Let's face it folks, this is a post that is long overdue. It's also a subject that's near and dear to my heart, so get ready for a long ride...
Thailand- The food is simply amazing overall. Pretty much impossible to go wrong. In general, the less atmospheric the environment, the better (and cheaper!) the food. Laura and I enjoyed several delicious meals from little stalls and thus when I went back to Bangkok (for less than 24 hours) I ate exclusively in said institutions of culinary art. Thai food is famous in the US for Pad Thai and its curries (which are indeed delicious), but other local specialties include spicy salads such as Spicy green papaya salad, spicy mango salad etc. I had been subtly warned that while all Thai food is relatively spicy, the salads are what you really need to watch out for. This same informant, however, also told me that I needed to make sure to try the Spicy Green Papaya Salad, despite my STRONG papaya aversion. It then follows that on one of our first nights, at Cabbages and Condoms a restaurant full almost exclusively of tourists, we ordered said salad. Laura turned about 12 shades of red at one point and was down for the count for about 10 minutes. Sad times. I thought it was pretty delcious (I also managed not to eat whatever offending item) and tried a spicy mango salad when back in Bangkok alone, to even greater success.
Cambodia: A surprise winner! The food there was honestly great. We went in with low expectations (about everything really) and they really succeeded. The fried yellow noodles with vegetables and the noodle soups that were sold in stalls everywhere (Ladyyyy one dolla...) were delicious. The lemongrass in the soup added a certain je ne sais quoi. We also enjoyed some high quality Pad Thai and mystery make-your-own noodle soup curry something dish in Phnom Penh for next to nothing that I remember as excuistely tasty.
Vietnam- A country of highs and lows, in general. I had high expectations for food in Vietnam and while some of the food was very good, there were some definite lows as well. The Pho (the Soup that Built a Nation) was generally good, however the places that catered to tourists were definitely NOT. The "tourist food" that we were constantly served on our tours was generally bland and unappetizing (and sometimes downright bad). We also had a few experiences of just being served very bland food in random restaurants, probably because we were tourists. I missed the curries. On a more upbeat note, our lunch of Vietnamese rice crepes in HCMC was very good and fun (although it was also probably what got us slightly sick).
Laos- Ginger tea! Pumpkin soup! Crepes. Food heaven? After a bit of a downer at the end of Vietnam, Laos was refreshing in more ways than one. Our first meal, at a place called, aptly enough, TumTum Bamboo, was delicious (if pricey). We sampled the local specialty fish laap (a sort of spicy cold salad), had a nice curry (hurray, back to the land of curries) and each had ginger tea and a soup. I began a new love affair with both ginger tea (as I know I've mentioned) and pumpkin soup after this experience. Seeing both on every menu combined with my somewhat under-the-weather state meant that I became perhaps Luang Prabang's foremost ginger tea and pumpkin soup connoisseur. It was kind of amazing, actually, how different both managed to taste at each place. That is, the ginger tea was always ginger-y and the pumpkin soup always orange and pumpkin flavored, but a definite case of "Same Same, but Different" was at work. Sometimes there was much more curry, sometimes, very coco nutty. At TumTum (where we went back a second time) the soup came FULL of vegetables, as well as some curious "indedibles." That is, Laura and I decided after some unsavory experiences, that not everything that came in the soup was meant to be consumed (ie huge stalks of lemongrass and huge hunks of ginger). I was also lucky enough to be taken out to a dinner of traditional Laotian food at a tasty little restaurant by Hilda and Rebecca that featured dipping little balls of sticky rice that you rolled in your hands into various dips and making little lettuce wraps.
Indonesia:
Same Same, but Different (yet another case in which this ingenious phrase perfectly encompasses the situation)
Makanan (as it's called here, makan being "to eat" and "makanan" food...didn't know you were going to get Indonesian 101, did you?) is generally based around nasi (rice). shock of the century. My favorite is when I get asked if I've ever eaten rice before, as if it's some exotic dish in the US just because we don't eat it for 3 meals a day... Anywho, so far the food is fine, though I'm not blown away. There is once more a lack of curries, though the predominating cooking style of goreng (fried) so popular elsewhere in SE Asia is no less popular here. I had a very good salad thing today called gado-gado, but the jury is out until I learn enough words to actually know what I'm ordering on a menu...
A final thought:
No one uses chopsticks here. Oddly enough, I find myself missing chopsticks. I got so used to using them the past month that I now find it bizarre to be expected to use a fork and spoon (knives as a table cutlery item do not appear to exist in SE Asia) when eating rice or fried noodles. So much for my cultivation of super awesome chopstick skills.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Selemat malam (good evening)
Big news: my blog title is now officially accurate. I am Elizabeth in Indonesia. hurray.
To backtrack: Laura left me. Sad times. Luang Prabang was a lovely place to hang out and recover from my cold however. I also definitely reaped the benefits of my long search for a good guest house as I was rewarded by not only a lovely room, but lovely owners with great advice and wonderful guests to meet over breakfast and then invite myself along. The breakfast there was truly spectacular, Peter, the man who ran the guesthouse was also apparently a chef and he made omelets to die for, as well as homemade jams, homemade yogurt, homemade granola and provided fresh fruit and freshly bought baguette. It was an all-you-can east feast every morning, and let me tell you, I ate a lot. I also got to meet Hilda and Rebecca two older women traveling together, and Hilda was one of the most interesting characters I've encountered thus far. She and her husband bought an apartment in Chiang Mai (Thailand) 20 years ago as they were traveling the world and living on a boat and homeschooling their children. She now lives primarily in Vancouver but also spends much of her time in Chiang Mai and had (unsurprisingly) brilliant travel advice. Hilda was nice enough to invite me out to dinner with them and thus I was saved a second night of eating alone, and instead got treated to a delicious meal. Talk about luck.
My good karma continued and the next morning (my last morning in LP)I met a german girl Carolin at breakfast who was planning to bicycle out to the big waterfall that I had been planning to go to (about 25 km away), so invited myself along and we had a blast. The bike ride was hot, but beautiful and the falls were absolutely stunning with a number of pools to swim in (one with a ropeswing!) We left a bit late on our way home and were still about 5 km from town when dusk really set in, luckily we were rescued by a passing tuk-tuk with some nice french people inside that invited to hop a ride.
Finally, it was time for Hurry up and Wait. Or Patience is a Virtue. Because of how things had worked out, I had 3 flights 3 days in a row Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. This meant that I spent three days getting up early, going to the airport, going through immigration, security, waiting in lines, and then getting from the airport to my destination. This was essentially an all-day affair in some cases.
Thursday was thanksgiving and I spent it alone in Bangkok which was a bit depressing, but I managed to get some errands run after my flight, and squeezed in a last massage. After wandering around for 45 minutes trying to find an elusive internet cafe my patience was rewarded and there it was, down a back alley next to a strip joint. Oh Bangkok. Talking to my entire extended family was a bit overwhelming, but great. Hurray for technology.
Friday was the real lesson in waiting. I got up early and went out to catch the airport bus which runs apparently around every half an hour. I waited an hour and no bus came. Finally I admitted defeat and realized I needed a cab, but did not have enough money for one as I had left myself only enough for the bus and breakfast in my zealous attempt to not have baht left over. Fortunately some nice guy in my hostel saw my plight and took pity, offering my both the few extra baht I needed to have enough, as well as some more to buy my tattered Lonely Planet Guide. Thank you random guy, wherever you may be (never got his name in my rush), and thank goodness there are good people still. After a flight delay, being searched at security/customs going OUT of the airport and waiting over an hour for the bus from the airport to the city, I ended up not arrive at my hostel until 5, thwarting my plans of sight-seeing. On the bright side, met some nice backpackers chilling in front of the hostel, having some beers and ended up having dinner with them and then going out to drinks with a big group. Unfortunately we didn't know where we were going and ended up in a swanky area and ended up paying $15/beer!! Laughable really. However I'm glad that I got to spend my last night as a bona fide backpacker hanging out instead of sitting in my windowless dorm room alone.
My final flight, today, from Singapore to Yogya was fine. I would say the highlight was meeting a really nice guy in the airport (white people tend to spontaneously strike up conversations when they're the only ones in the crowd I've noticed) who turned out to be some sort of christian youth missionary. I was then introduced to his coworkers, a Singaporian (?) blind preacher and the woman who worked with him/led were him around. They were all incredibly nice, however things got a bit awkward when, upon meeting up with them after getting off the plane and waiting in line for immigration together they asked me if I "was a believer". When I told them I was Jewish the woman could not hide her shock. Apparently I'm the second "Jewish" that she had ever met, and the first one was, I gathered, not actually Jewish, but raised in a Jewish family or something. I got asked all kinds of questions as to which side of my family was Jewish, whether or not I ever read the Bible and what I thought of it, etc. As an aside, it's apparently it's pretty common in Indonesia to ask about one's religion and my host family recommends that I pretend to be Christian (due to Muslin/Jewish antagonism). Great.
In other news, Yogya so far has been good, though I haven't actually seen much of the city. Emma (the woman who runs my language school) picked me up from the airport and I am now settled in a room of my own with A/C and probably best mattress I've encountered in SouthEast Asia. The house is a huge rambling structure, with the line between inside and outside much less defined than in a western house. There are mini gardens everywhere open to the heavens, as well as a few waterfall ponds and Koi in the kitchen. The family is extremely nice and I feel lucky (thanks Tim if you ever read this!). I have already started to learn some Bahasa Indonesia, though my class doesn't start until Monday.
Stay tuned, maybe tomorrow I'll venture out of the house...
Big news: my blog title is now officially accurate. I am Elizabeth in Indonesia. hurray.
To backtrack: Laura left me. Sad times. Luang Prabang was a lovely place to hang out and recover from my cold however. I also definitely reaped the benefits of my long search for a good guest house as I was rewarded by not only a lovely room, but lovely owners with great advice and wonderful guests to meet over breakfast and then invite myself along. The breakfast there was truly spectacular, Peter, the man who ran the guesthouse was also apparently a chef and he made omelets to die for, as well as homemade jams, homemade yogurt, homemade granola and provided fresh fruit and freshly bought baguette. It was an all-you-can east feast every morning, and let me tell you, I ate a lot. I also got to meet Hilda and Rebecca two older women traveling together, and Hilda was one of the most interesting characters I've encountered thus far. She and her husband bought an apartment in Chiang Mai (Thailand) 20 years ago as they were traveling the world and living on a boat and homeschooling their children. She now lives primarily in Vancouver but also spends much of her time in Chiang Mai and had (unsurprisingly) brilliant travel advice. Hilda was nice enough to invite me out to dinner with them and thus I was saved a second night of eating alone, and instead got treated to a delicious meal. Talk about luck.
My good karma continued and the next morning (my last morning in LP)I met a german girl Carolin at breakfast who was planning to bicycle out to the big waterfall that I had been planning to go to (about 25 km away), so invited myself along and we had a blast. The bike ride was hot, but beautiful and the falls were absolutely stunning with a number of pools to swim in (one with a ropeswing!) We left a bit late on our way home and were still about 5 km from town when dusk really set in, luckily we were rescued by a passing tuk-tuk with some nice french people inside that invited to hop a ride.
Finally, it was time for Hurry up and Wait. Or Patience is a Virtue. Because of how things had worked out, I had 3 flights 3 days in a row Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. This meant that I spent three days getting up early, going to the airport, going through immigration, security, waiting in lines, and then getting from the airport to my destination. This was essentially an all-day affair in some cases.
Thursday was thanksgiving and I spent it alone in Bangkok which was a bit depressing, but I managed to get some errands run after my flight, and squeezed in a last massage. After wandering around for 45 minutes trying to find an elusive internet cafe my patience was rewarded and there it was, down a back alley next to a strip joint. Oh Bangkok. Talking to my entire extended family was a bit overwhelming, but great. Hurray for technology.
Friday was the real lesson in waiting. I got up early and went out to catch the airport bus which runs apparently around every half an hour. I waited an hour and no bus came. Finally I admitted defeat and realized I needed a cab, but did not have enough money for one as I had left myself only enough for the bus and breakfast in my zealous attempt to not have baht left over. Fortunately some nice guy in my hostel saw my plight and took pity, offering my both the few extra baht I needed to have enough, as well as some more to buy my tattered Lonely Planet Guide. Thank you random guy, wherever you may be (never got his name in my rush), and thank goodness there are good people still. After a flight delay, being searched at security/customs going OUT of the airport and waiting over an hour for the bus from the airport to the city, I ended up not arrive at my hostel until 5, thwarting my plans of sight-seeing. On the bright side, met some nice backpackers chilling in front of the hostel, having some beers and ended up having dinner with them and then going out to drinks with a big group. Unfortunately we didn't know where we were going and ended up in a swanky area and ended up paying $15/beer!! Laughable really. However I'm glad that I got to spend my last night as a bona fide backpacker hanging out instead of sitting in my windowless dorm room alone.
My final flight, today, from Singapore to Yogya was fine. I would say the highlight was meeting a really nice guy in the airport (white people tend to spontaneously strike up conversations when they're the only ones in the crowd I've noticed) who turned out to be some sort of christian youth missionary. I was then introduced to his coworkers, a Singaporian (?) blind preacher and the woman who worked with him/led were him around. They were all incredibly nice, however things got a bit awkward when, upon meeting up with them after getting off the plane and waiting in line for immigration together they asked me if I "was a believer". When I told them I was Jewish the woman could not hide her shock. Apparently I'm the second "Jewish" that she had ever met, and the first one was, I gathered, not actually Jewish, but raised in a Jewish family or something. I got asked all kinds of questions as to which side of my family was Jewish, whether or not I ever read the Bible and what I thought of it, etc. As an aside, it's apparently it's pretty common in Indonesia to ask about one's religion and my host family recommends that I pretend to be Christian (due to Muslin/Jewish antagonism). Great.
In other news, Yogya so far has been good, though I haven't actually seen much of the city. Emma (the woman who runs my language school) picked me up from the airport and I am now settled in a room of my own with A/C and probably best mattress I've encountered in SouthEast Asia. The house is a huge rambling structure, with the line between inside and outside much less defined than in a western house. There are mini gardens everywhere open to the heavens, as well as a few waterfall ponds and Koi in the kitchen. The family is extremely nice and I feel lucky (thanks Tim if you ever read this!). I have already started to learn some Bahasa Indonesia, though my class doesn't start until Monday.
Stay tuned, maybe tomorrow I'll venture out of the house...
Monday, November 23, 2009
A Happy Ending
Today marks the end of an era. The LG and I traveling together era, to be exact.
We finished off our time together fittingly with a massage. It was our first since a rather scarring experience in Cambodia, and much improved thank goodness (though without of course, a happy ending).
The sun started shining for the first time in over a week, but our goodbye was sad, and I nearly broke down once her tuktuk pulled away as the enormity of being left alone on this alien continent washed over me. I pulled myself together, thought about all the strong, independent female travelers we'd met, and focused on the task at hand: finding new housing.
The last few days in Luang Prabang have been relaxing, and the future seems to provide more of the same for me. I had originally intended to leave when Laura did and take a bus to Veng Vieng (6 hours), spend a day there, followed by a bus to Vientiane Wednesday morning (4 hours), pick up at 3:30 to go to the Thai border, and then a 12 hour train ride to Bangkok (from where I catch a plane of friday morning to Singapore, followed by one on Saturday to Yogyakarta). So much travel in such short time sounded vaguely unpleasant, even to a whirlwind traveler such as yours truly. Furthermore, the main attraction in Veng Vieng appears to be tubing down the river and drinking beer, which I think I can give a miss. Thus, with some maternal convincing from Laura, I shelled out the extra bucks for a plane ticket, and am now resting in peaceful LP until Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, a hazard of traveling alone in a place that is dominated by guesthouses means paying full price for a room. Thus suddenly, in order to afford to the $25 a night room we were in, I would have to pay $25, instead of $12.50. A shame that. I was hoping to find a backpackers of sorts, someplace cheap, clean and more social, but they don't appear to exist here. Instead, I undertook a temporary job as a Let's Go travel writer and spent two hours trolling the town asking the price of a room in every reasonable looking guesthouse I came across. The unfortunate truth of the mantra "you get what you pay for" became painfully clear to me in no time. Accustomed as I am to a certain level of niceness that is affordable when traveling in a pair, it was a bit of a nasty shock to view some of the rock bottom items. Of the dozen or so rooms that I looked at, all seemed to either smell strongly of must/mold, or strong industrial cleaning smell. Furthermore, they were universally dark and drab and generally depressing. I just couldn't do it. Finally, I found a place on the far side of town where for 70000 kip (around $8) I could get a nice little room (no smell, good light!) with a shared bathroom. Considering the fact that all the other rooms I had looked at were en-suite bathrooms, some with TVs, for 60000, this is a testament to the importance of smell on general well-being.
We finished off our time together fittingly with a massage. It was our first since a rather scarring experience in Cambodia, and much improved thank goodness (though without of course, a happy ending).
The sun started shining for the first time in over a week, but our goodbye was sad, and I nearly broke down once her tuktuk pulled away as the enormity of being left alone on this alien continent washed over me. I pulled myself together, thought about all the strong, independent female travelers we'd met, and focused on the task at hand: finding new housing.
The last few days in Luang Prabang have been relaxing, and the future seems to provide more of the same for me. I had originally intended to leave when Laura did and take a bus to Veng Vieng (6 hours), spend a day there, followed by a bus to Vientiane Wednesday morning (4 hours), pick up at 3:30 to go to the Thai border, and then a 12 hour train ride to Bangkok (from where I catch a plane of friday morning to Singapore, followed by one on Saturday to Yogyakarta). So much travel in such short time sounded vaguely unpleasant, even to a whirlwind traveler such as yours truly. Furthermore, the main attraction in Veng Vieng appears to be tubing down the river and drinking beer, which I think I can give a miss. Thus, with some maternal convincing from Laura, I shelled out the extra bucks for a plane ticket, and am now resting in peaceful LP until Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, a hazard of traveling alone in a place that is dominated by guesthouses means paying full price for a room. Thus suddenly, in order to afford to the $25 a night room we were in, I would have to pay $25, instead of $12.50. A shame that. I was hoping to find a backpackers of sorts, someplace cheap, clean and more social, but they don't appear to exist here. Instead, I undertook a temporary job as a Let's Go travel writer and spent two hours trolling the town asking the price of a room in every reasonable looking guesthouse I came across. The unfortunate truth of the mantra "you get what you pay for" became painfully clear to me in no time. Accustomed as I am to a certain level of niceness that is affordable when traveling in a pair, it was a bit of a nasty shock to view some of the rock bottom items. Of the dozen or so rooms that I looked at, all seemed to either smell strongly of must/mold, or strong industrial cleaning smell. Furthermore, they were universally dark and drab and generally depressing. I just couldn't do it. Finally, I found a place on the far side of town where for 70000 kip (around $8) I could get a nice little room (no smell, good light!) with a shared bathroom. Considering the fact that all the other rooms I had looked at were en-suite bathrooms, some with TVs, for 60000, this is a testament to the importance of smell on general well-being.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Sound of Silence
More identity crisis (see comment on post below), but I didn't really like that name anyway. Though I'm not yet in Indonesia, I've decided to try and keep things simple, hopefully no one owns a trademark on this one!
In any case, we are loving Laos. Arriving in Luang Prabang yesterday after our very cold and wet three days in Sapa was such a relief. Driving in from the airport we both had the sudden realization that something was different; the lack of the constant cacaphony of horns beeping was suddenly incredibly present. Instead, the traffic followed a gentle flow in a relaxing fashion. Crossing the street is a piece of cake.
Although we're both a bit under the weather (no doubt from our prolonged stay in the cold), we've been healing ourselves with a combination of ginger tea (see below), delicious food, and a good nights sleep. We spent yesterday wandering around the adorable town which is nestled against the Mekong river and full of equal parts boutique hotels, boutiques, and adorable cafes (including roadside creperies!). After looking in vain for attractive (i.e. not tacky) scarves and other items in Vietnam, we have found a shoppers heaven. The hand woven silk here is simply stunning. Unfortunately, the price of these items is in correspondence with their improved quality.
Despite our dubious health, today was by far the most active day of our trip. We signed up yesterday at a nice looking little tour operator for a full day biking and kayaking trip to a waterfall. This trip, unlike some of the others we have undergone, was a perfect example of when it's nice to be on an organized tour. It was just the two of us with an Italian honeymooning couple and a guide. We were able to completely set the pace, and the combination of biking and kayaking allowed us to both get exercise and see places that we wouldn't have otherwise seen. The waterfall was beautiful, though unfortunately its a bit too chilly here to swim (though we ended up practically doing just that going through the rapids later anyway)
More on Ginger tea:
We're not quite sure how they make it (and I've been looking online for a good recipe), and it differs from place to place, but often we order a pot and it seems to just be a bunch of hunks of ginger root in a tea pot with boiling water poured over left to steep. Sugar is served on the side. Try it! (and let me know how it goes)
In any case, we are loving Laos. Arriving in Luang Prabang yesterday after our very cold and wet three days in Sapa was such a relief. Driving in from the airport we both had the sudden realization that something was different; the lack of the constant cacaphony of horns beeping was suddenly incredibly present. Instead, the traffic followed a gentle flow in a relaxing fashion. Crossing the street is a piece of cake.
Although we're both a bit under the weather (no doubt from our prolonged stay in the cold), we've been healing ourselves with a combination of ginger tea (see below), delicious food, and a good nights sleep. We spent yesterday wandering around the adorable town which is nestled against the Mekong river and full of equal parts boutique hotels, boutiques, and adorable cafes (including roadside creperies!). After looking in vain for attractive (i.e. not tacky) scarves and other items in Vietnam, we have found a shoppers heaven. The hand woven silk here is simply stunning. Unfortunately, the price of these items is in correspondence with their improved quality.
Despite our dubious health, today was by far the most active day of our trip. We signed up yesterday at a nice looking little tour operator for a full day biking and kayaking trip to a waterfall. This trip, unlike some of the others we have undergone, was a perfect example of when it's nice to be on an organized tour. It was just the two of us with an Italian honeymooning couple and a guide. We were able to completely set the pace, and the combination of biking and kayaking allowed us to both get exercise and see places that we wouldn't have otherwise seen. The waterfall was beautiful, though unfortunately its a bit too chilly here to swim (though we ended up practically doing just that going through the rapids later anyway)
More on Ginger tea:
We're not quite sure how they make it (and I've been looking online for a good recipe), and it differs from place to place, but often we order a pot and it seems to just be a bunch of hunks of ginger root in a tea pot with boiling water poured over left to steep. Sugar is served on the side. Try it! (and let me know how it goes)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Trials and Tribulations in Sapa
Sapa, the aforementioned mountain town that was cold and rainy when we arrived, remained, you guessed it, cold and rainy. In fact, the weather actually just slowly devolved from bad to worse over the course of our three days there. Despite these less than ideal circumstances, we still managed to have fun, mostly due to our great tour guide and good group of people.
The cast of characters on our 2 day trek included a 2 dutch guys, one 25 and one middle aged, 2 young aussies from tazmania, and a crazy finnish man. never quite figured him out. we walked down the muddy slopes and rice paddies from Sapa to a minority village of Black H'mong for lunch, and then continued on battling rain till we arrived at our "homestay" at about 2:30. I put homestay in quotations because the popularity of this area has created a new economy of homestays for trekkers in which familes house many people (in our case 14, two groups of 7) and cook them dinner etc. Our homestay also featured a pool table outside as well as karoake capability, but alas, no heat.
We whiled away our time and eventually made it to dinner. Post-dinner we had a few hours to try and keep warm and entertained before going to bed. Laura and I, natural entertainers that we are, taught everyone (well everyone young) Celebrity, which was played with great gusto until about 10 when bedtime was declared. The most memorable part was the crazy finish man calling out "karoake, we want karaoke" at random intervals after everyone was in bed and the lights were out. bizarre.
We increased our warmth by sharing a bed and pooling our blankets, but others did not fare quite as well. After a breakfast of banana pancakes we opted for the easy way home (less mud) and walked through what I'm sure were some beautiful views.
Now we are happily ensconced in Laos. hurray
The cast of characters on our 2 day trek included a 2 dutch guys, one 25 and one middle aged, 2 young aussies from tazmania, and a crazy finnish man. never quite figured him out. we walked down the muddy slopes and rice paddies from Sapa to a minority village of Black H'mong for lunch, and then continued on battling rain till we arrived at our "homestay" at about 2:30. I put homestay in quotations because the popularity of this area has created a new economy of homestays for trekkers in which familes house many people (in our case 14, two groups of 7) and cook them dinner etc. Our homestay also featured a pool table outside as well as karoake capability, but alas, no heat.
We whiled away our time and eventually made it to dinner. Post-dinner we had a few hours to try and keep warm and entertained before going to bed. Laura and I, natural entertainers that we are, taught everyone (well everyone young) Celebrity, which was played with great gusto until about 10 when bedtime was declared. The most memorable part was the crazy finish man calling out "karoake, we want karaoke" at random intervals after everyone was in bed and the lights were out. bizarre.
We increased our warmth by sharing a bed and pooling our blankets, but others did not fare quite as well. After a breakfast of banana pancakes we opted for the easy way home (less mud) and walked through what I'm sure were some beautiful views.
Now we are happily ensconced in Laos. hurray
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
rambling thoughts on vietnam
Apologies in advance for the rambling disjointed nature of this post, it's a collection of thoughts I've had at various times and have put together in a piecemeal fashion, whenever I've had a minute to sit down.
some culturally insensitive thoughts:
sometimes, when faced with a different culture, you realize unexpectedly how many things about your own you appreciate that you had never thought about before. Sometimes, we miss America and how courteous everyone is with comparison to here. On our plane flight from HCMC to HaNoi there was a girl in the opposite row playing Vietnamese music (which to my ear, all sounds sort of like a whiny ballad of sorts) LOUDLY from her phone. Had she never heard of headphones?
on personal space: it doesn't exist here. Or doesn't seem to anyway. Often when walking through markets girls will grab your hand and try to pull you into their stall. I'm not sure where they got this sales tactic from because nothing makes me run faster in the opposite direction.
English translations here are often hilarious, a few from 'nam:
"welcome to the blosphere"
"coffee with milf"
"fried rice with chicken ass"
also hilarious was this vietnamese american woman on our Halong bay tour. At one point I asked her to take a picture of Laura and I and she said, "ok anybody dead? say CPR!" I'm not kidding.
on organized tours:
wow. I was skeptical going into it, and now I remember why. I'm a snob, and I think I'm ok with that. Having your entire schedule planned, including all your meals, is not my cup of tea, especially when the food is bad and some of the activities consist of "trekking" 2.5 km through a little forest trail with all of the other tourists on the island that day. Laura and I comforted ourselves with exchanging knowing glances and saying "zen" to remind ourselves to just relax and let it be. Luckily there were some hilarious people in our group, so that made up for other things.
more on Halong bay:
The bay was beautiful, but also unfortunately cold and rainy. Because the weather was definitely LTI (less than ideal), I was glad that we had booked the tour in the end (even if the food was bad) because we wouldn't have had much to do on Cat Ba by ourselves as all the activities are outdoors based, and the tour gave us at least a solid basis of people to hang out with. We spent the first night on the boat which was fun, and involved a prolonged bout of Karaoke. We also did various and sundry activities despite the weather, that would have been much more fun on a nice sunny day when one could enjoy the lovely beaches and see the karsts better. Some highlights included going kayaking and finding these guys that had somehow, on their 30 minute kayak, managed to SINK their boat in the bay and were swimming back. We attempted to tow one of them back, but he was heavier than expected.
We are currently in Sapa, a town in the Northwest of Vietnam, almost in China. In order to get here we took a sleeper train monday night (my first ever), which got into a nearby town at 6, after which we had an hour busride up a winding mountain. Sapa is absolutely beautiful, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by terraced rice paddies and minority villages, unfortunately it was pouring when we got here, and although the rain soon cleared up, the temperatures are quite chilly. Also unfortunate is the fact that nothing is heated. Poor Laura nearly became hypotherimic yesterday afternoon after sitting at a freezing cold lunch and then walking around window-shopping for a bit. we're about to head out on a 2 day trek with a homestay in a village which is why I'm rushing to post this cluttered and unintelligible collection of thoughts
More on toilets:
on our sleeper train, we had the luck (or the money) to be in the soft-sleeper 2nd class berths (or something like that) which had the added benefit of "wester toilets." The hilarious thing about this was that "wester toilet" actually meant a porcelin western toilet stuck in the bathroom of our bouncy train. I don't know if you've ever thought about why the toilets on airplanes and buses etc. are not normally this kind, but apparently the person who designed this train hadn't. Unfortunately, there is a very good reason. Soon after the train left the bathroom was COVERED in abnout 2 inches of water that had sloshed out of the toilet bowl and tank.
Alright, we're about to head out, let's hope we don't freeze to death (what a quick change of weather events, huh?!!)
some culturally insensitive thoughts:
sometimes, when faced with a different culture, you realize unexpectedly how many things about your own you appreciate that you had never thought about before. Sometimes, we miss America and how courteous everyone is with comparison to here. On our plane flight from HCMC to HaNoi there was a girl in the opposite row playing Vietnamese music (which to my ear, all sounds sort of like a whiny ballad of sorts) LOUDLY from her phone. Had she never heard of headphones?
on personal space: it doesn't exist here. Or doesn't seem to anyway. Often when walking through markets girls will grab your hand and try to pull you into their stall. I'm not sure where they got this sales tactic from because nothing makes me run faster in the opposite direction.
English translations here are often hilarious, a few from 'nam:
"welcome to the blosphere"
"coffee with milf"
"fried rice with chicken ass"
also hilarious was this vietnamese american woman on our Halong bay tour. At one point I asked her to take a picture of Laura and I and she said, "ok anybody dead? say CPR!" I'm not kidding.
on organized tours:
wow. I was skeptical going into it, and now I remember why. I'm a snob, and I think I'm ok with that. Having your entire schedule planned, including all your meals, is not my cup of tea, especially when the food is bad and some of the activities consist of "trekking" 2.5 km through a little forest trail with all of the other tourists on the island that day. Laura and I comforted ourselves with exchanging knowing glances and saying "zen" to remind ourselves to just relax and let it be. Luckily there were some hilarious people in our group, so that made up for other things.
more on Halong bay:
The bay was beautiful, but also unfortunately cold and rainy. Because the weather was definitely LTI (less than ideal), I was glad that we had booked the tour in the end (even if the food was bad) because we wouldn't have had much to do on Cat Ba by ourselves as all the activities are outdoors based, and the tour gave us at least a solid basis of people to hang out with. We spent the first night on the boat which was fun, and involved a prolonged bout of Karaoke. We also did various and sundry activities despite the weather, that would have been much more fun on a nice sunny day when one could enjoy the lovely beaches and see the karsts better. Some highlights included going kayaking and finding these guys that had somehow, on their 30 minute kayak, managed to SINK their boat in the bay and were swimming back. We attempted to tow one of them back, but he was heavier than expected.
We are currently in Sapa, a town in the Northwest of Vietnam, almost in China. In order to get here we took a sleeper train monday night (my first ever), which got into a nearby town at 6, after which we had an hour busride up a winding mountain. Sapa is absolutely beautiful, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by terraced rice paddies and minority villages, unfortunately it was pouring when we got here, and although the rain soon cleared up, the temperatures are quite chilly. Also unfortunate is the fact that nothing is heated. Poor Laura nearly became hypotherimic yesterday afternoon after sitting at a freezing cold lunch and then walking around window-shopping for a bit. we're about to head out on a 2 day trek with a homestay in a village which is why I'm rushing to post this cluttered and unintelligible collection of thoughts
More on toilets:
on our sleeper train, we had the luck (or the money) to be in the soft-sleeper 2nd class berths (or something like that) which had the added benefit of "wester toilets." The hilarious thing about this was that "wester toilet" actually meant a porcelin western toilet stuck in the bathroom of our bouncy train. I don't know if you've ever thought about why the toilets on airplanes and buses etc. are not normally this kind, but apparently the person who designed this train hadn't. Unfortunately, there is a very good reason. Soon after the train left the bathroom was COVERED in abnout 2 inches of water that had sloshed out of the toilet bowl and tank.
Alright, we're about to head out, let's hope we don't freeze to death (what a quick change of weather events, huh?!!)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Hello Hanoi
Real quick from Hanoi because I'm not sure how much "interwebs time" I'm going to have in the next week or so:
Laura and I are in Hanoi which (thankfully) is both cooler literally and metaphorically than HCMC. There are TREES here, which is quite a welcome change. The traffic is still bad, but really doesn't have much on what we've seen. We spent the day wandering around the city with a girl we met from Pittsburgh named Emily (look we're social!). We went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, but apparently its closed on Fridays. Didn't want to see his embalmed body that much anyway...Other highlights included getting angrily whistled at when we tried to take pictures of the palace through the bars.
In other news, we're staying in a real backpackers hostel for the first time, which is kind of funny because its so "backpackery" (I'm not sure a real adjective exists to summarize this, but anyone who's been backpacking knows what I mean). We knew we were in the right spot when every other person had dreadlocks. Also, there's a movie room here with a HUGE plasma screen TV (also where free computers that I'm currently using are located), a pool room and a rooftop bar. It's kind of easy to forget where we are in this self-enclosed little world.
Tomorrow we think we're headed out to Ha Long Bay (google image this! it's beautiful) for a 3 day trip ending on Cat Ba Island. Then hopefully we'll come back to Hanoi the day after and be in Sapa (in the mountains of North Vietnam) on the 18 and 19 before flying to Laos on the morning of the 20th. Of course we have yet to book these tours...
thanks for the continued comments!
Laura and I are in Hanoi which (thankfully) is both cooler literally and metaphorically than HCMC. There are TREES here, which is quite a welcome change. The traffic is still bad, but really doesn't have much on what we've seen. We spent the day wandering around the city with a girl we met from Pittsburgh named Emily (look we're social!). We went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, but apparently its closed on Fridays. Didn't want to see his embalmed body that much anyway...Other highlights included getting angrily whistled at when we tried to take pictures of the palace through the bars.
In other news, we're staying in a real backpackers hostel for the first time, which is kind of funny because its so "backpackery" (I'm not sure a real adjective exists to summarize this, but anyone who's been backpacking knows what I mean). We knew we were in the right spot when every other person had dreadlocks. Also, there's a movie room here with a HUGE plasma screen TV (also where free computers that I'm currently using are located), a pool room and a rooftop bar. It's kind of easy to forget where we are in this self-enclosed little world.
Tomorrow we think we're headed out to Ha Long Bay (google image this! it's beautiful) for a 3 day trip ending on Cat Ba Island. Then hopefully we'll come back to Hanoi the day after and be in Sapa (in the mountains of North Vietnam) on the 18 and 19 before flying to Laos on the morning of the 20th. Of course we have yet to book these tours...
thanks for the continued comments!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
ice cream =heaven
Just wanted to let you know that we survived yet another day of HCMC traffic. It was a miracle. We also saw some pagodas and ate a lot of ice cream. It was delicious. That is all.
PS Mulan is playing on the TV behind me in the hostel... "I'll make a man out of you." hilarious
PS Mulan is playing on the TV behind me in the hostel... "I'll make a man out of you." hilarious
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
From Cambodia to Vietnam, and other random thoughts
Hi everyone! Thanks again for all the comments and support, especially in face of my blog's identity crisis...
Laura and I have had a few days of serious traveling and now find ourselves (somewhat) comfortably ensconced in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon for a few days. Talk about name identity crisis, this city definitely understands my plight. It's name has officially been Ho Chi Minh City since 1975, with the district containing the original french city (district 1) remaining "Saigon." But to confuse matters, most locals still call the whole city Saigon. In any case, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet I guess... but Saigon does not smell sweet. It smells like street vendors, Pho, and motorbikes. So many motorbikes! (Although I guess technically they contribute more to the sound than the smell).
I remember being shocked when I got to Amsterdam and saw how many bikes they had. This experience is the same all over, but with vespas. This is fine, if you're on one of the bikes. As a pedestrian, however, its a disaster. First of all, half of the sidewalks (the ones that haven't been turned into mini restaurants or other types of roadside stalls) seem to have become moto parking lots. Furthermore, the rules of traffic seem to only be very vague recommendations here and thus the flow of traffic is a constantly chaotic mix of everyone going at once and narrowly avoiding each other. Reaching our first intersection last night as Laura and I left the hostel in search of dinner was a pretty sad site. Here we were on one side of the street, and there was the other side, so close, and yet, so far. All that lay between us was 6 lanes of traffic (which means about 18 lane of bikes). We studied the situation for a few minutes, saw some other brave souls nonchalantly wander out into the traffic and finally decided to follow suit. I'm happy to report that so far so good.
To recap the last few days, on Saturday we got to Phnem Penh exhausted and hot and then had to find a new place to stay as our hostel had lost our reservation. This pretty much killed our afternoon, but luckily the boat to Chau Doc on Sunday didn't leave until 1 so we had Sunday morning to see the city a bit. We first tried to go to the national palace/museum, however I had not realized that there was a dress code and my sleeveless shirt was considered inappropriate. Cutting our losses we realized that neither of us cared that much anyway, and headed to our next stop Tuol Sleng, Pol Pot's secret prison and now a torture museum of the Khmer Rouge. The whole thing worked out well as we ended up spending much more time there than anticipated, and also both learned a great deal about the regime which we had been somewhat confused about before, despite reading up on it briefly. Such an incredibly tragic story. Since we didn't have enough time left after TS and before our boat to go to another tourist attraction, we decided to get ice cream to cool down (a rather frequent decision) and ended up at the Foreign Correspondents Club which is apparently a classic institution in PP, and I can see why. The club has a lovely piece of real estate n the third floor of a beautiful old building overlooking the river. The height means that there's consistently a nice breeze and beautiful view, and the club means that there are consistently expats and smoothie seekers such as ourselves. It's amazing the difference a good smoothie can make on a hot day.
The boat ride to Vietnam was uneventful, as was the border crossing. Finally we ended up in Chau Doc and after disembarking were shocked to realize that tuk tuk drivers do not exist everywhere in the region. In fact, instead of the accustomed brigade of drivers trying to sell you a ride as soon you get off a boat or bus, there was simply a lone cyclo driver (a cyclo is a little wagon either pulled or pushed by a person on a bicycle, the wagon being MUCH smaller than what we were accustomed to on our tuk tuks). While we protested that we wanted to stay together and that we could not both fit on one cyclo and started to walk, we soon realized how far we were from the center of town. The driver insisted he could take both of us, and our packs, so we gave in. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of what we must have looked like, both crammed onto this precarious perch, bags and all, weaving in and out of traffic. He took us to the wrong hostel, however it was very nice and for $13 we got a room with ac/hot water and balcony plus free breakfast, so we took it.
Monday morning we took advantage of our location in the Mekong delta and went, along with another backpacker whom we befriended, for a three-hour tour of floating villages etc. with the cutest/funniest Vietnamese woman. She also spoke no English whatsoever. It's amazing how much you can convey through pantomime. We went to a floating market, which is essentially a collection of moored houseboats full of commodities like pineapples and bananas. Next was a floating village in which the houses all actually float on the river. The ingenious part of this is that these people are all fish farmers. They keep nets under there houses and grow fish in them, feeding them through holes on the floor daily. Truly a brilliant system. Finally we went to a Cham minority village where the people and saw a woman hand weaving silk-scarves as well as the village mosque. Altogether a fascinating morning, despite the extreme heat.
We got back from our tour at around 10:30 and had until 1 before our bus picked us up to head to HCMC, so we decided to explore the town market and get some lunch (after recovering in the AC a bit). The markets here are all fascinating and full of so many sites and smells (some delicious, some less so) that we were a bit overwhelmed, and unfortunately no one speaks English, so many things are often a mystery. We gathered our courage and used our noses and for about $3 ended up with a big bag of lychees and clementines, a bunch of coconut pastries of some sort, a roll of sticky rice, bean paste, and what later turned out to be pig fat (blech) all wrapped in a banana leaf, roasted plantains, fried duck strips (delicious), and bananas wrapped in sticky rice and baked (SO good). This managed to be both our lunch and our afternoon snack, though by the time we got to HCMC we were both suffering a bit of indigestion from so many new and interesting items. The bus ride in general probably didn't hurt either. The huge number of motorbikes on the road actually makes traveling in a car somewhat difficult and the minibus was forced to speed up only to slow down numerous times, creating quite a jerky ride, set to the background tunes of some crooning Vietnamese singer or other. The other passengers were also all Vietnamese and no one spoke any English, meaning that we didn't really know what was going on most of the time, but the woman sitting next to me seemed to have our backs, and warned us that when the doors suddenly opened and people on the streets tried to sell things to those in the car, we should watch our bags. Needless to say, we were both quite thrilled to be done with that part of our "overland"-ing adventure.
Today we explored the city a bit on foot, though we nearly did ourselves in due to the heat. We first tried to go to the Reunification Palace, only to find that it's closed for the next couple of days. No matter, the War Remnants Museum was practically next store. This museum, which I believe was formerly called the war crimes museum or something, basically documented the Vietnam War from their perspective, or actually the War of American Aggression. Many of the photos were chilling, especially those showing the horrific birth defects due to Agent Orange spraying. Unfortunately the Museum closes between 12-1:30 (which we were unaware of) so we didn't see the whole thing, but enough to get a gist. The story they told was obviously very one-sided, but also interesting as it was a side which we had never heard. The whole ordeal seems to have been such a tragedy for all involved.
After being kicked out we spent the rest of the day wandering about to various sites and trying not to pass out. We sought shelter at the HCMC history museum, but it turned out that that was not a) air-con b) in posession of benches so we walked around rather quickly and that crashed at a cute little coffee shop where we ordered both a green tea ice cream to share and mocha frapuccinos. It was brilliance.
Some thoughts on Food and Toilets:
Food=AMAZING. everywhere. I haven't written about it much because I'm trying to get away from my reputation of always writing about/talking about food. But seriously, its all been SO GOOD. and so cheap! The Cambodian/Khmer food was especially delicious and cheap, especially the street food. They made this vegetable soup that Laura and I were both obsessed with, we're still not sure what the mystery ingredient was, though we suspect lemongrass. However Vietnamese has also been great so far, especially the vietnamese crepes that you wrap in lettuce that we had for lunch. We have yet to try true street food, though with so many stalls and little tables on the street, and so many positive experiences in Thailand and Cambodia, I think tomorrow we will take the leap.
Toilets=LTI (that's less than ideal, for those not in the know). The ones in the hostels we've stayed at have all been fine as we've had ensuite bathrooms, but an unfortunate aspect of being in the heat all day is guzzling water in order to stay hydrated. Unfortunately, public toilets do not seem to be a top priority here, and toilet paper is NEVER provided. Suffice it to say that every time I think I've been to a bathroom one that is the worst yet, there's another waiting to take its place. The current winner was somewhere on the bus trip from Chau Doc to HCMC in which we had to PAY to use a "bathroom" that was a hot, smelly, little tiled room with a DRAIN in the corner. I'm not kidding. There was also a bucket of water and a scoop. The others have mostly been squat toilets (also called turkish toilets) which are fine, however the rooms they're located in are often repulsive. We douse ourselves quite regularly with CVS hand sanitizer.
Along the same vein, I've been meaning to mention that since leaving Siem Reap, all of our showers are of a new design..or rather lack thereof. It seems that the standard model here is to create a bathroom with a sloped floor and a drain on one end. This way, a shower head can be stuck anywhere in the bathroom, and presto, you've got a shower! So what if it's over the toilet....
Laura and I have had a few days of serious traveling and now find ourselves (somewhat) comfortably ensconced in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon for a few days. Talk about name identity crisis, this city definitely understands my plight. It's name has officially been Ho Chi Minh City since 1975, with the district containing the original french city (district 1) remaining "Saigon." But to confuse matters, most locals still call the whole city Saigon. In any case, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet I guess... but Saigon does not smell sweet. It smells like street vendors, Pho, and motorbikes. So many motorbikes! (Although I guess technically they contribute more to the sound than the smell).
I remember being shocked when I got to Amsterdam and saw how many bikes they had. This experience is the same all over, but with vespas. This is fine, if you're on one of the bikes. As a pedestrian, however, its a disaster. First of all, half of the sidewalks (the ones that haven't been turned into mini restaurants or other types of roadside stalls) seem to have become moto parking lots. Furthermore, the rules of traffic seem to only be very vague recommendations here and thus the flow of traffic is a constantly chaotic mix of everyone going at once and narrowly avoiding each other. Reaching our first intersection last night as Laura and I left the hostel in search of dinner was a pretty sad site. Here we were on one side of the street, and there was the other side, so close, and yet, so far. All that lay between us was 6 lanes of traffic (which means about 18 lane of bikes). We studied the situation for a few minutes, saw some other brave souls nonchalantly wander out into the traffic and finally decided to follow suit. I'm happy to report that so far so good.
To recap the last few days, on Saturday we got to Phnem Penh exhausted and hot and then had to find a new place to stay as our hostel had lost our reservation. This pretty much killed our afternoon, but luckily the boat to Chau Doc on Sunday didn't leave until 1 so we had Sunday morning to see the city a bit. We first tried to go to the national palace/museum, however I had not realized that there was a dress code and my sleeveless shirt was considered inappropriate. Cutting our losses we realized that neither of us cared that much anyway, and headed to our next stop Tuol Sleng, Pol Pot's secret prison and now a torture museum of the Khmer Rouge. The whole thing worked out well as we ended up spending much more time there than anticipated, and also both learned a great deal about the regime which we had been somewhat confused about before, despite reading up on it briefly. Such an incredibly tragic story. Since we didn't have enough time left after TS and before our boat to go to another tourist attraction, we decided to get ice cream to cool down (a rather frequent decision) and ended up at the Foreign Correspondents Club which is apparently a classic institution in PP, and I can see why. The club has a lovely piece of real estate n the third floor of a beautiful old building overlooking the river. The height means that there's consistently a nice breeze and beautiful view, and the club means that there are consistently expats and smoothie seekers such as ourselves. It's amazing the difference a good smoothie can make on a hot day.
The boat ride to Vietnam was uneventful, as was the border crossing. Finally we ended up in Chau Doc and after disembarking were shocked to realize that tuk tuk drivers do not exist everywhere in the region. In fact, instead of the accustomed brigade of drivers trying to sell you a ride as soon you get off a boat or bus, there was simply a lone cyclo driver (a cyclo is a little wagon either pulled or pushed by a person on a bicycle, the wagon being MUCH smaller than what we were accustomed to on our tuk tuks). While we protested that we wanted to stay together and that we could not both fit on one cyclo and started to walk, we soon realized how far we were from the center of town. The driver insisted he could take both of us, and our packs, so we gave in. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of what we must have looked like, both crammed onto this precarious perch, bags and all, weaving in and out of traffic. He took us to the wrong hostel, however it was very nice and for $13 we got a room with ac/hot water and balcony plus free breakfast, so we took it.
Monday morning we took advantage of our location in the Mekong delta and went, along with another backpacker whom we befriended, for a three-hour tour of floating villages etc. with the cutest/funniest Vietnamese woman. She also spoke no English whatsoever. It's amazing how much you can convey through pantomime. We went to a floating market, which is essentially a collection of moored houseboats full of commodities like pineapples and bananas. Next was a floating village in which the houses all actually float on the river. The ingenious part of this is that these people are all fish farmers. They keep nets under there houses and grow fish in them, feeding them through holes on the floor daily. Truly a brilliant system. Finally we went to a Cham minority village where the people and saw a woman hand weaving silk-scarves as well as the village mosque. Altogether a fascinating morning, despite the extreme heat.
We got back from our tour at around 10:30 and had until 1 before our bus picked us up to head to HCMC, so we decided to explore the town market and get some lunch (after recovering in the AC a bit). The markets here are all fascinating and full of so many sites and smells (some delicious, some less so) that we were a bit overwhelmed, and unfortunately no one speaks English, so many things are often a mystery. We gathered our courage and used our noses and for about $3 ended up with a big bag of lychees and clementines, a bunch of coconut pastries of some sort, a roll of sticky rice, bean paste, and what later turned out to be pig fat (blech) all wrapped in a banana leaf, roasted plantains, fried duck strips (delicious), and bananas wrapped in sticky rice and baked (SO good). This managed to be both our lunch and our afternoon snack, though by the time we got to HCMC we were both suffering a bit of indigestion from so many new and interesting items. The bus ride in general probably didn't hurt either. The huge number of motorbikes on the road actually makes traveling in a car somewhat difficult and the minibus was forced to speed up only to slow down numerous times, creating quite a jerky ride, set to the background tunes of some crooning Vietnamese singer or other. The other passengers were also all Vietnamese and no one spoke any English, meaning that we didn't really know what was going on most of the time, but the woman sitting next to me seemed to have our backs, and warned us that when the doors suddenly opened and people on the streets tried to sell things to those in the car, we should watch our bags. Needless to say, we were both quite thrilled to be done with that part of our "overland"-ing adventure.
Today we explored the city a bit on foot, though we nearly did ourselves in due to the heat. We first tried to go to the Reunification Palace, only to find that it's closed for the next couple of days. No matter, the War Remnants Museum was practically next store. This museum, which I believe was formerly called the war crimes museum or something, basically documented the Vietnam War from their perspective, or actually the War of American Aggression. Many of the photos were chilling, especially those showing the horrific birth defects due to Agent Orange spraying. Unfortunately the Museum closes between 12-1:30 (which we were unaware of) so we didn't see the whole thing, but enough to get a gist. The story they told was obviously very one-sided, but also interesting as it was a side which we had never heard. The whole ordeal seems to have been such a tragedy for all involved.
After being kicked out we spent the rest of the day wandering about to various sites and trying not to pass out. We sought shelter at the HCMC history museum, but it turned out that that was not a) air-con b) in posession of benches so we walked around rather quickly and that crashed at a cute little coffee shop where we ordered both a green tea ice cream to share and mocha frapuccinos. It was brilliance.
Some thoughts on Food and Toilets:
Food=AMAZING. everywhere. I haven't written about it much because I'm trying to get away from my reputation of always writing about/talking about food. But seriously, its all been SO GOOD. and so cheap! The Cambodian/Khmer food was especially delicious and cheap, especially the street food. They made this vegetable soup that Laura and I were both obsessed with, we're still not sure what the mystery ingredient was, though we suspect lemongrass. However Vietnamese has also been great so far, especially the vietnamese crepes that you wrap in lettuce that we had for lunch. We have yet to try true street food, though with so many stalls and little tables on the street, and so many positive experiences in Thailand and Cambodia, I think tomorrow we will take the leap.
Toilets=LTI (that's less than ideal, for those not in the know). The ones in the hostels we've stayed at have all been fine as we've had ensuite bathrooms, but an unfortunate aspect of being in the heat all day is guzzling water in order to stay hydrated. Unfortunately, public toilets do not seem to be a top priority here, and toilet paper is NEVER provided. Suffice it to say that every time I think I've been to a bathroom one that is the worst yet, there's another waiting to take its place. The current winner was somewhere on the bus trip from Chau Doc to HCMC in which we had to PAY to use a "bathroom" that was a hot, smelly, little tiled room with a DRAIN in the corner. I'm not kidding. There was also a bucket of water and a scoop. The others have mostly been squat toilets (also called turkish toilets) which are fine, however the rooms they're located in are often repulsive. We douse ourselves quite regularly with CVS hand sanitizer.
Along the same vein, I've been meaning to mention that since leaving Siem Reap, all of our showers are of a new design..or rather lack thereof. It seems that the standard model here is to create a bathroom with a sloped floor and a drain on one end. This way, a shower head can be stuck anywhere in the bathroom, and presto, you've got a shower! So what if it's over the toilet....
Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Pajama Mystery, and other tales
As I sat on the bus early this morning awaiting our departure from Siem Reap to PP, we were bombarded with terrible covers of pop music and I began to think about the number of truly mysterious things we had encountered so far in Cambodia. Obviously, when traveling through other countries you expect large cultural differences and thus these are sometimes less confounding than the odd little things. Fried cockroaches and tarantulas for sale on the street? No problem. Terrible 80s soft-rock covers dubbed over equally terrible music videos in english? Laura and I were bursting into fits of giggles. For a little while we were alarmed thinking that the next 6 hours en route would be spent with such no so subtle background tunes, but luckily once we started rolling they put on Home Alone 2: Lost in NY. My favorite example of cross-cultural differences too however was the Pajama Mystery. An unfortunate aspect of these minor mysteries is that they are often things that would be awkward to ask about, and thus remain unsolved. The pajama mystery, however, was just what it sounds like, in that we saw people all over wearing pajamas. All day. Matching top and bottom prints were to be found on just about every corner on both children and adults. At first we thought they were isolated incidents, just some people running out to get something, but then realized that women were wearing them with heels and that people wore them all day. We chalked it up to some sort of fashion.
Other funny things include the ubiquitous use of "lady" as a term to call out to get a woman's attention to sell them a) a tuk-tuk ride b) a meal c) post-cards, scarves, cold drinks or other odds and ends at the stalls right outside all the temples or d)anything else you could possibly sell anyone. Unfortunately, and I don't mean this in a terrible way, the intonation with which this word is said (because of their accent?) results in what is possibly one of the MOST annoying sounding words to hear over and over. I wish there were a way to convey this sound, but its something like lay-DEEE with the second half of the word increasing in pitch with extreme upward inflection.
Our first day in Siem Reap/Angkor Wat was definitely the hardest in terms of general harassment, both because we were new at it and because we were at the most heavily touristed sites. We knew a bit of what to expect from previous research online/in the guide book and I was pleased to see much less begging (often from victims of the land-mines) than I had steeled myself for, but that didn't make it any easier. The hawking was just as prevalent as expected, especially at certain sites, and though less aggressive than it used to be apparently it was still very persistent. The stalls are easy enough to walk by, but the hardest thing is the kids. The parents use the kids (who are all ADORABLE) to sell postcards, bracelets and trinkets. As soon as you get out of your transportation of choice (in our case, the tuk-tuk) you are accosted by a few beautiful little smiling faces "Lady, lady, you buy bracelet? 5 for $1" and saying "No Thank You" does essentially nothing. They walk with you until you go through the gates and are there waiting for you when you come back out. What makes it hard is that, even if you do think you might want something, its often hard to determine whether or not you do because you know that as soon as you look potentially interested in something, you're a goner. Where the moral right lies here, I don't know. I do know that its very hard to say no to these kids all the time/ignore them, but that if you don't want to end up with a lot of things you don't want, it's necessary. It wears on your soul.
Despite these difficulties however, we had a great time at Angkor Wat and it's neighboring ruins. As I mentioned previously, we got up at 4:30 on Thursday to catch the sunrise over Angkor Wat, and I got to use my new camera for the first time which was pretty funny as we were surrounded by some pretty serious photographers who meant business while I sat trying to figure out which button did what. Oh well. We walked around Angkor Wat (in case you don't know, the largest religious structure in the world) until 8 am. It's amazing how long the morning is if you get up for the sunrise! After that we toured the Bayon and a number of other famous temples, all remnants of the Angkorian civilization general built in the 11th Century. They blur together a bit in my mind amidst a swirl of sun, heat, tuk-tuk rides between, and warding of the hawkers, but each was in it's own right fantastic.
Friday, as I alluded to, we spent of the day in our trusty tuk tuk riding about the country side as we went to 3 sites, 2 rather distant north and the 3rd off to the east. Bantay Srei, the first, was an old temple with some of the most beautiful carvings I've ever seen, while Kbal Spean is a river with beautiful carvings in the rocks about 1.5 km uphill, just above a waterfall. Incidentally this spot is nicknamed "the river of one thousand lingas" because of the number of "one thousand lingas" carvings present, which lookd like series of circles in boxes, but while viewing the site neither of us could remember what a linga was and were too embarrassed to ask. Later we looked it up later all it said was that it was a phallic symbol. Then we laughed. The rest of the afternoon was spent in our epic tuk tuk journey to Bang Malea and then pretending to be Indiana Jones.
Today, after our long bus-ride we showed up in the capital tired, hungry and hot, but due to a mishap with the hostel we were supposed to stay at we spent quite a bit of frustrating time spent riding about in the blistering heat asking about availability instead of sight seeing. All's well that ends well however, and we ended up at the Waterfront Guesthouse, a nice, simple (but clean) place right on the banks of the river. Nothing that a delicious early dinner and some ice cream couldn't fix. Tomorrow we'll see the city in the morning before leaving for Chau Doc, Vietnam in the afternoon via a boat down the Mekong River. We're hoping it floats.
Other funny things include the ubiquitous use of "lady" as a term to call out to get a woman's attention to sell them a) a tuk-tuk ride b) a meal c) post-cards, scarves, cold drinks or other odds and ends at the stalls right outside all the temples or d)anything else you could possibly sell anyone. Unfortunately, and I don't mean this in a terrible way, the intonation with which this word is said (because of their accent?) results in what is possibly one of the MOST annoying sounding words to hear over and over. I wish there were a way to convey this sound, but its something like lay-DEEE with the second half of the word increasing in pitch with extreme upward inflection.
Our first day in Siem Reap/Angkor Wat was definitely the hardest in terms of general harassment, both because we were new at it and because we were at the most heavily touristed sites. We knew a bit of what to expect from previous research online/in the guide book and I was pleased to see much less begging (often from victims of the land-mines) than I had steeled myself for, but that didn't make it any easier. The hawking was just as prevalent as expected, especially at certain sites, and though less aggressive than it used to be apparently it was still very persistent. The stalls are easy enough to walk by, but the hardest thing is the kids. The parents use the kids (who are all ADORABLE) to sell postcards, bracelets and trinkets. As soon as you get out of your transportation of choice (in our case, the tuk-tuk) you are accosted by a few beautiful little smiling faces "Lady, lady, you buy bracelet? 5 for $1" and saying "No Thank You" does essentially nothing. They walk with you until you go through the gates and are there waiting for you when you come back out. What makes it hard is that, even if you do think you might want something, its often hard to determine whether or not you do because you know that as soon as you look potentially interested in something, you're a goner. Where the moral right lies here, I don't know. I do know that its very hard to say no to these kids all the time/ignore them, but that if you don't want to end up with a lot of things you don't want, it's necessary. It wears on your soul.
Despite these difficulties however, we had a great time at Angkor Wat and it's neighboring ruins. As I mentioned previously, we got up at 4:30 on Thursday to catch the sunrise over Angkor Wat, and I got to use my new camera for the first time which was pretty funny as we were surrounded by some pretty serious photographers who meant business while I sat trying to figure out which button did what. Oh well. We walked around Angkor Wat (in case you don't know, the largest religious structure in the world) until 8 am. It's amazing how long the morning is if you get up for the sunrise! After that we toured the Bayon and a number of other famous temples, all remnants of the Angkorian civilization general built in the 11th Century. They blur together a bit in my mind amidst a swirl of sun, heat, tuk-tuk rides between, and warding of the hawkers, but each was in it's own right fantastic.
Friday, as I alluded to, we spent of the day in our trusty tuk tuk riding about the country side as we went to 3 sites, 2 rather distant north and the 3rd off to the east. Bantay Srei, the first, was an old temple with some of the most beautiful carvings I've ever seen, while Kbal Spean is a river with beautiful carvings in the rocks about 1.5 km uphill, just above a waterfall. Incidentally this spot is nicknamed "the river of one thousand lingas" because of the number of "one thousand lingas" carvings present, which lookd like series of circles in boxes, but while viewing the site neither of us could remember what a linga was and were too embarrassed to ask. Later we looked it up later all it said was that it was a phallic symbol. Then we laughed. The rest of the afternoon was spent in our epic tuk tuk journey to Bang Malea and then pretending to be Indiana Jones.
Today, after our long bus-ride we showed up in the capital tired, hungry and hot, but due to a mishap with the hostel we were supposed to stay at we spent quite a bit of frustrating time spent riding about in the blistering heat asking about availability instead of sight seeing. All's well that ends well however, and we ended up at the Waterfront Guesthouse, a nice, simple (but clean) place right on the banks of the river. Nothing that a delicious early dinner and some ice cream couldn't fix. Tomorrow we'll see the city in the morning before leaving for Chau Doc, Vietnam in the afternoon via a boat down the Mekong River. We're hoping it floats.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tuk tuk transport
As I sit typing on a sticky keyboard in a local internet cafe and try to think back on the last two days, the result is a complete blur. Talk about packing it in, Laura and I had only two days at Angkor Wat etc. and decided to do as much as humanely possible. The temples are amazing, however the sun and the crowds and the hawkers are exhausting. Yesterday we were both about ready to pass out by noon when we went back to our hostel for lunch and a swim (getting up at 4:30 probably didn't help). But the late afternoon was much cooler and more relaxing, as was today since we went to sites further away/somewhat less touristic. Bang Malea today was especially cool as it was still very overgrown with trees and vines, Indiana Jones style.
More to come, hopefully with pictures (if i can summon the courage to deal with putting them onto a computer and sorting through them!).
More to come, hopefully with pictures (if i can summon the courage to deal with putting them onto a computer and sorting through them!).
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The ABCs
First of all, thank you to everyone who has commented! makes me happy to know that I'm not just writing to myself. Secondly, I apologize in advance for typos etc in this post, I'm writing from a computer in our guesthouse in Siem Reap that has seen better days, and the screen is rather (hem) blurry.
A is for Ayutthaya. Laura and I spent yesterday touring Ayutthaya or the City of Gorgeousness, as the city's tourist brochure has labeled it. Ayutthaya was the ancient capital of Siam/Thailand and is about an hour and a half north of Bangkok, making it a nice day trip. The old city is mostly located on an island created by the confluence of three rivers and unlike the temples (wats) of Bangkok, is mostly ruins. There are tons of wats there, so many that it's impossible to really see them all/tell them apart from each other after a bit, but it's very cool.
The difference between seeing tmeples meticulously cared for and shined versus seeing ruins is interesting. The wat's of Ayutthaya were all in various states of returning to nature, with mostly only their brick underpinnings left. It was beautiful, and strangely peaceful. There's even a famous kodak spot, as it were. We were also lucky in that the day wasn't as hot as the previous two had been, though this was countered with the rain showers in the afternoon...we decided to cut our losses and head back to bangkok a bit earlier for foot massages.
B: Bedsupper. Despite overhwleming exhaution (I think I actually fell asleep from 8:30-9:30 in a food coma) we rallied to go out with Ed to the Bed Supper Club, a famous night club just down the street from us, and it turned out to be really fun, albeit bizarre. The club itself was pretty cool, named for the fact that it has these sort of giant long beds lining the walls of two stories of club, with a dancefloor in the middle. There are trays set out intermittently on this giant bed for drinks. Suprisingly they played almost exlusaively American music (and not from the 80s as seems to be favored in lots of other places). Also hilarious was the fact that everyone but Laura and I was in their nightclub finest...and not they're only sort-of clean backpacking finest. It was great.
And C is for Cambodia. Today we made the trek (via aeroplane) to Cambodia and are now settled into our new guesthouse, Le Tigre a Paper (very nice aside from the blurry computer), in Siem Reap. We were picked up from the airport by a ride arranged by our Le Tigre a Papier, which turned out to be a tuk tuk. Although this was a bit of a suprise, the ride was actually fantastic (up until the end when the road disintigrated into endless potholes) and we will be using the same mode of transport tomorrow when when we go Tomb Raiding Lara Craft style in Angkor Wat (read: wander around like the other 1 million tourists here and try to avoid hordes of begging children). We're hoping to catch the sunrise and beat some of the crowds, so we're leaving at 5. yikes.
A is for Ayutthaya. Laura and I spent yesterday touring Ayutthaya or the City of Gorgeousness, as the city's tourist brochure has labeled it. Ayutthaya was the ancient capital of Siam/Thailand and is about an hour and a half north of Bangkok, making it a nice day trip. The old city is mostly located on an island created by the confluence of three rivers and unlike the temples (wats) of Bangkok, is mostly ruins. There are tons of wats there, so many that it's impossible to really see them all/tell them apart from each other after a bit, but it's very cool.
The difference between seeing tmeples meticulously cared for and shined versus seeing ruins is interesting. The wat's of Ayutthaya were all in various states of returning to nature, with mostly only their brick underpinnings left. It was beautiful, and strangely peaceful. There's even a famous kodak spot, as it were. We were also lucky in that the day wasn't as hot as the previous two had been, though this was countered with the rain showers in the afternoon...we decided to cut our losses and head back to bangkok a bit earlier for foot massages.
B: Bedsupper. Despite overhwleming exhaution (I think I actually fell asleep from 8:30-9:30 in a food coma) we rallied to go out with Ed to the Bed Supper Club, a famous night club just down the street from us, and it turned out to be really fun, albeit bizarre. The club itself was pretty cool, named for the fact that it has these sort of giant long beds lining the walls of two stories of club, with a dancefloor in the middle. There are trays set out intermittently on this giant bed for drinks. Suprisingly they played almost exlusaively American music (and not from the 80s as seems to be favored in lots of other places). Also hilarious was the fact that everyone but Laura and I was in their nightclub finest...and not they're only sort-of clean backpacking finest. It was great.
And C is for Cambodia. Today we made the trek (via aeroplane) to Cambodia and are now settled into our new guesthouse, Le Tigre a Paper (very nice aside from the blurry computer), in Siem Reap. We were picked up from the airport by a ride arranged by our Le Tigre a Papier, which turned out to be a tuk tuk. Although this was a bit of a suprise, the ride was actually fantastic (up until the end when the road disintigrated into endless potholes) and we will be using the same mode of transport tomorrow when when we go Tomb Raiding Lara Craft style in Angkor Wat (read: wander around like the other 1 million tourists here and try to avoid hordes of begging children). We're hoping to catch the sunrise and beat some of the crowds, so we're leaving at 5. yikes.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Cabbages and Condoms
I write to you from the free internet in Captain Condom's Lounge which is located in the restaurant Laura and I just patronized for a delicious dinner. This place was started to help fund family planning in rural Thailand and has apparently been a huge success. The food is very good Thai and the ambiance is nice (twinkly lights in a garden), albeit touristy. The decor is also predominantly condom themed: condom lanterns, fake people dressed in clothing made of condoms etc.
In other news, Bangkok has been pretty great so far. I would describe it as a hot, delicious, sparkling cacophony. The weather is (predictably) quite warm, and Yesterday and part of today we did a very standard tourist route and saw the Grand Palace, Wat Pho (home of a giant reclining Buddha), and Wat Arun. It's amazing how much sparkle seems to be a predominant decoration scheme in wats. Everything is painted gold and decorated with glass and things to catch the light so that whole buildings glitter. It almost hurts the eyes to look at them in the bright sun sometimes. Unfortunately it's hard to entirely capture the moment on film: both the intense sparkle and sweltering heat. After seeing dozens of Buddha's I think we started to feel a little bit of premature "temple fatigue," but we're going to have to gear up soon because we have many more to go on this trip!
Last night we had a nice Thai dinner with Ed (Laura's sisters best from college), but the real highlight was the very hip rooftop bar post-dinner. The most excitement we had today was probably in trying our first street food (delicious, hopefully we don't get sick) and getting ripped off by some cabbie. We asked him to take us to Siam Paragon, a swanky mall in a very central location, and instead he decided to take us to a "BTS" (skytrain) station that was on the other side of town. In his defense, he kept saying "BTS" and so we eventually got that he wanted to just drop us at a stop and then have us take the skytrain (which stops at Siam), but did we need to go in a huge loop and end up at the stop at the end of the line? I don't think so....everytime we tried to ask or question though he seemed to have no idea what we were saying and just kept repeating "BTS, BTS." In the end, we paid twice as much as we had earlier for the same ride, and then had to take the train, but luckily the grand cost ended up being like 5 dollars. Most everything here is ridiculously cheap, which brings me to my final event.
Thai massage. Amazing. Amazingly cheap. Laura and I each had a massage this afternoon and it was revolutionary. For 300 baht (about 10 dollars) we each got an hour-long massage. It was also very interesting because in a traditional Thai massage they have you put on satin pajamas and then massage you with their elbows and feet (in addition to hands) in a very physical manner. but it's great. we have decided that the new theme to our trip is a tour de massages....
In other news, Bangkok has been pretty great so far. I would describe it as a hot, delicious, sparkling cacophony. The weather is (predictably) quite warm, and Yesterday and part of today we did a very standard tourist route and saw the Grand Palace, Wat Pho (home of a giant reclining Buddha), and Wat Arun. It's amazing how much sparkle seems to be a predominant decoration scheme in wats. Everything is painted gold and decorated with glass and things to catch the light so that whole buildings glitter. It almost hurts the eyes to look at them in the bright sun sometimes. Unfortunately it's hard to entirely capture the moment on film: both the intense sparkle and sweltering heat. After seeing dozens of Buddha's I think we started to feel a little bit of premature "temple fatigue," but we're going to have to gear up soon because we have many more to go on this trip!
Last night we had a nice Thai dinner with Ed (Laura's sisters best from college), but the real highlight was the very hip rooftop bar post-dinner. The most excitement we had today was probably in trying our first street food (delicious, hopefully we don't get sick) and getting ripped off by some cabbie. We asked him to take us to Siam Paragon, a swanky mall in a very central location, and instead he decided to take us to a "BTS" (skytrain) station that was on the other side of town. In his defense, he kept saying "BTS" and so we eventually got that he wanted to just drop us at a stop and then have us take the skytrain (which stops at Siam), but did we need to go in a huge loop and end up at the stop at the end of the line? I don't think so....everytime we tried to ask or question though he seemed to have no idea what we were saying and just kept repeating "BTS, BTS." In the end, we paid twice as much as we had earlier for the same ride, and then had to take the train, but luckily the grand cost ended up being like 5 dollars. Most everything here is ridiculously cheap, which brings me to my final event.
Thai massage. Amazing. Amazingly cheap. Laura and I each had a massage this afternoon and it was revolutionary. For 300 baht (about 10 dollars) we each got an hour-long massage. It was also very interesting because in a traditional Thai massage they have you put on satin pajamas and then massage you with their elbows and feet (in addition to hands) in a very physical manner. but it's great. we have decided that the new theme to our trip is a tour de massages....
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