It is not the destination, rather the journey

Today's mission: perfume pagoda.  After challenges with previous day's experiences of simply hiring a taxi driver for the day, we instead decided it would be prudent to actually book a tour for our next adventure.  Thus picking a random tour company late last night we book a tour to take us upon our journey or shall we call it an adventure?

We begin our exciting adventure at precisely 7:30 when our van picks us up at our front door.  We then spend the next hour picking up the other 12 site seerers from their respective hotels.  At which time we learn our plans for the day.  2 hour drive, then a boat ride followed by a light hike.  Uh-huh.

The two hour drive is quite pleasant moving rapidly out of the city into the countryside.  It is harvest season for rice, thus the fields are alive with locals tending to their crops.  Apparently it is quite difficult to open the husks to release the rice and thus they purposfully lay out harvests on the road for vehicles to drive over and well literally do the 'heavy lifting'.  Then they lay the grains out also on the roads to dry where dogs and occasional cows will wander through in their inquisitive  ways.  Then it is bagged up and sent to your table, yum! 

We arrive to the small port city where we are greeted by dozens of tiny metal boats, small flat canoes to be honest.  They are approximately 3ft wide and maybe 20ft long.  Four people get in (2 by 2) and sit on a small stool approximately 4 inches off the ground.  We then push off and our motor is a nice old woman who rows rowboat style except facing forward.  We sail like this for over an hour a scant few inches from the water.  Picture yourself squarring for an hour straight.  Of course it is the rainy season and indeed it does rain quite hard in the boat, for those that did not bring panchos or umbrellas kids appear as if by magic in smaller boats offering to sell anything to stay dry.  Yet for the length of the boat ride we are moving along some of the most exquisite and pristine scenery.  Lush fields boarded on both side by tall green mountains covered in bamboo and other indigenous greens.  Breathtaking, even when the very wet butt does fall asleep. 

We arrive about an hour later set for our nice leisurely climb.  We are set for a 2600 step climb to the actual pagoda, maybe not so leaisurely.  We could take a cable car but where is the adventure in that?  So hike we do.  Over an hour and half through the same pristine jungle climbing very roughly cut steps sometimes nothing more than piles of stones.  Of course it is raining causing the stones to be more than a bit slippery.  Seeing no other tourists along the road and requiring the boat did certainly remind one of an indiana jones movie. 

Finallty at long last and with everyone absolutely out of breath we reach the much talked about pagoda.  Many of our fellow travelers attempted the hike in sandals and one woman exclaimed on the hike that her thong was killing her.  That caused some eyebrows to be raised until she clarified that she was referring to sandals.  Oops, would have been fun to offer assistance to other possible meaning.  Regardless we made it to this infamous pagoda in pouring rain and just before we are set to enter they hold us back.  Apparently they are shooting a movie and we have to wait until scene ends.  Finally after huddling under umbrellas we descend into what turns out to be a huge cave that has some spectacular rock formations and a tiny little holy shrine complete with neon lights (no joke).  The movie we had to wait for was actually just a single singer who was mouthing the words while hugging a cold damp wall and attempting to be sexy.  Clearly this was a remarkable journey and not necessarily destination. 

By unanimous decision the water soaked group chose to return via cable car instead of hikeing.  Just 8 minutes later we emerge slightly steamed at the base of the mountain.  A lunch in a school cafeteria style rounded out the site.

Continuation of previous entry

I got cut off from previous entry, sorry.

Lunch finished out our site seeing adventure which was followed by a very very long hour long boat ride, and two and a half hour drive home. But safe and sound we did arrive.

  It looks like tomorrow night we will take a 10 hour train ride to the farthest tip of vietnam (closest to china and mongolia).  It is doubtful I will have email access so probably no updates until monday.  Enjoy your weekend.

Day one in hanoi, day 4 in vietnam

Despite all news reports and word of mouth accounts, hanoi (a two hour flight north of saigon) is just as hot and humid as down south. However emotions still remain optimistic as we route our way through the communist city to the old quarter an area originaly developed by the french in the late 1800s. Imagine streets as narrow as most american alleys al with two 'lanes' of traffic complete with scooters and bikes in all directions. Safe just to close your eyes and take the 10 steps to get from one side to another.

The old quarter is divided into 36 streets each focusing on a primary craft such as shoes, silks, and flowers. Down any one street is wall to wall shops crammed full of that trade. Going down to one area for food they actually set up long stalls down the center of the street leaving approximately 3 ft of clearance on either side. Turns out to be just enough room for a scooter to drive by (new meaning to drive through). Each stall is selling raw materials for todays dinner. These include raw chicken (with and without heads), unnamed meats, all variety of sea foods and of course ubiquitous vegetables. I have a fairly strong stomach however I was not in any mood for lunch after that walk.

Just as we leave food section of marketplace the downpour hits. Everyone runs to the side of the street where awnings protect shop keepers and pedestrians alike. Within seconds kids and old women run down the street looking for tourists who were caught unawares to sell panchos and umbrellas to. Thankfully the stein family was fully briefed and stocked up. Thankfully a short downpour allowing our tour of the city to continue.

A pagoda in the middle of the lake where it is said a sacred sword is sunk only to emerge when the holy turtle brings it to the surface. The pagoda is complete with a replica of that sacred turtle. Later we see the world famous water puppet show where puppets move along a small pool of water in a theater depicting various scenes from religion including that of holy turtle. Just in the middle of one of the most suspenseful moments of the puppet show almost as if planned an audience member's phone with the standard ringtone let's itself be heard. A moment made for a movie.

Dinner consisted of milkshakes, beers and soda, four dishes all for under 8 dollars. Somehow we don't want to think where all the food came from :-).

That is all for this installment, have an early morning tour tomorrow so early night.

Matthew Stein

From one city to another

Today aboard a painfully old refurbished boeing we left the bustling town of saigon on the way to hanoi.

Yesterday in saigon we took a day trip to explore the tunnels of cu chi. Those who are history buffs will know these tunnels to be those used in virtually every military event in this country most notably of course the american war (what they call the vietnam war). Although originally thousands of miles long very few of them are still habitable however several have been restored to show what they were originally like. The sections we went through were no more than three feet tall and approximately two feet across. One might think of crawling but locals explain that fighters and residents actually ran headlong into the darkness. After just a few hundred feet our backs expressed pangs of protest. It was absolutely spellbinding the intricacy that went into these mazes including traps and intricate masquerading methods. It is more than slightly uncomfortable to watch their short 'informational' videos that depict americans as such monsters. Although I know our behavior ran close to barbaric at times it is still hard to watch given my national pride.

An amusing annecdote came from our tour of the independence palace, original seat of power of south vietnam. This was the home of president diem whom the us supported. Keep in mind he was so loved by his own people that his own military dropped three bombs on his home (pictures to follow later). In fact over 13 changes of government happened all while us supported this regime. Can we say oops. Wait didn't we support sadam hussein in iran/iraq war? Do we see history repeating itself?

The food thus far has been both identifiable (a huge plus) and quite palitable. Although not always as flavorful as american vietnamese food we have high hopes as we leave the very commercial city to the north. Along that thought, vietnamese absolutely love having things in bottle of alcohol. The most abhorant to me is a king cobra with a scorpion in its mouth. It is thought the venom when mixed with the alcohol will make one more vibrant. Ladies, I am NOT putting this to the test.

Very similar to europe of old, absolutely no one in this country is over weight in fact everyone is painfully fit. The customary outfits are basic pants and a flowing shirt that goes down to their ankles yet split completely up to their waists. It is very form fitting and complimentary to their form, virtually always complimented with high heels. Men on the other hand choose the more comfortable route of simple leather sandals, wool or cotton pants and simple cotton button down short sleeve shirts ubiquitous to middle east and other developing countries.

Our flight is landing so more updates to follow.

Matthew Stein

Good morning Vietnam!!

I am writing this entry from the middle of Ho Chi Minh, formerly known as Saigon.  Yes my family has decided to take vacation in Vietnam for the next two weeks.  To describe the city would be to try and describe chaos.

 

Let us begin with the weather.  A sauna (wet one) would be an accurate analogy.  With over 95% humidity at all times and temperatures well in the 90s, it is challenging to get comfortable especially when air conditioning is hard to come by.  Yet somehow we survive in long pants to be polite in holy areas.

 

The driving is well scary.  Imagine tens of thousands of scooters, vespas, and motorcycles absolutely everywhere.  Very rare are the cars and those that are on the road are swalled amidst the tide of bikes.  Cars identify the need to change lane by holding down their horn and slowly moving into other lanes.  Crossing the street, well that is done at your own risk just walk through the street with purpose as the tour books say and everyone will move around you.  It is not for the faint of heart but then again the faint of heart would not travel here.

 

Tomorrow we fly to Hanoi which is to be considered significantly less commercial (capital for communism) but so far my phone works with full capacity so I am a happy man.

 

More updates to follow.

--
Matthew

My blog at: http://mdstein.blogspot.com
 

NEW PICTURE WEB SITE!!

I have done it, I have created my own web server and am now hosting all my own pictures. Check it out at http://mdstein.dynalias.com. More pictures will be coming after I actually catch up on sleep!