100 Happy Days

Can you be happy for 100 days in a row?  You don't have time for this, right?  That's what this website says.  After seeing some friends' Facebook and Instagram posts with the hashtag #100happydays, I thought I would check out what this was all about.  Turns out, it is a happiness challenge.  Every day, for 100 days, you must post a photo of something that makes you happy.  Apparently 71% of the people who tried to complete the challenge failed - quoting the lack of time as the main reason.  They didn't have time to be happy.  That statement hit me and made me think about my own life.  In the past few months I feel like I've been overwhelmed with things and haven't always been optimistic.  For this reason, I decided to take up the happiness challenge.  I'm happy to say that I'm on day 22, well on my way to day 100!  Follow my happiness on Instagram (angelaabroad)... : )

McDonald's has arrived in Vietnam!

Last month, McDonald's opened its first store in Vietnam.  There was a much anticipated grand opening with red carpets and huge line-ups but after a month of being open, most of the excitement seems to be over.  Perfect time to pick up a cheeseburger combo and a hot fudge sundae!

After our weekend in Nha Trang, some friends and I headed to the McDonald's in HCMC.  We were greeted by smiling workers who gave us a menu outside, helped us fill out our order on a paper form and punched it into a handheld device, and then directed us to workers indoor who guided us to the front counter where we handed in our order forms and paid.  There were lots of workers in the back, so the service was pretty fast and the food we received tasted exactly like McDonald's back home - or anywhere else in the world.

I was hoping there would be some funny Vietnamese items on the menu like "McPho" or "McBanhMi" but sadly, there weren't.  Everything was pretty standard, except for a few things like "McPork" which doesn't exist back home.

Apparently this first-ever McDonald's in Vietnam is also the first-ever drive-thru restaurant in the country as well.  Of course, it was mostly motorbikes driving through though!  They are already building another location in the city, so this may not be the end of the McDonald's craze in Vietnam.

Hangin' in Nha Trang

Last weekend I hopped on the night train to Nha Trang with a bunch of friends from school for a relaxing beach getaway.  It was 12 girls and 1 lone guy!  Sleeper train tickets were around $25 and the hotel was less than $15 each with free breakfast.

I visited Nha Trang in 2010 when we were backpacking around Southeast Asia.  It was fun to visit this beach town again to see how much it has changed.  After four years, there were significantly more beach chairs and umbrellas, and a few more high rise hotels, but the beach was still as nice as I remembered it to be.  I like Nha Trang because it reminds me a little of Busan, where we lived in Korea.  Busan and Nha Trang both have beaches in the middle of the city - although Nha Trang is much more "tropical" than Busan.  In Korea we couldn't go swimming in all seasons since it gets too cold.

On the night train, I stayed with 3 friends in a sleeper compartment.  We had bunk beds, a TV, and small table.  Before we went to sleep, we crammed everyone in one compartment to play the hilarious game "Cards Against Humanity."  I slept well that night, but my sleeping was cut short at 4:30 AM when the train arrived in Nha Trang!

Upon arrival, we made our way to the hotel and since only one room was ready, some people crammed into the beds and others slept on the couches in the lounge on the top floor.  I slept for a while in the lounge before waking up to see the sunrise and then heading off to an early breakfast on the beach.

Sunrise in Nha Trang

We spent the day relaxing and swimming in the ocean, trading desserts, and eating poutine at our hotel (manager is Canadian, of course).  In the evening we went to dinner and had our own dance party on the beach, right next to an official dance party that we didn't want to pay to get in to.  After re-visiting Nha Trang, I definitely have a better appreciation of the beaches in Vietnam.  When I think "beach destination" I normally think of Thailand, but Vietnam's beaches can definitely compete.  The beaches here are beautiful and generally less crowded!

On our last morning, some of us had breakfast on the rooftop restaurant at our hotel, and then walked around the boardwalk near the beach.  We had booked flights back to HCMC, and spent more time waiting for the plane (it was delayed) than flying (only a 1 hour flight).  Although the weekend was short, it was lots of fun and a nice break!

View from breakfast at the hotel

No pants, no service?

Recently John and I visited some Vietnamese government offices to obtain a police report.  We had to go to the People's Committee to get documents notarized, and the Department of Justice to drop off the documents and fill out an application to get the report.  To our surprise, John wasn't allowed inside either building.  Reason?  He was wearing shorts!  Apparently that isn't allowed.

Fortunately, I could do most of the paperwork myself, but at the very end I ran into a problem... even though I had John's documents, the woman at the desk taking our documents for the police report wouldn't accept John's since he wasn't there.  She gave me a big "NO" and pointed to the desk.  No one spoke English in the office so I pointed outside and made a motion on my leg trying to tell her he was wearing shorts.  Still no.

Plan B... The man at the entrance of the building was in agony trying to decide if he should let John in with his shorts, as I pointed out the window at him in the parking lot and was pleading "I'm sorry! Xin lỗi! Please let him in..."  Luckily, it was almost closing time and he waved John in.  Success!  We got to submit all our docs, and will need to pick them up at a later date.  Next time we'll remember the dress code!

New campus

Before the holiday we moved into the new school campus.  It's huge - although not every facility is finished yet.  Here's an aerial view:

The building to the right of the pool is the gym/cinema facility.  To the left of the pool is the new school, and across the street from that is the existing sister school (English/Vietnamese bilingual).  It looks pretty impressive from this pic!  I've been finding myself getting a lot more exercise walking from my room to the photocopier, recess area, lunch room, main office, etc. as everything is so spread out and there is only one elevator (far from my room).  The old campus had many elevators, therefore elevators = laziness!

One great thing about the new campus is that it's a lot closer to where we live.  Closer = more time to sleep in = laziness!  Oh well, I guess things from each campus balance out...

RIP Flappy Bird

Over the holidays I was looking for a new game for my Iphone.  I searched the top free apps and came across "Flappy Bird" which was the #1 game at the time.  I downloaded it and quickly became frustrated.  It seemed near impossible to play.  You tap your finger repeatedly on the screen to make the Flappy Bird flap its wings and fly through pipes.  Don't hit a pipe though or Flappy Bird will die!  The first bunch of times I played I couldn't even get past the second pipe.  Why do people play this game?  The graphics aren't good and it's ridiculously hard.  I made a mental note to delete the game soon, but somehow found myself coming back to it, determined to succeed.  My high score was 6 for quite a while until one day I cracked 10, then into the 20s, and then the 30s.

Interestingly enough, this game was invented by a Vietnamese guy and it's quite popular here among the students at our school.  I can hear the "ding ding ding" of the Flappy Bird fly through pipes during the halls at recess time.  My students have high scores in the 50s and higher.  Currently I'm sitting at a 39!

Since Flappy Bird became a worldwide phenomenon, you would think that the creator would be thrilled.  In reality it was quite the opposite.  Flappy Bird has been pulled from the App store and is no longer available for download.  The reason?  The creator was concerned that too many people were addicted and he did not want his game to cause problems for people.  Now that it is no longer available, apparently people are trying to sell their phones that have Flappy Bird already installed on them.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I still have Flappy Bird on my phone and can continue to play and drive myself crazy until I bring myself to delete the app!  Flap on, Flappy Bird...

A day in Phang Nga Bay

While in Phuket you can't help but notice the signs advertising day trips to "James Bond Island."  We decided to book a tour and see what it was all about.  Tour operators on Phuket may try to charge full price on the tours, many of which are priced at over $100, but we were advised by other travellers that you can only pay 1/3 of the cost listed on the brochures.  Luckily we dealt with a reasonable agent and she gave me the reasonable price straight up without any haggling.

We were picked up early in the morning and taken to the pier by van, waiting a while before boarding the boat which would take us around Phang Nga Bay.  The boat ride was better than I expected.  I didn't think the scenery would be too spectacular along the way, but it was beautiful.  Limestone rocks, mangrove forests, and clear turquoise water... I never got bored looking at the views while we sailed along!

Phang Nga Bay

The first stop on our trip was to do sea canoeing in caves on islands in the bay.  At first I was a bit skeptical, as we transferred from our big boat onto small sea canoes along with many other tourists - all headed through the same narrow cave opening in the rock.  After a traffic jam in the cave, we emerged on the other side into an amazing lagoon.  We were surrounded by huge rock walls on all sides, with tropical plants growing from the rocks, and mangroves coming out of the water.  It was much better than I expected!  The open space allowed us to get away from the other sea canoes and appreciate the beautiful views.

Emerging from the cave...

Secret lagoon on the other side of the cave

Enjoying the sea canoe!

After our sea canoe experience, we were paddled back to the big boat where we had a delicious lunch of Thai food, and then made our way towards Koh Panyee.  Koh Panyee is a floating fishing village that was established at the end of the 18th century by nomadic fishermen.  It has a high Muslim population, evidenced by the mosque on the island.  It was interesting to see the school on the island, complete with a floating soccer field and play area, although I think the main reason we were taken to this island was in the hopes that we might buy something from the local shop keepers who were lined up waiting for all the tourists!

Koh Panyee

The next stop on our tour was the famous "James Bond Island," also known as Khao Phing Kan to Thai people.  A scene from the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed here, hence the name James Bond Island.  I have never seen the movie before, so I don't think I fully appreciated being there, but it was another beautiful place filled with tons of tourists.  We took our photos and then waited to get back on the boat, elbowing our way through the crowds.

James Bond Island

What it really looked like ...

For the last part of our tour, the boat stopped in a shaded bay with a small private beach.  We had some free time to swim, relax, or do sea canoeing on our own.  John and I took out a sea canoe and paddled around.  The waters in the bay were so calm and no other boat was there.  Luckily we almost had the bay to ourselves, aside from a few other people on our tour who also were paddling or swimming around.

When it was time to leave, one of the guides made a whistling sound to call the sea eagles.  We had eagles swooping down to our boat as we made our way through Phang Nga back to Phuket - pretty cool!  Despite the fact that many of the places we visited on the tour were crowded with tourists, I enjoyed the day and was impressed with the beautiful scenery.

Sea eagles following our boat - goodbye Phang Nga Bay!