March 9, 2010 – Day 439 – Hanoi, Vietnam
When in Hanoi, there are two things you must do. One of them is visit the Ho Chi Minh Musuem. It’s pretty freakin’ crazy. The first floor is all photographs of “Uncle Ho” here and there with various farmers or peasants or babies with plenty of reading material alongside.
The man himself
March 7, 2010 – Day 436 – Hanoi, Vietnam
A market in Hanoi is a unique place. Like a whirling planet of activity all happening within the confines of a thimble. The aisles are so cramped that a single person can barely squeeze through, and just imagine what happens when someone stops to look at something in one of those tiny aisle shops.
The eye of the storm
March 6, 2010 – Day 436 – Hanoi, Vietnam
At 6:30am, we pulled into Hanoi. Well, more like 25km outside Hanoi city. It was still dark and we were still kind of asleep when we shared a taxi with someone to downtown to try to find a place to sleep for the night. At least we were getting any early start!
Streets of Hanoi
March 2, 2010 – Day 432 – Vientiane, Laos
With some early morning negotiation powers we arranged a visa pick up, a stop at the concrete monster called Victory Gate, and then back to where we started for 30,000 Kip/pp. Of course we had to insist that we would only take 5 minutes at the embassy and 10 minutes at Victory Gate, which we did at both places. We scurried up the 7 stories of Victory Gate and back down in record time, much to our tuk tuk driver’s pleasure. Easy money for him, power sightseeing for us.
Victory gate
February 20-21, 2010 – Day 422-423 – Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang, Laos
Two travel days right in a row. Yuck! We just can’t seem to sit still! On the way from Muang Sing to Luang Nam Tha, we were stuffed into an 11 passenger van that was actually transporting 16 passengers. Saben’s seat was a fold down metal bar and Lin’s was some random part of the van behind the front reclined-passenger seat, facing the other 15 passengers.
Girl waiting at the bus stop
February 19, 2010 – Day 421 – Muang Sing, Laos
After a soggy breakfast of foul-tasting eggs, we walked to the market. This time of year there isn’t much to it—a few clothing and household good vendors, a few fruit sellers, and a couple of random-pieces-of-meat salesmen.
Not much in the market
December 22, 2009 – Day 362 – Bangkok, Thailand
We made it out alive! Now we’re in the most fabulous place we could possibly be after such a long tiring last several months. A true vacation spot: Thailand! It is so beautiful, so organized, so clean, the people are so happy and friendly, and everything is so bright and colorful. Even our plane here was nicely decorated with saffron, fuschia, and deep purple seats with smiling Thai ladies in traditional dresses. Fantastic!
The view down Koh San road
Although we have officially survived India, it sent us with a parting gift of the typical Indian variety. So even though we didn’t get to go out and see much of anything, we are both extremely happy to be here.
December 19-20, 2009 – Day 359-360 – Chennai, India
To do a bit of last minute souvenir shopping we headed off to Pondy Bazzar and found a few neat things. The market is not a touristy place since it caters more to locals than foreigners. You can find street stalls lining the road in front of stores selling endless kinds of sari fabric, household wares, a supermarket or two, and so on.
Fortune teller bird in the market
November 21, 2009 – Day 331 – Arambol Beach, Goa, India
After a heart pumping run on the beach this morning, we decided to toss things up with a breakfast of oatmeal with sliced bananas and fresh orange juice. Mmm! There is a huge fruit stand in town that sells everything from green beans and eggplants to fingerling bananas and melons. Everything just seems to taste better here in Goa!
Fishing boats in the morning
India is a whole other universe, unlike any place in the world. Things are rarely as they seem, people say anything but don’t consider it lying, personal space and privacy are words that probably do not even exist in Hindi, there are smells you could never imagine or figure out, and you will see more naked people than you probably have in your whole life (unless you live in Croatia).
Chaotic India
Taxi Rides = 123
Boat Rides = 35
Motorcycle Rides = 10
Plane Rides = 16
Bus Rides =330
Train Rides = 124
Rickshaw Rides = 98
Truck Bed Rides = 25
Rainy Days = 42
Current Rummy Score
Lin 10950, Saben 12435
