Mekong Delta, Phnom Penh, Angkor, Bangkok, Ko Samet, New York

Are the places, in that order, where many a photos have been taken by yours truly since the last post.

Highlights (again, shall be brought to you in full colour on picasaweb when I find a computer to upload them and a few hours to caption them):
Mekong delta-- homestay 30 mins from Can Tho (capital of region), which is only accessible by motorbike, and a leisurely walk through a foot of water in wellies. Floating market at Cai Rang (and on-land market too). My Tho canal ride. General feeling of being as in the bush as possible.

Phnom Penh-- lots of crazy Khmer Rouge genocide-related thing (e.g. Choeng Ek Killing Fields, Tuol Sleng genocide museum), Royal Palace. Meeting cool Swedes and Aussie.

Siem Reap/Angkor-- Remarkable temples from 1000 years ago. Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, Banteay Srei, Bayon, and so much more! 3 days and 4 nights well spent.

Bangkok-- The principal tourist attractions of Grand Palace and Wat Pho, as well as the christmas tunes on the subway in the leisurely 28 degree (85 F) weather.

Ko Samet-- The perfect way to end the trip. Relaxing and magnificient. The seclusion of our wooden bungalow and the tiny beach.

New York-- the constant feeling as if I've never left despite having been here not more than 15 days over the past 15 months.

We built Ho Chi Minh City on Rock and Roll...

So we arrived into HCMC (Saigon) on Monday afternoon and leave tomorrow morning at the butt crack of dawn (technical speak) for a 3day/2night journey to Phnom Penh via the Mekong Delta, which will get us into Cambodia's capital on Saturday afternoon. HCMC has been great-- very different from Hanoi, much bigger, more Western, etc. Photos forthcoming but fear not they exist! Monday night we met up with Paige, who was in the year below me at Stuy, and went for dinner at Bo Tung Xeo, this beef place Benny recommended and was quite good. Afterwards we went to a bar near our hotel in the backpacker area, met up with Huy, another one of Paige's friends, and had a hearty and healthy night of Tiger beer.

Tuesday rolled out of bed quite late but managed to see some sites, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House, walked down Dong Khoi (formerly Rue Catinat), had lunch in a very nice cafe called Mojo, part of the Sheraton I believe. Afterwards saw the beautiful People's Committee Building (former Hotel de Ville), and did a bit of nighttime wandering. Everything is so busy! The main difference from Hanoi is that even at 10 or 11 o'clock things are still lively here whereas in Hanoi everyone is asleep by then.

Recouped at our hotel after that, watched a bit of Western TV *cough* Desperate Housewives *cough*, and had some decent Vietnamese food nearby. Bought fruit juice from 999 Mart.

Today we filled up on western breakie in Kim Cafe on De Tham, walked around and went into Ben Thanh market (we walked around the outside last night), then the Fine Arts Museum (though the 2nd floor with all the political stuff was closed for renovation), and had some very nice fruit smoothies at Cafe terrace in Saigon Centre. Then War Remnants Museum (very crazy), followed by a trip to Pho Binh, the Pho (noodle soup) cafe which served as the secret headquarters of the Viet Cong during the US-Vietnam War. It was just 100m from the former US Intelligence HQ!! US soldiers ate in there everyday!! And it was here that the VC planned the 1968 Tet offensive and other attacks. Very crazy indeed to be sitting there slurping up some (rather good mind you) Pho.

After that headed over to the Jade Emperor Pagoda for some religious vibe and then taxi'd through rush hour back to our hotel. Exchanged what was left of our teaching salary into USD and some Thai Baht for use over the next couple of weeks. Should hopefully see Paige again tonight and get some more of this high quality South Vietnamese food Benny has hyped up for the past two months!!

Next post should be from Phnom Penh.

P.S. Picked up some old "Banque de l'Indochine" Piastre money from 60+ years ago. So if I fall into a time warp and land in French colonial Indochina I should be good to go for at least a bowl of Pho.

Relaxin', Tam Coc, Hoa Lu

heyhey so today we went to Hoa Lu (capital of Vietnam at end of 10th and beginning of 11th centuries under Dinh and Le dynasties) and Tam Coc (billed as "Halong Bay on the rice paddies") which was quite nice though for what it was quite over-run with tourists. When we went to Perfume Pagoda (about the same distance and quite a similar experience with rowing around in a boat for a couple hours) there were far fewer tourists despite Perfune Pagoda definitely ranking way higher on the "must see" list of things in the area to see. Maybe its just a busier time of the season.

Monday and Tuesday we chilled about saw World Trade Center, did some shopping around the Old Quarter, had the chocolate buffet at the Sofitel Metropole (very nice), went to the gym, etc. Got our Cambodian visas so now we're good to go to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap! Very exciting! Should be a bit different than Vietnam I reckon.

Had Bun Rieu (pronounced "Boon Zeoo") for dinner with one of the teachers from our school which was very nice, but it was a very busy time for dinner (7pm) and so we were piled on with the other 30 or 40 Vietnamese on to this one tiny corner in the Old Quarter. Kind of funny especially when adding in the hacked up pieces of pig on a basket in front of us, Caroline's general disgust with the congealed chicken blood and unidentified bits of meat floating around in an otherwise standard bowl of noodles and soup. Needless to say I enjoyed it! Hah. Was reminded of an interesting feature of the culture here-- the teacher we had dinner with, Hung, is 25 and is not (yet) married and so lives with her parents until she gets married whenupon she would move in with her husband, a norm that seems to be the case with virtually all women here. Kind of crazy as it seems to exclude the possibility of an independent woman! Consequently, everyone here is borderline obsessed with when they're getting married (and of course, to who, how much money he has, etc.) not just for the standard reasons we have in the West (important phase of your emotional life, etc) but because its a crucial stage of someone's life in every dimension as per above.

And on that somewhat insightful note I am going to sleep! Vietnamese lesson tomorrow morning! I can't believe we're leaving Hanoi on Monday!! Ahhh

Sa Pa very nice, Mum come and gone, just one week left in Ha Noi :-(

So yes, Sa Pa and Lao Cai district in general were fabulous-- the hallmark being the overnight trek to Ban Ho village about 30km from Sa Pa, an ethnic Tay village (Tay being the largest ethnic minority in Vietnam). See the photo album for the play-by-play and many many photos of the beautiful scenery. So mum left this morning after 8 days in Viet Nam (and her first time outside the "West") and from what I can discern she had a very nice time ;-) She left with my large suitcase that I didn't want to schlep around Cambodia and Thailand so I only have to haul my big backpack (in the spirit of being a true cheesy Western backpacker as opposed to Caro who still has a suitcase) which is actually Olga's hah.

Full day of teaching today-- was cool. Had some tiny 5 year olds who I don't normally teach which was nice cos they're so cute! We also saw the Guardian (Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher) at the cinema over our long lunch though the machine stopped working in the middle and we had to leave early to make it back to school on time. Stopped by the Pacific Airlines office to buy tickets to Saigon-- we have just one more week in Ha Noi!! Very sad ;-( I'll be back in NY in just 3 and a half weeks!! I'm not ready to weather below 80 F / 25 C yet!! And I'm especially not ready for this crazy "work" thing either!

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Ethnology (with mom) which was great-- its all about the 54 ethnic minorities living in VN and had a special exhibit of life in Vietnam under the "subsidy economy" of 1975 (reunification) to 1986 (when doi moi, i.e. market economy was introduced). Afterwards mum saw the Water Puppets at the Thang Long theatre and lived it up at the Sofitel Metropole while Caro and I taught (we only teach in the evenings on Fridays). For dinner we all (me, caro, mum, benny) went to the Hoa Sua training restaurant-- this charity that trains disadvantaged Vietnamese to be waiters and make a decent living, which has great food and this really good cocktail of Havana club rum and wheatgrass (!) Photos of the day will be posted shortly in the Hanoi part 2 album.

So need to hit the hay soon since didn't sleep much last night as I was packing the suitcase for mommy to take back this morning to NY so will try to post again soon!

Hue good, Mommy and Bush arrived safely

So Hue and central Vietnam are in good order-- for the lowdown check out the album on my photo site "Hue/Central" with captions. Saw the old citadel (Hue was the capital of VN from 1802 to 1945), some fabulous Nguyen dynasty tombs (despite Khai Dinh apparently having taken some serious hate due to his being France's bizatch), the former DMZ (including these sick Vinh Moc tunnels where people would hang out for years!), and really pretty springs just south of Hue as well.

Mom arrived yesterday morning just 15 mins before Air Force One and despite the 6+13+1 hr flights was up and about for the whole day stopping off at the Temple of Literature, Old Quarter, and Truc Bach lake (where I live).

Am tired and need to wake up early tomorrow for another one of the killer (9.30am-9pm) teaching days and am going to Sa Pa tomorrow night on the overnight train with mum but will try to post from there with some interesting stuff.

Just a month til I'm back in NY! Will be very sad to leave but very happy to see everyone!