Oh hay.
There is a new blog for this trip that Amelia has set up for us, its:
www.indjah.blogspot.com
Amelia will be posting aswel this time around so you can expect more coverage of our expedition.
I'm keeping a journal this time around, but that shouldn't detract from the blog too much.
Get over there now and catch up!
-Ben
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Broken Promises
okokokokokok, I know I PROMISED I would post about Laos about...19 days ago. ok crap, you got me, sorry, I guess I just haven't been as bored as I thought I'd be...I mean not that I need to be bored to update or anything, I just... yeah, I'm digging myself a hole here so I'll get on with what we did in Laos.
here goes:
SO, We arrived safely to Vientiane, Laos from Vietnam, a little dazed from the valium I guess, but as awake and happy as you would expect us to be after a 28 hour bus ride through the laos mountainside. Although, funny thing is, I took a few valium and it really helped me and Jo sleep. There were times when we would stop and get out and eat, and I remember those stops very clearly, but it only occured to me the next day that I had slept for 27 of the 28 hours we were traveling. One downside to the trip was the fact that I forgot my little guitar I bought in Saigon on one of the buses when we made an unexpected bus change at 2 am :(.
One thing that became very apparent right away was the enormous amount of Canadians that visit Laos. I mean, we'd just spent a month in Vietnam and met all of four, and on our bus into Laos there were no less than seven Canadians. From Vancouver no less.
Vientiane is a pretty boring place to visit actually. I mean, gorgeous, but there isn't much to do as far as tourism is concerned. Vientiane is the country's Capital City, and it is on one side of the Mekong River bordering Thailand. On one side of the river is Laos, and the other is Thailand. When we went it was dry season, so all but 50 meters of the kilometer wide riverbed was dried up, and children and tourists can been seen playing football(soccer, that is) throughout the day, and taking relaxing walks at sunset. Laos is also home to the delicious Nazim indian restaurant chain, and of the 3 days we spent in Vientiane, every other meal was at Nazim. We indulged in some Beer Laos(80 cents for a large bottle.) with the Candians we met on the bus and went to bed. The next couple of days were spent on a motorbike looking at the 2, I'm not joking, TWO tourist attractions there and eating more indian food than I thought was humanly possible. Kfir also emailed me explaining that China and Hongkong were too expensive to stay long andhe really missed traveling with Jo and I. A collective awwwwwwwww! was exhaled I assure you.
Kfir caught the first flight into Vientiane and we waited the extra day to meet him. The next day we left Vientiane to a tourist trap of a town called Vang Vieng.
Vang Vieng is the tourist town in Laos, if you know anyone who's been to South-East Asia, chances are they've chilled out and gone innertubing down the river in Vang Vieng. The tiny town is lined with bars/restaurants with beds instead of tables, and big screen teevees that play one of three things all day everday: Friends, The Simpsons or American movies. You can literally get up and sit down in the morning at a restaurant, order your three square meals, a lot of beer, and watch tv all day, without going farther than the bathroom. I assure you, we did not do this, we actually moved to another bar. Other than lie around drinking all day and laughing and Friends, the only other thing to do is sit around in an innertube and float down the river all day, AND drink lots of beer. Kfir, Jo, Rich, doogs and I(oh yeah, we met these to awesome autralians on the way to Vang Vieng fyi.) opted for a less carefree way to go down the river, which was getting a tour of some caves upriver and then Kyaking down instead of tubing. The cave was cool, we had to innertube inside the cave to get to the beginning of the footpath, and the water was damn cold, damnit. Once inside there were plenty of big spiders to freak Joanna out, and also big Kfirs to scare Joannas out by joking about huge spiders. The cave got pretty low at one point and we were crawling in the mud with headlamps that had batteries the size of car batteries hanging around our necks. After the caves and so walking, we had lunch and watched a poor monkey yell at his owner for food. After that we got into our kyaks and headed downriver towards the booze and rope swings(Awesome combination btw, Just kidding mom, kind of) We had many waterfights and a very relaxing ride down to the riverside bars and clubs. We picked the bar with the biggest swing and docked our kyaks on the riverside. We ordered some Beer Laos and met up with the Canadians from Vientiane agian, and a good time was had by all. The Rope swing that was set up was a full 8 meters off the ground, and would fling you 8 or 9 meters into the water, it was incredible.
After four days of sitting, drinking, and watching more episodes of Friends than my family does, we were ready to leave, and head to Luang Prabang, the old Capital of Laos.
I don't think I mentioned that the roads in Laos are the most curvy, up and down, crap roads I've seen, ever. There are seriously 160 degree turns in the roads leading up and down the mountains. Also, there is some rebel groups in northern Laos who oppose the government, apparentely fighting is low at the moment, but a very common sight on Laos buses(ok, EVERY bus ride we went on) has at least one civillian or military soldier with a gigantic AK47 assault rifle. Apparentley this is for protection, although protection from whom remains a mystery to me. As crazy as it sounds I got used to waking up and seeing some avergejoe dude sitting infront of me with a F***king machine gun. But more on that a bit later. As I was saying, the roads are in very poor shape most of the time, and a busride that should take an hour and a half takes six. so after six hours of gorgeous mountainside and the occasional dude with aKalishikov(Ak47), we arrived in the beautiful city of Luang Prabang.
*Inturruption*
Sorry everyone, it's just occured to me that Jena and I need to wake up 3 hours from this moment, that is to say that we need to wakeup at 3:30am to catch an early flight into BURMA! I'm sorry for the inconvieniance, but I'll have to continue my retelling at a later date.(hopefully not too much later)
Burma is a very underdeveloped country and as such has NO internet access and little, if any international phone stations. As of today, there will be complete brodcast silence for 20 days. Don't worry if we don't contact you, it is only because there is no way to do so.
We are going to have an absolutely Amazing time I'm sure, and I hope you'll do the same. Our return flight is scheduled for April 4th, so expect some emails/phone calls around that date.
Have a great few weeks!
Love,
-Ben
p.s.
Jena is keeping a travel blog of her own, and considering my current posting record, it might be wise to check her blog for a more up to date retelling of our adventures.
www.jenagogo.blogspot.com
Also, Jena is cute.
here goes:
SO, We arrived safely to Vientiane, Laos from Vietnam, a little dazed from the valium I guess, but as awake and happy as you would expect us to be after a 28 hour bus ride through the laos mountainside. Although, funny thing is, I took a few valium and it really helped me and Jo sleep. There were times when we would stop and get out and eat, and I remember those stops very clearly, but it only occured to me the next day that I had slept for 27 of the 28 hours we were traveling. One downside to the trip was the fact that I forgot my little guitar I bought in Saigon on one of the buses when we made an unexpected bus change at 2 am :(.
One thing that became very apparent right away was the enormous amount of Canadians that visit Laos. I mean, we'd just spent a month in Vietnam and met all of four, and on our bus into Laos there were no less than seven Canadians. From Vancouver no less.
Vientiane is a pretty boring place to visit actually. I mean, gorgeous, but there isn't much to do as far as tourism is concerned. Vientiane is the country's Capital City, and it is on one side of the Mekong River bordering Thailand. On one side of the river is Laos, and the other is Thailand. When we went it was dry season, so all but 50 meters of the kilometer wide riverbed was dried up, and children and tourists can been seen playing football(soccer, that is) throughout the day, and taking relaxing walks at sunset. Laos is also home to the delicious Nazim indian restaurant chain, and of the 3 days we spent in Vientiane, every other meal was at Nazim. We indulged in some Beer Laos(80 cents for a large bottle.) with the Candians we met on the bus and went to bed. The next couple of days were spent on a motorbike looking at the 2, I'm not joking, TWO tourist attractions there and eating more indian food than I thought was humanly possible. Kfir also emailed me explaining that China and Hongkong were too expensive to stay long andhe really missed traveling with Jo and I. A collective awwwwwwwww! was exhaled I assure you.
Kfir caught the first flight into Vientiane and we waited the extra day to meet him. The next day we left Vientiane to a tourist trap of a town called Vang Vieng.
Vang Vieng is the tourist town in Laos, if you know anyone who's been to South-East Asia, chances are they've chilled out and gone innertubing down the river in Vang Vieng. The tiny town is lined with bars/restaurants with beds instead of tables, and big screen teevees that play one of three things all day everday: Friends, The Simpsons or American movies. You can literally get up and sit down in the morning at a restaurant, order your three square meals, a lot of beer, and watch tv all day, without going farther than the bathroom. I assure you, we did not do this, we actually moved to another bar. Other than lie around drinking all day and laughing and Friends, the only other thing to do is sit around in an innertube and float down the river all day, AND drink lots of beer. Kfir, Jo, Rich, doogs and I(oh yeah, we met these to awesome autralians on the way to Vang Vieng fyi.) opted for a less carefree way to go down the river, which was getting a tour of some caves upriver and then Kyaking down instead of tubing. The cave was cool, we had to innertube inside the cave to get to the beginning of the footpath, and the water was damn cold, damnit. Once inside there were plenty of big spiders to freak Joanna out, and also big Kfirs to scare Joannas out by joking about huge spiders. The cave got pretty low at one point and we were crawling in the mud with headlamps that had batteries the size of car batteries hanging around our necks. After the caves and so walking, we had lunch and watched a poor monkey yell at his owner for food. After that we got into our kyaks and headed downriver towards the booze and rope swings(Awesome combination btw, Just kidding mom, kind of) We had many waterfights and a very relaxing ride down to the riverside bars and clubs. We picked the bar with the biggest swing and docked our kyaks on the riverside. We ordered some Beer Laos and met up with the Canadians from Vientiane agian, and a good time was had by all. The Rope swing that was set up was a full 8 meters off the ground, and would fling you 8 or 9 meters into the water, it was incredible.
After four days of sitting, drinking, and watching more episodes of Friends than my family does, we were ready to leave, and head to Luang Prabang, the old Capital of Laos.
I don't think I mentioned that the roads in Laos are the most curvy, up and down, crap roads I've seen, ever. There are seriously 160 degree turns in the roads leading up and down the mountains. Also, there is some rebel groups in northern Laos who oppose the government, apparentely fighting is low at the moment, but a very common sight on Laos buses(ok, EVERY bus ride we went on) has at least one civillian or military soldier with a gigantic AK47 assault rifle. Apparentley this is for protection, although protection from whom remains a mystery to me. As crazy as it sounds I got used to waking up and seeing some avergejoe dude sitting infront of me with a F***king machine gun. But more on that a bit later. As I was saying, the roads are in very poor shape most of the time, and a busride that should take an hour and a half takes six. so after six hours of gorgeous mountainside and the occasional dude with aKalishikov(Ak47), we arrived in the beautiful city of Luang Prabang.
*Inturruption*
Sorry everyone, it's just occured to me that Jena and I need to wake up 3 hours from this moment, that is to say that we need to wakeup at 3:30am to catch an early flight into BURMA! I'm sorry for the inconvieniance, but I'll have to continue my retelling at a later date.(hopefully not too much later)
Burma is a very underdeveloped country and as such has NO internet access and little, if any international phone stations. As of today, there will be complete brodcast silence for 20 days. Don't worry if we don't contact you, it is only because there is no way to do so.
We are going to have an absolutely Amazing time I'm sure, and I hope you'll do the same. Our return flight is scheduled for April 4th, so expect some emails/phone calls around that date.
Have a great few weeks!
Love,
-Ben
p.s.
Jena is keeping a travel blog of her own, and considering my current posting record, it might be wise to check her blog for a more up to date retelling of our adventures.
www.jenagogo.blogspot.com
Also, Jena is cute.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Tales from beyond the snake.
HEY.
It's been so long since I last updated but hopefully word will spread(common mom!)
The reason I haven't been posting is...well it's that...it's just...uhhh, crap. Okay so I forgot to update once and then all this really cool stuff happend and then more cool things happend and it all just piled up and I got scared...and I'm Lazy. But MOSTLY scared.
So, last update we were in southern Vietnam if I recall correcty, well now we're in Laos a month and a half later about to head to Bangkok. So, according to my calculator watch...that's about 41 days ago. Time has flown by at a moderately hastened pace, ok more like a fast walk, or a jog. Ok so time has jogged by, but regardless, it's been 41 days sans update and that's a long time without information. I was just thinking, today is Joanna and mine's 112 day since we've been traveling! that's crazy, it doesn't feel like it's been almost Four Months.
I think the reason I've been thinking about home a lot recentely is because Joanna is Leaving Bangkok on March 1st for London for a few weeks, and five hours after her plane takes-off, Jena will be arriving in Bangkok. Woah. That is such a bizarre coincidence, and I dare say a little clandestine that without speaking to one another they managed to book flights that co-ordinate so well so that I spend a grand total of about 7 hours alone. I'm really happy that it happend like that, because Bangkok would be very bad place to feel lonely. I'm so excited to see Jena again! I can't even believe we're actually meeting up in Bangkok on the other side of the world. It will be a very hard for my mind to accept that Jena is actually here, occupying phyisical space. I get the feeling that when we meet we will spend an incredible amount of time looking eachother up and down and pinching ourselves in shock and disbelief before we actually manage to blurt out a "hello!". I think it'll be cute though, and I can't wait for it!
Ok ok ok,
Back to what we've been up to;
After drinking snakes blood in Dalat, we headed north to Nha-Trang, where we befriended a Dj(Wang) and waiter(Fouk (I'm not making these names up I swear.)) at the nightclub across the street from our hotel(007 cafe Oolahlah), who showed us where to actually eat snake, and drink it's delicious blood. Muwhahahaha. But for real, we ate and drank a snake, it was awesome. The restaurant was actually a streetside cafe, with no menus, and was a very typical local vietnamese place to eat(aka NO tourists.) and after a long game of "Who can make the best Snake with their hands" we made ourselves clear and sat down for our meal. When they(Vietnamese restaurant owner/chef) kill a snake, they drain the blood into a 3 ounce shot glass, and take out the heart and gallbladder, which are the most nutritious organs. The waitress came to our tiny table with the glass of blood, and a plate with the still beating snake heart, and gallbladder to gulp down before we ate the rest of the snake. Kfir did the honours of swallowing the heart and gallbladder, and I had a shot of the blood and Jo had but a taste. I won't lie to you, the blood tasted pretty gnarley, afterall, it was fresh and a bit warm, and tasted just like blood...but other than that it was awesome. The snake however was delicious, and we even got our own tableside BBQ to cook it on! The two vietnamese men sitting beside us were kind enough to show us how to eat it properly, and it tasted a like rubbery chicken, like frog I guess. Anyway, it was delicious, and I'd eat it again if I was given the oppurtunity.
Also, if everyone could refrain from telling me how inhumane and cruel it is blah blah blah... I'm not a heartless robot, and I know what I did was a bit cruel, but I was merely tasting the culture, not snake.
Also, it was delicious.
In Nha-Trang there is a giant buddha on top of a hill with a temple/monastary below it. Not really anything out of the ordinary for Asia, ok at all out of the ordinary. But it was at this Pagoda(In Vietnam the Wat's are called Pagodas because of the more chinese leaning buddhism they teach there.) that Kfir and I met a very nice and incredibly generous monk named Wang-Tu. After being led on a non-official tour by a local school kid and being demanded large sums of money we refused to pay, the con-artist that was the kid acted as a translator to Wang-tu, helping us learn more about Vietnamese buddhism, like how to pray properly in a temple, and to do some meditating/Kung-fu. Kfir showed Wang-tu some Thai-boxing stances, and the monk invited us in for dinner. Wang-Tu took us to a little restaurant attached to the monastary and ordered us some really good vegitarian food, and we conversed as best we could, because he knew very little english. At the end of our meal, Kfir and I were expecting to pay, but Wang-Tu refused, and paid for our meal. We were very honourned that he would buy us food, because monks cannot make money, they can only receive and it as a gift. We went back to our guesthouse and promised we would visit again the next day and help him with his english.
The Next day we went back, and this time he had a pocket translator with him hat had the most hillarious pickup lines ever, like "Your eyes shine like the moon" and "your curves are like that of an hour glass". Very useful to a celibate buddhist monk by the way. Kfir made a joke about getting some monk robes, and Wang-Tu said that the Pagoda had a souvenir shop that sold the very same monk garb that the monks wear. Kfir and I were on it like a flash. For $5 I got myself a legitimate Vietnamese monk robe! YeeHah! Before we left, Wang-Tu bought Kfir some prayer beads, and he bought me, me with all the money, a book on the 8 paths to self development, which is in Vietnamese and English. I was thinking about wearing the robe on the planeride home and totally freaking my mom out, comming off the plane and being all like "Namo I ee dafug" which is the proper way to greet a monk in Vietnam, and see what she'd do. I think I can hold myself back, but only just.
After Nha-Trang Joanna parted ways with me and Kfir to spend a week with her father who happened to be in Saigon. Kfir and I headed north to a little town called Hoi-an.
Hoi-an is on what used to be the border between North and South Vietnam, so there was a lot of fighting there to say the least. It also happens to be the "Town of one million tailors" according to local scholars, like myself. ok ok, it's not actually called The "town of a million tailors", but I'm not kidding when I say there are about one million tailors crammed into 5 city blocks. Kfir and I had clothing and shoes made for near child-labour prices.(remeber, not a heartless robot, just an oppurtunist) And spent about 4 days there just chilling out and having clothes made. I had a whole suit made that actually fits me(thank you Jesus) with really nice material for $60, a price I wouldn't have gotten without bartering for half an hour(and without Kfir). To go with the suit I bought some Silver cufflinks, and had my initials engraved into them for $10. I had custom tailored shoes made for me with my name embroidered into the Chuck Taylor logo for about $15. I spent a lot of money those few days but it was totally worth it.
I don't know if I've said this before but Kfir is the biggest Joker ever. He talks and laughs with everybody he meets, regarless of the language barrier. And one night at the internet cafe near our guest house, Kfir managed to joke and talk us into having dinner and rice wine with the owner and his wife. The man could speak english well, and we got to talk about everything that's happened in Hoi-an, and his views on the communist rule of Vietnam presentley. Hoi-an was part of the south, so he always leaned naturally to capitalism and western ideals, which was interesting to me, because the young people we've met always say things like "Forget about the past, what happened in vietnam is in the past, only look Forward." as if forgetting would shed their turbulent past, and allow them to move forward with peace and wealth. This older man was full of opinions, and it was a very cool experience to talk with him, and share his bottle of homebrewed rice wine.(which is very strong I have to tell you.) So, feeling contented we kept moving north.
The next stop was a town called Hue.(much to Kfir's excitment and laughter, means "penis" in Russian) Hue was HELLA boring, but had amazing tempura prawns, so we left the next day to Hanoi.
Hanoi is a Beautiful City, there are trees in the middle of the pavement, a lake in the middle of the city, and about three motorbikes for every vietnamese person that lives there. All of the guesthouses are located in the old quarter of town, but much to my surprise and delight,(yes, delight.) the old quarter wasn't a tourist trap at all. In fact, every shop that a tourist shopped at, locals shopped at. Obviously at more discounted prices, but Hanoi is above all a Vietnamese city. And that's part of why I fell in love with it, and all of Vientam actually, Vietnamese culture is NOT based around tourism, unlike Cambodia and Laos, and in large part, Thailand now, so I always felt like I was more of an observer and less of a dollar sign with crazy piercings and hippy clothes,(Ok I always feel a bit like a hippy over here, but that's besides the point.) The Vietnamese people are always working or going somewhere, and tourists just happen to be on the streets. There are of course restaurants and activities that cater to tourists, but this industry in but a fraction of the society as a whole.
Kfir and I visited The Monastary and Temple where the Vietnamese phillosipher and budhist teacher lived and taught. The Temple grounds are beautiful, surrounded by a 10 foot wall that almost blocks out the sound of the busy city bussling around it. We also visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum, where we gazed upon a lot of cool war relics and exhibits surrounding Uncle Ho as the people so fondley call him. Unlike Western Museums, all the relics, even those of HoChiMinh himself, are guarded only by think plexiglass, although, if you did manage to take anything there are armed guards guarding is preserved body a few hundred feet away. That's right, Ho Chi Minh's preserved body, open daily between 8 and 11 am daily, except for tuesdays and sundays. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see his body because we were a little late to the party(by which I mean Uncle Ho's corpse viewing party...ha..ha) because we slept in :(
Kfir's Visa ran out on the 29th, and Jo arrived in Hanoi on the 28th, so we parted ways.(Kfir to China, and us to Ha long bay, Vietnam.) But this would not be the last time we crossed, oh no, we would meet later in slow moving Laos, for a few beers and some Laolao. But that comes later, back to the story. Jo and I took a three day boat trip to Ha-Long bay, which is an archipelago made up of 1,999 islands in the South China Sea. The boat ride was beautiful, and we were taken on a cheesy/mildly entertaining/beautiful tour of a big cave on one of the islands. The islands in Ha long bay jut out of the water like stalgmites, often not flat enough to live on, but incredibly amazing to see. We met 8 other like minded young people on our boat, some of whom brought some rice vodka,(tastes like yeast, ewwww) I brought my acoustic guitar, and a yabadabadoo time was had ontop of the boat beneath the stars. There is something very surrealistic about drinking rice vodka and singing "California Dreaming" at the top of my drunken lungs with 8 total strangers from all over the world in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It really makes you stop and wonder, "Is this really happening?" and the answer of course is "Hell yeah, Hallelujah!" Because at the time, there is a rule stating "One must cry out "Hallelujah!" whenever one drinks."
oh, memories *sighs*
The rest of the trip was cool too, and we climbed another mountain, and ate a lot of oreos. That's one thing that Vietnam does better than any other country we've visited, SWEETS. Vietnamese sugar palats must be similar to Canadian sugar palats, because nothing that said "candy" on it tasted like fish(like in Thailand, CURSE YOU MANGO FRUIT LEATHER!) and they have real Kraft Oreos'. Oh my god I must have eaten 50 rolls of those things while we were there. Once you start eating them you can't stop, and it wasn't just me and Jo either, every second tourist we saw had a package of them(great minds think a like, also legions of depraved tourists that don't like fish flavoured "candy" think a like too.)
So after the three days, we headed back to Hanoi and got ourselves some bus tickets and visas to Laos. That was around the 2nd of Febuary I do believe. We also got ourselves some Valium from the pharmacy down the street for our agonizing 28 hours bus ride to Vientiane, Laos. So with all of our Souvenirs(aka clothing for ourselves :( we really tried to buy things for you I swear!) we packed our bags and hopped on a bus to Laos. Bus travel in Vietnam was really good on the whole, no delays, no annoying bus changes...Ooops! I spoke to soon, because on the way to Laos we had to change busses at 2 am and BAM! I forgot my little acoustic guitar :( It sucked, but by now, I've gotten used to losing stuff, it's just a part of traveling. I've learned that all I need is my Passport, credit card, and debit card. Everything else I could lost and be totally ok. A little bummed for sure, but I'd get over it. Anyways, I left behind my little guitar I bought in Saigon for $10, but the intonation was totally off and it wouldn't stay in tune anyway, so screw that guitar, I didn't even want it!(that's what I keep telling myself anyway)
So ends our grossly engrossing tale of Vietnam.
Next up:
Laos, The gruesome tale of the lazy tourists that couldn't get out of town to see much because everything moves so slowly here!
p.s.
I'm getting tired/Laos is calling me, so I'll write about laos when I'm doing nothing in Bangkok waiting for Joanna to be her haircut and Jena's plane to come. I PROMISE.
It's been so long since I last updated but hopefully word will spread(common mom!)
The reason I haven't been posting is...well it's that...it's just...uhhh, crap. Okay so I forgot to update once and then all this really cool stuff happend and then more cool things happend and it all just piled up and I got scared...and I'm Lazy. But MOSTLY scared.
So, last update we were in southern Vietnam if I recall correcty, well now we're in Laos a month and a half later about to head to Bangkok. So, according to my calculator watch...that's about 41 days ago. Time has flown by at a moderately hastened pace, ok more like a fast walk, or a jog. Ok so time has jogged by, but regardless, it's been 41 days sans update and that's a long time without information. I was just thinking, today is Joanna and mine's 112 day since we've been traveling! that's crazy, it doesn't feel like it's been almost Four Months.
I think the reason I've been thinking about home a lot recentely is because Joanna is Leaving Bangkok on March 1st for London for a few weeks, and five hours after her plane takes-off, Jena will be arriving in Bangkok. Woah. That is such a bizarre coincidence, and I dare say a little clandestine that without speaking to one another they managed to book flights that co-ordinate so well so that I spend a grand total of about 7 hours alone. I'm really happy that it happend like that, because Bangkok would be very bad place to feel lonely. I'm so excited to see Jena again! I can't even believe we're actually meeting up in Bangkok on the other side of the world. It will be a very hard for my mind to accept that Jena is actually here, occupying phyisical space. I get the feeling that when we meet we will spend an incredible amount of time looking eachother up and down and pinching ourselves in shock and disbelief before we actually manage to blurt out a "hello!". I think it'll be cute though, and I can't wait for it!
Ok ok ok,
Back to what we've been up to;
After drinking snakes blood in Dalat, we headed north to Nha-Trang, where we befriended a Dj(Wang) and waiter(Fouk (I'm not making these names up I swear.)) at the nightclub across the street from our hotel(007 cafe Oolahlah), who showed us where to actually eat snake, and drink it's delicious blood. Muwhahahaha. But for real, we ate and drank a snake, it was awesome. The restaurant was actually a streetside cafe, with no menus, and was a very typical local vietnamese place to eat(aka NO tourists.) and after a long game of "Who can make the best Snake with their hands" we made ourselves clear and sat down for our meal. When they(Vietnamese restaurant owner/chef) kill a snake, they drain the blood into a 3 ounce shot glass, and take out the heart and gallbladder, which are the most nutritious organs. The waitress came to our tiny table with the glass of blood, and a plate with the still beating snake heart, and gallbladder to gulp down before we ate the rest of the snake. Kfir did the honours of swallowing the heart and gallbladder, and I had a shot of the blood and Jo had but a taste. I won't lie to you, the blood tasted pretty gnarley, afterall, it was fresh and a bit warm, and tasted just like blood...but other than that it was awesome. The snake however was delicious, and we even got our own tableside BBQ to cook it on! The two vietnamese men sitting beside us were kind enough to show us how to eat it properly, and it tasted a like rubbery chicken, like frog I guess. Anyway, it was delicious, and I'd eat it again if I was given the oppurtunity.
Also, if everyone could refrain from telling me how inhumane and cruel it is blah blah blah... I'm not a heartless robot, and I know what I did was a bit cruel, but I was merely tasting the culture, not snake.
Also, it was delicious.
In Nha-Trang there is a giant buddha on top of a hill with a temple/monastary below it. Not really anything out of the ordinary for Asia, ok at all out of the ordinary. But it was at this Pagoda(In Vietnam the Wat's are called Pagodas because of the more chinese leaning buddhism they teach there.) that Kfir and I met a very nice and incredibly generous monk named Wang-Tu. After being led on a non-official tour by a local school kid and being demanded large sums of money we refused to pay, the con-artist that was the kid acted as a translator to Wang-tu, helping us learn more about Vietnamese buddhism, like how to pray properly in a temple, and to do some meditating/Kung-fu. Kfir showed Wang-tu some Thai-boxing stances, and the monk invited us in for dinner. Wang-Tu took us to a little restaurant attached to the monastary and ordered us some really good vegitarian food, and we conversed as best we could, because he knew very little english. At the end of our meal, Kfir and I were expecting to pay, but Wang-Tu refused, and paid for our meal. We were very honourned that he would buy us food, because monks cannot make money, they can only receive and it as a gift. We went back to our guesthouse and promised we would visit again the next day and help him with his english.
The Next day we went back, and this time he had a pocket translator with him hat had the most hillarious pickup lines ever, like "Your eyes shine like the moon" and "your curves are like that of an hour glass". Very useful to a celibate buddhist monk by the way. Kfir made a joke about getting some monk robes, and Wang-Tu said that the Pagoda had a souvenir shop that sold the very same monk garb that the monks wear. Kfir and I were on it like a flash. For $5 I got myself a legitimate Vietnamese monk robe! YeeHah! Before we left, Wang-Tu bought Kfir some prayer beads, and he bought me, me with all the money, a book on the 8 paths to self development, which is in Vietnamese and English. I was thinking about wearing the robe on the planeride home and totally freaking my mom out, comming off the plane and being all like "Namo I ee dafug" which is the proper way to greet a monk in Vietnam, and see what she'd do. I think I can hold myself back, but only just.
After Nha-Trang Joanna parted ways with me and Kfir to spend a week with her father who happened to be in Saigon. Kfir and I headed north to a little town called Hoi-an.
Hoi-an is on what used to be the border between North and South Vietnam, so there was a lot of fighting there to say the least. It also happens to be the "Town of one million tailors" according to local scholars, like myself. ok ok, it's not actually called The "town of a million tailors", but I'm not kidding when I say there are about one million tailors crammed into 5 city blocks. Kfir and I had clothing and shoes made for near child-labour prices.(remeber, not a heartless robot, just an oppurtunist) And spent about 4 days there just chilling out and having clothes made. I had a whole suit made that actually fits me(thank you Jesus) with really nice material for $60, a price I wouldn't have gotten without bartering for half an hour(and without Kfir). To go with the suit I bought some Silver cufflinks, and had my initials engraved into them for $10. I had custom tailored shoes made for me with my name embroidered into the Chuck Taylor logo for about $15. I spent a lot of money those few days but it was totally worth it.
I don't know if I've said this before but Kfir is the biggest Joker ever. He talks and laughs with everybody he meets, regarless of the language barrier. And one night at the internet cafe near our guest house, Kfir managed to joke and talk us into having dinner and rice wine with the owner and his wife. The man could speak english well, and we got to talk about everything that's happened in Hoi-an, and his views on the communist rule of Vietnam presentley. Hoi-an was part of the south, so he always leaned naturally to capitalism and western ideals, which was interesting to me, because the young people we've met always say things like "Forget about the past, what happened in vietnam is in the past, only look Forward." as if forgetting would shed their turbulent past, and allow them to move forward with peace and wealth. This older man was full of opinions, and it was a very cool experience to talk with him, and share his bottle of homebrewed rice wine.(which is very strong I have to tell you.) So, feeling contented we kept moving north.
The next stop was a town called Hue.(much to Kfir's excitment and laughter, means "penis" in Russian) Hue was HELLA boring, but had amazing tempura prawns, so we left the next day to Hanoi.
Hanoi is a Beautiful City, there are trees in the middle of the pavement, a lake in the middle of the city, and about three motorbikes for every vietnamese person that lives there. All of the guesthouses are located in the old quarter of town, but much to my surprise and delight,(yes, delight.) the old quarter wasn't a tourist trap at all. In fact, every shop that a tourist shopped at, locals shopped at. Obviously at more discounted prices, but Hanoi is above all a Vietnamese city. And that's part of why I fell in love with it, and all of Vientam actually, Vietnamese culture is NOT based around tourism, unlike Cambodia and Laos, and in large part, Thailand now, so I always felt like I was more of an observer and less of a dollar sign with crazy piercings and hippy clothes,(Ok I always feel a bit like a hippy over here, but that's besides the point.) The Vietnamese people are always working or going somewhere, and tourists just happen to be on the streets. There are of course restaurants and activities that cater to tourists, but this industry in but a fraction of the society as a whole.
Kfir and I visited The Monastary and Temple where the Vietnamese phillosipher and budhist teacher lived and taught. The Temple grounds are beautiful, surrounded by a 10 foot wall that almost blocks out the sound of the busy city bussling around it. We also visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum, where we gazed upon a lot of cool war relics and exhibits surrounding Uncle Ho as the people so fondley call him. Unlike Western Museums, all the relics, even those of HoChiMinh himself, are guarded only by think plexiglass, although, if you did manage to take anything there are armed guards guarding is preserved body a few hundred feet away. That's right, Ho Chi Minh's preserved body, open daily between 8 and 11 am daily, except for tuesdays and sundays. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see his body because we were a little late to the party(by which I mean Uncle Ho's corpse viewing party...ha..ha) because we slept in :(
Kfir's Visa ran out on the 29th, and Jo arrived in Hanoi on the 28th, so we parted ways.(Kfir to China, and us to Ha long bay, Vietnam.) But this would not be the last time we crossed, oh no, we would meet later in slow moving Laos, for a few beers and some Laolao. But that comes later, back to the story. Jo and I took a three day boat trip to Ha-Long bay, which is an archipelago made up of 1,999 islands in the South China Sea. The boat ride was beautiful, and we were taken on a cheesy/mildly entertaining/beautiful tour of a big cave on one of the islands. The islands in Ha long bay jut out of the water like stalgmites, often not flat enough to live on, but incredibly amazing to see. We met 8 other like minded young people on our boat, some of whom brought some rice vodka,(tastes like yeast, ewwww) I brought my acoustic guitar, and a yabadabadoo time was had ontop of the boat beneath the stars. There is something very surrealistic about drinking rice vodka and singing "California Dreaming" at the top of my drunken lungs with 8 total strangers from all over the world in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It really makes you stop and wonder, "Is this really happening?" and the answer of course is "Hell yeah, Hallelujah!" Because at the time, there is a rule stating "One must cry out "Hallelujah!" whenever one drinks."
oh, memories *sighs*
The rest of the trip was cool too, and we climbed another mountain, and ate a lot of oreos. That's one thing that Vietnam does better than any other country we've visited, SWEETS. Vietnamese sugar palats must be similar to Canadian sugar palats, because nothing that said "candy" on it tasted like fish(like in Thailand, CURSE YOU MANGO FRUIT LEATHER!) and they have real Kraft Oreos'. Oh my god I must have eaten 50 rolls of those things while we were there. Once you start eating them you can't stop, and it wasn't just me and Jo either, every second tourist we saw had a package of them(great minds think a like, also legions of depraved tourists that don't like fish flavoured "candy" think a like too.)
So after the three days, we headed back to Hanoi and got ourselves some bus tickets and visas to Laos. That was around the 2nd of Febuary I do believe. We also got ourselves some Valium from the pharmacy down the street for our agonizing 28 hours bus ride to Vientiane, Laos. So with all of our Souvenirs(aka clothing for ourselves :( we really tried to buy things for you I swear!) we packed our bags and hopped on a bus to Laos. Bus travel in Vietnam was really good on the whole, no delays, no annoying bus changes...Ooops! I spoke to soon, because on the way to Laos we had to change busses at 2 am and BAM! I forgot my little acoustic guitar :( It sucked, but by now, I've gotten used to losing stuff, it's just a part of traveling. I've learned that all I need is my Passport, credit card, and debit card. Everything else I could lost and be totally ok. A little bummed for sure, but I'd get over it. Anyways, I left behind my little guitar I bought in Saigon for $10, but the intonation was totally off and it wouldn't stay in tune anyway, so screw that guitar, I didn't even want it!(that's what I keep telling myself anyway)
So ends our grossly engrossing tale of Vietnam.
Next up:
Laos, The gruesome tale of the lazy tourists that couldn't get out of town to see much because everything moves so slowly here!
p.s.
I'm getting tired/Laos is calling me, so I'll write about laos when I'm doing nothing in Bangkok waiting for Joanna to be her haircut and Jena's plane to come. I PROMISE.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Carl Carter
Hey,
You remember that comedy writer name Carl we met on Koh Lanta? Well Joanna just got a clip of a skit he wrote for a British TV show called "Dead Ringers". It's a spin on a popular British day time television show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPZcN-PiomI
-Ben
You remember that comedy writer name Carl we met on Koh Lanta? Well Joanna just got a clip of a skit he wrote for a British TV show called "Dead Ringers". It's a spin on a popular British day time television show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPZcN-PiomI
-Ben
There's a snake in my juice.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....
The whole time we've been in Vietnam, Kfir has been going on about wanting to drink snake's blood, which is a delicacy here. I'd really like to try it, and I've read that it can keep you up for 24 hours no problem and is supposed to be very good for your health. The other night, we didn't find any snakes blood unfortunately, but we did find some Cobra Wine at a nearby restaurant. Kfir had found it in the morning and had a glass with breakfast, and said it was amazing, so that night we all went to the restaurant to try it out.
The restaurant had the wine in big glass pots, where you could clearly see the beheaded cobra that was coiled inside. The family that runs the restaurant were telling us eagerly about how much they enjoy snakes blood and snakes' wine, and what a treat it is to drink it is. Apparently it makes you strong, and that men often drink to enhance their...performance...for fighting I mean. We sat down and ordered some fries, and ordered a glass of cobra wine each. The wine tastes a bit like wine and tequila mixed together(sounds gross I know, but it isn't that gross), with a hint of something else...oh right, cobra. It sounds gross I know, but it wasn't. It didn't have a very harsh taste, so I didn't think a glass would affect me much. By the end of the glass I had lost my attention span, and at the same time I was very aware. I felt really good, and I felt like I could do anything, it was great. There wasn't any blurry vision or anything like that, I just felt...good. We ordered another glass, and after that one, I was totally awake, but definitely more woosie than alert. We ran over to the internet cafe and stayed until closing, giggling and having great times in our heads. When the internet cafe closed we went back to our rooms, and we tried to fall asleep, but couldn't. I don't think I fell asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning. my body was tired, but my mind was totally energized.
It was a great experience and next time I drink it I'll only have one glass, just to enhance my attention span, not eliminate it.
I'm really stoked on drinking snakes blood, and apparently they cut it's head off right at the table and then poor it into a glass! I'm AMPED.
I'll let you know how it goes.
We arrived in Muine yesterday, it's a little beach town and were done here after one day.
Next Stop: Nha Trang.
I'll see you there.
-Ben
The whole time we've been in Vietnam, Kfir has been going on about wanting to drink snake's blood, which is a delicacy here. I'd really like to try it, and I've read that it can keep you up for 24 hours no problem and is supposed to be very good for your health. The other night, we didn't find any snakes blood unfortunately, but we did find some Cobra Wine at a nearby restaurant. Kfir had found it in the morning and had a glass with breakfast, and said it was amazing, so that night we all went to the restaurant to try it out.
The restaurant had the wine in big glass pots, where you could clearly see the beheaded cobra that was coiled inside. The family that runs the restaurant were telling us eagerly about how much they enjoy snakes blood and snakes' wine, and what a treat it is to drink it is. Apparently it makes you strong, and that men often drink to enhance their...performance...for fighting I mean. We sat down and ordered some fries, and ordered a glass of cobra wine each. The wine tastes a bit like wine and tequila mixed together(sounds gross I know, but it isn't that gross), with a hint of something else...oh right, cobra. It sounds gross I know, but it wasn't. It didn't have a very harsh taste, so I didn't think a glass would affect me much. By the end of the glass I had lost my attention span, and at the same time I was very aware. I felt really good, and I felt like I could do anything, it was great. There wasn't any blurry vision or anything like that, I just felt...good. We ordered another glass, and after that one, I was totally awake, but definitely more woosie than alert. We ran over to the internet cafe and stayed until closing, giggling and having great times in our heads. When the internet cafe closed we went back to our rooms, and we tried to fall asleep, but couldn't. I don't think I fell asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning. my body was tired, but my mind was totally energized.
It was a great experience and next time I drink it I'll only have one glass, just to enhance my attention span, not eliminate it.
I'm really stoked on drinking snakes blood, and apparently they cut it's head off right at the table and then poor it into a glass! I'm AMPED.
I'll let you know how it goes.
We arrived in Muine yesterday, it's a little beach town and were done here after one day.
Next Stop: Nha Trang.
I'll see you there.
-Ben
"Always ripped or always stoned, I made it a year, I'm going home."
That is what the inscription on my new zippo lighter says. It's a poem(haha) written by an American soldier describing his time in Vietnam, and I love it.
I'd like to make this very clear:
VIETNAM IS AWESOME.
For the last 3 days, Kfir, Joanna and myself have been zooting around the hill city of Dalat and having a really good time.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, Dalat is about 1500 meters above sea level, and the temperature ranges from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius(Ok, maybe I didn't say in those exact words but you know what I mean.). It is very chilly for the south-east, and a big shock for us as well. Dalat itself reminded me a lot of Canada, only with the insane traffic and zillions of scooters everywhere. The sunlight shone like at home, and the air was crisp like home as well.
The Vietnamese people continue to amaze me with their kindness and hospitality. It's nice to go to a restaurant and not have any of the workers speak any english and have to kind of point at things and hope for the best. It keeps day to day activities fresh, and there's also a lot of laughs involved for both sides.
A few days ago Kfir and I woke up early-ish and took our bike to Lat village, a little farm town twelve Kilometers outside of Dalat. Lat village is home to Lang Biang, one of Vietnam's highest mountains, and one hell of a hike for me and Kfir. We paid 7000 dong(45 cents) to get into the park, and were not allowed to drive up to the first peak, because the park has drivers that charge you 150 000 dong to do the driving for you. "Pffffffff" we said, "it's only a few Kilometers", so we started walking the 2 Kilometer paved road uphill towards the first peak. About 5 minutes later, we both agreed that it would take too long to get there, and decided to hail one of the passing farmers who get in for free, and ask them to give us a lift for far less than the park charges. So we hailed a woman down, and through a series of awkward gestures and showing her different amounts of money, we agreed on a price of 50 000 dong(about 3 dollars between us) for her to take us as far uphill as her bike would take us. I should mention that Kfir started his trip in Bangkok, where in was getting his Muay Thai boxing training certificate, and was so good he finished months earlier than he expected. He is by no means a small guy. The woman started to drive us and after about a kilometer and a half, the bike started to sputter and choke at our girth, so I hopped off and started to push us just to get to the top of one of the hills. Eventually, the bike wouldn't go any more, so we got off and thanked her. We had saved our selves 6 dollars, right owwwn. When we got to the first peak there was a sign that said we had another three kilometers to trek before we got to the top, but we were ready.
It was really hard work, and through the thickest jungle I've seen yet. I could imagine how futile it must have been for the poor U.S. soldiers to have to fight an enemy in those kind of conditions. One thing that I thought was funny is that the Jungle actually smelled like the Rain Forest cafe and the Butterfly Gardens, or the humid reptile section at the back of pet stores at home. Giant tree roots grow under and over the trail, and the jungle is so think that you can barely see anything other than the trail you're walking on. The mountain actually has three peaks, and the third is the highest, and also the most grueling. The trail started to go almost vertical on the way up the third peak, and the dirt turned into mud, and we had to hang on to trees, branches and roots to go further up. It really was a lot of fun to climb up, and definitely a test of my endurance and will power to keep on going. Even Kfir, who is a professional boxer and ex-Israeli army soldier, was getting worn out. Albeit, he was doing it all barefoot because he had crappy flip-flops on, and also because someone we met along the way told him he wouldn't be able to get to the top without better shoes. Never tell Kfir he can't do something, because he won't accept he can't do something, and he'll do it whatever it is, to prove to himself he can.
I think there's a lot I can learn from my new friend Kfir.
Anyways, as I was saying...
After 3 hours of trekking, we made it to the top, and the view from the peak(2400 meters) was spectacular. We could see Dalat and it's surrounding communities, and the amazing jungles and valleys that surround it. We took a few pictures of us triumphantly standing on the top, although Kfir hates getting his picture taken(the source of much amusement to Joanna and I), so I took one of him with his camera, not mine. We had bought a few baguettes and cheese at the base of the mountain, and had lunch on top of Vietnam.
The way down was much more difficult than the way up. This was because the way down was the almost vertical mudslide we had had such a fun time climbing. It was a bit sketchy, but at least I was wearing shoes, unlike Kfir. I slipped and slided my way down the steepest part, and after that, my legs turned to jelly. My legs have never been very muscular, maybe that has something to do with how little I exercise, but I've been trying, I swear. Anyway, point is, the mountain turned my legs into jam, and after two more hours, they had jiggled me down to the bottom of the mountain.
All in all it was an incredible experience, and I hope I'll have more chances to do some more hiking while I'm here. Not that there isn't enough hiking to do at home or anything.
That's that,
I'm out.
-Ben
I'd like to make this very clear:
VIETNAM IS AWESOME.
For the last 3 days, Kfir, Joanna and myself have been zooting around the hill city of Dalat and having a really good time.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, Dalat is about 1500 meters above sea level, and the temperature ranges from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius(Ok, maybe I didn't say in those exact words but you know what I mean.). It is very chilly for the south-east, and a big shock for us as well. Dalat itself reminded me a lot of Canada, only with the insane traffic and zillions of scooters everywhere. The sunlight shone like at home, and the air was crisp like home as well.
The Vietnamese people continue to amaze me with their kindness and hospitality. It's nice to go to a restaurant and not have any of the workers speak any english and have to kind of point at things and hope for the best. It keeps day to day activities fresh, and there's also a lot of laughs involved for both sides.
A few days ago Kfir and I woke up early-ish and took our bike to Lat village, a little farm town twelve Kilometers outside of Dalat. Lat village is home to Lang Biang, one of Vietnam's highest mountains, and one hell of a hike for me and Kfir. We paid 7000 dong(45 cents) to get into the park, and were not allowed to drive up to the first peak, because the park has drivers that charge you 150 000 dong to do the driving for you. "Pffffffff" we said, "it's only a few Kilometers", so we started walking the 2 Kilometer paved road uphill towards the first peak. About 5 minutes later, we both agreed that it would take too long to get there, and decided to hail one of the passing farmers who get in for free, and ask them to give us a lift for far less than the park charges. So we hailed a woman down, and through a series of awkward gestures and showing her different amounts of money, we agreed on a price of 50 000 dong(about 3 dollars between us) for her to take us as far uphill as her bike would take us. I should mention that Kfir started his trip in Bangkok, where in was getting his Muay Thai boxing training certificate, and was so good he finished months earlier than he expected. He is by no means a small guy. The woman started to drive us and after about a kilometer and a half, the bike started to sputter and choke at our girth, so I hopped off and started to push us just to get to the top of one of the hills. Eventually, the bike wouldn't go any more, so we got off and thanked her. We had saved our selves 6 dollars, right owwwn. When we got to the first peak there was a sign that said we had another three kilometers to trek before we got to the top, but we were ready.
It was really hard work, and through the thickest jungle I've seen yet. I could imagine how futile it must have been for the poor U.S. soldiers to have to fight an enemy in those kind of conditions. One thing that I thought was funny is that the Jungle actually smelled like the Rain Forest cafe and the Butterfly Gardens, or the humid reptile section at the back of pet stores at home. Giant tree roots grow under and over the trail, and the jungle is so think that you can barely see anything other than the trail you're walking on. The mountain actually has three peaks, and the third is the highest, and also the most grueling. The trail started to go almost vertical on the way up the third peak, and the dirt turned into mud, and we had to hang on to trees, branches and roots to go further up. It really was a lot of fun to climb up, and definitely a test of my endurance and will power to keep on going. Even Kfir, who is a professional boxer and ex-Israeli army soldier, was getting worn out. Albeit, he was doing it all barefoot because he had crappy flip-flops on, and also because someone we met along the way told him he wouldn't be able to get to the top without better shoes. Never tell Kfir he can't do something, because he won't accept he can't do something, and he'll do it whatever it is, to prove to himself he can.
I think there's a lot I can learn from my new friend Kfir.
Anyways, as I was saying...
After 3 hours of trekking, we made it to the top, and the view from the peak(2400 meters) was spectacular. We could see Dalat and it's surrounding communities, and the amazing jungles and valleys that surround it. We took a few pictures of us triumphantly standing on the top, although Kfir hates getting his picture taken(the source of much amusement to Joanna and I), so I took one of him with his camera, not mine. We had bought a few baguettes and cheese at the base of the mountain, and had lunch on top of Vietnam.
The way down was much more difficult than the way up. This was because the way down was the almost vertical mudslide we had had such a fun time climbing. It was a bit sketchy, but at least I was wearing shoes, unlike Kfir. I slipped and slided my way down the steepest part, and after that, my legs turned to jelly. My legs have never been very muscular, maybe that has something to do with how little I exercise, but I've been trying, I swear. Anyway, point is, the mountain turned my legs into jam, and after two more hours, they had jiggled me down to the bottom of the mountain.
All in all it was an incredible experience, and I hope I'll have more chances to do some more hiking while I'm here. Not that there isn't enough hiking to do at home or anything.
That's that,
I'm out.
-Ben
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Good Morning Vietnam!
Xin Chao
sup?
The past three days have been spent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Today was spent on a bus through the mountainside.
Four days ago Jo woke up very, very early to catch a bus from Siem Riep(Cambodia) to Ho Chi Minh City. The bus was supposed to arrive at 6 in the morning, so we woke up at 5:30 to be ready. Of course the bus ended up being about forty-five minutes late, but this is something we're quickly becoming accustomed to. The rest of the bus ride was fairly un-eventful, despite it's long duration of twelve and a half heures. Jo and I are both getting a lot better at sleeping on buses and other uncomfortable modes of transport, and I was able to sleep through more than half of the trip. Joanna however was not so lucky, and we were both quite irritated and disheveled by the time we reached Saigon(Ho Chi Minh). On the bus, we met a couple of guys named Toby and Kfir and ended up spending the rest of our time hanging out with them. Toby is from south London and Kfir is from Israel. We all agreed to try and find a place together and did so when we were dropped off in Saigon. Thanks to Kfir and Toby's bartering skills, we got an air-conditioned room(I didn't want it) inexpensively, and went out for drinks and some dinner. The next day I took a walk around the district of the city we were in, and to the park across the street and watched some Vietnamese play cao cap, a game that's like badminton with your feet, without a net, and with a bigger birdie. People of all ages play this game in the park, and it looks like really good exercise. I ended up buying a cao cap birdie, but haven't gotten to use it yet/ gathered the courage to ask if I can join in a game with the locals.
I should mention that I absolutely loved Saigon. Unlike other big cities we've visited, it doesn't smell bad at all, and the people were all very accommodating. It was overcast for most of the time we were there(which was actually very comforting) and it reminded me a lot of Vancouver. But, unlike Vancouver, the traffic is the most insane, seemingly unorganized thing I've ever seen. It seems to work though, and if you want to cross the street all you have to do is step out onto the street slowly so that people can swerve around you. The streets are very wide, but it seems totally safe to cross. Everyone is looking out for themselves, so they just drive around you, without any animosity what so ever. There are no rules. Even the bus stations are just allotted parts of the bigger intersections with a little building in the middle they use as a station. It's total organized chaos. I took a walk around the park across the street and watched some Vietnamese play cao cap, a game that's like badminton with your feet, without a net, and with a bigger birdie.
I felt totally safe in the city immediately, and had a total blast just walking around. A couple of days in Jo, Toby, Kfir and I met up with an Israeli friend of Kfir's and went to this huge water/amusement park called Dam Chen. It was a total blast. There were huge slides, and even a roller coaster with some loops and stuff. There was a little circus there, and the animals were all in smaller cages except for the elephants which had a bigger clearing, but were chained by one leg. It was very very sad to see, and it's unfortunate that there aren't better regulations for the treatment of animals here.
The next day, Joanna very much wanted to sleep in, so Kfir and I rented a scooter(his idea, not mine) and weaved our way through the chaos to the war museum nearby. It was a pretty small little place, but had lots of cool exhibits displaying tanks and aircraft outside, and an assortment of pictures and descriptions of the atrocities committed by the United States during the war. Ironically, since Ho Chi Minh's(The dude, not the city) communist party is still in power, there was little or no information about what kind of atrocities the Viet Cong committed to the American P.O.W's and soldiers. In my opinion, America should never have been there in the first place, and that thousands and thousands on both sides died needlessly. I am however, not an expert on the matter, I just went to a museum that was heavily biased against the American army during the war, and had read some books etc...
After the museum, Kfir wanted to go back to a Chinese Buddhist temple he'd visited the day before to give the monks some gifts. I thought it was a great idea and we hoped on the bike and bought some chocolate and books and pens for the monks. When we arrived at the temple we met a young monk and gave him some of the gifts. He invited us into his room for tea, and we happily accepted. The monks room was off the chain, son. He had a brand new Sony laptop and a PC with Internet, and a very shiny fancy look PDA of a phone. Books and pens I thought to myself, so much for giving this monk something useful, the dude's got more electronics than any of my friends!. But it's the gesture that counts, right? He made us some green tea and we talked about where we all come from, and monkdom and the Buddhist religion. His name was Sang(pronounced Sanj, not sang or sange(which is monkey in french btw)) , he's only 25 and he's been a monk for eight years. Sang invited another monk over and over a zillion cups of green tea and fresh mandarin oranges, Sang gave us both two prayer bracelets he had made, and a Goodluck necklace. It was a really cool way to spend an afternoon, and I definitely wouldn't mind visiting more monasteries while I'm here.
That was the last day we spent in Saigon. Kfir, Jo and I all bought open bus tickets that allow us to bus to five different cities on the way up to Hanoi in the north. Toby needed to head back to Bangkok early, so he wasn't able to come with us to Dalat, the mountain town where I am right now. When we got off of the bus in the afternoon it was 15 degrees Celsius, which is FREEZING for this climate. I haven't seen a day lower than 29 degrees the entire time I've been in Asia. I think the local people make it seem a lot colder than it really is though, they all have huge parkas and gloves on as if it were negative fifteen degrees celsius. I keep on thinking I'm on a different continent, where people wear jackets, and bundle up to keep warm, it's doing my head in trying to accept that I haven't suddenly transubstansiated back to Canada.
And that's the story so far.
I miss you guys,
-Ben
sup?
The past three days have been spent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Today was spent on a bus through the mountainside.
Four days ago Jo woke up very, very early to catch a bus from Siem Riep(Cambodia) to Ho Chi Minh City. The bus was supposed to arrive at 6 in the morning, so we woke up at 5:30 to be ready. Of course the bus ended up being about forty-five minutes late, but this is something we're quickly becoming accustomed to. The rest of the bus ride was fairly un-eventful, despite it's long duration of twelve and a half heures. Jo and I are both getting a lot better at sleeping on buses and other uncomfortable modes of transport, and I was able to sleep through more than half of the trip. Joanna however was not so lucky, and we were both quite irritated and disheveled by the time we reached Saigon(Ho Chi Minh). On the bus, we met a couple of guys named Toby and Kfir and ended up spending the rest of our time hanging out with them. Toby is from south London and Kfir is from Israel. We all agreed to try and find a place together and did so when we were dropped off in Saigon. Thanks to Kfir and Toby's bartering skills, we got an air-conditioned room(I didn't want it) inexpensively, and went out for drinks and some dinner. The next day I took a walk around the district of the city we were in, and to the park across the street and watched some Vietnamese play cao cap, a game that's like badminton with your feet, without a net, and with a bigger birdie. People of all ages play this game in the park, and it looks like really good exercise. I ended up buying a cao cap birdie, but haven't gotten to use it yet/ gathered the courage to ask if I can join in a game with the locals.
I should mention that I absolutely loved Saigon. Unlike other big cities we've visited, it doesn't smell bad at all, and the people were all very accommodating. It was overcast for most of the time we were there(which was actually very comforting) and it reminded me a lot of Vancouver. But, unlike Vancouver, the traffic is the most insane, seemingly unorganized thing I've ever seen. It seems to work though, and if you want to cross the street all you have to do is step out onto the street slowly so that people can swerve around you. The streets are very wide, but it seems totally safe to cross. Everyone is looking out for themselves, so they just drive around you, without any animosity what so ever. There are no rules. Even the bus stations are just allotted parts of the bigger intersections with a little building in the middle they use as a station. It's total organized chaos. I took a walk around the park across the street and watched some Vietnamese play cao cap, a game that's like badminton with your feet, without a net, and with a bigger birdie.
I felt totally safe in the city immediately, and had a total blast just walking around. A couple of days in Jo, Toby, Kfir and I met up with an Israeli friend of Kfir's and went to this huge water/amusement park called Dam Chen. It was a total blast. There were huge slides, and even a roller coaster with some loops and stuff. There was a little circus there, and the animals were all in smaller cages except for the elephants which had a bigger clearing, but were chained by one leg. It was very very sad to see, and it's unfortunate that there aren't better regulations for the treatment of animals here.
The next day, Joanna very much wanted to sleep in, so Kfir and I rented a scooter(his idea, not mine) and weaved our way through the chaos to the war museum nearby. It was a pretty small little place, but had lots of cool exhibits displaying tanks and aircraft outside, and an assortment of pictures and descriptions of the atrocities committed by the United States during the war. Ironically, since Ho Chi Minh's(The dude, not the city) communist party is still in power, there was little or no information about what kind of atrocities the Viet Cong committed to the American P.O.W's and soldiers. In my opinion, America should never have been there in the first place, and that thousands and thousands on both sides died needlessly. I am however, not an expert on the matter, I just went to a museum that was heavily biased against the American army during the war, and had read some books etc...
After the museum, Kfir wanted to go back to a Chinese Buddhist temple he'd visited the day before to give the monks some gifts. I thought it was a great idea and we hoped on the bike and bought some chocolate and books and pens for the monks. When we arrived at the temple we met a young monk and gave him some of the gifts. He invited us into his room for tea, and we happily accepted. The monks room was off the chain, son. He had a brand new Sony laptop and a PC with Internet, and a very shiny fancy look PDA of a phone. Books and pens I thought to myself, so much for giving this monk something useful, the dude's got more electronics than any of my friends!. But it's the gesture that counts, right? He made us some green tea and we talked about where we all come from, and monkdom and the Buddhist religion. His name was Sang(pronounced Sanj, not sang or sange(which is monkey in french btw)) , he's only 25 and he's been a monk for eight years. Sang invited another monk over and over a zillion cups of green tea and fresh mandarin oranges, Sang gave us both two prayer bracelets he had made, and a Goodluck necklace. It was a really cool way to spend an afternoon, and I definitely wouldn't mind visiting more monasteries while I'm here.
That was the last day we spent in Saigon. Kfir, Jo and I all bought open bus tickets that allow us to bus to five different cities on the way up to Hanoi in the north. Toby needed to head back to Bangkok early, so he wasn't able to come with us to Dalat, the mountain town where I am right now. When we got off of the bus in the afternoon it was 15 degrees Celsius, which is FREEZING for this climate. I haven't seen a day lower than 29 degrees the entire time I've been in Asia. I think the local people make it seem a lot colder than it really is though, they all have huge parkas and gloves on as if it were negative fifteen degrees celsius. I keep on thinking I'm on a different continent, where people wear jackets, and bundle up to keep warm, it's doing my head in trying to accept that I haven't suddenly transubstansiated back to Canada.
And that's the story so far.
I miss you guys,
-Ben
Monday, January 01, 2007
bennage_cheese
I've decided to fully abuse my finding of Photoshop for entirely your benefit.
Solange had a few pictures of us on Koh Pangan and Koh Chang, aswell as Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh on her memory card, the rest of the pictures were put onto cd and are not in my possesion. I hope all these pictures isn't a catalyst for a nasty addiction to pictures of our adventures, because I don't know if I'll be able to post like this often. So without further adieu, and with little commentary.... I give you....
PICTURES OF THE LAST MONTH OR SO!
Emily, Ben and Jo smoking shi-sha on Koh Pangan!
UNBELEIVABLE!
BANGKOK!
Joanna shopping at MBK!
Ben and Joanna in their prime!
Solange had a few pictures of us on Koh Pangan and Koh Chang, aswell as Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh on her memory card, the rest of the pictures were put onto cd and are not in my possesion. I hope all these pictures isn't a catalyst for a nasty addiction to pictures of our adventures, because I don't know if I'll be able to post like this often. So without further adieu, and with little commentary.... I give you....
PICTURES OF THE LAST MONTH OR SO!
Emily, Ben and Jo smoking shi-sha on Koh Pangan!
AMAZING!
Ben and half of Emily chillin on our porch at Haad Yao on Koh Pagan!
UNBELEIVABLE!
BANGKOK!
Joanna shopping at MBK!
A Baby sleeping on it's mother's merchandise on Khao San!
Ben and Joanna in their prime!
Some old dude with a bunch of garbage/stuff! WOW!
SHOCKING!
CAMBODIA
Ben and Joanna touching a statue inappropriatley!
A cyclo in Phnom Penh!
Ben Paying Pool(and looking like he's actually good at it)
And last but not least....
CUTE CAMBODIAN CHILDREN HOLDING HANDS!
Well, I hope that satisfied your curiosity at least a bit. I'm going to add some pictures to my post on the killing fields aswell in a couple of days.
I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and New Year!
-Ben
Sunrise
Yesterday morning, Solange and I got up at 5:15 to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We paid a tuk-tuk driver $5 to meet us in the morning and take us there and back. The view was amazing...
The Temple was originally built as a tribute to the hindu God Vishnu in the 12th century. It consists of a giant moat that is around 200 meters wide and an outer wall that surrounds the inside area of 5 or 6 square kilometers. Angkor Wat was actually a capital city at one point, housing a city of around 12-15 thousand people. The Temple was later some what converted to budhism and a bunch of Buddhas were placed inside and it became a temple that monks were make pilgrimages to. The outer wall of the temple is inscribed with a bunch of Hindu mythology that was intricately carved out of the stone. The entire temple is made out of Sandstone and and almost no cement was used to put it together.
The inner chamber of the temple houses the 5 giant spires that you can see from anywhere. To get up to the spires you need to climb up the sides via huge stairs(pretty much like the side of a pyramid). Solange and I spent the morning sitting on the outer edge and watched the sunrise.
The entire temple is open for exploring, and you can touch pretty much everything. I guess the western anal retentetiveness of preserving historical buildings hasn't reached asia yet, thank god. Being able to wander freely through the temple was a freaking godsend. It made the whole experience that much more real and amazing. Jo and I climbed up the steep staircase( more like ladder) and hopped around inside and on the outsides of the temple. We found a comfortable place, sat down on the edge with our feet dangling off the edge, and had a cigarette. It was soooo relaxed and of course we were respectfull and used the pack of cigarettes as an ash tray, and took the butts with us.
Angkor Wat was deifinitly the highlight for me as far as temples go. Seeing it in person was just so hard to take in. It was like when I saw the eiffel tower in paris, my mind had a hard time beleiving it was real because I'd always seen it in pictures and postcards. When I actually saw it in real life, the scope of how big it actually is finally hit me.
Holiday in Cambodia
Hello.
I stumbled across photoshop on this computer and lucky for you, I re-sized some pictures.
These are pictures from Our travels in Angkor:
Joanna and I rented some pedal bycicles two days ago and ended up riding 25 Kilometers around Angkor that day! My legs were killing me but the pain was lessend by the fact that I've been trying to stretch every morning(I can almost touch my toes!).
This is a gate into the walled city of Ankor Thom, which at one point was a city of some 20 000 + people. All of the Temple Cities have gigantic moats around them, some as wide across as 200 meters.
Angkor Thom's moat:
We biked to To Prohm, the overgrown temple that tomb raider was filmed at. It was incredible, there are trees that just grow into the temple.
After that, we continued on and saw a few more along the way:
Other than seeing incredible wats and ruins, we've just been hanging out and eating, pretty much.
I'll make a post for Angkor Wat, the largest and most extravigant temple soon.
I hope I can make more of these post more often!
-Ben
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