USA

I am back in the states. Yay!!

Linneah is cooler then me and has posted a blog about our trip. Her blog even has pictures with captions!

http://linneahr.blogspot.com/

Hanoi to Hoi An .....then home

After getting back from Sappa Linneah and I packed in a day and a half in Hanoi.

(details to come)

then we flew to Hoi an.


I am here till the 17th.
then I leave here at 11ish.
catch my 1:30 flight to ho chi min
then at 6:30 I leave for Bangkok
then I have a small lay over till I leave for Jordan
then after another layover I leave for Tel aviv
Then I am in Tel aviv for a day
then I head back to New York (on the 20th)
see you all soon!

chi mua tna mung cang ca - No Money No Honey

Sapa- (just a quick over view)

The phrase no money no honey is a popular phrase not really sure where it started but its all over shirts here and locals say it frequently.
Similarly the phrase "Same same but diffrent"is also all over on shirts. Apprently it started in Thailand becuase all teh shops are all the same but ( not really) diffrent.

Linneah and and I have treked around sapa. We stayed a nice place with an excellent view. Much nicer then I was expecting. We had a real shower and a real toilet. On our frist day we took the single trail down to Cat cat Village. We were able to see the tallest mountian in Indochinia. So many rice fields it was crazy. Lots of steep down hill walking on light path. We tried very hard not to fall. Then We came back to town for a ethnic lunch and a nap. Then we went on a hike to the top of the mountain in Sapa. There was an orchid garden, and Ostrich farm, views of Sapa, and near by Dragon Mountain. Then we came back walked around the town and then sat on our deck to read and relax before we went out for dinner. For dinner Linneah and I decided that wine sounded like a nice accompaniment to dinner, so we got the Apple wine. We were expecting a regular bottle of wine. Instead what we had ordered was the local eqivelent of sake and they don't have people order bottles of it. I think the restraunt staff was laughing at us. But the apple wine was very good and we have some left (it came in a water bottle) for another night.
Today we got up and went on another trek. We went to Lao Chai, a catholic village and then to Ta Van, a buddist village. One of the the woman from Ta van followed us the entire way from Sapa to the village. Her ussual walk home. The trek was about 9k's of steep up and down hills. It is crazy that she does that walk at least twice a day. We saw a lot of schools along the way. I am very impressed with te\he amount of schools here in rural villages. There is more of a focus on education here then the other countries we have been to. We found out that they are goverment funded so that may be why there were so many. We took the 10 minuet bus ride back from ta van becuase the tour company doesn't have us walk the 10k's back to Sapa. We take the night train back to Hanoi tonight. Then we have a day and a half there and then we are on to Hoi an. and then I start my 3 day journey back to NJ.

Luang Probang and Hanoi

I rode an Elephant today! I actually rode it. The Mahout,the word for elephant trainer, let me sit on the elephant. Linneah and I begain our journey both sitting in the basket on the elephants back. (Just like royality, hahaha) Then I think the trainer just wanted to put the moves on linneah so he went and sat with her and let me ride the elephants ears. It is not as easy as it looks. There is nothing to hold on to so you have to balance with you legs. Also, there skin is not soft, they have lots of little black hairs that are not excatly soft. I had a great time. Linneah and I both can't belive that I didn't fall off the elephant. I am however very sore from my elephant riding experiance. Walking the next day was a little painful. After our morning elephant riding we went to the waterfalls in Luang Prabang.We went to the Kuang Si waterfalls. The was awesome, the water is a beautiful blue color and there are tons of swimming pools as you go from fall to fall. There were about 7 diffrent levels of the falls. Linneah and I had to go all the way to the top of falls. Unfortually the top, really wasn't that impress. The visibility was very low so the view was amazing but we couldn't see that far. And you can't see down the falls that well. It turns out there was a sign that pointed to a cave with spring water. So linneah and another guy from our tour that had also climbed to the top of falls all walked to the cave with spring water. The walk was a 3k, whichi we all thought we could do and make it back for our shuttle back to town. It turns out 3k in the heat on a windy road is a lot longer then you would think. We went ahead with our quest to find the cave even though we would be late for our shuttle back. The cave was worth it. So much better then the one in Vang Vieng. There was no graffiti. It was so nice. There were also a lot of hidden buddahs in it. I deemed the cave, "Cave of many buddah" since the name was just cave with sping water before. We didn't go to the spring water portion of the cave becuase we didn't want to push our luck with a ride. so we high tailed it back to town only to discover we had to wait another 2 hours untill someone would take us back into town. So we made the most of the situation and went swimming in the falls and then had a beer and people watched. Another great day in my book.
The following day we woke up early to check out of the room and to go to a morning cooking class before our afternoon flight to Hanoi. We took the class at Tum Tum's with another couple. It turns out there wasn't much cooking in the cooking class. According to our teacher it takes too much time to prepare the food it is faster to cook. So really what we did was take all the ingrediants and stir. We were able practice cutting the food. and there was a lot of learning. Our Su chef took us to the market where they showed us all the diffrent fruits, vegtables, spices, fish, meat ect. It was definatly an experiance. Then we went back to the restraunt and they had us practice how to fan a cucumber and make a tomato flower out of a plum tomato. They are gave us a nice lecture on Loas food and culture. Then we got to practice cutting some of spices like; ginger, garlic, galanga, lemon grass and shallot. However becuase our cutting technics weren't that good they didn't even use the food we cut up to cook with it. a waste in my oppnion.Then we learned how to make lemongrass catfish wrapped in palm leaf. They showed us how to make sticky rice. Then we all got to stir our diffrent meals. I make coconut lemon grass soup with chicken. Linneah make tofu curry, and the other dish was lemon grass chicken. We had also all purcased a jack fruit in the market so the chef made us jackfruit pork soup. All the dishes were delishious. Then we got to feast on what we had all made. I am an excellent stirrer. Also I learned that you are supposed to eat sticky rice with your fingers in Loas but in Vietnam they eat sticky rice with chop sticks. Then we ran to the airport to catch our flight to Hanoi. Which ended up being later then we had though so we sat at the airport for lot longer then expected. The airport was not big, it was a little hard to entertain ourselves but we made it through.
Then we landed in Hanoi and jumped in cab. The cab took us to the wrong place and charged us double for it. STUPID CAB. So we had to refigure out where we needed to go and found a better cab to take us to the travel agency. Here we booked a icket on the overnight train up to Sappa. So we quickly ate diner and then the travel agent wisked us to the train station so we could jump on the over night train to Sappa. This was a new experiance for both Linneah and I, we had never slept on a train before. We were in a soft sleeper that we shared with a german couple. The room you get is a set of bunk beds that are about half the size of a twin bed, with a little pillow and a blanket. But don't worry the car has A/C so its considered a luxury. I decided that the only way the experiance was going to be enjoyable for me and allow me to be functional the next day was if I took a sleeping pill. It was an excellent idea and I plan on doing the same for the way back.
We arrived in Loi Cai at 5am and then were hearded on to a bus that took the hour drive up to Sappa.

(no spell check I am very sorry)

Biking, Trecking, Tubing

Linneah and I started our day with a walk around town. Then we rented bikes so we could bike to the Tham phu Kham cave. The sign that directed us to the cave promised a pool and a waterfall. No, it was a just a cave. The guy at the bike place failed to mention we had to pay an entree fee to get in to the cave. However a villager and his kids were sitting under a tent made us pay about a dollar and gave us a flash light and we think his guides offered to be our guides for another small fee. we declined the guides but gladly took the flashlight. We had to use our best rock climbing skills in our flip flops to get to the cave. The cave was very different. Many of tourists that have visited before had left there name, hand print and other forms of graffiti in the cave. So after our spelunking experience we left and biked back into town. There are 2 bridges that connect town to the other side of town. One bridge is a called big bridge and you have to pay about .40 cents or you could take small bridge for free. We opted for free bridge. Walking across small bridge was defiantly an experience as well. If it was in another country I am sure there would have been a sign saying one person at a time. It didn't look that sturdy. But it was great fun. It was now 12:30 and we decided that it was an appropriate time to start our way down the river. The information we were given was that it should take 2-3 hours to get down the river and you need to return the tubes by 6 or you get charged a late fee. By the time we got to the launch site it was a little past one and we figured we had plenty of time to make it down the river. Linneah, Kalina (our new friend who also came to the caves with us) and I got to the first bar and ordered a bucket of vodka red bull. The bar is basically a deck covered in blankets on the river. The first bar was called Bucket bar and had a rope swing into the water. After drinking our first bucket, we jumped into our tubes and floated about 100m to the next bar. I think its called second bar. Here we got another bucket for the three of us. Then after finishing the 2nd bucket we went to the third bar that was supposed to have amazing sandwich's. I will call it Sandwich bar. Since everyone floats or swims to the next bar the bars have developed ways to entice people to come up to the bar. They just through a rope or bamboo stick at you and pull you into the bar. After being pulled into the bar. We were greeted by a shot of Tiger Whiskey (after 2 buckets it tasted great) and then we ate our sandwich's that were amazing as promised. Then we proceeded on to mud bar. Again we were pulled in to the bar. We were not greeted with shots but we were all fine with that. We did get our third and final bucket here. Mud bar gets its name from the large mud pit that next to the bar. At this point we were covered in mud, very drunk and it was almost 5. So we jumped back in our tubes and tried to make it down river. We didn't make to slide bar which is another popular bar as well ( it has a slide aka slide bar and also is the root of many of the tubers injury's). So an hour was not enough time to make it down the river. At six we jumped out and flagged down a tuk tuk to get us back to town. We were not close to town and I don't think we had made it very far down the river. I now have a reason to go back. After washing up we all went to dinner at one of the bars in town. thew bars here all have one distinct charateristic. They all have tv's and they all play different episodes of Friends. There were a couple of exceptions. We found one that had family guy and one that was a sports bar. All the other bars were all playing Friends. It was very bizarre. It is very entertaining as well because everyone comes back from the river gets food and then zones out watching Friends. We followed suit.
Then this morning we got up and caught the mini bus from Vieng vang to Luang Provang. My guess is its about a 4.5-5 hour drive in a car. But the mini bus takes 6 with 2 stops. It was a great way to see the country side. Thatch huts, naked kids, (controlled) forest fires. It was another adventure in it self. We arrived here and went to a walk on the river and watched the sun set and booked our activities for the next two days. Elephant riding tomorrow and then a cooking class Tuesday. We went for a stroll in the night market and out to an expensive dinner, $6 for both us. We are big spenders.

Vang Vieng

Linneah and left Siem Reap this morning and spent the entire day traveling. First we took a flight from Siem Reap to Vietaine, Laos then we went to the bus station and took a air conditioned van to Vang Vieng. The air quality resembles the aftermath of the oakland fire, however there doesn't seem to be forest fires anywhere. It just might be smog. Although I think this is also unlikely because this town is very tiny. This town would make Orinda or Ridgewood look like New York City. My hotel ( $16 dollars a night) has a bathroom and a fan. Very luxurious. The town is surrounded by huts mostly with thatched roofs and no bathrooms. The past couple days have defiantly been filled with people living way below the poverty line. I wasn't prepared to see so many people living in houses with out running water, electricity, ect. Basic amenities I take for granted. Tomorrow Linneah and I are going tubbing down the river. Basically its white water rafting in a innertube and the main activity is drinking. It should be a fun day. I am trying to get a waterpoof camera so we can document the experiance.

Soa s'day - Hello in Cambodian

Linneah and I had another full day. Te day started with a Sunrise Trip to Angkor wat to watch sunrise reflected in the eternity pool at Angkor. Then after a nap we went to Angkor Wat and Ankgor Thom. We had a guide who was more informative on current events then we were prepared for. We were told it was one of the 7 wonders of the world. It is in fact the 6th Man made world wonder as well as a natural heritage site. We both have enjoying the cambodian food here as well. For lunch we both had Amok, a popular Cambodian dish ( similar to coconut milk soup) and for dinner we enjoyed Cambodian BBQ of Kangaroo and Snake. Delicious. We leave Cambodia friday morning to go to Laos. We are just knocking off countries like its our job.

Where in the world is Elyse?

So I landed in Ho chi min city, Vietnam on saturday evening. Then I met up with Linneah Sunday night and then the two of us left monday for Bangkok where we stayed overnight last night and we were able to explore today. We are at the airport about to board our plane to Siem Reamp, Cambodia. Then from there we go to Laos to Vietaine and travel to Laung Prabang and then we should be headding to Hanoi on the 10th.

Wed 3/4
We explored Angkor Wats today. We went to: Banteay Srei, Preah Ko, Pre Rup, Ta Prom, then rested and ate lunch at the Kehmer family restaurant, Eastern Mebon, Ta som, and Preah Khan. Then we lounged at our hotel pool for a bit untill it looked like it was going to rain on us. We went into Siem Reap for a amazing massage at Bodia Spa and then dined at The Red Piano. A very full day.

Tomorrow we are planning on seeing the temples at sunrise.