Technical Difficulties

You would think with all this computing power blog posts would come easy. Yes, there's three laptops, an external hard drive, Zune, iPod, webcam, walkie talkie and two flasks. Well, we're trying to get fancy and include a piece of video for everyone to enjoy. But finding the time to sync and upload is alot more difficult than we initially thought. Especially now that spring has hit the Northwest and we're itching to get outside! More interesting posts to come, just hang in there.

With a little bit of help we'll get back here real soon.

Us infront of large white Buddha at the Marble Mountains in DaNang

Vietnam Roadtrip

Can you tell why we look so happy? It has nothing to do with the ocean sunset behind us. We were all just really happy to be let out like a pack of wild dogs from a cramped, overloaded and in serious need of some basic maintenance Mercedez mini-van!

At almost exactly noon, we boarded a rented 16-seat-mini-van and was looking forward to a six-hour ride along Vietnam's long stretch of coast. The road scenery in Vietnam is interesting, but after only 3 hours we were already over it and decided to pull over for some late lunch and stretch our legs.

As with most developing countries, selling food is the simplest means of making money and all along our drive up the coast we could see little carts and impromptu roadside dining (a lady with two baskets; one basket with cooking elements and ingredients and one basket with bowls, chopsticks, spoons, condiments, etc.; plastic chairs and table - voila instant cafe!). Many places had hammocks strung up in between tables in shaded areas. But surprisingly enough there are also huge dining emporiums, where bus loads of people at a time stop off for bathroom breaks, snacks and full meals. In between the buzz of the barely working air conditioning we could hear Mom repeating the name of the dining emporium she wanted to stop at. And there it was...very impressive for a roadside food emporium in the middle of what looked like rubber tree plantations and the ocean.Looking like obvious tourists we were ushered into the air conditioned room, where as everyone else was seated outside in the pleasant sunny dining area. And as quickly as we all headed off to the bathrooms we could hear Great Uncle Nine ask, "this isn't going to cost any more is it, we aren't paying for the air conditioning with this meal are we?" No, we were assured, but maybe we'd be paying extra for the crazy koi pond we had to walk past to get to the bathrooms.We had a terrific lunch of seafood and beef hotpot and stewed fish. This is what a traveler's meal should consist of. Tasty, fresh and light, we felt revived and ready for what we thought was only another 3 hours until Ninh Hoa.

We all quickly went into food coma and slept the rest of the way until we were awaken with the sound of Mom asking if we were hungry and want to stop for dinner. No, no need to stop we'll eat at Grandma's when we get there. Well....

It seems we had only reached the half way point due to the weight of our luggage and the driver not wanting to blow the vehicle's struts and shocks so he was going at a much slower pace. Visions of the same roadtrip back in 1997 before foreign investment flooded the country and the roads were vastly improved came flooding into our minds and immediately we asked to be let out! Fortunately the sun was setting and the restaurant where we decided to stop for dinner had a balcony and a great view of the ocean.Directly across from the pitstop was a hillside pagoda that we stopped off and took photos of back in 1997 (if you click on the photo you can see a walled stairway snacking up the hill to the pagoda). But this time we just stood across the street taking pictures, in complete denial/semi-disgust after being informed we had yet another 6-hours to go!The restaurant was completely empty besides us. Seems everyone was getting prepared for the Tet New Year. It was comforting to see that Vietnam does view family over financial. When staying open during Tet New Year could make you the same amount of money as the rest of the year combined, family run businesses simply prefer to be with family. We each ordered our own meal because the kitchen had limited choices and back onto the mini-bus, without one photo of our dinner taken!

In the next six hours we endured cramped and broken seating, car sickness vomiting, constant honking and rough roads. But with the help of Flight of the Conchords, Zunes, iPods, videogames, books and the knowledge that we'd soon see the following made the last roadtrip I'll ever take in Vietnam that more bearable.

Traveler's Dilemna

Tin Guts here, wanting to discuss a traveler's dilemna that was brought to my attention today by an article in Jezebel. Bravely written by their new executive editor, it explores readers' remedies for traveler's constipation. Here's the link to the article. This quickly prompted a blog post because shockingly this has been an issue everytime we travel. One might think going to a third world country would mean issues with diarrhea and dysentery and the travel clinics would also assume these would be the biggest issues for travelers. But we are here to let you know that is far from the truth. The worst part is it's easy to get a prescription for anti-diarrhea medication, but what to do if the opposite happens? Well I like to jump for joy and declare that I don't care if I don't poop the whole time we're here, but sometimes your body takes over, what can I say?

The the readers' suggestions range from common sense (prunes and castor oil) to rather strange (French chewing gum), but we came up some suggestions of our own because nothing can ruin a perfectly good day of sightseeing than Deuces Wild!

First, drink as much water on the flight over to give yourself a good start to your vacation. If that means fighting for the aisle seat, let the battle begin.Second, don't go overboard with the in-flight beverages, especially the free beer and wine on international flights! Do like we did, pack it and wait until you get there to enjoy that frosty beverage.Third, avoid eating anything and everything offered on the flight. We flew Asiana Air and Korean food is delicious, we were even given the option of western or traditional meals.So bring your own snacks, like fruit leathers, crackers and the all important breath mints. It will save you money and won't let you go overboard with the snacks they hand out to keep from being bored.

Fourth, get plenty of sleep during the flight.Many experts say traveler's constipation can be caused by jet lag, especially if you're going to jump over the international date line and you suddenly find yourself fast forwarding a full day! What's your body to think when it's rhythm you worked so hard to maintain is lost?

And lastly always travel with anti-diarrhea medications (just in case), chewable pepto-bismols (for those spontaneous offers you just can't pass up, even if it looks really dodgey) and pack plenty of laxative teas (all you need is a little hot water and you're on your way!)

Whirlwind Tour: Saigon Day 2

Day 2 and our last full day in Saigon before heading north to visit family. In a crazy city like Saigon with streets that look like the above image, mapping out your plan of attack is essential if you hope to see and do everything you want before the heat and chaos of the city hits you and all you want to do is sip iced coffee drinks in some hip coffee shop with air conditioning. A few things we mapped out for the day was to pickup our new prescription filled sunglasses.

Get some streetside grub.

Pick up some cheap fabric.

Get some fresh fruit.

Visit the vendors at Ben Thanh Market.

Get a banh mi sandwich.

and something refreshing to drink.

Walk around admiring Saigon's mish mash architecture.

All the while trying not to look like tourists while looking for deals on liquor to present as gifts to our many uncles.

Evenutally we succumbed to the heat and constant noise and decided to pull up to some folding lounge chairs for a much needed beer break.

That night we met up with a crazy group of spontaneous Le Clan for some of the City's finest Chinese food.It should be noted when a hungry group of 15 are seated around a table fitted with a large lazy susan in the middle, not many pictures of food will be taken. I did manage to capture this crab puff image, only after I looked up and the plate was empty along with the two steamer tray of dim sum items and stir fried noodles. Man, that was some serious pork shu mai and shrimp har gao.

Saigon's Tet Flower Markets

We haven't ever celebrated Tet Lunar New Year in Vietnam and it's been over 35 years since my family has also, so we decided to make this year the first year we're back home for the largest celebration in Vietnam.

Much like how Europe is empty the month of August due to everyone taking advantage of the 6-8 weeks average vacation time, Saigon is pretty empty, but mostly it's empty of people. The shops and restaurants are still open, which isn't really the case in the other cities or more rural areas in Vietnam, where people will wait for a lucky or auspicious day to begin conducting business again in the new year. The Vietnamese believe the first of anything in the new year will be significant in how the rest of the year will be. What the first sale is like and what the first person to set foot in your home is like. So everyone's homes we visited had large blooming flowers set right at the front of their houses. New Blooms = New Energy.Since we were in Saigon just before actual new year's eve/day every park area was filled with blooming flowers.We heard families save all year for the flower markets. Flowers do breath in new life and every year Ba would play the game of cutting down bare branches in the dead of winter and force them to bloom in hopes they open up right on New Year's Day.

Unlike the crazy bedazzled spectacle of over-the-top Christmas displays and decorations Saigon seems to love, Tet decorations were much tamer, almost artful.

There's also a little bit of tacky.