TravelStream™ news feed for member carrienica05 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/carrienica05 en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:22:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250435915/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250435915/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250435915/tpod.html Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:22:35 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Halong Bay, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay (31/7- 1/8) Hanoi (1/8)



Ha Long Bay



True to the theme of our trip, we had yet another sleepless overnight bus ride back to Hanoi. We were grouped with about 50 other people waiting to be assigned a boat when one of our good friends from volunteering back in India showed up. It was so exciting to see a close friend that we hadn't seen in 5 months and to regale stories of passing through all the other SE Asian countries.




The getting to and from Hanoi to the dock was a HUGE pain and made many passengers quite grumpy. There was a LOT of waiting around time and most of the time no one even told us what was going on. Once you got past all those annoyances though (and the angry man coordinating everything that yelled at all of us the entire time), it was one of my highlights of the trip.




We worked it out that Tony was on the same “junk” as us and we ended up having a really fun group of other passengers, I think we were 16 total. We lucked out and the angry guide went on one of the other boats and we got the mild tempered nice guy.




We first rode out to a bay in the middle of the ocean made up of huge gorgeous crasts that formed a cave. The cave system was just amazing if not a little tacky with all the colored lights on the stalactites and stalagmites. The cave was huge and the formations were very impressive, probably some of the best I've ever seen. Since there are seriously dozens of junks that go out a day, each with a minimum of 16 passengers, you can imagine the cave was super crowded. I think we were prepared for the crowd madness so we weren't so bothered with it and the cave was so impressive it was hard to be annoyed :)




We got back in the junk (it was while we were docked at the cave that we could compare the different sized junks and types of groups; some of which definitely catered to the party crowd) and continued on. We stopped for the night after a gorgeous ride through all the different sized crasts and had the opportunity to kayak. We had visited a small floating village along the way but weren't allowed off the boat...




The three of us kayaked around and had a lot of fun just paddling around. There was a short but hard downpour that totally soaked us but it was fun so we didn't care. When we got back to board the junk we had to pass through an area where sea life was caged in underwater bamboo structures for easy access. I assume people bought the different fish and crustations to eat and while they were bringing a squid out of the water to put in a bag it “inked” me and Greg. I thought the ink might sting us or be hard to get off but it was just like dark colored water and came right off. Hehe




Our boat was docked along with at least 30 other boats surrounded by huge krasts out in the open water for the night. We were finally ready to jump off the top of the junk into the water and take a dip. Some of our friends from Scotland had already jumped in and spotted some of the hugest jelly fish I've EVER seen but we didn't let that stop us. Tony and I even went swimming over to one of the other docked junks to see if anything fun was going on. It turned out to be a pretty low key boat so we swam back to our junk trying not to freak out that 2 meter long jelly fish were all over. ekk!



We had a really fun night just hanging out with our new friends every once in a while braving a short downpour. Before all the antics began our guide donned a typical Vietnamese outfit and sang and danced for us. He even got us involved and we joined in on some of the dances. I loved it and was happy we had such a wonderful guide since we later found out none of the other junks guide's did anything special like that..The whole boat trip was really great and definitely a must do.

Hanoi

We had just the late evening and night to enjoy Hanoi before we had to take off early the next morning for a flight to Bangkok. We had wanted to see a water-puppet show but it was all booked and would have really been stressful with the time frame.. guess everything happens for a reason :( I had arranged for us to stay with a local and couchsurfer since we hadn't had any previous opportunities but his place was full last minute. He was nice enough to actually book and pay for a room for us in a hotel in the backpacker area. SO nice (except poor greg was covered in bedbug bites the next morning!!!)!



We checked in with a group of friends so we could all taxi it early out the next morning in the same cab to the airport. Greg and I ran some errands and got some yummy food before meeting up with our couchsurfing friend for drinks. There is an area in the backpacker spot where everyone sits outside and drinks cheap draft beer and watches the crazy world pass by. There is so much going on that you are always entertained and since Hanoi is just as busy as the rest of Vietnam there is always tons of traffic and people walking around. We had a great time just relaxing and getting to know our new friend while eating boiled peanuts (which were surprisingly really good!).



After hanging out we decided to go home and finally shower up after a ridiculously long day and meet back up with our couchsurfing friend. Greg ended up calling it a night and I grabbed a red bull to keep up the stamina (the only reason i made it out that night). Since it was my last night in Viet Nam and we hadn't really partied much I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to hang with a local and check out the night life.



Since I was meeting our new friend at a bar with a dance floor just around the corner from our guest house I was comfortable going out alone, I could literally walk there it was so close. The guy ended up to be not so classy after all and I ended up making tons of new friends with all the other people hanging out instead.



I have met all kinds of people that are teaching english over in S. Korea for a year and everyone has just raved about the program. I met yet another couple this night that had nothing but great things to say and got their contact info. for just in case :) I ended up making friends with a group of people who were just finishing up their tour through Viet Nam and we all danced till the wee hours of the morning... I made it home just in time to change my clothes and take off for the airport at 5:30am... What a great way to say bye to VietNam!!





Pix and Vids of things we checked out:

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621913354805/

Vietnam Communism Posters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837674597/

Vietnam Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837699383/

Videos:

Halong Bay Panorama with floating village
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53NL3zZ7gMw



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250433876/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250433876/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250433876/tpod.html Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:51:15 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Sapa, Vietnam

Hanoi (28/7) Sapa (29/7- 30/7)


Hanoi



After a very long and sleepless overnight bus ride from Hue, we arrived mid-morning in Hanoi. We wanted to make sure we got to see Sapa and take an overnight boat ride in the Ha Long Bay so we had to sacrifice seeing Hanoi. We rushed around the old quarter comparing transportation costs to and from Sapa and searched out the best boat for Ha Long Bay.


You can take an overnight bus or an overnight train to Sapa-the bus worked out to be a bit cheaper and took you all the way to Sapa as opposed to the train that stopped in a town just outside Sapa (and then had to take a minivan). That said, the bus ended up making many late night stops and a several hour stop in the same town the train ended in so sleep-wise it would have been better to take the train.


Once we booked all our tickets we decided to skip running around Hanoi like crazy people and went to see Harry Potter with our friend from Hue. Hanoi is just as crazy and hectic as I had imagined and it was fun taking motorcycle taxi rides through town.

There are all kinds of scams that you need to keep an eye out for such as exorbitant taxi rates. Everyone I've met that started their Viet Nam trip in Hanoi got seriously ripped off by the taxis. One group of people told us a minivan held them hostage when they realized the meter was faulty and tacked on several hundred dong. The driver actually locked the doors and forced them to pay the ridiculous rate before letting them out. The faulty meter is a really common trick so keep an eye out for it.

There were several things we wanted to do in Hanoi but since we felt the other towns were a priority we had to make the tough call to miss out on seeing it.


Sapa


We arrived in Sapa by the afternoon and had made some friends on yet another sleepless bus (we basically got zero sleep during our 18 days in Viet Nam) ride over. Since the girls already had a friend waiting for them at the Pinocchio guest house we got a room at the same place to make things easier. The view from the balconies was just incredible with looming green mountainsides and huge paddy fields below- amazing.


We were followed all the way from the bus to our guest house the entire 15 minute walk or so by a group of native H'mong women. They are dressed in an indigo blue tunic and skirt with felt that wraps around their legs up to their calves. Some also wear a cute little round hat over their hair that's pulled up into a bun on their head. Most of the women are adorned in huge silver pieces of jewelry and earrings that pull their lobes down so far you can fit a walnut in the hole.


Essentially the H'mong and Tzao natives (the Tzao are dressed in red and black tops and skirts with huge red hats) sell trinkets, bed spreads, bags and jewelry to all the foreigners as well as offer the experience of going with them to their village to see how they live. You seriously can't walk down the street without being bombarded by someone trying to sell you something and it gets to the point where you just want some space.


That said, they are all very sweet with big smiles and are super good natured as opposed to other countries or even parts of Viet Nam where things get ugly if you don't buy anything. The women that picked us up at the bus stop basically “claimed” us and wouldn't let any other women talk with us and even went so far as to give us hand made bracelets to identify us as “theirs.” It's all quite surreal since you're surrounded by huge green mountains and can see fields and fields of rice paddies below.


Since we were so far up in the mountains it was quite cold and was a really nice break from the hotter parts of southern Viet Nam. Being so high up also meant we were closer to clouds and since it was the rainy season there were huge downpours daily. Our first day we were welcomed with monsoon-like weather and the streets literally gushed with water like a river. Since we were so short on time we somehow braved the rains and tried to check out the covered market and stalls.


It's true that we have rushed through Viet Nam and haven't given it the proper chance we wanted to. We have done our best to try and get off the beaten track by renting motorcycles to see the more “real” side of Viet Nam. This all said, we have had the most negative experiences from the locals than any other country combined! These negative experiences all seem to be associated with exchange of money and during the bargaining process but even just asking for help with directions or trying to speak the language is met with an ugly face and NO!


There have been many times when people would laugh at us as we try to pronounce the words in the book. I distinctly remember a group of girls visibly making fun of us and laughing at us as we walked behind them on the street. Since this happened towards the end of our stay in Viet Nam I was beyond frustrated with this treatment and walked up to them and was super nice to show that we are people too. Once we all chatted and laughed the girls stopped laughing at us and I felt like I had a small victory.


It's very sad to me that pretty much every single foreigner we meet has only negative things to say about the vietnamese people. We went into the country knowing this but with a very open mind and were disappointed how many chances we gave the locals to treat us as other countries in SE Asia but didn't. While the majority of our negative interactions were in dealing with money, I would like to return to Viet Nam and have a more positive experience. Everyone we met that was on an expensive tour through Viet Nam LOVED the country and the people which makes me think that our short funds may have had something to do with it.


That all said, it was pouring rain in Sapa and my rain jacket was no longer waterproof so I needed to buy a poncho to hold me over for the rest of the trip. I found a stall selling cheapy plastic ones and the woman refused to bargain so I just sucked it up and bought it. The poncho ripped open as I put it on it was so cheap so I asked for a new one since she sold me a faulty product. Something that in any other country would have been no problem. The woman absolutely refused and wanted me to buy a new one.


Things got really ugly and the woman ended up assaulting me and wouldn't let go even as Greg tried to pull her off me. She got into a shouting match with Greg as me and our new friend looked on completely flabbergasted. All the Hmong women that had followed us were still following us around and were horrified at our treatment as well. No one could understand why this woman was so irate and being so abusive. It was all quite traumatic for me and I just wanted to get away from her.


The rest of our time in Sapa was really nice and we were really glad we came right before the weekend since as we were loading on our overnight bus we saw huge bus loads of people coming in for the weekend. The town has become quite touristy and the majority of the shops and restaurants cater to westerners which makes me a little sad. Greg and I spent an hour trying to find a quick meal to go before our bus ride which was way off the tourist path but we were met with outrageous prices. That said, we loved the town and enjoyed our time there.


Things we checked out:


Trek to the local H'mong and Tzao villages: Everyone we have met that went to Viet Nam highly recommend doing a trek to the local villages up in Sapa. We wanted to do something like we had done in Chang Mai, a several day hike through forests visiting local villages along the way and spending the night at a local village. Unfortunately, our time was short and we could only do a day trek.


The friend of our friends recommended doing a day hike through our guest house and it was incredibly cheap compared to Thai prices (a whopping $10). We signed up with our new friends and started off in the morning. We were followed out of town by tons of the indigenous women as well many other day trek groups. It was basically one long group of 100 people taking different rest stops along the way.


We naively thought the women following us were just following us to the end of town and we didn't realize it until at least midway through that they were “claiming” each of us so we would buy something from them at the end of the walk. I've never seen anything quite like it in my life. By the first rest stop I was sad more than anything with how these women have sold out their way of life and customs to make some money.


The whole walk girls and women were making cute heats out of ferns, shading the foreigners with umbrellas as they sat on the hillside in the sun, and engaged in dialog (probably asking the same questions they ask each foreigner every single time). I asked why none of the girls were in school and they said they were on vacation and that next week they would go home and help harvest the rice. Who really knows....


We really lucked out that the crazy downpour from the day before got it out of its system and we had a gorgeous sunny day with a little cloud cover. There was about an hour downpour conveniently timed with our lunch break so we really weren't affected by the rain at all.


The views are really just indescribable. The mountains are huge and covered in lush green while the valleys below are just one rice paddy after another with a river winding its way down the valley. We have now seen rice paddies in India, Sri Lanka, and most of SE Asia with the most impressive being in Bali. The ride paddies in Sapa blow every one of them out of the water. If you've been to the ones outside of Udon in Bali they are like those times 100.


Towards the end of our trek we meandered through the indigenous villages and of course were brought to different craft shops along the way. This was the part of the tour where the women got more and more persistent in selling you their wares. I was actually completely and utterly drained by the end of the tour from all the women talking with me trying to get me to buy stuff. Even though the women were super nice and had big smiles and joked around it was still too much for me and I was REALLY glad I didn't sign up for an overnight tour.


In one of the homes along the way I saw a woman making tofu which reminded me of when I made cheese from cows milk in Nicaragua. She had a 2 foot long wooden box with quarter sized holes all through the sides. The inside was filled with the tofu curd made from soybeans and she put a wooden lid on top to squish out all the liquid. Though this wasn't really on the tour and I just happened to pass by and see what was going on and it was one of my more favorite parts of the walk.


We probably walked about 10 or so kilometers total up and down the hills and through the villages guided by a local. We really didn't receive any information at all and we probably could have just followed the huge crowd if we wanted... While I was sad at how we (foreigners) have changed the way of life for these beautiful indigenous people, it was an experience of a life time and I'm glad we went.


Pix and Vids of things we checked out:

Photos:

Vietnam Communism Posters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837674597/

Vietnam Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837699383/

Vids:

Monsoon rains rip through the Sa Pa market and streets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdl4JsEcQE

Local women and the rice field mountains in the hills above Sa Pa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWuGk8_XnSU

Carrie is surrounded by a dozen Xao and Hmong ladies trying to get her to buy things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D62Zkk_ddg





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250433253/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250433253/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250433253/tpod.html Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:43:56 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Huế, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Vietnam

Hue (26/7)
Hue


We arrived in Hue in the mid morning totally exhausted from yet another sleepless overnight bus. We took the first cheap hotel we could find and rushed around making plans for leaving the next day and booking the DMZ tour. We didn't get to spend too much time getting to know Hue but I would have liked to have stayed there a few more days.


There seems to be a lot of park space and areas for kite flying and soccer playing once you get inside the first set of walls protecting the Citadel. Other than the Citadel, we rode in bicycle powered tuk tuks with a new friend through town. There is a two block area of bars and restaurants dedicated to tourists that we decided to check out.


Since there didn't seem to be too much going on in town, we ended the night walking back through town to our guest house. There were local girls in front of us pointing to us and laughing which was pretty hard to ignore so I went up and started talking to them. Once they saw we were friendly they stopped making fun of us but this attitude that it's ok to make fun of foreigners, especially when we try to speak the language seems to be quite prevalent throughout the country.


This is the first country I've visited where I have felt negativity towards me because I”m a foreigner (before they even find out what nationality I am). I tried to buy some water on the walk home from several shops and for some reason, whenever you try and bargain for a purchase the seller becomes quite irate and starts yelling and making angry faces. Its really quite unique and unlike anything we've experienced in all of SE Asia. Too many times to count we have had friendly encounters with people only to have the interaction seriously marred when comes time to pay. I am still trying to figure out how to interact with a local and make a purchase without the negativity.


Citadel-


We were short on time and all the tuk tuks offering rides to the Citadel and around town swore we were too late to get in the Citadel. Knowing there was a high probability that we wouldn't be allowed in and that we were leaving the early the next morning, we decided to try the odds. Luckily, we had a half hour until the place shut down and since we arrived so late we practically had the entire place to ourselves.


We spent around an hour or so wandering around looking at all the beautiful architecture and building designs. Many temples in Viet Na have small, elegant dragons on the edges of the rooftops and I love taking pix of them. The buildings are all spread out with lush green nature thriving in and around them. The sun setting on the buildings was perfect and really the whole place is super tranquil.



It turned out there didn't seem to be a closing time since we saw people playing on a tennis court (think they're original? :) as we were leaving so if you arrive after 5pm still try and check it out; it's definitely worth it.


DMZ tour (27/7)


After searching around town for a bit we found the lowest priced DMZ tour and wondered what the difference was in our ticket for $7 and those priced at $15. In the end it didn't seem to matter since people paying a range of prices for the tickets were all lumped together on our bus. I was hoping the cheap ticket price would explain the ridiculous tour we received but that doesn't seem to be the case.


You can't come to Viet Nam without taking the DMZ tour since it takes you to several historical sites from the war and despite the name demilitarized zone (DMZ) was quite heavily militarized in the end.


Basically we sat in a tour bus for the majority of the tour and looked out the window as we passed by one of the “sights.” We got out of the bus for a few sights but they were few and far between. Also, no one understood the tour guide. We had no idea what she was telling us and had to refer to our books for information (this seems to be a reoccurring theme in VN, the English is really hard to understand).


Rock Pile- this was basically a hill top covered in trees... it used to serve as a US military base but now just blends in as just another hill.

Minority Villages- we were told a little about the villagers and their daily lives. We were told you cannot take their pictures because they believe it takes your soul away. That was not a problem since we didn't even get out of the bus and just stared at their homes as we drove on. While I support the privacy they are given I think it's false advertising to say “visit” a village when you just drive by. :P


Dakrong Bridge- this bridge was built along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and was used at night time by the Vietnamese to sneak past the US troops and head south.



Khe Sanh Combat Base- according to the Vietnamese, this was a big victory for the Vietnamese as they engaged in huge military combat with the US troops (killing thousands) distracting them from all the Vietnamese soldiers heading south to fight. The US army put tons of money/weaponry and soldiers into this combat which was really in the middle of nowhere and ended up being for no reason at all other than being distracted (and giving the Vietnamese the upper hand down south).


You can climb in the bunkers which is an eerie experience and see some of the still there war crafts. There is a small museum with some amazing photos from the war. As always, the Vietnamese are seen as heroes which makes one really wonder what the definition of historical facts can truly be. Someone always has their version and point of view.....


As you drive through the windy countryside you notice how short all vegetation growth is since it's taking quite some time for everything to grow back after the US covered the area in acid to poison the food and living areas (yuk!).


Doc Miew Fire Base- this was a huge statue that I thought was nicely done.


Hien Luong Bridge/ Ben Hai River- this represents the 17th parallel which is the diving line between North and South Viet Nam. As always, we just drove over the bridge and didn't get out to take pix.


Cua Tung Queen Beach- we didn't spend much time seeing the beach since it was far enough away that you couldn't go in. The water was gorgeous though and I'm sure it would be fun to jump off the cliff side down into the water.


Vinh Moc Tunnel- The tunnels were build at the US bombed the heck out of a town and obliterated their living space. The Vietnamese craftily dug underground at night and dispersed the dirt while working in the rice paddies during the day. They didn't want their opponents to see that they were building so they were sly about everything, including building false tunnels for the opponents to bomb with vents letting out smoke from cooking several meters away from the actual tunnels (so they missed their target when bombing). The whole system is just amazing considering what they had to work with .. an entire underground village exists including a nursery where 12 babies were born. It's just incredible to see what they did especially considering the circumstances.


We may or may not have gotten lost in the tunnels while on the tour. I didn't realize that the guys in front of me purposefully went down a different path from the guide just to get off the beaten track. By the time I realized that there was just a small group of 5 of us and the rest of the group was elsewhere, there was nothing left to do but stay as a group lest we get more lost. I should have realized that we were not on the right path when there were no lamps on the tunnel walls and we had to use our headlamps (thank GOD we brought ours).

We wandered around in the dark cave-like tunnels trying to find a way out for a while. I was getting super nervous since the tunnels were getting narrower and narrower as we neared the truer parts of the tunnels that hadn't been widened for Western bodies. Since I'm also super claustrophobic I started to panic a bit once it seemed like we couldn't find our way out but we did eventually get out as we passed by the scariest HUGE white spiders I've ever seen (and I'm not usually scared of spiders).

Photos and Videos of things we checked out:

Pix:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621913354805/


Vietnam Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621962263834/


Vietnam Communism Posters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837674597/


Vietnam Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837699383/




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250262918/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250262918/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250262918/tpod.html Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:43:32 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Hoi An, Vietnam

Nha Trang (19/7- 22/7) Hoi An (23/7- 25/7)

Nha Trang


We got to the toasty Nha Trang and were shocked it wasn't raining. For some odd reason, the rainy season doesn't hit Nha Trang until January/February time so most days were super toasty and an air conditioned room was a must. Up until now we were frustrated with how high the room rates are despite the fact you can usually get a mini fridge, free wireless and air con but this place was worth it. We somehow found the best deal in town and were so excited to have found it! I think the name of the hotel is 99 and it's near the Sao Mai Hotel on D. Nguyen Thien Thuat street. It's a 2 star (the BEST we have had since we left 8 months ago) and the staff was super friendly. We loved the room and AC so much it was hard to brave the heat outside.

The book made it seem like the town would be pumping at night with themed parties at bars but I guess we came at the start of the tourist season since we didn't see much of a nightlife. We went out one night and walked around town after hanging out with some guys trying to get us to sign up for an Easy Rider and saw that most places were closed well before 12am... So far Viet Nam hasn't shown much of a night life side...

I had a nice time walking around one day getting out of the tourist section. I have started to notice that the locals aren't as friendly towards you as those out of the touristy areas that still smile and wave. It was also nice to rent a bike for a day and just ride around and see the further away parts of Nha Trang. Overall the touristy section doesn't have too much going on other than overpriced western food and some cheesy bars. I liked eating with the locals in the non touristy spots though I steered clear of the cat and dog dishes.

On a side note, yes dog and cat are eaten here as well as some other quite eccentric animals such as frog, snake, insect, etc. You can see the chihuahua sized dogs in cages on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and I"m told the same for cats as well. I met someone on the dive trip that tried the cat and said it was "greasy," whatever that means.

The town of Nha Trang was nice to chill out since it had so many conveniences like mini grocery stores with yummy brie and the Dalat wine. I preferred getting out of town and exploring most.


Things we checked out:

Scuba Diving- The scuba diving wasn't all that impressive but we did see a few really cool things we haven't seen in other dives such as a cameflouged ocotpus change colors and a frog fish. The drive out from the harbour past the islands and the floating village was really nice as well. There were some parts that reminded me of what I imagine Greece to look like with the gorgeous tourqouise blue waters and square, boxy white homes. I enjoyed the boat ride out and back in almost as much as the dives themselves.

Po Nagar Cham Towers- We rented a motor bike for the day and stopped off at the towers first. They were pretty impressive and it was nice to just sit back and check out the nice view of the bay and town down below. I like checking out all the photos that had been blown up and posted showing what the vietnamese wore during ceremonies.

A father and son beat on some drums just as we were leaving which was a nice way to say bye.

Beach- The beach was a nice long strip along the blue ocean with comfortable looking lounge chairs under umbrellas for tourists to relax in. I was really tempted to just hang out one afternoon but never made it until night time when the moon was out. I loved seeing everyone still quite lively on the beach well after the sun set cooking some BBQ, playing some badmitton, and just hanging out. I know most beaches in CA shut down by dusk and you would never see so much activity at night.

Long Son Pagoda- The pagoda is high up on a hill overlooking the town below with a different view than from the towers. This view shows all the roof tops to one side and the rice fields to the other... showing that even towns that look built up are still sourounded in nature. I liked this spot becuase as always, the rains started and we had to hang out the cafeteria where the monks eat. Greg and I finally ordered the famous Hot Pot since I knew anything served/catering for the monks was 100% veggie friendly.

They bring out a small burner and light a fire under a pretty decent sized pot; big enough for us to split. The broth has some veggies in it and you are also given a bowl of cold, cooked noodles, and a huge plate teeming with fresh herbs still on the stalk. Pretty much all throughout Viet Nam you are given big plates with fresh herbs that you can add to your soups and meals as you like. The soup was pretty good and I"m glad we finally got to try it.

Long Thanh Gallery- While the gallery isn't bigger than a few rooms, I loved walking around and seeing all the photos on display. The photographer really captures the feelings of his modles and seems to have great interaction with them. There was one photo I LOVED of a little boy balancing on top of water buffalo as they swam around in the muddy river. The boy was looking at the camera and had a huge smile on his face as he nochalantly balanced on the buffalo's backs.

Hon Chong Promontory- It was nice to stop off along the promontory and see all the followers walking through waist high deep water out to the island with a temple on it. I also liked looking at all the fishermen gear scatterd about such as nets drying, empty shells that used to house a sea creature, and men in small circular boats offering to taxi you out to the temple.

The boats were unlike any I've seen before. They are completly round with enough space to fit maybe 4 or so people. They sort of look like a wicker basket made for adults that precariously balances on the waves. The owner uses a small wooden paddle that he somehow steers with to get to the destination.

Thap Ba Hot Spring Center- The hot spring center was unlike any experience I've had before. There are two types of entrance fees, the more expensive private optoin and the cheaper option where you share with everyone else. It was super weird sitting in an oversized cement tub with two grown men and one child. The mud that came out was more like muddy water so you felt like you were in more of a bath tub than mud bath. There are stages that you are supposed to pass through so that you properly treat your skin. We accidentally did it backwards, opps.

I didn't realize I had walked into the more private zone and we ended up hanging out there for a while before moving on. This area had a pretty large pool of warm water with hot tubs that bubble up all over. Since all the water was quite warm we decided to see what else the center had to offer. There was an area where you stand on a pebble (read super uncomfy on bare feet) walkway and have freezing cold water spouts squirting your midsection with water which we avoided.

After sharing the mud bath we were directed to a heart shaped bath area where you sit in warm water with a pot nearby filled with cool water to ladel in. I'm guessing this is the cheaper version of the bubble hot tub area we were in earlier. After the hot tub we finally tried the squirting cold water area becuase we were getting so hot. The last two areas to try are the waterfalls which were only working sometimes, and the warm swimming pools which were crowded.

The whole experience was fun since you're surrounded by more vietnamese tourists than foreigners. I loved seeing how the familes were interacting and how they all had fun playing in the water. I have to say that it was an experience I won't forget.


Hoi An

Since we had a (sleepless) overnight bus ride we spent our first day in Hoi An walking around getting to know the area. We stayed at the 3 star hotel we were dropped off at since it was so early in the morning and took a little morning nap. Afterwards, we spent 4 hours walking around the town trying to find a cheaper priced hotel but coudln't. It's shocking to think that a 3 star hotel would have the best value in the whole town but it did and we got the usual fridge in room, AC and wireless AND a pool! Besides walking around and getting to know the town more, we also took a break every once in a while and took advantage of the incredibly cheap draft beer which was nice on the hot afternoon.

We spent the majority of our time in Hoi An running around between the two shops we had clothes made for us. When we weren't in the fitting room we were checking out the adorable old town area. Practically every building in the old town area is a part of the Unesco World Heritage site and it's easy to just get lost wandering around checking them out. The buildings are different than those we have seen in other parts of SE Asia; many of the temples have ceramic/metalic dragons on each of the four corners of the roof.

There is a cute area by the market down by the water that has a ton of shops and restaurants. We found a more local style place to eat and bonded with a really nice local woman on buisness from Saigon who made some awesome veggie recommendations. I have struggled to find veggie food other than spring rolls so it was nice to try a true vietnamese dish. I have gotten spring rolls with every single meal just to see how they vary throughout the country (both fresh or fried) and to be honest, my favorite were back in Phnom Phen with the vinegar sweet and sour dipping sauce.

It was nice renting bikes one day and biking to many of the sites in the old town... it was especially nice since we had to do a lot of back and forth between tailor shops that were pretty far apart. We crossed over the bridge to one of the small islands just to see what the other side looked like but it was pretty tame and didn't seem to have too much going on.

While we had very full days running around, it was nice to take a dip in the pool at night just to give our bodies a break. Since we were in town for a few days we made friends with the sandwhich lady right outside our hotel. Baguette sandwhiches are just as popular in Viet Nam as they are in Laos and Cambodia and each coutry has their own flair for the sammies. This woman put fried onions on top of my scrambeled egg sammy with cucumber and tomato slices, probably one of my favorites! We also got to know a lot of the small shops along our street since we tried to spread out our buiness and share the wealth so to speak.

It so funny to me that one of our friends pointed out that there was one stall we had yet to frequent and buy water/drinks from yet meaning everyone knows everyone's business. We figured people were watching where we went when we bought little snacks and water but had no idea that some felt left out! We tried to buy something from her before we left but it never worked out... :(

The whole town is really cute and has it's own little flair to it. I loved biking around and seeing all the old buildings and establishing friendships (if one can call it a friendship since we're purchasing things) with the stall owners up and down our street. It would have been nice to have had more time to just relax and chill out a bit since it's such a cute town.


Things we checked out:

Hoi An Old Town- The entire town is an UNESCO site and is great for just walking around. You have to buy a ticket which gives you entry to a limited number of several categories. We were a little frustrated with this since that meant we had to choose between some of the buildings we wanted to check out but luckily we had the aide of the suggestions from our book.

Japanese Covered Bridge- This cute little bridge is easy to miss at first since it sort of blends in with its surroundings but it's worth checking out. There is a small worship area inside and it's worth crossing over into the other side of town and seeing all the cute shops with stuff for sale. More than anything it's just fun to see the cute arquitecture.

Museum of Trading Ceramics- This was basically a small room with a ton of bowls on display under glass table tops. It took us just a few minutes to glance around since there wasn't much to see and there were no billboads of text to read (probably not worth using a ticket on but we got in for free).

Assembly Hall of the Fujian Chinese Congregation- This building was gorgeous with a nice courtyard out front.

Assembly Hall of the CAntonese Chinese Congregation- Yet another gorgeous building with a fun ceramic wall with a gate to walk through. The second building in the back was filled with the HUGE hanging coils of incense that were fun to take pix of. I had never seen such big coils before and never hanging from the ceiling....

Tran Family Chapel- This one was fun because we had a mini tour guide who talked a little about the history and showed us some of the ancient furniature. She even showed us a lucky coin that we made a wish on and then flipped to see if the wish comes true (mine did!). We loved the interior since it was so intricate and learned a bit about the fusion of the different neighboring countries in the arquetechture. Since there was a free guide I kept waiting for the catch and sure enough, there is a shop at the end with products to purchase but they weren't pushy so it was fine.

Handicraft Workshop- There is a show included in your ticket purchase that lasts about 30 minutes or so. There are different acts and while it was all a little hokey, it was fun to check out. There was an instrumental band first, two women that sang second, 3 women that danced with pots and then fans that made them look like butterflies 3rd and a man with an asian disguise/mask on last. Afterwards you can go to different secitions inside the rest of the building to see "artsmen/women" hard at work painting, carving wood, weaving a rug, etc. Again, it was all a little prefabricated but worth checking out.

My Son- We booked a half day tour of My Son which was a decent drive outside of town. The site is famous for its Cham towers which are set out in the natural surrounding they were found in. The temples/ruins themselves were pretty cool to check out but it was the tourguide that made the tour the most interesting.

He was the first tour guide that we were able to understand after having a lot of difficulty understanding vietnamese english throughout the country. The best part was he spent the entire tour bashing countries left and right and talking about how they left negative impacts on Viet Nam. It was excpected that he would bash the US since the entire country seems to let you know how evil the US is (understandable after the horrible things commited during the war but seems unfair to hold such a biased view especially in places such as museums teaching these beliefs as facts).

Luckily there was no one on the tour that took the offensive information to heart. At some points he was giving incorrect information; for example saying cows were sacrificed by Hindu people in one of the ruins. I waited to see what the Indians on the trip would say to such blatant misinformation. They politely corrected him and it turned out the cows weren't sacrified it was the cow's milk. Opps, big difference in the meaning though! Hehe

We zipped through all the towers, many of which are crumbling or were devasted during the bomb raid by the US. It was interesting to see the leftover bomb shells and craters where the bombs were droppped. Once we got through the towers we took a relaxing boat ride down a river and were brought to an indigenous island where the locals made and sold crafts.

I'm sure it's no surprise that we were basically brought to shop after shop and didn't really learn much about the actual trades. It was cool to see a man sawing small sea shells into shapes to glue in a pattern on a piece of driftwood. Other than that, the island tour was pretty lame. I recommend taking the boat back instead of the bus since all buses seem to be super cramped with little leg room and the boat has plenty of space.

Tailor Made Clothes- There is all kinds of advice on how to pick a tailor when having clothes made custom fit. I met some people that literally had a shirt made from multiple locations and depending on the result, had more pieces made. I met others that just went to the place their hotel recommended and gave a discount at. Regardless of how they picked their spot, no one seemed to be exempt from the frustrations of having clothes tailor made in Hoi An.

We wanted to be nice since we made a promise to a woman that we would check out her shop and ended up having things made despite our vow to shop around. We were courted as usual with bottles of cold water and tons of compliments. I ended up wasting a LOT of time my first day there getting super excited picking out all kinds of dresses, suits and fabric thinking I could afford it all. The women are super crafty and make it seem like everything will be a cheaper price than it turns out to be so I recommend getting a price upfront by clarifying how much for : size (I had one woman charge me almost twice as much as the original jacket just to lengthen it an inch), fabric (nicer fabric can more than double the cost), and how long to make the piece.

We saw several other people who had ordered pieces come in while we were ordering ours complaining about fit, size, etc. but we had already spent so many hours there we went ahead with the order. I just had a dress made for an upcomming wedding and greg had a full 3 piece suit made. We came back to try things on and pretty much every single piece was totally off. I couldn't even pull the dress down over my hips. This was quite unsettling since they took measuments and have been in the buisness for quite some time. In the end, we had to go back for alterations about 4 times until the pieces all fit and there were still some things we were unhappy with.

After our first horrible experience with trying on our pieces we decided we couldn't go with them for anymore clothes and found another store we liked on the other side of town. There are entire streets with storefronts showcasing manequins with examples of suits, winter jackets, and womens gowns for people to have copied. Besides all the examples for you to see you can also bring in your own piece or just look in their multitude of magazines and books. I hadn't planned on getting a jacket made but since it's too hard for them to make pieces a little too big (since I knew I'd gain the lost weight back) I figured a jacket was the safe way to go.

Just as in the other shop there were customers that streamed in and out to try on their pieces or pick them up. They all regaled horror stories that were not too different from ours. I really don't understand how so many shops can get it wrong since they do this for a living! The only thing I can possibly think is that the actual tailors are all offsite so maybe that's why... it's crazy to walk by a room filled with 20 men (sometimes women) sewing away as if in a factory.

In the end I think the whole process would have been more enjoyable if we weren't on such a time crunch and trying to sight see (and find decent priced places to eat at) at the same time. We were both very happy with our jackets (I had 2 winter coats made, greg 1) as well as every single other customer and would most definitly recommend the following place: hanh hu'ng- 103 tran hung dao st

Pix and vids of stuff we checked out:

Photos:

Vietnam Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621962263834/

Vietnam Communism Posters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837674597/

Vietnam Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837699383/

Videos:


Fan dance at the Heritage Center in Hoi An
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj3UtZid1uw


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250192102/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250192102/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250192102/tpod.html Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:45:52 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Dalat, Vietnam


Mue Ne Beach

When we got to Mue Ne beach we
realized that the rain season had officially arrived. The rain came
around mid afternoon every day back in Saigon and it seemed to carry
over into Mue Ne as well. We arrived in the early evening and quickly
found a place to drop our bags and grab some food. There are supposedly
really nice bungalows right on the ocean for decent prices at Saigon
Cafe..since it was so windy and the waves were so big there was no
point in staying right on the beach for us (though it would have been
nice).

The town was pretty much dead when we were there
because we came during the down season though you wouldn't know it with
how little they discount the rooms. ;) Both nights in town were super
low key and most places started closing up by 8pm if they didn't get
buisness. We became friends with a local at a book exchange and he
offered to go out with us that night but there didn't seem to be too
much of a point since it was so slow.

Our one full day in town
we rented our first motorcycle. We had promised ourselves that we would
rent bikes in Viet Nam because you hear so much about the scary
accidents. We quickly realized, though, that the only way to truly see
Viet Nam is to get off the beaten path and drive out on your own. Since
I still am not fond of driving but know how to drive clutch, I guided
Greg through driving a clutch motorcycle which was hilarious. Regardless
of how ridiculous the situation was, it worked and we got to see all
kinds of cute fishing villages and saved a ton of money going to the
sand dunes. The daily monsoon poured down on us during our ride back to
town and we were completely drenched by the pelting rain drops.

There
wasn't much to do in town since everything was mostly closed up. I had
thought about learning to kite surf since they have all kinds of
water/wind activities but everything was shut down due to all the rain.
We did have a really good dinner at Saigon Cafe. I got a veggie curry
which was fabulous and greg had a pretty good BBQ both of which were
typical Vietanamese dishes.mmmmm

Things we checked out:


Red Sand Dunes- The
sand dunes are one of the highlights of this trip. There are a ton of
kids at the dunes waiting for you and they all have a flimsy plastic
sled. You can rent the sled and the kids help you carve out an area in
the sand dune to slide down. They the whole thing down to an art: they
cover the top of the sled with sand (the area where you sit) as well as
push fresh sand on the carved out area to make you go fast . Of course
you always forget about the climbing back up part but it was so much
fun I did it tons of times. Some friends we had met back in Malaysia
happened to be on the same sand dunes so we slid around with them too.
SO much fun!!!

Fishing Villages- The fishing villages are
super cute to just pass through and get more of a flavor of what Mue Ne
used to be.. just one street with a few scattered shops on either side.
I loved seeing all the docked boats just hanging around.

Da Lat (17/7- 19/7)

We arrived at Da Lat and dropped
off our bags (after finally finding a hotel with a room!) and rushed
out to check out the market. After being stranded at the market area
for hours since the rain refused to stop, we finally gave up and just
walked home in the rain. We went out to get some dinner around 9pm or
so and the entire town seemed to be practically shut down. This town,
much like the rest of Viet Nam, goes to bed early and gets up by 5am.
Luckily, we got the awesome room with a balcony facing the rice fields
and didn't get woken up early.

For our one full day in town we
decided to play our odds and rented a motorbike to explore the
countryside. We figured if we got an early start we might be able to
see a bunch of stuff before the rains came. We lucked out and somehow
had a gorgeous day with only some light rains at night. I loved getting
out of the city and just ridding around the countryside. The mountain
region is really beautiful and fun to just see riding on a motorbike
let alone checking out the sights. We didn't have enough time to get
out to any of the indigenous villages but we were happy with our fun
filled day.

We ended up going out for a late night snack our
last night and were once again surprised that it was such a high tourist
season,yet the whole town was dead by 10pm. We finally found a place
still open with vietnamese tourists still eating and drinking and
decided to stop by. Just ordering french fries was a task and seemed to
take forever. While waiting for our order we befriended the other peeps
at the next table and they shared a shot of the rice wine with us
(gross) and gave me their emails. It was a nice way to end our stay in
DaLat. While we loved the cool Da Lat air, we were ready to move on
since we wanted to see so many things in such a short amount of time.


Things we checked out:

Hang Nga Crazy House- The
closest thing I can compare to the Crazy house is the Winchester
Mystery House back in CA. The owner is still in the process of building
more rooms and completing her grand designs and happened to be giving
orders to someone while we were there.

Each room is very
creative and different from the next. There are a lot of staircases all
over the place and many of them lead to a wall or the sky and seem to
have no purpose. I loved just walking around seeing how creative each
new spot was.. I wanted to support her so I also bought a cool necklace
she made...

Efile Tower- I have no idea why, but there is a small replica of the Eifle Tower towering over the post office right when you enter town.

Cremaillere Railway Station- The
train station is one of the oldest stations in Viet Nam and was closed
down from 1928 to 1964 during the fighting. It was fun to check out and
see the guys in uniform use their flags to direct the trains switching
tracks. There was a cute bride and groom taking all kinds of photos on
the old trains changing their outfits up every once in a while.

EasyRiders- We
were first introduced to the Easy riders when we were dropped off at
DaLat. These guys ride the big comfy motorcycles and take foreigners
out into the country side off onto the less beaten track throughout
Viet Nam. They used to take people around to indigenous villages,
waterfalls, etc. for pretty decent prices but their prices have now
skyrocketed over the years. There are also a ton of copy cats so it's
hard to know who is legit.

We seriously considered taking a
several day trip with the Easy Riders after making friends one night
in Nga Tran but eventually decided we just didn't have the time.

Cable Car- We
almost took the cable car ride but since we've been skiing for so long
and have ridden all kinds of gondola type cars we decided against doing
it. The majority of the ride seems to just go over a forest so all you
see are tree tops which you could see from where you get on the car...
something which we felt wasn't necessary.

Datala Falls- We
just stopped off at the falls on a whim and could not believe how many buses were in the parking lot. I think we counted about 30 huge buses
which meant the area had more people than nature, hehe. The falls
themselves weren't all that impressive but it was all the vietnamese tourists that made the day fun. There was a guy dressed up in a bear
outfit that you could take pix with, you could rent American Indian
outfits to try on for a photo op by the waterfall, and there were so
many people around it was hard to get a clear shot of the waterfall.

We
decided to try the only roller coaster we could find in Vietnam which
was a two seater that just rolled forward while we controlled the
brakes. I have no idea how safe the ride truly is since you're just
relying on passengers ahead of and behind you to break but we had a ton
of fun on it. You can get on at the top of the hill and avoid the long
downhill walk or you can get on at the bottom and avoid the long uphill
walk. We chose to ride down and walk up and later regretted not just
riding up too. hehe

Central Market- Pretty much just as we arrived at the market the daily rains poured
down. The first market we saw was mostly dried fruit and nuts with the
usual snake wine (literally a snake in a bottle with "wine" sometimes
with a scorpion in his mouth), da lat wine (the red is actually pretty
good both warm and chilled). I was frustrated that all the vietnamese
people got special treatment when checking out a stall... the owner
gave tons of samples of everything and even poured different juices to
try while we were barely given one piece of dried fruit. I can only
assume that foreigners don't buy as much as the vietnamese that are on
vacation and may stock up on stuff to bring home. Either way, I love
samples and wished I got the special treatment too. hehe



The next area we checked out across the street seemed to sell only
jackets for super cold weather. Since DaLat can get pretty chilly they
had some really nice professional woolen jackets that I tried on. Not
one single jacket fit me despite the women trying to sell it to me. She
was determined to fit my huge body into her petite little jackets where
the sleeves came up way too short and didn't button close. LOL

Just
one block over is the upstairs food market with tons of stalls selling
all kinds of yummy local foods. The area below was set up with dried
grains bulk style. I wasn't excited about the few veggie options so I
didn't get anything but there were some yummy baked breads. The area
outside the market area was covered with women selling gorgeous flowers
and yummy looking fruits since DaLat is famous for its flowers.

The
very last market we saw was the raw meat section where you can get any
type of meat ever imagined. I saw all kinds organs on display on the
tables including brains, intestines and livers. There were sections for
the chicken head and feet as well. There was also a section for live
fish kept in shallow bowls with water replaced every so often alongside
watersnakes and crabs. I had a hard time staying in this area long.


Pix and Vids of things we checked out:

Photos:

Vietnam Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621962263834/

Vietnam Communism Posters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837674597/


Vietnam Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837699383/

Videos:

A rollercoaster ride down to the Datanla Waterfall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX_Uen_pRNs

Carrie slides down the red sand dunes of Mui Ne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE_pQBvr5bI

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250191465/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250191465/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1250191465/tpod.html Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:33:34 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam


Ho Chi Minh Mui Ne De Lat

Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh

We arrived and
immediately got suckered into taking a taxi cab to the guesthouse
area. We went a few blocks and asked the bus driver to pull over and
let us out once we saw what was going on. It turns out the bus from
Cambodia drops you right in front of the cheap guesthouse
neighborhood and our taxi driver was going to just drive around and
rack up his rate. Grrrrr Luckily we got out before the fare was high
and walked back the several blocks.


We have now
entered a country with much higher room rates and with that usually
comes much higher standards. .The place we stayed in HCMC wasn't too
spectacular but it was the cheapest we could find after quite a bit
of searching. Many of the guesthouses like to include breakfast or a
refrigerator (toilet paper is now a staple in rooms) to increase room rates but it's usually not worth the
extra money. We decided against the A/C option and just used a fan
and were miserable and ended up using A/C the rest of our time in
Viet Nam.

Unfortunately, we
didn't get to spend too much time in Saigon though the parts we did
see we loved. The rumors that Viet Nam is full of motorcycles and has
crazy traffic is true. The closest we can compare the ridiculous
amount of people on the road is in India, and only Delhi paints the
best portrait. It's a little daunting crossing roads since so many
people seem to be coming from literally every angle, but as long as
you are constantly looking left and right it's pretty doable.


We didn't get a
chance to sample any of the night life though I hear it's pretty
great. We had 18 days to get through all of Viet Nam and catch a
flight out of Hanoi so we saw as much as we could without stressing
ourselves out too much. We skipped the tunnels because we heard the
ones in the DMZ are way better though they are widened for Westerns
whereas those in Saigon aren't (and from what I hear, pretty darn
claustrophobic). As with the theme throughout Viet Nam, we wish we
had more time to explore...
Things we checked out:

Open Tour Bus Ticket- There
are 2 main ways to get from north to south (vice versa) in Viet Nam.
You can either take the train which was more expensive, or you can take
the cheaper option which is the open tour bus ticket. This means you
pay for a predetermined amount of stops (we took the most stops
possible to see the big must sees) and end up in Hanoi.

We had
heard horror stories of fellow travelers trying to get off the beaten
path and having a hard time doing so. One girl we me said she had to
ask many times where the public bus station was only to be told it
wasn't running, it wasn't going the direction she wanted, etc. Once she
finally did find the bus they wouldn't let her on and tried to charge
her an insane amount of money to ride on it. Still being persistent,
she would finally get on the public buses but never had any friendly
interaction with any of the locals, as if they were punishing her
(which is SO lame b/c I love interacting with the locals on the public
buses).

Since we had been prepared for dealing with public
buses in Viet Nam we just gave in and took the open tour bus. The buses
aren't bad, but they never have a toilet and the AC almost never
works. The buses take more pit stops than any bus I've ever been on
adding HOURS onto your bus trip. This is the most painful on overnight
buses when the driver stops at 2am for 2 hours to hang out with his
friends.

We have had some horrible overnight bus experiences
with super uncomfy beds or sleeper seats to sleep on. We just paid for
seats for the whole bus experience but mid-way through got to try out
the sleeper seats and were really impressed with how comfy the sleeper
seats were. Since we got zero sleep in the overnight bus rides in the
seats I highly recommend forking over the extra money to get a good
nights rest, it's worth it.

The buses tend to drop you off at
hotels when you arrive in town and the hotel staff usually comes out to
greet you and offer up a room. We finally realized that the hotels
usually own the buses so the hotel can try and get business from the
passengers which is why the bus tix are so cheap. It almost always
worked out that the hotel you were dropped off at had one of the better
deals in town and was worth checking out.

Jade Emperor Pagoda- We
spent a lot of time trying to find this Pagoda since the directions in
our book are pretty useless. Once we finally made it though, it was
worth the hassle since it was really pretty and had some really great
artistic work on the roof.

History Museum- We just passed
by the museum. We heard it was pretty biased and basically just talked
about how the Americans were bad for starting the war which is
interesting to me. I would have loved to check it out and hear things
from their point of view but we just didn't have time (it didn't matter
because the rest of our tours of Viet Nam had plenty of one sided
viewpoints for us to hear).

Post office- This post office
is one of the nicest we've seen on this whole trip, with high vaulted
ceilings and beautiful architecture. This was also the smoothest
package we have sent in our 8 months of sending home packages. They had
boxes, tape, peanuts, etc. and were very efficient with many windows
and staff.

Fanny- We spent HOURS searching for this
supposedly famous local ice cream. We got a ton of locals involved in
trying to help us find it and we never did. We finally gave up and ate
at a local spot and had one of the most amazing fruit smoothies ever.
Seriously so good we got two! hehe (strawberry mango orange)

Tran Nguyen Hai- This statue was on top of the roundabout in front of the Ben Thanh Market and was cool to check out.

Street Market- I
was on a quest to find some famous ice cream and passed through this
market several times. I loved this market since it was just a few
streets long and really only catered to locals with fresh cut meats,
fresh veggies and all kinds of dried nuts and fruits. We got some
delicious roasted cashew nuts and yummy candy.

Ben Thanh Market- We
didn't spend much time in this market... it seemed to be selling the
same old stuff you see everywhere but at inflated prices. We spent more
time outside watching the crazy traffic operate without any accidents
with just a roundabout as their traffic light.

Notre Dame Cathedral- We
just checked the outside of this building out... there was an adorable
bride and groom doing all kinds of fun poses outside the church as we
passed by.

Reunification Palace- This building
represented the South Vietnamese and was taken over by northern
vietnamese soldiers in 1975 and handed over as sign of resignation. The
building is really cool with underground rooms with old school war
communications equipment. There are many super nicely albeit 70's
inspired, rooms on the upper floors. My favorite room was the card
playing room with the bar since it was super 70's. There was a major
monsoon that erupted while we were just arriving to this spot. We were
held captive till the rains died down for hours and even then had to
walk through the rain to get home.
Pix and Vids of things we checked out:

Photos:

Vietnam Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621962263834/

Vietnam Communism Posters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837674597/


Vietnam Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621837699383/


Videos

Ho Chi Min Traffic Circle Madness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytlX3vyX-k

Crossing the street is terrifying in Ho Chi Min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSsjHg0OJR0




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249547728/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249547728/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249547728/tpod.html Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:43:29 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phnom Penh (11/7- 12/7)

Phnom Penh

We took a very long bus ride to the capital and started the search for a place to stay. It was just as hot as Siem Reap and though the first room we found was stifling and hot, we figured the rest were the same and took off to explore the city. We rushed off to see the Russian Market only to get there just before it closed down. Since it had been a long day we decided to watch the sun set over the riverfront. We thought the motor taxi was bringing us to a popular place where people go out for dinner and drinks but ended up back near our guesthouse.

Apparently it's quite common for motor drivers as well as other forms of taxi drivers to nod enthusiastically as if they understand where you want to go but end up taking you to a different spot. It's such a stark contrast from Siem Reap where everyone's English is so great and seems so weird that the taxi drivers in the capital have such a different level of English. It all worked out anyways because we got to sit in super comfy chairs on a deck overlooking the river behind the popular guesthouse spot and watch a spectacular sunset, one of my favorites on this trip.

As with most places, we wish we had more time to hang out and get to know the city more. Despite the hustle and bustle the capitol is pretty tame and we felt really comfortable navigating around. There are a ton of NGO's set up here (as in Siem Reap) and it was hard not to just stay a while longer and volunteer.

I met some nice foreigners that are working at an NGO that focuses on human rights. One of the reasons the guest house's on the river are so popular is because of the gorgeous views. Unfortunately, the river is quickly being drained away and replaced with sand/dirt so the space can be sold to build more properties.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that the all the lower income people that used to live and center their lives (fish, bath, etc) around the river have been displaced. They have been given a meager sum to relocate and from the tuk tuk drivers I've talked with, their new situation is much worse. They have moved to the outskirts of town and have no running water nor electricity and are barely getting by.

The girls working at the NGO are trying to fight for these people's rights but the legal system in Cambodia is not where it should be and it seems like the displaced people might fall through the cracks. I can only imagine the environmental hazards and problems that will arise as well. I'm glad we had the chance to enjoy our wonderful, relaxing sunset over the river while it's still around.

We dedicated a lot of our time to the atrocities that went on in the mid and late 70's so a big chunk of our day was overwhelming and sad. That said, I'm really glad we got to see everything we did, especially after reading The Killing Fields. It was hard for me to go from such heavy stuff all day to rushing through the hectic Russian Market trying to find something in my size before it closed.

As has been the case throughout most of SE Asia, we ran into friends we made back up in Don Det and hung out for a bit that night. It was nice to sort of break the air so to speak after such a draining day. It will be nice to come back to Phnom Penh some day and see what else the capital has to offer. I would really love to come back and check out some NGO's....

Overall I'm really going to miss the lovely Cambodian people. Though Thailand has coined the term “the land of smiles” Cambodia really deserves it. I'm sure part of it is because SO many were murdered during the Pol Pot regime and now the average age in Cambodia is 16. The entire country is super young and fresh and eager to enjoy life and you can see this in the way the fathers caress their babies and the women have big smiles one their face while trying to see you water or souvenirs. I really wish we had more time to get off the beaten path and explore the country more and just can't wait to come back!

Things we checked out:

Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda- We started our day with this spot and I'm glad we came early because I can only imagine it gets more crowded as the day goes on. It's crazy how similar the Royal Palace is to the Royal Palace in Bangkok, the buildings and layout are practically mirror images.

As in Siem Reap, you don't have to cover your shoulders but you do have to take your shoes off to enter. There were quite a few buildings that are closed to the public though it's still definitely worth checking out. I loved seeing all the jeweled ornaments and Buddha statues on display. The Silver Pagoda was beautiful even if the majority of it was covered up.

Killing Fields of Choeung Ek- It had been suggested to us that we see the museum first before going to the fields but I wasn't sure I would be able to handle the museum so we saw the fields first. It still blows my mind that so many atrocities were going on in this country and no one else in the world seemed to know about it.

When you first arrive you see a very tall memorial building with thousands of skulls that are just a fraction of what was excavated from the mass grave sites nearby. I'm not sure I've ever seen a skull up close and personal before and shelves upon shelves were hard for me to take.

There are several excavated sites where the remains have been dug up then incinerated and placed in a pagoda to memorialize them. It's really eerie walking around the grave sites and imagining the atrocities that were committed against the prisoners before they were murdered. There is a tree where children were beat against that has some remains as well. The whole thing is very moving and while it doesn't provide very much information, it's a necessary stop (we read The Killing Fields which was a great background to what happened).

Toul Sleng Museum (S-21 Museum)-- Based on what I had heard about this school turned prison, I wasn't sure I would be able to handle the exhibits. I had NO clue how big the area was nor how much information is provided. I thought we would need at most an hour to get through everything and after about 3 hours we started to rush at the end.

The Khmer Regime brought many of the Cambodians that used to work in higher up positions for the government as well as anyone they thought didn't support them Supposedly no one knew about S-21 and the atrocities that went on there but it's hard to imagine how that's possible.

Many of the school rooms were converted into cell blocks, big enough for someone to lay down and not much wider. When they first started making the tiny cell blocks they used brick but as more and more people were admitted, the walls became panels of wood.

You can see where the prisoners were held captive, torture devices and even the photos they took before and after of the prisoners (many of which were unrecognizable due to weight loss and torture) to prove how many were admitted and killed.

There are floors upon floors of information ranging from personal tales of the soldiers to those that were held captive. There is even an area dedicated to a journalist that was invited by the K.R. To come and see the progress they had made. This journalist was deluded in thinking the K.R. Had finally found a way to run a communist country.
The entire exhibit was really well done and I was very impressed with all the information provided and how everything was laid out. There were times that things got a little graphic and hard to see/read but no more than the Holocaust Museum in DC. Especially check it out if you haven't read any books with personal accounts of what happened.

Riverfront (dining by the Japanese Friendship Bridge)-- The book made it seem like you would be eating along the riverfront with beautiful views of the bridge so we were confused when the driver dropped us off at an area with no real river views. Despite the misunderstanding, we liked walking around and seeing all the nice restaurants and bars geared towards tourists. We found an amazing Indian place that even had one of the popular Indian shows on tv. One of the bars we saw had nightly poker games which might have been fun to check out on another night if we had more time.

Psar Tuol Tom Pong (Russian Market)- We ended up going to this place twice and both times just as they were about to close. The second time we went we were starving so we checked out the eating area. We both got some really yummy Cambodian food with delicious spring rolls and dipping sauce.

The Russian Market tends to draw shoppers looking for clothes made by Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, etc. that didn't quite make the cut to the foreign shops and are sold at really low prices. The are also Northface backpacking bags at ridiculously low prices as well.

I wanted to get a new back pack as sad as it is go say goodbye to the one I have now that's been all over the word but none of the Northface brands fit my body type. This leads me to believe that while it may look and say Northface, they probably aren't . The bags are made for much smaller bodies and there is no way I could fit any of the waist straps around my waist comfortably.

The clothing area is just table after table covered in clothes of all sizes and colors with no real system whatsoever. I have never been good at finding the diamond in the rough at garage sale type exhibits and this overwhelming display was not any easier. I think I got a few shirts after quite a bit of searching and just gave up after awhile. It's worth going just to check out but plan on spending hours trying to find your size or anything worth getting.

Photos and Videos to check out :

Pix:
Cambodia Photo Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621834968322/

Vids:
Local music being played at the Phnom Penh Royal Palace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfKzze6myAA



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249289416/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249289416/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249289416/tpod.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:00:50 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Ruins- It turns out that unlike in Thailand and many other SE Asian countries, you don't have to cover your shoulders nor wear long shorts/pants to visit the temples/ruins. I was shocked to see girls wearing spaghetti tank tops and short shorts while exploring the ruins but no one seemed to mind too much.





Day 1- We got a somewhat late start and just went with a tuk tuk guy that was outside the restaurant we ate breakfast at every day. We originally hired him for all 3 days but decided we wanted to bike the 2nd day. He got a little testy with us towards the end of the day because we wanted to get our money's worth and fit in one last temple before the sunset one but other than that we were pretty happy with him. We have heard some horror stories of tuk tuk drivers forcing their "clients' to walk from temple to temple (which is ridiculous since that's what they are hired for and the temples are FAR apart) so overall we lucked out.





Angkor Wat- We went back and forth over whether or not to save Angkor for last since many say you get kind of bored with the other temples once you've seen the most famous one. We ended up just going for it and saw Angkor first. The walk up over the moat is very exciting as you approach the outer walls to the entrance. As with many famous things that you are used to seeing the real deal is always smaller than you imagined. That said, it was just amazing to see. I had no idea what to expect and loved just wandering around inside taking my time. It's easy to see why it's so famous with all the incredible design, detail and forethought that went into creating it. We almost went up in a huge hot air balloon (holds 50 or so) but it was so far away from Angkor the view didn't look that promising/worth it.





Prasat Kravan- These brick towers seem like you can see everything from the street but they were worth exploring. On the inside they are hollow and one has a statue of the Indian deity Vishnu and another has a bas-relief of Lakshmi.





Banteay Kdei & Sra Srang- This temple is one of my favorites and we almost passed it up. We were riding to another temple and passed the huge entrance with the four stone heads on top and had to turn around and check it out. Inside is all forest and trees and roots take over many parts of the ruin. There are many wooden poles propping up parts of the different ceilings and walls that have since started to crumble down. You really feel like you are excavating as you walk around the many structures.





Preah Neak Pean- The walled in pool areas are now covered in lush green grass which adds to the grown over affect. It was cool to see the 4 different water spouts that were a horse's head, lion's head, elephant's head, and a human's head.





Preah Khan- Yet another cool structure, it was very maze-like and fun to get lost in. There are many huge pieces of stone/brick that are in piles everywhere waiting to be restored which added to the affect. Many of the temples have areas where you can place your back up against the wall and pound on your chest which creates a very surreal echo (which you can't do by voice oddly enough). I am not sure but I think the idea is that you are getting rid of all your negativity by pounding it out.





Phnom Bakheng- This temple is famous because all the guide books claim it is the best spot to see a sunset. Our guide book even went so far as to say that the sunset plays dramatic light on Angkor as it glides downward. Not so. The light doesn't even touch Angkor There were so many people up on top that it was hard to find a spot to sit and chill out and wait for the sunset, I can only imagine what a madhouse it must be when it's the high season. There are locals at the bottom with elephants for tourists to ride up to the top though it's hard to see the appeal...The temple itself is worth checking out since it does have such great views of the valley and you do get a good view of the sunset, it just doesn't have much of an inspiring photo op (despite what the books claim).





Day 2 (my favorite day)- Since we knew we were going to see Angkor Thom which is a series of clusters that are nearby (as opposed to the seriously spread out ones) we decided to bike it. You have to bike 8 kilometers from town just to get to the entrance and then you have to bike to the different temples/ruins once you are inside the gate. We probably bike rode about 20 miles (30 kilometers) total that day making for a super (fun) work out. The rodes are fairly shaded by the massive trees that grow along them so you aren't ridding in the hot sun; you just have to bear it and sweat it out climbing around all the temples.





Baksei Chamkrong- We started with this one, yet another we were going to pass, but made a last minute decision to check out. The morning sun was shining on it perfectly and the steep climb up was worth even if you just saw forest everywhere.





Bayon- There is an amazing entrance on the way to this awesome temple... The entire "city" is enclosed and there are 5 huge gates that have 4 large (awesome) faces on top of each entrance. There are 54 giant statues of gods and demons holding a long serpent taken from the story of the Churning of Milk that lead up to each of the 5 entrances. I'm probably not doing a great job of describing it all, but it's pretty fantastic to see, especially biking it.





Bayon is one of the top must sees at Angkor because it has so many towers within it that have huge smiling stone faces towering over you and the land below. The king that built the 54 "gothic" towers with the 216 smiling faces wanted the heads to exude power with a hint of humanity and hold sway over his huge empire. There are panels on the outside part that tell stories of the everyday life of those living during the 12th century which are fascinating to check out. The inside is just as impressive as you are exposed to more and more smiling faces and areas to explore.





I had the chance to hang out with a guard for a little while and found out that the guards change their post every 15 days so that no one is stuck in one spot too long (ie. Angkor Wat which has zero shade). The guard had an extensive knowledge of motorbikes and I found out more than I ever need to know about the different models, makes and cost (used, new, etc.). He was a really nice guy and also gave me insight into the fact that guys don't really date women until they have money saved up to start a family. He said it was too sad to date someone (even though he really liked a girl in town) if you knew you couldn't get married.





Baphuon- You can't really do much at this temple since it's still under construction. The best part about this temple is the history; it needed to be taken apart and put back together (or it would have completely fallen apart). Restoration efforts were under way and workers painstakingly took copious notes on how to put the blocks back together when civil war broke out. The Khmer Rouge decided to not touch the amazing works at Angkor but destroyed all the notes on how to put the temple back together (brats!). So efforts are underway now to get the temple back to its original state but as you can imagine, it's a slow process.





Royal Enclosure & Phimeanakas- The temple itself is super steep to climb up and there isn't much of a view but it's nestled in a forest and provides nice shade from the hot sun.





Terrace of Elephants- The Terrace of Elephants on the outside wall is very impressive and it's fun to walk along and just check out the surrounding scenery. The carvings are beautiful and many of the trunks are 3-D (incredible).





Kleangs & Prasat Suor Prat- These 12 towers are made of brick and remind me of Lego's. Apparently men used to tight-rope walk from tower to tower which is crazy and I wish I could have seen it.





Preah Pithu- This is set back in the forest past the towers and wasn't all that impressive (after 1.5 days of towers you start to get choosy, hehe).





Terrace of the Leper King- This intricately carved wall has a secret wall behind it with really cool rows upon rows of carvings as if the first wall wasn't enough. There is a nice state on top with the typical head missing from during the civil war when soldiers ransacked all the Buddha heads and sold them. As with all other Buddha statues, it now has a golden shawl draped over it's right shoulder covering it's chest and back.





Tep Pranam- Not too much going on at this one.. Greg saw a monk blessing 2 people with water and got some awesome shots. There is a huge Buddha statue nearby.





Preah Palilay- This is set way far back in the forest (pretty much had it to ourselves) and used to be covered in trees, literally trees growing out of the temple. Unfortunately, for some reason unknown to me, they cut most the trees in half so now there are just bare trunks growing out of the temple. The spot is super peaceful and a great rest stop.





Thommanon- This temple has beautiful stone carvings and was a nice bike ride away from the Thom temples. We met some guards who shared a shot rice whiskey with us which is typical local drink of choice.





Chau Say Tevoda- This temple is an inferior version of the Thommanon as it's more than half reconstructed and not as pretty. A nun with the typical shaved head offered to bless us but then forced us to make a donation afterwards which kind of soured our experience. While we were obviously going to donate some money she was very shady and at first didn't have change for us trying to force us to donate a ridiculous sum. I guess you have to make sure you have change since the women selling stuff won't give you change unless you buy something. Tricky, tricky.





Ta Keo- This temple was pretty far out there we were tired but we hoofed it anyways, hehe. The temple is pretty huge compared to its fellow temples and the stairs up to the top are fairly steep. As is typical, there is a Buddha statue at the very top and a nice view of the huge forest below.





Ta Nei- We aren't sure if we saw this one or not but you have to take a cool path through the forest to get to it so it's worth checking out. We're pretty sure it's just the ruble we saw with trees growing in and around it.





Day 3- We had prearranged a tuk tuk driver the night before at the night market because we wanted to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We were up and ready to go at about 4:30am and the guy never showed up. Fortuitously, what turned out to be our favorite driver ever was just hanging outside our guest house hoping to pick someone up. This day seemed to fly by since we got such an early start and since one of the temples was a 40 min. drive out we felt like we spent more time in the tuk tuk that at the temples.





Angkor Wat- We were pretty lucky in our temple visits in that we didn't experience too many crowds. As with the sunset though, the sunrise was very crowded. While it wasn't fun waking up so early, it payed off to get there when we did since we got a great spot. As always the creative women at the temples found a way to make money and offered up a free chair with an order of coffee while you waited for the sun to rise. Not usually a coffee drinker, I had no problem getting a chair to sit on. :) The sunrise was a bit of a disappointment but I'm still glad we checked it out. A friend of ours went the previous morning and got gorgeous pictures so I guess one could go several times if they wanted better pix (no thanks for me! hehe).





Ta Prohm- Famous for its role with Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, this temple is definitely a do not miss. While many of the surrounding trees have been cut back, there are still quite a few growing in and around the ruins. There is one famous gargantuan tree that almost covers an entire wall with its root structure and it's hard to tell if the ruins are holding the tree up or vice versa. We went right after the sun was up so a lot of the ruins were still shaded and covered in the jungle making it all quite mysterious.





Pre Rup- This brick pyramid-like structure was fairly large and quite a drive out past a small town and rice fields.





Banteay Samre- This temple is still in quite good condition and really just plain gorgeous and worth the drive. There is a cool moat on the inside and tons you have to walk up and down tons of stairs to get around inside the ruin.





Banteay Srei- This temple took forever to get to since it was a good 40 minute drive out but it was nice seeing the countryside and all the locals out and about. The temple itself is quite small and you sort of wonder what the big deal is at first when you see its size. The main draw here is the exquisite detail that was put into all of the carvings. It's believed that women caved this temple since the designs are all so intricate. The stone is also a deep red that none of the other temples seem to have. There are several replicas that have been put in that seem hilariously out of place but do help paint a picture of how it used to look.





Cambodia Land Mine Museum- This is located about 25 km out from town and is on the way to Banteay Srei. The founder used to be a part of the Khmer Rouge and placed thousands of land minds throughout the country when he was a soldier. He later joined up with an organization to deactivate thousands upon thousands of land mines. He spent a lot of his own time and money deactivating these horrible war left overs as well as taught many men and women how to continue his efforts.





The museum is quite informative and has many mines, guns and weaponry that he has deactivated and set up in the museum to show the world. I don't remember ever seeing war weapons and it's quite an experience to see them up close and personal. The information provided paints a very clear picture on just how horrible land mines are and how they maim and kill thousands to this day even though the war has long since ended. While the museum looks quite small, it took a lot longer than I thought it would to get through it all and it's 100% worth a visit. Proceeds go to helping those injured by the land mines and towards the on-sight orphanage and rehab center.


Pix and Video to check out :

Photos:
Cambodia Photo Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621834968322/

Full Angkor Photo Gallery
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621709026155/

Videos:

Bike riding through the gates to Angkor Thom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go9vkLYZRjU


Monks chanting at the Bayon in Angkor just before sunset
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td3QOzWIeVI


Water, tee shirt and instrument sellers outside of Ta Phrom in Angkor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqs_6vzkx28




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249289028/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249289028/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1249289028/tpod.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:58:36 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Kratie (Kracheh), Cambodia


Kratie (5/7) Siem Reap 6/7- 10/7)

Kratie

After a full day of traveling and a somewhat long border crossing, we finally arrived at Kratie. For the first time in 7 months since we left home we were asked for our immunization cards at the border so make sure you have a copy of yours handy.... We had just enough time to find a place to stay when the late afternoon torrential rains came down. We were basically held prisoners at our guest house since the streets were flooded several feet high and the downpour was so heavy.

While looking for a place to say we were able to check the town out a bit and were honestly disappointed. The book raved about the architecture and other than a few cute buildings here and there, I thought the town was not worth stopping off at all. You can take a half day trip to see some very rare and almost extinct dolphins but since it was raining (and we've seen similar dolphins in Panama) we skipped it.

Since we wanted to make sure we had enough time to check out the capital and Angkor Wat we left town as soon as possible and took off in the morning. We had been told from a fellow traveler that there was a 3 day wait to get the Viet Nam visa (you can't get it at the border) so instead of going to Siem Reap we went to Phnom Pen to get the visa process started. It turns out they can issue the visa the next day (gargh to the lying traveler!) so no need to change your plans.


Siem Reap



The bus rides in Cambodia are different than other places we've visited in that they stop at rest stops practically every other hour. This is frustrating in that it makes the trip last so much longer but it's fun because we get to see all the insect food for sale. Up to this point all we have seen are skewered fried crickets but these stops have fried frogs (the head is chopped off and the body is stuffed with a grain of some sort) and live and fried tarantulas. Greg tried the frog and said it was pretty good but I think the tarantula was a bit of a push to try...

Siem Reap can get pretty toasty and we had to change guest house rooms after the first night since our room on the top floor was so hot we couldn't sleep. We found a great place to stay with a nice cool room on the bottom floor and it turned out our friends were staying there as well. We spent the majority of our days busy doing activities, seeing ruins. By the time we got home most nights we were too exhausted to go out despite the fun nightlife scene. Our last day in town we got up early for the sunrise at Angkor which had us done with temples by mid-day.

As always the people in town were super friendly, always with a big smile on their face. I was blown away at how excellent everyone's English is (by far THE best English speakers in all of SE Asia). Since tourists have been coming to see Angkor in droves for years it's had an amazing affect on the undereducated kids and women selling food and wares. The kids at all the temples selling scarves, post cards, etc. can all speak French, English, Spanish and some even Japanese. I spoke with some kids in Spanish just for fun and was really impressed at their grasp on the language, even if it was basic.

It would have been nice to see more in Siem Reap but we needed to move on and check out the capital. I would definitely like to come back and see the area more.

Things we checked out:

Flooded Forest- We knew we were going to spend 3 days seeing the temples but we wanted to check out the rest of the city as well. I had no idea there is so much to do in Siem Reap.. you could easily spend a week just checking out all the stuff in the city without even seeing the temples.

Since we had already seen a floating village in Thailand we decided to go for the less often seen flooded forest. Our tuk tuk driver said it would take a few hours and since we left around 1pm we figured we would have plenty of time to be back for the sunset. We first had to drive out to a village a decent drive away from town during which one of the tires on the tuk tuk got a flat.

We pulled over to fix the tire at a little shack on the side of the road in front of someone's home. While we were waiting for the tire to be replaced we hung out with about 7 kids of all ages who were fascinated with us. The whole ride through the dirt road to the village kids would run to the side of the road and yell “hello” and wave enthusiastically to us as we passed by. It definitely made my day seeing all the happy smiles from the adorable kids.

Once the tire was fixed we continued on to what the tuk tuk driver called his “brother's” home. We then got out of the tuk tuk and had to ride on two motorcycles because the rain had damaged the road so much it was impossible for a tuk tuk to navigate. Greg rode with the tuk tuk driver who seemed to have no experience driving in thick, wet mud as he skidded out and slipped all over the place. I rode with a 12 year old kid who deftly maneuvered around and never skidded out once.

At one point the dirt road was so impossible to drive on we had to get off and walk! We had no preparation for any of this and since our flip flops kept getting sucked into the mud our driver said to just leave them with my driver and the tuk tuks. Of course about 10 minutes later the almost calf deep mud (which was torture since I hate things in between my toes) turned into hard, dried mud that was super painful to walk on.

Previous tire tracks left indents in the mud so that each indent formed a raised portion that practically pierced the bottoms of our feet. Basically it was very painful to walk and it didn't help that our driver had calloused feet and was practically running ahead of us. Despite the torture, we were surrounded in beauty with scenic flat lands, gorgeous blue skies and awesome clouds.

After about 30 minutes of walking barefoot on the dried mud we reached our destination, a small boat landing. We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into since our tuk tuk driver made it sound like he would drive us to a boat and we would see the forest and then go home. He left out a LOT of details. :)

The driver of our boat was an 8 year old boy (no joke) who sat behind the wheel of a 10 passenger wooden boat. His 12 year old brother was the captain and would help him navigate around bends in the river. Incredible. We first floated through an amazing town built on stilts high over the riverside (apparently the river gets quite high later on in the rainy season).

The banks were dotted with tons of personal boats and it seemed like each family had at least one boat. There were also bamboo cages off the river bank which held all kinds of fish and some even had alligators. On shore there were bamboo cages for pigs which were placed close to the water so that all their poo ran right into the water. This is of course super frustrating since not only are they loosing out on valuable fertilizer for their crops, they are also polluting their source of water!

We continued on and eventually the homes decreased and more and more trees popped up along the riverside. Apparently the forest becomes totally flooded later on during the rainy season (which I was mislead to believe was now, grrr) and the trees become submerged up to half their trunks in the river. While the forest was beautiful to see, I was a little disappointed that the water only covered the first few feet of the trees.

The tour continued on past the forest where the river opened up into a huge lake covered in algae and floating plants.. It looked like one large green covered lake for miles and miles. We were told we could go swimming if we wanted but neither of us were remotely tempted to take a dip. Hehe The boat ride was really great since we got to see fishermen heading home in their small wooden boats (more like a canoe than boat), homes floating on boats attached to the riverbank (which were super cool), and supposedly some monkeys in the trees though we didn't see them.

We thought the tour was over once we headed back but we ended up checking out the stilt town too. Several girls bombarded our boat and wanted to sell us notebooks and pencils for the school kids. It was one of those situations where you don't have much of a choice and we felt that our money was going to something good so why not.

It just so happened that there was a Buddha procession going on when we got to town. The whole town (of less than 150 or so) was walking down the dirt road carrying trees made of silver and gold with dollar bills attached and other ceremonial pieces they held high up over their heads. It was definitely a sight to see.

From what I understood, the monks in town were going into a 3 month phase of meditation and were not going to leave the temple. This procession brought together all the townspeople to commemorate the beginning of 3 months. Everyone brought money and food to give to the monks so they could get through the 3 months.

Once the procession made its way to the temple two boys took turns pounding the large drum that could seriously be heard throughout the whole town. Pretty much every temple we have been to on this trip has one of these big drums in front and I have always wanted to hear one so I was super excited to finally hear it played. The drum is so large that it could probably barely fit in the back of a pick up truck....

Since the procession was going on school was obviously done for the day so my plan of giving the teacher the notebooks and pencils we bought to pass out to kids was foiled. Instead, the women that sold us the stuff to give out picked out a few kids nearby and poor Greg had to pick which kids to give something to. The whole scene was very awkward and it didn't even seem like the kids really appreciated them anyways... We now wonder if the notebooks are given back to the sellers to resell to the next tourists... lame.

Luckily we didn't have to walk back to our bikes since some locals from town offered to drive us back to them. Wahoo! We got to one part where we had to drive through a stream that was so deep the water went up to the middle of my calves. The entire experience took well over double the time we were told it would take. We asked the tuk tuk driver if he was going to do any more tours to the forest and he said absolutely not until there was more rain (I guess you usually get the boat much closer to the first village so you don't ride a motorcycle). It was definitely an amazing experience if not an unforgettable one.

Angkor Children's Hospital- As the rainy season continues the amount of dengue cases increase which means there is a great need for blood for transfusions. There are two hospitals that have a great incentive to get tourists to donate blood; they give out a free t-shirt. The whole process was very professional and I even got to find out what blood type I am (they will email you if you're positive for certain STI's). Unfortunately, I have very small veins and they are quite hard to find and can get punctured easily if not handled properly. I ended up getting a massive, ugly bruise that has been on my arm for over a week now.. yuck. The hospital has some really great projects to raise money for street kids and to help get medical care to those that can't afford it as well.

Puppet Show- La Noria guest house (which is really an upscale hotel so be prepared for hotel priced meals) has a free puppet show and traditional dance show every Wednesday at 7pm that we stopped in to check out. Our book didn't tell us what time the show started so we unfortunately missed the part we were most excited to see which was the puppet show. Puppet shows have quite a history in Cambodia as they were used as a way to tell stories... We got to at least see the puppets and they were really cool. The other dances that night were fun to see, especially the coconut one though we would have skipped them if we knew we were missing the puppet part.

Angkor Night Market- The night market is an upgraded version of the old market selling paintings, t-shirts, jewelry, the popular comfy knee length shorts and the weird fish massage where you can sit on the edge of a huge tank and have little fish eat the dead skin cells off your feet. Unfortunately, the people in the market are used to tourists and absolutely refuse to bargain at all (some women were downright snotty with me!). It's such a stark contrast to the women that sell many of the same things at all the temples who are so eager to bargain with you.

Seeing Hands Massage 4- After Greg and I bike rode through the temples all day we decided to treat our bodies and put our money towards a good cause. There are copy cats out there that actually take advantage of the blind so make sure you go to the one we used... I have never been massaged by a blind person before and had no idea what to expect. It was definitely unlike any massage I have ever received.

We showed up just as two other people did so all 4 of us got massaged in the same room at the same time. We all put on the MD scrub-like outfits that were not the best in our oven-like room and just made us sweat more. The entire massage concentrated on our back and legs, we never flipped over onto our backs. To further add to the weirdness of our massage, the masseurs talked the entire time which doesn't really help anyone relax. Overall I don't know how helpful the massage was in working out the tight muscles but I'm glad I tried it.

Traditional Dance at Temple Bar- Temple Bar has free traditional dance performances every night and we had plans of checking it out each night but ended up too tired to make it. We finally came by our last night in town, still exhausted from temple seeing all day, and got there for the last few dances. Since we were with friends it was hard to concentrate on the show too much especially since we were pretty far back. It's worth checking out if you have the time.

Butterflies Garden Restaurant- The restaurant really has butterflies flying all over the enclosed patio while you eat some yummy food. Though the food is pricey, the restaurant supports good causes such as Cambodian Living Arts and helps communities affected with HIV/AIDS. I was a little sad to see how many dead butterflies there were on the ground which makes me think that either certain species should not be bread there or they don't have the right plants for them to survive on. There is also the Singing Tree Cafe which has a way better menu and also supports great causes. While it doesn't support any causes, I may as well pimp out Curry Walla, some of the best Indian food since India. YUM!


Photos and videos to check out:

Photos:

Cambodia Photo Highlights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621834968322/

Laos/Cambodia Border Crossing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621708945345/

Food of Cambodia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621833386462/

Videos:

I eat frog for the first time at a rest stop in between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfKzze6myAA

Local music being played at the Phnom Penh Royal Palace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfKzze6myAA

A boat ride through the village on stilts next to the Flooded Forest of Kompong Phhluk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwgJuFbRPak

Road to the Flooded Forest of Kompong Phhluk riding through shin deep water on a moto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nBRQgab6Ks

Buddha celebration at the village on stilts next to the Flooded Forest of Kompong Phhluk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qumHjriH_bc

Traditional Cambodian Dance - The Coconut Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-zNKuUWJ-g




























]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1248183394/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1248183394/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrienica05/peacecorps-2005/1248183394/tpod.html Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:39:19 -0400 Life- the adventure of a lifetime! :o)

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Dondet, Lao Peoples Dem Rep


Wat Pho(1/7) Don Det (2/7- 4/7)


Wat Phou

We left Vang Viang
on a bus with locals and rode for 3 hours to Vientiane. We realized
that haven't had the opportunity (despite much searching) to take
transportation with locals since Sri Lanka, crazy! It's just so hard
to get away from the buses and mini-vans that cater to foreigners. As
always, the local bus was crowded with people, random animals and
huge sacks of who knows what in the aisle. The front door was held
open with a rope tied from the inside roof halfway down the bus and
there was a softball sized hole gaping by the bus drivers feet. We
loved every minute of it!

Once we got to
Vientiane we had some time to grab some food and then head out on an
overnight bus down to Paxe. We had heard from numerous volunteers
that there isn't much to do in Vientiane and since we are on a time
crunch we opted to just skip it. The overnight bus was unlike any
experience we've had before... the entire bus is full of beds on one
level with a second level of beds above. The beds are placed at an
angle so your feet can supposedly fit at a downward angle. There is
NO way those beds were made for anyone over 5 feet five inches tall
and Greg and I had to take turns trying to be comfortable.
Essentially neither of us got any sleep due to the lack of space and
the super hard bed (basically wooden with no mattress).




We continued our
ridiculous travels southbound to Wat Phou making it well over a days
worth of travel from VangViang... instead of resting when we arrived
we dropped our stuff off and headed out in a tuk tuk to check out the
ruin. The ruin is actually part of the group that was made at Ankor
Wat so it was nice to get a small preview of what was to come. The
ruin is nestled in the forest on a hillside so you feel like you are
exploring it a bit as opposed to having all the vegetation cleared
away. While I wouldn't go out of my way to check out Wat Phou
(especially if you're coming from Cambodia and did Ankor Wat) it was
cool to check out since it was on our way south.



After chilling out
for a bit and watching the Mekong River, we explored the town and
found some kids playing in a field near an abandoned school. Greg let
one of the kids take some pix with his camera and I'm sure it made
the kid's week. I loved checking out the abandoned school that still
had some chairs and tables but was mostly emptied and had some
graffiti and teachers markings on the chalk board.



The town itself is
just one long dirt road and is so spread out that other than checking
out the ruin, you pretty much just chill at (and eat at) your guest
house. It's a cute little town and fun for seeing the slow side of
life (if it's possible to get any slower than the rest of the
country, hehe). You have to take a ferry across the Mekong River to
get to the town and it's crazy to see tons of cars and motos pile on
the makeshift ferry ...I think most people just come in for one day
on their way down to the four thousand islands like we did.




Don Det



We had heard of
the 4,000 islands down at the tip of Laos and were excited to check
out the slow pace of life and just relax for a few days. We had been
told we could just take the ferry back to the side the bus dropped us
off on and a bus would pick us up but it didn't work out that way. We
ended up hitch hiking out to the main road and getting in a songthaw
(covered pick up truck) with other locals to the port. In order to
make more room for more passengers, they added in a middle “bench”
for people to sit on but it was basically a wooden plank that got
VERY uncomfortable after just a few minutes let alone several hours
(ugh!). While I enjoyed making new friends with a an older Laos woman
during the ride, I couldn't wait for it to be over. Hehe



We opted to avoid
the larger island and chose to stay at the smaller island, Don Det.
While there are supposedly 4,000 islands, there are only a few that
cater to foreigners and have places to stay and eat. The island is
mostly one big rice paddy and every morning and late afternoon (after
the customary noon siesta to avoid the seriously hot sun) you see
locals wading through mud planting rice. There are two main areas
that are built up to cater to foreigners and you either stay on the
sunset side or the sunrise side depending on your preference.




It's pretty easy
to get sucked into the way of life on Don Det. Since we stayed on the
sunrise side we always woke up early as the small wooden room with a
tin roof got super hot quickly. The entire island has no power until
generators are run from 6pm-11pm which means that rooms are very
basic, usually big enough for a bed with a mosquito net, windows if
you're lucky and one single light bulb strategically placed at the
entrance to the room so you can have some light outside on the deck
and some inside the room (you always need a candle/headlamp if you
want to do anything other than lay in your hammock at night).



There is one,
maybe two internet cafes but they run so slowly it's more frustrating
than it's worth... plus the whole point of being on the island is to
relax and hang about. Really, other than hanging out in your hammock
on your deck overlooking the river (and some awesome sunsets!), there
isn't much to do other than visit a restaurant (they all have power)
or avoid the heat (which is why you usually end up in your hammock).




I just fell in
love with this place, it's definitely in my top ten places to visit.
I was a little bummed at how separate I felt from the locals lives,
though that's par for the course in any town. I think I felt it a
little more because we were in such a small town and usually connect
with locals in that kind of a situation. That said, the locals were
friendly as ever and if you approach them they are super nice and
open.




I chatted a little
with our guest house owner and she has upgraded her rooms from cheap
bamboo to wood to now constructing cement/tile rooms for those that
want to pay more. When I asked if she wanted to build more she said
no, 6 rooms was more than enough to keep her busy. I also got the
impression that she wanted to share and let her neighbors have a
piece of the pie so to speak.




Don Det is one of
those special places that feels like a time warp back in time and
hasn't been ruined by tourism yet. I hope it stays the lazy chilled
out town it is...according to my guidebook the locals are very
against a vang viang II and refuse to let the place be run over by
tourists. I wish them the best of luck.




Things we checked out:



Plant rice-
We were walking around the island to get a feel for the size and
layout our first afternoon and decided to watch some locals work the
field. Some guys had huge water buffalo pulling a plow attached to
them to make rows in the mud while others had bushels of rice
seedlings waiting to be planted in the mud.




As you pass by the
rice fields you see rows of butts in the air as the workers keep a
bent over position; I'm assuming making it easier to move quickly
down the rows. It looks really easy, you just take a few seedlings
and push them in the ankle deep mud and repeat. We had been invited
to plant with the locals during our visit to Wat Phou but didn't have
time and regretted it.




So when locals
invited us over with a big smile we just couldn't resist. Our new
friends didn't speak much English but showed us (repeatedly) with
patience and a big smile. I had a hard time just standing up let
alone trying to follow the precise straight line of rice already
planted. Despite repeated attempts, I could not seem to get the
seedlings to stand up straight nor in a row as those planted before.
After a few tries we felt like we were doing more damage than good
since they would probably have to replant our best attempts.




It was fun trying
plant and joke around with the locals and it was definitely an
experience I will never forget. :)



Khon Phapheng
Falls- We had a group of about 7 of us and decided do the only
thing you can do on the sleepy island one day. We all rented bikes
(push bikes, not motor) and rode through sun scotching rice fields,
over a bridge and through some zig zaggy shaded paths to a huge,
thunderous wwaterfall. The ride was so fun as we lazily rode along
and watched locals go about their daily lives planting rice, working
the animals in the field, hanging laundry out to dry, just sitting
and watch the world go round.




The waterfall was
impressive in that it was so powerful and multi-tiered. The belief is
that the spirits of the deceased are in the water so the locals avoid
the falls at all costs. Good thing too since the water looks like it
could easily pummel you to death..




After a relaxing
stop at the waterfall we all felt like we did more than enough
activity for one day (it IS a small island after all, where relaxing
is THE main event of the day) and rode home. The ride back was
considerably hotter and confirmed that all the locals on the island
find a shady spot with a hammock for the afternoon to avoid the heat.
There is one bakery on the island attached to a local-run restaurant
with great views of the river and is a perfect lunch spot. I had
grandiose plans off riding more that day or another day but the local
culture of chilling in a hammock took over. hehe
For pix and vids check out :PHOTOS

Laos Traveling
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621325024203/

Laos Food
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621446359698/

Laos Transportation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157621450257688/

......................
VIDEOS

Bike ride tour of Don Det
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyR-2l8gDHQ

The Gibbon Experience - Carrie zip lines into our treehouse on day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qvi1x-dY14

The Gibbon Experience Treehouse panorama and the zip out followed by Greg crashing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziMEDITKLws

The Gibbon Experience Ziplining into our treehouse on night 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szaCflf2kFA

Carrie and I plant rice in Don Det, Laos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXYLQQhv70g

Plowing the rice fields with water buffalo in Don Det
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_qJsT_arYU

Mekong boat ride Panorama of the river ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWskr0TVNgY

Street vendors selling chicken, drinks and more surround our sangthaw in southern Laos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MRWiitq_k

Downpour on the streets of Vang Viang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOgomSCdxfM




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