Ready for the transition.
We're headed to Hue today. After 4 days of beach - even though heavenly, we were ready for the change in scenery and climate. There is a certain camp like feel to staying at a beach side bungalow with open air windows, a bug net canopied bed, and a combination shower toilet room (the bathroom was like a large shower, but with a toilet in it). Sand finds its way into everything, and our skin was tired of the sweaty radiant sun mixed with the slippery sun screen. We were ecstatic when we arrived but we're ready to say goodbye. We ate quite a bit of food right at the resort, and it was all very good. They just tacked it onto our hotel bill of which we'd settle up when we left. It made ordering that beer or that appetizer all the more quick and easy and thoughtless. A little worried of what our 4 night's stay here might be, we stopped at an ATM booth in town. (On our hot walk yesterday we noticed an ATM booth, a stand alone structure about 3 times the size and similar in construction to a phone booth, room enough for the both of us, but no one else. We hopped in thinking here goes as the structure was out in the middle of the sun and surely could double as a sauna. Not this delightful little booth. Equipped with a split air style wall-mount A/C this little booth was a sanctuary for sweaty travelers. We pondered over every amount possible to withdraw, even entered in our own amount of which was too high of a number for the machine to withdraw. We were in our own little cooled off world until a local knocked on the door and pointed to the machine. Apparently he wanted money too. We scurried out, refreshed for a bit.)
Anyways, we took 4,000,000 out and had a total of 4,900,000. Unsure of our damage here at the resort we readied our US dollars as well, surely we'd have enough Jade told me. The bill came - $168 USD. Oh, we're fine! Wow that was cheap, like really cheap!
A quick taxi to the airport and a quick jump back to Ho Chi Minh City (via our tiny propped plane) we had a few hours to kill before we flew to Hue. It went quickly and we hopped on an Airbus to Hue. I will mention that their domestic flights come standard with a complimentary bottle of water, but first and foremost, a refreshing tissue (as stated on the individually wrapped wet-wipe). When I first received one on our way to Phu Quoc, I took it and then tried to take cues from the other passengers - do I use it now, do I wipe my hands, do I wipe my face and forearms basically bathe with the thing? There were others looking around too taking cues, so I decided hands and face were acceptable and went to work. Jade, organizer, planner, strategist, saved hers. She said with a smile 'you never know when we'll really need these'. I felt like I did when I was a kid, bummed that I didn't save any of my candy for later like the wiser-older kids when they abstained from finishing off every little bit.
We arrived in Hue without any trouble - a scene similar to Ho Chi Minh City, but smaller, less busy, and most notably 20 degrees cooler. Although still humid, I can deal with the 70's. We were chaffered up the steps, one man welcoming us, another taking our bags, yet another to open the door for us at the top of the steps, and a woman to greet us. The young woman had very good English even cracking a few tongue in cheek jokes. As we walked inside, they escorted us straight to the cute little eating area for a welcome drink (orange pineapple juice), some fruit, a cookie and another baby powder/coconut scented refreshing tissue. The young woman gave us a very detailed run down of everything from laundry service to little maps of the area to where to go for dinner. She walked us up to our room - one of 3 rooms on the 6th floor a small but very modern room overlooking the street scape. She went over every detail and left. Very impressed with the room we had the feeling of, is it bad that we just want to spend the night in our room and not go out in the city'. After settling in we decided to go out for dinner, and then back to our room where I could blog away at the computer in our room and watch a little TV, and Jade could rest - she had a bit of a headache.
I'm sitting here next to Jade waiting for her to wake up so we can go and explore the citadel.
Also, just a side note, Vietnam has blocked Facebook, so we don't have access to the site at all. Kind of weird huh.
And nescafe smells much worse than it tastes...
Monday, February 28, 2011
Day Seven
I'll start off with a few more random facts that we've learned/noticed.
1. Nose picking is widely accepted and I've even witnessed someone on the street performing an advaced double-nose-pick using both the index and the middle finger in perfect tandum. I feel like I could openly pick and fit right in - Jaydee wrote this when I stepped away from the computer.
2. Vietnam was wise enough to remove the primitive coin money form. Only paper - how refreshing! Oh to be rid of the eight pounds of jangle in my pocket bottoms totaling a dollar seventeen - what a delight.
Our day started at the massage huts (where Jade received a facial yesterday). Jade briskly signed us up for a Thai massage after her facial - as she was quite impressed after her services. Welcomed graciously by the well manicured young man, we were escorted thru the garden and into a private hut where Jade and I removed our close except underwear (we were told) behind an assisted hand-held towel via the massager's helpers. We laid face-down on low strung and wide massage tables, cut outs for our faces and plenty of room for our body and our masseuse's. The entrance was draped off making our little hut rather dark and cool with the smell of humidity still lingering. Reminded me a lot of my childhood viewings of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - of course in the most pleasant way possible. This being my first 'real massage', I looked over at Jade a time or two to make sure we were receiving the intended service. Jade remained face down, seemingly enjoying, so I assumed we were good. Smashing the backsides of our feet and moving row by row up our legs pressing deeply into our meaty thighs - I was torn whether this was good for my muscles or going to leave bruises (or potentially both). Moving into some stretching of our legs, I was strangely reminded of an old football stretch our football coaches called the 'Sir Walter Raleighs'. Our legs were compressed and pulled and wiggled and waved around. At one point I was convinced the masseuse would only stop after my leg had been pulled completely off. Up our backs - down each arm - poking deeply into our bodies working up and down as if they were working a pimple from our foot up our body and out our heads. The masseuse was standing next to me, then on the table next to me, then straddling over me, then I think standing on me...? Next the masseuse worked on my one shoulder, tapping, waiting, tapping some more... I thought, this is an odd section of the massage. I looked up and the masseuse was smiling and signaling for me to lie on my back. A little embarrassed I complied quickly. More of the same for the front of my body and all of the sudden Jade and I, in unison, were gently rocked forward into a cross-legged sitting position. We both opened our eye for the first time in 60 or so minutes feeling ready to take on the world... Or.. ready to run a marathon... Or... ready to walk to the next pho street cart we see. Walking to the central hut to pay, my body felt weird. Almost invisible. Like my head was taking a ride on a vehicle other than my body. I did feel good afterward - and Jade confirmed with me that that was indeed a good massage. We tipped our masseuses with a $2.00 bill (US dollar) as we had heard the Vietnamese like them. This was our first test to see if they did, and they did! Very gratefully they accepted and the well manicured guy at the register asked if we had any more that we could exchange for VN Dong. He wanted one too. Since we only had one left - we said no and went on our way.
We trekked the long way around town to get to the local town market. It took longer than expected but we got a great workout. In the heat of the day we stopped numerous times reapplying sun screen. During a long unshaded straightaway, Jade ducked us into a little courtyard toting street food and cold beverages. We shared some of the best pho we've had on the trip to date, and a cold Saigon Green hit the spot entirely.
We made it to the town's market and have photos to prove it. Yet another lively - bustling - colorful commerce center - freshly stocked flopping fish, squawking chickens, quiet vegetables, flip-flops, t-shirts, chopsticks you name it. Walmart couldn't beat the selection that's for sure. Being the big spenders that we are, we splurged on a 50 cent set of 16 wooden chopsticks.
Our bodies were still working desperately to keep us cool by sweating and sweating some more, and when the intermittent breeze whispered by it worked. Ready to head back for the night we hopped in a taxi, and let me tell you how happy we were to feel the air conditioning of that taxi! Easily one of the most pleasant taxi rides we've had.
The night was topped off drinking an ice cold (well close to it) Saigon Green and watching the sun drop below the perfectly flat line of the sea.
Day Seven - still in tact - still having a great time.
1. Nose picking is widely accepted and I've even witnessed someone on the street performing an advaced double-nose-pick using both the index and the middle finger in perfect tandum. I feel like I could openly pick and fit right in - Jaydee wrote this when I stepped away from the computer.
2. Vietnam was wise enough to remove the primitive coin money form. Only paper - how refreshing! Oh to be rid of the eight pounds of jangle in my pocket bottoms totaling a dollar seventeen - what a delight.
Our day started at the massage huts (where Jade received a facial yesterday). Jade briskly signed us up for a Thai massage after her facial - as she was quite impressed after her services. Welcomed graciously by the well manicured young man, we were escorted thru the garden and into a private hut where Jade and I removed our close except underwear (we were told) behind an assisted hand-held towel via the massager's helpers. We laid face-down on low strung and wide massage tables, cut outs for our faces and plenty of room for our body and our masseuse's. The entrance was draped off making our little hut rather dark and cool with the smell of humidity still lingering. Reminded me a lot of my childhood viewings of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - of course in the most pleasant way possible. This being my first 'real massage', I looked over at Jade a time or two to make sure we were receiving the intended service. Jade remained face down, seemingly enjoying, so I assumed we were good. Smashing the backsides of our feet and moving row by row up our legs pressing deeply into our meaty thighs - I was torn whether this was good for my muscles or going to leave bruises (or potentially both). Moving into some stretching of our legs, I was strangely reminded of an old football stretch our football coaches called the 'Sir Walter Raleighs'. Our legs were compressed and pulled and wiggled and waved around. At one point I was convinced the masseuse would only stop after my leg had been pulled completely off. Up our backs - down each arm - poking deeply into our bodies working up and down as if they were working a pimple from our foot up our body and out our heads. The masseuse was standing next to me, then on the table next to me, then straddling over me, then I think standing on me...? Next the masseuse worked on my one shoulder, tapping, waiting, tapping some more... I thought, this is an odd section of the massage. I looked up and the masseuse was smiling and signaling for me to lie on my back. A little embarrassed I complied quickly. More of the same for the front of my body and all of the sudden Jade and I, in unison, were gently rocked forward into a cross-legged sitting position. We both opened our eye for the first time in 60 or so minutes feeling ready to take on the world... Or.. ready to run a marathon... Or... ready to walk to the next pho street cart we see. Walking to the central hut to pay, my body felt weird. Almost invisible. Like my head was taking a ride on a vehicle other than my body. I did feel good afterward - and Jade confirmed with me that that was indeed a good massage. We tipped our masseuses with a $2.00 bill (US dollar) as we had heard the Vietnamese like them. This was our first test to see if they did, and they did! Very gratefully they accepted and the well manicured guy at the register asked if we had any more that we could exchange for VN Dong. He wanted one too. Since we only had one left - we said no and went on our way.
We trekked the long way around town to get to the local town market. It took longer than expected but we got a great workout. In the heat of the day we stopped numerous times reapplying sun screen. During a long unshaded straightaway, Jade ducked us into a little courtyard toting street food and cold beverages. We shared some of the best pho we've had on the trip to date, and a cold Saigon Green hit the spot entirely.
We made it to the town's market and have photos to prove it. Yet another lively - bustling - colorful commerce center - freshly stocked flopping fish, squawking chickens, quiet vegetables, flip-flops, t-shirts, chopsticks you name it. Walmart couldn't beat the selection that's for sure. Being the big spenders that we are, we splurged on a 50 cent set of 16 wooden chopsticks.
Our bodies were still working desperately to keep us cool by sweating and sweating some more, and when the intermittent breeze whispered by it worked. Ready to head back for the night we hopped in a taxi, and let me tell you how happy we were to feel the air conditioning of that taxi! Easily one of the most pleasant taxi rides we've had.
The night was topped off drinking an ice cold (well close to it) Saigon Green and watching the sun drop below the perfectly flat line of the sea.
Day Seven - still in tact - still having a great time.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Day Six
Today has been a day of exploring. It's only partly sunny - which is a treat considering our hot little sun burns. Not to worry - we're thuroughly lathered in Neutrogena's best today.
Why mess with a good thing was our thought this morning as we headed to the center for another great breakfast. Omlets - ice milk coffees - fresh baguettes and we're off to explore the pearl farm about 3 minutes taxi ride south. As I went to pay the taxi driver he said that he'd stay and wait for us and he'd turn the meter off while he waited. Ok - sounds good. We hopped out and he followed our lead by about 40 feet around the pearl farm. Right as we walked up to the small compound of plaster buildings off of the sea, we were greated by a 20 something vietnamese woman at a table of freshly caught oysters. She waved us over and began a little speach and demo of how exactly pearls are made and farmed. Her small table was surrounded by a dozen or so other vietnamese women and children, but she spoke directly to us in very good english, almost completely ignoring the others. She openned one of the oysters up and pulled out a pearl that was very shiny and very round and with a little excitement in her voice - a perfect pearl she called it, of which we learned only happens 10% of the time. Our demonstration came to an end and we were pointed into a large open building with a 60 foot long oval display case - workers inside the oval, shoppers racing around it. Thousands of pearl necklaces, bracelets, rings, penants, earings, you name it were the center of attention for the women and children - while the men walked along the outer-most of the circle paying little attention to the potential investment. We walked down about 15 feet's length of the display case before we realized that the woman that gave us the demo was now to be our personal helper. Jade looked closely at a necklace, the young woman smiled and took it out with compliments. We continued down the line and so did she. It didn't take long before she was, without prompt - putting huge strands of black pearls on Jade. Jade of course looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and I was quick to ask 'how much' with a smile. The young helper spouted out a number into the two digit millions, we looked puzelled as we hadn't delt with totals that high. She smiled and gave us the US dollar translation of $6000.00. Could have been a steal, for someone who frequents shops at Saks Fifth Avenue - of which we don't. Jade handed it back about as quickly as the woman put it on. The young woman figured out at that point that we wouldn't be her dream commition. Jade widdled her selections down to a necklace and a ring, and then to just a ring - we have plenty of shopping to do yet in Hoi An she said to me with a smile. I was agreable to the terms and we made our purchase and headed out. There wasn't really much else to see on the grounds - so we reconveined with our driver and headed to Duong Dong (the spot of the night market from last night).
Jade and I stopped at the cute little ice cream shop and cafe. This is the same place we stopped last night to have a scoop of ice cream and to use their computer to post our day's adventure (cleverly titled Day Four and Day Five). I typed and sipped an ice coffee - Jade read and sipped, and when I finished, Jade proofed for accuracy. Although a bit gunky, it was refreshing for my eyes to focus on a nice clean web page with sharp little text. Phuong Bia Ngoc Phu Cong Cau Cuar everywhere in big block letters gets old - although I'm sure I'll look back at photos of the signage fondly.
The local kids are very cute and outwardly friendly, shouting across the street in their little voices HELLO! Their little sibbling mimic with a slightly smaller Hello! Jade and I smile and shout HELLO! back to them and they giggle, and repeat Hello! One of the older boys - maybe 6 years old shouted WHAT YOUR NAME?! I turned and told him Adam, and asked him what his was. He mumbled something in a quieter fashion looking all of the sudden a little bashful. They all giggled some more.
Jade has come up with a new career path for me. She says that I should write travel memoires so we'll need to travel a lot, and she'll write relationship madlibs (like the do you know your spouse one from my parents). She says that I'm a good writer and that she's a good question maker. (She said she'd put great questions in her do you know your husband book like 'does he like to turn the floor fan on oscilate or stationary. I might have a hard time breaking the bad news to her that she may not be cut out for authoring relationship madlibs.)
We stopped for lunch at a pizza spot with good reviews - not to mention their self proclaiming best pizza in town sign out front. Turns out not to be an effecting marketing campain as the signs all down the street read 'Best burger in town, best cold beer in town, best tours in town, best massages in town, best laundry in town...' But we gave 'em a try. The pizza crust was delicious and perfectly done - about the size and style of a Punch Pizza crust. The red sauce might have been a mixture of ketchup and hot sauce, the cheese white Velveeta, and the authentic hand made sausage was awfully close to slices of bologne. It actually wasn't terrible, perhaps a welcomed break from seafood soups. Reminded me of what a college dorm student might be compitent of whipping up in his dorm room with an illegitimate hot plate.
We walked down the road a ways and hit a recommended spa.
-Earlier in the morning we bumped into the woman who owns the resort next to us called Paris Beach Club. The owners are marketing professors from Vietnam but live in France. They are back checking in on their resort. She was very welcoming and asked us to come in and have a look around. She asked us if we spoke French, I decided not to dazzel her with my romantic tongue with butchered declarations of what my name is, and that I like drum. The woman's english was very good but with a few gaps that weren't a big deal. Jade enquired about a spa to get a facial - and the woman said 'oh yes - My spa, you go to my spa'. Jade responded with 'oh wow, you have a spa! Where is your spa? Is it here? Or in town?' The woman said with confusion 'No... My spa. You go to my spa.' They repeat this line of who's on first a few more times before Jade gave up and smiled and nodded in agreement.
So back to walking down the road after pizza, we walked up to Mai Spa, pronouced My Spa... We both chuckled.
Jade walked in for an extensive facial with wraps and honey and other magical potions of which I didn't pay attention to. She also got a free 20 minute massage and manicure with the price of the facial. The well manicured and pedicured gentilman working asked me if I would be getting anything done today. I politely declined and he pointed me to their computer and free interenet, now we're talking I thought!
So here I am finishing up my report for the day and waiting for Jade to finish her services. Looks like the sun is peaking out - so I'm guessing we'll head back and read under an umbrella on the beach and have a low key night tonight.
Why mess with a good thing was our thought this morning as we headed to the center for another great breakfast. Omlets - ice milk coffees - fresh baguettes and we're off to explore the pearl farm about 3 minutes taxi ride south. As I went to pay the taxi driver he said that he'd stay and wait for us and he'd turn the meter off while he waited. Ok - sounds good. We hopped out and he followed our lead by about 40 feet around the pearl farm. Right as we walked up to the small compound of plaster buildings off of the sea, we were greated by a 20 something vietnamese woman at a table of freshly caught oysters. She waved us over and began a little speach and demo of how exactly pearls are made and farmed. Her small table was surrounded by a dozen or so other vietnamese women and children, but she spoke directly to us in very good english, almost completely ignoring the others. She openned one of the oysters up and pulled out a pearl that was very shiny and very round and with a little excitement in her voice - a perfect pearl she called it, of which we learned only happens 10% of the time. Our demonstration came to an end and we were pointed into a large open building with a 60 foot long oval display case - workers inside the oval, shoppers racing around it. Thousands of pearl necklaces, bracelets, rings, penants, earings, you name it were the center of attention for the women and children - while the men walked along the outer-most of the circle paying little attention to the potential investment. We walked down about 15 feet's length of the display case before we realized that the woman that gave us the demo was now to be our personal helper. Jade looked closely at a necklace, the young woman smiled and took it out with compliments. We continued down the line and so did she. It didn't take long before she was, without prompt - putting huge strands of black pearls on Jade. Jade of course looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and I was quick to ask 'how much' with a smile. The young helper spouted out a number into the two digit millions, we looked puzelled as we hadn't delt with totals that high. She smiled and gave us the US dollar translation of $6000.00. Could have been a steal, for someone who frequents shops at Saks Fifth Avenue - of which we don't. Jade handed it back about as quickly as the woman put it on. The young woman figured out at that point that we wouldn't be her dream commition. Jade widdled her selections down to a necklace and a ring, and then to just a ring - we have plenty of shopping to do yet in Hoi An she said to me with a smile. I was agreable to the terms and we made our purchase and headed out. There wasn't really much else to see on the grounds - so we reconveined with our driver and headed to Duong Dong (the spot of the night market from last night).
Jade and I stopped at the cute little ice cream shop and cafe. This is the same place we stopped last night to have a scoop of ice cream and to use their computer to post our day's adventure (cleverly titled Day Four and Day Five). I typed and sipped an ice coffee - Jade read and sipped, and when I finished, Jade proofed for accuracy. Although a bit gunky, it was refreshing for my eyes to focus on a nice clean web page with sharp little text. Phuong Bia Ngoc Phu Cong Cau Cuar everywhere in big block letters gets old - although I'm sure I'll look back at photos of the signage fondly.
The local kids are very cute and outwardly friendly, shouting across the street in their little voices HELLO! Their little sibbling mimic with a slightly smaller Hello! Jade and I smile and shout HELLO! back to them and they giggle, and repeat Hello! One of the older boys - maybe 6 years old shouted WHAT YOUR NAME?! I turned and told him Adam, and asked him what his was. He mumbled something in a quieter fashion looking all of the sudden a little bashful. They all giggled some more.
Jade has come up with a new career path for me. She says that I should write travel memoires so we'll need to travel a lot, and she'll write relationship madlibs (like the do you know your spouse one from my parents). She says that I'm a good writer and that she's a good question maker. (She said she'd put great questions in her do you know your husband book like 'does he like to turn the floor fan on oscilate or stationary. I might have a hard time breaking the bad news to her that she may not be cut out for authoring relationship madlibs.)
We stopped for lunch at a pizza spot with good reviews - not to mention their self proclaiming best pizza in town sign out front. Turns out not to be an effecting marketing campain as the signs all down the street read 'Best burger in town, best cold beer in town, best tours in town, best massages in town, best laundry in town...' But we gave 'em a try. The pizza crust was delicious and perfectly done - about the size and style of a Punch Pizza crust. The red sauce might have been a mixture of ketchup and hot sauce, the cheese white Velveeta, and the authentic hand made sausage was awfully close to slices of bologne. It actually wasn't terrible, perhaps a welcomed break from seafood soups. Reminded me of what a college dorm student might be compitent of whipping up in his dorm room with an illegitimate hot plate.
We walked down the road a ways and hit a recommended spa.
-Earlier in the morning we bumped into the woman who owns the resort next to us called Paris Beach Club. The owners are marketing professors from Vietnam but live in France. They are back checking in on their resort. She was very welcoming and asked us to come in and have a look around. She asked us if we spoke French, I decided not to dazzel her with my romantic tongue with butchered declarations of what my name is, and that I like drum. The woman's english was very good but with a few gaps that weren't a big deal. Jade enquired about a spa to get a facial - and the woman said 'oh yes - My spa, you go to my spa'. Jade responded with 'oh wow, you have a spa! Where is your spa? Is it here? Or in town?' The woman said with confusion 'No... My spa. You go to my spa.' They repeat this line of who's on first a few more times before Jade gave up and smiled and nodded in agreement.
So back to walking down the road after pizza, we walked up to Mai Spa, pronouced My Spa... We both chuckled.
Jade walked in for an extensive facial with wraps and honey and other magical potions of which I didn't pay attention to. She also got a free 20 minute massage and manicure with the price of the facial. The well manicured and pedicured gentilman working asked me if I would be getting anything done today. I politely declined and he pointed me to their computer and free interenet, now we're talking I thought!
So here I am finishing up my report for the day and waiting for Jade to finish her services. Looks like the sun is peaking out - so I'm guessing we'll head back and read under an umbrella on the beach and have a low key night tonight.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Day Five
Ice milk coffee, ice milk coffee. We're saying that a lot here. They repeat after us with 'ie mew cohay' - close enough to validate our order.
Today was our day in the sun. We woke up and meandered our way to the breakfast table overlooking the rolling sea and almost cliche sounds that are sampled on those Sharper Image sleep machines. Pancakes (which were very similar to crepes or Jaydee mentioned roti) - a fresh baguette with cherry jam - a fresh fruit platter of a delightful tropical variety (with an unidentified white fruit with lots of seeds and a very watery, sweet and almost salty flavor - kind of weird tasting) - and of course 2 ie mew cohays. (The coffees had just a subtle hint of coconut flavor to it - very delicious!)
After a lovely little breakfast we trotted a good 15 feet over to our spot for the day, 2 loungers under a thatched umbrella with little built in table. We took a big bottle of water with, and unfortunately no big bottles of sun screen. 'Ah heck, it's only 8:30am - we should be fine for a while.' We sat reading - chatting - dozing off - relaxing to say the least. It wasn't long before our two cute little smiling Vietnamese women found us. Jade did the talking and ordered me a pedicure - pumice and sand scrub for my scratchy foot bottoms, and an impulse back hair removal. She took out a thread and strung it thru a few fingers on each and and one end of the loop held in her mouth. She proceeded to gently remove the hair from my back - all the while saying 'yo huban loo beautifoo' to Jade. Jade smiled and giggled and took photos. It stung a little but hey, a small price to pay to loo beautifoo. I laid there reading my book - wow did I feel like a snob from the west! After they finished, we worked on our 'do you know your spouse' booklets compliments my mom as a little honeymoon gift for the beach. It had questions like 'if you'd like to make her unhappy, you'd bring this home for dinner - and then fill in the blank. I nailed that question - Little Caesar's Pizza - boom, I'm good! You keep score to see who knew who the best, and Jade knew me a little better than I knew her... I probably owe it to the recently learned 'most annoying trait of mine'. Zoning out when she's telling me something. The booklets ended up lasting us thru lunch. By about 10 we positioned our loungers completely out of the sun, but by then the damage was done - but hey - we needed to give the locals something else to stare and giggle at - two red skinned little Americans. Our burns aren't terribly bad, we're fairly red though. Jade whipped out the after-sun and saved the day.
We dipped in the sea several times throughout the day to cool off. It was a foreign but memorable feeling being refreshed by the water and getting a little salty taste here and there. Jade screamed out during one of our dips - she stepped on something sharp - in her mind a sting ray - a moray eel - a snarly bottom feeder. I hushed her and said chill out, it was probably just a little rock - and then almost instantaneously I stepped on something really sharp and happily agreed to head out of the water. Karma...
After we headed in for the day and cleaned up - we would head to the night market for a peak - a snack - dinner perhaps - we had no idea what to expect. A short 2 minute taxi ride up the coast and we arrived at the 4 block long night market with tons of little vendors toting anything from corn to pho to sandwiches to fresh sea food of every variety. Earlier in the day I realized a need for sunglasses to read in the bright mid-day sun, so that was our first item to scout. There were dozens of little stands selling sunglasses - so it wasn't hard. We stopped at the first, I tried a few on, and settled on a black pair of plastic Ray Bands (or a knock off no doubt). I asked how much and was disappointed by the 900,000 Dong price tag. She asked me to type in how much I'd like to pay on her calculator, I said 200,000 and she said no. She typed in 600,000 and we parted ways with thank yous. About 30 feet down the way, another stand with the identical Ray Bands so we stopped. The young woman welcomed us and began handing me glasses to try. Huge aviators and I mean huge. I wouldn't have needed sun screen on my face with these puppies. I said no to a few more suggestions and then I tried the black plastic knock offs on again. Pretty good - and if the price was right - perfect for my rather limited need for them. I asked how much, and she tried to communicate that she wasn't sure of the price - I said 100,000 Dong - she countered with a mean 120,000 Dong - I said deal and paid promptly. On the walk away from her stand I realized how ridiculous our little bargain was, I said four dollars and fifty cents - and she countered with five dollars and fifty cents - made me feel far from home, a perspective of which I have been enjoying.
We headed up the way a bit and settled on a little sit down place with a larger stand and about 6 tables next to it - for kind of a fast casual style dinning ala Chipotle or Noodles. I ordered us a seafood Hot Pot (whatever the hell that is) and Jade contributed an order of 2 corns (looked like corn at the State Fair - roasted smothered in butter). I also ordered a Saigon Green - local beer that was similar to the pilsners in Prague - but they called it a Lager. At a little over 50 cents for a 24 oz bottle - it's a steal (just like everything else in this country accept for wine apparently). The corn came over first and looked delicious, and we should have done just that, looked at it. It tasted awful. Almost gelatinous in texture - I jokingly said after my first unfortunate bite 'Mme this corn has gone bad!' Jade shushed me but agreed whole heartedly. And then for the finale of the night, a seafood Hot Pot. They gave us a huge plate of fresh seafood - squid - shrimp - several different fillets of fish. It was accompanied by a plate of rice noodles - a plate of greens - two small bowls of seasonings and two bowls to use for eating. Then they came out with a large bowl of soup with fresh herbs and vegetables sitting on a little burner to keep it at a boil. I was about to dip in my first raw fish fondue style and noticed a local family next to us dumping the whole plate of meat in the center bowl at once. It was a bit concerning that Jade and I were tackling a meal that an entire family might normally eat for dinner (there was a father - a wife - and older woman and 3 kids in total). But we took their cues one by one of how to do the Hot Pot. Everything in for about 2 minutes then scoop it back into our little bowls for an endless little seafood soup buffet. It was remarkable in taste - the seafood being perhaps caught that day on the island. After several bowls and picking out all of the good stuff from the center boiling pot, we were ready to head out.
We walked down the street - outside of the market and did a little shopping - but we were tired and full and not in the mood to buy - so we called it a night - headed back to our cute little sea-side room and slept like wild Vietnamese dogs. (On Phu Quoc, there are thousands of wild dogs roaming around, eating whatever people will give them - very nice dogs - they are happy to get a pat on the head - but they spend most of their time sleeping in the shade where ever they can find it. I peaked out of our window after dark and saw one of them had hopped up on a padded lounger for a comfy night's rest.)
Today was our day in the sun. We woke up and meandered our way to the breakfast table overlooking the rolling sea and almost cliche sounds that are sampled on those Sharper Image sleep machines. Pancakes (which were very similar to crepes or Jaydee mentioned roti) - a fresh baguette with cherry jam - a fresh fruit platter of a delightful tropical variety (with an unidentified white fruit with lots of seeds and a very watery, sweet and almost salty flavor - kind of weird tasting) - and of course 2 ie mew cohays. (The coffees had just a subtle hint of coconut flavor to it - very delicious!)
After a lovely little breakfast we trotted a good 15 feet over to our spot for the day, 2 loungers under a thatched umbrella with little built in table. We took a big bottle of water with, and unfortunately no big bottles of sun screen. 'Ah heck, it's only 8:30am - we should be fine for a while.' We sat reading - chatting - dozing off - relaxing to say the least. It wasn't long before our two cute little smiling Vietnamese women found us. Jade did the talking and ordered me a pedicure - pumice and sand scrub for my scratchy foot bottoms, and an impulse back hair removal. She took out a thread and strung it thru a few fingers on each and and one end of the loop held in her mouth. She proceeded to gently remove the hair from my back - all the while saying 'yo huban loo beautifoo' to Jade. Jade smiled and giggled and took photos. It stung a little but hey, a small price to pay to loo beautifoo. I laid there reading my book - wow did I feel like a snob from the west! After they finished, we worked on our 'do you know your spouse' booklets compliments my mom as a little honeymoon gift for the beach. It had questions like 'if you'd like to make her unhappy, you'd bring this home for dinner - and then fill in the blank. I nailed that question - Little Caesar's Pizza - boom, I'm good! You keep score to see who knew who the best, and Jade knew me a little better than I knew her... I probably owe it to the recently learned 'most annoying trait of mine'. Zoning out when she's telling me something. The booklets ended up lasting us thru lunch. By about 10 we positioned our loungers completely out of the sun, but by then the damage was done - but hey - we needed to give the locals something else to stare and giggle at - two red skinned little Americans. Our burns aren't terribly bad, we're fairly red though. Jade whipped out the after-sun and saved the day.
We dipped in the sea several times throughout the day to cool off. It was a foreign but memorable feeling being refreshed by the water and getting a little salty taste here and there. Jade screamed out during one of our dips - she stepped on something sharp - in her mind a sting ray - a moray eel - a snarly bottom feeder. I hushed her and said chill out, it was probably just a little rock - and then almost instantaneously I stepped on something really sharp and happily agreed to head out of the water. Karma...
After we headed in for the day and cleaned up - we would head to the night market for a peak - a snack - dinner perhaps - we had no idea what to expect. A short 2 minute taxi ride up the coast and we arrived at the 4 block long night market with tons of little vendors toting anything from corn to pho to sandwiches to fresh sea food of every variety. Earlier in the day I realized a need for sunglasses to read in the bright mid-day sun, so that was our first item to scout. There were dozens of little stands selling sunglasses - so it wasn't hard. We stopped at the first, I tried a few on, and settled on a black pair of plastic Ray Bands (or a knock off no doubt). I asked how much and was disappointed by the 900,000 Dong price tag. She asked me to type in how much I'd like to pay on her calculator, I said 200,000 and she said no. She typed in 600,000 and we parted ways with thank yous. About 30 feet down the way, another stand with the identical Ray Bands so we stopped. The young woman welcomed us and began handing me glasses to try. Huge aviators and I mean huge. I wouldn't have needed sun screen on my face with these puppies. I said no to a few more suggestions and then I tried the black plastic knock offs on again. Pretty good - and if the price was right - perfect for my rather limited need for them. I asked how much, and she tried to communicate that she wasn't sure of the price - I said 100,000 Dong - she countered with a mean 120,000 Dong - I said deal and paid promptly. On the walk away from her stand I realized how ridiculous our little bargain was, I said four dollars and fifty cents - and she countered with five dollars and fifty cents - made me feel far from home, a perspective of which I have been enjoying.
We headed up the way a bit and settled on a little sit down place with a larger stand and about 6 tables next to it - for kind of a fast casual style dinning ala Chipotle or Noodles. I ordered us a seafood Hot Pot (whatever the hell that is) and Jade contributed an order of 2 corns (looked like corn at the State Fair - roasted smothered in butter). I also ordered a Saigon Green - local beer that was similar to the pilsners in Prague - but they called it a Lager. At a little over 50 cents for a 24 oz bottle - it's a steal (just like everything else in this country accept for wine apparently). The corn came over first and looked delicious, and we should have done just that, looked at it. It tasted awful. Almost gelatinous in texture - I jokingly said after my first unfortunate bite 'Mme this corn has gone bad!' Jade shushed me but agreed whole heartedly. And then for the finale of the night, a seafood Hot Pot. They gave us a huge plate of fresh seafood - squid - shrimp - several different fillets of fish. It was accompanied by a plate of rice noodles - a plate of greens - two small bowls of seasonings and two bowls to use for eating. Then they came out with a large bowl of soup with fresh herbs and vegetables sitting on a little burner to keep it at a boil. I was about to dip in my first raw fish fondue style and noticed a local family next to us dumping the whole plate of meat in the center bowl at once. It was a bit concerning that Jade and I were tackling a meal that an entire family might normally eat for dinner (there was a father - a wife - and older woman and 3 kids in total). But we took their cues one by one of how to do the Hot Pot. Everything in for about 2 minutes then scoop it back into our little bowls for an endless little seafood soup buffet. It was remarkable in taste - the seafood being perhaps caught that day on the island. After several bowls and picking out all of the good stuff from the center boiling pot, we were ready to head out.
We walked down the street - outside of the market and did a little shopping - but we were tired and full and not in the mood to buy - so we called it a night - headed back to our cute little sea-side room and slept like wild Vietnamese dogs. (On Phu Quoc, there are thousands of wild dogs roaming around, eating whatever people will give them - very nice dogs - they are happy to get a pat on the head - but they spend most of their time sleeping in the shade where ever they can find it. I peaked out of our window after dark and saw one of them had hopped up on a padded lounger for a comfy night's rest.)
Day Four
Today we headed for the beach resorty island of Phu Quoc (of which is definitely not pronounced phonetically from the puzzled look of the taxi driver taking us to the air port).
We made it to the airport just in the nick of time - well actually a full two and a half hours early (I think I get it from you mom and dad). They only let in the next flight and flight on deck - so we had to sit and wait outside of the gates for about an hour. We got thru and to the gate smoothly and waited with anticipation to get to our beachy paradise. We got a few looks from the air port personnel at our luggage as it just barely met the maximum size requirements. We were happy that we didn't need to check anything. The crew escorted us down some stairs onto a bus (wait that 757 jet right there isn't the plane we're flying?). We stood next to three of the most stereotypical backpackers surely making their way around the world on 200 bucks or less. I repositioned my wallet from my butt pocket to my shirt pocket. I'm sure they were nice - but I didn't want to pay for any added bonuses to their journey. The bus went past a smaller jet, and then past a smaller turbo-prop plane. Everyone from the bus seemed to be thinking the same thing, and I think the crusty backpacker said it best - 'Holy shit mate, that's the smallest plane I've ever flown on. A 30 or so seat prop plane would be taking us on a quick one hour jump down to Phu Quoc (or as the locals call it Poo Cook). The plane ended up doing a fine job and we arrived ahead of schedule. When our wheels touched down, we passed a small building - perhaps a little mechanic shop. Then when we reached the buildingless end of the runway and came to a complete stop, it became apparent that we were turning a full 180 and heading back to the mechanic shop - as it was the air port.
Almost immediately after we hopped off the plane our taxi driver grabbed us and popped us in he taxi and off we went. (He was just the first one that approached us, and he did so very quickly.) We drove down a subtle curving street reminding us much of Costa Rica - utilitarian architecture of logs - corrugated sheet metal - thatched roofs - brick - plaster - really anything people could use for construction materials. The stretch varied from little one room huts circa 1920 to larger 20 room multi-level resorts circa yesterday. We arrived to our little resort called cleverly named Beach Club after a 3 dollar fair. Down the narrowest and most treacherous drive I've ever driven on. Jade and I looked at each other thinking oh my, I wonder if this place is decent.
We walked beyond the shabby concrete wall into the Beach Club grounds and I was floored. A central thatched roof and brick building with a front seating area for about 12 people directly overlooking the rolling ocean with coconut palms framing the view. This central building for eating was flanked by 4 individual bungalows and a row 4 of conjoined rooms. The bungalows were all taken so we got stuck in one of the conjoined rooms. We are but 25 feet off of the beach, so we're not terribly unhappy - ha. When we arrived we were happily greeted by many of the staff, and the other guests were sitting under thatched umbrellas on loungers reading books, sipping fruit smoothies and getting massages. A needed getaway from 3 bustling city days, we are happy campers!
Our first move, swim suits - and a walk down the beach for some sun. Hand in hand we talked about our last Minnesotan walk, an unseasonably warm 38 degrees and melting snow! After our beach walk + sand sitting we headed back for a late lunch. Jade had sweet and sour chick and rice, and pho for me. Turned out to be the best pho I've had, to date. The temperature hot and spicy soup got me sweating just enough for the ocean breeze to chill me off. After we sat for a bit on the loungers, Jade flagged the 2 small-smiling Vietnamese woman over for massages. They flipped us over and got to work rubbing - kneading - chopping at our backs then left arm - foot - right foot - right leg - right arm - and so on. 45 minutes later we sat up and asked how much the bill would be. 80,000 Dong each (a little over $3.50). We gave them each an even 100,000 Dong and they graciously thanked us and said smiling - masa tomao? Assuming they meant 'massage tomorrow' we agreed.
And what could top off our delicious lunch - stroll down the beach - dip in the ocean - $3.50 massage at our lounger on the beach...? Oh yes of course, lets watch the most beautiful sun set directly in front of us over the ocean while drinking a beer (and fruit smoothie for Jade). Life is good.
We went in our cute room for a quick rinse off and clean up for dinner. We laid in our bed for a quick rest (it was easily 7:45pm by then), and then we decided on skipping dinner and just calling it a night. We have 3 more days of this torture ahead of us!
We made it to the airport just in the nick of time - well actually a full two and a half hours early (I think I get it from you mom and dad). They only let in the next flight and flight on deck - so we had to sit and wait outside of the gates for about an hour. We got thru and to the gate smoothly and waited with anticipation to get to our beachy paradise. We got a few looks from the air port personnel at our luggage as it just barely met the maximum size requirements. We were happy that we didn't need to check anything. The crew escorted us down some stairs onto a bus (wait that 757 jet right there isn't the plane we're flying?). We stood next to three of the most stereotypical backpackers surely making their way around the world on 200 bucks or less. I repositioned my wallet from my butt pocket to my shirt pocket. I'm sure they were nice - but I didn't want to pay for any added bonuses to their journey. The bus went past a smaller jet, and then past a smaller turbo-prop plane. Everyone from the bus seemed to be thinking the same thing, and I think the crusty backpacker said it best - 'Holy shit mate, that's the smallest plane I've ever flown on. A 30 or so seat prop plane would be taking us on a quick one hour jump down to Phu Quoc (or as the locals call it Poo Cook). The plane ended up doing a fine job and we arrived ahead of schedule. When our wheels touched down, we passed a small building - perhaps a little mechanic shop. Then when we reached the buildingless end of the runway and came to a complete stop, it became apparent that we were turning a full 180 and heading back to the mechanic shop - as it was the air port.
Almost immediately after we hopped off the plane our taxi driver grabbed us and popped us in he taxi and off we went. (He was just the first one that approached us, and he did so very quickly.) We drove down a subtle curving street reminding us much of Costa Rica - utilitarian architecture of logs - corrugated sheet metal - thatched roofs - brick - plaster - really anything people could use for construction materials. The stretch varied from little one room huts circa 1920 to larger 20 room multi-level resorts circa yesterday. We arrived to our little resort called cleverly named Beach Club after a 3 dollar fair. Down the narrowest and most treacherous drive I've ever driven on. Jade and I looked at each other thinking oh my, I wonder if this place is decent.
We walked beyond the shabby concrete wall into the Beach Club grounds and I was floored. A central thatched roof and brick building with a front seating area for about 12 people directly overlooking the rolling ocean with coconut palms framing the view. This central building for eating was flanked by 4 individual bungalows and a row 4 of conjoined rooms. The bungalows were all taken so we got stuck in one of the conjoined rooms. We are but 25 feet off of the beach, so we're not terribly unhappy - ha. When we arrived we were happily greeted by many of the staff, and the other guests were sitting under thatched umbrellas on loungers reading books, sipping fruit smoothies and getting massages. A needed getaway from 3 bustling city days, we are happy campers!
Our first move, swim suits - and a walk down the beach for some sun. Hand in hand we talked about our last Minnesotan walk, an unseasonably warm 38 degrees and melting snow! After our beach walk + sand sitting we headed back for a late lunch. Jade had sweet and sour chick and rice, and pho for me. Turned out to be the best pho I've had, to date. The temperature hot and spicy soup got me sweating just enough for the ocean breeze to chill me off. After we sat for a bit on the loungers, Jade flagged the 2 small-smiling Vietnamese woman over for massages. They flipped us over and got to work rubbing - kneading - chopping at our backs then left arm - foot - right foot - right leg - right arm - and so on. 45 minutes later we sat up and asked how much the bill would be. 80,000 Dong each (a little over $3.50). We gave them each an even 100,000 Dong and they graciously thanked us and said smiling - masa tomao? Assuming they meant 'massage tomorrow' we agreed.
And what could top off our delicious lunch - stroll down the beach - dip in the ocean - $3.50 massage at our lounger on the beach...? Oh yes of course, lets watch the most beautiful sun set directly in front of us over the ocean while drinking a beer (and fruit smoothie for Jade). Life is good.
We went in our cute room for a quick rinse off and clean up for dinner. We laid in our bed for a quick rest (it was easily 7:45pm by then), and then we decided on skipping dinner and just calling it a night. We have 3 more days of this torture ahead of us!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day Three
Our third day - where do I start. We truly are experts here now... Well, sort of.
First, some extraneous details.
1. The toilet paper here feels like extremely thin - 2 layer - textured - rice paper. It flakes all over the place when in use. Also noteworthy, you're not supposed to flush your TP - just put it in the small garbage next to the toilet. Their septic system can't handle TP - not even thin rice papery TP.
2. The shower in our hotel must use an instantaneous water heater. It swings from very cold to very hot every 20 seconds or so. Much of the time showering is spent attempting to tame the water temp.
3. We get a lot of stares, and we're assuming it's because we're white - over weight - or blonde haired. We're not sure which yet though.
4. The street air smells like humid - sour - fish saucy - moth balls mixed with delicious smells of grilled meat.
We went to the war museum today. It was moving. Very interesting to see it from their point of view. They view the war as America's war, and they view America (or at least did) as a country flexing their imperialism on the world. There were a lot of statements like 'we don't know why America is here fighting us'. They showed the atrocities of the war, and painted American's as criminals. I agreed with a lot of it. Shame on our government for using Agent Orange (and several other dioxines) causing horrifying birth defects in several generations of people. Shame on our government for putting America's youth in such a horrible position in a war they couldn't win (and shouldn't have been fighting).
I was approached outside the war museum amongst the helicopters and tanks from the war by a man who was born without arms and only one eye. He was very sincere and asked me for help. He extended his arm for a handshake gesture. His arm extended just below his elbow and then stopped - rounding off with no hands. He told me how he was effected by the war and asked me to buy a book from him. He pushed two books on my and demanded 300,000 Dong - about 13 bucks. I was moved by him and his story, and intimidated when he pushed me on the sale. I just went with it and walked away. I felt ripped off immediately after, but looking back on it - I hope that helped him and his life or even just his day a little.
Our travel book says that a lot of people's income here is around 100 dollars a month. I feel a bit awkward walking around in 100 dollar nikes that we bought for the trip.
We found another woman making sandwiches on the street. They are amazing! This one had 3 different kinds of meat - loaf like stuff on it, with fresh herbs - sauces - and vegies. One woman made the sandwich and then handed it off to an older lady next to her to bag it up for us. Jade snapped a quick photo while she was making the sandwich, and the old women started giggling to each other.
I forgot to mention, while we were in the war museum, a group of 6 or so young Vietnamese girls and a few boys approached Jade with huge smiles and giggling. They wanted their photos taken with her. They stood, one by one - taking photos with her with their respective camera phones, and then group shots, all the while smiling and giggling. The peace sign was the preferred gesture and Jade followed suit. They approached me after and took photos with me in the same fashion. Jade and I were pleasantly taken back by the transaction. A little confused - was it that we were white - or blonde - or... I think Jade's curly blonde hair is a focus of a lot of the stares that we get. Whatever the case - it's delightful to be the center of attention, even if we don't know what it's from. It has given us a real escape from the reality back home.
We went to two restaurants for dinner - one for appetizers - one for dinner. The dinner was traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Very fresh - very tasty. The soup that we got was purple and simply amazing. Kind of a salty eggdrop soup kind of taste. We were stuff and walked home sweaty from the heat. Another great day and happy to retreat to our air conditioned room once again for the night.
First, some extraneous details.
1. The toilet paper here feels like extremely thin - 2 layer - textured - rice paper. It flakes all over the place when in use. Also noteworthy, you're not supposed to flush your TP - just put it in the small garbage next to the toilet. Their septic system can't handle TP - not even thin rice papery TP.
2. The shower in our hotel must use an instantaneous water heater. It swings from very cold to very hot every 20 seconds or so. Much of the time showering is spent attempting to tame the water temp.
3. We get a lot of stares, and we're assuming it's because we're white - over weight - or blonde haired. We're not sure which yet though.
4. The street air smells like humid - sour - fish saucy - moth balls mixed with delicious smells of grilled meat.
We went to the war museum today. It was moving. Very interesting to see it from their point of view. They view the war as America's war, and they view America (or at least did) as a country flexing their imperialism on the world. There were a lot of statements like 'we don't know why America is here fighting us'. They showed the atrocities of the war, and painted American's as criminals. I agreed with a lot of it. Shame on our government for using Agent Orange (and several other dioxines) causing horrifying birth defects in several generations of people. Shame on our government for putting America's youth in such a horrible position in a war they couldn't win (and shouldn't have been fighting).
I was approached outside the war museum amongst the helicopters and tanks from the war by a man who was born without arms and only one eye. He was very sincere and asked me for help. He extended his arm for a handshake gesture. His arm extended just below his elbow and then stopped - rounding off with no hands. He told me how he was effected by the war and asked me to buy a book from him. He pushed two books on my and demanded 300,000 Dong - about 13 bucks. I was moved by him and his story, and intimidated when he pushed me on the sale. I just went with it and walked away. I felt ripped off immediately after, but looking back on it - I hope that helped him and his life or even just his day a little.
Our travel book says that a lot of people's income here is around 100 dollars a month. I feel a bit awkward walking around in 100 dollar nikes that we bought for the trip.
We found another woman making sandwiches on the street. They are amazing! This one had 3 different kinds of meat - loaf like stuff on it, with fresh herbs - sauces - and vegies. One woman made the sandwich and then handed it off to an older lady next to her to bag it up for us. Jade snapped a quick photo while she was making the sandwich, and the old women started giggling to each other.
I forgot to mention, while we were in the war museum, a group of 6 or so young Vietnamese girls and a few boys approached Jade with huge smiles and giggling. They wanted their photos taken with her. They stood, one by one - taking photos with her with their respective camera phones, and then group shots, all the while smiling and giggling. The peace sign was the preferred gesture and Jade followed suit. They approached me after and took photos with me in the same fashion. Jade and I were pleasantly taken back by the transaction. A little confused - was it that we were white - or blonde - or... I think Jade's curly blonde hair is a focus of a lot of the stares that we get. Whatever the case - it's delightful to be the center of attention, even if we don't know what it's from. It has given us a real escape from the reality back home.
We went to two restaurants for dinner - one for appetizers - one for dinner. The dinner was traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Very fresh - very tasty. The soup that we got was purple and simply amazing. Kind of a salty eggdrop soup kind of taste. We were stuff and walked home sweaty from the heat. Another great day and happy to retreat to our air conditioned room once again for the night.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Day Two
Another great day!
We both got up at the same time once again - 5am! We had breakfast at the hotel, eggs and toast - we've wizened up since the ramen. They give us two slices of watermelon and two very green bananas. Almost asked for ripe ones - but we pealed them to try, and they were perfectly ripe. Maybe the best banana I've ever had. Two iced coffees with milk and we're out the door. Off to the Reunification Palace. The walk is great - more of the same street scene - everyone huddled around a lone woman and a huge kettle of pho - waiting, or eating their breakfast.
The Reunification Palace was pretty cool. Entrance fees were 30,000 Dong each (about a dollar fifty) - not bad. We arrived at open - 7:30am. We were accompanied by just a few other museum goers - some asian - some white. The Palace has an important historical past of which we learned plenty about via 30 minute movie from the bomb shelter in the basement. The architecture is sixties modern - reminded us of Frank Lloyd Wright's church in Chicago. Everything was pretty stark - mainly a white color pallet with accents of bright-light blues, blood-reds, and vibrant-mossy-greens. As I mentioned before, narrow halled solid concrete bomb shelter below along with rooms full of sixties telecommunication devices and a bunk room for the president. Main floor had colorful and formal conference rooms. Second floor had formal presidential meeting rooms. Third had a casino decked out with funky-sixties modern furniture, a movie theatre, and the president's living quarters with a beautiful courtyard. Forth floor was a look out - just a big glass room, and you could walk out onto the roof and see the surrounding lush grounds and bustling city beyond. The air was heating up - so we moved on to see Notre Dame cathedral (just about what you'd expect).
Our walk was completed by a street food lunch. We walked down an alley filled with starring Vietnamese people. Walked up to the woman with the food cart. It had upwards of ten different meats, rice, noodles, soups, etc. I was nervously standing back from her cart - not knowing what the heck to attempt to order, and Jade prompted me to hold up one finger with a smile. They pointed to sit down at a table (two ten inch high plastic children's stools and a make-shift table). So we squatted and waited to see what would be brought to us. In the mean time an 80 or so year old lady who looked like she had really lived life tried to sell us tickets to something. She stood, uncomfortably long, waiting for us to buy tickets - or give her money - or something. She eventually moved on to the next person eating. A woman with a small child also walked up to us asking for money. And then our food came. A fried chicken drummy - rice - some veggies - a little bowl of sauce and cabbage soup. The chicken was really great - the rest a little bland, but for 20,000 Dong (less than a dollar) who cares. Fun to pay just a little and get to try lots of different things.
Pho 2000 - a pho chain was next. A tiny little restaurant serving fresh and really cheap pho. Another delicious meal for about 2 bucks. After this, we were stuffed, and waddled back to our room for our afternoon nap/heat-retreat.
Up after an hour or so - we headed to the botanical gardens and zoo. It was great to get away from the city noise, but the afternoon heat was wicked. Jade's cheeks were fire-red, so we sat and watched elephants - tigers - monkeys - cakateals - and a peacock doing its mating dance. Jade seems to know all of the great eating spots in Ho Chi Minh City, so we headed to a well reviewed sushi bar. The AC was great, and the window view of the insane motorbike traffic was entertaining to say the least. We had tons of sushi and drinks - everything very good. We got the check and paid it, and then they came and corrected it, as they had over charged us by 8 bucks or so. We would have never noticed and were charmed by the honesty that everyone had. 13 dollars later, we were stuffed with amazing sushi, and we were quite tired from the day.
6pm - we headed back to our hotel, on the way stopping at our favorite little local general store guy in the back alley of our hotel for some water.
Hit the sack and woke up at midnight. Unsure whether we should get up and go clubbing (yeah right) or continue sleeping for our first sleep longer than 6 hours - we chose the later. We've proven that if you take naps during the day, you can only sleep for about 5 or 6 hours - wink wink - Dad.
So here we are 6:30 am just about to eat breakfast and then heading for our third full day of HCMC.
Loving our time here!
We both got up at the same time once again - 5am! We had breakfast at the hotel, eggs and toast - we've wizened up since the ramen. They give us two slices of watermelon and two very green bananas. Almost asked for ripe ones - but we pealed them to try, and they were perfectly ripe. Maybe the best banana I've ever had. Two iced coffees with milk and we're out the door. Off to the Reunification Palace. The walk is great - more of the same street scene - everyone huddled around a lone woman and a huge kettle of pho - waiting, or eating their breakfast.
The Reunification Palace was pretty cool. Entrance fees were 30,000 Dong each (about a dollar fifty) - not bad. We arrived at open - 7:30am. We were accompanied by just a few other museum goers - some asian - some white. The Palace has an important historical past of which we learned plenty about via 30 minute movie from the bomb shelter in the basement. The architecture is sixties modern - reminded us of Frank Lloyd Wright's church in Chicago. Everything was pretty stark - mainly a white color pallet with accents of bright-light blues, blood-reds, and vibrant-mossy-greens. As I mentioned before, narrow halled solid concrete bomb shelter below along with rooms full of sixties telecommunication devices and a bunk room for the president. Main floor had colorful and formal conference rooms. Second floor had formal presidential meeting rooms. Third had a casino decked out with funky-sixties modern furniture, a movie theatre, and the president's living quarters with a beautiful courtyard. Forth floor was a look out - just a big glass room, and you could walk out onto the roof and see the surrounding lush grounds and bustling city beyond. The air was heating up - so we moved on to see Notre Dame cathedral (just about what you'd expect).
Our walk was completed by a street food lunch. We walked down an alley filled with starring Vietnamese people. Walked up to the woman with the food cart. It had upwards of ten different meats, rice, noodles, soups, etc. I was nervously standing back from her cart - not knowing what the heck to attempt to order, and Jade prompted me to hold up one finger with a smile. They pointed to sit down at a table (two ten inch high plastic children's stools and a make-shift table). So we squatted and waited to see what would be brought to us. In the mean time an 80 or so year old lady who looked like she had really lived life tried to sell us tickets to something. She stood, uncomfortably long, waiting for us to buy tickets - or give her money - or something. She eventually moved on to the next person eating. A woman with a small child also walked up to us asking for money. And then our food came. A fried chicken drummy - rice - some veggies - a little bowl of sauce and cabbage soup. The chicken was really great - the rest a little bland, but for 20,000 Dong (less than a dollar) who cares. Fun to pay just a little and get to try lots of different things.
Pho 2000 - a pho chain was next. A tiny little restaurant serving fresh and really cheap pho. Another delicious meal for about 2 bucks. After this, we were stuffed, and waddled back to our room for our afternoon nap/heat-retreat.
Up after an hour or so - we headed to the botanical gardens and zoo. It was great to get away from the city noise, but the afternoon heat was wicked. Jade's cheeks were fire-red, so we sat and watched elephants - tigers - monkeys - cakateals - and a peacock doing its mating dance. Jade seems to know all of the great eating spots in Ho Chi Minh City, so we headed to a well reviewed sushi bar. The AC was great, and the window view of the insane motorbike traffic was entertaining to say the least. We had tons of sushi and drinks - everything very good. We got the check and paid it, and then they came and corrected it, as they had over charged us by 8 bucks or so. We would have never noticed and were charmed by the honesty that everyone had. 13 dollars later, we were stuffed with amazing sushi, and we were quite tired from the day.
6pm - we headed back to our hotel, on the way stopping at our favorite little local general store guy in the back alley of our hotel for some water.
Hit the sack and woke up at midnight. Unsure whether we should get up and go clubbing (yeah right) or continue sleeping for our first sleep longer than 6 hours - we chose the later. We've proven that if you take naps during the day, you can only sleep for about 5 or 6 hours - wink wink - Dad.
So here we are 6:30 am just about to eat breakfast and then heading for our third full day of HCMC.
Loving our time here!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Day One Continued
Heading out about 1:30, we headed to a restaurant that specialized in street food go figure. We sat at the outdoor tables under palm trees. We started with strawberry smoothies, fresh spring rolls, followed by a mixed chicken salad with little rice disks, and finished it off with a boiled banana and tapioca dessert, and a water chestnut pearl with coconut milk and other gelatinous cubes. Everything was terrific.
We walked to a nearby shopping centre (VinaCom Centre, dad I know you'll look it up and say 'oh yeah, they have nice retail centres over there'.) which was recommended by our taxi driver. Along the way we find ourselves hitching confidence from locals crossing the streets. Just align your body with theirs and keep your eyes on them and not the on coming motorbikes - cars - bikes and the likes. 20 vehicles wide, they don't stop for you when you walk across, they ever-so-slightly veer around you as you cross. Very few street light to be seen, even fewer to be obeyed.
After shopping around, it was back to the hotel for yet another refreshing nap, shower, poop.
We slept until 8:30pm and then went to a tapas restaurant for dinner. Tapas was great, with a noteworthy sangria.
Day one officially felt like 3 days. We loved every second of it.
We walked to a nearby shopping centre (VinaCom Centre, dad I know you'll look it up and say 'oh yeah, they have nice retail centres over there'.) which was recommended by our taxi driver. Along the way we find ourselves hitching confidence from locals crossing the streets. Just align your body with theirs and keep your eyes on them and not the on coming motorbikes - cars - bikes and the likes. 20 vehicles wide, they don't stop for you when you walk across, they ever-so-slightly veer around you as you cross. Very few street light to be seen, even fewer to be obeyed.
After shopping around, it was back to the hotel for yet another refreshing nap, shower, poop.
We slept until 8:30pm and then went to a tapas restaurant for dinner. Tapas was great, with a noteworthy sangria.
Day one officially felt like 3 days. We loved every second of it.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Day One
It didn't take long for the anxious travel bug to wake us up this morning. Arriving late last night, we were a bit disoriented, which made our first journey out today a pleasant surprise. First off, right out of our room, we were greeted by the Vietnamese humidity. We walked down to the included breakfast compliments the King Star Hotel. Six to choose from, 4 of them Vietnamese. Of course I was excited to eat pho for breakfast and possibly every meal going forward. I ordered coffee (a small espresso-like shot of pre-sweetened coffee flavoured stuff) and Jade an orange juice (Tang with ice). Our first run in with the local pho... Not so great. Turns out to be a ramen noodle like bowl of soup with maybe a cheap cut of thinly sliced beef. Ah well, we'll stick to eggs for our free hotel breakfast for the next few days.
Our first several blocks of walking were an overload. Thousands of people cruising by on motorbikes - bicycles - cars - walking, perhaps to work? We weren't sure. We ended up wandering around the endless street scene which consists of pretty much what you'd expect. Lots of street cafes - shops - markets - construction - people sitting on motorbikes up on the sidewalks - bike-taxi drivers holding up a hand with 2 fingers up and a friendly smile - locals sitting around on plastic children's outdoor furniture eating hot soup and iced coffees. We went briefly thru the larger market which was fairly close to our hotel. It reminded us of the Global Market to the tenth power. Clothes - trinkets - rice - lentils - coffee - pigs feet - liver - tripe - small fish - big fish - and tons of unidentifiable seafoods, most of it still alive or very recently killed (as in a young woman crouching over a squirming foot-long fish, clubbing it gently to its death). Jade saw a rat race thru a puddle which seemed about right. Being a bit touristy - the kind of place that a kid my sneak a few bucks from our pockets - we moved on.
We stumbled upon what seemed to us, an authentic street - filled with much of the same from the market, but comfortably spread out and filled with locals. We purchased the biggest water that we saw at a little street vendor (about a liter). Our first transaction was bumpy. Lots of smiles, nodding, me looking at Jade, Jade looking at the woman... She held up ten fingers, which didn't mean much to us. 10 US dollars was a bit steep for water, but 10 Vietnamese Dong would have been like two tenths of a cent. I ended up handing her a 100,000 Dong bill (about 5 US dollars), and probably gave her a look that said, go ahead, do your damage, rip me off, or give me the correct change, because I won't know the difference. She handed me my change and we walked away drinking the ice-cold water. We took out my money cheat sheet finding out that we had just spent about 50 cents on the water. This gave us a little confidence and we felt good. We walked up to a little old lady making Vietnamese sandwiches of which I was eager to try. At another 50 cents, we felt like this was going to be the start of a fantastic vacation! We continued walking and taking in the street scene.
We stopped at a cute little spot for coffee. We sat inside, but it didn't really have doors. We each had an iced coffee, which in combination with shade and fans, cooled us down nicely. The iced-coffee was very strong, with lots of sugar in it. It also comes with some more sugar water, or something to that effect. Pretty good actually.
As we walked down the bustling street, a near-toothless 80 year old or so Vietnamese woman that was sitting next to a building pointed at me and smiled. I smiled back politely until she started laughing, and puffing out her cheeks at me. Confused, I dropped the smile and kept my eyes on her with curiosity. I mentioned it to Jade, and after a quick discussion, we decided she was calling us fat, and making fun of us. We've been joking about it ever since.
By then it was about 10:45am, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a quick cool-down, wash-up, and hopefully a poop (I think I noticed a boday in our bathroom, I've always wanted to use one). We headed back, and did all of the things described, Jade took a nap, and I flipped thru funny music tv shows and cooking show - all in Vietnamese of course.
Jade was annoyed by the tv shows that I was taking interest to - and sent me to get water while she took a snooze. I forgot to mention we were welcomed back into our room by very loud construction in the room above us or next to us. They broke for lunch at 11:30 thankfully. So on my way to fetch water, I thought I'd start blogging about the specifics of our adventure to help us remember the details.
More to come.
Adam
Our first several blocks of walking were an overload. Thousands of people cruising by on motorbikes - bicycles - cars - walking, perhaps to work? We weren't sure. We ended up wandering around the endless street scene which consists of pretty much what you'd expect. Lots of street cafes - shops - markets - construction - people sitting on motorbikes up on the sidewalks - bike-taxi drivers holding up a hand with 2 fingers up and a friendly smile - locals sitting around on plastic children's outdoor furniture eating hot soup and iced coffees. We went briefly thru the larger market which was fairly close to our hotel. It reminded us of the Global Market to the tenth power. Clothes - trinkets - rice - lentils - coffee - pigs feet - liver - tripe - small fish - big fish - and tons of unidentifiable seafoods, most of it still alive or very recently killed (as in a young woman crouching over a squirming foot-long fish, clubbing it gently to its death). Jade saw a rat race thru a puddle which seemed about right. Being a bit touristy - the kind of place that a kid my sneak a few bucks from our pockets - we moved on.
We stumbled upon what seemed to us, an authentic street - filled with much of the same from the market, but comfortably spread out and filled with locals. We purchased the biggest water that we saw at a little street vendor (about a liter). Our first transaction was bumpy. Lots of smiles, nodding, me looking at Jade, Jade looking at the woman... She held up ten fingers, which didn't mean much to us. 10 US dollars was a bit steep for water, but 10 Vietnamese Dong would have been like two tenths of a cent. I ended up handing her a 100,000 Dong bill (about 5 US dollars), and probably gave her a look that said, go ahead, do your damage, rip me off, or give me the correct change, because I won't know the difference. She handed me my change and we walked away drinking the ice-cold water. We took out my money cheat sheet finding out that we had just spent about 50 cents on the water. This gave us a little confidence and we felt good. We walked up to a little old lady making Vietnamese sandwiches of which I was eager to try. At another 50 cents, we felt like this was going to be the start of a fantastic vacation! We continued walking and taking in the street scene.
We stopped at a cute little spot for coffee. We sat inside, but it didn't really have doors. We each had an iced coffee, which in combination with shade and fans, cooled us down nicely. The iced-coffee was very strong, with lots of sugar in it. It also comes with some more sugar water, or something to that effect. Pretty good actually.
As we walked down the bustling street, a near-toothless 80 year old or so Vietnamese woman that was sitting next to a building pointed at me and smiled. I smiled back politely until she started laughing, and puffing out her cheeks at me. Confused, I dropped the smile and kept my eyes on her with curiosity. I mentioned it to Jade, and after a quick discussion, we decided she was calling us fat, and making fun of us. We've been joking about it ever since.
By then it was about 10:45am, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a quick cool-down, wash-up, and hopefully a poop (I think I noticed a boday in our bathroom, I've always wanted to use one). We headed back, and did all of the things described, Jade took a nap, and I flipped thru funny music tv shows and cooking show - all in Vietnamese of course.
Jade was annoyed by the tv shows that I was taking interest to - and sent me to get water while she took a snooze. I forgot to mention we were welcomed back into our room by very loud construction in the room above us or next to us. They broke for lunch at 11:30 thankfully. So on my way to fetch water, I thought I'd start blogging about the specifics of our adventure to help us remember the details.
More to come.
Adam
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