Nothing but the open road ahead....

For those of you who know me, most of you probably know about my affinity for two-wheeled transportation. I currently own 3 bikes in Canada -I commute everywhere I go year round, and have a road bike that I adore. During my travels in Asia, I have been renting automatic and manual scooters everywhere I go. A few days ago, I decided to take this one step further: I bought my first motorcycle.

Such a beaut! (Sorta...)

Now, before everyone begins to think I've knocked a few screws loose in the head, let me back up and bit and explain. Vietnam is a very long and narrow country, with (relatively) well built roads between the North and South. The main form of transportation here is the "motobike" as the locals refer to them -mostly scooters, with some motorcycles thrown in, and it truly boggles the mind how many people here ride them. This invariably includes backpackers and travellers, as the country seems to be built for motorcycle riding. It is possible to drive from one end to the other in only 2 weeks(ish -this depends on how you rush), and getting out on your own two wheels really allows you to see parts of the country that are rarely frequented by tourists. There is a surprisingly big market for cheap used bikes in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and it is common for people to buy a bike in one of the two, ride through the whole country, and sell it again at the other end when they're done. Our hostel was plastered with various ads for bikes, and many of them had already been sold when we contacted them! Repairs rarely cost more than a few dollar and almost never more than $20, mechanics are everywhere, and it can be a pretty economical way of travelling the country -not to mention, it's an absolute blast as well!!

I've been travelling on and off with a friend from the US, Brandon, and we decided to get bikes together. This kind of travel is not all that condusive to doing alone. Being in an area where no one speaks English during mechnical trouble is not all that fun, so I was fortunate that he wanted to do this kind of trip as well. We ended up buying two old Honda Wins from an English backpacking couple. We paid $250 each, including a full tune up with a bunch of minor repairs, helmets, maps, raincoats, and bungee cords. Not a bad deal I think! They're not exactly the sexiest bikes I've ever seen but they're still bikes and they still give us independence. I'm really just excited to have my first real vehicle that is actually 100% mine. Kind of cool that it's a motorcycle in Vietnam!

 

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Family Time: 2 weeks with one of my favourite cousins, Part Two

Some more highlights from my visit with Amanda in northern Vietnam: Hanoi, Haiphong, Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay and Sapa....

Halong Bay

- Seeing the beauty of Halong and Lan Ha Bay via boat, and kayak. This was a great day, but ended in a bit of a bizarre way. We bought a tour that started on Cat Ba island where we were staying that included a typical tour through the islands. It was then supposed to move on to Halong City, where we planned to catch a bus back to Hanoi. The tour itself was beautiful -the limestone karsts rise eerily from the water, and we enjoyed a full day with kayaking, good food, a cave tour, and a fun group of people whom we met on the boat. However, when we transferred on to another boat which was supposed to bring us to Halong City, it became clear that we were being... smuggled? I'm still not even sure what was going on, but the 5 Westerners who transferred onto the new boat were corralled into the luggage spot when we pulled away, and when we arrived into port. The boat captain and employees on this boat spoke no english, but we gathered by their yelling, pushing and hand gestures that they wanted us to hide on exit and arrival. Other than that though, we were allowed to walk around freely with the Vietnamese tourists on the boat. It was so strange! It would have been easy to get frustrated, but we were all in a good mood, and it just became a joke. I do have to say though, it is frustrating feeling like complaining about a company's business practices will get you nowhere though, and this is a bit too common in the tourist industry here.

Corralled in the luggage area

- Motorbiking everywhere. I am addicted to this mode of transportation. With almost every city I go to, I try to keep my eyes out for a place that rents "moto's". There simply is no better way for seeing the countryside, getting to out of the way restaurants, and experiencing the true beauty of the country we are in. Thankfully Amanda was up for motorbiking with me, and even drove the automatic bike we had one day by herself. We've been really lucky weather wise as well -although it is technically wet season, most of the rain we've gotten has been at night and we've had lots of beautiful days weather wise. Hopefully things will continue this way.

- Getting on to one of the most luxurious sleeper trains on our way to Sapa. We didn't bother booking a train ahead of time, and instead chose to just show up at the station. Unfortunately all of the regular sleeper trains were already full, but we weren't sure if this was true or if there was just a lack of communication as the train employees barely spoke any english. Not wanting to spend an extra night in Hanoi, we redoubled our efforts to get on the train and ended up talking to an employee of a very fancy hotel in Sapa that has a private car attached to the regular train. Normally they only allowed hotel guests to book this car, and for a lot of money, but because it was so last minute and they wanted to fill the car they gave us a bargain. At the time we were travelling with two friends, and so the four of us enjoyed a very luxurious ride through the Vietnamese countryside, warm towels on a plate and free slippers included.

- Meeting hill tribe women in Sapa, and touring through a local village with the motorbikes where we stopped for lunch. Some of the traditional clothes they wore were very ornate and beautiful -even if tourism contributes to them choosing to still dress traditionally, it was pretty neat to see.

 

And that's it so far! It's been great to get in some cousin time. Hopefully in the last few days that she is here we'll be able to add to our list of highlights!

 

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Family Time: 2 weeks with one of my favourite cousins, Part One.

As mentioned before, the last 10 days have been spent with my cousin Amanda. It's been wonderful to reconnect with her as an adult. After being close as children, the typical busyness of school and work has kept us from being able to see each other as much as we may have liked as adults. I've also really enjoyed sharing what I've been up to. There are so many new and interesting things about the cultures here and its been neat to see it with new eyes, and to share it with a familiar face.

Hanoi at night

I feel like we've been up to so much in the short time she's been here so instead of writing our entire intinerary, which can get tedious, I thought I'd just sumarize some of the highlights of our trip together.....

- Experiencing the craziness that are the streets of Hanoi. Traffic rules are merely suggestions, and learning to cross the street was a challenge in and of itself. Crossing the street must be done slowly but methodically -as long as you don't stop, the sea of motorbikes and occasional car swerve to avoid you. What a crazy rush though!

- Enjoying Vietnamese street food and walking the streets of the Old Quarter. Restaurants that only serve one item seem to have the best food, and we've joked that the child sized blue plastic chairs outside their doors to eat at seem to be some sort of seal of authenticity and quality. Vietnam truly is it's own country! The locals don't really seem to care if the tourists are pleased or not -they have their way of life that does not revolve around you, which is in a way quite refreshing after the very touristy Thailand.

- Viewing Ho Chi Minh's embalmbed body at the mausaleam. The Vietnamese adore Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho, to those of you uninitiated), and his embalmed body is a must see vacation spot for many visitors from around the country. The white coated, bayonet holding soldiers every few feet provided security, most bags had to be checked, and everyone was rushed through and not allowed to stop in order to allow the several thousand visitors per day to see him. It was a bizarre experience -both the popularity of this place, and getting your head around the fact that this was a real body. Definitely glad we went though!

- Visiting the Hoa Lo Prison museum. We were warned by our Lonely Planet guidebook to take some of the exhibits here with a grain of salt. It described deplorable conditions that the Vietnamese POWs were kept in by the French when Vietnam was still fighting colonialism (which were probably accurate enough), but describes an idyllic, peaceful existence when it came to keeping American POWs during the American/Vietnam war. However, this reportedly was the prison that John McCain describes being tortured in. Who really knows the exact truth? Very interesting to tour regardless.

Strange food on the train

Trying interesting food everywhere we went. This included interesting vietnamese gelatin and coconut milk desserts, some sort of strange gelatinous chicken flavoured roll with meat inside with a slice of pate on top (with hot sauce!), ordering a bamboo rod cooked over an open fire with a mystery inside (it turned out to be sticky rice served with herbs, peanuts, and salt), goat, "cement fried frog", and even porcupine, although Amanda missed out on this one. I have to say, I am very impressed with the adventurousness of this girl!

- Sneaking into more than one cave. Normally there is a small fee, typically around 10,000 dong ($0.50CND) which we would be happy to pay, except that the cave keeper had taken the day off. We skirted gates or climbed them, and saw some of Vietnam's very impressive cave systems. We also toured the "Hospital Cave", a massive three story facility built into a large natural cave during the American/Vietnam war. We paid the tour guide for this one, and were very impressed with our guide's knowledge about the cave and command of the English language. It was also very interesting to see such an interesting war time bunker. During it's use, it had a pool, something like 17 rooms for hiding troops or treating soldiers (incl. a surgery room -yikes!), an area for working out in, and even a cinema. Very interesting to see!

Amanda sneaks into a cave

Experiencing what it is like to feel like a minority in Haiphong and Cat Ba island. I've written about this a bit more in depth in my other post, so I'll leave it be for now but I was definitely glad to be travelling with someone in these cities, just for the company alone.

 

To be continued....

 

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On feeling like a rare species in Vietnam

With friends in Hanoi

After finishing up in Laos and enjoying 5 nights (!!) tubing down the river, making new friends and eating one or two "guilty" western meals, it was time to head to Vietnam to meet my cousin Amanda. When I planned my trip, I welcomed many of my friends to join me and travel for a bit, not really expecting anyone to come to the other side of the world, but I was thrilled that Amanda decided to! Although she only had two weeks vacation from work, I was excited to share the excitement of my travels and of experiencing new things, with someone from home.

We met in Hanoi. After taking a day or two to settle in, conquer jet-lag, and explore Hanoi, we made the decision to go to Cat Ba island to explore Lan Ha and Halong Bay. For those of you who are not familiar, Halong Bay is one of Northern Vietnam's biggest attractions. The bay has huge limestone karst cliffs rising above it, and its beauty and geographical diversity has deemed it a UNESCO world heritage site. Instead of buying a tour to Halong Bay in Hanoi, where it was difficult to judge the quality fo the boat etc, we opted to head to Cat Ba island, the largest island in the Bay, and to explore Lan Ha Bay which we had read was equally alluring (as it was in the same bay) but less touristy. What we failed to realize was that although Cat Ba was less touristy for westerners, it is one of the most touristy places for the Vietnamese (who are all on summer vacation).

The train to Haiphong

In some ways, this was really good. I've grumbled during parts of my trip about the huge amounts of tourists and other backpackers that I've run into. At times it has felt, especially in Thailand, that the entire economy ONLY runs because of tourists. Everyone speaks English, some of the workers seem jaded towards backpackers, and it is difficult to get a real feel for the real, authentic Thailand (or Laos). Arriving in Haiphong, on the way to Cat Ba, and then Cat Ba itself, was not remotely like this.

Haiphong, our overnight stop on the way to Cat Ba, was our first introduction to this. In a city of 1.8 million people, we did not see a single foreigner, and we spent several hours walking around a very packed downtown. People openly stared, pointed, and many people used their only english word -hello -when we passed. When we responded with a cheerful "Xin Chao!" in return (Vietnamese for hello), it was apparently hysterical, and we enjoyed the reaction that it got.

Before

Cat Ba town took some of the reactions our presence caused to an entirely new level. On our first real day, we went to one of the beaches on Cat Ba island. We were quite pleased when we first arrived to find the white sand pleasantly clean and the beach almost entirely devoid of people, save for a handful of other westerners. What we hadn't taken into account was the Vietnamese people's adoration for white skin -this meant that during the sunniest parts of the day, mainly the morning and early afternoon, very few people went to the beach for fear of developed a dreaded tan. However, as the day progressed and the sun went down, more and more people came out until the beaches were absolutely packed. The fist reaction we noticed was in a group of little boys who kept trying to push each other, giggling wildly, into us. Not a big deal, I remember thinking, they're just being silly little boys. Next was a man, who approached Amanda with a camera wanting to take her picture, presumably for her pale, fresh from a Canadian winter, skin. As the day progressed more and more people kept trying to take our photo with or without our permission, would touch us "accidentally", try to shake our hands, or just shout "hello!" at us. It was kind of fun being a novelty at first, but when it didn't stop it became irritating. I turned around at one point, only to notice several people behind me placing their babies beside me to be photographed, without me even realizing it! The men became creepy, the stares didn't stop, and I don't even know how many random photos I was in without my permission. It was a truly bizarre experience.

After

A strange mix of amused and frustrated, we decided to leave the beach and grab an early dinner. I turned to Amanda, and remarked that the next person who tried to take my picture without my permission, would be getting their picture taken as well, without their permission. I had the chance to do exactly this, at a little fruit stand where we ordered a drink. As we were waiting for our juice the 15 year old son of the fruit stand owner whipped out his phone to try to snap a picture of us.

Ha! Busted!

"Oh no you don't!" I said. "You can take a picture of us, but I'm taking one of you as well!"

I went to pull out my camera, and the shocked and suprised look he gave me couldn't be beat. It was if it had never occured to him that things could go both ways! The actual photo turned out a bit fuzzy, but Amanda and I got quite the kick out of it, and definitely shared a repeated laugh throughout the rest of the night. I guess this is what I get when I want to venture off the typical backpacker trail!

 

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Elephants!!

When I was in Thailand, elephant riding was everywhere. It was one of the biggest tourist-y things to do, and every tuk-tuk, guesthouse, and travel agency out there wanted to sell you elephant riding tickets. However because of this popularity, many unscrupulous elephant ride places have opened, and many do not treat their animals properly. I spoke to many friends who had seen the elephants beaten until they bled, or who had cigarettes put out on them. Because of this, the price in Thailand, and the popularity (read: overrun with tourists), I decided not to go for a ride in Thailand. I did still want to go elephant riding, I just wanted to support an operation that took good care of their animals. Thankfully, when I arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, I got such an opportunity.

Brandon and I signed up for a 1-day mahout course with a company that rescues elephants from the logging industry in Laos, and supports conservation efforts with money raised from giving rides. Our day included learning basic elephant commands, learning lots of information about elephants, and riding them both by ourselves and with others. We finished the day by taking them, one elephant and mahoot/person, for a swim in the Mekong. Because it was the low season we were fortunate to be a nice small group of four, with only a french couple joining us.

This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far! The elephants were all well cared for, our guides spoke (relatively) good english and everyone was very friendly and knowledgable. In Laos, elephants are still used for logging, a fact that I was really surprised with. In Thailand elephant logging has been outlawed, but Laos is a much less developed country in many ways, including both conservation efforts and animal treatment. All of the elephants we rode had previously been used as logging animals, and it was really interesting to read about the history of each one in a book they had. Conservation efforts are difficult to encourage in Laos as elephants are pregnant for just about 2 years, and cannot be used for logging after giving birth. For loggers in Laos, this is a large amount of time to not be using an animal they bought to work with, and so elephant pregnancies are discouraged/prevented. Often, working elephants are under fed, treated poorly, or overworked. To be properly fed with rotating diets every three days, to receive proper veterinary care, to have a breeding program and to only have to give occasional rides to tourists is a big step up for these elephants, and I felt good supporting this company.

The riding itself was awesome. I was surprised how calm and gentle the elephants are. I know that they can still be dangerous and are still considered wild animals, but it was clear that they respected and obeyed their mahoot, and were used to their routine. Learning to climb on these incredible animals and ride one without an elephant saddle, just with verbal commands, was pretty neat. For me, this was one of the more expensive parts of my trip, but worth every penny!!

 

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Three countries, two days.

One of the wonderful things about travelling, as I have mentioned in the past, is that there are many other solo travellers. Although it's a ton of fun meeting new people every night in hostels, there is also something nice about travelling with the same person or people for a few days or week, especially when getting off the "banana pancake trail", as the typical route in SE Asia is known. For this reason, I've been travelling with an American named Brandon, and on and off with my dutch friend Elise for close to a week. This definitely makes some of the longer bus rides and stays in isolated guest houses a lot more enjoyable!

Chiang Rai markets

After Pai, the next stop was Chiang Rai, another northern Thai city. Many backpackers buy travel packages from their hostels or guesthouses that take them from Chiang Mai (in Thailand) to Luang Prabang, (in Laos), passing right through Chaing Rai. The typical travelling strategy for backpackers in SE Asia is to pad on down to your hostel front desk in the morning, buy a handwritten ticket to where you want to go, and a few hours later be picked up from your hostel/guesthouse, be on a bus and on your way. This makes travel incredibly easy and convenient, but we wanted to get off the path a bit and see a few of more towns instead of passing through them. We also wanted to save a bit of money, so our solution was the public bus system. Instead of taking an air conditioned bus filled with other backpackers, we opted for a bus where few people, if any, spoke english, where tires may or may not need frequent stops for more air, and where asking the driver to pull over for a pee-break on the side of the road is perfectly acceptable. Chickens in the aisles optional. Needless to say, public busses are much more fun, and bring you to towns where locals far outnumber tourists, instead of the other way around!

Myanmar temple

Chiang Rai was enjoyable, athough quiet, and it was interesting to be in a city where there were so few tourists. I found it to be a lot of fun to go out at night with all the Thai young people -at one point, we were out dancing at a disco packed with a couple hundred young Thais, and not a single other traveller. What a lot of fun!

Ducks in the bus

While reading about activities nearby in our Lonely Planet we realized there was a little used land border crossing to Myanmar about an hour away. Never ones to turn down a new passport stamp, Brandon and I decided to take a public bus to Mae Sae and cross over to Myanmar, just to say we did. We were granted a one day visa, but when we asked for a longer one we were granted a 15 day visa, no questions asked. We originally wanted to stay a night and travel around a bit but Tachilek, the Myanmar border town, had very few attractions and was just incredibly hot -enough to inspire us to return to Thailand to visit some caves we had heard about. We walked through a local market where I got the feeling that we were the biggest oddity in the place, went to a couple temples and statues, and then returned to Thailand, albeit with a new stamp in our passport!

Country number three in two days, was Laos, the next stop on our travels. Brandon and I took a local bus to the border and after crossing over to Laos, decided to (surprise, surpise) crack the Lonely Planet and decide right then what city we should go to. After doing a bit of reading, we decided on Luang Namtha, and more northern and less travelled city that was known for its caves, ethnic minority villages and trekking. However, when we tried to buy a ticket we were told that they were not yet sure if the 5:00 bus that evening would go to Luang Namtha or Luang Prabang. I guess it hadn't been decided yet? We were told to come back at 4:00 when they would know for sure. I'm not sure how it was decided, but when we came back at 4 we were informed that it would indeed go to Luang Namtha like we wanted, so we took it. Sometimes I'm not sure how things run in this country -does the driver just kind of guess what city he'll drive to that day? Yet another thing that reminds me that I'm not in Canada any longer....

 

 

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Northern Thailand

It's been a little while since I've updated the blog. Lately, my life has been busy and filled with new friends and new places -although wonderful for experiences, it's less than optimal for reading material! Ah well, such is life.

As for an update -I'm currently in Luang Namtha, a rather small town in Northern Laos. After leaving the southern islands of Thailand, I managed to find a cheap flight to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is Thailand's second main city, after Bangkok, and is known for it's culture, it's temples, it's arts and nightlife, and the beautiful mountainous region where it is located in Northern Thailand. I was pretty happy to find a cheap flight to both save time, and to miss the heat and chaos of Bangkok. I was also rather pleased with myself that I was able to bring my pack as carry-on luggage on the plane -not only did I save the money it costs to check luggage on the budget flight I was on, but it was also great to save some time and just walk off of the plane once I arrived! While on the plane I also made friends with a lovely Thai girl going to University in Chaing Mai who was sitting with her mother on the plane. Although her English was not great, and my Thai was even worse, we were able to have a bit of a conversation during the flight using gestures and drawings. I kept hearing that people were friendlier in the North, and this was a great introduction!

Chiang Mai itself was a lovely city. I was reunited with a friend I had made earlier in Koh Tao, and she introduced me to an American she had met in the hostel. After a couple days of touring temples, checking out the various markets Chaing Mai had to offer, and touring the city in Soorng ta-oows (a type of pick-up truck with seats in the back that locals use to get around -he'll take you there eventually, but he'll pick up anyone and you're definitely not guaranteed a direct route! Very cheap though ;-)) we decided to head further north. Elise and Brandon went to Pai, while I spent another day in Chiang Mai to get in some zip-lining, before I joined them.

Ziplining was an absolute blast. After some thought and chatting with others who had done it, I ended up choosing the most established company in Chiang Mai, Flight of the Gibbons. This particular company was a bit more expensive, but had some of the longest and fastest ziplines in Thailand, and also contributed some of their profits to forest conservation efforts which I appreciated. What a rush it was! The lines were long and fast as promised, and the feeling of just jumping off a platform from some of the highest trees in the jungle into huge ravines below was pretty incredible.

After Chiang Mai, it was off to Pai, where I rejoined Elise and Brandon. I met a girl from the UK on the bus to Pai who was doing a similiar trip to me, and because she hadn't chosen a hostel/guesthouse in Pai yet, she followed us and our little group became four.

Pai is known as a sleepy little town in the mountains, and it was different from other parts of Thailand that I had experienced in so many ways. For one, the temperature was cooler. This was the first time that a pool was available that I didn't feel the need to swim in. I noticed a few items on the menu that had been replaced by different regional specialties, and this was also the first time that I had been in a city where there seemed to be more locals than tourists, which was a rather nice change. Although the south of Thiland is stunning, it is also completely overrun by farang (foreigners, or more specifically, westerners), much to the detriment of the local culture, I think.

Pai was stunning it its own way -the town is nestled in a little valley surrounded by moutains, the plants lush and the weather room-temperature perfect, but it doesn't draw the beach bums and party people in quite the same way. Pai still had plenty of tourists, but it was a noticeable change from the south. We spent a very chilled few days here -scootering around and checking out waterfalls and beautiful scenery, walking throughout the nightmarket (we even saw Thai Captain Jack Sparrow!!) and laughing and continuing to eat when the outdoor restaurant we ate at lost electricity for about half an hour. One learns to be laid back about many things when travelling, and the fact that we were even supposed to have electricity 24/7 was good enough for us! All in all, a lovely few days, spent with some lovely people. Life is good!

 

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