I am now back in Yellowknife. My levels of excitement of that fact are exactly what the more pessimistic among you would expect.
Vancouver was fun. St. Paddy's Day was a complete mess, as it should be. And spending a couple days on a university friend's couch fills you with the kind of nostalgia that makes you wonder why you ever stopped hanging out on university friend's couches and at some point decided to be silly and get a job.
And good news!!! My camera did not delete all of my pictures! So I still have photos of the first half of my trip! Hurrah!
Today I need to sort through a small mountain of souvenirs and get a haircut. No one in Asia will cut curly hair. I asked all of them, it took up the majority of my trip.
Till next time!
(Mongolia?....)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Hong Kong (2)
It occured to me today that Sunday is not a good day to really see the consumerism capital of Asia. The British influence is still here in a couple ways, including 70% of shops being closed on Sundays. That being said, they still was a lot of frenized shoppers around. Early on in the day I ducked into a store and bought a shirt that was on sale just so that I could have a shopping bag to walk around with and feel a bit more in place. Being a backpacker in one of the nicest dressed cities in the world makes one feel a tad out of their element.
I also love subways, I realized today. They're wonderfully efficient. I found out today that I can get practically from the doorstep of Chungking Mansion to the Airport terminal althrough the subway. It made me very happy.
Also, Chungking Mansion is just the hellhole I was lead to believe it was. When telling people in Hanoi that I was going to stay in Chungking they all laughed and smiled and would say no more. It's packed with touts and little stalls trying to sell you something, and the rooms are arranged in the same manner that I imagine bees step up their hives. Every little corner has it's own hostel. My first room last night was an old converted bathroom, turned into a four bed dormitory. All the electrical wiring fixtures had been accomplished by masking type. The mattress was paper thin and the bathroom was absurdly tiny. I ran into a Quebecois there and he remarked what a nice place it was. I can only assume one of three things:
I also love subways, I realized today. They're wonderfully efficient. I found out today that I can get practically from the doorstep of Chungking Mansion to the Airport terminal althrough the subway. It made me very happy.
Also, Chungking Mansion is just the hellhole I was lead to believe it was. When telling people in Hanoi that I was going to stay in Chungking they all laughed and smiled and would say no more. It's packed with touts and little stalls trying to sell you something, and the rooms are arranged in the same manner that I imagine bees step up their hives. Every little corner has it's own hostel. My first room last night was an old converted bathroom, turned into a four bed dormitory. All the electrical wiring fixtures had been accomplished by masking type. The mattress was paper thin and the bathroom was absurdly tiny. I ran into a Quebecois there and he remarked what a nice place it was. I can only assume one of three things:
- He's nuts.
- The owner pays him to walk into crap rooms and make clearly ridiculous statements like this.
- He's had a very sad and very poor quality life so far.
Today I switched into a different room. Equally tiny, but much nicer.
They picnic in Hong Kong. I'm not sure if people are aware of this. But they don't picnic in the park or in the wilderness, like normal people. They picnic in shopping malls and across from Cartier and Burberry stores. They lay down a blanket, get out their lunch, play cards, just all the normal things people do on picnics, but beside a parking meter and breathing in car fumes.
The guy beside me really needs to blow his nose.
Hong Kong really is kind of like Vancouver, just with more Asians.
Okay, the same number of Asians.
They have McDonalds here! It's one of those awful things from home you start to miss after a while. At least I do. I went today for a little bit of lunch. They don't really understand the tray system here. You finish your meal, you do to the garbage, dump it in, put the tray on top. As I watched everyone just left their tray on the table or put the fully loaded try right on top of the garbage. When I was done eating I very slowly and very deliberately went through the proper steps for the benefit of everyone watching. I like to think I've bettered Hong Kong a tiny bit.
I may never say this again, but thank God for British colonialism. After a month of trying to navigate streets named Hong Trang, Bang Lo, Sveet Chariot finding streets named things like "Pender", "Nathan" and "Hollywood" is a big relief.
I leave Hong Kong tomorrow. Right now I am off to a bar recommended by this guy Jimmy I met in Finnigans in Hanoi. I've been there before, and sure enough, random bar dudes really now the good places to drink.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Hong Kong
I just passed by a luggage store called "Ever Rich". The YKers get it.
Hanoi it turns out was a very good time. It was nice to be back in the enveloping socialness of a hostel. Every night in Hanoi ended with a trip to Finnigans. Of course the capital city of Vietnam has an Irish bar down the road from the hostel.
I spent one day trying to see an old communist's dead body, but when that didn't work out I got a guy with a motorbike to drive me around to some museums. It was all very culturally enriching. However the only fact that stayed with me is the Vietnamese women blacken their teeth on purpose by chewing a certain type of root. I thought it was just poor hygiene.
While in Hanoi I took a trip to Halong Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site. It was stunningly beautiful, of course. It was also the most randomly organized tour I've taken. On at least four separate occasions I thought that they had completely forgotten me on this bus stop/restaurant/junk/parking lot. Only one of those times they actually had. We were stopping to see some very nice caves and I was in the bathroom. My junk was pulling out as I got out of the bathroom (I just re-read that sentence. I think I need to clarify that "junk" is a certain type of Asian boat), so I had to jump onto another one that was pulling into the dock. In the process I broke my watch, but made it to the caves.
The rest of the trip was cruising around the mist shrouded limestone juts of stone and drinking beers on the top deck. At one point we got to do some night kayaking through a floating village. One of the top ten most surreal experiences of my life. We were kayaking in what I will forever consider a Terry Gitersos Special. Not an actual kayak, but this cheap plastic open bodied affair. Suffice it to say me and Jon (my Swedish kayaking partner) were thoroughly soaked by the end of it and ludicrously happy.
I slept the night on the junk and made it back to Hanoi just in time for the hostel's happy hour. After a brief visit to Finnigans I got email addresses and said goodbye. I got up at 5:30am and shared a taxi with Jon and Christina (my Swedish kayaking partners Swedish wife) to the airport and got into Hong Kong at around 1pm.
I have no idea what to do in Hong Kong. This is one of the few times I've been in a foreign city without the benefit of a guide book. I asked a Hong Kong girl Jenny (we were sharing a room on the junk) what there was to do and she just shrugged, so I've spent my afternoon doing that old backpacker staple; wandering around and getting hopelessly lost in a foreign city.
Hong Kong is very clean and very vertical. Right now I'm sitting in an cyber cafe on the fifth floor of a building that has a very small sign outside a very small door. Everything seems to be like that. Only the very poshest stores actually have space on the bottom of the building, everything else is straight up.
What else... I want to do a Vietnamese coffee tasting when I am back at home. I am determined to find the optimum milk:coffee ratio.
Other than that, I will be back in Vancouver, Canada in just two days!
Hanoi it turns out was a very good time. It was nice to be back in the enveloping socialness of a hostel. Every night in Hanoi ended with a trip to Finnigans. Of course the capital city of Vietnam has an Irish bar down the road from the hostel.
I spent one day trying to see an old communist's dead body, but when that didn't work out I got a guy with a motorbike to drive me around to some museums. It was all very culturally enriching. However the only fact that stayed with me is the Vietnamese women blacken their teeth on purpose by chewing a certain type of root. I thought it was just poor hygiene.
While in Hanoi I took a trip to Halong Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site. It was stunningly beautiful, of course. It was also the most randomly organized tour I've taken. On at least four separate occasions I thought that they had completely forgotten me on this bus stop/restaurant/junk/parking lot. Only one of those times they actually had. We were stopping to see some very nice caves and I was in the bathroom. My junk was pulling out as I got out of the bathroom (I just re-read that sentence. I think I need to clarify that "junk" is a certain type of Asian boat), so I had to jump onto another one that was pulling into the dock. In the process I broke my watch, but made it to the caves.
The rest of the trip was cruising around the mist shrouded limestone juts of stone and drinking beers on the top deck. At one point we got to do some night kayaking through a floating village. One of the top ten most surreal experiences of my life. We were kayaking in what I will forever consider a Terry Gitersos Special. Not an actual kayak, but this cheap plastic open bodied affair. Suffice it to say me and Jon (my Swedish kayaking partner) were thoroughly soaked by the end of it and ludicrously happy.
I slept the night on the junk and made it back to Hanoi just in time for the hostel's happy hour. After a brief visit to Finnigans I got email addresses and said goodbye. I got up at 5:30am and shared a taxi with Jon and Christina (my Swedish kayaking partners Swedish wife) to the airport and got into Hong Kong at around 1pm.
I have no idea what to do in Hong Kong. This is one of the few times I've been in a foreign city without the benefit of a guide book. I asked a Hong Kong girl Jenny (we were sharing a room on the junk) what there was to do and she just shrugged, so I've spent my afternoon doing that old backpacker staple; wandering around and getting hopelessly lost in a foreign city.
Hong Kong is very clean and very vertical. Right now I'm sitting in an cyber cafe on the fifth floor of a building that has a very small sign outside a very small door. Everything seems to be like that. Only the very poshest stores actually have space on the bottom of the building, everything else is straight up.
What else... I want to do a Vietnamese coffee tasting when I am back at home. I am determined to find the optimum milk:coffee ratio.
Other than that, I will be back in Vancouver, Canada in just two days!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Hoi An, Vietnam
I just went to get my plane tickets to go from here to Hanoi and from Hanoi to Hong Kong and found out my flight from here to Hanoi has been delayed, so I have an extra hour or so to waste here. I figured I'd fill the time with lists.
Personalities of Nationalities
Motorbikes are THE transport for most people in Southeast Asia. And not just for transporting people, for transporting goods as well.
Personalities of Nationalities
- Aussies: Friendly, energetic and outgoing for the most part. As it turns out, when you get a group of Aussie boys together they turn into that inexplicable creature, Assholis Maximus. I've found the best way to deal with that is to engage them in some sort of physical violence. Slap them, punch them, whatever. After that they figure you're alright.
- Thais: Talkers. EXTREME talkers. Very friendly, again. Having a conversation with a Thai is one of the easiest things you can ever do. You can just stand there while they rattle off a list of a hundred questions until they know the intimate details of what you do in the bathroom every morning.
- Cambodians: I think they might also be friendly. However, it's next to impossible to really verify this since I only ever met one Cambodian who was not trying to actively sell me something. You can't really blame them though, because as I found out from the one Cambodian I had an actual conversation with, a good wage in Cambodia is 50 cents an hour, and that's only if you are very lucky and are willing to work almost all of your waking hours.
- Vietnamese: Surprisingly funny. You would think a war wracked country would be a bit on the bitter side, but not these guys. And Vietnamese women are surprisingly flirtatious. I found out at the cultural performance Patrick and I went to that if you catch a Vietnamese girl's eye and smile you can make her smile and blush and completely forget what she is doing, in a very charming way.
Motorbikes are THE transport for most people in Southeast Asia. And not just for transporting people, for transporting goods as well.
- Six nude mannequins
- Three dead pigs
- A five foot high floral arrangement
- Three (hopefully, but probably not) empty propane tanks
- An entire family of four
- Number 74: Never let strange men touch you in a bar
Hoi An, Vietnam
So what did I do in Saigon... seems so long ago.... oh yes, I went on a tour of Cu Chi Tunnels, a tunnel network that the Viet Cong used to get within 30km of Saigon during the Vietnam War (or, as they call it here, the American War).
My tour guide was this little crazy, dancing, singing Vietnamese dude. He routinely serenaded us throughout the trip.
Our first stop was at a place with the best name ever - Handicapped Handicrafts. As you can probably guess, the reason behind the place is not equally awesome. It's a place where those disabled by the American use of agent orange are taught how to make crafts, which they then sell to tourists to raise funds for the medical needs of those affected by agent orange. They have some pretty cool stuff.
When we eventually got to the tunnels we got to see a short video about the place. It's quite interesting to see it from the other point of view. The local Vietnamese are very proud of the Viet Cong and how they drove out the Americans. In the video they go through a list of Vietnamese war heroes, usually with a voiceover saying something like "This great Vietnam hero. This number one American killer! She kill more Americans with bombs than anyone else in her section!". All very interesting. The tunnels themselves are incredibly tiny. Our tour guide could fit in them, but no one else could. And he was telling us that some of these stretches are 2km long, with no chance to come up into open air.
At the end of the tour I finally got to fire an AK47! They had a shooting range with ridiculously high priced bullets. So I fired off 10 rounds in about 30 seconds. They guy running the range was getting mad that I was taking too long. Man, are those things loud.
Also on this tour I ran into Patrick, a guy from Winnipeg I first met in Phnom Penh. We were both going to Hoi An, so we booked our tickets and split a room when we got here. He left yesterday, but we're both staying at the same place in Hanoi so we'll see each other again.
Hoi An is a lovely town, and really what you expect when you think of Vietnam. A little town on the edge or a river, with a fusion of Vietnamese and French colonial architecture. The old historic town has a number of sights to see, you buy a ticket and get to see five of them. They're all very nice, but my favourite culture activity of Hoi An so far has to be the cultural performance Patrick and I went to see yesterday. It was in the top of a bar, in a small room. There were only four of us, and about 6 dancers and 4 people in the band. It was cool to see some traditional dances and here the traditional music, made a little odd by there being more performers than audience and that several of the performers couldn't keep from cracking up halfway through.
And boy does this place suck your money. I've bought more tourist knick knacks here than I have in the rest of my trip combined.
Right now I have to go pick up some custom tailored shoes and sort my stuff out before going to Hanoi this afternoon.
My tour guide was this little crazy, dancing, singing Vietnamese dude. He routinely serenaded us throughout the trip.
Our first stop was at a place with the best name ever - Handicapped Handicrafts. As you can probably guess, the reason behind the place is not equally awesome. It's a place where those disabled by the American use of agent orange are taught how to make crafts, which they then sell to tourists to raise funds for the medical needs of those affected by agent orange. They have some pretty cool stuff.
When we eventually got to the tunnels we got to see a short video about the place. It's quite interesting to see it from the other point of view. The local Vietnamese are very proud of the Viet Cong and how they drove out the Americans. In the video they go through a list of Vietnamese war heroes, usually with a voiceover saying something like "This great Vietnam hero. This number one American killer! She kill more Americans with bombs than anyone else in her section!". All very interesting. The tunnels themselves are incredibly tiny. Our tour guide could fit in them, but no one else could. And he was telling us that some of these stretches are 2km long, with no chance to come up into open air.
At the end of the tour I finally got to fire an AK47! They had a shooting range with ridiculously high priced bullets. So I fired off 10 rounds in about 30 seconds. They guy running the range was getting mad that I was taking too long. Man, are those things loud.
Also on this tour I ran into Patrick, a guy from Winnipeg I first met in Phnom Penh. We were both going to Hoi An, so we booked our tickets and split a room when we got here. He left yesterday, but we're both staying at the same place in Hanoi so we'll see each other again.
Hoi An is a lovely town, and really what you expect when you think of Vietnam. A little town on the edge or a river, with a fusion of Vietnamese and French colonial architecture. The old historic town has a number of sights to see, you buy a ticket and get to see five of them. They're all very nice, but my favourite culture activity of Hoi An so far has to be the cultural performance Patrick and I went to see yesterday. It was in the top of a bar, in a small room. There were only four of us, and about 6 dancers and 4 people in the band. It was cool to see some traditional dances and here the traditional music, made a little odd by there being more performers than audience and that several of the performers couldn't keep from cracking up halfway through.
And boy does this place suck your money. I've bought more tourist knick knacks here than I have in the rest of my trip combined.
Right now I have to go pick up some custom tailored shoes and sort my stuff out before going to Hanoi this afternoon.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Saigon, Vietnam
My camera has stopped working again! Shit fuck damn. Now it won't even turn on. And I have a sinking feeling that it may have deleted all of my pictures from my card...
Saigon officially wins for Most Terrifying City to Cross the Street. You just step out into the path of hundreds of cars and motorcycles and hop between the spaces. Kinda like Frogger.
Anyhow, right now I am off to Hoi An. More later!
Saigon officially wins for Most Terrifying City to Cross the Street. You just step out into the path of hundreds of cars and motorcycles and hop between the spaces. Kinda like Frogger.
Anyhow, right now I am off to Hoi An. More later!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Siem Reap, Cambodia
My camera has started to work again! Not all the buttons, but it looks like it can at least take pictures now.
My last day in Phnom Penh I went to see various sites. I meant to see the Killing Fields, but there was some confusion with my moto driver (or he just didn't want to take me the 14 km out of town) and instead ended up at the Toul Sleng (sp?) prison, where Pol Pot sent... well, pretty much anyone, to get tortured before they were sent to be murdered at the killing fields. After that I didn't think I could take any more depression in one day, so went and checked out the Royal Palace. After the seeing the absolute poverty that Phnom Penh stews in, the opulence of the Palace is a little staggering. I went into one room called the Silver Pagoda, where the entire room is filled with treasures and the floor is tiled with silver. They all have religious and cultural significance, but I couldn't help wondering how many hospitals and schools could be built with the money in that one room.
So I went out my last night in Phnom Penh with some random Aussies/Brits/Swiss/Accents I Couldn't Place. We barhopped around where they were staying (and I have never been offered so many drugs in my life, their neighborhood was like a street pharmacy) for a bit and then I packed it in. And of course, I slept right through my alarm the next day and was woken up by the guesthouse driver pounding on my door. The bus was downstairs waiting for me. So I threw everything into my bag and hoofed it down. Out the door I grabbed my laundry bag from the reception.
The bus ride was a little rough to begin with, since I had nothing to eat and the toilet (like many in Asia) took some figuring out before I got the hang of it. I also bought a disgusting sandwich from a stall at noon that I couldn't finish, and that used up the last of the cash I had on me, so I spent the rest of the trip hungry until I got to Siem Reap.
When I did arrive the bus was swarmed by kids asking for money, or straight out trying to get their hands into your pockets. They were very aggressive, so it was kinda overwhelming. That, combined with being constantly hassled by drivers, made me just want to get out of there (Oh, I should mention, moto and tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia are the most tenacious people I have ever met. I never walked anywhere in Phnom Penh. I would try to walk to the end of my street, but I would be hassled by no less than half a dozen drivers). I saw someone with a sign displaying the name of my guesthouse (who, it turned out, was not actually the driver my guesthouse sent), so I went to him and he gave me a ride for free (the drivers get commissions from the guesthouses/restaurants for picking up tourists and dropping them off at their businesses). We arranged to meet the next day for a trip to Angkor Wat and surrounds.
Oh, and then I realized that I had forgot my laundry bag on the bus. So I lost all my underwear and most of my shirts. I went on an emergency shopping session in the market, and then took in a early night for my next day at Angkor.
Angkor Wat is AMAZING. I haven't been too sure about Cambodia so far. So far it had just seemed like the poorest country I'd been to yet. But Angkor definetly made the trip worthwhile. I over paid for a guidebook and took that around the site with me. Oh, and Terry, I now share your hate of tour groups. The temples at Angkor were never intended for the masses to worship at, instead they were intended as the homes of single deities, so all the passage ways are very narrow, and when they're packed with thirty or forty Japanese and Italians, it makes it almost impossible to see the bas reliefs and stonework.
My camera still wasn't working at this point, but hopefully the disposable I had with me can do it justice.
After Angkor Wat my driver took me around to some other temples and sites in the Angkor area. It was all very nice, but it was very hot out and the climbs up the temple sides were very steep. This resulted, at the end of the day, of me getting back to the hotel and having a replay of what happened to me in Nicaragua after climbing a volcanoe. I developed a very high fever, horribly aching joints and a massive headache. I spent the next eight hours in bed with a wet cold towel wrapped around my head. This morning I was supposed to see more of Angkor, but had to call it off to give my body sometime to rest. I feel fine now, but definitely did not want to repeat that feeling.
Tomorrow I head off to Saigon in Vietnam. I am debating skipping Hanoi, as it seems to get to Hong Kong I will have to go back down to Saigon anyway, and everyone I've talked to who has gone through Hanoi hasn't been that impressed.
My last day in Phnom Penh I went to see various sites. I meant to see the Killing Fields, but there was some confusion with my moto driver (or he just didn't want to take me the 14 km out of town) and instead ended up at the Toul Sleng (sp?) prison, where Pol Pot sent... well, pretty much anyone, to get tortured before they were sent to be murdered at the killing fields. After that I didn't think I could take any more depression in one day, so went and checked out the Royal Palace. After the seeing the absolute poverty that Phnom Penh stews in, the opulence of the Palace is a little staggering. I went into one room called the Silver Pagoda, where the entire room is filled with treasures and the floor is tiled with silver. They all have religious and cultural significance, but I couldn't help wondering how many hospitals and schools could be built with the money in that one room.
So I went out my last night in Phnom Penh with some random Aussies/Brits/Swiss/Accents I Couldn't Place. We barhopped around where they were staying (and I have never been offered so many drugs in my life, their neighborhood was like a street pharmacy) for a bit and then I packed it in. And of course, I slept right through my alarm the next day and was woken up by the guesthouse driver pounding on my door. The bus was downstairs waiting for me. So I threw everything into my bag and hoofed it down. Out the door I grabbed my laundry bag from the reception.
The bus ride was a little rough to begin with, since I had nothing to eat and the toilet (like many in Asia) took some figuring out before I got the hang of it. I also bought a disgusting sandwich from a stall at noon that I couldn't finish, and that used up the last of the cash I had on me, so I spent the rest of the trip hungry until I got to Siem Reap.
When I did arrive the bus was swarmed by kids asking for money, or straight out trying to get their hands into your pockets. They were very aggressive, so it was kinda overwhelming. That, combined with being constantly hassled by drivers, made me just want to get out of there (Oh, I should mention, moto and tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia are the most tenacious people I have ever met. I never walked anywhere in Phnom Penh. I would try to walk to the end of my street, but I would be hassled by no less than half a dozen drivers). I saw someone with a sign displaying the name of my guesthouse (who, it turned out, was not actually the driver my guesthouse sent), so I went to him and he gave me a ride for free (the drivers get commissions from the guesthouses/restaurants for picking up tourists and dropping them off at their businesses). We arranged to meet the next day for a trip to Angkor Wat and surrounds.
Oh, and then I realized that I had forgot my laundry bag on the bus. So I lost all my underwear and most of my shirts. I went on an emergency shopping session in the market, and then took in a early night for my next day at Angkor.
Angkor Wat is AMAZING. I haven't been too sure about Cambodia so far. So far it had just seemed like the poorest country I'd been to yet. But Angkor definetly made the trip worthwhile. I over paid for a guidebook and took that around the site with me. Oh, and Terry, I now share your hate of tour groups. The temples at Angkor were never intended for the masses to worship at, instead they were intended as the homes of single deities, so all the passage ways are very narrow, and when they're packed with thirty or forty Japanese and Italians, it makes it almost impossible to see the bas reliefs and stonework.
My camera still wasn't working at this point, but hopefully the disposable I had with me can do it justice.
After Angkor Wat my driver took me around to some other temples and sites in the Angkor area. It was all very nice, but it was very hot out and the climbs up the temple sides were very steep. This resulted, at the end of the day, of me getting back to the hotel and having a replay of what happened to me in Nicaragua after climbing a volcanoe. I developed a very high fever, horribly aching joints and a massive headache. I spent the next eight hours in bed with a wet cold towel wrapped around my head. This morning I was supposed to see more of Angkor, but had to call it off to give my body sometime to rest. I feel fine now, but definitely did not want to repeat that feeling.
Tomorrow I head off to Saigon in Vietnam. I am debating skipping Hanoi, as it seems to get to Hong Kong I will have to go back down to Saigon anyway, and everyone I've talked to who has gone through Hanoi hasn't been that impressed.
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