What a beautiful country filled with wonderful people! After we left the amazing Perhentian Islands we headed up into the mountains to the Cameron Highlands. This area is an old British hill station, dotted with small towns, the rolling hills covered in farms and rain forests. We stayed in a very unique guest house composed of bunker like buildings leftover from around 100 years ago.
Our first full day in the Cameron Highlands we hooked up with 3 other people staying at our guest house and decided to go check out the "Boh Sungai Palas" tea plantation. We took a bus out of town and then walked a few more kilometers to the plantation. The bright green tea fields on the rolling hills were a sight to be seen. We watched as farmers harvested the tea leaves and admired the beauty around us while enjoying a cup of tea at the plantation. After finishing our visit there we decided to continue our trek and head up to the top of a nearby mountain. The book said it was only a 2 hour walk up... we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The road all the way up was a steady and steep climb with around a 1000 meter elevation gain (the peak is exactly 6666 ft high... Hmmm...). We eventually made it to the top of the mountain after some confusion since none of the roads and trails are marked. We arrived at the top just in time for the clouds to roll in and cover us in fog which was really beautiful in the middle of the forest.
From there there was a "jungle walk" that we were supposed to be able to take back down the mountain. Well I have done a few different jungle treks by now but nothing like this one. We climbed straight down the mountain through thick mud and over/under/around trees and roots. It was such slow going we only went about half a kilometer in 45 minutes. By the time we made it down we were covered in mud and exhausted. We figured that we had done a 9+ mile hike, and that was after weeks of inactivity at the beach to make it worse. I was sore for days to come after that one.
After another day of easier hiking and touring around the Cameron Highlands we headed south to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. What I love about KL is the international and multi-cultural feel it has to it. You walk down the street and see a woman covered from head to toe in a veil,, Buddhist monks in their red robes and Indian women wearing saris and bindis. And the great thing about it was that there didn't seem to be any tension between the cultures- to an outsider on a quick visit at least. Everone we met no matter their background was very helpful and friendly. It was probably the first city in Asia that I felt like I could even blend into the culture there.
We wandered around the city taking it all in. Visited the Petronas Twin Towers, the ex-tallest buildings in the world before Taipei and Dubai out did them. Got a free tour (on condition that you watch a 15 minute advertisement for Petronas) and went up the towers, to the sky bridge at least. Visited the National Mosque as well as the oldest mosque in Malaysia. Did some shopping and exploring and just enjoyed being in a nice city.
I think many times when people plan their South East Asia trips they don't even consider visiting Malaysia, we met very few people who had been there while we were in other countries. But Malaysia ended up being one of my favorite destinations of the whole trip.
Showing posts with label South East Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South East Asia. Show all posts
May 20, 2009
Apr 13, 2009
Travel Update
Well I really thought I would be better about keeping up with my blog while were traveling, but when I only get on the computer for about 5 minutes once every couple of days it's kind of hard. I can update from my iPod (as I'm doing right now) but that's even hard to find the time to do.
Anyway, things have been going great. Since I last wrote I've been to 5 cities in 3 countries. From Vang Vieng we took the bus down to Viantiane, the tiny capital of Laos (only 200,000 people). We had planned to bus from there all the way down through Laos making some stops in some towns and then crossing the border into Cambodia. But that was going to mean close to 30 hours total bus time so we took the easy way out and flew. We flew into Phnom Pehn (the capital of Cambodia) which we probably wouldn't have made it to otherwise. From there we bused over to Siem Reap, best known for those little temples that are nearby (Angkor Wat). We traveled from Siem Reap to Battambang, a Cambodian town that came highly recommended although I'm not sure why. Finally, just yesterday, we walked across the border into Thailand and arrived in Bangkok late last night. Phew, what a journey over the last couple of weeks!
Here are some highlights:
• Riding bikes all around Viantiane and visiting Pha That Luang, the giant golden stupa that is Laos' pride and joy.
• Visiting the horribly sad Killing Fields and S21, leftovers from Cambodia's dark history of Khmer Rouge. I learned so much and feel a little cheated that it was something that I never heard mentioned in history class.
• Seeing the brighter side of Phnom Pehn at the beautiful Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.
• Three days exploring Angkor Wat including two sunsets and a sunrise. Absolutely amazing. We saw the "Tomb Raider" temple and I wanted to pretend that I was Angelina Jolie but Jason just laughed at me.
• A wonderful cooking class in Battambang (the only thing we really liked there). We shopped in the local market, made Khmer curry from scratch, ate three delicious meals and learned about our instructor's life growing up in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Coming from Laos and Cambodia, Thailand was quite a culture shock. Immediately after crossing the border there were four lane highways, giant superstores, modern hospitals, McDonalds and 7-11, etc. And that was before we even saw Bangkok. (I'm pretty sure there isn't even a single American fast food restaurant in all of Laos). Bangkok is a big modern city much unlike anything we've been to in SE Asia so far.
I had heard nothing but negative things about Bangkok before coming here. We only planned to stay to see a few sites around the city. But I am pleasantly surprised to find that I actually like it here. The area that were staying in (Khao San Road) is incredibly touristy but kind of nice. There are great restaurants and bars and street food and shopping everywhere you turn. And today we visited the Grand Palace and another temple that were absolutely amazing. It would be worth it to come up Bangkok just for those.
The plan from here is to visit a town called Kanchanburi and then head down to the islands for some quality beach time. Only problem is that we need to get our 15 day visa extended which may turn out to be more expensive of a problem than we anticipated.....
Anyway, things have been going great. Since I last wrote I've been to 5 cities in 3 countries. From Vang Vieng we took the bus down to Viantiane, the tiny capital of Laos (only 200,000 people). We had planned to bus from there all the way down through Laos making some stops in some towns and then crossing the border into Cambodia. But that was going to mean close to 30 hours total bus time so we took the easy way out and flew. We flew into Phnom Pehn (the capital of Cambodia) which we probably wouldn't have made it to otherwise. From there we bused over to Siem Reap, best known for those little temples that are nearby (Angkor Wat). We traveled from Siem Reap to Battambang, a Cambodian town that came highly recommended although I'm not sure why. Finally, just yesterday, we walked across the border into Thailand and arrived in Bangkok late last night. Phew, what a journey over the last couple of weeks!
Here are some highlights:
• Riding bikes all around Viantiane and visiting Pha That Luang, the giant golden stupa that is Laos' pride and joy.
• Visiting the horribly sad Killing Fields and S21, leftovers from Cambodia's dark history of Khmer Rouge. I learned so much and feel a little cheated that it was something that I never heard mentioned in history class.
• Seeing the brighter side of Phnom Pehn at the beautiful Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.
• Three days exploring Angkor Wat including two sunsets and a sunrise. Absolutely amazing. We saw the "Tomb Raider" temple and I wanted to pretend that I was Angelina Jolie but Jason just laughed at me.
• A wonderful cooking class in Battambang (the only thing we really liked there). We shopped in the local market, made Khmer curry from scratch, ate three delicious meals and learned about our instructor's life growing up in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Coming from Laos and Cambodia, Thailand was quite a culture shock. Immediately after crossing the border there were four lane highways, giant superstores, modern hospitals, McDonalds and 7-11, etc. And that was before we even saw Bangkok. (I'm pretty sure there isn't even a single American fast food restaurant in all of Laos). Bangkok is a big modern city much unlike anything we've been to in SE Asia so far.
I had heard nothing but negative things about Bangkok before coming here. We only planned to stay to see a few sites around the city. But I am pleasantly surprised to find that I actually like it here. The area that were staying in (Khao San Road) is incredibly touristy but kind of nice. There are great restaurants and bars and street food and shopping everywhere you turn. And today we visited the Grand Palace and another temple that were absolutely amazing. It would be worth it to come up Bangkok just for those.
The plan from here is to visit a town called Kanchanburi and then head down to the islands for some quality beach time. Only problem is that we need to get our 15 day visa extended which may turn out to be more expensive of a problem than we anticipated.....
Apr 1, 2009
Party Town, Laos (Vang Vieng)
We took a 6 hour minibus ride through the mountains from Luang Prabang to the small town of Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a little town on the river which has become a big backpackers stop and party town in recent years. It's in a beautiful area, jagged limestone mountains and amazingly green forest. But that's not why most people go there. The main draw is the tubing and the bars.
Knowing this and assuming it wasn't really going to be what we were looking for, we only planned for about a day there. When we arrived, we were amazed at the beauty of the place. No one we talked to had mentioned that, only the tubing.
Our first evening there we met up with dome other people in our minibus group: two Brits, an Aussie and a Kiwi. They were all great people and we ended up hanging out with them the whole time we were there. That first night we decided to check out some of the nightlife and headed to one of the many riverside" bars" (which is really just an outdoor area with some tables, a bar and a DJ booth. We hung out drinking and dancing and were still in bed before midnight- arterial this is Laos; early to bed, early to rise.
The next day we were disappointed to wake up to buckets of rain dumping on the village- no tubing today. So our little clan made our way to one of the many restaurants to catch some breakfast and try to wait out the rain. The majority of the restaurants around town have these elevated platforms covered in pillows where you can lounge away your day. They have low tables on the platforms and no walls around the restaurant so it's the perfect place to relax and watch the rain fall. And watch Friends. Fir some reason, every place seems to have obtained a DVD of Friends, Family Guy or The Simpsons and just play them on repeat all day long. It's kind of funny but sure was nice while we had nothing else to do.
The rain eventually let up but it was still too cool out to hang out in the river. So Jason and I decided instead to walk back toward the mountains and see what we would find. We saw some signs pointing the way to caves so we followed them. It ended up being a great little walk, even though I was wearing flip flops through the muddiest roads. We wandered through farmers fields, around herds of cattle and past playing children. We even came across an entire field completely full of four leaf clovers (there's one in my book for safe keeping)! We had to walk over a tiny rickety bridge made of bamboo with a sign reading "only one at a time"- a little scary. Finally we came to where the farmlands end and the jungle begins. You could almost stand with one foot in a field and one in the jungle it was that clear cut. We got into the dense jungle and it immediately got darker and we could hear birds chirping and monkies howling. We felt a world away from the party town we had just came from. We made it to the cave but didn't go in as it was too dark to see a thing. But it was a great adventure getting there.
The next day we did the tubing thing. It was fun fir a day, but I don't know how people stay there fir weeks doing the same thing everyday. But it wasn't really tubing, more just hanging out at bars along the river and occasionally swimming from one to the next. The best part was watching people fly off the giant rope swings and ohhhing and ahhhing at their tricks/belly flops.
We eventually tried to tube the 3 km back to town but the river was too shallow and it was getting too late so we took a yuk yuk the rest of the way.
Knowing this and assuming it wasn't really going to be what we were looking for, we only planned for about a day there. When we arrived, we were amazed at the beauty of the place. No one we talked to had mentioned that, only the tubing.
Our first evening there we met up with dome other people in our minibus group: two Brits, an Aussie and a Kiwi. They were all great people and we ended up hanging out with them the whole time we were there. That first night we decided to check out some of the nightlife and headed to one of the many riverside" bars" (which is really just an outdoor area with some tables, a bar and a DJ booth. We hung out drinking and dancing and were still in bed before midnight- arterial this is Laos; early to bed, early to rise.
The next day we were disappointed to wake up to buckets of rain dumping on the village- no tubing today. So our little clan made our way to one of the many restaurants to catch some breakfast and try to wait out the rain. The majority of the restaurants around town have these elevated platforms covered in pillows where you can lounge away your day. They have low tables on the platforms and no walls around the restaurant so it's the perfect place to relax and watch the rain fall. And watch Friends. Fir some reason, every place seems to have obtained a DVD of Friends, Family Guy or The Simpsons and just play them on repeat all day long. It's kind of funny but sure was nice while we had nothing else to do.
The rain eventually let up but it was still too cool out to hang out in the river. So Jason and I decided instead to walk back toward the mountains and see what we would find. We saw some signs pointing the way to caves so we followed them. It ended up being a great little walk, even though I was wearing flip flops through the muddiest roads. We wandered through farmers fields, around herds of cattle and past playing children. We even came across an entire field completely full of four leaf clovers (there's one in my book for safe keeping)! We had to walk over a tiny rickety bridge made of bamboo with a sign reading "only one at a time"- a little scary. Finally we came to where the farmlands end and the jungle begins. You could almost stand with one foot in a field and one in the jungle it was that clear cut. We got into the dense jungle and it immediately got darker and we could hear birds chirping and monkies howling. We felt a world away from the party town we had just came from. We made it to the cave but didn't go in as it was too dark to see a thing. But it was a great adventure getting there.
The next day we did the tubing thing. It was fun fir a day, but I don't know how people stay there fir weeks doing the same thing everyday. But it wasn't really tubing, more just hanging out at bars along the river and occasionally swimming from one to the next. The best part was watching people fly off the giant rope swings and ohhhing and ahhhing at their tricks/belly flops.
We eventually tried to tube the 3 km back to town but the river was too shallow and it was getting too late so we took a yuk yuk the rest of the way.
Mar 19, 2009
In the Highlands
The night train that Jason and I took along with Fred and Steph took us up to a small city in the north of Vietnam called Lao Cai, only 3 km from the Chinese border. We only stayed in Lao Cai long enough to find a mini bus to take us the other hour to Sapa. Sapa is a beautiful little mountain town that most tourists travel to to do some treking and see the indigenous people. And that's just what we did.
After quickly finding a place to stay (cheap! $6/night for the room. But you get what you pay for...) and a bite to eat, we headed out to do some treking around some nearby villages.
The landscape around Sapa is amazingly beautiful, it's east to see what draws so many tourists there. We slowly wandered through the green valley, through countless rice paddies, past grazing water buffalo and around feeding piglets and chicks. The local farmers and tribal people were incredibly friendly. The children watched us with curiousity and waved and yelled "hellogoodbye" until they could no longer see us.
After meandering around for about 4 hours we decided to make our way back toward Sapa. To get to the road that would lead us there, we had to cut back across the valley and up a mountain of about 500 meters. When we were almost to the top we came to a vertical dirt wall where farmers were digging out the mountainside. As we were about to climb up the footholes in the wall, we watched as a little boy of about 9 ran down the wall as fast as he could without missing a step. We slowly made our way up the wall as the locals all watched and laughed at how slowly and carefully we climbed.
We finally made it to the top and were lucky to get picked up by a tour van full of French tourists (who we would see many times again over our weekend) on theiir way back to town.
After quickly finding a place to stay (cheap! $6/night for the room. But you get what you pay for...) and a bite to eat, we headed out to do some treking around some nearby villages.
The landscape around Sapa is amazingly beautiful, it's east to see what draws so many tourists there. We slowly wandered through the green valley, through countless rice paddies, past grazing water buffalo and around feeding piglets and chicks. The local farmers and tribal people were incredibly friendly. The children watched us with curiousity and waved and yelled "hellogoodbye" until they could no longer see us.
After meandering around for about 4 hours we decided to make our way back toward Sapa. To get to the road that would lead us there, we had to cut back across the valley and up a mountain of about 500 meters. When we were almost to the top we came to a vertical dirt wall where farmers were digging out the mountainside. As we were about to climb up the footholes in the wall, we watched as a little boy of about 9 ran down the wall as fast as he could without missing a step. We slowly made our way up the wall as the locals all watched and laughed at how slowly and carefully we climbed.
We finally made it to the top and were lucky to get picked up by a tour van full of French tourists (who we would see many times again over our weekend) on theiir way back to town.
Mar 17, 2009
On the Night Train
Steph, Fred and Jason in our little room on the hard bunksFrom Hanoi, Jason and I, along with two new friends, a French couple, Fred and Steph, took the train to the small mountain town of Sapa. Most tourists book the train through a tour agency and travel in the special tourist cars. No, we decided, we weren't going to do that. We'd book our own tickets and ride with the locals for less than half the price. There are many different classes of tickets and we wanted the soft sleeper- the best- for our 9 hour overnight journey. Unfortunately all the soft sleepers were already sold, so we had to settle for the hard sleeper- the second best.
I thought it would be okay. In China we had taken the soft sleeper, which was clean, comfortable, and quiet. We heard the hard sleeper was basically the same thing there, just as comfortable. We found out the hard way that that is not the case in Vietnam.
At the train station we made our way to our dirty old train car and found our little compartment which the four of us would share with two more locals. It was not clean. It was not comfortable. And it was definitely not quiet. To sleep on, we had rock solid linolium bunks covered by a thin bamboo mat. All night long people shouted in the hallways, which didn't really matter because the roar of the train through the open window was already loud enough.
And I'm not even going to talk about the condition of the bathroom.
The four of us stayed up for a while sitting on the bottom bunks playing cards so that we would hopefully be so tired we would just crash. And it worked, except for the fact that we all woke up everytime the train made a stop- about every 10 km.
Thanks, but we're taking the tourist train on the way back.
I thought it would be okay. In China we had taken the soft sleeper, which was clean, comfortable, and quiet. We heard the hard sleeper was basically the same thing there, just as comfortable. We found out the hard way that that is not the case in Vietnam.
At the train station we made our way to our dirty old train car and found our little compartment which the four of us would share with two more locals. It was not clean. It was not comfortable. And it was definitely not quiet. To sleep on, we had rock solid linolium bunks covered by a thin bamboo mat. All night long people shouted in the hallways, which didn't really matter because the roar of the train through the open window was already loud enough.
And I'm not even going to talk about the condition of the bathroom.
The four of us stayed up for a while sitting on the bottom bunks playing cards so that we would hopefully be so tired we would just crash. And it worked, except for the fact that we all woke up everytime the train made a stop- about every 10 km.
Thanks, but we're taking the tourist train on the way back.
Mar 11, 2009
Halong Bay Tour
As I said in my last post, we spent a lot of time trying to find a good tour agency for Halong Bay. Well after all of that, the tour we chose ended up getting canceled the night before we were supposed to leave. They claimed engine failure in the boat but who knows what really happened. So we rushed out that evening (after a long day of walking all around Hanoi) and found a new agency- ODC Tours. The one we decided on ended up being great, so it all worked out in the end.
Monday morning we were wisked off from our hotel bright and early to make the 4 hour drive to Halong. Once at the harbor we boarded our "junk" which was to be our home for the next couple of days. The boat was 3 stories with rooms on the bottom, dining area in the middle and a sun deck on top. Everything was really very nice. We met the 9 other people who were joining us on our tour- all Germans, all nice people. They served us an amazing lunch on board with just about every kind of seafood you can imagine. Jason and I both agreed these would probably be the fanciest meals of our whole vacation.
After cruising around the beautiful islands for a couple hours we arrived at our first stop: Amazing Cave. The cave is massive and definitely lived up to it's name. There were 3 rooms, each bigger than the last. Although a lot of the cave has been ruined since the French explorers found it in 1906, there were still some huge, incredible stlagtites/mites to be seen.
After the cave we made our way to a nearby island (Dao Ti Top) which we were able to climb to the top of to get some amazing views of the bay. After that, it was another wonderful dinner and more relaxing on the boat.
The next morning we went over to Cat Ba Island, the only island of the 3000 islands that is inhabited. There is a town on Cat Ba, but we went to another side of the island where we were able to hike to a small farming village if about 200 people. It was really interesting to see their simple way of life, even though they still had satellites beaming TV signals into their one room houses. But the village, and the farm land and the surrounding jungle were all beautiful and we enjoyed a nice lunch here before walking back to the boat. In the afternoon, we kayaked around; in and out of small bays, through arches and around coral reefs. All beatiful.
That night we stayed in a hotel in the small town on Cat Ba. Being that it's off season everything in the town was deserted, including the 3 small beaches. After a night in the hotel we made the long journey back to Hanoi- 4 hours on the boat and 4 hours on the bus! But it was a great experience and we saw some beatiful things. The limestone islands covered in foliage that jut straight out of the water are a sight to be seen. Can't wait till I can post photos!
Tomorrow, off to the mountains of Sapa for several days of treking and visiting mountain tribes...
Monday morning we were wisked off from our hotel bright and early to make the 4 hour drive to Halong. Once at the harbor we boarded our "junk" which was to be our home for the next couple of days. The boat was 3 stories with rooms on the bottom, dining area in the middle and a sun deck on top. Everything was really very nice. We met the 9 other people who were joining us on our tour- all Germans, all nice people. They served us an amazing lunch on board with just about every kind of seafood you can imagine. Jason and I both agreed these would probably be the fanciest meals of our whole vacation.
After cruising around the beautiful islands for a couple hours we arrived at our first stop: Amazing Cave. The cave is massive and definitely lived up to it's name. There were 3 rooms, each bigger than the last. Although a lot of the cave has been ruined since the French explorers found it in 1906, there were still some huge, incredible stlagtites/mites to be seen.
After the cave we made our way to a nearby island (Dao Ti Top) which we were able to climb to the top of to get some amazing views of the bay. After that, it was another wonderful dinner and more relaxing on the boat.
The next morning we went over to Cat Ba Island, the only island of the 3000 islands that is inhabited. There is a town on Cat Ba, but we went to another side of the island where we were able to hike to a small farming village if about 200 people. It was really interesting to see their simple way of life, even though they still had satellites beaming TV signals into their one room houses. But the village, and the farm land and the surrounding jungle were all beautiful and we enjoyed a nice lunch here before walking back to the boat. In the afternoon, we kayaked around; in and out of small bays, through arches and around coral reefs. All beatiful.
That night we stayed in a hotel in the small town on Cat Ba. Being that it's off season everything in the town was deserted, including the 3 small beaches. After a night in the hotel we made the long journey back to Hanoi- 4 hours on the boat and 4 hours on the bus! But it was a great experience and we saw some beatiful things. The limestone islands covered in foliage that jut straight out of the water are a sight to be seen. Can't wait till I can post photos!
Tomorrow, off to the mountains of Sapa for several days of treking and visiting mountain tribes...
Mar 7, 2009
Hanoi!
Well. we have been in Hanoi for 3 days now, this is the morning of our 4th day. Things have been good so far, although we haven't done a ton of stuff. Our first day and 1/2 we spent just trying to figure out travel plans. One of the big things we had to organize was our trip to Halong Bay. There are hundreds of tour agencies around Hanoi that offer trips to Halong. Each trip sounds almost exactly the same, it's so hard to know which tour to go on. And the problem is that if you end up with the wrong agency you can get completely scammed. For a 3 day/2 night Halong Bay cruise, you can expect to pay anywhere between about $30 and $200. Yeah, big range. That is for different class levels (budget, midrange and luxury) as well as for different tour operators. After a good solid day of research, we ended up going with a company that seems reliable and paid $100 for a midrange tour. So we'll see how it turns out! We've also been booking other things, like train tickets to Sapa in the very north and plane tickets to Laos. It all takes forever, but at least we have it all done now.
The only real touring we have done so far was yesterday. We took a day trip to the Purfume Pagoda, about 2 hours south of Hanoi. We took a bus down to a little river hopped on a little metal row boat with the 5 other people in our group. A very strong, very little old lady proceeded to row us down the river for about an hour, not stopping once! I was really pretty impressed. I don't think a lot of big strong men could even do that...
Anyway, the view along the river was incredible. We were surrounded by bell shaped lush, green mountains on all sides. (And did I mention how green everything is here? All the farm land and the mountains are the most beautiful vibrant shade of green. It's amazing.) As we rowed down the river, we were followed by dozens of boats (mostly filled with locals) all going to the same place as us. Finally, we got to the docking station, where hundreds of other boats were already waiting. We were told that the pagoda would be crowded at this time of year (after the Lunar New Year thousands of buddhists come to the pagoda), but I don't think anything could have really prepared us for what we were about to see. The little walking streets were PACKED with people. And all of the streets were lined with restaurants and little shops, trying to sell anything and everything. All of that was okay, but what was really annoying about it was that almost every shop was either blarring music or a tv or had someone yelling over a microphone. It wasn't quite the peaceful buddhist retreat I imagined.
So we sat down at a restaurant to eat some lunch. All of the restaurants have various kinds of animals hanging in front of their store, ready to chop off a piece of meat to serve to you. They don't use refridgerators, so all of the meat just sits out. For someone who already doesn't eat red meat and pork, it made me not want to eat any meat at all. So I had a delicious lunch of rice, cooked cabbage and a little bit of tofu.
After that, we opted to take the new cable car up to the top, where we were greeted with a crowd of people even bigger than we had seen at the base. We made our way through to the cave at the top. You could tell it was once a beautiful cave with amazing stalagtites and such, but now most have been broken off and everything is covered in hand grease, so it no longer grows. There were a couple little shrines in the large cave, but it really wasn't too impressive or worth visiting overall.
We hiked back down the mountain (about 40 minutes down, all on stairs and surrounded by the shops with the loudspeakers) and at the bottom found the nice little pagoda. There were very few people around the temples and it was actually possible to find some peace and quite. The only nice part.
After all of that, we went back the way we came, with the same little old lady rowing us all the way back up the river.
So for today, we are going to wander a little more around the Old Quarter of Hanoi. The weather here is really cool, around the 60s, and it's always completely overcast. And it's actually been raining a little bit this morning (did I tell you this is the dry season?). We wanted to eat like the locals do here, but so far we've just been eating in the touristy restaurants that are just filled with other Westerners. There aren't really any local restaurants, just little street corners set up to sell food. We would try to eat there, but there are a few problems: 1) We're afraid of getting sick from unrefriderated meat, 2) They don't serve things that I eat and 3) They are just as expensive as the tourist restaurants (for foreigners at least, I doubt the locals pay that much). So the tourist restaurants it is. Oh and my favorite thing here so far is Bia Hoi: beer corner. Locals set up a keg and a few little plastic chairs and you can hang out and grab a beer for 3,000 dong, which is equal to about 15 cents. Good deal!
The only real touring we have done so far was yesterday. We took a day trip to the Purfume Pagoda, about 2 hours south of Hanoi. We took a bus down to a little river hopped on a little metal row boat with the 5 other people in our group. A very strong, very little old lady proceeded to row us down the river for about an hour, not stopping once! I was really pretty impressed. I don't think a lot of big strong men could even do that...
Anyway, the view along the river was incredible. We were surrounded by bell shaped lush, green mountains on all sides. (And did I mention how green everything is here? All the farm land and the mountains are the most beautiful vibrant shade of green. It's amazing.) As we rowed down the river, we were followed by dozens of boats (mostly filled with locals) all going to the same place as us. Finally, we got to the docking station, where hundreds of other boats were already waiting. We were told that the pagoda would be crowded at this time of year (after the Lunar New Year thousands of buddhists come to the pagoda), but I don't think anything could have really prepared us for what we were about to see. The little walking streets were PACKED with people. And all of the streets were lined with restaurants and little shops, trying to sell anything and everything. All of that was okay, but what was really annoying about it was that almost every shop was either blarring music or a tv or had someone yelling over a microphone. It wasn't quite the peaceful buddhist retreat I imagined.
So we sat down at a restaurant to eat some lunch. All of the restaurants have various kinds of animals hanging in front of their store, ready to chop off a piece of meat to serve to you. They don't use refridgerators, so all of the meat just sits out. For someone who already doesn't eat red meat and pork, it made me not want to eat any meat at all. So I had a delicious lunch of rice, cooked cabbage and a little bit of tofu.
After that, we opted to take the new cable car up to the top, where we were greeted with a crowd of people even bigger than we had seen at the base. We made our way through to the cave at the top. You could tell it was once a beautiful cave with amazing stalagtites and such, but now most have been broken off and everything is covered in hand grease, so it no longer grows. There were a couple little shrines in the large cave, but it really wasn't too impressive or worth visiting overall.
We hiked back down the mountain (about 40 minutes down, all on stairs and surrounded by the shops with the loudspeakers) and at the bottom found the nice little pagoda. There were very few people around the temples and it was actually possible to find some peace and quite. The only nice part.
After all of that, we went back the way we came, with the same little old lady rowing us all the way back up the river.
So for today, we are going to wander a little more around the Old Quarter of Hanoi. The weather here is really cool, around the 60s, and it's always completely overcast. And it's actually been raining a little bit this morning (did I tell you this is the dry season?). We wanted to eat like the locals do here, but so far we've just been eating in the touristy restaurants that are just filled with other Westerners. There aren't really any local restaurants, just little street corners set up to sell food. We would try to eat there, but there are a few problems: 1) We're afraid of getting sick from unrefriderated meat, 2) They don't serve things that I eat and 3) They are just as expensive as the tourist restaurants (for foreigners at least, I doubt the locals pay that much). So the tourist restaurants it is. Oh and my favorite thing here so far is Bia Hoi: beer corner. Locals set up a keg and a few little plastic chairs and you can hang out and grab a beer for 3,000 dong, which is equal to about 15 cents. Good deal!
Mar 5, 2009
And We're Off!
Well, this is it. I can't believe were actually on our way. We've been planning this trip since we came to Korea a year ago, hard to believe it's actually happening now.
These last few days have been insanely busy. We knew we had a lot to do but had no idea it would take us so long to do it all. It's a good thing we waited 5 days after we finised work. Let me tell you, preparing for a vacation involving 6 countries, moving out of your apartment, moving out of the country AND leaving your job all at the same time is a LOT of work!
I've started calling our trip 'Jason and Elena's Big Adventure' because that's just what it's going to be. Neither of us have ever been on the road for this long of a time period before- 12 weeks! It should be interesting to see how we do with it. I know it will be amazing, just hope we don't have too many hiccups along the way.
I am writing this on the plane from Seoul to Hanoi on my handy dandy ipod. The laptop is stating with a friend in Korea so my iPod will be like an extension of me while were on the road. I don't know what I would do without this little thing!
Well time to get some rest.
Five hours to Vietnam.....
These last few days have been insanely busy. We knew we had a lot to do but had no idea it would take us so long to do it all. It's a good thing we waited 5 days after we finised work. Let me tell you, preparing for a vacation involving 6 countries, moving out of your apartment, moving out of the country AND leaving your job all at the same time is a LOT of work!
I've started calling our trip 'Jason and Elena's Big Adventure' because that's just what it's going to be. Neither of us have ever been on the road for this long of a time period before- 12 weeks! It should be interesting to see how we do with it. I know it will be amazing, just hope we don't have too many hiccups along the way.
I am writing this on the plane from Seoul to Hanoi on my handy dandy ipod. The laptop is stating with a friend in Korea so my iPod will be like an extension of me while were on the road. I don't know what I would do without this little thing!
Well time to get some rest.
Five hours to Vietnam.....
Feb 19, 2009
2 WEEKS!
Well, we're down to the very end. Only 2 weeks left before our big vacation! I'm so excited, it is going to be an amazing trip.
We're not planning out everything we're going to do, but here's the general idea.
- March 5 - Fly into Hanoi, Vietnam. Spend around 12 days in Northern Vietnam: Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa
- From there, either on to Cambodia or Laos
- In Cambodia, a few good days in Siem Reap exploring Angkor Wat, and maybe a couple days in Phonm Pehn if we can fit it in
- Laos is a little undecided. We've heard great things about it, so I have a feeling we're going to want to spend a good amount of time there. Definitely want to go to Luang Prabang (with a jungle trek from there), Vang Vieng, and possibly Viantianne and the 4000 Islands in the South. And there's probably a lot of other great things we don't even know of.
- Then to Thailand!! What I'm most looking forward to. A day or two in Bangkok, some time up north in Chaing Mai, and then island hopping!
- From Thailand, down across the border into Malaysia. Check out some more beautiful islands and the Cameron Highlands: tea plantations on the rolling hills, looks beautiful!
- Down to Kuala Lampur for a bit, and then a flight to Bali, where we will relax and enjoy the end of our wonderful vacation.
All of that in two and 1/2 months! Getting excited! We've been reading a lot and asking friends a lot of questions to try to figure out the best things to do. I think we've gotten a pretty good idea by now, but I know there is still so much to learn. I know we will do a lot of our learning as we go along.
After all is said and done, I will fly back from Bali to Seoul and spend a day here, collecting my belongs and seeing some friends. After that, USA!! I fly into LA on May 21st and will stay there for a couple of days with my cousins. Then finally, after a long 15 months, I will return home to my amazing family and friends in Colorado. I'm so excited for my trip, but I'm also thrilled to be back home, at least for a little while.
PS: Check out my new header! I'm so proud, I made it all by myself! :)
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