The streets of Saigon have been eerily quiet the past couple days. Most of the city’s residents have gone to their hometowns and the ones that have stayed are busy eating and drinking with their families in their houses. I headed out to District 1 on New Year’s Eve to see downtown after dark. Although …
So, I’m back in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, to be exact. Got an apartment. Got a cell phone. Got travel insurance. Got plenty of TUMS. Got a helmet. What I don’t got is a plan. Or blood pressure meds, which I’m starting to think that I’ll need to simply cross …
Christmas is a holiday that has always been widely celebrated, but it seems that only recently have many countries started to celebrate it on the same scale as we do in the West. The concepts of a commercialized Christmas are even starting to pop up in predominately Muslim nations like Turkey. It’s interesting to witness …
One never really appreciates their own culture until they spend some time away from it. Well, that’s the case for me, at least. As sad as I was to leave Korea, it had been 18 months since I had been home and I was eager to be with my family and friends. I was even …
Well, my laziness got the best of me my last few months in Korea. I stayed so busy trying to see people and places and saying goodbyes and shopping for souvenirs that I put the blog on the back burner. It was a farewell that left my stomach in knots and although I continued to …
Disclaimer: Before I write this, I should note that I rarely write about my personal life but I thought this was a story worth mentioning. Some parts of it are quite comical, as many meet-the-parents stories are, but please know that I am in no way offending or belittling the mentioned aspects of Korean culture. …
Whenever I tell friends and family at home about my adventures overseas, they usually go on and on about how much they would like to travel and do similar things. When I ask them why they don’t, they always give me the same answer: it’s too expensive. Well, I’m here to say that that explanation …
Smart phones and hand-held media devices are all the rage these days. And what’s not to love about them? They combine everything you could possibly need into one device. In addition to offering telecommunication and entertainment services, they have also changed traveling as we know it. These days, there is no longer a need for …
So, you’re going to Korea. For a year. What do you bring?? You’ll get different answers based on who you ask, but I’ve compiled what I believe are the essentials to living in the Land of the Morning Calm. (Please keep in mind that this is from a female’s perspective on living in Seoul. If …
Just as I thought my lucky streak was wearing off, I got a phone call last week notifying me that I had been chosen to attend the premier of “Annyeong” (“Hello”), an interactive movie promoting Korean tourism featuring the members of 2PM and miss A. It came as a bit of a surprise to me, …