Huge Update - Hi Mom!

Vietnam

Time has been flying by on this trip. I haven’t even had time to relax, send emails really, or even do schoolwork haha. Ive been to Vietnam and China and today I am a day outside of Japan. Its so unreal that I have been to all of these places, South Africa seems like years ago when really it was only a month or something like that.

So here is an update on what was Vietnam.

First day in Vietnam was spend traveling around Ho Chi Mihn City. We rented out a couple of rickshas, which are these guys on bikes with seats on the bike for someone to sit in. These things ended up being a total rip off because they way overcharged at the end and that turned into a verbal argument between me, Rob and Mark vs these three little Vietnamese men haha. I think they were intimidated big time because we paid what we wanted..not what they wanted. We went to a Vietnam war museum which totally pissed me off. It was just bashing the US with this propaganda bs about how we tortured all of their people and they were total victims, which is an absolute lie. Enough of that though haha

That night we hopped on an overnight bus to Nha Trang which is a small little beach town about 8 hours away. This overnight bus was absurd. Imagine 5 car seats stuck together in a row laying down with a 2 foot ceiling right over your head. The most uncomfortable thing I have ever traveled on. Nha Trang was very relaxing. We spend a day at the hot springs spa type thing, which was a total tourist trap..luckily it was only 5 bucks. It wasn’t even natural hot springs, they just filtered the water into these baths. It sucked. We first had to take a mud bath, then shower, then take a hot spring bath. Mind you I was with 2 other dudes, probably the gayest thing I have ever done. The nightlife there was a total backpacker enviorment. Super cheap beers everywhere and these very small overpacked pool bars, it was a really cool scene. I had never really scene the backpacker scene before. Just so many people brought together from so many countries.

Next day was spent snorkeling on a fishing boat haha. Not the nicest of boats but I did snorkel, I saw coral, and I got to jump off of these tall boats. We also went to a private beach that was really beautiful. I think that this place is going to jump off with tourists because they seem like they are building by the billions of dollars. New hotels and resorts on every island. Keep a look out for Vietnam, the new vacation capital haha.

We then took the same 8 hour bus back but during the day, then spend the next 2 days back in Ho Chi Mihn City. The city was great, everyone very helpful and nice. I was very pleasantly surprised. Overall very happy with the country and my time there, I mean I probably wont be going back ever but Im glad I was there once.


Now onto China

Ok so this going to be a HUGE blog, Ive procrastinated doing this for such a long time and its just building and building up. Ive been through a lot of countries in the past month. China, Japan, Hawaii, and now I have Guatemala in 2 days. Also finals are going on so its been a packed packed month. So here we go

China
I started off China in Hong Kong – while I was there it was the biggest rugby tournament in the world, it was called the Rugby 7’s. I only had 1 night in Hong Kong, but it made a huge positive impression on me. It was a beautiful city at night with an unbelievably colorful skyline. Every night in Hong Kong the skyscrapers have a light show with lasers and the building had lights all over them. It was very impressive. After that I headed towards the Great Wall.

It was only on the way to the Great Wall that I realized how communist of a country China is. It seemed like people didn’t even have personalities. The government controls everything in China, phones, tv, and internet. There is no source of information that is not scanned beforehand by the government. Beijing was also a very impressive city. Very well established buildings, but not as huge of a skyline. I went to the Forbidden City, old Beijing, and The Temple of Heaven during my time in Beijing. They were like palaces and religious monuments that were built during the ancient times of China. They were cool at first but eventually got super repetitive so by that time I was ready for the Great Wall.

The Great Wall was totally enormous. It just kept going on and on, as far as the eye could see literally. The pictures that I got are unreal because you can just see the wall wind and flow through the mountains for what seems like forever. I never thought that I would get to a place like that in my life so it was almost a surreal feeling being there. I mean Ive read about it countless times but to actually be there was unbelievable, it was very comparable to the Taj Mahal. I would put them both on the same level of architectural greatness that I have seen on this trip.

Japan

Places don’t get more fun than Japan. I have come to the realization that I am a city dweller at heart. Tokyo was pack to the brim with people, I honestly believe 1,000 more people and that place is just gonna explode. When work got out at 5 the streets were mobbed. Barely anyone drives because there are people everyone and the train system is sooo high teck and easy to use. I rode it basically every day there to go shopping, eat, drink, sleep.

Obviously I did karaoke one night and naturally I had the mic for a few songs and yes I was absolutely terrible. It was so fun, we rented out a private room with unlimited beers and our own sound system overlooking the city streets. Now if that’s not Japanese culture I don’t know what is. But just like every other country there is always a misinformed part about the bill. I am pretty sure we paid way too much for that little karaoke event but whatever it was worth it.

Best part of my entire trip right here – right outside of our hotel window, which was one of the tallest buildings in the are, we could see a soccer field on the rooftop of the building next to us. The Adidas Futsol park. Adidas has built this futsol park right on top of this building. Luckily two of my best friends are soccer players like me and we headed over there one day. These locals were so nice, they got us dressed up in this sick adidas gear, shirt, shorts, socks, shoes, whole 9 yards for like 5 bucks. They didn’t even charge us for the field. We got to play against the locals anddddddd we got smoked. They were unreal, their footskills were nothing like I have ever seen. I want these fellas on my Framingham State team, and this goes to my fellow Rams, I know where that Japanese kid from Salem got his skills from, im pretty sure these dudes were much better than him. That good.

Sushi – unreal – I actually stayed in one of the largest fishing areas in all of Japan, fresh fish coming in every day. I went to a rotating sushi bar every day, $1.30 a plate and it was all you can eat. It was a dream come true and I know my mom is going to be jealous when she reads this haha. Mom you better get to making your own! Haha and Mom you need to get to Japan to try this sushi, its worth it..100%

I didn’t spend my entire time in Japan though, we went to the old capitol city to see the China Blossoms which luckily happen to be blooming right when we were visiting and we also got to see the ancient Japanese architecture. It was great to see where Japan came from then see where it has gone aka Tokyo.

All in all Im pretty sure Tokyo takes the cake for best place on the trip – better than Bangkok. It just had so much going on and they are soo good are working their systematic day to day life. I wouldn’t mind teaching English there for a year or something after college, that’s just a dream though, I don’t know if im ready for that yet haha. Maybe with a solid girl or a best buddy I could, but no way on my own, that would be overwhelming.

Hawaii
Short and Sweet to say the least – I got to surf which was awesome, I did better than expected but nothing special. The locals were kind of dicks to us newbie surfers but I knew it was going to be like that before I got there, they are a territorial breed I guess. But my friend Amelia who is from there, she is on the boat, was nothing short of amazing to us. She opened her house for all of us to stay there, it was a house with a pool, directly on the beach. Then we had a keg party for her birthday that night, so that was a lot of fun.

I attempted to sky dive but my jump got cancelled – big bummer. I guess the wind was serious and some dude broke his back on the landing a little while before. I decided not to go back and try it out because I still wanted to surf. Ill do it one day, maybe in Vegas for my birthday celebrating it over winter break…wink wink Mimi and Gino haha

Sorry for the serious delay on this blog but its been a busy time. The trip is winding down so ive been studying a little bit but enjoying the rays and boat life just a little bit more haha.

Miss everyone back home and I cant wait to see my family and friends real soon!

Until next time
Dean