Back to BKK

Bangkok

We caught the overnight train from Chiang Mai to BKK. Overnight trains and buses always seem like a good idea until you actually arrive at your destination at 6AM sleep-deprived and disoriented. Luckily, we sort of knew our way around Bangkok. In the interest of time, we thought it best to straight to the Chatuchak Market. Well, that turned out to be a horrible idea.

First of all, the market has no luggage deposit so we were stuck with our backpacks. They were only 30L so not a huge burden, but still uncomfortable and clunky. After getting some food and iced coffee, I motivated to do some souvenir shopping. I never do souvenir shopping and I quickly remembered why. I totally got ripped off. After 5 months of arguing hard for everything, I totally got ripped off. Second, the market is not so captivating the second time around. All of the vendors and their products just seemed a lot less enchanting .

Finally, after an indirect bus ride back to Khao San Road area, we went back to the place we stayed before. Khao San Road was even less amusing, but I was glad to be able to have some ‘muesli’ and fruit. My partner had a flight at some odd hour like 1am, so I walked him to the bus stop (really cheap airport shuttle) and said goodbye for a few days.

At that moment, I suddenly realized that our adventure was over and I was really sad. As I walked back to the guesthouse, I felt free though. I felt the feeling of anonymity that I love feeling in cities. I walked along and I could have stopped anywhere and told the people thee anything. There’s something about being able to be anyone you want that is really appealing. I asked some strangers to open my beer at a gas station near the guesthouse. They invited me to join them, but I had tim-tams to eat and packing to do.

More Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai:

While there are definitely some over-touristy parts of the city, Chiang Mai turned out to be better than expected. I think it was mostly due to the fact that we had a scooter. We stopped at a different market almost every day on our way back from climbing and sampled everything that appeared strange and new. The people in Northern Thailand seemed a lot nicer. Plus, we knew our numbers now since it was the same as Lao so I’m sure that helped out a lot at markets.

Food: Papaya salad was a maintstay in our diet. We were concerned about getting enough protein (b/c we were expending so much effort climbing) so we frequented the eggs-on a stick woman. I don’t know how it works but somehow the yolk just blends in and so the yolk isn’t like a hardboiled egg but the white is. We also found some chicken on a stick guys. A lot of the food vendors weren’t willing to negotiate which was sort of discouraging, but we ended up scoring some good stuff. I developed an unhealthy addiction to mango sticky rice. It was about 25 baht outside of town and 30-35 at our ‘local’ market. I think it involved butter, condensed milk, salt, sugar, and mango, but there was nothing like it after a hard day of climbing. That and our ridiculously cheap beer substitute- yum!

Chocolate: So, I had this challenge the whole time I was in Asia. I’m a chocolate eater. I enjoy cheap sketchy chocolate. But, I didn’t want to buy US candy bars while in Asia. Especially for more money than I would spend in the US. We went to this one chocolate/coffee boutique place in chiang mai and it was sort of a waste. I don’t know how many times I have fallen for this (and will fall for it again), but baked goods that aren’t quite sweet enough will never satisfy my chocolate cravings. Tim-tams (even though they are the ‘Asian’ modified kind) were my lifesavers. If you don’t know what tim-tams are, find your nearest Aussie.

Errands: We found a few other markets around northern Chiang Mai that were pretty interesting. It’s hilarious how the ‘geared for tourists’ market are starkly different from the local parts. We found the ‘dried fruit and tea’ section of the market and bargained for dried strawberries, lychee, and bael fruit (for making tea.) We later went upstairs where all the women were calling to us in English and trying to charge us double the price. Unfortunately, the US wouldn’t let the bale fruit in, but it made it all the way across the pacific.

I also took our ‘off day’ in Chiang Mai as an opportunity to get some much needed pages added to my passport. It’s sort of neat that I’ve been to 4 different continents and lots of different countries. Of course I want to see the whole world, but filling up a passport was an accomplishment, in a weird way. It also helps that the Asian countries all give visas that take up 1 page. Why can’t they just have stamps like everyone else ? 

Thailand-Round 2

The Thai/Lao New Year sort of wrecked our plans. We budgeted more time in Laos because of our first negative impressions in Thailand. Five months of travel sounds like a lot, but when there are only a few weeks left, it seems like there is this great pressure to do so much and see so much to make up for the previous 4 months of slacking.

Anyhow, one expensive flight from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai later, we were back in Thailand. This time with the potential to stay 30 days. Too bad we only had 2 weeks. After walking from the airport to town, we found a ‘cheap’ place to stay. For 150 baht per night, we secured ourelves a room at what we later called the burnout hotel. It had free wifi and felt relatively safe.

We got down to business immediately: locate the climbing shop. We paid ridiculous amounts for the rope rental but it got us started. The climbing is about 45 min. outside of chiang mai. I was amazed at what we found when we got there. There were bathrooms, signs containing lots of information, bamboo shelters, fences, etc. I guess the climbing shop is trying to be responsible with its monopoly. Although, it was interesting how they wanted donations for the water fund yet there only appeared to be water whenever they had clients.

So, we settled into 5 or 6 days of serious climbing. First, we rented a scooter from our burnout hotel. Scooters are so great. Then, every morning, we went to the same lady to get Cambodian style noodle soup and iced coffee. After, we would split up and gather the necessary supplies for the days nourishment: the sweet rice treats, fruit, waffles, and whatever else look portable and interesting.

Next, we would drive out to the climbing spot. We had a 3rd climbing buddy for a few days. It was interesting to climb with someone else. People have different methods and preferences. The days sort of blur together now, but I earned some tim-tams by on-sighting a few 6A routes. After 1 day of completely flailing, something clicked and I felt like I could climb anything. There was one 6C that completely shut me down, but I cruised a few 6B’s and managed to climb a few 6C (with a few falls). I didn’t really realize it until I got back, but I love sport climbing. Limestone is pretty amazing. Climbing stalactites and crazy formations is my favorite thing.

Climbing still remains one of the weirdest things I have ever done. In no other sport that I participate in do you have to confront failure head on almost every day. But, I guess that is what makes success so sweet!

All about the Benjamins (Cat Ba part 2)

True story: After a wave of sickness passed, I was feeling up to exploring Cat Ba city. Plus, we needed to get some dinner. We walked past a food cart and paused to try and figure out what exactly they were trying to sell. It appeared to be sticky rice with shredded coconut, mystery meat, and some other unidentified food to go on top. While we were standing there, a family had ordered a serving and paid 5000 dong for it. After some tasty yet unfilling pho, we cruised back to the food cart and decided to try the rice mixture (sans mystery meat). While my partner was getting out the 5000 dong to pay, they told us it was 10,000. We laughed and explained that we just watched someone else pay 5000 and it was not fair to charge us double the price. The man and woman promptly stopped speaking english, looked at each other, realized they were busted and took our 5000 dong.

Imagine if this happened every time we bought something. More often than not, this is the case in Northern Vietnam. Sometimes I feel cold hearted when I complain to other travelers about the dual pricing scheme. Sometimes I think I should stop obsessing. I have to eat 3 meals per day (roughly) and because I have no cooking facilities, I have to buy those meals from vendors or street stalls or restaurants. Am I just supposed to double my daily food budget and pretend like I don't notice when I am charged twice the price? I used to think it possible that the 'these people need the money more than I do' argument carried some weight. Now, I don't. I have observed the loafing all day and the prices that locals pay. I don't buy it anymore.

Yes, the exchange rate is favorable to us. But, I don't have unlimited money like so many people seem to think. When I go home to my country and support myself, it will involve working at least 8 hours/ day 5 days a week. Days full of work. Not just sitting on my motorbike calling out to all tourists within a 100 meter radius and trying to offer rides. I fully support people involved in legitimate ways to make money but I can no longer support the dual pricing scheme. It really gets to me. I don't know how other travelers do it.

Enough ranting... We have know developed a system for the remainder of our time in Vietnam: watch transactions very closely and then refuse to pay anything other than what the locals pay. It is really obvious and in the US, it would be considered super nosy, a violation of personal space, etc. But here, it seems to work.

All over the place (Northern Vietnam)

I begrudgingly admit that I might be suffering from mild burn out. The constant loud honking of motorbike horns, the long bus and train rides, and the constant struggle not to get ripped off are starting to get to me.

After arriving in Hanoi in the early morning, things have been less than ideal. Ok, well, the free shot of liquor with our noodle soup breakfast might have been a positive. We walked around looking for coffee but only found peculiar setups. Every other spot on the sidewalk was a little table covered with a few canned beverages, gum, and other miscellaneous items. Around the tables were men (sitting in mini-chairs) drinking either tea or beer and smoking out of something that looked like a bong. We concluded that it was probably just tobacco, but were confused about the extravagant smoking method.

Not having slept well the night before, we motivated for the last part of our mission: Get to Cat Ba island and go climbing in Halong Bay. We took a train to Hai Phong only to find out that we missed the 12:30pm (last) ferry. We didn't want to pay 3 times the price for a chartered boat so we decided to just spend the night in Haiphong.

Once again, there were no cheap options. So we settled on a place for 150,000 dong. It included hot water (for tea), tea, a tea set, towels, and a blanket. Yes, standards for hotels are higher in vietnam but so are the prices. I think we even had toilet paper. It was in Haiphong where we learned that Northern Vietnam is more expensive and the people are more focused on money.

The next day, we caught the ferry. I am still unable to comprehend how the boat took almost 3 hours to cover 40 kilometers, but somehow it did. We had to stop unexpectedly to rescue some people from another boat. I think that their boat sank (evidenced by the fact that only the very top was visible above water) but they were originally rescued by a tanker (the people were dry so we assumed that they were rescued quickly). The tanker was not going back to land anytime soon so the people jumped on our boat to get back and get sorted out. Sometimes you just have to fill in the pieces for entertainment value.

Cat Ba island was grey, rainy, and chilly the whole time we were there which is a negative side effect of visiting it in the low season. We did manage to score a room for $4/night though with a window/balcony overlooking the bay. Our climbing plans and motorbiking around the island plans were foiled by a) the rain and b) me being sick. It was really frustrating to try and find food that had any sort of nutritional value. Normally subsisting on pho and random snacks would be ok, but after a total system purge, I needed a little more...

After 2 nights, we decided to just cut our losses and head to Hanoi for a day and then leave Vietnam. Done, Done, and done.

Heading North (Hoi An to Hanoi)

Heading North

Hoi An to Da Nang:

We took the bus for this portion of the journey but this time without the chickens.

Da Nang to Hue:

I insisted that we take the train for this portion of the trip since it is supposed to be the most beautiful portion of train ride in the country. It was in fact really beautiful. The tracks follow the coast most of the way. I sat looking out the window and wondering how to get to all of the deserted white sand beaches we kept passing. I had plenty of time to ponder this as the train took 4 hours which is 2 hours longer than it is supposed to take.

Hue:

I had planned on being able to check out the Citadel for a few hours before heading on a night train or bus to Hanoi. Unfortunately, the timing did not quite work out and so Hue was only a brief moment in time for us. It seemed like a likeable little place though. There were lots of parks and flowers alongside the river. Also, it was obviously devoid of the 'made for tourists' feel of Hoi An.

We did have time to stock up on food before boarding the bus. I got a dessert which is largely inexplicable but was very tasty. The old woman scooped bananas, gelatin, nuts, taro paste, and other fruits and random things into a cup. Then she topped it with ice and condensed milk. After a 2 day chocolate hunt, I decided to eat with the locals eat for dessert. Mostly because I refused to pay US prices for a Mars Bar. The Vietnamese don't really have any chocolate bar equivalent.

To Hanoi:

The thing about Vietnam is that it is not of an insignificant size. Coming from Cambodia where the distances are short took a little getting used to. The other thing about Vietnam is that the 'open bus tour' scheme means that almost all tourists make the same trek up the coast and stop at all the same places. The good news is that it is fairly easy to arrange transportation. The bad news is that it is really hard to authentic vietnamese anything.

Since we are running short on time, we're sort of relegated to covering large distances quickly and staying on the tourist track. The overnight bus to Hanoi was largely uneventful. The bus drivers and assistants always seemed surprised when the bus makes a dinner stop and we walk to another restaurant to eat. We are always surprised at the way people file in like cattle to the overpriced restaurants and just pay extra for the crappy food.

Hoi An

Hoi An

The chicken bus dropped us off a little ways out of town. The motor bike guys said is was 4 km but since we are super fit, we managed to walk to the middle of town in 10 minutes. Amazing how those 4 km just ticked by.

Ok ok. Sarcasm aside, Hoi An immediately proved to be ruined by tourism. We went to probably 7 or 8 hotels and it was the same story: rooms started at $12 and included AC, hot water, and a pool. Yes, all of the hotels had pools- this is not usually the case. A motorbike driver told us about a place for $8. I have adopted a new policy which includes Never following a motorbike driver to any tourist destination including hotels. Walking up to a hotel with one of those guys is just shooting yourself in the foot. This guy wouldn't leave us alone though so we noted where the hotel was, went and had lunch, and then went back.. After some light negotiation, we got a room for $8. Success.

Hoi An is known for tailor-made clothing. There are hundreds of stores. It is impossible to stand on the side walk for more than 30 seconds without someone coming up to you and trying to get you to have clothing made at their shop. In the end, it proved to be too much of a daunting task. I didn't have enough prior knowledge and I didn't´have enough motivation to become a tailor made clothing expert.

Instead, we did some relaxing. The beach in Hoi An was actually pretty nice. The people selling coconuts, etc. Were only marginally obnoxious. The water was cool enough to be refreshing and overall the beach was clean and uncrowded. Much better than the reports I had heard from Nha Trang. In true Vietnamese style, at both of the beaches, people tried to wave us into parking lots for our bicycles. One guy looked pretty official with a baton and a whistle but we had previously been advised that paying for parking was a scam and not necessary.

Biking away from tourist towns seems to be my favorite activity these days. From a main road, we turned down a dirt/ grass path which cut between uber green rice fields. Riding on this stretch amidst palm trees, green grass, blue skies, and cows just hanging out evoked the 'I love this life' feeling that has been happening less frequently in the past few weeks.

I often have that happy feeling when I feel like I am in a part of the country that is just that country-not a production for tourists. I also have that feeling with interesting meal experiences not only because of the food but because of the opportunity to have 'normal' transactions with locals.

While I disagree with the many people who claim that Hoi An has amazing food, I would say that the food is the best part of Hoi An. It is also the last place we were getting somewhat reasonable prices: fresh beer for 4000dong and 2 coffees (+ 2 teas) for 10000 dong. We found a 'vegetable' lady down an alley who hooked up huge piles of veggies + rice + watermelon for 20,000dong each. Sweet sweet vegetables....

One night while on the prowl for dinner with another American couple, we passed by a local restaurant which looked interesting. After some pointing, gesturing, and conversing with a slightly intoxicated vietnamese customer, we successfully ordered a few plates of grilled chicken and okra which we wrapped up in mustard leaves and lettuce with cucumbers. There were 3 dipping sauces to choose from: soy sauce, a sweet chili sauce rendition, and some other totally unidentifiable sauce which turned out to be amazing. Thanks to our new friend, we were feasting like the locals. Sweet sweet success. The icing on the cake was when we observed the elderly woman taking money tallying up another customer's tab with an abacus. We stared in disbelief, then laughed, then stared in disbelief again. Only in Vietnam.