New Video

Here's a video I put together of some extra clips I took while in Vietnam.



vietnam 2007 from ngocB on Vimeo.

coaster fun

One of the fun things we did in Da Lat was ride the dry bobsled down to Datanla Waterfall. It was a 2 person coaster that was manually controlled by us. It was so much fun!


Warning: There are lots of laughing and giggle fits in this video.

Untitled from noodles and Vimeo.

Here's a short video of Luyen crossing the street in Saigon in front of BenThanh Market.

planes, trains, buses, boats, and motorbikes

We are back in Ho Chi Minh City after tirelessly traveling through Saigon, Vung Tau, Phuoc Tinh, Mui Ne, Da Lat, Nha Trang, and Hoi An. My uncle traveled with us to Vung Tau and Phuoc Tinh and was able to show me the house where I was born and where we lived before we fled for the States. I also got to see the actual boat that took my maternal grandfather out to another boat when they were finally able to flee in 1979. It was a tiny boat that took out a total of 90 people, making 3 trips with 30 people each time. It was really neat being able to see and talk to some of the people still there. They still remember our families.

It's been so much fun and in the last week or so, we have done some sand sliding on the white sand dunes and hiked up a mini Grand Canyon in Mui Ne, parasailed and drank Da Lat red wine from the floating bar in the middle of the sea in Nha Trang, rode motorcycles with our Easy Rider guides through the mountains in Da Lat, tasted snake wine, stood under the Elephant Waterfall, rode a dry bobsled (like a manual roller coaster!) down to Datanla Waterfall (super fun!), rented bicycles and biked 5 miles to Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An. I will write more about each stop when I get the chance, but I will post some pictures from our adventures here from the last week.

White Sand Dunes in Mui Ne

Biking to Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An

Our hotel doggie watching the sunrise in Mui Ne

Watching the local fishermen at sunrise in Mui Ne

On the Red Canyons overlooking the sea in Mui Ne

On the Yellow Sand Dunes in Mui Ne

Our house in Phuoc Tinh

Glass bottom boat in Nha Trang

Drinking our Da Lat red wine at our floating bar in Nha Trang

Next up, touring the Mekong Delta...

Hue

Aug. 7 - 9


One of the great things about "backpacking" through a country is that you sometimes end up running into the same fellow travelers. I've already run into Sara and Diego, a really nice couple from Barcelona, about 5 times now. We stayed at the same hotel in Hanoi and then kept running into each other on our way to Ha Long Bay and even exchanged kayaks in the bay. I'll probably run into them again at some point along the way, most likely Hoi An. There's also Ivona and Alicja from Poland, where I met on the same Ha Long Bay junk boat. We ended up taking the same 16 hour night train to Hue and then spent the day hanging out and touring the ancient city. We had a great time visiting the Citidel and just walking (and eating) through the city. I don't know if I'll run into them again. They're taking a 2 month trip through SE Asia (jealous!) and it's been great meeting great fellow travelers like them. So I now have friends in Poland when I go there one day.



I gotta say it was as hot as Hades. Hanoi and Hue has been scorching and I am quite dark after only a week and that's without trips to the beach! People keep mistaking me for Thai and Filipino.



I had a motorbike tour (fun & cheap!!) of Hue and got to go up in the mountains and see some beautiful sites. We got to Tu Hieu Pagoda just in time to watch the Buddist monks pray/chant over their afternoon (and only) meal. That was really cool to see. We also visited Thien Anh Catholic Church, which was built underground during the French and American (Vietnam) Wars. They had to build it into the mountain to avoid all the bombing that went on during the wars. That still stands, but they have built another church right above it. I had a personal tour of the grounds from one of the monks and he was really great. He spoke French fluently and very little English.

We also stopped by the Thanh Toan Bridge(Japanese Covered Bridge), which was built in 1776 by a lady of the village who had the good fortune to marry a wealthy Mandarin. Taking pity on her former neighbors, Trân Thị Đạo built the bridge with her own money so they would not have to wade or ferry themselves across the small creek. However, she also wanted a son, and building the bridge was part of her prayers. Another local legend has it that she indeed had a son who fell deathly ill at the age of sixteen. The illness was traced to the ghost of a young girl who had died before she married and had children, and being unfilled, her spirit fell in love with the young boy, inhabited his body and made him ill. To this day, some local people make offerings to the girl at the small shrine in the middle of the bridge. I stopped by a small stand and bought a bottle of water and sat and talked to the owner. She was a sweet lady and kept offering me tea. As I left the little village, she ran after our motorbike and screamed out, "Ngoc Ha, Ngoc Ha, bye bye!!" She had gotten up and left during our conversation and I didn't get to say good-bye to her, so it was nice that I got to wave good-bye before we took off.



One of the interesting restaurants I've eaten at is Lac Thien. It is run by a deaf/mute family and has been in business since the 60's. They were super friendly and the owner is known for his homemade bottle opener comprised of a wooden stick with screws at the end and he pops the glass bottles open by slapping one end of the stick. I had the Hue specialty called Banh Khoai, which is a sort of omelet with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts. It was pretty good. My favorite dish here in Hue has been Bun Bo Hue. It is a beef vermicelli soup that is utter goodness. I've never had it before and it was yummy in the tummy.

The people here in Hue have been so freaking friendly! There has been so much genuine kindness that just blows me away.

Next up, I fly to Saigon to stay with my mom's uncle...

tip of the day

When getting off of a motorbike, DO NOT get off on the right-hand side. You may just end up burning your leg on the muffler. Yeah, it hurts and it ain't pretty.

Ha Long Bay

I booked an overnight tour of Ha Long Bay through my hotel and they arrived very early Saturday morning to pick me up for the 3 hour ride from Hanoi to Ha Long City to meet our junk boat. There were 13 other people joining the tour. It was an interesting cross section with a couple from France, 2 girls from Poland, 1 guy from Lithuania, a couple from Germany, an Aussie, a couple from California, a guy from Ottawa, and a couple from Amsterdam. We had a very funny guide named Hien. He spoke really great English and was always ready with a really corny joke.

Ha Long means dragon descending, with the local legend telling of a celestial dragon and her children, sent by the Jade Emperor to stop an invasion, spat out great quantities of pearls to form islands and razor-sharp mountain chains in the path of enemy fleet. The bay is peppered with over 2,000 limstone mountains jutting out of the emerald waters. It is quite beautiful. We were able to tour one of the caves and it was quite impressive with its many stalagmites and stalagtites. I even had a chance to kayak through and around these limestone rocks. The view from that vantage point was unbelievable. We also swam in the emerald waters before dinner. I'm not quite confident in my swimming skills so I had to be the loser with the bright orange life vest.

We then slept under the stars on the upper deck of our boat. As cheesy as it may sound, I can honestly say it was quite a magical moment. It did end up raining in the middle of the night and we all had to run down to our cabins. I had such a great time here and meeting and bonding with the other travelers on the boat made it evem more memorable.

Hanoi

I am finally here in Hanoi, on day 2. The flight on Cathay Pacific was really pleasant. The service is the best I've had so far in the air and the food not too shabby. The 17 hour flight to Hong Kong really wasn't bad at all and I ended up sleeping the whole way. It was the final 3 hours that was the hardest as I got so restless and anxious. I had to transfer to Vietnam Airlines in Hong Kong for a 2 hour flight to Hanoi. The stewardesses were so pretty in their maroon ao dai. Upon on our descent, there was a rainbow playing against the vibrant green fields. It was quite breathtaking!

I'm staying at a really great hotel next to Hoan Kiem Lake, near the Old Quarter. The staff's been super friendly and really helpful. They're so surprised to see that I actually can speak Vietnamese even though I've been living in the States for so long! Also, there's free internet so I'm taking advantage of that.

The traffic here is so chaotic!! Imagine hundreds, thousands of motorbikes racing through the streets. Now, imagine trying to cross the street with all those motorbikes coming at you! It truly becomes a game of Frogger. I ended up getting a free motorbike ride through the city yesterday. It was so much fun.

My first meal here has been pho ga. It was really good and so cheap! For a bowl of pho and a coke, it came to 25,000 VND (less than $2 USD). In these 2 days, I have not even spent $5 USD yet on food/snacks!

I spent most of today at the Museum of Ethnology which features Vietnam's many Ethnic Minority groups. It was quite interesting to see the diversity of ethnic groups here. The jet lag, I believe, finally caught up with me and I passed out at my hotel afterwards.

Tomorrow, I'm heading out to Ha Long Bay very early in the morning. Ha Long Bay is an UNESCO site with thousands of limestone rock islands jutting out of the sea. It's a 2 day/1 night tour, sleeping on the boat, and kayaking through the caves and rocks. I've got my dramamine ready!

I've worked out a loose itinerary and it's still changing as I finish up packing my carry on bag. Here are the places I'm planning on visiting while in Vietnam:

Hanoi
Ha Long Bay (UNESCO site)
Hue (the Citadel, Vietnam's old capital)
Saigon
Vung Tau (fishing village)
Phuoc Tinh (birthplace)
Mui Ne (famous for its sand dunes, canyons, and world-class kite-surfing beaches)
Da Lat (known as "Le Petit Paris")
Hoi An (UNESCO town famous for its super cheap tailor made clothing shops)
Nha Trang (beach resort town)
Mekong Delta

I really want to go to Phu Quoc Island, but I don't think we'll have enough time to do so. Phu Quoc Island is said to rival Phuket. It's known for having some of the best unspoilt beaches in SE Asia.

I will try to update every few days once I get settled down in each town.

Anticipation

I've got my Visa. I've got my passport. T minus 2 days before I get on that plane and head back to Vietnam. We fled when I was only 9 months old so I don't have any recollection of our time there. We're from a little commune called Phuoc Tinh, which is near the fishing village of Vung Tau. I'll be taking a day trip there when I'm in Saigon and will try to find the house that we lived in back then. Mom said there should be people there who will still remember our families.

It would've been so great if the whole family was able to make this trip, but mom and dad aren't quite ready to go back just yet. They're still a little wary of the current government.

I've done months of research and am ready for my backpacking adventure through the country. Speaking of backpacking, here's what I'll be living out of for the next month. Talk about having to do some creative packing!

This is a trip that I've been looking forward to for years now. As I get older, I feel a stronger need to (re)connect with my roots. Whatever happens on this trip, I know that it will be a journey that will be, at least, an enriching one.

Who am I kidding? It's all about the delicious and authentic food I'll be having everyday! Yum! ;-)