A Bientot Vietnam

Later today, I will board a bus and ride it 24 hours to Vientiane, Laos. My time in Vietnam has flown by, with Jordan and I deciding last night that if given an award, we would name Vietnam "Best Overall Performance."

After Hue, we moved onto Hanoi (the capital) and Halong Bay. We were also lucky enough to be staying with the Lee family in their beautiful home.

Who is the Lee family you might ask? Well, per Deb's usual antics, she managed to meet a Vietnamese Colby student who offered to introduce us to her family. One thing led to another and we have been staying with them for the past few days. It has been an incredible experience and just goes to show how small the world really is and how wonderful people can be.

From the moment we walked in the door, we have had one adventure after another. Starting with a traditional photo shoot -- Mom Lee was inspired after seeing our Khmer glamour shots -- and ending with a buffet feast/farewell party.

It is funny because I feel like expanding on the buffet and not Halong Bay, but I find it very important to say that the items included raw oysters, sushi, steak, loads of fresh salads, avocado, AND as a finale, a chocolate fountain and eclairs in the shape of swans.

Anywho, I feel incredibly lucky to have these new friends and (as I have said before) if it weren't for things like silly visa requirements, I might stay forever.

Moral to the story: If you haven't started planning a trip to Vietnam, I strongly suggest you start immediately!

I'm a Barbie Girl

Posting two days in a row = quite the achievement. The truth is I could not hop on tonight's overnight bus without sharing the latest photos. Today we went on another motorbike adventure because 1) there is nothing like flying on a motorbike and 2) it is really the only way to get around Vietnam as the majority of the "roads" are not large enough for cars.

Today's adventure was extra special as we sped along narrow concrete slabs through village alleys and the Hue countryside. It was a cross between a roller coaster and feeling like I was in a high speed chase with Jason Bourne. However, both our drivers took great care in buckling in our helmets pre-departure (which you can see an example in the pictures).

Although everything was glorious, a major highlight came at the last stop when an old woman showed us how to work the various contraptions used by Vietnamese farmers. My favorite was when she showed us a crib-like apparatus complete with plastic baby. After demonstrating how it could be used, she press the plastic baby's stomach and oh-my-word. Imagine the surprise when the baby started playing "I'm a Barbie Girl" by Aqua. Then to my great amusement, the old (perhaps 97 years) woman began to dance and jiggle around. You can also see pictures of her (sadly I did not capture her dancing on video but I sure wish I had).

More or less the pictures speak for themselves so please take a peek and enjoy!



PS I have been getting a few emails about the situation in Bangkok (and throughout Thailand), please don't worry -- the fanny pack tramp and I are keeping close tabs on the situation. Even though I am looking forward to purchasing fake designer goods and visiting the red light district, if things stay this way... we might just have to find an alternative place for a farewell adventure...

Double Thumbs Up

Saddened to leave Hoi An, home of fabulous dresses and beaches, it was an early start this morning to catch our bus to Hue, old imperial capital of Vietnam. I was a little worried as our "taxi" to the bus stop turned out to be one man and one motorcycle who took us in shifts and then the bus driver thought we were going to Hanoi (even farther north) and I was convinced we would end up in the wrong place.

What was also relatively dubious was the fact we found ourselves on an overnight style bus. Not your typical double decker -- they consist of reclining chairs built on two levels (no floor in between said levels, think bunk beds). They are also fairly nerve wracking in Vietnam because if you find yourself on the top level, you fear you will simply fall off (which is where we found ourselves).

Luckily, it turned out to be the right bus as we drove north and passed more spectacular countryside -- shorelines, rivers, rice paddies, forests, and mountains. Sometimes I feel sad when our bus rides are over because I love driving through the country so much. Makes me miss my mountaineer.

When we got to Hue, it was bigger than I expected which actual tall buildings and wider streets. Without knowing quite what to expect, we dropped our luggage off and headed to explore the old imperial city. Although many of the buildings encompassing the old city are ruined, there is a current plan to rebuild and the existing palace structures are gorgeous. The colors and architecture are understated but you can clearly imagine what they must have been like in their glory day.

After satisfying our desire to see the imperial city, it was time to satisfy our thirst. Afternoon beers. We headed back and decided to check out the "DMZ" Bar. DMZ stands for demilitarized zone and the site of the 17th parallel. Since we wouldn't have time to actually check the real thing out, we figured a bar named after it was the next best thing.

Turns out, it was a fabulous idea as it felt like home. It was a real bar and not just lawn chairs facing the street. There were actual stools, pumping music, and draught beers. Note: the draught beers were too expensive for the backpacking budget but the local beer quenched our thirst just fine. The tables in the bar were also decorated with lovely Asian pop singers. Fab-u-lous.

We also managed to find a yummy place for dinner later where we were also convinced to go on a motorcycle tour tomorrow. Thumbs up to getting back on bikes and exploring the countryside. Only a week left in Vietnam and we will definitely be making the most of our time!

Good Morning, Vietnam!

There aren’t enough words to describe the jubilation I am currently feeling. After another lovely day at the beach, we made it back to town to go for a dress fitting at one of the three tailors we have currently employed to make us garments here in Hoi An, Vietnam. This is a place infamous for its tailors and ability to custom make anything you wish at absurd (cheap) prices. However, even if it did not have this as a draw, I am sure it would be on the map with its picturesque streets, French colonial architecture, leafy rivers, and beautiful beach.
Before we got here, Jordan had been saying she wanted to restrain herself from going crazy on dresses and I thought I would have no problem. I figured I had matured and would not blow my money on dresses and shirts and anything else that crossed my path. Famous last words (though probably not surprising) as I have truly gone crazy. I will leave Hoi An with double the wardrobe I had when I arrived. Four dresses and three shirts later, I am arranging my schedule around my three tailors and the different fittings to ensure each and every article of clothing lives up to its fabulous potential.
Spinning this positive into a negative, I am ready to justify my actions. First off, the cost of this splurge is perhaps 1/5 of what it would be in America. Second off, I am completely exhausted by the thought of wearing my current clothes a second longer. I thought it would be completely natural to wear the same thing day in and day out for five months as my family and friends often point out I lack complete fashion sense and tend to look like a bag lady.
The truth of the matter is that I was aching to wear a pretty dress. I still am even though I am wearing one of my creations. I will hold back on wearing my new clothes too often as I want them to still be fabulous when I touch back down in America, but I think a new chapter in my life has been created. I no longer want to dress in the same old dirty white t-shirts of my youth. It is time to dress as a naturally fabulous lady should (and yes, I am referring to myself as that naturally fabulous lady).
You might be wondering how I got here as the last post I made was taking place in Cambodia and the shared taxi. Perhaps you are even more perplexed as the last picture you saw of me I was dressed as an Asian pageant queen (note: those pictures were a goof and we did not wear them on the streets).
The mini computer and blogspot.com are not exactly the best of friends as every single time I attempt to post a blog it gets deleted and I become discouraged. I am not quite sure why this happens and my apologies for not being a more reliant blogger.
As it happens, we made it to Vietnam uneventfully and spent a few days rowing along the Mekong Delta. Vietnam is a gorgeous country and if it weren’t for silly things like visa requirements I could stay here forever. We also made it back to the beach at Nha Trang to enjoy monstrous waves and delicious smoothies. In fact, we spent an extra day at the beach and I am not sure if it was due to the landscape or the guy running the smoothie bar near our beach chairs. He was an incredibly flamboyant man who was very insistent we try his uber-healthy drinks.
When it was finally time to move on to Hoi An, we boarded another overnight bus and prepared for an adventure. Most people told us to go for the bottom level seats as they were more comfortable and one had less of a chance of falling out. I was imagining overnight sleeper cars in India with bunks, so when we got on the bus and realized it would be multiple levels of reclining chairs I was surprised (which I should stop being at this point in my Asian adventure).

The woman in charge gave us plastic baggies to put our shoes in and pointed us towards the back of the bus. She pointed towards a section of seating at the way back that looked more like one large mattress vs. the five individual chairs it was supposed to be. We attempted to steal two seats that looked more comfortable, but she quickly thwarted that plan and pointed us to the loft-like area that was more like a two-feet high alcove. We were about to complain when we realized the light bulb above one more “comfortable seat” was leaking water or some unknown substance. While we thought the experience would be rough, it turned out to be fairly comfortable. Good thing we were off to luxuries like tailor made clothing and could have happy dreams on the overnight bus until we got there…

Shared Taxis

In case you haven't noticed, I love to talk about the different modes of transportation available in Asia. The other day we decided to head to Phnom Penh from Kampot (site of Bokor Mountain death hike). The fastest option would be to take the infamous Cambodian share taxi. This includes three people sitting across the front bench seats and four people crammed into the back. Beside the space issue, it is supposed to be relatively pleasant as you get air conditioning and the driver goes so fast the time is cut in half compared to the bus.

So when the 1982 Toyota Camry rolled up, it brought back fond memories as a couple of my friends had similar cars. I also figured it wouldn't be so crowded as there was no middle seat -- Imagine my surprise when I realized that the 7th passenger would share the driver's seat. Yes, my taxi driver sat on top of someone for two and a half hours while driving to Phnom Penh. If you don't believe me, check out Jordan's blog for photo confirmation.

Now, my mom always warned me about the dangers of driving while wearing flip flops as the prospect of one falling off and getting stuck under the pedals is quite risky -- but what about an actual foot accidently getting wedged underneath the pedal? The two guys were so squished together that Jordan had to ask me which one was actually driving.

Either way, the major downfall of this seating arrangement turned out to be the fact that the additional passenger in the front completely blocked the air conditioning. The ride itself was rather pleasant until the very end when the heat finally got to me and the sweat began.

Good thing there was plenty to look forward to in Phnom Penh. We would be meeting up with a friend of Jordan's from college. She showed us a wonderful side of the city (the expat side) which included sangria at the Foreign Correspondent's Club, synchronized Asian dancing/aerobics in the park, Cambodian barbecue, and slow line dancing (ask me for a demonstration when I return).

We also managed to educate ourselves by visiting some of the infamous prison and killing sites of the Khmer Rouge. All in all it was a very unique experience and the thought of leaving Cambodia a little sad. I think this is definitely a place I want to return to. I am addicted to their food, dancing, markets, and landscape.

Perspiration and Dump Trucks

My teeth are still chattering from my first experience riding in the back of a truck. It was not even your normal pick-up truck, but today I went on a trek and tour to see on old French resort on Bokor Mountain, and my favorite part included piling into a utility/construction-like/dump truck and riding in the back.

There were four different times we were asked to pile on the truck so my story will tell you about my day and each glorious ride on the truck.

We started off the day relatively tired as we had stayed up later than usual playing cards and hydrating with our fellow hostelers. However, after a fresh smoothie with granola, we felt ready to rumble and hopped in a van with about 10 other people. We were under the impression there would be a walk through the woods to the resort and then the car would drop us off someplace else for a walk back. So imagine my surprise (but not too surprised after all this is Asia…) when we were asked to hop out of the Mercedes Benz van and instead hop into a dump truck.

I had a half moment where I thought maybe this was unsafe, but I have seen people riding in pick up trucks and also the road seemed pretty nice. So I shrugged my shoulders, looked around, and hopped up. After the first bend in the road, it turned into pebbles instead of pavement. Still, not so worried, this is Asia. However, leaning against the truck on one side was not very comfortable so I made a note to myself to change up my position on the way back.

We were then left off on the side of the road and asked to follow a park ranger (who happened to be trekking through the hills with us and carrying a bayonet). At the beginning of the hike, I thought to myself, hey this seems easier than the last trek, but of course… famous last words.

The vertical trek took us straight up rock embankments and hanging onto bamboo trees trying to hurtle up the steep and dusty climb. Given the humidity and the high temperature, it was no surprise to look around and see every Westerner bathing in sweat. I don’t think I have ever seen so much sweat in my entire life. At one point, we climbed a set of wooden ladders to reach an overlook and at the top, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and someone asked if it was over. One guide told us we were not even halfway. So off we set again.

By the time we finished the morning trek, I was so excited to sit down that it didn’t quite matter sitting down actually meant climbing onto the large dumpster truck again. I hopped in, carefully made the decision to sit in the back corner, and smiled when one guide, Danny, told me to hold on. After the first bump, I was glad that I was in the corner and could grip two sides of the truck as we bopped along. There were a couple of times were my bum bounced about 5 inches off the ground which made me grip even harder. We drove up the rest of the mountain in the back of the truck, which took about 30 minutes and was a magnificently harrowing experience. You can see my delight in this experience with this picture:

So once we got up to the hill station/French resort, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. Although there was a “danger, no entry” sign, this didn’t stop our guide from leading us through the front gate. We were able to explore most of the buildings by ourselves as our guide told us, “No worries - no landmines here” and left us to wander around. The area more or less consisted of old, run-down buildings, but it is easy to imagine the way things used to be. The main resort building was perched on the side of the cliff with multiple terraces and balconies. When you looked out over the cliff, you could see the jungle down below stretching out until the shoreline. Glorious.

As we wandered around, everyone kept asking each other -- “Do you really think they will have us walk back the way we came?” and “Oh my word, that is so steep, how are we going to get down?” Even my guide told me he wasn’t looking forward to the way down. I questioned him whether or not we could take the truck down, but he told me it was too unsafe because rocks might fall down on top of us. Well, let me tell you, I was not expecting that answer but at least he was honest with me.

So off we went for the third truck ride! Once again, I ended up sitting in the back corner as I felt most comfortable being able to hold on for dear life on two sides. I could also tell I would be sore later on -- more due to the truck than the trek.

I will be honest though, going down the trail was a lot easier than I expected. After all, it is much easier to slide down a mountain than it is to climb up. When I doubted my ability to climb down without falling head first, I just sat and slid down. There was still an exorbitant amount of sweat but other than that, the downhill ride was uneventful. When we reached the bottom again and saw the truck, I was so happy that I decided to be among the people standing behind the cab of the truck. It was quite lovely with the wind blowing in my hair. The perfect ending to a perfect trek.

Disclaimer: I do not endorse dangerous activities and please do not attempt to ride in the back of a dumpster truck (unless you are in rural Cambodia).