We made it to Singapore today from Bangkok after an incredibly long two days of travel...we left Koh Phangan on a ferry at noon, made it back to the mainland around 330, took a bus to Suratani where the train station was, arrived there around 5, and then hopped on a train at 630 that arrived in Bangkok at 6am. This, after two nights of sleeping for two hours each from the hours of 7:30am-9:30am (I was up until past dawn for the pre-full moon party and the full-moon party--both of these nights deserve their own post which will come sometime in the next couple of days when I have more time. Let's just say it was a human circus.) Then, we hung out in Bangkok all day, got a well-deserved night of sleep, only to hop on a plane this morning in Bangkok (which, by the way, has a full-fledged 5 star mall in the airport...unlike any I've ever seen) for a 2 hour flight to Singapore (the airport in Singapore has a pool, fitness facility, nature walks, mall, restaurants, hotels, etc, etc--it's like a city, with airplanes), which was followed by an hour and a half subway ride to the Little India stop, where we waited for 45minutes to get a cab half a mile to our hostel (we had too much stuff to carry--such as my new suit, awesome-- and didn't know where we were going.) We then arrived at our hostel, Footprints Hostel, to find THIRTY loud, screaming little kids from the ages of 3-12 occupying the entire common room...apparently there are a few large Indian families visiting for the week. To say the least, we were frustrated, exhausted, and our first impression of Singapore was a total bust. Anyways, that's my rant for the day. Tomorrow we'll be moving to a new hostel down the street, G4 Station, and I couldn't possibly be more excited.
The plan for Singapore is to eat massive amounts of Indian food, go to the Night Safari (google singapore night safari, it's supposed to be cool), and possibly check out the giant ferris wheel, which is the largest in the world. I'm anxious and excited to be home in a few days. It's not that I'm not still having a great time--I definitely am; koh phangan was completely amazing and I think Singapore may rival Hong Kong after I've spent a couple days here--but I'm really looking forward to the same things I've been looking forward to, such as not living out of a backpack, seeing friends and fam, and of course, beerfest.
I'll post soon about the rest of Koh Phangan, the full moon parties, and about my impression of Singapore once I have one (outside of it having the least efficient taxi service in the world and the loud screaming indian children), and hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up. Sorry this blog has been dying a slow death ever since I left Siem Reap. Hope all is well in CA; can't wait to see you all.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Another day in paradise
Like my last post, I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet, though I'm hardly ever successful at that. Sorry that my posts have become few and far between...the combination of being exhausted, being far from an internet cafe, and being on some of the most incredible islands in the world has taken some of the fun out of "blogging".
I left Koh Tao yesterday and arrived by ferry on Koh Phangan, the next island over. So far, it's just as amazing, though much bigger, more commercial, and more crowded. It seems that there is definitely more to do, but it's not as quaint or relaxing as Koh Tao. I'm staying at a place called Beck's resort in Ao Noi Wok--a small,secluded bay on the Southwest side of the island--with Aaron (guy from Cal Poly that I met in Chiang Mai and stayed with in Koh Tao) and Erica (girl from SF that Aaron was friends with and I met in Koh Tao). We have a few more friends that we hung out with in Koh Tao coming over today, so it looks like we'll have a good-size group for the full moon party(ies). The full moon party is essentially the reason I came to Koh Phangan. Every full moon, there is a giant party on Haadrin beach with between 10 and 30 thousand people in attendance--tourists and locals alike. Tonight we're going to go and pre-full moon party on Haadrin and scope the place out, and tomorrow is the big night. It should be an epic time and a great group. Google koh phangan, and full moon party koh phangan.
When we got here yesterday, we found a great restaurant, ate for 2 dollars, and then went back to the bay that we're staying in to go explore an island about a half mile across the bay. The water is shallow enough that you can literally walk all the way across this crystal clear bay to another island...though, we never made it due to the 50 million seashells on the ocean surface that made it feel like we were walking on razor blades. Instead, we went back to our hotel beach, and went on an adventure up the coastline. We didn't get too far because we were exhausted from our attempt at the island, but I plan to go explore the area as soon as I get back.
The last few days in Koh Tao were also awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't complete the PADI open water course. I rediscovered a phobia of mine that I didn't think would apply underwater--clastorphobia. It made for a pretty stressful and uncomfortable experience, and diving wasn't worth enough to me to be stressed out for the last days of my trip. I guess it's a pretty common thing to have happen (not wanting to dive due to clastorphobic type symptoms), and it's something that can be overcome pretty easily with time...but, I didn't have much time. So, maybe sometime down the road I'll finish the course. I was pretty bummed out about it/disappointed in myself for a day or so, but once I got over it, I really enjoyed Koh Tao even more than I think I would've had I been diving. Probably the coolest thing I did was go on a snorkeling trip all the way around the island. You may be thinking exactly what I usually think of snorkeling...dumb activity for tourists that can't figure out anything more interesting to do. Wrong. We boated around the entire island (which was awesome and gave a great perspective of the island) stopping at several different bays to snorkel for an hour or so (throughout the course of the day we did about 6 hours of snorkeling). Every bay was a fish bowl. I was literally surrounded by pools of all different kinds of colorful tropical fish the entire time...it was incredible, and interesting. I also did some free diving of my own, diving down 10-15 feet for 30-60 seconds to check out some of the cooler fish closer to the ground. At first, this almost killed me, as I came up light headed and gasping for breath each time (the English guy that I was trying this with kept getting bloody noses). But, after a while, I got the hang of it, and was able to dive down pretty easily..it was awesome, challenging, and fun. Anyways, it was a full day of snorkeling, hanging out with cool people on the boat, and exploring the sea surrounding the island. Great day.
The other few days consisted mainly of hanging out on the beach, kayaking, and making new friends. On one of the days, Aaron and i went to Yang Nuan, which is a smaller island right off the coast of Koh Tao...it had probably the coolest beach I've ever been to, with completely transparent bays on either side of the beach, which connected two small islands (picture below). We went out for dinner (and bars after) each night--which consisted of bbq skewers of fish, chicken, pineapple, onion, etc=delicious-- with big groups of people, and finally settled in with the same group we'll be with for Koh Phangan and the full moon party (myself and 2 other CA people, 3 Canadian girls, 2 English girls, and a couple from NY). Meeting new, interesting people continues to be my favorite part of the trip.
Today I plan to kayak out to the island that we failed to walk to yesterday, and just explore the coastline near where we're staying. I'm really excited for my two days and two awesome nights on this incredible island, though I'm also excited that this is one of my last stops (Bangkok next, for a day, then Singapore, then home on the 25th)--a win-win situation. Living out of a backpack and moving around every few days for 2 months has proven to be exhausting, and I look forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than 4 consecutive nights, seeing friends and family, working out, watching the NBA finals, not having to eat at a restaurant every meal, and many other things.
Here are a few pictures. I wish I could post more, by one of my memory cards got corrupted and I can't retrieve my files...I'll have to deal with that when I get home.
I left Koh Tao yesterday and arrived by ferry on Koh Phangan, the next island over. So far, it's just as amazing, though much bigger, more commercial, and more crowded. It seems that there is definitely more to do, but it's not as quaint or relaxing as Koh Tao. I'm staying at a place called Beck's resort in Ao Noi Wok--a small,secluded bay on the Southwest side of the island--with Aaron (guy from Cal Poly that I met in Chiang Mai and stayed with in Koh Tao) and Erica (girl from SF that Aaron was friends with and I met in Koh Tao). We have a few more friends that we hung out with in Koh Tao coming over today, so it looks like we'll have a good-size group for the full moon party(ies). The full moon party is essentially the reason I came to Koh Phangan. Every full moon, there is a giant party on Haadrin beach with between 10 and 30 thousand people in attendance--tourists and locals alike. Tonight we're going to go and pre-full moon party on Haadrin and scope the place out, and tomorrow is the big night. It should be an epic time and a great group. Google koh phangan, and full moon party koh phangan.
When we got here yesterday, we found a great restaurant, ate for 2 dollars, and then went back to the bay that we're staying in to go explore an island about a half mile across the bay. The water is shallow enough that you can literally walk all the way across this crystal clear bay to another island...though, we never made it due to the 50 million seashells on the ocean surface that made it feel like we were walking on razor blades. Instead, we went back to our hotel beach, and went on an adventure up the coastline. We didn't get too far because we were exhausted from our attempt at the island, but I plan to go explore the area as soon as I get back.
The last few days in Koh Tao were also awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't complete the PADI open water course. I rediscovered a phobia of mine that I didn't think would apply underwater--clastorphobia. It made for a pretty stressful and uncomfortable experience, and diving wasn't worth enough to me to be stressed out for the last days of my trip. I guess it's a pretty common thing to have happen (not wanting to dive due to clastorphobic type symptoms), and it's something that can be overcome pretty easily with time...but, I didn't have much time. So, maybe sometime down the road I'll finish the course. I was pretty bummed out about it/disappointed in myself for a day or so, but once I got over it, I really enjoyed Koh Tao even more than I think I would've had I been diving. Probably the coolest thing I did was go on a snorkeling trip all the way around the island. You may be thinking exactly what I usually think of snorkeling...dumb activity for tourists that can't figure out anything more interesting to do. Wrong. We boated around the entire island (which was awesome and gave a great perspective of the island) stopping at several different bays to snorkel for an hour or so (throughout the course of the day we did about 6 hours of snorkeling). Every bay was a fish bowl. I was literally surrounded by pools of all different kinds of colorful tropical fish the entire time...it was incredible, and interesting. I also did some free diving of my own, diving down 10-15 feet for 30-60 seconds to check out some of the cooler fish closer to the ground. At first, this almost killed me, as I came up light headed and gasping for breath each time (the English guy that I was trying this with kept getting bloody noses). But, after a while, I got the hang of it, and was able to dive down pretty easily..it was awesome, challenging, and fun. Anyways, it was a full day of snorkeling, hanging out with cool people on the boat, and exploring the sea surrounding the island. Great day.
The other few days consisted mainly of hanging out on the beach, kayaking, and making new friends. On one of the days, Aaron and i went to Yang Nuan, which is a smaller island right off the coast of Koh Tao...it had probably the coolest beach I've ever been to, with completely transparent bays on either side of the beach, which connected two small islands (picture below). We went out for dinner (and bars after) each night--which consisted of bbq skewers of fish, chicken, pineapple, onion, etc=delicious-- with big groups of people, and finally settled in with the same group we'll be with for Koh Phangan and the full moon party (myself and 2 other CA people, 3 Canadian girls, 2 English girls, and a couple from NY). Meeting new, interesting people continues to be my favorite part of the trip.
Today I plan to kayak out to the island that we failed to walk to yesterday, and just explore the coastline near where we're staying. I'm really excited for my two days and two awesome nights on this incredible island, though I'm also excited that this is one of my last stops (Bangkok next, for a day, then Singapore, then home on the 25th)--a win-win situation. Living out of a backpack and moving around every few days for 2 months has proven to be exhausting, and I look forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than 4 consecutive nights, seeing friends and family, working out, watching the NBA finals, not having to eat at a restaurant every meal, and many other things.
Here are a few pictures. I wish I could post more, by one of my memory cards got corrupted and I can't retrieve my files...I'll have to deal with that when I get home.
 |
| Me on the snorkeling boat, Koh Tao |
 |
| Koh Tao |
 |
| Yang Nuan, small island near Koh Tao |
 |
| Sunset on Sairee Beach, Koh Tao |
 |
| Sunset at Beck's resort, Koh Phangan |
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Koh Tao, paradise
I'm going try to make this one short and sweet since I'd much rather be soaking up the sun on the white sand under a coconut palm then sitting in an internet cafe.
I arrived on Koh Tao at around 10am a couple days ago, and it has been absolute paradise since I stepped foot on the island. White sand, transparent light green water, coconut palms, green mountains--the whole nine yards. This place looks like the island screen savers that come preloaded on Windows; please google it. I'm traveling solo for the first time, as Emily wanted to do a yoga retreat on Koh Phangan (the next island over) and i wanted to get my PADI diving certification on Koh Tao. The first day/night i decided I wanted to go somewhere more secluded and relaxed than the main beach--Sairee beach--so i settled in Chalok bay on the Southeast side of the island. Deciding on a place to settle for the day took me no less than 3 hours, walking up and down steep hills with my big bag...it was exhausting, but I was determined to find a place that felt just right. It ended up being well worth it, as the place I found may have been the most quaint, relaxing, beautiful place I've ever been. I felt like the bay was all mine, with very few others around, and my hotel room was huge, decent, and right on the beach for $10. The bay was full of fish, crab, coral reef, and long tail wooden boats, and surrounded by steep, green mountains. I ran into a guy from the Czech republic that i had met on the boat over to Koh Tao, and ended up having lunch and hanging out with him and his two friends for a few hours. I then went on an adventure to find a bay that was swim-able...this entailed walking along the rocky beach, climbing rocks to get to the next bay, and walking gingerly over sharp coral when I couldn't climb the rocks that separated one bay from the next. The trek was fun, interesting, and exhausting...I felt like i was hiking around my own private island searching for shipwreck treasure or something. [You're probably thinking, you're on the beach, can't you swim anywhere? No, most of the bays are full of coral and are very shallow so you can only lay in the water]. My venture was relatively successful...I found a bay that went to about 4 feet deep with less coral, and was able to at least get my head wet and walk around the crystal clear water a bit. It was here that I also met an English girl, probably about 30, that I ended up hiking around with for the next couple of hours. We hiked up to this viewpoint on a penisula that separates two bays as I had been told that it was an awesome sunset spot. After an absurdly steep 45 minute uphill climb on a narrow, hardly groomed dirt path, we reached the top, and wow was it ever worth the hike. Maybe the most scenic peak I've ever been on, you could see shark bay on one side, and Chalok bay on the other, with the sun setting to the west over the peniusla on the west side of Chalok bay...words or pictures can't explain how surreal the view was. Anyways, we hiked down after sunset, went back to the hotel (we were coincidentally staying at the same place), grabbed a beer and some dinner, and I called it a night really early (around 9pm) because I was so so tired--both from the overnight bus which dropped me in Champoun at 4am before catching the 8am boat to Koh Tao, and from hiking around all day.
The next morning I woke up really early, barely missing sunrise, and grabbed some breakfast at the beachside restaurant at the hotel...then I relaxed on the beach for a couple hours, reading the economist and taking advantage of the sub-100 degree weather that only exists before 9am. I then decided I'd check out and head to Sairee beach to see what all the hype was about, and to look into several dive schools. I got a ride to Sairee from a 12year old on a motorbike, which was sketchy at best, but I made it to Sairee in one piece and started my search for the perfect dive school. If you know me well, you know that I have to check out every single available option before I buy anything, and choosing a place to dive was no different. I walked Mae Haad bay and Sairee beach for no less than 4 hours, talking to dive instructors at about 6 different places, and trying to find an accomodation that felt right. Carrying my 30lb pack and small bag made this an incredibly tiring feat, and by the end of it I really thought I might faint from heat exhaustion and dehydration...at least I'd faint on the most beautiful beach in the world. I finally decided on Coral Grand, a place at the very north end of Sairee beach. The instructors were super laid back, weren't pushy about getting you into their school and weren't trying to convince you that there school was any better than all the rest--in fact, one of the guys basically said that they're all pretty much the same, so just go with the one that feels right. I think that's what sold me--that, and the fact that it was far enough from the hustle bustle bar/restaurant area to be super relaxing, but close enough that you could easily walk to the happening nightlife area if you wanted. So far, it has turned out to be a great decision. I hung out on the beach right in front of the hotel soaking up the sun for hours yesterday, and then went out and checked out a few beach bars 15 minutes [walking] away with a late 20s dutch lady that I had met on the beach earlier. It was a great time...all the bars are literally right on the beach--as in, you sit on pads on the beach and they bring you drinks--and one bar in particular had guys doing the crazy flame throwing, fire ring tossing, whatever you call it. It was pretty amazing, really. We called it a night around midnight, and I retreated to my awesome beachside bungalow for a great night of sleep.
Today I start my first day of PADI open water training. It's a four day course, and if I complete it, I'll be PADI certified and can scuba dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters. I'll be doing the course with Aaron, a friend that I met in Chiang Mai that also went to Poly...he's arriving on Koh Tao today. It should be a great experience.
I have a bunch of pictures to post from the temples and from the past couple of days on Koh Tao, but I'm anxious to get to the beach so I think they'll have to wait until later. Hope all is well in CA.
I arrived on Koh Tao at around 10am a couple days ago, and it has been absolute paradise since I stepped foot on the island. White sand, transparent light green water, coconut palms, green mountains--the whole nine yards. This place looks like the island screen savers that come preloaded on Windows; please google it. I'm traveling solo for the first time, as Emily wanted to do a yoga retreat on Koh Phangan (the next island over) and i wanted to get my PADI diving certification on Koh Tao. The first day/night i decided I wanted to go somewhere more secluded and relaxed than the main beach--Sairee beach--so i settled in Chalok bay on the Southeast side of the island. Deciding on a place to settle for the day took me no less than 3 hours, walking up and down steep hills with my big bag...it was exhausting, but I was determined to find a place that felt just right. It ended up being well worth it, as the place I found may have been the most quaint, relaxing, beautiful place I've ever been. I felt like the bay was all mine, with very few others around, and my hotel room was huge, decent, and right on the beach for $10. The bay was full of fish, crab, coral reef, and long tail wooden boats, and surrounded by steep, green mountains. I ran into a guy from the Czech republic that i had met on the boat over to Koh Tao, and ended up having lunch and hanging out with him and his two friends for a few hours. I then went on an adventure to find a bay that was swim-able...this entailed walking along the rocky beach, climbing rocks to get to the next bay, and walking gingerly over sharp coral when I couldn't climb the rocks that separated one bay from the next. The trek was fun, interesting, and exhausting...I felt like i was hiking around my own private island searching for shipwreck treasure or something. [You're probably thinking, you're on the beach, can't you swim anywhere? No, most of the bays are full of coral and are very shallow so you can only lay in the water]. My venture was relatively successful...I found a bay that went to about 4 feet deep with less coral, and was able to at least get my head wet and walk around the crystal clear water a bit. It was here that I also met an English girl, probably about 30, that I ended up hiking around with for the next couple of hours. We hiked up to this viewpoint on a penisula that separates two bays as I had been told that it was an awesome sunset spot. After an absurdly steep 45 minute uphill climb on a narrow, hardly groomed dirt path, we reached the top, and wow was it ever worth the hike. Maybe the most scenic peak I've ever been on, you could see shark bay on one side, and Chalok bay on the other, with the sun setting to the west over the peniusla on the west side of Chalok bay...words or pictures can't explain how surreal the view was. Anyways, we hiked down after sunset, went back to the hotel (we were coincidentally staying at the same place), grabbed a beer and some dinner, and I called it a night really early (around 9pm) because I was so so tired--both from the overnight bus which dropped me in Champoun at 4am before catching the 8am boat to Koh Tao, and from hiking around all day.
The next morning I woke up really early, barely missing sunrise, and grabbed some breakfast at the beachside restaurant at the hotel...then I relaxed on the beach for a couple hours, reading the economist and taking advantage of the sub-100 degree weather that only exists before 9am. I then decided I'd check out and head to Sairee beach to see what all the hype was about, and to look into several dive schools. I got a ride to Sairee from a 12year old on a motorbike, which was sketchy at best, but I made it to Sairee in one piece and started my search for the perfect dive school. If you know me well, you know that I have to check out every single available option before I buy anything, and choosing a place to dive was no different. I walked Mae Haad bay and Sairee beach for no less than 4 hours, talking to dive instructors at about 6 different places, and trying to find an accomodation that felt right. Carrying my 30lb pack and small bag made this an incredibly tiring feat, and by the end of it I really thought I might faint from heat exhaustion and dehydration...at least I'd faint on the most beautiful beach in the world. I finally decided on Coral Grand, a place at the very north end of Sairee beach. The instructors were super laid back, weren't pushy about getting you into their school and weren't trying to convince you that there school was any better than all the rest--in fact, one of the guys basically said that they're all pretty much the same, so just go with the one that feels right. I think that's what sold me--that, and the fact that it was far enough from the hustle bustle bar/restaurant area to be super relaxing, but close enough that you could easily walk to the happening nightlife area if you wanted. So far, it has turned out to be a great decision. I hung out on the beach right in front of the hotel soaking up the sun for hours yesterday, and then went out and checked out a few beach bars 15 minutes [walking] away with a late 20s dutch lady that I had met on the beach earlier. It was a great time...all the bars are literally right on the beach--as in, you sit on pads on the beach and they bring you drinks--and one bar in particular had guys doing the crazy flame throwing, fire ring tossing, whatever you call it. It was pretty amazing, really. We called it a night around midnight, and I retreated to my awesome beachside bungalow for a great night of sleep.
Today I start my first day of PADI open water training. It's a four day course, and if I complete it, I'll be PADI certified and can scuba dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters. I'll be doing the course with Aaron, a friend that I met in Chiang Mai that also went to Poly...he's arriving on Koh Tao today. It should be a great experience.
I have a bunch of pictures to post from the temples and from the past couple of days on Koh Tao, but I'm anxious to get to the beach so I think they'll have to wait until later. Hope all is well in CA.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor
I've spent over 3 days in Siem Reap now, and even in such limited time I can safely say it has been one of my favorite places of this trip. Before coming here, I was fully expecting it to be a complete shantytown, comparable to Laos if not worse, with nothing to do aside from venturing 20 minutes outside of town to see the temples. It has turned out to be quite the opposite. While it's pretty obvious that there are many poor people here, the touristy part of town, which is basically the whole town, is nice, well kept, and very comfortable. The people are very kind, more like the Thais than the Vietnamese or the Laotians, the food is decent and cheap (about $2 for a meal, give or take) as is the beer (about $.50), and the place we're staying is great. We decided to "splurge" and are spending around $12 a night each compared to the $6 or so that we're used to, but it's the equivalent of a 4star boutique hotel in the U.S., complete with a pool, comfortable beds, cable with American channels, and "free" breakfast which includes eggs, bacon, fruit, cheese, bread, coffee, and tea. It's pretty reviving to stay in a nicer place for a couple of nights, especially in this Cambodian heat and humidity (36+ Celsius, 95%+ humidity). There are plenty of great restaurants, cool bars, and one of the first markets we've found this whole trip that has a few non-generic items that may have actually been made in Cambodia. The town has some charm and just has a great vibe overall.
It does have a sad side though--specifically, all of the children and people without limbs going around trying to sell stuff. There are kids between the ages of 5-18 everywhere trying to sell everything from snails to postcards to fans to musical instruments. Many of them are missing limbs (there are also quite a few older people around town missing limbs), presumably from the thousands of displaced landmines in Cambodia (http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/Ledgerwood/Landmines.htm), and most are not in very good spirits. They haggle you for at least 5 minutes after your initial rejection to whatever they're trying to sell you, following you down the street, telling you to buy it for your girlfriend, for your mom, telling you not to be stingy, etc. Some of them are pretty funny, and quite clever in their bargaining, but it's still really, really sad--I could never imagine being forced to go out all day selling stuff when I was a kid. I think we've had quite a few "wow, I'm so fortunate to have been born into middle class America" moments, and really gained some perspective on how good we have it compared to those being brought up in a third world country.
When we arrived on Thursday, we got a cab to our hotel (the Passaggio), checked in, and then were on the hunt for our California friends from Laos, Linda and Cameron. We checked their hostel without luck, and decided that the town couldn't possibly be so big that we wouldn't be able to find them. Sure enough, after 10 minutes of searching we found them [and their friend darrel], and we were pretty excited to be reunited (=lunch and an achor steam). We used the rest of Wednesday as a get used to the town and explore the markets day, and at night we had two tuk-tuk drivers that Cameron and Linda had befriended take us to the Cambodia part of town for a local experience. We ended up at a really cool outside (sort of) restaurant/bar, with cheap food, cool decor, and 40 weird looks from local people. Dinner, shrimp and friend rice, was a $1.25, and beer was $.50...We caught up on our last couple weeks of traveling (they did southern Laos, we did Vietnam), and then called it a night pretty early because we were planning to do sunset at the temples at 5am.
The next morning we were up at 4:30, and tuk-tuk'd out to the temples (about 6 miles outside of town) with cameron, linda, darrel, and the same tuk tuk drivers we had used the night before [both of the drivers are cool dudes in their 20s that speak great english, like most people here, and we've been fortunate enough to use them for all of our transportation for these few days). It was pretty surreal riding in a tuk-tuk through neighborhoods and jungles of cambodia during the wee hours of the morning when it was still dark out and people were just starting to wake to begin work for the day...I had a "holy crap I'm in Cambodia" moment...Unfortunately, sunrise itself wasn't all that spectacular because it was overcast, but Angkor Wat itself more than made up for it. It's the main temple in the giant Angkor temple complex, and it is incredible. The sheer size of the grounds and the temple is amazing, and the intricate detail carved into every single stone is unreal. There is a large pond at the entrance, split by a raised stone walkway that leads up to the first gate, which would be impressive all by itself. After passing the first gate/temple, you enter a GIANT field, with a smaller temple on either side of the main walkway, and Angkor Wat in all of its glory right in front of you. There's not too much more I can actually describe--it's definitely a see-it-to-believe-it kind of deal. I'll post some pictures that don't do it any justice, but maybe google imaging Angkor Wat would give you some idea of what it's like. After sunrise, we had breakfast at "Lady Gaga" restaurant (all of the restaurants around Angkor named themselves after something from western pop culture--I believe the restaurant next to us was "Spiderwoman"), which was great, and then went off in the 150 degree heat to explore the other temples. I'm not going to say too much here--we saw three main temples, all of which were absolutely incredible and really made you wonder how the hell people 1000 years ago were able to build such structures. Each temple had it's own character and uniqueness, and I found that some of the smaller ones were actually more interesting than the massive ones due to the added attention to detail that they seemed to receive. I was really in complete awe for the entire morning, and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the temples and taking 600 pictures--yes, 600. And that was just day 1. We made it to about 1pm before all of us were approaching death by heat exhaustion, so we called it a day and came back to town. When we got back to Siem Reap, we ate, hung out, ate, explored the town, ate, drank a beer, ate, went to the night market...all we really do in town is eat and chat with locals trying to sell us stuff. But it's a great time.
The day before yesterday we slept in (until 7), had an amazing breakfast at our hotel, and kind of took it easy for most of the day, hanging out by the pool and spending way too much time on the internet. I had an excellent Indian meal that I had been craving-- Pallak Panner and Chicken Marsala, and then at around 230 we headed out to the temples with our tuk-tuk driver to check out a few more main temples and the catch sunset. The two temples we went to were pretty awesome--one was massive but without much detail and very much in ruins; the other was more vertical than horizontal, had much more character than the first, and had a great view of the vast open area that contains all of the temples. After the temples, we basically repeated the previous night, hanging out with cameron, linda, and darrel.
Yesterday, we decided to try sunrise again, hoping for better weather than the first day. We also went about 30 minutes earlier, around 430am, as 5am seemed about a half hour too late the first time. When we arrived, we were basically the first people there (there were 4 or 5 others), and it was still so dark that we couldn't see the walkway up to the temple...the host at the front checking tickets just told us to walk straight and don't veer right (there is a giant lake to the right that you would fall into off of the raised walkway, hah). We were templed out by the end of sunrise, and decided to head back for yet another excellent breakfast at our hotel. The rest of the day consisted of eating, shopping around, and eating more with cameron and linda.
Here I am now, at the Siem Reap Int'l Airport, which is brand new and extremely well done, waiting for a flight to Bangkok. We're only planning to spend a day or so in Bangkok before we head south to the islands (I'm heading to Koh Tao first, google it), which should be the most relaxing part of this trip by far--I'm very much looking forward to it. I did an entirely separate post for pictures just before this because it was easier, so check that out too. I have quite a few more temple pictures that I'll post sometime in the next few days. Hope all is well in CA, and that the Lakers keep up the good work (0-3, baby). Happy mother's day to my awesome mother, Kim, and to all of the other mom's out there!
Yesterday, we decided to try sunrise again, hoping for better weather than the first day. We also went about 30 minutes earlier, around 430am, as 5am seemed about a half hour too late the first time. When we arrived, we were basically the first people there (there were 4 or 5 others), and it was still so dark that we couldn't see the walkway up to the temple...the host at the front checking tickets just told us to walk straight and don't veer right (there is a giant lake to the right that you would fall into off of the raised walkway, hah). We were templed out by the end of sunrise, and decided to head back for yet another excellent breakfast at our hotel. The rest of the day consisted of eating, shopping around, and eating more with cameron and linda.
Here I am now, at the Siem Reap Int'l Airport, which is brand new and extremely well done, waiting for a flight to Bangkok. We're only planning to spend a day or so in Bangkok before we head south to the islands (I'm heading to Koh Tao first, google it), which should be the most relaxing part of this trip by far--I'm very much looking forward to it. I did an entirely separate post for pictures just before this because it was easier, so check that out too. I have quite a few more temple pictures that I'll post sometime in the next few days. Hope all is well in CA, and that the Lakers keep up the good work (0-3, baby). Happy mother's day to my awesome mother, Kim, and to all of the other mom's out there!
Siep Reap and Temples of Angkor in Pictures
 |
| Angkor Wat, Sunrise |
 |
| Angkor Wat, Sunrise |
 |
| Angkor Wat, Sunrise |
 |
| Inside Angkor Wat |
 |
| Monkey at Angkor Wat |
 |
| In front of the Main Gate into Angkor Wat |
 |
| Cool kid we met on the street |
 |
| Roasting a whole cow |
 |
| View from balcony, Siem Reap |
 |
| Our tuk tuk driver, Tana |
 |
| Sunrise near Angkor Wat |
 |
| Monk near Angkor Wat |
 |
 |
| Ancient graveyard |
 |
| One of the smaller temples next to Angkor Wat |
 |
| Main Gate into Angkor Wat |
 |
| Monkey take two |
 |
| My favorite temple, forgot the name |
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta
Today is our last day in Vietnam, and it has been a riot to say the least...this place is unlike any other. The last 3 days we've been going non-stop, visiting the Cu Chi tunnels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%E1%BB%A7_Chi_tunnels) and going on a 2 day, 1 night tour around the Mekong Delta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_delta).
On Saturday morning, we were supposed to be ready at 745am for an 8am bus to the Cu Chi tunnels, located about an hour and a half outside of Saigon (Ho Chi Min). [The cu chi tunnels are the maze of underground tunnels that the Vietnamese militia built and used to fight the US during the Vietnam war. They had 3 levels of tunnels at different depths underground, many dead ends, and many gruesome booby traps to take out American soldiers that dared to go down after the Vietnamese. Click on the wiki link above for more.] Anyways, 745. I woke up, on time, at around 630am, and came downstairs for free hostel breakfast (bread and one egg), and then went back upstairs for a shower around 715. Not 10 minutes later, Emily was banging on the door "they're here, they're here, we're going...". Ah, 725 does not equal 745, what the hell..frantic rush out of the shower, brush teeth in 5seconds, arrive downstairs 2minutes later still wet, sort of dressed, chasing the group out of the hostel. We proceeded to walk across the street to where the bus was to pick us up. And we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited for about 50minutes before finally boarding the bus, and then the bus drove in a giant circle and we ended up back at the same place it picked up about 30minutes later, presumably because the tour guide forgot something at his office. So, there we were an hour and a half later at the same place that we had been picked up. Thank you, tour company, for allowing me to enjoy my morning shower. Anyways, we took an interesting 90minute ride through some shantytowns outside of Saigon and arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels. I don't have a ton to say about the tunnels. Aside from being pretty interesting since I'm American, the whole deal was extremely touristy and complete with fake robotic soldiers, fake booby traps, and overblown anti-American propaganda to boot. One of the main things that caught my attention were the insane booby traps that the Vietnamese used against the Americans. They were made out of sharp bamboo and in most cases planted in such a way that an American solider would take wrong wrong step and fall into a sharp mouse trap that would slice up his legs to the point of needing amputation. It was really, really gruesome, and certainly not fair fighting, but I suppose none of the Vietnam war was really fair fighting. Our tour guide would repeatedly say "these were used to trap the enemy...these were used to kill the enemy...when we killed an enemy soldier, we would burn him in a mass grave so his family would never find him..."...at least several times he crossed the line, and I really felt like pushing him into a booby trap. However subtle, there is definitely still an anti-American sentiment that exists here, and seems more noticeable in southern Vietnam than in the North. After checking out the booby traps, and a few other things like how they cooked underground (they would place the vent for the smoke 500meters from the actual kitchen so the smoke wouldn't give away their location, and they would cook only once a day in the morning when it was foggy so the smoke in the air wasn't so obvious. They survived off of tapioca (which we tried, and it tasted basically exactly how I would imagine a non-scented candle to taste), and some other basic things like rice), we were on to the main attraction, the tunnels. First, we checked out a tunnel that was actual size, and wow, there is no way that anything but a tiny, starving Vietnamese man could fit. There is no way in hell any GI Joe of the 70's could've squeezed through that tunnel without either starving for weeks or taking the huge risk of getting stuck. It was about 2feet by 2feet, if even, dark, and dirty. Picture a large gofer hole. After this, we were on to the tunnel that our guide joked was the "euro tunnel" because it had been enlarged as part of the museum for people of European descent to fit through. The whole point is that you can go through the tunnel and get some idea of the conditions that the soldiers survived in for what was often a month at a time. It was 100meters long, maybe 4feet tall, and probably not 2feet wide. It's safe to say that I was not going to fit through that hole...Ok, I probably could have, but when I tried my shoulders were completely squeezed in and I had to enter almost sideways on all fours. I'm really claustrophobic, and decided that seeing the hole was enough. Yes, I wussed out, and didn't go through the hole. Another guy about my size opted to give it a shot, and at the end said it was absolutely horrible and he was almost stuck the whole time. So, good decision. After the tunnel, we watched an anti-American documentary on the war, and then were on our way back to Saigon. Overall, I'm really glad that we went and got to experience some Vietnam war history even if it was sort of underwhelming. It did, however, give some perspective as to why the Vietnamese are the last people on earth you'd ever want to go to war with. Anyone who is willing to live in a 2x2 hole for a month with scorpions and snakes and god knows what else is definitely not someone I'd want on the other team, and their gruesome guerrilla tactics were icing on the cake.
When we got back to Saigon, we went out to a late lunch with two girls we had met on the tour, Hester from Hungary and what's-her-name from Canada at the same Pho place we had been at the previous day. Sidenote on the Pho place, I had never tried Pho (google it) before Friday at this place slightly off the tourist strip in Saigon, and it was awesome. It's a soupy noodle dish with meat and vegetables, and the broth was as good as any I've ever had. After lunch, we bummed around a really well-known market not far from where we were staying, which turned out to be incredibly overpriced (I got a small frozen yogurt for over 3dollars, more than I paid for dinner and two beers last night). The rest of the day was pretty standard bumming around town, eating random food, and taking in the masses of people--tourists and locals alike.
The next morning we left for our Mekong Delta tour on THE most comfortable bus I've been on the entire trip. I could put my legs square in front of me, and my ass didn't hurt after 10minutes. Pleasant surprise. It took us about 3hours to get over to the delta, and once we did, the day was jam packed with stuff to do (slightly rushed). The Delta was beautiful even if it was brown, and it was bustling with cargo boats, food boats, tourists, etc...the mekong delta is an extremely wide part of the mekong where it branches off in different directions, including one branch that flows to the sea--google it. Our first stop was a coconut candy factory on one of the small islands in the delta, where we got to see how they make coconut candy from start to finish. It was pretty interesting, and more importantly, the candy that we got to sample was delicious. Apparently, it's much better than what you can buy in the store because what you buy in the store is loaded with preservatives. After, we went to a bee keeping place where they make honey, and tried some honey tea and dried bananas--also great, aside from the giant snake they had and the platter of bees that the bee lady decided to hang two inches from my face while the honey extraction process was described. We then went to a fruit orchard on the same island, and tried some standard but really good fruit, like pineapple and mange, and watched "an authentic vietnamese music performance" in which two guys played instruments, one on the guitar and the other on who knows what, and 3 ladies stood up and sang in an extremely high pitched, passionate tone. Hmm my feelings towards this performance were very similar to my feelings towards the puppet show in Hanoi. I think we'll leave it at that. We met some great people on day 1, including an Australian couple probably in their early 30s that we got to know pretty well throughout the course of the two days.
After this crammed day of pretty cool stuff, we hopped on a bus for 2 hours to the town that we were to sleep in that night, further down the Mekong, called Cantho (I didn't know the name of the town until we were about to leave). It was a surprisingly bustling town right on the river, with big buildings and tons of motorbikes, not dissimilar from the other places we've seen in Vietnam. We arrived just in time for dinner, and I was starving. We decided on a Vietnamese outdoor restaurant right on the river that looked interesting, cheap, and was packed with Vietnamese people so we figured it must be good. [Precursor: Here's the deal, I've made it a goal to only spend what I originally took out of the ATM in Hanoi, and am going down to the wire with money so whatever I order to eat, I must eat, as I can't afford to order a second dish even if it is only two dollars.] The first thing that jumped out at me on the menu was fish in the bbq section, which was 40k dong, or two dollars. Sold. I ordered Keo fish and a side of steamed rice. Not 3minutes later, the waiter brought me my meal, and it was shocking. I have no idea what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't this. I was served 8 long, skinny, worm like fish, on a stick. They were raw, unskinned, complete with the head, tail, and fins. They essentially just pulled them out of the river and threw them on my place. Oh, and they were kind enough to provide me with a small, charcoal bbq so that I could cook my dead fish (pictures at end). Decisions, decisions. Eat what I had ordered, or be hungry for a night. Verdict: when in Rome...I cooked the fish until they were charcoal, and carefully ate the tiny bit of meat that was on each fish off of the backbone, and graciously allowed each fish to keep his head. It wasn't terrible, it just tasted like sort of watery, mushy, white fish. Anyways, definitely the strangest thing I've eaten on this trip so far, but hey, at least I didn't order the frog. I left hungry, uneasy, but with a small sense of accomplishment that I had conquered the fish, didn't waste food, and stuck to my budgeting goal.
After dinner, we stopped at a small stand 100meters away for a 50cent fruit smoothie. We ended up meeting Jason from England who was sitting at the table next to us, and chatted with him for an hour or so about his travels in Nepal and other cool stories. He talked about this 11day trek he went on in Nepal where at the bottom it was 100degrees, and by day 7 it was negative 5. Crazy. Interesting, fun dude to talk to. After, it was back to our humble, yet decent accommodation for the night.
The next day, we were up early, and scheduled to check out the floating market, a rice paper factory/rice mill. The former was really interesting, the latter was just what it sounds like. The floating market was essentially an area of the river where a ton of boats gather with all different types of food and they trade and sell goods on the river. Apparently, it's the most accessible and convenient way to establish such a market, and is one of the few in SE Asia that is actually used by locals and isn't merely a tourist attraction (this seemed relatively true--there were many tourists, but many locals as well). It was really incredible and really interesting. There were well over a hundred boats, ranging from big cargo boats to small canoes, selling everything from pineapples to meats to coffee at dirt cheap prices. I've never seen anything like it (google image: mekong floating market). I tried some of the most amazing pineapple I've ever had, and got some pretty cool pictures. It was definitely the highlight of our Mekong Delta tour.
A few hours later (ok, more like 5 due to traffic), we were back in Saigon. We re-checked into our hostel, cleaned up, and went out to meet a couple that we had met on the tour for dinner--Peter from France and Anna from Sweden. Really interesting people--they recently moved to Saigon because Peter got transferred here for work with his French based company. While we were waiting to meet them for dinner, we witnessed one of the most disturbing, appalling things ever. There was this little girl, probably 6 years old, that was going around trying to sell roses, cigarettes, and gum out of her basket. That's bad enough as it is--a 6year old selling cigarettes at 8pm on a busy street by herself. But it was so much worse. She comes up to me and smacks me with the rose and asks if I want anything, I look down and say "no thank you"...she steps back and looks at me and goes "f*** you, f*** you", then walks over to emily and smacks her hard on the arm. She then proceeds to walk to a couple 20feet away sitting down eating and having beers and tries to sell them stuff. When they decline, she steps back into the street and starts yelling "f*** you, f*** you, shut up"...she then takes the guy's LA dodgers hat and runs off with it, forcing him to chase her 50 feet before she threw it down in the middle of the street (I mean, maybe that's what he gets for wearing a dodgers hat, but still). She then goes to a couple on the other side of where we were waiting, and does the same drill before picking up the guy's beer and threatening to pour it on him...then she goes back to the guy with the hat and haggles him for 10 more minutes, cussing at him, etc. It was unreal. What a poor, disturbed child. I would say where are the parents at, but I have a funny feeling her mom was probably the lady trying to sell me counterfeit books 20 minutes earlier.
Anyways, we finally met up with peter and anna for dinner, and went to a really cheap vietnamese place down the street, where I had some pho with pork for under 2dollars, and it was delicious. After, we stopped at a very authentic beer stand for a Saigon. By authentic, I mean that you sit outside of this 10foot by 10foot minimart on tiny plastic chairs with tiny metal tables and [tiny] vietnamese people. Reason being, it's the cheapest beer around. I had a Saigon green for FIFTY cents--it wasn't happy hour, and it wasn't terrible. We hung out for a while, had a great time, then called it a night.
It is now our last day in Vietnam, and it's been amazing. It's completely different from Hong Kong, Thailand, or Laos, and presumably than anywhere else in the world. The presence of the communist regime is still very much felt, though it's clear that the economy has become capitalistic and certain areas and sectors are booming. It's quite poor for the most part, but there's a fair amount of nice apartment buildings and high rise buildings with new construction all over the place. Better yet, the French guy that works here, Peter, said that there is no income tax--you keep what you earn. What a concept. The people have been nice and hospitable, though nowhere near the level of the Thai's, and the food has been great, though not as great nor as cheap as Thailand. It has been interesting and I feel fortunate to have explored at least a small part of such a historical place, especially as an American, and even in the little downtime that we've had here I've been interested and engaged in everything that's going on. Our accommodations have been excellent, both in Hanoi and Saigon, and the price of beer in Saigon goes unmatched. I'm extremely glad we included Vietnam in our trip, even if a little bummed that we missed all of central Vietnam which is supposed to be a real gem. I'm not sure it's a place I'd ever vacation, and it's certainly not a place I'd ever live, but it's definitely a place I'll bring my kids and that I'd recommend to anyone to come check out at least once. It's one of those "you've got to see it to believe it" kind of places. Even if all you saw the entire time you were here was the insane motor bike traffic, that experience alone would probably be worth your airfare.
Time for some more $2 Pho. We're flying to Siep Reap tomorrow to check out Angkor Wat and the other temples there, which the nerd in me is extremely excited for-- I have a feeling it could end up being my favorite part of the trip. Praise and thanks to Mr. Obama, the CIA, and all others involved in taking down Bin Laden. Great day for America. Hope all is well in CA.
On Saturday morning, we were supposed to be ready at 745am for an 8am bus to the Cu Chi tunnels, located about an hour and a half outside of Saigon (Ho Chi Min). [The cu chi tunnels are the maze of underground tunnels that the Vietnamese militia built and used to fight the US during the Vietnam war. They had 3 levels of tunnels at different depths underground, many dead ends, and many gruesome booby traps to take out American soldiers that dared to go down after the Vietnamese. Click on the wiki link above for more.] Anyways, 745. I woke up, on time, at around 630am, and came downstairs for free hostel breakfast (bread and one egg), and then went back upstairs for a shower around 715. Not 10 minutes later, Emily was banging on the door "they're here, they're here, we're going...". Ah, 725 does not equal 745, what the hell..frantic rush out of the shower, brush teeth in 5seconds, arrive downstairs 2minutes later still wet, sort of dressed, chasing the group out of the hostel. We proceeded to walk across the street to where the bus was to pick us up. And we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited for about 50minutes before finally boarding the bus, and then the bus drove in a giant circle and we ended up back at the same place it picked up about 30minutes later, presumably because the tour guide forgot something at his office. So, there we were an hour and a half later at the same place that we had been picked up. Thank you, tour company, for allowing me to enjoy my morning shower. Anyways, we took an interesting 90minute ride through some shantytowns outside of Saigon and arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels. I don't have a ton to say about the tunnels. Aside from being pretty interesting since I'm American, the whole deal was extremely touristy and complete with fake robotic soldiers, fake booby traps, and overblown anti-American propaganda to boot. One of the main things that caught my attention were the insane booby traps that the Vietnamese used against the Americans. They were made out of sharp bamboo and in most cases planted in such a way that an American solider would take wrong wrong step and fall into a sharp mouse trap that would slice up his legs to the point of needing amputation. It was really, really gruesome, and certainly not fair fighting, but I suppose none of the Vietnam war was really fair fighting. Our tour guide would repeatedly say "these were used to trap the enemy...these were used to kill the enemy...when we killed an enemy soldier, we would burn him in a mass grave so his family would never find him..."...at least several times he crossed the line, and I really felt like pushing him into a booby trap. However subtle, there is definitely still an anti-American sentiment that exists here, and seems more noticeable in southern Vietnam than in the North. After checking out the booby traps, and a few other things like how they cooked underground (they would place the vent for the smoke 500meters from the actual kitchen so the smoke wouldn't give away their location, and they would cook only once a day in the morning when it was foggy so the smoke in the air wasn't so obvious. They survived off of tapioca (which we tried, and it tasted basically exactly how I would imagine a non-scented candle to taste), and some other basic things like rice), we were on to the main attraction, the tunnels. First, we checked out a tunnel that was actual size, and wow, there is no way that anything but a tiny, starving Vietnamese man could fit. There is no way in hell any GI Joe of the 70's could've squeezed through that tunnel without either starving for weeks or taking the huge risk of getting stuck. It was about 2feet by 2feet, if even, dark, and dirty. Picture a large gofer hole. After this, we were on to the tunnel that our guide joked was the "euro tunnel" because it had been enlarged as part of the museum for people of European descent to fit through. The whole point is that you can go through the tunnel and get some idea of the conditions that the soldiers survived in for what was often a month at a time. It was 100meters long, maybe 4feet tall, and probably not 2feet wide. It's safe to say that I was not going to fit through that hole...Ok, I probably could have, but when I tried my shoulders were completely squeezed in and I had to enter almost sideways on all fours. I'm really claustrophobic, and decided that seeing the hole was enough. Yes, I wussed out, and didn't go through the hole. Another guy about my size opted to give it a shot, and at the end said it was absolutely horrible and he was almost stuck the whole time. So, good decision. After the tunnel, we watched an anti-American documentary on the war, and then were on our way back to Saigon. Overall, I'm really glad that we went and got to experience some Vietnam war history even if it was sort of underwhelming. It did, however, give some perspective as to why the Vietnamese are the last people on earth you'd ever want to go to war with. Anyone who is willing to live in a 2x2 hole for a month with scorpions and snakes and god knows what else is definitely not someone I'd want on the other team, and their gruesome guerrilla tactics were icing on the cake.
When we got back to Saigon, we went out to a late lunch with two girls we had met on the tour, Hester from Hungary and what's-her-name from Canada at the same Pho place we had been at the previous day. Sidenote on the Pho place, I had never tried Pho (google it) before Friday at this place slightly off the tourist strip in Saigon, and it was awesome. It's a soupy noodle dish with meat and vegetables, and the broth was as good as any I've ever had. After lunch, we bummed around a really well-known market not far from where we were staying, which turned out to be incredibly overpriced (I got a small frozen yogurt for over 3dollars, more than I paid for dinner and two beers last night). The rest of the day was pretty standard bumming around town, eating random food, and taking in the masses of people--tourists and locals alike.
The next morning we left for our Mekong Delta tour on THE most comfortable bus I've been on the entire trip. I could put my legs square in front of me, and my ass didn't hurt after 10minutes. Pleasant surprise. It took us about 3hours to get over to the delta, and once we did, the day was jam packed with stuff to do (slightly rushed). The Delta was beautiful even if it was brown, and it was bustling with cargo boats, food boats, tourists, etc...the mekong delta is an extremely wide part of the mekong where it branches off in different directions, including one branch that flows to the sea--google it. Our first stop was a coconut candy factory on one of the small islands in the delta, where we got to see how they make coconut candy from start to finish. It was pretty interesting, and more importantly, the candy that we got to sample was delicious. Apparently, it's much better than what you can buy in the store because what you buy in the store is loaded with preservatives. After, we went to a bee keeping place where they make honey, and tried some honey tea and dried bananas--also great, aside from the giant snake they had and the platter of bees that the bee lady decided to hang two inches from my face while the honey extraction process was described. We then went to a fruit orchard on the same island, and tried some standard but really good fruit, like pineapple and mange, and watched "an authentic vietnamese music performance" in which two guys played instruments, one on the guitar and the other on who knows what, and 3 ladies stood up and sang in an extremely high pitched, passionate tone. Hmm my feelings towards this performance were very similar to my feelings towards the puppet show in Hanoi. I think we'll leave it at that. We met some great people on day 1, including an Australian couple probably in their early 30s that we got to know pretty well throughout the course of the two days.
After this crammed day of pretty cool stuff, we hopped on a bus for 2 hours to the town that we were to sleep in that night, further down the Mekong, called Cantho (I didn't know the name of the town until we were about to leave). It was a surprisingly bustling town right on the river, with big buildings and tons of motorbikes, not dissimilar from the other places we've seen in Vietnam. We arrived just in time for dinner, and I was starving. We decided on a Vietnamese outdoor restaurant right on the river that looked interesting, cheap, and was packed with Vietnamese people so we figured it must be good. [Precursor: Here's the deal, I've made it a goal to only spend what I originally took out of the ATM in Hanoi, and am going down to the wire with money so whatever I order to eat, I must eat, as I can't afford to order a second dish even if it is only two dollars.] The first thing that jumped out at me on the menu was fish in the bbq section, which was 40k dong, or two dollars. Sold. I ordered Keo fish and a side of steamed rice. Not 3minutes later, the waiter brought me my meal, and it was shocking. I have no idea what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't this. I was served 8 long, skinny, worm like fish, on a stick. They were raw, unskinned, complete with the head, tail, and fins. They essentially just pulled them out of the river and threw them on my place. Oh, and they were kind enough to provide me with a small, charcoal bbq so that I could cook my dead fish (pictures at end). Decisions, decisions. Eat what I had ordered, or be hungry for a night. Verdict: when in Rome...I cooked the fish until they were charcoal, and carefully ate the tiny bit of meat that was on each fish off of the backbone, and graciously allowed each fish to keep his head. It wasn't terrible, it just tasted like sort of watery, mushy, white fish. Anyways, definitely the strangest thing I've eaten on this trip so far, but hey, at least I didn't order the frog. I left hungry, uneasy, but with a small sense of accomplishment that I had conquered the fish, didn't waste food, and stuck to my budgeting goal.
After dinner, we stopped at a small stand 100meters away for a 50cent fruit smoothie. We ended up meeting Jason from England who was sitting at the table next to us, and chatted with him for an hour or so about his travels in Nepal and other cool stories. He talked about this 11day trek he went on in Nepal where at the bottom it was 100degrees, and by day 7 it was negative 5. Crazy. Interesting, fun dude to talk to. After, it was back to our humble, yet decent accommodation for the night.
The next day, we were up early, and scheduled to check out the floating market, a rice paper factory/rice mill. The former was really interesting, the latter was just what it sounds like. The floating market was essentially an area of the river where a ton of boats gather with all different types of food and they trade and sell goods on the river. Apparently, it's the most accessible and convenient way to establish such a market, and is one of the few in SE Asia that is actually used by locals and isn't merely a tourist attraction (this seemed relatively true--there were many tourists, but many locals as well). It was really incredible and really interesting. There were well over a hundred boats, ranging from big cargo boats to small canoes, selling everything from pineapples to meats to coffee at dirt cheap prices. I've never seen anything like it (google image: mekong floating market). I tried some of the most amazing pineapple I've ever had, and got some pretty cool pictures. It was definitely the highlight of our Mekong Delta tour.
A few hours later (ok, more like 5 due to traffic), we were back in Saigon. We re-checked into our hostel, cleaned up, and went out to meet a couple that we had met on the tour for dinner--Peter from France and Anna from Sweden. Really interesting people--they recently moved to Saigon because Peter got transferred here for work with his French based company. While we were waiting to meet them for dinner, we witnessed one of the most disturbing, appalling things ever. There was this little girl, probably 6 years old, that was going around trying to sell roses, cigarettes, and gum out of her basket. That's bad enough as it is--a 6year old selling cigarettes at 8pm on a busy street by herself. But it was so much worse. She comes up to me and smacks me with the rose and asks if I want anything, I look down and say "no thank you"...she steps back and looks at me and goes "f*** you, f*** you", then walks over to emily and smacks her hard on the arm. She then proceeds to walk to a couple 20feet away sitting down eating and having beers and tries to sell them stuff. When they decline, she steps back into the street and starts yelling "f*** you, f*** you, shut up"...she then takes the guy's LA dodgers hat and runs off with it, forcing him to chase her 50 feet before she threw it down in the middle of the street (I mean, maybe that's what he gets for wearing a dodgers hat, but still). She then goes to a couple on the other side of where we were waiting, and does the same drill before picking up the guy's beer and threatening to pour it on him...then she goes back to the guy with the hat and haggles him for 10 more minutes, cussing at him, etc. It was unreal. What a poor, disturbed child. I would say where are the parents at, but I have a funny feeling her mom was probably the lady trying to sell me counterfeit books 20 minutes earlier.
Anyways, we finally met up with peter and anna for dinner, and went to a really cheap vietnamese place down the street, where I had some pho with pork for under 2dollars, and it was delicious. After, we stopped at a very authentic beer stand for a Saigon. By authentic, I mean that you sit outside of this 10foot by 10foot minimart on tiny plastic chairs with tiny metal tables and [tiny] vietnamese people. Reason being, it's the cheapest beer around. I had a Saigon green for FIFTY cents--it wasn't happy hour, and it wasn't terrible. We hung out for a while, had a great time, then called it a night.
It is now our last day in Vietnam, and it's been amazing. It's completely different from Hong Kong, Thailand, or Laos, and presumably than anywhere else in the world. The presence of the communist regime is still very much felt, though it's clear that the economy has become capitalistic and certain areas and sectors are booming. It's quite poor for the most part, but there's a fair amount of nice apartment buildings and high rise buildings with new construction all over the place. Better yet, the French guy that works here, Peter, said that there is no income tax--you keep what you earn. What a concept. The people have been nice and hospitable, though nowhere near the level of the Thai's, and the food has been great, though not as great nor as cheap as Thailand. It has been interesting and I feel fortunate to have explored at least a small part of such a historical place, especially as an American, and even in the little downtime that we've had here I've been interested and engaged in everything that's going on. Our accommodations have been excellent, both in Hanoi and Saigon, and the price of beer in Saigon goes unmatched. I'm extremely glad we included Vietnam in our trip, even if a little bummed that we missed all of central Vietnam which is supposed to be a real gem. I'm not sure it's a place I'd ever vacation, and it's certainly not a place I'd ever live, but it's definitely a place I'll bring my kids and that I'd recommend to anyone to come check out at least once. It's one of those "you've got to see it to believe it" kind of places. Even if all you saw the entire time you were here was the insane motor bike traffic, that experience alone would probably be worth your airfare.
Time for some more $2 Pho. We're flying to Siep Reap tomorrow to check out Angkor Wat and the other temples there, which the nerd in me is extremely excited for-- I have a feeling it could end up being my favorite part of the trip. Praise and thanks to Mr. Obama, the CIA, and all others involved in taking down Bin Laden. Great day for America. Hope all is well in CA.
 |
| Booby trap, Cu Chi tunnels |
 |
| Cu Chi Tunnels |
 |
| Tank that the Americans blew up, and the Vietnamese put on display |
 |
| These two guys ask me to take a picture of them on my camera. They spoke no English, and smiled alot, so I did it. I figured they deserved to be in this post. |
 |
| Backpacker row, Saigon |
 |
| Mekong Delta |
 |
| Mekong Delta |
 |
| Small canal off of Mekong Delta |
 |
| Coconut Candy |
 |
| Post-lunch entertainment, Unicorn Island, Mekong Delta |
 |
| Bridge, Mekong Delta |
 |
| Strange tomb on Unicorn Island |
 |
| Jammin' |
 |
| Keo Fish, my favorite |
 |
| Mission accomplished |
 |
| Shanty on the Mekong |
 |
| Floating Market, Mekong |
 |
| Floating Market |
 |
| Floating Market |
 |
| Rice Paper drying |
 |
| Pig at the rice mill |
 |
| Doughnuts are universal |
 |
| 50cents of goodness |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)