Viv and Matt's Travels

Day 30: Dinner at Kikunoi (Saturday, July 26)

2008-07-31T06:29:00.001-07:00

We changed our flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Saturday morning (from the afternoon) so that we would a) be able to take the bus directly to our hotel (Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills) and b) be able to eat at Kikunoi. Kikunoi has its roots in Kyoto, as does all great Kaiseki, but Chef Yoshihiro Murata recently opened this outpost here in Tokyo, which is great since we aren't going to Kyoto on this trip. For those of you that are unfamiliar with kaiseki, it is a very traditional cuisine from Kyoto, based on the freshness of each season with a fairly scripted sequence of courses (in terms of style, not ingredients). Here's what we had with our meal on Saturday. For some of our dishes, it was easy to tell which traditional kaiseki course it was... but for others not so much. If we know, then I'll describe the course a bit (all descriptions come from Chef Murata's book, Kaiseki).

1 - Sakizuke

This course is also called tsukidashi or otoshi and is the equivalent of an amuse-geule in French cuisine. For our Sakizuke course, we had a fantastic fig that had been poached with white miso and then had shaved bonito on top. The recipe in the book also indicates that there is a small amount of mustard in the dish, as well.

2 - Hassun

Traditionally, the second course is used to set the seasonal theme and consists of several small dishes. Ours was true to this - we had one spoon containing sea urchin roe and a quail egg, and then three flower pods, each containing a different vegetable dish.

3 - Mukozuke

This course is typically a sliced dish of seasonal sashimi. Our sashimi was some type of sea bream with small pieces of tomato gelee and steamed eggplant, as well.

Our next three courses all contained Hamo (pike eel or conger) in various forms. It's not clear to us exactly which kaiseki courses these dishes match, so I'll just describe them.

4 - Hamo two ways - this preparation consisted of two different pieces of hamo, topped with shiso buds.

5 - Hamo and Sticky Rice

This time, our Hamo was broiled and covered with a sauce (not sure what it was) and then placed on top of sticky rice formed like a piece of nigiri sushi. The hamo was quite good in this form, but Matt didn't care much for the sticky rice

6 - Hamo and Tofu Soup

This was one of the best courses of the night. Tofu and hamo in a clear broth soup with some peppers and other vegetables too. It was just perfect.

7 - Our palate cleanser for the evening was a sorbet. There were a few ingredients, we think, but all we remember is the overwhelming celery flavor. Not very pleasant, but effective at clearing the palate.
8 - Our yakimono course was also outstanding - Abalone and uni cooked in a salt dome. The abalone is steamed and then combined with uni on a bed of wakame (seaweed) and then topped with more wakame. Then a dome of salt is created over the dish and it's baked. Once you take away the salt dome and the top layer of wakame, here's what you get... delicious abalone.

9 - The next course was very simple noodles - made from arrowroot, or something like that - served in a giant block of ice.

10 - Our tenth course was just simple simmered vegetables (and a couple pieces of octapus) served in a ginger pudding. The flavors were incredibly clean and straightforward.

11 - Then it was time for one more small course of sashimi.

12 - Our final food course - rice. They took the grilled fish seen in the first picture and then chopped it up right into the rice. It was served with a bowl of red pepper soup (delicious). We were pretty stuffed at this point, so we didn't make much progress on our rice. They packaged it up for us, though, and we took it back to the hotel to have for breakfast the next morning.

13 - Dessert came with a choice, so we opted for one of each. Viv's dessert was the peaches with mint ice cream, and Matt took the black sesame pudding with black sugar ice cream. Both were fantastic.

Day 29: Hong Kong (Friday, July 25)

2008-07-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

This side of the trip we are actually spending an entire day in Hong Kong... but because of a variety of issues, we didn't actually get going until lunch time. Oh well. We had a good dim sum lunch in the Elements (the mall in which we were staying), and then spent the first part of the afternoon shopping. Requisite purchases made, we tried to make it to the Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition which shows plans for the future development of the city. It closed at 6pm, though, and by the time we got over to the island we didn't have enough time to spend at the exhibit. Instead, we made our way to the travelator (a series of moving sidewalks and escalators) to get up to the mid-levels for dinner. It was time for more Mexican food, and we found !Caramba! to be just the right place. Though the restaurant was completely empty (6p is a little early for HK), and would remain empty for the duration of our meal, we were requested to sit in a tight two-top wedged in a corner. Oh well, because we were early it was happy hour, so we got two margaritas for the price of one and a free chips and salsa. Jackpot. Everything was tasty, including the enchiladas and tacos that we ordered as entrees. Things were just picking up when we left the place, a little after 7p.

We walked all the way back down to the ferry terminal and took the Star Ferry back across to Kowloon. Hong Kong is ready for the Olympics. There's even an Olympics Piazza, complete with the silly looking mascot characters. We resisted the invitation to go inside, and instead went to line up for the fancy light show that is put on every night by the buildings on the island. The Bank of China building did its best to make the show special, but it couldn't quite get it over the hump. After the first bit, it was all quite repetitive.

After the show, we walked around the Temple Street night market for a while, and made a few random purchases, before calling it a night. Early flight tomorrow morning to Tokyo! We won't have much time in Tokyo tomorrow, so we only have one plan - dinner at Kikunoi. Stay tuned.

Day 28: Saigon (Thursday, July 24)

2008-07-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a day of travel for us. We departed Phu Quoc in the morning to fly back to Saigon. We missed it during our first stay in Saigon, so we went over to Quan An Ngon for lunch. This casual place across from the Reunification Palace is essentially street food brought indoors. The menu is all encompassing for Vietnamese street food; and there are people all around the edge of the restaurant that prepare the food. It was delicious and cheap.

We walked the streets of Saigon one last time to check out a few last stores, and then we retreived all of our luggage from the Sheraton to go to the airport and fly to Hong Kong. Rush hour traffic in Saigon was truly a sight to behold, and I think we had the greatest cab driver ever. He had an SUV, but it didn't stop him from driving like he was on a motorbike. It was actually very impressive, and he got us there in record time. Along the way, I snapped this picture of the road conditions.

Day 26-27: Phu Quoc (Tuesday, July 22 - Wednesday, July 23)

2008-07-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

We spent our last two days in Vietnam hanging out on the up-and-coming beach island of Phu Quoc. Supposedly this is going to be the Phuket of Vietnam... they have a long way to go. To start, right now most of the island only has a dirt road (that varies between being one and two lanes). On our first day, we did pretty much nothing but lounge by the pool and catch up on some reading. The poolside food at our place was quite good (spicy squid salad), so we decided to stay in for dinner and try the restaurant. Big mistake... dinner was really quite bland. Here's a picture from the beach of our hotel at sunset, though - pretty nice, eh?

For Day 2, we joined a snorkeling tour and explored the coral around the archipelago just south of Phu Quoc. The coral was decent and there were lots of fish out. After a couple of snorkeling runs, we had lunch on the boat and then did some old school fishing (just a reel with bait and a weight... no rod). We had a really great seafood dinner that night (not our catch, though) at a hotel just up the street from ours.

Day 25: Siem Reap (Monday, July 21)

2008-07-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

Only two temple stops on the itinerary today - Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm. We hastily considered adding Beng Melea, as well, but it was going to be a long drive and added expense (from the driver) so we decided not to do it and have some time to spend in town before weleave this evening to fly back to Saigon. If we ever make it back, though, then Beng Melea will probably be on the list. As of now, it is still pretty much uncovered (i.e., overrun by jungle) much the way all of the temples were when the French stumbled upon them. With the exception of Angkor Wat, they were all abandoned. The jungle has been mostly or entirely cut back at this point... so Beng Melea might give you that true taste of discovery. Of course, maybe there are a lot of snakes out there?! Matt K and Ashish wouldn't stop talking about all of the venomous snakes. Good times.

So we drove out to Banteay Srei - excellent temple selection. It's really different from the other Ankorian temples, so it's well worth the 40 minute drive. The sandstone here is different, and much more colorful. Also, it is harder, so the incredibly intricate relief carvings are in really good condition. Today was a beautiful day (read clear skies and insanely hot), so check out the blue sky in the photo. In yet another random Kellogg encounter, we ran into Brian and Kate Thome walking around the temple. And on the way out, Matt K demonstrated his amazing negotiating abilities by actually paying more than the agreed price for a souvenir. Solid.

On our way back through the main Angkor area, we stopped at Ta Prohm - the "Tombraider" temple... so named since it was made famous in the original Tombraider movie. Of the main temples, this has the most jungle growth remaining, with several giant trees growing through the buildings. This was another really fun temple to explore. There are a number of examples of trees that started on the roof of the temple (thanks to birds) and then thrust their roots down through the building in search of the ground. We didn't see Angeline Jolie, but it was still a blast.

That's it for our temple days... we set off to lunch (a pretty awful khmer food place, read tourist trap, that our guide took us to), and then walked around the old market in town. We ended up buying a few tshirts and some Cambodian pepper before returning to the hotel for one last swim in the pool before it was off to the airport and back to Vietnam. Thanks to Matt K, Amanda and Ashish for hanging out with us in Siem Reap!

Day 24: Siem Reap (Sunday, July 20)

2008-07-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday was our big day of temple touring around the Angkor complex. We started early and went straight to Angkor Thom (literally, The Large City). After passing through the south gate, we kicked off at Bayon. Bayon is a magnificent structure, built by the prolific Jayavarman VII, contains some fifty towers, each topped with four faces. As you wind through the temple structure, the towers continue to unveil themselves creating a very dramatic setting. The space is tight, though, so it’s impossible to ever get a true feel for the scale of the entire temple. We also got a taste for the crowds… unlike yesterday when we had the temples to ourselves, at Bayon it was bus tour central!

Heading north out of Bayon, we walked quickly through Baphuon and then climbed up to the top of Phimeanakas (or at least Matt and Matt K did). It was pretty hot at the time, but once at the top there was a nice breeze – which made it almost all worth it. The sun was something fierce, so we were anxious to get back to the car and air conditioning. On the way, we made a quick tour around the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. That was it for Angkor Thom; we all grabbed some much needed water and then drove out the North gate to see two more temples before lunch (we’re ambitious).

First was at Prah Khan. A sprawling temple complex with two long corridors intersecting in the middle (forming a plus sign essentially). There are some great relief carvings around the temple, and on the back side there are some trees growing through the temple (though, nothing compared Ta Prohm, which we're going to see tomorrow).

Our last stop before lunch was Neak Pean. This is a very different complex than the others we've toured - a central temple surrounded by a square pond with four more ponds, one on each side. Our guide told us that each pond had healing powers of some kind - so if you were ill, you would come here and drink from the appropriate pond. Today, since the ponds are all dry, he said people might just eat some of the vegetation from the pond instead.

We pushed our guide to take us to the Khmer Kitchen for lunch since Matt K had heard great things about it in his guide book. We were not disappointed. Between the five of us, we covered a good mix of Khmer food - curry, amok and lok lak. And it was all delicious - all for about $3 each. If you're in Siem Reap, definitely go to the Khmer Kitchen. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest poolside.

Around 3pm we met up with our guide again and returned to Angkor Wat, this time to tour it properly. Having a guide isn't really necessary if you only want to experience the architecture and grandeur of the place, but it really allows you to explore the reliefs and understand how the temple evolved into what's there today. Our guide did a great job of telling us the stories in the reliefs around the sides of the temple. We were hoping to get the good sunset view of Angkor Wat today (Angkor Wat is the only temple that faces west, so it reflects the light from the setting sun), but the clouds moved in thick... just like yesterday. Since it looked like it was going to rain we just jumped back in the van and returned to the hotel.

For dinner tonight, we chose a modern twist on Khmer/Asian food - AHA. AHA is a tapas place in the Be hotel (crazy, only 3 rooms). Half of the menu was modern Khmer, while the rest was a broader Asian interpretation. We tried just about everything on the menu, and it was all very good. We walked around downtown Siem Reap for a bit, and swung by Angkor What? to grab a drink before returning to the hotel for the night. We felt a bit out of place sitting in the bar, watching the scene around Pub Street. I guess we're getting old.

Day 23: Siem Reap (Saturday, July 19)

2008-07-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Let the temple-ing begin! We're saving the big and famous temples for Sunday and Monday once Ashish, Amanda and Matt have arrived (they get in this afternoon). In the morning, we hired a guide and driver through our hotel, Le Meridien Angkor (bad idea, more on that later) to show us some of the smaller temples around the Angkor complex. The links here all point to A Guide to the Angkor Monuments - great resource.

Our first stop on the morning tour was Prasat Kravan. It doesn't look like much as you drive up - just a few crumbling towers with a tall one in the middle. This is one of the earlier temples in the Angkor area, though, dating back to the early 10th century. It is made of brick (vs. sandstone for later temples) and the central tower contains some amazing carvings that have been preserved well. The temple is small, so it's a quick visit - but definitely worth a stop. This carving is from the main tower, of Vishnou on Garuda.

Next up was another temple from the 10th century, Pre Rup. This temple is also built from brick, but is much more impressive than Kravan.Pre Rup consists of several towers, and though many of the towers look a little precarious, you can still climb up the steps to the top level. From the top, you can catch a glimpse of Angkor Wat in the distance.

Our next temple stop was at Banteay Kdei, one of the many temples built by Jayavarman VII in the 12th and 13th centuries. Unlike Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei is sprawling, and you walk in from one side and out the other. There is only one real level, but you wind through corridors. Our driver picked us up at the end and we continued. At this point, it was already starting to get quite warm outside, and it was only 9:30am!

Temple number 4 = Ta Keo. Ta Keo is curiously lacking any carvings or decoration. The king abruptly stopped construction right as that process was beginning. The story told by the guides is that lightning struck the top of the temple, which the King perceived as bad luck, so construction was halted. This is another towering temple - with incredibly steep steps. I can't even imagine climbing up these things in the rain. No gym needed here - the temples are your very own stairmaster. Here's what they look like from the top - while Viv climbs.

After Ta Keo, we drove a bit and stopped at Thommanom and Chau Saytevoda. These smallish temples are on opposite sides of the road, just outside the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom. Chau Saytevoda, in particular, is in a pretty bad state of ruin - pieces everywhere. It's an amazing process to reconstruct and restore the temples. They figure out the layout, then figure out where every stone fits into the structure. The stones are then numbered so that they can be put in the proper place - a giant three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

Here's where it gets fun. We managed to get through these temples by about 10:35a or so, and we had contracted to have the guide and driver until 12p. There was one other temple that we thought would be a good one to see today before everyone else got here, but for a variety of reasons, it didn't happen. First, our guide told us that because we only booked the half day tour, the driver wasn't getting as much money, and because the next temple was a little farther away, he would not take us there. Eventually we got him to concede that we could ask the driver (amazing concept) and possibly pay him more money for the last visit - gas is expensive, after all. So we went back to the car and asked the driver if we could pay him a little more to take us out to see Neah Pean.

This time, we got a 'no' for a totally different reason. We could only see certain temples (there is a 'half-day tour' and 'full-day tour' described on the map... we took it as a suggested itinerary of sorts, but he made it sound like the hotel policy only allowed certain temples to be included in each. This makes some sense if you're traveling in groups and booking group tours. We really couldn't understand how hiring a driver and guide came with limitions on where you could go. Seriously.

Eventually, we got our guide to concede that this was silly, though he proclaimed it was hotel policy. At this point, he informed us that we no longer had time to go to the temple and still make it back to the hotel by noon. And if we showed up after noon, the hotel would charge us the full day rate. So instead, we made it back to the hotel at 11a. A solid hour before our paid for time was up. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled about that one. So we laid into the concierge manager for failing to disclose any of the so-called policies and restrictions to us and for generally being less than helpful. The conversation was somewhat painful, and I'm not sure if the problem was that he didn't understand us literally (because of language problems) or if he was just obtuse. It reminded me immensely of the minor problems we ran into in Vietnam - customer service folks in the hospitality business can serve up some truly lousy customer service. And I know that we're in SE Asia, and English is clearly not the main language. But if you're a western hotel chain operating a 5 star hotel, then I expect you to have a staff that speaks English. Sorry, that's just the way it is. After several minutes of attempting to explain the situation and or displeasure, we went to the pool to grab a snack and enjoy a good swim while we waited for our pals to get in.

Once everyone has arrived and settled in, we head into town to grab lunch at The Blue Pumpkin, a great cafe serving up both Western and Asian food, as well as smoothies, juices, and ice cream. We had some tasty treats and then we split up. Ashish and Amanda has a little trip planning to take care of for the next part of their journey, so they sought out an internet cafe, while Matt, Matt and Viv decided to get a tuk tuk and go check out Angkor Wat and get some pictures.

Angkor Wat is definitely impressive, but not immediately. I think this is because it is on such a large piece of land and the walls sort of go on forever. We were pretty excited when we pulled up, but like many of the temples the real appreciation comes once you have a sense for the scale and place of the entire compound - and this one is large. Check out the clouds, though. There wasn't really any sunset today, but we did avoid the rain.

We walked through and around the temple and got some good pictures. We also ran into a group of at least 30 monkeys hanging out in the back. Playful little dudes... one of them grabbed a tourist's hat and leapt up on the temple roof to deposit it.

For dinner, we cleaned up and went over to Meric in the Hôtel de la Paix. This place was super cool - great space, great decor, great vibe. The lounge was stunning, and the floating beds are a fantastic touch. The food is advertised (both in Luxe and around Siem Reap) as Modern Khmer, and we were excited to try it. Turns out, though, that the menu is basically high end hotel food, with a set menu option of Khmer food. None of us were feeling the the set menu, though, so we ended up with some very good international food. It was definitely good, but it was not what we were expecting so the meal disappointed a little.

Day 22: Phnom Penh (Friday, July 18)

2008-07-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Today we left Vientiane in the morning - check out our hotel's sweet, old school London cab. Laos drives on the right, not the left, so curious that they have a British car, but whatever.

We flew into Phnom Penh (and bumped into Andy and Harsh from UCLA on the plane) and spent the afternoon checking out the sights there, and we had an evening flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on Siem Reap Airways (aka Bangkok Airways). We couldn't check-in for our Siem Reap flight until 5pm, but we were able to store our bags at the airport lost and found, so we grabbed a taxi and went to the National Museum. If we thought that Vietnam took long lunch breaks, Cambodia is much worse... most of the sights are closed from 11a-2p!!

The National Museum is worth visiting because it houses a lot of the Buddhist art that used to be in the temples in Angkor and other parts of the country. To protect them from looters, they are stored and preserved in the museum. There are a lot of really sad aspects to Cambodia, but one is that the illegal antiquities trade is robbing them of a lot of their heritage. Folks steal statues or the heads of statues and then sell them through the black market in Thailand. One of the statues in the museum had been missing a head until they posted the statue in some database and the Metropolitan Museum of Art recognized it as matching one of the heads in their collection. Fortunately, in that case the head has been returned to Cambodia and the statue is whole again. If the theft wasn't bad enough, it seems as if most of the thieves are actually police officers or other government officials. The portrait painted for us was one of extreme corruption - everywhere. Anyway, back to Phnom Penh. Since nothing else was open, we went to have lunch at Frizz which is pretty close to the National Museum and Royal Palace Museum. It was traditional khmer food, and it was really, really good. Viv had a chicken and eggplant dish that had excellent flavor - very good smoky eggplan flavor (though it did look like a pile of goop on rice) - and Matt had grilled chicken flavored with khmer spices - also excellent.

After lunch we hurried over to the Royal Palace, not really sure what to expect. At first we were a little shocked at the $6 entry fee - well above anything else we had been charged on the trip - but the information book that came with it was reminiscient of a western museum and definitely appreciated. The palace itself is remarkable. We took a bunch of pictures of the buildings, but you're not allowed to take pictures inside - too bad. We weren't sure we were going to make it over there, but it was definitely worth it. Don't miss it if you're in Phnom Penh.

We jumped on a tuk tuk and went to Tuol Sleng, the high school turned prison (S21) which housed an enormous number of prisoners (estimates from 16,000-20,000) - almost all of whom were executed under the Khmer Rouge. This is a truly depressing museum - similar to the holocaust museum or the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It starts off tame enough - showing prison beds and torture implements - not dissimilar from the Hanoi Hilton. Next, though, you start to appreciate the magnitude of it all - there is a room that houses nothing but chalkboards covered in pictures (essentially mug shots) of the prisoners. While the Khmer Rouge were ruthless, they were also asurdly organized, photographing every single prisoner. The final building is by far the most moving, though, as it contains both photo exhibits related to books that have been published (chronicling the lives of those involved in the revolution and those who lost family members to the Khmer Rouge) and ultimately a display of skulls recovered from the Killing Fields, complete with autopsy report on the type of skull and trajectory of the bullet through the skull. I won't post any pictures, but it is truly a mind blowing experience to reflect on what happened here in the mid-70s. The hardest aspect to come to terms with, for us at least, is that there was no apparent rhyme or reason to the killings - it was a strict power play. They started by killing the residents of the cities (who they perceived to be against them), but ultimately they killed most of the volunteers that signed up to join their side, as well.

We needed to get back to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap, but there are no taxis to be found in Phnom Penh - only tuk tuks. We really weren't relishing the ride in a tuk tuk (Phnom Penh was surprisingly bustling with cars, trucks etc, and the air was reiminiscient of Bangkok or Saigon - not so tasty!)... but with no other option, we ended up in a tuk tuk and made it in time for our flight. Tomorrow we get to start exploring the Ankorian temples... and then Ashish, Amanda and Matt K are joining us in the afternoon.

Day 21: Vientiane (Thursday, July 17)

2008-07-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Our lone day in Vientiane was a busy one… we started with a tuk tuk ride up to Phra That Luang – pretty much the national symbol of Laos. The stupa is spectacular, and it definitely feels like ay visit to Laos is incomplete until you make it here. The stupa is surrounded by several temples, as well, which are quite beautiful in their own right. We walked around in the light rain and really enjoyed the area. There were several large busloads of tourists there, but it was big enough that we didn’t feel crowded.

Next, we had our tuk tuk driver take to back down to Patuxay – aka, the Victory Monument. It sure looks like the Arc de Triomphe, but the top is completely done in Lao stylings. There are a couple of fountains out front in the surrounding park area that looked pretty neat, but we only caught the tail end of their performance (only twice daily). We paid the nominal fee to climb to the top to get a good view of the city… really not that impressive. They do manage to cram a bunch of souvenir stands inside on the way up, though.

We ditched the tuk tuk and just walked down to the morning market next. Even though it was nearly lunch time, the market was still bustling. Apparently it’s more of an all-day market, but it keeps the morning market name. There were a couple of giant lanes of stands, as well as, a proper, indoor mall. We walked all around the indoor mall (Viv got a dress and Matt tried to buy shoes, but they weren’t interested in negotiating), and a bit through the outdoor section before we decided we’d had enough market. Then we kept walking to Wat Si Saket. This is the oldest temple in Vientiane because it was the only temple not destroyed when the Siamese invaded. The notable aspects are the incredibly old (and almost faded murals in the sanctuary) and the extensive collection of Buddha figures all around the temple grounds. It was a pretty quick visit, but well worth it.

On our walk around town, we passed by the Presidential Palace and a food cart serving Bread with Pate... Aline, this picture's for you.

After a nice lunch and a leisurely walk through the central touristy part of the city, we returned to our hotel to take a break and relax until dinner. We made reservations at Le Silapa, a classic French restaurant. The wine list was very reasonably priced, especially for the region, and was well stocked with good selections. Our meal selection was a little strange… Viv had all duck (foie gras and duck breast) and Matt had all beef (beef consommé with ginger-lemongrass ravioli and tenderloin). Everything was delicious, especially the foie gras (complete with a sichuan pepper/pineapple jam!!).

Day 20: Luang Prabang (Wednesday, July 16)

2008-07-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was our last day in Luang Prabang, and we had an evening flight (yes, on Laos Airlines) to Vientiane, the modern capital of Laos. We had a leisurely start to the day and went to see some of the other major wats in LP. First up was Wat Mai (May), down the main road from our hotel, just past the Royal Palace Museum. The relief carvings at Wat Mai are truly outstanding – from the daily life to the religious stories, everything is captured in the carvings on the building. Inside, the Buddha statues were very impressive, as well – including an emerald-looking Buddha.

Next up was the Laos Arts and Ethnology Center. This was a pretty small facility, but the exhibition was outstanding. There was much more explanation in the stories than at the ethnology museum in Hanoi. This was a highly informative stop, so if you’re in LP, we definitely recommend a few minutes at the LAEC. After we finished the tour, we walked over to Wat Visunnarat, home of the watermelon stupa. I’m not sure of the comparison, but it was a neat little wat with some great views of the top of Mt Phousi.

We had lunch at the Blue Lagoon Café – solid French/Lao food, though a bit over-priced for the region. Just as we were pondering our afternoon plans, the heavens opened up and it poured for a solid 30 minutes. Eventually the rain tapered off into a light drizzle, so we decided to brave it and head over to Wat Mahathat (or Wat That on some maps). This wat’s main entrance was completely decked out with painted relief – truly beautiful. We’re a little worried about being templed-out since we have a day in Vientiane and then three days in Siem Reap coming up, but everything we saw in LP really was outstanding.

Our flight to Vientiane was delayed by a couple of hours, and there really isn’t anything in the LP airport, but we stuck it out and eventually we took off – no problems once again (our last flight on Laos airlines) and we were in Vientiane in 40 minutes.

Day 19: Luang Prabang (Tuesday, July 15)

2008-07-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

On the flight from New York to Hong Kong, Matt was catching up on magazine reading (hard to maintain pace with so many subscriptions during school!!) and came across the recent Gourmet issue that rated cooking schools all over the world. The article was great, covering schools in countries around the world ranging from 1 day sessions to week long, in-depth courses. There just happened to be a recommendation for a cooking school in Luang Prabang, and since we’re spending four days here, we decided to sign up – Tamarind Laos. Tamarind is a café, as well, that focuses on traditional Lao cuisine. The class started at 9am, with the requisite market tour. The market in LP is not so different than other markets we’ve been to in these parts, except it had a bizarre wholesale/retail aspect. Most of the fruits (Thailand) and vegetables (Vientiane) come from outside LP. There’s one section of the market where people bring it in to LP to sell, but they leave around midday. Then there’s another section of locals that buy from the early market and then resell later in the day. Very curious. There was, of course, the pig butcher – with the entire pig from the head, to the brains, to congealed blood, and more. The one new ingredient for us, though, was buffalo bile. Not sure who has the job to collect the buffalo bile, or how one would even start to go about that, but anyway… here it is.

At Tamarind, all of the cooking is done in the traditional style, so you ground everything in a giant mortar and pestle, and everything is cooked over charcoal – quite cool. First, we made some dipping sauces. Matt’s (tomato and red chili) was very spicy, and Viv’s (eggplant and green chili) was less so… but still too spicy for her. Next we made amok, a classic dish of fish steamed in a banana leaf. We followed that with lemongrass stuffed with chicken. Of the four lemongrass we stuffed, two were deep fried and two were grilled. The grilled versions tasted best to us. As a class, we also made Orlam, or Luang Prabang style stew. This was a lot of vegetables and herbs, so tons of prep work, with some grilled chicken thrown in at the end. Finally, we made buffalo meat salad. And yes, for one of our two dishes, we used the buffalo bile in our course. Supposedly it helps to tenderize the meat, but we didn’t notice a major difference. If we didn’t know it was there, then we would have never have guessed it was there.

After our time at Tamarind, we made it over to see some of the major wats in town – Wat Xieng Thong and Wat Sene. Both wats were very nice. Xieng Thong is a large complex, almost at the tip of the peninsula in LP, with many buildings in the complex housing some great statues. Wat Sene was actually just down a block from our hotel, and it is famous for its large standing Buddha statue. After a quick pass through of the two wats, we took a quick break at the hotel and then had a Lao traditional massage (great deal at Spa Garden – 90 minutes for ~$10). When our 90 minutes was up, we were relaxed and ready for more shopping, so we went to the night market. We browed the whole market (pretty huge, but mostly the same stuff) and came away with a handful of t-shirts, some wooden spoons and a skirt for Viv. We were starving, so we opted for a quick dinner at The Pizza, a very popular place with the westerners, serving up good pizza and mediocre pasta.

Day 18: Luang Prabang (Monday, July 14)

2008-07-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

Every morning, the monks in LP (and there are a ton of them, as this really is the land of wats) proceed through the town and collect alms from the Buddhist faithful. It’s an important part of their culture, and sadly it seems as if the tourists have been ruining it (crowding the street to watch the monks pass by, getting in their way, and distracting them with photographs). We were a little worried since we had heard the procession can be quite loud and our hotel room faced right onto the main street, but we never heard it. If we hadn’t just naturally woken up early today, we would have missed it entirely. As it was, we barely caught the tail end. Here’s a blurred photo (very artistic, eh?) of some of the monks walking in front of our hotel. We didn’t see any locals offering alms – maybe that happens farther along?

Today was our outdoor adventure in Laos. We spent the day rafting on the Nam Xeung river, starting about two hours outside of LP. We used Green Discovery for our trip, and they seem to have a good number of options (and they operate out of just about every part of Laos). We picked the Nam Xeung since it was supposed to be more exciting than the other rivers at the time. There were three rapids on our trip – a Class 1, Class 3 and Class 2. The Class 3 rapid was fun, but otherwise it was a little weak. In between, we had large stretches of calm river – good for swimming, but not as interesting. The trip was fun and were rafting with a bunch of Scots, plus a couple of fellow Americans, Andy and Harsh, who had just graduated from UCLA.

On the way back to the hotel, Matt stopped at the burger stand on the side of road proclaiming “Good Taste and Cheapest Burger in LP.” For a little under $2, it was actually pretty good. The bun was great, and the flavors were all good, they just need to work on their patty formation. Later, we went out for dinner at Apsara, a hotel around the corner from our own hotel. Dinner was quite good, and there was only one other table occupied while we were there.

Day 17: Luang Prabang (Sunday, July 13)

2008-07-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

Since we planned the Laos portion of our trip while we were in Vietnam, we had spent a lot of time thinking about what to do. We have decided only to visit Luang Prabang and Vientiane – skipping the oft-visited Vang Vieng, as well as some of the more remote areas – in order to avoid a “pack it all in” mentality. Most of our time will be here in Luang Prabang (LP), land of 1,000 wats, checking out the local scene, the wats, and the nearby rivers. For our first day, we took it pretty easy. After breakfast at the 3 Nagas (best breakfast of the trip so far), we walked over to the Royal Palace Museum and the wat that is on the grounds. This was a really beautiful wat. Unfortunately, rain and great marble steps are a bad combination with flip flops, so Matt managed to fall twice in 10 seconds while we were on the way down. Somehow, the camera emerged mostly unscathed, as did Matt minus a sore wrist. The museum itself was also quite striking, full of great relics from the nearby wats (to prevent looting), but we weren’t allowed to take any pictures, so use your imagination to picture some really great Buddhist art and artifacts. The highlight is the Prabang Buddha. During Laos new year in LP, the Buddha is paraded around the city and everyone throws water on everyone else (to cleanse you of your sins). It sounds like quite the party, so if you’re in Laos in mid-April, you should get over to LP!

Next we climbed Mt Phousi (only 330 something steps to the top) to get some great views of the peninsula. Then we remembered that we had forgotten to take our malaria meds in the morning, and Matt wanted to ice his wrist, so we went back to the hotel for a midday break. Post-break, we walked down to the Mekong and hired a boat to take us to the Pak Ou caves, two hours upriver from Luang Prabang. Inside the caves are hundreds of Buddha sculptures. The caves themselves aren’t all that exciting, but the boat ride on the Mekong was nice – lots of good scenery.

We planned to grab a drink along the river at a café highlighted in the Luxe guide… but alas, the café was now only a store. So instead, we went to a wine bar we had seen earlier on the main drag to have a couple glasses of wine and some calamari as a snack. There are actually a couple of wine bars in LP… very curious, indeed. The wine is a mix of Chilean, Australia and French for the most part. We just had some of the cheap Chilean stuff (that’s what was available by the glass) – nothing special, but definitely drinkable. After a while, we went over to L’Elephant for dinner – a fairly classic French interpretation, but definitely tasty… and quite popular, apparently. Dinner was good until the folks at the table next to us started smoking like chimneys. That was our cue to head back to the 3 Nagas and hit the sack.

Day 16: Travel to Laos (Saturday, July 12)

2008-07-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

After breakfast, Viv rushed to fit in a massage at a spa we saw by Cantina Central the previous night. Matt checked out a few more stores by the hotel before returning to the room to pack everything up. We met up again for an early lunch at the “best bakery” in town, according to our concierge. This was important, since to this point we had been consistently disappointed with the bread and baked goods. We had high expectations given the large French influence, but most places came up just a little short. Luckily, our concierge did not disappoint and the bread was fantastic. We grabbed three different banh mi (sandwiches) and returned our room to eat and then go to the airport. The banh mi were all delicious, especially the BBQ version. At $1 each, this was one of the best deals of the trip.

With the main portion of our time in Vietnam coming to an end, it’s a great time to reflect on our experience here. Overall, it has been a fantastic time with relatively few disappointments. The food has been really, really great, and we’ve been able to learn a lot about the history and culture, as well as have some fun in the outdoors. Some thoughts…
- The traffic really is insane. not because there’s so much of it, like in Bangkok, but because there are no rules whatsoever. just cross the street… all those motorbikes will find a way around you – trust us.
- Coke and Pepsi are everywhere, but the fast food chains are not. This was actually pretty refreshing… no McDonald’s, no Starbucks. There were a few KFCs, but that’s about it.
- While Coke and Pepsi are everywhere, Diet Pepsi is disgusting. It has a serious fruit juice flavor in Vietnam, not unlike Dr. Pepper in Britain (people that work at Pepsi… what’s up with this?).
- The international brands dominate in water too - Coke (Joy), Pepsi (Aquafina) and Nestle (?). We only saw a couple of Vietnamese brands the whole time. But of the three, Aquafina has captured our hearts here. Not because of the water itself but because of the packaging. The Coke and Nestle bottles are so thin (have to downgauge to save money!) that they are nearly impossible to open if wet or if your hands are wet. And even if you start to get it open, you almost always lose water in the process.
- What’s up with the 2 hour break for lunch at all the museums?
- The outdoor activities (hiking in Sapa and Cat Tien) have been truly fantastic. If you come to Vietnam, take the time to get of the cities
- Why must every question be answered with “yes”? Even if the answer is actually “no”! They’ve gotten the polite part of customer service down, but they could use some work on effective – and this is the case even at some of the nicest hotels in the country (Sheraton Hanoi, I’m looking at you)

We’ll be back in Vietnam in a week and a half to check out the beach scene at Phu Quoc, but until then we’re off to Laos and Cambodia. The travel to Laos was relatively uneventful even though we couldn’t check through, so we had to claim our bags in Hanoi and then find the international departures terminal and re-check in for the next flight. We thought we were flying Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi to Luang Prabang, but it turned out to be a codeshare flight operated by Laos Airlines. Yes, the “You’re Safe With Us” Laos Airlines. Seriously, what kind of slogan is that for an airline? Luckily, we were flying on an ATR-72, not the Chinese-made X12. Apparently, all of their crashes have occurred on X12s in the rain. And yes, it was raining in Luang Prabang when we landed, but hey, we’re safe! Actually, it was probably our smoothest flight yet. Props to Laos Airlines.

Laos won its first points over Vietnam when we got to Luang Prabang. In Vietnam when you walk out of the airport, you are immediately bombarded by scores of taxi and tuk tuk drivers trying to get your attention and take you bags to lead you to their vehicle. There may be an official taxi stand, but even then you never know if the meter is going to work or going to be rigged. It’s not a serious problem, but it’s definitely annoying. In Laos, by contrast, you walk to a counter, tell the staff where you’re headed and then they hand you a ticket and match you with a driver; and it’s a fixed price from the airport to town. Here’s a picture of our room at the 3 Nagas hotel.

Day 15: Mekong Delta Tour (Friday, July 11)

2008-07-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

Friday morning, we had scheduled an all day tour of the Mekong. It started with a two hour drive south of Saigon. Eventually, we got to our boat and cruised over to the floating market at Cai Be. Apparently all the real action at the market is in the early AM, so I guess you would have to stay overnight down there to catch that. There was still a little bit of activity when we floated by but not much. Each boat has a flag hoisted that depicts what is for sale on the boat, and local villagers and merchants pull up to place their orders. Matt had a good time snapping lots of pictures of river life, so hopefully we’ll get our full picture album posted soon – look for an update. There used to be crocodiles in the river (if you believe the stories), so all of the boats have eyes painted on the front to scare them away!

We passed by the floating market and then stopped at a local tourist shop… where one family runs the whole operation and has the ‘demonstration’ areas set up, so you get to see the process for making coconut candy, popped rice treats (rice krispie treats!!), etc. The coconut candy was tasty (and very chewy), and some of the other candies were good too (ginger, peanut), so we bought some to bring home and share. There was also a decent selection of coconut wood housewares, so Matt picked up some new bowls for fun. The popped rice treats were particularly interesting… they make it using hot sand. There is a bunch of hot black sand in a giant wok, then they add in the rice. Once it gets mixed up the rice pops up from the heat of the sand (completely encapsulating the rice). Once it’s all popped, the “cook” strains out all of the sand and passes the rice to the next station where coconut milk is added and the rice is arranged in a giant rectangle which is then cut into individual serving sizes. Brilliant.

Next stop was lunch on an island somewhere in the Mekong. We learned that Vietnam has a bit of a power shortage at the moment, though, so the island is often without electricity, so no lights and no fans. Our luck changed for the better when the electricity came on halfway through our meal and we got a little fan action to help us cool off. Lunch was unremarkable – mostly fried – but it got the job done. The restaurant also kept a couple of giant pythons in cages nearby (strictly for entertaining the tourists, not for eating).

After lunch, we traded down into an old-fashioned row boat, with a woman in the back to push us along. When the guide said we were getting in a row boat, Matt thought he was going to get a chance to row. He’s still a little disappointed he missed out. Viv did get to wear a conical hat for this part of the journey, though.

Our last stop of the tour was at a nursery that grows all of the fruit that we had been seeing plus some others. After a quick tour, we sat down to sample some fruit and the staff of the nursery performed some traditional Vietnamese music complete with acting and singing. Then it was back to the boat and the car… and eventually to Saigon.

After we cleaned up and rested a bit, we explored the streets around the hotel. There were a lot of good shops full of laquerware, clothes, and other random souvenirs. We bought a few things for the (nonexistent) house, but then the rain started so we made our way to dinner. Those of you that know us well, know we never pass up an opportunity to try out Mexican food. And yes, there is Mexican food everywhere – even in Vietnam. Cantina Central in Saigon had a great menu of all the traditional Tex-Mex classics – tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and of course, margaritas. We got the steak tacos and fish tacos and a couple of margaritas. Nothing like home (or Texas, at least), but still pretty tasty. The fish tacos were cooked quite well and had a serious kick (Viv had to trade with Matt because she couldn’t take it!), and the steak was tender but would have been better if it had been grilled.

This is our last night in Vietnam (for a while). Tomorrow we fly to Luang Prabang (with a connection in Hanoi) and start the Laos portion of our trip.

Day 14: Saigon (Thursday, July 10)

2008-07-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Amanda’s last day in Saigon before flying over to Bangkok to meet up with Ashish and Matt K., so we decided to make the most of our time and explore the city. We started at the Reunification Palace – an open air residence of the ruler (president) of South Vietnam. It was originally built by the French but subsequently destroyed and rebuilt during the Diem regime following France’s exit from Vietnam. The best part of the museum was a film showing a lot of the history of Saigon through the war with both France and America. There is also a Huey on the helipad, as seems to be the case with just about every museum we’ve been to so far. Our favorite room in the palace was the Gaming Room; as you can see in the picture, there is some choice furniture in the room and the barrel-like bar in the back is priceless.

After getting hurried out of the museum (time to close for an hour and half lunch, after all), we went south to the Ben Thanh Market. Big mistake. Hot, tight, crowded, with vendors reaching out to touch you and full of stuff we didn’t need. Everyone raves about it, so maybe we just weren't in the right mindset... regardless, we did a quick pass through and booked it back towards Notre Dame and the Post Office to grab lunch.

After two weeks of eating great Vietnamese food, we broke down and went for something different… very different. Just down the street from the palace and just north of Notre Dame, we found Au Parc – a great place with very fresh and tasty Middle Eastern food. The little room we ate in was so bright and airy, we had to have a candid photo.

Our last tourist stop of the day was the War Remnants Museum. Like all other war-related museums in Vietnam, there is a large collection of military equipment (tanks, planes, rocket launchers, artillery pieces, etc) . The War Remnants Museum also has a brief history of both the war with France and the war with America, complete with full listings, pictures, and badges of the various US Service Units that were in Vietnam for the war. The two showcase pieces of the museum, though, are photograph collections. The first, known as Requiem, was actually funded by Kentucky and showcases the work of the many professional photographers that were involved in the war. The collection serves as a tribute to the numerous photographers that died during action, and it does an outstanding job of capturing the scene of both daily life and combat throughout the war. The second exhibition is of photographs of the victims of chemical warfare during the war. It is a compelling case against the use of chemical agents as the effects are shown both on the immediate victims, as well as, on their children (i.e., lots of birth defects). The museum also houses a replica war prison, but the Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi (“Hanoi Hilton”) is much better, so no need to spend time in this section.

Needing a little pick-me-up after the War Remnants Museum, we walked back to our hotel by way of some good shopping streets. We didn’t actually buy anything, but there were a lot of great little houseware and clothing boutiques. We made it back to the hotel just in time for Amanda to collect her bags and head off to Thailand. Now it’s just Matt and Viv for the next week – finishing up in Saigon and then exploring Laos – before we meet up with Ashish, Amanda and Matt K. in Siem Reap.

For dinner this evening, we went to Xu, just around the corner from the Sheraton. There is a cafe downstairs and a restaurant and lounge upstairs. The food was great, and surprisingly the wine list was reasonable too. Most of the other wine lists we had seen thus far were pretty boring and/or very expensive. We definitely recommend a meal at Xu!

Day 12-13: Cat Tien National Park (Tuesday, July 8 – Wednesday, July 9)

2008-07-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

The reason we crammed all our shopping (and ultimately bagged on the meager sights) in Hoi An is that we really wanted to make it out to Cat Tien National Park to do some trekking and enjoy the outdoors a bit more in Vietnam. After a one night refresher in what good hotels are, we left the comfort of the Sheraton Saigon for the three hour drive northeast to the national park. Cat Tien is a huge park in Southeastern Vietnam and home to an impressive set of flora and fauna (over 1,600 species) including many endangered and near endangered species such as the Javanese Rhinoceros (only 5-7 left in the park). Shocking I know, but we did not see any during our time in the park!

While we knew we wanted to go to the park, we weren’t exactly sure how to make it happen. Frommer’s suggested just hiring a driver and showing up at the park… but in the end, we went with a two day tour organized by Active Travel Vietnam. It was definitely more expensive then the DIY option, but we didn’t have to think about anything. We booked it while we were in Hanoi, and actually went to the office to make the payment. The guy running the office, Tony, was great. He was all alone since the rest of the company was enjoying a little vacation at Halong Bay. He gave us some good advice, as well as some pointers for the Laos portion of our trip. It was a little concerning when he mentioned the leeches… apparently, there are lots of leeches at Cat Tien. Indeed, there were lots of leeches. Surprisingly, though, they were a) tiny and b) land-based. We learned that these are terrestrial leeches, and they stay small (unlike the larger water-based leeches that we had in our minds).

We stayed overnight in a guesthouse (a very generous term) at the park center, and had all of our meals in the park canteen (a little too fried, but overall pretty good). On our first day, we hiked about 6km after lunch, doing a circle route through the forest near the park headquarters. We didn’t see any animals (other than butterflies and lots of leeches), but we saw a lot of interesting and impressive trees. After dinner, we went on a drive (standing in the back of a pickup truck in the rain!) down the park road. Our guide had a giant torch to shine into the park so that we could look for animals. Unfortunately, it rained hard the whole time. We didn’t expect to see much, but we found a rabbit, a bunch of frogs, and a whole lot of deer that had come out for dinner. Back at our guest house and (somewhat) dry, we hopped into our mosquito net covered beds to get some shut-eye. Needless to say, city girl Viv was a little shocked at the idea of sleeping under mosquito nets!

Day two meant more hiking… 10km, to be precise. We hopped a ride on a jeep down the main park road, and then hiked 5km to the Crocodile Lake ranger station. This was a great hike, and somehow we managed to spot a group of langurs jumping around in the tree tops. We couldn’t get a photo, but they were pretty good-sized black langurs (with distinctive white/silvery tails)! It was quite a find, and our local guide was really shocked that we saw them. The park headquarters had a good display on the various species living in the park area, and it too indicated that the langurs were rarely seen (lucky us!). We heard a bunch of macaques, as well, but they didn’t want to come close enough for us to see them. We also came across some truly giant trees, including this one that completely towered over us (700 years old).
We didn’t see any crocodiles in the lake, though they do exist (apparently they only come out at night), but we did see a lot of birds in the area, including a very green, peacock-like bird. And of course, we had the obligatory de-leeching when we arrived at the station. They just hop on your shoes and try to make their way to skin. The park is well prepared, though, and we were all given leech socks (sexy), as well as a leech repellent that we rubbed on the socks... check us out showing them off.

On the way back to the Park Headquarters, we really picked up the pace and did the entire 5km hike in just an hour. Not much in the way of animals on this part, either – just a small snake and a centipede. After lunch, we left the park and drove back to Saigon.
If you are in Saigon (or Dalat) and have some time, we highly recommend Cat Tien. And if you really want an outdoor adventure, you could spend even more time there. The best time to go is in the dry season – stay overnight at Crocodile Lake, because the animals come to the lake at night to get water, so it’s a great spot for animal viewing.

We were counting down the hours until we got back to the shower at the Sheraton Saigon (great water pressure with jets on the side, as well) the whole time we were hiking in the park… and by the time we got there it was well-deserved. Clean and refreshed, we hit the streets of Saigon for some dinner and fun. Dinner was at Nam Kha (owned by the Khai Silk empire, and completely decked out!), followed by drinks at the Temple Club. Sadly, there was no one else at the Temple Club besides us and a group of girls that we saw in Hoi An, as well. It was still cool, though, with some great décor. Perhaps a more fun time on the weekend?

Day 11: Hoi An (Monday, July 7)

2008-07-17T03:31:00.000-07:00

Continuing in blitz mode, this was our only actual day in Hoi An. In retrospect, two days might have been better… but our wallets also might not have survived. We were signed up for the Red Bridge Cooking School (thanks for the heads up Andy) from 11a-3:30p, and then we had a flight to catch to Saigon at 6:30pm.

After our less than desirable breakfast at the Hoi An Hotel, we went to the Museum of Trade Ceramics. An interesting note about the museums in Vietnam – though many are quite nice, they are almost all very small (at least in comparison to Western museums) – not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation. The Trade Ceramics museum did a great job of presenting the history of Hoi An through the ceramics story. We were done, though, with a decent amount of time before our cooking school. Just as Viv was about to buy us tickets to visit the Tran family house and chapel (the house of a mandarin preserved as it would have been back in the day, full of gifts from foreign lands, etc), Matt and Amanda convinced her that perhaps we should browse some of the shops instead (Hoi An is somewhat renowned for its tailoring, after all). Wow. Somehow in the next 40 minutes we ended up purchasing a boat load of bespoke clothing that would miraculously be ready for us to try on at 3:00pm (four hour turnaround time!!)… crazy!

Cooking school started with a tour of the local market – typical fruits and vegetables for the region, plus lots of seafood and the full complement of poultry and beef. The fruits on the trip have been great – rambutan, lychee, pineapple, etc. We haven’t seen nearly as much mangosteen as we do in Thailand, but Matt did have an outstanding mangosteen martini at Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Hanoi. The highlight of the market tour, though, was the selection of Vietnamese kitchen implements – focused almost entirely on elaborate presentations (waffle cut knives, a device to split the end of greens into quarters, etc). Naturally, Matt picked up a set to take home (good thing we’re checking bags anyway).

At the cooking school itself, the Red Bridge chef demonstrated several items and then we replicated (most of them). For the most part, there was nothing much to the recipes. We did get to make our own rice paper, though, and that was quite fun (and much easier than it sounded). The good news is, this is really easy to do… and you can use the same process to make rice noodles, as well as rice paper. So friends in Chicago, get ready for a make your own rice paper/noodle party coming soon!

The cooking school was good, but the class was quite large (20 people). Some of the smaller classes we’ve done elsewhere have been much more fun. Just before we were ready to head back to town and try on our clothes, the rain started in a heavy downpour. Instead of taking the boat (the cooking school is way up the river) we opted for a taxi (and got soaked on the 20 second dash to the car). The clothes all needed a bit of fixing up, but even that was taken care of quite quickly, and we dashed back to the hotel and into a taxi to the airport.

Day 10: Hue (Sunday, July 6)

2008-07-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

This portion of our trip is also known as the blitz period. Today we are seeing the sights of Hue in a day and then driving to Hoi An in the evening where we will spend a day before flying south to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. Officially it's HCMC... but everyone still calls it Saigon, so that's what we're going with here. Anyway, back to our day in Hue.

It started with a boat ride up the Perfume River to the Tien Mu Pagoda. We're used to pagoda just referring to the tower... but here it refers to the entire temple complex. Anyway, we got there and climbed up to the temple grounds. Apparently, only the monks are allowed inside the pagoda, but we still got to see the rest of the grounds, including the tomb of one of the senior monks of the temple that had passed away a few years ago.

Also housed on the temple grounds is the car that the monk Thích Quảng Đức drove to the busy intersection in Saigon where he burned himself to death in protest to the Diem regime's treatment of Buddhists in Vietnam. It wasn't clear to us why the car was in Hue, but nevertheless... there it is.

From the pagoda, we drove to the Citadel and toured the grounds of the inner most area of the Imperial City, former capital of Vietnam. The Citadel included the Purple Forbidden City, home to the palace of the Nguyen Dynasty which ruled Vietnam from 1802-1945, when King Bao Dai declared Vietnam's independence from France and became the Emperor of Vietnam, instead. Not much of the citadel is left after extensive bombings by the Americans (when Hue was overtaken by Communist forces during the Tet Offensive). What's left of the Citadel is under UNESCO protection and is slowly being restored.

The first sight of the Citadel is the giant flag tower immediately in front of the East Gate – the main gate for the city, with different entrances for the King, mandarins, soldiers, and elephants. The second level of the main gate was used as a platform for ceremonies and celebrations.

Further in from the gate is a courtyard before you come to the throne room. The intricate carvings around the room were very impressive, and the throne itself does not disappoint, either. In case you forget that you’re in one of the main tourist attractions, though, there’s also a room where you can dress in the royal regalia and have your photo snapped on faux thrones – classic. We passed on the opportunity, but we did enjoy see this family get all decked out.

After the citadel, we went to lunch at a restaurant clearly catering to the tourists. I couldn’t tell you the name, but it was inside the first wall of the citadel. The food was all quite good, but our first course also came in an outstanding presentation, as well – a peacock of spring rolls!

Following lunch, we spent the afternoon exploring two of the Nguyen Dynasty tombs – Tu Duc and Khai Dinh. Tu Duc was the fourth king of the Nguyen Dynasty, ruling the country from 1847-1883. He presided over a great period for Vietnam – his death ushered in an era of colonialization and ultimately war. Despite his long reign (and apparently a large number of concubines), he never produced an heir, so upon his death, rule passed to his nephew. One of the Nguyen traditions for the King’s tombs is for the son of the deceased king to write his father’s accomplishments on a stone tablet to be place at the tomb. Tu Duc’s tomb was constructed well before his death, and he actually used the large grounds as a retreat from the palace in the citadel. He also took the time to write his own memorial, knowing he had no heir to do it justice.

The grounds of the Tu duc tomb are complete with a lake, and island and the traditional set of statues (civil and military mandarins, elephants and horses) leading up to the actual tomb. Upon his death, he was buried in the tomb by a secret passageway. Apparently, nobody knows exactly where in the tomb grounds he was laid to rest – to prevent possible looting of the tomb. All in all, the tomb grounds are very peaceful (giant trees, nice lake), and we enjoyed our visit.

Khai Dinh, however, decided to go a different direction for his tomb. He was influenced greatly by French and Western architecture and design, and his tomb reflects that both in design and material. A lot of the material (glass ceramics, etc) were imported to Vietnam for the construction of his tomb. Unlike the other kings, he did not include the traditional lake or trees in the design. Instead, his tomb is a massive structure climbing high on a hilltop (great view), full of imposing structure and statues. The actual burial structure contains some of the most elaborate and ridiculous ceramics that we’ve seen. It’s impossible to accurately describe, and unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photographs inside. Also unlike the other kings, it is known precisely where Khai Dinh is laid to rest… under several feet of concrete (no need to worry about looting!).

After our visits to the royal tombs, we grabbed out stuff from the hotel and hopped in a car to ride down to Hoi An (a three hour drive). The drive was beautiful once we reached the coast. The road follows the coastline and goes up and down through the mountains, so there are great views throughout. The countryside in Vietnam truly is beautiful – rolling green mountains and hills everywhere. Seriously green.

While in Hoi An, we stayed at the Hoi An Hotel, apparently the first nice hotel to come into Hoi An. Let’s just say it left a lot to be desired, or at least our room did (and to be fair, we were in the main building, presumably the oldest of the several buildings). We had limited water pressure and limited hot water, quite hard beds with fairly decrepit sheets, and the worst breakfast during our time in Vietnam. It’s definitely possible that the other buildings have nicer rooms – if you’re staying at the Hoi An Hotel, I’d suggest you request a different room (or at least test out the bathroom before you commit to a room).

For dinner, we tried to make it to the Mango Rooms, recommended by Andy, but alas they were closed for the month (something the hotel neglected to mention when we asked if we would need reservations). Instead, we walked over to Café des Amis (thanks for the rec, Cat). We weren’t sure exactly what to expect as there’s no menu – you order either the seafood menu or the vegetarian menu. Viv and I each ordered the seafood menu, and Amanda ordered the vegetarian menu. We still aren’t sure exactly what we ate in each course, and there were several (soup, salad, and several different cooked items, with Crème Caramel for dessert), but everything was delicious. I think the vegetarian menu ended up being the overall winner, as we were all essentially sharing the dishes – good pick Amanda! Definitely put Café des Amis on your list of must-eats in Hoi An… the amazing dinner cost us something like $6 each.

Day 9: Hanoi (Saturday, July 5)

2008-07-16T01:29:00.001-07:00

Saturday was our last day in Hanoi; we flew down to Hue in the evening to start the next portion of our trip. The plan for the day was: Temple of Literature, Art Museum and Army Museum, plus any incidental shopping that we might stumble into... I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the daily schedule in Vietnam. Everything is closed for lunch; a long lunch. Museums close sometime between 11pm and 12pm and open again between 1pm and 2pm. If you get a late start in the morning, this makes fitting everything in particularly challenging. For some reason, the art museum is an exception to this rule, though. So we started at the Temple of Literature and then went to the art museum while the rest of the city was on its lunch break.

The Temple of Literature is an impressive set of buildings, gates, and courtyards where students came to learn and take examinations. The temple has been around since 1070, and it has stele (giant stone tablets) on the backs of tortoises listing every student that passed the examinations in each year. The architecture is stunning, and it's sort of amazing that it exists right in the middle of hectic Hanoi. We enjoyed a casual stroll through the courtyards and buildings. If you're in Hanoi, it's definitely worth a visit. We also ran into some local kids... these guys were trying hard to impress their lady friends by playing with the giant bell - fantastic.

Next we walked just up the street to the Vietnamese National Museum of Art. The museum houses Vietnamese art dating back to a least the 11th century, including a statue of Kouan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) with a thousand arms and eyes. Most of the art, though is from the last couple of centuries, with a large floor dedicated to contemporary art (more or less since the war with France) in several different media.

We went back down towards the Temple of Literature to grab lunch at Pho 24 - a near ubiquitous chain offering some of the classic noodle soup of Vietnam. Clean, simple and good food - definitely a good place for pho, and the restaurants are everywhere!

Refreshed and ready to go, we ran over to the Army Museum to see as much as we could before we had to return to the hotel to checkout and catch our flight. The Army Museum consists of several buildings with photographs and equipment from Vietnam's struggle against France and America. There is also a large outdoor exhibit of American aircraft shot down over Hanoi or captured from American bases during the war. The museum was moderately interesting, and seeing the collection of military aircraft was impressive, but ultimately the museum fell short for us. The signage in English was fairly sparse - definitely missing any significant explanation or context for the exhibitions.

We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel, checked out and took off for the airport, and our first domestic flight on Vietnam Airlines. The flight to Hue was just an hour and relatively uneventful. We have definitely noticed that pilots over here tend to be pretty aggressive - ascending and descening quite rapidly, and not really caring to control turbulence. Once we got to Hue we decided to grab a bite to eat so we headed to the DMZ Bar (homage to Hue's location in Central Vietnam and the DMZ from the war with America) across from our hotel. As soon as we got upstairs who did we see but five of our Kellogg classmates... one of the Kellogg Corps teams working in Vietnam for a month this summer. We joined them (Amy, Becky, Chris, Cullen and Mike) for some drinks and a snack before retiring to our hotel for the night.

Day 8: Dinner at Le Verticale, Hanoi (Friday, July 4)

2008-07-15T09:33:00.001-07:00

Here's a placeholder for a post about dinner at Le Verticale... for now, just know that it was outstanding!

Day 7-8: Halong Bay (Thursday, July 3 - Friday, July 4)

2008-07-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we took off from the Sheraton Hanoi about 8:30am for the three hour drive to Halong Bay and our lovely fake junk, the Halong Ginger. The Ginger is definitely a luxury option for Halong Bay. There are lots of day trips from Hanoi (though that seemed a tad rushed to us, or at least doing six hours in the car on one day didn't sound like fun), and there are lots of options for overnight trips, too. Some boats might have more of an adventure/backpacker spirit to them... the Ginger was straight up luxe. We set "sail" and then had lunch in the dining room. Soon, we came to our first stop, Dao Soi Sim - a small island with a beach for swimming and steps halfway up the island to a higher view. We climbed to the top and then cooled off in the bay before heading back to the Ginger. After another hour of "sailing" we made it to a small fishing village, which we explored on the smaller boat we were towing. The village was full of "pirates"... little kids on row boats that would come and attach to our boat to try and sell us shells and other goodies. Very cute. After a bit of cruising around the village and one of the islands, we were back to the Ginger and it was swimming time. Matt was game and leapt into the water from the top deck... Viv and Amanda leapt in too (from the small boat).

Everyone got cleaned up for dinner (up on the top deck), which was a great buffet of several great soups, grilled meats and seafood, and a variety of salads. After dinner, we tried hard to stay up by playing Scrabble (excellent find aboard the boat). Matt eventually won, but it was a closely fought game - and everyone clearly wanted to be asleep.

Day 2 on the Ginger had us exploring Surprise Cave - truly spectacular. It was amazing to see the size and diversity of the cave. (Thanks to Amanda for the picture... our battery died on the first day of the cruise). Afterwards, we were dropped off back ashore, and then it was another three hour drive back the the Sheraton Hanoi. I think our only complaint about the Halong Ginger was that even with a private driver to take us back to Hanoi, we got stuck stopping in the tourist pit stop full of overpriced souvenirs - in both directions!

Once we arrived at the Sheraton, Viv and Amanda hit the streets to get a little massage in at the QT Spa (decently comfy environment, big city prices) before dinner while Matt snoozed.

Day 6: Hanoi (Wednesday, July 2)

2008-07-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday marked Amanda's first full day in Vietnam, and we decided to be ambitious. We got up and promptly sat around chatting and planning for a while! Eventually we did make it out of the hotel for breakfast... yes, at Highland's Coffee. But today we went to a completely different part of town and a completely different Highland's Coffee.

After a bit of wandering, Matt took over the map and we made it to the "Hanoi Hilton"... or the Hoa Lo Prison. The prison has lots of history - it was built by the French in the late 1800s, and they used it as a prison for POWs during their war with Vietnam in the 1950s. Then, the North Vietnamese turned around and used it to house captured American pilots shot down during bombing runs over Hanoi, including current presidential hopeful John McCain. There isn't much left of the prison - most of it was demolished in the name of progress (i.e., to build a giant office and condo tower) - but what is there depicts some interesting scenes. I don't think any of us really knew what to expect, other then that the conditions were surely awful. But the tiny little cells with rock hard beds and leg restraints were worse then I could have imagined, at least. The truly remarkable/ironic/disturbing part of the prison museum is how the two wars are depicted. The first half which deals with the Vietnamese prisoners housed there during the war with France shows the horrible cell conditions and routine torture (including many torture instruments). Then the second half, concerning the War of American Aggression, shows the pictures of the American pilots celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving, receiving gifts, playing games, and generally looking content and happy. A bit inconsistent perhaps?

From the prison, we walked up to the Old Quarter around Hoan Kiem lake. Our first stop was the Ngoc Son Temple. It's on an island on the lake which you access by a nice red bridge.

Afterwards, we started our walking tour (thanks Frommers). This is the old commercial area of the city, and all of the streets have names that at one point signified what was sold on the street. "Pipes and Bongs" was a particular favorite, but alas, these days they have completely different items for sale. Shortly into our little tour we came across this great tree which is growing right in the middle of the buildings... pretty amazing. The kids in front of the tree got a kick out of us taking pictures and started lifting themselves up in the air by grabbing onto the tree branches to pose for us - good times.

We walked up and down the streets, occasionally stopping into stores (partly to browse the clothes, but mainly to take advantage of the air conditioning). We also stopped at a few places to snack. The absolute best was definitley the bun bo at Bun Bo Nam Bo, on Hang Dieu street - wheat noodles, beef, peanuts, lime and lots of fresh herbs. We split a bowl to get a little strength and then continued our tour through the old quarter to our next eating stop - Cha Ca street. Cha Ca is a Hanoi specialty - white fish, turmeric, and dill cooked in oil and then served with rice, cilantro, peanuts, peppers and fish sauce. We aimed to go to Cha Ca La Vong, which is supposedly the best joint, but unfortunately they were done for the day by the time we got there. We hit up a joint across the street instead. The food was good, but the atmosphere left a little to be desired... the owner kept screaming at his daughter pretty much throughout our meal. The streets might not be named after what they sell anymore, but there's definitely still a theme... we saw "bamboo street" and "motorbike accessory street" and plenty of other comical wares for sale. The best motorbike, though, has to be this one... with the LV seat cover.

Full from our snacks and tired from walking all day, we stopped into Tamarind Cafe on Ma May street to relax and grab a juice. Somehow, we got suckered into ordering dessert too... crumble with ginger ice cream (pretty awesome). Oh well, a great way to cap off our stagged lunch that afternoon. We made our way back to the lake just in time to get tickets for the Water Puppets show that was about to start. I think we were all a bit skeptical about the show, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. And it was the perfect length, clocking in right at about 45 minutes. Any more and it might have been too much.

Still not ready for dinner, we pushed on and did more shopping, and we found some great stuff in the streets around Saint Joseph's Cathedral. The best street was Nha Tho, with lots of good stores for housewares and clothes. Matt bought a couple shirts, and Amanda bought a dress (custom tailored and ready for pickup on Friday when we get back from Halong Bay). One of the housewares stores had the best collection of lamps, too. If only they were easier to tranport back home!

Somehow we regained our appetites, and we decided it was time to grab a bite to eat. We ended up at Nam Phuong on Phan Chu Trinh, just a short walk down from the corner of the lake. This was our first nice dinner at a proper Vietnamese restaurant as opposed to the modern and French fusion restaurants we had enjoyed... and it was quite good. Curiously slow service (including our waitress who kept playing with the toddlers that were at the table next to us - we never did figure that one out), but the food was tasty. Afterwards, we collapsed in a taxi and went straight to the Sheraton. We depart for our overnight trip to Halong Bay early in the morning.

Day 5: Hanoi (Tuesday, July 1)

2008-07-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Back in Hanoi at 5am... and let's be honest, there's not a lot to do in Hanoi at 5am unless you're into tai chi. And there were lots of people out in the parks getting ready for the day. We made our way from the train station to the Sheraton, where the Assistant General Manager (shafted with graveyard shift) gave us crap about breaking all of the rules and letting us check-in at that early hour. Oh well, we got a room and proceeded to shower and freshen up. At a more respectable hour, we took off in search of breakfast and found a coffee shop on a boat on West Lake. Highlands Coffee, it turns out, is Vietnam's answer to Starbucks... they are everywhere. Even though the park had been full of people practicing their early morning tai chi, we were still the only people in the restaurant. Breakfast was good... fried egg, toast, and pate. And of course, more pictures of Matt with his eyes closed. It's becoming a theme.

After breakfast, we walked over to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to pay our respects to Uncle Ho. It's all a bit remarkable since he specifically requested to be cremated after death and have his ashes scattered across the land of Vietnam... they decided to promptly ignore him and build a huge mausoleum. The building is a very impressive structure, and we had seen it a couple of times from the taxi. It stands alone with a large grid like set of grass patches in front. There are numerous sidewalks cutting through the grass, as well as, lots of signs warning you to keep off the grass (humorous since at 5am there were probably 200 people on the grass practicing tai chi. We are good at following instructions, so we didn't even think about walking across the grass. However, what the sign doesn't say (and should) is that you are also not allowed to walk into the mausoleum area on the sidewalk, either!! Turns out, there is only one way into the mausoleum, and you can't cut across the front. It was a full 2km from where we were to get to the entrance, even though it seemed as if we were right in front - very confusing. Eventually we figured it out (after getting yelled at by a motorbike driver and a guard). Before you get into line to go in, you have to hand over your camera. We were a little skeptical, but we handed it over and were told we could pick it up on the other side. Once in line (a very long, double line), you progress slowly into the mausoleum (blissful a/c). All told, you're inside for about two minutes and get to see Uncle Ho for about one minute as you walk by (no stopping), then you emerge from the other side of the mausoleum - sure enough, our camera was waiting for us at the shack there.

Afterwards, we made our way over to the Ho Chi Minh Museum to learn more about his life. The museum contains extensive documents dating back to his days as a young man and early revolutionary. It was really quite remarkable that all of the letters and documents were actually kept! There is a good story that follows from his birth through Vietnam's war with the French... but it is curiously missing the last piece of Ho's life (the War of American Aggression and his death in 1969.

On our way to lunch, we found a photo store, so we stopped in to get some passport photos made (we need them to get our visa for Laos when we arrive there). Despite the massive language barrier, we were able to get 4 passport photos each for about $2. They would be ready in an hour, so we proceeded to lunch at Brother's Cafe. The place has gotten some good hype, but it was a buffet lunch... for $10 or something like that. Nothing outrageous by standards at home, and the food was pretty good, but definitely a tourist trap and way overpriced for the region. We grabbed our photos after lunch and then jumped a cab to the Sheraton (and fantastic air conditioning) to escape the heat and wait for Amanda to arrive.

In the evening, we went to the old quarter, around Hoan Kiem lake, to stroll a bit before dinner. We made it to the Opera House - a stunning building - which was hosting a celebration of Canada Day, and then we walked around the lake and stopped in a few stores. Our dinner plans for the evening included meeting up with another group of Kelloggians - Odette, Juliana, Jeanette and Gita - at restaurant Bobby Chinn, home of the famous Vietnamese TV chef. Dinner was quite good (Viv's soft shell crab quesadilla and Matt and Amanda's Curry Prawns were both excellent), the menu was punchy (check it out online. you can also buy it for $5).

Day 4: Sapa (Monday, June 30)

2008-07-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

We really saved the best for last with respect to Sapa. Our morning started with a trek from our hotel to the nearby village of Cat Cat. Dom, our trusty tour guide, told us that most of the tourists did the trek down the road for most of the way and then cut down to Cat Cat right at the village. We decided that the road didn't sound like the most fun, so we opted for the real trek - up and over several hills and through a lot of vegetable gardens and rice paddies. After some hard rain the night before, the path was a little muddy... and Dom had to think a couple of times to make sure we were going the right direction... but we made it without any real difficulties. It helped that the scenery was so great. We got to practice our balance walking across the rice fields… would not have wanted to fall in to one of those.

Eventually we made it to our destination, the village of Cat Cat. It wasn't much different from the other villages we visited around Sapa, but it is home to some nice waterfalls. We also saw an old school mortar and pestle which used the rivers power to drive the (giant) pestle and grind rice into flour.

After a quick break to take some pictures and rehydrate, we started our trek back up the hill to Sapa. We passed on the opportunity to hop on the back of a motorbike (have we mentioned how crazy the driving is yet?) and opted to hike it all the way, instead. As we were winding our way up the road, Dom challenged us to take the shortcut - essentially a trail that went straight up, instead of the road which winds up the mountain gradually. We did it (who doesn't like a shortcut, after all?), and at the top we ran into a group of Black Hmong girls... playing with Barbies. Seriously.

After lunch, we got back in the car and rode out to Silver Falls and some more great scenery. Here's a great picture of Matt with his eyes closed... Dom was great at capturing that look. And one of our favorite pictures showing just what the roads are like. It sure looked like it would be fun to take a nice sports car out there - but it wasn't much fun riding in the back of the bug SUV passing everything in sight blindly around curves!

The falls themselves were quite tall and long - and it was hard to really see and appreciate the entire waterfall except from a distance. Up close, it had many different personalities depending on how high up you were - really good times. And Dom managed to get a great shot of the two of us, so that's nice too!

That's it for us in Sapa. We had a ton of fun, and we definitely recommend Sapa (and Handspan) to anyone headed to Northern Vietnam. Depending on your interest in hiking and staying overnight in the villages, you could spend some serious time up there exploring and enjoying the scenery. Our three days were enough for us, though. The only downside to our experience was that the food was really just average. We suspect that there was probably some better food out there, but we never managed to escape the standard tourist fare.

We went back to town to grab our stuff before making our way back down the mountain to Lao Cai and the overnight train back to Hanoi (and the heat). As much as we aren't looking forward to the train ride, it is exciting to be going back to Hanoi because Amanda is arriving in the afternoon. Here's a picture of our train car (Viv got the top bunk) for the ride back to Hanoi.

Day 3: Sapa (Sunday, June 29)

2008-07-13T08:25:00.001-07:00

Sunday meant it was time to go to the Bac Ha market. The Bac Ha market was one of the key reasons we planned our Sapa journey over the weekend; this market only occurs on Sunday in the trading town of Bac Ha. Flower Hmong people from all around come together to buy, sell and trade goods at the market - animals, food, clothes and anything else you might want to buy. Bac Ha is just a three hour drive from Sapa, and we could count on our driver to make it a very exciting three hours.

The Flower Hmong women had some truly amazing clothing. It certainly looked hot to us... we were burning up in just shorts, and they had on an elaborate set of very colorful clothes. We started at the animal market where you could buy chicken, pigs, dogs, water buffalo and horses. Except for the water buffalo and horses, these were all meant as food... even the dog, sadly. Apparently, some of the Vietnamese people (not the ethnic minorities) also buy the water buffalo as food, but at $1,000 per buffalo, that's some expensive eats. Incidentally, that's the same price as a low end motorbike so if buffalo isn't your preferred means of transportation you have that option, as well.

After the animal market, we walked through the food stalls which had some rather un-appetizing creations. Dom explained that the ethnic minority people tended to just boil their food (meat, vegetables, whatever)... without any real seasoning or cooking skill. This picture of what they were eating certainly didn't make us hungry. Dom also informed us that the tradition at the market was to drink whenever you ran across a friend. Apparently, this often leads to the folks getting absolutely hammered on rice and corn wine and spending the afternoon passed out before they can walk home. Right after the food stands came the unprepared foods... lots of vegetables (chilies, eggplants, etc) and lots of meat, particularly pork including ham hocks, bacon and pig's head. Strangely, the sight of a table full of raw pork sitting outside in the sun on an 80 degree day just wasn't a tempting sight... hmm - sanitation concerns anyone? We wrapped up our tour of the market and headed to lunch in town.

After lunch, Dom took us to see the nearest village to the town and to visit a house there. Quite the house! They had hooked up their water supply to a hose, so while they didn't really have running water, they at least had the illusion of running water... and the kids were busy playing in it outside. They also had a satellite dish and a horse, so it certainly appeared as if they weren't really hurting as far as villagers go. When we went inside, we noticed that there was a huge circle of corn kernels on the ground. As Dom explained that they used the corn to make corn wine, the elder man of the house got very excited and decided that we must try some of his home brew... so I did. It basically tasted like a super-strong and not very good sake.

Two more stops on our way back to Sapa. First, a quick visit to the palace of the former Hmong King. As with many imperialistic stories, apparently the French wanted to make sure that the Hmong people supported them in Vietnam, so they picked one that seemed particularly well connected and made him the king of the Hmong people and built him a nice palace. The picture here is of us in front of the new and reconstructed version of that palace. Now, it's just used for meeting and entertaining purposes.

Second, we stopped back in Lao Cai to see the Chinese border. The map made it seem close, but when we pulled into Lao Cai we noticed the scores of trucks that were unloading fruit. All of the

lychees get imported from China into Lao Cai and then distributed around the area. Just before heading back to Sapa, we stopped by the bridge from Lao Cai to China... yup, China was just across the river. I tried to convince Viv to go visit since she doesn't need a visa, but she wasn't interested.

Day 2: Sapa (Saturday, June 28)

2008-07-13T07:18:00.001-07:00

After a rocking (literally) train ride, we rolled into Lao Cai about 5am... good times. We did manage to get some sleep on the train, so we were sort of ready to go. Our guide, Dom, picked us up at the train station and then we jumped in the car to drive the hour from Lao Cai to Sapa. The drive really isn't very far, but it is basically up and through the mountains. Now would probably be a good time to comment on the driving system in Vietnam, too. I'd like to call it moderately organized chaos. It's basically a competition to see who has the biggest balls. Almost a giant game of chicken. Motorbikes everywhere, even the biggest highways are essentially one lane in each direction, and the passing... well, it's frightening. Our driver for our stay in Sapa was particularly gifted in the art of "passing around curves on mountain roads."

Nevertheless, we made it to our hotel in Sapa and dropped our bags off before heading to breakfast and then starting out on our tour. Our first day in Sapa consisted of some trekking (i.e., hiking) through some villages and rice fields. The scenery in Sapa is outstanding... rolling mountains covered in rice fields, corn fields (the closest ViV has gotten to corn despite living her entire life in IL) and trees. Literally, it's green everywhere, as far as the eye can see.

On our hike (about 10km), we passed through several villages and got to see a few of the ethnic minorities that live in Vietnam, including the Red Dzao, like this nice woman that let us in to her home. There wasn't much to the house... just a few rooms with a "second level" used to store goods. As we learned throughout the trip - everywhere can serve as a bed and everywhere can serve as a toliet... whatever works. We also saw some Black Hmong villagers on our trek.

Another exciting encounter on the hike was water buffalo. Or more specifically, little kids riding their water buffalo. As Matt put it, "wouldn't it be great to be a kid with a water buffalo to play with?" We ran into a bunch of kids who were guiding their water buffalo around - sometimes by pulling and prodding, and sometimes just by riding on them.

Finally, an unexpected encounter - a field full of marijuana. Apparently, it is illegal in Vietnam, but the government basically lets the ethnic minority villagers do whatever they want to do... they don't follow the same rules as the rest of Vietnam. Very curious indeed to see a giant field of marijuana, and this wasn't the only one we ran into.

Day 1: Hanoi (Friday, June 27)

2008-07-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

We flew from Hong Kong to Hanoi on Friday morning, with a day to spend checking out the city before heading northwest to Sapa. Immigration was remarkably quick, and we were off to the Sheraton to drop our bags (even though we weren't staying there for another four days). The Sheraton is in the West Lake district (supposedly the Beverly Hills of Hanoi... we didn't notice the similarities). We made our way around the lake a bit to grab lunch at Hai San Ngon, a nice seafood joint, and thanks to the lovely humidity we were sweating by the time we got there (about 5 minutes).

After a tasty lunch, we went back to the Sheraton and grabbed a taxi out to the Museum of Ethnology. Museums are a great refuge from the heat, right? Not here. No air conditioning, but there were a couple of well placed fans. The museum does a very nice job of chronicling all of the ethnic minority tribes that live in Vietnam (about 15% of the population), showing their way of life, clothing, etc. It was quite well done, though after a while it was hard to keep the tribes separate in our minds (sorry). The other exciting aspect of the museum is the collection of houses that they have reproduced to show how the different groups live. Each house was constructed with money from a foreign embassy. Here's a picture of Matt in front of the tall house.

In addition to the tall house, there is also a long house which was used as a common building in the village. The most "popular" building, though, was probably the tomb - complete with rather provocative adornments. Let's just say that fertility is an important part of the afterlife.

After the museum, we made our way back to the Sheraton, scammed some internet (more on that later) and grabbed our bags for the trip to Sapa. We arranged our trip through Handspan, and everything was quite smooth. After checking in for the trip, we went to Green Tangerine for dinner. Our LUXE guide highlighted it's gutsy dishes, and we'd agree. Great food in an old colonial villa. We finished our dinner and then it was time for our overnight (8:40p-5a) train from Hanoi to Lao Cai (right on the border with China) and then a one hour drive up into the mountains to Sapa.

The Journey

2008-07-12T09:03:00.001-07:00

We were fortunate to be able to use our miles to make the long flight across the Pacific, but unfortunately we had to fly to Hong Kong via JFK... not the most direct routing! That did mean we got to enjoy the pleasure of Cathay Pacific Business Class for just a little bit longer, though. It took just over 15 hours to get from New York to Hong Kong which translates into six movies, 5 hours of sleep and several good meals.

Southeast Asia for the Summer

2008-07-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

With no Kellogg Corps project to occupy our time (thanks China), we're spending the month of July exploring SE Asia - Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, specifically. We're about halfway into the trip, and it seemed like a good time to start sharing what we've seen. So far, we've been to Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Saigon and Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam, and we just arrived in Luang Prabang in Laos. The rest of our trip looks something like: Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, and finally beach time back in Vietnam at Phu Quoc before we head to Hong Kong and then Tokyo to relax, eat good food and see friends. Let us know if you have any recommendations or if you'll be in the area.