Hey everyone! I get to write the blog this week cuz I am in sunny Laos with Gabe and Haley! Here’s the deal…I’m Jo Anne, better known as Gabe’s aunt Jo. I emailed these guys a couple of months ago with this brilliant idea…Did they want a visitor in July? To make a long story short, they said yes and here I am. Cool beans, huh?
Must admit…didn’t do too much to get ready for the trip. First called Bob and Linda and told them that I’d be glad to bring a care package. Let’s see…they did a great job of sending magazines, balsa airplanes, couple pair of shorts for Haley, the camera, a crossword puzzle and heaven only knows what else. The airplanes were a big hit, especially cuz I’m staying in the guest house across the courtyard from their guest house so we tried them out right off the bat. Needless to say they were a hit – with both locals and tourists.
straight as an arrow
Not only were the balsa airplanes a hit, but so were the homemade chocolate cookies that I brought! Yummy! Yummy!
haley multitasking with her cookie and laos book.
One of the best parts about visiting them is that I get to write their blog! Oh boy! I tend to be way too wordy so if this isn’t interesting or way too long, fear not. I’ll only be here for a couple of weeks and then it’s back to Gabe and Haley. So with that in mind…here goes!
First off…if anyone out there knows where Luang Prabang is, you are way ahead of where I was a week ago. It’s one of the cutest little towns in Northern Laos. If you trying to figure out where to go on your next vacation, this could be it! Here’s what we did today – Just doesn’t get any better!
Gabe and I strolled down the main drag at dawn and watched the monks come by. Every morning there’s a procession as they walk single file through the streets. Locals give them handfuls of sticky rice which the monks put in their little alms collection bowls. There were hundreds of monks of every age. (The cutest were the little guys who didn’t seem to be more than 7 years old!) There were also locals who were in need, and the monks shared their food with them.
orange is popular in luang prabang.
After the monks got their breakfast, Gabe, Haley and I went out for breakfast which was considerably more than sticky rice! We went down to the Mekong River which seemed to have risen more than 10 feet since yesterday. Huge trees were being carried down the river, along with with tons of debris. The logs and debris came crashing into the banks of the river, no more than 20 feet from where we were. We watched as boats which were tied up at the river’s edge were ripped free from their moorings and started to head downriver. We heard later in the day that two homes upriver were destroyed. It was reported that both people and cattle were washed away. Really sad.
you may be able to see the people harvesting the good wood drifting down the mekong.
After breakfast we took a tuk-tuk to “Living Land”, the only organic farm in Luang Prabang. It was totally awesome! They’ve got the traditional rice paddies and milling operation but they’ve also go great veggies – eggplant, zucchini, lots of different lettuces, morning glory (the kind that is edible), artichokes, sage, tarragon, rosemary – well, you get the picture. It’s a real new organization but it is already selling to some local restaurants. In fact, we had an awesome dinner tonight and told the restaurant manager about the farm. She promised to go there on Sunday and check it out which is really encouraging cuz that restaurant also has a cooking school! (Just in case you want to know more about the farm, you can check out their website or look on Trip Advisor. www.livinglandlao.com )
Aunt Jo in her element on an organic farm near Luang Prabang.
From the farm we went to this incredibly cool waterfall. Great swimming pools and awesome hiking! Getting to it was in itself an adventure. I forgot to mention that Gabe had an unexpected trip to the local hospital for an ingrown toenail of all things. $6.25 later (the cost of the hospital visit + a local anesthetic + treatment by the “big” doctor), Gabe was good to go. The only catch was that he had to keep his toe dry for the next 48 hours. Certainly made it interesting for Gabe who had to hop through the water to get to the top of the waterfall!
it’s rare you get to look over the top of a waterfall like this one…and very difficult on one foot.
In the spirit of best, worst and weirdest, these were the best stairs of the trip gabe says.
But even more awesome than the waterfall was the bear rescue/sanctuary that shares just a small part of the park with the waterfall. Please, please, please…everyone please visit FreetheBears.org ! Bears here in Southeast Asia are kept in captivity for their gallbladder bile which is used in traditional medicine. Free the Bears is an nonprofit from Australia that has people on the ground in SE Asia who are doing everything from trying to buy bears’ freedom to finding/destroying snares used to trap bears (a couple of weeks ago they found 90+ traps in just one week in a small area of Laos!), to preserving habitat for bears. All the bears that we saw at the sanctuary today won’t be able to be released into their natural habitat but others have been able to make the transition. I can’t tell you how moving it was to watch the bears in their new environment – especially knowing what horrible lives they led before being rescued.
chillin
Enough about bears, waterfalls, rising rivers and monks! It’s almost 11pm and it’s time to turn in. Tomorrow we are going by bus or boat (depending on whether the river or road is passable) and headed to northern Laos. Regardless of how we get there, it should be an adventure!!! So, that’s it from me in Luang Prabang. Haley and Gabe say hi! More to come soon!
team jo at the bottom of the monster waterfall near luang prabang.
other notes from Haley and Gabe:
Haley could live in Luang Prabang. The first such place on our trip so far.
That being said, Luang Prabang has not been our healthiest stop on this journey. There was Gabe’s cold. And then Haley’s ‘”food poisoning” from the last blog update turned out to be Dengue Fever. And then Gabe’s toe. And now Haley has Gabe’s cold.
The Dengue and toe situations were both pretty gnarly at the time and deserve some detail. Maybe next time.
Jo wrote this post a few days ago (see post date), but we were away from internet for a little while.
Currently we are in our guesthouse room in Luang Prabang watching Olympics. Before Luang Prabang we were in Vang Vieng and before that
we were in Ventiane and before that Bangkok and before that Siem Reap and before that, try reading some of the previous blogs.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
After our foreign friends left us in Siem Reap we saw more temples, this time via bicycle. Unfortunately we saved the most boring temples for last which is not recommended, but we still had fun pedaling around in the heat with a flat tire and best of all the swimming pool at our hotel felt better than ever upon our return. We couldn’t find another place in Cambodia that looked like a good next stop so we decided to go to Laos.
haley at one of the few temples where you can climb the real stone stairs just like they did way back when
stairway to the sky
gate near a temple in the shade
Siem Reap to Laos via Bangkok
After much indecisiveness regarding where our first stop in Laos should be, we chose to skip the 4000 islands, and head straight for the north. We got on a tuk-tuk, then bus, then walked across the border to Thailand, then minivan and finally a taxi which got us as far as the train station in Bangkok. In SE Asia, as far as we can tell, a direct bus consists of changing vehicles at least 4 times so this was actually better than most. Many times you’ll get picked up from your hotel and driven 2 minutes just to wait at a restaurant for an hour for your bus to come. That way you buy something from the restaurant and everyone is happy (except you). Anyway, the ride was smooth and we headed right for our friend Paul, who has a café near the train station in Bangkok. Paul had given me words of wisdom on our previous visit and sure enough he was ready for more. This time he tells me: “If you have expectations [about the place you are going], you only have two options when you arrive: to be satisfied or not satisfied”. So there you go, just erase expectations from your mind and then you’ll have way more than two options. He didn’t explain how to do the erasing part.
In Bangkok we paddled a duck boat around a pond and looked at big lizards and small turtles. Haley did a little more group exercise. We happened to be in a good place to hear the Thai national anthem and watch EVERYONE stand still for a minute or so, which was way cooler than this video shows.
quack
check the video section for more
After our 6 hours in Bangkok and some boring Thai food, we said goodbye to Paul and got on the nice sleeper train to the Thai border town Nong Khai which took 15 hours instead of 12, but who cares when you’re comfortable. After that, we took a short train across the ‘friendship bridge’ into Lao, paid some visa fees and got a wet ride into Vientiane.
Vientiane, Laos
Vientiane is the capital of Laos, but there’s less action here than on a Wednesday afternoon in Mill Valley. It’s very strange, but we like mellow and they have a huge promenade area down by the river which was nice. We slept one night in a low quality guesthouse and left the next morning for Vang Vieng.
Vang Vieng, Laos
Vang Vieng is strange in it’s own way. It’s a small town that is mostly a place to party, tube down a river, do a few drugs, jump off a rope swing and wake up late. We knew this before we went, but we had also heard that it was surrounded by lots of natural beauty and that the party scene was avoidable. We scoped out a hotel that we thought was away from the party, but happened to be right in the middle of it. But it did have the best view in town and the party scene in the low-season was not even that impressive. We slept in our penthouse with views out to the karsts, ate horrible food for the most part (hard to find otherwise in Vang Vieng) and during the day rode bikes or walked around out in the beautiful surrounding country side. We stayed 4 nights, saw a really cool cave, a big waterfall, lots of limestone cliffs, some nice rivers and lots of rice paddies too. We even sat down in one of the many restaurants that plays Friends re-runs and watched an episode while eating some mediocre food though we failed to order anything from the ‘Happy Menu’…not even an opium shake.
flying squirrel off the top ropes
deep inside a cave in Vang Vieng
hotel view in Vang Vieng
karsts in the distance
rice paddy feet
big waterfall near vang vieng
After all of that we got in a minivan to Luang Prabang, which is supposed to be 8 hours of some of the most beautiful scenery in Laos, but a thick layer of clouds and rain made it not nearly as interesting.
Luang Prabang, Laos
So, that takes us all the way here to Luang Prabang where we have settled in nicely with only one problem… we are currently both ill. Haley appears to have eaten something bad and in her words ‘is dying’, and I got a little cold and am coughing, etc. Lucky for us we have a TV in our room and there are two channels airing the Olympics. Plus we still have 3+ days to heal up before my aunt Jo Anne gets here and the party really gets going. Don’t worry Jo, we’ll be ready for action long before you arrive. Before we got sick, we agreed that we really like this peaceful little town, we ate many meals next to the Mekong, we walked through the night market, we found these really yummy and addictive tapioca pancake things, we watched the monks collect their alms at dawn, we hung around at Utopia eating a mushroom burger and goat cheese salad, and we pretty much just enjoyed ourselves overall.
Haley, still torturing kitties.
This place is called Utopia and with a few tweaks, it might be just the right name.
sunset dinner on the mekong
locals crossing the mekong at sunset
typical Luang Prabang
typical luang prabang with haley inserted
Other notes:
haley dying by the river
I’m much better than I was yesterday and Haley is still ‘dying’, but her fever is almost gone now and I’m sure she’ll stop saying ‘please make it stop’ sometime very soon.
In Vang Vieng, you have two choices for TV watching while eating your breakfast, lunch or dinner: Friends or Family Guy. There are at least 10 places to enjoy these shows while eating bad food and ignoring the people you are with.
We eventually did find a good restaurant in Vang Vieng and ate our next 5 meals there.
I got sucked on by a leach while in Vang Vieng. A first for me.
After I told the Luang Prabang tuk-tuk driver that we didn’t need a ride, he whispered ‘opium?’ Any good entrepreneur sells more than 1 product.
I’m not sure if they tailor the Olympic programming to Asia or what, but mostly we watch archery, ping pong and badminton. Archery is my favorite.
Haley took a nice picture of an egg delivery scooter.
Our room would be even better if the person who hammers at a frequency of 2-3 bangs/second for hours on end would stop. What the hell needs so much hammering?
Wedding crashing is so last decade. Honeymoon crashing is where it is at y’all, and we have been doing a lot of that recently – sometimes by accident, but more often on purpose. And always the same newlyweds. But last night, after spending about 10 out of 30 days of their honeymoon with them, we tearfully said hasta luego to our amazing friends Tolo and Laura.
new best foreign friends
To catch you up since the last blog, our 6-hour boat trip from Ben Tre to Tra Vinh was everything we were hoping for and more. The funkiest, most authentic (i.e., run-down) river cargo boat you could ask for, with some pretty funky and random cargo (hundreds of quail eggs, paper doll houses, bundles of straw, etc.), that weaved through some very cool Mekong riverside activities, almost all of which involved coconuts. Harvesting, collecting, tossing, catching, transporting, de-husking, de-shelling, taking the meat off of, disposing the husks of, transporting the husks of, eating: COCONUTS. We saw millions of them – literally. And saw what life is like for so many who work and live on or right next to the river. We also got our first glimpse of what was to be 72 hours of being celebrities/aliens. Little did we know that once we left Ben Tre, which was in and of itself pretty tourist-free, we would not see another tourist until we got to a border town on our way to Cambodia. Two tourists standing on the top of a cargo boat as it winds through working riverside villages well off the tourist path get a lot of interest, some stares, and countless warm and enthusiastic waves.
arriving in tra vinh after a storm on our luxury cruise
‘gabe, can’t you read?? we’re going from here to there.’
We spent a couple of days in Tra Vinh exploring the beautiful countryside, some of the 140 Khmer pagodas in the area, wandering the central market (while simultaneously failing to identify most things at said market, although they appeared to be being sold under the pretense of being suitable for human consumption), going on runs through rice fields and tiny villages among the waterways, and failing to communicate basically at all. And, as I mentioned, stopping people in their tracks just by walking by (people were asking to have their picture taken with us). One of the highlights was the Hang Pagoda which we visited at dusk. We had it completely to ourselves aside from the monks who were doing their evening chanting inside the temple, and the hundreds (if not thousands) of black and white storks who nest in the trees of the forest in which the pagoda is shaded. It was nothing short of magical and that evening alone would have been worth the trip to Tra Vinh.
apocalyptic scenery on a run in tra vinh
storks above hang pagoda at sunset. very peaceful.
Reluctantly, we gave up our Brangelina/E.T. status and moved on to the border town of Chau Doc. After 6 unforgettable weeks in Vietnam, we decided it was time to cross the border over into Cambodia. The trip from Tra Vinh to Chau Doc – all of 100km – took 8 hours and was one of the hottest and most tiring experiences of our whole trip, but very entertaining. Two very local buses/mini-vans, lots of honking, no A/C, minimal windows that opened, insanely risky passing, and a few more hours of stare-receiving and non-communicating. It was a tiring day so after hiding in our A/C room for a bit, we booked a boat over the border to Phnom Penh for the next morning and headed out for dinner. After dinner, only steps from our hotel, we randomly ran into Laura and Tolo who had plans for the exact same thing border crossing and – when we arrived at the dock in the morning we found out – on the exact same boat.
sunset cruise powered by gabe in chau doc
reunidos again en chau doc
We spent about 5 hours heading north on the Mekong on a relatively un-speedy speed boat. During the journey we docked and got off twice – once to get stamped out of Vietnam, once to get stamped into Cambodia. We also stopped three times to add river water to the overheating engine. This more luxurious crossing cost us an extra $15 or $20 a person but was, in my opinion, totally worth it (not sure Gabe would agree) as the border crossing and ride were painless and really pleasant, respectively. As we crossed into Cambodia the riverside landscape changed quickly from rice fields to corn fields, and the buffalos changed to extremely white cows, with whose whiteness my husband was ever-so-slightly obsessed. The boat approached and docked at the riverside pagoda-lined skyline of Phnom Penh. New adventures awaited.
speedboat from vietnam to cambodia with LT
We spent 3 days exploring Phnom Penh, a comparatively peaceful Southeast Asian capital. We did the requisite visit of the S-21 genocide museum with Tolo and Laura which was an infinitely more confronting and difficult and mind-bending experience than the American War museum in Saigon. I can hardly bring myself to talk about it even a week later. We also ran the riverside, joined the fitness-conscious Cambodians during their evening aerobics routines in the public square, visited the Vegas-like casino (but didn’t gamble), walked the backstreets admiring the elegant colonial mansions and trees, browsed many local and tourist markets, sampled both delicious and completely disgusting Khmer dishes, and, of course (seeing as we were in a Southeast Asian capital), did some unsuccessful shopping for electronics. The evening before they were leaving for Angkor Wat, we shared some roadside tarantula snacks (well, the boys did at least), and yet another fun “last” dinner together with Laura and Tolo at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC for loc’s), getting a taste of what it might be like to be an expat in such a lovely city.
killer crossover
sunset over some shiny tiles in phomn penh
In Phnom Penh we finally had to make a decision to head to Siem Reap to visit the temples of Angkor Wat, or to the Southern beaches and islands of Cambodia. We chose Angkor Wat and joined Tolo and Laura at the Apsara Centrepole Hotel. Since then, we have been living large (at a blissfully small price) in a gorgeous hotel, with a gorgeous room, a gorgeous pool, and wonderful people. Yesterday we concluded 3 days of unforgettable fun, beauty, sunrises, sunsets, hiking, running, climbing, wandering, tuk-tuk riding, and laughing our way through the temples and back roads of Angkor Wat. It is hard to even describe the beauty and variation of the temples here. They are breathtaking. Some are really well-preserved with detailed carvings that look like they would have taken centuries to complete. Others are practically ruins with piles of huge stones covered in bright green moss, and walls, or even entire buildings, taken over by the jungle with trees roots hundreds of years old strangling them from every direction. Yesterday we took an extremely long shortcut on a dirt road between two faraway temples and spent two hours bumping and laughing and marveling our way through some very remote Cambodian countryside. Locals stopped and stared, smiled and laughed, brought us handfuls of their peanut crops from the piles and piles drying by the side of the road. The few pictures in this blog won’t do this place justice, but there are more to see on the photos page. (We may or may not have taken approximately 700 pictures in the past 3 days. And the “we” referred to here may or may not be of the royal varietal.)
tolo at sunrise pre-temples
haley looking through a very old window
dear kumiko, this is for you. love, gabe
having fun near a temple
haley where she’s not supposed to be and proud of it in beng melea
gabe posing for pictures in a temple
haley posing for pictures in a temple
temple love
haley deserves an award for this picture. It was 1000 degrees, and everyone else wanted to go home, but now look.
haley in front of a snake head statue at sunrise
Last night we said some very sad goodbyes to Tolo and Laura for real this time as the headed back to Vietnam this morning en route to Mallorca. We vowed to see each other next in either Mill Valley or Mallorca. Today we are taking it easy by the pool and in the A/C before a final day of temples for us tomorrow – probably by bike. Supposedly we are also figuring out where to go next but not much headway has been made on that. For now we are basking in the fortune we have to be doing what we are doing, with the people we have been lucky enough to meet along on the way. And maybe keeping our eyes out for some more honeymooners. Not that any could ever match our new good friends.
Love,
Haley and Gabe
Other notes:
Khmer Fish Amok may be God’s gift to the human palate.
We tried and failed – twice – to watch sunset at one of the temples in Angkor Wat. The first night we just got there 5 minutes after they closed the gate. The second night was a shit-show of tour groups that rivaled Ko Phi Phi Leh. And this is the low season.
Asian tour groups love to get their picture taken with Gabe. So do monks.
this was the weirdest part of this day for gabe.
Asian tourists, group members or individuals, love to take pictures of what Gabe is doing. Pretty much whatever he is doing at any given moment is picture-worthy.
many people handed gabe their cameras so he could take a picture of sunset for them. other people took pictures of gabe.
I now speak Spanish with the Spain lisp. According to Laura, Tolo now speaks Gabe Spanish.
Gabe held his breath for 1 min and 44 seconds today, a new personal record.
Tolo and Gabe are tied for 35 year old man most resembling a 12 year old boy. Competitions in the pool, breaking any and every temple-exploring rule (while it is hard to imagine for those of you who know Gabe well, Tolo gets caught and scolded way more than he does), table-soccer with bottle caps, sitting still never, etc.
Ice cream is expensive in Cambodia but that’s not stopping Gabe. And it’s not even that good, but it is cold.
I got an excellent two-dollar haircut in the market in Phnom Penh. I passed on the crimping iron offer, though, despite it only being $1 more.
haley getting a trim at the russian market in phomn penh. muy alternativa
As awesome as our Siem Reap hotel is, we did both got woken up by being stung by the same huge insect within 30 seconds of each other – a sting that for me was a bad as a bee and is still bothering me 3 days later, and for Gabe was gone by morning.
Malls in Phnom Penh forbid, among other things, both photo-taking and grenade-throwing.
also no bamboo sticks with baskets hanging please.
Angry Birds is VERY big here. We have seen many an Angry Bird garment of clothing, and in PP we witnessed Angry Bird skewers – the “food” it was made out of was unidentifiable.
i like angry birds but not enough to try this.
Gabe says I use too many adjectives, but I think he’s amazingly, stunningly, stupendously wrong on this one.
Gabe also says I mention how hot it is too much in the blogs. But I don’t care and just so you know Angkor Wat is the hottest place I’ve ever been in my life. And Gabe too, even if he won’t admit it.
(This blog is way too long. We’ve been lazy. You don’t have to read the whole thing. Sorry in advance.)
Over dinner in Buenos Aires, our Argentine friends, Caro and Kike, told us that Saigon “es una locura”. After eliminating all destinations between Hoi An and the Mekong Delta, we decided to book a flight there and see for ourselves. And they were right, “una locura tan loca”.
white roses in hoi an
We arrived in Saigon after four days in Hoi An. We enjoyed Hoi An for the most part, and did some really nice biking through the countryside and hanging on the lovely beach. And while we did not partake in the hugely popular draw of custom-tailored clothing, we found an equally satisfying way to pass time – what I mean to say is that we basically ate our way through town. There was “The End of the World” mentioned in the last blog entry which was amazing and which we hit up one other time for lunch. But we also discovered a typical dish from the area called “White Rose” which are delicate, steamed rice dumplings stuffed with shrimp and served with a sweet vinegar dipping sauce. Gabe even partook and got no allergic reaction whatsoever, so we proceeded to order them at every meal except breakfast, sometimes, double orders. We ate them from the street vendors, from the fancy shmancy restaurants, from the hole-in-the-wall restaurants, wherever we could get our hands on them.
beach day in hoi an
moon rise in hoi an
haley riding past buffalos and rice in hoi an
We also met up with our NBF’s Laura and Tolo – our honeymooning Spanish train companions from Hanoi to Hoi An – and another honeymooning couple from Barcelona whom they had met on their flight to Saigon, for a superb evening of Spanish speaking, great food, great stories, and lots of laughter. We started with the full moon rise over the river, followed by drinks beside the river, and then an uber delicious dinner at Ms. Ly’s restaurant.
dinner with spanish friends in hoi an
Overall we found Hoi An to be pleasing both aesthetically and gastronomically, but the amount of tourists and the constant bombardment by street sellers that seems to accompany tourism in the more well-known parts of Vietnam was enough that we wanted to move on. Plus, aside from the price and cleanliness, our hotel sucked. After receiving tips from the other Spaniards about what lay between Hoi An and Saigon, we decided to skip it all and head South to the Mekong Delta, via Saigon.
And as Caro and Kike alluded to, Saigon is completely crazy. Like, totally. The motorbike situation is similar to Hanoi (if you missed the installment on navigating the streets of Hanoi, check out the June 8th entry), except that there are usable sidewalks (it’s just that the motor bikes use them too and they somehow have right of way – you get honked at ON the sidewalk!) and the streets are 10 times wider than in Hanoi so the amount of time spent dodging all types of motorized vehicles that are accelerating in your direction is exponentially greater – as is your risk of death. We saw at least one motorbike accident per day in Saigon, including one where a motorcycle crashed into people seated at a sidewalk cafe. There are 12,000,000+ people in Saigon. And they say that there are 10,000,000 motorbikes.
Highlights in Saigon:
1. War Remnants Museum: This was an extraordinarily enlightening and difficult few hours. We both realized how very little we knew about the American War in Vietnam (what it is called here), the extent of the abhorrent injustice of it, and the continued effects TO THIS DAY of the damage done by the U.S. during those years. It’s un-stomach-able, yet there seems to be a complete lack of grudge-holding by the Vietnamese, at least as far as we can tell in our interactions with the locals. People of our generation have basically told us that “it’s an old story” and the only thing that makes sense is to move forward. The U.S. has provided some support to victims of the war who are still suffering, or whose offspring are suffering, from the effects of Agent Orange, and that meager and completely insufficient support still seems to leave people with a positive opinion of the U.S.
gabe didn’t realize how big a helicopter could be until then
2. Bird Café: We dubbed this place the Bird Café. But as far as we can tell, it has no name. It’s just a place where you can get a drink in one of Saigon’s numerous and surprisingly beautiful urban parks – with one catch. We stumbled upon it completely by accident and I, at least, was completely mesmerized – so much so that a Vietnamese guy (Kenny) who has spent the past 7 years in New Zealand invited us to sit down for a coffee while he explained things – he was that amused by the look on my face upon our arrival. The Bird Café is nothing more than a place where rich Vietnamese men go in the morning with their caged pet birds, drink coffee, look at each other’s birds, show off their own birds, and go home. They arrive on motos with their immaculate bird cages covered, they unload them on to the tables in front of them or hang them from poles, remove the covers (or not – this I did not get at all), chat amongst themselves, and then load them up again and go back to whence they came. Kenny showed us one bird – and the birds do not look like much – that was worth $2,000 U.S. Let’s keep in mind that the average annual income per capita in Vietnam is less than $1200 U.S. (and for many rural inhabitants of course, much, MUCH less). It was so totally weird and so totally awesome. I made Gabe go back a second morning. If you are ever in Saigon, go there as much as possible. You must go early and I highly recommend Sundays.
bird talk
if that guy doesn’t wipe that look off his face, those birds are gonna be the only friends he has
haley enjoying the bird scene
warmly dressed saigonian postcard seller
3. Inappropriately- Dressed-For-The- Weather Vietnamese: We took advantage of Kenny’s English to get a few more burning questions answered. For starters, what’s with the really long fingernails on men, and why on earth does everyone here wear facemasks (in other words, are we going to die of some horrible disease if we don’t start wearing them ourselves)? And why in 90+ degree heat do people wear hooded sweatshirts, gloves, socks, jeans, and countless other heatstroke inducing articles of clothing? Turns out it’s all about status. As we all know, you can’t work with your hands and maintain long fingernails. And we also know that the more time in the sun, the darker the skin. Working under the sun or with your hands indicates a lower status. So when outside during the day, even while sitting in the shade, people (women especially) cover every inch of their bodies. Facemasks (sometimes doubled up) with bibs to cover the neck, satin evening gown gloves while riding a scooter, socks or panty hose (!!!!!!!! – I can’t even wear those when it’s cold out) under sandals, hats of all types (the hotter the better), construction workers in jeans AND jean jackets, fake fur-lined hooded sweatshirts, and other unimaginably hot garments. Also, try finding soap or face or hand lotion in this country that is not some special “whitening formula” (not possible) – if the sun gets you, bleach it back into submission.
4. Street Drinking: After our dinner plans were thwarted by discovering the distance needed to travel to the restaurant we had selected (this city goes on forever), we ended up at a sidewalk bar to have a beer and regroup. We were fortunate enough to be seated next to a couple of really nice Vietnamese people who spoke some English. They started asking us some questions and four hours and eight beers (between the two of us – and no, I do not have a drinking problem, thank you) later, we had still not eaten dinner. It was one of the most fun evenings we have had in Vietnam. Generous, warm, interesting people, and non-stop laughter. The highlight was definitely Gabe, accent and all, teaching the our Vietnamese companions how to street-sell Vietnamese style, the last part of which I caught on video. We got our bar bill around 11:30 pm – for a whopping $2.40 (I remind you, for eight beers) – at which point our second choice of restaurants was already closed. But it was an epic evening, and street drinking – a very popular pastime in Saigon – is an experience not to be missed.
to all of you who keep telling us to have a drink for you..cheers from saigon
5. Aimless wandering: Saigon is an endless web of people and commerce, huge boulevards and tiny alleys, teeming with city life. You could walk for weeks and not see the same thing twice, and never, ever get bored. There are some amazing Chinese Pagodas and some old and beautiful colonial buildings including the General Post Office and the Opera House. There are also some extraordinarily posh areas with designer shops and fancy hotels. We checked out a bunch of five star hotels to catch views from their exclusive rooftop bars and take advantage of the A/C. Our favorite was The Caravelle whose buffet – at $56/person including unlimited champagne and wine – puts any Vegas buffet (and any buffet at all, for that matter) to complete and total shame.
looking at some fish at a pagoda in saigon
nice stork at a pagoda in saigon
haley enjoying a park in saigon
you good puppy. you drink ice tea today.
So that is Saigon in an oversized nutshell.
We left Saigon four days ago and headed for Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta – a town that was supposed to have very little tourism and a lot of authentic Vietnamese Delta life. From the moment we were squeezed into the very last row of a 115 degree A/C-less mini-bus built for people no taller than 4’ 9’’, with a dude chain smoking next to us, and 31 heads (30 human, 1 bird) turned 180 degrees around to stare at us most of the ride, it was clear that this was a very big understatement. Ben Tre is the bee’s knees for those of us who like to visit places off the beaten tourist path. There are three people in this (not very small) town that speak English (besides the word “hello”) and they all work at Hotel Oasis (where we’re staying). Other than that you are on your own. No one tries to sell you anything. No one tries to grab your arm and shove you into their stall as you walk through the market. No one charges you more than the locals pay. EVERYONE yells hello and laughs and smiles as you ride by on your bike – either that or they stare at you like you just fell out of the sky from another planet. It is nothing short of delightful.
tight fit on the bus to ben tre
The first day we took at $0.07 ferry (each way) to a tiny island in the middle of a Mekong tributary and explored the palm-lined paths that serve as roads (for bikes and the rare motorbike). People there have fish farms or grow pomelos or papayas or coconuts. It seems like the most tranquil existence ever. Kids LOVE it when you ride by, yelling hello over and over again and then giggling uncontrollably when you respond. After retreating to our hotel to avoid the midday heat and hang by the pool, Laura and Tolo surprised us and showed up at our hotel. We had yet another super fun afternoon and evening hanging with them at our hotel and eating a typical outrageously huge Ben Tre meal (more on that later) and made plans for a biking adventure the next day.
getting off the ferry on an island in ben tre
coconuts are everywhere around here.
We set out early the next day and spent the better part of 7 hours biking and laughing our way through the winding paths of the delta on our way to and from another island with a more expensive ferry ($0.10 each way). The island was amazing – with tiny bridges over countless waterways, winding dirt embankments for “roads”, and much balance required so that you didn’t fall into the water while navigating the paths. Gabe was having a lot of fun asking for directions – whether we needed them or not – or where to eat, or to get his bike fixed, or anything else he could come up with to interact with people who had no clue what he was saying. He brought to a complete halt the productivity of a group of 12 women sewing sheets who all stopped dead in their tracks to watch him ask some questions about where the four of us might possibly find a place to eat. They did not get back to work until we left. We all agreed we would have paid large sums of money for a transcript-ed translation of what they were saying about him/us.
haley on a little path on a little island in ben tre
our new good friends Laura and Tolo.
gabe on a bridge on a bike on an island in ben tre
with our friends on an island
We finally did find a place that appeared to serve food and they brought to us what appeared to be a menu – insofar as it had pictures of food on it – and after Gabe drew some impressive caveman hieroglyphics to try to communicate that we did not want any beef, pork, or chicken, we successfully ordered stir-fried noodles with seafood, spring rolls and some rice. Or so we thought. Everything started out fine. First came a massive plate of noodles; it even had seafood. Perfect. Next came about a dozen grilled sardines. Huh? Next came a massive pot of soup with a very large fish head in it along with a number of unidentifiable vegetables and fruits. Ok, WTF? Then a huge plate of cucumbers. Cool, I guess. And finally, another massive bowl containing at least 10 cups of cooked rice. Who can eat that much rice?? Aside from the soup which was deemed inedible by everyone present and fed piece by piece – fish head an all – to the dogs at our feet, the food was plentiful and delicious, and the experience was awesome. Laura and Tolo treated us and covered the $6.50 bill (including 4 iced teas) and we headed home through a downpour to say our goodbyes (yet again).
gabe’s attempt to communicate for lunch
big lunch of interesting food items
That was yesterday. Today was our last day in Ben Tre and after hitting the morning market to gawk at all the beautiful and gross and delicious and crazy things people eat around here, we headed out for yet another day of bike riding. After about 45 minutes of weaving through picturesque paths and neighborhoods along waterways and tributaries, over bridges narrow and narrower, and after a venomous snake dropped out of a tree right in front of Gabe’s bike, got caught in his wheel for a few rotations, and slithered off the path, we happened upon an adorable little restaurant with tables out over the water. We attempted to order a light lunch of coconut prawns and fish spring rolls and, in typical Ben Tre fashion, were served an inordinate amount of food. The “spring rolls” consisted of an entire fish and platefuls of the accoutrements for rolling them. It was absolutely delicious.
picking up a few things at the market in ben tre
nice vegetable display at market in ben tre
fish spring rolls please
The moment we stood up from lunch the skies opened up (the rain-only-at-night trend ended abruptly upon our arrival in the delta) but we pulled on our ponchos and went for it anyway. After about 10 minutes, and after it had started to really pour, the back tire of my bike popped spontaneously. We had no idea where we were and there were very few people around, so we figured we were going to have to walk back to the hotel – whatever way that was. A barefoot, raincoat-less guy on a motorbike pulling a small trailer of coconuts rode up, and in charades we showed him my tire and asked which way town was. He pointed and gestured and told us and asked us a bunch of things in Vietnamese until we did what we thought he wanted us to do – walk straight ahead. He proceeded to follow right behind us on his motorbike, encouraging us onward when we again tried to ask what the heck we were doing, and walked us 20 minutes in the rain right to the front door of the tire repair guy. The tire guy patched up my tire in 10 minutes – charging a steep fee of $0.24 cents – while our escort watched, waited and pointed, and refused to take a penny for spending half an hour of his day in the pouring rain sorting out our helpless western tourist selves. It is hard to explain how awesome the experience was but my tire popping was the absolute best thing that happened all day. After the patch job we headed back out and spent a couple more hours getting blissfully lost, amongst the paths and waterways, under the warm rain, in the backwaters that belong to the toothless guy on the wooden boat waving hello, to the shirtless guy bathing his pet rooster, to the shoeless kids running after us to say hello, to all of the amazing people of this community who have shown us such hospitality.
more coconuts in ben tre on a river
tire fixing in ben tre
our saviour from the tire trauma
this way gabe. we’ll show you.
So that has been Ben Tre, again, in an oversized nutshell. Tomorrow we are supposedly hitching a ride on a cargo boat that winds its way to the Southern end of the delta to a town called Tra Vinh. From there we will try to find a bus or a boat or a motorbike to cross over the border to Cambodia where new adventures await. If you are still reading at this point, that is very impressive.
With love and gratitude,
Haley and Gabe
Other notes:
Obesity is almost totally absent here. Most people aren’t even slightly over weight. Most are just right. Wish America/I knew their secret.
Quote of the week: “How do you do these things again?” We bought our first postcard in 10 months and this was Gabe’s question to me when he sat down to write it. He literally could not remember how to address it. Keeping in touch at home with email, blogs, and wi-fi is a far cry from the days of postcards. (Don’t be sad if you are not the recipient of the postcard. It’s not personal. We’re just lazy.)
A woman approached me while we were resting in a park in Saigon. She offered me a pedicure for one dollar. After I politely thanked her in response to every one of the 10 angles she tried, she pulled out her big guns. Her final push: “Why not? Your feet very dirty!” As my sister Megan would say, “umm….GFY”.
For those who like chicken, the chicken here is truly free range. And the range in which they walk freely is the same one in which you and I walk freely. Chickens are absolutely everywhere. Crossing the street, in the bushes, tied to people’s front doors, on the buses, sitting patiently upside down in funnels in storefronts (I don’t know, so don’t ask), on motorbikes, in burlap bags hanging from the fencing around the Saigon War Remnants Museum (?!).
Ever since we went on a guided hike which turned into a sleepover at Mae’s in the Hau Tau Village near Sa Pa 5 days ago, I wanted to write things down so as not to forget the epic 24 hours. Hopefully I haven’t waited too long. We met Mae, a 30 year old Black H’mong woman, on our first day in Sa Pa. She was eating lunch at the same place in the market as we were. She spoke some English, so we talked a little and she told us that she could take us to her village if we wanted. Mae turned out to be one of the nicest, best people around and we all cried when we said goodbye in Sa Pa. After that first lunch, we would see her almost every day and she would say hi (and always remembered Haley’s name – on the walk I gave up trying to teach her my name and told her to call me “G”, which worked) and often remind us that we still hadn’t gone on the walk with her. When we were finally getting ready to move on from Sa Pa we decided we better go on the walk with Mae or we were going to miss out.
We met her at 930am and walked out of town towards her village. It was a beautiful 4 hour walk through some stunning mountain trails above the valley, with some breaks to eat cucumber and coconut bread mixed in. We arrived around lunch time at her house to her husband, Kuh, and two of her three boys, Cha and Sun. Kuh had already cooked up all kinds of veggies (Mae had remembered from our one lunch together that we had been eating vegetarian) and we hung around, talked to Mae, and played with the kids while he set up lunch. Mae’s house is basically one room with lofts on either end for food storage (mostly rice from their own rice paddies). The walls are wood planks (with a 3 or 4 inch gap where the wall would normally meet the floor), the roof is corrugated metal, the floor is dirt, the furniture (of which there is not much) is as basic as you get, the heat (when needed) is a single fire, the stove is the same single fire, there is no running water anywhere, and there is one single light bulb. And Mae and her family could not seem happier. Chickens and dogs and neighbors and kids wander in and out all day. Everyone is welcome, everyone is smiling, everyone is friendly, and everyone gets fed and happy watered upon arrival.
hae and mae looking towards hau tau
lunch time for everyone at mae’s
While we were finishing up lunch, Nico, a frenchie who has been living in Hau Tau for 2.5 months (he just goes from house to house – often with people fighting over him – and is given room and board at zero cost), and a Swiss guy named Lucien, came over to help us finish the massive amount of food on the table as well as some of the rice wine (Happy Water) that was served up with lunch. After that, Nico and I (and later Mae for the first time in her life) smoked something that Mae called Happy Flower from a big bamboo bong. Everybody was having lots of fun. At this point we decided to accept the repeated invitation to stay the night, as it seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. Mae dressed Haley up like a Black H’mong and Mae dressed up like a whitey and the party continued. We all hung around and drank and talked and went to the store (20 minute walk down a very steep hill – and then back up) for more Happy Water (and real water) and then we went to the waterfall to bathe before dinner.
black h’mong haley
getting clean before dinner
wasssssssssssssup
By the time dinner was served, there were about 20 people – mostly H’mong, us, Nico and Lucien, and another couple who had come on a walk with Sousou, another woman from the village – all ready to do some eating and drinking. Dinner was delicious, but the main course was pretty much Happy Water. Whenever you heard the word “chukah”, that meant that it was time to drink another glass of happy water (and no sipping either – the command was usually “Chukah…FINISH”), and that was a lot. At some point, I removed myself from the happy water circuit to help cook another course of dinner over the open fire. I stuck to the happy flower for the remainder of the evening. This was a good decision. Haley stuck with the happy water and represented us well, by keeping up with Mae and Kuh. This, however, was a bad decision. There was much laughing until late in the night at which point many people were too drunk to even walk home. Kids were everywhere, falling asleep in various mothers’ (or Haley’s) arms, trying on our sunglasses, and generally having a great time. At the un-arguable-with insistence of Mae and Kuh, Haley and I got the bed that Mae’s kids normally slept in (wood frame and blankets – no mattress) and the other hikers got Mae and Kuh’s bed (same set-up). Mae’s whole family slept on top of a tarp on the dirt floor – with zero complaints.
we cool
The next morning was rough. Haley and Mae were so hung over they could barely walk down the hill to catch a motorbike back to Sa Pa. But somehow they did it (with a lot of stopping and a puppy/mango popsicle stop at the store to re-energize) and we (mostly Haley) spent the rest of the day resting/recovering. It was a legendary hangover for Haley – Haley said that Happy Water is decidedly un-happy the day after. With nothing but a mango popsicle and a piece of bread in her for the day, she was able to eat a little veggie stir-fry by 8pm (balcony service to our room) but she had missed school and had spent the entire rest of the day in bed.
hae and mae struggling on the way out of hau tau
I think I did wait too long to write this, because I’m having a hard time describing how good it was. It was one of the best days of our trip, hands down.
When leaving Sa Pa we said goodbye to Mae (she even came to the bus to see us off) and goodbye to the kids at the school we were volunteering at (they loaded up our wrists with handmade bracelets and gave us lots of hugs). Sa Pa was good.
hae and mae saying goodbyes on our way out of sapa
musical chairs at sapa ochau. haley finished second.
train window view between hue and danang
After 26 hours of overnight trains and a day in Hanoi, we’re now in Hoi An. Hoi An is really picturesque, and really touristy. On the train ride here we shared a sleeping car with some really nice Spaniards and got to speak Spanish the whole time. We also went by some nice Vietnamese coastline along the way.Yesterday we went on a bike ride to the beach, went swimming, and talked about what we still want to learn and accomplish on this journey. After that we went to the best dinner we have had (in terms of both deliciousness and people) in a long time. This place is called ‘The End of the World’ and it kinda is at the end of the world, if your world is this small fishing village a 40 minute bike ride outside of Hoi An. We were the only tourists around and Trang (one of the most honest, lovely humans we have met in Vietnam so far) and her crew made us some spectacular peanut and onion stuffed squid with sautéed garlic eggplant on the side. Dessert was fresh bananas that we were too full to eat, and ginger tea.
As the sky had suggested might happen on our ride to dinner, two minutes after we arrived it began to pour rain….and it didn’t stop. Luckily we came prepared. After taking our time eating the delicious dinner and chatting with Trang and friends, we finally decided to brave it. The cook tied our ponchos on for us, making sure we had snug fits under our chins, we strapped on the head lamp and hopped on our bikes. It was an awesome adventure through the flooded streets of the village, and a very heavy tropical rain. There was so much water in the streets that a lot of time our feet were underwater on the down pedal. And a few times they were underwater even on the up pedal. We got some funny looks and a lot of laughs from the locals. It was an epic dinner and an epic ride home. We might go back again tonight.
hoi an beach swimming
ooooo… look at those squids
Other notes:
In Sa Pa, the village girls say ‘How you doing? Where you from? You buy from me later?’, and they are sweet and smiling.
In Hoi An, the store workers say ‘You, buy something, you. Buy something. Come my store.’ and there is nothing sweet about it.
In Hoi An you can rent bikes for $1 per day and draft beers are $0.19 each. However, there’s a shortage of awesome places to stay in our budget. Our room in Sa Pa might have ruined us forever on this trip.
Iced coffee is $1.25. What is wrong with this picture?
view of hoi an from bridge
haley at morning glory picking some good food
We’re starting to try to figure out when to come home.
The weather continues to be awesome despite having been in SE Asia for 2 months of the rainy season so far. We only seem to get rain at night and since we first got to Hanoi, we seem to be escaping the normal bad parts for this time of year wherever we go. Sapa was not rainy, Hoi An is blissfully cooler than Hanoi (this is all relative though – it is still hot as heck), and the rains keep coming only at night.
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