normally i like to be more creative with my subject lines, but i can't think of a single other thing.
we've only been here for about five hours but alexandria's already shaping up to be my favorite city in egypt. the weather is gorgeous--think about five degrees warmer than sb. it's on the beach, and every time i'm in a beach city i'm more and more convinced that i need to live near an ocean forever. it's adorably quaint, but big at the same time. where luxor was hot and dusty, alex is breezy and has that ocean-air feeling. where cairo was busy and rushed, alex seems less populated and relaxed.
i know, i know, that's a lot to gather from five hours, nicki. why don't you tell me how you feel in two days?
ok, fine, i will. after i've had at least two more glasses of the best mango juice ever, fresh mediterranean seafood, and coffee overlooking the sea.
also, we have a tv in our adorable room in our french-style hotel (elevator with doors you have to close yourself, one of those locks that goes up and down the whole door), and friends was on earlier. it's amazing how much i like friends.
23.10.10
20.10.10
egypt
i wrote down a whole bunch of things i wanted to blog about in my journal last night, but in typical nicki fashion i forgot it in the room. ah, well, i'll have to go from memory.
we left mumbai around 7 am on oct 15, the one-month countdown to america. after a four-hour layover in KUWAIT (sadly uneventful, save for the few guys who lit up cigarettes inside), we landed in cairo. we were staying with david, a guy maddy found on couchsurfing who said we were welcome to crash at his place. he sent a driver for us, so we were greeted by a sign with maddy's name.
david's house rules. he's got a porch, living room with three couches, cable tv, a pool room, kitchen, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms--and we stayed fo FREE. he's great--he knows he's got a sweet pad in a city where two western girls might not feel so comfortable staying on their own, so he offers up his hospitality. he's tasmanian, which is a hilarious coincidence because two of our guy friends from thailand were from tassie, too. we've met something like 10% of the population now.
god, i don't know what i'm doing going on about these unimportant details. anyway, i'm just gonna move on to the excellent things now.
--SAW THE PYRAMIDS! they were just as extraordinary as i thought they would be. nothing will replace that "holy crap i'm actually here" moment when we first walked in.
--there's pita bread everywhere. huge trays full of dozens on pitas wander the streets on top of heads, hips, and shoulders. we get whole wheat pita bread with almost every meal. in fact, we've been eating tons of bread. for breakfast on the train (i'll get to that in a minute), we were served four bread products. four! that's unnecessary. my carb intake is wayyyyy too deliciously high right now.
--all of the food is delicious. my dish de jour is koshari, which is pasta, spaghetti, rice, onions, lentils, tomatos, and some sort of delicious spices mixed together. it tastes like comfort food. OH and baked goods! one day we followed our best friend lonely planet to this bakery in downtown cairo. we haven't been impressed by desserts in the last year and expectations were low, but MAN did we underestimate. at least 100 different types of cookies, cakes, pastries, nuts, and other sweets stared at us when we walked in. we ate the most delicious three-layer chocolate cookie concoction of our lives.
--the cairo metro is wonderful. i'm very passionate about public transportation in other countries, and this city did not disappoint. sure, it could have a couple more lines, but it's cheap (about 20 cents to go anywhere), fast, and there's a ladies car. ladies car is the best--everybody coos over cute babies, we beg each other to take the seats, and we all go out of our way to be generally polite.
--we spent an afternoon wandering islamic cairo, through the shops and the guys shouting "HERE! have a look!" there's so much good shopping here.
--cairenes are some of the friendliest people--with the huge exception of taxi drivers/people selling things. we got out of a cab after the pyramids (the guy was weird and wanted to charge us way too much) and were trying to hand the guy the fare we thought was enough. he was hassling us, and a stranger from afar saw the interaction. stranger came up and said, "excuse me, girls, is everything ok?" we explained what was happening, he talked to the cab driver in arabic, and said, "ok, that's it, have a good day, girls."
that's all just cairo stuff. we decided we'd travel down to luxor by train. it was really expensive ($60 one way! in thailand it's less than $20!), but whatever, we're only here once, so let's just do it.
THE TRAIN WAS MAGICAL AND WONDERFUL. we had our own cabin that came with towels, A/C, a table, a mirror, hangers, huge blankets, an outlet, and did i mention we had this all to ourselves!? we quickly made the space our home and started up the music and painted our nails. we even got dinner and breakfast on this magical train.
now we're in luxor. yesterday we saw luxor temple and night, and it was easily one of the most gorgeous things i've seen in my life. the heiroglyphics made my 6th grade brain thrilled. when we came in to town yesterday morning, it was ghostly; when we wandered around after the temple, it was like it came to life. this morning we went to the valley of the kings and walked inside three tombs, in awe at how in tact they still are after a zillion years. tomorrow we're waking up at 4 am to take a hot air balloon ride over luxor at sunrise, and then in the evening we're gonna sail on the nile for sunset.
i love this country.
we left mumbai around 7 am on oct 15, the one-month countdown to america. after a four-hour layover in KUWAIT (sadly uneventful, save for the few guys who lit up cigarettes inside), we landed in cairo. we were staying with david, a guy maddy found on couchsurfing who said we were welcome to crash at his place. he sent a driver for us, so we were greeted by a sign with maddy's name.
david's house rules. he's got a porch, living room with three couches, cable tv, a pool room, kitchen, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms--and we stayed fo FREE. he's great--he knows he's got a sweet pad in a city where two western girls might not feel so comfortable staying on their own, so he offers up his hospitality. he's tasmanian, which is a hilarious coincidence because two of our guy friends from thailand were from tassie, too. we've met something like 10% of the population now.
god, i don't know what i'm doing going on about these unimportant details. anyway, i'm just gonna move on to the excellent things now.
--SAW THE PYRAMIDS! they were just as extraordinary as i thought they would be. nothing will replace that "holy crap i'm actually here" moment when we first walked in.
--there's pita bread everywhere. huge trays full of dozens on pitas wander the streets on top of heads, hips, and shoulders. we get whole wheat pita bread with almost every meal. in fact, we've been eating tons of bread. for breakfast on the train (i'll get to that in a minute), we were served four bread products. four! that's unnecessary. my carb intake is wayyyyy too deliciously high right now.
--all of the food is delicious. my dish de jour is koshari, which is pasta, spaghetti, rice, onions, lentils, tomatos, and some sort of delicious spices mixed together. it tastes like comfort food. OH and baked goods! one day we followed our best friend lonely planet to this bakery in downtown cairo. we haven't been impressed by desserts in the last year and expectations were low, but MAN did we underestimate. at least 100 different types of cookies, cakes, pastries, nuts, and other sweets stared at us when we walked in. we ate the most delicious three-layer chocolate cookie concoction of our lives.
--the cairo metro is wonderful. i'm very passionate about public transportation in other countries, and this city did not disappoint. sure, it could have a couple more lines, but it's cheap (about 20 cents to go anywhere), fast, and there's a ladies car. ladies car is the best--everybody coos over cute babies, we beg each other to take the seats, and we all go out of our way to be generally polite.
--we spent an afternoon wandering islamic cairo, through the shops and the guys shouting "HERE! have a look!" there's so much good shopping here.
--cairenes are some of the friendliest people--with the huge exception of taxi drivers/people selling things. we got out of a cab after the pyramids (the guy was weird and wanted to charge us way too much) and were trying to hand the guy the fare we thought was enough. he was hassling us, and a stranger from afar saw the interaction. stranger came up and said, "excuse me, girls, is everything ok?" we explained what was happening, he talked to the cab driver in arabic, and said, "ok, that's it, have a good day, girls."
that's all just cairo stuff. we decided we'd travel down to luxor by train. it was really expensive ($60 one way! in thailand it's less than $20!), but whatever, we're only here once, so let's just do it.
THE TRAIN WAS MAGICAL AND WONDERFUL. we had our own cabin that came with towels, A/C, a table, a mirror, hangers, huge blankets, an outlet, and did i mention we had this all to ourselves!? we quickly made the space our home and started up the music and painted our nails. we even got dinner and breakfast on this magical train.
now we're in luxor. yesterday we saw luxor temple and night, and it was easily one of the most gorgeous things i've seen in my life. the heiroglyphics made my 6th grade brain thrilled. when we came in to town yesterday morning, it was ghostly; when we wandered around after the temple, it was like it came to life. this morning we went to the valley of the kings and walked inside three tombs, in awe at how in tact they still are after a zillion years. tomorrow we're waking up at 4 am to take a hot air balloon ride over luxor at sunrise, and then in the evening we're gonna sail on the nile for sunset.
i love this country.
14.10.10
mumbai's tendencies
today's our last day in the city, day number six. our flight leaves at 6:40 am tomorrow morning, meaning we'll be hopping in a taxi at 3:30 am.
buh bye, restful night's sleep. eh, i can't really muster up the anger, though; when we finish this leg of flying, we'll be in cairo among literally too much history for my brain to hold. OH BUT FIRST we have a layover in kuwait. lol.
anyway, i've noticed some things around here in the last six-ish days.
the indian head bobble
it's not a nod...it's not a shake...it's a side-to-side tipping of the head. they do it all the time.
"hey, can we get this taxi to colaba? on the meter?" response: head bobble..."okay." we get in the back of the taxi and he starts the meter
"four hundred rupees! that's way too expensive. can you do 200?" response: head bobble..."okay." and i buy said thing for 200 rupees.
"we're from america." response: head bobble..."good country."
i can't figure out what the head bobble means. i thought at first that it meant no, but it seems like maybe it means a moment of uncertainty followed by a yes.
"what's your good name?"
people are always asking for our names and where we're from. i've had a couple indians sidle up next to me just to ask where i'm from, then walk away once they know. whenever people ask for our names, they always repeat them and go, "nicki. good name." or they'll ask for our "good name" right off the bat.
and by the way, when we respond we're from america, a handful of people have gone, "obama! good, good. bush, no good!"
beauty
indian women have taken street clothes to the next level. they have sarees of every color and they never look foolish in these neon bright colors or mismatched patterns; they can rock it like it's nobody's business. they have jewelery hanging off every limb, including the most ornate (and what must be painful) nose piercings ever. they're making me want to buy a saree and get my nose re-pierced. (i might give in to both of these things, but the latter will have to wait until america.)
i'm famous in india
you'd think we were, anyway. we've been in pictures with at least 50 indian people; this is not hyperbolic in any way. when we sat at the hanging gardens for an hour or so the other day, families would come up to us and just rotate through, snapping picture after picture. when we were at elephanta island, as soon as one group stopped us to take a picture with them, it was free rein for every other group to step in and take pictures with us, too. yesterday at haji ali, as we were sitting and quietly reading our books on some rocks off to the side, minding our own business, a family tapped our shoulders and asked us to be in their family portrait. you'd think we were a mumbai attraction.
i wasn't ready to leave don det, laos, and i wasn't ready to leave hanoi, but i think i'm ready to leave mumbai. i'm done being a spectacle here, i'm done with the pollution of the city, and i think i've seen enough for now. i've loved it and i think it's a wonderful city filled with characters (mostly charming and friendly, but you can't win'em all, eh?), but i'm ready to move on.
egypt, here i come.
buh bye, restful night's sleep. eh, i can't really muster up the anger, though; when we finish this leg of flying, we'll be in cairo among literally too much history for my brain to hold. OH BUT FIRST we have a layover in kuwait. lol.
anyway, i've noticed some things around here in the last six-ish days.
the indian head bobble
it's not a nod...it's not a shake...it's a side-to-side tipping of the head. they do it all the time.
"hey, can we get this taxi to colaba? on the meter?" response: head bobble..."okay." we get in the back of the taxi and he starts the meter
"four hundred rupees! that's way too expensive. can you do 200?" response: head bobble..."okay." and i buy said thing for 200 rupees.
"we're from america." response: head bobble..."good country."
i can't figure out what the head bobble means. i thought at first that it meant no, but it seems like maybe it means a moment of uncertainty followed by a yes.
"what's your good name?"
people are always asking for our names and where we're from. i've had a couple indians sidle up next to me just to ask where i'm from, then walk away once they know. whenever people ask for our names, they always repeat them and go, "nicki. good name." or they'll ask for our "good name" right off the bat.
and by the way, when we respond we're from america, a handful of people have gone, "obama! good, good. bush, no good!"
beauty
indian women have taken street clothes to the next level. they have sarees of every color and they never look foolish in these neon bright colors or mismatched patterns; they can rock it like it's nobody's business. they have jewelery hanging off every limb, including the most ornate (and what must be painful) nose piercings ever. they're making me want to buy a saree and get my nose re-pierced. (i might give in to both of these things, but the latter will have to wait until america.)
i'm famous in india
you'd think we were, anyway. we've been in pictures with at least 50 indian people; this is not hyperbolic in any way. when we sat at the hanging gardens for an hour or so the other day, families would come up to us and just rotate through, snapping picture after picture. when we were at elephanta island, as soon as one group stopped us to take a picture with them, it was free rein for every other group to step in and take pictures with us, too. yesterday at haji ali, as we were sitting and quietly reading our books on some rocks off to the side, minding our own business, a family tapped our shoulders and asked us to be in their family portrait. you'd think we were a mumbai attraction.
i wasn't ready to leave don det, laos, and i wasn't ready to leave hanoi, but i think i'm ready to leave mumbai. i'm done being a spectacle here, i'm done with the pollution of the city, and i think i've seen enough for now. i've loved it and i think it's a wonderful city filled with characters (mostly charming and friendly, but you can't win'em all, eh?), but i'm ready to move on.
egypt, here i come.
10.10.10
MUMBAI.
i'll give it to you straight: i was scared of india. i've been talking to a lot of people about traveling and people talk about how exhausting india is. it's not a place you go and easily fall in love with, like thailand. india's full of rough people and it's hard to get around and the men constantly leer and you'll definitely get ripped off.
so why am i going here again? *sigh* but we'd bought the place tickets, gotten the visas, so we were going.
and now that i'm here...i think everyone was exaggerating. this city's been wonderful to us so far. sure, we've met some unscrupulous seller guys and sad, puppy-dog-eyed children have tugged on our arms and begged for money, but overall, this isn't the harsh country i thought it would be.
granted, we've only been in mumbai/bombay/i can't decide what to call it. it's a big international city and people act differently in cities like this; generally, everything should be up to international/western standards. so i'm doing india-lite version.
but really, we've met mostly wonderful people. there was kamul, who we met on the street and who wandered around town with us for a while, helped us get sim cards, and invited us to a party later (which we declined and he understood). our cab driver from the airport was really sweet, pointing out all the sights of the city and making sure we got into our hotel. there've been countless other interactions--you know, those brief moments you have with strangers, whether they're in a hotel/restaurant/park/whatever--that haven't been harsh or rude at all.
this isn't to say that the city is all calm and full of wonderful people, though. it's a bizarre, loud, DIRTY place. oh man, you guys, you should've seen my feet yesterday. we went to the washer place (where thousands of guys are literally just washing clothes in these concrete basins) and walked around, so my feet got wet and gross in there, then we went to chowpatty beach on the arabian sea (aka a trash can), and my feet got grosser there, so that by the time we got home to shower at the end of the day, my sandaled feet looked like they were wearing shoes.
people are selling the weirdest stuff here. peacock feathers seem to be popular with the vendors, as do incredibly oversized balloons. seriously, they're the size of a my-size barbie. yeah, i totally and completely wanna walk around this crowded city with a giant balloon.
ok maybe those things aren't THAT weird. with that intro (and in such a foreign place) you were prob expecting something like elephant heads or snake venom.
there are almost zero white people around here. i thought that since we were coming to such a huge place, we'd be mobbing around with white people all the time. instead, we've been pointing out white folks like they're some sort of novel attraction because we hardly ever see them.
there are, however, a zillion men. i've never seen so many men (and so few women) in my life. today maddy and i walked to this green space in the middle of the city, next to the university and high court, where a ton of people were playing cricket. it was maybe two, three football fields long, filled with hundreds of men playing cricket. we're pretty sure that we were the only women in the whole area, save for this one other white girl with her SO. i've never been so completely surrounded by so much testosterone.
last night we were offered the chance to go to some sort of grand event for presumably a bollywood thing. we would've gone except it was outside the city so we were supposed to go spend the night in this random place. no thank you.
now we're staying at the salvation army's red shield house. I KNOW. i feel so traveler-y. it's dirty and sort of run down, but maddy and i are loving it. we have our own room, our own bathroom, and free breakfast and lunch included in the room price. we eat in a canteen. it's just like school.
this afternoon we're gonna go up to the hanging gardens and jain temple. we're gonna take an old school cab. i swear they haven't updated their fleet since ford invented the car.
oh, and yesterday we took a ride on the train, too. the public transport in the city. when we first walked in to the station it was insane and we were like OH HELL NO THIS IS CRAZY AND SO MANY PEOPLE AND IN AN UNREADABLE LANGUAGE. but then we sat for a while, observed the ways of the people, and got more confident about it. we took a cab anyway (we were exactly sure where we were going), but on the way back hopped on the train. we were in a ladies-only car. it was awesome.
headed back upstairs to read and escape the sweaty afternoon heat. afternoon time is nap time.
p.s. kuala lumpur, malaysia, was pretty uneventful and not really worth mentioning.
so why am i going here again? *sigh* but we'd bought the place tickets, gotten the visas, so we were going.
and now that i'm here...i think everyone was exaggerating. this city's been wonderful to us so far. sure, we've met some unscrupulous seller guys and sad, puppy-dog-eyed children have tugged on our arms and begged for money, but overall, this isn't the harsh country i thought it would be.
granted, we've only been in mumbai/bombay/i can't decide what to call it. it's a big international city and people act differently in cities like this; generally, everything should be up to international/western standards. so i'm doing india-lite version.
but really, we've met mostly wonderful people. there was kamul, who we met on the street and who wandered around town with us for a while, helped us get sim cards, and invited us to a party later (which we declined and he understood). our cab driver from the airport was really sweet, pointing out all the sights of the city and making sure we got into our hotel. there've been countless other interactions--you know, those brief moments you have with strangers, whether they're in a hotel/restaurant/park/whatever--that haven't been harsh or rude at all.
this isn't to say that the city is all calm and full of wonderful people, though. it's a bizarre, loud, DIRTY place. oh man, you guys, you should've seen my feet yesterday. we went to the washer place (where thousands of guys are literally just washing clothes in these concrete basins) and walked around, so my feet got wet and gross in there, then we went to chowpatty beach on the arabian sea (aka a trash can), and my feet got grosser there, so that by the time we got home to shower at the end of the day, my sandaled feet looked like they were wearing shoes.
people are selling the weirdest stuff here. peacock feathers seem to be popular with the vendors, as do incredibly oversized balloons. seriously, they're the size of a my-size barbie. yeah, i totally and completely wanna walk around this crowded city with a giant balloon.
ok maybe those things aren't THAT weird. with that intro (and in such a foreign place) you were prob expecting something like elephant heads or snake venom.
there are almost zero white people around here. i thought that since we were coming to such a huge place, we'd be mobbing around with white people all the time. instead, we've been pointing out white folks like they're some sort of novel attraction because we hardly ever see them.
there are, however, a zillion men. i've never seen so many men (and so few women) in my life. today maddy and i walked to this green space in the middle of the city, next to the university and high court, where a ton of people were playing cricket. it was maybe two, three football fields long, filled with hundreds of men playing cricket. we're pretty sure that we were the only women in the whole area, save for this one other white girl with her SO. i've never been so completely surrounded by so much testosterone.
last night we were offered the chance to go to some sort of grand event for presumably a bollywood thing. we would've gone except it was outside the city so we were supposed to go spend the night in this random place. no thank you.
now we're staying at the salvation army's red shield house. I KNOW. i feel so traveler-y. it's dirty and sort of run down, but maddy and i are loving it. we have our own room, our own bathroom, and free breakfast and lunch included in the room price. we eat in a canteen. it's just like school.
this afternoon we're gonna go up to the hanging gardens and jain temple. we're gonna take an old school cab. i swear they haven't updated their fleet since ford invented the car.
oh, and yesterday we took a ride on the train, too. the public transport in the city. when we first walked in to the station it was insane and we were like OH HELL NO THIS IS CRAZY AND SO MANY PEOPLE AND IN AN UNREADABLE LANGUAGE. but then we sat for a while, observed the ways of the people, and got more confident about it. we took a cab anyway (we were exactly sure where we were going), but on the way back hopped on the train. we were in a ladies-only car. it was awesome.
headed back upstairs to read and escape the sweaty afternoon heat. afternoon time is nap time.
p.s. kuala lumpur, malaysia, was pretty uneventful and not really worth mentioning.
6.10.10
i WAS gonna upload pictures...
then fbook wasn't working.
THEN I FIXED IT. muahaha. take that, communism.
then i realize this janky computer doesn't have photo uploading software. while i could dl some on here (yeah, i can just dl software on a public comp, nbd), i'm tired and i have a super comfy bed upstairs and cable tv and i think there's an antm marathon on, so i'm taking all of this as i sign i should just give up.
but wait, i wanna tell you about sapa first. it was phenomenal. i took the overnight train from hanoi along with two other couples...one real sweet couple from england and this semi-weird, unmarried, old-but-acts-sorta-immature couple from australia. the woman was competitive and cheap, which means she ALWAYS asks how much you got stuff for and brags shamelessly when she got it for cheaper. not a fan. anyway, the train pulled in to lao cai in northern vietnam around 5 am.
everyone said (and by "everyone" i mean guidebooks and stuff) it'd be cold. it was so not cold. same temp as hanoi--warm, a little humid, nothing cool about it. liars.
but then we got in a van and drove an hour pretty much straight into a mountain range, and it got cold. YESSS this is what i was hoping for.
quick note about northern vietnam travel...from hanoi, there are two really popular short trips: sapa and halong bay. because i only had a week here and i wanted to explore hanoi for sure, i figured i only had time for one of these. sapa's mountainous and full of terraced rice fields, trees, and native villages; halong bay has big ol' limestone rocks jutting out of the ocean and boats you can sleep on. i've seen enough pretty stuff in the ocean, so i opted for the mountains.
as soon as i got out of the van and looked around at tiny sapa all buried away in the mountains, i knew i made the right choice. that day, at 9:30 am, i started out on a hike with a german girl and a local guide, lam, who was 18 and from a tribe a ways down the mountain.
btw, they advertise this as "trekking"...that's a misnomer. maybe it makes people happier if they call things like this a trek, but really, this was just a long walk in nature. the trail was well worn, there were always other people around, and we passed multiple cafes along the way.
actually, that kinda bugged me. on one hand, it was neat to walk through a few of the villages and see this simple way of life they lead, with these big fancy costumes that yes, they actually wear, and the way that rice permeates everything they do, and the simple homes they keep, and blah blah. but there were plenty of cafes serving us tourists cold beer, snacks, coke, anything we wanted so we'd be able to satisfy our high standard of living...meh. i just kind of feel bad when neat but personal, local ways of life become so geared toward tourists.
anyway, aside from that, i had a really awesome time on our walk. german girl margret and i had some great conversations, and lam started to really open up after a while (we hiked until 3 pm, after all...gives you some time for bonding). by the end she was bouncing up and down and inviting us to dinner at her house.
i went on one more walk through another village the next day, but it was maybe two miles, and we went so slow i think a baby could've beat us. the emphasis on that hike was def the tourism and shopping and crap.
i spent the rest of my time drinking too much strong vietnamese coffee, trying all of hte vietnamese beers, and generally reveling in the glory of cold weather. more than anything, this trip just made me excited for CHRISTMAS!
next stop: kuala lumpur, malaysia for one night (oct 7), where i'll once again meet up with my main bitch miss maddy armstrong. from there, on oct 8, we're off to MUMBAIIIII! expect a week of insanity.
THEN I FIXED IT. muahaha. take that, communism.
then i realize this janky computer doesn't have photo uploading software. while i could dl some on here (yeah, i can just dl software on a public comp, nbd), i'm tired and i have a super comfy bed upstairs and cable tv and i think there's an antm marathon on, so i'm taking all of this as i sign i should just give up.
but wait, i wanna tell you about sapa first. it was phenomenal. i took the overnight train from hanoi along with two other couples...one real sweet couple from england and this semi-weird, unmarried, old-but-acts-sorta-immature couple from australia. the woman was competitive and cheap, which means she ALWAYS asks how much you got stuff for and brags shamelessly when she got it for cheaper. not a fan. anyway, the train pulled in to lao cai in northern vietnam around 5 am.
everyone said (and by "everyone" i mean guidebooks and stuff) it'd be cold. it was so not cold. same temp as hanoi--warm, a little humid, nothing cool about it. liars.
but then we got in a van and drove an hour pretty much straight into a mountain range, and it got cold. YESSS this is what i was hoping for.
quick note about northern vietnam travel...from hanoi, there are two really popular short trips: sapa and halong bay. because i only had a week here and i wanted to explore hanoi for sure, i figured i only had time for one of these. sapa's mountainous and full of terraced rice fields, trees, and native villages; halong bay has big ol' limestone rocks jutting out of the ocean and boats you can sleep on. i've seen enough pretty stuff in the ocean, so i opted for the mountains.
as soon as i got out of the van and looked around at tiny sapa all buried away in the mountains, i knew i made the right choice. that day, at 9:30 am, i started out on a hike with a german girl and a local guide, lam, who was 18 and from a tribe a ways down the mountain.
btw, they advertise this as "trekking"...that's a misnomer. maybe it makes people happier if they call things like this a trek, but really, this was just a long walk in nature. the trail was well worn, there were always other people around, and we passed multiple cafes along the way.
actually, that kinda bugged me. on one hand, it was neat to walk through a few of the villages and see this simple way of life they lead, with these big fancy costumes that yes, they actually wear, and the way that rice permeates everything they do, and the simple homes they keep, and blah blah. but there were plenty of cafes serving us tourists cold beer, snacks, coke, anything we wanted so we'd be able to satisfy our high standard of living...meh. i just kind of feel bad when neat but personal, local ways of life become so geared toward tourists.
anyway, aside from that, i had a really awesome time on our walk. german girl margret and i had some great conversations, and lam started to really open up after a while (we hiked until 3 pm, after all...gives you some time for bonding). by the end she was bouncing up and down and inviting us to dinner at her house.
i went on one more walk through another village the next day, but it was maybe two miles, and we went so slow i think a baby could've beat us. the emphasis on that hike was def the tourism and shopping and crap.
i spent the rest of my time drinking too much strong vietnamese coffee, trying all of hte vietnamese beers, and generally reveling in the glory of cold weather. more than anything, this trip just made me excited for CHRISTMAS!
next stop: kuala lumpur, malaysia for one night (oct 7), where i'll once again meet up with my main bitch miss maddy armstrong. from there, on oct 8, we're off to MUMBAIIIII! expect a week of insanity.
3.10.10
enough of this city stuff
hanoi, you're a bustling beauty right now. you're filled with insanity and more people than you should hold. i'm loving it, but i need a break.
going up to sapa until the 6th. see you soon, you little ball of energy.
going up to sapa until the 6th. see you soon, you little ball of energy.
1.10.10
VIETNAMMMMMMM IN YOUR FACE!
excuse me for a minute but...HOLY SHIT. hanoi is nuts.
vietnam didn't welcome me with open arms. when i went to apply for my visa, i had to pay $25--specifically in USD. i only had $16 USD (maybe i brought this for show and tell? i dunno, that was 11 months ago version of nicki), but i figured lots of people would have this problem so the airport prob had an exchange place right next to the visa window.
NOT. two people ahead of me were short on cash, too. when they asked the visa guys what to do, they sort of shrugged like, "welp, guess you're SOL. no vietnam for you." lucky for them, two canadians with extra cash were standing nearby. when my name was called, i went up to the window and asked if i could use thai baht. sure, they said, for 1000 baht. that's a $5 rip off, but i didn't have a choice.
already, vietnam? really? you couldn't make this easy, could you?
i got my bag--one of the last three on the thingy--and proceeded to the exit. first, to get some vietnamese dong. this is money. it's a hilarious name for currency and it will never NOT be hilarious. anyway, i got over four million dong and told the exchange guy they had crazy money. he laughed. i walked away and this guy walked up to me offering me a taxi. yeah, i'm going to the old quarter, where friggin everyone goes, you can take me there? i dunno...but he was really nice, and because i've been living in thailand for a year i'm used to nice people being genuinely nice. so i said ok, let's go.
he and his pal took me upstairs. i waited outside a door by what looked like the exit ramp from the airport. the main guy went outside to get his friend. all of a sudden his pal grabbed my bag and was like "LET'S GO!" and rushed outside. main guy hopped in a taxi and a guard type figure started blowing his whistle and pointing angrily at us. main guy got out and the taxi drove off.
BAD SITUATION, NICKI. stupid. of course this is a scam. i told the guys i forgot, i wanted to get a sim card, i'm gonna go downstairs and get one. "they're twice the price here..." i heard them say as i dashed off. idiot nicki. this is NOT the southeast asia you know.
so i go downstairs to ask the information girl about a taxi. she says i should prob call my hotel first to make a reservation cuz there's this big celebration going on and there might not be room. i'd read it's hanoi's 1000th birthday or something, but i didn't think it'd be a big deal allllll year long.
NOT. super nice information girl and i spent an hour trying to find a hotel with an open room. she must've called at least 10 different places for me. sweet, sweet girl. finally we found one that was semi-affordable (free breakfast/internet/tv though!) and in a good location and had a room.
by this time it was almost 6 pm. i'd arrived two hours ago. as i got into the cab with the driver who spoke basically zero english (and i absolutely zero vietnamese), i was starting to think hanoi was a mistake. this city is too fucking crazy, especially by myself, and it's already been hard and expensive and maybe i should just look for the next cheap flight out of here. i was stupid for coming here alone.
but then i got to the hotel. and it's a sweet room with cable tv. so i sat down for a minute, wrote in my diary, literally screamed a bit to let out some frustration and shock, and calmed down.
this is what traveling is. it's hard. it's being stuck in a situation you can't find an easy way out of. it's being wildly uncomfortable. it's not knowing what to do.
it's figuring it all out anyway.
i decided i couldn't take the wussy way out and stay in my hotel room all night. after all, i had to eat. so i went out of my room and turned left. i didn't see anything and the traffic was crazy and i was terrified of getting lost, so i turned around. whatever, i'll go hungry.
no, nicki, don't so that. i went the other way instead and came across this HUGE shopping street, peds only. hundreds and hundreds of shops, thousands of people. there were kids, babies, teenagers, grandparents, locals, tourists, sellers, buyers, EVERYONE. i smiled a gigantic grin. yes, this is insane, but you're not gonna die. i walked down the street about half a mile and i don't think i stopped smiling the whole time. i got a kebab (OH MY GOD it was good) and some ice cream. as i was walking back toward my hotel, fireworks started going off. everyone started screaming and running toward them.
instead of going straight back, i followed the crowd. there are literally thousands of people out right now, watching fireworks, shopping, eating, doing god knows what for this celebration. i stood at an intersection filled with cars, motorbikes, and tons of people (everyone was right--traffic in this city is something else) and just laughed at it all. a few people caught me and laughed with/at me.
hanoi, you're a tough one, but i think i'm gonna love you.
vietnam didn't welcome me with open arms. when i went to apply for my visa, i had to pay $25--specifically in USD. i only had $16 USD (maybe i brought this for show and tell? i dunno, that was 11 months ago version of nicki), but i figured lots of people would have this problem so the airport prob had an exchange place right next to the visa window.
NOT. two people ahead of me were short on cash, too. when they asked the visa guys what to do, they sort of shrugged like, "welp, guess you're SOL. no vietnam for you." lucky for them, two canadians with extra cash were standing nearby. when my name was called, i went up to the window and asked if i could use thai baht. sure, they said, for 1000 baht. that's a $5 rip off, but i didn't have a choice.
already, vietnam? really? you couldn't make this easy, could you?
i got my bag--one of the last three on the thingy--and proceeded to the exit. first, to get some vietnamese dong. this is money. it's a hilarious name for currency and it will never NOT be hilarious. anyway, i got over four million dong and told the exchange guy they had crazy money. he laughed. i walked away and this guy walked up to me offering me a taxi. yeah, i'm going to the old quarter, where friggin everyone goes, you can take me there? i dunno...but he was really nice, and because i've been living in thailand for a year i'm used to nice people being genuinely nice. so i said ok, let's go.
he and his pal took me upstairs. i waited outside a door by what looked like the exit ramp from the airport. the main guy went outside to get his friend. all of a sudden his pal grabbed my bag and was like "LET'S GO!" and rushed outside. main guy hopped in a taxi and a guard type figure started blowing his whistle and pointing angrily at us. main guy got out and the taxi drove off.
BAD SITUATION, NICKI. stupid. of course this is a scam. i told the guys i forgot, i wanted to get a sim card, i'm gonna go downstairs and get one. "they're twice the price here..." i heard them say as i dashed off. idiot nicki. this is NOT the southeast asia you know.
so i go downstairs to ask the information girl about a taxi. she says i should prob call my hotel first to make a reservation cuz there's this big celebration going on and there might not be room. i'd read it's hanoi's 1000th birthday or something, but i didn't think it'd be a big deal allllll year long.
NOT. super nice information girl and i spent an hour trying to find a hotel with an open room. she must've called at least 10 different places for me. sweet, sweet girl. finally we found one that was semi-affordable (free breakfast/internet/tv though!) and in a good location and had a room.
by this time it was almost 6 pm. i'd arrived two hours ago. as i got into the cab with the driver who spoke basically zero english (and i absolutely zero vietnamese), i was starting to think hanoi was a mistake. this city is too fucking crazy, especially by myself, and it's already been hard and expensive and maybe i should just look for the next cheap flight out of here. i was stupid for coming here alone.
but then i got to the hotel. and it's a sweet room with cable tv. so i sat down for a minute, wrote in my diary, literally screamed a bit to let out some frustration and shock, and calmed down.
this is what traveling is. it's hard. it's being stuck in a situation you can't find an easy way out of. it's being wildly uncomfortable. it's not knowing what to do.
it's figuring it all out anyway.
i decided i couldn't take the wussy way out and stay in my hotel room all night. after all, i had to eat. so i went out of my room and turned left. i didn't see anything and the traffic was crazy and i was terrified of getting lost, so i turned around. whatever, i'll go hungry.
no, nicki, don't so that. i went the other way instead and came across this HUGE shopping street, peds only. hundreds and hundreds of shops, thousands of people. there were kids, babies, teenagers, grandparents, locals, tourists, sellers, buyers, EVERYONE. i smiled a gigantic grin. yes, this is insane, but you're not gonna die. i walked down the street about half a mile and i don't think i stopped smiling the whole time. i got a kebab (OH MY GOD it was good) and some ice cream. as i was walking back toward my hotel, fireworks started going off. everyone started screaming and running toward them.
instead of going straight back, i followed the crowd. there are literally thousands of people out right now, watching fireworks, shopping, eating, doing god knows what for this celebration. i stood at an intersection filled with cars, motorbikes, and tons of people (everyone was right--traffic in this city is something else) and just laughed at it all. a few people caught me and laughed with/at me.
hanoi, you're a tough one, but i think i'm gonna love you.
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