Hanging out in Hoi An....Still

We have both grown slightly weary of the packing up and moving that comes with traveling, so we decided to just stay put for a while, and Hoi An was the perfect place to do so. We really haven't done much since Keith's last blog, so I'm not sure what I'm going to write about. The hotel we've settled into is quite nice. A newer one on the outskirts of town. True, we were lied to by our tout about the amenities that were supposed to come with the room, but it was a good price, and a very nice place with spacious rooms and a balcony...perfect for unpacking the packs for a while. And it has a pool. A very frigid pool. Refreshing, but not the lingering type of pool.

By staying here so long (I think it has been a week?), and by going into the tailor's shop repeatedly and talking with the gals at the front desk here, we've gained a humbling understanding for what life is like for the 'regular' working folks here in town. They work VERY long days. For example, I found out last night that this sweet gal who always has a smile and a laugh for us here at the hotel, works from 5:00 AM until 1:00 AM. She doesn't even bother to go home. I asked her this morning how she slept and she pointed to the hard wooden couch here in the lobby, indicating that as her bed. Similar for the gals at the tailor shop. They told me they never get a day off. I asked incredulously, surely you get to spend one day at home? But they say no, everyday, open until close at the shop. Yikes. We complain about Nike sweatshops....but is supporting these small tailor shops (of which there are about 5-10 on each street) any different? I know it's just the way of life here, but as we get to know some of the people, we can't help but feel guilty/lucky for all that we have and all that we are able to do.

So the past couple days here have entailed repeated fittings (and yes, more ordering) at the tailors, bike rides around town and to the beach, and lazing around in restaurants and at the hotel. Not a bad life. Also more travel logistics. Since we got stalled here, and as we were scheduling out the rest of our time in Vietnam, we realized we were going to be very rushed at the last bit. So we got an extension. We probably will still cut out a sight or two, just to keep the pace of our travels a bit slower. We leave tomorrow to the party/beach town of Nha Trang for a day or two, then we'll hit the central higlands centering ourselves in a town called Dalat.

One more picture.....a candid from the market. We have not been doing great in the picture taking department, because we are so hesitant to take pictures of people (and it gets so boring to keep taking pictures of each other...). Especially because it has become the norm to pay someone to take their picture...so if you do the right thing and ask first, you have to pay, which just fosters the touting and soliciting. If you try to sneak in a photo, you just feel kind of crummy and weird. Nevertheless, markets make for great photo ops...

Homeless, Unemployed and....Shopping?

Yea, that's right mom and dad (on both sides). Are you proud? As mentioned, Hoi An is The Place for tailoring and we joined in. Actually, it was fun, for both Emily and myself. After carefully selecting a tailor that meets our fine tastes, we went through the ordeal of picking a design and fabric, getting measured, and waiting the whopping 24 hrs they need to make the item. We both got suits, we might need them if we get jobs again, and shirts. Here they are:


We liked them so much we had more made. One more jacket for me, and three more shirts for Em. Total bill, about $200. Not much for a working bloke, but allot for us. We felt good about it though.

We've also taken in a few sites, including a nice ride on motorscooters to Marble Mountain (i.e. more caves and pagodas), then Danang at rush hour (ask Em how fun that was), finishing off with a quick stop at China Beach. The next morning we then headed out for a 50 km ride to My Son, a Hindu series of temples dating between the 7th and 13th centuries. They have not been restored and most of the larger buildings have collapsed and been taken over by the jungle. It was a good contrast from Borobudur, in Indonesia, which has been almost fully restored. Here's a pic:


Hoi An would be on my short list for a great place to stay for a while. It kind of has it all: old downtown, beach, river and just a nice feel. The city was left alone during most of Vietnam's many wars and the old architecture has remained. We have had some very tasty meals, including some Hoi An specialties, like the Rose (a tasty little shrimp dumpling) and Cao Lau (rice noodles and pork, cooked with with water from a local well). Here's a pictures of me on a park bench along the downtown waterfront:


An another of me at the local beach(yea, rough life).

Historical Hue

(This first part is from Keith:)

Before leaving Hanoi we went and visited Ho Chi Min! No, he's not still alive, but his body was embalmed and he rests under tight security in the mausoleum. It would be an understatement to say he is a national hero. The mausoleum is open for about 6 hrs, 5 days a week, 10 months of the year. (The other 2 months he takes a trip to Russia for his annual check-up) During opening hours there is a constant stream of people, mostly locals, who pay their respects. It is how I imagine Reagan's funeral was, but this has been happenning for over two deacades!

How does he look, you might ask. Well, dead, I would respond...and well-protected.

He then took a quick tour of the Ho Chi Min museum. It was a good museum in that it had much of his original writings, from the early 1900's, up to his death. Some translated into English for us tourists. You really had to remove the propaganda element that weaves its way through much of the government material to get a good feel for the man. Did we get a good feel for the man? No.

(And now Emily):
We now are in Hue. A surprisingly lovely city, with tons of history. History from long ago, when Emperors ruled and built moat-guarded citadels to ward off the French, and of course the more modern history of the American War (I must be accurate in what it is called, Vietnam has had so many wars, to call what we think of the Vietnam War, the Vietnam War here would be very confusing).

The night train, hard sleeper was great! Never thought I'd be saying those words, but the term 'hard sleeper' is a bit misleading. They do provide you with about one-inch pads which turn out to be quite adequate. The cabins for the hard sleeper have six bunks to a room, so you are a bit crunched for space, but luckily we had the bottom bunks so did not have to climb over people to get to our beds. The bad thing about the bottom bunk is that people feel free to use it as their bench until they are ready to go to bed. One thing we have definitely noticed here is the different opinion regarding personal space. There isn't much consideration for personal space here. People just plop down practically on your lap, without thinking twice. Lines at the train station involve forcing your way to the front. More than once I will stand politely in what I think is a line only to get pushed aside with people crowding to the front. Of course I just smile dumbly because I am sure they have a reason for doing so. Eventually a kind soul takes pity on me and ushers me to the crowded front indicating this is just the way things are done. Even boarding trains, there is no order. People just mash themselves to the doors, frantic to get on as if it is about to take off without them! So different.

So we arrived in Hue yesterday, got settled in and rented some hilarious bikes (that allowed us to fit right in....no mountain bikes here!) and explored the citadel, the local market and some random side streets. Such a fun way to see the city. Even though the citadel and the city of Hue were bombed to oblivion during the Tet Offensive of the American War, it is now again a beautiful city. The citadel is made up of a 10km perimeter which is enclosed by a stone wall and a moat, built by the emperor in 1805.

Here is Keith on his very stylish bike, doing his best to blend in and not get hit. The bridge he is crossing is one of the 8 that cross over the moat and into the citadel. Here he is coming into the citadel. You can see the stone wall behind him that surrounds the citadel.


Within that citadel, is another citadel, or the Emperor's Palace. You have to pay big dong to go in there, so we chose just to cycle around as the exterior was pretty enough. We spent our next day figuring out logistics/plans and waiting for the weather to clear up as we wanted to rent motorbikes again, and we can't seem to escape the mist and fog and light rain (gee, it sounds like Oregon/Washington in the winter!)

The next day the weather was still marginal, but we set out anyway and traveled along a small road that runs in between the ocean and a lagoon. Very beautiful road. On one side of you there are monuments and elaborate gravestones along the entire 50 km stretch honoring loved ones and lush rice paddies and vegetable gardens on your other side. It was a lovely drive. Some of our favorite times and days like these where we can be completely independent and see the quieter side of the cities and the people.

Here is a look at the Perfume River - the river that flows through Hue. I don't know why they call it that. We haven't noticed any distinct smells coming from it (that could be a blessing, really). We were fascinated with how much they loaded up these boats. Keith wondered how many are sitting at the bottom of the river, as he believes, one large wave would take it under.


OK. So now we are actually in Hoi An, about 100 km south of Hue (I started that blog a while ago, and we're just now finishing it). We passed the famous China Beach to get here, and will do a day trip on motorbikes to go and visit it and Danang. We decided to skip a visit to the DMZ as the logistics got the better of us. We arrived only today in Hoi An, and so far it looks like a lovely place. It's 5km from the beach and even though we didn't travel far today, it seems much warmer here. We have a swim planned for tomorrow. Hoi An is also famous for it's tailors. Custom tailoring can be done for a fraction of the cost it would be back home. So we'll check that out too and spend a few days in this relatively low-key place where they have made an attempt to ban touts from the streets!

(And Keith again:)
We wanted to take a one or two day trip north of Hue to see parts of the DMZ. Our plan was to rent motorbikes and make the 300 km trip ourselves, instead of taking a tourist bus. The sites I really wanted to see were the Khe San fire base, Vinh Moc tunnels, and Truong Son National Cemetery. It seems to be against us however, as it drizzled every morning and the best motor bikes we could find had no horn, no speedometer, and bad brakes. (Which we rented for one day anyway, before deciding we were not taking these on a long trip). Why did we want to see the DMZ? For the most part it has all grown up. When we (Americans) pulled out of fire bases, we left nothing and the jungle quickly re-took the area. That is especially the case for Khe San. I guess I wanted to see it, so that I could feel the Vietnam war for myself. I am sorry I missed it, but it will still be there. The war is everwhere here, it is not in any one place. (How is that for rationalizing?)

The Mountains and Villages of Sapa

We have returned to Hanoi after a successful stay in the upper northern reaches of Vietnam. We even saw China! The weather was supposed to be much cooler up there, and it was quite chilly, but we were very lucky and had some beautiful, sunny days.

We took an overnight sleeper train to the border town of Lao Cai (this is where you can look at China). We opted for the cheaper version of train (you can get on a tourist train for almost twice the cost). It turned out great - comfortable, soft sleeper beds (they sell hard sleeper beds as well, you can imagine why we didn't want that for the nine hour journey), no A/C, but the air is cool enough you don't need it, and with earplugs we were able to tune out the poker game next door. Our cabin slept four, and we were ecstatic to find that the other two beds weren't going to be occupied. Until 1:00 AM, when four more people were ushered in by the train attendant....two made themselves comfortable in one bed (and these are skinny beds), one in another, and one on the floor! It was so surreal, I couldn't open my mouth to comment, and Keith kindly just handed the gentleman on the floor his pillow. It ended up not being a big deal as they were all very quiet sleepers and were all smiles in the morning. Funny.

After arriving in Lao Cai, we had some more frustrating travel experiences to get ourselves to our destination of Sapa (when will this get easier?), but did finally get there before we got too annoyed (short version - minibus drives around Lao Cai for about an hour looking for more customers after cramming it full of grocery store items, then refuses to take us to our hotel after taking our money and asking us where we want to go, only to get dropped off in front of their friend's hotel...), and found a lovely hotel with a spectacular view.

Sapa sits at about 1600 meters and has stunning views of terraced rice fields and mountain peaks. The main tourist activity in Sapa is to go on treks to minority villages. The majority of Montagnards (people who live in hill-tribe communities) live in this region, and it is becoming quite the thing to go visit them, and even stay in their homes for a night. We were both uncomfortable with the idea as it felt a bit voyeuristic, but of course we did it anyway. It was very interesting to see how they live, and while we didn't get to any villages that were all that remote (even after promising us so), we still had a good experience. The villages we visited consisted of Black H'mong (black referring to the color of their clothes, not their skin), Tay, Zay, and Red Zao. Everyone works very, very hard in their rice fields and around their homes, and those that don't, spend their days in the streets of Sapa trying to sell tourists their goods.

The first day in Sapa, we rented a Russian Minsk, and explored the nearby roads and ended up at a Red Zao village. We were warmly greeted and quickly surrounded by about 7 lovely ladies. They were very charming and walked us around their village, spoke surprisingly good English and invited us into one of their homes. We knew as soon as we were surrounded, that we would have to buy something from them, but we were OK with it. There we are sitting in a very dark, yet spacious hut made of bamboo walls, and a dirt floor with a firepit for a stove drinking tea, when we finallly say we should be going, and yes we'd like to look at some of your things. The atmosphere instantly changed. We had embroidered handbags, money bags, hats, scarves, blankets literally thrown into our laps, with the ever-persistant plea to "please buy from me". No matter how many times we said we couldn't buy something from everyone, it didn't matter, the cries continued. We eventually got out of their buying only 3 small things, and lo-and-behold were not treated with quite the same hospitality on the way out of town. They were still smiling though. We asked them several times if they are happy that the tourists now come to their village so much, and they assured us that they like it very much. We asked several other people who are not villagers and they also say that the quality of life for everyone is better because of us. Hard to believe, because we feel like intruders and destroyers of their culture. But maybe we're just too idealistic.

Here we are after purchasing some handicrafts from these two Red Zao women. They shave their eyebrows and their foreheads and wear these cool hats.


The next day we took off on a two day guided trek. It ended up being just the two of us and we had a great, enthusiastic and very knowledgable guide. We learned all kinds of things about the way of life in that area, the government's influence on their agricultural techniques, Unicef's influence on the schools, and some about the plants and animals that we were walking through and amongst. Day 1 ended in a rather large village right on a river and a very nice homestay experience. This family actually has two buildings that they call home, one is set up completely for visitors/tourists. The homestay process has become quite organized, and we almost felt like we were at a rustic hotel. The home was again made of bamboo, but this time had a concrete floor and a separate room for the kitchen, where the stove still consisted of a bamboo lit fire. We helped/watched the preparations for dinner, which turned out to be a huge feast, then had a lively dinner with the guides (there was another small tour group staying there as well) and the family which involved a lot of homemade rice wine.

Some scenery on the way down to Ban Do village where we stayed the night:


Our feast! Notice the shot glasses in those hands in the right of the picture...and the ignorant smiles on our faces. We had no idea the trouble we were in.


Day 2 we visited another local village, then hiked ourselves back out of the valley and caught a ride back to Sapa in a Russian jeep. The villages were very interesting to see, but we wonder how much longer they will remain quaint and a novelty. Modern conveniences are slowly working their way in. We had refridgerated Coke, Tiger Beer, and bottled water waiting for us at the homestay, most homes have TV's and most villages are accessible by road (we only went to one village that would have required a Russian Minsk to drive to). But it is a peaceful life, and the people are indeed beautiful in all their custom jewlery and clothes.

Some of the hard work that takes place every day. These water buffalo are huge, yet very docile animals.


Yesterday we had yet another frustrating 2 hours working out transportation back to Hanoi, then spent the day around Lao Cai on motorbikes driving through some more beautiful mountainous scenery. Then boarded another night train back to Hanoi, arriving here at 4:50 AM. And here we have been killing time, and will board yet another night train tonight at 11:00 PM (unfortunately, this time it will be a hard sleeper). Next destination, Hue, right in the middle of Vietnam, just south of the DMZ (demilitarized zone).

More later!

Karst Maze of Halong Bay

We are back in Ha Noi after spending 2 nights and 3 days on a 'junk'. As it turns out this boat was appropriately named. There are about 5 gajillion junks leaving the bay of Halong City each day to take tourists out to the bay and to the main destination of Cat Ba island. But first, let me try to describe the area. Halong Bay sits off the northeast coast of Vietnam and consists of more than 3,000 islands, all of which are made of limestone and are very similar to the scenery we saw in Krabi, Thailand. Sheer, vegetation-covered cliffs that drop off directly into the water. The bottoms of these cliffs are carved out by the water and thus there are also many caves. This photo gives you an idea of the scenery.


So we booked an official tour, at one of the unbelievable amount of tour offices in Hanoi. Just about every other store front can book a tour for you and is either called Singh Tours, Kim Cafe, or Kangaroo Tour. Of course there is only one legitimate company for each name, but as soon as one company gets good press in Lonely Planet or becomes popular, about ten fakes open their doors. If you book with the most reputable, you pay a lot of money, if you book with one of the fakes, you hardly pay anything, so we sought out one in between. If you can believe it, you get what you pay for. We had a mediocre trip. The scenery is stunning. Really. But it would have been much better to not be on the freeway to Cat Ba with all the other junks and to have been able to explore it more on kayak. We could have done that, but the price goes up exponentially.

The junk is a big boat that has a quite nice design. Cabins on the lower level for sleeping, main level is a big dining/seating area, completely enclosed, and a sundeck up on top. The problem with these tours, is that these boats go out every single day and make the same trip, and thus lack any maintenance. The crew on the boat also lacks much in the way of customer service. The two worst things about our boat were the rats that came out at night (luckily we only heard one nibbling on the wood by our heads at 6:00 AM, no nibbling on feet), and the Wonder Bread that we were served as breakfast (that was it, just a stack of bread on a plate!). We heard much worse horror stories from other boats, and luckily we were able to keep a light attitude about it all. But the rats....yuck. I looked under our bed before we left our cabin and saw so much rat shit....you think the crew could sweep once in a while or get a cat. We saw a mouse while we were playing cards, and mentioned it to the crew and they just laughed and said, "mice, yes, many, many". We thought they were joking.

Here is a look at the plentitude of junks at the dock leaving Halong City. It's hard to see what the individual boat looks like from this picture, but it sort of gives you an idea.


The first day, you boat out for four hours, stopping once to go in a cave, and again for kayaking (of which they only gave us 20 minutes to do!), then they lay anchor off the harbor of Cat Ba (the biggest island and the one that is quickly becoming quite developed), and slept that night on the boat. In the morning, they dropped us off at the harbor, took us to a hotel, then went on a trek up one of the peaks on the island (into what we thought was going to be the National Park, but we eventually figured out they skirted the borders so as not to pay the fee). It was a nice walk though, and gave us some nice views of the bay. Then we were supposed to go on an excursion to 'Monkey Island', but we've seen enough tourist-fed monkeys and decided to stay back, and instead rented a kayak on our own. In the kayak we paddled around the fishing villages that exist in the harbor (whole villages living in shacks built on docks - and a surprising amount of dogs living with them!), and then circled some of the nearby islands. It was nice to get away from the group and the schedule.

Here we are at the summit of our morning trek. You can see one of the smaller bays of Cat Ba island behind us.

A leisurely evening was spent walking the streets of Cat Ba town, drinking some more bia hoi, then breakfast at 7:00 (if you are one minute late for breakfast, they start calling your room or knocking on your cabin door - these guys are very picky about timing and even who sits at what table!), and back on the boat for the journey home. They promised we would go home a different route than we came, which they did, but the different route was only different for about 2 km, then we rejoined the rest of the parade of junks heading back. It was a good trip overall, and we are definitely glad we did it. We did learn a bit about Vietnam tourism in the process. It is definitely a rapidly growing industry, and will continue to do so, then eventually when the number of operators becomes too much, they will have to start refining and specializing to please the likes of Keith and I. (At least we didn't complain as much as some of these Westerners....yikes there was a lot of griping!).

A look at one of the fishing villages we kayaked through:


Here's a photo of a woman bringing what we thought was going to be our freshly cooked seafood dinner on the boat. Turns out we had to buy our own if we wanted any fresh seafood. Maybe they would have cooked it for us, maybe not, we have no idea. No one really told us much of anything. But as we were eating our dinner which was fine, some kind of breaded fish, we noticed the crew sitting at the table behind us eating fresh muscles and crab! Oh well. The boat she is on, is called a sampong. They are woven boats, with twine for oarlocks and a tar coated bottom. It's what all the locals use as a floating store for the tourists, seafood delivery, gathering/catching seafood, pulling kayaks up to the junk for us to use, or of course for transport.





We're back in Hanoi for the night at a great hotel that provides free internet and breakfast (hopefully more than white bread) for $13USD. They price hotel rooms and tour packages in USD here. We've heard the rates in Hanoi are the highest in the country, but for $10-15 you get a big room, with AC, TV, and hot water, and sometimes breakfast. Tomorrow we take a night train to the northwest corner of the country to see some highlands, and do some treking to some minority villages.

Drinking bia hoi on a street corner in Ha Noi:


Some random observations/info about Vietnam so far....
-The horn honking in Hanoi is ridiculous. They honk so much, that it has lost any meaning! In Indonesia they honked a lot, but it tended to have some purpose, like, "hey, I'm passing now, and I'm bigger than you so I'm not slowing down". Here, they just honk ALL THE TIME. Good thing our rooms have not been street side.

-We talked a bit with our tour guide on the way home and found out some interesting information. On the three hour drive to the bay, we saw almost nothing but rice fields. Apparently each individual is alloted a 720 sq meter plot of land. Where most will grow rice. They do two crops of rice a year, each taking four months. If they are able to harvest and sell half that crop they will make $60. So $120 a year for one plot of rice. The other 4 months they grow other veggies like corn, lettuce, and potatoes. An average factory worker makes about $60 a month. A government employee makes about $50 a month, but really gets much more money thanks to corruption.

-Mom - I haven't seen a "Vietnamese Roll" yet, at least in the way you are thinking. Still looking though! There are however, an abundance of lovely bakeries, and real loaves of bread. The food in general is good. Not as spicy as Thailand. Noodles are the main thing here in the north. They also eat everything else - dog, snake, spider, etc. We heard some stories about travelers trying snake (there is a very special way the serve it up for you) and one fellow who visited a remote village on his own and had a feast of dog - the details are pretty gorey - just think Fear Factor. Not sure if we'll ever get that brave.

-We are overcharged for everything we buy. This is nothing new in SE Asia, but it seems worse here. It is hardest when you first arrive to a country because you never know what you should be paying. We haven't argued too much with the small stuff because, it really is insignificant to us and probably helps them out a great deal...at least for a day.

Good Morning, Vietnam! (Original, I know)

Hanoi is everthing we read about: its big, foggy, loud, crowded, but filled with friendly faces, cheap eats and cheap beer. The temperature is a nice change from Bangkok. I haven't seen a thermometer, but I'd guess the daytime high to be about 70 degrees.

After getting a nice room by the lake in the 'Old Quarter' we walked the area, dodged traffic, and found a place for dinner. Then we found the cheap beer, Bia Hoi. Here's the scoop; some small corner shop get a 'fresh' keg from the local brewery, sets up small stools, like a kindergardern class has, and sells glasses of beer for 2000 Dong (about 12 cents!). This started with the locals, but is now popular with the tourists. After a few games of pool at a more 'normal' bar, Em and I settled into a local Bia Hoi place, spent about $1 and went home happy. (Not too happy, mom)

We arranged a trip to Ha Long bay, what people say is the most grand place in all of Vietnam. We'll stay one night on a junk, then another night on one of the larger islands. Em and I negotiated the option for one additional night on the island if we want a day of kayaking. We'll leave in the morning.

We had a nice lunch of what we think was Pho Bo. 'Pho' is noodles and 'bo' is beef. This is the staple of northern Vietnam and very common from the Hanoi street vender. This place was very clean and busy:



Here is a nice shot of a typical Hanoi street:

Peace and Nature in Kanchanaburi

First some images from Bangkok that we didn't get up on the last blog. I promise, no more snakes...

The beginning of our short-lived Amazing Race competition with my parents. Negotiating hard with the tuk-tuk drivers. Everyone who comes to Bangkok has to go on at least one tuk-tuk ride.


One of the many wats you can visit around the city. We find them almost too gaudy, and sad to say, we quickly became wat'd and buddha'd out....not very nice, I know...


A look down at typical Bangkok traffic from the safety of a pedestrian overpass:


Dad negotiating the traffic without the luxury of a pedestrian overpass. Is that a smile, or a cry for help?


We spent the last three days away from the noise, grit and grime of Bangkok in a smaller town about 2 hours northwest of the city called Kanchanaburi. There is a lot of history in this city as the famous Bridge Over the River Kwai is located here. One of the many horror stories from WWII happened in this region of Thailand. The Japanese used thousands of POW's (mostly Dutch, Australian and British) and 10 times as many forced local laborers from Thailand, Indonesia, India and Burma to construct a railway from Kanchanaburi to Burma (Myanmar) in order to ferry supplies. They built this railway through treacherous terrain in an amazingly short time, not giving any concern to the well-being of the people working on it. Needless to say there were huge casualties. All told, I think 100,000 men died working on the railroad while suffering miserable conditions - malnourishment, inadequate medical supplies, and abuse. We visited a very nice museum right in town that was quite informative and very well done.

The bridge itself is significant because it was repeatedly bombed by the allies, only to be rebuilt by their own men several times over! War is crazy.

We found a lovely place to stay that was the exact opposite of our lodging on Khao San Road. Stand alone bungalows built in an African theme, a swimming pool, free billiards, tv room with satellite tv (aka BBC news!), a nice outdoor spacious restaurant, and most of all quiet nights! All for only 300 bahts - that's 120 bahts less than in our techno-thumping dive in Bangkok! We spent the first day just chilling out by the pool, rented motorbikes and checked out the town and all the war memorials.

Our quiet, spacious, although slightly dusty hut:


Ahhhh. A pool. No other words necessary.


The next full day we each rented motorbikes and rode out to Erawan National Park (60 km away! Yikes, that was a long ride). But the park was beautiful. The major attraction is the 7-tiered waterfall. You get to the seven steps over 2200 m of trail, but the way the advertisements read, they make it sound like the 7 falls fall over 2200 vertical meters! Thank goodness it was the former. Beautiful falls, turquoise waters, and refreshing pools for swimming despite the pesky biting trout.


Sometimes the translations here in Thailand are missing some key letters.


And sometimes no translation or words are necessary.


We just picked up our visas to Vietnam, and fly out to Hanoi tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM. The visa situation changed our originally planned route a little bit, but we are excited for a new country. So next posting from the northern reaches of Vietnam!

Oh yeah, I got a haircut.....

Good Bye Neena and Henry!

Our last few days with Neena and Henry was spent looking around Bangkok, touring the canals and shopping. The canals are fun, until you realize by the smell that you are riding a ricketly wooden boat, with an oversized motor and too many people, on the sewer system. On our last day we tried to play a little 'Amazing Race' with them, using the canal, tuk-tuk and/or taxi, seeing who could get back to the hotel the fastest from our location downtown. Em and I lost to Neena and Henry!!!! OK, nobody tried very hard as Em and I stopped to look for some calendars Neena wanted, and Henry stopped to enquire about the price of lumber....We bought them dinner for losing, however.

Two morning ago, we sent Neena and Henry on their merry way home after a great month travelling together. They had an very early flight, 06:00 hours, in the taxi by 04:00, and then about 20 hours in a plane. After a few hugs to see them off, we went back to bed and then spent the day figuring out 'What do we do now?' We have 8 days left on our "non-visa", so we went to the Immigration Office, conviently located in the middle of nowhere. Long story short, we are not applying for more time, but instead are changing plans and heading to Vietnam on the 8th. We switched hotels rooms to the famous Kho San Road area and gave up our passports to a visa service to arrange out 30-day visa for Vietnam. It will take four days.

Here is a look at Khao San Road - 'backpacker's alley' - at night. So many farang!! It's a little too obnoxious for us, or maybe we're a little too old for it..


We had a busy day yesterday. We went to a well-known government research hospital where they have several museums designed to test your stomach. First, the anatomy building, yea, crosscuts of cadavers. The hardest to see was their comprehensive collection of fetuses in various stages and with about every disfiguratuion you can imagine. Rumors have it the the building is haunted. Go figure.

Next stop: Pathology Musuem, i.e, cross cuts of organs. Then on the to the Forensics Museum. This was Cool. They had very dramatic pictures of murder victims, suicides and car crashes, with corresponding skeletal remains. In other words, here is a picture of a gunshot victim, hours after he died, followed by a collection of skulls with gunshot wounds to the head. OK, I am going too far and moving on.....(did I mention that a Thai prison hobby is to display famous murders after they have been put to death? We saw several.)

After that exciting venture, we decided to go sit front row in open seating at the snake center. This is where the keep venemous snakes, extract their venom, inject said venom into horses, extract antibody from horse, keep for anti-venom. It was a good show, but a little too close. We saw the King cobra, Siamese cobra, Pitt Viber, and Banded Krate. This is the second oldest hospital of it kind, second to one in Brazil.

A look at the king cobra. We couldn't believe how close the snake keeper would get to that mouth!

A new friend:


Em confronting one of her worst fears. The muscles on this animal are unreal.


With time to kill, we are ready to leave Bangkok and today we head to Kanchanaburi and Hellfire Pass for a few days. We'll see the Bridge over the River Kwai and spent time in the countryside, then back to Bangkok for our flight to Hanoi!

(If you couldn't tell from the wittier writing, Keith did this entry!)