Last evening in Hanoi...

So we indulged and went to an Australian-run cafe to split a really good cheeseburger - all organic, 8 ounces, real cheese...with really good fries. We also split a ginger pork stir-fry, so we didn't go totally Western. But, the burger was delicious - and will quench the craving for at least a week (we think). Any of you who have traveled abroad know the allure of a good burger at least once on your trek!

Tonight, we took our last stoll through Hanoi's beautiful Old Quarter, and attempted to bargain for some face towels to use on the train ride tonight. Unfortunately, the negotiating didn't go so well, which isn't exactly a total surprise since neither of us can recall enough Vietnamese to carry on a complete dialogue. And, frankly, when we can recall the words we pronounce them incorrectly (darn tonal language!!). A couple of the vendors were so unmoved by our attempt to speak in Vietnamese that they immediately responded to us in English.

Anyway, our gig went like this: Michelle would ask "how much" and then translate the dollar amount quoted by the vendor. My job was to remember how to say (and then remark) "that's too expensive". Our Vietnamese Vaudeville act did little to impress the vendors, and none of them budged on the price. So we had to settle for paying the outrageous sum of 75 cents for two wash cloths. Not a bad deal, really.

Bird Flu and "Moto-bikes"

Okay - I'm sure someone is wondering, so thought we'd mention that there are no chickens in the city. No chicken meat or eggs sold in the markets; nor are chicken or egg sold in restaurants. We even passed a billboard today about the bird flu (or we presumed since it showed a chicken with a circle/slash and H5-N1 written on it). They're not playing chicken with this one! (apologies for the pun, but still have some benzene in my brain)

The last fact to note about Hanoi is that it wakes up very early. We're on vacation, but we've woken up on our own at around 6:00 a.m. every day. Those of you who know our love for sleeping in may be amused. The reason: the motorbikes start moving around at that time, and as noted in an earlier post - they honk their horns at every opportunity. Plus, you hear music and general commerce starting at that time. It's pretty cool, though, to be up and about that early - we have gotten to eat pho with locals and schoolkids who are starting their days, and we get to observe the older people doing tai-chi in the local parks. A cool sight on both counts, and probably worth the early morning rising.

First in-country travel...complete!

We just returned to Hanoi for a few hours following our first in-country trip to Halong Bay (Vinh Ha Long), where we stayed overnight on Cat Ba island. Beautiful limestone caves on the island and hundreds of limestone sea stacks/islands dotted the water - very dramatic scenery during the boat ride to get there. At 10:00 tonight, we depart via overnight train to Da Nang /Hoi An where the tailors are plentiful and there are many historic preserved buildings - part of a UNESCO Heritage site.

The benzene fumes from our boat made me a bit ill, as anyone who has traveled to SE Asia can attest to the overwhelming fumes from that fuel. As a result, this past day my diet consisted of rice, Sprite, and Cheese-flavored Pringles (the ULTIMATE comfort food when ill overseas). Which begs the question of why Pringles can be found everywhere...clearly Proctor & Gamble has built a formidable worldwide distribution network. If/when we land on Mars, I'm sure Pringles will be close behind. Michelle, on the other hand, ate like a local - and had grilled squid for three meals in a row. And on the boat ride back from Cat Ba, a local fishing boat pulled up alongside, and from it she bought some shrimp-like crustaceans. Our boat crew grilled them for her - very tasty, she reports, for a 9:30 a.m. meal.

The trip to Cat Ba took 6 hours each way - 3 hours of bus from Hanoi to Halong City harbor, then the boat ride took another 3 hours. Loooooong day. What made it longer was the "rest stop" half-way thru the bus ride, because as the guide told us "It's a very long trip". The rest stop lasted for 30 minutes at a shop (really a dusty side of the road with a warehouse building) where you could (shock!) buy souvenirs at exorbitant prices. Even the drinks/ice cream were priced at about 100% markup. Several mini-buses were at each rest stop each time we stopped, with mostly Euro and Aussie travelers - one arrived about every 5-10 minutes.

Given the high prices, few people bought anything which made the 30 minutes pass very slowly. When we pulled into each stop, we became instantly jealous of the people already there - because we knew they'd leave sooner than we would. On the flip side, as we sat there waiting for the 30 minutes to pass and saw an incoming bus, our spirits lifted as we realized we were closer to leaving and they would have to stay longer. You could see in the eyes of the people on each newly-arriving bus that they had the same sinking feeling that you had 15 minutes earlier when your bus pulled in - sort of a vacant zombie stare coated with envy coupled with fatigue for Vietnamese tchotchkes sales tactics.

Truth...

...lies in the eye of the beholder.

Today and yesterday we visited some sobering sites - the Army Museum, the Museum of Vietnamese Revolution and the Hoa Lo Prison (aka "the Hanoi Hilton" to US servicemen). Clearly this country and its people have been through a difficult period...it was shocking to see exactly how difficult - and for how long a period. Having said that, what we viewed on exhibit was clearly a perspective rather than objective fact. It gave us pause for reflection.

On our trip, we have been asked frequently if we are Americans and we fear a negative response, but have always been greeted warmly. Everyone knows someone in America. The phrase we hear over and over is "History is history. That was in the past. This is now." Pretty amazing capacity to move past differences...

Okay, okay - enough with the serious stuff...that's two posts in a row - we've been collecting two day's worth of funny stories and will share them soon. We'll also attempt to upload some photos to the site - Michelle took one of that "etiquette bell" in the Seoul airport, and there have been some other signs with poor translations into English. Priceless.

Itinerary update: tomorrow is our last day in Hanoi before heading on Sunday to Halong Bay in the northeast for an overnight. After Halong Bay, we take an overnight train to Hoi An, which is a beach area south of DaNang (aka "China Beach"). So, I'm signing off now because Saturday will be a busy day - last chance to visit family and finish shopping. Go Irish!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We took one day off from posting because we had one of the most special Thanksgiving holidays ever. In the course of the afternoon and evening, we met and got to know several relatives of Michelle's who live in Hanoi - three generations were present! At their house, we ate a typical Vietnamese meal: Bun Cha (vermicelli, cilantro, basil, nuoc mam, green papaya, and grilled pork) and Nem Sai Gon (fried spring rolls with crabmeat) - and even Vietnamese red wine from Dalat.

The food was great - and very authentic - but the best part was sharing stories, laughs and tears with them. They were excited to meet Michelle for the first time and catch up on Michelle's aunts & uncles in America, and we were blessed to learn much about Michelle's mother's life in Vietnam. They have turned us into the official ambassadors to encourage the rest of Michelle's family to travel back 'home'. And we now have a very reliable source for in-country tips and tricks to use to plan any future travel. Many thanks to Auntie Ann for putting us in contact. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well.

Just like Frogger...it's all in the timing

Well, we've managed to navigate our way through most of Hanoi's Old Quarter without being side-swiped by cars or the omnipresent motorbikes. There are few actual cross-walks, so crossing most streets really is just like the old Frogger video game. Our new motto: "never let them see the fear in your eyes". It's difficult to walk on the sidewalks because most of them are filled up with parked motorbikes, so that forces you into the streets. Keeps you on your toes, for sure - and forces us to burnish skills that we don't often use in "cross only with the signal" Seattle! And also different from Seattle is that here everybody honks constantly, like every 5 seconds - to warn other drivers or pedestrians...shoot, we think it's just a natural reflex for drivers here. It becomes a soundtrack for the visual scenery - starts early in the AM and lasts through the night. As I typed the last sentence, I heard at least 30 honks.

Our breakfast of champions, Vietnam style: Pho followed by a chaser of pain au chocolate. The pho was $1 for two bowls - best stuff is bought from someone cooking it right on the sidewalk -and you sit on these tiny, tiny plastic stools - they're about a foot or less tall - either on the sidewalk or in a narrow alcove. Totally feels like you're an adult sitting in a grammar school desk. The pastries reflect the history of French influence in the region and are delicious enough to make us consider vacationing only in former French colonies from this point forward :-) Yum.

Also saw the water puppet theater - a Hanoi special, and began the shopping circuit...lots of silk here and shoes, shoes, shoes. Amazing. More later...it's nap time followed by our first hunt for a foot massage :-)

"This refreshing cloth also has a sterilizing effect"

Or so read the wrapper on the hot towel handed out by the Korean Airlines (KAL) flight attendant. Wow - one international trip on a non-US carrier and you remember how great flying used to be. Contrast the scene on our United flight from SEA to LAX when the flight attendants refused to help a woman lift her bag to the overhead compartment saying "If I get hurt, the company does nothing for me" to the KAL flight attendant who brought us bottled water as soon as we woke up from a nap. Worlds of difference. We totally lucked out into empty seats next to us all the way to Seoul - and the woman sitting next to us on the leg to Hanoi was tiny. Thankfully, the travel gods appear to be on our side to start with :-)

Well, we made it to Hanoi safely - it's truly wonderful here...we'll post our Day 1 stories later after a good night's sleep tonight - to sum up, we've spent a lot of time "exploring" Hanoi's Old Quarter (which really means getting lost and looking like absolute rubes). One tip for anyone traveling to Asia: we recommend booking a carrier that connects through Seoul/Incheon. The airport is the most spotless public facility this side of Singapore and has a massage spa where an hour of working out the kinks from a 14 hour trip is only $50 USD. So worth it.

Besides the other passenger who offered us banana chips as we passed him in the aisle, we had two amusing anecdotes from the trip that we'll share before signing off.

1) In the Seoul airport, the stalls in the women's restrooms included a button marked "Etiquette". You just know Michelle was tempted enough to push it, when all of a sudden the stall began to emanate recordings of flushing noises - which caused her to push it more in an attempt to turn it off, which resulted in it being triggered even more. Suffice it to say, probably a good feature to have in public restrooms in a country whose national dish is fermented cabbage.

2) No joking here, but the irony is overwhelming: on the Vietnam Airlines connection from Seoul to Hanoi, the menu actually offered a chicken entree. Needless to say, everyone we could see in our vicinity ordered the fish instead.

We'll post more later - Todd

Getaway Day

About 6 hours til we head out and it's another 40-degree cloudy November day in the PNW - am looking forward to some warmer weather for sure. Happy to be leaving on the heels of yet another Husky collapse - that felt good (Go Irish!). Michelle notes that it was a sad day for OSU Beaver fans as well...

We fly Korean Air out of LA to Hanoi via Seoul...sure wish it took less time to get to SE Asia, but when we get there Tuesday afternoon local time, it will all be a blur anyway. Ciao for now...lots left to do!