Hanoi

My first imprint of Hanoi - the major city in the North of Vietnam- is that it was splendidly chaotic and busy. After spending about 4 days there I see no reason to change my initial impression. We didn't cover too much in our four days- a few museums, Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, getting lost walking around the Old Quarter, and spending most evenings sitting on the street at a bia hoi establishment, but I enjoyed this place a lot.




One of the things which struck me about Hanoi was how much happens in the street. The street is not just a method of walking from A to B, it is also somewhere to eat, to drink, to sell and to buy. You might say 'Simon that is a foolish statement, those things happen in the street back in NZ as well', but in Hanoi's Old Quarter these things are happening in every street. The picture at the top of this post is me attempting to gain nutrients from a chicken foot in a roadside restaurant. When I say roadside, I mean chair on kerb and feet in road. The pictures on the right show a couple of crowd shots to show what level of frenetic activity I am talking about. If you look very closely you might see a couple of things sticking out in these two pictures.

My favourite roadside innovation is the bia hoi - fresh beer- establishments which are dotted through the Old Quarter area. Someone will set up camp on the kerb with a keg of draught beer and a bunch of plastic chairs. You take a chair, park it either on the kerb or in the street near the kerb, and order beer by the glass, at 2000 dong (Yes the Vietnamese currency is the dong, bahahaha) per glass. As the exchange rate is about 12000 dong to the NZD, each glass costs 15c. If you wanted to get pedantic then you could argue that the beer isn't very strong- maybe 3% alcohol- but this is for the best as we were dehydrated most of the time so full strength beer would not have been optimal. There is one particular junction in the Old Quarter where 3 of the four corners of the intersection have bia hoi dispensers. And the best part is that the entertainment is laid on for you in the form of the passing foot & motor traffic. Neither Marie nor I have yet seen 5 people on a scooter, but we kept seeing 4 people.

We were going to head out to Halong Bay for a 2 day cruise, but unfortunately a tropical storm came through right when we were planning on going out in the boat so no Halong Bay this time.

Pictures of more highbrow endeavours as follows:



Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum was a must see. In the mausoleum itself there were three guards scattered around the walkway, and another four ringed around his coffin. Quite a lot of security, considering the guy is already dead. In addition to the mausoleum itself, you could also see his house, his cars (Uncle Ho drove a Morris), and a museum dedicated to the struggle for independence. Several writers have pointed out that if Uncle Ho actually spent much time at his house the US military would have bombed it heavier than Afghanistan, so I am not sure how much time he spent there. Having said that, it is a pretty house.

The museum had a ground floor setting out the struggle for independence which I could understand, and a second floor which went through the struggle for independence via abstract art. On the second floor I gave up trying to fully comprehend and just went along for the sensory ride. I have done a bit of reading regarding the photo on the right, and as far as I can tell: the Ford Edsel crashing through the wall was one of Detroit's greatest ever motoring failures. In this context the car represents the failure of the US military to conquer the Vietnamese people. I think. This whole modern art gets a bit confusing for me sometimes.




The 'Hanoi Hilton' is a museum on the site of a former prison which is most known in the west for being the site of imprisonment of US pilots during the US-Vietnam war, with its inmates including John McCain. The (arguably questionable) picture on the left is my impersonation of a desolate inmate.










For assorted pagoda/ Uncle Ho pictures please see below.

Luang Prabang- Vang Vieng- Vientianne

We spent a total of four nights in Luang Prabang, enjoying the laid back atmosphere. I really liked this place- the population is only about 26,000, so it is really peaceful. The photo on the left is a pretty sunset over the Mekong. Everyone likes sunsets. I am not sure if I could live in Luang Prabang, but I could definitely stay there for up to a month. Unfortunately we only have 9 weeks total time on this trip, so maybe next time...

After Luang Prabang we popped into Vang Vieng for a couple of days to experience floating down a river in an inner tube between makeshift bars. I have heard stories about how Vang Vieng was a complete den of iniquity, and how the town had been totally corrupted by Western capitalist running dogs and was the scourge of Asia. Maybe I am a totally corrupted Western capitalist running dog, but I didn't really find as much offensive tourist-centric development as at Khao San Road, for example. Yes the Friends bars were kind of odd- there are a number of bars with lounger seats and big screen TVs playing Friends episodes continuously- but the town closed down at about 1030pm each night.
The tubing in Vang Vieng was quite fun. Actually, it should have been quite fun. I think both Marie and I would have had more fun if I didn't drink as much as I did, but that is my fault for starting on buckets of whiskey based cocktails at midday.

The original plan after that was to then move down to southern Laos and maybe do a little bit of trekking. Then we started hearing about Hanoi, and our plans changed.


Once we got to Vientianne, we cycled round a couple of monuments and then decided to catch a plane to Hanoi. If you look closely in the photo of our rides, you will notice that my blue model is called Fairy and Marie's pink model is called Crocodile. No, I didn't find too much else to do in Vientianne :)
Please see pictures below of assorted monuments, stupas and silly self portraits from Vientianne. Interesting thing about the monument below which looks like an exotic version of the Arc de Triomphe (picture to come when I manage to resize some more photos): The US government donated a few loads of cement in 1969 to lengthen the Vientianne runway. I think this was before the US started bombing Laos as part of its war against Vietnam. Anyway, the Laos government decided not to upgrade the airport, and instead they built a monument to the Laos revolutionaries who lost their lives liberating Laos from the French. Thus the locals call this monument the vertical runway.

Exquisite food I have eaten- Laos edition

A couple of nights ago Marie and I had an absolutely equisite meal in Luang Prabang, at a place called 3 Nagas.

If you want pictures, please see this person's experience there. Marie and I shared a tasting menu, and we both left the restaurant completely full. The menu was all Laos traditional fare served in a high end manner, and a couple of highlights for me were the jaew bong (a paste with chili and bufalo skin), spicy pork sausages (similar to black pudding) and the coconut custard with caramelised ginger. The total bill for a shared tasting menu and a few wines was USD 35. I was floored by the quality of the food.

The restaurant was recommended to us by another couple who were on our Laos cooking class the day before. Yes this is a theme, Thai cooking class in Thailand, Laos cooking class in Laos etc.
Definition of globalisation: Two New Zealanders, migrating to the UK, meet an Argentinian and an Austrian, who are migrating to Singapore, and the meeting occurs in Laos.

Anyway; the cooking class was good, and again included a visit to the local market. The Laos cooking class was conducted a little differently. The main difference was that the instructor would make three dishes in front of us for us to taste, and then we would pick two which we would then make ourselves. Thus there is a bit of choice entering the class. Second, no ingredients were preprepared, so we had to chop everything ourselves. Also, Marie and I shared a workstation so we had to work as a team. Marie did most of the prep work, and I did most of the frying. I think that the Laos method set us up a lot better for recreating the dishes at home. However the flipside is that if you didn't know your way around a kitchen there would be a greater opportunity to make the dish inedible.

Another big plus for the Laos operation was that they had beers in the fridge, so we could enjoy our creations with Beer Laos. Very nice.
There is one particular fried eggplant recipe which was very tasty. Also, we made laap salad which was the tasty dish Cousin Aidan had made for us a couple of months back.

you know you are on holiday when

well, you start doing things that you wouldn't at home. So far we have noticed the following.
1. Makeup and any attempt at haircare is on hiatus
2. Singlets, short shorts/skirts and fisherman pants are OK to wear
3. You read more than one book in a day
4. Beer becomes a default drink because you can't drink water from the tap
5. You loose track of time, what the date is, what day of the week it is and then what month it is
6. You forget what country you are in
7. You start talking to other tourists who you would never talk to at home
8. You greet these same people like old friends when you run in to them at the next town
9. The definition of a "clean" tshirt changes and you begin to use the sniff test
10. You begin to stop recognising yourself in photos

the price of pampering

One of the things I was really looking forward to on this trip was some good old-fashioned pampering - facials, massages and man/pedicures; something that I can only afford as a luxury back at home in New Zealand and I guess will be next to never in my soon to be new home. So I have been making the most of it here.
Bangkok
The first full day we were in Bangkok I took Simon to Shewa spa just around the corner from our guesthouse. Friendly and professional and with a good enough grasp of English I placed my self in their hands for a few hours. My leg wax produced the highlight of the day with not one, not two, but THREE girls doing a very good and comparatively painless job. Simon and I both had facials and man/pedicures - it was really funny to see two girls working on Simon's feet and their tut tuts at his unmaintained feet as they reached for more and more industrial looking tools to tackle 29 years worth of wear. The facial is a real steal at only 250B (about $10), the only scam in sight being the attempt to upsell you to a hot mask which would cost an extra 300B; we both went with out. For a very thorough man/pedicure it was only 300B.
Chang Mai
After the sleeper train trip from Bangkok it was time for massages. Dotted all over the cities we have been thus far are opportunities for "genuine" thai or kumu (laos) massages. So in Chang Mai I opted for a slightly more medicinal and well set up place, this came with an increased cost 500B for 1.5 hours rather than 300B. This turned out to be not that relaxing and rather more medicinal with an ancient looking Thai woman really putting me through may paces and making me wish that I wasn't just another farang with tight shoulders. The herbal hot packs were a definate relaxant though and afterwards all I could do was stagger back to the guesthouse to lie by the pool for the rest of the afternoon.
After two hours walking around the Sunday market we treated ourselves to 30 min foot massages for 69B. On my feet unused to wearing jandals all day this was heaven and a bargain!
Luang Prabang
Here Simon indulged in a two hour traditional massage with the slight Laos girl climbing all over him while I went for a full body scrub with massage. Then we both had facials. Coming in at about $10, including my man/pedicure I felt well relaxed by the end of it and it is definitely the most satisfying way to stay out of the sun from 12-2.
More to come....

hot ginger...

So it is nice and hot here, not even too hot for me to enjoy it and it is bearable without aircon unbelivably... Despite what everyone days about New Zealand's (lack of) ozone layer I am getting just as accidentally burnt here as I did in New Zealand. First came the incident at the Grand Palace which resulted in some great forearm and round neck sunburn due to the dress standards required to enter the palace grounds. The rest I am feeling from my time on the Mekong the first day I got burnt on my left shoulder (depute sunscreen) so naturally today I sat on the other side of to boat and am feeling it there...awesome. Marie - mental note cover up!

Chang Mai to Luang Prabang, down the Mekong

After Chang Mai we had three consecutive travel days, so a good chance to catch up on reading and drinking.
From Chang Mai we caught a 6 hour minibus to Chiang Khong on the Thai-Lao border, and then had a rickety 6 minute ferry across the Mekong river to Huay Xai (also spelt Huay Sai sometimes).


Then from Huay Xai we caught a slowboat down to Luang Prabang, which was split into 6 hours on the first day, an overnight at Pakbeng, and then another 7 hours to Luang Prabang.


Along the way we got to see a cross section of rural life, including a boat full of monks and a multitude of hamlets scattered along the riverside.


Further thoughts as follows:
Huay Xai
The first problem I encountered in Huay Xai was trying to work out what the local currency was worth. One important tip for anyone travelling to Laos is to remember that the currency is non-convertible, so you should probably change your kip (the Laos currency) into foreign currency before you leave. Also, there might not be currency changing options on the border Our friend Emma was caught out by this, so very kindly gave Marie and I some Laos currency. As I was initially unsure what the Laos currency was worth, I referred to Emma's gift as 33 mystery notes. Thus our accomodation in Huay Xai was three mystery notes, and dinner and beers overlooking the mekong was four mystery notes.

Pak Beng
Pak Beng is a village whose economy is based soley around the fact that it is around halfway from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang, and thus is a logical overnight stop. I went for a bit of an explore, and the only commercial activities I found were a) guesthouses and b) restaurants, all with full English menus. All the information I had previously read said Pak Beng was a complete hole, not to parade expensive cameras/jewellery and to beware of offered drugs.
I didn't think the town was too bad. We got a clean spacious room for 50000 kip (5 USD) and a good night's sleep, so no dramas there. I think your experience of Pak Beng would probably depend on how much you paid- some other people on the boat paid 3 USD for rooms for four people, and they had all sorts of creepy crawlies...

My one gripe with Pak Beng was that they overcharged me for whiskey. In Houy Xai I paid 8000 kip (less than a dollar) for a 750 ml bottle of Lao Lao whiskey, and it was perfectly drinkable. In Pak Beng I paid 20000 kip (2 dollars) for a bottle of whiskey, and it tasted worse than the first bottle.

things they don't tell you in the guidebooks

So in the guidebooks for SEA there is quite a discussion about the prevalence of squat toilets and the general lack of "western" toliets or if there is a "western" toilet you still have to use the bucket of water beside it it to make it flush. Thus - this is what I was prepared for and remember from my last trip. But there is one thing they don't mention... and that is the shower situation in Laos, now I hadn't expected hot showers for less than $5US a night but in a perfectly nice room with a perfectly nice bathroom I was surprised to see that the "shower" if that is what they can be called, is essentially just a tap removable shower head by the toilet (no I am not refering to the other thing that you use to spray out the toilet). The best example we have found is in Pak Beng which is described by most of the guidebooks as the complete hell-hole stopover on the 2 day cruise down the Mekong from Thailand (Chang Dong - border town) to Laos (Huay Xia (border town), Pak Beng, Luang Prabang).


We stayed in the newest and possibly second flashest place in town, which still only cost $7US for a private, clean room with bathroom (perspective others on the boat payed only $2for their rooms). The bathroom was very large but the layout meant that your only option was to sit on the toilet and have your (cold) shower. A demonstration photo will be posted soon. As for squat toilets, I have only encountered one in 10 days and that was at a local market somewhere in rural nothern Thailand between Chang Mai and Chang Dong it was exceptionally clean, unlike the expected horrible "western" toilet on the two day slow boat down the Mekong or the average "western" toliet on the sleeper train from Bangkok to Chang Mai.

Chang Mai, part deux

Have been out of easy access to internet for a while, so have a bit of a backlog to update. I think the last time I posted we were about to go to some muay thai last Friday evening, or thai kickboxing for those who are not down with the kids.

The first thing which struck me about the kickboxers was how small they were. When I had a look at the lineup I realised that the lowest weight division was up to 26kg. Mind you, those 26kg 9 year olds could still probably beat me in a fight, and the 42kg 12 year olds could definitely kick my ass. Their ability to withstand pain (ie repeated kicks to the shins) was quite amazing.

The day after the kickboxing we had a lazy day by the pool. The original plan was to hire scooters and go look at elephants, but that was quickly discarded in favour of working on our respective tans. In the evening we went to watch the All Blacks thrash some poor unfortunate minnow, and then we went to the night market.
I must be changing in appearance, because people couldn't pick where I was from. First, when we were watching the rugby someone asked if I was italian. In his defence, I was wearing a blue and white tshirt so this was understandable. Second, when we were at the night market one of the vendors asked me where in Japan I was from. That was just odd. Finally, I was holding a shoe at one of the stalls in the night market , wondering if it came in size canoe. A westerner comes up to me, and asks me how much for some of the shoes at the stall. I have only been out of my country of origin for a week, do distinguising characteristics really rub off that quickly?

I previously mentioned a plan to hire scooters. On the way to the night market we hopped in a tuk tuk, where there was an advertisement on the back of the driver's seat for a day long tour of the elephant park, monkey farm, snake farm etc. After a bit of bartering the tuk tuk driver made us an offer for driving us around which was cheaper than the cost of hiring scooters ourselves, so we decided to pay them $8 to drive us around for four hours.
The next day we were chauffeured to:
The Orchid Farm and Butterfly Farm. Pretty low key, but kind of cool.




The Monkey Farm. This was for monkeys where poachers had shot the mothers and left the babies to die. These monkeys were trained to pick coconuts, on the grounds that they were better than humans and also safer. At least for the humans who would otherwise be picking coconuts. There was one tame monkey, which was well behaved enough to sit on people's laps. It sat on Marie's lap, and I duly took a photo.

When it sat on my lap it decided that it wanted to roll over and have its belly scratched, and then climb up and sit on my head, and then perch on my outstretched arm.

Marie said that it was recognising its own kind. My retort was that in that case her children would be half monkey... Then they had a monkey show. They asked me to try and shoot a ball into a basket, I got 1 out of 3 which wasn't a complete disaster. Then a monkey came out and shot 4 out of 5, I was suitably humbled. There were also monkeys doing pressups, riding tricycles etc.

Snake Farm: We saw some pythons and cobras along with assorted other snakes here. There was also one cage with a mongoose in it, was this dinner for the snakes? They had a snake show where you could hold a python, which was pretty cool.

It was heavier than I thought it would be, and it felt like an expensive handbag. While I was holding the python and posing for the camera one of the snake trainers reached down and pinched the back of my leg. Naturally I jumped a mile, haha. Then later on the two trainers bought out a holding pen, and talked up a great buildup about a 'jumping snake', and started poking around inside the holding pen. Then one of them reached inside, hooked a length of thick rope and threw it across to me. Again, I jumped a mile. There must be something about my face which says 'I will be a good sport'.
That evening we wandered down to the old town area of chang mai. Every sunday this turns into a giant market- we took 3 hours to cover about two thirds of it. Admitedly that did include a half hour foot massage, and assorted street vendor treats. My life is so hard.

The next day Marie and I went on a thai cooking course, which was really enjoyable. All the publicity tells you not to eat breakfast that day, and there is a reason for that :)

We made a dish, then ate it, then made another dish, then ate it, then made another dish, then ate that. Then we went to the market, and our guide explained all the different fruits and herbs. I picked up some durian. Then we went back to the cooking school, and made some more dishes and ate them. I had durian instead of mango with the sweet sticky rice for dessert, and it was really nice. I think the problem with the durian I have had previously was that it was overripe. If you can catch the durian before that point it is really creamy and rich, without the rotten smell around it. Marie thought it tasted soapy...

Chang Mai

We caught the sleeper train up to Chang Mai last night. The sleeper beds were surprisingly comfortable. The following picture shows Marie surreptitiously drinking thai rum and pepsi, in an effort to make the train ride easier.

The only downside was the full court press from the tuk tuk drivers as we came off the train. I thought Bangkok touting was aggressive, but obviously I need to harden up. On the plus side: after the 30+ degrees that was Bangkok, Chang Mai seems waaay more bearable due to its altitude, say 20-25 degrees. Which means we don't need aircon, and can therefore get a fan room at a place with a pool for the same price as our aircon room sans pool in Bangkok.

There is Muay Thai on tonight so might try to go to that. The fights go from 830 to midnight, with the bigger (by thai standards) boys being on toward the end. Then it is a couple of days lazing around (might hire a scooter for a day to get out of the town), with a full day 10 meal cooking course on Monday- no breakfast that day!

(More than ) One night in Bangkok

We have only been in bangkok for a couple of days, and already I have had what I would call two moments.

The first of these was on our second night. Scene as follows:
Sitting down for dinner in a rooftop restaurant looking out over Bangkok, lit by candles on the tables and fairy lights snaking around the balustrade.
Being the only farangs in the joint, which always bodes well for the quality of food.
As the waiter bought out a couple of large beers, the music changed to Frank Bennett singing Black Hole Sun. It was phenomenal. The music then morphed into some Fun Loving Criminals from their lounge album, and then an assortment of other lounge classics a la Frank Bennett. As Marie said, it was like they looked at my Sunday morning wakeup music to see what genres I liked and switched a few of the songs around.
And then the food came out. Best Thai I have ever had- as at today :).
Marie had fried rice and mackerel, which was very tasty. We shared a hot and sour fish soup with meatballs which was good too. But the highlight for me was my Thai spicy beef salad, where all the flavours seemed to bond with each other perfectly. I really hope we get to make this salad at the cooking course in Chang Mai in a couple of days. This dinner (and the fact that its quality was wholly unexpected) is why I left a perfectly nice lifestyle.

The second moment occurred yesterday afternoon, after a day jousting with touts & tuk tuk drivers. Marie and I were wandering back to our guesthouse after going to see the Reclining Buddha and the Grand Palace. We wandered past a queue of Thais, who were jostling in front of an unassuming storefront. We looked at each other, and thought that if that many locals were queuing then whatever is coming out of that store must be good. So I went back and took my place in the queue, and eventually discovered that the storefront was a bakery doing an very swift trade. Among the type of breads on sale was a loaf which had sausages set into the top. Through a combination of gesticulation and pigeon English I asked the guy in the queue behind me the Thai for 'sausage bread'. He thought I was hilarious, but I eventually honed my pronunciation to the stage where he didn't laugh. When I finally got to the front of the queue I found out that the serving woman spoke English, haha. And yes, the sausage bread tasted great.

Other thoughts on Bangkok below the fold.
I think I like Bangkok, but it is definitely a culture shock. For one, Bangkok is quite smelly. When the durian vendor went past me I didn't smell the rotting flesh odour of the durian, the general city smell masked that. Rather, the durian smelt fragrant, which was quite odd.
If you manage to get to a market which is outside the tourist ebb and flow, you won't get hassled by touts and you will see things outside your comfort zone. We dropped some baggage (laptops, booze, heavy clothes) into storage on the other side of town, and went to the adjacent produce market. I saw rows upon rows of meat from every kind of animal you can think of.





At one stall there were live chickens in a cage under the counter, dead uncooked chickens on the counter, and cooked chicken skewers to one side for immediate consumption. The array of herbs is also quite phenomenal. We took a couple of photos of the meat and herbs, but got told off by the local police so couldn't get any pictures of the live chickens.
Khao San Road is carnie central. It is quite fun sitting on the kerb and trying to guess where people are originally from, and for how long they have been backpacking.

Tuk tuk rides are fun.
Tuk tuk drivers are shifty ripoff merchants.
And finally, a rude place name for my sister in law:


Off on the overnight train to Chang Mai tonight.

Simon's thoughts from Auckland Airport

Posting from Auckland Airport, thriving destination that it is.
I think the moment that this whole indefinite stay overseas thang kicked in was when I was filling out my NZ Customs departure card. Every single previous time I have filled in one of these cards, for the question 'how long will you be away from New Zealand' I have put in x number of days, where 7 < x < 41.
This time I ticked the box labeled 'permanently', which seemed kind of final to me. Why can't they have a box marked 'unknown, anywhere between 6 months and 6 years'? This would have fit my mood much better.
In other news, my mullet is developing nicely.





Also, assorted family shots from the airport and our outing to the Paraparaumu RSA as follows:






Finally, Marie and I have exit row seats for the Auckland- Bangkok flight, after the check in woman took pity on me. I am quite excited at the upcoming lack of circulation problems.

Crap that you dodn't know you had

I thought when we moved from Hanson St that I had rid myself of all the junk that you collect and sorted it into - storage, ship, sallies and self-carry (ok I can't think of a word beginning with s that means to lug around on my back through SEA). Turns out I haven't there are still 5 more boxes and I mean large ones and a bed all to go to the Sallies - lucky them...