Phnom Penh

We've been absolutely loving our time in Cambodia, and immediately we knew the blog's timeliness would suffer. So however belated, here is a very long post on what happened in Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh is filled with great people that haven't yet been jaded by tourism like the Thai or Vietnamesse. Everyone, from children to adults, wants to learn English and genuinely enjoys speaking to tourists. Cambodia, however, has more social problems than its neighbors: 50% of the country is under the age of 18 and consequently they have many orphans living on the street. While this is upsetting, it isn't as pervasive as we anticipated, and these issues are possibly being mitigated by the incredible UN and NGO presence. Anyways, despite all of the people's problems (and we haven't even gotten to their recent history), they are happy and a pleasure to be around.

Since we arrived in the evening, our first goal was dinner and drinks. For drinks we headed to the Foriegn Correspondants Club, prevously home to most war-time reporters, and currently housing a great photography collection showing the chaos that has unfolded in PP for decades. Next we tested and were delighted with Khmer cuisine (at Frizz), enjoying a sprout-stuffed crepe, some chicken curry, and slow bbq'd chicken. The flavors are similar to Indian cuisine, (Cambodian culture is largely influenced by India), but without much of the heat.

The next day, we toured the Royal Palace, which isn't as grand as Thailand's version, but impressive nonetheless. We continued on through the obligatory market, past the Hotel Le Royal, and on to the not-so-fantastic Wat Phnom. Seeing the city itself was more rewarding than these sights in many ways.



Walkin around, Lindsey has especially enjoyed the children's sales skills and strong personalities. Granted children shouldn't really have to sell things on the street, but they sure are good at it. One kid asked, 'Where are you from,' and upon hearing 'America' replied: 'Howdy, You have 300 million people, your president is Obama, your Capital is Washington DC.' It was pretty impressive as he went from table to table with his pitch.

One of the things that brought us to Cambodia is their rich history, both ancient and recent. One thousand years ago, the Khmer people were Asia's Romans, building grand temples and cities. More recently, their country suffered one of history's most brutal genocides under the Khmer Rouge. We wanted to get a closer look at both of these.

A quick history lesson: the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, was a communist political party and militia, that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979. The party imposed a severe form of social engineering on the society, forcing the entire population to leave the cities and work on agrarian communes or forced labor projects. Anyone who dissented or showed modern tendencies was tortured and executed. By 1979, when the KR lost power to the Vietnamesse, they had murdered over 1.5mm people, roughly 25% of the Cambodian population. To get a better understanding of this history, we toured the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly the Khmer Rouge's largest prison and interrogation center, where over 17,000 people were tortured and murdered.



A tour guide walked us through each room, describing the torture that occured in the place we stood. It was graphic and shocking as we saw splattered blood that remained on ceilings, blood stained floors, and pictures of countless prisoners before and after tourture. We also had the rare chance to see one of four remamining survivors of the prison (there were only 12 of 17,000) being interviewed. The survivors were kept alive for certian skills (artist, mechanic, etc) that were deemed useful.

The pictures of children, deemed "enemies" of KR were unimaginable.



The museum was a shocking look at history, but more interestingly revealed the forgiving nature of Cambodians. As our tour guide showed us a picture of a man beating another to death with a bamboo stick, she explained that the same man worked upstairs at the museum. We were shocked: a former S21 executioner, responsible for personally killing hundreds worked at the museum devoted to explaining the same barbarism! Upstairs, we saw the man turn on a movie about the murders he had personally committed, and couldn't help but cringe. It is an incredibly different culture that is hard to understand.

When we found out that both of our guide's parents had been executed, we had to ask: "Are you angry?" She wasn't at all and much of this comes down to two things. The first is practical: they figure that if they had killed all of the khmer rouge soldiers as retribution that 50% of their country would have died instead of only 25%. The second component to their utter lack of anger is related to their Buddhist faith. They figure that these people will be punished in their next lifetime, and as such they don't have the same appetite for "justice" as the West. The only exception, is their excitement that the former leaders (about 4 people) are imprisoned or currently on trial.

Once prisoners were tortured, generally over the course of a few weeks, they were taken to the nearby Choeung Ek Killing Fields for execution and mass burial. This was our next stop and an eerie place where bone fragments and bits of clothing litter the ground you walk on. It is also site to a memorial stupa, which holds over 8,000 skulls that have been exhumed.



In the evening, in need of some pep, we got massages from blind people at Seeing Hands Massage, before having the first good Mexican meal of the trip. Steve had given up hope of every getting decent Mexican and refused to order anything until he'd tasted the salsa and chips. Luckily Cantina was a great exception and we returned for a second dinner here before leaving Phnom Penh.

The next day, we took a full day Khmer cooking course, through Frizz restaurant. We learned to make spring rolls, a curried fish amok steamed in a banana leaf bowl (below), banana leaf salad, and sticky rice dessert. It's another few courses for our internation banquet upon our return. The most rewarding part, however, was speaking with our teacher, who was an orphan that learned to cook through a local charity that teaches cooking and English skills. He grew up eating rats and insects (his favorite is actually dog), and is now studying to apply to American Universities. It was amazing how far the country and its people have come in such a short amount of time.



In the evening, we had a drink at the posh Elephant Bar, one-time host to Jackie Kennedy, before returning to the FCC for a few more. During out time here, Earth Hour occured and the FCC turned off their lights and we continued drinking by candle light. Oh, and they gave us free sangria for earth hour!

The following day, we had one more nerdy stop at the Cambodian National Museum, which housed the largest collection of Khmer art. Most of their works are from temples near Angkor Wat (our next stop) and so was good preparation. We learned a bit about Hindu and Buddhist symbolism in the sculptures and really enjoyed this place. It was probably the best museum of the trip thus far.



We really enjoyed the history, food, and people in Phnom Penh and think we'll return. It was one of our favorite stops so far, but we're excited for Angkor Wat where we'll see the world's largest temple!

The City Formerly Known As Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as the locals call it, was a pleasant surprise. Having been overwhelmed with Hanoi, we were apprehensive about the city's four million motorbikes, but the wide boulevards reasonably handle the traffic. The city, more than our other stops, felt like a global city, with a decent mix of western brands and its own culture.



We started with a walking a tour and passed a pho (rice noodle soup) stand that was once the secret headquarters of the VC in Saigon. Continuing on, we entered the Beh Thanh market, for a quick look at vendors selling everything under the sun. Lindsey wasn't a big fan of being grabbed and literally pulled into each of the stalls, but its all part of the experience! Next we passed the Rex Hotel, once the headquarters of the US Army, and opposite it, the fancier Hotel D'Ville, which is now the headquarters for the communist People's Committee. No visitors allowed there!



Our first stop was to the War Remnants Museum. It's initial name, "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam" might tip you off to its bias. The museum showcases some incredibly moving photographs of the attrocities of war: napalm burnt children, deformed humans from agent orange exposure, and mass graves from massacres. Even though the museum only covered damage done by Americans, and ommitted the crimes the North committed against its own people, it wasn't exactly offensive, just one-sided. It was a very in-your-face exhibit in the damage that wars create.



The museum also had other sections that provided general information about the war's differnet units, and where they were stationed. We saw one photograph of one of the only parachute jumps (a practice one) in the war by the 101st Airbone division. Lindsey's dad was the first man out of the plane on this jump and we likely saw his chute in this picture.

Next, we made our way past Saigon's own Notre Dame Cathedral, and its post office (below), before arriving at the Natural History museum. This was a quick stop, and we'd suggest anyone else skip it since the numerous piles of jugs don't even have English explanations!



Given it was a scorching day and we had finished our walking tour, we stopped in for a cool air-conditioned massage, where Steve and Lindsey's dad literally got walked on! Lindsey's massage was a bit gentler.

Finally, we made our way through rush hour traffic back to our hotel for some beers overlooking a street corner. Overall we were impressed with Saigon on our first day, and felt that of all the cities we'd seen thus far, it would be the easiest place to live.

Our second day, we took a cyclo ride to Cholon, the Chinese section of Saigon. We wandered through another market (Bin Thay), took in the smells of the traditional herd stores, and saw an impressive pagoda (maybe Phuc An Hoi Quan?). We ate some great duck soup at a local spot, before our worst cullinary experience yet: durian icecream.



Durian is a popular fruit here that supposedly tastes like eating rotten fish while sitting in an outhouse. The guy on the food channel that eats gross foods across the world doesn't even like durian. Even so, we felt the need to try it. Rather than take the full plunge by digging into the actual fruit, we decided that durian icecream would be a good first step. We each took a spoon full, and before it even touch our lips, the smell gave all of us second thoughts. Nevertheless, we ate it, squirmed, and quickly sent it away without a second bite. Simply put, durian is absolutely revolting.



With most of the sites of Saigon exhausted we opted to move on to Cambodia the following day. Our last night with Lindsey's dad, we sat in plastic chairs, drank beers and watched the motorbikes go by. We witnessed two motorbike wrecks, Steve's chair collapsed underneath him, and we discussed our final thoughts on Vietnam.

There are many to talk about another time, but here are two of our favorite memories:
1) "Same Same" is a phrase that can be used for anything. Like if you have a beer belly like Lindsey's dad and you pass a statue of buddha, someone might point to both and say "same, same!" This only happened four times. Or if I want to eat the same thing, but I don't want cheese... they would feel the need to responsd "Same Same, But Different". Anyways, we enjoyed that phrase.

2) Driving here is absolute madness for so many reasons. In a city, you can't ride on the edge of a street because that space is used by vehicles going against traffic. Basically, every road has four "lanes", alternating in direction. There are no turning restrictions and few stop lights, none of which are enforced. A motorbike attached to a wooden cart can pull almost anything. On the highway, when two cars drive by each other they always honk, even if they are in their own lanes and completely alone. If it is dark out, they use their brights instead of their horn. This we just don't understand at all.

ps, we're in Phnom Penh now and loving it. More details to come.

Mui Ne: Resorts and Dunes

If we've learned one thing by now it's that taking a bus always results in a good story. We arrived in Mui Ne by bus around 1am only to be dropped off about 3 miles from our hotel, but conventinely directly in front of the bus company's hotel. Determined to not fall into their trap, we began walking towards our hotel, not fully aware of the distance. After about 20 minutes of walking and seeing very little change in the address numbers, we were getting nervous. Luckily, two motorbike taxis pulled up and after a ten minute high-speed ride we arrived at our hotel. Our place turned out to be a dingy bungalow with windows that didn't open and in the morning we opted to look for a new room.

We decided to visit Mui Ne for more beach time. The coastal town is famous for its sand dunes and wind/kite-surfers. The beach is lined with bungalows and resorts, but other than that there isn't much of an actual town.

Our first morning we walked the main road to find breakfast and stumbled upon a fancy resort where we were able to grab a breakfast buffet. We completely binged. The resort (Blue Ocean) had a great pool area and since it was only a bit more than the previous night's room, we splurged and settled down in lounge chairs. We spent the morning sitting by the pool, swimming, and reading up on the next leg of our journey in Cambodia.



In the afternoon we rented a motorobike and drove out to the sand dunes. At the dunes we rented sheets of plastic from children and went sledding. It's a fun ride down, but the way up is absolutely exhausting. You crawl on all fours, and each step you take results in sliding backwards about two steps. We only found enough motivation for two rides each. There are some more great pictures of this so check out the whole album.



This shot gives you an idea of the scale and steepness of it. That's Lindsey flying down.



Sand, sun, and a climbing dunes left us exhausted, but Steve looked particularly gross.



In the evening we had another Indian dinner at Shree Ganesh which was great and watched some terrible TV before falling asleep.

Our second day, we relaxed by the pool and did little else. Steve considered going kite surfing, but figured that one day probably wasn't enough to get going. Tonight we head to Saigon on a quick five hour bus that will no doubt result in something odd happening. There we will regroup with Lindsey's dad for our final stop together and take in the sites of another crazy city.

Nha Trang: Beach Life

We left Hoi An aboard an overnight bus to Nha Trang that proved to be horrific! We each had a top bunk three across, Steve barely fit into his "bed", and all of our seatbelts were broken that would prevent us from crashing to the floor. As if this wasn't bad enough, the driver honked continously throughout the 12 hour ride to prevent any rest. And to top it off, the locals tied hammocks to the beds and swung in the aisles below us. At a certain point we just laughed at how ridiculous the entire thing was. Luckily we had some Zanex that allowed us to get a bit of sleep even in the worst of situations.



Nha Trang is a beach town and our first activity was renting a catamaran to sail up and down the shore. There wasn't enough wind to get it out of the water, but Lindsey learned how to sail a bit. Afterwards we ate lunch at beach-side Louisianne Restaurant and napped a bit on their lounge chairs. It was a relaxing start to a few lazy days here.



That night we had one of the best French meals ever at Le Petite Bistro which we highly highly recommend to anyone coming here. We're probably headed back there for our last meal in Nha Trang tonight.

The next day Steve and Lindsey took a wind-surfing lesson in the morning. Lindsey was a natural and Steve could have used a bit more wind to get going, but we both enjoyed it. Lindsey's instructor speaking English also may have helped! We're hoping to rent boards again at the next beach on our trip for some more practice.



Later that day we hooked back up with Lindsey's dad and rode bicycles through some crazy traffic to a great photographer's gallery, the Long Son Pagoda, and the Po Nagar Towers built by the Champa people. The pagoda was more impressive than anything we've seen in Vietnam so far, but still fell short of Thailand's wats.



Following this, we rode to the harbor where all of the boat trips to the surrounding islands depart. We met a boat captain and negotiated a private trip with him for the following morning. The captain had been in the South Vietnamese Airforce in '71 and was a big fan of us being Americans.

Our boat trip turned out to be fantastic and after seeing boats packed full with 40 tourists we were glad we spent the extra $20 to secure a private trip. We stopped at a two islands to do some snorkelling and despite Steve's mask not really keeping water out it was a great time (see pic). At the second site, Lindsey returned to the boat rather quickly after seeing what she thought were sea snakes, but it turns out they were some other strange harmless creature. Look at the album for some fun underwater shots.



After snorkelling we made our way to a floating fishing village. We saw some massive carp, squid, and lobsters inside their nets, and took a wobly ride in their circular boats. They wanted us to buy some seafood and have it cooked at the neighboring restaurant, but it was surprisingly expensive and we headed back to port.

Our last day in Nha Trang, we wanted to stay out of the sun as we're both a bit burnt and headed to Thap Ba Hot springs. Here we took a mud bath, sat in some spring-fed mineral pools, and relaxed a bit. For $6, it wasn't the fanciest place ever but a nice end to our time here.

Tonight we're headed to Mui Ne (aboard another sleeper bus!) to ride down sand-dunes and enjoy some more beach time!

Hoi An, Finally!

Hoi An looks and feels like the Vietnamese town we imagined and had been waiting for. It's become a staple on the Vietnam tourism trail for its French and Chinese architecture, abscense of motorbike traffice, and polite people. It's also well known for its tailors and over the last 20 years has grown from having just 10 tailors to nearly 700. We stayed clear of the tailors this time!

First we walked around the French Quarter and got a tour of a traditional home by its owner who was the fourth generation in his family to live there. The house was interesting, but the man's feelings on his country were especially touching. He was the first to speak openly about communism and was optimistic that his grandchildren would experience true freedom. He also joked that the country was previously under the rule of communism, but now fell under the rule of tourism.



The next day we took a boat on the river for a closer view of the fishing.



Afterwards, we rode bikes to Cua Dai beach, got sunburnt, and ate some grilled shrimp. Walking down the beach women from each of the restaurants sprint towards you to try to convince you to eat at their venue. This has the opposite effect since the women look rather frightening convered in hats, masks, jackets, long-pants, gloves, and socks. Steve suggested to the waitress at our restaurant that they should offer a free beer with each entree instead of running after people, but they didn't seem to understand. No matter what the waitress was doing when people walked by she would drop everything, sprint 30 yards to the water and try her best. It never worked!

Back in town, Lindsey picked up a new dress from a great designer who hand-paints her own silk dresses. The artist didn't seem to market herself outside of Hoi An and Lindsey thinks it would be interesting to introduce some of these newfound designers to US botiques.

Other than that we ate some great French food (at Cargo) and just enjoyed the slow pace of the town.

Hue, Really Not That Interesting

The city of Hue (pronounced way and not huey as we've heard it called) is really not that interesting. But since we've gotten some requests, here's what we saw:

Our first stop was to the Citadel and Imperial Palace, which from 1802-1945, was the imperial capital of the Nguyễn Dynasty. We weren't all that impressed with the architecure and just don't think that the temples we've seen in Vietnam are anything great-especially because of their heavy use of blinking lights. At the same time, however, we have a newfound respect for cheesy restaurants in the US for their spot-on replication. Here's one of the gates in to the palace that is respectable.



The city was also the sight of the Battle of Hue, during the 1968 Tet Offensive, which left nearly all of the grounds in ruins. The Vietnamese have only recently put effort into restoring it since they can now sell tickets to see it.



Following the citadel we took a ride on cyclos around the city to find out if we were
missing anything. It turns out we weren't, but our drivers were nice and put in a good hour of work pushing us around.



In the evening we went to a restaurant which specialized in "Imperial" food. All of the ingredients were carefully carved into peacocks or flowers, and while we still prefer Thai food, it was a fun experience.

We left Hue enroute to Hoi An, which has proved to be our favorite stop in Vietnam so far. More details to come...

Junk Boats, Choco-Pies, & Tiger Beers

We returned from SaPa on an overnight train, and even though it has been a bit chilly, headed to Ha Long Bay for a two-night tour.

After a three-hour minibus ride, we boarded our junk boat and began to motor around the many limestone cliffs, and fishing villages. As an unappetizing lunch was served we began to realize (and soon confirmed) that we were placed on the cheap boat, even though we'd paid for the nice one! That just seems to be the way things happen here! Over the next few hours we sat on the roof, played cards, drank some tiger beers, and met a great couple from Ireland finishing up a six-month trip of their own.



Next we stopped at a touristy cave which was crowded and dull, and afterwards kayaked around some of the bay. We were able to get some close up views of the fishing families that literally live on the water. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold to do much swimming, but it would be an amazing place in warmer weather. We also discovered a newfound love of choco-pies, which are sold at many of the floating stores that pull up alongside boats.



The next day, we went to Cat Ba Island and took a short, but steep, hike to a peak for some great views. And after our fourth meal of fish coated in an unrecognizable sauce, we headed to Monkey Island to see, well, monkeys. After anchoring offshore we waited for a long while for a boat to bring us ashore. Steve grew impatient and dove off for a cool swim in.



The last day we boated a bit more and headed back to Hanoi. Our plan was to kill time before our evening's train trip south, but unfortunately, Lindsey began to feel dizzy at dinner and we took her to the clinic. It turns out she had a lot of fluid built up in her ears and sinuses which caused bad vertigo. Steve teased her that she should at least get a good illness like malaria or tape-worms!

So after a few days of laying low in Hanoi, and eating some great non-Vietnamesse food, Lindsey is feeling better again and we're headed to Hue for what will hopefully be warm weather.

SaPa: Fog, Rice, and Tribes

We arrived in Lao Cai on the overnight train around 6am and boarded a minivan bound for SaPa. SaPa is a little mountain town close to the Chinese border with a lot of tribal and tourist influences. Vietnam has over 50 different tribes, the majority of which live in the Northern mountains. As we climbed into the mountains, we passed people dressed in tribal clothing carrying farming tools or loads of wood, but the dramatic mountain views that we expected were blocked by a thick fog. Even so, we were excited after seeing several tribes so far that just wore old nike clothes. We arrived and checked into the Cat Cat View Hotel, had breakfast looking out into the grey, and hoped it would burn off.



With the fog unchanged, we opted for a walk through town. Immediately, we were approached by three women from the Black Hmong tribe who spoke excellent English. Many people on our trip so far manage to communicate, but these women (who learned exclusevly from tourists) even had proper pronunciation--it was pretty amazing. You can't go anywhere in town without a tribal escort and as they talk to you they slowly guilt you in to buying something from them. Their favorite expression is "buy from me" so that you don't buy a similar item from a competitor. This got annoying on day 2, but it was initially a fun experience.



We walked to nearby CatCat village and as the fog began to fade we took in some great views of rice pattys, tribal homes, and the imposing mountains. This village is a bit touristy compared to others, but we were happy with anything that wasn't fog. We also saw lots of kids (some of them clothed) running around their homes.

We had a great French lunch at Baguette and Chocolat, which is a training restaurant to help underprivleded youth from the area develop cooking skills. It was a nice break from our diet of mostly Asian food thus far. (The food cravings are starting to set in and all Lindsey wants is 9th Avenue pizza.)

We also bought train tickets back to Hanoi, which as usual proved to be an experience. In Asia, it seems that most transactions that anywhere else would be very simple are instead executed by sketchy means. Because we would leave from Lao Cai (where the train station is) and not SaPa we needed to purchase our tickets from a ticket agency. He provided us with a few reciepts (not tickets) and assured us that if we waved them above our heads at the train station we would be fine. Lindsey and Steve have apparently adjusted to how thins work here and thought this seemed reasonable, but her dad had his doubts. In the end we somehow picked them up at the restaurant in Lao Cai that we ate at, but it's amazing that it worked so smoothly. They really could make things a lot easier!

After getting our reciepts, Lindsey and Steve rented a motorbike to see more of the valley and expore some of the higher roads. By this point the fog had cleared a decent amount and we got our best views.



The next day we walked to the Ma Cha and Ta Phin villages where we saw the Black Hmong and Red Dao tribes respectively. This day, however, the fog never burnt off and we spent the day walking through a cold and wet cloud. Even so, the Red Dao have some amazing tribal clothes to see. They all have very long hair that is wrapped under their red hats.



This day, however, the tribal sales gig got old and we were soon annoyed with being shadowed for hours and hours. Steve bought a scarf from one woman, which only seemed to make the second woman more desperate and upset. Apparently the concept of "you don't have anything that I like" does not translate and they demand your purchase based on the fact that they've followed you for hours. Regardless, the guilt wasn't enough to make us buy a tribal wall hanging, but we did give her a dollar (They like US money).

One purchase we did want to make was of an embroidered blanket, which proved to be an overwhelming experience. Upon looking at one blanket, blankets and saleswomen appeared from nowhere to surround us with their product. Steve pointed at the pink and purple ones and told them just to not even bother, and we eventually were able to buy one off of the least pushy girl there.



In the evening, we headed by bus back to Lao Cai where we caught the overnight train back to Hanoi. SaPa was our best experience so far seeing tribal clothing, but the town is a bit overrun with tourists. We were lucky to get a half day of nice views, but for the most part it seems to be a very damp and foggy place this time of year. We're hoping to trade in the cold fog for some sunshine on a junk boat in Halong Bay.

You may have had a problem seeing our Hanoi pictures, so if so it's fixed now. As always click any of the above pictures to access our complete online album.

Bia Hoi in Hanoi

We arrived in Hanoi on the 2nd to meet up with Lindsey's dad who is joining us for the Vietnam portion of our trip. He's interested in seeing the country as a tourist after serving two tours here as an Army Ranger. The city is packed with motorbikes, markets, and salespeople and most of our time was spent walking the streets, each of which specialize in the sale of only ONE type of product. It's amusing to wak down a street completely devoted to the sale of shoes or party-favors and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to make a variety of purchases. All the walking also taught us how you cross a street (just go for it) and to dodge motorbikes.



Our first site was to Ha Lo Prison (aka the Hanoi Hilton) which was built by the French and where America POWs (including John McCain) were held during the Vietnam War. The museum mostly focused on the attrocities of the French against Vietnamese, and their exhibits on the treatment of American POWs were intense propoganda: smiling American POW faces and videos of B52s dropping bombs on schools.



We also toured the Ho Chi Minh complex, which includes his mausoleum, a museum, and some presidential houses. HCM, or Uncle Ho as he is called, is basically the Vietnamese equivalent of George Washington, because of his leadership during their fight for independence from France and people take this place very seriously. Everyone walks in single-file lines as directed my military guards, and when inside of the masoleum you aren't allowed to even have your hands in your pockets. Inside the masoleum you can see his preserved body in a Lenin-like fashion and
it's obviously pretty creepy. We learned that two months every year his body is sent abroad for restoration!



We also toured the HCM Museum, which is one of the more bizarre museums we've seen. Here's one exhbit which we especially enjoyed:



Aside from museums, our favorite activity was sitting on a corner and enjoying bia hoi with
locals and tourists. Bia Hoi is freshly brewed beer that is made without preservates and it
eant to be enjoyed immediately. It's a pretty nasty tasting drink and we quickly switched
to canned beer, but people watching on small plastic chairs is second to nothing in Hanoi. The only downside to this are the street vendors which repeadetly bother you. Check out the album for pictures of the funny things that passed us by.



Although the pho could have kept us longer, we felt the locals weren't as friendly as those we'd seen in Thailand and we boarded an overnight train to SaPa in northern Vietnam.

Riding Elephants

Our last day in Pai (before heading to Vietnam) we began at Thom's Elephant Camp. Unlike the USA, Thailand lacks any kind of safety precations or instruction, and immediately we were able to pet and feed the elephants. The elephants were previously used for teak logging in the jungle which was outlawed. Our elephant was Pompaen (meaning Lovely Girl), a 19 year old female and the smallest of their group.



Soon it was time to ride the elephant and we grabbed an ear, stepped on it's leg, and not-so-gracefully pulled ourselves on top. We walked to the river and quickly realized there are more comfortable modes of transportation. Regardless, it was a pretty fun ride.



At the river, the elephant walked in and began spraying us with water, with Lindsey taking the worst of it. The trainer had her spray us, sit in the river, and do everything to drench us. The best moment was the elephant dance (kind of like bull riding) which sent Lindsey screaching and falling into the river. Steve lasted a bit longer since he knew what was coming. We have it on video, but need to get to a better internet connection to upload it. Here's a picture for now:



After the ride, we got to relax in thermally heated hot tubs before heading for a slow ride on a bamboo raft. The raft was pretty boring, but we got some close up view of bathing water buffalo.


Pai was a very relaxing place, and would have been even better without the smoke. Our next stop is Hanoi to meet up with Lindsey's dad and begin our journey down the Vietnamese coast.

Path to Recovery

After hardcore trekking and Lindsey's finger injury (see previous post), we checked in to Pairadise (cheesy name, but a great hotel) for some much needed relaxation. Lindsey finally got her anti-inflamatories, soaked in the pool, and took in another massage and mani-pedi. For those in Pai, she highly recommends the massage at "IceHouse". She especially enjoyed the manicure were she was presented with a wide variety of sparkly nail polishes, manufactured by HelloKitty.



Steve got bored and "boated" around a little pond.



The only activity in these two days was a 2.5-hour Yoga class at YogaSala, Steve's first. He got a lot of enjoyment out of the instructors meditative instructions, such as "whatever it is, just be happy with it" and "awaken the tips of your nose." Yet despite the funny moments, it certainly helped to stretch out our muscles.

In the evening we saw "Milk" at a theater constructed of bamboo with a bedsheet for a screen. We laughed as mid-way through the movie a subtitle appeared: "This copy is for awards consideration only and not for public presentation." Oh well, welcome to Pai.

Two days of relaxing had offset one with Mr. Chart.

Chart vs. Wild

Meet Mr. Chart, the Northern Thailand equivalent to television's 'Man vs Wild' survivalist Bear Grylls. Having read great things about Mr. Chart online, we arranged for a two-day overnight trek through the jungle to a remote Lisu village where we'd overnight and get a closer look at village life. What we really got was our butts kicked.

Around 8am, we arrived at Mr Chart's office (and home) where we were quickly offered breakfast. But Chart (apparently his first, last, and nick name) doesn't serve the standard fare, and quickly pulled out jungle ferns (yes, ferns) and a whole chicken, head, claws, and all. We embrace the strangeness of eating ferns, staring at a chicken head, and sitting on a plastic floor as we dig in. It was actually pretty good, but aside from the ferns, we begin to pick up on some odd things: 1) he named his son bamboo because he liked bamboo, and 2) he has a bag of raw boar meat (which he hunted in the jungle) and which he plans to carry all day for food. We look at each other happy we'd brought clif bars and snickers.

After a quick ride in the back of a pick-up, we start our journey at 9am and head into the woods at an aggressive pace. Chart leads the way, wearing what are basically slippers, and we quickly learn that he has been a Muay Thai boxer since the age of 7, hinting it's going to be a tough day. An hour into the hike, we arrive at the edge of the jungle and Chart offers whiskey to god(s?) to protect us at a makeshift shrine.



The next portion of the hike crossed back and forth across a stream and required a lot of footwork on slippery rocks to stay dry, which needless to say, we didn't. A few hours into the hike, Lindsey took a bad fall on one of the rocks and slammed her fist into another rock badly hurting a finger. Not sure if it was broken or just badly bruised, we stopped to treat it.

Unfortunately, Steve had knocked out the power in our bungalow the night before (which wasn't fixed!) and had forgotten the medical pack with normal things like ibuprofen and tape that could have really helped at this point. But we were confident that Mr. Chart had some supplies to help. Confidence couldn't have been more misplaced as he pulled out tigerbalm which he guaranteed can treat anything. Lindsey was not happy and in a lot of pain, but she continued on.

Another 2 hours of trekking (4 total so far) we stopped for lunch, having already taken in a quick break at a remote waterfall. Chart offered us some pickled (raw) boar, which we both declined and we stuffed ourselves with sticky-rice and clif bars. Steve made some safe drinking water with his steripen gadget, while Chart, on the other hand, just about shoved his face in the river and started drinking, assuring us it was safe. We opted for the steripen.



As lunch ended, Chart told us: "now hard part, morning trail for villagers and animals, next trail only Chart use." Given that we already felt it was a pretty difficult hike, we were a bit concerned and we quickly discovered that by "hard part" he meant we'd be following a 4 inch path up near-cliffs, down slippery stretches of gravel, and through thick jungle. It was an incredibly difficult hike and even more so for Lindsey who was unable to grip with her right hand. Yet despite how hard it was we thought that lots of people do this with Chart so we were just being a bit whimpy.

By about 3pm we reached a high elevation corn field and figured we must be getting close to the village. As we sat down for a break, Chart said "New York" and simply laughed. The 43 year-old was kicking our butts. Chart showed us some pottery fragments in the fields from a 1000-year old people and let us rest for 5 minutes. Here we found out that we were an hour and a half out from the village.

We continued uphill, climbing to 1800m and passed our first villager, 'Sam' who was out hunting for squirrel. Another hour later we stopped for our final break and found out the big secret. Instead of changing Chart's usual 3-day, 2-night trek to accomodate our 1-night requets, he just combined two days of hiking into one day. He was very excited about the time that we had made covering 30km and climbing to 1800m. We were utterly exhausted.



At 4:15, we arrive at the Lisu village and were welcomed by mean barking dogs that Chart shot at with a slingshot he had crafted in the jungle. He tells us that we have hiked all the way to the Burmese border and that the Thai army was just over the hill protecting the border. We snapped a few pictures and quickly made our way to a bench where we'd rest for the majority of the evening.



Village life was not what we had imagined. We both envisioned a rather romantic concept where the community would work together and take a lot more pride in their community than a modern society does. But this wasn't the case and it really just seemed like seperate households trying to survive: doors were locked, there was garbage throughout the area, and each family cooked for their own. The floors were dirt, livestock wandered freely (including inside the houses) and we wondered what kept people living in this manner.



As we sat and rested, Steve was invited into a house with four men squatting around a small fire eating and drinking. He had a bite of black-chicken (a gross looking animal, but tastes like regular chicken) and some shots of gasoline-powered whiskey (Samsong brand). Here he learned that no one knows how old they are in the village and they typically just say 'I was born in the rainy season' or the dry season, which occur annually. He also met a man who claimed to only shower during the wet season. He quickly left and returned to the bench for more rest.

In the evening, we slept in a house with bamboo walls, dirt floors, chickens, bags of corn/rice, and a chicken-feet door ornament. Yet despite how filfthy it all seemed, the people were kind and lit us a fire to stay warm, which typically isn't done. For dinner, Chart made some more pork dishes (we declined again) and a nice chicken soup which we devoured.



Before dinner we also made more water with the Steripen and a few villagers gathered around in awe of modern technology as Mr. Chart explained it to them in their tribal language.

We went to sleep, hoping that Lindsey's finger would feel a bit better by morning and praying there weren't any fleas in the bed. We managed to get some sleep until about 5am when we were woken up by roosters.

We always thought that roosters did their noise once when the sun came up, but in reality they do it continually for about 5 hours. And when the village has about 100 roosters, this means you just don't sleep after sunrise. It was the most annoying alarm clock the world has ever known.

In the morning Lindsey's finger was still quiet swollen and painful and we decided to hike out to a road and take a truck back instead of risking her falling on it again. Even though this day's hike was supposedly easier, the tigerbalm just hadn't done much to help surprisingly enough! We hiked uphill (even more!) to a road where we caught a 1.5hr ride back to Pai in search of some ibuprofen and some serious recovery. Hiking on the road Lindsey got a great picture of Steve and Chart:



One day of Chart had proven to be enough, and the village stay was a bit more than we were prepared for! For anyone considering Chart here's our advice: bring your own food and medical supplies, and opt for three days of trekking.

Relaxation time!