Angkor Days: 2-3

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. These temples are quite possibly the most incredible thing I have ever seen. Our next two days in Angkor Wat were just as incredible as the first. We rose at 4am on our second day to see the sunrise above Angkor Wat Temple. Magical. The golden colors of red and orange and yellow were breathtaking over this impressive temple. Satisfied with a billion photos/videos and warmed up by the sunrise, we were almost ready to explore the temple. First, Hari decided that he needed to take a digital macro photo of one of the lilly flowers, which meant leaping from the muddy bank across the bog water to a moss-covered rock in the lake. Needless to say, he slipped and everything submerged - backpack, sweatshirt, shorts, shoes, socks and camera (Don't worry, his camera is fine, but we will never forget or stop laughing about Swamp Thing).After the 'swamp' incident, the three of us stared to explore the temple. Angkor Wat is commonly known as the world's largest religious building - it was a Hindu/Buddhist shrine built late in the Khmer Empire's rule by Suryavarman II in the 12th century. Each god-king ruler of the Empire left his mark with a massive temple. It is easily the best preserved Khmer temple, Ankgor Wat is set inside of massive corridor walls in a classical design and consists of a temple mountain. This is a unique structure for the Khmer temples as most don't have the corroded walls with bas reliefs that you find in Hindu South Indian temples. The site is the monument, the symbol and the pride of the Cambodian people. It adorns the currency, the flag and represents the greatest period in the history of this embattled country. It is quite frankly, a stunning architectural masterpiece.

Surprised to find no crowds at the temple, we enjoyed its majestic towering pyramids (symbolic of Mt Meru) and massive grounds and spent a good amount of time just relaxing on the ledges high above the ground. The greatest and most unique part of the temple are the bas-reliefs. Surrounding the sides of the temple are massive bas-relief galleries depicting war procession scenes, the Ramayana and Mahabharata and the myth of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. Carved meticulously into the sandstone, these 200m reliefs are simply amazing in their detail and grandeur.
Upon exiting Ankgor Wat, we hopped in Li's tuk-tuk and made our way back through the gates of Ankgor Thom to investigate its wonders. Our first stop was the mysterious 216-headed tower state temple of Bayon. The last state temple built by Empire, it is entirely a Buddhist temple and the many faces that gaze out are thought to be depictions of the god-king himself, Jayavarman VII. Relatively compact and vertical, Bayon is also symbolic of Mt Meru and the surrounding oceans. Just outside of the temple is the Bayon Library - rare that a secular building in Ankgor was built of lasting sandstone rather than perishable materials - with a ridiculously steep staircase that provides great views of Bayon.

Needing a snack, we made our way over to the row of restaurants for some shakes. Having been there a day earlier, all of the trinket girls recognized us. We told them we'd buy them some shakes and lunch if they would stop selling us their stuff and hang out with us and let us teach them. So excited to be hanging out with a bunch of adults and get some yummy food, the girls excitedly put down their baskets and sat down with us. The three of us quickly had many girls around us and we were teaching them how to read and write a bit in English and we were just enjoying their company. These girls were really intelligent - the one I was with picked everything up on the first try. It was so enjoyable to see them just acting like little kids. These girls were also so selfless, eagerly sharing all of their food amongst each other and their other friends that popped by. The girls would ride their bikes into Ankgor from their village everyday to sell stuff when they weren't at school. When we were leaving, the girls gave such loving hugs to all of us and then came running up to our tuk-tuk, putting multiple friendship bracelets on all of us.

After lunch we walked through the Terrace of the Leper Kings and Terrace of the Elephants. These grand terraces in the center of Ankgor Thom are good relaxing spots. There is a short trail that runs inside of one of the terraces and is covered with sculptures.

On day three we said good-bye to Hari, don't worry it was only for a week, and set out to see the rest of the Angkor Temples. These temples were located an hour and a half north of Siem Reap (thank you for our dust masks Li). We first set off up the nice and steep 15 minute trail up to Kbal Spean. Running through a rugged forest, you eventually come upon a large stream that is the origin of the Siem Reap River, the water source for the Khmer Empire and the most sacred river to the Khmers as it is symbolic for the sacred river Ganga in India. Lacing this stream are one thousand lingas, the phallic symbol of Lord Shiva, as well as numerous Hindu carvings in the rocks along the stream. This beautifully serene and natural shrine to the Hindu gods also has a 15m waterfall.

The next stop of the day was 40km from Ankgor, the small, but intricately carved sandstone temple of Bantey Srei. Much older than Ankgor Wat, Bantay Srei is also much smaller, but contains the best preserved Hindu sandstone carvings of any of the temples. The ornately carved leaves, Garudas, Nagas, Vishnus, Ramas, Ravanas, cows, Krishnas, etc. are supreme and on par with Khajuraho in terms of sculptural brilliance. With ruined doors, columns and walls strewn about, you can mentally picture the original grandeur of the temple just as you can in a ruined Classical city. There is something equally beautiful about seeing these ruined temples as seeing the ones in pristine conditions. As usual our day was complete with a magnificent sunset over the temples.
After our third day in Siem Reap our time in Cambodia was over and we were off to Lao. We had heard so many great things about Lao that we were very excited to continue on our journey to this new country.

(Due to that fact that Hari had already written a brilliant entry about these two days for his own blog, I borrowed some material from him, http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chiapoe/1/1229075520/tpod.html)

Siem Reap - Day 1

After a refreshing time on the beach we continued on through Cambodia to Siem Reap. When we separated with Hari in Phnom Penh we decided to meet up again in Siem Reap to explore Angkor Wat. We had both been looking forward to seeing Ankgor Wat for sometime and were re-energized to do some hard-core sightseeing and exploring.

We met Hari at the Jasmine Guesthouse, as he arrived in Siem Reap a day earlier than we arrived. He spent his first day exploring some of the Angkor temples on the outskirts of the city and waited for us to arrive before going to the main temples. We all had to share stories from the time we were apart so naturally we headed to town to get some dinner a few Ankgor Beers. Sarah and I told Hari of our time on the beach and he caught us up on his 5 day dirt bike excursion with Brad and Esther through eastern Cambodia. It was great to have the threesome back together and we planned out the next several days at Angkor. While Siem Reap is quite a large tourist destination, the town itself is relatively quiet in the evenings except for one street lined with bars and restaurants which is appropriately called 'Bar Street'. Since we started traveling in SE Asia we saw tons of people wearing 'Angkor What?' t-shirts - we asked around and apparently 'Angkor What?' is the most popular bar in Siem Reap and is a must go for backpackers. We heard nothing but rave reviews so we checked it out. Overrated. Overpriced beers and buckets, below-average music, and extremely unfriendly staff (especially the resident bouncer with whom we had a minor incident). If you find yourself in Siem Reap just go to the bar across the street from Ankgor What? and have a much cheaper beer in a much more enjoyable atmosphere.The next morning, we all bought 3 day passes ($40/3 days, worth every penny) and made a tentative plan for our first day of seeing Angkor Wat. We took off early with our tuk-tuk driver, Li, for our first full day of temple exploring together in the main temples of Ankgor. Our route would take us in a counterclockwise tour of the eastern set of temples, leaving the heavy hitting Ankgor Wat and Ankgor Thom for the next day. Our first stop was Ta Prohm, the massive and tree-covered temple that was made famous in Tomb Raider. It was a bit overcrowded with tourists, but it was still stunning to see a ruined temple completely enveloped by the jungle. Massive (10ft diameter and bigger) trees have grown right on top of the walls of the temple, with their roots spilling down like blood until they bury themselves in the ground below. I felt a bit like Lara Croft wandering around the eerie jungle and temples, the trees were so beautiful and despite the masses of tourists, the surroundings felt quite serene.

From Ta Prohm we headed eastward to Pre Rup. Pre Rup was very different than Ta Prohm (as we would learn each temple has a much different style, as they were built over a period of 4 centuries) but stunning in its own way. Pre Rup was much smaller and not surrounded by any jungles, but instead set atop a hill that creates a phenomenal sunset spot. We saw the main Shiva tower in the middle surrounded by smaller towers at the cardinal corners in homage of Vishnu, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Brahma. It's so unique to see the Khmer version of Hindu temples as you will rarely (if ever) find a temple in India where all three of the main Hindu gods are under the same roof.
After Pre Rup, we headed counter clockwise along the Grand Circuit, so our next stop was the jungle-enshrouded Ta Som. The entrance gate has one of the famous smiling faces (that is supposed to be an image of one of the main Khmer rulers Jayavarman) and there are a couple of massive trees with twisting roots that have engulfed the eastern gate. Not as spectacular and large as Ta Prohm, Ta Som has very little crowds and offers its own charm. East Mebon is in a massive sandstone pyramid layout similar to Pre Rup and is protected by beautiful sandstone elephants standing vigil. Late in the morning, we reached the relaxing pool Preah Nean Pean. Down a short path from the main road you come across a massive pool with stairs on all four sides - similar to ghats in India - that is surrounded by four smaller pools. There is a huge statue in the middle of the pool and some smaller statues in the surrounding pools at the cardinal corners. Needing a place to relax for a bit, we sat down on the stairs and reflected. I could just picture thousands of people chatting by this pool amidst a typical day in the bustling city of Ankgor in the 11th century. A school field trip added to our enjoyment as we watched the kids and their reflections in the pool as they paraded around. One shy little boy, Ba, just sat by us the whole time and didn't speak much as he too seemed to be enjoying the fish and peace rather than running around with his mates...I think that he was also quite fascinated to be sitting by us.

We took a lunch break after Preah Nean Pean, taking us to the heart of Ankgor Thom. Ankgor Thom was the main fortified city of the Khmers and was constructed late in the empire by Jayavarman VII. Protected by massive walls on all sides there are four imposing and intimidating gates that bear the heads of Jayavarman high up top and either serve as a grand entrance to the city or a stern reminder to watch out. The main road running north south also has the sculpture of the Churning of the Sea of Milk running along some bridges. At the heart of the old city are a couple of large and old terraces, the King's palace and the piece de resistance, Bayon. We opted to tackle this massive city the following day and enjoyed a meal in the parade of restaurants next to Bayon. There were kids selling all sorts of trinkets, but it was great to see them just playing hide-and-seek with each other and just being kids. All the kids who sell stuff in and around the temples are quite inventive. If you won't buy from them, they try to trick you into playing games with them where you have to buy if you lose. The games are generally tic-tac-toe or "name that world or US state capital". They're really quite good, but as I said, it was great to see them playing and just being kids.
Re-energized after lunch, we tackled the massive Preah Khan. Believed to have been a Buddhist university late in the days of the Khmer Empire, this is THE temple for aimless wandering and exploration of ruined corridors, courtyards and buildings. Set in a similar cruciform style to many of the other temples, there are Shiva lingas throughout the corridors as you get the center of the inside of the temple and the Buddhist stupa. Because you are supposed to bow to the King and be subservient to God according to the Hindus, the four main corridors get narrower as you move out of the temple in all four directions. This was one of our favorite temples as you could wander, climb and discover to your hearts content.

Another day was timed to near perfection (kudos to Li, our tuk-tuk driver), as we raced up the hill of Phnom Bakheng in Ankgor Thom for sunset. Atop the hill is a large fort and there were thousands of people gathered for another magnificent sunset. Hari, Sarah and I found our spot in relative peace sitting on a grassy terrace looking out at the fading light. It was really reminiscent of sitting on the grass terraces in Machu Picchu. After the sunset, there was a resounding round of applause from the crowd. Applause for the sunset...let's hear it for Mother Nature. This has now caused us to give the sun reviews after every sunset and enjoy the "encore" that is the pinks and other colors that occur long after the sun has dipped below the horizon. Our first day at Ankgor was magical, for me it was love at first sight and overall just a perfect day. We all crashed out early in anticipation of our sunrise experience at Ankgor Wat and visit to Ankgor Thom the following morning...

Beach. December. Cambodia.

We headed down to the beaches of Cambodia for some serious chill out beach time. I mean it's December, what else would we be doing? Sihanoukville is located at the southern tip of Cambodia and contains amazing beaches that line the west contour of the city. We headed for Serendipity Beach and for four days we didn't really move more then from our lounge chairs to the water. Serendipity Beach is definitely a backpacker paradise with a beach lined with bars, BBQs, lounge chairs and great happy hours. Walking the beach were girls selling fresh cut fruit and hand woven bracelets. It was serenity. We met two fellow backpackers, Tori and Sam, that we ended up rooming with and we got a great room steps from the beach ($3/person/night).

Not to entice jealously, but we had four amazing days on the beach. To summarize, each jammed packed day consisted of 1. ordering an omelet and banana shake for breakfast, 2. laying on the beach in the sunshine or floating in the water for hours, 3. ordering freshly cut fruit from 'our girls' selling on the beach, 4. enjoying a beer on the beach and watching the sunset, 4. shower, 5. go back to the bars on the beach for the night.
The girls selling items on the beach were awesome. There were tons of them asking you if you wanted a massage or manicure or fruit or bracelets. Their dedication was admirable considering they only got around two sales a day. We became friendly with a couple of the girls and they would just hang out by our lounge chairs, in the shade, and we would chat. These girls were so smart, spoke excellent English, and went to the beach everyday after school to try and earn a couple dollars to bring home. The girls were great and I really enjoyed talking to them. Mary and my wrists are now covered with these friendship bracelets.

So, Sihanoukville, Serendipity Beach... and that is kind of it.

Phnom Penh: Hari's Cliffs Notes

~As you may have gathered, we are running a bit behind on the blog so we could not turn down the opportunity for another guest blogger entry...Hari is a bit more on the ball than we are and has already completed his own Phnom Penh entry so we did a little editing and created the Cliffs Notes version for you. And with that, I will turn it over to Hari for a slightly abridged version of our Phnom Penh adventures:

Phnom Penh has about 1mm people and the Kingdom has about 15mm total population. Phnom Penh maintains a very small town feel with an extremely wealthy center and extremely poor fringes that are quickly reached. We pulled in and checked into the Okay Guesthouse. There's more to this later, but Mary/Sarah/Brad/Esther all had the dorm room upstairs (with a terrace), while I was placed in the dorm room downstairs. Setting my stuff down, I noticed black curtains segmenting every dorm bunk bed and remarked to myself, "this is nice, it offers privacy and darkness if someone turns on the light at night". Sometimes, I embarass myself with my naivety.

We set off along the Tonle Sap river north to the main restaurant and bar area. During dinner, there was a drunken motorcycle wreck about 10ft away from us and I ran to help the guy to his feet and make sure he was ok. This Aussie guy, who knew first aid, and I, an Eagle Scout, helped the man lay down, checked him for injuries, got him some water and cigarettes to sober him up and tried as much as we could to keep him from getting back on his bike. The local restauranteurs wanted him riding and out of there, but the man was clearly concussed and drunk as all hell. There's only so much we could do.
After a tasty dinner experience, we set off on foot to explore and find an art exhibition at a gallery that was closeby. Aimlessly wandering by the palace (glowing at night), a park, and many pagodas, we eventually walked by an SME bank many blocks away near Norodom Blvd from where we started. This bank was a palace fit for Tony Montana in Scarface. There were Rovers and Escalades, guard dogs, security, and more marble columns and statues than you could imagine. From this point onwards, I would realize that Phnom Penh, and Cambodia at large, was a city and country of two sides. There is extreme corruption, opulent wealth and conspicuous consumption juxtaposed with extreme poverty that I didn't find in Viet Nam. There are tons of shoeless and torn-clothing-clad children wandering the streets hungry and there is a plethora of orphanages within the city. Alas, our aimless wander through the city did not lead us to the museum and, after stopping at a chic French homemade rum bar, we eventually called it a night back at the guesthouse. The Kingdom of Cambodia is a Buddhist monarchy that is at the same time a rural, peaceful and beautiful country as well as the Wild Wild West. I would realize this that night.

Back to my dorm room at the guesthouse. Tired as all hell, I called it an early night and was peacefully asleep. For awhile. From the hours of 2-5am, my dorm room was transformed into a brothel as a bunch of British guys returned to the hostel with some purchases they had made locally and what ensued was an all-night orgy of debauchery that left me trapped in my bed (and I really had to go #1) and quite bleary-eyed the next morning. Not more than eight hours earlier, I was walking along pleasant and wide boulevards, looking at beautiful pagodas at night and then this. Only in Cambodia. I would not let this one night detract me from enjoying the country and I'm glad I maintained this open-minded and positive spirit.

The morning of Dec 2, we got bikes at Lucky Lucky (do not ever rent bikes here) for the five of us and set out to the Khmer Empire ruins of Tonle Bate with Mary and Sarah riding motorbikes for the first time in their lives. Slow and steady out of the city, I was very proud of the way the girls rode their first time on steeds and in and out of relatively busy traffic. Immediately upon leaving the city limits, you are in extremely rural Cambodia. Very reminiscent of rural India, there are spread out villages, fields everywhere with cows tending to the land and their keepers washing and watching over them, people bicycling through the countryside, pigs and chickens running everywhere and incredibly tropical and lush plains. We stopped at a delicious juice stand along the side of the road, where I tried out Esther's clutch and gear 250cc Honda dirt bike. I immediately got a grasp on the bike, on pavement at least, which bode well for our planned dirt bike tour that would allow me to fall in love with this country forever. We eventually made it to Tonle Bati, part ruined Khmer Empire temple and part modern pagoda. We couldn't find any peace and quiet for ourselves as there were these kids who accompanied us everywhere, but we made best of the situation and were friendly with the kids. Riding the 250cc Honda the rest of the day, I headed back to Phnomh Penh with the crew and we all successfully navigated rush hour traffic and had dinner (hmm, those Singapore noodles were grand) at a cheap Chinese joint.

Dec 3 was our last day all together in Phnomh Penh as the girls decided to head to the beach while we headed north on our bikes. We wrapped up another momentous day in Cambodia with our temporary goodbyes to Mary and Sarah (I would meet them later in Siem Reap) and by planning our route for our off-road, off-the-beaten-track, dirt bike tour...

Border Crossing: Vietnam to Cambodia

During our short reunion with Hari in Hoi An, we planned on meeting up in Saigon after spending some time in northern Vietnam. From Saigon the 3 of us would cross the border into Cambodia via the Mekong River. We spent some time up in Hanoi and Sa Pa and then Sarah and I flew back to Saigon to meet Hari and travel together for a few weeks.

As we were in a taxi on the way to the guesthouse that Hari had booked for the 3 of us I saw two of Hari's Aussie friends, Brad and Esther, sitting at a bar. I had briefly met them up in Hoi An and they were really cool. They had to go to Thailand for a wedding and decided to take advantage and travel through SE Asia for a few months. Hari had met them a few weeks earlier and they hit it off and decided to travel together for awhile... What a coincidence that they were in Saigon, I thought that they were supposed to be in Thailand by this point. After dropping off our stuff at the hotel I ran down to the bar to say hi and they said that they were still with Hari and he was on his way. Because of the situation in Thailand they could not fly into Bangkok as they had originally planned, so they decided to join us and come to Cambodia. We were really excited to have a fun group of 5 to cross the border with and celebrated with a few Tiger Beers and caught each other up on our journeys since we had last seen each other.We all boarded a small boat and got started traveling down the Mekong, stopping along the way at a few little shops on the water where they were making rice paper and coconut candy. It was a beautiful day to be riding along the River and the 5 of us just relaxed and chatted. After a few hours we stopped off at a floating hotel where we would spend our last night in Vietnam. We went to a small street restaurant where no one spoke a word of English so via the Vietnamese that we had all picked up over the past few weeks and some hand signals we ordered our last pho noodle dinner. Delicious. Back at the hotel Brad had his guitar so we made some drinks and had a jam session on top of the hotel, it was an excellent evening with good friends and we were all looking forward to entering a new country.

The next morning we got on another boat and headed towards the border. We were surrounded by clear blue skies, palm trees, and fishermen on the Mekong. When we crossed the border we had to go to a checkpoint to have our passports and visas checked and before we knew it we were in Cambodia. We all decided that our first stop would be Phnom Penh, so off we went...

A Halong Bay Thanksgiving

Upon our return from Sapa we jumped on another bus and headed for a two day boat trip on Halong Bay. Wikipedia: "The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đou Go (Wooden stakes Cave) is the largest grotto in the Ha Long area. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti). There are two bigger islands, Tuon Châu and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants. Both of them have tourist facilities, including hotels and beaches. There are a number of wonderful beaches on the smaller islands." To see the islands and grotto's a boat trip is mandatory and we had a great group of people on the boat with us, which made for a great trip and an eventful night.

We spent two glorious days and one night aboard the ship (three star ship status) on HLB. Our first day consisted of laying on the boat deck just reading and listening to music. The boat stopped at two of the bays famous caves. The first cave, Thien Cung, was filled with incredible stalactites and stalagmites that have been in evolution for over 20 million of years. The cave was also full of colorful lights, probably to accent the s-mites. The multi-colored lights made you feel like you were in some awesome cave club as opposed to a Unesco World Heritage site. (As a sidenote- if you were able to rent the cave out it would be an awesome clubbing venue, obviously only complete with a incredible DJ and bar. Talk to the world heritage people and sign me up.) The other cave was missing the multicolored lights, but proved to be just as spectacular.
It was Thanksgiving Day while we were on the boat. It was a bittersweet day because we are so thankful to be doing this trip and living this life, but at the same time we are still missing our family and friends back at home. Lets me just say that tofu and rice isn't exactly up there with turkey, cranberry, sweet potatoes, and family for Thanksgiving dinner. Despite being two of the three Americans on the boat we had everyone at our table say what we were thankful for. There can never be a wrong time to do that.

That night (lets face it, we started before the sun went down) we played a lot of cards and drank a lot of Hanoi Vodka. We were introduced to this awesome game called Snap which consists of a group of people passing around playing cards, trying to get a four of a kind. You move cards around by saying something like 'pass two cards to your left' etc. Once you have four of a kind you yell Snap and throw your hand and cards in the middle of the circle. Then there is a mad rush of hands flying into the middle and the last hand on top losses. You can also mix it up and do a fake 'Snap' shout out. Trust me, Snap is a blast! We played cards and chatted late into the night. Although not a traditional Thanksgiving, still one we will never forget.

The next day on the boat was spent much like the first- music, sun, and books. Good times, new friends and too much Hanoi Vodka. Happy Thanksgiving.

San Diego Super Chargers

The Chargers are in the hunt for the Super Bowl and I couldn't be prouder. Here is a shot out to my boys in SD. I will be rooting for you and I wish I was watching the beating the Steelers will be getting this Sunday. Go Bolts!

"San Diego is playing as well as any team in the league right now. And Saturday's play from players such as Sproles and Scifres showed it is a total team effort." - ESPN

San Diego Chargers' Darren Sproles, center, scores the winning touchdown in overtime of an NFL AFC wild-card playoff football game the Indianapolis Colts Saturday Jan. 3, 2009 in San Diego. San Diego won the game 23-17. (AP Photo/Chris Park)

Sa Pa, Vietnam

From Hanoi we went to the northwestern part of Vietnam - Sa Pa is the Lao Cai Province in the far north near the Chinese border. At 1600 meters, this small town of only 40,000 people is notorious for great hiking. After yet another overnight train we arrived early and made our way to Pinocchio hotel as per Hari's recommendation. The hotel was family run and we were lucky to get a room on the top floor with an excellent view of the entire town.

We arrived early and got started with a hike. For our first day we decided to head down to the villages just south of Sa Pa and ended up in Tan Van. It was a beautiful day, being in the mountains it was brisk but sunny and clear. As we left the hotel and started walking to the trail we had an entourage of little girls and women following us to try to get us to buy clothes and jewelry from them. We politely declined but they were persistent and walked with us for a solid 15 minutes. A couple from New Zealand informed us that the day before they made the mistake of saying "maybe later" and surely enough when they returned to the hotel later the girls were there waiting for them. When they said "no" again, one of the little girls got really nasty and actually cursed them out, claiming that they promised to buy something from her. We took their advice and luckily did not get yelled at by little Vietnamese girls during our stay.

The hike was incredible, the trail was so quiet and peaceful. We walked for 4 hours and were surrounded by amazing views - it was green as far as the eye could see, there were trees and rice paddies growing everywhere. We got to walk through the villages and see how the families lived. As expected, they were poor and lived basic lives - men worked in the fields, women wove scarves to sell to tourists, and children helped when they were not in school. But despite the simplicity of their lives compared to ours, they were all happy and they all enthusiastically said "sin jow" as we walked through their homes. There were tons of cows, pigs, chickens, and puppies all over, the villagers share them as community pets. There were more puppies than I have ever seen in my life. For a second I wondered why there were so many puppies but not so many full grown dogs...and then I realized, the dogs are dinner. (No, we did not eat dog. We're into trying the local cuisine but we have to draw the line somewhere)

Later in the afternoon when our hike was finished, Sarah and I decided to do some trekking on our own. We hiked to the top of one of the smaller mountains in town and got in the standard birds-eye view of the city that we both love so much. Once the sun went down the town almost completely shut down and got really quiet. We got our favorite pho noodles for dinner and went to a bar to have a few Tiger beers. We were 2 of the 6 total people in the bar that had the most interesting selection of music - when we arrived the bartender/DJ played not one, but two different versions of "What a Wonderful World", followed by some old-school Bon Jovi, followed by the loudest techno music I've ever heard. After some minor hearing loss we decided to turn in early so we could get in some more hikes in the morning.

As I said earlier, the hotel we stayed at owned by a young husband and wife and they were so sweet. They had a 15-month old son who was the happiest baby I've ever seen. He was always running around and was so social with all the tourists. When we came back from our hike the mother was holding him and when he made eye contact with me his face lit up and he immediately held out his arms for me to pick him up. This was a first for me. I am not really sure about babies...I guess the maternal instinct that I was not so sure I had kicked in and I picked him up. He was all smiles, laughing, poking my nose, and I loved him. After a few minutes of playing I went to hand him back to his mom and he started to cry! The kid loved me, too. The next morning when Sarah and I went down to the lobby area he ran right up to me and continued the love-fest. We played and ran around a bit (I patrolled him while he was near the stairs) and luckily he did not cry this time when we headed out.
For our second day of hiking we went north to the Matra Village and Ta Phin. We had a great trekking leader - a woman in her mid-30s who has lived in the village her entire life (a local villager must escort you through the villages, tourists cannot walk through on their own) . She spoke excellent English and told us all about everyday life. She even brought us to one of the schools that all the kids from the village attend. Again the views were picturesque and we took a million pictures of the beautiful scenery. We would have loved to do a home stay and sleep in one of the villages (highly recommended, everyone we met who did it said it was an incredible experience). We wished we had planned on spending more time in Sa Pa, but we had to leave after 2 days so we could spend some time on Halong Bay. We loved Sa Pa, it's a must go if you are in Vietnam. Definitely worth the hike to get there.

A Halong Bay Thanksgiving

Upon our return from Sapa we jumped on another bus and headed for a two day boat trip on Halong Bay. Wikipedia: "The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đou Go (Wooden stakes Cave) is the largest grotto in the Ha Long area. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti). There are two bigger islands, Tuon Châu and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants. Both of them have tourist facilities, including hotels and beaches. There are a number of wonderful beaches on the smaller islands." To see the islands and grotto's a boat trip is mandatory and we had a great group of people on the boat with us, which made for a great trip and an eventful night.

We spent two glorious days and one night aboard the ship (three star ship status) on HLB. Our first day consisted of laying on the boat deck just reading and listening to music. The boat stopped at two of the bays famous caves. The first cave, Thien Cung, was filled with incredible stalactites and stalagmites that have been in evolution for over 20 million of years. The cave was also full of colorful lights, probably to accent the s-mites. The multi-colored lights made you feel like you were in some awesome cave club as opposed to a Unesco World Heritage site. (As a sidenote- if you were able to rent the cave out it would be an awesome clubbing venue, obviously only complete with a incredible DJ and bar. Talk to the world heritage people and sign me up.) The other cave was missing the multicolored lights, but proved to be just as spectacular.

It was Thanksgiving Day while we were on the boat. It was a bittersweet day because we are so thankful to be doing this trip and living this life, but at the same time we are still missing our family and friends back at home. Lets me just say that tofu and rice isn't exactly up there with turkey, cranberry, sweet potatoes, and family for Thanksgiving dinner. Despite being two of the three Americans on the boat we had everyone at our table say what we were thankful for. There can never be a wrong time to do that.

That night (lets face it, we started before the sun went down) we played a lot of cards and drank a lot of Hanoi Vodka. We were introduced to this awesome game called Snap which consists of a group of people passing around playing cards, trying to get a four of a kind. You move cards around by saying something like 'pass two cards to your left' etc. Once you have four of a kind you yell Snap and throw your hand and cards in the middle of the circle. Then there is a mad rush of hands flying into the middle and the last hand on top losses. You can also mix it up and do a fake 'Snap' shout out. Trust me, Snap is a blast! We played cards and chatted late into the night. Although not a traditional Thanksgiving, still one we will never forget.

The next day on the boat was spent much like the first- music, sun, and books. Good times, new friends and too much Hanoi Vodka. Happy Thanksgiving.

Traveling Hanoi

We headed north to Hanoi, a busy city with a small town feel. The motos are still as crazy as ever, swerving along the roads and constantly honking their horns, but we enjoyed the simple hustle and bustle of the town. Hanoi seemed to have more family run shops and fewer large buildings then Ho Chi Minh. Women walk the streets with baskets of fresh fruit and veggies hung from wooden sticks hanging off their shoulders. There was no evidence of the recent flooding the city had experienced several weeks before and finally the rain stopped and we were able to explore the city without waterproof jackets and wet feet.

We spent the first day just walking around the city, which is the best way to get a feel for a place. We went to the Bach Ma Temple in the center of the Hoan Kiem Lake. Legend has it that back in the mid-15th century, Heaven sent Emperor Ly Thai a magical sword that he used to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam. One day a golden tortoise grabbed the sword from the Emperor and disappeared into the lake, thus restoring the sword to its divine owners. This is why the lake is referred to as the Lake of the Restored Sword.
In Hanoi we saw the Temple of Literature which consists of five courtyards, pools and pavilions. It is a great example of Vietnamese architecture in the 11th century. We also checked out the Hoa Lo Prison Museum which is the prison that POWs were housed during the American War. It was also the prison that Sen. John McCain was imprisoned for 7 years during the War. Pictures line the walls showing POWs playing ping-pong and decorating Christmas trees. These pictures were meant to imply that the Vietnamese treated the American really well as POWs in prison.

We had hilarious roommates in our dorm room, two guys with thick Ireland accents that were on an extreme drinking binge and spending the evening with us was no exception. We hung out with the usual mix of Aussies, English, Netherlands, Canadians, etc. Meeting new people is definitely a huge part of the travelers' experience. This is why we have enjoyed the social atmosphere of hostels and guesthouses along the way. We have only met a few Americans while traveling. In fact, people are always surprised to discover that we are Americans and we are doing a trip like this. For many people we meet we are the first Americans they have properly hung out with in their months traveling. It is fascinating how different cultures and people throughout the world view traveling.
Our second day was spent exploring the other sites the city had to offer. There are loads of markets in Hanoi filled with shoes, veggie and fruits, clothes, pho noodles, etc. Pho noodles are everywhere in Vietnam and I took a liking to Pho Ga noodles (noodles with chicken) and pretty much consumed them for dinner almost every night. The coffee in Vietnam is also a must try. We also went to see the famous Hanoi Water Puppet Show complete with traditional music (unfortunately did not live up to expectations despite being sold out weeks in advanced, aka. tourist groups). The show consisted of wooden puppets manipulated by puppeteers using water-flooded rice paddies as their stage. After that thrilling show it was off to catch our night train up to Sa Pa for our next adventure.