good morning vietnam!
Hello from Nha Trang, Vietnam! I am writing this as three adorable small children look over my shoulder in the internet cafe, probably wondering what the heck I am doing!
The last few days since Chloe arrived and we spent the weekend in Tokyo with her brother Malcolm have been great. It was really nice to see Tokyo a bit from a "local" point of view, although we spent the days on our own just wandering around and shopping, not able to take our eyes off of the incredible fashion sense of the young Japanese generation. They really get away with anything, and take full advantage of that. In most other places, they might even be mistaken for prostitutes! (Although I'm sure there are plenty of those too!) Of the highlights of the weekend in Japan, one is seeing the transvestites on the streets of the Shibuya area, dressed in bright yellow reflective jackets, wandering around with brooms in their hands. They are not technically allowed to just stand on the street corners trying to solicit business, so they are forced to carry around brooms and pretend to be sweeping the street in order to strut their stuff in this vivid area of Tokyo. Another highlight was later that night, when Chloe, Malcolm, his girlfriend Keiko, and I rented a private room in a Karaoke bar and stocked up with Sake and drinks from the local convenient store, for a few rousing hours of singing everything from Tiffany to the Strokes, to Keiko singing Japanese pop. It was so much fun, we almost ended up staying there all night and going to the fish market at 5:30 the next morning, but sleepiness got the best of us and we crashed around 4:15. The next night Malcolm co-hosted a party meant to bring together English teachers and potential students. Chloe and I found ourselves surrounded by excited young Japanese people, very happy to be able to practice their English skills on us, but upset to know that we were leaving the next morning.
Speaking of the next morning, Chloe and I woke up at 4:45 am to catch a 5:18 am train to the airport for our 9:20 flight. We got up to the platform as that train pulled away and missed the train, and had to wait more than half an hour for the next one.More than 3 hours later we arrived at the airport with barely any time to spare. Our flight to Vietnam stopped over in Hong Kong (I think it was 4th or 5th time in the Hong Kong airport). We finally arrived in Ho Chi Min City after 6:00 pm and as soon as we pulled out of the airport were shocked to find ourselves in the taxi in a major minority on the streets. We were surrounded by thousands of motorcyclists! They are very brave there, carrying their entire families(often 4 or 5 people- even babies who can barely stand) on one motorcycle with no helmets! Crossing the street is nearly impossible, as we found out when we got to our hotel and got out of the cab with our luggage. It took a few minutes to work up the courage to just GO! We eventually got the hang of it, but we were continually amazed at the sheer numbers of motorbikes on the streets. After checking into our hotel and finding a delicious vegetarian restaurant across the street(I think our meal including fresh squeezed juices and 2 entrees cost about $4),we set out in search of a hotel for the next night -the one we stayed in the first night cost us $25 total, and around the corner we found an equally decent one for $13!). We stopped for a quick drink in a local bar, then headed back to our hotel to crash after our long and exhausting day.
We woke up yesterday and packed up, but left our stuff in the hotel room so we could start our walking tour for a few hours before we had to check out and could check into our new hotel. We checked out a few local markets and wandered around a little, then went back and put our stuff in the new hotel. After that, we stopped into a Vietnam Airlines office to book our flights for the rest of our time in Vietnam. Our itinerary: Nov 7: fly from HoChiMin to Nha Trang for the night, Nov 8-11: fly to DaNang then explore Hoi An and surrounding areas. Nov 11-13: fly to Hanoi and hopefully Halong Bay, and then on Nov 14th depart Vietnam for Ankor Wat (we still have to figure that part out). All of our internal flights in Vietnam came to a grand total of $124! We would have definitely seen more if we would have taken buses or trains, but the long distances take hours up to overnight, and we really don't have the time to waste here. Now that we were all organized for the next week, we continued our walking tour for a few hours, ending up at the extremely interesting War Remnants Museum. It is one of the most popular tourist sights in HCMC, and after being renamed (The War Atrocities of the Americans wasn't cutting it with the tourists), many people visit to see the other side of the Vietnam war. The most poignant part for me was a photo exhibit of pictures taken by foreign journalists during the war. Many died, just to 'get the story', but the results were amazing. Outside the museum are a few former US Army vehicles, tanks, and helicopters that were used during the war.
After this we were ready to lighten up our afternoon, and decided to take an adventurous ride on some cyclos! A Cyclo is sort of a backwards tricycle, where the driver rides over one wheel with a seat in front of him facing forward over 2 more wheels. Considering the traffic in Ho Chi Min City and the uncontrollable traffic of the motorcycles, it was quite a crazy experience. We negotiated a price and a route with the help of one of the museum employees and set out each in our own cyclos back towards our hotel for a 45 minute tour of the city. Luckily we made it back safe and sound, but the feeling of being in the middle of the chaos of the motorcycles was one I will never forget! After showering off all the soot that collected on our faces and bodies on that ride, we headed out for an "upscale" dinner at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. That upscale delicious meal cost us each $5- unbelievable! After unsuccessfuly checking out a few bars recommended in our tour book (way tooo cheezy), we had a drink at the bar around the corner from our hotel and went back to get an early night for our 6:45 am flight to Nha Trang this morning!
Since we decided to only stay overnight here in Nha Trang, we wanted to take the earliest flight possible to maximize what we saw here. We arrived around 8, and although our book said the airport is in town and walking distance to the main hotel area, it was actually a 45 minute ride outside the town. We took a $2 shuttle bus to the old airport, where our ticket got us a free cab ride to our hotel. We asked the driver to take us to the Sea View hotel and showed him the address in our book. He drove us 2 blocks and stopped outside a hotel across the street from the beach with a Vietnamese name. We have noticed that many places here have both English and Vietnamese names, and didn't think twice. Chloe went to look at a room while I stayed with our luggage, and came down to report the $15 room was great with a little ocean view balcony. We put our luggage in our room and set out in search of breakfast and a way to get to one of the main sights in town, the Long Son Pagoda and giant white Buddha statue that presides over it. (Its actually not the greatest time of year to be here in Nha Trang- it's still rainy season, and the rain clouds seemed to be coming in, stopping us from going to relax on the beach). After a quick breakfast we asked the waitress to help us organize a cyclo ride there and to another place mentioned in our guide book, the studio of famous Vietnamese photographer Long Tranh. The buddha statue was very impressive and the cyclo ride much less stressful than the last one, although this guy insisted that Chloe and I ride in the same cyclo and put a little wooden bench over the seat to create an extra spot to sit. After hiking up and down the 152 stone steps to the buddha, which had a great view over the town, we met back up with our driver to take us to our next destination. We rang the doorbell at the combination house and studio, and almost walked away thinking no one was there when the door opened and a petite Vietnamese opened the door to this incredible gallery. Long Tranh has been taking pictures since he was 13, and now, at 52, only interrupted by time in the army during the war, he has made photography his career. He is a purist, only taking black and white photography using a 60 year old German box-camera that once belonged to Ho Chi Min's official photographer. He came downstairs to greet us and we spent almost an hour there talking photography and hearing stories about some of his incredible photos, all taken in Vietnam. He was very curious about my camera which I had around my neck- he definitely doesn't use digital, and I set it to black and white and gave it to him to look at. He took an incredible picture of our cyclo driver, who was now crouching in the doorway to get out of the rain. Chloe and I both bought original prints from him, bargains at $95 each! He could be selling these works for thousands of dollars in NYC. He was very proud that the print that Chloe bought had recently won him 6 different awards internationally. It truly was a memorable experience and I am so excited to frame his masterpiece when I get home. We even made plans to meet him at his favorite watering hole tonight- the Nha Trang Sailing Club, where Chloe and I planned on having dinner anyways.
After stopping at a fruit stand on the side of the road on the cyclo to buy the driver some mangos as a tip (he was SO excited), he dropped us back at our hotel. It was a really amazing day and I can't wait to see what the rest of Vietnam has in store for us!
Still there?
xo
Kerri
The last few days since Chloe arrived and we spent the weekend in Tokyo with her brother Malcolm have been great. It was really nice to see Tokyo a bit from a "local" point of view, although we spent the days on our own just wandering around and shopping, not able to take our eyes off of the incredible fashion sense of the young Japanese generation. They really get away with anything, and take full advantage of that. In most other places, they might even be mistaken for prostitutes! (Although I'm sure there are plenty of those too!) Of the highlights of the weekend in Japan, one is seeing the transvestites on the streets of the Shibuya area, dressed in bright yellow reflective jackets, wandering around with brooms in their hands. They are not technically allowed to just stand on the street corners trying to solicit business, so they are forced to carry around brooms and pretend to be sweeping the street in order to strut their stuff in this vivid area of Tokyo. Another highlight was later that night, when Chloe, Malcolm, his girlfriend Keiko, and I rented a private room in a Karaoke bar and stocked up with Sake and drinks from the local convenient store, for a few rousing hours of singing everything from Tiffany to the Strokes, to Keiko singing Japanese pop. It was so much fun, we almost ended up staying there all night and going to the fish market at 5:30 the next morning, but sleepiness got the best of us and we crashed around 4:15. The next night Malcolm co-hosted a party meant to bring together English teachers and potential students. Chloe and I found ourselves surrounded by excited young Japanese people, very happy to be able to practice their English skills on us, but upset to know that we were leaving the next morning.
Speaking of the next morning, Chloe and I woke up at 4:45 am to catch a 5:18 am train to the airport for our 9:20 flight. We got up to the platform as that train pulled away and missed the train, and had to wait more than half an hour for the next one.More than 3 hours later we arrived at the airport with barely any time to spare. Our flight to Vietnam stopped over in Hong Kong (I think it was 4th or 5th time in the Hong Kong airport). We finally arrived in Ho Chi Min City after 6:00 pm and as soon as we pulled out of the airport were shocked to find ourselves in the taxi in a major minority on the streets. We were surrounded by thousands of motorcyclists! They are very brave there, carrying their entire families(often 4 or 5 people- even babies who can barely stand) on one motorcycle with no helmets! Crossing the street is nearly impossible, as we found out when we got to our hotel and got out of the cab with our luggage. It took a few minutes to work up the courage to just GO! We eventually got the hang of it, but we were continually amazed at the sheer numbers of motorbikes on the streets. After checking into our hotel and finding a delicious vegetarian restaurant across the street(I think our meal including fresh squeezed juices and 2 entrees cost about $4),we set out in search of a hotel for the next night -the one we stayed in the first night cost us $25 total, and around the corner we found an equally decent one for $13!). We stopped for a quick drink in a local bar, then headed back to our hotel to crash after our long and exhausting day.
We woke up yesterday and packed up, but left our stuff in the hotel room so we could start our walking tour for a few hours before we had to check out and could check into our new hotel. We checked out a few local markets and wandered around a little, then went back and put our stuff in the new hotel. After that, we stopped into a Vietnam Airlines office to book our flights for the rest of our time in Vietnam. Our itinerary: Nov 7: fly from HoChiMin to Nha Trang for the night, Nov 8-11: fly to DaNang then explore Hoi An and surrounding areas. Nov 11-13: fly to Hanoi and hopefully Halong Bay, and then on Nov 14th depart Vietnam for Ankor Wat (we still have to figure that part out). All of our internal flights in Vietnam came to a grand total of $124! We would have definitely seen more if we would have taken buses or trains, but the long distances take hours up to overnight, and we really don't have the time to waste here. Now that we were all organized for the next week, we continued our walking tour for a few hours, ending up at the extremely interesting War Remnants Museum. It is one of the most popular tourist sights in HCMC, and after being renamed (The War Atrocities of the Americans wasn't cutting it with the tourists), many people visit to see the other side of the Vietnam war. The most poignant part for me was a photo exhibit of pictures taken by foreign journalists during the war. Many died, just to 'get the story', but the results were amazing. Outside the museum are a few former US Army vehicles, tanks, and helicopters that were used during the war.
After this we were ready to lighten up our afternoon, and decided to take an adventurous ride on some cyclos! A Cyclo is sort of a backwards tricycle, where the driver rides over one wheel with a seat in front of him facing forward over 2 more wheels. Considering the traffic in Ho Chi Min City and the uncontrollable traffic of the motorcycles, it was quite a crazy experience. We negotiated a price and a route with the help of one of the museum employees and set out each in our own cyclos back towards our hotel for a 45 minute tour of the city. Luckily we made it back safe and sound, but the feeling of being in the middle of the chaos of the motorcycles was one I will never forget! After showering off all the soot that collected on our faces and bodies on that ride, we headed out for an "upscale" dinner at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. That upscale delicious meal cost us each $5- unbelievable! After unsuccessfuly checking out a few bars recommended in our tour book (way tooo cheezy), we had a drink at the bar around the corner from our hotel and went back to get an early night for our 6:45 am flight to Nha Trang this morning!
Since we decided to only stay overnight here in Nha Trang, we wanted to take the earliest flight possible to maximize what we saw here. We arrived around 8, and although our book said the airport is in town and walking distance to the main hotel area, it was actually a 45 minute ride outside the town. We took a $2 shuttle bus to the old airport, where our ticket got us a free cab ride to our hotel. We asked the driver to take us to the Sea View hotel and showed him the address in our book. He drove us 2 blocks and stopped outside a hotel across the street from the beach with a Vietnamese name. We have noticed that many places here have both English and Vietnamese names, and didn't think twice. Chloe went to look at a room while I stayed with our luggage, and came down to report the $15 room was great with a little ocean view balcony. We put our luggage in our room and set out in search of breakfast and a way to get to one of the main sights in town, the Long Son Pagoda and giant white Buddha statue that presides over it. (Its actually not the greatest time of year to be here in Nha Trang- it's still rainy season, and the rain clouds seemed to be coming in, stopping us from going to relax on the beach). After a quick breakfast we asked the waitress to help us organize a cyclo ride there and to another place mentioned in our guide book, the studio of famous Vietnamese photographer Long Tranh. The buddha statue was very impressive and the cyclo ride much less stressful than the last one, although this guy insisted that Chloe and I ride in the same cyclo and put a little wooden bench over the seat to create an extra spot to sit. After hiking up and down the 152 stone steps to the buddha, which had a great view over the town, we met back up with our driver to take us to our next destination. We rang the doorbell at the combination house and studio, and almost walked away thinking no one was there when the door opened and a petite Vietnamese opened the door to this incredible gallery. Long Tranh has been taking pictures since he was 13, and now, at 52, only interrupted by time in the army during the war, he has made photography his career. He is a purist, only taking black and white photography using a 60 year old German box-camera that once belonged to Ho Chi Min's official photographer. He came downstairs to greet us and we spent almost an hour there talking photography and hearing stories about some of his incredible photos, all taken in Vietnam. He was very curious about my camera which I had around my neck- he definitely doesn't use digital, and I set it to black and white and gave it to him to look at. He took an incredible picture of our cyclo driver, who was now crouching in the doorway to get out of the rain. Chloe and I both bought original prints from him, bargains at $95 each! He could be selling these works for thousands of dollars in NYC. He was very proud that the print that Chloe bought had recently won him 6 different awards internationally. It truly was a memorable experience and I am so excited to frame his masterpiece when I get home. We even made plans to meet him at his favorite watering hole tonight- the Nha Trang Sailing Club, where Chloe and I planned on having dinner anyways.
After stopping at a fruit stand on the side of the road on the cyclo to buy the driver some mangos as a tip (he was SO excited), he dropped us back at our hotel. It was a really amazing day and I can't wait to see what the rest of Vietnam has in store for us!
Still there?
xo
Kerri
posted by Kerri P. @ 2:02 AM
2 Comments:
hey sister, sorry i missed you on gmail. i got my wisdoms pulled yesterday so i'm walking around the house in circles on my day off, not really sure what to do with myself. i don't do so well in these lazy situations!
i miss you and LOVE the pictures. i'm sure we'll skype this weekend, this time - tell mom and dad to wake me if i'm sleeping!
xx hope you're safe and happy,
t-pod
love your pics! hope you are still having an amazing time... i put up some photos from china (but still have some still to post) on my blog so check it out!
i hope all is well with you! i appear to be moving in with adam in the next few weeks?!?!?!? way sooner than either of us would've chosen but his lease is up, my housemates are moving out, and there are very few decent and affordable places to live in my part of Sydney... and hey, if it doesn't work out, at least it will have been an adventure! Hopefully will be cool though...
stay in touch!
Emma x
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