Continuing my southbound journey

Hoi An. How to describe this beautiful little city on a river? The ancient area is all a unesco world heritage site (yes, Vietnam has many!) Beautiful old buildings, small streets, boats and lanterns dotting the riverfront---it's beautiful. One of my favorite places so far--I ended up staying for 4 nights and had a lovely time. Hoi an is also known for its tailors, and everyone goes to have clothes made for them. I spent waaayyyy too much money and will soon be shipping a small package home--but I have new dresses and am quite happy! Katie and I spent a stupid amount of time shopping and designing/thinking about/talking about dresses. We also kept running into people we had previously met, which was really nice. Due to the shape/size of Vietnam, pretty much all travelers travel north to south, or vice versa. So once you meet someone going in the same direction as you, it's really likely that you will keep seeing them along the way.

Katie was making her way down south faster than me, so we said our goodbyes and I spent one last rainy day in hoi an uploading pictures, reading, catching up on emails, etc etc. Then it was another (my last in Vietnam!) overnight bus to nha trang. Nha Trang is known for the beach but the weather was not great, so my new friend Marga and I (we met at the bus station-- not creepy at all while traveling but sounds strange in the real world) wandered around a bunch. A day after we got there 2 of her friends arrived to meet us. We relaxed a lot, and one afternoon took a boat ride to monkey island. It's just what it sounds like--monkeys running around everywhere, and they are crazy! But cute.
My last day in Nha Trang the sun came out, so I had my first few hours of lying on a Vietnamese beach. Happy girl.

After Nha Trang came Dalat, in the mountains with a much cooler climate. It's referred to as the "little Paris" of Vietnam, and boasts wine, strawberries, flowers, and a beautiful countryside once you get a bit out of the city. I spent my first afternoon exploring the relatively unremarkable but very relaxed and chilled out city, and the next day I did a motorbike countryside tour. You'll notice (parents in particular, I'm sure) how often I mention motorbikes . It's really the only way to get around here, and I always opt to sit on the back instead of renting my own. And helmets are compulsory. Safety first. So anyway, I spent that day riding around the countryside, with many stops: coffee plantation, rice wine factory, silkworm factory, mushroom farm, flower farm, a huge waterfall, and a small village. The coffee was one of the highlights for me. A big thing here in Vietnam is weasel coffee, and I've been wanting to try it since I got here. And I finally did! Many coffee plantations here keep weasels, because apparently they pick out and eat only the best coffee beans. They then--stay with me here--poo them out, still whole but out of the outer shell--and then the beans are removed and used to make coffee. So the idea is that only the best beans are used. Gross but really cool. It's much more expensive but you really can taste the difference in quality. Whatever, don't judge.

After Dalat I took an incredibly stunning and wildly bumpy bus ride to Mui Ne, another beach town. Now that I was much farther south I finally got the real sunshine I had been waiting for. I had a lovely time relaxing and reading by the water, and swimming a bit (the current here was so strong that I didn't venture out too far). There are also sand dunes near Mui Ne (such a crazy mix of landscapes!) so I went to see and climb those as well. I made a sand angel while y'all on the east coast were making snow angels on Christmas Eve! 

And that brings me to today. Whew, finally caught up! I'm back in Saigon, reunited with Danit and spending my last few days in Vietnam here. Ill be taking it easy, getting organized, doing laundry, etc etc. Then on Saturday we bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I have loved my time here in Vietnam but after about 5 weeks I am ready for my next passport stamp.  

I hope everyone who celebrates had a merry Christmas. I am sending so much love to you all! Also, email updates make me smile so please keep sending them! It makes me feel closer to home :)

Phong Nha and Hue

After leaving Hanoi I took an overnight bus to Phong Nha, about 10 hours south. Katie and I wanted to see Phong Nha National Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's known for it's massive caves. I'm mixing up the different caves there, but I think I visited the longest dry cave in Asia. The area also has a recently discovered cave, now believed to be the largest cave (by volume) in the world. You can't go into that one as a tourist, as it is still being explored. If you are a scientist though---or really rich--you can pay $3,000 to spend a few days inside the cave. I am neither of those things, so I stuck to the tourist parts.

After arriving to the small town of Son Trach which is located near the park, Katie and some new friends we met at the hostel headed out to explore. We did a small wooden boat ride to Phong Nha Cave, then road the boat further down through the first kilometer or so of the cave. We were also allowed to get out of the boat and walk around a bit. It was incredible--probably the most impressive cave i've been in yet. It was gorgeous. We spent that afternoon walking around San Trach, seeing the animals and local villagers going about their days. This area was also heavily bombed during the war, so we saw more bomb craters as well.

The next day we did a tour to the national park, including Paradise Cave, rode on part of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail, saw a temple where people come to make offererings to ancestors, and visited Dark Cave. Dark cave is exactly what it sounds like. We put on bathing suits and head torches, kayaked to the opening of the cave, then walked through mud and darkness. I'm talking mud up past my waist, scrambling and sliding down and through muddy pathways...super fun though! Then finally it ended in deeper water, where we could swim back out to the cave opening and kayak back to land. There was veggie soup--and rum shots--waiting for us when we returned. Our tourguide was an Australian guy who married a Vietnamese woman and has been living here for many years. He told us some incredible stories that he has heard about the war and we learned a lot about how this area was changed and impacted during that time.

The next morning we took the 5am (eesh) bus to Hue, another 4 hours south. Have I mentioned yet that I am making my way back down to Saigon, to reunite with Danit and head to Cambodia together on the 28th? If not, thats my plan. We spent a day in Hue, which is a city but much smaller than Hanoi and Saigon so it was a nice change of pace. Hue also has a huge Citadel in the old imperial part of the city so we explored that (and awkwardly/awesomely tagged onto an English-speaking tour so we could learn about the kings that used to live there and what the buildings were used for). I have not, but if you have seen the movie Full Metal Jacket, the citadel is where some of the scenes were shot. At this point I had a pretty bad cold and was feeling a bit run down, so we took it easy and chilled out that night. We were in a cute little hotel which ended up being cheaper than a hostel dorm, but with much more comfort. So we were happy.

We then moved on to Hoi An, which is were I am now. Next post will be about that!

Sapa and Halong Bay

I'm clearly quite behind on this blog, so I'm going to try and backtrack and write a few posts, broken up by location/activity. Ill try to remember everything I've done over the past few weeks. I've been really busy!

From Hanoi I took an 11ish hour overnight bus to Sapa, which is up in northern Vietnam. Really north--I think less than 40 Kilometers from China. (Yes, I thought about it. No, I didn't). I took a sleeper bus so the seats fully recline back, but the roads were so bumpy that I barely slept at all. Arrived in Sapa early in the morning, had breakfast and a ton of coffee, and met some other people on my tour. (I don't usually like to do group tours but its so easy and cheap to do them here, and its a great way to meet people, so I've been doing quite a few). I had some time to explore the town, home to the Black Hmong tribe. The women are beautifully and intricately adorned and they all sell goods and handicrafts. We then spent the day trekking, I think it was 12k in total. The views are stunning, it's set on a lush green landscape of rolling rice fields and mountains in the background. It's pretty cold and rainy this time of year, but we had an unseasonably bright and sunny day. Many of the Hmong women joined us and walked with us, as we were headed back towards their villages (set back in the mountains). Actually, we found out at lunchtime that they really had joined us to try and aggressively sell us their goods, but before then I had a great time learning about their way of life and chatting with them. Due to the recent influx of tourism, their English is actually quite good. And I learned some Hmong words, which I have since completely forgotten.
We ended our hike at a local homestay, where we spent the night. It wasn't exactly the authentic experience we had hoped for, since it was clearly set up for tourists, the family spent almost no time with us, and we all slept in one big room together on mattresses instead of being in smaller groups in various homes. But it felt a bit like summer camp and there were awesome people in my group, so we had a nice time (and much laughter over locally made rice wine, popular in the region). It was really cold at night but there are a few western-style bars in the little rural village where we stayed (oh, tourism), so we caved and went to one for hot chocolate at night. We wrapped ourselves in blankets, chatted over our hot drinks, and it felt like a proper winter night! Also the night sky was incredible!
Next day we trekked about 4k more, through rice fields, villages, and past a waterfall, then had a quick bus ride back to the main town of Sapa for much needed showers, wandering the town and local markets, a nice dinner, and the night bus back to Hanoi. There were 2 guys from Spain on my bus so then I accidentally started speaking in Spanish to the Vietnamese. Oopsies. I slept a bit more on this journey, likely only because I was so tired. Overall, a really nice time.

I got back to Hanoi early in the morning and after some waiting around at my hostel, I was able to check back in and snooze more until around 9 or 10. I booked another tour for the next day, for Halong Bay. This is one of the biggest attractions in Vietnam, a few hours from Hanoi. There are something like 3,000 islands rising out of the water, and you explore it mainly on the water. It was declared a World Heritage site in 1994. The next morning I was en route! I met Katie, a new British friend (who I'm actually still with now). 4 hour bus ride to Halong city, met the rest of our group (10 of us, great people from all over). Boarded our boat and had lunch while moving along the bay; great views despite the misty weather. Off the boat to walk through a cave, then we kayaked a bit on the water, then did a hike up to a gorgeous view of Halong Bay. Back to our boat for relaxing on the top deck, eating dinner, and a night of drinking and card games overlooking the water. Jam packed but great day.

The next morning I sat on the top deck of the boat for a few minutes by myself, watching the sun rise over the islands and boats. There was no smog, no crazy moto drivers all around me, no one trying to sell me anything. It was so peaceful and relaxing; I had one of many "ahhhhhhh this trip was the right choice for me" moments. Also I think it was snowing back at home at the moment, which helped.

We went to a pearl farm and saw some oysters, then did a lovely bike ride around one of the larger islands. More beautiful views of the bay, and we rode through a small rural village. 

Some people in the group were then dropped off at beach bungalows for the night, and the rest of us who were staying in a hotel were dropped off on Cat Ba Island. We (mom close your eyes) rented motorbikes to get to Cat Ba National Park and explore for a bit. I didn't drive the bike (that would be silly) so I got to look around as my Australian buddy Jack got us there and back in one piece. We did a short but pretty, and at times steep, hike to a lookout point. 

On the way back we stopped at Hospital Cave, a multipurpose area in a cave used by the VC during the war. Pretty much everywhere you go in Vietnam was involved in the war. You can see bomb craters in lots of places, and most towns have some sort of history rooted in the war. It's been really interesting to see, lots to think about. Some of the stories are fascinating.

The following morning (I think I'm up to Dec. 9th--Happy Bday Anna!) we had a few hours on the boat back to Halong City, then the bus ride back to Hanoi. Katie had met a guy a few days earlier (Stephan from Germany) and they were getting on an overnight bus that night out of Hanoi. I decided to join them, so when we got back to Hanoi around 5pm I immediately bought a bus ticket for 6:30pm. In my next post ill tell you where we went! You must be bored reading by now.

Oh and also, it's not easy to get pictures up on this blog, but i've been posting a few as I go on Facebook. You can check them out there :)

Hugs and kisses!

Saigon-->Singapore-->Hanoi

Some highlights of the past week or so:

2 day tour of the Mekong Delta. This  included boat rides on the delta, visiting a coconut candy factory, a rice noodle factory, honey tea (there was a little bee farm at one of the stops), and an early morning floating market (aka a market on the water, goods all sold on boats).

Day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, which has a really interesting history from the war. I always have a hard time digesting places with very sad and/or violent histories that have become places for tourists to throng to and take pictures, but its been really cool to hear all of the war history from this side of things. It was an interesting day. 

It also included a stop in Tay Ninh to see a cao dai temple during a service. This is also the town where a close family friend lived while he was here during the war (Hi Billy! I took pictures for you!) so that was really cool for me. And the temple was beautiful. One of many I will see on this trip.

More exploring Saigon, including the market, drinks on the 52nd floor of the tallest building in the city, practicing my Vietnamese (I've got "thank you," "hello," and "1-2-3" down), and spending lovely time with Danit and her friends. 

I had 2 thanksgiving meals. One was Sunday afternoon with a friend from college who I haven't spoken to in ages, but she lives in HCMC and we reconnected here. Small world! Danit and I went to the feast she was hosting, ate tons of food, and met lots of cool people. The 2nd meal was on Thanksgiving evening at the home of the consulate general to the US here in Vietnam. Danit has some swanky connections here! As it was also hannukah, we made and brought latkes, which were a huge hit! Also, turkey and latke sandwiches may need to happen every year. 

The first night of hannukah we actually went to the chabad house and likely met every Jew in the area.

Then it was a weekend in Singapore! Holy moly, what a place...a world away from Saigon. So efficient, expensive, clean, regulated, developed...fancy. Danit and I met up with her friend Jocelynn and the 3 of us wandered around, had drinks on the water, regularly avoided tropical rainstorms, mastered the subway system, walked through the botanical  gardens, and ate yummy food. We also accidentally ordered $30 drinks at the bar at the top of the  Marina Bay Sands (fannnncy hotel with a view overlooking Singapore). Oops. We took lots of pictures and had many laughs to make it worth it. It was a lovely vacation within my vacation.

Fun facts about Singapore: You have to pay close to $100,000 to apply for a drivers license if you want to buy a car. You read that number right. And no, that doesn't include the cost of the car. Also, gum can only be purchased at a pharmacy--apparently something to do with reducing littering. And finally, drug crimes are punishable by death. Just FYI. 

I sadly hugged Danit goodbye in our hostel this morning and am now back in Vietnam. Saigon and my nearby explorations have all been in the south, so from Singapore I flew into Hanoi, which is the capital, up north. There are a few places up north I want to check out after exploring Hanoi, then ill start working my way down the country back south. The plan is to meet Danit and a group of her friends in Siem Riep for New Years (where Angkor Wat is located), so if all goes to plan I have just about a month left in Vietnam before crossing into Cambodia.

Also I have somehow already managed to lose my iPhone (yes, in less than a week, please don't even comment on this). All this really means for y'all is that I no longer have whatsapp. I still have my itouch (Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ronnie saved me on that one!) so when I have wifi I still have Skype, email, Internet access, (and iMessage/FaceTime if you have an iPhone). Ill probably buy a cheap Vietnamese phone, so ill share the number once I do that. I'm also still expecting my phone to turn up in my bag or Danits apartment, but so far no luck.

Other than that minor setback, I'm happy, healthy, and on the move!

Good morning Vietnam!

I am safe and sound in Ho Chi Minh city! Just a quick note to let everyone know that I arrived in one piece. I have already made spring rolls, eaten delicious pho, taught English (both informally in a park and more formally helping out at a class for teens), narrowly avoided being hit by cars and motorcycles on these crazy streets, visited the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace (where the first communist tanks crashed into in 1975 when Saigon surrendered to the North), and enjoyed spending time with Danit.
So far, so good!

The blog is back!

This post can only mean one thing…I am headed overseas again! If you are reading this, you likely already know that since my last post in 2011, I came home from South America, got my masters in social work, packed up my life in Boston and moved it to my parents basement in NY, and bought a one-way ticket to Vietnam!! I leave for the airport tomorrow. Between my job and lease coming to an end at the same time, I thought it was the perfect chance to get in another big trip, while I still can. This time there is no job or project or real reason to go. I have just always wanted to backpack around Southeast Asia, so I decided to go for it. So after getting a series of japanese encephalitis shots, typhoid pills, a Vietnam visa, another Lonely Planet guidebook, and more pages sewn into my passport, I'm ready!

I have my lovely friend Danit in Ho Chi Minh City, hence the decision to start in Vietnam. She will be the smiling face at the end of my 24ish hours of travel, and I will use her as my base while I start to explore Vietnam, celebrate Thanksgiving/Hannukah, and make the rest of my travel plans. I hope to get to Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand on this trip, with possible stops in Indonesia, Malaysia, and/or other countries TBD along the way. I am thinking I’ll be gone for about 5 months, but it could be 3, could be 7…I’m not sure yet!

I was hired to be a teaching assistant in Costa Rica & Nicaragua again with Northeastern University for 5 weeks this summer, so I for sure have to be back home by late June 2014. Likely I will be out of money way before that time, but that’s the very latest I could be in Asia. I’ll be helping to prepare for that project via skype/email/carrier pigeon while I am away, so I guess you can call this a “working vacation?” OK not really.

I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to take this time and go on this trip. It has been hard to say goodbye to so many people and I know that I will miss out on a lot here at home, but I know that this was the right choice for me. And I always feel incredibly grateful when I realize just how much I have to say goodbye to, and how many loving, wonderful, caring, special people I have in my life. I fully expect to move back to Boston after this trip and start my real social-working life there. I’m just not ready yet. I have the rest of my life to work, right?

I am SO excited for this trip, and just a little nervous. For all of the travel I have done, I have never been to this part of the world, and I am not used to going to countries where I do not speak the language and know the culture. I will learn key phrases and smile/point/gesture/laugh/get lost a lot, which I always love, but it can certainly get nerve-wracking at times. I’ve also never planned such a long trip on my own. I always meet a ton of people, so I’m sure that this time will be no different. Still, if anyone wants to come join me for any amount of time, please let me know J And if I get lonely or tired or frustrated or whatever, I may do some WWOOFing, which is an international organic farming program. So I can find a family that needs help working outside, and I work for them in exchange for lodging and food. I hope to try this out at least once, it seems like a fun opportunity! I may also look into some social service agencies/projects and various non-profits/NGOs and spend some time volunteering somewhere.

E-mail will be the best way to get in touch with me; klein.rachelg@gmail.com. When I have wifi I can use imessage, skype, facetime, and various apps to communicate. Please send me updates and keep in touch, I will miss everyone tremendously and any news from home is always appreciated.

FYI, I will be 11 or 12 hours ahead of the east coast while i'm gone, so keep that in mind when trying to get in touch. 

Sending loads of love to everyone!! I’ll update when I can J