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Well, I am back in Chicago.

It was a long trip-leaving the Montien Hotel at 5pm on Monday and arriving to my apartment 31 hours later. The journey included a flight to Seoul, which turned out to be the easiest part of the journey, since I was randomly upgraded to business class due to a "family situation" that required my original seat. Then, after a five hour lay-over in South Korea, I boarded the last flight of this journey (I think there were 14 total).

Being home has been strange. I am filled with all of these amazing stories, but I have not yet found an outlet...I will be excited to start working on my curriculum project, since I believe it will be a way for me to "get out" everything I've bottled up from the trip.

I miss Thai food a great deal. It has been a bummer preparing my own food, specially when it is time to eat it and there is no Tom Yum soup.

The heat has also been interesting, it has been crazy hot in Chicago-maybe I brought the weather from our time in Hanoi back with me! The biggest difference is the lack of air conditioning in my apartment, it has been hard to get over my jet lag because of the heat.

All-in-all, I can't yet say that it is good to be back, since the trip was so amazing and I wish it could have lasted forever, but I can say it feels like I am home--which, if I have to be somewhere besides Thailand, is a pretty nice place to be.

Building strong leg muscles across Thailand

One of the most interesting things about traveling is getting to experience something a daily event, but in a different way. Going to the bathroom, for example, can lead to some surprising differences in different countries.

In Thailand, there are many places that have western style toilets, which is what are used in the United States. Many times, instead of toilet paper, you are expected to use a small spray device located on the side of the toilet to clean yourself off. If you want toilet paper, you should carry a small package just in case. In tourist areas, toilet paper is often available.

There are also many locations that, instead of western toilets, have traditional Thai toilets. These are ground level, requiring you to stand on the porcelain foot rests on the side of the bowl and squat. Then, you are to use the water available to clean yourself. When finished, you use a small bucket or bowl and fill it with water. A few containers full of water “flushes” the toilet.

As a camper, I am pretty good at the balance and strength, as well as the clothing maneuvering, necessary for the traditional style toilet. However, while at one Thai truckstop during a short restroom break I was struggling with some some major stomach issues, and, boy-oh-boy, I wished for a western style toilet. Overall, however, I don’t really mind either option—but I do much prefer the use of toilet paper as my means of clean-up. Enough said.

Eating the Thai way

I’ve always wondered how I should eat curry…I mean, if you eat with a fork it is hard to get all the liquid up and the spoon was always reserved for soup. The Thai people use the spoon and fork differently, which provides a nice solution for this curry dilemma. In fact, overall it seems like an easier way to eat!

While here, I’ve been eating with a spoon in my right hand and a fork in the left. The fork is then used to push desired food onto the spoon, which is then eaten. Overall, this process calls for less switching of utensils and an overall better experience with running foods.

Five Stars

For the last weekend of our incredible five week adventure, we are at the beach in Hua Hin, Thailand and staying at the beautiful Dusit Thani Resort.

My room overlooks the beach, a lagoon, and several pools. After sleeping late, I enjoyed an incredible breakfast of fresh fruit and made to order eggs. Then, I spent the entire morning and afternoon first at the beach and then the pool. As I enjoyed my time in the sun, resort employees made sure we had enough water and new towels. I ate an excellent poolside meal and enjoyed more reading time by the pool.

I am now getting ready to meet other Fulbrighters to head to town for a stool through the night market and eat some dinner.

Overall, after five weeks in Thailand and Vietnam, I am proud to say that I finally know what people are raving about in terms of Thai beaches. This place is heaven on earth!

Saying “see you later” is hard

Today is Saturday. I am scheduled to get on a plane, first headed to Seoul and then to Chicago, on Monday night. The thought of leaving absolutely stinks, and I am going to avoid thinking about it. Therefore, this is a short blog post. I think I will go to the beach instead.

Cu Chi Tunnels

A trip to the Ho Chi Mihn City area would not be complete without a visit to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, which were used by Vietnamese combatants during the war against the United States. The tunnels were formed as a way to move unsuspected from one place to another, as well as to create a safe place to store supplies and keep non-combatants safe from the ongoing bombs dropped by American planes.

An introductory video, which was created during the war, was different than anything I’ve ever seen before and left me feeling a bit troubled. According to the video, the people living in that area were peace-loving peasants and not at all interested in the revolution. But the savage Americans, “like a crazy bunch of devils,” decided to bomb them with the objective to “turn Cu Chi into a dead land.” They were, however, much smarter and more creative than the Americans and were able to defend themselves with their cunning tunnels, many turned into “heroes for killing Americans.” The videos description of events was so single-sided and propaganda filled that it was, in some ways, sadly comical…specially with the patriotic and happy music in the background.

The tunnel system was amazing. It included several different types of underground rooms, some of which were 30 meters below ground. We also the cleverly created underground kitchen that allowed the smoke to dissipate, in order to avoid being detected.

In addition to the tunnels themselves, our tour included a disturbing explanation of the different types of “tiger traps” used by the Vietnamese Revolutionaries to “catch” invading soldiers. These traps were large pits or holes with different types of bamboo spears sticking up, ready to stab an unsuspecting person who steps in the wrong place. There were many different types of these traps, each with the same troubling objective.

During the entire visit, we continued to hear shooting. Apparently, some tourists enjoy the opportunity to shot AK-47s at the sites shooting range. For most people in our group, the sporadic and sudden sound of rapidly firing semi-automatic weapons made for an even more troubling morning.

Our last visit would be to the “tourist” tunnels, an area of the system that has been widened to allowed visitors to maneuver their larger bodies through a tunnel. I was anticipating the opportunity to tell my students about what it was like to wiggle through the tunnel in the dark. I didn’t make it very far at all. I went in, at the most, 10 feet before panicking due to the close proximity of other people, the dark, the moisture filled dirt, and the undergroundness. I guess that, in those highly stressful 10 feet, I got only a small feeling what it was like for those required to utilize the tunnels for daily life during the war.