Look both ways

Hanoi is a city experienced, and perhaps lived in, looking sideways. Streets are the canvas for almost all daily interactions--breakfast at 5 am, pedicures all day long, card games, automobile repairs, painting. It is like being an uninvited guest at some one's barbeque--people milling about everywhere, tantalizing and sometimes offensive smells, and yet you somehow always feel in the way. Sidewalks serve as parking spots, roadways, makeshift restaurants. The streets are dirty and for good reason--the trash can seems to be a piece of modernity yet to make its way to Hanoi. There is a habit of washing one's mouth that includes gargling a good amount of water and then spitting it out onto the street, the gutter, your foot. You are constantly at war with the cars and motorbikes and the rule is move forward--they will drive around you, but never move backwards--they will hit you. Sometimes there are stop lights but they are never obeyed and drivers would prefer to hit you than slow down or stop. This is all done while the driver is balancing his wife, mother and two children on a motorbike made for two. Women walk the streets balancing a long stick with two baskets on each end and are just as territorial about their space as the drivers. You never know what will be in the baskets--bananas, vegetables, doughnuts, car parts. Smoking is a popular habit and not just the conventional pre-rolled cigarette. Men, young and old alike, pack bowls attached to the three foot pipes and take one hit at a time. The apparatus resembles what we know in the west to be a water bong, minus the bubbler on the bottom. These men resemble the opium smokers of ancient China.

Handicrafts line the streets as far as the eye can see. When my family lived in Korea in 1988, we lived far from the center of Seoul, and had to travel about two hours outside the city into the country to reach our apartment. Our excitement on the weekends would be to get on a local bus and pick a different stop to get off at each time. There was one stop that when you exited was full of stalls that sold shoes--slippers, high tops, heels, loafers--shoes. We quickly dubbed this stop shoe heaven and vowed to find it again. As this game had less memory than logic, we never again found this wonder. It has been almost 20 years of searching but shoe heaven has once again reappeared and this time it is in Hanoi and it is grand. Each street is a heaven unto itself--shoes, art supplies, car parts, herbs--each street is devoted just to the selling of this one thing. Treasures lie everywhere in Hanoi if you look hard enough--two bananas for a quarter, a sesame doughnut for thirty cents and three big carrots for just over fifty cents. I am constantly reminded of how much we pay for things in the States. Our meals are becoming more basic as we master cost and location in Vietnam's markets--baguettes, yogurt, cheese, peanuts. The challenge to keep yourself full of good food while not spending too much money or getting bored is a daily adventure.

To see photos of Hanoi, please click me

Hoi An to Hue

We left Hoi An to spend just a day and a half in Hue, a small town on the way from Hoi An to Hanoi. We spent one day looking through the city's citadel--impressive grounds dedicated to 9 emperors, replete with temples, houses, gardens, moats and even tanks. Hue itself seems to be a sleepy town on the way to much boasted about north. We ate a delicious Indian meal last night--a welcome change from the norm here. We head north to Halong Bay, then to the small villages around Sapa before coming back to explore Hanoi.

I have fully uploaded photo albums to the relevant posts, but here is a summary of what we have seen so far:

Siem Reap/Angkor Wat: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/SiemReapCambodia##

Phnom Penh: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/PhnomPenhCambodia##

Mekong Delta: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/MekongDelta##

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/Saigon##

Dalat: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/Dalat##

Nah Trang: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/NT##

Hoi An: http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/HoiAn##

Enjoy, much love...

Lantern City

We left Dalat on an early morning bus to Nah Trang. Many people recommended that we stay in Nah Trang as it boasts beautiful beaches and a relaxed atmosphere but we ended up spending just a day there. We arrived in the early afternoon, relaxed by the beach, ate dinner and prepared for our first night bus. The bus sleeps about 30 people on two levels and comes complete with pillows, blankets and reading lights. It is not my preferred style of sleeping but I did sleep. There is an odd dorm-style atmosphere to the bus as you literally share your bed with 29 strangers.

To see photos of Nah Trang, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/NT##

The bus arrived in Hoi An around 6:30 am and dropped us at a local guesthouse. We checked the map, noted the pool and free internet, dropped our bags and went back to sleep. Most travelers say Hoi An has been their favorite place in Vietnam and it is not hard to see why—a plethora of affordable food (Western and Vietnamese), a quaint old city full of pagodas, Japanese bridges, and streets lit with colored lanterns to the eye’s limit.

Five days after arriving, I can say that we have seen the sights, relaxed and eaten well. We eat breakfast at the same place each day—a fruit shake, a glass of tea, a baguette, jam, fruit salad, omelets, yogurt, and muesli--$3. We are regulars. For dinner, we usually head to the river for Vietnamese cuisine.


Mr. Kim is a well known local chef who prepares a five course set menu—seafood, meat or vegetarian. We arrived and Mr. Kim himself was standing at the door to the eatery, beer in hand, ready to seat us himself. The place is modest but the food does not disappoint. I ate the vegetarian menu and Oded had the seafood—everything was delicious. Spring rolls, curried soup, noodles, rice cakes and local fresh beer to wash it down. Sitting next to us were two Americans and a French girl. She was promptly joined by an Israeli and it was revealed that one of the Americans was Jewish. With Yom Kippur approaching, they began discussing the holy day. The American asked aloud what the chances were of finding another Jew in Vietnam to wish Hag Sameach. It was at that point that I joined the conversation—Oded says this is evidence of his Israeli influence that I join conversations that are not my own.

Otherwise, we have visited five small mountains made of marble with impressive caves, carvings and statues. We also spent time on China Beach and a few other local beaches. Afternoons are spent in the pool and evenings are spent playing pool. We leave for Hanoi in the morning and plan to spend our last ten days in Vietnam exploring the north—Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa. From Hanoi we will fly back to Vietnam and head to the islands in Thailand for ten days before heading back to Bangkok to fly to Sydney.

To see photos of Hoi An, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/HoiAn##

Hello Dalat

We left on our tour of the Dalat countryside around 9 am, Oded on the back of Mr. Bin's bike and me on the back of Hung's. We made many stops throughout the day including a pagoda on the way out of town--it was amazing and kind of like a circus--full of color and oversized elephants and buddhas and lotuses--really beautiful.

We worked our way further into the countryside through winding roads, open skies and cool weather. Our next stop was to look at some local farming--strawberries and lettuce. The terraces stretched across the countyside and seeing it up close helped define what we saw from afar. We also saw a flower farm, chili plants, passion fruit, mushrooms, the process of making rice wine and silk. We also climbed down into an amazing waterfall before we made our way back to Dalat to stop at a guest house dubbed Crazy House.

Imagine walking into Alice in Wonderland in Vietnam--a toursit attraction and a place to stay all in one--rooms are carved out of trees, bridges cross miniature streams, spiral staircases climb to the sky. Each room is decorated with a bed, a small table, chairs all made from an amazing wood and decorated in color and imagination. Each room is themed--the kangaroo room complete with lifesize kangaroo with glowing red eyes; the Honeymoon Room of course has a mirror on the ceiling; and one room is devoted to Alice and her companions.

After one day with Hung and Mr. Bin, we were hooked. The combination of safe driving and a crazy sense of humor motivated us to sign up for another day on the back of their bikes. This time we were decided to go for a trek through the mountains outside of Dalat.

Before we headed into the mountains, we stopped at a beautiful meditation temple to start the day off--the place itself was really lovely and peaceful. Rows of trees, little temples and places to sit made meditating seem a natural practice. The entire place was set on a lake and across from a range of mountains. I really loved this place because all the pine trees made it smell exactly like Chase Pond in New Hampshire--nothing smells better than Chase Pond.

We left, parked the bikes at a little road side stand and walked about 20 minutes on the main road until we reached an entrance to a mountain. The trek up was steep and the hiking was hard but the views were beyond worth it--the lake and the rest of the mountain range stretched out below us and the whole scene made the sweating, mud, slipping, and bugs all fall away. We reached the top in under an hour and were not looking forward to climbing down the slippery path we had followed up. No fears--Hung had another plan for us.

Little did we know, we had graduated from anonymous tourists to a new status--one in which an hour trek through the jungle was not off limits. The trek up was slippery but had followed a clearly cut path. The route down was not clearly cut--indeed it was the opposite. Hung told us we would be trekking down in the jungle--I thought this was a friendly term for some bamboo trees and banana leafs. Nope. We plunged into an hour of darkness, unknown terrain and two laughing guides. This was the closest I will ever get to starring in Lost.

We were literally in a jungle--climbing through fallen bamboo trees, using our hands and feet and whatever else we could, and fighting off bugs at every turn. The climb down was by far more steep than the way up, more treacherous and almost entirely without sun. A constant stream of expletives came from me or Oded the entire hour down which only lead to more laughing from our guides. I found not one but two leeches attached to my right ankle. No worries--Hung broke off half his cigarette and pressed the tobacco into my bleeding leg. Awesome. Perhaps not the remedy I would have opted for but it worked all the same and the bleeding ceased.

We came away from the trek covered in scratches, bites, bruises and I still have two rashes. All in all, it was again totally worth it. The views and and adventure are really why I am here... but I would be happy never to find another leech on my body.

To see photos of Dalat, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/Dalat##

So long Saigon

We spent one more day in Saigon exchanging our books, making travel plans for the next week, and running other errands. We left Saigon early on a bus to Dalat, a small mountain town in Central Vietnam known for its bohemian character and proximity to beautiful countryside. We arrived in the late afternoon, found housing and headed out into the town. This was the first place where we rarely saw Westerners. It is a tourist town no doubt, but it attracts mainly Vietnamese tourists--800,000 Vietnamese visit the town each year. We spent the next day walking around the town's sizeable lake (7K), visiting markets and sampling the locally made wine (tasted like Manischevitz at its best).

Throughout Vietnam, a lucrative business of touring from the back of a moto bike exists. There is the institution (Easy Riders) and the rest--free agents. You don't have to look hard or at all--they find you and fast. They come equipped with set tours, prices and journals full of reviews from their past customers in every language possible. After a few hours of being courted by two free agents--Hung and Mr. Bin (pronounced Bean)--we committed to a one day tour of the countryside. Little did we know what we were in for...

Southeast Asia in Numbers

Today marks my third week traveling (24 more!!) and rather than share stories of arduous bus rides, I thought I would give insight to the daily costs of this kind of a trip:

4 Baguettes (they are everywhere because of the French influence!): 50 cents

2 glasses of green tea: 25 cents

Coca Cola (can): 50 cents

One night's stay in a room with hot shower, air con, and TV: $7

A hot glass of Lipton Tea: 60 cents ( a splurge)

Local draught beer: 25 cents

Bottled beer: $1-2

Yogurt with Muesli (mmm): $2

Snickers Bar: $1

Bus ride (3-5 hours): $6

Bus ride (12 hours, sleeping bus): $13

Moto ride around the city: $1

This is in no way meant to be a Mastercard commercial...Just some insight to the daily costs.

New Year's Eve

Saigon is much closer to Bangkok than anywhere else we have been. Oded and I were dropped in the backpacker ghetto, full of guesthouses, western food, book stores and tourist offices. We immediately ran into Israelis who told us where we could find the Chabad and as the New Year was but 24 hours away from starting, we headed straight there. We were greeted by the main Rabbi and 2 Australians who fed us (Israeli salad, soup, hummus...mmm) and gave us the low down on celebrating Rosh Hashana in Saigon. We reserved spots at the next night's dinner and headed back out...

We spent our first day in Saigon walking around and visiting the main sights--the city itself is really lovely, full of trees, parks, and crazy drivers zooming in and out of oncoming traffic. We spent most of our time at the War Remnants Museum (it used to be called the American War Crimes Museum but they changed it as it didn't prove too popular). Museums so far in southeast Asia really honor the horrors of the past with photos, personal stories and recreations of torture chambers and the like. What they lack across the board is framing--there was no basic history of why the war happened, where the main fighting took place, how long it lasted, and what the outcome was. As an American and my mother's daughter, I have a basic understanding of the Vietnam War and America's role in it, but as a tourist I crave more information. Despite the lack of framing, the museum itself is a necessary introduction to the country and its recent history, inlcuding an entire exhibit on the effects of Agent Orange which will forever be engraved in my memory.

We quickly returned to our guest house, showered and took motorbikes to a fancy hotel in downtown Saigon to join the rest of the Jews in welcoming the New Year. It was me, Oded, our two Australian friends from the previous night and about 150 other Israelis. No joke. My Hebrew is improving if only from hearing it so often--I think I hear more Hebrew than Vietnamese. Dinner was lovely--challah, hummus, soup, chicken, fish, apples, honey--all one can ask for when their family and friends are so far away.

We left dinner and headed to a local bar with two new friends. After one beer we headed to a popular night club where we danced the rest of erev Rosh Hashana. Not surprisingly, most of the folks from dinner were also at the club--Rihanna and Michael Jackson ruled the night amidst a mix of American music from the 80s and the 90s.

All in all, Rosh Hashana was really nice--Shana Tova u Metuka to all who are celebrating. I wish everyone a sweet year full of happiness and love.

To see photos of Saigon, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/Saigon##

Border Crossing by Boat

We left Cambodia on Saturday after securing Oded's Vietnam visa. We decided not to go the direct route ( a very long and unexciting bus ride) and opted for the scenic route--a van to a boat to another boat to another van to another boat to a bus. And it may have been our best decision yet...

We followed the Mekong Delta from Cambodia to Chau Doc in Vietnam. The first boat ride was a fast boat down a main waterway--kids and adults alike waved at every chance, yelling hello at the top of their lungs. On either side exists entire neighborhoods and communties built on the water. Houses stand on tall legs, built from bamboo, wood and sometimes stone. Boat is the only means of transportation in these parts and everyone seems adept at steering their little boat in the right direction, whether that be toward a rice paddy or a popular fishing spot.
















The border crossing itself was low key and took only a few moments. We got our passports stamped, ate a quick lunch of pho, and got on another boat that took us through smaller waterways to the town of Chau Doc. We stayed overnight in town only to wake early to head further into Vietnam.

Our morning started with a two hour ride in a row boat rowed soley by one woman (think gondoliers in Venice Vietnam style). The woman was all smiles and probably 50 pounds soaking wet, which made sense after seeing the amount of work it took to row us around. She took us to many small waterbound communities around Chau Doc--only slowing to wave at her children who were hanging off their island of a home, waving back at us. We visited a fish farm and a small Muslim community (Cham) before heading back to shore. It is hard to put into words the creativity born of necessity that make up these water worlds. It is a truly amazing thing to see people really make the most of their surroundings and natural resources.

Once back on land, we boarded a van and headed to another small town that boasted a number of pagodas, temples, and a stunning view that required quite a steep climb. It was a festival at the time that we visited the town and many, many people filled the temples with offerings of fruit, pig, incense and prayer. We headed from this town down three hours of rocky roads, literally being thrown back and forth in the van, to a short boat ride to a full size bus that took us triumphantly to Ho Chi Minh City/ Saigon. And it was in this fashion that I entered my 29th year...
















To see photos of the Mekong Delta, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/MekongDelta##