Goodnight Saigon

I see that I’ve been terrible about keeping up the blog. We have come all the way through Vietnam and this is our last night in Ho Chi Minh City. I guess it’s been all those rooms with cable TV… Actually, I’m picking this up the next day, as I watched a movie on HBO last night (Lucky Number Slevin) instead of writing this.

We traveled south from Hanoi (first back to Hanoi from Cat Ba island) on the “open tourist bus”, which, for 28 bucks (US), provided us with transportation to Ho Chi Minh City, with stops at all the tourist towns on the way. We just had to confirm our seats the day before we wanted to leave for the next town. The $28 also bought us sleeper tickets on the overnight bus from Hanoi to Hue, our first stop. It was pretty comfortable (see photo.) Hue was a nice town – historic as the center of one of the country’s most powerful dynasties (see photos of remains of palace complex) and as a site of heavy fighting during the American War (which is known to Americans as the Vietnam War) being near the former North/South border and DMZ. Not being war buffs, we didn’t visit the DMZ.

Our next stop was Hoi An, which is a beautiful village with narrow streets and well-preserved architecture. Unfortunately, the rainy season was extended this year and the town was subject to heavy flooding. It also rained the whole time we were there, putting a damper (or “dampness”) on our visit. We never did venture out the 5km to the beach – the weather didn’t make it seem worthwhile.

Our next bus trip was an overnighter (and we were too cheap to shell out the extra $10 each for a sleeper bus) and hellish trip to Nha Trang – a beachside resort town. Again, the rainy weather didn’t allow us to enjoy the beach, but we did enjoy walking through the town during the breaks of good weather. After two nights in Nha Trang we were off to Dalat, a touristy village in the mountains north of HCMC – about 1500 meters high. The weather was nice and cool, and the bus ride was incredibly scenic, but we weren’t thrilled with the town.

As for HCMC (Saigon), we were a little concerned that the city would be totally overwhelming (like Hanoi) with the screeching traffic, and high-pressure sales pitches. Well, we both liked it better than Hanoi – perhaps because we were used to the traffic and the hawking by then, but we also had a nice hotel in a good location, and the weather began to improve. We visited the Ho Chi Minh museum to learn a bit about the man’s life and legacy (he’s an icon here) and the War Remnants museum, which documented the atrocities of the American/Vietnam war. Chilling, especially as I kept thinking we (America) didn’t learn a damn thing from the experience.

And now we are in Cambodia, having taken the bus directly from HCMC to Phnom Penh. We didn’t get here until late afternoon (yet another case of a 6-hour bus ride taking more than 8 hours) but so far it looks nice. Fortunately, though, the movie on HBO tonight (the Ice Harvest) isn’t al that compelling, so I was able to write this….
Will try to provide more frequent updates in the future.

XXXXL – Living Large

Yes, that was the size on the tag of the bathing suit I bought in Cat Ba, Vietnam. And, it is one of those grandma editions – with the skirt and all (though I have to say I love how it hides my “trouble spots”.) Actually, I think I’m about as large as they come here, which is sobering, but on the other hand, my feet actually touch the floor when I sit in most chairs, so I’ve got the right height, at least.

Even more sobering, though, is the fact I am “living larger” than just about everyone here. While I don’t think anyone is starving here (seems to be plenty of food to go around), these people work HARD! Looking out our hotel window on Sunday morning (okay, over the fabulous balcony) at 6AM, people were all over the place. They seem to work from before dawn to after dusk, 7 days per week! And for not much, I might add. As I’ve been complaining that people haven’t stopped trying to sell us stuff since we’ve been here, I had to take pause today when a cycle/rickshaw driver was following us around trying to get us to take a 1-hour tour with him….for ONE DOLLAR. We weren’t in the mood to do it, but Jeez, part of me feels like I should have given him the damn dollar anyway.

So, as I enjoy 40 cent beers and delicious 10 cent spring rolls (really yummy!), and complain about the lousy performance of the US Dollar, I need to remind myself that I am only able to do this because others have way less than I do. And when the bedbugs to bite, and the people in the street annoy us with constant hawking of t-shirts and tours, I’ll try to keep all this in mind.

Hello?! Hello! Hello!!

That’s all we’ve heard from everyone here - all the way from Shanghai. It usually means - Stop, I have something to sell you. "Hello, Bambo raft?" "Hello, Moto ride?" "Hello, bicycle?" Or it’s from a bunch of kids trying to get us to say it back (kind reminds me of when I was a kid and we would pass a truck on the highway and try to get him to sound the horn….) But I have to say, it’s getting annoying! But enough complaining - life is actually pretty great.

We spent nearly a week in Yangshuo, where we rented bicycles and rode through the countryside. It was simply gorgeous! And it was nice to stay somewhere for a while. After that, we had a nice voyage to Vietnam - a five-hour bus ride to Nanning, where we stayed overnight and bought tickets for the next day to Hanoi. Another six-hour bus ride (with stunning scenery) and we were in Hanoi, where the hard sell was on! Probably the most stressful city I’ve been to (yet.) Everyone wants to sell you something, and the first price is most definitely not wha
t you want to pay. Just walking down the street is an adventure - with all the bicycles and motorbikes going every which way, leaning on their horns to try to persuade others to get out of the way. Our hotel in Hanoi wasn’t much of a haven, as the owner kept trying to sell us (overpriced) tours at every turn (free breakfast was included, but I think it was just so he could use the time to pressure us into going on a tour!) Oh, and I haven’t mentioned the BED BUGS yet. I’m pretty sure I got all these bites on my arms from the hotel in Hanoi…I just hope they haven’t hitched a ride with us by crawling into our bags…I guess time will tell.

After just two nights in Hanoi, we high-tailed it to Halong Bay and Cat Ba island. The easiest way to get here (and anywhere in Vietnam, it seems) was to book a half tour. Most people come here on three-day, two night excursions, but Matthias really hates that sort of thing, so we just booked the trip here (traveling with the tour group on the minibus from Hanoi, the "junk" boat to the island, and a night in a hotel. We switched hotels the next day, finding a great place with private balcony overlooking the bay for just $8 per night! We rented Kayaks yesterday (see photos), and we plan to go to the beach today. And the weather has been great (so far) so all in all, Vietnam is good.

In two days we’re heading back to Hanoi and then down the coast - first stop is Hue. Will update again in a week or so.

Puppy Chow

I thought it was a myth that the Chinese eat dog, but now that I've seen it, I've gotta believe it. We haven't eaten any (at least that we know of - I believe it's a "delicacy" so I can't see dog meat showing up in any of the cheap food we eat.) We have seen them in the market - Matthias even took a gruesome photo but I didn't post it (didn't want to offend anyone - and in light of recent events concerning Michael Vick, I don't want to take any chances!)

We are now in the city of Yangshuo in southern China, which has (besides dog on the menus) plenty of dreamlike scenery and loads of tourists, but first how we got here…

After Xian, we did get first-class seats to Shanghai. Actually, the whole train was first-class – it was a high-speed intercity train (top speed about 230 km per hour) and we had cushy reclining seats with foot rests. A far cry from the hard-seat class mentioned previously. Even the waiting room was a pleasure… Shanghai was fun. Our hotel was great and though it was not right in the center, we were happy about that after we went downtown and had to constantly fight off the people trying to sell us stuff (and Matthias still hasn’t forgiven me for directing us to a touristy restaurant where we had to pay about $3.50 for mediocre dumplings. The HORROR!) But we did get to go to Citibank for a fee-free cash withdrawal which should be our last in China. Additionally, the markets and restaurants near our hotel were pretty cool (so I had my fill of really good dumplings – for about 50 cents per dozen.) And we were able to get first class (sleeper) train tickets for our 24-hour journey to Yangshuo on the date we wanted.

Even luckier was that no one came to fill the other two beds in our train compartment, so the train ride south to Guilin was pretty comfortable. From Guilin, we had to take a two-hour bus ride to Yangshuo, and of course someone immediately tried (and partially succeeded) to rip us off as we left the train station. The guy led us to the bus and charged us 20 Yuan (about 3 bucks) for the ticket (which I still believe cost only 10 Yuan.) And then when he gave me the change, he shorted me another 20 Yuan, but I was able to catch up with him and demand the rest. So, feeling semi-victorious, and semi-ripped-off, we arrived in Yangshuo.

Yangshuo is situated in a river valley between incredible limestone hills that seem to jut up out of nowhere. The mystic scenery seems to be right out of a kung-fu film. I can’t really describe it, so you’ll have to see the pictures (or Google it to get even more photos and info.) Of course, because it is so beautiful, it is über-touristy and the town is overrun with tourist restaurants and hotels, but that is also why we got a great deal on a place here. We have been here for two days and will stay about a week before catching the bus toward Vietnam. While there are a few photos of Yangshuo on the web album linked to the left, I’ll give the full report after we’ve spent more time here. Until then…