boisterous brother who constantly invades my privacy and generally I'm always surrounded by people who are just as, if not more, bubbly and talkative than me.
So upon arriving yesterday I locked myself in my room, devoured the rest of my "bus picknick", consisting of crips and biscuits and watched TV. Yes, TV! I haven't watched TV in such a long time! When I woke up this morning I was lucky enough to find 2 'good' children's films on (101 Dalmatians and Night at the Museum 2), so I didn't venture outside of the room until 11.
After some actual food I headed to the S-21 Khmer Rouge prison. Over the course of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime almost 20,000 people were imprisoned here. Only 7 survived. Cambodia has been through some horrible horrible times, first french colonial rule, then civil war, then Pol Pot's genocide. I have kind of always known a bit about this, but only by actually being here am I beginning to fully piece it all together. Tomorrow I'm going to visit the killing fields. I'm not sure I want to go, but I think it's an important part of recent history that I shouldn't miss out on.
But first I'll have to convince the Vietnamese embassy to extend my visa/give me a new one, and fast, because I miss Hue!!!
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
It started off intentional, as I spent a week in Siem Reap visiting all the temples, which I'll get back to in a sec. I then got a bus from Siem Reap via Phnom Penh, which was supposed to take me to Ho Chi Minh City back in Vietnam. Unfortunately, my extended visa (which I thought was valid until the end of July) expired as soon as I left the country for Cambodia last week. Oops. I burst into tears at the border, and fortunately one of the immigration staff was nice and helped me get a bus back to Phnom Penh. So I spent 17 hours on a bus and ended up here....
Here, being Phnom Penh, isn't actually that bad. It's a big, bustling city, but after a week in Hanoi before Cambodia I don't really mind the traffic anymore. The strangest thing about being here is that this is the first time in three and a half months that I only have myself for company. This is something I am not really used to, having grown up with a boisterous brother who constantly invades my privacy and generally I'm always surrounded by people who are just as, if not more, bubbly and talkative than me.
So upon arriving yesterday I locked myself in my room, devoured the rest of my "bus picknick", consisting of crips and biscuits and watched TV. Yes, TV! I haven't watched TV in such a long time! When I woke up this morning I was lucky enough to find 2 'good' children's films on (101 Dalmatians and Night at the Museum 2), so I didn't venture outside of the room until 11.
After some actual food I headed to the S-21 Khmer Rouge prison. Over the course of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime almost 20,000 people were imprisoned here. Only 7 survived. Cambodia has been through some horrible horrible times, first french colonial rule, then civil war, then Pol Pot's genocide. I have kind of always known a bit about this, but only by actually being here am I beginning to fully piece it all together. Tomorrow I'm going to visit the killing fields. I'm not sure I want to go, but I think it's an important part of recent history that I shouldn't miss out on.
But first I'll have to convince the Vietnamese embassy to extend my visa/give me a new one, and fast, because I miss Hue!!!
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
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