Hello, so currently waiting at the hostel before we take our midnight bus to Cambodia. Katie had a three-year-old girl sitting on her lap, playing a fish computer game. This girl, Anna, is adorable. Her Mum works for the hostel. We just spent an hour with her admiring her newly painted nails, playing with her rubber band collection, taking out the rubber bands from the princess backpack, then putting them back in, trying to unsuccessfully make card houses (not very easy with a fan), kicking around the ball, bungee jumping my anti-itch cream. She also took a lot of photos, pretty sure she loves the camera. It's been quite busy.
Today we left early and went on a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were used by the Vietkong in the Vietnam War. It was all part of their guerilla warfare. The tour was quite amazing. We saw the trenches they ran through. There were secret, tiny openings to the tunnels completely covered by leaves. I went down into one of them, some people weren't allowed to though because, as our touguide said, they "drink too much beer."
One part of the tour was all about the traps that they set up. The most scary was this ditch with poisoned bamboo sticking up from the bottom. There was a kind of swinging door above the ditch that was covered with grass. If you fell in the hole would just dissappear again, covering you up. Terrifying! There was also this door one, where if American soldiers opened a door it would swing down and stab them in multiple places. The tourguide said, "no more babies."
Some other things we did:
- climbed an old American tank
- saw how all the weapons used were recycled from U.S. bombs
- heard a billion gunshots from the shooting range, if you payed you could shoot an AK-47 or machine gun, crazy.
- ate some tapioca with peanut sauce - I quite liked it, Katie didn't
We soon slept on the bus ride back home where we proceeded to:
-eat pastries at this place called ABC pastry, we sat there for a few hours just catching up in our journals
-went and changed our bus so that our final destination is Siem Reap (skipping Phnom Penh)
-bought some super comfy, slouchy pants - need them for Angkor Watt temple
-ate some Mac'N'Cheese that tasted a little more like Spaghetti-O's
Fun day, now a 12-hour bus ride!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Ho Chi Minh
Katie and flew to Ho Chi Minh Sunday morning. Everyone kept telling us how it was crazier than Hanoi. I actually find it more manegable just because it feels like a much bigger city. The roads aren't as skinny. With that said, our hostel (called the My My Art House) is down this long, skinny alley. Of course the motorcycles manage to get through it all.
We were a little to early to check in, so went and had an overpriced lunch (by overpriced I mean expensive in Vietnam, still crazy cheap compared to America). We then walked over to the War Remnants Museum. It was depressing. Extremely depressing. I don't want to get too much into it, but let's just say Katie and I completely tried to hide the fact that we were American.
After that not-so-joyful experience we checked into the hostel and spent the next couple of hours just doing nothing. So nice. For dinner we actually found a place that Lonely Planet reccommended in the guide book!! Usually we just end up wandering around for a couple hours before finally giving up. It was so exciting! Plus it was pretty good.
They were having what appeared to be a Sunday night celebration in the park, naturally we went to explore. There were lights all over, stalls full of food, and people all over. It was fun! Plus they have the best things ever in the park. It's like playground equipment but for adults. So there's like a metal ab machine and a metal treadmill. Basically just a bunch of simple workout equipment. Such a good idea!
We were a little to early to check in, so went and had an overpriced lunch (by overpriced I mean expensive in Vietnam, still crazy cheap compared to America). We then walked over to the War Remnants Museum. It was depressing. Extremely depressing. I don't want to get too much into it, but let's just say Katie and I completely tried to hide the fact that we were American.
After that not-so-joyful experience we checked into the hostel and spent the next couple of hours just doing nothing. So nice. For dinner we actually found a place that Lonely Planet reccommended in the guide book!! Usually we just end up wandering around for a couple hours before finally giving up. It was so exciting! Plus it was pretty good.
They were having what appeared to be a Sunday night celebration in the park, naturally we went to explore. There were lights all over, stalls full of food, and people all over. It was fun! Plus they have the best things ever in the park. It's like playground equipment but for adults. So there's like a metal ab machine and a metal treadmill. Basically just a bunch of simple workout equipment. Such a good idea!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Laos List
Katie and I came up with thist list while waiting for... our train, a cab, bus? It's a list of things we learnt while traveling around Laos.
-Kopchai means thank you. Kopchai lailai means thank you very much.
-Sabaidee means hello. Everyone says this to each other.
-Laos P.D.R = Laos: Please. Don't. Rush.
-Lao lu: field dwellers
Lao camu: midland
Lao mu: mountain dewllers
-There are 4 different tribes in Laos.
-The people in the tribes are a mix of all different Asian countries.
-There is no common language due to this. The most commonly spoken one is Lao-lum.
-BeerLao is the native beer. It's mascot is a tiger. It is good and cheaper than water in many places.
-Oh my God in Laos = Oh my Buddha
- Vietnam = friendly neighbour.
Thailand = boundary issues (espescially with the border).
-Fish- a lot of bones when eating it.
-The Mekong River is a brownish/orange. It is not blue.
-Sai = left, hao = right, bai = forward, tui = backwards (at least this is with elephants).
-Few cars, almost everyone drives motorcycles.
-Kopchai means thank you. Kopchai lailai means thank you very much.
-Sabaidee means hello. Everyone says this to each other.
-Laos P.D.R = Laos: Please. Don't. Rush.
-Lao lu: field dwellers
Lao camu: midland
Lao mu: mountain dewllers
-There are 4 different tribes in Laos.
-The people in the tribes are a mix of all different Asian countries.
-There is no common language due to this. The most commonly spoken one is Lao-lum.
-BeerLao is the native beer. It's mascot is a tiger. It is good and cheaper than water in many places.
-Oh my God in Laos = Oh my Buddha
- Vietnam = friendly neighbour.
Thailand = boundary issues (espescially with the border).
-Fish- a lot of bones when eating it.
-The Mekong River is a brownish/orange. It is not blue.
-Sai = left, hao = right, bai = forward, tui = backwards (at least this is with elephants).
-Few cars, almost everyone drives motorcycles.
Hoi An
Hoi An is amazing.
The day started of pretty stressful. The guy picking us up was 45 minutes later and so Katie and I started looking for a cab. This is no easy job in Vietnam. Every driver at the train station surrounded us offering their cab. Now the cab driver that had driven us to the train station had ripped us off by taking the long way.
Our conversations with the drivers went like.
Us: "No meter. 300,000 Dong."
Drivers in unison: "No, use meter" "meter."
Us: "No, because then you go long way, too much money."
Drivers: "No, no, no, use meter."
So while this was going on, another man comes up (not a cab driver) saying that he just spoke to our driver and he is 15 minutes away.
Us: "You lie to us? Promise no trick?"
Rando: "No trick."
Us: "Ok, then what my name?" (You revert to very basic and wrong english when talking to people with limited language skills).
Rando: [calls up cab driver]: L-A-U-R-A
Us: ok......
Luckily this guy was telling us the truth. Right when Katie and I were going to take a taxi (for 330,000 dong) our car shows up, knowing our names. Phewwwww.
In Hoi An we settled into our very gorgeous hotel, where they know English! We proceeded to walk around all the small, narrow streets. Hoi An is an ancient town known for it's clothes. Everywhere there were clothing stores where you could custom make anything - pick the design, the colour, size, etc. It really was amazing and the clothes were all stunning.
Katie and I stuck to lighter items, not wanting to lug around clothes. Bracelets, postcards, t-shirts, sunglasses, and of course the traditional Vietnam hats. After shopping we dropped of our tourist items at the hotel- it's quite embarrassing to be walking around screaming "tourist"!
After we went and got a manicure and pedicure. For those of you that know me, I really never do this, but it was only $6 each, for both! This was not the traditional, peaceful manicure though. The woman had a 2 1/2 year old son who was playing with his plastic sword. He then proceeded to hit me with it on the shin, lovely. Never have I ever been hit with a sword when getting a pedicure. So the Mum got mad and hid it, then the kid came back and hit her with the wooden thing! It was quite stressful.
After the not so relaxing manipedi (which looks great by the way), we rented bicycles and rode over to the beach 4km away. It was a gorgeous ride. Rice paddies on either side, a river, palm trees, lots of motorcycles to avoid. The beach was insanely pretty, and the water crazily warm. This is what I had remembered about Asia.
Finally we tore ourselves away and headed back to Hoi An to return the bikes. We walked along the little streets and found a place across the river for dinner.
Hoi An is just the ancient town you would imagine when thinking of Vietnam. It has picture perfect roads, the nicest stores, excellent food, and an amazing beach. It was definitely one of our favourite places in Vietnam (although Ha Long Bay is hard to beat).
The day started of pretty stressful. The guy picking us up was 45 minutes later and so Katie and I started looking for a cab. This is no easy job in Vietnam. Every driver at the train station surrounded us offering their cab. Now the cab driver that had driven us to the train station had ripped us off by taking the long way.
Our conversations with the drivers went like.
Us: "No meter. 300,000 Dong."
Drivers in unison: "No, use meter" "meter."
Us: "No, because then you go long way, too much money."
Drivers: "No, no, no, use meter."
So while this was going on, another man comes up (not a cab driver) saying that he just spoke to our driver and he is 15 minutes away.
Us: "You lie to us? Promise no trick?"
Rando: "No trick."
Us: "Ok, then what my name?" (You revert to very basic and wrong english when talking to people with limited language skills).
Rando: [calls up cab driver]: L-A-U-R-A
Us: ok......
Luckily this guy was telling us the truth. Right when Katie and I were going to take a taxi (for 330,000 dong) our car shows up, knowing our names. Phewwwww.
In Hoi An we settled into our very gorgeous hotel, where they know English! We proceeded to walk around all the small, narrow streets. Hoi An is an ancient town known for it's clothes. Everywhere there were clothing stores where you could custom make anything - pick the design, the colour, size, etc. It really was amazing and the clothes were all stunning.
Katie and I stuck to lighter items, not wanting to lug around clothes. Bracelets, postcards, t-shirts, sunglasses, and of course the traditional Vietnam hats. After shopping we dropped of our tourist items at the hotel- it's quite embarrassing to be walking around screaming "tourist"!
After we went and got a manicure and pedicure. For those of you that know me, I really never do this, but it was only $6 each, for both! This was not the traditional, peaceful manicure though. The woman had a 2 1/2 year old son who was playing with his plastic sword. He then proceeded to hit me with it on the shin, lovely. Never have I ever been hit with a sword when getting a pedicure. So the Mum got mad and hid it, then the kid came back and hit her with the wooden thing! It was quite stressful.
After the not so relaxing manipedi (which looks great by the way), we rented bicycles and rode over to the beach 4km away. It was a gorgeous ride. Rice paddies on either side, a river, palm trees, lots of motorcycles to avoid. The beach was insanely pretty, and the water crazily warm. This is what I had remembered about Asia.
Finally we tore ourselves away and headed back to Hoi An to return the bikes. We walked along the little streets and found a place across the river for dinner.
Hoi An is just the ancient town you would imagine when thinking of Vietnam. It has picture perfect roads, the nicest stores, excellent food, and an amazing beach. It was definitely one of our favourite places in Vietnam (although Ha Long Bay is hard to beat).
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Anagram Time
Rearrange this city to another city in Vietnam:
HANOI
Yep, it's confusing. I keep calling HoiAn the wrong thing.
HANOI
Yep, it's confusing. I keep calling HoiAn the wrong thing.
DaNang
So woke up on the speeding train to DaNnag. A few things to note.
- do not leave your shoes on the ground, or else the Asian man sharing your cabin may use them. Without asking.
-Bring your own sheets- conspicuous hairs on the others.
-Bring food, not just wasabi peas.
-The train is very cold- "the train has never been colder"- Katie.
-Organize someone to pick you upor else every single taxi driver when you arrive will harrass you.
Katie looking depressed on the train:
So after arriving a couple of hours early, Katie and I found a taxi driver who took us to our hotel at a very overcharged price. Nicole and Garth smartly went straight to HoiAn.
See, Katie and I were planning to treat DaNang as our vacation within a vacation. I went to DaNnag once before with my family and I remember staying in this gorgeous hotel and absolutely loving the beaches and close by village. Turns out this was not the DaNang we were in.
Instead it was a lot of buildings, a lot of motorbikes, no beaches, and confusing roads. Katie and I grabbed a small lunch at the hotel and then lounged around for a bit in the room. We caught up on reading, email etc.
For dinner we tried to find this restaurant that was run by deaf people, instead we got completely lost, walked forever, and found out we were on the wrong side of the river. We would both say- low point of the trip.
Back at the hotel, we had spaghetti, garlic bread and M&M's for dinner. Because we are foreign we were overcharged, of course. Just adding to our so far dislike of DaNang.
We decided to shorten our stay to one night and to head down to Hoi An tomorrow. Booked a hostel their, watched some Moulin Rouge (Katie had never seen it), then went to bed.
- do not leave your shoes on the ground, or else the Asian man sharing your cabin may use them. Without asking.
-Bring your own sheets- conspicuous hairs on the others.
-Bring food, not just wasabi peas.
-The train is very cold- "the train has never been colder"- Katie.
-Organize someone to pick you upor else every single taxi driver when you arrive will harrass you.
Katie looking depressed on the train:
So after arriving a couple of hours early, Katie and I found a taxi driver who took us to our hotel at a very overcharged price. Nicole and Garth smartly went straight to HoiAn.
See, Katie and I were planning to treat DaNang as our vacation within a vacation. I went to DaNnag once before with my family and I remember staying in this gorgeous hotel and absolutely loving the beaches and close by village. Turns out this was not the DaNang we were in.
Instead it was a lot of buildings, a lot of motorbikes, no beaches, and confusing roads. Katie and I grabbed a small lunch at the hotel and then lounged around for a bit in the room. We caught up on reading, email etc.
For dinner we tried to find this restaurant that was run by deaf people, instead we got completely lost, walked forever, and found out we were on the wrong side of the river. We would both say- low point of the trip.
Back at the hotel, we had spaghetti, garlic bread and M&M's for dinner. Because we are foreign we were overcharged, of course. Just adding to our so far dislike of DaNang.
We decided to shorten our stay to one night and to head down to Hoi An tomorrow. Booked a hostel their, watched some Moulin Rouge (Katie had never seen it), then went to bed.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Ha Long Bay - The Rock Long Rock Hard Tour
So currently sitting waiting for our train to DaNang so thought I would update about our AMAZING adventures in Ha Long Bay - it was so much fun!
Ha Long Bay
Sooo day one. Woke up to a very wet and stormy Hanoi. Oh no, monsoon and typhoons! Grabbed some breakfast while waiting for the verdict on whether we could go or not. The verdict: we couldn't follow the planned itinerary but would have an altered one.
So after each getting a lovely, colourful sombrero hat (to get us in the party mood), we got on the bus and drove on these sketchy, not real roads, down to the boat pier. The rain was pretty much blowing sideways, Forrest Gump was right (One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night... ).
Kaite and I in our sombreros.
We arrived at Cat Ba island where we took another bus to our hotel. After eating and getting settled we visited this place called 'The Hospital,' which was used in the Vietnam war. It was this giant, slightly manmade, cave that was used as a hospital and hideout. They had pipes that released the steam from cooking about 5 km away, so the planes would drop the bombs in the wrong place. When leaving the cave out of the secret exit, people would be lead with their eyes clothes. If they opened them they would be shot! Additionally tons of traps and cameras were set up in the woods, making it virtually impossible to find.
At the hospital:
Ok I'm doing bullet poins now I'm so lazy and you don't have to hear about how we got from place to place.
- Visited the National Park on the island and had a brief geography lesson.
- Walked to the beach by the hotel. The waves were enormous! No wonder we couldn't get to the private island we were supposed to go to! Katie and I ran back to the hotel before it started raining again.
The crazy stormy sea:
-After dinner everyone went to a bar named The Blue Note- free rice wine shots (which are disgusting just so you know).
Day 2
- woke up (totally without a hangover Mum and Dad...), had some breakfast, then headed to the boat pier to get a water taxi.
- took a boat through the absolutely gorgeous and stunning bays to 'Castaway Island.' The hostel we did the trip with bought this beach and have these cute little huts on it that you sleep in.
Sleeping huts:
-helped clean up all the trash that the storm had washed up onto the beach (quite disgusting the amount of it)
- spent the day swimming in the lovely warm ocean, kayaking to lagoons and around islands, banana boating (and falling off, a lot), reading, and napping - basically perfection.
-at night we had another party which was so much fun. People were from all over - Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, England, Zimbabwe, Israel, Canada, and more - we were the only Americans (and I was the youngest one there, of course). It was so much fun just learning about everyones different slang and cultures, and everyone was just so friendly and fun!
- So we all played many drinking games- learnt some great ones! Then we swam out to the pontoon thing in the middle of the night to see the bio-luminescents (they weren't too strong because of the storm). I didn't go to bed till about 5:00 am, after a failed attempt at sleeping on the beach.
Day 3
- had an early breakfast at 7:30am - felt so hyper still (the red bull in Asia is crazy!). We sadly had to leave beautiful Castaway Island to head to the even more beautiful Ha Long Bay.
- transferred boats to the "Jolly Rodger," the hostel's boat (it's a hostel run by Australian's if that makes more sense). A gorgeous boat, we were supposed to have slept on it the first night but couldn't because of the storm.
- Hung out, ate, and crusied along Ha Long Bay. Once we reached the dock we sadly drove back to the hostel on a 4 hour bus ride. I bought some Wasabi Peas at the rest stop (they are suprisingly my new favourite snack).
-After getting to the hostel we finally showered and brushed our teeth. I have never appreciated floss so much!
- Katie and I then wandered around crazy Hanoi- we did imporve immensly at crossing the streets so we were quite proud of ourselves. However, we did not improve at finding our way around and ended up getting mildly lost on the wayto find a restaurant. We ended up just giving up and eating at a place near the hostel, that we ate at our first night.
- Hogged the computers some.
-Sat upstairs in the bar, not wanting to drink but just wanting to be social. Unfortunately got some free 'slushy' shots because some team missed a shot. Not really sure, but passionfruit slushy is soooo good!
-Hung out some more and then took a taxi with our new Zimbabwe friends, Garth and Nicole, to the train station.
- Boarded the overnight train to DaNang. Unfortunately Nicole and Garth couldn't transfer to our cabin. Instead we had a local Vietnamese man. Katie and I just took someAdvil PM and zonked out.
Ha Long Bay
Sooo day one. Woke up to a very wet and stormy Hanoi. Oh no, monsoon and typhoons! Grabbed some breakfast while waiting for the verdict on whether we could go or not. The verdict: we couldn't follow the planned itinerary but would have an altered one.
So after each getting a lovely, colourful sombrero hat (to get us in the party mood), we got on the bus and drove on these sketchy, not real roads, down to the boat pier. The rain was pretty much blowing sideways, Forrest Gump was right (One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night... ).
Kaite and I in our sombreros.
We arrived at Cat Ba island where we took another bus to our hotel. After eating and getting settled we visited this place called 'The Hospital,' which was used in the Vietnam war. It was this giant, slightly manmade, cave that was used as a hospital and hideout. They had pipes that released the steam from cooking about 5 km away, so the planes would drop the bombs in the wrong place. When leaving the cave out of the secret exit, people would be lead with their eyes clothes. If they opened them they would be shot! Additionally tons of traps and cameras were set up in the woods, making it virtually impossible to find.
At the hospital:
Ok I'm doing bullet poins now I'm so lazy and you don't have to hear about how we got from place to place.
- Visited the National Park on the island and had a brief geography lesson.
- Walked to the beach by the hotel. The waves were enormous! No wonder we couldn't get to the private island we were supposed to go to! Katie and I ran back to the hotel before it started raining again.
The crazy stormy sea:
-After dinner everyone went to a bar named The Blue Note- free rice wine shots (which are disgusting just so you know).
Day 2
- woke up (totally without a hangover Mum and Dad...), had some breakfast, then headed to the boat pier to get a water taxi.
- took a boat through the absolutely gorgeous and stunning bays to 'Castaway Island.' The hostel we did the trip with bought this beach and have these cute little huts on it that you sleep in.
Sleeping huts:
View from Castaway Island:
- spent the day swimming in the lovely warm ocean, kayaking to lagoons and around islands, banana boating (and falling off, a lot), reading, and napping - basically perfection.
-at night we had another party which was so much fun. People were from all over - Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, England, Zimbabwe, Israel, Canada, and more - we were the only Americans (and I was the youngest one there, of course). It was so much fun just learning about everyones different slang and cultures, and everyone was just so friendly and fun!
- So we all played many drinking games- learnt some great ones! Then we swam out to the pontoon thing in the middle of the night to see the bio-luminescents (they weren't too strong because of the storm). I didn't go to bed till about 5:00 am, after a failed attempt at sleeping on the beach.
Day 3
- had an early breakfast at 7:30am - felt so hyper still (the red bull in Asia is crazy!). We sadly had to leave beautiful Castaway Island to head to the even more beautiful Ha Long Bay.
- transferred boats to the "Jolly Rodger," the hostel's boat (it's a hostel run by Australian's if that makes more sense). A gorgeous boat, we were supposed to have slept on it the first night but couldn't because of the storm.
- Hung out, ate, and crusied along Ha Long Bay. Once we reached the dock we sadly drove back to the hostel on a 4 hour bus ride. I bought some Wasabi Peas at the rest stop (they are suprisingly my new favourite snack).
-After getting to the hostel we finally showered and brushed our teeth. I have never appreciated floss so much!
- Katie and I then wandered around crazy Hanoi- we did imporve immensly at crossing the streets so we were quite proud of ourselves. However, we did not improve at finding our way around and ended up getting mildly lost on the wayto find a restaurant. We ended up just giving up and eating at a place near the hostel, that we ate at our first night.
- Hogged the computers some.
-Sat upstairs in the bar, not wanting to drink but just wanting to be social. Unfortunately got some free 'slushy' shots because some team missed a shot. Not really sure, but passionfruit slushy is soooo good!
-Hung out some more and then took a taxi with our new Zimbabwe friends, Garth and Nicole, to the train station.
- Boarded the overnight train to DaNang. Unfortunately Nicole and Garth couldn't transfer to our cabin. Instead we had a local Vietnamese man. Katie and I just took someAdvil PM and zonked out.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Vietnam - Hanoi
So Katie and I have finally arrived here in Vietnam, our hostel is super nice, but this city is crazy! It feels like the city (NYC that is), but without any rules. There are motorbikes everywhere, and I mean everywhere. On the sidewalks, from every direction on the roads, blocking the streets, in houses, it's crazy!
So after getting to the hostel, after a quite terrifying ride, we walked around trying to find an exchange place. It took so long and I got stressed and grumpy because I hadn't eaten since this morning and couldn't buy anything because I hadn't exchanged any moeny, plus I was completely lost in this super super busy city! But alas, eventually found it and we had a lovely dinner by the hostel.
Just cam back from the rooftop bar which was fun. Made friends from Scotland, Norway, and Minnesota (whose on our same train to DaNang). We also decided to extend our tour in Halong Bay to two nights instead of one. It was extra money but apparently the trip is just so much fun and totally worth it. So this is our only night in the hostel! Don't think we'll have internet for a few days since will be in a bay somewhere but will update then! Love to all!
So after getting to the hostel, after a quite terrifying ride, we walked around trying to find an exchange place. It took so long and I got stressed and grumpy because I hadn't eaten since this morning and couldn't buy anything because I hadn't exchanged any moeny, plus I was completely lost in this super super busy city! But alas, eventually found it and we had a lovely dinner by the hostel.
Just cam back from the rooftop bar which was fun. Made friends from Scotland, Norway, and Minnesota (whose on our same train to DaNang). We also decided to extend our tour in Halong Bay to two nights instead of one. It was extra money but apparently the trip is just so much fun and totally worth it. So this is our only night in the hostel! Don't think we'll have internet for a few days since will be in a bay somewhere but will update then! Love to all!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Day 7- Biking Around Luang Prabang
So today Katie and I decided to rent bikes after our extremely peacful breakfast at Utopia. We tried to copy the Eat, Pray, Love advice of just sitting and doing nothing, I was pretty bad and just wanted to read my book (The Secret Histories by Donna Tart - it's really good!).
So we biked around the little peninsula. It's almost a little island surrounded by the Mekong River but not quite. We looked at some more temples. They are all just so detailed and incredible, it's ridiculous! And there are SO many. After a while we couldn't go into them anymore just because we felt like we had seen so many.
We grabbed at a little local place by the river and then biked back home (hoping to avoid the looming rain cloud). Thankfully we made it just in time and it started pouring down right after we got inside. So we took this time to take our first shower in about 3 days (swimming in waterfalls and the Mekong River counts doesn't it?).
After the rainstorm walked across the Communist bridge (there are a bunch of communist flags here, we don't know why, I should probably look that up). It was super high up but had a great view of the river. Thankfully it was cooler right after the rainstorm. Then we went off biking again!
So a little later, after returning the bikes ($2.50 for the day!) we went and grabbed dinner. I must add this is after having a brief snack (rice spring rolls for me, a croissant for Katie), additionally we had a couple of beers- it was our last night. Also we had walked down through the night market (we made this rule that we have to walk through the whole market before we bought anything- so we didn't buy the first things we saw). We happened to stumble upon this place called the Coconut Garden, which had been reccommended in the airplane magazine. It was pretty yum, my favourite part was when this stry cat just came and sat on me and fell asleep! I felt like all the animals loved me, espescially because earlier that day this dog was following us all through the city. So fun.
Ok so we allowed ourselves to go to the nightmarket one last time, with a set budget (which of course I went over - but only by like $3!). I bought two shirts, and two bags. It's all so adorable and cheap, you just want it all! But a succesful day all in all of finally exploring Luang Prabang.
So we biked around the little peninsula. It's almost a little island surrounded by the Mekong River but not quite. We looked at some more temples. They are all just so detailed and incredible, it's ridiculous! And there are SO many. After a while we couldn't go into them anymore just because we felt like we had seen so many.
We grabbed at a little local place by the river and then biked back home (hoping to avoid the looming rain cloud). Thankfully we made it just in time and it started pouring down right after we got inside. So we took this time to take our first shower in about 3 days (swimming in waterfalls and the Mekong River counts doesn't it?).
After the rainstorm walked across the Communist bridge (there are a bunch of communist flags here, we don't know why, I should probably look that up). It was super high up but had a great view of the river. Thankfully it was cooler right after the rainstorm. Then we went off biking again!
So a little later, after returning the bikes ($2.50 for the day!) we went and grabbed dinner. I must add this is after having a brief snack (rice spring rolls for me, a croissant for Katie), additionally we had a couple of beers- it was our last night. Also we had walked down through the night market (we made this rule that we have to walk through the whole market before we bought anything- so we didn't buy the first things we saw). We happened to stumble upon this place called the Coconut Garden, which had been reccommended in the airplane magazine. It was pretty yum, my favourite part was when this stry cat just came and sat on me and fell asleep! I felt like all the animals loved me, espescially because earlier that day this dog was following us all through the city. So fun.
Ok so we allowed ourselves to go to the nightmarket one last time, with a set budget (which of course I went over - but only by like $3!). I bought two shirts, and two bags. It's all so adorable and cheap, you just want it all! But a succesful day all in all of finally exploring Luang Prabang.
Day 6- Elephants
So today Katie and I rode elephants!! We took the hostel's truck to an elephant camp where we first rode on the back of an elephant named An. We sat in the weird chair thing and got to wear the traditional pointy hat things, it was so much fun though. It really felt like we had gone back in time. Of course my hat fell off after we went past some branches, ooops.
After that we pet the elephants some and then walked to the village nearby. It was right by the Mekong River which we took a boat over to visit the Pak Ou Caves. The caves had thousands of Buddha statues in it, it was really quite amazing. We climbed up a billion stairs to the upper cave, my legs were killing me from trekking! This cave was slightly bigger but I still preferred the one we saw yesterday!
Took the boat back over to the elephant camp and had a delicious meal of chicken and rice mixed with eggs. So yummy, I ate the whole thing. Also tried the fish as a part of our 'try everything (in moderation)' vow.
After lunch we rode the elephants again but this time without any chair. We sat on it's neck and we got on by climbing up it's back. So crazy! Also, elephants are much more hairy than you would think, and the hairs are pretty itchy. So we each got our own elephant this time and rode into the water! We went down this super steep slope, I seriously though a) the elephant would slip b) I would fall off and c) this completely would not be allowed in the US.
It was amazing!!! We were in the Mekong River riding elephants. They would dip their head all the way under- getting us completely soaked head to toe. Then we they kept spraying us with their trunks. This family of a father and two young boys were with us. The boys were just jumping from back to back of the elephants like it was no big deal. They kept getting mad at my elephant because it wouldn't listen. Katie's was literally throwing her off. So I went on to Katie's and it was impossible to ride! It would put it's head under- so we were a little more than waist deep, then it would start thrashing side to side making it impossible to stay on! I don't know how many times we fell off. It was so unbelievably fun though.
We then (while dripping in our wet and soaking clothes) walked around one of the close by villages. The village specialized in making scarfs and rice wine. A woman gave us some testers of white and red rice wine- very unusual tasting. We said no thank you to the 50% alcohol one. Dean (pronounced like Dee-en), our local tourguide then showed us how they made the rice wine- which I will explain in more detail later!
After that we pet the elephants some and then walked to the village nearby. It was right by the Mekong River which we took a boat over to visit the Pak Ou Caves. The caves had thousands of Buddha statues in it, it was really quite amazing. We climbed up a billion stairs to the upper cave, my legs were killing me from trekking! This cave was slightly bigger but I still preferred the one we saw yesterday!
Took the boat back over to the elephant camp and had a delicious meal of chicken and rice mixed with eggs. So yummy, I ate the whole thing. Also tried the fish as a part of our 'try everything (in moderation)' vow.
After lunch we rode the elephants again but this time without any chair. We sat on it's neck and we got on by climbing up it's back. So crazy! Also, elephants are much more hairy than you would think, and the hairs are pretty itchy. So we each got our own elephant this time and rode into the water! We went down this super steep slope, I seriously though a) the elephant would slip b) I would fall off and c) this completely would not be allowed in the US.
It was amazing!!! We were in the Mekong River riding elephants. They would dip their head all the way under- getting us completely soaked head to toe. Then we they kept spraying us with their trunks. This family of a father and two young boys were with us. The boys were just jumping from back to back of the elephants like it was no big deal. They kept getting mad at my elephant because it wouldn't listen. Katie's was literally throwing her off. So I went on to Katie's and it was impossible to ride! It would put it's head under- so we were a little more than waist deep, then it would start thrashing side to side making it impossible to stay on! I don't know how many times we fell off. It was so unbelievably fun though.
We then (while dripping in our wet and soaking clothes) walked around one of the close by villages. The village specialized in making scarfs and rice wine. A woman gave us some testers of white and red rice wine- very unusual tasting. We said no thank you to the 50% alcohol one. Dean (pronounced like Dee-en), our local tourguide then showed us how they made the rice wine- which I will explain in more detail later!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Day 5- Trekking and Waterfalls
So I'm pretty behind, really need to get up to date on my photos, promise I will soon! Currently sitting outside of our hostel in Laos eating Pocky for breakfast (we had their omelette yesterday but it was just so greasy!). Yesterday was amazing. We went on a 5 hour trek to go and see the Kuang Si waterfalls. Before starting we went up to see some of the remote villages in the mountains which were completely surreal.
We had to pay a man so we could walk through his forest, the man was smoking something in this huge cylinder and his eyes were very very red.... questionable. Apparently it was just tobacco though. Ok have to go, already but overview of what we did:
-hiked through rice paddies
-almost got attacked by a snake
-saw buffalo swimming in the water
-went to a cave that basically had no end
-walked along the very edge of the waterfall in the water!
-climbed down the waterfall (with me falling 4 times)
-swam in the waterfalls
-saw some bears
-got back to Luang Prabang and went to our favourite place Utopia for dinner, a margharita, and beer.
- made new friends from Denmark and England then went to bed!
We had to pay a man so we could walk through his forest, the man was smoking something in this huge cylinder and his eyes were very very red.... questionable. Apparently it was just tobacco though. Ok have to go, already but overview of what we did:
-hiked through rice paddies
-almost got attacked by a snake
-saw buffalo swimming in the water
-went to a cave that basically had no end
-walked along the very edge of the waterfall in the water!
-climbed down the waterfall (with me falling 4 times)
-swam in the waterfalls
-saw some bears
-got back to Luang Prabang and went to our favourite place Utopia for dinner, a margharita, and beer.
- made new friends from Denmark and England then went to bed!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Day 4 - LAOS
hello all my favourite people! Last night was actually quite fun, considering we were sleeping in the Bangkok airport! Katie and I scouted out some seats and slept there until about 5:30am. Then the Bangkok Airways desk finally opened so we could get our boarding passes. With them we were allowed to sit in the Bangkok Airways lounge which was nice - free wireless, coffee, tea, snacks mmmmm. We did some 'household chores' of catching up in our journals. They put out all this traditional Thai food and Katie and I tried all of it (all part of our "try-everything-to-an-extent-while-traveling-asia"). Needless to say we were not great fans.
Had some breakfast and we even reviewed some Chinese! Not as bad as we thought it would be! Then we headed to the plane which was so mini and colourful! We had some wine on the flight, just because we can. The views were amazing, just miles and miles of rolling green hills and mountains. After a couple of hours we landed in Laos, which is gorgeous!
Had some breakfast and we even reviewed some Chinese! Not as bad as we thought it would be! Then we headed to the plane which was so mini and colourful! We had some wine on the flight, just because we can. The views were amazing, just miles and miles of rolling green hills and mountains. After a couple of hours we landed in Laos, which is gorgeous!
Day 3
So a little behind, we've been so busy!! But on day 3 we went to stanley market in the morning. I bought a Chinese Minority doll, it's actually really cute! A little elephant ornament and this tiny little thimble. Crazily ran into some people from Tufts in one of the stores! It was a girl who was in my orientation group freshman year, so insane! Ohhh Katie and I also found the coolest lights! They kind of look like yarn balls but with xmas lights inside. I bought colourful ones and Katie bought white ones, I'm so proud of myself!
Headed back home and had some lunch in Repulse Bay, then headed back up to the Jack's to pack and do some last minute things. We for some reason decided not to wear our backpacks but to lug them up the hill to the busstop in our duffel bags. Note: this is a bad idea.
We took the Airport Express, which is great because you can check your bags before you get on the plane - no more lugging! Had dinner at some cafe then tested out the perfumes in Duty Free- since we didn't bring any perfume with us. Managed to find the third installment of the Stieg Larrson book's in paperback so I was super happy!
Our flight to Bangkok was delayed for about 90 minutes (when we were on the plane), but it didn't even matter because we were fast asleep!
Promise I'm going to catch up on pictures soon! (Internet here is a little slow).
Headed back home and had some lunch in Repulse Bay, then headed back up to the Jack's to pack and do some last minute things. We for some reason decided not to wear our backpacks but to lug them up the hill to the busstop in our duffel bags. Note: this is a bad idea.
We took the Airport Express, which is great because you can check your bags before you get on the plane - no more lugging! Had dinner at some cafe then tested out the perfumes in Duty Free- since we didn't bring any perfume with us. Managed to find the third installment of the Stieg Larrson book's in paperback so I was super happy!
Our flight to Bangkok was delayed for about 90 minutes (when we were on the plane), but it didn't even matter because we were fast asleep!
Promise I'm going to catch up on pictures soon! (Internet here is a little slow).
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Bangkok
Hi everyone! Just thoguht I'd let you know I'm currently in the Bangkok airport on the way to Laos! I only have 1 minute left on the internet! was going to update my blog like crazy but forgot the converter, oooops! Bye for now!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Day 2
Good morning everyone! (Since everyone who probably reads this is asleep right now). Today is a beautiful day in HK, but SO hot!
Katie and I went to Ocean Park today. It has changed so much since I last went, it's completely revamped. I'm guessing this is probably due to the new competition with HK Disney.
We saw all four of the panda's the park has! Jiajia, Lele, Anan, and other-one-whose-name-I-forgot. So my Chinese name is Lili. Turns out I have a panda name, since all panda's are named with the first word repeated. Don't really know if that's good or bad. Oh and also got a panda bouncy ball for my bouncy ball collection, ohhhh yeah.
So wandered, went on the carousel and took the cable car over to the other side of the mountain. On this side of the mountain, we saw the new exhibit on sturgeon fish in the Yangtze, went on the Dragon Rollercoaster and Flying Swings. We were going to get lunch there but the lines were so long, and we were dripping in sweat and didn't feel like waiting around. So now we're back at home.
I just took a lovely shower. Couldn't put my shorts back on because they were literally wet from sweat. So gross. I don't remember it ever being so hot here! Must have slipped my mind. Anyway, I think we may go and have a shandy on the beach soon. Perfection.
Katie and I went to Ocean Park today. It has changed so much since I last went, it's completely revamped. I'm guessing this is probably due to the new competition with HK Disney.
We saw all four of the panda's the park has! Jiajia, Lele, Anan, and other-one-whose-name-I-forgot. So my Chinese name is Lili. Turns out I have a panda name, since all panda's are named with the first word repeated. Don't really know if that's good or bad. Oh and also got a panda bouncy ball for my bouncy ball collection, ohhhh yeah.
So wandered, went on the carousel and took the cable car over to the other side of the mountain. On this side of the mountain, we saw the new exhibit on sturgeon fish in the Yangtze, went on the Dragon Rollercoaster and Flying Swings. We were going to get lunch there but the lines were so long, and we were dripping in sweat and didn't feel like waiting around. So now we're back at home.
I just took a lovely shower. Couldn't put my shorts back on because they were literally wet from sweat. So gross. I don't remember it ever being so hot here! Must have slipped my mind. Anyway, I think we may go and have a shandy on the beach soon. Perfection.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Day 1
Helloooooo! So the internet's a little slow so I can't currently add pictures but today was SO busy! I woke up twice last night but not for long (just once to finish a game on Nancy Drew). So what we did today:
- Toast and tea for breakfast, sitting on Sarah's balcony, and overlooking Repulse Bay
-Bus to Times Squre- we looked forever for the jewelry market but to no avail. We did stumble upon this cute little market though. Katie thought this nightgown said 'Mature Looks Great.'
-Lunch at a japanese restaurant (fyi.an order of sushi in HK is made up of two rolls, not six)
-Walked over to Wanchai to try find the market where they sell frogs and reptiles (also couldn't find it)
-Took the MTR to Prince Edward Station where we went to the Flower Market, Bird Market, Goldfish Market, and another street market
- Took the MTR back to Central where we walked around for a little
-Took the Star Ferry across the Harbor
-Bought some delicious British chocolate and looked at the view
-Wandered around past the Space Museum and the new Avenue of Stars (I think they're trying to make it like the Hollywood one except with all Chinese actors)
-Took the Star Ferry back across the harbor
- Walked to the Peak Tram and then waited in the super long line it
- Went to the sky view on top of the Peak, but instead of a view we were in a cloud
- Had dinner at a French Deli with a Tsing Tao
-Took the bus back down to Central and then to Repulse Bay
-Got home, figured out the internet password thanks to Sarah's brother Michael, then passed out!
Busy busy day! but so much fun! I've missed HK so much. It really is such a beautiful place.
- Toast and tea for breakfast, sitting on Sarah's balcony, and overlooking Repulse Bay
-Took the Star Ferry across the Harbor
-Bought some delicious British chocolate and looked at the view
-Wandered around past the Space Museum and the new Avenue of Stars (I think they're trying to make it like the Hollywood one except with all Chinese actors)
-Took the Star Ferry back across the harbor
- Walked to the Peak Tram and then waited in the super long line it
- Went to the sky view on top of the Peak, but instead of a view we were in a cloud
- Had dinner at a French Deli with a Tsing Tao
-Took the bus back down to Central and then to Repulse Bay
-Got home, figured out the internet password thanks to Sarah's brother Michael, then passed out!
Busy busy day! but so much fun! I've missed HK so much. It really is such a beautiful place.
HONG KONG!
I'm here in HK! Katie and I just got to the beautiful Jack's house and are about to head down to the beach for a late night drink! More updates to come once we figure out the wireless password!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Last Night!
Doesn't really match up with what was actually said (about 10 secs too short), but thought it was still worth posting!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Last Time
I have visited Beijing once before. It was on a school trip for 5th grade. I was living in Hong Kong at the time.
Beijing has undoubtedly undergone many changes, and I have too. Just to prove it here are some photos from that trip:
On the plane ride there...
On the Great Wall- Sarah, Daniella, Me, and Alex
At the Forbidden City
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Marco List
This is a blog about my Asian Adventures. From traveling around Southeast Asia, to living and studying in Beijing.
Katie Lotz, a best friend from school, shall be my partner in crime.
This is what she looks like:
Originally this blog was named 'Shou Mian,' for all those smart people who chose not to study Chinese, it means 'birthday longevity noodles.' A word of utmost importance.
However, I was desperately upset at the idea of leaving my boyfriend Marco for 3-4 months (and then even longer when he studies abroad in the Spring). I wouldn't be able to tell him every single detail of my day! How would I survive? Alas, I came up with the solution.
Throughout my days I would make a list of everything I wanted to tell Marco. Such is the beginning of 'The Marco List.'
Now, I hope Marco doesn't feel too cocky having a blog named after him. Also, I hope no one else gets upset that I did not name it after them (The Mum + Dad List didn't have the same ring). This blog is intended for everyone I know and who might have the slight bit interest in what I am up to. Usually Marco's the only person who reads my blog (except for my parents and Eliza), so he was the chosen one.
Marco and I in Central Park
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