Vietnam April 7-10, '16

"Good morning, Vietnam!" Pete was threatening to say heading into the trip but never actually did.  Very disappointing, really.

Our mornings started early (4:15 rooster call, anyone?) and were always followed by adventurous days.

We got into Hanoi at about 4 pm but since I needed a visa to enter we worked on that for about 30 minutes. Pete reminded me that since his country didn't invade Vietnam he just strolled right in with his UK passport.  I had filled out my application in the US and here I needed to pay more money for a shiny sticker in my passport. Moving right along...

The Vietnamese dong is a bit of a calculating nightmare as it is $1 to 22300 dongs. We took out a couple million and were ready to leave the airport. With directions written for us in Vietnamese we got into a cab. As the meter ticked away in dongs the driver showed us his phone with a number 50 on it. As in that's how much money he wanted. No. He showed us 40. Hellooooo, the meter is on, we will be paying that. $16 later we unloaded ourselves with a couple of lessons ready to go. Always have local currency, know the conversion and use that meter. Also, they tried to screw us and we have been in the country for 5 minutes. Baaad Vietnam. 

I had long been looking forward to staying in this place. A tree house. 30 meters up. Cool. So very cool. The house keepers took us to the wrong tree house (apparently that's possible) but with zero Vietnamese and pointing fingers I sorted it out.  Since we were further from town than walking distance we decided to stay in the neighborhood and find some food. We got something that resembled tofu (or not, we don't know) and pickled bok choy. I ordered a coffee and fresh mango and got a mango smoothie brought to the table, no coffee. The joys of no language, flexibility and fresh fruit. Pete had a beer and our entire dinner with drinks cost us $3.

The next two days are hard to describe so I'll edit hundreds of pictures for proof. We were taken to Halong Bay, about a four hour drive from Hanoi. Its grandiose rock formations, perfectly still water and a ridiculously gorgeous ship made for a beautiful three day cruise in this part of the country. We visited a pearl farm, floating villages, had a BBQ on a beach and kayaked into caves. The serenity of this area is undescribable and having no wifi helped. Shutting it all off, surrounding yourself with beautiful water and birds chirping from the rocks is what it's all about.

Our last day in Vietnam was spent back in Hanoi, this time in the dead center of all the happenings for tourists and locals alike. Hanoi is steaming with nightlife, restaurants and scooters. One thing Hanoi doesn't have? Traffic rules. The pedestrians walk into oncoming traffic and assume the scooters and cars will go around them. We are rocking a 100% success rate on that one. 

And so this awesome trip comes to an end. I've gotten new appreciation of pho, am totally tired of lemongrass and rice but so very happy to have explored a new part of the world. So much to see, so little time!

Thailand - April 3-6, '16

Oh, Bangkok, we'll be back.

Going into the trip I knew very little about Thailand other than it was hot and that everybody who has gone loves it. 

It's easy. In the three short days we used a canal boat, tourist boat, express boat, SkyTrain, Metro and Airport Link to get around the city.  While Bangkok is huge you can figure out how to get to and fro with relative ease. Especially if your boyfriend looks at maps and you don't have to think. Just sayin'.

It's cheap. That may be the understatement of the century.

-28 cent bottled water on every corner.
-7 dollars for an hour massage.
-2 dollars for a complete delicious meal. Could be less but you need to try everything on the street carts!
-56 cents for freshly squeezed  juice. Pomegranate?  Pineapple? Orange? You decide.
-80 cents for a huge Thai iced coffee.

You get the point. During the first two days of our trip we spent $43 which included all of our transport, visiting temples, eating non stop, getting massages and buying souvenirs.  I can get a really mediocre lunch for that in London.

When people talk about their gap year or month long trips it makes perfect sense that this area would be at the top of the list. You can enjoy life and not cry about your expenses when you get back home.

The more I travel the less Europe looks good. I am glad I got some of it in pre- Euro and when airfares weren't my monthly salary. Central America, I discovered in 2007, is much more affordable but as the last decade has gone on it has become less so. Thank God for this huge world and discovering new places to visit. Long flight? Oh my god, yes. Totally worth it? Absolutely.

Thais. We found people to be very polite, helpful and not out to screw us. It's amazing how you need zero language but a couple of fingers and expressive eyes to communicate. More on that in Vietnam.

In China, we were led to buy sandwiches for breakfast. As if any foreigner couldn't possibly want noodles for their meal. Chips? No we didn't want them but the nice lady made sure we knew where they were. Why in the world would we want to try local delicacies?!

In Thailand, it was much easier to get in with the locals. I couldn't tell you what we ate half of the time but damn it, it was so good. Meat on a stick? Dip we didn't know was spicy before smothering the chicken? Ball on stick? Yeah, still don't know what that was. Not that it mattered, it was delicious and I got pics.

Locals wanted us to explore and we obliged at every step.

Those massages. My sister in law warned me they'd be cheap. But $7 per hour for an awesome Thai lady jumping on you and twisting you all around? It became a bit of a goal to get one evey day. And because I achieve everything I put my mind to (har har) massages were had! 3.5 hours over the course of four days. One day ended with a 11 pm massage and the next morning by 9 am another lady was going to town. I can get used to it.

Temples, Buddha, Architecture. We read somewhere that Bangkok is a representation of the past, present and future. It's a great way to describe this bustling city. Older buildings falling apart are standing next to gigantic air conditioned malls that are right next to futuristic hotels towering over the Chap Praya river. Traditional temples covered in gold leaf are startlingly beautiful.  Tourists gawk as locals pray to a variety of Buddhas in different poses, moods and locations all over the city. 

Damnoen Sadauk Floating Market. One of the days we headed out of town to leave the bustle behind and see another part of Thailand. 90 kilometers out are small canals with merchants preparing foods and selling their goodies right from their long tailed boats. We hired a boat towards the second part of the day which meant we had the market to ourselves. For two hours we went canal after canal enjoying people's offerings and gawking at paintings and clothes. It was tranquil and beautiful and worth the adventure out of town.

Food. In case you haven't been following. It's everywhere. Accessible. Cheap. Delicious. Yes, we dined at one of the best restaurants in the world. It was gorgeous. And tasty. But the memory I'll take with me is walking out of our apartment door having no clue what we will run into. No sit down meals were ever had  for breakfast or lunch. It's the best.

Bangkok and Thailand are a sensory overload regardless of what you are here for. People, food, culture, heat, whatever you want is here. There is not a doubt in my mind that I'll be back.  It is one of the most memorable cities I've visited and I'm hungry for more.

China - April 2, '16

We've been waiting for our Thailand and Vietnam adventure for over 6 months. AirBnBs were booked, dinners researched and excitement was building. We knew we had one night in Guangzhou, China as we got in at 5 pm and our flight to Bangkok didn't leave until 9 am the next day. We carefully selected a hotel that would be near the metro to take in the eve sights yet by the airport for the early departure. We are ready to have dim sum by the Pearl River looking over the gorgeous lights and Canton Tower. It was going to be perfect.

And then we landed.

"Gosh, it's so overcast" I said upon glancing out of the window. Maybe then we won't see so much this eve.

"It's smog" Pete declared.

"Really? Ok, we'll see."

As the plane door opened the smog pierced the air and immediately my eyes started to hurt. We were sardined into a bus and taken on a scenic route of the largest airport I've ever visited. No earlier than 10 minutes later, we arrived at customs.

And what customs it was. The line wound around and around for almost two hours. People (mostly men) from all over the world, tired after their journeys all just wanting to get out. Turkish, Russian, American, more Russian, English, people from all parts of the globe gathered in a smelly, smoke filled seemingly never ending line.

Stamps in hand, our next task was to find out hotel.  Where, oh, where are you, Huahai Airport Hotel? In the terminal? On the grounds? Can anyone help us? In short: No.

Listen, I travel enough and speak a couple of languages that get me where I need to be in most places in the world. I do not believe every person should cater to my American needs and speak English. Unless they work at an information desk at any airport in the world. Call me snobby but I don't see how we could find anyone remotely interested in helping us. English or not, no one wanted to help.

By the time we found our hotel in the slums of Guangzhou it was time to call it a night. There was no going to the city, no dim sum and most definitely no getting out of that hard bed I, by mistake, laid my head on. 

This was our China.