Sun - July 2, 2006

Holiday Bliss

Hoi An has long been a stop on the travel-trail between Saigon and Hanoi. It's also a fave of (particularly Hanoi) expats for relaxing breaks. It also happens to be the place where our company has taken us on the annual vacation. Yay! Living in Hanoi, it's nice to be treated to a bit of luxury every now and again!

This year, as last year, we stayed at the 5-star Golden Sands Resort. It's glorious! Click on the link to see - you know you want to! The resort is set on its own private beach, and we stayed in a huge room looking right over the glistening sand and sea. Just looking at this picture makes me feel so relaxed and stress-free. We had such a fabulous time - again!




One of the big draws about this particular resort is its enormous - and I mean, biggest ever - pool. Apparently size does count when it comes to pools. This one is so beautiful and so big it needs bridges over it at various intervals. And of course, it's set right on the beach, so you have a choice of locations to luxuriate. I think this is an important feature in a resort. You don't want to get too "bored" of your little piece of paradise!




So, as usual when we return from vacation, I'll be posting some pics and thoughts of Hoi An for the rest of the week. It's always nice to relive the bliss :-)

Posted at 12:00 PM    

Tue - May 23, 2006

Wed - February 15, 2006

Busting

This sign was at the entrance to a women's WC in a Bangkok shopping centre.

You don't want to know about the men's!

Posted at 10:23 PM    

Developed Tourism

It was strange being in Thailand and observing how developed the tourism industry is in comparison to Vietnam.

I'm sure there is a process with tourism where the following applies:

1) Normal life, no tourists
2) Tourists start to arrive, but they are so unusual that people provide the same services at the same price. The additional business is appreciated, but at the normal price.
3) A tourist-awareness starts to develop. Services begin, but people become more savvy and charge more than the going rate.
4) Development increases and greed rules. Tourist satisfaction wanes.
5) Finally, people realise that tourism needs to be sustainable and must be developed.
6) Acceptance that tourists must be courted, treated well and provided for. Happy tourists. Return business.

These are just rough ideas, but I really feel that Thailand has gone further in the process of depending on, and having to lure and cater to, tourists.

On the other hand, many people whose lives rely on tourism (cyclo, xe om, guides, souvenir stores, etc) in VN can be downright rude, aggressive, greedy and lazy.

We noticed this program "I love farang (foreigners)" in Thailand. How cool. Taxis and other services had the "I love farang" sign, and even had the sign below asking to call if you had any communication problems.

We took a few cabs with this sign and they were, indeed, really professional and friendly.

So, of course, we thought... WHY don't they develop this in Vietnam!

I don't know why, but I can't see "I love tay" happening!

Posted at 10:00 PM    

Sun - February 5, 2006

Delirious

Check this pic out - I am seriously happy happy HAPPPPYYY!

At this point we are staying on Koh Phangan and it is like Heaven on Earth. It is magical and wonderful and I even got as far as trying to figure out (slash "connive") how to stay there longer. It is SOOOOO amazing! Whole days were swallowed up in a rigorous routine of relax-eat-swim-relax-swoon-at-view-eat-talk-talk-laugh-relax-swim-enjoy-etc.-etc.

More on Koh Phangan soon... but just for the record, if I die, I want to be buried there, or reincarnated as a Koh Phanganian, or even just a bit of sand on Koh Phangan, or at least give my organs to someone who is living on Koh Phangan. If I knew that my left lung would one day live on Koh Phangan and breathe Kon Phanganian air and be attached to a body that saw Koh Phanganian sunsets, that would be really really nice.

Posted at 09:52 PM    

Kanch-Tastic

One last comment about Kanchanaburi...

There was a large "country-style city" area but the guesthouses were all in Kanchanaburi town, mainly along one street near the "River Kwai" (a la Bridge Over the River Kwai).

The place where we stayed was lovely, as I'm sure other places were, but this area was SO tragic. It was like a wannabe Patpong or Pattaya. Every second building was a bar or massage place, and most were totally empty. Imagine walking along a 2 km stretch of party-land with about 10 tourists in the whole place - that was what it was like.

The other thing that was crappy was that it seemed to be the cheapo place to go for geriatric sex-tourists. We were sitting having dinner one evening across the road from the drugstore (which seemed to double as a hang-out joint for guys looking to "meet someone") and these old guys we saw the night before (with very young Thai women reluctantly in tow) went into the store and got abused and kicked out by the staff (only to be picked up by the Thai massage staff next door).

Anyway, whilst Kanch' was lovely for the place we stayed and the waterfalls, it certainly needs to be said that it is pretty sleazy and sad as well. It's like a small country town trying to be what they think tourists want. And tragically, there are some loser tourists who confirm the locals' (worst) expectations. Even worse were the numerous pubs run by westerners also deliberately cultivating this image. Check out the pics.

NB: I have to note that contrary to our expectations, this was the ONLY place we went to where there was any sort of sex-trade. This was possibly due to our selection of places to visit, but I would hate to leave the impression from the entry above that the whole country is rife with this sort of situation - certainly not as far as we saw.

Posted at 09:28 PM    

Sat - February 4, 2006

Erawan Waterfall

Whilst we were in Kanchanaburi, we took a tour to the Erawan Waterfall. If you are ever in this part of the world, it is a fantastic place to visit.

We joined an organised full-day tour, but the afternoon was a real waste of time. It seemed more like loads of opportunities to leave you in a place with nothing to do.... but, "oh, we have a bunch of people with stuff to sell"!

Anyway, all you need is a taxi to take you out to the waterfall and it is SO amazing! (Also, our guide didn't actually join us for most of it - he took us to level 2 right near the bottom, and then said he would wait for us there!!! Whilst we thought that was pretty lame for a "guided" tour, it does show that you really don't need anyone to take you).

I also have to say that I REALLY am going to try and restrain myself from posting too many pics - we took loads because it was incredibly beautiful. And I'm sure the pics won't do the place justice. You just have to go and visit.

So Erawan Waterfall is about an hour out of Kanchanaburi. It's quite well set up with a big parking area and food stalls, etc. and lots of signs to tell you where to go.

The waterfall has seven levels.

Of course, you start off with the obligatory picture of the King.



And then you start off at level 1 and steadily walk up he mountain, stopping as you go at the different levels. We joked that level 7 must be like reaching nirvana. Whilst the distance is not too far, the path starts off all concreted and basically a walking track, and VERY quickly becomes rocky and much more climb/hike-like. It's still pretty reasonable, though.



This is us at Level 2. Interestingly, they had a system where you had to pay a deposit on all bottles and containers you took up the mountain. You also had to register them. We thought it odd but it's actually to make sure that people don't leave their rubbish up there. You have to come back and show your bottles to get ticked off the list and get your "deposit" back. Cool idea.



Even by this stage we were marveling at the beautiful blue of the water and the fish swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls.



I won't post a picture of every level, but it was absolutely gorgeous! It's a nice walk as well because you know you will be rewarded at the end of each level, which is cool!



We even saw monkeys IN THE WILD!!! It was so exciting!!



AND we made it to SEVEN!




GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS! It was such a wonderful morning and very peaceful place. And you can even swim in the falls and pools!

Posted at 06:54 PM    

Fri - January 27, 2006

Kanchanaburi

After dragging ourselves out of bed after the Dream Theater concert last night it was time to take to the road and head off to Kanchanaburi. We got the number 81 bus at the southern bus terminal and it was all pretty painless. Two hours later we were in Kanchanaburi. We were expecting a very small town but it's quite a bustling country town. Emma observed that it was a bit like Wollongong in scale - that will mean something to you Aussies.

We got a taxi which looks a bit like a ute with benches in the back to our guest house. The guest house was the Ploy Guesthouse which is very very nice. Here are some pictures of the room (the bathroom is semi-outdoors and opens to the small private garden you can see below):



Really a very nice place to stay. The whole place is set in beautiful serene gardens and the staff are very nice too.

We have noticed some things in Thailand are similar to Vietnam and some are slightly different. Take this variation of the Vietnamese Cyclo. The rider is at the front rather than the back. The toursists don't provide the rider with the same airbag protection as they do in Vietnam.



Dogs have a pretty easy life in Thailand. They are far more plentiful than in Hanoi and very much more relaxed. Not being on the menu may have something to do with it!



Here's another example with this dog up on the bar of a local pub! I'm sure dogs in Hanoi (even at our house) would NOT get away with this:



And the award for best water feature goes to the Beer Barrel on the River Kwai! Note the foamy water in the bowl below the keg. It's all class but was funny enough to convince us to go in for a beer. Thankfully they don't serve from the big keg and the beer we did get was very nice.

Posted at 10:15 PM    

Traffic, Techworld and Theater

One of the reasons we decided to come to Bangkok on holiday was because Dream Theater were playing in town at this time. I was pretty excited about the whole thing, of course, and wanted to make sure we knew where the venue was. So we grabbed a taxi and headed out to the "Impact Stadium" which is the big entertainment centre here.

After wandering around lost for a little while we came across a bunch of guys setting up so we knew we were in the right place.



Of course, we were about 9 hours too early for the show so, secure in the knowledge that we knew where to be tonight, we headed into town.

We got another cab and asked him to take us to "Siam Square" which is basically the middle of the CBD. Here we discovered a huge modern city that rivals any we have previously seen. At this point Emma observed that Thailand does not have anywhere near the shock value of Vietnam in terms of feeling different from Australia. Everywhere you turn there are 7-11 stores, Pizza Huts and KFCs. It's just like home. In fact the feeling of amazement is more in terms of seeing such a large developed city. I felt similar awe for Sydney the first time I saw it but I think this is bigger.




The traffic is of course quite different to Vietnam and quite similar to Melbourne or Sydney. Hanoi seems to be as busy but the traffic is predominantly motorbikes, not cars. Here's a picture of the traffic taken from the skyway overpass.



On our wander of the city we came across the building below. Is money laundering a problem in Thailand?



Judging by the size of the AMLO, I think it might be!



Thai massage is all the rage here with it being offered nearly everywhere. Some massage providers have more inviting names than others...



After a bit more strolling we came to the IT megacomplex at Pantip Plaza. This place was amazing with about 5 floors of nothing but electronics and computers. It was interesting to note the mix of hardware shops and pirated software stalls. One of the least attended stalls seemed to be a stall called "Microsoft Clean" which specialised in selling original Microsoft software and providing a service to see if the software you are using is the genuine article. I saw a few people poking curious fingers at Microsoft keyboards but not much else. Apparently Vietnam is not the only country with a piracy problem.

Check out the photos of the place below, it's like nothing I've seen before...





After our trip into the city and a quick dinner, it was time to head back out to Impact Stadium to see Dream Theater. There were a few nervous moments in the taxi due to typical Bangkok traffic but in the end we made it in time. Unfortunately cameras were banned inside but we have got some pictures from before the show. The crowd was a great mix with mainly Thais of all different ages along to watch. There were also a few westerners of various ages and sexes dotted around the crowd.




There was also a commemorative Dream Theater cup for your beer. Like the band it was larger than life, about 750MLs in this case...



On with the show and what a great show it was! I was rapt to be able to witness such an incredibly dedicated and talented group of musicians perform. I have been a big watcher of the Dream Theater "LIve Scenes from New York" DVD as well as the Budokan show and I can only continue to be impressed having seen them for real. They are such a group of perfectionists and it really shows. Every note that was heard on the albums was heard in the live performance. No gimmicky alternate versions, just the studio versions reproduced perfectly on stage.

Sometimes you go to a concert and it diminishes a band for you. Sometimes you go and you walk away with even more respect. It was certainly a case of the latter with Dream Theater.

The concert was run as two sets, both from the DT boys themselves. At half time I felt that I had witnessed the best concert I had ever seen but there was even better to come. They went through 20 years of DT history in roughly chronological order though they did open with two tracks from the latest album. After that it was a trip from oldest to newest and it was all great.

My favorite moments were "Endless Sacrifice" which everyone seemed to get into and "The spirit carries on". The last one is Emma's favourite so it was great that they played it. The crowd loved it too and had cigarette lighters and illuminated mobile phones waving all over the arena. Seeing the band in action was just amazing with virtuoso performances all around. Seeing Myung play that bass like a lead guitar was just mind blowing. The sections where he and Petrucci took center stage were amazing to watch. I've always considered James Labrie to be a little fortunate to be fronting such an amazing band but after seeing him live I think he has earned the spot. His vocal performance was very powerful and passionate. Jordan Rudess had some technical problems early put also provided an awesome performance on the whole. Mike Portnoy was brilliant and even though the stick throwing stunt with the stage hand took three attempts it was a lot of fun to watch. When the two of them nailed it the crowd went wild. What was amazing was that he never actually missed a beat through out.

I think the most amazing thing was that brilliant as each individual was, it was the performance as a band that was so impressive. They played some incredibly complex pieces but they are so tight as a band that everything begins when it should and ends when it should, together.

The crowd was really into the whole show and it was great to see such excitement. The young Thai next to me was jumping around like a maniac and singing along to everything. Even the bits without words. I think the band enjoyed Thailand and Thailand enjoyed the band. They said they'll be back, so will we.

Posted at 07:54 AM    

Wed - January 25, 2006

Temples and tourist street

Day 2 in Bangkok kicked into high gear after a lengthy sleep in and late breakfast - yes it's tough.

Our first assignment of the day was to visit the Wat Po temple - home of the famous and huge reclining Buddha. At this point we experienced the Bangkok river taxi service. It was really easy to use and very enjoyable. Just get on at the closest pier and get off at the pier nearest your destination. The one way trip cost us 18 Baht - less than 50 cents.





The Wat Po temple itself was amazing. The big reclining Buddha really is VERY big. It's quite breathtaking. Here's a picture of the head. It's difficult to get a feeling for the size of it in this picture.



Here's another picture taken around the middle of Buddha. This gives a better indication of the size. It's an interesting sight to see the mixture of worshippers and tourists wandering through the temple. Dotted throughout the crowds of flashbulb-bursting tourists (you know, like us) are people praying at the small altars. Look at this insensitive clod in the background of our picture invading the privacy of these people by taking photos!



Finally here's a picture of me next to the feet. Now I know I have trouble getting shoes to fit back in Hanoi, this guy has no chance.



The temple complex is huge and full of really interesting examples of Thai temple architecture.



Later we found the headquarters for the Thailand Buddhist Adelaide Football Club Supporters.



Emma got chatting to this guy in the picture who has been working around the complex for quite some time now.



We spent quite a few hours at the temple complex and is was well worth the visit. More gold leaf Buddhas than you've ever seen in your life along with some really beautiful architecture and gardens.

After visiting the temple we strolled in the amulet market. In this place you choose from a huge range of religious amulets from key ring size to life size.



In the late afternoon we visited the Khao San Road which is a very well known tourist shopping and drinking strip. The road is full of guest houses, bars, shops and of course tourists.



You can get anything here: suits, CDs, software, bags, T shirts, food drink, massage, trinkets, amulets, you name it.
Check out the wares from this guy:



Here's an interesting example of east meets west...



Here's another view of the street later that night...



What amazed us most about the street is just how multicultural it is. People from all around the world all gathered in one huge street. It's interesting to note how much more tourism is developed in Thailand compared to Vietnam. Tourists from all over the world are a very common sight. On the streets of Hanoi people are always staring and commenting about us. Here in Bangkok, we don't even get a second glance.

Posted at 09:18 AM    

Tue - January 24, 2006

The Thailand Adventure Begins...

The first day of our Thailand holiday started as many of our holidays do, with a trip to the kennel. Bella was very excited about the prospect of a walk and was even pretty pleased with a bit of a taxi ride. Once we had stuffed her in the cage and waved goodbye though she was looking a little more subdued. "What a way to spend Tet" she seemed to say. "There are worse ways for a dog in Vietnam to spend Tet" I thought. "She'll be fine" was what I actually said to Em.

We got to the Hanoi airport "Ga Hang Khong Noi Bai" which roughly translates to "The airport that smiles". (Not really). WE were smiling, of course, because we were going on holiday for two weeks.

We boarded the "Air Asia" flight and were surprised to find unallocated seats. We had never seen that before. The flight was pretty cool, though, with the cabin crew even running an in-flight quiz, pretty funny.

Bangkok airport was huge, it reminded me of Singapore airport a bit, though not as clean or efficient.

The ride from the airport was amazing. Having been in Vietnam for the last year we had forgotten what a big developed city looked like. Bangkok is of course VERY big. It is said that 1/3 of the Thai population live in the greater Bangkok area. That's about 20 Million people! The size of the city seems to support that. Mile after mile of huge concrete buildings between the airport and our hotel went by as we drove on. We haven't moved far from our hotel yet but we suspect there will be a lot to see.

The city is not quite what we expected, everyone had told us that it was loud, busy and dirty. Sounds like Hanoi! We expected to see Hanoi or HCM on a larger scale but the place is ultra modern by comparison. Emma described it as a huge, grey, megalopolis. It's smooth, organised and quiet based on what we have seen so far.

We arrived in the area where we were staying which is called Banglamphu. The area is full of guest houses for the tourist market. The first thing that struck us was how many westerners were around the place. Wall to wall westerners, it was a bit of a shock! We had recently been to Ho Chi Minh City and and visited Pham Ngu Lao but this is on a much larger scale. All of the guest houses also have restaurants and bars so there are a huge number of westerners out eating and drinking in the area.



One of the places ran into immediately made us feel guilty for leaving the dog home. The nagging guilt lingered for minutes...



Similarly to Hoi An, Bangkok does a huge trade in tailored suits. Here's a photo of one such shop. This one specialises in the work of Hugo Boss' lesser known brother.



One of the challenges I could only imagine trying to come to grips with in Thailand would be learning the Thai script. On first glance it looks impossible to decipher. This is Thai for "Fanta" apparently.



Motorbikes in Thailand are very similar to VIetnam with Yamaha Nouvos and Mios seemingly very popular. One of the things I noticed though is that the trend is definitely for thinner tyres. Check out the photo below, the tyres are much thinner than seen in Hanoi. I guess it might be related to the much better quality of roads but I'm not sure.



That's it for day one - it's been a long day. Tomorrow we go in search of Temples and the legendary Khao San Road

Posted at 04:26 PM    

Sun - October 16, 2005

Pham Ngu Lao, HCMC

I know I've mentioned this before, but in Hanoi, most tourists (esp. backpackers) are distributed throughout the Old Quarter. That's 36 streets to get lost in! In Saigon, it's all centred around 3 streets: Pham Ngu Lao, De Tham and Bui Vien. It's quite convenient if you want a place to stay with like-minded people, cheap western food, tours, etc. But the down-side is that it's really ugly and generally crappy. We stayed elsewhere but went to this area to book, and then go on, our tour to Cu Chi and Tay Ninh. We were so happy to leave, though! I think if you stayed there when first arriving in Vietnam, you would have a really negative impression of the country. Transport is so cheap and easy, it seems strange not to stay somewhere nicer and more... more... Vietnamese!

Posted at 06:26 PM    

Cao Dai, Tay Ninh

If you're not interested in my conspiracy theory, fair enough. The only thing is, there's not much more I could say about Cao Dai and Tay Ninh. Apart from the fact that it is seriously weird and even weirder since they seem to encourage foreigners to come and watch the service. Why??? Not many people seem to donate at the church so I can only imagine some sort of kick-back from the tour companies. It's really strange. I have to admit to feeling uncomfortable being among the throngs of "tays" walking around with cameras snapping at people worshipping - surely a private moment for anyone?

Posted at 06:16 PM    

The Victor Hugo Connection

Okay, does this seem weird? Victor Hugo is allegedly a member of the Priory of Sion, the group responsible for protecting the secret of the Holy Grail. Dan Brown did his research, right? Da Vinci code is based on historical fact, right?

Anyway, we went to the Cao Dai cathedral when we were in Saigon. And GUESS who is one of the Cao Dai saints? Yes! None other than Victor Hugo!!

So we walked around the church and spotted something looking QUITE suspicious. Check this out:



Yes, it's a secret, locked, space in the cathedral of Cao Dai at Tay Ninh, Vietnam!

Remember they went to Rosslyn Chapel and had no luck? Maybe they meant Tay Ninh.

Would you also believe that "Cao Dai" is Vietnamese for "holy cup"? Umm, no, it's not... just kidding! But I'm telling ya, there's something dodgy with this trap-door business.

Posted at 06:09 PM    

Reunification Palace - One More Thing!

At the end of the Vietnamese-American War, the final defeat came when the Northern troops drove a couple of tanks through the main gates of the Presidential Palace of the South Vietnamese. The newly sworn in South Vietnamese president told General Bui Tin of the North Vietnamese army that he had waited all day to transfer power to him. The General told him: "Your power has crumbled. You cannot give up what you do not have." Pow! Do NOT mess with the Northerners, man!

Anyway, we love the fact that nowadays, instead of North Vietnamese tanks coming through the gates, it's bus loads of tourists! Delicious irony.

Posted at 05:57 PM