Packing Prowess

There are a few items I am very glad I packed (or acquired). If you research about packing it always hard to know what you really need or not - so those the main things that have come in handy. In case anyone is planning a backpacking trip soon....

(1) sleeping sack: essentially a sleeping bag liner, this items folds up smalls and shields you from nasty beds esp. those that lack sheets! I bought a silk one in Vietnam for 2 dollars. It even has a pocket to hold a pillow

(2) multi-purpose soap: I got some at LL Bean and you can use if for washing your hands and in the shower. Supposedly also can be used as shampoo but I would save as a last resort.

(3) flip flops: THANK GOD! I can use these in the shower and walking around the room (besides the beach!)

(4) A really comfortable bag for walking around (esp if you are carrying a heavy camera + guide book!). This thing is a life saver. http://www.tamrac.com/frame_velocity.htm (No its not stylish). It's also packed with essential tissue (for bathrooms!), hand sanitizer, mini sunblock, etc.

(5) windbreaker + lightweight fleece: windbreaker has served me well on motorbike rides, and for staying extra warm when my fleece isnt enough. both roll up small

(6) quick dry towel: you could never travel every few days if you had to carry a wet terrycloth. although Vietnam has been good about providing towels.

(7) Little flashlight for when lights go out or you want to read on the sleeper train/bus :)

Thank god everything fits in one reasonably small backpack. The full weight is around 11 kilos.

Vietnam in the Morning

The train from Sapa pulled up at 4:30 am. Rather than waking up our guesthouse owners, we sat it out in a "cafe." Cafe's here usually consist of a few plastic tables with miniature plastic chairs set up on the sidewalk. All very low to the ground, its looks like a child's table and chairs. (Meaning, Western guys usually stick to the chairs when they stand up). Just across the threshold of the the open store front is a makeshift kitchen. This set up is a site you see everywhere, at least a few cafes per block. All over, people

sitting in these little plastic chairs. The stalls/cafes stay open and crowded until late in the night - the food and snacking culture is one of the highlights for me :)

Vietnamese wake up pretty early around 6am, so 5am is actually not that early for them. We sat, had coffee (the usually "cafe sua" = strong coffee loaded with condensed milk) and played cards...well, tried to remember rules of card games. (Note to self - bring card game rules when traveling. Anyone remember how to play Hearts (Renee??) :) Anyway, we have internet access so that is a to-do.

By the time we walked to the guesthouse, around 6am, the pots in the noddle stalls were already steaming, with families and small groups gathered around their tables slurping up Pho. This morning, we had snacked on crackers and fruit, but soon we will be doing the same. Good morning, Vietnam!

Here are some Hanoi street and food scenes:

Sapa Excursion

Me and my fellow travelers (ahem) spent the last few two days in Sapa, which is about 8 hours by train from Hanoi. One night in Sapa sandwiched by two overnight train rides. Sapa is up in the mountains so its misty and chilly, but when the sun comes out its rather hot, ranging from 40s - upper 60s in one day.

The first day we did a half day trek to a few of the local villages. The people here still wear their traditional clothes and there are a few tribes in all, so lots of interesting costumes. The trek was absolutely stunning - miles of terraced rice fields that look like ripples in a river. We hung out with our guide, Chi. We are pretty sure she smoked opium after lunch as her eyes were red and she was so silly. Opium is their biggest crop here so wouldnt be a surprise. A good day though, esp considering how it warmed up.

Dinner last night around a fireplace in a restaurant, then a cold night in the hotel. It was like camping. The three of us shared a room, so someone was in charge of keeping the fire going and we had electric blankets and two electric heaters. Didn't do much good, but still not a bad night's sleep. Maybe better than the overnight train? :) We had a bit of hot water which was nice. Funny how their accomodations are so different than our standards. But hey, only 10 bucks a person.

Today we chilled in the village and ran into some friends of one of my traveler friends. Tonite back on the overnight train to Hanoi. Then need to figure out how to get to Laos. Even lonely planet said trying to take a bus to cross the border into Laos is "hell." Unfortunately the alternative is a plane which is more expensive, but I think it will be worth it.

train back to Hanoi

(Lunar) New Year's in Hanoi

We spent the first 3 days in Hanoi enjoying New Year's buzz and trying to stay warm. The combination of the city shutting down and the cold meant more time than usual hanging out in the guest house (see photo <-) - reading, watching TV, drinking, eating and hanging out with other travelers. In a way, like spending some kind of bizarro Christmas with people you only met a few hours ago but already feel akin to. We made some excursions - to the Temple of Literature, coffee shops, and at night for drinks. It was me, Dave, a Dutch girl, another American (yay!), two other cool Aussies, plus a few others who were in and out.

day and night with the backpacker crowd

For the main event, Dave and I met up with Karl and Amanda, the British couple, had drinks and roamed the streets, braving the crowds to see the fireworks. Unfortunately, it was not a clear night, but it was equally calming and exciting to watch. On the way home, I was somewhat split up from the group and a sweet young Vietnamese guy friended me up. He was gracious and offered me his arm. So funny! I was in a huge crowd and new exactly where I was so I wasnt nervous, also the guy was so obviously nervous/excited trying to speak english that I knew he was harmless so I humored him for the short walk (just a few blocks). He even tried to give me a new years peck before jumping on the back of his friends motorbike. What a cad! haha.



Yesterday Dave and I, Amanda and Karl and 4 other new people we met boarded a bus and went to Halong Bay. We did a one-night boat stay. The nature was stunning. Unfortunately also rather cold - no heat and one blanket for night. It's always interesting seeing where their idea of tourism falls short. But in all a great trip. We did some kayaking (in the cold but worth it) and spent the night drinking and talking.










Today we came back to Hanoi and are off on an overnight bus to Sapa in the mountains where you can visit all the hill tribes. Again, we are bracing ourselves for the cold but soon enough I'll be warm in Laos. Caio!

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!