bring it on Saigon!

After the peace and serenity of Hoi An it was back to the all out chaos of another Vietnamese city. This time it was Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon if you prefer. We took the path of least resistance and smell and boarded a jet to shoot us south to the countries largest city on an hour flight full of seat kicking and children screaming. Peep the video on our youtube page to see some footage of the gem that sat behind Nicole.

We arrived in Saigon mid afternoon and after packing into our room we wandered the streets to get a better feel for our surroundings. Saigon is considered to be the business hub of Vietnam so unlike Hanoi  with its small streets and smaller buildings, Saigon was more developed and more sprawling with some very nice looking areas as we cruised the streets.

After about an hour of so our hunger pains had set in and so we snuck into a local spot that was chock full of beer drinking business men sitting in kid picnic chairs eating some rather interesting meat dishes. After a rather long look at the menu that included cooked farm animals of almost every sort, including dove, tortoise, salamader, and rabbit, we opted for some salads and i went nuts for the beef muscle, whatever that was.

The atmosphere was really loud but fun and its at times like these that we felt that the experience of where we were was far more real than if w had chosen a trendy backpaker place to grab a bite. The locals all seemed pretty happy to have us there and after our meal and a few raised toasts to our neighbors, we headed back to the crib for some much needed zzzzz's.

The next day we awoke to some breakfast and a whole list of sights to see around the city which was walkable and with the humidity down somewhat, it was a pretty comfortable day to be out and about.

We were told by some Aussie friends in Hoi An to check out the Opera house, Notre dame Cathedral and finally, the Post Office which was built by French railmen back in the day which gave it a cool rugged feel.

We unfortunately missed the opening hours of the Reunification Palace which was constructed in 1966 as the Presidential quarters and most well known for the August 30, 1975 events in which Saigon surrendered after a communist tank from the North crashed through the palaces front gates. It was cool nonetheless to witness the building which has been left untouched since that day with the exception of the front gate repair.

We headed over to a coffee shop for some cool beverages and were lucky enough to meet two Dutch girls Marieke and Mariel. We ended up joining them for dinner of pasta and beer and then making plans to see each other in a few days in another city, Mui Ne.

We woke up early, booked an afternoon bus to Mui Ne and headed out to the War Remnants Museum. We believed it was something that we needed to see. It was quite an emotional place. The whole first floor had pictures and empty shell casings and documented Agent Orange and its effects over Vietnam, as well as the after effects it is having on Americans, Koreans and other soldiers. But, the museum of course focused mostly on the 3 million Vietnamese men, women, children and soldiers who were killed during the war.

We ended our time in Saigon talking about our feelings of the museum and our past relations with this country versus how we feel and are seen here now.

We boarded a bus and headed on a 7 hour journey north to Mui Ne.

Ps. Remember to look at the youtube channel for video and all the pictures are slowly heading up on the right.

the "other side" of traveling

So, I wanted to take a few minutes to tell you all about the other side of traveling. yes, we are having a blast and yes we are seeing so much of the world, and no, I wouldn't have it any other way....however, there are many things that you encounter along the way that we haven't shared because it isn't all the "glory" of travel.

• smells - exhaust, urine, garbage, poop, animals, spices, BO! - turning a corner doesn't necessarily mean there is something rosy on the other side. In Thailand they cooked with a pepper sauce that would literally chocking as we walked down the sidewalk due to its immediate attack of our throat. 
• sounds - those of you that know me well, know that I am easily bothered by nasty bodily sounds- slurping, hocking *as in that throat noise to get bile ready to spit, spitting, the constant noise of engines and loud talking, sounds through thin hotel walls...including rats running around in the walls, horns constantly blaring
• change - your plans are never solid, things constantly change, do you take a bus, a train, a motorbike, a cab, do you pay the rate or bargain and make a deal. do you stay in one hotel another night or search and search for a better deal in hopes of what you book will be nice and worth it.
• food - I think here in Vietnam, I have eaten nothing but Morning Glory spinach with garlic and butter. When you read a menu, the food choices are often strange sounding and you never know exactly what you are going to get. Even if you order eggs...the other day, we ordered omelets for breakfast, it was as if they took eggs, put them in a pan and then put the pan in hot french fry oil...the omelet was served bubbling, crispy and coated in oil, I opted for a piece of bread.
• beer - Ad and I are not big drinkers, but the heat is so intense that it is daily where we sit down and all we want is a nice cold brewsky.
• cigarettes - EVERYONE smokes, 10 year old are selling you packs of them, everything buses, cabs, etc. smell of smoke. As non smokers, it can become a bit overwhelming.
• Buy from me, Hello lady, look in my shop, my friend, buy from me, where you from? buy from me It seems that our beautiful American faces have been replaced with dollar signs. Left and right, all hours of the day, everyone wants our cash...that we haven't budgeted for. The women and children, even after you say no, will stand there and glare at you until you make eye contact or say yes. You can wave your hand no, say no thank you, ignore...but regardless, they are relentless.
• Ripped off - bargaining is very hard for the two of us, we actually stink at it. But, our math is also not so fantastic and we tend to make silly mistakes with money conversations and have found ourselves paying out the yingyang for little things. For example, 3 sodas..the woman tells me 150,000 dong. I don't even think about it and hand over the money...hours later, I think back...oh my god, I paid close to 7.50 for 3 sodas...which should have been no more than 40,000 total.
• no routine - this is really one of the hardest I think. Our sleep schedule is never the same, our eating schedule never the same, it takes a toll on you. We wake up, eat breakfast, come back to our hotel room, veg...then head out about 11 onto the town to walk for a few hours before being drenched in sweat and fumes when we come back to shower, then head back out again to find a place to eat...then, back to the room by nightfall to watch whichever movie is on the TV (Due hard and The Race to Witch Mountain seems to be on all the time) then, we upload our pictures, write a blog, skype, etc. Some times our time outside is much longer or shorter depending on the weather.
• no windows, no balcony's, little fresh clean air, finding what to do with your down time, trying to live completely in the moment and not think ahead, relax, relax, relax...
• travel days - these seem to be the longest and are every 3 or 4 days. bus rides that are supposed to be 5 hours turn into 8, train rides that are supposed to be 11 hours turn into 15 (and the air is cut off around hour 9) hotels that are close to the airport tend to be down an alley we can't find, the taxi drivers quote us 3x's the metered rate...these are the most exhausting of all.  The buses make 4 stops at work factories trying to get us to buy 8 ft. tall marble sculptures or over prices silk clothing or art work. The buses drop you off at a partnering store or hotel so you will buy from them or stay there instead of at the bus terminal where you were destined to go. Possibly even the maps given to you by the company are skewed to make it look like you are in the center of town. Then, the workers play stupid pretending that we wouldn't know any better and just accept what they say as the only hotel in town with vacancies and they are doing us a favor.

Chillaxin in Hoi An....

Over the course of a 5 month trip, there are days that need to be scheduled in to do well...nothing. Moving from city to city, sight to sight and hotel to hotel is a bit exhausting (not that we don't love the rush of every waking minute of it) so we decided to take the day Sunday at our new digs in Hoi An to relax by the quiet pool at the Southern Villas and did as much of nothing as we could. Being on antibiotics I suppose helped me to cope with the "do nothing" day a bit better as I came to grips with the fact that the world would still be there for us to see tomorrow.

As expected, on Monday the world was still spinning and with that we began the day where we left off, more pool lounging and then off to the town to explore on the bikes. Seems that many travelers opt for the motorbikes but we thought the $1 a day pricetag and slower pace of the cruisers offered us a better view of our surroundings not to mention a safer one.

After some lunch we walked the streets lined with tailors, shoe shops and pretty much any other type of clothing accessory store imaginable. Nicole spotted a dress she fancied....yes, fancied, at a storefront and so we asked about the price and fabrics available. For a whopping $20 she could have the dress made in 3 hours and that was all we needed to hear as Nicole picked her color and fabric from the lovely ladies of Morning Mist tailors and off we went.

The rains rolled in so we snagged some ponchos and rather comfortably in the cooler rainy surroundings made our way through the town for a bit before taking refuge at a coffee shop to people watch and caffeine up for the next few hours while we waited for Nicole's dress.

While we waited, a couple from Australia staying at our hotel cruised by and told us they were about to grab a bit at an uber-cheap and really good local joint down the street so we accepted the invite and headed to Cafe 43. If you are in Hoi An, like good food and don't like paying alot for food, then this is your place for every meal. I'm just sorry we didn't know about it sooner. The tally for our party of 4, including 8 beers was $11 in total and so with fully tummy, and a bag full of leftovers, we thanked our new Aussie friends for the invite and nice conversation and headed back to pick up Nicole's new custom threads.

Nicole's fashionista  bug took hold back at the tailor and ended with 2 new projects for the seamstress in the form of a very pretty black cocktail dress and super funky jacket for our Euro adventure in a few months.








 We setup a date to pick up the new digs the next morning and were generously invited to coffee beforehand which included a fun motorbike escort! Check out  our youtube channel for a lil footage I snagged.

After the coffee and nice conversation with the shop owners about life in Hoi An we biked it over to the shop for the final fitting.

Needless to say, Nicole looked amazing in her new dresses and super cool jacket. Some minor adjustments were made to the black dress and a half hour later brought to our doorstep back at the hotel in time for us to board our taxi to the airport. The process, excuse the pun, was seamless with the staff at Morning Mist and would be recommended to anyone in the Hoi An area looking for a refreshingly different approach to custom tailoring in Vietnam.

A good day and safe flight to Ho Chi Minh is where we find ourselves at the moment so keep it here yall! Thanks for readin!

-Adam

traveling Dr. Quinn

Well, Ad and I have been a bit under the weather the last few days, just achy heads and stomachs and stuff noses, sore throats. We knew we couldn't wait very long before we needed to see a Dr. So, after we checked into our great hotel in Hoi An we asked the desk about going to see the Dr. Turns out, Hoi An has a traveling dr. just like Dr. Quinn.

He met us in our room at 4:00 and when we answered the door, announced, "Hello, I am the doctor" we had a nice chuckle and he examined us, $40 later we had antibiotics and spasm pills, asprin and great goodness to help us on the road to recovery.

We did not have the money with us, so the Dr. was going to come back in a few hours to collect. I fell fast asleep and Ad went in search on an ATM, on the way he was asked if he wanted to purchase some marijuana (the third time this has happened) he declined of course, and later when the door bell rang to our hotel room, once again, "hello, I am the Doctor, I have come for money" we paid him, took our pills and went to sleep.

Today we feel a bit better, definitely if you are sick when travelling get it checked out. Dang fever is very popular in Vietnam, so keep yourselves healthy, drink your OJ and see a doctor if you feel ill.

P90X travelstyle....

For about the past 2 and a half months Nicole and I ditched the gym routine and started the P90x program at home since we thought it would be a more feasible form of gettin our workouts in on the road and luggin around 200 lbs of dumbbells seemed somewhat unlikely.

Its been a months and i'm proud to say that we've done the program in 3 countries and 9 cities total allready! The only purchase really necessary at least for me was the resistance bands that I picked up for $100. The Bodylastics set which is durable and fairly portable was the best I found available for use with this routine. Our netbook is also handy for playing the video but we've got it on the ipod too which works just as well.

With only a few square feet of room and a solid hour , we've been able to use the available space, a chair and the large water bottles usually in the mini-bars as additional weights.Granted, a little creativity might be useful given the limits of your rooms, but it makes it sorta fun and that much more satisfying once you've finished a workout and feel all amped up to explore.

I think a big part of a successful trip is staying strong and healthy and with this setup, I think anyone can keep up with their own fitness goals and travel anywhere without sacrifice!

More from Hoi An soon, thanks for reading!!!

-adam

Cruisin Hue and The Citadel...

 So, I have a raging headache right now but my boss needs this one written pronto or I sleep in the tub tonight. Anyway, we arrived yesterday in Hue, Vietnam after a brisk 12 hour train ride from Hanoi.

In an effort to burn a few calories and save a few dong (the money in Vietnam), we walked it from the train station into town to find our crash pad for the evening which happened to be the Sports Hotel. Funny thing is, theres nothin sporty about it unless you consider the rat marathon taking place in the walls a sport, but they don't seem to advertise that for some reason.

We took it easy our first night as travel days we've learned basically suck the life outta you and leave you hurtin the next day if you try and venture out immediately without rest.

Day 2 we headed out on wheels. Bike rentals for the day at $2 a pop seemed like a good idea considering the heat and the short distance to the citadel. The citadel, constructed in 1804 was the capital and center of political operations in Vietnam until the last emperor  abdicated to Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary government in1945.

The area was heavily effected by American military strikes but with the exception of some restoration the majority of the complex was seemingly in its original state and quite imporessive. A wall 8 meters high and 2.5 kilometers around surrounded the massive complex that housed dozens of temples, ceremony halls, and the emperors private residence.

We could see a very that the style and feel within the temples was heavily influenced by the Chinese with its use of reds and gold writing.














After our trek through the citadel we grabbed some grub and tooled around for a bit an dgrabbed lunch near the river before heading back for a break from the heat at our hotel and then back out to dinner before a big storm rolled through and gave us a chance to watch some tube. Thats all for now, and my head even feels a bit better so thanks for reading as always. More Hue to come!

-adam

Floating on a Junk

The last 2 days we have spent in HaLong Bay, which is on the NE Coast of Vietnam. We were told sleeping on a junk is a very memorable experience and that we MUST experience. Due to the typhoon in China we had to postpone for a few days…but it was totally worth the wait.


We were picked up at our “travel agency” at 8 am with a mini van and drove about 3 ½ hours to the coast. Along the way we stopped at a factory where they made silk sewing hangings and other souvenirs. Our tour guide explained that the factory was a place where the Vietnamese who were injured during the war worked and that this town was hit pretty bad which made it yet another one of those moments where Ad and I just looked at each other with a blank stare.

After grabbing a sandwich at the shop we drove a bit farther to the harbor in HaLong Bay. We were ushered like cattle with the hundreds of other people who were awaiting a trip on their junk into smaller boats that taxied us to our boat. Our Junk was called the Oriental Sails. All of the boats are pretty new but are built to look like old fashioned boats.

At this point, our vacation began to change. We started to talk with everyone on board and realized just how lucky we are to be traveling to be meeting people from so many places around the world and every one of them has been nothing but smiles and genuinely wonderful to meet. (ill explain more in a bit)

We spent the afternoon touring around the “amazing cave” and kayaking as well as eating a fantastic dinner and a bottle of wine. After dinner, all of us sat on the roof of our boat and chatted until after midnight.

We were accompanied by a couple from the Philippines who are travel writers and super sweet, a couple from Malaysia (Kuala Lumpor - who took the photo above)) who have us convinced that we will be stopping by to see the city on our way to Singapore and who will gladly show us around. We had dinner with two university students from Switzerland who were hysterical boys who also said they would host us and take us for Fondue when we go to Europe. We spent time chatting with two German friends who have now given us a great idea to save money in Europe, renting a camper or RV and driving our selves around the country giving us lodging and a kitchen…which will definitely save on the bank. We also spoke with a lovely couple from France (who when she says France it sounds like music) who live in Bordeaux and their children are all grown…they invited us to stay with them for a few nights, drink red wine and enjoy their city.

The next day, we had breakfast and separated from the group since we were here for 3 days not 2 like them and boarded a day boat where we spent the day with a couple, he from the Netherlands and she from Germany. They were so much fun. The four of us spent the day on the beach, building a sand city, swimming in the Bay, kayaking through caves and laughing so much. We spotted a giant jelly fish and that ended our swimming.

They were a blast and we hope in the next two weeks to meet up with them again in the South of Vietnam.

When we got back to our main boat we got ready for dinner and spent the evening with new friends. A father and son from the Netherlands were our entertainment and conversation buddies for the evening along with a couple from Australia. We spent the night talking about how similar and also different from movies like American Pie and the Hangover to the son and the dad talked with us about Harley Davidsons, the military conspiracies and our dogs (they have a long haired Jack Russell )

Our three days here on the Oriental Sails has not only shown us a most beautiful Bay full of mini mountains popping out of the water (The story is that a dragon spit pearls at the enemy and each pearl became a landform – 1,969 of them) We visited the floating village of Ca Van and saw how they squid fish and survive storms by building their village close to the landforms for protection.

We also met such wonderful people and have so many more places and people now to visit in the next few months. I think we needed this experience. I believe that this was one of those eye opening moments to all of the wonderful people on this earth who are full of light and enjoy meeting people and having the basics of conversation turn into such wonderful experiences and friendships. All of this was in just 3 days, I can not wait to see what the rest of this trip will bring to us.

Hill People - Sapa

The second day of our Sapa tour started with a pretty hefty shower which was actually welcomed by both of us as we had the good fortune of buying raincoats the night before just as a precaution which was in retrospect a fantastic move. Not to mention that the coats are pretty spot-on North Face knock offs although Nicole disagrees that they are fake but for $25, they keep us dry.

Anyways, so we started the day with breakfast and then met with our guide to begin the trek through the valley of rice fields and the hill tribe of Tanvan.

The walk was really nice in the wet as it was cooler and in a way it felt more authentic among all the fog and dirt paths that wind their way in and out of the valley decorated with small homes, farms, and the occasional water buffalo. The valley itself, is a mass of rolling rice fields that jump up and down the entire vibrant green landscape that is often blanketed with clouds that sets off the surreal feel of the location.

As is not uncommon, we attracted some local followers that lent us a hand through some of the more tricky spots on the trek. Nicole had a young girl with her the entire way that even waited for us to eat lunch and then continued along with us the rest of the way. The walk took us through some rather difficult and slippery terrain that had us relying heavily on the superhuman strength of our local help to keep up from spilling down the countryside. On one particular stretch we came across a few young boys that wanted nothing less than to see us face down in the dirt and so as we walked to an obvious "god I hope they fall" chant, we smiled and took each step in stride as our shoes were totally immersed in the mud.  Now the thing is, Nicole and I both knew that although sweet of the locals to help us out, there are certainly “no free lunches” as they say in Vietnam and when we reached the end of the trail, the women patiently awaited a reward which although a semi smudge on the fantastic walk, I can still understand and accept as it is something that goes on daily.

Just a personal thought on the matter. As we travel through some of the areas that have been takin over as tourist destinations, both Nicole and I can’t help but feel saddened by the idea that beautiful tribes people that were at one time very removed from the grip of capitalism have been poisoned in a way. From the moment you arrive (and they know you have arrived), the young and old tribes women circle your van and try and sell you their crafts with a persistence that spoils the encounter. As I mentioned before, it’s an understandable occurrence especially as the government is somewhat to blame for the allowance of tourism to spread into certain areas and just the idea of Nicole and I being there perpetuates the cycle. I just hope that these people can still find a way to hold on to the history and beliefs that their society has been built upon without totally handing it over to the tourists.

Ok, so back to it. After a final decent through some thick bamboo that doubled as support, our hike ended at about 4 which gave us time to pick up some dinner and then bus it back to the train station for our 8 hour overnight cruise back to Hanoi in time to make our 8am connection to our Halong Bay trip.

Something very retro about an overnight sleeper in my opinion but they make sense as they’ve given us our lodging and transport all in one steel rig on rails!

Thanks for reading, Halong Bay is next!!

Cat Cat Village

Today we went on a trek, or hike with May Linh who had to have been the sweetest Vietnamese person I have met. She helped clear up a lot of our questions and really by the end of the day I had a new girlfriend. 

Sapa was originally built in 1922 by the French and is now still a busy mountain town. There are many hill tribe people that live here, I believe May Linh said that there were 6 different kinds.

We entered into the Cat Cat village where we walked around and saw the villagers and learned about their hemp weaving, the indigo dying and the herbal medicine.  The government opened the village for the tourists hoping to help them financially. At first, the villagers were not happy about it, but now it is okay and normal for them to see. The kids try to sell you everything and it is so hard to tell them no. May Linh also told us that the Vietnamese love to eat dog (which we saw plenty of, along with pigs walking down the road)

May Linh was a lighter skinned most beautiful 20 year old girl who told us the story about the love market and how her people either have arranged marriages or are kidnapped for three days by a man who likes them. They know that they are liked because they play music to each other. It was a fun story. The reason why I mentioned she was lighter skin was because some of the other Vietnamese people made fun of her and I wanted to knock them out.

Anyway, as we walked there was also a herd of water buffalo swimming in the stream near the boys who use them to plow their land. 

I asked May Linh about Vietnamese’s opinion towards Americans and if we stuck out with our accent. She said that they know we speak English but they don’t know enough to know that we are from America. She said that they think all American’s are rich (I told her how untrue it is, but compared to their life, possibly we seem it) She said that some people still have an opinion about the war, but it is the same with the French from before and the Chinese. But most people, do not think about it anymore.

We also saw a beautiful waterfall which the French had used for hydroelectric power.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful. The weather wasn’t awfully hot…and it was just a perfect afternoon. Keep an eye out for pictures on the right, but we do not have internet in our room and it takes a long time to upload them all.