moons of the honey: January 2008

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

City Madness

A small street in old town Hanoi.

It's not as hectic as Saigon, only 5 million people (Saigon is 10 million), so we managed to get the camera out. Walking these streets is not easy, and in Saigon it looks similar but the streets are 5 times as wide. It does make a person a little nutso. We empathize with the guy in the red and white scarf.

On the plus side: you can eat, drink, buy, and people watch to your heart's content!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

If you go to Vietnam you must see Halong Bay. After being in Laos we had seen many limestone karst formations, but there is really nothing like Halong Bay, where the karst formations protrude from the sea.

We set out into the bay on a "junk," like the one in the photo below.

We cruised around the bay for a day on the junk...

...of course, eating seafood.

We spent one night anchored on the boat, and the next day we went kayaking around the bay with a guide, and with the other 8 people from our boat.

The kayaking was fantastic...

...and we paddeled in and out of little tunnels through the limestone...

...exploring small, interior lagoons.

The weather, as was to be expected...

...was cool and damp, but we didn't mind too much.

There are lots of floating villages in the bay, and the people make money by harvesting and growing seafood.

After our second day on the bay we cruised to Cat Ba Island, the largest island in the bay.

We stayed in a luxuruy hotel right on the beach (view from our room above). This was the nicest room we had in all of Asia. So close to the end of our trip we began to forget about our budget.

We rented a motorcycle and cruised around the beautiful island, stopping to take a hike in the National Park,

and enjoy the rural scenery.

At the end of the day it was back to the harbor, to catch a boat to the mainland. This was our last true excursion of the trip, as now we were on our way to Hanoi, Saigon, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.

Hoi An, Vietnam

As we traveled north the weather changed for the cooler, to be expected in winter and outside of the tropical part of the country.

Our overnight bus arrived in Hoi An on a foggy morning at 6 am.

Hoi An is mostly known for its shopping, as there are lots of markets and a number of excellent tailors who make clothes to fit in 24 hours.

Char had a silk suit made by Nhung. Once she irons it, and gets some shoes and a blouse she will be ready to dress to impress.

There also plenty of cheap and delicious restaurants. Above is the Vietnamese pancake, one of Jon's favorites.

Few people realize that there is a gorgeous beach just 5km downriver from Hoi An. We made the trip on bikes, and although it was not exactly swimming weather, it was worth it.

There are some resorts at the beach with odd decorations. Go Santa!

We visited the ruins of My Sun, an ancient Champa religious site not far from Hoi An.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Whale Island, Vietnam

Ha Tien was a nice introduction to Vietnam. Not too big, no tourists, and very friendly people. Unfortunately we had a reservation, one of the only we made during the entire trip, to be on Whale Island in a few days. It is a small, private island with one resort and had been recommended by a friend as paradise. We traveled quickly across the Mekong Delta region, experiencing one minor car accident (not injured). Our van hit a cargo bicycle. The bike was mangled but the driver was only bruised. He was most concerned about his precious cargo, a nice mattress. Had it been damaged surely he could not have afforded to replace. All of the local people came out to give an opinion on whose fault it was, and Jon was glad that the language barrier prevented him from adding his two cents. Two hours passed, the cops came by, and somehow all was resolved and we were off again.

We arrived in Saigon, a city of 10 million people, and by far the biggest, craziest city we visited in Asia. It was so hectic the only photo we took was of us taking refuge in a cafe...

...drinking the delicious Vietnamese iced coffee sweetened with condensed milk.

Shortly we were off to Whale Island, on an overnight train and then by boat. Above you can see the resort strung out along a small cove on the island. It is a wildlife refuge, and the snorkeling just out from our room, in this cove, was the best we found in Asia.

Whale Island was paradise, and it did not disappoint. We had planned it as a treat for ourselves, a bit of a break from budget traveling. It was like a proper honeymoon all over again.

You can walk around the island in two hours...

With a beautiful view from the top.

We spent a lot of time reading (Jon highly recommends Cormac McCarthy) on the beach in front of our bungalow.

Some boat rides of various types...

...one out to a floating fishing house/fish farm, which we visited and got to see big penned fish and lobster. Ate almost exclusively fresh seafood on the island.

Also did some canoeing...

...and sailing. One of the staff, Chuc, was a great sailor. We went out with him so Jon could refresh his sailing skills and learn a Hobie cat. It was more fun with Chuc at the helm, and after a while Char decided to stay on the beach so Chuc and Jon could really let it rip. We sheared one of the rudders right off, we were going so fast.

After six days we were again very relaxed and refreshed, and headed back to the mainland.

Cambodia to Vietam - A New Border Crossing

We traveled along the coast from Sihanoukville to Kep, where we hoped to find onward transportation to a border crossing between Kep, Cambodia and Ha Tien, Vietnam. This crossing had only been open for 2 moths and we had not met anyone who had used it. We expected the trip to be quite an adventure and were prepared for anything.

Kep was an old french colonial resort town, destroyed by war, and not really recovered or rebuilt yet. Like much of coastal Cambodia, however, it won't be long before it turns into resort mania. For now there are mostly bombed out buildings.

The critters seem to like it, and this was one of the few places we saw wild monkeys (gibbons).

Not to exaggerate, however, there were some local inhabitants and a few small hotels.

We found a driver to take us 20 km to the border in his tuk tuk (motorcyle with passenger trailer)...

...and hit the road.

Our transportation was about the best to be found in this little corner of the world.

Soon we were in the middle of nowhere.

When we go close to the border our driver said he could not go on, for fear of being arrested by the Vietnamese. Also, in the end the road wasn't good enough even for the tuk tuk. He passed us off to two Vietnamese motorcycle taxi drivers, one of whom he knew, and helped us negotiate a fair rate for the rest of the journey. On the back of these two motorcycles we crossed over the border, stopping to have our passports stamped on either side, and continue 10 km further to the first town we came upon, Ha Tien, Vietnam. We had been prepared for some challenges but upon arriving in Ha Tien we felt that we had made the crossing in good hands, as smoothly as possible.

3 Weeks in Sihanoukville, Cambodia (the Beach)

We arrived in the capital of Cambodia via plane from the capital of Laos. We were trying to get to the beach as quick as we could.

The capital, Phnom Pehn, was pretty crazy. It's tough to get around because all the vendors spill out onto the sidewalks and the cars and motorbikes come up onto the sidewalks, so there is nowhere for pedestrians.

Most of the country, however, is very rural and slow. Quite poor actually, and still recovering from years of war.

The beach was a breath of fresh air, and it did not disappoint us.

For a while we just relaxed (Char getting her nails done). The women who worked on the beach, and the Cambodians we met in general, were very nice. We became pretty good friends with several of them.