oh lord
where to begin
we are safe and sound in hanoi, vietnam
this city is the most overwhelming of all the cities to date.
and i don't think i could date this city long.
we arrived last night around 6 pm and it is never fun arriving in a chaotic city when it's dark. we met a canadian couple on our bus from vientiane to hanoi...thank goodness.
ok i will backtrack...
so vientiane was great, it was a holidsay weekend...the dragon boat races were taking place and the whole entire city was closed down and partying..so fun!
we left cara in vientiane and left laos around 7 pm.
the hostel we were staying at was so great...the owner was a blast...we shared a couple beers before we left and he biked my carry-on down the street for me.
he warned us...the bus to hanoi was in NO means a VIP bus.
nope it was pretty much a public bus.
us and the two other canadians were the only white faces for miles seeing as how most backpackers spend the extra buck for lush seats and a toilet and a dvd player on the bus. not these faces.
the bus driver and his assistant were not the nicest of people we have met so far. they would not allow us on the crap bus until 5 minutes before we left. all the locals had been getting the good seats and getting comfy for hours. they chucked our bags thru the back window behind the back seats of the bus....along with a 42" tv and a new fan. great.
we were finally allowed on the bus and we claimed the last seats that weren't in the back and i was quickly removed from that spot seeing as how i'm white. the bus driver came and grabbed my arm,pulling me out of my seat and pushing me towards the back. great. with the tv.
we got the only seats on the bus that did not recline. our vents were open and full blast and broken. the mean man was sitting behind us while waiting with all his tower of pillows for his turn to drive. he was the reason we couldn't recline.
did i mention that the bus ride was 24 hours thru the mountains? GREEEAT.
so we start going finally and after about 6 hours we stop. for good.
apparently the border only opens at about 7 am, so we waited from 1 am till 6 am in a parking lot in the middle of laos, and strangely half our bus got off and didnt come back till it was time to go....i think they must have found beds. shoot. you'd think the bus would leave later and go straight through, but apparently that would be too convenient for everybody.
we finally reached the border after about 1 hour of actual sleep (i'm trying to ween myself off of gravol so i had to sleep without help...not very successful...it was easy to cross but very confusing...i'm glad we've had some experience before with land borders...otherwise we would not have known what to do.
we got off our bus, got stamped out of laos, left our bags on the bus, walked for half a mile to the vietnam border, got stamped in, went and got our bags and then went thru "customs" and then got off the bus again and walked past a rope which was blocking off entrance to actual vietnam, thru security and back on, continually dropping dong for random health quarantine and other fees. so silly. dong is the currency here in vietnam. 16,896 d=$1...it's a good thing dad passed down the mental math gene to me...
we had ONE stop for food and bathrooms for the remainder of the trip...
i had to stop and pop a squat in some old ladies cornfield while half the bus watched.
everyone on our bus was wearing a windbreaker circa 1992...
we passed a truck full of logs and i thought of shope remple (spelling?) and his cutting down of trees business. i laughed for a solid minute. one time he lost his watch while cutting down all 50 of our evergreen trees.
vietnam traffic is unimaginable. honestly. i can't even describe the controlled chaos. our bus driver LOVEDDDDD his horn, but so did every other person on the road. all you hear is a constant hum of the horn and it's almost as if there is an invisible unspoken middle lane. right between the two regular lanes. so you have a single lane going in either direction and then a middle lane for people passing...but it works in BOTH directions. if i didn't start biting my nails on that bus ride, i never will.
i wish i could explain how absolutely retarded it is....and that was BEFORE we got into hanoi. oh man...retarded...
we got a taxi and headed straight for the old quarter and ended up wandering into many full hostels and ended up splurging $25 for a night in a super lush hotel. i took my first bath in 6.5 months this morning and it was the best thing ever.
i'm gonna go have a bowl of pho (noodle soup) and then wander around the old district taking pictures.
we have a date with the post office this afternoon...time to empty my bag and make some room...
so far i think vietnam is going to be my favorite country yet...
fritz.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
luang prabang
sabai dee...
i love love love this country.
i think it could very well be my new favorite...
everything is so lush and green and so relaxing and of course ridiculously cheap.
luang prabang is a little town of about 26,000 right on the mekong river.
the mekong river is the color of butterscotch pudding
there are about 3 or 4 main streets and everybody rides their bikes while holding an umbrella.
you get a fresh, hot baguette with practically every meal.
today we rented bikes for 10,000 kip ($1) and explored the area...it's just so lovely.
our guesthouse is $2 a night...
at this rate i could live here for months without going into debt!
tomorrow we're off to the waterfall and then the following day we are heading to vang vieng to hop in an inner tube and float down the river, beer lao in hand.
laos is an alcoholic's version of heaven. a shooter will set ya back 20 cents. buy one get one free during happy hour...insane.
we're all getting over some form of sickness...ear aches, fevers, etc...too much moving around does that to ya...so we are laying low, eating healthy and getting some fresh air and this is the perfect place to do it.
this blog is not at all exciting...i'm gonna quit while i'm ahead.
fritz.
i love love love this country.
i think it could very well be my new favorite...
everything is so lush and green and so relaxing and of course ridiculously cheap.
luang prabang is a little town of about 26,000 right on the mekong river.
the mekong river is the color of butterscotch pudding
there are about 3 or 4 main streets and everybody rides their bikes while holding an umbrella.
you get a fresh, hot baguette with practically every meal.
today we rented bikes for 10,000 kip ($1) and explored the area...it's just so lovely.
our guesthouse is $2 a night...
at this rate i could live here for months without going into debt!
tomorrow we're off to the waterfall and then the following day we are heading to vang vieng to hop in an inner tube and float down the river, beer lao in hand.
laos is an alcoholic's version of heaven. a shooter will set ya back 20 cents. buy one get one free during happy hour...insane.
we're all getting over some form of sickness...ear aches, fevers, etc...too much moving around does that to ya...so we are laying low, eating healthy and getting some fresh air and this is the perfect place to do it.
this blog is not at all exciting...i'm gonna quit while i'm ahead.
fritz.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
tiangao qishuang...
*the sky is high and the air is clear*
yes my friends, we have finally arrived in china...
let me backtrack a little bit...
hong kong was out of this world.
i left off the last blog on my way out to see the fireworks.
ohhh man, the show blew my mind.
i took videos and i will try to figure out a way to post them.
the finale video is over a minute long. the FINALE. it definitely put the annual morris fireworks to shame.
after the fireworks were over we hung around the harbour for a bit
a creepy man snuck pictures of me and buttered derek up so he could ask permission to take a picture with me and the creeper. haha.
we went back to our hostel and slept like sideways sardines after a couple of chinese king cans
played rock paper scissor for the two pillow and blankets that the three of us had to fight for.
(i won a pillow AND a blanket and slept like a queen)
the next morning derek and i met up with a friend of my uncles for lunch.
we went to a really cool japanese sushi restaurant and downed large chunks of the most raw fish i've ever seen.
after lunch with sparky we did some more shopping, went to a goldfish market in the rain, and then called it a day.
the next morning we woke up early and walked to the avenue of stars, put my hands in jackie chans' handprints, then we wandered into the hong kong art museum...
ate some amazing cream puffs in the mtr station...
did a lot of snacking this day come to think of it...candy wanted us to try every hong kong treat/drink/baked good.
after snacking all afternoon and buying film for my new camera (a holga) we hopped on a double decker tram around the city and then we met cara's parents for dinner.
they took us out for italian...tasted like home (a nice treat after a week of seafood)
the grand finale of the night was going to "the peak"
the view over hong kong is out of this world amazing.
we took a gazillion pictures, almost blew away in the ridiculous wind, and then went back to our hostel for our last night in the city.
the next morning we packed up and got on the 24 hour train to beijing.
i apparently caught a headcold, but luckily, after a few benadryl and gravol i slept over half of the train ride away!
we had hard sleeper berths on the train, but it was surprisingly cozy...we even had the softest blankets of this entire trip!
we arrived in beijing around 3 pm, almost got ripped off by some taxi driver, wanting to charge us 160 yuan to get to our hostel, when in reality it cost us less than 30 yuan (about $4).
settled in to our underground hostel in central beijing, and wandered around the area for a bit.
the next day we went wandering around the area and stumbled across the forbidden city and tiananmen square, but decided to come back on a day that's NOT a saturday.
today we went to the silk market...didn't buy much
tomorrow it's back to tiananmen square and the forbidden city and then off to the art district.
the day after that we're going to tackle the great wall of china
then a day of biking around beijing and an acrobatics show.
should be fun!
on thursday we are leaving for xi'an to see the terra cotta warriors and then it's off to kunming and then a few days later we should arrive in laos.
time is flying by...i'll be home before i know it.
until then i will embrace all that is china/laos/vietnam/cambodia/thailand/malaysia/tiawan.
love love love
fritz.
yes my friends, we have finally arrived in china...
let me backtrack a little bit...
hong kong was out of this world.
i left off the last blog on my way out to see the fireworks.
ohhh man, the show blew my mind.
i took videos and i will try to figure out a way to post them.
the finale video is over a minute long. the FINALE. it definitely put the annual morris fireworks to shame.
after the fireworks were over we hung around the harbour for a bit
a creepy man snuck pictures of me and buttered derek up so he could ask permission to take a picture with me and the creeper. haha.
we went back to our hostel and slept like sideways sardines after a couple of chinese king cans
played rock paper scissor for the two pillow and blankets that the three of us had to fight for.
(i won a pillow AND a blanket and slept like a queen)
the next morning derek and i met up with a friend of my uncles for lunch.
we went to a really cool japanese sushi restaurant and downed large chunks of the most raw fish i've ever seen.
after lunch with sparky we did some more shopping, went to a goldfish market in the rain, and then called it a day.
the next morning we woke up early and walked to the avenue of stars, put my hands in jackie chans' handprints, then we wandered into the hong kong art museum...
ate some amazing cream puffs in the mtr station...
did a lot of snacking this day come to think of it...candy wanted us to try every hong kong treat/drink/baked good.
after snacking all afternoon and buying film for my new camera (a holga) we hopped on a double decker tram around the city and then we met cara's parents for dinner.
they took us out for italian...tasted like home (a nice treat after a week of seafood)
the grand finale of the night was going to "the peak"
the view over hong kong is out of this world amazing.
we took a gazillion pictures, almost blew away in the ridiculous wind, and then went back to our hostel for our last night in the city.
the next morning we packed up and got on the 24 hour train to beijing.
i apparently caught a headcold, but luckily, after a few benadryl and gravol i slept over half of the train ride away!
we had hard sleeper berths on the train, but it was surprisingly cozy...we even had the softest blankets of this entire trip!
we arrived in beijing around 3 pm, almost got ripped off by some taxi driver, wanting to charge us 160 yuan to get to our hostel, when in reality it cost us less than 30 yuan (about $4).
settled in to our underground hostel in central beijing, and wandered around the area for a bit.
the next day we went wandering around the area and stumbled across the forbidden city and tiananmen square, but decided to come back on a day that's NOT a saturday.
today we went to the silk market...didn't buy much
tomorrow it's back to tiananmen square and the forbidden city and then off to the art district.
the day after that we're going to tackle the great wall of china
then a day of biking around beijing and an acrobatics show.
should be fun!
on thursday we are leaving for xi'an to see the terra cotta warriors and then it's off to kunming and then a few days later we should arrive in laos.
time is flying by...i'll be home before i know it.
until then i will embrace all that is china/laos/vietnam/cambodia/thailand/malaysia/tiawan.
love love love
fritz.
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