We decided to go for the long haul bonuses in the morning. We went all the way to the north of Thailand on two different scavenges. First, we travelled three hours to Chiang Rai. We had to find the wat where the emerald Buddah, now located in Bangkok, is located. We researched the guide book and found it was Wat Phra Keo. A very long drive to look at a second rate has-been. But, if we continued on for another hour to the Myanmar border to get our passports stamped for bragging rights, we would accomplish another bonus. In order to do it correctly by the 2-scavenge-per-taxi rule, we had to pay our taxi to wait for two and a half hours, so we could have a fresh set of wheels to take us to the Myanmar border rather than risk not finding one back to Chiang Mai.
We left shotly after 6AM, taking food from the buffet with us in take out boxes.
The long drive wound through countryside dotted with police checkpoints. The Fodor's guide we were able to buy in the English section of a book store said that this region is rife with opium warlords who the police try to control. Great. We noticed that halfway into the drive. But then again, the guide book was five years old.
Stopping at a hotel in Mae Sai, the town at the northern border of Thailand, we got into a different taxi to do the one hour round trip to the Myanmar border. While explaining our intention to go across the border, the barely speaker of English said, "Oh, passport stamp". Apparently, we were not making an unusual request.
The border crossing involves walking into the emigration office in Mae Sai and then into the next room to buy a visa for Myanmar. In the Myanmar immigration office, you have your photo taken for a visa they produce at a desktop printer. Since the immigration office has a few tourists milling about, everyone's headshot photo has other people in the background. The visa is stamped "Walk" because the means of arrival is tobwalk across a bridge. Next comes the scary part. To pass border control into Myanmar, they give you the visa they just created and then they KEEP your passport while you visit Myanmar, with a promise that you will get it back when you leave the country. For me, that was not the formula for a lovely stay in Myanmar. We stayed long enough to improve their economy buy buying bottles of cold water and some nuts. Oh, and Brian bought a beer.
When we got to the office to emigrate, only Brian and Sami's passports were in the little plastic tray of passports to be returned. Christine and I had to wait. But, like watching your fellow travelers' luggage appear on the arrivals carousel, I had a good feeling that we would see our passports. We did. A few minutes later, ours were delivered. Phew.
We returned to Chiang Mai and did several more scavenges involving three markets and a wat, eating safe street food (grilled bananas), and talking our way into a restaurant kitchen to help cook something.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Chiang Mai at Night - from Tapirs to Girly Men
We arrived at our hotel in Chiang Mai and began scavenging at 6 PM. We were required to stop at 10 PM. We started in the old part of Chiang Mai, visiting three wats, and had to find out information specific to each - what the statues are made of in Wat Chang Man, and had a monk explain the four noble truths. At Wat Pra Songh, we had to figure out what was important about it. And, at Wat Chedi Luong, we talked to a resident monk about his beliefs.
We met up with Brian and Sami from Dubai and spent almost the whole evening with them. We went to the night safari which is a game park. There is lake in the center and a teak footbridge and path around the perimeter. We snaked around exhibits of mostly nocturnal creatures. It was a fabulous experience being in a game park at night. And, the paths were not lit to US standards, which made the challenge even more challenging. From there we went to catch the 9:30 show of the Simon Cabaret, which is now called something else and is a little tricky to find. It is a Broadway musical style cabaret, except that it is all "lady men". Even knowing that the performers were men, we found it hard to believe. They were so feminine and pretty. The dancing and lipsynching were really fine. As a special find, we got to eat their buffet dinner which was thrown in with the price of the ticket for free. That freed us from having to hunt around for a quick biite, and the buffet served one of the mandatory food scavenges. Khau neow mamuang is sticky rice with mango. Delicious.
We then parted ways with Brian and Sami. They are great travelers and fun. We made plans to travel tomorrow. Since you are limited to doing five scavenges with another team, we had to split up just before our last scavenge of the night. We were almost scavenged out anyway!
Christine and I went on to the Night Bazaar and located an eatery specializing in insects. We chose what looked like cricket and locust and "ate" them while posing for the camera shot for evidence, but gave the remainder to our tuk tuk driver who happily gobbled them down.
We planned a 6 AM meeting with Brian and Sami.
We met up with Brian and Sami from Dubai and spent almost the whole evening with them. We went to the night safari which is a game park. There is lake in the center and a teak footbridge and path around the perimeter. We snaked around exhibits of mostly nocturnal creatures. It was a fabulous experience being in a game park at night. And, the paths were not lit to US standards, which made the challenge even more challenging. From there we went to catch the 9:30 show of the Simon Cabaret, which is now called something else and is a little tricky to find. It is a Broadway musical style cabaret, except that it is all "lady men". Even knowing that the performers were men, we found it hard to believe. They were so feminine and pretty. The dancing and lipsynching were really fine. As a special find, we got to eat their buffet dinner which was thrown in with the price of the ticket for free. That freed us from having to hunt around for a quick biite, and the buffet served one of the mandatory food scavenges. Khau neow mamuang is sticky rice with mango. Delicious.
We then parted ways with Brian and Sami. They are great travelers and fun. We made plans to travel tomorrow. Since you are limited to doing five scavenges with another team, we had to split up just before our last scavenge of the night. We were almost scavenged out anyway!
Christine and I went on to the Night Bazaar and located an eatery specializing in insects. We chose what looked like cricket and locust and "ate" them while posing for the camera shot for evidence, but gave the remainder to our tuk tuk driver who happily gobbled them down.
We planned a 6 AM meeting with Brian and Sami.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Hanoi - Mopeds and Ho
We are allowed to take a taxi or other public means of transport and have it wait but we may keep it for only two scavenges. We started our day full of scavenges by visiting the ancient gate to the city up at the northern border. The taxi waited while we snapped a photo of ourselves in front of it. We got back in the taxi to go do a scavenge in the market, but as we drove along, we realized we had failed to walk throught the gate; and posing in front was not enough. We hadWe started our day full of scavenges at the ancient gate to the city. the driver turn around to take us back so we could do it right. Dumb waste of time. (Ten minutes, maybe). In the market, we had to find something from the war. We took a picture of camoflage pants. From the market, we headed to Ho Chi Minh's masoleum.
But first, a word about taxis and dong. The legitimate ones are quite reasonably priced. The airport trip of a half hour or so in a large taxi was $12. But In Hanoi, rogue fake taxis charge ten times that. We were warned but fell for it more than once. Part of the reason is that the currency conversion is hard to manipulate. There are about 19,000 Vietnamese dong to the dollar. Just remember to lop off four zeroes and divide by two. Easy? Let's just say that we paid $20 for what should have been about a $2 taxi ride.
To add a little salt to the wound, the creep didn't even drop us off in the right place for access to the mausoleum. The grounds must be one thousand acres (not really, but it felt like it) and we had to walk around a good bit of the walled off area to get in.
Then we were faced with security that takes your camera away from you, inserts it in a little tote bag in exchange for a numbered token and the promise that you will get your camera back at the exit to the mausoleum. No choice but to trust.
Ho lies in state in a glass case. The room is regally somber. Nine soldiers in crisp white uniforms stand guard like the Buckingham Palace guards, erect and unblinking. No one in the long snaking line of tourists whispered a word as we respectfully filed by. Not even the girl wiggling on her stillettos in front of me.
We visited some other sites on the palace grounds including Ho's stilt house which is a modest structure in the style of peasants, which he chose to live in, rather than the palace. The sparse wooden house is strkingly meager and simple.
Next was to answer the question: it was shot down during the Christmas bombing raids on December 19, 1972. What was it? Where is it? Armed with a guide book and a map, we confidently headed to the Museum of Military History. The grounds next to the museum are a bit jarring to an American. The tangled bodies of US military aircraft shot out of the sky are on display, arranged like a sculpture garden. Each airplane has a sign next to it with details about date and location it was downed. Probably not a coincidence that the Vietnamese flag waves atop a tower high above. We got to work, reading each of the signs. We could not find an aircraft with the right date. We went into the museum and scoured the exhibits. There was a small map on a wall showing Xs of locations where two B52s were shot down a period surrounding the specific December date we sought. Having spent 45 minutes reading every scrap of English, we left. Turns out we sid not get it. That plane lies crashed in a lake in the southern part of the city.
We visited the prison museum at the Hanoi Hilton. Very sad. Before it was used on Americans, they tortured and guillotined others there.
We did some other scavenges and had lunch at Cha Ca La Vong. The restaurant has been there for 100 years. They serve one dish only. They put a heated pot in front of you with some pieces of sauteed fish and less broth than a Mongolian hot pot, and you heat up fresh greens. Peanuts and dill are sprinkled on top. It was fantastic.
Next was to take a bus from Long Bien bridge area to Bat Throng. The bus terminal in that area was crowded. We looked around for the right place to stand for our destination. We "asked" a policeman by mispronouncing the name of our destination and playing charades to find out the fare and whether we needed exact change to board To ask the fare, Christine pulled out a 100,000 dong bill (worth about $50) to show him. He gasped, curled his hand around hers to hide the money and looked around motioning to be careful of pickpocketers. The farr is 3000 dong and we needed to use a much smaller denomination When the bus came and we prepared to board, I felt a tug on my purse. I foiled the pickpocketer.
The trip to the town of Bat Trang was about 20 minutes through some rural areas. The town makes pottery and there is a dizzying amount for sale. The scavenge was to try your hand at making something. In an area of all retail vendors, we spied a guy on a second floor balcony, working a potter's wheel. We convinced him and his friendly friends to let us try working with them for a moment and a photo.
When we finished, we returned to Hanoi we had originally planned to do the return trip to Hanoi by taxi, thinking that thw bus would be nerve wracking. Actually it was quite pleasant and we scrapped the plan and took the bus. Some darling high school children boarded and a 17 year old girl approached me, eager to converse in English. Great experience.
As the bus pulled back into the depot, we braced for the moped chaos and continued on scavenging until about 8 PM. The next morning, we had a few more hours to get in the last few scavenges. We did as many as we could until the noon deadline.
All the fellow travellers met in the Hotel Metropole lobby, handed in our results and learned what's next. Luang Prabang, Laos. Yay!!! I hoped we would go to Laos.
Before leaving for the airport, a few of us had lunch and massages in the hotel spa. Soothes away the pickpockets, moped-dodging and mud.
But first, a word about taxis and dong. The legitimate ones are quite reasonably priced. The airport trip of a half hour or so in a large taxi was $12. But In Hanoi, rogue fake taxis charge ten times that. We were warned but fell for it more than once. Part of the reason is that the currency conversion is hard to manipulate. There are about 19,000 Vietnamese dong to the dollar. Just remember to lop off four zeroes and divide by two. Easy? Let's just say that we paid $20 for what should have been about a $2 taxi ride.
To add a little salt to the wound, the creep didn't even drop us off in the right place for access to the mausoleum. The grounds must be one thousand acres (not really, but it felt like it) and we had to walk around a good bit of the walled off area to get in.
Then we were faced with security that takes your camera away from you, inserts it in a little tote bag in exchange for a numbered token and the promise that you will get your camera back at the exit to the mausoleum. No choice but to trust.
Ho lies in state in a glass case. The room is regally somber. Nine soldiers in crisp white uniforms stand guard like the Buckingham Palace guards, erect and unblinking. No one in the long snaking line of tourists whispered a word as we respectfully filed by. Not even the girl wiggling on her stillettos in front of me.
We visited some other sites on the palace grounds including Ho's stilt house which is a modest structure in the style of peasants, which he chose to live in, rather than the palace. The sparse wooden house is strkingly meager and simple.
Next was to answer the question: it was shot down during the Christmas bombing raids on December 19, 1972. What was it? Where is it? Armed with a guide book and a map, we confidently headed to the Museum of Military History. The grounds next to the museum are a bit jarring to an American. The tangled bodies of US military aircraft shot out of the sky are on display, arranged like a sculpture garden. Each airplane has a sign next to it with details about date and location it was downed. Probably not a coincidence that the Vietnamese flag waves atop a tower high above. We got to work, reading each of the signs. We could not find an aircraft with the right date. We went into the museum and scoured the exhibits. There was a small map on a wall showing Xs of locations where two B52s were shot down a period surrounding the specific December date we sought. Having spent 45 minutes reading every scrap of English, we left. Turns out we sid not get it. That plane lies crashed in a lake in the southern part of the city.
We visited the prison museum at the Hanoi Hilton. Very sad. Before it was used on Americans, they tortured and guillotined others there.
We did some other scavenges and had lunch at Cha Ca La Vong. The restaurant has been there for 100 years. They serve one dish only. They put a heated pot in front of you with some pieces of sauteed fish and less broth than a Mongolian hot pot, and you heat up fresh greens. Peanuts and dill are sprinkled on top. It was fantastic.
Next was to take a bus from Long Bien bridge area to Bat Throng. The bus terminal in that area was crowded. We looked around for the right place to stand for our destination. We "asked" a policeman by mispronouncing the name of our destination and playing charades to find out the fare and whether we needed exact change to board To ask the fare, Christine pulled out a 100,000 dong bill (worth about $50) to show him. He gasped, curled his hand around hers to hide the money and looked around motioning to be careful of pickpocketers. The farr is 3000 dong and we needed to use a much smaller denomination When the bus came and we prepared to board, I felt a tug on my purse. I foiled the pickpocketer.
The trip to the town of Bat Trang was about 20 minutes through some rural areas. The town makes pottery and there is a dizzying amount for sale. The scavenge was to try your hand at making something. In an area of all retail vendors, we spied a guy on a second floor balcony, working a potter's wheel. We convinced him and his friendly friends to let us try working with them for a moment and a photo.
When we finished, we returned to Hanoi we had originally planned to do the return trip to Hanoi by taxi, thinking that thw bus would be nerve wracking. Actually it was quite pleasant and we scrapped the plan and took the bus. Some darling high school children boarded and a 17 year old girl approached me, eager to converse in English. Great experience.
As the bus pulled back into the depot, we braced for the moped chaos and continued on scavenging until about 8 PM. The next morning, we had a few more hours to get in the last few scavenges. We did as many as we could until the noon deadline.
All the fellow travellers met in the Hotel Metropole lobby, handed in our results and learned what's next. Luang Prabang, Laos. Yay!!! I hoped we would go to Laos.
Before leaving for the airport, a few of us had lunch and massages in the hotel spa. Soothes away the pickpockets, moped-dodging and mud.
Luong Prabang, Laos
If I have any hope of finishing this blog in a reasonable time, I am going to refer to this place as LP. I could just call it deliciously special. LP is in northern Laos. Laos is bordered by China to the north, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand and Myanmar to the west.
LP is a beautiful place. The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is surrounded by gentle mountains and slopes down to the Mekong River. There are dozens of wats (temples), many of which are decorated ornately in gold. The town has a languid feel - birds chirping, cyclists holding umbrellas to shield from the sun, saffron-robed monks gliding about....
We started our 6 AM to 10 PM day by participating in the tak bak ceremony at dawn. The monks in their beautiful flowing robes snake in a line down the street. Alongside the buildings, people line up with offerings to the monks. The vendors of the offerings are also on the street, selling the appropriate items to offer. We joined the group of people making offerings. We offered sticky rice in clumps, pink taffy candies, and something wrapped in little packets of banana leaves. The monks file by, holding baskets and they choose items from our offerings, to place in their baskets. Although the ceremony is spiritual and people are quiet and respectful, I couldn't help but see a similarity to Halloween, with the dressed-up monks holding baskets, taking candy and food from those offering it to them. Apologies for my irreverent thoughts. We noticed that between every five monks or so, there was someone carrying a basket that was being used as a slop bucket. Many monks were removing the sticky rice balls from their baskets and dropping them into the slop bucket. We later learned that the ritual relates to the new year celebration - giving back the spirit - or something I obviously did not catch correctly.
New Years in LP - a HUGE event! It is four days of festivities. Our day in LP is the last day of Pimai, the New Year's celebration. The ceremonies include buddah washings, Miss New Year crowing, and construction of little sand stuppas as requests for prosperity. The highlight is that people throw buckets of water on each other. People stand by the side of the road and douse every vehicle that goes by. It is great fun for the Laotians and visitors.
We chose to take a boat across the Mekong River to visit Wat Long Khoun. The boatman we found on the shore had a rickety longboat but we took it anyway. Being out on that quiet river was very special. We drifted by very few people or boats. We saw a few fishermen net-fishing and some children along the shoreline. We visited the wat, reachable by climbing a high hill. Our boatman also took us to another village scavenge in Ban Suan, and we found children playing petanque (a bocci ball game), and we had to join the game, which we did. We gathered that these villages are reachable only by boat. We did not see or hear any vehicles. We felt privileged to have the chance to discover and explore those remote places without a guide- two women alone - figuring it out.
Arriving back into LP by boat, we quicly visited the National Palace Museum and then set off out of town for the elephant ride in a teak grove. What fun! I have ridden elephants before but this was special. It was just Christine and I and the elephant and our driver in the forest. The driver was 20-ish guy. At one point his cell phone rang and he kept driving the elephant while talking on the cell. He carried a large saw balanced on the elephant's neck. We hoped it wasn't intended to saw off the heads of tourists once we got far enough into the woods. (just kidding-the place is an elephant conservation site, so we had some confidence it was legit). As we rounded a bend, we came across a large tree that had fallen across the path. The driver jumped down off the elephant with the saw and started to saw the tree that was about four feet in diameter. Are you kidding? One guy with a little saw? We motioned that we preferred to turn back. By the time we returned to the van, we had ridden for about an hour. That was plenty!
We drove to Phonesay, a small village with weavers. After the car could go no further, we walked, including passing over two rickety bamboo bridges. We found weavers with looms around the sides of their houses.
Next scavenge was to go to the Phousy Market and buy toothpaste, shampoo and cookies for children in an orphanage and deliver the items. We were surprised at how well the dormatories are maintained from the outside. Inside, the walls are lined with one long bed, the length of the room, with children sleeping side by side sharing the giant bed. A few teenage boys were napping when we looked in. Upon giving our bundles of 20 toothpastes and a dozen shampoo bottles, we learned that 500 children live there. We did not even make a dent in their needs.
Next was heading out to swim in the waterfalls. The area was crowded with people picnicing and celebrating the new year. Lots of joy of familes and friends enjoying each others' company.
We headed back into LP to do some final scavenges. The skies opened up into an intense thunderstorm. Ironically, this was the last evening of the new year's celebration, which also marks the beginning of the rainy season.
Next stop: Chiang Mai, Thailand
LP is a beautiful place. The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is surrounded by gentle mountains and slopes down to the Mekong River. There are dozens of wats (temples), many of which are decorated ornately in gold. The town has a languid feel - birds chirping, cyclists holding umbrellas to shield from the sun, saffron-robed monks gliding about....
We started our 6 AM to 10 PM day by participating in the tak bak ceremony at dawn. The monks in their beautiful flowing robes snake in a line down the street. Alongside the buildings, people line up with offerings to the monks. The vendors of the offerings are also on the street, selling the appropriate items to offer. We joined the group of people making offerings. We offered sticky rice in clumps, pink taffy candies, and something wrapped in little packets of banana leaves. The monks file by, holding baskets and they choose items from our offerings, to place in their baskets. Although the ceremony is spiritual and people are quiet and respectful, I couldn't help but see a similarity to Halloween, with the dressed-up monks holding baskets, taking candy and food from those offering it to them. Apologies for my irreverent thoughts. We noticed that between every five monks or so, there was someone carrying a basket that was being used as a slop bucket. Many monks were removing the sticky rice balls from their baskets and dropping them into the slop bucket. We later learned that the ritual relates to the new year celebration - giving back the spirit - or something I obviously did not catch correctly.
New Years in LP - a HUGE event! It is four days of festivities. Our day in LP is the last day of Pimai, the New Year's celebration. The ceremonies include buddah washings, Miss New Year crowing, and construction of little sand stuppas as requests for prosperity. The highlight is that people throw buckets of water on each other. People stand by the side of the road and douse every vehicle that goes by. It is great fun for the Laotians and visitors.
We chose to take a boat across the Mekong River to visit Wat Long Khoun. The boatman we found on the shore had a rickety longboat but we took it anyway. Being out on that quiet river was very special. We drifted by very few people or boats. We saw a few fishermen net-fishing and some children along the shoreline. We visited the wat, reachable by climbing a high hill. Our boatman also took us to another village scavenge in Ban Suan, and we found children playing petanque (a bocci ball game), and we had to join the game, which we did. We gathered that these villages are reachable only by boat. We did not see or hear any vehicles. We felt privileged to have the chance to discover and explore those remote places without a guide- two women alone - figuring it out.
Arriving back into LP by boat, we quicly visited the National Palace Museum and then set off out of town for the elephant ride in a teak grove. What fun! I have ridden elephants before but this was special. It was just Christine and I and the elephant and our driver in the forest. The driver was 20-ish guy. At one point his cell phone rang and he kept driving the elephant while talking on the cell. He carried a large saw balanced on the elephant's neck. We hoped it wasn't intended to saw off the heads of tourists once we got far enough into the woods. (just kidding-the place is an elephant conservation site, so we had some confidence it was legit). As we rounded a bend, we came across a large tree that had fallen across the path. The driver jumped down off the elephant with the saw and started to saw the tree that was about four feet in diameter. Are you kidding? One guy with a little saw? We motioned that we preferred to turn back. By the time we returned to the van, we had ridden for about an hour. That was plenty!
We drove to Phonesay, a small village with weavers. After the car could go no further, we walked, including passing over two rickety bamboo bridges. We found weavers with looms around the sides of their houses.
Next scavenge was to go to the Phousy Market and buy toothpaste, shampoo and cookies for children in an orphanage and deliver the items. We were surprised at how well the dormatories are maintained from the outside. Inside, the walls are lined with one long bed, the length of the room, with children sleeping side by side sharing the giant bed. A few teenage boys were napping when we looked in. Upon giving our bundles of 20 toothpastes and a dozen shampoo bottles, we learned that 500 children live there. We did not even make a dent in their needs.
Next was heading out to swim in the waterfalls. The area was crowded with people picnicing and celebrating the new year. Lots of joy of familes and friends enjoying each others' company.
We headed back into LP to do some final scavenges. The skies opened up into an intense thunderstorm. Ironically, this was the last evening of the new year's celebration, which also marks the beginning of the rainy season.
Next stop: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Hurrying around Hanoi
We landed in Hanoi in the afternoon. The one hour ride from the airport took us across beautiful stretches of lush green fields, just as I had imagined and hoped I would see. The fields were spotted with farmers, bent over working the fields, topped by their pointy bamboo hats, with work animals scattered around. As the bus brought us into a less rural area, the roadside was lined loosely with little shops and homes. People seem to live their social lives along the side of the road. They congregate, seated together outside, often around little tables. Many sit on stools that look like kindergarten chairs. They are eating, drinking, playing cards, seeming enjoying each others' company. I saw two me chatting, sitting together next to each other in the opened trunk of a car. The weather is very warm, humid, overcast, and on-and-off misty rain. My impression of Vietnam as a serene pastoral setting was trashed as we entered Hanoi. The chaos in the center of the city is nearly constant. The streets are choked with mopeds, noisily zipping around with no regard for traffic lights or one-way signs. Every time we cross the street, we must focus intently. Looking both ways to find a clear spot and play chicken with the drivers is not enough. You still have to watch that somebody doesn't fly at you, through a red light coming the wrong way on a one way street. I will not miss that when we leave.
We checked into the Hotel Metropole. Gorgeous old hotel with lots of history dating back to French colonial days, fell into disrepair and now has been restored exquisitely. Our rooms are in the old part, with grand varnished wood shutters over the windows which overlook the pool courtyard. We had an hour or so to settle in before the scavenging began. I sat by the pool and did my Hong Kong blog. After I finished, I accidentally pushed "back" instead of "send" and erased it. That's my apology for less than I would have written (and did write).
The Vietnam leg runs from April 13 in the evening until noon April 15. There are 38 scavenges plus five bonuses which take many hours but reward more points.
We set off with almost the whole group, to find an English bookstore to buy guidebooks, and then to get dinner together. There are seven scavenger hunt teams. They are: Zoe and Rainey (last year's champions who came in second the previous year and plan to do this every year for the next ten years), Heidi and Lily, Kit and Joanne, April and Travis, Brian and Sammy, and Carol and Rebecca. Having purchased our guidebooks, we set off to do the first of the the three mandatory food scavenges together. We could only find one of the restaurants in all of the different guidebooks we had purchased, and it was too far away. So, we decided to "find and eat a Vietnamese dish known as ca kho". As we stood outside the bookshop figuring out our dinner, Heidi glanced at the menu posted outside of the restaurant next door. Ca kho was on the menu. It is a fish stew served in a clay pot. It was delicious. After dinner, some people went back to the hotel, but Christine and I wanted to stroll a bit, so we went with Kit and Joanne to see if we could knock off a scavenge or two. We tried to find the cinema. We had the address but walked all around the block and into a dark alley that somebody told us to go into. After wasting much time, we dropped that effort and went instead to the Old Quarter to locate five streets. The old quarter is crowded with dozens of little streets that spew off in all directions with little logic. Many of the streets have two word names with the first word "Hang", which means market. We had to find Hang Ca, Bac, Hom, Quat and Trong. Each of the names refers to what was sold by merchants on that street. Even though we had a very detailed map, it was hard to find the streets. The smallest one, Ca, was not on our map but we found someone to show us. At 11 PM, we returned to the hotel. We bumped into Lily and Heidi who said they were thinking about going to the 2 AM wholesale market to try some hot pink dragon fruit. We went in a taxi together to the bustling market near the Long Bien Bridge. It was amazing. Actually, before we got to the market, the taxi driver had misunderstood and took us to a different market just up the street a bit, but all of the vendors were unloading bunches of beautiful flowers from their mopeds and bicycles. We had stumbled into completing a different scavenge - visit the Quang Ba flower market early for some serious eye candy. Well, 1:45 was early, but the market was bustling, with people setting up their stalls with profusions of brilliant color. When we realized the error, we snapped our photos and went on in search of dragon fruit up the road. Seeing the wholesale food market in action was extraordinary. There was the usual market chaos of having to watch your feet and your life to make sure that you don't get run over by a truck backing up or by an aggressive hand-cart pusher. Here, there were people weaving through the aisles balancing long sticks on their shoulders, with baskets hanging in front and in back of them, filled with produce. Bicycles and mopeds laden with goods were weaving in and out of all of this. We didn't spy any dragon fruit at the outset. We walked deeper and deeper into the chaos, we noticed a guy following us at our every turn. Clutching our bags, we felt the urgency to get the fruit and get out of there. Christine spied a stand with dragon fruit and we were able to accomplish the scavenge and leave.
By the time we got back, it was 3 AM. We were debating whether to go for the big point bonus by visiting Halong Bay, which meant an entire day doing a trip which really should be no less than two days. And, we gathered, even when we got there, we would not be able to do much of what you go there do. Plus, we would be forfeiting the time to visit many of the sights in Hanoi. That seemed such a pity. So, we decided to stay in Hanoi, which meant that we really had to figure out the clues and make the most of our time here, with all the little local activities. To do that kind of planning means sitting with the scavenge list, a guidebook and a map, and plotting each of the items to develop a list of what to do in what order. I spent one hour until 4 AM, working on the plan. Then, it was hard to fall asleep before our planned wake up time at 6 AM. Not a relaxing vacation.
We checked into the Hotel Metropole. Gorgeous old hotel with lots of history dating back to French colonial days, fell into disrepair and now has been restored exquisitely. Our rooms are in the old part, with grand varnished wood shutters over the windows which overlook the pool courtyard. We had an hour or so to settle in before the scavenging began. I sat by the pool and did my Hong Kong blog. After I finished, I accidentally pushed "back" instead of "send" and erased it. That's my apology for less than I would have written (and did write).
The Vietnam leg runs from April 13 in the evening until noon April 15. There are 38 scavenges plus five bonuses which take many hours but reward more points.
We set off with almost the whole group, to find an English bookstore to buy guidebooks, and then to get dinner together. There are seven scavenger hunt teams. They are: Zoe and Rainey (last year's champions who came in second the previous year and plan to do this every year for the next ten years), Heidi and Lily, Kit and Joanne, April and Travis, Brian and Sammy, and Carol and Rebecca. Having purchased our guidebooks, we set off to do the first of the the three mandatory food scavenges together. We could only find one of the restaurants in all of the different guidebooks we had purchased, and it was too far away. So, we decided to "find and eat a Vietnamese dish known as ca kho". As we stood outside the bookshop figuring out our dinner, Heidi glanced at the menu posted outside of the restaurant next door. Ca kho was on the menu. It is a fish stew served in a clay pot. It was delicious. After dinner, some people went back to the hotel, but Christine and I wanted to stroll a bit, so we went with Kit and Joanne to see if we could knock off a scavenge or two. We tried to find the cinema. We had the address but walked all around the block and into a dark alley that somebody told us to go into. After wasting much time, we dropped that effort and went instead to the Old Quarter to locate five streets. The old quarter is crowded with dozens of little streets that spew off in all directions with little logic. Many of the streets have two word names with the first word "Hang", which means market. We had to find Hang Ca, Bac, Hom, Quat and Trong. Each of the names refers to what was sold by merchants on that street. Even though we had a very detailed map, it was hard to find the streets. The smallest one, Ca, was not on our map but we found someone to show us. At 11 PM, we returned to the hotel. We bumped into Lily and Heidi who said they were thinking about going to the 2 AM wholesale market to try some hot pink dragon fruit. We went in a taxi together to the bustling market near the Long Bien Bridge. It was amazing. Actually, before we got to the market, the taxi driver had misunderstood and took us to a different market just up the street a bit, but all of the vendors were unloading bunches of beautiful flowers from their mopeds and bicycles. We had stumbled into completing a different scavenge - visit the Quang Ba flower market early for some serious eye candy. Well, 1:45 was early, but the market was bustling, with people setting up their stalls with profusions of brilliant color. When we realized the error, we snapped our photos and went on in search of dragon fruit up the road. Seeing the wholesale food market in action was extraordinary. There was the usual market chaos of having to watch your feet and your life to make sure that you don't get run over by a truck backing up or by an aggressive hand-cart pusher. Here, there were people weaving through the aisles balancing long sticks on their shoulders, with baskets hanging in front and in back of them, filled with produce. Bicycles and mopeds laden with goods were weaving in and out of all of this. We didn't spy any dragon fruit at the outset. We walked deeper and deeper into the chaos, we noticed a guy following us at our every turn. Clutching our bags, we felt the urgency to get the fruit and get out of there. Christine spied a stand with dragon fruit and we were able to accomplish the scavenge and leave.
By the time we got back, it was 3 AM. We were debating whether to go for the big point bonus by visiting Halong Bay, which meant an entire day doing a trip which really should be no less than two days. And, we gathered, even when we got there, we would not be able to do much of what you go there do. Plus, we would be forfeiting the time to visit many of the sights in Hanoi. That seemed such a pity. So, we decided to stay in Hanoi, which meant that we really had to figure out the clues and make the most of our time here, with all the little local activities. To do that kind of planning means sitting with the scavenge list, a guidebook and a map, and plotting each of the items to develop a list of what to do in what order. I spent one hour until 4 AM, working on the plan. Then, it was hard to fall asleep before our planned wake up time at 6 AM. Not a relaxing vacation.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Window on Vietnam
On our way to Hanoi. The Vietnam Airlines Magazine has a section called "Window on Vietnam".
The History section offers a one sentence summary of what we Americans call the Vietnam War. It says: "American War: Vietnam fought America from 1954 to Ho Chi Minh's victory on April 30, 1975".
The Price Guide says, "In Vietnam,be prepared to bargain. To give you an idea of where to start, we suggest the following prices". They offer prices for some transport and food items. The thing that caught my eye was the selection of Grooming. The four choices are: shoeshine, hairwash, street haircut and street-side laundry.
I am also reading today's Viet Nam News. There is a section about children called "Owners of the Future". I found one of the two lead stories to be quite sad. More than 81% of pre-school and primary school pupils suffer from tooth decay. Wow.
The History section offers a one sentence summary of what we Americans call the Vietnam War. It says: "American War: Vietnam fought America from 1954 to Ho Chi Minh's victory on April 30, 1975".
The Price Guide says, "In Vietnam,be prepared to bargain. To give you an idea of where to start, we suggest the following prices". They offer prices for some transport and food items. The thing that caught my eye was the selection of Grooming. The four choices are: shoeshine, hairwash, street haircut and street-side laundry.
I am also reading today's Viet Nam News. There is a section about children called "Owners of the Future". I found one of the two lead stories to be quite sad. More than 81% of pre-school and primary school pupils suffer from tooth decay. Wow.
Macao and the Passport Pickles
We set off for a day in Macao via ferry. As we were purchasing our tickets at the ferry station, the ticket seller said to make sure we have our passports. Christine realized she had locked hers
safely away in the hotel room safe. We did a hotel round tripper and returned to the ferry station. We were set back by one hour. (Not bad, considering we could have arrived in Macao before we discovered the need for a passport). The ferry ride was a comfortable one hour fifteen, with assigned seats like an airplane.
When we arrived in Macao, there was a very long line for immigration. The man, wife and teenager in front of us held Myanmar passports. The immigration official inspected their documents and then called over a colleage who led them off to a separate area.
Christine approached and showed her Barbadian passport. The official started to motion to send her over to the guy-who-hauls-people-away, but Christine had a trick up her sleeve. She travels with two passports. She offered up her EU passport instead. That worked better. She was whisked right on through to the other side, into Macao. I was next. My USA passport got me through quickly without a hitch. Phew. We left the noisy crowded immigration hall and set off to scavenge.
We had to do four of six things. Heading by taxi to the northern border of Macau, we visited the Portas de Cerco, the gates that the Portugese constructed as the gateway into mainland China when Macao was a Portuguese colony. We did a quick drive-by visit of the Sao Paolo church which is now only the front wall, having been destroyed by fire, but seems to be an ornate sculptural frame.
The next scavenge took us to the casino district - just as glitzy as Las Vegas. We had to get a casino chip at either the Wynn or the Casino Lisboa. We chose Wynn. The casino looked just like one would expect in Las Vegas except that the staff and gamblers are almost all Asian (and skinny).
We went to A Ma Temple which honors seafarers. We had to take a rickshaw. Ugh. The poor guy was hauling us in the heat with buses and taxis passing by.
Taking the turbo ferry back to Hong Kong, we scavenged the afternoon and evening. One of the more interesting scavenges was to talk ou way in to the Foreign Correspondents' Club (members only) and look at the photo of the last helicopter leaving the US embassy in Saigon. The framed photo is on the wall in a lowly lit wood paneled room. About ten journalists were seated at tables working, either alone or in pairs, speaking in hushed tones. That was a cool experience.
We had several markets to choose from and had to visit two. The choices were: bird, flower, goldfish, jade, ladies, and Bowrington Road. We chose ladies and goldfish because theybwere near each other and near the Mong Kok train station. The ladies market is like a consumer goods knock off fleas market on steroids. The stalls seem two stories high and are packed together. Many are in front of street level stores and srve as a sort of foyer to the stores. The goldfish market is further down the same street. As the ladies' stalls peter out, the stores start developing a theme of pets, pet food, aquariums, and then fish - and then nothing but goldfish. There are large tanks on the street and in store windows, packed with blazing varieties of goldfish. One vendor on an alley adjacent to the main street had pinned rows of dozens of plastic bags of water, each with a sole fish in it. They looked like clear balls with fish floating inside. Big fish, little fish, red fish, gold fish.
Our choice for mandatory dinner was Nobu at the Intercontinental Hotel overlooking the harbor so we could also watch the light show. No suffering here and it was fabulous. The hitch was our attire. No time to change clothes. We were pretty sweaty and gross, wearing sneakers and chunky day packs. And, to make it worse, the restaurant staff has that weird custom of applauding when a new group enters. As we looked around, we noticed other diners wearing similar couture.
The last scavenge of the evening was karaoke. Instead of embarrasing yourself in a public bar, you rent a private studio for an hour at a time, where you could host friends. All we did was sing one song (Imagine by John Lennon) and leave.
safely away in the hotel room safe. We did a hotel round tripper and returned to the ferry station. We were set back by one hour. (Not bad, considering we could have arrived in Macao before we discovered the need for a passport). The ferry ride was a comfortable one hour fifteen, with assigned seats like an airplane.
When we arrived in Macao, there was a very long line for immigration. The man, wife and teenager in front of us held Myanmar passports. The immigration official inspected their documents and then called over a colleage who led them off to a separate area.
Christine approached and showed her Barbadian passport. The official started to motion to send her over to the guy-who-hauls-people-away, but Christine had a trick up her sleeve. She travels with two passports. She offered up her EU passport instead. That worked better. She was whisked right on through to the other side, into Macao. I was next. My USA passport got me through quickly without a hitch. Phew. We left the noisy crowded immigration hall and set off to scavenge.
We had to do four of six things. Heading by taxi to the northern border of Macau, we visited the Portas de Cerco, the gates that the Portugese constructed as the gateway into mainland China when Macao was a Portuguese colony. We did a quick drive-by visit of the Sao Paolo church which is now only the front wall, having been destroyed by fire, but seems to be an ornate sculptural frame.
The next scavenge took us to the casino district - just as glitzy as Las Vegas. We had to get a casino chip at either the Wynn or the Casino Lisboa. We chose Wynn. The casino looked just like one would expect in Las Vegas except that the staff and gamblers are almost all Asian (and skinny).
We went to A Ma Temple which honors seafarers. We had to take a rickshaw. Ugh. The poor guy was hauling us in the heat with buses and taxis passing by.
Taking the turbo ferry back to Hong Kong, we scavenged the afternoon and evening. One of the more interesting scavenges was to talk ou way in to the Foreign Correspondents' Club (members only) and look at the photo of the last helicopter leaving the US embassy in Saigon. The framed photo is on the wall in a lowly lit wood paneled room. About ten journalists were seated at tables working, either alone or in pairs, speaking in hushed tones. That was a cool experience.
We had several markets to choose from and had to visit two. The choices were: bird, flower, goldfish, jade, ladies, and Bowrington Road. We chose ladies and goldfish because theybwere near each other and near the Mong Kok train station. The ladies market is like a consumer goods knock off fleas market on steroids. The stalls seem two stories high and are packed together. Many are in front of street level stores and srve as a sort of foyer to the stores. The goldfish market is further down the same street. As the ladies' stalls peter out, the stores start developing a theme of pets, pet food, aquariums, and then fish - and then nothing but goldfish. There are large tanks on the street and in store windows, packed with blazing varieties of goldfish. One vendor on an alley adjacent to the main street had pinned rows of dozens of plastic bags of water, each with a sole fish in it. They looked like clear balls with fish floating inside. Big fish, little fish, red fish, gold fish.
Our choice for mandatory dinner was Nobu at the Intercontinental Hotel overlooking the harbor so we could also watch the light show. No suffering here and it was fabulous. The hitch was our attire. No time to change clothes. We were pretty sweaty and gross, wearing sneakers and chunky day packs. And, to make it worse, the restaurant staff has that weird custom of applauding when a new group enters. As we looked around, we noticed other diners wearing similar couture.
The last scavenge of the evening was karaoke. Instead of embarrasing yourself in a public bar, you rent a private studio for an hour at a time, where you could host friends. All we did was sing one song (Imagine by John Lennon) and leave.
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