Jan 2009

Happy New Year, and Happy Chinese New Year! Can't believe I'm more than 2 months behind on my blog... just got busy spending time with family. Read on for my posts from the last couple of months of 2008, on Vietnam and Laos.

The rest of December was basically hanging out with family & friends in Kolkata and eating good local snacks. It was nice to have another break and not be in travel mode. Of all the pampering we get in Kolkata, my favorite is the ginger chai tea that is brought up as soon as we wake up in the morning. Ahhhh... what a nice way to wake up in the morning.

Ashok and I traveled up to the northern state of Sikkim, in the Himalayas, for New Years. Somehow we ended up in a club with the locals for New Years Eve, and the hard-rocker tough guy who invited us to the club ended up cranking out Bollywood favorites with his band in traditional garb.... all this in a small town in the middle of the Himalayas. We sure know how to party!

Mount Kangchenjunga, at 28,169ft, is the 3rd highest mountain in the world (after Mount Everest and K2). The view of the mountain range from Pelling, Sikkim, where we were, is really amazing. Most of the time it's so overcast that you wouldn't know the peaks were there. The best chance to get a clear view is at sunrise.

That little bit of cloud above the peak covered the sky by lunch time so it went from sunny blue skies to gray and gloomy in a matter of hours. Makes you really appreciate nature.

January was spent mostly around southern India. More on that later. For now, happy reading!

I read somewhere that Luang Prabang is the prettiest town in Asia, and I'd have to agree. The streets are clean and the buildings are nice French colonial style buildings that are well maintained and well lit (not fluorescent lighting!), and no shacks that are crammed into every possible open space. We were pleasantly surprised by the peaceful, calm and serene atmosphere. The Laotians are very laid back too so there are no touts or tuk-tuk drivers constantly badgering you to buy stuff. It's just such a nice break from the constant assault on your senses that happens in all the other Asian towns.

My camera's really gone by now and only 1 in 10 are coming out so here's all I have of LP:

We didn't do any research on LP, so we didn't realize that it's set in the midst of mountains and that it gets chilly at night. I know it's pretty silly of me, but I just never thought it got cold anywhere in Southeast Asia. I ended up catching a cold but it's such a laid back town, it was a good place to rest and recover. We did catch the early morning procession of monks receiving alms from the locals. That's the main tourist attraction, and is what made Luang Prabang so popular.

A psychedelic version (thanks to the broken camera):

Mist on the Mekong River in the early morning after the procession:

However, it's gotten so popular that some tourists forget that it is a religious event which should be respected, and instead will walk right up to the monks (you're supposed to only observe from across the street), sometimes even getting in their way, to take pictures. It's like walking into a church during a service and getting right up to the minister to take pictures. We saw more ugly tourist behavior around town – at a Buddhist monument people were climbing up onto the stupa just to get a better sunset picture, backpackers brought beer and were treating the place like a bar during happy hour. The lack of respect for the locals is just so wrong! It makes you wonder if ugly tourists are the ones that teach the locals to become rude and cunning, and ruin it for the rest of us.

A local village nearby was celebrating their new year so we went to check it out. It's like a very simple, local fair. As we strolled around we saw locals forming 2 lines facing each other, tossing tennis balls back-and-forth. I found out later that it's a way for guys to court girls, so he can get a chance to talk to the girl while the ball is tossed back and forth.

Other than that, we didn't do much else. We had local Laotian BBQ by the river which is a combo grill & hot pot so you can grill your own meat AND cook veggies in the soup, but the dipping sauce is the best part. We also met up with our friends Tim & Anna, whom we met in Mongolia, for the 3rd time and found out they got engaged! It's a nice coincidence that our paths kept crossing and we happened to be in the same place at the same time.

The trip back to Bangkok was an adventure in itself, and involved almost every mode of ground transportation: 11-hour bus ride to Vientiane where they played Casino Royale but every time we hit a bump the video would go out and only the sound stayed on, but we did get to see the beautiful Laotian mountains; taxi-autorickshaw-bus-autorickshaw to cross the border into Thailand; 6 hour wait for the train where we filled up on good Thai food at the Tesco foodcourt; and then an overnight train to Bangkok. 48 hours total travel time. The flight would have taken 1.5 hours. Not sure it was worth the $200 savings. At least we got to see the beautiful Laotian landscape.

And so ended the Southeast Asia portion of our travels....

It's hard to decide which country has the better food – Thailand or Vietnam. Compared to Saigon, Hanoi is slightly less crazy, more charming with the French-influenced architecture,

but the touts are everywhere trying to sell you things (we found the best way to get them to stop is to completely ignore them)... but no matter, it is worth going just for the food. In fact, we did not have a bad meal in Hanoi... well, except the Vietnamese sandwiches which were no comparison to the ones in Saigon, but that's more like a snack.

This is Bunh Cuon, a thin rice crepe that is popular for breakfast (but really it's good anytime):

And here's the woman making it at a well known place (Bánh Cuốn Thanh Vân):

I didn't know this before, but the Vietnamese food we have in the US is more southern style, from Saigon. The food in Hanoi is slightly different – instead of fish sauce, they use a dipping sauce that is more soup-like. Pho and summer rolls are more specialties of Saigon but Hanoi has its own delicious versions.

This is Bun Cha (rice noodles with grilled pork & dipping sauce):

I'm missing the food as I look at these pictures.

We were walking around Hanoi, and saw the infamous Hanoi Hilton, the POW prison during the Vietnamese war. It's weird to see this nondescript building right in the middle of the city, next to all these modern high-rises. Not a great shot but my camera's not working properly by now:

Thanksgiving was spent cruising around Ha Long Bay, famous for all the limestone karsts that jut out from the water. We had a nice fresh seafood dinner instead of the big turkey meal. After much searching and reading a lot of horror stories about bad cruises, we found one where we can get our own boat and be on our own schedule instead of going with a large group cruise (CatBa Ventures). The boat was on the rustic side, and the “western toilet” used the “eastern” method of flushing (i.e. pour water from a pail into the toilet to flush it), but the captain was extremely nice and bent over backwards to make sure we were happy. And it was definitely worth it to be able to relax on our lounge chairs all day and enjoy the beautiful scenery without being disturbed by other tourist boats. The captain also took us kayaking into these caves that lead to hidden lagoons.

Pictures of Ha Long Bay karsts:

This is one of the fishing villages that dot Ha Long Bay. Imagine living your daily life on the water:

Our boat (the deck on top is where we hung out all day):

and Ashok relaxing on our boat:

At night we would dock in these quiet coves where there's maybe a fishing family or another boat, that's all, and all you see are the karsts and the stars. One of the nights was a bit harrowing as the captain miscalculated the time it would take to get to the docking place so we had to cross the bay in the dark. Our boat didn't have any lights (no life jackets either, I noticed), and it was a moonless night. You know something's wrong when the captain gives you free beers. There were, luckily, 2 very bright stars that lit up the water and provided us with direction. We were never so happy to get to the cove that night.

Incidentally, we saw the same 2 stars a few nights later side by side with an upward new moon underneath.... looking like a smiley face! We found out later that the 2 stars were actually Jupiter and Venus, and I think you can only see it in the southern hemisphere (but don't quote me on that). If I had know, I would've tried to take a picture of it... but here're a couple of links if you're curious:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75974977@N00/3128441229/
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=7-HkgmRKmDs

We would have liked to stay in Vietnam longer to enjoy the food, but our visa was running out so we had to move on to Laos. I did not hear anything positive about the 30+ hour bus ride to Luang Prabang, Laos, so we bit the bullet and paid for the 1-hour flight instead. It was a good decision.

To save money we decided to buy an open tour bus ticket to go from HCMC to Hanoi – only $41 plus we got to stop in a couple of cities in between.... ok so it wasn't the most comfortable... but then it makes for such good stories afterwards.

Our first stop, after 8 hours on the bus, is Nha Trang, a pretty popular beach town. It was late by the time we got there so we went in search of good Vietnamese food for dinner. We found this very local eating place (doesn't quite qualify as a restaurant, just an open courtyard with a few low plastic tables and stools). After much pointing and charades (at one point the guy moo'd and pointed to his butt to explain which cut of beef we were getting) we finally got our tasty dinner.

NT's supposed to have a nice beach, but since the remnants of a hurricane just passed by, the beach was littered with trash and not too enticing. This is one of the few pictures I took in NT because I thought the red star flags on the boats at the harbor make an interesting picture:

We had planned our schedule so we would be in Hoi An for our wedding anniversary (4 years!). Turned out to be a great decision. Hoi An has a charming, characteristic old town that makes it interesting to walk around. Of course it's also got the touristy part - the streets are packed with tailor shops (big thing to do but I personally think a bit over-hyped since you can do the same in Hanoi or Bangkok) but it's not too hard to avoid them. It's also pleasant to explore outside of old town on bike.

Northern Vietnam had the worst flooding in 20 years just a few weeks prior, and half of Hoi An old town was still under water when we got there. The locals made the most of it by offering boat tours through the flooded streets, proving once again how ingenuous they can be.

One of the highlights of our stay is our hotel, the Ha An Hotel. It's the ideal place: the decor has local flavors but done in a tasteful way (a rare thing in Asia especially in the mid-budget range), the amenities meet the needs of western travelers, the staff is super friendly, and the grounds are nice to relax in, but all at a reasonable rate. It was so nice to be at this place, especially after a very long, 11-hour, overnight bus ride with the bus driver's Vietnamese pop music blaring all night. If only there is a place like this everywhere we went... sigh.

We also had a memorable meal for our anniversary. The decor in this seaside restaurant is very basic, but the crab in tamarind sauce was the best we've ever had. In fact, you can put anything in that tamarind sauce and it'd taste good.

A few relaxing days and it's time to get on the bus again to go to Hanoi. It's our longest ride yet (18 hours total!), but 2 things helped us keep our sanity: Hanoi is our last stop, and the silk sleeping bags we bought in Hoi An. They are one of our best purchases because you can wrap yourself inside the sleeping bag and not worry about touching anything around you in your sleep, and they are thin so you don't get too hot.

Tourism is very well developed in Vietnam. There is a tour package for every place one may want to visit from the Cuchi tunnel and the Mekong Delta in HCMC to Ha Long Bay in Hanoi, and many tour agencies that offer them. The fierce competition has not lead to quality tours at a reasonable price, but has instead sprouted many operators that over promise and under deliver, making it tough to ensure one has a good experience. For that reason I've posted my notes for anyone thinking about going to that area and/or doing the open tour. For everyone else, stay tuned for the next post!

Notes on Nga Trang and Open Tour buses:
The 2 companies that seemed to have the best buses from HCMC were Hahn Cafe and Sinh Cafe. The people at Hahn Cafe in HCMC were very nice so we booked with them, but the ones in the other cities were a different matter. Either way I definitely recommend spending the extra $5 for the better (sleeper) bus. The buses were as promised all the way to Hoi An, but from Hoi An to Hanoi we got stuck with older buses. It costs a little more, but the better way may be to buy the ticket separately from one city to the next so you can make sure you get the bus as promised, and the tour operators have a little more incentive to provide better service.

We didn't like Nha Trang as much although I read good things on the web about it. It may be more for people looking for a night life in addition to the beach. On the other hand, we passed by a town called Mui Ne on the way to NT which looked much nicer. It's basically one main road with a string of resorts right on the beach and looked a lot quieter and more relaxing. Just before Mui Ne was a fishing village with the most amazing mass of fishing boats all tied up together.

We're big spenders! Upon arrival in Vietnam we withdrew 3 Million(!) Dongs from the ATM. Of course, with an exchange rate of 17,000 Dongs to $1, that's only about $180. It takes some getting used to to spend such high amounts - once I thought we were spending too much money in one day, then I realized that 180,000 Dongs is only about $11.

The first impression I have of Saigon (as does everyone, I'm sure) is the never ending stream of motorcycles (and the noise) on the streets - they just swarm around the cars like ants! Crossing the street is literally like playing Frogger – one step at a time. The trick is to cross slowly so that the vehicles can see you and go around you, and definitely follow the “small yields to big” rule.

The main reason Ashok and I wanted to go to Vietnam was for the food, so as soon as we got settled, we went out in search of real Vietnamese cooking. Unfortunately, because we were staying in the backpacker/ touristy area around Pham Ngu Lau, the food is also “westernized”, so I'm sad to report that our first meal in Vietnam was not very good. We learned to avoid restaurants in Pham Ngu Lau area or touristy areas in general, especially those that offer western and Vietnamese food. We found authentic (and better!) stuff just a few blocks away: amazing Pho (beef noodle soup which HCMC is known for), really good Vietnamese baguette sandwich from a guy on the street, and freshly made thin rice crepe from a woman at the morning market (the one for locals, not the touristy Cho Ben Thang market). Not to mention the Vietnamese coffee: strong, rich coffee (one good influence from the French) balanced with the sweetness of condensed milk, then poured over ice... perfect for the hot, humid weather. If you haven't figured it out already, there will be a lot on food in my Vietnam posts.

It's amazing, too, how little space the Vietnamese needs to set up a food stall.
Everything they need is set up all around them so there's no need to get up from their little plastic stool.

This woman had everything she needed on her bike, down to the tin container with hot coals to keep her food hot:

Getting away from food for a minute, we did do some sight-seeing as well. One of the must-see's in HCMC has to be the Cuchi Tunnels. It's a network of underground tunnels used against the French at first, then expanded by the Vietcongs to fight the Americans. It really gives you a sense for how resourceful & cunnning the Vietnamese are, and therefore, why the Americans could not win the war on their turf. The tunnels are just big enough for the smaller Vietnamese to fit in, but for most people today you'd have to bend over, and in some cases, crawl to get thru the dimly lit tunnel (back in the days it would be pitch black). I was getting claustrophobic in there and couldn't finish.

Here's one of the holes the Vietcongs snipers would hide in. Once again, it's amazing how small a space they'd squeeze into:

It was surreal to see these places, especially since Vietnam today is so geared towards foreign tourism and does not feel like a communist country at all.

Our tour guide, Mr. Bean (Binh), was also one interesting character. Having fought in the Vietnam war on the US side, he was not trusted by the government to pursue a professional career in law so he became a tour guide to earn a living.... and that's just one of his stories.

Three days was about the right time in HCMC so we made our way north along the coast towards Hanoi.