Goooood Morning Vietnammmm

The longest day that never was...

2009-03-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

We spent Wed. morning at the Edo-Tokyo museum which was a really cool mix of artifacts and model replicas of buildings towns and artifacts, including several life-size buildings. The museum was right next door to the sumo stadium which was unfortunately not hosting any matches (apparently they are only 4 times a year) but the museum was open so it was cool to look around. We then collected our backpacks and took the train to the airport. It was cool to see the city gradually fade to more residencial and a little rural scenery. As a tease I saw one cherry tree that had just started to bloom. Yes, we ended up just missing the cherry blossoms in Tokyo...one week later and...we'll just have to go back.

We left Tokyo at 5pm on March 18th, watched the sun set, moon rise and the sun rise from the plane. We ate dinner and then breakfast, living our day in reverse and arriving in Edmonton at 3pm on March 18th! For those of you who have scene the movie Groundhogs day...we have lived it :) All told I was up for well over 30 hours on a day that never was.

The trip was amazing and we all agreed, when we saw the snow as we were landing, that we wanted to go to ABH (anywhere but here). Thought you guys were supposed to have spring ready for us?!

Melanie and I will get the last of our pictures up so you can see everything. For me Hong Kong was the easiest city to get around in, Tokyo the hardest (that map Melanie posted is actually only one set of trains, there is another company that has just as many trains in the same area!), Cambodia had the amazing ruins and amazing people, Vietnam had the craziest traffic, best "hotel", great coffee and Hoi An (in Vietnam) the best food. We only scratched the surface of Asia and I can't wait to travel more.

K

Crappers of Asia

2009-03-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

I am kicking myself now for not having taken pictures of the extreme variety of bathrooms that we have seen over the last three weeks. It started with Hong Kong.... if you were lucky you got a mix of regular and squat toilets. I was so surprised to see squat toilets because HK seems so regal but we figured that it related to the whole sanitary issue of not actually touching anything while in the bathroom. We lucked out most of the time and were able to find western bathrooms (and always had a supply of tissue with us) but one night I had to "live the destination" and was lucky to come out alive.

Once we hit Vietnam we did ok. We didn't encounter any squat toilets but due to the overall heat some of the bathrooms were a little sketchy. All in all, it was survivable.

The most traumatizing bathroom we hit was in Cambodia at the Dead Fish Tower restaurant. Keep in mind that it is 35 degrees there and incredibly dusty and dirty. I headed down from the second floor to the bathroom down a dirty and poorly lit hallway to a bathroom that absolutely reeked. I switched on the light fully expecting a rat to scurry into the corner. I did my best to hover over the seat and managed to catch my underwear on the toilet seat wrecking all chance of keeping sanitary. The piece de resistance was when I washed my hands... only to have all of the water empty out onto my feet because the drain pipe wasn't connected to anything. ahhhh

Tokyo has been the complete opposite. Not only is the toilet a toilet, it is a bidet, an air dryer and a noise machine... seriously, you can press a button that plays a flushing sound so as not to offend anyone if you make an inappropriate noise while in the bathroom. At first the heated seat is a little unnerving because at home, if the seat is warm, that means the last guy was in for too long. You get pretty used to it here and it is a nice surprise every time. The only thing we don't understand is the cold water to wash your hands and the lack of paper towel to dry. Still researching that one.....

Konnichiwa

2009-03-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Tokyo on Saturday morning luckily at the end of the torrential down poor (didn't make for a great landing). It took a bit for us to find the hotel because I forgot to print the directions and it is surprisingly hard to find internet in Tokyo (everyone uses their phones). We had a bit of a nap and then headed out to Shinjuku for dinner. We have certainly gone from being able to buy ten items for a dollar to strictly window shopping. The huge department stores are full of designer brands and boutiques. Yesterday we headed to Harajuku, Meiji Temple, Shibuya, and Roppongi. Harajuku was insane with crazy costume stores and clothing shops. The temple was beautiful and we were able to see a traditional wedding procession. Shibuya was another mass of people and more high end shopping. Roppongi Hills is a huge complex that includes high end housing, shopping, restaurants and galleries.

Today we got up early and hit the infamous fish market. It was amazing to see aisles and aisles of fresh (some still squirming) fish being sold off. Of course we went for sushi next (it was 9am). From the market we walked up to Ginza to hit the Hello Kitty stores:) From there we walked to the Imperial Palace only to find out that it is closed on Mondays. The grounds are beautiful and we are thinking of heading back on Wednesday. Our last stop was Akihabara which is considered the "number one electric town". It is hilarious, guys stand outside of their shops screaming into a megaphone about their products and there is usually some guy next door screaming even louder.

Tomorrow we are hopping on the train to Yokohama to see the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love M

P.S. The map above is the Tokyo rail map that we have been using:)

The most fashionable dog in the world

2009-03-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

If I could have figured out how to get this dog home with me, she would be in my carry on.

Kitty Cam

2009-03-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

So both Kristi and Jeremy have digital cameras and it is their duty on the trip to capture everything cool that we see. I just have a camera in my phone so I have designated it as the "kitty cam". I have received quite a few weird looks when I go into shops to take pictures of the animals.

Here are the top two kitties so far:

Break in Case of Emergancy

2009-03-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

You know those magic pills that your doctor gives you when you travel, "just in case"...

All I will say is they work very well :) I went from thinking that I was going to die and be quarantined once we arrived in Tokyo to eating sushi tonight.

Yesterday we hung out with Caleb and Lori in Ho Chi Minh and picked up the cool prescription glasses that we had ordered (the mark up on frames here is next to nothing). Kevin joined us for dinner and then we had to say goodbye to everyone one last time. We had an incredible visit; Kevin and Lori are amazing hosts and "travel agents", their house is an oasis of calm in the manic craziness of Vietnam (having our own private bedrooms with en suites was pretty rough!) and we were spoiled by Miss Chau, who did our laundry, and Mr. Phong, who drove us everywhere including the airport a million times. THANKS you guys! Oh yeah, there might have been a pretty cute baby that Melanie tried to take with us! See you soon Kevin, Lori and Caleb!!!!!!!

PS I think Melanie put up more pictures in the album.

Night Watchman

2009-03-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

Jeremy protecting our bags at the airport while we wait for our flight to Tokyo last night.

Sunset

2009-03-11T07:46:00.001-07:00

Ankor Feet

2009-03-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

2009-03-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

Angkor HOT!

It was 36 today in Ankor as we trekked through Ankor Thom and Ankor Wat! We started at 8:00 and saw the Bayon (famous for the 50 towers that have the 4 women's faces on each side), the "Tomb Raider" ruins, the 5 towers at Ankor Wat and then watched (or tried to) the sun set from the top of another ruin (there was a million people there and it was a bit cloudy). We then came back to our hotel, had massages and just ate a great meal at the frog restaurant (there are frogs jumping around on the tile :)

We have a wonderful driver for the days that we are here and Sip Ri (sp?) has been great showing us around.

We have decided to stay here until the weather smartens up in Edmonton.

Pictures to come soon. Including Melanie's "Ankor Feet".

The frogs are now talking to Melanie...

Oh yeah, Melanie and I feed crocs at the restaurant we ate in last night!

2009-03-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful 4 days in Hoi An. The entire town is a Unesco World Heritage Site with really cool preserved houses, temples and architecture scattered through out. All of the shops and restaurants are in old buildings with a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese architecture. The food is to die for world class (no rice diet for Melanie) and the shopping is great. Every second store is a shoe store or tailor where you get custom made shoes and clothes. We might have bought a little bit of stuff :)

It was great having Kevin, Lori and Caleb with us for the weekend! Lori showed us the ropes for bargaining and getting what you want at the tailor shops.

We explored Saigon yesterday, got fancy pedicures and we are off to Cambodia for the next few days.

K

2009-03-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

The Beautiful Ancient City of Hoi An

2009-03-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

View from our front door

2009-03-06T03:49:00.001-08:00

The bathtub in our room

2009-03-06T03:47:00.001-08:00

Shopper's Paradise

2009-03-06T03:37:00.000-08:00

Ok so I may have to live here for the rest of my life. Every store sells either hand made clothing or shoes and the food is amazing. We had a beautiful dinner last night on the river and walked around doing our "pre-shopping".

Kevin and Lori (and the adorable Caleb) are flying in tonight and Jeremy and Kevin are going diving tomorrow. We are going to hit the stores and order up our garments so that they can be made for us (takes usually 5 hours for a coat). Don't worry momo, I will get double of everything!

This morning we walked the old town and saw some of the original teak wood houses. One that we went through was over 300 years old. It was unbelievable. We (and I mean Kristi and Jeremy) had vietnamese subs from a vendor on the side street for lunch. I opted for the plain baguette. We stopped at a watch shop and I got a Rolex!!!!!!

Tonight we are going to try out a restaurant that apparently Mick Jagger likes.

2009-03-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

And just when you thought she couldn't get any dirtier! We spent Wed. walking around the dirty,manic city of Hanoi and saw the museum's, Uncle Ho and tried not to get lost in the spiraling streets and nonstop traffic.

Today we hopped a plane to Hoi An, a sleepy town that is more resortish, along with an Old Town that is a world heritage site. We sat in the sun, had massages and stuffed ourselves on probably the best meal of the trip (we had a bottle of wine, appetizers, mains and dessert that were the equivalent of a high end restaurant for about $70 for all 3 of us!) The bread and baking is to die for!

2009-03-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

The Temple of Literature (Asia's oldest university)
Ho Chi Minh's museum
Single pillar pagoda on the grounds of Ho Chi Minh's house
Ho Chi Minh's "tomb" where his is embalmed.

2009-03-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

This is where Jeremy and I ended up eating dinner (Melanie had cream puffs from another bakery that we found) and I bought a huge carrot and kolrabi off the street. All together I think it cost us less than $3. Jeremy and I had these fresh french bread buns with fresh fried egg, shredded cabbage and hot sauce inside. They were delicious! We all washed it down with a couple bottles of wine in our room. Off to the museums tomorrow!

K

2009-03-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

Canadian women triumphantly finds shoe heaven!

2009-03-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

mmmmnice clean feet

2009-03-03T07:31:00.000-08:00

My feet after walking around Hanoi all day.

2009-03-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

We spent the day yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City with Lori, Kevin and Caleb. Unfortunately Kevin had to go back to work after the unbelievable meal we had and missed the trip to Fanny's ice cream parlor. Jeremy and I decided to go for it and had the platter with ten different types of ice cream, fruit salad and a variety of sauces. By far the best meal I have had here:) It seems like all we have been doing is eating because Kevin and Lori (and a sound asleep Caleb) took us out for our welcome meal. We walked to a local restaurant on the water and had a fabulous traditional vietnamese meal.
This morning (Tuesday) we flew to Hanoi. It is quite a bit colder here, well 25 instead of 35 ahahahah sorry about that snow lovers.
We walked around the city and were amazed at the noise and pollution from the scooters and cabs. There is a beautiful lake in the middle of the city and we walked around it and through the temples. Tomorrow we will visit the Ho Chi Minh masolueum or "Ho Chi Minh's bedroom" as they call it and a variety of museums.

Happy Finish?

2009-03-03T07:18:00.001-08:00

I may get a job here yet!

Ahhh heat

2009-03-02T00:17:00.000-08:00

I love the heat and humidity here. I woke up to a breakfast of fresh pasty that Kevin got a the bakery, fresh fruit and coffee. Lori and I then headed to the gym-felt good to stretch out the legs on the treadmill and do a bit of yoga (surprisingly I can still touch my toes). Our laundry was done for us when we got back and Melanie got in trouble for trying to do the dishes. So far we have hung out with Lori and Caleb today (they are the best hosts!) and met Kevin for a delicious lunch. We just had the best ice cream ever (we have already picked out the flavours we want to eat next visit). We have booked our flights to Siem Reap to visit Ankgor Phat next week and Jeremy is figuring out our flight schedule to fly to Hanoi tomorrow morning for a couple of days and then to Hoi An where Kevin and Lori and Caleb are meeting us for the weekend. Kevin and Jeremy are going to dive there and then rest of us are going to shop and have clothes tailored! A little beach time might be in order too. I will post some more photos soon. We are off to get pampered soon!

Tourist HK

2009-03-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

We spent Saturday checking out some of the more touristy aspects of Hong Kong. First we took the ferry from Kowloon over to the central station and headed over to the midlevel escalators. HK is very hilly so they have built this fantastic length of outdoor escalators that takes you up the side of the island, allowing you to stop and get off at every road to take advantage of the shops and wonderful restaurants. They call is SOHO. Once we went all the way up to the top (takes about 25 minutes) we headed back down a couple of streets to go for lunch. From there we headed back up to the top and through the Botanical park (which also included a fabulous free zoo).

We walked through the zoo to head over to the peak tram which takes you to the highest peak in HK. It is a wonderful trolley car that basically takes you straight up to the top of HK island. Jeremy and Kristi opted to go to the 360 lookout once we got to the top and I basically stayed plastered to the back of the lower building staying as far away from the glass as possible. (and I might have done some shopping too:)

We headed back down in search of a "chocolate lounge" that Jeremy had read about on a website. It ended up being in the most bizarre location down by the harbour but was well worth searching it out.

From there we caught a cab back to the train station and headed back up to Mong Kok to take a second swing through the markets. It was even busier than the night before if you can imagine.

Exhausted and starving we headed back to Ashley street for dinner and then collapsed into bed.

Today Kristi and I left Jeremy at the hotel to do some work and headed out to a couple of the local shops to take one last look. We hopped on a flight to Viet Nam at 4:30pm and were graciously greeted by Kevin and his driver to take us to their house.

Kevin and Lori are most gracious hosts and a wealth of travel information.

Tomorrow is a designated mani/pedi day so we will keep you posted.

Love M

copy watch copy handbag miss

2009-02-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

The number of people on the streets in HK at one time is dizzying. Like Kristi said, we hit a bunch of the major markets yesterday. Last night after dinner we headed back over to the ladies market. It was probably 9 oclock by the time we got there and the streets and sidewalks were a sea of people. We came up out of the train station and it was as if it was the middle of the day because of all of the huge light billboards and advertising screens. It was very surreal but fascinating.

The guys selling fake items weren't around as much here but when we walk down the street we get harassed at every crossing. Don't worry momo, I will get you some stuff where it is more safe than to "follow" them to their stores.

We are having a blast, eating tons of wonderful food and Kristi and Jeremy are making sure that I eat something new everyday. Yesterday I had incredible pineapple fried rice with mystery topping. It seriously looked like someone had unravelled a rope and then cut up the fibres and put it on top. It tasted ok though:) I also had sesame tuna at dinner last night which was ok because I had a big glass of red wine to go with it!!!! Who knows what today will hold.

We miss everyone and wish that you could all be here to see what we are. Like Kristi says, the pictures just don't do it justice.

Love Melanie

PS We have added a flickr site so you can see more pictures.

2009-02-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

Exploring Kowloon yesterday led us to the Jade market, the Temple street food market and the "ladies market". We ate Thai in this tiny restaurant, drinks at the Cuban bar and then dinner at a French "tapas" bar. The food at the street markets were amazing, I wanted to buy all the fresh produce just to taste everything. We found a cheap electronics place and Melanie and I bought "sticks" (flash drives for those of you who don't watch 24). They are 8 GB and about the size of a 1.5 Chiclets. We are heading to Central Hong Kong today (across the bay) and then back to some of the markets. The photo of the night market doesn't do it justice, it felt like daylight and the number of people and business of it all was dizzying but very cool. I love it here.

2009-02-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

2009-02-27T16:17:00.000-08:00

2009-02-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong here we are!

2009-02-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

The Hong Kong airport was incredibly big and efficient; we had our bags and were through customs in about 15 minutes! Melanie and I had our first iced latte while we waited for Jeremy to arrive. We then figured out that we needed a "blue" taxi to get to our first hotel. We were staying on Lantau (where the airport is) so that we could explore the island the next day. We had a crazy roller coaster ride across the island and through what looks like a national park (Melanie had her "Disneyland" ride and was quite green by the time we got there). Our hotel (picture) ended up being in a very quiet sort of village right on the water. It has felt strange to essentially lose a day in our travels and I keep forgetting it is Thursday already.

We bought Octopus cards (good for transit, ferry etc) and took a 30 min bus ride across the island to see the Big Buddha, Po Lin Monastery and take a ride on the new Ngong Ping 360 sky tram. The Big Buddha was well, Big, but set in the misty hills it was beautiful. We ate at the monastery and Melanie tried everything mushrooms, hot sauce, Bean curd dessert and all. We then headed off to the brand new tram that traverses the island (www.np360.com.hk) our pictures didn't do it justice as it was pretty foggy.

The Airport Lounge

2009-02-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

We are on our way! Edmonton gave us a shit load of snow to show us off! Thanks to Kevin and Lori we are sitting in the Air Canada lounge sipping rum and coke at the moment and setting up our blog for our travels. First off to Hong Kong where we meet Jeremy and hang out (read shop) for a few days before heading to Ho Chi Minh. K

Local woman only takes three pairs of shoes on three week trip.......

Can you believe it! In the spirit of bring home more than you take, I have successfully packed as little as possible in order to bring home everything I see. Kristi and I are currently drinking ourselves into a stuper so that we sleep through the 14 hour flight. Cheers to you guys digging yourselves out of the snow!!!! Will post more once we arrive in HK.