Dave & Carrie's Asian Invasion

Sayonara Asia - A look back at a life-changing adventure

2009-10-12T20:38:00.006-04:00

So, it's been a little over 4 months since we've returned from our amazing trip to Southeast Asia. We have been running around, with moving to Boston, starting a new job, going back to school, meeting new friends... However, even with the craziness of starting a new life, we often find ourselves thinking back on our 6 weeks through Japan, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. I thought now, after being back in the states for 4+months, it would be the perfect time to look back and give my thoughts and perceptions on the trip of the lifetime.

Southeast Asia turned out to be so much more than I ever expected. I knew I would have amazing experiences and that I would be visiting a place so different than where I live, but I didn't realize how much I'd be impacted by this wonderful area. Some of my thoughts:

1) The power of the human spirit is unbelievable. I used to find myself complaining because I couldn't take vacation without working, or I had to cook another night. However, seeing the poverty that exists in these areas and meeting the people that live in these situations really will make me think before complaining again. Many of these people have nothing, no food, no shelter, no shoes to wear. However, every where we went and everyone we spoke to had an amazing outlook on life. People smiled, kids laughed and there was a sense of community/family that we can't even imagine over here. No matter what experiences these people had, including being the only family member to survive the Khmer Rouge, or being a child of an agent orange victim, there was a sense of living for the here and now and moving forward instead of living in the past.

2) War is an awful thing. Living in the US, we are lucky that we don't have to see daily the results of years and years of fighting. Everywhere we walked, there were victims of landmines, buildings destroyed, cities being rebuilt.

3) Ancient architects were amazing. I could not believe the structures (primarily Angkor Wat) which were constructed thousands of years ago and are still standing. Why can't we build bridges, buildings...today to last like that.

4) The scary, fly-covered, non-iced food you see walking though the markets makes for the most amazing, delicious meals. Furthermore, cooking with freshly caught, freshly picked food only enhances the wonderful flavors.

5) Food in Cambodia is amazing!

6) Buddhists have some of the most intricately decorated/designed temples. I could visit one after another (without Dave of course) and never be bored.

7) There is nothing like having a bathroom with a shower separated from the toilet!

8) There is nothing like having a toilet with a toilet seat!

9) I never knew it was possible to fit a family of 5 on a motorbike. Also, don't trust the sidewalks to keep you safe in Asia. The motorbikes drive there as well.

10) We definitely take air conditioning, refrigeration, clean water, jeans, and many of our other daily luxuries for granted. I like to think I no longer do this and am able to recognize all the wonderful things I have in my life.

11) The backpacking community is fabulous. We met so many great people and heard their wonderful experiences.

12) Dave and I really can spend 6 weeks on our own with no one else and still walk away loving each other :)

13) I really can do anything. I put so much time into planning this trip and wasn't sure how it would turn out. It was more wonderful than I ever thought it could be. I hiked waterfalls, held a tiger in my lap, rode an elephant on my own, pet a king cobra, rode in a tuk-tuk, ate on a street corner, and was able to navigate my way through a country where I knew no one, was unfamiliar with the terrain and couldn't even speak the language. I had begun to doubt myself in the past few years and what I was really capable of doing. This trip made me realize that whatever I put my mind to, I will accomplish.

14) The world is a small place. Everything we do impacts people all over the world. We saw how our country hurt these places and now how we are helping them to rebuild. We are not hated everywhere and the only way to help get rid of this stereotype is to go out and visit these places, meet the people, hear their story, and see their way of life and let it impact you in your own personal way.

This is a trip I will never forget. It already feels like it was years ago, however, the lessons I have learned will carry with me forever. I am a better person for what I saw and experienced and am forever grateful that I had the opportunity for this life-changing trip.

Hello Singapore...Again!

2009-08-18T12:14:00.022-04:00

We arrived in Singapore after an unexciting flight at 8 at night. Dave and I attempted the train with all of our luggage and then hiked to Chris's palace in Orchard Park. Ahh, it was so nice to be back in luxury! And to see a familiar (and friendly) face again was definitely welcomed! We headed out to Chris's new favorite hawker restaurant which was nearby. The weather was beautiful, so we walked over and sat outside. This meal was delicious (like all our others!). Chris did the ordering and we were glad he did. We started out with fried rice and shrimp. What was interesting was that you were meant to eat the entire shrimp! You take off the head and then eat the rest, shell and all. Both Dave and I tried this once, and once was enough. It was worth it to me to get my hands a bit dirty. We also had Grouper - Hong Kong style. Delish! This was basically a steamed grouper in a really nice sauce. The final dish was black pepper crab (of course, this was delicious as well. sweet with a little bite) . Conversation was great. Many talks about Dave and his future post-MBA, discussions with me about finding a job (and the right job for me).

We stopped on our way home in one of the many food courts and of course had to try some Singaporean dessert. Being the health-conscious person I am, I thought I was ordering the healthiest - fruit ice. Little did I know, there were 5 different types of ice, chocolate syrup, and random jelly-type pieces on the bottom. Mine turned out to be even bigger than Dave's Volcano Ice cream. Serves me right, but it was good. We headed home next - we were exhausted.

It's fair to say that the 6 weeks had finally caught up with us. We rolled out of bed around 10 and headed over to Suntec to have lunch with Chris. Suntec is just a different type of place, only way to describe it. It is 5 large buildings surrounding a huge (Guinness-book?) fountain. Two of the floors are shops - they keep going in all different directions, no rhyme or reason. There are also around 3 different enormous food courts. It was crazy! We met up with Chris and went out for a traditional Chicken and Rice dish (very Singaporean). We topped this off with some type of sweet bun. Both were really good and I was a little disappointed we tried them so late in our trip, I would have liked to have it again.

Chris had to head back to work, so Dave and I decided to enjoy the day and walk down to the harbor to see the Merlion, the symbol of Singapore with is half mermaid, half lion (go figure). It was really hot out, so this was a short stay.

We took some pictures and headed down the river to Clarks Quay a cute area with lots of little restaurants and bars. We kept going in an attempt to find the subway. We walked, and walked and walked until we finally came across the beginning of Chinatown where we were able to grab some tasty Asian iced coffee and asked for directions to the subway (around the corner). A train ride founded us back in Orchard Road to roam the many malls, only to come home with nothing (which was good after everything we had already bought). We were able to rest a bit back at the palace and then we were off again!

This time, we headed back to Suntec and got off at Raffles, home of the original Singapore Sling. How can you come to Singapore without this? The hotel is beautiful, old, colonial style. We took a seat in the Long Bar (the main bar) and were very pleased with our $23 drink (you better be for that price). Yes they were pink, Yes they were fruity, but both men drank theirs with grace and confidence
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Our final stop for our trip, and the one that has been haunting us since we first ate in Singapore, was back to the home of the fish head curry - Little India. Our waiter at the Long Bar recommended Muthu's - also in Little India. We had such a great dinner - fried okra, butter chicken, chole, and, of course, Fish Head Curry. It actually was delicious and who knew there was so much meat in the fish head. However, it still was slightly spooky to have your food staring you in the eye as it was served. Dinner was wonderful, company was great, and it was the perfect way to end our 6 week life-changing adventure.

We headed back to the Palace in order to have time to repack our 60 pounds of clothes we had shipped from Vietnam (refer back to Hanoi's blogs) and get all of our stuff ready for our big day. Then - bed time.

Our alarm went off at 4:30 the next morning and Chris was waiting for us with the luggage cart (thank goodness because we had a ton of stuff!). Chris was such a gracious host and we really had a great time with him! We said our goodbyes, got into the taxi, and we were off to the airport.

We got onto the plane without incident and had a very nice trip to Shanghai, including some type of lo mien (I love how all the airlines here feed you food - included in the price of the ticket). We landed in China and started going through customs. The lady that checked us in at Singapore did not give us our connecting ticket and we did not have a copy of our itinerary, therefore, the customs agents were slightly suspicious of us. I almost got through, until I decided to help Dave out. Big mistake. We had to hand over our passports to the agents and wait for a united rep. to come get us. Luckily, this was not a long wait, however, being in China, sans-passport was a slightly disturbing feeling. We headed over to the 1.5 hour line to recheck in our bags and get our tickets and then back through security. We wandered past all the many restaurants and with little knowledge of what anything was (very VERY different than American Chinese restaurants), we ended up eating at Burger King (don't judge).

We boarded the plane and I ended up, once again, in the middle seat. Not only that, I was next to a man wearing a jogging suit which kept rubbing against my arm. It was so irritating. Not only that, United only shows one movie, you don't get to pick which movie you want. But, the 17 hours passed (slowly) and we ended up in O'Hare. Now, from all my times travelling back and forth several years ago to Iowa, the one thing I learned is never to take a United connection through O'Hare. NEVER! I don't think Dave believed me, but not I think they have made him a believer. From the moment we landed, our flight was already delayed. No biggie, but as we waited, and the time got closer to boarding, the flight would get pushed back even more until eventually 3 hours later, we were ready to go. Now, one more thing you have to understand at this point is that we have been out of the country for 6 weeks so we have no phone, no US dollars, and no idea how much a pay phone even costs to call our parents, but we were able to exchange some Singaporean dollars and figure out how to use those antiquated machines they call pay phones
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One more uneventful flight and then there were my parents faces, shining back at us at the end of security. What a wonderful feeling to be back on the same ground as them, and back on the same land as our home. Our trip was over, but we now take so many things away from this - all to be addressed in our next, and final blog. Stay tuned!

Finally...Koh Tao

2009-07-30T16:48:00.021-04:00

So, we've already been home a week now (a month when this is finally published) and are adjusting back to real life, so it's about time we finish our Asia Blog. Quick recap... We had just landed in Southern Thailand after a 8 hours on the night bus...

We took the Lamprayah high-speed catamaran over to the island of Koh Tao. "Turtle Island" as it is translated, is known for diving in the area. When you get on shore, that's all you see, restaurants, small souvenir shops and diving schools/stores everywhere.

We arrived at our hotel, the Coral Grand Dive Resort, and had to wait to check in for a bit. Meanwhile, we sat and talked to the awesome staff there. Seriously, they had to be some of the most crazy/fun people. And they were all very friendly. They even helped talk Dave into canceling our last 3 days in Thailand at an exclusive resort and staying there to continue our diving. But we'll talk about that later. However, since this blog is coming late and we still need to finish up the rest of the trip, we'll keep it short and condensed (if that's possible).

Our room was ok, can't expect much for $18. We signed up for what is called the treasure rooms, basically subsidized rooms for the divers. Not much too it, bed, sink, bathroom, and no hot water. But we would soon find out that you don't really need hot water on Koh Tao. The resort itself is very nice. There is a beautiful pool, small villas for the paying guests, a restaurant (overpriced and not extremely good) and then the beach not even 50 yards from our room. Perfect. Plus, since most of the people visiting the island are divers, they are off on boats all day and the beaches are empty!

Our first day was pretty boring. We ended up sitting through 3 of the scuba videos we had already seen and then passed out on beach chairs. However, for dinner, we went to a restaurant that was recommended by 2 locals called Krua Thai. I am not exaggerating when I say this was one of the best Thai meals we had the entire time in Thailand (except for the fishing village of course). We actually ended up eating here for 3/4 of the meals we had in Koh Tau. The food was delicious, fresh, spicy, but not too spicy, and just delicious. Our favorites were the deep fried fish, the rice and chicken in curry paste, the spicy noodles, and of course the pad thai. All were wonderful.

Our first night in our hotel was not the most relaxing. We got home and while I was standing unpacking, Dave let out an "Oh My G-D". Without first looking, I leaped onto the bed and looked over to see a spider the size of a tennis ball on our wall. This was enormous! I ran to the front desk and no one was there. Since we had no idea if there were poisonous spiders on the island, Dave went down to the staff dorms and brought someone back with him who ended up killing the spider. Turns out it was a coconut tree spider and they live all over the island and are harmless, but my feeling is you can never be too safe. We slept with the lights on that night and soon found out the A/C did not really work either, so we switched rooms the next day to a bug-free room. Much better. Definitely not what you would consider to be high-end, but perfect for what we wanted.

The next day, we met up with our SCUBA instructor John Allen and our new classmate Dale. Both were British and both turned out to be a ton of fun. Dale and his girlfriend had already been traveling over a year at this point (they started in Brazil) and were still planning on traveling through March 2010. Amazing. My favorite story and one that would never happen to me is how they had shown up the night before at the pier in Southern Thailand only for it to turn out to be the wrong pier. For $5, they slept on the top of a fisherman's boat for their ride to Koh Tao. Completely crazy!

John, our instructor, came to Koh Tao 9 years ago to get certified in Scuba. Several years later, he decided to come back and never left. He has been there over 2 years now and has no plans to go home anytime soon (but plans to travel to a new destination at some point and set-up shop there). This is very common in Koh Tao. Many of the instructors happened here the same way. They came on vacation and never left. 700 dives later and they were still going. Dave and I almost got sucked into this thinking we could stay forever, but with a mortgage, rent, and Cody, we knew this wouldn't be a reality.

We were fitted for our equipment and told to meet back later in the day for Dave's pool dives. John was so extremely nice when we came back. Since I had already done the pool dives, I spent most of the afternoon sunbathing on the side. However, he allowed me to come join during the last dive so that I could remind myself how to get neutral buoyancy. Very helpful. (author change). The pool dive was fun- but you seriously should never go in a pool with a mask on. You see way to much! Gross little bits floating everywhere. Band-aids. Things that don't look like anything. Way gross. But, I enjoyed success and was soon ready for the real thing.

Here comes the condensed version. Over the 2 days we did 4 dives around Koh Tao. We enjoyed it so much, we took the money we were going to spend at a nice resort on Koh Samui and signed up for the Advanced Open Water Diving Class. That was 5 more dives for a total of 9. The first 4 were very cool- although the last dive was the one where I (Dave) drank way too much coffee before the dive, and had a caffeine anxiety attack underwater. It was really terrifying- I was chewing my regulator and spent the first 15 minutes thinking about shooting to the top. But, I didn't want to ruin the dive for Carrie, and I knew that it was just in my mind, so I fought thru it. The diving was awesome- very different from our 1 dive in the Carribean. The Carribean had tons of floral and plants- this was a lot of coral. The coral is almost like an oasis underwater- where there is coral, there is a ton of everything (hey polluters- remember this when you mess with the ocean). Our instructor John took us on some dives that were around more sand- those you really had to look hard to find life. The fish hid in the sand and the shrimp dug holes- but it was fun- almost like a scavenger hunt.

At the end of the Open Water Course, we got the opportunity to purchase a video that was made during our fourth dive. Fun stuff- dancing under water when we had to take our mask off and put it back on, lots of waving (hard to do much else underwater). Carrie and I went in with the intention of not buying it- but it was too compelling, since it was our first real scuba diving experience.

Our next 5 dives were to obtain the Advanced Open Water certification. You are required to do a navigation dive (I'm not very good with a compass), a deep dive (30 meters down!), and 3 dives that you select. We took underwater photography, wreck diving, and night diving. The deep dive was not scary- you hardly notice that you are down that far. You just need to be even more careful about going back up. Carrie and I will eventually purchase dive computers so we are certain not to mess up our nitrogen levels! The underwater photography was ok- our pics came out well, but the CD did not burn correctly so there is no proof that my pictures were better than Carrie's.

The wreck dive was awesome! A drunk captain of a competing dive company had actually sunk his boat(no passengers on it) a month before. So we dove around the wreck and saw how life had already started to take it over. It definitely made us think that the wreck diving up here in Massachusetts must be amazing!

The night dive was even cooler. Carrie was completely terrified before- to the point where she almost didn't want to go. Fortunately, we started into the water with just a hint of daylight left. We had underwater torches (flash lights- seriously, you should know that!) that we could aim at our depth/air gauge to make them glow underwater. We had to do a underwater navigation thing at night, but then explored. We saw lots of different things- the 3 most memorable were the 2 baby squid just floating in a random spot, and when we turned off our torches and were in complete darkness. a) it wasn't as scary as you think b) when you wave your arm in the water, you see bio-luminescence (think fireflies underwater). The 3rd was the various sting rays we saw ducking under different corals. They were magnificent- really an elegant fish. Can't really explain it- go diving and see for yourself.

Other notables from Koh Tao:

- Internet costs twice as much (hence no blogs).
- Mangosteens are the greatest fruit ever. $1 for 1 kilo. ($9 for 4 pieces here in Boston)
- Krua Thai is the best restaurant on the island. Go there. A lot.
- The tide goes really really high (literally under your feet at the sand joints, and then boats on the sand during low tide)
- Being a stray dog in Koh Tao is not that bad.

- There's nothing like having breakfast on the beach.
- Giant snails are not as gross as tiny snails.
- The beach is now boring if you can't go at least 10 meters under the water
- Deep fried fish is good.
- So is deep fried sun-dried beef.

- Fried pancakes with chocolate and bananas are good at night!

- Everything about Koh Tao was amazing and crazy!

On our last day, we took the same catamaran to Koh Samui, and got a free transfer over to the airport. It took a bit to check in, but afterwards we experienced maybe the greatest airport in the world. We walked from the check in area thru an outdoor shopping area where we stopped for Pad Thai lunch. Then we got to the international gate. They had free food, free juice, free internet. Check out the pics.

Then onto Singapore...

Non-Asia Post

2009-07-19T10:24:00.002-04:00

Never thought I would see this. Stay tuned for a massive Koh Tao blog with cool underwater pics.

Our day in Bangkok

2009-07-17T09:28:00.009-04:00

Our day with Tong was so amazing yesterday, we decided to sign up with one of her other tour guides to show us around Bangkok the next day. There were several reasons for this. First, we had limited time in Bangkok and wanted to make sure we were able to see everything we wanted to see. Secondly, we wanted some background information on the places we were going to. Thirdly, we have heard stories about the tuk-tuk drivers in Bangkok and have learned you either pay way too much for them, or you end up spending half your day in jewelry and tailor shops that offer the drivers petrol coupons. So, we figured this we way net out money-wise, but make out on every other front.

Our day started with a delicious breakfast of course. Dave had his usual, pancakes and I had eggs and toast. Only thing is, after being in SE Asia, I don't think I can eat eggs anymore, so I mostly had toast.

We were met in the lobby by our guide, Net. It was a perfect day. The sun wasn't out, the sky was gray, but it was also nice and cool and not stifling like we've heard it can get. We got into a tuk-tuk that of course first tried to charge us 200 baht, but she immediately got it down to 60 (savings 140 righ there!). Our first stop was the Grand Palace and the Temple with the Emerald Buddha. When we arrived, we made it in time to see the changing of the guards. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the changing of the guards in London, but still fun. We immediately set off to see the Wat, as 3 Chinese tour buses had just arrived and we wanted to get their before the crowd. The temple was really amazing (being that it was in the Grand Palace and purely for the purposes of the King). The architechture was beautiful and everything was decorated using mosaic mirrored tiles. Net gave us a lot of background on the Wat which was really helpful while walking around. We got some great pictures and then made our way inside to see the Emerald Buddha. The statue was found somewhat recently. It had been moved between Thailand and Laos and during one of the recent moves, it was dropped and the cement that covered it fell off. Of course it is not Emerald, but Jade. Apparently emerald sounds much more regal, but I personally think Jade doesn't sound too bad.

Next up was the Grand Palace. This is no longer used by the King and Queen, except for ceremonies (and the King stays there 1 night right before the coronation). There are several rooms you are allowed to go through which we did. The place is really nice, but Dave is definitely towards the end of his touring days, so we moved pretty quickly.

We walked to the pier and headed over via a 3 baht ($0.09) ferry to Wat Arun. This area used to be the capital of Thailand for 16 years, so you can imagine there wasn't enough time to build up the area. But there is a beautiful, intricately decorated Wat which we had the chance to walk around and admire. Best thing is there are cardboard cut-outs of traditional Thai dress, enticing visitors to come take a picture. No one is around, but when you go to take the pic, someone magically appears asking for 40 baht. Luckily we didn't get caught in the trap (but you know I wanted that picture!).

Next stop, the large Reclining Buddha. Now, large is an understatement here. This thing is HUGE! The entire Wat is filled with this Buddha statue which has been covered in gold paint. When you first walk in the door, all you can see is the Buddha's eye. As you walk a little more, you can see how far back it really goes. It is really unbelievable and even more surprisingly, it is only the 3rd largest in Thailand (more great information provided by Net).

Our next stop is a restaurant suggested by Tong (our tour guide from yesterday since she knew how much we liked food). We had the option of having Tong order for us via cell phone, or we could do the ordering ourselves. Since she had fed us so well the day before, we decided to go with option number 1. This was definitely the right choice. We had so much food ordered for us!

We had so much food, and of course it was all eaten. We had fried chicken wings, fried spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, Tom Yum soup with prawns (spicy), some other shrimp dish and lemongrass juice. It was so delicious, a little spicy (I started feeling midly dizzy at one point) but so good. We were expecting it to cost around 2000 baht, but was shocked when our check for 400 baht (less than $15) was put in front of us. Although we were full from the meal, it wasn't complete without our coffee in a bag. We have figured out what was so good about it. They use condensed milk in the coffee and it is good!

We hopped into a cab and headed over to the Golden Mount. This is exactly what it sounds like. It is a Wat on the top of a small mountain. The temple was nice, but the view from the top is amazing. You can see all of Bangkok. On our way up, we all rang one of the many bells lining the path three times for good luck. So we're keeping our fingers crossed. We took some really nice pics, and then headed back to the hotel.

Our last stop was the Teak House. This was a house that served as the kings palace for 5 or so years. It was entirely made of Teak, with no nails (just teak pegs). Pretty impressive- but no pics allowed, so you will just have to go! We had a short time in the afternoon before our next adventure.

When we got to the hotel, we said goodbye to Net and thanked her for a great day. We really learned so much from her and were so thankful to have her help us around town.

So, as you can all imagine (and have seen by the pics), 5 weeks is alot of time. During our night adventures around our hotel, Dave and I found a hair stylist that does hair for 100 baht (less than $5). We were both looking a little ragged and decided (of course after much persuasion from Dave) to get our hair cut. Dave asked for a trim and got a bit of a buzz cut (looks great though) and I paid an extra 50 baht for a shampoo which included a long scalp massage. Heaven! The hair cut was fine and neither of us had any complaints.

We returned to the room and packed up to leave Bangkok and headed to the hotel restaurant so that we could watch our bags. Big surprise what we ate... Pad Thai and Pad See Ew. When we finished, we grabbed our bags, headed to the travel agent and I went on a search for coconut pancakes. No luck, but I did find an old woman with awful teeth selling mango and sticky rice. By the time I realized that I didn't want to eat there, I had already made eye contact with the lady and got her to stand up. Therefore, I paid the 20 baht, got my mango and sticky rice and headed back to Dave. Luckily it was delish. I topped this off with watermelon from the fruit stand (after I almost bought Dave more mangoes- he wanted mangosteens, which he claims is the greatest fruit in the whole world).

Then, the adventure began. At this point, we had already waited a half hour and finally a man came to collect us for our night train and ferry to Koh Tao. We had to walk, with all of our luggage, to the main street. This would not have been a problem except that we had waited for so long and could have hired a taxi for $1. We got to the main location for the tour group and waited in another line for our ticket and received a number. When we got to our bus, we realized how lucky our wait actually was. We ended up on the top floor in the exit row, so we had the banister in front of us for our feet. Not bad when you're about to embark on a 8 hour bus ride. We watched Batman, but with no sound and we couldn't read becuase the light wouldn't work, so once the movie was asleep, we went to bed. A quick bus stop was made along the way around 1 am and we witnessed buffet-style food covered with flies, and then finished the next 2 hours.

We ended in Southern Thailand at the pier at 5, waited 2 hours for the ferry and then headed over to Koh Tao. We were so excited! Not only was this the beginning of our relaxing part of our vacation, this is also where we were finally going to become PADI Certified Open Water Divers!

The coolest fish farm ever

2009-07-13T07:53:00.017-04:00

If you read the title of this post, you might be mislead. The fishing village we went to did catch fish, but we also saw mussel farms, clam farms, cockle farms, and people catching shrimp. It started at our boat owner's house. He was a cockle farmer that got involved in tourism when a bird that does not exist here migrated from Malaysia and ate all his cockles. Apparently it takes up to a year to rebuild the 'crop,' so he had to do something to avoid the alternative- travelling to Malaysia to work on a cockle farm there.

Moving along, we went down some tributaries to reach the Gulf of Thailand. We were travelling at low tide, during high tide you can't see really any part of the farms. There is apparently good swimming, water skiing, etc. But for us we saw lots of mud. The first thing we did was turn down a channel on the side that went thru the forest. Carrie and I didn't really know what to expect- we had been asked how much food we wanted to get to feed the monkeys, and went with 400 baht (but should have gone with like 800). As we went down the channel, our tour guide Tong and our captain started hollering. We didn't see much at first, but then 1, then 2 then 10, then 20 then 40 monkeys appeared. It was absolutely amazing. We threw them Rambuttan, Bananas, and Watermelon. There ultimately were 4 tribes of monkeys that came to us as we went down the channel. So cool. In a couple of cases there were rival packs across the river, but when there wasn't the monkeys would swim to the other shore to get food from us. The watermelon floated, and the monkeys would swim after that. A couple climbed on the boat (keep feeding and don't pet!), and one got on the roof. It was jaw dropping. Many were carrying their babies with them, and we made an effort to aim a lot of our throws towards Mommy. We also caused a few fights (one monkey bit a Mommy that was holding her baby), and we saw 2 others try to drown one very frightened monkey. Tong told us how she once saw 2 dogs tear another monkey in half- thank g-d we didn't see that! I would have been traumatized for life. The fights were scary enough (we tried to break them up by pelting the offender with bananas which usually distracted all parties).

At one point, a rival pack followed us down river. It was interesting to see them not intrude on the others territory (except when we accidentally threw food in no-mans-land). Unfortunately, we ran out of food. As I said- don't be cheap, spend the money! Enjoy the pics...

After feeding the monkeys, we took a cruise around the farms. When I say farms- it is hard to understand. These farms are in the actual Gulf of Thailand. If you go during high-tide, you can barely see the bamboo posts used to mark the farms (and catch mussels!). However, we went during low tide so we saw people sitting on boards and digging thru mud to find cockles. This must be one of the most serene places we've been. It goes on for miles and miles- and there is only an occasional farm worker or boat. It is still completely unknown to most tourists and is really special. Just straight up peaceful.

We ate lunch in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand too. We went up on our farmers house (they all build a second house on their farm land where someone stays so people don't come at night and steal their cockles, mussels, or clams, etc). On the house (made almost completely of bamboo except the parts that support it over the ground) we found an awesome meal. This meals awesomeness was matched by its spiciness! We had tamarind soup (so damn spicy), fried catfish in shrimp paste (looks gross, tastes great, calms down spice), prawns, crab, and grilled fish with garlic. It was all so good- Tong had figured out we like to eat, so she got us a meal for 4 (we almost ate it all...!).

As the food coma approached, we headed back towards our starting point. Back in the car, we hit traffic for awhile (Bangkok = traffic). Once we got home, we gave Tong a hug, and bid her farewell. We will definitely be seeing her again, since Thailand is awesome and we are certain to come back.

That evening we walked around Khosan Road. But this time, we walked around the real Khosan Road. The part we walked in the previous blog was in fact, just a nice road near Khosan Road. Khosan Road is a loud busy road that is very very touristy. Not much to mention, except Carrie got a bag she had seen people carrying a few weeks before. We liked our little street better, so headed back that way and chose a restaurant that had our favorite Sun-dried Crispy Beef appetizer. A Pad Thai and something else for dinner (maybe a curry? or Pad See Ew) and 2 large Chang Beers left us full and ready for bed.

Let the eating begin.

2009-07-13T07:49:00.014-04:00

Today was a great day! For anyone ever coming, or planning on coming to visit Bangkok, this is a must do. During my months of planning for this trip, I came across the name of a tour guide who was well-regarded on Fodors. People talked about her all the time and there have seriously been panic posts made if someone couldn't get a hold of her. Her name is Tong from http://www.tourwithtong.com/. I contacted Tong immediately (which was a good thing because apparently she is always booked up and I happened to be able to get a spot with her 2 months before leaving) and arranged for a trip to the floating market and her "secret spot" which is no longer a secret. This was a spectacular day that we both truly enjoyed!

We started with a panicked call from Tong who was stuck in traffic. Apparently there were some types of demonstrations today in the city. No worries, she showed up at 7:30 (versus the scheduled 7) which was fine, being that 30 minutes late is my norm :)

Immediately we loved Tong. There is something about her that draws people to her which becomes more evident as the day goes on. She is very friendly, very open and honest, and you just know you can trust her (which isn't the case with many of the tour guides and tourist-service people here). We started to head out of town, talking non-stop (both Dave and Carrie) and made our first "happy" (bathroom) stop for the day. This place was really great. Since Tong and her team do not take any commission from places they visit, they are able to take you to very private places which aren't visited much by tourists. This stop was at a factory where they hand paint bone-china, mainly for the King and Queen and other famous people, so you can imagine how intricate the designs were. The work was absolutely amazing. She told us that it takes around 3 days to complete one set.

It was a "happy stop" before we headed to the train market. Why do they call it the train market you may ask? Because a train literally goes right through the market. People set up their fruit stands right over the train tracks. Eight times a day, they get a 3 minute warning where they then move all of the fruit off the tracks, pull back the overhead hangings and watch the train go by. Luckily, the train was running 3 minutes late, so we made it in time to see. This was crazy as the train literally skims the piles of fruit. It was so much fun to see how fast the people move and how they have the action down-pat.

We had talked to Tong about how we had never tried Durian, so no time like the present. She got us a few pieces and we had the opportunity to try the smelly fruit that we had been smelling since our arrival in Cambodia (it is everywhere! You cannot get away from it). It is very creamy and Dave wasn't a fan of the texture. I thought it was interesting and the more I ate it, the more I enjoyed it. Now I can cross it off my list of things I have to do. We also tried coconut puffs with spring onions. These were similar to the coconut pancake we had in Vietnam, but the spring onion added a special touch. Back in the car and we were off.

Now, you may ask why we call this post the "Let the eating begin" post. Well, this is why. Note to foodies, if you enjoy food and you want someone to show you what to eat and where, this is the tour for you.

We headed off to the floating market outside of Bangkok. Being part of Tong's group, you do this the real way. We got into a row boat (not a motorized one) and headed out. Instantly, food was being purchased for us left and right. We started off with with rice with red pork. This was a great dish which consisted of rice, pork and a red sauce. Delicious and a great way to start the day. As we moved, all of a sudden we had fried bananas and fried bananas with coconut (although we're convinced they were friend mangoes with coconut) in our face. Next stop, BBQ chicken and pork on a stick. The chicken tasted like wings and were really good. The pork was fantastic. All the bones we accumulated were saved and later used to feed Tong's ususals (dogs along the way that wait for her everyday). Next up, iced coffee in a bag. This was really nice and refreshing and literally we drank out of a bag.

We kept on moving through the floating market passing all of the souvenirs stands (I think Dave and I are finally shopped out), picking up some mangostines and pomelo's to try. At this point, we hit a palm factory where most of the boats turn around. But not us, Tong had another treat in store. She takes you further into the canal system to see how the people in the village really live. But of course, food is needed to keep the energy up, so we stopped at the next boat (which is missed by most tourists and is really a shame) and got two pork bowls with noodles, done in 2 different styles. One was a soup, one not, but both spicy and absolutely delicious! We kept on eating as we floated past the many beautiful thai houses and really had a nice (but wet in the rain) time out of the city. Plus, we were so full!

When we got back on shore, we walked through all of the souvenir stands and confirmed that we were shopped out, we made it to the car without one bag! We headed out with one more "happy" stop to make before we got to the next big attraction. This was at a real Thai carving workshop and was amazing! Someone drew out the picture that was to be carved in the teak wood and then people sat and carved the most intricate pieces of work. We saw HUGE commissions from people all over the world. I really am fascinated by how these people can look at this piece of wood and see a jungle scene. Just amazing.

We made our "happy" break and then off to the fishing village. So far, this day has been wonderful, but it is only the beginning...

Bangkok

2009-07-13T07:10:00.017-04:00

Please turn up the volume and press play.

So, Bangkok. Big city, lots of hustle (and bustle). We arrived on the overnight train at 6:40 am. We had no idea where we were, and we didn't yet have a hotel. Fortunately we had a hotel that we wanted to try, so we hopped in a taxi (many of the taxis here are pink- weird right?) and went to the New Siam II hotel. It is right across the street from the New Siam Riverside (where we originally had a reservation, but cancelled when we bought too many clothes in Hoi An). This hotel is a-okay with us- we don't mind skipping a riverview that we would never use and paying twice as much for it. Clean room, decent shower, 24-hour internet on site. No breakfast, but hey- this is Bangkok, who has time for breakfast (ok, I do, but don't tell).

Moving along- we got to our hotel and immediately got ready for ... ... a nap. Carrie hardly slept on the train, and I can always sleep, so we slept. Till 10. At which point we cleaned up and headed to check the internet. We were planning on meeting my future classmate at Babson, Pote. Skype wasn't working, so we paid 10 baht per minute to use the hotel phone. Since we didn't know where we were, we more or less let Pote talk to the clerk at the hotel and ended up meeting for lunch in an easy location- Siam Paragon, a really nice mall (think busy Tysons II for those of you in DC).

There we met and had lunch at a really nice resturaunt that specialized in Northern Thai cuisine. We had a fried fish, appetizer sampler (some Thai sausages, chicken wings, fried pork), and papaya and scallop salad. It was really really good. We also had some good conversation and learned a lot about Pote, and also the fact that 2 other students are coming from Thailand. Hopefully one of them cooks!

We got some coffee (Starbucks!) and walked around and talked. We saw lots of good looking food in the eatery, and saw the aquarium on the ground floor where you can scuba dive with sharks. Of course we didn't do that- in 4 days we will be scuba diving for real!

After we left Pote, we went to the weekend market called JJ Market. It was endless. Just stalls and stalls of everything from clothes to wholesale chopsticks. I don't know when it happened, but we are apparently shopped out! It took all the effort we had to buy anything. But we fought thru the pain and bought a nice photo album and some chopsticks. Unfortunately we got scammed by a taxi driver who didn't turn on the meter, then overcharged us. Not much we could do since by the time we figured it out the taxi was already moving. Note to all that go to Bangkok: no tuk-tuks, no taxis unless they are running the meter. Otherwise they are going to scam you.

We got back, blogged, showered and headed for dinner on Khaosan- a street known for stalls and resturaunts- more or less a cool place for backpackers. We walked around, Carrie negotiated for some pants (deviating from our normal tactics and going right for the jugular: 1 pair for 100 baht... ok 2 for 100 baht).

We settled on dinner at a place on the side of the road (exactly the type of place we avoided eating at in Vietnam) and got Pad Thai, Red Curry with Chicken, and split a large bottle of Chaing beer. It was good, not great but good. We walked around some more, went to by the pants at 1 for 100 baht, and went to bed. Never got the pants since they didn't have the color I wanted...

The post about tomorrow will be very cool- it was one of the greatest days we've had so far (of course, Michael, everyday with my lovely wife is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G)

Thai cooking with the Rubins

2009-07-12T08:21:00.020-04:00

Big day today! Today is the day that our whole life will change. Today is the day that Dave and I will learn how to make Thai food on our own. The day started out with us getting picked up at the hotel by the owner of "The Best Thai Cookery School". The owner's name was Perm and what we soon would discover is that Perm is definitely a funny man. After we picked u the rest of our classmates, we soon found out that there were 3 from London, 1 from Italy and 1 from Singapore. Ironically enough, Foo (from Singapore) graduated from Penn State as well and has been living in Baltimore. As you can imagine, this started many conversations.

We stopped off at the market for a very interesting tour of the different curry pastes, condiments used in Thai cooking, as well as all the vegetables. We were able to get many of the answers to the question, "What is this that I'm eating now?" We also learned why it is ok that the eggs stay out of the fridge and can last so long, and that the smaller the egg, the better. They come from the younger chickens. And as Perm says, why would you want a baby from any 80 year old? I feel much better now.

Off for a 20 minute drive back to Perm's house. We walked around to the back of his house and came upon a huge outdoor, open-air kitchen. This was great. Each person (and we were a small class) had their own station equipped with a cutting table, utensils, and a small stove attached to gas. Plus, we each got our own apron to wear for the day. Very official.

We started out making our soups. Dave was making Tom Ka Gai (chicken in coconut soup) and I was making Tom Yum (sweet and sour soup with shrimp). Let me say that in no way did we think we'd be eating right away, so we had breakfast before we came. Big mistake. The soup was unbelievably easy to make and delicious! We ate it right away and it was great.

Next up, we were shown how to make Jasmine rice as well as sticky rice. Jasmine rice - easy. Sticky rice - much more to do. While the rice was cooking, Perm showed us how to make mango and sticky rice sauces. It looks pretty easy (and thank goodness we have a cookbook), but I don't know if we'll ever be able to repeat it. Also, we were shown how to make the spring roll dipping sauce. Delicious, made with pickled plums. It was so good though.

We kept on going (even though Perm was a funny guy and made us laugh a lot he was still very strict when it came to cooking time). Next up, sauce for the spicy papaya salad. Now, spicy papaya is exactly that, spicy. And Perm wanted it that way, he added 16 chilis to the sauce mixture and told each of us to smash it 20 times in the bowl. However, he stopped paying attention and Kelly, from England, decided to smash and smash and smash. Therefore, all the seeds from the chilis were released and it was hot. But it was good too. We also worked on making the spring rolls while the smashing was taking place. I actually got to cook the ingredients and as we soon learned, I was not very good at flipping them in the pan. But, afterwards, we all made one spring roll and Dave and I passed with flying colors.

When we finished all of the above, the sticky rice was finished, so we sat down for a break and to try the Papaya salad (spicy) and the mango with sticky rice (sweet) as well as the spring rolls (yummy). All were so good and I was very sad when the guy cleared my papaya salad before I was done. But no worries, I was still well fed that day.

Next up, curry. Dave made the red and I made Panang. This was a really interesting part of the day. We learned how to cook curry paste (not make it) and that after you cook it with coconut cream, it can last for months in a sealed container. Plus, once you add the coconut milk, you can just let it sit and boil down into a thick sauce and it won't burn. Dave made his with chicken and I used tofu so that I can learn how to cook with it if and when Dave and I ever become vegetarian (which we keep talking about, but just like meat too much)!

Next up sweet and sour chicken for Dave and chicken with cashews for me. These were pretty easy and the sauces didn't include too much. Plus, since mine only had chicken and sauce in it, it didn't take much time to cook. Both dishes were kept underneath the stoves to keep warm while our final meal was prepared - Chicken Pad See Ew (Carrie) and Chicken Pad Thai (Dave). In addition to just cooking 2 of our favorite meals, we also learned how to cook with fire and how to set your kitchen on fire in case you ever care to :) This was crazy, hot and crazy. I practically threw my pan as I was jumping back from the fire. You can see a little of my fire in my picture, but check out Perm's fire. It was wild. We also learned how to make Pad Thai omelet. Dave's came out really nicely. My omelet for my Pad See Ew was not so nice.

We finished all the cooking and headed out front to enjoy our food. We really liked the group of people we were with and luckily everyone shared, so we were able to also try the foods we didn't cook. My favorites were definitely the Panang curry with tofu and the Pad Thai. Probably the best Pad Thai we've had so far (thanks Dave, I can't wait for all of those Thai meals you'll be making me from now on).

We finished the food we cooked, tried some Thai fruit we hadn't had (we are now obsessed with mangosteens) and got our certificates and were off to the train station. We were about to embark on a 14 hour, overnight train to Bangkok after a full day of cooking, outside, using fire, and no shower. Nice.

We had an hour to kill before our train, so in true Dave and Carrie style, we picked up some snacks and relaxed before we headed on. Walking onto the train, you wonder how this will ever become an overnight train. We were in a car with about 40 other people and each section had 2 seats facing each other with a shelf next to it for your bags. No where did you see a top/bottom bunk. We ordered dinner to be served later that night (better to have than not) and sat back to enjoy our ride through the country. Oh, and our naps. Around 7, our food was delivered (we had ordered vegetarian soup, fried rice and vegetables). No problem eating this (although it wasn't the tastiest ever) and we went on to play some gin (we won't talk about who won, but let's just say, I think Dave let me beat him). We decided to get ready and now I had to face my fear. For those of you who have never been to Asia, let's just say that many of their toilets are not like Western toilets. They are pretty much a urinal laying flat on the ground. For men fine, for women, intimidating. I have been avoiding these stalls, but now I was in a place where I had no choice. Let's just say I faced my fear and I won!

We got back and the cabin steward came over to convert our bed. This was amazing. In 1 minute (and I'm not exaggerating here) he had converted the bottom 2 seats into a bed and snapped down a shelf from the top which had another bed, 2 pillows, clean sheets and blankets. Nice and cozy.

One thing I forgot to mention is that Dave and I were located right next to the entrance to our car and no one would close the door behind them, so it would be really noisy with the sound of the train flowing in. Finally, around 11, someone came and tied the doors shut. One hurdle completed. Next up, there were curtains blocking each bed, however, on the top bunk (where I was located) there was a gap between the curtain and the ceiling, so a significant amount of light came in. I kept waiting for the lights to be turned off, but had no luck. Hurdle incomplete. Next up, the train started moving really fast after everyone went to sleep. Usually this would be a good thing, but it caused a significant amount of turbulence on the train. Many times through the night, I thought I would go flying off the bed. Therefore, I had probably around a good 2-3 hours of sleep that night (I really have no idea though since I didn't have a clock or a window). Well, 1 out of 3 hurdles isn't too bad.

6 am came the next day and everyone started to move and the beds started to close up. We arrived on the dot at 6:40 and departed the train, tired, smelly and ready to experience the Bangkok-experience.

Elephants are cool.

2009-07-12T07:34:00.013-04:00

Elephant riding day! A whole day at the Chaing Mai Elephant School. The Mahout people have set up a camp with elephants and offer two hours as part of a trek, or a whole day with the elephants. We skipped the white water rafting and hiking that come with the trek and dedicated the whole day to one of the biggest mammels in the world. We started the day with a mango pancake (D) and a croissant (C) and some coffee. We were picked up and drove 1 hour out to the elephant school. They gave us more coffee and had us change into some clothing that would be ok if it got ruined. We (Carrie, myself, and our new French friend Rene) walked up to meet the elephants. Kristina, Bifern, Fa, Fhim, and a couple others were there to great us. We were immediately struck by their size. Elephants look smaller when they are far away in a zoo. These ones looked bigger and hungry too! Good thing, since we immediately started feeding them. I'd say they ate like a horse- but it doesn't really fit, does it? We fed them guava and banana- and they took it right out of our hands with their trunks (the trunks were gross at first, but we soon got used to them and didn't mind). If the Mahout gave them the right command, they openned their mouths and we put the fruit right in. Their tongues are huge and pink, and they have a pretty big set of teeth! And the bananas we feed them came right off the stalk- and they ate 3-5 at a time (with the peels). It was fun to hold a guava in one hand, bananas in the other and let the elephants choose. Typical for a huge elephant- they tried to choose both. After feeding time it was time to learn how to ride. Of course to learn how to ride, you have to learn how to get up. When you ride an elephant in one of those chairs, y ou just hop on from a platform. When you ride bareback, like we did, you have to jump up! You give the elephant a command, 'Yo Kai', and the elephant makes a step from its leg. You grab its ear, hop on the leg, and it lifts you up so you can step on its knee and then jump to the top. Very easy, after you practice 20 times. Of course, the first 20 times are scary as hell! We were scared that we were going to hurt the elephant (Kristina), but then we realized that her skin was very thick, and we need not worry. Next came the riding commands. There are 3 parts to it. 1st is a stick with a hook. Seems mean at first, but the hook is not sharp and you don't do more than touch the skin surface with it. 2nd is bracing you leg on one side, and kicking the floppy part of their ear on the other. 3rd is the verbal commands: Pie (straight, kick both ears), Sai (left), Qua (right), Toy (back), and Ute (stop). We practiced going in a line, and then we walked them around our little park by ourselves. After we accomplished that, we were deemed good enough for the afternoon jungle ride. Right before lunch, Fa and Fhim were both feeling a bit randy, but they were too young to do it 'right.' But first, lunch. It was quite good, which was unexpected based on the Golden Triangle tour's lunch. We had fried rice, stir fried chicken with vegetables, and the best- a fried fish that was fried whole and seasoned. That one we ate with our hands by picking the meat right from the plate. So good! After lunch, Rene left us to ride thru the jungle ourselves. He stayed back and worked with one of the elephants training them how to sit and go up on 2 legs, etc. Our ride was adventurous. It was a short walk thru a jungle path, but for as many commands that the elephants know, if they want to eat, they eat. And eat they did. I rode Bifern and Carrie was with Kristina. Kristina amused herself (and cooled herself) by sucking mud in her trunk and then spraying it on her body. Fun for Carrie who was in the line of fire! Bifern did the same, although I think it was more saliva than mud. But, we got over it because the two elephants were great and we could see how hot they were. So eating, and walking, and eating and walking. Then we arrived at a platform built in the jungle. The elephants are obviously used to going there because Kristina just went up to the platform- but she didn't go up the steps, she went up a steep hill. At this point Carrie had a Mahout on with her (he was holding a huge thing of bananas). Well, Kristina's hill made the Mahout fall off with the bananas. Fortunately he was ok. We then feed Kristina and Bifern the bananas and took in some views of the jungle. Everyone was happy, including the elephants who kept scratching themselves on the huge cement columns that the platforom stood on. We got back on and headed to the most exciting part of the day for our riding companions- the creek! They are very big, and it was very hot, so they want very fast (relative to what they were doing when they kept eating). As we got to the creek, we got off and the Mahouts took them in. It was awesome to see them lie down- and you could just tell that they were happy. They didn't even want to move to flip to the other side. We took some hard bristle brushes and more or less washed them down. When they finally did stand up, and we were more or less standing under them, you really got a feel for how huge they are. And how tiny we are. During all this, Kristina (being washed by Carrie), decided she had to pee. This was a bit gross, since the water wasn't flowing too much, and when an elephant pee's they flow quite a lot. Luckily, Carrie managed to get out of the way! After that dissapated, the Mahouts got the elephants to bathe us. Nothing like a water fight with some elephant to end the day. Kristina had great fun squirting Carrie. Fa enjoyed spraying me, and slamming her trunk on the water to create a big splash. It was easily the most fun part of this trip (besides every moment with each other, of course!). We bid the elephants good-bye, headed up to the lodge to change and for coffee, and went back to Chaing Mai. So sad- we definitely would do it again if we ever are lucky enough to get back there. When we arrived back in town we checked out email, went to the jade buddha, went to the pool and then got dressed for dinner. We walked around to find a place, couldn't and got in a tuk-tuk and went to Riverside- the place where we were supposed to met Kristen King. There we had Sundried Meat appetizer (awesome!), Fried Crab in Curry Paste (great, but rich), and Pad Thai (is there bad Pad Thai?). After dinner we went to the market to get massages. We did a 2 hour Thai massage for 300 baht each (less than $10). When we finally finished I was trying to figure out why the guy beat me up so bad, but I guess it was cause I paid him too.We tipped generously, since the 'house' takes most of the money, and then, yet again, spent money at the night market. I don't know what we will eat when we get home, since we have no money. Maybe we will sell all the stuff we bought here for double or triple. Anyways, that was elephant day. It was amazing, awesome, awe-inspiring, bad-ass, cool... I won't go down the whole dictionary, but I will end with... wow, xcellant, yikes, and zainy!

Monkeys, Tigers, and Snakes Oh My

2009-07-10T21:02:00.021-04:00

Adventure day. I am truly enjoying this trip by now- Thailand is a blessing. Since the trip is going so well, what better thing to do than possibly end it early by getting mauled or bitten!

We hired a tuk-tuk for the day- 500 Baht to drive us all over. The tuk-tuks in Chiang Mai aren't as good as other tuk-tuks we've been in. For unknown reasons, the back looks down on the driver at an angle, so it is hard to see anything besides pavement. Of course, if you lie down and slouch, you can see whatever you want, but your head is on a very nice cushion and you apparently fall asleep quite often.

Regardless of our involuntary napping, our first stop was at Tiger Kingdom. What to do at Tiger Kingdom? Look at Tigers? Watch Tiger movies? Talk about Tiger Woods? No, no my good sir- we are going to PET THE TIGERS. As Carrie would later say, this was the coolest (and most awe-inspiring) thing we had ever done (until 2 days later, but you have to wait for that). There were an assortment of packages, but we went for the one that gave us 15 minutes each with tiger cubs and full grown (skipping lion cubs and medium tigers). We also paid 200 baht each ($1 = 33 baht) to have a professional photographer follow us. No need to get distracted by taking pics and ended up getting eaten! We started with the tiger cubs- it was hard for us to breath at first. There were 4 cubs in the cage- 3 were asleep and the other was called "the naughty one." He kept wrestling with the sleeping ones and biting there ears. Cute when Cody does it- but a bit scary when you remember this cute cat is a tiger! (Side note- the tigers are said to be not drugged (we never would have done it if we thought they were). They sleep all day, hunt at night, and these ones have always been raised by humans, so they are more docile)

After the babies, we went to see the 15-month old siblings. Champoo, Mikey, and Paula. The big tigers were actually less scary than the smaller ones. Tigers apparently sleep 18 hours a day- once they aren't cubs. Of course, the big ones remind you how fragile and small you really are. (author change) This was unbelievable! We walked into the cage with these three huge tigers (which were actually only half of their full-grown size) and was able to walk right up to Paula and start petting her. Of course you have to approach them from behind, as approaching them straight-on is a sign you want to play, which we didn't. We were able to pet all three of them as well as sit right next to them for pictures. It was fun too to see the handlers play with the tigers and basically try wrestling with them.

Quick environmental note: We were slightly unsure about Tiger Kingdom and worried that the tigers would somehow be drugged or mis-treated. However, upon arriving, we were greeted with a sign from an american who had spent some time at this place. In it, she explained that the tigers were not drugged (which we confirmed with several other people), but: 1) Tigers daytime vision is just as good as humans. They are really nocturnal animals which is when they see best. 2) They only hunt to eat. Here they are fed very well and 3) have no reason to expend the energy in the Thai heat, unless provoked. 4) They were raised here by humans since they were cubs, therefore, they are familiar and unthreatened. Plus, all of the tigers appeared very alert, well fed and we didn't see any signs of abuse which was a really nice thing.

After our time with the 15-months old, we walked around for a bit and saw the parents (2 times the size of the last tigers) as well as some lion cubs. All were adorable and we basically had to drag ourselves out of there.

Next stop is the monkey school where they teach the monkeys how to pick coconuts since they can climb the trees faster than humans and don't need to come down in betwee n. I wasn't such a big fan of this place. We walked in and all the monkeys were attached to poles by short leashes. It was later explained to us that they have to do this so the monkeys don't jump at the visitors and that after 5 they are free to roam around a large caged-in area. Plus, they put on a show for visitors. Of course it was adorable to watch the monkeys ride bikes, make basketball shots and do math (seriously they did), but at one point, there were a group of children acting out (and of course their parents weren't doing a thing) and the monkey was getting noticeably upset. To the point that it started baring it's teeth at them and lunging for them. Of course Dave and i were routing for the monkey at this point (the children really were being obnoxious). After we got a chance to walk around and feed the monkeys. We also had the extreme pleasure of holding a one month old. It was the cutest thing ever and once we realized that it was a monkey and wouldn't fall and therefore we didn't need to hold it, it seemed very comfortable in our arms.

Next stop - Snake farm. WOW! Crazy stuff here. We walked in and immediately the handlers took a liking to Dave. They started following us around and when he wasn't paying attention, they would grab him behind the knee and scare the bejeezus (sp) out of him! It w as fun though. I held a python. Yes, a real python and held my composure. After we walked around, they put on a show for us. First was the 2 King Cobras. This man was nuts. He would throw his knees at them so that they would attack and trust me they did, but never got him. After, they walked him around for us to pet. Of course when they got to Dave, they pretended to have the snake jump at him, once again, causing our heart rates to increase.

Next was the jumping snake. They made a big production of trying to get the snake out of the box and next thing you know, the snake goes flying into the air, straight at Dave. By this point, it was obvious they had some sort of vendetta against Dave. Luckily though it turned out to be a piece of green string.

Finally was the python and the man was nuts. threw the snake in the water and went in after him. Crazy!

After, we decided we had had enough of wildlife for the day and headed over to Silk Village. This is where we were recommended to in order to get real Thai Silk. However, no one mentioned the incredible prices! It was interesting though, we were able to see the life cycle of a silk worm (never realized that the worms had to die for our silk) and how the women hand string the silk on the looms. Very nice. We walked around for a bit and of course were able to buy some souvenirs, but not the nice comforter ($450) we were looking for.

Back to the hotel where we stopped at a nearby restaurant and ordered non-other than Pad Thai and Pad See Ew. DELISH once again!

We headed out into the old city then to walk around town and saw some gorgeo us Wats. Check out the pics, but due to time, we won't go into each individually. Just beautiful though. Back to the hotel around 4 hours later and then off to dinner to at the night Bazaar where we split pineapple fried rice, Tom Ka Gai and Pad Thai. Delicious and wasn't scary to eat from these stalls at all. we then walked around the night bazaar and of course overloaded on souvenirs. Then we headed to a massage parlor for the best 1-hour foot massage for only 150Baht (around $5). We instantly fell in love with these. After the long night, we called it quits and headed home. Afterall, we were getting picked up at 7 am the next day for our tour to the Golden Triangle.

We woke up the next day at 5:30 and got ready and grabbed some muesli and granola with fruit down the street at a nearby breakfast place. We were picked up promptly at 7 and were stuffed into a nice AC minivan where Dave got his own seat and I was crammed in the back between a father and his daughter (why they couldn't move over so I didn't have to sit in between, I will never understand). Plus, did I mention that it was 7 am and there was already a strange odor coming from one of them? Oh well.

It was a slow start and we already had to make a bathroom break 5 minutes into the drive, but an hour later, we ended up at the Hot Springs outside of Chiang Rai (the old city). Normally, hot springs sounds like a nice relaxing place, but this one was so built up for tourists, with the water spitting out from pipes in the ground and women walking around selling eggs for you to hard-boil in the water, that all we could do was laugh.

Next stop was an hour more to the White Temple. This place was amazing! It is all wh ite with mirrors in mosaic patterns all over it. It happened to be a gorgeous day, so the whole place sparkled. The artist has been working on it for years and hopes to have it done by 2070. Now, I don't know if I would call this man a genius or ask what drugs he was smoking, but they must have been some strong stuff. You start out walking over a bridge which crosses over hands coming out of the ground to symbolize hell. Then, you walk into the main hall which looks somewhat normal with the huge Buddha and the was statue of a monk sitting in the front, however, when you turn around, there is a huge mural on the wall with modern-day depictions, i.e. the twin towers being hit, superman, the matrix... Very strange. To top it off, I have officially found the world's nicest bathroom. It has a gold roof and most people who walk by it think it's a temple and stop by to pray. Very funny.

After about an hour, we headed back into the van for another hour drive to the Golden Triangle. This is the place where Thailand, Laos and Burma all meet. Since Dave and I had already been to Laos, we decided to fore go the boat-trip and just walk around. We were able to see a huge Buddha statue as well as walk up to the top of a summit for a great view of the three countries. Very cool being that close to all three. And wonderful views.

We got back in the car and drove to the actual border crossing into Burma (we weren't actually allowed to cross). Lots of begging children and people hawking cheap wares brought in from China. We took a picture at the northernmost point of Thailand and then hopped into the van to the Messai border for our buffet lunch. This wasn't that good, so I won't even go into details.

Next stop was 1 hour away to the tribal village. This is a place where people from 5 differe nt tribes live together in one village. It's set up somewhat like a zoo for humans, however, after talking to our tour guide, she informed us that the people do this for several reasons, the major being that it brings in money for their family, is closer to free schooling from the government, and helps them in their quest to get Thai citizenship. Overall, it was very cool to see these people (the long-neck tribes were amazing). It's also very interesting to n ote that all of the cultural dress lies in that of the woman and you would never know a male tribal member by looking at him.

We headed back into the car for the 3 hour-smelly ride home. Oh well. All-in-all it was a really nice day and a very nice trip. It satisfied our curiousity about the Golden Triangle and was a relaxing, enjoyable day. We headed home and immediately left our hotel to grab dinner once again in the night market. This time we went to Ping Ping (a restaurant in the seafood stalls). Dave got Pad Thai and I got Pad Cha (seafood in a spicy sauce). Mine was really good, Daves was decent, but no worries, there will be many more Pad Thais to eat over the next few days. We decided to walk around and just look, no purchases. We came home with 5 bags.

Quick random note: Check out the clinic next to our hotel.

Chiang Mai and Loving it!

2009-07-07T21:21:00.011-04:00

Yesterday morning was a bit of a blur. Our alarm went off at 5:15 AM. Sounds early to most, but for the people of Luang Prabang, this is a daily occurrence. One of the most famous sites to see here is the giving of alms to the monks. Every morning, the monks line up and walk around the city where all of the villagers are kneeled down with bowls of sticky rice and some other treats. Each person puts a small amount of rice into each monks pot along with whatever other treats they have. This is how the monks are fed every day. It's really an amazing site to see how the community pulls together an how spiritually involved each person is. You can see here that religions isn't something you must do, but something that is part of your life and something you live. It really was a wonderful thing to see.

After, Dave and I decided to venture to the top of the mountain (hill) in the center of the city to try and see whatever we could of the Wat on top (it was only 6 and the Wat didn't o pen until 8, not to mention there weren't any monks guarding it since they were all getting their alms). Needless to say, we couldn't make it all the way to the top since we didn't have a ticket and couldn't go through the gate, but we took some great pictures of what we could see and then high-tailed it out of there before the monks got home. Back to the hotel for a nap, some internet and breakfast (great french bread for me and banana pancake that literally took 35 minutes to make on their camp-stove for Dave) and then we got into our tuk-tuk and headed to the airport. Thank goodness the travel agent told us to get there 1.5 hours early. I don't' know how we would have ever gotten through security with the whole 2 flights that were leaving that day checking in. Not to mention that we were the only flight sitting in the international terminal. To top it off, we were delayed 30 minutes too. But, minus the weird body smells on the plane, the flight was non-eventful and we made it on Laos Airlines for our second time. Actually, the airline really wasn't that bad. Small planes, but they serve food (if you dare) and drinks and the bags come out quick. So, we landed in Thailand. Ahhhhhh Thailand. Now, I have thoroughly enjoyed every place we have been on this trip. We have seen and done amazing things and experiencing all of the other cultures has been something I will always remember. However, when we stepped out of the baggage collection area and there was a Dairy Queen staring me in my face, a sort of Euphoria came over me. Not that I want to eat DQ (which I don't), but it was a feeling of comfort and normalcy which we haven't experienced in quite some time. Plus, we soon discovered after we got in our brand new pickup truck that there are actually road lanes. Yes, road lanes is what now gets us excited. And people driving on the correct side of the road (sometimes) following (sometimes) the traffic lights that are around. Plus, as we soon discovered, one of the things that Dave was apparently missing on the trip was the smell of smog in the air. We definitely got that here.

We soon got to our hotel, the Chiang Mai Thai House and was very excited. There was a beautiful pool in the front which was well maintained and a nice patio in the front for the restaurant. The people have been very friendly here as well. We were shown our room which had not yet been completely transformed into a King bed (was still 2 twins, but fixed immediately) and was pleasantly surprised to find a nice, large clean room with a bathroom which had a shower separated from the toilet by a curtain. Plus, the location was great. Halfway between the old town and the night market. Life was good and Dave was very happy. It was already 3 and even though we were eating dinner at 7:30, we were starving, so we headed down to the hotel restaurant for our first lunch of Pad Thai (there will be many more to follow). Delicious! So fresh and tasty. We were very happy. We decided to wonder around our area for a bit before we had to get ready for dinner, so we started walking and bumped into this very nice lady who gave us a ton of advice on the town and then offered to drive us around the next day. We originally said yes, but then after some discussions, we decided that we didn't want to end up like the movie "Taken" and sent the lady a nice email politely declining her invitation. We walked into the old town for a little, passing a boots and a Starbucks along the way, as well as a large market (where for once we did not purchase anything) and then headed back to get ready for the evening. We took our first Thai tuk-tuk over to the Riverside Bar and Restaurant to meet up with my friend Kristen King and her friend Heidi who also happened to be in Chiang Mai. Of course, in typical Dave and Carrie fashion, it was a huge Buddhist holiday and th is restaurant was closed. So, we waited for the 2 of them to arrive and wandered down the street to the Gallery for dinner (where Hillary Clinton has visited). This was a great restaurant where you walk through a beautiful gallery to get to the outside patio. We all ordered drinks and then got some shrimp pancakes and medium-dried beef to share. The pancakes were good, but Dave and I discovered our new favorite Thai food, dried beef. All thoughts of becoming vegetarian from our first 4 weeks of this trip have been thrown out the door. Dave and I then split some Pad See Ew (YUM!) and a coconut chicken curry with crunchy noodles which were both really good. Total, with our meals and theirs, plus 6 bottles of beer and one wine was less than $45. Not too shabby. Although our dinner companions were tired, we all decided to head over to the night market where Dave and I did a great job helping them spend their own money (sorry Kristen). This turned out great for us though since we definitely did our share of buying later in the trip. We had a great time and decided to say our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. Big day tomorrow! The next day we headed to the hotel restaurant for our breakfast of fresh Thai fruit (papaya, pineapple, banana, watermelon, dragonfruit), fresh yogurt and granola. Delicious. Then around 9, the tuk-tuk driver the hotel arranged for us arrived and we headed out for our day. We started out by spending the first 1.5 hours trying to find money. For some reason, our ATM stopped working and the bank couldn't tell us why. So, we ended up changing AMEX travelers checks which took at least 45 minutes, but no worries, we were about to head out for the greatest day ever!

Adventures in Laos

2009-07-06T10:46:00.014-04:00

So, after our evening of massages and internet, you can only imagine the appetite that we had worked up. Dave and I headed off to find somewhere to eat and ended up at a restaurant in the main street named Tum Tum Gardens (we think). Dinner was interesting. Not good, not bad, but interesting. Of course we had our sticky rice which we are slowing getting addicted to. Then we had some chicken dish with celery and some other greenish mini tomato thing, mushed together by coconut and a prawn dish that had 6 shrimps and some type of lemongrass mush on the side. Like I said, interesting. Oh, and we started with possibly the best chicken satays we've ever had.

After, we went to the Hmong night market. It's amazing over here. 9 at night and the streets are packed. We walked through aisles of stalls selling basically the same thing, t-shirts, homemade scarves, bedspreads, purses... By now, you probably already realized that we bought a few things. It was still raining and we were tired of being wet, so we headed back to the hotel that of course still had the stain on the bed. Plus, when we went to shower, we noticed a stain on the towel. Oh well, can't always live in the lap of luxury.

We woke up this morning and were anxious to begin our day. Luckily, the rain stopped right as we were waking up at the ripe time of 6:30 am. We got ready and headed into town to have breakfast and get ready for our tours today. Breakfast was at the Scandanavian bakery where I had the croissant and fruit salad and Dave had ham and cheese on a croissant. I forgot how good European pastries are!

After breakfast, the tour company put us on a tuk tuk and we headed down to the pier (basically a break in the trees along the hill to the river where we crossed over several other long boats to reach ours. We ended up on a tour with 4 Laos Ladies and an entire ecosystem. Most of the time on the boat ride found us staring at the ceiling waiting for the snail that was crawling over our head to fall on us or one of the many bugs to land on our legs. Did I mention that we had taken the slow boat and I am not exagerating. We were passed by everyone! After the 2 hour ride (it was supposed to only take an hour) we stopped at the Pak Ou caves which are caves used by the village for religious ceremonies and filled with hundreds of Buddha statues. The first cave was ok, but the second cave was extremely dark and went back 54m. Very cool, but thank goodness for the light on our camera! Along the way, Dave was terrorized by a snail that decided to move slowly back and forth right above his head.

Next stop after waiting for the lady who was 15 minutes late to get back to the boat was the whiskey village where they make Laos rice wine. Of course, we were able to find ladies sitting at their looms and we could not walk by and not help them, so we made a few purchases. We finished our boat ride back in Luang Prabang without incident from mother nature (except for some rain) and took a quick tuk-tuk back to the travel office for our next tour. Luckily, we had 10 minutes to spare (becuase our boat was so slow) and we grabbed some crepes for lunch. Nutella for Dave, peanut butter and fruit for me. YUM!

Next stop was on a crowded minibus to the Kuasi Falls. We were left off in a small village and walked up the path to some amazing falls. High, but not huge, however, the power was amazing. Probably becuase of all the recent rain since there were picnic benches being covered in the flow. We decided to follow the young, barefoot backpackers up a steep slope to go check out the top of the waterfall. Not only was it steep, it was wet and slippery and was the first time I have realized I am no longer a young student who can do these things gracefully anymore. Going up was fine and the view was beautiful from the top (probably even more beautiful if you're willing to go to the edge, which Dave and I were not. But the climb down was another story. We did it well, but very slow and let every group pass us so as to not slow them down. But we made it and I didn't have any help and felt very proud of myself, as well as wet and smelly!

(author change) Back at the bottom of the hill we took a left and headed to the bear rescue center. There were a bunch of bears- Asian bears are much skinnier than the bears we have at home. These were very playful and seemed happy.

Back in the van and on our way home. We stopped at our hotel and headed to dinner at a place called The Pizza. I had pizza (not a fan of Laotian food) and Carrie ate yellow curry and sticky rice. Both were good (I enjoyed a bit of the curry). We walked home thru the market and bought more things- some gifts and some self-gifts. Then, off to bed- monks in the morning!

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head...

2009-07-05T08:17:00.017-04:00

Its raining, its pouring, Dave and Carrie are walking around Laos thankful their plane didn't crash (knock on wood). I can't believe my wife got me on a friggin propeller plane. Run by Laos airlines. Seriously. The two Tiger beers I drank did not calm my nerves. The delay in the airport did not calm my nerves. The turbulence did not. Flying at only 18,000 feet did not. Landing did. But, reading an article today how Laos airlines contracts with Air France for maintence help and a Chinese airline owning 60% of them is a bit calming. After our flight on Tuesday to Chang Mai, I will be nice and relaxed.

When we landed we went thru customs very easily- $36 for a visa ($1 more for them working on the weekend). Then we went to find our driver from our guest house but ended up with a taxi for 50,000 Kip (8,500 kip = $1). We arrived at Merry Guest House #1 and I am reasonably sure they had no idea we were coming. There was no one at the front desk and we finally found someone in the first room to check us in- while they were wearing their pajamas. Of course, she was wearing PJs for most of the day today, so maybe that was her clothes. We went to our room, and found it to be a 5/10. There was an incredibly musty smell in the bathroom (moved the room air freshener in there). And there is/hopefully was a very gross stain on the mattress cover under the sheets. Sleep sacks for the evening!

Morning was sleeping in - a bit lazy- cause it has been pouring all day long. We went down and tried to get breakfast, but the lady at the desk (same lady) didn't understand a word we were saying. Eventually we played charades and got a menu. Bread and jam- what fun. Tomorrow we will be more adventurous and get some banana pancakes. We also spoke to some fellow travellers - Dan, from America and his wife Morina (Italian) who live in Dubai and another Aussie. Fortunately, it was early enough that this Aussie didn't make us drink. Oh- and that cat. He literaly jumped up on my lap in the middle of my meal. Assuming I didn't get fleas, he was very cute.

After breakfast we walked around town, looking at temples, rain, and the MeKong River. Very very wet. Very pretty though. Lots of green everywhere and many old Wats (temples) covered in gold pictures. We at lunch at The Coconut Room and had Green Curry with Veggies, Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger, and of course, spring rolls. Very good spring rolls, and depending on which of us you ask the rest was either good or great. Oh- and the sticky rice was mysteriously sticky. Post lunch found us buying air tix out of here, and looking for tours.

We filled up our afternoon with a quick trip to the hotel (not so quick) and some replacement headphones for the pair I lost on the flight across the Pacific. Before our massages we got coffee at Cafe de Artes coffee house. Carrie and I also had a chocolate croissant and cinnamon almond roll. The massages- 60 min for 40000 Kip- were full body pressure point type massages. Definitley the best we have had. We tipped probably way too generously, but the difference between 20% and the 88% we gave was like $3 USD. And there were 2 girls that probably get paid terribly, so I did my good deed for the day (emphasis on I, since someone is angry at my frivolous spending). Regardless, it was a great way to spend an hour. Then we came here. So now you know what we know. Not a ton of pics for this blog, since they have been uploading for 30 min now. Peace.

***In fact, the pictures were uploading for 60 min to no avail, so you get nothing. NOTHING! We will add them as soon as possible***

Vietnam - General Impressions by Carrie

2009-07-04T04:05:00.004-04:00

So, after what seemed like it would be a long 2 weeks, time has flown by and we're about ready to leave Vietnam. Coming here, I knew I would find it interesting and would really enjoy this country, but no way did I realize how much I would fall in love with it here. Some of my thoughts:

1)The people are extremely nice (people talked to us much more in the South, but our hotel staff in Hanoi were amazing).
2)The country side is beautiful. Miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) of rice paddies, cows grazing, water buffalo by the side of the road...
3) The people in Vietnam work extremely hard. I don't think I'd ever be able to do what they do. Women carrying pots of soup and souvenirs to sell from morning until after the sun has set. People in the farm all day in this extreme heat. Hotel staff up before you come for breakfast and still there when you go to bed at night.
4)Too many people ride one motorcycle at a time here. We have seen 3 and 4 people on one. And then you have the person who is making a delivery with packages strapped all over the bike, including in their lap.
5) Everyone is in a hurry to go somewhere here, but I'm not sure where they're going. On the planes, people would push past us to get to their seat, but they were flying on the same plane as us, so we could never figure out what the hurry was.
6) People here do not sweat. We would be dying, shirts soaked, weak as can be and people would walk by us on the street in jeans, a sweater and a hat without a bead of sweat anywhere.
7) People must love to shop here. There are way too many stores to only be supported by tourists.
8) The Vietnam people are definitely invested in the future. University is extremely important to the youth and it's obvious how much pride the people take in their family members studies as well as their own. Our hotel hostess this morning was so tense over her little sister taking the University entrance exam today. It was very sweet to be.
9) Babies do not always wear diapers here. And many times the mothers can tell when the baby has to go to the bathroom (not sure how this is done). For example, the woman squatting last night on the night market on the side of the road last night with her little baby boy aiming (if you know what I mean) at the street where a mass of people were walking by, while the baby went to the bathroom straight into the road right behind my leg (and I stress the word right).
10) The people here are extremely into fitness. In many plazas, you will see group aerobics going on. Plus, they do not eat a lot of sweets from what we can tell, but a lot of fruit. The food is terrific and not greasy at all (with the exception of all the fried spring rolls we have ordered).
11) People here love Obama. His face is on t-shirts everywhere.
12) Motorbikes can go anywhere. Seriously, they do not believe in streets and most often, if there is a sidewalk, they are driving on it.
13) To add to that, there are no street rules here, but the drivers are great. No such thing as lanes and barely any traffic signals, but somehow they make it work.
14) A two week trip of Vietnam is not nearly enough. There are so many other places here I want to see and experience. We are definitely in need of another trip here some day in the future.

Vietnam- General Impressions and Random Thoughts by Dave

2009-07-04T04:00:00.000-04:00

We are taking a moment to reflect...

Vietnam was good. Way better than Cambodia, although I think the Cambodian people were more friendly. Or maybe they just were more bored. Or needed our money more. Here the people that talk to you are very nice, but not like in Cambodia. The streets are much cleaner (although you would find them dirty if you never went to Cambodia). I would say that the entire country could use some paint. But it really is a nice place.

To rank where we've been- 1) Hoi An 2) Saigon 3) Can Tho 4) Chau Doc 5) Hanoi. Hanoi had the best hotel that we've stayed in, but Hoi An and Saigon were nice too. Hoi An was fun cause we bought stuff indiscriminately. Saigon was way more interesting a city than Hanoi, and it was real easy to eat there.

If you've read my posts at all, I am certainly ready to come home. I miss my dog, my bed, my clothes, tap water, credit cards, clean streets, lack of perspiration.... But besides that, Vietnam has been pretty good. I'm sure Carrie is typing that she wants to move here (hell, she wanted to move to Cambodia to teach English for a year), but I think the most I would come back for is a holiday in Hoi An or the like. I won't be taking such a long trip probably ever again, but maybe a 2 week vacation or something. If only I can be so blessed to take vacations in Vietnam for 2 weeks.

The food has probably been the biggest difference between expectations and reality. It is all good, but not like Thai food. I found myself eating a lot of Western Food just because I wasn't craving Vietnamese. Doubtful that will happen in Thailand- as much Tom Ka Ga and Pad Thai and Pad Se Ew as I can eat.

Oh- and the whole country loves brand names. Fake Lacoste, Dolce and Gabana, Nike, Puma, etc everywhere! I wonder if a real Lacoste store would do well here.

Not much else. 2.5 more weeks. It will be a relief to get home and relax for most of August (besides the economics, accounting, etc that I need to start reading).

Off to Laos...!

Halong Bay

2009-07-03T21:43:00.013-04:00

Back on the internet! Just spent two days at a UNESCO world heritage site- Halong Bay. Google just told me that means that Halong Bay gets prestige and awareness as a site to protect for future generations to enjoy, and can be eligible for financial assistance. That is today's educational lesson.

Our bus picked us up at 8:15am (after we enjoyed some chicken pho for breakfast- that is a sort-of spicy chicken noodle soup for you unindoctrinated folk, and, for as much as we've tried to avoid eating street food, we just found out it's made at some lady's stand down the street and is the best we've had). We piled in the bus and found ourselves with some other travelers- a son and parents from Malaysia, Dave, Sandy and Gail from NYC (Dave lives in Hong Kong), and we picked up four British Doctors that just worked in New Zealand for a year (Fiona, Jane, Ellie, Tory). As you can see, we didn't talk to the Malaysians very much, but the rest of us turned out to be a very fun group.

We sat on the van-bus for 3 hours, eventually ending up in Halong Bay. We had one stop at a crafts place where we were tempted to buy, but did not since a) we have no more money and b) we might want some souvenirs in our house from Thailand as well. But, at the bay we loaded up on to our shuttle boat to take us to the cruising boat. We had heard horror stories of dilapidated boats and rats on board (if you get the cheap tours), so we went with the more expensive tour - Baitulong travels on the White Dolphin. And we were not disappointed- the White Dolphin was a very nice ship! You should have heard the British girls shout in delight when they saw there rooms- I can only imagine what types of places they were staying in before. It was a very nice room, although the shower was dimly lit and the AC wasn't cooking enough for us (but when it is this hot and you are out all day, it is never cooking enough!

Our first activity was waiting for lunch. 30 minutes after we went on board, we sat for an 8 course lunch. It started with a very traditional Vietnamese food- French Fries! No problem, Carrie had been craving them for the last 10 days. Then, in no particular order, we had clams, crab, fried fish, and a seafood salad with rice. Fruit for dessert (and maybe one or two more dishes- as with any cruise, they fed us till we dropped).

After lunch came the exploration of the Amazing Cave that was used as a film set in James Bond- Tomorrow Never Dies. Quite beautiful! Definitely inspired us (me at least) to go find some caving expedition when we are up on Boston. Outside the cave was a floating village that people live on year-round. They even have a floating bank!

After the cave, we got back to the White Dolphin for swimming and kayaking. Most of us went kayaking to another part of the bay that was used for the movie. Inside that little cove, everyone jumped out of their kayaks to go swimming. Why not? What danger could there be? Little did we know that there was a jellyfish lurking under the water with a hunger for my ankle. When it grabbed me, you've never seen me move so fast back into my kayak. I nearly flew out of the water. I guess it didn't grab me to bad, since my leg just got red under my calf, and it tingled/hurt quite a bit. But after a nap and some insect bite lotion (forgot our benadryl) and some beers, the leg didn't hurt at all!

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on the boat, enjoying the scenery, sun, and water. Lots of people dove off the boat into the water (neither of us did). We also discovered the secret to saving money in Halong Bay. The drinks from the boat cost upwards from $2 for a small bottle of water- a far cry from the $0.40 we spent in Hanoi. But, the floating village residents use their entrepreneurial instincts and load up little row boats filled with snacks, cold water, wine and cold beer. Of course, they cost more than in Hanoi, but significantly less than the boat. Carrie got us a bottle of wine, and I got Pringles, Oreos, and some Gold Beer.

About this time, we picked up two people from Australia. They were on a 2 night cruise, as opposed to our 1 night, and had been deposited on a different boat that morning, with a plan to return to our boat (their original boat) in the afternoon. Since we were the only other couple on the boat, Lindsey and Darren became our dining buddies. Lindsey is actually American, but had been living in Australia for the last 7 years. It was fun to listen to her Australian accent go in and out. Darren would later present himself as the instigator of our midnight boat diving adventure.

Dinner was with Lindsey and Darren, and similar food. Shrimp (head on), noodles, fish and crab cakes. Good, but we didn't take as many pics since we had company.

After dinner was just drinks and hanging out, and the aforementioned diving off the boat. I overcame a my old fear of heights, and my new fear of jelly fish and jumped as well. It hurt quite a bit landing, but the fall itself was fun. Carrie amused herself mostly by laughing at me. After Ha (our tour guide) came up and told us we couldn't dive anymore (little did we know that our dives took us right past the sleeping Malaysians windows) we headed off to bed.

We woke at 7:30, and found some people already lounging and enjoying the post-sunrise sun. Some (Darren and other Dave aka Disco Dave) didn't join us until 10ish, do to the additional activities of the night before, but we won't go into those (let's just say 2 bottles of wine, bottle of tequila and 2 bottles of Vodka for 11 people). But it was a very relaxing morning in the Bay with both a full breakfast and lunch. We got back on the van-bus and headed back to Hanoi. It was a long trip on a bouncy bus with a stop at another touristy place. Carrie and I got ice cream cones that tasted like they had been frozen 5-10 years ago.

Back in Hanoi we were exhausted, but we had to head out to FedEx to send our clothes from Hoi An home. We had heard that the Vietnamese Post Office was quite difficult to use, and we didn't quite trust them, but fortunately there was DHL, UPS, and FedEx all on the same block. We carried our 25.5 kg of clothes to each one and asked them a price for the US. When that came back as $400, we decided to send them to Chris's in Singapore. Much cheaper ($173 at FedEx). We will be picking them up and checking them thru on our way back home. And if anyone from FedEx reads this- it is really ridiculous that you don't take credit cards in Hanoi. And if anyone reads this at VietBank, it is really ridiculous that you have never seen a duel signature travelers check, but I appreciate the tellers patience as I explained to her why my signature didn't match Carrie's.

We headed back to the hotel for a shower and Carrie got to watch the end of a movie that she fell asleep during the other night (The One with Jet Li and Jason Stathom. Really really bad). Then we walked out to get some eats. The thing with Hanoi is, it is really hard to eat. There are a million places that you can eat from someone cooking on the curb, but if you want an actual restaurant, you better be prepared to walk, or know where you are going in advance. Eventually we found a place called Gecko. I didn't get Vietnamese besides my spring rolls, choosing an average Hawaiian Pizza instead. I like Vietnamese, but I don't really crave it (can't wait for Thai tho). Carrie got a traditional dish, Cha Ca- more or less Vietnamese grilled fish fajitas but with rice paper instead of tortillas. It was really good, and might be our lunch today.

After dinner we went to the night market. The night market is pretty cheap and a good place to go for some cheap souvenirs, but of course, we already bought most of what we needed. So we walked around, sweated alot, and headed home. Carrie fell asleep in the middle of Ocean's 13, but I made it thru.

Breakfast this morning was Pho, and Carrie is currently getting her nails done for $2 at our hotel. They actually clean the tools, so why not. Today should be a lazy walk around day, and then check out and head to Luang Prabang in Laos. The next time you hear from us we will be at the Merry Guest House!

Hanoi, Oh boy!

2009-07-01T09:57:00.009-04:00

So, today was our first full day in Hanoi and our first day in the old "North Vietnam". Last night was pretty unproductive after we arrived. We asked the hotel for the name of a good, reasonable restaurant nearby and ended up at Green Mango. Don't get me wrong, the food was great, ambiance wonderful and lots of airconditioning, however, reasonable price it was not. We ended up spending around $20 for Singaporean chicken and pesto fetticini with prawns which doesn't seem bad, but when you can go and spend $5 for a full meal, it's a little pricey.

We got back to the hotel and started realizing what an amazing place this is. It's called the Hanoi Boutique and Dave happened to randomly find it online. We were able to get an air-conditioned room for $25 a night. When we first got here, we were greeted by the front desk, offered a seat and they brought over a fresh plate of fruit for us and water. There is also free internet and whenever we are down here, someone brings us a glass of water, comes to talk to us, and we were just given huge pieces of dragon fruit to eat. Very friendly place where they speak English and help with Tours. Our room is brand new, clean with a separate shower and toilet, A/C and hardwood floors. It's a little loud because it's in the front of the building, but hey, we're in the city. We love it here!

Anyways, back to today. We started out our day with of course, eggs, bacon and bread. Very good though. We were greeted at 9 by our tour guides from Hanoi Kids (www.hanoikidsclub.org) Tree and Hai (sorry about the spelling). It's a program run by Hanoi students wanting to practice their English who give free tours to visitors. It was a great experience for us to be able to talk to them and ask questions about living in Vietnam. Hopefully though I didn't speak too fast for them.

We started out at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. There are a ton of rules for this place. No bags, no cameras, no sunglasses on your head, no hands in your pockets, no talking... You wait in a long line and then are shuffled through a huge marble museum, past Ho Chi Minh's body. It's a little crazy to see. It looks like he is sleeping. You just feel bad looking at this man, who wanted to be cremated, laying in a box for the entire world to come and view. Definitely a little unnerving.

Afterward, we walked by a beautiful French building which was offered up to Ho Chi Minh, but he rejected to live in a smaller habitat. Of course the original was closed, but we were able to see the stilt house he lived the rest of his life in and the smaller house he died in. Very simple. It was set in a beautiful landscape with a large fishpond and was extremely crowded!! We decided to forego the museum as we were a little museum'ed out. After we stopped by the One Pillar Pagoda which was built by a king and dedicated to Buddha for giving him a son. We were able to see many people praying as this was the first day of the lunar month.

Next stop was the Temple of literaturewhich is the oldest University in Vietnam. It is a beautiful complex with many buildings and statues of the old teachers. There are also 88 turtles which it is good luck for students if they rub all their heads. Since tomorrow is the huge country exam, many students were trying to make it by security to get their fill of luck.

Fact break: Today marks a big day for Vietnam for 2 reasons. First, although all adults are required to wear helmets, beginning today, all children under the age of 14 are required to as well (you would have thought this would be the opposite). Secondly, today marks the first day that the Vietnamese government is charging income tax on their people, although according to our guide in the Mekong, they are not sure what the money will be used for.

Ok, back to our day. Off we went to lunch which was the same as the place we had eaten in Ho Chi Minh. Only this time we had Tree and Hai to help us order. Our meal was great! Chicken wings (of course), buns filled with pork which were delicious, papaya salad with sun-dried beef, and noodles with a soup with grilled pork balls (also amazing!). We had a great lunch and then were back to the hotel to say our goodbyes.

After lunch, we rested for a bit and then headed out to the Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton by the US pilots which were held here (including John McCain). This was originally built by the French to hold political prisoners and there were lots of pictures about how they were tortured. Most of it was raised, but a portion remains for the museum. There are also several rooms which show how humane the pilots were treated, basically calling it a home away from home. See the picture of the yellow paper showing the rules of the prison. We saw the uniform that Senator McCain was captured in as well as many pictures of their "great life" in Prison. Very interesting to see, once again, their point of view.

A quick stop was needed at Fanny's, a Vietnamese ice cream shop, where I tried chocolate chili (really interesting) and Dave had dark chocolate and salted caramel (also very good).

Quick stop back at the hotel to shower and then we were off to the Water Puppet Show. This art form was created in the mekong so that they could continue their puppet shows during the annual floods. There was a traditional Vietnamese band and although we couldn't understand a word they were saying, it ws very amusing the watch the puppets in the water and figure out our own story. Definitely a very interesting site when visiting here.

After, we took our first bike tuk-tuk ride to Hanoi Garden for dinner. This restaurant has a mix of Vietnamese/Chinese food. I got sweet corn and crab soup and Dave got Sweet Corn and Chicken soup. Then we split Chicken with garlic and chilis (absolutely delicious chinese-type meal) and then chicken fried rice. Dave had a beer and I had a glass of house wine. All for the low cost of $17.50. Love it!

Now we're here and heading off to bed. We're taking an overnight boat tomorrow through Halong Bay and we need to pack our overnight bags.

Oh, and the end of today marks our half-way point. Crazy! We have really enjoyed Vietnam and will talk more about it on our last day of blogging here. But seriously, what a beautiful, amazing country filled with the nicest people!

**Dave note** We also only have 3 more days to avoid eating DOG. Cody- we are looking out for your cousins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A quick catch-up on the last 4 days...

2009-06-29T09:10:00.019-04:00

Ok, this maybe the quickest post ever. I haven't stopped sweating for the last 4 hours, and I believe that my perspiration is scaring people in the internet cafe.

Last we spoke (disregarding our plea for fiscal responsibility), we were in Hanoi. We woke up on our last day ready to shop for cheap souvenirs. Our first stop was the Chinese market- a place that we were told was better priced than the normal tourist market. Of course, it was better priced- but only because it was a bunch of junk, and partially looked like a wholesale market. We walked around a bit, and then hopped back in a cab and headed to the market near our hotel. Our trip for cheap souvenirs cost us $10 in cab fair. Oops.

At the better market, we spent some money. This was the market that we told you had clothing shops with ladies that literally held on to you and wouldn't let you go. We avoided this aisle until the end when I bought 3 shirts (and used my awesome negotiation skills. Carrie and I really make a great team- one of us inquires, and the other makes faces at the price they say until they lower it. We were able to go from $35 a shirt to 3 shirts for $30). As soon as we walked out of that shirt place, I hurried out of the aisle, but Carrie was held back by 5 women grabbing her. Every (wo)man for him/herself!

We bought other trinkets- purses, watches, placemats. Can't remember everything now, since we are currently carrying more souveniers than clothes. We stopped for lunch at a Pho place- it was my first experience and it was awesome! It was around the corner from our house and named Pho Bo. There are tables and chairs on the street and you can watch them prepare the Pho. It was delicious and we both discovered our new love for chili sauce. Then we headed back to the hotel to shower and buy a coconut pancake that Carrie had her eye on for the last 3 days. It was definitely worth it too! Then, we walked back to catch a cab to the airport. A few hours later we were on a plane to Danang Airport, 30 min from Hoi An. If you every travel to Saigon Airport, bring ear plugs so you don't have to listent to the constant announcements over the PA. Literally the entire 2 hours we were in the airport. Plane ride was pretty uneventful. We were really tired, so we were looking forward to sleeping on the plane. Of course, Carrie ended up in a middle seat next to a woman and her little boy. He quickly became attached to Carrie and did not stop trying to hold her hand/arm the entire flight. Needless to say, there was little sleeping for Carrie, but of course, Dave did well.

The landing was beautiful. Hoi An is surrounded by mountains and the landscape was just green rolling mountains. Gorgeous!

When we arrived at Danang, we caught a cab to Hoi An. The Lonely Planet said we would spend $10. Ours cost $20. And he was slow. We got passed by ever scooter. And the drivers honk here whenever they pass anyone. Our driver just honked randomly. After more than an hour, we arrived at the hotel we hoped to stay in- Pho Hoi Riverside. We were recommended it by someone that we ran into, and asked at the frontdesk if they had vacancy. They did, and Carrie even deftly negotiated us an upgrade and a discount($40 from $60 with a riverview!). Solid!

The rest of Hoi An is a bit of a blur. There are tailor shops everywhere. Shoe shops everywhere. Silk shops everywhere. I don't know what they would do if tourists stopped coming here (tourists are everywhere).

Of course our first stop was to Yaly, a well-known tailor in the city. We came with a purpose, to buy Dave some nice work suits. We are leaving with so much more.

Anyway, it's a really interesting process. You walk in and they ask you what you're interested in and then they put piles and piles and piles of catalogs in front of you. Once you pick what you want, you start going through piles and piles and piles of fabrics. The store is huge and it looks like they have many more options then the others we've seen. Anyways, after you pick out material, you then get measured. They honestly take over 20 measurements which is why it comes out so nice I guess. They then ask you how long, where should pockets be, do you even want pockets... Total took us over 2 hours. Crazy. Since our first meeting, we had been back for 5 different fittings. But the clothes are amazing! We now have 2 huge plastic bags full of clothes with us (whereas everyone else was walking out with 1 shirt, a dress...) Add to that my custom made jeans (from Nam Ngai) we were able to negotiate down from $40 a pair to 2 for $20. However, after this visit, it made it very evident why it was worth paying more at Yaly. The service was 100% better and our consultants Marina and Alice were great! We also got a beautiful hand-painted piece of artwork from a nice woman we kept passing (Xang Thanh at 42 Mgiuem Thai Hoc Street).

There is a beach that we haven't made it too- hoping to tomorrow(We didn't) . A couple visits to our pool cooled us off, but it is so hot right now!

A quick rundown of our meals (really quick since I just finished typing this up and then it all got erased). The first night we stopped at a little place on the corner and Dave had fried shrimp with lemongrass and garlic. I had grilled shrimp you dip in a mixture of lime/pepper and salt and then coconut milk. Delicious. Got an invite from our waitress to go to dinner at her house, but never ended up going through.

Day 2 - breakfast was eggs and bread and fruit as well as fried rice, fried noodles, pho and spaghetti with sauce? Lunch was at a street eatery consisiting of picnic tables with woman at the end cooking in littlepots. We had fried spring rolls (they're amazing here) Dave had Pho and I had Cau Lau (Hoi An specialty of noodles, chicken, veggies and wontons). That plus 2 bottles of water for less than $5. Go us. Dinner was at Restaurant 96 right on the water. Dave had fried noodles with chicken (fried here for noodles is the equivalent of sauteed for us) and I had chicken with cashew nuts. Delicous!

Day 3 - Lunch was a random stop where it turned out the restuarant had just opened that day and we were the 2nd customers. It is similar to Friends in Cambodia in that they help street kids in Vietnam, get them schooling,housing and training to work in the restuarant. Our lunch was great. Dave had chicken with noodles and I branched out and tried the p apaya salad with sun-dried beef and chilis. it was so good, but towards the end, the chili strips definitely starting getting the better of me and Dave had to finish mine off. The place was called Duong Pho (www.streetsinternational.org) and was delicious, clean and well-serviced.

Dinner was break time again. We went to Good Morning Vietnam which is an Italian owned/chefed restaurant. We had spaghetti carbonara and a hawaiian pizza and were extremely satisfied. Delicious!

That brought us to the internet last night. We had been out all day since 9:30 that morning and were hot, tired, developing heat rashes on our necks and could not stop sweating. We started feeling extremely sick, so we had to head home around 10 and take a dip in the pool. Therefore, this blog was completed and edited this morning when we were clean and sweat-free (as much as possible for Vietnam because it is HOT here!)

Back to the pool for a bit and then we head off to Hanoi. Last stop in Vietnam!

The Emperors' New Clothes

2009-06-27T11:51:00.003-04:00

No long post yet, but we just spent some serious coin on some hand-made tailored clothes. 2 suits, 3 jackets, 2 sportcoats, 3 shirts for me. 2 suits, 2 jackets, 2 dresses, 2 pants, and 2 shirts for Carrie. Serious cash, but way cheap compared to home. And too much fun. And too much time left in Hoi An to spend money on custom shoes, jeans, etc.

Now accepting donations.

HELP!

War Day

2009-06-26T05:58:00.009-04:00

Today was our first Vietnam War day. It started with eggs and bread. I am already sick of eggs and bread.

Then we got on a large van with some Swiss, French, Brits, Maylasians, and our Vietnamese driver and tour guide. Off to the Cu Chi tunnels we go.

But this tour included a stop we were unaware of. We stopped at a factory that employed the disabled to make various arts and crafts. Many of the workers were disabled as a result of the war- either Agent Orange's lingering affects, or unexploded landmines/ordinance, etc. While that is sad, the products they made were spectacular. They were designed using either mother of pearl, egg shell, or paint. We were able to watch them break pieces of the egg shell off and lay each one individually to create a design. Really top notch stuff. In fact, you can see 2 items from there if you ever come to Boston to visit us.

The Cu Chi tunnels were the tunnels used by the North Vietnamese when they operated right outside of Saigon. There were over 250 km of tunnels. They started building them when they were fighting the French right after WWII, and expanded during the Vietnam War. One of the most interesting notes from the day was that they actually call it The Vietnam War. Strange right? You'd think most of the wars they've ever had would be the Vietnam War.

So we saw lots of interesting things- a tunnel entrance the original size, one expanded a bit for 'larger Western people.' See the picture of Carrie in the small tunnel entrance? If you can believe it, this is the expanded entrance. Imagine how smallt he actual ones were! We saw how they made weapons (from unexploded US ordinance), and tasted the tapioca that they survived on. We also both went thru the tunnels. Now, these tunnels were expanded for us larger folks, but I have no idea how they survived down there. Hot and dark. And bugs and bats (thank goodness we didn't find out there was a scorpion in the first tunnel until we were finished!). The first tunnel I led, and got a bit claustrophobic. The second time I was last, and when Carrie was in certain positions I couldn't see anything- pitch black. 17 years in the tunnels. No, Thank You.

Perhaps the most fun part was the AK-47 that I got to shoot. Real live bullets ($15 for 10). I split with the Malaysian guy and we each fired 5. I haven't shot a gun since the .22 rifle at Camp Airy long ago. I didn't hit anything (I was actually ok back in the day), but Carrie said "But Dave, you got close." She'll certainly be a good mother someday with encouragement like that. Of course, I was too scared to really aim, since I didn't feel like getting an AK-47 black eye to carry around for the next two weeks.

We also saw a US tank that was exploded on a landmine (sad since you realize that our US soliders most likely died in that tank), and several booby trap type devices. It was weird to hear the video say that "The bombs were dropped by the devils in Washington DC."

Back on the bus for 1 hour, and we were dropped off outside the War Remnants Museum. But first, you know our priorities- lunchtime! With no idea where we were, and no restaurants close by, we took out the Lonely Planet and aimed for a place that was no longer there. So we settled on the closest thing, didn't look at the menu, and had what would be considered an expensive lunch in Vietnam- $15 + tip. Carrie had water, and I had Diet Coke- but first the waitress somehow thought I said Tiger beer (even though I pointed on the menu) and then when I corrected her, she brought a Corona. Shrimp Spring rolls (gourmet style), Crab Vermicelli for Carrie, and Yellow Noodles with Seafood for me. Carrie's flavor was not what she was expecting there wasn't much crab), and mine had octopus (have tried but don't like) and other unidentified sea creatures in it. But at least mine tasted great! A little splitting definitely occurred!

The War Remnants museum was a great museum. As we've mentioned, it is so interesting to see how the other side views the war. The first part of the exhibit is outside- captured US war machines. Tanks, planes, Hueys and more. Then inside, it was mostly photographs of the war. The first thing we saw a sign that had part of the US Declaration of Independence on it. Then we saw lots of moving photographs. There were lots of sad ones of the affects of Agent Orange- it is terrible how that chemical affected not just those in the war, but their offspring as well. We saw two photos that I posted here- one of US soldiers waterboarding a prisoner, and another of a US soldier holding up part of a Vietnamese corpse. Not fun for this blog- but stuff people should see. I will note that this was obviously a Vietnamese museum. I believe that we do a good job remembering out own atrocities. Here, it was very clear. USA = bad. NV = good. We were shown a video at the Cu Chi tunnels that celebrated a young girl as a soldier, and at the museum we were blamed for the killing of women and children. Obviously awful things happened, but that example illustrates the attitude of the museum. What is really amazing is how many Vietnamese have told us that that is history now. No problem- friends. They are just interested in making money and having a good life.

After the WRM, we grabbed a taxi (van, not bike) and headed here to get an earlier flight to Hoi An. It cost $35, but we hear there are beaches. Should be nice to get tailored clothes and sit for a few days. Hopefully there won't be much to blog about, but I'm sure Carrie will find something for us to do do...

Walkin' Around

2009-06-25T11:20:00.010-04:00

This morning was a late start for once. Alarm set for 8:30 with no strict plans (of course tomorrow we will be on a bus by 8:30- groan!). Breakfast was (suspensful drum roll)... ... ... bread and fried eggs. Who woulda thunk it? Plus pineapple juice and coffee. And one banana. Take that, Cheerios!

Mr. Lonely Planet was nice enough to give us a one day walking tour of Saigon. We started by getting lost. We walked down a couple of busy streets, and had to tell every single motorbike driver that we did not need a ride. They responded with "Where are you from" and then got us stuck in a converstation that ended with "Why don't you ride for just 1 hour. I'll take you every where. War Remnants Museum..." By the third guy, we just put up our hand and responded with a "No" to everything they said. Survival Skills.

Our first stop was the Ben Thanh Market. This was initial the most vial shopping experience ever. We walked down a clothing aisle. Should be harmless right? Every stall owner, as we approached would jump up and shout "What do you want. You buy? You buy!" It literally looked like they were doing the wave as we walked. A few grabbed our arms and we had to pull just to get away. I walked out immediately, and Carrie followed, but asked "Thats it? We're leaving?" I said that I didn't want to be pulled apart, and definitely wasn't going to buy anything because I didn't want to carry it all day. She talked me back in- to another section which was less invasive than the clothing guys. Shortly after, back on the tour...

After that we had to cross a traffic circle. Crazy. You know what we are talking about if you've been reading this blog, but this is what we've seen on steriods and HGH. Hardcore. We made it across to look at a statue in the center, and then finished the other part of the circle. No problem for us, but we crossed the second time with a Japanese woman who was terrified, and looked like she might freeze in the middle. I gave her some encouragement, and she made it. Lots of giggles on the other side.

We walked down a few side streets, and walked thru a street market (feels like every other one), and saw the Municipal Theater which was closed. Then we saw a couple of famous hotels and stopped for lunch at Quan An Ngon. It was actually a really nice resturant (we haven't eaten in a nice nice place since Singapore). Carrie had some sort of Noodle Soup with pork and shrimp and rice cake, and I had Beef with Chili Salt and Seasoned Toast. My papaya shake was much better than Carrie's Aquafina. All for less than $10.

After lunch we were way overcharged for 2 bottle of water on the street, and walked to the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City. Bo-ring. They had one room dedicated to economic growth graphs. Some cool exhibits were the tanks and jets on the front lawn, and a creepy bomb shelter underneath. Certainly worth the $1 admission, but only a quick walk-thru was necessary.

On to the Reunification Palace. It was the home of the South Vietnamese Gov't until the N. Vietnamese rolled thru the gates with tanks. This wasn't that exciting, but the 10 minutes of a video and the history of the palace exhibit were cool. You can definitely tell that the history was being written by the Vietnamese when they refer to battles and atrocities committed during the Vietnam War (and they certainly don't call it the Vietnam War).

Across the street was the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon (not like the one in France, but ok), and the Post Office, known for its architecture. That brought us to our last stop- the Jade Emporer Pagoda. Carrie was very excited for this, since we missed the Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh. But this was not quite impressive. It defiitely needs maintance but the wood carvings inside were very intricate. The live fish eating the dead fish in the pond out front was also fun to watch.

But, the Pagoda was a long way away for home, so we cabbed it home. No motorbikes (safety precaution). But it is hard to flag a car and not get motorbikes chasing you, so we almost got killed anyway chasing the mini-van down.

Then we grabbed our books from our room, and got a coffee at the cafe nearby. Then we got massages (foot for 1 hour). We tipped 25%, were asked for more, paid more, and ended up paying $8 a massage rather than $7.50. Its hard to figure how much to tip when 15% equals $0.50. Carrie already wants to go back.

Grabbed our laundry ($4 to get it done), chased down our missing pants and returned the bra of unknown origin, and went off to Indian food (forgot to take pictures). Butter chicken and chicken biryani with garlic naan and roti. Quite good.

Thats it. Rubins out.

Happy Birthday Liz!

2009-06-24T23:24:00.003-04:00

We just wanted to wish Liz, our favorite sister and Sister-in-Law a wonderful and Happy Birthday (over here at least!). We hope you have a great day! We love you!

Love,

Carrie and Dave and Cody (woof!!!!)

Hot.

2009-06-24T10:14:00.014-04:00

So last we left you in the Mekong Delta in the border town Chau Doc. After the rain, we returned to the hotel for a quick nap (it is extremely hot here and exhausting!). When we woke up, we had plans to go to Sam Mountain, a hill around 7 km away which is lined with pagodas the whole way up and has beautiful views of the country and Cambodia. Well, we didn't realize, but the only way to get there is by Motorbike. Yes, you heard me right, Motorbike. First they suggested we rent one for the 2 of us and go on our own. NOT HAPPENING! Next idea, get 2 bikes and each of us ride on the back of one. Now, I won't lie, the drive through the country was pretty, but by the time we got to the top of the windy hill, our knuckles were white and we were barely breathing!

Here is a riddle for you. How does one do the famous Dave Rubin Dashboard handbrake... when there is no dashboard and those hands are white-knuckle grabbing the backend of a motorbike. ANSWER: Avoid the instinct to flail your arms in panic (thus causing the horrific accident you are worried about). Instead, use a more personal touch- the previously undiscovered Dave Rubin Innerthigh Brake. This involves squeezing, with some amount of force, the buttocks of the unsuspecting 40-ish Vietnamese driver in an effort to make him slow down. Past experience has shown that this often makes him speed up, but it is better than flailing your arms.

Quick interjection: There are NO driving laws in Vietnam. Seriously, people pass each other everywhere, they'll drive on the shoulders, pass into oncoming traffic (and honk their horns at the people coming towards him). This fact made this experience even more terrifying!

Ok, back to story. The visit was definitely worth it. The view was amazing. We couldn't see the sunset becuase of the rain, but we were able to see miles and miles of rice paddies. Absolutely gorgeous. We both decided that we didn't want to do the ride down the mountain, so we asked the driver if we could meet him at the bottom. Of course, he said no. Giving up and hopeless, we sat down with a couple of New Zealanders and some beers to take off the edge. Well, it really worked. The ride down was GREAT!!! WE ahd a lot of fun and our guides made several stops to some of the local temples/shrines and walked us around (the pig was an offering). Plus, we were beginning to discover that we were famous there. Everywhere we went, kids would come up to us saying "Hello, Hello". We even had some run down the street to say hi. It was alot of fun. We rode back into town and when it was done, there was some feelings of let-down that it was over. No worries, we heard Ho Chi Minh will be filled with these rides (sorry Nancy).

We took a quick walk to the main riverside to go to a pharmacy and saw some kids doing Martial Arts on the street and some of the night vendors. It definitely was an active town, but much safer feeling than where we've been previously. We decided to go to our hotels brand new floating seafood restaurant for dinner (literally opened the night before). We had a great meal of spring rolls, fried rice and snapper hot pot. They were all good, but the latter was delicious! Our great waitress Yu had to help us serve it though. (author change) The only problem with the whole meal was the bugs! Bugs are crazy in Chau Doc (worse than the other two cities we have visited since), and we are pretty sure she was picking them out while she served us. We figure its just how it is and we can't really worry about it. We try to get the bugs out of what we are eating, but who knows what got in there before they cooked it?

At this point, we decided to head for bed, as we had to get up at 5:30 am to get started the next day. In order to explain this to you, we must start by recanting our 'decent' rating of the hotel. We certainly survived the night, but I don't believe we would ever stay there again, no matter the price. The first problem was the fact that the resturant was making a ton of noise, and it was difficult to sleep at the time we were going to bed. Then our fellow guests were heard very easily thru the walls, and one even scared the @#$@ out of us when he mistook our room for his. The AC stopped working around 12 am (no refund given for the $7 extra we paid for AC), and then when we came out- there was a worker sleeping on the floor of the 'lobby' covered in mosquito netting. Final rating: if you have to stay there, you will live, but don't stay there unless you have to.

So at 6am we were ferried across to Delta Adventures other hotel and resturant for breakfast. It consisted of bread, jam and butter, and fried egg (Dave only). And the awesome Vietnamese coffee. Then we got on our Delta Adventure Tour for the Chau Doc part, which consisted of a short visit to a fish farm (there is not much to see- there are 10,000 fish, and food for them), and then the Cham village. The Cham are an ethnic minority in Vietnam, and practice Islam. So we went to their mosque, and saw them weaving scarves, etc. They also have cute children that sell little waffle things. And apparently they watch your shoes at the mosque and expect a fee for it. I was feeling kind-hearted, so they got $1 for waffles, and $1 for shoes. Daddy Warbucks.

Up the river on a fast boat for 3 hours brings you to Can Tho. Can Tho is a 'real city' with 1.5 million people and the largest in the Delta. It was a pretty ride with factories and boats and other things you see on a river. The city was nice too, but the children were not as entertained by us- they must be more used to tourists. (As I write this I am drinking Aquafina. That is a damn fine brand of water compared to some of the creek-tasting water we have been drinking. Good work Pepsi.) We had lunch in Can Tho at a place famous for its snake, but alas, we are not that adventurous. It was spring rolls and fried noodles for us (forgot to take a picture before we ate it all). All for less than 6 bucks (water too- La Vie, bottled by Coca Cola). Then our guide took us to our hotel, the Xuan Mia Hotel II. Way nicer than the night before, but nothing you would want to live in. I would stay there again, but can't judge the cost since it was wrapped in with the tour cost. It was certainly full of backpackers (which we did not know until the next day).

Nap, internet, and walk around for 3 hours just seeing the town. This is my favorite way to tour- Carrie loves religious stuff (blech). We also bought some clothes and some cool 'handmade' art. Of course it is handmade, even if the woman in the stall across has the same ones. The Internet cafe was the reason we didn't blog for so long. The computers were the worst (it was called Queen), and Carrie's even announced that she had a virus that wouldn't delete. So, just some email checks there- sorry if you got any messages from us telling you how we ran into a Vietnamese prince that has a business venture, but just needs $100,000 to get started. But, if you did, and you believe it, you can send the checks to us and we will get them to him. Just make it out to CASH.

Night brought us to Nan Bo, and our first break from Asian food (not counting MickeyD's). Hmm. What to order. What's that Carrie. Sure, I could do that. Yes, please, one veggie, one Hawiian. And French Fries, but the fries never came :( We sat on the second floor overlooking the street- a very pretty view discounting the powerlines. Off to bed (and we baricaded our door so we had no incidents this time).

The next day we were greeted at 6:30 by the hotel lady knocking on every door in the places, yelling 'Good Morning.' Headed down for breakfast (same as the day before) and found that our tour for the day would have about 20 on it. A good group, minus 6 guys who didn't say or do much. Started at the largest floating market in the Mekong Delta, and got off our big boat to go around in a row boat. Also had some pineapple that was cut very unusually, but was really good. Carrie got heat exhaustion, and spent the next 2 hours feeling awful. We headed over to a local market, since the rice paper factory was closed (saw rat and snake for sale). We then headed to a rice mill, that was also closed, but we still walked thru and learned a great deal. And a guy was selling pancakes with coconut in them. I bought one, then another, then another. And still spent only $.50.

Back to Can Tho for lunch, specifically back to Nan Bo. Carrie enjoyed her first Pho experience, while I indulged in Spaghetti Carbonara (my favorite!). Headed to the hotel to meet the bus, but the bus wasn't there. So we walked back the boat, and took it to the other side of the river. The ferry traffic was so long that had we not taken our 20 min boat ride, the bus would have not gotten across for 2-3 hours. Fortunately for Can Tho, the Japanese are contributing funds to help build a huge suspension bridge.

That bus took us on a 5 hour journey North to Ho Chi Minh City, which goes by Saigon as well. The driving, as we mentioned, is both safer and scarier in a bus. Safer since we won't get hurt, scarier since we thought we were going to hit everyone we passed. HCMC is big and crowded, but we will learn more about that tomorrow. Bought a hamock on the side of the road that we bargained from $8 to $6 but then got con'ed on the exchange rate and paid $8 anyways. Oh well- it looks comfy. Our hotel is really nice (Hong Han) for only $22.

Dinner was Vietnamese across the street- spring rolls, fried noodles with beef, and a chicken and vegetables that you put on rice paper with peanut sauce and eat like tacos.

That's it for now. Nighty night from us, and have fun at work (hahahahahahahahahaha).

Good Morning Vietnam (corny, I know)

2009-06-22T03:52:00.008-04:00

I learned a new joke this morning. So this American couple walks into a van, gets driven 1 hour outside Phnom Penh, picks up a hitchhiker with a kid with no shoes, drops off said hitchhiker, arrives at a broken down house on a back-road, thinks they might get shot and robbed, gets on a rickty 'fast' boat, goes to Cambodian customs (no exit tax- got the right guy working!), goes to Vietnam customs further down the river, changes boats to an actually fast boat, gets sold on a 2 day tour that arrives in Ho Chi Minh City, gets put up for the night by the tour in a riverboat hostels, sees the bathroom and vows not to go to the bathroom, turns on the light and can barely see, goes to walk around town, buys a bottle of water for 4000 Dong ($1 = 18,000 Dong), walks through a market (again with raw meat and chickens just sitting out everywhere), goes to eat at a recommended resturant- Bay Bong, loses his appetite for meat since he read that they actually do eat dog here (poor Cody), watches his wife eat 1/4 of her Canh Chua, or sweet and sour fish soup (really good), while he eats fried noodles and vegetables (good) and spring rolls (really good), walks around till it starts raining, finds an Internet cafe to write the joke. Only problem is, I can't remember the punch line. We'll go with to get to the other side.

Seriously, I can't believe you can actually order dog on the menu. I could never eat my little Cody. He is too cute and innocent. Plus, as my Dad will tell you, you can never catch him when you want to. So sad- but everyone has different customs, right? I'll bet they wouldn't want to eat brisket, or buffalo wings. Psych- everyone loves brisket and buffalo wings, although not together.

Ok, so now the real story on Vietnam. Everything Dave said about this morning was 100% true. To be honest, at times, I even started wondering where they were taking us. Not to mention that when we got on the first boat, we were one of only 4 people and on the second boat, we were the only passengers. The view was beautiful though. Green everywhere and people on the water going about their normal daily business. We even went by a floating fishing village and several floating villages. It really was a nice ride though and yes Liz, we were fully covered the whole time and did not have to wear helmets. We're adventurous, but not that much.

The hotel, Delta Adventure Inn, is a decent budget hotel. Clean, but no frills. It's what you would expect in Vietnam for $10 a night. We have our own room, complete with a mosquito net, and a bathroom, consisting of 4 dark walls, a toilet, a shower head, and a very dull light. You walk out of the room though and you're overlooking the Mekong.

The town is really nice. Beautiful architecture with a nice riverfront. The market is an interesting place to walk though, but the sights are somewhat disturbing and the smell is very strong, so I think that was enough for us here.

The weather has finally died down, but now the street is flooded. Crazy how much rain they can get here in a 20 minute storm. And did I mention that it is extremely hot, humid and I feel like I'm getting bitten up here? Heading off to go up to Sam mountain, a mountain filled wtih pagodas and temples and then dinner and bed. We start our day at 6 am tomorrow!