China Tomorrow

I’m going to China tomorrow. I can’t believe fall quarter is finally here.  I’m trying to get pumped for learning, but my little Vietnam vacation kind of threw me back into summer mode.  It’s my last night in Vietnam and I’m staying in a lovely hotel in Hanoi, the capital.  I’m about to go out and get dinner with my travel buddies, but I will post more updates and pictures from the trip tonight.

The Last of Saigon

So. After the cyclo ride, the two Australian girls and I went to Highlands Coffee next to our hotel to take a rest. I have discovered that Vietnamese coffee is amazingly good. They put sweetened condensed milk in a cup, and then place a small brewing device over the cup and let the coffee drip in.

I talked with my traveling companions and we got to know each other a little better.  Amanda works for a children’s charity in Melbourne, working with kids whose parents are drug users.  Julia is a travel agent and lives on the Gold Coast, although this Vietnam trip was just for fun (not for work.)  

After coffee, we all wanted to get massages but did not want to pay a fortune.  The Lonely Planet guide told me about a place down the street called the Vietnamese Traditional Massage Institute, which isn’t the cleanest place but gives no-nonsense massages at cheap prices. Perfect.

The coolest part, in my opinion, was that it is a blind massage parlor, meaning that all the masseuses are blind.  I think this supposedly makes the massage better because their other senses are heightened, like the sense of touch, but I’m not really sure.

When we got there, we were led into this beautiful courtyard and upstairs.  There, a guy handed us tickets and sent us down the hall, giving us no further instructions.  Then we started seeing blind women walking around.  One of them felt my arm and then motioned for each of us to go into a separate area (the massage tables were separated by curtains.  The one who grabbed my arm scared me for some reason – she was strikingly ugly, with only one front tooth that jutted out of her mouth, and eyes that were squeezed shut. I can’t really describe it without sounding mean, but she made me uncomfortable.  Anyway,  my friends picked two rooms and I suddenly realized I was stuck with the scary lady.  

She led me into her area, and since she didn’t speak any English, she just touched my shirt and said, “Off, off.”  I could hear the same exchange going on in all the rooms.  I didn’t want to shock her by stripping naked, because I didn’t know what the norm was, so I just took off my shirt.  She felt my bra. “Off.”  Okay.  She felt my pants. “Off!” Okay, okay, sheesh.  Everything came off (except my underwear) and she pointed for me to lie face down on the table.

The massage was actually really good.  I tend to get ticklish when people touch my lower back, and so when she tried to massage me there I tensed up. I think she took this to mean that I was sore there, and massaged it even harder!  I couldn’t tell her to stop because we barely speak a word of each other’s languages (the exception being “off!”), so I just had to wait it out.  It was a full body massage, and I thought the best parts were the leg, neck, and head massage.  She wasn’t so scary when I got used to her. The only really strange thing is that I thought blind people were supposed to be graceful, because they have memorized the feel of their surroundings perfectly. Not the case. She kept bumping into the table and waving her hand around to feel for things. That just surprised me.

After the massage, we took a long colorful walk down to the five-star Rex Hotel to check out their rooftop cocktail lounge.  One pina colada turned into dinner, and we spent a little more than we would have liked, but the food was delicious.  Then, our server gave us the wrong change.  We politely explained the mistake to him, and his English was perfect.  However, he refused to admit the mistake, simply telling us to “trust him.”  It was only a small amount, but we objected out of principle.  Whatever happened to “the customer is always right?”  Finally, we left in disgust.

Another unpleasant surprise awaited us at the hotel.  We had asked the hotel lobby to watch our luggage, and a huge hole was ripped in one of my bags.  It went straight through and looked like someone had deliberately knifed it.  The only thing in the bag was books, and nothing was missing, but it was still bizarre, and it was still my bag!! The hotel refused to take any responsibility, saying that they thought it was like that when I gave it to them.  I was incredulous. I think I would have NOTICED if there were a GAPING HOLE in my BAG.  They finally conceded that maybe  mice ate into it, but could offer me no compensation but an insincere “sorry.”  It wasn’t the best night in terms of customer service.  I remember that being one thing that really cut into me in China – you are completely on your own. If something happens, you need to fend for yourself. Don’t expect anyone else to take their own responsibility for thefts, damages, etc.  I guess it’s better that I was reminded of this sooner or later, but it still gave me a twinge of nostalgia for the States.  

Finally, we met up with our phantom Scotsman traveler, who had been out drinking the night before and slept until 7 pm.  We made it to the train station and got on our sleeper car (air-con soft sleeper, the best quality luckily.)  I went to sleep almost immediately.  What a day.

CYCLO!

VSo, next we went on a cyclo ride through Saigon.  For those of you who don’t know, a cyclo-rickshaw is a bicycle with a seat attached to the front. So I sat in the seat, and my driver pedaled behind me.

Me looking absolutely ridiculous in my cyclo.

View from the hotseat!

Our humorous drivers demonstrating how to use a cyclo.

More fun with color accent – I made the yellow wall stand out. 

Once again I am surprised that these conical hats are still in vogue. 

Homophobia ain’t no thang over here. (Note: these men are probably not gay. It is really common for people of any gender combination to share a motorbike.)

Wide load. This would probably be more astonishing if you knew the kind of traffic this dude will face when he hits a main road.

Amanda, one of my Aussie friends, and her driver. 

I have to go now to meet my fellow travelers for breakfast (or brekkie, as they call it.) But I will post more pictures as soon as I get the chance!  GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!

Day 2 – Saigon

So. The day after I arrived by plane, I spent the whole day exploring Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City.) It turns out that most people who live here still call it Saigon, even though the official name is HCMC. Some people (like my Viet American friends) say it’s because Saigon fought for the south, and never wanted to be communist. But most people I ask here just say that Saigon is easier to pronounce, it’s shorter, or it sounds prettier.  I would have to agree with all of those views.  

I woke up early and met my honcho (tour leader) in the lobby at 9AM.  There are 4 people in my tour group. I met the two Australian girls, Amanda and Julia, who are both really nice.  Amanda is 29 and Julia is 34, but they are both single and we have a lot of fun. The Scottish guy, Mark, refused to wake up that early.  When we left on Monday night we learned that he had spent the whole day sleeping until 7 AM.  He’s a strange character.

So, our honcho took us on a walking tour of Saigon.  First we went to the Reunification Palace, a huge beautiful building first built by the French, then bombed, and rebuilt with a more Vietnamese style.  It’s an important building because when the communists took over South Vietnam, the plowed through the gates of Reunification Palace with a tank, climbed up the facade, and planted a red flag at the top of the building. 

Here are some pictures from the walk:

Why are there so many wires, you  might ask? At first we thought it was because they never take down the old ones, but our honcho told us it’s because Vietnam does not have an underground wire system, so they are all tethered to the telephone poles.

The French colonial influence is very much alive in Vietnam. A lot of the buildings in city centers are huge European palaces painted in bright, tropical colors, especially yellows and oranges. 

The Reunification Palace

I had some fun with the color accent photo on my camera to make only the red flags stand out.

One of the fancy meeting rooms in the palace. Makes you wonder what kind of crazy discussions occurred here during the “American War.” On that note, while of course I recognize that the Americans made many horrendous mistakes during the war, I think it’s unfair to call it the “American War” because it started out as a war between the north and south. I guess the government probably wants to forget that the South was resistant, though.

There were war rooms in the basement with way too many telephones, in my opinion. I think the basement was a bomb shelter for the Americans during the war. There was also a helicopter pad on the roof for emergency evacuation.

American tank at the War Remnants Museum. This was one of the times I told people I’m Canadian.  The museum had a very anti-American focus, with a huge gallery of photos of people with mutilations from bombs and Agent Orange. It was so sad. White guilt definitely set in. On the flip side, there was no mention of North Vietnamese torturing American soldiers, but I guess I couldn’t really expect that.

Then our honcho took us to look at Notre Dame Cathedral and the Old Post Office, which were both French.  We had lunch at a local restaurant, which was delicious. I had fresh mango juice, beef with vermicelli, and shrimp vegetable rolls.  Next, we went on a cyclo tour, which I will describe in my next post.

Viet Nam

So much has happened in the past 3 days!  On Monday I did a walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), then Monday night we took an overnight train to Nha Trang, a beautiful beach resort city.  On Tuesday we did a boat tour of the Nha Trang islands, which included snorkling, a song and dance show, and a “floating bar.” I put the bar in quotation marks because it was advertised as such, but turned out to be a big piece of styrofoam floating in the water, tethered to the boat, and carrying bottles of fruit wine.  Yesterday (Wednesday) was probably my favorite day so far. I went on a city and country tour of Nha Trang with a local guy we met the night before. He showed us a lot of the local craftspeople in villages around the area. We even got to eat lunch with Buddhist monks atop a mountain temple and play with nursery school children.  Then last night we took another overnight train to Danang. We arrived in Danang at 6 am, where our honcho picked us up, showed us China beach, and then drove us to Hoi An.  I just found internet in the Hoi An Cafe, which is a beautiful outdoor restaurant complete with umbrellas, tropical trees, and a cute koi pond with a Japanese bridge.  

Vietnam is so lovely.

Since I’ve had many busy days, I will break them down into separate posts, coming soon.

Good Morning, Vietnam

It is 7 AM on Monday morning here in Vietnam, and I just woke up.  I got about 7 hours of sleep last night, which is pretty good because I thought I might wake up at 3 or 4 AM due to jet lag. Considering that I barely slept for the 48 hours before bed last night, I’m really glad I finally got a chance to relax.

So, let me tell you about my travels.

Friday (seems like so long ago) – I woke up at 10 AM and immediately started to finish my packing. I decided it would be a good idea to put my smaller suitcase inside of my super jumbo one from Emily.  I then talked to Adrianne on the phone for an hour, which was probably a bad idea because I just could not finish packing in time. I had way too much stuff! My mom and I had planned to leave for the airport at 2:30, but we didn’t end up leaving until about 2:45. Ah well, it could have been worse.

We made it to Boston in great time.  At Logan Airport, I learn that my super jumbo suitcase weighs in the 70-100 pound category, which would cost me (or my mom) a hundred bucks. American Airlines also charges $25 to check a bag at all – what cheap-asses.  They also didn’t give us ANY free food, and it’s a 6 hour flight from Boston – LA. Instead they wanted to sell us $10 sandwiches and $3 bags of chips.

Aaaaanyway, I decide that the best I can do is to get my bag under 70 lbs, and then I’ll just pay the fee for 50-70 lbs.  I thought that the small suitcase inside the larger one was probably taking up too much weight, so I dumped all of my clothes into the big suitcase and my mom took the other one home.  73 lbs.  So I shifted around the weight between my carry-ons and my checked bag, putting a bunch of books (heavy) and my instant coffee/nutella/gatorade (heavy) in my carry-ons.  69.2 lbs. YES. Victory over the system.

My mom walked me to the security area and we said goodbye in line. I had her promise not to leave until I made it through security and waved. I wanted to cry so badly when we hugged goodbye, but I stayed strong and put my bags on the belt.  As I walked through the metal detector, I waved goodbye to my mom, and when I looked back again, she was gone.  Then, the security lady said there was something wrong with my last bag and ran it through again.  Uh oh.  She put on those ridiculous nuclear gloves and started going through it, until she found the culprit – my jar of nutella.  ”Excuse me, miss, we’re going to have to take this.” I was incredulous. “Nutella? Why?” “It fits into the category of gels and liquids.”

I couldn’t believe this. I love nutella and I brought it with me to remind myself of home when I get homesick in China.

“But,” I argued deftly, “Nutella is neither a gel or a liquid.”

“No, but it’s a cream. If I can spread it, it’s gotta go.”  

Since when are creams forbidden?  I was so angry at the injustice of it that I started crying (quietly and without making a scene). It was just that I couldn’t hold the tears in any longer.  The woman looked at me snidely and said, “Are you crying because I’m taking the nutella?”

What right did she have to know WHY I was crying? I didn’t even know her! So I said “Yes, I’m going to be in China for 3 months and I want my nutella. It’s even sealed, see?”

But, she wouldn’t hear it.  I left the security area annoyed and indignant. I wasn’t about to point this out to them, but my nail clippers and several pairs of sharp earrings made it through security. I’ve also brought shaving razors on board in the past. But nutella? For shame! These people are making a mockery of airport security if you can bring various sharp objects (I’ve even brought knitting needles on before!) but nothing that is clearly a non-hazardous gel/liquid/cream apparently.

So. I made it to my gate and met a guy who looked my age. He said he was going to Australia for 2 months and I asked him why. He didn’t know. He didn’t even have a hotel booked in Syndey. He was just going to go and see if anything worked out for him. If not, he would be coming home in 2 months anyway.  I was amazed at this guy’s nonchalance over going to a random foreign country by himself, but it gave me new confidence in my journey.

I arrived in LA at 10 PM and my international flight to Taipei was scheduled to leave at 1 AM. When I got to the China Airlines check-in, however, they informed me that all flights to Taipei were rescheduled until the next morning because of typhoons on the island. Mine was delayed 6 hours, and was now scheduled to leave at 7 AM. I met a really nice family in the long line and their 17 year old niece was returning to Vietnam (also alone) after a visit to the States.  I stuck by them and they were extremely hospitable to me, even giving me friends’ numbers to call if I got lost in Ho Chi Minh City. I stuck by the niece, Vy, the whole way until we arrived in Ho Chi Minh.

So. 6 hour delay.  Everyone just sat at the gate, reading and trying to sleep.  

On the 13 hour flight, I could barely sleep. I didn’t have a window seat and thus nothing to lean on to rest my head.  Luckily, China Airlines has those jetblue-style personal TVs with a wide array of TV shows and movies free to order.  I watched Indiana Jones 4, the Sex and the City Movie, and the Happening, all of which did not disappoint!

Taipei.  Looking down at the island of Taiwan before our descent, it looked really agricultural. I couldn’t even see the city of Taipei from my side of the plane. It was so weird being in Taiwan. It didn’t feel real. Then again, what does feel real on this trip? It was strangely comfortable to see Chinese signs and people everywhere, but all the signs were in traditional characters.

Here are some pictures from the Taipei Airport:

Hilarious billboard greeting me as I got off the plane in Taipei. Check out all those hot men in thongs. I wanna go to Taitung!!

Taiwan. No shooting. (I think they meant “no photography” but I obviously broke that rule.)

Smoking room in the airport. Apparently we do have these in the States. Either way it’s funny and looks really futuristic.

Finally I endured the final leg of the journey, the 3 hour flight from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City. I got through customs with no problem and went to go wait at the luggage belt. I waited. And waited. I started to get nervous when I didn’t see my bag. Finally a guy who worked there said “No more bags!” “WHAT?” I said. “Are you serious?” Then, with a huge stroke of luck, he told me, “They just said there is one more bag.” And then Big Bertha (as I’ve decided to affectionately name it) came tumbling out of the machine.

I took a taxi to my hotel, and got to see a lot of Ho Chi Minh City.  It looked kind of like a Chinese city, with a ton of street stalls, bicycles, and open storefronts. But it had a more tropical feel, with palm trees, and waaay more motorbikes. Also, there is a very strong French influence in the architecture. A lot of the buildings are made in the old European style, but have neon signs in Vietnamese and fruit vendors at the doorway. I love this clash of cultures.

My taxi ride to the hotel was seriously scary. Just like in China, people do not pay any attention to road signs here, and they even ride their motorbikes on the wrong side of the street. Bikes, motorcycles, and cars are driving on both sides of the street, somehow weaving through each other so that no one gets hurt. It is apparently common to see someone riding through a red light with two kids on board and no helmets. I don’t know how I didn’t witness any accidents! I have concluded that this whole Vietnam traffic thing is either (a) easier than it looks or (b) requires a lot of skill.

My hotel here is kind of a hole, but for the price I paid I can’t really expect much more. There are visible bed bugs (but actually they’re on the floor too), and my bath towel was damp and not 100% white. However, there is free wifi, satellite TV, and air conditioning, so I’m not complaining. 

Vietnamese money on my bed in the hotel. All the bills have Ho Chi MInh on them. They’re also really colorful! You can see it a little on the 50,000 bill at the front, that all the bills have holes in them, which are actually covered with clear plastic. Cool! Also the exchange rate is crazy – $1 US is $16,000 Vietnamese dong. It’s really hard to tell what stuff should cost.

Since my flight was delayed, I missed the group orientation meeting last night, but I’m meeting them in an hour for a walking tour of the city.  So last night I walked around Pham Ngu Lao (foreigners district where i’m staying) by myself. There are a lot of whities here and many people speak English.  I ate a bowl of pho bo for dinner and then walked around looking at all the shops.  The streets here have the same smell as in China – sweet cigarette smoke mixed with dirt. It’s somehow really comforting, but also stresses me out thinking about how amazing last summer was, and wondering how this time will be.  

SNAKE WINE! Found this in a random store in Pham Ngu Lao. Those are real snakes, folks. Apparently the alcohol has snake venom in it too. It’s a drink with some bite! (sorry)

A scorpion and what appears to be a formaldehyded mini cobra in a bottle of snake wine. Sorry, Deb, but this has NOTHING on that mezcal with the pupa that you brought back from Mexico. Not that I’m buying this for anyone. What if it broke open in my bag? HELLS no. 

Note: since posting these pictures on facebook, I have already had two requests for snake wine from my guy friends.

A snake, biting another snake’s neck. This is whack. I’m so impressed at whoever arranged these dead snakes in the bottle.

When I got back to my hotel room, I finally charged my Chinese phone from last summer. It has an Asian plug, so I haven’t been able to charge it in over a year.  All of my text messages from last summer were still on there, and it was so weird to read them – I felt like no time has gone by at all, I felt like I was still in Beijing.

I need to keep moving now, because I have to pack up all of my things and meet the group at 9 AM for a walking tour of the city.  More to come soon, I hope!