Imperial Hue

Monday, September 27, 2010

Arrived at the hostel around 2:30pm and jumped in the shower.  Felt so nice to get clean.  Then I dropped off my laundry and spoke with a couple people before heading to the citadel.  It was already 4pm, but I figured it was my only chance to explore Hue.  As I walked along the Perfume River I felt rejuvenated about my travels.  Hue seemed like a great city and I had a new bounce in my step.  I walked through one of the ten gates through the 2m-thick walls into the Citadel (Kinh Thanh), located on the north bank of the river.  On the road I met an unfriendly German couple who were also looking for the Imperial City.  Some locals tried to point us in the wrong direction but I didn’t listen.  We walked by the Nine Holy Cannons and saw the Flag Tower standing tall in the distance.  The couple was strolling along and didn’t really seem interested in talking, so I walked ahead and lost track of them. 

It was fairly obvious where the principal entrance to the Imperial Enclosure stood when I saw the enormous Ngo Mon Gate, reminiscent of the style in the Forbidden City.  Once again, I was told the Enclosure was closed, but when I approached the ticket desk, I purchased a ticket with an hour to explore the grounds.  As soon as I entered I was satisfied that I hadn’t listened to other peoples recommendations to skip the Enclosure.  The thin gate in front of me was carefully decorated, each square with a different design and columns which were carefully carved.

 

I strolled past the Thai Hoa Palace and into the Hall of the Mandarins, named so because they were used by the mandarins as offices and to prepare for court ceremonies.  One of the halls has been partially restored to its former glory but the other was under construction.  Freshly painted doors leaned up against the wall, a sign that there is ongoing work.  Next I came upon a pile of ruins, formerly the Forbidden Purple City and now a bunch of overgrown stones.  The structure had been destroyed during the wars.  It got me thinking, why is leveling these buildings during wartime any worse than tearing them down.  The Chinese destroyed so much of their own country’s historical sights and temples during the Cultural Revolution.  Now, that may have been their own choice, or at least the choice of Chairman Mao but why is it so different from someone else demolishing a beautiful landmark?  At present, we try so hard to preserve for the future when in the past we destroyed during fighting.  Made me wonder how many other amazing structures have been dismantled over time and what the world would look like if civilizations had conserved the lives of those who came before them.  Anyway, just a thought.

On my way out of the Enclosure, I asked a guy to take my picture and we started chatting.  John, is a 46 year-old ski instructor in Whistler and travels during the off season.  He was coming south to north and had some suggestions for my trip.  We walked together back to the backpacker part of town and he stopped with me on the way to enquire about DMZ tours through Stop and Go Café.  They were recommended in my books because they offer DMZ trips with war veterans.  It was kind of expensive, so John told me he’d join if we could find two more people.  I asked around back at the hostel, but apparently $25 is too much (especially when the hostel has one for $11) and I couldn’t manage to convince anyone.  I actually think they thought I was strange, but oh well.

It was already 7:30pm, so John agreed to join me for dinner at a restaurant on my street which I’d read about in my books.  We ordered the Imperial meals, which are basically tasting menus, so I got to sample 9 different items, most of which are unique to Hue.  It was too much food, but most of it was delicious.  The food plus my beer cost 160,000 dong (about $8).  I only mention the price because food is so inexpensive here.  You can eat a filling meal for $2, maybe $3 or $4 when you add in a drink.  It’s pretty amazing.  And bottled water is cheap too, usually only costs 25 cents.  By the end of dinner, I was exhausted (having been up since 4:30am) and ready to get rid of John.  He’s a nice guy but he doesn’t stop talking (and I know I’m a talker).  I thought to myself, there is no way I want to do a DMZ tour with this guy tomorrow, so I told him I was going to book the cheap one through my hostel.

The tour leaves at 6am tomorrow, so I’m getting in bed early to get some sleep.  It’s been such a looong day.

Colorful Bac Ha and 23 hours of transit

Sunday, September 26 and Monday, September 27, 2010

(written on Monday, September 27) 

Early start yesterday.  Got up at 6am (was kind of awake anyway due to the noise) and was at breakfast by 6:45.  Got the French toast again, sweet and delicious.  Met Brian and Myan (from San Francisco) while waiting for the 7:30am bus tour to Bac Ha.  [They were also taking the train to Hanoi and then going to the airport for the 6:30am flight to Hue.  I thought that flight was too early, but I told them we should meet up and go to the airport together.]  Little did I realize that the bus was outside and we were just waiting for Caroline and Phillip to pay their hotel bill (the hotel only takes cash so they were having some trouble).  We finally left Sapa at 8:15am, after picking up five Israelis from another hotel.

First stop was in Lao Cai to drop our luggage at some random restaurant where they would sit for the day then on to Bac Ha.  The beautiful drive on a very windy road looked different from the scenery near Sapa, more trees, less rice fields.  When we finally got off the bus in Bac Ha, I saw Alison and Arian (from the train).  We walked around the Bac Ha market, a famous Sunday market because various minority groups come from around the area to sell their handicrafts, clothes and food wearing their traditional dress.  Some of the dresses were amazing – the Flower Hmong are known for their elaborate colorful clothing and it was stunning.  Tons of locals stood around in their ornate dress chatting with each other.

One area had a bunch of food “stalls” where mostly locals were sitting on the short stools enjoying pho, rice and other dishes.  In an open area horses were being sold while another section had fresh produce and cut up meat (none of which looked very appealing, especially when you see the head of the pig sitting on the table next to the body).  The main section contained handicraft stalls; there must have been 50 sellers all trying to unload the same types of items, from handbags to rugs to laundry bags and drawings, to tourists.  I wasn’t planning on buying anything but ended up with a very small square drawing and a hand-sewn item.  While I was walking around, I ran into Ina and Bryan (the people I hung out with Hanoi, separately). 

Alison and Arian had an arranged lunch, so I met up with Caroline and family for lunch at a restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet.  I ordered vegetable pho (sticking with non-meat and the classic dish just in case) but we had little time to eat and were running back to the van.  We stopped for a short, muddy walk near a local village before getting back on the bus towards Lao Cai.  Lao Cai borders China, so we drove to the river to see the border crossing.   I had my shoes scrubbed (as did most people) since they were totally muddy for a dollar.  Even though it was sunny, it rained and there was a full rainbow as we headed toward the train station.  Unfortunately, we were dropped off  in Lao Cai at 4pm with 3.5 hours until the train.

My first stop was the ticket office to exchange my voucher, but the woman looked concerned and told me to come back in 45 minutes.  This made me a bit nervous, so I hung around for 40 minutes and eventually got my ticket.  I found Alison and Arian again and hung out with them for over an hour before going to the restaurant with my luggage.  My plan was to write but there weren’t any places to sit and I ended up talking to an Australian family before finally heading to the station.  As I walked, I heard my name called; it was Brian and Myan from breakfast, they’d found me.  Since they still needed their tickets and we agreed to meet at the Hanoi train station for a taxi to the airport.  While waiting for a train, I ran into another Brian, who I’d met at the Hanoi train station on the way to Sapa.  He offered me a free ride to the airport.  Seemed like I ran into everyone I’d met in Hanoi.

Alison and Arian walked towards me with their tickets and it turned out our tickets were for the same berth.  I was so relieved to know that I’d be in a cabin with people I knew.  The other person was a Vietnamese tour guide; he seemed a little sketchy so Alison and I kept an eye on each others things.  The train left at 7:30pm and I went to sleep at 8:15, glad to finally be on the move.  Arrived at 4:30am in Hanoi.  It turned out that Brian couldn’t find his driver so I shared a taxi Brian and Myan (who conveniently speaks Vietnamese) to the airport.  Sadly, there were no seats on the 6:30am flight and now I’m stuck at the airport with over 7 hours until my flight.

(a bit later)

Feel like such a waste.  It’s 9:30am.  I’m still sitting.  Ran into Brian and had coffee with him while he waited for his flight.  I wrote for about an hour, watched a show and did some travel planning/reading.  I’m going crazy here.  I desperately need to shower and still have three hours until my flight.  There isn’t much I would have done in Hanoi today anyway, and I would have left for the airport now, but I feel like such a waste just sitting.  I do need to finish writing, so I guess I’ll work on that for now.

(written in Hue)

Managed to pass the rest of my time at the airport.  Once I checked in and got rid of my backpack, I cleared security and found a small restaurant which had wireless.  Someone on the loudspeaker said that our flight would be delayed, but in the end we boarded on time – thank goodness.  The hour flight passed quickly and we touched down at the small Hue airport.  Got my luggage and paid for the airport shuttle since the woman told me it would take me to the street of my hostel.  Well, I ended up being the only person on it, so the driver dropped me right at the hostel door – couldn’t have worked out better and I saved 100,000 dong by not taking a taxi.  23 hours after arriving in Lao Cai for the train I made it to Hue.

More about Hue in my next update.

Slightly Soggy Sapa

Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25, 2010

(written on Monday, September 27)

It’s 7am and I’m sitting at the Hanoi airport.  Got here at 5am after sharing a taxi with some people on my train (more about that later) to try to get on the earlier flight to Hue (6:30am instead of 12:30pm) but sadly it was fully booked.  Had I known I could have made it the airport on time, I would have booked the earlier flight, but I thought I’d be cutting it too close.  Oh well.

Haven’t had any time to write about the last few days, well more like I’ve been socializing instead of writing.  I’ll start at the beginning…

I arrived at Lao Cai train station at 5am and found the man holding the sign with my name.  Once again, it was one of those strange handoffs – ok, you go with him – for the bus to Sapa.  They dropped most people in some random part of town and I kept checking to make sure they were taking me straight to the hotel (that’s the service I paid for).  At 6:30am I arrived at the well-decorated lobby/restaurant of Sapa Rooms boutique hotel.  First order of business after dropping my bags and using the loo was breakfast.  Sapa Rooms has a large breakfast menu, full of choices from Vietnamese, eggs, toasties, French toast, etc.  I chose the French toast with caramelized bananas, a smoothie and a cappuccino.  Amazing! 

The weather outside was horrible, so cloudy and slightly raining that you could barely see 100 meters.  Not the best day for arriving in Sapa; made me glad I wasn’t on an organized tour with a trek.  Since I couldn’t check into my room until 10:30, I hung out in the noisy lobby.  Unfortunately, there were construction works going on next door and there was an incredible amount of banging and drilling – not exactly relaxing.  Plus, the internet on my netbook wasn’t working.  So I started chatting with some people staying at the hotel.  A welcoming family (William and Benedicte and their children Alma and Sasha) offered to have me join them for a walk around Sapa town.  Once I’d checked into my room, and grabbed my raincoat, we went out into the mist. 

Cloudy Sapa

The local market, right next to our hotel, sold everything from handicrafts to food.  We wandered down the main street full of restaurants and hotels.  There wasn’t too much to see and sadly the views were completely obstructed by the clouds.  For lunch we ate at a restaurant recommended by two French women we’d passed on our walk.  I ordered pho (noodle soup) and rice with vegetables – way too much food as I didn’t realize the enormous portion of pho.

After lunch, the family went back to the hotel and I took a bit more time to explore town, specifically looking for Baguette & Chocolate, a café/restaurant recommended by Nassar (and the guidebooks).  On the way there I ran into Gary and Shelley from the train.  Once I found it but wasn’t hungry for anything so I simply went back to the hotel.  I didn’t want to spend all day in my room, but the weather was so miserable outside that I couldn’t be motivated to do much.  Plus, I booked a nicer hotel specifically because I knew the weather might be a problem.  I had a very productive afternoon – caught up on my blog for Vietnam, loaded my pictures and watched a couple TV shows on my computer.  It was relaxing, despite the banging.

By the time I’d had a shower, it was dinner time.  Like most of the other guests, I stayed at the hotel for dinner and decided to try the mountain burger since I’d had Vietnamese for lunch.  Don’t think I’ll be ordering burgers again while I’m in Asia; it was ok, but had a weird texture.  My sweet tooth was acting up and I enjoyed the banana pancakes with coffee ice cream for dessert.  Hung out in the lobby for a little before going upstairs to connect to the internet where I was able to post my blog and add my pictures to Shutterfly.  Went to bed tired after a very low-key day.

Didn’t sleep very well, partly due to the noise outside and finally dragged myself out of bed at 8am on Saturday.  Tried the vegetable omelet for breakfast, a good choice but not as tasty as the French toast.  After taking to the hotel manager, I chose the six hour, 9km walking tour to Taphin village which left at 10am.  Caroline (and Philip, another couple with young children staying at the hotel) and her daughter Simone decided to come as well.  In total five of us left with our local guide to take a short drive to the start of the trek.  Even though the weather was cloudy in Sapa, I felt I needed to get out and do something.  Turned out that the area we were walking in was much clearer.  The clouds still covered the mountains, but the views of the villages and terraced rice paddies were spectacular.

Terraced rice fields

We walked for two hours past Matcha village where the Hmong people live, mostly in dry weather through bright green fields where water buffalo grazed and men worked the field in their cone-shaped hats.  The trek was moderate, some steeper hills followed by level paths which were somewhat muddy from the rain.  Local women were scattered among the pathway trying to sell their handicrafts.  I really wanted a picture of three women, but when I asked they said I needed to by something.  So I gave them each 2,000 dong and took my photo.  Compromise.

Three Hmong Women

We eventually reached Taphin village for lunch where we were served pho in restaurant (I was expecting a home).  I’m getting used to the mild noodle soup and it’s a pretty safe bet if you don’t know what to eat or are wary about your stomach.  A group of men behind us started smoking as I was finishing my lunch, and it was so bad I had to move out of the way.  As we left the restaurant, we were bombarded by six women selling handicrafts.  Three of them were related to our guide and the two other women in my group, ended up buying stuff.  I held out since none of it appealed to me or would be practical to carry home.

We walked to the smaller area of Taphin village where the Red Dzau live, known for its herbal baths (which we all declined to take), but the views were soon covered by the clouds.  At least most of the trek was clear.  As we headed to our transport, I gave in and purchased a small bag from our guide’s mom for 50,000 dong. Our driver dropped us safely at Sapa Rooms at 4pm.

The tiredness set in, but I decided to watch a couple shows and relax rather than give in to sleep.  I planned to venture out of the hotel for dinner, so I got ready and made my way down to the lobby.  William and Benedicte were relaxing and I chatted with them before forcing myself to go outside.  It wasn’t as cold as I imagined and I walked to the main street looking for a good place to eat.  Most of the restaurants were fairly empty, and they all had food similar to the hotel, so I decided it would be nicer to go back and have dinner with other people rather than sit on my own.  At least I tried.  I wasn’t too hungry so I ordered pumpkin soup and the chocolate banana cake with coffee ice cream for dessert.  Talked to Caroline and Benedicte for a while.  Was so tired when I got upstairs that after I finished packing, I went straight to bed at 10pm.

Not quite the Trans-Mongolian

(Written yesterday on the train)

Well, this is an interesting experience.  I walked to Hanoi House to pick up my train tickets, and the driver showed up 15 minutes late (he’d called to say he would be late).  When I walked out of the building to look for the car, he was standing next to his motor bike.  “Is the bike okay?”  I hesitated since he said he could get a taxi, but the ride was only five minutes and the motor bike is the main form of transportation.  After we figured out how to keep my backpack on the bike, he took off at a much slower pace than I anticipated.  When you cross the street they seem to be flying by, but being on a bike made me realize that they aren’t really going that fast.  I held on to his shoulders and we arrived safely at the train station.  After he exchanged my ticket, we stood around for 15 minutes waiting to board the train.  I think I was the first one on the carriage.  I paid him for the ticket and stood pondering my next move since I’d been stuck with a top bunk.

I thought maybe I would ask one of my cabin mates if we could switch, but I eventually decided that I would just take an Ambien and give it a try.  So I jumped up on the top bed, stored my luggage and watched mostly Westerners walk by to their cabins.  The first woman that entered my cabin was Vietnamese.  Hmm.   Ok, maybe the other bunk with be Westerns.  No luck.  Both Vietnamese women came in on their own – one said hello to me but that seemed to be the extent of her English.  I just sat on my bed with my legs dangling in the air wondering what my next move would be; part of me wishing that I’d joined an organized tour from Hanoi.

The train attendant offered tea, a phrase she knew in English, but couldn’t tell me any more information.  So, I decided to find other Westerners.  I left the cabin before the train even started moving and the second cabin down I heard some English.  A soft knock on the door and I poked my head in, “Do you speak English?”  A resounding yes and I was welcomed into their cabin.  Alison and Arian are from the Midlands, living in Abu Dhabi and traveling in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam for a couple of weeks.  Gary and Shelley, from Melbourne, are spending some time exploring Vietnam.  I thanked them for taking me in since I couldn’t communicate with my own cabin mates.  Made me miss Liz, Susie and Bruce as I thought how seasoned we were at traveling by train together.  I do feel fortunate though that I’m a pro night-trainer since I would have felt totally lost coming on this train on my own if I hadn’t done the Trans-Mongolian. 

I should mention though that the train is pretty good quality.  Air conditioning that’s too cold for me, a couple of outlets and individual bed lights.  Plus it feels pretty clean, which it should given its one of the nicest trains in the country.

It’s now 10:15pm, and I spent about 1.5 hours in the other cabin so I decided I’d come back and go to sleep.  The women in my cabin have already passed out.  I guess that’s to be expected given we arrive at 5am.  Anyway, time to sleep.  More from Sapa.

A night on Castaway Island

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 and Thursday, September 23, 2010

(written on Thursday, September 23, 2010)

Sitting on the small boat leaving Castaway Island.  Yesterday was so relaxing.  After breakfast (where most people were suffering from the night before), we said goodbye to our one-night friends (which included Hannah, Lynn, James and Simon) and transferred to the small boat. One hour later we arrived on the beach of Castaway Island.  The island is very basic – even more basic than I was expecting.  The huts are basically elevated wood planks as a floor with a triangle bamboo roof (with waterproofing) and some thin mattresses with mosquito nets, completely open on the sides to the outside air and lacking electricity.  The bathrooms, a short walk away were shower/sink/toilet combinations, but at least the toilets were Western (with toilet paper, but of course lacking soap).

A small lunch of bread, ham, tomatoes, cucumbers and noodles (of which I really only had bread and noodles) at noon was our only sustenance until dinner.  I had a great conversation with Caroline and John (from the UK but Caroline is living in Singapore).  The rest of the day was ours to relax, kayak, go wake boarding or banana boating, sleep, play volleyball, etc.  Since I’d planned on spending a low-key day in Hanoi and decided that Halong Bay would be quieter, I took the time to just chill out.  Little writing, some great conversations with new friends, walking on the beach. 

Dinner exceeded my expectations – a huge spread of barbequed meat, chicken and calamari, plus spring rolls, rice, cabbage, French fries.  Two hours after dinner the drinking games started (Roxanne, beer pong tournament, some four card game and never have I ever).  The beer pong tournament was entertaining as I was the only American left (since Hannah and James were gone) and most people hadn’t played before.  Brett and John (the one travelling with Caroline), whose team was called “I’m on a boat mother fucker” beat Sandy and Louise (two of Carlie’s friends) in the finals.  Brett was so excited that he jumped with on the table while his theme song played in the background.  Like the previous night, I wasn’t interested in playing but didn’t want to be anti-social, so Jona came up with a solution: every time I was supposed to drink I would get up and do a dance.  So I broke out the dance moves – dancing queen, Thriller, Macarena, Grease, chicken dance, etc.  It turned into a fun evening and I was able to provide the group entertainment without getting trashed.

The last activity of the evening was skinny dipping, so I decided to sit it out and get ready for bed.  I know it may seem like I was a party-pooper (or at least that’s what I felt other people thought) but I had a fabulous day doing exactly what I wanted.  And I think that maybe, especially after my dance moves, some of the group had a different appreciation for me even though I wasn’t participating in all the activities.  I’m glad that I continue to be who I am without feeling like I need to impress others.  Sitting next to Darren and John on the boat right now, I know that I’ve made some great friends in that process.

(written later in the day)

We arrived on the main boat to take us back to Halong City, and joined the one-nighters as the two-nighters boarded our small boat for Castaway Island.  The process continues day-in, day-out.  It was raining, so I spent my time in the dining room looking out the windows and writing.  We transferred from the boat to the small boat to take us to shore and stood around for 45 minutes waiting for the bus.  Most people slept on the ride back.  I dozed a bit and listened to music.  When we got back to the hostel we all said our goodbyes and headed different directions.  Sadly, no one going is to Sapa.  I showered and repacked my large bag (including my freshly cleaned clothes since Vietnam has actually heard of weight-based laundry) and then finally got my China blog online before heading out for the train station.

The drunk (I mean junk) boat adventure

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

(I should mention that I’ve titled this the drunk boat because other people were drinking, not me.)

I woke up really early today in order to get some things done before setting sail (well, leaving the hostel).  I chatted with Simon (Australia), Brett (Australia) and James (Texas) as we waited to depart.  Our bus left the hostel at 8:30am, 30 minutes behind schedule, for the 3.5 hour ride to Halong City (four hours including the random stop at a stone workshop) through bright green rice paddies and small villages (with a mix of French architecture and narrow houses that must be less than 12 feet wide).  Jona, our guide from Backpackers, informed us of the schedule for the day – basically saying that we could start drinking as soon as we got on the boat and that there would be drinking games and a major party that night.  I rolled my eyes and wondered what I’d signed up for.

While we waited at the boat terminal, I met Hannah (Wisconsin) and Lynn (Dublin) who are on a week holiday from teaching English in Japan.  Hannah and I were the last ones walking to board the boat, when someone tapped my arm.  I turned to look and saw Patrick (one of my colleagues from the Lehman administration) standing there.  It was so random.  We both looked at each other in confusion about what the other was doing at Halong Bay. He had just finished his cruise and was in Vietnam after an assignment in Asia.  Sadly, I rushed to board the boat so we didn’t get to chat, but I couldn’t believe he saw me since I could have easily walked by.  It’s a small world after all.

A small boat took us to the ship where we had lunch as we sailed into the bay.  It was quite a spread of food considering we were on a boat.  We then got our rooms (which were supposed to be air conditioned however that didn't turn on until 10pm and the room was roasting), and Carlie (Australian travelling with four friends) volunteered to be my roommate.  Thank goodness for that because she ended up killing three cockroaches in our bathroom (when I mentioned this to Jona he was shocked and appalled that there were cockroaches).  After an hour of relaxing it was time to swim.  Almost everyone jumped off the top deck of the boat, but I really didn’t want to get my eyes wet and eventually climbed down the ladder into the warm water for a short swim.  Maybe I would have jumped if I had a pair of goggles but I also wasn’t sure how clean the water was since there are lots of boats around and people were talking about contracting pink eye.  I ran through the shower to make sure I washed the water off before we went kayaking.

I paired up with Chuck (Canada) and was glad I did as he kayaks in the ocean in Vancouver.  The scenery was spectacular (though I couldn’t take any pictures since my camera was in the dry bag) and we paddled through the karsts and under erosion cut holes.  It reminded me of the Li River expect much more spread out.  Sadly, none of us had a clue that our kayak journey to the cave would take so long.  It actually got to the point where it wasn’t enjoyable and everyone was anxious to rest. 

Most tours advertise a trip to a cave, apparently a big tourist spot where the inside is illuminated.  But the Backpackers go the hard-core route, straight to a real cave with no lights or walkways.  Not only that, but there were only four flashlights for the 20 of us because they don’t provide any.  The ground was slippery and I thanked myself for wearing my water shoes instead of flip flops as I surely would have taken a fall onto the hard rocks.  After reaching the spot with an aqua-colored pool I thought we were headed back to the kayaks, but when I found out that the tiny hole I was trying to crawl under was simply to the “fairy room” of the cave, I’d had enough.  Hannah was laughing at me as I reversed directions and said that I didn’t want to get hurt just to see some cave.  Of course Jona had to mention that it was the reason we came, so I crawled in.  He told us a bullshit story about how the rock crystals taste like sugar and a few people tried them before we made our way out.  Celine almost slipped down the rocks and Chuck nicely caught her butt to keep her from falling.  Luckily everyone made it out safely barring a few who got cut and Hannah whose flip flop broke.

John (Australia) volunteered to kayak back to the boat with me, even though I warned him he’d probably have to do most of the work.  I stuck my camera in between my shirt and life vest so that I could use it on the way back.  It was sunset, and the colors of the sky were a palate of yellow, orange, pink, blue and purple while the almost full moon rose in the darkening blue sky.  It got so dark on the paddle back that our local guide was yelling to keep us together.  We all made it back safely with sore muscles and were glad to get out of those kayaks. 

Carlie and I showered before dinner.  It felt so good to wash the water, dirt and sweat off my body after the long day of being in the sun. Dinner consisted of a variety of fish, meat, rice and vegetables.  It was a fun meal sitting with Hannah, John (my fabulous kayak partner), Darren (Australia) and Nassar.  We all retreated to the top deck to enjoy the scenery and at 9pm the bringing games began back in the dining room.  I chatted with Nassar (who said he needed a break from six days of non-stop drinking) on the deck and avoided the drinking scene.  Its not that I didn’t want a drink, but as everyone who knows me knows, I’m not a big drinker and don’t play drinking games.  So I had a fabulous, chill evening talking with Nassar, and then Darren and John before the drunk mob climbed to the top deck (no one was that rowdy but they’d all had quite a bit of alcohol).  At 12:30am I called it an evening since we were waking up at 7:30am.  

Hot, Humid Hanoi

Monday, September 20, 2010

Last I wrote I was on the plane to Hong Kong.  I ended up having about 45 minutes to relax in the lounge before boarding the flight to Hanoi which ended up being delayed a half an hour.  To my surprise, there was a proper business class on the plane, two rows, eight seats, but it was much better than BA business in Europe.  Chose the beef for dinner since I knew I wouldn’t be getting into Hanoi until late and chatted with the man sitting next to me who is from the UK but works as a lawyer in Hong Kong.

After clearing passport control and retrieving my bag, I walked outside where a man was standing holding a sign with my name.  I said hello and he told me to wait, and once I got some cash he pawned me off on some other driver.  Not quite sure how it works here.  Once we got close to the city the traffic was horrible, almost as bad as Beijing but narrower streets and tons of motorbikes.  The honking was out of control and I was in a river of motorbikes as they squeezed around the sides of the taxi. The driver let me out on the side of the road and showed me the street to walk to the hostel.  Made me a little nervous but a few minutes down the road I found the hostel.  More confusion as a Western guy told me check in was across the street; I hadn’t realized they had four buildings.  I was finally showed to my 8-bed female dorm which turned out to be a 12-bed female dorm.  Oh well.  I wasn’t in the mood to argue so I put my stuff down and started chatting with one of the girls.

By the time I arrived it was almost 10pm, so I just uploaded more China photos, talked to my mom and went to sleep.

Today I had a slow start.  I thought I was going to spend two days in Hanoi so I figured I didn’t need to run around.  Met an Argentinean girl in my room and decided I would hang out with her and her friend for the day.  After a wonderful breakfast which consisted of a piece of French bread with some butter (can you hear the sarcasm?), and chatting with a bunch of people who gave glowing reviews of the walking tour (also sarcastic), Ina, Bryan and I ventured out into the humid heat on our walking tour of Hanoi, as mapped out in Lonely Planet.  There wasn’t much to see in terms of tourist sights, but it gave me a good sense of the old town.  Tons of little shops set up along the road selling anything from locks, toys, silk, mirrors, basically anything you could need.  In walking around I noticed the incredible number of motorbikes and heard the constant beeping of horns.

Crossing the street is a hazard in itself.  Since I am new to Vietnam, I let the other people lead the way and basically stood vertically behind them keeping the same steady pace and trying not to look too much for fear I would be hit by a motorbike.

We stopped in a number of tourist offices to find a well-priced tour to Halong Bay.  I was originally going to go for two-days/one-night, but since I didn’t feel like I needed to see much in Hanoi, I decided it would be more relaxing to go for three-days/two-nights.  We found some good prices but needed to confer with some others before booking.  I stopped in some other offices myself but they were significantly more expensive.

As we walked down the street, an Irish guy bounded up to us exclaiming that he’d just had the best food in all of Vietnam at the restaurant behind us.  He was so enthusiastic that we sat down to taste the food.  We were each served a bowl of soup and a plate with noodles, greens and some type of chicken or fish or something (I really couldn’t tell what it was) but I mostly ate the noodles.  The food was alright, but I certainly wouldn’t go recommending it. 

Our self-guided walking tour ended at Ngoc Son Temple, a small temple dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao, La To and Van Xuong which was over the red arched Huc Bridge red on the north end of Hoan Kiem Lake.  The highlights included the enormous stuff turtle, a couple gongs and ceramics.  Since the Water Puppet theater was on the main road, we ended up getting tickets to the 3:30pm show and spent the 40 minutes before the show looking over the lake with some drinks (mine was the only Diet Coke).  Maybe it was the heat, or maybe the performance was boring, but for half of the hour show I was dozing off in my seat, as the various puppets acted out scenes in the water.  I’m glad I went as it’s a traditional art form in Vietnam, but you won’t see me rushing back to the show again.  Have to give the puppeteers credit though since they squat in the water for six back-to-back shows a day.

Back at the hostel it was happy hour, but my main concern was booking a Halong Bay tour, not drinking.  It ended up being almost 8pm when I found out that the group I was supposed to go with chose the $40 two-night tour, so I booked with the hostel (for $130) since I’d just heard great reviews from the people who returned (and I wanted to go with a company that I knew was reputable).  It should be an interesting journey; it will be much more of a party boat than I was looking for.  Things didn’t work out exactly as planned, but I’ll be glad to get out of the city and relax in nature.  Got my day pack ready and I’m off in the morning. (Didn’t realize I’d written so much, oops.)

China Overload!!!

Well, I've finally gotten all my China stuff posted, but it means that I just added 18 days of blog to this site.  Sorry about that.  Most of it is just bullets of what we did with a funny story or highlight towards the bottom of the text.

Some China observations:

• No English
• Tons of people everywhere
• Scale - Everything is 100 times as big as the States
• Spitting, spitting, and more spitting, and coughing
• People are not helpful unless they know you in which case they are hospitable
• Signs provide excellent entertainment
• Shanghai is extremely clean and modern but that can't be said for the rest of the country
• Taxis are ridiculously cheap
• Huge discrepancy between hotel prices and street/local prices

Vietnam updates coming in the next couple days.  I just spent the last two nights in Halong bay and am getting the night train to Sapa tonight.

A very local experience

Saturday, September 18, 2010 and Sunday, September 19, 2010

I’m on the plane on my way to Hong Kong.  Cannot believe the last 2.5 weeks with my dad are over.  I’m having a hard time with the fact that I’m on my own again.  I know that just like the first night of my trip when I cried myself to Singapore that this will pass too.  And it’s not that I’m not excited for this next stage of my trip, but it is very hard to leave my dad.  I guess it’s a good thing that I love my parents enough to get upset leaving them, but it doesn’t make it any easier on me.  So I’m in that transition stage again.

The good part is that I’m back on my around the world ticket and this plane has a proper business section.  Check-in was a breeze; I relaxed in the lounge before boarding the plane, enjoyed a fairly nice lunch and watched Letters to Juliette.  Now I’m trying to look back at my China notes so that I’ll actually be able to update my blog with something from China.  Dad and I have been so busy that I haven’t written properly, plus, 18 days of my long journals wouldn’t go over so well, so I’m just posting notes from our days and funny stories. 

Yesterday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we met our private tour guide Qing.  Dad and Qing went to take a bag of laundry to get dry cleaned (since we learned that they don’t have normal laundry mats that take your clothes and charge by weight) while I washed some stuff in the sink.  When I came down to the lobby, they were just returning, having had no luck in securing a one-day turn-around for the clothes.  Oh well.  So we ventured out into the rain to find a taxi to the Summer Palace.  The Palace was first built in the mid-1700s and was rebuilt a couple of times and contains the longest corridor in the world, 700-something meters long (in the Guinness book of World Records).  Qing told us some history and showed us the highlights the enormous summer home of the emperors.

By the time we left, it was 1pm and dad decided that he was more interested in seeing a hutong (the old streets) than going to the Temple of Heaven.  So we hopped on the subway (changing three times) to go to the area where Qing lives.  She first took us to a local dumpling shop where we each had a bowl of soup and shared 20 dumplings, all for 14 Yuan (just over $2).  Then she took us to her home.   It was pretty spectacular as I don’t think she’s ever taken anyone to her home before.  The hutongs are streets that run east to west and all the houses are built around a courtyard.  The one she lives in was given to her grandmother and it has been in her family for almost 100 years, a building which once belonged to a high ranking official and had a large courtyard.  During the Cultural Revolution, a number of people were given rights to live in the hutongs and buildings were constructed in the courtyard.  Their “house” has three rooms, a small living room, a bedroom and a bedroom with attached kitchen.  The toilet is in the courtyard and is shared by eight families, but they have a shower in the kitchen.  We got to meet Qing’s parents but not her husband.  All four of them live in this tiny structure.  She and her husband share a room that is basically the width of a double bed plus four feet.  There was so much clutter that its hard to say how much space they actually have, but its not a lot.  Not only that, but housing prices have increased so drastically in Beijing that its hard to afford an apartment, so she and her husband applied for government housing, which is based on earning below a certain amount of money and then a lottery.  They got an apartment and should be moving into it sometime soon, but its much further out of town and Qing really likes her neighborhood.  In any case, it was an eye-opening afternoon. 

From Qing’s house we walked to a local food market (indoors so much nicer than the others we’d seen) before heading to the electronics market to find an external hard drive.  When you make a purchase you can get entered into a drawing and I won a scale!  So exciting (not).  Qing dropped us off at our hotel and we relaxed for a couple hours.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do for my last night with my dad, and at 8pm, I decided we should just have quiet dinner at the hotel (they serve tapas and Western food) since it was the only night this month when nothing was on.

Well, we were wrong about nothing going on.  There was a Fashionista Party put on by City Weekender, a fortnightly publication which highlights everyday people with interesting styles. The music was blasting as a pretty blonde Australian woman explained the details of the event.  And we just wanted some dinner.  I actually went back upstairs to change my shirt since I felt so underdressed and while I was gone, dad started talking to an older gentleman who was also looking for a quiet night in.  The three of us ended up having dinner together and trying to talk over the blaring music as the Fashionista party continued around us.  It was a fun evening, totally unexpected, but then it was time to pack.  I cried when I went to bed and didn’t have a very restful sleep.

This morning I finished getting everything together, including my laundry which hadn’t fully dried and after a nice breakfast, dad and I jumped in a taxi to the airport express subway station.  A teary goodbye from my side and I got on the train.  And that brings me to now.  The plane will be landing in Hong Kong in 30 minutes and my next flight leaves two hours later.  Don’t think I’ll have much time to relax between the flights.  Can’t believe I’ll be in Hanoi in less than 6 hours.  Ahhh…

A second trip to the Great Wall

Friday, September 17, 2010

• Dad and I enjoyed a large breakfast at the hotel and then tried to find a place for laundry (where they weight it, not charge you by item).  Impossible in this town and we ended up just leaving his sports coat to be dry-cleaned.
• Hired a private driver to go to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China, even though that’s the section I’ve already seen.  Raining on the way there, but luckily it was relatively dry when we were on the wall and the clouds looked beautiful sitting between the mountains and the Wall (although it meant you couldn’t see the views)
• Took the cable car to tower 14
• Dad got his pictures on the wall and we walked from tower 14 to tower 16 to get some different views before taking the cable car back down
• Drove back to Beijing which took three hours in traffic (more details below)
• Quickly change for services and try to find a taxi in the rain, no luck!  Back to the hotel and get directions to the subway where we change lines three times (more details below)
• Finally find the building for services at 7:15pm, almost two hours after leaving the hotel (services started at 5:45pm but were still going).  When services ended at 8pm, we talked to some people to find out if they know a good place for Peking duck (somewhat sacrilegious given it was Yom Kippur but we hadn’t eaten since lunch and didn’t want to fast on our last day).  A nice couple from Houston (Charlie and Carla) ended up driving us there (with their private driver).  Traffic was so bad we got out and walk the last 200 meters.
• Ordered the duck and they told us it would take 50 minutes! So we got an eggplant dish and some local beer to hold us over.  Duck arrived at 9:45pm, so much meat and lots of scrumptious duck pancakes.
• Taxi back to the hotel, takes 20 minutes as there is no traffic; we were so close the whole time

China breakdown: The drive back to Beijing was horrible once we reached the city.  The traffic was at a standstill and it took us an hour to go the last 5kms.  We watched some movies on the flip and looked at some of my photos to occupy the time.  Since it was getting late, dad called a duck restaurant we’d heard about to make a reservation for dinner.  He was trying to speak Chinese over the phone and I started quietly laughing, but when he said he name was Bob and had to repeat it four times, I just broke down.  I was laughing so hard I was crying, but I think I was crying too, not at dad, but at everything.  After 2.5 weeks we are still having tons of trouble communicating, we were stuck in traffic in the rain not going anywhere, and all the memories of our trip just flooded back to me.  One crazy adventure.  It took me a good few minutes to finally calm down.

That car ride was followed by a two hour journey to the synagogue less than 30 minutes later.  We didn’t get back to the hotel until 5pm, so we quickly changed and left for Yom Kippur services.  Our 20 minute attempt to find a taxi on the main road ended in vain and we walked back to the hotel to see if they could order one.  The wait would be 30 minutes, so got directions to the subway.  It looked like we could go one stop, change to another line for one stop and then change again for two stops.  However, it turned out that the line we wanted to take is for the airport and costs (25 Yuan instead of 2), so we had to continue on a different line three stops and change to line 10 for three stops.  I kept pushing on since I knew dad really wanted to go to services but once we got off the subway, we had to figure out how to walk to the synagogue since the traffic is horrible and there are no available taxis.  Luckily the hotel had printed a map of the area and we were able to find the building.  However, since services were in a room, not at an actual synagogue, we had no idea how to find the room we wanted.  The address wasn’t coming up on my iPod and we only had the building location on our map.  Dad saw a woman sitting in the security room with a laptop, so he tried to explain that we wanted to borrow it.  I quickly found the address and showed it to the woman, who told the guard where to take us.  We finally made it at 7:15pm, completely drained and fortunately, the service was still going.  We got about 45 minutes in and were both happy we made it.  I even got a bit teary-eyed thinking about being in London with the Moss family last year.  At dinner, dad told me that he was impressed I kept going.  He had been willing to give up and say it was silly to try to find it but he kept pressing on because I did.  It filled me with pride because I had done it for him and had been worried that we wouldn’t make it before services ended.  It turned into a special evening after an exciting but tiring day.

Delayed again

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sitting at the Lijiang airport with dad.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 4:45pm but we are delayed almost two hours.  Means we won't be landing in Beijing until 10pm, not the most convenient, but at least we're taking a taxi to the hotel.  Today was a relaxing morning.  Our guide wasn’t picking us up until noon, so we ended up sleeping until 9:30am before finally getting ready.  A very simple breakfast again, since most of the options at the Wang Fu hotel are Asian, before a short stroll to the new town. 

On our itinerary for today was the Dragon Pool Park, but we stopped first at a coffee shop opened by a Norwegian and met some fellow Americans, including Bill who retired to Lijiang one year ago.  The beautiful park with small pagodas and a multi-arched bridge looked much prettier when the sun came out.  The weather today was like London, raining, cloudy, sunny, raining, sunny, raining.  With the sun shining, the temperature was warm but when the clouds came in it cooled down significantly. 

Dad insisted on having dumplings for lunch, instead of going to the restaurant suggested by our tour operators, so Steven took us to a very local dumpling place.  The wood stools, maybe a foot high, were perfectly fitted for the low tables but not very comfortable.  We ordered 10 of each of the four different types of dumplings and a pile of tofu skin with vegetables (which was cold, so I advised dad not to eat it).  The dumplings were delicious and well worth having my knees in my chest for 30 minutes to enjoy.  Then it was off to the airport where we are now.  Sounds like we might be boarding soon.

(After arriving in Beijing)

The three hour flight turned out ok even though we were stuck at the window and middle of the row in front of the emergency exit where the seats wouldn’t move back.  We landed in Beijing just after 10pm and arrived at the hotel around 11:30pm.  The hotel is amazing – a stylish boutique hotel with a busy restaurant and large rooms.  A fabulous setting to end the trip.  To bed.

Rainy daze

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

• After a terrible breakfast at the hotel (basically the only good option was toast), we drove to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.  It was raining all morning and there was no visibility. Once we got to the park, we took a crammed bus ride (dad sat next to a guy who speaks some English and whose daughter goes to Georgetown) to a tram.  Took a cable car to the top of the mountain to Spruce meadow where people were having their pictures photo-shopped into good weather (pretty funny).  Five electric car rides took us to the various highlights around the huge park in the rain.  Sadly, the lack of sun meant that didn’t look anything like the pictures.  One area had an artificial cascade where people were riding yaks.  I can imagine that the area is quite stunning in the sunlight.
• Joseph Rocks house in Yuhu village – he was an Austrian-American who wrote for National Geographic in the 30s and 40s documenting the lives of the Naxi people
• Baisha frescoes
• Drove to Naxi village for lunch – more yak, mushroom dish, veg dish, rice – walked around the village where Steven pointed out various building styles, like the two wood fish hanging from the roofs
• Then… we went back to town and dad got his haircut.  Took 30 minutes because the guy insisted on using a comb with the hair clipper, so silly
• Walked around old town Lijiang, sun finally came out so we actually got to examine the buildings, daddy tried a moon cake
• Back to the hotel for some relaxation
• Ventured out in the rain for dinner and searched for the French restaurant we had seen earlier, we actually found it!  We started with soup then I had some spaghetti while dad had salmon (which took forever because the woman forgot to put in his order so we were worried about getting to the concert on time)
• Traditional Naxi music concert with a band of 25, six who were over 82 years old – traditional music, instruments and old people – interesting, but I wouldn’t buy the CD

Funny story: When dad mentioned to Steven that he wanted to get his haircut, Steven thought he was joking.  We ended up at the place where Steven gets his haircut and tried to explain that dad just wanted a buzz with the clipper.  Since he has so little hair, the people were laughing and trying to figure out what to do.  The guy started by using a comb and dragging the clipper over the comb.  I watched skeptically since it seemed to be cutting unevenly.  After about 20 minutes, he finally decided to get rid of the comb and just use the clipper.  That’s when you realize that everyone has their own way of doing things.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

• Breakfast at the hotel, La Moo meets us (we couldn’t find her at first because she was waiting in the breakfast area and we were sitting outside)
• Walked around the old town in Shangri La, cute streets with intricately designed wood buildings
• Drove to Tiger Leaping Gorge, another horrible toilet with no doors
• Strolled along the Gorge, luckily the rain let up while we walked but you can only go a couple kilometers and the other side of the Gorge was undergoing construction; beautiful landscape but not as striking as I expected
• Lunch near the Gorge – we had to pick ingredients from baskets which were sitting at the side of the restaurant (if you can call it that), somewhat hard to order food that way but we made a good selection and ended up with egg, tomato and squash blossom stir fry, scallion soup, ham dish, rice, fried potato (which our guide called pizza like)
• Our new guide Steven, met us after lunch (yep) and we started the drive to Lijiang
• Stopped at the first bend in the Yangtze and a small town for the stone drum town, started pouring right before we got in the car
• Raining on the way to Lijiang but the scenery was stunning – rice paddies, green fields, roaming animals
• Got to the hotel (in the old town of Lijiang) and went to an Italian restaurant, Blue Papaya, for dinner since I was craving some Western food.  Daddy not feeling good so he just had soup and rice, but I had a pizza pie!  Yum!!!
• Strolled back in the rain to WangFu Hotel (our worst of the trip)

Language barrier: When our guide Steven first met us, he said to me, “So you just graduated university?”  I replied no and he said that’s what La Moo had told him.  I told her that I graduated five years ago.  Made me wonder what else she thought we said.  Of all our guides, she spoke the worst English and was the hardest to understand.  Oh well.

A world away

Monday, September 13, 2010

• Wake up at 5am to get ready for our 8:15am flight from Kunming to Shangri La; say farewell to Charles
• First flight which arrives relatively on time and La Moo picked us up
• Podatzo National Park – the first National Park in China, raining slightly as we walked around Bitahai Lake; La Moo picked some wild raspberries (so good!) for us to try; she insisted that a chipmunk was a squirrel.  We also learned that the trees were 2,000 years old (yeah right)
• Hopped on the bus to a viewpoint then to the dining area for lunch; better than expected, hot pot with yak, potato and tomato, green vegetables
• Got on the bus to Shudu lake, and were going to walk because the sun came out, but they said there wouldn’t be any more buses, even though it was only 1:30; on the bus, dad got stuck in between two Chinese men and one was coughing all over the place, the two next to me smelled like an ash tray so I had my scarf over the face
• Drove to a “local” Tibetan village where we went into a house (seemed spruced up for tourists)
• Songzanlin Temple, the biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Yunnan, where you must walk clockwise around the building; they even had a seat for the Dali Lama and pictures too
• Went to the hotel where we had to exchange or shoes (left outside all night) for slippers before we were served ginger tea and disgusting flavored candy
• I didn’t want to venture into the town (we were outside of Shangri La in a village close to the temple) since it really didn’t seem like the place for food, so we had a fabulous dinner at the hotel (with an excellent Tibetan chef) – hot pot with yak balls and spare ribs, yak butter tea (I liked, dad didn’t), Tibetan style chicken with saffron (really good and not randomly chopped up), mushrooms with peppers (was supposed to be with ham), no dessert

A busy day but no funny stories. We just wish it wasn’t raining so much.

Stone Forest

Sunday, September 12, 2010

• Morning at Daguan Park – stroll around the lake and see a temple.  Watch people practicing meditation
• Qiongzhu Temple – worst bathroom of the trip, no doors, just waist height separators and a hole
• Lunch near Stone Forest – duck, egg soup, goat cheese, rice – not very good
• Stone Forest – a huge forest made of stones which were under water millions of years ago.  Incredible structures that have eroded over time to form various shapes and a beautiful landscape.
• Back at the hotel to get ready for dinner
• Pastry shop to buy some moon cakes (traditional “cakes” which are eaten during the harvest festival on September 22)
• Dinner with Charles at a local restaurant near our hotel

Funny story: There is a tradition in one of the nationality tribes where unmarried women wear hats which have a triangle flaps sticking up just above their ears to signify that they are available.  When a man is interested in a woman, he will try to touch one tip to let her know he’s interested.  If a man touches both tips, then it means he wants to marry her. Once the gesture is made, their marriage is mandatory.  If a man backs out, there are severe consequences.  So, out of fun, dad tried touching the tips of a few women. They all dodged out of the way before he got close and shyly smiled as they realized his intention.  Funny to watch dad’s attempts of this interesting tradition.

Airport food

Saturday, September 11, 2010

• Breakfast at the Green Lotus, dad talks to a family from Southern California
• Ricky picks us up for the drive back to Guilin
• Stop at the cultural park for 1.5 hours to learn about some of the nationalities, which included music performances, a boat ride, and dancing (I joined the locals for a dance – dad captured the moment on his flip)
• Drive to the airport, no time for lunch so we have to get at airport
• Ricky gets us seats but they seem to be in the back of the plane and not next to each other on the aisle as we asked (turns out that seats 37C and 37H are aisle seats in the front of the plane)
• Dad picked a restaurant for lunch but the food doesn’t look good to me, so I got noodles and hot water.  Turned out that the food was terrible and he only ate the rice
• Board plane 30 minutes late, but once we arrive in Kunming Charles is waiting for us outside baggage claim
• Tour of the Golden Temple – built in 1602 in the Ming dynasty the Golden Temple is actually made of bronze, there are three gates, between the first and second are 72 stairs representing 72 demons, from the second to third are 36 heavenly branches. 
• Dinner at local restaurant – deep fried pork tenderloin, tofu, lotus root, potato noodles, soup with tomato and egg, fried pork, tea and local beer
• Dynamic Yunnan show – another show by the creator of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, various acts including song, dance and drumming based on ancient traditions.  One woman performed an amazing “moon dance”, gracefully moving her body in ways that didn’t seem possible.

Total relaxation, small world and randomly chopped up chicken

Friday, September 10, 2010

We are currently sitting at the pool of the Yangshuo Resort, a beautiful property on the Yu Gong River. It is absolutely stunning here.  The hotel is gorgeous, not even fully opened yet, surrounded by karst peaks and beautifully designed buildings.  We didn't intend to come here today, but dad wanted to check out the place before we crossed the bridge on our way to Moon Hill.  After late start to the day, waking up just before 9 and having a decent breakfast at the Green Lotus Hotel, we rented bikes with the intention of riding to Moon Hill.  As I mentioned, we stopped off to check out the Yangshuo Resort and dad decided that a great way to spend the rest of the day (it was 12:30pm) was to relax at their pool and have dinner in the restaurant. So we biked back to our hotel, purchased a cheap (too small) bathing suit for dad and walked to the bank to pick up the free shuttle to the resort.

And here we are.  I've already been in the pool, but I desperately needed to write, so I brought my netbook to do some journaling.  Better get to it.

(Later in the day)

• Met some nice people at the resort: An Australian tai chi teacher and her friend and an American family from Illinois whose daughter lived in Beijing for 4 months working for the USDA. 
• Showered and got ready for dinner in the lovely hotel locker rooms
• Dinner at the resort
• 40 minute wait for the free shuttle, so we relaxed in the beautiful lobby of the resort.

Small world:  For dinner, dad decided to order way too much food because he wanted to try a bunch of different dishes.  We got stuffed lotus root, osmanthus dumplings (more like dessert), beer catfish, chicken in lotus leaf, and Yangshuo noodles (an enormous bowl of noodles which are added to broth and mixed with your choice of toppings).  The Illinois family we met at the pool ended up eating at the table next to us and we shared some of our food with them.  It was pretty funny, walking over to their table handing them a half-eaten dish but at that point there were only Americans left in the restaurant.  At the end of dinner, an American couple sitting at another table came over to ask where we were from.  We said LA, and they said that their son was working for a guy in LA, Robert Pinus.  Dad and I looked at each other and said, “Pinus?  That name sounds familiar.” So they got Robert to come back and it turns out he is the brother of John Pinus, a very good friend of the Lewis’s who my parents know quite well.  They have even been to John’s house and Robert knows Marge and Steven.  Small world!

Sweet sailing on the Li River and wet, wet weather

Thursday, September 9, 2010

• Sailing on the Li River – spent just over four hours cruising down the Li River; absolutely stunning scenery; Ricky pointed out some highlights, like the 9 horses, etc; for some you really had to use your imagination to see the images
• Met a nice girl from Switzerland traveling on her own in China
• French couple sat next to us so dad was able to communicate
• Got to Yangshuo and had to walk 20 minutes in the humidity to our hotel
• Checked in and got our laundry together
• Picked up by Ricky in an electric cart which first took us to the laundry mat then into the countryside of Yangshuo; good thing we had Ricky because I think it would have been hard for dad to describe that we wanted a dark wash and a white wash
• Drove around the countryside in the electric cart; stunning scenery
• Ricky took us to a local food market, so smelly with lot of live birds and ducks, even I didn’t like it
• Collected our laundry and walked back to hotel
• 30 minutes to get ready for dinner, then Ricky took us to a local place to try beer fish.  We see the fish being pulled out of the water and weighed.  Talk about fresh!
• Starts raining and we have tickets to Impressions of Yangshuo; take an electric cart, lots of traffic
• Given ponchos and plastic bags for our feet
• Rained for the majority of the show and as soon as the show ended it started pouring.  Raining so hard as we make a 15-minute walk to the electric cart.  Sloshing through puddles.  SO WET!
• Get back to the hotel and can’t wait to get out of our wet clothes.  No good dessert at the hotel, so we ended up with chocolate and Oreos.

Soaking story: It was challenging to enjoy the Impressions of Yangshuo through the rain.  My head was poking out of my poncho as I struggled to keep my hair dry.  When the rain let up, everyone would remove their hoods and as soon as it started again, they were back on.  Dad and I kept looking at each other and smiling about the experience.  When the show ended, the sky broke and it started pouring.  It was some of the hardest rain I’ve seen in a while and we had to walk through it for 15 minutes to get to the electric cart.  Since we didn’t have umbrellas, I was holding on to my hood and water was dripping down my arm and neck into my shirt.  Part of my shirt got exposed through my poncho and leg guards (is that what you’d call them?) and got totally soaked.  Dad and I were holding on to each other and trying to laugh since there was nothing we could do.  Time and time again we mentioned how miserable my mom would have been in this situation and that we were glad she didn’t come to China (this is already a recurring theme after the first week.  When we finally made it to the hotel, we peeled ourselves out of the wet ponchos and disposed of them at the entrance, where of course we ran into the Swiss girl from the boat.  A long, wet evening.