Things here are cheap. I kind of feel bad about haggling prices, but that's how the people here actually prefer it. Joe likes to compare prices in terms of beers here, "that costs 2 beers!". Heineken is somewhere between 15,000-20,000 dong. Around one dollar!
You can haggle the price for anything and everything. Anything put out on the street for purchase can be haggled as well as a taxi ride. Today I paid full price for a t-shirt and it was only 30,000 dong. My dad gave me 1,000,000 dong at the beginning of the trip and I still have over half of it. You can eat like royalty here, and pretty much get whatever you want at the price you want. It's a rather kooky idea, I just can't get used to.
I'm trying to keep my eyes peeled for nice gifts to bring back, but it's kind of hard to distinguish the nice stuff from knock-offs. My dad tells me that nice stuff is usually exported to other countries and they keep the chintzy stuff for themselves to sell here. So, I'll have to apologize ahead of time for some of my crappy purchases.
1 USD = 16,000 VND
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Can You Tell Me Where Platform Nine and Three Quarters Is?
We made it back from Sapa early this morning. It's nice to finally get out of the damp cold. We took 2 walking tours during our stay, visiting the local tribes and seeing the way they live. I was looking for some souvenirs of our stay and ended up buying the head scarves straight off the girls' heads. We also walked upwards towards a peak where we would have an opportunity for some great landscape photos, but it is so foggy in Sa Pa, we have to settle for postcards.
Joe felt ill the second day there. Upset stomach, nausea, loss of appetite. We agree it wasn't the food because we've been eating the same things and I feel fine, myself. So he must be homesick for warm, dry weather and a shower that he can fit in. Also, he's been so paranoid that the food will make him sick, I think the paranoia has worn him out. He feels better today but very tired and weak since he hadn't eaten all day yesterday.
The train ride in and out of Sa Pa was interesting. Too bad we travelled at night and couldn't really see the countryside. But the ride was something different. It wasn't one of those Amtrak trains. The train we rode in was one of those old timey trains with compartments and a beverage cart. I had a feeling the railway system is government owned, as the carriages (and especially the bathrooms) were a little bit scary and old.
Joe felt ill the second day there. Upset stomach, nausea, loss of appetite. We agree it wasn't the food because we've been eating the same things and I feel fine, myself. So he must be homesick for warm, dry weather and a shower that he can fit in. Also, he's been so paranoid that the food will make him sick, I think the paranoia has worn him out. He feels better today but very tired and weak since he hadn't eaten all day yesterday.
The train ride in and out of Sa Pa was interesting. Too bad we travelled at night and couldn't really see the countryside. But the ride was something different. It wasn't one of those Amtrak trains. The train we rode in was one of those old timey trains with compartments and a beverage cart. I had a feeling the railway system is government owned, as the carriages (and especially the bathrooms) were a little bit scary and old.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Sa Pa
Two Christmases ago, Joe and I ate a Vietnamese-French fusion restaurant in NYC with my friend Dan. The place was called Sapa. What I didn't know was that it was named after our next destination.
Sa Pa is a mountainous town, an 8 hour train ride and a 1 hour bus ride away from Hanoi. The people here look like Eskimo/ Inuit versions of Vietnamese people, with high cheek bones and different clothing. It's mostly an agricultural area, we'll soon find out what exactly they farm here. Surprisingly, they run electricity all the way up here. The mountains are really steep and on the way here the fog was thick. I had slight reservations that the bus driver couldn't see the road, but figured he had driven in these conditions many times before, there really shouldn't be too much to worry about. Once we got higher in elevation, the fog started to lift and we discovered we were high in the mountains. It looked so awesome. I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share.
We've lost track of time here, we just figured out that it's already Thursday. It seems as though only 2 long days have past in real time though. We travel at night and sight-see during the day and it seems like we eat every few hours. My dad always wants to stop for a meal, but we feel like we are overfed.
The weather in the north is cold and rainy. Probably temps in the 40's during the day and night. No one here uses heat, rooms have a/c units and we just turn them up as high as they'll go. We're anxious to return to the south where it was warm and humid.
Sa Pa is around 22 degrees north, the most north we'll go. Ho Chi Minh is around 10.5 degrees north, the most south we'll be.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Notes from Joe: Ha Long
Wow that bus ride was horrible!
We almost hit a truck or should I say the truck almost hit us. Not really sure who would be at fault since neither vehicle slowed down and both were over the middle line, which really means nothing here. It's actually a common occurrence for vehicles to have near misses in this country. It's like everyone is playing a giant game of chicken. Sophie's dad explained to me that the people think it is lucky to come so close to an accident but not actually have one. This was just after our boat passed very close to another boat in the bay.
So Ha long is a quickly growing resort type town in the north. The bay is awesome. If you want to see some pictures you can easily find them online. This computer is slow or else I would have included a link. After arriving in town our tour guide took us on a boat. Our group was not even ten and the boat had lots of room for walking about. In the pictures you will probably see the type of boat we rode. The boat people are very nice. Most of them are owner operators and actually live on the boats.
We took a 3 hour tour, a three hour tour. The bay is full of islands (you should really look at some pics to see what I am talking about). We stopped for lunch at a floating fish store where you can choose your lunch. And then the boat owner cooks what you buy. They actually prepared a lunch for us and we bought extra. In addition to a traditional lunch we had clams fresh out of the bay. The were really salty and Sophie found 6 pearls in one! They were small but I kept them anyway, a great souvenir. After lunch we kept moving through the islands and the tour guide got really excited about the "fighting cock" rock formation. We took a bunch of pics. Then we stopped for a cave tour. On one of the larger islands a cave was discovered in 1993. I'm not sure why it took so long for them to find it but it was huge. Maybe three times the size of Indian Echo. We took more pics. After the cave we headed back to the dock and the mood on the boat was relaxed. The owners were playing cards and had invited other boat people on for a game. It was great to see the culture of this place and get away from the traffic and noise of the city.
Oh yeah, I saw a monkey! A real monkey, not in a cage or anything. I'm not sure how the monkeys got on the islands but they are there. The tour guide said in the summer the monkeys come into the cave (where it is cool). The monkeys knew about the cave long before the people. I would have liked to have seen more but I think they know to stay away from people, or else they might get eaten.
Tomorrow we head back to Hanoi in the afternoon and will take an overnight train to Sapa, a religious locale where trekking is a very popular tourist activity. Since I won't be around a computer for several days you won't hear from us, so don't worry we are doing well. The food has been good although at the stop during the bus ride dad made us eat some questionable food. I only ate the hot soup, hopefully it won't come back to haunt me. I have a feeling accommodations will be less than luxurious in Sapa.
I'm going to end my message here but, if you want you can keep reading Mom. No really stop reading now. Everything is fine. If you really want to hear about the Vietnamese you can continue but I strongly urge you not to.
I'll write back in a few days if we come across another internet cafe.
Joe and Sophie
Alright so now that Mom is gone...
On the bus ride down we kept seeing signs for dog. Not like to buy puppies. You can eat dog meat if you want. They even make Dog Pho (noodle soup). I haven't seen many dogs here until today. But as we traveled out of the city limits most people had some dogs running around. Mostly mutts but we saw some great looking German Shepards. I'm not sure if they prefer one kind of dog over another but most of the dogs were of medium build with lots of muscle. I have heard the meat is sweet but I really don't care to eat it and I feel awful every time I see a dog now. Today on the fish market boat they had 4 dogs in a small crate. I'm going to assume they were for meat.
We almost hit a truck or should I say the truck almost hit us. Not really sure who would be at fault since neither vehicle slowed down and both were over the middle line, which really means nothing here. It's actually a common occurrence for vehicles to have near misses in this country. It's like everyone is playing a giant game of chicken. Sophie's dad explained to me that the people think it is lucky to come so close to an accident but not actually have one. This was just after our boat passed very close to another boat in the bay.
So Ha long is a quickly growing resort type town in the north. The bay is awesome. If you want to see some pictures you can easily find them online. This computer is slow or else I would have included a link. After arriving in town our tour guide took us on a boat. Our group was not even ten and the boat had lots of room for walking about. In the pictures you will probably see the type of boat we rode. The boat people are very nice. Most of them are owner operators and actually live on the boats.
We took a 3 hour tour, a three hour tour. The bay is full of islands (you should really look at some pics to see what I am talking about). We stopped for lunch at a floating fish store where you can choose your lunch. And then the boat owner cooks what you buy. They actually prepared a lunch for us and we bought extra. In addition to a traditional lunch we had clams fresh out of the bay. The were really salty and Sophie found 6 pearls in one! They were small but I kept them anyway, a great souvenir. After lunch we kept moving through the islands and the tour guide got really excited about the "fighting cock" rock formation. We took a bunch of pics. Then we stopped for a cave tour. On one of the larger islands a cave was discovered in 1993. I'm not sure why it took so long for them to find it but it was huge. Maybe three times the size of Indian Echo. We took more pics. After the cave we headed back to the dock and the mood on the boat was relaxed. The owners were playing cards and had invited other boat people on for a game. It was great to see the culture of this place and get away from the traffic and noise of the city.
Oh yeah, I saw a monkey! A real monkey, not in a cage or anything. I'm not sure how the monkeys got on the islands but they are there. The tour guide said in the summer the monkeys come into the cave (where it is cool). The monkeys knew about the cave long before the people. I would have liked to have seen more but I think they know to stay away from people, or else they might get eaten.
Tomorrow we head back to Hanoi in the afternoon and will take an overnight train to Sapa, a religious locale where trekking is a very popular tourist activity. Since I won't be around a computer for several days you won't hear from us, so don't worry we are doing well. The food has been good although at the stop during the bus ride dad made us eat some questionable food. I only ate the hot soup, hopefully it won't come back to haunt me. I have a feeling accommodations will be less than luxurious in Sapa.
I'm going to end my message here but, if you want you can keep reading Mom. No really stop reading now. Everything is fine. If you really want to hear about the Vietnamese you can continue but I strongly urge you not to.
I'll write back in a few days if we come across another internet cafe.
Joe and Sophie
Alright so now that Mom is gone...
On the bus ride down we kept seeing signs for dog. Not like to buy puppies. You can eat dog meat if you want. They even make Dog Pho (noodle soup). I haven't seen many dogs here until today. But as we traveled out of the city limits most people had some dogs running around. Mostly mutts but we saw some great looking German Shepards. I'm not sure if they prefer one kind of dog over another but most of the dogs were of medium build with lots of muscle. I have heard the meat is sweet but I really don't care to eat it and I feel awful every time I see a dog now. Today on the fish market boat they had 4 dogs in a small crate. I'm going to assume they were for meat.
Notes from Joe: Greetings from Hanoi
Tuesday 1/22/08 8:00 am local time Hanoi.
Hey everyone just dropping a line since we have some down time beore the bus takes us to our boat tour. Yesterday was good weather in Ho Chi Minh (80's and sunny). We ate at a nice restaurant in dowtown and had a great seat by the window where we could watch the traffic. Everyone rides scooters and they drive all over the plae wihtout regard for posted signs. The assortment of scooters is amazing an we both agreed we could sit for hours watching the traffic. We saw several people driving with young children on their laps or loaded down with water cooler bottles. It is not uncommon for women to drive with men on the backseat. And some guys ride pink scooters with pink helmets (the helmet law was recently passed with steep fines for anyone caught without one). Police presence is light, I saw maybe three all day. You must be 18 years old to drive but underage drivers cover their faces with masks to avoid the law. The traffic noise rivals New York except the horns are higher pitch. Most people use horns constantly, like the taxi driver we had last night.
Early last night we flew north to Hanoi after spending the day in the Ho Chi Minh. We stayed in "Old Saigon" where the streets narrow and winding. It kind of reminds me of SoHo in New York except much more poor. The weather here is markedly cooler in th 50's. It has been overcast and damp since we arrived. Today we are going to travel to the coast by bus and take a boat tour. I can't wait to get out of the city and hopefully get some quiet.
That's all for now our bus is scheduled to arrive any minute.
Hope you are all doing well!
Joe and Sophie
Hey everyone just dropping a line since we have some down time beore the bus takes us to our boat tour. Yesterday was good weather in Ho Chi Minh (80's and sunny). We ate at a nice restaurant in dowtown and had a great seat by the window where we could watch the traffic. Everyone rides scooters and they drive all over the plae wihtout regard for posted signs. The assortment of scooters is amazing an we both agreed we could sit for hours watching the traffic. We saw several people driving with young children on their laps or loaded down with water cooler bottles. It is not uncommon for women to drive with men on the backseat. And some guys ride pink scooters with pink helmets (the helmet law was recently passed with steep fines for anyone caught without one). Police presence is light, I saw maybe three all day. You must be 18 years old to drive but underage drivers cover their faces with masks to avoid the law. The traffic noise rivals New York except the horns are higher pitch. Most people use horns constantly, like the taxi driver we had last night.
Early last night we flew north to Hanoi after spending the day in the Ho Chi Minh. We stayed in "Old Saigon" where the streets narrow and winding. It kind of reminds me of SoHo in New York except much more poor. The weather here is markedly cooler in th 50's. It has been overcast and damp since we arrived. Today we are going to travel to the coast by bus and take a boat tour. I can't wait to get out of the city and hopefully get some quiet.
That's all for now our bus is scheduled to arrive any minute.
Hope you are all doing well!
Joe and Sophie
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Traffic is C-R-A-Z-Y
The traffic in the city is chaotic at best. Most people here drive scooters or mopeds of every variety. And recent laws passed that require riders to wear helmets. So it looks like no 2 riders are the same.
There are no lanes and few traffic signals. So everyone has the right-of-way. People here constantly honk either for no reason or to let others aware of your existence on the road. The honking is constant, and that's an understatement.
Crossing the street is a lot like taking a few steps and then waiting for scooters to pass. Then taking a few more steps in the road and waiting for more scooters. Repeat until you reach the curb.
The weather in Ho Chi Minh City was hot and humid. We flew into Hanoi (in the north) last night and it's cold and rainy here. It's currently 8 in the morning on Tuesday and we are waiting to get picked up to start our guided tours.
Unfortunately, since we can't get my phone to work here, I'll be posting just from internet cafes as they become available. And no photos for now. We'll share them with you when we return.
There are no lanes and few traffic signals. So everyone has the right-of-way. People here constantly honk either for no reason or to let others aware of your existence on the road. The honking is constant, and that's an understatement.
Crossing the street is a lot like taking a few steps and then waiting for scooters to pass. Then taking a few more steps in the road and waiting for more scooters. Repeat until you reach the curb.
The weather in Ho Chi Minh City was hot and humid. We flew into Hanoi (in the north) last night and it's cold and rainy here. It's currently 8 in the morning on Tuesday and we are waiting to get picked up to start our guided tours.
Unfortunately, since we can't get my phone to work here, I'll be posting just from internet cafes as they become available. And no photos for now. We'll share them with you when we return.
We're Here
Hey Everyone
I'm using the hotel computer cafe because we haven't been able to find a SIM card that will work on my phone.
We made it Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday evening after a very long trip. We were tired and felt awful after all those airplane meals. My dad and Joe had little sleep the whole plane ride, so they had been awake essentially since Friday. I am fortunately gifted with the ability to sleep in any moving vehicle in the sitting position. But we got a hot shower and a good night's sleep.
Vietnam is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. And the current exchange rate is USD 1= VND 15,978. We've just been rounding to 16,000 to make the math a little easier.
I'm using the hotel computer cafe because we haven't been able to find a SIM card that will work on my phone.
We made it Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday evening after a very long trip. We were tired and felt awful after all those airplane meals. My dad and Joe had little sleep the whole plane ride, so they had been awake essentially since Friday. I am fortunately gifted with the ability to sleep in any moving vehicle in the sitting position. But we got a hot shower and a good night's sleep.
Vietnam is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. And the current exchange rate is USD 1= VND 15,978. We've just been rounding to 16,000 to make the math a little easier.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Departure
We just boarded the plane for Hong Kong and discovered we got good seats, right behind first class!
This will be the last post until we reach our destination. And there will be a delay until we find phone service over there that supports mobile blogging. So we will hopefully talk to you soon.
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We're missing some games
Can someone tell us who won the games today? It's going to be packers vs pats, isn't it?
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Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Friday, January 18, 2008
Snakes on a plane
----- Original Message -----
Subject:msnbc.com: A ton of rat snakes found on Vietnam Air flight
Date:Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:27:22
From:Le, Sophia H <SLe@sovereignbank.com>
To: <elsihope@yahoo.com>
Subject:msnbc.com: A ton of rat snakes found on Vietnam Air flight
Date:Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:27:22
From:Le, Sophia H <SLe@sovereignbank.com>
To: <elsihope@yahoo.com>
A
ton of rat snakes found on Vietnam Air flight
Vietnam
has seized more than a ton of rat snakes found aboard a Vietnam Airlines flight
from Bangkok, the second time in about a month such snakes were found in air
cargo to Vietnam, state media said on Friday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22730900/from/ET/
This message contains information which may be confidential and privileged. Unless you are the addressee (or authorized to receive for the addressee), you may not use, copy or disclose to anyone the message or any information contained in the message. If you have received the message in error, please advise the sender by reply e-mail, and delete or destroy the message. Thank you.
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
Preparations
We've had to get quite a few vaccinations ahead of this trip. My regular doctor was willing to do the research and give me the necessary vaccinations (minus the ones they don't stock or are not trained to give). But Joe was referred to the Travel Clinic (there's one near Fuddruckers on Market St.). The travel clinic doesn't take insurance and you have to pay a $60 fee for the visit plus the cost of the vaccinations. The doctor researches the area you are visiting and then makes recommendations on the vaccinations you will need.
This is what was recommended for us:
-Get up-to-date on routine shots (MMR, DPT, you remember those right?)
-Hepatitis A ($62) and Hepatitis B
-Polio ($35)
-Typhoid ($58)
-A prescription for Cipro for travelers' diarrhea
-A prescription to prevent malaria
A word about the malaria...
We were both originally prescribed a drug called malarone for malaria, but when we went to the pharmacy to fill it, we discovered it would cost us $125 each. Joe just happened to know that doxycycline is also an acceptable anti-malarial from when he had to take it for his Lyme Disease in the summer (thank god for reading those pamphlets). It cost him $12 then, he knew it would be cheaper than $125 now.
We had to go back to the doctor's office for a new prescription, because there was no way we were going to pay that much when we knew there was a cheaper alternative. It turns out the prescription for doxycycline cost us around $4 each. $4!!!
I'm not about to start a conversation here about the pharmaceutical business, but...$4!!!! You can be malaria-free for $125 or you can be malaria-free for $4.
I'm just saying....
This is what was recommended for us:
-Get up-to-date on routine shots (MMR, DPT, you remember those right?)
-Hepatitis A ($62) and Hepatitis B
-Polio ($35)
-Typhoid ($58)
-A prescription for Cipro for travelers' diarrhea
-A prescription to prevent malaria
A word about the malaria...
We were both originally prescribed a drug called malarone for malaria, but when we went to the pharmacy to fill it, we discovered it would cost us $125 each. Joe just happened to know that doxycycline is also an acceptable anti-malarial from when he had to take it for his Lyme Disease in the summer (thank god for reading those pamphlets). It cost him $12 then, he knew it would be cheaper than $125 now.
We had to go back to the doctor's office for a new prescription, because there was no way we were going to pay that much when we knew there was a cheaper alternative. It turns out the prescription for doxycycline cost us around $4 each. $4!!!
I'm not about to start a conversation here about the pharmaceutical business, but...$4!!!! You can be malaria-free for $125 or you can be malaria-free for $4.
I'm just saying....
Monday, January 14, 2008
In the Meantime...
We finished painting our living room.
Before...
After...
The furniture is still askew, but we're getting there.
Before...
After...
The furniture is still askew, but we're getting there.
Monday, January 7, 2008
I hope this works!
Well I'm going to try to blog from the road with this. I hope it works. If you don't see any messages after Jan 20th, then sorry it was worth a try. But if you do see some thing then you can keep track of our whereabouts during our trip.
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Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
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