Asia Blog
Asia Blog
Hey all, it's Ben Wood (the elusive 3rd/4th person). I haven't posted here yet. I've been trying recently at Casey's request, but have encountered some problems. Not sure how many of you know me, but I'm currently traveling with Casey and Sean. I've been teaching English in South Korea for the last year, and am about to begin a trip around the world after I leave Sean and Case in Thailand.
Life on the road continues to go well. Many things have happened since my last email. I'm tried to shorten this update for everyone, but the experiences kept on flowing. I've separated the email into into Vietnamese geographic sections including: Central Highlands/Ho Chi Minh Trail, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Cat Ba Island, Hanoi Redux, and impending Laos, so please feel free to skip to any interesting sections.
Boys on Bikes Part 1: The Central Highlands
When last writing, I was about to embark on a four day motorcycle tour of the Central Highlands. While being slightly apprehensive about riding on the back of a bike for four days, the trip was extremely pleasurable. We were on big bikes, using our plastic-encased bags as back rests. Although pricey, we all concluded the was worthwhile upon completion. The first two days were spent going through Vietnam's Central Highlands. We stopped numerous times to view silk worm plantations, rubber trees, coffee plants, pepper farms, and various other growing commodities. Many questions that I never asked, like how does one extra silk from a silk worm (the worm is separated from its cocoon, extracting the silk from the outside and selling the worm for food) were promptly explained throughout the trip. I believe a saw a grand total of one Western person throughout the four days, a refreshing change to daily life on the road in SE Asia. While visiting the myriad of memorials to different wars was enlightening, the first two days were simply ok. I did have the best coffee I've ever tasted before in my life. After trying the three different blends of coffee locally produced in the Highlands, I can easily see how someone could become addicted to the product. This was hands down the richest and most aromatic coffee I've ever encountered (the richness in flavor is partially from the condescend milk all Vietnamese restaurants use in their coffee). After the first 2 days we were wondering if we'd really been taken for a ride on the American pricing we paid for the trip.
Ode to Music Interlude
I would like to go on a slight tangent here. Before leaving Korea, I was quite conflicted on whether or not to bring a disc man. On one hand, I thought traveling meant immersing oneself in the country/culture, with a disc man causing the dirrdirectosite effect. On the other hand, I was looking at multiple 10+ hour plane rides that a disc man would be particularly useful on. In the end I chose to bring the cd player, which has become a better and better decision the more I consider it. Not only do I use the disc man for planes, it is also wonderful for most other forms of long-distance travel (most notably buses that chose to blast Asian kakaraokeor the entire length of the trip). On top of that, I have found music to be a welcomed retreat from the engulfing culture of my various destinations. Before leaving I thought of a disc man as a cop out, but on the road I've found it to be a nnecessity In places where you can't walk 10 feet without multiple merchants trying to sell you something or grab your attention, oftentimes completely uundeterredby a "no thank you," my cd player can occasionally provided me welcomed ssolacefrom everything. Not to say I oftentimes use my disc man outdoors, but occasionally everything can be quite overwhelming. On top of that, music is a instant reminder of America, averting some of the inevitable homesickness I sometimes feel. I'm also pretty unscrupulous when it comes to burned cds, allowing me to probably double my music collection in Saigon where cds sell 1 for 66 cents or 5 for $3.33. Ok, enough about portable music devices.
Boys on Bikes Part 2: The Ho Chi Minh Trail
The real payoff came on the last two days, where we actually went through the recently paved Ho Chi Minh Trail (HCMT). I don't know if one could accurately describe the beauty which is the HCMT. We got off the bikes and walked parts of the actual trail. I couldn't even wrap my mind around how people had carried heavy artillery and tons of material along this simple road to the South. I got a picture of myself in the bottom of a bomb crater. When viewing the actual trail, I immediately understood how insurmountable the American task of destroying it truly was. The HCMT runs through what I can simply call a Rain Forest with little rain. I've been hiking through the Montana/Wyoming/Isle Royale (Michigan) but I've never seen anything like this. You couldn't count the number of trees if you had a video camera and calculator. Sweeping forests as long as the eye can see. A narrow stream that quickly turns into a raging river (Casey & I both had thoughts about the amazing potential that existed for a kayaking/canoing trip). Mountain landscapes broken by our one singular, relatively unused road. Meeting a few of the many minority populations that live in these areas was definitely one of my best experiences. Our Vietnamese guides spoke good English, and helped us interact with these people how must rarely encounter Westerners. I'm sure the pictures I took of the trail & the people will do it no justice. The landscapes pristine condition is probably due to the fact that the road is only 2 years old, and tour buses are apparently not allowed on it. We ate copious amount of food for $1 per person. While we can normally eat for aaroundthis price, having food left on the table afterwords is not an everyday ooccurrence While our aaccommodationswere slightly more annoying, our guides never chose to understand our tight budget, we managed to always stay below (often well below) our $3 per person per night level.
Lonely Planet Syndrome: Hoi An
The Lonely Planet, for anyone unfamiliar with its many publications, is uundoubtedlythe most read travel resource of today. It couldn't stop raving about Hoi An, so we arranged for our motorcycle journey to end there. It's written up as a sleepy Vietnamese town, that has UNESCO backing to preserve its old architecture. I personally found the whole town ddisappointing We didn't make it over to the UNESCO area, which might have been part of my problem, but I remain unconvinced. I believe that after all the attention, this town has blown up with tourists. All the visitors have inflated prices on every single thing you could possible desire to purchase (I was quoted more then 50 cents for a Lipton Ice tea by a street-front store. When I asked the lady for the Saigon street price, she looked at me as if she wouldn't sell to her own child at that level. We finally agreed on Saigon hotel price, which she seemed quite unhappy about). Our hotel negotiations turned into a large back-and-forth, and people made money on countless things like bicycle parking. We rent bikes and visit a ggorgeousbeach. Ended up passing on an opportunity to visit China Beach (instrumental in the Vietnam War for any of you war buffs). The beach was beautiful & calm, but I got burnt from failing to apply multiple coats of suntan lotion (being burnt in October...welcome to the good life). Our second trip to the same water was completely opposite, with waves that rivaled Thailand and ran pouring down on a forty-five degree angle. My personal highlight was meeting up with three Carleton College friends who had all been teachers in Korea with me (including one of my best friends Brendan O'Connell, Carleton roommate of 3 years and fellow Oak Park & River Forest High School alum). We had many moving discussions and cleared some old air, making me very happy. Our two main debates would take pages to explain, but the second one briefly centered on the appropriateness to negotiate for lower prices in a poor country. We decided to stay in Hoi An for an extra day to see them longer, finally departing after 3 nights. Oh yeah, we saw bat and rat being roasted for sale...quickly passing up on both.
Travel Time: The Long Road to Hanoi
Leaving Hoi An was easier said then done. We caught a nice bus to Hue, another major battleground in the "American War," as it is often termed in Vietnam. Next we booked a train for Hanoi, which is around a 15 hour trip. We had a 6+ hour wait before the train left, which Casey and I used to explore Hue. Hue (pronounced Hway) is a quaint town with impressive aarchitecture We walked through the Old Quarter. I crossed the street to take a picture of this beautiful "mmonastery" and quickly found myself in the middle of a group of Asian people. Before I knew it, they had me in the middle of their group picture! I found the whole experience both nice and hhumorous since I had no idea what the picture was for or who the people involved were :) The train ride was uneventful since I eemployedmy ability to sleep anywhere to pass out for 10+ hours. The worst part of it being the uunavailabilityto book sleepers, since they were full. The air-conditioned soft seats were nowhere near as comfortable as our previous sleepers to Malaysia.
Hanoi: Land of Ho Chi Minh
Hanoi has been somewhat eventful. This city seems slower then Saigon, noticeably less negotiating, and smaller. We've visited a few of the main attractions, the coolest being Ho Chi Minh's MMausoleum How the Vietnamese justify putting Ho Chi Minh's actual BODY on public didisplayafter he supposedly left specific instructions for his ashes to be didispersedhroughout Vietnam, is a mystery to me. I think his MMausoleumis the most guarded place I've been in in quite some time. We had to pass through medal detectors, had any cameras/cell phones temporarily taken, and waited in long lines before we were allowed to view his body. Various guards were at hand throughout the process, quick to condemn any major ttransgressionslike wearing a hat or putting one's hands in one's pockets. The body itself somewhat resembled a rubber chicken in human form and behind glass. Numerous guards were in the actual body room, constantly watching the passing guests while displaying no outward signs of emotion. Afterwords we traveled to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which was a complete and utter waste of time. The best part of it may have been getting slightly buzzed on the exit stairs, where a worker had obviously not understood the "Do not use in enclosed areas" label on the spray paint canister. We did negotiate a great $6 per night rate on our nice (slightly roach infested)hotel room. At this point, I've come to terms with the fact that roaches and rats are a part of life. We did have one exciting moment when Casey hunted down a roach and engaged in slipper-to-body combat with it; he eventual one but the roach was an admiral adversary. We've also found some great food and extraordinarily cheap beer in Hanoi. The food was coincidentally near our hotel, and packed with Vietnamese (always a good sign). The beer there ended up being 4,000 dong (around 30 cents) and tasty. Later we found 1,500 dong straight from the keg beer (under ten cents), which tastes good simply because of its price. After seeing the Vietnamese Water Puppet Show, which I found ddisappointinglyslow due to my utter incomprehension of the play, we drank 9 beers and bought a deck of cards for $1 a person (impressive in my book).
Destination Cat Ba: Island Trekking
Our friends high recommended Cat Ba Island, and so we chose to check it out. Due to our complete animosity towards and travel groups, we decided to arrange the whole trip iindependently This may have been one of those cases where either A) taking the tour or B) pouring over Lonely Planet, would have really saved us a little money. Either way, we managed alright, finding the cheaper route home and avoiding the crappy hotel rooms and group food. Our cramped bus to Halong Bay left much to be desired, especially after breaking down at our one forced "shopping" stop. And the boat to Cat Ba was probably over-priced. But in the end, we arrived, found a cheap hotel, and got beers for a slightly inflated 2,000 dong. The beaches on Cat Ba were straight out of a commercial, similar to the ggorgeoussands of Thailand. We met up with some cute Canadian women, and bummed around town with them for two days. I played more cards in those 48 hours then I've played in a long time, even getting in a few Euchre cgamesfor the first time in at least 15 (probably more like 24) months. Getting back to Hanoi was less scenic but cheaper. We caught a slow boat to Haifong (sp?) Bay and then an extremely small bus to Hanoi.
Hanoi Redo: Sick Dead Days
We've spent the last few days back in Hanoi. I woke up the last night on Cap Ba with a sore throat I couldn't kick. Casey and I have both come down with full-blown colds, which are running their course slowly. I've spent the last few days recovering, and catching up on things like postcards (which I'm more then willing to send out if you give me your address). We initiated Sean into the male love affair with Die Hard, which he had somehow survived the last 24 years without seeing (Casey bought the dvd for 17,000 dong). Our last day has mostly been taken up with reading and arranging our inevitable bus ride to Laos.
Laos Here We Come: The Big Bad Bus Ride
I can't say I'm looking forward to traveling to Laos. We leave in the next 2 hours, and will be spending at least the next 15 on a bus! Laos roads apparently suck, relegating us to slow slow movement through that small country. I had hoped to visit Luong Probang (sp?) in the north and the 4,000 Islands in the South, but transportation time is prohibitory to those plans. After some consideration, we've decided on the 4,000 Islands, which should be quite relaxing. Giving up Luong Probang was hard, with its rave reviews in the infamous Lonely Planet and its UNESCO standing, but after Hoi An those things don't mean everything anymore. It really came down to travel times for me, with the 4,000 Islands being situated quite close to our next destination, Thailand.
The End
This email has turned into a monster. Thanks again for all of you who read my rambling. Feel free to email me with questions/comments/thoughts/whatever. I love hearing from everyone.
Hope to hear from everyone soon,
Ben
