Sorry about the long gap in updates . . . functioning interenet has been pretty much nonexistent since we left Hanoi.
My final verdict on Hanoi . . . .
Much to my disappointment, Megan and I were unable to double-handedly convert the citizens of Hanoi into friendly, fun loving people over the course of the 5 days we spent there. We took runs around Hoem Kiem Lake, smiling and waving at the locals as they ambled by. Elsewhere, I would expect a smile and wave in return or even a puzzled "what's wrong with those two" look. Instead, we were greeted (with only a couple exceptions) with the standard Hanoi face, which I best describe as follows: It's as if someone placed a small turd on their tongues when they were children and forbid them to remove it the rest of their life, forcing them to walk this earth with a sour, dejected look on their face. Quite sad really.
In the end, our favorite thing about the city was a dead guy . . . we visited Ho Chi Minh's masoleum, which turned out to be quite a spectacle. We arrived to find a quarter mile line to entry . . . pretty impressive turnout for a guy who's been dead since the late 60's. We also caught a water puppetry show one evening, which was interesting as well. I know . . . I'm definetly losing a few manpoints for admitting I didn't mind the water puppetry.
On to bigger, better places . . .
In Hanoi, we arranged an overnight boat trip on Halong Bay, which I consider to be the world's finest swimming pool. We lucked out and had a terrific bunch of folks on the boat (the two of us and six others) along with a great crew and guide. The islands were amazing, towering up from the turquoise sea in every direction. It was an unforgettable trip. After the boat trip concluded in Halong City, we passed on the bus ride back to Hanoi. Instead, we opted to hitch a ride with another boat out to Cat Ba Island, the only inhabited island in Halong Bay. We arrived on the island around 5:00 pm to find absolutely nothing. We had been dropped off at the ferry dock on the north end of the island, 25 kilometers from all signs off life, which happened to be on the south end of the island. One of the four British guys whom we met on the boat best described the island as "a proper Jurassic Park", minus the dinos off course.
A mini-bus sped off with the few folks on the boat that were part of a package tour leaving us to the wolves (moto drivers). We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the wolves were friendly wolves, only asking 60,000 dong (just under $4) for the long ride to Cat Ba Town. It didn't take long to figure out what an amazing place the island was . . . unbelievably beautiful landscapes around every corner, phenominal roads, and no people. We spent the next 11 days and nights exploring the island, like little kids who stumbled on a new patch of woods near their house. A main north-south road bisected the island, with smaller roads leading to the west side of the island. Cat Ba National Park swallowed up the east side of the island, only accessible by foot. We rented a motorbike 4 of the 11 days, travelling every inch of pavement on the island. One of the nights, we stayed in a small village, Phu Long, which we found on the west side of the island. We became the main tourist attraction for the evening. We sea kayaked in the islands in the national park. We did an 18 kilometer trek across the park, topping 6 mountains, breaking for lunch in Viet Hai Village, concluding with a relaxing boat cruise back to Cat Ba Town, which included a divine swim break. Around Cat Ba Town, we spent most of our time on Cat Co 3, the southernmost beach on the island. A resort above the beach operated the facilities, which included a fabulous beach bar. Other than friends (Justin, Kate, and Tom), we shared the entire beach with anywhere from zero to a hanful of people. The 11 days on Cat Ba were island life at its finest . . . like living inside "Tin Cup Chalice" by Jimmy Buffet.
Boat Trip No. 2
Well, after a week and a half, we finally bid farewell to Cat Ba Island. It was tough saying goodbye, but the fact that we chartered a private overnight boat trip back through Halong Bay with our friends Kate and Justin made it a little easier. We left the hotel at 9:30, caught motos to the harbor, and boarded the boat around 9:45. Tae and Tang, a father and son team, made up the crew on the small sailing junk. We explained to Tae that we didn't have too many requests, just keep us away from other tourists and we'll be happy. Over the course of the next 30 hours, Tae and his father did just that. We cruised throughout the islands, avoiding all but a few other tourist boats. That evening, we dropped anchor in the back of a secluded bay. Tae explained that we could swim around the point situated 100 meters off the bow of the boat, where we would find a cave that we could swim in . . . sounds like fun. Megan, Justin, and I took off. We were a little disappointed to find that the cave entrance was another 200 meters away after rounding the point, but we'd come too far to turn back. As we approached the entrance of the cave, we could smell that familiar cave funk and hear the familiar screech of bats. We could see light at the end of the cave, which resembled a long tunnel, extending approximately another 100 meters. Megan decided that she didn't really need to see what was on the other side of the cave. Justin and I continued along, making the aquatic trip through the cave with relative ease. Eventually, the cave opened back up into an enormous enclosed bay, towering cliffs for 360 degrees. We took in the view for a bit, while Megan patiently treaded water on the other side of the cave. After a few minutes, we swam back into the cave, heading for Megan. At this point, we figured out why we had made it through the cave the first time so easilly. The tide was rising, which meant that water was flowing through the cave into the enclosed bay. It wasn't noticeable going through the cave, into the bay. But it was damn evident coming out. It was a bit of a struggle, but we eventually broke on through to the other side. We managed the remaining 300 meters back to the boat with ease, where we cracked open some cold beers and sat down to dinner. It was a great night, capped off by some good old fashioned skinny dipping. The phosphorescence (when the plankton give off light when disturbed) was spectacular. It was one of those "Does it get any better than this?" moments. We slept on the top deck that night, under the stars.
The next day, we got into Halong City around 3:00 pm. We eventually made our way back to my favorite place (Hanoi) where we crashed for the night. The next night, we caught an overnight train to Sapa, the homebase for exploration of the northern highlands, where we're currently located.
Happy Anniversary
We celebrated our first anniversary (5/27) in style, staying the night in the Victoria Sapa Resort, the only luxury hotel in northwest Vietnam. After 3 months of budget hotels and guesthouses, checking into the Victoria was like checking into heaven . . . . . the bed, the bathroom, the grounds, the dinner, etc. were spectacular. We spent a majority of the next 24 hours in our plush bathrobes. It was great.
Well, we're back to slumming it, staying at the Cat Cat Hotel for 8$/night. However, it's not all bad . . . we've got a fireplace and million dollar views from the room and balcony.
What next? Well, we've been in Vietnam for almost 2 months (hard to believe). Our final mission is to climb Mt. Fansipan, the tallest peak in Indochina, before heading into Laos.
All is well with us.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Pics
I think this should work. Copy and paste the links below into your browser.
We've added a selection of our pictures to these 2 galleries, covering the trip through Sihanoukville, Cambodia. More to come . . . .
Album 1
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=ss51erh.bx6j66op&Uy=rq3w5v&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Album 2
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=ss51erh.4smem0j1&Uy=prl7zp&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Also, fresh blog update below.
We've added a selection of our pictures to these 2 galleries, covering the trip through Sihanoukville, Cambodia. More to come . . . .
Album 1
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=ss51erh.bx6j66op&Uy=rq3w5v&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Album 2
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=ss51erh.4smem0j1&Uy=prl7zp&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Also, fresh blog update below.
If you've got a long lost uncle in Hanoi . . . .
Nha Trangover
We caught the afternoon bus from Mui Ne to Nha Trang, another beach town about 300 km up the coast. Not too much to report for our time in Nha Trang. Our first day, we awoke to rain, which was followed by more rain. The sky was that eternal grey like we get in Seattle that basically says to check back on the sun tomorrow. By noon, we had given up on a day at the beach. We met up with Tom, which was planned, and were discussing options. We decided the only suitable manner in which to pass the day was pub crawling . . . had our first cocktails shortly after 1:00, met up with Kate and Justin (British couple we met in Mui Ne) a bit later and the five of us continued on late into the night. The next day, we awoke to sunshine and headaches. Megan and I caught a taxi to a nearby spa, famous for mud baths. Guess what we did. We took a hot mud bath, which didn’t do much for my headache, but made my skin silky smooth. Afterwards, we wasted space on the beach and caught back up with the gang for a much tamer evening. The next couple of days were great beach days . . . . nice breeze, lots of sun, and good books. We took a trip one of the mornings to the surrounding islands for a couple dives, which were pretty mediocre as far as things go, but still enjoyable.
Tailor Time
We decided it was time to give ourselves a break from the “Open Tour” bus company, which is the sole bus company on most routes throughout Vietnam. I have renamed them “Open Sore”, a more suitable option as they really do suck. We caught an overnight train to Hoi An. The soft sleeper was music to our backsides as we made our way up the coast. We got into Danang around 11:00 a.m. and caught a taxi down to Hoi An, about 30 km down the road.
The best way I can describe Hoi An is this. If Hoi An was a movie, it would be a chick flick. Brick streets, narrow alleyways, those cheesy Chinese lanterns everywhere (which actually look really good there), a charming river, rickety bridges, beautiful restaurants . . . blah, blah, blah. Fortunately, I don’t mind chick flicks. We had a real nice time there. The main economic activity in Hoi An is tailoring, which Megan and I supported. A sharp black suit, nice wool coat, and lots of shirts, pants, dresses later, we had checked off everything on our shopping list. Although the tailoring experience was fun, the undisputed highlight of Hoi An came on our first night in town. Kate, Justin, Tom, Megan and I met up around 7:00 for dinner and drinks, which led to more drinks, which led to the unforgivable sin of karaoke. A little background for you . . . . In Saigon, I kept bugging Megan about wanting to go sing karaoke. Only problem was that it’s not karaoke as we know it. They have these huge karaoke buildings which look like massive clubs, when in reality it’s about about a dozen private rooms for rent where people can hide out with friends, singing karaoke without the usual self-inflicted torture that comes with a true public performance. Quite disappointing. I’d come to the conclusion that it was either this chicken little version of karaoke or no karaoke at all. Back to the story . . . . around 10:30, we decided it was time to fulfill our rockstar dreams. Around 11:00, we checked into one of these booths armed with an undisclosed number of beers and several bottles of Vietnam’s finest red. The next two hours provided some of the finest laughs of our lives. Tom’s outstanding version of Harry Belafonte’s Day-O topped the charts for the evening, requiring not only one, but two encore performances to end the night, which was well into the a.m.
Also, making the evening more comical was the fact that our karaoke booth was nothing more than a partitioned area on the first floor of a family’s home, not quite as glorious as the establishments we’d seen in Saigon. I have no doubt that this family still hears me sing “In the Jungle, The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in their dreams and Megan sing “Copa Cabana” in their nightmares. I know I do.
The following day, we opted for a lazy day. Megan and I made our way to a nearby pool for an afternoon of relaxation. That evening, I talked to a boat driver and chartered a sunset cruise for the five of us around the river islands off Hoi An. It was a great evening. As darkness fell, we began to see small lights come up everywhere on the river. The lights were small oil lamps that the fishermen hung from the support lines that run to the framework for their large suspension nets . . . . a cool sight.
The next day, I had only one taker, Tom, for my off the beaten tourist path plans. We caught a local ferry across the river to a nearby fishing village. When we got off the boat, we approached one of the village people and negotiated the use of his motor bike for a couple of hours. It was a great afternoon, cruising through the nearby villages and surrounding rice fields, playing chicken with the water buffaloes as they crossed the roads for greener pastures. We invited ourselves to a tour of a small brick factory, which was pretty cool as the people got a kick out of the fact that we wanted to watch them make bricks. Around 6:30, we caught the ferry back to Hoi An where we met back up with Megan, Kate and Justin for dinner.
The following day, Megan and I took a trip out to the My Son temples, the religious center of the Cham people a whole bunch of years ago. The actual temples weren’t terribly impressive, but the mountains surrounding them made for a beautiful visit. It rained on us while we were there which, in a way, added to the experience. In another way, it simply got us wet.
If you’ve got a long lost uncle in Hanoi . . .
The day after our My Son trip, we boarded another overnight train in Danang headed for Hanoi, Vietnam’s capitol. It was a great ride north as we skirted along the lush mountain slopes lining the coast. We got into Hanoi around 5:00 a.m.
If you’ve got a long lost uncle in Hanoi, don’t bother tracking him down . . . . he’s probably a jerk (I’ve got other names in mind, but Megan insisted I show a shred of class . . . very difficult for me). Upon arrival, we exited the train station and decided to catch a cab. It was only a 15 minute walk, but we decided it was in our best interest to learn the city in the light. We found a taxi driver who would run the meter versus a negotiated fare. I knew it was only a 2 km ride so the fare should run around 15,000 dong. We hadn’t gone half a km, when I noticed the meter was already at 25,000 dong / 3.5 km and soaring. I bellowed out a “Stop the $%&**#$ taxi!” The guy pulled over. I told him that I didn’t just get off the damn plane and knew that he was ripping me off. He turned around, headed back for the train station, meter still flying. Another round of expletives and 20,000 dong later, he popped the trunk, I collected the bags, and we found ourselves on Trang Thien Boulevard at 5:15 am with no clue where we were. A friendly security guard got us oriented, and we made our way to the desired area of town in about ten minutes. We got settled into a hotel room and Megan cried her first tears of the trip . . . . tired, frustrated.
I assumed this experience was the exception, not the rule. However, everybody and their brother and your long lost uncle if he lives here, tries to rip you off. Blatant stuff. We’re not talking about asking way too much for a t-shirt in the market . . . . if someone asks too much for something, I can say no. It’s bullshit like people refusing to scan a select few items in a convenience store and breaking out the magic calculator to work up a total. If they’re not screwing you, they’re screwing the business owner. This kind of bullshit has happened time and time again in the 36 hours we’ve been here. I was just informed that our visa extensions would cost an extra $4 each, because we’re from the USA and the guy tried to pawn off some bullshit story about some new law. We had already given him the passports yesterday at the agreed price of $20 each. What can you do, but pay the extra $4? It’s bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
I’m not being paranoid here and I know we’re talking about small change to us, but it still really pisses us off. It’s so bizarre as we haven’t dealt with this to anywhere near this level in other places over the last few months. Well, don’t worry. We’ve started our own campaign to make the people of Hanoi a more welcoming, friendly group of folks. I’ll update you with progress in the next post.
In summary . . .
80 something days into the trip and a handful of tears later, we’re still having a hell of a good time. We’re off to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island next, then up to the mountains, and eventually into Laos.
Thanks to family and friends for all the e-mails and comments on the blog. It’s really comforting to hear from everybody.
We caught the afternoon bus from Mui Ne to Nha Trang, another beach town about 300 km up the coast. Not too much to report for our time in Nha Trang. Our first day, we awoke to rain, which was followed by more rain. The sky was that eternal grey like we get in Seattle that basically says to check back on the sun tomorrow. By noon, we had given up on a day at the beach. We met up with Tom, which was planned, and were discussing options. We decided the only suitable manner in which to pass the day was pub crawling . . . had our first cocktails shortly after 1:00, met up with Kate and Justin (British couple we met in Mui Ne) a bit later and the five of us continued on late into the night. The next day, we awoke to sunshine and headaches. Megan and I caught a taxi to a nearby spa, famous for mud baths. Guess what we did. We took a hot mud bath, which didn’t do much for my headache, but made my skin silky smooth. Afterwards, we wasted space on the beach and caught back up with the gang for a much tamer evening. The next couple of days were great beach days . . . . nice breeze, lots of sun, and good books. We took a trip one of the mornings to the surrounding islands for a couple dives, which were pretty mediocre as far as things go, but still enjoyable.
Tailor Time
We decided it was time to give ourselves a break from the “Open Tour” bus company, which is the sole bus company on most routes throughout Vietnam. I have renamed them “Open Sore”, a more suitable option as they really do suck. We caught an overnight train to Hoi An. The soft sleeper was music to our backsides as we made our way up the coast. We got into Danang around 11:00 a.m. and caught a taxi down to Hoi An, about 30 km down the road.
The best way I can describe Hoi An is this. If Hoi An was a movie, it would be a chick flick. Brick streets, narrow alleyways, those cheesy Chinese lanterns everywhere (which actually look really good there), a charming river, rickety bridges, beautiful restaurants . . . blah, blah, blah. Fortunately, I don’t mind chick flicks. We had a real nice time there. The main economic activity in Hoi An is tailoring, which Megan and I supported. A sharp black suit, nice wool coat, and lots of shirts, pants, dresses later, we had checked off everything on our shopping list. Although the tailoring experience was fun, the undisputed highlight of Hoi An came on our first night in town. Kate, Justin, Tom, Megan and I met up around 7:00 for dinner and drinks, which led to more drinks, which led to the unforgivable sin of karaoke. A little background for you . . . . In Saigon, I kept bugging Megan about wanting to go sing karaoke. Only problem was that it’s not karaoke as we know it. They have these huge karaoke buildings which look like massive clubs, when in reality it’s about about a dozen private rooms for rent where people can hide out with friends, singing karaoke without the usual self-inflicted torture that comes with a true public performance. Quite disappointing. I’d come to the conclusion that it was either this chicken little version of karaoke or no karaoke at all. Back to the story . . . . around 10:30, we decided it was time to fulfill our rockstar dreams. Around 11:00, we checked into one of these booths armed with an undisclosed number of beers and several bottles of Vietnam’s finest red. The next two hours provided some of the finest laughs of our lives. Tom’s outstanding version of Harry Belafonte’s Day-O topped the charts for the evening, requiring not only one, but two encore performances to end the night, which was well into the a.m.
Also, making the evening more comical was the fact that our karaoke booth was nothing more than a partitioned area on the first floor of a family’s home, not quite as glorious as the establishments we’d seen in Saigon. I have no doubt that this family still hears me sing “In the Jungle, The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in their dreams and Megan sing “Copa Cabana” in their nightmares. I know I do.
The following day, we opted for a lazy day. Megan and I made our way to a nearby pool for an afternoon of relaxation. That evening, I talked to a boat driver and chartered a sunset cruise for the five of us around the river islands off Hoi An. It was a great evening. As darkness fell, we began to see small lights come up everywhere on the river. The lights were small oil lamps that the fishermen hung from the support lines that run to the framework for their large suspension nets . . . . a cool sight.
The next day, I had only one taker, Tom, for my off the beaten tourist path plans. We caught a local ferry across the river to a nearby fishing village. When we got off the boat, we approached one of the village people and negotiated the use of his motor bike for a couple of hours. It was a great afternoon, cruising through the nearby villages and surrounding rice fields, playing chicken with the water buffaloes as they crossed the roads for greener pastures. We invited ourselves to a tour of a small brick factory, which was pretty cool as the people got a kick out of the fact that we wanted to watch them make bricks. Around 6:30, we caught the ferry back to Hoi An where we met back up with Megan, Kate and Justin for dinner.
The following day, Megan and I took a trip out to the My Son temples, the religious center of the Cham people a whole bunch of years ago. The actual temples weren’t terribly impressive, but the mountains surrounding them made for a beautiful visit. It rained on us while we were there which, in a way, added to the experience. In another way, it simply got us wet.
If you’ve got a long lost uncle in Hanoi . . .
The day after our My Son trip, we boarded another overnight train in Danang headed for Hanoi, Vietnam’s capitol. It was a great ride north as we skirted along the lush mountain slopes lining the coast. We got into Hanoi around 5:00 a.m.
If you’ve got a long lost uncle in Hanoi, don’t bother tracking him down . . . . he’s probably a jerk (I’ve got other names in mind, but Megan insisted I show a shred of class . . . very difficult for me). Upon arrival, we exited the train station and decided to catch a cab. It was only a 15 minute walk, but we decided it was in our best interest to learn the city in the light. We found a taxi driver who would run the meter versus a negotiated fare. I knew it was only a 2 km ride so the fare should run around 15,000 dong. We hadn’t gone half a km, when I noticed the meter was already at 25,000 dong / 3.5 km and soaring. I bellowed out a “Stop the $%&**#$ taxi!” The guy pulled over. I told him that I didn’t just get off the damn plane and knew that he was ripping me off. He turned around, headed back for the train station, meter still flying. Another round of expletives and 20,000 dong later, he popped the trunk, I collected the bags, and we found ourselves on Trang Thien Boulevard at 5:15 am with no clue where we were. A friendly security guard got us oriented, and we made our way to the desired area of town in about ten minutes. We got settled into a hotel room and Megan cried her first tears of the trip . . . . tired, frustrated.
I assumed this experience was the exception, not the rule. However, everybody and their brother and your long lost uncle if he lives here, tries to rip you off. Blatant stuff. We’re not talking about asking way too much for a t-shirt in the market . . . . if someone asks too much for something, I can say no. It’s bullshit like people refusing to scan a select few items in a convenience store and breaking out the magic calculator to work up a total. If they’re not screwing you, they’re screwing the business owner. This kind of bullshit has happened time and time again in the 36 hours we’ve been here. I was just informed that our visa extensions would cost an extra $4 each, because we’re from the USA and the guy tried to pawn off some bullshit story about some new law. We had already given him the passports yesterday at the agreed price of $20 each. What can you do, but pay the extra $4? It’s bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
I’m not being paranoid here and I know we’re talking about small change to us, but it still really pisses us off. It’s so bizarre as we haven’t dealt with this to anywhere near this level in other places over the last few months. Well, don’t worry. We’ve started our own campaign to make the people of Hanoi a more welcoming, friendly group of folks. I’ll update you with progress in the next post.
In summary . . .
80 something days into the trip and a handful of tears later, we’re still having a hell of a good time. We’re off to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island next, then up to the mountains, and eventually into Laos.
Thanks to family and friends for all the e-mails and comments on the blog. It’s really comforting to hear from everybody.
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