Halong Bay

This bay is beautiful.
Even though it was overcast the entire time, it was still impressive.
Just like in Catherine Deneuve's (sp?) movie, sharp limestone mountains emerge from the water forming caves, tunnels, and a labyrinth of islands in the sea.
We booked a 2-day boat tour that took us around the bay and included a little bit of kayaking and swimming in the 'perfect temperature' sea.
It was really fun to sleep on the boat, as well. I think this is the most beautiful place we've been so far.
Now heading to Hue via overnight train. It is raining buckets in Hanoi.
Mercedes

S of Hanoi - Ancient capital & caves

Started the day south of Hanoi at the ancient capital, Hoa Lu. Then we cycled through the paddy fields and beneath imposing limestone cliffs, accompanied by rain, which seemed to add to the atmosphere.
After lunch we boarded a sampan, tiny row boat, and traveled down the river to some impressive limestone caves. Still raining.
The sampans were powered by locals, some rowed with their arms, and others entirely with their feet.
At the end of the day we came back to busy Hanoi. We are already starting to enjoy the energy of the city.
Mercedes y Simon

Hanoi - Vietnam's Welcome?

Our Laos Airlines flight from Vientiane to Hanoi was an hour delayed, and by the time we arrived it was already dusk (I guess, as we move NE in the same time zone, days end earlier; in Hanoi it is completely dark by 6pm).
We arranged a van with lots of other tourists to take us to the Viet Anh Hotel where we already had reservations. Van cost $4 each passenger, it sounded reasonable. The ride was shocking. Coming from sleepy and quiet Laos, we were overwhelmed by the sea of scooters honking (beeping really) at the same time all the time, and crossing intersections like daredevils to and from all 4 directions at once. The 45-minute van ride felt like an odyssey. Since it was dark and streets seemed to change names every 3 blocks, we didn't know exactly where we were. Suddenly the van would stop and passengers would get off in a hurry. At one point it announced the name of our hotel and the driver got the bags off quickly, charged us an amount in dong that ended up being 50% more than we had agreed, but it was all too fast for us to figure it out. In the meantime, a guy was taking our luggage into an office, claiming to be from the hotel, but that unfortunately didn't have a room for us, but no problem, the hotel around the corner is the same price come with me.
Simon called time out, it was a scam! Arghh. Helped by not 1, but 2 maps, we found our way to the real hotel. It was walking distance, we just had to try to avoid being run over by a scooter.
Once we arrived at the hotel, they didn't have our reservation so instead of the "city view room" we thought we had reserved, we got the "no window room". If we add the fact that later at dinner the restaurant tried to over charge us, we concluded that Hanoi was not welcoming us.
Things got better on Tuesday. We moved to a room with balcony in the hotel, we visited several of the beautiful city highlights, including Uncle's Ho mausoleum, and had lunch by a lake. We were brave enough to venture through the city by bike. The most memorable biking experience of my life. Traffic in Hanoi is just crazy, more than Bangkok by far. After this trip, I think Simon will be ready to change his name to Lance Armstrong. :-)
Mercedes

Laos - Observations

We noted a few interesting things during our 12 days in Laos (some probably apply to other countries in the region, as well):

1) Local snack. Sticky rice can be purchased in a natural pocket size container: a bamboo shoot. To eat the sweet rice inside you just peel the bamboo like a banana and take the rice with your fingers.

2) Napkins. It has been noted that occasionally restaurants and food stalls do not provide napkins; however most times Lao restaurants provide a toilet paper roll. Oh, and the fruit shakes are the best. Pineapple is our favorite.

3) National sport. A variation of volleyball using a smaller lighter ball. The trick is, they are not allowed to touch it with their hands; just legs, shoulders and head. Still they manage to spike it. Looks very athletic.

4) Vang Vieng Restaurants. We found several restaurants with seating arrangements so that everybody is facing the TV where they show re-runs of Friends all day every day.

5) Size. Doors and entrances are definitely too short for the white male.

Vientiane by bike

Sunday we rented bikes (I love discovering places by bike) and rode around Vientiane. It is a fairly small and laid back city. It was hot, but not too strenuous due to periodic stops for fresh fruit shakes. I think that in one day we've managed to see the main attractions in town.

In the picture you can see Pha That Luang behind us, which they say, is the best known national symbol.

French influence is more obvious in this city. They have an "Arc de Triomphe" called Patuxi, and a long boulevard that looks like "Champs Elysees" connecting it to the Presidential Palace. Very impressive.

Tomorrow Monday we are taking a Lao Airlines 1-hour flight to Hanoi, so this is our last night in Laos. We had such a great time in this country, I'm sad to go.

Mercedes

Vang Vieng - Tubing

We spent Friday in a small party town called Vang Vieng. The town itself is not very special, but the area is beautiful. Tall sharp rock mountains covered with green trees (reminded me of Milford Sound) and a river where all activities happen.

We signed up for a little tour that took us to a cave with a river flowing inside. See the picture of Simon standing. In the center there is a hole at the back. That's where we entered. Once inside a few times we had to crawl to get from one cave to the next, but most of the time we walked with water flowing, but never higher than chest level. We bumped our heads against stalactites several times.

After lunch, we sat on tubes (inner tube of tractor tire) down the Nam Song river. The town is known for the bars along the river where people stop for a drink and for a swing/slide jump into the water, and then continue tubing to the next bar. Simon and I tried the swing. You climb up to the platform on a tree, then hold the swing with your hands, and go. When you get tired of swinging, you fall into the river. Simon wasn't getting tired and kept swinging forever. Hence, I was able to take the picture.

Lots of fun. But the town seems to be even more fun for younger tourists getting drunk, so tomorrow we are moving on. Next stop Vientiane, by bus.

Mercedes

Luang Prabang - Lao Cooking Class

We decided to get a better understanding of Lao cuisine by taking a cooking class. The first step was a trip to the local food market to buy some of the ingredients for the dishes we had chosen. There we learnt a lot about the varieties of vegetables, fruits and rice by looking, touching and tasting what we saw around us. Some things looked familiar - but many did not.

Then it was back to our restaurant and time to get busy in the kitchen. Appropriately supervised, we were soon wielding knives like the experts. We chopped up everything in sight, even making little decorative flowers out of tomato peel and cucumber. Maybe good presentation would compensate for any disappointments in the way the meal might taste. In fact, when it came to the cooking, nothing was left to chance. There was a small army of assistants on hand who stepped in to offer wise counsel whenever we students got distracted (which was often).

Finally all the dishes were prepared and set out on the table. Even though we were experiencing the full heat of the midday sun and the kitchen ovens, we made sue that we sampled everything. And it all tasted good.

Luang Prabang - Alms Giving

Up before dawn to watch the daily alms giving in support of the local monks. It seems that the monks and novices from all the local temples show up at dawn in a long procession and accept offerings of food and flowers from devoted followers - and a few tourists as well.

They arrived right on time at 6 am and about 300 of them slowly made their way past, stopping to collect offerings as they went. It looked like they stopped at random, but I'm sure that there was a well-perfected method to ensure that no offerings went uncollected. Most of those in the procession were young novices, less than 10 years old. They looked as bleary-eyed as I would look if I had to be out on the street barefoot at dawn. It would take more than rice baskets and flowers to get me there every day!

Around Luang Prabang - Hill tribe trek

After 3 hours of biking on Sunday, we switched to trekking on Monday, and kayaking on Tuesday.
We trekked to 2 hill tribe villages and spent the night in one of them. Yes, another bamboo hut without electricity in the middle of the jungle. Overnight it rained and the path back became extremely muddy. We were glad to get to our kayak. After 3 hours of paddling through rapids and some peaceful and beautiful scenery we arrived back in Luang Prabang.
Tomorrow is our last day in Luang Prabang. We'll be sad to leave.
Mercedes y Simon

Luang Prabang - Around town

Luang Prabang is my favorite place so far. Laid back town, everybody smiling and greeting ("sabai dee"), and small enough to get around walking or by bike.
On Saturday we walked a bit. First to the Royal Palace Museum in the picture, where the king used to live until the 1975 revolution. Then we went up the Phu Si, which is a hill in the middle of the old town with a few temples on top. From the hill we had great views of the city and the Mekong. Then we rented bikes to ride around town. We went along the river, stopped at multiple temples, got lost, found our way again (a hill with a golden temple on top is a landmark that helps a lot!), visited the day market, and then the night market where we had dinner.
On Sunday we rented bikes again and rode for 30km to Kuang Si waterfalls. They were quite large and we had a refreshing swim. Unfortuntaley, Lonely Planet hadn't warned us about the uphills and downhills to get to the waterfalls. We were exhausted by the time we got there, and we realized that we were not going to be able to climb up the hill to get back. A tuk-tuk was more than happy to take us (bikes on the roof), and to drop us 10 km before Luang Prabang. From that point it was all downhill. This last part felt fast and great :-)
We got our share of exercise today. I'm so glad.
Mercedes

Laos - Journey Down the Mekong

We decided to take the "slow boat" down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, a journey of two days. It is possible to do it faster in high speed power boats, but the feedback we received suggested that the high speed option was a little risky. So we took the laid-back alternative and spent two days watching the Laos scenery pass us by.

The boat made all local stops, mostly just pulling in to a beach on the side of the river where people suddenly appeared with a variety of cargo - rice and other produce, motorcycles, tractor tyres, satellite TV antennae, chickens ... The scenery became more spectacular as we moved further down the river.

The journey was punctuated by an overnight stop on a small town called Pak Beng. We arrived in darkness and everyone from the boat raced to find somewhere to stay. Due to logistical errors, our 5-star choice of accommodation did not eventuate and we had an interesting night under mosquito nets in a place with no electricity (except for a generator which operated from 6 to 10 pm only), no flush toilets, no hot water. But it had character.

The next day began with drama. A proposed change to a smaller boat caused some concerns about overloading and led to a mutiny by the passengers (mainly backpackers). Extensive negotiations ensued for another boat. More money seemed to fix it, and an hour later (and a little poorer), we were on our way in a much bigger boat. Just to speed the process along, passengers formed a human chain to move the baggage. Bemused locals and officials looked on. The day got better from there, the scenery became steadily more rewarding and the atmosphere became unavoidably relaxing. Mercedes even managed to finish her book.

It was again night by the time we arrived in Luang Prabang. But we were smarter about accommodation and we did much better than the night before. Ready for a few days of enjoying life with electricity and first world plumbing.
Simon

Luang Prabang via Mekong river

After a couple of days of complete blog silence, we found internet access!
We arrived at Luang Prabang in Northern Laos after a 2-day boat trip down the Mekong river (more to come on that). We are staying at a very nice hotel called Ancient Luang Prabang. A little bit of a splurge after some rough accommodations in the last few days.
Just outside of the hotel there is a night market, where we had a plentiful dinner for USD3.
I'm full.
Mercedes

Thailand - Laos Border Crossing

This has got to be one of the most efficient border crossings anywhere. No big immigration halls, no long lines, no officials barking about cell phones. Just a little office on the Thai side of the Mekong, a quick walk down the river bank, a bit of load balancing to accommodate my jumbo backpack, and we were off across the river to the boat ramp on the other side. No visa? No problem. The helpful Laotians will give you one. And the paperwork moved so fast that we could barely keep up. Total time elapsed from leaving to Thailand to passing out of Laotian immigration - about 20 minutes.

Simon

Chiang Rai Exploration

After an early afternoon arrival we went to explore Chiang Rai. The maps were clear that the city stands on a river. But it wasn't so easy to find. We traversed backwards and forwards over what proved to be drainage canals, we finally resorted to Google maps on the trusty Blackberry. How did people ever travel without them?

The Blackberry also got us back to the town centre where nightfall revealed a large and lively night market with many dining options. We lacked the courage to try the fried insects and went for something more conventional - in fact the chicken strips could have come from McDonalds. Evidence of global convergence in food tastes?

Simon

Hill Tribe Climb

Nearing the end of our first day's trek to visit the hill tribes, we were acutely aware of why the tribes are called hill tribes. They live on the tops of hills. It was quite a climb, made slippery by the rain which seems to arrive several times each day in this rainy season. The reward was an overnight experience of life in the hill tribe village, where the economy centres on rice and fruit harvested from precarious outcrops. No home comforts here. The only electricity comes from solar panels.

As we left the village after our stay, we pondered why we hadn't arrived and left the same way the villagers do - using the road!

Simon

Thai Massage Experience

To mark our last night in Thailand, we indulged in another massage - this time a foot massage Thai style. After a lot of negotiation, we thought we had signed up for a short relaxing session which would make our feet feel good. However, two very strong women were soon attacking areas which did not have any obvious physiological connection to our feet. And using a wooden prodding weapon on the soles of the feet in a way which they might have learnt as part of counter-insurgency training. Then there were the karate chops. The result was surprisingly therapeutic. And not just for the feet. We learnt that there is a lot of variation in massage styles. This was the best so far.

Thailand-Laos Border Crossing

Yesterday we spent the day in Chiang Rai. Very attractive small town.
This morning we took a public bus to Chiang Khong. 2-hour ride over rough roads with no air-con, however the bus was on time and the ride was quite fresh (due to the combination of open windows and formula one speeds).
From Chiang Khong's bus stop (I don't think it can be called bus station) a tuk tuk took us to the immigration office. Right there we took a little boat from the riverbank, no wharf (see picture). Five minutes later we arrived on the Laos side, where we are spending the night. The town is called Huay Xai, and we found a clean hotel called Sabaydee, which means "hello" in Lao. No air-con, but a heavy duty fan is provided.
We'll explore the town this afternoon and tomorrow morning we'll take a slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. We should arrive there by Friday.
This is a lot of fun,
Mercerdes

Chiang Rai

After some debate, we decided to go from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. We took a 3-hour 2nd class bus, which was surprisingly on time and had air-con. We are staying at a small guest house called Baan Bua. Right night we are having lunch, on our way to tour the town. Tomorrow we'll head to Laos border.

Thailand Trek to hill tribe village

From Chiang Mai we bought a 2-day tour. We ended up being the only tourists on the tour (benefits of travelling in low season). We drove a couple of hours north of Chiang Mai, got on elephants for a short ride, walked up the hills for over 2 hours, refreshing swim in small waterfall included, and arrived to a little village, where a minority tribe, called lahu, lives. The picture shows the bamboo hut where we slept last night. No electricity, but there's running water and spotty cell phone connection.
It rains for a short while every 2-3 hours, so everything we have is wet. I managed to slip and fall on the muddy "streets". So my pants are hiker-dirty.
On the high side, hut provides mosquito nets in the bedroom, we had some local food for dinner, and a couple of old ladies gave me a foot massage. There's a toilet just downstairs from the house.
Some animal chewed on my shoes during the night. However, more importantly, no insect bit us.
The following day, the roosters woke us up early. We had breakfast in the hut, and started the 2-hour slippery downhill trek. We had a refreshing swim at a bigger waterfall, and then did a little bit of white water rafting, and floating down the river on a bamboo raft.
Quite an experience!
Mercedes

Thailand hill-tribe village

After elephant rides, dangerous river crossings, and an uphill trek, I'm enjoying the view from our bamboo hut in a small village.
Mercedes

Thailand - River crossing

Close-up

Thailand - Crossing a river

In a cage!

Thailand - Elephant ride

PS: Ali, I couldn't get a picture of Simon aboard a tuk-tuk, but, even better, here he is on an elephant.

Thai Displays of Patriotism

Mercedes' and Simon's joint observation: most houses are adorned with the national flag, as well as a yellow flag that seems to represent the king. The other day we were listening to the radio in the morning, and suddenly all stations started to broadcast something that sounded like the national anthem. Thais love their king and queen. There are pictures of both of them everywhere.

Chiang Mai west meets east

In front of a temple there's a Donald duck right next to Buddha. (!!??)

Bangkok Taxis

Taxis come in several colors. Some are pink ("fucsia", bah), some orange, red, or green and yellow. So, traffic is awful but very colorful.
Oh, the picture also shows a police officer on his way to calm down demonstrators. Consequently, we decided to get out of this area.
Mercedes

Bangkok Aerobics in the park

We were walking in Lumphini Park, a park that is very pretty, nice and clean, and filled with joggers and people exercising. Suddenly we came across loud music and a bunch of people in an aerobics class. I decided to join them and get my quota of aerobics for the day. I'm the one in black shorts, sort of keeping the pace with the rest of the group.
Mercedes

Exploring the Khlong

Today we met a guy with a long-tail boat who wanted to show us his house. It turns out that many people live on the "khlongs" (canals) and very fast boats are a popular mode of transport - for getting around within the khlongs and on the Chao Phraya river. A comparison with Venice comes to mind. But there were more fish in the khlongs than I've ever seen in Venice - the water quality must be better here.
Simon

Bangkok

Tuesday. Arrived in Bangkok in the morning.
First thing, we visited the Grand Palace. This is a picture of the "Chakri Maha Prasat Hall", which was built as the official residence of King Rama V (today's king is his son Rama VI). According to the brochure, the building is now "used for state banquets".
We haven't figured out the buses yet (there are two kinds: air-con, and open-the-window). So, we've been using the boat. They are the most efficient way to avoid traffic. Boatdrivers go as daredevils in a Formula One. In fact, fare collectors wear crash helmets (!?).
Good night,
Mercedes

Singapore from Sentosa

Ali,
We tried to hold out against the commercial hype of Sentosa, but in the end we capitulated. Once on the island, we went up a tower with great views of the city and the port, (and more construction in progress in Sentosa).
Mercedes

Singapore Night Safari

Last night we went to the zoo where they have a night safari.

Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos, Leopards, Lions, Cheetahs wander in the open, while a tram takes you around.

Very cool.

Couldn't take any pictures because it was too dark for the camera. Ha, it's a night safari after all.

Mercedes and Simon

Singapore Training

In preparation for our one year travel expedition, participants undertook mandatory training in Singapore to build agility and confidence.  One of us proved to be significantly more agile and confident than the other.  The other was good only at sitting down and holding on.  By end of expedition, the aim is to be fully aligned.  The training was successful in establishing the base line.  Both of us qualified to proceed.

Simon

Singapore restaurants

Mercedes' Surprise: Singapore restaurants (in Chinatown, in Little India, or in food courts elsewhere) don't provide napkins. What do I do with all the masala I have all over my fingers and mouth?

Singapore Spa

Veronica and Simon's feet in the spa. The fish in the tank are nibbling the feet. These fish are having a feast with the 3 of us.

Singapore History - WWII

The National Museum of Singapore has a spectacular History Gallery that educated us on Singapore's past. It seemed to me that the Japanese attack during WWII was the most traumatic event. Apparently, the British defending the island were expecting the Japanese to attack by sea. However, in December 1941, right after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded and quickly took over Malaysia by land. Then they swiftly attacked Singapore by land and air. The British surrendered in February 1942. We also visited the Battle Box, which was the underground British base during the War. Now it is a museum showing the events during that fall.

Provisional itinerary

Potential preliminary subject to change maybe take with a grain of salt itinerary is as follows:

Tue Oct 7 - Tue Oct 14: Bangkok and Northern Thailand
Wed Oct 15 - Wed Oct 22: Laos
Thu Oct 23 - Fri Nov 7: Vietnam
Fri Nov 7 - Wed Nov 12: Cambodia
Wed Nov 12 - Sun Nov 16: Southern Thailand and Malaysia
Mon Nov 17 - Sun Nov 30: Indonesia
Mon Dec 1 - Fri Dec 12: Philippines
Fri Dec 19 - Mon Dec 22: New York City
Tue Dec 23 - Jan 26: Argentina
Jan 27 - Feb 10: Brazil
Feb 11 - Apr 15: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and maybe Namibia
Apr 15 - Apr 30: Egypt
May: Turkey
Late May - Early June: Jordan, UAE, Oman, and Bahrain
Late June and July: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
Late July or early August: Korea
August - September: Australia and New Zealand...
...and then back home... time flies.

If anybody wants to join, just let us know.
Mercedes

Singapore

From the boat we see a very strange statue.

Pic test as MMS attachment

Singapore Pic test at email attachment