I’m back from vacation and I finally have the time, energy, and motivation to write about it!
This vacation I went to Thailand (Koh Samui and Bangkok) and Hong Kong. I had 9 days off of work and I used them to their fullest. Immediately before leaving, the weather in Incheon was freezing and windy and I was beginning to find it intolerable. Needing to wear leggings underneath my jeans for the walk to work only stays novel for so long. I was beginning to feel tired, get a cold, and just so unmotivated and lethargic. Then, Friday, January 15th rolled around and my travel buddy, Miranda, came to my apartment after work. Miranda lives in Inje, a small, rural town about three hours by bus from Incheon. The International Airport is about 30 minutes from my apartment, so she slept over that night and the next day in the afternoon we headed off to the airport.
Koh Samui
After being on planes/in airports for 24 hours, with layovers in Hong Kong and Bangkok, we arrived in Koh Samui, Thailand. Koh Samui is an island in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Thailand. It’s among the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. It’s located in the tropics and the beaches on this tropical island are amazing. There are beaches, jungles, and mountains throughout the island. There’s also a law on the island that no building can be taller than the palm trees; I think the tallest building I saw was 3 or 4 stories, though I could be mistaken. I like that law; there are no high rise hotels littering the view of the beach and giving the island an extremely commercial feel. Apparently this is not a law on some of the neighboring islands, and Brittany’s dad said that it gives those islands a more commercial feel.
One of the first things Miranda and I noticed in the airports in Bangkok and Koh Samui, and just throughout our entire stay in Thailand, is the number of white, often European, older men with much younger, beautiful Thai women. It’s a bit creepy how common this is and is probably largely the result of the fact that many of these beautiful Thai women often come from very poor backgrounds and these men who may marry them, or just briefly provide for them, are willing to take care of them.
We arrived there on Sunday evening and Miranda’s friend from Minnesota, Brittany, and Brittany’s mom picked us up at the Samui airport. Brittany’s parents built a house on Koh Samui a few years ago and as of a year and a half ago, have lived there full time and right now Brittany is living with them. On the drive from the airport, we got to see part of the island, especially on the last leg of the drive. Brittany’s parents live on a mountain and the drive up to it was great as much of that mountain has been left relatively pristine (there are a few houses and a golf course). We arrived and their house was gorgeous and where we were staying for the first night. Brittany’s parents have a beautiful house and are very friendly and welcoming, but because they live on top of a mountain, the only way for us to get into town would be by private car, not even taxis will come up the mountain. So we decided that Brittany, Miranda, and I would stay in a hotel on the beach, where there are several clubs, bars, and restaurants. Fortunately, Brittany’s dad’s friend owned the hotel and we were able to stay there at a very low rate.
That first night, though, we stayed at Brittany’s parents’ house and after dinner, Brittany’s mom drove the three of us down the mountain and we went to a bar, I believe called the Lava Bar or Lava Club or something like that. It’s a low key, open air bar about a minute walk from the beach. There, we sat on a couch and met two of Brittany’s friends, Ben and Michael. All of us wound up talking and drinking for several hours and at one point Brittany’s dad stopped by. We drove back and got home at some point between 2 and 3 in the morning; there were still a good number of people at the bar energetically talking. So far out of all of the countries I’ve been to, America is the only one where it’s completely atypical for people to stay out extremely late. In Brazil a few times I’ve stayed out until 5 or 6 AM a few times, when I go out to Seoul I normally stay out that late, and it’s definitely the case in Koh Samui.
The next morning we all woke up late and then got ready to go out. That day was Brittany’s 21st birthday and her parents had organized a party for her at a club on the island. We spent the afternoon and evening getting ready for it and left the house around 6 or so. First we dropped off our luggage at the hotel we would be staying at and it was pretty awesome. It was right on the beach, the layout was beautiful and pretty chill, and the room was nice.
After dropping off our luggage at the Seascape Hotel, we headed off to Nikki Beach, the club where Brittany’s party was being held. During the night, we met several friends of Brittany and her parents. Everyone was very interesting, friendly, and charismatic and many of them had been living on Koh Samui for awhile, many running businesses on the island. During the party we enjoyed white wine sangrias and several pretty amazing appetizers. It was weird to have so much Western food at my immediate disposal.
Nikki Beach is a completely open air club right on the beach and the view is beautiful. A few times during the party Miranda, Brittany, and I walked down to the beach and we noticed that there was a floating dock near the club. The waves pushed it up and down as it floated and we decided that the best possible idea was to run up it, while the waves were pushing beneath it. After almost falling a few times, we returned to the party where Brittany’s parents each gave quite lovely speeches on behalf of their daughter’s 21st birthday and right as Brittany’s dad said that he loved her, the fireworks he ordered went off in the distance. The timing on that one was pretty spectacular.
After everyone finished their sangrias and finger food, Miranda, Brittany, and I and a few of Brittany’s family’s friends headed over to a few clubs on the island. We went to a few bars and dance clubs, had a great time, and stayed out until around 3 or 4, after being thoroughly exhausted. We went back to the hotel. Miranda and I went out to the beach the hotel was in and stood and walked around in the water and decided that the best possible idea was to sit towards the shore and let the waves crash on us. The beach was well lit, but completely empty and the sky was incredibly clear. I never realize that I can’t see the stars in Incheon until I leave the city and go to either the Korean country side or to a beautiful tropical island that doesn’t have any high rises. It was a beautiful night and we sat on the shore for about a half hour before going in.
The next morning we woke up late, then spent a good portion of the rest of the day sitting on the beach, walking up and down it, and swimming with the goggles that Brittany brought along with her. After that, we showered and got dinner. I ordered Thai noodles, which was a pretty common trend during my time in Thailand, and they were delicious. After dinner we saw Avatar and at around 1AM we went back to the hotel and pretty much just went to sleep.
The next morning (Wednesday) we woke up, got breakfast at a place down the street from the hotel, and took a taxi over to a rum distillery on the island that’s run by a Thai woman and her French husband. We spent about a little under an hour there; we got to see sugar cane being crushed and to eat sugar cane, and we got to try some of the (delicious) rum that was made there.
Afterwards, we took the taxi over to a nearby butterfly garden, where we met up with Brittany’s friends Michael and Rosie. We spent about an hour wandering around. The garden is on a mountain and throughout it there were several viewing points, a few where we could see the ocean and beaches.
From there, the five of us went over to the waterfalls nearby and walked around the area. In order to get to one of the waterfalls, we had to walk on across rocks in a stream. Fortunately, Rosie was as clumsy as I am and was just as nervous about falling, so we had a nice time together carefully manipulating our way across the rocks. We were passed by children and tourists in their 50s who were completely comfortable going across the wet rocks. It was a bit embarassing/hilarious. When we finally got to the waterfall, Miranda and Brittany had been swimming in the area that it fell into for awhile and I took off my sandals and jewelry and jumped in. Fortunately, I’m not as afraid of swimming and water as I am of walking on wet rocks. The basin was about 9 or 10 feet deep and we had fun swimming around in and diving in it. Afterwards, we walked back and went over to Rosie’s apartment where she loaned Miranda, Brittany, and I dry clothing as she lived very close to the waterfalls and the three of us lived a far distance.
All of us then went over and got dinner at a nearby restaurant. Thai food is amazing, I spent my whole week in Thailand eating vegetable pad Thai. We walked over to a DVD bootlegger (there are MANY in Thailand) and we each bought a few DVDs and then Michael and Rosie went back to their apartments.
We got back to the hotel and while Brittany worked on her online course, Miranda and I did some shopping in the area and I picked up a few things for my co-teachers back in Korea. We went to a bar and I was so excited when I saw that they had caipirinhas on their menu. Caipirinhas are a Brazilian drink that I’ve only been able to find in Brazil involving sugar cane rum (cachaça) limes, sugar, and ice. After finishing our drinks, we headed back to the hotel and chilled out a bit before bed.
The next morning (Thursday) we woke up and spent the day on the beach. I had borrowed one of Brittany’s books, The Alchemist, before leaving her house on Sunday and I finished it. The three of us got coconuts from beach vendors. I love coconut milk and eating a fresh coconut. We swam around a bit, attempted to construct the Pyramids of Giza out of sand. After leaving the beach we got dinner then played cards at an outside bar before heading over to a Cabaret Show. Cabaret shows in Thailand are essentially drag shows featuring drag queens and post-op women. It was pretty entertaining and some of the women have had amazing work done.
The next day (Friday) Brittany’s mom took us over to the Jungle Club. It’s a place where you can get lunch, dinner, and drinks and it’s literally in the jungle. Getting there involves a long drive up a steep mountain and it’s probably at least preferable to have 4-wheel drive. The view from the club is beautiful and you can see a good portion of the island from it. We sat there, ate a bit, played cards and then went with Brittany’s dad back to their house and got ready to go out. We went over to a rooftop party that Brittany’s parents’ friends were hosting and met up with a few of their friends who had family visiting from Ireland. We all talked for awhile and they were pretty interesting and had traveled a bit. The woman from Ireland said that she had spent awhile with her husband in New Zealand and told me that if I ever go, to spend at least a month there.
After leaving the party we went over to an Irish pub that another friend of theirs ran and got to see a pretty good live show. We walked over to the Lava Club and stayed there talking for a few hours before returning home.
The next day, Saturday, was my last day in Koh Samui. I was set to leave on Sunday at 6:00AM. So after waking up we went to the beach for my last time then got ready to go out to the nearby clubs that we had gone to the second night for Brittany’s birthday. After dinner we took a nap until around 10PM when we headed out. I dropped my luggage off at the front desk and we stayed out, going to a few local clubs and then winding up at a bar near the beach around 2AM and stayed there for a bit. We played cards, the woman working there gave us jenga to play with and a few other games. At 4AM we walked back along the beach so that I could get back to the hotel at 4:30 for my car to the airport. The walk was beautiful as the beach was once again almost completely empty and it was great to see the stars and breathe the fresh air.
Bangkok
I got there in time for my car and then I got to the airport a little before 5, checked in and I slept on the plane. The ride was only an hour and as I’d gotten no sleep the night before, I fell asleep at the Bangkok baggage claim and fortunately a woman was nice enough to wake me about 20 minutes into the baggage being on the carousel.
From Sunday morning until I got back to my apartment on Thursday evening, I was traveling alone. Miranda’s vacation was much longer than mine, so she stayed in Koh Samui with Brittany. I had a wonderful time with Brittany and Miranda and missed them when I left, but it was nice to get out on my own. Traveling alone has it’s benefits and drawbacks. When you’re alone you can do exactly what you want to do and generally a lot quicker, however at the same time there’s no one to share your experiences with and in general I think you just feel safer if you have another person with you. I wasn’t unsafe at any point in my trip, but there is a certain feeling of security that comes from traveling with another person.
After getting my baggage and brushing my hair, I took a taxi to my hostel in Bangkok. During the ride I got to see the city and it’s incredibly different from Koh Samui. Koh Samui is a small, tropical island whose economy is almost entirely based on tourism, while Bangkok is an incredibly busy city with a long history and lots of culture.
After arriving in the hostel, I checked in, but I had to wait until the maid would be done with my room at around noon. I wound up talking with these two German girls who had just arrived in Thailand from Germany, who were also waiting for their room to be ready. One of the girls was also a teacher and asked me about my job in Korea. After meeting them, my room was ready. I got in, showered, and took a nap.
Then, I got lunch and walked around the area. I was very close to Khao Sad Road, a place that my friend Lauren who had gone a few weeks earlier referred to as “backpacker haven.” There were lots of people selling t-shirts, jewelry, and food, primarily to tourists. I walked around a bit, ran into a few friends from my orientation, then I walked over to a Buddhist temple in the area. It was absolutely beautiful and it was cool to see so many people worshipping there. I got back to my hostel, got dinner from a street vendor selling vegetable pad thai and went back to the hostel. At the front desk there was a tourist agency and I asked them if there were any shows I could go to. They said that there was a cabaret show going on later that evening at a nearby hotel and I could take a taxi there for pretty cheap. I purchased a ticket and got ready to go to what turned out to be an absolutely amazing show. As with the show in Koh Samui, all of the dancers were men, drag queens, or post-op women and along with being pretty spectacular dancers, they put on a great show. They featured music from different time periods, from America, Europe, Latin America, Japan, Thailand, and a pop song and a traditional song from Korea. Some dances were funny and some were dark and they were all intended to mess with your conception of gender. I loved it.
After that I went to sleep then the next morning I woke up to explore more of Bangkok. I made arrangements with the front desk to go on a canal tour a friend of mine had recommended, then I got breakfast and walked over in the direction of the Grand Palace. On the way there, a Thai man with great English approached me, told me he worked in tourism and asked me where I was going. I told him and he told me that it was closed in the morning for a Buddhist holiday. I wasn’t sure if I trusted that, so I kept on walking. At one point, I thought I had made a wrong turn so I turned around. Another man who I think was working on a construction site approached me. He also spoke great English and asked where I was going. I told him and he also told me that it was closed in the morning for a Buddhist holiday. He continued telling me that because of this holiday, the Tuk Tuk drivers received free gas vouchers and that I could get driven to a few sites around the area for 10 baht (33 baht = 1 US dollar). Tuk Tuk drivers drive these vehicles that are essentially motorized chariots and this man speaking with me happened to be friends with a nearby tuk tuk driver.
I later found out that both men were probably lying to me about the Grand Palace being closed as that’s a common practice in that area, but nonetheless, I’m really happy with my decision to go with the tuk tuk driver. I spent the next 3 hours talking with my driver as he drove me to a few various sites. He was 17 years old, his parents lived in Cheng Mai, North of Bangkok, and he had moved to Bangkok with his older sister a few years before. His sister was 20 and had gotten married and pregnant around age 18, which he told me was common in Thailand. He told me he was in his last year of high school and that he only went for 2 hours a day because that’s how long public school went and he couldn’t afford to go longer. He told me a bit about how he was really poor and that Thailand is stratified along the lines of class, as his wealthier peers are often not friends with him because he is a tuk tuk driver. He also told me that he wanted to work in the tourism industry and that he would particularly like to be a steward on a plane, but he said he doubted that that would ever happen because he can’t afford any of the training for it.
During my time with him, he took me to a Buddhist temple, called the standing Buddha and in Thai is called Luang Pho To and it was a huge golden Buddha temple that is 32 meters tall and 11 meters wide. It’s quite impressive and it’s in an open temple with several other statues, though none as intimidating and awe inspiring as Luang Pho To.
Afterwards, my driver took me over to a Buddhist monastary that was about 5 stories high (I could walk through the first three) and was huge. There was a lot of art of the wall, the architecture was beautiful and the halls and the roof had some amazing sculptures. My driver walked me over to the nearby Emerald Buddha, which is another beautiful Buddhist shrine.
Part of the reason why I was able to get a very cheap tuk tuk drive was because if the driver took me over to a Thai fashion expo and to another expo and that I just had to stay for about 10 minutes at each and pretend that I might buy something. I didn’t at either, but the driver got a free gas card at both and I wound up getting a free trip as all I had were 20 baht bills, he couldn’t break it, and he wouldn’t accept the 20 bahts. I really hope that the gas cards more than made up for that.
At about 1PM I returned to my hostel and I was picked up to go on a canal tour. I was by far the youngest person in my tour group, but I’m okay with that. We arrived at the pier and got on a boat and went through several of the canals on Bangkok. Many poor people live along the canals and in the tour we learned about the history of the canals, how they were traditionally used, as well as how they are used today. Today they are used for swimming, washing, and bathing and I doubt that they are sanitary for any of that, but I doubt that the people living there have much of an option. We were told that the government is now in the process of putting walls on the houses on the canals, as during the rainy season they get flooded. We saw a lot of the wild life and several temples and a few churches built along the canal. It was a very interesting trip and I’m very happy I got to go.
I got back to the hostel around 5 or so and while asking me how my tour was, the woman working at the tourism booth commented on the fact that I looked tired. That night I got dinner and walked around the area a bit more, seeing a night work out class in the park, what was probably an old fort and walked through a nearby park and then went back to the hostel to sleep as I had to wake up at 4AM the next morning to catch my 8AM flight. At 5 the next morning I took a taxi to the airport to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong
I arrived in Hong Kong around 10AM or so and I was able to take an airport shuttle over to my hotel. While the building I was staying in was technically a hotel, I was staying on a floor that had dormitories, so it was much cheaper and a similar experience to staying in a hostel.
On the shuttle ride over I wound up talking with this woman who was in her 50s or 60s. The ride was about 45 minutes and in that time she told me that her son had been an English teacher in Thailand years ago and since then he had not lived stateside. He married a Thai woman and got into the IT industry and now he lives in the UAE. She was able to travel to wherever he has lived and usually uses those trips to travel to other places as well. She was coming back from visiting him, and then made a 5 week stop in Cambodia to volunteer at an English school, and now was going to spend 3 days in Hong Kong before leaving. She also told me about the Hong Kong cultural center that was across from where we were staying (she was staying in the hotel part of the building.)
We arrived there and parted ways, but after I put my stuff away in the room, I walked around. I was staying about a 5 minute walk from the harbor, which is so impressive with a great view, and then I headed over to the cultural center. There was a showing of the 2010 graduating class from a nearby art school and I’m really happy and fortunate that I got to see it. There were 15+ very talented, yet very diverse, painters featured and it was cool to see modern Hong Kong/Chinese art for free and a lot of it was quite fantastic. Right next door was the Hong Kong Museum of Art which cost the equivalent of about $2.00 to enter. I spent 2 hours going through the three floors of the building. The first floor had Chinese art that dated back as far as the 13th century and it was on scrolls. I spent time looking at each piece and they were just awe-inspiring (I’m using a lot of strong adjectives in this blog). The next floor were several ceramics and statues, some of these dating back to the 200s. The top floor was modern Chinese art and it was cool, because it was in the same style as the scrolls from the first floor, but it was clearly influenced by outside styles as well. After being there until the museum closed, I walked across the street to grab another jacket as, while Hong Kong is much warmer than Korea, it is decidedly colder than Thailand and the whole time I was there, fluctuated between 50 and 60 degrees fahrenheit.
I headed over to a Chinese restaurant that the concierge recommended. I wound up going there two more times and each time it was cool being the only Westerner. The food in Hong Kong was pretty good and had several vegetarian options. I had to eat that meal quickly as shortly after there would be a light show on the harbor. The harbor in Hong Kong has the world’s largest permanent light show and lights are shown from all sides of the harbor. I took the ferry across the harbor and back again and I got to see a lot of the show.
On my way back to the hotel, I walked around a bit, I think I saw a photo shoot going on, and then went back. I told the concierge that I was only going to be in Hong Kong for 1 whole day, and asked him what he recommended doing. He then gave me a pamphlet with several descriptions of sites on it, as well as a map, and told me to look through it and to pick out a few places and then he’d help me figure out how to get to those places. After doing that, I went back to my hotel room, which that night I had to myself, and mapped out the next day.
I’m such a geek; I spent a good portion of the next day going to temples and museums and I had a really good time doing that. The first thing I did was go to Man Mo Temple. I purchased a Hong Kong metro card, known as an Octopus Card, and took the subway over to Hong Kong Island. In the station I met a British man who said I looked lost and told me that he’d show me how to get to the temple. He had backpacked for several years and told me that he had lived in Hong Kong for 19 years because he had met a woman here and just stayed. On the way, he told me about his travels through India, the Philippines, Cambodia (during the part of the Vietnam War that spilled over into Cambodia), and throughout Asia and then showed me how to get to the temple.
Much of Hong Kong is on a steep hill, so in order to deal with this, they have built a huge, outdoor public escalator that people can take up. I took the escalator up and got off about a 10 minute walk from the temple. I missed it the first time around because from the outside it doesn’t appear to be very big. I went inside and there’s so much to see. Many many people were there worshipping, holding and shaking incense in front of the various statues. The sculptures, designs, and art work was amazing and vaguely reminded me of a very old and traditional Catholic Church, that’s the closest thing I could compare it to.
After Man Mo, I hopped back on the escalator and took it up to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum. The museum is basically the story of China’s fight to be a republic in the early 20th century at the end of the Qing Dynasty, through one of the movement’s leaders, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. The museum showed several artifacts, articles, and official documents on the fight and they all tell the life story of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen as well as about the revolution that never quite worked.
From there I walked down to the subway station and took it to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, a temple which according to my tourist pamphlet is a Buddhist, Taoist,and Confucianist temple. There are several temples on the premises, along with a huge, beautiful garden and pond. I was there for a little over an hour, and like in Man Mo, many people had come there to worship.
Afterwards, I got back on the subway to take it to my stop and get off at the Hong Kong Museum of History. I started talking to this old man from Hong Kong on the subway. He had lived in Hong Kong for most of his life, but had lived on mainland China in Shanghai for 12 years where he owns a factory that makes parts for airplanes. We spoke for awhile and he insisted on showing me exactly how to get to the museum as he felt that the Hong Kong government didn’t make the way clear for foreigners. He showed me how to get there and we spoke along the way, then when I got there I found out that on Wednesdays the museum was free.
I spent about 4 hours going through the museum’s 4 parts: the ancient geologic history of Hong Kong, the prehistory of Hong Kong and China as a whole, the ancient history up until the end of the Qing Dynasty, and finally modern history and Hong Kong folk culture. Every part was interesting and in a different way told about how Hong Kong was formed, physically, socially, and culturally. The exhibits were amazing and impressive in the museum and at the end I saw a movie on Hong Kong culture. While waiting for it to start, I wound up talking to another British man (it’s almost as though they’re reinvading China via tourism) who had stopped in Hong Kong on a layover to Australia. We spoke for a bit and I brought up that I was amazed how cheap all of the museums I had been to were so far because they are highly subsidized by the government, and he suggested that that was probably because the government wants to establish a Chinese identity separate from imperialism. This is likely at least partially true.
Afterwards I ate Lo Mein for dinner and it was relatively close to the type in America, just much lower in sodium, and then I headed back to the hotel for a bit to look over a few things. I arrived there a little before 7 and in the 11 hours I had been gone, a college class that was spending a month of winter break in China to study Chinese business culture had checked in and I now had 3 roommates. They were around age 20 and they were all very nice and friendly and asked my advice on a few things. They were in the last few days of their trip and after leaving Hong Kong would be back to Washington state.
A little while later they left for dinner and a little before 8 I headed to the harbor to see the light show again. I rode the ferry and it is just such a great show. I’m really happy I got to see it twice. Towards the end of the light show I went over to an area with several benches and I wound up talking to yet another travler. He was from Germany and he was a computer science professor on sabbatical. He was also well traveled and we talked a bit about his job and where we’ve both been to. He had just come from visiting Washington, DC and he told me that if I ever visit Europe, I need to be there for at least a month or so.
It was getting late and chilly, so I parted ways with the German computer scientist and back to my hotel.
The next morning I woke up at 7:45AM. One of the main attractions of Hong Kong is known as The Peak. for relatively cheap, you can take a tram up to a mountain in Hong Kong that is supposed to have a spectacular view. Unfortunately, most people who I’ve met who have gone to Hong Kong either couldn’t do it, or did it and couldn’t see anything, because it was so cloudy. I woke up early with the hope of being able to go to the Peak because the rest of the time I was in Hong Kong it was cloudy, but unfortunately my last day, Thursday, was no exception. I guess it worked out, because I’d planned on getting a breakfast-to-go from 7-11 (there are many in Hong Kong, as well as Pizza Huts and MacDonalds), but because I wasn’t going to the Peak, I went back to the restaurant Hing Fat for breakfast. It was very crowded there and I guess it’s not out of the ordinary to seat two people together in a booth, even if they’re not there together. I was seated with a 30 year old woman whose English name was Ann. We talked all through breakfast and she told me a bit about her life in Hong Kong, that she works as an accountant for people from India so she has to use English, and that she has family who live in the United States. She recommended that I order Congee, a rice porridge that is also served in Korea, and a little before I finished she had to go to work. I gave her my e-mail and she told me that she would e-mail me the recipe for Congee and that I should e-mail her if I ever come back to Hong Kong.
After breakfast I walked over to Kowloon Park, a large park in Hong Kong. It turned out that the park had an aviary with flamingos and a few other awesome birds. There were several older people practicing Tai Chi in the park, which was really cool to watch, and a few people there to work out. The view was pretty cool and I was able to walk across a foot bridge over the highway to another side of the harbor that I hadn’t seen.
Around 11 I got back to my hotel, checked out and took the shuttle over to the airport. What was cool was the shuttle went to the nearby airport subway station. At this subway station, I could check in my bags and get my boarding ticket, and then take the subway over to the airport.
My plane left around 2:30 and it was so strange to hear Korean again. While I by no means know it, I can pick out a few words. During my trip I started to miss Korea a bit, and even though it’s really cold here and once again I have to wear tights underneath my jeans to tolerate the walk to work, I’m happy to be back.
Sorry that this is so long and detailed; I think this is more for myself than anyone else, for when I’m looking back on my trip. If anyone actually made it through this, kudos and thanks for reading!