Chiang Mai

This place is great, and my time here started off with a bang. I checked into my (very nice) hotel and wandered around town. I found a great used bookstore and picked up 6 or 8 novels I'd been meaning to read. I kept walking down the street and decided to stop in a bar for a bottle of Singha. Before long I found myself playing Jenga with the waitstaff.

Because, hey, who doesn't love Jenga?

Jenga gave way to billiards. These girls were total pool sharks and kicked my ass.


Then things got weird. Someone ordered plates of fried bugs. I believe I tried some but my memory of this part of the evening is a bit fuzzy.


Then some random elephant showed up.


Then I woke up my hotel room.

Yesterday I spent the day out in the mountains. I hung out with some elephants


floated down the river


climbed up to a waterfall


and ended the day with some whitewater rafting. Not a bad day's work. The jungle is beautiful.



And earlier today I took another cooking class. Like the last one, it started with a trip to the market.


My steamed fish in banana leaf, yellow curry chicken, and chicken cashew were all very good.


The instructors weren't as funny as Shecky Nguyen, but then he wasn't as cute as they were.


Also, I'm pretty sure I discovered the inspiration for Van Halen's "Ice Cream Man".

Hanoi/Halong Bay

The ride into Hanoi from the airport was depressing. The city seemed to be as chaotic and sterile as Saigon, only more run-down, polluted & depressing. Once the cab turned into the Old Quarter neighborhood downtown, however, things seemed to pick up a bit. The motobikes and suicidal traffic continued, but there seemed to be a bit of flavor to the area. So after checking into my hotel, I grabbed my camera and wandered around for a bit.

There's a big lake in the middle of the Old Quarter - Hoan Kiem - with a historic temple on a small island that you can visit via a footbridge.










I stopped in one of the lakeside cafes for a beer and some people-watching. My table had a nice view.




Crossing the streets is very much like a live-action game of Frogger. People just wait for a slight break in traffic, then walk into the street and hope/expect that cars/motobikes/etc will just swerve out of their way.




Halong Bay is kind of like Angkor - it's an incredible must-see-before-you-die destination that can't be fully appreciated unless you're there in person. We actually went to Bai Tu Long Bay, just northeast of Halong Bay, which has much less boat traffic than Halong Bay. In fact, the company that ran my trip has an exclusive license from the Vietnamese government (*cough* bribes *cough*) to operate in Bai Tu Long, so we only saw 1 other boat in 2 days.

Our boat was fantastic - a replica 17th century Chinese junk, swank, and staffed with 9 people for our group of 4 people. The food was ridiculous. Seven course meals? Try nine for lunch and ten for dinner. (No, I have not been exercising, so yes, I have packed on some pounds during the trip.) We did some kayaking, called it an early night after dinner, and visited a local fishing village the next morning.

The adventures continue

I thought I'd write a few words while looking for ways to kill the next 9.5 hours in the Hanoi airport. My flight to Bangkok was cancelled and the next available one is at 9 pm (it's 11:30 am local time). And that's too late to catch a connecting flight to Chiang Mai, as I had planned. I hope my Chiang Mai hotel gets my email indicating that I'll be arriving a day later than anticipated.

Anyhow, I was skimming my earlier posts and realized I'd painted a rather idyllic picture of things here. The reality is very much a mixed bag. I've seen incredible sights, eaten wonderful food, and met all kinds of warm, friendly and interesting people. I've been to places I'd go back to again in a heartbeat. I'm halfway through my trip and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

But there also are a lot of things that are unpleasant or difficult to see. Shantytowns outside of the cities where people live in makeshift homes out of wood scraps and sheets of plastic tarp. Toothless women carrying burdensome loads of fruit & vegetables on their backs. Schoolgirls and one-legged men on crutches roaming the streets and hawking kitsch to any Westerner they see. Garbage strewn along the sides of roads. Countless stray, mangy dogs looking for any scrap of edible garbage they can find. Chaotic traffic, with neverending motoscooters belching out clouds of grey-blue filth. Smog in some cities that makes it difficult to see buildings that aren't at all far away. These last two things have given me a hacking cough for the past few days.

So, like anyplace, this region has its share of good and bad. Thankfully, the pendulum seems to be moving in the right direction. For years many areas in Southeast Asia had no regard for the environment whatsoever - and it shows. But local governments, tour agencies, farmers and fishermen are beginning to realize the importance and value of their natural surroundings and are taking steps to protect them. Development in a lot of cities seems to be providing opportunities that didn't before exist. There are plenty of reasons for optimism in the face of the ugliness.

One last thing, following up on the mangy stray dogs - on the way from Hoi An to the Da Nang airport the other day I saw a dog on the side of the road wearing a freaking necktie. I swear I am not making that up. I thought it was a shredded leash remnant or something, but as we got closer it became clear that he was wearing a tie. I don't know who decided to spruce him up like that, but plaudits to them. It's a sharp look. I need to look into some neckwear for the lads.

Okay, that didn't take much time. I've still got another 9 hours to kill. At least it's past noon, that makes it officially acceptable to have a beer. I'll post Hanoi & Halong Bay updates when I can.

Hoi An

Beautiful little town on the river with neat colonial architecture, beach and Cham ruins nearby, and about a brazillion tailors that will make you a custom-fit suit for a fraction of what it would cost in the states. People actually vacation here just to get themselves a new wardrobe. I gave in and had some SWEET silk Illini loungewear made. Orange smoking jacket w/navy trim & belt, navy pants. Just like Hef, my fellow Illini. All I need is a brandy snifter in one hand and my remote in the other. The people in Hoi An were terrific, and I met a lot of cool people from other countries as well - not many Americans, however. Australia and Germany were well-represented (as has been the case in other places I've been as well), along with France, Denmark, Sweden, Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, and Peru.

One of my favorite incidents took place over a bowl of Cao Lau, a fantastic dish unique to Hoi An. The hotel across the street from the restaurant where I was eating had just put up a Christmas tree. My waitress was standing near me and started singing "zingle bells". She only knew the first two lines and then hummed the rest. I started singing it along with her, and she clapped and ran off to the bar. She returned with a pen and paper and asked me to write down the lyrics so she could learn the rest of the words. I did so, and when she kept getting tripped up on "one horse open sleigh", I drew her a picture of said horse and sleigh. She went over and over the song at least a dozen times, then went out to a Brit couple sitting on the front patio and started to sing it to them. Poor girl, the husband didn't want to hear it. Laughing, he told her to knock it off, as he hated the song. She looked at me for support, and I told her to keep singing. So she finished, and then sang it a second time just to rub it in. She then taped my scribbles on the wall behind the bar.

Anyhow, it's a pretty town:






This was in an excellent bar/restaurant called Before-n-Now. Dollar Tigers, good food, and a playlist heavy on Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash.


Making a living on the river


Sometimes the tides messed things up a bit


I also took a wonderful cooking class. We made our own fresh rice paper, spring rolls, Vietnamese pancakes with shrimp & pork, and eggplant & veggies in a clay hotpot. The class started with an early morning trip to the local market:






Some sort of insect-based snack. I think I heard someone say they were some kind of bee.


Yikes!


Mmmm...eels


Our instructor. Not only a good chef, he was also very funny. I called him Shecky Nguyen.


My Vietnamese pancake was the BOMB

Siem Reap

As I mentioned earlier, I really liked Siem Reap. We made a nightly habit of hitting the Banana Leaf Cafe for a few pints of Tiger...


...and then wandering down Pub Street or the alley alongside of it to find a place for dinner.

After the restaurants start closing, this area is rife with prostitutes offering "mah-sage". Watch out for the ones with the deep voices and/or adam's apples. Unless, of course, that's your thing.

Tuk-tuk, the transport of choice




Grilling my ostrich (not a euphemism, but it should be)


Horrible and disturbing


Once again, pictures won't do the ruins of Angkor justice, but here are a few for your viewing pleasure.
























Bonus - Angkor has monkeys!