Hanoi and more

So now we have 4 days in Hanoi, we only planned on two, but since we opted to cancel the 30+hour bus ride from Laos to Vietnam the plane ride added some days to our schedule. We have intermittently visited Hanoi 4 times now, it is a hectic city, with millions of motor scooters, one for every 2 or 3 people in the city. Crossing the narrow streets is like a video game, the motor scooter barrage never ends and is likely to run you over rather than stop, all while many other pedestrians are also trying to do what you are. Be sure not to run into a street food vendor either.

We had a few goals while in Hanoi, see Ho Chi Minh, find the best bowl of pho we could, visit the Hanoi Hilton and come to a consensus on Vietnamese cuisine.

First off we set out with Nick and Julia the Aussies to visit Ho Chi Minh's shrine? grave? displaying case? whatever it was. We found the property and eventually the entrance after a 20 minutes walk from our Rising Dragon Hotel. From there we were funneled to the entrance, put in two lines and stripped of all our possessions before witnessing the embalmed and waxy looking Ho Chi Minh in a heavily guarded glass case. He looked fake, and a source informed us he is actually kept somewhere else, figures. It was a quick trip and closes everyday around noon.
We sampled some street pho, it was pretty good, nothing special yet.

The Hanoi Hilton is well known in America as being the jail which housed US soldiers during the Vietnam War, most notably Sen. John McCain. Visiting the jail was well, interesting. For most of it's existence the jail was used by the French to retain Vietnamese revolutionists, but during the Vietnamese war it earned it's nickname from Americans. The majority of the jail, now a museum and only a 1/3 of its original size focuses on the oppression of the Vietnamese by the French. When showing the history of its treatment of Americans by Vietnamese the propaganda painted a picture of well treated prisoners and "best possible living conditions" for US soldiers. BS, even from a Vietnamese tour guide who said he has spoken with John McCain and other US prisoners upon return a few years ago. Later that day we burned up time going to the movies and cruising around Hanoi's major mall. More pho, this time at a chain restaurant, better, but still nothing special. While street pho is around 25 cents, restaurant pho at a few dollars is about the same.

On the next day we set out on a tour guide trip to see "Ha Long Bay" of the land, essentially the same limestone phenomena but inland. We visited a few replica Wats first, then took a boat ride in pairs through the valley via a river bordered by rice farms. The whole operation was like a Disneyland ride, one boat being rowed by a Vietnamese woman that would pick up her passengers and then return to get the next couple waiting in line an hour later. There were hundred of boats along the river, the women wanted tips, had prearranged agreements with vendors to make us buy snacks and drinks for them and tried to sell blankets and tablecloths during the ride. When we got back to Hanoi we decided to celebrate our last night together by going to the best fine dining restaurant we could find. The place was elaborate, with ponds you walk through en route inside, and all kinds of great decorations and traditionally formal dressed waitresses. Even here, while the food was good, it failed to blow us away. Guess they just don't have it in Vietnam. On our walk back we experienced the country of Vietnam celebrating their SEA Games semi-final soccer victory against Singapore. The streets filled with motor scooter riders waving flags and soon a serious party was on. It was a fun sight to see and a definite highlight.

Eric and Brandon left early the last day to catch their flights while Amy and I were left behind to burn the entire day in Hanoi before our red eye flight to Seoul. We had seen it all, so the day was spent shopping around, not buying, just shopping. We ate lunch at a great euro style cafe on the same block as our hotel, the most expensive meals, but the best, especially the desserts (lemon meringue pie). Then it was on to the spa where I received a hot rock massage and Amy a facial. Still more time to burn, so it was back to the euro cafe for a great dinner (Asian pear tart with ice cream for dessert this time) before our chartered Taxi to the airport. Goodbye Hanoi.

Vietnam photo album

Sapa, Vietnam

Coming back from Ha long, we spent a few hours at our hotel in Hanoi before next setting off on the Oriental Express night train to Sapa, Vietnam. The nicest train we traveled on, we had our own private four bed cabin, equipped with a TV, nice and dare I say fancy beds and linens, and even some complimentary water and moist hand wipes. It was nice to relax, be comfortable and wake up at our destination after sleeping all night and not wasting a day to travel.

Sapa was cold, the air seemed clean and the mountain scape was worth the trip alone. However, this stop in Vietnam also had some of the best food options, friendly and compassionate guides and great accommodation. We stayed in an awesome small hotel looking out over the city booked through the tour company, with a room nicer than any we had stayed in so far on our travels. The whole Sapa visit package was a great deal in comparison to Ha Long, the included meals at the hotel's restaurant were great and we even got to stay with one guide and fellow tourists the entire time. Joining us for the visit was an Australian couple, Nick and Julia, who had also recently graduated from college and were on vacation from Sydney. We all got along great and did things together all day, whether or not they were with the guide or on our own time.

The first day we made a visit to the local market, got an up close and personal viewing of dog on the butcher table, horse and cow heads were also there too. All strange things aside, one vendor was actually selling live rainbow trout in a tank, he called them salmon though. Next we were off to hike down the valley through the terraced hillsides. Unfortunately we were not visiting during the growing season, the fields were muddy and wet, some being prepared for the next season this winter. Sapa has two growing seasons and supplies most of Vietnam with rice. During these seasons the scenery is either a vibrant green or a golden yellow, all set below the towering peaks above. It still was a beautiful place, and many of the people whom live in the valley are part of various local tribes. The river flowing through the bottom of the valley was grand, carving its way through boulder fields and running a translucent emerald color. Unfortunately a hydroelectric dam was in the process of being built, good for the local people, not so great for the future health of the river.

On day two we took another trip into the gorge, this time heading north to the head of the valley. We visited several villages, schools and tourist spots along the way before backtracking out and having Pho Ga (chicken soup) for lunch at a restaurant that featured a fresh litter of puppies that were scurrying around. There was also a litter born recently in a storage section next to our hotel, so we spent a lot of time watching and playing with the little guys in both locations.

That night we were taken back to train station, boarded the Oriental Express once more and said goodbye to our young, friendly, talkative and helpful guide. By far the best of the trip. At 5am we arrived in Hanoi, our friend from the Rising Dragon Hotel already outside our window as the train lurched to a stop. It was nice to not have to think about how to get back to our hotel without being ripped off at that time of the morning.

Vietnam photo album

Vietnam Follow-Up

HA LONG BAY

After spending one night in Hanoi at the Rising Dragon Hotel we left the next morning for 3 days/2 nights in Ha Long Bay, an anticipated highlight of the trip. The process of getting to our boat bound for Ha Long from our hotel was quite the complicated mess. The travel agency we were with booked through our hotel was friendly, but seemingly unorganized. The entire three day trip would be no different, with many boat, tour guide, and bus transfers, we never seemed to be with the same group of tourists the entire time...I guess a good way to meet lots of people though huh?

Once aboard our Junk, the Vietnamese version of a cruise ship, we sailed out into the geologic wonder that is the islands of Ha Long Bay. The scene is spectacular, with limestone islands shooting straight out of the jade water. The bay is vast and most of the trip involves steaming around and taking it all in. At least while on the boat you don't have to worry about being sorted like cattle. While the food was sub par, we were able to buy as many Oreos as we wanted from the floating concession stand ladies who rowed around the different inlets intercepting Junks as they stopped. We read, played Bananagrams and enjoyed some people watching, a group of loud and often intoxicated Malaysians were also on our boat. One day I took up the crews offer to go swimming and did a few back flips off the top level of the Junk into the cloudy, somewhat fuel stained ocean, entertaining the Malaysians and others on the boat, mostly because it was actually pretty chilly and high.

We did have two off boat excursions, one to a cement laden cave and the other to the largest island of Ha Long, Cat Ba. The cave was really impressive, well lit with multi-colored lights and sprinkled with penguin shaped garbage dispensers made it look a little silly, but what was most disappointing was the strange texture of the ceiling and other parts of the walls which we later found out to be sprayed cement, not natural as our guide had told us. Lacking authenticity would be a trend for the remainder of our time in Vietnam. Outside the cave was a beautiful bay, minus the collections of floating garbage and sickly water, wasn't this place supposed to be a national treasure/preserve? The Junks and their unique sails did however provide the imagery we had hoped for, even if it wasn't really that pristine. Cat Ba was bigger than I expected, taking about an hour on a bus to drive from one side to the other. In the middle of the island we stopped to climb to a highpoint and get some great views along with a few hundred other tourists. Later we had lunch and some time in Cat Ba city, nothing special, more greasy food and no Monkey Island for us, something we had hoped for but weren't going to see because we booked two nights on the boat instead of one night in the city in a hotel. Back to the boat, but not our boat first, a different Junk that would take us to our boat, we hoped. An hour later we boarded another junk and were met by a new tour guide and new passengers, but yes it was in fact our boat and our rooms still held our belongings. In the morning we headed back to port and more bus travel, bad restaurants and confusing organization in order to return to our hotel in Hanoi. Some sunny weather would have been nice on the trip to Ha Long, as well as clear and clean water.

The REAL Photographers

Armed with some real equipment and skill, these photo collections are high quality and captured many more images than I.

Brandon's photos

Eric's photos

Amy's photos

Steak & Eggs...and then some Spaghetti

On day 1 home from Asia I have been thinking about the foods I would like to have most. All of us are now interested in homemade spaghetti for dinner, after relinquishing our burger cravings in Luang Prabang at some fancy euro/american cafes. But before dinner, I am going to have steak and eggs with a side of tomato for breakfast, that and a large glass of orange juice. "Orange juice" in Asia is very, very sweet and more of a deep orange color, we are pretty sure they add syrup to it. It really doesn't hit the spot like good old California or Florida orange juice does. A large pizza sounds great too.

Nightmare Bus

After hearing tales of long, crowded and sketchy bus rides from Laos to Vietnam, we opted to purchase planes tickets for the last leg of our trip to Hanoi from Luang Prabang, Laos. In the end, we still got a taste of these "nightmare experiences".

The night before we left we booked a small mini-bus out of Luang Namtha to Luang Prabang, this option was more expensive than the public bus and was advertised as being 2 hours shorter. However, when our taxi driver dropped us at the bus station 10minutes outside of town he tried to purchase our mini-bus tickets from the ticket window, only to find it was sold out. They were supposed to be reserved, but in a place like this things tend to not work out like they should. We could have gone all the way back to town and demanded our money back from the travel agency, but we wanted to get going so we purchased the public bus tickets, got some money back and hoped for the best. Our journey was now slated for 8 hours. The public bus was old, probably from the 70's or 80's, windows were stuck open, the interior was cramped, but the tires looked sturdy. Something you need to consider when most of the roads are a patchwork of dirt, rock and asphalt. We boarded and actually got to have our bags kept in the back, not far from us and there was still quite a few empty seats. Within 10 minutes this all changed. The bus driver and two helpers stopped along the road for nearly anyone flagging them down and soon the bus was jammed. There was luggage everywhere, massive bags of rice, fresh produce, and lots and lots of people, we were the lucky ones who got to actually sit on seats! The bus helpers were constantly moving up and down the cramped walkway and even climbing out onto the roof to stash more luggage up top while the bus was tearing down the highway. The highway was probably only a lane and a half wide at the most, so calling it a highway is a stretch, but one of the only true roads in the north.

Passengers were squawking on phones, throwing up, eating and spitting onto the floor, throwing garbage out the window, trying to steal your seats. It was a scene. The driver took to the road like it was the Indy 500, making passes left and right, narrowly missing other cars and trucks. On one occasion we came around the corner and he had to slam on the breaks sending us sliding and tipping slightly before coming to a stop feet from a jammed road of logging trucks. The road trip surpassed 8hours and we were still far from our destination. Darkness came and luckily so did better road conditions, so we were able to finish the rest of the drive in 2 additional hours. I can't imagine doing that everyday, but that thought gave me some confidence in the driver, he must be really good by now.

Although 10 hours on this circus bus was not the best way to spend a day, we made it alive and took in some great country along the way. The landscape of Laos conjures up scenery shots from Vietnam war movies with hillsides containing a mosaic of rice fields and jungle, thatched bamboo huts and women and children out playing or working around the streets. There are some grand mountain ranges jutting out in the distances and I have a feeling the region looks the same as it did during the Vietnam war, but with motorized scooter bikes and power lines now thrown in.

Our destination, Luang Prabang, is a world heritage site, and even referred to as one of the jewel's of the orient. It is probably one of, if not the most pleasant city we have come across on our travels. Quiet, yet full of tourists, it has loads of great Asian and European cafes, classy hotels and guesthouses, friendly people and plenty to do. It sits on a peninsula between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers and definitely has an "old world" European holiday feel to it. Quite the oasis for now.

Laos Photos

Welcome to Laos

Crossing the Mekong on a wooden boat for about 5 bucks, we left Thailand for Laos. The first "third world" country on our trip, and one of the 20 poorest nations on earth, Laos was destined to be a new experience. We took an evening bus for about 5 hours to the northern town of Luang Namtha. Not much of a city, the local economy was fueled by eco-tourism due to it's proximity to Nam Ha National Protected Area.

After finding a relatively brand new guesthouse to stay the first night, we signed up for a two day trek with a local guide company to experience the national park and spend a night in a local village within. Luckily we had a full day of rest and relaxation in between leaving for our trek and our arrival in Luang Namtha, because we would need it. Waking up early that day, Eric pulled out of the adventure after enduring a fever all night, and soreness from our mountain biking in Chiang Mai. Brandon once again remained behind, because he "had to work". Amy and I would be going alone.

Once we met our Laotian guide, we were quickly on our way, with a quick stop at the local market to buy ingredients for our meals. A fellow American joined us on our trek, a guy from San Francisco who had already been traveling for 11 months with his wife. They had been environmental city planners and decided they were tired of California and needed a break. Before coming to Asia they had spent 3 1/2 months in Eastern Europe and 3 1/2 months in South America. He had some great stories to tell and information to share having already been to China, Cambodia and Vietnam before Laos. His favorite location so far had been Argentina, specifically the Patagonia region. No where had he found a better steak, or scenery.

Driving down a dirt road paralleling a river, we arrived at the trail head about an hour after leaving Luang Namtha. There we met two local women who helped carry our food half way on the first day's trek. Passing between clear-cut areas for rice farms and jungle we slogged on in the heat of mid day. There was little humidity, but the steep hill climbs and temperature made me sweatier than I have been all trip. We stopped and enjoyed a nice authentic lunch on banana leaves at a farm hut around noon, after which the two women and their dog said farewell and left us to continue on our way to the village. The remainder of the hike was mostly in the jungle and continued up and down over mountains. Overall we travelled 24km the first day according to our guide.

Arriving in a larger village first, we bought a few more supplies and then continued on through some corn and rice fields to the small farm we would be staying overnight at. A fenced enclosure housed 4 buildings, all bamboo thatched style huts on stilts. This style of home makes up probably 90 percent of all buildings in Laos. With rice fields surrounding the property, the fenced in area was a bustle of farmyard animals. There were geese hissing and snapping at loud roosters, dogs chasing cats, pigs squealing and gangs of ducks chasing around solo chickens. It was very entertaining. As the evening passed, more animals began to show, dinner time was soon. After the mother of the village tossed out grain and vegetables the feeding frenzy began. Unfortunately for one of the ducks, it would have been best to skip the meal, because before he knew it he was being weighed and tied up, about to become our dinner. He was boiled and then plucked, and then taken to the river to be cleaned while we kept warm by the fire. The meal that night was interesting, and I don't think any Americans tried the blood and intestine soup, we were stuffed too full with rice anyway. The local people here push food on you, more and more rice even when you try your best to turn it down. It is especially tough when you are hiking. That night we all slept under mosquito nets in the family's main hut, on pads and with extra blankets, because it actually got pretty cold at night.

The next morning we were again stuffed with rice and noodle dishes before heading out to hike another 20km or so. This day was full of steeper ascents and descends, and the end seemed to never come. After reaching a relatively clear river, we bathed and soaked in the cool water before meeting a taxi to take us back to Luang Namtha. It was a fun adventure, a great way to see the countryside, but not the most comfortable few days, especially when it came to trying to keep all that rice down...

Laos Photos

Thanksgiving in Chiang Mai

One hour outside Bangkok via train is the city of Ayutthaya, a former Thai kingdom. We hired a Tuk Tuk driver for the day, and were off on a tour of some of the city's famous Wats. It was an easy and fun way to spend the day, and most of the Wats were spectacular. You could even view some of them on the back of an elephant, which we passed on. That night we were scheduled to take the sleeper night train to Chiang Mai at 9, so after eating dinner the Tuk Tuk driver took us to a pub/cafe to burn the remaining hours before our departure. Here we were met by a long haired Thai man who spoke great English, as well as a handful of other languages, and put on Nirvana in his Cafe because we were from Seattle. Jimi Hendrix also. He quizzed us about the US, knowing more than we did, and taught us some great bar tricks.

After arriving 2 hours late, our train finally made it and we were on our way to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is in the northern part of Thailand, cooler and less humid it was a pleasant break from being sweaty 24/7. We stayed at a relaxing, helpful guest house on the edge of the interior city, that provided complimentary high speed Internet, wi-fi, toast and tea/coffee/hot coco. It was also very quite, and mostly unoccupied, had a lovely garden and relaxing outside lounge area. The owner called taxis for us, set-up our mountain biking and food course, as well as giving us discounts when he could. So on our second day, Thanksgiving, we took a Thai cooking course. We were picked up in the morning by our instructor, a young, pretty Thai lady and met the rest of our classmates back at the school. Two other Americans, on their honeymoon from Utah, were also in the course, making the Thanksgiving meal a little more family like. First on the agenda was a trip to the local market to learn about ingredients. This was followed by a tour of the school's own garden which contained their spices and peppers. Eric sampled "mouse shit" chilies straight from the vine, the chili Thai's use most to fire up their meals. Many leaves, basils, fruits and chilies were also sampled. Each of us then chose our 7 dishes we would be cooking, an appetizer, a soup, a stir fry, noodle dish, curry paste and curry dish as well as a tasty desert. There were soo many choices, but some of the highlights were spring rolls, tom yum soup, pad thai, pad sew uw?, green curry, red curry and the Chiang Mai khoa soy? curry. In the end, just like at Thanksgiving back home, we were all incredibly full and ready for some serious nap time. Eric and Brandon were hoping they could bring the lovely Thai teacher home with them, that way they wouldn't have to remember the recipes anyway, right? Plus she was funny and got a kick out of her own jokes, and telling us to "kill the little mouse shits!" when the chillies were to be smashed with a knife.

The next day we all enjoyed chatting with everyone back home on their Thanksgiving, before Eric I were picked up for a day of mountain biking. Amy had a spa day planned and Brandon worked. At the bike shop we selected some pretty beat looking downhill bikes, were given full body armor, a dinky little helmet and thrown into the back of a truck with a British kid and a French Mediterranean yacht captain (only 33 years old! what a life!) who had previously raced downhill bikes competitively back in Europe. The British kid had just quit his sales position and was traveling the world for a year with his girlfriend, and planned on seeing the Rocky Mountain region of the US in an RV next summer. He had also never been mountain biking before...

Between Eric, the French captain and myself we were not worried about the day ahead of us (no way it could be like Whistler..), Amy had also instructed us to be mindful of the lack of medical assistance. Oh how wrong we were. The upper trail through the national park was thick forest, narrow steep trail, vines, low trees and the riding was fast. The guides just kept going faster and faster and even the french racer was working to keep up followed by myself and then Eric. After the forest section we came to some very intimidating steep rock gardens, your only choice was to point it and lean far back on the bike. Going slow only led to gravity catching up with you. It was intense. An hour later we had successfully made it through the rock gardens from hell, success being no major injuries because we all bailed at least a handful of times. From there things opened up and we could tear down more stable and open trails to the finish. It was one of the greatest and most technical rides I had ever done, and the French captain agreed. He wanted to go again and said he would be coming back with his own bike and pro friends to this undiscovered downhill thrill ride. The newby British kid was a little shaken, but also enjoyed it, pretty impressive for his first experience. The guides said they never get to ride that fast though and most people end up walking their bikes down. On the way back to town we enjoyed some tall refreshing Singha beers and shared our travels.

That night Brandon and Eric went to a Thai boxing match, Amy and I stayed at home, too expensive for us. They got back late and haven't shared that much information about the night besides "it was pretty fun". We didn't go when Eric really wanted us to so he decided he would withhold the ongoings of the night from us.

Onto Laos, first via the most northern town Chiang Rai for one night. Stayed tuned for more on long strenuous treks and nightmare bus rides before we arrived in our current oasis of Luang Prabang, Laos.

Thailand photos