The Adventures of Jim & Rhonda

or however the song goes!

So sorry for the LONG delay in getting a blog entry. The last 3 weeks have been busy, busy!

We headed out to the BKK airport to pick up Ken & Wendy around 11pm on 14January. Thank goodness for Starbucks because we didn’t actually see their smiling faces until 1:30am! It took them forever to get through customs & immigration because the airline didn’t have any entry cards on the plane so everyone had to fill them out upon arrival (good planning United!)

They were thrilled to see us but reeling a bit from the flight. That was the longest travel day either of them had done before and it wore them down a bit!

We talked their ears off in the cab on the way to the New Siam II hotel and then, decided to go out for drinks! We found one little bar still open and they smuggled some beer over to us (it was past business curfew) and we did something we rarely do…stay up until 4:30am!

The next couple of days in Bangkok involved touring the Grand Palace and Wat Po, taking a half day trip to the floating markets and having them recover from their jet lag. On 17Jan. we had a VERY early wake up to head back out to the airport to fly to Koh Samui island. Jim & I hadn’t been there before either and we were all looking forward to some beach time!

The Samui Lagoon Bay did not (big surprise) look like the brochure. But, the bungalows were really large, had balconies in front and it was on the beach with a pool so we were all happy. Jim & Ken decided they needed to take up kiteboarding so spent 2 days taking lessons down on Lammi beach but, unfortunately, couldn’t complete the course for their certificate due to lack of wind. They can just take care of that back home in Hood River, however.

Wen & I didn’t do much! Read a few books, lazed on the beach chairs and bummed about. One night Jim & I did finally go to see Muay Thai boxing, something we’d been meaning to do for a couple of trips there and it was good fun. A very odd spectacle with 2 guys (boys really) trying to beat the crap out of eachother while really loud Hindu music was being played.

On our last night in Samui no one felt like going out so the boys went for pizza while Wendy & I got stuff for cocktails and , oh no, pre-sliced cheese to snack on. Big mistake. The morning of the 22nd , up at 4am for our flights to Bangkok and then on to Chiang Mai and Wendy and I were in full vomit mode! She definitely had it the worst and spent most of 4-5 hours in airports and on flights in the bathroom…so much so we were joking she should have gotten her money back on her seat! I was mainly dealing with horrible stomach cramps and only actually getting sick a couple of times. A 1 1/2 hr delay leaving Samui, then transferring and rechecking in at Bangkok and finally arriving at Chiang Mai at 11:30am. We could not wait to just get to our rooms and collapse. So…first day in Chaing Mai, Wen & I spent in bed and the boys had to go exploring on their own.

We had recovered the next day and had a great time in Chiang Mai. Very casual, mostly wandering about, some time at the tailor for Ken & Wendy to get some things made, a one day trip to see a hilltribe, do elephant riding and bamboo rafting, and of course, a trip up to the temple at Doi Suthep and some shopping stops at the Bo Lang villages.

We all flew back to Bangkok on 28Jan. with no issues and upon arrival all realized that, even though we had a night prepaid at New Siam we really didn’t want to have to drive all the way downtown when we were all flying out again the next day. So, we saved ourselves taxi fare and just got a hotel about 10minutes from the airport with free transfers. Of course, nothing is easy in travel so the van brought us to the sister hotel of the one we had seen the brochure on and booked. We had been very specific about wanting a restaurant on site so we’re not sure what prompted that but we complained and were immediately brought to the right hotel..which was only about 1 1/2 blocks away. Just another travel oddity since that hotel obviously had room available too!

We had one final dinner and some shots and that was the end of our 2 weeks in Thailand with Ken & Wendy. It was fantastic to see someone from home and we had a great time, in spite of the sickness! Hopefully they had an enjoyable first trip to SE Asia! It certainly revived us to continue on with our trip.

We’re now in India and that will require a whole other blog. Craziness squared for sure. More on what we’ve been up to the last 10 days soon.

Hope you are all well at home. Cheers! Jim & Rhonda

Monday , 14Jan. and here we are back in Bangkok. We’ve been to Thailand twice before and are back now for two reasons. One, because Bangkok is THE hub for flights in and out of SE Asia and you almost can’t avoid it, and two, because Jim’s sister Wendy and her husband Ken, who are also two of our dearest friends, are meeting us here for 2 weeks. We’re thrilled for the company but also excited since the next 2 weeks are all planned out and it is also like a mini-vacation for us!

Our last couple of days in Luang Prabang were wonderful. We really wish we had more than 2 weeks in Laos. It’s a fantastic country and we will absolutely go back. The slow pace, lovely people, interesting sites and inexpensive travel all made for a really wonderful time. Our travel the last couple of days, however,  was eventful to be sure.

We were due to leave Luang Prabang for Chiang Mai, Thailand on 12Jan. at 1:10. However, a 3hr flight delay set us back and we didn’t have as much time in Chiang Mai to research trekking companies as we’d hoped. Basically, we just made sure the Lai Thai guesthouse had our 2 rooms reserved for later in the month, had dinner and a Starbucks, and hit the bed. Then, we had a 7am flight on 13Jan from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was a new one for us. We left on time on Thai air and arrived over Bangkok an hour later. I say over because we were unable to land due to fog so circled for an hour. We then flew back to Chiang Mai to refuel and load on more passengers before flying BACK to Bangkok. So, a 1 hr flight became a 4 hr flight. No worries for us as we had no big agenda but I’m sure some connecting passengers were a bit stressed.

The new Bangkok airport is great, much improved from the old Don Muang one, and with taxi driver from hell we arrived at the New Siam II in only 35minutes! We stayed at this guesthouse back in 2002 with Jim’s parents and their friends and although the rooms have not changed the lobby is much improved and they have added a pool and tour desk. The rooms are very basic, however, it’s a fantastic location walking distance to the Royal Palace and the sites as well as Kao San road and right across the street from the river.

Today, the first thing on the agenda was to get to DHL and finally ship some things home! It took 5 trys to find a taxi driver who wasn’t trying to overcharge us and we really lucked out with the guy we got. Not only did he charge fairly but he called DHL to verify the location and found out it had moved. Really saved our butt! So, we got yet another box shipped home to mom & dad. Yippee, lighter packs once again!

Then, to the large shopping mall to find a few new things. Unfortunately, being in Asia most sizes are TINY but we got a couple items on the list as well as getting the never ending toilitries shopping, etc. done. Our tuk tuk driver back must be related to our taxi driver from the day before because we were quite certain several times we were going to crash. He drove so fast around corners Jim & I had to lean into the curves to avoid tipping over! The rest of the day was basically just waiting for the time to go to the airport and meet Ken & Wendy. Their flight arrives at midnight, as many do into Bangkok, so now, at 10:20pm we’re just getting ready to head out to the airport.

The 4 of us have 2 days in Bangkok, 5 days on the beach at Koh Samui (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH), 6 nights up in Chiang Mai where we’ll do some trekking, elephant riding, visiting hilltribes, etc. and then 1 night back here in Bangkok before they fly home to rainy Oregon and we head for India.

As always, LIVIN’ THE DREAM! Cheers, Jim & Rhonda

It’s been a bit since I’ve blogged so thought I’d catch everyone up on our latest adventures.

Vientiane is a very enjoyable capital city. We spent 5 days doing the Lonely planet walking tour, eating too much, and just wandering about. Because it takes so long to get visas for India we decided to take the time to get them in Vientiane rather than leaving early for Bangkok.

Unfortunately, even in Vientiane we were going to have to wait 7 working days. Ugh, that changed our entire plan for Laos. We decided to go to Vang Vieng for 3 nights and then come back to Vientiane to pick up our passports and visa and then fly to Luang Prabang rather than going by bus. We chose to do the 2 day/ 1 night package through Green Discovery Tours. We first took the bus to Vang Vieng, a 3 1/2 hr trip. The adventure started before the bus even took off. We got on and took some seats and the entire bus was full and yet they kept letting people on. So, first 2 girls got on, saw no seats and got off, making them remove their luggage from below. Then, a couple go on and same thing.. saw no seats and got back off having to get their luggage out, etc. Then, 2 young guys got on. At this point one woman said “why do they keep putting people on the bus? Do they think someone died and a seat is suddenly vacant?”. Just hysterical. These guys decided they had to be on the bus and they would just sit in the aisle. Magically, the driver then showed up with 2 plastic chairs which they stuck in the aisle and there were their seats. It was too funny and caused quite a commotion when we stopped and people had to get off for the break.

About 4 hours of beautiful scenery and we arrived in the little town of Vang Vieng. It is a very picturesque setting and our hotel, the Ban Sabai bungalows, had 10 cute little bungalows sitting right on the riverside. We spent an hour or so wandering about town. Vang Vieng is a bit odd in that it’s very Laos in many ways and yet has one street of a serious of restaurants that all play Friends episodes over and over all day and evening. Some people don’t like that aspect thinking that it ruins the local atmosphere but I must admit, we had an enjoyable couple of hours drinking beerlao and watching reruns!

The next day we walked to Green Discovery office, met our travel mate Isaac and our guide Pan and took a tuk tuk to the start of our trekking. Unfortunately, the transmission was going out on the truck so it stalled repeatedly and took forever to get there. But, was just one more funny incident throughout the trip. We left our overnight bag at the Bamboo eco-lodge and just took a day bag with some water for the trek. We had been told it was not too far and, in reality it wasn’t. However, unlike at home there were no maintained trails switchbacking up a mountain. Instead you just climb hand over hand up what appears to be a goat path pretty much straight up the mountain! Over rocks, trees, etc. It was a bit slippery and I can’t imagine doing this hike during wet season!

It was an 1100ft elevation gain and took about an hour of tough climbing. Then, we had to go down the other side of equally difficult footing into the valley. Our tour was called “Secret Eden” and is so called because there are no roads into the valley. We headed to a small stream for lunch and right before we got to the spot I slipped in the mud and cut my elbow up a bit. Not too big of a deal though, and Pan cleaned up the blood and put some antibiotic lotion on for me. For lunch Pan started a small fire and we had stickey rice and vegies in banana leaf and steak and vegie kebobs…excellent after the tough hike. Then, the bad part…we had to hike back out of the valley to get back to the village! Another couple of hours of tough hiking and climbing over rocks and we made it down the other side. I had worn my knee brace all day but by this time my knee was very weak and we were feeling tired, only to find out we had to walk  1 1/2 hrs back to the village! Thank goodness it was flat ground! I had been hoping for a bit of a challenge and surely got that!

The evening at the bamboo ecolodge was great. After a cold shower we had a good dinner of steamed rice and a chicken and vegie gumbo like stew. Then, Pan & Jim decided we all needed some Lao-han whiskey. It’s an interesting brew. They take rice, rice husks, and yeast and keep in an earthen ware jar. When you’re ready to drink it you add water, wait an hour, and drink it out of long straws, continuing to add more water. It’s not too strong and we spent about 3 hours talking and drinking whiskey. A good time.

We bought slept great even though we were VERY sore. The 2nd day of the tour was on the river. We spent about 6 hours kayaking, stopping at the Mulberry Organic Farm and exploring a couple of caves en-route. The weather was almost perfect and it was fantastic scenery. We got back to Vang Vieng around 4pm and checked back into Ban Sabai for 1 more night. We were incredibly sore and certainly feeling 2 days of more exertion than we’d been used to.

We took the mini-van bus back to Vientiane and had still more issues. There were 6 of us at Ben Sabai with tickets and only 5 seats in the van. So, after much discussion between the driver and hotel front desk another van was called and we all piled on board the 2 vans. We got back to Vientiane in only 3 hours so shaved an hour off of our trip, however, poor Jim was miserable because he was on one of the jumpseats on the end which was not comfortable. Back to the Lao Orchid hotel for 1 night.

As soon as we checked in we called the Indian embassy, praying our visas were ready. Thank goodness, they were. They only allow you to pick up visas from 4:30-5pm so we got there on time an waited and waited. Nothing fast happens with the Indian government and we’re not even in the country yet! However, who cares as long as we got them.

The next day our flight to Luang Prabang was not until 6:30pm so we had all day. We had decided to ship some things home from Vientiane because we were just sick of being overloaded with our bags. So, off to DHL we went. We got there, however, and the sign said Lao Freight Corporation. We asked if was not DHL and were told “same same but not”… ok, not using them! Next door was FedEx. Not only did they want $277. to ship 10kg of goods but they also said they didn’t have a credit card machine and it would have to be cash. Warning bells started going off for us both so we left there. UPS, price was $235. We just decided we were going to have to wait until Thailand where shipping is much cheaper. ugh

In the afternoon we headed out to the US Embassy to get extra passport pages in our passport. All of these countries that require visas end up taking up an entire page plus a page to do the stamps on. It took an hour but, we now have 25 extra pages. woo hoo. All of our passport issues taken care of in Vientiane!

Our flight up north to Luang Prabang was an uneventful 35minute flight. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend much time on Laos Airlines but they’ve been fine for the 2flights we’ve done so far.

Now, we’re in Luang Prabang. Yesterday we spent the day wandering the town, which is just delightful. It’s only about 25,000 people and sits where the Mekong and Nam Tha river come together. Everyone is very friendly, the pace is slow, and scenery great with lots of bars & restaurants and a great night market.

We also have gotten some things confirmed for further along our trip. We’re doing a cruise on the Nile in Egypt with our friends Jo & Jeff (who are on my companies tour) on 22-29 March and we have also booked our overland African Safari. From 20April-7June we’ll be doing a camping safari from Nairobi, Kenya down to Cape Town, South Africa visiting 8 different countries in 7 weeks. It should be absolutely amazing!

So, that is where we’re at. Today we’re doing the Lonely Planet walking tour of town and tomorrow, just wandering some more and enjoying our final day in Laos. We are loving it here and wish we had longer to spend to go to some more remote regions.

We fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand on Saturday, 12 January and then down to Bangkok on Sunday. We’re very excited to be meeting up with Ken & Wendy on Monday night, will be absolutely fantastic to see them after 5 months away and show them Thailand!

That’s it for now. Hope everyone is well, Cheers, Jim & Rhonda

Here is the link to Cambodia pics. Hopfully Vietnam will be up next week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimandrhondartw/sets/72157603595548160/

Cheers, Jim & Rhonda

Happy New year 2008!!!!

We arrived in Laos on 30Dec and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Vientiane, the capital, is only around 200,000 people. The airport is small, the entry visa process simple, and immigration almost non-existant. We had made a hotel reservation since we’d be arriving over New Years eve and the first 3 hotels we tried were not available we thought we’d best just get something confirmed.

The driver from the Lao Orchid hotel picked us up and it was a short 15minute ride to the hotel. And I do mean hotel!!!! We were not sure what the quality would be but rather than a guesthouse this is, in fact, an actual hotel. For $35/night we have a huge, comfy bed, a bathroom with an actual seperate shower WITH A DOOR so we won’t flood the entire room when we shower, a balcony with a partial view over the Mekong river and mini-bar and cable tv, etc. The check in was a complete change as well. All hotels in Vietnam are required by the government to hold your passports while you’re staying at their place, here they just asked our name, didn’t even ask how long we were staying, and promptly showed us to our room. A great experience!

Vientiane is very clean and understandably less polluted than the larger cities in Vietnam. This is particularly helpful for Jim’s allergies which were starting to give him real problems towards the end in Hanoi. As we drove to the hotel we’d noticed rows and rows of restaurants and bars lining the riverfront. Now, by restaurants I don’t mean actual structures but bamboo mats on simple wooden forms..most with cushions to sit on at low tables and a few with actual tables to sit at. So, after check-in we headed out for dinner and our first taste of Beerlao. The beer lived up to it’s title of “best beer in SE Asia” and for $1 for a big bottle is a great deal. We had some great pad thai and a big vegie salad for dinner and took a short walk. There are fewer people but also more people seem to have cars here so very few scooters which is fantastic…traffic actually drives IN LANES in a more orderly fashion and the few scooters that are here will stop before running into you. We were thrilled to have arrived!

New Years eve we first headed right out to the Indian Embassy to see how quickly we could get a visa. We had only recently checked and were shocked to find it takes anywhere from 5-10 days and costs $76 each!!! We didn’t want to be forced to spend that long in Bangkok and heard it was pretty easy from Vientiane. We hired a tuk tuk to take us there and first were told we’d need 2 visa photos each and we only had one, the tuktuk guy took us back downtown, we quickly had some photos done, and back to fill out the forms. Unfortunately, we were told they won’t be ready until 7 or 8 Jan!!! That certainly changed our travel plans since we were planning on being out of Vientiane and heading north by then. But, they have to be done so we are going to take a 3 night trip to Vang Vieng to do our trekking/caving/ kayaking trips we wanted to take and then come back here early next week to pick up our passports and visas and then fly north to Luang Prabang.

We booked our trip to Vang Vieng through Green Discovery Tours, a well known eco-tour company. We’re spending 2 nights (one at beginning and one at end) at a great resort called Ban Sabai in town and 1 day doing a trek out to an eco-lodge in the jungle and kayaking / caving our way back the next day. Overall, it’s quite reasonable…about $250 total cost for 2 for transportation roundtrip, 3 nights lodging, meals and 2 days of touring with a private guide.

New Years eve we had sundowner beers on the Mekong and ended up just having dinner and more drinks and in bed by 10:30pm!!! We’re just not very good new years people unless we’re at a party with friends!

Today, 1 January, we had a leisurely breakfast and went to call some friends at home on their New years eve, took a long walk around town, and are now doing the never-ending task of downloading photos onto Flickr. It takes, literally, hours to do the pictures and we always end up only doing a small portion of the photos we’ve actually taken. But, we’ve asked around and no one has found a better solution so here we sit! At least it gives me plenty of time to do blog entries!

We’ll spend the next couple of days casually exploring the wats, stupas, and side streets of Vientiane and enjoying the uncrowded streets, fresh air, and friendly people.

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful 2008! Jim & Rhonda

Our last week in Vietnam was action packed.

Christmas Eve in Hanoi can only be described as madness! THOUSANDS of people cram the streets on foot, scooters and in cars. Sometimes it would take 10minutes to cross a street due to the crowds. We headed out around 8:30pm to get some dinner near St Josephs cathedral to see what was going to happen there. The people watching was excellent but after dinner and a couple of hours of walking around it became quite apparent that the celebration had nothing to do with the meaning of Christmas but mostly just an excuse to go out and mill about. This shouldn’t have surprised us since the country is a buddhist majority but by 11:15pm or so we ended up just going back to the hotel. We didn’t get to see a nice mass service but overall it was a great evening.

Christmas day we had a lovely traditional dinner at the Kangaroo Cafe (we’d changed to there from the irish pub). Kangaroo Cafe is owned by an Australian couple and we had roast turkey and gravy, roast vegies, stuffing, cranberry sauce and for desert christmas pudding with brandy cream sauce…for $12pp it was a steal! We stayed up late again that night so we could call Jim’s parents house for their Christmas morning. Our regular tradition is that we spend Christmas eve at their house with them and our sister and brother in law and all get up early to make breakfast together and open gifts,etc. We were certainly missing it this year especially when we heard they even had snow falling!!!

On the 26 Dec. we had a 6:30am wake up call for our transfer out to Halong Bay. We had heard many horror stories from other travelers concerning their trips out there so we were optimistic but a bit hesitant! It turned out to be a great time. Our guide spoke excellent english and was very personable and on the 3 1/2 trip out we only had 9 people, including us, in the minivan. When we arrived at the harbor it was quite a site. The Vietnamese, along with most cultures in SE Asia, have no concept of queuing up in line. So, rather than an orderly harbor it was a huge mismash of boats all of them LITERALLY bumping eachother out of the way to get the best placement! Craziness. Unfortunately, our boat arrived a bit late so with full packs on and carrying our day packs we had to climb over 3 other boats to get to ours. And I really mean climb…no nice ramps from one to another but climb up on the railing, down onto the next boat, walk the length of that boat, climb up on the railing, step to the next boats railing, walk down it, etc….let’s just say with 40lbs on our backs, low clearance and narrow passages it was difficult!

But, we made it on-board to find , of course, that is was NOT the boat the travel agent had told us we’d be on. We pretty much expected that and it was a decent boat so no worries there. After our 2 remaining passengers arrived we headed into the harbor for a nice lunch with lots of food and some great whole grilled fish and plenty of fresh vegetables. Then, off we went. It was about a 1 1/2 hr trip out to the center of the bay where we visited an interesting cave and also go off at Titop island so we could climb the 523 steps to the top to get some great photos. It’s winter so it was pretty overcast and misty and certainly cool, but not horrible. Since Halong Bay is a UNESCO world heritage site all boats have to anchor in the “sleeping bay” overnight so there we were , along with about 100 other boats. Dinner was not fantastic but certainly edible and after some more time talking to our boat mates it was a pretty early bed time.

The next day we went to the next bay to a fishing village where we got our kayaks. We spent about 2 hrs kayaking in the bay and through some caves…just remarkable scenery and it was a clearer day so we got some great views. Then back onboard to go to Paradise Island, their private island where we were spending 2 nights. They have just 7 bungalows on the beach and a restaurant/bar area. They had kayaks as well and Jim and Stefan, a german guy on our trip, went out for about another 2 hours to explore the area. Dinner was large and varied and then they made us a fire on the beach and we all stayed up late talking….it was so great to be away from the pollution and crowds of Hanoi and especially that damn, never ending honking of horns!

Everyone else only spent 1 night on the island and no new people showed up the next day so Jim and I were completely spoiled and had the entire island to ourselves!!! We spent the whole day drinking wine on our balcony, listening to Jimmy Buffet, reading and talking about where we’d been so far and the places we still had to go. A truly wonderful, relaxing day!

On 29 Dec. we had to go back to Hanoi and had one boat pick us up to go about 1 1/2 hrs to meet up with a different boat to go the final 1 1/2 hrs back to Halong City. From there we had our 3 1/2 hr transfer back to the city. Before we had left Hanoi we had gone into the Sports Hotel (we had stayed at the sister hotel in Hue) and checked out a room and made a reservation for 29Dec, negotiated to $18/night, put down half payment, and even had a confirmation receipt showing room # 202. But, of course, when we arrived back from Halong Bay we were told someone else had paid more for the room so it was not available but she could show us another one. Well, room 404 was the top floor, a tiny room with 1 small window with broken glass covered in cardboard and 2 single beds. We should have just expected it from our experiences in Vietnam but we were pissed off anyway. However, it was their last room available and after traveling for almost 8 hours the prospect of wandering the streets looking for another room for 1 night was not acceptable. So, we got her down to $16 for the night and blessed our lucky stars that we were leaving the country the next day!

Laos Airlines is not one of the worlds more reliable airlines and so we headed to the travel agency to reconfirm our flights which, thankfully, were still a go. The woman there told us not to pay more than $10 for a cab the next day, a figure the hotel people also told us. So, at 1:30pm the next day we got in the cab to the airport and the driver immediately told us he wanted $12. We said “nope, the hotel called you and told you & us the fare was $10”, he tried to tell us that price was for a small car but we were in a bigger car! No dice buddy, we were done with that crap after almost one month in the country! We just ignored him but I made sure to pay attention to direction to be sure he was, in fact, taking us to the airport! As we arrived he then told us he would need $2 for the toll booth going back out, even though we flew into Hanoi  and know taxis don’t have to pay it!! Unbelievalbe…so, we just got out, made sure we had all of our bags, gave him a $10 bill and walked away with him sqwaking at us!!!  Had I mentioned we were glad to be leaving???

That said, we really did like Vietnam, the country is beautiful, food good, lovely coastline, and an interesting history and we did meet many very nice people who were not out to screw us over. Unfortunately, there are enough of them that ARE trying to screw you every chance they get it puts a bad taste in your mouth and makes you suspect everyone of being like that. I didn’t like the fact that I became hesitant to even speak to someone for fear that we’d be hassled. Over all, I’m certainly glad we came here but will probably not be back very soon.

On to the peace & quiet of Laos! As always, Jim & Rhonda – living the dream!

Well, it’s 23 December and we’re here in Hanoi.

Back in Hue we did some interresting sightseeing including the Citadel and a tour to the temples and pagodas along the Perfume River. The Citadel is is a HUGE complex of 10 square KM and is fully surrounded by a brick wall 2meters thick and a moat. Construction started in 1804 and a large part of the complex is now used for shops, gardens, etc. The main sights started at the Nga Mon Gate which led over a smaller moat and another wall. This led you into the Imperial Enclosure, the Thai Hoa Palace and he forbidden purple city, where the kings harem resided. Some of the inner complex is, of course, destroyed from a variety of wars, but much of the palace and imperial enclosure is still in great shape.

The cruise on the perfume river was a full day tour. We left in one of the many dragon boats and visited 6 different temples and pagodas. Along the way the sightseeing was wonderful as we passed fishing villages and people going about their daily lives. Interesting that almost everyone you meet has a cell phone and yet they’re plowing the fields with oxen. Such a contrast! Many of the sites were worthwhile but the tombs of Minh Mang were the most impressive. Built in 1841 it is perfectly in harmony with the lake and surrounding areas and was almost reminescent of a japanese garden in some spots. Lunch of sauteed green beans, rice and corn cakes was included in the price and Jim & I also bought some vegetable spring rolls for our table to share. As usual, we met some interesting people on board to exchange information with! Especially good info this time on Halong Bay cruises.

We flew from Hue to Hanoi and Vietnam Airlines was just fine. There were 2 unusual aspects to the trip. One, they had us get on a boat from the terminal to drive all of about 70 ft to the plane when normally we would have just walked across the tarmac. Then, our lunch onboard was a white bread sandwich with bologna and american cheese!!!! It was good but certainly not what we were expecting! The 1hr flight arrived in Hanoi at 1:00pm and we had an airport pickup from the hotel we had contacted on line. That is where the crap began!

It was a 45minute drive into the Old Quarter of Hanoi and our driver indicated that down a narrow alley was our hotel, Paradise Hotel. Online we had originally requested Stars Street Hotel but Mr Linh, the manager, said that hotel was full but Paradise Hotel, the sister of Stars Street Hotel was brand new as of November 2007 and it was available. He assured us it had all of the same amenities, aircon/ hot water/ cable/ computer in the room, etc. for $55/night but he’d give it to us for $50. Well, the pictures emailed to us were NOT of the hotel we stood in front of. While Jim went up to check on a couple of rooms I glanced at their business card in the lobby and the rooms were $45night!! The second indication they were trying to scam us! Jim came down and was not impressed. Basically, the rooms looked nothing like what was emailed and were fine, but were comparable to the $25/nt rooms we’d been booking and certainly not worth more. Sensing we were getting ready to walk out the manager said he had 1 more room to show us… the VIP room. Jim checked it out and we decided we’d go with it however, when we got to the room we found the cable didn’t work, no top sheet on the bed, not enough pillows and no computer in the room! At that point we’d had enough.. We said we’d stay but we wanted more pillows, more sheets, a computer in the room and the cable fixed TODAY,not the next day when they thought they could get to it. And we were only paying $45/night!

So, to their credit they did get everything handled in pretty quick order. However, when we walked out to dinner the front desk clerk wanted us to prepay for all 5 nights we were booking in for. No way, we have always paid upon checking out on this trip, partially to take into account any miny bar or tour charges, etc. but also because sometimes plans change. He just wanted to argue about it until finally the man who assisted us with the cable stepped in and said it was fine for us to pay upon checkout. Not a fun afternoon!!!

We did feel better after some food and a beer and have had an enjoyable couple of days exploring the city. As with all cities in Vietnam the number of motos on the streets is out of control! Sidewalks are mostly unusable due to them being moto parking lots, and it’s generally dangerous to cross a street! The sightseeing and people watching is fantastic, however, and we’ve spent hours walking the streets. We got our trip booked for Halong Bay for next week. We leave on 26Dec and spend 1 night on a junk and then 2 nights in a bungalow on a private island. We are certainly looking forward to that. Then the 29th back in Hanoi for 1 night and then on to Laos for New Years. The city is in full force for Christmas with many people in full santa suits or at least santa hats, very adorable little kids all decked out and streets and streets of gifts, christmas hats and balloons and enourmous stuffed animals! Christmas trees and lights everywhere.

Tomorrow, Christmas eve, we are going to midnight mass at St Josephs cathedral, a huge cathedral that looks straight out of France. That is, if we can get in. Fromwhat we’ve been reading literally thousands and thousands of people go there for midnight mass. Can’t wait! It should be quite an experience. And Christmas day we are joining some other travelers at Finnigans Irish Pub for a traditional Christmas dinner which we’re looking forward to! Turkey and all the trimmings, yum:) and even a small gift exchange.

Our big decision for tomorrow is to decide if we really are going to buy the gorgeous wooden cabinet we found to use as a bar when we get home!

Merry Christmas to everyone. Next update after our 3 days in Halong Bay!

Cheers and God Bless – Jim & Rhonda

Some of you have been wondering about our day to day life on the road. Let me assure you it is NOT a typical vacation. You’ve all done them, you get up early, drag yourself to the airport, sit for hours, board your flight, finally arrive at your destination after hours and eventually get to your hotel later that day. But then, if you’re at a beach destination or staying in one spot you’re pretty much set. Well, every 2-4 days we’re doing one of those “travel days’.

Mind you, we are not complaining! We dreamed of this trip for years and are thrilled to be living out our dream. However, this is different than any trip we’ve ever taken before. We have 3 types of days: chill days, sightseeing days, and travel days.

Travel days are the worst. NOTHING ever operates on time and, other than international flights, you’re told a wide range of times, generally something along the lines of 3-8 hours. We’ve now taken planes, boats, trains, buses, sleeper buses and motorcycles and I’m sure the list will continue to grow. A travel day normally starts with us getting up around 6am to get breakfast before our transportation for the day. Whatever time they tell you you’ll be leaving you normally actually leave between 1 and 11/2 hrs later. We’ve gotten stuck in the muck on the boat, had flat tires on the bus and .. once, even had them stop so they could wash the bus! The seating is usually not geared towards westerners so we’re often crammed into seats, which are occasionally just wood benches. For the bus rides you must deal with either the tv on full blast with kareoke playing or, at the very least, the CONSTANT horn honking as traffic is navigated. Usually 7-8 hours after we left we arrive at our next town. Then, the fight to get away from the hotel touts awaiting to actually get transport to our first choice hotel. I’ve normally done some research and have 2-3 hotels in mind so we must convince the taxi driver we do NOT want to see his hotel (where he gets commission) but want to go to the hotel you want. We have sometimes looked at 5 hotels before making a choice, a couple of times we went with the first one. I always wait with the bags while Jim goes in to inspect the rooms. By that time we’re usually just ready for some dinner and bed!

The second type of day is a sightseeing day. This can start from 4:30am to 8am depending upon what we’re seeing. These days are usually very interesting and are one of our favorite types of days. Occasionally you end up seeing something not so great but overall it’s at least always great to get out into the countryside and see the local villages and greet the people.

Chill days are just that…when we take a vacation from our trip. Mui Ne , here in Vietnam, was our last one. 3 days of doing very little except napping, swimming, watching the sunset, etc. They are the most like a real vacation and are really helpful after a country such as Cambodia where the history and poverty are in your face 24 hrs a day.

So, that is it, our life on the road… lots of sightseeing and travel days intermixed with a few chill days every 5 weeks or so to recharge our batteries.

Thats us, living the dream!!! Cheers, J&R

U

We spent our final day in Hoi An on a half day tour visiting MySon. This was a very important city in the Champa kingdom from the 4th century through the 14th century. The Champa kingdom was a predessor to the Angkor civilization in Cambodia and the ruins are very similiar. There were originally 68 structures but only 25 survived repeated pillaging in previous centuries. Then, because the VC used it as a base during the war it was repeatedly bombed by the Americans and the ruins of only around 20 now exist.

It was almost a 1 1/2 hr drive from Hoi An to the site and then we took jeeps another 2km to get to the literal ruins. One funny thing for us was seeing that the jeeps are old US Marine Corps jeeps that were apparently salvaged after the war.

It was a nice 2 hours exploring the sites and we are certainly trying to appreciate everything we see for what it is rather than as any sort of comparison but, quite honestly, after being at the temples of Angkor everything else pales in comparison. It is impressive that these structures were almost 300 years older than Angkor, however.

We chose the boat trip option return so , after a near collision with a dump truck in which that truck went off the road, we arrived at our boat about 12:30pm. We were served lunch onboard which was a simple but tasty rice dish with vegetables. We arrived back in Hoi An around 1:45pm or so and went right to the tailor shop.

Hoi An is FULL of tailors making custom made clothes for not much money. Using my Christmas money from my in-laws I decided to get a silk jacket. It’s fantastic, peacock blue-green on the outside, maroon silk liner and hand embroidered flowers on the bottom. It’s got a mandarin collar and is almost knee length and I can’t wait to get home and actually wear it! For $70 US it’s a fantastic deal as even a pre-done piece at home would be double or triple the price.

Today, 18 Dec., we had a bus ticket to Hue at 7:30am. Of course, we KNEW it wouldn’t really leave at that time but silly us, were still in the lobby waiting! Originally we had asked for a sleeper bus to try out that form of transport. Sleeper buses in Vietnam are unlike anything we’d seen before. Instead of regular seats they are 2 or 3 lines of recliner seats that recline about as much as a recliner chair in the states.  The man at the hotel assured us we didn’t need a sleepr bus as it was only a 2 1/2 hr (yea right) trip to Hue. However, our 7:30am bus showed up at 9:00am and WAS a sleeper bus. Very fun. Jim & I chose the back row and had all 5 seats to ourselves to stretch out. We watched the countryside, went through the longest tunnel I’d ever been through, and napped a bit. Even with a stop in Danang to pick up passengers and had a rest stop and still arrived in Hue at 12:00noon. Excellent trip!

Our hotel here, the Sports Hotel, was referred to us by the Hoi An hotel and is very centrally located. Our $25/room is HUGE with a balcony, this computer IN the room, and even (gasp!!!) a top and bottom sheet on the bed. Sure, go ahead and laugh, but truly- we have often had hotel rooms with a bottom sheet but no top sheet….just a comforter or blanket so this is sheer luxury!

We have some sightseeing tomorrow and a full day cruise on the Perfume River to see some pagodas the next day so more later.

Cheers – J&R

Hello all! 9 days until Christmas, unbelievable!

We left Nha Trang and are now in Hoi An. Nha Trang was not my favorite town so far but it did grow on us a bit. It’s a very touristy place due to the great beaches and good diving most of the year and we found the people less friendly than elsewhere, even Saigon. If you didn’t want to buy their tour they didn’t have much to do with you for the most part.We only had 2 days there and our 2nd day we did a 1/2 day trip to the mud baths & mineral hot springs. It was a good time, sort of funny because they were very specific on how long you did each option. So, first we were instructed to take a shower in the mineral water for 3-5 minutes, then we sat in one of the dozens of pools of mineral mud for 20-30 minutes(we’ll try and scan the photos and put on the blog..pretty silly!), then we lay in the sun for 30minutes for the mud to harden, and then another mineral shower for 10-12minutes. Next we went to one of the many mineral water hot springs tubs (which were about the temp. of a medium hot tub) for 30minutes and then we had “unlimited” time in the mineral springs pool and waterfall. Overall, it was very relaxing and certainly did make our skin feel nice and soft.

There was one place in Nha Trang we went to a few times and that was Crazy Kim Bar. The owner, a Vietnamese-Canadian named Kimmy, started trying to help keep street kids from being victims of pedeophiles a few years ago and part of all proceeds at her bar and spa go to that cause. I bought one of her “hands off the kids” tee shirts and we also bought a stuffed basset hound toy for an underprivledged child as a Christmas present. That and more than a few beers! She also teaches the kids english, vietnamese and computer skills and gives them free lunch for attending classes. Travelers can volunteer to help teach and we weren’t there for long enough to do that but it was great to see someone working on a worthy cause.

The balance of the afternoon we mainly lazed about and packed up for the train. The sleeper car tickets were $25/each but Jim & I wanted our own compartment so we bought the other 2 tickets as well and we were very glad we did! It was TINY and 4 westerners and luggage would have been a nearly impossible fit! The sheets & so on were not as clean as they could be so we gladly pulled out our sleep sacks, read and listened to some music before bed. The train did actually leave ON TIME (a first for us so far for transportation) at 8:15pm and by 9:30 we were asleep. It was a bit of a noisy, bumpy ride but we slept reasonably well and arrived and Danang at 5:20am.

We had arranged a hotel in Hoi An ahead of time and they were at the airport to drive us about 40minutes back south to Hoi An. We checked in by 6am and immediately took a nap for a couple of hours!

Hoi An is great!! It’s easy to see why everyone loves it here. It’s a small town of around 80,000 and easy to cover on foot. For some reason it was not bombed during the war and so most of the buildings are original. I’ve been taking dozens of photos!! The entire downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and so basically, to enter many of the buildings there is a fee. For 85,000dong per person (about $5.50 us) you can enter 1 building/site in one of 5 categories. So, for instance, one category is “Cultural sites” which covers the dance performances, artists workshops,etc. and you can choose one of the 4 places listed to enter with that tab on your card. One other category is “old houses” and you have 5 to choose from, etc. You can certainly enter all if you want but then have to buy more tickets.

We had lunch at a patisserie with fantastic coffees, sandwiches and pastries and spent hours wandering around. One very meaninful temple for us was the Phuc Kien Assembly Hall. We had already used our ticket for a site in this category but the woman nicely let us enter anyway. In the interior they had huge incense strings that were shaped almost like Christmas trees hanging from the center with cards attached to them. We asked about them and it turns out that the site is used to thank the gods for your health and to pray in remembrance of the dead. So, for $20 us we also bought one of the incense trees and dedicated it to Jim’s sister April and my mom and lit our incense. The trees burn for approx. 1 month so it’s nice to think that the card/tree in their memory will still be going after we leave here.

We were both a bit tired from walking miles and the limited sleep on the train so got back to the hotel around 5pm and decided to call it a day. Room service dinner, a movie and early to bed!

Today, 16 Dec we’re in town seeing the other categories of sights we did not get to see yesterday and just enjoying the architecture and things to see. It’s really hot and muggy once again and we keep hearing Hanoi is cooler and are looking forward to that!

We leave Hoi An for Hue on the bus on 18 Dec and have a flight on 21Dec to Hanoi to spend Christmas there. With this weather and being away from all of the hustle and bustle at home, no presents to wrap, no tree, etc. it certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas. But, at least there are decorations and Christmas trees up everywhere here in Vietnam to remind us of the holidays!

Hope everyone is well. Cheers J&R