Aren't I fedorable?
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Independence Day
Did you know vietnam's Independence Day is September 2? It's. True! We just celebrated it's 65th anniversary and there were fireworks.
Also, here is a video of what it's like to walk around Vietnam.
Also, here is a video of what it's like to walk around Vietnam.
Location:Yên Thái,Hanoi,Vietnam
Perfume Pagoda
Yeah I finally got some appropriate headgear.
Today was perfume pagoda day.* Cyrus recommended it at our fortuitous meeting in the Ho Chi Minh/Saigon airport (I embarrassingly forgot they were one and the same city and said something stupid about it, but no one picked up on my error).
Anyway.
Perfume pagoda is a trek away from Hanoi. To get there, one takes a two hour bus. Our bus was special in that there was a woman sitting in front of us who vomitted every five minutes. Then then an hour canoe ride through what I called the Mekong Delta but which was actually some other river. They were rowed by very strong women, who take people back and forth all day for a pitiful wage.
We were so fat that we almost sank the ship. Our guide says the boats fit six Vietnamese or four Americans. This one barely fit three!
Still, as you can see, we enjoyed being there. Lots of great scenery along the river that I used my other camera to capture. There were even river people who spend their whole lives along the banks of the river!
Once we arrived at our destination, we came to what was essentially a strip mall of bedraggled locals who subsist of of selling tourists useless trinkets. I say strip malls metaphorically - these were shanties or even just sheets covering up a small enclosure. There were plucked chickens running everywhere, and emaciated dogs.
Fortunately, we got to eat some fairly gross local food instead of roasting our own chicken.
Then we took a cable car through the rain forest!
However, then I started using my real camera for a while so there's no real documentation of the actual pagoda. It was in a cave and smelled of perfume. Pretty cool.
Lastly, we saw a caged monkey which was pretty sad. Here's a video.
When we got home, danielle's friend Valerie will be joining us. We know very little about her but have decided that she is a lesbian bc she went bryn mawr.
*note: this actually took place last Thursday but I'm blogging about it today.
Today was perfume pagoda day.* Cyrus recommended it at our fortuitous meeting in the Ho Chi Minh/Saigon airport (I embarrassingly forgot they were one and the same city and said something stupid about it, but no one picked up on my error).
Anyway.
Perfume pagoda is a trek away from Hanoi. To get there, one takes a two hour bus. Our bus was special in that there was a woman sitting in front of us who vomitted every five minutes. Then then an hour canoe ride through what I called the Mekong Delta but which was actually some other river. They were rowed by very strong women, who take people back and forth all day for a pitiful wage.
We were so fat that we almost sank the ship. Our guide says the boats fit six Vietnamese or four Americans. This one barely fit three!
Still, as you can see, we enjoyed being there. Lots of great scenery along the river that I used my other camera to capture. There were even river people who spend their whole lives along the banks of the river!
Once we arrived at our destination, we came to what was essentially a strip mall of bedraggled locals who subsist of of selling tourists useless trinkets. I say strip malls metaphorically - these were shanties or even just sheets covering up a small enclosure. There were plucked chickens running everywhere, and emaciated dogs.
Fortunately, we got to eat some fairly gross local food instead of roasting our own chicken.
Then we took a cable car through the rain forest!
However, then I started using my real camera for a while so there's no real documentation of the actual pagoda. It was in a cave and smelled of perfume. Pretty cool.
Lastly, we saw a caged monkey which was pretty sad. Here's a video.
When we got home, danielle's friend Valerie will be joining us. We know very little about her but have decided that she is a lesbian bc she went bryn mawr.
*note: this actually took place last Thursday but I'm blogging about it today.
Location:4D,,Vietnam
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Cheese tofu
I love cheese. This tofu had cheese marinade or something and it taste amazing.
From our first real night in Hanoi.
I had salmon for dinner and pumpkin soup.
I like Hanoi a lot! Bustling city. After dinner we went to an expat bar where we met an obnoxious and patronizing American. He did help us get a good up close image of some snake wine though. It's apparently a good tool to boost virility.
Yes, that is a snake in the giant jug of wine. A cobra!
Then we went to another bar and debated education policy until it closed at about 1AM. Good talk too!
From our first real night in Hanoi.
I had salmon for dinner and pumpkin soup.
I like Hanoi a lot! Bustling city. After dinner we went to an expat bar where we met an obnoxious and patronizing American. He did help us get a good up close image of some snake wine though. It's apparently a good tool to boost virility.
Yes, that is a snake in the giant jug of wine. A cobra!
Then we went to another bar and debated education policy until it closed at about 1AM. Good talk too!
Location:4D,,Vietnam
I am the worst
At blogging that is. Sorry followers! Let's play some catchup.
On Tuesday-Wednesday we took a boat to Halong Bay. We slept on it! I love boats. We also went kayaking, explored a cave, and swam in the bay.
There were hundreds of these giant eruptions of rocks throughout the bay.
Here's chris relaxing around sunrise.
Our boat dining area
There were lots of river women who would pull up next to the boat and try to sell us crap.
This is Vinh, our very friendly and short guide!
Chris and Danielle were worn out by the adventures. I, however, am of heartier stock and read my kindle.
More posts soon.
On Tuesday-Wednesday we took a boat to Halong Bay. We slept on it! I love boats. We also went kayaking, explored a cave, and swam in the bay.
There were hundreds of these giant eruptions of rocks throughout the bay.
Here's chris relaxing around sunrise.
Our boat dining area
There were lots of river women who would pull up next to the boat and try to sell us crap.
This is Vinh, our very friendly and short guide!
Chris and Danielle were worn out by the adventures. I, however, am of heartier stock and read my kindle.
More posts soon.
Location:4D,,Vietnam
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Hanoi
Well. Vietnam is VERY different from Singapore. Singapore, despite being a major Asian economy, clearly has many western influences. There are burger kings and giant skyscrapers and businessmen and financial traders. This is the skyline of Singapore.
Hanoi (and Vietnam in general) has almost zero visible western influence. The society is the most alien of any I've ever been to. It's awesome.
There are very few traffic laws -- on every road, hundreds of people riding motorcycles dart in and out of traffic with larger vehicles going toward or against the flow of traffic.
We had some difficulty getting to the hotel from our airport. Our driver was detained by Vietnamese uniformed officers for about 20 minutes. We have no idea why, but he was clearly distraught afterwards!
Driving from the airport, we saw vast rice fields everywhere with locals working in the heat. Although it's a very poor country, everyone works very hard - the unemployment rate is almost zero.
That's a view of sunset from our hotel. We took a walk around Old Hanoi to find dinner and settled on a good chain restaurant called Pho 24 (pho being the Vietnamese staple of noodle soup). Then we had some icecream
We all are a bit jetlagged still and got exhausted by 10PM so went back to the hotel.
There are thousands of Vietnamese eating on the streets outside of their shops, with motorcycles zooming every which way.
It's truly cool.
Btw, I'm writing this post from the top of a boat in halong bay, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We slept on this boat last night. I'll blog about it more later, it's now time for breakfast. But here's a preview!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Hanoi (and Vietnam in general) has almost zero visible western influence. The society is the most alien of any I've ever been to. It's awesome.
There are very few traffic laws -- on every road, hundreds of people riding motorcycles dart in and out of traffic with larger vehicles going toward or against the flow of traffic.
We had some difficulty getting to the hotel from our airport. Our driver was detained by Vietnamese uniformed officers for about 20 minutes. We have no idea why, but he was clearly distraught afterwards!
Driving from the airport, we saw vast rice fields everywhere with locals working in the heat. Although it's a very poor country, everyone works very hard - the unemployment rate is almost zero.
That's a view of sunset from our hotel. We took a walk around Old Hanoi to find dinner and settled on a good chain restaurant called Pho 24 (pho being the Vietnamese staple of noodle soup). Then we had some icecream
We all are a bit jetlagged still and got exhausted by 10PM so went back to the hotel.
There are thousands of Vietnamese eating on the streets outside of their shops, with motorcycles zooming every which way.
It's truly cool.
Btw, I'm writing this post from the top of a boat in halong bay, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We slept on this boat last night. I'll blog about it more later, it's now time for breakfast. But here's a preview!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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