Halong Bay

No matter where you are, someone will try to sell you something. Outside the window on the boat. We bought Pringles.

We ended our trip at one of the most recognizable places in Vietnam. It wasn't the best time to go, but we still had a good time. We also weren't prepared for the cold so we had to do some emergency shopping in Hanaoi for jackets and shoes that weren't flip flops. The bay is absolutely beautiful even with all the fog and clouds. We took little trips to a fishing village, pearl farm, kayaking was an option that we didn't take, climbed one of the small islands for a great view, and hiked up to a cave. Very glad we made the trek up to the north of Vietnam. Rarely do I want to go back to a country, but I would like to go back for a long weekend to Saigon and fly from there to Phu Quoc island since we missed that part. I have some friends going there next week so we'll have to see how that goes for them. It's great how everyone loves to travel and you can learn so much from everyone before you go to a place.

Hanoi

Hanoi was a pretty crazy city when it comes to traffic. We rode a cyclo which is a bicycle with a cart in the front. We ride in the cart and a man pedals us around. It's very reminiscent of colonial days.

View of the traffic. Craziness.

This is where Ho Chi Minh's body is. He was embalmed and stuffed. You can see the body on certain days, but the dress code is very strict and you can't take pictures. Apparently, it's like a holy site for Vietnamese and they adore him as the liberator of Vietnam from its colonial past. This family is taking a family picture in front of the mausoleum that contains his body.

Inside one of the temples. The offerings are just set out like this and even though there are so many people walking around, no one takes the money.

Dalat

View of the lake from the pagoda.

View from the 8 story pagoda

I feel like I should talk about the rest of Vietnam. We went up to a little mountain town for a few days. Of course the bus breaks down on the way there and ends up taking 8 hours to get there. I'm so over traveling by bus these days, but there was no airport in Mui Nei. The city has a very strong European influence as far as the architecture goes. Apparently, during the war both sides agreed not to bomb this town because both sides used it as a vacation spot for the generals. We took a cable car to a gorgeous pagoda overlooking a lake. There were monks living there and we watched them offer sacrifices and pray. Later we went to the 8 story pagoda and climbed the steps to the top for another amazing view. We had great weather on these days which made the scenery even more beautiful. I would recommend visiting Dalat if you had time to travel through the middle of Vietnam.

Man chasing his son who was not cooperating with the family picture in the Botanic Gardens. It was pretty funny until he caught his son and beat the crap out of im in front of all of us.

Dalat is known for its flowers. When we were at the airport, we saw lots of people taking flowers with them to Hanoi.

A church right by our hotel. Which was odd because I thought the Vietnamese govt really discouraged Christianity. I guess it's not as bad as it sounds, there were several churches in each city we visited.

Highlights (in pictures)

Highlights of southern Vietnam so far. Tomorrow we head toward the central part of the country then up to the north for the last week of our vacation.

Sand duuuunes

Last night we went out to the Sand dunes- yes, sand dunes in Southeast Asia- weirdness. It was almost like being back in the Sahara Desert. There are little kids out there who will sell you a ride on the sandboard. I talked to one kid awhile. They always make a face when you say you're American. He said he was 10 years old (looked to be about 6) and only went to school in the morning. Afterwards, we were headed out to the other dunes, but a flat tire complicated that plan. It's funny when you're stuck in a situation where you aren't able to articulate what the problem is. Owen kept going to each gas station and miming that we need a new tire and the response was always. "No gas." We ended up stashing the bike and going back to the harbour to watch the sunset. Again, spectacular.

Are you talking about the war in Vietnam?

Yeah, I'm talking about the war in viet-effing-nam! Lots of Forest Gump quotes to go around during the first few days in Vietnam. Facebook seems to be blocked all over the country, so I'll just have to put up on pics on here. We cross the border on the 30th which means we first had to get to the border. If you've never done a land crossing at a border, you really haven't lived. It's always sketchy- no matter where you are. We took a van through the jungle and had to basically dig the van out of the mud road a few times while taking a 'short cut'. Then we got out of the van, no instructions- just pay the driver and walk. First we crossed the Cambodian border then walk a few hundred feet to Vietnam. Again, no questions, no searches, just quiet stamping of the passports. Then we are about 20 km from our hotel so we hitch rides on the back of some guys' motocyles. The most amazing sunset I have ever seen in my life was behind us as we rode off on the rocky roads. The next day, we took a boat tour down the Mekong Delta which was pretty unbelievable and also went to a few War museums in Saigon. Obviously, they were pretty biased in their depiction of the war, but also very informative of how much damage the Americans caused especially with Agent Orange. We even saw a man/boy? not sure who had the effects of Agent Orange as his head was completely deformed. Really upsetting stuff. We made our way to Mui Nie and have been relaxing on the beach the past few days. On the 4th, we make our way up to a moutain town, Dalat, for a few days, then fly up to Hanoi and Halong Bay which I'm super excited to see. I can't believe it's Jan. 2nd and we still have 9 more days of vacation.

Highlights so far in Vietnam:
-sunset at the border
-watching the dragon dance on New Year's and when the dragon comes up to him, Dan drops his beer in fright
-stumbling upon a school field trip with the cutest kids in the world
-good food but AMAZING coffee- tastes like chocolate
-walking around with Matt, who is 6'10'' and having the locals laugh, point, and take pictures
- stumbling upon a big street festival in Saigon which featured food from around the world

-lazy days at the beach

Streets of Saigon were lit up for Christmas!

the day after Christmas.

I'm sitting on the balcony watching the sun set on the ocean while 2 Cambodian kids in the distance are pushing each other around in a makeshift scooter down a hill. The last few days have been a lazy blur as what usually occurs once I get to a beach town. Yesterday we drove around on motorbikes to different beaches. I had a manicure and pedicure for $5 while sitting on the beach drinking a beer. What a Christmas. The only productive thing we've done the last few days was go and get a Vietnam visa which took literally 5 minutes to complete a form at the embassy. We leave for Vietnam tomorrow- just a few hours away by car. Not quite sure what the plan is from there. Either take a boat to a small island or float down the Mekong Delta and stay with Vietnamese families. Either one sounds amazing. Then it's off to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for a few days and up the coast. We fly out of Hanoi on January 11th so there's still plenty of time for vacay. I've finished 2 books in the last few days and working on a 3rd. This book is about the Cambodian genocide during the Khemer Rouge. It's a tough read just because it's hard to believe that someone so young could go through such horrific events. It's a memoir of Loung whose family is separated when she is 5 years old. Very intense, but very good insight into what happened during the late 70s. It's so crazy to think that if I stopped someone over 30 years old, they would have lived through this violent time and still have strong memories of it. I'm reading the sequel- Lucky Child. She was the one picked to go to America and leaves behind siblings in Cambodia. She talks about how she adjusts to American life and tries to recover from what she endured. Highly recommend both.
This is a memoir by a guy who quit his job as an engineer in a cubicle to seek adventure. He starts out biking through Afghanistan and going down the Nile in Ethiopia and Sudan. My favorite chapter was about taking camels through the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia- apparently this is a whole other book and I can't wait to read that one. Owen loved this book. I liked some of the chapters, some weren't that interesting to me as I'm not really into kayaking and rafting.

Lots of beach time and poolside to read which I love.

Cambodia- Days 2-4

S-21
Monks at ceremony

The next day in Siem Reap we went to Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Hired a tuk-tuk for the day for a whopping $15. Good thing we had the driver because there's no way we could walk to each temple sight. There's the option of a 1 day, 3 day or 7 day pass. At first, I thought why would you need a 7 day pass? It became clear as the day ended and we hadn't even seen every temple. Angkor wat is the largest and most recognizable. Ta Prohm is the one that was in Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. We stumbled upon a buddist ceremony and watched as they chanted together and carried a flag to the top of the temple. Later we had a few cold Anchors (local beer) and walked to the top of a temple for the sunset. Exhausting but amazing day.


The next day I was once again awaken by 5 roosters crowing at 4am. Not a stellar start when it's a travel day. Took a minivan for $10 to Phenom Phen, a 5 hour journey, and met up with Matt- the 'littlest' brother who is 6'10''. He's an instant celebrity with the average height of a Cambodian man being 5'0''. Amazing hotel- Eureka Villas- definitely recommend it. We walked around the city and toured the Royal Palace for a shocking $6.25 entry fee. Later we had dinner on the Riverfront whilst being harrassed by the local kids to buy things from them. The kids are so street-smart with a quick wit and smartass comebacks. I ended up buying 2 lonely planet books and a memoir of the Khemer Rouge for a total of $14. There isn't a lot of bartering, but with prices as low as they are, can you blame them? Most meals have cost between $2 and $5 with pitchers of beer going for $2.75.

Day 4- History Lesson
We went to the S21 museum and the Killing Fields. Pretty intense stuff. For those of you unfamiliar with modern Cambodian history- there was a genocide that occured during the late 70s. The Khemer Rouge took over, got rid of the king, and then started killing every intellectual, foriegner, upperclass person they could find. The S-21 was a school that was made into a torture prison. They have left everything as it was- still blood on the walls. The Killing Fields is where they would take them to execute them and bury them. You know it's really effed up when there is a tree known as the 'baby-smashing' tree. Really intense and hard to comprehend. I bought the book, "First, they killed my father" which will shed light on what it was like growing up in that time period. What is crazy is that every person who we see on the streets who is older than 30 saw that regime firsthand. It's tempting to go ask someone about it, but at the same time you don't want to draw back terrible memories.

Cambodia- Day 1

At the market

Kids playing soccer in the street

a ride out of town

Seen everywhere!

I always have great intentions of blogging while travelling, but it just never happens. I'm going to try on this trip though. Flew into Siem Reap this morning at 8am. We walked around the city after breakfast. The people are really nice. Even the touts who constantly ask if you want to take a ride on their tuk-tuk, just want to say hi. One guy said he was glad we just said hi and didn't keep walking. Little kids stop playing by the road to s Little kids are playing on the side of the road, will stop and wave and shout HELLO! We also stumbled into a market. Later we went to the Angkor Wat museuem. Tomorrow is a big day at AngkorWat temples. I gotta go to lunch now and then off to a floating market before we meet up with Dan.

In one week....

I'll be in Cambodia!! This is what I look forward to:

The "planned" route is as follows. Fly into Siem Reap, then Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, cross the border somewhere, Ho Chi Minh City, along the coast up to Hanoi and Halong Bay and fly back to Singapore. Very excited about seeing a lot of temples and culture. What a much better way to spend the holidays rather than be in 5 different airports, suffering from jet lag, delayed flights, and fighting with TSA agents.

went for a hike.....

I'm about a 15 minute walk from Macritchie Park. It was built in 1868 and covers dozens of miles of rainforest. I like to see nature, but I really don't like to interact with nature. I would like to see a monkey, but I don't want that monkey jumping toward me. It makes me nervous to be really close to them, but they were everywhere! We walked up to the Treetop walk which is a suspension bridge that is literally at the top of the trees.

Across the bridge!

He's kinda scary.

Such a beautiful park. Amazing that it's so close. The entire hike took about 3 hours. Nothing is better than a nice swim with friends at the pool after that. Just like living in Egypt- er, wait no.

Speaking of adventures...

Here are the updated trips that I simply cannot wait for....

December-January- 3 1/2 weeks- Cambodia, Vietnam
February- week break- Krabi and Koh Phi Phi,Thailand
April- week break- Sri Lanka- renting a car to explore the country with friends!
May- long weekend- Hong Kong to see friends??
Summer....N.A. and Europe... details to be decided after Christmas....

Pictures to follow....

Life in the Tropics....

So what is it like living on the Equator? Well, predictable. Incredibly freakin' predictable. I know exactly what the weather will be like every day of the year. Right now it's the "Rainy Season". All that means is that it rains exactly at 4:00pm every day for 30-45 minutes. The sun rises exactly at 7:00 every morning of the year and sets at 7:00pm every night. No surprises. My wardrobe is the exact same all year. The weather fluctuates from lows of 76 to highs of 93. It's humid every day. Now you would think that this means the end of dry skin. Not even close. Because of the humidity, your skin and hair grows really fast. Therefore, you lose dead skin faster and have dry skin and hair. It's weird to use so much lotion and conditioner. Not that I can complain. Since living in the Sahara desert as well as a 3rd world country that had more chlorine in the tap water than the pool, my hair has improved sooo much! Really can't complains, it's an effing amazing city! I can't believe I leave for Cambodia in 10 days! Let the adventures begin!

November?

No one seems to believe that our weather actually never changes. It's incredibly predictable. Hot, humid, might rain for 5 minutes so bring an umbrella. The sun gets up at 7am, sets at 7pm every day of the year. Oh, life on the equator.