2,000,000 DONG is how much money?

We are millionares!!!! YAH!!! Oh wait....that is $100! haaha

Wake up Vietnam!!! Well I just wanted to write that, awesome! (Editorial note from Burr: yes, you are correct, it is meant to be “Good morning, Vietnam”) (Anne to Burr - oh I messed it up, let me change it! Burr - NO WAY you wrote it! )
After a three-hour delay in Laos, we arrived in Hanoi and we were picked up by our hotel. Got in a very nice SUV and were driven back to the hotel. The trip was about 1 hour and was an amusement park ride, with the terrifying bits too!! As we drove our driver really seemed to like to straddle the middle dotted lane in the 2 lane rode, lovely. Then there are motorcycles and mopeds EVERYWHERE and people ride these things like crazy. The put babies in them without helmets or seats, they have 3 people on 1, they talk on the phone, they text, its unreal. Then they just honk all the time….like crazy…the hotel we are staying at has an extra double door to the patio to block out the honking cars at night…wowzzerrrsss.

The first night here we had to find a Halong Bay tour leaving the next day, which was a bit stressful since all the places were closing as we got to our hotel. We ended up going through Oriental Sails. We got dressed up and went to a place called Green Mango for dinner. It was nice! It was the best glass of wine I’ve had since we left South Africa so it was so lovely. We came back and booked a trip to Halong Bay for 3 days and 2 nights and off we went at 8am the next morning.

It is a four hour bus ride to Halong City, where we transferred to our ship, the Oriental Sails. The bus ride was at least air conditioned and it was a mini-bus so it wasn’t too terrible. Plus…many travels uses buses as there way of transport around Southeast Asia – meaning they take overnight buses to their next destination so seeing this is our longest ride we were fine. So - We promise, the views of the bay (a solid A) are nicer than the boat (a solid C-) or the food (a shaky F, highlighted by the staple Anne found in her cabbage on the final night). We hiked through limestone caves, kayaked around and occasionally into the more than 2000 islands and hidden lagoons (note – a double kayak is always a little difficult for accountants and Burr and I had to count if we wanted to go anywhere quickly to stay on track….haha!) , met interesting couples from India, Germany, Canada, Antarctica and other points around the globe.
We made the pilgrimage back to Hanoi in the back of a bus that was a roller coaster (on the plus side, it was only a 3 hour trip home).
Tomorrow we will try to visit the Hanoi Hilton and Ho Chi Minh tomb before we fly to Hoi An. We’ll see how it goes.
Final verdict ---- we would recommend Halong Bay, just not Oriental Sails.


So we arrived in Halong Bay! This is the view from the top of our boat.

Burr on top deck of boat

Floating 7-11s are everywhere! These ladies have it all, they come up to the side of your boat. Unforunatly you are not allowed to bring any food or drinks on board, because they want you to buy theirs, of course.

Our boat.

Us in the HUGE cave!

On the top of the boat....wagh I'm still so pale.

Floating fishmerman villages.

More pics from our day with the elephants!!!

We got a DVD of the pics from Patara elephant farm...thought we might share some.

Oh and we are in Vietnam!! THANK GOODNESS.  After a VERY long time in the smallest airport on earth, a cancelled flight (without any annoucement) we finally made it to Hanoi! It was quite stressful too because we had planned to go to all the travel agencies and book a trip to Halong bay when we got here, but the 4 hour delay did not help things...but we got it figured out!
 phew...ok pics from Chaing Mai

Me and my friend!

smeling you know what?!  It was to make sure they are "healthy" and compare elephant ages...ick!

Mine needed a bath!

Burr doesn't look so happy...he was hot!

We got cooled off - hehe.

I was AWESOME at getting up the elephant...watch me go up the trunk!

yes, perfect 10!

Burr opted for the knee route

He made it too !

and we are off to Laos!

So Laos is completely different than anywhere we have been. Luang Prabang is about 2 miles long, not kidding. Its surrounded by 2 rivers and when I went on a very slow run around the entire thing I think it was barely 3 miles and I went out of the city! So there are several wats (aka temples) which you can visit when the monks are not praying. There are also tons of stores selling handmade goods (quilts, scarfs, clothes, etc.) there is a night market, a night food market, and lots of Laos and French food, although less people speak French than I expected. The town has a curfew of 11pm which is very strict, you can be arrested!!! Burr and I made lots of different friends going to the waterfall (see pics, very pretty) and taking cooking class. My fav couple was from Chile and they own a yoga retreat center there – awesome! So we spent 4 nights and 3 days and we did waterfall, cooking class, and spa day!

Now – I let Burr write this bit about the monks

________________________________________________________________________________

Monks, monks everywhere ...


Luang Prabang is best known is a UNESCO World Heritage site for all of the Buddhist temples that dot the city. Each morning, these temples release their youngsters to go collect food (and toilet paper supposedly) from the villagers and tourists. A river of monks, dressed in their saffron (but really U. of Tennessee florescent) orange robes, stream out of the gates of each temple with a basket. Rice, bananas, etc are placed into these baskets.


Now, every tourist has to see this .... once. Unfortunately, this parade starts at 5:30 AM and ends by 6. It's a rite of passage among the non-Loatians to be done once and then brag to the others that you've seen it. There are a sprinkling of people who watch one day and then participate the next, but not us. Here are the basic rules for those planning a weekend getaway to what I have begun to think of as "the country that communism forgot it had"


1. women can't touch monks,


2. kneel the whole time,


3. cover elbows and knees,


4. no flash photography


5. don't buy the cheap rice from the morning street vendors (it's old and the monks don't like it)

______________________________________________________________________________________

Anne continues…..

We took another cooking class in Laos, this time more Laos cuisine of course. What is Laos cuisine you ask (question*) well its basically lots of chilies, lemongrass, coriander garlic and basil all mixed together…oh and lots and lots of MSG! Yes, laos people love MSG they put it in everything, just like its salt. Crazy! We tried to make our recipes without it, but Burr got a little mixed up and used it instead of salt at first…tasted great!

*note – this keyboard’s question mark doesn’t work!

We started with a market tour which was a little interesting to say the least. People eat pork fat and congealed blood (really – you can actually buy it!). burr and I liked the ‘laos cracker’ which is just flour, sugar, and butter and tastes like caramel popcorn! Hahaha. So we made 5 dishes….the one we will make the most of is the tomato sauce, they eat it with sticky rice but we thought it was terrific salsa! I will not be bringing home the smokey eggplant dip – ick! The main courses were fish steamed in a banana leaf (and tying a banana leaf is way harder than you think!), chicken mashed up inside lemongrass and fried (its hard to explain), and laos soup. Burr liked the soup the best but I thought it was too spicy (totally his fault) and I liked the steam fish. I also loved the dessert – sticky purple rice with coconut milk and fruit – delicious!

So spa day was today! Burr got a 90 min. traditional Laos massage for $11 and I got a 2.5 hour body scrub and aromatherapy massage for about $35! Bargain if you ask me! The body scrub you would awesome would be lovely, and it is….when is OVER! Owww does that lady really scrub hard! It was a great day though, sleep in , workout (anne = yoga, burr = run), lovely breakfast at hotel….they make you fresh squeezed juice of any kind! The pineapple and watermelon is yummy! Then spa for a few hours and early dinner. We actually crossed the river to go to this bbq restaurant for dinner..which is basically a poor Melting Pot. They put hot charcoals in the middle of your table, bring raw chicken and broth and say cook…it was still good though! Then Burr and I tried out the bar in town everyone was talking about, Utopia…all I wanted was some good drinks and fun music, instead I got backpackers haven with spa type music and a sand volleyball court….needless to say we didn’t stay long…where are Britney and Justin when you need ‘em (question)

So far Burr’s ranking is

1. South Africa

2. Laos

3. Thailand

4. Cambodia

I am still on the fence between 2, 3, and 4, but nothing will beat the safari…I’m dying to go back and still slightly sad its over.

Tomorrow its onto VIETNAM! Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, and Phu Quoc here we come!!!! Sunshine please come out….I cannot go back to the US this pale, even spray tan cannot help this British white I inherited!

The beautiful waterfall!!! I didn't love the water though = freezing cold and full of fish that bite your feet (or nemo as I refer to them)

cooking school....see burr on back right

our soup we made!

our chicken in lemongrass

steamed fish inside!

woman at market taking off stems of chilies, apparently they are bad luck!

burr at the top of highest Wat in town at sunset, beautiful view

monks

cooking school

our mode of transportation - Tuk Tuk!

I added pics to our Bangkok and Chiang Mai adventure....see below!!!

Our day with the elephants!

So Chiang Mai was very interesting!  The first afternoon we got there we borrowed bikes from the hotel and rode around the old city.  It was very very warm. We ended up at some Carolinian restaurant named duke's, yes the owner is a duke fan.

The next day We got picked up early Saturday morning and took an hour drive up into the mountains. There we signed our lives away, as we did on the safari, and then were told to never feed the elephants only 1 banana, always bunches! haha. We were given proper elephant attire, which is made my the wives of the elephant farmers. We talked to for about 30 min. about how this elephant farm was just to breed and take care of elephants, not for show and we would be their 'trainer' for the day and it was our job to clean them, feed them, and take care of them.  Then, we were each allocated our own elephant and trainer for the day. I was given Teep (trainer) and elephant (LoKoSun). I had the little brother of burr's elephant who I cannot remember the name of. aren't his tusks big and scary - he is only 6!

First we did the "health inspection" and they literally wanted me to count how many times the elephant went to the bathroom - this is me, watching my trainer count saying um...I'm not so sure about that....the rest of the group is watching.

Then we had to feed the elephants a basket of bananas. When I say feed, I mean stick your ENTIRE hand in the elephant's mouth and it licks you!!! yes you put the banana on the tongue of the elephants! then you pat it on the head and say "DD" - which means good boy/good girl.

My elephant got lots of dds all day!

Burr's elephant was a little grumpy to say the least....haha....the trainer was yelling at it all day!

Riding the elephants was really fun, but we are super sore! We rode them for at least 2 hours up and down and mountain. Getting up on them was the best part, I got up via the trunk - so fun! I need to upload more pics.

Us eating lunch. I had some interesting fruit which tasted like grapefruit but looked like a wood ball the size of a ping pong, I know I wish I knew the name too! hahaha. There was fried chicken, which Burr said tasted like Frances' and since I'm allergic to peanuts, I stayed away from the chicken. There was also a TON of different rice dishes. Rice with cocoa, Rice with coconut, Rice with banana, plain rice, Rice pilaf, etc. etc. I sat next to this little boy named Reese, who I think liked burr more than me...just like little Eleanor!

Burr feeding his elephant.see his hand all the way in! yikes.

It was an amazing experience to see the.....we are very glad we did it. We also went swimming with them and I will add those pics too.

We are now in laos.  Its so quiet and amazing here. This morning we woke up at 4;55am to see the monks!  We watched all the people feed them as they walked to temple. Can you believe the monks had already chanted and meditated for an hour before we arrived.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai

This is me at our first lunch in bangkok..I was trying to be all Urban and I ordered a iced green tea....it was terrible! It tasted like I was eating leaves.

Traffic in Bangkok....crazy....we thought it was really odd that the public transport (skylink and metro) were not crowded and really cold, full of full blast AC yet everyone insisted on driving and going no where!

see 'recommanded' soooo funny....this is one of many.

Me at the park in Bangkok, good thing its not  close up, I look like I was swimming!

lizard in the lake that burr was obsessed with!

Banyan tree hotel - look at those drinks!  The cups were not flat on the bottom, we thought they were broken at first, took us a long time to figure that one out! and yes, Burr ordered the pink one - haha!

From the top!

More from the top!

We ordered mixed fish platter to share for dinner.....soooo yummy.

Our taxi in Chaign Mai was covered in LOUIS VITTON seats, too funny.

burr in the LV car!

I like the Heinz bottle with Thai writing....ahhh I heart ketchup in any  country.

The shape of our watermelon at our hotel in Chiang Mai!! soooo cute!!! I obviously loved it!

after the elephant riding we made friends with our guide and he took us to the Chiang Mai football match.

The game was very fun!  People sing the same chants, just in a different language!

Me cheering on the team (our guide made me take the scarf in since I wasn't wearing blue!)

Hello there!!  So we spent 1 day and 1 night in Bangkok and I was EXHAUSTED after it !  Right when we arrived Burr drug me out into the city to walk around (even after getting up at 6am for a flight) *

*Remember the morning before he made me get up at 4:30am for the temples at sunrise, which we didn't see because it was cloudy and pouring rain - I'm not bitter or anything though! hahaha.

OK enough whining....we walked around Bangkok, Burr really liked the "energy" and noticed there that no one sweats...he and I were both dying of sweat though.  I really enjoyed seeing everyone's outfits. Lots of girls have fake bags that you can tell are very fake. Absolutely no one wears tennis shoes.   All the women walk around in heels (1 inch approx so not huge) but still!  And everyone drives....the traffic is bonkers. We took the Metro and Sky train a lot and it was not crowded.  There are these little motorcycle drivers that you pay to hop on the back of their bike and they drive you around....so strange. There are also regular taxis, that we come to find are crazy cheap.  It cost us $3 to get from dinner to our hotel last night....you cannot even get in a taxi in London for that. awesome. (Note - the $3 was even after the taxi driver got lost twice and Burr yelling at him - the taxi driving pulling over in dark alley to ask directions, a little terrifying).

So I drug Burr to a yoga class in Bangkok last night at Yoga Elements. I had read about it, apparently the 11st best yoga studio in the world.  It was a 90 minute class and we were exhausted after walking around all day. But, we were set to go to the Banyan Tree Hotel and have drinks from the 59th floor looking over the city. So we came back from yoga changed and headed to the top of the hotel. It was gorgeous! I loved the view!!! We both tried different types of Thai liquor drinks ...but I still like my Grey Goose better - hehe. After drinks we wandered around and wound up at the most amazing Italian restaurant ever! We shared the mixed fish grill plate ( see picture). we were so impressed!

This morning it was up early to the airport to go to Chiang Mai, after a flight cancellation and a little hour delay we were on our way!  We biked around today and saw the old city. We didn't go visit any temples, as the ones in Angkor Wat are so much bigger and amazing. The old city reminded us a lot of Siem Reap. People selling things on the side of the street, markets, etc. For dinner we ended up at some place named after Duke (yes the school) so we ate american food - can only eat so many noodles and rice!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Elephant Farm! I'm so excited!

Will post pics soon....it just takes a  LOT of energy because every hotel has 1 shared computer and downloading takes ages...but we will do it!

XXXX
Anne and Burr