myrainasia

It has been pointed out to me recently that I don’t say very much about food in my blog.  Upon further reflection I just realized, to my great chagrin, that I am not and never will be a real foodie.  Someone once said to me (in my fat youth) that some people eat to live and others live to eat, and that I was in the latter category.  While I may have spent my early days overeating, I think I fall in the category of people who eat to live, or at the very least, somewhere between the two.  Finding fabulous food is just not a priority.

Pity, because I have heard that there is some really amazing food in SE Asia.  Alas, I am probably not the person to ask about this.  To really appreciate the range and quality of food, one must have a brave palate.  Alas again, my palate is a coward.  The list of local specialties I have not tried is significantly greater than the list of foods I have tried.  In fact, in Macau the first night, I spent too much time in one of the casinos.  At about midnight I realized I really should get some dinner and then go to sleep.  Amazingly the casino did not have any restaurants or food options (at least I think they didn’t based upon the limited English spoken in that particular casino).  I felt sure I would find something to eat on the way back to my hotel which was a 5 minute walk at best.  My hotel was not in the real touristy section of Macau and the first restaurant I went into had people eating so it looked promising.  They even had a menu in English.  Unfortunately, there was not a single thing on the menu that I was even willing to attempt.  I cannot possibly list the foods I rejected but they included multiple options involving fish heads and I didn’t recognize the names of most of the fish listed.  The meat selection included animals I knew but talked about body parts and organs that could only be identified following completion of veterinary school.  So I left and found a shop that sold noodle soup.  I think mine had minced pork.

Noodle soup, and every other possible permutation of noodle, is my mainstay of eating.  I’m not really a pasta person but I’m even less of a rice person, and those are the staples of every meal here.  I’ve pretty much eliminated chicken (unless it’s KFC- ubiquitous in Asia- or a very western style restaurant) because I don’t like dark meat.  I’ve tried to get white meat by miming- pointing at my breast would seem obvious, no?  But apparently they don’t cut chicken the way we do at home, i.e. legs, thighs, wings, breast.  In Asia they seem to just slice from head to foot.  And, by the way, most chicken dishes here come with head and foot.  In fact, I’ve seen so many chicken feet in restaurants and food stalls that I’m not sure what they do with the rest of the chicken.  And I am not eating any chicken with the head still on- cooked or not.

Pork and beef are my main options, but I try to avoid those selections that tell you precisely where the meat is coming from on the animal.  Pig tendon may taste fine but it sounds gross to me.  Actually I’ve been eating a lot of sausage because then I don’t have to know where the meat came from.  (Theoretically it could be even more disgusting, but this is one area where I’m working on the theory of don’t ask, don’t tell.)

I always thought I loved seafood but that love has been challenged here.  Shrimp, one of my favorite dishes, is too much work.  I learned how to knock their heads off and peel away the shells starting with their little feet when I traveled through Europe.  But when they serve whole shrimp in a cooked dish it gets very messy- first you have to suck off the sauce and then you get to start the peeling process.  When I go to have dinner I just want to eat- without all the work.  As for your more basic fish, most of it is served whole.  While I can handle eating a whole fish, this is something that also falls under the category of work.  And in China, fish heads seem to be more popular than anything else, and this is not an option for me.

While on this topic I should point out that I have refused to try dog (frankly I haven’t seen this on any menus although I know it’s available and one Australian expat was telling me about the specialty where they serve dog paw with a straw inserted to enable you to suck out the bone marrow), snake, and each and every fried crispy critter that one could imagine.

Last word on the topic of food has to do with Chenglish.  While I thought Turkey and Greece took the prize on butchering English (and I’ll never forget the “fried Jews” that was an option in Extremadura, Spain), China wins this one hands down.  Up until now in my travels I have been able to figure out what most things on the menu were, notwithstanding the confused and usually amusing translations.  Here I have just given up.  Unfortunately I don’t have any examples on me at the moment but I will try to save a few for future reporting.

I’m ashamed to say it but I am now actively searching out McDonalds and other western chains.

Bon appetit to all!

I went on a blogging hiatus because it felt like everyone, except my most loyal readers, had lost interest.  Regrettably I seem to have lost interest as well.  This is doubly a problem since my diary is still stuck in Bangkok.  I think it is fair to say that my diary is dead whereas there is still hope for the blog.

Flying tomorrow from to Macau, via Bangkok.  Although this is the wrong direction it was the cheapest way to fly.  Actually it wasn’t as cheap as I originally thought once the computer program at Air Asia added on the taxes and service charges.  But by then I was committed to entering China without the hassle of a lengthy train ride.

For those wondering where Macau is and why I’m going there- it’s a special economic zone located next to Hong Kong.  It was once a Portuguese colony but now is again part of China.  It’s also the “Las Vegas of the East”.  If you know me well, you know why I chose Macau.

But back to Vietnam.  Here’s where I went:

1. Phu Quoc- my first stop.  It’s an island that’s below Cambodia (and the Cambodians think it should be theirs) and supposed to be beautiful.  Since it rained pretty much nonstop during the 3 nights and 2 days that I was there, I cannot speak for its beauty.  Most of the hotels and resorts are on an unpaved road.  Think of that with steady rain.  But I met a nice couple (she Vietnamese runner, he half Vietnamese half French ex-soccer player for Vietnam) and had a relaxing few days until I gave up waiting for the rain to stop.  I got to the island by hydrofoil, after doing the overland crossing at Ha Tien, but flew from Phu Quoc to Saigon because I refused to spend another 3 hours listening to people barf.

2. Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City- this was one of those places that I loved, but not everybody does.  Big city, insane traffic.  Did one of my megashops- bought lots of souvenirs and went directly to the post office (without passing Go or collecting $200) and shipped it all home.  Went to the War Remnants Museum and was suitably impressed.  Have noticed that the Vietnam War is considered, at least in Vietnam, as Vietnam against US.  South Vietnam has apparently dropped off the radar.  I guess that makes reunification a bit easier.  Also went to the Cu Chi tunnels which were fascinating but have become touristically hokey.  (I’m having deja vu here- can’t decide if I blogged all this before or just discussed it in various e-mails.  If I blogged it before, forgive the repetition.)  Also visited a batch of pagodas.  The Vietnamese style shows Chinese influence and the pagodas are very different from the wats in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.  But beautiful.

3. Mui Ne- took the bus to this beach resort town.  One long strip of hotels, resorts, restaurants and other tourist related shops/services.  There is an actual town but not really near the tourist area.  The beach was gorgeous!  The water was a bit too warm for my taste and I don’t go very far out when there are large waves, but it was a great beach for walking and watching the zillion kite surfers.  Went to see one of the large sand dunes, but I really disappointed the young girl trailing me when I refused to rent her plastic sheet for dune sledding.  Also loved my hotel- something I don’t say that often.

4. Dalat- took a minivan because I didn’t like the bus I had taken to Mui Ne.  Amazing how many people you can actually put in a minivan.  And then we broke down.  Par for the course in SE Asia.  But we made it to Dalat and when I stepped out of the minivan and felt the COOL evening air (Dalat is in the mountains) I was in heaven.  Dalat is a beautiful town with a lovely lake (I’ve discovered I’m partial to towns with lakes in the middle) and I had my one and only unairconditioned room of my travels.  (Unairconditioned by choice, that is.)  Dalat is also known as the home of the Easy Riders.  These are basically moto drivers with a fancy title who carry notebooks showing the wonderful things people have said about them.  (I’m thinking they don’t ask for comments from people who were dissatisfied with their tour.)   I reserved the driver who took me from the place where the minivan arrived (which was not in the center of town, but was next to the hotel presumably owned by the same people who owned the minivan) to my hotel.  Two days later I got a bait and switch when a different driver showed up (I guess my first driver got a better offer in the interim) to take me on my day tour of the area around Dalat.  His English was impossible to understand and I would never have booked him for a day tour, but I find that I can’t be mean to these guys who are just trying to make a living.  He also overcharged me at the end of the day, but that was my own fault- I am well aware that all prices must be negotiated in advance.  Still, Dalat was beautiful and I really liked it.

5. Nha Trang – got there by bus from Dalat on the one and only normal bus I’ve taken in Vietnam.  The tourist section of town (western tourist that is, there were loads of Asian tourists in Nha Trang in other sections)  is about 3 square blocks in size and situated right off the beach in the center of town.  It creates this cozy little tourist ghetto that  is almost impossible to leave.  I met these 5 English girls who were beautiful and charming (if you’re reading this Laura, Natalie, Lauren, Helen and Siobhan- how’s that for a description!) and who adopted me as their older and somewhat eccentric but amusing companion.  We met on this tour of the islands around Nha Trang; the tour was pretty crappy but the people on the tour were a lot of fun so it was a good day notwithstanding the fact that you don’t really stop on any islands except one where you have to pay to go onto the island and it wasn’t worth it.   I also spent a fun afternoon at the local mud baths with my new friends.  (Take a look at my photos if you want to see 5 sexy muddy English girls and 1 muddy me.)   I also have to mention Sammira and Miki (American and Austrian) who I met when I first arrived in Nha Trang.  They had met one another a town or two north of Nha Trang (tourists in Vietnam are divided into two groups- those going north to south and those going south to north) and were traveling together for a bit.  They complemented each other perfectly.  Sammira is one of the most friendly, outgoing person I have ever met and she seemed to know everyone in Nha Trang within a day or two (being African American may have made it easier for the Vietnamese to remember her) and Miki was a touch more reserved.  Both were delightful and I split my time in Nha Trang between the two groups of new friends.  Sammira and Miki introduced me to Marinella, an Italian expat who owns a restaurant (Italian, what else?) in Nha Trang.  Marinella was also quite amazing and amusing things always seemed to happen when she was around.  (See the photos of me and the 8 or 9 Brazilian soccer players for example.)  Finally, must say that the beach at Nha Trang was perfect- no waves and the water was a lot cooler than at Mui Ne.  Nha Trang was probably my favorite place in Vietnam.

6. Hoi An- sweated the transportation issue of going to Hoi An from Nha Trang.  Didn’t want to take an overnight bus or train- like 99% of the tourists.  Then discovered that one could fly rather cheaply on Vietnam Airlines which does not post domestic prices online.  So happily flew to Danang (no airport in Hoi An) and shared a taxi into Hoi An.  This is one magnificent town!  It’s an old Chinese port city and much of the old quarter near the river has been preserved.  The entire old quarter is a UNESCO world heritage sight and rightly so.  But the main reason most tourists come to Hoi An is the tailor made clothing industry.  There are about 500 clothing shops in town and it is impossible to leave town without having something made.  Trust me, I tried.  But on my third day there I fell for the siren song of the clothing shops and bought a pair of shorts, a skirt, a sundress and 1 fancy dress.  The hardest part was having fittings in 95 degree weather.  Unbelievably, I think Hoi An was the hottest city I’ve been in in Vietnam.  Took 1 day tour to see My Son (also UNESCO site) which is Cham ruins.  Cham is the civilization that preceded Angkor and I must say that I have seen better pre-Angkor ruins, both in Angkor Wat and Phou Si in Laos.  Of course, the state of the ruins was probably not helped by being bombed during the war.

7. Hue- back on the bus to go to Hue.  Another lovely city but hopping due to my arrival at the start of the Hue Festival which is held once every two years.  There was a big line up of things to see and do, but the brochure which explained this in Vietnamese, French and English, did not really do a good job of explaining and I ended up not going to see anything.  I did walk over to the Citadel for the opening night fireworks (sadly, this was about 3 minutes of action- call Grucci!).  I almost didn’t go because it required walking across a bridge, but I managed to hook up with this lovely couple from Colorado who, in turn, had been picked up by these 3 young Vietnamese teenagers, and we walked to the second bridge which was easier on my bridge phobia.  I saw some western tourists, but mainly the place was swamped with Vietnamese- a good thing, not bad.  All of Hue was on the streets and it was a lot of fun.  (Noteworthy was the fact that these rabid capitalists who try to sell you everything everywhere you go, have not gotten the hang of selling food and drink in large outdoor gatherings.)  Took a day tour on one of the dragon boats.  These take you to the imperial tombs outside the city.  Another lousy tour, but the tombs were fabulous.  To digress, one of the big problems with tours in Vietnam is that everybody is so busy undercutting everybody else that the tours end up being dirt cheap but then they spend the whole tour trying to sell you add ons, presumably to make up for the fact that no one is making any money from the tour itself.  And the poor tourist (OK no one is really feeling sorry for me) ends up feeling hassled and harassed.  A lose lose situation that hopefully will get worked out some day.  Back to Hue- thought about taking a tour to the DMZ but reports from other tourists indicated that you spend the whole day driving on a bus and there is not much to see although if you are old enough to remember the war the names of the places you go to will resonate.  Decided to pass.

8. Hanoi- flew to Hanoi to avoid another overnight deal.  Shared a taxi into town with a lovely Australian couple who are doing a round the world trip.  Finding a hotel was a little trying- there do not appear to be any real set prices on rooms.  Everybody negotiates so you feel you are getting ripped off if you end up paying more than $15.  Went to a few rooms and then settled happily into Rising Dragon which was highly ranked on tripadvisor.  Explored Hanoi for a few days and then took off for a 3 day 2 night trip to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island.  Not crazy about the boat but Halong Bay is a knockout must see on any trip to Vietnam.  (See 300 pictures; I’m not explaining.  I need to eat and want to finish this.)   Today I saw the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  How could I possibly leave Vietnam without seeing the embalmed Uncle Ho?  But seriously, whatever you think about the Vietnam War and the history here, there is no getting around that he was a pretty amazing man.   Ended up really enjoying Hanoi, after I got used to the traffic.  And I also managed to link up with Dom and Tony, the really cool couple I first met in Chiang Rai and then saw in Phnom Penh.  We are on a totally different route but cross paths on a regular basis.  We had a fun time at quiz night.  Kung Fu Pandas rock!

So, Vietnam in a nutshell.  Next post will be from China.  Hopefully I won’t have to do all of China in one blog post.

Been meaning to talk about traffic for a while now- possibly already have discussed this in brief on other postings, but the traffice in SE Asia, and Vietnam in particular, deserves a more lengthy discussion. As a New Yorker I walk everywhere.  ... [Continue reading this entry]