I haven't updated this in a long time so I am going to have to remember a lot! Okay lets start with what happened when I tried to leave Jakarta. Early morning on Monday April 18 myself and the Wowors left for the airport. When I tried to pass through immigration I was stopped and told I would be unable to return if I left due to the fact that I only had a single entry Indonesian visa. We tried our best to beg and plead and eventually even bribe to no avail. I had to turn around and go back to Pondak Indah to stay the night. I ended up eating dinner with Mr. Wowor and then playing pool with friends at Fez. The next morning my passport was taken to the Jakarta immigration office where they hurriedly threw a new visa in and returned to me just as I was to enter the taxi to go back to the airport. I arrived with just enough time to go through immigration ( this time without fuss) and board the plane at last call.
When I arrived in Saigon I had to go through Vietnamese immigration. I had applied for my visa already but forgot that I was to pay a 25$ fee. This would have been fine if I had any money on me or there was an atm about but of course there was not. Lucky for me I met a guy from Thailand who loaned me the money until I could get to an atm to pay him back (divine providence no doubt). I met up with the Wowors and we immediately went out for dinner and met some friends who took us around Saigon. I visited the famous Apocalypse Now bar of film fame. After another couple of days in Saigon we headed out to Nha Trang.
This was to be a 8 hour bus ride of hell. Stuffy uncomfortable with 1 stop and honking to no end. Hard to explain why it was so bad and how bad it really was but I don't want to ever ride a bus again after that. When we finally reached Nha Trang we nearly kissed the ground. The city was beautiful and interesting with ancient Buddhist temples and relatively empty beaches ( there were Russians but not too many).
We took a sleeper train on the way back which was a lot better but we did arrive in Saigon at 4am.
We then moved on the Singapore which was a real change of pace. Singapore is a truly modern city, clean and bustling. We didn't do much aside from shop and see the Lion King musical. When we returned to Jakarta we stepped back into traffic and pollution. Tim and Leah were ecstatic but I wasn't really looking forward to working again although I was sick of traveling. It was good to go back to my own bed as well.
I spent the next few days relaxing and not doing much else.
School has started back up and I am back in the rhythm of work. yesterday was my birthday and the students did a lot of surprising me with gifts and cards. I then took the Wowors and Marina and Mel out to Outback for dinner as per Indonesian tradition.
Also, on May 2 while checking the news between classes I found out that Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. Mixed emotions of course, I don't ever want to celebrate in anothers death. Yet the thought that this one man could perpetrate such crimes and then go free and never face justice was painful to the American in me. In the states there were spontaneous celebrations and cheers which I found equally painful to the American in me. The line between justice and revenge has been blurred...
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