travel_b1p6zj

Our last stop in Vietnam was Hue. More great local food, good sites, and really great people.

Our guesthouse was fantastic! And the abandoned water park was particularly cool. Our tour with ILoveHue is highly recommended.

As always, our goal was to try all the street food specialities. The Bun Bo was particularly good. I didn’t expect to like the cubes of congealed pig blood, but it’s really good!

Selection of photos are here.

We decided to slow down the place and settle into Hoi An for 12 days: 5 days near downtown at the nicest $29/night room I’ve ever stayed in, and 7 days on ‘herb island’, not too far from the beach. The plan was to relax, hang out around the room and do nothing a lot, and have a place for Christine to practice what she learned in her cooking class. It turns out our timing was perfect, as Typhoon Damrey ensured that we’d have 4-5 days where we had no other choice other than stay inside and relax.

Before the Typhoon hit Christine did a cooking class, and I went to Marble Mountain. I also found a club with live music that let me sit in on ‘lap snare’ and cajon for 2 nights. Unfortunately the bike I rented from our hotel (for $1/day) got stolen while I was drumming, and they charged me $75. Bring a lock from home if you want to rent a bike here.

Then the typhoon rolled in, and it was raining and windy for the next 5 days. Luckily we were north of the worst of it, and there was no flooding where we were, but it made going outside pretty miserable. Downtown Hoi An was under about 4 ft of water. We had a great studio apartment from AirBNB with a full kitchen, so we didnt need to leave the house, and Christine got to try out all she learned in her cooking class!

We also did a lantern making class with Hoi An Handicraft, which we really enjoyed. We tried to do more classes with them, but they were all cancelled due to the storm.

We loved our time here, and highly recommend a visit of you can.

Trump arrived the day we left. We cant seem to escape his influence! We went by his hotel, a brand new Sheraton that apparently they worked on 24×7 to get ready in time, on our way to Da Nang.

A selection of photos from our time in Hoi An is here.

Vientiane was somewhat disappointing after Luang Prabang. Its much more run down, and does not seem to be improving as quickly. But it was still interesting, and the ‘Budha Park’ (photos in the link below) was very cool.

The other great thing about Vientiane is the food and coffee. We had a fantastic French meal for about $25 (for 2), and saw many Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai places.

We even went to a North Korean chain restaurant, which was really quite good! We hoped there would be performances, but there were none that night. But we were treated to videos of the North Korean music. Hits like ‘Great Comrade Kim Jung Un’, and songs from the Moranbong Band such as “Voice of my Heart” and ‘Let’s Support our Supreme Commander with Arms”. You really must check them out. The staff were all young and cute women.

We got to see the first day of the That Luang Festival, which was very interesting indeed.

We stayed this guesthouse, which had fantastic views of sunset on the river, but was a bit far from downtown.

Some photos of Vientiane are here.

Also, I never did a blog on our visit to the Plain of Jars. Those photos are here.

We flew from Hanoi to Luang Prabang (1.25 hr flight, $140). Luang Prabang is a small (pop 56K) ‘world heritage town’. It reminds me a lot of a hotter and more humid version of Antigua, Guatemala. Lots of tourists, a few expats, good international food, but not too overpriced and resort-like (yet). It makes me want to go back to Antigua..

The main thing that everyone does here go to Kuang Si falls, and ride some elephants. The other “must do” activity is to give alms to the monks. See the links to photos below.

We decided to settle in for 9 days and relax. Christine did some volunteer teaching and meditation. We did a couple boat and kayak trips on the Mekong River, which reminds me off growing up on the Mississippi in Davenport IA. Very muddy, polluted, and strong current.

Overall I like Laos better than Vietnam in some ways so far. Its much cleaner and and quieter. Way less trash everywhere, and people don’t drive with their horns they way they do in Vietnam. Of course there are way less people too. I love that you have to take off your shoes outside the front door of all the guest houses.

We got to ride our first electric Tuk Tuk, which I hope catches on quickly, as its much nicer than a regular Tuk Tuk in every way.

Everyone I talked to is worried about what will happen to the town after the new high-speed train from China is completed (scheduled for 2020). There are several huge Chinese hotels already under construction on the edge of town. Go now, before the train starts running.

Some locals I talked to expect China to just invade and take over someday. There are serious challenges for this town to maintain its world heritage status in the face of so much growth.

Next, off to the ‘plain of jars’, which will be completely different.

Photos:

• In town
• Around town

We stayed at the IQ Inn. We loved the location. Close to the main tourist zone, but not in it. We had the upstairs room, which was great. I would not recommend staying in any of the downstairs rooms.

We spent 4 nights each at 2 different “Homestays” in Northern Vietnam. One was near the town of Vu Linh, a ‘Dzao’ (aka Dao or Yao) tribe village, and Ta Van, a Hmong village. Both were very interesting, and I recommend the experience if you don’t mind ‘roughing it’ a bit. Both were fairly expensive relative to staying at a hotel in town considering the comfort level, but comfort is not really the point.

The total cost for lodging, food, and a few beers, and a couple guided walks worked out to $130/day in Vu Linh, and about $50/day in Ta Van, Sapa. Food was surprisingly similar in each, tho the coffee was much better in Vu Linh. The homestay family was much friendlier and more informative in Sapa. We even got to see a pig get slaughtered at our homestay in Sapa. Quiet a different technique used than I saw at Oscar Mayer when I worked there in 1980.

Here are the links to the places we stayed:

http://www.lavievulinh.com/en/home-1/

https://www.facebook.com/joyhousevietnam

Some Photos of each are here:

• Vu Linh area
• Sapa area

Of course one should not over generalize based on just these 2 experiences. I think the lesson is to do quite a bit of research before you go. The place we stayed in Vu Linh was definitely not worth the cost. Both areas did have cheaper options, but you do end up paying more for places with good English.

More on Sapa

I recommend avoiding the town of Sapa completely at the moment. Its a huge construction site, and fairly expensive. If you do stay there, stay near the lake, which is quieter.

I would stay in the small village of Ta Van, about 8km outside of Sapa. Somewhere near Luckydaisy’s Bamboo Bar would be good. We stayed in the next Village over, which was a bit too quiet for my taste. If you play an instrument, and don’t might walking up a steep hill, definitely stay at the Musician House.

Note that everything is more expensive in Sapa compared to Hanoi. For example, the standard price for a beer was 30K VND ($1.50) in the Sapa area instead of 20K in Hanoi. Still cheap, I know….

Overall, you might want to just skip the Sapa area completely. It’s too crowded with tourists, including on the trails, and too many women following you around trying to sell you handicrafts. But it is really beautiful, and we met some great people (both travelers and locals), so its a tough call.

I finally found some time to write up some summary impressions from Japan. I lived near Kyoto from August 1985 till March 1987. Many folks have asked me what has changed since then. Here are a few observations:

• Gaijin (foreigners) are no longer ‘special’. No one asked us to practice their English, and no more groups of school kids saying ‘haro, haro’.
• There is much less traditional architecture: older building have been replaced with modern building, not refurbished as they would have been in the US.
• People are noticeably taller! I was no longer the tallest person on the train.
• Men wear fewer ties, but overall fashion has changed surprisingly little. Women still favor baggy clothes.
• There are far fewer greeters in stores; Department stores used to have a young woman at the top of every escalator bowing and welcoming you as you got off. No longer.
• Kawai (cute) is still the rage
• People now seem to expect you to speak a bit of Japanese, where 30 years ago they would compliment your Japanese skills if you knew ‘konichi-wa’.
• J-pop still awful, their Muzak versions of western pop is even worse than ours, but you often hear good jazz in background at restaurants.
• They have started using ticket machines for everything, including restaurants.
• Clean public restrooms are everywhere, and include fancy toilet seats! Like REALLY clean.
• Where did all ‘manga’ go? There used to be stores with huge piles of manga (comics) for sale everywhere, and everyone on the trains was reading manga. Looks like all manga now is digital, and read on a phone.
• Convenience stores in Japan are fantastic! They are everywhere, mostly open till midnight or 24hr, and sell good, fresh food, good coffee, cold beer, all at a reasonable price. The rest of the world should copy this!
• There are more international restaurants than before, but still surprisingly few.
• The county is still amazingly clean and graffiti free.
• Overall prices in Japan have not changed all that much in 30 years. The Shakey’s pizza ‘all you can eat’ lunch special has gone from 500 yen to 740 yen tho. I used to eat that pretty often when I lived here before, but skipped it this time around. Squid and corn pizza was always my favorite.

In general, I think the USA, at least in urban areas, has changed much more in the last 30 years than Japan. Food has changed more. Fashion has changed more. Attitudes have changed more. Japan has always been and will always be much more traditional. That is part of what makes it such a fascinating place to visit.

Also, Japan’s reputation for being an expensive place to travel to is no longer true, and hasn’t been true for a while. We averaged $1600/week for 2 people, not including airfare, but including a 3 week rail pass, sumo tickets, and baseball tickets. Definitely cheaper than traveling in the US or Northern Europe.

Some obversions on Hanoi:

• There are almost no pedestrians or bicycles (and no subway). Everyone gets around by scooter.
• Restaurants in the old town mostly serve just 1 dish, and often do not have tables, just stools (1 stool to sit on, and 1 to put your food on, or just hold the food in your lap). Most meals are $1 to $1.25. But places with tables and bigger menus for tourists exist too.
• If you go to a movie, the time printed on the ticket is the time they let you into the theater. The movie starts 15-20 minutes later. Seats are reserved. (This is based on seeing 1 movie, so this might not be true everywhere…)
• We have not seen a single beggar, nor a single homeless person.
• Most women on scooters wear pollution masks, but almost no men do. I’m told its also to keep the sun off.
• Everyone in the tourist industry has been extremely helpful and friendly, and not out to rip you off (mostly).
• My $5 haircut came with a 30 minute head/face/neck massage and wash that was amazing. Highly recommended. They even clean your ears!
• Beer often comes warm, but with a glass of ice.
• A scooter can carry an insane amount of stuff if you know how to load it. Here is a great collection of photos.
• Sidewalks are for parking scooters, not for walking. You must walk on the edge of the street.

Hanoi photos can be found here.

After Hanoi we went to Cat Ba Island to see Halong Bay. We heard that Cat Ba is way less touristy than other parts of Halong Bay, and that was true. We stayed in a fantastic hostel with a pool and amazing views from the room for only $25/night. We also got to try dog meat in Cat Ba.

Photos are here.

We’ve left Japan and moved on Vietnam. I’m finding it hard to update this blog, as we’ve been doing a lot everyday. Find me on Facebook if you want more regular updates. But I’m hoping to have more free time starting with our next stop: Cat Ba Island.

After Tokyo, we went to Kiso Valley (highly recommended!), Kyoto, Amanohashidate, and the Osaka area, including Nara, Himeji, and Kobe.

Follow the links below for a selection of photos from each.

• Kiso Valley
• Amanohashidate
• Kyoto
• Nara
• Himeji and Kobe
• Osaka

Hanoi is a very intense city, but feels very safe. And its really affordable! Sample costs: Hotel: $25/night. Taxi for 2-3 km: $2. Beer: $1. Good coffee: 40c. Cheap meal: $2. Nice meal: $10. Air pollution is horrible tho. Be sure to get a mask.

I’ve never heard the cheer of “Rets (sic) go Giants” so loud at a regular season game as in Tokyo. The Yomiuri Giants, the most popular team in Tokyo, has really great fans. SF Giants fans are great too, but nothing like this.

As you can see in the photos, our seats where not all that great, so we spent much of the time in the ‘standing room only’ section next to the ‘Giants cheer seats’, which was fantastic. Check out the videos of the cheers that I took. Basically they cheered non-stop whenever the Giants were at bat.

The food and souvenir selection was quite interesting too. Giants chopsticks anyone?

Also nice was the cute women (all probably 19-25 years old) who sold beer and snacks. They must be in good shape to lug that small keg of beer up and down the steps all night!

See this article for more reasons to go to a game. If you go, be sure to hang out in or near the ‘cheer seats’.