Thai Islands

We arrived in coastal Southern Thailand on the evening of January 25th, with nowhere to stay and a laundry list of sights we wanted to see. By the time the following morning rolled around, we were on a minibus to Ko Lanta, which is a large, gorgeous, and mellow island in the Andaman Sea. When we arrived, it took us at least an hour of walking to find a magnificent little $15/night bungalow with an outdoor shower just off the beach. The sun was on the verge of setting while we were checking in, and after a mad scramble to get the packs in the room and pick up supplies from 7-11 (oddly, that store is all over this country) we were on the beach watching the multicolored orb descend into the sea, sipping home-made celebratory island cocktails.

The following day was a magnificent day of relaxation. We spent the whole morning on the beach, swimming, floating in the water, reading, and napping in the shade. We decided that since we were in the shade, there was no reason to apply sunscreen. Whoops. That mistake had implications for 5 painful days. Stupid. Oh well, lesson learned. We really did nothing else that day except relax and watch another sunset. And I finished Life of Pi, which is a glorious book that everyone should read.

The following day, urged on by feelings of guilt over the previous day's lethargy, we rented a motorbike to tour the island. We found a multitude of different size and shape beaches, separated by rocky outcrops, each bordered by a smattering of bungalows or restaurants. It was a blast moving along at our own pace and stopping to examine the beaches on a whim. And, of course, Matt and I both LOVED to drive the motorbike.

Afterwards, we stopped for dinner with Bendigo and Stephanie. I hadn't seen Bendigo since I left Jamaica and it was lovely to be able to catch up with him. As we ate, firedancers came out on the beach to perform and left us spellbound.


The following morning, we hopped the early ferry to Ko Phi Phi, where "The Beach" was filmed. We found the island to be just as stunning as we had heard. Where there wasn't a rocky cliff jutting up out of greenery, there was a silky, white sand beach sinking into translucent teal water.



As soon as we finished checking into a hotel room (think wicker box with no lid, turned upside-down on wooden slats, with no bathroom) I was heading to the beach in my suit with my snorkel. The guidebook referred to the beach we were staying as having "deluxe sand and polychromatic marine life," so I knew I had to get out there immediately. I used to snorkel frequently in Jamaica and became quite fond of it. Tripod would frequently join me on those ventures, but that's another story. It was lovely to get in the water again, and I could hardly believe that there could be such a variety of marine life so close to shore in a tourist area.

As I snorkelled, I saw angelfish, scorpionfish, parrotfish, as well as many others that I couldn't recognize. I snorkelled for about a half hour before arriving at a rocky outcrop where I could rest. There were two other snorkelers there so I asked how they were doing and if they had seen anything good. "Just the sharks," they replied. "Sharks?!" "Yeah, the sharks. This is Shark Point! Were you swimming with your eyes closed?!" As I followed them back towards shore, I made sure to scan the periphery of my vision, instead of investigating the little rocky nooks below me. And sure enough, there were sharks! I saw two black-tipped reef sharks! They weren't too big or too nearby, so I didn't feel threatened. Also, there were several other people snorkeling and if everyone knew the sharks were ravenous man-eaters, I would have been the only fool in the water. Needless to say, I survived the self-absorbed sharks. That evening, Matt and I walked along the beach to the main town where we asked about scuba diving opportunities before taking a boat back to our hotel (There were no motorized vehicles on the island).

The small island of Ko Phi Phi Don (wiki) was devastated during the tsunami. There is sandy isthmus where the shops and sunbathing areas are concentrated and waves met there coming from both sides of the island. Of approximately 10,000 people who were on the island on December 26th, 2004 roughly 2,000 were killed. Over half of those bodies were never recovered.

This is not my picture, it's just an example of a black-tipped reef shark from cyberspace.
This one's an adult, the one's I saw were juveniles.

The following morning, we packed our stuff, checked out of the hotel and had breakfast. Then I was back in the water again since the ferry wasn't until 2:30. And I saw sharks again! About a dozen this time, with the largest looking to be about four feet long. I also saw a tiny octopus (I swam down to make sure) before I had to run back up the beach to leave.

After we arrived in Phuket, we hopped a bus to Khao Lak, where we signed up for the dive we wanted before heading to bed. The following morning, we were up early and on the shuttle (the back of a truck) to the boat. We went out with Big Blue Diving Company to Richelieu Rock, because we heard it was one of the best dive sites around (wiki: Similan Islands). I was anxious at first since the only times I had been diving were as part of my certification over nine months previously, but all my worries floated away as soon as I hit the water. We completed two dives that day and the marine life was gorgeous. I had never been so deep (20 meters!) and the density and variety of aquatic life far exceeded anything I'd seen before.


After diving, we headed back to Khao Lak to shower, eat, and chill out for the rest of the day. The following morning, we were on a bus to Kokkloi, then Krabi where we tried to finish some last minute chores before leaving the country. We were terribly unsuccessful. So the next afternoon when we arrived in Bangkok with an eight hour layover before our flight to Delhi, we headed into the city one more time. We spent a few hours eying up souvenirs, haggling over t-shirts, buying & selling books, and munching on cheap pad thai before heading back to the airport.

We still arrived three hours early for our flight so we had wasted a bit of extra time before discovering our flight was delayed. My pent up energy, anxiety to finally get to India, and frustration sent me ambling all over the airport. After walking nowhere for a half hour, I stumbled upon an internet cafe, and when I stepped in to ask their rates, I met face to face with someone, and my jaw dropped. So did his. It was Laird Hayward.

Soon, Matt, Laird, Brad and I were all talking about how this giant world seems amazingly tiny sometimes. After a brief chat and some hugs, Matt and I jogged back to the gate just in time and finally boarded our plane to Delhi.

The pictures in this post are: the post-sunset light show on Ko Lanta, fire dancers, two shots of Ko Phi Phi, a stolen reef shark, and Matt & I in the water.

Just a thought...

I realize I've completely neglected to mention a topic on the blog that has been a big point of discussion for Matt and I lately. For the last few weeks, we've been in a time zone which is 12 hours away from US east coast time. Also, our trip is five months and two weeks long, and on the 25th, we had been traveling for two months and three weeks.

That means we're roughly halfway around the world, and roughly halfway finished our trip. On February second we're heading to India, which means a new country and a new time zone. We'll be heading towards home for the first time.

While it's a bit sad that the trip has passed the 50% point, it's comforting to think that we're edging closer to familiar turf, to family, friends, and three-footed dogs, and to not living out of a backpack. Hugs and love to everyone who's been following along. -ell

Thailand !

Sorry, I think I might have tried to stuff to much info into this post. I'll try not to do that anymore.


I didn't know airplanes could speed, but our flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok lasted only 20 minutes and the ascent and descent were the fastest I've ever experienced. Matt and I arrived in Bangkok in the evening, and ventured in to the city to have a drink with our friend Victoria (who we met in Vietnam) before she headed to Indonesia later that night. It was great to see her and to check out a bit of the expat scene in Bangkok.

The following day, the intestinal symptoms I'd been trying to ignore for days finally got the best of me. I took a rest day and started some antibiotics (which I'm certain are magic).

On the third day, Matt and I took a water taxi down the Chao Phraya River to Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It is the largest and oldest temple in Thailand, and inside one of the many buildings on the premises is a 150 feet long, 50 feet high golden (glazed with gold leaf) Buddha lying on his side in the center of the room. The soles of his feet, which were as big as barn doors, were engraved with 108 auspicious symbols made from mother of pearl. After admiring the Buddha and wandering the beautiful grounds, we headed to the Grand Palace, but were refused entry due to a public (Thai-only) funerary ceremony for the King's sister.

So, we headed to Chinatown to find Thieves Market, but instead found a thriving community of street vendors and a whole different market which was ENORMOUS. We had a blast wandering the crowded alleys lined with stalls, and tasted all sorts of ambiguous but yummy snacks from the chefs' carts. Anything you could want for life was on sale; from air guns to toothbrushes, cow's livers to new clothes, children's toys, pots & pans, raw, preserved, and cooked food, appliances... an entire city's-worth of possessions.

Eventually, we hopped a taxi to Ratchadamnoen Stadium, a well-known spot for Muay Thai, or Thai boxing. The rules are different in this game; you can knee or kick your opponent. The matches began with the lightest opponents facing off and the weights increased as the night went on. To phrase this another way, the first pairs we saw were kids, maybe eight or nine years old. Then they progressed to teenagers, young adults, and finally, grown men. I had never been to a boxing match before and I think this was a great first experience. The kids' coaches patted down their chests after every round to make sure they weren't hurt and I got an impression that the sport was pretty well-regulated. You can see my video of the kids here.

During the third bout, a man came down to us with a card that said, "this area is for gambling, please move to another section." But, by that time all of the good seats were taken and we didn't want to move, so we conveyed our point of view, and they let us stay. As the matches became more intense (and we were standing on the lowest row in the section, against a chain link fence) the gamblers were leaning over us or climbing up the fence to take bets from the section in front. We saw alot of money passed around that night and the crowd's enthusiasm for the boxers was quite contagious. We were continuously rooting for whoever we liked by yelling out the color of his boxing shorts at the top of our lungs. I put up a video of the adults boxing here.

The following morning, we had to switch hotels and take care of miscellaneous chores (sell some books, send a box home, schedule a cooking class). Then we inquired about boat tours to the "khlong" (the canal-based, teak house-packed, older section of town) which we deemed too expensive and decided we could have our own walking tour for a fraction of the price. We ended up on a fruitless but fun wander through a new part of the city, although not the area we were aiming to find. We headed back as the sun was setting and decided to check out Khao San Road. We thought our hotel's neighborhood was packed with travelers until we arrived at Khao San.

It was a Fear and Loathing-esque tourist zoo. Under the neon lights and hanging advertisements, to a mixed soundtrack of hip-hop, rock, and thai pop, an amazingly diverse group of people were all wandering the same street. The night market had brought out everyone, local vendors with hip t-shirts and stalls, bedecked mountain people loudly slinging handmade goods, upwardly mobile European families with babies in prams, ragged opium-infused nomads of the world, and people like Matt and I who just came to sip a beer and watch the show.

The following day we were up early for our Thai cooking class. Our teacher, May Kaidee, first took us to the market to explain the significance and characteristics of important vegetables, herbs and spices before bring us back to her restaurant. We donned aprons and inspected our bowls of ingredients, prepared for us like a TV cooking show. Matt and I and another pair of students diligently prepared the dishes according to the recipes. Then we would taste both results and May would throw in some seasonings, explaining the reason for each. We would all taste them again and discuss the final result. It was a great was to spend a morning and to learn how to use Thai staple ingredients and spices. And that was just a morning class!


In the afternoon, we took the water taxi then the sky train to arrive a block from Jim Thompson's house. He was born in Greenville, DE to a well-known family and worked for the military before moving to Thailand and making his name internationally. He admired the quality of handwoven silks produced in the country and by designing unique prints and using attractive colors, Mr. Thompson (wiki) made the silks universally admired and accessible. The cottage industry had been slowly fading out until he revitalized it, and it's popularity continues today. Mr. Thompson had constructed a gorgeous home in a blend of Thai and Western styles, appointed with his magnificent collection of Southeast Asian art, which became a museum after he disappeared while walking in rural Malaysia in 1967. Matt and I spent several hours admiring the art collection, the gorgeous home and the lush landscaping while mulling over Jim's connection to Greenville and his family's connection with our Mother's father.


After extracting ourselves from the strangely familiar museum grounds, Matt and I headed to Nguan Lee, a streetside cookshop recommended by the New York Times. The stewed duck was so delicious that I ordered a second helping all for myself. After dinner, and feeling rotund and spoiled, Matt and I headed to one of the mandatory tourist attractions of Bangkok, the red light district. Although it has become a standard stop on the tourist path, it didn't seem like it could have been watered down. It was absurd. I'm not going to go in detail about this except to say that the doors to all of the clubs were wide open, showing off scandalously-dressed women, and I didn't think much of the parents (and there were more than a few) who brought their kids with them to wander around. Who brings a ten-year-old boy to a place like that?! Really! This is ridiculous parenting. Anyway, after our fascination devolved to boredom and disgust, we headed home to pack for Chiang Mai.

Another short flight (I know, terrible carbon footprint, I'm sorry) before we reached Chiang Mai and found a place to stay. Then, we got straight to work searching for a trek to visit the local Hill Tribes that didn't involve 20 other tourists, gimmicky add-ons, gawking at tribes people like they're in a zoo, and well-trodden paths. And yeah, they get to see the "longneck" tribe with bronze the rings stacked on their neck, but we wanted to get to spend time with the people, not take a picture and leave (I state this so strongly because I'm jealous of their pictures and trying to justify my choice). Anyway, we booked a tour then checked out the Sunday market, full of mountain people (that's actually the politically correct name) with handmade jewelry and homespun cloth. Then we each got an hour long massage for four bucks before bed.

In the morning, we switched hotels before having a bit of an adventure getting out of town to a Tesco store. I'd been feeling guilty about not giving anything to begging kids, so I wanted to contribute somehow without giving them sweets (sugar rots teeth, especially in rural areas without dentists) or cash (money takes away the parents' ability to provide and encourages them to keep the kids out of school). So I went to the store and bought a bunch of school supplies to haul up to the mountains. Twenty bucks is enough to give 35 kids each a new composition book, two pencils, an eraser and a pen as well as a map of the world, a small globe, and coloring pencils for the classroom. After I got back, Matt and I checked out the night market which was fantastic because I got to ditch my old, paper-thin flip-flops for some cushiony, cheap, fake crocs. I never thought I'd be wearing them, but out of necessity I've realized they're fantasticly comfortable.

The following morning after breakfast, we hopped in the back of a truck to head to the hills for our trek. On the way, we stopped at Buatong waterfall which consisted of room temperature water cascading down a hill over chalky, white mineral deposits (video). It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the cool water felt invigorating splashing around our ankles as we climbed, barefoot, up the bubbly-looking white rock. We hopped back in the truck and rode for a little while before reaching a Lahu village where we had lunch before starting our walk.



We walked up dirt farming paths and through winding forested trails (used to retrieve bamboo for building homes, making cookware, and a multitude of everyday uses) for a few hours until we arrived at a Karen tribe village where we would spend the night. After an icy bucket bath in a bamboo-covered area outside, it was time to help with dinner (video), then we ate and hung out while neighbors dropped by to see what was going on. After the food petered out, so did the guests and we went up the hill to sit around a fire and drink tea under the full moon. It was a lovely evening, and I slept like a rock that night, bundled in blankets on a mat in the largest room of a bamboo house.


In the morning after breakfast, we bid a fond farewell to our hosts and hit the road again, walking first through an Akha village, then through a Palong village where we stopped at a school to drop off the supplies. The teacher had me stand in front of the class and talk for a minute which was confusing to me since the kids barely speak Thai (the tribes all have there own dialects) much less English. We stopped at a couple more villages that day before meeting our truck and driving back to town. It was an interesting excursion. An attempt at cultural understanding which left me all the more baffled and inquisitive. What century are we living in anyway?


The following day, we got up to take a massage course at Baan Nit. Thai massage is different from what we experience in the US because in addition to using pressure points, they also stretch out your muscles. I would liken it to someone doing yoga for you. It feels great and you leave feeling energetic and loose. Matt and I took a six hour course to learn the basics of the art. I took copious notes in the hopes that I won't have forgotten it all before I get home. Then I wrote the majority of this blog update.

The next morning, We headed to Wat Phra Singh, one of the most important temples in the area. It's a great exzample of Lanna architecture and the main Buddha statue is much-venerated. To me, this means: it's pretty.

The I headed to a local market in hopes of finding some of the beautiful handicrafts that I had restrained myself from purchasing at the Sunday market. It was a failed search, and although I left with fat pockets, I'm never going to see a Hmong tribe bedspread ever again. Alas. We took a red taxi (the back of a truck) back to the hotel to grab our bags before heading to the airport.

If you like beautiful things, rainbow colors,sunsets, or fluffy clouds, please have a look at this video of our flight.

The pictures in this post are: The reclining Buddha, miscellaneous but gorgeous buildings and stupas at Wat Pho, the boxing ring with a pair of fighters, Matt and I at the beginning of the cooking class, Jim Thompson's house, Buatong waterfall, the Lahu village viewed from a hill, Matt and I with our kind hosts for the night (I look like I'm bald and sporting a toupee in this shot), an incongruous sight in the hills, a pair of monks outside Wat Phra Singh, and a stack of gleaming Buddhas.

Siem Reap Temples

Everyone said, "If you're in Southeast Asia, GO to Angkor Wat."

The temples outside of Siem Rep, Cambodia, were built between the 9th and 13th centuries by the ancient Khmer empire, and they fall in stark contrast to the state of the country today. The empire, at that time, stretched from Burma to Vietnam and the capital at Angkor boasted over one million residents when London had a scant fifty thousand. The temples were built by the God-Kings and served as the religious and social nexus. Only the heads of faith and government were allowed to inhabit stone dwellings, so the multitude of wooden structures comprising most of the city, are long gone. In the 1800's, a French archaeologist visiting Cambodia learned of the massive temples, long buried by jungle, and brought them back into the world's view.

The Kingdom of Cambodia has had an extraordinarily tumultuous past, and the temples serve as a point of pride for all Khmers. As well they should because they are outstanding. On our first day, we visited Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, and Bayon among others. The heat was overwhelming and the temple steps were tall and steep. Despite the scorching ball of fire beating down on us, we had an amazing time visiting the temples and admiring how the intricate artwork adorning them could remain intact after so many centuries. An interesting note about Ta Prohm, the tumbling structures and trees shooting up between the building blocks gives it an incredible ambiance. That's why it was chosen to be used in the Tombraider movie.

The second day, we awoke early to visit Angkor Wat for sunrise. The carved stone murals blanketing the massive walls told stories of historical and religious importance. Of course the favorite of Matt and I was King Rama's monkey army attacking invaders. I can't recall the names of the other temples we visited that day, but I fondly recall my siesta (Matt and I decided to take a break during the hottest hours) in a breezy restaurant hammock. Before we headed back to the hotel that day, we took a ride up on a giant helium balloon (raised and lowered every 15 minutes) to view the temples from above. It wasn't worth the money, but the pictures pretty decent.

On the third day, I had developed a rather severe upset stomach which shortened the day substantially. First, we saw Banteay Srei before heading to the Cambodia Landmine Museum which was amazing. Aki Ra was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge, who slaughtered his family and forced him to lay thousands of landmines. After Pol Pot lost power, Aki Ra became his own man and the morals deep within him found strength and bubbled to the surface. He founded the landmine museum to educate people and provide funds to care for his adopted family of children who were orphaned or maimed by mines. He still spends all of his free time out in the countryside locating and defusing hidden mines using only his toe and a shovel. For information about the museum or to donate, please visit the website. After the museum, we saw Banteay Samre then headed back to rest, buy souvenirs and pack for Thailand.

The pictures in this post are: the view of the Angkor Wat complex and moat from above, a shoebox-size carving at Ta Prohm, a tree oozing out between blocks at Ta Prohm with a surprisingly large termite in the trunk, faces and carvings at Bayon, Angkor Wat at sunrise, a detail of the monkey army mural (I couldn't get a good shot of one of the head-biting monkeys so I though foot- or knee-biting would work), another favorite carving of I don't know what, and domesticating a wild elephant at Banteay Samre.

Welcome to Cambodia

We arrived in Cambodia on January 9th and spent the afternoon exploring Phnom Penh. Our first stop was for a local lunch of fish in palm sugar and ginger beef which was delicious. We had a treat awaiting us, which was to see a good friend of mine who now lives in this part of the world (purposefully vague because she travels all over). So I had to head back towards the internet cafe to see if she had responded to my email. On the brief walk we were surprised by several things, but unfortunately I don't have pictures for all of them. We saw an elephant walking down the side of the road (apparently not normal even in Cambodia, but only Matt got the picture), a standard gas station,

a snack vendor selling fried crickets, bird eggs, grub worms, beetles and tarantulas, and a government office,

and we had only been walking for five minutes. Then, we arrived at the internet cafe and whose head popped up from behind a computer but Jenn Brown! Just the girl I wanted to see! An hour later, we had concocted cocktails, and an hour after that, we were at a lovely restaurant trying all sorts of local dishes. The amok was fantastic and I liked the tarantula legs, but not the body.

If anyone is reading this with children or if you are sensitive to gore, you should stop here.

I'm going to insert a brief synopsis of recent Cambodian history here, stolen from Wikipedia and edited by me:

Cambodia gained independence from France on November 9, 1953. It became a constitutional monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. As the Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality until ousted in 1970 by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, while on a trip abroad. From Beijing, Sihanouk realigned himself with the communist Khmer Rouge rebels who had been slowly gaining territory in the remote mountain regions and urged his followers to help in overthrowing the pro-United States government of Lon Nol, hastening the onset of civil war.

The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975, changing the official name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea, led by Pol Pot. They immediately evacuated the cities and sent the entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They attempted to rebuild the country's agriculture on the model of the 11th century. They also discarded Western medicine, with the result that while hundreds of thousands died from starvation and disease there were almost no drugs in the country. Estimates vary, but roughly one million people were viciously executed during the reign of Pol Pot. An emphasis was put on murdering anyone in a position of power, or anyone educated. The Khmer Rouge discovered this by research or by feeling the hands of victim, if they were rough, they were a worker and should be sent to labor in the country, if they were smooth, they were educated and should be killed.

In November 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to stop Khmer Rouge incursions across the border and the genocide of Vietnamese in Cambodia. Violent occupation and warfare between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge holdouts continued throughout the 1980s. Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989, culminating two years later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The United Nations was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire, and deal with refugees and disarmament.

The following day was going to be a long and sad one. We took a tuk tuk (small 1-axle carriage pulled behind a motorcycle) to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and then to Tuol Sleng Museum. I'm going to keep the description of these sites to a bare minimum.

Tuol Sleng had been a school before it was converted to become Security Prison 21 by Pol Pot's cadres in 1975 (this happened so recently, it's atrocious). It was used to torture prisoners for information and as a holding area before prisoners were transported to Choeung Ek.

Choeung Ek was used for execution and burial and there's a shrine near the entrance which holds hundreds of skulls. A large portion of the remains have still not been disinterred and it's obvious that not all of the pebbles in the dust under your feet are made from rock.

After the day's learning was over, Matt and I went wandering around by the Mekong River before eating and hitting the hay. The following morning we were up early for a boat ride to Siem Reap. The trip was gorgeous, but it was obvious that people were living in poverty. You can see video of the boat ride here.

When we arrived outside of Siem Reap, we saw more of the same. Upon reaching Siem Reap, we found a hotel and then dinner before interviewing a tuk tuk driver who would take us to see the temple ruins the following day.

I think the pictures in this post are self-explanatory.

Nha Trang and Hoi An

Nha Trang is on the coast in south central Vietnam. It's very relaxed and there's not much there besides beach. We went soley for fun and relaxation. After on a pretty strict regimen of sight-seeing, eating local food, and soaking up culture and we needed a few days to soak up some sun instead.

We arrived from our sleeper train late in the morning and went to meet up with Victoria at our hotel before checking out the town. It was lovely to stretch our legs as we walked all up and down the beach stretching our legs and assessing the area. Towards the end of our walk, we came to a river outlet jam-packed with house boats and men gracefully casting their fishing nets while people ferried goods from the shore to the boats with small, bowl-shaped, wicker basket boats.

When it became dark, we headed home to bathe before going out. After a short stop to grab some fantastic street sandwiches, we stopped in to the Sailors' Club. We had heard wonderful things about the place from fellow travellers and were not disappointed. The surroundings were plush, the drinks were cheap, and the whole place was on the beach.

The following day we all slept in late before eating and laying on the beach all afternoon. It wasn't hot out or sunny and the surf was ROUGH, but the relaxed mood and the salt spray were just what we were all looking for. Eventually, we pulled ourselves off of the beach chairs to compare prices of boat tours and bus tickets with travel agencies. Then, we grabbed chicken drumsticks from an impromptu restaurant on the side of a road. After a minute to check email, and a quick shower, we had another fantastic street sandwich (baguettes are big here because of the French) and headed back to the Sailors' Club. Yes, we weren't trying anything new, but that's not why we came to Nha Trang.

Victoria had carried a purse that night, which she had mentioned earlier because she knew it wasn't the best idea, but after all, we were going out for a nice drink. We walked back from the Sailors' Club around 10pm, but no one was out on our hotel's side street since most people in Vietnam go to bed early. When we were only meters away from the gate to the hotel, some unfortunate events transpired, and it all happened very fast. A motorbike came out of the dark with two men on it and veered toward Victoria to grab her bag. Before we knew it, Victoria and the man from the back of the bike were on the ground. I screamed (apparently very bad things) at the top of my lungs and Matt, who had been carrying two 1.5L bottles of water, nailed the bad man in the head with them. Victoria never let go of her bag, and in seconds the man on the bike sped off with his empty-handed cohort sprinting after. The whole thing happened in less than 5 seconds and although Victoria was shaken up and fairly scraped, she was okay and she had her bag.

That night, we all had a pretty restless sleep.

The following day, we were trying to make jokes about our triumph and the incident was on everyone's minds. We had scheduled a boat trip, so we had a quick breakfast and headed to the dock. We stopped by four islands on the trip and the first was just to swim, so all three of us donned our suits and leapt off the top of the boat. It was a bit chilly, so we didn't last long. On our way to the second island, we stopped by one of the floating villages to pick up a few fish. After we moored at the island, the staff folded down the seats into a giant table and laid out a massive lunch for us all to share. When our bellies were full, the staff got up on the table with some plastic drums and the tour guide turned into a singer, the cook into a drummer, and the captain into a great guitarist. It was fantastic and you can see the video of it here.

Following the performance, the guide stripped to his shorts and leapt in the water with a buoy and a bottle, saying that shots were free for anybody swimming. Seconds later we were all in the South China Sea and the sun had finally come out. After a little Vietnamese rice vodka and a half dozen flying leaps off the top of the boat, we were on our way to Tam, which was island number three. While I sunbathed, Matt and Victoria went parasailing for $10. Myself, I couldn't justify the expense. The next stop was an island with an aquarium that I LOVED. I can part with $1.50 to see sharks, bright little tropical fish, eels, six-foot-long snappers, and to touch sea turtles.

It was a great way to spend a day and it cost lest than ten bucks. Amazing. Following our trip, we showered, ate, and hopped aboard a sleeper bus destined for Hoi An. I've never been on a sleeper bus before, but it's not a bad option when there's no train. It was about the size of a greyhound and fit about 32 people almost completely reclined. Three "beds" wide, two deep, and five (head-to-toe) long, with the rear serving as one big cave-bed for 5 people. We reached our destination early the next morning and grabbed a room and a nap before checking out the town.

Hoi An was an international trading port as early as the 1600's but lost prominence when silt buildup from the river eventually made the port difficult to access. This environmental inevitability saved the beautiful old town from over development. Many of the old homes and temples are still standing and Chinese, European, and Japanese influences are clearly visible. The town has become a tourist destination and is now known for its skilled tailors as well as its history. Matt and I both had a few garments made and I won't trouble you with all the appointments and fittings, but it was definitely worth it.

Our first morning, we worked out logistics and tailor business. For lunch, we had a chance to sample the local specialties. The three of us had cao lau (noodles with sprouts, greens, rice crackers and pork in broth), fried wonton (sauteed vegetables on a fried, flat, square of dough) and white rose (a small steamed dumpling of shrimp). Fried wonton is my favorite, and the only comparison I can think of is nachos! Delicious Asian nachos! Yum! After lunch we wandered around the old town, soaking up the atmosphere and visiting the historic buildings and the museum.

The second day, we took a bus to My Son; ruins from the 7th Century built by the Cham people. It was a lovely experience (although not the most sustainable) to be able to touch the sculptures and enter the ancient buildings. It is a UNESCO heritage site, but since it wasn't well-marked, we basically had the opportunity to explore it for ourselves. Interestingly, most of the buildings were made from brick and though some of them have crumbled, several are still standing strong with little hint of decay.

The last day, we bid farewell to Victoria in the morning, repeatedly visited the tailor, ate and went to the local market for a little gift shopping. Then we briefly used the internet before picking up our clothes (finally!) at the tailor, then packing for Cambodia.

Sorry this post isn't as well written as others. Less frequent internet access and a tummy ache have alot to do with that.

The pictures in this post are: the beach at Nha Trang, beautiful blue (house) boats, friendly fishermen, Victoria and Matt and I at the Sailors' Club, local beverages in the South China Sea, a lantern shop in Hoi An, the ruins at My Son, a fascinating sculpture from varying centuries, my dress (i tried to get it in a red/orange, but they didn't have enough fabric that color )

Hanoi and Ha Long

We arrived at the Hanoi airport late in the afternoon on the 28th. When we reached the baggage claim, we found an unguarded, unsloped, unedged conveyor belt at knee level. I was presented with an opportunity I had been waiting a lifetime for. Here's the video link (same as at the end of the Hong Kong post).

Following a lovely trip around with the luggage (which was greeted with a strange mix of conspiring grins and disapproving scowls) we hopped a minibus into town. After we checked in at our hotel, we went on a little wander to check out the Old Quarter. It was late and we were peckish. We couldn't decide what to eat so we found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant filled with locals where a herd of boys led us upstairs and pointed at another pair of locals who were grilling up some assortment of meats and veggies on a skillet attached to the table. At first we were a bit perturbed by the boys cutting up the meat with scissors, but the meal turned out to be delicious and alot of fun, not to mention costing us less than three dollars.

The next morning we began a more thorough exploration of Hanoi. On our wander we had some tea on the sidewalk sitting around on 6 inch stools with the rest of the populous; seven cents a glass. Then we tried pieces of pineapple on a stick, covered in spice, and it was great too. I love street food. Unfortunately, I can't remember or write about every one of the little treats we tried (fried sweet potato pancakes, fried bananas, little baguette sandwiches, etc.) but they're a tasty way to learn about a culture.

That day we walked around Hoan Kiem Lake (in the center of the Old Quarter) whose name means "The Lake of the Restored Sword," as was called such due to the legend of Emperor Le Loi. The emperor had a sword which lead him to victory again the Chinese Ming Dynasty after they invaded the country. The legend says that a magical turtle had given him the sword, and one day, long after his military success, he was on a boat in the lake and a magical turtle came up out of the water, reclaimed the sword, and returned down into the lake.

The Tortoise Tower was built in the center of the lake and has become a symbol of the city. The Ngoc Son Temple was also built on the lake to honor a great military leader, but it also serves as a home for a preserved tortoise of the type which dwells in the lake.

Following the lake, we went to see the Hoa Lo Prison Museum which was quite distressing, but simultaneously fascinating. It was built by the French colonists in the middle of the 19th Century to hold rebellious Vietnamese and then was used during the Vietnam War (called the American War here) to hold captured American troops. The prisoners ironically nicknamed it the Hanoi Hilton and the irony lives on because besides a small section which now holds the museum, the rest of the prison was eventually bulldozed to construct a hotel. It was heart wrenching to see the miserable conditions in which the prisoners lived and the drastic escape plots that some of them brought to fruition (most of these involved crawling through wastewater outlet pipes). Our next stop was a more pleasant one at the Temple of Literature, built in 1070AD as a shrine to Confucius.

I have described temples many times over and this was like most except that in place of the Buddha and other religious icons were teachers and scholars. There was also a library and dormitory and, like may places of importance, a drum and bell. By the time we left the Temple, dusk was enshrouding the city, and we went for a stroll to locate some food. We had picked a restaurant out of our guidebook, but on the way there, we passed through a lovely snack street and decided to pick a place there. We scouted out a massive buffet, and after they (non-verbally) walked us through the process of selecting food and having it heated up, we ordered quite a bit and it was brought over to us on our stools. We didn't know what we were eating, but most of it was delicious! I try not to think about the high possibility of some of the meat being dog. Alas. Then, with our stomachs full, we meandered over to St. Joseph Cathedral. We arrived just in the nick of time, to see it beautifully lit up after a service.

The following day, during our free hotel breakfast, we met a lovely friend named Victoria. After chatting briefly, the three of us went to investigate costs of tours to Ha Long Bay during which we decided to take the trip together. After that, Matt and I found a taxi driver to carry us to the Museum of Ethnology for 60,000 VND (less than 4USD). We traveled for a few minutes before he pulled over and pointed to a museum which seemed to us too close to the town center and with a surprising amount of military debris in the courtyard. Matt stayed in the cab trying to communicate with the driver as I went into the museum in a failed attempt to find an English speaker. Despite the lack of actual proof that we were in the wrong spot, and not being able to find the exact name of the place we wanted to go on the driver's map, we managed to convey that we knew he was trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Several minutes later, we arrived at the Museum of Ethnology with a feeling of triumph.

The museum was lovely and comprehensively described the lifestyle of many minority groups of Vietnam. It was fascinating to see how they had all adapted to their surroundings and the differences between customs of each group. We saw how certain tribes make clothing out of pummeled tree bark and the ritual ceremonies of others. Outdoors there were full-scale replicas of village homes to show the differences in architecture among the various groups. We stayed at the museum for several hours before heading back to the Old Quarter. After a little rest, we headed out into town in search of a cheap massage (very plentiful in this part of the world) but first stumbled upon a lovely street market and browsed before locating our desired end. The massages were wonderfully inexpensive but involved some interesting techniques such as punching (and the tiny masseuse was much stronger than she looked), knuckle cracking, toe pulling, hair combing and, most surprisingly, the masseuse leaping up on the table and straddling me to massage my back. Feeling slightly beaten and confused, Matt and I ambled back to the hotel for bed.

The following day, Matt, Victoria and I hopped on our tour bus to Ha Long City and then scrambled onto the boat. After ages of jostling the other boats (since we were basically triple parked in and surrounded by a TON of other identical ships) we finally got out to the open water. It was a bit hazy, but the bay was still beautiful with karst islands sporadically jutting up from the green water. And in certain protected coves, leeward of the larger islands, were villages composed of floating homes, floating schools, and floating fish farms. I saw groups of kids playing, each in their own rowboat, and some of the kids were (my guess:) as young as four! And meanwhile, the family guard dogs ran deftly around the narrow, wooden, bobbing edges of the fish pens barking. It was incredible to see a life totally based on water (ironically, they have to import the drinking water).

Our first stop was the "Surprising Cave," where we saw an expansive dry cavern with any number of stalactite and stalagmite formations, which our guide Ba pointed out looked like (someone has spent WAY too much time in there) a dragon, a woman with long hair, noodles, phallic symbol, frogs, etc. After the cave, we headed back to the boat to change into swimsuits. We hopped onto kayaks and had a blast exploring all the little caves, coves, through tunnels, and islands nearby. I must say that there's little upper-body exercise where you're travelling and it felt fantastic to get out on the water and work against the breeze for a while. For a 360 degree view of the bay, please check the video link here.

When we got back to the boat, we showered and had a very welcome dinner. Following dinner, we all chatted about everyone's favorite local snacks. I don't know how it came to be the topic of discussion, but it was quite fun to to learn how delicious stroopwafels (Dutch) are with tea and how foreigners don't know how to properly eat marmite (Australian). After a couple of hours of chatting, it was still only eight o'clock and we were all exhausted. After a few card games, and still fading, we decided to start celebrating all the New Years as they rolled around. First it was Central Australia, then Japan, and finally China before we got to celebrate ours in Vietnam. It was a fitting ceremony for such an international crowd.

The following day was gorgeous and clear but still too chilly to swim. As we sat out in the breeze, we kept hip-hip-hooraying for every country on the hour. We had a lovely morning cruising around through Bai Tu Long Bay before we returned to Ha Long Bay for lunch and hopped the bus back to Hanoi. That entire evening was a minor disaster. Even at dinner, the waitress delivered my food to someone else and when I pointed it out, she picked up the partially eaten food and tried to give it to me. Then when we returned to our old hotel, they said someone had called them and said we weren't coming back that night (fibbers!). It took Matt, Victoria, and me ages to find a half decent place with a couple of rooms.

The following morning, Matt bought us some train tickets. We only had time for a short wander through a local market that sold pershible goods (everything from fish to flowers) before we headed to the station and hopped on the train.

The pictures in this post are: busy motorbike traffic, the magic turtle, the drum at the Temple of Literature, buffet dinner, ethnic minority house at the Ethnology Museum, the Surprising Cave (please note the size of the steps in the picture), a floating village and other sleeper boats viewed from the entrance of the cave, and two shots of rocky outcrops in Ha Long Bay.