Goodnight Saigon: Vietnam Wrap-Up

It's hard to believe it, but we're wrapping up more than three weeks in Vietnam tomorrow! It's been a really interesting place to visit. Debbie keeps saying she's glad we came here, and I keep saying that I don't regret it. I'm sure after we leave I'll come around to being glad!

Today was a perfect way to end our Vietnam trip. We spent the day in Saigon (official name Ho Chi Minh City, but no one calls it that...except officials) doing the Lonely Planet walking tour, which took us by some beautiful French colonial architecture (which it turns out we're big fans of...one of the reasons we loved Luang Prabang so much); fantastic food spots (Pho 2000, where Bill Clinton ate when we visited Vietnam in 2000...there are lots of pictures of him on the wall; Fanny, a delicious ice cream parlor where Debbie had ice cream shaped like sushi; and a Vietnamese restaurant where we had fresh spring rolls, chicken thigh with sticky rice, and sauteed spinach with garlic); and three museums: the Ho Chi Minh City Museum (okay), the Reunification Palace (a real highlight...North Vietnamese tanks busted through the gates here and arrested the South Vietnamese President in 1975 to finally end the Vietnam War), and the War Remnants Museum (which reminds you all over again that the war was a morally questionable catastrophe). We finished off the day on the rooftop bar of the Saigon Sheraton, which had an amazing view of the city...and ridiculously expensive drinks. Seriously, will we ever get used to paying more than $2 for a drink again?

Part of what made today so wonderful is that it gave us a bit of what we'd been missing the last two weeks -- namely, historical context. Don't get me wrong: hanging out at beautiful beaches and in the mountains has been really fun, and a good pace for this part of our journey. But in a country with such a complex recent history, we'd felt the absence of museums & what not in the places we'd visited. But somehow each country we've been to manages to find a way to round things off in the end, and Vietnam was no exception.

A couple of funny observations about Vietnam:

1. There are certain things you can find anywhere in the world. So far these include Oreos, Pringles and Mentos.

2. Laughing Cow Cheese is THE dominant cheese in Vietnam. It is everywhere. And if you are getting a 'cheese' something...9 out of 10 times, it's Laughing Cow.

3. You think that squat toilets are crazy, but then you see people from Southeast Asia squat. They do it all the time, in the city, on the side of the road, wherevs, not to go to the bathroom, just to hang out, like where an American would sit on the ground, or stand with their hands on their hips, they squat, and it's an amazing almost on the ground elbows in their hip joints thing.

4. What Debbie likes to call 'The Asian male half-up'. When men in Asia (excepting Japan) get hot (and lets face it, it's almost always hot) they tuck their shirt up right under their breast bone, like it's cool to run around in a half shirt. Women are expected to stay covered. Jerks. (ed: Debbie wrote that).

One more observation before we list our Vietnam roses & thorns: we think people's perspective on Hanoi and Saigon is totally determined by which city they visit first. Everyone we've met has hated one or the other city, and we think that's because no matter where you're coming from, Vietnam is going to feel jarring and overwhelming when you first arrive (epitomized by the motorbikes). But like most things, you get used to it after awhile. So at first we had a rough go in Hanoi, but even by the time we returned to Hanoi from Halong Bay we were able to enjoy it. And Saigon turned out to be quite a nice city (it helps that we had beautiful weather today even though there was a 75-90% chance of rain between 7am and 7pm!), despite warnings to the contrary.

Without further adieu, our roses & thorns VC edition:

Roses:

Uncle Ho's preserved body

The Vietnamese love of fresh herbs

Reunification Palace

Halong Bay

Mui Ne sunrise (at the white sand dunes) and sand slides!

Hue imperial palace

Louisiane beach resort in Nha Trang

Nha Trang lobster lady

KOTO restaurant in Hanoi (good food & good cause!)

Vietnamese iced coffee (very strong and sweetened with condensed milk...delicious!)

Hanoi Elegance Hotel

Pho, fresh spring rolls

Hoi An old city (& lanterns)

Tailored clothes!

Thorns:

Halong Bay tour

Trying to walk in the Hanoi Old Quarter

Ghetto train ride from Hue to Danang

Cat Ba Island (and the unsafe elements of the Cat Ba hike of doom)

Giant cockroaches at our hotel in Hoi An

Grabby vendors & touts

foreigner prices/treatment (how come the bus drops you at home and me at a resort 5 km out of town?)

Motorbikes on the sidewalk (can't a guy stop to scratch his leg without worrying for his life?!)

And now... some pictures!

Did you say....Lobster Lady?

Indeed I did... but we'll get there in a moment.

We enjoyed our cooking class, the best part being that we learned how to make fresh rice paper! Cool party trick right? We'll probably never do it again, but hell, we could if we wanted to and that is what counts. 

The following day we signed up to go snorkeling in the Cham Islands, which are about an hour by boat from Hoi An. We were told that it was a good way to beat the heat, and they weren't kidding! On the boat after snorkeling was the first time in months that I can say that I was cold!  It was awesome. Beyond the delicious chill, the snorkeling was cool...there were beautiful (and huge!) sea urchins, really interesting colorful barnacles of some sort, gorgeous purple and blue coral, and those cute fat starfish that are almost just blobs. Ohh, I also found Nemo and his dad in an anemananemane. For serious.

That night we departed Hoi An....on a night bus! You get on and instead of seats there are beds, stacked two deep, with three across (aisles in between).  The beds are a little short, and weirdly there is nowhere to put your stuff (the biggest problem if you ask me), at one point I slept with my purse on top of me... In any event, we actually did get some sleep, and had the most random experience ever.  We got in to Nha Trang at like 6:30 in the morning, grabbed a cab to our hotel, where we learned that we could have a room by 8 (score!). They opened their rooftop cafe for us to hang out at and we got breakfast (which was amazing by the way). Then we napped for like 3 hours, and watched a movie. Eventually, we wandered out where we found a great beach club and proceeded to have a many course, delicious western lunch with.... REAL BEER. It's an Australian owned place and they brew real beer that, my friends, was a treat.  Over the next few days, we drank a lot of that beer.  It had the benefit of being delicious Aussie-microbrews with Vietnamese prices.  Yes, just over a half liter was $2.50. 

That night we decided we wanted to watch the USA-Algeria game with some people, so we wandered down to the strip of restaurants/bars.  We tried one place, where we had this conversation: "Are you going to show the USA game?" "The England game is now, USA already win", "Umm, I don't think so", "Oh, then it is later tonight, at 1:30 am", "Nope, I'm pretty sure it's now", "Oh, then no one wants to watch"  Thanks for your help sir.  We headed next door to the Texas BBQ, where we watched with like 2 dudes and the guy who owns the place (a crazy American) and some Vietnamese waitresses who really enjoyed all of the noisemakers sent to them by Budweiser.

The next two days were spent like this: Get up early, eat delicious breakfast, head to beach resort, rent 2 comfy beach chairs under a palapa 15 ft from the beach, lay there for 8 hours, periodically order drinks or food, swim, read, nap, repeat.  Tough life, I know. Our second day we finished up with a visit to.... the Lobster Lady!!  Who is she, you might ask. There are vendors all over Vietnam who wear those fun straw hats and carry bamboo poles with baskets (as pictured below), some of them have sort of portable restaurants. On the beach in Nha Trang, they are portable seafood restaurants!  They set up, sell people fresh prawns, lobsters, and crabs, and then grill them over a bucket of coals and serve them to you on a tarp on the beach (all before the cops come of course!). It was delicious, super fun, and only $10!

The last two days we have been in Dalat.  It's up in the central highlands and we came because we heard it was cool and lovely.  Cool it definitely is, lovely, we weren't convinced.  The town itself is a little ugh.  Today we finally got out of town (Mike's been on One Percent Foundation board retreat calls all weekend).  First we tried to take the tourist train that is supposed to go into the woods to a village.  When we got there we were told there were no trains today as they had not reached their five person booking requirement. Boo. Cute train station and adorable one-car train though.  So we grabbed a taxi and headed to a cable car that took us a few kms out of town to a pretty reservoir. This was the Dalat we were looking for.  We spent a couple of hourse walking around the lake, sitting enjoying the lake and exploring a ransom new-ish Zen monastery there, then headed back towards town. 

Then we checked out Bao Dai's Summer Palace.  He was the last king of Vietnam, he abdicated for Ho Chi Minh.  The palace was hysterical, Mike remarked that it was the shabbiest royal abode he'd ever seen.  It was vaguely Art-Deco, very minimalist 30's decor, and kept up terribly.  But it was some amusing insight into Vietnamese history. Also it had nice gardens :)

Tomorrow we head to Mui Ne to check out the Sand Dunes then on to Saigon...

Pictures to come!

Happy Father's Day!

First of all, happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Great work, guys!

I thought I'd offer up a brief addendum to Debbie's cultural observations about Vietnam and give a quick update on the last few days.

Cultural Observation #1: Honking. Everything here honks. In fact, when we got to Hanoi we were a little overwhelmed by all the cars and motorbikes honking. They use honking as a mix between echolocation, letting other cars, motorbikes, bicycles, and people know where they are; and the traditional "get out of my way" message. When we got to Halong Bay, we learned that the boats too honk, particularly as they cut each other off or vie for space at the docks. Finally, we were intrigued to learn that the trains also honk, as we watched a people slowly get out of the way of an oncoming train at the Hue train station.

Cultural Observation #2: Lack of Intellectual Property Laws. Just assuming that's the case since it turns out in Vietnam you can copy anything. This is the first place we've seen photocopied books (cover, price tag, and all). It's also the only time I've heard of the issue you find in Hanoi with hotels copying the names of other successful hotel chains. Many taxi drivers at the airport are paid commissions to take unwitting tourists to the wrong hotels with the same name. Be careful which "Prince Hotel" you are taken to. And also watch out for tour companies. One of the most reputable companies here (though also the one that wound up screwing up our Halong Bay tour) is called Sinh Cafe. Which is great since there are Sinh Cafes all over Hanoi. Oh, right, except that most of them are knock-offs! At the "Real Sinh Cafe" (the real one is now forced to call itself that) they have a sign on the door noting that across the street is a fake Sinh Cafe. So confusing.

The last few days have been great...very relaxing. We're in the town of Hoi An, on the coast in roughly central Vietnam. Totally charming and historic, with lots of good food and shopping. At night the old quarter is lit up with red and white lanterns and is truly beautiful. We also opted for a few nights at a hotel in the old quarter that's entirely lit by lanterns (including our room!). Again, amazing in the evenings. We've spent the last couple of days walking around, enjoying the architecture, and stopping every hour or so for food and/or drink. It's so hot in the middle of the day here that it's basically a necessity.

Hoi An is also known for its tailors, and we decided the deals were too good to pass up, particularly since they basically construct the clothes for you from scratch. I'm having a three-piece black suit made, and Debbie's getting a beautiful dress. We're going to pick them up in a few minutes (fittings were earlier this afternoon...we only placed the orders yesterday!).

We've also loved reuniting for a few days with our British friends Becky, Adam, and Steve, who we met on the slow boat to Luang Prabang and travelled through much of Laos with. They're heading up Vietnam as we head down, and getting to see them again here has been a special treat! If anyone reading this needs ever a place to stay in England, I'm volunteering Steve to host you. You won't regret it. These are top-notch people.

Tomorrow Debbie and I are taking a cooking class (our third so far in Southeast Asia!), and the following day we're doing an all-day snorkeling trip to a nearby island. That night we're planning to catch an overnight bus to Nha Trang, a popular beach destination here. Yes, yes, life is tough...

don't be fooled by the t-shirt we are in vietnam ;)

Same Same.... BUT DIFFERENT

Ok, first a few funny things about Vietnam:

1) people here wear pajamas as clothes.  i'm not talking old timey silk pajamas, i'm talking about cotton twinsets with cartoon frogs on them, grandpa pajamas with stripes and buttons.  amazing.

2) "same same" is the worst phrase in the world.  it is the phrase that people here use when something is not remotely similar, it costs more and you will be unhappy about whatever they do next. when someone says "same same", run.

3) at any given time if you turn on a tv to an english channel there will be a CSI or NCIS on, pretty much 24 hours a day.

The last few days we have been all over the place!  We went on a moderately ill-fated trip to Halong Bay.  Thankfully, as the pictures show, it was really beautiful, and that made up for it.  The tour was just all crazy pants, as Mike would say, it was more a random conglomeration of experiences rather than a tour... but at the end we got almost half of our money back, so happy endings for all.  We ended up scheduling a night train to Hue for the following day, so we booked a nice hotel as a treat.... and it was AMAZING. The staff was lovely, and helpful and really made up for all of the shuffling around in Halong Bay.   We spent the next day wandering the old quarter, and enjoying Hanoi despite the craaaazy amount of traffic.

The overnight train was an adventure! The 'soft sleeper' beds were for sure the hardest beds we have ever encountered, and the train rocked so much that I had a dream that I was in an endless earthquake... in my dream I was like, it's almost like being on a crazy freight train... then I woke up ON A CRAZY TRAIN. Ha.

We spent the next two days in Hue, the imperial captial of ancient Viet Nam. We had a great morning exploring the citidel (walled city), which has an imperial palace (also walled) in it, and in that the forbidden purple city! (also walled). The buildings/ruins (I say that because some of the buildings have been restored, and some are ruins, and there is really no rhyme or reason, just ruins, then building, then building with nothing inside... made it a great adventure). Regardless, there was amazing mosaic work on them, the palace buildings and temples were really lovely. We also went for an imperial feast for lunch, 7 courses, including one that was a carved pinapple/with carrot pieces to make a rooster covered with toothpicks holding spring rolls, and a dessert that was a sweet bean paste shaped like fruits and perched on a fake plant!

Today we took the train from Hue to Danang, which is supposed to be a gorgeous ride.  The scenery was amazing, incredible coastline, beautiful jungle.... the train, however, was the most disgusting thing we have ever seen. Trash everywhere, windows so dirty you could hardly see out of them, puddles of unidentifiable brown goo (my backpack was minor victim to one)... and getting off the train in Danang was melee (they recheck your ticket on the way out, so everyone crushes through one door). Meanwhile, we finally got to Hoi An, which is LOVELY. We spent the afternoon walking around and exploring (and booking a reeeally nice hotel for the second half of our stay here). Twilight here is downright magical, all cute streets and lanterns and such. We plan to stick around for a few days, getting some clothes made (supposed to be cheap and awesome), hanging out by the riverside (or beach). Then on southward...

Until we have time to write a post... here are a few pictures...out of order..sorry in a rush

Us at the top of our Cat Ba Island hike of dooooom

Halong Bay!

Mike in Halong Bay

Mike and Uncle Ho

Halong Bay Sunset

Our Cyclo! That tiny man pushed us like a kilometer!

Goooood Morning Vietnam!

I love that movie!  Going back a few days... we spent the last 5 days in Vientiane, the capitol city of Laos. We intended to spend about 2 or 3 days there, but after reading the description of the bus ride from there to Hanoi (16 hours advertised, we heard more like 24-36 with increasing 'danger and overcrowding') we booked a flight which resulted in a longer stay... The first couple of days we were still flush with friends, we spent one day at the buddha park (a cool park with a ton of different kinda psychadelic statues) and at the national monument of Laos (beautiful, with loads of friendly monks). The next day we checked out the Laos version of the Arc d'Triumph (an amazing sign calls it an unfinished monster of concrete...hehe... it's actually cute) and then we went BOWLING! IN LAOS! It was hilarious and fun and a great way to say goodbye to a bunch of our friends who were headed to southern Laos.  We ended up having a great couple of cafe days, and I got a chance to get some extra pages put in my passport (I was counting visas, these Asian countries all have full page visas... and I didn't think I'd quiiiite make it) now I have an extra A-X of them!  The funniest part is that I have an old passport, with the state seals, and now I have that plus a new passport inside... hence it is now... Frankenpassport!  We also found a great restaurant called Makphet that is part of a non-profit that trains street kids with life skills (ironically we found a different one in Hanoi today (KOTO), always delicious and you feel so good about yourself when you get dessert).  We finally headed out yesterday early afternoon to Hanoi to get our first taste of Vietnam.

First impression was that it is pretty (lots of fields outside the city), nice French colonial buildings, a ton of motorbikes and crazy busy. After the chilled out enviornment in Laos, we weren't quite prepared for this level of hustle and bustle.  We checked in to our hotel and headed out to check out our neighborhood in the Old Quarter.  We stopped for a Bia Hoi (local fresh beer).  They put out low stools all over the sidewalk, and beer costs about 20 cents.  We had our first run-in with the intensity of the city when the guy who ran the place literally took off Mike's shoe, convinced us to let him polish it (yes, his Tevas) and then demanded money, we eventually gave him a couple of dollars and reminded ourselves we weren't in Laos anymore....

Today we got up EXTRA early to go see Uncle Ho in the flesh!  Between the hours of 8-11 am you can go get in line to see the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh, and boy, was that one of the strangest things I've ever seen.... We waited in a big line, checked our camera, dressed modestly, and got to stroll by, a very peaceful looking, well preserved Uncle Ho.  We spent a long time in the very confusing but amusing Ho Chi Minh museum (my favorite parts... the handball he used to exercise, and the clock that was in the room when he died...) We're back in a country where people stare, point, poke and photograph (a la China) which is funny, a whole family found Mike's beard point and laugh hilarious.... We spent the afternoon at the Temple of Literature (beautiful) and KOTO (tasty and sooo good for the kids).  Then took a couple hours to rest. 

This evening we went to the water puppet theater... which is kind of hard to explain (best to just google it) but there are puppets, and water, and traditional music... it was overall interesting and fun.  We also ran into our friends Marilyn and Federico (from the slow boat!) and went for a drink with them.  All told, a great first day.  Tomorrow we are heading to Halong Bay and Cat Ba island on a 3 day tour (one night on a junk boat and one at a hotel). Should be good fun!