I'll be home for Christmas... or Vietnam??

Yes, I went to Vietnam (Hanoi) for Christmas for 5 days and 4 nights. I was just going to go alone, but two of my new friends decided they wanted to join me as I found cheap flights and a cheap hotel. When I say cheap hotel, I mean $30 USD a night and that was for the Executive Room (upgrade). :-) The two friends that joined me were Adrianne and Enrica, both girls from Toronto (originally HK). Yes dad, it was just me and two girls, but they are only friends. Get the dirty three some thoughts out of your head. lol

Well, of course as many of you know, I love to travel and so I arranged everything for us. I spoke with my friend Ha, who is from Hanoi, but is currently studying in Chicago. I asked her for advice and such. She gave me more than advice, she gave me her cousin's contact information, as he was going to be back in Hanoi for the Holidays. Now, believe it or not, her cousin's name is Jack as well. Who would have thought that I would meet more Jacks in Asia than in the U.S.

Well, we got to Hanoi and ate at a fancy restaurant called Bobby Chin's after the girls did some dress shopping. (for those who are wondering, they were able to get long silk dresses hand made out of the design / color they chose for about $35 USD. Silk ties were about $7 USD. ) Bobby Chin's was expensive for Vietnam standards, around $65 or $70 per person. Now saying that, let me explain what we had for dinner. It was a set Christmas Eve dinner with a few options. I can't remember all of the options, so I'll tell you what I can remember. Caviar, Foie Gras (goose liver pate for the less expensive eaters reading this blog. don't worry, I had to ask as well), lobster something or other, some sort of fancy soup, filet mignon, and creme brulee for dessert. a bottle of french wine and a glass of champagne. All of this for each person, which would roughly have cost around $350 each in the U.S. (guess) So, expensive for Vietnam, cheap for the rest of the world. (and yes, I ate all of it)

The motorbikes (scooters) in the city are everywhere. They say about 6 million motorbikes. The traffic is horrible and the motorbikes drive together in a group. They are crowded on the streets to where you cannot cross even if you mastered Frogger at the age of 3. When something such as a car or bike is in front of them, they go around the sides and then come back together as one. (just like a school of fish) They use the bikes to carry everything and stack them high. We saw motorbikes with eggs, live chickens, pigs, and dogs, all stacked in crates on the back. The guide on the shuttle bus said that they can even carry a cow on there if they need to transport it. (not sure how)

That night Vietnam won a soccer match in the finals of the Southeast Asia Cup (as I was told) against Thailand. I guess they had never gotten this far in a tournament before. The celebration had began before our dinner had finished, and the streets were packed. The noise from the rally on the other side of the lake was like a swarm of humming cicadas. Of course I wanted to join in, so I purchased a flag from a vendor on the street (it was attached to a piece of bamboo which acted as a flag pole) I waved the flag around and was shouting, "yeah, Vietnam, number one". Well, everyone seemed to love it as I was an obvious westerner joining in the fun. They all gave me thumbs up and pats on the back and joined in on the shouting along with me. It was like have an OSU flag in a crowd on game day and shouting O-H. Fun times.

Day two, we woke up and took a shuttle to Halong Bay. A World Heritage site and supposedly one of the most beautiful places in Vietnam. It was cloudy that day, or else it would have been pretty amazing. Either way, the bay is full of limestone rock formations coming out of the sea. They say there are 3,000 little islands there. We boarded an old junk boat and toured along the bay, stopping at the "Cave of Surprises" on one island and kayaking around for an hour or so, as well. We stayed on the boat that night and took the shuttle back to Hanoi around noon the next day. One fun part about Halong Bay were the water vendors. These are women in little boats who will float up next to the junk boats when they are anchored and try to sell snacks and beer.

Friday night, after our return to Hanoi, we ate some pho on the street. Pho are Vietnamese noodles with some meat, cooked in a big pot. The pho we ate was authentic. I mean the people come out and cook this big stew pot on the sidewalk and put a little plastic table and stools next to it. The table and stools are those for like a toddler to sit on. Seriously, I felt like I was playing on my little niece's toy picnic table. I ate the noodles, but not the chicken as I did not trust it. (freshly plucked with skin and bones still in it) Later that night we went with Jack and his friend Hong to a teen night club. (Ha didn't mention Vietnames Jack was only 19, lol) Of course drinking is legal at any age in Vietnam. It closed at midnight and so we went to another bar that actually just opened at midnight (Solace). This one was on the river and was pretty good. However, the walls of the dance floor were covered in aluminum foil. Not sure why.

We were out kind of late but woke up early to start our new day on Saturday. We began by seeing the Ho Chi Mihn Mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the government when they switched to a communist party and during most of the war. His body lies in state (as you would see in a funeral home) in a glass case; much like that of fellow communist leaders, Mao Tse Tung and Vladimir Lenin. What most people don't know is that this was against the wishes of all three. Being communists, they wanted to be cremated, as they said the land should be used for farming. (actually sounds pretty good, too bad their own followers disobeyed their final wishes)

There were many things around the mausoleum, including the one legged pagoda, Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts, and the museum. We saw each before heading to the Ethnology Cultural Museum and the Temple of Literature. (first college in Vietnam) We followed this by touring the Hau Lo Prison, where John McCain was held as a Prisoner of War.

To end the day, we ate dinner at Vietnamese Jack's house with his family. His mother had cooked us a traditional Vietnamese dinner. Their house is awesome; it is four stories and has eight bedrooms. It was a great experience and we learned a lot. Three main items of interest. His dad said that the Vietnamese people would have been happy if John McCain would have won, as they like him there. He had been back to Vietnam 10 times since he was a POW and says he owes the Vietnamese people a favor as the doctors saved his life when his plane crashed. However, he says that with Obama having won, it will change the perception of America by the rest of the world. America now looks like a true democracy.

Second point, I asked if they consider Vietnam communist still. Jack's dad is part of the Communist party but said that they are communist on the outside and capitalist on the inside. He said that if they weren't capitalists, then he would not be able to own such a house. (he is in the upper management of a private company that deals in construction, landscaping, and agriculture) Third point of interest was that they have two German Sheppards as pets. Well, they said they don't usually eat western breeds of dogs as they don't taste good. However, they said dog meat is the best meat around. One of the girls and I agreed that we would never try it. Jack did say that if his dogs were to get old and were going to die, they would probably eat them anyway.

That night Jack, his friend Hong, and I went back to the two bars once again. We ate Pho when we left the bar, around 5 in the morning. The girls and I then woke up and took rickshaw rides around the lake. (the small bikes with the seats on the front of them, in which someone pedals you around) We ate Vietnamese subs and then headed to the airport. We had a great time all around.

Hiking and Biking

Went hiking and biking a few weeks ago. (two weeks apart)

Hiking from Happy Valley to Stanley (on Hong Kong Island), which you can see pictures of in my new slideshow. The hike was perhaps only 3 miles, but was over the mountains. There are two peaks that the Westerners call the twin sisters, as they are of similar heights. You have to go down one and up the other, no matter which way you are headed. To get to the top, either way, you have to climb over 1100 stairs. Fun Fun.

Biking was in the New Territories (in the northern part of Hong Kong). For this we went to a certain area and rented bicycles. We biked along the river and mountains for somewhere between 15 and 20 miles.

During this time I perfected the "Hong Kong Pose". I call it the Hong Kong pose, but really it has no official name. I had noticed it when I had first gotten here. Everyone seemed to be giving a peace sign, every time someone took a photo of them. I thought it was strange and during the biking trip with Jack and 5 of his friends (all locals), I inquired of this peculiar behavior. I joked that the next time someone takes a picture of me, that I will give a peace sign so as to fit in. Well, they informed me that it wasn't a peace sign, but a "V" for victory. After I finished laughing, I tried to determine why they would be giving a "victory" sign for in Hong Kong, and why for every picture. As far as I knew, Hong Kong had nothing that they had been victorius over. No battles, no sports, no beer competitions. Well, the locals didn't know why they give the victory (aka peace) sign, they just do. So, I have decided to implement it in almost all of my pictures to come. (as I hate having my picture taken, and this is a way to make them all as goofy as possible)