Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

ECRadventure's Travel Blog

a travel blog by ECRadventure

Just a little trip. A little trip of freedom to do what you choose, think and feel with passion and creativity, to love, to live, to be.
view 1 photo from this trip

Show Oldest First
Show Newest First

Chita, Russia



permalink written by  ECRadventure on September 23, 2009 from Chita, Russia
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Beijing..the longest blog yet!

Beijing, China


The Gate of Heavenly Peace at Tiananmen Square

Finally we're in Asia! It's so refreshing to be out of Europe and into the land of unknown. We got into Beijing at 5:30am, welcomed by a nice fog...I mean smog. You couldn't even see 30 feet in front of you. We caught a cab to our hostel after bargaining with the cab driver for a few minutes, at first he said 200 to get to our hostels and we said 100, he said no. Ok, we walked on...he ran after us and said ok ok. This is the funny thing about China, you have to be comfortable with the fact that you will get ripped off. When we got to the hostel the owner Joe said that really we should have paid 20 ha! Oh well, there were three of us, (we brought along Clement to our hostel), so it's not that bad.


Kitties! Lots of kitties at the Chinese box in Beijing
The Chinese box hostel is where we stayed and it is a pretty quaint place with about 5 cats. They nap all over the place and love the attention from all the guests. We decided despite the time changes and the early morning getting off the train, not to nap when we arrived. We thought this would help us deal with the jet lag quicker (no we didn't fly but the time change from Moscow is about 5 hours). To jumpstart the morning, we had a delicious traditional Chinese breakfast, a tomato noodle soup with scrambled eggs, sooo good! After our breakfast, we joined some other travelers who were going to see the Summer palace and the Beijing Zoo. The kicker was that instead of using buses or the metro, we got a sweet boat ride to the zoo! The zoo houses so many animals, Pandas, Lions, Tigers, Lions, Elephants...you know standard zoo. The only reason we actually went there was to see the giant Pandas, but then we got sidetracked and stopped in at a number of other exhibits. To be honest it was very sad and depressing. Ewa lost it a little bit when we entered the Big Cats Exhibition. The beautiful animals were put in small concrete cages that were barren, nothing for them to do but sleep or walk around in a circle distressed. There were so many beautiful cats, leopards, lions, panthers, tigers...some clearly not taking well to being locked up in such a small space. There were baby white tigers who were just laying there doing what cats do, sleeping. Some tigers were scratching at the metal door at the back of their cage furiously trying to get out, others like the black panther were walking around in circles panting. It was a sad sight and a reminder that modern zoos are keeping animals caged only for display for our selfish reasons, and that the animals would be better served by us making a reasonable attempt at real animal conservation, by providing as close to a natural habitat as possible. The images that we remember looking back at the zoo, remind us of our desire to work on or at least visit a real animal sanctuary / rehabilitation project during our year vacation.


At the summer palace, on a wonderfully clear day
From the Zoo, we took another boat ride to the Summer palace. The area of the summer palace has been used by emperors from around 1111 AD, and continued additions over the years added to the beauty and size of the Palace. The Palace was largely destroyed in the war of 1860 and restored on its original foundations in 1886, only to be destroyed at the beginning of the 20th century again – it is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges, and about 294 hectares in size. At this point we were all a little bit delirious and out of it from the lack of sleep and the long day. There is so much to see and then it all starts blending together, at one point we got lost, but managed to find an exit and flag down a cab. But, as we find out, getting into a cab in Beijing doesn't mean the cab will take you anywhere. You show them the address where you want to go, and if they don't know where that is they tell you to get out! Haha. So this is what the cab driver did, after trying for a while longer we finally got one. Trying to take a bus in Beijing can be daunting, the city is enormous and unless you want to spend your whole day in traffic then taking a cab is the better option (although if you are in rush hour traffic it's often faster walking).


Eating the river!
Before heading to the hostel, we were famished and needed to grab a bite to eat. We wandered around the streets for a while, before settling into a small restaurant that had a hole in the middle of the table. We figured that we would get to stir fry our own meal. Sounded great. We ordered some veggies, beef, chicken and noodles and waited in anticipation of our meal. The servers came out, and placed a big bowl of cloudy mystery water on the induction heater. We stared a little bleary eyed trying to figure out for sure what we were supposed to do. The lady told us to put the vegetables into the “river” for 4 minutes. Hmmm… OK, sounds great! So, after a few quick comments between us and Clement, into the river went all our veggies. An hour later, and a few orders for seconds, we were very pleased about our dining experience in the river! We would be back! That night, we had no energy left to join the big rambunctious group of people heading out for the night markets. We were off to bed for our big day 2 in Beijing!

We were up a little late, after a much needed sleep-in and after another great tomato-egg-noodle breakfast, we were off on bus 22 to Tiananmen square! The gate of Heavenly Peace, which separates Tiananmen square from the forbidden city, was constructed in 1417, and to this day is the worlds largest city square with 440,000 m2. The square didn’t seem to us to be anything too spectacular, however keeping the significance of the square in mind regarding the protest which saw hundreds of Chinese die in pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 does alter your view of the area. The whole square was under renovations to prepare it for the huge National Day celebrations that were planned for Oct 1st.

We continued on through the square into the Forbidden City. The complex is truly amazing to see. It’s like the Louvre in so far as there are too many things to see inside within the space of one or two days. We spent over three hours walking around trying to take it all in. The three hours was just long enough to walk through, and make a few detours into the side buildings off of the main temples. The Forbidden City began construction in 1406, and it was estimated that over 1 million Chinese were working on it during the 14 years it took to complete. There are many rooms and display cases filled with artefacts and various relics.

After our wandering around the city we headed back to the hostel to freshen up before our night out on the town to see the kung-fu show! As it turned out the show was amazing, filled with crazy stunts and great acrobatics. There were even a set of three kids (probably around 6 years old) who did a half back flip, landing on their head, swinging their feet to continue the motion, and completing another half flip again to land on their feet. They would do several of these in a row. It almost didn’t seem real some of the things that they were able to do. However, despite the show being great, it was overcast the people who organized our night out. We paid the hostel 280 Yuan each for the show, which included the transportation and the VIP tickets. We were picked up by the mini-van and the lady who arranged the tickets. We stopped once to pick up more guests. Once we arrived at the show, Ewa asked her for a suggestion for a place to eat after the show. WELL, they would take us to some place. They tried a lobster fancy looking place, but we said we just wanted typical Chinese. So, we went across the street and had a pretty decent meal. But, we didn’t eat alone. We were joined by the lady and another Chinese man, who was picked up at the second stop. After the meal, when the bill came, they told us it was 55 Yuan, and after we paid, and everyone walked out, we realized that we paid for them to have supper. Strange, but as it was only about $9 Can, we didn’t object too much. When we arrived at the show, Ewa was taken by the Chinese man and they went into the theatre. I was held back by the lady for about 5 minutes, which at the time we didn’t know why. Then, we played musical chairs, as directed by our two Chinese hosts, moving between 4 sets of seats. First in the “VIP” area, only to be kicked out, and subsequently kicked out of other areas, before settling in our assigned seats in the back right corner of the theatre. Definitely not VIP seating. The best part is that there were only 3 tickets, but there were 4 of us. SO, the Chinese lady ended up on the lap of the Chinese guy. After it was all said and done, (and we managed to observe a few things, them cuddling a little more than strangers would, people talking about ticket prices) we came to the realization that we over charged about 800% for the tickets, and we paid for these two to have a double date out on the town for free. We weren’t even mad, just amazed! After our little run-around we were off to the hostel again for an early night as we had to be on the bus at 05:50 the next morning for our long drive out to the great wall!!


Hiking the great wall from Jinshanling
We signed up for the long hike of the great wall-10 km of the wall and 2 km of mountain to get to the wall. The start point was at the furthest of three sections of the wall near Beijing,140 km outside of the city. It took about 4 hours to get to the destination and luckily we both managed to sleep most of the way there. Once we got to the wall the tour guide told us which way to go and said it should take about 4.5 hours to hike the 10km. The wall was awesome, since this part was the least touristy you really had the chance to enjoy your surroundings and the hike. There were no crowds, only a few vendors selling “water, beer, coke” at the towers. It was really worth it to take the bus that far out and have some isolation instead of going close by and being hounded by vendors and feeling claustrophobic because of all the other tourists. It took us only 3 hours to finish the hike but we were going at a good steady pace, up and down the steps. Because this part of the great wall is not visited as often it is also in a nearly original (read crumbling and difficult) state at some parts, which only adds to it’s charm. Some parts didn’t even have steps left, or the stone was falling out from under your feet. After the hike we took a zip line down to a little boat which took us the rest of the way to where we were meeting our guide. We all had a buffet lunch and were heading back to the city.


The creepy crawlers at the Wangfujing night market
After relaxing for a bit after getting back we went out to see one of the night markets with Clement and Benji. The night market has very many different Chinese snacks: scorpions on stick (still alive), starfish, crickets on a stick, sheep’s penis, dog, cat, silkworms, as well as ‘regular’ more western style food. We both had noodles haha. One of the strangest things was the drastic change in the smell, one second it smells so good and then the wind changes direction and you have to stop chewing because the smell is awful, we are still not sure what that particular smell is, some type of food being grilled. We didn’t even bother trying to talk each other into eating anything that we weren’t comfortable with…there was no way that was going to happen. After the night market we were all a bit hungry since we hadn’t eaten much and we went out for dinner at a small restaurant near the hostel. We were the only white people in there and got a few stares but the owners were very nice and hospitable, even handing out cigarettes to Benji who didn’t have any left. We were joking that they would end up on the bill, but it didn’t really matter, it is very cheap to eat in Beijing if you stick to the local restaurants. We had 5 different dishes and a round of beers and it cost us only 60 which is about 10 dollars Canadian…for 5 people!

The next day we decided to check out a different type of market - the silk market. The silk market is a building 6 stories high filled with vendors selling anything you can imagine, clothing, bags, watches, jewellery, sunglasses, electronics, souvenirs etc. The vendors are incredibly pushy, we have never experienced anything like this. They are constantly yelling at you “Hey Mista”, “Lady you want bag…good bag” but all at once, 10 different people are accosting you as you are walking down a narrow row of vendors. Luckily we were there only for fun and really weren’t looking to buy anything so it was funny. They grab your hand and wont let go, leading you to their stall, they joke, they yell, some of them will even steal the hat off your head to try to get you to come to their stall. If you want to buy anything here, you have to be prepared to barter, and barter hard. You ask them how much they will give you a hugely inflated price, so you counter with about 10% of what they want, because they are ripping you off. Sometimes just walking away from the stall after you touch or look at something is enough for the vendor to drop their price by 80%. We bought a couple of things and were out of there, walking out onto a quiet back alley we walked in silence enjoying that no one was yelling at us anymore.

We started feeling sore from yesterdays great wall extravaganza and decided to go for a massage. Clement was going anyway so we went along with him to the Dragon Fly. The place was very nice, candles, aroma therapy and not too expensive. We enjoyed our well deserved treat, an hour oil massage. After the massage we spent the night at the hostel having a few drinks and enjoying our little peaceful space in Beijing. The atmosphere at the hostel was always great. A good mix of people, and well arranged to allow for people to hang out, have some beers, relax watching TV or on the free internet. That night with the crowd, Chad was finally feeling talkative and settled into a few hours of debate with the other backpackers and found himself crawling into bed in the wee hours of the morning. Our last day in Beijing was pretty lax, we relaxed in the morning and went for another massage at the dragonfly, this time a two hour massage. The first hour was a Chinese massage and then another hour of head and shoulder massage. Chad really enjoyed his massage, Ewa on the other hand has a less than perfect one: the masseuse was way to hard and then the funniest part was during the head massage he actually fell asleep haha not once but about 4 times at different parts of the massage, oh well. We went back to the hostel, had some dinner and went catch our train which was leaving at 9:20 pm to Shanghai. It was a bit sad to leave the Chinese Box and everyone we met there, it was an awesome place. The owner Joe even gave us Chinese charms we could put on our backpacks, so sweet. We were really wondering what the trains would be like in China. We booked a soft sleeper, 4 berth cabin and when we got there we were pleasantly surprised at how great it was. They even had a western style toilet and on the other side of the train the normal squatter, which was awesome because Ewa was really wondering how you would successfully pee on a moving train using a squatter. Shouldn’t have worried! The train was pretty new, it didn’t smell, the bathrooms were clean and nice, the cabins and beds were comfortable. Each bed even had a flat screen TV. The train we took wasn’t even the fast luxury ‘Z’ class trains, but it was by far the best train we’ve been on yet! Chinese trains are a very pleasant surprise indeed!


Random shot of the pollution in Beijing
We found Beijing to be a friendly and unrushed city. There are over 17 million people living here and as long as you put your trust in the cabs (none of which have seatbelts for the passengers) and watch carefully for cars, busses, motorbikes you don’t really feel rushed or in danger at any time. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, and cars sometimes don’t even stop at red lights. The traffic is bad and the pollution makes it hard to breathe, but the city has flair. The Chinese people, especially the men, like to clear their throats and spit, a lot, but less than we thought. Perhaps it is a dying tradition. Another strange observation for Beijing is the babies and toddlers wear pants that have a hole in the ass. These baby outfits are actually manufactured with a hole so that the child can relive itself at any point, and not mess their clothes. Apparently, babies should not have to “hold it”, because it’s not healthy. That however doesn’t mean that the stroller, or the parent’s arms, or the floor of the city bus are spared. We watched once as a small boy proceeded to drop off a surprise diarrhea into his stroller and the efforts of his mom to try to clean up the mess. Maybe it’s better than the billions of added diapers into the environment?? Another thing we’ve noticed is that some Chinese people have no problems simply staring at you (the white people) in a confused curious manner. They are not shy about it either and even when you stare back they only continue to stare back. It can be a little unnerving. It’s a bit strange walking down the street and people staring at you, some even stop you and want to take a picture with you.

Only 11 hours on our mid-range Chinese train and we would be in Shanghai!!


Us with Clement in Beijing



permalink written by  ECRadventure on September 28, 2009 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Shanghai... so good we did it twice!

Shanghai, China


The Grand Hyatt and the Jin Mao Tower


Getting ready for our big night on the town with Clement!
The train ride to Shanghai was a breeze, the train itself was awesome and we slept most of the way there, getting in at around 7 am. Since China has no time zones...yes really it's all one huge time zone, there wasn't too much adjusting to do. We were greeted by rain, got a little bit lost trying to find the hostel in the mean time getting soaked, but we managed to find it and luckily they let us have our room right away. This hostel was more like a hotel with a capacity of probably 300 or more guests staying here, however it seems like the hostel is mostly empty. Once we settled in we started searching for a Chiropractor. After Chad got his nice massage the day before, he did some stretching and pulled something in his neck. It was bad to the point where he couldn't turn his head very well, so off we go in search of a Chiropractor. Trying to get anything done during the time of the Chinese holiday is nearly impossible, the few chiropractors that were available were on holidays until the 13th of October. We made an appointment at an Osteopath, the next best thing. Chad had a very interesting appointment and treatment which included an x-ray, as well as acupuncture and cupping! When in Rome. The cupping was a little painful, what the doctor did is use a round suction instrument to suck out impurities from the affected area, and thereby leaving huge hickies on Chad’s neck in three areas. After that interesting experience we went back to the hostel and relaxed.

The next day was relaxed, trying to recuperate from the neck pain and getting to know the area around our hostel. It was still pouring rain outside, so we didn’t venture too far. We managed to find a grocery store and a little black market. We loaded up on a few DVD’s from the black market (they were only 1.25$) and some fresh fruit and veggies from the grocery store. The store was a Carrefour, which is a large French multinational. It had two levels and was very much like a Real Canadian superstore back home, or one of those Wal-Mart super centers. We shouldn’t have been surprised as Shanghai is a very modern city. In some ways it is more modern and advanced than cities in N. America, but there is still a sharp contrast between the rich and the poor, even more than you would see in a city of N. America. Anyways, this store gave us a chance to stock up on some of the toiletries that had dwindled over the past months and to get more of our pre-trip diet back into us. Raw food is a great change from all the prepared food from restaurants we had been eating at for the past weeks. It seems that most of Asia will not have kitchens in the hostels like they do in Europe. I suppose with food and going out to eat being so cheap, many people wouldn’t see the necessity for kitchens in a hostel.


People! People everywhere, downtown Shanghai
The next day the weather cleared up and we were off! We decided to take one of the river boat cruises that go down the Huangpu river. We took the metro close, and then walked for 2 hours through the French concession and the bund, slowly making our way to the river. When we had first walked out of the metro, we were overwhelmed with the people. It was one of the first ‘Chinese’ experiences. Thousands of people had filled the square and the streets. There were so many people on the sidewalks that they spilled into the streets, and the 4 lane street became only one lane of traffic. We had just said to each other that we hadn’t felt out of place at all in China yet and then we walked out of the metro. The walk around the bund and French concession was a nice little walk, but a little disappointing because the whole area is under a lot of construction in preparation for the upcoming world exposition that is taking place in Shanghai in 2010. It not only mars the view but also makes it quite difficult to get around, but I imagine if the rest of the city is any proof, it will be fantastic once they have the construction completed. We finally found the dock area and had a bit of trouble finding the boat. We ended up in a huge line up for tickets, and only after we had paid 0.5 yuan for a ticket ($0.07 Cdn) we realized that this might not be the boat tour we were thinking of. We figured out after a short moment that it was for a ferry ride across the river. We were approached by a salesman who then led us off in the right direction for the tourist boat rides. We paid 100 yuan each for our hour long boat ride on the river. It was great!


Singapore skyline

The skyline was a little obscured in pollution, but it was amazing to see the skyscrapers that dominated the view. Shanghai is full of buildings stretching for the heavens and at night, until 11pm, most of them are lit up in a dazzling show of lights and colors. There isn’t anything quite like it that we have seen yet!


One of the Shanghai markets...with the huge skyscraper in the background.
After the boat tour we decided to wander around the city for a little while longer. We took a few random, narrow dark alleys and wound up in the middle of an authentic Chinese market. This market put the tourist market of Wanfujing in Beijing to shame. This was the real side of China, with all the sights, sounds and smells you can imagine. There were moments that despite the very strong stomach that we both have, where we weren’t sure we would be able to hold it together. It truly had just about everything you could think of to eat. The conditions weren’t very hygienic, but it was all there for sale. All varieties of seafood, fowl, meat, veggies, fruit, noodles and so much more. We were the only white people for hundreds of meters at the least. There were no tourists in sight, but despite that there were no gawking faces looking back at us. This was the second truly authentic Chinese experience for us! On the far end of the market, after a few twists and turns down residential streets, we happened to pop out on one of the tourist streets and followed that down to a different market. This one was very similar to the ones we had visited in Beijing and we just cruised on through, without stopping too many times. We continued to wander through the streets for a while longer, making our way back to the city center, where we knew that we would be able to find a metro stop.


Spicy, spicy Szechewan food
Along the way we came across a Szechwan restaurant and we figured we would give it a go. We got in, ordered Szechwan beef, a stir fried green bean dish and a bok choy dish. Wow! One of the best meals we’ve had. The green beans were similar to one dish we had before, spicy, salty and great! The bok choy had a spicy smoky flavour that was to die for. The beef, well, the heat was off the scale. We both have a very high tolerance for spicy foods, but this one pushed it to the limits. It was comparable to the ‘bull vs. the volcano’ chicken wings that we have back in Calgary, only we ate an entire platter of it! After our wonderful meal, we were off down the metro back to the hostel. It was now quite late and we knew we had a big day the next day!

The next day we decided to check out the Shanghai museum. We got up a bit late, as we’ve been doing lately, maybe a combination of being worn out, a bit under the weather and just revelling in being able to sleep in, by the time we got to the museum it was close to 1 pm. The line was a bit long and it was super humid and hot, many of the Chinese people were shielding themselves from the sun with umbrellas, hats, sunglasses and sometimes all of the above. We’ve noticed that Chinese women really strive to have pale white skin, we figure that that is why they shield themselves from the sun so much. The amount of commercials that are on TV and in magazines about skin whitening creams and procedures is insane.


Chinese scroll from the national museum
Back to the museum, which is a museum of ancient Chinese art and possesses a collection of 120,000 precious works of art. It has rich and high-quality collection of ancient Chinese bronze, ceramics, painting and calligraphy. Some of the displays are really great. The museum is a little on the small side compared to some of the other great museums we’ve seen (the Louvre, Hermitage etc). We probably spent about 2 hours taking in the art and the Chinese people some of which, as soon as they got in proceeded to sit down right away and take a nap. It’s not a joke, Chinese people sleep whenever they can get a spare minute. At some of the markets we visited the vendors are sleeping at their stall, out cold, I’m sure if you wanted to you could just walk in and out without paying. On the bright side if you are tired of being harassed to buy this or that; ‘I give you good price lady‘, you can seek out those stalls with sleeping vendors and shop in peace.


Going down? From the restaurant on the Grand Hyatt
In the evening we decided to go out with Clement who was now also in Shanghai and have a night out. Our first stop was one of the tallest high-rises in Shanghai - the Jin Mao Tower. It has 93 floors, we went to the 87th floor - the Hyatt Bar and had a very very expensive beer (90 Yuan ~ $15 Cdn) to start our night off. We then were off to three expat bars in Shanghai, it was a great night. Funny thing was that once we were around a lot of westerns it was a bit weird almost uncomfortable. Its funny how easy it is to create your own bubble when the majority of the culture and people around you is so different. The night ended at around 5 am and we had a nice hour cab ride because the driver couldn’t find our hostel. We went to sleep after some convenience store noodle fix and slept until 2pm the next day.

Since the day was half gone when we woke up we did nothing but go and get more cheap dvds and stayed in bed all day long watching movies, it was great. Since we were off to Vietnam soon we decided that the next day, our last day would be spent stocking up on some English books. We managed to find the bookstore with the biggest English book selection (which wasn’t that big but at least had some variety). We walked around more just checking out the city and then headed to the airport to catch our flight which was departing at 10.20pm. The Pudong airport is an hour away from Shanghai and we got a shuttle from our hostel. We were at the airport about 3 hours before the flight and just sat around waiting so that we could check in. The airport is huge! Biggest airport we’ve been in yet, and all bright shiny and new! As we were about to check into our flight (we're already at the airport at this time) and Ewa asks, ‘what is today?’ Well, it's the 6th. Hmmm, well our visa for Vietnam doesn't allow entry into the country until the 8th. Oh cr@p! So, a frantic hour of trying to call embassies, airlines, hotels, and other such places, we managed to change our flight, book a place to stay for the night, for the next two nights in Shanghai, change our hotel arrangements in Hanoi. We now had a flight booked for the 9th and a couple more days to relax in Shanghai.

Some things we noticed in Shanghai but also in China in general is that going to out to eat seems a bit different than back home. People go out to eat as a necessity, they don’t have time and it’s easier. They rarely talk when eating dinner, it’s more like a fast sit down, eat as much as you can, talk as little as possible and get out. The restaurant only gives you one menu per table vs. for each person. We’re not sure why this is, but it takes much longer for us to order because Ewa can never decide what to have and then Chad is just sitting there waiting for the menu, two menus is always much quicker. Another thing is the variety of potato chip flavours, if anyone has ever been to German for example they have beer flavoured chips. Here in China the flavours were: Shrimp, Cucumber, Kiwi, shish kabob, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Beef, and dumpling just to name a few. Ewa’s favourite snack here was Japanese crispy spicy seaweed squares, they were delicious!
The next couple of days we managed to waste away in fine fashion. A trip to a few markets, an attempt to work out a little, eat healthy and get some sleep. Nothing spectacular occurred, but Ewa did manage to get her feet wet with attempting to bargain and to get over the impulse to run when the store owners come hassling. This will probably prove to be more helpful than we realize as we tread deeper into S.E. Asia!


Buddha statue in the Chinese national museum



permalink written by  ECRadventure on October 9, 2009 from Shanghai, China
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

HaNoi .. where are you going? You want moto?

Hanoi, Vietnam


Us getting suckered in the first few hours in Hanoi. We really really overpaid for those bananas!

Hanoi! S.E. Asia, we’ve arrived! We landed at the airport, made it through customs without any hassles and even passed the medical thermo-imaging camera. Turns out neither of us has a fever, although there is a chance we’re simply immune to it all and we’re passively spreading it around the world with us. As we came out of the security gates, we looked face to face with our first welcoming party of the trip. He didn’t have a fresh fruit basket, but there was a new car with good AC waiting for us. Once we had finally gotten money from the ATM (the fourth ATM we found would finally give us some money) we were on our way. As it was 03:30 in the morning when we arrived in Hanoi, we were off straight to bed and didn’t wake up until late in the morning. However, before we could go to sleep we suffered our first of many times that we were ripped off in Hanoi. Through a series of miscommunications with the night clerk and the taxi driver, and errors on our part (we blame the lack of sleep) we ended up leaving the check in desk of our hotel with much less money in our pockets than we should have.

After waking up and sorting out the previous nights’ debacle with the hotel’s night clerk (we got back all the money owed to us), we were on our way! Our first interaction with the street vendors was to be suckered into getting our pictures taken holding a traditional basket(s) and wearing a hat. Afterwards we ‘bought’ some bananas that we didn’t want for a supremely over inflated price. We took a few minutes inside a café to reorient ourselves and get our game plan together to ensure we weren’t taken advantage of so easily again. The rest of the first day in Hanoi was spent getting a feel for Vietnam and the city. We walked around the lake in the old quarter, around the many small side streets, all of which are flooded with motorcycles, bicycles and cars, not to mention the thousands of people. The people in Vietnam drive like maniacs, far more crazy than anywhere we have seen yet. Mysteriously they manage while being crazy to avoid actually hitting each other (usually anyways). We managed to stop into many of the travel agencies to ask about the tours they offered and tried to get a feel for the best prices and best options. In Hanoi, and apparently throughout S.E. Asia, there are literally backpacker districts that are filled with hotels, hostels, travel agencies and other tourist services. Almost every shop operates as a travel agency, even if their main business is as a restaurant. Although there are so many of them, you think the prices would be quite cheap, but it seems that they also work in unison to keep the prices as high as possible. The prices in these areas, while cheap compared to Canadian or European prices are still extremely high compared to the price a local would pay outside of the tourist area. That night, we managed to find ourselves in the middle of the National day celebrations. It was the 55th anniversary of the communist party in Vietnam. With Hanoi being the capital, there were many celebrations that were going on and the streets were even more crowded than on a normal day. We watched some of the festivities, but as it was in China, no foreigners were allowed in the main square so we watched from a big screen TV a few blocks away. While we were standing waiting for the ceremony to start we were approached by a man who claimed to be with the media. He took our picture, asked our names and asked us to write a statement about our feelings for the ceremony and Vietnam in general. It was our first time to be interviewed on our trip! We tried to take a picture of his credentials, but he wouldn’t let us take any photos of him. But, as he walked away, we made sure to snap a few pictures anyways.

The next day we went to one of the most famous sights in Hanoi, the Temple of Literature which trained the most brilliant minds for the last thousand years. The temple was dedicated to educating people not only in scholastic endeavours but also to make them better people, emphasizing morality and ethics. All that remains now are some courtyards as well as ceremonious buildings and statues. Many of these buildings have only been rebuilt in 2000. There are large monuments, carried on the backs of turtle statues that have the names of all of the students to the ‘university’ engraved on them. It was really relaxing to get away from all the noise of the city and to walk through a garden, trees and only have a few people around us. Later in the day we booked our three tours from three different companies. We had to shuffle things around since one of the tours wasn’t available when we were hoping to go, so instead of having one more day to spend in Hanoi we were off to Halong Bay.


Halong bay!
We had to wake up early the next day to get to the tour office at 8 and soon boarded the bus for a 3 hour ride to Halong Bay, to get on our boat. We took a water taxi to the Junk (that is what they call the houseboat). The junk was pretty nice. We got our own bedroom with a toilet and shower. Although like the other shower’s we’ve seen in Vietnam, it is only a showerhead in the same room as the sink and toilet with a common drain in the floor. We were starving and only had a bit of time to enjoy the scenery of the bay before lunch was served. We were expecting regular Vietnamese food but instead we got a feast! Lunch was steamed sand crab with a delicious salt and lime dip, grilled shrimp, rice, chicken and vegetables and fruit for desert. After lunch we went kayaking exploring nearby bat caves and the hills. It was so nice to be away from crowds again, listening to the water and birds. It was also a bit sad to see the state of the water; there was styrofoam, plastic bottles, bags and various other garbage floating around. As Halong Bay is a protected UNESCO world heritage site, and in the open ocean it gives you an idea just how much garbage is floating around in our oceans. After kayaking we had the chance to swim in ocean around the boat. It has been a long time since we had a chance to swim in the ocean, so we took every advantage. We spent the evening enjoying another feast, with an amazing spread just the same as lunch. Our boat sadly lacked any charisma or activities in the evening, so all of us passengers organized a game of poker with chips we made out of paper, beer can tabs and toothpicks. We were warned that night that there would be a storm coming in, more the remnants of a typhoon that had just hit the Philippines. All of the boats in Halong bay had to seek shelter in an isolated cove to avoid the high winds.


Kayaking on Halong bay


Our beach bungalo in Halong bay
The next day we were off to the deserted island to spend a night in a beach bungalow and explore an amazing cave in the area. But as we departed the tour guide told us that the typhoon that hit the Philippines was going to make it dangerous to be out on the water in Halong Bay, so we would have to stay put. Sure enough it was windy and raining and the refurbished fishing boat that was taking us to the island had to fight some pretty big swells. We arrived wet and cold and realized that we really didn’t pack well for this, we only brought beach weather clothes and t-shirts thinking we would be hot. Oops. Luckily the bungalows had sarongs for guests so we used those to wrap our shoulders and the staff brought out extra towels so you could cover yourself with them as well. In the evening we had a very nice dinner, shrimp the size of your hand and more wonderful seafood dishes. We played poker after supper again, and the place even had some type of plastic chips we could use to bet with! The storm just kept going and going. The staff had a large steel wok that they filled with coals and used as a fireplace to keep us warm, it was very nice, almost like a campfire. We slept peacefully with the rain beating down on the roof and the ocean waves right outside our door, it was a very nice way to fall asleep and to wake up to. The next morning we were hoping that things had cleared up as we were supposed to leave at noon. The rain was pounding down and the winds were still howling and at breakfast time our guide told us that we would not be able to leave the island because none of the transport boats were running, all boat activity was suspended by the government because of the storm. So another day on the island, it would have been nice if it was sunny and warm! Instead we had a day of napping, reading by the ‘fire’ and another card game in the evening before heading to bed. The next day we were finally able to leave. Our guide called our hotel and rescheduled our trip to Sapa in the north of Vietnam for us. As we had to spend the extra night on the island, we would have missed our night train and the tour. A few boat rides and a bus ride later we were back at our hotel with enough time to shower grab some dinner and head for the train station for our night train to Sapa.


The northern mountains and rice paddies around Sapa
We got into to Lao Cai at 05:30 in the morning and then took a bus up and up the foggy, winding roads to Sapa an area high in the mountains where one can still observe remote village people and their way of life. As soon as we got to the hotel our bus was attacked by at least 10 village girls wearing traditional dresses wanting to sell us things that they made. It wasn’t like a vendors’ stall, but more like an aggressive mob trying to rob you! We went into the hotel quickly and checked in and got a voucher for breakfast. We only had an hour before our tour left on our first half day of trekking. While we were waiting for the trek to start, we watched as these young girls who were dressed in their traditional outfits happily texting away or calling friends. You could see that under their ‘costumes’ they had more normal western-style clothes on. As it turned out one of the local village women would be our tour guide for the next two days. Our first day of hiking was to a village called Cat Cat. This village was only a short hike ( 3 km) from the hotel and was close enough to the town of Sapa that the way that the people lived was not so different than those in Sapa. They had a good display of the way that the people of the area used to live, showing how they made clothes, statues, different local drinks and how they milled corn and rice. However we had the feeling that a lot of the town was there more for show than actually observing their way of life. Many of the towns in the area and in many other areas of Vietnam offer a chance for a ’homestay’ where you go to the village and live in a home with the local people. You are only expected to pay a very nominal fee, and they in turn give you a chance to see the way that they really live their lives. Normally these types of treks involve a longer stay in the area as you have to hike to villages that are farther away from the main centers of transportation. After a cool and extremely humid night at the hotel (we were literally right in the clouds) we were off again early in the morning for a 6 km hike to the more distant village of Ta Phin. This hike took us out of the city into a much more remote area where there were many rice paddies and smaller villages. In all of the small villages, the newest and largest buildings seem to be the school(s) and to a lesser degree the hospital(s). The government ensures that elementary school (to age 13) is provided, even for the villages for all the children for free. In the villages that we visited, all of the children seemed to speak relatively good English, which they attributed to both the schools and to the tourists who visit the area. Both of the treks that we went on were guided by a local woman. Along the way, we were accompanied by a hoard of other local women. For the first ¾ of the trip, they were there chat and to help us out if we needed a hand down the slopes or anything else. Then as the trek was coming to an end, the sales pitches would start, and they ask you to buy something from them. On each of the days, we bought a few small items from one or two of the ladies who had travelled all day with us. We had been warned about children who come along on tours and ask for money for things like this and the dangers of buying from them because it often keeps them out of school, where they would get a better chance to escape from this kind of a life. All of the girls on the trek were older and had completed their school, but couldn’t afford to attend high school or college. On the second day, the lady who was most by our side throughout was actually 50 years old and helped Ewa for a good portion of the very slippery steep hillsides.


Local women from around Sapa, northern vietnam
After our hiking on the second day we had a quick cold shower at the hotel in their guest facilities (small rooms in the back for people leaving on the night trains) and we were off back on the bus down the mountain to Lao Cai. We mentioned earlier that the people in Vietnam drive like maniacs, and it was no where more evident as we barrelled down the mountain, through fog in the dark, on the one-lane road while cars and motorbikes dodged around each other in a frantic hurry to get to their destinations. We arrived safe and sound in Lao Cai, with the 4 other travellers we had met on our treks. We settled down for few beers to wait out the 2 hours until our train ride back to HaNoi. After the long and bumpy night we headed back at 05:20 in the morning to the hotel to grab our main packs and check back into our room. The train to Lao Cai is nice, clean and decently priced., but it isn’t very smooth at all. During the past two excursions we left our backpacks locked together in the lobby of the hotel. The hotel isn’t really a hotel, but more like a very basic hostel, with only private rooms. We weren’t sure that our stuff would still be there when we got back, but it was. A quick shower, breakfast and coffee later and we were off to meet up with another guide for our next trekking adventure.

This time we were off to Cuc Phoung national park, which is the oldest national park in Vietnam. We thought that we would be on a group tour, but it turned out that this time we were on a tour with only the two of us, and a personal driver and a guide. Pulling out of the city we couldn’t help but feel a little out of place having our own private tour. Even though our money goes a long way in S.E. Asia, it still doesn’t seem right to have as much buying power from our money as we do. The national park is a little over two hours by car outside the city so we were able to catch up on our sleep on the way. On the road through the national park, to the location where we would hike it was only a small narrow one-lane road and the driver seemed to be travelling little fast for the hills and curves, but we assumed that he knew exactly what he was doing. Chad was about to ask if it was only a one-way road, when out from around one of the corners came a very large pink tourist bus. We both skidded so a halt on the edges of the road, only a little more than a foot away from the bus. From that moment on, the driver was a lot more careful. Our trek through the national park was another great hike. It was ~8km of old growth forest with some great climbs and beautiful scenery. We saw a lot of butterflies, spiders and some interesting insects. We were only able to see a couple of small birds and no other animals of any kind. The guide told us that to see them you would have to do the two day trek and stay the night in the national park as most of the animals do not come out until after dark. For a lot of the trek we had to keep a slower pace, or stop frequently to let the guide catch up. He was suffering from a bit of a cold and had a harder time than we did on the hike and he kept apologizing to us for being slow. After the hike we went to the endangered primate rescue center. Normally the center does not allow tourist groups to enter, but as we were a small group, our guide had arranged for us to have a quick visit. The center was the main reason why we went on this tour, and we were a little disappointed that it was so short. However, our disappointment was due to our expectations of the center and not for the work that they are trying to accomplish. They are breeding primates (~ 25 species of monkeys, gibbons and other primates) and then reintroducing them into semi-wild habitats, and eventually release them back into the forests of Vietnam and other surrounding countries. It is a long process for them to breed groups of primates large enough to reintroduce them into the wild with any chance of surviving. We left from the primate center and began the long drive back to Hanoi and along the way we ran into a large, insanely hectic traffic jam as many people were returning to the city for the new work week.


Our jungle walk through Cuc Phuong national park
Our last night and last day in Hanoi we spent trying to catch up on sleep, uploading our pictures to the internet and relaxing. It had been a busy 6 days of busses, boats, trains and trekking and we tired ourselves out. On our last day in Hanoi we had a few moments of culture shock and a few even more brief moments of being overwhelmed by our situation. We chatted together about the past 5.5 months of travelling and we both agreed that we were missing family, friends, and all the beautiful things that go along with a permanent home (like your own bed, bathroom and kitchen!). We are still enjoying ourselves and we want to keep on travelling; there are many more experiences that we are looking forward to. With those thoughts we packed up our bags and headed off in the taxi for another overnight train ride to the city of Hue.

A few thoughts on Vietnam so far:
-It seems strange, but when any restaurant or hotel does good, there are a bunch of others that spring up within a few hundred meters, who also copy the name and the general description of the original. We experienced this, where we were told to go to the Hanoi 1 restaurant. We tried two of them, and then found out that the original, that was supposed to be the best, simply shut the doors because of the impostors. The two we tried were alright, but not great, that’s for sure!
- Just about everyone is out to get money from you. They are more than willing to get you to partake in their scams, or simply try their best to charge you more than you ’should’ pay. This goes for the hotels, taxis, shop keepers, everyone. Generally we have decided that we’re going to pay more than we should, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as these people have it much worse off than we do, we’re just going to try to limit the extravagance of being ripped off.
- For some reason everyone keeps their doors open, all the time. Many people can be seen setting up their beds in the common area of their store, with a half dozen kids jumping on the mattress.
-Despite everyone who is trying to rip you off, they are always smiling at you and are so very friendly.
- It seems that everyone with a motor bike assumes you want a ride somewhere. They are often the people who try the hardest to get you to ‘buy’ their services for a trip.


permalink written by  ECRadventure on October 18, 2009 from Hanoi, Vietnam
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Hue ... Rain, more rain and more Moto's!

Hue, Vietnam


The famous Thien Mu pagoda in Hue

We arrived in Hue early in the morning, the train ride took almost 12 hours. This train, the SE-1 that leaves every day from HaNoi, to Saigon is a little older and not quite as nice as the train to Sapa. Around 10 at night, just before turning out the lights to go to sleep we spotted a few cockroaches crawling on the wall beside the bed. We knew that we’d run into bugs and a lot of them in Asia, but I don’t think that we were ready for it. We ended up sleeping with the reading lights on to try to keep them at bay. When we arrived, it was still raining and we again got hosed and paid four times the price to get a cab to our hotel, we really have to learn to bargain harder. We stayed at the Sports hotel, it was on a street with a lot of Vietnamese-Western restaurants and shops to buy silk clothes and ties. After breakfast and checking in we decided to take a walk around the area. The hotel, like many of the tourist hotels makes a lot of money from selling tours and because of this, they often try a little too hard to sell you tours, train tickets, or try to arrange hotels for you in the next city. We have learned that they often over-charge by significant amounts and their smiling pushy attitude is a bit tough to take. As soon as we left the Hotel we noticed an immediate difference between Ha Noi and Hue, it was almost quiet here! The amount of traffic was pretty low, it was nice not to hear honking every 1.5 seconds when walking on the street. You mostly have to walk on the street since there are only sidewalks on certain streets, and if there are sidewalks they are usually used to park motorcycles. It’s easier just to walk on the street. We were enjoying the quiet walk until the joy of walking was extinguished by rickshaw driver after rickshaw driver asking us: Where you going? One hour, one hour”. Meaning they would drive us around the city for one hour. But we wanted to walk and had to fend them off again and again. We figured out that it was easier to walk in the opposite direction of traffic flow, because if you were walking in the same direction they would just follow you. We think they might be under the impression that if they ask you enough or pester you enough you will just give in. We didn’t. Less traffic, more harassment…if that was possible.


more from the Citadel
We decided that we would check out the Citadel which was quite close to the hostel, it was the residence of the Kings of Vietnam as Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam. When we entered the fortress we quickly realised that it was way to big to walk around in and decided we would get on a tour later in our stay that would take us there. Hue isn’t as modern as Ha Noi was so we had quite a hard time finding a place to eat that we were comfortable with (yes, yes, snobs that we are) We eventually had lunch three hours after we decided we were hungry and the best part about that is, is that it was less than 30 meters from our Hotel. For the first time in a long time we had fresh vegetables and boiled chicken breast. Chad is in heaven with all of the rice and noodles in Vietnam. One staple of our diet since we got here has been Pho soup which is usually eaten for breakfast. We have it for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. It has Ichiban type noodles and usually meat and vegetables, topped with bean sprouts and fresh chilly peppers cut up along with a lime to squeeze into your soup, it’s delicious! As we were going for dinner yet another rickshaw driver asked us if we wanted a ride, we said no we’re just walking to the restaurant he asked us the usual things: Where you from? How long in city? Then he told us he wanted to be a DJ and said he would take us to a dance club. Now here is the problem with this, being us, Canadian (we think this might be a Canadian disease) we didn’t say NO Thank you, we said (and keep saying) : Maybe. This is a huge mistake. But for some reason it just falls out of our mouths before we can catch ourselves. Ewa has resorted to saying no and shaking her head and does not stop, just keeps walking, this works…sometimes. If you say “Maybe” they think that there is a possibility of you going for a ride with them, maybe, maybe tomorrow, maybe in an hour, there is hope! So Chad said Maybe to our DJ rickshaw driver and we were sure to see him again, and again.


Cuddlin in bed. Not every day is about seeing temples!
The next day we woke up to more rain, it has been raining since we got here, pretty much non stop. We went to grab some breakfast but as soon as we walked into the hallway we stepped into a few inches of water, the hallway had flooded from all of the rain. Sweet. We didn’t do much because of the rain, it just felt like a lazy day. We booked a half day tour for the next day and Ewa tried to find some long thin pants at the shops near our Hotel for the heat and mosquitoes. She didn’t find any but while browsing at one of the stores she was flipping through the racks and stopped at a beige pair of pants that looked like it had some sort of broach on it or decoration only to realize that it was a big beige spider the size of her hand! The sales lady just laughed, took the pants and shook them out onto the street, she said: “ Normal in Vietnam, not like in movies, they no bite”…ehm sure ok, but it’s still the size of an orange!

We had dinner and a good night of conversation and bad pool (none of us are any good at playing) with some friends we met in HaNoi. The whole evening our DJ rickshaw driver was sitting in the rain outside of the restaurant we were in. We couldn’t figure out if this was just his route or if he was seriously waiting for us. Sure enough when we were leaving, he runs up to us and we had to say no no…and he looked sad (that may have been a ploy since he was seriously making a puppy face). On a side note, it’s not only verbal agreements that seem to be taken way too seriously, its also gestures like the good ol’ thumbs up. We were at another restaurant and this rickshaw driver kept giving us a thumbs up from outside, we thought he was being friendly…turns out that that means that we want a ride, we quickly had to say no when we were leaving. It’s a crazy world here in Vietnam.


The Citadel and the rain..
The tour started at 9 am so we got up semi early. Still raining and raining. The tour guide picked us up at our Hotel and we were off to see the oldest Pagoda in Vietnam as well as the Citadel . The Thien Mu Pagoda is a Buddhist place of worship. This particular Pagoda was home to the monk Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself alive in protest of the Vietnamese government disallowing Buddhist worship during communism. He drove himself from Hue to Saigon, got out of the car, sat in the lotus position and had a fellow monk to pour gasoline & diesel all over his body. This was done in front of a large crowd and many other monks who knew what his intentions were. He then calmly lit a match and went up in flames, not moving, screaming or making any type of noise and burned alive. It is a legend that his heart wouldn’t burn, even after he was re-cremated after his death. A number of other monks also burned themselves alive for this cause and the government was forced to allow for Buddhist worship to continue. The Pagoda has a nice garden area, a temple where Buddhists go to pray and the tomb of this famous monk who stood up for his beliefs. On the grounds are also living quarters for young boys who are sent there by their families who are usually poor so that they can receive an education. When they are older they can choose if they want to become monks or return to their former way of life. Many children are also simply inspired by Buddhism and join the monastery of their own accord. It was very serene being at the pagoda even with the other tourists. At the time we visited there were also many people praying and every time someone finished a prayer a young boy would ring a large gong that echoed though the area. We continued on to the Citadel which is really an impressive structure. It was constructed to mimic the forbidden city in Beijing and construction started in 1802, for the royalty of Vietnam. It is about 525 hectares in size. It once was the residence of the King, his royal entourage, concubines and the high military officials. It was very badly damaged in the French war as well as the American war ( the Vietnam war in Vietnam is called the American war). The Citadel is now a Unesco Heritage site and the government is rebuilding it with the funds they receive from the Unesco organization but it is a slow process. We were a little disappointed because the tour was supposed to be a half day tour, but in reality it was over in 2 hours, maybe due to the rain. By the time we got back to the hotel we were drenched. We spent the rest of the day lounging around again, listening to the never ending beating of the rain against our window. The next day we had an 8 am train to Nha Trang which is further south, the trip will take us another 12 hours, but this time we booked seats and it’ll be all day, hopefully the time will go by quick.


Our horrible train on the ride to Nha Trang

The train ride to Nha Trang was definitely an experience! We were sitting in a car with 62 other people. We got seats instead of the sleeper car because are travelling by day and they are cheaper. In most of Asia you can get a whole range of tickets depending on what you want. There are the hard seats which are cheap and uncomfortable, the soft seats with AC which is what we got- a softer chair that reclines. Then there are the hard sleepers which have 6 beds in a berth and the soft sleepers which are 4 beds in a berth. There is also a “tourist” car which is a bit better than the soft sleepers and more expensive. Right from the get go we in for a new experience. Getting on the train everyone was pushing and shoving, we are wearing our huge backpacks and people are trying to get passed us in the tiny hallway. As soon as the train started there was a cart that came along selling some sort of dish we saw later it was rice out of a not so clean bucket, that they topped off with a hard boiled egg. Then came the soup cart, where soup was ladled out of a huge metal canister into plastic cups, also unidentifiable. They also come around with to go meals, meat and rice, vegetables and a chicken leg for 20 000 dong, not so bad, that’s 1.30$. The people get right comfortable on the train, they take their flip flops off and put their feet up, literally wherever there is space, be it on a table in front of them, the window, the next seat in front of them…wherever. At least the spitting isn’t as bad in Vietnam as it was in China but now we’ve discovered that vomiting is really not a faux pas. At one of the stops people got off the train to buy snacks. Chad got off in search of some bananas and Ewa stayed behind to watch the bags. Looking out the window she saw two people (not at the same time) just bending over and vomiting on the tracks. Apparently if you gotta hurl there’s no reason to do it behind a building or something or in the bathroom, nope right in front of the train. At least they used bottled water to wash it off the cement. We realize that sometimes you can’t help but vomit, it’s not a thing you can control, it was more about the fact that it seems that that was the place to do it. The people weren’t really shy about. First the kids with a hole in the pants, now this! It’s a bit strange for us.

We wanted to ask everyone for some feedback regarding the blog. We are writing about our experiences because it’s a nice way for everyone to experience it with us in a way and it is also a good way for us to record our experiences. We want to know if there is something you would like to hear more about I.e. cultural differences, our observations about the country and people. Sometimes we tend to write much about what we did and little reflection on how we feel about it. Send us an email if you want to hear more about something, or maybe less about other things, we don’t have jobs so it’s nice to have some things to do. We hope everyone is enjoying the blog!

permalink written by  ECRadventure on October 22, 2009 from Hue, Vietnam
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Nha Trang, ... scuba diving and animal horror shows

Nha Trang, Vietnam


The beach in Nha Trang. Abandoned because it's low season

We arrived in Nha Trang late in the evening and headed right for our hostel, checked into our little room and headed out for a bite to eat after our long, frustrating train ride. We walked around the backpacker area of town, where our hostel was and we knew that we had arrived somewhere we would enjoy. We ended up at a little restaurant, with the same name as the one we went to in Hue, the Why not bar. Except that this bar was four times the size and filled with foreigners. Up and down the street were little shops restaurants and hostels that were geared for backpackers. We haven’t been in Asia that long, (about a month) but it was nice to be surrounded with familiar things.

The next day we woke up to a wonderful, sunny blue sky day. We walked around the city some more, checked out the beach, and planned for our next couple of days in the city. The town is small enough to walk around a lot of the main areas by foot, and the moto’s or taxi’s are cheap enough to get you where ever else you would want to go. The beach was clean with fine beige sand. However, the water was very turbid and muddy from the river that dumps into the ocean a few hundred meters from the main city beach.

After a great day on the beach and around the city, we settled in for a night of festive bevies at the Why Not Bar. We were only going to stop in for one or two, but the atmosphere was mesmerising. A coconut bucket and some double vodka soda’s (for $.60 Cdn) later, we were ready for a bit of a longer night. We met a few friends who were drinking ‘the fish tank’ literally a NHL sized Gatorade barrel filled with 4.5 bottles of liquor and mix. We sat and chatted for a few hours while it was pouring rain, monsoon style outside. We weren’t smart enough to have rain gear with us and it was quite a walk home, so, of course we had to wait for the rain to pass. When it did, the streets were flooded. In some parts it was knee deep. We talked to other backpackers who said on the way to their hostel, they actually had to swim for a section because it was too deep to wade through!


Mr. Ba, and the swim up bar!
The next day, cloudy and overcast we were off on our boat cruise. A little tired and depressed from the weather, we still tried to have a good time. The first stop on the boat trip was the aquarium. It was a decent sized aquarium that seemed to take care of the sea-creatures fairly well, and the tanks were large enough that they could actually swim around in. The second stop was for snorkelling. However, because of the heavy rains, the water was turbid and not very clear. We also found the water partially infested with jelly fish, so we didn’t stay long. Ewa even got stung, but it was not the kind that is deadly, or even that you have to pee on, so we were thankful for that! We were treated to a great spread of food, and a live band on the boat! They were actually pretty decent, although it was funny to listen to English being sung in a Vietnamese accent. Our last event for the day was the ‘swim up bar’ where the captain of the boat floated on his volleyball raft and handed out free drinks to anyone who would go swimming. Good times, but it would have been a lot better if it wasn’t raining and cold!

The next day we were off to scuba diving. The Octopus diving club has a pretty nice boat and some good crew working for them. We were about an hour off the coast, around some islands. The dive was great! Warm water, our first exposure to coral. We also saw a sea snake, moray eels, many tropical fish, blue star fish and Ewa even saw a “lipstick fish”. After our two dives, we were back to the city for our trip to the ‘mud baths’. This is a spa a few km outside of the city center. When you get there, you shower, and head into a bud Jacuzzi filled with mud. The mud has the consistency of Yop and has a faint sulphur / tarsands smell to it. Then you go through a series of jet showers, and end up in a mineral bath. It was quite the experience! We met a few Canadians on the way who told us about the hectic water festival in Phnom Penh that was happening in a few days.


Sure they look cute... but they are dangerous little buggers!
Our last day in Nha Trang, we had signed up for going on a hike, cliff diving from waterfalls, seeing ‘Monkey Island’ where the monkeys are in their natural habitat and then a trip to the salt fields outside of Nha Trang. What we got instead was the animal cruelty tour. The first stop was to a ostrich and deer zoo. These animals are trapped in cages and you get the chance to feed them. We’re pretty sure it was just a feed lot that they brought tourists to. The next stop was a great little island, where we were supposed to do the cliff diving from lakes, down a water fall into another clear lake. What we got was a tiny polluted stream with pvc piping running along and across it. The water fall was a bust but the beach was great! The final kicker was the last island. We got there and the first thing was the ‘animal show’ which was a pack of dogs, pretending to be in school and doing tricks for the teachers. This was followed up by a large group of monkeys performing various acts, similar to a circus. All of the animals were obviously terrified of the owners and flinched at any hand movement. It was not enjoyable to watch at all. Ewa stayed for the dog part and then left. After the show, we were off to see the monkeys. This consisted of walking 100m away from the amphitheatre where the show was to a small grove of trees, where we were attacked by monkeys. They are conditioned to being fed by the tourists and it’s obvious that their population can’t support themselves without the food. They become easily agitated and aggressive. The tour guide outlined the rules which were: keep the food hidden, otherwise the monkeys will go in your pocket or tear it away from your hand, only keep a little in your hand at a time. Do not show your teeth, I.e. smile at them, they see this as an act of agression. Third if you have no food show the monkey your flat empty hand and it will go away. Sure the rules sound great, although you can pretty much throw them out the window. The monkeys come running as soon as they see the group of tourist, are jumping on trees, around your legs, and are grabbing at your pants or whatever you are wearing. There were a few families with small children and it was a bit frightening. Ewa was attacked when she tried to feed one of the monkeys, he lunged at her and smacked her on the head while barring his teeth. Another lady, who as lucky was bitten on the stomach, was bleeding and you could make out the teethmarks . After our horror show we were back to the mainland. Once back at the hotel, when we complained about the tour, turns out that they sent us on the wrong tour, or that somewhere there was a miscommunication and we were put on the wrong tour. Boo!

Our last night was made a little better by stumbling into the lemon grass café, that had the absolute best food we’ve had in Asia so far, and it was actually one of the least expensive as well! After dinner we were off to get on the overnight bus to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We thought that after the awesome train ride from Hue, that we’d change it up. The bus was relatively clean, but with tiny tiny beds, and their advertising about ‘state-of-the-art’ suspension system on the bus, we had a bumpy long night.

Thoughts on Nha Trang, the only thing that we found different here, or out of the normal for other Vietnamese towns was the over the top efforts to sell books, or postcards, DVD’s, cigarettes, gum, paintings or other tourist ware while you are sitting inside of a restaurant eating or drinking. Nha Trang seems to be the starting point of some hard moments of having to say no. China and Northern Vietnam also seemed to have very few beggars. There are more and more as we head South.


Hanging out on a random island just off of Nha Trang, Vietnam

permalink written by  ECRadventure on October 26, 2009 from Nha Trang, Vietnam
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Ho Chi Minh .. Saigon, tunnels, the American war and Mr. Bean.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam


Three little piggies! Bakery in Saigon

We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh to people who live outside of the city) after our long, bumpy crowded bus trip from Nha Trang. It was 5:30 in the morning when we arrived and we started off on foot, turning away all the moto drivers towards where we thought the hostel was. Turns out google maps isn’t the most trust worthy of sources when trying to locate a small house in a back alley , and it’s not the first time we’ve been led astray. After a short time of getting our bearings we were down the little alley off of the main strip and ringing the bell to wake up the house to let us into the hostel. This hostel is a building owned and operated by a family, and the common room is shared between the guests and the family.

The first day we spent walking around the city and avoiding a nap. We didn’t want to go to nap and risk ‘napping’ for hours on end and then not be able to sleep in the night. Saigon has a large backpackers section, just like all the other cities in Asia that we have been to so far. The restaurants and shops seem to be a little more local that in many of the cities. They are all very similar and not many of them seemed to stand out or have a flair that would draw you in. Every meal we ended up walking around for a good half hour, or more, sometimes much more trying to decide on somewhere to eat. The first day was the worst, as we were checking out the city, and walking on our way to the war remnants museum. We walked for over an hour and a half even trying to find a restaurant. We did find a Yogen Fruz, which was a rare treat that Chad couldn’t pass up!


A tank destroyed by the Cu Chi during the "American War"
In the war remnants museum, there are a number of salvaged military aircraft, tanks, planes and bombs stored in front of the building. Inside there are many articles, pictures and figures regarding the decades of war in Vietnam from the mid 1940’s through to the end of conflict at the beginning of the 1980’s. It is very interesting to see the Vietnamese side of the war, and to see up close the devastation. It is truly heart wrenching to see the disfigured people, some mangled by conventional weapons of war (bullets, bombs, landmines) and the many others who are disfigured from the chemical weapons used (agent orange, napalm etc.). Also the huge environmental impacts become obvious when you see the aerial pictures of the countryside. On the way back from the museum we took a quick stroll through the main indoor market in the city center. We’re not sure if it may have been a combination of being hungry, with upset stomachs from the light lunch we had and the fatigue, or what else it may have been, but this market beyond any others was hard to stomach. The smells and sights of the market were too much for us and we had to hurry through to the other side, to fresh air and free space. That night we laid low and were to bed relatively early for our trip to the Cu Chi tunnels the next morning.

We were greeted by our tour guide in the morning for our half day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels by ‘Mr. Bean’ our Vietnamese veteran tour guide. Throughout the day, he had told us that he was born in the Philippines, lived in America and moved to Vietnam after the end of conflict with the Americans. He had served under John Kerry among other famous American veterans, then he served 4 years in a Vietnamese prison after the war due to his involvement with the Americans. He wrote a book that was published in the 90’s about his experiences. Seemed like a tall story, but considering the insight and other stories that he told during the trip, they all seemed to mesh well together. However, we still haven’t been able to track him down yet through his book. He said it was called ‘Three moons in Vietnam’ or something similar, but the book we looked up under that name is written by a British woman. Go figure. Same same…but different.


Just like the sign says.. handicrafts and jobs to support those who have it tough
On the way out to the Cu Chi tunnels we stopped at the ‘Handicapped Handicraft’ factory. There are a few of these factories around Vietnam, where people who are disabled, usually by the war, have a chance to work and earn a decent wage. The factory that we visited made enamel glazed paintings, wall hangings, “accordion doors / folding oriental room dividers... (what are these actually called?!?!)” decorative dinnerware, tables, chairs huge vases etc. They are all hand made and incredibly intricate and beautiful. We ended up buying a few small wall pictures for our new house (where ever that will be once we are settled).

Then we were off to the Cu Chi tunnels, which is an area just outside of Saigon deep in American occupied territory that never succumbed during the war. They said that over 12,000 Vietnamese people died, compared to 188 Americans (just in this region, not the whole war). The people were so resilient due to the soil formations in the area. The soil is over 90% clay. This enabled them to build very strong tunnels very rapidly. American attempts to flood or burn the people out of the tunnels only served to eventually make the tunnels stronger. The tunnels are also extremely tight in some sections that only the smallest westerner would have been able to squeeze through. We were given a chance to crawl 130 meters through the tunnels at the end of the visit, and it was an incredible insight into the life of the people who lived underground for years. During the war, the Cu Chi people lived underground during the daylight hours. At night they came to the surface, tended to their farms, removed soil from the tunnels (which they threw into bomb crafters or the river to hide the evidence) and then they went back underground before the sun would rise. As the Americans were unwilling to advance or undertake combat during the night time, the Cu Chi were relatively safe to move about at night. We also saw many booby-traps and how they were designed to incapacitate an enemy. The tenacity of the people demonstrates the degree to which anyone is capable of going to protect their homeland. To the Cu Chi people, the Americans were nothing more than foreign invaders, attempting to take away their freedom.


Chad trying to fit into one of the Cu Chi tunnels outside of Saigon
The last stop before leaving the Cu Chi tunnels was a shooting range. For ~$15 Cdn you could fire off 0 bullets from an AK-47. They had many other types of guns as well. The noise was so deafening and the earmuffs that they provided were nothing more than stereo headphones and did nothing to dampen the sound. Due to the extremely loud noise of several assault rifles firing all the time, Ewa decided to just video Chad firing off a few shots. We didn’t get to keep the target, but it looked like Chad had pretty good aim!

That night we performed our Saigon dance around the city trying to find a spot to eat. After dinner we went out for a few drinks to some local places before stopping at the ‘crazy buffalo’ for a couple of drinks and to take in some quality people watching. It was strange though, as in the local restaurants/pubs we could get a 3 oz glass of vodka & soda for ~$0.8, but when we went to the large club, it cost $5 and had practically no booze in it. It was a high price to pay to people watch and we were soon on our way back to the hotel.
Our last day in Saigon was spent doing a little shopping, trying to find some clothes that would be more suitable for the warmer weather climates. We found a few nice things, and a few things for us to send home with our wall paintings. We were even brave enough to try to visit the city market again. This time, we stayed away from the food section and only visited the clothing/watch/jewellery area. This is the first experience we’ve had at being physically accosted. As we walked down the hallways, the people would literally reach out, grab your hand, your forearm, elbow or just about anything and try to drag you into their shop. At first it was slightly annoying, but it quickly grew to over-the-top aggravating. At the end Chad was even slapping the hands of anyone who would grab him, and pushing them away. While we were on our way to the post office, it would dribble a few drops of rain and stop. A few more drops and then nothing. This would have been a good warning to anyone who had been through a tropical shower before, but we were oblivious. A few more minutes and we were caught in a full-on downpour. It was a flash-flood style rain that didn’t seem to let up, so we hopped into a taxi and drove the rest of the way to the post-office as we didn’t have any umbrellas or rain gear with us. After we left the post office, maybe 50 minutes after the rain started, it was all over and the streets were already starting to dry up.

That night was the beginning of the 3rd annual indoor Asian games. Saigon was the host city and some of the guests at the hotel were visiting the city to take in the games. It would have been nice to see them, but we had already made up our mind to head out to the water festival in Phnom Penh. We were able to see some of the festivities though, because some of the stages and vendor stalls were right across the street from our hotel. The next morning, we were off on the bus for Cambodia!

permalink written by  ECRadventure on October 30, 2009 from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Phnom Penh.. nataional holidays three for three

Phnom Penh, Cambodia


Shooting guns in Phnom Pehn

We were off on our bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh and we were expecting a fairly rigorous boarder crossing; some of the people we talked to, and the reviews on the internet hinted at corrupt boarder guards and long wait times. Our experience however, was totally painless. A little confusing at times because the ‘guide’ didn’t explain anything, but other than that smooth as can be. We even picked up a bottle of Canadian Club at the duty free shop for $6 US. We were on our way in style! We stopped at a truck-stop style restaurant just inside the Cambodian boarder that is frequented by all the busses coming / going into Vietnam. Let’s just say that we weren’t comfortable eating there at all. When we arrived, we were supposed to be picked up by the hotel but they weren’t there to meet us. We ended up getting a motorized tuk-tuk (little carriage pulled by either a motorcycle or a bicycle) by a man named Camera. He seemed like a friendly honest guy so we made arrangements for him to pick us up the next day for a tour at 08:00. On the first day while we were getting our bearings of the city, we noticed all of the preparations for the upcoming festival. The city was bursting at the seams with people and traffic, we couldn’t imagine how a few more hundred thousand people would fit in.


The closed palace... national holidays aren't that great
Bright and early we stumbled down from the room, to see our driver lounging outside in his tuk-tuk waiting for us. After a bite to eat, we were off! This was the second tuk-tuk ride we’ve had (the first was just yesterday) and we were initially quite excited for the trip. Normally we walk everywhere we go or take public transport, and have only on a few occasions used taxi’s. Dave, don’t worry I promise we’ll get on some moto’s soon! After the first half hour on the tuk-tuk, our thrill and excitement had passed. The pot-hole filled roads and the poor suspension in the tuk-tuk, work together to give your body quite the beating. We stopped at the shooting range (were told that it is much better than the one that we tried at the Cu Chi tunnels) and it would give Ewa a second chance to fire off an assault rifle, or rocket launcher or throw a grenade if she wanted. When we arrived, we were shocked at the prices. It would be $40 US for a 25 shot round with the AK-47 and prices for the other guns were similar. $50 for the grenade, and $300 for the rocket launcher. We were hoping that it would have been much, much less so we settled on the one clip on the AK-47. This time, we had proper earmuffs and ear-plugs of our own. After the first two shots Ewa had enough. Chad fired off the last of the bullets and even tried a few on Automatic!


Killing fields
After getting a feeling for what it’s like to shoot a weapon designed to kill people, we visited Choeung Ek - the killing fields, where we witnessed first hand the effects of the weapon we had just used. There is not a lot to see in the killing fields, but the gravity of the events that took place are hard to miss. When you first walk in, there is a 7 story monument to those who were killed, and each floor has glass sides that reveal the 7 stories of stacked human skulls from the victims uncovered in some of the mass graves. The rest of the site is a walk through the sites of the mass graves, a small museum and a movie room. It was really sad to see that years after WWI, WWII and countless of other wars, humanity seems to continuously repeat the same mistakes. There is no compassion for your fellow man, but instead a need for power and greed. After the killing fields we also visited the S-21 prison and museum. The prison was used as a holding spot for people ( men, women and children) who were suspected of being an enemy to the Khmer revolution. They were made to work, tortured and then when they confessed to their crimes or pleaded innocent they were brutally killed. When the prison was liberated there were few survivors and 7 corpses were found on the grounds that the revolutionists did not have time to dispose of. We were exhausted when we came back to our hotel and in the evening walked the streets that were mayhem because of the water festival. We went for dinner on one of the main streets where about 500 people were walking past us every 4 minutes, just a stream of constant people, it looked like a mass migration. The city is quite poor and there are many people here who were maimed during the revolution. Just through dinner at least 10 people came up to us trying to sell books, dvds or postcards, most were handicapped. There was one man we saw who was wheeling himself on his stomach on a board with wheels, he had no legs or arms to his elbows and was pushing himself by his elbows. It was refreshing and nice to see that very many local people and tourists gave money to him. Many people who have deformities or are handicapped can’t get work, no one will hire them. There are no government rules for fair standards, no welfare, nothing, they are forced to beg or sell goods so that they can support themselves and their families.


The foreigners zone at the Phnom Pehn water festival
The next day we were quite tired from the heat and we just walked around, to discover that most of the sights were closed because of the holiday so we just looked through the gates of some of the palaces. Seems to be the trend as this is the third capital city we’ve visited on a national holiday, and again the main sights are closed off. With all of the people, the city was packed with more vendors, random people and garbage than we have seen anywhere yet. As we were walking back to our hotel we walked along the main street which is right next to the Mekong River where the boat races were. A lady tried to sell us water but we didn’t want any and were quite tired of people coming up to us and asking if we wanted water, frog, meat, coca cola, and so on and so on. She then said ok why you not go see races? We looked at the huge crowds gathered along the river and it seemed frightening being stuck in 500 people deep shoulder to shoulder. We said there’s no room. And she pointed us to a very empty section, right near the banks of the river, with comfy chairs and a covered seat section, we automatically thought we had to pay for it and we weren’t about to do that. So we said no thanks, and she said : Free Free. We hesitated, looked at all the guards, the metal detector and wondered…really? So we walked through and it turns out it was a section especially for Tourist. ??? It was weird, just 15 meters from us were locals packed like sardines in a can trying to see the races and here is a free section for tourists all sectioned off, it was almost like segregation, we felt guilty for being there. Apparently the government likes to have a lot of foreigners displayed on TV during big national events, so they work as hard as they can to make it easy for foreigners. Our last day in the city was a monsoon day. It was raining torrentially, non-stop through the day, so we took the day to relax, and to plan ahead for some of the rest of our trip. The next morning we were off to Siem Reap on the bus.


boat races at the water festival

permalink written by  ECRadventure on November 2, 2009 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Siem Reap...Angkor Wat, the 8th wonder of the world!

Siem Reap, Cambodia


Angkor Wat sunrise


More ruins!
After our 7 hour bus ride, we arrived in a muddy dirt parking lot in Siem Reap. We were supposed to be picked up, with a tuk-tuk driver waiting for us, but again we fought through hoards of tuk-tuk drivers trying to overcharge us and to take us to a good hostel! As a side note, Phnom Penh and the rest of Cambodia officially have riel as their currency, however with inflation and an unstable country everything is sold on American dollars. We settled into a hotel, that surprisingly had a pool! It was quite nice and rather cheap as it was across the river about 5 minutes from the city center.


Tropical paradise at the Angkor ruins
We went for a walk, and instantly appreciated the slow, easy life of Siem Reap (well, compared to Phnom Penh anyways). The town is a tourist haven and caters to the tourists. There are many, many streets filled with massage parlours, western-quality restaurants an just about anything you may need. We always love to run into a town like this every now and again.


More ruins!
The next morning we were up at 4:30 in the morning to meet our driver to complete the “small loop” of Angkor Wat. We arrived for sunrise and were instantly greeted by the vendors trying to sell us guide books, water, bracelets and many other trinkets. Chad talked to the first guy trying to sell a guide book to the ruins for a few minutes, and he offered the book to us for $15 US, sticker price on the book was just over $22. We said no, and went into Angkor Wat. As we were leaving a couple of hours later, he remembered us, although now Chad was “Jim” and said “I remember you! Canada! You buy now!” Chad said no and we got into our Tuk-Tuk. Suddenly the price was dropped. A lot. Now he was offering the book for only $1 and so the hassling began and continued throughout our tour of the ruins. Everyone wants you buy something, even the ‘monks’, who sit inside the temples and get you to make incense offerings to Buddha. Of course the incense sticks are practically free they are so cheap, but the monks expect $1 or $0.5 at least for one. After the first couple of offerings we caught on that we would have to spend a fortune to make offerings at all the shrines. We even noticed once that one of the incense vendors re-sold our offering to another group once we had left!


More ruins!
The hardest part is the children who are trying to sell small items, or are begging. They often speak decent English and have learned key facts about your country. So, when you tell them that you are from Canada, they’ll say “Canada, speaks English and French, Capital Ottawa, major cities Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver Calgary, population 33 million.” There are so many children and they often come in groups. However, despite what it may seem, we’ve been told the best thing to do is not buy anything from the children. If they can earn money selling things then it will keep them out of school. It is better to always if you are going to buy or to give to do so with Adults only.


More ruins!


More ruins!
Our two days touring the ruins were amazing. There are so many and they are all unique and wonderful. It is easy to see how this ancient site ranks as one of the wonders of the world. We could spend ages talking about all the interesting details of the ruins, but rather than try to do them justice we suggest going yourself! Or, if that’s not possible, at least check out our pics, or others online! Our last night touring the ruins we went to Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. Apparently this is the thing to do at night and the mountaintop ruin was filled with people. The view was amazing, even despite the huge crowds.


Angkor Wat, well one of the ruins there anyways...see our flickr account for the real location :)
Our last day in Siem Reap we slept in a little, and spent the day around the town, swimming in the hotel pool and relaxing. At night we ended up at “The Temple” restaurant which had a 2 hour traditional Khmer dance show. The show was really interesting and great entertainment. In traditional style the dancers attempt to show no emotion on their faces. Half of the dances were slow and ceremonious and the other half were fast paced and almost tribal. Siem Reap was also the first place where we were able to easily spot the sex-industry. Many call girls were walking the streets, blatantly trying to pick up men and we even watched a few who were successful, sneak away to a Tuk-Tuk and disappear down the street. Another first for us was the fish massage where you put your feet into knee deep water filled with small fish. The fish then nibble away at your feet and ‘eat the dead skin’ from your feet. We didn’t try it this time, but apparently it is a huge thing in Thailand as well, so we’ll be looking out for it there! The next day we were off on our early morning flight to Bangkok!


Sunset at One of the Angkor Wat ruins



permalink written by  ECRadventure on November 5, 2009 from Siem Reap, Cambodia
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

Bangkok ... Suits and more Suits!

Bangkok, Thailand


Look Ma new haircuts!

The Bangkok airlines flight to from Siem Reap was surprisingly fast and awesome (for Ewa who still doesn’t like flying). It took about 35min and they served breakfast for free! What a nice change after Europe where you have to buy everything on the flight. We got a taxi and checked into our hotel. The first thing on our list was to see Mr. Sam, a tailor that Dave recommended. Since we were only going to be in Bangkok for 5 days we figured it gave us just enough time to decide on some grown up clothes and have them ready to ship the day before we left. We were staying right off Koh San Road on Rambuttri and his shop was close by so that made it easier to get around.


The finished suits
The first thing we noticed is that the city is busy, crazy, loud and fun if you don’t get annoyed by the tourist scene. Anything you need is just around the corner for a price of course. For some reason Bangkok has also been invaded by 7-11’s, there is one every few hundred meters, which is good in case you get thirsty and you don’t want a juice in a plastic bag with a straw, although it does look fun. We spent close to 4 hours at Mr. Sams picking out styles and fabrics and getting fitted, that left enough time to check out more of our area of town and have dinner. On the second day we went to Mr. Sams again to get fitted (this became an every day ritual) and hit Kho San Road to check out the scene, it gets pretty rowdy at night. The road is filled with touristy shops, restaurants and street vendors. Oh, and thousands of dumb-struck tourists. We also decided that it was high time for us to get a haircut. This was Ewa’s first haircut since starting the trip, six months ago. It gets hotter every time we go further south and the long hair is becoming frustrating, but not to worry only about 2-3 inches got cut, she is not sporting a bald head…yet. That night we had a great dinner on one of the street restaurants that open up at night. This one was a BBQ one and they cook your fish or meat on a makeshift BBQ. While waiting for our dinner the usual vendors came around selling anything and everything. One really cute little girl had a bunch of roses to sell. She was maybe 5 or 6 years old and as soon as she came up to the table she said: You buy! And we said No thanks. She then preceded to sit down on Chads chair right beside him took one of our pens and started doodling in our planning book. She sat and talked to us for at least ten minutes totally content with the doodling, she drew us and said : You poppa and you mamma. Too cute! How were we not going to buy a flower from her? We even haggled with her for fun and got a 5 baht discount (0.17 on 1.33).


Food vendor dishin up some great Pad Thai
The following day was a mad rush. We wanted to buy underwater housing for our digital camera so that we could take pictures when we go diving. Our camera is only good for 10m depth and we’re never at ten meters for a whole dive. We took a taxi to downtown Bangkok where there are huge shopping malls. We pretty much ran around for about 8 hours from one place to the next trying to find this housing and a few other items and had no luck. Exhausted and hurried to make it to Mr. Sams for another fitting we jumped in a cab. We told the cab driver where we wanted to go and he said we must be crazy because it was peak traffic and it would take at least an hour to get there. Why not hang around here for an hour and a half and have some dinner and I will pick you up later and take you then. He even said he would call our tailor to let him know we would be late. Red Flags we‘ve now learned: 1. If someone is trying to change your destination, this is probably not a good thing 2. People go out of their way to ‘Help’ you are not trying to help you most of the time, they are trying to screw you 3. We have to learn to say No and not feel bad about it, we seem to have a problem with doing this 4. If something seems fishy it is perfectly ok to bail from anywhere at anytime. So we succumbed to the trap and had our supper at a very shady restaurant that looked like it was falling apart, all of the food was ghastly overpriced and to add to it, it wasn’t even good. We ordered a curry crab, but dumb of us we didn’t watch them weigh it. They charged us an insane amount of money for dinner, about 10 times the amount we should have paid. We learned our lesson, oh did we ever. We didn’t bother to stick around for the taxi driver who most likely wouldn’t come back anyway since he made his commission from the restaurant to bring us there and caught a cab to Mr. Sams, now almost 2 hours late. We were there getting fitted until 10:30 and were exhausted by the end of the night.


Chad posing with the warriors
The next day it was raining all day so we spent the day relaxing, Chad got a Thai massage and Ewa got her nails done, it was a nice treat. Since we hadn’t yet seen anything cultural we decided to check out The Grand Palace and Wat Po. We left quite early in the morning and were almost derailed at our first stop Wat Po because we were just about to go in when a random “helpful” person came up running to us to tell us that we can’t go in to the Wat because we weren’t dressed properly, as we learned our lesson just a few days before we said thanks and walked in anyway. When we got there we had no problem, Ewa was given a scarf to put around her shoulders and that was it. Wat Po is a beautiful temple that has a giant gold lying Buddha inside. It is probably close to 15m long and 4 meters high. It is beautiful. You can explore the Wat which is huge at your own pace, we walked around for close to an hour looking at all of the different statues and temples. Everything is decorated with jewels and gold, amazing. It was starting to get extremely hot and it wasn’t even 10:30 in the morning yet. We left the Wat with only one more destination the Grand Palace. The palace is the official residence of the Kings of Thailand since the 18th century. We arrived and noticed that you needed to be appropriately dressed, but this was a bit more extreme. They had a building right next to the entrance that you had to borrow clothes from, traditional thai clothes. Like it wasn’t hot enough, we were now wearing long clothes, Ewa was in a skirt down to the floor and a purple stuffy shirt and Chad had to wear long pants, over his shorts. Ewa almost had heat stroke that day, it was so hot and you couldn’t drink enough water. The Grand Palace is really amazing to see. Jewels, gold leaf, and intricate decorations everywhere. This is really the first ‘modern’ Asian palace we have visited and we were overwhelmed with the architecture and decoration. There were quite a few tourists and the heat wasn’t helping so as much as we appreciated the palace we were only there for a few hours before we made it back to our hotel to rest. We checked out the pool on the roof for a while but even in the pool the heat was too much.


Giant reclining Buddha
On our last day, we boxed up all of our goodies, entrusted them with the Thai mail system and sent them on their way to Canada. With our goods in the mail, we were off to the airport the next morning for our flight to Ko Tao - Turtle island! Some of the other tourist traps that are used really play on a typical Western idea of people actually trying to help you out. You will be approached with people looking to ‘genuinely’ give you some advice about how to get around and what to see and do. Of course they will probably tell you some place to go that you hadn’t planned, but sounds nice. What follows is always a series of detours, overpriced transportation, food, entry fees, or other red tape that costs a lot of money. As horrible as it sounds, unless you really get to know one of the locals, don’t listen to their ‘advice’ at all. Listen to the tips from other tourists, and your own instincts. You’ll fare much better. Oh, and there is NO Buddha day in Bangkok or elsewhere in Thailand. However, despite the tourist traps, the vendors in Bangkok seem to be a lot more relaxed that those that we have run into in Cambodia, Vietnam and China. We saw a lot of vendors selling wooden ‘frogs’ that make a real-life frog like sound when you rub a stick across their back, we saw vendors even selling tasers, switch blades, throwing stars and knifes right on the side of the road. Oh, and in Khoa San road, you can buy just about any license or diploma that you can imagine. Wanna have a pilot’s certification? 1500 baht, no problem.


Flight with Bangkok airways! They rock!



permalink written by  ECRadventure on November 10, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment
Viewing 51 - 60 of 83 Entries
first | previous | next | last

View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city:
ECRadventure ECRadventure
1 Trip
386 Photos

Hey all, the pics here on our blog are only part of the photos, ...

Check out our Flicker account to see the rest of the photos. The flickr account is open to the public, ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecradventure/sets/

Other than that, we're 29 and traveling the world!

trip feed
 author feed
 trip kml
 author kml

   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy