taralyra's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

taralyra's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member taralyra on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/taralyra en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:36:37 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Readings for September 22nd — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/2/1253491546/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/2/1253491546/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/2/1253491546/tpod.html Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:36:37 -0400 RLG 245Y1

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

What struck me most about the first three chapters of Wood was why it would ever cross anyone's mind to cross the Taklamakan in the first place.  Further, the notion of crossing it with the equipment and resources available to medieval travellers is even more unnerving.  I suppose it is demonstrative of the powerful lure of potential wealth generated by the trade routes that developed along the oases.  Also intriguing was how carefully the trade monopoly was protected, in so far as keeping silk production solely under Chinese control for hundreds of years.I have made my way through the first three parts of Hopkirk, and I am overwhelmed by the audacity of early Western archaeologists who did not seem to question their right to remove ancient artifacts (or at least this is not mentioned by Hopkirk).  It was all too typical of Western expansion to assume sovereingty over what they came across and infer that peoples they encountered were somehow lesser or endowed with less autonomy.  Interestingly, Hopkirk points out the ancient Chinese had a similar "deeply rooted sense of superiorty" towards foreigners.  I can't help but wonder how early western explorers and ancient Chinese autocrats managed to do business with one another, considering how each group was convinced of its own superiority.  And why then the lure of exotic imports, if one's native wares were assumed to be superior? Here is a video of processing silk worm coccoons. I was blown away by the text's description of how complicated it was to make silk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXh-Mpti4dc
]]> The Top Ten — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219670340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219670340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219670340/tpod.html Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:03:47 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

It's done! It's over!  I've reflected quite a bit about this trip.  I'll keep it to myself, rather than getting too soppy on you all. Thanks, everyone, for reading along.  This thinger has a counter on it, and apparently there a quite a lot of you crazy internet stalkers! Who are you weirdos??? Seriously though, thanks for reading.  Here are my Top Ten (moments/places/events/people) from the past two months, listed chronologically whenever possible.  It goes without saying that this was a difficult list to make ( I was aiming for Ten... did not happen... hence the creative numbering).  I just can't understand how I got to be so lucky.  To avoid subjecting you to further sappiness, I'm limiting the amount of commentary.  However this will not exempt you from being bombarded with thousands photos  (currently 16 Gig) in the months to come.  I can't wait to see you. Read on, dear Reader, and may our paths cross soon!1. Kecak Dance (Ubud, Bali, Indonesia)Made me feel like an alien and a human at the same time... Ubud is a magical kind of place.2. Borobodur (Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia)Mind-boggling and soaked in divinity.3. Security Guard and student at the Sultan's Kraton (Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia)Single-handedly restored my faith in humanity when I needed it the most4. Seeing Aaron again (Bangkok Airport, Thailand)A moment of simple, complete happiness.5. Muy Thai fight (Chiang Mai, Thailand)The music, the fans, the ghetto arena, the fighting, the smoke, all elements came together for a very unique experience.6. Border Crossing from Bangkok (Poipet, Cambodia)A ghetto-fabulous adventure that I hope I never, ever have to relive!!!7. Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia)I will go back one day, spend hundreds of dollars on guides, and learn... there is so much to take in there, it was beyond incredible and you should work to be worthy enough for it. 8. Kayaking in Halong Bay (Vietnam)An all-around fantastic trip from start to finish.9. Great Wall (Badaling, China)Random encouragement from random people, and seeing Olympians doing the same stuff as the rest of us, and being on the Great freaking Wall!!!. 10. First Olympic Waterpolo Game, China vs. Canada (Beijing, China)My Olympic moment. 10a.  Moments in transit with Aaron, aka the silent actor in this blog (buses/trains/planes/boats/tuktuks/bikes/scooters/feet all over Asia)sphinx, sits, bitch (semantics), Futurama, Hue???, cooking, exhaustion, towels, homosexual hot-or-not, "bullets/shirts/beer", maps and maps and maps, singing, black book, baby formula, "you don't know anything about strippers", William Shatner, wsht!, threats and pseudo-beatings and love... I love "the way you roll"... thank you!10b. Closing Ceremony Fireworks in Tianenmen Square (Beijing, China)One of those incredible things that will never ever happen twice and I was somehow totally blessed to be there for (plus I really love fireworks).10c.  The Weather (just south to just north of the equator)I will take hot-sticky-humid over freezing-snowy-icy absolutely every time. I'm going to Canada now.  Now!!  Oh mercy, there goes my soul, exploding all over the place. I'll post picture links, but for all intents and purposes, that's the end of this.Blast off!!
]]> My memory is muddy,whats this river that I'm in... — Shanghai, Shanghai, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219914540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219914540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219914540/tpod.html Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:10:34 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Shanghai, Shanghai, China

I took a 13 hour train from Beijing to Shanghai.  What a great train!  It kinda felt like a big fat plane, on rails.  The beds are great and more private and large then the Thai train. Each cabin has 4 beds (2 sets of bunks), its own little table, and a door so that the cabin can be totally enclosed.  Therefore, quiet.  (SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/fairley/1155838780/).  I was hoping to be with other foreigners but was with 3 random Chinese people. Luckily everyone was chill.  Not that I'd know any difference, as I slept for 11 hours.  That's the longest I've slept since Taiwan, I think. I was like a dead thing.I rolled into Shanghai without a hotel reservation or a clue where to go.  I am so overloaded with stuff at this point in the trip that I can't carry it all very far.  So I tore a couple pages out of my Lonely Planet, grabbed a taxi, and pointed where I wanted to go.   The hotel was full, and they re-directed me to one a little down the street.  However this involved going up and down mulitiple pedestrian overpasses.  I thought my spine was going to compress into a pancake, that's how heavy my bag is now.  I got to the hotel and took the room without giving a thought to the price.  I started wandering around Shanghai at about 9 am, and kept right on going to 9pm.  Shanghai is another world from Beijing.  It's way more normal, not all glossed over and redone for anybody. It's all real and very, very in your face. The city is divided into two very different halves by the river: Pudong (new area) and Puxi (old area). Basically Shanghai has a long history of colonialism, from a variety of white overlords, and the Japanese.  Puxi is 100% old colonial architecture, mostly french, with so many Chinese people living and working out of it that it may burst at any moment.  It's a very weird mix.  It's unsettling not to see any Chinese architecture, or temples, or anything like that.  Just French buildings with Chinese signage all over them.  On the first day I wandered around Puxi, and was reaquainted with being a tourist.  "Lady, bags-shoes-watch?", "Have look. Bag for you!", "Change money? Change money?".  Ugh I have had enough of this.  If you could only see how outrageously bitchy I am to these people you wouldn't recognize me.  I understand that they are only trying to make a living, and if I wanted to buy any of their cheap crap, I'd go find them.  But I hate them trying to find me.  And I am tired of walking and having stuff literally shoved in my face.  I guess there are small blessings though, like no one here hassles you for "transport".  Also, a very curt "Boo yow" (in Chinese, "no want"), is usually enough to dissuade them.  None of this being-chased-down-the-street business, like some other places. I enjoyed walking a few streets off of the main consumerism-madness area.  On the side streets there is what I would call real Chinese life, much more what I was used to from Taiwan. Cheap street food, bubble tea (!!!!), random stores for door knobs, socks, etc.  I walked and walked and walked.  At night, I went back to the Bund.  Basically this is an area that was the center of life back in the day.  It is the area right by the river, and it is lined with many glum, art-deco-y buildings. The area  right by the shore was rebuilt with a big wall and walkway 20 years ago.  Shanghai is a huge city of 9 million people situated on wet sand in a flood plain between the river and the ocean, and it's sinking.  Now the river is higher than the city, which is protected by the big wall. I waited to watch the Pudong side of the river light up.  The Pudong side looks like a city from Mars (SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe-joe/1671528233/).  Incredibly, none of it existed 20 years ago.  It was all swampy farmland.  Now it looks like dozens of spaceships poised for blast off. Watching it all light up, piece by piece, was an interesting experience.  It was very beautiful, but also very creepy and weird.  It definitely looks like an alien landscape.  Never have I felt so far from home. Plus I've been on my own for afew days and haven't seen or spoken to anyone I know.  I've barely spoken any English at all, come to think of it.  I'm making the most of my time left here, but oh my, Canada Canada Canada, I can't wait to come home.  There are so many people I want to see.I moved from the expensive hotel to a huge hostel that I stumbled across.  The place is brand new and totally empty.  I am the only person here. I am paying about $5 US a night to stay in one of the mixed-gender dorms. However, in reality, I have it all to myself.  There are 20 beds in the room and they are all totally empty, except for the 3 that me and my stuff are spread out across.  I hate hostel dorms, they're usually damp and smelly and loud.  This is by far the best one I've seen.  The dorms are gigantic, the beds are really like small bedrooms stacked on top of each other.  It's amazing!Shanghai Day 2, big improvement. Except for the rain.  My sandals have definitely seen better days by this point, and my feet have been sloshing around in them all day making it impossible to walk quickly.  They broke back in Hanoi, and I got them fixed, but they came apart again in Beijing.  Your 20,000 quickie fix-it job is worthless, Hanoi Shoe Guy! I slipped and slid my way onto the subway and headed over to Pudong (the new part). I walked around a bit but decided against going up the Ocean Pearl Tower.  It's expensive, silly, and probably a teleportation device for Martians. Pudong has a big westerny mall called Super Brand that is financed by Thais.  It was bizarre to see Thai alters outside of the mall.  It was also weird to be inside it, and see some western brands that I forgot existed.  Weirder still was  looking at shirts with sleeves and full-length pants for the first time in ages and thinking hmmm... maybe I should buy you?  After my brief and damp forray into Pudong, I took the subway back under the river.  I stopped to get some Chinese name stamps made (finally! only took me 2 years...) and then walked over to the French Quarter of Shanghai. A long, wet shuffle later I found it.  And I loved it! I  am very happy that I found a part of Shanghai that I actually really liked.  The French Quarter is beautiful.  It looks totally European, even more out of place than the old colonial parts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.  Gorgeous big leafy trees and beautiful architecture.  Plus I smelled a smell that I haven't smelled in over 2 years... fallen leaves. Fall is coming to Shanghai.  By this point in the day my feet were painfully softened from the rain and nearly beaten to the pulp from so much walking.  I was holding my shoulder bag close to my chest with one hand to keep it out of the rain, my other hand occupied by the umbrella.  There were postcards in the bag which I'd been trying to mail all day, and I didn't want ruined by the rain.  I was also cold, wet, and getting tired.  Then by some miracle I saw a magical corner that simultaneously answered all of my prayers.  On this single corner there was a China Post (I could mail my postcards!), a Starbucks (I can get a grande-double-vanilla-non-fat-no-foam-latte!!)... and there was an H&M!!!!! I freaking nearly cried at seeing the H&M.  Again it's been 2 years since I've seen any such easy, giant, basic, western store.  I currently do not own proper pants, and I wanted some to fly home with cause I'll know I'll be cold.  I've seen plenty of Levis stores in Asia, but they're more than I can afford, so I was tickled pink to see the H&M.  I also bought a sweater there, because I lost my beloved white zipup hoodie somewhere between the Shanghai train station and the hotel.  I will be so broke when I get back to Canada that I forsee alot of H&M clothing in my future.  I liked the French Quarter.  If I ever had to move to China, I would probably pick it over Beijing or other parts of Shanghai.   And if I did move to the French Quarter, I would stay as far away from Nanjing Street and The Bund as humanly possible.  It sucks that I couldn't take any pictures; the rain and my totally rational, overprotective love for my camera prevented it.  Next best thing is Someone Else's Picture (SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloompy/2189682/).  Yes it really does look like that.  And isn't it nice to see a place that has seasons? As much as I love Asia, and have loved travelling, I'm noticing that the things I'm enjoying lately are those that remind me the most of somewhere other than Asia.  I'm a little Asia-ed out, I guess, and so ready to come home. Speaking of which... I am going home.  Tomorrow.  Less than a day. This is not real to me at all, yet.  I do not have any idea how to write about this, because I have absolutely no idea what to say about it right now.  The only thing I can think of is that it feels just as incomprehensible and strange as leaving Canada did.  The only word that comes to my lips is 'wow'. I will post one last, quick entry tomorrow!
]]> Goodbye, Beijing! I like you. — Beijing, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219828200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219828200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219828200/tpod.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:27:24 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Beijing, China

At first I didn't care for you, Beijing.  I thought you were cold and kind of alien.  I mean, you are so full of gigantic, 20 story buildings, as far as the eye can see, but there didn't seem to be enough people around to fill up all those buildings!  I didn't see any small businesses, shops, dry cleaners, shoe stores, schools, drink stands, playgrounds, restaurants, convenience stores... none of that stuff that stuff that is actually associated with people living.  But after having walked all over you for the past week, I have changed my mind about you.  Let me tell the others what I mean. Beijing is huge. It's huger than huge.  As far as you see and as long as you travel, all you see are big tall skyscrapers and wide inner city highways.  And none of it looks old.  It looks like it  sprung up last night. Some of it must have, as quite alot of the buildings are still empty, but covered with Olympic signage to make it look less creepy.  You have to look very hard to find anything old in this city.  Because it's all kind of glossy that way, it feels a little fake.  It's obvious that half of the city has been recently obliterated and rebuilt.  Several times I went looking for something recommended in the 2007 LonelyPlanet, only to find that it has disappeared and been replaced with a parkette or new buildings or whatever.  Aaron and I went to check out the renown hutongs (small alleys) near Qianmen in central Beijing.  They've been completley destroyed and rebuilt with brand-new "authentic" hutongs.  Why tear down and rebuild them?  I guess they didn't realize that Westerners like to see things a little ragged, a little real. The new "hutongs" are basically stores for tourists or still empty, they're that new, and they are all uniform and totally devoid of character, even though great pains have been taken to make them "look real".  It reminds me of Wild West land in Disneyworld.  It's eerie. What happened to the people who lived there before?  They did the same thing to Wuanfuging  Street, which used to be a market area, but has been torn down and rebuilt with tourist-geared stores and big malls.   They also set up a very fakey "nightmarket" there, which they've done as a strip of totally uniform food vendors that sell alot of crazy and good food (grilled starfish, beetles, seahorse, etc and some more normal things), but once you walk down the strip you see that the food stalls repeat each other after awhile.   If you've never seen a real nightmarket, you'd never know just how fake this is (ie this fool who doesn't know any better, here is one of the stalls from the nightmarket, they all look exactly like this and they all wear uniforms SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/grchiu/167358539/  ).Not everything here is new and phony.  The heritage sites are all excellent.  I already told you about the Great Wall and Tianenmen Square.  After Aaron left (boooooerns!), I went to the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and the Forbidden City (one day for each of them).  I walked alot, as the subways are still jacked full of post-olympic tourists, and I like walking anyhow since taking the packed trains by myself is not any fun without someone.  The Temple of Heaven was very beautiful and situated in a huge peaceful park.  There are actually lots of temples inside.  The best part was the Long Corridor, where old Chinese men sat along the banisters gambling and playing Chinese Checkers.  The Longevity Pavilion was also cool. It's set up like the infinity symbol, and there was a group of Chinese people there singing, I think they were some kind of club that met weakly.  The Summer Palace is also located in a ginormous park area, much larger than the Temple of Heaven, complete with a huge lake where you can take paddle boats and dragon boats.  There were billions of people there, and I was dissappointed by the pictures I took because of the very murky light.  I think this would be a great place to go outside of the Olympic madness, and even still it was very peaceful and beautiful.  Today I went to the Forbidden City, which was again rammed with tourists.  It's amazing to think how freely you can walk around there now, considering it was totally off limits to regular people for over 500 years.  Regular people from ancient times would have been awed to think of going in there.  It's an amazing place, and worth revisiting.  All of these big ancient monuments were grand, and I'd really love to have a chance to revisit them during quieter times and at a more leisurely pace, and to learn more about them.  Of course it's very difficult to explain things like the Forbidden City to someone, and words just don't do these places justice.  They deserve to be experienced and felt.  For some lucky reason, I got to visit them. My wanderings around Beijing softened my attitude to the city.  People actually do live here.  You just have to get out of the touristy Beijing-does-Disneyland areas, which is hard at first since it's all kind of sly, and you're kind of funelled in that direction.  But walking around was very enjoyable.  That's one of the best things about Beijing: it is very pedestrian friendly.  It's easy to move around on foot, there are tons of walkways and underpasses, and lots of huge shady sidewalks.  Also there are no scooters to be seen, a handful of sneaky electric bikes (too quiet), and lots of people on regular bikes.  This is because every street has a very, very generous bike lane.  Toronto take note.  I discovered some non-restaurant food off the main roads, including some nice rice thing that was full of green onion, yum, for 0.6 yuan.  They also do this wrap thing with a very very thin crispy yellow wrap full of bean sprouts, carrot, and green onion. Beansprouts are my favorite vegetable.  So for 5yuan, this made me very happy. I also found lots of smaller streets, which of course no one ever tells you about, that are full of regular people, regular stores, and regular lives.  Loved that. Travelling around solo in Beijing has been far better than in Indonesia.  First of all, no one harasses me here.  You just get left alone, thank god, because that really stressed me out and made me uncomfortable.  Secondly, it's very easy to get around.  Stressing over travelling when you're on your own is very difficult, I was always worrying about being over-charged, sent to the wrong place, and safety.   A blind monkey that speaks Quecha could get around easily in Beijing.  It's a big weight off my shoulders. Thirdly, everyone appears to think that I live here.  I couldn't count the number of foreigners who've come up to me and asked for directions or advice.  When I tell them that I don't know any better than they do, and whip out the guidebook to help them, they're totally amazed.  "Really? I thought you must live here"; "Don't you live in Beijing?"; "Sorry, I just figured you were local".   I've had that happen in a couple big cities that I've visited.  I look comfortable in cities??  I guess I look like I know what's what! ... I got everyone fooled.  Could I live in Beijing? Definitely yes... except for one problem.  The air pollution.  The air is kind of murky now, even with the crazy Olympics restrictions.  I've seen pictures of it in regular times, and after living in Kaohsiung, I do not need to go through that again.  Nor do my lungs.  It's a shame that the air is so bad.  Aside from that, there is nothing that isn't first-rate about this place.  No cock-roaches, rats, or stray dogs (ahem, Taiwan).  Not a piece of garbage or a cigarette butt to be seen.  Probably all related to the police that are everywhere and likely to crack you upside the skull if you litter.  Good for them.  Thoroughly modern infrastructure, with none of those ghetto hanging wires from Vietnam or anything like that.  However, there is a kind of restrictive feeling about the place.  It's hard to identify, but because of all the rules and restrictions to movement, you are kind of forced to live within a set of largely invisible barriers.  You have to get your passport scanned every time you use an internet cafe.  You have to get your bag scanned (like an airport) whenever you go on the subway.   Even if you're not up to anything, it gets into your head.  I think, with all the changes undergone here recently, what Beijing needs is some time to grow into it's new skin.  All of this new stuff and rebuilt old stuff needs a decade or so to roughen up and develop some character.  I like you, Beijing.  I can wait.
]]> Magic in Beijing — Beijing, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219594680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219594680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219594680/tpod.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:19:38 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Beijing, China

A few vignettes from some amazing days in Beijing.  Pardon the tacky cliches, but that's just how it is!!p.s. this is all out of order.  tough bananas!!Tianemen Square Fireworks, August 24I can't believe that the olympics really are winding down.  I headed off to see the fireworks.  I got off the subway and wandered to the square, where literally thousands of people were just sitting around waiting for something to happen.  The Chinese love fireworks.  Though fireworks are an integral part to many of their festivities (as anyone who lived in Taiwan knows!), they are banned in Beijing.  Hence, a huge crowd of very excited people crowded between Mao's Masoleum and the Gate of Heavenly Peace in breathless expectation. No one seemed to know which way the fireworks would come from.  Then suddenly, a small burst to get everyone's attention.  It was truly magical to hear everyone gasp, jump up, and turn around to look. The fireworks display began, and I was floored by it.  I never knew a firework show could show so many changes of mood.  Sometimes there were soft, glistening shimmers all over the sky.  Sometimes they were booming fireballs.  The echo off of all the buildings in the square was deafening.  The show was stunning and brought people to tears (me too? you get one guess).  Watching a 10minute firework show, at the close of the Olympics, with thousands of people, in Tianemen Square?? Can't be put into words. Nothing short of poetic.  I was paralyzed.  Way up there on my top 10 moments of this trip.Olympic Waterpolo, Canada vs China, August 22Aaron and I were deleriously tired on this day.  We had far too many 4hr sleep nights in a row, and basically drooled and fumbled our way through the days. In the morning we were too concerned just with getting there on time, and too exhausted to let it all sink in. However, I was still very excited to see this match, but it didn't really hit me until I was actually inside the venue.  I could hardly believe that I had Olympic Waterpolo tickets in my hand.  Once I was inside the pool, bam!, it hit me like a brick to the face and sucked the air right out of me.  There really is something about the Olympics and seeing the pool all olympic-y.  I was sooo lucky to be there. I couldn't look at Aaron or talk because I was crying (I know, I know....but they were happy tears!).  Imagine if I had seen synchro? Woulda lost my mind. The Great Wall of China, Badaling, August 21We went to the tourist bus depot by Tianemen Square early in the morning, in the pouring rain.  If you've been following along, it goes without saying that we were so tired we were going cross-eyed.  We got to the bus, but there was hardly anyone there because of the rain, and they were waiting for the bus to fill up.  We waited an hour and no one would give us a straight answer about when the bus was leaving.  We realized what was going on, and opted to take a taxi to Badaling with a random American named Doug.  It was over an hour there but not too expensive.  The rain turned out to be a blessing.  I can hardly imagine the hordes that would have been there otherwise.  Plus the rain turned the mountains all misty and cloudy and kept the temperature down.  The thing about the Wall is that it goes up, not across.  You have to clamber up very steep steps, and each step is quite tall, requiring you to bring you knee up past your waist. It is not easy.  It took us over an hour and a half to get to the top, where we were engulfed by clouds sweeping through the mountains.  The best part was the other people going up the wall, a very diverse crowd because of the Olympics.  The olympic mood was very much present, with people stopping to chat and encourage each other along.  Everyone kind of shared in an atmosphere of comraderie and accomplishment once they got to the top.  It also helped that there were Olympians crawling all over the place. Beautiful, fit, attractive Olympians.  Most of them skipped past us mortals, but some were struggling.  I got a picture with a gold medalist in weightlifting! He was a big guy and he was not finding it easy.  Aaron and I spent the day climbing the Great Wall, twice, having eaten nothing, barely slept, and having very little to drink.  By the end of it we were blobs of goo and slept the whole way back to Beijing (poor Doug).  Still though... damn... Great Wall!!!!!!!!!!  I've been blessed by some divine spirit,  it's just too much!  So lucky.Scalping madness, all day every day, 2008Aaron and I bought some scalped tickets when he was here, but to tell you the truth I was so outrageously tired that day that I can't remember anything about it.  But I do remember Scalper Land after he left. Madness!!! Tons of people were trying for scalped tickets at the end of the Olympics.  By this point everyone realized that it didn't matter what event you were seeing, even if it was something you've never heard of it's still going to be awesome and the ticket will still get you on the Olympic Green. So everyone was really looking at the ticket prices.You get off the subway and once above ground, you are in Scalper Land.  Basically this is a small area under a bridge and between a fence and the road where there is a huge mob of people buying and selling tickets.  None of the scalpers can speak English, which adds to the magic.  I went once in the morning looking for synchro, but scored waterpolo tickets for the following day instead, very cheap (the venue isn't on the Olympic Green). I went back later in the afternoon and was amused to see how Scalper Land had organized itself.  It was like everyone realized that business would go more smoothly if things made more sense.  At the beginning of the day, it was straight-up chaos.  Too many people in too little space going too many directions all at once, yelling at each other, holding out tickets which disappeared if a cop was around.  In the afternoon the scalpers had arranged themselves into a sort of guantlet.  When you got off the subway, the cops had written signs that said "This way if you HAVE Olympics tickets" and "This way if you want to see the road".  Kind of like a truce had been made, I guess.  I saw cops walking the scalper guantlet, and they only interfered with the madness if they saw a scalper holding up a sign (they'd rip it up).  People looking for tickets walked up and down the narrow guantlet in the same direction.  It was a nice mimic of the hyper-organization of the Games themselves. I tried to get tickets to synchro finals, but they were way too expensive.  No way am I paying $400 to sit at the opposite end of the pool from the event.  Once the event started, the scalpers started dropping the prices.  However, knowing something about synchro, I also knew that this was still a bad purchase.  There are only eight teams and the event can't be more than an hour long.  If the event is already 20 minutes over, and then you factor in 30minutes to get through security and 15 minutes to get to the Watercube and into your seat, it becomes totally insane to spend the $300 they were asking for at that point.  That's okay though, I will reserve this Olympic moment for 2012.  See you soon, London. My Big Fat Greek Waterpolo Game, August 24This game was for 8th place, between Greece and Australia.  I was expecting it to be kind of lame. Last day of the Olympics, meaningless non-medal game, who cares, right?? Oh how wrong I was.  The fans made this game for me.  The stands were packed.  I'm guessing 80% of the people there had bought scalped tickets off the street like me, for one last hurrah before it all ended. The Olympics are kind of infectious, and people just get into things more.  So even regular non-Greek and non-Aussie spectators where happy, chatty, and cheery.  It's so awesome, I freaking love it. And then there were the Greeks. During warm-up they played that stereotypical "Greek" music over the speaker system, the one that starts slowly then speeds up.  The Greeks got up and started dancing.  They danced with each other, with bewildered Chinese spectators, and random fans.  The entire place started clapping slowly, then speeding up with the music.  Eventually the place was thumping.  Everyone was so happy and exploded into cheering, it was amazing.  During the games the Chinese and Greeks would chant together, the Chinese yelling "Jia Yoh!" (Go!) and the Greeks echoing "Hellas!".Jia-yo! Hellas! Jia-yo! Hellas! Jia-yo! Hellas!I don't think either side had any idea what the other was saying, but they didn't seem to care. There was also a loud Australian contingent yelling "Auzee-auzee-auzee-auzee-aaaaaaaaaahhhhzeeeeeeeeeeee!". Bloody fantastic.Tara fights with a child, August 24At the first waterpolo game I went to with Aaron, they gave out these noise makers that were shaped like abacuses.  We didn't get any, but wanted them and were sorry for it.  So when I went to the second game, I was on a mission.  I asked all the Blue Shirts (olympic volunteer helper people) outside if they had any, but they were all out! They saw that I really wanted one, so they gave me a present, a Chinese charm.  Still though, I knew I had to get me one of them noise makers! After the game I went around asking all the Blue Shirts, doctors, and janitors if they had any, but they didn't.  New tactic: I'd go back into the stands to see if anyone had left one inside.  Problem: once you're out of the seats, they don't let you back in.  I saw a janitor that found two of the noisemakers and put them by the door in case anyone wanted them.  Someone else got to them before me.  So I went to the janitors and Chinglished-out what I was looking for.  One of them down the aisle found one, score! I ran up and got it. I was giddy, and left.Problem: a Chinese boy, maybe eight years old, ran up to me and started gesturing wildly at the noise maker.  He couldn't speak English, and I told him (in Chinese) that I couldn't understand him.  He gave up and ran off, I assumed to find an English speaker. I took off.  No way was this kid getting my noise maker!! I was nearly gone when him and his mom ran up to me.  Again, more gesturing to the noise maker.  I didn't know if it was his, or if he thought it was, or if he wanted me to give it to him.  And I really didn't care.  Exasperated by the language barrier, mom went and got a Blue Shirt (they speak English).  It became clear that mom thought I had 2 noise makers in my bag, and her son had left 2 in the stands.  Mom demanded to see my ticket so that I could prove I was sitting near where the noise maker was found.  I mentioned the two noisemakers that the other janitor had found, explained this, and hoped that this exhonerated me.  They were looking for two noisemakers, someone else took them, and I found a single one.  I am fully aware that the nice thing to do would be to give the kid the damn noisemaker, I mean after all, I'm supposed to be a teacher, right? Too effing bad.  I politely apologized and left with my noisemaker. Victory!!!Olympic Green, August 22Despite the above entry, here comes an entry about the Olympic Green.  We had tickets to see handball at the indoor stadium.  Who the hell knows what handball is?!?!  All of Europe, apparently.  When we went into the venue, halfway through the first game, we were stunned by an absolute roar from the spectators.  They were losing it!!!  It turns out that hand ball is basically land-waterpolo.  Very fast paced half-court playing, which keeps things interesting.  Very very excited fans.  Spain was playing in the second game, and it was obvious just from looking at those guys that they were going to lose their minds.  Decked out in flags, wigs, and colors, singing and carrying on like madmen.  Love ya, Spain!  And as for everyone else,  like everything else at the Olympics, once you're there, you just get into it.  The energy is so contagious. We only had this one opprotunity to be on the Olympic Green, and we were determined to make the best of it.  My god we were tired, but once inside the Green it's just so exciting that you wake right up.  It was kind of surreal to be upclose to the Bird's Nest and the Watercube. Don't those things only exist on TV?  We peered over the fence by the Bird's Nest into the practice field and saw all the track athletes warming up.  They aren't gods after all, they're real people!! We also saw the NBC area, which is right on the Green so that any yahoo can jump around like a lunatic to get themselves on American TV.  The Olympic Green turns out to be huge.  It is 4 subway stops long.  Walking end to end takes some time, but is very fun.  It seems to be the happiest place in the world.  And it's all decked out in olympic goodness.  I don't know if it comes across on tv, but the Chinese beautified every square inch of that place.  The street lamps have these glistening lights.  The sidewalks are edged with engravings.  There are ornate benches and green space, and a beautiful walkway by the water, everything is very tastefully ornamented.  Lots of architectural sculpture too.  And of course, it all lights up at night and glows.  There are goodles of pavilions and stuff on the Green, kind of an endless amount of things to see and do.  There is a huge Olympic store which was a total jamboree at night, thousands of people in a big warehouse that sold every kind of olympic memorabilia known to man. I bought stuff!I was pleasantly suprised by the pricing of everything Olympic related.  I was expecting price-gouging, but it didn't happen.  Everywhere in Beijing, including the venues, food and drink is very very cheap.  None of this $2 for a coke business.  Try fifty cents. And the merchandise is very reasonably priced, in my opinion.  Official t-shirts are about $12, and non-official ones off the street are $2 to $6.  I think this is because so many of the visitors in Beijing are from other parts of China.  No point in charging prices most people can't afford.  I truly hope that Vancouver and London are just as honest.  Closing thoughts on the OlympicsThe Chinese did a crazy good job.  Good luck to anyone who has to follow them.  Everything was well organized and easy.  The venues are stunning and memorable. Sure, there were police everywhere you went in the city (even in quiet residential areas there'd be 2 or 3 per street corner), but it's not like they were restricting movement or confiscating pictures or anything. They just sort of stood there.  Go ahead, doesn't bother me.  What's notable about the Olympics are the atmosphere and the people.  By atmosphere, I mean the giddy feeling you get at the base of your spine when you walk into an Olympic venue or onto the Green.  It feels exactly like being a kid again.  It's thrilling, it's exhilarting, it's breathtaking, it's all of those adjectives that they use on TV because they are all true. It's also addictive and I'm totally looking forward to Van in 2010 and London in 2012. I am planning on marrying several rich doctors to finance this addiction!The people are the other half of this awesome equation.  Firstly, the volunteers.  The Blue Shirts are generally right on the ball and very eager to help you, no matter what question you ask.  Those at the venues have great English.  And even though they are battered with ridiculous requests and crazy spectators all day long, they are always happy. They smile to you, they joke around with each other, they play with kids. They are all-stars. The people in Beijing who've come from all over the world are also awesome.  People are in such good spirits, despite the crowds and the heat.  Everyone is quick to chat and help each other out.  I've noticed it even more now that I'm on my own, as people are always being so friendly to me.  Even the British!!  Toursits are so friendly to each other, it's almost unbelievable. Where am I? Is this Shangri-La? Candyland? Heaven? I never want to leave!  And when people are watching an event, whatever it is, you can't measure the positive energy.  It's off the charts. The last group to consider are the athletes.  Beautiful happy healthy people running about Beijing enjoying their down time? Sure, I'll put up with that!Thank you Beijing!!!
]]> mini-visit to Kunming, City of Eternal Spring — Kunming, Yunnan, China http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219154880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219154880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1219154880/tpod.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:45:37 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Kunming, Yunnan, China

We landed in Kunming at about 11am.  I was somewhat concerned about getting through customs because getting the Visas certainly hadn't been easy.  Even though Aaron looked like a terrorist, he breezed through customs with no problem.  I was not so lucky.  For some reason, my Taiwanese travel agent had got me a Working/Study Visa to China.  The customs official was very polite, but fingered my passport for along time, particularly my Taiwanese Visa and work permit.  I had to wait, and she called over her superior, and they rambled away in Chinese looking at my Taiwanese documents. She wanted a copy of my plane ticket out of China, which I didn't have.  She wanted an explanation about why I had a work visa, which I didn't have.  After several heart-stopping moments of this back and forth, and lots of speaking in Chinese to her superior, she eventually let me through.  My word it was frightening!We were only in Kunming for about a day. We had no idea what to expect from Kunming, and I was very suprised.  Firstly, it was about 22 degrees and dry, not something I was used to at all after living 2 years in the tropics! Certainly a welcome break from sticky, sweltering Hanoi!  It was pleasant just to walk around Kunming, without sweating to death or being hassled by touts.  There certainly aren't many foreigners in Kunming, but the locals were very respectful. I think I was expecting to be rudely gawked at, a la Taiwan, but that was not the case.  Some people would look at us curiously, but would quickly look away if we caught them, almost like they were embarrassed and sorry to have been caught.  I found the people there unwaveringly polite. Kunming would definitely be a good place to spend a couple of days enjoying China.We went to a renowned tea store, Ten Ren, which is part of the same chain in Taiwan that was always my favorite place to buy tea.  They sat us down and explained all the differences between the teas to us, and poured us cup after cup to sample.  It was very relaxing. I bought alot of tea!Wandering around Kunming was a very pleasant experience.  It took me awhile to figure out why it felt so strange, and I realized it was because of all the space around me.  After 2 years of living in Taiwan, and 2 months of travelling in south east asia, I am used to having huge crowds pressed up together everywhere I go and lots of traffic on the streets.  Kunming felt closer to Vancouver... very very wide streets and sidewalks, with hardly anyone on them at all (SEP http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/17865.html), and big open parks.  So much room to move! Not what I'm used to anymore.  I felt like I should spread my arms and spin around in a circle. It was just... so... open.  Weeeirrrrd. Kunming has a big pedestrian boulevard in the middle of the city, maybe 1/2 km wide  and 3km long, that is closed to traffic.  At night everyone seems to go there with their friends and family, and it's kind of like a sidewalk festival.  We walked around there for awhile, doing the exhaustion shuffle.  Wow we were soooo tired.  Even so far from Beijing, everything was decked out for the Olympics.  It was just everywhere.  Olympic pavilions, signs, banners, displays, everywhere you looked.  There were lots of people watching events on huge screens, like they were frozen in time.  The next morning we slept through the alarm, which caused a panicky rush to the airport to catch our flight to Beijing.  Even so early in the morning, the airport was insane!!! Huge crowds of people trying to get in.  You had to go through airport security before even entering the airport, and then again for boarding.  There was police and security everywhere.  This was our initiation into the widespread police presence that we'd encounter because of the Olympics.  We made the flight, and now we are in Beijing!!!!!STAY TUNED!
]]> near-death experiences in Halong Bay — Halong Bay, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218847620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218847620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218847620/tpod.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:21:17 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Halong Bay, Vietnam

This trip did not come cheap, but I'm soooo glad we dished out for a Halong Bay extravaganza. We knew that we could pay a little or a lot for this, and after talking to some fellow travellers and scouring the good ole' Lonely Planet, we realized that you only get what you pay for.  At least that's what we told ourselves as we signed on with the reputed best of the best, Handspan. We did this trip: http://www.handspan.com/?opt=tour&cId=48&tId=5.  The first day, we got up excessively early in the morning AGAIN and walked with our ginormous bags to the Handspan office on Ma May (in Hanoi).  We ditched our big packs in their storage, and only took what we could carry easily.  Then we took a long bus out to Halong City.  The drive include the obligatory stop at my cousin's-friend's-brother's handicraft shop worked by "authentic agent orange" victims, but whatever, at least we could use their washrooms!  Being on the roads in Vietnam is always interesting anyhow.  Notable roadside attractions: -traffic whizzing by at break-neck speeds -cows everywhere (I love it!) -workers in identical uniforms pouring out of factories where they are probably working for The Gap -live pigs tied to scooters... and apparently one bear, according to Aaron (....?) -propaganda signage confirming that TRUE PATRIOTS WORK TOGETHER TO ADVANCE OUR NATION (that stuff is potent!) At the dock there are about 243 other junk boats (http://www.flickr.com/photos/51482812@N00/104423257/), and all the tourists get hearded on by all the different tour companies, and off we go.  The boat, as you can see, was very beautiful.  Our on-board room was the second-best one we had on the whole trip (more details on room #1 to follow!).  Our boat was mostly full of rich European families, which was different from our normal scuzzy crowd of slummy backpackers, but I was happy because this lady is getting too old for a booze cruise. Yes that's right kids, it's time to knuckle down and knit me some sweaters and brew me some tea. The cruised us out to some caves that had remarkably well-formed steps, which came in handy for the sweaty humidy climb that was required.  Nice views of Halong on the way out though.  We stayed true to our ghetto ways by purchasing liquor and beer from some lady in a dingy before getting back on board (where drinks are expensive).  We were then fed course after course of seafood until we were one dish short of exploding**.  It was very good, though I was jealous of Aaron for being at the fun meat-loving table, where the conversation appeared to flow like wine at a Greek wedding.  I was stuck at the non-carnivore and half-carnivore table, where the vegetarians and pseudo-vegetarians huddled for warmth, shivering and coughing over gray plates of mash. Seriously though, there was too much food.  After gorging, we rolled out on to the upper deck where we cooked like hams in the sun.  We sailed to a beautiful beach where everyone and their eighteen Vietnamese cousins were having an early evening swim.  I like to swim, so I was a very happy monkey.  I swam in the waves. I swam by the beach.  I swam by Aaron and gave him a very sophisticated demonstration of the differences between front crawl in swimming, waterpolo, and synchro.  He was ever so impressed. I swam out to the boat... and then I swam into a jellyfish!! Sssssting! Ow!  The Jellyfish was as wily as a Scotsman and twice as determined to end my span of days.  I screamed and swam away to inspect the damage.  He burned me on the leg, and on the bum!!  I went to Aaron for sympathy, and got nothing more than laughter and scorn (and offers to get peed on).  Then back onto the boat, and of course we were the last ones to get back, which brought on the first of many glare-assaults from the other class. Then came another bonanza from the sea for dinner.  Afterwards everyone relaxed up on deck in the dark, watching the lights on the other boats.  Aaron drank beer from the dingy-lady and I drank Ghettobrau (rum and coke from dingy-lady).  We fell asleep outside, not for the last time. It was very peaceful.  Next came Kayak Day.  After a reasonably light breakfast (thank GOD), we checked out from the big boat (of course I had to pay for everything) and took all of our things onto a slightly smaller boat and rode it for an hour between the karsts, then started kayaking.  The kayaks were all doubles.  Thankfully the guide put the men in the back to do the steering.  I say 'thankfully' not because I am inept at steering (we all know I have alot of skills), but because this way probably maintained the peace better :)! Clearly it was a good working situation since Kayak Aarara was faster than any of the other kayaks... and better!!! Kayaking was great, between the karsts and in all of these little lagoons, it was wonderful.  The highlight of the trip  (SEP  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesse_epstein/177485477/ ). We kayaked for around 4 hours that day, with a break in the middle for lunch and a long nap on the boat during the high sun.  On the second run we paddled out to a gorgeous white sand beach at the base of a jungly-karst where we got to swim in the crystal clear, flat water, with no one else around.  Sometimes I have no idea what I have done to deserve such things. I must have saved a box of kittens in a runaway shopping cart in a previous life.  After kayaking everyone was covered in an attractive glaze of suntan lotion, sweat, and brine. In this fashion they took us to Sunrise Resort on Cat Ba Island (http://www.visit-mekong.com/sunrise-resort-cat-ba/).  You can tell that this isn't the normal sort of dive I stay at.  It was a welcome respite.  There was a gorgeous beach with waves for jumping about in.  There was a classy restaurant with food for eating.  There was a big fancy pants hotel room complete with robes for wearing, air-conditioning for cooling, and oceany-sounds for listening.  Everyone decided against the optional jungle trek in favor of sitting around and doing a whole lot of nothing.  Jungle trek, pffffffffft! Nuts to that. I enjoyed jumping around in the waves, which sometimes got quite large and curly, and pummeled you like an zealous masseuse (not the naughty kind).  More cheap-ass drinking on the beach and falling asleep outside, oceanside.  The next day was more of the same and then onto some crazy-fast "hydrofoil" boat which took everyone back to the mainland.  I think we were last of our group to get on this boat, too (I am slow).  This boat was scary fast, but got us to our destination in one piece, as did the van back to Hanoi.  We got into Hanoi late in the evening and left for the airport early in the morning, which meant we landed in China bleary eyed and confused, with bags and bags of skanky laundry that we didn't have time to wash before we left.  Ghetto fabulous, that's how we roll. Closing thoughts on Halong Bay, group tours, and jellyfish cynics: I was wary of doing a big packagy group tour thing, as I never have before and usually scorn those who do. I STAND CORRECTED. It was a great, great little trip.  It was very nice to spend 3 days in bliss-out tranquility without having to really think about anything... seriously, they kind of treat you like children on a field trip: Did you forget anything? Make sure you bring all your belongings with you. You need to wear a hat to protect yourself from the sun.  Swimming into jellyfish is unwise. However, the regression to infantalism was a nice change of pace from having to do all that damn thinking. And it came at a very good time in this vacation. I think a break from the madness of it all was past due.  Don't get me wrong, I'm lovin it, but I sure didn't plan this trip out to be chill. Sometimes I forget what city I'm in.  And on days like today, when I'm too exhausted to clearly remember where I was and what I did only a week ago, I forget what country I'm in. Hint to self: time to end this ramble. **Disclaimer: I am still a vegetarian. But as some of you may know, I give myself a select number of freebie days per year.  Do not pass 'Go', do not collect 100 dollars, do not adhere to a vegetarian diet.  Usually these days are: Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Birthday.  I have not cashed-in my self-issued vegetarian-bypass tickets since Chrismas 2005, so I have accumulated quite a few. And I cashed them all in for fresh seafood at Halong Bay, baby!!!pics from Vietnam (this trip): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48559&id=512559754&l=087881106dpics from Vietnam (2007 trip): WARNING! Much crappier camera in usehttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1894&id=512559754&l=52f6bc05a6
]]> Angkor What???? — Siem Reap, Cambodia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218104880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218104880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218104880/tpod.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:21:43 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Wednesday: I gotta fever, and the only cure is more temples! Yesterday was our second pre-5am morning in a row. OUCH. We wanted to get up at dawn to see sunrise at Angkor Wat.  We took a tuk-tuk out there in the pitch black and waited with all the other hordes of tourists. Unfortunately sunrise was a bust; we're going to try going back tomorrow for sunset.  However, the temple itself is beyond impressive and yet another of those "things I can't describe to you and wish you were here to see" (SEP ie someone else's picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanbing/405586685/). We spent a couple hours walking around it, it's huge, the bas reliefs are amazing.  There is such an incredible feeling of ancient-ness to it all, it's so old and so intricate. Like a holy maze. Go there, go see it, see Angkor. We saw monkeys there! One of the babies came up to Aaron and started playing with his umbrella, then climbed up on it. Aaron tried to get him off, but the mother came and hissed at him, so he let the baby monkey take the umbrella.  There was nothing funnier than watching that tiny monkey drag around the huge umbrella, even lifting it up the stairs. There is also nothing funnier than seeing a grown man get beat by a monkey. By this point the sun was barely up and we already sweaty and disgusting, plus covered in a sexy greasy layer of sunscreen, sweat, and bug repellant. We had breakfast by Angkor Wat, where I attempted to eat pineapple but my braces said NO! Then it was off in the tuk-tuk to the Ta Prohm group, where we went to the Bayon (SEP: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Cambodia/West/Siem_Reab/Angkor/photo200027.htm). The Bayon is also magnificent, over 200 big smiley ancient heads looking in 4 directions, which are said to represent either the King who built the place or bodhisattvas, depending on who you talk to. We really liked the Bayon, we are going to try to get back there for sunset too, but we are running out of sunsets. Off to the temple Ta Keo (SEP:http://www.flickr.com/photos/damianrowe/1323756170/  ), which was basically a frighteningly steep set of shallow stairs that scared me half to death.  I was so tired and greasy by this point, I was sure I was going to slip and die.  We got to the top and had a "sit", as we like to call them. This temple is in very poor shape, but if you walk around the back you can see a HUGE reclining buddha, 2 or 3 stories tall and very bloody long.  We then had lunch at a very overpriced khmer restaurant, though the food was very good.  Generally I find the prices of food and drink here to be highly inflated due to the number of western tourists, but I think it's good, the money is obviously going straight to Cambodians and heaven knows they need it.  I had something called vegetable amok (SEP: http://www.flickr.com/photos/puffsdaddy/351554355/  ), which is possibly the most awesome name for a meal ever ( "oh my god! my vegetables have gone amok!!!"), and it was served to us in coconuts, which is cool. Lastly came Ta Phrom, the tomb-raider-esque collection of temples from the 1st centruy AD.  Basically everything here is being swallowed alive by the jungle (SEP:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcheong/1392379974/ ). Massive silk cotton trees seem to grow out of stones like magic. The roots twist over and through everything.  It was very beautiful.  Like all the other temples, it was like walking through an archaeological dig put on hold, there are massive carved stones laying everywhere with numbers inscribed in them with chalk as the archaeologists struggle to piece them all together. Though we were exhausted smelly backpackers by this point, I was floored by this place, and once again stunned by how very very lucky I was to be there. Today: Bug Bonanza We woke up at a more sane hour of 8am and went off to the temple of Bantay Srey, which is even older than yesterday's temples, and noted for its very intricate engravings (SEP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Banteay_Srei_Kala.jpg). This temple was 37 km from town, by tuk tuk.  The drive was long but fun, we got to see alot of rural Cambodian countryside.  Rice fields being ploughed the old-fashioned way, with big black asian buffaloes. Cows, cows everywhere, on the street, in the fields, under the palms.  Lots of rough houses with kids laying around doing a whole lotta nothing. Dirt. Dirt everywhere. People shovelling it, kids playing in it, trucks carrying it. We went to Kbal Spean waterfalls, which involved a 30min jungly hike 1500m up a mountain, a happy break from temple land. I was very impressed when we got to the water, as it was a river and waterfall that ran over ancient ruins, and looked very cool (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oktoke/207639503/).  I was very happy to be using my much-neglected body by sweatily hiking around some mountain. Then we had the long journey back to Siem Reap, where we had lunch/dinner (dunch? linner?) at the Butterfly Restaurant. This is an outdoor restaurant that is completely enclosed by mesh, and chock full of, you guessed it, butterflies.  Flying all around your head like crazy, big ones and small ones, colorful and plain-janes, and some nice big frogs underfoot to kill of the dummy butterflies who fly straight into their faces.  Today was also insect day. Insect #1: giant beetle the size of my thumb that flew into my face while on a boardwalk over marsh at Banteay Srey and made me run away while Aaron stood and laughed and laughed. Insect #2: big, bright red dragon fly at same place as insect #1. Insect #3: long scary millipede in a crack in the rocks at Banteay Srey.  These are the ones that send you to the hospital if they bite you. Insect #4: freaky  huge black and yellow spider suspended above our heads during the hike.  Aaron thinks he is some kind of nephala, whatever that means Aaron. Insect #5: big red ants that could probably bite off your arm. Insect #6: the butterflies!! Since yesterday was Monkey Day, and today was Insect Day, I am hoping that tomorrow will be Large Mammal Day.  I want to see tigers and elephants and whatever else they got in these here jungles!Cambodia pictures:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61832&id=512559754&l=b6ce36d0de
]]> Bia Hoi in Hanoi... oy!!! — Hanoi, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218644760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218644760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218644760/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:41:12 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Hanoi, Vietnam

We flew to Hanoi after the craziest traffic jam in history. Turns out the HCMC airport is the most boring airport of all time. Absolutely nothing to do there, nothing good to eat, plus we were fairly wet from the rainstorm.  The flight was fine as we had emergency exit seats which equals more leg room, and more opprotunities for Aaron to threaten throwing me out of the plane.  Several threats and iPod-viewed episodes of Futurama later, we were in Hanoi.  We then took the crampiest van in history into the city, after much price-related haggling.  We were crammed into the far back bucket seat amongst boxes and luggage and Vietnamese people. The hotel was pretty cool, a very narrow 8-story walkup that was a throw-back to colonial times, like everything else here. The hotel is in the Old Quarter, which is certainly old, and very chaotic.  Traffic doesn't move fast, or in one direction, or in any understandable fashion (SEP: http://www.as-marathonreisen.de/Galerie/Hongkong/Original/html/HKG-014_Typisch%20Hanoijpg.htm ). The area is very beautiful though, with lots and lots of trees.  Everything here is sort of districted-off... you'll come across several blocks that only sell children's toys, or bathroom fixtures, or shoes. The first day we went to the Temple of Literature (SEP: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26089765@N06/2447036176/).  We didn't learn much about literature, but we did learn the most important thing that you need to know about Hanoi... it is HOT.  Everyday that we were in that city we sweated through everything we wore.  Hands down the hottest place we've been.  And sticky.  And no change in the heat and humidity, be it night or day.  We were at the Temple and it was just incredibly hot... and remember, I like it hot!  The temple was interesting, rather large and very old, I think over a thousand years old.  It had the giant stone turtles with engraved tablets on them, just like in the Confucious temple in Tainan (Taiwan)... I wonder what those turtles are all about.We walked all arouind Hanoi, leaving a slick sweaty trail everywhere we went.  The Ho Chi Minh museum was alright, a nice air-conditioned break from the sauna outside.  They love their Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese.   It was alot of the same rhetoric that we were getting used to at this point, so it did get tiring.  But Ho Chi Minh himself seemed like a rather humble person, he was very thin and basically wore monks robes his whole life.  I don't know if he woulda been down with all this grandiosity.  We tried to see his masoleum, where his embalmed body is on display, despite his wishes to be cremated (SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikerettberg/65036557/).  What a fiasco that turned out to be.  Aaron, if you're reading this, please stop now because I don't think you could handle the stress of reliving this situation. Basically they screwed us around and sent us running in so many circles that we missed the viewing time.  Plus there was very little signage explaining where to go or what you have to do.  First we line up to buy the ticket.  We have to wear long pants and long-ish sleeves.  They take our bags.  They make you finish your water.  Then for some reason we had to get our bags back. Then we wait in line, while troops of Asian tourists in a group are allowed to go past us.  For some reason Aaron is allowed to take his shoulder bag in, but must carry it in his hand scrunched up into a ball. Then we go to the place where you have to check in, and leave your camera.  Finally we head down the street ot the masoleum, and the guard told us that we can't use the path which very obviously leads to the masoleum. So we walk out in front, and are constantly waved away and not allowed anywhere near it.  At least a dozen other Asians, and two running Spanish girls, are allowed to go on the sidewalk to the building.  I guess they didn't like the look of us.  They start dismantling the fences  and we realize that we are too late now and will not be allowed back in.  The frustrating thing is that they made us jump through all these hoops for half an hour, or longer, never mentioning that there was no way that we'd make it in time.  We had skipped breakfast, and wandered back to the Old Quarter annoyed and angry to get lunch, or something like it. Many times lunch consisted of pho (SEP: http://www.iamtonyang.com/index.php?date=040721).  Oh pho, how I love thee. I had many a bowl in Vietnam.  Pho is basically noodle soup, but that doesn't really do it justice.  It has a very light, almost tangy kind of flavor. We did not have pho at this place, but if we had, it would've rocked:<img src="http://ca.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0S0zu8Z2qpIhk4A6kj2FAx./SIG=12hfqp4vk/EXP=1219242905/**http%3A//img31.photobucket.com/albums/v93/ootini/phoshizzle.jpg">Baaahahahaha!The rest of our time in Hanoi was spent walking and walking and wearing our legs off from the bottom up.  There is a nice lake in the Old Quarter.  We saw some people running there, in the blazing soaking heat, and it was enough to make me want to vomit.  Hanoi is very propaganda-y. There are megaphones mounted all over the city on telephone and electric poles that blare Communist propaganda at 5am and again at about 6am. The propaganda they play sounds like it hasn't been updated since the fall of Saigon.   ohhhhkay there is only one computer at this guesthouse and people are waiting.  FYI, I'm actually in Kunming China right now. I know, very behind on the blogging. But strangely Hanoi was almost DEVOID of internet cafes.  It was really really hard to find a computer there.  There, that's my excuse, it's a pretty good one and you sure can't prove it wrong. Off to Beijing tomorrow morning....
]]> Saigon — Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218416100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218416100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/taralyra/1/1218416100/tpod.html Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:08:46 -0400 Where is Tara?

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Oh Ho Chi Minh city, I have missed thee.  I was here two years ago, loved it, and was very happy to be back.  Pardon this entry; I actually already typed it once 3 days ago, then the cursed computer blew up or something and the whole entry got deleted.  I'm in Hanoi right now and I guess I'll have to stretch my mind back...We stayed at a comical little hotel down an alley off of Pham Ngu Lao, which is basically the headquarters of hectic-backpacker-land.  Seriously, all night long that street is a thumpin' strip of sin.  It's fun to catch a table by the sidewalk and watch the parade of depravity traipse by. I wonder what happened to that crazy Brit; I wonder what opium den full of hookers claimed his unannointed soul. Day one and we saw all the hard hitters that Saigon has to offer.  The hotel, which had delicious blissful heavenly airconditioning (not enough superlatives can communicate my joy), had breakfast included, your typical indochine-colonial fare: rocket-fuel coffee served with condensed milk, french baguette and jam.  I love Vietnamese coffee more than I love you, it really is that good (SEP: http://www.flickr.com/photos/74165821@N00/333679503/) .  Anyhow we walked to the War Remnants Museum, escaping death every time we crossed the streets.  The museum is pretty cool. It started out fairly rhetoric-free, but by the end of it descended into communist propoganda where all the Vietnamese were "patriot heroes" and the Americans "evil invaders". Fair enough, it is their country.  Many horrific pictures of Agent Orange and napalm victims later, A-bomb and I were back walking the beat and heading to... I think we went to the Reunification Palace next.  The Reunification Palace is very ghetto fabulous.  It's like your aunt's badly furnished house from the sixties has been preserved in perfect form... with the addition of a helicopter on the roof.  This place was bombed to kingdom come during the fall of Saigon, and has been re-built with lovely pea-green shag carpeting.  The basement was the best part; it's basically a bomb-shelter and war strategy room where everyone would go to hide when all hell was raining down. I think next we walked around the park a bit, which is very beautiful with towering trees and people just hanging out.  All around downtown Saigon you see colonial architecture, which was once sugary but now kind of scummy.  I love love LOVE it.  At this point we realized that it was nearing dinner time and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.  We went from one restaurant to another trying to find at least one vegetarian option on the menu.  I was pretty sure that Aaron would disown me; or push me infront of a bus; but he was an excellent sport and soon we were settled at Pho 2000, which is near the market.  I ate here last time and was again very pleased with the pho, which is one of my top 5 favorite foods.  It was also amusing to listen in on the other tourists around us... I can't help it, I'm not used to hearing English, and when I do I can't help but listen in!  Anyhow beside us was an amusing group of newbie English teachers, one of whom ate her entire meal with her chopsticks upside down.  More newbies were sitting behind us, with a guide.  One of them was hilariously shocked by everything put infront of him... "I put the peppers inside the soup?? Which one?? Any of them?!?!".We went to Ben Than market, and it was exactly as maddening as I remembered it to be.  It's a huge covered space with row upon row of stalls selling everything under the sun.  It's so tightly packed that there's almost no place to walk. People are constantly grabbing at you and asking you to buy their stuff.  My favorite line is "Miss! What are you looking for?".  I'm pretty sure that if I asked for a pony wearing knit booties someone would run off and find me one.What on earth did we do on Day 2?  Silly sleeping Aaron, he'd know the answer.  I know at some point we definitely walked around Dhong Khoi, which is the rich spoiled cousin to Pham Ngu Lao's dirty recklessness. We did score some cool swag down there though; including sweet communist propaganda posters.  At night we had fancy-pants cocktails on the roof of the Rex Hotel, which used to be colonial-overlord central.  They'd go up there and watch the little people scurry about down below.  Day 3... for the love... what did we do?  Surely awesome things. We had to get alot done before our flight to Hanoi. We mailed home some things, bought some things, and chilled out walking around and enjoying the city.  We had several cups of heavenly Vietnamese-style coffee, and more pho.  While eating it started to pour buckets, and we were thourougly soaked by the time we got back to the hotel to collect our bags and leave for the airport.  We opted for the flight because we were worried about having enough time to do stuff; as the train ride would have been 1 day and 2 nights.  So we made a big pile out of our money, set it on fire, and opted to fly.  The rain brought out the absolute worst in Saigon traffic as everyone jumped off their motorbikes and into cars.  The roads were absolutely jammed, and a little western-style traffic management would have been much appreciated.  There was one intersection where we were stuck for over half an hour, not moving at all.  Cars and motorbikes and buses and horses and probably camels too were all trying to go any direction they felt like, at the same time, damn the consequences.  What a mess.  Goodbye, Saigon.  I hope I find myself in your frenetic grasp again, one day.  I love your parks full of lovers, alleys full of pho, and days full of chaos.  I am so grateful that you never killed me with any of your motorcycles or buses.  Cu Chi Tunnels:We did this as a day trip from Saigon, but I don't remember which day, so I'm putting it here at the end.  We got in a bus with 300 other tourists and went out.  We did not want to be in such a big group, but what can you do?  Of course the tour bus made its obligatory stop at some random factory in the middle of nowhere that produces cheap garbage for tourists.  That was annoying.  On to the tunnels. Basically Cu Chi is a preseved network of tunnels used by the VietCong resistance during the war.  These are itty-bitty tunnels, about 1m high and 60cm wide, where people lived and worked and used to kill Americans (SEP tp://www.flickr.com/photos/adlaw/153098950/).  There was a hilariously overdone propoganda film, which referred to the Americans as "savage devils" and talked about a Vietnamese woman who won the "American Killing Award".  There were lots of examples of the booby-traps which no doubt helped her achieve this prestigious award.  There are left-over tanks and bomb craters to look at. You can scramble around in the tunnels, which is not a particularly fun experience, as they are tiny and hot.  It's like a subterranean race because there are so many people behind you. The kicker of the place comes at the end of the tour when you get to play with guns. The big, real kind.  You can choose from a AK-47s, M60s machine guns, and other fun toys that I can't remember the name of.   There is a desk where they sell you bullets.  Then you go down to where the guns are.  There are army people there who load the gun for you and put their hand against your shoulder so that it doesn't get blown off by the kickback of the gun. We fired the AK-47.  It was very loud. It was very cool. Here is a picture of me and the death-machine: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=739054&l=bd394&id=512559754.  Thank you South East Asia, for giving me opprotunities to shoot guns and take cocaine (long story involving Taiwanese dentists). Whew! Long blog.  There is a crying smelly baby in this internet cafe, so I think it's time to go. Travel update: A big typhoon blew through southern China and northern Vietnam.  It hit Vietnam the hardest in Sapa, which you may recall we axed from our itinerary due to time constraints.  Good thing.  A lot of people died there, and all transportation is cut.  Tourists are hiring helicopters to get airlifted out of there, at a cost of $11,000 USD.  We had planned on going overland from Vietnam to China by way of Sapa, and flying from the southern Chinese city of Kunming to Beijing.  Now we will be flying from Hanoi to Kunming, staying there for one night, and then catching the original flight  to Beijing.  We are very lucky to have the tickets to Kunming, Aaron booked them as a fake flight to help secure his Chinese visa application.  Now it turns out we'll actually be needing them.  Just goes to show you that fate is a crazy secretive little monster, and everything always works out as it should in the end.
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