Vietnam Part 1

Hi everyone! We're in Mauritius right now and heading to South Africa tomorrow...we're quite behind on the blog, mostly because sitting by the infinity pool in perfect weather with rum flavoured drinks has clearly the priority for the past week.  :)

We spent a total of 15 days in Vietnam starting from Ho Chi Minh (Sagion) and then making our way up north to Hanoi and Sapa.  We had originally planned to visit Laos as well, but had to scratch it off our list in efforts to maximize our time in Vietnam.  I was a little devastated by this.  Laos was one of the top places I wanted to visit, but there just wasn't enough time and T persuaded me that it just didn't make sense from a budget perspective either.  I made T promised we would visit Laos in the next 5 years...and now I have this promise publicly declared on this blog.  yay.

Saigon was....eh.  We took a $11 bus from Phnom Penh, Cambodia which took a long 7 bumpy and  honky hours.  As soon as we got off the bus we were literally swarmed by taxi drivers.  We were a bit groggy from the long ride and not really thinking straight, especially with tons of taxi drivers shouting and pulling at you.  Without thinking we got hurried into a cab to get to our hostel.  The driver drove us around for about 10 minutes then charged us $30 which is crazy expensive for Saigon.  Still feeling too tired to argue we paid that man and got out.  Turns out our hostel was within a 5 minute walking distance of the bus stop we were just at.  We. Got. Hosed.  Oh well. Lesson learned.  Always be alert after a crammed 7 hour bus ride. Haha.

Other than being hosed in Saigon, Vietnam was beautiful and friendly.  Though, we especially had a very difficult time crossing the street in Saigon.  Turns out there are even YouTube tutorials on how to cross the street without being killed.  Here's one in case your curious.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8WUZCXAi2g

Here's what we did in Vietnam in mostly pictures and captions.  Lazy, but probably much more interesting then my writing anyway. :)


1 night and 1 day in Saigon

 

Our first lunch in Saigon. All this for just $2!!!! That's what I call a lunch special!

Visiting the Vietnam War Remnants museum. T posing as an American.

 

A guillotine and creepy depiction of a POW

That was about it for Saigon...oh I also went on a mad hunt for the perfect Bahn Mi sandwich but was unsuccessful.  Not to fret though my fellow Bahn Mi lovers...I found (actually Anthony Bourdain did) the most perfect sandwich in Hoi An our next stop.


Laid back Hoi An
From Saigon we hopped on a 16 hour overnight train to Hoi An.  Train travel is so affordable and so comfortable in Vietnam...definitely recommend it.  Its also a great way to meet people. Our bunk mates ended up being a Vietnamese monk and his trainee. 

T contemplating joining the monk life

Hoi An was a great change from Saigon. Quiet, quaint, and not life threatening every time you have to cross the street.  It's also recognized as a world heritage UNESCO site so its very foreigner friendly and well maintained. 

Japanese covered bridge

I forgot what these are called but they are deep fried sweet rice cakes.  SO DELICIOUS.

Pho Ga...Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup and the last Pho I will ever have.  

I came to terms with something in Hoi An.  I don't like Pho.  I think it's gross.  There. I said it.  For YEARS (since college) I have tried to like Pho.  Countless people have raved about its deliciousness and how it has magical powers to cure hangovers and colds.  I've tried Pho is Boston, LA, Chicago, Bangkok, Seoul and countless places in NYC.  For years I kept telling myself that that I just haven't tried the 'right' Pho. That if I only tried the authentic real Pho that I would love it.  I really wanted to love Pho...I did.  But I gave Pho numerous chances in Vietnam and each time I was disappointed.  I hate when I don't like a certain food but this can't be help.  Pho, I don't like you.

Moving on... Bike riding in Hoi An is relaxing and a great way to get around!  And a rental is only $1 a day!!!

The most amazing Bahn Mi street cart ever.

My sad realization that I don't like Pho was quickly alleviated by finally having the most perfect Bahn Mi sandwich ever.  Bahn Mi sandwiches are Vietnamese sandwiches filled with liver pate, pork, ham, cilantro, spicy chili sauce, shredded carrots, cucumber, mayo, sometimes a fried egg, and head cheese which is not cheese, but actually jelly made out of head.  Look it it up if you want to know more...I won't write about it because I like it so much and I don't want to think about what it actually is.  We found this street cart after a google search and finding a video of Anthony Bourdain trying one.  This $2 sandwich alone made my visit to Vietnam worth every penny and second.


Hoi An is also famous for its custom clothing shops.  You can get just about anything made in just a day or so for a very low price.  Since we both know we'll have to hop on the interview wagon once we get back to the US we both got custom suits made. 

T's new sport coat with elbow patches at my request!!  Love elbow patches.

Getting fitted for his new suit.

 

Me in front of the Hanoi opera house wearing my new custom made jumper!

After Hoi An, we headed back to Hanoi before taking the bus to Halong Bay where we would spend 1 night on a junk boat.

Our boat did not look like junk at all!

Our cute room on the boat

Awesome sun deck

Great sunset view

This photo reminds me a scene in Goonies

We were also allowed to jump into the water from the deck.  Of course, T was the only adult among 8-12 years olds jumping.  haha

T and his 12 year old friend working up the nerve to jump

Here he goes!

The junk boat was great fun but the highlight was me catching a squid!!! 

This is not a flattering picture but I'm just so happy to have caught a squid!!!

There's my squid, the 2nd to biggest one caught!  I felt a little guilty after it started to squirt ink...I kept thinking about the cute little squid in Finding Nemo

T caught one too, but mine is bigger :)

 I was so excited that I actually held the squid with my own hands which I don't even like to do when cooking!!!

My squid dominates T's little guy.

T eating his little guy the next day for lunch.

After a night on the boat, the next day we took a canoe and paddled out to a cave.  Or should I say, T paddled while I complained.  Paddling is hard work!

Strapped into my life vest.  T sometimes gets embarrassed about my obsession for life saving attire and tools

After our great time at Halong Bay we went back to Hanoi before heading to Sapa which Ted will write about later.  Here are some pics from Hanoi...of mostly food.

Bun Cha, grilled pork noodle soup. $2 (and that's with the tourist premium!  Locals only pay $1 for it!)  It doesn't look pretty, but its so good.  I don't get why Pho is so popular when Bun Cha is by far superior!!!!  I know, my Pho hating is getting out of control.  Sorry.

Enjoying our meal at a typical street restaurant...you know its authentic when they have little stools for chairs and you have to eat with your knees at your chest.

Deep fried rolls and mixed greens

We passed this store a few times and every time (day or night) it was bumping with ladies buying shoes and fake Chanel purses.  Proof that pretty shoes and Chanel are universal among all women.

Me with a bunch of random Vietnamese men after I took a tobacco bong hit with them.  You can't tell in the picture but my throat is in fire.

Dinner at a fantastic grilled steak street restaurant.  Again with little stools for seats.  Vietnam street food is truly awesome and so cheap. Tourists who are too afraid to try Vietnam street food are REALLY REALLY missing out.  Its worth the touch of diarrhea.  JUST KIDDING. We had no diarrhea. I swear.

That's all for now.  T is up next with our hike of Mount Fancy Pants in Sapa. 

Bangkok (giggle) & Cambodia

So after our relaxing time in Ko Samui, we flew to Bangkok for a couple of nights before heading to Cambodia.  We arrived in Bangkok in the late afternoon and the first thing we did after checking into our hotel was go on a hunt for some Korean food which Sharon had been craving for some time.  After a quick internet search, we discovered that Korea Town was only a few stops away on the SkyTrain and off we went.  We found it with little difficulty.

Perhaps the most excited Sharon has been during our travels so far.

After checking out several restaurants, Sharon finally decided on one and we sat down and had a delicious Korean feast.  I had some 김밥 and some 됀창찌께, and Sharon had some 냉면 and some 생선.

After dinner we walked around Bangkok a bit and found a really nice park.  You can tell Bangkokians are pretty fit as the park was filled with people working out at the outdoor gyms, running, and playing sports.  We came across people playing a game which looked almost like volleyball, except they play it with only their feet.  I was mesmerized.  Sharon had to pull me away.

The guy's foot went over his head as he served the ball.  Crazy.

The next day we headed out to for some Bangkok sightseeing.  I've already forgotten most of the names of the places we visited, but here are some pics to fill you in on our day:

My first tuktuk ride since I was six.

We had our first of many tuktuk rides throughout SE Asia, which was my first tuktuk ride since I was last in Bangkok when I was six with my family.  On that ride our driver bumped into a motorcycle with a whole family of five on it, which eventually resulted in the father on the bike pulling a knife on our driver.  So fortunately, our tuktuk drive was much less eventful although Sharon was still scared for her life through much of the ride.

Who can resist a gong?  Not me.

Sharon & a giant reclining Buddha at Wat Pho.

High fiving it with some Buddhas at Wat Pho.

"Mix it up.  Give me ten!"

Taking a boat ride through the canals of Bangkok with gun drawn.

The highlight of Bangkok for me.  Sweet Blizzard how I love thee.

The next day we had to get up at 3am so we could make it over to the train station to buy tickets for the 6am train to the Thailand-Cambodia border.  The good news was that we had no trouble getting our tickets.  The bad news was that this was by far the worst train ride of my life.  First off, we didn't realize that you could board the train more than 40 minutes before departure.  So by the time we boarded the train, all the seats we already taken.  Thank goodness a train attendant took pity on us and found us some seats after telling a Thai family to move over to make room for us.  I think I would have jumped off the train at some point if I had to stand the entire 8 hour trip (which many people had to do).  Oh yeah, did I forget to mention the train was not air conditioned?  And the temperature that day was in the mid 90's with close to 100% humidity.  The only saving grace was that there was a fan directly above us.  Unfortunately, we got into a fan tug of war match between another Thai passenger who kept moving the fan direction away from us and on to him.  After many back and forths, I think he finally realized that Sharon wasn't going to back down and he finally gave up.  Yay wife!

"Will somebody please put me out of my misery????"

The trip was originally supposed to leave at 6am, but didn't depart until 7am, and then took an hour longer than scheduled to get to the border, so the six hour trip turned into eight.  The train was completely packed, with the aisle crowded with passengers making the trip standing up.  I had a butt in my face most of the trip.  At one point, this girl spotted an inch of seat next to me and decided to sit down next to me.  I was not amused...

Unfortunately my Superman shirt did not give me the power to shoot lasers out of me eyes.

The ride from hell finally ended though, and we found ourselves at the border, and after 30 minutes of waiting in lines, we walked our way into Cambodia.

Hellooooo Cambodia!

After crossing into Cambodia, we had to hop on a bus for another 3 hours of travel to get ourselves to Siem Reap.  Once we arrived at our hotel in Siem Reap I had one of the best showers of my life.

We stayed 2 full days in Siem Reap to check out all the old Khmer temples in the area including Angkor Wat.  The temples were all amazing, especially Angkor Wat.  We hired a tuktuk for two days to drive us around to all the sights, and hired a guide on the second day when we went to see Angkor Wat.  Too bad for us our guide's english was pretty bad so we pretty much just nodded our heads at him the entire time while having no clue what he was talking about.

Here are some pics of our Khmer temple adventures:

Real life Ents taking over a Khmer temple.

Sharon giving some love to a Buddha.

Good to know cock fighting has been around for over 800 years.

Just after sunrise in front of Angkor Wat.

Sharon contemplating life inside Angkor Wat.

While in Siem Reap, we also came across some interesting restaurants while walking around town one day.  First we saw this sign...

And then this sign...

And then finally this sign...

Our interest was finally piqued so we had to try one of these joy giving pizzas.  We opted to go to Happy Special Pizza and ordered an "extra happy" Hawaiian pizza.  While it was actually quite tasty, we didn't find anything truly "happy" or "special" about it.

A happy Sharon and our "extra happy" pizza.

After Siem Reap, we took a 6 hour bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.  Though there was nothing that stood out about the city, Sharon and I both really enjoyed our two days there.  So much so that we would describe our time there as Phnomenal (you can thank me for that amazing word play).  It was really easy to get around the city, everything was super cheap, and things were just really laid back there.  Our lone tourist venture of note while we were there was to visit the S-21 prison which was used as a detention and torture facility by the Khmer Rouge when they took over Cambodia in the late 70's.  Over 20,000 prisoners made their way through the prison, while only seven survivors were found when the Vietnamese liberated the city in 1979.  It was very depressing touring the place, but also very interesting.

Torture/interrogation room as it was found in 1979.

A sign forbidding laughing or smiling during the tour.  It gave us a good chuckle.

After Phnom Penh, we bused it to Vietnam for two weeks which Sharon will share with you in her next blog post.  Later.