Vietnam - Ha Giang - Part I

After returning from Ha Long Bay we had initially planned to go down to Hoi An. We decided after looking at flights and determining how we would get to Cambodia from Vietnam that we would head to Northern Vietnam and visit the region of Ha Giang ( pronounced Ha Zang more or less ).

This would end up being one the highlights of our trip. As we would experience beautiful peaks and valleys across the area and also learn about the minority ethnic communities of Vietnam.

We would take a bus from Hoi An to get up there. Aina had read up on how manage the bus situation, as it is sort of odd. We had read to ignore everyone asking us questions when we got the terminal and walk into the main building. We would see the various ticket counters and turn to the right and pass some guards, explaining we were taking a bus. Once to the parking terminal we would have to seek out the bus we needed for Ha Giang, it had a sign fortunately. We would pay for our ticket on the bus. What the tickets serve I would assume would be to increase the price for tourists.

The seats are sort of like lazy boys but smaller and less comfortable and you have a tiny shoebox to place your feet within. I do not have small feet.

We would plan our "loop" of Ha Giang once we got up there. We would take three days and go the opposite direction of the normal / suggested route. This would allow to see markets in Du Gia, where we would spend the first night, and in Dong Van.

We rented a moto and headed off to work Du Gia.

In Du Gia we managed to be there for the Saturday market. The evening before there were many preparations for the market. We decided to eat dinner at the same restaurant we had eaten lunch in during the afternoon. It was family run with the father being the cook. He was really nice and gave us large portions for dinner. As we were finishing up, he sat down beside me and produced a small bottle of corn liquor sort like the liquor from mash for whiskey before it is processed. He signaled the number 3, placing small glasses in front of me and Aina. We drank the shot with him and he began to pour again. We insisted "no,no" but he grabbed ahold of my glass and Aina had not finished hers yet. We took another shot and then I held on to my glass. He took a third shot and went back to cooking. After we had finished, I motioned to him that I was taking Aina's shot. He then invited us to his table with his wife where they were eating a fruit similar to a peach. He and his wife began to peel and feed us the fruit. He started to try and ask questions, we used Google translate as he explained he had his wife and children and asked us questions. It was a nice moment as we asked about his children and he asked how old we were and why we didnt have children haha.

The next day there were so many people in the small town that was now packed with people throughout. Many people from the surrounding areas and ethnic groups would have been there since 4am setting up and organizing.

Vietnam - Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

We left the Philippines through Manila on a late night flight to Hanoi. We arrived and had to do some paperwork and payments to get myself a visa. Aina was already good to go on 15 day no frills visa for Spain.

We got a cab to our hotel in the old town and would plan out our coming days for Vietnam there in Hanoi. 

We would only stay in the old town area of Hanoi for a day, but liked the old architecture ( Aina will update with photos ). We decided our first destination in Vietnam would be to Ha Long Bay, an area known for it's steep limestone island outcrops.

We would stay in Ha Long Bay and also visit Cat Ba Island over three days and two nights. This would spoil us a bit with good food and gorgeous scenery.

The folklore of Ha Long Bay tells a story of how long ago Vietnam's enemy, China, was attempting a naval invasion. Dragons were sent to protect the Vietnamese people by the Jade Emperor and protected the people. After the hard fought battle they descended into the bay with only their mouths visible, the limestone outcrops, and rest until needed again to protect the Vietnamese people. The name of the bay comes from the story and Halong literally means descending dragon in Vietnamese.

Our guide also explained how China has always been considered an enemy. Today the French and Americans are looked upon favorably, but he didn't speak much about the American war, which from our visits to other areas is still, understandably, a painful topic.

We also managed to do some biking and trekking through a small town called Viet Hai on Cat Ba Island.

We would head back to Hanoi for an evening after our trip to Ha Long Bay. I especially liked the pho bo, a beef broth rice noodles soup that is served with some onion, basil, bean sprouts, and lime with some spicy red peppers on the side.

Fresh roll :)

Philippines - Nacpan

From Cebu, after finally reuniting with Aina's backpack (a whole different story), we flew to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. We would quickly join up with a group of other tourists to take a van to Coron and put us near Nacpan.

The van and experience would sour me a great deal, as the entire process is a poorly done bloodsucking process with no numbing agents. Anyways, we got to Nacpan and to our hostel, which was nice, but again soured me a little as they didn't even provide toilet tissue among other small details such as a roof that leaked. Toilet tissue! 

The beauty of Nacpan washed away those dirty onery thoughts. We would spend our time out on the water visiting lagoons and beaches.

Aina claims this as one of her highlights of our trip so far. It was extremely special and we were spoiled with delicious food also.

Philippines - Siquijor & Bohol

Siquijor and Bohol are two islands located near the island of Cebu. We would fly into Cebu before making our way out to these islands by various ferries. We had initially travelled here with the idea of seeing whale sharks, but learned of the improper and endangering practices that treats them as a spectacle and disturbs their migration patterns. None the less, we had a wonderful time in these two very different islands.

In Siquijor we would do snorkling, find beautiful waterfalls near Lazi (not pronounced lazy ;) it would sound more like lasi, such as the drink, mango lasi) and do some small sightseeing. 

Siquijor is a small island and allowed us to rent a moto for our stay and we were pleasantly surprised by how nice the roads were on the island. We would end up doing an entire circuit of the island and it allowed us to have the flexibility to go on the snorkle tours to Apo Island where were would encounter a lot of turtles up close which was a real treat.

By the end of our time in Siquijor we had discovered our love of buko shakes. A coconut shake with vanilla that was so refreshing and delicious. We also learned that we should have spent more time as it was a really special place.

Aina in paradise

  

 There were churches all around the island and this one was extremely large and had three services in the morning. Church of Our Savior would be impressed by the devotion of this small town. We passed the church on our way to the waterfalls.

Bohol is a much larger island than Siquijor and is a couple hours from Cebu by ferry. Again we decided to get around by a moto we rented in Tagbilaran. I think this was our best introduction to air pollution thus far in SE Asia. Jogyakarta probably had worse air, but we were in grab taxis the entire time there. The air literally made us filthy (white shorts are now greyish) and gave us coughs we are still attempting to dispose.

Once outside of the city it was so much nicer and also really enjoyable on the moto. We traveled the long way to see the Chocolate Hills of Bohol and probably got a better experience in this way, as it was 30 minutes longer, but we were driving through the hills themselves on this route. 

The hills are a geologic formation formed by a combination of tectonic activity that lifted them up and also wearing away of the limestone over years and years through rivers and rain. Their formal name would be conical karst hills. Why are they called chocolate!?!?! During the dry season (note the hills are green in our photos with a little brown) they turn very brown and make a heavier contrast with their surroundings and look like chocolate drops.

The Chocolate Hills of Bohol

After visiting the Chocolate Hills we drove to the Philippines Tarsier Center, which is the official center and manages the wildlife properly in contrast to the other similarly named center.

These adorable creatures are nocturnal primates. It explains the large eyes they have for hunting down their prey of insects at night and one eyeball is about the size of their brain. When active they are very active. They can leap up to 5 meters and are very rapid when on the move. We were there during the day and had to be very quiet with only whispers to not disturb them. We managed to see a few and they were all quite sleepy.

Sleepy little tarsier dreaming of crickets and other yummy insects.

Our next stop would be to Palawan in the South West of the Philippines.

Borneo

"We deeply regret any disturbance during the fumigation."

Upon entering Borneo we were informed of an inflight fumigation with an announcement. They said we could cover our nose and mouth if we felt necessary and then delivered the line above. We were off to a great start.



Did you know that Borneo is the third largest island in the world? Neither did I! Can you guess the other two? 

Visiting the Malaysian side of Borneo would take us to Sepilok to see the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center and then to the Kinabatangan River in hopes of seeing them in their natural habitat. We really wanted to see these great apes! 

At the rehabilitation center in Sepilok they take in injured, sick, or orphaned orangutans to prepare them to re-enter the wild. The orangutans we would be seeing are semi-wild as they live in the wild, but are still reliant at times on the rehabilitation center for added sustenance, aka food. 

Orangutans are generally not very social and primarily live individually and only are social during mating and fruit season. At the rehabilitation center they are generally showing up for the fruits, but won't always be there during fruit season as the forest provides more than enough.

After visiting Sepilok we would head to the Kinabatangan River. There we would do some cruises to see the flora and fauna of the area. I am hoping to include the Orangutan we saw in the wild when I update this post, but have not haven't had the chance to upload the photos yet.

At the mall in Sandakan where we stayed before heading to the Philippines I saw a Kenny Rogers Roasters and immediately thought of the Seinfeld episode. I also learned I saw one of their 156 fine establishments worldwide.

Leaving Bali and a brief sojourn to Singapore

Leaving was a difficult task as it was a lot of fun from my days at the surf camp to my days of leisure in my Bali Dreams Guesthouse. The guesthouse wasn't made of dreams, but all the other guests were nice and they did feed us and give us drinks for free one evening. I think the free food and booze was for them to create promotional photos of the good times! 

The days were fun as I made friends! Shout outs to Jason and Stefan in particular. I met Jason as we both were craving bahn mi sandwiches and was followed by good conversation on various topics. We agreed we would hangout another night with some of his friends and I had a blast with him. He's a solid guy and if you ever find yourself in the need of an ER doctor in the Bronx, you can tell him Cary sent you. Stefan is another friend I met at surf camp and immediately struck up conversation about music and would hangout with him until he graduated to intermediate level surfing.

Jason took me under his wing one night.

After leaving Bali I met up with Aina in Singapore before we would head out to Borneo. It was good to be back with Aina and it also gave us the chance to see my former roommate from 3705 in DC, Jessica!

I hadn't seen Jessica in nearly five years and it was nice to see her for a quick breakfast. We are hoping we can hang more when we swing back through at the end of May.

Before our flight we managed to somehow squeeze in a visit to the Cloud Forest at the Gardens by the bay. It was gorgeous there and we are hoping to spend more time there also when we are back in Singapore. 

Here is what we saw at the Cloud Forest.