Well, just a note to say we have been inThailand for a week. We'll stay here until we come home.
We flew to Phuket and headed to one of its beaches, Kata Beach. I think it may be the only place in the country you can surf, so even though its the low season we thought, maybe it will just be smaller waves? NOPE.. I asked at the place we checked into and the guy was laughing and gesturing, "The Sea is FLAT!" Yes it was...
We stayed put in Phuket a couple of days because Chris developed an esophageal ulcer from not taking his malaria pills with enough water. We went to the hospital to make sure it was what i thought and that I had given him the right medications. Didn't want to leave realizing the stabbing chest pains he had when he was swallowing were really something else. Something life-threatening, and we would be on a secluded island nowhere near a hospital! But once we had that sorted out, we took a boat out of there. Not where we wanted to be. A nice beach but other than that its a crowded town. We kinda had a mental picture of what we expected as beach bums and this wasn't it. But it was lovely for a few first days of sunshine and beach.
We jumped on a crowded huge boat taxi that took people to all different locations, indicated by the sticker you wore on your shirt and which pile they chucked your luggage into. We felt like refugees crammed together trying to find a bit of sitting space. At leat there was sun. Too bad we were dehydrated because there was no way I was paying $6 for a small bottled water! So after portaging in the middle of the ocean and switching boats and having people jump ship a few times, we finally arrived in paradise....The island of Koh Lanta....
Koh Lanta= Paradise. It just gets better every day. I'm not sure if we will leave at all. We have tough decisions to make each day. Lay in the shade and read a book? or sleep in the sun and work on our tan? or perhaps have a swim and cool off with shake?... Its tough... lol.... We love it here. Very few big resorts. In fact none where we are.. Mostly just huts and and nice bungalows, small family run operations. Little restarants on the beach. The relaxed feeling here is exactly what we were after.
We rented a motorbike and toured parts of the island today and found amazing secluded little coves and beaches we can't wait to spend time at. We went to the most populated beach (which is not that populated) where we saw a guy with a Pittsburgh Steelers tatoo. We talked to him and now found out how we can watch the Superbowl! 6am Monday morning at a little Aussie Beach Bar.. Yay! Anyhow, this place is great, and I think we are going to stay. Morning runs on the beach before its scorching hot, frisbee, gorgeous sunsets, beach bonfires, friendly locals, and lots of hippie types. No one appears stressed or too busy, hammocks hang all over the place. Just the place we imagined in our fantasies of Thailand. We are totally relaxed. Other beaches are supposed to be amazing and we planned to see a bunch, but it is so nice to unpack your stuff and not have to repack and move in a few days.
So we are just going to make it home here, take a break from traveling around and stay put. We'll see what happens, but for now this is the plan. Don't have my camera right now put will post some photos another day.
P.S. Chris has been getting better everyday, and within a day or two, he expects to have no more pain at all!!! Bye Bye Ulcer, hello everything else he has not been eating and drinking the last week and a half!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Angkor Wat- Siam Reap
Anything I could say to describe Angkor Wat would be an understatement. The enormity, magnitude, and beauty of the place is hard to understand, even when you are looking at it. It was fascinating. Like nothing we've ever seen. Not just another temple or Wat. We toured several other of the many sites too. Each new ruler over the years had a new place built, and as power changed so did the religions inside. So whether it was Buddha or Vishnu that was worshiped, these were marvelous places. We oooed and awwed the day away, and had a blast. We were inspired to do yoga, (try, we really don't know how) contemplate life, and pose like the art on the walls and the statues on the entrances. We climed to the top of one and watched an amazing sunset. This was by far the highlight of Siam Reap, Cambodia. I heart Cambodia!
First night here we climbed a mountain and then a temple to catch an amazing sunset!
Bayon, there is faces in all the peaks, hard to see on here
Where Tomb Raider was filmed
Us "contemplating life" lol
Thought it looked kinda eerie cool
Where's Waldo?
The first entrance to AngkorWat. We were taken there last, we figured because it made all the others seem so insignificant almost.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Little Angels in a Hell on Earth
Of all the things we heard and saw in Phnom Pehn, the most shocking was poverty in the form of 500+ families living at the city dump. We read a flyer about trips to the dump and investigated.
A British man working out of a bar he runs, arranges trips to the dump to bring food, and some basic medical care (aparamedic and trained on the fly first aid guy). He showed us a slide show that had us upset. His passion and his stories were so riveting. "This is hell on earth" he started. "These kids and families live in conditions that if we kept animals in we would surely be locked up for back home." "Rats and mosquitoes won't live there," he continued (but lots of flies do, i noticed).
2 years ago he started going by himself with a truck to hand out food. (the government tried to prohibit him from going because they don't want people to know about this) He kept going anyways. Now its grown. They rent a truck, have about 8 regular international volunteers and like to have the same amount of visitors come too. Whenever they get enough money they go. Rain or shine. Currently this is about every 3-4 days.
There is a free school near the dump entrance lots of the kids now go to. With funds they've raised the mandatory $3 uniforms were purchased for th kids. (As soon as the truck comes, however, the kids clear out from school running!) There are also surgeons that have done free work, and they have linked up with a clinic that they bring people too if needed.
This is what happened... We all piled in and went to the wholesale market where we stocked up on hundreds of loaves of bread, bananas and oranges. At the dump the women handed out the food, and the men tried to keep lines. It is mad chaos otherwise. They have made a boys and a girls line to try to teach that boys and girls are equal. Chris was watching the boys line.. They loved playing games and having him boot them to the end of the line. They would fake bud in line for attention.. They would get him talking and then others would try to sprint up and sneak in line..so funny.
Chris had some stories of incredible generosity. He said one little boy waited in the line and as soon as he got his stuff he turned around and offered half of his orange to Chris. He watched one little boy fight and struggle the whole way in the line trying to keep his place, get his stuff and then start handing it out to the other kids on the way back. They all said, No No! Thats yours.... Some of the girls had bags to carry the food, lots of the boys wrapped it in their shirts. No one ate. They brought everything back to share with their families. We learned a lesson in generosity that day.
Once they were finished getting food, anyone who wanted to could be seen by the paramedic/first aid. I volunteered what I could, which was not much since I've only worked in the hospital. Most complaints were foot wounds, as the kids and adults run around barefoot on broken glass, dirty needles and hospital waste, and who knows what else. When people have tried to donate shoes, I was told they were either stolen, or sold by the people themselves for money. Some kids wore crocs. These families stand in the garbage all day scrounging for bottles or anything else they could get money from.
Only the paramedic could speak Khmer and he was off trying to distribute vitamins to children and pregnant women, so me and the first aid guy were totally on our own. I washed feet, disinfected wounds and dressed them the best I could. I'm sure they would be dirty by the end of the day. A woman with a baby that couldn't have been more than a month old uncovered her her child to show me his infected bellybutton. The parents pierce their babies ears with dirty wires or thorns so ear infections are pretty common, we saw this. I came across a little girl with a bad case of Norwegian scabies that we sent to clinic.
Mostly, the kids just wanted some attention. Little girls would come up to me and put their arm around me with a big smile, just watching. Little boys would point to their owies, sometimes nothing at all. But we'd wash up their feet anyways to have a look, and they'd giggle that it tickled and then everyone wanted a turn. You try to keep things clean.
It was an amazing privelege to be a part of this. Those volunteers that bring food tirelessly are wonderful. The excitement and the thankfulness is truly gratifying. Here is a view into our day at the dump.
Loadin Up at the market
These guys had Chris talking, look at the kids in the back sprinting up while he's distracted lol
So Cute
A new spin on rural nursing
A day's work
Home Sweet Home
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
January 17th-22nd, 2009
On the bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh we noticed right away a difference in the poverty level. The ditches all along the way were filled with garbage. The huts looked no different than any other rural places we've passed, but in the small town/city we stopped the bus at to pee and cross a ferry at, I was horror struck. I was mauled by children begging and chattering at me and the bus crew had to act as a bouncer for me to even cross the street. It was also filthy here, mostly dirt roads and ox or cows, not sure, rib cages protruding, jammed up the streets. People and cars were weaving about. I thought, "what have we gotten ourselves into coming here?" It smelled bad, it was almost like a world vision tv program. It was so overwhelming!
The capital city, Phnom Penh was a drastic difference for the most part. It was clean, and it was obvious money was sunk into the place where the countries rich live, and the tourists come. The poor were begging on the sidewalk, while the wealthy drove their Lexus', Mercedes, and Cadillac Escalade's down the street.
We absolutely loved it here. The people were lovely. Everyone was very friendly, laughing and smiling, and way less in your face trying to sell you something. This made it so much more enjoyable. This and the fact that it was HOT, compared to a cold 'Nam, and northern Laos, we decided to stay a few extra days.
All the regular annoyances exist here as they do anywhere. Prostitution is appalling. And not discreet at all. (I'm assuming because this country is not communist like Laos and Vietnam?), but everyone is out in public. Old, mostly white men, with very young tiny Asian girls. Any time I was not with Chris he was asked, "you want women? I have all kinds, you like small Asian women?" No Thanks, he'd respond. "ok well you want crystal meth? opium? cocaine..?" All the time. You get used to seeing and hearing this and carry on. Families play in the park, there are some aerobics along the river, kites and music in the streets, an elephant is walked through town every day from a temple down the road, and even kids selling lonely planet books for hours everyday still goof around like kids do. For lack of a better word, we liked the "vibe'' here. lol
We visited the S21 prison that was a school transformed to a torture prison by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in 1975-79. It was so horrific. He was torturing and murdering his own people. We saw the rooms they were kept in and actual photos of the people when they came in with a number like our prison mug shots. We saw a group of people looking at the photos and recognize a face in the pictures. Some were just kids about two years old, so scared, so confused, so innocent.We saw the different make-shift cells. One room people laid scrunched together like sardines bound by ankle shackles. The people beside them and also to the next row that was laying with their feet facing their feet. They made water torture chambers and also hung them upside down until they passed out, dumped them in shit water that would wake them up and do it again. They were electrocuted and whipped. It was 3-4 stories high and barbed wire was put along the balconies so people could not commit suicide. They got whatever confession they wanted by these methods, which in turn would "justify" their punishment or death. It was genocide. It was all the educated and influential people in the society first, but it went way beyond to regular people, women and children. Only 14 people survived the S21 prison.
We went and visited one of the killing fields where people were shipped to die. (A main one, but they were 1000's scattered all over the country). Bullets were expensive and the numbers got to be too high to kill in one day, so holding cells were made. People were stabbed, beheaded, buried alive, babies were bashed against trees, etc. They sprayed poisons to mask the smell from neighboring farms, and hung a radio from a tree to make loud noise to hide the screams. Millions died, the approximations of numbers are conflicting. I couldn't possibly convey what we saw in writing.
We did do some things that were not depressing too! We went to the Russian Market. Cambodia has factories for so many brands like abercrombie and fitch, old navy, quicksilver, banana republic, puma,gap etc. and they are sold here at the Russian market. Cheap stuff, leftovers maybe? Its like a sweat lodge inside, we couldn't handle it long but did manage to find a few things. We saw the Presidential Palace and the famous Silver Pagoda, and had multiple spa treatments. (Chris now LOVES massages). We spent some time with a family living here from New Zealand that we met, through a friend of a friend of a friend. This families oldest daughter, Courtney, was there on University break, she took us to an actual shopping mall, and the Central market. Her mom made us a true home cooked meal with actual mashed potatoes and gravy!!! What a treat.
From the little that we learned here, it seemed that although a free country, corruption is a huge problem. We learned a bit because Courtney's mom is a teacher here and her younger sister attends an international school. School is free, but English schools, or good private schools cost money. Teachers are paid poorly so we heard that kids even in free schools lots of times have to pay their teacher some money everyday to be allowed in the class. That even if you get an A you have to pay to get it. So the smart kids that are poor get nowhere and the rich dumb ones get everything. If a car hits a motorbike and it is really the cars fault, it will automatically be the bikes fault because the car has money, and you "hit the car". You have to pay your mailman or he will stop bringing your mail. It goes on.
There are still many children not in school, handicapped etc. begging in the streets. Women sleep with their babies on the sidewalks. We were told that a lot of this is organized by a type of "mafia" for lack of a better word. That the kids don't actually get the money or food, its taken from them, and that those women are dropped off with their children and made to lay on the street for money, also not keeping it. The same corruption exists in many orphanages. Children may be just put there when people come, or may not get any of the food or money that is meant for them. "Orphan Tourism"is a new industry that exploits people's generosity, trying to recruit visitors to donate for their own private agenda. That is not to say that all orphanages are like this. We heard of several legitimate ones that do wonderful things for the children. There are many charities, business that support charities, and many NGO's with kind-hearted people doing wonderful things here. The government is also trying to crack down hard on child sex crimes and posts large billboards etc. which was really nice to see.
I know this is no different than many of the 3rd world countries in the world. But seeing it first hand and for the first time, it really made an impression on us. Our trip to the dump made the biggest impression of all. I'll write about that tomorrow. But here's a few pics of Phnom Penh.
One of the large cells. They laid with no mattress, chained to the bed. The box was the toilet. The walls in each room had a photo of the last victims still laying dead, decaying in a pile of blood on the floor.
Read the writing and notice the bones beside the tree, enough said.
Entrance to the Palace and Silver Pagoda
Amok fish in a banana leaf, authentic Cambodian dish... mmmmm
Loved spending time with these KIWIS
On the bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh we noticed right away a difference in the poverty level. The ditches all along the way were filled with garbage. The huts looked no different than any other rural places we've passed, but in the small town/city we stopped the bus at to pee and cross a ferry at, I was horror struck. I was mauled by children begging and chattering at me and the bus crew had to act as a bouncer for me to even cross the street. It was also filthy here, mostly dirt roads and ox or cows, not sure, rib cages protruding, jammed up the streets. People and cars were weaving about. I thought, "what have we gotten ourselves into coming here?" It smelled bad, it was almost like a world vision tv program. It was so overwhelming!
The capital city, Phnom Penh was a drastic difference for the most part. It was clean, and it was obvious money was sunk into the place where the countries rich live, and the tourists come. The poor were begging on the sidewalk, while the wealthy drove their Lexus', Mercedes, and Cadillac Escalade's down the street.
We absolutely loved it here. The people were lovely. Everyone was very friendly, laughing and smiling, and way less in your face trying to sell you something. This made it so much more enjoyable. This and the fact that it was HOT, compared to a cold 'Nam, and northern Laos, we decided to stay a few extra days.
All the regular annoyances exist here as they do anywhere. Prostitution is appalling. And not discreet at all. (I'm assuming because this country is not communist like Laos and Vietnam?), but everyone is out in public. Old, mostly white men, with very young tiny Asian girls. Any time I was not with Chris he was asked, "you want women? I have all kinds, you like small Asian women?" No Thanks, he'd respond. "ok well you want crystal meth? opium? cocaine..?" All the time. You get used to seeing and hearing this and carry on. Families play in the park, there are some aerobics along the river, kites and music in the streets, an elephant is walked through town every day from a temple down the road, and even kids selling lonely planet books for hours everyday still goof around like kids do. For lack of a better word, we liked the "vibe'' here. lol
We visited the S21 prison that was a school transformed to a torture prison by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in 1975-79. It was so horrific. He was torturing and murdering his own people. We saw the rooms they were kept in and actual photos of the people when they came in with a number like our prison mug shots. We saw a group of people looking at the photos and recognize a face in the pictures. Some were just kids about two years old, so scared, so confused, so innocent.We saw the different make-shift cells. One room people laid scrunched together like sardines bound by ankle shackles. The people beside them and also to the next row that was laying with their feet facing their feet. They made water torture chambers and also hung them upside down until they passed out, dumped them in shit water that would wake them up and do it again. They were electrocuted and whipped. It was 3-4 stories high and barbed wire was put along the balconies so people could not commit suicide. They got whatever confession they wanted by these methods, which in turn would "justify" their punishment or death. It was genocide. It was all the educated and influential people in the society first, but it went way beyond to regular people, women and children. Only 14 people survived the S21 prison.
We went and visited one of the killing fields where people were shipped to die. (A main one, but they were 1000's scattered all over the country). Bullets were expensive and the numbers got to be too high to kill in one day, so holding cells were made. People were stabbed, beheaded, buried alive, babies were bashed against trees, etc. They sprayed poisons to mask the smell from neighboring farms, and hung a radio from a tree to make loud noise to hide the screams. Millions died, the approximations of numbers are conflicting. I couldn't possibly convey what we saw in writing.
We did do some things that were not depressing too! We went to the Russian Market. Cambodia has factories for so many brands like abercrombie and fitch, old navy, quicksilver, banana republic, puma,gap etc. and they are sold here at the Russian market. Cheap stuff, leftovers maybe? Its like a sweat lodge inside, we couldn't handle it long but did manage to find a few things. We saw the Presidential Palace and the famous Silver Pagoda, and had multiple spa treatments. (Chris now LOVES massages). We spent some time with a family living here from New Zealand that we met, through a friend of a friend of a friend. This families oldest daughter, Courtney, was there on University break, she took us to an actual shopping mall, and the Central market. Her mom made us a true home cooked meal with actual mashed potatoes and gravy!!! What a treat.
From the little that we learned here, it seemed that although a free country, corruption is a huge problem. We learned a bit because Courtney's mom is a teacher here and her younger sister attends an international school. School is free, but English schools, or good private schools cost money. Teachers are paid poorly so we heard that kids even in free schools lots of times have to pay their teacher some money everyday to be allowed in the class. That even if you get an A you have to pay to get it. So the smart kids that are poor get nowhere and the rich dumb ones get everything. If a car hits a motorbike and it is really the cars fault, it will automatically be the bikes fault because the car has money, and you "hit the car". You have to pay your mailman or he will stop bringing your mail. It goes on.
There are still many children not in school, handicapped etc. begging in the streets. Women sleep with their babies on the sidewalks. We were told that a lot of this is organized by a type of "mafia" for lack of a better word. That the kids don't actually get the money or food, its taken from them, and that those women are dropped off with their children and made to lay on the street for money, also not keeping it. The same corruption exists in many orphanages. Children may be just put there when people come, or may not get any of the food or money that is meant for them. "Orphan Tourism"is a new industry that exploits people's generosity, trying to recruit visitors to donate for their own private agenda. That is not to say that all orphanages are like this. We heard of several legitimate ones that do wonderful things for the children. There are many charities, business that support charities, and many NGO's with kind-hearted people doing wonderful things here. The government is also trying to crack down hard on child sex crimes and posts large billboards etc. which was really nice to see.
I know this is no different than many of the 3rd world countries in the world. But seeing it first hand and for the first time, it really made an impression on us. Our trip to the dump made the biggest impression of all. I'll write about that tomorrow. But here's a few pics of Phnom Penh.
One of the large cells. They laid with no mattress, chained to the bed. The box was the toilet. The walls in each room had a photo of the last victims still laying dead, decaying in a pile of blood on the floor.
Read the writing and notice the bones beside the tree, enough said.
Entrance to the Palace and Silver Pagoda
Amok fish in a banana leaf, authentic Cambodian dish... mmmmm
Loved spending time with these KIWISSunday, January 18, 2009
Saigon
January 14th-17th, 2009
Saigon, AKA Ho Chi Minh City, well officially called Ho Chi Minh actually, but still called by its old name by most people. Saigon was an enormous and heavily populated city just like Hanoi. I think it had everything to do with being prepared for it, but we enjoyed this city more than the capital to the north. As many or more motorbikes zoomed by, but we confidently threw ourselves into it like old pros by now. We have learned how to "Just Say No to drugs," and how to avoid eye contact with every type of tuk tuk and salesperson. We were screwed royally by a taxi cab recruiter guy who instead of taking us to the hotel we asked for when leaving the airport, attempted to have us dropped off in some dark back alley ghetto with no other options but to stay at the guesthouse there. This would give him some commission money. We weren't falling for this. I held onto my backpack for dear life playing tug-of-war as they tried to take it, not getting out of the car. Chris, who was HUGE compared to everyone in this situation, yelled at this scrawny little jerk about how unimpressed he was. Once the guy saw this was not happening he gave the piece of paper with the proper place on it to the cab driver. We made it and besides being really rattled about the whole deal, were fine.
We spent our days walking for hours, checking out the sites. We toured the War Museum and the Reunification Palace. This was the headquarters for the Southern Vietnam Government. On April 30th, 1975 the Northern Vietnamese Communists, led by Ho Chi Minh, (Uncle Ho) stormed in with two tanks, officially taking over power.
We sat in a park and watched locals play badminton and shuttlecock (a weird variation of hackey sack....we picked one up to play along our travels). During our walks we saw that every street, sidewalk, and alley are all crammed and using every square inch! We realized that we could shop, sleep, eat, drink, and party somewhere new every day for several years and still not see everything. We did a little of all of these in the few days that we had. A highlight was a place that overlooked a lot of the downtown in District 1 where we stayed.
Some friends took us to a great local place and we tried Bahn Xeo. (bun say-oww) It's a crispy pancake filled with shrimp and some veggies that you wrap in mustard leaf with basil and dip in a fish sauce. Sounds weird but it was unreal. We also had the biggest prawns I've ever seen, like the size of crabs or lobsters or something! There was a pub around the corner that we sat outside at enjoying the action passing by till the late hours of the night.
We headed out one day to visit the Chu Chi Tunnels that the Vietnamese living in this region used during the Vietnam War used to fight off the US, trying to protect their lands as this was a key place so close to Saigon, that needed to be conquered in the war. It was truly amazing. They were brilliantly designed with ventilation, kitchens, pathways, booby-traps etc. Very cool, but very one-sided. The documentary film at the beginning called their war heroes, "American killing heroes'', and called the Americans "crazy devils".... a little biased.
We also shot AK-47's and M-16's (guns)... pretty scary but cool at the same time.... well that's all for now...trying to keep it short but its not working out so well! lol On Saturday, we hopped on a bus to Cambodia and are here now..... ttys
The largest prawns ever!
Saigon Traffic
A hideout hole at Chu Chi Tunnels
Me debating shooting the M16 lol
Chris giv'n er
Crawling around in the tunnels
Reunification Palace
Getting our bearings
The view over district 1
Saigon, AKA Ho Chi Minh City, well officially called Ho Chi Minh actually, but still called by its old name by most people. Saigon was an enormous and heavily populated city just like Hanoi. I think it had everything to do with being prepared for it, but we enjoyed this city more than the capital to the north. As many or more motorbikes zoomed by, but we confidently threw ourselves into it like old pros by now. We have learned how to "Just Say No to drugs," and how to avoid eye contact with every type of tuk tuk and salesperson. We were screwed royally by a taxi cab recruiter guy who instead of taking us to the hotel we asked for when leaving the airport, attempted to have us dropped off in some dark back alley ghetto with no other options but to stay at the guesthouse there. This would give him some commission money. We weren't falling for this. I held onto my backpack for dear life playing tug-of-war as they tried to take it, not getting out of the car. Chris, who was HUGE compared to everyone in this situation, yelled at this scrawny little jerk about how unimpressed he was. Once the guy saw this was not happening he gave the piece of paper with the proper place on it to the cab driver. We made it and besides being really rattled about the whole deal, were fine.
We spent our days walking for hours, checking out the sites. We toured the War Museum and the Reunification Palace. This was the headquarters for the Southern Vietnam Government. On April 30th, 1975 the Northern Vietnamese Communists, led by Ho Chi Minh, (Uncle Ho) stormed in with two tanks, officially taking over power.
We sat in a park and watched locals play badminton and shuttlecock (a weird variation of hackey sack....we picked one up to play along our travels). During our walks we saw that every street, sidewalk, and alley are all crammed and using every square inch! We realized that we could shop, sleep, eat, drink, and party somewhere new every day for several years and still not see everything. We did a little of all of these in the few days that we had. A highlight was a place that overlooked a lot of the downtown in District 1 where we stayed.
Some friends took us to a great local place and we tried Bahn Xeo. (bun say-oww) It's a crispy pancake filled with shrimp and some veggies that you wrap in mustard leaf with basil and dip in a fish sauce. Sounds weird but it was unreal. We also had the biggest prawns I've ever seen, like the size of crabs or lobsters or something! There was a pub around the corner that we sat outside at enjoying the action passing by till the late hours of the night.
We headed out one day to visit the Chu Chi Tunnels that the Vietnamese living in this region used during the Vietnam War used to fight off the US, trying to protect their lands as this was a key place so close to Saigon, that needed to be conquered in the war. It was truly amazing. They were brilliantly designed with ventilation, kitchens, pathways, booby-traps etc. Very cool, but very one-sided. The documentary film at the beginning called their war heroes, "American killing heroes'', and called the Americans "crazy devils".... a little biased.
We also shot AK-47's and M-16's (guns)... pretty scary but cool at the same time.... well that's all for now...trying to keep it short but its not working out so well! lol On Saturday, we hopped on a bus to Cambodia and are here now..... ttys
The largest prawns ever!
Saigon Traffic
A hideout hole at Chu Chi Tunnels
Me debating shooting the M16 lol
Chris giv'n er
Crawling around in the tunnels
Reunification Palace
Getting our bearings
The view over district 1Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Indulging in Hoi An
January 11th - 14th, 2009
It has been all about pleasure here in Hoi An, Vietnam. We did absolutely none of the things we planned to do here except shop. The weather was not beach weather so driving along the coast and looking at the famous China beach from the taxi cab window was good enough. Huge resort billboards cover the empty coast with the future monstrosities that will be built there. This coast will be completely different in a few short years all the way from Danang to Hoi An, completely changing the culture of these cozy little places. The government is full speed ahead promoting tourism.
The streets are so beautiful here, old and fading colorful paint gives this place so much character!
Hoi An is the tailoring capital of the world I'm sure. Over 500 shops all calling you "come please look in my store, you don't buy no problem, i can make you anything you like" We shopped....a lot! The prices were incredible. We had suits, jackets, pants, shirts, shoes all custom made! If something wasn't quite right, no problem, someone on a motor bike took off with your stuff only to return in less than an hour with it all fixed! The food here was incredible, the best we've ate yet. Every meal. So we left Hoi An fatter and better clothed than we came, we'll see what Saigon has in store.
Lyn is fixing up Chris' suit jacket
She makes me feel huge! Kim is the tiniest little thing but a very good shoe salesman.
The package we sent home, teetering behind this girl, no ties or anything!. The weigh scale sandwiched in front of her. I can't believe how people transport things around here on their bikes.
Just relaxin'
Pretty colors even at night
The river by day, flooded the street by night.
It has been all about pleasure here in Hoi An, Vietnam. We did absolutely none of the things we planned to do here except shop. The weather was not beach weather so driving along the coast and looking at the famous China beach from the taxi cab window was good enough. Huge resort billboards cover the empty coast with the future monstrosities that will be built there. This coast will be completely different in a few short years all the way from Danang to Hoi An, completely changing the culture of these cozy little places. The government is full speed ahead promoting tourism.
Although we skipped out on alot of the must sees around here, we spent 3 days and 3 nights as happy as could be. Our first night here our cab brought us to the more expensive sister hotel of the one we asked to go to by "mistake" (how convenient). But after over 2 weeks (with a few exceptions) of some variation of smelly, dirty places with barely warm showers, one look at the enormous soaker tub that produced a never ending stream of steaming hot water and i was sold. I think i actually heard it call out my name! lol. This was luxury! and it was still really cheap compared to home ($35)! So using my first blow dryer, we slept in and ate at the amazing buffet and finally stumbled back downtown to budget travelers earth ($10/night) the next afternoon and stayed a few days.
The streets are so beautiful here, old and fading colorful paint gives this place so much character!
Hoi An is the tailoring capital of the world I'm sure. Over 500 shops all calling you "come please look in my store, you don't buy no problem, i can make you anything you like" We shopped....a lot! The prices were incredible. We had suits, jackets, pants, shirts, shoes all custom made! If something wasn't quite right, no problem, someone on a motor bike took off with your stuff only to return in less than an hour with it all fixed! The food here was incredible, the best we've ate yet. Every meal. So we left Hoi An fatter and better clothed than we came, we'll see what Saigon has in store.
Lyn is fixing up Chris' suit jacket
She makes me feel huge! Kim is the tiniest little thing but a very good shoe salesman.
The package we sent home, teetering behind this girl, no ties or anything!. The weigh scale sandwiched in front of her. I can't believe how people transport things around here on their bikes.
Just relaxin'
Pretty colors even at night
The river by day, flooded the street by night.Sunday, January 11, 2009
Snapshots In Laos
Looking back, our last day in Luang Prabang, Laos was beautfiul. And we didn't realize how peaceful it was in this quiet country until we left. Here's a few shots!
I got up at the crack of dawn to see hundreds of monks parade through the streets collecting food for the day.
An amazing sunset while we dined on the Mekong River.
Garden view along the edge of the Mekong River.
Another river view...can you tell we liked the river!
Fresh oranges at the market.
I got up at the crack of dawn to see hundreds of monks parade through the streets collecting food for the day.
An amazing sunset while we dined on the Mekong River.
Garden view along the edge of the Mekong River.
Another river view...can you tell we liked the river!
Fresh oranges at the market.Halong Bay/Hanoi
We went on an overnight tour to Halong Bay. 3 hours from Hanoi, Vietnam, it was beautiful! Limestone formations rise up from the water, its considered a World Heritage site. The pictures will help describe this place better than I could. The boats are called "junk.'' So we slept on the Junk. haha that is funny to me. We had a relaxing time, kayaked through a tunnel to a secret bay, only accessible by water, only it wasn't too much of a secret! Every tour goes there. The boats are about as crazy as the Hanoi traffic! Everyone just bumps into each other, soo many damaged boats, i just cringed. We walked through some amazing caves, had good meals, borderline painful foot/leg massages and met some really amazing people. A couple from Vancouver! (Rob and Cheryl) Cheryl is someone so much like me it was scary! And Jarad, a Californian dude was really cool. We met an Italian couple (Leida and Emannuel), he is working in Afghanistan, and a greek couple (Cassiane and Nicos), Cassie is a psychiatry resident and had lots to compare and ask about our heath care system. The 3 older Australians were a whole different story. lol but overall it was a great break from the city!
Our Junk we toured on
One of the many traveling snack shops
View from the caves
Halong Bay
So Long Ha Long!
Culture Shock!! Hanoi's streets are utter chaos. That is all I can say, and hearing HCM is worse almost seems impossible! Millions of motorbikes! Probably 50 motorbikes per 1 vehicle and they just weave around and jam together. Everyone wears handkerchiefs or hospital masks over their faces due to the fumes and dust, etc. That in itself is a site to see. To walk the street you just go amidst it all like a suicide mission, but people seem to just weave around you. We were sure we would die the first time, but it actually worked! It is too crowded, and too many honking horns for shopping, but we went to the water puppet performance and a few restaurant/pubs. Today we rode on the back of motorcycles which was quite a rush! We met with a few Vietnamese families and had lunch with them. Such nice people! WE ATE DOG!!!! Unknowingly. I just don't think about it because it makes me sick to think about. We fly out to Danang and bus south to Hoi An from there, the tailoring hot spot. I am getting really really sick of my clothes, so this couldn't come at a better time! Bye for now.
The Bustling Night Streets in Hanoi's Old Quarter
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