Lao food - Just when I thought Vietnam was the best I'd ever had

Khao soy (Noodle soup),  Laab (minced meat with herbs and wonderful sauce),  Green papaya salad (Wow!) and amazing beer Lao and coffee for less than $10 total meal for two.  Where have you been all my life, Luang Prabang, Laos?

Good-bye Vietnam! - Mara posting

The trip: 3 weeks
The route: what everyone does - Hanoi to Halong Bay, Hanoi to Sapa, down to Hue and Hoi An, back to Hanoi.
7 accommodations, 2 sleeper trains, 3 long bus rides, and lots of minibuses and walking.

Vietnam is the images in photographs and documentaries.  Flooded rice paddies, water buffalos, conical hats and bicycles, mopeds; markets, bowls of pho and baguettes (banh) on every street corner. Bonsais bigger than me, carved dragons decorating rooftops, wooden boats on a wide, muddy river.  Twelve foot wide faded yellow buildings patterned with moss and mildew, stacked four stories high, with miniscule balconies decorated with plants (and maybe a dog). Electrical lines that make you nervous about the buzzing noise. Temples and tombs embedded in misty mountains and overgrown greenery. Heaps of herbs and noodle soups. Women carrying baskets full of everything, balanced delicately with a wooden board slung across their shoulders.

Groups of friends and families gather on miniature plastic stools on every street corner sidewalk, sipping tea or coffee in the rain. Hundreds of mopeds. Occasionally, one with 50 geeze in baskets (live ones), squawking that things don't seem right. Sometimes a truck laden with pigs in baskets (live ones) stacked 8 high and 5 deep. They use horns for brakes on the roads. Stoplights are merely suggestions, not rules. Use earplugs and cross your fingers as you cross the street!

This is where things are made. Laminate boards lay out drying for miles, 400 tailors call a town of 30,000 home, thousands of insense sticks are rolled by hand.  You'll find whatever you are looking for (or it will find you). As westerners, all you need is a smile, patience, and the ability to tune out the "Hello! Where you from? You buy something! Motobike 50,000 dong! What you looking for? Shopping! You need hotel?!" and all the other sales pitches. And you can enjoy the energy and vibrancy that we seem to have lost in the states, with all of our comforts.


I would love to come back.

A nation of shopkeepers

Vietnam is a nation of shopkeepers.  Whether you run a corner store, a big box full of Chinese goods, or just have a bottle of water and beer for sale on the street, you have a job in this country.  Whether you have a fleet of limosuines picking up people at the airport or just two seats on the back of a moped (wow, how are we going to fit two people there???) you will turn a quick profit in this country.  Raw capitolism, no "too big to fail" banks, no derivatives trading, no billion dollar marketing schemes.  Just an old man (who managed to survive the war, the bombing that no human should be forced to endure) with a smile and one line in English - "look, see, good shop, what do you want?"  We could learn a thing or two from this "Socialist" country.  Somehow they do capitolism right!  Cut out all the BS, the Superbowl ads, and suddenly beer is $0.29 draughts and $0.75 bottles. 

Buddhism

Something about this picture just seems to explain Buddhism to me.  I've read a lot of their philosophy, seen a lot of their temples, even took a course on the history of the religion at Cornell.  But, A ha!, I get it. 

Trains

The train is the way to go! Cozy cabin, smooth ride, curves are tolerable and no incessant honking. 
If you like train travel, check out this website.  Amazing!  http://www.seat61.com/

Pho (bo or ga, both good)

Two big bowls of Vietnamese pho for breakfast.  Mix rice noodles, handfuls of wonderful fresh herbs (basil, mint, onion, lemongrass, weeds out of a rice paddie), bo (beef) or ga (chicken) and the best broth you've ever tasted.  Finish it off with limes and chiles (hotter than New Mexico!).  Yum, yum, yum!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

It's been exciting to spend Christmas time in Vietnam and see how different cultures adopt some of the European traditions.  Trees with lights inside restaurants and bad Christmas music are the "same, same".  Food (we had northern Indian tandoori for Christmas dinner) and weather (wet, but not white) are different.  I have always enjoyed Buddhist art, architecture and world views, so I am really enjoying being here.  I think that Luang Prabang, Laos (where we will be flying today) will be even more of a good thing.  Hope everyone enjoyed there holiday season and remember to be thankful for all you have!

Cheers to the shoe repair guys - Mara posting

Four or five years ago, my dog ate one of my Chaco sandals. She didn't exactly eat it, but she sliced the strap cleanly in two places. I was devastated. I had never spent so much money on sandals, and they were useless with a broken strap.  An article in the paper described how shoe repair was making a resurgence in the poor economy.  I decided to give it a shot and was able to get the strap sewn (for $5).  I have worn those sandals at least 100 days a year since then.

Of course, those are the sandals I chose to bring on this trip. And of course, after faithfully serving me for 5 years, three weeks into the trip, the sole came off of one of them.  I reluctantly started to look for replacements, but couldn't bring myself to spend our travel money on another pair of sandals.

One day in Kuala Lumpur, we passed a shoe shiner at the corner of our hotel. After pointing to Greg's shoes every time we walked past, he gave up on us. It was then that I saw that he was making flipflops to sell.  I immediately ran up to the room and brought out my sandal and its flopping sole.  He saw what needed to be done, and five minutes and five dollars later, my Chaco was fixed.

So here's to the shoe repair guys everywhere! 

Breakfast confessions- Mara posting

Don't tell anyone... I ate banana pancakes for breakfast this morning. They weren't even good. I was just leary of eggs and didn't feel like having pho.  I have since learned that somehow Greg and I are on the banana pancake trail (have you ever heard of it?) without even knowing it existed.  You learn something new every day! 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Pancake_Trail

Fake Chinese Eggs Are Real!

Pretty sure that Mara and I had one of these in the mall under the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Mara enjoyed it because it wasn't too "eggy", but I thought the yolk looked wrong.  Several people on our trip have confirmed that this is a real issue.  What a crazy world we live in!

http://www.chengduliving.com/fake-eggs-are-no-joke/

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/7/nation/8433857&sec=nation

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/world/asia/08food.html?pagewanted=all

Purpose of Travel

I heard a good story that made me think a bit about travel and its purpose.  While hitching a ride from Lalomanu to Apia on the island of Upolu, a Samoan local told us a good story about an Argentine who came to Samoa with no money.  At first the locals wanted him to leave (why else are tourists there other than to spend money?), but after they discovered that he was willing to work odd jobs they decided to allow him to stay until he saved enough money until he could move on.  He stayed at the typical beach fale huts used by tourists, but after dinner he would wash dishes and clean up each night.  After this went on for a long time some Samoans started to dislike him, because it was obvious that he had no intentions of leaving.  They planned to turn him in to the government to make him move on.

Then the big tsunami of 2009 hit the southern shore of Upolu and brought with it massive devastation.  Many people lost their lives and many more lost everything they had.  Women and small children were particularly hard hit.  When the tsunami came there was no warning and many of the children were unable to beat the water and waves off of the beach and up the hill to safety.  The family that the Argentine was staying with and working for lost most of their children this way.  But one of them made it because the Argentine ran back into the waves and saved the child from the water, and then carried him on his shoulders to safety.  The Samoans are a very religious people and they believe that this tourist was sent by god to save that child.  And it made me think that there may be some deeper purpose than personal experiences when it comes to travel.  That maybe we are compelled to come to these distant lands, and suffer bus rides and loud nights, for some reason.  Perhaps we do contribute something more than money to the locals.  Not sure what they will be for us, but I will certainly be ready and willing if the opportunity arises.

The Malay Dilemma

It’s funny where you might end up having a Malaysian history lesson.  I learned more about the history of that melting pot of a country last night on a boat in Halong Bay, Vietnam with a bottle of Mcallan whiskey and a group of 40 something Chinese men who grew up together on the island of Penang, than I ever could in a class room. Every year these guys get together to give each other a hard time and catch up on what’s happening.  There’s the state trooper from Wasilla, AK who looks like the type of guy that could kick your ass in a heartbeat.  Then there’s the factory owner, loads of money and likes to gamble, who happens to be gay and nicknamed “Gee-Gee”.  All of the rest are successful business men, speak the Queens English and travel worldwide on a regular basis. After a bunch of drinks we got into a deep political conversation.

When they were growing up, Malaysia had a high standard of education and the Indian, Chinese and Malays mixed regularly.  Then a Malay politician wrote a book entitled “The Malay Dilemma” and went on to become prime minister for many years.  He detailed a plan to give power back to the ethnic Malays and prevent the Chinese from slowly taking over the entire economy.  It is called Bumiputra and comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as "son of land" (bhumi= earth or land, putra=son).

Ultimately this policy has been effective at creating a Malay middle class (at least in the cities), but has created a brain drain of non-Malay talent and has created a racial divide amongst the different ethnicities, which is ironic since the policy was meant to ease ethnic tensions following the 1969 Malaysian race riots.   I think there is a lesson here about the government trying to force a level playing field on capitalism.  I look forward to travelling in Penang and reading that book.

Samoan Bus Ride (something like a "chicken bus")

You haven’t lived until you have been on a Samoan bus ride.  First we waited for five hours, after reaching a consensus of talking to locals all over Savai’I (the Samoan big island) that the bus came at around noon, for a bus that almost didn’t come.  Fortunately the wait was next to a “Fish and Chips, Chicken and Chips, Burger and Chips” stand and I went for the “Whopper” (a cheese burger with an egg on top).  Hadn’t eaten beef in almost two weeks, so I was happy.  When the bus did show up, I didn’t want to get onto the 1950 scrap heap, capacity 40 with 80 big Samoans already on it, but it was the only one of the day and the Whopper had given me too much energy and confidence.  So I pushed my way on with the promise of the “best place to stay in Samoa” at our final destination.  Wam, slam, bang, backfire and away we go.  Every seat full, old ladies jostling from side to side on every lap, kids on every one of their laps.  Round the world backpack won’t fit so it is strapped to the back with a piece of piano wire and you stand in the aisle with two bars to hold onto and no headspace. The luggage posse hangs precariously off the side of the bus, leaning hard to avoid oncoming cars, hollering the whole way.

Americans pay top dollar for an amusement park roller coaster ride.  Samoans pay less than a dollar for the ride of a lifetime that lasts for about an hour.  Only a single rode circumnavigates this island, and it’s a windy son of a bitch. First stop, phew, people will be getting off here! Yeah right.  Three huge bunches of bananas, a stack of taro root, and 10 more people load up.  Your head starts to bang against the wood beam in the middle with every bump you hit.  The Christmas music (they listen to it year round) with club banger beats gets cranked up as the 16 year old driver puts the petal to the metal.  You hit the first corkscrew and 180 turn on the coaster and start to cough up the Whopper, but manage to hold it down.  2^nd stop, not 1, but 2 newborn babies get passed through the windows to complete strangers to hold because their mamas will have to stand on the bananas and hang out the windows.  Now we hit the fun part, the lava flows from the 1905 eruption, rough road, the bus sounds like it will blow apart as the driver simultaneously changes the radio to a Neil Diamond duet and smokes a cigarette.  Finally your stop!  Fa’a fetai (Thanks!) and Fa’a mole mole (Please!) get me the hell off this.  Maneuver through the sea of people and swing across the luggage blocking the door into the village.  Collect your bag, which looks like it had been towed down the road on its little airport wheels, vomit on the side of the road, drink some water and walk three miles to the resort.  Oh by the way, the resort was worth it!!!

Coconuts

The coconut is something like the “tree of life” on Samoa.  You make baskets from the leaves (see picture) and use the nut for everything.  Actually the Samoans have about ten different names for the nut depending on what phase of maturity that it is.  First you “peel it” and then “crack it”.  The water is a perfect electrolyte and is delicious.  The meat is scraped and then squeezed in banana plant fiber to produce milk and butter.  These are used to cook just about everything in Samoa in.  Nothing like using what you have readily available.  Yum!

Samoan Umu

An umu is a large pit oven that Samoans use to cook the big Sunday afternoon meal.  It involve a whole pig, a lot of taro and breadfruit, octopus and other assorted goodies.  Lava rocks are heated until red hot, then spread out, the food place on top of the rocks and the whole mess is covered with wet taro leaves.  Eveything is smoked and cooked for less than an hour and is ready to serve.  The food is wonderful!  Mara and I were lucky enough to be invited to have Sunday Umu a couple times!

Ah! Samoa! - Mara posting

The trip: Three weeks – one on Upolu, two on Savaii.
Apia-Lalomanu-Aganoa-Saleleloga-Lano-Manase-Asau-Saleloga
7 accommodations, two ferries, a handful of taxis, and more than enough bus rides.

Sacred center of the universe? Or Sacred chicken? I’m still not sure which translation fits best.  You know you aren't in tourist territory when every Samoan you meet comments, "Oh, you're from America. There are some Peace Corps volunteers here from America!"

The scenery puts Jurassic Park to shame: sleeping volcanoes draped in vines – philodendrons, banana trees, papaya trees, palms, ohias; taro fields running in lines down the hills, edged by tropical botanical gardens: 6 foot tall rainbow crotons, waist high peace lilies, bromeliads, ferns hanging from ficus trees with aerial roots streaming to the ground. Coconut-lined beaches border Caribbean-blue waters.  Giant flying foxes circle the sky at dusk, replaced by swiftlets, kingfishers, and other warbling birds in the sun.

Churches stand like cathedrals amidst pigs, chickens, dogs, and uniformed school children.  Smiles are plentiful, and swarms of children wave and scream, “bye-bye!,” giggling. There are no poisonous snakes or spiders, no leeches, and there is no malaria. This time of year (at the start of the rainy season), there’s only a handful of tourists.  It’s a tropical paradise.

For 60-80 tala ($30-40 USD) per person, you can stay 10 ft from the ocean in an open fale, breakfast and dinner included.  A fale is a wooden structure with a palm-thatched roof (or metal) and palm blinds that can be raised to catch the breeze or lowered when the rains come.  Woven mats keep the sand off your feet.  A light hangs from the ceiling and usually works.  It’s the epitome of ecotourism.  The sound of waves lull you to sleep, mosquito netting drapes gracefully over a mattress on the floor.  It’s perfect!  Kind of.  

What you might not realize: usually, the fales are 10 feet from the water, but also from each other.  Your neighbor might have a cranky two year old, might snore, or might think he is the next Jimmy Buffet.  And those mosquito nets? They are there for a reason - mosquitos. Their secondary purpose is to help catch the droppings from resident geckos (who chirp like birds throughout the night as they eat the mosquitos). At least one line of sugar ants will cross the room.

And the palm thatched roofs? Wonderful for shade, but they might not be the best choice to keep out rain during a tropical storm. Afterwards, the mattress might smell musty (or like cat pee).  You might also have some unexpected company. One night there was a huge scuffle on the roof, which ended with a huge rat dropping from the ceiling, inches from Greg’s head.

The cleanliness of a bathroom is directly proportional to how many people use it, how often it’s cleaned, and whether the toilet flushes consistently. That varies; the rest is self-explanatory.

Public transportation systems are well developed and interesting (see Greg’s post about the bus). Note that “island time” is a farce. All buses, cabs, and ferries left promptly. Or 10-15 minutes early. I think the concept of island time comes because no one pays attention to the schedule.

As for food, what could be fresher than island food? Fish, fresh fruit, taro, free range chickens and pig! Or it might be what’s in the store: rows of canned beef, spam, canned chicken, tuna, sardines, oysters, and fried snacks – lots of them.  “Fresh fruit” brings to mind a plate of papaya, pineapple, banana, coconut, mango… you will get all of those. Just not at the same time. You’ll likely get a slice of one of them.   Chicken and fish are wonderful, until that’s all you’ve had (no spices, with white rice, day after day). Breakfasts vary. The most unique ones were a tuna sandwich and a spaghetti-o omelete.

All in all, Samoa is an incredible place.  We had an amazing time, even though I still can barely pronounce a word correctly!!

Sitting in Seoul - Mara posting

The world’s best airport. I can see why. After a 15 hour flight and 30 straight hours of travel, we decided to limit our South Korea sightseeing to the airport for the 12 hour layover, opting for free food in the airport lounge, comfy seats, and store after store of duty free stuff (need some perfume or hard liquor?). Since I have some spare time, I thought I’d share the lessons that I’ve learned so far:

1.      Read the Art of Nonconformity and other savvy traveler writers’ tips. We got our around the world tickets for $247 a piece on Delta, using frequent flier miles (180,000 per ticket). Gold status gets us free access to airline lounges for international flights (i.e., free food, wine, cappuccino, showers, internet, etc!). With back to back 15 hour flights, that is complete luxury (and did I mention, free?)!

2.      Always order the option you don’t quite understand; sometimes, it will be a good choice. Last night, the stewardess asked what we wanted for dinner: “Beef? Chicken? Or Mumble mumble?” I immediately asked for beef; Greg ordered chicken. The Korean woman next to me chose the third option. My salty beef came with a pinch of frozen veggies (still semi-frozen), three small fried potatoes, white bread, a small cup of lettuce with Cesar dressing, and a piece of chocolate cake.  Not too bad for airplane food!  With my peripheral vision, I watched my neighbor unwrap the foil from her steaming plate: a heaping bowl of noodles loaded with steamed veggies, pickled things, seaweed, mandarin oranges, and numerous little sauce packets.  I kicked myself and made a mental note to order the third option in the future.

When breakfast came around, the options were: “bread” or “something starting with ‘om.’” Having learned my lesson, I chose the second option. I eagerly unwrapped the hot container, wondering what exciting new food awaited – rice? Soup? Noodles? What do Koreans eat for breakfast? Hmmm. It looked like eggs. I took a bite; it tasted familiar.  I realized that in fact, I had ordered the “omelet.”

3.      Routine tasks may require adaptations while travelling. The toilets in the Seoul airport have buttons. Lots of them. Twelve of them, to be exact. One displays a male and female figure; one, an elderly person (as indicated by the cane); one, a child; and one, a zigzagged circle (the writing above it says, “flush”).  To the right of those buttons, there appears to be water controls: one shows a “w” (presumably a symbol of your bottom) with a jet of water squirting upwards; another shows the “w” with a sprinkle of water squirting up. Next to those are up and down buttons (maybe to increase/decrease pressure?). To the left, there is an air control (a “w” with a wind symbol drawn below it – to dry yourself, perhaps?), a “stop” button, and yet another up and down button. Which one would you press?

Packing List

This is Mara writing -

Here is a list of my possessions for the next 8 months, all stuffed into a 20 inch rolling bag (25 pounds) with small daypack (8 pounds):

2 pants, pair of shorts, 3 t-shirts, 2 tank tops, a bathing suit, 1 long-sleeved top, 1 long-sleeved collared shirt, 1 long underwear top (not sure why this made it in there), 1 long skirt, Contact lenses, Small purse, Laundry bag, Socks, Underwear, Chaco sandals (rapidly deteriorating 3 weeks into the trip, after 5 years of use and abuse), Raincoat, Skype headphones, Batteries, vitamins, French translation book, water bottle, emergency locater beacon, calculator, important papers, sunglasses, glasses, Kleenex, alcohol wipe, whistle, journal, book, deodorant, adaptors, headlamp, 1^st aid kit, malarone, cipro, antidiarrheal pills, mucinex, flagyl, aleve, toothpaste, toothbrush, tampons, gauze, tape, phone, charger, pens, food, hair scrunchie, computer lock, travel pillow, drain plug, face wash, earplugs, floss, shampoo, conditioner, tweezers, qtips, sunblock, lighter, brush, collapsible fan.

Learned something today

Sa = Sacred
Moa = Center

Looks like we are at the center of the universe, or something like that.

Thanks Mara!

Airport lounges are nice.  I like the free things and the jazzy music.  I guess all those flights to Africa paid off. This is going to make the RTW trip nice, really nice.

Round the World 2011

RTW 2011 on Tripline

Here's another Tripline Map.  This one shows our route (with most major planned stops) for the next 8 months.  You can zoom in and explore the map if you left-click on it and open it on Tripline.  Enjoy!

Our numbers for our global phones

Mara

+44 792 421 9405

+1 580 740 9168


Greg

+44 792 421 3962

+1 940 560 6573

A map of the trip that we are currently on (April 2011-October 2011)

Messing around with a program called tripline to make a map of our itinerary.
I did this one below of the road trip that we are currently on as a little test.  Not bad!

Mexico to the Yukon 2011 on Tripline

http://www.tripline.net/trip/Mexico_to_the_Yukon_2011-57600000253610049A09BAD81A51C218

and our trip to Samoa (via Auckland, NZ) for three weeks

TRAVEL PLAN WITH POLYNESIAN BLUE

AUCKLAND TO APIA

Flight No

DJ91

(SALE*)

Operated by Polynesian Blue

DEPARTING

Auckland International Airport

0715hr (07:15am), Fri 11 Nov 2011

ARRIVING

Faleolo International Airport, Apia

1110hr (11:10am), Thu 10 Nov 2011

APIA TO AUCKLAND

Flight No

DJ94

(Saver*)

Operated by Polynesian Blue

DEPARTING

Faleolo International Airport, Apia

1200hr (12:00pm), Thu 01 Dec 2011

ARRIVING

Auckland International Airport

1605hr (4:05pm), Fri 02 Dec 2011

Our Round the World (RTW) Itinerary

Flight Information

Bkng                          Meals/ Seat/
Day Date       Flight     Status Class       City        Time  Other  Cabin
--- ----- --------------- ------ ----- ---------------- ------ ------ -------
Tue 01NOV DELTA 4779*       OK     N   LV SPOKANE       1013A          **
                                       AR SALT LAKE     1245P         COACH
                                          CITY          
          *Operated by SKYWEST AIRLINES

Tue 01NOV DELTA 2241        OK     N   LV SALT LAKE     320P           **
                                          CITY                        COACH
                                       AR LOS ANGELES   421P        

Wed 02NOV KOREAN AIR        OK     U   LV LOS ANGELES   1250A          **
          16                           AR SEOUL-INCHEON 615A#         

Thu 03NOV KOREAN AIR        OK     U   LV SEOUL-INCHEON 500P           **
          129                          AR AUCKLAND      815A#         

Sun 04DEC KOREAN AIR        OK     U   LV AUCKLAND      955A           **
          130                          AR SEOUL-INCHEON 550P          

Mon 05DEC KOREAN AIR        OK     U   LV SEOUL-INCHEON 450P           **
          671                          AR KUALA LUMPUR  1040P         

Tue 28FEB KLM ROYAL         OK     X   LV KUALA LUMPUR  1145P    M     **
          DUTCH AIRLINES 810           AR AMSTERDAM     550A#         

Wed 29FEB KLM ROYAL         OK     X   LV AMSTERDAM     1025A    M     **
          DUTCH AIRLINES 565           AR NAIROBI       830P          

Wed 14MAR KENYA AIRWAYS     OK     X   LV NAIROBI       815A     M     **
          116                          AR AMSTERDAM     320P          

Wed 14MAR KLM ROYAL         OK     X   LV AMSTERDAM     825P     M     **
          DUTCH AIRLINES 1617          AR ISTANBUL      1245A#        

Thu 31MAY AIR FRANCE        OK     X   LV ISTANBUL      640P     M     **
          1891                         AR PARIS-        920P          
                                          DEGAULLE      

Thu 31MAY AIR FRANCE        OK     X   LV PARIS-        1120P    B     **
          418                             DEGAULLE                    
                                       AR BUENOS AIRES  755A#       

Sun 01JUL AEROMEXICO        OK     U   LV BUENOS AIRES  1145A          **
          31                           AR MEXICO CITY   755P          

Sun 01JUL AEROMEXICO        OK     U   LV MEXICO CITY   915P           **
          468                          AR LOS ANGELES   1120P         

Mon 02JUL ALASKA            OK     W   LV LOS ANGELES   1130A          **
          AIRLINES 475                 AR SEATTLE       202P          

Mon 02JUL ALASKA            OK     W   LV SEATTLE       300P           **
          AIRLINES 2506*               AR SPOKANE       359P          
          *Operated by HORIZON AIR

1st post

Well we broke down and started a blog. The ultimate cliche for people that quit their jobs and travel for a year. I got sucked in because of the map function where our family can easily see mthe location of our smartphone on a website. It also does make more sense then sending out individual long e-mails to friends and family. Like everything else tech related, we're about 5-10 years behind the times. I mean I just purchased my first smartphone (the Nokia "phone of the year for 2007") and went IKEA (got the Poang chair) for the first time last month! Wow!