Leaving Malaysia

Well this has all been rather sudden hasn't it?

Only a week ago (OK so now a bit more than a week - can't rush a masterpiece) I was surreptitiously feeding Gammy some peanut butter and jam in Pangkor Hall. Now I am lying face first on my bed in Oxford after a week of a very strongly negatively correlated pain-movement relationship.

Figure 1: Negative correlation between the dependent variables of my all encompassing Abscess.

Values are rated out of a possible 10.

For those of you who don't know, I developed an abscess on my coccyx that required some pretty messy surgery. As I was literally incapable of anything Sam had to come with me to help me walk and move and get from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai to London as planned. Which actually didn't happen as my abscess burst whilst in Dubai which meant that, among many things, I couldn't sit down, so we had to change our 7 hour flight to London! Luckily they had a later one for the duration of which I would be able to lie on my face over an entire row as it was a pretty empty flight. We made it back eventually and I am now having to squeeze pus out of my abscess hole several times a day (bet you really wanted to know that!) and have a fresh dressing on my abscess twice a day by my Mum, conveniently a trained nurse! Thanks Mum!

So.

Study Abroad.

Malaysia.

What did I think of it all?

Well I learnt a lot and I saw some cool places, but, Malaysia was not as magical as I thought it would be. There weren't stands of fresh fruit lining the roads (and my dream to drink out of a coconut remains but a dream), lots of the rainforest had been replaced with palm-oil plantations, there were stray dogs running around campus instead of monkeys, the air-conditioning was hypothermia-threatening rather than refreshing and living there wasn't actually that cheap. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am SO glad that I went and lived there, seeing what life is like on the other side of the world was absolutely fascinating, but what really made it so great was not that it was Malaysia but who else was there too.

WARNING: 

I was having an abnormally soppy moment  when writing the below content (rarely but occasionally I do indeed participate in the emotion I commonly refer to as "OH PULEASE! Are they KIDDING?"). To those who do not wish to read such twaddle please skip to the end. To those who do, you have been warned.

There were so many people that made Malaysia the amazing experience that it was and I wish that I could thank them for that. They made me feel at home so quickly and so easily and I will never forget the times we had together.

I turned 21 on a day when we didn't have time to breathe let alone think about my birthday, so you gave me a two week-long birthday celebration instead.

I had to change my reading week plans last minute and join a group of you that I didn't know so well for a week-long holiday two days before we left - and it was SO MUCH FUN. It could have been awkward or weird or forced but it wasn't, at all, and I genuinely had a fantastic time with you. Even in that second sleeper train!

I sang the same songs over and over with you and not only did you not get bored or shield your ears from my soul-shattering voice but you joined in with even more gusto and laughter. And I don't actually think it was to drown me out, I think you were just enjoying it.

And when I left you all to come home for surgery last Wednesday night (again, masterpiece), I couldn't have smiled more without it leaking out of my eyes. Not to be leaving you of course (well...), but because I realised how much you liked us and how much I would miss you.

When you all came up to my flat just to see us off, when you were fighting through the goodie bag, when you brought in the cakes, when there were too many of you to fit in the corridor seeing you all crammed into the kitchen for us.

When you helped me throw everything into my suitcase 10 minutes before the taxi was due to arrive, when you cried, when we all emptied out my flat and you carried everything down the stairs for me, when I had already done countless rounds of goodbyes and still couldn't leave.

When we finally got in the taxi 20 minutes after we were meant to have left, when you all ran after the taxi waving and shouting, when you threw your shoe, when I finally read all the messages you wrote in our card.

I couldn't believe that all really happens and that it all really happened to me, of all people.

So many things you have given me to smile about (and I do! I still find myself randomly chuckling quietly at some sudden flashing memory, much to the concern of any observers). And I KEEP dreaming about you all!

I'm really happy that I got to know you all and I hope to my heart that we keep in touch.

You made the pork-cheese-sanity sacrifice worthwhile.

Look after Samuelle and the dogs for me.

IT IS SAFE AGAIN!

Well damn.

That was a bit like my biannual cheeseburger. But less tasty. And much less filling. And not really like a cheeseburger at all...

Kind of hungry now though...

Vietnam Day 3: Hue

When we arrived in Hue we managed to get some taxi drivers to take us to the "Backpackers'" hostel which turned out to be possibly the best thing in Hue!

We went out exploring though and saw some really cool stuff. I wish I had known more about the history of Hue as, unfortunately, the true weight of lots of the sights was just lost on me.

However, as before, on with the pictures!

views from the sleeper train

at Hue train station

The tallest flag in Vietnam

Messing around in the ancient citadel

 

where we went for dinner... before I went back to the hostel and had this too

(THAT'S REAL CHEESE!!!)

The shots wheel in our hostel! Which I definitely didn't use...

Where we got massages at the end of the night.

Normal shoulder and neck massages before anyone asks!

And after all of this fun we went to bed nice and early in preparation for our big, big, big start on Day 4.

Vietnam day 2: Halong Bay

This was the most mind-blowing day of the holiday, I'll get straight to the pictures so you can see why.

I saw this out of the bus window:

On the boat around the Bay:

(Our lunch - which my chopstick skills made a very leisurely affair)

HALONG BAY:

On a small boat rowed by a local woman:

(The Small Boats and The Local Women)

                                                   (A shrine!)               (Yeah, we went through here!)

After we were rowed around the Bay we got back on the first boat and were taken to some caves in one of the mountains! Turns out they like to light things up in Vietnam.

After the caves we got back on the boat, back on the bus and then got a sleeper train down to Hue!

AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! 

We all tried to get into our bunks with our bags on and got wedged in (turtles come to mind) because they were so small so we had to do some good twisting, grunting and flailing to free ourselves.

When we finally fell into our bunks I eagerly made mine a bit more to my tastes using my two trusty pashminas as sheets to protect myself, in a sandwich like fashion, from the bedding (and Brinna kindly lent me a scarf of hers to wrap my pillow in), popped on my long sleeved top and double-socked-it-up (minimising skin contact obviously) and I was as happy as a bug in a nice, clean rug. 

Little did I know how hygienic the next sleeper train would be....*shudder* I mean after experiencing THAT I would have been very happy to floss my teeth with the straggling threads on the blanket that I so carefully protected myself from...

(See! I DID do some work!)

Vietnam day 1: Hanoi

Vietnam rocks!

That is pretty much the conclusion of everything I'm about to tell you, so if you don't have a cup of tea and a Crunchie in your hand (Mom), or you want a two-word summary of everything Vietnam, then that'd be it because, to quote Marty Mcfly, this is going to get heavy. 

So, if you are seated comfortably, we shall begin.

OMG VIETNAM IS AMAZING! 

Everything I ate there was hands down the best asian food I have ever had (sorry Malaysia but no competition), the history was fascinating, everything went to plan and I was a millionaire *shoulder flick*. Yeah.

I was travelling with (clockwise from top left) Rob, Grace, Kish, (that's me!), Laura, Brinna and Sully.

The capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, is the northernmost place we went to and was where we flew into early on Saturday morning. We checked into our hotel and then explored the city. 

(but only after we played with our dongs) (which I, apparently, found quite funny)

After this we headed to the oldest university in Vietnam... 

...where it just happened to be graduation day! This is what they wear to graduate here:

(they were jealous of our amazing photos in the courtyard. The top photo is an example of why they were jealous)

They had some AMAZING roofs (AND topiary too now I think of it!)

And rows upon rows of these massive stone tablets carried by turtles/tortoises (symbols for longevity)

After we explored Hanoi we went back to the hotel and went down the street for dinner after which the girls went to the spa (IT WAS £4 FOR AN HALF HOUR DEEP SEA MUD WRAP!) and the boys went out exploring the night markets (...though I actually fell asleep in the room and was pretty much knocked out for all of these goings on and though I didn't get my deep sea mud wrap *sigh* I had a scrumptious night's sleep).

Saigon... shit!!!!!!

This is just a quickie post as I'm in Nha Trang right now (!) and we are about to go out for an early dinner as we have a 10 hour (!!!!!!!!!!) sleeper bus down to Ho Chi Minh City (aka. Saigon) leaving at 8pm.

So this has been our route:

Hanoi (the capital) is where we flew into early on Saturday morning, then on Sunday went to Halong bay which was RIDICULOUSLY COOL and we took a sleeper train down the coast to Hue (I FELT LIKE I WAS GOING TO HOGWARTS! IT WAS AMAZING and, surprisingly enough, quite clean!) where we stayed at a great hostel and saw some really cool tanks, planes and helicopters left over from the war and went through an ancient vietnamese citadel.

On Tuesday morning we took a bus down to Hoi an (the place names got very confusing!) which is the one of the only cities in Vietnam not to have been damaged in the war. IT WAS BRILLIANT! We saw all of old town (ALMOST got tailored dresses but didn't, though I still have one day to complete this personal quest) and in the evening we met this waiter who did tours of his village during the day (I know it sounds really dodgy Mom, I wasn't entirely sure about it either but there were 6 of us and one of him and he showed us all these books of people that had raved about his tours and photos of them all and it looked legitimate and fun so we went for it) and on Wednesday we did the tour and it was by far the best day of the holiday (and also because it was Dad's birthday too - sorry for calling you all through your meetings Dad!) we went fishing and did pottery and his wife taught us how to cook vietnamese food and it was DELICIOUS! Then in the evening we took another sleeper train down to Nha Trang (where we are now) which was absolutely, impassably disgusting, and I was in the upgraded rooms. I couldn't touch anything!!

ANYWAY tonight we are headed to Saigon on a sleeper bus and then I fly back to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night to land at 11.05 my time.

Expect lots of pretty pretty pictures early next week!

Well, fancy that!

I'm boarding a flight in 7 hours to Hanoi, Vietnam! 

Ironically I was never really that bothered about Vietnam, I was more enthusiastic about Cambodia and Laos but they require more than a Reading Week to do properly. 

I am now, however, rather excited about it all!

We are heading south to Ho Chi Min City and will be stopping off in Halong Bay (the hills coming out of the bay, it was in Top Gear with the bar and looks kind of like the Hallelujah Mountains from Avatar!), Hoi an (for some tailor-made suits, naturally) Da Nang, and lots of other places in between.

My plans had been to head to the Philippines with Sam, Beth, Amanda, Mia and Matt but, as you know, I got allergic to my antimalarials which effectively put an end to that idea! They left earlier today 

and should be landing nowish in Clark (just north of Manila, the capital) and are headed to the Chocolate Hills tomorrow (my idea btw :P) THEY ARE CRAZY COOL!! After the Chocolate Hills they are going to work their way back up the islands until they fly back on Friday.

(see!)

Our flight back gets in on Monday evening so prepare for some uber-blogging after that!

Photo of the Day 5

As my internet is terrible and my workload is immense, today is one of those days when I must blog a Photo of the Day BUT to make up for the lack of effort I'll choose a really good photo (or two)!

(or three)

I couldn't pass up on sharing that beauty with you.

Lovely note to end on.

THE BLOG WARS HAVE COMMENCED

Check out Sam's blog at http://www.samuelsblog.co.uk/

Btw he stole the dim sum blog from me. Just sayin'.

Bring it on Curly.