On the road again

(We are catching up on posts before we head home so check to see which ones you have read in case we have uploaded them faster than you can read them. We have had a wonderful time exploring and writing about our adventures, although we will be sad to leave, we are looking forward to seeing our families again and eating food our bellies are used to.)

So we are on the road again heading for home. We have had a wonderful eight weeks of travel with so many highlights  it is hard to name our favourites. In the spirit of travel I have decided to summarize some of the modes of transport we have taken and another lists of some we saw and are thankful we didn't take.

Methods of Transport Taken:

1) Plane - in total we will have taken 14 flights on multiple airlines, some fancy, some not so fancy

2) Train - our trains were good experiences, although the temperature of the night train in Vietnam left something to be desired

3) City Bus - Never a fun ordeal with loaded backpacks in rush hour but enjoyable when not carrying anything, Singapore buses were the best of course

4) Tuk Tuk (traditional) - Strange combo of motorcycle and taxi used in Thailand, drivers are organized to take you to the wrong places so you are forced to spend more money and they get a large cut

5) Tuk Tuk (modern) - instead of sitting behind the driver you sit in a covered side car contraption that someone thought was a good idea until a sudden stop when there would be nothing between you and the front, only did this one once as the town had no regular taxi service

6) Metered Taxi - Hard to find in tourist areas as the drivers would rather charge you a higher flat rate than turn on the meter. We were quoted 400 Baht but them etered taxi down the street ended up taking us for 155 Baht

7) Subway train - MRT in Kuala Lumpur, fantastic service although the charge to get back is double

8) Monorail - Excellent service, super cost effective and always exactly where we needed to go on the same line. Amazing!

9) Private truck - Wonderful girl who saved us in Prachuap Khiri Khan who drove us our our hotel, and again on Borneo with Cobra

10) Private Car - Many transfers, grounded out a few tiny ones on Borneo, we are just too big for Asian cars on Asian roads

11) Longboat - Traditional Thai boat with an unruffled car motor on the back

12) Car Ferry - Twice in Thailand due to a miscommunication a do nice in Vietnam due to incoming Typhoon

13) Passenger Ferry - Way better than car ferries

14) Junk - Two different versions in Ha Long Bay, both fantastic

15) River Boat - For river cruises in Borneo

We were  in the same boat, this is our photo of our circling paparazzi

16) Mountain Bike - In Borneo where two broke on Chris, and then the 70km ride in Vietnam

17) Singe Speed Chelsea Bikes - Thailand, Vietnam, Chris hates them but I love the baskets in front, I meander along my route imagining flowers, then Chris wonders why I am so slow, oops

18)) Mini Bus - Yuppers, lots of these. No 14 people are not meant to fit, but they do, just like clown cars

19) Transport Bus/Coach - Many of these, too many

20) Sleeper Bus - I understand the requirement on over night trips but for a 9hour trip starting at 10am I would rather be sitting, not lying on a broken recliner so all it does is recline

21) ELEPHANT - Saved the best for last!

Methods Not Taken (But Witnessed)

1) Motorcycle/Scooter - Many carrying large families we many small babies and infants

2) Pony and cart - Witnessed on an eight lane highway in Vietnam

3) Two ox cart - Witnessed twice in Vietnam

4) Two person bike, not a tandem - One person sitting on the back rack

5) Cage on motorbike - in all fairness the occupants of the cages were pigs but stuffing a 50kg+ into a cage balanced on a motor bike just seams odd

Not a pig in a cage but you get he idea with four large vases

I am sure I am forgetting some but the idea is there. Looking forward to coming home and catching up with everyone again!

Love,
Chel
Xoxoxo

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon)

(We are catching up on posts before we head home so check to see which ones you have read in case we have uploaded them faster than you can read them. We have had a wonderful time exploring and writing about our adventures, although we will be sad to leave, we are looking forward to seeing our families again and eating food our bellies are used to.)

We arrived in Saigon and walked to our hotel one road over from the bus stop. Our hotel was lovely although we were on the fourth floor, actually the fifth with no elevator. It made it nice and quiet so high above the city traffic. The first thing we noticed is Saigon traffic does not have as much horn honking and the scooter/motorcycle drivers almost obey traffic lights!

For our first full day we decided to do a day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. As soon as we got on our bus  we saw Tina and Luka! We enjoyed catching up on what had happened after our bus ride from H E double toothpicks on the way to visit a Cao Dai Temple for the morning. After our nine hour bus ride the day before Fish and I were not really feeling sitting on a bus again and the temple was a three hour drive away, not the best news but doable. 

Cao Dai is a Vietnamese religion with about two million followers  in southern Vietnam. I believe our guide told us it was started in the 1930s by a Vietnamese man who was sent a spiritual message to begin another religion by combining existing ones to create world peace. Followers pray four times a day at 12am, 6am, 12pm and 6pm for thirty minutes. Followers wear all white although once they begin to rise through the ranks they wear either red, blue or yellow. 

We visited the original temple which took over ten years to build during the war of independence from France. The temple looked like a cross between a Catholic cathedral and a Chinese pagoda. There are parts of all the religions here, from statues to the actions of the followers during prayer. There is meditation, chanting, choir singing and music. We visited during the noon pray time which visitors are welcome to watch provided they follow some simple rules. No pictures with you in them whatsoever as it will bring you bad karma and disrespect the gods. No loud noises. No walking past the front door, you must walk around the temple the long way. This is because during prayer the gods use this door and they will even stop traffic on the road outside.

Front of temple

Massive temple

Just before prayer time

With this in mind we watched some of the service and were amazed at how rude and disrespectful people can be. Why push to the front just to stay for 30 seconds before pushing back again? The service was amazing the temple was beautiful and the children's' choir was interesting to hear.

As we left there were people posing for pictures in the front hallway, one guy leaned back against the picture and broke the surrounding neon light. It caused a loud noise and the security guards freaked and came running. He held it pretending it was fine, took one step away and smiled for the photo. How disrespectful can you be?

After lunch at a local restaurant we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels. During the Vietnam War the Northern Vietnamese soldiers were unable to attack from the north so instead they moved through Laos and Cambodia and came towards Saigon from the west. They build a network of over 200km of tunnels under the ground to hide and protect their soldiers. They tunnelled in multiple levels around the area. These tunnels were so well hidden that they were able to control the jungle by stealth and terror. The entrances were 25cm by 35cm with camouflaged covers. From there the tunnels were narrow and low with many narrower sections that could be collapsed to prevent any enemy infiltrators from going farther within the tunnels.

An entrance to the tunnels

The ventilation holes were made to look like terminate holes and even the kitchen smoke stacks were separated and fanned out over the terminate holes so that the Americans would not see smoke and figure out where the kitchens were. They tunnelled to the rivers and would cross unseen under water with straws to breathe.

A disguised air hole

We were shown the uniform of the soldiers and why they were better adapted to the terrain of the jungle. We saw a simulated weapons factory where they had opened an old one up so it was no longer under ground. We could see the terminate holes everywhere once we knew what they looked like.

Simulated soldier in uniform

American bombs

Our guide showed us different kind of traps used to catch Americans and why they were so lethal. The tunnels were so strong and secretive that four actually ran under the American base without them knowing.

Trap

After the traps we went to the firing range where you could select guns of the war and fire them with real bullets. Fish and I decided to try it because when would you ever be able to fire these types of guns. We selected the AK47 also know as the Kalashnikov and headed to the range with a veteran. Then we each fired five bullets with the AK47 for good measure before heading down into the tourist tunnel. I made it down the first flight of stairs all opened up for tourists. Then you entered the tunnel down more stairs, then it turned a corner before going down more stairs. That corner and seeing more stairs were the last straw. I completely freaked out and backed out. You were told NOT to do that, if you go down you have to continue the 20m until the exit. Thankfully Chris was the only person behind me and had not entered yet so I could back out safely. It was small, and hot with you needing to bend over to walk. I went back up and waited for Chris to surface. He came up soon and said it wasn't so bad. They have 100m open to tourists with exists every 20m however it had started raining and they only let them go 20m.

We watched a propaganda DVD about how the Americans had come to peaceful Vietnam to take over and the Vietnamese had prevented that. The tunnels show just how strong the Vietnamese people really are and how much they were willing to go through to survive.

That evening we had a lovely dinner with Tina and Luka before checking in for the night.

The next day we walked to the War Remnants Museum which has heart. Reading displays about the Vietnam War. Although it was good coverage, it would have been nice to see more than photos. We understand why the reviews all say it was very one sided although history is always written by the winners. The museum was educational to say the least.

We then walked to the Reunification Palace although we did not go in. It would only be open for another half hour and it was a national holiday so the place was a zoo. From there we meandered back to our hotel, passing the Ben Thanh Market on the way. One could get lost in the isles of that place. We can't understand how people survive selling the same items as everyone else. However we did some shopping for one or two things and left as quickly as we could. Chris is a master shopper in places like that. They give the price, he walk away, they drop it immediately. He thinks about it. He then walks away, the price goes down again. He thinks some more, offers a lower price and they almost always take it. Chook our tour guide from Halong Bay had told us the real price is around half of the first one they tell you.

We were really craving a burger so we found the best reviewed joint online and it ended up being across the alley from our hotel, score! Chris had the cheese burger while I had a chicken burger which ended up being a chicken schnitzel on a burger, double score! Chris was jealous.

The next day we strolled through the market again on the way to our next destination. We bought chopsticks which Chris ended up getting the guy down so low that his mother started glaring and yelling at him, even though Chris wanted to go lower, her anger meant we had a good deal and the chopsticks were SOLD!

Norte Dame Cathedral

We went to visit the Jade Emperor Pagoda which is an emperor but not made of jade so that was weird. You could buy a turtle outside and write your name on it for good luck before placing the little fella in the turtle pool inside. They were cute but poor little fella with writing all over them. From there we walked to the Botanical Gardens, which we never found. We did find the History Museum and decided to stay there. At this point we were a little bored of seeing all the war museums but this one was all about Vietnamese history and full of artifacts and French people.

They have a Water Puppet theatre so we watched a show. It must be hard work being a puppeteer there as you work in waist height water all day. The show was nice and only half the price of the ones of Hanoi so we timed it right.

When we left the museum it started the daily downpour but thankfully my Omi let us use her hotel room to dry off. Yes you read at right, my Omi was in Ho Chi Minh City at the same time as us!!! It was so nice to see a friendly face and to be able to share stories with her. When she travels we always like to joke that she is famous and knows people everywhere. And here you go, she goes to Vietnam and finds her granddaughter!

Omi treated Chris and myself to a fantastic drink and dinner and it was a nice break for all of us. It was our fanciest meal yet. The restaurant was fantastic and the company better. Omi, when you read this, thank you so much, it meant the world to us. You are the best!

After spending the evening with Omi we caught a cab back to our hotel passing a night market along the way. As it was our last night in Vietnam we walked back to the night market to check it out and enjoy our last night walking through the craziness that is Saigon traffic.

The next day we were off to Bangkok again for our flight home. In all Vietnam was our favourite country's to visit as both the people and the food were fantastic.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Love,
Chel
Xoxoxo

Dalat...We're going biking!!!

(We are catching up on posts before we head home so check to see which ones you have read in case we have uploaded them faster than you can read them. We have had a wonderful time exploring and writing about our adventures, although we will be sad to leave, we are looking forward to seeing our families again and eating food our bellies are used to.)

For our second full day in Dalat, Chel and I did a biking excursion. We decided to use the same tour company for this excursion, Groovy Gecko Tours. The plan for the day was to be driven a couple hours outside the city with mountain style bikes and be taken up a mountain and then ride about 70km down the mountain towards Mui Ne, a city by the South China Sea. I was really excited as the biking we had done so far was with single speed 30year old bikes and they picked us up with much Newer Giant bikes with multiple gear selections. Our tour guide, named Wat had a Norco bike which is a Canadian bike and even though he had no idea it was, he thought it was cool once I told him.

Norco 

We were picked up at 7:30am and like we were told, it was about a two and a half hour drive outside the city towards Mui Ne. About one and three quarters into the drive, we turned down a side road and began heading up the mountain switch backs. The road going up was pretty narrow but it was also fairly free of traffic which is why they drove us so far away. when we reached the highest point of the road, our driver pulled over and hm and Wat assembled the bikes such that we could begin. Chel and I than hopped on and spent about 15 to 20 minutes riding around making small adjustments on the fitting and then we were off.

Both of us ready to go

As Chel and I ride at different paces, Wat told us he would set the pace and filled in Chelsea with the hand sign for slowing down and told us to be very careful with your speed coming up to the turns on each switch back. He also told us that there were areas under construction and it would be quite tore up in these areas, hence the mountain bikes. After giving us a brief itinerary of the day, we were off down the hill.

The bike was definitely of lower quality as the shifters were not tuned, but it was nice to finally get on something a little more familiar to what I ride at home and with some gearing options. Wat held a good pace for both of us and Chel kept up very well, falling behind only in the more technical parts of the ride, but not very far behind. The ride was perfect, the temperature in the mountains was much cooler than we had been used too and humidity free. the day was sunny and clear and we road down the switchbacks taking in all the beautiful views of the surrounding land. Wat told us 50 km of mostly downhill and then we would stop for lunch. although it was mostly down hill, we would always get up to a fairly decent speed and then have to brake hard for a sharp turn and that pace continued. It was awesome though and we stopped a few times to take in the view.

Chel behind me

Break

We stopped to look at the water falls

A view of one of the switchbacks

Us riding on the same section as the last picture above

Lunch was similar to our last tour, a family style lunch with a ton of dishes. I mentioned to Wat that I like a couple beers when I ride and the thing I knew, he had a bag of ice cold beers for the rest of our journey. He told me next time to tell the company as he would have loved to have a beer before lunch.

After devouring lunch, we had about 15 minutes of rest and the remainder of the 70km was flat or at some points a little uphill. As we rode further from the mountain, we went through many small towns where the locals love shouting "hello", sometimes you have no clue where it is coming from but you just yell hello back, we also passed many farms with weird looking plants, kind of like aloe. we asked wat and he said they were dragon fruit plants and finally we saw some of the farms with fruit growing.

Dragon fruit

Dragon fruit

Chel happy she is done

The day was amazing and I really loved going for a bicycle ride. There was a little hiccup at the end With the tour company, specifically the guide and driver, but it isn't worth getting into details to ruin the post. An amazing biking day!!!!

That night, as Chel mentioned we went back to our favourite restaurant. The next morning we woke up and waited in the lobby to catch our bus to Ho Chi Minh city.  While waiting, we talked with the hotel owner and her grandson. It was really cute, she asked him (the two year old): "who are these people?" And he responded "hotel guests". Then she said "what happens when you are not quiet in the morning" to which he replied "mama don't get no money". IT WAS SO FUNNY as he spoke with a lot of attitude and his English was better than most locals. Dalat was an amazing city in Vietnam and a great way to get away from the heat.

Off to Ho Chi Minh!!! A 9 hour bus ride.

Dalat, where locals wear parkas

(We are catching up on posts before we head home so check to see which ones you have read in case we have uploaded them faster than you can read them. We have had a wonderful time exploring and writing about our adventures, although we will be sad to leave, we are looking forward to seeing our families again and eating food our bellies are used to.)

After a 5 hour bus ride up into the mountains we reached Dalat at an altitude of approximately 1500m above sea level. As soon as we exited the bus the temperature hit us and it was splendid. After seven weeks of over 30 degrees Celsius with full humidity Dalat was averaging in the low 20s with no humidity.  As we were wearing shorts and tee shorts the locals were immediately concerned that we would be cold but once we explained  it was snowing in Canada right now they were thinking we were just plain crazy.

We reached our hotel, Dreams Hotel which was one of our best hotels, for the following reason. When we arrived there were two people behind the desk, a twenty year old man and a three year old boy playing computer games. Chris explained to the man that we had a reservation and he looked at us like we were crazy and then disappeared out the front door. Strange. We were a little confused when the three year old turned to us and said 'Mamma not back yet' in perfect English. Wow.

We were stunned and asked when she would be back to which he replied he didn't know. We waited and Mama came back. She is the young boy's grandmother but he couldn't pronounce that when he first started speaking so she just became Mama. Mama takes care of her two grandchildren every day and speaks with them only in English so that is their first language. We eventually met the little boy's older sister and she was adorable.

We stayed at the hotel and used the free hot tub up on the roof. Nothing is better then a cool evening with a great view and a warm hot tub. Dalat is an old Colonial town which now specializes in growing flowers and veggies in thousand a of greenhouses. There were greenhouses absolutely everywhere.

We booked a country side tour for the next day and enjoyed a lovely dinner at Da Quy Restaurant. Chris had his favourite meal in Vietnam. After and appetizer of shrimp crusted sugar cane fresh spring rolls be has fish fillets simmered in caramel sauce in a clay pot. Usually fish is whole with a few slices but this fish was filleted beautifully. Chris loved it so much we went back all three nights we were in Dalat. It was here while sitting in shorts and t-shirts that we saw people wearing north face coats and toques with mittens. Shall we say extreme? It was above 20 degrees.

Chris' clay pot dish

The next morning we had a lovely breakfast before heading out on our tour with Tong our guide and an Argentinian couple, Nano and Cecelia. Our driver's name was Tong. I am spelling these myself so spelling will be wrong but sound hopefully right. We went with the Groovy Gecko Tour Company. Our fist stop was to visit a greenhouse and see how they grow the flowers. Flowers we grow at home all summer but here are very exotic. After that we visited a local minority village. Vietnam has 54 local ethnic minorities, most with their own languages. We visited a Kaa village where the young children playing were speaking the Kaa language although to Fish and myself  it sounded no different from Vietnamese. Tongue showed  us a house and our first coffee tree. Chris was in heaven. Tongue told us the Vietnamese in this region grow a lot of coffee as it makes more than vegetables and now Vietnam is the second largest provider of coffee behind Brazil. The local minorities only began growing coffee when the 'King's People' the largest ethnic group at approximately 80% of the total population moved there and showed them how.

Our tour guide Tongue

Local Kaa children playing

A family's pet monkey

Coffee beans beginning to ripen

Chris and his first coffee tree

There are four kinds of coffee bean; Robusta, Mocha, Arabica and something else. The Vietnamese mostly grow Robusta and another kind I am forgetting because they produce more beans per plant than the other two. From the village we moved to a coffee plantation. Here Tong showed us how the beans are harvested here no matter if they are a ripe red or an unripe green. Once the beans are dry the colour is the same and you can not tell which where the ripe ones. However by harvesting this way it causes the Vietnamese coffee to be of lower quality than that harvested when only ripe in other countries. Harvest occurs from September to December every ear and we had timed our visit perfectly to see he ripening and drying beans.

At the plantation we sampled Weasel coffee which is roasted from the beans pooped out by a weasel. The weasels only eat the ripest and best red beans so the coffee roasted from their poop is the highest quality in Vietnam. The most expensive is made by one man who sells it for 20,000,000 Dong or $1,000 per kilogram, wowza! We sampled two varieties and Chris said they were quite good. I don't like coffee whether it has been through a weasel or not.

The view from the plantation

Coffee brewed per cup for ultimate freshness

Enjoying a weasel coffee with Nano and Cecelia

From there we headed to another coffee making house to see the weasels and how they make rice wine. The weasels were so cute and curious but I felt so bad for them being kept in such small cages just so they can eat and poop coffee beans for less than a quarter of the year.

Drying weasel poop!

Rice wine cooking

Do you see the chicken carcass?

Rice for wine

A weasel

Now one sleeping in a box

This family also makes rice wine which was quite tasty. They were burning the dried coffee shells to boil the wine along wit a chicken carcus. As our guide put it, everything burns.

We visited a tea plantation and then went to a Buddhist Temple with some fantastic giant Buddha statues. From there we went on a short hike down some crazy stairs and rocks to the Elephant Waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful and we walked a ways down until it was misting above us.

A tea plant

Below the falls in the mist

Elephant Falls

Lunch was at a local restaurant where Tong got us a great deal on a massive feast. Although we were only six people in total we had more food than the tables of twelve for the same price. The owner is as Tong says, his second mother. I had mentioned Fish loved clay pot fish and even though seafood is rare here due to the lack of ocean, Tong even ordered some just for Chris. It was whole fish and very boney but Chris ate it all because we felt guilty. Tong was so kind.

After lunch we went to. Silk factory where they turn silk worn cacoons into strong silk thread. We have no idea how the workers can see the thin little threads but they can.

We had a wonderful day and would recommend this tour to anyone. They dropped us off at the Crazy House which is an insane hotel built by a nutter. It is made of concrete and every room and hallway is different. We spent time exploring the public areas (everything but the occupied rooms) and finding our way around. For such narrow thin pathways you would think they would had had railings but then it wouldn't have been so fun would it?

We than walked back to our hotel and prepared for our next day which I promised Fish I would let him explain to you.

Love,
Chel
Xoxoxo