New place, New shoes

Hoi An, Coastal Vietnam
April 8-9, 2010

Hoi An was a nice little town nestled along the shore of the famed China Beach where we spent 2 days and one night relaxing and exploring. Day 1 found us checking into our hotel (complete with small lap pool) and heading out to explore the Old Town. On our way we were awed by the amount of clothing/shoe stores—Hoi An is famed for its custom tailoring and these people can whip up anything you want in basically 24 hours.

The old town was a quaint area with brick roads winding about antique architecture and templage. Old ladies with the conical rice paddy hats cooked up some local cuisine as men hocked their wares (we may have bought a few t-shirts along the way.) We found our way through the fish market (gagging and plugging our noses) until we reached the river that separated the older part of town from the new. On our way back to get some dinner the 4 of us stopped in a shoe store and got sized up for some new custom kicks. It was quite the process as you literally walk around this store trying to pick out the style of shoe you want (they have everything) and then they sit you down and give you all these fabric swatches and just let you run free. The shoes I got have a lot of different colors on them, so it took a long time for all of us to sort through and find the best combination. It was hard work, because you can't really visualize how the shoes are going to work just by holding up little squares of fabric up to the shoe (think of going to Home Depot and picking out paint, except in this case Home Depot is a small shop in the middle of Vietnam and the paint is leather and suede samples.) They guaranteed us they would be ready the next evening before we had to leave, so we gave them the $$ and headed out for some food and some people watching.

The next day we rented bicycles for about $1 and rode our way along the river to China Beach. It turned out to be kind of cloudy, but that didn’t stop us from hopping into the Bay of Tonkin or wandering along the endless stretches of sand. It’s crazy to think we were hanging out where the soldiers used to take their R&R back in the day! After swimming we tried our hand at some 2 vs. 2 beach volleyball and, while we were no Misty May-Treanor/Walsh duo, I think Emily and I held our own. We stopped at the shoe store to see how everything was going to find that they still needed some time on the shoes (even though they guaranteed us they’d be ready at 4) and that they had put black soles on my sneakers instead of white causing them to look like a cross between bowling shoes and mat shoes for wrestling. I wasn’t a really happy camper as we had to leave that evening to catch a flight to Hanoi—I told them it was okay, but I wanted my money back and they plead and plead that they would have the shoes fixed, with new soles, by the time we had to leave. Seeing as we had a little bit of time I told them we would see what happened and headed back to the hotel to shower and pack up. I went back when they told me the shoes would be ready and lo and behold: no shoes. They kept saying ‘wait wait, almost finished, don’t worry!’ Well at about 6:58 (we had to leave 7:00) I got a little peeved and demanded my money back, showing them the receipt they gave us saying our shoes would be ready at 4:00, etc. As I’m finally getting through that they didn’t live up to their end of the deal (about a 10 minute process) the lady flies up on her motorbike with my shoes (smelling strongly of bonding glue) and apologizing like crazy. I slipped them on, said they fit, actually liked the way they looked now, said Thank You and BOLTED to the hotel where our car was picking us up. Thankfully we are in SE Asia and the car was late, so, in the end, it all worked out and we made the flight to the next leg of our journey: Hanoi.

Mui (Ne) Bien!

Mui Ne, Vietnam

April 4, 2010

So Vietnam has this really awesome system of open bus with which you can book tickets to the main tourist destinations around the country the day before and just hop on and off at your destination whenever you are ready to move on. We hopped on one of these buses at 8pm and arrived in Mui Ne under the blanket of nighttime and crawled into bed at our hotel--which turned out to be a great place with a pool overlooking the sea and a pretty good restaurant.

We got up later that morning to a wonderful Easter morning sun. We decided to take it easy for a bit and relaxed by the pool; it was so hot though that we spent most of our time in the water :) That afternoon we hired a jeep to take us on a tour of Mui Ne and it's famous sites which turned out to be really awesome. The first stop was the Fairy stream which we are still unsure as to why it's named that, but I guess you could say it's sort of magical seeming. It's a very shallow stream that you walk through passing incredible landscapes until you reach a small waterfall. Looking down you see red sand maneuvering through your toes as its vibrant image passes under the sparkling waters. On your left are martian landscapes of contrasting bright whites and crimsons while a lush jungle shades your right. We went searching for the fairies in the rocks, but to no avail!

Next we drove to the fisherman's village, literally a sea of hundreds and hundreds of wooden fishing boats bobbing colorfully along the shores, on our way to the white sand dunes. The scenery was magnificent as we cruised along the coastline and then changed drastically to a beautiful red desert overlooking the water until we reached the dunes; it felt like we were in the Sahara with these sand giants looming in the distance. In all honestly it looked like that desktop wallpaper that used to come standard with Windows. Upon arrival we quickly bartered for two plastic sleds which we hauled with us on our trek to the top. While the sleds didn't exactly slide that gracefully (Emily and were covered head to toe in sand) the view was worth every grain! The sky was so blue that it looked like there was a perfect line where it met the dunes and we, being the preservationists that we are, decided to add to the beauty by writing Happy Easter in the sand.

After some more sledding attempts and running down the steep slopes we headed for sunset at the Red Dunes. I'm still not quite sure how there is so much white and so much red sand in Mui Ne, but it really is amazing. The sunset was pretty awesome over the dunes and on the drive home we got an even better show over the water. We decided to head out to Pogo for dinner which turned out to be a great decision; it's a restaurant owned by Brits and they put on an Easter egg hunt after dinner for the patrons which we dominated (I think together the 4 of us had 3 dozen eggs!) I wasn't feeling well that night--a little head cold coming on so I decided to nip it in the butt and headed back early while the others stayed to dance the night away.

Gooooooood Morning Vietnam!

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

April 1-3, 2010

So after Dad and my adventure in Nepal we spent a couple days on Ko Si Chang (an island close to BKK) relaxing and unwinding. It was the perfect way to end our trip with Shu, our personal tuk tuk driver, carting us around as we soaked up some sun and swam in the crystal blue waters. I was/am so lucky to have had the trip I had with my dad and still am processing everything we did together, especially since he left the night of March 30th and I had to immediately repack and get ready for a 7am flight to Ho Chi Minh City the very next morning!

HIGHLIGHTS

Madame Cuc's 156 (Apr. 1-3): This hotel turned out to be a welcome escape from the sweltering heat of HCMC. For about $10 a night we were able to bask in the a/c and were also given breakfast and dinner each day...talk about getting the most Bang for your Baht! (well they use Dong in Vietnam, but same same). The staff was also extremely nice and helpful and was able to get us booked for some tours/transportation. BONUS

War Remnants Museum (Apr. 1): This mostly photo-based museum was extremely eye-opening. In all honesty I don't know a whole lot about the specifics of the Vietnam war (I feel like most of our history classes always ran out of time before we got there), but it was so interesting to see the other side's view of the American War as it is called. It's so rare that you have the chance to have both viewpoints as they say that history is usually written by the winner, but in the case of this war it just doesn't seem like anyone won anything. The photos of the affects of Agent Orange and decapitated bodies and bombs and pain and anger and life and death and moments of happiness were informative and well presented. They also had a replica of the prison camps where US soldiers were kept and I can honestly tell you I would have wished for anything but to be put in one of those places--they even had a guillotine that was used (seriously?!) and these small barbed wire boxes called tiger cages where 2-3 men would be forced to lie flat on the ground or risk getting cut up by the barbs. I really liked the exhibit on all of the anti-war campaigning from around the world--seriously posters and photos from the far ends of the Earth all asking for it to be stopped; it's amazing the parallels between then and now huh?

Motorbikes (Apr 1-3): HCMC has the most motorbikes in one place that I have ever seen and they were ruthless. You actually have to take your life into your own hands and Frogger your way across the streets to get anywhere. I actually got hit by one after 5 min of being out of the cab in the city--I'm so used to being in Thailand where they drive on the left side of the road, and then I come to Vietnam where the drive on the right and while looking the wrong way...SMACK!

Nina (Apr 1): My friend Nina, whom I met up with in BKK, was travelling with her family in Vietnam and we happened to overlap in HCMC. It was once again great to see her and have her meet Josie, Emily and Mark, the people I've been living/travelling with! It's so surreal to see part of your life from home half way across the world! We walked around a night market for a little bit and then sat down at a street restaurant and just soaked in the night atmosphere of this crazy city.

Cu Chi Tunnels (Apr. 2): This was probably one of my favorite things we did in Vietnam. We woke up late and missed a tour to these tunnels, which are a little ways outside of the city, so the 4 of us were able hire our own private car from the hotel that took us! This site is a 120 km series of tunnels that was used by the Viet Cong during the war to evade and/or attack US troops and were unbelievable. We started out with a guided tour that showed us life of the Viet Cong during the war and how, as the war went on, their houses and living quarters moved more and more underground until they were basically entirely submerged (ie their roofs were at ground level with storage and hospitals, etc. completely under the earth). Each house was connected to the tunnel system for an easy escape should a bomb raid or soldiers come; as you walked through the jungle you could see huge pits where bombs had exploded all over the place. There were 3 tunnel levels at various depths underground and each served a different purpose--to get air into the channels they would hollow out bamboo poles and bury them. To hide them they would stick them in big dirt mounds that looked like anthills: GENIUS! We were also shown some of the guerilla traps that were scattered throughout the jungle including trapdoor pits with meter long bamboo spikes waiting at the bottom. I cannot begin to fathom how terrifying it would have been to be dropped in the middle of this dense jungle without knowing the terrain and knowing that these people are scurrying beneath you unable to be detected. Talk about a mind trip!

For lunch we ate tapioca root dipped in salt, sugar and crushed peanuts as well as sticky rice--high in carbs to maintain weight and energy. In order to cook the Viet Cong would wake up early so that smoke from their fires would blend in with the morning fog; additionally they rigged a pipe system which lead the smoke to an exit point above ground a few meters from their homes so troops didn't know their exact location should they spot it. Another hiding trick they had were trap doors in the jungle that lead into the tunnels and/or underground spots they could shoot from. Our guide had us search for one of the trapdoors buried in the leaves (which was seriously impossible) and then we were able to climb inside. This hole did not look big enough for an infant, yet somehow we all fit. The best part of the day was the trek through a 30m segment of tunnels (which had been made slightly taller and wider to accomodate tourists--these people were TINY). I cannot imagine spending daylight hours trapped in a dark, cramped hole that was seriously the hottest and most humid place on Earth; not to mention it was littered with spiders and bats that were basically impossible to dodge in a place where you are hunched like Quasimodo half duck-walking, half crawling through the dirt. Needless to say I probably would have surrendered after half a day in one of those. Still, what an amazing experience!

City Life: One of the best parts about HCMC was the constant pulse of the city--any time of day or night there were people buzzing around. Our first afternoon we made our way back from the museum and stopped in a nice park to watch people doing aerobics (there were pockets of old men and women with boom boxes dancing spastically so we had to stop!). Within one minute of sitting on a bench we were surrounded by Vietnamese people: one woman telling us we needed manicures and pedicures for cheap, one guy just asking for money and another who tried desperately to give our shoes a nice scrub down! It was pretty hysterical and they were very well-intentioned so we ended up spending some time talking with them, which is one of my favorite things to do: talk to the locals.

Mekong Delta Tour (Apr 3): So this may or may not have been one of the most touristy things I've ever done, but it turned out to be really fun; and for $9 roundtrip, plus boat trips, plus lunch how can you go wrong? We got up early and took a bus for a couple hours to the Mekong Delta, an area in the South of Vietnam where the Mekong River fans out and meets the sea. It's a lush area with a lot of agriculture and is more of how you imagine Vietnam looking than the bustling city. When we arrived at the river we hopped on a boat for a tour past some of the famous islands in the delta and ended up on Unicorn Island. Here we visited a honey farm where they make the Queen's honey (I was left holding one of those honeycombs with bees crawling over it like you see at the State Fair and was contemplating dropping it and running as the bees were getting dangerously close to my fingertips, but thankfully a guide came and grabbed it from me finally.) Along with the honey we tried some of the plantation's rice wine and banana wine which were NOT good; they tasted more or less like rubbing alcohol and felt like fire. Next we stopped for some fresh fruit and tea and for a traditional Vietnamese dance/music show.After our fruit we hopped in this small, flat canoe-like boats and little women in the cone hats paddled us through the mangrove canals on the island--cool. Then our boat took us to a coconut candy making factory where we saw how they take the raw cocounuts and roll it all out and turn it into sweet treats which we did our fair share of sampling! For lunch we went to a small village on the shore called Ban Tre where we had a traditional lunch and spent the afternoon biking through the back roads and lazing around in hammocks. Sometimes it pays to be a tourist!

After the tour we made it back to Madame Cuc's in time to get on our 8pm bus to our next destination: Mui Ne.