edit: here's some text to go along with the pictures:
So before I forget everything... We arrived in Saigon on Tuesday evening with some members of the party still realing a bit from the previous night's festivities. Not missing a beat however, we went hunting for food after dropping off our stuff at the hotel. Since we were staying in the backpackers district, there was plenty to chose from, but we settled on another bowl of pho from a street vendor. It would end up being our last bowl of pho in Viet Nam, which is really quite sad now that I come to think of it.
The next day, we were quite set on actually doing some sight-seeing, but needed a good meal to start us off. So we stopped in for a bowl of Bun Bo Hue, the spicy beef soup from Hue. Following the Lonely Planet's advice, from there we made our way to the fine arts museum, which was a nice french colonial building (don't worry, we didn't actually go in!). Unfortunately, it started raining slightly soon thereafter, so we stopped for a cup of coffee which unfortunately did not really seem to make the rain go away. In any event, we continued on towards the reunification palace - headquarters of the south vietnamese government during the Vietnam/American war. Though the building itself was really quite hideous - straight out of the 50's/60's, the interior was quite interesting to visit, with everything from stately meeting rooms to a movie theatre and game room with billiards and a bar (fortunately for us not operational). It's also always fascinating to see buildings that were so central to the war.
From there we continued on to the War Remnants Musuem, which offered a fascinating, if slightly biased, view of the American (as it's called here) War. One exhibit in particular, which contained many photographs taken by reporters and photographers was particularly captivating. Other parts of the exhibit which showed the effects of napalm bombing and the use of agent orange were downright deppressing. Definitely worth seeing however. We finished the day at a fancy hotel, drinking Tigers beers on the rooftop with a nice view of the city all around us. That night Haskell started feeling slightly under the weather, with all the streetfood finally catchin up to him a bit. So after dinner we joined Trinh, whom I had met last time in Saigon, for a quick drink near our hotel. She had another American friend in town, and took us all up to a nice balcony on the 5th floor of a bar. Quite relaxing.
The next day, Haskell headed off to the Cu-Chi tunnels on his own. I had visited the tunnels last time I'd been in Saigon and instead took care of financial aid and health care stuff for school - oh the joy! The Cu-Chi tunnels are a set of tunnels that the north Vietnamese resistance foces used to hide from the Americans and get very close (and under) some of their bases. You really get a sense of their determination when you realize that they lived in these tunnels for weeks and months at a time. It's well worth a visit if you're in town.
Friday was our last day in town, so we were both somewhat unmotivated to do a whole lot with the travelling we'd be doing later in the evening looming. So we headed on a leisurely walk towards Saigon's Chinatown. There wasn't much to see there because in the end it was all quite similar to the rest of Saigon. So after one last meal at a random little restaurant, we hopped on two motorbike taxis and made our way back towards the hotel were we seperated ways after another coffee. I was off to Malaysia while Haskell had a nearly 3-flight, 40 hour trip back to
Boston ahead of him.
My flight was rather uneventful other than the fact that when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Bank of America decided that an ATM withdrawal at the airport constituted a suspicious activity and decided to lock my account, leaving me without any cash. Of course not realizing this had happened, I tried every single ATM in the whole airport. Luckily I had 20 US dollars in my wallet and was able to make it to my hotel and make a $10 call to BoA to tell them what idiots they are. Needless to say, this all put me in quite the good mood. So anyway, now I'm in Penang staying with Ravi's family. Penang is a small but very developed island in northern Malaysia renowned for its good food. So far I've already eaten some Chinese and Indian specialties and will undoubtedly try more in the next couple days. Speaking of which, I'm starving so enough babbling, I'm off.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
hue and hoi an
edit: pics and paragraphs added...
I've had limited internet access since the last post, so I haven't really been able to blog at all (obviously). However, Haskell and I have had a few good days in Hue and Hoi An. We found the city of Hue somewhat unremarkable, though we didn't do too much of the 'cultural' stuff, so maybe we missed a few things. The temps are pushing 100 every day and the humidity is equally oppressive, so doing much of anything during the day requires some significant motivation - which we obviously lack. However, we did manage to get out on Saturday afternoon for what turned out to be an adventurous ride on a scooter. I let Haskell do the driving since I wasn't quite ready to learn how to ride and deal with Vietnamese traffic all at once.
So we headed towards the beach, located about 15km north of Hue. We ended up driving through tiny little villages where just about everyone we passed seemed to be saying/shouting hello. It was actually quite fun. Adjacent to this particular beach (which is 50km long) are a series of cemeteries which you can ride through. After riding through these a little while, we found a quiet spot along the beach. Little did we know that we had been followed by a horde of 15 local kids who - from what we could tell - just wanted to play around with us. We had no idea what they were trying to tell us, but we all started having fun when they started showing off their break-dancing moves and we were snapping photos and showing them what they looked like. Quite funny.
We ended up not going in the water because of the crowd around us and instead decided to go back to another spot along the beach that we had passed and seemed more developed (with parking for the bike, food, etc...) Of course wouldn't you know it, about 10 minutes down the road we ran out of gas. Time for another adventure. So we walked around looking for anyone who could help, and quickly found a younger girl at a small store who had, what appeared to be, a single liter bottle of gasoline. After some confusing attempts at communication, we decided to poor this green liquid into the bike, not really knowing whether it was in fact gasoline. Of course to do that, you need to know where the gas tank is located - which we did not. With the help of another local who seemed thoroughly amused by our predicament, we eventually figured out it was under the seat and got the bike started again (this also was not easy since Haskell had run it completely dry - yes I fully blame him).
Eventually we got to the beach and took a quick dip in the warm water before making our way back to Hue. That evening we met up with someone I had met in Dali, China and happened to also be in town. We evenutally sucked about 5 or 6 other random people into our group and closed the bar down somewhere around 4:30am. Needless to say, the following day wasn't particularly productive either.
Anywho, now we're in Hoi An which we've enjoyed a bit more then Hue - it's a small town with plenty of tourists. The other thing Hoi An has plenty of is tailors. And though neither of us had intended to have a suit made while on vacation, I now have two new custom made suits which are being shipped back home. Haskell also broke down and had one made. The prices are obviously quite reasonable and having a suit made to my measurements was actually quite fun. We also did some more beach-bumming and met up with a few more people - including another admitted Kellogg student - last night for another night of fun around town. Though I did not stay out quite as late as Haskell, at least I still have my shoes and have not sworn off alcohol for today.
So... the last few days have been tiring, not particularly productive in terms of sightseeing, but immensely fun. Tonight we are headed to Saigon for our last stop in Viet Nam. I'll try to upload some pictures when I get there as the computers here are slow as molasses. Alright, time to go wake Haskell up for a game of pool.
I've had limited internet access since the last post, so I haven't really been able to blog at all (obviously). However, Haskell and I have had a few good days in Hue and Hoi An. We found the city of Hue somewhat unremarkable, though we didn't do too much of the 'cultural' stuff, so maybe we missed a few things. The temps are pushing 100 every day and the humidity is equally oppressive, so doing much of anything during the day requires some significant motivation - which we obviously lack. However, we did manage to get out on Saturday afternoon for what turned out to be an adventurous ride on a scooter. I let Haskell do the driving since I wasn't quite ready to learn how to ride and deal with Vietnamese traffic all at once.
So we headed towards the beach, located about 15km north of Hue. We ended up driving through tiny little villages where just about everyone we passed seemed to be saying/shouting hello. It was actually quite fun. Adjacent to this particular beach (which is 50km long) are a series of cemeteries which you can ride through. After riding through these a little while, we found a quiet spot along the beach. Little did we know that we had been followed by a horde of 15 local kids who - from what we could tell - just wanted to play around with us. We had no idea what they were trying to tell us, but we all started having fun when they started showing off their break-dancing moves and we were snapping photos and showing them what they looked like. Quite funny.
We ended up not going in the water because of the crowd around us and instead decided to go back to another spot along the beach that we had passed and seemed more developed (with parking for the bike, food, etc...) Of course wouldn't you know it, about 10 minutes down the road we ran out of gas. Time for another adventure. So we walked around looking for anyone who could help, and quickly found a younger girl at a small store who had, what appeared to be, a single liter bottle of gasoline. After some confusing attempts at communication, we decided to poor this green liquid into the bike, not really knowing whether it was in fact gasoline. Of course to do that, you need to know where the gas tank is located - which we did not. With the help of another local who seemed thoroughly amused by our predicament, we eventually figured out it was under the seat and got the bike started again (this also was not easy since Haskell had run it completely dry - yes I fully blame him).
Eventually we got to the beach and took a quick dip in the warm water before making our way back to Hue. That evening we met up with someone I had met in Dali, China and happened to also be in town. We evenutally sucked about 5 or 6 other random people into our group and closed the bar down somewhere around 4:30am. Needless to say, the following day wasn't particularly productive either.
Anywho, now we're in Hoi An which we've enjoyed a bit more then Hue - it's a small town with plenty of tourists. The other thing Hoi An has plenty of is tailors. And though neither of us had intended to have a suit made while on vacation, I now have two new custom made suits which are being shipped back home. Haskell also broke down and had one made. The prices are obviously quite reasonable and having a suit made to my measurements was actually quite fun. We also did some more beach-bumming and met up with a few more people - including another admitted Kellogg student - last night for another night of fun around town. Though I did not stay out quite as late as Haskell, at least I still have my shoes and have not sworn off alcohol for today.
So... the last few days have been tiring, not particularly productive in terms of sightseeing, but immensely fun. Tonight we are headed to Saigon for our last stop in Viet Nam. I'll try to upload some pictures when I get there as the computers here are slow as molasses. Alright, time to go wake Haskell up for a game of pool.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
ha long bay
edit: second set of pictures added below.
Haskell and I have just arrived in central Viet Nam in the old city of Hue after our three day boat trip through Ha Long Bay. Simply put, Ha Long Bay was one of the most stunning things either of us has ever seen. Though it was raining when we arrived on the boat on Wednesday, the sun was shining bright Thursday and Friday, resulting in incredible sunsets and some serious sun burns. After the first of many copious meals, we took a walk through a very large cave in one of the limestone formations and then went kayaking for an hour or so nearby. Since it wasn't raining too hard, this was actually quite fun and when we returned everyone went for a swim around the boat. Eventually, after diving off the boat for a solid hour, we reluctantly came back on board to be fed once again. We spent the night drinking Tiger Beer (our now undisputed favorite south-east Asian beer), learning about German Techno and playing cards with a German couple. We awoke Thursday to bright sunshine and while most of the passengers on our boat were headed back to the mainland (they were doing a 2-day cruise), Haskell and I were joined by a Dutch couple and a German family for a full day of kayaking and boating (on a smaller boat). Though we had wavered between the 2-day and 3-day cruise, by the end of the day, everyone agreed that the extra day was very worthwhile. After a 2-hour kayak journey through the bay, we reached a quiet part of the bay away from the crowds. There we swam in and out of caves, kayaked through bat filled tunnels - into enclosed lagoons and explored some very dark caves on foot. Eventually, we slowly cruised back towards the big boat, charring our skin to a lobster like color in the process. All in all, an amazing day! The third and final day was simply a cruise on the bigger boat through the bay and one last meal on before hopping back on a bus for Ha Noi. So anyway, onto the pictures - mine are maily from day 1 and 3 as we only took Haskell's camera on the kayak trip on day 2. His are the second set of pictures below (apparently, mostly of me :P).
Haskell and I have just arrived in central Viet Nam in the old city of Hue after our three day boat trip through Ha Long Bay. Simply put, Ha Long Bay was one of the most stunning things either of us has ever seen. Though it was raining when we arrived on the boat on Wednesday, the sun was shining bright Thursday and Friday, resulting in incredible sunsets and some serious sun burns. After the first of many copious meals, we took a walk through a very large cave in one of the limestone formations and then went kayaking for an hour or so nearby. Since it wasn't raining too hard, this was actually quite fun and when we returned everyone went for a swim around the boat. Eventually, after diving off the boat for a solid hour, we reluctantly came back on board to be fed once again. We spent the night drinking Tiger Beer (our now undisputed favorite south-east Asian beer), learning about German Techno and playing cards with a German couple. We awoke Thursday to bright sunshine and while most of the passengers on our boat were headed back to the mainland (they were doing a 2-day cruise), Haskell and I were joined by a Dutch couple and a German family for a full day of kayaking and boating (on a smaller boat). Though we had wavered between the 2-day and 3-day cruise, by the end of the day, everyone agreed that the extra day was very worthwhile. After a 2-hour kayak journey through the bay, we reached a quiet part of the bay away from the crowds. There we swam in and out of caves, kayaked through bat filled tunnels - into enclosed lagoons and explored some very dark caves on foot. Eventually, we slowly cruised back towards the big boat, charring our skin to a lobster like color in the process. All in all, an amazing day! The third and final day was simply a cruise on the bigger boat through the bay and one last meal on before hopping back on a bus for Ha Noi. So anyway, onto the pictures - mine are maily from day 1 and 3 as we only took Haskell's camera on the kayak trip on day 2. His are the second set of pictures below (apparently, mostly of me :P).
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
smoked dog
Here's a little post for you foodies and dog lovers out there. Haskell and I began our day bit early and rather poorly yesterday by watching the Celtics lose game 5 of the finals. Of course this was a great opportunity to enjoy some sticky rice with grilled pork and start drinking tiger beer at 8AM, both of which I obviously highly recommend. The rest of the day was spent walking round Ha Noi's Old Quarter, enjoying all the sights and smells. After a quick bowl of pho ga and some more wandering, we went to a water puppet show, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - puppets frolicking in water for 45 minutes. Wonderful. Afterwards we slowly made our way to Highway 4 for our "fancy meal" ($20 for two, including beers drinks :P), which ended up being a bunch of appetizers and beer - this is not a bad thing. In case the post title didn't tip you off, among other things, we had some smoked dog meat. Basically it tasted like ham - since it was smoked - and wasn't really weird in any way. Woof Woof. We also had some catfish rolls, spicy lime beef jerky and some chayote greens. All quite good, as were the Saigon and LaRue beers :) Our thirst not quite fully quenched yet, we finished our night at a Bia Hoi (draught beer) establishment, drinking 40 cent beers on 6" stools on the sidewalk. Nice.
Today we made our way towards Hoa Lo prison, which had been used as a prison during both the French Colonial period and the (American) Vietnam War. Very interesting and well put together exhibts which among many other things included John McCain's uniform which he had been captured in. Afterwards we went to Army Museum, with a variety of weapons and vehicles which had been used and captured during the many wars Viet Nam has been involved in the last 100 years and beyond. In between all this we ate more pho (of course), took a few rides on the back of xe om's (motorcycles), walked around the history museum and Ho Chi minh Mausoleum and stopped at a french cafe for coffee and cake. Not a bad day - and not quite done yet.
Tomorrow we head to Ha Long Bay for a three-day boat cruise which promises to include plenty of fun adventures on kayaks and lots of sea food. Very much looking forward to that. Anyways, here are the pictures from the last two days - enjoy!
Today we made our way towards Hoa Lo prison, which had been used as a prison during both the French Colonial period and the (American) Vietnam War. Very interesting and well put together exhibts which among many other things included John McCain's uniform which he had been captured in. Afterwards we went to Army Museum, with a variety of weapons and vehicles which had been used and captured during the many wars Viet Nam has been involved in the last 100 years and beyond. In between all this we ate more pho (of course), took a few rides on the back of xe om's (motorcycles), walked around the history museum and Ho Chi minh Mausoleum and stopped at a french cafe for coffee and cake. Not a bad day - and not quite done yet.
Tomorrow we head to Ha Long Bay for a three-day boat cruise which promises to include plenty of fun adventures on kayaks and lots of sea food. Very much looking forward to that. Anyways, here are the pictures from the last two days - enjoy!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
ha noi
First of all, Happy Father's Day dad :) While I wait for Haskell to arrive tonight I thought I'd upload a few pictures from my first couple days in Ha Noi and jot down a few thoughts on the city. I'm not sure why this country has such an effect on me, but I really really enjoy it here. Normally I hate hot, humid, oven-like weather - which is certainly an apt description of the weather here. Add to that constant harrassment from the moto-drivers and street venders, who constantly call out at you (and sometimes physically grab you) trying to get you to hop on their bike or buy whatever crap they're selling, and I can see how someone would hate it here. And although I often get the urge to punch the moto drivers, I usually just keep walking, look ahead and inevetably start smiling again.
No matter where you go, the streets are buzzing with activity from before sunrise to well after sunset with people wheeling and dealing - and most importantly eating. There's food everywhere! At every street corner and everywhere in between, someone is selling something for you to eat. Of course I have no idea what most of it is, but that hasn't stopped me so far. For example... yesterday at around dinner time, the skies absolutely opened up. Torrential rain. I guess that's why they call it the "rainy season." So there I was standing at some random street corner under an awning, without an umbrella or rain coat - hardly surprising, right dad? Of course, there also happened to be a lady serving bowls of beef pho (soup) straight out of a big cauldron. Around her, a group of maybe two dozen patrons happily slurping down their "fast-food" on tiny little 6" stools. So of course, I hunkered down and ordered myself a bowl, joining everyone else in a quick meal. By the time I was done the rain had conveniently passed.
Today I had some sticky rice with what seemed to be chicken for lunch and a bowl of pho with with I gathered were duck innards for dinner. I honestly couldn't figure out what half the innards were in my soup.. duck blood? duck intestines? I have no clue... but I'm thinking that's probably a good thing - though make no mistake, it was quite tasty. Now I'm thinking I need to go get more street food, just cause I can't help it. Oops nevermind - the skies just opened up again - maybe I'll go later. For now, enjoy the pics, I'll try to get more food pictures up in the next couple days for you foodies out there :)
No matter where you go, the streets are buzzing with activity from before sunrise to well after sunset with people wheeling and dealing - and most importantly eating. There's food everywhere! At every street corner and everywhere in between, someone is selling something for you to eat. Of course I have no idea what most of it is, but that hasn't stopped me so far. For example... yesterday at around dinner time, the skies absolutely opened up. Torrential rain. I guess that's why they call it the "rainy season." So there I was standing at some random street corner under an awning, without an umbrella or rain coat - hardly surprising, right dad? Of course, there also happened to be a lady serving bowls of beef pho (soup) straight out of a big cauldron. Around her, a group of maybe two dozen patrons happily slurping down their "fast-food" on tiny little 6" stools. So of course, I hunkered down and ordered myself a bowl, joining everyone else in a quick meal. By the time I was done the rain had conveniently passed.
Today I had some sticky rice with what seemed to be chicken for lunch and a bowl of pho with with I gathered were duck innards for dinner. I honestly couldn't figure out what half the innards were in my soup.. duck blood? duck intestines? I have no clue... but I'm thinking that's probably a good thing - though make no mistake, it was quite tasty. Now I'm thinking I need to go get more street food, just cause I can't help it. Oops nevermind - the skies just opened up again - maybe I'll go later. For now, enjoy the pics, I'll try to get more food pictures up in the next couple days for you foodies out there :)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
headed south
Haven't posted in a few days because I haven't done a whole heck of a lot besides simply been enjoying the cool mountain air in Sapa. After the crazy bus ride there, I basically slept and relaxed on Tuesday and Wednesday - occasionally walking around town, eating food and reading. By Wednesday evening I'd made my way around the entire town about six times, knew all the internet cafes and their hourly rates and had tried most of the restaurants. So I was hoping to do some trekking come Thursday and explore the surrounding villages and take in some of the stunning landscapes. Unfortunately, the skies decided to open up overnight and it rained pretty much all day Thursday. Thus, I spent yet another day wandering around the town being attacked by the ethnic minority girls trying to sell me purses, necklaces and marijuana among other things. I did take the opportunity to plan out some of the details for my flights to Malaysia and Hong Kong and take care of some school stuff, so Thursday wasn't completely wasted. When I awoke Friday, it was still raining and I anticipated another day of boredom. Fortunately, the skies cleared up and I was able to take a short walk to the nearby Cat Cat Village, which is a small ethnic minority village a few kms below Sapa. It wasn't the long trek I'd originally hoped to do, but with an evening train to catch, I didn't want to go to far either... Along the way, I met Alex, another french traveler who was headed in the same direction and so decided to tag along with him. Like I said earlier, the scenery around these parts is really something else. The mountainsides are covered with rice paddy terraces which transform the mountains into something resembling a detailed topo-map (I don't think I'll ever not be an engineer at heart...) So now I'm in Ha Noi, the capital, having taken an overnight train to get here (arriving at approximately 4:45AM?!!?) The train was infinitely more comfortable than the bus ride to Sapa despite the early arrival time and accordingly I slept relatively well. It's good to be back in a big city too - though it sure is humid and hot here - even early in the morning. Alright, time to go explore and get my bearings before Haskell gets here tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
i'm alive
The trip to Viet Nam turned out to be quite an adventure! I left Dali Monday morning at 10AM and planned to get to Sapa in northern Vietnam by about the same time the next morning. I had already figured out that I would have to take five buses to get there, and in the end, that's what happened, though I never quite expected it to be such a crazy adventure. The first two buses were simply local buses to get me to the main bus station in Dali. Those two rides went off without a hitch and left me feeling like I could get anywhere in China if I wanted to. The next ride was a four-hour bus trip back to Kunming. Again, everything went relatively smoothly minus the traffic in Kunming and the fat guy next to me that snored the whole time. With a few hours to kill in Kunming, I went to Pizza Hut. Now I know you're all wondering if I've lost my mind. And maybe I have. But I also had a 12 hour bus ride to the Vietnamese border awaiting me and wanted to play it safe with my choice of dinner.
So while reading about the virtues of CSA's and community farms, I scarfed down my pizza and pepsi and then made my way back to the bus station. I was still feeling quite good since I'd also managed to figure out the left-luggage situation at the bus station and was now ready to embark on my next bus trip. Now overnight buses in China are often "sleeper-buses" with 3 rows of beds instead of seats. The rows are also two levels high, and so there are maybe 30 beds in total on the bus. The "beds" are approximately 5'-9" (175cm) long by 1'-6" (45cm) wide. I know this because my head, feet and both arms were pressed agains the metal bars and window next to me. Needless to say, this was not promising, nor comfortable. I popped two Dramamine pills just to be safe, hoping they'd also put me to sleep in the process and turned on the ipod as the bus pulled away. 12-hours in this bus did not seem like a good time, but I thought I could manage. Little did I know what awaited me once we left the highway an hour later.
Now there's a highway that goes all the way to the border - I think, however, since using said highway would reduce the trip length to about six hours, thus getting us to the Vietnamese border in the middle of the night, we used the local "roads" instead. Oh I forgot to mention, at this point the bus already smelled of cigarette smoke and smelly feet. Not the best combination - but again, I thought I could deal, since I was next to the window. The final straw however was the fact that these local roads were NOT PAVED. That's right... I had a 12 hour ride on what amounted to a muddy, rutted dirt path directly underneat the smooth highway. I was bouncing all over the bus the entire night - only resting when the driver would take a 10 minute break. Words alone can't do this insanity! To top it off, I was certain that I would die at some point during this journey. I had seen a mashed up "sleeper-bus" just a couple days earlier near Lijiang and also continuously worried that the whole thing would tip over into what seemed like a river as it swayed from rut to rut. Now I'm not the type to worry about being safe in a vehicle... but I really thought that was the end.
So we finally -and safely - arrived at Hekou (the chinese border tow) at 7AM, which conveniently was about an hour before the border crossing opened. Crossing was uneventful, though after the previous nights ordeal, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be leaving China. Once through imigration and into Viet Nam I hopped onto a scooter and was driven to the local bus station. Taking a ride on a motorcycle never seemed so safe. A few hours later, I made it to Sapa - though I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it since I was pretty much a zombie all day.
Anyways, that's my story. Not something I would wish onto anyone. And here's a picture from the internet of what these buses are like inside (i did not have the energy to take my own picture...)
So while reading about the virtues of CSA's and community farms, I scarfed down my pizza and pepsi and then made my way back to the bus station. I was still feeling quite good since I'd also managed to figure out the left-luggage situation at the bus station and was now ready to embark on my next bus trip. Now overnight buses in China are often "sleeper-buses" with 3 rows of beds instead of seats. The rows are also two levels high, and so there are maybe 30 beds in total on the bus. The "beds" are approximately 5'-9" (175cm) long by 1'-6" (45cm) wide. I know this because my head, feet and both arms were pressed agains the metal bars and window next to me. Needless to say, this was not promising, nor comfortable. I popped two Dramamine pills just to be safe, hoping they'd also put me to sleep in the process and turned on the ipod as the bus pulled away. 12-hours in this bus did not seem like a good time, but I thought I could manage. Little did I know what awaited me once we left the highway an hour later.
Now there's a highway that goes all the way to the border - I think, however, since using said highway would reduce the trip length to about six hours, thus getting us to the Vietnamese border in the middle of the night, we used the local "roads" instead. Oh I forgot to mention, at this point the bus already smelled of cigarette smoke and smelly feet. Not the best combination - but again, I thought I could deal, since I was next to the window. The final straw however was the fact that these local roads were NOT PAVED. That's right... I had a 12 hour ride on what amounted to a muddy, rutted dirt path directly underneat the smooth highway. I was bouncing all over the bus the entire night - only resting when the driver would take a 10 minute break. Words alone can't do this insanity! To top it off, I was certain that I would die at some point during this journey. I had seen a mashed up "sleeper-bus" just a couple days earlier near Lijiang and also continuously worried that the whole thing would tip over into what seemed like a river as it swayed from rut to rut. Now I'm not the type to worry about being safe in a vehicle... but I really thought that was the end.
So we finally -and safely - arrived at Hekou (the chinese border tow) at 7AM, which conveniently was about an hour before the border crossing opened. Crossing was uneventful, though after the previous nights ordeal, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be leaving China. Once through imigration and into Viet Nam I hopped onto a scooter and was driven to the local bus station. Taking a ride on a motorcycle never seemed so safe. A few hours later, I made it to Sapa - though I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it since I was pretty much a zombie all day.
Anyways, that's my story. Not something I would wish onto anyone. And here's a picture from the internet of what these buses are like inside (i did not have the energy to take my own picture...)
Monday, June 9, 2008
onto viet nam
I'm just about set to move onto Viet Nam. After parting ways with Daniel I came back to Dali to spend a couple more days. The ride back was rather long - 8 hour in a 20-person minibus with my knees jammed into the seat in front of me and 19 other chinese guys who each smoked approximately 2 packs of cigarettes. Not the fondest memory I'll have of China. I was glad to be back in Dali however, and quickly found a bed at the Jade Emu hostel I had stayed at the first time I was in town. I spent the evening with a couple people who were staying at the hostel and went to a bar which advertised "Argentinian" music. Turns out, it was an "Argentinian" guy singing everything from the Beattles to Nirvana with a South American accent. Quite enjoyable.
Today I took a 25 mile bike ride through villages which line the lake. Biking isn't my favorite thing to do, but riding through tiny villages, rice paddies and corn fields was quite nice. The weather was great and accordingly I got a nice "tan" (read sunburn). And since I'm leaving the country - I'll admit it, I picked/stole a few ears of baby corn along the way... hopefully they dont catch me before I get out! Oh and this evening I had a little adventure that turned out to be not such an adventure. After dinner, I took a strole into town and walked by a hairdresser. Since I'd been considering getting my hair cut at some point and with nothing else to do I walked into the shop. The lady looked slightly confused until I made a motion and sound to buzz all my hair off. She smiled and approximately two minutes and $1.30 later I walked out with my usual haircut. Like I said, what I thought was going to be an adventure turned out to be rather quick and painless.
Tomorrow I'll head back to Kunming during the day - a 5 hour trip - and then take the sleeper bus to the Vietnamese border overnight. I should arrive at Lao Cai and the Vietnamese border bright and early on Tuesday morning. From there, I'll take another 1 hour bus ride to Sapa - a tiny village nestled in the hills of northern Viet Nam. I anticipate spending a few days there before moving on to Hanoi, but I'm sure I'll update the blog before then. Anyway, that's it for China. T'was an interesting 3 weeks full of surprises, frustrations and many fascinating sights and I'm leaving knowing I only experienced a tiny fraction of the country. There'll certainly be a return visit in the future.
Today I took a 25 mile bike ride through villages which line the lake. Biking isn't my favorite thing to do, but riding through tiny villages, rice paddies and corn fields was quite nice. The weather was great and accordingly I got a nice "tan" (read sunburn). And since I'm leaving the country - I'll admit it, I picked/stole a few ears of baby corn along the way... hopefully they dont catch me before I get out! Oh and this evening I had a little adventure that turned out to be not such an adventure. After dinner, I took a strole into town and walked by a hairdresser. Since I'd been considering getting my hair cut at some point and with nothing else to do I walked into the shop. The lady looked slightly confused until I made a motion and sound to buzz all my hair off. She smiled and approximately two minutes and $1.30 later I walked out with my usual haircut. Like I said, what I thought was going to be an adventure turned out to be rather quick and painless.
Tomorrow I'll head back to Kunming during the day - a 5 hour trip - and then take the sleeper bus to the Vietnamese border overnight. I should arrive at Lao Cai and the Vietnamese border bright and early on Tuesday morning. From there, I'll take another 1 hour bus ride to Sapa - a tiny village nestled in the hills of northern Viet Nam. I anticipate spending a few days there before moving on to Hanoi, but I'm sure I'll update the blog before then. Anyway, that's it for China. T'was an interesting 3 weeks full of surprises, frustrations and many fascinating sights and I'm leaving knowing I only experienced a tiny fraction of the country. There'll certainly be a return visit in the future.
Friday, June 6, 2008
shangri-la
A few quick notes and pictures from 3,200m. I've really enjoyed Shangri-La, the people here are way nicer than others I've met in China and actually seem to smile back at you! I've explored the town and neighboring Tibetan monastery with Daniel and we've both concluded that making our way up here was definitely worth it. The air is cool and crisp and the weather has more or less cooperated, though I'm glad I have a sweater and could probably use something a bit warmer. Some of the highlights that you can see from the pictures below include the monastery, the local market and the dancing in the main town square, which happens each night during the summer.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
the gorge
So when I last posted I had just arrived in Dali... Now I'm practically in Tibet and am somewhat exhausted. In the end I really like Dali, but only stayed there two nights. I could probably have stayed a bit longer and may actually stop there a day or so on my way back towards Kunming. After Dali, I hoped a small mini-bus for a 3 hour ride north to Lijiang - another small town in the Yunnan province. Although the guidebooks claimed it was nicer than Dali, I thought the exact opposite. Lijiang's old town just seemed like a tourist village full of shops selling all sorts of crap that I didn't want. Not much fun. I arrived there at 3pm and walked around for a while, eating some dried yak meat along the way... tasted just like beef jerky to be honest -- not so exciting. That night I went for a drink with Merek, originally from PA, whom I met at the Hostel. He's lived in China for three years so he had plenty to say about the Chinese... I may meet up with him again later down the road back in Kunming as we are both headed for Viet Nam.
Anyway I decided to leave Lejiang right away and head straight to Tiger Leaping Gorge. This gorge, which is supposed to be the worlds deepest and narrowest river canyon (along the Yangtze River) is a very popular hike with backpackers, and the hostel I was staying at organizes regular tours there. So I left bright and early the next morning for the 3 hour ride - on pretty rough roads and again in a small mini-bus to the starting point. There I met Daniel, a Quebecois, and Gorka who is from the Basque Country, and without ever really saying so, we agreed to hike the gorge together. The three of us got along quite well as we journeyed along the 15km long trail which runs the length of the gorge. Needless to say, the views are stunning and really made the whole journey worth it. We hiked about 6 hours to a lodge called The Halfway Guesthouse where we spent the night. The weather was mild with a few sprinkles and quite grey, but the clouds rolling over the mountains made the whole trip that much more enjoyable. The next morning, Gorka headed down to the main road to catch a bus back to Dali. Meanwhile, Daniel and I continued on through some rain, mountain goats, waterfalls and more breathtaking scenery. This second part was really the highlight of the trip - really amazing stuff. The hike goes on for quite a bit longer than the 15km we did, but we called it a day around 11AM because we were both headed north to Shangri-La.
The bus trip back from the end of the gorge was typical of my travels lately. Daniel and I were walking down the main road and pretty much had to jump in front of a mini bus to stop him. We discussed a price for the trip back and jumped in. Maybe discussed is a strong word since the driver spoke no english and us no mandarin. The trip back was bumpy - with lots of land slides obstructing parts of the roads and other areas left totally unpaved by waterfalls. Once we arrived back at the beginning of the gorge, we picked up the bags we had left there the previous day and immediately and somewhat by chance were pointed to a bus headed to Shangri-La. Again, we agreed on a price and jumped on. Two hours later the bus stopped and Daniel and I concluded we had arrived. We looked up a place to stay in the Lonely Planet, found a cab and showed the driver the chinese characters for where we wanted to go. Once there, we were shown a couple rooms, negotiated the rate down a bit and layed down are bags... Somehow, without any speaking any mandarin and no prior plans of any sort, we had arrived.
So now I'm in Shangri-La with Daniel and haven't quite figured out what we'll be doing for the next couple days. This town is pretty much in Tibet, so there are plenty of Tibetan monastaries to visit... I'll probably stick round these parts for 3 days or so before slowly heading back south towards Hanoi. I've managed to upload pics from the last few days. Tiger Leaping Gorge pictures didn't come out great because we were in the clouds half the time... but if you want more, there are plenty on the internet.
Anyway I decided to leave Lejiang right away and head straight to Tiger Leaping Gorge. This gorge, which is supposed to be the worlds deepest and narrowest river canyon (along the Yangtze River) is a very popular hike with backpackers, and the hostel I was staying at organizes regular tours there. So I left bright and early the next morning for the 3 hour ride - on pretty rough roads and again in a small mini-bus to the starting point. There I met Daniel, a Quebecois, and Gorka who is from the Basque Country, and without ever really saying so, we agreed to hike the gorge together. The three of us got along quite well as we journeyed along the 15km long trail which runs the length of the gorge. Needless to say, the views are stunning and really made the whole journey worth it. We hiked about 6 hours to a lodge called The Halfway Guesthouse where we spent the night. The weather was mild with a few sprinkles and quite grey, but the clouds rolling over the mountains made the whole trip that much more enjoyable. The next morning, Gorka headed down to the main road to catch a bus back to Dali. Meanwhile, Daniel and I continued on through some rain, mountain goats, waterfalls and more breathtaking scenery. This second part was really the highlight of the trip - really amazing stuff. The hike goes on for quite a bit longer than the 15km we did, but we called it a day around 11AM because we were both headed north to Shangri-La.
The bus trip back from the end of the gorge was typical of my travels lately. Daniel and I were walking down the main road and pretty much had to jump in front of a mini bus to stop him. We discussed a price for the trip back and jumped in. Maybe discussed is a strong word since the driver spoke no english and us no mandarin. The trip back was bumpy - with lots of land slides obstructing parts of the roads and other areas left totally unpaved by waterfalls. Once we arrived back at the beginning of the gorge, we picked up the bags we had left there the previous day and immediately and somewhat by chance were pointed to a bus headed to Shangri-La. Again, we agreed on a price and jumped on. Two hours later the bus stopped and Daniel and I concluded we had arrived. We looked up a place to stay in the Lonely Planet, found a cab and showed the driver the chinese characters for where we wanted to go. Once there, we were shown a couple rooms, negotiated the rate down a bit and layed down are bags... Somehow, without any speaking any mandarin and no prior plans of any sort, we had arrived.
So now I'm in Shangri-La with Daniel and haven't quite figured out what we'll be doing for the next couple days. This town is pretty much in Tibet, so there are plenty of Tibetan monastaries to visit... I'll probably stick round these parts for 3 days or so before slowly heading back south towards Hanoi. I've managed to upload pics from the last few days. Tiger Leaping Gorge pictures didn't come out great because we were in the clouds half the time... but if you want more, there are plenty on the internet.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
moving on
I've moved on from Kunming and headed north as planned. Though frustrating, my stay in Kunming was quite productive in the end. Among other things, I ate my first mangosteen (and have eaten a dozen since - I think they taste a bit like a peach and a pear, but also a bit tart and with the texture of a lychee...), I also found an english book to read at a bookstore near Yunnan Universtiy - no small task in Southwest China. Though my choices were pretty limited - mostly to classics - I found a book about the history of salt by Mark Kurlansky, the same author wrote about the history of the oyster in New York City which I just finished and enjoyed (recommended for you foodies). So I was more than happy to pay a pretty penny for this book. I was also able to buy a pair of hiking shoes in Kunming - for just a hair over US$14. Not sure how long they're gonna last, but the price is hard to beat.
So now I am currently in Dali, a five-hour bus ride northwest of Kunming and a small town populated by the Bai minority. The town is right between Lake Erhai and the Cangshan Mountains and seems really nice and peaceful after all the large cities. Since it's quite a tourist/backpacker destination, most places here have english menus - making it much easier to eat! The hostel/guesthouse I'm staying at is also by far the best place I've stayed at so far on the entire trip. It's brand new, not too big and very clean. For less than $5 a night I can't imagine staying at a much nicer place.
Today went on a quick 10km hike in the Cangshan Mountains which offered great views of the city and lake. Tomorrow I may spend some time in the village and around the lake, and then continue north towards Lijiang in the afternoon. I've managed to upload some pictures from Beijing and Xi'an for your enjoyment. Working on the Dali pictures as we speak. It's not quite as easy when I'm on a shared computer...
So now I am currently in Dali, a five-hour bus ride northwest of Kunming and a small town populated by the Bai minority. The town is right between Lake Erhai and the Cangshan Mountains and seems really nice and peaceful after all the large cities. Since it's quite a tourist/backpacker destination, most places here have english menus - making it much easier to eat! The hostel/guesthouse I'm staying at is also by far the best place I've stayed at so far on the entire trip. It's brand new, not too big and very clean. For less than $5 a night I can't imagine staying at a much nicer place.
Today went on a quick 10km hike in the Cangshan Mountains which offered great views of the city and lake. Tomorrow I may spend some time in the village and around the lake, and then continue north towards Lijiang in the afternoon. I've managed to upload some pictures from Beijing and Xi'an for your enjoyment. Working on the Dali pictures as we speak. It's not quite as easy when I'm on a shared computer...
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