Phnom Penh

So we really enjoyed our slow boat experience into Cambodia.  The first 3 hours we headed to the border through small canals and homes that were either right beside the river or floating on top of it.  The people were extremely friendly and always waving to us and smiling as we passed by.  We arrived at the floating border control and it took about 30 minutes for us to get stamped out of Vietnam and we had the chance to get some lunch in the meantime...we weren't sure if it actually took that long or if it was an excuse to sell us some lunch, but we were happy for the food regardless.  Then we hopped into another boat and went to the Cambodian border where we pretty painlessly got our VISAs (much cheaper than Vietnam or Laos).  We spent another hour or so on the boat up the Mekong then hopped on a bus for the remainder of the trip to Phnom Penh.  The boat dropped us off somewhere in the country and the first part of the bus journey was really pleasant, driving through the countryside and seeing the wooden homes on stilts...much more like the ones in Laos than what we got used to seeing in Vietnam.

The sights in Phnom Penh are a mix of amazing architecture and history of the Angkorian period, and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime.  We decided not to see everything to do with the Khmer Rouge on the same day because we thought it would be too emotionally taxing.  And we were right.  The first day we went to the Tuol Sleng Museum, which was once a primary and high school, but was taken over by the Khmer Rouge and the classrooms were turned into torture chambers.  It is too difficult and I think not right for me to describe it here, and may be better reserved to be discussed in person when we get back.  It is definitely one of the most horrible places I have ever visited in my life, and it's almost impossible to understand how something like this could happen.  Some of the photographs you can't even look at.  But I still think it is an important visit for anyone who goes Cambodia, because it is necessary to understand what the people here have endured.  The afternoon was much lighter, since we explored the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.  We are in the transition month into the rainy season and it has started to lightly rain every afternoon here, but what is really amazing is the skies.  The dark clouds descend like a blanket over the city and you can see blue sky on the horizon and these menacing clouds over top..it is really quite beautiful.

This morning we went to Choeung Ek, otherwise known as the Killing Fields, where most of the prisoners from the S-21 prison (now the Tuol Sleng Museum) were executed.  Again, too much to put into words.  All I can say is that I pray that the souls of all those people are at peace, and that my heart goes out to the people of Cambodia, because nobody should have to go through that.

We found a great spot to get a coffee at lunch time overlooking the street and with free internet!  After lunch we headed off to one of the city's temples, Wat Phnom.  The temple is actually on a hill and has a park all around it, and is home to some mischevious monkeys!  We realized why they hang out there, since this local lady came by giving them all sorts of amazing fruit!  We were smart not to get too close though, because we actually witnessed this local boy get bitten!  I don't think it broke the skin, but still...RABIES!(Not to mention hepatitis...ect ect....)  Major human health risk!  Eek!  We planned to walk around the central market, but by the time we got there we realized we only had an hour until the museum closed so we hopped in a tuk-tuk and headed off.  The museum was actually very beautiful.  The building itself is lovely since it is built in the style of the temples and there is a courtyard in the middle with Angkor-era sculptures around it and ponds with lotus flowers.  We actually just sat for some time enjoying the surroundings.  I guess we were missing Vietnamese food because we were pretty happy about finding a spot to get Pho for dinner :>)  They even had a veggie option so I got some tofu rather than just noodles and leaves!  We found this great place to get ice cream after dinner over-looking the river, except that Daniel ordered durian flavoured ice cream and slipped some into my bowl when I wasn't looking!

Tomorrow we will take a bus to Kampot, reputed to grow the best pepper in the world!

Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan xoxo

Homes build on the river in Vietnam

 One of our first views of the Cambodian countryside.  There were huge piles of corn in front of many of the homes.

 Independance monument in Phnom Penh

 Royal Palace

 No more need be said about this one :>)

 Monks riding on motorcycle taxis...one of my favorite images.

 Mango lips!  Monkey feasting at Wat Phnom.

 Memorial stupa at the Killing Fields for the victims of the Khmer Rouge. 

Chau Doc and goodbye Vietnam

Well we decided to take off one day earlier than expected to Chau Doc on the border of Cambodia.  We took a local bus, which was a big chaotic.  The bus station was absolute madness, with people trying to sell us tickets the minute we stepped out of the taxi...we almost forgot to pay him it was so crazy!  The bus was actually a minibus that should have sat about 12 people but, as per SE Asia style they jammed about double that in, with people sitting on tiny plastic chairs beside the regular seats.  We were fortunate to have secured more comfortable ones at the station.  People also came on with all manner of cargo, some pretty stinky, and because the driver was a bit of a maniac, my backpack arrived in Chau Doc reaking of raw fish...lovely.  Dan said it was "part of the experience."  I took it into the shower and gave it a good scrub down though so it's nice a clean now!  I guess that's what you get for a 3 hour bus ride that only costs 3 dollars!

Things started out a little rough for us upon our arrival in Chau Doc as well!  We got off the bus as were met by the usual swarm of moto drivers trying to take us to a hotel, but we decided to sit down and have a coffee and wait until they dispersed before making our way to the hotel we had scoped out from our travel book.  It wasn't long before this random guy came up to us trying to sell us a room in his hotel.  We were not really that interested and just wanted to enjoy our coffee, but we thanked him and took his buisness card just to be polite.  About 10 minutes later he came back and started offering us a boat trip to Cambodia, which of course we intended to purchase eventually, but not 10 minutes after getting off the bus!  We politely declined, but he just stood there and asked us what was wrong.  We smiled and thanked him for his help and told him we already had a hotel.  And then he started to get really angry with us!  He told us we were abnormal, that Vietnamese people were friendly and nice and that we clearly were not, and that he didn't know which country we were from, but we should just go back there!  And it got worse!  He then concluded that we must be part of the mafia, and could we please accompany him to the police station!  Eventually he took off, but he kept coming back on his motorbike and stalking us and yelling at us!  We paid for our coffee and were very relieved to find some moto drivers to take us to our hotel of choice, which I am please to say is lovely :>)  The people are so nice and helpful but not pushy about tours and stuff at all.  But I have to admit I was a little shaken up by that little fiasco.  Especially since I feel we try very hard to be nice and polite to people, smiling and politely saying "no thank you" in Vietnamese.

We drove out to the countryside that afternoon where there were some temples build on a mountain, and climbed to the top for lovely views of the never-ending rice fields and into Cambodia (although we were not sure exactly where it started.)  We found a wonderful local restaurant on a busy street for dinner where we had soup and a hot pot.  Today we went to Two Million Dollar Hill, named so because they Americans spent so much money bombing it during the war.  It's very rocky and there are caves inside where Viet Cong members hit out, making it a target for the Americans.  The caves are quite extensive!  We went through part of them, accompanied first by 3 kids, but by the end there were about 8 of them tagging along...we had no idea where they all came from!  We were also the only foriegners there, and everybody wanted to say hello to us!  We stopped by the side of the road for noodle soup for lunch and I tried out my Vietnamese again, asking for vegetarian noodle soup.  I even pointed to the vegetables and the noodles just to be sure.  They seemed happy and smiled and nodded and motioned for us to sit down, and then my soup arrived...vegetables and several pieces of "name that mystery meat."  I think it was liver and lung.  Ah well, at least they could be removed easily :>) 

So tomorrow we really are off to Cambodia.  We have opted for the slow boat, because it's only $10 each instead of $25, but it does mean that it's an all day ordeal.  But if everything goes smoothly we should be in Phnom Penh by about 5pm tomorrow!

I also forgot to mention a couple of posts back that we have seen this coffee for sale here called Weasel coffee.  I had never heard of this, but apparently the Asian Civet actually eats the coffee berries and the beans are pooped out, washed (thoroughly, I would hope) and used to make coffee!  The digestive tract of the civet actually breaks down some of the proteins in the bean and makes the coffee less bitter!  It is apparently the most expensive coffee in the world!  I am reluctant to try it however, because I hate the idea that some of the coffee comes from farms where I do not think the civets are treated well.  But the history as to how this kind of coffee came to be drunk is rather interesting, and if anyone wants to read it the Wikipedia link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak.  Oh also this computer is uploading pictures well so I have added some to a few of the older posts.

Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan xoxo

View from the temple on the mountain just outside of Chau Doc

 Cute local kids

 Beautiful countryside

 Cows walking down the main street

 Two Million Dollar Hill

Can Tho

So we booked this bus ticket to Can Tho from a travel shop in Saigon, and we found it quite interesting how many vehicles we ended up in before actually getting on the bus!  First they put us in a taxi and the driver took us to some random tiny bus station where we sat and waited for about 10 minutes before being signaled to get onto a bigger bus that took us to the main bus station where we finally ended up on the actual bus.  And we didn't have to worry about not having snacks for the road!  While we waited on the bus for it to leave people came on selling drinks, bread, snacks, lottary tickets, newspapers, anything you might want for a bus trip!  The funniest was this guy who was trying to sell carrot peelers...he even had a big carrot with him a did a little demonstration about all the ways to use it at the front of the bus...hilarious.  I don't think he made a sale though. 

We have a place to stay with a balcony overlooking the Mekong and a giant statue of Ho Chih Minh, that we have since discovered is the place to hang out at night.  We wandered around the market yesterday afternoon and were amazed by the selection of seafood and fruit and veggies for sale!  I too was also unfortunately disgusted by the treatment of some of the animals for sale, since they tie them up but don't kill them so I guess they are sold as fresh as possible.  That would definitely not fly in Canada.  We stopped for an ice coffee and the lady actually understood my Vietnamese!  She only had to look at me strangely for a few seconds before realizing what I was actually saying :>)  We had a lovely dinner beside the Mekong.  Dan tried the crocodile, that actually came out raw with a little pot full of charcoal and a grill and he roasted it himself!  I think tonight we may try the hotpot.

Today we got up at 5:15 (eek!) to go on a trip to see the floating markets.  We went to Cai Rang floating market first, which is the biggest one in the delta.  It was pretty congested and some of the bigger boats carrying bricks and sand were bumping into the little ones carrying fruit!  It was so interesting to see how busy the river is and how much it is used in daily life.  We were in a small boat all to ourselves which was nice and after seeing the markets we went down some of the narrow canals past homes where we could witness the local lifestyle.  All the kids were happy to see us, always waving from the shore.  The surroundings are very lovely and it is quite unfortunate that the garbage is not handled very well because the canals especially were quite dirty in certain areas and we witnessed large piles of garbage on the riverbank and people thowing huge buckets of garbage into the river.  I hate to see what it might look like in 10 or 20 years.  We got back at 1pm and took a nap before heading out again.  We think tomorrow we will rent a motorbike to see some of the countryside, then probably go the Chau Doc the following day, the border town to Cambodia and arrange to take a boat to Phnom Penh.

Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan xoxo

Dan roasting crocodile meat and adding a little beer Saigon on top for flavour :>)

 Sunrise - we don't see those very often!

 Floating Market

 Dan's attempt to eat an entire Durian - he gave it a good effort, and I was zero help :>)  We ended up giving a lot away to there two little kids who were begging on the street.  At first they were giggling uncontrollably, but they seemed pretty happy about it...we watched them take off and dive into it right away.

Saigon!

Well our flight to Saigon was short and painless and it was so great to see Peter and to meet Che!  They met us at the airport and we had a lovely, late night snack near the market by our hotel and a chance to catch up before we went to bed.  The following day Peter took us to this really big great market selling all sorts of weird stuff...from lungs to nuts (the vegetarian variety...ha ha).  We stopped for an ice coffee to cool off before heading to Che's for lunch with the family.  I really can't say enough good things about the family.  They are so wonderful and welcoming.  Che's sister has a talent for painting and brought out all of her work to show us which was really beautiful!  She was so kind to let me take one home to Canada...fortunately Peter is taking care of the mechanics of getting it home.  We had home-made spring rolls wrapped in rice paper and they were delicious!  Everybody seemed fairly relaxed before the big day :>)

And the wedding itself was really great!  Dan and I were so happy that we got to be a part of it.  We got to help carry gifts to Che's home for the family and be a part of the ceremony which was really really special.  Peter and Che were all smiles all day long...it was so wonderful.  The first part of the wedding is just the family members, and if both the bride and groom are Vietnamese, then Che's family would come to Peter's home and bring gifts there too and we would have had a similar ceremony there.  So after some drinks outside the cool off we headed to the restaurant where all of the bride and groom's family are invited as well and there is a dinner.  The restaurant and photographers seem to sort of run the show, which is nice because I think it takes a lot of pressure off the couple and their families.  I actually didn't take a ton of pictures because we were sort of a part of it so it was hard to, and because the photographers took soooo many!  This wedding was definitely well photographed!  And at the end of the evening everything was settled up in cash before going home!  So all in all a great day!

We understandably have given Peter and Che some time to themselves in the days that followed, and we've had a the chance to explore Saigon and see the sights here.  Today we went to the war remnants museum, which is full of horrible photos from the Vietnam war from the perspective of the Viet Cong (the communist party fighting against the Americans).  It was obviously very one-sided so you come out with a pretty grim feeling about the US, although we realize horrible things happened on both sides.  Some of the photos you can hardly even look at.  On a more cheerful note, we also visited a beautiful Cantonese style temple and saw almost as many animals there than at the zoo yesterday (turtles, pigeons, a rat and numerous stray dogs).   Peter and Che took us to this amazing restaurant last night where you make these wraps full of carrots, fried rice flour (with seafood for those non-veggies), lots of different kinds of raw leaves like mango tree leaves, mint and basil (plus stuff I didn't even recognize), all wrapped in lettuce or another big leaf I didn't recognize(!) and dipped in sauce.  It was pretty fun!  We are heading out to dinner here shortly with the whole family so we're excited as to where they will take us tonight!

We have book a bus ticket to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta tomorrow where we will spend a few days before heading off to Cambodia.  It's been so great to be with family and meet new family here in Saigon...we really feel we've been spoiled!
Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan xoxo

Coffee break

 Amazing dinner with Peter and Che

The family

 Quite possibly the cutest girls I have every met :>)  Kitty and Yenny ( I may not have spelled that properly...correct me Peter and Che if I didn't)  Che made their dresses and her own wedding dress as well!

 Reunification Palace

 Roadside fish salesemen

Hoi An

It has been so nice to have some relaxing, carefree days in Hoi An.  We've been zipping around Vietnam quite quickly so it's nice to spend a few days in such a charming city.  There are still lots of people trying to sell us this, that and everything but this city is so much quieter and more charming than anywhere else we have been in Vietnam.  The architecture here is beautiful, and the old city has many old Vietnamese style homes that you can visit...I would totally live in one, they are so open and airy and beautiful....too bad they would let the snow fall inside the house in the winter :>)  There is a river in the old part of the town and we've had so many nice evenings enjoying a beer and a meal at one of the riverside restaurants and watching the sun go down.  We have a new record for cheap beer...they have "fresh beer" (aka on tap) here for 12 cents a pint!  It really is cheaper than the water!!  We have also been enjoying some local food specialties here and I think that this city has the best food we've had in Vietnam so far!

Our first full day here we headed off to the My Son ruins.  They  are Hindu temples that were built between the 4th and 14th century AD by the kings of Champa.  Like so many other things here in Vietnam, they suffered significant damage from carpet bombing during the Vietnam war, but they have since been declared a UNESCO world heritage site and restoration and preservation work is clearly in place.  They must be a popular destination for school trips as well because there were tonnes of little kids in school uniforms there!  They were pretty cute, always wanting to say "hello" and giggling uncontrollably when you said "hello" back.  They also always wanted their pictures taken, and would tap you on the shoulder then pose...it was pretty funny.

The following day we rented a motorbike and then headed off to the Marble Mountains, about 15km outside of Hoi An.  They are marble outcrops that we apparantly once islands.  They have natural caves inside and Buddhist temples have been built on them which are really peaceful and beautiful.  It was stinking hot and climbing up all those stairs was a bit of a haul but worth it for the trainquility and the views below.  We went into this one cave that was absolutely amazing.  I am not really one for caves because I find them just too dark and drear but this one was awsome.  There were these small openings revealing the sky above, and the light was streaming in in long lines and it was so stunning.  I was mezmerized and could have stood there watching it for hours.  That along with the small shrines and buddhas in the cave made it such a magical place.  On our way back to town we drove along the ocean and found a seafood restaurant where they have all the food still live in little buckets and you just point ot what you want...so Dan indulged in two crabs and we shared a beer all for $5.  It was lovely to sit by the water and watch the fishermen reeling in their nets.

Last night was also a special night in Hoi An because it was the full moon.  Every month from 5-10pm, on the night of the full moon they turn off all the lighs and the old city is lit up by colourful lanterns.  It was so beautiful and there were so many people downtown, eating, standing on the bridge, sitting by the river and just soaking up the atmosphere.  They also sell paper lanterns with candles that you can put in the river and let them float away...so pretty.

We also picked up our cloths yesterday....and....Dan's suit and my dress turned out okay, but Dan's shoes are pretty bad.  They look like home-made shoes and are apparantly not very comfortable, but he will at least have something other than flip-flops to wear to the wedding!  I must say, I was a little worried after our first fitting, given they didn't make the zipper long enough on my dress and I couldn't get it on!  And this little Vietnamese lady was in the changeroom with me while I was in my underwear trying unsuccessfully to pull it over my head...hilarious.  I eventually convinced her it was not going to work and she undid some stitching :>)  Now it has a longer zipper so I can actually get it on...whew.

We are flying to Saigon tonight at 7pm so we are hanging around the city today seeing some of the old homes and museums since we havn't really done that yet.  As it always happens when we stay somewhere for a few days, we will probably hit up our "usual" lunch spot here pretty soon.  I still haven't tried the Hoi An wontons so that's what's on the menu for my lunch!

Bye for now!

Love Hanna and Dan

My Son ruins

 Hoi An waterfront

 Night of the full moon - putting lanterns in the river

 Japanese covered bridge

Hue, Vietnam

We arrived in Hue after our overnight train at a much more decent hour - 8am.  The ride was very comfortable and we actually both had a good night's sleep on the train, the only real drawback was the small child vomiting strawberry milkshake in our cabin the next morning!  We were silently gagging, but it really didn't seem to phase him, since he was jumping from Dan's bed to his bed about 60 seconds after the incident :>)  We easily found a fantastic place to stay.  For a little bit more money you can get such amazing value here.  We got a room on the third floor and there is a communal balcony with lots of potted plants where we could overlook the street.  Dan headed off to the grocery store and we took a break from noodles by enjoying a feast of baguette, cheese, watermelon, mango and passionfruit on the balcony...yum!

Hue is a UNESCO world heritage city and was the National Capital until 1945.  It was also the imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty and as such there are several historical monuments in and around the city.  Unfortunately the city suffered considerable damage from the Americans during the war, but much has been or is being restored.  On our first day we headed off to the citadel (built by the Nguyen dynasty) and wandered around the forbidden city inside (where only emperors and and those close to them were allowed) for a few hours.  The following day we took a tour which involved heading down the Perfume river by boat to see several tombs of the Nguyen dynasty.  A few of them were on huge grounds with lakes and rivers and gardens and were therefore quite beautiful.  The emperors would apparently spend time at these grounds in the years before they died, fishing and relaxing.  One of these guys had 104 wives before he finally realized that maybe it was his fault that his wife couldn't get pregnant :>)

The following day we took a bus to Hoi An, which is about 150km south of Hue.  It is also a UNESCO world heritage city and the old city here is really really lovely.  It goes into the list of my favorite Asian cities along with Penang and Luang Prabang.  At night they light up the downtown with colourful lanterns over the river and it's so romantic :>)  We have also found perhaps what is our best accomodation in Asia yet.  The hotel has a pool (which for some reason we havn't used yet...we need to get on that) and has an amazing buffet breakfast along with many other amazing features too numerous to mention :>)  So we are in a beautiful romantic city in a beautiful, affordable hotel....ahhh....life's good right now.  There are also more tailors here than noodle stands!  It's impossible to know which one to pick from, but we would like to look decent for Peter's wedding in 3 days so we currently have a dress for me and a suit plus 3 shirts in the works for Dan!  We are a little worried but we are keeping our fingers crossed everything turns out okay.  We have to go back for a fitting tomorrow.  They have some really nice looking winter jackets that you can have made, but it's kind of hard to shop for winter coats when it's 38 degrees outside, plus there is absolutely NO way it would fit into my bag at this point.  So we are pretty excited about seeing Peter and meeting Che and her family in a few days.  We fly to Saigon on May 17th where Peter will (thankfully) meet us at the airport and navigate us through what will perhaps be our most chaotic city experience yet.  We've heard it's nuts.

Well that's it for now!

Love from Hanna and Dan xoxo

At the citadel

 Alternative to airbags??

 Pagoda

 Goofing off at the Royal Tombs

 My attempt

Vietnam adventures

Well compared with cute little Laos, Vietnam is nuts!  Everything here is just a lot louder, faster and more intense!  We have found a nice place to stay near the Old Quarter with a balcony overlooking a semi-quiet street (by Hanoi standards).  Today we spent the day just walking around the old city and taking it all in...and there is a lot to take in!  There are motorcycles all over the sidewalks, along with ladies selling fruits, veggies, soup, nuts, and you name it from huge baskets that they carry around on bamboo poles.  So basically there is no room on the sidewalk and pedestrians are forced to walk on the road, and in the case of tourists, this makes  us the perfect target for "hello, you want motorbike?" or "hello you want to buy book?" or "hello you want cyclo?".  "Hello shoeshine?" is a popular one too :>)  And the people here are much pushier than is Laos!  We have actually got some pretty dirty looks when we've politely declined products or services!  I do like the ladies selling fresh pineapples though :>)  They cut them up all nicely and take all the prickly parts out and wrap them up into a little bag for you...amazing.

So after one day of the intensity of Hanoi, we headed off to Halong Bay.  I was a little worried when our bus was arriving there because it was starting to rain and it was kind of foggy, but it cleared up and the afternoon was a little cloudy but otherwise fine.  Our boat took us to see a cave (pretty touristy...I mean let's face it, the whole area is pretty touristy), and then for a cruise through the bay.  And it was very very beautiful, especially in the evening light.  It actually reminded me of our ferry ride to the South Island in New Zealand, with all the little islands dotting the ocean.  In Halong Bay, however the peaks were sharper and more dramatic.  We slept on the boat that night, which was fun, although we were a little worried about doing it because one of the boats sank in Halong Bay about 2 months ago but luckily ours was just fine.  We stayed the second night on Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay, and went for a hike that day up to a viewpoint in Cat Ba National park.  Cat Ba Island also has these "floating" restaurants just offshore, so we shared a beer on one of them which was pretty fun!  Except the boat that carries people from the shore to the restaurant broke before we could get back so they had to row us back to the island in this dinky little boat which was a little sketchy!

Once we got back to Hanoi we headed off to Sapa in the north on the night train.  We were deciding whether we should go on our own (usually by far our preference) or with a group.  In the end we decided to go with a group because it seemed to make more sense financially and we wanted to do some trekking and we thought you needed a guide for this.  But it was pretty hilarious when we got to the train station to take the overnight train to Sapa and this lady had us all gather around and was explaining how to get on the right train...it was like we were in Kindergarten!  "Okay children, see where it says car number 12, that means you get on the train that has the number 12 on it."  Funny.  So needless to say we got to Sapa safe and sound and unfortunately our "trekking" turned into more of a light walk, but we still really enjoyed the countryside.  The area is very mountainous (in fact the highest mountain in Vietnam is here) and there are these beautiful rice paddies carved into the mountains so it's just so so stunning.  In the morning the clouds would hang deep into the valley and it was so picturesque!  The area is also home to the Hmong people, who, I must say, are the most persistent salesmen I have ever met in my life!  Actually I should say saleswomen, because it's the women who are in town (often with their newborns strapped to their backs...so cute) trying to sell handicrafts to the tourists while the men are back in the villages or working in the rice fields.  Their English is actually very good, and they learn it all from tourists and they try to chat you up and then it always ends by "you buy something from me okay?"  And they just keep hounding you until you buy something or they find someone else!  Fortunately they all were selling little cloth bracelets for 50 cents each and were usually happy if you at least bought a bracelet!  But then as soon as you bought something one one lady, another one would come over and say "you buy something from me too?"  They were very nice to talk to however, and even though they are probably just chatting to you to make some money in the end, I found them to be very nice, outgoing people and you could learn a lot about their way of life while they were trying to make a sale :>)

Today we are back in Hanoi (after arriving at 5 am on the overnight train...ugg) just hanging out and will catch another overnight train to Hue this evening...are we crazy?  Fortunately this one arrives at 8am in the morning...a much more decent hour.  We went to the Ho Chih Minh museum this morning but didn't realize the mausoleum closed at 11am (who closes a tourist attraction at 11am?) so we won't see that but it may have been a little creepy to seem him embalmed anyways :>)

Well I guess that's it for now!

Love Hanna and Dan xoxo

Coffee break overlooking the city in Hanoi - Vietnamese coffee is great!

Typical street in the Old Quarter in Hanoi

 Beautiful old traditional Vietnamese home

 Halong Bay

 Hmong woman in SaPa

Beautiful rice fields in SaPa

 

Vientiene - how do I love thee?

Let me first just say, this city is fantastic!  This is my kind of capital city...only twice the population of Kingston, the centre of which is entirely accessible on foot or bicycle, temples and monks everywhere, and cafes serving coffee and baguettes, plus the usually friendly Lao people makes for a truly winning combination!  The only bad thing is that I have had to explore it solo for the past 2 days due to the nasty little bacterium that we are presuming is still residing in Dan's GI tract.  Fortunately our room has a TV and air conditioning so he has been able to spend his days in comfort, and with me having rented a bicycle to get around the city and sight-see, I can also zip out easily and get him snacks!  Although I did have a hard time finding watermelon today...these fruit guys move around the city on you and I think I circled the inner city 4 times before I finally tracked some down!  It is so delightful to ride around on bicycle and just stop at various cafes to cool off or to take pictures.  And they have real bread here and GRANOLA!  Oh how I have missed you granola!  Unfortunately, you do pay for it as the cafes are quite a bit more expensive than the local noodle shops (Dan keeps saying "you're eating us right out of our budget with your granola!") but I make up for it by having noodle soup with veggies for lunch and dinner :>)  I  have also got all of our laundry taken care of and exchanged my old book for a new one, so we are ready to head off to Vietnam tomorrow!

Hanna xoxo

PS - I have added some new pictures to the older posts, starting from Crazy Songkran if anyone is interested!

Downtown Vientiene - crazy wires!

 On top of the Arc de Triomphe - looking over the city

 Mangos for sale!

Nong Kiaw and Muang Ngoi plus epic bus journey

Well we were a little unsure as to where to go after Luang Prabang - it was a toss up between the small town of Nong Kiaw, frequented by tourists merely for it's charm, and the Plain of Jars.  Obviously, the latter won over, merely because we couldn't face the 10 hour bus ride to the Plain of Jars, so we opted for the 4 hour minibus ride to Nong Kiaw.  It was relatively painless, with the exception of the two men in front of us who smelled like BO...I mean all the guesthouses have showers, right?  And usually soap :>)  We arrived in Nong Kiaw and were immediately struck by how lovely it was!  There is a river running right through the middle of town with beautiful limestone karsts rising from the water.  From across the bridge we tried to figure out where would be a nice place to stay, and when we got there, we quickly realized that we had probably picked the most expensive place in town!  The cabins were beautiful and clean and each with their own private balcony overlooking the river.  But it was $30 per night!  This was pretty steep for us after paying an average of $7 per night at our other accomodations in Laos.  So we went for lunch while we decided if we could splurge for it or not....and we decided yes :>)  Lucky for us it also included a free breakfast!  So since we spent so much on our accomodation we decided we should spend a lot of time relaxing and enjoying the view from our balcony.  The river was always full of life, with kids playing in the water, fisherman throwing their nets out, and women washing clothing.  We did take some pleasant walks in the countryside and rented bicycles to visit the nearby caves to break up our hours of lounging though :>)

After 3 days we headed off to Muang Ngoi, about 1 hour boat ride north of Nong Kiaw and only accessable by boat.  It was very very charming and peaceful!  It had the same beautiful scenery as Nong Kiaw, with mountains, frequently topped with mist, rising from the river.  There are actually a lot of guesthouses and restaurants for the size of the place, but it is the slow season now, so right now it really lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "sleepy town."  We had a nice long walk on our first day to some caves, then through rice fields to a village where we stopped for a drink and were offered some river weed (actually not bad) and some lao-lao (whisky...not so good).  We planned to take the boat back the following morning but poor Dan got horrible food poisoning and spent the whole next day in bed.  The poor guy is still recovering.  We think it has something to do with the fact that there is only power by generator in Muang Noi for about 2.5 hours each day, so it must be hard to keep some of the food from not spoiling.  I headed out for a hike that day, and followed some signs to a cave and lookout.  The climb up was CRAZY!  It was so steep and muddy and sketchy!  Even in my hiking boots I was slipping on the rocks and hawling myself up the makeshift pieces of bamboo nailed to various trees to provide some sort of assistance to the climber.  I felt like I was rock climbing again!  Except this time I did not have my trusty buddy Logan to help me :>)  Anyways, I did finally make it to the top and it was a beautiful view!  On the way down I tried to explore the cave, but the flashlight the guy at the bottom gave me wasn't working well and I was too much of a chicken to go very far.  The cave was a nice place to cool off, however before the hike down.

The following day we headed back to Muang Ngoi by boat and then caught the "local bus" back to Luang Prabang.  I put local bus in quotation marks because it was actually a sangtaw (pick up truck with two rows of seats) that they sandwiched 15 of us in (plus luggage on top) for the 4 hour ride back!  So we were pretty happy to get out at the end of the trip and get a nice meal and good rest in Luang Prabang.

Today we took the bus to Vientiene, the capital city, from Luang Pragang.  The distance is 384km.  We left at 8am, and arrived at 7:30pm.  Part of the problem is that there is no strait stetch of road in this country!  The drivers had to go so slowly because although the roads are paved, they are very winding!  We unfortunately witnessed two vehicles that had rolled over on our trip.  The second one was a huge truck that they were hauling up from the side of the road where it had falled off.  They had these cables all around the trees and stuff to give them leverage...so that slowed us down by about an hour or so, just sitting on the side of the road waiting to be able to pass.  In this respect, the Lonely Planet has it right - bus trips in Laos require plenty of patience!  So we have arrived in Vientiene and are exhausted from doing nothing, but are looking forward to exploring the city for the next 2 days before we fly to Vietnam.

Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan

Nong Kiaw

The main street in Muang Ngoi

And of course I found a kitten :>)  I sincerely home he didn't get sick from Dan's duck!