June 4, 2011
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Fear and loathing in Vang Vieng

Tourists and locals alike have mixed feelings about Vang Vieng.  Ten years ago, Vang Vieng was a sleepy village in the Laos countryside, but it is now a backpacker mecca, well known for adventure sports (especially tubing), happy pizzas, mushroom shakes, and cheap beer.  The main streets of town are lined with guesthouses, restaurants, bars, and tour agencies.  While tourism has pumped significant funds into the local economy, many Lao people we spoke to bemoaned the impact of such unhampered development on the traditional Lao way of life, which many feel has been compromised. What everyone can agree on, however, is that Vang Vieng is simply beautiful.

Looking over the river Nam Song to the limestone karsts that dominate the Vang Vieng landscape

We arrived in Vang Vieng after a four-hour bus trip from Vientiane.  After checking into our hotel we walked into the centre of town to look around.  It was mid afternoon, and the town seemed virtually empty, apart from small groups of tourists lounging on cushions in bars, (bizarrely) glued to TV sets showing re-runs of Friends, The Simpsons, and The Family Guy.  After a while we decided to get some food with another couple we had met on the bus.  As the day wore on, we started to see groups of tourists returning from a day of tubing – many of them limping, bruised and sunburned.  We started to feel a bit old and out of place…this was a town for munters!

Tubing, the most popular activity in Vang Vieng, involves floating down the river in an inner tube, stopping at the numerous makeshift bars that have been built along the riverbanks.  The bars boast all sorts of attractions, such as rope swings, water slides, pumping music and mud wrestling, while whiskey buckets, free shots of local Lao Lao, and the ever-popular Beer Lao flow freely. The object is usually to get pretty drunk, hence the predominance of limping and bandaged tourists in town.  In fact, tourists are quite regularly killed (usually drowned) or seriously injured while tubing.  Tourists who are legless by lunchtime hardly make a good impression on the local people, and its not surprising that the locals sometimes treat you with indifference, or even hostility.

The infamous Slide of Death. A tourist broke his neck on this slide the week before we arrived. Safety controls are pretty much non-existent at the bars along the river.

Luckily, there is more to Vang Vieng than uninhibited self-indulgence.  We decided to take a caving and kayaking tour, and had a great day.  The tour kicked off with a ride out of town, then a short walk to a small river which flows out of an underground spring, deep inside a hill.  We were provided with tubes and lights strapped onto our foreheads, then we floated through this underground tunnel, hauling ourselves along with the help of a rope strung up between stalagmites.  It took about 30 minutes to get to the end of the tunnel where the water flowed up from below.  It was pitch black, totally quiet (except for our splashes) and so eerie.

The cave mouth is just visible in this picture – a low line of rock just above the water

After lunch we got into kayaks and paddled down the Nam Song river – the infamous tubing route – stopping at the Mud Bar on the way past.  For some reason, the river and bars were very quiet that day.  It had poured with rain all morning, so perhaps the tubers were munching happy pizzas back in town.

Kayaking down the river

Beer stop at the Mud Bar – with the other guys on the tour (left to right) Arturo from California, blond guy from England, Kieran from Queenstown, NZ, and Frenchy from France.

We arrived back in town in the late afternoon feeling pretty satisfied with our day.  I am not an adventure sports-girl by any stretch of the imagination, but tubing through caves and kayaking down a river made me feel pretty outdoorsy.  Emboldened, the next day we hired a motorcross bike, and along with Arturo (who we met the day before), we rode up into the hills for the day.  It was fantastic to be out of town, exploring the beautiful countryside and riding through small villages.

Dead end road. Arturo managed to hire a quad bike – a much more sensible option.

Towards the end of the day we were pretty hot, so we took refuge in a beautiful little lagoon with blue water.

The lagoon proved to be quite a social spot and we met several interesting people there

The roads were pretty terrible.  One was so stoney that it felt like we were riding along a dry riverbed.  Others were muddy and slippery, and we actually had a small tumble at one point (the bald-ish tyres and dodgy suspension compounded the slippery conditions – luckily we were going very slow at the time). Unfortunately the spill damaged the clutch lever, and while our bike was still ride-able, we knew we would be responsible for funding the repairs when we returned it.  We found a small motorbike repair shop in a village, and were able to get a screw to repair part of the problem, but we had to go back to town to get a lever. These two small jobs set us back 37,000 kip, or less than $6 NZ. Later, after dropping off the bike covered in mud, we scoffed a chicken sandwich from a street vendor, showered at the hotel, then enjoyed dinner and a late night talking to Brendan and Melissa who we had met earlier that day at the lagoon.  A full and satisfying day indeed.

Our three days in Vang Vieng ended up being the most fun we have had on our trip up to this point.  We met so many nice people, ate well, enjoyed the beautiful landscape, and got dirty two days in a row.  We were sad to leave.

Breakfast on the terrace at our hotel – another highlight in Vang Vieng. This is tomato and herb scrambled egg, fresh baguette with pineapple jam, and strong Lao coffee

May 30, 2011
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Gluttony, Part Two (Vientiane)

After nearly a month, the intensity in Vietnam started to grate on us a little.  It was time to move on, and slower-paced Laos has proved to be a big lungful of fresh air.  We flew from Hanoi into the capital city, Vientiane, and spent our first five days there.  We didn’t have many plans except to explore the city, relax a bit, and find a gym for Colin.  We did in fact find a fantastic gym about 20 minutes by bicycle from our hotel.  For $6 US each, we had access to the entire facilities for a whole day (weights, cardio equipment, sauna, swimming pool, aerobic classes), plus we were entitled to a one hour Lao massage each.  The bike ride over there was a bit hairy – the traffic is fairly sedate, but it took us a little while to get our heads around riding on the right-hand side of the road.  Negotiating a roundabout near the gym got my heart-rate well up, so I felt more than justified in swanning about by the pool while Colin sweated on the weights.

We were pretty excited about getting our first taste of Lao food.  Colin has actually eaten a fair bit of Lao food in New Zealand with his Lao mate, Arich, so he had some idea of what to look for.  On our first night we walked to the night market and bought all sorts of food from stalls, taking it back to the hotel to eat.  Almost everything we bought was fantastic and devoured within minutes.

This feast cost us a grand total of $6 US. From left rear clockwise: smokey marinated pork barbequed on bamboo skewers; stir-fried green vegetables; sticky rice; tray of sliced papaya and mango; spicy salad with cabbage and crunchy seaweed; mega-spicy Lao papaya salad; and in the centre, slices of roasted pork. All washed down with tasty Beer Lao.

Vientiane was very hot and humid, and as we’ve found in other places under such conditions, our appetites have been a bit indifferent.  Often, we’ve just wanted something really light, and Noy’s, a great cafe known for it’s fruit shakes, became a regular haunt.

Fruit shakes at Noy’s – these two were watermelon and lemon, and mango, pineapple and coconut. Another fantastic combination was dragon fruit, melon and pineapple. Dragon fruit has white flesh with black seeds and tastes like a mild kiwifruit.

Vientiane is full of bureaucrats – American, French and British accents abound.  The city has many restaurants and cafes that target Westerners, including a famous Scandinavian Bakery.  We stopped into Cafe Croissant D’Or one morning for pastries and coffee, well actually, I had pastries, while Colin went wild with stir-fried vegetables.

Mille-feuille at Croissant D’Or. Crisp, almost salty pastry, layered with creamy custard and topped with icing. Divine.

While we were in Vientiane, we met up with Ze Keolaka who works for the Lao Government in the Ministry of Foreign Policy (thanks for the contact Warwick!).  Ze recently spent two years in New Zealand, completing his Masters in Social Policy at Massey University.  It was great talking to Ze to get his perspective on Laos, recent social and economic changes, and what it’s like living and working in Laos.  Ze shouted us dinner at a great restaurant, which specialises in hotpot.  Hotpot isn’t a traditional Lao way to cook, and is more Korean in origin.  Nonetheless, it was still an interesting and novel meal which we enjoyed hugely.

Hotpot – at the centre of a circular table is a barbeque hot plate. The plate has a central dome, on which you cook meat, and a recessed edge, which you fill with hot water. We were supplied with baskets of fresh greens and plates of thinly sliced raw meat. You cook the greens in the water and the meat on the dome. The meat juices run down into the water, and by the end of the meal, a tasty soup has been created.

The green vegetables were probably my favourite part – they tasted so fresh. We also had a type of mild seaweed that we cooked in the water, as well as rice noodles, and whole eggs.  All meat and veges were dipped into a tasty sauce made from peanuts, garlic and chilli.  The white lumps in the centre of the hotplate are lumps of pure pork fat – not skin, just fat.  It was lovely – toasted to a crisp on each side, with the inside still meltingly soft…despite the taste sensation, eating pure fat was a bit terrifying and I could only bring myself to eat one piece.

After an hour or so of leisurely cooking and eating, it’s time for soup.  Thanks for a great meal Ze!

May 25, 2011
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Dazzled, then a bit disgusted: Halong Bay

Majestic and mysterious, inspiring and imperious, words alone cannot do justice to the natural marvel that is Halong Bay, a Unesco World Heritage site where 3000 or more incredible islands rise from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.  The vegetation-covered islands are dotted with innumerable grottos created by the wind and the waves, and it is possible to kayak into hidden lagoons (Lonely Planet, 2010, p. 861).

The writers of Lonely Planet are definitely guilty of gushing at times, but in the case of Halong Bay, they are very much justified.  It really is the kind of place that makes you want to compose poetry on the spot.  We were dazzled.

Halong Bay at dusk – from the deck of our boat

Our trip to Halong Bay began with a three-hour bus ride from Hanoi to Halong City, which went by quickly thanks to the humour and friendliness of our guide, Mark.  Along with a group of around 20 other tourists, we boarded the Elizabeth Sails, settled in our cabins, then ate lunch (and no, lunch wasn’t worth writing about!).  It was a very overcast day, which was initially disappointing, but it didn’t take long for us to decide that Halong Bay really suits the misty look.

Inside our cabin – there’s that sexy man again.

We then motored around the bay until we arrived at a popular spot for boats to stop.  We were ferried over to an island, and climbed up a cliff to explore a massive cave – the biggest cave I’ve ever seen by far.  The view from the cave mouth high up on the cliff was pretty spectacular.  Dazzled some more.

Check out how brown I’m getting! Apart from the sunburn incident in Nha Trang (which only burnt my legs and back), I’ve been vigilant with sunscreen and hat and have never once burnt on my face or arms. Even though I’m using 60+ sunscreen, I’m still browner than I’ve ever been in my life.  I even have an attractive jan-line on my feet.

After some kayaking in the bay, we re-boarded our boat and socialised while we waited for dinner (which was much better than lunch).  After dinner the crew busted out the karaoke, which was absolutely hilarious for about 10 minutes, before the tinny music, cheesy video graphics and way-too-loud volume became overwhelming.  Brave attempts to rescue the night were made by Marta and Bob, singing Lambada and About a Girl respectively, but high-pitched Vietnamese pop songs and painful Korean ballads soon dominated the scene.  Those who weren’t driven to their cabins toughed it out on the top deck with the help of Bia Hanoi.

Some of the guest on the Elizabeth Sails – from left, Mark (our awesome tour guide), Jos, me, Colin, Bob, and Vitek.  Photo taken by the lovely Marta.

The next morning most guests returned to Hanoi, whereas the few who had paid for two nights (including us) were ferried to Cat Ba island.  The day was grey and drizzly, but the island could not have looked more wild and beautiful.  Around one-half of the entire island is a national park, and it was this unspoilt part that we cycled through for a couple of hours.  Dazzled again.

Cat Ba Island

The the Hospital Cave on Cat Ba Island. This cave was a secret hospital during the US-Vietnam War, and was able to house 200 patients at any one time. It’s a huge space – a natural cave that was expanded significantly. We were able to walk through several large patient rooms, smaller offices, an operating room, and a huge room that was used as a cinema. The hospital even boasts a small swimming pool for that was used for rehabilitation.

After lunch at a hotel in Cat Ba town, we were driven across the island where we boarded another small boat and were taken out to Monkey Island, famous for, you guessed it, monkeys.  The harbour we launched from had the most amazing floating village.  It’s incredible to think that people live in these tiny floating houses, and have entire floating communities which even include floating banks, ATMs and schools.

Part of the floating village – Cat Ba Island

Once we got the Monkey Island, the sun came out for the first time, transforming the bay into a tropical paradise.

On Monkey Island

But here’s where it started to go just a little bit wrong.  We decided that we wanted to swim, and swimming involved first getting changed in some dodgy changing sheds that had no roofs, only netting over the top.  The monkeys, for which Monkey Island is named, were frolicking over the top of said roofs, entertaining everyone with their antics, which included drinking beer from a can handed to them on a stick.  We thought they looked adorable.

Not long after Colin and I went into one of the sheds, one of the small monkeys came over to peer in at us, looking in very intently…with crazy eyes…it soon started to chew the netting and beat against it…we didn’t want to make eye-contact…soon we heard a soft splattering sound…yes, that’s right, the little fucker tried to pee on us…the situation went from bad to worse when two bigger monkeys came over and started chewing as well…we didn’t know how we were going to get out of that shed.

Marta, who had been scratched by an aggressive monkey in Bali, warned us not to be sucked in by their cute and fluffy exterior…

We eventually were able to make a run for the beach when the monkeys were distracted by a few people laughing.  We sprinted for the water to wash off the smell of monkey pee and humiliation. A pleasant hour was then spent wallowing in the sea and air-drying in the sun.

Leaving Monkey Island

After a drive back across the Island to drop off most of the guests who were overnighting on the Island, those who remained (Colin, Marta and I) caught a lovely sunset, before boarding the boat for our second night on the Bay.

On the jetty, about to leave Cat Ba Island

Here’s where it began to go a lot wrong.  Although we had booked two nights on the Elizabeth Sails, we were transferred to the Golden Lotus for some reason that we could never figure out.  We were mollified by the promise that the Golden Lotus was a better boat, and indeed, our cabin was slightly larger and the food was slightly better.  But the crew seemed a bit unfriendly, and the new tour guide made no attempt to talk to us, or integrate us into the group of tourists already on the boat.  Anyway, dinner proceeded nicely, apart from the predilection of the staff to remove food and drinks before you were finished with them.  But still, no big deal.

When we retired to our cabin though…we were greeted by a swarm  of cockroaches on our bed (ok, maybe 20), and when we looked more closely, we realised they were all through our bags, which we had opened earlier.  Now we had seen the occasional cockroach on the first boat, but it was quite obvious that the Golden Lotus had a serious infestation.  Controlling our (my) hysteria, we called the crew, who sincerely thanked us for bringing the matter to their attention because it meant they could get the boat fumigated.  We were provided with a can of spray (which seemed to be just perfumed air freshener), and left to sort out our room and settle down for the night (ekkkk, this involved spraying multiple rings of spray around the bed and bed frame!).

The next morning we had one more little adventure: at 8.30am we were asked to check out of our cabin (i.e. get our bags out).  Exactly two minutes later we were asked to check out again, then 30 seconds later, we were told to check out, then 10 seconds later, the crew demanded that we get out now!  As most people know, Colin isn’t known for his patience.  He was inspired to have a few serious words with the offending crew member, who, quite sensibly, backed down and gave us five more minutes to shake the cockroaches out of our clothes.

So our trip to Halong Bay ended up being a bit paradoxical – it’s the most amazing and beautiful place, but it’s a tour-factory.  The crew care most about getting you off the boat as quickly as possible so that they can load another lot of guests on.  Fumigation?  I don’t think so somehow…

Colin, with Marta (from Chile), who we hung out with a lot.  Despite a few sour notes near the end, we still had a great time on this trip, and the other guests had a lot to do with that.

May 20, 2011
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Our own little corner of Hanoi

Although I couldn’t get excited about the prospect of certain local specialities (notably dog), the description of recommended restaurants in the Lonely Planet guide meant that I arrived in Hanoi with fairly high expectations that a) we would eat well, and b) you would get to hear about it.

After a 14 hour overnight bus trip from Hue, our first and only comprehensible thought was: coffee, quickly.  Fortuitously, the excellent Cafe Nang – which serves coffee and Vietnamese tea and that’s it – was located right next to our hotel, so after checking in, we only had to walk a few short steps to order the best coffee we’ve had on our travels to date.  Following this, we tracked down a satisfying breakfast at Gecko Cafe – the standard Vietnamese offering of fresh fruit, omelet, and crunchy baguette.

But from this promising beginning, we somehow lost our mojo and became incapable of sniffing out bloggable food.  We really did try.  I diligently photographed every meal before we dug in, making Colin wait just…a…bit…longer while I tried several different angles.  But even food that exuded potential deliciousness always turned out to be a bit – or a lot – disappointing.  As our time in the city progressed, we desperately tried different strategies, going to slightly more expensive restaurants, or trying out places that other tourists recommended.

All to no avail…no that’s not strictly correct, most of the food was nice, but the problem is that nice isn’t really good enough for this blog.  If I don’t think about a dish after I’ve eaten it, aren’t able to conjure up its specific flavours and textures well after it should have been digested, aren’t compelled to discuss it with Colin, and don’t scheme about how I could eat it again, then it really doesn’t deserve to feature in this blog.

So, a problem: no decent food material for a post on Hanoi (and no, I didn’t feel compelled to attempt dog just so that I would have something to write about).  But I actually don’t have much material on anything in particular because we didn’t do much in Hanoi.  We’ve been travelling for six weeks now, so the drive to see and do everything has waned somewhat.  We’re far more interested in getting a sense of everyday life and talking to the locals than going to yet another museum.  It rained a lot when we were in Hanoi, and we easily filled our time by drinking coffee, chilling out at Gecko Cafe (which we enjoyed for the comfy chairs, ambiance, and affable manager),and wandering the streets of the Old Quarter where we were staying.  Despite the traffic and constant bustle, we felt right at home.  So, because I just can’t bring myself to not blog about a place we’ve liked, this post simply presents several images of our own little corner of Hanoi.

Inside Cafe Nang – you know your not in a tourist cafe when the only seating option is miniature stools and tables

View from our hotel window – tiny apartments just across the street

At Gecko Cafe

At a coffee merchants’, buying chou beans and little stainless steel coffee makers

Streets in the Old Quarter. We found this area of Hanoi so interesting – it absolutely buzzes with energy, tiny shops, narrow streets, constant traffic, outdoor restaurants and stalls.  We loved staying right in the middle of it, even if the noise meant no sleeping in.

Open air fish merchant in the Old Quarter

Open air vegetable shop in the Old Quarter

At New Day restaurant – probably our best meal in Hanoi, or at least mine anyway. Colin was trying to be healthy and ordered chicken and vegetables, and a fruit smoothie. I went for the infinitely more sensible option of Saigon beer, and a spicy tofu, pork mince and shitake mushroom dish. No surprise that my bowl was repeatedly raided.

SE Asia is the best place for fruit juices, shakes and smoothies. Guava juice (left) and a protein shake (mango, pineapple, lime and Japanese silken tofu)