After a week in Laos we arrived in 1 short hour to Hanoi, Vietnam. This was after we looked into the treacherous 20 hour overnight bus from Vientiane to Hanoi on a road that feels like you are riding over craters on the moon, no thank you, airplane here we come! Once we arrived and got our visas we took the 45 minute ride into the city, not sure what to expect but already seeing more motorbikes on one highway then we have seen in all of Thailand and Laos. We were dropped off in the evening rush hour, totally disoriented and not knowing how we were going to cross the street with all of our luggage without getting hit. Well, we managed and checked in at our hotel, Splendid Star 2 (thanks for the recommendation McLure) where we were upgraded at no additional cost to the "honeymoon suite" (don't ask me why) which was a nicely spacious room with a big round bed (I guess that's what honeymooners like?) and a balcony that overlooked the city church. We were located in the Old Quarter and the city of Hanoi dates back over a 1000 years, which they just celebrated this year. The roads are narrow and small as the French had initially constructed them only for walking but were quickly transformed by the Vietnamese into small highways for motorbikes and cars of every size. With a population of 6.5 million people, 3/4 of the population own a motorbike. This makes for crossing any of the streets a very stressful and scary experience. But we were told to walk slow and keep a consistent pace, advice which proved to keep us unscathed. We walked the streets, ate amazing Pho and experienced the Bia Hoi's.
For those who are unaware of what a Bia Hoi is I will give you the insight. Imagine a "beer garden" but on the street where there are child size plastic tables and chairs that you sit at and drink freshly brewed beer out of keg (a little bit better than bud light and goes down like water) with an alcohol content of about 3.5%. And you drink beer after beer until the Bia Hoi runs out for about 30-50 cents a glass!!! Yes, that's right, it is the world's cheapest beer. With a boyfriend who lives and dies for beer we frequented the Bia Hoi's A LOT during our time in Hanoi. Bia Hoi's are a place mainly for Vietnamese men during lunch hour and after work; the women run the shop. Our first experience brought us to Bia Hoi 38, we occupied the only 2 empty seats among all Vietnamese men (me being the only woman drinking), and quickly engaged in our first Bia Hoi experience. After trying to converse with the other men about where we were from and that Hanoi was #1 we quickly became friends and before we knew it they were buying us rounds of drinks. We had another great Bia Hoi experience with our friends we met in Halong Bay that consisted of a very friendly intoxicated Vietnamese man, check out the video, it will describe everything...All in all Bia Hoi's were a very good cultural immersion experience!
After 1 day we desperately needed a break of Hanoi, so we booked an overnight boat to Halong Bay which was 3 1/2 hours away. We boarded the ship with about 30 other people and headed for one of the seven wonders of the world (well hopefully soon to be). With over 1,000 mountains, a floating village, and incredible sunsets we were headed for an amazing adventure. We quickly bonded with our fellow ship mates and met some great people from San Diego, Australia, and Holland. We went kayaking through caves into vast open bay inlets where peace and tranquility lie, I have never seen anything so breathtaking. The lush covered mountains soared up around you and you immediately felt transcended into a whole other world. After the kayak, we all bought the expensive boat cocktails where happy hour was buy 3 and get 1 free (some happy hour), watched the sunset over the mountains on the top deck while Brett played the guitar. Yes, everyone fell in love with him immediately. For dinner we were served a smorgasbord of catfish (it was the entire fish, eyes and everything but surprisingly very decadent), fried spring rolls (that we all were taught to make), papaya salad, rice, vegetable beef noodles, and pumpkin soup, amazing! The rest of the night consisted of too many consumed cocktails, squid fishing, karaoke and another live Brett session where he taught everyone how to sing "Wagon Wheel," it was epic.
The next morning we were forced awake way too early, heads pounding, food shoved in our mouths and quickly on another boat headed to walk through a cave all by 8:30. The cave we went in was incredible and one of the largest, unfortunately I don't remember too much other information as it hurt too much to pay attention to our soft spoken guide when all I could think about was water and being in air conditioning. The pics will show you how massive this cave was.
Afterwards we had one more incredible lunch feast and were headed back to the noisy and busy streets of Hanoi for 2 more nights before headed down the coast to Hoi An. We went to Hoa Lo prison which is where John McCain and other American fighter pilots were imprisoned until the end of the war. It was a pretty scary place, mainly for Asians, it seemed from the photos that American prisoners were not treated nearly as bad. It was creepy but a good history lesson.
We ended our trip with a good meal of wontons, spring rolls, beef pho, and frog legs! Yes, I ate frog legs and they were very delicious, Vietnamese delicacy (other than dog and snake) which I still refuse to try. Overall, Hanoi is a pretty incredible city with a lot of history and character, a place we would love to go back to.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Laos: Luang Prabang to Vientiane
We left Thailand and made our 50 cent crossing into Laos. Our Lao guide was helpful and made sure our Visa matters were squared away giving us zero issue for our long and painstaking 2 day journey to Luang Prabang. We chose to take the slow boat, a 100 ft. x 10 ft., flat bottom boat that carries you along the Mekong River at about 15-20 MPH. It takes a while. After our first six hours on the boat, we landed in a town called Pakbeng. A very small, one road town, lined with nothing but restaurants and guest houses. We managed to get a decent night's sleep, and woke up to a harmonious dog/rooster duet, and arose with plenty of time for our next seven hours on our beloved slow boat.
It felt like forever, but after a few BeerLao's and a couple card games, we finally landed in Luang Prabang, one of the more relieving feelings we've felt thus far.
The city of Luang Prabang is considered a UNESCO "World Heritage" site, which basically means it is an awesome, protected part of the world, that will continue to maintain it's character and charm for years to come. Imagine walking through a town built by the French in the 1800's, that has managed to maintain it's vintage purity, and has now transformed into a hip, modern/3rd world town, while still holding on to it's Buddhist traditions and ideals. Weird concept, but that's the best way I can describe it. After one night, Brooke and I both decided it was our favorite place we'd been to on our trip, originally having planned on staying 2 nights and staying 4 in the end. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and just thinking about it makes me wish I was back.
A few memorable moments from Luang Prabang.....
-There are plenty of really cool bars and restaurants in LP, but everything closes at 11pm. You wanna stay out later, you have one option..... you go bowling. We had made friends with a Chilean couple and a dude from Holland, and after wandering the two popular streets with nothing to show for it (at 10:30pm), we caught a tuk tuk, and headed for our late night refuge. Our driver took us about 10 minutes outside town, and we ended up at a rogue building in the middle of nowhere. We walked through the puddle filled dirt parking lot, opened the doors, and there we were, a Lao bowling alley, the last place i EVER imagined myself to be during my travels. BeerLao was flowing, cigarette smoke burning, bowling pins crashing, and in a few fleeting moments, I actually felt at home for a bit.
-There are a lot of store fronts in LP, one of them selling really cool hand made linen pants and shirts. It looked like there were some sweet and really comfy pajama pants, so I went in to try some on. After searching around a bit, I found a pair that I wanted to try, then found the owner napping in a hammock in the back of the store. He showed me to the "dressing room" ( a corner in the back of the store), and motioned for me to take off my board shorts. Since I've been in SE Asia, commando has basically been my middle name, so I motioned back to him that I should probably keep my shorts on in order to try the pants on. Apparently they do things a bit different in Laos, and to my surprise, the dude looked back at me and says, "ees ok, same same", and with one hand pulls down the front of his pants, exposing his whole deal, thus showing me that it's all good I have no chones on, and should proceed without worry. Inside, all could think was, "Holy S***! this dude just showed me his d*@%!", but knew I had to proceed with business as usual. In a bit of shock, and trying not to laugh my ass off, I said to myself, "well, I guess this is happening", dropped trow, and proceeded to have the most interesting clothing- trying-on experience to date. I ended up buying a pair, and as soon as we left, told Brooke what had happened. We laughed for quite a while, and every time we passed the store we'd say to each other, "same same", and laugh our asses off. Sorry, no pics for this one.
The rest of our time in Luang Prabang consisted of checking out waterfalls, visiting night markets, volunteering to teach English to Lao kids, riding bikes, and enjoying good food and cheap beer. Lao people are very friendly and hospitable, even the kids are nice and always seem to have a smile on their face. While we were riding bikes, Brooke's chain fell off and got stuck in the back wheel. I flipped the bike over and got to work on it, and before I knew it, we were surrounded by kids trying to help us get it fixed. After unsuccessfully trying to get the chain unstuck, I finally stepped back and let the kids get their hands dirtier than they already were. It took them a bit, but they finally got it all fixed up and we were on our way. A very cool experience and a good glimpse into Lao culture.
After Luang Prabang, we took a van down to Vang Vieng to see what tubing the Nam Song river was all about. The scenery while driving through Laos is incredible, but the roads make for a very uncomfortable and long ride. Pot hole after pot hole, the highway turning into bumpy dirt roads for 200 yard stretches, huge sections of the highway after a while it actually becomes funny how shitty the roads really are. The scenery is the drive's only saving grace.
The town of Vang Vieng, is really not much to write about. The streets are pretty dirty, all the buildings are weathered, I didn't have one good meal, and every other bar and restaurant have TV's playing non stop "Friends" episodes. It's really weird, but 100% true, non stop Friends everywhere, painful. But, you don't go to Vang Vieng to see great architecture or to find delicious cuisine, you go to tube the river and party your ass off while doing so.
It was like I was back in college again, floating the Sacramento River through Chico, only this time, the riverside was lined with bars that threw out life preservers to pull you into the bar. When you decide to grab a hold and get reeled in, the bar welcomes you by shoving a bottle of local whiskey into your hand and letting you take a slug. Helluva a greeting if you ask me. Each bar also has it's own little gimmick to lure tubers in. A rope swing, trapeze, mud volleyball court, huge ceramic water slide, all things perfect for drunk people looking to get flung into the river. Not to mention the scenery is amazing, limestone rocks shooting up hundreds of feet high and covered in greenery, at times it's hard to believe where you are. We met two Irish dudes and ended up hanging out with them the whole time, and by the time we did the last leg of the river, it was dark, had started to rain, and a thunder and lightning storm had managed to roll in. It sounds miserable, but I thought it was awesome. It was warm and you were wet anyways, so the rain was no issue, and when the lighting flashed, it would light up the river, the cliff sides and the entire gulch you were floating down. It was one of the cooler experience I've had. Brooke didn't seem to think it was all that enjoyable, haha.
The next day we took another roller coaster of a bus ride down to the country's capital, Vientiane. Unfortunately we showed up the day after the city had it's annual boat racing festival, and the city was completely destroyed. The sidewalks were covered in trash, and all the dirt brought up from the river made for a consistent dust haze on busy streets. Unfortunately we had booked our flight prior to arriving in Vientiane, so we had to make the best of the 3 nights we stayed there. We ended up having a good time though. When you have that long to stay in one city, it forces you to find things that you would normally pass up and makes you appreciate the city more. The restaurants in Vientiane were actually really good, and I ended up having some of the best Indian food I've ever had. In the end, however, we were VERY ready to get out of Vientiane.
Looking back, Luang Prabang was absolutely worth the trip and I would highly recommend it to anybody traveling through SE Asia. Tubing the Nam Song was also worth it and I'd recommend it to those still looking for a young, college party type atmosphere. If your not looking for the party scene though, go to Luang Prabang and fly out, Vientiane just isn't cool enough to make the effort to get there. All in all, we loved Laos and had a blast, a beautiful country with fantastic people.
Pics from Laos: https://picasaweb.google.com/109084938812843609271/LuangPrabang
The next day we took another roller coaster of a bus ride down to the country's capital, Vientiane. Unfortunately we showed up the day after the city had it's annual boat racing festival, and the city was completely destroyed. The sidewalks were covered in trash, and all the dirt brought up from the river made for a consistent dust haze on busy streets. Unfortunately we had booked our flight prior to arriving in Vientiane, so we had to make the best of the 3 nights we stayed there. We ended up having a good time though. When you have that long to stay in one city, it forces you to find things that you would normally pass up and makes you appreciate the city more. The restaurants in Vientiane were actually really good, and I ended up having some of the best Indian food I've ever had. In the end, however, we were VERY ready to get out of Vientiane.
Looking back, Luang Prabang was absolutely worth the trip and I would highly recommend it to anybody traveling through SE Asia. Tubing the Nam Song was also worth it and I'd recommend it to those still looking for a young, college party type atmosphere. If your not looking for the party scene though, go to Luang Prabang and fly out, Vientiane just isn't cool enough to make the effort to get there. All in all, we loved Laos and had a blast, a beautiful country with fantastic people.
Pics from Laos: https://picasaweb.google.com/109084938812843609271/LuangPrabang
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Dare #2: Pad Thai Mania
Our second dare came from none other than my cousin Conor. Conor has also made his way through South East Asia, knows a thing or two about region, and didn't take too long to come up with an awesome dare. In the spirit of Man vs Food, Conor came up with the challenge of eating 3 lbs of Pad Thai in 30 minutes. Luckily for me, I love Pad Thai, and specifically the Pad Thai in Thailand, not that stinky weird orange shit you get back home. However, despite my love for the dish, I knew 3 pounds of it would be incredibly difficult.
Having watched a good amount of Man vs Food episodes, I knew that I had to involve a little strategy to make sure I was good to go for game time. I woke up, had a big breakfast around 10am, and didn't eat again until the challenge began around 5pm. In the meantime, I swam, worked out and rode bikes around town, in hopes to boost my metabolism and make sure I was hungry as hell. I was not about to lose to the Pad Thai.
Around 5 pm, it was game time, so we hit the streets in search of a worthy Pad Thai vendor. We found what looked to be a promising little street stall and it was game on.
"Three??" the vendor asked confusedly as he held up three fingers.
"Yes, 3 pad thai"
Still a bit confused, he started putting one of the servings in a to go box, but I caught him before he could, letting him know I was about to eat all of it right there. And it was on....
From there I went on to my third plate which was the most challenging, but my preparation had proved effective and I finished in just under 17 minutes. Pad Thai challenge complete.
As full as I was, I still felt I hadn't quite done the challenge justice. It was tough, but in the end, I knew I still could have eaten more. Being the honest man that I am, I knew there had to be some sort of round two, something to make the challenge worth our while, and more specifically make it worth the challenger's money. Because I had zero desire to eat even more Pad Thai than I already had, there was only one option..... it was Brooke's turn.
To make it fair for all parties, we changed the criteria a bit and turned it into two plates in 15 minutes, and found a restaurant that had plates the were a bit more substantial. She was a bit apprehensive, but stepped up and faced a challenge like she had never faced before. Woman vs. Food........ brilliant.
She started out strong and finished her first plate in around 5 minutes, but it got more difficult from there. After the first plate, Brooke was already feeling full and had to push on to make sure she could finish in under the allotted 15 minutes. I was the permanent water boy, and had to make sure her water glass was full at all times to make sure she could keep on rockin. Despite her feeling full, however, she managed to take her last bit just under the 15 minute mark, thus defeating her merciless Thai opponent.
Pad Thai challenge complete..... who's next?
Check out all the pics and videos from the challenge:
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Elephants, Tigers, and Tribe People? OH MY!
Chiang Mai--the "Most splendid city of culture." I do agree the culture here is more unique than that of other Thai provinces. They have their own traditional Chiang Mai dishes, unique herbs, vegetables, and spices as well as a much more laid back lifestyle compared to a city like Bangkok. With 4 nights ahead of us we wanted to get the most out of this cultural city.
Our first day we rented bicycles and rode around the old city. As Thailand's second largest provience, everyone is either driving motorbikes, tuk tuks, taxis, or vans which makes riding along with and crossing any street to be pretty daunting. Stopping for pedestrians at a cross walk seems like more of a "suggestion" rather than the law. I've had one too many close encounters with speeding cars, and now know that it's probably not crossing the driver's mind that they shouldn't do 50 mph in a small 2 way alley with hotels lining the street!
Regardles, biking was fun and we rode along the river which had overflowed due to the non-stop terrential rain storms which flooded all the shops/restaurants nearby. We rode through ankle deep water watching shopkeepers pack up sand bags and sweep out water, soon to have to do it all over again when the next storm was to hit any minute.
Our second night we attempted to learn and create our own Thai dishes at the Baan Thai Cooking School. We were taken to the local market to learn about the various vegetables, spices, and noodles from our much-too enthusiastic teacher. Once back we chose and prepared 5 Thai dishes and indulged ourselves afterwards in each one of our finest Thai creations. Being able to make the food exactly how I like it made this a night of the best Thai food :)
The next day we went on an all day trek. We drove an hour outside of the city to the Maevang Elephant park. Now I've seen elephants before (at the zoo) but nothing can ever compare to seeing an elephant up close with no bars or enclosures blocking. Their huge mass and beauty create a real majesty to them. Brett and I were on a mama elephant and her baby liked to stay close by so he guided us on our tour through the jungle. They took us through some pretty tight and sketchy paths not understanding how our elephant was going to scale that mountain with us still seating on top. Well, I guess I shouldn't underestimate an elephants ability because she got us up and down with much poise and grace. The little one (you can see in the pics) is still getting used to his walking legs as he struggled to make it up a couple hills, considering he was guiding the hike we knew that if he got stuck, we all were stuck.
After elephants, we visited the Karen hill tribe. The moment we walked up we were surrounded by at least 10 children shoving hand made bracelets in our faces, all saying the same thing over and over again with the ultimate look of despair, "Hello, 5 Baht, Hello 5 Baht." I felt like I was thrown to the wolves, no one else in our group was getting hounded like I was. Well, need I say, an armful of bracelets, 10 now smiling faces, and a scornful look from Brett that I was not to buy another bracelet, everyone was happy! I also bought a beautiful hand woven silk scarf from a local weaver that is woven so delicately I will be lucky if it isn't in one big ball of yarn by the time I get home!
After the tribe we went on an hour walk in the pouring rain to a waterfall, which has been the most impressive we have seen, but it had lost its beauty due to the muddy water rushing down the face (there are no pics bc our camera died). Afterwards, we were supposed to go bamboo rafting but couldn't because of the weather so our tour guide, who called himself Handsome, bought us some beers and we hung out with the elephants a little longer.
Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent with the tigers. We bought a package to see the smallest cubs (2-3 months) and the big boys (20-22 months). We arrived at the "Tiger Kingdom" and Brett mentioned,"Brooke, do you think you are allergic to Tigers? You know they are cats." Me thinking, oh shit! I don't have any allergy medicine on me, but as long as I don't touch my face I should be fine. Well I HUGELY underestimted this, they had us laying all over the tigers, putting our face in their fur, letting them jump on us (these are the small tigers BTW), I had managed to cover myself in rashes, on my face, arms, and legs. Eventually I said I didn't need to lay on them, I felt too stupid to say I was allergic so I let them think I was just afraid. This was definitely a lot of fun and a cool experience. The cubs were the cuttest thing you could imagine and the big tigers were the most intimidating and scariest thing you can imagine. They do not drug the tigers, so the reason they let you in the cages with them is because during the day is when the tigers sleep (they typically sleep 18 hours per day) and they are used to being around humans so they don't mind the petting and photos. We got some great photos and this is an experience that goes down as one of the coolest things I have done.
For our parting dinner we decided to go all out and spend the money for something nice; an appetizer, 2 glasses of red wine, 2 beers, 2 entrees, and 1 coffee we spent a hefty $50! Nothing could compare elsewhere. It was a good treat and we were sad to leave but ready to continue on our journey to Chiang Rai.
Pics in Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/109084938812843609271/ChiangMai?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Our first day we rented bicycles and rode around the old city. As Thailand's second largest provience, everyone is either driving motorbikes, tuk tuks, taxis, or vans which makes riding along with and crossing any street to be pretty daunting. Stopping for pedestrians at a cross walk seems like more of a "suggestion" rather than the law. I've had one too many close encounters with speeding cars, and now know that it's probably not crossing the driver's mind that they shouldn't do 50 mph in a small 2 way alley with hotels lining the street!
Regardles, biking was fun and we rode along the river which had overflowed due to the non-stop terrential rain storms which flooded all the shops/restaurants nearby. We rode through ankle deep water watching shopkeepers pack up sand bags and sweep out water, soon to have to do it all over again when the next storm was to hit any minute.
Our second night we attempted to learn and create our own Thai dishes at the Baan Thai Cooking School. We were taken to the local market to learn about the various vegetables, spices, and noodles from our much-too enthusiastic teacher. Once back we chose and prepared 5 Thai dishes and indulged ourselves afterwards in each one of our finest Thai creations. Being able to make the food exactly how I like it made this a night of the best Thai food :)
The next day we went on an all day trek. We drove an hour outside of the city to the Maevang Elephant park. Now I've seen elephants before (at the zoo) but nothing can ever compare to seeing an elephant up close with no bars or enclosures blocking. Their huge mass and beauty create a real majesty to them. Brett and I were on a mama elephant and her baby liked to stay close by so he guided us on our tour through the jungle. They took us through some pretty tight and sketchy paths not understanding how our elephant was going to scale that mountain with us still seating on top. Well, I guess I shouldn't underestimate an elephants ability because she got us up and down with much poise and grace. The little one (you can see in the pics) is still getting used to his walking legs as he struggled to make it up a couple hills, considering he was guiding the hike we knew that if he got stuck, we all were stuck.
After elephants, we visited the Karen hill tribe. The moment we walked up we were surrounded by at least 10 children shoving hand made bracelets in our faces, all saying the same thing over and over again with the ultimate look of despair, "Hello, 5 Baht, Hello 5 Baht." I felt like I was thrown to the wolves, no one else in our group was getting hounded like I was. Well, need I say, an armful of bracelets, 10 now smiling faces, and a scornful look from Brett that I was not to buy another bracelet, everyone was happy! I also bought a beautiful hand woven silk scarf from a local weaver that is woven so delicately I will be lucky if it isn't in one big ball of yarn by the time I get home!
After the tribe we went on an hour walk in the pouring rain to a waterfall, which has been the most impressive we have seen, but it had lost its beauty due to the muddy water rushing down the face (there are no pics bc our camera died). Afterwards, we were supposed to go bamboo rafting but couldn't because of the weather so our tour guide, who called himself Handsome, bought us some beers and we hung out with the elephants a little longer.
Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent with the tigers. We bought a package to see the smallest cubs (2-3 months) and the big boys (20-22 months). We arrived at the "Tiger Kingdom" and Brett mentioned,"Brooke, do you think you are allergic to Tigers? You know they are cats." Me thinking, oh shit! I don't have any allergy medicine on me, but as long as I don't touch my face I should be fine. Well I HUGELY underestimted this, they had us laying all over the tigers, putting our face in their fur, letting them jump on us (these are the small tigers BTW), I had managed to cover myself in rashes, on my face, arms, and legs. Eventually I said I didn't need to lay on them, I felt too stupid to say I was allergic so I let them think I was just afraid. This was definitely a lot of fun and a cool experience. The cubs were the cuttest thing you could imagine and the big tigers were the most intimidating and scariest thing you can imagine. They do not drug the tigers, so the reason they let you in the cages with them is because during the day is when the tigers sleep (they typically sleep 18 hours per day) and they are used to being around humans so they don't mind the petting and photos. We got some great photos and this is an experience that goes down as one of the coolest things I have done.
For our parting dinner we decided to go all out and spend the money for something nice; an appetizer, 2 glasses of red wine, 2 beers, 2 entrees, and 1 coffee we spent a hefty $50! Nothing could compare elsewhere. It was a good treat and we were sad to leave but ready to continue on our journey to Chiang Rai.
Pics in Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/109084938812843609271/ChiangMai?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)