Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Halong Bay
At times I felt as if I was in another world. Though I enjoyed Hanoi, my time in the city brought about mixed experiences...little did I know what was in store. On June 14th we boarded a bus to head to Halong City, where we would board a boat to tour the islands. We decided to take a 3 day/2 night tour of Halong Bay. We spent the first night on the boat and the second night at Cat Ba island, one of the many islands in Halong Bay. Along the way we had the chance to explore several of the treasures in the area (which included kayaking, swimming, visiting the floating villages and viewing several caves) 
The floating villages were quite interesting...these people literally live in houses smaller than most house boats and the entire town is comprised of this. It appeared that the livelihood of these people was based on us tourists!
After kayaking and swimming we anchored for the night...we were extremely lucky because we had a great group of folks on our boat. Most were between the age of 23-31 and came from all over the globe. If I am remembering correctly, there were people from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Canada and America...pretty impressive! It made for a fantastic night and the scenery could not be beat!
The floating villages were quite interesting...these people literally live in houses smaller than most house boats and the entire town is comprised of this. It appeared that the livelihood of these people was based on us tourists!
After kayaking and swimming we anchored for the night...we were extremely lucky because we had a great group of folks on our boat. Most were between the age of 23-31 and came from all over the globe. If I am remembering correctly, there were people from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Canada and America...pretty impressive! It made for a fantastic night and the scenery could not be beat!
The next day we got up for an early breakfast and then headed to Cat Ba island for the day. Meera and I were supposed to go trekking, but some how this got lost in translation and we didn't get to go...frustrating, but not much we could do. The island is a cute little beach town that thrives on tourists. In the afternoon we headed to the beach for a couple of hours...It was absolutely fabulous! White sandy beaches and the water as warm as bath water. At first we had the beach entirely to ourselves, but within an hour the scene quickly changed when tons of others joined us...I've never seen anything like it...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Vietnam Adventure - Week 1
So I realize I've been absent for a while, but it's been so busy since I arrived in Vietnam. Since leaving San Fran I've technically visited four cities, though I'm not sure an airport stop-over counts. We (my partners in crime for the next 6 weeks, Meera and Christy - both class mates from Haas) all arrived in Saigon within a few hours of each other...Christy and I met in Tokyo and we then met Meera at the Mme Cuc hotel in Saigon; a hostel in the backpacker district. It's super cute the staff are super friendly and love to practice their English.
We decided to take it easy our first day and let ourselves gradually get used to the time change and heat. After a quick cup of coffee at the hostel (coffee with condensed milk...I'm pleasantly surprised by how tasty this is) we headed out for a day of exploring, but first we satisfied our hunger with what soon became our morning breakfast...streetside egg sandwiches with cilatro and chilli sauce on a baguette...so tasty! and only 10,000 dong (about 80 cents). We also found a cute smoothie bar called the Juice Box and discovered a wonderful drink called Sinh to (can't go wrong with fresh tropical fruits!)
During the rest of the day we made our way around the city visiting the Reunication Palace, the War Remnants Museum, the local city market (for a few local goodies) and the Notre Dame Cathedral; while doging motorbikes in the streets...this city is crazy...one tour guide told us that the population in the greater Ho Chi Minh City area is about 10 million and there are 5 million motorbikes...at times the streets are wall to wall with just motorbikes, forget about driving a car in this city. We soon learned that the bus companies allocate atleast an hour to leave the city.
After a whirlwind tour of the city we ended the day at the Vietnam Traditional Massage Institute, which was coincidentally a few doors down from our hostel. Little did we know the Institute is co-located at a school for the blind, so I just got one of the strangest massages of my life from a blind Vietnamese women.
Stay tuned for more from the first week (and I promise to post pictures)...Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels, Hoi An and Hue!!!
We decided to take it easy our first day and let ourselves gradually get used to the time change and heat. After a quick cup of coffee at the hostel (coffee with condensed milk...I'm pleasantly surprised by how tasty this is) we headed out for a day of exploring, but first we satisfied our hunger with what soon became our morning breakfast...streetside egg sandwiches with cilatro and chilli sauce on a baguette...so tasty! and only 10,000 dong (about 80 cents). We also found a cute smoothie bar called the Juice Box and discovered a wonderful drink called Sinh to (can't go wrong with fresh tropical fruits!)
During the rest of the day we made our way around the city visiting the Reunication Palace, the War Remnants Museum, the local city market (for a few local goodies) and the Notre Dame Cathedral; while doging motorbikes in the streets...this city is crazy...one tour guide told us that the population in the greater Ho Chi Minh City area is about 10 million and there are 5 million motorbikes...at times the streets are wall to wall with just motorbikes, forget about driving a car in this city. We soon learned that the bus companies allocate atleast an hour to leave the city.
After a whirlwind tour of the city we ended the day at the Vietnam Traditional Massage Institute, which was coincidentally a few doors down from our hostel. Little did we know the Institute is co-located at a school for the blind, so I just got one of the strangest massages of my life from a blind Vietnamese women.
Stay tuned for more from the first week (and I promise to post pictures)...Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels, Hoi An and Hue!!!
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