Island life in Thailand

Okay, now we're going to make you jealous. As I type this I am sitting on the beach outside our bungalow watching an elderly Thai couple trying to catch their meals for the day. We've been here for nearly a week now and quite frankly it will be hard to leave.
We arrived in Koh Samui almost by accident since my mom warned us of the political turmoil in Bangkok and thus we sat in Bangkok's airport debating our next move. Finally we decided to head south to catch the party and rest. A last minute ticket and off we went!
One night in a tiny resort room left us wanting more, and we found it a short stroll down the beach. See Daeng bungalows appeared and we soon found ourselves as characters in what would appear to be some sort of 80's sitcom or an episode of Big Brother. Marie, an ex-pat Swede, creates a friendly atmosphere and we are feeling at home in our bungalow a few feet from the beach. Also in the mix are her Swedish friend and his Thai girlfriend, a big German Reudiger and a multi-year traveling English couple. David (the Swede) is as entertaining a character as you can get! Regaling us with stories of having lunch with Mats Sundin (his friend was Mats' boyhood coach) or how he's about to produce a record with the ABBA keyboardist Ben. With the international group, we've all taken turns preparing a meal from our homeland so we've had a German casserole that Rudi slaved away at for 6 hours even making the noodles from scratch, famous Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, Thai bbq on the beach, Canadian breakfast (pancakes and bacon was all we could think of and source ingredients for), British tea and sandwiches, tonight Japanese and tomorrow Irish stew.

We haven't done much touring of the island. Rented scooters one day and did the loop around the island, making some notes of where to go back to (swim in a waterfall and such). Then went on a boat tour to Angthong Marine Park which was less than spectacular, but interestingly it is the location described in the novel "The Beach". I guess we'll have to see that movie sometime...

Full Moon Party!

we came, we saw, we partied under the full moon.An eclectic group (Canucks, Brits, Germans, Thais) of us from the bungalows ventured across the strait to the other island of Koh Phangan to see just what all the fuss is about regarding this famous full moon party. Well, really, not much. The Brit(Ed) and I agreed that besides the fact that it's on a beach and it's the full moon, there are big parties like this back home (i.e. Commerce or Corn & Apple socials) that seem even more out of control.

Good times though. Drinks are mickeys dumped into a plastic bucket with a can of mix, ice and the ever-optional Red Bull. The beach is lined with restaurants and bars, each with their own massive sound system pounding the beats out onto the beach. And yes, one of them played typical social music, complete with Brian Adams' "Summer of 69". All places charge around 10-20baht to use the toilet and some got pretty gross; thus there could often be a row of guys with their pants hiked up peeing in the ocean but tough luck for the girls.

The bulk of our crew left early but Julie and I stayed a bit later. We found a balcony overlooking the party and just took in the action. For some reason we were not content with the drink selection so we figured we could make our own for cheaper. So we bought a bottle of booze, some mix, a big bag of ice and a bucket and a nice cashier gave us some straws. Are we cheap Winnipeggers or what??

Around 3am we'd had enough and queued up for the boat ride home.

Parting thoughts on Vietnam

I think we short-changed ourselves on Vietnam by leaving too early. After the few days out in the Bay, our last 12 hours in Hanoi were a flurry of errands - getting fitted in our new clothes, requesting modifications, finding a bank machine that would work so we could pay for it all and finally catching a water puppet show. We also seemed to be missing a celebration for Oct.10 is the 54th anniversary of the liberation of the nation's capital and the town center was decked out in red flags and the sounds of brass bands. It was a festive atmosphere and even more crowded than normal.
The Water Puppet Show (http://www.thanglongwaterpuppet.org/) is an ancient art form developed by rice farmers to pass the time while the rice grew in the flooded fields. It's quite a neat show to see and also quite remarkable how they control these puppets "remotely" underwater via a bamboo pole and some strings. The show is accompanied by an orchestra who helps narrate the story. Typical Asian music and not much help for us who don't speak Vietnamese, but we could always get the drift of the story.

Also stopped in for a quick and cheap dinner of "pho" which is a noodle soup. It's good, and here it's a lot more basic than what I've had in Winnipeg not to mention cheaper (cost about a buck). We did eat quite well here in Vietnam. Had a delicious meal at the Cyclo restaurant here in Hanoi (expensive! at ~C$8 each) that was a nice fusion of Vietnamese and French cuisine.

Halong Bay part.II

Our trip back to Hanoi from Cat Ba was much better than our way there since we got smarter and booked a charter ticket that would take us door to door. Oh, we haven't told of our travel there? Ha, it was about as backpacker-ish as you can get. Sat in a small train station with the local folk for a few hours (1pm train was full) until the Soviet-style train lumbered in. We think there was assigned seating on the train, but not sure. Either way a straight-backed wooden bench awaited us for the 2.5hr journey to Haiphong. Since we got the later train we missed the last ferry boat to Cat Ba Island. We found a decent hotel (US$18) and caught the noon ferry. Comparing the boat to the train made the train look great. The rusting old boat was stuffed with people and packages as much as space would allow with seemingly little regard for buoyancy. But the big 12 cylinder diesel below us chugged our way to the sea providing a welcome breeze. We were quite relieved when we saw another [white] couple get on board showing we weren't the only crazies to try this. We got to know Cliff & Lucy, sharing adventures in Halong Bay with them. (You can see their blog here: www.statravelblogs.com/chammerton) So that was the cheap way (20.000 for train, 40.000 for ferry) in 5 hours and a night. The better way is a 4hr jaunt in an air-con coach but far pricier at 150.000 VND. The most excitement here was catching the coach: our ferry shuttle bus pulled out in front of it on the road, waved to stop, motioned us to get out, grabbed our bags, made the transfer and hopped aboard before the honks got too loud. Fun!
Anyhow as mentioned in the previous post - the boat tour of the Bay did not look promising as we awoke to rain, but the skies cleared and the islands, cliffs and caves appeared out of the mist creating a very interesting landscape. When the guides pulled into our first bay for a swim/kayak, only the hung-over Austrians took the plunge to refresh themselves while the rest of us stayed dry in the kayaks. Our lunch spot was most scenic: pulled into a quiet bay, surrounded by lush green hills and rising cliffs just when the sun was burning away the mist. Everyone took the opportunity to jump into the water from the top of the boat. Funny thing about the lunch - our tour group numbered about 10ppl (the Brit couple, 2 Quebecois filles, us and the Austrians) so the crew made a lot of food (clams, fish, good soup, pork, vegetables, rice) - but in the end it was Julie & I eating with everyone else sitting around us in a terribly awkward silence. Seems to be a common occurrence - us eating last - either because we're slow eaters or because I'm cleaning up all the dishes. :)
On the way back to town we had one of our memorable moments - sitting on the bow of the boat, beer in hand, feet occasionally brushing the water as the boat dipped in the waves with the hot sun and cool breeze on our faces. Pretty nice I tell ya!

Oct.3-10 Good Morning Vietnam!

We are broadcasting to you live, from the shore of Cat Ba Island in famous Halong Bay.
At first glance, Hanoi (capital of Vietnam, 6.5M ppl) is even more crazy any place we've been. On the roads scooters and motor bikes are everywhere darting around the larger vehicles which constantly honk their approach. However, outside of the city it is a serene country of rice paddies and small villages going about their day. Overall, it's exactly what's portrayed in the movies.
Vietnamese are known for their work ethic and we found evidence of that while shopping in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Julie and I have both ordered custom-tailored clothing: a suit & shirt for me and a dress & shorts for her. Not sure if we got fantastic deals on them, but we'll see when we pick them up in a couple days when we get back to Hanoi.

We've escaped the city to the sea to see the limestone islands of Halong Bay. We spent one day hiking through Cat Ba National Park which was a lot of work (up and down 5 mountains!) but rewarded at the end with a fantastic home-cooked meal in a scenic valley, and then a boat ride through the islands with a quick dip in the sea on a secluded beach. Absolutely brilliant!
We look forward to another tour through this UNESCO heritage site tomorrow, until it's back to Hanoi and *hopefully* to Bangkok on Friday (given Julie can work her magic again finding us some good flights).

Sept.28 - Oct.2 Bom Dia Macao

We wanted to see Macau to see the Portugese side of things again, and perhaps seek a little respite from the hustle of HK. A 1hr ferry ride to Macau, an easy shuttle bus to our hotel and we were ever so happy to be staying in a normal hotel instead of a hostel! [Look! I have to walk to the bathroom instead of just get out of bed and turn around.] Plus it had a pool which Julie was keen on puttinjg to good use, and we did by purchasing 4 cans of beer, 2 ice teas ,1 red bull & 1 big can of peaches - all for $42 patacas! (Quick division by 7 roughly gives you CDN$6!) We had hoped to swim by the beach, but were quickly warned not to by the lifeguards: the typhoons had severely damaged the beach and will require months of work to rebuild. Plus, Macau is not known for its beaches - it's known for gambling. And with the Vegas companies moving in, Macau will soon be a strong contender to "The Strip" as the Cotai Strip is quickly under construction. Currently the Hotel Lisboa dominates the scene and it was neat to see this fixture of gambling houses.
We spent one day wandering old Macau (it's tucked in behind the casinos that are along the waterfront) and it really is a taste of Portugal: same architecture and the street names are in tiles on the sides of buildings except in this case the name is also written in Mandarin along with Portugese. Walking along this busy shopping street we really did feel as if we were in a surreal mix of East meets West.
As night fell, we were treated to a show of fireworks (part to celebrate Chinese National Day plus part of Wynn Macau's Fireworks Competition) which was very nice to watch over the harbour. In our opinion, the China team outdid the Ozzies this night.
We ate pretty well here too: authentic Italian, more authentic Portugese than I had in Portugal (seems odd) and I have to mention the breakfast buffet at the hotel since it was more of a dinner buffet with fried rice, noodles, eggs, fish, vegetables and salad.

Sept 24-28: So sorry, flight to Hong Kong delayed because typhoon.

The change to a more liberal form of China and the increased presence of English upon our arrival to Hong Kong was a welcome one after spending a week in the nation's high security capital. Hong Kong delivered on the lights, the skyscrapers and the nightlife one would expect from a major international city. We were happy to be close to the sea, especially as we missed two typhoons that had come through the week before (one only a day before our arrival). Driving into Hong Kong at night was more than I ever imagined: the bus ride from the man-made island that housed the airport to Hong Kong island took us over expansive bridges (one of world's largest) surrounded by land built up with some of the tallest buildings I have ever seen. The city swallowed us up and we enjoyed every minute of it! Some highlights included visiting the highest peak to overlook the city at night, drinking martinis in Lan Kwai under a street canopy to stay dry from the regular evening rains, dancing to salsa & sipping a real caipirinha in a latin club, dining on sushi, mexican tacos & street vendor waffles, and just wandering through the streets and feeling the buzz of the city.