Which way to the beach? Hoi An/Nha Trang - Feb 16/2010

Our last day in Hue we caught a bus to Hoi An - a quaint little beach/resort town. We were all very eager to explore the first tropical beach of our journey. However, the beach would have to wait - for now - as we didn't arrive until later in the afternoon and the sun was already starting to go down. Our quide suggested that we occupy our time by visiting one of the very talented tailors that Hoi An is known for. We had passed several shops on our initial orientation walk and after longingly gazing in at the beautiful flowing dresses we just couldn't resist. They can make ANYTHING and are very talented seamstresses. We browsed the racks for patterns we liked before choosing the fabric and colour. We had our measurements taken and told to come in for our first fitting the next morning - everyone got something made.

So here comes the fun part. The seamstresses and other shop ladies were so interested with our light skin, curves, and breasts that they just couldn't keep their hands off us! When we came in for our fittings we were assulted from all sides! There was no real change room and they certainly weren't shy so it felt pretty much like a free for all. It was all in good fun though, and no one was actually offended. The manager was particularly taken with my breasts and took any opportunity to cop a feel. She would smile and giggle then give me a little pinch. My breasts are pretty fabulous.

The next day our guide had arranged for us to take a tour through the countryside on bicycles followed by a picnic dinner on a boat. The scenery was of course fantastic and we were able to catch a quick glimpse of the real Vietnamese lifestyle. We rode through a few rural neighborhoods, along the river, and through coconut plantations - everyone was preparing for Tet celebrations with their families. People are incredibly friendly here and love westeners. They would wave and smile and shout new year's greetings as we cycled past.

We came to the river's edge and a small fishing boat. This rough and scruffy old Vietnamese skipper was waiting for us - our captain and our cook. He took the fishng equipment out of his boat and set up benches for us to sit on. He took us around the river and finally settled on the most perfect private beach for our picnic. We all helped unload the food and seats. Our captain went to work straight away, cooking us possibly the most delicious meal of our entire trip. Appearances are decieving - this man was warm and gracious and a phenominal cook. We dinned on bbq shimp, tuna, chicken, beef and pork. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian! It was incredible. We stayed to watch the sun set before packing up and heading back into town.

That night was the Tet celebrations. Lucky for us, there were five other Intrepid groups in town for the festivities and we all arranged to meet at a restaurant/bar to celebrate together. We swapped stories and tips - it was really nice to hang out with some fellow backpackers and gain perspectives from all their different viewpoints. The evening started heating up and before we knew it the booze was flowing and we were dancing on tables! At 12 o'clock everyone raced down to the riverside where hundreds of multi-coloured candle laterns were floating down the river, which were meant for making wishes. The streets and shops were adorned with thousands of lanterns and lights, setting the whole town aglow. We waited eagerly for the fireworks to start. They were also fantastic, and they far surpassed the calibre of Canadian fireworks. The sky was on fire. We ended the night with one more drink before walking back to the hotel - the smell of incense filled the night air.

Our last day was spent at the tailors for our final fittings on the beautiful dresses they had prepared for us. Even though everything was fine we didn't want to leave them empty handed - wink wink. So one more tushy grab was in oder. We changed into our new clothes and went for drinks at a riverside open-air restaurant. The beer was less then 20 cents for a pint. I can see why people like it here.

The next day we headed for a new destination - Nha Trang. It's similar to Hoi An, but much more modern. The beach is very popular and usually crowded. Nevertheless, that was our first stop. We packed up our towels and sunglasses and headed for the ocean. We grabbed a couple of loungers and ordered some fruity drinks before proceding to slather on sunscreen and start our baking session. Little did we know, we were in for more then just a little tan. While we were in Hoi An, Kels and I were duped into buying fake sunscreen from some women with a roadside shop. It was right after Tet, so she went on and on about how lucky we were for her because we were her first customers of the new year. She totally over-charged us, but we were desparate. She even offered us a ride to the beach on here motorbike - which we accepted. I think she was laughing the whole way. So now, after hours on the beach, our friend Hannah looks over and says "I reckon those Canadians are looking a little sun slapped." Indeed we were - slapped silly. We dragged our lobster bodies back to the hotel - cursing the sunscreen women the whole way and attracting many stares and shaking heads. Well, beach-day done. We stayed undercover and inside for the rest of the stay in Nha Trang. We did do some shopping - you know - to help with the pain.

We were coming closer to the end of our trip in Vietnam; soon we would be leaving for Cambodia. Our next and last stop before crossing the boarder was Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city).

I have found the Vietnamese to be some of the friendliest and most gracious people (other then Sunscreen Lady), and I can't even begin to express how much I enjoyed my time here. I recommend Vietnam to any traveller looking for a little adventure or some down time in a tropical paradise. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I hope one day I'll get to do it all over again.

Motorbikes and Mosquitos, Feb 12/2010

(Please note that another new post, which can be found below, was made just earlier today!)

We boarded yet another over night train to Hue - this time it wasn't as nice and suddenly reminded me of the horrifying moments I had on the Chinese trains. Oh well, "suck it up" I said to myself. I was really careful exiting this time. We had a little trouble getting a taxi so we had to stand in the blistering hot sun with all our packs for about half and hour. It seems that westerners are not the desired fare here. But finally we made it to our hotel which was lovely. After a nice group lunch, Mr Q took some of us on a tour of the city's citadel and Forbidden City (home to the former royal family.) Hue was the original capital of Vietnam and Hanoi is now the new capital.

It was hotter then hell, and just trying to stay cool drained most of our energy. The grouds of the Forbidden City were beautiful and desserted - on account of the heat. So we had the whole place to ourselves. I kept making comparisons with the Forbidden City in Beijing when we first arrived and it was -15 degrees. The royal grounds were made even more beautiful by all the colourful flowers that decorated every path for Tet (New Years) celebrations.

After we completed our tour the lot of us desparately needed to cool off. We searched out a hotel with a pool and paid to use the services for a day. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging by the cool blue waters, sitting in soft white loungers, and sipping over priced fruity cocktails. It was divine.

One thing I must say, the bugs are freaking enormous here! I have never in my life seen bugs this big. It's like their super bugs ready to take over the planet. I think it has to do with the fertile landscape of Vietnam. And everyone knows that dealing with bugs is not one of my strengths. The butterflies are as big as birds and I saw a beetle that looked like a volkswagon with wings! I was using the toilet at the homestay in Sapa and I'm pretty sure that a cochroach said "hello" to me. It's also really bad for mosquitos here and I've been eaten alive - even though I'm using bugspray every day with 50% deet! I told you, super bugs. Thank god for all the friendly geckos who eat the insects in our rooms.

Our second day in Hue was one for the books. We were going out on motorbikes for the day. Now mom, don't worry. We had special drivers and helmets. It was totally safe...mostly. They picked us up in the morning and I carefully chose the most trustworthy-looking guy and hoped on the back of his bike. We were all in a row when suddenly all the drivers shouted out in unison "MO! Hai! Ba! Hiya!" (1,2,3, lets go!) and then reved their engins before taking off down the dusty road.

We rode all through the country side and rice paddies stopping at little villages here and there. The first village wad having their weekly farmers' market near an ancient bridge of some significence - I wasn't paying attention. On the bridge there was an old women, a fortune teller. And not just any fortune teller, a magical fortune teller. So we all had our fortunes read and my turns out pretty darn good - but I'm not sharing any details ;) We hopped back on the bikes and went to the Ming tombs. The tombs were discovered by a farmer and lie in jungle-like surroundings. After the tombs we visited some amputies who were making those funny cone hats that everyone wears here. We then went to another village and I got to take a crack at making incense - which is a lot harder then it looks by the way. Later we went to a spectacular view point high above the river and valley before heading to a monastery for lunch. The monks cooked us a delicious vegitarian feast, some of which they insisted on hand feeding us! Then they rolled out some bamboo mats and insisted that we take a little afternoon nap - I wasn't arguing! After our nap we left the bikes for awhile and took a dragon boat for a cruise on the river to a very special one tower pagoda. The scenic peaceful grounds that surrounded the pagoda were dotted with orchids and other exotic flowers. Thousands of butterflies and dragon flies filled the air as monks meditated in the back ground. It was very zen and I think that I must have centered my chi or something while I was there because I left in the most relaxed and blissful state. The boat returned us to our waiting motorbikes and the drivers collected us again and took us back to the hotel. We were absolutely covered head to toe in dirt but we were smiling from ear to ear. It had been a great day.

Feb 10, 2010 - "When I was in 'Nam..." Hanoi to Halong

Feb 10, 2010
"When I was in 'Nam..." Hanoi to Halong

We departed sceneic Sapa for an overnight train to Hanoi. The train, surprisingly, was a lot nicer then some of the hotels that we had been staying in. It was an exotic night on the orient express! The train had been completely refurbished in attempt to improve tourism. Unfortuneately, we didn't get to enjoy it for too long as our stop was at 5 am. We woke at 4:45 and quickly gathered our things. Still groggy from a poor nights sleep and over loaded with way too much baggage, I had a little mishap...I fell out of the train. Now I'm not talking about some little spill. I literally flew out - ass over tea kettle - on to the cement platform five feet below. Several men rushed over to my aid and roughly hauled me up by my backpack and put me back on my feet. I was definitly injured; I had road rash all over one of my legs and had managed to twist my other ankle. Holding back tears and blood, I collected my things and limped to the waiting taxi. At the hotel I was able to get some ice, antibacterial cream and few hours sleep.

Going from Sapa to Hanoi was like going from zero to sixty. We were staying right smack dab in the old quatre which supposedly has one of the highest population densities in the world. The noise, people, signs, animals and shops was overwhelming and over stimulating - you just didn't know where to look. The atmosphere hits you right in the face the moment you set foot from the hotel doors. Plus, everyone and their dog has a motorbike so crossing the street can be a deadly endevour. There are three rules to remember: 1) you don't wait for a break in traffic (because there never is one), 2) Walk very very slowly, 3) the most important - whatever you do, don't stop. Never ever hesitate or you will be hit. The drivers will calculate your speed and will swerve aroiund you - but if you stop or hesitate it throws them off and you could get hit. That being said, stepping off the curb as hundreds of motorbikes go whizzing past you, with only a few inches to spare, kinda feels like going bungee jumping without the cord. It's quite a rush. But, like every other aspect of culture shock that we've come across, we learned to adapt and pretty soon we were all pros. I would say a little prayer each time. It really got the adrenaline pumping - especially at rush hour.

We spent most of our time in Hanoi dodging traffic and visiting some of the minor sights that the city had to offer. It was about 36 degrees so Kels and I shipped home all our warm clothes which lightened our load considerably.

During one of our free days, Kelsea and I decided to visit the infamous "Hanoi Hilton." Masion Centrale (later nick named the Hanoi Hilton by American soldiers) was a prison originally built by the French during Vietnam's war for independence against the colonization. The French used the prison to hold and torture Veitnamese revolutionaries. After Vietnam had won it's independence, the prison was abandonned but the later used by the Vietnamese in the 1960s to hold American POWs. It was refered to as the "Hilton" because of it's fair, if not luxurious, treatment of American prisoners.

Kelsea and I were tired of walking all day so we had the bright idea of taking a cyclo to the prison. We sauntered up to a row of eager cyclo operators and said "Hanoi Hilton please - 20,000 dong." One man snatched us up immediately and we climbed aboard. It was a really enjoyable ride, that is until he pulled up to the palatial gates of the actual Hilton Hotel! Oops! I guess I should have been more specific. Cheeks red with embarassment we hoped off and paid the man. Now what? We didn't even know where we were. Another cyclo, this time with an older man in a funny hat, pulled up beside us and was snickering at our predicament. Apparently this sorta thing happens all the time. He offered to take us to the prison and after haggling over price we agreed and got back on and finally made it to the right place.

The rest of Hanoi will just have to remain a mystery. I got food poisoning and had to spend the entire last day in bed. I was feeling better the next morning and we all hopped a bus to Halong Bay.

This was definitly one of the highlights of the trips so far. The scenery along was outstanding. We boarded our own private pleasure cruiser and enjoyed a massive seafood lunch and some white wine. On the top deck there were some lovely loungers where we drapped ourselves for the entire four hour blissful journey to Cat Ba Island - where we would be staying for the night. Check out the pictures - this place was fabulous.

We spent our times there eating all the wonderful seafood and drinking cold beers - everything was so cheap. We ran into some fellow Canadians and in true Canadian style we got drunk on cheap draft beer from the street corner and went down to the beach. I lost a flip flop in the surf and had to walk all the way back to the hotel with only one. Enough beer for me.

The next day we all got up nice and early - ugh! - for a kayak trip out to monkey island. The ocean was really rough and our little kayaks were going up and down, up and down, up and down in the swells. Not good for our hangovers. But our guide kept us safe and we made it to the island - and nobody threw up! We got to feed the wild monkeys there and they were adorable: the highlight of the day. Hangover or not, who doesn't like monkeys?

We made it back just in time to shower and head back to Hanoi for another day - which we were all dreading. It's way too overstimulating there.

Good Morning Vietnam! Feb 5, 2010

Sadly, we left our excellent group leader Phoebe in Kunming as we boarded the bus for the Vietnam boarder. There were some tears and we all chanted "Just do it!" which had become our new mantra for the trip. The bus was decent - kinda like being on a plane for 12 hours. After about an hour, however, we ended up in this massive traffic jam on a narrow dirt road in the middle of nowhere for about four hours. I couldn't figure out where all these cars had come from! There was literally nothing around for miles. Weird. The worst part of it was that Kelsea and I really had to pee. Practically bursting at the seams, we ran out and went behind a rock on the side of the road or "go to the nature" as the Chinese call it. Desparately, we tried to shield our parts from the prying eyes of the people in the passing cars. No room for shyness here - "Just do it!" Unfortunately, our bus had carried on with out us so we frantically scrambled up the road trying to catch up. We made it, but just barely - whew!

When we finally arrived at the boarder, Hue, our new leader, and a heat wave greeted us. We dragged our dishevelled and haggard selves through immigration and on to the bus to Sapa - our first Vietnamese destination.

The next morning I groggily parted the curtains and gasped. It was so beautiful! Driving up in the dark, we had hardly seen any of the scenery. Our hotel was perched on the edge of a mountain cliff and I was looking out across a lush, green, majestic mountain range; whisps of white cloud were rolling in and out of the deep valley below. Just stunning. We all had breakfast on the terrace with the view and the warm morning sun. I was finally feeling like I was on a real vacation.

We decided to hit the town early - eager to explore this lush paradise. Peering through the hotel's front doors were about 20 local minority girls - ready to pounce on the first tourist with their baskets full of handicrafts. Having just been to the ATM, Kelsea and I were prime targets. I braced myself as I set foot out the door. Surprisingly, they were quite friendly and had impecable english. They asked me my name, how old I was and where I was from. They followed us from place to place and we chatted about this and that. They offered fair prices on their goods so I couldn't resist buying a few hand made bracelets.

Kelsea, myself, and another girl, Hannah, had decided that today shall be the day of pampering. It was going to be epic. We were is desparate need of a little TLC after travelling through CHina for a month. We spent the morning shopping, went out for a nice lunch, then headed straight to the spa, which overlooked the beautiful mountains. We got foot and cuticle treatments, pedicures, and full body massages and all for only 14 dollars canadian! We had truely become "flashpackers" (flashpackers are backpackers who travel in style.) I left feeling a little bit like a noodle - in a blissful state of relaxation. We agreed that for the remainder of the trip this would become a regular activity.

The next morning we got up early for the last trek of the trip: six to eight hours through the Vietnamese jungle to our homestay. During the trek we had the priviledge of visiting an elementary school and four villages with four different minority groups. It was a very diverse area and the countryside was breath taking. We were boiling hot and dripping with sweat when we arrived at our homestay, so our leader took us down to the swimming hole for a quick dip to cool off. We jumped in with all out clothes and swam around the waterfall. Unfortunately, the bottom of the swimming hole was about four feet of squishy mud. So although we were cooler when we got out, we definitly weren't any cleaner!

This homestay was the Hilton compared with our last one. Our hosts cooked us a feast of delicious Vietnamese food - which we gobbled down appreciatively. We drank cold beer and sat out on the veranda playing cards as the sun set on the beautiful jungle. Once it was dark we went star gazing as it is really good and dark here. That night we slept upstairs on bamboo floors with mats. Layers of colourful fabrics and mosquito nets surrounded us in a protective tent. I dreamt of exotic places and things while the songs of the crickets serrenaded me through the night.

Homestay Horror, Jan 31/2010

After leaving the modern metropolis of Hong Kong, we were plunged deep into the roots of rural China. We took an overnight train to Kaili, on which there was a crying baby all night long and it got me second thinking motherhood. Once we arrived we had just enough time to freshen up before boarding another bus that would take us to the local village.

The village, whose name I can't pronounce, consisted mostly of the Miao minority. According to legend, the first Miao people were born from the eggs of butterflies. Once we arrived, we were greeted by the head of cultural exchange, Mr. Pan. It was just our luck that we happened upon this village for it's market day, so Mr. Pan took us on a tour of the village.

The local ladies were selling their hand embroidered texttiles. Their hair was swept up in the traditional style, held securly in place by a colourful comb. There were plenty of animals for sale: chickens, pigs, dogs, etc. Convienently, while shopping we could also visit the local dentist. He was hanging out on the street corner where he was meticulously yanking out the few teeth that an old man had left with a pair of rusty plyers! Cheap and efficient.

Eventually we started our short trek to the homestay - about 45-minute from the village centre. We were warmly greeted by our host family and even though they didn't speak any english, they had no trouble making us feel welcome. There was another minority group visiting at the same time as part of a cultural exchange program so it was a full house. The ladies of the house hurried off to prepare dinner, which would take a few hours, while the rest of us took part in some games. We played musical chairs and hot potato - whatever we could that didn't envolve language. Whenever some one lost they had to get up and do a song or dance. We had a grand ol'time (I just hope that I didn't embarrass myself too much :) We also had a traslator there for awhile as well, so we were able to ask some questions of each other.

Before we knew it dinner was ready and we all crowded around three round tables. Most of us stuck to the rice since the main dish was pig innerds and intestines. I had a few bites so as not to insult our host - it tasted just like I had imagined. Then the rice wine began to flow. We toasted every few minutes and no cup was left empty for more then a few seconds. We took turns again singing songs to eachother in english and chinese. The Chinese Loeto sing, especially at supper. We were then ushered outside were two huge bamboo instruments, called Lushungs, were played while the rest of us danced into the night. We learned and took part in the local dances, although we were terrible at it and a little tipsy from all the wine.

Now here comes the horror part. As the evening went on, everyone around me became more and more intoxicated. The men were insisting that we empty our cups every few minute and were relentlously in their persuit to get us smashed. I politely refused but they still pushed on. Eventually the question of our accomodation came up and the answer we got was not good. Apparently because of the visiting minority group, there was no more room at our host's house. So they had decided to separate us, one by one, into ten other houses. If the separation wasn't bad enough, then it got worse. They told us that we would have to sleep in the same bed as the local person! I asked Phoebe if it would just be with other women but she couldn't gaurentee anything. This was crossing the line in a big way. I was not about to crawl into bed with some stranger, by myself, with dozens of drunk men on the loose! We kept asking them and finally they agreed to let us have our own beds and after more begging they let us sleep in pairs. Crisis averted - sorta.

Now honestly, I don't think that they wanted to try anything funny. I think that maybe everyone was really excited to have some westerners in the village and so they each wanted to have one. But it was still way past all of our comfort levels.

Finally Kelsea and I were led away into the dark by one of the local women to her shed - I think it was her shed. I was aweful in every sense of the word. There was dirt and grime everywhere and great big logs stacked on one half. There were animal nests, gigantic webs, and spider eggs all over the place. The bed was okay: the comforter was nice but there was no mattress and just boards. There was no door on our room and I'm pretty sure that we were next to the outhouse/pig pen because it really really smelled. We dived into the bed, pulled the covers over our head, and didn't look out until morning. Our lady had guests over, and I'm pretty sure that she was bringing them into our room one by one so that they could have a look at the westerners in her house. I could here them sneaking around, whispering and giggling. Morning didn't come soon enough and I didn't sleep a wink. We thanked them with some gifts and then dashed of as soon as we could to meet with the rest of our group.

We had breakfast - rice congee, you don't want to know - and rehearted intestines for lunch. Then Mr. Pan, who was supposed to take us for a trek, ended up dragging us all over the village to visit four lushung makers. I swear, if I see another lushung... Finally, exhausted, we boarded the bus back to Kaili.

Now don't get me wrong, the locals were very sweet and nothing bad actually happened. We were just out of our element and frightened over the possibility of what could have happened. It was the culure clash of the century. I had a really good time with the locals and found it to be a very interesting and eye-opening experience. This cultural encounter is one that I will remember forever. Unfortunately, it was the poor planning on Inprepid's part that made the experience uncomfortable. We survived! And I got to see a side of China that few have the privlege to.

Ding dong we're in Hong Kong! Jan. 28/2010

After roughing it in rustic and rural conditions, it was nice to come to such a mondern and westernized city like Hong Kong. Originally a British colony, it was finally given back to the Chinese in 1997, but has still maintained it's western/English influence. The most noticeable differences were that all the toilets were normal, everyone spoke English and they all stood in line. Splendid!

We spent most of the first day making our way through customs and immigration, but we had time in the afternoon to catch the Peak Tram to the top of the mountain. From the top we were able to see all of Victoria Harbour in Kowloon and it's world-famous skyscrapers. Later in the evening we went to the other side of the harbour to watch the light and sound show. At precisly 8:00 every night the skyscrapers light up with multi-coloured lights and shoot lazer beams into the night sky while some hooky Chinese music plays in the background: The Symphony of Lights.

This was the night of our farwell dinner, only half of our group would be continuing on to Vietnam. Oddly, we've now become a group of all girls with the exception of one guy. Poor bloke. As sad as we were, we still mustered up the strength to seek out the Hong Kong bar district and danced the night away at one of its many clubs. Too bad a bottle of beer cost over ten dollars Canadian! I couldn't figure out where all my money went!

The next day we took this absolutely terrifying cable car ride - turns out that fear is a good cure for a hangover. Well, I was scared, but then again I'm a big baby when it comes to heights. After dangling precariously between two mountain peaks we finally arrived at our destination. At the top of the tallest peak there is a nice little tourist village along with it's main attraction: a 34 metre tall Buddha.

After climbing 268 steps we reached the world's tallest, outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha. It was really really big! After another equally terrifying cable car ride down, we celebrated that fact that we were still alive by blowing the rest of our Hong Kong money shopping. Apparently that's what you do in Hong Kong.

Later in the evening we went to the bussling and hectic Temple street night market. Packed full of souvenirs, clothing, and just about anything else you could possibly want. It was a shopaholic's paradise! I purchases a nice pair of Channel earings. I love China.