Yes, I think we have a favorite place, but we also believe that some of the cities, towns and beaches were so different from one another that it was a little silly to make that choice. To be fair we decided to go into categories, because it makes more sense to us and because it was not about the country, the city, but rather about the whole experience around us.

So here is our superlative list. You may agree or disagree with our list if you have been in one of these places. If you have never been I hope it inspires people to visit in the near future.

1. Best Beach – It was a difficult choice, but Baía dos Porcos in Fernando de Noronha Island – Brazil won the prize

Baía dos Porcos - Noronha - Brazil

2. Best long hike – Nothing compares to the 76 miles cultural-landscape trekking at Annapurna circuit in Nepal

11 day hike around the Annapurna mountains in Nepal

3. Best short day hike – El Chalten – Argentina. But we had to say that to see Buracão Waterfall at Chapada da Diamatina in Brazil was a close second.

El Chalten - Argentina

4. Best country for food – Thailand. Mexico and Vietnam could fight it out for second and third places.

Fried Morning Glory at Chatuchak Market in Bangkok

5. Best fruit selection – Vietnam and the delicious fruit shakes in Saigon

Fresh and variety are the name of the game

6. Best eye-candy city – I think it is in São Paulo. Jason thinks it was in Salvador during Carnaval. Unfortunately we have no pictures, just memories…

7. Most memorable bus ride – From Jomson to Pokhara in Nepal. Unforgettable for the scenary and for being the scariest drive we have ever been.

Hair-raising bus trip from Jomson to Pokhara in Nepal

8. The most amazing man-made construction site – It is hard to beat the ruins of Angkor in Camboja.

This is one small part of the complex that it spreads for miles

9. Furthest point from our high-tech Western lives – The small village of Muang Sing in Nothern Laos.

Little monks offering us some nice fresh worms in Laos

10. Best place to get sick – Kathmandu in Nepal or doing a 36 hour cruise in the Amazon river.

Chaotic Kathmandu - Nepal

11. Best place to dream of an AC unit – We could not decide between these two places: Presidente Figueiredo in Amazonas (Brazil) and Chitwan in Nepal. In Figueiredo at least we could go to some rivers and waterfalls. But in Chitwan we felt like we were going to melt at any point.

The only refreshing moment of the day in Chitwan - At least it was memorable

12. Best dessert – Ice cream in Belém – Brazil. And the delicious cream of Cupuaçu in Fernando de Noronha.

Yummy!!!!! Cupuaçu cream and açaí together in a bowl in Noronha - Brazil

13. Nicest people – Mexicans. But we wish we were able to speak with the people in Asia. Because they seemed really nice as well, especially in Laos.

Nice, fun and easy going the Mexicans won our heart

14. Biggest cultural clash – Visiting Nepal. Fascinating, scary, different, noisy and busy Kathmandu and even small towns in Nepal work in a very different way from us in the West.

Men holding hands in Kathamandu

15. Worst experience – my dislocated shoulder while rafting in the middle of nowhere in Nepal and Jason’s little paranoia dive in the middle of Laos

Ouch!

16. Best Market – This one was very easy. Nothing beats Chatuchak Market in Bangkok

According to Wikipedia is the world's largest weekend market. You can find anything there.

17. Best country for sports and adventures – We have three winners here Costa Rica, Nepal and Vietnam

Full of activities in la Fortuna - Costa Rica

18. Best party – This one was easy as well. Carnaval in Salvador – Brazil. It is hard to stay quiet and not dance.

19. Best place to feed the spirit – Nepal, the Nepalese and their love of spirituality envelops you

The eyes of the Buddha

20. The most beautiful place we visited – After much talk there was a place that was the most awe-inspiring: The French Valley in Torres del Paine National Park – Chile. You don’t know where to look in this magnificent place that has ice, snow, vegetation, rocks, lakes and mountains with very unusual shapes and colors. The place is just stunning! If you haven’t been there, please put on your list.

Just one view of the French Valley. Everywhere you look is different but equally stunning

Our #1 place - Torres del Paine in Chile

Well, this past year was a year to remember for the rest of our lives. It was a unique opportunity, and we learned way more than staying home. So, trying to persuade other people to do the same, we decided to list 10 reasons why all of us should try to leave work at some point and do what we did. You don’t need to go away for a year. Believe us, a few months will do just fine. But consider doing it at some point; you will be happier and a different person when you come back.

1. The world is bigger than you think – Globalization is a word from the 90’s that we don’t hear that often anymore. It is so easy to talk, communicate and even work and study from a distance that we believe these distances have been shortened. But a mile is still a mile and our world is gigantic. There is so much to explore, to absorb, and feel all the different places and cultures that we sincerely needed more time. Yes, the world is slowly creating a unique way of living, but we can still find the exotic and the unusual in smaller towns, especially in poorer countries.

Back roads in Laos, one can see the real life happening on every corner

2. You are constantly reflecting about your life – Traveling does that to most of us. Everything that is different catches our attention and we immediately correlate to our reality back home. What we see what is good is an example of what we could eventually have at home. What is bad it’s a realization that we have accomplished a lot and that this community could in fact have a better life.

Ah, I wish I could see this every day

3. There are more good people in the world than bad people – Yes, sometimes we focus too much on the bad experiences. Everyone who tried to scam us, the violence and the bad service. But this is a really tiny minority. Most of the locals are really good people, who are as much interested on you as we were on them. They usually nice and gentle, they want to help out and they want to make you feel home as well. They want you to come back and tell your friends that their country/city is a place to visit.

Bike broken, help on the way

4. There is more to life than just work – I know this sounds like a self-help book, but we live in a society completely obssessed about work. We spend more of our awaking time at work than with family and friends. And this is primarily because we are always trying to buy more (even things we don’t need) and we end up as slaves to our debt. Staying away from everything and having only a backpack for a year, was one of the most liberating experiences we have ever had.

Hammock in the water and a beer is pure perfection

5. You realize that people are just people no matter where they live – To observe locals in their communities made me think about the concerns of families in Laos and Manhattan (especially after the Hurricane). People want to make sure they have food, shelter, clothes, some sort of power and security. In NYC though, you have to have another bazillion things in order to live. In Laos, life has a different pace as long as the basic goals are fulfilled.

They were just working, but selling some interesting things...

6. You could spend less money than you think – If you go to the right places and make a few compromises you can spend around $30/day in some countries. But if you go to Europe, North America, Japan and Singapore you can add another zero to the number very easily. By the way, you can include Brazil in that row of countries.

Cooking class the whole day + all meals for $40

7. When you go back to reality you are re-energized – Different from your co-workers who are tired and unmotivated. Your boss will be happy when you come back to see you so fresh. Now you are ready to go back to start working and saving some money to travel again in the near future.

Local Vietnamese

8. People who travel more tend to be more valued in their workplace – Only stupid people will not like the fact you spent a long time abroad. In a world where we can easily speak to people from the 4 corners of the planet, knowing a little about other cultures is the best way to relate to someone you are getting to know. This empowers you! Makes your relationships stronger. You become more open-minded too.

If you go to Carnaval in Brazil, I bet you are going to go back home exhausted!

9. Your taste buds you never be the same – International food as we know in America most of the time has a very different taste than when you eat in the country of origin. This might be because of the ingredients, the chef, maybe is the whole atmosphere. The fact is we know exactly how a dish of Chilaquilles, Tom Yum soup or Dal Bhat should taste like now.

Nepali everyday meal : rice, lentils, kale and potatoes. Delicious!

10. Everything will be the same when you come back – Even though we were away for a while, very little has changed. We were often wondering how was life back home.  This past year for us was way more than 12 months, it gave us more perspective and realization about the important things in life.

Will be the same, but you can learn how to scuba dive, hike, cook and motobike

11. Extended travel is possible – In the US or in Brazil, this might be a joke. But in Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand it is almost like a ritual that you should travel for several months before you get settled. And even after that, people have sabbaticals at work and can go away for several months. We met people of all ages doing what we did and that was inspirational.

She can travel anywhere she wants. Isn't she lucky!!!!

So, if you plan to go away one day, prepare in advance. We saved money for 3 years and organized our lives in a way that it could work out. It was a little complex, but worth every penny. This is an investment that nobody could take away from us. After all:  Travel is the only thing you buy that makes us richer.

Hong Kong

It’s been some time we came back home. By now we have seen already most of our friends and life is slowly going back to normal. But  there are still some stories to tell. Right after Vietnam we spent a few days in Bangkok, our central hub in Asia. 5 days of shopping, eating, exploring every single corner of bustling Bangkok. The result was an extra suitcase, full of fitted shirts, suits and pants.

We finally left Southeast Asia and headed towards one of the most expensive places on the planet: Hong Kong. 2 days in the city was enough for our budget. Hong Kong is beautiful, full of islands and bridges, impressive highways cutting through the mountains and the most organized public transportation system we have ever seen. It works so well, that is hard to believe that the 4th most densily populated “country” in the world has so few cars on the streets. We also have never seen so much commerce tailored to high-end buyers. There is a lot of money in that city and the prices are over the top. Especially when you come from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. At night the skyline is breathtaking and three times a week there is a light show with music on the waterfront. A very disappointing show at the end of our trip in Asia. Bad music, too long and cheesy.  Our last two days in Asia were hot and humid and most of the times it was difficult to see Hong Kong’s natural beauty. We had to imagine how was the scenary because of the intense fog on the city.

The longest indoor escalator in the world - 2,600 ft

After Hong Kong our next stop was a lay-over in Chicago and finally Boston. On arrival in the US we already have forgotten how big and fat Americans were. After spending so many months in Asia we got used to their bio type and the typical XXXL American size was somewhat unusual for us.

And, then we were finally HOME. The first few days in Boston were hard core. Home is always the best place on Earth, right? But for some reason our place looked stale, somewhat empty, almost sad. The next day it was time to work and move our clothes, books, computer and personal stuff 4 flights of stairs from the basement. There were so many boxes that we were wondering what was in them. After spending so many months with a backpack only, why did we need so many things to live? And sure enough we had to get rid of some clothes, shoes, towels and linens because some of them were full of mold. We spent the next 3 days washing clothes with vinegar, laying in the sun and cleaning with products to get rid of the mildew. A complete mess!!!!!

The next morning we talked to our neighbors and the at night we had time to see some friends who organized a welcome party for us. It was great to see their familiar beautiful faces. A memorable night to remind us that we are finally back home.

UFOs in the USA

But the trip was not over. We decided to get in our car and travel in the US visiting some friends and family. First in Cleveland and Iowa City where my good friends from medical school in Brazil live. After that we headed to Texas to visit Jason’s family and friends for a few days and finally New York City to see some other great friends. Of course we  decided to do some tourism on the way and went to Niagara falls and visited Elvis Presley House in Memphis, which by the way was the touristic highlight of the American tour.

I have to say that blogging is not as much fun as before, but I will try to write sometimes just to document what has been happening in our life recently the days after we came back.

The final pictures are here.

Graceland

A Symbol of Vietnam - The Scale

Dorchester, the neighbohood we live in Boston is a true ethnic melting pot. Irish, Cape Verdeans, Haitians, Polish, Hispanics, Blacks and a sizable population of Vietnamese live in the largest neighbohood in “Beantown”. Most of the Vietnamese came from the South. That migration started after the communist party took control of the country at the end of the war. Today it is easy to see the signs of Vietnam all over Dorchester. It was nice to come to a country where some of its culture was all around us. However the opportunity to have a deeper contact with a community in their own country was completely different story.

Ho Chi Minh in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon

Perhaps after the two World Wars, the Vietnam conflict was the most emblematic war of the last century. A visit here was a lesson to understand how all that played out on the world stage. Two economic philosophies and the world divided. Every single country, no matter how small, was important in the game the US and Soviet Union were playing. Unfortunately the price was very high and millions of innocent people died because of the governments and politicians hunger of power. The war is over and the country seems to be doing amazingly well 37 years after the war ended. A sign of the resilience of a people who are known by their neighbors as extremely hardworking.

The Favorite Stance

It is no news that the communist party maintains an iron fist on the country’s organization and is no surprise that resonates badly with a lot of the people we talked to during the trip. Facebook and certain sites were not even allowed in certain places and the comments about corruption were widespread. Despite that, the sight of a country without civil liberties like we think a communist country is, was overshadow by the people’s entrepreneurship. We’ve noticed that the Vietnamese are always ready to make some business. So, instead of the big chains that are the hallmark of a typical capitalist society, Vietnam has a lot of small and family business that make a big chunk of its economy. We were wondering what is best for the people: work in your own business or for a state-owned corporation? Take a pick, but it seemed to us, the Vietnamese were doing pretty well.

All the 91 million of Vietnamese form a very homogenous community and this is true even though they were occupied by different nations not only recently but also in the past. Today along with Thailand they are one of the most powerful countries in the region and its economy forms a new group of countries that are bound to grow even higher than the known BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The prospects are good and although we saw a lot of poverty, it was less than what we saw in Laos and Cambodia.

Before coming here we were advised to be careful because the Vietnamese were often trying to rip you off. However this attitude was not any different from other places we have been. Everything is negotiable and bargaining is a must. Fortunately the farther you get from touristic areas the nicer and friendlier are the people . This is roughly true in almost every single place we have been. So when visiting a place, we will tried to also go to more distant areas where you can have a “real feel” of a city or country.

As soon as we got here something caught our attention. Most of the women worn pants, long sleeve shirts, hats, facemasks and sometimes even gloves. Even though the temperature reaches 90-100 degrees at times with humidity, women are all covered up. At the beach they are all dressed up as well. Was this a religious reason? No! They just don’t want to get dark. It is interesting to see ads and the huge amount of whitening skin products available in drugstores and grocery stores. Meanwhile western people are going to the beach, use tanning booths and tanning lotions to become darker. I guess people are never happy with whom they are…

Beach Close to Nha Trang

Buddhism is also the main religion, although we noticed that is seems to be more subdued than in its neighbors, Thailand especially. Business frequently have small shrines where offerings and candles are placed but the amount of monks walking around like in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia is minimal. We have the feeling that there were less Buddhist temples around and more temples of different religions like Taoism, Confucianism and Cao-Dao. 10% of the population is catholic and it is no surprise that concentrates in the south, around Saigon.

As for natural beauty, we think Vietnam beats Laos and is the most beautiful country we visited in the region. This is because Vietnam has pretty much everything Laos has (mountains, caves, waterfalls, rice-paddy fields) and on top of that has a stunning and unique coastline that can make any vacation a real paradise on Earth. Transportation has its deficiencies. Roads are great, but we’ve heard a lot about accidents. The buses are not very comfortable. Trains are reasonable but it is nothing compared to US or European standards. Planes are a good option and can be cheap specially if one buys tickets in advance.

The food in Vietnam was also a good surprise. We were only used to have the famous Pho (noodle soup) and fresh spring rolls in Boston. But there is so much more to try. And the fun part was to take advantage of the different regional cuisines as we cruised along the country. The unusual dishes with frog, chicken feet, baby duck egg , pork intestines, pigeon soup and dog (WE DID NOT EAT DOG) were more eccentric. However the main noodles dishes, barbecued pork, beef stews and the fresh noodle dishes were absolutely amazing and we cannot wait to explore the Vietnamese restaurants in our neighborhood when we get back.

Delicious Crab & Beer

The country’s currency is called dong and 1 US$ is valued at 20,000 dongs. It is strange to go to the ATM and leave as a millionaire with several millions dongs in your pocket. A bottle of the local beer is usually around US$ 1. A meal during lunch or dinner can be bought easily for US$ 3 and a budget hotel room is usually between US$ 15-20.

Vietnam was the last major country we visited. We are glad we ended our trip here. Why? Because this country is a true picture of what Asia is all about. Walking on the streets with people wearing their iconic conic hats and carrying the huge “scale” selling their products was a unforgetable site we will never forget. Now is time to revive our Vietnamese experiences in our local area. How lucky are we?
The next post, our return to the US

Karst Formation

Halong Bay along with Cat Ba Island is described by travel guides in such a way that you would feel like an idiot for not visiting. The adjectives utilized to describe this place are quite lofty and loaded and one wonders if a place like that can actually exist. As we got to the ferry drop off point on Cat Ba island the lansdcape was flat, ugly and the surrouding area was filled with what we thought were fish farms. But as the bus drove towards Cat Ba City we were finally able to understand what all the hype about it. The only road takes you along the edge of the island for a bit and you get to see this tropical paradise in all it’s splendor. Surrounded by karsts jutting tens to hundreds of feet out the emerald green sea, Cat ba is a lush green tropical island is that is just shy of perfection. It is like Rio de Janeiro’s coast on steroids.

Ha Long Bay

We took our preferred mode of transportation, motor scooters, and visited about every inch of available road on the island. It’s beautiful and unique! Along the way we stopped and visited a hospital that was created inside a mountain. It was 3 floors, had a kitchen, some offices, and operating room and quick emergency exits for the North Vietnamese officers should the Americans try to bomb the area. Granted some of the mountain was a cave that made construction easier, but we were both suprised at the size of the hospital and the number of rooms all inside a mountain.

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Cruisin'

Swimming in Ha Long Bay

We spent 2 days on a boat cruise which gave us an opportunity to explore Halong bay and some local caves both large and small. Halong Bay has thousands of karsts which double as small islands in and of themselves. Some of the caves were formed from sea water and sea wind erosion while others simply had the their formations created from the drip drip drip of fresh water. Getting to sleep out under the stars on the deck of the boat was a treat and something I won’t soon forget. The activities ranged from kayaking into caves sometimes in complete darkness to rock climbing and a lot of swimming in small beaches along the bay. I would reccommend do a little research prior to coming because there are some times of the year which are not good and certain ways of seeing the bay and islands which could leave you disappointed. As a matter of fact there was a Typhon alert as we got in the region, but the storm changed course and never affected us.

I Think I Can, I Think I can

Onward to Hanoi…. Even though the city stretches on for miles, we spent nearly all of our time in the Old Quarter. There you have access to anything a tourist might want to visit and to watch the real life of people who live and work in the capital. It’s setup as a grid with diagonal streets overlayed, think Washinton DC minus the super wide streets. The commerce here is the center of this bustling area for more than 1,000 years. Most of the buildings are a few stories high and the streets and lined with trees. It’s a quaint, walkable city neighborhood with lots of little shops to visit. A real sight of what is Asia.

We got to see the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum. It seems strange that his dying wish, that he be cremated, was not honored. For a person to be so revered and yet his wishes for his own body to be discarded is rather odd. The place opens at 8 AM and if you don’t arrive early, you are likely to be standing in line for quite some time. I would say this part of the tourism in a authoritarian country met my expectation. Having the “dear leader” embalmed and kept at cool temperatures so that “the people” can have chance to have a glimpse of how he looked the final days prior to his death is downright creepy.

Church Attendee Parking Lot

We also got to see something you wouldn’t expect in a communist country, a catholic church service. We were a bit disppointed with the cathedral, but the number of people attending the Sunday evening service was impressive. The number of motor scooters parked along side the church was site to behold.

The Streets of Hanoi

One of the best things about Hanoi was wandering through the streets of the Old Quarter is discovering some little hole in the wall restaurant or food stand that serves some of the best food we had in Vietnam. We’ll give some more details in the next and final blog.

Delicious Bowl of Fried Eel

In the mean time, one of our last picture albums.

Up next is our impression(s) of Vietnam

BOOM

After traveling these past few months we found something that really makes a place special. It is not only the beauty of the place, its architecture or the food. A truly remarkable place has all those characteristics, but also contains the sentiment of the people who live in the touristic area. We want to see the real people who make the city. We want to see what they produce, what they wear, what they listen to, what they eat, their art. That is what makes a place unforgettable.

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Hoi An Temple

Hoi An, although cute, is a place which unfortunately lacks this. This little town is a jewel with beautiful architecture combining the Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese influence. But all the pretty buildings are now restaurants or stores and seemingly, no one lives in the touristic part of the city. The buildings are largely intact and people cannot change the outside of the houses because it is a UNESCO sight, but since people don’t live there anymore it lacks a some of that unique aspect.

Delicious Dinner by The River

Despite this and how hot/humid it was while we were there, it is a really pretty place. Located on the coast with a river crossing through the city, it is a one of the most touristic places in Vietnam. Loads of people come out at night to the historic town to have some street food and a beer by the river. The little town transforms at night when the colorful paper Asian lanterns are lit up in almost every single house. Some people also light candles and put them in little paper boats on the river and one can rent a little boat and ride in the channels just like in Venice. In Hoi An you can also have local brewed beer in some restaurants in what is probably the cheapest draft beer in the world at only U$ 0.20. I wish it was good, but hey, it’s only 20 cents.
Another interesting aspect about Hoi An is the amount of stores selling tailored clothes. It is one after the other and people usually get out of here with some suits, shirts and pants in their luggage. We skipped on that and took a bus to Hue.

The Lights were Beautiful

Hue was the capital of the Vietnam Kingdom before the Nguyen dynasty was in charge. There is a large citadel in the city that reminds me a lot the medieval times with a moat and gates. The palace is pretty, also a UNESCO sight, but I have to say that was nothing really special. We don’t know if it was worth the visit and after Hue we decided to catch another bus to a small town called Dong Hoi. The 4 hour drive was a true cultural Vietnamese experience. We were the only tourists on the bus that transported a motorbike, a live chicken (tied up but not caged) and way more people than seats. Of course we had to stop in a car shop for repairs. The engine was open, a metal piece removed, welded and put back in. We were waiting for 40 minutes in the bus under temperatures far from mild and nobody complained – a completely normal experience.

Entrance to Citadel

When we got to Dong Hoi we ran into some issues renting some bikes, but after some time we were finally able to jump on them and head to the Phong Nha Area. This area has similar landscape to what we had seen in Laos. The karts formation and the layers of limestone formed amazing caves systems and the water that runs through is blue as the sky. We stayed in a hostel far from everything, but had great reviews on the internet. An Australian dude and his Vietnamese wife run the show here and it felt like we were guests in their own house.

stalactite

The attraction here are the largest caves in the world. The Paradise cave extends 35 km into the Earth is absolutely incredible. Although the developed area is only 1km in length, the formations are stunning and the cave was the tallest and widest we have ever seen. It feels sometimes that we were in a huge church. They also put some colorful lights that can make it pretty, but are also a little cheesy. After the cave we went swimming in a close by river we  some tourists and played with locals who even offered us some drinks and food. It was a great break from the hot, humid summer day.

The next day it was another caving day for us. Our last UNESCO sight in central Vietnam, the Phong Nha cave is 7 Km and it is special because the only way to come in is through a boat. Our ride was way shorter than Kong Lor cave in Laos, the boat ride was less than a quarter-mile long, but the cave formations were equally pretty. We were able to get out of the boat twice to walk and see up close the formations that also had colorful lighting. During the war, the Vietnamese used this cave to hide and to store food and ammunition and inside there are some inscriptions that are believed to be more 1,000 years old.

Pretty Cave

This area was not even in our original itinerary, but it was worth every minute we spent here. How did we hear about it? Tips from other travellers we met in a bar on the beach. Way better than any internet search or Lonely Planet guide-book.
Some pics of the caves here.

This is Vietnam

Central Vietnam in Photos

Up Next is Halong Bay & Hanoi

On My Way

We finally got to Vietnam after a painful journey through Cambodia that lasted a total of 16 hours. And although we had to involve an agency in order to obtain a Visa, crossing the border was relatively painless. As you are driving towards the city, you begin to see the first signs of Ho Chi Minh (HCMC)- dozens of motorbikes. The second, the third and the fourth signs were of hundreds of motorbikes. The roads are wide, the city buses are pretty much empty, and it seems that all 7+ million people own a bike. Very individualistic for the second largest communist country in the world and I am sure Honda and Yamaha love that. Bikes cannot go faster than 25 mph in urban areas and we saw only one accident while we stayed in Vietnam. So despite the chaos, and it is massive chaos, there is an order that works for its citizens.

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Prior to the war, HCMC was originally called Saigon (the capital of South Vietnam). It was later renamed after Ho Chi Minh, the man who commanded his country against two of the most powerful countries in the world and who died before he could see his Vietnam reunited under one flag. Despite the destruction that happened for so many years earlier, we could only see the signs of the war in the museums and historic sites. This city is alive, bustling and busy late into each night.

Speaking of history, the War Museum is a must see attraction. Three floors of pure propaganda. The war numbers are impressive especially when compared with other previous known conflicts. The Vietnamese usually list the war as a long conflict that started in 1958 and finished 3 years after the US military occupation in 1975. Dramatic pictures of the war are on display and the human and jungle devastation from the Agent Orange are unforgettable images. Agent Orange is the “gift that keeps on giving” as the effects are passed onto younger generations if parents are effected. Some pictures made me cry and only served to firm up my belief that war and violence are never the solution for any disagreement. Outside the museum, several “gifts” from the US are on display. The most impressive is the huge helicopter, but the tanks and the planes aren’t far behind.

Just down the road from the War Museum is the Reunification Palace which was the president’s office during South Vietnam. We learned that the president of Vietnam had a hotline to the White House in case of emergency. It was interesting because you got to see this building really hasn’t changed since the 1970s.

The other main attraction of the area are the famous Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels are located fairly close to the border of Cambodia and we went on an organized tour with a guide. He fought with the South Vietnamese and the Americans against the North Vietnamese. He was an excellent guide as he used to be an english teacher in a small village, but got tired and moved to the big city and built a tourist company. After the war he was sent to a “retraining camp”, but we thought the retraining he got was not so succesful, because he was not very kind with his words about the one party government. However, he was really funny and for some reason he took a liking to Jason and was joking with him quite often.

The residents of the village of Cu Chi had built a fairly complex system of tunnels to hide in and also built traps for the the South Vietnamese and US forces. The official line from the Government was that there were hundreds of in interconnected tunnels that stretched for miles and miles. Today there only a few, but our tour guide said that this ‘fact’ was just more propaganda. Who knows what the truth was??? However, we were able to see that the tunnels were elaborate and contained multiple areas where people could stay. There was even a kitchen in one of them. The tunnels have been enlarged for our “western-sized” bodies and we got to pass through them by walking like a duck. Not the most ideal way to transport yourself, but it works better than crawling on your belly like the Vietcong had to do to access the larger rooms.

Although the Americans were forced to leave Vietnam in 1975, we were left wondering who really won the war. If this war was indeed fought over different economic philosophies, communist vs capitalism, we have no doubt that capitalism won the war in every single sense. Close to river front malls, Cartier, Burberry and Chanel boutiques sit in a large, clean boulevard overlooking a plaza with the statue of Ho Chi Mihn. The man who knew 7 languages, studied in Paris, founded the communist party in his country, fought two wars to see a united Vietnam free of colonization and truly communist is probably trembling in his open mausoleum in Hanoi.

The last tourist attraction in the city was the food. If Cambodia did not treat us well on that front, Vietnam did not disappoint us. We found a stand with the best juices we had in the trip. We actually learned from an expat that the place is so popular that early in the morning there is a line of people to get a chance to have it. All the exotic fruits were on the menu and she also made some interesting combinations. Absolutely fantastic! On top of that we had banh mi bo kho, which was a very rich beef stew like soup and one of the best dishes we had on this trip. Everything is very fresh and this seems to be the trick here.

From Saigon we took our only train trip in a bed cabin that fits 4 people. Jason and I had to go in different wagons, but I made friends very quickly. Our journey was easy. It lasted 12 hours until Nha Trang, a beach resort of Vietnam that is quite impressive. A big town with 300.000 people where the main attraction is the ocean. Locals come and go to have fun on the beach every single day. Packs of adults and children flock the sands at the end of the day and go back home after a deserved bath in the salty waters. This is a LIFE!

We were surprised with the town. Beautiful mountains and islands laid in crystal clear bule water that reminded us the coast between Rio and Sao Paulo. Of course we rented some bikes and travelled north (50 Km) and South (25 Km) to see stunning scenary away from tourists and even clearer waters. The little towns on the way were very photogenic and the fresh seafood made our trips on the coast the best tour we did in Nha Trang. The other good part of this stop was to meet two americans who are currently living in Nha Tang along with his local friends. They took us along to eat some local treats like chicken feet, pigs intestines and duck egg. The eggs of partially formed duck embryos were boiled (mine even had some little bones) and the taste was not very good. We preferred the chicken wings. Afterward we were invited to eat dog, but it was too late, the restaurant was closed and we were heading north the next day. We did save some puppies and we felt good about it.

Ho Chi MInh

Close to Nha Trang

At Angkor Wat

It was absolutely amazing!!! We have seen ruins in Mexico and Guatemala during this trip. I have been to Rome, Cuzco, and Machu Pichu several years ago as well. But I have to say that the Temples of Angkor are absolutely fantastic. If you like history and architecture this is one of the most impressive places on Earth. There are several reasons why this different from other ruins we have seen in the past:

1. There are several sights with several temples and a lot of them are really big;
2. Different from some of the Inca and Maya ruins, a lot of the ruins are still intact;

Look at the details

3. Some of the carvings and details are the best we have seen;
4. And finally, in some instances, the slow yet steady creep of nature from the last 1,000 years has transformed the sites from urban cities into jungles. It gives this place a unique characteristic that makes it one of the most fantastic places to see in the planet.

Unfortunately we had to stay in Siem Reap which is a the second largest city in Cambodia. It’s very touristy and full of locals trying to make money off of you. We arrived during the “off-season” so the amount of workers trying to offer us services was almost too much to handle. At least there is no violence, but people can be very aggressive. By far the best thing we did in Siem Reap was the fish massage (see video).

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We just spent a week in Cambodia. Both cities were very touristy and it is very hard to draw opinions about a country when we feel that we did not get to know the country so well. Different than Laos, Cambodia is more developed, but for some reason we saw more poverty on the streets. Again this might be because of the places we visited.

Cambodia landscape is not particularly pretty. Very flat and the rice paddy fields continued to follow us along the way. Angkor Wat is located in a tropical forest and was more beautiful than most parts of the country we saw. The food was not that interesting either, but I loved the green fruits with spice sauce sold on the streets.

Even the beer is called Angkor

Here, everything is in dollars. It is strange to go to a place on the other side of the world and get dollars from the ATM. Everything is very cheap and a bottle of beer is usually between 0.50 to 1 dollar. A meal is around 3 dollars and a budget hotel room with AC and WiFi costs between US$ 10-15.

If you wanna be more bored with the pictures, just follow the link.

A Gloomy Ride to the Killing Fields

After some relaxing days in Laos it was finally time to head to Cambodia. The trip to Phnom Phen (we love this name) was not the best. It took more than 13 hours and two of these hours were spent at the border just waiting for another bus to pick us up. The landscape was boring, the roads were not good, and it was a slow and painful journey to the capital.

Wrist Bands Left in Remembrance of the Victims

Luckily we met a Cambodian girl on the bus who directed us to a good but cheap area of the city close to the riverwalk. Cambodia is set on the banks of the Mekong river which is now quite wide compared to when we first crossed in the northern Thai-Lao border. And although I am mentioning the riverwalk, it’s really nothing to write home about.

After a good night of sleep we set out to explore the city. Our first stop was the infamous killing fields. Often forgotten by the media, Cambodia endured one of the worst genocides in recent history. Estimates of more than 2 million people or 25% of the country died between 1975 and 1979 at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge was the name of the communist party who took control of the country the at conclusion of the Vietnam War and believed in a 100 % agrarian and pure Khmer society. Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge was somewhat like a mixture of Hitler (who believed in a pure race) and Mao-Tse-Tung (who believed in a rural society).

Victim's Remains

When Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, they forced people to leave the cities and work in the fields like some century-old marxist books recommended. Those who were against the regime, intellectuals, or those who were of western, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Vietnamese, or ethnic Thai descent were summarily executed. Prior to the executions, all were taken to prisons where they were tortured for days and if they survived were sent to concentration camps and later killed. There were around 300 camps in the whole country. The most known one was a few kilometers away from downtown and it was an unforgettable place to visit.

One of the Rooms at S-21

At the site, an audio-guide allows you to move through the site at your own pace and gives the details about how the killings happened. Some of the stories brought tears to our eyes to imagine such immense brutality. The Khmer Rouge did not even use bullets to kill people, because bullets were too expensive. The tools used were hammers, machetes, sickles, metal bars, etc. Babies and young children were killed by smashing their heads on trees and still today we can see bones and teeth surfacing on some of the multiple graves present in the premises.

One of the Victims

Today the Killing Fields are rather different. It’s very quiet and landscaped area with a nice monument in the middle where thousands of bones and skulls finally found their resting place. It was definitely a time to reflect upon a massive human tragedy that receives very little attention. We hope that one day people learn more about these almost forgotten tragedies so that we keep them from ever occurring again.

And Yet, The Caged Bird Still Sings....

The next visit was to the sterile S-21 where prisoners were tortured prior to the trip to the killing fields. Once a high school in the center of Phnom Phen that was closed by the regime because the Khmer Rouge believed people needed no education, rather the people needed to learn how to produce agricultural products in the fields as a true proletariat society. Every classroom was replaced by torture rooms and today walking in each one of them with a solitary bed and chains is a difficult and sad sight. Some of the rooms had pictures of the prisoners and it was eye-opening to see how young were some of them.

At The Royal Palace

After visiting the main sights related to the horrible regime that affected Cambodia we visited the clean, nice and manicured Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. Because our hotel was close to a massive temple, the monks were still around and it was easy to see them on the streets collecting food in the early morning. Temples were not any different from the ones we saw in Thailand and Laos where people were praying and offering fruits, incense and other goods. Outside the temples, street vendors sold materials for offerings to the temple attendees. Nothing wrong with this, but one of their businesses was to sell caged birds to the attendees so they could set them free, thus ensuring an attendee good luck. We thought this was a crazy way to make money, but we have heard about worse jobs elsewhere.

Here in Phnon Phen there is an odd attraction that was offered to us every time we were walking on the streets: shooting machine guns. It’s a little weird to visit a place across the globe and one of the main things to do is to spend an afternoon shooting with a gun a target in an indoor facility .

Yep, It's an Offering of a Pig's Head Being at Our Hotel

Anyways, the city with 2.2 million people, the largest of Cambodia, is a bustling commercial metropolis and a nice way to ease yourself into this new country. But it felt too touristy for us and the constant and annoying people on the streets bothering and offering tuk-tuk rides, prostitutes, shoooting and marijuana was not the sight we wanted to have when looking for a nice vacation. We often asked if we could do all together at the same time, but no one was able to provide anything like it.

Here’s Phnom Phen in pictures.

Up next is Angkor Wat and Siem Reap

The Communist Flag

A bit about the title – Sabadee & Korp Jai Lai Lai – these two sets of words (spelled phonetically) have been some our favorites during our Asian adventure.  They mean Hello and Thank you very much.

A View of Rice Fields from our Motorbike

Laos has been our best surprise during our trip and we are really glad we came now. Laos is a country some people don`t know exists and originally, it was not our plan to visit. But because its proximity to the 3 giant magnet tourist destinations, it made sense to do some research and check out what it had to offer and man, does it have a lot to offer. Scenery, culture, and a sense that the hours and days last longer made us want to spend more time here. The people are not in a hurry and just want to socialize and have fun. Afterall, why work so much if we can enjoy life right now even here, where people are not well off financially?

A lot of people don’t know this, but along with China, Vietnam and Cuba, Laos is part of the last group of communist countries in the world. Besides the red flag with the hammer and the sickle and the lack of large stores and chain restaurants, the life in Laos did not seem to be what a typical person would consider a Marxist country. Mercedes, Honda and a lot of Toyota cars can be found in the cities, Coke a Cola was ubiquitous and it doesn’t seem that people are oppressed. It has all the characteristics of a very poor rural country and, as a matter of fact, Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world

A Bike Ride in Northern Laos

It is approximately the size of Great Britain but with only 6 million people without many urban areas. Laos’ GDP is one the smallest of all Asia both in terms of size and per capita. There is a saying about the southeast asian countries: “the Vietnamese grow the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Laotians listen it to grow.” And that seemed to hold true while we stayed here, although we saw a lot of them working in the never-ending emerald-green rice paddy fields from the north to south .

Karsts & Rice

Essentially a buddhist country, the communism here did not seem to affect the religiosity much. There are temples in every town and young boys are supposed to be a monk for a few years and live with other monks, dress in a saffron robe every day, learn more about buddhism, pray and stay away from materialism, trying to reach Nirvana. As we’ve learned, some of them are happy to get out from small rural towns and come to have good education and better living conditions in larger towns. In Luang Prabang some want to learn english and practice with tourists and it seems to them that we are as exotic as they are. But we agree that the sight of monks walking around the city with their orange umbrellas is exquisite.

Monks out for a stroll

It is hard to believe Laos still exists. A landlocked country surrounded by very powerful neighbors, Laos was attacked by them all while its existence. China, Vietnam, Cambodia and even the distant France have already invaded this piece of land where the mighty Mekong river makes up most of its western border. We are glad Laos is around, it’s kind like a melting pot where the language is very similar to Thai, the people look somewhat chinese, the Vietnamese hats are all over and it is easy to spot the most recent occupation with the cute french houses, large boulevards, the baguette and in some towns people even play petanque.

Wat in Luang Prabang

The landscape in the north is breathtaking with large mountain chains covered with thick green forests where the far south is more flat and less stunning but the Mekong is larger and stronger. Throughout the country, its people are the best treasure. Humble people, always smiling and very curious about us and how much we like Laos. In Laos you hardly need to bargain for something, because they don’t usually artificially increase the price for tourists, like the other countries do in the region.

Local Market in Luang Prabang

The food was excellent, especially in the north and center of the country. Dishes we did not even know about like the dried buffalo skin, fried river weed and the delicious banana flower salads were very exotic and mouth-watering. We are also going to miss the best refreshments in a hot summer day, the fresh tropical fruit shakes.
And of course, Laos has a treasure that should be the envy of all people in these countries who are known to provide watery-tasting beer – Beer Lao is, by far, the best we have had in this region. The dark version was even better and it cost from US$1-2 a 600 mL bottle. Their currency is called kip and US$ 1 is worth about 8.000 kip. English is spoken only in large touristic cities. In smaller towns can be more complicated to buy a bus ticket, get a room or eat in a restaurant. But, hey, we are the ones supposed to learn their language. Prices are very low and a meal would cost usually around US$ 2-3 and a budget hotel room was less than US$ 15 with AC and WiFi.

I want to Return

For a country we did not even plan to come, we ended up spending a total of 17 days and we are so glad we came to Laos now. We believe that the country will be changing soon and become more westernized and more capitalist. China has also been investing a lot of money and although the buses were always late, the chinese built roads were mostly impeccable. In the future, Laos will hopefully strike a good balance in accepting foreign investment and preserving their beautiful environment . Today there is a lot to see here, but soon it could change, so the time to see it is now.