Vietnam has been good, good, good to us. After two action-packed nights (water puppets, anyone?) in Hanoi and a day cruise on Halong Bay, we booked a flight south to Nha Trang, where we did almost nothing but sit on the beach and decide whether to swim now or later or both. We also spent a lot time deciding if we needed another smoothie or not. Our hotel room had satellite television, and it worked out that by the time we finished dinner every night, the day’s Wimbeldon matches were just getting started half way around the world in London. I stayed up late every night watching tennis and slept it off at the beach the next day. Perfection.
Barb also didn’t hold back on the rummy front. She has only let me win two games on the entire tour — one of those games took place at a Starbucks clone today in Saigon. Yeah, we’re getting homesick. We were so excited to find a place that had the kind of coffee we’re used to that we went completely overboard and spent a ridiculous amount of money on iced and otherwise artificially flavored coffee drinks.
Tonight we leave for our last port of call, Hong Kong. We’re sad the trip is coming to an end, but we’re also looking forward to getting back to San Francisco and everything that’s familiar (in a moment of weakness, we broke down and ate dinner at a Bennigan’s-like joint in Hanoi called Al Fresco’s; great ribs, actually). Hong Kong, here we come!
The first of two haircuts I got in Vietnam. The result here was something resembling a flat-top that wouldn’t have been out of place in the movie Top Gun starring Tom Cruise.
The mystical Halong Bay.
We stopped mid-cruise for a little turn in a kayak amidst the islands here.
We also explored the largest cave in the bay. This was the largest “room” in a series of many very large and spectacular spaces. One even had its own little pond. Stunning.
Believe it or not, this was part of the process to book a flight from Hanoi to Nha Trang. Barb got to hang back and sit behind the counter of the travel agency.
To swim or not to swim…
Eat more pho!!!
Full inventory, for the record: 1 cappuccino chiller, one strawberry smoothie, one glorious coffee, two lattes (with skim milk, of course), one almond fudge brownie and one piece of chocolate cake. We had to take a five-hour walk after this to come down from all the caffeine and sugar.
We’ve never felt more under-dressed. I went home and watched Wimbeldon after this photo was taken. I have no idea what Barb ended up doing…
These are the hardest working guys around. He’s pedaling with enough force to carry himself, his heavy steel frame bike/rickshaw configuration AND Barb and me up a hill. Incredible. Oh, and it was a very muggy 90 degrees and he did it all for $1.30.
After the deluge that was India, we were more than happy to escape to our island in Thailand and do absolutely nothing for a week. My uncle, his girlfriend, Stef, and my Grandma Young booked us a “spa villa” in the best hotel, Le Vimarn Cottages (highly recommended!), on the island of Ko Samet. The hotel is located on a remote part of the island, so we barely saw anyone the whole time we were there. It was perfect and beyond words, really.
Today we traveled to Hanoi, where it’s hot and loud and sticky. We’re planning our escape east to the seaside as I type…
The view from breakfast (sushi!, fresh fruit and juices and all the eggs and noodles and rice we could eat!) every day.
We rented a motorbike and went mud-bogging around the island’s puddle-laden dirt roads. We broke for lunch at this beachside cafe. The mussels were incredible.
We’ve come to terms with India just in time for us to leave for Thailand tomorrow. Rishikesh has been very good to us. We made some good friends, had great meals, took a safari, hiked to a waterfall, did yoga at an ashram, sweated a lot, played cards and watched one replay of a Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup final game!
The photo above was taken on our safari in Rajiji National Park near Rishikesh. It was breathtaking to see elephants in their natural habitat, and we were lucky enough to be flanked on both sides by the elephants in this photo and another family 500 yards behind us.
Our safari guide, Lucky, was very enthusiastic about his job, which made for an excellent trip through the park. Barb and I were the only ones on the tour, so we had his full attention and an unfettered view.
There is a candle lighting ceremony at a big ashram in Rishikesh every night. This is an aerial view of the festivities. There was a lot of beautiful chanting, tabla playing and prayer before they lit candles and offered them up to the holy Ganges River — environment be damned.
Our hike to the waterfall outside of Rishikesh was hot, humid and sweaty! It was tortute to not be able to swim in the many pools that the waterfall feeds on its way down the hill. Western women’s swimwear, it seems, is very tantalizing, so we were advised to forego a dip to avoid a riotous bout of staring and photo taking (which is what we experience fully clothed walking down the street already, but anyway…).
Oddly, in the midst of all this tourism, it hadn’t occurred to us until yesterday to post any of the wedding photos we’ve been receiving. Thanks to everyone who has sent photos. It’s fantastic to see all the good times we all had. Here’s a list of the links folks have sent us so far:
It took us about a week, but we’re just about over the culture shock India hit us with. Our stomachs are acclimating to the food, our ears are used to the constant din of car horns, our noses have come to expect the worst, but we’re still grappling with the poverty. I’m not sure we’d ever be able to get over that.
We spent a few more days in Nainital, where we hiked and hired a paddle boat shaped like a swan and joined the Boat House Club so we could drink beers on the deck overlooking the lake. Then we hired a driver to take us west across the Himalayas to Rishikesh. We drove on some of the worst roads either of us have ever been on to get here. Innumerable mudslides have washed out much of the asphalt, leaving, at times, very little actual pavement. A good portion of the 13 hour drive was essentially on a one-lane road with a new curve starting as the previous one finished high, high, high, high above the valleys that rolled on below. Sometimes the road was nothing but some dirt and huge rocks and potholes for dodging. Needless to say, there was very little in the way of guardrails and almost no shoulder. Our driver was a pro, though, and he got us here safe and sound — no thanks to our silent, white-knuckled backseat hoping, I’m sure, but he pretended not to notice our hushed anxiety.
Rishikesh is the town the Beatles visited during their spiritual quest. Surprisingly, after three days here, I’ve yet to see any sign that they were here. I thought for sure there’d be plaques (The Beatles Ate Here!) and souvenir-type stuff all over the place. Thankfully,that’s not the case. This town is a very holy place in the Hindu religion. Pilgrims visit so they can soak in the Ganges and begin pilgrimages up to temples in the surrounding mountains. There are also lots of ashrams where you can practice yoga, massage and other spiritual healing enterprises. Barb is at a yoga class now, and she’s got three more scheduled for tomorrow. I plan to search out a newspaper (not easy to come by here) and watch the Indians and the monkeys (who hang out on the suspension wires waiting to grab an ice cream cone or a bag of grapes from bridge-crossers) cross the Ganges on the footbridge that spans the river.
Today we took a hike up to a beautiful waterfall in the mountains outside of town with some new friends we met here. It was a fairly steep climb in very humid weather, so we were all drenched by the time we got to the top, passing several different falls and pools along the way.
We will likely spend the rest of our time in India here in Rishikesh. We are planning a safari at a national park nearby so we can see some elephants. We’ll also likely do more hiking, yoga, reading, card-playing and relaxing. And then we’re off to Bangkok on Friday
It’s raining in Nainital, India, today so we’ve sought refuge in this leaky Internet cafe. Barb and I have learned we were wholly unprepared for everything India had ready to throw at us, so it’s been a pretty interesting few days. Above all, we were not prepared for the extreme level of poverty and the overwhelming mass of humanity. There’s very little private space with a billion people fighting for a spot in line (although calling the Indian style of queuing up a ‘line’ is generous), a space on the road, a seat on the train, or simply for something to eat. We’ve been constantly challenged, which isn’t exactly what we had in mind for our honeymoon, but it’s proving to be an enriching experience in ways we didn’t expect.
So far, we’ve encountered two types of people here: those who want to somehow separate us from our money in exchange for overpriced taxi/rickshaw/camel/horse/boat rides that we don’t want or need or by any number of other scams; and those who see us as a set of curios who are here to be stared at and to snap photos of. We’ve joked that we feel like Angeline Jolie and Brad Pitt — or at least the z-list equivalent — as everywhere we go folks want to snap our picture. Obviously not something we’re used to.
Although we’ve had difficulties coming to terms with being treated as dollars on legs, it’s put into perspective what absolute poverty impels otherwise good folks to do. We waiver between being ready to lash out at the next offer for a taxi we don’t need to being ashamed for being so fortunate to have this experience in the first place. It’s utterly sobering to be carrying an $800 camera when all around you folks are fighting just to survive. The difference between “us” and “them” is so great that it’s been hard to find common ground.
Which isn’t to say that things have been all frustrating… we’ve come to celebrate our triumphs over the petty scams that are everywhere here. I’m sure we’re still getting taken in ways we don’t realize, but we enjoy overcoming the ones of which we’re aware. And, of course, the countryside is stunning. Delhi is situated on a vast, boiling plain. We spent a day there and a day traveling from Agra and back to see the Taj Mahal, and that was enough. Then we escaped up to the foothills of the Himalayas, where it’s cooler and relatively peaceful. We plan on hiking and exploring the wilderness around us for the next few days. Stay tuned for more…
