Reason # 3287 why keeping up with the local news is a good idea....

"Once again, things that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!" 
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/229211/rising-waters-down-south 

Long story short, my dreams of sipping cocktails on picturesque tropical beaches have been dashed.  Stay tuned while I formulate an alternative plan of adventure...

Thai one on

You know that one joke where you ask people (preferably dudes) what the capital of Thailand is and then before they can answer you say "Bangkok" and pretend like you're going to hit them in the crotch?  Well it's a classic and if you didn't know it before, you do now.  So you're welcome.  The reason I shared that extremely classy and tasteful joke is that I'm currently in the punch line city so that gives you a perfect reason to test it out.  Again, you're welcome.

Ok so after talking with several other travelers who had spent some time here, I was fully prepared to be less than impressed with Bangkok.  I tend to prefer nature and small towns over massive sprawling metropolises, but I've actually grown quite fond of this place over the past few days.  Perhaps it had an unfair advantage because it directly followed my time in Ho Chi Minh City.  I can't say that HCMC was my favorite place on earth, as it was hot and dirty and rather depressing.  I spent about a day and a half there and was ready to leave after about 4 hours.  I took a stroll around town during the early evening hours and during that 2 hour span I witnessed the following: an old lady puking in the middle of the street, a senile Australian man talking to no one in particular about how he was in the market for a young boy, a crowd of men gathered around two street dogs getting frisky with each other, and countless gross old white dudes with young naive Vietnamese girls on their wrinkly arms.  So after taking all of that in, I took a hot shower to wash the ick off and booked the next flight out to Bangkok. 

Got into Bangkok around midnight and made my way to my hostel.  It's a bit outside of the main city center, but the public transportation here is great and the hostel is one of nicest I've ever stayed at so two thumbs up.  One thing that makes this hostel so great is the quality of the mattresses.  I dont know if it's an Asian thing or not, but up until this point, all of the places I've stayed have had rock hard mattresses.  They say those are better for your back, but I say shut up.  Anyways, if you're ever in Bangkok you should stay here.  Don't think you'll ever find a nicer place for 10 bucks a night. 

For the past couple of days I've just been exploring the city by foot, train, ferry and tuk tuk.  The other day I visited an area of town called Siam which is famous for it's gigantic shopping malls.  I generally hate malls, but they're dynamite for people watching so I was happy.  Also, in the lower level of one of these malls sits one of the greatest food courts of all time.  Very similar to the hawker centers of Singapore, but slightly bigger.  In addition to that, I also discovered the most impressive grocery store I've ever been to in my entire life.  Not sure if you know this, but I have a weird fascination with grocery stores.  I love lazily strolling around and seeing the weird stuff they have and the going rate for said products.  Anyways, this grocery store was remarkable.  Spotlessly clean, awe-inspiring prepared food area, and an extremely well thought out design.  As if that weren't enough, they had more free samples than I could even taste. Eat your heart out, Costco.  Anyways, I'm a big weirdo so I greatly enjoyed this discovery.  Oh hey, I found a review of this place that describes it in much greater detail than I did, so I guess I'm not the only weirdo: http://www.gourmet.com/travel/2007/11/gourmetmarket

Yesterday I took to the river and took a ferry to do a little siteseeing.  Walked around the grounds of the Grand Palace and then walked a bit down the road to explore Wat Pho, which is a ridiculously impressive Buddhist temple.  It's home to more than 1,000 Buddha statues and is known as the birthplace of Thai massage.  The amount of detail in all the structures was remarkable.  The tile work was crazy and I can't even begin to comprehend how long it must have taken to construct.   Here's cool stuff I've seen recently:

View from the beach in Nha Trang, Vietnam.  This was taken during the 5 minutes that it didn't rain while I was there.  Lame.

This is the only picture I took in Ho Chi Minh.  That was probably dumb of me, but oh well.  This is just your standard dried fish stand at the local market.  It smelled really nice.

Fun fact: Lots of taxis in Bangkok are bright pink and the taxi drivers wear bright pink vests.  Good stuff.

Wandering around some mall and I happened upon a Thai boy band concert.  The girls were going wild for these cats. 

This picture is just to show the junxtaposition between old and new, chaotic and serene.  Temple with an IMAX backdrop.  Life is funny.

The Grand Palace.  I was approached by about 12 different people asking if I wanted a guided tour.  I said no and quickly retreated so I'm not entirely sure what goes on around here, but there were lots of tourists so I assume it's something important.

Just some awesome structures at Wat Pho.  Can't really tell from this picture, but the exterior of all of those are made up of thousands of little tiles.  So I'm sure that didn't take long to complete.

This guy is pretty cool

There were countless hallways like this.  Very serene environment.  Buddhism seems cool.

Prayer candles.  My attempt at being an artsy fartsy photographer. 

I really like this picture

After getting my fill of culture, I took a tuk tuk to Khoa San Road, which is a the epicenter of Bangkok's backpacker scene.  Hippies to the left, transgendered street performers to the right, and an endless array of weirdness in all directions.  Not really a place I would want to stay, but definitely fun for an afternoon.  Walked around, got some delicious 50 cent pad thai, and also visited a few travel agents to do some bargaining for the best price on transport to an island in southern Thailand called Koh Phi Phi (pronounced Co Pee Pee...not quite as funny as dong, but still worthy of a giggle).  So I did some haggling and got round trip bus and ferry tickets for about $40.  So I'll be boarding another sleeper bus this evening and will arrive in Koh Phi Phi around 10:30 tomorrow morning.  Plan from there is to explore some of the beaches and probably do a bit of snorkeling.  Won't have enough time for my scuba certification so that's lame but oh well.  I'll make my way back from Koh Phi Phi on Sunday evening, back in Bangkok on Monday morning and then off to London on Tuesday night.  The hits keep comin!

Just taking some beach clothes and a camera on this latest excursion, so I'll be somewhat off the grid for the next 5 days.  Hopefully I'll have some good stuff to share when I get back.  I think I might.  Keep on rockin in the free world.  Until we meet again....

Lady, come buy you!

I must admit that my first few days in Vietnam were rather disappointing.  I attribute it more to the cold, rainy weather than anything else.  Best laid plans were foiled, exploring by foot was washed out, and the demeanor of the locals was less than endearing.  It made me realize how incredibly lucky I've been with the weather I've experienced, the adventures I've undertaken and the people I've encountered up until that point.  But much as in real life (I currently live in a surreal fantasy world), you're gonna have a few bad days here or there.  And when I say bad, I mean that in the least severe way possible.  I was still seeing fascinatingly new things and learning a good deal about a new culture, but the overall experience wasn't going quite as swimmingly as I had anticipated.   So it is with much pleasure and satisfaction that I am happy to report that the events of the past few days have vastly improved my overall feelings about this country.

It all started on Saturday morning, another dismal, gray day in the greater Hanoi area.  Despite the foreboding skies, I decided to go ahead and book a one-day tour to Halong Bay, as I had heard such glowing reviews.   So I bid my comfy hotel room a fond farewell, left my bags in the capable hands of Mr. Bihn (the front desk dude) and boarded a mini bus at 8:30 or so.  I jammed out to some tunes, took a little cat nap, read a bit and as noon rolled around, the Bay came into view and I started to understand why Halong Bay was such a popular destination.  There are over 2,000 islands in the Bay, most of these islands being massive rock formations jutting out of the water.  It was slightly overcast, but still clear enough to be incredibly impressive.  We boarded a boat and were taken across the bay and into an area that was dotted with tiny fishing villages that were situated in and amongst these islands.  Floating communities of people who made their living selling fresh fish and local produce.  We docked our boat and were treated to a lunch of seafood and veggies and other local fare.  As we ate, our boat was surrounded by women on row boats who were hawking fruit and little crappy trinkets.   If you wanted something, you haggled for a bit and then whatever you bought would be put in a net and extended to the boat.  After you got the goods out of the net, you would put your money in the net and the deal was done.  Pretty good little system if you ask me. 

Over lunch, I chatted with a couple of my fellow tour mates and we became fast friends.  Idan was my buddy from Israel.  He was a strapping young buck and reminded me of that dude Noel from "Felicity."  He had just finished his commitment to the Israeli army and was traveling throughout Southeast Asia for a few months.  He gave me some insight on what life in Israel was like and also insisted on taking lots of solo pictures of me.  So needless to say, I have a bunch of new photos to add to the "Here I am being a huge douche" file.  He also bought me some rumbutan (which is a new fruit that I've discovered here....similar to lychee but not quite as sweet) and some kind of cake thing for the ride back.  So basically we were dating for the day.

I also became friendly with a really sweet girl from Singapore.  Her name escapes me now, but we had a nice in-depth conversation about traveling and when I told her about my journey, she let out an audible gasp and covered her mouth.  I smiled and she said "I'm sorry, but I think you're my new role model."  So that instantly made me worry about her sanity and also made me laugh a lot.  Then she started telling me that she's always wanted to travel the world but has been too scared because no one else shares her dream and she's worried that traveling by herself would be too lonely.  So I shared some of my experiences and reassured her that feelings of loneliness are natural but fleeting.  And traveling solo is pretty bad ass.  Every day I wake up, I get to decide exactly what I want to do and when I want to do it.  I'm only bound by the limits of my imagination so that usually leaves me with plenty of options (unfortunately I'm a rather indecisive person so this presents a challenge of sorts, but I'm working on it).  To hold the power of your own destiny on a daily basis is quite a remarkable feeling, so I would advocate solo travel to anyone.  Anyways, I sincerely hope she follows her dream.  If it's even half as rewarding as mine has been thus far, then she'll be more than happy with her decision.

So after kayaking throughout the bay and poking around a cave that was so impressive I was convinced it was fake, we boarded the bus to begin the long journey back to Hanoi.  Not sure if it was luck or fate or another force at work, but for whatever reason I chose to sit in the last row, window seat.  This proved to be a rather fortuitous choice as I soon found myself surrounded by a gang of Russians who had been pounding cheap Vietnamese vodka all day long.   The man next to me glanced my way, stuck out his hand and said “Ello, I’m Igor…where are you from?”  A drunk Russian named Igor?  You can’t make this stuff up, my friends.  I told him I was from Pennsylvania to which he let out a loud laugh and said “Oh, Dracula!”  Before I could explain to him that Dracula actually hailed from Transylvania, he had a healthy shot of whiskey in my face and was doing a “USA! USA!” chant.  So before you could say Mikhail Gorbachev, the shot was gone and the friendship was made.  So the next three hours were spent learning Russian curse words, trying in vain to pass up shots, watching as Igor almost came to blows with the bus driver because he had to pee so bad, and being reprimanded for being a bit too loud.  Good times.  By the time I got back to my hotel to get my bags and head to the train station to start the 12 hour overnight journey to Hue, I was half in the bag and in desperate need of a place to rest my head.  That came in the form of a ratty old sleeper cabin on a rickety old train.  Not the cleanest of accommodations, but the mattress was surprisingly comfy and after exchanging pleasantries with the Vietnamese family who I was sharing the cabin with (grandma, mom, dad, and two kids all crammed into three beds), I put in my iPod and made a blissful journey to la la land.  I slept like a baby for 9 hours and awoke to find that I only had 3 hours left to kill.  So I read for a bit and before I knew it, the train had arrived in Hue.  It was ok.  The cyclo drivers were incredibly persistent which was super annoying.  One guy followed me while I walked for a solid 10 minutes trying to give me a ride.  Not a very effective business model.  One funny thing happened in Hue though.  As I was strolling through the markets (my favorite leisure time activity), a young girl came up and grabbed onto my arm.  She said "Lady, where you from?" I told her America and she started rattling off a bunch of places that she knew.  Then she looked me dead in the eyes and said "lady, you so beautiful...like movie star!"  I was flattered for a half second until she pointed to a grocery store across the street and said, "Grocery store....so beautiful!  Come look look then you buy?"  What a little bamboozler!  So basically I'm as pretty as a run down Vietnamese grocery store.  In your face!

Anyways, here are some highlights of Halong Bay and the one picture of Hue that I took:

Halong Bay by boat.  Can't really think of anything witty to say about this. Sorry.

The cold weather and impending rain clouds forced me to bring back the hippie hat.  The fact that I hadn't washed my hair in a couple days and I had to play it cool in front of my new buddy Idan may have also had something to do with it.

200,000 dong all up in your face!  Haha, that's the truth.  This is our tour guide trying to show me how that island in the center of the picture is also used on the 200,000 dong (hehe) bill.



Local ladies jockeying for position



Kayaking through some caves.  No big deal.

 I still look like a total tool, but shout out to my cameraman for lining up this shot so perfectly.

This little girl had them eating out of the palm of her tiny hands....literally.

The caves really looked like something that you would see in Disney World.  But apparently they were real.

Slingin it with my new pal from Singapore

Cold War, Schmold War.  Russians + whiskey = trouble

Do you know the way to Hue?  That's funny because Hue is pronounced exactly the same as 'way.'  Get it?

On Sunday morning, I made a 4 hour bus ride to a town called Hoi An, which proved to be my favorite spot yet and totally redeemed Nam’s good name.  It’s a super chill little spot with really friendly people and a relaxed atmosphere.  There are some lovely little cafes and restaurants along the river and it has a decidedly French vibe, from the architecture to the pretentious know-it-alls (haha, that was a joke).   Hoi An is a town that’s world renowned for its tailors and custom made clothing stores.  I was incredibly tempted to have a ton of business lady pant suits made, but I resisted the urge and settled on a pair of super comfy silk-like pants that evoke memories of MC Hammer.  I love them so much.  Best $2.50 investment I’ve ever made.  I also rented a bike for a dollar and rode a few miles to a pretty nice little beach on the outskirts of town.  Ordered a 50 cent beer from some lady and was given my own little grass hut and a comfy little beach chair.  I then soaked up the sun’s glorious rays and had a fantastic little day.

Hoi An also has a ton of really awesome food stands run by some of the sweetest looking old ladies you could ever imagine.  I’ve been getting braver in my culinary choices and was able to discover several amazing new dishes.  I was introduced to a local favorite called cau loa (burnt noodles and pork with bean sprouts) which was excellent.  I read a review of a little spot called Bale Well in the NY Times so I swung by there and had a very fun time trying to figure out how to properly assemble the only dish they serve, which is a do it yourself spring roll.  They present you with about 10 plates with various veggies, meats, eggs, etc. and you take a sheet of rice paper and try to stuff as much in there as you can.  As I attempted my first roll, I noticed that a tiny crowd of women had gathered to watch.  I tried to make it look like I knew what I was doing, but knew immediately that I couldn’t fool these ladies.  They laughed and laughed as I constructed a super shoddy roll with crap falling out everywhere.  I was rescued by Mai, the owner of the place, who came over and showed me the proper way to make everything fit.  It was a thing of beauty and although I never quite duplicated her efforts the ladies didn’t laugh quite as much on rolls 3 and 4.  So I’ll consider it a success.  I also visited a small little place off the main drag where a sweet little lady made me a dish of beef roasted in banana leaf.  It was awesome.  Also adding to the awesomeness of Hoi An was the abundance of places that sold local beer for 3000 dong a glass (have I mentioned that the currency in Vietnam is called dong?  It never stops being funny).  Anyways, that’s about 15 cents.  Could life be any sweeter? 

Cute old ladies who loved getting their picture taken (but I think they just said that so they could con me into buying a bunch of their mini bananas....it worked)

The old lady in the blue shirt took this shot.  It's totally off kilter, but you can still tell that I'm being a huge douche.

Sun sets on another lovely day in Hoi An.

At night, the river lights up with lots of lanterns and floats and things of that nature.  My camera was unable to capture the essence of the scene, so this is all you get.

Rambutan.  They're about the size of a golf ball and after you rip the skin in half, you just pop the fruit into your mouth and enjoy a sweet taste sensation.

One thing you'll notice relatively quickly is that women in Vietnam work about 100 times harder than men.  While women tend the shops and pound the pavement trying to sell their goods, men are generally found lazing about and not doing much of anything.  Here's an example.

This is incredibly creepy

After 3 nights in Hoi An, I decided to hit the old dusty trail and continue south.  I booked a spot on an overnight sleeper bus to Nha Trang, a beach town on the southeastern coast.  I was going to spend a few days here and try to get my scuba certification, but the weather forecast calls for 4 straight days of rain and I was told that the diving here is horrible so I’ve altered those plans a bit.  I took the sleeper bus last night and I loved it so much that I’m doing it all over again tonight!  Ok, it wasn’t that awesome, but I did manage to get some sleep and the seats weren’t all that bad (basically you get a little compartment and you can adjust the back of your seat so you’re either sitting upright with your legs stretched in front of you, or tilt it back so you’re laying at a 150 degree angle.  Besides the old Chinese man who was hocking some serious loogies the whole ride, it was a rather pleasant experience.  So I’m currently sitting at a café in Nha Trang watching the rain pour down and killing time until 8:00 tonight, when I’ll board another sleeper bus destined for Ho Chi Minh City.  From there I’m going to try to do a little tour of the Mekong Delta and then I’ll spend the next week either venturing through Cambodia on my way to Bangkok or hopping a flight to Bangkok and then heading to a little island in Thailand called Koh Tao to get my scuba certification.   Life is so hard!

Oh also, I wanted to put this to a vote.  I will be flying from Bangkok to London on April 6^th.  I have to be in Bologna on April 19^th to catch a flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia where I will meet up with my dear old mom and dad, but the time between April 6^th and 19^th is free game.  So I’ve come up with two different options that I could potentially explore:

OPTION A: Travel by train and bus from London to Paris and then through France and northern Italy before shooting down to Bologna to catch my flight to Dubrovnik

OPTION B: Fly from London to Athens, do a week of Greek island hopping and then fly to Florence and down to Bologna to catch my flight to Dubrovnik

Flight costs from London to Athens and Athens to Florence are rising by the day, so my procrastinating nature could end up making my decision for me….but just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone had any opinions one way or the other.   Both options are pretty awesome so I’m not too worried.

Ok well my apologies for this chapter being so ridiculously longwinded, but I have successfully killed a couple hours in the process, so many thanks.

Until we meet again...

Cheers,

Christy

P.S. The title of this entry is a direct quote from the countless shop owners who try to get you to come into their stores and look around.  They generally know a few choice English phrases and "Lady, come buy you!" seems to be the most popular.  Very endearing in it's Yoda-like quality.

P.S.S. Did you know that the goverment blocks access to Facebook throughout all of Vietnam?  It's true.  Silly Communists.

Same, same but different

In this life, a person will experience varying levels of coldness.  On one end of the coldness spectrum, you're presented with these types of situations:
- Situation A: You go outside and after about a half hour you realize you probably should have worn a sweater.  A little chill, but nothing too serious if you just sack up and stop a whiny little bitch.
- Situation B: Usually occurs in late October or early November, the day you realize that flip flop season is officially over. The saddest day of the year, but still managable.
- Situation C:  You go to a movie in California, wearing your summer gear.  The powers that be crank up the AC to an ungodly level that forces you to cocoon inside your t-shirt and use a handful of napkins as a faux foot blanket.  Eff you, random movie theater in San Diego.  I'll never be able to watch
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" the same way again.  P.S. It's a terrible movie, so this was a blessing in disguise.

On the other end, you have these doozies:
- Situation D:  Taking a cold shower in the middle of the winter due to the fact that the gas bill has not been paid.  Pretty terrible, but ok considering you can put on dry clothes and go to a friend's house to warm up and take advantage of their prompt bill payments.
- Situation E:  Snowy Sunday night Steeler game from the 500 level of Heinz Field at the end of December.  Sure you can't feel your fingers or toes, but you're surrounded by beer swilling yinzers and the Steelers are playing so if you're thinking about being cold, then you're a loser.
- Sitation F: Venturing across the Syracuse University campus during a winter snowstorm with one of your idiot friends in order to get a sandwich from Pita Pit.  Sure the wind is chilling your bones and you're fighting through a couple feet of snow, but there is a delicious hot pita on the other end so it's totally worth it.  Also, you're in college so you can't complain about anything because college is awesome.

I've been through all of these situations and although somewhat uncomfortable, they build character and are usually fun to look back on later.  That was a notion that I had to keep in mind yesterday as the whole "being cold" thing was taken to an entirely different level:
-Situation G: Perched on a steel seat in an unsheltered row boat in the middle of a river in Northern Vietnam in a driving rain during an uncommonly cold day (if my Celcius to Fahrenheit conversion method is correct, it was about 48 degrees).  Perhaps the fact that I've been enjoying tropical climates the past two months made it a bit more severe, but I honestly can't remember the last time I was so cold. 

The fact that I was in the situation at all was a result of a spontaneous, last minute decision.  I had made plans to go on a two-day tour of Halong Bay (a lovely little spot a few hours outside of Hanoi), but was informed about an hour before we were to depart that the trip had been cancelled due to an impending storm moving through. So the front desk guy suggested a tour of the Perfume Pagoda.  He showed me some old school brochure that was written in Vietnamese but had some very nice pictures.  After a minute of mulling it over, I agreed to take the $15 plunge and see what this was all about.  About 10 seconds after that, the bus arrived and I was off on an adventure I knew nothing about.  The tour bus was full of people of all ages and nationalities and I was lucky enough to sit next to a very interesting Syrian man who now lives in Sydney, working part time as a freelance author.  So the hour long ride to our destination went by in an instant.  After we pulled into the parking lot, I made a pit stop at the squatter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet), haggled with a local lady for a cheap plastic poncho, and followed the group towards the Yen River.  We were battling a pretty heavy downpour at this point, but everyone was still in decent spirits.  We then loaded up on our boat and started our journey to the pagoda.  First 10 minutes were cool, as I looked around and felt like I was in a movie.  Countless boats lined either side of the river.  Hundreds of people in conical hats contrasting against the lush green mountains in the background, creating postcard worthy images of typical Vietnamese life.   Just as I was getting lost in the scene, the rains picked up and the spirits slowly waned.  The bottom of the boat slowly filled with water and my shoes and pants were powerless against the onslaught (fun fact: cold, wet denim is kind of heavy).  Around that time, a nice older Australian fellow asked our trusty tour guide Tony (a funny little Vietnamese guy whose birth name was definitely not Tony) what would happen if we were to experience any kind of emergency out on the water.  Tony shot a puzzled look, put his hands up and said "Swim?"   Haha so that was comforting.

The final 50  minutes of the boat ride were a physical and mental strain, as I tried to enjoy the scene surrounding me while constantly squirming around trying to maintain feeling in my fingers and toes.  I only kind of succeeded.  Anyways, we did eventually make it to our docking spot which was right in front of a little food stand that had a massive goat carcass hanging from the roof.  Good advertising.  As we walked to the entrance of the pagoda, we passed countless other food stands with countless animal carcasses represented.  Boar heads, cow legs, whole baby deer, squirrels, and a certain roasted animal that I couldnt quite identify.  I asked Tony and he responded by making fake animal ears with his fingers and simply saying "meow."  He then laughed a lot.  Sick bastard.  After we made it through the culinary maze, we hiked up a little hill and went inside a few of the temples.  If you want to learn about the Perfume Pagoda experience, here's a thorough summary from my peeps at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_Pagoda

As weird and twisted as this sound, I think I actually enjoyed the boat ride back and forth more than the actual Pagoda.  Sure it was freezing cold and I kind of wanted to die, but it was an experience that I will never forget.  I had no idea what I was getting into when the day started and I still dont really know what the hell was going on, but it was an adventure to be sure.  One of those strange days that I'm sure will be remembered with a smile (and a hot cup of coffee because the mere mention of it will probably send a shiver).

Anyways, that was just one of the adventures I've had here in Hanoi.  Unfortunately it's been cold and rainy the whole time I've been here, but I've still tried to get out and get a feel for things.  My life in pictures: 

Livin in the lap of luxury.  This room came complete with a nice unbunked bed, my own bathroom, a TV with American channels (never thought I'd miss horrible MTV dating shows, but I found myself transfixed by a few one rainy afternoon), free wifi, and a pretty nice buffet breakfast every morning. All this for the low,  low price of $20/night.    I'm the king of the world!

Pho bo a.k.a. Vietnamese beef noodle soup a.k.a. my latest obsession.  I've had it at least once a day since I've been here.  It's the national dish of Vietnam and it's delicious and it generally costs about $1.50 a bowl.  If you live in the Burgh and you want to test this out, head to Tram's Kitchen in Bloomfield.  No frills kinda place, but the food is excellent and quite authentic. 

0.000000000000000000001% of Vietnam's motorbike population.  Crossing the street is a total adventure here.  The motorbikes dont stop for you, they just kind of weave around you.  My strategy has been to walk with a purpose and pretend like I'm not scared shitless.  Haven't been run over yet, so I'll consider it a success.

The Huc Bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi's historical center.  My hotel is a few blocks away.  Its a nice little piece of serenity amidst the chaotic streets of Hanoi.

Art is in the eye of the beholder.  To me this statue by the lake says something like, "This globe is not to scale...that bird is probably taking a crap...I bet the owner of those hands has a hell of a time finding gloves that fit." 

Our chariot awaits.  The boat to the Perfume Pagoda.

Looks like the lady selling those cheap plastic ponchos made a killing.  Visiting pagodas in the rain is fun!

I found a set of stairs off to the side of the main action and decided to explore.  I was met at the top by this lovely little structure.  If you venture a little bit farther back, there is a narrow cave that houses a temple.  I walked in and there were a bunch of people praying and paying their respects.  I felt bad for intruding, but it was a pretty cool thing to witness.

Exploring is fun.

This lady is pretty pumped about things. 

I don't know why, but this kid really wanted me to take his picture.  So here's a random kid.  Enjoy.

Sorry for how gross this picture is, but it gives you a small taste of some of the things that I saw at the Perfume Pagoda markets.  Just be happy I didn't post any roasted cat shots.

Front end boat driver.  The two ladies directing our vessel were like a well oiled machine.  They've got to have the nicest delts in all of Nam.

Despite the miserable conditions, the scenery was still ridiculously beautiful. 



So that's what I've been up to.  A few random observations about Vietnam before I sign off:

- Most people here (men and women) have really long thumb nails.  It weirds me out slightly.

- Vietnamese food is excellent.  And ridiculously cheap.  A nice filling meal and 2 beers generally costs about $4.  I dig it.

- The Vietnamese are quite stoic.  Perhaps I've been spoiled by my homeboys and girls back in Bali, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of laughter around here.  Maybe the stupid rain is just bumming everyone out.

- Went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_Mausoleum.  Very interesting/strange experience.  You wait in line for about a half hour before being ushered into the mausoleum in a single file line.  There is no talking, no picture taking and no hands allowed in pockets.  You walk up some stairs and then enter a room and Boom! there's Uncle Ho laid out in a big glass box.  The Vietnamese people look on with great reverance and some even gasp at the sight.  He looked pretty well preserved for a guy who's been dead for 40 years.  This, I learned, was due to the fact that his body is sent to Russia for a few months every year for maintainence.  Anyways, it was a crazy thing to look at for 30 seconds.

Ok I think I might be getting carpal tunnel so I'm going to have to peace out.  Tomorrow will be a full day tour of Halong Bay.  Get back around 8pm and then have to catch an overnight train at 11pm that will deliver me to the town of Hue at 10am on Saturday.  So I'm pretty confident that an entertaining story will emerge from that experience.  Stay tuned for details.

Keep on rockin in the free world....

Good golly, I love Bali

Slingin it in Singapore at the moment.  It's basically a big melting pot of a place with heavy Chinese, Malaysian and Indian influences.  I did some exploring by foot today and discovered that Singapore is a sprawling mass of shopping centers, skyscrapers and modernity.  I also experienced my first "hawker", which is basically just a multicultural food court.  There are hawkers all around town and you can get cuisine from whatever part of the world you fancy.  It's a wonderful concept that is extremely popular because the quality of the food is high and the price is right (about $5 for a more than filling meal). 

Before I continue with Singapore, let me tell you about my last few days in Bali.  They were relaxing and ridiculous all at the same time.  Spent a couple of days in Ubud channeling my inner 'Eat, Pray, Love' Julia Roberts alter ego.  I actually have no idea what happened in that book or movie, but I can certainly understand how that lady's heart was captured by Ubud.  Such a cool little spot, with buzzing markets, relaxed cafes, and that overwhelming Balinese friendliness and warmth.  I spent a morning in the markets, walking around the endless stalls of jewelry, batik, sarongs, and a weird abundance of phallic wood carvings (not sure what that's all about, but the 70-year old lady who tried to pawn the weiner shaped bottle opener on me was hilarious).  There was a ton of beautiful stuff I wanted to buy, but when you've got your life in a backpack, space is limited and self-restraint is paramount.  Beyond that I poked around with some French Canadien girl that I met at Echoland.  She was a flight attendant from Montreal.  Pretty cool but wouldn't stop referencing "the guide book" so that was kind of annoying and I decided that exploring on my own was a better option.  Basically just walked around and found lots of cool stuff.  Some highlights:

There are beautiful stone carved statues like this all over Bali.  The vast majority of people in Bali are Hindu, so most statues are tied back to their faith.  I believe this is Ganesha, the Hindu Lord of Success and destroyer of evils and obstacles.  This was located about 5 feet from the front door of my bungalow. 

This small little offering basket is called 'canang sari.'  You will see thousands upon thousands of these all over Bali.  The baskets are handwoven out of coconut leaves and the contents vary but normally contain a few flowers and rice or other small pieces of food.  It's basically just an offering to show gratitude to the Gods for all they have provided.  The simple offering appeases the spirits and brings good health and prosperity to the family.

Not sure what type of plant this is, but it looks pretty cool against the rice paddy backdrop.

I wasn't able to figure out what the occasion was, but I randomly stumbled across a group of about 100 people parading through the streets, banging drums and having a good old time.   This picture also paints a very small portrait of the number of motorbikes that are constantly buzzing around.

My favorite 'lost in translation' effort to date.  Not sure what those crazy Greeks are doing, but pastor sauce sounds pretty naughty.  I kid, I kid.  Ok, for those of you who need a little help, 'pastor sauce and soup chider cheese' = pesto sauce and sharp cheddar cheese.  haha, I really love this.

So after a couple days in Ubud, I packed up and made my way to the town of Sanur to meet a crazy displaced Yinzer who graciously offered to put me up for a couple nights.  I approached a couple taxi drivers to see how much it was going to cost to get me to Sanur and the only response the one guy gave me was "Sanur?  Prostitutes!"  So I wasn't really sure how to take that, but no worries.  Haggled with the other guy and was able to work out a deal to get me to Sanur (an hour long trip) for about $10.  When we arrived, we were met on the road by a lovely little Balinese lady named Supani.  Little did I know then, but this little angel of a woman would prove to be the most bad ass cook and amazing host ever over the course of the next two days.  She grabbed my bag, led me down a little street and opened a gate to a sweet little compound where I spent every second of my 48 hour Sanur visit.  There was a lovely little pool, lush tropical greenery, an outdoor seating area, and a sweet little two bedroom house.  I walked in and was greeted with a big hug by Neil, a 55ish guy from West Mifflin.  I was introduced to him through my pal Leigh, who met him in yoga class.  Neil is a total trip.  Spends half of his time back in the Burgh getting his hands in a bunch of different business ventures and the other half in Bali (and the surrounding area) doing a lot of awesome stuff like skydiving, scuba diving and surfing.  Not a bad little existence.  Anyways, he's a total yinzer and I was beyond thrilled when he started talking and revealed some truly killer Pittsburghese.  Beyond amazing.  So the first night was spent hanging by the pool with him and his buddy George, a super chill dreadlocked lesbian from England.  I got some back stories, shared my tale and immediately felt at home.  It was during this time that I realized that Neil is a total baller by Balinese standards.  In addition to Supani, he employs three other ladies who more or less wait on him hand and foot.  While I was there, every meal was made to order, every beer was delivered ice cold, and every request was fulfilled with a smile.  Ridiculous really.  I was treated to a traditional Balinese massage, an introductory scuba lesson in the pool, and more stories than I can even remember.  To give you a reference point, Neil base jumped off a skyscraper in Bangkok at 4am the day before I arrived.  So like I said, ridiculous. 



Life on the road is so hard!



That hammock and I became really good friends by the end of things...

New goal in life: get my scuba certification and return to Bali to go diving with my new buds.  Apparently Bali is one of the world's best diving spots, so I'd be remiss not to return.  George told me I was a natural during our lesson.  That may have been a lie, but I'm going to believe it anyways.

This was usually waiting for me every morning when I woke up.  Really rough couple of days.

Me, Istay, Neil and Supani.  Istay was the sweetest lady ever and liked to practice her English with me.  When I gave her a hug goodbye she said "please don't forget about us."  Impossible.

 Istay out, George in.  She's pretty bad ass.  Doesn't own a bra or a pair of shoes.  Just surfs and dives and does the things she loves.  As you can see from Supani's grip on Neil, it really is a family and I was honored to get a small glimpse of it, if only for a couple of days. 

So after a thoroughly exhausting couple of days perfecting my rest and relaxation skills, I bid my new crew a fond farewell and started my journey to Singapore.  The airport is massive and the city is incredibly clean and safe. My hostel is in the Little India section of town, which is a decent locaion for exploring the sights and sounds of this bustling metropolis.  A few highlights from Saturday's self-guided walking tour:

Skinless frogs for sale at the neighborhood grocery store.  So meaty.

Giant fish heads.  Fish head curry is a popular dish apparently.  Haven't tried it, but there's still time I suppose.

This picture is funny because that Asian couple risked their lives to run out into oncoming traffic to get this shot.  Totally worth it though. 

Lots of new, crazy modern buildings in Singapore.  This is just your typical 3 columned skyscraper with a gigantic ship dumped on top.  If you have $25 you can go up to the top and check out the views of the surrounding marina.  I'm a cheapskate these days, so I opted to take it all in on ground level.

This is a pretty cool shot of Marina Bay.  The Singapore Flyer on the left, Helix bridge that links the two sides of the Harbor, the ship building (which is called the Marina Bay Sands), the art museum, and a whole mess of glass and steel buildings downtown. 

Missed the name of this structure, but apparently its home to a library and an arena.  Looks like durian fruit to me.

Piss poor attempt to capture myself in front of a modern architectual marvel. for  On a sidenote, right after I took this picture a guy approached and asked if he wanted me to take one for me.  I agreed and was then held hostage for about an hour as he basically gave me his life story.   He was a Jewish missionary from California.  The first half hour was fascinating as he told me about his travels around the world.  Then he started talking about how America had gone into the shitter because Monica Lewinsky was Jewish and other borderline insane conpiracy theories and I started to get really antsy.  Interesting interaction, but the picture he took was really horrible and didnt even show the building.  So anyways, this is all you get.

No gum in Singapore, but they make up for it with a vast array of mint choices.  I got yelled at for taking this picture.  Luckiy I avoided being caned.  

Cheers to wordplay!  Best shop in Singapore.

So the one thing you'll notice immediately about Singapore is that there are a ridiculous amount of shopping malls and from what I can tell each one tries to outdo the other.  So I ventured into one that appeared to be pretty much brand new and was met with this.  Basically its a big waterfall kind of thing that dumps water into a river that winds throughout the mall and ends up at the mouth of a casino.  I was told by an old Japanese man that it has to do with the notion of feng shui and because the water circulates to the casino, it will bring money and prosperity to the mall.  Or something like that. 

Singapore at night.  Rather pretty don't you think?

So yeah, Singapore is not a bad place.  A big melting pot of people, architecture, and design.  Not a bad stop for a couple days, but I think that's about all you need.  I had heard that it was really expensive here and although there are some things that are priced ridiculously, I have found it to be rather reasonable.  So that's always nice. 

I think that's about all I have to report for now.  Early morning flight to Hanoi tomorrow so probably just going to do a bit more walking around today and then getting myself prepped and ready for Vietnam. 

I'm still kind of tripping out about the fact that I'm in Asia and there are many moments where I feel I'm living in a strange surreality.  But even though my head is often in the clouds, my feet are always on the ground and they have already led me to places and adventures I never could have imagined.  Life is fun. People are good. The world is beautiful.