Best noodles EVER!

Ok, so I just had the tastiest noodles of my life and they cost me less than $2. I can't take all the credit for finding them since the restaurant was actually a Lonely Planet recommendation, but I don't care because they were amazing. I'm in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, and I'm getting a bus in 20 mins to continue my path north but these noodles were so good that I decided to take 10 mins of internet time just because I'm so excited and want to tell people how great they were.
So the noodles themselves were a rice noodle, but thicker than vermicelli. They were served with thin pieces of cucumber, carrots, lettuce, fresh mint, bean sprouts, some small pieces of pork and of some nut but I'm not even sure what kind, and I ordered mine with a fried spring roll which came cut up and served on top (also delicious). But the magic was really in the sauce. It was nutty, spicy, citrusy and just complimented everything perfectly. The whole dish was light and fresh (served cold, more like a salad) and yet super filling. I'm tempted to say that it actually gives Baton Rouge ribs a good run for my favourite meal ever...it's that good.
Ok, I have to catch a bus....

I've been a lazy blogger....the rest of Vietnam

Ok, so I needed a break from blogging. It's surprising how much it feels like work sometimes to sit at a computer, and the last thing I want to be doing is work. Anyway, I've been very busy over the past 10 days so this is going to be a summary blog so that I can catch up and not be continuously writing about what happened over a week ago.

Hanoi/Sapa
-flew to Hanoi and met Rainier on the plane (Vietnamese background but from Paris)
-hung out in Hanoi for a day, saw Temple of Literature (about Confucianism), and Ho Chi Minh Museum and had dinner at his friends house, with lots of good snacks (jack fruit chips are way better than banana chips)
-took overnight train together to Sapa (mountain town in Northern Vietnam) and did 2 day trekking tour
-amazing scenery!! walked with Hmong villagers and saw endless hills that have been covered with rice paddies and look like a really cool 3D puzzle because of how they patch together
-whole town and way of life now seems geared towards tourists...wonder what they did 10 years ago
-took overnight train back to Hanoi, lost Rainier, and Norm!! but then they both turned up together...close call.
-arranged to do a tour of Halong Bay right away that day so I was off again


Halong Bay
-met Cecy (pronounced like Stacy without the "t") from New Zealand and hung out with her for the 2 day tour. It was kind of nice to travel with a girl for a change.
-boat trip around the bay, gorgeous views with limestone rocks jutting out from the water everywhere
-toured 2 caves
-ate lots of food, even a gross-looking but tasty fried fish
-up early to kayak around the bay, and another tour on the boat back to shore
-bus back to Hanoi and hoped on yet another overnight train to Hoi An


Hoi An

-spent train ride with a Vietnamese family of 10 in what would normally be a cabin for 4 people. There were 2 couples, a grandma, 3 little girls and a baby. I slept surprisingly well under the circumstances and the next day walked the train, only to realize that EVERY cabin was as equally cramped as ours

-there were even people sleeping in the spaces between the cars on mats or chairs they brought themselves and a woman laying in the hall with her head in a box to try to get some sleep

-Hoi An itself is a very touristy town, with tailors everywhere

-so I decided I had to take a crack at designing and came out with a silk tank top and a pretty cool jacket. Although now I'm carrying a jacket around with me but it was totally worth it.

-if I had more time and money I would have left Hoi An with an entirely new wardrobe

-after a couple of days I began my journey to Laos which is a whole other story...

Happy New Year in Saigon!

I spent most of my 2 days in Saigon on my own, which was fine because there was so much going on in the city it was cool to just wander around and take it all in. Both of my nights there were spent making my way through an insane sea of people and motorbikes, watching cheesy Vietnamese New Year celebrations and an impressive fireworks display. I got a few funny looks and people asking me if I understood what was going on, which of course, I didn't. But they always seemed happy that I was there watching anyway. I actually felt quite tall amongst the Vietnamese audience, and it was great that even from far back in the crowd I could always find a spot where I could see no problem.

During my day in the city, I tried to go to a restaurant that was recommended to me by the American couple that lives in Saigon for some traditional Vietnamese food. It was a bit out of the downtown core, so it made for a nice walk through the city to find it. Unfortunately, because it's off the tourist map, like many other businesses it was closed for the holiday. By this time I was quite hungry so I ended up grabbing some baked goods at a french bakery called "Tous les Jours." Sitting there eating my baking, although it was very tasty, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed that my traditional Vietnamese lunch turned into french baking in a very Western setting and listening to ABBA. They have a huge obsession with ABBA here, and I hear them at least once a day...very strange.
The strangest thing that happened to me though, which happens to me everywhere is I'm still continually mistaken for someone else. Many of you know that this happens to me all the time in Canada and I figured being a minority for several months would decrease the frequency but apparently the Meghan-look-alikes also like to travel. I was walking through the park in Saigon when a Vietnamese woman starts waving at me and yelling hi. I guess she could tell by the confused look on my face that I had no idea who she was. She then insisted that we'd met at the airport and when I told her that I hadn't been to an airport in Saigon she became just as confused as I had been. I also had a similar experience in India, where a guy insisted he'd seen me somewhere that I hadn't been. So as unique as I like to think I am...apparently I'm not.

Vietnam...Mekong Delta tour

I took a bus to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and, as always, met a fellow traveller on the way. Christian is from Germany and taking a break from school to travel before he starts his PhD in physics in March...ugh. Anyway, that first afternoon we both needed to make further travel plans so we went to a few of the dozens, if not hundreds of travel agents easily found in the backpacker district. We quickly realized that travelling during the Chinese New Year in Vietnam is next to impossible. I had wanted to leave Saigon after a day or two but every bus, train and plane were booked up for at least 4 days. Good thing I'm becoming much more flexible and easy-going! :) So, I decided to join Christian on a 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta to kill some time before I could leave.
Now, on an organized tour you never really know what you're going to get. What we saw on the tour itself isn't that much to talk about. We had a lot of boat rides around "floating markets," which were kind of a disappointment and we had a lot of "how it's made" tours. I now know how they make coconut candy (which is really tasty and addictive), rice noodles and lots of honey products. The interesting parts of the tour were the people and the insane traffic.
At the end of our first day we were supposed to have a 2 hour bus ride that involved a ferry trip before we got to Can Tho, where we'd be spending the night. The tour company seemed to have overlooked the fact that it was Chinese New Year and that means that almost everyone in the country is on his/her way somewhere. The line-up for the 15 min ferry ride was backed up for kilometers. Picture this....40-some people on a bus, who at this point haven't eaten for 5 hours or so waiting without any knowledge of how long they are going to be trapped on this bus. Our tour guide did not handle the situation well. He started out by telling us we had 5 kms to go and it would take about 2 extra hours. Now, where he came up with this information, I have no idea. After a few hours of waiting and barely moving, people started to get restless. It was becoming necessary for smoke and bathroom breaks. I waited it out as long as I could but eventually, nature called. I left the bus in search of a washroom and ended up using one at a mobile phone store which was again, one of the grossest ones I've used but I was not in a position to be picky. On my way out of the store I was just in time to see my bus drive past. I thought about running up to it and trying to do an impressive jump on to the moving bus but the dozens of motorbikes beteween us made me decide against it. I wasn't worried at that point because we'd always stop a few hundred meters up the road, so I waved casually and started walking. I was actually quite happy to be out of the bus for a bit and figured I may as well enjoy the walk. But then the traffic kept moving, and I was passed what seemed to be an awful lot of cars and my bus disappeared out of view. I was still fine and figured if I hadn't caught up in 15 mins, then I'd take up one of the moto drivers on his offer to drive me until I found the bus. About 10 mins later I caught up to my bus and got on to a round of applause. Apparently, I'd caused quite the stir on the bus as many of the women (probably all of the mothers) were freaking out on the driver for not stopping and waiting for me. They were getting themselves into quite a panic about the poor Canadian girl abandonned by the bus and assumed I was in a panic as well. I actually felt kind of bad that I'd enjoyed my walk while they were all so worried about me. But I could only imagine how my mom would have felt had she been on a bus that left a girl on her own so I'm not surprised they were worried.
That was really the highlight of the bus ride for me. After that we still had several hours of waiting in which I taught Christian how to play Crazy Eights and decided even though I was hungry, that I probably shouldn't get off the bus again. I'm actually quite impressed that there wasn't more drama on the ride. One American woman started to get upset and exchanged some words with our tour guide, who actually told her to shut up. Overall, I stayed in a pretty good mood and kept laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation and the poor planning. Trips like this are all a part of travelling and I've learned to appreciate even them. Eventually we arrived at our hotel, close to 6 hours after we were supposed to arrive, found some food and was out for the night.
The next day I got to know a few more people on the tour whom I found truely inspirational. There was an American couple who have been married for 25 years and have been living in Vietnam for over a year for work and are just the sweetest couple I have probably ever met. I also met another American who is a single dad in his late forties, and is travelling for months around Asia while his daughter is finishing up her last year of highschool in China. All of these people made me feel so great about my decision to travel and gave me a lot to think about for how I want to live my life and what I may choose to do. I won't get into details here, but just know that I'm feeling optimistic and completely content with my life right now. I do still miss people though, so continue to keep in touch. :)

Beach Time!

After the emotionally draining days in Phnom Penh, I decided to see what the beach life in Cambodia has to offer and heading South to Sihanoukville for a couple of days of chillaxin'. Since my previous 2 travel partners were very spontaneous, fly by the seat of your pants kind of guys, and I'm trying to go with the flow and not over-plan I didn't book a place to stay in advance. I arrived at the beach town and hoped on a "moto" (basically a taxi that's just a motorcycle, which are everywhere in Cambodia and cheaper than a tuk tuk) and just asked him to take me somewhere relatively cheap to stay. After going to a few places that were all full, I started to regret my spontaneity and figured I'd just have to suck it up and spend a little extra. Our last hope was a spot right on the beach for $5/night. When you see the pic of the room you'll know why, and I didn't even bother to take one of the bathroom. But really all I need is a bed so I figured, ""why not?" I enjoyed a nice, relaxing afternoon on the beach and just kept to myself, read my black-market copy of The Lonely Planet and did some journal writing. I did have to continually decline the dozens of offers for fresh fruit or massage or mani/pedi by the women who wandered up and down the beach, but otherwise was undisturbed... such a tough life, I know. :) I watched the sunset in a comfy nest chair on the beach and had a great dinner under the stars.
Aside from the beach, I realized that the only other reason people go to Sihanoukville is to party. Whether it's to take advantage of the "Happy Hours" that last for 3 or 4 hours or the tuk tuk drivers who all seem to be dealing something, there is no struggle to satisfy vices. But that wasn't really what I was there for so I passed on the parties and headed to my room. I didn't think I'd have to use the mosquito net provided because they didn't seem that bad until I heard something hit the bed beside me and looked to see one of the grossest bugs I've ever seen. I have no idea what it was but it was about 2" long and fat and very crawly. So I decided I needed to protect myself and opted for the net. Now, being right near the beach may seem like a good idea and be convenient during the day but listening to other people party isn't all that much fun. So the next morning I decided to do the responsible thing and spend the extra $7 on a nice, clean room where I could actually get some sleep. (Mom, aren't you proud of me?)
That day I rented a bike so I could check out some of the other, less popular beaches and I'm so glad I did. I found a beach with hardly anyone there and had a peaceful aftenoon and a great swim in the surprisingly warm water. That's really pretty much all I did...I biked around some more, had dinner, and actually ended up watching the inauguration since I didn't want to feel so out of touch with what's going on back in North America.
Today I headed back to Phnom Penh and tomorrow I'm off to Vietnam. I know there's a lot here that I didn't see but I'm still not leaving Cambodia with the same desire to return as I did with India. It's definitely a beautiful country though and recovering from a horrible past.

Phnom Penh

On the 17th, I left behind the beauty of the Angkor temples and took a 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I met Yuval, an Israeli and avid traveller, on the bus and this time tagged along with him to find somewhere to stay. If I had thought Daniel was good at bargaining, Yuval was amazing! He actually likes bargaining with tuk tuk drivers or people selling water, or pretty much anyone. It was quite entertaining to watch and I learned that basically everything should cost about 1/4 of what they ask you for initially.
My time in Phnom Penh was not what you'd call a "vacation." It centered around the mass genocide that took place in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge in the 70s. Although, I knew vaguely what had happened here, visiting the killing field and the genocide museum put it in a whole new persepective. In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh with AK47s and forced everyone out to the countryside in a mass exodus. Under Pol Pot's rule, anyone who was educated had absolutely no human rights and were either forced into years of hard labour and starvation or were just instantly executed. He abolished literacy, arts, music and religion. It is believed that 1.7 million people died during the 4 years of his tyranny, until January 1979 when the Khmer Rouge were finally forced out by the Vietnamese. So as a warning, this entry won't be all that fun, but hopefully you'll be more appreciative of how lucky we all are and for some of you, like me, a little more aware of what happened.
Our first afternoon there, we decided to go see the killing fields of Choeung Ek. This is the location of the mass graves that were found where thousands of prisoners were taken to be executed. The field is scattered with large holes that were the locations of the mass graves uncovered and many are labelled with signs about the people found there. There are also signs describing the locations of where the truck would unload the prisoners, where they would wait to be executed, where they stored the chemicals to cover the stench, and the tools they used to kill them. In the centre of the field, they have built a memorial that is a huge glass case on all sides and houses around 8000 skulls of victims found at that site, along with a pile of their clothes that they were buried in. This day was just the beginning of my learning about the genocide and it was a strange experience to have with someone I just met.
The next day Yuval and I went to the Tuol Sleng Museum (or Genocide Museum). The museum is located at the former S21 prison, which had initially been a high school but the calss rooms were turned into cells and torture champers under Pol Pot''s regime. It is estimated that around 17,000 people were held here over the years before they were executed, and only 20 prisoners escaped with their lives. Our tour started with a movie that told the story of some of the prisoners and featured an artist who was one of the lucky few to be held at S21 and live to tell about it. In the 80s, he did a series of paintings that depicted either events he experienced, witnessed or was told about during his time in prison. The paintings are graphic portrayals of torture and in the movie he actually walks around with a former guard from the prison and asks him if these things happened. It was such a bizarre thing to see...a former prisoner and former guard having a discussion about the methods of torture used. The rest of the museum is filled with photos of former prisoners, both before and after execution and actual torture devices that were found in the rooms. There are thousands of mug-shot-type photographs, many of them women and children, and as a collective you can almost just walk right past them. But if you stop and look at individual pics you can see the sadness or fear or sometimes just an empty gaze looking back at you, because you know they've already given up hope. It is an experience I will never forget.

Cambodia...Siem Reap

My visit began in Siem Reap, which is home to the most popular tourist attraction in Cambodia...Angkor Wat. I met a dutch guy named Daniel on the flight from Bangkok who tagged along with me to my hostel. (For any of you who watch "Weeds," he reminded me of Andy, fun and kind of quirky.) We hired a tuk tuk (motorcycle that pulls a 2 bench cart behind it) for the afternoon and went straight to the Angkor temples. We spent that afternoon and the next morning touring around to the different temples all over the grounds. The temples date back 800 to 1000 years and it's still unclear as to how they managed to build such huge structures. What was most impressive was the intricate carvings on every surface. It was great having Daniel around since he was much better at bargaining with the tuk tuk drivers than I was, but is kind of a sucker for the kids selling stuff so they'd bug him and leave me alone. :) I think I'd become somewhat immune to their sales pitches since I was coming from India. Although, it was almost more difficult to say no, since they are less aggresive here but you know they need the money just as much.
The next day Daniel headed back to Thailand and I spent the afternoon on a tour of a floating fishing village on the Tonle Sap lake. It's the largest freshwater lake in Asia and according to Vien (my guide) is home to 400 Vietnamese families, 500 Cambodian families and 10 muslim families...just in case you were wondering. Vien explained how the families have to move their houses depending on the season and the water level, and that the reason people live on the water is because that don't have enough money to buy land. But the village has a few floating schools, churches, police stations and some people even keep pigs in floating crates (which they didn't seem to enjoy). There are also little boats that people take around to sell produce, kind of like a convenience store that comes to you.