G + G Adventures

Abbreviated Cambodia

gsewake — Sat, 1 Jun 2013 18:33:00 GMT

In sum, friendly people, tasty food (although not that spicy), humbling history and amazing sites.

We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia via an international bus from Don Khon, Lao. About 5km outside of Kratie, Cambodia the bus got delayed---apparently the suspension of the bus was shot---we had to wait around 4hrs at a mechanic depot for the repair. We arrived in Phnom Penh around 4am. Fast forward to 10am, after check-in and a good rest, we ate breakfast across from our guesthouse at the morning market located near the riverfront between the Royal Palace and the Night Market (a very good market, full of ethnic Vietnamese and some Cambodians).

After eating we headed to the Prison Museum, a.k.a. S-21. The Prison Museum was very interesting and was well worth the tuktuk ride. With only one full day in the City, we decided to skip the Killing Fields and the Royal Museum.

The next morning we caught the bus to Siem Reap. Our guesthouse in Siem Reap was great (Tanei Guesthouse), located just off the main area, the place has a swimming pool, free breakfast, a/c, daily maid service, free water, free bike rentals, etc... Quite luxurious in comparison to what we've had over the last few months.

Over the following week we explored the temples around Angkor via pedal bikes. I'm proud to say we didn't pay for any tuktuks all three days we visited the area, instead, we pedal biked the whole thing ourselves!

The temples were amazing. Grand architecture, stone relief detailing, stone statues, landscaping, this place had it all. Before we got here, I was a bit skeptical of how cool it would be, but honestly, it was freakin awesome. My favorite site was Preah Khan. A fairly large wat complex, similar to the outlay of the Bayon complex, but smaller and more accessible. The place had the cool Indiana Jones feel of the more popular Ta Prohm (the Lara Croft temple complex), but with fewer people, more access to ruins, and cooler architecture and detailing over a larger area.

As for Angkor Wat, I'd say it's interesting, but far from the best of the best. It has some real nice bas-relief carvings around the inner building's outer ring and it seems to be the largest complex in the area as well as being in the best condition. However, the entire structure itself is kinda bland. If you are headed to Angkor Wat, I'd suggest you hit that one up last. You'll appreciate the size and bas-relief work more after seeing the other temple complexes.

Lastly, Siem Reap: a very walkable town with plenty of low to high-end eateries. We ate at a few places worth mentioning: (1) Kerala Indian Retaurant, (2) AnnAdyA Restaurant, and (3) Chamkar Restaurant. All are very good places and worth a trip. If you still haven't had your fill of t-shirts, ballon pants, silver bracelets and wood carvings, Siem Reap has the usual circus of souvenir shops and markets. We did a cooking class with Beyond Unique Escapes, which is located at the lovely Sojourn Hotel (if on a honeymoon or special trip, this place is like a boutique version of a tropical Four Seasons Resort and only around $100-150/night). The cooking class was great, plenty up there with the other three cooking classes we've taken in Asia (Red Bridge Cooking School, full day, Hoi An; Tamarind Cooking School, full day, Luang Prabang; Sammie's Organic Cooking School, full day, Chaing Mai). We also went to the Angkor Hospital for Children, well worth a visit to either donate money or blood. The place is a not-for-profit that gives free healthcare including life threatening surgeries to Cambodian children. A very worthy cause.

We wish we had more time in Cambodia, as we were only able to scratch the surface, and at that, only the well trodden tourist trail. We would recommend Cambodia to others as it is a beautiful place, full of amazing people who've lived through some pretty horrible stuff. The people here seem the most appreciative of your visit, and your dollar can go a long way to improving the lives of these wonderful people. For example, a donation of $23 can provide the healthcare needed for one child's visit to the Angkor Hospital for Children. In the States, it'd be more like $1200. A little bit goes a long way.

We are in transit to Bangkok for our last few days in South East Asia. From Bangkok we fly to Narita, Japan for a 9hr layover (my first significant time in the motherland; I'm Japanese-American, and at that, several generations so), where we plan to do a quick tour of Narita via Rainbow Tours (a well reviewed tour guide we found on Trip Advisor), before flying to Los Angeles.

-Geoff

Back in Laos Again

gsewake — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:06:00 GMT

When we were planning this trip we had a sneaking suspicion that Laos would be our favorite country, and boy were we right. So far we have spent a total of six weeks here and have explored from the north to the south and a few places in between. We love the spicy herb-filled food and the friendly laid-back culture. Natural beauty and fascinating history don't hurt either!

We are back in Laos after a short trip to Thailand. We have talked about our time in the north of Laos elsewhere, so here is a recap of what we have done since we left Luang Prabang:

First of all, sleeper buses in Laos are not the same as the ones we sampled in Vietnam. In Laos instead of individual berths you get mattresses for two arranged like bunk beds. Each bus ticket buys you only half of a bunk. For me and Geoff it was fine to share, but imagine if you are traveling solo!

In this cozy fashion we arrived in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. It is also the largest city in the country and one of the only places to find cosmopolitan luxuries like sushi and real cheese. Overall there aren't a lot of things to see and do here, and this combined with the fact that since Songkran (Laos/Thai New Year) the temperature has stayed steadily above 90 degrees means that we don't do much except eat and sit in air conditioned cafes. We do make an excursion to see a local oddity called Buddha Park, which was constructed with truly psychedelic abandon by followers of a holy man named Luang Pou Bounleau Soulitat to create a place to spread his ideas... through sculpture. We spent some time touring the odd site (and slowly melting in the heat) in the company on a young monk named Su who wanted to practice his English.

During our time in Vientiane we came to the realization the we had less than a month of our trip remaining. We needed to make some choices about where to spend our time; unfortunately we couldn't do it all! As a result we decided to forgo a few of the larger towns in Laos in favor of the small city of Savannakhet, which we had heard has some good trekking.

Well, the trekking was good, but little else in town warranted the 4 nights we gave it. It's not Savannakhet's fault really, it's just very spread out and it was way too hot to justify the walk to its few sites. We did like the local dinosaur museum which, despite lack of good signage, was quite interesting. On display were the original bones (dug from several sites in the province) not casts like you typically find in Western museums. We were inches away from an iguanadon fossil!

Our trek through the countryside was just a quick overnight affair, but really well run by the unexpectedly professional Eco Guide Unit. Our guide and interpreter Van and our local guide Soda showed us lots of local flora and fauna. Soda especially liked showing off the big creapy crawlies in the jungle, including a small but apparently not dangerous scorpion.

Next we head south to Pakse, which turns out to be everything we had hope for in Savannakhet. It's cooler for one thing, but it also is more walkable, is surrounded by verdant green mountains, and has much better food. Alas we are only in Pakse for one night because we plan to spend the rest of our time in Laos in Si Phan Don, the Four Thousand Islands just north of the Cambodian border. These are tropical islands, and I'm happy to report that Geoff is back in a hammock. What a great way to spend our last few days in chilled out Laos!

Next up: the greatest hits of Cambodia in under two weeks. Can it be done?

-Gillian

Peace Out Chiang Mai and Rai, Good Afternoon Lao.

gsewake — Tue, 7 May 2013 10:41:00 GMT

From Ban Krut to Chiang Mai the train takes all of 24hrs or so. Moving across most of Thailand north to south the landscape changes from lush flat rice paddy fields to mountainous jungle and small valleys.

Arrival, Chiang Mai, the former royal capital of the Lana Kingdom. Transferred to the Thai Kingdom in 1932, the Lana people still hold on to their regional pride. We check into a cheap backpacker place and give Chiang Mai a good look around. It's ok. Not entirely sure why it's the number one destination on Tripadvisor. Lots of wats around town. But of course, we've seen a lot of wats already. Food is ok, though nothing we hadn't had before or better (see Vietnam, Ban Krut or Lao). After a few days we decide to kick out of Chiang Mai and head to Chiang Rai, or more specifically, the Bamboo Nest.

The Bamboo Nest is a guesthouse located 24km from Chiang Rai up in the mountains of Lam Nam Kok National Park area and about another 24km from the Burmese boarder. This place is perfect. Wonderfully kept off the grid, no wifi, iffy power from 6pm to 8pm, run by a lovely Thai couple Nok and Noi and surrounded by rice paddies and bamboo forest. We've found it. It's like the perfectness of the "Beach" but in the mountains. Nok cooks us up lovely Thai dishes and the occasional western comfort food and travels into town to pick up supplies. Noi directs construction on a new kitchen and eating area (the last hand been damaged in a storm). Their son Fluke helps set up for meals and does so with such humbleness, it might make a monk jealous. Noi loves dogs and has adopted three so far. We named one Scruffers because he's, well, a hilariously scruffy guy. One ear up, the other ear flopped down with off white Einstein hair, and a personality to match, the dog is hilarious. The others, Lady and Alpha, although lacking the hilarity of Scruffers, are still great dogs. Beyond the great family running the place, there's a nice hike to a waterfall, lychee orchards, pineapple fields, over 10 varietals of bananas and so many birds. Jill even learned how to weave the traditional style without a standing loom, known as back-strap loom; she now has a scarf she made herself with nothing more than some carved sticks and some thread. Pretty awesome.

After Bamboo Nest we decide to skip the main Chiang Rai town and head straight for the border! Back to Lao we go via the boat crossing over the Mekong in Houayxai, Lao. Located in the Golden Triangle, this area was used for hundreds of years as an poppy seed (i.e. opium producing) growing region by the H'Mong tribal peoples, and then durring the French occupation, by several H'Mong opium lords. During the French occupation of Indochina it was even "endorsed" and heavily taxed. When the French were kicked out of Vietnam and Lao by the North Vietnamese and Pathat Lao, the USA moved in to fill the colonial void. The US's supposed non-interference policy in Lao, as Lao was technically a neutral country during the American War, made it so the US couldn't have standing troops in Lao. Instead, the US sent CIA operatives and equipment to the region to train local H'Mong peoples in Lao to fight the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao. Coming back to the Golden Triangle, the Royal Lao Government, H'Mong opium lords and the CIA used the opium trade to fund the secret war going on in Lao. The world was supplied opium to make heroin throughout the American War by American cargo planes bussing opium to factories in Thailand and Burma. Now how's that for some hypocrisy. Anyways, the Golden Triangle doesn't grow poppies anymore, or at least in any substantive way as narcotic trade has moved toward meth labs and away from poppy fields.

Houayxai is now a bustling trade port and a gateway for travelers from Thailand into Lao. From Houayxai we caught the evening bus to Luang Prabang. Now here I am typing this post in our room only four hours since we got into Luang Prabang. It feels good to be back in Lao. Good people, good food, great atmosphere.

-Geoff

Life's A Beach

gsewake — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:08:00 GMT

Today is our last in the small squid fishing village/beach town of Ban Krut on Thailand's south-central gulf coast. Geoff did some extensive online research to find this place. It's not featured in any guidebooks as yet since its primarily a local beach retreat. There's no way it can last though... Ban Krut is wonderful!

The beach is (obviously) the main highlight. Ban Krut beach is roughly 18km long, and less than half of it is fronted by resorts and bungalows. The rest is completely deserted. The coconut palms sway in the breeze overhead as you stroll along the golden sands. The ocean is very calm and shallow, warm and refreshing. You are alone except for the sand crabs!

We haven't made our way to the more popular backpacker islands to the south of Thailand, but from what we have heard it is a very different story there. Ban Krut is great to visit, but also seems like a great place for the locals to live. To give you an idea, all the food and drink establishments close around 8pm. For the most part the beach-goers here are the local teens and families enjoying an afternoon swim, and the locals sit side-by-side with the tourists at the beachside restaurants.

Our days start with an early visit to the morning market for breakfast, which we eat outside on the porch of our bungalow. If it's really hot we will go to the beach to collect shells and take it easy. If the temperature is moderate we will explore the area on rented bikes. There are secluded coves and beautiful Wats within biking distance, and the working fishing village to the south is nice (although it smells strongly of dried squid!)

As the afternoon cools down the beach starts to fill up with maybe 50 people along the whole 18km of beach. Positively crowded! There are beach bars serving cold beers and fruit shakes and vendors selling delicious spicy papaya salad with sticky rice.

In the evening the dinner options are shockingly good for such a small town. There are a few farangs (white guys) with Thai wives who have opened restaurants catering to the few Western visitors and the results are delicious. Of course the Thai food options are also spectacular. The freshest squid we have ever eaten!

These farang-Thai couples are also wonderfully open and inviting. Byron and Kasama in particular have taken us a bit under their wing. Last night we enjoyed their hospitality at a small dinner party at their restaurant. We met some other nice farang locals and retiree couples and drank sangria well into the night beneath the full moon. It's a hard life! We are really grateful to have found this place and these people.

Tonight we head north to Chiang Mai, to explore the rest of what Thailand has to offer.

-Gillian

Belated Laos Recap: Best and Worst

gsewake — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:36:00 GMT

This posting isn't really a true reflection of Laos since we only visited three towns while we were there. All-in-all we spent about three weeks in the country and only explored a small portion of the north and northeast. We hope to see some of the central and southern regions later in our trip, but I want to post a recap before we move on to our posts on Thailand, where we are now. Next up: the beaches of Ban Krut!

-Gillian

Best Overall Experience: Laos New Year parties in Luang Prabang. Wet and wildly different from the quiet, relatively conservative Laos we had seen before!

Favorite Town: We stayed in the sleepy river town of Nong Khiaw for only two days, but we loved lazing away in our hammock overlooking the Nam Ou. The beautiful boat ride to get there is worth the long travel time. Note: there wasn't one town in Laos that we didn't like. Luang Prabang in particular is a really great and welcoming little city.

Best Food: A tough one! We had a number of particularly good breakfasts. Honorable mention to the pickled bamboo dip with sticky rice, the banh mi-like sandwich with chicken pate and omelet, and the chicken rice soup with savory donuts. But, for the BEST I'm going to pick the Phonsavan market for the best coffee I've ever had and what I think are called banh cuon (steamed rice flour crepes with mushroom/pork filling dipped in spicy chilli sauce).

Best Farang (white people) Food: Geoff is going to do a whole post on this later, but I want to highlight the breakfast special at L'Etranger Books and Tea. A proper pot of Twinnings tea with cream, fried eggs, crispy Laos baguette, herbed mayo, and fresh tomatoes. Very satisfying for this white girl after many weeks of noodles and rice!

Unexpected Pleasure: Ok, not that unexpected, but we love the Laos people! They are warm, easygoing, and so approachable. After the hassle and very "assertive" business acumen of Vietnam it was a lovely change.

Most Humbling Experience: Our visit to Phonsavan was colored by the region's devastation during what we call the Vietnam War and they call America's Secret War. During that time America bombed the communist Pathet Lao military installments to stop their support of the VietCong, and then blatentely attacked civilian refugee camps. The pilots were told to look for white chickens and ducks when choosing their targets. The area remains the most heavily bombed place in the world per capita and about 300 people still die yearly from unexploded ordinance. Naturally, this narrative dominates most tours and sites in NE Laos. Having never learned about this part of the conflict in school it was horrifying to witness the devastation, and the amount of work that still needs to be done. While we were there some American military personnel were visiting to search for MIA remains, but it seems as though the American government is not a significant donor to the UXO cleanup effort.

Worst Overall Experience: Bus ride from Phonsavan to Luang Prabang. It was 6 hours of scary, winding, narrow, bumpy roads. In the back seat of a baking hot minivan. Geoff suffered in particular but did not lose his cookies! My legs and arms were sore from bracing against the back of the seat in front of me.

Worst Food: We had some kinda bland and stale sandwiches along the tourist market. The non-spicy (farang) version of the tasty banh mi I mentioned previously includes ketchup. Yuck.

Unexpected Annoyance: Laos, in particular Luang Prabang, was a lot more expensive than we expected. Locals seem to rarely eat outside the home for lunch and dinner so we didn't have a choice but to eat at tourist restaurants, which are always pricier than markets or street stalls. A lot of things are imported into Laos as well, which raises their price. This wasn't a huge deal, and we were happy to support the local economy, but it was surprising as we expected Laos to be one of the cheapest countries we visited!

Lunar New Year x2: Bangkok and Luang Prabang

gsewake — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:27:00 GMT

Rewind to Thursday, 11 April 2013, one day before Lao Lunar New Year celebrations begin in Luang Prabang; we find some cheap tickets to Bangkok from Luang Prabang and jump on them. We leave on Monday.

Friday the 12th we celebrate our monthly anniversary at a nice French restaurant called l'Elephant. Open a nice half bottle of bubbles. Oh how I've missed that French liquid gold. Water fights and fun festivities have begun.

Saturday the 13th, things kick up a notch with more water fights; hundreds of locals flock to the Provincial New Year Fair to watch the Ms. Luang Prabang pageant, play fun carnie games and ride slightly dangerous carnie rides.

Sunday the 14th, Lao New Year is in full swing. Parties all along the Mekong with water fights and colored powder smearing (smearing is for wishing you good luck in the new year) from the late morning to 6PM at night. We finish the evening at a nice relaxed French-Lao place that specializes in Mekong ceviche. One of the best ceviches I've ever had. Yup, that good.

Monday the 15th we have a nice morning flight to Bangkok. Arriving in Bangkok is simply jawdropping. This place is huge. Like mixing the wide layout of Los Angeles with a bit of the hip culture of New York City with the flashy lights and high-end shopping malls of Las Vegas and what I assume the Hong Kong skyscrapers are like and you have Bangkok. No true center, just a sprawling metropolis. We catch a cab to our homestay, located about 30min outside the main part of the City via the BTS (elevated rail---very efficient and hightech, very cool). Our host informs us there are still another two days of Songkran, the Thai Lunar New Year---and he's taking us to the heart of it. Like the Lao New Year, celebrations include water fights and powder smearing. Only this is Bangkok. Things are done on a much grander scale. What I can only imagine what a New York City version would be like... On one of Bangkok's main finance and business drags Bangkok holds its annual water party. Along this drag is an elevated BTS walkway. Now imagine thousands of people with water pistols, buckets and powder spraying/dumping water/smearing powder in the streets and thousands of folks above watching the craziness and occationally dumping water on the crowds below. Additionally, imagine fire trucks every few blocks hosing the crowds and concert stages setup in a number of locations blasting music and street vendors lining the sidewalks and the center of the road selling water pistols, ice cold water, powder and food (questionably sanitary due to the rather wet conditions), also participating in the water fight. That was Songkran. It was insane. So much water, so many people. Craziness. But all in all, an amazing experience.

Tuesday the 16th, We skip the last day of Songkran and instead spend it at one of the giganormous malls for some window shopping and food court eating, safe from the water. A nice relaxing day to recover from Lao and Thai Lunar New Year.

Korpjai lalai Luang Prabang and Bangkok (much thanks in Lao).

Today and the remainder of the week will be spent enjoying the real Bangkok sites, i.e. wats, Buddhas, palaces and street food. At the end of the week we hope to go south to the beach before the start of the rainy season, then either go north to Chang Mai or head west to Cambodia via Angkor Wat.

-Geoff

17 April 2013

On Lao Time

gsewake — Sat, 6 Apr 2013 13:35:00 GMT

We have only been in Laos for a little over a week, but we are already feeling our pace slowing. The Lao are famous for their chill attitude towards timetables, work, and life in general, and after busy and demanding Vietnam its a nice change of pace.

We are spending most of our time this month in Luang Prabang, which is a tiny city and the main tourist destination in the country. It does feel like a tourist spot, but it also hasn't lost its character as a living city. The contrast to Hoi An in Vietnam, which is another UNESCO heritage site for its French colonial architecture, but seemed rather soulless, is stark.

As far as we can judge, the best thing to do in Luang Prabang is to stroll through the streets of the old town between the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers and gaze at the sites. Maybe you come across an unexpected cafe with amazing croissants. Perhaps you decide to stop for a cold fruit shake and a BeerLao (the delicious local brew) at a riverside restaurant to watch the sun set over the Mekong. Occasionally you will decide to leave town for a day trip with some new friends to the local waterfall/swimming hole. I think you get the idea. It's a chill place.

Luang Prabang is also the center of Buddism in Laos, with a new Wat on every corner and saffron-cloaked monks all around. We have done our fair share of Wat siteseeing... but as with churches in Europe they all seem to blend together after a while. Its traditional for teenage boys in Laos to spend a year (or more) in service to a Wat, which means that the monks here are an interesting mix of the pious and the mischevious.

Right now we are in the small town of Nong Kiaw, a few hours NE of Luang Prabang on the Nam Ou river. I am writing this entry from the hammock of our bungalo overlooking the river and the town. Once again the backpackers life in SE Asia has turned out to be less of an adventure and more of a vacation... but I'm not complaining!

-Gillian

From Hanoi, Vietnam to Phonsavan, Laos

gsewake — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 08:31:00 GMT

Left early in the morning for the SE7 train from Hanoi to Vinh. Unfortunately, I've left my iphone in the room. Time to double back to the hotel. Luckily the hotel manager is still at the front desk to let us in. I run upstairs grab the phone and hustle downstairs. Amazingly, there's a car outside (manager hailed a cab) and two waters free of charge. So great. Jumping in the cab, we head back to the train station. Arriving 20min before departure we are helped by a porter who won't take no for an answer. Reluctantly, we follow him to our train cabin and egg him away for 10000 dong. Originally, he requested 50000 (an outrageously high amount for what he did).

A pleasant 6hr train ride later with a nice nap helps to rebuild our fortitude after waking up early and rushing back to get my phone (and dealing with an uncooperative porter). Vinh is flat and wide. Very dusty and without character. Why? Well, unfortunately, Vinh was subject to non stop bombing during the American War, leaving it with officially two standing buildings and a population of ZERO. Thank you USA. Regardless, the people are friendly and we check into a hotel across the street from the bus station. After picking up bus tickets, we grab a dinner (least favorite, but all things considered, it could have been worse) and head to bed.

Early the next morning we head down to the bus station, grab a quick bowl of Pho Bo and hop on the bus. It's a very nice sleeper bus. Cushions, Aircon... Awesome for sleeping. Passing out occasionally on the ride up, while awake we see stunning karst mountains, Tai and H'Mong villages, and, quite frankly, some of the most beautiful cliff side/mountain valley scenes of all time as we moved vertically through the jungle. A smooth transition through customs eased our nerves and a lovely drive from the border to Phonsavan helped top the cake. Checking into our hotel, we pass out.

The next few days we, for the most part, chill out. As a one horse town, Phonsavan is not very exciting or large. Most or what you come to see here is the Plain of Jars and a number of Secret War sites and minority villages. We took a tour one of the days and visited a number of cool and humbling sites. First on the tour, the Plain of Jars, a place littered with stone jars, one of which weighing over three tons! Second, H'Mung village, to see their way of life. Third, a hot spring and craft village where the guide demonstrated how to fish with a throw net and the villagers showed us the weaving and garlic they harvested. Fourth, a quick stop at a rice wine maker; fermented rice in oil barrels and then distilled over an open fire. Finally, a field littered in craters. Again, thank you USA for your holes and UXO. UXO is perhaps the most prevalent and dangerous thing in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Laos, over 2million tons of unexploded ordinance sits in the soil of Laos. Why? Because around 30% of the bombs dropped by the Americans didn't explode. Sadly, much of where the UXO sits is in prime farming and building land. Our guide even pointed out a UXO recently discovered located not more than one meter from the road.

This stuff is everywhere. Imagine a world where you can only walk on the established path. No sitting in the field, no gardening new plots. This is the life of the Lao. This inhibits the locals from being able to farm the land and build safely. Thus, many are forced to buy what could be plentiful, i.e. rice, from Thailand and Vietnam, because the airable land is so limited by the UXO. Why is it still here? Because it's very expensive to remove and their's so much of it. Feel bad? Donate to MAG (an international NGO that removes UXO all over the world) or write your representative asking them to pay reparations or assist in the removal of UXO in Laos and the rest of SE Asia. Our time in Phonsavan has been humbling. In contrast, much of the UXO in farmland in Vietnam was removed by the Vietnamese with the help of the Russians. MAG continues to provide assistance in remote places being opened to the public, but it is still unsafe to travel on unestablished paths. Help is needed to remove this stuff.

We leave tomorrow for Luang Prabang. Hopefully, we will help teach English and other things along with visiting all the cool sites.

-Geoff

One Month in Vietnam: Best & Worst

gsewake — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:51:00 GMT

After travelling through Vietnam we can say, without a doubt, Vietnam is beautiful, fun, exciting, tasty, accessible and friendly. The people and culture we experienced were for the most part helpful and warm. The environment is like nothing either of us ha e experienced before, from swarms of motos riding up and down the boulevards, to tranqual dense jungle, to peaceful rice paddies, to pitch black caves, to herds of friendly tame water buffalo. This place should be a must see on any globetrotter's list. Now for our best and worst:

Gillian's List.

Best experience: Phong Nha Farmstay. Beautiful karst mountains, friendly locals and staff, unbeleivable caves, and amazing tours add up to a winner.

Favorite city: Hue in central Vietnam. So tasty!

Best food: Banh thit nuong cuon in Hue - grilled pork served in fresh steamed rice pancakes with fresh herbs.

Unexpected pleasure: Road and train travel. Amazingly comfortable, cheap, and impossibly scenic.

Worst experience: Agent Orange exhibit at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon.

Least favorite city: Hoi An. Despite its beauty it was too touristy! It didnt feel like a living city, just a museum piece.

Worst food: An entire fried chicken ordered accidentally. Beak, gristle, and all. Plus it was expensive!

Geoff's List:

Best experience: Phong Nha Farmstay tours were the best. The Red Bridge Cooking School was awesome. Teaching the kids at Sapa 'O Chau was also great.

Single best experience in nature: The swim from near absolute dark to the cave enterance at the Dark Cave in Phong Nha NP. Life changing swim.

Favorite city: Hue as well. Food was hands down the best overall, however the fresh grilled chicken from the "Pub With Cold Beer" in Phong Nha was seriously delish.

Best food: Noodles, noodles, noodles and freakin more noodles. Any foodie worth his or her salt MUST come to Vietnam to eat the noodles from street stalls and markets. This place has every incarnation of rice noodle one could ever think possible. From Savory to sweet, wrapped with to wrapped in, thick to thin this place had it all. Only caveat, eat only were locals are dining. You shouldn't have to pay more than $2 to get a fantastic and likely flavor game changer experience.

Breathtaking View: Trainride from Danang to Hue. Riding along the cliffs above the beautiful South china Sea. Wowzah.

Worst experience: Trying to get a taxi at the Ho Chi Minh City Airport to our first hotel after a 20hr flight from JFK, in sum: Only fly in during the day or better yet, arrange from your hotel a pick up. Save yourself the scam, displeasure and stress.

Least favorite city: Vinh. Sadly this city was flattened durring the American War. At one point afterwards it officially had a population of zero. This has left the city a very characterless place. However this place is easy to navigate and the bus and train station are fairly hastle-free.

Worst food: Not the freshest com (rice) and toppings. I should have known it wouldn't be good. As with the halal carts in NYC, only eat from the stall if the food looks fresh--lots of locals or the cook making fresh batches.

Last Days in Vietnam

gsewake — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:36:00 GMT

Its been a while since we posted, so here is a quick recap.

-Gillian

Sapa:

Sapa, in the hills of Northern Laos, was a retreat for French colonialists when the plains became too hot. We could see why they chose the spot. The beautiful views of the surrounding steep mountains and rice paddies were spectacular.

We stayed in Sapa for a full week, with 4 days of trekking and followed by 3 days teaching English to local Hmong children. Both the trek and teaching were through an amazing organization called Sapa O'Chau. If anyone feels so inclined, they are starved for resources and could use some help! http://www.sapaochau.org/

The town of Sapa has become pretty overdeveloped and overtouristed in the past few years, and we could see this even on our trek in the outskirts of the region. Until our third day of trekking the path was well trod by countless other westerners, in varying degrees of physical fitness, and the food options presented (french fries and pancakes in a traditional homestay?) pointed to picky eaters gone before. However we really enjoyed our trek with our young guides Lam and Lu. We had great fun walking along winding paths, chuckling at the many baby ducklings and piglets, and fighting off the attentions of the older Hmong women, who follow you with their souvenir trinkets (all cheaply made and really unappealing) for literally hours. It seems like a bad business plan, but after talking to other trekkers it sounds like almost everyone gives in and buys stuff to make them go away!

Our third and fourth days of trekking were my favorite. The paths, always on the rustic side, turned into steep trails also used by the water buffalo. At each homestay we were made to feel very welcome, but the last homestay was especially nice. The lovely Tay (pronounced Thai) family we stayed with let me attempt to help cook the evening meal, all over a wood fire. We all sat down together, laughed, and drank lots of rice whisky well into the night.

After our trek we asked to stay to volunteer at Sapa O'Chau. The organization was established because Hmong children are often kept from school in order to work on their farms or sell trinkets at the market to support their family. Even though children with education would end up earning much higher wages, most families are too poor to plan for the future. Sapa O'Chau gives the students an education, particularly in English and computers, so that they can take advantage of the tourist industry in Sapa in a more profitable way. So, back to the volunteering: We have no teaching experience and were thrown in without any supporting structure (their is no regular teacher, no lesson plan, and all the students are at different levels) but we made do and had a great time. The kids we taught were exceptional. Their warmth and eagerness to learn were amazing to see. They are in class six days a week: Four days of English and computer skills followed by regular Vietnamese school on the weekend. We will miss them!

Hanoi:

With just a weekend left on our visa we still had not seen Hanoi, so after a great week in Sapa we boarded the train to go south. Hanoi is a great city. It is Vietnam's capital, and you could see the city's wealth and importance in its citizens. The old quarter, which is the main tourist area, was great to explore... but even compared to Ho Chi Minh City the traffic was terrifying!! We made it out alive and had some terrific bun cha (vermicilli noodles and grilled pork dipped into a sweet/sour sauce), bia hoi ("fresh" beer), a mochi-like jelly dessert, and more.

We visited a prison museum and saw John McCain's flight suit from when he was a "guest" there during the war. We went to the first university in the country, literally called a "temple of literature," which was operational from the 11th century to the 18th. There was also an amazing Fine Art museum with a collection that spanned decorative arts to modernist works.

That about wraps up our time in Vietnam. We took a bus to Vinh (not worth an update) and made it safely into Laos, where we are now. We never did make it to Halong Bay, the Mekong Delta, or the DMZ... We are saving those for our next trip!

Phong Nha Farmstay

gsewake — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:47:00 GMT

If you have a chance to visit Vietnam and you want to experience its natural beauty, come to Phong Nha. The Phong Nha area is set on a number of rivers and streams that carve through limestone karst mountains. The Phong Nha National Park is littered with caves carved from the limestone. It also contains the largest cave in the world. Beautiful farmland provides the buffer zone around the Park. Rice paddies and corn are the staple crop. We stayed at the Phong Nha Farmstay, a wonderful accomadation owned by an Ozzie and Vietnamese couple (Ben and Bich). The Farmstay is located on a dirt road overlooking Bich's family's rice and corn fields. There's an open pit fireplace that rolls into the night, an outdoor rooftop patio overlooking the paddies and even a pool table and pool. The folks to work there are awesome and the people who come to stay are just as cool. We went on a number of tours. The first tour went to the Dark Cave, where we put on headlamps and swam into the darkness. Super cool. We also saw Phong Nha Cave, a cave you get to ride a boat through. This tour also included biking and several hours of river boating. It was a very relaxing and exciting tour. The second tour we did was more like an afternoon activity. We rode our bikes to a remote little home called, "The Pub With Cold Beer", where we went net fishing, swimming and ate the freshest BBQ'd chicken ever. Soooo good. The lady killed the chicken right there. The chicken was served with tasty veggies, rice and the most delish peanut satay. The last tour we took covered the Paridise Cave, a huge cave that could fit a battleship in the main cavern. Rediculously huge. Very, very cool. We also went swimming in a river that gets its water from an underground river thought to come from across the mountians in Laos. The guide told us that that particular river is likely the largest cave system in the world, but because it is underwater, it is near impossible to explore. Anyways, we have to get back to teaching these wonderful kids at Sapa O' Chau. We leave tomorrow for Hanoi after a quick morning teaching session. We will update soon and possibly add more to this entry once we get to Hanoi.

-Geoff

Quick Update: in Sapa

gsewake — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:16:00 GMT

Hello! We had such a good time at the Phong Nha Farmstay that we didn't get a chance to do many updates. Long story short: the caves are spectacular, the locals are charming, the countryside is beautiful, and many friends were made. We will write more later.

We have just completed another marathon journey, this time by train, up to the far north of Vietnam. The town is called Sapa, and we will be heading off on a four day trek to see the surrounding countryside. Sapa used to be a summering spot for the colonial French when the lowlands got too warm. It is chilly here! We are wearing socks and jackets for the first time since we arrived. We are quite far up in the mountains, and once the fog clears (we hope it does eventually) we should have some amazing views of the valleys.

Because we'll be on a trek (with a great organization called Sapa O'Chau that trains young people to be guides as well as provides educational support to the community) we won't be able to check email or post an update until we get to Hanoi later in the week. I'm sure we'll have lots to report!

~Gillian

Next up: Phong Nha National Park

gsewake — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:26:00 GMT

Today we leave Hue, which has become our favorite spot so far on our trip. 12 days in (give or take... we keep losing track!) and we are starting to get the hang of things here.

Vietnam has been an incredibly easy place to visit. Any ideas I had at the beginning about having to "rough it" are completely wrong. We have been operating at almost the lowest budget option (dorms in hostels are cheaper than the hotels we've been staying at, but not by much) and we haven't even come close to giving up any amenities, including wifi. If we weren't going into Laos next month I would feel silly about having packed so much travel clothing and supplies!

Today we move on to Phong Nha National Park (another UNESCO site) to spend some time visiting the region's wonderful caves. The park is slightly off the main tourist circuit, but once again we will be staying in relative luxury at Phong Nha Farmstay. We expect that this will actually be the most backpacker-y it will get for us in this country.

We'll send an update on those caves soon.

~Gillian

A Note on Hue

gsewake — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 22:38:00 GMT

We have been in Hue for two and a half days. So far it has been my favorite city in Vietnam. Not as touristy as Hoi An, and not as frenetic as Ho Chi Minh City. It seems as though Hue has a larger population with expendable income, even compared to the more commercial city of HCMC. The shops and amenities here don't seem to be geared soley to tourists. There is a highly regarded high school here (one of the hardest to get into in the country) and a local university, so we think the young population has something to do with it. We have heard that it is a pretty conservative town, but have not seen it... lots of young people without parents nearby!

Anyway, the result is that for tourists the pace here seems a bit more laid back. Less is expected of you. It's easier to observe. The local motorcycle, boat, and cyclo touts are as "assertive" in trying to sell their services as anywhere, but it's a very walkeable city and it's easy to brush them off. We suspect we are still being upsold on meals, but there's no sense of trying to take advantage... it seems like a mini tourist "tax".

Today we walked quite a long way to Thien Mu Pagoda and back. We had one of our favorite culinary experiences of the trip at a grilled pork (thit nuong) restaurant, served two ways (in a modified summer roll, and over rice vermicilli noodles, both with lettuce and fresh herbs). Succulent, delicious, and very cheap!

Yesterday we visited the main tourist attraction in Hue: the Citadel and the Imperial City. It was quite an impressive site. The influence of China on the aesthetics of the period was very clear. Built to serve the emperors of Vietnam between 1800 and the mid-1900's it was intricately tiled and painted... and then mostly destroyed by American bombing during the war. It's quite sobering to see the contrast between the ornately decorated surviving buildings (they are really amazing) and the overgrown ruins of the rest of the complex. We also spent some time at the Royal Fine Arts Museum, which was cool and deserted after the hea and bustle of the Imperial City. There were some wonderful examples of mother-of-pearl inlay and embroidery. Once we figure out how to upload pictures we will show you. For now, check out our Facebook page for teaser images!

Tomorrow we will be traveling out to the Royal Mausoleums on the outskirts of the city. The weather here has been beautiful, and it looks to be the same tomorrow!

~Gillian

UNESCO Visits and Cooking!

gsewake — Wed, 6 Mar 2013 09:18:00 GMT

The Merchant City of Hoi An is a lovely city that sits along the Thu Bon River. Although no longer an active port, the City still holds much of the charm of old. The City is well preserved with 200 year old Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese merchant houses, community lodges and Buddhist pagodas. It is currently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The people are wonderful, and helpful, although when purchasing items prices seem less negotiable than HCMC. As always the food is tasty. My one complaint would be the Venice-like tourist atmosphere. There are more than enough souvenir shops to satisfy even the cheesiest vacationer and the waterfront, although lovely, feels more like a Disneyland than an actual place people live. Alas, this seems to be the cost of becoming a tourist-focused economy. A benefit of it all is that even though many of the buildings are now souvenir shops, the 200 year old buildings themselves will be preserved for generations to come. Just like Venice, architecturally, this city shines.

On our second day in Hoi An, we took the Red Bridge Cooking School full-day class. The classes are small, only 8 people maximum, start in Old Town Hoi An with a morning coffee. Then off to a van for a morning tour. Much to my taste, the school took us to an organic farm for a lesson on practices and types of herbs and vegetables grown in the region, followed by a trip to the local market to pick up the ingredients to be used in the day's cooking class. Upon arrival at the school, we were served drinks and immediately jumped into the cooking. We cooked, chopped, BBQ'd, etc, EVERYTHING! The class was great. We even made our own rice noodles. Four dishes total were made: Clay Pot Fish, banana leaf shrimp, pho bo, and papaya salad. The property of the school is quite picturesque, set on the river front and a well curated garden, the kitchen is outdoors looking out over the river. After finishing the cooking and eating, we were given a wonderful riverboat ride back to Hoi An.

On our last full day in Hoi An, we boarded a big tour bus for the My Son Cham Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built around 1000 years ago by the Cham Empire, a Javan peoples who once ruled parts of Central and Southern Vietnam. A Hindu temple complex, the Cham Temples resemble the temples of Ankor Wat, but on a smaller scale. An amazing thing about these Cham temples is the way in which these buildings were built. Using only bricks and perhaps an organic resin, the Cham peoples were able to build buildings to last over 1000 years! These bricks sat in the rainforest with little deterioration until the American War, when Nixon decided to bomb the temples. Today, much of the temple complex is destroyed or in need of repair. A joint project with the Italians is helping the Vietnamese restore many of these temples, but the technology used to build them as they had 1000 years ago is lost. Current methods seem to only last a few decades. If you look at the older reconstruction and compare it to the original work, you'll see the brick and mortar technique fails to hold up for more than 40 years, while the original work looks quite new. On the tour we got to walk around the complex and explore a number of temples. Our guide, a well spoken Vietnamese man, was funny and informative. Unfortunately, the size of our group made our interaction with him rather limited. There were a decent number of tourists about, but not so many it felt overrun. We did have some puppy friends running around the temples who had followed our tour group from the information center located about 100 yards from the temple site. After leaving the site, we were taken to a boat where we had lunch and stopped over at a traditional woodcraft village located just across the river from Hoi An. The villagers make fishing boats and other larger vessels as well as more intricate woodworks used by the town of Hoi An for restoration purposes as well as to sell to rich tourists. Sorry folks, no five foot wooden Buddha or Shiva statues for you.

Today we travel northwards to the old Imperial City of Hue via train. See ya'll in Hue!

- Geoff

24 Hours from Saigon

gsewake — Sun, 3 Mar 2013 09:00:00 GMT

We arrived in Hoi An this morning at 7:00am, exactly 24 hours after we stepped onto the bus in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday. This was not the brutal travel experience you are anticipating. The buses were clean and comfortable---far more so than in the states---and we were given multiple breaks to stretch our legs (and support the local economy, natch). I can highly recommend the sleeper bus they loaded us onto in Nha Trang for the final 12 hour stretch... horizontal bus rides are much more pleasant than they sound!

The best part was the chance to see Vietnam outside of the city. The more I travel the more the world completely fails to be exotic. The countryside here---changing from dry and rocky near the south into wet, lush agricultural land towards the north---reminds me of my rural home, except with rice paddies instead of hay fields. It's what comes between the major tourist sites that continues to fascinate me. Despite differences of culture and aesthetic, nothing here seems foreign. The impulses that drive everyday life are the same. Mark Twain's quote comes to mind often: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

While Vietnam seems to be very comfortable with tourism and most of the cities and towns we are planning to visit are very much on the tourist circuit, I was grateful yesterday to glimpse the regular lives of the Vietnamese along the roadside. While we are here in Hoi An (if it ever stops raining!) we hope to break out a bit on our own to see the countryside. Every few hundred feet on the highway are open-sided, thatch-roof "rest stops" with a dozen or so hamocks and a small food area. How wonderful would it be to cruise around this country on a motorbike using these rest stops to support us? (Don't worry Mom and Marlene, we are NOT going to go motorbiking!)

It promises to rain in Hoi An for the next four days, which should give us plenty of time to figure out how to upload pictures. More soon!

From: Gillian

Racking up miles equal to our expenses ;)

gsewake — Fri, 1 Mar 2013 18:19:00 GMT

Went for a 12 mile roundtrip walk today:

Morning market

Jade Pagoda

Botanical gardens

Zoo

Riverfront

Total cost around $12 which includes a $7 messenger bag for Gillian, best part, breakfast for two was $1!

Avg $1/mi. ;)

Tomorrow we're catching a bus to Hoi An. We should arrive Sunday morning. We plan to spend 4 nights there before heading out to Hue.

First Days: Becoming Attuned

gsewake — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:10:00 GMT

Fluffy snow flakes drift past my face. The cool weather chilling my toes. I'm not dressed for this New England winter weather. Wearing a black Blink-182 hoodie, tan tech pants and flip flops, perhaps some boots or a puffy winter coat would have been more appropriate, but not this time. We're planning on treking through Southeast Asia for three-plus months, where a heat index of around 95 degrees F will be the norm. Fast forward 9 hours on a bus from New England to New York and 22 hours flight time from JFK to Narita to HCMC---we have arrived.

A scooter coming to life echoes down our street. Our guesthouse, located down a narrow alleyway about 50 meters from the main backpacker drag off Pham Ngu Lao, in District 1, is perfectly placed. With the city proper so compressed into a small area, yet the metropolitan area stretching from the South China Sea to the Cambodian boarder, it is wonderfully atmospheric spot. Narrow alleyways dot the map leading to wonderful outdoor eateries, family apartments and old French Colonial-styled homes. The chatter of children, men talking over iced coffee or bia hoi and women selling their wares fill the streets. Scooters are everywhere. Driving all and any ways possible, legal or not. This city is alive. Morning markets are a hot bed of wonderful fresh smells. Fruits of all kinds, a cornucopia of colors and shapes. Meats, fish, vegetables and more can all be found here. But what interests us most are the food stalls. Serving up their specialties, these truely artisinal shops serve up unique, yet culturally relevant foods. Sitting on children's plastic lawn chairs and small foldout tables, locals and tourists alike chowdosn on bowls and plates of steaming goodness. Herbs, spices and condiments aplenty, the wonders of Vietnam eateries come to life in one's mouth as you slurp down fresh noodles or tender pieces of meat.

Our first day began at the Thai Bihn Market, a small, but well equipped market (more so than any of the New York Chinatown markets, or more trendy farmer's markets) brimming with life. Ladies sit with baskets and tables full of fresh fruit and vegetables. Butchers chop up lovely cuts of meat---from pig's head to chicken feet---they have it all. Fishmongers sell fish of all kinds, live and recently fileted. And of course, let us not forget the food stalls. Oh wonderful, tasty food stalls. All kinds of noodles, meat on a stick, rice a plenty, so good. Yum. We decided on some bowls of pho and iced coffee. Let me quickly say, "Best coffee ever". Blue Bottle Coffee 'aint got nothin on these guys. After eating, we decided to charter out and explore the city.

Up and down the boulevards, parks and alleyways, what we saw reminded me of Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii. Large banyan and locust trees line the parks and boulevards while old French colonial era buildings fill in the sides.

We also took a stroll to the American War Museum, a war dedicated to the attrocities and reconciliation as concerns what we know as the Vietnam War. Very sad, but important memorial to the terrible things Americans have done, and hopefully never again.

- Geoffrey Sewake, 02/28/13

T-minus one to Southeast Asia!

gsewake — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:21:00 GMT

Hello Friends and Family:

Over the next three months we will use this travel journal to post quick updates on our progress in SE Asia. We'll be exploring Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, although probably not in that exact order. We can't guarantee regular postings, but be on the lookout for something new every week or so.

Currently, we are packing and repacking our bags to make sure we have everything we need to go from the cold and snowy Northeast to the blistering heat of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietmnam in the space of 20 hours. Tomorrow's forecast: 95 degrees and sunny!

Au Revoir,

Geoff & Gillian