Highlights from Hanoi & Ha Long Bay

I just realized that I never posted pics from Hanoi and Ha Long Bay! It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself. I'm pretty sure Tania's favorite part was Ha Long Bay. We took pictures as much as we could, and there's a whole huge set of the pics on Flickr.



I really really loved Hanoi. We ate at all of these awesome restaurants, but we were a little dismayed that the restaurants in the tour books were all restaurants that catered to foreigners. I have to say that our cheapest and most authentic meals came towards the end when we were eating street food on tiny little chairs with motorcycle exhaust blowing up our butts.

Hanoi is a small city, and we walked because we felt like walking would be the safest course of action. Motorcycle taxis were aplenty, as were cyclos and taxis, but none of them seemed to obey any sort of traffic law and we wanted to get out alive. The highlight was really the water puppet show, which was a total deal. My sister said something along the lines of "they could charge stupid Americans 5 times as much and they would still pay."

We left Hanoi for Ha Long Bay in the middle of our trip and it was everything Hanoi was not -- peaceful and serene. We booked an overnight trip on the Santa Maria Cruiser, and it was quite nice as we were two of six guests total on the cruise ship. The ship maxes out at 16 guests, but I imagine it would have been quite crowded with all rooms occupied like that. I don't know how people do Ha Long as a day trip from Hanoi because it's nearly three hours just to get there.

Anyhow, I'm hoping that we get to go back soon. I'd love to go with Joel and the rest of my family and see the rest of Vietnam -- Hue and Saigon especially.

A Cute Kid + Puppy = Real Estate Sale?

Okay, so Joel and I have been looking for houses. Our agent encouraged me to drive by a house this afternoon, which I did. The house itself was okay, but what melted my heart was the kid next door, out on the front lawn (you don't see this in very many neighborhoods in LA - a kid out on the front lawn alone), playing with possibly the cutest little puppy I've ever seen (sorry, Romeo). The boy asked if I wanted to play with the puppy, which was his cousin's. Of course I did. And I fell in love with a neighborhood where I would get to sit on a front lawn with my neighbor's kid and play with a puppy. It's a really good ploy, because I hardly remember what the house looked like and I keep thinking about the cute little puppy who could barely make it up the steps to the front door.

I think maybe in a buyer's market, real estate agents should look into cute kids and puppies. It definitely worked on me.

Megan tagged me!

Megan tagged me awhile back, so here we go:

What was I doing ten years ago?

Ten years ago: July 1998. I was on a summer study-abroad in the Kansai region of Japan, working on my Japanese. It was my first trip out of the country!

Five things on my to-do list for today?

Monday is my day off, sort of. 5 items off of today's list:
- Go to the paper company. Complain about paper received and buy ink.
- Check and respond to email.
- Make reservations at Patina.
- Go lay by the pool.
- Continue working on new business website.

Snacks I like?

Yummy salty snacks and yummy sugary snacks. Not too huge of a chocolate fan anymore, but I won't refuse it!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire?

Pay off all debts, buy a nice place to live and a nice car to drive, travel the world. Maybe try to take over a small country. A nice one, though. Preferably a nice one with pretty beaches.

Places I have lived?

Honolulu, Hawaii
Kaneohe, Hawaii
Claremont, California
Nishinomiya, Japan
Vienna, Austria
Los Angeles, California

Jobs I have had?

Retail Store Clerk
Web Developer
Library Assistant (blech! in Gov. Docs no less)
Research Assistant
Web Designer/Developer/Administrator
Letterpress Designer/Printer

I'm supposed to tag more people but...well...I wouldn't want to impose!

April Fool's Day!

I can't take anything seriously today. Ever since that incident when I was in 6th grade when a news announcer said that Hawaii was switching to Daylight Savings Time...no joke.

More tomorrow!

Hong Kong Highlights!

Here are highlights of our trip to Hong Kong!




We arrived in Hong Kong at 7am. After going through customs and picking up our luggage, my sister and I had our own bus to our hotel on Hong Kong Island. We checked in, and as our room was already ready for us, we showered and were on our way. First order of business: dim sum! We went to dim sum in City Hall at Maxim's Palace. There, we experienced for the first time (but not the last time), Hong Kong's version of cleanliness. We were given a pot of hot water and a bowl to clean our eating instruments. We also noticed that dim sum in Hong Kong was a time for locals to relax. Many of them came in with reading material and would just sit there with tea and read. After our dim sum, we started our walk through Central towards Victoria Peak. We took the Peak Tram up to the Peak, and it was actually quite a fun steep ride. The views up on top were amazing, and we took a walk around the hill. Afterwards, we went into Kowloon to the Temple Street Market. Tania didn't see anything she liked there, so we went to Ladies' Market. Again, Tania didn't see anything there, so we decided just to go see the Avenue of the Stars and wait for the Symphony of Lights.

The Symphony of Lights in the Guinness world record holding longest light show in the world, and it was neat how for over 15 minutes, the buildings in Hong Kong danced. After the light show, we took the ferry back to Hong Kong. We went to dinner at a hole in the wall noodle joint near our hotel.

The next day we went to Luk Yu Tea House. As much as Maxim's Palace the first day was the dim sum with the dim sum carts that we were used to, Luk Yu looked like what dim sum must have looked like mid century. Women carried the dim sum selections in tin trays, and everything had an old world feel to it. After breakfast, we wandered around Hong Kong Island some more until we came upon Hollywood Road and Man Mo Temple. Then we hopped on the subway for Lantau Island to see the biggest outdoor Buddha in the world. Now, I had already seen the second biggest outdoor Buddha in the world in Japan, so I was interested to see the biggest. The stop before ours was the transfer stop for the Disneyland line, and we smiled when we saw the Disneyland train, all dolled up Disney style.

Now, we knew that at the end of the subway line, there would be a cable car. What we didn't realize was how long the cable car ride was -- over 5 miles long. It was quite lovely, having a bird's eye view. We got up there and walked through the little shopping village to the Buddha. Unlike the one in Japan, one can see this Buddha sitting on top of the hill from many vantage points, and it was a very popular tourist site. We saw the temple nearby. At night, we went to check out the Causeway Bay shopping area. In the morning, before our flight, we had our last dim sum at a restaurant near our hotel. If Luk Yu was "old school," Viking was "new school" with no carts, only menus (kind of like sushi bar menus) to mark. After our dim sum, we went back to the hotel to check out and catch our ride to the airport.

Back Home!

It's been thrilling to travel around, but it's also very nice to be back home. I've been busy sorting the pictures and putting everything up online for posterity. A couple things that I've welcomed:

- Potable tap water. So so nice.
- Enforced traffic laws.
- Catalytic converters. I didn't think I would call LA air clean, but man, it certainly seems clean after Hanoi.
- Cushy bed. Nuff said.