The Update Continues.............

Okay.. A New Year's Res: I will get this updated.

And I've started!!

February 2, 2009 Updates:

• Hanoi
  
• Sa PA
  
• Hoi An
  

Vietnam Sa Pa

Sa Pa photo album here: http://tinyurl.com/5u662c

Our journey began in Ha Noi the evening before, but that was just a fly in, check in, sleep in and spend half a day wandering about.

From Ha Noi we took a train to Sa Pa overnight. One of those old sleeper trains with four people to a sleeper car. So why didn't I take a photo of that? I have no idea except it was late, we were tired, and it was dark and dingy as can be.

Our sleep mates were a young French student who was doing a tour to wherever his wandering heart would take him. Viet Nam was a must for him, given that the French had invaded this country before we did. The Vietnamese called it the "French War". Our other cabin mate was someone who walked in, hopped in bed, and that was it. He looked Vietnamese but hard to tell.

NAIVE JOE: When we got to the train station we were told to look for a certain van. Mind you now it is about 5 a.m in the mornin. We spent a fitful night sleeping as the train was on a milk run with stops here and there. We find the van, hop in, clutching our valuables to our chest. The side sliding door is open and there's a light coolness in the air and people scurying about to and fro. A guy walks up to the van, looks at me and asks me for money. I reach in my pocket and pay the fare.

He walks away.

I think: Who was that masked man? Turn to Sue and say:"Y'know...some guy just asked me for $10 and I handed it to him questions unasked." It could have been anybody. Luckily it was the van helper who said to me when he saw me looking askance at him: "Okay. Is Okay. I work with van. You okay." I was. But I wasn't.

There's almost a full moon....the mountainside is serenely lit....the journey is long and slow, gears grinding to their own tune.

Arriving at the hotel, we're glad we're in the older section of the hotel. It has that lived in charm.

An area to walk was told to us. As we're walking down I'm getting "Grand Canyon Hike" flash back: Long time ago I hiked down into the Canyon. Lots of fun bouncing down the switchbacks. Hey. Only took an hour to get down. Took 3.5 HOURS to get back up. So I'm saying to Sue: "It's downhill, but we're gonna have a nice hike back." She says not to worry..we can do it.

All the way down locals on motor bikes are vying to ride us down for a fee. Our standard answer: "We like walking".

The ubiquitous: "Where are you from?" So I say "I'm from China". Well it's true. That's where I'm living. Without missing a beat he says: "Guess what? My name is China". Quick guy. We'd see him later.

The area was absolutely beautiful and although feeling like an interloper, walking through the local villages turned back the pages of time.

As we started to walk back up yup "Grand Canyon Flashback".

It was steep.

It was hot.

The motor bike guys kept asking to ride us up for a fee. We kept saying as the sweat poured off us: "No, we really like walking."

You guessed it. So how much to take us back to the top? $10? No way...we'll walk.

Later: So how much to take us to the top? $8? No way...we'll walk.

China came upon the scene with his friend and offered to take us to the top for $1 U.S. How could we say no? We ended up giving him $3.

In the afternoon, we did the tourist walk around town to the local outdoor markets, the Radio Tower Tourist Park, and then sat in a park with the sun beating down and gladly thinking how nice it is to worry about sunburn in the middle of December.

Dinner ended up being a Mama Hoo Hoo. That's Chinese for "Ah..so so".

Second Day Remembrances:

• Breakfast at a small family tucked away restaurant.
  
• Noticed a guy by himself and thought: "...what's it like to travel alone..?"
  
• Village Trek: We hired to do a hiking tour of a local village. The trek was down a mountain road, across rice paddies on narrow built walls, fjording streams, all with the aid of Hmong ladies who held Susan's hand the whole way and smiling all the time.
  
• "Slip & Fall" is not a new dance. It's what each of us did on the slippery narrow rack walls of rice paddies
  
• Tai and Jay our two Hmong lady "Helpers". Yes we knew they were doing it for tips...but their company was worth more than we could pay.
  
• "Walking stick". I bought one. Found out why. In one of the pics you can see how steep the climb/descent could be
  
• Village life with a "bride room".
  
• Many women working. We ask "Where are the men". The guide replies with a sly wink: "getting wood". In other words: "Nothing"
  
• Hemp: The Hmong ladies were constantly spinning hemp as they walked. We learned it can take 1 year to make enough hemp cloth for one garment
  
• Jeep trip back. Lunch. And who should be sitting next to us but the "lone guy" from breakfast. Quick hello and find out he's an ad exec from NYCity who had been thinking of doing this for 7 years. His parents recently deceased and as he said: "...I just decided it was time to go.."
  
• Train ride to end the journey. Bunk mates are a man and his "wife", who looked to be no more than 17 and who we heard crying into her cell phone throughout the night. What was the real story?
  
• Sa Pa...your journey ended far too soon
  

LEFT click on an image to enlarge it in a separate window.

Vietnam Ha Noi

After SaPa we returned to spend a few days in Hanoi, which is a fun, interesting, and eclectic city. What was especially nice was seeing the French influence in the architecture giving the city some tucked away charm behind the teeming mass of humanity on the streets.

Another thing I love about cities like this is that you can "walk" and find almost anything and everything you need. It's nice not to have to get in a cab or car to get from there to here. Of course in Hanoi, as in many other parts of Asia, the ubiquitous motor scooters cause a din of "putt puttting"all around you. It certainly appears that the scooter is/has replaced the bike for carrying everything from its human cargo to flocks of chicken or a pile of boxes or even a half dozen sheep hanging from their canvas holders bleeting downt he street.

A most wonderful and pleasant surprise was a visit to the Hanoi Cultural Museum. This was incredibly done with full size exhibits of a life past, rich in history of the tribes of early Vietnam and the cultural impact on a modern Viet Nam.

Strolling the grounds led us onto scenes typical of those we've found elsewhere in Asia: Favorite settings for wedding photographs. Unlike in the states when the majority of photos are done on the wedding day, Asian weddings seem to book way in advance to have their photographs taken in beautiful settings, often months before the wedding. In our short visit we came across no less than six wedding parties being photographed in about a one block area on the museum grounds.

An evening at the Water Puppet Show with more information here. The art form goes back to the tenth century where farmers used what media they had to create entertainment.

HANOI HILTON

Had to visit the Hanoi Hilton, the prison where John McCain and hundreds and hundreds of others were imprisoned. And as always to read more, do the Google or internet search for "Hanoi Hilton". The Vietnamese present their "side" of what happened in the "American War" and as many U.S. publications tout: "Don't believe everything you read." Now that Murdoch owns many U.S. newspapers, that sounds like good advice, even at home.

The evenings were a big bright spot as we found a great place for Vietnamese food down the street and you know the kind of place where the food is always the best: A mom and pop operation, complete with beaten up furniture, the head of the clan counting cash and the days receipts a few tables over, the door open to a kitchen with a quick glance might make you want to walk out, but the food was so Viet Damn good!!!! Where else can you have dinner, a beer, see what life is really like and for U.S. $5? No, sorry, a Burger King or McDonald's just doesn't come close at all.




More photos at http://tinyurl.com/cbwqul USE BACK BUTTON ON BROWSER TO RETURN TO THE BLOG


LEFT CLICK TO ENLARGE IN A SEPARATE WINDOW

Vietnam Hoi An & Hue

LEFT CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IN A SEPARATE WINDOW

Hoi An: Shoulda spent a week here!! Alas, we only stayed about 1.5 days but what a time it was and a time it was.

Our hotel was tucked in a corner down a street but had world class charm at carriage class prices. The name? Right. I'll get that as soon as I get that.

If I ever go back to Viet Nam this IS the one place I'll return to:

• Meandering streets full of interesting places and charm
  
• Colorful interesting buildings
  
• Doors. I love to photograph doors. I did this long before those multi windos poster and door posters were made. Yeah, I had that idea but did nothing with it. He who hesitates is....
  
• Boat people. Hoi An is on the water and I loved watching the migration of people, wares, animals back and forth from the islands
  
• Arteests. Saw some of the best lacquer and art work here. So why didn't I gather up a horde and take some home? Slaps self
  
• Food!! Scrumptous food at the restaurants we visited and those were only a few
  
• Shoes!! You'll read about Sues Shuz later.
  
• Beaches....nice. I think they looked better than Phu Quoc island.
  

Going to write this in Hemingway fashion..yeah..as if I could write like Hemingway.

Bike ride around Hoi An. Leisurely and fun. Dinner walk. Met a couple we met before and then again. Small world. Recommended the "Cargo Club" for dinner. Awesome Cao Lau food. Superb.

Breakfast at the hotel to die for. The presentation was better than the food. One of those times I shoulda taken pics.

History and Cultural Museum. Love the misspelled stuff: Chinese "cooper"coins. Carpenting. Genuis of Cultur. to name a few. However, there was this quote from long ago: "In the coming time, Hoi An will surely be an attractive place for tourists, especially those who want to live in the rightousness of the old town once so merry prosperous and well known." Only written a hundred years ago.

Some remembrances of Hoi An:

BOAT EYE:

Each boat has an eye painted on the bow for the boat to "see".

HAIR PICKING: Saw many women doing this. As one woman said: "Sometimes a curly hair that itches or we pluck out the gray."

BOAT PEOPLE: Packed boats of people coming from the islands to work.

HORSES: The protect the temples and are the guards.

YELLOW HOUSES: Soooooo many yellow houses. One native said "tradtion", but none I could find could tell me from whence tradtion came.

KAO KAO: As Sammy said "..the candy man can.." Many of these men selling candy all around town.

LACQUER: Got a "no no no" from Joe, but I shoulda.

SUEZ SHUEZ: At the last minute Sue decided she wanted a pair of boots because they were so inexpensive. "Boots ready next morning" says woman. Sue says okay and pays. Well, the next morning came....had to go get boots....we leave in what 2 hours. Right boots very, very tight. "I go fix". Boots come back as we're leaving. End of story? Sue gave the boots to her daughter.

Long, long, long bus ride to HUE.

HUE. Eh!! After Hoi An. Major let down. Didn't even take a note.

Get thee to Hoi An..you'll love it.

As for Hue? Fawgedaboutit. Shoulda spent more time in Hoi An.

Next time





All photos here: http://tinyurl.com/bps4n9 USE BACK BUTTON ON BROWSER TO RETURN TO BLOG

Vietnam Sa Pa By a Wall Slowly

In the village of Sa Pa many of the Hmong sell their wares to the tourists. In one way I felt like someone outside a fishbowl in that here I am, Joe American, enjoying the beauty of these people while they toil away to sell to the tourist.

There are various tribes some called RED Hmong, others BLACK Hmong and I think I read about FLOWER Hmong. Some Hmong information: .




www.laofamily.org/pdfs/Hmong_History.pdf


One Hmong woman hung her blankets and items on a wall across from where I was sitting. As locals and tourists walked in front of "The Wall" which was on an incline going uphill into town I was enjoying the images. In some cases it was a struggle pulling carts and in others tourists gleefully bounded upwards.

I started to shoot thinking this would make a nice travelogue when a giant delivery truck pulled right in front of the wall to deliver goods. I waited 1.5 hours but the truck didn't move.

I did.

Vietnam Saigon Ho Chi Minh City

HCMC Placeholder

Vietnam Phu Quoc Island Dec 28

Placeholder Phu Quoc

Hangzhou 2007

Placeholder for Hangzhou blog entry.

Yangshou Fall 2007

Yangshuo is the first place we've visited in China where I felt like I was visiting a unique area and real culture. Shanghai doesn't give that feeling. Simply this was a place to escape the hustle and bustle of Shanghai and nestle amongst the Karsh outcroppings at a way off the beaten path resort: The Yangshou Mountain Resort, hestled on the shore of the Li Rivewr.

We did venture into downtown Yangshuo but this was during National Day. (Copy follows) National Day (October 1)

It is the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 in the wake of routing the Nationalists who have since taken refuge in Taiwan. There used to be grand parades squares of major cities of the country. Now celebrations usually take the form of parties in amusement parks by day and fire-works and grand TV ensembles during the evening. Employees enjoy two paid days-off. It is also a good occasion for many people to take a short excursion to enjoy the beauty of the golden Fall

The following is from where you can read more about Yangshou. Google Karsh Mountains for the history of these outcroppings, which were pushed up by Mama Earth's burping millions of years ago Wind and rain eroded them over the eons to their present shapes.

Yangshuo lies in the northeast of Guangxi Province and to the southeast of Guilin City. The special geography gives it breath-taking beauty while over 1,400 years of history bless it with a deep traditional culture. The diverse ethnic minority groups including Hui, Zhuang, Yao and others, enrich it with special folk cultures represented by their various festivals; while many foreign residents add exotic flavors to its fascination.

The famous Li River traverses the county and brings it the most beautiful scenery. Along the extremely pure river, thousands of hills stand in different poses and with different expressions, such as Moon Hill, Mural Hill and Schoolboy Hill which is the natural stage of the world famous opera 'Impression on Sanjie Liu'.

Sanjie Liu is a fairy singer in the legend of the Zhuang minority group. Big Banyan, a huge tree with a history of over 1,400 years, is said to be the place where her love story happened. The 'Little Li River'- the Yulong River – is a paradise for a cruise because of its green hills, silky water and ancient bridges. You can also go to Xanadu, a primitive minority village full of folk culture and tranquil rurality.

LEFT click on an image to enlarge it in a separate window.

Myanmar (Burma) Inle Lake

The web is a vast enclcylopedia, so here's an excerpt from www.visit-mekong.com I'll follow that with a couple of quick observations and our "monk" story.

At 875 metres above sea level, Inle Lake is still surrounded by high hills that help to keep the waters calm and the lake area misty. The huge and beautiful lake does not only contain a marvelous microcosm of aquatic life, but is also surrounded by a harmonious blend of national races. 22 km long and 11 km wide, Inle Lake is home to 70,000 Bamar, Danaw, Danu, Intha, Kayah, Pa-O, Shan, and Taung-yo peoples, among others - roughly half of the areas population.

Of these groups, one of the largest is the non-indigenous Intha, who live in 17 stilted villages around the lake. They are said to have migrated from Dawei, in southern Myanmar, in the late 1300s. Most are involved in fishing for the local carp and other freshwater fish that are abundant in the lake with cone shaped nets. The Inthas are renowned for rowing their flat-bottomed boats from the stern with one leg, so that they can watch for shoals of fish, and avoid the large clumps of water hyacinth and low-lying islands that are scattered about Inle.

Inle Lake also supports a thriving farming community that produces a wide range of vegetables and flowers, and rice is cultivated at the northern end of the lake on extremely fertile floating islands. The local men also produce silver and brassware, pottery and lacquerware, while the lake's womenfolk are highly skilled silk weavers. The area is the second largest producer of silk products in the country.

Many of the garments produced by the local women find themselves in use at the yearly Phaung Daw U and Waso festivals, which run concurrently in September and October. During the former, sacred statues from Phaung Daw U Paya are rowed around the lake to bless the local monasteries, and bring prosperity to the hard-working local communities of Inle Lake.

Okay...that's the book part. For us, staying at the Golden Isles cottage "resort" on stilts on the lake looked like the perfect way to spend some relaxing time watching the water drift by and taking day trips to the local villages and stilt towns.

What we weren't prepared for was the "Wailing Mosque" or so we thought. Having lived in Qatar for 2 years at around 5 p.m. from across the waters we heard a blood curdling wail, which sounded like the call to prayers in the Middle East. Well, we know we weren't there, so maybe this was some chant from one of the temples. It shortly ended. Or so we thought.

Then we heard it at 9 pm. Then at 1 a.m. . Okay...it'll end soon. NOT. Then at 3 a.m.

The next time talking to a fellow teacher, Rachel, we remarked. "Gee you think someone would have told us about the noise from the village across the lake. How can they call this a "resort'?

During the day we were far away and about, so no "call to mosque".

Ah, but that night. Yup. at 5 p.m. Then about 9pm...1 a.m. 3 a.m. I slept with my BOSE sound deadening headphones on AND THAT DIDN'T HELP.

So off Sue goes to find out what the noise is about. "Oh that. You are very lucky. You are here during a monk's novitiation. This only happens a few times a year."

Seems that the village calls everyone around for miles to come and share in the celebration. Only happens when school is out. Or when we're at the resort!

Even with that this was a place not to be missed. Besides the friendliness of the people, seeing a completely different way of life was eye opening. Life is life no matter where you go......the trappings may be different, but you can see the same emotions that make us who we are.

Double left click on an image to enlarge it in a separate window.

Myanmar (Burma) Bagan

This was our first step back in time. Cue Twilight Zone music.

Okay, maybe the first step back in time was taking the flight from Yangon to Bagan leaving from an airport that should have been painted black and white and been in a 40's movie. Next was getting into a car from at least 30 years ago, which when I described it later to teachers who have traveled extensively, nonplussed they said: "Oh that sounds like Cuba." Our taxi dated to about 1970. And if it wasn't for the falling headliner, missing door handle, windows that rolled down but not up, most of the rear seat coverd..but only most, then maybe it would have been charming. Fun and unusual: Yes. Charming ain't gonna cut it.

Cue Starship Enterprise.

Warp speed back in time to I don't know oh maybe a 1,000 years ago.

Cliff notes from our faithful guidebook, The Lonely Planet. Bagan was a prime spot for activty for about 250 years dating from about 1,047 and ending with the footsteps of Kubla Khan raiders in 1287.

We stayed in Old Bagan, where the government relocated all the inhabitants away to create the Archaeological Zone, located on the bend of the Ayeyarwady River. Hotels are allowed as are a few local restaurants, but other than that it's an arechological zone.

As Lonely Planet says: "Imagine all the medieval cathedrals of Europe sitting on Manhatten Island --and then some-- and you begin to get a sense of the ambition of the Bagan kings who built as many as 4,400 temples over a 250 year period." Ayup, 4,400 temples.

After being overtaken by Kulai Khan and the Mongol invasion, the sites reamined deserted and untouched over the centuries.

The "why" is what I'm still trying to find out. All I can surmise is offering to the gods.

These pictures can't convey the vast amount of temples in this area. I kept looking for a great post card or aerial shot, but the best I could do was take a photo of a small area from the top of a temple.

Double left click on an image to enlarge it in a separate window.

Myanmar: Yangon and Schwedagon Temple

I keep wanting to say "Burma Shave". Well, that goes back in time, but near as far back as Myanmar, which was renamed Burma by the British.

During the van service to Pudong airport for our flight to Myanmar another teacher asked: "And where are you going on spring break." I was tempted to say Fort Lauderdale, but Susan answered: "Myanmar...ever been there." To which the other teacher replied: " I wouldn't go there for political reasons." I was so tempted to say: "Umm..you're living and working in China and you won't go to Myanmar?" But I bit my tongue....

You can read all about the political problems in Myanmar, but then again name a country that doesn't have something wrong with it. Right now a world poll has the U.S. in an ugly light with close to 60% saying the U.S. sets a bad example.

Bush's embargo sometime ago caused a number of banks to leave the country. There is not an ATM machine to be found and you can't use your credit card in most places.

Guess what they want: U.S. Greenbacks. We took a pile of George Washingtons, Abraham Lincolns, and pretty much ignored the other presidents.

Only one day was planned in Yangon and that was to see the Shwedagon Paya Temple. Well worth the trip. These photos are only a sampling and don't near at all show the size.

Posting these now. Will be back later to tell you about Miss LaLa, the Three Season Hotel, and my flirtation with a drag queen...well I didn't flirt.. I was flirted "at".

Double left click on image to enlarge in a separate window

BALI: Ubud and More

Space holder