Saigon

Saigon aka Ho Chi Mihn City was fun, even if only for two days.  We went directly to the Cu Chi Tunnels upon arrival and that was a mad house of tourists.  It was pretty sobering to see it from the ‘other’ side.  Crawling through the tunnels was a bit claustrophobic for me but still quite amazing.  I passed on shooting guns there as it just didn’t seem right.

We spent some time in the park watching people play a really cool hacky-sack type game and doing exercises.  As we were smoking a j a very very old man meandered by with his cane and gave us a look.  I handed him the joint and he took a few big tugs then handed it back, bowed and walked on…wow…did that just happen?? There was actually equipment set up in the park for people to exercise on so we decided to give them a try…funny shit.

Charlotte had to leave that evening and we were all a little sad.  Just when my French was getting decent (not really) she had to go….James, Kenny and I pressed on.  We found the fresh beer and set up shop on the corner to harass the people selling books, cigarettes and all sorts of things.  We sampled some disgusting snails and some weird shrimp type things. 

Kenny and I had to bounce back to Bangkok and James was heading to Siem Reap…he is going to have an amazing month out here.  I am sad to be going but excited to see my friends and family back home.  Plus, it isn’t too long before I head out again for my next adventure!

Looking forward to Mom’s home cooking, burritos, home grown, family, friends and the things we tend to take for granted at home…..oh my bed!!!!

Nha Trong

Nha Trang is a beach town but we didn’t hit it with the best weather.  We rented bikes the first day and headed to the sites around the city.  There were a few beautiful temples, some ruins and a nice coast line.  We stopped at a brewery for some sampling then chilled during the afternoon.  That night we all went to massages which was super fun.  We started in large barrels full of water and aroma then went to a tub then a sauna then steam bath then the massage…very relaxing and well deserved.

The following day we booked a boat trip to a few islands.  Since it was Sunday and the off-season we were one of the few tourists on the boat and it was a great time.  We went to a few islands and then the ‘floating bar’…which was actually just a guy on a buoy pouring as much wine/liquor as you could drink.  Everyone was jumping off the boat and swimming around..very fun!

We were supposed to be on a bus that night and had to deal with some BS from the bus company who was trying to over charge us.  Burma Dan may or may not have come out a little here too….I took my business elsewhere so effe them right in the A.

We had to get to Saigon and that was that.

PS.  Written at the airport waiting to go home…so this is really a crapping version of what actually went down.

Hoi An

Hoi An was a blast.  Charlotte and I arrived a day before everyone and found a great guesthouse then headed for dinner on the river.  It is beautiful along the river with floating lit statues, lanterns on the bridges and boats floating about.  The following day we walked to a few tailors that had been recommended to me and wound up choosing the one Maarten had just visited called Ants Silk.  Super nice, family owned and easy going.  I decided on 3 suits and went to work picking fabric and styles.  One is proper nice black suit (totally normal and boring), one is seersucker with matching slacks and shorts (I like it!) and the last was a totally off the wall design for Burning Man (sleeveless, embroidery, bright color collar and more!) with pants that unzip to shorts…WHOOOOP…then I went and had a few custom pair of shoes made…one for the playa and one for the black suit.  Super fun and super cheap.  Finally we stopped for food at a local restaurant the tailors had advised us about for some amazing and cheap grub. 

When Kenny finally arrived it was great to see him.  It is so fun to be hanging with one of your best friends in another country.  We promptly went to the fresh beer and got caught up on the recent events in each other’s lives.  He also decided to get fitted for a nice warm jacket, suit and shirts.  We had planned to go to the beach that day since it had been extremely hot the day before but the sun did not come out and the wind was making it very cold….super cold!

James was next to arrive and we promptly took him to get some measurements and a suit made.  We all had so much fun with the staff and each other there.  Helen also showed up with another French girl so we had a posse for the night!  We headed to a fun bar that Maarten had told me about for happy hours and free pool.  On the way home Kenny borrowed a wheelbarrow type device and gave the ladies a ride part of the way home.  We also walked past a fresh bakery every night around 2-3AM that was making fresh bread for the following day…straight from the oven to our mouths….oh yeah!!

Hoi An was great.  There wasn’t much to site-see but the town was chill and the vibe was fun.  If the weather would have been nicer then the beach would have definetly gone down…next time I guess.

Oh yeah, I broke another chair too….at our favorite restaurant Kenny showed us….this one seemed sturdier but apparently could not hold up to my ‘mum’ (Vietnamese for butt!)

So we all boarded another night bus to Nha Trang and set off. 

PS.  This is written at the airport on my way home.  I got behind….most of these stories will have to be told in person 

Nihn Bihn

The funniest part about Nihm Bihn is how we, and everyone else, pronounced it.  Maarten pretty much nailed it the first time and I can get it right from time to time but the sound is different than what one would think.  On more than one occasion we would be going back and forth with a local trying to discern if he was in fact saying Nihm Bihn or some other city that sounded similar but wasn’t the same.

When we arrived to the bus station we were all swarmed with touts trying to lour us back to their hotels.  If you know exactly what you want and can communicate it to someone who understands and will give you a free ride then it is not always a good idea to ignore them.  In this case we grabbed all their cards and decided to walk around ourselves a little first.  We finally ended where we should have started and were given a decent room by a smiling staff.  That nights dinner was really fun because we grilled our own meats on a little, portable stove while sitting in little plastic chairs on a bridge.  It was delish!

The following day we decided to rent motos and do some site seeing.  On the way out to our first destination I popped a tire…..lame…but repairing it was easy.  There happened to be a shop half a mile away and he fixed the leak for a buck in no time.  Maarten took pictures for his motorcycle repair album.  He rode a motorcycle from Saigon to Hanoi and said that there were issues almost daily with his or his partners bikes.  This was easy and we were back on the trail to Tam Coc Caves.  This was described in the guide book as ‘Halong Bay in the rice fields’ and it was exactly that!  I would highly recommend this to any traveler in Vietnam as it was cheap and beautiful.  For 3 bucks each we boarded a boat in pairs and were paddled down the river and back…through the caves and beautiful rice fields with huge rocks jutting out of them.  It was fantasatic.  Usually I am doing most of the speaking as Charlotte’s first language is French but our guides happened to only speak French so they did most of the talking and I did a lot of smiling.  It has been really fun travelling with Charlotte as she is teaching me some French and I am teaching her some ‘Californian’ (i.e. ‘totally awesome dude, I have no fucking clue, duh, WHA?! and ewww dude).

After the cave/river ride we had a delicious lunch across the street and headed to the Mua Cave and Dragon on the Hill.  It was a beautiful ride and nice hike up to the top of the hill.  Such amazing views from the summit. 

A local had told us to check out Bai Dihn even though it is still under construction so we ventured further out of town to find it.  Wow…this temple, when it is completed, will be the biggest temple in Asia (or so they say).  It was started about 4 years ago and will take another 5 to finish.  I was stunned.  The place is beyond words huge with many temples inside the walls.  Thousands of statues line the walkways and there is the biggest bell I have ever seen in the middle.  I can safely say that this will be a huge attraction when complete and worth a visit as well!

That night we managed to find the fresh beer and enjoyed a relaxing night.  The following day was our last in Nihm Bihn and our last with Maarten and Helen.  Maarten and I decided to have some ‘boys time’ and toured the city looking for ganja.  This is fun for me because it is a way to see the ‘other side’ of most cities.  We went sight seeing the previous day and went to all the major attractions and this day was spent walking down dark alleys and looking for shady dudes.  The amazing thing is that there was no ganja in the city but plenty of heroin…yuck.  I had no idea there was an international hand signal for heroin but apparently there are two…yuck…so we gave up and headed for some fresh beer and a little tutorial of South America by Maarten who has spent some time there.  We had plenty of laughs, plenty of beer and I snagged a lot of valuable information from him for my next journey.  We grabbed a snack then decided to stop at some bumper cars we had passed several times to have a go at each other.  It was so amazingly funny….we would just go in a circle and then ram into each other busting up only to push away, go in another circle and slam into each other again…this went on until I broke my ride and we had to bounce.  We rolled back to the hotel to find Helen and Charlotte sufficiently buzzed too so we turned the reception area into a little party doing youtube requests and dancing with the staff and each other.  It was hilarious.  We all headed out to grab one last meal and that turned into a laughing-fest as well.  We found a hot pot spot and ordered some chicken…the weird thing is that you don’t get a breast, leg and wing like you would in the US….the best explanation I got was that since it is a communist country, everyone gets a little of everything…bone, cartildge, head…everything just chopped into bits.  At one point during the meal Charlotte leaned over to tell me something and I broke my chair pulling her down on top of me…it was hilarious….and it wasn’t the last chair I would break in Vietnam…oi….my fat American ass doesn’t fit into many small Vietnamese chairs!?

We boarded our sleeper bus and set out for Hoi An to meet up with James and Kenny….

PS.  I am writing this as I wait to board the airplane for home….now almost two weeks after actually being in this city.  It got hard at the end to keep up with the entries.

Halong Bay

First off let me say that if you plan a trip to Halong Bay you should book it from Hanoi and trust that you will get what you pay for.  There are booze cruises and there are luxury cruises and there is everything in between.  Also, be sure to check the weather as that will play a big role in the experience.  But here is what we did….

I got back to Hanoi and formed an international posse consisting of Maarten from the Netherlands, Charlotte from France and Helen from England.  Maarten and Charlotte I had met before and Charlotte had met Helen on their trip from Hanoi to Sapa or something.  So we all decided to blaze our own trail by taking the bus from Hanoi to Hai Phong then taking a boat to Cat Ba Island and sorting it from there.  Getting to Cat Ba was pretty painless and cheap so we thought we were ahead of the game.  We arrived at sunset and it was also amazing.  Since it was low season there were plenty of expensive, beach front hotels for super cheap so we walked around and checked a few then decided on one with great views and free internet for 6 bucks a night.  The guy who had ‘recruited’ us to his hotel also offered to by us a local dinner so he escorted us to a very quiet area with no tourists and sat us down at some tables.  Before we knew it there were plates of all kinds of random and delicious things.  We spoke with him at length about boat tours, hiking tours and transportation to our next destination (Ninh Binh).  We negotiated for a long time (becoming very typical here in SE Asia) before agreeing on a boat tour the following day, hike the next (weather permitting) and a bus-boat-bus ride to Ninh Binh.  After tiring negotiations we headed to the fresh beer for some relaxation.  Helen managed to place one leg of her chair in a hole and went ass-over-tea kettle onto the street, knocking a bike on top of her…all very funny once we confirmed she was ok!!   Every city has fresh beer stalls and I LOVE IT!  We played a few drinking games (one of which will definitely be coming home with me) and talked about travel, TV and ancient trendy movies.

We woke bright and early the following morning, grabbed a quick breakfast (actually it was painfully slow as we watched the Vietnamese style coffee drip so pathetically slowly that by the end the coffee was warm and we were finished eating…oi), and boarded our ‘private boat’….well that turned out to be a little fisherman dude’s rickety-ass boat but we thought, ‘what the heck, here comes adventure!’.  He spoke no English and stopped on the way out of the floating village to pick up what appeared to be his wife.  We plan was to see some amazing landscapes, kayak in some amazing caves and grottos, lunch at the floating fisherman village, chillin on amazing beaches and kayaking in a different bay….we were all excited.  All of a sudden as we set out of the bay our captain steers the boat in a different direction and starts looking a little nervous.  Using hand signals we are able to ascertain that he sees a police boat out in the direction we are heading and doesn’t want to get busted….at that point we realized that this was probably not a licensed tour boat and we were probably going to have to deal with some shit.  He steered us around a rock formation, put down the ‘blinds’ and we basically hid out for 45 minutes during which the wife offered some of the most bitter tea I have ever tasted.  Finally the coast was clear (hahah, literally) and we headed for the landscape.  The boat was ridiculously slow but the scenery was amazing.  It was slightly hazy….not foggy by any means but not perfectly clear.  I can imagine Halong on a beautiful hot sunny day being absolutely amazing.  We enjoyed the quiet serenity. 

Instead of kayaking the caves then eating, we went straight to the fisherman’s village for some lunch.  That was ridiculous as they were trying to rip us off on the cost of the fish…Everyone is yelling at everyone else and no one is communicating at all due to language barriers.  I got on the phone with our receptionist dude and told him how horrible this was and he then talked to the driver to talk to the fisher-people…jeeeez, we were hungry and finally just paid the 20 bones for a fish and some rice.  It was a hairy situation where I turned into ‘Burma Dan’ as Maarten calls it.  Not sure how much I went into it during that chapter but I hit a wall at one point with our guide and was about to tell the whole country to piss-off and just leave.  I know we are tourists and pay more for everything but I hate being blatantly taken advantage of and this fish was definitely one of those times.

The caves and scenery on the kayaks made up for everything.  It was so beautiful to paddle through low caves with stalactites and beautiful water into lagoons with walls that went straight up.  We all took a swim in the most beautiful lagoon and thoroughly enjoyed our time away from the ‘guide/tour’ and on our own.

We were supposed to go to another part of the island and do some kayaking and beach chilling but the whole ordeal with the cops coupled with the slow moving boat, long fisherman negotiations and the fact that our ‘guide’ was lost several times; made it so we were not able to do any of that and had to head home.  It was a great day but not ideal and so we spoke with our tour planner about a refund.  He gave us some money back and apologized for the service but it was still pretty pathetic.  We boarded a bus the following morning to get a boat to get a small bus to get a regular bus to Nimh Binh.  NEXT STOP!!

Vang Vieng, Laos (Round 2)

The following morning we boarded a bus to Vang Vieng.  I had forgotten how horrible the bus ride was and at one point heard puking behind us.  Without turning around I knew it was a local as they are the only ones I ever see sick on bus rides.  I think they aren’t used to moving that fast and bouncing around that much.  We arrived late in the afternoon and realized that it was very busy just as in LP.  It was a bit difficult to find a guesthouse but we managed, dropped our bags and headed out on the town for dinner and drinks.  We started at a bar I had spent some time at the last time called Jaidee’s Bar where Jaidee is the owner and always there.  I remembered him and his sons (DeeJai and Jameson) and he immediately poured us free Jaidee bombs poured in a very theatrical way and gave  us a free cigarette*.  Then it was time to eat and inspect the town.  A lot had changed since the last time I was there.  More hotels, new bridges and a lower river to name a few. 

We decided to do the ‘tubing’ the following day so woke up bright n early, changed guesthouses (ours seemed to have a house full of roosters next door) and went to the ATM (there are only 3 in town) to grab cash.  First off, we upgraded our accommodation big time.  We moved across the river to a brand new bungalow with an amazing view of the mountains.  The cash wasn’t so easy.  It was Sunday and apparently all the ATM’s had been cleaned out over the weekend.  No one could get cash anywhere.  We were worried that there wouldn’t be enough for tubes and beer but we had no choice so we went to the shop, bargained for only having to leave half the tube deposit and set off on the tuk tuk for the top of the river ride.  A friend had told me that you don’t even need a tube to do the ride as most of the bars are at the beginning and you can walk between them…I didn’t listen…you should.  Unless you don’t really want to hang at the bars and actually want to spend 2+ hours floating down the river (and it was too shallow in parts to even get your butt over the rocks we heard) then skip the tube and just go bar hopping on the river. 

This was an experience.  Colby and I skipped it the first time around cause we thought it was too ‘drunken frat tourist’ like…and it was…but we knew it and wanted to experience it.  The first bar (appropriately named Bar 1) had a big rope swing and beer pong.  We were given free beer for the game and proceeded to lose very slowly…then I did a back dive off the rope swing (not smart I later found out) and headed via tube across the river to Bar 2….you can just walk across the bridge.  This bar had the biggest rope swing on the river and was super cool.  I was busting back flips off the swing and we grabbed some grub along with a bought a beer each.  It appeared we were just ahead of the ‘party’ and this is what I recommend.  See, what each bar does is ‘employ’ tourists-turned-locals to ‘work’ at the bar by basically drinking and having fun because if you look at a bar across the river and it seems popping then that is what draws the crowd.  Since we were just ahead of the frat kids we were meeting the workers and getting most drinks free.  We walked to Bar 3 which apparently had the best beer pong table and hung there for too long…the frat guys caught up with us…and it started getting ugly…dudes puking, drunken girls stumbling into each other and plenty of bandages from dangerous maneuvers off rope swings.  We promptly bounced after a dude puked on the floor then put the ping pong ball for beer pong in his mouth and tried to spit it across the table to the team’s cups….yuck.  Back on the tubes to bar 4 which has the biggest slide on the river.  No crowds and good times!  I wanted to go head first off the slide and try a front flip so I climbed up the 30-40ft and dove down the slide.  When I launched off the bottom (about 12 feet) I rolled forward and wound up doing a full flip and a quarter which means my face and chest slapped the water pretty hard…hard enough to give myself a black eye..wow…when was the last time I had a black eye??  Anyone??  Obviously, after a day like that, the evening was mellow. 

The next day we rented motos and headed out to the blue lagoon and caves that Colby and I had visited before.  The water is an amazing blue and the caves are fairly cool and a nice hike straight up the mountain.  That evening saw Rachel enjoying her first bucket of booze at the bucket bar and then a few other bars before folding it in again.  We had to jump a bus the next afternoon back to LP and then back to Hanoi the following morning.

The bus ride back was pretty bad as three small local kids in the front seat couldn’t stop puking the whole way.  This, I think, caused Rachel to be sick on more than one occasion and none of it was pretty.  Rough…ouch…but we made it back to LP and to our guesthouse to pass out. 

The day we were leaving for Vang Vieng, Thi took us to the small waterfall to swim and look around.  This one dries up in the ‘dry season’ and was quite low..and cold..but nice to swim for a few and look around.

Luang Prabang, Laos (Round 2!)

I had such a good time in Laos and made some great friends so we decided to go back for a visit.  Flight from Hanoi to LP was no problem.  The airport is so small in LP, we were the only plane!  I think there were as many passengers on board as people working there.  Upon exiting the airport I spotted Tom with a sign saying ‘California Dan’.  We both laughed and hugged each other, then set off into town.  I felt very comfortable coming back here and feel like I know the area well.  We found great accommodation and went to Phone Travel to check out our tour options.  There were a few things I noticed off the bat; one was the river being very low and two, the streets being very crowded.  Phone had been busy and more than a few recommendations had come from ‘California Dan’.  When we showed up to the office Thi was very happy to see me.  The funny thing is that last time Colby and I were here, I was convinced his name was Dhi….Colby even said he thought it was Thi but I was sure of it being Dhi….well, found out it is Thi but sounds a lot like Dhi when they say it.  They took us out to the large waterfall for free in the afternoon where we hiked and jumped from the cliffs and rope swing.  The water was a beautiful blue green and it was stunning.  We decided to do the elephant trek the following day and got the VIP service again.  Since it is high season they are sometimes having groups of 6 out there to do the all day elephant experience.  The problem with 6 people is that there are only 3 elephants and one of the best things about it is getting your own elephant for the day.  Sooooo, they agreed to only add 1 person to our trip and gave us a discount on the price!  That next morning we met Stefan from France and all set of for the trek.  It was amazing again.  I was able to pick Miss On (my elephant from last time) out of the line-up.  I also brought pictures of my last trip for everyone to share.  Some for Thi and his family and some for Tom and his family.  Everyone was excited to see the pics and we all joked about them.   The trek was beautiful as the weather has changed and the leaves are a different color.  We went up into the mountains then descended back to camp.  It was a fun ride and my mahout brought a really cool instrument that is only made in Thi’s village.  It is a buffalo horn but there is a slit in the middle and a reed placed in there.  So both ends are open and you breathe in and out to make sounds.  Super cool.  After a traditional lao lunch (better than last time) we did the mahout training and a show of what the elephants are capable of.  Turns out these elephants used to be used for labor and were brought here to this camp 3 years ago.  This must be heaven for them.  They did show us that the elephants are capable of carrying large loads and moving heavy lumber.  It was cool.  Then the best part…we went down to the Mekong River (which was very low) and did some swimming with the elephants!!  Last time there was one elephant that was very good at shaking his head to bump you off.  We played like bull riders and all had tons of laughs.  The thing is, this time he was way way better at it.  No one could stay on and I got tossed a few times pretty hard.  It was hilarious and exhausting so we headed back for a chill night at Utopia and some great conversations with other travelers and passerby’s. 

At some point during the day Stefan and Tom started talking about Patank (patang or something) which sounded to me a lot like bocce ball.  Apparently Tom was amazing and Stefan thought himself to be fairly good too.  We decided that night to see what we were made of so the 5 of us (Tom, Thi, Stefan, Rachel and I) headed to a Patank bar and grabbed a ‘field’.  It was the farangs vs. the locals.  Foreigners vs. Locals…we mopped the floor with them two out of three games  `It was Stefan and I vs. Tom and Thi and after our best of three match Rachel wanted to join in so her and I took on Tom and Thi.  Tom predicted a 7-0 skunk and that is exactly what happened….except for that it was Rachel and II with 7 and them with 0!!!

We had to get up bright and early the next morning to rent moto bikes and check out Tom’s village.  Thongpet aka Tom is Khmu and his village was about a 20 minute moto bike road out into the cuts.  We rolled into his village and everyone came out to say hello.  It was so cool!  He introduced us to his father and sister’s and nieces and nephews then toured us around their very modest home.  Tom then mentioned that Khmu people do home-brew….WHA!!  I wanted to see it all…the ingredients, the process and taste the finished product.  They use rice as their base then add some yeast after soaking it for a few days then place the mix in a pot and seal it with wet ash/cement for 1 week at which time it is ready for drinking.  They have two kinds so we grabbed a pot of each to do a taste test.  I also picked up some yeast to bring home and play with (and also for the home brewer friends of mine) so that will be interesting. 

On the way out to his village we stopped along the road at a ‘market’ to pick up food which was buffalo meat, buffalo innards (couldn’t really get a specific on that but it looked like stomach or intestines) and some vegetables.  After tasting some beer we had a delish lunch with Tom and his friends.  The leader of the village came by to say hello and we started eating and drinking….and drinking….home brew and lao lao….might not have been the best idea because all of a sudden half the village was in Tom’s house and drunk.  We were dancing traditional Laos style and laughing a lot.  We had planned to go back to LP later in the afternoon but decided that we were all too buzzed to drive back and had to stay the night.  That was an ordeal that I didn’t have to deal with.  See Rachel had gotten sick after lunch and drinking then took a nap….after a bit more drinking with the boys it was my turn for a nap.  Apparently neither Tom nor Rachel could wake me in the evening to go speak with the police and village leader so Rachel and Tom had to deal with it on their own.  The thing is that when you do a ‘home stay’ you have a note from the travel agency and have paid fees in advance.  We didn’t have a piece of paper ‘ok-ing’ us to stay the night and Rachel had to pay off the police…about 5 bucks I think.  Then she and Tom had to pay the village leader a few bucks and we were good to go….Round two…more drinking, food, dancing and laughing.  Tom’s mom had come back from collecting and selling mushrooms so we all got to hang with each other.  Rachel had started to braid the girls hair and eventually had a small line waiting for her services while Tom, his friends and I sat across the floor tossing back beer and lao lao in a traditional style which means one glass shared around the group…very cool.  We all drank too much and this was the first time that I wasn’t happy with it.  I woke up the next morning with a few missing parts of the night but apparently we all had fun and went to bed without too much of a fuss.  We were all super hung-over the next morning as everyone aside from me had been sick at one point during the day/night.  At 7AM we jumped back on the bikes and headed back to town.  What a day and night.  Crazy fun. 

That evening Thi invited us to his house for dinner.  He lives with his sister and her husband (the owners of Phone Travel) along with a few other family members.  Right upon entering, Tom walks up to me with a  spoon and shoves it in my face….it is a cat’s paw and they eat it…not a cat like in your house but a jungle cat they assured me.  I tried it but didn’t find much meat and wasn’t into chewing cartilage and bone.  Dinner consisted of cooked duck in duck blood, cat bits, vegetables, rice and snails.  The snails were my favorite part and had been cooked with the perfect seasoning.  After a few beers and dinner we called it a night early as we were all still hurting a little from the previous night’s festivities.

Colby request that I grab him some herb used as an ingredient in the peanut/liver sauce we ate with goat and duck (and I had with dog) so I asked if Thi could grab it at the morning market and leave it at the travel agency…no problem he said.  I was expecting a small, sealed bag of peppercorn type things but was given what could be described as a dried bouquet of flowers….what the effe am I supposed to do with this?!  I couldn’t put it in my backpack cause then everything would smell like Maw-Can so I had to strap it on the outside of my small bag….and have been carrying it around ever since.  I am going to log the travels of this herb as it has already been aboard a flight, 3 buses, 2 mini buses, and 2 boats….and I haven’t been the only one schlepping it around as Maarten was helping me with my luggage from Halong to Nihm Bihn.  Anyway, off to Vang Vieng…round 2~!!!