I'm at the airport right now, waiting for my flight to LA, which is delayed. Had a neat little last day in HCMC. Met up with with Phi for a final lunch with her, Bich and her boyfriend (boo). Had some awesome Thai seafood soup at a cafe. Then met up with Hien who took me out for frozen yogurt. I decided to eat way too much, and then we went out for duck. After saying my goodbyes to the two people that were so instrumental in me having such an amazing time in Saigon, I had the day to myself. It was in a way good, since it really felt like the excitement of visiting a new place wore off, and I almost felt like this is what it would be like if I lived here. One thing you quickly realize is that there isn't a whole hell of a lot to do in Ho Chi Minh City. There are somethings to do, but there aren't as much as there are in LA. This may seem somewhat snobby to say, or even obvious, but I started to realize I'd like to go to concerts, or even the movies once in a while. (Not too many theaters here; DVD's are a buck, including new theatrical releases. Kinda hard to convince your average Johnny Saigon to fork over $8 a head for a flick) But then again, the city seems like it can still surprise me, which is the reason I love Vietnam so much. Walking through the park, I walked across this mass jazzercize class, the craziness of the whole scene immediately putting me in a good mood. Meeting Mr. Tuan about that cable channel has got me pondering about moving to Saigon, so trying to seperate the high you feel from when you arrive from what is true life in the city is something I wanted to try to do. Right now, I have no reason to move anywhere, but it's still on my mind.
Had dinner with Chad and Charlie before I headed out, beef stew with bread. Had a couple drinks, then said my goodbyes. Got to the airport about an hour ago. Kind of had a strange encounter after I checked in. I bought a bunch of crap here as gifts, and bought a second bag for cheap to take it all. I check in my bags, and I'm on my way to go through security, but I get called back. They scanned my bag, and need to talk to me. Basically, I have a ton of stuff in there I probably have no business getting through security and customs, but why not try. The guy makes me open the bag. I got five of these electric tennis racket things that act as hand bug zappers. The dude tells me I can't take these. I ask why, and he says they may spark in mid air, a fairly legitimate concern. I remembered that you can remove the rechargable battery, so in a desperate attempt at finding a way to keep them, I take off the battery. I'm already figuring this won't work, but I want to show the guard, "Hey, it's all good now." To prove they're now harmless, I touch the metal bug zapper part; apperently, despite being unplugged from it's power source, it zaps the shit out of me anyway. Now, at this point, I figure the guard has just been proven right, and it's game over. However, my boy here just looks at it, nods his head, and says "OK." Wtf. I kinda love Vietnam for this; unlike Americans, it seems like Vietnamese people with boring jobs don't enjoy ruining people's day whenever they can. I packed up all my rackets, thanked the guy, and am now praying that Japanese security and American customs are forgiving as well.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Final Stretch
Not to sound too much like Andy Rooney, but I really don't understand some nightclubs. I went out to "ladies night" at this club called Lush, which I actually went to last year when I was here. Clubs with a dance floor at least offer an opportunity for the attractive and well-coordinated people to go through an accelerated courtship process. Places like Lush, with just retarded loud music and people crammed into a dark space, seem to be merely feeding troughs for alcohol. We went because "ladies night" meant drinks are free for girls, perpetuating this feeling. One of Hien's friends, Annie, had invited me, telling me that she would just get free drinks, hand them under the table to me, and that everything would be cool. I agreed, and headed over there with Chad and his friend Charlie from England. We get there, and Charlie and Chad realize that they should probably just buy their drinks, but seeing as the only reason we came to this awful place was for free booze, I asked Annie and her friend Amy if they can score me free hooch. Annie and Amy were at the bar, and I suggested maybe we order the drinks further away to be discrete, but Annie seemed confident that this wasn't necessary. Well, drink number one got the attention of a bartender, and drink number two got me chewed out by her. The bartender and then a manager came out and demanded I pay. I just acted really stupid and nice, as if I had done nothing wrong and I'm having a hard time understanding what they're saying, hoping they would just leave me alone. Believe it or not, it actually worked. We left soon after, and did I yet another night at a karaoke bar, two in a row for me, and the fourth time in one week.
This morning, me and Hien went around town buying crap. I got Phi this plastic knock-off Jenga game, since I couldn't find the real wooden one. I got Hien this rubber ice tray that makes ice cubes in the shape of a fish, not knowing what else to get her. Later, I met up with Le Anne who took me to place that does rock climbing. It was in a sports complex, but outdoors. It went crazy high, but at first I was really gung ho about it. They give you a harness, and secure you with rope, and the people running it seemed pretty knowledgeable and attentive. I start climbing and get about maybe ten feet up, when I realize, "Oh my god, what the hell am I doing." I'm holding onto the side of this rock climbing wall, and now realize that, despite the place looking professional and legit, it's still Vietnam, where safety is hardly ever a concern, let alone a priority. I start to really wonder how much I really trust this rope that's the only thing from keeping me from plummeting down to the concrete below (no safety cushion, no helmets either) I look down, and realize that the only thing it's anchored to is just this guy, who probably should be paying attention, ready to brace himself and pull on the rope in case I fall, but he seems to be having a nice chat with the guy next to him, who is holding Le Anne's rope. I kinda realize that slipping off this thing may mean instant death, (or worse yet, a long stay at a Vietnamese hospital) so I made extra damn sure I didn't test out how secure the safety system was. I keep climbing as panic is setting in more and more, and I look over to Le Anne, who seems to be just calmly making her way up. I ask her, "Hey, Le Anne, what happens if you fall." She replies, "Oh, don't worry, you won't fall." Not really being 100% happy with that response at the moment, I then ask her something I probably should not have waited until I was 30 feet up on on the 60 foot wall to ask; "I mean, this rope will hold me if I do fall, right?" She just kinda giggled and said "Yeah."
At the half way point, I realize I'm getting a little tired. The guy securing my rope suggests I just let go and dangle there, to rest my arms. Very, very reluctantly, I slowly let go, and am now hanging in mid air. I figure at least I know the rope works now. Le Anne asks me how I'm doing. "Really scared," I reply. I tell her I think I'm just gonna go back from here, but seeing her casually go up, I stubbornly decide looking like a wuss is a worse fate than death, so I decide to march on. Next thing I know, I make it to the top of the damn thing. Now I gotta get down. The guy holding the rope earlier gave me a tutorial of what to do that was very informative, just very brief. He mentioned something about letting go of the wall, and holding the rope. I do this, again reluctantly. This ends up being the funnest part of the whole climb, since you repel down like some special forces training. Back on Earth, my heart was still racing, but now I was absolutely relieved to be alive. Le Anne asks how was it, I tell her I feel like I just drove through Saigon traffic for the first time, with the relief of living through something truly frightening (and probably legitimately dangerous) I felt now being very close to the one I felt the first time I rode a motorbike in Vietnam. I ended up climbing the wall again after about ten minutes, still kinda scarred, although significantly less so.
After that, went with Le Anne to get dinner with Phi and her friends. We went to this place called Lac Thai, an upscale Thai restaurant. Really great food, better than anything I got in Thailand. It being my last night, I tried to convince everybody to go out for - what else - karaoke, but most people were tired. Me, Phi and Thieu just ended up going to her dad's restaurant to hang out for a bit. Got home early. Honestly, I actually felt good about this, since all the lack of slep that I've had throughout this whole trip finally caught up to me. I was out by eleven, and woke up 8:30 this morning. The whole trip was just such a blast, that one giant last day send-off didn't seem necessary. Now I pack, and get ready for my flight to LA. I have nine hours in Tokyo for a layover, so I may go out to the city for a bit to check it out.
This morning, me and Hien went around town buying crap. I got Phi this plastic knock-off Jenga game, since I couldn't find the real wooden one. I got Hien this rubber ice tray that makes ice cubes in the shape of a fish, not knowing what else to get her. Later, I met up with Le Anne who took me to place that does rock climbing. It was in a sports complex, but outdoors. It went crazy high, but at first I was really gung ho about it. They give you a harness, and secure you with rope, and the people running it seemed pretty knowledgeable and attentive. I start climbing and get about maybe ten feet up, when I realize, "Oh my god, what the hell am I doing." I'm holding onto the side of this rock climbing wall, and now realize that, despite the place looking professional and legit, it's still Vietnam, where safety is hardly ever a concern, let alone a priority. I start to really wonder how much I really trust this rope that's the only thing from keeping me from plummeting down to the concrete below (no safety cushion, no helmets either) I look down, and realize that the only thing it's anchored to is just this guy, who probably should be paying attention, ready to brace himself and pull on the rope in case I fall, but he seems to be having a nice chat with the guy next to him, who is holding Le Anne's rope. I kinda realize that slipping off this thing may mean instant death, (or worse yet, a long stay at a Vietnamese hospital) so I made extra damn sure I didn't test out how secure the safety system was. I keep climbing as panic is setting in more and more, and I look over to Le Anne, who seems to be just calmly making her way up. I ask her, "Hey, Le Anne, what happens if you fall." She replies, "Oh, don't worry, you won't fall." Not really being 100% happy with that response at the moment, I then ask her something I probably should not have waited until I was 30 feet up on on the 60 foot wall to ask; "I mean, this rope will hold me if I do fall, right?" She just kinda giggled and said "Yeah."
At the half way point, I realize I'm getting a little tired. The guy securing my rope suggests I just let go and dangle there, to rest my arms. Very, very reluctantly, I slowly let go, and am now hanging in mid air. I figure at least I know the rope works now. Le Anne asks me how I'm doing. "Really scared," I reply. I tell her I think I'm just gonna go back from here, but seeing her casually go up, I stubbornly decide looking like a wuss is a worse fate than death, so I decide to march on. Next thing I know, I make it to the top of the damn thing. Now I gotta get down. The guy holding the rope earlier gave me a tutorial of what to do that was very informative, just very brief. He mentioned something about letting go of the wall, and holding the rope. I do this, again reluctantly. This ends up being the funnest part of the whole climb, since you repel down like some special forces training. Back on Earth, my heart was still racing, but now I was absolutely relieved to be alive. Le Anne asks how was it, I tell her I feel like I just drove through Saigon traffic for the first time, with the relief of living through something truly frightening (and probably legitimately dangerous) I felt now being very close to the one I felt the first time I rode a motorbike in Vietnam. I ended up climbing the wall again after about ten minutes, still kinda scarred, although significantly less so.
After that, went with Le Anne to get dinner with Phi and her friends. We went to this place called Lac Thai, an upscale Thai restaurant. Really great food, better than anything I got in Thailand. It being my last night, I tried to convince everybody to go out for - what else - karaoke, but most people were tired. Me, Phi and Thieu just ended up going to her dad's restaurant to hang out for a bit. Got home early. Honestly, I actually felt good about this, since all the lack of slep that I've had throughout this whole trip finally caught up to me. I was out by eleven, and woke up 8:30 this morning. The whole trip was just such a blast, that one giant last day send-off didn't seem necessary. Now I pack, and get ready for my flight to LA. I have nine hours in Tokyo for a layover, so I may go out to the city for a bit to check it out.
Saigon Stuff
One of the things that I've been kind of struggling with is finding time to write on my blog. Usually, if I have to time to write, usually that means I have nothing to write about. Lately, I've had a good deal to write about, and I end up having to write these entries that are much longer than I'd like, since I have to put several days worth of stuff into them. Even today, I felt like I had time, and yet, there's always something coming up.
Rest of the Mekong Delta trip was fine. Our one night we spent there was in a town called Vinh Long, where Hien knew a friend, a pastor at a Christian Church. He took us out to dinner, seafood hotpot. After, me, Hien and Le Anne walked around Vinh Long in search of something to do. We couldn't find any karaoke, but did find a place called "Disco No. 1," which I tried unsuccessfully to sell to the girls. Not much a club guy, but something about a bright shiny building in the middle of nowhere always seems like a safe bet for an interesting time. We ended up just grabbing some beers and seafood at a place right next to our hotel. We woke up early the next morning, and rented a boat that took us around the river. This was just some guy we met off the street, as opposed to an official tour, which was in many ways better. He's not as pushy to maintain a schedule, and seemed pretty gung-ho when I casually asked about finding a row boat that will let me row down the river. I actually did OK on with the rowboat, which you had to stand to use, making it awkward for me since the oars are designed for a shorter person. We also visited the floating market, which is really a floating town on the massive sized Mekong River. After that, we lumbered home to Saigon, making the 120 km journey in about 5 hours (Hien likes to drive very, very safe)
That night, I went out with some of Hien's friends from her English school, including Chad, and these two British guys Paul and Jeb (?). Eric and Margaux, who I met at New Years, were there too, as was Chad's friend Polly. We went to the Boston Sports Bar, which had absolutely nothing to do with Boston; it was showing British Premier League Soccer, and it's logo was the Canadian flag for some reason. Went bar hopping after, had these really disgusting "buckets' of different boozes mixed with soda, got hammered, went home.
Yesterday was kind of a great day. Found a place that could let me charge my credit card as a purchase to get cash, which was a huge relief. Later I met up with Phi, Thieu, Huong, Bich and Hien (Bich's sister) for dinner. I brought along Le Anne as well. We went for beef hot pot, which even Phi admitted wasn't the best. There, I got the surprise of my life, when Phi gave me a present, which was a giant picture of me she took, made into a jigsaw puzzle, and of course framed. I only knew Phi for a relatively short period of time, but she already knew that giant pictures of me make an awesome gift. After that, we all went to Bich's apartment, where we played Monopoly.(Bich won) Later, on the ride home, I ended up convincing Le Anne to come out to karaoke. I know that she had work at 6:30 in the morning, and was really impressed that she agreed. We ended up going to Hien's, where Le Anne decided to try to prank her by putting my giant framed jigsaw picture in front of her door, ringing the doorbell, then hiding. It didn't really work as planned, since Hien kind of saw us before, but Hien did get puzzled (no pun intended) at the picture being there when she opened the door nonetheless. We convinced Hien to come out with us for karaoke, and found a place nearby. Hien actually did a great job, doing only English language songs, which of course is not her native language. We got pretty into it, and was especially surprised at how enthusiastic Le Anne was about it all. Got home a little late, and felt kind of bad since I knew Le Anne had to wake up in about four hours, but she didn't seem to be as concerned about it when I dropped her off.
Today was spent trying to get a present for Phi and Hien. I was trying to find a place that sells Jenga, since Phi like board games, but couldn't find anything. Not sure what I'm gonna get Hien; it's always stressful getting gifts for people in general, and this is magnified when you're in a foreign country. Had lunch today with Hien and some of her friends, who invited me out to "Ladies Night" at a local night club. We'll see how that goes.
Rest of the Mekong Delta trip was fine. Our one night we spent there was in a town called Vinh Long, where Hien knew a friend, a pastor at a Christian Church. He took us out to dinner, seafood hotpot. After, me, Hien and Le Anne walked around Vinh Long in search of something to do. We couldn't find any karaoke, but did find a place called "Disco No. 1," which I tried unsuccessfully to sell to the girls. Not much a club guy, but something about a bright shiny building in the middle of nowhere always seems like a safe bet for an interesting time. We ended up just grabbing some beers and seafood at a place right next to our hotel. We woke up early the next morning, and rented a boat that took us around the river. This was just some guy we met off the street, as opposed to an official tour, which was in many ways better. He's not as pushy to maintain a schedule, and seemed pretty gung-ho when I casually asked about finding a row boat that will let me row down the river. I actually did OK on with the rowboat, which you had to stand to use, making it awkward for me since the oars are designed for a shorter person. We also visited the floating market, which is really a floating town on the massive sized Mekong River. After that, we lumbered home to Saigon, making the 120 km journey in about 5 hours (Hien likes to drive very, very safe)
That night, I went out with some of Hien's friends from her English school, including Chad, and these two British guys Paul and Jeb (?). Eric and Margaux, who I met at New Years, were there too, as was Chad's friend Polly. We went to the Boston Sports Bar, which had absolutely nothing to do with Boston; it was showing British Premier League Soccer, and it's logo was the Canadian flag for some reason. Went bar hopping after, had these really disgusting "buckets' of different boozes mixed with soda, got hammered, went home.
Yesterday was kind of a great day. Found a place that could let me charge my credit card as a purchase to get cash, which was a huge relief. Later I met up with Phi, Thieu, Huong, Bich and Hien (Bich's sister) for dinner. I brought along Le Anne as well. We went for beef hot pot, which even Phi admitted wasn't the best. There, I got the surprise of my life, when Phi gave me a present, which was a giant picture of me she took, made into a jigsaw puzzle, and of course framed. I only knew Phi for a relatively short period of time, but she already knew that giant pictures of me make an awesome gift. After that, we all went to Bich's apartment, where we played Monopoly.(Bich won) Later, on the ride home, I ended up convincing Le Anne to come out to karaoke. I know that she had work at 6:30 in the morning, and was really impressed that she agreed. We ended up going to Hien's, where Le Anne decided to try to prank her by putting my giant framed jigsaw picture in front of her door, ringing the doorbell, then hiding. It didn't really work as planned, since Hien kind of saw us before, but Hien did get puzzled (no pun intended) at the picture being there when she opened the door nonetheless. We convinced Hien to come out with us for karaoke, and found a place nearby. Hien actually did a great job, doing only English language songs, which of course is not her native language. We got pretty into it, and was especially surprised at how enthusiastic Le Anne was about it all. Got home a little late, and felt kind of bad since I knew Le Anne had to wake up in about four hours, but she didn't seem to be as concerned about it when I dropped her off.
Today was spent trying to get a present for Phi and Hien. I was trying to find a place that sells Jenga, since Phi like board games, but couldn't find anything. Not sure what I'm gonna get Hien; it's always stressful getting gifts for people in general, and this is magnified when you're in a foreign country. Had lunch today with Hien and some of her friends, who invited me out to "Ladies Night" at a local night club. We'll see how that goes.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Mekong Delta
It's strange how Saigon is starting to feel very familiar, almost home-like. The first time I visited, I liked it OK, but felt I had a much better time in Hanoi. This time around, I'm really enjoying much more. A city is only as good as the people you find in it, and it feels like I already have a good stock of friends there. Through Hien and Phi, I've met a ton of people, and it seems like it's just branching from there
Got back to town the night before, and spent about 20 minutes looking for a hotel again. Settled on the Ly Long, down a narrow alley off Pham Ngu Lau. Spent two nights there, and am now traveling with Hien and her friend through the Mekong Delta. The night I got back to Saigon, the 6th, I met up with Phi and a bunch of her friends from work, including Bich and Hien from Bao Loc. They went bowling (real bowling) at the Diamond Plaza, a giant entertainment center / office. By the time I got there, they were finishing up. Starving, I just had enough time time to try a Vietnamese KFC, it being the only place around. I always rave about how awesome the food is in Vietnam, but it was still suprising that even the KFC's out here are better than the one's in America. I got a chicken sandwich, and it at least tasted like a real chicken. (Ball is your court Obama, we can't let the Communists take our chicken sandwich crown.) Wouldn't go again, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought.
Yesterday I was a little stressed out since I had plans with Hien to go the Mekong Delta the next day, but hadn't heard from her. I knew she was going to Cambodia for work, but thought she was already back. I contacted her friend Chad, and he took me to her place, where she wasn't there. It lead to just me and Chad hanging out the rest of the day. He ended up hooking me up with someone who rents motorbikes, and I got the best motorbike I ever had in Vietnam for five bucks a day. We drove to his friend Polly's place, who is staying with friends in District 7. Hung out at the pool, and rode back. Kept trying to contact Hien, but her phone didn't work, and she wasn't responding to e-mails. I grabbed dinner with Chad at a place directly across the street from his hotel, and just when I had given up on the Mekong Delta trip, I get a text from Hien saying we are good to go. Relieved, me and Chad went bar hopping, where showed me how to light a Sambucha shot in my mouth on fire. I guess there was really nothing to show - you just pour it your mouth and light it with a lighter - it was really was really him showing me that you can do without being killed.
At another bar around the corner, we met this German guy Mickey. Mickey says that he lives in Germany and Asia evenly through the year. He makes some money working at a camp ground in Germany, then uses that money to travel through out Asia. He makes little money, but spends barely any when he's in Germany, and does everything on the cheap in Asia. What I liked about it was the fact that he found a way to live a life of a constant traveller without making a ton of money. It seems everyone I know who has a strong desire to travel but doesn't, gives lack of money as the reason. Even for me, this trip is draining my savings a bit. That's why I love it when I meet people who are able to do it, without being lucky enough to make a lot of money.
Today, set off with Hien and her friend Le Ann through the Mekong Delta. Went to My Tho, and did a boat tour of two islands in the Mekong River. Had lunch there, and got to see something that looked interesting in guidebook, the temple of the Coconut Monk. The Coconut Monk was this eccentric who built this temple on one of the islands. On paper, it sounds awesome. Statues made from a collage mosaic of porcelin scraps, and a replica Apollo Rocket built on the side. While it was good to see, I think I had it all a little hyped up in my head though. The rest of the tour was fun too, I think the best part being just going through the river on a boat. Really,as much as the traffic here is terrifying, being able to travel through the area on a motorbike has been cool by itself.
Got back to town the night before, and spent about 20 minutes looking for a hotel again. Settled on the Ly Long, down a narrow alley off Pham Ngu Lau. Spent two nights there, and am now traveling with Hien and her friend through the Mekong Delta. The night I got back to Saigon, the 6th, I met up with Phi and a bunch of her friends from work, including Bich and Hien from Bao Loc. They went bowling (real bowling) at the Diamond Plaza, a giant entertainment center / office. By the time I got there, they were finishing up. Starving, I just had enough time time to try a Vietnamese KFC, it being the only place around. I always rave about how awesome the food is in Vietnam, but it was still suprising that even the KFC's out here are better than the one's in America. I got a chicken sandwich, and it at least tasted like a real chicken. (Ball is your court Obama, we can't let the Communists take our chicken sandwich crown.) Wouldn't go again, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought.
Yesterday I was a little stressed out since I had plans with Hien to go the Mekong Delta the next day, but hadn't heard from her. I knew she was going to Cambodia for work, but thought she was already back. I contacted her friend Chad, and he took me to her place, where she wasn't there. It lead to just me and Chad hanging out the rest of the day. He ended up hooking me up with someone who rents motorbikes, and I got the best motorbike I ever had in Vietnam for five bucks a day. We drove to his friend Polly's place, who is staying with friends in District 7. Hung out at the pool, and rode back. Kept trying to contact Hien, but her phone didn't work, and she wasn't responding to e-mails. I grabbed dinner with Chad at a place directly across the street from his hotel, and just when I had given up on the Mekong Delta trip, I get a text from Hien saying we are good to go. Relieved, me and Chad went bar hopping, where showed me how to light a Sambucha shot in my mouth on fire. I guess there was really nothing to show - you just pour it your mouth and light it with a lighter - it was really was really him showing me that you can do without being killed.
At another bar around the corner, we met this German guy Mickey. Mickey says that he lives in Germany and Asia evenly through the year. He makes some money working at a camp ground in Germany, then uses that money to travel through out Asia. He makes little money, but spends barely any when he's in Germany, and does everything on the cheap in Asia. What I liked about it was the fact that he found a way to live a life of a constant traveller without making a ton of money. It seems everyone I know who has a strong desire to travel but doesn't, gives lack of money as the reason. Even for me, this trip is draining my savings a bit. That's why I love it when I meet people who are able to do it, without being lucky enough to make a lot of money.
Today, set off with Hien and her friend Le Ann through the Mekong Delta. Went to My Tho, and did a boat tour of two islands in the Mekong River. Had lunch there, and got to see something that looked interesting in guidebook, the temple of the Coconut Monk. The Coconut Monk was this eccentric who built this temple on one of the islands. On paper, it sounds awesome. Statues made from a collage mosaic of porcelin scraps, and a replica Apollo Rocket built on the side. While it was good to see, I think I had it all a little hyped up in my head though. The rest of the tour was fun too, I think the best part being just going through the river on a boat. Really,as much as the traffic here is terrifying, being able to travel through the area on a motorbike has been cool by itself.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
You're Mui Ne and you don't even know it
I had a rather slow last night in Dalat, did a walk along the river, where I stumbled upon another waterfall/theme park, although it seemed abandoned and it was free. The small waterfall had water that ran through the city going down it, so the pool at the bottom was extremely polluted, with a tick layer of yellow nasty foam covering it all. After that, went out for some drinks by myself, then met up with Pam, Eric and Lindsay to do her birthday cake thing, lighting the candles then blowing them out. That didn't last long, and went to bed early.
Took the morning bus to Mui Ne the next day, a popular beach town four hours south of Dalat. The whole area essentially is a string of hotels and restaurants along one road next to the beach. This "strip" is about five miles long, so I got in some good amount of walking, going from hotel to hotel looking for the best one. I settled on the Hoang Kim Golden, but kinda wished I went with the Natalie House, which was cheaper and nicer. It did turn out that the Hoang Kim helped me out a lot with services the Natalie House may not have had. I got my bus to Saigon there (which I am currently on) as well as a cheap motor bike. I've been in Vietnam for about a month, and I finally got my first set of wheels, which took a full day of slow-driving pants-shitting down the street before I got back the hang of it from last time I was here. Another thing the Hoang Kim helped with was with me getting money. Being low on cash, I went to the ATM only to find out my card had just expired. It was so stupid on my part too, since I remember checking the expiration dates for my credit cards, but not my ATM. The Hoang Kim recommended a place that let me charge my credit card as a purchase, and then give me cash for a reasonable fee. Kinda saved my ass, since I'd be stuck there still trying to earn enough cash for my hotel by offering motorbike rides and picture taking to tourists
So, I came to Mui Ne for one reason, and one reason only: to ride a motherfuckin' osterich. Seems like a long way to go for something so silly, but you have to understand this weird obsession I have of riding bizarre animals. Dana (Ben's cousin) told me about the osterich rides, which are at the start of the Fairy Stream, and I immediatly found the reason for my entire trip to Asia. The Fairy Stream is essentially a shallow stream of water that runs through these amazing sand dunes. It's actually really pretty (but somewhat dirty, though clean by Vietnamese standards I guess), and ends at a waterfall. The osterich rides are in this small coral at the start of it. I'm usually against all the tourist traps that involve animals, especially in the third world. However, these motherfuckin' osteriches looked like they were in good shape, and fuck it, it's riding a motherfuckin' osterich that we're talking here. A $1.50 gets you about a 60 second ride around the coral, and the guy running it took a bunch of pictures on my camera. Can't wait to post.
Mui Ne is a really nice place. The town of Mui Ne itself is east of the strip of hotels, and its where all the waiters and hotel staff live presumably. Because of that, the "strip" is devoid of any restaurants and cafes not 100% devoted to tourists. Usually, tourist restaurants are not nearly as good as the local dives, and in Vietnam I've found that the more run-down the place, the better the food. Food here wasn't bad though, I found this amazing outdoor saefood dive called Thanh Oanh, among a whole line of similar outdoor seafood grill joints overlooking the beach, on the eastern part of the Mui Ne strip. Among other things, I had these awesome grilled clams that were just the awesome, for 75 cents. They said something about live - or even raw - lobster and giant prawns that they had swimming on display, but that was really expensive. Maybe next time.
While the beaches at Mui Ne are the nicest I've seen in Vietnam to date, it seems that something got messed up when they were building all the hotels on the strip. It seems as if a lot of the buildings were built too close to the water or something, an effect the Lonely Planet guide attributed to beach erosion. The Mui Ne "strip" is essentially divided into two distinct parts, one with the sandy beaches, and the one with the concrete. The eastern part is where the less expensive hotels are, but they are all raised on concrete slabs. This creates this kind of concrete wall along the beach, and in many cases, this wall is sloped to give it the impression of a seamless continuation into the sand. At low tide, there is actually a narrow bit of sand between this concrete and the water, which you walk down and hang out. But at hight tide, the water comes up to the wall, up to a couple feet. There is a clear border between this area, and the western end of the strip, where apperently the more expensive hotels can afford to pay for beach restoration. Here, during low tide, the beaches are much wider, and presumably are still sandy at high tide, since the hotels are not raised, and there are no concrete walls.
At night, I ventured out to Joe's Cafe, which advertised live music. The place was really cool, and it seemed to be owned by this European guy who was helping his staff. The live music was a Vietnamese guy in a fedora and acoustic guitar doing old Western pop songs. I had lunch there the next day, which was really good too. That night, I had to stick to two beers at Joe's, since I had to ride my motorbike home. After that, I got to my hotel, parked my bike, and walked to Pogo, a nearby bar. Not as atmospheric, but definitely more boistrous, I endxed up meeting a bunch of people there. I first talked to this guy Jeremy from just outside Oakland, who helped set up a neurology clinic in Cambodia, and is now travelling with some Canadian girl he met out there. I met a Russian dude I think named Dziejnev, who has been travelling from Moscow by land, just looking for stuff to do. He had a travel buddy with him too, this guy Thomas, from Paris.
Later, I met this guy Mike from Montana, who has been teaching English abroad in various countries for the past five years. He had just met these three random people travelling together, and we all ended up hanging out. There was this German girl whose name I forgot, this seriously Shane McGowan-looking Irish guy named Ian, and this cute Australian girl named Julie. We played a little pool and talked a lot, and me, Mike and Julie even tried to go for a late night swim in the ocean at my hotel, but it was kinda ruinded by Ian who was absolutely hammered, yet insisted he come along. At my hotel, since it was high tide, beach access consisted stairs that went down from Hotel essentially straight into several feet of ocean water, and the idea was, we'd just swim from there. No way in hell Ian was going into that and coming back alive, so Julie said she had to take him home, and the whole thing fizzled. Looking back, this may have been a good thing, since we were all a little drunk too.
Next morning, I got up early and walked from my hotel along the beach. I walked to the nicer western part about two miles away. Had to haul ass back, as tide was coming up, didn't want to have to swim back. After that, I took my motorbike out for a ride, driving along the ocean. I was much more confident on it today, letting me enjoy the ride. After checking out of my hotel, I boarded a sleeper bus, and will get to Saigon hopefully soon.
Took the morning bus to Mui Ne the next day, a popular beach town four hours south of Dalat. The whole area essentially is a string of hotels and restaurants along one road next to the beach. This "strip" is about five miles long, so I got in some good amount of walking, going from hotel to hotel looking for the best one. I settled on the Hoang Kim Golden, but kinda wished I went with the Natalie House, which was cheaper and nicer. It did turn out that the Hoang Kim helped me out a lot with services the Natalie House may not have had. I got my bus to Saigon there (which I am currently on) as well as a cheap motor bike. I've been in Vietnam for about a month, and I finally got my first set of wheels, which took a full day of slow-driving pants-shitting down the street before I got back the hang of it from last time I was here. Another thing the Hoang Kim helped with was with me getting money. Being low on cash, I went to the ATM only to find out my card had just expired. It was so stupid on my part too, since I remember checking the expiration dates for my credit cards, but not my ATM. The Hoang Kim recommended a place that let me charge my credit card as a purchase, and then give me cash for a reasonable fee. Kinda saved my ass, since I'd be stuck there still trying to earn enough cash for my hotel by offering motorbike rides and picture taking to tourists
So, I came to Mui Ne for one reason, and one reason only: to ride a motherfuckin' osterich. Seems like a long way to go for something so silly, but you have to understand this weird obsession I have of riding bizarre animals. Dana (Ben's cousin) told me about the osterich rides, which are at the start of the Fairy Stream, and I immediatly found the reason for my entire trip to Asia. The Fairy Stream is essentially a shallow stream of water that runs through these amazing sand dunes. It's actually really pretty (but somewhat dirty, though clean by Vietnamese standards I guess), and ends at a waterfall. The osterich rides are in this small coral at the start of it. I'm usually against all the tourist traps that involve animals, especially in the third world. However, these motherfuckin' osteriches looked like they were in good shape, and fuck it, it's riding a motherfuckin' osterich that we're talking here. A $1.50 gets you about a 60 second ride around the coral, and the guy running it took a bunch of pictures on my camera. Can't wait to post.
Mui Ne is a really nice place. The town of Mui Ne itself is east of the strip of hotels, and its where all the waiters and hotel staff live presumably. Because of that, the "strip" is devoid of any restaurants and cafes not 100% devoted to tourists. Usually, tourist restaurants are not nearly as good as the local dives, and in Vietnam I've found that the more run-down the place, the better the food. Food here wasn't bad though, I found this amazing outdoor saefood dive called Thanh Oanh, among a whole line of similar outdoor seafood grill joints overlooking the beach, on the eastern part of the Mui Ne strip. Among other things, I had these awesome grilled clams that were just the awesome, for 75 cents. They said something about live - or even raw - lobster and giant prawns that they had swimming on display, but that was really expensive. Maybe next time.
While the beaches at Mui Ne are the nicest I've seen in Vietnam to date, it seems that something got messed up when they were building all the hotels on the strip. It seems as if a lot of the buildings were built too close to the water or something, an effect the Lonely Planet guide attributed to beach erosion. The Mui Ne "strip" is essentially divided into two distinct parts, one with the sandy beaches, and the one with the concrete. The eastern part is where the less expensive hotels are, but they are all raised on concrete slabs. This creates this kind of concrete wall along the beach, and in many cases, this wall is sloped to give it the impression of a seamless continuation into the sand. At low tide, there is actually a narrow bit of sand between this concrete and the water, which you walk down and hang out. But at hight tide, the water comes up to the wall, up to a couple feet. There is a clear border between this area, and the western end of the strip, where apperently the more expensive hotels can afford to pay for beach restoration. Here, during low tide, the beaches are much wider, and presumably are still sandy at high tide, since the hotels are not raised, and there are no concrete walls.
At night, I ventured out to Joe's Cafe, which advertised live music. The place was really cool, and it seemed to be owned by this European guy who was helping his staff. The live music was a Vietnamese guy in a fedora and acoustic guitar doing old Western pop songs. I had lunch there the next day, which was really good too. That night, I had to stick to two beers at Joe's, since I had to ride my motorbike home. After that, I got to my hotel, parked my bike, and walked to Pogo, a nearby bar. Not as atmospheric, but definitely more boistrous, I endxed up meeting a bunch of people there. I first talked to this guy Jeremy from just outside Oakland, who helped set up a neurology clinic in Cambodia, and is now travelling with some Canadian girl he met out there. I met a Russian dude I think named Dziejnev, who has been travelling from Moscow by land, just looking for stuff to do. He had a travel buddy with him too, this guy Thomas, from Paris.
Later, I met this guy Mike from Montana, who has been teaching English abroad in various countries for the past five years. He had just met these three random people travelling together, and we all ended up hanging out. There was this German girl whose name I forgot, this seriously Shane McGowan-looking Irish guy named Ian, and this cute Australian girl named Julie. We played a little pool and talked a lot, and me, Mike and Julie even tried to go for a late night swim in the ocean at my hotel, but it was kinda ruinded by Ian who was absolutely hammered, yet insisted he come along. At my hotel, since it was high tide, beach access consisted stairs that went down from Hotel essentially straight into several feet of ocean water, and the idea was, we'd just swim from there. No way in hell Ian was going into that and coming back alive, so Julie said she had to take him home, and the whole thing fizzled. Looking back, this may have been a good thing, since we were all a little drunk too.
Next morning, I got up early and walked from my hotel along the beach. I walked to the nicer western part about two miles away. Had to haul ass back, as tide was coming up, didn't want to have to swim back. After that, I took my motorbike out for a ride, driving along the ocean. I was much more confident on it today, letting me enjoy the ride. After checking out of my hotel, I boarded a sleeper bus, and will get to Saigon hopefully soon.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Dalat
I arrived in Dalat yesterday after having an amazing time in Bao Loc. Dalat is really cool city, and I mean that literally too. I would describe it as actually kinda cold right now; it gets a cooler climate due to it's elevation. The city itself is really pretty, and very European in feel. Lots of narrow, cobblestone streets, lined with cafes. The architecture is great, kind of like of the best of Hanoi in a small city. It's also very hilly, giving it a kind of San Fransisco feel too. My hotel is big, nice and cheap, which is also a great plus.
Yesterday I met a group of Americans that are also staying at my hotel; Lindsay and Pam are both from Ohio but are teaching English in Japan, while Eric is visiting them from New York. We ended up grabbing dinner and hanging out for the rest the night. We went to this place the Lonely Planet suggested, Da Quy, as well as a place right next door called the Peace Restaurant. Both were alright, the Peace Restaurant being kinda dirty but had good food. After that, Lindsay and Eric went home early, and me an Pam ended up going around town. Lindsay and Eric said that they all try to go to bed early - around 9:30 - but it was definitely obvious Pam wasn't quite on board for this regiment as they were. This was good or me, since we ended up having a really great time out. We walked around the city, going down these narrow alleys, and coming up to a place with the word "dancing" written on it with red neon. We walk in, and it's this small space with about 20 Vietnamese people of various ages, dancing in pairs to what I can only describe as polka-esque Vietnamese music. It was very old school, with the dancing pairs doing these waltz-like dances with very serious expressions on their face. Me and Pam ended up joining them, and it was clear we were the worst dancers in the floor. Later, a Vietnamese guy ended up dancing with Pam, while I ended up with a VERY embarrassed Vietnamese girl who got goaded into dancing with me from Pam's new dance partner.
After that, we walked out, and immediately across the street was a big building with "karaoke" written in neon. Well, fuck it, why not, we went, and rented a room. They had to scramble to find the English language book, which luckily contained no song written after 1990 in it. It was really an awesome time, nothing like doing a duet of Bon Jovi with a total stranger to break the ice. After about an hour of so, we ended up heading back. On the way, Pam said she was on the lookout for any place open with chocolate. It being late and me being a negative nancy, I told her I'll keep my eye open, but most likely everything will be closed. And walking down the street, that seemed certainly true, as what were earlier a series of boisterous streets were now completely dead, with all the stores shuddered and closed. Suddenly, right before we get to the hotel, Pam sees an open convenience store. We walk in, and see they do have a bunch of chocolate, but it seems like Pam has bigger plans. Then, we walk by the aisle of fully decorated birthday cakes in a refrigerated case. Pam stops, and stares, and we kind of joke how funny it would be if we bought a giant chocolate cake at midnight in small city in Vietnam. Quickly, we realize that this is now something we absolutely have to do. Pam's birthday was a couple days earlier - on the 31st of December - and we decided that we'll make it into a late birthday cake for her. We looked around to see if they had birthday candles, but ol' man Sokolowski told her he thought there was no way they'd have any here. Pam had memorized how to say "happy birthday" in Vietnamese, and said this to the woman behind the counter, pointing to herself. I thought the woman was simply going to think we're crazy, and would try to get us out of the store (imagine some drunk foreigner comes up to you in the middle of the night, pointing to themselves, screaming happy birthday) Well, the woman suddenly jumps with delight, and calls for someone to take us to the back of the store, where they have an enormous aisle of nothing BUT birthday candles. We get a whole bunch, and go back to the hotel. Since she wants Eric and Lindsay to be part of her new birthday cake, we decided to make a thing of it later today.
I love hanging out Vietnamese people, but there is an obvious language barrier that severely limits conversation. My Vietnamese is of course non-existent. Even people who speak good English like Phi and Hien can sometimes be hard to understand, and you still have to talk slowly and use a limited vocabulary. It's usually not a problem, but you definitely would like to just have a relaxed conversation with someone, so finding an English speaking traveler can be good. This sometimes can be a challenge, despite there being a ton of tourists in Vietnam. Most of them are generally lame, and seem kind of sour-faced and stuck up. Getting into situations where you can start a conversation with a foreigner can be rare. When they do come, I'll try to start conversations sometimes, but usually people don't seem to want to meet new people at all, especially couples. Usually, I end up meeting ex-pats, who can be hard to find. Meeting someone like Pam is great, since it's always to good to have someone around in a foreign country that has a sense of curiosity, wants to truly get to know a different culture, and is just down to do any crazy thing you happen to come across.
As for today, I did a good walking tour of the city by myself. Dalat is really pretty, and it's just fun to walk around admiring the architecture and scenery. I ended up checking out the Crazy House, which is the one main draw of the city. The Vietnamese are good at many things, but naming things is not one of them. Sandwich is "bread meat," and most of the names follow really caveman like simplicity. So, when some one builds a fascinating complex of really trippy and amazing architecture, the Vietnamese simple call it, you know, "The Crazy House." It definitely lives up to it's name though. I can't remember the history exactly, but I believe it was this sprawling building first started to be built by a Soviet ex-pat, with additions being added over the years. It feels like something out of Alice in Wonderland, and definitely worth checking out.
Yesterday I met a group of Americans that are also staying at my hotel; Lindsay and Pam are both from Ohio but are teaching English in Japan, while Eric is visiting them from New York. We ended up grabbing dinner and hanging out for the rest the night. We went to this place the Lonely Planet suggested, Da Quy, as well as a place right next door called the Peace Restaurant. Both were alright, the Peace Restaurant being kinda dirty but had good food. After that, Lindsay and Eric went home early, and me an Pam ended up going around town. Lindsay and Eric said that they all try to go to bed early - around 9:30 - but it was definitely obvious Pam wasn't quite on board for this regiment as they were. This was good or me, since we ended up having a really great time out. We walked around the city, going down these narrow alleys, and coming up to a place with the word "dancing" written on it with red neon. We walk in, and it's this small space with about 20 Vietnamese people of various ages, dancing in pairs to what I can only describe as polka-esque Vietnamese music. It was very old school, with the dancing pairs doing these waltz-like dances with very serious expressions on their face. Me and Pam ended up joining them, and it was clear we were the worst dancers in the floor. Later, a Vietnamese guy ended up dancing with Pam, while I ended up with a VERY embarrassed Vietnamese girl who got goaded into dancing with me from Pam's new dance partner.
After that, we walked out, and immediately across the street was a big building with "karaoke" written in neon. Well, fuck it, why not, we went, and rented a room. They had to scramble to find the English language book, which luckily contained no song written after 1990 in it. It was really an awesome time, nothing like doing a duet of Bon Jovi with a total stranger to break the ice. After about an hour of so, we ended up heading back. On the way, Pam said she was on the lookout for any place open with chocolate. It being late and me being a negative nancy, I told her I'll keep my eye open, but most likely everything will be closed. And walking down the street, that seemed certainly true, as what were earlier a series of boisterous streets were now completely dead, with all the stores shuddered and closed. Suddenly, right before we get to the hotel, Pam sees an open convenience store. We walk in, and see they do have a bunch of chocolate, but it seems like Pam has bigger plans. Then, we walk by the aisle of fully decorated birthday cakes in a refrigerated case. Pam stops, and stares, and we kind of joke how funny it would be if we bought a giant chocolate cake at midnight in small city in Vietnam. Quickly, we realize that this is now something we absolutely have to do. Pam's birthday was a couple days earlier - on the 31st of December - and we decided that we'll make it into a late birthday cake for her. We looked around to see if they had birthday candles, but ol' man Sokolowski told her he thought there was no way they'd have any here. Pam had memorized how to say "happy birthday" in Vietnamese, and said this to the woman behind the counter, pointing to herself. I thought the woman was simply going to think we're crazy, and would try to get us out of the store (imagine some drunk foreigner comes up to you in the middle of the night, pointing to themselves, screaming happy birthday) Well, the woman suddenly jumps with delight, and calls for someone to take us to the back of the store, where they have an enormous aisle of nothing BUT birthday candles. We get a whole bunch, and go back to the hotel. Since she wants Eric and Lindsay to be part of her new birthday cake, we decided to make a thing of it later today.
I love hanging out Vietnamese people, but there is an obvious language barrier that severely limits conversation. My Vietnamese is of course non-existent. Even people who speak good English like Phi and Hien can sometimes be hard to understand, and you still have to talk slowly and use a limited vocabulary. It's usually not a problem, but you definitely would like to just have a relaxed conversation with someone, so finding an English speaking traveler can be good. This sometimes can be a challenge, despite there being a ton of tourists in Vietnam. Most of them are generally lame, and seem kind of sour-faced and stuck up. Getting into situations where you can start a conversation with a foreigner can be rare. When they do come, I'll try to start conversations sometimes, but usually people don't seem to want to meet new people at all, especially couples. Usually, I end up meeting ex-pats, who can be hard to find. Meeting someone like Pam is great, since it's always to good to have someone around in a foreign country that has a sense of curiosity, wants to truly get to know a different culture, and is just down to do any crazy thing you happen to come across.
As for today, I did a good walking tour of the city by myself. Dalat is really pretty, and it's just fun to walk around admiring the architecture and scenery. I ended up checking out the Crazy House, which is the one main draw of the city. The Vietnamese are good at many things, but naming things is not one of them. Sandwich is "bread meat," and most of the names follow really caveman like simplicity. So, when some one builds a fascinating complex of really trippy and amazing architecture, the Vietnamese simple call it, you know, "The Crazy House." It definitely lives up to it's name though. I can't remember the history exactly, but I believe it was this sprawling building first started to be built by a Soviet ex-pat, with additions being added over the years. It feels like something out of Alice in Wonderland, and definitely worth checking out.
Bao Loc
Kinda had an awesome day yesterday. On the night of the 1st, I checked out of my hotel and went to stay with Thieu, Phi's boyfriend, for a night. He lived in a house close to my hotel with his parents. It was probably the worst nights sleep I've ever had, since I had to share a really hard bed with him, but we had to wake up early anyway. I made plans with Phi to go to Bao Loc to visit a friend of hers there. We would take a bus at 4 in the morning, and spend the night at her friends house. She brought along a 13 year old girl that she tutors English with named Ngoc. (pronounced "nom")
I got maybe 2 hours sleep at Thieu's; the room was hot, filled with mosquitoes, and having some dude snore half a foot from you didn't help much either. It was actually a pretty bad morning all around, but it more than made up for it when we got there. Getting maybe an hour of sleep, I was foolishly hoping to sleep on the four hour bus ride there. I completely forgot what an absolute nightmare road travel in Vietnam can be, especially on buses designed for locals. The buses aren't actually that bad; they're air conditioned, the seats are kinda cushioned, and the roads are not that bumpy. They seem to get all the big things right, but then they do all these small things to make sure you hate life while going from one city to another. The seats are super narrow, (making the aisle unnecessarily spacious) meaning me and my bus neighbor Thieu are pretty much just jammed in side by side. Not only that, the seats go waaaay back, which may seem like a good thing until the guy in front of me leans it far enough to touch my knees. Then, of course, the driver has to have the stereo blaring Vietnamese pop songs, while liberally blaring the freight train-espe horn literally every two seconds. Everyone on the bus was out like a rock except for me, and I couldn't even read because there was no place to put my bags, which I had somehow managed to put under my legs. By the time I got to Bao Loc I was feeling miserable, and was hoping to get at least a shower, if not a nap, but soon found out that nothing of the sort will happen.
I'm relieved to at least be off the bus when we arrive at Bao Loc around 8 am. I'm tired and cranky, but I try to have a good attitude anyway. We meet Phi's friend Bich, pronounced "bet," and both of them start laughing, since it looks like "bitch." Bich is really nice and kinda hot, so at least that starts off good. We later meet Bich's sister Hien and drop our bags off at her house, which she shares with her parents. Bich works in Saigon, while Hien studies there, so both of them have an apartment in the city, but come home every weekend. We grab breakfast - Pho at a nearby shop - then head out to the Dambri waterfalls, the one major tourist draw of the area. The waterfall is absolutely stunning, 90 meters tall and nestled in the jungle, it's really just amazing. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese have decided to build a theme park around it. The park itself is alright, the main attraction outside of the waterfall is this thing called an Alpine Coaster, this ride where you go down an elevated track through the jungle in small plastic car that you can control the speed of. It's actually probably the most frightening ride I've ever been on since it doesn't really feel safe, there's all these sharp turn with warnings to brake everywhere, but people are behind you racing at you, and if slow down too much, they'll ram you. It was still really fun though, and would highly recommend it. We had a picnic nearby, amid the tall tress of the dense jungle, giving the whole area this Pandorra feel. Going with that theme, I spotted the single largest spiders I have ever seen in my life, who had made these massive webs under the Alpine Coaster tracks nearby our picnic. Trying to be mister funny, I tell Ngoc that she should stand next to the spiders so I can get a picture, thinking she's 13 and she'll just freak out and think I'm crazy. Instead, she gives me a look that says "I thought you'd never ask," and just bolts up and skips right next to one. These things are larger than tarantulas, thick but bony, and intimidating as all hell. Now, I'm the one crapping my pants, while she's giggling two feet with one from her face. I don't even want to be 20 feet from these fucking things, but I cautiously inch closer thinking, "crap, I gotta take this picture now." I try, but I can't get it to quite work. She then starts throwing sandwich bread it's web, and starts squealing with delight when she gets some caught in it. The spider lumbers over and looks like it can just devour it all whole, and I'm getting worried it will now just kill us all. I got some video of it, I'll post later.
They also have this man-made lake, where they have what I soon realized was the worst idea ever for a lake activity. They have these giant plastic hamster ball looking things that look like they let you go across the lake. Don't know why I though that would be fun, (stupid American Gladiators made it look so cool) but I got a ticket to ride one, and somehow ended up in a similar thing, although it was cylindrical, and meant for two people. I ended up going with Han, a friend of Hien's, and later with Ngoc, Phi's student. Immediately, I realized that the whole thing doesn't let you do the two things necessary to make it fun; it doesn't let you travel across the lake at all, and it doesn't let you breath. Within 30 seconds in this claustrophobic mess, me and Han are already tired as hell, spinning furiously but getting nowhere, drifting away from the shore by the wind. We somehow make it back, and all I want to do is get off and get some fresh air, but Ngoc really wants to try, so I have to cowboy up and get back in, since I got everyone excited about it in the first place. Luckily, she was done after 2 minutes, and after it started taking in a lot of water, I got us back to shore, never wanting to do that again.
Afterwards, we rode down to meet up with another of Hien's friends, Hieu. He took us to his farm, which was about 20 minutes from town. It was a really treacherous path, being very much mostly dirt road going through steep hills. I rode on the back of a motorbike with Thieu, and even he was getting worried. Nothing says "you're fucked" more than when Vietnamese people you are traveling with get worried about road safety, since it's a little like Mad Max over here. We make it, and it's essentially the most beautiful place on earth. It's located on this hill, with a view of the entire area. Bao Loc is know for it's tea, which grows everywhere. He takes us around the whole farm in a cart pulled by a tractor, which ended up being like a roller coaster ride.
Later, we went back into town, and had some dinner at a restaurant. Spicy papaya salad, and these grilled pancake type things that looked quesadillas, that were filled with shrimp (I think) and chili sauce. Both were amazing, especially the pancakes. We then went back to Bich's house for more dinner, which her parents prepared. Her mom made this chicken porridge which was OK, and they also a whole chopped up chicken, and these really salty shrimp, which went great with beer. Bich's dad was a really cool guy, and we ended up getting a long really well. He told me he studied in Bulgaria in the 70's, and that I reminded him of this Russian actor he saw while he was there. He also loved the fact that I know the "100% percent" cheers (which sounds like "mon cham fun cham") where when you say it, you have to drink everything in your glass. We ended up doing that a lot, and got kinda wasted.
Night wasn't over yet though, and everyone decided to go to karaoke. We go this really nice club, and rent a room (almost all karaoke here is done in club with a series of private rooms). They do a bunch of Vietnamese song, which unfortunately were all really bad, but they everyone there seemed to have an amazing voice. Then I come along, and do some of the limited English-language songs they had. It ended up being massively fun, and they were all polite enough to applaud when I was finally finished butchering a song. Among other things, I did "Suzie Q," by CCR, letting me do a nice little Apocalypse Now reference at the same time. I even tried to do two Vietnamese songs, which I just tried reading and speaking out the best I could. They claimed I did well, and I did feel I may have nailed a line or two. After that, went to sleep at a house near Bich's, and got to share a bed with Thieu again that was literally nothing more than slabs of wood covered with a think sheet. At this point, I was so drunk and tired, I slept like a log.
This morning, we drove around Bao Loc a little, having breakfast, and then going to this really nice cafe. Bao Loc is actually really charming, and since it is small and has nothing that would attract tourists, I was the only foreigner anywhere. This is good, since you don't have the whole industry that sprouts up wherever tourists are, which consists of extremely annoying people peddling motorbike rides and sunglasses. After visiting a really beautiful pagoda, Bich took us to the bus station, and we said our goodbyes. Phi and Thieu went back to Ho CHi Minh City, and I made plans to meet up with them and Bich and Hien when we all are back in town. I took the bus to Dalat, and just arrived about an hour ago. Checked in at the Phuong Hunh hotel, a really nice place in the center of the city.
I got maybe 2 hours sleep at Thieu's; the room was hot, filled with mosquitoes, and having some dude snore half a foot from you didn't help much either. It was actually a pretty bad morning all around, but it more than made up for it when we got there. Getting maybe an hour of sleep, I was foolishly hoping to sleep on the four hour bus ride there. I completely forgot what an absolute nightmare road travel in Vietnam can be, especially on buses designed for locals. The buses aren't actually that bad; they're air conditioned, the seats are kinda cushioned, and the roads are not that bumpy. They seem to get all the big things right, but then they do all these small things to make sure you hate life while going from one city to another. The seats are super narrow, (making the aisle unnecessarily spacious) meaning me and my bus neighbor Thieu are pretty much just jammed in side by side. Not only that, the seats go waaaay back, which may seem like a good thing until the guy in front of me leans it far enough to touch my knees. Then, of course, the driver has to have the stereo blaring Vietnamese pop songs, while liberally blaring the freight train-espe horn literally every two seconds. Everyone on the bus was out like a rock except for me, and I couldn't even read because there was no place to put my bags, which I had somehow managed to put under my legs. By the time I got to Bao Loc I was feeling miserable, and was hoping to get at least a shower, if not a nap, but soon found out that nothing of the sort will happen.
I'm relieved to at least be off the bus when we arrive at Bao Loc around 8 am. I'm tired and cranky, but I try to have a good attitude anyway. We meet Phi's friend Bich, pronounced "bet," and both of them start laughing, since it looks like "bitch." Bich is really nice and kinda hot, so at least that starts off good. We later meet Bich's sister Hien and drop our bags off at her house, which she shares with her parents. Bich works in Saigon, while Hien studies there, so both of them have an apartment in the city, but come home every weekend. We grab breakfast - Pho at a nearby shop - then head out to the Dambri waterfalls, the one major tourist draw of the area. The waterfall is absolutely stunning, 90 meters tall and nestled in the jungle, it's really just amazing. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese have decided to build a theme park around it. The park itself is alright, the main attraction outside of the waterfall is this thing called an Alpine Coaster, this ride where you go down an elevated track through the jungle in small plastic car that you can control the speed of. It's actually probably the most frightening ride I've ever been on since it doesn't really feel safe, there's all these sharp turn with warnings to brake everywhere, but people are behind you racing at you, and if slow down too much, they'll ram you. It was still really fun though, and would highly recommend it. We had a picnic nearby, amid the tall tress of the dense jungle, giving the whole area this Pandorra feel. Going with that theme, I spotted the single largest spiders I have ever seen in my life, who had made these massive webs under the Alpine Coaster tracks nearby our picnic. Trying to be mister funny, I tell Ngoc that she should stand next to the spiders so I can get a picture, thinking she's 13 and she'll just freak out and think I'm crazy. Instead, she gives me a look that says "I thought you'd never ask," and just bolts up and skips right next to one. These things are larger than tarantulas, thick but bony, and intimidating as all hell. Now, I'm the one crapping my pants, while she's giggling two feet with one from her face. I don't even want to be 20 feet from these fucking things, but I cautiously inch closer thinking, "crap, I gotta take this picture now." I try, but I can't get it to quite work. She then starts throwing sandwich bread it's web, and starts squealing with delight when she gets some caught in it. The spider lumbers over and looks like it can just devour it all whole, and I'm getting worried it will now just kill us all. I got some video of it, I'll post later.
They also have this man-made lake, where they have what I soon realized was the worst idea ever for a lake activity. They have these giant plastic hamster ball looking things that look like they let you go across the lake. Don't know why I though that would be fun, (stupid American Gladiators made it look so cool) but I got a ticket to ride one, and somehow ended up in a similar thing, although it was cylindrical, and meant for two people. I ended up going with Han, a friend of Hien's, and later with Ngoc, Phi's student. Immediately, I realized that the whole thing doesn't let you do the two things necessary to make it fun; it doesn't let you travel across the lake at all, and it doesn't let you breath. Within 30 seconds in this claustrophobic mess, me and Han are already tired as hell, spinning furiously but getting nowhere, drifting away from the shore by the wind. We somehow make it back, and all I want to do is get off and get some fresh air, but Ngoc really wants to try, so I have to cowboy up and get back in, since I got everyone excited about it in the first place. Luckily, she was done after 2 minutes, and after it started taking in a lot of water, I got us back to shore, never wanting to do that again.
Afterwards, we rode down to meet up with another of Hien's friends, Hieu. He took us to his farm, which was about 20 minutes from town. It was a really treacherous path, being very much mostly dirt road going through steep hills. I rode on the back of a motorbike with Thieu, and even he was getting worried. Nothing says "you're fucked" more than when Vietnamese people you are traveling with get worried about road safety, since it's a little like Mad Max over here. We make it, and it's essentially the most beautiful place on earth. It's located on this hill, with a view of the entire area. Bao Loc is know for it's tea, which grows everywhere. He takes us around the whole farm in a cart pulled by a tractor, which ended up being like a roller coaster ride.
Later, we went back into town, and had some dinner at a restaurant. Spicy papaya salad, and these grilled pancake type things that looked quesadillas, that were filled with shrimp (I think) and chili sauce. Both were amazing, especially the pancakes. We then went back to Bich's house for more dinner, which her parents prepared. Her mom made this chicken porridge which was OK, and they also a whole chopped up chicken, and these really salty shrimp, which went great with beer. Bich's dad was a really cool guy, and we ended up getting a long really well. He told me he studied in Bulgaria in the 70's, and that I reminded him of this Russian actor he saw while he was there. He also loved the fact that I know the "100% percent" cheers (which sounds like "mon cham fun cham") where when you say it, you have to drink everything in your glass. We ended up doing that a lot, and got kinda wasted.
Night wasn't over yet though, and everyone decided to go to karaoke. We go this really nice club, and rent a room (almost all karaoke here is done in club with a series of private rooms). They do a bunch of Vietnamese song, which unfortunately were all really bad, but they everyone there seemed to have an amazing voice. Then I come along, and do some of the limited English-language songs they had. It ended up being massively fun, and they were all polite enough to applaud when I was finally finished butchering a song. Among other things, I did "Suzie Q," by CCR, letting me do a nice little Apocalypse Now reference at the same time. I even tried to do two Vietnamese songs, which I just tried reading and speaking out the best I could. They claimed I did well, and I did feel I may have nailed a line or two. After that, went to sleep at a house near Bich's, and got to share a bed with Thieu again that was literally nothing more than slabs of wood covered with a think sheet. At this point, I was so drunk and tired, I slept like a log.
This morning, we drove around Bao Loc a little, having breakfast, and then going to this really nice cafe. Bao Loc is actually really charming, and since it is small and has nothing that would attract tourists, I was the only foreigner anywhere. This is good, since you don't have the whole industry that sprouts up wherever tourists are, which consists of extremely annoying people peddling motorbike rides and sunglasses. After visiting a really beautiful pagoda, Bich took us to the bus station, and we said our goodbyes. Phi and Thieu went back to Ho CHi Minh City, and I made plans to meet up with them and Bich and Hien when we all are back in town. I took the bus to Dalat, and just arrived about an hour ago. Checked in at the Phuong Hunh hotel, a really nice place in the center of the city.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Year
Had a good New Year's here in Ho Chi Minh City. I met up with Hien and a group of Americans that she knows through her english school. There was Chad, who I met the day before; Eric and Margo, a couple from Tennessee; and Ashley and Catherine, two girls from New York. The streets were ridiculously packed, and walking was hard enough, let alone driving. We had dinner at Kim's Cafe near Pham Ngu Lau, and then slowly walked through the city, settling on doing the countdown on the roof-top bar of the Rex Hotel. After midnight, we popped that bottle of Hungarian champagne, which was actually ok, and watched fireworks obscured by buildings. After that, some of us went to Apocalypse Now, this super cheesy posh club nearby. Topping off the night, it was just me and Chad, shootin' the shit and getting in some good old-fashioned drunk philosophising at a dive bar until 4:30.
New Years has slowly become my least favorite of the major holidays. Its too bad, since it's so close to Christmas, which usually rules. The pressure to have a crazy time makes it amatuer hour, where people seem to feel they have to put a year's worth of partying into one night. I was looking forward to being in HCMC for New Years, thinking that the change of location would make it better. Oddly enough, despite being in South East Asia, my New Years, as well as my Christmas, seemed to be somehow the same as back home. With Christmas, my mom and I were in Bangkok, and managed to have a traditional Polish dinner, which is how I do it every year. For some reason, even though I had a lot fun this year for New Years, some of the same baggage seemed to come along. Its hard to describe exactly, but I simply felt that some of those things that drove me nuts with New Years in the States managed to work its way here. Nothing too major, and I can't even describe anything specific, but just the general vibe was the same. Maybe because I was with a group of Americans, but it seems like New Years has become an entity in and of itself that can transcend borders. Looking forward to 2011 though, with its first two weeks being spent in Vietnam being a great start
New Years has slowly become my least favorite of the major holidays. Its too bad, since it's so close to Christmas, which usually rules. The pressure to have a crazy time makes it amatuer hour, where people seem to feel they have to put a year's worth of partying into one night. I was looking forward to being in HCMC for New Years, thinking that the change of location would make it better. Oddly enough, despite being in South East Asia, my New Years, as well as my Christmas, seemed to be somehow the same as back home. With Christmas, my mom and I were in Bangkok, and managed to have a traditional Polish dinner, which is how I do it every year. For some reason, even though I had a lot fun this year for New Years, some of the same baggage seemed to come along. Its hard to describe exactly, but I simply felt that some of those things that drove me nuts with New Years in the States managed to work its way here. Nothing too major, and I can't even describe anything specific, but just the general vibe was the same. Maybe because I was with a group of Americans, but it seems like New Years has become an entity in and of itself that can transcend borders. Looking forward to 2011 though, with its first two weeks being spent in Vietnam being a great start
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