This morning K & I decided to head over to the temple of literature for Confucius. We wandered around the lovely grounds, and K was very patient while I took many pictures. Afterwards we headed to a dress shop for K to buy a dress for $25 that was even quickly tailored for her. Later we headed for the airport for our expensive flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. There isn’t a quick and cheap way to get there, so we decided to go straight there by buying a flight for $240. Ouch – that one hurt relative to the $90 and less flights we had been buying. To make up for the price, I actually drank a full beer – maybe my first on this trip. Carlsberg was served on Vietnam Airlines (of all places?), and that is drinkable. Why is so much of my blog about beer when I’m not really drinking it? Oh right, I’m traveling with Boston.
As we leave Vietnam, I’d like to reflect on some things I’ve noticed:
1)Some men grow their nails out LONG here. I mean longer than I’ve ever kept mine. They looked to be filed and everything. This is just bizarre (and really oogy) to me as why would they want this upkeep? This goes along the same lines as men (who aren’t swimmers or bikers in competition) full out shaving their legs. You’re men! Be hairy! Nobody cares!
2)Everyone is super skinny here. I don’t think I saw one fat Vietnamese person anywhere, but I also only saw KFC as a fast food option, too. Wonder if these are related…
3)They sit on teeny tiny – really low to ground stools at the sidewalk cafes – which seemed to be the most popular eateries. I can understand a small seat as there is really limited space, but why so low? I wouldn’t make my kids at work sit that low to the ground.
4)Hanoi was a fairly dirty city with trash all over the sidewalks. I think they pick it up at night, but during the day it’s a bit gross. However, I’m fairly used to that from some of our previous cities. What got me were the clumps of hair in piles with trash from these outdoor barbers. I realized it doesn’t even smell, but I’m just not expecting that!
5)This doesn’t just apply to Vietnam, but I also noticed it in Thailand. Some older men will have a mole –usually near their face - with the LONGEST hair imaginable growing out it. Clean shaven beard, but 6 in or more long mole hairs – usually a big clump! I did a bit of research and saw some references that if you trim them, the superstition is that you life will shorten also. I wish I had a picture of this as it is so ridiculous I can’t even begin to do it justice here. I found a pretty good description on this blog:
http://ocwfoto.blogspot.com/2009/04/episode-03-4-19-09-chinese-hairy-facial.html6)Vietnam in general was not nearly as open, nice, and easy as Thailand. We still had a good time, but there were a few times I missed our last country. On the other hand, it’s not nearly as seedy as its neighbor. You don’t see any older white dudes walking around with their teenage girlfriends, and that was a nice change. They just need to loosen up a bit! Maybe that’s just Hanoi though as I’ve heard southern Vietnamese think of the northerners as uptight.
Siem Reap – Peace and Quiet!
We were whisked through immigration at a super small but very nice airport. Boston, the world traveler, didn’t have a full page left in his passport for the Cambodian visa, so they charged him an extra $10 to put it on the ‘amendments and endorsements ‘ page. He considered haggling over it (seriously, in immigration, too?! Good luck, buddy. I’ll see you at the guesthouse.) but just relented. We were picked up in tuk-tuk (love Cambodia already!) and quietly taken on a short 20min ride to the guesthouse. It was so quiet on these streets we hardly saw any other cars (it’s only 8 pm!), and I could hear the frogs croaking in ponds beside us. Ahhhhh…..all that Hanoi honking just melted away…
Two Dragon GuesthouseOur room is probably the starkest we’ve had, but it’s real cheap, too at $25/night. The bathroom is one of these ‘all inclusive rooms’ where you have your standard sink, toilet, and shower in the same place. No curtains or any other separations, and it’s not really a big bathroom so you soak just about everything in there while you’re showering. (Shocking fact: This is not really K’s ideal bathroom set-up, so we emailed ahead to the next place to be sure we would have a separate shower in the Philippines.) The other funny thing is that the cot they brought in is by far the worst we’ve had, so instead of K being miserable all night, she’s sleeping in my ‘glorified twin’ or ‘really small double’. Yes, yes, big spoon, little spoon - tee hee hee - let the jokes ensue. Boston took some photos, but luckily he doesn’t have a cord to upload. We won’t have to see those for a while. All in all, it gets the job done, and we’re only here 2 nights. They are very nice here, and there’s WIFI. We’re good.
We set up to have a guide ($30/day) for the temples tomorrow with a tuk-tuk driver ($15/day) starting at 5 am for sunrise. We decided there was only one thing on the agenda for the night after we arrived.
Daily Massage Report!
Finally, we’re back in action after a short interruption in Vietnam. There were only a few places there to get it done, and it was never at a convenient time or place. In Cambodia, however, they are fairly easy to find – but still not like Thailand. We had our same tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Sinh, take us to one (driver’s choice!), and boy can he pick ‘em! We all got excellent foot massages at City Spa for $10/each. While it is a bit pricier than we were expecting, it was worth it! They did so well we’re going back for more tomorrow night for some full body Khmer style! I give City Spa: 4 ½ stars! They lost the ½ star due the terrible dubbed movie playing and for only having the neon lights on in the front giving the place a seedy feel.
Last of the Hanoi pics (start with #29)
