Feb 2006

If you have the opportunity to visit northern Vietnam, you definitely need to visit Sapa and Halong Bay.

Sapa is a small city in the mountains about 375 km northwest of Hanoi. Sapa was a former hill station of the French and is home to many of the Vietnam's indigenous cultures - Red Dao, Hmong and Tay people.

We were greated with blue skies and warm weather upon our arrival into Sapa. After checking into our room which cost $9 a night, we rented a couple of motorscooters to tour the area surrounding the town of Sapa. We attempted to find a waterfall but we got lost twice (Seems to be a recurring event for me), crashed the motorbike (no harm no foul) and our motorbike was backfiring because we put a higher grade of gas in it, pretty funny. But after all this, we bumped into another person that we knew from Hanoi and we decided to venture down into the valley below Sapa. The road down into the valley is a gravel road with sheer drops down the side. (I don't like cliffs, the last one that I got near, I fell off, but that's another story) As you descend down the road you see the valley below that is filled with farming steppes, green hills and a river that runs through it. A breathtaking sight. The day consisted of a visit to a local village called Ho Bien village, playing frisbee in Sapa's town square and eating all sorts of food at a local food stand.

Our second day in Sapa we trekked down into the valley. Our group consisted of a local guide, Tom, myself and two friends and two women from Korea - Su and Sa. During our two-day, one night trek, we learned about the three main indigenous cultures living in the valley of Sapa - the Red Dao, Hmong and Tay people. At the beginning our trek, we visited the Hmong people. The Hmong people are the poorest of the three indiginous people and can be recognized by their blue dyed clothes. They live in small sparse houses and live a very simple life. After visting the Hmong people, we trekked down to the Taven village which is home to the Tay people. The Tay people are the wealthiest of the three indigenous people. The Tay people are good entrepreneurs and value education very much.

In the Tavan village, we stayed in a local house and slept on the second floor of the house. The night we sleep there it rained and it was cold because bamboo ain't insulated. The highlight of our stay in Tavan was our dinner. Our group ate dinner around a small table with the hostess of the house. After we ate, she brought out some rice wine and made everyone take something like 15 shots (Reminds of my days in college), even the two Korean women. (They tried to dump their shots out but the hostess wouldn't have it, she kept giving them bigger shots) [ Halfway through the night, the Korean women decorated the house with the rice wine]

Our last day in Sapa, we hiked out of the valley. On our way out we visited the Red Zhao. The Red Zhao people came from China and can be recognized by their colorful scarfs. Farming is their primary skill along with making wicked yet smooth rice wine.

As we left Sapa, the weather turned cold [ Snow was forecasted the next day ] and our overnight train ride home was highlighted by a drunk local Vietnamese man who was awake our entire 9 hour train home. I can say that I didn't get a lick of sleep. Good times, good times.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is about 170 km east of Hanoi and it consists of limestone islands that protrode from below the water with jungle vegetation growing atop them. And some of the islands have large caves inside. Although the weather was overcast during my visit it didn't take away from the beauty. My tour of Halong Bay was a two day-one night episode on a Junk Boat. My trip highlights included jumping from the top of the boat (about 15 feet) into the water below, touring a massive cave and meeting people from all over the world. I met a couple from Holland who were biking through Asia, an American living in Israel, a guy from Australia and a girl from New Zealand who drank a case of beer by themselves, a Japanese guy who was biking through China and Vietnam and a Vietnamese-American who bought fresh crab both days and let me have some. If you have a chance to visit Halong bay it's picturesque scenery will not disappoint.

One of things that you have to get accustomed to in Vietnam is that no matter how good a negogiator that you are, being a foreigner, you are never getting the best deal. I can't count the number of times that a Vietnamese sellor laughed when they told me the price. And when you convert the price to US dollars, it's really not that much money, maybe a$1 or $2. I think it's just the principle that gets me sometimes. Once you get over this, your time in Vietnam will be filled with good times and champange dreams or something in between. With that being said, let the good times roll ...

Hanoi is a city filled with cars, buses, trucks, motorbikes and people on the move. The stale air is filled with smog, the sounds of karoake, cars honking, laughter of children, and the ringing the catherdral bells. A quiet moment can only be achieved with either a pair of ear plugs, turning up your ipod or getting out of the city.

So with two other people from my hostel, we decided to venture out of the city to see the parts of Vietnam that we had only read about in our Lonely Planet guide book. Our first adventure was to Mai Chau, a collection of villages, huts and farms spread out through a large valley about 135 km west of Hanoi. Now of course we could have tried to book a tour but the price was too much and like I always say , "we don't need no stinken' tour guides." The adventure is the adventure ( A true yogi-ism). So the night before our planned departure we went looking for the bus station, which seemed easy enough. A couple of hours later and some help from some local Vietnamese we had the name of the bus station we needed to use but we never found it that night.

The next morning with a day pack full of clothes, we took a taxi to Da Long bus station. Now, when I think of a bus station, I think of large buses that are parallel parked and a nice clean bus station. Well in Vietnam it's not quite like that. Da Long bus station had a dirt parking lot and a cornucopia of minibuses heading to places that I had never heard of. Once the three of us walked into the parking lot we were bombarded by peddlers coaxing us to their minibus, like vultures circling to dead meat. We boarded a minibus which was destined to Mai Chau ( we would later find out that we had to transfer at Ha Binh with an additional cost). Now a minibus looks like a big minivan that seats about 28 people. The bus that we boarded had about 10 people on it which didn't seem too bad. (There were numerous stories about minibuses being filled to the brim with people) Well, 30 minutes later the bus was filled with 43 people not including the driver and we were the lucky ones with seats. Pretty much every inch of space was in use except the area between our heads and the roof. Our row had five people in four seats and an old lady and man were sleeping on my friend. Pretty hilarous!

Roughly five hours later with a stop in Ha Binh Bus Station which had the world's worst bathroom, we arrived in Mai Chau. The road down into Mai Chau gave us a breath-taking view of the valley below - Steep, lush mountains surrounded the basin that were filled with green rice pattys and small enclaves of houses. Our three days in Mai Chau were filled with sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 24 C or 75 F

In Mai Chau, we stayed in a stilt house village which was surrounded by rice pattys, water buffalo and roosters that were up early! A stilt house is pretty self explanatory - a house built on stilts with the second floor housing the sleeping quarters and the first floor was used either for storage or a place to sit. The first floor in our house was used to sell silk scarfs and had a table for us to sit and relax at. Accomodiations were sparse - a padded mat on the bamboo floor on the second floor and a curtain around your "room" but the price was cheap - 50,000 dong or $3.25 a night. Each night the owner of the house cooked a delicious meal consisting of vegetables, meat, fish and rice for a mere 30,000 dong or $2. Those have been the best meals that I have eaten in Vietnam so far. Mmmm, Mmmm good! Although our stay in Mai Chau was short ( just two and half days and two nights), we had a great time. During our second day in Mai Chau, we rented a couple of motorbikes and cruised around the valley. The day was filled with winding roads, small villages, little kids saying hi to us and a glimpse of Song Da Reservoir - Vietnam's largest reservoir.

Hanoi is a city in constant motion and somewhat chaotic. I have been here for almost 48 hours and I am now just acclimating to my surroundings. Getting lost is a way of life, trust me, I have gotten lost twice. Although this blog only grazes the surface of my experience here so far, here goes ...

I arrived in Hanoi under grey skies and a light rain with the temperature at 21 C or 70 F. I caught a taxi from the airport which is about 45 minutes from Hanoi and cost about $10. The exchange rate is pretty comedic, $1 = 15000 dong. I exchanged $100 and I was an instant millionaire. I knew I would be someday ...

The "highway" into the city is flanked on both sides by patty fields filled with local Vietnamese working their crops as large advertising billboards tower above them. The billboards advertise big screen TV's and plush golf courses while the people below toil to make a living, a dichotomy of new world advances and the reality of everyday life. The road itself is filled with cars, trucks and a thousand mopeds with one, two, three or four people on them. The traffic in the city is chaos times thousand - scooters driving the wrong way on one-way streets and red lights are mere warning signs. The pedestrian is barely a rung on the hierarchy of the road. And the rules for crossing the street - walk slowly and don't run and cross at your own risk.

I am staying at a European-style hostel for $7 a night which is a bit expensive but they have free internet, free breakfast and a common area which makes meeting people really easy. I have already met a plethora of people while I have been here. My first night in town I hung out with an English girl, a Mexican guy and a Irish couple and we threw down a couple of tasty beverages and played a bit of pool.

The cost of living here is really cheap and I am paying "foreignor" prices. A beer in a bar cost between 12,000 - 20,000 dong or $.80 - $1.33 and food costs around $15,000 - $40,000 dong or $1 - $2.75. If you eat at a local place a meal cost around 7,000 dong or $.50. You could easily live on $20 a day and much less if you find the right places. Like most developing countries everything is negotiable. A ride on the back of scooter (definitely something you have to experience) can be done for about 10,000 - 20,000 dong or $.75 - $1.33 depending on your prowess as an negoiator ( Even less if you are good).

Although I just got here, I look forward to experiencing life in the major cities and outside of them. As I have said before, if you have the chance to travel whether in Vietnam or elsewhere, you should definitely do it - the world is an amazing place.

Okay I just ate Popeye's Chicken in the Hong Kong Airport on my way to Vietnam. I am not sure if it gets any better than that. (Maybe Roscoe's chicken and waffles late night or the Waffle House).

I am about 10 days into my trip and things are moving right along. The first real part of my trip begins in Vietnam because I am flying solo like Buck Rogers or Cane from Kung Fu, etc, etc, etc.

Not much more to say about Shanghai except that I took the Magnetic Train from Shanghai to the airport. It was pretty cool. It took exactly seven minutes to go 30 KM or 16.6 miles and tops out at 431 KM/hr or about 270 Miles/hr and it cost a meager 40 Yuan or $5. Not too bad.

Here are my trip highlights for Hong Kong which is a great city to visit. We hit some great weather too!

We visited Lamma Island which is about a 30 minute ferry ride from the city. It is a small quaint island with small shops and beaches. The firemen ride around on ATVs and there are even mini-ambulances to navigate the small streets. While we were there, we visited a local organic bookstore, had some homemade cheesecake and chilled at the beach for a bit. Not a bad day.

We went up to the Victoria Peak in Hong Kong and hiked around the peak during the sunset. We got a great view of Honk Kong island.

We visited Kowloon which is across the bay from Hong Kong city. At night, there is a night market which sells everything from head bands to Formula One race jackets. Kowloon is supposed to be the most densely populated area in the world. Also, there is an old ferry service from Hong Kong city to Kowloon which has run for a very long time (don't know exactly how long but long) and cost a mere $2.2 HK or about $0.25 US.

We took a super fast ferry to Macao where you can gamble. It was once a Portugese province but it is now part of China. The US casinos are now just beginning to build casinos in Macao. There are a plethora of games to gamble on including blackjack (a bit different from the US), carribean stud, three-card poker and many other games that I could not decipher. But they lacked the game of games, craps - Yo Eleven! I do not think anywhere compares to Vegas, baby, Vegas. And just like Vegas, there were no winners in our group. Good times, Good times!

We also went to races. Nothing like gambing on the ponies. Although it did take a bit to understand their terms but gambling is like riding bike. My friend and I did not do that well but it was fun anyways.

Well, this blog is pretty long and I need to catch my plane to Vietnam. I have no reservations for a place to say, not much of an agenda but I am living the life... My next blog and/or emaill with be from Vietnam.

I have been in Shanghai for 4 days now and things are good. The city is bustling with activity as part of the celebration of the Chinese New Year which was January 29. Most Chinese have the week off to celebrate the New Year. One of the traditions of the Chinese New Year is to use fireworks to celebrate. So on Wednesday, the night before the the fifth day of the Chinese New Year celebration which is called Po Woo, the Chinese light off fireworks for good luck. Now I have seen a fair share of firework shows in my lifetime but this celebration takes the cake. The best way to describe it is as follows: Think of the best fireworks show that you have seen, add muscle enhancing drugs, throw in non-regulated fireworks and mix-in a popluation of 17 million citizens of Shanghai who weren't allowed to light fireworks until this year, wow!

Other than that I have been pretty much just hanging out with my friends. I think the two most important questions of day have been "what do you want to eat?" and "what dvd do you want to watch?" Tough decisions especially since my friend has 400+ DVDs and going out to eat requires venturing out in near freezing weather. [ Cold weather makes Edwin unhappy ]

A couple of notes about Shanghai and China. The money is called a Yuan, or a RMB or a Kuai (pronounce -> Kwa-why ) The current exchange rate is about 8 RMB to $1 which makes it relatively inexpensive to live here. For example a bottle of beer at the market costs about 4 RMB or $.50 and a cab ride averages about 10 - 15 RMB or $2. Of course if you go out to a club or bar a beer costs about 40 RMB or so I have heard. Also, if you visit China, you should exchange your money here because the exchange rate is better than most places and although the number of English speaking Chinese has increased since my last visit two years ago, it can still be challenging getting around without a basic knowledge of the language. With that said, I would recommend a visit to Shanghai because it's a city on the rise ...

That's all I have to say about that, I have to get back to watching season 8 of South Park ...

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Next stop: Hong Kong - 2/5

On deck: Ha noi, Vietnam - 2/9