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| Midterm Break in 200 |
There is the link to my web album. There are plenty more amazing photos, especially because Jess took some too (more of which I am in so they are obviously great)...but they will have to wait.
Blog about Cambodia soon.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Photos of the Trip
There is the link to my web album. There are plenty more amazing photos, especially because Jess took some too (more of which I am in so they are obviously great)...but they will have to wait.
Blog about Cambodia soon.
Monday, October 19, 2009
"The thing that annoyed me most on this trip is my haircut..and Vietnam."-Jess
Partly it was our fault, poor planning and decision-making (or lack there of). Partly it was luck (or lack there of again.) I am not writing off the whole country, much more of which I'd still love to see, but our time in Northern Vietnam didn't quite live up to the high hopes I had.
Despite some of the sights being closed on Mondays, Jess and I filled our first full day in Hanoi. We got scammed by multiple cab drivers, visited the Temple of Literature, dined for a good cause at Koto, and saw the changing of the guards at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum (very odd since Ho's bod is in Russia for it's yearly visit with his similarly-preserved comrades, Lenin and Stalin). Back near our hotel in the Old Quarter, we checked out Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem lake, St. Joseph's Cathedral and dined again at an Indian restaurant we now call "Rat Kitchen." Guess why?...Yup, a rat ran plumb through the restaurant while we waited for our food. On the subject of food, to my surprise, we did not like the Vietnamese food much. We probably just did not know what to order (and they specialize in meats, which we were not eating) but it was not up to par with Vietnamese I've eaten outside of Vietnam. Actually, it was so disappointing that Jess and I returned to Rat Kitchen a second time. Can you imagine? We figured rats must just be everywhere if they were in that seemingly-clean place. Hypothesis confirmed. We saw two rats in the airport on our way out!
I'd been sold on Halong Bay since seeing a stamp-sized add on the side of my facebook page. Cheesy, but I'm sure the Google image would do the trick for you too. And, don't get me wrong, it is incredibly gorgeous. But we got unlucky (or all the photos on Google are photoshopped) because the sky was a hazy gray the whole time which really fogged up our view. Maybe nearby China was wafting over some factory air. But that, combined with the trash floating in the sometimes oily water, did not exactly add to the bay's beauty, which we had predicted would be astounding enough to keep us occupied looking around so that the boat (referred to as a junk, which it was) did not matter much. Disregarding previous warnings in order to save a couple lousy bucks, we went with the cheapie 3-day tour. Oooooops. You get what you pay for. It felt more like a school field trip than a vacation. Lots of busing around, loads of hurry up and wait coupled with terrible food and customer service.. not that Jess and I were expecting royal treatment, but it was downright b-a-d. At the end, my passport was held for ransom by one of the guides because I was refusing to pay for a beer that was mistakenly added to our tally. He really sent me over the edge in a country where public outbursts are frowned upon. Straw that broke this camel's back. I feel like I am making it sound awful so insert here warm thoughts of me knowing how lucky I am. And, we did have a good group: Some Germans who loved PDA (I just ran into them in Cambodia to show how the SE Asian backpacker scene is a small world), a Belgian on his last 3 weeks of a year- long world-tour (in Belgium, you can take a "career break" during which the government pays you to do roughly whatever you want!!??!?) four Brits on the beginning of their year-long trip, a Korean mother and daughter, and the strangest woman I've encountered in a while and her friend Gary who called her "Mama" and excused her behavior saying, "Mama not right in the head. Mama need medicine."
After Halong, with the literal and figurative bad taste lingering in our mouths, we made the very last-minute decision not to head South to Hue and Hoi An like we had planned. I feel like I need to justify our reasoning, which leads me to believe I feel some regret, but money, time, and monsoons were factors.So, we spent a non-Monday in Hanoi seeing Museums (Museum of Ethnology and Hoa Lo Prison where McCain was held as a POW... I am certainly not saying it was a day at the spa, but it looked better than how the French had previously treated the Vietnamese inmates there) and headed to Ninh Binh.
As a place to escape crazy Hanoi, the city of Ninh Binh did not thrill us, and Jess was overly peeved about these little bugs falling from the ceiling at our hotel's restaurant, but just outside the city we found some gems. We biked to Tam Coc where someone rowed us down a river through beautiful rice paddies and cliffs reminiscent of Halong Bay. We also biked to Bich Dong (yes, you read correctly), a temple in a cave that we were allowed to enter despite being in shorts. Whew, it would have been a lot of stairs for a rejection. We ate lunch at a place that served dog, cat and goat penis, all of which you have to order a day in advance... Shoot! What lack of foresight.
We spent the next day in Cuc Phuong National Park which features a really old tree and an ancient tomb in a cave. Our day began with a very rainy tour of the primate rescue center. As we walked along the mud path to get there clad in our mildewy ponchos Jess goes, "Bear, I am worried about the rest of our trip in Vietnam." Literally one second later, extremely loud thunder boomed, echoing Jess's hesitation with ominous and hilarious timing. The oh-so-anticipated primate tour lasted three minutes and the rain muffled the guide's explanation to the point of noncomprehension.Following the thunder omen and because of a monsoon coming from China, we decided to forgo our trip to Sapa, a beautiful mountain town that would surely be no fun in the rain since trekking and views draw the tourists. We threw in the towel. Doneskies with Vietnam. We left the next morning destined for Thailand and a couple days of recovery time on easily accessible Koh Samed. The mighty fine Thai meal at Ekkamai bus station in Bangkok assured us that we had finally made a right decision this time.
Though we lacked sleep due to extremely moist living conditions, our last days together were very peaceful... until we had to sprint the should-be-20-minute-walk from our guesthouse to the ferry landing through puddles of squishy mud with all Jess's stuff in tow. The boat had just pulled away when we arrived, but reversed to pick up my sweaty and frazzled cousin. I was truly sad to see her go and am really missing her. Some will be shocked to know that we did not have a single fight, and our only almost-fight was about the wad of dong we left Vietnam with, only to discover Thailand does not exchange it...figures.
I am in Cambodia now and it is a wonderful place and I have much to say, but I'll save it since life is about to slow back down and I will have plenty of time to recount my adventure. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the negativity.
Despite some of the sights being closed on Mondays, Jess and I filled our first full day in Hanoi. We got scammed by multiple cab drivers, visited the Temple of Literature, dined for a good cause at Koto, and saw the changing of the guards at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum (very odd since Ho's bod is in Russia for it's yearly visit with his similarly-preserved comrades, Lenin and Stalin). Back near our hotel in the Old Quarter, we checked out Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem lake, St. Joseph's Cathedral and dined again at an Indian restaurant we now call "Rat Kitchen." Guess why?...Yup, a rat ran plumb through the restaurant while we waited for our food. On the subject of food, to my surprise, we did not like the Vietnamese food much. We probably just did not know what to order (and they specialize in meats, which we were not eating) but it was not up to par with Vietnamese I've eaten outside of Vietnam. Actually, it was so disappointing that Jess and I returned to Rat Kitchen a second time. Can you imagine? We figured rats must just be everywhere if they were in that seemingly-clean place. Hypothesis confirmed. We saw two rats in the airport on our way out!
I'd been sold on Halong Bay since seeing a stamp-sized add on the side of my facebook page. Cheesy, but I'm sure the Google image would do the trick for you too. And, don't get me wrong, it is incredibly gorgeous. But we got unlucky (or all the photos on Google are photoshopped) because the sky was a hazy gray the whole time which really fogged up our view. Maybe nearby China was wafting over some factory air. But that, combined with the trash floating in the sometimes oily water, did not exactly add to the bay's beauty, which we had predicted would be astounding enough to keep us occupied looking around so that the boat (referred to as a junk, which it was) did not matter much. Disregarding previous warnings in order to save a couple lousy bucks, we went with the cheapie 3-day tour. Oooooops. You get what you pay for. It felt more like a school field trip than a vacation. Lots of busing around, loads of hurry up and wait coupled with terrible food and customer service.. not that Jess and I were expecting royal treatment, but it was downright b-a-d. At the end, my passport was held for ransom by one of the guides because I was refusing to pay for a beer that was mistakenly added to our tally. He really sent me over the edge in a country where public outbursts are frowned upon. Straw that broke this camel's back. I feel like I am making it sound awful so insert here warm thoughts of me knowing how lucky I am. And, we did have a good group: Some Germans who loved PDA (I just ran into them in Cambodia to show how the SE Asian backpacker scene is a small world), a Belgian on his last 3 weeks of a year- long world-tour (in Belgium, you can take a "career break" during which the government pays you to do roughly whatever you want!!??!?) four Brits on the beginning of their year-long trip, a Korean mother and daughter, and the strangest woman I've encountered in a while and her friend Gary who called her "Mama" and excused her behavior saying, "Mama not right in the head. Mama need medicine."
After Halong, with the literal and figurative bad taste lingering in our mouths, we made the very last-minute decision not to head South to Hue and Hoi An like we had planned. I feel like I need to justify our reasoning, which leads me to believe I feel some regret, but money, time, and monsoons were factors.So, we spent a non-Monday in Hanoi seeing Museums (Museum of Ethnology and Hoa Lo Prison where McCain was held as a POW... I am certainly not saying it was a day at the spa, but it looked better than how the French had previously treated the Vietnamese inmates there) and headed to Ninh Binh.
As a place to escape crazy Hanoi, the city of Ninh Binh did not thrill us, and Jess was overly peeved about these little bugs falling from the ceiling at our hotel's restaurant, but just outside the city we found some gems. We biked to Tam Coc where someone rowed us down a river through beautiful rice paddies and cliffs reminiscent of Halong Bay. We also biked to Bich Dong (yes, you read correctly), a temple in a cave that we were allowed to enter despite being in shorts. Whew, it would have been a lot of stairs for a rejection. We ate lunch at a place that served dog, cat and goat penis, all of which you have to order a day in advance... Shoot! What lack of foresight.
We spent the next day in Cuc Phuong National Park which features a really old tree and an ancient tomb in a cave. Our day began with a very rainy tour of the primate rescue center. As we walked along the mud path to get there clad in our mildewy ponchos Jess goes, "Bear, I am worried about the rest of our trip in Vietnam." Literally one second later, extremely loud thunder boomed, echoing Jess's hesitation with ominous and hilarious timing. The oh-so-anticipated primate tour lasted three minutes and the rain muffled the guide's explanation to the point of noncomprehension.Following the thunder omen and because of a monsoon coming from China, we decided to forgo our trip to Sapa, a beautiful mountain town that would surely be no fun in the rain since trekking and views draw the tourists. We threw in the towel. Doneskies with Vietnam. We left the next morning destined for Thailand and a couple days of recovery time on easily accessible Koh Samed. The mighty fine Thai meal at Ekkamai bus station in Bangkok assured us that we had finally made a right decision this time.
Though we lacked sleep due to extremely moist living conditions, our last days together were very peaceful... until we had to sprint the should-be-20-minute-walk from our guesthouse to the ferry landing through puddles of squishy mud with all Jess's stuff in tow. The boat had just pulled away when we arrived, but reversed to pick up my sweaty and frazzled cousin. I was truly sad to see her go and am really missing her. Some will be shocked to know that we did not have a single fight, and our only almost-fight was about the wad of dong we left Vietnam with, only to discover Thailand does not exchange it...figures.
I am in Cambodia now and it is a wonderful place and I have much to say, but I'll save it since life is about to slow back down and I will have plenty of time to recount my adventure. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the negativity.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Lovely Land of Laos and a shaky beginning in Vietnam
Usually I sit down to write this blog full of excitement to share great memories and experiences that I have had. Like I said, we loved Luang Prabang after 3 hours...actually probably 3 minutes, even as we walked waaaay past our hotel with our packs on, too proud to take a tuktuk or ask for directions. But that is simply not the case in Hanoi. We hate it after 3 hours. But before I rant about Vietnam, I will recount the gloriousness of Laos and then maybe I will cool down, literally and figuratively.
Luang Prabang was simply magical. The French left their architecture, their baguettes and their crepes, the Buddhists are responsible for the temples and monks and Mother Nature provided the Mekong River and the surrounding mountains. After the French peaced, there were plenty of buildings just screaming to be turned into guesthouses and cafes and so the tourism began, but somehow, maybe because Laos is still sort of off the beaten path, it's very tasteful tourism at this point.
While in Luang Prabang, we walked the whole city on foot (it's becoming a pattern of ours to see more than we intend to due to wrong turns, poorly-scaled maps, wandering interests, etc.) tested the eateries, explored tons of wats, visited the National Museum, and climbed up hundreds of stairs to Phu Si temple to watch the sun set and get a view of the whole town. One day, we rented mountain bikes and went 15km to Tad Sae waterfall. Although I cursed the bicycles the whole way there, and while we pushed them up a giant hill on the way home because even 24 gears were not enough, and again the next day when my bottom was black and blue, the overall experience was wonderful.
Parting with the city even temporarily was difficult, but we ventured outside of LP to two different villages. After picking up many bicycles from the songtaew driver's house, hitting a chicken, and getting a flat tire, we arrived no worse for the wear in Nong Khiaw. The mountain scenery was even prettier than what we had seen before and our trip really hit a high note. Jess and I could not shut up about how great Laos is. We explored a cave which sheltered over 100 villagers while the USA dropped bombs on Loas during the Vietnam War. We could see what looked like small lakes dotting the rice paddies, but they were holes left by the bombs. That night, as Jess and I sat on the porch of our bungalow overlooking the Nam Ou, we contemplated why everyone who is able would not want to travel like we were...live out of a backpack, forget the finer things in life...until we went to bed on the equivalent of floor boards with sheets over top. I really mean it this time, THE WORLD'S MOST UNCOMFORTABLE BEDS. The next day, with stiff necks and spasming backs, we packed ourselves into a wooden boat like sardines and went an hour and a half up river to Muang Ngoi Neua. We also hiked to caves there and drank some BeerLao with some other falangs and Penny, the hilarious and talkative guesthouse owner who told long stories about former guests peepeeing the beds.When choosing Penny's place from the Lonely Planet, Jess said, "rat-free or river-view, my girl?" I went for rat-free...but we still had a view of them being grilled-up outside.
Luckily, when we returned to LP yesterday our big backpacks were still under a bench at our guesthouse where we had hidden them two days before. We checked off some last-minute things to do while in LP, did a little shopping at the handicraft market (definately the most laidback of its kind in Asia), and made sure to leave the LP cuisine scene on a high note.
Now that I wrote all that good stuff, your eyes are probably getting tired, so you can stop reading now and spare yourself the negativity.
Since entering Vietnam 4 hours ago, we have been scammed, harrassed, and almost run over many times. Additionally, we attempted to check-in to a hotel that told us they would have a room in 30 minutes. Two hours later, it still was not ready which was fine by us because by that time we had noticed that the Prince Hotel was probably just a nice-looking brothel. Furthermore, the air quality here is waaaaaay worse than in Beijing. Our new German friend told us that spending one day in Beijing is the lung-damage-equivalent of three packs of cigarettes. I think that is an exaggeration, but I want to get my lungs out of here after the must-sees which, by Murphy's Law, are all closed on Mondays, the day we planned for sighseeing in Hanoi. And lastly, gone are the days of endless choices for deliciousness so that making a decision is the hardest part of eating. Instead, we are looking for meatless options in a city that eats dogs. The squirrels in Laos made me a little sad, but I will just die if I see Fido-on-a-stick.
In other news, the conversion rate is 17,634 dong to a dollar, Notre Dame squeaks by again and Jessie Walker turns the big 2-3.
Post Script: since writing this, we have come around on Hanoi a little bit thanks to daylight hours, an upgrade in hotels, and a few good meals. ; )
Luang Prabang was simply magical. The French left their architecture, their baguettes and their crepes, the Buddhists are responsible for the temples and monks and Mother Nature provided the Mekong River and the surrounding mountains. After the French peaced, there were plenty of buildings just screaming to be turned into guesthouses and cafes and so the tourism began, but somehow, maybe because Laos is still sort of off the beaten path, it's very tasteful tourism at this point.
While in Luang Prabang, we walked the whole city on foot (it's becoming a pattern of ours to see more than we intend to due to wrong turns, poorly-scaled maps, wandering interests, etc.) tested the eateries, explored tons of wats, visited the National Museum, and climbed up hundreds of stairs to Phu Si temple to watch the sun set and get a view of the whole town. One day, we rented mountain bikes and went 15km to Tad Sae waterfall. Although I cursed the bicycles the whole way there, and while we pushed them up a giant hill on the way home because even 24 gears were not enough, and again the next day when my bottom was black and blue, the overall experience was wonderful.
Parting with the city even temporarily was difficult, but we ventured outside of LP to two different villages. After picking up many bicycles from the songtaew driver's house, hitting a chicken, and getting a flat tire, we arrived no worse for the wear in Nong Khiaw. The mountain scenery was even prettier than what we had seen before and our trip really hit a high note. Jess and I could not shut up about how great Laos is. We explored a cave which sheltered over 100 villagers while the USA dropped bombs on Loas during the Vietnam War. We could see what looked like small lakes dotting the rice paddies, but they were holes left by the bombs. That night, as Jess and I sat on the porch of our bungalow overlooking the Nam Ou, we contemplated why everyone who is able would not want to travel like we were...live out of a backpack, forget the finer things in life...until we went to bed on the equivalent of floor boards with sheets over top. I really mean it this time, THE WORLD'S MOST UNCOMFORTABLE BEDS. The next day, with stiff necks and spasming backs, we packed ourselves into a wooden boat like sardines and went an hour and a half up river to Muang Ngoi Neua. We also hiked to caves there and drank some BeerLao with some other falangs and Penny, the hilarious and talkative guesthouse owner who told long stories about former guests peepeeing the beds.When choosing Penny's place from the Lonely Planet, Jess said, "rat-free or river-view, my girl?" I went for rat-free...but we still had a view of them being grilled-up outside.
Luckily, when we returned to LP yesterday our big backpacks were still under a bench at our guesthouse where we had hidden them two days before. We checked off some last-minute things to do while in LP, did a little shopping at the handicraft market (definately the most laidback of its kind in Asia), and made sure to leave the LP cuisine scene on a high note.
Now that I wrote all that good stuff, your eyes are probably getting tired, so you can stop reading now and spare yourself the negativity.
Since entering Vietnam 4 hours ago, we have been scammed, harrassed, and almost run over many times. Additionally, we attempted to check-in to a hotel that told us they would have a room in 30 minutes. Two hours later, it still was not ready which was fine by us because by that time we had noticed that the Prince Hotel was probably just a nice-looking brothel. Furthermore, the air quality here is waaaaaay worse than in Beijing. Our new German friend told us that spending one day in Beijing is the lung-damage-equivalent of three packs of cigarettes. I think that is an exaggeration, but I want to get my lungs out of here after the must-sees which, by Murphy's Law, are all closed on Mondays, the day we planned for sighseeing in Hanoi. And lastly, gone are the days of endless choices for deliciousness so that making a decision is the hardest part of eating. Instead, we are looking for meatless options in a city that eats dogs. The squirrels in Laos made me a little sad, but I will just die if I see Fido-on-a-stick.
In other news, the conversion rate is 17,634 dong to a dollar, Notre Dame squeaks by again and Jessie Walker turns the big 2-3.
Post Script: since writing this, we have come around on Hanoi a little bit thanks to daylight hours, an upgrade in hotels, and a few good meals. ; )
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