Back to Joma cafe, we are broke, tired and have about 15 bags between the three of us. I think that's a sign that it's time to start heading home! On the plus side, we are sitting at this amazing little cafe drinking mint lemonade, iced coffee, strawberry milkshakes, and eating warm banana bread with butter. Pretty much fantastic. Round three may involve panini's and some other divine dessert while we wait for our flight in seven hours.
........ Panini's down the hatch, credit cards racked up, our hands , shoulders, and backs loaded up! Five and half hours until our flight...time to head to the airport!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
To phuket and back
We had found a place called "Home Kitchen" in our guidebook so after a long taxi ride to the other side of town, found ourselves in an open-air restaurant with reasonable prices and authentic Thai cuisine. It was some of the best Thai food that we had on the trip. Our taxi ride home was a bit of an adventure as we passed right through the middle of town where the large water fight for Songkran was going on. For the Thai New Year, the tradition is to have a city-wide water fight where everyone is armed with water guns and buckets. It gets a little crazy, and we couldnt even get into our hotel without being squirted by local kids. Traffic was at a standstill due to all the people trying to cross the streets and get home. We were a little worried that our taxi would run out of gas and that we would be caught in the middle of the festivities, but thankfully we made it out if the traffic jam and had enough gas to get back to the hotel.
Thursday morning our flight was leaving by 8:45 so we got to the airport to enjoy an American breakfast of Dunkin Donuts. Once we landed in Phuket we got a taxi for 550 baht to our amazing, beautiful resort right on the beach! We dropped our bags into the rooms, found some delicious food on the beach, then settled onto lawn chairs next to one of the many pools to bake for awhile in between sliding down the water slide and sitting in the water drinking fresh coconut water straight from the coconuts. It's quite refreshing! By mid-afternoon we needed a break from the sun so we explored a little more. The resort is right on the beach, but directly in front of it are several shacks containing food and souvenirs. We walked farther down the beach and found a place offering Thai massages so we jumped at the chance for another one. Big mistake. The quality of them compared to the ones from the massage school on Bangkok was quite a cut under. Added to the fact that they were massaging over sunburns and it did not make for a relaxing hour. Although we did get some laughs out of them arching our backs on their knees putting us up in the air like we were flying. Once it was over we met up with Christy who had stayed behind to do some work and found a restaurant with chairs and tables planted into the sand. We ordered some food and relaxed with the waves lapping at our feet, watching a beautiful sunset.
Friday morning we let ourselves sleep in and then enjoyed the free breakfast where they had a huge variety of yummy foods. There was a complete mix of American and Thai and of course delicious fruit! We were getting short on cash so headed into the lobby to catch a taxi. Once there we met the resort's personal elephant Meena! She is a little over 2 years old and eats 67 lbs of food a day but still a small elephant and far from full grown. She wrapped her trunk around our necks for a hug and kiss and when the trainer put a harmonica into the end of it, she blew into it and played music for awhile. She was quite good at it! Basically, she was so cute we wanted to play with her all day. She wanders around the resort all day with a bell around her neck and her keeper never far behind. She seemed to be a very happy elephant. The resort is owned by the same company that owns the surrounding 4 or 5 resorts so they have their own little shopping village with the one ATM that they will drive you to for free. Once we got our cash we browsed all the over-priced shops and found some pretty cool stuff. Some of you might get presents! Once back at the resort Amanda and Aubrey decided to do some batik painting. The shop had different designs outlined by wax on pieces of cloth. After you paint your piece, they treat it then boil it to removed the wax and you are left with the design. It takes a few hours to do and a full day to dry, but the pictures turn out amazing! It is kinda like painting with water colors but on fabric. While they did that, Char and Christy hung out on the beach and swam in the ocean. The ocean is almost bathwater warm but unfortunately, since they have had so much rain recently, there are left over tentacles from the jelly fish floating around and you can't swim without feeling tiny little stings the whole time. It is a bit bizarre. Once Amanda and Aubrey had finished their Batiks they met us on the beach for a late lunch, while at the same time bartering prices down on a dress for Aubrey and Christy at the shop right next to the restaurant. After that we bought some amazing art work from the local artist on the resort. We had it de-framed in the hopes that it would be easier to travel with but it is still in long large tubes that have ended up costing us quite a bit in gold for extra baggage fees.
We decided to continue to shop around and ended up at a travel booth where after talking down the price, we booked a boat trip for the next day. Then it was back to the pools to cool down and try to catch a few more rays of sunshine. Aubrey and Char headed to the beach for a few minutes while Amanda and Christy went to freshen up. Another elephant named Lily was walking down the beach with her owner on her back. She was 4 and a bit larger than Meena but just as playful and cute. Aubrey had fun getting more kisses, hugs and handshakes til it was time for Lily to continue on her way. We watched another beautiful sunset while playing in oceans breaking waves. After that it was time to rinse off and then have another good meal with our toes in the sand. We decided to try to turn in at this point as we had a early checkout so we could catch our bus to the boat trip.
Saturday morning we headed to the lobby to check out of the hotel and to check out luggage. Char and Christy had a quick breakfast while Amanda and Aubrey searched for the camera that had gotten placed in the wrong bag in the scramble. I think the bell hops thought we were crazy since we pretty much unpacked and repacked all of out bags in the lobby... After finding the camera we barely had time for a croissant before our van picked us up for the island excursion. After a short ride over we were thrilled to learn that fins were not included in our trip, so not wanting to snorkel without then we all forked over another 100 baht before getting on our boat. The boat trip we decided to take was to the islands of Krabi. We had a total of five stops at different islands. We were happy to see that there was plenty of drinks, pineapple, and cookies to snack on along the way. Our first stop was about an hour away on our speed boat to Hong Island. We had to stop there first because the tide rises and lowers 4 times a day and when it is low boats can't go through it because all that's left when the tide is low is sand. This was our white beach and snorkeling stop and we loved swimming and feeding fish in the pretty clear waters. Our next stop was at the Kai-Thab-Mo islands. Also with a beautiful white sandy beach and fun snorkeling. Our third stop was off the Kai Islands. This Island is what they call "chicken" island because it is shaped like a chicken. We however debated that it was a little more shaped like a camel but it was still a cool looking island either way :) Before heading to the beach of Koh Kia we anchored the boat and did deep water snorkeling. We were careful to watch the sea urchins as we swam around trying to take pictures of the fish. Taking pictures of fish with a underwater camera is more challenging than would would think, but we ended up with a few fun shots! Our fourth stop was at Rai Le Cove. we had a delicious lunch on the beach which was a mix of Thai dishes and fruit. We wandered around a bit looking at the shops and ended up sitting in the shade till it was time to head back to the boat. Our final stop for our trip was at Phra Nang Cave. The beach and water were not quite as nice as the rest of our stops but we were able to find some sand dollars in the water and soak up more rays on the beach. One cool thing about the Island is that it is where one of Thailand's main rock climbing competitions is held. There actually is a competition happening next week so we were able to watch a few climbers who were practicing. It looked like a lot of fun but I'm sure would be a very difficult climb. After reloading on the boat for the final time we ate some watermelon before heading to the deck for our return trip back to the dock. We had about an hour ride so we enjoyed the rush of the air on the way back. Feeling rather toasted at this point we were happy to arrive back at the hotel. We picked up Amanda and Aubrey's Batiks and then heading back to the beach for dinner. We had delicious Pineapple fried rice, pad Thai and of course mangos and sticky rice. Then it was time for a shower and back to the airport to head to Bangkok. The taxi was more expensive this time because the hotel has a "waiting" fee for the local drivers.... Pretty much they know you are stuck so they get to charge you more haha. Our flight arrived back into Bangkok and we didn't get settled into our hotel until around 11:30. We had to repack all of our bags and figure out what else we could carry on because we had been paying way too much for luggage and didn't want to continue with that trend. We got to bed after midnight and during the night char's phone rang twice so sleep was scarce. Once when it rang she thought it was the alarm and started getting ready for the day before she realized it was only 2:30 a.m. Haha. The real alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. and we scooted off to the airport, still mostly asleep. Once in Hanoi we checked our baggage into lockers and set off to the St. joseph's Cathedral near the old French quarters where we had stayed before. Christy had told us about a cafe near there called Joma Cafe where we would be able to have good food and wifi. We wanted to support it as they employ Hagar women, (women rescued by the organization Hagar that have been abused, etc and are given counseling and training to get back into the work world). We are sitting here now eating delicious croissants, soups and salad and catching you up on our trip. Love to you all!
Thursday morning our flight was leaving by 8:45 so we got to the airport to enjoy an American breakfast of Dunkin Donuts. Once we landed in Phuket we got a taxi for 550 baht to our amazing, beautiful resort right on the beach! We dropped our bags into the rooms, found some delicious food on the beach, then settled onto lawn chairs next to one of the many pools to bake for awhile in between sliding down the water slide and sitting in the water drinking fresh coconut water straight from the coconuts. It's quite refreshing! By mid-afternoon we needed a break from the sun so we explored a little more. The resort is right on the beach, but directly in front of it are several shacks containing food and souvenirs. We walked farther down the beach and found a place offering Thai massages so we jumped at the chance for another one. Big mistake. The quality of them compared to the ones from the massage school on Bangkok was quite a cut under. Added to the fact that they were massaging over sunburns and it did not make for a relaxing hour. Although we did get some laughs out of them arching our backs on their knees putting us up in the air like we were flying. Once it was over we met up with Christy who had stayed behind to do some work and found a restaurant with chairs and tables planted into the sand. We ordered some food and relaxed with the waves lapping at our feet, watching a beautiful sunset.
Friday morning we let ourselves sleep in and then enjoyed the free breakfast where they had a huge variety of yummy foods. There was a complete mix of American and Thai and of course delicious fruit! We were getting short on cash so headed into the lobby to catch a taxi. Once there we met the resort's personal elephant Meena! She is a little over 2 years old and eats 67 lbs of food a day but still a small elephant and far from full grown. She wrapped her trunk around our necks for a hug and kiss and when the trainer put a harmonica into the end of it, she blew into it and played music for awhile. She was quite good at it! Basically, she was so cute we wanted to play with her all day. She wanders around the resort all day with a bell around her neck and her keeper never far behind. She seemed to be a very happy elephant. The resort is owned by the same company that owns the surrounding 4 or 5 resorts so they have their own little shopping village with the one ATM that they will drive you to for free. Once we got our cash we browsed all the over-priced shops and found some pretty cool stuff. Some of you might get presents! Once back at the resort Amanda and Aubrey decided to do some batik painting. The shop had different designs outlined by wax on pieces of cloth. After you paint your piece, they treat it then boil it to removed the wax and you are left with the design. It takes a few hours to do and a full day to dry, but the pictures turn out amazing! It is kinda like painting with water colors but on fabric. While they did that, Char and Christy hung out on the beach and swam in the ocean. The ocean is almost bathwater warm but unfortunately, since they have had so much rain recently, there are left over tentacles from the jelly fish floating around and you can't swim without feeling tiny little stings the whole time. It is a bit bizarre. Once Amanda and Aubrey had finished their Batiks they met us on the beach for a late lunch, while at the same time bartering prices down on a dress for Aubrey and Christy at the shop right next to the restaurant. After that we bought some amazing art work from the local artist on the resort. We had it de-framed in the hopes that it would be easier to travel with but it is still in long large tubes that have ended up costing us quite a bit in gold for extra baggage fees.
We decided to continue to shop around and ended up at a travel booth where after talking down the price, we booked a boat trip for the next day. Then it was back to the pools to cool down and try to catch a few more rays of sunshine. Aubrey and Char headed to the beach for a few minutes while Amanda and Christy went to freshen up. Another elephant named Lily was walking down the beach with her owner on her back. She was 4 and a bit larger than Meena but just as playful and cute. Aubrey had fun getting more kisses, hugs and handshakes til it was time for Lily to continue on her way. We watched another beautiful sunset while playing in oceans breaking waves. After that it was time to rinse off and then have another good meal with our toes in the sand. We decided to try to turn in at this point as we had a early checkout so we could catch our bus to the boat trip.
Saturday morning we headed to the lobby to check out of the hotel and to check out luggage. Char and Christy had a quick breakfast while Amanda and Aubrey searched for the camera that had gotten placed in the wrong bag in the scramble. I think the bell hops thought we were crazy since we pretty much unpacked and repacked all of out bags in the lobby... After finding the camera we barely had time for a croissant before our van picked us up for the island excursion. After a short ride over we were thrilled to learn that fins were not included in our trip, so not wanting to snorkel without then we all forked over another 100 baht before getting on our boat. The boat trip we decided to take was to the islands of Krabi. We had a total of five stops at different islands. We were happy to see that there was plenty of drinks, pineapple, and cookies to snack on along the way. Our first stop was about an hour away on our speed boat to Hong Island. We had to stop there first because the tide rises and lowers 4 times a day and when it is low boats can't go through it because all that's left when the tide is low is sand. This was our white beach and snorkeling stop and we loved swimming and feeding fish in the pretty clear waters. Our next stop was at the Kai-Thab-Mo islands. Also with a beautiful white sandy beach and fun snorkeling. Our third stop was off the Kai Islands. This Island is what they call "chicken" island because it is shaped like a chicken. We however debated that it was a little more shaped like a camel but it was still a cool looking island either way :) Before heading to the beach of Koh Kia we anchored the boat and did deep water snorkeling. We were careful to watch the sea urchins as we swam around trying to take pictures of the fish. Taking pictures of fish with a underwater camera is more challenging than would would think, but we ended up with a few fun shots! Our fourth stop was at Rai Le Cove. we had a delicious lunch on the beach which was a mix of Thai dishes and fruit. We wandered around a bit looking at the shops and ended up sitting in the shade till it was time to head back to the boat. Our final stop for our trip was at Phra Nang Cave. The beach and water were not quite as nice as the rest of our stops but we were able to find some sand dollars in the water and soak up more rays on the beach. One cool thing about the Island is that it is where one of Thailand's main rock climbing competitions is held. There actually is a competition happening next week so we were able to watch a few climbers who were practicing. It looked like a lot of fun but I'm sure would be a very difficult climb. After reloading on the boat for the final time we ate some watermelon before heading to the deck for our return trip back to the dock. We had about an hour ride so we enjoyed the rush of the air on the way back. Feeling rather toasted at this point we were happy to arrive back at the hotel. We picked up Amanda and Aubrey's Batiks and then heading back to the beach for dinner. We had delicious Pineapple fried rice, pad Thai and of course mangos and sticky rice. Then it was time for a shower and back to the airport to head to Bangkok. The taxi was more expensive this time because the hotel has a "waiting" fee for the local drivers.... Pretty much they know you are stuck so they get to charge you more haha. Our flight arrived back into Bangkok and we didn't get settled into our hotel until around 11:30. We had to repack all of our bags and figure out what else we could carry on because we had been paying way too much for luggage and didn't want to continue with that trend. We got to bed after midnight and during the night char's phone rang twice so sleep was scarce. Once when it rang she thought it was the alarm and started getting ready for the day before she realized it was only 2:30 a.m. Haha. The real alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. and we scooted off to the airport, still mostly asleep. Once in Hanoi we checked our baggage into lockers and set off to the St. joseph's Cathedral near the old French quarters where we had stayed before. Christy had told us about a cafe near there called Joma Cafe where we would be able to have good food and wifi. We wanted to support it as they employ Hagar women, (women rescued by the organization Hagar that have been abused, etc and are given counseling and training to get back into the work world). We are sitting here now eating delicious croissants, soups and salad and catching you up on our trip. Love to you all!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Heading to Thailand...
Once we were boarded we had a bit of a turbulent flight with what felt like a few roller coaster drops, nothing frightening just a bit rocky here and there. Once we landed we headed over to customs again where Amanda and Aubrey proceeded to choose the slowest line in the whole place. Char was in the line next to us and made it through the line, got all three of our bags, and then still had to wait for us to make it through the line. I guess it is good to learn patience every now and then though..... After we finally made it out we proceeded to grab a taxi to get to our hotel. Any time you take a taxi you get to pay any road tolls along with your fare. They drive on the left side of the road in Bangkok and much to our relief they actually seem to follow what we would consider normal driving rules. We got to our hotel and just about jumped with joy at how nice it was. Everything is decorated really pretty and we had no worries at all that everything was clean. After relaxing and settling in for a few minutes it was time to see the town! We went to the street and got our first ride in a tuk tuk which is basically a motorcycle with a carriage. They are super cute and fun to ride in. We asked to go to the palace first but our driver said it was "closed" so upon suggestion we went to see the Shrine of the Golden Buddah Image which is the sitting solid gold Buddah which weighs 5 tons. It was interesting to see because it also had a museum which showed how the images are made. They start by making the image out of clay and put on a layer of wax and then another layer of clay. Once everything is hardened they melt the wax out and end up with a mold in which they pour the gold into. Once it has cooled they break all the layers except the gold and have their image. They do the image in sections and then are able to put them all together to get a flawless statue. Once we left the temple our tuk tuk driver had waited for us and said we would go to the palace now that it was open. He mumbled some thing else to which we said "um ok" and before we knew it we ended up in a jewelry factory. Everything was beautiful and it was amazing to see the variety of styles to choose from although we are sad to say Diamonds are out of our budgets at the moment.... How ever, Aubrey got some cool chopsticks at the little store before we left so an unexpected stop wasn't a total bust. Our driver however was quite disappointed that we had NOT made a few thousand dollars in purchases as he would've gotten a cut. We then again headed to the palace but our driver tried to stop again to have us shop for clothes we looked around and said We don't want to shop! We then finally made it to the temple at about 3:30 which guess what? It's the exact time it closes. We said good bye to the driver and found a tourist information booth. We got a little information and headed off in search of the Thai massage school. We made it to the temple where the school was and then saw the Reclining Buddah which is about 50ft tall and about 200ft long (best guess..) after that we continued to wander around the huge place and finally ended up at the massage school. Amanda chose the herb massage where they use warm bags of herbs during the massage to relax your muscles. Char and Aubrey settled for the regular massage and let me tell you.... There is nothing regular about it! For only $12 you get a hour-long full body massage. They have you put on some loose clothing then lie down on a low, firm mat table next to many other people. The masseuse climbs up onto the table next to you and uses all their limbs to massage you, having you turn into different positions. The massage is so deep it is almost painful at times, but was a amazingly effective at loosening up the knots! After the massage we took a metered taxi back to the hotel. We realized by this point that although tuk-tuks are cute, they expose you to all kinds of pollution, are not air-conditioned and charge you almost 3 times as much as a metered taxi...metered being the key word. We did a little street shopping then decided to eat at our hotel restaurant, Cotton, for some delicious-yet-Americanized Thai food including pad thai, buttered cabbage, singapore noodles and sticky rice with mango.
April 13
Its the Thai New Year today! We got to actually sleep in a bit...no more motorbikes or noisy birds under our window. The hotel had a Thai/Chinese buffet and a separate American buffet for our breakfast. Amanda and Aubrey settled for some good old American food and Char tried some interesting items from the other side. She's still not sure what she ate. We had really wanted to see the floating markets but upon inquiring at the front desk found that most are only open on the weekends and the closest one was an hour away. Instead, we decided now was a good time to see the palace and headed off in that direction. As we drove we noticed that almost all of the shops were closed for the holiday which was a bummer as we had wanted to do a little more shopping. When we got to the palace someone at the gate told us that it was closed as they were praying inside for the new year and offered to take us on a river tour while we waited for it to open. Looking back, they were probably lying to us as it seems to be a common for the taxi drivers to drive tourists to a side door of a palace where tour guides are ready with all kinds of offers. We have heard many times that the "palace does not open until 3" when in truth, that is when it closes which gives them the opportunity to sell you a tour of somewhere else. At this point we were a little naive and decided to take the boat tour as they promised we would see temples, a floating market and other things. Another American woman joined us (one of the very few Americans we have seen over here!) and we were driven to the dock. Upon arrival they told us it would be 700 baht per person (about $23). We were able to get them down to 600 per person and then climbed onto the long-tail boat for our tour. About this time we realized the tour guide was not actually joining us...all we had was a driver who didn't speak any English. Scam #1. We sailed down the river passing mostly what seemed to be the slums of Bangkok, people living in shacks situated on stilts above the water that look as if they could topple at any minute. Every once in a while a nicer home or hotel would be squished in between the dilapidated buildings. Finally we started seeing some temples, but to our dismay we could only see the backside of them or the tops poking out of trees and there was no one to even tell us what we were looking at. Scam #2. As we went, kids would step out onto the docks and spray us with hoses or water guns which is a thai tradition for the new year. More on that later. We wondered when we would get to see the floating market and soon a lone boat drifted up with a woman selling junk food and trinkets. Yay for a floating market....and scam #3. We soon pulled up onto a different dock with shops on it. Thinking he was letting us off to shop for a few minutes before continuing with the tour, we climbed out. Before we could turn around, he was gone and we were left to pay an "unloading fee" to even get off the dock, then wandered into the shop. What an amazing tour, we got totally jipped! We actually snagged some cool stuff at the market and wandered through a tent market of delicious food,most of which we couldn't identify. We hoofed it back to the palace which was most definitely open and had to rent some clothes to wear over ours before we were allowed in. Because of this, you will not see us in any of the palace photos. It was a hot, muggy day and we had dressed for the Thai water fights. The multiple-use garments already drenched with other people's sweat made it even warmer and it was hard to enjoy the beautiful palace. The grounds are very large, 218,000 square meters and there is a high white wall around the whole complex. It houses not only the royal residence that King Rama 1 built in 1782 but also throne halls, government offices and the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The emerald Buddha is actually carved from a single piece of jade but when discovered in 1434 it was covered in plaster and the abbot who found the plaster peeling off thought it was emerald and so the name stuck. It has been captured, hidden and changed hands so many times but now is quite safe sitting about 20 feet off the ground on a massive gold throne, even though the idol itself is probably about 2 feet high, if that. People all around us were bowing and praying to it and it was difficult to stand there, watching them, knowing that they have given their whole lives to a god that doesn't even exist. The palace grounds have had buildings added to it by each king, each trying to outdo the last and leave their mark. You have never seen such glitz before, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is covered with gold, tiny mirrors, and hand painted tiles. It is absolutely gorgeous. The king does not reside there any longer, the grounds are only used for special occasions. After the palace we desperately needed a shower so went back to the hotel. Char went out to see if anything was open and found a back alley with a few things. I (char) ended up meeting a shopkeeper who had been to the states many years ago to visit his sister who was getting her phD in Ohio so his English was pretty good. He was very proud of her and showed me many photos of her and wanted to talk at length about life in Thailand versus the U.S. After showers we went back to the palace area to see if we could get another massage but they were closing so we ended up buying random food at the pavilion close by....all of it so delicious! Chicken satay on a stick, curry with noodles, green rice noodles (looked exactly like green beans) in a cold coconut soup, sticky rice with mango and fresh coconut ice-cream with peanuts on it in a coconut shell. We found some open shops (woohoo!) where we were finally able to pick up some items for friends back home and stopped at a 7-11 (yes they have those!) for some basics. While there, we caught a monk looking at some "choice" magazines. Back at the hotel we met up with Christy and headed off to have some of the best Thai food ever!
Once we were boarded we had a bit of a turbulent flight with what felt like a few roller coaster drops, nothing frightening just a bit rocky here and there. Once we landed we headed over to customs again where Amanda and Aubrey proceeded to choose the slowest line in the whole place. Char was in the line next to us and made it through the line, got all three of our bags, and then still had to wait for us to make it through the line. I guess it is good to learn patience every now and then though..... After we finally made it out we proceeded to grab a taxi to get to our hotel. Any time you take a taxi you get to pay any road tolls along with your fare. They drive on the left side of the road in Bangkok and much to our relief they actually seem to follow what we would consider normal driving rules. We got to our hotel and just about jumped with joy at how nice it was. Everything is decorated really pretty and we had no worries at all that everything was clean. After relaxing and settling in for a few minutes it was time to see the town! We went to the street and got our first ride in a tuk tuk which is basically a motorcycle with a carriage. They are super cute and fun to ride in. We asked to go to the palace first but our driver said it was "closed" so upon suggestion we went to see the Shrine of the Golden Buddah Image which is the sitting solid gold Buddah which weighs 5 tons. It was interesting to see because it also had a museum which showed how the images are made. They start by making the image out of clay and put on a layer of wax and then another layer of clay. Once everything is hardened they melt the wax out and end up with a mold in which they pour the gold into. Once it has cooled they break all the layers except the gold and have their image. They do the image in sections and then are able to put them all together to get a flawless statue. Once we left the temple our tuk tuk driver had waited for us and said we would go to the palace now that it was open. He mumbled some thing else to which we said "um ok" and before we knew it we ended up in a jewelry factory. Everything was beautiful and it was amazing to see the variety of styles to choose from although we are sad to say Diamonds are out of our budgets at the moment.... How ever, Aubrey got some cool chopsticks at the little store before we left so an unexpected stop wasn't a total bust. Our driver however was quite disappointed that we had NOT made a few thousand dollars in purchases as he would've gotten a cut. We then again headed to the palace but our driver tried to stop again to have us shop for clothes we looked around and said We don't want to shop! We then finally made it to the temple at about 3:30 which guess what? It's the exact time it closes. We said good bye to the driver and found a tourist information booth. We got a little information and headed off in search of the Thai massage school. We made it to the temple where the school was and then saw the Reclining Buddah which is about 50ft tall and about 200ft long (best guess..) after that we continued to wander around the huge place and finally ended up at the massage school. Amanda chose the herb massage where they use warm bags of herbs during the massage to relax your muscles. Char and Aubrey settled for the regular massage and let me tell you.... There is nothing regular about it! For only $12 you get a hour-long full body massage. They have you put on some loose clothing then lie down on a low, firm mat table next to many other people. The masseuse climbs up onto the table next to you and uses all their limbs to massage you, having you turn into different positions. The massage is so deep it is almost painful at times, but was a amazingly effective at loosening up the knots! After the massage we took a metered taxi back to the hotel. We realized by this point that although tuk-tuks are cute, they expose you to all kinds of pollution, are not air-conditioned and charge you almost 3 times as much as a metered taxi...metered being the key word. We did a little street shopping then decided to eat at our hotel restaurant, Cotton, for some delicious-yet-Americanized Thai food including pad thai, buttered cabbage, singapore noodles and sticky rice with mango.
April 13
Its the Thai New Year today! We got to actually sleep in a bit...no more motorbikes or noisy birds under our window. The hotel had a Thai/Chinese buffet and a separate American buffet for our breakfast. Amanda and Aubrey settled for some good old American food and Char tried some interesting items from the other side. She's still not sure what she ate. We had really wanted to see the floating markets but upon inquiring at the front desk found that most are only open on the weekends and the closest one was an hour away. Instead, we decided now was a good time to see the palace and headed off in that direction. As we drove we noticed that almost all of the shops were closed for the holiday which was a bummer as we had wanted to do a little more shopping. When we got to the palace someone at the gate told us that it was closed as they were praying inside for the new year and offered to take us on a river tour while we waited for it to open. Looking back, they were probably lying to us as it seems to be a common for the taxi drivers to drive tourists to a side door of a palace where tour guides are ready with all kinds of offers. We have heard many times that the "palace does not open until 3" when in truth, that is when it closes which gives them the opportunity to sell you a tour of somewhere else. At this point we were a little naive and decided to take the boat tour as they promised we would see temples, a floating market and other things. Another American woman joined us (one of the very few Americans we have seen over here!) and we were driven to the dock. Upon arrival they told us it would be 700 baht per person (about $23). We were able to get them down to 600 per person and then climbed onto the long-tail boat for our tour. About this time we realized the tour guide was not actually joining us...all we had was a driver who didn't speak any English. Scam #1. We sailed down the river passing mostly what seemed to be the slums of Bangkok, people living in shacks situated on stilts above the water that look as if they could topple at any minute. Every once in a while a nicer home or hotel would be squished in between the dilapidated buildings. Finally we started seeing some temples, but to our dismay we could only see the backside of them or the tops poking out of trees and there was no one to even tell us what we were looking at. Scam #2. As we went, kids would step out onto the docks and spray us with hoses or water guns which is a thai tradition for the new year. More on that later. We wondered when we would get to see the floating market and soon a lone boat drifted up with a woman selling junk food and trinkets. Yay for a floating market....and scam #3. We soon pulled up onto a different dock with shops on it. Thinking he was letting us off to shop for a few minutes before continuing with the tour, we climbed out. Before we could turn around, he was gone and we were left to pay an "unloading fee" to even get off the dock, then wandered into the shop. What an amazing tour, we got totally jipped! We actually snagged some cool stuff at the market and wandered through a tent market of delicious food,most of which we couldn't identify. We hoofed it back to the palace which was most definitely open and had to rent some clothes to wear over ours before we were allowed in. Because of this, you will not see us in any of the palace photos. It was a hot, muggy day and we had dressed for the Thai water fights. The multiple-use garments already drenched with other people's sweat made it even warmer and it was hard to enjoy the beautiful palace. The grounds are very large, 218,000 square meters and there is a high white wall around the whole complex. It houses not only the royal residence that King Rama 1 built in 1782 but also throne halls, government offices and the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The emerald Buddha is actually carved from a single piece of jade but when discovered in 1434 it was covered in plaster and the abbot who found the plaster peeling off thought it was emerald and so the name stuck. It has been captured, hidden and changed hands so many times but now is quite safe sitting about 20 feet off the ground on a massive gold throne, even though the idol itself is probably about 2 feet high, if that. People all around us were bowing and praying to it and it was difficult to stand there, watching them, knowing that they have given their whole lives to a god that doesn't even exist. The palace grounds have had buildings added to it by each king, each trying to outdo the last and leave their mark. You have never seen such glitz before, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is covered with gold, tiny mirrors, and hand painted tiles. It is absolutely gorgeous. The king does not reside there any longer, the grounds are only used for special occasions. After the palace we desperately needed a shower so went back to the hotel. Char went out to see if anything was open and found a back alley with a few things. I (char) ended up meeting a shopkeeper who had been to the states many years ago to visit his sister who was getting her phD in Ohio so his English was pretty good. He was very proud of her and showed me many photos of her and wanted to talk at length about life in Thailand versus the U.S. After showers we went back to the palace area to see if we could get another massage but they were closing so we ended up buying random food at the pavilion close by....all of it so delicious! Chicken satay on a stick, curry with noodles, green rice noodles (looked exactly like green beans) in a cold coconut soup, sticky rice with mango and fresh coconut ice-cream with peanuts on it in a coconut shell. We found some open shops (woohoo!) where we were finally able to pick up some items for friends back home and stopped at a 7-11 (yes they have those!) for some basics. While there, we caught a monk looking at some "choice" magazines. Back at the hotel we met up with Christy and headed off to have some of the best Thai food ever!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Almost thailand
April 11th
Back at the hotel, we were greeted and asked if we would like some juice or coffee. We declined and told them we would just like to go up to our room. Silence. Once again they did not have a room for us as they had lost our reservation. Not to worry, their sister hotel was only 5 minutes away and 3 stars. We would like it. Not to worry :) believe it or not, the new hotel was truly the nicest one we had stayed at thus far. Clean, large room with a shower that actually had shower doors. We were delighted! After cleaning up from our cruise and long bus ride, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the lake nearby for dinner and the water puppet show. Our cab driver's meter was "broken" conveniently, and we for sure got ripped off, but gave up arguing with him after five minutes and paid him the five bucks. We had a delicious dinner of pork chops with lemon grass, beef and pineapple, and pan-fried noodles with lots of different vegetables at Ding Lano restaurant. The restaurant sat right on the lake, two stories high and the night view of the city, sublime. They had a live band perform on instruments we had never seen or heard of before. They sang to us and brought roses and hats to our table. After dinner we headed across the street to the theatre to see the show. Unlike the US, they don't ask you to turn the flash off your camera, silence your cellphone etc. It amazed us the rudeness of the audience throughout the entire show. A woman sitting behind us managed to take thousands of flash photos throughout the 45 minute show, which left us blinded more often than not. What we saw of the show was interesting, anyhow. The puppets all float above the water and are controlled by people standing behind a screen with sticks. If there was a storyline, I missed it. Good thing the tickets were only 3 dollars. After the show we roamed the streets checking out the night venders. Char picked up some really pretty silk scarves and Amanda and Aubrey each got 8 dollar knock off Chanel wallets. Dad approved of those prices ;)- we haven't found a real Chanel store here in Asia...yet. After shopping a bit we caught a taxi back to the hotel to call it a night.
April 12th
We get to go to Thailand today! YES!! We woke early as the taxi was picking us up at 6:30 and begged some loaves of bread from the hotel guy on our way out. After standing in line for a looooong time behind some yappy tourists the woman at the ticket counter told us our bags were all too heavy for carry-on which ensued a long, drawn-out time of running back and forth between various counters to pay for luggage and then finally check it, all the while cutting in front of many displeased travelers...but hey, it happens to the best of us. After taking care of that headache including getting through customs where Amanda flirted her way through, we sat down to eat an American breakfast which included an Asian-made club sandwich (they put fried eggs in them!) and a pizza with more delicious Asian coffee!! The restaurant took advantage of being in an airport and charged American prices as well. Probably our most expensive meal to date.
More to come...
Back at the hotel, we were greeted and asked if we would like some juice or coffee. We declined and told them we would just like to go up to our room. Silence. Once again they did not have a room for us as they had lost our reservation. Not to worry, their sister hotel was only 5 minutes away and 3 stars. We would like it. Not to worry :) believe it or not, the new hotel was truly the nicest one we had stayed at thus far. Clean, large room with a shower that actually had shower doors. We were delighted! After cleaning up from our cruise and long bus ride, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the lake nearby for dinner and the water puppet show. Our cab driver's meter was "broken" conveniently, and we for sure got ripped off, but gave up arguing with him after five minutes and paid him the five bucks. We had a delicious dinner of pork chops with lemon grass, beef and pineapple, and pan-fried noodles with lots of different vegetables at Ding Lano restaurant. The restaurant sat right on the lake, two stories high and the night view of the city, sublime. They had a live band perform on instruments we had never seen or heard of before. They sang to us and brought roses and hats to our table. After dinner we headed across the street to the theatre to see the show. Unlike the US, they don't ask you to turn the flash off your camera, silence your cellphone etc. It amazed us the rudeness of the audience throughout the entire show. A woman sitting behind us managed to take thousands of flash photos throughout the 45 minute show, which left us blinded more often than not. What we saw of the show was interesting, anyhow. The puppets all float above the water and are controlled by people standing behind a screen with sticks. If there was a storyline, I missed it. Good thing the tickets were only 3 dollars. After the show we roamed the streets checking out the night venders. Char picked up some really pretty silk scarves and Amanda and Aubrey each got 8 dollar knock off Chanel wallets. Dad approved of those prices ;)- we haven't found a real Chanel store here in Asia...yet. After shopping a bit we caught a taxi back to the hotel to call it a night.
April 12th
We get to go to Thailand today! YES!! We woke early as the taxi was picking us up at 6:30 and begged some loaves of bread from the hotel guy on our way out. After standing in line for a looooong time behind some yappy tourists the woman at the ticket counter told us our bags were all too heavy for carry-on which ensued a long, drawn-out time of running back and forth between various counters to pay for luggage and then finally check it, all the while cutting in front of many displeased travelers...but hey, it happens to the best of us. After taking care of that headache including getting through customs where Amanda flirted her way through, we sat down to eat an American breakfast which included an Asian-made club sandwich (they put fried eggs in them!) and a pizza with more delicious Asian coffee!! The restaurant took advantage of being in an airport and charged American prices as well. Probably our most expensive meal to date.
More to come...
Monday, April 11, 2011
April 9,10,11
Breakfast consisted of a buffet of miniature sweet green banana's, a Vietnamese version of chow mein, chopped fruit including dragon fruit, mango, and apples, beef pho, fried eggs, bacon and 2 different types of bread, one of which you can find being sold all over the street. It's a large, long loaf that reminds me of a miniature French bread but very light, so light it practically dissolves in your mouth once you take a bite. It's absolutely no problem to finish one off on your own.
The merchandise seems to be sold in districts and as we walked we passed rows and rows of shoes, then silk, then tin and so on. We made our way to Hoan Kiem Lake which was only a few blocks from our hotel and explored the area watching some Vietnamese kids demonstrate their own style of break dancing and took a look at Ngocson Temple in the middle of the lake. We must tell you about the streets in Hanoi! There are almost never lines in the road and when there are, they are merely suggestions that don't seem to be followed. They are mostly filled with motorbikes but have quite a few pedestrians, buses, cars and trucks and everyone has the right of way, all of the time. Everyone swerves around each other clamoring to be the first to get where they are going. It is as common as breathing to brush up against someone else as you fly down the road and there is never a moment of horn-free silence. We were advised that when we crossed we were to look straight ahead with confidence and never hesitate or else we would be standing at the side of the road all day waiting for a break. My life has already flashed before my eyes at least 13 times as the wind from a motorbike ruffles my hair while I am in the middle of the road. It truly is a miracle that we have not witnessed any deaths yet, but somehow it all makes sense to them. We caught a taxi to go across town for a couple bucks to the Mausoleum as our hotel hostess had circled it as a must-see on our map. I'm not sure what we were expecting to see but it certainly wasn't the dead body of Ho Chi Minh enclosed in a glass box and surrounded by soldiers in a deathly silent room. We looked at each other and burst out laughing about this unexpected surprise then tried to shake off the creepiness we felt by touring the estate of this much
-loved man, affectionately called "uncle Ho" by his people. He had beautiful palaces and lakes and it was surprising how many people were there to visit it. After our tour, 3 motorbike taxi owners approached us and asked if we would like a ride somewhere. We decided this was a great time to have the experience and hopped on when they promised the 3 of them would stick together. We told them we wanted some good food so they took us to the food district and dropped us off at one of the finer sit-down, open-air restaurants. We had 3 entrees including beef au vin with bread, grilled pork with herbs and noodles and roasted pork with rice vermicelli along with guava juice and some sodas. We noticed that many people were drinking a multiple-colored drink with layers of a dark liquid, something that looked like tentacles, a white liquid and ice. We asked for one, officially called Che Su'o'ng Sa Hot Lu'u and turns out it was delicious! What we thought were tentacles were red, green and yellow chains of water chestnut-tapioca pearls, jelly, coconut milk and ice. The best part was , our whole meal ended up being about $12.50 USD. Our motorbike drivers had waited for us and drove us to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. On the way there we had a bit of a scare. Amanda's driver decided to race ahead of the others and we got separated. It was quite a long ride and Amanda started freaking out and remembering all the horrible stories people had told her about Asia. Meanwhile Char and Aubrey were panicking as well and it was a relief to get to the museum and see Amanda safe and sound. A bit shook up, we looked at items from Vietnam's many ethnic groups including the history of the charming conical hat. They had an outdoor cafe where we decided to relax with dessert and drinks which included a Vietnamese version of tiramisu and a delicious crepe filled with fruit and an orange sauce and the most amazing creme brûlée ever! Our taxi drivers were still outside so we had them drive us to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum where John McCain was held. Once there we let the taxi drivers know we wouldn't be needing their services any longer. They told us our total was $80 for the day. Since they had told us our first trip would only be $5 for the 3 of us there was no way we were paying that. Char gave them $40 and said that was all we could pay. They looked pretty mad so we quickly escaped into the museum. They actually had the flight suit Mr. McCain was wearing when captured and a few other photos of him as well. We looked at the stark walls, the crude stocks, and a piece of the sewer system through which over 100 men escaped and felt sad for all the human lives wasted there. Once we got outside we saw a large group of vietnam vets who were coming to visit. It was neat to talk to them about their experiences, they said the government paid for them to come every year and visit as long as they qualified. To qualify, they had to have received the purple heart. We flagged down a taxi-car instead of bikes to ensure we stayed together and went back to our hotel. It was only 4:00 pm and we were exhausted so planned to take a short nap before seeing the famous water puppet theatre that night. Next thing we knew, it was 9 pm and we had overslept. So we went back to bed and slept peacefully until 2:30 am of which we will elaborate on next post!!!!
Sunday
Today we woke to the sounds of motorbikes racing underneath our window. It was only 2:30 am so we laid there hoping they would go away but when 3 am rolled around and they were still there we got up to watch. There was a group of 10-15 motorbikes racing around the block while doing wheelies, etc. After a while the number dropped to 3 or 4 and the rest of them stood on the sidelines to watch. By the time we realized we wanted a video they had disappeared and the rest of the city was waking up. I don't think this city sleeps but there seem to be a few hours when everything is quieter. We were all wide awake and breakfast wasn't until 7 so we watched "The Bucket List," caught up on emails and showered in our shower-without-walls. These showers are super inconvenient because the whole bathroom gets wet. At 7 we were once again served the same delicious breakfast...we were starving since we had slept through dinner the night before!! While we waited for our tour bus to pick us up, Char started chatting to one of the hotel hostess's about life in Vietnam. She told us that most people make about $5 USD/day and that we had actually overpaid our taxi drivers by about $10. That was a relief because we had been feeling a little guilty about only paying them half of what they asked for. She also told us a few other interesting facts. Most people pay about $50/month for rent but many people live in small homes/apartments that have been in their family for generations. Many people also work for the government and if so, you get 6 days off a month plus pay during maternity leave. If you work for a private business like she does, you only get 2 days off a month and you don't get paid maternity leave. She said that you can buy insurance but it doesn't do much good because the doctors all prefer people who are paying with cash and if you have insurance you will be the last in line for medical care, even if you arrive to the hospital before a cash-paying person. Our tour bus picked us up around 8:30 am and we stuffed ourself into the crowded van for a 3 hour trip to Halong Bay. We were accompanied by 2 french people Who spoke very nice English and the rest were Vietnamese. Halfway through we stopped at a rest stop with many other tourist buses for some bathrooms and snacks. They were also selling many interesting Vietnamese items but everything was overpriced compared to the street vendors. The scenery outside as we drove along was mostly made up of rice fields where workers were care taking in their conical hats, just like you see in pictures. Occasionally in the middle of a field there would be a random cemetery...it looks like many people are either buried above ground or have very large alter-type memorial stones. We also passed many factories, one of which was a HUGE, sprawling Canon factory along with some others that looked like they manufactured clothing and electronics. Our tour guide, Michael (more on him later!) told us that a BMW 5 series would cost over twice as much here as in the states and an iPad would be around $2000.00 whereas you could buy them from $400-800 in the U.S. Once we boarded our cruise ship they directed us upstairs to the dining room where we were served orange juice and given our room keys. We were split up into 2 rooms which we decided was fine cause it meant an extra bathroom!! Our rooms were nothing like the photos we had been shown....more false advertising...but they were clean. Halong Bay is made up of over 2000 islands. Michael told us the legend is that many years ago the Chinese were trying to take over Vietnam and so the dragon gods blew down jade into the water which turned into islands and caused the Chinese to be lost among the islands without food and water so they died and the Vietnamese won. We first stopped at Hang Su'ng Sot which means "surprise cave." It was first discovered by a sailor and he called it that because of something he saw in the cave which would be shown to us later. The cave was HUGE and we probably climbed over 1200 stairs to get in and go through. Michael kept pointing out random rocks and claimed they were various shapes that somehow we just couldn't see. lol. There was a large rock shaped like a turtle with a pile of money on it's head. We were told if we put money down and rubbed it's head good luck would come to us. Not sure who collects the money but....someone's making bank. After the cave we were ferried over to a kayak rental and once again were split up. Kayak for 3? Not possible. We kayaked around the islands and explored a couple other caves where our not-so-excellent kayaking skills got us stuck. After kayaking we went to another island with a man-made beach. The sun was going down and it was too cold to swim so we climbed 408 stairs to the top of the island where they had a look-out gazebo thing. The climb almost killed us but the view was amazing and we felt like we were on top of the world!!! We watched the sun start to go down and then began our decent back down the stairs, which went much faster than the climb up.... And then ferried back to our ship. We were given a few minutes to settle back in before Michael wanted us to all jump off the boat and into the water with him. We told him it was too cold but he still jumped a few times while we tried to convince him it would be better to jump in the daylight. After that it was time for our "cooking" class. We were allowed to roll one egg roll apiece which consisted of spooning the meat and veggie mixture onto a rice sheet. We are pro cooks now lol. After that we had a few more minutes and then another interesting meal that we tried to make the best of. When you are not huge fans of seafood, and those are the main dishes being served, you are very thankful for the rice.... And the cookies you buy off of the boat vendors. The boat venders are these little row boats piled high with every kind of junk food imaginable, soda, water,cigarettes, wine and much much more. They pull up to the sides of the bigger boats and barter to make sales. Our personal favorites were the chocolate moon pies and Pringles potato chips along with a fanta orange soda :) breakfast, lunch and dinner of champions. Hahaha! We wish we were joking. No mom, we will not be losing weight while we are here! After dinner which consisted of more seafood soup, seafood salad, mushed fish on a stick, mussels in the shells, and pigs feet we settled in for a lively karaoke show. Anything that Michael is involved in is not the least bit dull. Being Vietnam, the karaoke was broken of course so after waiting 30 min while they tinkled with the machine Amanda passed out and went to her room to sleep. Michael soon fixed the machine and Aubrey stayed for his first song then snuck off before she could get roped into performing. Char was up next with our French dinner partners Frederic and Aureli. We sang "hello" by Lionel Ritchie and a classic beach boys song. Unfortunately michael decided to join us and threw us off so bad with his booming voice that those songs have never been performed so off-key in their entire existence and probably never will be again. What a treat for the boat to hear. Amanda and Aubrey asked the next morning what all the screeching had been about. So now you know a little more about the amazing Michael!!
The next morning our alarms went off at 5:45am in hopes of catching the sunrise. By 9am we realized...there was no sunrise. It was too cloudy and foggy. Should have slept in! Our breakfast consisted of white bread, butter, jelly, fried eggs and uncooked bacon. They fry the crap out of all of their other food, why couldn't they fry the one food we actually might have liked? After breakfast we said goodbye to our French friends and tour guide Michael, and headed to the deck for some sunbathing!!! We have great tan lines in all the wrong places! We are hoping to fix that in Thailand! The sun did come out and the scenery was breath taking. We saw several islands where one of the many James bond movies was filmed. We also saw a special island that is on their currency. Lunch consisted of...take a guess.... Fried squishy fish, octopus salad, a fried whole fish, fried clam, rice, and cabbage. Tgf pringles and moon pies! Our tour ended right after lunch, and we hopped back on the bus for our three hour ride back to Hanoi. Why is it that we always get stuck in the back of the bus? We give all credit of the errors on this post to the bouncing up and down while typing in the bus. A galloping horse might be a smoother ride!
The merchandise seems to be sold in districts and as we walked we passed rows and rows of shoes, then silk, then tin and so on. We made our way to Hoan Kiem Lake which was only a few blocks from our hotel and explored the area watching some Vietnamese kids demonstrate their own style of break dancing and took a look at Ngocson Temple in the middle of the lake. We must tell you about the streets in Hanoi! There are almost never lines in the road and when there are, they are merely suggestions that don't seem to be followed. They are mostly filled with motorbikes but have quite a few pedestrians, buses, cars and trucks and everyone has the right of way, all of the time. Everyone swerves around each other clamoring to be the first to get where they are going. It is as common as breathing to brush up against someone else as you fly down the road and there is never a moment of horn-free silence. We were advised that when we crossed we were to look straight ahead with confidence and never hesitate or else we would be standing at the side of the road all day waiting for a break. My life has already flashed before my eyes at least 13 times as the wind from a motorbike ruffles my hair while I am in the middle of the road. It truly is a miracle that we have not witnessed any deaths yet, but somehow it all makes sense to them. We caught a taxi to go across town for a couple bucks to the Mausoleum as our hotel hostess had circled it as a must-see on our map. I'm not sure what we were expecting to see but it certainly wasn't the dead body of Ho Chi Minh enclosed in a glass box and surrounded by soldiers in a deathly silent room. We looked at each other and burst out laughing about this unexpected surprise then tried to shake off the creepiness we felt by touring the estate of this much
-loved man, affectionately called "uncle Ho" by his people. He had beautiful palaces and lakes and it was surprising how many people were there to visit it. After our tour, 3 motorbike taxi owners approached us and asked if we would like a ride somewhere. We decided this was a great time to have the experience and hopped on when they promised the 3 of them would stick together. We told them we wanted some good food so they took us to the food district and dropped us off at one of the finer sit-down, open-air restaurants. We had 3 entrees including beef au vin with bread, grilled pork with herbs and noodles and roasted pork with rice vermicelli along with guava juice and some sodas. We noticed that many people were drinking a multiple-colored drink with layers of a dark liquid, something that looked like tentacles, a white liquid and ice. We asked for one, officially called Che Su'o'ng Sa Hot Lu'u and turns out it was delicious! What we thought were tentacles were red, green and yellow chains of water chestnut-tapioca pearls, jelly, coconut milk and ice. The best part was , our whole meal ended up being about $12.50 USD. Our motorbike drivers had waited for us and drove us to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. On the way there we had a bit of a scare. Amanda's driver decided to race ahead of the others and we got separated. It was quite a long ride and Amanda started freaking out and remembering all the horrible stories people had told her about Asia. Meanwhile Char and Aubrey were panicking as well and it was a relief to get to the museum and see Amanda safe and sound. A bit shook up, we looked at items from Vietnam's many ethnic groups including the history of the charming conical hat. They had an outdoor cafe where we decided to relax with dessert and drinks which included a Vietnamese version of tiramisu and a delicious crepe filled with fruit and an orange sauce and the most amazing creme brûlée ever! Our taxi drivers were still outside so we had them drive us to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum where John McCain was held. Once there we let the taxi drivers know we wouldn't be needing their services any longer. They told us our total was $80 for the day. Since they had told us our first trip would only be $5 for the 3 of us there was no way we were paying that. Char gave them $40 and said that was all we could pay. They looked pretty mad so we quickly escaped into the museum. They actually had the flight suit Mr. McCain was wearing when captured and a few other photos of him as well. We looked at the stark walls, the crude stocks, and a piece of the sewer system through which over 100 men escaped and felt sad for all the human lives wasted there. Once we got outside we saw a large group of vietnam vets who were coming to visit. It was neat to talk to them about their experiences, they said the government paid for them to come every year and visit as long as they qualified. To qualify, they had to have received the purple heart. We flagged down a taxi-car instead of bikes to ensure we stayed together and went back to our hotel. It was only 4:00 pm and we were exhausted so planned to take a short nap before seeing the famous water puppet theatre that night. Next thing we knew, it was 9 pm and we had overslept. So we went back to bed and slept peacefully until 2:30 am of which we will elaborate on next post!!!!
Sunday
Today we woke to the sounds of motorbikes racing underneath our window. It was only 2:30 am so we laid there hoping they would go away but when 3 am rolled around and they were still there we got up to watch. There was a group of 10-15 motorbikes racing around the block while doing wheelies, etc. After a while the number dropped to 3 or 4 and the rest of them stood on the sidelines to watch. By the time we realized we wanted a video they had disappeared and the rest of the city was waking up. I don't think this city sleeps but there seem to be a few hours when everything is quieter. We were all wide awake and breakfast wasn't until 7 so we watched "The Bucket List," caught up on emails and showered in our shower-without-walls. These showers are super inconvenient because the whole bathroom gets wet. At 7 we were once again served the same delicious breakfast...we were starving since we had slept through dinner the night before!! While we waited for our tour bus to pick us up, Char started chatting to one of the hotel hostess's about life in Vietnam. She told us that most people make about $5 USD/day and that we had actually overpaid our taxi drivers by about $10. That was a relief because we had been feeling a little guilty about only paying them half of what they asked for. She also told us a few other interesting facts. Most people pay about $50/month for rent but many people live in small homes/apartments that have been in their family for generations. Many people also work for the government and if so, you get 6 days off a month plus pay during maternity leave. If you work for a private business like she does, you only get 2 days off a month and you don't get paid maternity leave. She said that you can buy insurance but it doesn't do much good because the doctors all prefer people who are paying with cash and if you have insurance you will be the last in line for medical care, even if you arrive to the hospital before a cash-paying person. Our tour bus picked us up around 8:30 am and we stuffed ourself into the crowded van for a 3 hour trip to Halong Bay. We were accompanied by 2 french people Who spoke very nice English and the rest were Vietnamese. Halfway through we stopped at a rest stop with many other tourist buses for some bathrooms and snacks. They were also selling many interesting Vietnamese items but everything was overpriced compared to the street vendors. The scenery outside as we drove along was mostly made up of rice fields where workers were care taking in their conical hats, just like you see in pictures. Occasionally in the middle of a field there would be a random cemetery...it looks like many people are either buried above ground or have very large alter-type memorial stones. We also passed many factories, one of which was a HUGE, sprawling Canon factory along with some others that looked like they manufactured clothing and electronics. Our tour guide, Michael (more on him later!) told us that a BMW 5 series would cost over twice as much here as in the states and an iPad would be around $2000.00 whereas you could buy them from $400-800 in the U.S. Once we boarded our cruise ship they directed us upstairs to the dining room where we were served orange juice and given our room keys. We were split up into 2 rooms which we decided was fine cause it meant an extra bathroom!! Our rooms were nothing like the photos we had been shown....more false advertising...but they were clean. Halong Bay is made up of over 2000 islands. Michael told us the legend is that many years ago the Chinese were trying to take over Vietnam and so the dragon gods blew down jade into the water which turned into islands and caused the Chinese to be lost among the islands without food and water so they died and the Vietnamese won. We first stopped at Hang Su'ng Sot which means "surprise cave." It was first discovered by a sailor and he called it that because of something he saw in the cave which would be shown to us later. The cave was HUGE and we probably climbed over 1200 stairs to get in and go through. Michael kept pointing out random rocks and claimed they were various shapes that somehow we just couldn't see. lol. There was a large rock shaped like a turtle with a pile of money on it's head. We were told if we put money down and rubbed it's head good luck would come to us. Not sure who collects the money but....someone's making bank. After the cave we were ferried over to a kayak rental and once again were split up. Kayak for 3? Not possible. We kayaked around the islands and explored a couple other caves where our not-so-excellent kayaking skills got us stuck. After kayaking we went to another island with a man-made beach. The sun was going down and it was too cold to swim so we climbed 408 stairs to the top of the island where they had a look-out gazebo thing. The climb almost killed us but the view was amazing and we felt like we were on top of the world!!! We watched the sun start to go down and then began our decent back down the stairs, which went much faster than the climb up.... And then ferried back to our ship. We were given a few minutes to settle back in before Michael wanted us to all jump off the boat and into the water with him. We told him it was too cold but he still jumped a few times while we tried to convince him it would be better to jump in the daylight. After that it was time for our "cooking" class. We were allowed to roll one egg roll apiece which consisted of spooning the meat and veggie mixture onto a rice sheet. We are pro cooks now lol. After that we had a few more minutes and then another interesting meal that we tried to make the best of. When you are not huge fans of seafood, and those are the main dishes being served, you are very thankful for the rice.... And the cookies you buy off of the boat vendors. The boat venders are these little row boats piled high with every kind of junk food imaginable, soda, water,cigarettes, wine and much much more. They pull up to the sides of the bigger boats and barter to make sales. Our personal favorites were the chocolate moon pies and Pringles potato chips along with a fanta orange soda :) breakfast, lunch and dinner of champions. Hahaha! We wish we were joking. No mom, we will not be losing weight while we are here! After dinner which consisted of more seafood soup, seafood salad, mushed fish on a stick, mussels in the shells, and pigs feet we settled in for a lively karaoke show. Anything that Michael is involved in is not the least bit dull. Being Vietnam, the karaoke was broken of course so after waiting 30 min while they tinkled with the machine Amanda passed out and went to her room to sleep. Michael soon fixed the machine and Aubrey stayed for his first song then snuck off before she could get roped into performing. Char was up next with our French dinner partners Frederic and Aureli. We sang "hello" by Lionel Ritchie and a classic beach boys song. Unfortunately michael decided to join us and threw us off so bad with his booming voice that those songs have never been performed so off-key in their entire existence and probably never will be again. What a treat for the boat to hear. Amanda and Aubrey asked the next morning what all the screeching had been about. So now you know a little more about the amazing Michael!!
The next morning our alarms went off at 5:45am in hopes of catching the sunrise. By 9am we realized...there was no sunrise. It was too cloudy and foggy. Should have slept in! Our breakfast consisted of white bread, butter, jelly, fried eggs and uncooked bacon. They fry the crap out of all of their other food, why couldn't they fry the one food we actually might have liked? After breakfast we said goodbye to our French friends and tour guide Michael, and headed to the deck for some sunbathing!!! We have great tan lines in all the wrong places! We are hoping to fix that in Thailand! The sun did come out and the scenery was breath taking. We saw several islands where one of the many James bond movies was filmed. We also saw a special island that is on their currency. Lunch consisted of...take a guess.... Fried squishy fish, octopus salad, a fried whole fish, fried clam, rice, and cabbage. Tgf pringles and moon pies! Our tour ended right after lunch, and we hopped back on the bus for our three hour ride back to Hanoi. Why is it that we always get stuck in the back of the bus? We give all credit of the errors on this post to the bouncing up and down while typing in the bus. A galloping horse might be a smoother ride!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Our first day in Hanoi!
Well, we survived the plane rides from Seattle to Seoul, and the Seoul to Hanoi. Our travel time was a little over 28 hours total from start to finish! We were so excited to get off our plane and go find the big sign with our names on it and go to our hotel with our driver! Needless to say, we kept looking and looking for the driver who was obviously not there. After giving up on him we settled on taking a taxi who we negotiated down to $18US for all three of us. The drive took close to an hour and at this point in the night we decided the driving in Hanoi was quite safe as we drove about 40 miles an hour on the highway to get there. Upon arrival at the hotel tucked deep in the heart of the old French quarters, the front desk looked quite surprised to see us. Somewhere along the way of emailing back and forth, they had forgotten to write down our reservation in their books. Amanda pulled out her iPad to show them proof of all the emails and confirmation. After silence for way too long the lady informed us that she had a room for us at another hotel a few blocks away and would take us there for the night. We all packed into the car and headed that way. We were greeted by a young guy in his boxers and a dress shirt who had clearly been asleep and he led us up four long flights of stairs (54 steps...yes we counted.) The room was everything we were not expecting. We will leave it at that :) not exactly 5 star. Ha! Char quickly decided to jump in the shower to get some of the travel dirt off. When she came out she warned us to be careful not to step in the hole or cracked part. Wouldn't want to fall through! We turned in exhausted and counted the springs digging into our backs. Zzzzzz. Chirp, beep, honk, yap yap yap. Repeat. Nice quiet hotel indeed! Hahahaha! We woke up bright and early to a nice dark room and no light switches turning on. Yes, this would be our luck. After running up and down the many flights of stairs we found the breaker and the wifi code! Things were looking up. We were soon treated by a lady from the first hotel who kindly walked us back to the hotel for a delicious breakfast. She confirmed our reservation for a cruise to Halong Bay the next day and gave us a map of all the local hotspots. We picked our way down filthy streets with vendors selling everything from raw meat to trinkets to silk. Most goods are divided into districts and you pass hundreds of stalls filled with everything you could imagine!
To be continued... We are off to get on a junk boat cruise!
To be continued... We are off to get on a junk boat cruise!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011 Seattle Airport
If you've been so blessed as to find us on here....thanks for following! We are back, although this group has slightly changed from the 5 single girls who brought you tales of Europe. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that LeAnne has crossed to the "other side" where married people hang out and quit spending time with their single friends. We miss her , but of course are totally happy for her as she is celebrating her one year anniversary this month. We'd also like to tell Nat that we will miss her and her camera terribly.... But not her passport-losing ways. Just kidding Natalie, it would be awesome to have you here! And finally, Cheryl, who has joined the workforce where real adults hang out, fortunately we don't know anything about that yet. This trip Amanda's younger sister Aubrey will be with us and we will be meeting Christy C. for a part of our time. We are flying into Hanoi, Vietnam today (actually it will be more like tomorrow when we land) and starting our adventure there. Unfortunately we have already had a shift in plans. Apparently Phuket has had some major flooding with more to come so we are probably going to have to cut that out. No worries, we'll find some other way to cause trouble. Tam Biet!
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