Jarrod and Sara’s Site

 We’re still in the low key town of Can Tho in the Mekong River Delta in Southern Vietnam before heading to Cambodia in two days, so I’m trying to get all caught up on the blog…

So to get from Saigon to Phu Quoc Island (a small island off the southern tip of Vietnam) we decided to once again try to save one of our precious travel days left by taking a night bus… so at 10 pm we boarded a sixteen passenger mini bus to make the 8 hour trip to Rach Gia, where we would board the ferry at 8 am the next morning for the island. Bus drivers do not get paid by the hour (I assume) because our driver got us there in 6 hours and 15 minutes after driving like he had a plane to catch for 6 hours and we arrived at a random bus station in Rach Gia at 4:15 in the morning.  To back track, the ride itself was interesting, for some reason we thought that we might be able to sleep on the bus a little bit… big mistake. To relate it to a road trip at home, imagine that you hopped in a little bus (or big van) for a trip from Westford to Acadia National Park in Maine, during the hours of 10 pm and 4:15 in the morning. On the bus, your driver had some sort of shrine on the dashboard that flashed different colored bright lights constantly for the entire ride like a disco ball. He also blasted (not exaggerating) asian pop/elevator/love song type music for the entire ride. He also drove (though probably his only choice) on the most unbelievably bumpy roads for at least 4 of the 6 hours (for Westford people, think of the dirt roads around Edwards Beach on Nab lake). And we were squeezed in with 16 people and their luggage. We didn’t sleep a wink. When we arrived at the bus station, we then in a daze had to deal with the normal crowd of a half dozen motobike drivers trying to tell us where we needed to go and where they could take us and how long it would take and all in very little English (they had a few things that they could say (Motobike? Ferry? Phu Quoc? You go now? Can’t stay here? Too far, no walk, etc.) and they couldn’t understand anything we said). This we’ve learned how to handle very well, but after not sleeping and not knowing where we are, etc. it is a little overwhelming/aggravating. But we made it to the ferry station for a good price after some serious “negotiation”, i.e. threatening to walk (even though we didn’t know where to go or how far it was), sitting down at the small cafe that had a bunch of people who didn’t want us there, and waiting for the crowd to thin out, and then making it as clear as possible where we needed to go and what we were going to pay them. It was a tough way to start the day, but not something we get to encounter at home so interesting at least.

Phu Quoc Island was fantastic. Typical hot, sunny, tropical, palm tree lined beach island, with a strip of beach developed for backpacker type tourists (simple bungalows with a fan and not much else for $12 per night) and a few resorts for the rich ($235 per night rooms).  The rest of the island had one small town and a few scattered village type communities all connected by a series of dirt roads and a couple main paved roads. This was the type of place that people are always saying, “you’ve got to get there before it becomes all high rise hotels up and down the island, ” and we hit it at a good time. Just enough development that it had places to stay, eat delicious, cheap seafood, had three dive shops, and you could easily find an area of beach with no one around.

One day was spent exploring the island on a motorbike, that we rented for the two of us ($9 for the day, no paperwork, here’s the keys and your helmet, good luck), and drove up the coast looking for the perfect spot of beach and the perfect lunch. We probably drove way more than we should have as we’d never used a motorbike to explore a new place before and loved it (well I did, and Sara I know did also, although a little nervous at first), and there was so much empty coastline we just had to keep going. We eventually found a “restaurant” which was a family’s home on the beach with not a another home or building in sight in either direction. We ordered grilled fish, vegetables, rice, and cold beer and were able to swim in the ocean completely by ourselves while they cooked one of the best meals we’ve eaten on this trip. If we had longer here, we could have done this every day for a long time and not gotten sick of it.

The other day we were there we went diving. The diving was different than most places we’ve been in that the focus was on small fish and various critters (crabs, lobsters, nudibranches, shrimp, etc.) and it also had really nice coral. The bad part is the reason that they have no big fish is that they’ve totally overfished the place, but I guess the good part of that for diving is that there were huge schools of tiny fish that you usually don’t see because they’ve been eaten by larger fish). The dives were really easy, as they were very shallow (about 20 feet) and had no current, so we were able to dive for about 55 minutes each dive. It was a great practice for our big dive trip in a few weeks in the Andaman Sea in Southern Thailand.

It was a great few days of beach stuff after a lot of heavy travel while we moved quickly and often through Vietnam. I’m sure there are lots of places like this still in the Caribbean and I would love to find them. Great place.

To finish and to give you an idea of the very, very small price you have to pay to travel without a set tour or itinerary,  and on a tight budget: Here is the quick synopsis of what it took to get off the island after finding out the night before we needed to leave that all the boats back to the mainland were booked for the next few days. (us: “So when can we get a boat back?… ferry booking desk: “Oh, don’t know, its high season.”… us: “We need to leave at some point can you sell us the next available ticket?”… them: “Maybe, come back in a few days, the boats are very full, its the high season.” Great.

- Woke at 6:00 to catch a mini bus with people who had tickets, we were overcharged because we didn’t already have a ticket and we couldn’t say no, leverage is huge.

- Arrived at the station where two of the four boats leaving that day were preparing to leave and hoping that we could pay/bribe our way on. Asked at the first boat which seemed to be all locals and the person wouldn’t even listen, just told us to leave. (This was also after the ferry ticket person said that we should try this, we didn’t just assume we could do it, although I was confident that they would take us for a little extra money) We walked to the other boat and waited a while thinking that maybe once the ticket holders were on board they would take us and our money and tell us to stand in the back of the boat, which would have been great. Sara saw someone who seemed to be selling tickets a little ways from the boat, and I went and asked him to buy tickets. He was real nice and said to go to the ramp and give the man some money and he’ll let you on without a ticket. I went up to this person and he nervously said no and motioned me away. I went back and told the other guy and he said he didn’t know why but too bad. Then he walked over and told another random guy who came over to us and asked if we needed tickets. I said yes and he said he’d be back in 5 minutes. At this point we figured we were going to be on this island for a while or we were about to be asked for an enormous amount of money to get on the boat. But he came back with two supossedly sold out tickets and nicely, but suspiciously, offered them to us for face value. I made it clear to him that he had to walk us to the boat and make sure we got on (in my head that the tickets were real) which he agreed and we got on the boat no questions asked.

-After the boat ride, dodged motorbike drivers and bought a ticket to Can Tho. While we were in line to buy this ticket however, they were swarming around us swearing that there were no buses to Can Tho, that the buses were no good, that they could get us there quicker, etc.

- We took a quick ride to the main bus station and waited for 30 minutes while motorbike drivers grilled us about where we were going, why we were taking a bus, how expensive the buses were, etc.

- Took an uneventful (finally) mini bus to Can Tho (3 hours)

- When we arrived in Can Tho we dodged motorbike drivers and arranged a taxi to the hotel that we said we had a reservation at (we didn’t have a reservation, but otherwise they will take you to a hotel of their choosing where they can collect a commission from the hotel) and finally arrived at our hotel after 5 different modes of transportation and 8 hours of total travel time.

The way to and from the island was a complete pain and these two particular trips, we only found it amusing after the fact, but it was so worth it and somehow those travel days are a really good part of the trip. Not sure why exactly, but they are. (And traveling through Southeast Asia in general is very easy, this is just an example) Hope this was somewhat interesting, damn this coffee here. I’m never going to sleep tonight, but we’ve got to catch a bus to the border early tomorrow morning…

We miss you guys and may not be able to check in again for a little bit, while we are traveling quickly through Cambodia. Hope everyone is doing real well and we can’t wait to get home and see everyone. Please keep us posted. Go Pats.

Jarrod and Sara

After a few rainy days in Central Vietnam, we arrived in the mountainside town of Dalat, known to the Vietnamese people as a popular honeymoon spot.  With the gorgeous mountains, vegetable and flower farms, and coffee plantations, it soon earned our praise too.  It felt a little like an old ski town with lots of chalet houses sloping down the hilly streets.  The people seemed really happy, smiling readily and always entertaining cute little kids.  We really enjoyed our hotel which was quite a steal at $10 a night with hot water, TV, and free breakfast.  It was a real treat to have such luxury.

Our first afternoon there we strolled along Xuan Huong Lake passing many local people taking their daily exercise walks, always in pairs.  There was a nice paved path along the perimeter with nice landscaping and people watching.  That evening we headed to the central market to check out the goods and have dinner.  Jarrod found a great vegetarian buffet where we had a plate of veggies, tofu, and rice for about a dollar each.  I never knew tofu could be cooked in so many different ways and shapes, it was all really good.  The market  had great produce and also sugared candies (kind of like sour patch kids).  The mulberry was our instant favorite.

The next day we went on a trekking tour called the Thrill Seeker.  Our group was small with only one other couple and our guide, Lum (who was great by the way if he is reading this!).  We had great weather with blue skies and just the right temperature for hiking.  It is one of my favorite hikes of the trip because of the varied terrain; we went through pine forests, coffee plantations, and vegetable farms before finishing up at a waterfall.  There was one really tough uphill part, but the reward was fantastic views of the valley below with river running through it, and also a picnic lunch.  We ate baguettes (I never imagined how many baguettes I would eat on this trip, no chance of eating low carb here) filled with cucumbers, tomatoes, soft cheese, and pork pate.  Fruit for desert completed the meal perfectly.  Somehow, things just taste better when you eat them in a picnic.

Lum explained the life of the coffee bean to us from tree to mug.  First the coffee berries and picked from the bushes when the berry is red.  The outer shell is removed and the slimy inner bean washed then dried on tarps for three days in the sun.  The bean is naturally a white color, then turns brown after roasting.  We saw some of the farmers carrying 50kg bags of coffee beans on their shoulder across this really scary wooden planked wobbly suspension  bridge while holding onto the wire handrail with only one hand.  I was afraid for my life using two hands and a little backpack, what a wus.  In town there were some wholesale coffee shops where you could buy the beans and they roast them on site for you.  The delicious smell lured us in from the street, now if they only sold coffee to drink life would be perfect.

From there, on to Saigon…

Love you and miss you, Sara and Jarrod

 Hello everybody, just got back to civilization and realized we were falling behind on this again. Hope everyone is doing well back at home, putting the beer on ice and getting the food ready for the Pats this weekend. I can really not even believe that this is the season I am missing. Haven’t seen any of the playoffs, and unless I can find a sports bar catering to Americans in Siem Riep, Cambodia (unlikely, all the sports bars play is soccer…), I will probably be missing the Super Bowl as well. If anyone has Tivo…. please record!… and I jealously hope everyone enjoys the game.We were recently in Saigon (officially known as Ho Chi Minh City, but everyone refers to it as Saigon) the biggest city in Vietnam. We really enjoyed this city quite a bit. After the uptight, aggressive, constantly in your face Hanoi (which I still enjoyed, but was also ready to leave after a few days), Saigon is quite different. In general, as we went south through the country and the weather grew warmer, the people seemed to be more mellow and Saigon (deep in Southern Vietnam) was no exception. The people were much more laid back, friendlier, smiled more, the city was much more spread out, it had sidewalks that you could actually walk on - this made a huge difference - and there seemed to be more to do. A stereotypical example of the difference is: in Hanoi, the motorbike drivers (who wanted to taxi you around) would follow you and you would have to tell them no firmly three or four times before they left you alone, in Saigon, the motorbike drivers would wave to you while lying on their motorbike and drinking an ice coffee, and when you said no, they would smile and wave again as you walked by.

The first full day we were there, we went to the biggest market in the city to browse. This has become one of our favorite things to do because each of the markets is so unique (if you get past the t-shirt and souvenir stalls). Its great people watching and the markets, especially this one - Ben Than Market - usually have great food stalls to eat at. These are the equivalent of a food court at a mall at home, but much more lively and they have a much more diverse mix of foods. Besides the stalls to eat, there is also the food market section where individuals and restaurants come to buy meat, produce, etc. This is always an interesting place to walk through, as I walked through this particular food market I saw the following and many more: a person shaving the remaining hair off the lower leg of what I believe was a goat with a Bic razor, cow tongue, cow brain, cow intestine, pig heart, tons of snakes still alive and slithering in little buckets, tons of different fish, along with candy, baguettes, fresh coffee, and fruits and vegetables. These places never get old to wander through (except the smell).

We next visited the War Remnants Museum, which is a very popular museum (mostly tourists) about the American War, as the Vietnamese refer to it. This was a little difficult to digest as it had quite a few photos and videos about the lasting effects of chemical warfare. Basically it was in a large building that you walk through and look at photos and read information displayed throughout. Outside, there was a collection of U.S. tanks, helicopters, etc. and an exact replica of the “Tiger Cages” that were used by the South Vietnamese on P.O.W.’s. While this museum obviously only showed the atrocities of one side and only showed the effects of the war on people from one side, it was strange to see these things as a tourist from the country who they were at war with such a short time ago.

We also visited the Reunification Palace, as its now known, where the Saigon regime’s headquarters were. For the most part it was a typical capital building. It was weird to see the gates and then to inside see the famous pictures of the North Vietnamese crashing through the same gates with their tanks to take over the capital at the end of the war. It was also interesting to walk around the basement’s tunnels that housed the rooms where they supposedly orchestrated the war. The rooms contained a mix of large maps of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, telecommunication equipment which looked like it was from the stone age even though it was used so recently, and empty rooms with nothing but simple telephones on a bare desk. It obviously had been stripped of most things and I’m sure looked a lot different during the war, but we both said that it was incredibly easy to see people working furiously in all the rooms, talking into radio equipment, running back and forth between rooms delivering important pieces of paper, looking at maps, and smoking tons and tons of cigarettes. It could have been totally different, but thats what we both envisioned when we emerged from the basement and talked about it. We could also have just seen too many war movies.
Thats about all for Saigon. We filled the remaining time walking around for hours exploring different parts of the city, drinking potent Vietnamese coffee while watching the motorbike traffic (its art to watch the traffic flow in this city of 3.5 million motorbikes with no traffic rules), eating lots of good food, and drinking cold beers on the sidewalk, while watching the city, and meeting different sorts of travelers. Great place to spend time.

Again, we really hope everyone is doing well, and we miss you guys. A little over a month to go. Keep in touch and we’ll see you soon.

Jarrod and Sara

We have been cruising through central Vietnam on our way to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly and still known as Saigon). After the night train from Sapa back to Hanoi, we boarded another train in the afternoon taking us to Dong Ha in the Demilitarized Zone (for a total of 22 travel hours with a six hour break in the middle). We arrived there around 5am after sleeping on the train. This trip was not quite as comfortable as the sleeper train, too expensive to take a sleeper this time, and instead we had regular seats that weren’t bad for sitting but terrible to try and sleep in. We were the only Westerners in our car, and enjoyed the local people in their element… for the most part. One man chose to play music on his cell phone and held it high for all to hear, until late in the evening. Others just talked and smoked cigarettes in the air tight train. It was a long ride…

Once in Dong Ha we found a hotel to take a shower (the first since Sapa, after sleeping on trains for two nights, it was the best shower ever) and booked a bus tour of the area. The sites are too far apart and you really need a guide to explain all of the local history. We saw a bridge that was part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a former US Marine lookout called The Rockpile, and the Ben Hai River which served as the demarcation line between the North and the South with the 5km surrounding areas marking the DMZ. Most surreal was Khe San Combat base, it is really strange being at a place that such horrible things happened when it currently houses a museum and is incredibly peaceful now. The other most interesting place was the the Vinh Moc tunnels. These tunnels were built by local people to live in during the war while heavy bombing took place. They measure 2.8km and are three levels deep at 12 and 23 km. There was even a maternity ward where 17 babies were born. A total of about 500 people lived here for 5 years. Because they were built to live in and not for combat they were larger and I could stand up while Jarrod had to bend over. Still, they were dark and damp and I can’t even fathom living there for so long, or even for a night. It was certainly thought provoking, the sites besides the tunnels didn’t really have much to see, it was more just trying to imagine the things that happened where we were standing and hearing the accounts from the Vietnamese people. Really difficult to imagine what went on here, especially being here now.

That night we stayed on the tourist bus and went with them to the city of Hue. The main attraction here is The Citadel. Built in 1804 it is a 10km walled city that used to be the home of the emperor of Vietnam. It was the site of the Tet Offensive in 1968 and much of the inner areas have been rebuilt. It is really pretty with large brick walls with greens growing up them, bridges, Vietnam’s tallest flag, archways, and a moat around the perimeter. Inside is like any other city with shops, homes, and schools.

In Hue we found a great deal on a bus ticket to take us all of the way to Saigon stoping at Hoi An, Nha Trang, and Dalat for only $16. Hoi An is a really pretty town along a river, and the Old Town area is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a place where just walking around will keep you busy all day. It is known for its tailors and both Jarrod and I took advantage of this each having a jacket made and Jarod having a really nice suit made. All of these projects took less than 24 hours to make, even with fittings and alterations. If only there was more room in our backpacks, we would have gone crazy. The Old Town area also had that French Colonialism feel with lots of little allyways and backstreets. At night the shops along the river were lit with different colored paper lanterns and reflecting into the water, it was really pretty. I should mention that it was raining the whole time and not even the poor weather could take away from this city’s charm.

We found a great restaurant on the first day and booked a cooking class with the owner. We loved this restaurant because the food was delicious and the family was so so nice. It was much more low key than the class that we took in Thailand and just what we needed. We were able to choose our dishes and picked our new favorites; chili chicken with lemongrass, fresh springrolls, and grilled fish with fresh herbs. We were the only two students in the class that day and really enjoyed learning how to cook these dishes and eating the fruits of our labor. I definitely need more practice rolling out the spring rolls, I earned more than one chuckle with my poor technique. What a dinner party we will have when we get home!

From Hoi An we had a night bus ride to Nha Trang. Another interesting travel experience, what was supposed to be a ride from 7pm to 6am turned out to be a noontime arrival. There was some kind of accident on the road due to the rainy weather and traffic was at a dead stop on both sides for hours. The bus driver actually shut off the bus and slept on the floor in the middle of the night. We were really glad to finally get there but totally exhausted and had kind of a wasted day. Nha Trang is known for its beaches and is the premier scuba diving location, but since it was raining we bummed around for the day. It was kind of nice actually to have an excuse to be lazy and relax, we feel so much pressure to be out seeing all of the sites every day since we don’t know when we will back in Southeast Asia. We did go for a nice walk on the beach that night after the rain had died down. The sea was still pretty rough and the sound of the ocean was heaven. We left the next day for Dalat, I will leave for now and let Jarrod write that blog later.

Thanks for all of your blog responses. We are so glad you are all enjoying this, it is really fun to write it (when the internet connection is good). We miss you all tons and think of you everyday. Love, Sara and Jarrod

Back again… so after our Halong Bay trip, we headed directly to Sapa, a small town high in the mountains of Northwestern Vietnam near the Chinese border. To get there we took our first night train. It was much, much better than I had anticipated. We chose to do this because it saved time and money as we slept and traveled on the train which means we don’t lose a day of our trip and don’t have to pay for a guesthouse, and for the experience of a sleeper train. As I mentioned it was much nicer than I thought. We had a small room with two bunk style beds on each side of the room with a decent mattress and pillow and a decent amount of room, though someone much bigger than me may have had a tough time getting comfortable. The room has a locking door, so the only x-factor is who your bunkmates will be. Luckily, we shared the room with a retired Canadian who has been spending his retirement taking the coolest trips (safari in Africa, boat down the Amazon, Antarctica, Southeast Asia, etc.) and his guide. It was about a nine hour trip and after reading for a while we were actually able to sleep relatively well before arriving in a small town an hour outside of Sapa at 5:30 am. From here we jumped on the pre-arranged mini-bus for the final leg of the journey. This was intense. We were driving on incredibly winding mountain roads and the driver, for some unknown reason, was in a rush… he was driving how I would imagine a taxi driving when they have a woman in back about to give birth. Besides the winding roads, we were constantly passing other cars, which is very common and we’ve sort of become accustomed to but this was crazy passing, along with some motorbikes, pedestrians, and the occasional herd of water buffalo. We had to clutch the seat in front of us to keep from slamming back and forth into the people sitting next to us. We made it to Sapa though around 6:30 a.m. and decided that Lonely Planet’s recommendation to “avoid travel by night on the nation’s kamikazee bus fleet” was probably a good idea.

So, Sapa, situated on top of a mountain, high up in a huge mountain range, was absolutely gorgeous. Sara and I were dropped off at our hotel and walked to the outside porch/deck area to have breakfast and saw the view for the first time and it was just ridiculous. As you’ve probably noticed we’ve mentioned a lot about how much amazing scenery we’ve been seeing, and this was instantly our favorite. This is the worst time of year to be here (we’ve heard and read), as its usually cold (30-60 degrees), foggy, and occasionally rainy. We got so unbelievably lucky that we received the two most perfect days when we were there. 75 degrees with bright sun during the day, the bluest sky you can imagine, strong mountain breezes, just perfect, I can’t believe we got so lucky. We had breakfast overlooking this view and immediately hired a guide to go hiking…

This was one of, if not The best, hike we’ve ever been on. After a van drove us around to a lookout or two, it dropped off Sara and I, and our guide (Hie), at the side of the road, where we started our hike by crossing through a really cool farm built in to the side of the mountain that had terraced rice fields, a huge rose garden, and lots of various crops, spread over about three acres on the side of the mountain.

After descending the trail, we arrived in a Black Hmong village that was located in the valley, well off the main road and the easier hiking trails that many tourists path through. This was a highlight of our whole trip. We’ve been in a lot of villages so far and each are really different. We both agreed that this was the ”idealistic vision” that we had in our head before coming here of what a minority, mountain hilltribe village might look like. It was in an impossibly beautiful setting, with moutains surrounding it on all sides, and various parts of the village scattered among the small hills in the valley. The buildings and gardens were incredibly well cared for and clean, and you could just tell that they took great pride in where they lived. The people here all wore traditional clothes that were really unique and they all just seemed so happy. The village was similar to others we’d seen with basic huts (though more enclosed as it gets cold here), lots of animals roaming around (buffalo, cows, chickens, pigs, goats, and dogs), and various gardens everywhere on the hillside (rice fields and other vegetables that they ate and sold the surplus to buy things that they don’t produce themselves). While we were there, a wedding was just finishing and all the villagers were gathered near an open area where they had just finished feasting and were still partying. It was pretty hilarious because there were numerous men passed out all over the lawn area around where the rest of the people were hanging out and talking and laughing. Our guide laughed and said, “Look at all the happy men!” Which he meant were happy and real drunk from celebrating by drinking “happy water” (rice whiskey, i.e. moonshine) all day. Its really tough to describe the feeling of the place, but if you just think of a small, happy, healthy group of farmers living high in the mountains in an amazing setting, you probably can get the idea.

The next day we took a more common hike that is easy to start directly from town and it was a different type of experience. Basically there were a bunch of groups walking through the same three villages that had people coming through everyday, but they were actually still very chill, laid-back villages, that didn’t seem too affected by the traffic. The main difference on this trip was that we walked the entire time with a group of village kids who were walking home to their villages after spending the night in Sapa for schooling. They spoke English remarkably well, and though they definitely were young entrpreneurs, we were still able to just talk to them a lot while we were walking and it was a real nice addition to the hike.

That’s it for now, we hope everyone is doing well and we look forward to seeing everyone when we get home. Keep in touch.

 Jarrod and Sara 

 Hello everybody, sorry to not check in for a while, but we’re in Vietnam and have been real busy and not had much access to the Internet. I hope all of you are doing well and thanks for the emails, its nice to hear what’s going on at home. We are currently experiencing our very first rainy day (in 6 weeks- I’m sorry I know the weather at home has been brutal) at our guesthouse in Hue in Central Vietnam that has free Internet so we’re going to try and catch up on this blog now if we can…

So after our intense few days in Hanoi (Sara is writing about that now I think), we booked a three day/ 2 night tour of Halong Bay to enjoy one of the natural highlights of Vietnam and get out of the city for a while. The tour was really great. We usually try to do things on our own when we can (without a tour) but since we don’t have a boat or the money to charter one, we needed to do a tour here. We were really happy we did though as it was one of the better ones we’ve been on. We were on a boat (see pictures - hopefully) with only 4 other travelers, 1 guide, and the crew of 4. The boat was very large for that number of people, we all had our own room with shower, there was a large common room/dining room, and a large sundeck on top of the boat to enjoy the scenery. The guide we had (Dang) was excellent and was great to spend time with. One of the good things about doing a tour like this is definitely the guide (if you get a good one - which we have had great luck with really good guides on this whole trip) as its one of the best times to get to hang out with a local person who is happy to just talk to you and ask and answer questions without trying to sell you something. He was a great source of information about the area and great to talk to (excellent English). 

The first day was spent traveling into the bay to the spot where we would dock and sleep on the boat for the night. I know talking about the scenery isn’t all that interesting, so hopefully the pictures help, but that was the main activity, sitting up on the sundeck as the boat cruised through the thousands of limestone mountains/cliffs that make up the bay. After arriving at our spot for the night, we went kayaking around the cliffs and into a huge grotto. To get in we paddled through a small tunnel that is only accessible during low tide and emerged inside what is basically like a huge saltwater lake enclosed by the limestone mountains (if you looked from the top, which is open - not like a cave, it would look like a big circle of tall, steep cliffs with ocean inside).  After kayaking, we got back on the boat and had a delicious family style Vietnamese dinner (another great thing about a good tour) consisting of fresh fish, squid, prawns, vegetables, and, of course, rice. Then had a few beers with the guide and other travelers and turned in for a great sleep out on the ocean.

The next day after some more cruising and eating, we were dropped off in a little cove on Cat Ba Island to hike through a section of the National Park. It was a short, steep hike over a small mountain and back down into the valley. The landscape here was really different than on our recent hikes as it was more rainforest like jungle and very rocky. There were also a lot more birds and it was nice to hear the sound of them as on many places we’ve hiked have had no birds due to overhunting. When we got down to the valley we stopped at the one home in this area of the park, which is the small fish/vegetable farm of a sixty year old couple who have been living in this really remote area for about twenty years. They had set up a large net structure in a small lake where they raised/farmed fish to eat and occasionally to sell in town. They had a small orchard where they grew banana and a few other fruit trees. They had a garden where they grew all their vegetables and they had a chicken coupe with a small number of chickens. Their “house” was a really simple, but nice and clean, bamboo open-air hut, with raised levels for sleeping and storage, a table, and fireplace. There we sat and had a snack and tea and admired how simple, but seemingly happy the couple’s life was.

After hiking out of the park and getting back on the boat, we docked at a floating “seafood store” (see picture) for lunch and more kayaking. This place was interesting, basically a large (maybe one 1/3rd of the size of the football field that the undefeated NE Patriots play on, which I have not seen a single game while I’ve been away, and its absolutely killing me - last night our place had a TV station that aired the NFC title game (recorded) then played a montage of every other playoff game besides the Patriots and then instead of playing the recorded Patriots game as it seemed to be gearing up for, they switched to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno - I wasn’t mad at all) floating structure that had about 20 pens with nets that contained different kinds of fish swimming in them (think of the movie Waterworld). Restaurants would come to a place like this and buy the fish for their restaurant. Cool place, but the 4 men that worked there also lived there and only left to go to town about once a month… yikes.

That night we stayed in Cat Ba town at a nice hotel before heading back to land aboard a different boat the next morning. Overall, it was a really nice trip. The place is beautiful, but they don’t seem to be taking very good care of it at all as there are tons of diesel boats cruising around and they don’t seem too concerned with keeping litter and waste on the boats. Hopefully they’ll get it under control and not wreck the bay as its really a unique and amazing place.

After we arrived back in Hanoi, we had about three hours to kill before boarding the Night Train to Sapa… see Sapa blog.

Hope everyone is well.

Jarrod and Sara

 Hi everyone!  Sorry not to write for so long.  Jarrod and I have picked up the pace a lot since arriving in Vietnam.  We have a lot of ground to cover on our way from the north to the south.  We arrived in the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, January 4th after a quick one hour flight from the capitol of Laos, Vientiane.  It was quite a change going from Laos which was so quiet, not very developed, and so laid-back, to Hanoi, which is the complete opposite.  As soon as we got out of the shuttle and stepped onto the curb, it felt like I was hit in the face.  It is quite loud with horns from the trillion motorbikes zooming past at amazing speeds and people yelling over the noise.  There is a shop or noodle stand on every single centimeter of space on the sidewalks, so you have to walk single file in the street while avoiding motorbikes, bicycles, people, and a car every now and then.  No thoughts of romantic honeymoon strolls down the street here.  The people are more aggressive and constantly approach us to buy souvenirs, fruit, or asking for rides on their motorbike taxis, never settling on a no answer until told the fifth time in a rude way.  I had a hard time feeling like a walking pocketbook and that I had to be mean to people just to say no.  That only feels worse when you find someone who is genuinely being nice and helpful, but you just snapped at them to leave you alone.  I have realized that this is just not the city for me, however, Jarrod is much less sensitive than I (big surprise).

 We spent our first day enjoying rice noodle soup for breakfast.  Pho is a traditional breakfast food and although it doesn’t sound like it would be great for breakfast, it was so good on a chilly, dreary morning.  We tried Vietnamese coffee and found it really nice.  It is similar to coffee made with a French press, and drips into the glass right in front of you.  Served with a little sweetened condensed milk, delicious.  After a caffeine fix we headed into the busy Old Quarter to explore.  There are lots of little alleyways and streets thanks to old French colonization so it is really easy to get lost, but you eventually find your way to the lake in the middle as a landmark.  There are different streets for anything that you want to buy: shoes, clothes, yarn, toys, religious trinkets, silk, tin-boxes, gravestones, jewelry, and herbs.  The food market had the usual fresh fruits and vegetables, and tons of seafood such as eel, squid, crabs, fish, and even a turtle (which upset me I won’t lie) still squirming in plastic buckets.  In the afternoon we walked out of the Old Quarter into the central part of the city and visited The Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius and scholars of literature.  It was a beautiful setting with lots of plants, ponds, and sculptures, and there was a pretty young couple having their wedding photos taken.  By this time we were exhausted and on sensory overload, so we headed to the local five story mall for some western familiarity and actually watched the movie ”American Gangster” on the big screen.

 The next day was more walking around and exploring.  We took a short break to rest our feet at the Water Puppet Theater in the afternoon.  In the past rice farmers used to put on shows when their rice fields had flooded, carving puppets out of fig trees and telling stories based on their daily lives and mythical creatures.  The shows are set to traditional Vietnamese music using about six instruments.  It is really different the way the puppets are danced on top of the water with sticks hidden underneath.  The puppeteers stand behind a curtain and are about waist deep in the water too.  The kids loved it.  We wished we could have understood what they were saying.

That evening we enjoyed some Bia Hoi before dinner.  Small plastic chairs are set up on street corners in front of shops, and women serve keg beer at unbelievable prices.  It cost 2500 dong per beer, which is about six beers for a dollar.  Needless to say Jarrod was very pleased and we enjoyed a few…  It was a nice way to sit and watch the city quickly pass by and I actually relaxed a little bit.  One little girl about five years old came with her parents.  I was really surprised when she approached two large European men also enjoying a few drinks and practiced her English a little saying “Hello, how are you?”  Then without pause, “I am fine thanks!”  It was really cute and I thought her quite brave to talk to the men who must appear so odd looking and so tall.

Jarrod and I hope you are all well!  Go Pats!  Love, Sara and Jarrod

What’s up everyone? Hope everyone had a great holiday and is excited to be back to work… we missed you all for the holidays.

Sara and I just spent about a week around New Year’s in Vang Vieng, a small town located across a nice river from some dramatic limestone mountain/cliffs. We had heard that this was a big party town and had lost its cool atmosphere due to the huge volume of backpackers that come through the place. In some ways this was true. I’m sure that before any travelers were coming here, it would have been that much more beautiful and mellow because there would have been no development, but this was still one of the more beautiful settings for a small, laid back town that we’ve seen.

You can tell the difference basically by looking at the two sides of the river; one side is vast rice fields and some small villages, the other side is packed with guesthouses, small hotels, bars, and restaurants. This separation, we think, has enabled the place to still have a great atmosphere, and tons of things to do. On the “nature” side, we spent two days, one riding mountain bikes down deserted dirt roads and over little streams and through villages to a huge cave that you could explore, all the while having the dramatic limestone cliffs as a backdrop. The other day we just went for a hike (we really liked that this was a place you could just go hike by yourself and not have to do with a group tour) and climbed to the top of this small, but steep mountain that was all rocky with some cool vegetation and “surprisingly” had a great view from the top. We followed that up by going to one of the many riverfront bamboo huts where you can sit in hammocks and relax as long as you want - one of the most relaxing spots we’ve been - while watching the boats go by on the river, eating, drinking, sleeping, reading, writing, or absolutely nothing. On the other side of the river, we did things like eat at a bunch of different restaurants, drink at a bunch of different restaurants, and sit at one of at least 5 bar/restaurants that, for some unknown reason, play the TV show, Friends, one season after the next, from open until close, everyday, and many people sit and drink and eat and watch… we did for a little while and really have no idea why, other than it was nice to watch TV. If it had been Seinfeld, or the Simpsons, I would have understood, but ??? Anyway, that side of the river is cool too, we met some nice people and had fun, but you could see why some travelers (especially the ones who complain about how travelers ruin places and how everywhere was better when they first went there 10 years ago…) would find this development of Vang Vieng depressing. I think most people that we saw there loved it and spent there days on one side of the river or the other, depending on what they wanted. We loved it, sorry, now I’m rambling…

Now that we’ve covered both sides of the river, we also spent two days ON the river, which was also quite an experience. The first day on the river was with a group kayaking tour. It was really nice, a couple of somewhat fast spots - we did flip over once, but for the most part very calm water that you could sit back and just take in the scenery. We stopped for lunch at one spot and went for a short hike to check out a really cool cave while lunch was being BBQ’ed. One of the coolest parts of the cave was the spider we saw - black with red design on body, the body was the size of a thumb, and the legs were ridiculously long and creepy, making the whole thing about the size of one huge hand. Another was when, about a 15 minutes walk in, we all blew out our candles and turned off flashlights, and didn’t talk for a minute - wow - your eyes can’t adjust, there’s no light to adjust to, so you can’t see your hand in front of your face and its totally silent, really eerie. And during the Vietnam war, a whole village lived inside this cave, can’t imagine. Very cool experience to check it out. After the cave, we went back and had the best “tour” lunch ever: shish kebab with buffalo meat, tomato, onion, and pepper, and fried rice with egg, and a baguette, and a banana - so good. Then I was able to jump into the river off a 30 foot wooden tower which got the adrenaline going for the rest of the day of kayaking. Great day.

The second day on the river (New Year’s Eve) was spent floating down the river on an inner tube…. this is one of the most popular backpacker activities in Southeast Asia, some people come here and do it every day for a week. Basically, you rent a tube in town and a small pickup crams as many people and tubes as they can into the truck and takes you up the river and drops you off. You then jump on the tube and float down the river back to town. Its super relaxing (if anything the river is too slow at this time of year) and you have the spectacular scenery that you eventually start to take for granted being in Laos. Due to the popularity of this, the enterprising locals have set up bars alongside the river. Some as simple as a woman sitting on a mat with a cooler full of beer and soft drinks, some as elaborate as the one shown in the picture we posted with this entry. Not sure if the picture does it justice, but basically on this 250 yard stretch of river, you are fished out of the river via a man throwing a bamboo stick to you and hauling you in. On the bank is a huge bamboo structure that has three levels high of small square decks overlooking the river, a huge bar, two volleyball nets, speakers blasting music like you were at an outdoor concert, and finally the huge bamboo tower that people climb up and swing from. The swing is like trapeze (no safety rope or anything remotely resembling one) far out over the river… and then back towards the shore… usually a few times before letting go into the water. This was amazing to watch, and I can’t lie if there wasn’t a huge line I probably would have done it, but also one of the craziest/dumbest things I’ve seen. As you are over the water (which is most of the time) the worst thing that could happen is you do a crazy belly or back flop… or land on a tuber or kayaker or motorized canoe, but as you swing back towards shore if you let go at the top accidentally you would land (after a 20 to 30 foot drop) on either a bamboo structure, rocks, or a tree. People couldn’t get enough and it was fascinating to watch. This is what attracts many people, the party all up and down the river, and I could see why some people would hate it. We certainly enjoyed it, but I think the sheer number of people and how much has popped up along the river is definitely overboard. The river is extremely long (don’t know how many thousands of kilometers) and this takes up about 3 kilometers and brings in a ton of money, so I’m not sure really what to think about it, but it was certainly quite an experience and a good way to spend New Year’s Eve. After arriving to town and taking a shower, we had a great dinner and went to a big party on the banks of the river with tons of cool people, bonfires, and music. Great way to end the year and it would have been about the best New Year’s party we’ve been to if all our friends and family were there as well…

Hope you all are doing well and had a great New Year’s. Please keep in touch.

Jarrod and Sara

Jarrod and I fell in love with the city of Luang Prabang, and ended up staying for about a week for a little mini-vacation for the Christmas holiday during our big vacation. Anyone traveling through here would fall in love with its mellow atmosphere with old French provincial architecture, cafe’s on every corner, and wonderful people watching. It is located where the mighty Mekong River meets the Nam Khan river, so waterfront restaurants perfect for a sunset meal or Beerlao are plentiful. It is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site, so cars, trucks, and other large and noisy machines are not allowed, making for quite a peaceful atmosphere. There was also a great night food market where you could get anything from noodle soup to grilled fish to fried Mekong seaweed to laap to all you can eat vegetarian buffet (and lots of things that we couldn’t identify).

We did fit in some of the sights between Cafe Lattes and French baguettes (when looking back on our time here, I have noticed that everything revolved around what or where we ate that day). One morning we took in the Royal Palace Museum which was a residence to the royal family before the capitol moved to Vientiane, then climbed the few hundred stairs across the street up a large hill called Phu Si. There is a small temple at the top, but we were more interested with the spectacular views of the city, rivers, and mountains.

Luang Prabang has a big handicraft market selling common souvenirs such as T-shirts, photographs, and silver jewelry, but the main focus here is on textiles. One day we went to Xang Khong weaving village to hopefully find some deals outside of the market, but things were still too expensive. It was great to see the women dying their own thread with natural dyes and also weaving it on large looms. They sit on hard backless stools all day, but many bring portable looms down to the river to soak up the cool breeze and river life. Not a bad trade.

We found one small bookstore/swap/cafe place and fell in love. It had wood walls, floors, and paneling, and felt like a treehouse up on the second floor with a small balcony and great breeze. The best part for Jarrod was free nightly movies which they showed on a big screen and had lots of comfy pillows and mats on the floor to relax and lie down on. It was great to chill and watch a movie (3:10 to Yuma) while sipping fruit shakes and Beerlao.

My favorite experience was giving alms to the monks. Every morning the monks wake up early to collect food donations for the day from all of the local people. The day after Christmas we woke up at 5:45am to get ready. Our hotel provided us with sticky rice and some candies to give to the monks, and we waited outside for them to start filing by. From down the street saw a sea of orange robes as the young monks and novice monks quickly approached. They had a lot of ground to cover and were walking quite fast, giving just enough time to put some food into their bucket. Our sticky rice and candies didn’t last too long, then they were gone. The whole experience lasted about five minutes, but it was special to participate in one of the daily routines of the Lao people. No sleeping in for them!

There were many opportunities for more hiking, kayaking, and outdoor activities around Luang Prabang, but we decided to take a little break from the distant outdoors and instead went to a local waterfall for half a day. There was a small national park about thirty minutes away that we visited. It was very peaceful and pretty with three or four different pools on the way to the main waterfall for swimming. We headed to the main event and climbed a steep path to the top, stopping to swim on the way down. Jarrod even found a pool with a rope swing to play in for a while before we had to head back.

Happy New Year everyone! We wish you a great 2008. Thanks again for all of the posts and keeping us in our thoughts. Love, Sara and Jarrod.