Coreyography

One Happy Camper

I'M STILL IN: Ho Chi Minh City
NEXT UP IS STILL: Cambodia

For the past month I have been moaning about being short on time here at the end of my SE Asian leg.  "If I could just have one more week, I could fit in all the stops I want to make in the perfect amount of time," I whined to myself and others.  It's my pleasure to tell you that I moved my ticket to Athens back exactly one week!  I could not be more pleased about this.  I also could not be happier that I finally got my hands on the latest/last Harry Potter book (thanks, Alice!) which I devoured and loved.

The immediate impact of my schedule change was that I could stay in Ho Chi Minh City a few more days, which has been great.  I've even managed to do some sightseeing, an activity which had lost a bit of its luster of late.

First stop: The War Remnants Museum in HCMC.  As you can guess, few of these remnants are cheerful.  This is not the museum to visit if you are having an existential crisis, are depressed or even if you are just a little down in the dumps.  There are many pictures of dead people and wounded people and people having a really bad day/decade/life.  It's a big ole bummer, but important stuff to look at nonetheless.  There was a whole section about Bob Kerrey and his regrets about his time as a SEAL in Viet Nam.  By the time I got to the Tiger Cages replicated in exact detail I was pretty much done.  I did enjoy seeing some of the communist propaganda from the USSR, DDR, Cuba, etc. in support of the Viet Namese people.  Those folks had some great graphic designers!

Today I took an all-day tour to see the Holy See of the Cao Dai religion, which was awesome, and the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were just sort of disturbing.  To start the tunnel experience, we sat through part of a film (they inexplicably turned it off about halfway through) explaining how the guerrillas fought the Imperialists.  OK, so fine, I was totally ready for some more propaganda, but this film was virtually unwatchable, even before they turned it off!  I think Eisenstein was working with better film stock, and I won't even get into the sound and editing problems, which were numerous.  Throughout the twenty minutes we watched the movie I just puzzled over why they wouldn't spend a little cash and make a movie that you could actually see and hear?  Anyhoo: after the movie it was onto looking at homemade booby traps, which our guide gigglingly demonstrated and some model hooches.  Then we got to the firing range.  For $1/bullet, you could shoot a M-16, AK-1 and/or several other guns.  You could also buy tchotchkes made out of shell casings and bomb fragments.  We spent all of five minutes in the tunnel, which was small and amazing.  But overall there just seemed to be a disconnect between beholding the atrocities of war and blasting off some rounds.  One thing I liked very much - throughout this screampark there were dummies (life replicants?) that seemed entirely unnecessary, but also entirely awesome.  And a few of them (also entirely unnecessarily) came to life, sawing open a bomb, beating some rice, etc.  I just wish I could have attended a few of the Planning Committee meetings of the folks who made this joint into a tourist attraction.  Who knows what fantastic ideas (besides a visible movie and NON-moving dummies) were brainstormed and discarded?

Good Days & Bad Days

I'M IN: Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam having visited Nah Trang
NEXT UP: Cambodia

I continue to have a very interesting time here in Viet Nam.  I had one of the funnest (most fun doesn't sound as fun as funnest) nights of my life in Hoi An - went for an excellent supper (the food here is fantastic - fresh and lots of good bread and cheese from the French influence) with a great group of people I've fallen in with then on to a beach party.  We swam in the ocean at night with phosphorescent plankton, which I had only seen once before (years ago for one night at Holden Beach).  It is absolutely amazing stuff.  We continued swimming with a big group of very fun Spaniards and watched the sun come up over some mountains, and it was just fantastic. 

Traveled on (another) overnight bus to Nah Trang, where the mood was less festive.  Had another great night out with some really interesting and nice people, but this was overshadowed by getting robbed on my way home.  I was riding on the back of a motorbike and noticed that there were many women riding pretty close to us.  I was sort of chatting with the women and didn't realize that they had taken my wallet out of my purse and removed all my money.  They did leave me my ATM cards, so that was thoughtful.  Indeed, as robberies go this was a preferable one, but it still feels just bad and wrong and unlucky.

Yesterday I came to Ho Chi Minh City and am really liking it here.  I do wish I had more time here, am planning on heading to Cambodia on Wednesday for some beach time before my last SE Asia hurrah: ANGKOR WAT!

Hanoi-ing

I'M IN: Hoi An, Viet Nam having visited Hanoi & Halong Bay
NEXT UP: continue southward to Dalat and Ho Chi Minh City

I have enjoyed the beauty of Viet Nam and the hustle bustle of Hanoi over the past few days, but my time here thus far has been interspersed by being ripped off at least once a day which doesn't feel so great.  The first hotel I stayed in Hanoi was a rip-off in sixteen different ways: I paid three times the going rate for my room (but it was a nice room), twice the rate for laundry, ten times more than I should have for internet access and almost $20 more than others for a tour to Halong Bay.  But I met some other people who paid $100 more for the same tour, so things could be worse.  Regardless, avoid The Star Hotel in Hanoi at all costs (for they will be substantial)!

Nevertheless, the three day trip to Halong Bay is certainly a highlight.  The first day we cruised around the beautiful islands on a neato/retro teak boat; the second day we deployed onto Cat Ba island; the third day it was back to the boat then back to Hanoi.  We visited a cave, kayaked, swam and it was all quite beautiful and great.  The area is one of the most unusual and interesting I have ever seen.  It felt very mystical - this was greatly enhanced by extremely misty weather, apparently the result of a typhoon in Taiwan (Taiwan typhoon makes mystical misty).  The tour guides were pretty tourist-jaded (their favorite phrases were, "Hurry up!" and "Let's go") but they did do more actual guiding (pointing things out, etc.) than most others I have come into contact with here in SE Asia.

Last night/today I braved my first overnight bus to go from Hanoi to Hoi An (boarded at 7:00 p.m., arrived at 4:30 p.m.).  Next time I will remember my eye shade.  I'm pleasantly surprised at how refreshed I feel today, though, which is fantastic because there are several more overnighters on the way to Dalat and HCMC.  The next few days I'm looking forward to relaxing here in Hoi An on the beach and perhaps even getting some clothes made!  The tailors in Hoi An are world famous and it looks like you can get most of anything you would like tailor made.  The thought of getting fitted for a winter coat, however, is unappealing given that it's approx. 127 degrees - or something hot anyway, my Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion might be a little off.

By the by, I'm knee deep planning Greece and Turkey, so if you have any recommendations please send them along.