Ok, this picture was actually taken in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam. But still, Merry Christmas from SE Asia!Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Merry Christmas from Luang Prabang!
Ok, this picture was actually taken in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam. But still, Merry Christmas from SE Asia!
Christmas in Laos
Merry Christmas everyone!
I have been having a very wonderful and memorable Christmas here in Luang Prabang. I met Aunt Sandy, Uncle Vic, Satchel, Eli, and Uncle Vic's parent's: Vic and Ruby in LP for a few fun filled days. I have been seeing Christmas decorations for the last month (all through Vietnam) but it really hadn't sunk in that it was Christmas because it's warm! I keep waiting for the cold rains and slushy snow, but I'm in SE Asia, so don't think thats going to happen. Although it did not feel like my usual Christmas, we have been having a delightful time exploring the town, climbing hundreds of steps to get to Phu Si (splendid views of LP city), cruising in tuk-tuks, tempting our tastebuds with all sorts of delicious foods (eating at nice restaurants, a nice change for me from constantly eating street food!!), enjoying wonderful bungalows set in the jungle, and having an all around good time with family. I have been teaching Eli (my 6 year old cousin) the art of bargaining at the markets. So far we have been doing very well, buying goods at a fraction of the price which the vendors offer. I can tell he will make a great backpacker in 15 years! He keeps telling me: "Let's go bargaining!"
I have been having a very wonderful and memorable Christmas here in Luang Prabang. I met Aunt Sandy, Uncle Vic, Satchel, Eli, and Uncle Vic's parent's: Vic and Ruby in LP for a few fun filled days. I have been seeing Christmas decorations for the last month (all through Vietnam) but it really hadn't sunk in that it was Christmas because it's warm! I keep waiting for the cold rains and slushy snow, but I'm in SE Asia, so don't think thats going to happen. Although it did not feel like my usual Christmas, we have been having a delightful time exploring the town, climbing hundreds of steps to get to Phu Si (splendid views of LP city), cruising in tuk-tuks, tempting our tastebuds with all sorts of delicious foods (eating at nice restaurants, a nice change for me from constantly eating street food!!), enjoying wonderful bungalows set in the jungle, and having an all around good time with family. I have been teaching Eli (my 6 year old cousin) the art of bargaining at the markets. So far we have been doing very well, buying goods at a fraction of the price which the vendors offer. I can tell he will make a great backpacker in 15 years! He keeps telling me: "Let's go bargaining!"
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Note to Travelers in Laos
A quick note to anyone who is coming to Laos and has the Lonely Planet:
In the LP it says that there are no ATMs in Laos. This is actually not true. There are many ATMs readily accessible in Vientiane. There are no ATMs that I know of anywhere else, so it is good to stock up on kip in Vientiane before heading anywhere else.
Recommendations:
Vientiane:
Mixay Guesthouse-Good for backpackers. A good sociable place. Cheap as well. Single rooms with outside bathrooms are $3 a night, the dorm style room is even less. Also, right in the middle of the downtown Vientiane, off the Mekong river.
Buddha Park-Anyone in Vientiane must see the Buddha park. You can go to the local bus station and catch a bus that takes 45 minutes. Be ready for a bumpy ride though. The buddha park is this massive place filled with hundreds of interesting Hindu and Buddhist statues. There is also a massive Buddha, maybe 100 feet long or more, laying down and resting on his hand. Also, a huge mushroom/pumpkin that you can climb to the top of and have panoramic views of the whole park. I wonder if the creater did some drugs before making this park? Seems so.
Luang Prabang:
Mixay Guesthouse-Randomly found a guesthouse with the same name, don't think it is the same guesthouse though. $5 a night for a big bed, and an inside bathroom. Nice old lady runs the place too and gave me a free water.
Cold River Guesthouse - The staff and owner are very friendly at this little place overlooking the Nam Chan river. It is a bit more expensive, but I was splitting a $10 room with my friend so that was okay. Good fruit shakes. (I recommend apple.)
Lao Lao Garden - A great restaurant! Went 2 nights in a row for Lao style barbeque. You get a huge barbeque in the middle of you table, and BBQ your own meet, and then make a soup in the surrounding "moat" thing at the same time. Delicious. You also get a free taste of lao-lao, the traditional whiskey of Laos. It is pink, and tastes like sticky rice. Also, a big bonfire at the back of the restaurant where people sit around and chat after dinner.
In the LP it says that there are no ATMs in Laos. This is actually not true. There are many ATMs readily accessible in Vientiane. There are no ATMs that I know of anywhere else, so it is good to stock up on kip in Vientiane before heading anywhere else.
Recommendations:
Vientiane:
Mixay Guesthouse-Good for backpackers. A good sociable place. Cheap as well. Single rooms with outside bathrooms are $3 a night, the dorm style room is even less. Also, right in the middle of the downtown Vientiane, off the Mekong river.
Buddha Park-Anyone in Vientiane must see the Buddha park. You can go to the local bus station and catch a bus that takes 45 minutes. Be ready for a bumpy ride though. The buddha park is this massive place filled with hundreds of interesting Hindu and Buddhist statues. There is also a massive Buddha, maybe 100 feet long or more, laying down and resting on his hand. Also, a huge mushroom/pumpkin that you can climb to the top of and have panoramic views of the whole park. I wonder if the creater did some drugs before making this park? Seems so.
Luang Prabang:
Mixay Guesthouse-Randomly found a guesthouse with the same name, don't think it is the same guesthouse though. $5 a night for a big bed, and an inside bathroom. Nice old lady runs the place too and gave me a free water.
Cold River Guesthouse - The staff and owner are very friendly at this little place overlooking the Nam Chan river. It is a bit more expensive, but I was splitting a $10 room with my friend so that was okay. Good fruit shakes. (I recommend apple.)
Lao Lao Garden - A great restaurant! Went 2 nights in a row for Lao style barbeque. You get a huge barbeque in the middle of you table, and BBQ your own meet, and then make a soup in the surrounding "moat" thing at the same time. Delicious. You also get a free taste of lao-lao, the traditional whiskey of Laos. It is pink, and tastes like sticky rice. Also, a big bonfire at the back of the restaurant where people sit around and chat after dinner.
Luang Prabang
Arrived in Luang Prabang 2 days ago after another harrowing bus journey.
Highlights of bus journey:
-Multiple people vomiting into plastic bags and then throwing the plastic bags out the window. Had to quickly shut my window a few times to prevent the said bags from flying into me.
-Some random young guy got on the bus with a humongous rifle. Why? Not sure, but he was insistent that he have the gun slung over his should for the entire 11+ hour bus ride.
-Villagers on the bus. We stopped in multiple villages along the way and picked up whole families of villagers. When all the bus seats filled up they simply took plastic stools and placed them in the aisles for extra seats.
Luang Prabang:
This is a very small town, I believe about 26,000 people live here. It is one of the most lovely towns I have been it. Luang Prabang (and Laos in general) has a very laid back vibe. The people don't seem to take anything too seriously and have a great sense of humor. People get up early and work during the morning, then seem to just take it easy during the afternoon and night and drink lao-lao (a 50% alcohol whiskey made from sticky rice.) Anyway, in Luang Prabang orange robed monks roam the streets from the many monasteries and temples around town. People also wake up early in Laos to give alms (sort of like a hand out) to the monks. The monks walk around very early (before the sun even rises) and carry around a bowl and the people come out of their houses and put money or rice into the monk's bowls. Very interesting to see.
Besides having a great atmosphere, Luang Prabang is set in a stunningly beautiful place. It is tucked amidst mountains, surrounded by lush palm trees and other plans. There seems to be this perfumy air about the place. You can wander the banks of the Mekong river and see villagers farming on the other side. Amazing!
Everything in Laos closes at 11:30pm, so it's been lots of early nights.
I am loving Laos so much! It reminds me alot of Nepal in many ways. The villages we passed on the bus are very similar. Also, some of the villagers' facial features reminded me of Tibetan features. Laos is very undeveloped, similar to Nepal (outside the main cities.) Also, the country side is very similar. Very mountainous, winding roads that take forever to cover, lush lowlands, jutting crags. Beautiful!!
Highlights of bus journey:
-Multiple people vomiting into plastic bags and then throwing the plastic bags out the window. Had to quickly shut my window a few times to prevent the said bags from flying into me.
-Some random young guy got on the bus with a humongous rifle. Why? Not sure, but he was insistent that he have the gun slung over his should for the entire 11+ hour bus ride.
-Villagers on the bus. We stopped in multiple villages along the way and picked up whole families of villagers. When all the bus seats filled up they simply took plastic stools and placed them in the aisles for extra seats.
Luang Prabang:
This is a very small town, I believe about 26,000 people live here. It is one of the most lovely towns I have been it. Luang Prabang (and Laos in general) has a very laid back vibe. The people don't seem to take anything too seriously and have a great sense of humor. People get up early and work during the morning, then seem to just take it easy during the afternoon and night and drink lao-lao (a 50% alcohol whiskey made from sticky rice.) Anyway, in Luang Prabang orange robed monks roam the streets from the many monasteries and temples around town. People also wake up early in Laos to give alms (sort of like a hand out) to the monks. The monks walk around very early (before the sun even rises) and carry around a bowl and the people come out of their houses and put money or rice into the monk's bowls. Very interesting to see.
Besides having a great atmosphere, Luang Prabang is set in a stunningly beautiful place. It is tucked amidst mountains, surrounded by lush palm trees and other plans. There seems to be this perfumy air about the place. You can wander the banks of the Mekong river and see villagers farming on the other side. Amazing!
Everything in Laos closes at 11:30pm, so it's been lots of early nights.
I am loving Laos so much! It reminds me alot of Nepal in many ways. The villages we passed on the bus are very similar. Also, some of the villagers' facial features reminded me of Tibetan features. Laos is very undeveloped, similar to Nepal (outside the main cities.) Also, the country side is very similar. Very mountainous, winding roads that take forever to cover, lush lowlands, jutting crags. Beautiful!!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
A Little Tid Bit of the Bus Ride
Here is a little snippet from the Hanoi-Vientiane bus. All the foreigners (6 of us in all) were sitting in the wayyyyyy back of the bus, and were barackaded in by these bales and boxes of miscellaneous stuff. It took some serious manouvering to get over this hurdle to go to the bathroom, take a stretch, or get some food. I took this picture while we were waiting for the Laos border to open. We got there a few hours early, so just sat around trying our hardest to sleep. I was not fully prepared for the journey as a few of the other backpackers were. My pillow consisted of a nice crunchy bag of banana chips which I purchased in Hanoi. As the journey continued, the pillow slowly deflated as we passed around provisions. This man is the bus driver, who came back to the foreigner baracade during the wait and had a little nap. Most of our seats did not recline (broken.) In front of the foreigner baracade was where all the locals got to sit in non-bouncy and reclineable seats. Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bus Ride to Laos
I like to travel by bus. Lets face it, flying would just be cheating (plus it is way out of my budget to take short flights to other countries.) So, 24 hour bus ride from Hanoi to Vientiane it was! I also like taking bus journeys because I actually physically feel the distance I am travelling. When I fly, it is as though I get in a big silver box, and then in a few hours I am half way around the world.
I was picked up from my guesthouse in Hanoi by a random moto-driver who spoke almost no English. He took me a few kilometers away to dark alley and dumped me with my bag, telling me "wait taxi here." Ok.... So I sat, and waited, and waited. Finally a few of us were picked up in a taxi and taken to the bus station about 30 minutes away. Here, we waited and waited again. The bus finally came to get us around 7 PM. The bus looked as though it were about to fall apart. The bus filled up with locals and then the foreigners (6 of us in all: 2 Argentinians, 1 Australian, 1 German, 1 Brit, and me). We were ushered to the very back of the bus... in the cargo storage area. The six of us were sitting amongst bales of miscellaneous stuff (which I am convinced was drugs) and huge boxes of stuff (which I am convinced were body parts being smuggled). We arrived at the border around 4 AM, but the border crossing didn't open until about 7 AM. So we sat FOREVER in the bus, trying our hardest to sleep amongst bales of drugs (ok, actually it was probably just fabric or something, but whatever.) Finally the border opened. It was complete madness. The 6 of us were trying to wait in some sort of line to get our visas, which proved to be a fruitless effort because all the locals simply pushed in front of us. After we spent 30 minutes getting our visas and shivering in the drizzling rain, we emerged on to the Laos side. It was so incredibly foggy, we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us. Back onto the bus. After about an hour, the fog cleared and we finally got to see Laos. Simply spectacular countryside!! The countryside was initially very mountainous, but soon tapered down to flat land being cultivated for something. The rural houses were similar to those I saw in rural Cambodia, as they were on stilts. The siding of the rural houses was made of woven palm frond looking stuff.
Anyway, made it to Laos in one piece. I survived and have now broken my record for longest bus ride.
I was picked up from my guesthouse in Hanoi by a random moto-driver who spoke almost no English. He took me a few kilometers away to dark alley and dumped me with my bag, telling me "wait taxi here." Ok.... So I sat, and waited, and waited. Finally a few of us were picked up in a taxi and taken to the bus station about 30 minutes away. Here, we waited and waited again. The bus finally came to get us around 7 PM. The bus looked as though it were about to fall apart. The bus filled up with locals and then the foreigners (6 of us in all: 2 Argentinians, 1 Australian, 1 German, 1 Brit, and me). We were ushered to the very back of the bus... in the cargo storage area. The six of us were sitting amongst bales of miscellaneous stuff (which I am convinced was drugs) and huge boxes of stuff (which I am convinced were body parts being smuggled). We arrived at the border around 4 AM, but the border crossing didn't open until about 7 AM. So we sat FOREVER in the bus, trying our hardest to sleep amongst bales of drugs (ok, actually it was probably just fabric or something, but whatever.) Finally the border opened. It was complete madness. The 6 of us were trying to wait in some sort of line to get our visas, which proved to be a fruitless effort because all the locals simply pushed in front of us. After we spent 30 minutes getting our visas and shivering in the drizzling rain, we emerged on to the Laos side. It was so incredibly foggy, we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us. Back onto the bus. After about an hour, the fog cleared and we finally got to see Laos. Simply spectacular countryside!! The countryside was initially very mountainous, but soon tapered down to flat land being cultivated for something. The rural houses were similar to those I saw in rural Cambodia, as they were on stilts. The siding of the rural houses was made of woven palm frond looking stuff.
Anyway, made it to Laos in one piece. I survived and have now broken my record for longest bus ride.
Arrival in Laos
LAOS!Welcome to Laos! I arrived in the capital of Vientiane yesterday evening after a harrowing 24 hour bus journey from Hanoi, Vietnam. I spent the day wondering the streets of Vientiane and thoroughly enjoying how extremely relaxing this place is. After being dropped off at the central bus station, I caught a tuk-tuk into the city center with the other foreigners who were on the ridiculously long 24 bus journey with me. The first thing I noticed was the complete and utter lack of horns!! In a SE Asian capital!! No horns?!!? Amazing, really, if you ask me. Vientiane is stationed right on the Mekong river and directly on the other side of the river is Thailand. I ate breakfast at a street vendor (actually more like river side vendor) and gazed about the Mekong and looking at Thailand.
A few stats, for the interested:
Money: kip 9000 or so kip = $1
Religion: Mostly Buddhist, Theraveda to be exact
Mode of transport around town: tuk-tuk
Delicious foods I have tried so far: fruit shakes! I had a delicious coconut shake at lunch. The food here so far seems very similar to Thai food. I still have much culinary exploration to do though.
Room: staying at a place I stumbled upon called Mixxay Guesthouse.
Price of room: $3
General atmosphere of Vientiane: extremely laid back, people are incredibly friendly and have a great sense of humor. It is easy to walk down the street and not get accosted by touts, drivers, beggars, etc... Comparing Laos capital Vientiane to Vietnam's capital Hanoi is like comparing night and day. One is black, the other is white. Only 200,000 people live in Vientiane.
Laos is famous amoung travellers for: Beer. Beerlao to be exact. Tested a Beerlao last night, and it was quite good (although I am not sure I would call myself a beer conneiseiur or anything. Still good.)
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Beautiful Lanterns of Hoi An
These lanterns are a specialty of Hoi An. At night they illuminate the streets and shops with a majestic light that makes you wonder whether you are dreaming or not. 
Big News in Vietnam
I was away from the city for 3 days on my Halong Bay journey of epic proportions. I was on the bus coming back in to Hanoi after this journey and noticed something was.. different but I couldn't put my finger on it. I starred out the window trying to figure it out. The first thing I noticed was that there was a large amount of police officers around (by the way, Vietnamese police officers wear uniforms the color of rotten pea soup. Maybe it's supposed to be an intimidating shade of green?) I still couldn't figure out what was different. A fugitive on the loose? But the flow of motor bikes going down the highway looked more shiny for some reason. Finally, figured out what the difference was. Every single person was wearing a helmet! On December 15th, Vietnam passed a law that every person on a motor bike must be wearing a helmet. The police were about to enforce the new law, the penalty being something like $10. It is not uncommon to see 4 people on one motor bike, including small children. Usually, the driver (if anyone) will be the only person wearing a helmet. So it was quite a surprise, but also a good thing, to see that everyone was wearing one. I did notice that most of the Vietnamese guys under a certain age, defiantely didn't buckle their helmets. Rebels.
Moving, Moving, Moving
Current Location: Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
I can't remember where I last left off. Vietnam has been a whirlwind! My visa runs out on the 20th or December, so I am deciding whether to stay a few more days in Hanoi or to head off to Laos. Will sleep on it and decide in the morning.
Hanoi and Saigon are considered to be counterparts, north and south. Despite the fact that they are the two largest cities in Vietnam, they have a distinctly different vibe and atmosphere. Saigon is much more modern, intense, high energy, and fast paced. Hanoi on the other hand has a much more laid back, less Western, more Vietnamese, a pinch Chinese, and older feel to it. The streets here in Hanoi still teem with motor bikes though.
A bit of an update (sorry if there is any overlap from previous posts):
Hoi An: Already wrote about Hoi An, but it was my FAVORITE (top 2) place in Vietnam. Pretty much a place you would imagine in some ancient fairy tale book. After Hoi An it was off to Hue.
Hue: Hue is famous for being the ancient capital of Vietnam. The most "interesting" thing to see in Hue is supposed to be the Citadel where the royalty used to live centuries ago. Honestly, I was not too impressed. I prefer to wander through the crazy markets, streets, and observe other daily life activities than to see these sorts of things, although it was pretty nice. I enjoyed the ornate Chinese archways, doors, and walls. Otherwise, I found Hue to be relatively unspectacular. Although, it did have a fantastic market along the riverside. After Hue, we were off to Hanoi (current location). Paula and I took a sleeper bus. (Can't remember if I already wrote about this.) Unfortunately the driver felt it necessary to blast horrific Vietnamese karaoke music the entire 13 hour ride. Oh dear. Pretty much every passenger was infuriated, but he refused to turn it off. Spent a day in Hanoi and were off to Halong Bay.
Halong Bay: FAVORITE place in Vietnam, along with Hoi An. Anyone coming to Vietnam cannot miss Halong Bay. It is the most mysterious, magical place I have ever seen. I took a 2 night 3 day tour on a junk boat through the bay (which I will elaborate more on later.) I went on the boat tour with Paula and Ebony. We stayed one night on the junk and one night in a guesthouse on Cat Ba island, the largest island in Halong Bay, with a population of 7,000. Cat Ba island is a craggy, Jurassic park-esque place. We did a jungle trek through the forests, which were complete with yards of tarzan vines hanging down all over the place. I was peaking around all the time to make sure I would spot the dinosaurs if they decided to make an appearance. I think they were a bit scared away though, because I did not see any. At the bottom of the trek route there was a sign labeled: "ADVENTUROUS ROUTE" which of course, we took. It did end up being quite adventurous. I kept slipping into fantasies of being an explorer who has just stumbled upon the island. These explorer fantasies were periodically interupted by shrieking Korean tourists who had just reached the top of a close peak and were screaming over: "VICTORY!!! VICTORY!!! VICTORY!!!" Oh well.
[NOTE: For anyone planning a trip to Vietnam, please email me (leaholson1987@yahoo.com) and I will give them the name of the company to go on the Halong Bay tour. We got an excellent tour for our money. I have a friend who was not completely thrilled with her tour, but our company was excellent.]
Today: Was planning on going to see Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh), but admission to see him closes at 10:15am, so will see him tomorrow. When I say I am going to see Uncle Ho, I mean literally, as his body has been "preserved" by some Russian specialists (similar to Lenin). Embalmed is the word? Anyway, I shall pay him a visit tomorrow morning. I am hoping he is still here in Hanoi, as apparently he is shipped to Russia for 3 months out of the year for "maintenance."
So instead went to Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the center of Hanoi's old quarter. There is a nice red Japanese bridge at one end which leads to a temple which we visited. At the temple we (Ebony, Paula, I) met one guy from Argentina and one from the UK. Paula was excited to meet a fellow countrymen and to be able to speak Spanish again. We all roamed the city together for the day. Our main visit was to the temple of Literature. About a 30-40 minute walk from the Old Quarter. The Temple of Literature is an ancient temple dedicated to men of scholarship and academics. After we wandered all around, pretty much just getting ourselves lost.
In Hanoi (similar to Saigon) there are streets dedicated to all sorts of things. For example, there is a clothes street, hat street, shoe street, motor bike seat street, etc. Along the entire street will be only one thing, but multiple stores selling that designated thing. It confuses me a bit how people manage to have good business as they are all selling the exact same things, but it somehow seems to work.
Streets of things I have seen: motor bike seat covers, lace, buttons, sequins/fake gems, dolls, toys, jewellry, electronics, safes, refrigerators, TVs, helmets, motorbikes, bicycles, dogs, birds, meats, fruits/vegetables, manequins, wigs, beauty products, coffee, dried fruits, snake wine, watches, bags, souvenirs.
Today, managed to find "depressing" street. It was a particularly dingy and decrepit street. I think one of the main hospitals of Hanoi is stationed here. I saw a rather strange looking sign board from across the street and dragged our gang over to take a look. It was a glass case on the street full of pictures of the most graphic injuries I have ever seen. Heads pretty much hanging off, severed hands, horrific gashes going to the bone, bodies mashed to a pulp. There wasn't really any description of why the pictures were there. There were a few words in Vietnamese underneath each picture. This sign board made all our stomachs turn. I have never seen anything so graphic displayed like this on the street. I could not for the life of me figure out the purpose of it, but here are some possibilities:
a) I thought maybe it was some sort of advertisement to encourage people to wear helmets on their motor bikes, but there was no words anywhere or pictures of people wearing helmets.
b) The sign was stationed outside a hospital. Maybe it was the hospital's way of saying: look at all these horrible injuries that we have fixed! Come here and we can fix you too!
Those were the two options I could think of. No one else cared to ponder why these pictures were here so we moved on.
More depressingness came up. This same street (next to the hospital) was lined with parents all holding small children (probably around the age of 3-5) and every single child had a cleft palate/ cleft lip or some other sort of mouth deformity. There were literally dozens of parents holding these children along the street. None of them were begging, they were all just sitting around. Maybe waiting for surgery? Not sure. Anyway, a bit depressing.
I can't remember where I last left off. Vietnam has been a whirlwind! My visa runs out on the 20th or December, so I am deciding whether to stay a few more days in Hanoi or to head off to Laos. Will sleep on it and decide in the morning.
Hanoi and Saigon are considered to be counterparts, north and south. Despite the fact that they are the two largest cities in Vietnam, they have a distinctly different vibe and atmosphere. Saigon is much more modern, intense, high energy, and fast paced. Hanoi on the other hand has a much more laid back, less Western, more Vietnamese, a pinch Chinese, and older feel to it. The streets here in Hanoi still teem with motor bikes though.
A bit of an update (sorry if there is any overlap from previous posts):
Hoi An: Already wrote about Hoi An, but it was my FAVORITE (top 2) place in Vietnam. Pretty much a place you would imagine in some ancient fairy tale book. After Hoi An it was off to Hue.
Hue: Hue is famous for being the ancient capital of Vietnam. The most "interesting" thing to see in Hue is supposed to be the Citadel where the royalty used to live centuries ago. Honestly, I was not too impressed. I prefer to wander through the crazy markets, streets, and observe other daily life activities than to see these sorts of things, although it was pretty nice. I enjoyed the ornate Chinese archways, doors, and walls. Otherwise, I found Hue to be relatively unspectacular. Although, it did have a fantastic market along the riverside. After Hue, we were off to Hanoi (current location). Paula and I took a sleeper bus. (Can't remember if I already wrote about this.) Unfortunately the driver felt it necessary to blast horrific Vietnamese karaoke music the entire 13 hour ride. Oh dear. Pretty much every passenger was infuriated, but he refused to turn it off. Spent a day in Hanoi and were off to Halong Bay.
Halong Bay: FAVORITE place in Vietnam, along with Hoi An. Anyone coming to Vietnam cannot miss Halong Bay. It is the most mysterious, magical place I have ever seen. I took a 2 night 3 day tour on a junk boat through the bay (which I will elaborate more on later.) I went on the boat tour with Paula and Ebony. We stayed one night on the junk and one night in a guesthouse on Cat Ba island, the largest island in Halong Bay, with a population of 7,000. Cat Ba island is a craggy, Jurassic park-esque place. We did a jungle trek through the forests, which were complete with yards of tarzan vines hanging down all over the place. I was peaking around all the time to make sure I would spot the dinosaurs if they decided to make an appearance. I think they were a bit scared away though, because I did not see any. At the bottom of the trek route there was a sign labeled: "ADVENTUROUS ROUTE" which of course, we took. It did end up being quite adventurous. I kept slipping into fantasies of being an explorer who has just stumbled upon the island. These explorer fantasies were periodically interupted by shrieking Korean tourists who had just reached the top of a close peak and were screaming over: "VICTORY!!! VICTORY!!! VICTORY!!!" Oh well.
[NOTE: For anyone planning a trip to Vietnam, please email me (leaholson1987@yahoo.com) and I will give them the name of the company to go on the Halong Bay tour. We got an excellent tour for our money. I have a friend who was not completely thrilled with her tour, but our company was excellent.]
Today: Was planning on going to see Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh), but admission to see him closes at 10:15am, so will see him tomorrow. When I say I am going to see Uncle Ho, I mean literally, as his body has been "preserved" by some Russian specialists (similar to Lenin). Embalmed is the word? Anyway, I shall pay him a visit tomorrow morning. I am hoping he is still here in Hanoi, as apparently he is shipped to Russia for 3 months out of the year for "maintenance."
So instead went to Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the center of Hanoi's old quarter. There is a nice red Japanese bridge at one end which leads to a temple which we visited. At the temple we (Ebony, Paula, I) met one guy from Argentina and one from the UK. Paula was excited to meet a fellow countrymen and to be able to speak Spanish again. We all roamed the city together for the day. Our main visit was to the temple of Literature. About a 30-40 minute walk from the Old Quarter. The Temple of Literature is an ancient temple dedicated to men of scholarship and academics. After we wandered all around, pretty much just getting ourselves lost.
In Hanoi (similar to Saigon) there are streets dedicated to all sorts of things. For example, there is a clothes street, hat street, shoe street, motor bike seat street, etc. Along the entire street will be only one thing, but multiple stores selling that designated thing. It confuses me a bit how people manage to have good business as they are all selling the exact same things, but it somehow seems to work.
Streets of things I have seen: motor bike seat covers, lace, buttons, sequins/fake gems, dolls, toys, jewellry, electronics, safes, refrigerators, TVs, helmets, motorbikes, bicycles, dogs, birds, meats, fruits/vegetables, manequins, wigs, beauty products, coffee, dried fruits, snake wine, watches, bags, souvenirs.
Today, managed to find "depressing" street. It was a particularly dingy and decrepit street. I think one of the main hospitals of Hanoi is stationed here. I saw a rather strange looking sign board from across the street and dragged our gang over to take a look. It was a glass case on the street full of pictures of the most graphic injuries I have ever seen. Heads pretty much hanging off, severed hands, horrific gashes going to the bone, bodies mashed to a pulp. There wasn't really any description of why the pictures were there. There were a few words in Vietnamese underneath each picture. This sign board made all our stomachs turn. I have never seen anything so graphic displayed like this on the street. I could not for the life of me figure out the purpose of it, but here are some possibilities:
a) I thought maybe it was some sort of advertisement to encourage people to wear helmets on their motor bikes, but there was no words anywhere or pictures of people wearing helmets.
b) The sign was stationed outside a hospital. Maybe it was the hospital's way of saying: look at all these horrible injuries that we have fixed! Come here and we can fix you too!
Those were the two options I could think of. No one else cared to ponder why these pictures were here so we moved on.
More depressingness came up. This same street (next to the hospital) was lined with parents all holding small children (probably around the age of 3-5) and every single child had a cleft palate/ cleft lip or some other sort of mouth deformity. There were literally dozens of parents holding these children along the street. None of them were begging, they were all just sitting around. Maybe waiting for surgery? Not sure. Anyway, a bit depressing.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Mekong Delta
Boating down the Mekong Delta, a most fantastic place in the South of Vietnam. The Vietnamese woman in the conical hat was paddling us furiously through these tiny canals. (Note: Anyone coming to Vietnam must see the Mekong Delta! A+)
Future Career?
I proved to be quite a fisherwoman. I may have a career on a Vietnamese fishing boat. This is from the boat trip off Phu Quoc Island. I caught 4 fish, which I was quite impressed by. Later on, the boat crew cooked up the fish for us for lunch. At one point, I was sure I had caught a great white shark. It was pulling and fighting, and I was dragging in the line with all my might. Turns out, my friend Chris and I had caught our hooks on each other. We both though we were bringing in a barracuda. Damn... just a fluke. Vietnamese Fisherwomen??
This is a traditional Vietnamese fishing boat, of the smaller variety. They look like saucers to me. Anywhere along the ocean you will see fishermen in these boats casting out their nets or with their fishing poles. The boats are woven out of wicker. I am not exactly sure how they are waterproof. But, the Vietnamese know their fishing I suppose. I was quite excited to paddle out to sea and become ship wrecked on a tropical island, so I was trying to paddle furiously out to sea. Jayne, on the other hand, I think was a bit scared at my shipwreck excitement. Updates....
Ok, where did I leave off from?
Mui Ne I covered... Next stop was Dalat which I believe I also covered. After Dalat was Nha Trang. Nha Trang was nice, although the weather was quite stormy when we were there so we were not able to enjoy the beach. The picture of the sleeping buddha is from Nha Trang, by the way.
Highlight of Nha Trang: Mud bath! Jayne, Ebony, and I went for a day at these special mud baths. We began by entering this strange little complex and showered off in our suits in an area signed "Shower Area For Men." After this, we were ushered into a massive tub which immediately began to fill with chocolately brown mud. I felt as though I were an oompa loompa who had fallen into Charlie's chocolate river. We froliced in the mud for quite some time. The staff kindly provided us with three plastic buckets so we could pour mud on our selves. About 45 minutes after the mud bath began we were being attacked on any exposed flesh by mosquitoes, of "mozzies" as Ebony the Australian calls them. After the mud bath, we were ushed again to the "Shower Area For Men" where we spent about 15 minutes trying to get all the mud off. I kept creeping peeks into the bushes to check if there were any midget, orange haired, green suspendered oompa loompas hiding about. Unfortunately, I did not see any. This shower was followed by a "hydrotherapy jet stream" thing. We stood on a bunch of rocks and were shot at with streams of warm water. This was quite nice. After this was a mineral bath, similar to a jacuzzi. Again, we were attacked continuously by mozzies whenever we came out of the boiling water for breath.
The rest of the group left and I stayed an extra day in Nha Trang to explore and such. I did alot of walking and thinking, then off to Hoi An.
Hoi An: This is my absolute favorite place in Vietnam. It is as though some sort of Vietnamese fairy flew over the city and sprinkled magic fairy dust on the place. It is old, the textured, and cultured, classy, and elegant. The place bursting with tailors. I had 3 things made, very basic things for travel. My compatriates were not so restrained and had all sorts of dresses and trousers made.
Hue: This was the next stop after Hoi An. I have heard good things about Hue, but honestly I thought it was decent at best. It is home to the Citadel, the ancient capital of Vietnam. We went to the Imperial Enclosure, which was nice. After 7 months in Asia though, a pagoda is a pagoda is a pagoda. We did have some great food in Hue though. The best part of Hue was the market which was fantastic, I love markets though. It was also chock full of street food that I always love to try.
Hanoi: Just arrived in Hanoi today. We took a sleeper bus which is outfitted with beds, as the bus journey is 13 hours long. This would all be great and grand, except that the driver insisted on blaring horrific Vietnamese karaoke music the ENTIRE bus journey to everyone's chagrin. So, the sleeper bus ended up being pointless because sleep was impossible. The bus ride: If you can imagine your cranium being cut open with a seraded bread knife (which is rusty), and then the soundtrack of every dodgy Vietnamese karaoke bar is stuffed in your brain on endless repeat, then your cranium is stapled shut (with rusty staples.) Thats what it was like. Only a little worse. I think I shall write a story on it... to come later.
I am now with Ebony (Australia) and Paula (Argentina). We spent the day wondering around Hanoi, stopping in at random food stalls, stores, and other sights. I much prefer to get lost and wander, rather than look at the sights in the guide book. We were watching a huge talent show at a Vietnamese primary school from the doors outside. It was rather hilarious. Then, the teachers saw us and invited us in as VIP guests where we sat at the front of the auditorium while all the hundreds of small children cheered and screamed. We got front row seats to choreographed dances by 10 year old Vietnamese girls decked out in green eye shadow and silver sequined tops, and 8 year old kung fu masters in yellow silk outfits. It was fantastic.
Ebony and I had a fabulous meal of street food for dinner. I can't remember what it is called, but I will write the name later. Hanoi seems to be foodie heaven, so I am trying to expand my Vietnamese food expertise beyond delicious pho bo (which is my current addiction.)
Tomorrow: Paula, Ebony and I are heading off to Halong Bay for a boat tour on a dingy! Ahhh... this should be grand. It is 2 nights and 3 days on a boat. I am quite excited for this one. As I have just finished my book called "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith (which I highly recommend by the way), I decided to purchase Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, which seemed appropriate as I am about to embark on a 3 day boat journey. Much adventures to come!
I also have some great photos I must up load, but I must pack my bag for the boat journey.
Tam biet (goodbye) and thanks for reading.
Mui Ne I covered... Next stop was Dalat which I believe I also covered. After Dalat was Nha Trang. Nha Trang was nice, although the weather was quite stormy when we were there so we were not able to enjoy the beach. The picture of the sleeping buddha is from Nha Trang, by the way.
Highlight of Nha Trang: Mud bath! Jayne, Ebony, and I went for a day at these special mud baths. We began by entering this strange little complex and showered off in our suits in an area signed "Shower Area For Men." After this, we were ushered into a massive tub which immediately began to fill with chocolately brown mud. I felt as though I were an oompa loompa who had fallen into Charlie's chocolate river. We froliced in the mud for quite some time. The staff kindly provided us with three plastic buckets so we could pour mud on our selves. About 45 minutes after the mud bath began we were being attacked on any exposed flesh by mosquitoes, of "mozzies" as Ebony the Australian calls them. After the mud bath, we were ushed again to the "Shower Area For Men" where we spent about 15 minutes trying to get all the mud off. I kept creeping peeks into the bushes to check if there were any midget, orange haired, green suspendered oompa loompas hiding about. Unfortunately, I did not see any. This shower was followed by a "hydrotherapy jet stream" thing. We stood on a bunch of rocks and were shot at with streams of warm water. This was quite nice. After this was a mineral bath, similar to a jacuzzi. Again, we were attacked continuously by mozzies whenever we came out of the boiling water for breath.
The rest of the group left and I stayed an extra day in Nha Trang to explore and such. I did alot of walking and thinking, then off to Hoi An.
Hoi An: This is my absolute favorite place in Vietnam. It is as though some sort of Vietnamese fairy flew over the city and sprinkled magic fairy dust on the place. It is old, the textured, and cultured, classy, and elegant. The place bursting with tailors. I had 3 things made, very basic things for travel. My compatriates were not so restrained and had all sorts of dresses and trousers made.
Hue: This was the next stop after Hoi An. I have heard good things about Hue, but honestly I thought it was decent at best. It is home to the Citadel, the ancient capital of Vietnam. We went to the Imperial Enclosure, which was nice. After 7 months in Asia though, a pagoda is a pagoda is a pagoda. We did have some great food in Hue though. The best part of Hue was the market which was fantastic, I love markets though. It was also chock full of street food that I always love to try.
Hanoi: Just arrived in Hanoi today. We took a sleeper bus which is outfitted with beds, as the bus journey is 13 hours long. This would all be great and grand, except that the driver insisted on blaring horrific Vietnamese karaoke music the ENTIRE bus journey to everyone's chagrin. So, the sleeper bus ended up being pointless because sleep was impossible. The bus ride: If you can imagine your cranium being cut open with a seraded bread knife (which is rusty), and then the soundtrack of every dodgy Vietnamese karaoke bar is stuffed in your brain on endless repeat, then your cranium is stapled shut (with rusty staples.) Thats what it was like. Only a little worse. I think I shall write a story on it... to come later.
I am now with Ebony (Australia) and Paula (Argentina). We spent the day wondering around Hanoi, stopping in at random food stalls, stores, and other sights. I much prefer to get lost and wander, rather than look at the sights in the guide book. We were watching a huge talent show at a Vietnamese primary school from the doors outside. It was rather hilarious. Then, the teachers saw us and invited us in as VIP guests where we sat at the front of the auditorium while all the hundreds of small children cheered and screamed. We got front row seats to choreographed dances by 10 year old Vietnamese girls decked out in green eye shadow and silver sequined tops, and 8 year old kung fu masters in yellow silk outfits. It was fantastic.
Ebony and I had a fabulous meal of street food for dinner. I can't remember what it is called, but I will write the name later. Hanoi seems to be foodie heaven, so I am trying to expand my Vietnamese food expertise beyond delicious pho bo (which is my current addiction.)
Tomorrow: Paula, Ebony and I are heading off to Halong Bay for a boat tour on a dingy! Ahhh... this should be grand. It is 2 nights and 3 days on a boat. I am quite excited for this one. As I have just finished my book called "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith (which I highly recommend by the way), I decided to purchase Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, which seemed appropriate as I am about to embark on a 3 day boat journey. Much adventures to come!
I also have some great photos I must up load, but I must pack my bag for the boat journey.
Tam biet (goodbye) and thanks for reading.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Sleeping Buddha
The massive sleeping Buddha at the Long Son Pagoda in Nha Trang. Doesn't he look peaceful?Predicament in Dalat
We bought a bus ticket from Dalat to Nha Trang. After getting onto a mini bus, we preceded to be shuddled from one bus to the next. After about 4 bus changes we were left to wait in a random bus station in town. Apparently, the bus company we were supposed to take asked for more money when they realized that we were foreigners so we had to take another bus. Mui Ne
We rented motor bikes for a few days in Mui Ne. After about an hour and a half of driving, we stopped at a small village and were welcomed by hoardes of children. They were especially fascinated with our sunglasses and our skin color. We took out a bottle of sunscreen for reapplication purposes to find that the children were immensely fascinated with this mysterious lotion as well. They insisted that they each have some sunscreen to put on. After a mere 30 seconds, this sitation got completely out of hand and we were surrounded by about 15 kids transformed into drippy white ghosts from the copious amounts of sunscreen they had slathered on their faces and arms.
League of Nations
The League of Nations, as other travelers have begun to call us. This is my travel group at the moment. Jayne is on the far left. She is from Edmonton, Canada. We have been traveling throughout the whole of Vietnam together. Me, next to her. Orange sweater is Paula, from Argentina, who we picked up in Mui Ne. And Ebony, from Australia who we saw in Saigon, met back up with in Mui Ne, and have been traveling with ever since.
Touques in Vietnam? Yes, we were in Dalat at this point, trying to warm up in our sweaters and with big bowls of pho. Dalat's climate is very cold and brisk compared to the rest of Vietnam that I have seen. Hats, sweaters, and gloves were necessary. It was strange, because the day before, we were on the beach in bathing suits!
Delicious Coffee
Enjoying some delicious Vietnamese coffee from a street vendor in Saigon. This is at a market in Cholon, the Chinatown district of Saigon. This coffee really gets you buzzing.Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Dalat
Xin chao! (Jeen-chow!) Aka, hello, in Vietnamese. The epic journey continues north through Vietnam. I arrived this afternoon in Dalat, a fantastic little town with a very strange atmosphere. More later... first updates.
Mekong Delta: The Mekong Delta is about a two hour bus ride south of HCMC (also known as Saigon.) I did a Mekong Delta day tour with Jayne (the Canadian girl I am now traveling with) which was amazing. The Mekong Delta is this massive area centered around, what else, the Mekong river. There is huge amounts of rice that is cultivated in this area. There are not many roads, people travel everywhere by boat. I was amazed at the way people live. They have their entire lively hood on these tiny fishing boats. It seems as though most people who do not grow rice are fishermen/women. Highlights:
-Being on the boats. We had to switch boats about 6 times. We had one boat for the more rough waters, another through the winding mekong waterways, and a very small boat paddled by this tiny Vietnamese woman through extremely narrow canals.
-Coconut candy making factory: There is a coconut candy making factory on one of the islands. We learned the whole process of the candy making, and of course got to try all different varieties including durian candy. It was.... interesting. I think durian is an aquired taste.
-Python: At one of our first stops on the tour we all got to hold a massive python around our necks!! It was surprisingly heavy, and was slithering it's tounge out on my hands.
-Fishing boats: The Vietnamese fishing boats are spectacular! Very bright colors.
Phu Quoc Island: I spent 5 days and 4 nights on Phu Quoc island, which is on the southern end of Vietnam. Compared to Saigon it is a very quiet place. Alot of honeymooners. Highlights:
-Boat trip: We took a boat trip for a whole day. It was definetally one of the best things I have done in my whole almost 7 months of traveling. From the boat trip:
*We went fishing. Number of fish I caught: 4
*Number of friends I was with 3: 2 Canadians and 1 Brit
*Total number of people on the boat: 8
*Number of times we went snorkeling: 3
*Number of times I jumped off the boat: 1
*Number of jelly fish stings I got after jumping off the boat: 7- 8
*SPF Sunscreen: 50
*Number of bottles of rum we brought for the boat trip: 1 (what is a pirate boat trip with out rum?)
*Number of beaches we stopped at: 3
If anyone is in Phu Quoc Island, i HIGHLY recommend the boat trip. Grand.
Mui Ne: Mui Ne is a small beach town about 6 hour northeast of Saigon. We finalllly left Saigon as our visas are running out. Let the journey continue! Highlights/stats of Mui Ne:
*Traveling with Jayne (Canadian) and Dan (English)
*Price of our room: $15 divided by three people, included hot water (wow!!) and mosquito nets
*Number of Swedes we met at our guesthouse: 2, both named Frederick
*Shells collected from the beach: 10 - 15
*Number of days we rented motor bikes: 2
*Red sand dunes: Massive dunes made of amazing red sand. I felt like I needed a camel or something while walking through them.
*White sand dunes: About a 45 minute motor bike ride out to the white sand dunes. If you can imagine, the white sand dunes were even more amazing than the red sand dunes. We drove our bikes out through some spectacular countryside and had lunch at a small road side place. Then we rented a tiny wooden boat for the three of us and paddled into this beautiful lake covered in lotus flowers. We paid 100,000 dong for 1 hour on this tiny wooden boat, more than we paid for motor bikes for the whole day (80,000 dong.) I think the villagers were laughing straight to the bank, but it was ok because we had so much fun. Jayne and I did the hard paddling while Dan sat and enjoyed the view. Before we left the shore one of the locals handed us an orange plastic jug. What for? For bailing out the leaky boat. Dan manage to bail out the boat continuously so we didn't sink.
*We paddled over to the while sand dunes which are breathtaking. Climbed all over them, it seemed as though I was in Saudi Arabia or something. There are alot of small kids with "tobogans," big body sized plastic sheets and they walk around to tourists and you can pay 20,000 dong and sled down the sand dunes! Since we were the youngest people there, the kids took us to the highest and steepest dune possible. You run and jump on to your sled on your stomach and sled down the dunes and if you want, can fly into the lake. Well, of course we flew into the lake. It was a lung pumping walk back up the almost vertical dunes, but was so fun! I had so many gos on the sleds.
*Number of herds of sheep passed while motor biking to the white sand dunes: 1
*Number of herds of cows: 2
*Number of herds of goats: 1
*Price of 1 liter of petrol: 18,000 dong
*Number of people in our biker gang the second day of motor biking: 8 including the Swedish Fredericks, me, Jayne, Dan, Ebony (Australia), Alex and Ana (newlywed Russian couple.) We felt almost as badass as if we were riding Harley Davidsons.
*Hours from Saigon to Mui Ne: 6
*Number of mosquito bites I recieved in Mui Ne: 10ish
*We stopped on our first motor bike trip in a small village. The village children were fascinated by our sunglasses and my rings. We stopped to apply some sunscreen and then they of course wanted some too. This hoard of children took the bottle of sunscreen and rubbed copious amounts all over their body, including their eyes. They were delighted to see how white they looked (because they did not properly rub it in.) The whole scene was quite hilarious.
Recommendations: Thai Hoa resort. It is quite a nice place. It is expensive but if you are with one or two other people it is not too bad. The food there is not great but there are good restaurants right across the road. Also, Thai Hoa is right on the beach so you can wake up and go straight down for some sand and surf.
-If you go to Mui Ne, renting motor bikes for a day or two is an absolute must.
-Sand dunes are beautiful. Red is good, white is better. See both.
Dalat: Jayne and I have picked up a few more additions to our traveling group. Our friend Dan from London headed back from Saigon fromMui Ne, but now we are traveling with two more people. Ebony, from Australia and Paula, from Argentina (although she has lived in Spain for 7 or 8 years.) We arrived today in Dalat around 3 o'clock PM. Dalat is about a 5 hour bus ride north from Mui Ne, but in Central Vietnam. I think they call this area the "Central Highland." As we were winding up the mountains to Dalat it very much reminded me of the bus rides in Nepal. The roads are incredibly windy and the scenery is fabulous. On the outskirts of town was a very strange scene. In some ways it reminded me of Spray, Oregon. It had a very Western-y feel with alot of abandoned looking houses (even though people live in them), lots of open fields, and donkey drawn carts. The difference (one of the differences) is that instead of cowboy hats, people are wearing the trademark Vietnamese conical straw hats.
Dalat itself has a very interesting feel. It is almost strange that is very French colonial town is just plopped down in the middle of the mountains. The climate is much different than anywhere in Vietnam I have been so far. We got off the bus in our tank tops and flip flops and all shivered a bit. It is not uncomfortably cold, just very crisp. It feels like Portland either in the early spring time, or in the early fall, just when the summer head is subsiding. The four of us got a great room for $12 total and all put on pants, sweaters, hiking boots, and wool hats! It felt very odd to be wearing a woolen hat when the day before I had been in my swimsuit on the beach. We unpacked, settled in, bundled up, and headed out for a walk through town. The town has a very quaint feel to it. There are alot of French style buildings, but it still feels distinctly Vietnamese. We went to the markets and got to try all sorts of dried fruits including dried tomatoes, beets, mangoes, kiwis, strawberries, mulberries, and a bunch of other things whose name I couldn't even guess. There is a massive market in Dalat which sells used clothing. It feels like a humongous vintage clothing store from home with a Vietnamese twist. After wandering the streets for a few hours we went for dinner. So, the four of us from all different countries were sitting at a Vietnamese restaurant each eating steaming bowls of pho bo and artichoke tea, wearing woolen hats and trying to keep warm, watching motor bikes go by below, looking at a Vietnamese version of the Eiffel tower which at night lights up, listening to Celine Dion on the loud speaker, still tan from the day before at the incredibly hot beach. Sometimes these scenarios are just too funny.
*Number of hours from Mui Ne to Dalat: 7 (even though they say 5.5)
*Number of stops along the way: 2
*Number of people in my room: 4 (including me)
*Number people I have seen wearing huge ski jackets: 30-40 (I can't believe this is still Vietnam!)
*Number of Eiffel towers in Dalat: 1
*Most famous wine in Vietnam is called: Dalat (obviously, made in Dalat)
*Number of days I will be in Dalat: 2
*Next stop: Na Trang
*Day my Vietnam visa runs out: 20th of December
*Next stop after Vietnam: Laos
Miscellaneous:
*The stops I have planned after Dalat including (in order, going from South to North): Na Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa.
*Planning on taking the sleeper train on the leg from Na Trang to Hoi An
*Number of motor bike accidents I have witnessed so far: 2 (both in Saigon)
*Number of cockroaches that I saw crawling on my toothbrush in Phu Quoc Island: 2
*Number of cockroaches living in our bathroom in Phu Quoc Island: 2, one we named "Roxy"
*Pairs of numchucks Alex, the crazy Russian newlywed, brought on his honeymoon: 1
*Amount of sand I got in my mouth while sledding down the sand dunes: copious amounts
Tam Biet (goodbye) from Dalat
Mekong Delta: The Mekong Delta is about a two hour bus ride south of HCMC (also known as Saigon.) I did a Mekong Delta day tour with Jayne (the Canadian girl I am now traveling with) which was amazing. The Mekong Delta is this massive area centered around, what else, the Mekong river. There is huge amounts of rice that is cultivated in this area. There are not many roads, people travel everywhere by boat. I was amazed at the way people live. They have their entire lively hood on these tiny fishing boats. It seems as though most people who do not grow rice are fishermen/women. Highlights:
-Being on the boats. We had to switch boats about 6 times. We had one boat for the more rough waters, another through the winding mekong waterways, and a very small boat paddled by this tiny Vietnamese woman through extremely narrow canals.
-Coconut candy making factory: There is a coconut candy making factory on one of the islands. We learned the whole process of the candy making, and of course got to try all different varieties including durian candy. It was.... interesting. I think durian is an aquired taste.
-Python: At one of our first stops on the tour we all got to hold a massive python around our necks!! It was surprisingly heavy, and was slithering it's tounge out on my hands.
-Fishing boats: The Vietnamese fishing boats are spectacular! Very bright colors.
Phu Quoc Island: I spent 5 days and 4 nights on Phu Quoc island, which is on the southern end of Vietnam. Compared to Saigon it is a very quiet place. Alot of honeymooners. Highlights:
-Boat trip: We took a boat trip for a whole day. It was definetally one of the best things I have done in my whole almost 7 months of traveling. From the boat trip:
*We went fishing. Number of fish I caught: 4
*Number of friends I was with 3: 2 Canadians and 1 Brit
*Total number of people on the boat: 8
*Number of times we went snorkeling: 3
*Number of times I jumped off the boat: 1
*Number of jelly fish stings I got after jumping off the boat: 7- 8
*SPF Sunscreen: 50
*Number of bottles of rum we brought for the boat trip: 1 (what is a pirate boat trip with out rum?)
*Number of beaches we stopped at: 3
If anyone is in Phu Quoc Island, i HIGHLY recommend the boat trip. Grand.
Mui Ne: Mui Ne is a small beach town about 6 hour northeast of Saigon. We finalllly left Saigon as our visas are running out. Let the journey continue! Highlights/stats of Mui Ne:
*Traveling with Jayne (Canadian) and Dan (English)
*Price of our room: $15 divided by three people, included hot water (wow!!) and mosquito nets
*Number of Swedes we met at our guesthouse: 2, both named Frederick
*Shells collected from the beach: 10 - 15
*Number of days we rented motor bikes: 2
*Red sand dunes: Massive dunes made of amazing red sand. I felt like I needed a camel or something while walking through them.
*White sand dunes: About a 45 minute motor bike ride out to the white sand dunes. If you can imagine, the white sand dunes were even more amazing than the red sand dunes. We drove our bikes out through some spectacular countryside and had lunch at a small road side place. Then we rented a tiny wooden boat for the three of us and paddled into this beautiful lake covered in lotus flowers. We paid 100,000 dong for 1 hour on this tiny wooden boat, more than we paid for motor bikes for the whole day (80,000 dong.) I think the villagers were laughing straight to the bank, but it was ok because we had so much fun. Jayne and I did the hard paddling while Dan sat and enjoyed the view. Before we left the shore one of the locals handed us an orange plastic jug. What for? For bailing out the leaky boat. Dan manage to bail out the boat continuously so we didn't sink.
*We paddled over to the while sand dunes which are breathtaking. Climbed all over them, it seemed as though I was in Saudi Arabia or something. There are alot of small kids with "tobogans," big body sized plastic sheets and they walk around to tourists and you can pay 20,000 dong and sled down the sand dunes! Since we were the youngest people there, the kids took us to the highest and steepest dune possible. You run and jump on to your sled on your stomach and sled down the dunes and if you want, can fly into the lake. Well, of course we flew into the lake. It was a lung pumping walk back up the almost vertical dunes, but was so fun! I had so many gos on the sleds.
*Number of herds of sheep passed while motor biking to the white sand dunes: 1
*Number of herds of cows: 2
*Number of herds of goats: 1
*Price of 1 liter of petrol: 18,000 dong
*Number of people in our biker gang the second day of motor biking: 8 including the Swedish Fredericks, me, Jayne, Dan, Ebony (Australia), Alex and Ana (newlywed Russian couple.) We felt almost as badass as if we were riding Harley Davidsons.
*Hours from Saigon to Mui Ne: 6
*Number of mosquito bites I recieved in Mui Ne: 10ish
*We stopped on our first motor bike trip in a small village. The village children were fascinated by our sunglasses and my rings. We stopped to apply some sunscreen and then they of course wanted some too. This hoard of children took the bottle of sunscreen and rubbed copious amounts all over their body, including their eyes. They were delighted to see how white they looked (because they did not properly rub it in.) The whole scene was quite hilarious.
Recommendations: Thai Hoa resort. It is quite a nice place. It is expensive but if you are with one or two other people it is not too bad. The food there is not great but there are good restaurants right across the road. Also, Thai Hoa is right on the beach so you can wake up and go straight down for some sand and surf.
-If you go to Mui Ne, renting motor bikes for a day or two is an absolute must.
-Sand dunes are beautiful. Red is good, white is better. See both.
Dalat: Jayne and I have picked up a few more additions to our traveling group. Our friend Dan from London headed back from Saigon fromMui Ne, but now we are traveling with two more people. Ebony, from Australia and Paula, from Argentina (although she has lived in Spain for 7 or 8 years.) We arrived today in Dalat around 3 o'clock PM. Dalat is about a 5 hour bus ride north from Mui Ne, but in Central Vietnam. I think they call this area the "Central Highland." As we were winding up the mountains to Dalat it very much reminded me of the bus rides in Nepal. The roads are incredibly windy and the scenery is fabulous. On the outskirts of town was a very strange scene. In some ways it reminded me of Spray, Oregon. It had a very Western-y feel with alot of abandoned looking houses (even though people live in them), lots of open fields, and donkey drawn carts. The difference (one of the differences) is that instead of cowboy hats, people are wearing the trademark Vietnamese conical straw hats.
Dalat itself has a very interesting feel. It is almost strange that is very French colonial town is just plopped down in the middle of the mountains. The climate is much different than anywhere in Vietnam I have been so far. We got off the bus in our tank tops and flip flops and all shivered a bit. It is not uncomfortably cold, just very crisp. It feels like Portland either in the early spring time, or in the early fall, just when the summer head is subsiding. The four of us got a great room for $12 total and all put on pants, sweaters, hiking boots, and wool hats! It felt very odd to be wearing a woolen hat when the day before I had been in my swimsuit on the beach. We unpacked, settled in, bundled up, and headed out for a walk through town. The town has a very quaint feel to it. There are alot of French style buildings, but it still feels distinctly Vietnamese. We went to the markets and got to try all sorts of dried fruits including dried tomatoes, beets, mangoes, kiwis, strawberries, mulberries, and a bunch of other things whose name I couldn't even guess. There is a massive market in Dalat which sells used clothing. It feels like a humongous vintage clothing store from home with a Vietnamese twist. After wandering the streets for a few hours we went for dinner. So, the four of us from all different countries were sitting at a Vietnamese restaurant each eating steaming bowls of pho bo and artichoke tea, wearing woolen hats and trying to keep warm, watching motor bikes go by below, looking at a Vietnamese version of the Eiffel tower which at night lights up, listening to Celine Dion on the loud speaker, still tan from the day before at the incredibly hot beach. Sometimes these scenarios are just too funny.
*Number of hours from Mui Ne to Dalat: 7 (even though they say 5.5)
*Number of stops along the way: 2
*Number of people in my room: 4 (including me)
*Number people I have seen wearing huge ski jackets: 30-40 (I can't believe this is still Vietnam!)
*Number of Eiffel towers in Dalat: 1
*Most famous wine in Vietnam is called: Dalat (obviously, made in Dalat)
*Number of days I will be in Dalat: 2
*Next stop: Na Trang
*Day my Vietnam visa runs out: 20th of December
*Next stop after Vietnam: Laos
Miscellaneous:
*The stops I have planned after Dalat including (in order, going from South to North): Na Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa.
*Planning on taking the sleeper train on the leg from Na Trang to Hoi An
*Number of motor bike accidents I have witnessed so far: 2 (both in Saigon)
*Number of cockroaches that I saw crawling on my toothbrush in Phu Quoc Island: 2
*Number of cockroaches living in our bathroom in Phu Quoc Island: 2, one we named "Roxy"
*Pairs of numchucks Alex, the crazy Russian newlywed, brought on his honeymoon: 1
*Amount of sand I got in my mouth while sledding down the sand dunes: copious amounts
Tam Biet (goodbye) from Dalat
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