Historic Hue

What a nice, quiet time we had in Hue. In case I didnt explain, I have been hanging out with my friend Dave, who I met in Saigon. We re-met up in Hoi An and are traveling together for a bit. He is Australian. We took a bus to Hue and stayed in a hotel in a cute little side street. We spent the first day seeing all the historic stuff. Hue was the capital in the Imperial days when Vietnam had kings. The main old city is walled and there is a massive compound, also walled, within. The compound is where the king used to live and is partly in shambles now but still some buildings and beautiful land.

That night some guy stopped us and wanted to have a beer with him and his family and we did that. Unfortunately, after being semi-ripped off in the past, its hard to truly trust people. He wanted us to have beers again at his house but we made up plans. He is a teacher and just wanted to practice english, etc.

Second day in Hue we booked a motorbike tour through the countryside which was, as always, beautiful and enchanting. We stopped off at some famous king's tombs (which are also huge compounds with buildings and land) and temples and pagodas. The tour company was through a cute family run restaurant where I ordered cereal for breakfast one day - an unual and exciting menu item!

That night we went out with some Aussie girls to "Why Not Bar." One girl met this Thai businss guy who was really cool and he ended guiding us to a nice restaurant where we all had dinner. One delicious dish we had was "bo la lot" which is meat patty things with herbs wrapped in a lot leaf. After that, back to the bar where met an English couple traveling for 6 months (how cool!). They were also on our flight today to Hanoi so we will prob hang out with them here.

heading back to hotel via rickshaw

Hanoi, where we arrived today, is chilly! I bought a thicker coat (20 bucks...) and some gloves. In a few days, we want to do this trip out to the "minority" hill tribe community (Sapa) but its even colder there....30s/40s. Ich. But I think it will be worth it.

By the way, why does the US still use imperial measurements? We say "foot" and "pound" and it sounds so archaic to the rest of the world...just a funny thing. Suprisingly makes it somewhat hard to figure out distance, weight, temperature. It's an extra handicap in a country that speaks a different language :)

The English couple, as part of their 6 month trip, did a roadtrip across the US. They loved it. It's cool to hear people chatting about wanting to travel in the US or having enjoyed a trip to the US, I guess because I didnt realize that people think of US as a backpacker-type destination, but rather to see one or two places (NY, etc). Rock on!

Tomorrow is TET! Lunar New Year. Should be awesome here. Families have been gearing up - they buy kumquat trees for their houses and burn these papers in cans outside as offerings. It's almost permenantly smokey wherever you go. And before lunch they put out all their food on a table outside with incense as an offering before they eat. They also spruce up the town, do repainting and repairing and are supppsed to trim the graves of their loved ones. I'm sure I'm not giving the customs their due explanation, but those are some of the things I have been told or seen. I think tomorrow will have fireworks and a celebration outside. I'll let you know!

Contact Number

Hi all! While I am in Vietnam (not sure about after) you can call me
by dialing: 011 84 93 253 8361. I am 12 hours ahead of you (your
morning is my night)

Parents - download Skype (skype.com). You add "skype credit" (money)
and then you can call international numbers for 2 cents a minute!

Sweet Hoi An

Hoi An has been a blessing. It's a moderate sized town, but not a city. The architecture is quaint with small streets and lots of cute shops. It has a nice relaxed vibe, due to those reasons, as well as it is on the water (river and ocean).

Hoi An is also tailoring central. There must be 200 shops that do
custom tailoring. I hadnt really thought about getting anything, but then I made friends with this Vietnamese girl, Tao, at a cafe and her sister owns a shop (...of course). But she was nice enough so I went there. I originally got a pair of casual pants and a skirt (both lacking from my packing)...but with each alteration, I ordered more things: Another pair of pants (since the first were so great), 2 t shirts (always hard to get the perfect fit!), and a shirt-dress. So cute! All 6 items for 85 bucks. :) I was so tempted to get more - people had these amazing winter coats and blazers, but there is no chance I could fit them in my sack. I tried to focus on things I could actually wear on the trip :)

Last night we went to a cool local place for dinner wtih Dave and Liz, a girl I met in cooking class. It was an open-air restaurant. We had a good time chatting with the local kids who work there. They speak really good english because tourism is the best way they can get a job. Cute kids - very funny and friendly. He was "finished" school, which he later explained meant he quit school :) then this adorable little chatter-box girl (both around 15) was chatting us up. We also ran into Alex, a british guy we met the night before. He has been living in Hoi An for 3 months and works at a bar. An excellent dinner and cheap: 5 shared dishes and 3 Saigon beers for $8. Split between 3 people = less than 3 bucks a person. For real!

Yesterday I took a cooking class which was 24 USD, by far the most "extravagent" amount i've spent on a single event. But it was great. Really relaxed and we learned a lot - rice paper spring rolls, a hoi an pancake, a traditional salad, eggplant in a clay pot and mackeral.

One more food event :) We had a special Tet (lunar new year) lunch 2 days back at Dave's first hotel (we switched to cheaper ones), which was a family-owned place. It was delish and really cool to be part of the celebration. Tet rages on until the 26th or 27th and it just kicking off. The main night being the 25th which is New Year's Eve.

This morning Dave and I did a sunrise tour of My Son, a set of Cham ruins about an hour away. It was nice. Not much planned for the day, but I wanted to visit this orphange, Blue Dragon. They dont accept short-term volunteers but I thought it would be cool to see.

It has been a blessed 5 days, and tomorrow off to Hue by bus! Ciao!

Motorbiking

So - the motorbike adventure. We boarded our bikes at 7am on Thursday.
Me with Khahn ("Mr. Khanh") and Dmitriy with Liam. Both local guys
from Mui Ne, the beach town. For the first half hour I couldn't stop
thinking about how it would feel to fall off a moving bike. Ouch! But
I soon got over it and really enjoyed the experience. The feeling of
wind on your face is singular. Think about it - riding in the car with
closed windows doesn't even compare! It's the wind that makes it.

We were off on an 8 hour journey. Khanh spoke good english and was a
cool guy. My age. Has been in tourism for 5 years so he picked up a
lot of jokes and slang that made it easy to relate to him. We stopped
at around 8 places and he showed us different types of
farms/industries - peanut, rice wine, sugar cane, etc. We also stopped
by two local villages where the people were so friendly. The kids get
really excited and giggle and say "hello, hello" over and over. It is
so cute. I took pictures with some of them, they loved it.

Once we got to Dalat - the hill town which was built up by the French
- we got settled in our rooms then met for dinner. Both for lunch and
dinner both days, we went to "local" places which was fun, and the
guys helped us order. With dinner we also drank two small bottles of
rum, which is less strong than our rum, about 30% alcohol. Afterward
in Dalat, we went a played pool at a local place and these two french
guys there were chatting with us. The bar was cool - owner was half
French and had cool bootleg rolling stones playing. Great vibe - I was
really happy all night, it was just so cool to be chilling with locals
and really hanging out at night for the first time.

The next day we set off for day 2 - driving from Dalat to Nha Trang,
another beach town. We saw a bunch of awesome waterfalls and drove way
up into the mountains into the cloud line (or something similarly high
and misty). It was beautiful - mist so thick you thought you were on
Mars you could barely see in front of you and from the sides of the
mountain all you saw was complete white with a few sporadic leaf-less
trees. A bit spooky!

We arrived in Nha Trang, checked into the hotel again and paid our
guys for the trip. The original price he had asked for back when we
made the plans with him was 100 a person, but we had talked him down
to 85 a person. Actually at the time we negotiated, I had felt rather
guilty, that maybe the price was too low, but he had eventually
agreed. So that is what we paid him. Afterward, we went out again.
Liam drank too much and was tired, so just me, berman and khanh went
out. We stayed out till 2 and drank beers, tried a few bars and again
played pool. I was sad when we said goodbye at the end of the night,
because we had such a good and genuine time with him.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of an issue in the morning...we went to
check out and they said khahn didn't pay for our hotel which was
supposed to be included. Granted, it was only 10 bucks a person. They
said he stays there a lot with his customers but have never had this
issue. They called him and were talking rather loudly at him trying to
figure it out. I was so bewildered that he would do that to us. They
gave the phone to me. On the phone he just said that 170 didn't
included the second hotel. Obviously, if he had told us this :) it
would have been fine, but since he never made that clear, it was
unfortunately, a shitty thing to do. He asked if I could split with
him and he would have someone in the next town give us half. Obviously not a
solid plan. So anyway, we just paid. I felt kinda bad because Dmitriy
kinda reamed him out on the phone. I wasn't happy about what happened,
but I also felt sympathetic. It's not like he pulled a major scam, and
as I mentioned, I worried that the the 170 price was too low. I think
he was between a rock and hard place, afraid we would pull out if he
didn't accept 170.

For me the main issue was whether he was "duping" us the whole trip,
pretending to be friends. But it doesn't seem like that was the case -
he could have pulled the same trick and have been far less friendly.
So I came to terms with it and still appreciated the experience and
our time together. It's just sad how much 10 bucks means to them, its
a different world. Even though its not right and everyone should be
expected to uphold morals, I cant really say I know what its like to
be him. Most people here make 120 dollars a month.

So the bike adventure - the two coolest days of our trip to far -
was eye-opening in more ways than one.

Mui Ne

Dmitriy and I arrived in the beach town of Mui Ne on Monday afternoon. It was a 5 hour bus ride. They have these tourist buses that run along the country, making it easy to get from one spot to the next. The interesting thing about Vietnam being a narrow vertical country is that the traveler route is relatively similar, just heading north or south. The downside of the buses, potentially, is that its all tourists and depending on which cities you choose or what hotels you book, you could end up on a rather touristy trip. Something many people may not expect from Vietnam.

The last two days have been heavenly, relaxing at the beach, eating delicious, freshly caught seafood, and hanging out. I am getting a tan and have read a lot of my book, two sure signs I am relaxed and happy :) Today I rented a bike and biked along the town (just one road, with beach-facing hotels on one side and restaurants, other buildings on the other). The beach is nice, there is an erosion problem here, as its extremely windy starting around noon.

We met a cool guy, Allen, from San Fran and had dinner and drinks with him last night. The bar was really cool, right on the rocks with the waves seeming like they would crash in. The bar (Pogo) was having movie night, playing Little Miss Sunshine. By far the most "cool" western scene we have seen, still only about 10-15 people there. Must be owned by an ex-pat. After bikes today I did a really beautiful hike along "Fairy Stream" to see red sand dunes. Lovely pics.

Dmitriy and I are sticking together for the next leg of the journey, which is definitely comforting considering our wild plan...we are taking a motorbike "taxi" (a guy driving a motorbike with you on the back...so we will each be on a bike) to Dalat which is about 5 hours away, and the next day taking another ride (same drivers) to Nha Trang, another beach town. So one night in Dalat and one in Nha Trang. It's a package deal, so hotels in both towns are included, food as well, and he has planned stops to see different local towns and industries. 85 bucks a person. More expensive than if you are paying for everything yourself (we figured the same may cost 60 a person) but you get the cool experience of seeing Vietnam with a local, on a motorbike. Lonely Planet wrote good things about the company and they guy had a dossier of positive recs written by customers with their emails, etc. I think it will be a good adventure - lets hope so!

More About Saigon

Frank (McGuff) requested more info - what is saigon like?

Using India and Costa Rica as a frame of reference (the only two devloping countries I am familiar with)- it feels more like Costa Rica, in terms of plants, landscape. The people are also more chilled out and "relate-able" in Vietnam and Costa Rica than in India. More western I guess, is all. (Not to say that means India is better or worse...India's exoticism gives it a unique allure). So maybe it's like an Asian Costa Rica? Haha. That comparison is really loose because I am basing it more on my experience in rural/beachy costa rica not San Jose. San Jose is nothing like Saigon from my limited experience of San Jose. Saigon is more rustic and charming and far less sketchy.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

An interesting thing about Saigon is its various areas. We didn't discover this until the second night nor did we expect it, but Saigon has a whole modern downtown shopping area, similar to other Asian cities. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, "trendy" bars, etc. Not that the places are packed by any means :) We went to a decent restaurant there (filled with all white people).

The area we are staying in is called informally called Backpackers District. When you come to a developing country you have change your notions about the meaning of "touristy." If I was visiting Paris and there was an area called "tourist district" where I could stay I would avoid it. However in a third world country, or at least in Saigon, you generally want to be in a place meant for tourists. It means that you will be able to buy bottled water, have hot showers (an amenity often not available), AC option...let alone find a hotel at all. And it's not as if you walk outside and encounter the kinds of tourists you see in times square. In this case, its about only 10-120% tourists and they are all more worldly types. Actually, I was very impressed to see families here too. Of course, not American families :) In fact, most white people I've overheard are German, Australian, British, few Americans. (The girl on the plane next to me made an interesting comment. She was also going to Vietnam and from Australia. I told her many people were hestitant about my trip or said it wouldnt be safe, and she said: "Were they Americans?" I guess we dont exactly have a reputation for being worldly/adventuous :) ).

From Vietnam in an alley in the backpacker area

In terms of stuff to do - there is a good mix of local places and more tourist-oriented places. In this area there are a decent amount of touristy places, but they dont stand out like sore thumb and there are way more local places and local people so you dont feel like you are somewhere not authentic. The local places are usually open to the street, with about 10 small (low to the ground) plastic table and little plastic stools. The chairs face the street and people sit and chill and eat and drink beer. That's pretty much the scene as you drive around the city. It's totally fine to go to a local place. Even outside the backpackers distrct, they have an english menu or translation on a piece of paper :). Berman has been getting the local beers - Saigon green, 333, etc, and I have a bit too.

From Vietnam hanging out with krista and mario in saigon

Two random pics from the internet..
the modern feel-
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/ho-chi-minh-city.jpg

backpacker area-
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9iupQfHB0JY/RJ5dKDmVABI/AAAAAAAAABI/9DeKoI1DF6M/img_0041.jpg

Mekong Delta & Homestay

Yesterday at 9am we were off for the Mekong Delta. The delta is the triangular southern tip of Vietnam, which they annexed from Cambodia at some point in the past. It has lots of canals and waterways and subsequently is where most of the rice comes from.

It was a 3 hour ride in a 16-passenger van. Not bad. We had to get explicit instructions written out by our Saigon hotel host to give to the driver to have him drop us off at the ferry once in Vinh Long (our destination). Once there we stopped into the nearby tourist office to arrange for a boat to take us to the homestay. There was some confusion about the homestay but it all worked out. The little boat rode for about half an hour along the Mekong river and up a canal to our homestay. From there the woman on the boat walked us 5-10 mins up to the homestay itself. It was so nice to finally be there and it was perfect - quiet on a small road but completely surrounded by nature. There were only two other rooms booked that night. We spend the rest of the day reading, eating fruit and drinking beer. Took a bike ride around and waved to the kids we passed, who all say "Hello!" when they see us. Around 7, they served us an amazing dinner, the best of the trip so far. Squash in broth, whole fried fish which we made into rolls with rice paper, whole (huge) shrimp/prawns, rice of course, spring rolls. Delish!

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

Our rooms were relatively open to the outside - with windows/slits along the top of the walls and only a partial wall on one side. It was great to hearing all the relaxing nature sounds (especially once the distant but loud blaring of radio stopped....we saw this in india too and dmitriy said its typical communist radio. they just have a few stations and some of the really small towns have a speaker set up and just blast it all day. its traditional music though, so more evocative than annoying) I was really cold throughout the night unfortunately, but I woke up early, 6am, to the continued sound of the distant radio, roosters crowing, things flipping around in the stream near my bed, and... to my 28th birthday! We had breakfast then hopped on the boat for another tour. Again, there was some confusion about the boat, but we went off. The boat took us about an hour drive further south to Cai Be to see a floating market and then to a family who makes candy (and sells it to tourists :). Berman (Dmitriy) bought me some as a bday gift :)

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

We got dropped off at the ferry station again, and had to get the tourist office's help again, this time to help with coordinating our van back which was prepaid but we didnt have the ticket stub. Nothing is simple :) but seems like people are helpful enough to help us work it out.

We arrived back in Saigon today. Chilled out, had some pho, chilled out some more in our rooms. Soon we are going to dinner...dmitriy is taking me out for my bday :) (Yes, Frank, you owe him a thanks :) We are going to Temple Club, which is one of the nicer restaurants here (still just 15 bucks a person!). Apparently Brad and Angelina ate here when they picked up Pax. COOL.