Double Blog Blast: Eastern Thai Islands

Part One – Koh Phan “Yawn”

Part Two – The Dao of Koh Tao

 

Part One: Koh Phangan 8-21 – 8-24

First stop on our Thai island tour was Koh Phangan (Koh means island in Thai; and Phangnan is

Koh Phangan is pinned

pronounced pan-yawn), most commonly known for its wild drug-strewn full moon parties.  We made sure to plan our trip around the lunar craziness. Using a regional air carrier called Nok Airlines we took a plane, bus, and ferry package that was painless. It mostly consisted of us getting herded from one vehicle to the next acquiring stickers, ribbons, and more stickers proving our existence with every new leg. We arrived at the port on the Southwest side of the island and were greeted by a Thai woman associated with the Mai Pen Rai aka “no worries” Bungalows.

Joined by a few local children, we hopped into a 4 by 4 truck going to make the harrowing journey across the rocky interior of the island. After about 45 minutes of bouncing around inside the jeep we arrived at dusk to the hidden cove where our resort was located. We quickly checked in at the Rasta-inspired palm frond covered restaurant and then were lead to our personal “Bungalow on the Rocks”. This consisted of walking across the beach, over some rocks, under some rocks and then along a up and down a path along the rocky coastline. Our personal, although basic (fan, cold water) bungalow was set above the rocks looking out over both the turquoise bay that we had just come from, but also the deep blue ocean stretching on forever before us. Our front porch had a small table, chairs and the hammock necessary for snoozing a way the afternoons. Inside consisted of a four-postered bed with netting and an attached bathroom that had been built up around the surrounding rocks. It was by far the most beautiful place I had ever laid my head.

 Apparently we were not the only ones to be sleeping in the bungalow. When we walked in one evening Pearce yelled and claimed he saw something “very large” move on the wall. Well, many of you know Pearce is pretty much scared of any creepy crawly and known to exaggerate the actual size of said creature so I wasn’t expecting much. So I was very surprised when I looked up and saw the largest gecko I have ever seen. I am from Florida and not prone to being freaked out by lizards, but this thing was intimidating. Pearce uncharacteristically rose to the challenge and shooed the gecko out of the room first by shooting his flip flops at said gecko (we got him new ones) and then working up the nerve to bat a traditional straw broom in his general vicinity. Luckily it worked. At least for the short term. Apparently, the gecko really enjoyed the views as well and so joined us again later in the evening. We resigned ourselves to a roommate.

We were there for four days that pretty followed the same schedule: wake up in paradise, hangout in the bungalow reading and relaxing, grab a fresh *insert favorite fruit of choice* shake, take a dip in the bay, climb some rocks, relax on the beach, eat some Pad Thai/Massaman/Green curry/etc., watch the stars. We did break our routine on two occasions: once, we walked up the hill to a near by waterfall that really was just a small river with a series of steps down that a few kings liked to visit (I am not really sure why); we also attempted a day trip to see the more well known side of Koh Phagnan. In order to do this, we hopped a small ferry that came to our beach at 9:30am everyday and then hopped off again when it pulled up to Hat Rin beach, home to the full moon debauchery. Although midmorning by the time we arrived, the beach and the town only had a hand full of people wandering about. We grabbed breakfast from one of the many open cafes catering to tourists and then strolled around the few streets that connect Sunrise Beach with Sunset Beach. I don’t know what we saw more of emergency clinics, 80’s inspired clothing, or fire sticks (for those who want to take up a new deadly hobby). Pearce still regrets that we did not buy ourselves a full moon party getup, with requisite Native American head dress, and throw our own little party back in the Bungalow. I think you should always have something to look forward to going back to.

The evidence and results of Full Moon Madness we “missed”

It’s funny that doing nothing can go by so quickly, but this is just what happened to us. Before we knew it, our time was up and we were headed to the next island on our trip, Koh Tao, a favorite of mine as this is where I learned to dive.

 

Part Two: Koh Tao   8-25 – 8-29

Out of all of Thailand’s islands, the island of Koh Tao is known first and foremost for its SCUBA diving. In fact a staggering 1-2% of all SCUBA certifications worldwide take place here.  When you think about how many people this represents and the tiny size of the island, the density of shore-side dive shops is understandable.  Almost every third commercial venture is a dive shop or some combination i.e./ souvenir shop/ dive shop, restaurant/ dive shop, resort/ dive shop. Since Allyson had learned to dive here 8 years ago, she has inundated me with stories about how great the diving is in Thailand and that my experience in the Western Hemisphere, diving off Venezuela and the Caribbean, would be blown away.  It was with this high expectation that we went to Koh Tao in search of some great diving.

After learning our lesson in Cat Ba, we made great efforts to research our places of residence and since you often get a deal when you package diving with your hostel, we made sure to research both. We finally landed on dive shop that focused on marine conservation.  They are known to run several “clean-up” dives allowing their customers the chance to actively get involved by cleaning up trash off the reef and all free of charge.  We liked this and hoped we would get the opportunity to give back.  The added bonus was the owner of the dive shop was opening a beautiful new resort on a more secluded portion of the island and would could give us half-off the going rate if we dived with them.  So we booked a stay with New Heaven Dive Shop/ Resort/ Yoga Studio. 

Just before taking the water taxi from island to island, we received an e-mail from the owner of the dive-shop.  He said the occupants of our bungalow had decided to stay over an extra day and we no longer had accommodation for the first night at his resort. He mentioned a few other places near his dive shop that we may be able to stay. We were not happy about this because we didn’t have time to check in on the places he mentioned before we got there, let alone other dive shops where we might also get a deal.

Luckily, they still picked us up from the ferry stand like they had said, albeit 10 minutes late. Immediately after, we arrived at the dive shop and met the owner, Devrim who we had been exchanging emails with. Devrim was semi-apologetic about the room situation, but pretty much blew it off as “shi*t happens”.  He mentioned having called two of the resorts next to the dive shop as they were on friendly terms and could get us a room for the same amount he quoted us.  So we dropped off our bags and walked over over to the first place.  The people there treated us very rudely and quoted a price way higher than we wanted so we left in a hurry.  We didn’t have any luck at the second place, the Tropicana, either.  Although they were not rude, it did take a while to find someone who worked there and the room rate was also much higher than Devrim had said it would be.  Great. 

Fortunately we passed a similar looking resort that surprisingly was even closer to the dive shop that Devrim had not even mentioned to us, J.P.’s Resort.  Although it looked about the same quality of the others (crap), the people who greeted us were very friendly and straight forward in their dealings – refreshing.

The New Heaven Dive shop is not unlike many of the others on the island in appearance, but they are all different from the ones I know back home in the States.  This one was sturdily built and was was decorated as an open air thatched 2-story bungalow over looking the ocean.  So it was very beautiful to look at and to be in.  At the time, in the afternoon and after the day’s dives, the small area is what I call casual chaos: it is populated with a few customers at wooden benches reading PADI course books, some instructors and dive masters walking around cleaning equipment, smoking or just chatting with the other instructors.  There are several dogs padding in and out of the shop.  After finally getting our housing situated for the evening, we returned to the shop to find out more of the specifics. One of the dive instructors, Abel, gave us a 2 minute talk about the dive shop rushing through explanations of diving, glossing over the descriptions of the dive sites, the pricing and basic practicalities of diving with them. It did not help that French was his first language and his heavy accent mixed in with his poorly hidden apathy did nothing to make it more clear.

Allyson, very reasonably, was upset and felt this was not adequate. After having to unexpectedly track down a place to stay for the night and this hurried sales pitch, we both were more than a little annoyed about the way we had been treated. We had serious second thoughts, but finally decided that we should just go with the flow, or as Allyson learned in her book “The Tao of Pooh”, we had to harness our inner Pooh. So we decided we would start with a “refresher course” to go over skills for the first dive the next day.

It was then we met our dive instructor and guide for the next day and what would be the entire time, Sophie.  Like many of the dive instructors, Sophie was French but had the most wonderful accent.  It helped she was also extremely energetic, kind and thorough.  She was truly the highlight of the dive shop amidst an overall bad experience. Sophie walked us through the equipment and we loaded onto the truck.  We also then loaded ourselves onto the back of an uncovered pick-up truck, outfitted with seat benches and headed to the beach.  It was there that we took the equipment down some steep steps and loaded it onto a long boat.  Long boats are a common mode of aquatic transport in Thailand.  They are long wooden boats about 20+ feet long, painted aqua or blue with a engine on the upper stern and a long metal pole (~10-15 feet) ending in the uncovered propeller. YIKES! The captain propels and steers the boat simply by pivoting the long pole around.

The long boat then took us to the small, also colorful Thai dive boat docked in the bay.  We then set up our dive equipment and headed off to the first dive.  We both got reacquainted with the procedures and were dropped off in the shallows of a bay (near a proper dive site called Shark Island) to do some refresher skills with Sophie.  This took only 10 minutes of our dive as it all came back very quickly.  We finished the dive by swimming underwater to a nearby reef.  We finished our first dive and waited about an hour for the second one.  (All the dive days are two dive sets.)  After we went to a site called Aow Luck and completed our second dive.  In each dive, even despite the state of some of the coral, we saw amazing biodiversity.  I am not sure if it was simply the joy of being back underwater after a long hiatus of diving or the quality of the diving, but I was really impressed.  The pure density of fish was much more than I remember of the Caribbean.  I mention this because Allyson was less impressed than I was.  She remembered the diving in Thailand to be much better including not only the variety of sea life, but also the visibility.  One of the things she specifically remembered seeing were purple starfish, but when she asked about it all the instructors looked at her like she was crazy and made several jokes about not diving under the influence of things you might find at a “Full Moon” party.  We chalked it up to global warming.

After a full day of diving, Devrim told us that the bungalow had opened up and we could move to his resort.  There is a free “shuttle” (the same pickup truck for the dive shop) that goes from the resort to the dive shop and back at prescribed, if not precise, times during the day.  We got in the back of the truck and headed to the resort.  It was on the other side of the Southern tip of island and in a very secluded and elevated portion over looking the ocean.  The resort was in a state of development but the bungalows were beautiful.  They were immaculately clean and well decorated.  We did feel we were getting a good deal and value as it was very romantic and quiet – there were only 4-6 other people staying on the resort at any given time.  There was a small restaurant or kitchen rather run by Devrim’s wife and it was good.

After a very restful sleep we woke up for our second day of diving.  We arrived at the dive shop and it was never clear about which dives we would do.  The day before there was mention of a “special” dive occurring in conjunction with executives from the Cooper automotive company – they were going to dump a replica of a Mini Cooper in the ocean for the formation of an artificial reef.  I thought that was amazingly cool and would be excited to be a part of it.  I guess this led to some confusion on their part and this is the reason they claimed that we could not dive with Sophie.  She was taking another group out.  This was further complicated because one of the instructors has gotten injured on his motorbike the night before and another had sinus issues.  So they were two instructors/guides short that day.  Because of this they recruited two fellow guests, who like us arrived a few days before, and asked them to act as our dive masters for the day.  We were reasonably wary of this development and made it known we may not dive that day.

It was then that the instructor with the sinus issues, Adnan came over to us.  He then proceeded to try and convince us this was common practice among dive shops around the world to use any and all dive masters no matter who they are and where they come from.  He acted incredulous about our hesitation and even at some point called the two of us “irrational.”  In retrospect we recognize this behavior as completely unprofessional but at the time we were surrounded by this bizarre micro-culture of a slacker, hippy-dippy dive shop allowed to run amok in a foreign country and for a brief time we wondered in we were “in the wrong.”  We both believe we are culturally sensitive and I think this put us on the defensive with misplaced worry about how we were perceived and how we behaved.  Back home we were used to many things that are different in Asia and we wondered if our Western demand for high-quality customer service was out of place here.  In the blog to come there is stark evidence to the contrary and that this dive shop is simply poorly run and it didn’t help that on occasions where they could show some sort of compassion (Pearce’s big toenail was ripped off while traveling in the truck because it has been loaded up with food supplies and Allyson was accidentally burnt by ash from one of the instructor’s cigarettes) there was none.

We learned or relearned a lesson here: never be coerced into doing anything you are uncomfortable with, especially when it involves a potentially dangerous activity like diving.  In the end we made the correct decision and did not dive that day.  We instead caught a cab and spent the day exploring other portions of the island.  Unfortunately it rained, but we made the most of it holing up in a beachside coffee joint. We spent some time weighing the costs and benefits of sticking with them and decided to cautiously try diving with the shop again.  We agreed we would only dive if we felt comfortable. 

The next day we were greeted pretty coolly by the staff, with the aggressor not even addressing us. On the bright side, we were happy to find out we would again be paired with Sophie.  This was a relief because we were at ease with her and she knew our skill level, not to mention she actually knew the dive sites and could point things out to us (this would not be the case with any impromptu, deputized dive masters).  We went on the dives and they were as good as before, with me being quite enamored to be diving again and with Allyson having fun, but still a little disappointed.  This is the way this portion of the trip on Koh Tao went for the duration.  We had another day of dives with Sophie and we saw much of the same things mainly because we went to the same dive sites multiple times.  This seemed to be due to the “price of gas” according to the dive shop and so we were unable to go to the more impressive or famous sites I had read about.

So in the end the Dao of Koh Tao was in a word, disappointing.  We went there for the diving and save for a few bright spots (i.e. Sophie, the bungalows) there was a negative vibe centered around a bad dive shop.  Fortunately this travel blip does not continue to our next destination…

Bangkok: No shoes, no problem?

August 17th - 20th

I have been waiting to share Thailand with Pearce for a long time; seven years to be exact. It would be difficult not to love this place as the land, people and food are all amazing. Like most travelers, Bangkok was our entry point into Thailand.  Unlike most, instead of heading to backpacker’s “paradise” on Ko San road, we directed our driver to a house off of Suhkamvit Soi 101. We would be staying in a house in an outlying neighborhood with Lena, a friend of an old Peace Corps buddy of mine.  With true Midwestern spirit she welcomed us like she had known us for years, allowing us to use her spare cell phone, making us an extra set of keys, and offering up anything she had in her house.  Her home was like a welcome retreat away from the world of hostels where we could let down our guard and feel truly at home. Even better, her home is located in a Thai neighborhood just 20 minutes from the Sky Train, aka BTS. 

Typically on our first night somewhere we take it kind of easy, but right before we arrived we learned our friends Gordon and Katelyn would be in Thailand for one night; their last in Asia before heading home. We couldn’t pass up a chance to hang with them again. The plan was to start the night at 7pm at Sky Bar, located in the “Dome” in downtown Bangkok to watch the sunset. The locale did present some challenges as it requires “appropriate attire”: women must not where flip-flops and men must have long sleeves and closed toed shoes. We on the other hand dressed in backpacker chic. Lena came to the rescue for me, letting me borrow a dress and heels; Pearce arranged to borrow an extra pair of Gordon’s “big” shoes who luckily had extras made in Hoi An. We had arranged for Pearce to wear his flip flops to the restaurant and then change there.

We finally reunited with Gordon and Katelyn at the Dome around 10pm, delayed due to the difficulty of getting around the city in the rain. After a quick costume change by Pearce, we tried to head to Sky Bar, but couldn’t as it was closed for a private party. Instead we were brought to another swanky bar on one of the top levels. Fortunately, the rain must have held up other partiers as well as we were led directly to a lounge area right next to a window with a great view of the city. Feeling like we were in our own screening of the Hangover 2, we enjoyed sipping on fancy cocktails and catching up on what each of us had been doing for the past few weeks. 

Feeling famished, we headed down Silom street towards the Night Market on Patpong. We cut down a side street in search of some Green Curry, but ended up at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub as it was one of the few remaining restaurants still open. Despite being an Irish pub, it actually was perfect. We tucked ourselves into a dark wood booth on the second floor and ordered what ended up being great Thai food, accompanied by some delicious Irish beer/cider. We stayed there long enough to gather some liquid courage and then headed towards the bars of Patpong, a nefarious area known for its questionable activities.  A short amount of time and large amount of money later***, we ended up across from Molly Malone’s at an Italian restaurant sharing more drinks and laughing about our crazy evening.  (Pearce: for those of you keeping score – we have been in Thailand for less than a day and the two restaurants or meals have been Irish and Italian joints)  Around 3 am we decided it was time to say goodbye to our friends and it was only then that we realized Pearce’s flip flops (and only remaining shoes as he lost his Keens earlier in the trip) were missing. So kind Gordon allowed him to keep his socks and we hopped in the cab back to get some sleep.

The next morning we solidified the rest of our travel plans, using it as an excuse to rest and recover. Apparently partying until 3am isn’t as easy over 30! We headed out early afternoon to solve the shoe problem. This entailed him walking with only socks through rain soaked Bangkok neighborhood streets for 20 minutes, riding on the Sky Train for another 20 minutes, and then walking through the Siam Discovery Mall, an upscale mall which luckily had a Converse store. So thanks to a wild and crazy night, Pearce got his first pair of Chucks. (Pearce: here is to you Ziggy!)

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the seemingly endless malls, each fancier than the next. We were in search for the VIP Bangkok movie experience, which has different variations depending on the theater, but basically entails you sitting in a comfortable Lazy-boy, tucked in with a blanket and being served drinks. Unfortunately, at each theater we went to, the movie we wanted to see was not available or had already played. We eventually gave up and headed to a tiny night food market just off Thong Lo BST. Just a string of about 10 different food stalls, Pearce and I settled on a hole-in-the-wall that sold a delicious Pad Thai. We then splurged and also ordered mango and sticky rice for dessert – yum. Our grumpiness was smothered in sweetened condensed milk.

The next day we woke up early and Pearce put together a detailed cinema action strategy based on some schedules he had found online. We headed first to an older shopping complex called the MBK that has everything and anything you could ever want, including a theater. We selected our seats in an early showing of Captain America in the VIP theater. We had some time to kill so we wandered from floor to floor picking up knick knacks, as well as some CDs (for me) and computer programs (for Pearce, NERD ALERT yall). We headed to our movie 20 minutes before, like we would in the US, only to be stopped when we tried to go in. This makes sense as we already had our seat number and so didn’t have worry about getting a good seat. We waited out our time in the lounge area sipping on our pre-movie fruit punch cocktail. Our mouths dropped when we entered the theater; it was amazing. The plush seats we grouped in pairs and only had about 100 in the whole theater. Each seat also came with a blanket which was essential as the room bordered on freezing. Once seated, we were brought our drinks and popcorn which we had ordered out in the waiting area. Let’s just say, paying $13 for a movie isn’t so bad when you get to watch it like this. In true Susan Korb style we decided to double down and so headed for another mall where we knew that they were playing the final Harry Potter in 3D. Showing some restraint we opted not to go VIP again which turned out fine as it being IMAX theater, it was already very nice. Actually, it was by far the best IMAX theater I have ever been to and so big I actually had to move my head side to side to see the whole thing. Plus, it was Harry Potter. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you doing? I am in Thailand and have seen it. I mean, come on.

Knowing we had been totally nerdy all day we decided to redeem ourselves by watching the Friday Night Muay Thai boxing. Using Bangkok’s amazing transportation system again, we arrived to the Lumphini Stadium around the half-way point in the lineup, meaning we had missed the newbies and were able to see the more talented combatants straightaway. Dodging the touts who try to scam “special” seats, we bought the standard 1000 Baht tickets from the ticket office which we knew were in the rowdiest part of the stadium. We entered through a small concrete doorway which opened to a a rickety wooden platform overlooking the pricier seated sections as well as the actual ring. Off to our left was a section of tourists huddled together and looking a bit shell-shocked. Off to our right was a huge mob of Thai men, all standing on wooden benches and screaming their heads, similar to what you would see on the trading floor of Wall Street. We headed to the right. The actual bout begins with the two opponents greeting each other and then performing a ritual where they bob and bow rhythmically to a beat put down by a small band playing traditional music off to the side. Once they feel their offering is complete, the ref signs that the round will begin. The fighters face off, and begin to kick, knee, and punch each other to the beat of the music. As each round passes the music picks up tempo, and accordingly so do the fighters. This also means that by the end of the fight the crowd becomes crazed, hooting and hollering with each hit made. We headed home that night exhausted from all of the excitement.

Our final full day in Bangkok was dedicated to more traditional sightseeing. We started off at Jim Thompson’s house, an expat who almost single-handedly started the Thai silk industry after relocating here after serving time there in the military. His home is also a great place to visit because it is a real representation of Thai homes from many remote regions. With our entry fee, we were led on an excellent tour of the home where we not only learned about Thai architectural design, but about other features we had seen in our travels. For instance, we learned that a large carved wooden board was actually a silk screen used to print sarongs. After there we went on a walking tour headed towards a restaurant, Chote Chitr, that Pearce wanted to eat ate for lunch. On our walk we passed by many Wats (temples) and the stores that support them with candles, deities, etc. We also passed by what remains of a giant swing which was used in competition to see who could swing the highest for money. This ended as many of the competitors died trying. We arrived at our lunch spot and quickly ordered a green and red curry and coconut soup from a pretty surly older woman. (She got mad when I tried to order in Thai). Despite this setback, the food was delicious and well worth its write up in the Lonely Planet. Post lunch, I showed Pearce Koh San Road, a mainstay on the traveler’s circuit that totally caters to the needs of the stereotypical backpacker. Tattoo shops, banana pancakes, and fisherman’s pants abound. We moved through the street pretty quickly, but were able to score a beautiful set of large wooden wind chimes which Lena had been looking for forever. 

Our next major stop was to Wat Pho, one of the larger temples in Bangkok just next to the Palace. The grounds are stunning with cross-legged golden Buddha’s wherever you look. The Wat is also home to a number bigger Buddha statues that you can see close up once you have removed your shoes. We learned that you must sit with your feet pointed away from the Buddha to be respectful. By far the most impressive statue on the grounds is an enormous reclining Buddha that barely fits in its very large room. The outside of the Buddha is covered in gold while the bottom of its feet are adorned with 108 tiny mother of pearl Buddha's.

                                     

After the Wat, we hopped on the City Ferry from Pier 8, headed towards the main pier. At least that’s what we thought we did. We actually hopped on a boat going the wrong way to the amusement of the boat staff. We were quickly put off on the next stop to catch a boat going in the right direction and scored a primo spot overlooking the edge next to some monks. The boat taxi was an efficient and pain free way to travel across the city and had the added bonus of being an impromptu sunset cruise for less than $5.

We ended up meeting Lena at a funky in-town restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms, an enterprise that support Safe Sex education as well as other community improvement projects. It is located down a small Soi (street) off of Sukhamvit road and has a tropical rainforest feeling interior including mist and hanging vines lit with string lights. It really gives the place a magical feel. As it was our last night in Bangkok Pearce made sure to stock up on his fill of traditional Thai food including: fried eggrolls, pork neck, Pad sew ok, Pad Thai, and Massaman curry. Everything was outstanding and Pearce was near to exploding.  We finished the evening off with our complimentary condom and headed home to pack up our stuff for the islands.

           

*** For the full story of our first night in Thailand and Bangkok please inquire in person under the following conditions:  All parties including both the storytellers and the audience must be inebriated or in the process thereof unless exempted by a medical professional.  All moral judgment must be suspended for the duration of the tale.  If you have any of the following conditions or attributes you are cautioned against any inquiry: if you are under the age of 18 years, if you suffer from heart disease or fainting spells, if you are prone to vertigo or nausea, if you have never made a series of bad decisions despite knowing better, if you are already nervous, concerned, threatened, or scared simply by reading this overly long disclaimer.

Here today, Saigon tomorrow

August 15th - 16th

After our arrival to Nha Trang via the medieval-torture-device-bus we decided to fork over the extra $40 to get an early morning, (7:15am) flight to Ho Chi Minh, still known as Saigon to the local population.  Having requested in advance that our hostel come get us, rather than deal with haggling with an unknown taxi driver, we only had to wait 10 minutes before our driver picked us up. We drove through a maze of city streets, much like Hanoi except for more expansive, for forty-five minutes before being dropped off at the side of the road at a city park. Like clockwork, a worker from the hostel runs across the street and personally escorts us down a neighborhood alley where our hostel, Ncoc Thao Guesthouse is located. This is the first place where we are requested to take our shoes off before entering, a clear sign we are really staying in someone’s home rather than a hostel.

Since we arrived before check-in, we were were allowed to store our bags.  For us this means engaging in level 3 lockdown. Okay, we really don’t call it that, but it is pretty intense anti-theft setup compared to anyone else we have seen. First, all of our electronics/small valuables are loaded into small nylon and mesh bags which are labeled and locked. Then these, along with our larger valuables like Kindles, computer, etc. are loaded into our Packsafe. This is a brilliant device designed to actually cover a hiker’s backpack with a steel net so thieves could not cut into it. We have been using the stretchable wire bag as a pouch in its own right, loaded it up, synching it tight and then locking it down when we leave our room. On this occasion, we load it up and put it inside Pearce’s backpack, which then is locked to Allyson’s backpack via a bike lock we brought with us. Although anyone with enough time and ingenuity could still get our stuff eventually, we hope that they will take one look at our craziness and go for an easier target.

After “locking it down,” we made for an early day because we had so few in the city.  There were several things I (Pearce) wanted to do and see in Saigon.  We both came from different travel backgrounds that can be crudely generalized as follows (written oddly in third person because we both contribute to each blog):  Pearce tends to be a classic sightseer, married to guides or guidebooks.  On the bright side this leads to seeing major and significant landmarks associated with these destinations, so one does not miss highlights and “must sees.”  The other side of this strategy can lead to an over-itinerate schedule too packed with tourist sites plagued with the been there done that’s.  Allyson has developed a more organic style of travel much preferring the spontaneity of adventure and go with the flow attitude.  This breeds all type of unexpected thrills but can be a gamble.  This portion of the trip, I (Pearce) was mostly in charge so there was a considerable more on our set to-do list.

We started at the Reunification Palace which in brief was the Presidential Palace most famous in housing the President of the Republic of Vietnam (Southern) before and during what is called the American War here.  At this point we should acknowledge were are traveling tourists in Vietnam and more specifically American tourists.  Given the history between our two countries and the outcome of the war there are many things we wanted to be sensitive to.  In this we will not discuss our personal feelings of the politics of the war, however the view of the governing power in Vietnam and subsequently the focus of the museums is not flattering towards our country.  For example the most visited museum in Saigon, when translated accurately, is called the Museum of American War Atrocities.  So despite my above mentioned enthusiasm for history and visiting museums we planned on less provocative ones, like the Presidential Palace.  It was a beautifully designed palace kept very much the way it was the day the tanks rolled in and the famous last helicopter of U.S. support fled.  It was a quiet and peaceful self guided tour and Allyson and I learned a lot about President Diehm’s regime

.

 

After seeing the Palace we began a long walk across town to go to the fine arts museum.  On the way we stopped at a road side restaurant (Allyson’s influence).  After some awkward pointing, I ordered a dish of basically fried or crispy chicken over vegetables and rice.  This impromptu meals still remains one of my top five meals on this trip. (and it was less than $3)  On the way to the museum, we saw the Catholic Church and the Post Office, both of which were pretty.

After that we found the fine arts museum, but it was closed, as apparently many tourist attractions are on Mondays in Vietnam.  But this detour was not without some unexpected entertainment.  Down the street we saw a crowd gathering at the base of a two-story long house from the balcony of which there was a family talking to the waiting crowd.  All of a sudden there was a loud commotion and the crowd converged on itself scrambling after something the family had thrown from the balcony.  Catching on quickly, I realized the family was throwing coins down and in a very rare moment I ran in with the crowd and grabbed a coin.  We later inquired of our concierge in the guesthouse and she said it was common occurrence and was associated with a month long holiday of giving that she likened to Halloween (although the with some blatant omissions i.e. costumes).

With the time from the Fine Arts fiasco we strolled down to the Ben Thanh Market.  This market was similar to ones we have seen throughout our trip.  They can be amazing places with overwhelming amounts of things if not to buy than to just see and smell; a sensory overload.  At its worst it can be a claustrophobe’s nightmare and this combined with some unfriendly merchants, we decided to make a quick exit.  We went down a street that was selling shoes, trying to find a pair to replace the shoes I had left somewhere in Vietnam.  Turns out it is hard for a guy with giant feet to find shoes in Asia.  Go figure.

We had planned to go to one of the nice rooftop bars in Saigon to have a drink and a nice view but it was raining so we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.  We decided to go to a area that was recommended and described as a collection of formalized food stalls where one could order a la carte Thai food.  It turns out the place was one that we had passed earlier and did not recognize thinking it a fancy restaurant.  It was a restaurant that had stalls (sort of) but really only for decoration as you sit a a table and are served.  However the food was varied by region and quite good. 

After that we decided to go a recommended bar called Acoustic Bar which was described as a place with a good music scene.  Despite the name, the guidebook described it as a place to hear cool cover bands of non-acoustic American music.  It took us a while to find it in the night with a little rain but a few doubtful, dark side streets and we were there.  As a couple we don’t go to bars like this anymore, instead sticking to the few familiar pubs in our neighborhood (more for the food than anything) so this was a fun departure.  The bar itself might be found in the states, but the surprising thing was there were almost no non-Asians in the bar.  It was packed to the brim with upper working class Vietnamese.  We found the remaining stools at the bar immediately to stage right.  We ordered drinks and since the beer was expensive and this was a unique night out I ordered my first Manhattan.  The first musicians came on shortly after we arrived and played covers of Roy Orbison, Bruno Mars, Bon Jovi and a variety of other hits from the 70’s to now.  They were all really good, the mood was great and since we were some of the only people who knew the words to songs, we belted them out loudly. 

Later a man approached us who, like us, stood out because he was black in a bar full of Asians.  He told us he was scheduled to sing next and  turns out he was an amazing singer (putting the other singers to shame) and belted out favorites like Hello by Lionel Ritchie and Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.  After the drink we went to the neighboring place we saw on the way to the Acoustic.  It was a beautiful place in a courtyard and a man was playing a traditional string instrument.  We had a romantic dessert to finish the night.

The next day was our last and I wanted to make the most of it.  Unfortunately we had an errand to run that took half the day and was ultimately unsuccessful.  Because our plan was now to head to Thailand we would be there for more than a month.  It turns out to visit Thailand most countries do not require a VISA and Thailand offers a month (30 day) tourist stay.  However if you are staying longer one has to have a tourist VISA which really is only a matter of money and red tape.  This system has led to a funny bit of business as many tourists and especially backpackers of Southeast Asia know.  There is a loophole in a a sense as one can leave the country before the 30 days are up and re-enter and the clock of 30 days restarts.  One can only so this a certain number of times but for most it works out.  So what has happened is that many of the border or near border towns have any number of “tours” in which all you do is step on the border of Laos or Myanmar and come back.  There is now basically a well established business practice.  It is a good example of the law of unintended consequences.  Despite this we did not plan on doing one of these border crossings once we were in the islands of Thailand so we spent a long time walking around trying to find the Thai consulate, which was miss-marked on our maps.  After finding it and discussing our issue with the very nice clerk, we realized that our flight to Bangkok would leave hours before we could get our VISA the next day.  So we had missed the chance to extend our stay in Thailand without leaving the country (you cannot apply for the VISA after you have entered the country).

This frustration continued as when we finally reached the first stop of our planned day, the National History Museum, it was closed for several hours.  We stopped in a coffee shop for a few hours and tried to make the most of the false start day.  In the end, we had decided that since we had to leave Thailand at some point anyway we would add some new destinations on tour of Asia and the prospects have us both excited.  We won’t reveal the secret locations yet, but we have added THREE entire countries to our itinerary after Thailand.

After the planning session, we went to the history museum which focused on ancient Vietnamese history.  Given our backgrounds, especially Allyson’s, we found the museum to be great and full of artifacts from the Champa and Khmer dynasties.  We had planned on going to the Fine Arts museum we had missed the day before but we had run out of time.  On the way back to the hostel we checked out a “casino” mentioned in a magazine I had found in the coffee place.  I was intrigued by this as I had presumed the Vietnamese were not permitted to gamble in this way.  As it turns out Vietnamese nationals are not allowed in the casino.  It was a small room compared to Vegas and most of it was dedicated to slot machines.  In fact even the few table games were automated including a Texas Hold ‘Em table.  Despite temptation I decided not to lose our travel budget.

The weather got worse and the rain began to pour, so our plans for a rooftop drink in Saigon were dashed once again.  Instead we found refuge a near-by and delicious Indian restaurant called the Taj Mahal.  After filling up on Indian we went back to the hostel to call it a night.  For we had a long travel day to Thailand in the morning!