Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Gooooood morningggggg Vietnam!!

Since the 9th was a Wednesday, both Matteo and Rachael had to work. Rachael works at an international school and was up and out quite early. Matteo is an instructor at a gym so he had a morning class to teach but then came back to the apartment and got showered and we were able to hang out together for the day. 

We went for brunch and I had my first taste of Vietnamese food, I instantly knew I was going to like this country.



Next Matteo navigated us on his moto (a feat far more impressive in HaNoi than in Pathum Thani) to The Old Quarter, an area popular for tourists and littered with hostels and travel agencies and therefore perfect for booking my tour of Ha Long Bay. 

After getting that squared away, we explored a couple local markets in search of dad's playing cards and Uncle Ralphy's flag (funny, I buy those items for them everywhere I go, but not always something for myself). Again the flag was a success but all the cards were plain playing cards with no indication of where they were from. Sorry again dad. 

Next we went for a walk around a lake and stopped for a photo of this very accurately scaled globe.



There was also a pagoda or temple (not sure which is which or what the difference is) we explored and it was interesting to see the vast differences between Thai and Vietnamese temples. This particular temple has a legend surrounding a turtle that retrieved a sword from the bottom of the lake and brought it to the king (I think it was the king.... Maybe). As we walked around we actually encountered a turtle going for a stroll through the temple. Hi there Mr. Turtle. 



Next was the flag tower where you could climb about halfway up to get a decent view of the city and of the collection of planes below. The planes were those that Vietnamese captured during the wars with France and the US. It was quite interesting and Matteo and I discussed how it seemed odd that they were all outside, exposed to the elements and with no protection from people climbing on them. 





After some people watching and delicious iced coffees, we headed back to the apartment so Matteo could get ready to teach a class at the gym. 




Rachael was going to attend the class that night and they invited me to join, but from the beautiful rooftop they have I spotted the lakes with a long stretch of road that ran between the two lakes and I swear I actually heard it calling me to come run. 


The small lake was about 2.5k and I made the first two loops as the sun was going down. No gps, no hr monitor, no music, just me and Lake Truc (and the hundreds of people on the street doing tai chi, selling food, selling other crap or trying to get you to come eat at their reataurant). By the end of the third loop it was dark and I ran the last with just the lights from the streets and restaurants. As I finished and walked up to the apartment I thought to myself, "I just ran a 10k in HaNoi, Vietnam. Yep, this is my life."

That night we went to dinner with some of Rachael's coworkers who also live in the building, and I got to experience beer hoi for the first time. Beer hoi is "fresh beer" brewed daily in nearly every little roadside restaurant in the area. Because it's brewed that day, the alcohol content is very low, but at about $0.25/glass you can afford to drink loads of it to get your buzz on. 

Family style eating is also quite common in Vietnam, so we ordered several dishes and everyone just dug  in. At the end of the night we were all well fed and the beer hoi had not stopped flowing. The waitress brought the check and I just laughed when for the five of us the grand total came to about $13USD. Have I mentioned I kinda love Vietnam?

Total for the day about 180,000dong + $120 USD (Ha Long Bay tour) ~ $128.57 USD. Two pricey days in a row. Yikes!

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Monday, October 28, 2013

Epic Adventure Day 8: OUCH! That was expensive!!

On Oct 8th I woke up and snagged the free breakfast offered at the hostel. There was a French guy in my room and we had talked about going to the nearby waterfalls that day. He snagged a songtaew and negotiated 75000kip and we were off. I knew that was a bit expensive, because a group had gone the day before and only paid about 30000kip each, but I figured splitting 75k wasn't that much more, so whatever.

We rode in the back of the songtaew along the bumpy road for about 45 minutes to the waterfall place. We each paid the 20000kip entrance fee and headed into the park to explore. We quickly came upon the small
bear rescue they have. Cutest little bears ever, some were probably only as tall as me.



As we continued through the park we found many waterfalls and pools for taking a dip.





We continued up up up on what was a somewhat challenging trail, especially considering I was still fighting that stupid cold. In the end it was worth it. At the top you could walk though a large pool and stand right at the top of a giant waterfall and look down. 





After enjoying the view and snapping some pics we headed back down for a swim.

It was clearly marked which pools you could swim in and which you couldn't. We saw one with a rope swing on the way up and that's where the French guy wanted to go. We didn't last too long swimming as the water was quite cold.

When we arrived back at the hostel I  discovered I should never let a Frenchman do my negotiating as the 75,000kip was actually PER PERSON!!! Ridiculous!! Too hungry to care, I headed out to find lunch. A delicious sandwich on baguette bread with a mango smoothie. Sandwiches aren't really a thing in Thailand so when I saw chicken, bacon, cheese and avocado on the side of the street for just a couple bucks, I was all over it. So good.

A bit later the hostel owner called me a songtaew and I headed to the airport. There I found a Laos flag for Uncle Ralphy and discovered that playing cards with famous things on them, aren't really a thing here. Sorry dad!

I ended up chatting with an guy from the US who had been working in Thailand for a while and was now traveling. As we walked to the plane I had to snap a pic because I've never actually been on this type of plane before....




I was a bit nervous arriving in Vietnam as I had applied for Visa on Arrival. Until recently you had apply for a Vietnam visa in advance which for me would have meant going to Bangkok waiting and doing whatever paperwork etc was necessary, leaving my passport with the Vietnam embassy and making the journey back to Bangkok a few days later to pick it up... Assuming it was approved.

Recently Visa on Arrival has been made available for people flying into Vietnam via HaNoi or Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). You fill out an online form and pay about a $15-20 USD fee. The company submits your info to immigration and in about 2-3 business days emails you a letter that you present on arrival, pay he visa fee and they give you your visa there. Much more convenient, but if I've learned anything in travelling, it's don't trust that these things will work until they actually do.

Lucky for me, everything went very smoothly. There was a window marked Visa on Arrival and I presented my letter, passport and of course an additional passport photo (they really love having photos of people in this part of the world) and a few minutes later my passport had a new giant sticker and stamp.

My friend Matteo had arranged for a driver to pick me up at the airport and pretty soon I was off the his apartment. En route, I discovered that while in Thailand a moto is considered a family vehicle (I've seen 5 people on one), in Vietnam, it's a moving company...






Matteo lives with his girlfriend Rachael (yes those are nicknames and it's funnier if you knew their actual names) and when I arrived he came down to meet me.

There was a bit of confusion and the guard seemed VERY angry and didn't want to let me in. Rachael, who speaks a bit more Vietnamese than Matteo came down to try to figure out what was going on. Eventually we got everything sorted out, but later discovered that the guard didn't think Rachael was home... And Matteo was bringing some random girl up to the apartment. Pretty funny.

We had a few drinks and chatted about life since we'd last seen each other (when Matteo and I were both working at a language center in Costa Rica) and then called it a night.

Pricey day!!: 183,000kip + 500baht + 215USD ~ $254.59 (includes visa and "on arrival" service, flight to Laos, most expensive flag I've ever bought Uncle Ralphy, grossly overpriced songtaew to the waterfalls, and a fairly pricey cab ride from the airport.... OUCH!!)

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Epic Adventure Day 7: Not so Epic, but there was kayaking!

On the morning of the 7th, I got ready and waited for the bus to come pick me up to take me to the kayaking tour. (It was late, of course!) The trip started in an only about half full 15 passenger van, but we were quickly transferred to a songtaew that had kayaks loaded on top. There were only five of us in the group so it wasn't too bad. 

When we arrived at the river, the kayaks were unloaded and I realized that since I was alone, and the others were couples, I'd be sharing the two person sea kayak with our guide. He was a pretty muscular guy, so I decided this wasn't a bad thing. 

After working at Outward Bound I'm accustomed to a safety first approach and found it quite odd that there was no safety kayaker and no helmets. Then again, the river was flat enough that we were in sea kayaks, not river kayaks, so maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. 

With no instruction about how to paddle or what to do if you fell out, we hopped in and started paddling our way down the Nam Ou river and eventually meeting the Mekong.  After two days on the slow boat, you'd think I would have seen enough countryside views from the river, but it was really nice to be out in the sun and actually doing something physical instead of just sitting. We passed a couple tiny villages where half clothed (or sometimes not) children shouted greetings to us as they jumped and splashed in the water. 

We pulled off to the side at one point for a break and enjoyed a little beach time before heading on to the caves. (I got some pretty good pics along the way, but they're on the waterproof comer and will have to wait til I get back to a computer to be posted.) Once there, we hauled our kayaks out of the water, found a place to sit and have our lunch and then headed in to check out the Pak Ou Cave.

Perhaps it's because I've actually been caving before, or that I've been to a lot of temples and seen A LOT of Buddhas, but I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed by the cave. I probably could have seen everything in about 10-20 and frankly none of the Buddhas were terribly impressive. 




There was a pretty sweet view of the river, but apart from that, kind of a let down. 


One of the other girls expressed the same sentiment saying, "I wish you could see how I pictured this in my head. We were going to kayak into the cave where there would be an island with a giant temple in the middle and all around would be the Buddha statues." Yep! That's the tour I wanted to go on. 

We returned to the kayaks and kept paddling towards the Whiskey Village. At a certain point I put my paddle down to get some water and the guide asked if I was tired. I told him it wasn't that my arms or shoulders were tired from paddling, but my hands were sore and fairly close to getting blistered. He told me to sit back and sing a song and that he would do the work and then started ferociously paddling. When one of the other girls shouted, "you're so lucky!" I told her she should have booked the luxury cruise, it was MUCH nicer. 

At the Whiskey Village I was once again, underwhelmed. When we arrived the locals had already made the whiskey for the day. Our guide showed us the giant clay pots they use and tried to explain the distilling process but it obviously just wasn't the same. We did get to sample a couple things. One was a sweet tasting pink liquor that you could pour over ice and enjoy alone.



The 100 proof whiskey on the other hand, was the worst tasting thing I've ever had. Worse than Costa Rica's guaro, worse than Peruvian Pisco. Awful!!
And of course they had stuff with snakes, scorpions, etc in it, all of which claimed to have extra abilities beyond getting you wasted. 


I thought the trip would be redeemed by the shopping, but the shops offered very little and everything was the same. We returned to town and I went back to my hostel mostly disappointed, but glad to have gotten a little workout in on the kayak at least. 

I decided to treat myself to a pedicure (worst pedi ever) and picked up a couple small things for myself in the market before calling it a night. 

Cost: 190,000kip + 90 baht ~ $27.26USD (not including the tour which was included in yesterday's sum)

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Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Epic Adventure days 4-6: I'm on a boat.... STILL!!

After sleeping for 15 hours straight and waking up not really feeling any better, I decided to take it easy on the 4th. Other than heading out for food, I pretty much stayed in bed and blogged and caught up on other stuff.  Not exactly epic, but I thought it might help (it didn't). I had booked a service to get me to Luang Prabang, because I decided I was too lazy to work out all the logistics myself. They picked me up an hour and fifteen minutes later than originally planned. After several other stops and bouncing around in a songtaew for over an hour, we finally loaded into the minivan to take us to the border.

The van wasn't full so it was a pretty comfortable ride. We arrived at 2am (the website said we'd get there at midnight) and were shown to "dorm" style rooms that seemed reminiscent of summer camp. Crappy beds, dirty bathrooms with only cold water, and only one outlet (because we clearly don't need to charge any devices before getting on a boat for two days) in the room which was for the fan... no air con. In the morning we had a fairly decent breakfast of scrambled eggs with toast and coffee. After some scrambling around to make sure everyone had what they needed for the border crossing (they require a passport photo for the immigration form), we did the stamping out of Thailand, hopped on a ferry and crossed the river to Laos where we went through the immigration process. It was all very easy and super quick in comparison to other countries I've been to.

We were then corralled onto another songtaew and taken to a little shop where we could buy food and drinks for the boat. Finally we were on the boat!!  (There should be a video embedded, but I'm not convinced it actually worked, so just in case....  http://youtu.be/yyLKVZVZyhk)


We arrived at our stopping point for the night a little earlier than expected and were immediately bombarded by people offering rooms at various guesthouses around town. Another girl and I had already booked a place with the guide who got us on the boat. I'd read that you can get a better deal if you wait and do it there, and I think that's true, but the other girl wanted to book it and I wasn't sure I could get a better deal if I had to pay for a single. It worked out and the place was alright.

Walking up the sandy hill to the town those tin roofed things in the background are the slow boats. 

The town itself obviously survives strictly on the fact that the slow boat stops there on the way. Beyond the places to stay, you get tons of people telling you that their restaurant is the best etc. We ended up eating at a cute place with good food and a free whiskey sample (okay!). There was also the super adorable little girl who I wanted to stuff in my backpack and bring home. 




Most people were tired from a long day on the boat and called it an early night.  I used the free wifi to skype with some people before turning in myself. 

The next day was pretty much the same. Floating down the river on a boat.... For 8 hours!!! Once we got to Luang Prabang, a group of us shared a songtaew to the hostel that one guy had actually booked in advance. We got lucky and they were able to accommodate the other 7 of us who just showed up! We got settled in, found a nice place for dinner and called it a night. 

Day 4 - 1996 baht ~ $64.38USD (includes hotel pick up, slow boat ticket and 1night shitty hostel)

Day 5 - 360baht + 143,000kip + $36USD ~ $66.58USD (includes visa to Laos, $35USD + 1 for weekend overtime - no joke, hotel at slow boat stopping point, beer for the boat - very necessary, meals and all the other normal crap)

Day 6 - 275,000kip + 540baht ~ $52.67USD (includes next day's tour, and all the other normal stuff)

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Epic Adventure day 3: Just Yum!!

On October 3rd, I woke up and got ready for a day of cooking. After
cuddling with tigers, you'd think a cooking class might not be a super
exciting stop on the itinerary, but I LOVE Thai food and could not
have been more excited to learn to make it authentically.

After a slight delay and passing my phone to the woman at the front
desk of the condo office so she could give proper "Thai" directions, a
van arrived to pick me up. I piled in with 6 or so people already
inside and we chit-chatted as we drove to the city office for Asia
Scenic (the cooking school). There we were separated into two
predetermined groups and served coffee/tea/water while they collected
our money (1000 baht for the farm course) and sorted everything out.

As we sat at the table sipping our coffee, I struck up a conversation
with the other two people who were from the US, two sisters traveling
in Thailand for a couple weeks. Of all the tourist attractions in all
of Thailand, what are the chances that 3 Indiana girls end up at the
same cooking class?!? Even funnier, they're from Noblesville!! We
quickly bonded over our joint need to get out of Indiana as fast as
humanly possible, and for that matter, the Midwest in general. One
sister is currently living in NY and the other is just about to finish
her masters in Michigan and is headed for Seattle.

Next it was back in the van to head the local market. There our
instructor, A, (yeah that's the name he goes by, just the letter A...
And I know I usually give nicknames on this blog, but since he's a one
day character here and technically A is a nickname... We're just gonna
roll with it) walked us around the market giving us a quick little
lesson on things like the various types of rice and peppers. We also
had a little time to wonder the market on our own, which gave me time
to have a delicious mango smoothie. Score!

Back in the van we made the journey out of town and to the farm. It
was beautiful!! A couple buildings, including the one that housed all
the stoves and would be the center for our cooking class, and a huge
variety to plants - lemongrass, multiple types of basil, rice, a
variety of chili peppers, fruits, bizarrely shaped "pumpkins."  It was
awesome.

A gave us tour of the property having us smell many of the different
spices, then it was off to the kitchen to start the good stuff. We sat
at a large table where there were two plates like you see in the
picture below.



A explained that it's good luck to give guest this welcome snack when
they come to your house. I looked warily at the contents of the plate
thinking "wouldn't some Chex mix or Tostidos and guac work?"

A walked us through making a little "pocket" out of the leaf and then
filling it with the contents of the plate. Once we had everything
assembled we were to eat it whole. I cautiously popped it in my mouth
and BAM - flavor explosion!!! Delicious!!! I guess by now I should
know that while the Thai's do some things really weird... Food?
They've got that down.



After enjoying the delicious snack, it was time to get down to
business. First on the slate was "Thai fast food." We had three
options: Pad Thai ("the boring one" according to A), Pad See Uw (I've
also seen this spelled Pad See Ew -
Spelling is a bit.... Flexible in Thailand) and something else.

Having recently discovered a deep love for Pad See Uw, I opted for
that. A explained that the technique for all three dishes was the same
and the ingredients were the only real difference. We prepped all the
ingredients and watched him cook up a quick Pad Thai explaining the
steps in the process. Once he finished we headed to the woks to give
it a try ourselves. A walked us through all the steps until we had
made our own personal "Thai fast food" dish. Not that I could possibly
be biased... But mine was definitely better than the stuff I buy on
the street.



Next it was time to tackle the appetizers and I couldn't wait to make
my own spring rolls. Since you never make one spring roll, one person
cooked up all the ingredients that go into the spring roll and then A
gave us step by step instructions on rolling two of our own. Before we
fried them, he inspected our work informing us all that we had "ugly
spring roll babies."



After enjoying our appetizers we had about a 30 minute break to relax
in the hammocks before we started "non-stop cooking."

We started by working in groups to make 3 different types of curry
paste. We ground fresh ingredients together with a mortar and pestle
to the sounds of A saying "harder, faster, don't stop... You make good
curry paste you be good wife." He was quite the character.



Next we chopped ingredients for our soups and curries. We whipped up
dessert rather quickly followed by the curries and finally our soups.
Finally we sat down I enjoy the fruits of our labor. YUM!!!



After we ate, we loaded back onto the van and were dropped of at our
respective accommodations. Having been fighting a cold or something
for a few days, I headed to a pharmacy to see what they could do to
help. 570 baht later, I left with a bag full of drugs and a plan for a
nap. I got back to the condo and since I had a nice full belly from
the day's activities, I popped the first round of various meds I'd
been given and laid down. When I woke up around midnight, I decided
perhaps it was okay to skip dinner and just call it night. Epic
adventure day 3, definitely a win.

Total for the day 1601 baht. That includes the drugs which I highly
recommend travelers budget for. If you're traveling in SE Asia it's
almost guaranteed you'll need to stop at a pharmacy for some ailment
along the way.

Friday, October 04, 2013

Epic Adventure: Days 1 and 2 - Bus travel, elephants and tigers

The actual start to my epic adventure was not actually that interesting. After a taxi ride to Future Park with Kiki and some last minute errands there, I managed somehow to say a tearless goodbye (barely) to my dear friend. It's not just that I'll miss her while traveling this month, when I return, Kiki will be off to her next adventure in Africa. For future reference, I don't recommend starting EpicAdventures with a goodbye.... Even when you know it is truly a "see you (much) later," it's just not the most awesome way to start a trip. 

I'd like to forewarn you that most of the posts for the next month will be composed on mobile devices, so I apologize in advance for the inevitable plethora of typos. I'm also having problems editing the size of the pictures, so the blog is just going to look a little ugly - sorry :(

After saying our goodbyes, I hopped on the ever reliable bus 29 from Major Cineplex in Rangsit to Mo Chit BTS in Bangkok (20 baht). (For my normal readers, expect these posts to be far more travel detailed than normal. I got a lot of help from reading the blogs of travelers who have gone before me, and hope to be able to pay it forward). From there I walked to the closest moto taxi stand and paid the list price (60 baht) for a ride to the Mo chit bus terminal. 

There I found a place advertising the bus to Chiang Mai (nakhonchai air, window 22a, outside) and booked my ticket for 657 baht. I asked multiple times if this was a VIP bus, (because it was cheaper than I expected) and was told that it was. As I continued to walk around, I realized I should have checked out the other companies (there were many to choose from) before purchasing my ticket. I also realized that my ticket was not VIP but "gold class" which was actually cheaper than 1st class. I was a little concerned (I wanted to actually get some sleep so I could hit the ground running the next day) but it was done at that point, so I just hoped for the best. 

I roamed around the bus terminal, grabbed some pad see uw for dinner (35 baht), an inflatable pillow because I didn't have one yet (70baht), and some water and snacks for the ride (55baht) and hit bathroom (3baht without TP but not a squatter!!) (to my non-traveling friends, yes you usually have to pay to use the bathroom at places like bus terminals, and you should always, ALWAYS bring your own TP) The bus arrived about 20 minutes late and I was surprised to find it was already pretty full and not many people were getting off. (Not sure where its original starting point was). I quickly learned that gold class was FINE by me!!! 


Snacks provided on arrival!


Dinner also provided on arrival!

Entertainment options (note all the movies under the movie category seemed to be in Thai, but there was a category called movie soundtrack that had a small selection of movies in English.)

The seats reclined quite a bit and there was a little bit of a leg rest. Also, the seats had a massage option, kind of like those you find at pedicure places in the US. If you're larger person you may still feel a bit cramped on this bus, mostly because the aisle is smaller than those on planes. They also provided a large blanket and the a/c was never blasting to freezing levels. All in all pretty sweet ride. 

On arrival in Chiang Mai, I found a moto taxi and got him down to 70 baht from the 150 he originally quoted (probably still a rip off but it was 6am and I just wanted to get out of the terminal). For all my western friends who think things like staying in hostels or couch surfing are scary and dangerous... (PinkPrincess - you know I'm talking to you!!!) This has been my place in Chiang Mai for the last two nights, and thanks to couchsurfing.org, it's been FREE. The person who lives here is actually vacationing in Bali right now, so it's pretty much like having a totally free hotel room! Oh, she did ask me to water her plants, so I guess she got some labor out of me in exchange for the room. Lol. Thanks to CS and my host!!



A quick shower and change and it was off to see the elephants. I found a songtaew and got him down to 300 baht for the day to take me to Mae Sa elephant camp and Tiger Kingdom and bring me back to my place. Again, pretty sure I over paid. Both places take a little over half the day total, so I probably could have gotten a couple of the temples in town for that price as well. 

The ride up to the elephant camp was nice. Some might find it a bit bumpy, but the combination of bumps and windy roads climbing through lush lines of trees reminded me of my beloved Costa Rica. The weather helped as well. I've become quite accustomed to the 90+ degree days of Pathum Thani and if I had to guess it was probably in the upper 70s/low 80s with, of course, one billion percent humidity. Definitely reminded me of CR. 


The elephant camp was alright. A friend was able to get me in for free so it was worth it. Not sure I would have paid much to do it though. The elephants do a show including playing soccer and basketball. They also paint some rather impressive pictures. If it hadn't been free I definitely would have sought out one of the places that has the elephants in more natural environments. 


Next was the Tiger Kingdom. There are different packages available depending on the size of tigers you want to see. I opted for the biggest and smallest and got the photography package because I was traveling alone and knew I wouldn't be able to get good pics myself. The pricing is based on which tigers you want to see. Mine ended up being 1040 baht and the photography is usually 299 per tiger group, but the woman said since I was alone she would do it for 200 per group. I also opted for the buffet lunch for 200 baht because frankly I hadn't eaten all day and I wanted to stuff my face. All total, 1640 for tigers, lunch and photos. 

This is one of the baby tigers. There are much better photos coming, but the photographer photos get burned to a cd, so I'll have to post those at the end of the trip. 

I got them to snap a few with my iPhone for instant gratification purposes. 


This was the largest tiger that was allowed to be with people and they said he weighed over 200 kilos.

The tigers were truly amazing. I understand there is a lot of controversy about if they are drugged or not. I can't begin to say one way or the other. I know that some of the small ones were particularly feisty and the larger ones who weren't sleeping, while not up running around, were certainly alert. They seem very well cared for and the staff is incredibly attentive. 

That night I walked around Chiang Mai a bit and found a very farang pub, Mad Dog, for some good pizza and shitty beer (most beer here is shitty in my opinion). I hopped a tuktuk home and called it a night. 

The total cost of the two days, from the cab from my apartment to the tuktuk back to the condo I crashed at, was 3,382 baht (roughly $109 USD).  I'm hoping my average cost per day will come down a bit, but I'm not willing to miss out on something incredible just to hit a budget for the day. I definitely splurged on food too. 

For travelers reading this, feel free to comment with questions. I'll do my best to answer them. 

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