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fursttimes · 3 years

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Pandemic trip to South Korea

10/22/20 - 11/22/20 If you haven’t yet been to South Korea, I highly recommend it.

Why South Korea?

I wanted to visit South Korea for over a year since I discovered K Pop (and especially K R&B) and started watching K Dramas. Here’s a gorgeous scene from the historical romance Mr. Sunshine.

My goal is to consume K content without subtitles. After studying on my own and hiring two different language teachers, I wasn’t improving much. In this situation, I rely on immersion.

I also listened to Miyoko Schinner’s Home Comforts where she cooks every Friday on a theme. That day, she was cooking Korean food inspired by her recent trip to South Korea. She said there was an entire vegan street in Seoul. Then she said she brought a rescue dog back to SFO as the volunteer courier and that it was really easy.

As a 1st world country, South Korea shouldn’t be as challenging to navigate as other places.

Why now?

Yes, it’s odd that I’d be traveling during a pandemic where there’s a deadly airborne virus spreading across the globe. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few bright spots during the year, Animal Run’s 1st Virtual Event being one, but combine the factors of

South Korea being a model for having one of the best containment strategies in the world (they never truly had a shut down)

Random lock downs in California

Weight gain from working from home

Working from home all by myself (with my cats)

I was buying useless things online

One cat passed away

Heat waves

Multiple forest fires

An extra-depressing day of being trapped underneath the dark smoky skies without sunlight

6 months left in a contract job that doesn’t require much brain power

Another crazy presidential election looming

I haven’t gone overseas since 2014

I’ve never been there before so my anticipation level was high

I wanted to bring a rescue dog back with me

My partner was OK with holding down the fort for a month without me

My job approved working remotely for two weeks and then taking two weeks off

10 days after getting approval from work, I boarded a plane to quarantine for two weeks and then explore the small but mighty country.

What’s the worst that could happen?

I could die. But when it’s time ...

I could catch the virus and spread it. But I was quarantining so bringing it back to the US was more likely than bringing it into South Korea.

My work laptop wouldn’t work.

Flight to Seoul

The direct flight was 12 hours and super easy. The plane was only 1/3 full so I was able to lie down and sleep for most of the trip. When I woke up, there was only 1.5 hours left before I landed at 4am.

Stuck 4 hours at Incheon Airport

I pride myself on my research. Sure, I only had 10 days to study but I’ll watch a few YouTube videos and do some Google searching of what quarantine would be like. Then once done with my quarantine work day, I’d plan how to navigate the country which I knew very little about.

Fact: When you don’t know what you don’t know, that’s just life testing you.

The plane landed smoothly and I turned on the airport wifi which was much stronger than SFO wifi. We walked over to immigration and they asked me why I was here. I’m a tourist. Do I know anyone in South Korea? No. I was able to pass to the next section.

Down the hall, there were several tables with young military people interviewing everyone who just landed. I sat down and they asked what I was doing here. I’m a tourist. Do I know anyone in South Korea? No. Do I know anyone with a South Korean phone number. No.

They explained they needed to call a South Korean phone number with someone on the other end who would pick up and say that they would be my “guardian” during my time in South Korea. I told them that I thought the procedure was to install a sim card in my phone so I could be tracked wherever I went. They said no, they didn’t know about that, but I still needed the Korean phone number.

I told them to call my hotel which I reserved for after quarantine. The hotel denied my request. Until I could come up with a phone number and guardian, I could not leave the airport.

This was the moment I became worried. I wracked my brain for someone I knew might have a contact or relative living in South Korea. I called Greg first to tell him the situation and to see if he had any patients who could help. He did not.

Next, I called a co-worker from several years back and several companies ago. She picked up and suspiciously said “Hello?” I explained my situation and it was a VERY awkward conversation. Ultimately, she was not able to help.

I decided to text a friend of a friend whom I’ve never met. A good runner friend FB introduced me to him a few days before my flight. He was kind enough to give me some recommendations of places to visit. I explained my situation in text. If I was lucky, maybe he would respond in the next hour or two.

After 3 strikes, I felt some panic and decided to sit down on the airport floor and take several deep relaxing breaths. After a few minutes of sitting quietly, it occurred to me to call the US Embassy. This thought came directly from my Peace Corps experience where I learned that embassies are there to bail out their citizens in trouble. So I requested a call to the US Embassy and he thought that was a great idea ... except that they are closed on Sundays. Sigh.

I knew they have an emergency number though. I hesitated in calling that number since my situation was not life or death, but I thought about sleeping overnight at the airport ... so I asked the guy to call the emergency number.

The woman on the other end was confused. She told me she had not heard of this requirement and thought that the procedure was to install a sim card on my phone. But she spoke to the guy and said she would straighten this out in 15 minutes.

WHEW!!!!!!

While we were waiting for her to call back, I learned that these full time military guys (not the 2-year mandatory military people) are rotated into the airport twice a week to do this interviewing job. I asked if there were other people like me who didn’t know about this requirement. He said yes. I asked him what those people did. They also panic dialed people they knew, but I was the first (that he knew about) to call my Embassy.

I made it it through that critical step. My next step was to go ahead and install the sim card anyway. Another nice English speaking guy said he would help me, which was great, because the sim card lady spoke no English. Everything was going well until she hit a screen on my phone asking for an unlock password.

UGH!!!

I had paid AT&T in full to own my phone so it could be unlocked for this trip. This was a big missed step. Oh well. The nice lady gave me my receipt, instructions on how to install my personal sim card back into my phone and a Customer Help number to call from my hotel during quarantine.

Just one more interview before I was allowed into baggage claim. This guy asked me what I was doing in South Korea. I’m a tourist. Did I understand that I’d be quarantined for 2 weeks and that I would be paying between $1,400-$2,100 USD and that these prices are set by the Korean authorities? Yes.

Finally I was allowed to get my bags. With my brain completely fried, I descended to baggage claim and promptly made a wrong turn. I wandered through the intimidatingly cavernous baggage claim section. It was a strange experience to be in a fully lit air hanger with no other soul around, with no sound and where nothing moved. I certainly got my steps in. After what felt like forever, I finally saw someone who pointed in the right direction. I picked up my bags and was told to board a bus headed to my quarantine hotel. My plane landed at 4am and I boarded the shuttle at 8am.

Quarantine

It took 30 minutes from Incheon Airport to Gimpo’s Ramada Encore Hotel. This is a random quarantine destination probably depending on the time of day each bus leaves from the airport.

I was excited. I officially entered South Korea ready to experience a two week quarantine in a new country. Hopefully, this was going to be the closest thing to prison that I will ever experience.

When we parked in front of the hotel waiting for our instructions to disembark, a Russian woman with an infant started to cry. She had an apartment in Seoul so the quarantine thing was a mistake. She didn't pack any diapers or formula for her baby. She decided to stay on the bus because she didn't want to implicitly agree to the quarantine. I hope it worked out for her. There were about 10 other people on the bus with me.

We disembarked and lined up in front of people in hazmat suits who told us to line up, leave our luggage, and enter the processing room. This was the hotel dining area or conference room which looked like a semi-organized mess. Tables and chairs were stacked on top of each other. The hotel was no longer a hotel but was a "processing center" so it looked like things were just shoved aside to make room for processing equipment. There is no hotel staff. These were employees of some agency.

The hazmat people taught us how to use the daily temperature check app (we need to take our temperatures 2x day) and assigned our rooms. I asked how many people were quarantining in the building? ~300. How many quarantine centers there were? 5-6 hotels. I told them I was vegetarian since vegan was not an option. They charged my card $1,450. I was lucky.

I got room 901. Once I went in, I cannot step outside of it for 14 days. As I took the elevator up and walked down the hall, I noticed orange bags filled up in front of the doors. Those were the orange garbage bags with the hazard sign on it so that it would all be disposed of like radioactive waste.

I entered my room and it was HOT. I looked at the temperature gauge and it was 28C (82F). I tried opening the window and it opened, but not enough to let cool air in. I tried the air conditioning setting but it was broken.

There was a sign on the inside of the door warning me not to leave the room but to call the command center for questions. I called that number and told them that my air conditioner was broken and they said they turned it off, because it was fall, but they'd send up a fan. Sigh.

There was a white plastic bag on the floor with my welcome kit. 2 bottles of water, a toothpaste tube, a toothbrush, several small hotel hand soaps, slippers, five small hand/face towels and what looked like a cigarette box but had 10 small servings of instant coffee.

I heard a knock on the door and it was food along with the fan, both wrapped in plastic bags. The food was AMAZING! It was in a plastic tray and the main item was cauliflower and two awesome banchan, chillied perilla leaves and sweet yellow pickled radish. So much flavor! Whatever I suspected containing egg or dairy was thrown out along with the rice. With three meals a day, I was never hungry and I even managed to lose 4 pounds during quarantine.

I started unpacking and took a shower because it was so hot. When I stepped out, the hotel PA system turned on and a woman's voice said in English "Sir on the 9th floor in a red shirt, please go back to your room immediately." Oh boy. I would find out later that my room has a hidden camera, because the PA system would go on reminding people not to smoke inside the room.

I checked if my laptop worked. It did! Whew!!! Then I heard a knock on the door. It was two guys in hazmat suits ready to give me my first covid test. I asked the first guy to help set up the TV screen as my 2nd monitor. BIG win since I didn't need to struggle with the Korean instructions.

Then the 2nd guy took my temperature, swabbed my throat (I gagged) then told me the last step was going to hurt and which nostril would I prefer? I said "suprise me" and he proceeded to invade my brain through my right nostril. It was HUGELY uncomfortable but not quite painful. It felt like that nostril was drowning while I was still able to breathe through the other nostril. Once it was over, I had a headache. I decided to call it a day and knocked out hard.

Quarantine Days 2-13

I woke up Bay Area time at 8 am which is midnight in Korea. The deal was to work during Bay Area hours then take 2 weeks off to explore. I arranged the room to make it a home for the next 13 days.

I pushed up the twin beds to give me more floor space. I set up my work station. Hung up my clothes. Placed all wastepaper baskets outside my door so that I wasn't collecting garbage inside my space.

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My biggest fear was that something would happen to my work Chromebook during the trip from my house to the hotel. I was SO pumped to know that it was working once I popped it open. The following morning though, I noticed the battery was really, really low. OMG!!! I only had an hour of charge left.

I checked the cord connections were firmly attached and looked up the voltage requirements. The US has 110V and South Korea has 220V. The plug said the laptop was fine to use in both. I verified online as well. Basically, I didn't need to have the cord plugged into the $50 voltage converter I bought specifically for this trip. I could plug it straight into the wall with an adapter.

My humidifier, my toothbrush and my monitor had appeared "broken" as well. I plugged in my humidifier directly into the wall and it started working straight away. Although I was VERY nervous about it, I did the same for my laptop. I listened for a “pop” sound in case the higher voltage fried the device, but I didn't hear one and saw that the laptop was charging normally. WHEW!!! That made me realize that most of our electronics are made in Asia and probably had to be modified for the US. I didn't need to spend over $100 on two voltage converters from Best Buy. Lesson learned.

I needed Greg's help with contacting AT&T to unlock my phone screen. That was a huge help. But then, I realized that I wasn't getting text notifications, required for some apps for identity verification. So I contacted Korea Telecom (KT) hotline to ask them how to fix it. They sent me an email with English instructions but the texting still didn't work. Ugh! They told me I needed to talk to tech support but but since they don’t speak English, I would need help from a Korean speaker. This ended up being very inconvenient but not terrible.

Lesson: Next time, I’ll just rent a phone from the airport with a separate data card installed.

Luckily the room was non-smoking so I didn't have to deal with a bad smell. Plus, there was ample shampoo/conditioner and body gel wash in the shower so I didn't have to use my supply. But what I saw in YouTube videos, I didn't get detergent and daily coffee. One YouTube video guy, who also quarantined at the Ramada, did mention that the floor was dirty, which I can confirm.

I asked for a vacuum, detergent and coffee from the command center. They gave me a sticky roller for the floor (I used two of them), an extra bar of soap for my clothes and told me they don't give more coffee. I can have as much water as I wanted though. I went through two sticky rolls, used the gel soap for my clothes and ordered coffee online from GMarket. Delivery takes 3 days so I had to ration my little mini sticks of instant. Rationing those sticks was my biggest challenge during the quarantine situation. Otherwise, it was fairly pleasant because I stayed busy working, exercising and vacation planning.

I strapped my phone onto my body to track my steps and tried to surpass it every day. The highest I got was just over 5k steps and averaged around 3.5k steps. I wrapped the 50-pound band to the door handle and did rows every time I threw something out on the other side of the door. I used the other 50 pound band for triceps and biceps.

The early morning wake ups are cold and that's the best time for me to cardio. Then once 8am hits, the sun hits my window and it gets warm very fast so I have to use my blackout curtains and turn on the fan. I wash my clothes while I'm in the shower and let them dry overnight.

I would also get infrequent Covid cell phone alerts (like Amber Alerts) related to the residents in Gimpo.

As I traveled around the country, I would get these alerts for the region I was in. When I returned to Seoul, I noticed the alerts were more frequent, but then again, 50% of all South Koreans live in Seoul.

Day 14 Covid-Free and Freedom

If I had someone to pick me up, I could’ve left at midnight on my last day. But I had to wait to take the shuttle at 8:30am to be dropped off at Seoul Station, which is the main hub to the rest of South Korea via KTX train or subway.

When I finally left my room to go back down that elevator to Floor 1, the wind hit me like a jump into Lake Michigan. My room had been so warm that the 45 F degree weather shocked me.

Once we were dropped off 30-minutes later, I took a taxi to the hotel, initially to the wrong hotel, but eventually landed at the Nine Tree Premier Hotel Myeongdong II on 28 Mareunnae-ro. There are three Nine Tree hotels so getting the address correct is important.

Check in was at 3pm, so I left my bags and hit the streets like a race horse out of the gate. I happily overdid it by getting lost on the subway and walking over 10 miles on Day 1. Four of those miles were pure stairway climbing because the subway system in Seoul is like navigating an underground mountain range. I continued to overdo it on Day 2-3.

My Itinarary

Some pics and videos from each place

Seoul 3 days

Jeju Island 2 days

Busan 2 days

Gyeongju 2 days

Seoraksan 1 day

Seoul 4 days

Seoul - Olympic Park

Seoul - Museum of Modern History - Picasso’s Massacre in Korea 1951

Seoul - teamLab at Dongdaemun Plaza

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Seoul - Royal Palace

Seoul - itseoulgood.com Mike Kim took me on a Vegan Food Tour

Jeju Island - Iho Tewoo Horse Lighthouses

Jeju Island - Haenyeo Female Divers

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Jeju Island - Hallasan

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Jeju Island - The best vegan yogurt @ Cafe 901

Busan - Landscape. The buildings look like fake cardboard cutouts

Busan - Steamy Cart

https://youtu.be/M9Sy3zvg17U

Busan - Seaside Temple

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Busan - Gamcheon Culture Village

Busan - Cinema Center (Skater kids enjoying the enormous public space)

https://youtu.be/NHoiDJoiMUY

Busan - Cinema Center (Busan International Film Festival)

Busan - Joung Eunsun and her three challenges (which I brought home)

Gyeongju - Incredible Photo of Korean Refugees at a Restaurant

Gyeongju - Tumuli Park Burial Mounds

https://youtu.be/6pnKCMYgnIY

Gyeongju - “Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in Asia and possibly even the world. It was constructed in the 7th century in the kingdom of Silla. Cheomseongdae is mentioned in the popular Korean drama Queen Seondeok. In the 2009 drama, Cheomseongdae was constructed when Queen Seondeok was still a princess; this was her first decree as a princess. Cheomseongdae was meant to share the knowledge of astronomy with everyone, rather than letting one person (Lady Misil) abuse the knowledge of it. By doing so, she also abdicated her divine rights. Because this was uncommon at the time and unsupported by many conservatives, at the opening of Cheomseongdae, barely any nobles showed up.” - Wikipedia

Gyeongju - Wolji Pond

Travel Day! View from Gyeongju to Seoul on KTX

https://youtu.be/7LOpwQHFKpk

Travel Day! View from Seoul to Seoraksan on bus

https://youtu.be/XtUWWYcWjDE

Seoraksan - Giant screen at the park entrance

https://youtu.be/ZuTFW3acURg

Seoraksan - Yes, that is a guy riding down outside of the gondola

Seoraksan - Temple

Seoraksan - Reunification Buddha

https://youtu.be/HUo4IhzdWoU

Seoul - Insadong entrance mural of Royal Painting of Sun and Moon

Seoul - Art in Insadong

Seoul - Subway scene (this is far from crowded)

Seoul - Night Hike along 600 year old Seoul Wall

Drinks afterwards

Seoul - My first makgeolli. It was good!

Seoul - While waiting for the Secret Garden Tour to start

Seoul - Secret Garden

Lessons Learned

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scotlandandbeyond · 4 years

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A Week, (well 87 hours), of Living Dangerously

Remember the movie, “A Year of Living Dangerously”? It was a 1982 movie about the 1965 Indonesian revolution. That in itself is interesting because I seemed to remember it being about the 1970’s Khmer Rouge...go figure.

Anyway, for Craig and I we had 87 hours in a whirlwind; in particular the last 70 hours. That was when we last showered and dressed in clean clothes. Now that we’re home in Canada and in our 14 day isolation, I’m starting to process it all. This post is part of my own processing. Here’s the timeline of those hours:

Hoi An, Vietnam, approximately 2pm local time, (midnight Pacific time), our bus to Hue is pulled over and everyone is checked for a temperature. Passports are also checked for visa date, lots of paperwork about where we’ve been and where we’re going. We have an epiphany: if ANYONE on this bus tests positive, we’re all going into a lockdown facility...and they’re not using hotels for this...it will be in a fairly dire place. That night in our hotel, we make the decision to leave Vietnam early and head to our place in Mexico, (where we were to arrive in early April). All flight dates changed at no cost, however on the all with Turkish Airlines they tell us that our original flight date to Amsterdam had already been cancelled, but no one had let us know...good job I called. Other flights into Cambodia and back to Bangkok are cancelled, (who knows what we will recoup from those as wait times are too long to deal with refunds). Cancelled our hotel Siem Reap.

Wednesday midday Vietnamese time: we receive an email saying our flight time to Bangkok has been changed. Now instead of a direct flight, we are going via Ho Chi Minh city. We’re told there is no other option. This still gives us 4 hours until our flight out of Bangkok so we accept the change, but we’re uneasy. We also need to be in Hanoi the night before, so we cancel original flights to Hanoi and rebook. Again, refund...who knows???

A few hours later, we get another email saying our flight time has changed again, but we need to call to get the change. 3 hours later, after being on hold and cut off 3 times, we have both of us on phones, and the hotel reception calling locally as well, we get two different stories: English staff say we no longer have enough time in between flight from Hanoi to HCM and the connecting flight from HCM to Bangkok, (we have 1 hour and 25 minutes), so they’re cancelling the 2nd part of our flight, (the one to Bangkok), and we will have to rebook. Vietnamese people tell hotel, no all is fine, but these people need to check in again at the airport. We don’t quite trust the Vietnamese answer and know that if we can’t get to Bangkok in time, we will miss out flight out. We book another direct flight, (that interetily wasn’t an option earlier in the day), and keep the original flights. We know have 2 bookings and hope that one makes it out. We sleep fitfully and arrive at the airport just after 8am for our 2 noonish flights. The airport is ominously quiet with only Vietnamese airlines at the gates. Wearing a mask is mandatory. Thank goodness our friends Tom and Shaun brought us two skookum, (a good Canadian word), ones:

We manage to get the newly booked direct flight to Bangkok...hallelujah...but not before getting gauged for $85CDN for overweight carry on luggage. We were over the secret allotment amount by 3kgs. Ironically we were under by 9kgs in our checked bags...had we only known. Craig asked if this was just a “money grab” and a lovely Vietnamese young woman, with limited English smiled sweetly at Craig, (behind her mask), and said, “yes.”

We arrive in Bangkok just after 2pm local time, (midnight Wednesday morning Pacific Time), where we are told we need to download an app and fill out the online form before we can proceed to Customs and Immigration. So, along with hundreds of others we are doing our best with the airport wifi. We had to take a photo of our passport photo page, and upload it along with the form that asked our flight and seat number of the flight we arrived on, as well as our future plans and whether had had any of the individually listed symptoms. Then we submitted it all electronically and got a confirmation receipt that we had to take a photo of and show before proceeding on to have our temperatures taken and finally on through Customs etc and baggage claim. Once through, we are relieved to finally be out of Vietnam and are happily set to board our still flying flights out to Amsterdam via Istanbul where we are set to overnight before flying on to Mexico on Friday morning, (Amsterdam time), when....cue the music...we get a notification saying that all flights out of Amsterdam to outside the EU have been cancelled. Now we’re panicked: while we’re relieved to be out of Vietnam, what are we going to do if we’re stuck in Amsterdam for an indefinite period of time? And what if we DO somehow manage to get to Mexico? Will they let us in? We have property there, but no legal standing as residents. Online we go, and after looking at our options we decide to head for home, and to use a reliable carrier, (Air Canada), who thank us for our patronage by charging an obscene amount for 2 one way tickets, (but hey, they waived baggage fees). So we wait for 8 hours in Bangkok, and again we try to cancel our original flights to Amsterdam, but we can’t get through to anyone. Finally, Craig goes to their check in when it opens and explains the situation. Again we don’t know if there will be any refunds. Meanwhile I did a modern version of “working the phones” trying to find a place to stay when we returned, as our house is still rented out.

Take a look at the itinerary below: in addition to our 12 hour layover in Tokyo, (yes Tokyo), we didn’t look that closely when we booked in a panic, but fortunately Craig asked at check in if we needed to claim our bags or if they would just go straight through? The woman at the ANA counter looked at us as if we were insane and said, “Of course you will have to claim your bags in Tokyo because you have to take them to the other airport!” WHAT??? What “other airport???” Yes, we had to change airports.

Arriving into Japan, we had our temperatures taken again, and after claiming our bags, and an hour bus ride later we arrive at Narita airport where we have a 10 hour wait. Craig finds a lounge that our credit card gives us one free access to, and we head in there for its comfy seats. This turns out to be a great decision as during out 8 hours there we are two of only 4 people for most of the time. Meanwhile we keep checking that our Air Canada flight to Vancouver is still “on”.

At 4 pm Tokyo time on Thursday, we checked in for our flight. Relieved to have boarding passes in hand we anxiously waited. I have never been so happy to see that familiar Air Canada plane when it arrived! After having our temperatures taken once again, we boarded just before 6pm and finally we were headed home! Our previous flights had been maybe 1/3 to 1/2 full so we had been able to have a row to ourselves and I could lie down and sleep. Not so for Craig, due to his height. However, I was awakened on our flight to Tokyo, but Craig’s voice, obviously upset. Apparently when he went to use the bathroom, an overzealous flight attendant, picked up his mask that his had replaced in its resealable container, and disposed of it. I thought Craig was going to lose it; a combination of stress, exhaustion and fear that like in Vietnam, we would be denied boarding without one, almost pushed him over the edge. The mask had been put in the garbage, but it was on the top, and in a sealed container, so they were able to retrieve it and sprayed the container with a sanitizer and all was restored. It’s just an example of fragile our emotions were at this point.

We were unsure what to expect upon arrival to Vancouver, but we certainly did not expect how relaxed it seemed to be: our temperatures weren’t checked, and Border folks just asked if we had any symptoms, and where we had come from? We told them Vietnam, and didn’t get into our circuitous routing as we figure they must know how tough it’s getting to get back, as multiple airlines collapse their flights into one. We were given a sheet of paper outlining how the 14 day isolation works and we were off to baggage claim. It has NEVER felt so good to land back on Canadian soil.

This was not how our adventure was to play out. We are still dealing with our emotions around this and no doubt will be for a while yet, but we are home. Not that we’re safe here from this virus, but we know how the system works, we have a great healthcare system, (and we will do over very best not to overwhelm it), and we have family and friends.

I think what really got me through these days were two important things: Craig was a ROCK...seriously...and the never ending support of family and friends. Your continual messages via social media were great. I tried to keep people updated without sharing too much of our emotional rollercoaster, but your responses were propping me up. Thank you.

I’m happy to be home. We will spend our time in our trailer, (where we would live was one of our main concerns about coming home early). Our “personal shopping” team comprised of friends and family have bought groceries for us, and people have stepped up offering us their property to set up on, and a generator to charge our trailer batteries. We’re still finalizing where we will stay, (having rented a place for 2 nights to give us some breathing space to get our vehicle insured, etc).

I’ve learned a lot about myself this past week, (mainly about my shortcomings), but that’s for another post, (I had to share the photo of unguarded toilet rolls in a the bathroom at Narita airport!)

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glacierview-blog · 7 years

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“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.” Mary Oliver Wild Geese

The other day the owner of the lodge rushed in, gathered a bag of salted chips, a cup of water, and a sandwich and she told us there was a belligerent drunk man at the top of the drive way off Glenn Highway who was incoherent. He was very, very, inebriated and holding on to a half empty jug of vodka. He refused any help. It’s thought that he was hitchhiking and got booted from whatever motorist’s vehicle was carting him towards us. In the city, this wouldn't be a big deal, but in Glacier view there is nothing around for miles. The closest town is almost an hour away. Mark, the other owner went up to help him and to keep tabs on him. I asked the owner for a description of the man and all she could tell me was that he was wearing a big winter hat, and had a big red, swollen face. We were instructed to lock out doors, and as I was falling asleep, listening to every sound around us on high alert for the drunken backpacker, I heard the pitter patter of spring rain falling on the trailer. The rains stayed steady but the winds began to pick up and I could hear a big whirring noise near us. I think perhaps another dust devil had formed. The whirring and wind came right at us and the trailer shook and rattled before it passed completely. I got out of bed and opened the blinds to look in to the day lit evening, but saw nothing. Even the rain had stopped. I fell in to another restless sleep.

The next day the neighbor came down in his red Porsche to tell us that the man was still up there, and he was moving a little. He had fallen asleep on the side of the road, underneath a tarp. The trooper had been called to do a welfare check, but when they showed up later they informed the staff that the man was nowhere to be found. Arriving at the lodge that morning, I noticed the garbage can was emptied of half its contents which had been strewn around and the bags had been ripped open. The day before that they were knocked all over. The owner told us the first night it must have been the wind, and that this time she heard magpies and thinks it must have been them. The neighbor driving the red Porsche told us he thinks it might be “co-yotes” aka coyotes. He wasn’t able to talk to Jodi and Mark because they had headed in to the nearest town to grab groceries.

I finished up breakfast service with Brian and thankful for my split shift break, decided to head to the basement of the lodge where there is a big comfortable couch and ample access to the wifi connection. Leaving my glasses upstairs, I descending the staircase and walked past the laundry, dry storage, and closets and reached the couch nestled in the hallway. The hotel rooms of the lodge are located in the basement, there are big windows and a door, and the whole floor is quite cozy. With my cup of tea in hand, laptop in front of me, and relaxation setting in, I decided to do some research for which city I want to head to next. Suddenly, I noticed a huge man form in the doorway, and without my glasses cannot see well enough to make out the details of a face. I could however, see a big winter hat, and the way the figure was fumbling. Panicked, I grabbed my cell, kindle, and laptop and started to bolt upstairs just as he entered and started yelling after me. I noticed Brians laptop was down here too, and leaving my crocs, grabbed it to run upstairs. The cord was plugged in to both his laptop, and the wall, and hindered me momentarily. I ran upstairs past the yoga group who were in the middle of a quiet meditation, and told our pastry chef that the drunk man was in the basement. She called the troopers, and then mark, to let them know that the man who we called about yesterday had wandered in to our basement. Brian walked by and I told him that the man was downstairs. He went down to check, and walked back upstairs. Next thing I know, I hear surprised slurring aimed at the yoga retreat group. These poor people, in the middle of their meditations, lying supine on the lodge floor had been walked in on by a towering, drunk, and unstable man wandering the Alaskan wilderness and who had started making fun of them. Brian immediately, and admirably, went in to social work mode and calmly and cheerfully asked the guy to come talk to him outside. We locked the doors and didn’t let him out of our site as they sat and talked. We had called the troopers, but being so far away it would take them a while to show up. No one wanted to call the cops on the man just because he was homeless, but we had been instructed to do so by the owners who had been interacting with him. Also, it felt better to know there would be a welfare check made on him, because we live in the middle of nowhere and felt uneasy about the possibility of this drunken, towering, stranger bursting through our doorways. We made him a sandwich, and gave him a bag of cooked grains, and a large cup of water. Brian sat and talked with him on the stoop until the trooper showed up. The trooper treated him with respect and offered to drop him off in the next town over that he was trying to get to but ran his ID first. There was a warrant out for his arrest so he was politely taken in to custody. I hope that he has since been offered any medical care required, because his hands were shaking terribly, he was asking for liquor, and the withdrawal can kill a person. If his warrant wasn’t for anything serious, I’m sure he’s free by now. If it wasn’t for something harmless, I’m glad he’s no longer wandering around on our property in the wilderness. Apparently Alaska has a big run away convict problem, because people who want to disappear themselves find that the wilderness here is the perfect place to be anonymous. It’s far away from the lower 48, but you also do not need a passport to access it.

Today, my shift started at 6:30. And by midday I was ready for bed. Brian however, convinced me to try to scale the same mountain that I had such a hard time with about a week ago. Begrudgingly, I complied, but not without a lot of moaning and dramatic refusals first. The weather was actually perfect for it today, the sun was shining, the air was cool and a light breeze blew all around us. We walked up the driveway, crossed the road, and wandered in to the big gravel clearing and I found us the right pathway in to the woods. Everything is already so much more green than it was last week, and we had to be extra diligent to scan the landscape for bear or moose. We also had to keep the conversation going despite running out of breath, so that we wouldn’t surprise the aforementioned creatures. With bear spray at hip, we quickly found the correct path up the side of the mountain and began our ascent. The path is in the middle of the greenery and is thin and brown and scattered with grey stones. It was also littered with the scat of various animals, definetly moose, and maybe goat. I can’t yet tell. On either sides of the path are bushes and small trees and blueberry basically cover the entire mountain. The trail quickly became steep and our feet slid on the loose brown dirt. We had to grab on to the side of the path and hoist ourselves up. A few times, Brian and I grabbed plants as not to fall, and quickly recoiled in pain as the plants were made of thorns and covered our hands in splinters. The path opened up to the side of the mountain where the dirt was replaced by a path of loose rock that slips underfoot. The only way to ascend is to be sure of your feet and keep your center of gravity low to the mountain side. The higher we ascended, the more the winds picked up and filled me with a terrible unease that we could be swept off the side of it. We also had to keep scanning the landscape for predators. Climbing higher and higher, we moved swiftly and I was so pleased that unlike the first time, I could practically run up the mountainside with ease. We climbed the winding thin mountain path on our hands and feet for most of the way and reaching way further than I had gone the first time, I asked to stop. Looking at your next step is fine for me, looking over the edges of the boulders on the mountain and realizing how high you is not so great for me. So we sat. We were almost at the top, and after one more long stretch, we would just make it. I noticed that the winds were picking up, and that rain had started sweeping across the valley. Brian assured me that the winds were blowing the other way, so the rain would not reach us. He was right about which way the winds were facing, but knowing how dangerous it would be to try to descend an almost vertical rock face in the rain kept me very cautious. I wanted to scale the rest of the mountain just as badly as he, but intuition told me to watch the sky. The winds were soaring all around us and pushing past us, but the clouds above looked like they weren’t moving at all. I decided to use the sun as a reference point. “Look, if the grey clouds forming to our right move closer to the sunshine, we will know the rains will probably reach us,” I told him. He agreed. The rains were growing in intensity across the valley to our left and covered the white peaks with curtains of smoky grey. I pointed out to Brian that the sun would soon be lost within the storm clouds as they were indeed moving out way, and with little deliberation, we decided to start our descent. We had to rush down the mountain because being up there in the rain was the last thing we both wanted. We had to proceed quickly, but with extreme caution, and I am horrified to say that in our haste, twice we almost took a route that would have dropped us off a rock as it very much looked like the real path. We had to skate down almost on our butts, and grab on to anything we could as not to fall forward. I almost fell at least three times, but felt elated that we were making down the mountain just as the sky started to sprinkle. We found the path at the base of the mountain and in the greenery made loud conversation, again to ward off predators. We were shouting the conversation back and forth, in a full spring towards the gravel opening trying to beat the rains. The rain started coming down more heavily and just as we reached the driveway to Majestic Valley, it started pouring. I am so so thankful that I watched the movement of the sun to the clouds and ebbed us towards a swift descent.

We are now on the couches in the basement. The rains were so heavy that you couldn’t even see the mountains, but they have cleared now. I want to shower as the descent kicked up so much loose dirt in to my lungs, hair, and clothes. We have the next few days off and are heading in to Anchorage for the first time since arriving to do a grocery trip soon. Love you all.

View from our perch.

Happy to be so close to the sheep.

At the foot of our mountain, watching the rains gather strength across the valley.

Backyard copters.

Exploring the trail behind the trailer.

Cozy and small, and we are almost never in it.

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kgbinwanderland · 5 years

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Are you looking for a fun activity to do while in Osaka? Why not book a Japanese cooking class hosted by a local using AirKitchen.me. For more ideas, check out my list of top 30+ activities to do when in Osaka!

First off, let me apologize for being MIA for the last couple of months. I’ve been meaning to finish off my long list of blog posts but never seemed to have the time to do so. Recently, I’m feeling a little bit more motivated in keeping up with my blog work. So here’s to hoping that I get my usual rhythm back soon!

For today, let me share with you our Airbnb experience in Osaka. One of my goals for this blog is to tell stories of real traveler experiences, and that includes reviews and recommendations of tour providers and accommodations. Whenever my family and I travel, Airbnb is our default choice of accommodation. We prefer taking advantage of the extra space, kitchen amenities, and the feeling of living like a ‘local’.

So naturally, on our most recent visit to one of our favorite cities in the world, we automatically turned to Airbnb for apartment options. I was a little concerned at first that we would not be able to find that many choices since Japan enforced stricter regulations for apartments and B&B rentals. Sometime last year (2018), Airbnb removed 80% of their Japan apartment listings to comply with the new regulation and hundreds of tourists were left scrambling to find new accommodations. If your trip is still a few months away, you can still easily find a suitable hotel or apartment that would fit your requirements. But if your trip starts tomorrow? Good luck with finding a good and reasonably priced hotel.

Gamo 4-Chome Intersection (Subway Station)

Fortunately, we found an apartment that not only fits our housing requirements but is also a registered rental. It is a three-story apartment in the Joto Ward, a little outside the main business and entertainment area of Osaka.

We arrived at Kansai International Airport around 7:00 PM local time and was supposed to meet our host Yoko at the Kyobashi Station around 9:30 PM but because of my visa-related woes, we were delayed for about 2 hours at the airport. When I was finally allowed in with my “Special Landing Permission” visa, my family rushed over to the train ticket office and bought tickets for the next train going to Kyobashi Station. Fortunately for us, the Kansai Airport Rapid Service goes straight to Kyobashi Station (with a few stops along the way), which meant we could rest while en route. The train ride is about an hour and 10 minutes.

We arrived at the Kyobashi Station past 11:00 PM and instead of meeting Yoko outside the station, she sent me instead of a photo collage of the directions going to the apartment. It was too blurry for me to use but fortunately, Kyobashi Station has free wifi access so, after a quick search on Google Maps, we were finally on our way to the apartment.

According to the listing, it should be about a 10-minute walk but it took us twice the time to get there, probably because we were already tired and hungry. We finally made it to the apartment and met Yoko. She briefly showed us the apartment then had to leave immediately to catch the last train.

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Facade of the apartment

Beautiful flowers in front of a home

Self-service laundry in the area

MY RATING

Location: (4/5)

If it is your first time in Osaka and your itinerary is jam-packed, you’ll probably find this apartment a little inconvenient location-wise. It is 7-8 stations away from Shinsaibashi, which is where most of the tourist action is. Honestly, it’s not that bad. The apartment is located in between (within a 10-minute walk) two train stations. The Osaka Metro Imazatosuji Line from the Gamo 4-Chome Station on the east side and the JR Osaka Loop Line/JR Kyobashi and Keihan Kyobashi on the west side allow easy access to major tourist spots in the city. The Osaka Metro Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line passes by both Gamo 4-Chome and Kyobashi as well, and this train can take you directly to Shinsaibashi. It is also a convenient starting point if you want to take a day trip to Nara or Kyoto from Osaka.

You’ll pass by several convenience stores when coming from either the JR or subway station and several small restaurants are in the vicinity of the apartment. There’s also Edion Kyobashi, a big grocery store halfway through the apartment and Kyobashi Station, which has a great selection of hot and ready-to-eat food items.

Kyobashi Station is also well-known among locals as an after-work hot spot. The narrow alleys surrounding the station are lined up with izakayas, sushi restaurants, and bars. Occasionally, you’ll find a local performer singing or playing an instrument on the street. Located above the station is the Keihan Mall for your usual shopping needs. And just south of the station is Osaka’s must-see tourist spot, the Osaka Castle Park. So really, just the Kyobashi Station alone is worth visiting.

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Airport Express going to Kyobashi Station

Quiet neighborhood

Cleanliness: (5/5)

As expected, the whole apartment upholds the Japanese standard of tidiness. It is super clean and well-maintained! And because we are in a country where they take the segregation of garbage and recycling seriously, it is only right that we follow their systematic approach (and maybe try to adapt this in our own homes) when it comes to garbage disposal. Yoko left intructions as to what to do and where to put our plastic bottles, etc.

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Second-floor bath

Third-floor toilet

Stairs to the Ground Floor

Amenities: (5/5)

The apartment is equipped with all basic amenities, plus some more. Toiletries and towels are provided. The kitchen has everything you need, but we did not get to use any of that except for the electric kettle. Why would you want to cook when there’s yummy and very affordable Japanese food at every corner? The only thing missing is an electric dryer for when you want to wash your clothes. It’s not something that we needed, but it’s convenient to have especially when you are staying for more than a week. Since the apartment is in a residential area, there’s a laundromat a couple of blocks away. So that makes it an option too!

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Living Room

Dining and Kitchen

Family-Friendly: (4/5)

I’m knocking off a point for accessibility. The stairs were too narrow and it can be challenging to haul your luggage up the stairs. We ended up leaving our luggage on the second floor, even though our bedrooms were on the third floor. But honestly, it is to be expected that a Japanese home is on the smaller side and it makes sense that this apartment was built with a narrow staircase to save space. To be fair, the house is larger than the standard Japanese housing and there is ample space for a big group.

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Vending Machines are in every corner of Japan and it’s not limited to just beverages. Some machines dispense ice cream, hot meals, snacks, and even secret packages that contain random items.

Alcoholic drinks like beers are also commonly sold at vending machines and more or less the same price if you buy it from a convenience store. If you are wondering if there is an ID check, there is! A driver’s license is inserted to verify the buyer’s age. Some people who have tried it though said that the ID verification doesn’t always work on some machines.

Airbnb Host: (5/5)

Yoko is very nice and accommodating. It was easy to communicate and message her whenever we have a question. She also lent us a pocket wifi that we can bring with us when we’re out. She’s the best!

Value for Money: (5/5)

My family and I love the Dotonbori/Shinsaibashi area and it may have been wise for us to just stay in that area considering that we all wanted to eat out, shop, and stroll at night. But again, we wanted all the comforts of living in a home and this apartment fits our requirements. It is a three-bedroom house with 2.5 baths so for 5 adults and a pre-schooler, it was just the perfect size. The rates were very reasonable too. All the other Airbnbs we had considered were almost double the rates per night.

Overall Experience: (5/5)

We had a pleasant experience at this Airbnb and would consider booking it in the future, especially if we plan on taking a day trip outside Osaka. Its close proximity to a JR line and a subway station made it very easy for us to explore the city. We had everything that we needed and were very comfortable during our 6-day stay.

Earlier on I’ve mentioned that Japan imposed stricter regulations and required Airbnb rentals to register their unit with the local government. Although Airbnb has been diligently removing all unauthorized rentals in their platform, it’s still wise to verify that you are renting from an authorized host or else you could end up without accommodation. We all know that last-minute reservations are very expensive, so why take that risk and ruin your vacation? To know whether the rental that you are interested in is compliant, check if their listing has their license or registration number. It is important that you book from a registered host to protect yourself as a guest in the event that there’s a dispute or problem with your reservation. Registered Airbnbs are required by the local government to request a copy of your passport and record your basic information, so don’t be surprised if your host asks for this information!

Have you ever used Airbnb before? Get $25 off your first Airbnb rental by clicking here.

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Osaka Airbnb Review: Joto-ku Apartment 3bd/2.5ba This blog post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my Disclaimer. Booking.com Are you looking for a fun activity to do while in Osaka?

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nadiafayrosemelham-blog · 6 years

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I’d like to say I’m generally a lucky person. Nothing too misfortunate has ever happened during my 23 years of existence, I try to stay an honest and good human as much as possible, I don’t tempt the devil too often, and I’m a big believer in karma. What goes around comes around right? I’m basically a Buddhist.

Let me just go back to the first sentence of the last paragraph there, where I’ve written ‘I’m generally a lucky person’, and finish this sentence with, in Cambodia I was NOT a lucky person! My Buddhist belief is slightly wavering as I sit on my plane that can’t leave Cambodia quick enough, and think to myself… surely I’ve don’t nothing TOO dramatic to deserve THAT?

At the same time, I’ve recently adapted a new life motto thanks to one of my favourite people in life, the inspirational Lisa Wiltshire. It started out a few months back as ‘live a life worth writing a novel about’ and currently stands a little closer to ‘live a life worth writing a series about’. So on the other shoe (not currently wearing shoes because who keeps their shoes on during a flight), I also believe everything happens for a reason! Very firm firm believer in that one, not questioning this motto at all!

So let me tell you about my memorable trip to Cambodia. I’ll also point out that I’ve used the word memorable, because memorable is a word you use when it wasn’t great, and it wasn’t shit, but you just won’t ever forget it!

It started very innocently with my time in Siem Reap. I took a visit to the Angkor Wat Temples which are absolutely amazing, and wandered around the night market in the evenings. It was drama free and very chilled. I think the starting point in my series of unfortunate events begins with my night bus from Siem Reap to Sihanoukeville, where I was then due to board a ferry to the picturesque island of Koh Rong.

The night bus was a weird hotel bus where you literally share a single bed with a stranger (word of warning you could NEVER travel SEA if you are overweight.. sorry to crush any hopes and dreams but there are just too many tight spaces to deal with and it ain’t gonna happen). I was lucky enough to be put next to a nice young Canadian gal and we both pretty much slept the whole way. At one point I woke up to the bus driver changing the front tyre (NOTE: I think this could be where the series of unfortunate events begins). Not sure how long we were there for but obviously a while as the bus arrived late and I managed to miss my ferry to the island.

I headed to the Buva Sea Ferry office to get on board the next, and seeing as Asia is just organised chaos anyway, I chicken scratched the ferry time off my ticket so I didn’t have to pay more. I had already mentally blamed the receptionist from the hostel for this if anyone was to question my ticket. Soon enough I was on the list for the 11am ferry and was waiting eagerly by the pier. By 12.30 a substitute ferry finally rolled in to take us to the island, as apparently seas were too rough for our small speed ferry.

Sitting front and centre in the ferry, I was dreaming of the white sandy beaches I would soon be lounging upon. As I gazed ahead into the blue sea, I could see waves the size of Africa, which were soon met with the sound of the motor cutting. One giant wave came over the front of the boat and under the front doors into the cabin. Straight after the first wave, a second GIANT wave came rolling over the front of the boat, in through the windows, and absolutely SOAKED the front two rows including lil’ old me. Just to clarify I’m talking a tsunami style wave, and a whole ocean of water inside the boat.

Now has anyone ever told you to make sure you keep all your valuables close to you when travelling? Of course they have, it is absolutely drilled in to you by anyone who cares, and yes of course I had all of my valuables with me including my new MacBook Air and my IPhone 6. I quickly headed straight to the back of the boat where I pulled out my laptop and phone. Water pouring out of both, I wiped them down with a cloth of some sort but my hopes had pretty much been washed away with that wave.

After arriving to the island I managed to buy 2 kilos of rice off an elderly woman for $2, based on the promise that I would eventually return it to her to use for her cooking. Needless to say I was not eating at her restaurant during my stay in Koh Rong. I briefly attempted to save the electronics but the laptop was 100% fried, and the phone only half touch responsive. I held out hope that I could get the phone fixed when I eventually landed in Phnom Penh.

On the ferry, I met a few other girls who were also headed to a secluded hostel on the island called ‘Suns of Beaches’ which was apparently so super chill that you had to take a long tail boat to get there. After climbing off the ferry slightly defeated by the rough ride, we soon found out that there were no boats running to this part of the island due once again to the rough waters. So now I’ve got a fried laptop, a phone that barely works, I’m feeling like a broken woman from the rough ferry ride, AND I can’t get to my hostel (which I’m secretly happy about because I don’t want to look at another boat). I was the first to cut my losses, and soon enough we all decided to check into a hostel in the central area of the island.

We went out for a few drinks to soothe our souls, and eventually headed to bed in our dorm room. I buddied up with a lovely German girl, who I will here on refer to as Germany, not in a racist way, but just because I like that name (her real name was Mirjam). She would be my new partner in crime over the coming days. The first hour of attempted sleep in my dorm bed involved itching, rolling around, applying insect repellant, and giving up on the cause. The following hours of my night involved finding a late night restaurant to sit at and make use of their wifi (on Germany’s iPad that she had so kindly let me borrow because remember my electronics hate me). By the time morning came around I had lodged my travel insurance claim, googled fancy hotels to stay in, had finished my book, and managed to photograph the sunrise! Maybe things weren’t so bad after all!

That day Germany and I enjoyed the gorgeous beaches, and found a double room next door that was clean and perfect for $10 a night. On our 3rd day Miriam convinced me to hike to Suns of Beaches (the hostel we were meant to be staying at), which was about an hours walk from the main village. The first 45 minutes were so beautiful that I wouldn’t even call it a hike. We were just wandering along the beach bare feet with huge backpacks on our back.

In the last what should have been 15 minutes however, things took a turn for the worst. We came to the final section of the hike where you walk through a trail in the jungle. Part way in the trail split in two, and as we stood there wondering which way to go, Miriam said left and I said right. Left we went, as I’d decided I didn’t always need to be right (excuse the pun)! The path started to look super dodgy and I questioned the decision endlessly as we pressed forward under Germany’s lead. After climbing over fallen trees and manoeuvring over boulders we came to a second path, which also split both left and right. Once again Germany chose left, and I chose right. Germany pulled out her frozen map and convinced me once again that left was the way – don’t trust a German with a broken map.

As we wandered down the dry path, about half an hour later we sighted a wooden hut in the distance. That must be it we shouted for joy! But as we neared closer it was actually just a locals house surrounded by chickens, stray dogs, week old garbage and with an entire family perched up on the front verandah. We tried to ask for directions but needless to say, we were soo far out of the tourist zone that their English was definitely not permitting. We stood there for about 10 minutes while a pre-teen boy gave us false hope, staring into his phone in a manner that turned out to be aimless. ‘Maps’ I said pointing to his phone, hoping he would pull up a google map and show us where we were, but that would have been wayyyy too good to be true. He just shrugged his child sized shoulders and gazed up at us with lost eyes.

At this point I took charge as I looked around with no sign of anything marine. ‘We’re going back to the second fork in the path and headed right’. Miriam hesitantly followed me back along the long path we had wandered, and we continued to the right. Did I already point out that we’re in Cambodian heat carrying our entire life on our back? Well we were… but soon enough we came to the waters edge, and simultaneously to a sign that read ‘SUNS OF BEACHES’. Thank the bloody lord for that!

Stumbling up to the hostel check-in area, we told the young Scottish chap we were there to check in and stated our names. Miriam had been emailing them on our behalf during my unplanned technology cleanse, and she had informed them know we would be arriving. Good ole Scotland sat perched up behind the counter and exclaimed ‘I’ve got one bed for Miriam, and no beds for Nadia.’ Ohhh.. perfect! So you’ve got no beds then? ‘Nope, no beds tonight. But your welcome to sleep in a hammock for free. Or go head to toe with Miriam!’ Oh wonderful, the curse of Cambodia continues.

That night we went swimming with the bioluminescent plankton once the sun had set, and watched the water light up around us as we splashed about. What a gorgeous sight it was, and one of the reasons I was determined to go to the island. Once bed time arrived we ended up settling for the head to toe option, and arranged ourselves on the bottom bunk. At about 4am I awoke feeling pretty ‘shitty’ if ya know what I mean, and vomited my life away. Each hour I awoke to visit the bathroom, then resumed head to toe positioning. Of course I had managed to pick up a bug or gastro or whatever it wanted to call itself as it slowly consumed me from the inside.

When morning came I took the first long tail boat back to the main village area, where I would stay a final night back in the double room to sort myself out before the traumatic ferry ride back to the mainland. That morning I’d put on fresh clothes in an attempt to make myself feel wonderful, and tried to convince myself I would make it through the long tail trip without pooping my pants. After heading down to the boat, I soon discovered it was anchored 30m out to sea, and we had to wade over to it with our bags above our head. By this point I really would not have been phased if I dropped my entire bag in the ocean. In fact I probably would have just left it there if I had. But nevertheless I made it to the boat with my fresh clothes soaked and my belly hating life, and my bag made it too.

Soon the boat took off and I realised that once again, I was actually sitting at the front of the boat. Wonderful! I warned the lad next to me that sitting there was probably a terrible mistake as I was currently a series of unfortunate events, and he laughed it off with a slightly scared look left on his face once he realised how serious I was.

I made it back to the main village, and again waded through the breast deep water with my bags above my head. I checked back into the double room and came across the pals I’d made a few days ago, ready to entertain them with my stories. Andrew (aka. England) got a real kick out of my misfortune, and showed me a little sympathy by allowing me the share his laptop and indulge in a movie for some entertainment in my sick state. He fetched me water and noodles, and kept me entertained with his dodgy English humour. Did I mention that on this afternoon I also managed to disable my phone by tapping excessively at the screen to work and entering the pin incorrectly one too many times? So my phone now says ‘connect to iTunes’, but I can’t do that because my computer is fried isn’t it! So the comforting thought of still having the contents of my phone is now shattered as I realise I will have to factory reset the phone after fixing the screen. WHAT-IS-TECHNOLOGY?

The next day I sat at the dodgiest pier of the four on the island with my stomach feeling just as dodgy. England had come along to send me off, and we joked about how the tiny boat that looked like it held two people at the end of the pier would be my boat. Safe to say that god damn boat was indeed my Buva Sea Ferry. On board I climbed, or rather leaped as the boat bounced around everywhere, and stood there trying to calculate which seat would be best to sit in, in the case of another rogue wave.

The boat took off and I can 100% say it was the most outrageous experience yet. It would be no exaggeration to say that I would pay a lot of money at Sydney Harbour to experience that same boat ride. The only difference is that I would receive a life jacket and a seat belt, and the boat would be labelled ‘The JetSpinner’. I sat there gripping at the handles tighter then mum used to grip the car handles when I was a learner driver, and thinking to myself, it’s been a nice life! I think I made eye contact with every single person on that boat, just to check if they were filled with the same fears as I was. My previous dramatic ferry ride had taught me that when the motor cuts, it is NOT a good sign, and by the time I could sight land in the distance I think the motor had cut about 16 times and we had become proper airborne at least 5 of those times. There were 2 vomits, 12 shaken passengers, and 24 wobbly knees onboard.

I sat at the cafe I was due to be collected from, and recovered from the experience whilst mentally preparing for my bus ride ahead. As pickup time came close I confirmed with a few too many waitstaff that I would definitely be getting collected from that cafe. A feeling in my belly told me things were not improving, and I asked one final person about the pickup, who responded ‘Oh, the driver has already been and collected everyone!’ Of course he bloody has! With a few minutes to spare, I hopped on the back of a motorbike and headed for the bus departure point, where a phone call had been made to ask the driver to wait for me. Finally I was on the bus, and NOTHING ELSE COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG.

I made it to Phnom Penh, where I continued to suffer gastro from my Koh Rong visit. I took my phone to the night market where it was fixed within 15 minutes, and then managed to lock myself out of every bank account and email account I own by entering incorrect passwords. Touch recognition on iPhones is a blessing and a curse, as if I would remember the 9 million different passwords I’ve got for each account.

To be fair apart from the above, Phnom Penh was mostly drama free – and I was soon headed to the airport to take my flight to Indonesia and leave this cursed land of Cambodia! Very conscious of how my luck had been panning out, I decided to leave for the airport excessively early. I sat, waiting for the check in counter to open, and when it did, I jumped in the line. After about a 40 minute wait to the front (and after feeling very content in the line about my luck improving), I was faced by a Cambodian man. He asked for my departure flight details from Indonesia and I informed him I was yet to book a flight, but was only staying a week or so. The kind sir proceeded to tell me that he was unable to check me in for the flight until I had a departure flight FROM Indonesia. So let me just clarify this for you quickly… I’m due to fly Cambodia to Indonesia, with a layover in Malaysia, and this dude cares about my DEPARTURE flight from INDONESIA?…. Excuse me, but why on God’s earth do YOU Cambooodia, care when or as a matter of fact, IF I ever leave Indonesia?

I’ve learnt mostly by observation that you will get absolutely nowhere by arguing or back and forth-ing with anyone in Asia, so I accepted defeat and stepped to the side in order to book my flight leaving Indonesia. I had one hour to book the flight which seemed easy enough, but of course with Nadia’s lucky this wasn’t the case. I could feel myself floating further and further up shit creek with a dodgy airport wifi connection and a ticking clock staring me in the face. Time passed and the check-in line slowly disappeared. I literally had 4 minutes left to check in, and I looked at the Cambodian man with the saddest puppy dog eyes you’ve ever seen in your life, thinking to myself he is for sure a dad or an uncle or at least has a bloody soul! He took a look at my eyes slowly filling with tears from the past two weeks, and said ‘Well, you did TRY to book a flight so I’ll check you in. But just make sure you book a departure flight before you get to Indonesia or you might have trouble.’ I thanked him one too many times not really knowing what the hell for, and sprinted to my gate to get on that god damn plane.

I was pretty much the last person to board, and I could see my row up ahead with two people filling the seats next to mine. In front, row 25 sat entirely empty from A through C, and I said to myself “Fuck it!” I sat in that row all by myself and spread out across the three seats absolutely stoking the blazing fire that was my fate whilst the wheels smoothly lifted off the tarmac. I could practically feel the Cambodian curse being lifted as we ascended further into the air, and I could finally rest easy.

Summary of unfortunate events:

Bus arrived late to Sihanoukeville and missed my ferry

Managed to board a later ferry involving tsunami waves, wet bums, and fried electronics

Couldn’t get to secluded island hostel due to rough seas

Bed at substitute hostel filled with biting bugs = sleepless night

Got lost in the Cambodian jungle with no ocean in sight in attempt to find original hostel

Caught a gastro bug after swimming with the plankton in the lush Koh Rong water

Bounced around for an hour on return ferry ride to mainland as surrounding passengers chucked up and winced around me

Missed pick up to deliver me to my bus to Phnom Penh

Just about missed my flight out of Cambodia due to weird Cambodian airport regulations that I still don’t understand

(Hold tight for my next post, to see if the Cambodian curse really had been lifted, or if it was just the altitude playing havoc on my senses.)

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