Vietnam

I recently had the chance to meet up with a friend from the US in Ha Noi, Vietnam for a few days. Since Sev always gets to travel on business trips, I figured it was my turn to get a way for a change! I arrived in Vietnam the day before a huge typhoon hit so needless to say, the weather was not good. I was on my own for the first day so I got a guide and drove a couple hours out of the city to visit on old temple. The temple itself was not that interesting but the ride sure was! Rice paddies and water buffalo were the order of the day. I was really surprised by the amount of propoganda signs that I saw everywhere. They mostly consisted of pictures of Ho Chi Minh (the great communist leader of Vietnam from WW2 until 1969) and had slogans reminding people to live their lives the way Ho Chi Minh would want. Weird- he's been dead for over 30 years! His body is on display in Ha Noi but my friend and I opted to skip the viewing.
A buddist cemetery in the countryside



Snake and scorpion wine for sale


Very communist looking building which is Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

In the afternoon, my guide took me to the prison where John MacCain was held during the Vietnam war. Again, serious propaganda here- all the photos on the wall showed the American POW's laughing, playing badminton, enjoying cultural films about Vietnam...where in reality, several POW's barely survived the "HaNoi Hilton".

Day 2, I met up with my friend and we wandered around the old city. I have never seen so many motorbikes in my whole life. And I thought crossing the street in Shanghai was bad but this place was 10 times worse! The shopping in the city was OK- lots of silks and embroidered cottons. The food however, was outstanding. Lots of french influences blended with asian ingredients. Our favorite restaurant was KOTO which takes in street kids and teaches them to be chefs, servers, etc. It was fantastic and cheap- with proceeds going to a good cause.


Getting ripped off on a traditional rickshaw ride! Oh well, had to be done!



Fruit seller on the street- I couldn't believe people actually wore these hats in daily life.

Day 3 entailed a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay- a beautiful bay surrounded by limestone cliffs. It was lovely and reminded me of my previous weekend trip in Guilin, China (see earlier post). We were "lucky" enough to end with a eurotrash couple from Russia who started hitting the rum and cokes the minute they got on the boat. She stripped down to a g-string thong bikini and a banana hammock for him, which is when I started referring to them as "the entertainment". But back to the scenery- it was very peaceful but overall I kind of felt like I was in a tourist trap. However it was interesting to see the local fishing villages where people actually live out on the water for several months a year.



"The entertainment" and her infamous thong which we unfortunately, saw plenty of during the cruise!




Traditional fishing village- yes, people actually live in these little huts


Another view of a fishing village


Our resort on Cat Bah island in Halong Bay- not bad, not bad at all!


The beach in front of our hotel - but the water was actually pretty dirty :(

Overall, it was a nice trip but out of all the places I've been in southeast asia, I'd say Vietnam was my least favorite; but I would definitely be willing to try it again- I've heard their beach towns are great...


G pissed off because I made her model the hat I bought her- can you picture this look permanently on her face at the age of 16?

Hong Kong side trip

I recently met up with a friend in Vietnam but because I am cheap, I chose a connecting flight with an 8 hour layover in Hong Kong. For half the price, I figured that I could find something fun to do in Hong Kong for a day! And since the three other times I had been to HK had all been to visit Disneyland, I thought I owed it to myself to explore the city this time. I took the high speed train into the heart of the city where I hopped onto the Star ferry. For a cost of about 30 cents, I got a beautiful view of the harbor on one of the historic ferries. After a few hours of shopping, I met up with some friends who live in HK and they took me to a famous dim sum restaurant. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Chinese food but in general, I wouldn't say that I loved it- until I ate real dim sum! Dim sum basically means little snacks and this place we went to serves it the old fashioned way. People push a cart throughout the restaurant and you can choose what you like as it comes by. Yes, they had some yucky stuff on offer: shark fin soup (which I morally oppose), chicken feet, and the like but on the whole it was delicious, awesome food. My favorites are the BBQ pork buns (fluffy white bun with sweet bbq pork in the middle), sesame seed stuffed buns, and shrimp dumplings. It's been a week and I can't stop thinking about this place- can't wait to go back next time I am in HK!

The dim sum place- it was massively huge and PACKED (this shot was taken at 2pm).

The cart- full of delicious stuff

BBQ buns, sesame buns, and a veggie dumpling (oops, already ate a few before snapping the pic)

View of Hong Kong from the Star Ferry.

Ok, I may be sick but I found this ad extremely funny. Sorry about the glare but if you can read it, it says "live demonstrations in store". A picture of a granny holding a vibrator and touting live demos? Ewww....