Chris and Paula’s World

Christmas in Hanoi

Well today is Christmas and even in Hanoi the madness it brings is apparent. Late last night I took a quick trip out of our Hotel room only to find shopping madness all around. For a country that is only about 10% christian (catholic), they certainly love to shop it up and put on the Santa costumes.

Paula is sick so she is sticking pretty close to bed trying to get better. I have been running errands and exploring Hanoi’s Old Quarter a bit. This morning we took a few minutes and opened up the stockings we had assembled for each other. Because we spend SO much time together, we had to purposefully take an hour or two apart a few days ago so we could get some things for each other.

Paula bought me some coffee that is supposedly run through a weasel’s digestive system before being packaged…YUMMM! And a little Vietnamese style coffee filter rig. The coffee here is very good. I also have a nice new “333″ tshirt. 333 is the beer out here. Some snazzy DVDs - Battlestar Galactica Season 3 and Star Trek Original Series, Seasons 1-3. WOO!

I picked up a nice silk robe for Paula, some candy and a somewhat tight Tiger beer tank top and a few other little goodies.

Christmas, even in Vietnam!

Merry Christmas everyone, we miss everyone much, especially over these few days.

xoxoxo

More photos: http://www.chrisandpaulasworld.com/photos/v/vietnam/.

Halong Bay

Paula and I took an overnight trip out to Halong Bay on Sunday to see what it is all about. It turns out to be a magical bay full of limestone karsts. A beautiful place indeed. They surround you as far as the eye can see in every direction. Our trip was onboard a beautiful Junk called the Santa Maria. It had 8 rooms, each with a bathroom and air con! Not that we needed air con, it was pretty dreary and cool but did not rain, thank goodness. Anyhow, it was a wonderful way to spend a night. Next day we got up, I went kayaking and swimming while Paula rested (she was feeling a little sick from a cold that won’t give up). By afternoon we were back on our way to Hanoi for Christmas Eve..

More about Halong Bay

More photos: http://www.chrisandpaulasworld.com/photos/v/vietnam/.

Loving Vietnam - Pho Sho

HI!

We are in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), formerly known as Saigon, Vietnam. We continue to be impressed by Vietnam! The streets are literally filled with motor bikes, I have never seen so many bikes in one place. Crossing the street takes some getting used to, however with our previous training we seem to be managing well. Cars and motor bikes just seem to veer around you while you cross, Frogger-like. I was taken by the arm today by a tiny old lady who seemed to be looking out for me while we crossed. Once across I wasn’t quite sure who was leading whom, but I think it was her. HCMC has car taxis and motor bike taxis (”motos”). We have been travelling by foot and moto and the more you ride around on a motor bike, the more you feel a part of this city. A mandatory helmet law just came into effect today so rides feel a little safer, though the helmets are teensy - I have a great picture of Chris wearing a tiny green helmet. Not so sure that it would provide much protection, but definitely sure that it provided some smiles and laughs as his taxi wove through traffic. I rode with Goggles Paizano yesterday, literally over curbs, on the sidewalk, through opposite traffic - all before the helmet laws came into effect today. I got off the bike shaky in the knees but otherwise A-OK with a great trip memory.

We visited the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace yesterday. They certainly didn’t hold any sad or gruesome detail back about the war here. It never ceases to amaze me seeing the horrible stuff that a country can go through and get past. We are so lucky in Canada.

Today we visited China town and saw some amazing pagodas. These pagodas are a mixture of several religions including Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Like Cambodia, it isn’t rare here to see small shrines set up with a Buddha, some Chinese figures (at least one of which I am assuming to be Confucius), and sometimes even a Mary statue. Most of the times they have sticks of incense burning, a pile of fruit and a few cups of water, all lit nicely with twinkly lights or christmas bulbs. After China town we went to a local bar where they screen movies all day long. It was a nice break from the crazy hot sun and humidity. We watched Beowulf while drinking iced coffees. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours on a hot Saturday. The movie wasn’t so hot, but the seats were comfy and the room cool.

Everywhere people are friendly and welcoming. People driving by on bikes will greet us, and today while my moto trailed Chris’, I saw a guy give Chris a thumbs up! People on the street seem quick to offer a hello, or a smile and kids everywhere wave at tourists. The food continues to be great, and pho has become our breakfast of choice. Like in Thailand, a bowl of noodle soup is cheap and tasty, served with a plate of fresh garnishes including basil, corriander, thinly sliced onions, hot peppers, a piece of lime and sprouts. So good.

We are heading to Nha Trang tomorrow for a couple of days on the beach on the way to Hanoi. Vietnam is a very long country - from south to north it is a 31 hour train ride!! We are taking the bus for this leg of the journey and we’ll figure it out from there. We want to be in Hanoi by the 22nd of December and have a couple of stops on the way there.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. It doesn’t feel much like Christmas where we are, but that’s ok. We’ll be thinking of everyone at home and missing you all.

We’ll upload some photos soon.

Bye!

Paula
xoxo

First thoughts on Vietnam

Hello!

We crossed from Cambodia to Vietnam yesterday. It was a nice border crossing, a boat rather than a dusty bus for a change. From Phnom Penh it took about 4 hours to get to Chau Doc including dealing with border issues. Chau Doc is a nice town near the border and for most of the way there (on the Vietnam side of the border) the river is lined with homes both on stilts and floating. Immediately on crossing you begin to see women wearing the triangular shaped straw hat that you associate with Vietnam. There is also a marked increase of two wheeled vehicles both bikes and motor bikes. Not unlike the majority of places we have been, kids are shrewd business people here. The young girls at the border carrying buckets of cold drinks had an uncanny way of getting pretty well everyone to buy. No Vietnam dong yet? No worries as a 12 year old girl carrying a stack of money is the foreign exchange pro! Dong is 16,000 to 1USD… meaning that I will be carrying a calculator everywhere I go.

Today we took a minibus to Can Tho, another town along the river in the Mekong Delta. We have arranged to take an 8 hour tour tomorrow with a woman on her boat. From Can Tho you can explore the biggest floating market in the Mekong Delta. Things start early in Vietnam. We are meeting her at 5:30 a.m. and heading to the river. Apparently by 9 a.m. the market has pretty well fizzled for the day. From the market we will head through a mangrove forest and some very narrow canals, and visit a fruit orchard as well. I am looking forward to that. We are both hoping to sample durian (a scary looking and smelling fruit that supposedly tastes like custard), as well as some other unidentifiable fruits that we have seen in the markets. Fruit markets here are like paint pallets.

So far we have a great impression of Vietnam. We’ve had some beautiful food including prawns in mango sauce, awesome spring rolls, chicken steamed in beer, and hot pot. The people here are super friendly. Not since Tanzania have so many people (kids especially) said hello, smiled, waved, etc. The heat is rather oppressive so far, though I think that our tolerance to heat has gone up. It feels like it could rain at any moment as the humidity is very high and it has been overcast. Vietnam is green, green, green and water is everywhere. We have been surprised to see stores stocking so much Christmassy stuff - in particular Santa suits, which seem to be on sale in every third store you pass. It is 10% Catholic in this country so obviously there are locals celebrating, though I do wonder how much is driven by tourists.

Thats all I have to report for now.

Hope that all is well at home.

xoxo
Paula