Ninh Binh, Hoi An to Nha Trang (bike trip)

Ninh Binh

Decided to head to Ninh Binh for 1 night, a cool place with national parks. It is referred to as the Halong Bay of the rice paddies. Huge limestone cliffs rising up out of rice paddies. We went on a river boat tour for 2 hours through the cliffs and some caves for about $2. Next day we went to a national park, Cuc Phuong National Park. We heard they had a endangered primate center, so paid the $40 to get there with a private car, mostly to see the monkeys. When we got there, driver dropped us off at the other end of the park, and told us to do a 2 hour hike to go see a thousand year old tree. After arguing to try and get him to take us to the monkeys, and him not understanding, it was pointless and we decided to do the hike anyways. Turned out to be nice scenery, but just hot and sweaty with lots of stairs. After the hike, we finally got to the monkey center....tour ended up being about 5 min, we were expecting at least 30, and we only saw about 4 kinds of monkeys....oh well, still a decent day.

Hoi An

Hoi An is a small, touristy beach town, with about 500 tailor shops! This is supposed to be the best place in Asia to get a suit made. So, we ended up visiting our tailors everyday for the 4 days we were here. If you know how picky Kyle can be, you can just imagine how much bickering was going on between him and three nice (sometimes pushy) Vietnamese ladies. It was amazing how quick they can turn out a suit (we got sized up at 7 at night, suit ready to try on by 11am the next morning). They normally can get a suit finalized in about 2 days, for Kyle....4, and he still wants changes done when we get home, haha. I guess he gave up with the bantering, they were happy to see us leave i think. In the end, we spent so much money on a few suits and shirts that the owner had her neices (all the tailors) take us out for dinner. Seemed like a fun time, until we saw the raw, or really undercooked buffalo (with about half an inch of thick, chewy skin...YUM) Was still a fun time, they were genuinely nice ladies.

Didn't do too much else in Hoi An, but layed on the beach and by the pool at our cheap, but nice hotel.

Motorcycle Diaries (4 day tour through Central Highlands - Hoi An to Nha Trang)

From Hoi An, we decided to look into an "Easy Rider". A guy we met in Thailand told us about this motorcycle tour and a good guide, so we thought it would be a good way to get to Nha Trang - better than the buses.

We called Mr. Dung, and he was at our hotel in Hoi An the next day, giving us a sales pitch. We were hesitant at first due to the price, was a little out of our budget, but decided we wouldn't get to do something like this again, so agreed to it.

Next morning he picked us up, packed up all our bags for us, and we were off. I was on the back of Mr. Dung's bike, Kyle was driving his own chopper, and probably the stupidest helmet in all of Asia. It was about a 750km trip that went straight West towards Laos border, then south through the highland mountains, then back East and down the coast. All areas were virtually untouched by tourism. We definately got some second looks by the locals, but the kids were always so excited when we waved at them. Kyle had quite the time trying to maneuvre through some of the towns with traffic circles and busy intersections (few close calls with other vehicles, dogs, etc and a few stalls at red lights)

It turned out to be the experience of a lifetime. We saw so many things. Here's most of it: rice paddies, Cham ruins, war memorials, pineapple farms, cinnamon trees, pepper farms, mushroom farms, flat tires, tea & coffee plantations, incense operation, smuggled wood carvings, waterfalls, orphanages, tribe and village people, hundreds of smiling kids waving at us (they rarely see foreigners), Vietnam war veterans & landmarks, huge python, scorpions, and a monkey. We also sampled some "real Vietnamese food", including deer, porcupine & ostrich.

In the end, the trip was worth every dollar, and we became good friends with our tour guide, who treated us like family and always made sure we were safe and comfortable, even though it was hard to understand his english sometimes. We learned to nod and agree with him...:)

Nha Trang

Arrived in Nha Trang...not what we were expecting. Busy beach city, lots of development and beach vendors constantly trying to sell you something on the beach, even when we say no, they still stand there until you are on the verge of telling them to F-off, haha. I guess everyone is trying to make a buck though...

Since we became good friends with Mr. Dung, he invited us over to his house for a seafood BBQ and to meet his family. He has such a beautiful family, 3 cute kids and a really nice wife. We wanted to be good dinner guests, so Kyle picked up some beer (20 - 450ml bottles for $7) Good deal! So hung out, laughed with his 3 year old son who tried drinking some of the beer, and ended up drinking cigarette butts! Was a good night - BBQs here are definately a LOT smaller than ours back home.

Next night, Mr. Dung fullfilled Kyle's Vietnamese quest for eating SNAKE! He came to pick us up with his whole family, who came to watch the big white guy choke down some snake...Apparently his kids love eating it! Turns out when you go to eat snake in Vietnam (and especially if you're a foreigner), you get a whole lot more than what you'd expect... So it started with watching the cook scoop about 10 snakes out of a crate outside the restaraunt, then we sat in the back of the restaraunt and watched as the cook: cut snakes' heads off with scissors, (heads still moving after severed from body for about 5 min), cut their stomachs open and pulled out beating hearts, pulled out 10 baby snakes from 1 pregnant snake (a nice surprise, even for the cook) squeezed blood from snakes into bottle of vodka, squeezed kidney juice into a different bottle of vodka. So quite an appetizing ordeal....

Next, we were told to sit down, and wait for snakes to be cooked. First dish that comes out, 7 little beating snake hearts on a tray. Kyle orders BIG beer, then him & Mr. Dung take a shot of snake blood vodka, with beating heart in it. Managed to keep it down and was a bit shaky for a while after. Next was snake rolls (crushed up snake, including bones wrapped in banana leaves). Then, snake burger patties! YAY! Not quite like the burgers back home....Finally...snake soup! Oh, and more shots of kidney juice in vodka. By this time, we had had enough snake (mostly Kyle eating), we decided to leave. Next day, we headed on a bus to Mui Ne. Had to wake up at 6:30...not feeling so good, and still not feeling so good (snake karma). But at least we have a good story! :)

Now we are in Mui Ne, the last week has been an unforgettable adventure!

Northern Vietnam - Hanoi, Sapa & Halong Bay

After a month and a half of beaches in Thailand, we were ready for a beach break and excited to get to Vietnam for some cooler weather. We took a quick stopover in Bangkok to do some shopping and take in a movie before leaving Thailand.

When we first got to Hanoi, it was absolutely chaotic. Motorbikes everywhere, cars honking constantly, and there doesn't seem to be any traffic rules. Crossing the street is just like playing "Frogger", but once we got the hang of it, we figured it all out and we were a little more brave. We stayed in the Old Quarter - most travellers stay in this area of Hanoi, lots of hotels and cafes everywhere. We tried Vietnamese coffee for the first time and are now hooked on it :) We found there wasn't too much to do other than go to some museums and temples or just sit in coffee shops, so we were looking forward to booking a trip to Sapa and Halong Bay to get out of the city.

To get to Sapa, we had to take an 8 hour overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai, about 2km from the Chinese border. We hadn't taken a train before in Asia, so didn't know what to expect. It was so noisy and bouncy, we didn't sleep at all. Once we got to Sapa though, the long trip was definately worth it. The scenery was unbelievable and we were so amused by the local Black H'mong women that surrounded us when we got off our bus. There were about 20 of them running up trying to talk to us and were waving and smiling while we were waiting in the hotel before our trek. There ended up being 6 of the tribe women walking with us for the whole 17km on the first day. They were very helpful and nice, and spoke pretty good english - very cute babies a few of them had too. However, we were disappointed at the end of our trek when about 20 of them surrounded us trying to sell us souvenirs. Oh well, we still ended up buying a few things that we'll probably never use, but would've felt bad if we didn't buy anything after they hiked all day with us.

We trekked through a few different villages and saw how all the different village people live. It was crazy to see how simple they live and to learn all about their culture and traditions. We saw soo many little kids working hard all the time too - carrying heavy baskets or logs on their backs and hiking up the mountain, impressive! We finally made it to our homestay - there was four in our group and we ended up having another pair stay with us, along with our guides. We had a good time with everyone - our host brought out some "happy water" (rice wine) to start our dinner.....the "water" kept flowing and it turned out to be a really fun night, haha. Next morning, not so happy, haha, but we still managed to get up and go trekking again. Then it was the night train back to Hanoi that night, this time, we were exhausted and slept almost the entire time.

The morning we got back from Sapa (4:30 AM), we left for Halong Bay at 7:30AM. When we first got on our "junk" (traditional vietnamese boat), we were amazed at how nice it was...not what we would expect when we hear "junk". Our room on the boat was probably nicer than a lot of the hotels we've been staying in. The first day we toured around, went kayaking and went through a big cave that was packed with other tourists. Really busy, but still good to see. The next morning we got up early and hiked up about 400 steps up a mountain to get a good view of the bay - was pretty good, but tiring at 7 in the morning. We then transferred to a smaller boat and went on a jungle trek through Cat Ba National Park. Was really good because everyone else on our boat had only booked a 1 night tour, so it was just the two of us with our guide, Hien. We stopped in and visited an old man who was living in the middle of nowhere in the National Park. Was cool to see how he lived - really basic, grew all his own vegetables, had his own fish farm and chickens. Then we continued on and headed to Cat Ba island, where we stayed in a hotel for the night. Was a cool harbour town, pretty laid back compared to the chaos in Hanoi!

We're now in Hanoi, going to a national park near Ninh Binh tomorrow (about 2 hours south of Hanoi) for a couple days, then we start to head further south in Vietnam to Hoi An.

Thats it for now!

Khao Lak to Ko Samui

We've hit a bunch of places since last post, so will try and keep it brief for each one.

Khao Lak - was a lazy beachside town 100km north of Phuket island...pretty cool place, was the place hit hardest by tsunami 5 years ago, so has not built itself up as a tourist destination like elsewhere. We basically lazed around, and rented a scooter hunted for deserted beaches : ), and waterfalls. Once at the waterfall, I tried scaling the wall to cool off under the water...got there okay, on the way back, slipped and my foot plunged into the water under some leaves....all i could think was water snake! so I scrambled out quick as i could as Jenn laughed.
Khao Lak was also a jumping point for Similian Island National Park, 9 island Marine park, where you can only take day trips...so untouched other than the daily boats...pretty unreal place, just did some snorkelling and laying on the beach there. Probably the nicest place either of us have ever been.

Khao Sok - next we headed inland towards Khao Sok National park, apparently the oldest Jungle in the world. Stayed in a treehouse with not much around us...it was pretty creepy at night with all the noises. Took a full day tour where we took a boat through the whole lake with cool limestone cliffs/mountains around...then got to the end where we trekked through jungle and into a massive cave. Went through cave for about 1.5hrs saw tonnes of creepy stuff (bats, spiders, frogs). The cave was pitch black the entire time, and there is a small river that runs through it that you are constantly walking in...fear the snake again! ha ha. Eventually we hit a point where you have to swim about 10 metres in the dark.

Ko Tao - from Khao Sok we travelled to the little island of Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. Tried out scuba diving for first time, which was a blast, would have done more if it wasn't so pricey. We'll plan to do scuba again towards end of trip. Ko Tao is probably busiest dive place in Asia, so has a different vibe than other islands - dive shops everywhere, and lots of backpackers. The rest of the 4 days we laid around and took in many chang beers : ). The island was one of the coolest we had been, but is starting to feel tourism, as its getting crowded, more developed, and lots of garbage.

Ko Phangan - Pretty nice island with high moutains rising up, and home of the full moon party. Dates didn't work out to go to this, but possibly in April we will make it back for it. Not much to say here as we did virtually nothing on quiet beaches. Rented a beachfront bungalow for about $15 on a pretty secluded spot. This island is not over run other than Hat Rin (place of full moon party). We stayed on Bottle Beach, really nice spot.

Ko Samui - This island is definately the most westernized of the three in the Gulf - McDonald's, Starbucks, fancy hotels and restaraunts, and lots more tourists! (Mostly European, as there is an international airport on the island) We figured we needed some adventure after laying around for 4 days on Ko Phangan, so we rented a scooter, and hit some buddhist sites, and saw most of the major temples. Had a minor scooter mishap infront of a restaurant full of people, wearing my nice green helmet, looked like an idiot, ha ha. We hit the driving range...realized the golf skills are a bit rusty, wanted to a round of golf, but couldn't fit it in.
Next day took a tour to Ang Thong National Park, which is a bunch of small islands. Did some snorkelling, kayaking, hiked up to a few viewpoints to get pics of the park, and another one to see a big emerald lagoon that formed in the middle of one of the islands. Had a rough ride on the ride back, the sea has been rough in Samui, and Jenn and I thought it would be cool to sit in the front of the speedboat, bad idea, we have some sore backs to report! ha ha.

Now, we are heading to mainland Surat Thani to fly to Bangkok for 1 day, do some quick shopping, and then jet out to Hanoi in North Vietnam for less beach and more adventure!

Ko Lanta/Ko Mook/Phuket

After we left Krabi, we headed to Ko Lanta for 5 nights. So far Ko Lanta has been our favorite island - really laid back and not too big or busy. We rented a scooter and toured the island and found some desserted beaches. Spent a lot of nights just hanging out having a beer on the beach, was great!

Next we headed to Ko Mook, small island south of Ko Lanta. Was REALLY quiet. We pre-booked our bungalow here for 4 nights, probably could have left after 2, but was definately a memorable experience. We stayed at a place that was brand new, only opened 3 weeks before, and the first night we were there, we were the only ones at the resort. We roughed it a bit and stayed in bamboo bungalows that were REALLY basic - 2 twin mattresses on the floor with mosquito nets, and a fan, which cut out in the middle of the night because the island doesn't have 24hr power...and...a shared bathroom. So, were ready to go after 2 nights....but, we toughed it out and met some great people who showed up. Met another Canadian couple and a Swedish couple and made friends with the staff (an old lady and man who were the cooks - and the old man was VERY offended if we didn't eat everything off our plate! - but was really nice and kept bringing us treats from the village or fresh coffee in the morning...definately good service). Also made friends with the owner's dog, Brownie, reminded us of our own a bit...

From Ko Mook, we headed to Phuket - huge change. Phuket is really busy, expensive, and very touristy. Went from being the only ones on the beach to sharing it with a couple thousand on Kata Beach. So only spent 3 nights there, stayed in a nice place, went to the zoo, the old town center, and went to see the Big Buddha. I think they told us it was going to be the biggest in the world, was pretty cool, on top of a huge hill, so we had a great view of all of Phuket. We were also able to catch the gold medal hockey game - woke up at 3 AM and watched it live from our hotel room, Kyle was able to down a few beers, and I think we woke people up - Kyle was screaming when Sid scored! Anyways, had a good time, but were definately ready to leave after 3 nights....

We are now in Khao Lak, about hour north of Phuket for a few nights, and then we are heading into the jungle at Khao Sok National Park.

Thats it for now,

Cheers

More pics at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyle.houston

Tonsai Beach & Krabitown

We were in the rockclimbing hippie central of Railai (in Krabi province)...we stayed in Tonsai Beach area though in the jungle...it was a better deal. Tonsai...oh how it is Rasta central....specialties in the beach bars include "peacecake", "magic cookies", and there is a constant essence of ganga in the air! ha ha.

Pretty good time, hung out with friends Paul and Angela and rented sea kayaks...where you kayak under limestone cliffs and through caves, and hit up various beaches...unfortunately we don't have those photos as we can't take our camer in the water..Paul was photographer for the day..maybe he'll send us some.

Our second day there, early in the morning we had about 10-12 monkeys relaying off our roof...pretty cool...they were flyin all over the place as they went through trees.(few good closeups on picasa)

After two days of relaxing there, we parted ways with Paul and Angela (they went to Samui and then soon enough back to calgary! ha ha) we headed to Krabi town to take a beach break and see a city...well...that lasted all of 12 hours, although a cool city, we quickly booked a ticket to Ko Lanta...another Beach Vacation! ha ha.

Cheers

Ko Phi Phi and "The Beach"

Have been on Ko Phi Phi Don island for 3 days now, met up with some friends from Cowtown,

pretty much have been lazy around beach and walking around town whilst enjoying a soda or two...or three...or four....or five : )

Took a boat tour today to Ko Phi Phi Leh...where the movie The Beach was filmed...pretty cool island, but not exactly like the movie where Leo had peace and quiet...a few more people showed up. Tonnes of boat coming and going, but was still pretty awesome scenery. There aren't any resorts on this island so made it better.

Ko Phi Phi Don, has been completely over run with hotels and partiers, don't let the picasa photos fool you. We thought there would be a few people around...jam packed with crazies. But still again, a cool island altogether, just a shame they let it become what it is....busier than you can even imagine.

Next we head to Krabi province, on Railei beach, and chill out some more, and enjoy more sodas....we are going to try and rough it, and get some beach huts with no AC. F$#k its hot here! Us Canadian whities are still adjusting to the blistering heat....no bad burns yet to report though.

Cheers.

More pics at.

picasa link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyle.houston

Bangkok

We finally made it to Bangkok today. We are staying near Kho San Road for the next 2 nights, one of the major backpacker/tourist streets. It is definately one of the craziest places we have ever seen. It is total chaos - tons of t-shirt and clothing kiosks, tourists everywhere, and just an all out circus. It is definately an experience! We tried out some of our bartering today - actually works pretty good, and we were able to get a few good deals (or at least we think....)

Our hotel is really nice - can't complain for $20/night, and much nicer and cleaner than what we were staying in in Paris for over $100/night.

I think it will take us a few weeks to get used to the heat and humidity - we were pretty much drenched when we got off the plane! We are looking forward to getting out of Bangkok and hitting the islands for a little more quiet time, should be quite the change from this place.

We have posted some pictures from Paris on our site - the link is below, where we'll post all our pics from our trip. That's it for now! Take care :)

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyle.houston