Chobe River

Since I am now writing this 3 months after the trip, the level of detail will probably drop. But hopefully I can still remember enough to pull you along on the trip with me.

After a night of drinking at Nada we got off to a slower start the next morning. This was also due to the fact that all our tents were crowded into a 10x10 area and one girl in the group was snoring like a banshee. It got so bad Adam and Dani, the Australian couple on the trip, dragged their tent away in the middle of the night. We eventually got on the road heading for Kasane and the Chobe River. The drive was uneventful, just the normal pee breaks for the Australian girls and Ben, the British/Aussie (more about him later). When we got to Kisana our first stop was in town to buy groceries and alcohol. The town is right on the Chobe River and more importantly right next to the ferry crossing into Zambia. For these reasons it is a huge stop for tourist and overland trucks and an even bigger stop for Africans. Now when I call this place a town you have to think in terms of African towns. The town consisted of 1 road and 1 shopping center and I think everyone within 100 miles was there. The super market was overloaded with people, lines 15 people deep and bare shelves. Our guide Garland said he had never seen anything like it in his 9 years of guiding.

Botswana..not just for diamonds

We got up at 4:45 in the morning to a chilly morning with no sunlight. After a quick breakfast of cereal and yogurt we were back in the van headed for the border. We hadn't gone very far when we stopped for a pee break. A pretty common theme on the trip was stopping every 1-2 hours for pee breaks and drinks. We probably could have done without that many stops but I wasn't in control and the 3 Aussies girls seem to pee a lot. One even had a ShePee, a funnel type device to let her pee standing up and quite gross. We hit the border around 9 am, our first land border crossing of the trip so far. Everything went smoothly as we filled out a form, handed over our passports got stamps and walked to the other side. Back in the van and across the Limpopo river and we were in Botswana, for another pee break and money exchange.

Our destination for the day was Nada, Botswana with a planned stop on the way at a shopping center for dinner and maybe some shopping and internet. Now the roads in Botswana are terrible. I would say it had lots of potholes but in reality it looked a road that had been hit with bombs and had craters all over it. On top of that they had free ranging goats, donkeys and cows that wandered onto the road. All this really tested the nerves of our driver and pushed our average speed way down. We pulled over at one point on the side of the road to eat lunch. To draw a picture, there was nothing to the left of us on the road, nothing to the right. The occasional car would pass but we were pretty much in the middle of the bush. As we sat there eating lunch a cart being pulled by 3 donkeys came out of the bush and started heading down the road carrying 3 people. Africa was starting to be a little more National Geographic.

We made one other stop before arriving at Nata. It was to a small community of mud huts with a elementary school located there. As we pulled up the kids started to come out of the wood work. Garland went over to talk to the teacher and ask if it was ok for us to talk to the kids. She agreed so he waved us over. The first kid that caught my eye was a little boy, maybe 8 standing by himself, sporting a John Cena t-shirt. For those that don't know he is a wrestler in the WWE. I asked the kid if I could take his picture, to show Aaron when I got back and he said ok. After taking the picture I went to show him the picture and he seemed amazed. More kids started gathering around so I started showing them videos on the camera of elephants and other stuff from Kruger. I had some apprehension about treating these kids like a spectacle but once I saw them enjoying seeing their own picture and the videos I didn't feel as bad. I even took video of them and then showed it and about 10 of them crowded around to see. One little boy, maybe 6, let out a huge belly laugh when he saw himself on the video. It was very fun to see the kids get such a kick out of it. After 20-30 minutes we loaded back into the van headed for the camp site, hoping to get there before nighfall so we could avoid dodging animals in the dark.

We pulled into the site just before dark and setup the tents. Garland turned over cooking duties to the 3 aussie girls in the group, or rather they took it from him. We even shared our leftovers with the security guards at the camp site, which was pretty funny. Garland offered to sell one of girls to the guard for 20 cows, 10 goats and 5 chickens. The guard replied that she was only worth 10 cows, which I thought was still overvalued. This was also the first place we had stopped with a bar and since we didnt need to leave until 8 the next day we were in no rush to go to bed early. Justin and I had spent the first few days hiding in the back of the bus and keeping to ourselves, grumbling about how bad the trip was going, but by this time we had given up any expectation of a good time and with the alcohol we started to come out of our shells a bit more. We hung out until 10 or so with a few other people from the trip, swapping travel stories and commiserating about the trip. But it made for a good time and I would call this the turning point of the first Africa trip. From here on out things went much better as the group started to mesh more, the driver Gordon relaxed and we just did not have as far to drive each day.

Happy Days and Flat Tires

Our last day in Joburg was boring. We had nothing left to do and with cabs costing almost $100 to go anywhere we were content to stay in our area until that night. We had to cab over to meet the tour group later that night so we knew we were already going to be spending a ton of money. So most of that day was enjoying the last night in civilization before heading out to camp with 12 strangers. That night we got a car from the Hyatt to take us over to the meeting point. It happened to be a Mercedes so we knew we were going to labeled the rich, snobby Americans when we showed up in for a camping trip. But the driver didnt seem to know where he was going and we got lost in Joburg at night, not the best thing to do, especially when in a Mercedes and looking for a place that is nearby a tent slum on the outskirts of town. After 45 minutes our driver noticed a dark sign that we had passed, backed up the car and found the place. Luckily we pulled in late and no one saw us get out of the car.

The meeting was taking place in the bar part of a deck tent lodge. We walked in and met the guide, Garland, and paid our local payment. With the driver waiting we did no want to stay to long and Garland didn't want to make any big speeches until everyone was there, so he decided to do it the next day. We met a few of the people on the trip, mainly the single travelers before heading back to the car and the comfort of the Hyatt. Before leaving we had made plans with Garland to get picked up at a hostel that was closer to us than the deck tent lodge because he already had to pick 1 other person up there, so that would save us 100 bucks. Before getting out of the car we arranged with the driver to take us over there at 6 in the morning to catch the bus with the tour group (as we came to find out later this single action got us labeled as the asshole Americans by 5 Aussies because they thought we had asked to be picked up across town rather than meet the rest of the group).

We were up at 5:30 the next morning, the first of many early mornings, to pack up, shower in a real shower for the last time and check out. At 6 we met the Mercedes again and had the same worries that people would see us show up in that car and get the wrong idea about us immediately. But luckily when we got to the hostel our group was not there yet. There was another tour group packing up though, loading into there huge overland truck, a hybrid bus and tractor trailer with personal lockers for people, tons of room and sitting about 7 feet off the ground. The group seemed to have a few attractive girls on it and as we watched them drive away we let our hopes get up that we might have some also. Justin also made the comment that he hoped we would not be on a big truck like that because he felt like it was cheating being that far from the people. Much to his regret he got his wish when minivan loaded to the gils with people and bags pulled up and Garland jumped out. We had to climb over people and bags to get to the our seats in the back of the van, directly on top of the wheel well. At 7 in the morning, in a cramped van this trip was not off to a good start.

The plan for the first day was to head out to Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd deepest canyon in the world. Things went bad quickly when we got a flat tire half way there. We pulled over to the side of the road, changed the tire and were back on the road after 30 minutes. We made a quick stop in a small town so our guide could buy food for dinner. He gave the 14 of us R400 and told us to go find lunch for ourselves. Now I am not sure who thought giving 14 strangers a limited budget and forcing them all to eat together was a good but it didnt go well and Justin was ready to rip someones head off by the time we found a place. I will take a quick minute to introduce the group - Imogen, Alyssa, Linette were 3 Aussies together, Adam and Daniella were an Aussie couple, Carla and Graham were a Kiwi couple, Ben was alone, from the UK but lived in Aussie, James from the UK alone, Lisbeth from Denmark, Victoria from Australia, and Vera from Finland. Garland and Gordon, the driver, rounded out our group. After lunch we loaded back into the van and headed out for the Canyon.

Things had been going slow all day. The roads are a little rough and our minivan was not equipped for this type of driving. We found out later that Gordon and the van were actually rentals, not normally doing this type of driving or trip. Gordon was actually a driver for Soweto tours, day trips around Joburg, had never camped before and didnt have much experience towing a trailer. If you can't tell this all does not add up for a perfect trip. We didn't pull into Blyde River Canyong until around 3 in the afternoon and because we were running so late we had 20 minutes there, barely enough time to grab a picture. Also going to the canyong had caused us to be 2 hours away from Kruger still, our destination for the night. On the way we got our second flat tire. The first was on the trailer and this one on the van, so we luckily had a spare tire. It took us longer to change since the van was loaded with gear and the spare was under the van. But we got it changed eventually and continued down the road. As we headed down the hills Gordon thought the breaks felt weak so he pulled over to give them a chance to cool down, delaying us again. By this time we were losing sunlight and setting up in a national park in the dark was going to be a disaster. So to Garlands credit he arranged for us to stay at a 3 star lodge just on the outskirts of Kruger, getting us close enough to get in early the next day. The lodge was great, served us a huge dinner and had really nice rooms. But it still didn't make up for the fact that we lost half a day of animal spotting in Kruger and also missed out on optional activities like a night walk and a sunset game drive. We also had to travel for 11 hours this day and were only 4 hours from Joburg.

The next day Garland wanted to leave early, so we had to get up at 5 again to shower and load the van. Seeing big game like leopards and lions is easier in the early morning when it is still cooler out. So most of this day consisted of driving through Kruger spotting cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, crocs, hyenas and all sorts of gazelle. The only complaints with this day was that we stuck to the main roads in the park and the driver went to fast to easily spot animals. We never took the side loops that go more into the bush and get you off the main road and away from the other traffic. And Gordon seemed more intent on driving to the next destination than slowing down to spot animals. By the end of the day we had seen just 3 of the big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo, and rhino being the big 5). We pulled into the camp in the park close to dusk and set up shop. It was our first camping night so we didnt quite know what to expect. Garland was good though because he handled all the cooking, grilling up some steaks and sausage plus potatoes and corn. We just had to do dishes which was fine with me. Being up since 5 am everyone was pretty much out by 8:30, knowing we had to get up at 4:45 again to make breakfast and pack up.

The next morning it was cold as hell and packing up was a pain. We got on the road around 6:15 with the plan being to head through Kruger some more on the way to Polokwane, where there was a private animal reserver with some white rhinos. The trip out of Kruger was the same as the one in, Gordon going to fast and us being in to much of a general rush to stop and look for animals. Half way to Polokwane we stopped off at a shopping mall, not exactly the outdoor experience we were hoping for. At the time I thought it was just a bad place to stop chosen by Garland but looking back I think it the only type of place to stop in South Africa that would actually have something. We pulled into the camp site in Polokwane around 2 and made lunch. Gordon went off to find new tires for the van and also get his spares fixed. He ended up taking longer than expected so we didnt get into the rhino park until 4:30 or so. We drove around the park for a while, Garland driving this time and going at a much more reasonable pace, but we still did not spot any rhinos. We set up shop on a small hill in the reserve to watch the sun go down before heading back to camp for the night. That night it got colder than ever and 4:45 in the morning the next day felt rough. But we had a long way to go and wanted to cross the border into Botswana before 9 to avoid the rush.

Africa is cold

After bumming around Singapore for a day we headed to the airport to wait for out flight. When we landed in Singapore we were pretty amazed at how awesome it was but we barely even knew. As we sat in the airport I picked up a brochure about the airport that listed out all the stores and services available - and they have everything. They have 500 free internet terminals as well as free wifi, they have stores open 24 hours a day for those leaving late like us and the best part - they have free entertainment corners with tv's, xbox's, ps3's and even a movie theatre. Yes the airport has a free movie theatre built into it that is open 24 hours. So safe to say we were not at a loss for things to do before the flight at 2am. The only unsettling parts were the groups of military guys that seemed to roam around with machine guns, hand guns and machetes, their fingers in the constant ready to shoot the machine gun if need be. A little unnerving but this is Singapore, the same country that banned chewing gum for a while.

The flight to Joburg was uneventful. Leaving so late at night we were pretty tired but I was determined to watch the rest of Kung Fu Panda. After finishing that I was still a little awake so I watched Son of Rambow, a British movie about two kids fascinated with Rambo and make a movie about it. Not the best film I have even seen. The rest of the flight was me trying to fall asleep while sitting up, something I have never been good at. We arrived in South Africa around 7 am local time (11 hour flight) and got our bags and headed through customs. When we came out we looked around for our airport pick up, noticing one guy from the Hyatt that was not holding our names. We asked him if there was another Hyatt driver so he called the hotel, they told us they had no record of it and it would take an hour for a driver to reach us. That didnt fly so we found a taxi and he took us to hotel for about 40 bucks. Africa is not cheap.

Once at the hotel they told us our room was not ready quite yet. So we bummed around, checked email at the business center, had some breakfast and were let in the room around 10. I immediately fell asleep. Justin woke me up around 12 so we could get food. The hotel is located in the Rosebank area of town, what I am told is the nice part of town. Outside the hotel are a few shopping malls, restaurants, movie theatre and bowling alley. Seems like a good place to be. The only weird part is that everything in the mall closes at sun down and the area is kind of a ghost town. It is almost like vampires come out at night or something cause everyone just disappears. So the first night here we pretty much did the same, heading back to the room so we could figure out what to do with our Livingstone Hotel and what to do with our time in Johannesburg. After watching some bad television I fell asleep.

The next day our big goal was to get a ride out to the Carnivore and if all else failed get a ride out to the travel agent we found for Livingstone. After a brief stop at the STA office at the mall, who we tried to get to book us a room, we reluctantly decided to go with what we had. The problem was that the Carnivore and the travel agent were on the other side of town from the hotel, which meant we needed a taxi to take us, wait for us and bring us back. We found a cab that would do it all for R700 ($100) but the hotel said that taxis are not safe and that they would arrange one for us that was trustworthy. So after getting their car, we were off. The first stop was the travel agency. We were a little skeptical when the directions said get off on the dirt road and follow it down but when it turned out to be a heavily fenced building (as almost every house/building in Joburg are) we felt safer. It was also run by almost all Africaans and had familiar tour agency trucks parked out front. For some reason they thought we were tour guides so the entire office came in to meet us and ask us if we were tour guides. Once they found out we were not they left us alone. But we got the hotel in Livingston squared away and that was the last lodging in Africa to take care of. Next it was off to the Carnivore.

Now the Carnivore is a restaurant that serves game meat, meaning stuff like antelope, zebra, crocodile and the rare big animals. They also have a weird way of serving the food. It all cooks on spits over a big fire in the middle of the room. As you sit there they bring the huge chunk of meat to your table and serve you a piece if you want some. Over all it was close to 15 types of meat, from the ones mentioned above to pork, ostrich, eland, crocodile and a few more I can not remember. Most of it was good, but the zebra was amazing. It was like the best steak I have ever had yet more tender. I think I might starting eating horse when we get home. It was only R350 total ($40) which is a pretty good deal. We also got a cheap bottle of wine and sat there getting drunk and chowing down on zebra until we felt we were going to pop. Our driver Abee was waiting for us outside and took us back to the Hyatt. The next day we really had nothing planned other than heading out to meet our tour group before we departed.

Goodbye Asia, Hello Africa

Well the time in Asia has come to an end. As I type this we are in an internet cafe in Singapore waiting for our flight to Africa at 2am. It is an odd feeling leaving Asia. We had a lot of fun and saw quite a bit of stuff. But on the same hand I feel like we just got here and just scratched the surface. We've been to plenty of places I would love to go again, plenty I could do without and there are still plenty of others we have not even touched. I guess another trip to this part of the world will have to happen at some point.

There are a lot of things I will miss about Asia but here are just a few

• Asian chics - of course, they are skinny, petite, well dressed in major cities and they seem to like white guys. The only thing I have gotten sick with so far is Yellow Fever and not the bad kind.
• Cheap living - Other than Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore traveling in this part of the world is relatively inexpensive. And compared to Africa and Europe my money went a little further here.
• Civilization - Most of the cities here are packed with people. This is good and bad. Good because you don't feel totally alone but bad for the shear size and noise. This one is a mixed bag but I think on cold nights in my tent in Africa I might want to hear honking horns rather than roaring animals.
• Safety - I have never felt unsafe in Asia. Even walking through sketchy looking parts of town at night I felt ok. This may be stupid on my part but we never had problems. This is not to say Africa won't be safe also. But it's reputation is not one of safe and secure. I am hoping all the rumors are wrong.

Getting to Africa will be weird. It has always felt like the turning point in the trip. In Asia we were always counting up, counting how long we had been away from home. But once we get to Africa I feel like we are counting down until the trip is over and it's back to normal life. I am hoping that feeling fades when we are busy doing stuff (or maybe I will be counting down the days until no more camping). We'll have to see on that one. The only thing I know is that everything is about to change and the past 2 months of getting used to traveling will really be put to the test.

I hate pictures

Ok so after 4 hours of sorting and uploading I managed to get 75% of our pictures up. This covers pictures from Bangkok, Koh Samui, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Saigon and Cambodia. What is not up yet are the pictures from the SRL, including good shots of the sunset in Halong Bay and the Angkor Wat temple. But after 4 hours I can not sit here with the little kids screaming as they play video games. So enjoy what is up, which is close to 200 pictures and 20 or so videos. The rest will come up tomorrow as we kill time waiting for our flight to South Africa.

America...I mean Singapore, fuck yeah

After the rocking night out (go read the last post if you have not) Angkor Wat day was off to a rough start. We had originally planned to get up early, maybe rent bikes and ride around town then meet the tuk tuk driver at 1pm for the tour. Best laid plans... I sort of got up at 1pm wanting to kill myself. It was the type of hang over that makes you swear off alcohol... at least until the next time. I told Justin there was no way I could make it at 1pm, he bitched about it (f him he made himself puke instead of taking the hangover like a man) before heading downstairs to tell the tuk tuk. We pushed back the start until 2:30. I barely managed to get downstairs to eat some lunch hoping the food would help me get over the hang over some. It did not. I spent the rest of the time on my back in the room hoping I wouldn't shit myself or puke on myself at some point in the day.

At 2:30 we loaded up for the tour. Downstairs I told the tuk tuk driver I was sorry but last night was a little rough. He got a good laugh out of it. The first stop of the day was Angkor Wat and just as we pulled up it started to rain. Not quite the rains of Saigon but enough to make me want to cover my backpack with the DSLR camera in it. But where oh where would I find something? Never fear because just as we stopped at the Wat 5 kids surrounded us in the tuk tuk, literally throwing ponchos at us and telling us to buy from them. I thought the rain may taper off eventually but when it started to get heavier I relented and had one of the girls get us blue and yellow ponchos. I am not sure if we looked smaller sitting in the tuk tuk or whether the girl just didn't care (betting on the latter) but the ponchos she gave us must have been kid size. The sleeves barely came down to my elbow. But they covered me enough and covered the backpack also so we made our way through the rain to the Wat.

Now I don't know how many of you have seen pictures of Angkor Wat or even heard of it but it is awesome. It is surrounded by a huge moat with a stone bridge leading in. The main temple area, which was the center of Buddhism at one point in history, has been rebuilt with the original stones and some reinforcement where needed. The outside walls of the temple have carvings, 100s of feet long that show famous stories from the Buddhist faith, like Vishu fighting demons or the demons and good guys pulling the serpent to churn the milky water (don't ask cause I don't know). The inside is just as awesome with a huge spire, the 100 Buddha statues (not that many left really) and just old looking architecture. It is also located in the middle of the jungle, not much development nearby other than the cafe and restaurant for tourist. We were even treated to a local monkey who decided to come into the ruins and walk around, not paying any attention to the people there. Overall it is a great temple, should be one of the wonders of the world and I recommend people go see it at some point.

After Angkor Wat we drove into what I guess was either a city at one point or just a huge temple area. We drove through the original stone gate, wide enough for 1 car or tuk tuk to go through at a time and each side of the road having the angels and demons pulling the serpent again. Inside the walls were multiple temples spread around different areas. One was the temple with the faces on it that are quite famous. It was pretty neat and I got some good pictures of it with the SRL in between rain. We stopped at another that was way back in the jungle and had trees growing out of it. With the rain coming down again the place was a little flooded which made it look even cooler. Unfortunately our time here was cut short as the temples were closing at 5:30. So we loaded back into the tuk tuk and headed into town for dinner.

Now for most of the day I had been going back and forth between feeling like death and feeling ok. During dinner I started to feel like death again so we got the bill, walked down the street to grab out laundry (we had it done by some internet cafe for $5) then tuk tuk home. The rest of the night was spent at the hotel watching Fashion TV (we'd been living by this channel in Vietnam since it showed hot white girls) and using the internet. The next day we packed up early for our flight back to Saigon for a 1 night stopover before Singapore. Siem Reap airport surprised us again when it had a Dairy Queen, which was good, and a $25 departure tax, which was bad. Another quick flight on a prop plane and we were back in Saigon and not to happy about it. Siem Reap had been a nice, quiet, relaxing time. Except for the night of bad decisions and day of regrets.

It is pretty amazing how far we have come since the 2 scared kids that got dropped off in Beijing. This time we didn't even bother having the hotel pick us up opting to use a taxi instead which is much cheaper. We checked back into the same hotel, said hi to the same guy that works the desk (I don't think he ever leaves the building) and walked the 6 flights of stairs to our room. Last time we had been one floor down but still had to walk up and down 5 flights of stairs anytime we wanted to do something. Maybe this is why Saigon didn't gel with me to much. Either that or the blatant anti-American attitude (they even have an Anti-American National Holiday, March 15th I think) which is very funny given a lot of stuff is priced in USD and they accept USD for payment.

After a quick meal we headed back to the room as my stomach was still a little rough. But after a little while it managed to calm down and we headed back to our favorite bar to play some pool and (gasp!) have a beer. I told you I never learn. We played a few games of pool, reflected on the fact that our time in Asia was coming to an end, talked to Yuki a little bit and then headed home. The next morning we were up and out the door around 12:30 for our flight to Singapore. Now we had heard good things about Singapore Airlines from Andy and Lucy (Brits from Koh Samui) so we were expecting it to be nice. And it delivered. All the seats have tvs in the headrest and on demand tv and movies. Unfortunately it was a short flight but I did manage to watch 75% of Kung Fu Panda. I plan to catch the rest when we fly to South Africa in a few days.

Landing in Singapore was like arriving in heaven. Everything was in English, I saw familiar food everywhere, familiar shops and western style clothes. And the best part of all - no motorbikes! Those bastard things make so much noise honking all the time and it was really starting to get to me in Vietnam. We used the metro to get to our hotel, something we have not used since Hong Kong and then found a nice white guy from America to show us to our hotel. On the way he gave us some insight into the area, like where the movie theatre was so we could see Batman and where the 4 floors of whores were so we could get prostitutes... The hotel was another upgrade from the original booking, costing us a little bit more. But it is beyond worth it. We are on the 15th floor overlooking the city, with comfortable beds and the best shower I have ever felt. This isn't to say the other places we stayed sucked, but just like a Motel 6 in the US will do a Hyatt always feels better.

After showering (the first time I have really felt clean in a while) we headed out to get food and tickets to Batman. We walked down the street marveling at all the stores - Orange Julius, Burger King (with English speaking staff!), Borders, Apple Store, a huge movie theatre and a mall all within 2 blocks of us. I almost started crying. Any trip exhaustion I was feeling was immediately wiped away and I started to wish we had more time in this mecca. After getting tickets to Batman we went to Burger King for dinner (i love fast food). For the first time in a while I could get a large fountain soda with ice and not worry about getting sick since the PM of Singapore says the country will pay your medical bills if you get sick from the water.

Now none of this is to take away from the other countries. We had fun in almost every place we went, some times a little to much fun, but this was our first real taste of home in 2 months. Japan is western but with a distinct twist and Hong Kong is western but with a underlying Chinese feel to it. But Singapore is all western all the time. It really feels like an Asian America from the shops and buildings to just the diversity of people. It really is the perfect spot for us to recharge our batteries before spending 2 months camping around Africa. And that is what we intend to do. No site seeing, no racing around trying to do stuff. We are just going to stay in our little area, spend way to much time on the computers, get Europe all planned out and finally upload the past month of pictures and video. So get ready for that cause it is going to be a shitload.

Alcohol is one hell of a drug

The first full day in Cambodia we met out driver outside at 10 am. The goal for the day was the Landmine museum followed by some of the temples that were farther out. It was a long drive out to the museum, 30 km, and with the tuk tuk probably only doing 40km/h it took us a while to get there. We first had to stop and buy the required tickets to the temples, which cost us $40 for a 3 day pass. But it gave us access to every temple in the area and would work for the 2 days of temple visiting we were doing. After buying the passes we set off for the landmine museum. After we got out of town a little bit we started to see the less touristy areas. Cambodia is beautiful, all green and the people are really nice. They seem to have kids everywhere, same as most of Asia but here they don't seem to clothe them until after the age of 2. So everywhere we passed was close to the same - stilt house, naked babies, smiling little kids, some gasoline in Johnny Walker bottles for sale, snacks and drinks, few tourist items and animals everywhere, from chickens to dogs to cows. We must hide our kids in America better or we just don't have as many kids as Asia. And the kids are funny, they look like miniature adults really. They are doing things you don't normally associate with kids, like riding bikes to big for them, manning stands or selling stuff. But they are all pretty damn cute.

We got to the landmine museum and paid the dollar to get in. Not to much to see here, just some articles on the walls and pictures with tons of deactivated mines and explosives. I bought the requisite t-shirt (same one Aaron has only in red) and made a dollar donation. Next stop was our first temple of the day. And it did not disappoint. A big problem with most of the temples in Asia is that they are constantly redone, being rebuilt or repainted quite often. But not Cambodia. While there is some preservation going on the Wats look like what you would expect an ancient temple to look like - ancient. They are partially collapsing, weathered stone and they look amazing. Most of the ones we saw this day were smaller than Angkor Wat and seemed to be in clearings rather than in the jungle. We visited about 5 or 6 on the way back to town, each pretty spectacular.

Another funny thing about Cambodia is the kids selling stuff. When we pulled up to the first temple the tuk tuk was surrounded by little kids selling stuff. Mostly shirts, drinks and souvenirs. But they all look at you with the sad eyes and beg you to buy something. And they are relentless, but not in an annoying way. They all seem to know the same English and recite the same sales pitch. At one point I had two girls both telling me at the same time that they would remember me when I came back out and to only buy from them. I told them both maybe and ran for the temple entrance where a guard kept them out. Through out the day we had kids following us, trying to sell us everything and surrounding the tuk tuk every time we stopped. Probably a good prep course for Africa.

When we were eventually templed out we headed back to town to grab some lunch. We had gone from 10-5 without food and were starving. We ducked into the Red Piano again, since the food was pretty good and cheap. After finishing the meal I asked Justin if he wanted to hang out more and check out Angkor What? a bar that is pretty famous in the area. This is where things started going badly.

The bar is basically all about drinking. The slogan on the shirts says "Promoting irresponsible drinking since 1998". The menu consisted of beers and pitchers of cocktails. Yes I said pitchers, not glasses. And the worst was they were running a special - buy 2 pitchers and get a free t-shirt. Now what made us think drinking pitchers of Red Bull and Vodka and Vodka and Tonic was a good idea is beyond me. Even in my best drinking years I could never handle that. But the allure of a free t shirt was to much so we paid the $11 for a pitcher each (even though the shirts were only $4). We settled into the pool table and started into the pitchers. At some point Justin decided we both needed t shirts, so after finishing pitcher one we got another round and another shirt. The rest of the night started getting blurry at this point and my memory seemed to be turning on and off but I was able to patch some of it together. The way I remember it is we got a table, were joined by 3 girls from Canada who shared a shot of Absinthe with me (not a good idea), I chatted with them and some other people (kid from Malayasia, some other people who I will never remember or see again), got up and started dancing at some point. In my memory the entire bar was dancing, with people on the tables and booths, me spinning some British girl on the dance floor, the Canadian girls finding and dancing with me. Justin puts it more at me dancing in the middle of a bunch of people and every once in a while someone dancing with me also. At some point I ordered a 3rd pitcher (terrible idea) so we could get a 3rd t shirt. I don't think I ever drank any of it as I passed it around the bar and at some point a guy dancing on the table had it and spilled it all over me. We eventually stumbled out to total darkness on the street, found a tuk tuk driver and took the trip home, with him almost wrecking when he went on the wrong side of the road. In the room Justin called Melissa (it was 3 am for us then) then gave me the phone while he went into the bathroom and started throwing up. I talked to her for 30 minutes but the only thing I remember is her saying I was slurring my words.

The next day, and I do mean day as I didn't move until 1pm, I wanted to die. I felt miserable and was trying to remember what the hell happened. Justin was feeling better, having cleared out his gut of some alcohol before it had time to set into his blood stream. But with it being our last day in Cambodia I had to man up and go see the Wats. But more on that later. Typing this story just makes me want to throw up thinking about all that alcohol.

I am falling behind on posting

We are back in Saigon now, having just spent 3 nights in Cambodia. But I am falling behind on posting so this is a recap of the first day in Siem Reap. I'll try to catch it all up in the next few days.

Upon arriving in Cambodia we were rather impressed with the airport. Customs and passport control were quick, everything looked new and clean. The first real snag we hit was when the guest house had not sent someone to pick us up. We waited for a few minutes but figured they were not going to show and grabbed a taxi instead even though the airport taxis are ridiculously over priced. On the way to the hostel the driver first tried to tell us that it was closed, then that no tourist stayed there, saying he could take us to a much better hotel. But we had heard all this before and told him we already had reservations and just to take us there. He said sure, maybe we wanted to look at it first before going someplace else. And in this one instance he was right.

I left Justin in the car while I went to check in to the hostel. Right away I knew it was going to be bad. The reservation system consisted of a whiteboard with the days of the month and the room numbers in a grid. A quick glance and signing the check in sheet told me we were the only other guest in the place besides one Malaysian girl. Also unsettling was when the reception guy told some other guy to go to the room and handed him a can of Raid and the AC remote. At this point I pretty much knew we were not going to stay there but I didn't trust the cab driver either. So I went to the car, got Justin and the bags and we went to the room. Any small amount of desire to stick it out anyway was gone rather quick when the sheets on the bed were almost brown and the towels equally as dirty. The place was also pretty far from the main area, so called Pub Street. I took a quick poll to see who wanted to leave - me yes, Justin yes - and we ran out the door to find an internet cafe. We found one just down the road and started researching a place to stay.

It took about 10 minutes before I found a 3 star hotel down by the airport for $40 a night. A little pricier than we wanted to spend but it was the cheapest I could find nearby. The only snag was it would not let me book the room online. So we had to find a way to get over to the hotel, get a room if they had it, go back to the other place, get our bags and check out, then go back across town. And here is where tuk tuks kick ass. Tuk tuks in Cambodia are more like carts attached to motorcycles, a little different than their Thai cousins but equally as cheap. We stumbled upon a guy at the gas station sort of relaxing in his. When I explained all we needed him to do and asked him how much he said 6 bucks. Really cheap but I negotiated him down to 5. So we loaded up, headed over to the Majestic and I again left Justin in with the ride while I went to get the room. At first they quoted me 120 a night but when I told them I had just seen it online for 40 they dropped the price to 50 instead. The place was nice, all wood carving paneling on the walls and doors, an open air swimming pool, a restaurant, bar and nice rooms. After coming from the hell hole of the guest house this place was heaven and at 9pm I was ready to shell out whatever I needed to.

After checking in I ran back to the tuk tuk, gave the all good sign, and we headed off to the other hotel. We planned to sneak out quickly to avoid any drama but that was snagged when the guy said we owned 1 nights payment even though we had only been in the room for 2 hours (actually only our bags had). But the room was only 10 bucks and it seemed like a small price to pay. The guy even asked why we were leaving, if we had found a better place, which leads me to believe we were not the first nor the last to do this. After loading up the bags we headed back to the other hotel. While I was checking into the first place earlier Justin had been negotiating with the driver about tours around town. Almost every tuk tuk will rent themselves for the day and take you around to all the sites. So we agreed to use our guy the next day for a trip down to the land mine museum and some other wats further away, opting to do Angkor Wat the day after that.

After dropping the bags we headed into town to grab dinner and maybe a drink. Siem Reap is still pretty small, even with all the construction going up, so there is one main street to eat and drink at. All the restaurants and most of the town in general only deal with US dollars and even the ATMs dish out USD. It was kind of weird to be using the money again but was also nice since we realized we needed more USD to pay Intrepid in Africa. So after eating dinner at the Red Piano, where we met a girl from the US that was studying Cambodia dance for her anthropology Phd (need I say she was ugly but loved Justin?) and a girl from Holland who was traveling around the world for a year (damn Dutch people seem to do that). They filled us in on the ATM giving out USD so we headed over there and tried it out by getting 100 bucks each. Then it was over to the Temple, a bar/nightclub where draft beer was $1 a pint and $3 a pitcher. We had a few, saw some bad dancing by an old white guy, saw a guy break a 6 foot mirror by backing into it and then headed out to sleep.

Kill Whitey

After my last post Justin and I left the internet cafe to flooded streets in downtown Saigon. We knew it had been raining and were hoping to wait it out which would not have helped anyway. As the rain continued to pour down we stood in the doorway of the internet cafe wondering how we were going to make it home through 6 inches of water in the street. The kids in the neighborhood seemed to have no problem as they came out in droves to play in it. Even the motor bikes seemed to be ok as every motorbike in the area seems equipped with ponchos. We eventually relented, took off our shoes and walked 3 blocks barefoot through 3 inches of dirty water. Not the cleanest thing we have done but we were running out of options. After recharging at the hostel for a little bit we went back out (streets had drained by then) and found dinner. While eating the waitress, Yuki, struck up a conversation with us. As we went upstairs to play pool she came up and challenged me to a game, saying if I won I bought her a beer and if she won she bought me a beer. I am not quiet sure she knew what she was saying, but I agreed. But since she was working we left before the game got underway promising to return the next day.

The next morning we set out for the sites in downtown Saigon, District 1. Among the things to choose from were the Imperial Palace, where a North Vietnamese tank smashed through the gates reunifying Vietnam in 1975, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, with a history of Saigon from it's start, through the repelling of the French and the repelling of the American aggressors and the puppet government of South Vietnam. They made it clear the puppet government was not the fault of the people and all south Vietnamese were quickly forgiven. I sure am glad history is unbiased. After reading how terrible white people are we headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral, a smaller version of the one in Paris built by the French in the late 1800s. It doesn't quite have the glamour of the original but was neat to see in downtown Saigon. For a break from the heat we ducked into the Diamond Plaza, a department store of sorts complete with a western style arcade and bowling at the top. If only the military leaders knew that exporting culture and video and games was the key to defeating communism.

After heading out of the AC we walked through a huge covered market whose name I can not recall. After all the markets we have been through this one was much of the same, tiny stalls selling general house hold goods and tourist crap. We breezed through rather quickly. After grabbing lunch at a BBQ place, the most authentic Vietnamese food we have had in Vietnam, it was back to the hotel for a quick break. After resting for a few hours we went out for food and then back to the bar to try out that bet on Yuki. She came right over and started talking to us again, giving some background on herself and asking questions about us. It turned out she was 21, had been on her own in Saigon for 2 years after moving there from the country side. Her younger sister also worked at the bar, named Fur (at least I think that is what I heard). It was a Saturday night and she eventually asked if we wanted to go out with her when she got off work at 11, since she had a brand new dress and wanted to go out. I figured it couldn't hurt, Justin groaned, and at 11 we were out the door with Yuki heading for a bar. She recommended Apocalypse Now (yes they have a bar named that) but it was far away and we wanted to stay local so we could get up early for our Cu Chi tunnel trip. So she asked if we wanted to go to a place with beautiful girls. Do I really even need to say how we answered? As we walked into the place I got a weird vibe: the girls all had pink tube tops and tiny miniskirts and there were only white guys in the place. I noticed the girls were extremely friendly to the guys and when I asked Yuki if they go home with guys she said if they like you yes, if not you may have to pay. And that answered that question.

We learned a bit more about Yuki there, such as the fact that she does not like Vietnamese guys. She really wants to travel and go to Europe, other parts of Asia and the US. And this is where she gets herself in trouble. She told us about 1 "boyfriend", an 18 year old UK guy that had come through town. He promised her he would come back in 6 months and on the day he was to come back emailed her saying he could not make it and would probably never come back. I felt bad for her because she had quite a few big dreams but would probably never meet them. And every western guy she tried to coattail would probably do the same thing the UK guy did. But short of marrying her there was not much I could do for her other than buy her drinks at the bar (she said she made $2 a day, working 12 hours a day 7 days a week).

Once we had enough of watching fat old white guys fondle young Vietnamese women Yuki took us to another day, Seventeen Saloon. As the name suggest it was decorated to look like a American style bar and boy did they hit the nail of the head. The outside looked like a log cabin, much different than the general concrete slab style construction in Vietnam. Inside all the guys working there wore leather vest with eagles on the back, cowboy hats, boots and jeans. The women were better, sporting gun holsters to carry their notepads and pens. Inside was decorated with totem poles, stuffed animals, Indian pictures and every other pieces of generic wild west junk. Now all this was exciting enough and we got a great kick out of it but I have not even gotten to the best part. Playing on stage when we walked in was a band with 3 Phillipino women (they were called the Phillipinoes) singing classic rock covers. When we came in they were doing Guns N Roses - Sweet Child. The main girl oddly enough sounded a lot like Axl Rose and as she sung the other two girls would be doing the trademark Axl dance (the one I was doing in Vegas with the two old women 3 months ago). I was dieing laughing but then it got even better. During the instrumentals all three women would do synchronized slow motion head banging, first to the left, then to the right. When the instrumental picked up pace they just went all out and rocked like an 80s hair band. They followed up Guns N Roses with a little Survivor, with one girl announcing and the other girl making punching motions to capture the Rocky essence. Unfortunately that was their last song before heading out but it was worth every minute.

By this time it was pretty late and we figured we should get to bed. Yuki had tried to put the moves on once by asking me to hug her because it was cold. I didn't want to give her the wrong idea so I declined and I think she knew it was a no go from there on out. So we walked her back to her hotel, said our good byes and fell asleep at the hotel. Early the next morning we had to be up to catch the tour bus to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These are the tunnels used during the war that you see in movies like Forest Gump and Platoon. We had opted for the half day tour since we had not been having the best luck with tours and did not want to spend all day out. With the tunnels only 60km away we figured we would still have plenty of time to see them. But we were wrong.

After the bus picked everyone up we spent an hour and a half driving to a porcelain factory (they sold other shit but after China they are all porcelain factories to me now). The entire time there we had to listen to Billy, our guide, go on and on about the war. Billy was a Vietnamese-American who had served as a Navy swift boat captain during the war, stayed behind after the ceasefire in '73 to find MIA, got arrested and imprisoned after Saigon fell and spent 4 years in in jail being reeducated by the north. He had some interesting stories, like serving with John Kerry, being a guide for Bill Clinton when he came and how when Saigon fell he had dumped his uniform, hat and gun into the river. But for the most party he just seemed bitter about the war and blamed everyone. He blamed the US for coming in the first place, he blamed the communist for imprisoning him and he blamed every other nation for not doing anything about it. A little contradictory and after an hour and a half it was getting old.

We eventually made it to the tunnels and were told we would have about 1 hour there (we left the hotel at 8, got to the tunnels around 12 and were gone by 1:30). The first thing we had to do was sit through a Communist propaganda video about the war and the tunnels. It started by saying how happy and peaceful the people of the Cu Chi area were before the evil Americans invaded and started bombing them to death for no reason. It went on to talk about how great the people were, building the tunnels and using them to surprise and kill the enemy. It even said how some of the great heroes of the war were awarded medals with titles like "Hero American Killer for killing 150 Americans". The entire tour group, not just us, was taken aback by this level of reveling in killing other people. The video went on for about 10 minutes before Billy stopped it, saying it was done. It didn't seem like it was done but I get the feeling he saw the reaction of most of the crowd and called it. He then gave another brief intro to the tunnels before handing us over to another tour guide who was much quieter thank god (he only gave the facts, no personal opinions).

By this time I was pretty much done with the tunnels and ready to go home. But first I had to sit through rest of the tour. We watched a fat guy almost get stuck in the entrance to the tunnel that barely looked big enough for a kid to fit through. Then we got to see the booby traps and were given an explanation of how they each worked. They had all the regular bamboo spikes, metal spikes and the like and he demonstrated with a stick how they worked (they used to use live animals but apparently tourist didn't like that much). In back of the traps were paintings of American troops walking through the jungle and springing the traps, with spikes poking through them and blood everywhere. That kind of put me over the top and pretty much ruined my day. After that it was off to the firing range to shoot guns for $1.60 a bullet. I don't like guns to begin with so I didn't shoot anything. After that it was a quick run through the tunnels, recreations really. They weren't terribly exciting, more annoying than anything since they were designed for people that top out at 5'6.

After the tunnel we loaded up on the bus for the ride home. It took close to 2 hours with the driver laying on the horn the entire time. Safe to say this was the second worst tour of the trip, right behind the damn Elephant Trek (that still pisses me off). Back at the room I fell asleep to Justin watching Wild Hogs on tv. When I got up we went out in search of food. Justin wanted to try the GO 2 restaurant. It looked nice on the outside and the menu wasn't bad so we gave it a shot. But everything went south fast. The waitress brought me pineapple pancakes when I had ordered a chicken sandwich. When I told her it was wrong she asked me to eat it anyway. I said no I don't want it to which she said she would have to pay if I didn't eat it. I eventually got the attention of the manager, told him the problem and he corrected it. I was a little ticked at this point but got my food and ate. When the bill came the waitress had put the pineapple pancake on there plus 2 chicken sandwiches. I said it was wrong, she asked me again to help her by buying the pancakes, to which I said hell no. She finally got the bill right after a few tries, we paid and got the fuck out. It was the worst meal so far and after the other events of the day I was ready to get out of town.

On the way back to the hotel we ran into James and David, the two Australian brothers we had met on the Halong Bay trip. I kind of left out that by the end of the trip we had got to know them better and other than the 1 remark about not wanting to be American they were good guys. We grabbed a beer with them, told them what all we had done since Halong Bay, heard about their trips, debated Aussie Rules Football vs American Football, then headed back to the hotel. We turned in early so we could fly out to Cambodia the next day.

The trip to Cambodia was uneventful other than the small prop plane we took. The flight was fine but I was a little apprehensive when I saw the non jet. But it was fine and I was glad to get out of Vietnam even though I did enjoy some of it quite a bit. Now upon landing in Cambodia we had quite the adventure but I'll save that for next time since this is so long.

Pictures coming in a few days once we get to Singapore and a country with decent upload rates.

Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head

After yesterday's post about how tired I was we proceeded to walk the waterfront of the Perfume River. We really had no choice. The power in the entire city went out and the temperature in the room slowly crept up. Sadly it was not the first time we lost power in Hue (the first day there we lost if for a few minutes and today when we left it went out in the morning) and I don't think it is terribly uncommon. Almost every hotel and store had a backup generator to give some lighting but nothing fancy. So with the city growing dark we walked the banks of the river looking for a place to eat. We eventually settled into the DMZ Cafe. Sporting a more western feel and at least having a few fans running it was as good a place as any. We took seats on second floor deck overlooking the street and ordered a few beers and food. When I looked to my right I noticed a couple from the Intrepid group on our train the day before. We talked to them a bit, found out how the Intrepid tour was going before shifting over to the pool table.

My lack of pool skills was in full effect and our games took forever. It did not help that with the AC out my hands were sticky as hell and having no chalk made shots much more difficult. Eventually we got challenged for the table by an older guy and a younger girl. I assumed father and daughter and asked if their accents were Australian or British. He said he was Australian, she was not his daughter, was not his lover but was the daughter of a guy he met on the bus. Chris (that was his name) was taking Jolene (the Dutch girl) out on the town because her father had come down with a bad case of travelers sickness. Kind of an odd situation but they were nice people. After losing to them rather quickly our fan base of 3 Irish girls challenged them to a game. We sat around and watched talking to the Australian guy and Jolene. Chris said he got the feeling the girls wanted to play against us but we were not terribly interested. That and they were looking to really party, evident by their table top singing downstairs after the game. Eventually Chris said he had to take Jolene, who was a bit tipsy at this point, back before her father killed him. She didn't seem to want to go. Maybe it was her being drunk or just having someone closer to her age to talk to. By closer I mean within 20 years because as I found out she was only 16 but looked 25. Even though I have been on white chic withdrawal (where every white girl I see looks attractive to me at first) I was not quite ready to become a pedophile, so I told her she should go home so she could catch her flight the at 8 am. We left pretty soon after they did and crashed back at the room. Thankfully the electricity had come on at some point so we got to sleep in a cold room.

The next morning after getting up at 9 the electricity went out again. Even though we liked Hue a lot the hotel was pretty shitty. Besides the electricity going out multiple times and the sound of non stop honking coming from the street, the guy at the counter seemed to be giving us the hard sell on tours which we were not interested in. This morning when I wondered downstairs to check what was up with the power the guy said "you leave at 10:30 for airport", more of a command than a question. I told him no we had said 11:30 since our flight was not until 1:40pm. He gave me the "Ok" that doesnt instill positive feelings. After grabbing lunch/breakfast at a restaurant around the corner we went to the room to pack up. Even though the car wasnt coming until 11:30 and check out was not until 12 the lady at reception said we had to be in the lobby at 11. Again we got the feeling we were being rushed out the door. The taxi showed up early, of course, and got us to the airport with over 2 hours to spare. The airport was nothing special having been a military airstrip built by the US army during the way. 1 hour flight to Saigon and we were into the finally stages of our Asia tour, arriving to the instrumental version of Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head on the airplane speakers. An omen of days to come I am sure.

Saigon was not the modern Mecca we had been hoping for. If anything it felt a bit like Hue but with more people. Our hotel seems to be fairly close to most of the sites though which is a good thing since we like to walk places instead of wasting money on taxis. One thing we have noticed is that every one of the cities in Vietnam has a tourist ghetto area, with cheap hotels, tourist offices, internet cafes and restaurants selling some strange interpretation of Western food. Not quite as bad as Khao San in Bangkok but you do see plenty of tourist walking around and English menus are not difficult to come by. I guess that is a good thing since I am a little Asianed out. And that may just be travel in this area of the world now since it's main revenue stream seems to be tourism. I guess for authentic experiences I can go live with a family in the country (which tour companies do offer).

Strange bedfellows make for a tired Chris

I've been lazy and have not posted anything in a while, so this post will cover the rest of Halong Bay, from July 21st up til now, July 24th. It is pretty long.

The rest of Halong Bay went fairly smoothly. On day two we went to an island to go bike riding through a small village. The ride was cool and the scenery awesome but the bikes sucked. When we got on the bikes the guide said not to change gears, but with all the hills changing gears was required. We rode 3km out to a small stopping point, grabbed some water and then went for a hike into the jungle. We were headed towards what we all thought was "Rat Cave" but what turned out instead to be "Bat Cave". It was a small tunnel that ran through the mountain with bats all over the inside. At least one guy, a 6 foot 5 British kid, almost didn't go through he was so scared. After the hike, we jumped on the bikes to ride back to the boat. On the way Justin's bike chain fell off and he had to walk. Halfway back a motorbike pulled over and traded a 1950s girl bike, with a basket and bell, to Justin which he triumphantly rode back to the dock. After the bikes it was over to a floating fishing village for lunch and kayaks. We kayaked into an archway in the rocks that would be hidden during high tide. Inside was a lagoon completely surrounded by limestone cliffs. As one girl on the trip put it "this is the type of stuff you see on travel shows". It was pretty amazing but since we were kayacking we had no camera with us, so you will have to use your imagination or go there yourself.

Next stop was the Monkey Island for some swimming and monkey watching. The monkeys come down from the hills at dusk for the cooler weather and to be fed by the locals. After the island it was back to Cat Ba Island to check into the hotel. Rather oddly we were staying in a different hotel than the rest of the group. So when everyone else got out we were told to wait out front for our hotel bus to pick us up. We were a little skeptical but eventually a car showed up and drove us to a secluded resort on the other side of the island. It was 3 star quality but it was really nice after the hostels and boat. We immediately jumped into the pool which was one of the most relaxing points of the trip thus far. We were then treated to a 5 course meal and we splurged on a bottle of wine ($15). After the sun set we walked back over to the main part of the island to see what there was to do. There were lots of people out walking, biking and just goofing around. We had a beer in one of the tourist bars, Green Mango, and then grabbed rides on the back of motorbikes to our resort. Not the safest mode of transportation but it was quick and saved us a 1km walk. Back home we fell asleep knowing we had to get up early the next day to catch the boat back.

The next morning we were up at 7 and out the door by 730 to meet the tour group. We took an hour bus ride to the other side of the island and waited in the heat for our boat to arrive. About 30 minutes later it showed up and we set sail (by motor) to the harbor, 2 hours away. Most people were tired from getting up so early so they sat inside or slept on the benches. After arriving at the harbor we had to wait another hour and a half for the van to show up. It was hotter than hell and everyone was pretty miserable. Eventually the van showed, piled everyone in and headed to the restaurant for lunch. Lunch was less than spectacular and somehow we picked up 4 locals in our van for the ride back to Hanoi, making the already crowded bus even more crowded. 3 hours and 1 porcelain factory stop later we were back in Hanoi, sitting the lobby of our hotel waiting for the train.

The lesson learned on this Halong Bay trip was to spend the extra money for a nice trip. As we found out later we paid for the nice trip, which gave us the nice hotel but we actually got the cheap trip tour. This is why everyone else stayed in a different hotel than us. Our whole trip felt rushed with limited time at every spot and no activities from the boat. We were only allowed to swim once from the boat the entire three days. The nicer trips and the one we should have been on had kayaks on the boat that you could use in the mornings and after dinner to do individual exploring. So while Halong Bay is pretty spectacular the overall trip wasn't the best. The nice hotel with the secluded feel, private beach and look out point to watch the sunrise was the best part of the trip.

We left the hotel in Hanoi for the train station around 9:45pm hoping to be early enough to find the train and get situated. We were a little overly cautious since we arrived at the train station at 9:50 and were on the train by 9:55. Since this is our last train ride and we went a little over budget in China we decided not to buy all 4 beds in the cabin like last time. This opened us up to having 2 random people in the cabin with us. So for the next hour we sat around waiting for our Vietnamese farmers to show up. As the train began to fill up I noticed it was mostly white people. Next to us on one side was a group of Germans and further down were 3 cabins full of Brits. We even ran into a travel group from Intrepid, the tour operator we will be using in Africa. We talked to some of the people on the trip who were in the cabin next to us, getting details about the quality of the trip and the leader. They all had positive things to say which made us feel a little more at ease about the Africa trips. As we were talking 2 Vietnamese guys came down the car. With most every other car already full I started to get a bad feeling that was confirmed when they went into our cabin and put their bags up. It turned out to be one old man as the other guy left. We knew pretty quickly he didn't speak English and he knew we did not speak Vietnamese. So we all sort of sat around looking at each other while we waited for the train to leave. He pulled out a radio and turned it on, making himself comfortable in the room. We stayed in the hallway thinking this could be a long night.

Eventually the guy started talking to me but since I had no idea what he was saying I did my best Granny Chambers - smile, nod and point. It is remarkable how much you can get out of hand gestures. I was able to decipher that he was 66 years old, was from Hanoi but traveling to Hue for 10 days. I eventually pulled out my Lonely Planet book with a map of Vietnam and the world so I could show him where we were from and where we were going. He then started pointing to the Hanoi area and making a big circle around it. I wasn't catching on yet so he pulled out his ID card and showed me that also. He then pointed to the map again and was pounding the Hanoi area hard with his finger, trying to drive some point home to me. He kept saying something I could not understand and I was beginning to worry he was getting mad at me for failing to understand him. I still didn't quite understand what he was getting at until he made a rifle stabbing motion with his hands and I realized his ID card was a military ID card. I am pretty sure he was telling me he was a Vietnam verteran and not from our side. I started wondering if I should have told him we were American. As Justin and I stood in the hallway pondered spending the night with a North Vietnamese vet it started to sink in. We sat speechless for a while reflecting on the situation. Here we are, 2 Americans traveling through Vietnam 30 years after the end of a ugly, brutal war. Seeing the Hanoi Hilton was one thing but being face to face, almost bed to bed with a guy that may hold a grudge against Americans really brought it home. I realized this called for expert diplomatic relations.

I opened my can of Pringles I had bought for the ride and offered him some. He seemed skeptical at first but eventually tried some. The ice had been broken. He offered me some of his green tea which I declined. He started smiling a lot and laughing and making some more hand gestures. I returned in kind trying to decipher what he meant. Eventually I was pretty beat and laid down to try to go to bed. As I was about to doze off he got up from his bed. I had sort of been watching him with one eye open til this point, thinking he might try to slit my throat in my sleep. So when we got up I popped up also, realizing he was only trying to open the door to go outside the room. Except the door was jammed. He tried to open it a few times, I tried, the 4th guy (who only came in just before we went to bed and was gone when I got up the next morning) tried the door also. It seemed we were all stuck in the room. The two Vietnamese guys tried pushing, pounding and kicking the door. Eventually a train conductor came by and opened it from the outside.

The older guy told them it was broken so they got the engineer to come by. Eventually we had 2 engineers and 2 conductors in our room with us, all arguing and banging on the door. One engineer tried taking the door handle off so he could fix it but eventually gave up and resorted to using pliers to bend a piece that would let us open the door. It was 12:30 at this point and I was beat having been up since 6:30. I was just hoping they would all leave the room so I could go to sleep. The old guy could gut me in my sleep all he wanted as long as he let me go to sleep first. When the old guy felt comfortable enough with the door he made sure to show me how to work it now and made me repeat how to do it. Once that was settled the 4 train guys left and we shut and locked the door for the night. I was out like a light after that.

The next morning I was awoken by the old man eating breakfast around 8 am. He made some more small talk, telling me the train would arrive around 11. Our 4th cabin mate had fled earlier that morning and was replaced at 9am by a young kid from a stop some place outside Hue. The old man asked me for the book again and started asking me where all we had been and where we going. I guess my communications skills did not go over quite as well I thought. I showed him again, using a pen to draw the lines. He then asked how much in USD the trip cost. I didn't want to reveal to much information so I told him 10,000. The kid in the top bunk chimed in at one point since he spoke some basic English. Not enough to say much but he translated to the old man that I did in fact like Vietnam and I was American. I guess that had not sunk in with the old man the night before which may be why I am alive. The old guy said I was a good man and shook my hand. I guess some things transcend language. He asked me if I was married to which I said no, and asked if I was single, to which I said yes. The kid and the old guy had a chuckle that I am sure was at my expense. As we sat around waiting for the train to arrive in Hue I asked if I could take a picture with him. We snapped a picture, showed him the picture on the view finder and he seemed pleased. At one point he asked to borrow my pen again to write something down. He seemed to like the pen, just some free pen I took from the Sheraton in Guilin and asked if he could keep it. It had 2 of them so I said sure. He asked the kid how to say thank you in English then said thank you to me. Him asking how to say it in English I consider a big win. He offered me some of his fruit in return but I politely declined.

As the train pulled into Hue the old man made sure I knew to get off here. He seemed to enjoy my backpacks with all the straps and laughed his old man laugh. It was kind of a high pitch girlish laugh but the kind that made you certain it was genuine. As we got up to leave the old man put on his Polo hat, probably the most ironic part of the entire trip. I said good bye, asked for his name and told him mine and shook hands. We got off the train and headed for the taxi stand. 60,000 VND later we were in the hotel reflecting on the last train ride of the trip. It was quite the experience and one I am glad we got to have.

Once in Hue we did not want to waste time. So even though we had barely slept the night before we set out in the mid day heat to explore. Hue is smaller than Hanoi and not quite as noisy. It has a few sites to see but it seems most people do the tours. We were a bit toured out so we opted instead to walk on our own. We crossed the Perfume River and headed over to the Forbidden Purple City. It was mostly destroyed during the Revolutionary War and the Vietnam War, but a few parts of it are in tact and other parts were being completely rebuilt. As the name shows it is very similiar to the palace in Beijing and even had Chinese characters on some of the buildings (I am not Vietnamese expert but it seems they only use the western alphabet characters now and I guess before they used Chinese). We wondered the grounds for a while, seeing the temples and Citadel before heading back to the hostel. Hue has so far been the hottest place in Vietnam and with little sleep and lots of heat we were beat. We crashed in the room for a bit, watched My Best Friend's Wedding (yay George!) and recovered. As it got closer to dark we headed out to find food. We ended up wondering for a good hour and a half all around the the non touristy parts of town. The funny thing about Vietnam is that even with the poverty the people are pretty nice. We have not had anyone try to scam us yet and most people just leave us be. We get a few stares and a few people trying to get us to buy stuff but so far nothing like China or Thailand. Other than the overly friendly tour selling guy at our hotel most people in Vietnam have been pretty nice.

We finally walked all the way back up to the hotel area and ate at a tourist type restaurant with Western food. After dinner we went home and I fell asleep pretty quick. This morning we got off to a late start as I think travel fatigue has started to catch up with me. I was reluctant to do much of anything. Since almost all the sites mentioned in travel books and wikitravel involve taking a tour (DMZ, Hoi An, Danang, Perfume River Cruise, etc) we decided to take it easy and just wonder close by. First stop was a huge out door market that sold pretty much anything. We wondered in there for a while, met a brilliant woman who said I was handsome and just took in the seen. It was mostly a local market selling lot of fruits, vegetables and every day knick knacks. No one really bothered us to buy anything as almost all the vendors were asleep in their 3x2 stalls. With the heat setting in and me feeling pretty damn tired still we settled into a cafe on the banks of the river. When I say cafe I really mean a drink stand and some plastic chairs and tables. But it was one of the better places to be since it was in the shade and had cool breeze coming off the river. We sat there for a good hour and a half, drinking water and eating a little ice cream. We eventually got up and headed across the river to our side. We poked into an internet cafe where I am now to check email, get out of the heat and blog.

While Vietnam has been a fun experience at times I think the overall trip has started to wear me down a bit. Vietnam has been the first place where finding modern conveniences has been difficult. Everything from AC in public shops to fast food just does not exist. I am eagerly looking forward to Singapore for some sense of modern before we start the Africa portion. With Siagon and Cambodia still to go I have a week before Singapore but I think I can manage. I've been eating a lot of local food in Vietnam but I think I am going to have to break down and start sticking with the tourist restaurants and their bad renditions of western favorites. I never thought I would say it but I am actually looking forward to Africa, for a return to English, some cooler weather and more normal food.

Halong Bay Day 1

The trip to Halong Bay had an early start. We had to be in the lobby about 7:30am to catch the bus at 8. Around 7:50 our guide, Lucky, showed up. We were the first ones on the bus and were hoping it would not be too crowded since the van was not that big. Over the next hour we picked up the rest our of group, 4 Australians, 4 Brits, 2 Dutch, 1 Phillipino, 1 Swedish and his Chinese mail order bride. As we drove around to pick everyone up it was funny to the see the mass exodus of white people from Hanoi, all getting on buses and heading out on their tours. Every corner seemed to have a couple white people, backpacks in hand, waiting for their ride and on the other corner buses full of white people making their rounds to collect them. As we headed out to town Lucky did his best to tell us the schedule for the day but with his broken English and bad jokes plus everyone being pretty tired there was not much enthusiasm amongst the crowd. We crossed the Red River out of town and Lucky pointed out that the bridge we were on was the first one ever built by the Vietnamese, in the early 80's. While it may have been a great accomplishment for the Vietnamese I was a little worried having seen the rest of their architecture in the city and knowing our bus carried 16 people.

As we settled in for the 3 hour drive out to the Bay most people fell asleep which was no easy feat given the road conditions and the way the driver was driving. The comfort of the passengers doesn't even factor in. About half way there we stopped a porcelain factory that was a drink/snack/junk shop. Having learned our lesson earlier in China we did not buy anything. The odd thing was across from the shop were fields and fields of rice farms with the traditional Vietnamese worker: round pointy hat and pajama looking clothes. It was actually quite odd on the drive out there as most all of the architecture and people look like they could come straight from the 1950s. I think I could take a picture and put in black and white and then pass it off as antique. Some of the odder things we saw were mopeds with pigs tied onto the back of them, mopeds with 10 chicken cages strapped onto the back, 2 giant hogs tied to a lamp post on the edge of the road and my favorite, a guy butchering an animal (pig maybe) on the side of the road, picking the last meat off the skeleton. The even odder part was it did not even phase me. It is amazing what you get used to after almost 2 months in developing countries.

We eventually made it to Halong Bay and to the mass chaos. The main dock was similiar to the Guilin Li River; people and boats all over the place. Somehow in the chaos we lost the 4 British kids and had to wait 20 minutes while the guide found them. Not the first nor would it be the last time people would wonder off from the group. Once we got the group together we headed over to the boat, the Huy Huong, and boarded by scurrying up a gang plank using a bamboo pole held by the crew as a hand rail. The boat itself was a 3 deck boat, made to look like an old "junk" but using motors instead of sails. The first deck was the sleeping quarters, 6 rooms with twin beds, AC and private baths. They were not glamorous but they would do for the night. The second deck was the general sitting and dining area and the top was the open air tanning deck, with 8 chairs for the 16 people on the tour. As the boat left the harbor people spread out taking in the landscape. Thirty minutes after leaving dock the boat dropped anchor and we all sat down for lunch. Nothing special here but we sat with 2 Australian brothers who quizzed us about being American. While they were very nice guys and well mannered a comment about whether I have ever wished I was not American while being on this trip struck me as a cleverly disguise insult. But having to live with them the next 2 days I let it slide for now.

After lunch we headed over to the first stop of the day, the Sung Sot cave, along with the fleet of other tour boats. The boats all jostled for position to unload their people at the cave, banging and bumping like they were at the Xi'an train station. The cave name means Amazing Cave but having see a big cave in Tucson and the Reed Flute cave in Guilin I had already had just about enough of caves. It also didn't help that there were tons of tourist there which made the advertised secluded boat ride seem like a bit of a lie. Lucky did his best to get the group enthused by pointing out formations in the rocks with funny names, like the Buddha, the turtle and others that looked nothing like what he said. He tried his best comedy by pointing out one shaped like a penis and asking what people thought it looked like. No one wanted to say it even though everyone knew but Lucky persisted anyway. After 2 minutes of him alluding to what it was he finally said it was a "population stick" and everyone gave a groan. I guess comedy doesn't translate well.

Next stop on our hurried tour (we only had 1 hour at each stop) was an overly crowded beach at Titop Island for 1 hour of swimming. Justin and I opted not to swim when the private secluded beach we were expecting was packed with 300 Vietnamese kids and every other junk tour on the water. We decided to climb to the top of the island instead, about 400 steps straight up that gave a good view of the bay. The climb only took about 15 minutes so after coming down we decided to take a dip with all the time we had left. The water was bath tub warm, dirty as hell and packed with people. I was starting to think Aaron was full of shit. When swimming was all done we headed back to the boat to await dinner. Total distance traveled for the day was not very far since we made a bee line for the cave from the harbor and then straight from the cave to the beach. When the boat parked half way between the two for the night I could still see the harbor in the distance. We had 1 hour to swim off the boat before dinner but everyone quickly put a stop to that when the first two guys that jumped in got stung badly by jellyfish. If that was not enough 2 other boats from our tour company parked right next to us, trapping us in the middle. Seclusion strikes out again.

But it was not all bad. As we waited for dinner we sat on the top deck and watched the sun go down behind a limestone pillar. It was a great view and I got some good pictures. Dinner was a big meal and not to bad. After dinner I grabbed a beer and retired to the roof of the ship to lay on one of the deck chairs. As I watched the moon rise from behind another limestone pillar I sipped my beer as a cool breeze blew across the deck. In the distance I could see the lights from various boats and beyond that the lights of the harbor. To the other direction were limestones islands dotting the water, all with a faint glow from the moon. It was one of the cooler places we had been at that point and I finally felt relaxed. After finishing the beer I turned in early in order to make the 8 am wake up call the next morning for breakfast.

Viet-fucking-nam

So Hanoi has been relatively quiet thus far. Justin started getting sick as we left Thailand and it has slowly gotten worse. Nothing life threatening but living in a hotel and being sick in hot and humid weather kills your desire to do much. That and I don't think Hanoi has that much to offer. It is sort of like a Beijing minus all the historical sites to see. It is quite a bit noisier than Beijing though. We are staying in the Old Quarter which seems to be infested with motorbikes that honk non stop. I kid you not when I say that probably 5,000-10,000 bikes drive down our street everyday and every third bike honks. It also seems to rain almost every day in the afternoon. I guess the locals are more used to it and better prepared for it than us as every motorbike seems to carry a poncho. After getting stuck in the rain the first night we got caught in again yesterday as we were trying to find a place to eat dinner. Either the restaurants are not well marked or they are just marked in a way we are not used to. Either way we have resorted to eating in the hostel. The food is not bad, I even tried the pho and was adventurous enough to put in some hot sauce. And I survived the walk up the stairs to the bathroom without incident!

But Hanoi has not been a total loss. The first real day here we did not leave the hotel except to hit an ATM. But we were able to book our trip to Halong Bay, get train tickets down to Hue and get airline tickets to Saigon. So all that is left before getting to Africa is an air ticket to and from Cambodia which we will probably sort out in Saigon. Getting all that done was a huge relief (but we still have all of Europe to book and we now have to find a place to stay in Livingstone, Zambia for 3 days).

Today we decided to make some use of our time in Hanoi by visiting the Hanoi Hilton, aka the prison that housed John McCain. It really is kind of weird to think I walked through a place that held and possibly tortured our potential next president. The prison has been drastically reduced in size with only one small wing of the original being left in tact. The rest was destroyed to make way for 2 high rise hotels (but not a Hilton). The prison is really more about how bad the French were to the Vietnamese and how good the Vietnamese were to the Americans they held there. Can't say I agree with everything they say but I guess history is written by winners or at least the country fundin the museum. But I came, I saw and I got the t-shirt. Yes I paid 50,000 VND ($3) for a t-shirt from the Hanoi Hilton, although it actually says Maison Centrale, the French name for the prison before the Vietnamese took over in 1954.

So Hanoi was a bit of a bust for doing stuff. I don't think that was our fault as it seems to be a stepping point for other sites in the area like Sapa and Halong Bay. We leave tomorrow morning for Halong Bay for 1 night on a boat and 1 night on Cat Ba island in a hotel. We opted to not take the beach bungalow without AC this time. Been having a difficult time finding a place to upload pictures but as soon as I can I will.

Paradise Lost

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Techno sucks

One thing I've noticed when traveling is that people will talk to just about anyone and form temporary friendships. Or in our case your temporary friendships can extend for longer than you'd like. After we left Bangkok we thought we had seen the last our Jon and Laura but we were wrong. At 10pm the first night, as we were settling in to the room and heading to beds there was a knock on the door. Surprise surprise it was them. Now we had a lot of fun with them in Beijing and Bangkok but after a while our differences were starting to show and we were looking forward to just being in Koh Samui alone. But fate had other plans.

Our first day at Koh Samui was pretty unremarkable. We woke up around 11 (partially due to the loud techno and fireworks going on right outside our room that kept us up til 2), but this being our relaxing time we didn't mind. We had already ignored one knock at our door by Jon and Laura. We sneaked out of the room to Burger King for lunch then decided to hit the beach. I got sun burned, of course. The beach is pretty nice except that there are not many chairs and not much of a beach as the chairs that are there come down to the waters edge at high tide. But the water is pretty clear and warm, and because of where we are on the beach at low tide it forms a lagoon of sorts between the beach and the rock reef. We sat around for a couple hours just wading in the water and watching people come by, with Jon and Laura popping by every once and a while to see what we were up to. Laura was trying to convince us to do a trip to the Elephant Trekking park on the island. I was not to keen on it since it would take the better part of a day but after a while I just gave in figuring riding an elephant might be cool. That night we headed out to a local bar to have a drink or 2 and play some pool. Nothing special about the bar except that we met Andy and Lucy, two Brits who are doing a bit of traveling themselves. They had just come from India and had some good stories and were all around funny people. We made plans to all grab a drink the next day after we got back from the Elephant Trekking. We made it back to the room and were rocked to sleep by the lullaby of the techno playing next door.

Early the next morning (9 am early) we awoke and headed out to meet the air con minivan for the trip. When an off road pickup truck who had bench seats in the back showed up to get us I knew we were in for trouble. The truck had no gauges of any kind, just a steering wheel, stick and pedals. The back looked like someone had welded in bench seats with little padding and welded bars around the side to hold on to. It was hotter than hell even at 9 am and being mildly hung over did not help. After picking up 2 more groups of people (who looked as confused as we did by the pickup) we headed out to the Elephant Trekking park. Along the way we ran into another pickup for the tour that had broken down on the side of the road. After they tried to slam their 8 people into the back with our 8 people (16 people in a small truck bed doesn't work) a third truck showed up and decided it would push the broken down truck. So they loaded that truck back up and put grill to bumper and off they went. Very classy and even more safe.

When we got to the elephant park we found it was actually a "zoo" of sorts. Our trip was supposed to be 9-2:30pm and we thought we would be hitting many parts of the island. But in fact we spent 75% of the time at the "zoo". The elephant trek was shown in the brochure as being a walk through the forest of the island, up a river away from civilization. What we got was a ride around the park showing us the cage with the crazy monkey from the monkey show who just does back flips over and over, the alligator park with the alligators that look half dead and the "river" that looked like run off from a hose. At one point the driver offered to take our picture, so he jumped down and had us take turns sitting up by the elephants head. The pictures came out well but afterwards the driver wanted 200 baht for it. We gave him 150. Side note, elephants are not comfortable so never ride one longer than 30 minutes.

After the elephant we were treated to the elephant show, which was baby elephant trained to do circus tricks like kick a ball, play a harmonica, bark on command and dance. It was really kind of sad. After the elephant show was the alligator show with 2 people doing the regular head in an alligators mouth, etc. The gators barely even moved the entire time and if not for the breathing I would swear they were dead. At one point the guy put his entire arm down the alligators throat and it did nothing at all. The last show was the monkey show with Robert the monkey who would show us how locals used to use monkeys to get coconuts. Robert wasn't in a good mood and refused to do most of what the trainer said to do which was the only funny part of the whole day. They had to cut the show short and Robert was unavailable for pictures. Other things that would have PETA up in arms were the chained tiger cubs, leopard cubs in cages the size of a box and just the general look of the elephants. I know Thais cherish elephants but this place pretty much pimped them to tourist. It was the worst kind of tourist trap possible and we were greatly regretting even coming. But it was only 11, we had 3 hours to go.

The next stop was the waterfall. The pictures showed a huge waterfall with people swimming all below it. In reality it is a big waterfall and people did swim, but the swimming was actually 30 yards down stream from the waterfall. And the 100 other people there kind of ruined that you and nature type of feel. Safe to say I did not swim and counted the minutes til it was time to leave. Next stop was the mummified monk, a guy that died 30 years ago and his family had his body mummified and put on display to encourage others to meditate. Kind of creepy. After that it was to the off road adventure. I already said how uncomfortable the trucks were but then they took us off roading with the 3 trucks in the caravan racing around each other, bumping each other and the camera man swinging all around the trucks from hood to roof to side to back, grabbing video (of yeah they made a video of the day you could buy for 600 baht). At the top of the off road mountain was lunch, which was not to bad. It had a great view, food tasted decent and it was much cooler up there. But the servings were tiny and anything besides water cost extra. By this point we were just waiting for it to be over. The last stop on the trip was the Magical Buddha Garden which is a bunch of statues a guy started making 20 years ago and arranging in a man made garden and creek. Most of them look silly and the concrete lacks the historic quality of marble or granite carvings. But that was the last stop and then home thank god. I took a 3 hour nap after that hoping to forget the days events.

That night we met up with Laura, Jon, Andy and Lucy to go out. The first stop was the Ice Bar where everything is made of ice. But they want real money, 375 baht just to get in, which was more than were willing to pay for a place to drink beer. Instead we ended up on a beach bar sitting around drinking with the rest of the backpackers. Other than the techno blaring all around it was it pretty nice. Clear skies, slight breeze and the site of the ocean all around you made it pleasent. Around 12 Jon and Laura called it a night since their plane left the next day. The rest of us moved down the beach to Ark Bar. It is the place that plays techno music late into the night that is right next door to us. Here we got to see the standard backpacker society which was a bunch of really drunk aussies, brits and irish. A girl sat/laid down behind me and had a dress so small her entire thong covered ass was showing. As she wiggled around making out with a guy her entire dress came up to her waist giving me more of a show than I wanted. All the locals were laughing and even taking pictures of her. At one point someone told her and her reply was "that's awesome". Then she treated everyone by stripping to her underwear and going for a swim in the ocean. Another girl had to be carried off the beach by the friends and I think a few people were passed out on the beach. Around 2 we said good bye to Andy and Lucy and headed home, looking forward to one day by ourselves.

Koh Samui is pretty nice. Knowing better now I would stay at a different beach on the island to get away from the backpacker/party crowd as well as the vendors. Every day on the beach we get harassed by 30-40 vendors trying to sell useless junk and ice cream. Always ice cream everywhere in Asia. The relaxation I was looking for didn't really come so hopefully over the next 2 weeks before Africa I can find some where to chill out for a bit. We're off to Hanoi tomorrow to wrap up our Asia tour.