Capital City...Hanoi!

After a long and painful bus ride up north to the capital city, we spent the first day taking it easy and getting some sleep, since we didn't get any on the "sleeper" bus. Our bus attendant must have been having a bad day, and decided to take it out on the rest of the bus. Before we even left the station he was yelling at some other tourists for eating fruit on the bus, he said because it smelled. We let that slide, no food on the bus seems reasonable. Then after about 30 minutes, he starts yelling back and forth with another local lady on the bus. 4 hours later at about midnight, he is still screaming, and almost getting to the violent point with this lady. Of course most of the bus is full of tourist, who have no idea what they are screaming about, and just want him to shut up, which he didn't. I guess he had enough of this lady, and then decided he was so mad that it would be a good idea to start smoking cigarettes on the bus too. Fruit = too smelly, Chain smoking = Very pleasant....or at least I guess that is what he thought. The worst part was that 2 feet from him was a mother, an infant and its grandfather of about 80. They asked him not to smoke and pointed to the baby, and he responded with an angry wave in the grandfather's face, and went on smoking. Also, I think they were so mad that they didn't stop the entire trip. Which sometimes could be a blessing, since normally the buses stop every hour, and it can get old. Not this time though, 13 hours with no dinner and no bathroom breaks. Did I mention our driver was a maniac too! That's holiday cheer Vietnam style I guess.

Anyway, as I said we slept all day the first day in Hanoi. The second day we just walked around the old quarter where we are staying and saw a few sites and got a couple of bowls of Pho along the way. That night we went around and tried to book our boat tour in Halong Bay for my birthday and New Year's. Holding to our typical fashion we waited until the last minute, and most of the boats we wanted were full. We finally found one, but not as nice as the ones we wanted. Oh well, I have my rod and reel, and as long as it floats I will make due. We signed up for the 3 day, 2 night tour, with 1 night on the boat and one on Cat Ba Island for New Year's Eve.

The next morning we woke up to watch the first full football game I have seen UK vs. Clemson which we got on ESPN-Vietnam. It was nice to see some football and we actually caught a glimpse of Henry Gallivan in the stands. Of course the Cotton Bowl is the same time and day as the Gamecocks game so they are picking that up instead. Guess we will have to bribe another hotel owner to let us use the computer until 5 a.m. again to catch our game.

After the game, we of course got some Pho, and went shopping for a bit. Then we went to the other side of Hanoi and saw the War History and fine arts museum. On our way back to our hotel we were in our 5th wreck of the trip - our Taxi driver ran right into the back of a woman on a moto. Luckily we were at a red light; noone was hurt and there was no damage so we went on our merry way. That was about it for Hanoi. I think we are officially avoiding large cities at all costs. In the morning we head to our boat, for our cruise through Halong Bay!

BTW, new pics up on flickr, and for the first time since September we are caught up on this blog!

The Tailors of Hoi An

Hoi An is a really charming town full of tailors that are ready to make anything you want but they use mainly silk as the fabric. They are everywhere and all the people we met said be careful because it is so cheap it becomes addictive; especially when they can make it for you within 24 hours. We never thought of anything we needed/wanted, so never got anything made. All the buildings in the old town are the same size and color with wooden signs labeling the stores/restaurants. It has a river running along the side of it that is connected to two different islands by bridges and is small enough to just walk from one side to the other. Our first day there we relaxed a good bit just checking out to the town and local market - we didn't sleep much on the overnight bus since the sleeper seats are really short (even for me; Ben had a tougher time!). We took a cooking class from a place called Red Bridge that was awesome! They brought us to an organic garden to see how they grow all the veggies that are sold in the market. While we were there we sat at a family's house to have a drink that was just water, sugar, and lemon basil seeds. It was really good and we are going to have to find some lemon basil seeds to bring home (theirs' tastes very different than what we have found at home - more lemon flavour). During our break the grandma of the family hit Ben a couple times in the shoulder yelling something; our guide said she was crazy and didn't remember anything. It was hilarious! From there we went to the market to buy all the ingredients we needed for our food. An Aussie in our group tried the beetle nut we always see old women chewing. The old women's mouths are stained black and red from doing it so long, but luckily his just turned a little red after chewing for a couple minutes - he said it was horrible. The actual class was much more hands on than the one we took in India so we actually got to make the food we were going to eat. We learned how to make Pho Bo (a necessity for us by now), Shrimp in Banana Leaf, Fish Curry, Chicken with 5 spices, and Papaya Salad. Everything was great with the Fish being the biggest hit among our group. We left by boat to go back to town at about 3 pm and were completely stuffed! However, we did force ourselves to find a place to eat our Christmas dinner and found a restaurant that was serving a 6 course set meal with turkey; we were sold!

Most people here celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve at midnight like it was New Year's. So Christmas Eve night we decided to hit the town and take advantage of the drink specials at various places. We ended up spending a little more money than intended, shooting tons of pool, and playing the fishing game made for kids - where you fish while they spin around opening and closing their mouths (a service the bars here have included with darts and pool). We didn't feel that great when we woke up on Christmas so had our standard breakfast of Pho Bo and brought 2 sandwiches back to our room. Our Christmas dinner was amazing! It costs us $20 each for 6 courses and a free glass of some sparkling wine drink; plus we finally got our turkey! Tomorrow we leave early in the morning for Hanoi.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Nha Trang is right on the beach but the sand is not as nice as we saw in Thailand; it is a bit more grainy and is surrounded by touts trying to sell you stuff while you hang out. We decided to get our Open Water Diving certification and spent the next 4 days learning. We scuba dived for 3 out of the 4 days - one day was learning in a pool that made your hair feel so bad that you had to wash it at least 4 times to feel somewhat normal - I don't want to know what they put in it! We had a German girl named Stef as an instructor who was from Berlin. When we were in Cambodia we met a couple that was from there but instead of saying they were from Berlin, they emphsasied they were from East Berlin - so we had to ask about the difference. Apparently the East feels that all good jobs go to people from West Berlin and West Berlin feels all their money is going to East Berlin. A vicous cycle that continues.

The diving here is nice but it made us a little upset we didn't dive in Dahab, Egypt because the visibility is so much better there. But we did see tons of different fish (thousands of puffer fish), a huge seaturtle eating at the bottom of the sea, a baracuda, etc. I was dying to see a seahourse but never got my wish. Overall the town is pretty relaxed. It rained almost everyday we were here - naturally except the day we leave. We are taking a night bus to Hoi An where we will spend the Christmas holiday.

Dalat - the Mtns of Vietnam

We arrived in Dalat fairly late - about 8 pm but got a room at the place we wanted (people in Saigon were raving about their breakfast in the morning so we had to check it out). Their breakfast lived up to the hype! The next day we walked around the lake that is in the center of town. Many people were fishing which made Ben jealous, but the lake was really green and had a lot of trash floating in it. Along the way we stopped at the Flower Gardens that had a ton of different flowers. It started raining a little bit when we left so we headed back towards our hotel. We did not make it far before we stopped to have a bowl of pho bo (noodle soup with beef) for lunch - something we crave every day here!

The next day we went with one of the Easy Rider's that are promoted all around town. They are a group of motorcyclists that can take you from Dalat to Hanoi (a 6 day trip) or just around town. We decided to take the one around town since they were asking for $65 a day for the long trips, and it was great!! They take you outside of town so you see more farm land, etc (Dalat was a French colony retreat in the mountains). We started by seeing the Dragon pagoda which had probably about 14 dragons throughout the architecture and gardens; then we went to view the town from a hill before seeing a local flower garden. Our guides were really nice and funny - one of them spent some time trying to find me the root they make Tiger Balm out of so I could see it. He found one and gave it to me as a souvenir - I did not have the heart to tell him I wasn't going to put it in my pack for the next 3 months so accepted gratefully. From there we went to see a coffee farm. Neither of us realized that Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the world but it is everywhere here and our guys told us how they grow the trees and the process of drying them out, etc. Then we moved on to see how they make rice wine. It is a pretty basic distillery process with fermented rice and we tried some that was just made. 65% alcohol - I thought my throat was on fire! There were 2 of the largest pigs I have ever seen in the same room squealing like crazy because they had not been fed. I guess they get any left over rice from the process - pretty happy pigs if you ask me.

We loaded back onto the motos to visit the silk factory and see that process from beginning to end. The patience you would need to do that day in day out is amazing and they had some really cheap things that we bought; $10 for a pair of 100% silk pants. Then we went to the Elephant Falls which is about 25 meters high. We were able to climb into a cave behind the waterfall to see if rushing over us which was really cool but you got a bit wet. Right next to the falls is a pagoda that has the biggest and happiest Buddha (see the pic above with Ben in front of it). The Buddha is surrounded be various other statues and hydrangeas along with other depictions of Buddha. By the time we were done with all this we were starving and ate at a local place that was just a set meal of $1.50 each. They brought out more food than any of us could eat. Probably about 12 different dishes from Whole fried fish, chicken and veggies, to bitter melon soup and stir fried snails. It was probably the best lunch we have had for the least amount of money! To end the tour they brought us to the Crazy House in Dalat. Apparently the lady created it to be one with nature. We thought it was pretty cheesy and wouldn't really recommend it, especially if you had to pay the extra entrance fee. It is really just a lot of high narrow bridges winding to connect different bedrooms. Overall we enjoyed the highlands; next we are off to the beach!

Good Morning Vietnam!

Ho Chi Minh City (many locals still call it Saigon) is pretty out of control! There are thousands of motorbikes on the streets driving like crazy and crossing the street reminded us a little of Cairo - except here people do stop at red lights most of the time. There are tons of shops and restaurants as well as historical sites from the Vietnam War - or 'American War'. The first day here we went to the market, the Independence Museum, and the War Remnants Museum. The Independence Museum is more like an office building from the 70's with really bad colored carpet. It is odd to see the word 'enemy' associated with your country, and it is everywhere in the War Remnants Museum. There are old tanks, air crafts, etc in the front yard of the War Museum. Inside it has pictures from the war; many are fairly disturbing, especially the ones related to the effects of Agent Orange and the birth defects it caused. It takes you through the history of the War, has excerpts from political speeches and documents, but mainly relates to the war crimes America committed in Vietnam. When we left there it was time for a beer, so we got two cyclos to take us back towards our hotel. They totally ripped us off since we did not understand how much they were asking for originally, so we decided not to take another cyclo in Saigon. We took a break from the war sites the next day and went to tour the many pagodas and Herb Market in the Cholon area . The carvings in some are incredible while others look more like a fair with all the colors and brightly clothed statues. The Herb market was kind of a bust but they did have weasel coffee - this is coffee they feed weasels and then take the beans from their poop before drying them. Never tried any but apparently it is supposed to be very good but really expensive.

Naturally we had to go see the Cu Chi Tunnels and decided to go with a guided tour because it was actually cheaper than trying to get there on your own. On the way to the tunnels we stopped at the Cao Dai Great Temple. Cao Dai is an interesting religion that combines aspects of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam; the base of which is to escape the cycle of reincarnation. We made it in time to see the noon prayers which looked like meditation with some chanting and music playing in the background. The Cu Chi tunnels had presentations of the different guerrilla traps used, spider holes, B-52 bomb craters, and we were able to actually go through one of the tunnels. The tunnel you go through is tiny: you have to crouch and walk since it is about 1.2m high and 80cm across. And that is the one they expanded for tourists! It was so hot and humid in the tunnel Ben and I bailed out just before the exit and were sweating bullets. Don't know how they were able to stay in those things for months at a time - our guide said he was stationed in one for 6 months. Next we head to the mountains and see Dalat!

Sihanoukville

After Phnom Penh we headed down to Siahnoukville at the beach. There is really not much to say about this area, since we didn't do anything at all. We stayed for about 6 days, and just took it easy by the beach. We were so lazy we really didn't even take any pictures. I did finally shave for the first time in about a month, as my "beard" was pretty gross and out of control. We also found a "Cinema" where you could rent a private room and choose from about 2000 movies they had to watch. We watched some very new movies like "2012" that haven't even come out yet. We also found an Ipod store that would upload movies and music to your ipod for very cheap.
We got 4 new movies and about 6 albums put on our ipod for about $9, and it only took an hour. That would have taken days to download and cost about $100 from itunes. That was about it for Cambodia, next we took the bus to Vietnam!


We uploaded about 1000 new pics to
our Flickr page, so check those out, and have a good holiday!

Turkey day Cambodian Style!

We arrived in Phnom Penh on Thanksgiving Day around 2:00 pm and made it our mission to find a good Western restaurant for dinner. We ended up at a place called FCC to have dinner. It is apparently really popular with expats and had a ton of Western food, but still no turkey. We got a bottle of wine to celebrate, a Caesar salad, a steak with vegetables, a side of mashed potatoes and gravy (we were very excited to see this on the menu!), and chicken with a chorizo and white bean ragu. It was not the most traditional meal and the most expensive one we have had on our trip so far, but it did give us a little taste of home. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and the holidays are going well!

Phnom Penh, Killing fields,

After Siem Reap, which was one of our favorite cities so far on the trip, we headed down to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. We were a little freaked out when we first arrived on the bus, because someone had a sign with Kristin's name on it waiting at the bus stop. We later found out that our hotel from Siem Reap had called their sister hotel to pick us up. Phnom Penh is a large city located between a river and a lake. We decided to stay by the lake for the first couple of days. Our hostel was right on the lake, literally. It was a nice cheap place for about $6 a night, with a great staff, who even helped me find a place to listen to the Carolina vs. Clemson game that started at midnight here. Bye the way, 34-17!!!!! The hostel had a very nice deck facing sunset, and a free pool table. The first night was thanksgiving, which we have another blog about. The first day in Phnom Penh we walked around the city, and visited the Wat (Temple), Park, and the Royal Palace. The park had a huge grass clock that was pretty cool, and the Royal Palace was very nice as well.

The next day we headed to the Killing fields, and the prison called S-21. The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Vietnam War. At least 200,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge (while estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.4 to 2.2 million out of a population of around 7 million. We had both recently read the book "The Killing fields" and seen the movie. Both are good, but the book is great. The killing fields are a crazy site. There is a huge tower right when you walk in that is about 100 feet tall, and filled with 8000 skulls of the victims who were buried in the mass graves at that site.

Around the site you could also see the mass graves all over the place, as well as the torture areas, and the trees where people would be hung, or babies smashed against. It is a very creepy site. After that we went to S-21, a former school, that the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison. Each room would have a picture of torture or dead bodies. This is the site where many of the people in the mass graves were tortured or killed. It was very depressing. After that, we went back to the hostel, picked up some drinks, and started tailgating for the game that night. It was a good night, not sure if I mentioned this or not, but 34-17, and a great birthday present for my mom!!!

The next day we moved hotels, to a place with some A/C that was by the river. During the day we went to check out the market, which was one of the best we have seen. They had a huge selection of meats, and seafood. Kristin got some soup in the market that had just about every internal organ you can name in it. We tried them all, but were not impressed. The broth was great though! The next two days we just took it easy, since we had to wait until the Embassy was open, because we needed extra pages in our passports, and a Vietnam Visa. That was about it for Phnom Penh, next we headed to the beach!