We are in Taiwan!

…and now the real adventure begins!

One Night in Bangkok

…is one night too many. In our case, it turned out to be one night and much of the following day as our transit stop turned into a bit more thanks to a mix-up in our flights. We tried to make the best of it as we always do by taking a mini-tour of the city. We carefully arranged our plan with the help of the hotel concierge and grabbed a taxi from our hotel. Mr. Tony Vee seemed quite the cheerful taxi driver at first, helpfully telling us about the city as he drove us towards town. We quickly understood that he wanted us to hire him for the day. Although the first price he offered for this service was outrageous, he did agree to a very reasonable price, so we took him up on the offer and had time for a visit to Bangkok’s two most famous temples. The temples in Bangkok are far more ornate and by far more modern than those we had seen in Vietnam and Cambodia. They are brightly colored and glittering with jewels and full of some of the most incredible Buddha’s that exist. At the Grand Palace, which contains the King’s residence, we saw the beautiful Emerald Buddha (unfortunately, no photos allowed) and at Wat Po we saw the impressive and gigantic Reclining Buddha. I believe one of this Buddha’s toes is larger than my head! We had lunch at a seafood restaurant that is a bit touristy, but we’ve wanted to try it since my Mom ate there when she was in Bangkok years ago. You shop for your food (yes, with a grocery cart and everything) first, then they prepare it for you any way you like. Despite the neon glitz and tourist price tag, it was very tasty.


Our biggest adventure in Bangkok was dealing with the people. Everywhere we went people tried to take advantage of us. From the guy who asked to see our receipt when we exited the temple – he was dressed in something official looking and made an official looking mark on the receipt before handing it back to us, then proceeded to try to convince us to hire his TukTuk for the day – to our taxi driver (you knew I would get back to him). Our dear taxi driver tried to tell us the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed and drove us to a restaurant of his choosing instead. Thanks to hubby’s knowledge of the area and his firm insistence, we eventually made it to the restaurant we originally requested. Our driver tried to renegotiate the rate on the way (probably since he had originally calculated a nice restaurant kick-back), but we would have none of it and paid him the agreed upon fee when we returned to our hotel. Sadly, that wasn’t the end of our interactions with this guy as he tried to tell the hotel staff that we didn’t pay him. The hotel staff quickly understood the situation and apologized to us for the entire experience. By then it was obvious why Bangkok has been dubbed his “least favorite city in the world”.

In the Footsteps of Kings

We were suitably impressed the moment we stepped off the plane in Cambodia. The Siem Reap airport is one of the most beautiful airports we’ve seen in the world and although it is only five years old, the government is building a new one. This one is too small and too close to the archaeological wonders of this place (jet traffic may damage the ruins). Of course, this city of one million people gets THREE million visitors a year and each one is charged $50 to enter the country and $40 to leave, so funding the new airport construction should be no problem.

Today we walked in the footsteps of Kings. The Angkor Archaeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and considered to be among the great wonders of the world, on the same scale with the pyramids of Egypt. Regardless of your religion it is difficult not to feel moved by the sheer scale of the temples of Angkor. An incredible amount of detail has been preserved in the sandstone carvings over the centuries so the temples can be quite moving on both a grand and small scale.

There are hundreds of temples within the park and hundreds more not yet open to the public (they must be cleared of land mines first). No one knows how many temples are yet to be discovered deep within the Cambodian jungles. We visited just a few during our stay and fell in love with each one. Each of them, even those built by the same king and bearing the same style of carvings, are unique. The setting of each temple adds to the magic. Some are still set deep within the jungle, while others have been cleared to be experienced much as they may have looked while the Kings and their courts enjoyed them.

We woke up at 4:30 am local time for one of the world's great experiences: sunrise over Angkor Wat. We arrived much earlier than most of the crowds and enjoyed a double dose of beauty as we watched the full moon set just before the sun rose. Angkor Wat is massive and stunning in any light, but at sunrise, there is nothing like it in the world. We have never seen the pyramids, but can tell you that the temples of Angkor are something you should see in your lifetime if you can.

(Yes, that is the temple from Tomb Raider, one of Angelina Jolie's flicks.)

Ancient Hoi An

It is difficult to choose a favorite location so far, but Hoi An is in contention. Our resort lies on the banks of a small, picturesque river. Last night we sipped a pineapple juice and watched a wooden boat placing paper lanterns filled with candles on the river after sunset. Waking up in Hoi An and looking out across the water is very peaceful.

Our time in Hoi An was filled with relaxing, riding and cooking. Our ride to Marble Mountain and back was much wetter than we’d planned, but it was fun riding in the rain. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been much fun to ride for 5 days in the rain, but riding for a half day in the rain was fun. In the evening, we walked through the perfumed streets of Hoi An (incense is burning throughout) and learned to make Vietnamese spring rolls and fish wrapped in a banana leaf from the local "celebrity chef”. We met some other travelers and had a good time. The next morning we took the wettest boat ride of our lives.

Rain drenched Hoi An during our stay and it couldn’t have been more lovely. It lies just south of Danang, the largest US military base during the "American War" (as the Vietnamese refer to the conflict). Like Hue and Halong Bay, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site (I think I forgot to mention this about Hue in my previous post on Hue!). It is the kind of place where you welcome the rain – the kind of place where the sound of the rain and the smell of the air make it even more magical.

High on the Hai Van Pass

“Active” pretty much sums up our day yesterday. We rode our bicycles much of the way from Hue to Hoi An. We even conquered the Hai Van Pass (aka Cloudy Summit). Although reaching the summit was a sweet reward (we were “awarded” bracelets for our achievement by our driver), the views on the way up and throughout the day were the real reward.

Just outside of Hue where we began our ride, we pedaled through ornate cemeteries built in swampy fields where water buffalo grazed. That was one of the most beautiful parts of the trip, but we were just beginning the day’s ride and didn’t take nearly enough photos. We passed through scenic villages and saw lots of smiling faces. We even became the first bike tour to cross a newly constructed (and not yet completed!) bridge. (The alternative would have been to take a “ferry”. Upon seeing the “ferry”, we decided that the not-yet-complete bridge was the far more preferable alternative.)

The Hai Van Pass was the crown jewel of the day in both effort expended and scenic beauty. The approach to the pass afforded us our first glimpses of the South China Sea and the lush mountains surrounding it. The ride up is full of steep, sharp switchbacks that were, in some cases, challenging on a bike so it is easy to understand why a tunnel was built to accommodate most trucks and autos. The six-mile ride to the summit included a fifteen hundred foot elevation gain along with the switchbacks and the day was warm and humid - in other words, no easy ride! Yet we were still in awe of the natural beauty of the place as we pushed up the mountain. This is one place where the pictures don't come close to conveying the overwhelming beauty of the area.

Hue Wonderful

A French Colonial hotel that felt like a palace welcomed us to Hue. Built in 1901, it is a truly beautiful hotel from a romantic era with a glittering lobby, huge rooms and service to match. Our room looked out over the Perfume River, so named because the headwaters of the river, far up in the mountains, grew fragrant from the abundance of fruit that would fall into its waters.

We pedaled along the lush country roads outside of Hue and along the banks of the Perfume River visiting temples, pagodas and people along the way. The biking ranged from peaceful to hair-raising and I can think of no better way to experience Vietnam. We visited many of the most important historical sites in and around Hue and found ourselves the subject of a surprising number of video cameras pointed out the windows of passing tourist buses. Why they found American tourists on bicycles to be so interesting we're not sure but we’re guessing it’s because we looked like we were having fun.

Riding a bicycle on the streets of Hue during rush hour is one of the most thrilling things I've ever done. Scooters, bikes and vehicles share the same roadway and there are a lot of all of them. As long as everyone is headed in the same direction everything is easy. The traffic, as they say, flows like water. If you watch it you will see that it’s true. You simply overtake on the left and avoid any sudden moves. As in snow skiing, you can’t worry about what’s happening behind you. You simply watch what’s happening in front of you. When you need to make a left turn or navigate an intersection, things can get a bit dicey but it somehow all works out. Usually.

As daylight began to fade and evening commuter traffic reached its height, we tucked in behind our support van so he could lead us back to our hotel via the slightly less congested back streets. It started to rain and darkness was upon us but we were having fun zipping past slower bikes and watching the rear passenger on every motorbike that passed nearly get whiplash as they turned to have a look at us. All was going well until I missed a quick right turn and our guide and I rode right by hubby and the van. I quickly corrected course and headed back down the small street to catch up with hubby and the van. As I rushed to catch up, focusing on the van's taillights in the dark, our guide didn’t realize I had made the correction, lost sight of me and went out looking for me. I’m sure the next few minutes on the dark, rainy back streets of Hue were far more frightening for our guide than for us – after all, I had my husband and the van with me. In the end the guide found us and we had a ride we will never forget.

Hanoi to Halong

Halong Bay is three hours by car and worlds away from Hanoi. We boarded a boat with 2 other couples and an equal number of crew, received a refreshing cool washcloth and fresh squeezed tangerine juice and set sail (ok, we motored) out into Halong Bay. We raced around the roof deck snapping photos of a few of the 1669 islands that lie within the 1553 square kilometers of Halong Bay for a while, then sat down for a lunchtime feast of fresh seafood. The afternoon brought more relaxing and a kayak tour of one of the many hidden bays within the bay - this one accessible via a low arch. Once inside, the only sounds were of our lone kayak gliding through the water, and a huge horn bill of some kind that was too big for the branches he was hopping around on. We had time for a brief dip in the bay before dinner.

Any concerns over spending the night on a junk were completely unfounded - our room on the boat was more luxurious than our hotel in Hanoi. As our guest blogger pointed out, the place was full of tourist boats but it was still beautiful and we hope that as a World Heritage Site it will stay beautiful. There is a delicate balance between serving the needs of preservation while allowing people to enjoy that which is being preserved and clearly, they're still figuring it out.