Tuesday, March 8, 2011
And finally.....Saigon
Saigon; our first and only repeat city. Also our last city. We are staying right around the corner from the hotel we stayed at last time so it's like we have come full circle. It's amazing because we are walking around like we own the town. I found the exact spot there the taxi dropped us off on our first night of our first trip. I remember the feeling of being scared shitless that time and now it seems comical. This city is one the few that have the buzz like NYC and completely comes alive at night. On the other side of the coin, people are not as friendly and everyone is dressed super nice. The food is amazing, but I miss the countryside. The way to see Vietnam is on a boat or motorbike in the countryside and small villages.
We have almost three full days here and have already seen the major sites. So today we did the taboo full day hotel bus tour with a guide and annoying tourists to see a the Cu Chi tunnels and a weird church outside of Saigon (it is only in Vietnam and they honor catholics, buddhist, Hindus and confussisism). We got some amazing pictures at the church - they had a service while we were there - I guess they do 4 a day (no work or sleep for these bastards). It was fun but I hate package tours with whinny tourists and a guide that thinks he is making funny jokes in broken english. No more.
Tomorrow our flight leaves at midnight, so we have one more day to try and not be sad about leaving.
Fun facts
1. I am completely on their time (12 hour difference), so I should be completely useless next week.
2. My cell phone works great here and I have more bars in Vietnam then I do in our house (no joke). Thanks Verizon.
3. Again I managed to take over 1000 pics, but I will try to pear it down this time for anyone interested in seeing.
4. I said I did not want to go back to Cambodia, but that might not have been the case if we tried a smaller town or the countryside.
5. We will be back to Vietnam in the next few years if not sooner (West coast next time)
We should be home by Sat at 2 pm - who wants to out?
We have almost three full days here and have already seen the major sites. So today we did the taboo full day hotel bus tour with a guide and annoying tourists to see a the Cu Chi tunnels and a weird church outside of Saigon (it is only in Vietnam and they honor catholics, buddhist, Hindus and confussisism). We got some amazing pictures at the church - they had a service while we were there - I guess they do 4 a day (no work or sleep for these bastards). It was fun but I hate package tours with whinny tourists and a guide that thinks he is making funny jokes in broken english. No more.
Tomorrow our flight leaves at midnight, so we have one more day to try and not be sad about leaving.
Fun facts
1. I am completely on their time (12 hour difference), so I should be completely useless next week.
2. My cell phone works great here and I have more bars in Vietnam then I do in our house (no joke). Thanks Verizon.
3. Again I managed to take over 1000 pics, but I will try to pear it down this time for anyone interested in seeing.
4. I said I did not want to go back to Cambodia, but that might not have been the case if we tried a smaller town or the countryside.
5. We will be back to Vietnam in the next few years if not sooner (West coast next time)
We should be home by Sat at 2 pm - who wants to out?
Vietnam
I am really glad we went to Cambodia first. I was very excited to get back to southeast asia and it was awesome, but I do not need to go back. After being in Vietnam for an hour I am already plotting to get back here. Vietnam is the best place on earth. We went over the border on a boat with no problem. If Cambodia and our last trip to Vietnam were touristy, then we are really off the beaten path this time. The people are so friendly and happy to see you. Cambodia is poor and the people are stoic.
We spent two nights in Chau Dock and Two nights in Vinn Long - and we have 2.5 nights left in Saigon which we will get to tomorrow.
Chau Dock is a border town that is great. We spent 9 hours on the back of motorbikes touring the country side. The cost was $50.00 total and that included a $20 tip. The day was sick. When we did this last year I thought this was shady and the people were going to rob us. This time I realize it is just a great adventure. We saw several buddhist monasteries and much of the country side. It is hard to explain. That night we had a bike driver take us to a local floating resterzaunt (menu in Vietnamese) and we had the best grilled red snapper ever. The next day the buses were full so we took a taxi to Vinn Long (three hours).
We got to Vinn long at noon and were planning a down day and ended up have a great night. Our hotal is on the top (4th) floor overlooking the Meknong Delta. We walked along the water and at sunset all the locals fly kits over the river. We sat on a bench with 100's of people flying kits - chldren everywhere all happy. We are literally the only white people in this town.
Woke up this morning and took a 3 hour boat ride along the delta. They offered tours at 11am from the hotel, but that's for pussys that want life preservers plus it would have been at high noon with all the tourists from Siagon. Instead we went to the dock at 7am and hired local boat for 3 hours. We saw where coconut candy and puffed rice candy were made. The guide then offered us a shot of cocnut vodka at 9am (for free) - it was wonderful seeiong Di choke that down. From here we went to the Cai Bay floating market. While we were walking there the children were getting out of school and they all wanted to say HELLO and give hi-fives.
Right now we are going to go a sunset boat ride with the same guy from this morning. Then Dinner and a few beers and call it a night.
We have a 8 am bus to Siagon, where I know the food is the best!
The thing that is hard for me as an American to get over is the fact people here are so nice and they want ot help - not nessarrly for the money. Di and I are staring to let thinks happen and that is where the fun is.
Cambodia
Yesterday I went on a bird watch and it was crazy cool. Me in a little boat with 1000's of birds. I had to go thru a white knuckle ride on a boat in a storm to get there. It was bad enough that I took no pictures and THE CAMBODIAN GUIDE GOT SEA SICK. Waves as big as the tiny boat and rain going sideways. It sucked. I did get to visit a local medicine man on a floating village and sit indian style in his house while he told stories.
The elephant ride at Angkor Wat was also very cool two days ago. It will be hard for not to start every story for the next six months by saying "this reminds me when I was riding an elephant in Cambodia - you ever ride an elephant in cambodia?", so get used to it.
1st magical day was today.
got up at 7am and saw temples at Angkor Wat all morning, they are so much better than any ruin I have ever seen. It's almost most like they are one of the seven wonders of the world. Saw the ones with the trees growing out of the remains. unreal. Di was a little sick up until now and today she is great. Had a first meal in Cambodia that was stellar for lunch. Took a little nap and went back to Angkor Wat's main temple for sunset. On the way I saw two monks sitting on one of the ruins and I asked Di to take my picture with them, She thought I would be invading, but when I asked if I could sit the one monk started talking. We ended up missing the sunset. He was 20 and been a monk for 8 years, this is his last year. He loves kate Winslet and Obama. By the end he blessed out trip, our family and we exchanged emails. He promised to email us for the rest of his life. It was magical to say the least. We then went out for dinner and had an unbelievable Thai meal and a few beers (Angkor Beer- my beer, my country). Siam Reap is just amazing. Tomorrow we fly in the morning back to Phonon Phen for a night and they we start the trek along the Mekong Delta to Saigon.
I really like Cambodia and cannot wait to get back to Vietnam in a few days.
It's hard to be a good Buddhist when you are an asshole American from NY
Again, I love southeast Asia.
Earl
The elephant ride at Angkor Wat was also very cool two days ago. It will be hard for not to start every story for the next six months by saying "this reminds me when I was riding an elephant in Cambodia - you ever ride an elephant in cambodia?", so get used to it.
1st magical day was today.
got up at 7am and saw temples at Angkor Wat all morning, they are so much better than any ruin I have ever seen. It's almost most like they are one of the seven wonders of the world. Saw the ones with the trees growing out of the remains. unreal. Di was a little sick up until now and today she is great. Had a first meal in Cambodia that was stellar for lunch. Took a little nap and went back to Angkor Wat's main temple for sunset. On the way I saw two monks sitting on one of the ruins and I asked Di to take my picture with them, She thought I would be invading, but when I asked if I could sit the one monk started talking. We ended up missing the sunset. He was 20 and been a monk for 8 years, this is his last year. He loves kate Winslet and Obama. By the end he blessed out trip, our family and we exchanged emails. He promised to email us for the rest of his life. It was magical to say the least. We then went out for dinner and had an unbelievable Thai meal and a few beers (Angkor Beer- my beer, my country). Siam Reap is just amazing. Tomorrow we fly in the morning back to Phonon Phen for a night and they we start the trek along the Mekong Delta to Saigon.
I really like Cambodia and cannot wait to get back to Vietnam in a few days.
It's hard to be a good Buddhist when you are an asshole American from NY
Again, I love southeast Asia.
Earl
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