Crunchin it up in Indochine

A Day in the Countryside of Hue

asv5015 — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:44:00 GMT

The past 24 hours have been awesome! last night we went to dinner at a restuarant that serves all the food the royal family eats. we all had to get dressed up as concubines and unics and jim and mary (the token old couple) were the king and queen. the food was alright but the presentation was amazing. there was also a band that played royal music. Later we went to a bar and met some other people who are on another intrepid trip but are going the opposite direction.

today we had a 7 hour tour of the countryside of hue...however it was on the back of a motorbike. sooo much fun. first we stopped at an old covered bridge by a market and there was a fortune teller reading palms. she read my palm and said i was going to get married when im 26 (same as the one in china) and that i will have 3 boyfriends which i will give "heartburn" to and that my parents love me very much. After that we went to a temple and it so happened to be buddhas birthday so there were tons of people there and they had a chanting ceremony thing. there was a guy dressed up as buddha so alyson and i went over to meet him and all of a sudden all these people made us pose with him and started taking pictures. also i forgot to bring something to cover my shoulders and somehow i ended up in a monks outfit. and of course people took more pictures. I also met a monk who spent a couple years in chicago and she told me about a center in new york that i could spend a weekend at and get my zen on (totally doing it). after the temple we went to an emperors tomb which looked more like a beautiful temple with a lake. apparently the emporer vacationed there often. our next stop was a nunnery full of buddhist nuns. we had a delicious vegitarian lunch and then had a siesta...on prayer mats on the floor. next we went to hamburger hill which was a bunker in the vietnam war. after we stopped by a place that makes incense and we got to make our own. then we got on a boat and crossed the perfume river to go to another pagoda (the prettiest one in hue). lastly we stopped at a house where a woman with only one arm makes conicular hats that all the people wear. tonight we're celebrating alysons birthday and then headed to hoi an by bus tomorrow morning.

many hugs and kisses

Simi

Oy Tchoi Oy!

asv5015 — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:20:00 GMT

Friday morning we woke up really early and drove for 3 and half hours to halong bay. on the way we stopped at the blue dragon center for children. the center helps street children and children who are abused or have a horrible family life. We had breakfast for the children and they taught us some vietnamese and performed drumming for us. the phrase oy tchoi oy, which means o my god, stuck with us and we've been saying it about every 20 minutes since then. after that we stopped at a place that sells a lot of stuff that supposedly disabled people make...it felt a little too familar to the factories in china and i felt like there was a lot hidden from the massive amount of tourists buying all the junk. after that we arrived at the harbor, boarded our luxury boat and cruised away from the harbor. we had a full crew and each our own rooms and bathrooms. lunch dinner and breakfast the next day was included and it was soooo good. after cruising for a while we arrived at a cave and did some caving. afterwards we rented some kayaks, and kayaked to another island which had a pagoda at the top on the mountain. we climbed up 420 steps (i counted) to the pagoda and pretty much collapsed while looking at the beatiful view. we then went swimming, kayaked to another cave you can only reach by kayak and then back again to the boat. alyson and i were afriad of the cockroaches on the boat and possibly in our bed so we slept outside under the stars (not really, more like haze we could only see about 3 stars). the next morning we went back to the harbor and drove back to hanoi stopping at a ceramic factory. the women who paint all the pottery were sitting there painting tea sets, bowls, anything you could imagine. they invited us to sit down and showed us how to paint and what kind of strokes to use. we continued out drive back to hanoi, had some lunch at koto and then went on a search for an all you can eat buffet of ice cream. to our surprise it was not all you can eat but it was still really really good. after that we went to the super market and bought some snank for the train. the super market was exactly like genuardis except asian.

At 6 we checked out of our hotel and went to the train station to board the reunification express, an over night train to hue (13 1/2 hours). i imagined it to look like the train from the darjeeling limited, but the room wqas smaller and not as nice. it was 4 bunk beds in the comparment and a small table in the middle. alyson hannah tina and i shared a compartment and had quite a party. we played poker and drinking games all night and everyone in the tour ended up in our cabin having a party. i actually slept pretty well even though i was afraid of getting crabs and slept with my hood up.

we arrived early this morning in hue, checked into our hotel and then went to breakfast at this french/vietnamese place. i had a crepe, croissant, and cappachino (so much for losing weight in vietnam). it was sooo good. its been my first western meal since ive gotten here. hue is much calmer than hanoi. there are still motorbikes, but not as many and it isnt as polluted. the perfume river flows right through the city and is decorated with giant pink lotuses. after breakfast we walked to a market and hai ou tour guide led us through explaining what all the different fruits and veggies are and how their cooked and eaten. afterwards we went to the imperial city. hai explained everything about it and the relationships between the king and the concubines and the unics. i also saw my first elephant (im sure of many). I'm now back in the hotel chilling out. tonight we are going to have a royal dinner and get dressed up as members of the royal palace. should be quiet interesting.

tomorrow we are going on motorbikes into the country side and visiting tombs of emperors and local villages outside the city.

lots of love,

Simi

Intrepid Trip Begins

asv5015 — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:30:00 GMT

After the lady with the basket incident we wandered some more and found ourselves in a local market filled with tons of different foods. not surprisingly they have every part of an animal you could possibly imagine for sale along with crazy fruits and vegitables. I saw a bucket filled with either live eels or snakes...im not sure, slithering around. i was a bit creeped out. after that alyson and i made our way back to the hotel. we then took a taxi to the next hotel, checked in, had some lunch at this really good restuarant around the corner called KOTO which employs poor young adults and gives them an education (english and hospitality) and a new bicycle. then we went back to the hotel and decided to take a short nap....well that nap ended up being 4 hours long and we woke up to a phone call from the intrepid tour guide asking us if we were coming to the meeting. there are 10 people in the tour, a bunch of really nice girls from australia new zeland and england,which will be a lot of fun, a crunchy old guy from australia who could possibly be the next steve irwin, and an older couple from new zeland who are a novelty i hope doesnt wear off to soon. the guide hai is vietnamese but speaks very good english and is really funny so i think he is going to be a good guide. after the meeting we went to dinner at a traditional vietnamese place which was very yummy and then everyone was so tired we went back to the hotel and right to sleep at 10 (I woke up at 2:30 thinking it was 7 with tons of energy).

today we went to ho chi minhs moseleum which contained his embalmed body (totally strange/cool) there were guards everywhere nd we werent allowed to bring in cameras or cell phones. on the walk to the moseleum we passed lots of people on the street selling different foods included goose eggs that were about to hatch... you eat the unbord baby goose. after the moseleum alyson and i went to the old city where each street is called what it sells...junk city. you could spend hours there walking through all the streets. while walking we saw the same woman with the basket and she tried her trick on us again...we knew better this time. apparently we've been learning everything the hard way haha. after that we went to the prison where they kept the american soldiers during the war (its nick named hanoi hilton) and there was tooooons of pictures of mcain.. including his uniform. tonight we are going to a water puppet theater show which should be interesting and then tomorrow we re off to Halong Bay.

lots of love,

Simi

Hanging Out in Hanoi

asv5015 — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:17:00 GMT

We have finally arrived in Hanoi Vietnam after our 2 days of traveling. We arrived late last night and already had some fabulous experiences. on the plane from bangkok to hanoi there were a whole bunch of monks all dressed in their orange robes ironically equipped with cell phones, adidas sandals, and cameras. the first thing i noticed were how quiet everyone was. driving in from the airport the place looked deserted, but once we got closer to town things started to pick up. i dont think i have ever seen so many motorcycles in one place. and not surprisingly it says in footprints that hanoi is one the worlds most densely populated motorcycle places. Alyson and I checked into the hotel and then went for a walk to check out the area. we found ourselves at Hoan Kiem Lake, which is a beautiful lake in the middle of the city surrounded by a small park. all the teenagers were hanging out there and we definitely caught their attention... this was just the beginning of many boys saying hello to us. We stopped at a restaurant, had a hanoi beer and enjoyed the atmosphere. This morning we went back to the lake cause there is a shrine on an island in the middle of the lake. we were wearing shorts so we weren't sure if we would be able to get in but every thing was fine once we got there. there was lots of incense and buddhas. it was a temple for the god of literature. alyson and i were walking around taking pictures and some guy starts talking to us and taught us a little vietnamese which was fun. then we left the temple and were sitting in the park and another guy gave me his straw hat. i dont think i have ever been stared at by so many people. I definitely think the hat means something i just dont kno what yet. anyway, we became friends.. i took pictures with him and his friends...and it was so amazing that we didnt speak the same language at all but got our points across. then we ventured into the streets. women were carrying their fruits and veggies on baskets balanced on their shoulders, and we even ended up getting talked into taking a picture wearing one and then fighting with the woman because she was forcing us to buy her fruit. we just ended up giving her 20000 dong (about a dollar)for the picture and walked away. Now we are headed to our next hotel to meet up with our new intrepid friends (hopefully really hot australian guys).

love,

Simi