July 4 - Bangkok

We know we are really behind on our posts, but we promise that we haven't forgotten! We will be caught up in no time, pictures and all!

We have already described our first few days in Siem Reap, Cambodia so check the post below for June 28 and 29. We'll continue the post with our temple romps from June 30.

Our friends had left that morning so it was just us and Longdy. He picked us up and we rode the tuk tuk back to the temples.

We visited a site known as Neak Pean, a series of five pools that must have looked majectic when they were filled with water. There was one large central pool that fed the four smaller pools via ornatel spouts. Each pool had a different spout, the head of a man, the head of a horse, and two other heads we can't remember now (it's hard to remember every detail, there are so many temples).

Then we visited Bakong, one of the older temples (from the 9th century). It was the first application of what came to be the traditional Khmer style temple-mountain architecture. The size was impressive, with the central tower reaching 15 meters, but the facades of the towers themselves were pretty stark. We Americans might even call them boring.

After stopping for lunch, we went to Beng Melea, one of the most overgrown temples, still largely claimed by the jungle. It was very cool to see the trees growing right out of the corridors and the roots pushing the stone aside. We witnessed the true power of nature and stood in awe.

The last temple that Longdy brought us to that day was his personal favorite, the Terrace of Elephants. This was not in the same temple layout as most of the others that we saw. Instead, it was closer to a wall with a terrace above it. The entire wall stretched 100 meters in length and was about 4 meters high. Most of the entire facade of the wall was covered in apsaras, but there were some equisite life size elephants in relief. Longdy told us he thought the "maidens were beautiful." In all fairness to him, they had bigger boobs and smaller waists than any Cambodian women we saw.

The next day, Longdy took us for a ride through the country, about 1 hour in a tuk tuk outside of Siem Reap. He told us we were going to a good temple, but we had no idea what a treat we were in for. After riding through villages of thatched homes on stilts and rice paddies we finally arrived at Banteay Srey. While it was not the biggest temple we visited, it was definitely one of the most impressive. The entire structure was covered in intricate carvings that were the best preserved carvings we had seen our entire time visiting the temples of Angkor. There were lots of Apsaras, flowers, geometric designs, dragons and demons and the carving was so clear on all of them. Hopefully we will be able to get pictures up soon, because words really don't do the carvings justice.

After that, Longdy drove us back to the main part of the park, and we got to visit a temple that we had tried to on the first day, but the rain had driven us back to Siem Reap early. This temple was Preah Khan, and was a huge muddy mess. It had been used as a monastery in the 12th century and had some of the only round columns found in any of the temples. Archeologists hypothesize that this means they were added to the temple at a later date.

The next day, we hired another tuk tuk to take us to a floating village about a half hour away from Siem Reap. This was a real treat for us, but the poverty we encountered on the way in the surrounding villages was far worse than we had seen anywhere on the trip, thus far. It was also one of the more remote areas that we have visited, since we have sort of been hopping from city to city, tourist attraction to tourist attraction.


The road to the village was not paved, but neither were any of the roads in Siem Reap (except for those leading you from temple to temple in Angkor). We were not surprised that the road got worse the further from town we headed. The tuk tuk pulled over so we could buy tickets for the boat ride through the floating village, so we thought we were close. Boy were we wrong. The village was another fifteen or twenty minutes away, and with every passing inch, the road conditions worsened. It was the bumpiest ride of our lives, and let us remind you that we were in a cart beng pulled by a sub-par motorcycle, with hitch being held on by an oil can that had had its top cut off. Yes, there was half an oil can and a boat hitch holding us to the back of a motorcycle, going on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Luckily, we made it to the pier (well, sort of a pier) safely. When we got down to where all of the tourist boats convene, we were ushered through more mud, and over the few old planks serving as a dock. We had to scamper over several boats because there were many more boats than room for them to ground themselves in the mud.

As we rode out down a creek, we passed boat houses, floating shops, and every ammenity you would expect a town to have - only these ammenities all floated. The high school even had a full basketball court floating next to it. (At least the Cambodians take their sports more seriously than the Vietnamese who only seem to play badminton.) There was a library, a church for the Vietnamese Catholic floaters, fully stocked supermarkets, boat repair shops, and even pig pens bobbing up and down on the surface of the water. There were also lots of homes, of course.


The channel opened into a lake and we rode past river restaurants and more boat houses until we came to the restaurant/boat that was probably offering commission to our boat driver. Beneath the wooden boards we walked on was a slew of crocodiles in one cage and a fish farm teeming with catfish housed in another. They told us they were raising the crocodiles to use their skin to make bags and shoes. We didn't care too much what they did with them as long as they stayed in a cage while we were visiting.


Then it was back on the boat to head back to the mayhem of the "pier." At least we were a little bit better prepared for what the tuk tuk ride was going to be like on our way back to Siem Reap. We got back in the early afternoon, and we were starving. We found a wonderful little Indian restarant just outside the Old Market and gorged for lunch. The food was so good and we ate so much we had so take a nap and sleep off our food comas afterwards.

In the late afternoon we visited Artisans D'Angkor, a nonprofit organization that takes teenagers and trains them in traditional Cambodian handicrafts, which they can sell to tourists. We have seen some other places like this in our travels, but Artisans was by far the nicest and seemed to treat the students very well, and they were in turn producing the best stuff. It was funded largely in part by the European Union, with assistance from private donations. The students at Artisans learned wood carving techniques, silk painting, stone carving and etching, embroidery, and the gift shop had many hand woven scarves which were created at another Artisans location.

That night we headed back into town to soak up a little more of the Cambodian night life before it was time to fly back Bangkok in the morning.

Lots of love,
Ari and Jillian

July 1- Siem Reap

Well, we knew we would be travelling during monsoon season, but we hadn't really experienced it until we got to Cambodia. We have so much to catch up on! Our first full day here we spent exploring the town of Siem Reap and we have spent the last three days exploring the temples of Angkor, which were truly spectacular. We so badly want to post photos for you to see, but unfortunately the computers are too slow. We will definitely get them up once we get to Bangkok, so check back in a few days to actually see the Temples of Angkor.

On June 28 we slept in a little bit, and then went and checked out the town of Siem Reap. It is a cute little touristy town, with an odd juxtaposition of the poverty you would expet to see here and a slew of four star hotels and fine restaurants. We walked around a bit, checked out the markets and had dinner at a restaurant that was decorated with images of Statler and Waldorf (the two old critics from the opera seats in the Muppet Show). The markets were full of the same old things you would expect: silk scarves, tea sets, cow intestines, and t-shirts.

On June 29 we hired a tuk tuk to take us from Siem Reap to the temples of Angkor, about 15 kilometers outside of town. Longdy proved to be a trusty driver, and hauled us with our two new friends out of town towards the ruins. Much to Jillian's delight, Jamie had brought speakers for his iPod, which was loaded with nothing but country music! Needless to say, it was the most bompin' party tuk tuk in all of Cambodia.

Most of the temples of Angkor are enclosed in a park, with a 26 kilometer road running around the perimeter of the park. We stopped first at Angkor Wat, the largest and arguably most impressive of the ruins. It was built from 1100 to 1170 and it surrounded by a stone wall, enclosing an area of 2 square kilometers. The central tower stands 55 meters (3 stories) high and we climbed to the top for an amazing view of the surrounding towers and corridors. To this day it remains largest religious structure in the world and it is the best preserved of all of the temples of Angkor. It is really hard to describe how amazing it was. The temples are all made of stone (mostly sandstone, but each temple is unique in its composition) and the walls are covered with intricate carvings. Many of these carvings depict apsaras (heavenly nymphs), Hindu gods or serene Buddhas. Others are simlpy geometric or floral designs, but still amazing in their own right. Angkor Wat also had several pools in it, as many of the other temples had. In between the pools were long corridors leading to different shrines for various Hindu gods.

Climbing to the top of the towers was an adventure! The steps were seemingly made for monkeys, each step being only about 6 inches deep and about 8 to 12 inches high. There were no railings and looking down was not for the faint-hearted. There were only big stones and bigger stones below you. Going up wasn't so bad, but going down we were wishing they had installed the Angkor elevator.

After Angkor Wat we took the tuk tuk over to Bayon, another temple. This one was not very impressive from the outside, but once you climbed up to the third level, it was apparent why this was another favorite temple for tourists to visit. This temple boasted 54 towers with one face on each of the four sides of the tower. These faces were roughly 2 meters tall and all bore a striking resemblance to King Jayavarman VII, who commissioned the temple to be built. They were supposed to be the face of Avalokiteshvara, a Hindu god, but legend has it this was not the case. It was pretty cool walking around and seeing these towers with the faces all over them. And of course, this was another one that we had to climb up to see the goods.

All of the climbing tired us out, so we took a break for lunch. There were booths set up across the street from each temple with hokey souvenirs and cheap Khmer food. Each time we descended from the tuk tuk, we were surrounded by an army of children, each touting their bracelets, postcards, flutes, and guidebooks. They were able to count all of their postcards for us in more languages than we could recognize (German, French, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, English...) Ari tried to add Hebrew to their repetoire, but they quickly lost interest when it was apparent he did not want to buy the postcards he was counting.

When we sat down to eat, the children eagerly came over, selling their baskets of goodies, and tried to strike up a conversation by asking where we were from. Jamie told them he was from Vancouver, and in unison they proclaimed that Vancouver was in Canada and the capital of Canada is Ottowa. We told them were from New York, and they knew the capital of the US is Washington, and that the capital of New York is Albany. (Jillian's students in Harlem didn't even know the capital of New York or that New York was both a state and a city). When Jillian tried to tell the kids she was from North Dakota they were a little taken aback and could not correctly identify that capital. To be fair, Ari couldn't either. There must not be a lot of tourists from North Dakota coming to Cambodia - who would have thought?

Then it was back on the tuk tuk, a few more tunes from Brooks and Dunn, and it was off to Ta Prohm, our third temple of the day. For those of you who have seen Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie, it was filmed largely in Ta Prohm, so you know exactly the kind of temples we are describing. Ta Prohm was chosen as a picturesque spot to film because the surrounding jungle is still largely overgrown and there are a few large trees growing straight out of the ruins. It looked pretty badass.

While we were visiting Ta Prohm, we were reminded that it is monsoon season. Again, the heavens opened on cue as the sky darkened, temperature dropped, and winds picked up all in a matter of two minutes. We got soaked, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We hopped back in the tuk tuk, lowered the rain flaps, and left Longdy on his motorcycle to brave the storm alone as he gallantly pulled us back to Siem Reap.

That night, The Killing Fields was showing at the restaurant in our Hotel, and we began to watch it, but between the gruesome scenes and the crazy Mefloquine-induced dreams we have been having, we decided to skip out in the middle and call it a night.

Speaking of calling it a night, catch you later! We will tell you about the rest of our adventures here later on.

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari

June 29- Siem Reap, Cambodia

We have been having a great time in Cambodia, but we still haven't finished telling you about our last couple of days in Vietnam. Last Monday, June 26, we arranged to take a bike tour of the Mekong Delta, about one hour southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.

We got up bright and early (the tour began at 5:30!), picked up our bikes and with our guide, Yee, we biked a few kilometers to the bus station in Chinatown. Going back and forth between Boston and New York, we have gotten used to taking the Chinatown buses and it amazes us that halfway around the world, the budget buses still leave from Chinatown.

Unlike the other tourist tour buses we have taken before, this was the real deal local bus. They were selling sticky rice and other miscellaneous food treats wrapped in banana leaves through the windows while we were waiting to leave. When the seats filled up on the bus, the driver took out little stools (like the ones in the "restaurants" we ate at in Hanoi) and placed them down the aisle for people to sit on. There were no real bus stops along the way, either. The bus would just stop in front of a house or a dirt road and let people off or pick them up. Meanwhile, our bicycles were strapped to the top of the bus- at least we had real seats inside. When we finally reached our destination, a little man had to climb up on top of the bus and hand our bikes down to us.

From the bus station in Mekong City we rode our bikes a few more kilometers to the docks. On our way, we passed a small pond with a Vietnamese ghetto version of the Swan Boats in the Public Gardens in Boston. Like most farm animals in Vietnam, these swans looked a little malnourished.

Down at the docks, we boarded a small motor boat with our bikes. We rode down the Mekong River to a small island in the river delta. We left our bikes on the boat and walked through lush tropical fruit orchards boasting jackfruit, pomelo, dragonfruit, banana, mango, papaya, dongan (similar to lychee), and pineapple. It was pretty crazy to see how all of these things grow.

We continued on and walked to a little outdoor restaurant where we sampled an assortment of the fruits we just mentioned as well as one that we don't know the name of, but was super delicious. We had tried it in Hawaii too, and there it was called a brown sugar something or other, but we have no idea what they call it here. Yee couldn't remember either. While we ate, we were serenaded by a band of local traditional musicians and singers. I guess you could call it entertainment.

We walked a little further before boarding a different boat - a canoe this time. We hopped on, and were paddled down a little channel. Later we saw two men building a similar channel using no tools besides their hands. On the canoe ride, we got to wear the traditional conical bamboo hats. We blended right in with the locals - you would never know we weren't Vietnamese.

The canoe dropped us off at a makeshift dock where our motor boat was waiting for us. We switched boats and rode top a pretty large island in the delta. We hopped back on our bikes and rode along the channels to a "factory" where they make schlocky tchochkes (junk) out of coconut shells. Our guide gave us a half hearted explanation of how they make the stuff, and then we were back on our bikes.

Riding through the rice paddies, we came to a factory where they husked and cleaned the rice kernels. Behind the factory were fields and fields of rice paddies, where people worked endlessly tilling the fields. We saw (and climbed) a small mountain of unhusked rice before taking a tour of the factory to see how it went from the unhusked kernels to rice suitable for eating. Once inside, there was a small series of machines that did all the work, and Yee was very nice and explained everything to us, but it was too loud to hear a word she said. We saw the rice at each step of the process, and each time it was one step closer to being real rice, but we were no closer to actually understanding what happened to get it there.

We rode through villages on main roads and then through smaller villages on dirt roads. Then it was on to trails and paths, meandering through a series of creeks that the locals use for irrigation and transportation. We got a little nervous when our guide had to stop and ask for directions (twice). She still didn't know where we were and used her cell phone to call the home office. We weren't too far off, but we had to turn around. Let us talk about how muddy and narrow those paths were. It was about two or three feet wide and a similar drop off into the creek on either side of the path. Some of the creeks had cacti to keep out would be intruders...

It was at a particularly muddy junction that Jillian tried to turn but here wheels had other ideas. The bike skidded in the mud and sent Jillian soaring into the creek below. Ari was about to jump in after her, but the water was only about waist deep. She got up unscathed, but had to fish around in the mud for one of her shoes that had gotten stuck. It's a really good thing we were heading for a cocnut candy factory.

We were not too far away, and arrived at the candy factory just a few minutes later. Jillian was able to get cleaned up, then it was time to make the candy. They take the coconut and shave it all by hand, and put it into big mesh bags before squeezing all of the milk out of it. They then take the milk, mix it with sugar, and stir it over an open flame for hours until it is a delicious gooey mess. Then they pour it into long molds and make coconut candy snakes and let it cool in the mold. Once it cools, they take the snake, cut it into candy sized pieces and wrap each one individually with rice paper then paper-paper. It was quite a process. We got to help out with the wrapping, but we found we were much better at eating the candies than wrapping them. Needless to say, our candy wrapping careers did not last very long. At least that is one thing we can knock off of our list of potential jobs.

After gorging ourselves on coconut candies, we rode to a restaurant for a quick lunch before heading back to our boat. The boat took us back to Mekong City, where we rode our bikes to catch the bus that brought us back to Ho Chi Minh City. Everything was pretty uneventful until we got back to Chinatown in HCMC. Then the madness began. We have told you about the traffic all over Vietnam and how is is almost impossible to cross the street as a pedestrian. Well, it is ten times worse on a bicycle trying to ride with the flow of traffic. Luckily, the motorcycle drivers here are not nearly as aggressive as the cab drivers in New York that we have gotten used to, and we made it back to our hotel unscathed.

Yearning to get back to Thailand for some pad thai, we found a gem of a Thai restaurant around the corner from our hotel and had a lovely dinner.

The following morning we got up early and caught a taxi to the airport before flying out to Siem Reap. Needless to say, we didn't feel any safer being in a car than we did on bicycles. The roads are just not meant to be travelled on.

Of course our flight was delayed, but we made it here safely, which is all that matters. We got into Siem Reap in the early afternoon, and decided not to stay at the hotel that the taxi dropped us off at (we learned our lesson the hard way in Hanoi). We had met some cool travellers from Canada at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City, and the four of us set out to figure out where we were and to find a hotel near the center of town. We had gotten about halfway down the block when it started to sprinkle. We hadn't even taken three more steps when the heavens opened up and it began to POUR. It is monsoon season here, and it was only a matter of time before we felt the wrath of Mother Nature.

We stepped under an awning in front of a small store, but it was simply not acceptable to the shop owners to have us standing there. Instead, they pulled out a few plastic stools and invited four soaking wet gringos into their home/store for ome shelter from the rain. Every time we stood up, they followed us with a stool and beckoned for us to sit down again. They were so nice and we were very appreciative; we were off to a good start in Cambodia.

We soon realized that we were not far from the center of town at all, and the taxi driver had brought us exactly where we wanted to be. He was the firt taxi driver we have had who did this, so you can understand our skepticism. They usually drop you off at whichever hotel pays the best commission, regardless of where you want to be. A tuk tuk driver smelled his own opportunity for commission, and brought us from the shop one by one, in the rain, back to the hotel we originally got dropped off at. By the time we checked in and washed up, the rain let up and we walked into town for some dinner and drinks with our new friends. Shout out to Jamie and Allison!

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari

June 27- Ho Chi Minh City

This will be our last post from Vietnam - we are flying to Cambodia later this morning. We did have a great time here, and we will remember it with (mostly) fond memories.

Two days ago we spent some time exploring, Pham Ngu Lao, the neighborhood that we are staying in. It is the backpacker neighborhood, so there is plenty of cheap food, cold beer, and kitschy souvenir shops. We had a good time shmying before making our way back to the center of town for something a little more cultural.

A little note about Vietnamese street names: You can practice and really fine tune your Southern Baptist preacher voice by shouting Vietnamese street names. Here are a few for you to try: Pham Ngu Lao, my children! Tran Hung Dao, Amen! Dong That Phu, you sinners!

Anyways, we walked to the Reunification Palace. Imagine the White House being designed by Mike Brady - it was tragically seventies. It served as the palace of the South Vietnamese president up until 1975 when the South fell to the communist North. It still looks like it did on that day, complete with green shag carpeting. Being such "Xtreme" tourists, we decided to break the law, while in the palace. We will post the photo proving it as soon as we can. Don't worry, they only cane in Singapore.

That night we walked around the city center a little more, and decided to try one last Vietnamese sweet street treat. These women line up on the sidewalk with their little coal fires and sit on the street corners selling these scrumptious little belgian waffle like treats. They are still warm when she gives them to you.

Jillian has also gotten a giant crush on Vespas in this junky moto loving country. Here is a beauty that we almost bought. In front of the nicest hotel in town we met a man who collects them. He offered to sell us this one for $2000. Only after we said no, did he tell us that he had just bought it for $1000.

We have lots of pictures to post, so yesterday is going to be a separate post.

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari

June 24- Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

The overnight train turned out to be a good gamble. We were a little leery when it was two hours late, and we had to wait outside on the platform (that was lined with dried squid vendors.) There were two little boys in matching day-glo orange sweatpants pulled up way too high running around like sumo wrestlers on sugar highs; at least we had some entertainment.


Once the train came, there were no problems at all. We were in a four person sleeping berth that mildly reeked of pepperoni, but all in all it was a lot better than the overnight bus rides.

We arrived in Saigon yesterday morning, and again found a hotel without too much trouble. We directed our taxi over to the backpackers' district (or, he directed us there because he knew exactly where we were going before we even got to his car). Coincidentally, the hotel is run by the wife of the premiere surgeon in the country. He has done a lot of research on Vietnamese-specific epidemiology and physiology.

With our Lonely Planet in hand, we followed a walking tour of the city, first coming to a huge indoor market, and then walking by Pho 2000, the soup joint that Bill Clinton ate at when he came to Vietnam. We continued on to the Fine Arts Museum, where we had our fill of high culture before rushing off for some ice cream. Fanny, the French ice cream cafe, turned out to be much as Jillian would imagine heaven. The menu boasted a lot of unique and local flavors as well as the some of the coolest sundaes/creations ever! (No pun intended). Ari had Bailey's ice cream drowned in whiskey, but it was Jillian's dessert that will go down in history: a sorbet cyclo. See photo and be jealous.


Feeling all happy and giddy, we went to the War Remnants Museum for a BIG change of mood. Huge American war machines, tanks, planes, and guns were displayed in the front courtyard. Inside the building were extremely graphic photos of the atrocities of the Vietnam war. It was designed to be a sort of memorial to the Vietnamese people who lost their lives, but many of the photos evenhandedly told the stories of the American soldiers and journalists as well. While we were at the museum, there was an opening for a new gallery of children's art work representing images of world peace. It was nice to end the day on a more hopeful note. In addition, they were also installing an exhibit comprised of a series of photos of magnified piles of dirt from each town that had experienced devastation during the Vietnam War.

We tried, in vain, to find some cultural evening activities, but there was nothing going on at the Opera House or the Conservatory of Music. No one was really helpful in telling us when there might be an upcoming event either. So it was bia hoi for us. Bia hoi is "cheap beer" and is very aptly named. We had quite possibly the cheapest beer on the planet last night- less than 25 cents for 2 liters! And it was in a lovely little patch of sidewalk with seats, not stools this time.



This morning, we each took our own cyclo to Cholon - Saigon's own Chinatown. We explored a gaggle of temples and pagodas, each one more intricately adorned than the next. These pagodas have large statues of deities in the form of humans and animals, often horses. These statues are robed in gorgeous embroidered and sequined silk garments. A temple can have anywhere from three to several hundred of these figures that ranged from twelve inches to twelve feet tall. Placed behind and around these antiques were cheesy flashy colored Christmas lights, flashing and whirling in all their "glory."



The pillars, ceilings, walls, and everything inside the temple was beautifully carved with dragons, lions, phoenixes, lotus flowers, and warriors. Much of it was painted in bright colors while some of it remained in natural wood. There were also panels of Chinese caligraphy adorning the walls and columns.

The air is choked with incense as it is the most common offering left at the numerous altars. Most of the pagodas that we visited today had three feet tall spirals of incense hanging from the rafters. Each pagoda had a fireplace and chimney where the "friendly neighborhood incense man" gathers the sticks that have burned low and tosses them into the fire.

We even walked past the Cholon mosque, which was elegant but very sparsely decorated in sharp contrast to the lavish pagodas.

We had lunch at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant before hopping in a cab back to the center of the city. Jillian asked the cabbie to turn on the meter, but he insisted they could work out a better price. She wrote 10,000 dhong (about 65 cents) on a piece of paper and he agreed. We were a little puzzled as we watched the meter run up to 50,000 dhong before we reached our destination. Needless to say, once we got there he wanted us to pay the metered price. We have been in Vietnam too long and our skin has grown thick - the man got 10,000 dhong and not a diggity dhong more!

Just when we thought Fanny was the best thing to hit Vietnam, we found Cafe X. In Vietnam, they love the phrase "Happy Hour" and use it indiscriminately to describe any and all promotions. Well, Cafe X was having ice cream happy hour. It was an all you can eat ice cream buffet for about $3. Boy were they in over their heads with us.

Here is the play by play:
Round 1: Jillian - dish of Pinky Winky and M&M Smart Pants
Ari - dish of Cappucino and Creamy Cookies

Waitress brings over bright green drinks - think Fenway Park's Green Monster meets Kool-Aid

Round 2: Jillian - cone of Gum Drop and Hokey Pokey
Ari - cone of Boysenberry Cheesecake and Green Tea

Jay-Z Interlude

Round 3: Jillian - dish of Gold Rush and Rum Raisin topped with hot fudge and sprinkles
Ari - dish of "Cramel" Candy and Awesome Chocolate with sprinkles and mystery yellow sauce

Round 4: Jillian - dish of Passion Fruit topped with dried apples
Ari - dish of Banana Split topped with dried apples


Let us add to the story the fact that we were the only people in the cafe and there was a staff of 15 waiting on us. We had wanted to try all 27 flavors, but we were proud that we at least made it through half. Tomorrow is a brand new day.

Notice we were able to add photos. Please check some of our older posts because we have added pictures to them as well. Keep the emails coming - we love hearing from you.

Lots of love,
Ari and Jillian

June 22 - Nha Trang

We've been in Nha Trang for three days. With countless bars and 7k of beach, It's the beach resort and party capital of Vietnam. We spent our first day here lounging under a bamboo canopy on the beach. The sand was crisp white and the water was a deep blue. Just like at Coney Island, people combed the beach trying to sell you anything. We could have bought postcards, sunglasses, lighters, or even live lobsters. We settled on the "sambal" flavored chips. Yes, it said "sambal" on the English translation side of the package. It tasted kind of like a mild barbeque, but the chips, which can be more accurately described as extruded dried mashed potatoes, in cute little twisty shape.


After lunch, we bargained with the wandering beach masseuses and got two full body Vietnamese massages on the beach for a whopping $6 - that's $3 a piece. We were not about to pay the full $4 they wanted. If there is one thing we've learned in Vietnam, everything should be "cheap cheap."

Okay, so everyone gets it and we shouldn't have been surprised when it befell us. No, not a visit from the tooth-fairy. A visit from Montezuma, so to speak. After the massages, it was all downhill (although how could it not be, really?) We'll spare you the details, but suffice to say we didn't leave our room yesterday and not because it is our honeymoon (if you know what I mean...) But, thank goodness, our hotel had an English movie channel. We were able to watch a full day's worth of movies we never wanted to see in the first place. Although, afterwards Jillian was glad she watched Mighty Ducks 3 (that was the best this station had to offer.)

Today is a brand new day, though. We have sworn off Vietnamese food for the rest of our lives, and had pizza for lunch. When New Yorkers are feeling down, there's nothing like a good slice. We caught a little bit more of the beach and tonight we will board an overnight train headed for Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as everyone but the government calls it.) While we're in the mood to write things off for the rest of our lives, we are adding Vietnamese overnight buses to the list. It wouldn't be so bad, but the drivers feel the need to honk, and loudly, every time they expel air from their lungs. They also have fabulous taste in music and love to play it over the loudspeakers all night long. Oh, and did we mention the seats are made for Vietnamese tushies? OK, enough kvetching for now. We don't mean to complain - we are having an awesome time. We'll catch up with you later.

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari

June 19th - Hoi An

We are almost caught up to the present. Today is our third day in Hoi An, the beautiful riverside town where we have been staying, shopping, and relaxing. Here is the run down for our stay here so far.


Day 1 in Hoi An: We arrived in Hoi An in the late morning after a bus ride south from Hue. We strapped on our packs and decided to splurge on a hotel - The Vin Hung I was a whopping $15 dollars a night! The air-conditioning actually worked, and like true Americans we cranked it so much that we had to sleep under two blankets at night. Our room had Chinese antiques, including a canopy bed. The price included breakfast and the use of the pool at the nearby, lavish Vinh Hung Resort. And, how's this for party trivia, Michael Caine stayed at our hotel while filming the Quiet American. We didn't want to break the bank, though; his room was $45 a night.

We had lunch at a local cafe and tried cao lau, a local noodle dish. It can only be considered cao lau if the noodles were prepared using the water fetched from one specific well in Hoi An. I guess, like New York bagels, its all about the water.

After lunch, we surveyed the countless tailor shops in town. Hoi An is known for its custom made clothing and gourmet food. Many of the gastronomic and fashion trends in Vietnam originate in Hoi An. In a town that's barely eight blocks square, there are over two hundred tailor shops.

That night, we headed to the best restaurant in town, Cafe Des Amis and were personally served by Mr. Kim. While showing us how to properly eat each dish, he told us that he had been the personal chef to the General of the South Vietnamese Army. At his menu, you can order vegetarian, meat, or seafood, but there is no menu. Mr. Kim just keeps bringing plates of delicious food to the table.

Day 2 in Hoi An: The next day, we decided on two tailor shops and every inch of us was measured. We each designed a few pieces, barely had time for lunch, and the clothes were ready to try on by the afternoon.


Late in the afternoon, we took a cooking class at one of the local cafes. Our instructor, Bup, taught us how to make fresh vegetarian spring rolls, fish grilled in a banana leaf, and calamari salad. We will begin taking reservations at Jillian and Ari's Vietnamese restaurant upon our return. We also tried the legendary Hoi An wontons, but were not privy to recipe because it is supposedly known by only one family in Hoi An. If they told us, they would have to kill us. Miraculously, the dish can be found in nearly every restaurant here. They must multiply like bunnies.



Day 3 in Hoi An: We collected all of our designs, including sneakers that proudly say ARI on the side, soaked up a little more air conditioning, and explored An Hoi just on the other side of the river. When the hot sun became too much, we retreated to the resort for some poolside lounging. We met up with some other travellers for dinner, and promptly returned to the air conditioning.

While we were in Hanoi, at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, we saw a television crew filming a young girl. The girl was clad in traditional Vietnamese garb and was lip-syncing to what some people might call music. While flipping through the channels last night, we saw a show that was nothing but these little music videos. It was very weird.


Day 4 in Hoi An: That just about brings us up to date. We began today with a walking tour of Hoi An's cultural sites (we had to do something worthwhile before we left town.) The museums were weak, but housed in cool old Chinese style buildings. The highlight was the craft workshop, where we saw people making silk lanterns, carving wooden and stone sculptures, embroidering wall hangings, and sewing. It was a glorified sweat shop and museum gift shop rolled into one, but at least they smiled for our pictures.



After a glass of fresh sugar cane juice, it was back to the pool for us. We are headed to Nha Trang tonight on another overnight bus. Nha Trang is known for its beautiful beaches. We'll let you know how it is...

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari