Tours v Backpacking

I've got another comparison for you, tour v backpacking travel. There are pros and cons to both; something I thought I would never say. After backpacking in the UK last year I was pro-backpacking, and I concluded that I must therefore be anti-tours. I have recently discovered however that these two forms of travel are not mutually exclusive. You can enjoy both. There are of course pros and cons to both, I'll list what they are in my opinion, feel free to disagree or add features I've neglected.



Backpacking:
-Complete freedom/flexibility: the most obvious positive feature is that you can do what you want, when you want... as long as its not taking pictures of certain communist buildings :S ops
-Meet more people: I suppose this could be a pro or con depending on if you're introverted or extroverted and the quality of people you're meeting. My general experience has been pretty good meeting other backpackers, probably because you have similar tastes and instantly have a topic of common interest... travel!
-Go places tours don't go: you can get a more “real” feel for the place you're visiting, tours tend to sugar coat the place you're visitng, which is a pro or con depending on what you're looking to get out of your trip.
-Quality of vacation doesn't relying on the quality of the tour: this is a big one, since the tour company and other travellers on the tour can make or break your vacation, so you're taking a big gamble.
-Way cheaper: generally...
-Working holiday: although backpacking is LOADS of fun, its certainly not a relaxing vacation (at least when I did it) because you're running from place to place trying to soak everything in. I needed a few days to recuperate when I got home haha.



Tours:
-Leave your brain at home: best feature (in my opinion) of going on a tour is that you can relax when it comes to getting from point A to point B, meals, itinerary etc because someone else is doing it all for you, so you can kick back and relax... without that useless muscle upstairs.
-Make good friends: since you're thrown together with the same people for x number of days, you get to know the people you're on the tour with better than if you had run into them in a hostel or on a train.
-Safety: depending on the location, this can be a BIG thing, or not even come into your decision making process.
-Cost: tours can be done pretty inexpensively if you're willing to hunt around, but obviously at the end of the day you're going to pay a premium for leaving your brain at home.
-Loss of freedom: you have to do what's on the itinerary, granted there are many options for tours so you can pick the one that suits you best, and there is lots of free time built in, but the tour guide does need to keep a tab on you so that means no kayaking out of site, even if there is a cool cave just beyond reach :(

Conclusion? Its time for me to say those 3 little words my family have been waiting for me to say, “I was wrong”. Yes you heard (or erm read) it here first, 'I was wrong', scheduled tours can be very enjoyable as well, and I would be all for going on a tour with my family some day instead of backpacking (this is a huge debate in the Smith house when we talk about family vacations) granted that we weigh the pros and cons of each...

Kiva

Alright so this post is in a round about way what I'm doing in Vietnam, because it involves micro-entrepreneurship, but mostly its about my favourite NGO, Kiva!

What is Kiva? Kiva is an organization that empowers individuals around the globe to lend to entrepreneurs in developing regions. By combining microfinance (small business loans) with the internet, Kiva has created a global community of people connected through lending. http://www.kiva.org/

As most of you know microfinance is a pet project of mine. As most of you don't know, I have given a few donations to Kiva over the years. However today is the first time I've given directly to an entrepreneur, WHAT A THRILL!! Her name is Lux Kongkea, she is a 23 year old woman living with her husband and son in Cambodia. Through Kiva 30 people from around the world (Canada, Sweden, Korea, Australia, US, Denmark etc) have given small loans as little as $25USD to collectively add up to her request for $800USD so that she can buy, raise and sell piglets. Why would she want to raise piglets? Well she and her husband currently work at a golf course for $2.5USD and $3.5USD a day respectively. Its hard to improve your standard of living on a combined income of $6USD a day. So through this loan she'll be able to increase her family income and improve their standard of living.

Lux Kongkea, would not be able to borrow from a traditional bank because she has virtually no credit history or collateral. So without microfinance she would be stuck in the unlucky circumstances she was born into, with no chance to elevate herself and family from poverty. However through microfinance she is given the opportunity people in the west take for granted, the ability to change your circumstances through hard work. Another great feature about microfinance is that its a loan, not a donation, so as the loan is repaid the money can be used again to benefit another entrepreneur, or it can be taken out of the recycling process for the lender's own purposes... I think you can guess what I'll do with mine ;)

Changing definitions

By observing another culture, we can truly begin to appreciate and define our own culture...

Before I continue I think it necessary to clarify that when I use the word “different” I mean it in the way oxford dictionary intends the word to be used; to describe something that is dissimilar, distinct, separate etc. I do not mean it as a euphemism for “worse” or “wrong”. There is no implicit degrading nature of the word “different”... at least when I use it. When you use it, feel free to euphemesque it up (yes I made up a word, but you understand its meaning so it served its purpose).

...Now obviously there are many differences in Vietnam from Canada, in fact the majority of this blog has been devoted to describing some of these differences for the benefit of those not experiencing it first hand, or perhaps more accurately, as an outlet for my excitement in these new discoveries. A popular and COMPLETELY accurate stereotype about Asian cultures is the difference in their work ethic to "the west". Now, the economic environment in Vietnam is quite different to that in Canada, therefore comparing the two business environments would be like comparing maple syrup and fish sauce (popular ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine). However a comparison between the education systems in the two countries may be fairer.

Last week I had the opportunity to do a focus study with several high school students; in which I went on an informative tangent regarding the education system in Vietnam. This is what I learned, are you ready for this? Not only do the students here go to school EVERYDAY (ie no weekends off), but most also go to a tutor before AND/OR after school AND during the summer break. Presumably they do all of this extra studying in order to get a competitive advantage for university entrance exams over other students... other students who are also going to tutors because other students are... its a vicious cycle that the students feel astutely.

Now I didn't take a picture of the students in the focus study, but below is a picture that perfectly depicts the work ethic I'm attempting to convey. I don't know if there is a special name for this type of employment but let me give you a job description. These woman who average about 5'3'', 100lbs (soaking wet and holding a brick) balance two baskets on their shoulders weighed down with various food items (fresh fruit, hot meals etc) to sell to passers by. These deceptively strong women carry the baskets with them from dawn, to the heat of midday, to dusk. I have a deep respect for these women and a new definition for the phrase “a honest, hard day's work”.

Reprogramming

Welcome to the reprogramming course for foreign drivers. Lets start with some True and False questions:

Questions:
1. Driving against the flow of traffic is okay?
2. Using blinkers is the law?
3. Your horn should be honked when passing?
4. Swerving through cars and bikes; driving through red lights; and driving on the side walk is dangerous and illegal?

Answers:
1. T, especially if you need to be on this side of the road and don't want to cross traffic later.
2. F, its more of a suggestion; and using yours is the best way to be laughed off the street.
3. T, your horn should also be honked if someone cuts you off, if you cut someone off, if you don't like the colour of someone's shirt, when you breath...
4. F, its a more efficient use of road space and is therefore necessary for the continued harmony of the nation... when done at top speeds extra harmony is achieved.

Malaria

Hanoi, Halifax, Edmonton and Phoenix.
I've got a tab on all the places my family are this summer. Interpret however you please... I blame the malaria pills.

A day of pleasant surprises

Like the good Mormon girl that I am, when I discovered I'd be spending the summer in Vietnam I searched for a congregation in Hanoi; however I was unsuccessful. Thankfully President Blake (the Halifax temple president) used his many connections and found me contact information for several members in Hanoi. I swear that man has more world wide connections than fake noses in Hollywood! I couldn't find the chapel last Sunday, but today I had lunch with two wonderful sisters, Anita Hummel and Minh Tan Tran.

Anita is an American that has been in Asian for 25yrs now and is the President of Mondoro, Asia-Hand, Mondoro Living, and Mondoro Charities... she's an entrepreneur extraordinaire! Her surprising word of wisdom for the day, “marry rich”. Tran works for Anita as an accountant. She joined the church 1 year ago against her parent's wishes, a truly inspirational Vietnamese pioneer! She's also a brave soul as she has agreed to teach me to drive the motorcycle I'm renting for $55USD/month this summer and is determined to teach me Vietnamese. Our first driving lesson is tomorrow from my apt to institute class... if there are no more blogs after this, you know why.

At first I was nervous when Anita told me her maid would be making a Vietnamese dish for lunch (since I've been getting sick after every Vietnamese meal thus far). But determined to not insult my host I smiled and chowed down. Not only was it DELICIOUS but its now 4 hours later and I'm not praying for a merciful death! We had nem (Vietnamese spring rolls) with vermicelli noodles and a sauce and garnish that I can't remember the name of at the moment. But her maid agreed to teach me how to make it, so you can all look forward to some homemade Vietnamese food in a few months... assuming that the meat was pork...


(I didn't take a picture of the actual meal, but it looked something like this)

Good morning Vietnam!

How many tourists have made that joke?

Be warned this post isn't that interesting, its really more of a day-in-the-life-of-Amanda-in-Vietnam post. And since my apt is where I spend most of my time (because its too freaking hot to go and do anything) it seems an appropriate place to start.



This is where I sleep, read, surf the internet, sweat, lounge semi-nude between my 2-3 daily showers that are completely necessary! Okay seriously its H-O-T here! To give you an idea, I WALKED no more than 150m today at 8am and was sweating like Ruben Studdard; like a klansman in the ghetto; like a dog in a Vietnamese butcher shop. But seriously, my legs were sweating, that doesn't even happen when I go for runs in Canada. Ridiculous! When is the monsoon season going to start already?

The pictures below are what I see when I look out of the windows over my bed; left, center and right respectively. As you can see I've got a great view out my windows, it semi looks like I live in the jungle but I'm actually in a densely populated area. Things just grow here like its going out of style. Đẹp = beautiful.




PS I have maids!