Hi! So this won't be too long of a blog- I'm going to try to get as much down as I can while we're waiting for the bus to come grab us for our practice. We are now in Hanoi, Vietnam. Everyone is friendly, and most of them are VERY aggressive when trying to sell you stuff. One lady was trying to sell me a fan, and I said no probably 20 times, yet she kept hitting my arm with the fan and was telling me I could get 2 for 50,000 dong (a little less than 3 dollars) which is a really high price here for what she's trying to sell me! I did, however, buy a few things in the shops we went to- but I'm not going to say what they are since some of them are presents!!!!

We ate at Moca Cafe today for lunch- Gretta and I shared a cashew chicken dish, along with white rice and green tea for me. Sarah got a coconut, and we all tried some of the milk as well as the fleshy part. It was pretty good, but I don't think I could eat a whole one. Thus far I've liked Vietnam more than Thailand, but I haven't seen much of Thailand!

Last night for dinner we ate at a seafood restaurant- things like coconut shrimp, octopus, some mystery meat we don't know, and egg rolls. People have been getting really cranky.

I have to go so I'll write more later!

We are here in Assumption University- having another day of kinda-rest before we get to travel tonight to Vietnam. Yesterday- after eating lunch and walking around a bit (getting a lot more photos) we went swimming in one of the pools here on campus. It was so amazing feeling! Afterwards we were walking back, with people walking by complaining about the heat, while we just enjoyed our cooler state! We're thinking of going again today.

Last night a small group of about 15 of us went to Lotus- pronounced Lota- and went shopping/peoplewatching. Lotus is similar to a Walmart or Kmart, only here in Thailand. I went to buy a camera memory card as well as a big bottle of water. We aren't allowed to drink the water here, or even use it to brush our teeth since chances are we'd get sick off it. I tried to use the memory card, but it doesn't work with my camera, so I went to bring it back. 5 people ended up trying to help me, none of them speaking English. The manager said something to me, but I said "I only speak english"'; she imitated me, then laughed...then said nothing else to me. It was strange.

After returning it I went to Home Pro- similar to Home Depo or Lowe's. That was where the people watching went on. There were about 3 employees in each section, and since it was close to closing time they were all sitting around. They stared at me as I walked by, every one of them! Or some of them would look at my feet, which made me wonder if something was falling off them or something, so multiple times I checked to make sure I had shoes on.

It is strange being in a country where you are a rarity, especially when I've always been part of the majority. Although, thinking about it later, they were probably staring at all my freckles- I wouldn't doubt if they've never seen that many.

After getting back I literally passed out on the bed. When I woke up in the morning I hadn't moved. It's interesting- after staying up for as long as I have been my body is already set to this time zone. Gretta didn't even wake up when I came back in, opening our squeaky door 4 times!

To get to Lotus we had taken a taxi. INSANE! There are no seatbelts. They do not follow the law, nor the speedlimit. The speedlimit was 25 km/hr, but our driver was going 120 km/hr, up to about 140 at one point. One of the things that cracked me up though was that even though they're driving like crazy people, they still use their blinkers. There are stray dogs everywhere- since it is illegal to kill dogs, and they don't want to waste the money to spay or neuter them. We almost hit a couple driving to Lotus, then almost stepped on one walking in.

I haven't gotten sick thus far, for which I am extremely thankful. We haven't really had much foreign authentic food yet, we've just been eating the stuff the University and the airlines give us. Apparently the first day we got here 3 or 4 people were sick. I'm dreading when it's my turn to get sick :(

Taipei, Taiwan!

We've arrived safely in Taipei! After a 12 hour bus drive, 12 hour plane flight (boarded at 3 AM Bozeman time), and losing a day (Saturday) in the time change! We are now waiting for the next flight to Bangkok, boarding at 8:30 and arriving at about 11 AM. Apparently today is a day to rest and recoup, before we start practices tomorrow. It is 7:15 AM here now, but my body feels like it is about 5 PM. Kinda weirding me out! So as a result, over the last 2 days I've gotten about 8 hours of sleep...which isn't too horrible considering!

I've only taken one picture thus far, so I'm going to wait a bit longer to load at least a few on. I just bought a journal, so I will be able to actually remember what happened each day! It has many Chinese paintings and writings in it, as well as some proverbs!

It is hot and humid even here in the airport where there is air conditioning. What we've seen of the plant life is blooming, and only a few white birds that I don't know what they are (I'd guess seagulls). I may have seen some whales or dolphins when we were flying in- I was looking down at the water and would see something come up out of it every few minutes as well as the white water.

I have wonderful news! My brother (who is a saint and letting me borrow sooo much stuff for asia) was able to find the cable to get the camera connected to the computer!!! So I should be able to get at least a couple of photos on here...that is supposing of course I am able to figure out how to work it
:-)

I am very sorry to those of you that will be expecting to be able to view pictures...we cannot find the cable so I won't be able to put them on :( I am very sorry! But I am going to try to write as much as I can of what's going on!

And it is coming inevitably closer! But first, the 12 hour bus ride, followed by a 13 hour flight. Who wouldn't be excited? It should be...fun though. I'm told we will be playing spoons. I hope not the entire time.

Here is the website our assistant conductors and director made- it shows a couple of the hotels we'll be staying in, as well as giving other info!

http://msuasiatour.org/index.html

Voila! Enjoy!!!