Again - excuse my punctuation - the keyboards here have keys in different places.
I love this place! But who wouldn't. After spending a few days in crazy and hectic hanoi, the laid back life of laos is just what i needed. From the window of the plane i could only see 1 dirt road and a lush, green and hilly landscape. Luang Prabang has one landing strip, and a tiny building for their airport. I got my visa, took out some local currency and fully expected to walk out to mobs of taxi drivers trying to get your attention like you'd find in so many other 3rd world countries. Instead i walked out and nothing. a couple taxi drivers but there was actually a system! you pay at the taxi booth and the driver will take you to town - no hassle. i shared a ride with a couple french canadians so it cost me a couple bucks to go about 5-10 minutes into town.
After about 30 minutes of walking around, getting a fruit shake for $0.60, and asking other tourists their recommendations i found a little guesthouse with aircon and a bathroom for $10 a night. That afternoon i wandered everywhere - this would totally be a typical laid back beach town if it had a beach. But instead it has interesting views of the Mekong River, many buddist temples and those saffron-robed monks this place is popular for. There is a curfew at about 11 or midnight, and everything is pretty quiet. Perfect after spending a few days in crazy Hanoi.
Laos isn't known for the happy ending massage but i was a little concerned after my hanoi massage. i figured a foot massage couldn't go wrong. For less than $7, i got the best foot massage in my entire life! And i'm kind of a massage snob! I have been getting foot massages everyday since then and i will continue for as long as i'm here. after the massage i had a nice dinner and dance show of typical lao tribe dances. I tried hibiscus rice wine and some more delicious food. It was just a couple japanese women and I in the restaurant so i talked to them a little bit.
Yesterday I figured I'd try my hand at a Lao cooking class. There were 2 other people signed up - a guy and girl living in London but the girl, Ana, was from Poland and the guy, Marcel, was from Czech Rep. The class was great - we went to the market to learn about lao ingredients and then got to cooking. For about 4 hours we cooked and ate delicious food. Scott says he's going to grade me when i get home. ha! I hung out with Ana and Marcel a bit and they were nice and interesting to talk to but they were obviously at their breaking point with each other. They argued a lot and were disagreeing on what and how to do things. This is one good thing about traveling on your own - you may get lonely, but you're never bored enough to fully realize much loneliness. I can go where ever I want when ever i want. There are enough tourists here to chat with for a while and even locals are friendly and will talk to you. But it would be nice to share the experience with someone. I'm really excited for Scott to meet me in Cambodia. By then maybe the loneliness will hit. Oh, I met an American girl in teh Hanoi airport. She was born in Laos but totally western so we hung out for a while in the airport and she taught me some basic words in Laos. She is volunteering in the capital of Vientiane for 2 weeks -could be interesting to learn more about.
My days here will continue to consist of massages, many fruit shakes, shopping, and getting lost. I figure that after spoiling rich people at the Ritz for over a year, I can spoil myself! Saturday I fly to southern Laos so I got a couple more days here...
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Halong Bay and Eating Dog
Apparently, if you felt you had an unlucky month you can eat dog on the last sunday of that month so you can have good luck the following month. i've eaten cow brains and fried earthworms but, call me crazy, i won't eat dog. it's a good thing i'm generally a lucky person!
sorry, this key board is strange and trying to use the shift key to make uppercase letters is only slowing me down. no caps today.
so, halong bay. after a 4 hour drive from hanoi, through rice fields with workers wearing conical hats and water buffalo, the tour bus arrived at halong city to board the boat to the bay. i had a 3 day/2night tour and the first night was on a boat called the poseidon sails. the boat was beautiful and my room had nice big windows with quite the view. it was just low enough to the water so that i could reach out my window to buy a cold beer from one of the ladies selling goods from her little boat. there were about 12 people on the tour - a mix of british, vietnamese-american, malaysian, swiss and a local couple from hanoi. once on board we were served lunch and i ended up sitting with the british girls and getting to know them for most the evening. they are teaching english in hong kong for a year and came out to halong bay for a quick weekend. i would love to do that someday.
our first stop was at a very large cave called sung sot cave (suprising cave). i read all about this cave and how its a very popular stop for tourists on halong bay cruises. it was completely massive, but all the stalactites/mites were "dead". so many people had been in the cave that their formation has completely ceased. so yes, it was suprising at how insanely huge the cave was but the real suprise came when our guide led us to the cave at the very end and yelled "suprise!!" and there in the middle of the cave was a massive formation of what looked like a man's penis! ha! there was even a red spotlight on it so it was very noticeable.
after the cave stop we got to kayak around for awhile- it was cool but there were so many boats and tourists that it didn't feel very serene. I got a 2-person kayak to myself and out-paddled most the other people just trying to figure out how to steer - yes i'm bragging. The rest of the night was spent swimming off the boat, eating dinner and singing karaoke. nothing crazy, but it was a good time.
The following day everyone except the 2 swiss girl and i went back to hanoi. so the 3 of us got off on the large island of Cat Ba with a ton of other tourists. our guide brought us to cat ba national park (with all the other tourists) where we did a hike to the summit. took about an hour to get to the top and i out-hiked everyone. yes-i'm braggin again. i attribute it to my massive lung capacity from living at 8000 feet and now only being at sea level. anyway, it was a good thing i got there first cuz the view was amazing and it was only ruined by the nearly 50 people that arrived shortly after. there wasnt any sort of platform on top - just a little area with a bunch of rocks so once everyone started to come up it got ridiculously crowded. to get down was to squeeze past a ton of people trying to get up on this pretty technical path.
the 2 swiss girls (angela and sabrina) and i checked into a hotel on the island and it sort of sucked. i won't go into details but i wish i would have only done the 2day/1 night on the boat tour. we had lunch, dinner and breakfast included in the hotel cafeteria where there were a group of vietnamese men getting drunk. one of them snapped a photo of angelas chest. she said she was really tired of men here staring at her chest cuz it's pretty big compared to asian women. lucky for me i don't have that problem! That and i'm taking care to cover up a bit more.
Back in hanoi i had just a few hours left to enjoy the city before heading to my next destination. there are all the makeshift sidewalk eateries with little plastic step stools to sit on and tiny plastic tables to eat on. it's amazing to see the streets filled with business men and women squatting down at these tiny tables with nice suits on slurping their food and practically sitting on the floor. so i had to try it. it took me a lot of courage cuz i'm on my own and feel a little intimidated but i squeezed in and ordered a delicious meal and a beer for only $2.50! after my meal, i took in a water puppet show which was really fun! nothing is made for the western size though. the theater seats were tiny with no leg room, the bus to halong bay had no leg room, the regular clothes here are tiny. i could go on and on. i'm such giant here.
tuesday morning i got on a flight to luang prabang, laos. i'll start a new posting for that...
sorry, this key board is strange and trying to use the shift key to make uppercase letters is only slowing me down. no caps today.
so, halong bay. after a 4 hour drive from hanoi, through rice fields with workers wearing conical hats and water buffalo, the tour bus arrived at halong city to board the boat to the bay. i had a 3 day/2night tour and the first night was on a boat called the poseidon sails. the boat was beautiful and my room had nice big windows with quite the view. it was just low enough to the water so that i could reach out my window to buy a cold beer from one of the ladies selling goods from her little boat. there were about 12 people on the tour - a mix of british, vietnamese-american, malaysian, swiss and a local couple from hanoi. once on board we were served lunch and i ended up sitting with the british girls and getting to know them for most the evening. they are teaching english in hong kong for a year and came out to halong bay for a quick weekend. i would love to do that someday.
our first stop was at a very large cave called sung sot cave (suprising cave). i read all about this cave and how its a very popular stop for tourists on halong bay cruises. it was completely massive, but all the stalactites/mites were "dead". so many people had been in the cave that their formation has completely ceased. so yes, it was suprising at how insanely huge the cave was but the real suprise came when our guide led us to the cave at the very end and yelled "suprise!!" and there in the middle of the cave was a massive formation of what looked like a man's penis! ha! there was even a red spotlight on it so it was very noticeable.
after the cave stop we got to kayak around for awhile- it was cool but there were so many boats and tourists that it didn't feel very serene. I got a 2-person kayak to myself and out-paddled most the other people just trying to figure out how to steer - yes i'm bragging. The rest of the night was spent swimming off the boat, eating dinner and singing karaoke. nothing crazy, but it was a good time.
The following day everyone except the 2 swiss girl and i went back to hanoi. so the 3 of us got off on the large island of Cat Ba with a ton of other tourists. our guide brought us to cat ba national park (with all the other tourists) where we did a hike to the summit. took about an hour to get to the top and i out-hiked everyone. yes-i'm braggin again. i attribute it to my massive lung capacity from living at 8000 feet and now only being at sea level. anyway, it was a good thing i got there first cuz the view was amazing and it was only ruined by the nearly 50 people that arrived shortly after. there wasnt any sort of platform on top - just a little area with a bunch of rocks so once everyone started to come up it got ridiculously crowded. to get down was to squeeze past a ton of people trying to get up on this pretty technical path.
the 2 swiss girls (angela and sabrina) and i checked into a hotel on the island and it sort of sucked. i won't go into details but i wish i would have only done the 2day/1 night on the boat tour. we had lunch, dinner and breakfast included in the hotel cafeteria where there were a group of vietnamese men getting drunk. one of them snapped a photo of angelas chest. she said she was really tired of men here staring at her chest cuz it's pretty big compared to asian women. lucky for me i don't have that problem! That and i'm taking care to cover up a bit more.
Back in hanoi i had just a few hours left to enjoy the city before heading to my next destination. there are all the makeshift sidewalk eateries with little plastic step stools to sit on and tiny plastic tables to eat on. it's amazing to see the streets filled with business men and women squatting down at these tiny tables with nice suits on slurping their food and practically sitting on the floor. so i had to try it. it took me a lot of courage cuz i'm on my own and feel a little intimidated but i squeezed in and ordered a delicious meal and a beer for only $2.50! after my meal, i took in a water puppet show which was really fun! nothing is made for the western size though. the theater seats were tiny with no leg room, the bus to halong bay had no leg room, the regular clothes here are tiny. i could go on and on. i'm such giant here.
tuesday morning i got on a flight to luang prabang, laos. i'll start a new posting for that...
Friday, April 22, 2011
Jingle Bells in Vietnam
Finally made it to Hanoi, Vietnam last night so today I spent all day wandering around this crazy and wonderous city. Even after traveling for 48 hours, I still woke up at 5am wide awake because of the time change (13 hours ahead of Mountain Time). And this comes from someone who can never get out of bed until 10:30am!
I started my day with a shower and a little orange lizard joined me! Thought it was an insect at first cuz I wasn't wearing my glasses and when I took a closer look he scampered back behind the mirror. All day I've been waiting for him to come back out and scare me again...maybe tomorrow morn. Then I took a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake and everyone was out doing their exercises...many still in what looked like their pajamas! It's been a dreary but extremely humid and warm day. Good thing it wasn't sunny or I'd melt. Going from intense dry in the mountains to what feels like 99% humidity has made my hair really wavy and full- sort of wish it'd do this back home!
Anyway, crossing the streets here is NUTS! Traffic doesn't follow any rules and even one way streets have motorbikes going the wrong direction. Heck, the side walks are full of motorbikes and it's easier to just walk in the street than it is any sidewalk. So to cross the street you're suppose to walk very slowly and just keep the same pace while the traffic dodges you. And yes, traffic will dodge you but I nearly had a heart attack the first couple times I did it. At one very large and busy intersection an older lady saw that I was a little scared and she helped me get across.
People here are definitely very nice. I really don't feel unsafe or like people are trying to scam me. The staff at the hotel is great and very helpful. They booked me a trip to Halong Bay leaving tomorrow and one guy said that he was raised there and he knows which boats are good.
After walking for a few hours and feeling tired a motorbike taxi offered a ride so I decided to take him up on it. He gave me a wonky helmet to put on and away we went in the opposite direction of traffic, zooming and dodging everything. However, he was a good driver (relative to everyone else here) and I got to my next destination safely and quickly. Often we were wedged between cars, pedestrians, bicycles and other motorbikes while on the sidewalk waiting for someone to move and make some space. Next time I'll video record it.
What is eveyone's favorite pastime while in SE Asia? Massages! I found myself a legit spa because my happy ending does not consist of inappropriate touching. Um, it was still a little inappropriate. This spa is recommended by Lonely Planet as well as top-end hotels here, but culturally, things are just a bit different. I should have figured since that spa treatment I had in Morocco was also a bit strange. So I book a 70 minute deluxe salt body scrub and massage for $35 - cheap! The lady leads me to a room that has 2 massage beds. She tells me to take off everything and put on these plastic underwear. Ok. She stays in the room while I get undressed until she realizes I'm sort of fidgeting around. The language barrier prevents us from understanding each other so it's real awkward. She starts on my back and it's awesome. Literally though, she's on my back and climbing all over the place. Then she gets out the salt scrub and that is awesome as well, until she rubs all my skin off. My legs are next and I don't get the massage before the salt so my leg skin is pretty much non-existant now. Then my arms. I flip over and she does the top of my legs and feet. Then she pulls the sheet down so my top is fully exposed. OH, did I mention that now there is someone else in the other massage bed? I knew she was female, but it was weird. Then I get a full upper body massage - and I mean full. Holy crap! I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time it was extremely awkward! Anyway, I go rinse off and when I get back to the room the other girl in the room was getting the same treatment. Made me feel better that it wasn't just me and they're obviously not modest here. Then the girl (American too) and I both got dressed in front of the 2 massage ladies and we're looking at each other like "uh hi, nice to meet you, uh, or something." We had a laugh about it once we both got to the waiting room.
It's just so strange that we're so un-modest with our clothing in the US and UK. We can wear midriff shirts, short skirts, show a load of skin and it's ok. But once you get women in the locker room, many of us still try to keep mostly covered and private, whether with strangers or family or friends. But here and many other countries women are a lot more conservative with their dress in public, but you get women together in private and they totally don't care.
Lastly, the night market is going on tonight so I had a wander through. Lots of knock-off clothing, belts, cell phone covers, etc. People are blaring both American and Vietnamese music, but probably the loudest song was a pop version of Jingle Bells with a couple little kids dancing to it. Love it!
Off to Halong Bay tomorrow for a 3 day/2 night cruise. Will write again then.
I started my day with a shower and a little orange lizard joined me! Thought it was an insect at first cuz I wasn't wearing my glasses and when I took a closer look he scampered back behind the mirror. All day I've been waiting for him to come back out and scare me again...maybe tomorrow morn. Then I took a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake and everyone was out doing their exercises...many still in what looked like their pajamas! It's been a dreary but extremely humid and warm day. Good thing it wasn't sunny or I'd melt. Going from intense dry in the mountains to what feels like 99% humidity has made my hair really wavy and full- sort of wish it'd do this back home!
Anyway, crossing the streets here is NUTS! Traffic doesn't follow any rules and even one way streets have motorbikes going the wrong direction. Heck, the side walks are full of motorbikes and it's easier to just walk in the street than it is any sidewalk. So to cross the street you're suppose to walk very slowly and just keep the same pace while the traffic dodges you. And yes, traffic will dodge you but I nearly had a heart attack the first couple times I did it. At one very large and busy intersection an older lady saw that I was a little scared and she helped me get across.
People here are definitely very nice. I really don't feel unsafe or like people are trying to scam me. The staff at the hotel is great and very helpful. They booked me a trip to Halong Bay leaving tomorrow and one guy said that he was raised there and he knows which boats are good.
After walking for a few hours and feeling tired a motorbike taxi offered a ride so I decided to take him up on it. He gave me a wonky helmet to put on and away we went in the opposite direction of traffic, zooming and dodging everything. However, he was a good driver (relative to everyone else here) and I got to my next destination safely and quickly. Often we were wedged between cars, pedestrians, bicycles and other motorbikes while on the sidewalk waiting for someone to move and make some space. Next time I'll video record it.
What is eveyone's favorite pastime while in SE Asia? Massages! I found myself a legit spa because my happy ending does not consist of inappropriate touching. Um, it was still a little inappropriate. This spa is recommended by Lonely Planet as well as top-end hotels here, but culturally, things are just a bit different. I should have figured since that spa treatment I had in Morocco was also a bit strange. So I book a 70 minute deluxe salt body scrub and massage for $35 - cheap! The lady leads me to a room that has 2 massage beds. She tells me to take off everything and put on these plastic underwear. Ok. She stays in the room while I get undressed until she realizes I'm sort of fidgeting around. The language barrier prevents us from understanding each other so it's real awkward. She starts on my back and it's awesome. Literally though, she's on my back and climbing all over the place. Then she gets out the salt scrub and that is awesome as well, until she rubs all my skin off. My legs are next and I don't get the massage before the salt so my leg skin is pretty much non-existant now. Then my arms. I flip over and she does the top of my legs and feet. Then she pulls the sheet down so my top is fully exposed. OH, did I mention that now there is someone else in the other massage bed? I knew she was female, but it was weird. Then I get a full upper body massage - and I mean full. Holy crap! I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time it was extremely awkward! Anyway, I go rinse off and when I get back to the room the other girl in the room was getting the same treatment. Made me feel better that it wasn't just me and they're obviously not modest here. Then the girl (American too) and I both got dressed in front of the 2 massage ladies and we're looking at each other like "uh hi, nice to meet you, uh, or something." We had a laugh about it once we both got to the waiting room.
It's just so strange that we're so un-modest with our clothing in the US and UK. We can wear midriff shirts, short skirts, show a load of skin and it's ok. But once you get women in the locker room, many of us still try to keep mostly covered and private, whether with strangers or family or friends. But here and many other countries women are a lot more conservative with their dress in public, but you get women together in private and they totally don't care.
Lastly, the night market is going on tonight so I had a wander through. Lots of knock-off clothing, belts, cell phone covers, etc. People are blaring both American and Vietnamese music, but probably the loudest song was a pop version of Jingle Bells with a couple little kids dancing to it. Love it!
Off to Halong Bay tomorrow for a 3 day/2 night cruise. Will write again then.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Travel problems =1, Suzanne =0
It's a good thing I'm so darned prepared and organized or this day could have been a lot worse. My connection today in San Franciso was only an hour, therefore I missed the connecting flight to Seoul, Korea (then on to Hanoi, Vietnam). If I received a boarding pass for this leg of the flight in Denver I probably would have made it, but Asiana Airlines made me get the pass in San Fran...and their ticket counter was closed by the time I got there. After spending an hour on the phone with Asiana and their reservations agency I was told "Come back for tomorrow's flight and pay $100 for a new ticket and hope there is space available." WHAAAAT? The res guy also kept telling me to go to the Asiana ticket counter and I kept telling them they were closed and no one is there. And again he would tell me to just talk to agent at the counter. After the 3rd or 4th time he told me that (No exaggeration!) I opened up a can on him. He was absolutely no help and had me on hold for about 40 minutes while he checked with his supervisor who was also no help. After that phone call, I called talked to someone else from Asiana and they said the same thing "Go talk to the ticket agent at the ticket counter or come back tomorrow and pay for a ticket and the res office will reimburse you once you make a claim." After crying on the phone to her she said to talk to United Airlines since it's a codeshare flight. I went to United and two other passengers were having the same issue! Long story short, United got me onto a flight for tomorrow, rerouted my baggage, called Asiana to release my tickets with them, and didn't charge me a dime! Even the United agent was super frustrated with the Asiana agent she talked to and kept telling them that it was not my fault and that the connection time they booked for me was too short for international flights, so it's their fault. Scott flies to Cambodia in less than 3 weeks and he has the same connection time in SFO so hopefully he is able to change it before the same thing happens to him. I've never in my all my travels had such an awful experience with an airline's customer service. I could continue to go on and on, but I'll save that for the letter Asiana is going to receive. United seriously saved my ass, so they'll get one too...a nice one :)
So good news? At the very last minute I decided to bring my cell phone and my Ritz/Marriott employee ID. I also packed an extra outfit and my swim suit in my carry-on bag for those "just in case" scenarios. Well, this is a "just in case" moment and lucky for me I'm lounging at the SFO Courtyard Marriott for cheap and I'm going to test out my new swim suit in the hot tub!
So good news? At the very last minute I decided to bring my cell phone and my Ritz/Marriott employee ID. I also packed an extra outfit and my swim suit in my carry-on bag for those "just in case" scenarios. Well, this is a "just in case" moment and lucky for me I'm lounging at the SFO Courtyard Marriott for cheap and I'm going to test out my new swim suit in the hot tub!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Getting Ready
Ahhhhh, another big trip in the works - I'm almost choking on my own excitement! Starting next Tuesday April 19th, I'll be hanging out in Southeast Asia for nearly 5 weeks. It will be another planes, trains and automobiles type of trip...well minus the trains and add a few boats in there. I'm starting out in Hanoi, Vietnam, then on to Luang Prabang, Pakse, & Si Phan Don in Laos, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and some other random places in Cambodia. I'll be on my own for the first 2.5 weeks then my boyfriend Scott is meeting me in Siem Reap, Cambodia for the last 2 weeks. Woo hoo! Once again I'm pretty overwhelmed with getting all ready and packed. Not only do I need to pack for this trip, but I am also packing to move out of the place I'm renting. I should be used to this considering I've done it for the last few years, but I'm not. Also, I've noticed that the older I get the more of an organizational freak I become and seem to waste more time on making sure everything is in order than on just letting things be. Oh, and the internet isn't helping either! There are so many travel websites with so much info that I just feel like I should look up and know everything about everywhere I'm going. Just 10 years ago I packed my bags for Costa Rica with just a guidebook in hand and listened to advice from other travelers I met along the way and it was the best trip I've had. Now I'm more confused than ever about which of the million hotels, restaurants, and places I should go to. So, my note to self is to relax and go with the flow, man! I know that no matter where I end up I'll enjoy it more if it's not totally planned out...because nothing ever goes as planned on a trip like this - ever!
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