Happy New Year

I love these lyrics.

DJ Earworm - United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop) - Mashup of T...

Ko Phi Phi

So its raining, so I'm blogging. I usually separate things into word, but since I'm in an internet cafe, expect this to be pictureless and scatterbrained. I got to Ko Phi Phi and found my place and stuff with the help of a super nice Dive Master who I kind of friended on impact. This means, of course, I've been doing heaps more scuba diving, which is epic.
We went to Hin Duang and Hin Muang, Thailands 2nd best diving spot. I saw MANTA RAYS which were just so beautiful. It was amazing, and peaceful, and I really really love scuba diving. They were so huge and beautiful, and it was just awesome.
The next day, I went out to Maya bay, where they filmed the beach. It looks just like that, and may be more beautiful than milford sound. I loved it. The swimming was just so beautiful. I really do love Thailand.

Yesterday I decided to go back out scuba diving with new helpful DM friend. It was really a good time, and I'm thankful I went back to him, as other people that did the same sites hated it because they're DM sucked. We had a really good time, and got to scuba dive with SHARKS! I love sharks, I think they're amazing, and these were so cool. We did 3 dives, one wreck where I got to see Lion Fish, one pinnacle where I saw LEOPARD SHARKSSSS and one other place where there were heaps of black tip reef sharks, which was awesome.

The nightlife here has been fun, but not as nice as KohPhanGan. Either way, I did decide to stay here through new years instead of make the trek to the other side of the peninsula. After that who knows. but I have to go to class soon T.T
I think after that I'm going to try and get my divemaster cert, and possibly just fall back on the whole teaching thing.
We'll see.
Peace and love
EP

Sometimes its the journey

Night ferry set up
So since Koh Tao was a little played out, I decided to hop over the peninsula to Koh Phi Phi. The cheapest, and most efficient way of doing this is night ferry. This is a 10 hour ferry from Koh Tao to Suranthani. We get on, and its literally kind of set up like a slave ship with mattresses. Its just 2 lines of mattresses and pillows, and you lay down and call it home for the night. Fortunatly, I was sleeping next to a really fun group of people, so we spent our time playing cards and chit chatting. The best way of meeting people abroad is usually through modes of transport!
16 hours later, we finally made it to phi phi (read: this is a 45 minute flight!) and it was worth it ^.^v

Merry Christmas!

Snowmen!
Christmas Island style was surisingly pretty spectacular. I spent the day scuba diving, then ate a huge chistmas eve dinner with friends. Christmas day was spent day drinking on the beach, swapping stories, beers and making snow men. It was a fun, relaxing day and was enough to make me not miss home.

Advanced Open Water Certified!

Merry Christmas from Koh Tao! That’s right, I came back. I am so obsessed with Scuba diving that I decided to get my advanced open water. I know I say a lot of stuff, but I’m really serious about eventually becoming an instructor, and hopefully making a triumphant and permanent return to Koh Tao. The advanced course included 5 dives over 2 days. After meeting my group, which consisted of 4 boys and me, we filled out paperwork, went through the book and got to it. Our first dive was a 30m dive, to become deep certified. I had heaps of problems equalizing my ears, so the boys went off while I swam around with an instructor (who, thankfully, was also a girl). I saw the largest fish I have ever seen ( a grouper) and heaps of other really cool animals you don’t get at 18m. I was the only one to have troubles with this dive, and since I was the only girl, you could only imagine how much it pissed me off, but I got over it, and was ready for the next one. The next dive focused on Navigation underwater. Its tricky, since everything kind of looks the same and theres really no landmarks. After a descent, its really quite easy to get lost. We rocked it, and I was able to navigate with my buddies no problem. The final dive of the day was a night dive, which was fucking brilliant. Armed with only flashlights to see, we swam around. When you turn off the flashlight, the plankton reacts to movement and lights up, being easily, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. We also played some fish god, shining lights on little fish to watch massive barracudas eat them. MUNCH!

The last 2 dives were multilevel, and a fish id dive, but they were really just us swimming around and having fun. This class focused a little more on how to plan our own dives, and the last 2 we didn’t have an instructor, so made us independent divers.

Spending Christmas on Koh Tao was amazing~but I’ll write about that when I get to my next point~Koh Phi Phi! Night ferry ahoy!

Happy Holiday,
ErinJ

One Love People Get Ready - BOB MARLEY

Merry Christmas

Kind of a tropical christmas song

Merry Christmas

Kind of a tropical christmas song

Full Moon Party: Or who took my shoes

Standard
So if you are a relative~you should stop reading now. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Tuesday night was Koh Phangan’s famous full moon party. This is a party on the beach that sees 20-30 thousand travelers each month. This party is so intense, it kind of makes the hangover look tame.
All in all, I was staying in a dorm hostel so we all went out as a big group. We painted ourselves neon colors, and went out to get a bucket. Read: a bucket is a bucket of alcohol.

I would blog about it if I could, but for probably obvious reasons I cannot. Around 3am the beach turns into a complete rave. IT was completely mental. I woke up the next morning, with my shoes and shirt stolen (I had a bathing suit on) my hand taped and a card for a clinic taped to my head…..and I was one of the tame ones. Read: alls well that ends well, looks like my hands okay and if anything just stubbed my finger.

Kp Phan~awesome

So, I want everybody to think of the movie the beach, starring leo. Clean waters, pretty sands. Theres a part where they do the rice run and they all hate it? Thats the island I'm on, Ko Phan Ngan for the Full moon party! While the island is littered with beach side bungalows, as a solo traveler I opted to stay for a more social dormitory, and was pleasantly surprised! I walk in, and its literally a bar with one room on top of it with 16 beds. I walk in and it was awesome. Everybody was kind of excited to see me, and after introducing myself, we went to dinner and chatted. Theres a group of about 6 of us that all wanted to check out the full moon party, but not go alone. We ended up going to the beach that night, where buckets were in order, harassing swedes was protocol and trying to jump rope through fire was successful. I think today may include me recovering on the beach.....
Ugh, I don't want to take a class next month! I just want to conintue tooling around!

Scuba Scuba Scuba

Woot! I am officially a PADI licensed Open Water diver! I’m not going to lie, I’ve never given much thought to scuba diving before, nor was I even sure I was going to like it. However, now I’m obsessed. Scuba diving was something that came really naturally to me for whatever reason. It was also a ridiculously fun class to take. Kind of like school, but way, way better. The first day, we rolled into our first theory class. It was a fairly large class (Which has its advantages and disadvantages, but I ultimately chose it so I could meet people) . As we went around the classroom and introduced where we were from, I met up with somebody from UCONN. It was very exciting, and him, me and another American girl quickly became fast friends. The next day we learned skills in the pool, and were mostly getting used to breathing underwater. Your natural reaction covered in H20 is to hold your breath, but if you do that scubaing, you will die. This was a very long section, but it was interesting, and it was cool getting used to the equipment. We then went to another classroom theory session, which is kind of boring, but seeing as there is a written test you have to do it. The next day was our first DIVE. It was SO CRAZY COOL. It was actually kind of peaceful, floating around fishes and stuff. Its weird, cause I really don’t like fish that much, looking at them kind of grosses me out, but not underwater. We did two dives that day, and I am simply obsessed. That afternoon was followed by a really long classroom session, but our last one, where we took the final exam. Yesterday was our last few dives, where we were able to go deeper (18m~max depth for an open water cert) and saw sting rays and corals and schools of barracudas and it was epic. That night we got our temporary certificates, and celebrated as a class.
Insert tomfoolery and shenanigans of a German persuasion?
I woke up this morning and played with the idea of staying and getting my advanced cert, but decided to go to Ko Pha-Ngan for a few days and come back for it next week. I’m really excited for the advanced, and think I want to work hard and save up, and eventually be a dive instructor. Imagine being able to do this every day, on a beach in paradise? They’re living the dream here. I wish it didn’t cost so much, but I think I’ll be able to manage it. Maybe by the time I’m 25? New life direction!
I met so many ridiculously fun people in the class, and it was kind of like college. We all lived in the resort and ran around, eating meals and drinking on the beach together. I would highly recommend it, and even though I stayed at a huge facility (Ban’s diving) it was super professional, and turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Short on pictures, but huge on experiences!
Patience and faith,
ErinJ

Koh Tao

Forget Maine~THIS is the way life should be

BUy you beer buy me beer........

Sleeping!
So after waiting around and wasting time I finally was able to saunter down to the train station and get on my first Thai sleeper train. Let me preface this by saying that trains are my favorite type of transportation, and I would travel throughout the US a lot more if it was cheap and easy. This was fun train as well. Since it was headed to THE BEACH, it was full of foreign kids, and was kind of like a moving hostel. So we all sat back and chit chatted about our Thai experiences up to that point until somebody came and turned the seats that were facing each other into a bunk bed type deal. This worked out, and Hogwart’s express it wasn’t, but it was fun, and got the job done.
Thai trains are ALWAYS an hour late, which is good if you’re arriving at 4am and you’re bus is leaving at 6. This train decided to be the exception, cause I have shit luck, so I spent this weird layover thing talking to a German boy (who was very smart and very sexy may I add) and watching geckos climb up walls and eat mosquitoes on a platform of some backswords train station in the middle of bumfuck NOWHERE. The busses came, and brought us to the ferry. The ferry ride was amazing! SO beautiful, but then I got bored and took a nap.

Now I’m on Koh Tao which is supposedly the best place ever to get PADI certified (maybe cause its so cheap~I’m staying in a resort for free and my class only costs 300 dollars….I love my life), so that’s what I’m about to do. I am more than excited at the prospect of this, especially once we got to the island. If I thought Bali was pretty, I was wrong. This place is so beautiful I almost started to cry~and I don’t cry. Seriously, I walked around with a broken foot for a week and nothing. But I have to thank somebody that all of the events in my life conspired to make sure I ended up here. Simply. Amazing.
P+F
EP

DOn't worry, I'll get some nice pics of the beach up soon

Good bYe bAngKok!

Thank god,
Although I had a good time here (mainly to the running in with old friends) I'm glad to move on~and Excited! EP's agenda for the next week; Padi Certifications and Full moon parties. Don't worry gang, I'll be careful ^^

Bangkok is a great jumping off point to Thailand....but as Alex Garland (I think~writer of the beach...which EVERYBODY should read! ) said....Whats so fucking lonely about Khao San Road?

I'm also excited about my overnight train experience...hopefully its okay.

Patience, and Faith, even when listening to untravelled, over privledged 19 year olds...
ErinJ

Bangkookkk

Boat Trips in Bangkok
So after I rested up from the temple tour, I was lounging in the hostel skyping and such, when I realize on the big facebook, Anna writes 'last day in Bangkok" Remember Anna, from Xi'an, china? well, I do, and her and Dexter are the only people I know in Bangkok, so after some internet chatter we end up meeting up! STOKED. Anna nad Dexter are good friends to have, as not only are they well traveled, interesting, and fun, they are always, always up for getting at least a beer.
After getting some beer, I realize they're in bangkok for about as long as I am. We decide to meet the next morning for breakfast, coffee and a trip to the US embassay, "which should take no time at all" as I have to get some more pages taped in ( a fact that I'm quite proud of). Anna, being the brilliant traveler she is suggests that we take the boat down river, the train from there and walk, which is really the most efficiant way of doing it, and honestly, I'm so stoked for company at this point, I'm game. We walk towards the peir, getting coffee on the way (here they put Sweetened condensed milk instead of cream and sugar, and its gods gift to me, I swear. Try it. It. Is. Amazing.)
Bangkok Starbucks?

We take the boat down, get some shitty lunch, and are in a different part of bangkok and it is lame. I guess its a city, and people have to live and work somewhere, but this place sucks. We walk past richpeople land, with 4 seasons and prada stores, onto Embassay row, where we roll into the US embassay and they say its going to BE AN HOUR. for them to tape some pages in there! WHAT. We hang out in the embassay instead of exploring the park even though its reminiscent of the DMV. Why? Have you not been paying attention? AIR CONDITIONING PEOPLE. We end up going back to Khao Son Rd, getting thai massages, buying thai pants (read: loose pj pants which are acceptable to wear anywhere...I bought some with bells on them. BEST. DECISION. EVER) Eating bangin' Israeli food, walking etc. It was swell.
So, for quite possibly the most amusing stories of my travels so far
Then we start drinking, in the heat, on empty stomaches. So, background information, there are these old ladies, in bizzare hats, selling really fucking annoying wodden frogs that make frog noises. Its aweful. After a beer, I'm kinda annoyed but see this woman in a bright, weird hat. I have more than 10 cents on me, so convince her to sell me the hat and a frog for 6 usd (seriosuly, I found 6 usd in my pocket and gave it to her. Kinda ripped off, but I decided to make it WELL worth it). After more beer, I then continue up and down the streets, waiting for frog ladies. They're annoying, they come up to you in resturants, bars, wherever and try to get you. I wait until they're preying on people enjoying their beer and go up in my hat, with my beer and frog and try to get them to buy my frog. In the states I may have gotten punched in the face. Here, people were diggin' it. I made friends with the foreigners who thought I was insane, but a riot, and the Thais (especially the frog ladies) who thought i was crazy, but were into it after a while. Best. 6 bucks. EVER.
We went back to the truck bar in the street, which was awesome, and chatted with the owner,who was really great guy. He was super interesing (an engineer by day) and kinda living the dream. We said goodbye as anna had to wake up to catch a 6 am flight, which is sad. I loved seeing them again, but know that since we're all world walkers, this won't be the last time.
So thats my Bangkok experience. Not a lot of sight-seeing, but a lot of awesome.
I'm going to try to keep this blog rocking on a pretty regular basis, with details and shit (mostly so I can read them later and remember) and try to include hostel reviews, etc etc. So if theres anything you want to see more of, see less of, or anything else, comment or e-mail me, (all 5 of you that read this)
Take care,
ErinJ



Anna and I in front of our favorite bar in Bangkok~it was literally a truck in the street, run by the cooooolest people. Check out Gypsy's lips if you're ever in Bangkok!

Scenes from the back of a tuk tuk

Tuk Tukkk
So after a solid 16 hours of sleep, I bounced up this morning ready to go. I started walking to the palace, as apparently you have to see it in. I'm not going to lie, I'm at a point where I'm extremely indifferent to palaces, but I'm in Bangkok for a few days so had to kill time somehow. So as I'm wandering, I met a Israeli couple who are lost, and ended up walking around with them. We walk to the palace, and some guy is blathering on some bullshit that I caught onto, but couple didn't. Either way we ended up going on a "site-seeing" tour for 10 baht a person (read: 30 cents) cause, really, I wasn't doing anything anyway, so I may as well not do anything with people. So we went to a really large standing Buddha, which was okay, the "lucky Buddha" which was bloody lame and the marble temple, which I actually liked a lot. It was pretty, and a river ran through it and it was one of the nicer ones. We also went to a bunch of shops where they tried to get us to buy shit, but I honeslty didn't care because a) these places had bathrooms and b) they were airconditioned. I am shameless in the fact where I'll listen to somebody blather on about tailor made suits if I can do it somewhere that isn't 8432 degrees. This was only a 2 hour excursion, which was chill.

Buddah Buddah BUddah Buddah rockin' everywhere

We went to the Grand Palace afterwards, which was actually a pretty cool place. We rolled up, and they immediatly called me out for not wearing pants. Well no shit, its a trillion degrees in the SHADE by 9am, so I had to some long Thai pants. Assuming they would keep me cool, cause I mean, they do wear pants in the desert. Yeah, CAUSE THEY'RE CRAZY. Erin+Heat= ><

Either way, the palace was really kind of neat. This is apparently known for housing the "jade Buddha" which was small and underwhelming. The grounds themselves were amazing though, with really colorful, shiny halls and the like, and it was huge.
Grand Palace

The artwork was beautiful and I really liked it. I did Khmer arctitecture, and this was much nicer than the one in Phenom Phen. We decided we were too hot so walked to wat pho, which is known for its reclining Budd ah. It was huge, and once again, the grounds were pretty. The temples here are so colorful and use a lot of mirrors, so it looks shiney and reflecty and is overall, impressive in the sun.

Wat Pho

After this, I was a little watted out, as were my travel companions for the day, so we called it a day. After the most glorious cold shower of my life, and a nap, I bounced up for more pad thai~and I stand by my theory that it is in fact, the most delicious food ever. I also stand by all of my observations from yesterday. The thais were out in long sleeves and jeans today. I wanted to pass out just looking at them!

Guardians at the grand palace

Patience, Faith, and multi colored pants,
ErinJ

Bangkok!!

So I made it to Bangkok, and instead of exploring, I am sitting in my hostel writing to you people. but I did do a little walking around.
First off, I'm running on minimal sleep. Whats up Jetlag? I'm blaming that fact on the reason why I may have wandered 2 hours around nowhere I wanted to be, getting lost, even though I should have known that once I got over the river I was going the wrong direction. whatevs, I have nowhere to be, and nothing to do. I do already know that I want to get to the beach asap.
Without further ado: theres a few first impressions of Thailand

1) Thailand is HOT. I don't mean, oh dear, I'm glad I didn't pack a jacket hot. I mean physically hot, the type of hot that hides behind the door so that when you open it from your temperature controlled room it punches you in the face. Hard. The type of hot where if you aren't drinking a gallon of water an hour you start to feel ill. Not a fun hot, but a I'll do anything to not be outside even though everything is outside. Rough shit, which leads me to observation number 2

2) Thais are cold blooded. Without question. They're sitting outside in Jeans and long shirts and look okay. I'm about to pass out because I'm wearing socks. Its incredible. I don't know how they do it.

3) Pad thai may be the most delicious food of all time. Why I eat anything else is beyond me.

4) I love aircon so much

More to come,
EP

1 in 5 Americans have a passport.

A passport, as I'm sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between countries, so the officials can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly. ~Lemony Snicket

Korea

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/ghost-town-where-the-koreas-clashed

My friend Steve actually shared this, so I'm going to as well as I thought it was facinating. This is where the Koreas squared off. I guess I haven't addressed this particularly in this blog yet but this is quite unnerving. Although my friends in Korea don't seem as worried as the people here (as this time last year I was on the other side) but a big shout out to them to be safe, and if shit looks like its about hit the fan...run to Busan...or come play hin SEasia with me (^.^)v
Love you guys!

Erin J

Gutted.

future travel plans: 2012 London
2014: Brazil
2018: Russia?
2022: Qatar????

Leaving for Thailand in 10 days ^^

New WWW

YO! Starting SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY! I'm changing up, so erase epsheartinseoul.blogspot.com
and lets look for
erinwouthborders.blogspot.com
^^

Work in Progress

OBVIOUSLY its still really rough~but get ready for new blog: Erin without borders

RE~DO

Since I am no longer in Seoul~EPs heart in seoul is going to get switched around~~new name/url to come. ^^v

Big Trouble in Little China~Beijing

My final stop on my worldwind~2 week tour of china was beijing. After maybe the most ridiculous airplane ride of my life (No seriously~I assumed I was being filmed) I landed and quite easily made it into center Beijing. The first thing I noticed about this city is they are not screwing around with public transpo. It is amazing. Fast, reliable and extremly efficient, the rest of the world should visit and take note. Since I got to beijing latish, I just kind of lazed around in the hostel, and this was a fairly good hostel to do it.

Bad picture of a lame place.


The next day I rented a bike to cruise around the city. Since there are lanes specifically for bikes, cruising was a non issue, even though you have to go through security to go through Tiennamen square and i got yelled at (Shocker......) it was still kind of cool. I ended up going to the Forbidden city, which should be renamed to the overhyped city. People kept telling me it'd take all day, yadda yadda. I made it my mission and marched through this place. Its essentially a huge palace, which is awesome at first until you realize its building after building of the same type of thing. i did think the audio-tour was awesome. Automated GPS maps? WOAH.




Bored of the circus that was the Forbidden City I biked down not too far away to the temple of heaven. This was spectacular. IT was a huge, quiet park that you could just walk around. Although the Temple of Heaven its self was not as big or obnoxious as the Forbidden City, I thought it was pretty in its simplicity. Lots of colors, very neat. I liked it.



Great Wall


The next day was a heavy hitter. The hostel I was staying in, (Leo) offered a tour that I just decided to take. We drove a few hours north of Beijing proper, past the touisty wall up to a random piece. Little known fact: The wall is HUGE. Like, could wrap around the earth twice huge, so theres heaps of places where you can hike it that doesn't have cable cars and loads of fat tourists. We were able to hike 7 guard towers~or about 3 to 5 km....UPHILL. The wall literally was on top of the mountain range, and followed it up and down. It was a rough climb, but worth it to say you did. Overall it was a fun day with people from the hostel, and one i won't soon be forgetting.

The following day I walked forever. Quite literally. I tried to walk up to a park since I read that you could get a view of the Forbidden City, and I thought that'd be cool. Since Beijing may be the most polluted city in the world it as like looking out on a foggy day. The visibility was nothing and it was all in all a waste of time. THe park was so busy with tour groups and other annoying tourists who thought they owned to place, so I kept walking.
See? Gross

Llama Temple


I made it to an awesome street whos name now escapes me, but the shopping her was cool, and it was just a really nice street. It was kind of reminiscent of something in Europe. After picking up a few things as gifts and walked to the Llama temple, which was a really huge Buddist temple, the largest in Beijing. Tired of temples yet? ONce again, it was expansiive and very beautiful, and had a buddah that was carved out of a tree, which was cool. But since this is Beijing, there was approximatly 1432463 people there, it got old so after admiring it, I rolled out, and kept walking.

Water Cube!

I ended up seeing something I was really excited for~olympic park. I remember how awesome it was to watch the 2008 olympics, and how important the Birds nest and Water cube were, so seeing them was awesome. After they were lit up, they were spectacular, and although I didn't get to go in them, it was spectacular. I really liked just being there. I ate some funky food, but not the chickens with their heads still on them. on sticks. It was cool to see though.

My last day I was lazy. I really just lounged around, and then walked to the infamous night market. You think market, and street foods and acky souveniers comes to mind, but remember, We're in China bitch. Weird Street food was an inderstatement, unless you're used to eating such things as live scorpions and seahorss. Seeing as most things get me sick, I didn't try it, and don't regret it.

Star fish anybody?


There was a lot I liked about Beijing (and China in general) and a lot I disliked. I'm anxious to get back and see Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tiger Leaping, and Tibet; but China is no place I could ever live. My friend summed it up pretty well; China has everything the 1st world has, and some of it is even better, but they still have a 3rd world mentality, which is weird.Quite seriously, it was hard to believe that this is one of the most developed countries in the world. i think the theings that made it quirky and funny would drive me bonkers if I was there for more than a onth at a time. Overall though, China was a top notch, premium experience, and you should try to go.

Patience, faith, and TsingTao,
ErinJ

Big Trouble in little china~Chengdu

After Xi'an I flew down to Chengdu (due to time constraints, there was a lot of flying~next time I'll take the train). After finding the hostel, no problem thanks to a smack in the head from a bus driver, I met up with a few people I met in Xi'an. They took the train, and had a snaffoo that an extremely kind couple was willing to help them out with, which was lucky for us. They, being Chinese, were able to get us all to a really awesome hot pot restaurant and order for us. The food in Sichuan is spicy (foods from different provinces in China are all different) but delightfully so. Here, they boil a type of soup at your table, where you boil your meat or vegetables (Think SHabu-Shabu style) in the broth, and then dip them into a peanut sauce. You never actually drink the soup, its just a broth the cook the vegetables in. This was my favorite meal in China, it was so flavorful and delicious! It was also nice chatting with people, and talking to Chinese people about traveling their country. That night was Halloween, which goes without explanation. Yummmm

The next day I woke up early to go to the Panda Sanctuary~China's largest. We went early because apparently pandas only like being awake for 15 minutes a day so we had to make sure we were there for it. Nothing was really labeled so it was just a zoo with red pandas and regular pandas, including the cutest baby pandas ever, until you got to the movie that explained how pandas reproduce and it is ridiculous. They need help, can't do it themselves because they don't want to. Then the baby is born and they slap at it. They deserve to be extinct. After that we went through the creepiest museum ever which was just a bunch of stuffed animals in behind glass. Since this was a tour through a hostel I hung out with a lot of people and made a few friends, which would prove to be useful the following day.

Cute Panda Bearsss

After the bear sanctuary we walked around the city, seeing as Chengdu isn't a place you spend a lot of time in, so we tried to get everything done, which proved to be easy. We saw the largest Mao statue in China, and another Temple, the Wenshu Temple. THis one was also nice and quiet, a cool retreat from a bustling city (Chengdu is china's 5th largest). It was also a huge complex which was nice to walk around.
The garden in Wenshu


After walking around, it was dinner time, where we thankfully ran into some more people from the hostel who spoke Chinese. We went to a restaurant where we (and by we, I mean they) asked for recommendations and we ate a variety of foods, including Peking duck and beef stomach, but they were all delicious, although some were extremely spicy.

The next day was one I was really looking forward to. Angel, a Chilean boy I met in a hostel and I decided to go to Leshan, which is known for being home of the world's largest Buddha. We went down to the bus station, which was a cluster fuck, to get into a van with some Chinese people until to van stopped on the side of the street 10km from where we wanted to be. Some chinese guy started yelling at us to get into a cab, and against our better judgement we jumped in, as we had no other way to get where we wanted to be. A 15minute taxi ride and we were at the entrance to the park. We walked around, admiring the Buddha's before climbing a mountain to get to what we were there for. After turning a corner you see a head.


Not just any head, but a head 10 times the size of you, which is just ridiculous to see. You slowly climb down a set of stairs that wrap down the cliff that the Buddah is built into until you get to the bottom and can do nothing else but look up and wonder how people hundreds of years ago were able to do it.
Theres me just as a frame of reference

That night was my last night with friends, so we made it count, which is something I would pay for greatly on my flight to beijing the next day.

Chengdu:a city worth visiting, but no place I'd like to go back to. That being said, I met a lot of people and did have a great time. I stayed in an interesting, although at the end of the day a decent hostel. Recommended: The Mix Hostel, Chendu. Althought the bathroom situation was a little sketchy at best, all in all a fun place to be.

Patience, Faith, and lots of chile peppers,
ErinJ and co.

Big trouble in Little China~Xi'an

So October 23rd, my Friend Fiona, her friend Kym and I all met at the airport. Let the games begin! We were on our way to Xi'an, China, best known for terracotta warriors and being the capital of old china and the end of the silk road. We got there around 8pm, and settled into a great hostel. We ate dinner and called it a night.
Playing in the bell tower!

The next day was raining, and since all the stuff we wanted to do required Mr. Golden Sun, we walked around Xi'an. The city has a center point, which is their Bell tower, and a drum tower. Both are fairly large, and seeing as this was my first Chinese experience I was pretty stoked on it. We listened to some old school (Tang dynasty) bell music and ran around both towers, which we cool, but I couldn't tell you anything about them as everything was in Chinese. After that, we decided to check out the Muslim quarter, a street of shopping and food for lunch. we ate some delicious although greasy street food, and walked around some more, and generally hung out.

The pagoda


The next day we continued being busy by gong to the Temple of 8 immortals. There was something important about this place, but I can't remember what it was, and wasn't overly impressed by it. We walked to the city wall and took a walk around it for a while, but seeing as it encompasses the entire city wall, and seeing as it was -432 degrees outside, we quickly gave up in search for hot chocolate. After dinner that night we ended up going to the Big Goose Pagoda for the light and water show which was actually really cool with the Pagoda lit up behind it.

Jing Di's lil' army

The next day we woke up early to go to the tomb of JingDi~which is another old famous Chinese emperor. We was buried with all of his stuff, in addition to a small army. The army itself was large in number but small in stature. Hope he didn't see anything big in the afterlife. This was actually a really cool place, and they're working on it. It was a large compound underground. Some parts had glass plating on it so you could walk over it.
After this we went to the folk village to see how Xi'anites lived long ago. They were probably cold.
That night was Kym's birthday, so we celebrated in style and class...sort of. It was fun.
Doorways in the folk village

The next day was less exciting. We went to a museum, and decided we were tired so went back, took a nap, ate a little, and watched movies in the hostel. I do like relaxing days ^.^b

Warriors!

Thursday was the big one. This day we went to see the Terracotta warriors! We made friends with a bunch of people in the hostel and the group of us set off together. After an hour+ on a bus, we were dropped off in a lot, ate some breakfast and moved on. We got in, and hiked up to the actual warriors site. We watched a movie circa 1972 about what the warriors are (For those that don't know~watch more history channel! There is an entire clay army underground in China, its wild.) We heard from somebody in the hostel to do the pits in reverse order, so we started with pit 2. Which was nothing. LAME. We went to pit 3, where there were 4 horses and headless warriors. LAME. Then we went to pit 1, which is housed in an aircraft carrier. You walk in, and once you get through the crowds you see hundreds of warriors all lined up. Its actually really cool to see at first. The coolest thing is that they are all different, so they were modeled after that real army at the time. Really neat. We walked throughout this complex, which is huge, before starting the adventure back home.
With a warrior

Misty Mountain tops

Friday we went out EARLY with Anna and new Norwegian friends, to run around and try and find a bus at 7am to Hua Shan; one of china's 5 sacred mountains. We got there, and immediately started the ascent since we were on a time limit to catch the bus. It was quite the climb. We climbed stairs and hills all day. We climbed up 90 degree slopes and stairs. We met a Chinese guy about half way up the north peak and continued up with him, making jokes about how the Norwegians were already at the top. It was a hard climb, maybe the hardest I've ever done! After we got to the north peak, we decided to continue another 2+ hours up to the west peak. I've never quit anything really in my life, but I was sure thinking of it. It was brutal, and we were hungry and tired. I made it to the top a few minutes behind my friends, and then we had to sprint back down the mountain to make the last bus, which we did, and eat more delicious street food than necessary. Mmmmm meat on a stick.

Hikers and Ivan, our Chinese friend

Mosque


Saturday was our last day together, as we all went separate ways Sunday. Fiona and Kym went to see the Pandas, but since I was going to do that in Chengdu, I opted out for a stroll around the city. i went with Dexter and Anna to the great mosque, which was a nice, peaceful place in the city. There is a really large Muslim population in XI'an, as seen in their food and beliefs. The mosque was a really relaxing place, and a lot larger than I expected. After that we walked to DAIRY QUEEN. Exciting! We then spent the last night on the roof, drinking, eating, talking and general merriment before going to see a Tang Dynasty show. I thought this was hokey, but it was kind of neat to see how they danced a long time ago. We ate more street food for dinner, after making friends with a tour guide. all in all it was a nice night, and a great week.

I really like hanging out in Xi'an, and it was a good way to ease into China. All in all it was a great week.
Next: EP in Chengdu, and Beijing!
Patience and Faith,
ErinJ


Friends

Ep without Borders

Heyyyy team.
I just got back stateside! ^.^ Look for a re-done blog soon, complete with EP in CHINAAAA

They're sharing a drink called lonliness, but its better than drinking alone...

So tonight is my last night in my beloved apartment. If the job was easier, I'd probably stay here forever. The apartment actually has none of my things in it, as my bags are dispersed among my friends until I return from China. Tomorrow night, ANdrew will be here, living my life, in my apartment, with my kids, doing what I do. Its weird to think about.
Although I'm so excited for the next few years, I have a solid lifestyle, iwth routines and friends here that its going to be really hard to leave in a few weeks. And I know, I know, I can always come back; and I know that although I'm going ot hold onto it, once I make the cut I'll be okay; but it'll never quite be the same. I guess thats life, but now I'm not sure if I'm willing to let it go.
This year has been amazing for me. I've met some of the greatest people, hiked up temples in angkor, surfed in Bali, crossed Shibuya, and immersed myself into the Korean culture. I'm a martial artist and a teacher. I know I'll do just as well in Thailand (at least I hope) and I know its part of he expat game to shuffle around. but I just don't want to leave stupid Beomgye, Anyang.
So heres to the memories, in this apartment, in this town, in this country. I will truly miss it.

안녕, Anyang. At least we'll always have the pole in slang.

Patience, Faith and new Beginnings,
ErinJ

This ain't goodbye

Korea has taught so much. So much about adapting, asia, cultures, teaching and myself. But last night, as we had to keep pulling tables together as people kept joining my going away party, I realized a lot about friendship.
This year I've been sad that my friends from CT haven't been around, doing that thing where you say "Well if blank and blank were here..." And everybody does it.
And this year has taught me how important it is to hang on to the people that are important to you, and that the effort is worth it. some people will have your back and love you forever, regardless of where you are, or what you choose to do, or if you can't remember the last time you saw them.

But last night, as I looked around the table of people I've met in the last year, people from school, from the bar, people from tops of mountains, my TaeKwonDo instructors, and Brad from the airport I realized that some of these people are my best friends, and some are my family. and when one of them said "if we break Erin's other leg she'll have to stay" I realized how truely blessed I am, that I have people from so many backgrounds, from all over the world that love me.

I watched as they talked with eachother with ease, like they have all known eachother forever, even though most had met that night and their only common link was me, and their love of adventure. It was weird, since in CT I was always so careful to keep my separate groups apart, but here it was nothing for all the people I know to interact as if they were all friends already. And I guess they kind of are. this is one of the 3242 reasons why I love being an expat.

I know I'll meet other people that are going to be amazing, and I know that its time to move on and do other things, but the only thing thats keeping me from canceling flights and staying here is the fact that at least I know that my friends are mobile. So although it took everything not to burst into tears at the bar last night, I know that this simply will not be the last time I see you.

Patience, Faith and a plane ticket....
ErinJ

Chuseok at the Folk Village

So On actual Chuseok (Thanksgivingish) day, we jumped on a subway to end up at the Namsongol Folk village, with seemingly the rest of KOrea. Seriously, it was busy, but fun. we walked around, and saw what old school Korean villages looked like (If old school Korea had thousands of tourists) There were some shows and stuff. Honestly, even if I took the time to read anything it was mostly in Korean, or long and there was a steady flow of tourists. It was cool to get out, and there were heaps of children in traditional clothing, which is oh-so-cute. There were some neat games going on, which was the most interesting.
Patience, Faith and a few hanbocks
ErinJ

Something to think about...

When youre foolishly being competetive.. You have no energy to be creative

-_-

So after a really solid night, after a really solid week;
what if I'm making an aweful mistake saying goodbye to a country and a group of friends that, for the first time in my life, I feel at home with?

서울타워~~Seoul Tower

The tower

Over the CHuseok holiday, Steve and I decided to check out N.Seoul tower, since neither of us had been up there and we had nothing better to do. We got off at seoul station, and me, thinking that everything else is within a few minute walk from the station, thought we would be there. Thats a lie. You have to climb a MOUNTAIN. well, its not that big, but still recovering from broken foot land, it was pretty intense. We climbed said mountian, with seemingly every Korean in the country. mountain climbing in Korea is always an event, and this was no exception.

We got to the top, and got our tickets and walk around waiting for our turn to go up. At the top there are heaps of locks of Seoul's couples who lock their love there and throw away the key. They're Seoulmates!
Locks with no keys

We went to the of the tower, where you can see all of Seoul. Like Tokyo tower from february, nothing makes you feel smaller than looking at the 3rd largest metropolitan area in the world. i know Seoul pretty intimatly, so it was kind of cool being able to pick out the neihborhoods that I spend my weekends wandering through, trying to pick out where friends live and wondering how a city so intense, can be so simple.
Its not pretty, but it is home

With STeve in a mirror.

We got our fill of it, and started back down the mountain, where we stopped to watch the Sunset over Seoul.


It made me realize that although I've had a rough last few months, and Seoul and I are currently in a love-hate realationship, after I leave, I'm going to miss it desparatly. It IS home, as much as CT would be. SOme of my best friends in the WORLD are here, and I'm going to be devastated when I leave. I know I should move on, and I know I'll be thankful at somepoint when I do, but it is going to be heart breaking to say goodbye.

Patience and Faith,
ErinJ