It's a miracle!!!!!!!

So yesterday......while writing the post, again had a temperature around 103 and I really thought it was it that I couldnt stay another week in France, couldnt ask the Solans to continue to take care of me, that i would have to return....I slept of course most of the morning until my appointment with the doctor. We go to the lab, not the pharmacie!!, the lab to get the results of all the tests, go see the doctor and guess what he says?
I'm healed! Lord have mercy!!!
Now this is slightly hard to believe, Vanina's brother, who is a doctor too, had told me several days before that I should be healed, but then that's when the fevers began.
So I come back to the house, tell everyone I'm cured.
We go out on a celebatory car ride to visit some of the neighboring villages and the have dinner. I again have a fever during the trip....we get back, we all turn in....and then today...I feel normal again. It's crazy insane! No fever, no squirts, no pain, less fatigue....I dont know what to tell you all. Two doctors have no idea what I had....some bacteria perhaps that was too difficult to find in all the samples or perhaps a virus.
At any rate, it appears that I am on the speedy path to a full recovery so I will finally start exploring lots of France and I have lots of lovely bills to give to Kaiser!
xoxoxoxoxo

Oh M-F!

Is this how my vacation is going to end? Sick, unable to go out, lying around.....will I have to throw in the towel?....These questions will be answered soon. Fingers crossed I get better! oh and Corsica has bigger ants then in southeast asia, but then again the ants in SE asia are just mean.

Race you there

So I had the lovely pleasure of hopping like a bunny down to the pharmacy today with a bag full of my poo (Rosana that is what was all over my sheets, pillow, and myself the othertime, wink wink)
We're doing analyses because I can't get rid of it and so while I didnt think I would be able to go until tomorrow morning, i luckily found myself with a sample about an hour ago. Noone was here so I race to get dressed and leave the house unlocked because I dont want to be outside waiting and I'm also not supposed to be in the sun due to my medicine.... so i race to the pharmacy because the doors open/house unlocked. I'm in line and then am called up. I say in French, I hope I have the right pharmacie and can give you this. The guy motions me to give him the bag, he looks at, give me the darkest look i've ever seen, and says, "This doesnt go here! Dont you know this goes to the labratory!"
I ask in a very small voice, um do you by chance know where I could find the lab? with a nod to the right with his head he hands back my sample and quick like a bunny leave....I need a nap after all this hopping!
Fingers crossed that he's not part of the corsican mafia and I wake up with a horse head next to me.
xoxoxoxo

My long absense.....

I apologize for not writing sooner; hopefully, I didnt lose all of you or you were worried sick on pins and needles wondering if I successfully left Bangkok in the pathetic state I was in.
O good God, my Lord...I dont think I've ever been this sick in this way.
So when I left you all, I was in the lounge of my "4 star" hotel writing to you and then went to have breakfast. I had also checked out sites with info on diarrea and stomach bugs. Supposedly, I was supposed to eat only rice (correct), apple sauce????really, toast (correct) and bananas......?????really, really. I tried bananas at breakfast and nearly threw up all over the buffet...honestly, I was the most elegant guest at the hotel:) After having to leave at 12, I wanted to see a little bit of Bangkok, but knew I couldnt move much or stay out in the heat that much...so I went to the BANGKOK MALL!!!! and stayed there for 8 hours...at first, I couldnt beleive I was in a mall but after spending an hour inside i realized how WonderfuL the mall of Bangkok is. Oh the people watching I did, oh the crazy things I found for sale, oh the furry creatures roaming around, and the movie theater/club where during a half hour of commercials, everyone stands up and salutes the thai first family, who evidently stopped the flooding and brought electricity to the people of Thailand.
At 8 I returned to my hotel, picked up my "new clothes", which was my laundry, which cost $20 to have done....but after all I was in a 4 star....but my 3 dresses and all my underwear were nicely pressed and wrapped up in packaging and put in a shopping bag....so worth it!
and then the beginning of my plane, train, boat, and automobile...and in 2 days after taking all of those transports to arrive in Corsica, here I am where I am so lucky to be with two adorable French families that I adore and are taking such great care of me while I am trying to get better. And so this week in Corsica will be all about getting better and I cant think of a better place:)
xoxoxoxoxoxox

Adieu...

...Vietnam, how i love thee...except you Nha Trang
...Cambodia, how I like you
...Thailand, maybe sometime in the future, I'll return and give you another try

Well I am up and out of bed, I am feeling 65% normal right now and I'm wearing my white linen pants bcause I'm optimistic that I can control eveything from here on out. Oh the last two days have beaten me down, run me over, pulled me over a grater...you get the jif. So on my last day here before getting on my flight tonight at midnight for Frankfurt, I'm going to try and walk around a little bit, see more of Bangkok then just through my hotel window.
I will have to say that Thailand was incredibly difficult trial that showed me how strong I can be when i need to...:)...oh how easy it is to flatter one self when one writes ones own blog.
First example, and really not for anyone who just ate or gets queasy easily....
After the Danish boys had left and I was in a new, grumble grumble, guesthouse....and that main reason i dont like guesthouses is for some reason the hippies have resigned to sleep in towels...so you cant find a blanket, they give you a towel....I really didnt want to stay in a guesthouse adn was going to pay a lot just for a little blanket (still when your feverish, not sure why you're sick and alone a blanket is quite impt) but i found a guesthouse not far from where the previous one, close to the ferry and pharmacies and run by a Frenchy! How I love them and cant resist. so when I saw that he too had towels, after he had assured me that his "blankets" were the softest i'd ever feel and feel the best on my skin (bolognie!) i said i needed a 2nd blanket.
He went into a diatribe about living on an island and water and electricity were scarce so washing was difficult but after talking a little bit longer, he gave me a 2nd towel and i lasid down immediately for a nap......not a half an hour into my nap, i feel like passing gas and the worst most horrific thing happened!!!!!!!It was like I had jumped into an outhouse....images from Schindler's list and slumdog millionaire came to mind but this was so much worst because it was happening to me!!!!! and my two towels, all the beddind, my legs, my dress, everything was covered in it and i of course started to sob uncontrolably because it was the worst thing i couldpossibly think of happening.....after calming down a little bit, cleaning myself off, and the ground as best as i could....i did one of the most difficult, embarrassing, energy draining things i've ever done...I went down slowly to talk to the french guy, explain what happened and ask for a new room. He was very nice about it, luckily there was another one...i lost my deposit on the first of course but again got a 2nd blanket for the 2nd room...............and that experience, awful as it was, might be the best one i had in Thailand...which will probably mean it will be a long time before i come back.
Anyway, a quick summary now of since then: took a ferry/bus duo to Bangkok which was awful of course (made me actually think longingly of sleeper buses of Vietnam), got a lovely big bump on the head that had me seeing stars when i hit my head on the metal window frame of the bus as we went over a bump...had a taxi ride at 5 in the morning where the taxi driver didnt know where my hotel was,kept taking me to seedy hotels and asking them if they knew, noone knew, finally get the address off the internet, and of course during this time, keeps upping the price...but i stick to my guns, give him what i initially said i would and then walk in quickly with the doorman...check in to a nice hotel on my last night and spendthe entire day yesterday in bed.
I honestly cant wait to go to France, I hope my stomach and bowels will be better soon because i cant wait to eat something good.
xoxoxoxxoo

Koh Tao adn me are not friends

Sadly, there are many reasons why I really dislike this island! First of all there are a ton of dirty hippies and I've never seen so many hemp bracelets and hippy dippy types of paraphaneila....by far,it is the most expenisive country I've been to, which doesnt make sense since there are so many hippies here...but i guess they're trustfund hippies....thirdly, all the thai food I've had is either bland or of the food poisioning quality, because I've been sicker then a dog for the past day and a half. So...I'm leaving Koh Tao today for Bangkok, hoping that the boat and bus ride wont make me too sick and hopefully bangkok will be better....otherwise i just wont leave my hotel until my plane leaves. Boooooh Boooooh Boooooooh!
xoxoxoxo

turtle island sans the turtles

Oh good god my lord, had the best spicy glass noodle pork salad for breakfast, whose flavers and spiciness was at the most satisfying degree!!!! having a lot of problems finding GOOD thai food...going to explore Ko Thao this afternoon. IT's kinda of a sleepy, hippy, small beach diving community...but since i have not come to close to any smelly, dirty, hippies, I'm fine:)
The only beach i've gone to so far has nothing on Vietnam....but i'm here with the adorable, young Danish blokes who i can tease all i want and get along with swimmingly.
one more day then they leave for home and i will leave the cement furniture guest house they booked for us...and into accomodations of my choice. At least, i didnt get the room with the bed covered in ants....choy oy! I would never have been able to set foot back in the guesthouse!
xoxoxoxox

Mak-wa mak-wa!

Oh here I am in Ko Samai Thailand....and i have to say it feels like I'm in china.....very few people speak english and the food i had tonight was more like Chinese then Thai. I chose my meal by pic since all in Thai, but i did have 1000 year old egg...which was kinda like japanese radish so i'm not sure i had 1000 year old egg????????
Today was a very trying day. Woke up in pain...back again, but scrubed it well with soap and have been putting a ton of neosporin and burn cream on it....also when i would get a chance and talk to people who seemed like they werent too squeamish asked them to take pics of my back so i could see how it was doing.....so i will have a fantastic portfolio of back blisters through the days....again they are frighteningly impressive....a guy told me yesterday they remind him of grimlins and he's waiting for one to pop out of my back.......so much fun!!!
I also felt like I was paying way more for everything today than everyone else and that is the ONE main drawback to traveling alone! Sure it's a couple of dollars here and there but espeically when they start piling up on the same day, you feel like everyone is against you and taking advantage! So today my potty mouth sometimes had the better of me! it happens sometimes, well except to Gaga.
Leaving on the ferry tomorrow for Ko tao where I will probably remain until the 20th/21st when I leave for France. I hope there are a couple of hours in the day where I can lie on the beach and finish Anne of Green Gables in French;) It's so goooooood, especially in French.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Amok

So yesterday was a "let's lie by the pool, take a cooking class, relax day....with no massages".Had a 5 buck mani/pedi in a hole in the wall beauty shop the sister of my driver runs. The shop, location, the girls, the service were all so delightfully amusing, I gave a 5 buck tip. (Laurance, je sais pas ou ta mere a eu son mani/pedi, mais chaque fois, meme le jour-meme, le vernis commence a s'enlever...)
Zee cooking class wasnt as nice as the one I took in Vietnam but the location was amazing, up 3 flights of steps on an open air roof. I took the class with 3 Belgian woman and was made aware that there are worse accidents then 3rd degree burn from a hot stone massage. One of the girls had broken her foot on her third day in thailand and was to return to Belgium today.
I am getting ready to board an airplane for Thailand hopefully will be in Ko Samui tonight and onto Ko Tao tomorrow. And I bought my tix after learning there is a guy in town that jumps through fiery hoops of knives. I'll be leaving with a heavy heart knowing i missed that.
xoxoxoxoxo

Halleluja

I amazed myself today and I'm not one to usually acknowledge that but I'm pretty freaking lucky!
So last night, good god My LORD, it was over the top in the pain and anguish department and by midnight on an evening where I meant to get in early and sleep well before I was to wake up at 4.....that never happened. (My blisters on my back though, now that they're not hurting so badly are incredibly impressive!)
I did though get up and while I had gone to bed wishing to leave Cambodia immediately, tired, angry, in pain....I woke up feeling none of that! Instead, happy to go in the pitch black to Angkor Wat, feel my way down the path to the viewing grounds because I didnt have a flashlight (honestly I brought nothing useful with me except for my hair products, which I am so glad I brought....my hair has been fabulous....way more important:)) and watch the sunrise, walk around the temples when basically noone else was there, run into people I had met before, have my first carrot juice in Cambodge...I am a carrot juice convert even if it doesnt improve my eyesight. Amazing!

choy oy for the millionth time!

O good god my lord!
I am in such pain right now!!!!
Had a 4 hand hot stone massage and well it was hot....insted of having cute little circles on my back, i have burn blisters.....yes, blisters.....choy oy choy oy. I am not a happy person, have burn cream, am going to bed, going to get u at 4 am to see sunrise....tomorrow cant be any worse!!!!!!

I remember you, buy from noone else

All I can do is laugh now....oh the poor, lovely people of Siem Reap. The pressure to buy here is insane and unrelenting; literally, swarmed by a dozen people each time
I leave a motorbike or tuk-tuk...and I have learned to say no and just walk away but whooo, it's extreme shopping here!
WEnt to Angkor wat today and took a 7 hour motorbike tour of 4 temples and the Landmine museum....and it's true; there's nothing like Angkor Wat.
Now after my dip in the swimming pool, which is the warmest swimming pool I've been in that is not thermal; going into town for a massage, an ABC beer, maybe some Amok and then sleep.
Getting u at 4:30 to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat....exciting!!!!!!!!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

mak wa and then come choy oy!

Oh it's been so long, seriously next time I come to Southern Vietnam, bringing a 'puter because in the south it's hard to find a computer and the internet cafes are almost next to nil, awful connections/old computers, pu-tuey!!!
And now I'm back writing from Siem Reap, Cambodia. And oh what a journey it was getting here. This morning woke up in a "midget room" and took a shower in a "midget shower" which of course I thought was fabulous!!! I could touch easily the ceiling in the bedroom i shared with an english couple and the shower, well with my head against my shoulder, i could wash my hair...and heck na was i sitting in the bathtub....I mean if I hadnt stayed all day with these 2 Anglish couples and not gotten into Pnomh Penh at 7 pm during a monsoon, I would never in a million years chosen, the "guesthouse" ie hostel and shared a a room with 2 of them....but then again it was for midgets so how could i resist!
So this morning had the 2nd best banana pancake for breakfast, go to check out and get my bus ticket and had my first hissy fit, yelling at the receptionist because he booked me on the cheap bus instead of the luxury bus. Now it's not that I am a pretentist?, elitist that I wanted the luxury bus. No partly because of the last three days had been in the crappiest busses, staying in crappy hotels, partly because the journey to Siem Reap was 6 hours, and finally because i heard the buses had chandeliers inside and I had to be in a bus with swinging chandeliers but no....i get the crappiest bus I've been on thus far. To make matters even better....when i get in (after being sent to the wrong bus, getting my luggage back, finding the new right bus...you can tell I''m in the best mood ever...it was like I hadnt had a good cup of coffee in weeks, it was that kind of a mood)...and then in the bus, i find then i get to share the tiniest seat ever with a Cham grandmother? and her grandbaby. Of course, she's all smiles and the monkey child is cute, but seriously she was a monkey climbing all over things, I felt bad for the guy sitting in front of them because she kept yanking back his seat and tapping on it....choy oy freaking choy oy....but then the rain clouds parted and I was back to normal when the grandmother? pulls out some baguettes and gives one to the monkey and then to me. At first, I try to give it back, say thank you, tell her I'm not hungry but she insists and then when she sees that I'm not eating it, takes it and then gives me a bag with 2 fresh ones in it. It was so sweet and unexpected; oh the lil monkey child, she seemed all the more tolerable and lovely suddenly! And the grandmnother? ket talking to me in khmer and I politely nodded and smiled having no idea but suddenly, finding her the most adorable, almost toothless woman I had seen in my life.
And then on our first stop, I got to try crickets and taratula (the last few days have been amazing for new food experiences: rice wine and snake are deicious and eel is not) Also like spider better then cricket but loved how the "monkey" ate as many as I would give her.
Back on the bus for 2 hours they showed this amazing cambodian spaghetti western type movie about vampires feeding on chinese kung fu masters with english and cantonese subtitles...amazing!!!!! So by this time I'm in love with this bus experience and the creme de la creme, the cherry on top and why i keep writing grandmother with a ?, the monkey child kept breastfeeding her grandmother/mother next to me, her head basically in my lap everytime....now again, when I am ever going to have a tel experience!!!!!! Amazing again and finally I'm in a fantastic hotel in Siem Reap, super character, very nice facilities, very expensive for the taxi drivers tastes as they tried to steer me some where else....but I'm finally at a place I like and I also have free door to door tuk tuk service included, so I'm happier then a pig in a blanket!
The Mekong Delta was fantastic; Vietnam by boat is the only way to go! And sadly I left:(
Fortunately, I had the most amazing bus adventure ever today!

Oh lordy lordy lordy

Oh hơ time flies and I am on a weird viet. keyboard so my chẩcters might be off. So Saigon, I loved it loved it loved it. Pẻhaps because it ứa àter Nha Trang, ưhich á a town reminded me too much of Cabo or Cancun so it ứa nice to come back to civilized, exciting society. Yes it's very busy and huge but I walked alot took a tãi ưhen I needed to and saw lotts of cultural landmarks, ưent shopping;) and loved the chinese mảket. No haggling no pulling you every ưhich ưay; everything's cheap and you dont feel like you're being played out ò a couple ò dollars, ưhich after many dáy begins to really get tiresome easily. And oh the píc!!!!!!!; I sưear I've been trying to upload them but noww that I'm old technology and me are no longer friends and I dont know ưhat I'm supposed to be doing and ưhatever. They ưill be posted sooner or later with handy dandy commentary and y'all love 'em as much as I do.....and well yesterday, the first dish claimed the title of one I could not finish and the lucky dish was Viet. snails steamed in a côcnut sauce. Now, the shells ưere gorgeous, the taste ưas nice and côcnutty but the ưay they eat them.....oh lordy! you such as hard as you can out of one end and if that doesnt ưork then out ò the other end (o my gawd kảren you're tưin just ưalked in to the cafe, glasses, ponytail, your style, and i think she's german it could be your long lost cousin)
so the snails, ended up being kinda like chewy snot, and more then once ưhile sucking got ưhat lôoked like a loogie/snot hanging from the shell to my mouth....so I gave it my best shot but after a half dozen, i gave up...but that's all in the pát and my stomach is hardened once again, So i'm sure no mỏe problems of the kind. and today, I ứa on the Mekong Delta on 6 diferent modes ò transportation!!!!! By far my fave was the canoe, ưhere i đint have to paddle but got to ưear a viet. cone hat!!!! and then just for sheer amusement, the lounge chairs on a flatbed behing a scooter!!!!!! and got to try elephant fish!
Nơ I'm in Can to city the largest city in the Mekong delta and lôking for some rice ưine. Tried côconut ưine and not á charming or táty as snake ưine...have to try the rice.
xôxoxoxoxoxo

Start RSVPing now

Choy oy, choy oy! I just finished with a Vietnamese cooking class and so glad I did! I made two very delicious dishes and one I can tweak to make perfect.
I started with a banana leaf salad w/pork and shrimp....choy oy choy oy, the flavor combos were phenomenal. Then for dessert it was famous banana soup, again, it was so light and delicious. Finally barbaqued ternderloin steak in lotus leaf, a bit salty for my taste but again can be tweaked. I have the most amazing photos and the trip to the market beforehand was simply divine! I have a pic of an old woman with black teeth smiling happily as she eats fruit skin that our chef said" only old people eat, kinda like shoe leather." I dont know where anyone can find a better cooking class. Now off to lie on the beach and then, wait for it...wait for it...another SLEEPING BUS to Saigon. Good god my lord, let it be the last one.
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Zee Beach

Nha Trang, the Malibu of Vietnam, is where I am presently. Crystal clear, warm, turquoise water is the main draw and the water I'm a big fan of, the town not so much.
Just got back from an island excursion entailing snorkeling around still intact coral reefs with lots of fishies chomping on my pinkies, a floating bar serving to everyone old and young, and a Vietnamese beach spot, with rickety old beach chairs and a rocky shore but very enjoyable to watch older Vietnamese women covered from head to toe being knocked around by the waves but smiling and enjoyng themselves.
Other then the water, the town is super touristy and really caters to the drinking crowds. This is the first town in Vietnam where there are more bars then hotels....I have found one place that has a dark lager, lucky me!
But I think my days in Nha Trang are numbered and I will be leaving tomorrow and onto Saigon.
Happy fourth of July and hope everyone is relaxing with bbq, warm weather, and family/friends!
xoxoxoxxo

Honk if you love me!

And then just honk if you are in any type of vehicle in vietnam because I think for most drivers that is more important than watching the road. Oh good lord, again I was on an overnight bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang. (I had the choice of that or a hard sleeper in a train, which basically means a bed without a mattress) and so went with the bus FOR THE VERY LAST TIME....which while it was on time, no overcrowding, no mad rush for a bed, and no surly bus keepers, the driver honked the entire way from 7 pm at night until 5 in the morning when we arrived. Coupled with the fact that I know it's freaking hot in this country and a bit of a/c is nice inside, but frigid arctic temps on an overnight bus means that I leave the bus like a tramp, wearing all my clothes, shivering, and saying" Eh, what'd you say, " to the taxi drivers because i still can only hear honking.
And now I'm in Nha Trang, the party capital of Vietnam. Not exactly my scene, but I'm sure this means that I will be able to find a party crowd watching the men's Wimbledon final with Nadal (suck it mick!).
Oh, and now for your entertainment, which of the following did I not do yesterday:
1)Have 25 cent light beer
2)Have a heart attack when my hotel said they lost my luggage
3)Drive a motorbike with 2 passengers
4)Get woken up at 6 in the morning by a woman offering to accompany me all day long
5)Get a new tattoo
xoxoxoxoxoxo

zee b-day!

Thank you all for your well wishes! I had a good day; went to the Cama people's ruins in My Son and had the first big guilt trip for being an American since the American's in the 60s bombed the hell out of the area to where there are very few still in tact ruins and then to top that off, my other favorite people, zee French, cut off all of the heads to the statues. And they are all in the Louvre. So my two favorite peeps causing me to have a guilt trip....but then i came back to Hoi An and went for my fittings and for the most part was content. I love that all my clothes have either L or XL labels, cause that's what I am compared to the Vietnamese!

I also was able to navigate quite easily through the market and bargain so, hey i learn! Bravo, pat on the back for me!

I rode around town on a bike too and then met up with the Danes and got to call my lovely parents!!!! Sorry I didnt call anyone else, my dad did hang up on me twice before my mother figured out it was me, so I decided to not call anyone else. I also tried Vietnamese Moonshine!!!!!!! Quite interesting!

xoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxox and next time I will be in Nha Trang.

Seriously Choy Oy deux!!!!

Oh Go GOd my Lord!!! Today was off the charts in the realm of strange!
I have sung karoake now before I'm 30 with a bunch of Vietnamese and My Whitney Houston Song, I wanna dance, became some weird awful song that i still had to sing....and then i had basically everyhair on my body pulled by that little string, gawd under the armpits hurt. I was lost, stuck, handed from one kind female merchant to the next in a vietnamese market place, and i dont know how many people wanted to touch my hair and called me lovely today but i cant count them on my fingers and toes....a very intense day!!!
I started out with the best breakfast of champions, dad you'll have to tell beth, i had the most amazing Banana pancakes and i can't wait to have more!!! then changed hotels from one that i took because i was tired of being on the bus and couldnt be bothered with flagging down a taxi or finding my hotel and then to the one i intended...and they are completely different. i am now in by far one of the most lucurious rooms and hotels for $30. then i went out into the marketplace, which while looking forward to is so intense, thatI definitely know i do not like shopping in Vietnam. It's all about bargaining and i suck, Luisa where are you to help me underbid the owner!!!!! So after i bought my clothes which i will see tomorrow, got lost finding my way back to center of town and ended up in the vientamese market place, and there i stayed for the next 5 hours. It's almost impossible to leave! 5 hours it took me and jesus christ i tried and then they just pull you back in....anything and everything is sold there are more than a million women pulling you every which way, there is no oxygen, it's insane.......!!!!!!!! and then i made it out and i thought i was done, but no! the woman who gave me a manicure this morning who asked me for beers found me and then took me on her automatic bicycle, which was so crazy amazing, but seriously crazy being on the back i have a photo! and then ate and went to karaoke with her friends and had my authentic vietnamese night out; again had amazing food, including clams but had to suffer and smile through light "Tiger" beer and then karoake which after the first song kinda sounded like screeching cats on the fence. Of course, i still kept on my crazy smiling happy to experience this face. but after i sang my non-Whiteney Houston, i wanna dance song, finally had enough.
Good god my lord!!!! is all i can come up with to describe my very intense day. My next two days in Hoi An will definitely not involve more shopping or markets, i am done;)
And wow, I just read through my post and it is not at all eloquent. My apologies but it kinda mirros my day; it was just go..go...go, which by the way is "dee, dee, dee" in Vietnamese.
xoxoxxoxo