Hoi An is my danger zone. With its famed specialty in custom tailoring, there are so many ways to spend money.
People also seem to be genuinely nice here. So far my interactions with Vietnamese have been to fend off ostensibly polite hotel, taxi and boat touts and peddlers. Conversations usually just revolve around prices or no thanks, I don't want your hotel/sunglasses/motorbike/boat. Today, I had several conversations with random Vietnamese girls about the difficulties of speaking English, Europeans and their studies at the university. It was pretty awesome.
I also found a really cool restaurant ("Sunshine") right across the street from my hotel. The food was pretty good that I went back for dinner, where the mom gave me a larger portion because I "looked hungry." They were just so genuinely friendly and interested in me (rather than my wallet.) After stuffing my face, I talked with the university-age daughter for a while.
At first I thought that she and her mom were mocking me when they complemented my dark skin. Every Vietnamese girl goes outside with a giant hat, gloves and literal face mask/scarf to shield their skin against the sun. As with most Asians, fair skin is a premium here so complements about my tan skin can seem like BS. They seemed pretty genuine about it. "Yeah, girls here don't like dark skin but it looks good on you."
My adventures in Hoi An today didn't just involve eating. I took a bicycle out and explored the town. Torrential rain started so I tried to kill time by wandering through tailor shops until it stopped. However, it seemed like daylight was going to end before the rain did so I blundered my way through the rain on the bicycle. You know, I thought it was scary to be a pedestrian in Vietnam but I think it's scarier to be behind the wheel (of any moving vehicle) because now you have to watch out for the
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
Vietnam has been pretty awesome so far. It's a lot more inundated with foreigners than Malaysia which has been a double-edged sword. On one hand, I've met more people in just the few days I've been here versus the three weeks I was in Malaysia. The drawback however, is that the Vietnamese are quite organized is relieving foreign travelers of their money. It's also seems pretty difficult to travel independently. It takes a little creativity to stay off the tourist conveyer belt but I guess I should appreciate the ease of travel here.
It took me a few days of debating but I decided to take another organized tour; this time to Ha Long Bay. The weather has been bad and I've a lot of horror stories about the tour operators and mediocre reports about the experience in general so I was a little hesitant to not only commit my money but myself on a boat with strangers. Luckily, it was a really fun experience (I think we were pretty lucky with the tour operator).
On the first day, we got picked up at our hostel and began the long (and bumpy) bus ride to Ha Long city. We had lunch on the boat while slowly cruising through the karst formations. We stopped at a cave named "Surprising Cave" and then a floating village to pick up kayaks. I totally blundered through that experience. First, I steered us into a boat full of Chinese tourists who began to chant "Reverse! Reverse!" and when we successfully did that we received a warm applause. Five minutes later, I unsuccessfully dodged a peddler's boat. She glared at me but immediately offered to sell me seashells. After my last collision into a rock we figured out how to control the kayak and explored the nearby islands.
Afterwards, it was plunge time. We climbed onto the edge of the boat and took about a 20 foot drop from the top of the boat to the water surface. Lots of fun!
The next morning, we were on Cat Ba island where we were unknowingly ascending a steep mountain. It's kind of amazing I didn't kill myself and more amazing at how skilled Vietnamese tourists are at trekking. I'm afraid of heights and unskilled at any form of outdoor activity so I think there were some narrow escapes. Of course, I was covered in mud and by the end but a lot of other people (especially Vietnamese tourists) made it out with barely a drop of sweat or flick of mud on them.
It took me a few days of debating but I decided to take another organized tour; this time to Ha Long Bay. The weather has been bad and I've a lot of horror stories about the tour operators and mediocre reports about the experience in general so I was a little hesitant to not only commit my money but myself on a boat with strangers. Luckily, it was a really fun experience (I think we were pretty lucky with the tour operator).
On the first day, we got picked up at our hostel and began the long (and bumpy) bus ride to Ha Long city. We had lunch on the boat while slowly cruising through the karst formations. We stopped at a cave named "Surprising Cave" and then a floating village to pick up kayaks. I totally blundered through that experience. First, I steered us into a boat full of Chinese tourists who began to chant "Reverse! Reverse!" and when we successfully did that we received a warm applause. Five minutes later, I unsuccessfully dodged a peddler's boat. She glared at me but immediately offered to sell me seashells. After my last collision into a rock we figured out how to control the kayak and explored the nearby islands.
Afterwards, it was plunge time. We climbed onto the edge of the boat and took about a 20 foot drop from the top of the boat to the water surface. Lots of fun!
The next morning, we were on Cat Ba island where we were unknowingly ascending a steep mountain. It's kind of amazing I didn't kill myself and more amazing at how skilled Vietnamese tourists are at trekking. I'm afraid of heights and unskilled at any form of outdoor activity so I think there were some narrow escapes. Of course, I was covered in mud and by the end but a lot of other people (especially Vietnamese tourists) made it out with barely a drop of sweat or flick of mud on them.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
So Long Malaysia, Hello Vietnam
After returning from Singapore, I spent a few days in Pulau Tioman and I'm now in Georgetown (Penang).
Tioman was relaxing. It wasn't really a white sands island. Beaches I visited were pebbly and since the jungle comes right up to the water, the beaches are pretty narrow.
I made my way through a short jungle trail to a semi-secluded beach where I pranced around with butterflies and frolicked in the calm and clear water. It was magical.
I realized then that maybe nature isn't so bad so I decided to venture furthur through the coastal jungle but I lost my bravery when I stood at the edge of the jungle. A giant monitor lizard stood in the barely visible trail ahead of me. Monkeys started screaming angrily and there was this weird rustling in the plants next to my foot. Suddenly images of snakes, Bigfoot and polar bears popped into my head. I was about to enter Land of the Lost. Alone.
Sooo... I turned back. Maybe that's just a little too much nature for me.
While I don't really regret my decision to travel alone it does have it's drawbacks. Being solo, I'm limited in being able to travel through jungles or taking snorkeling trips when everyone else on the island seems to have arrived as a couple.
In Georgetown, I had a pretty good experience meeting another traveler. We spent a day wandering the streets of Georgetown where after a while we realized that the heat and jadedness started to set in. It's unfortunate but I guess inevitable that each new mosque looks like the last and the next temple seems like something you've seen before. It's kind of weird considering that I just got here but I have been away for two years now. Maybe I'm at the point where home is now the novelty. We ended up at a mall where we played arcade games and watched Inception. It was probably the first time I've been in a movie theater in about five years since movie tickets are so exorbitant in the States so that was fun.
I spent the rest of my time exploring Penang island. I saw Kek Lok Si temple and made my way to the other side of the island to check out a butterfly farm. The butterflies there are so accustomed to humans that they don't flinch you stick a camera literally inches away from them. They are so accustomed that they can be bullies. I must have looked like I lost my mind when I flailing my arms around trying to bat away what seemed to be a giant winged cricket.
After spending the night at the airport (not fun) I flew into Hanoi this morning. The money here is quite confusing. I pulled out 2 million dong (about US$100) and the ATM pushed out a wad of bills that was probably about half an inch thick.
Hanoi is full of frenetic energy. The streets are full of motorcycles, bicyclists and cars ripping their way through the city. After recuperating from a long, sleepless night in the airport, I circled around Hoan Kiem Lake for a bit. The lake is like an attempt at a calm oasis in the middle of urban frenzy. It was actually a pretty enjoyable sight. The elderly practiced their tai chi, kids ran around with whirlers while joggers dodged them. My favorite scene was watching a pair of grandmothers having a friendly match of badminton. All the while, the roar of traffic is just feet away.
After heading back to the hostel, I ran into my new Spanish-speaking Japanese friend and we went out to a street corner for pho and talked in broken Spanglish with the random Japanese or Arabic word tossed in. Afterwards, we wandered to the market and played the night version of Human Frogger.
I'm a little sad to have left Malaysia where I felt like I had an invisibility cloak on. While people on the street aren't menacing, it's quite obvious that I'm a foreigner and quite obvious that people notice.
Tioman was relaxing. It wasn't really a white sands island. Beaches I visited were pebbly and since the jungle comes right up to the water, the beaches are pretty narrow.
I made my way through a short jungle trail to a semi-secluded beach where I pranced around with butterflies and frolicked in the calm and clear water. It was magical.
I realized then that maybe nature isn't so bad so I decided to venture furthur through the coastal jungle but I lost my bravery when I stood at the edge of the jungle. A giant monitor lizard stood in the barely visible trail ahead of me. Monkeys started screaming angrily and there was this weird rustling in the plants next to my foot. Suddenly images of snakes, Bigfoot and polar bears popped into my head. I was about to enter Land of the Lost. Alone.
Sooo... I turned back. Maybe that's just a little too much nature for me.
While I don't really regret my decision to travel alone it does have it's drawbacks. Being solo, I'm limited in being able to travel through jungles or taking snorkeling trips when everyone else on the island seems to have arrived as a couple.
In Georgetown, I had a pretty good experience meeting another traveler. We spent a day wandering the streets of Georgetown where after a while we realized that the heat and jadedness started to set in. It's unfortunate but I guess inevitable that each new mosque looks like the last and the next temple seems like something you've seen before. It's kind of weird considering that I just got here but I have been away for two years now. Maybe I'm at the point where home is now the novelty. We ended up at a mall where we played arcade games and watched Inception. It was probably the first time I've been in a movie theater in about five years since movie tickets are so exorbitant in the States so that was fun.
I spent the rest of my time exploring Penang island. I saw Kek Lok Si temple and made my way to the other side of the island to check out a butterfly farm. The butterflies there are so accustomed to humans that they don't flinch you stick a camera literally inches away from them. They are so accustomed that they can be bullies. I must have looked like I lost my mind when I flailing my arms around trying to bat away what seemed to be a giant winged cricket.
After spending the night at the airport (not fun) I flew into Hanoi this morning. The money here is quite confusing. I pulled out 2 million dong (about US$100) and the ATM pushed out a wad of bills that was probably about half an inch thick.
Hanoi is full of frenetic energy. The streets are full of motorcycles, bicyclists and cars ripping their way through the city. After recuperating from a long, sleepless night in the airport, I circled around Hoan Kiem Lake for a bit. The lake is like an attempt at a calm oasis in the middle of urban frenzy. It was actually a pretty enjoyable sight. The elderly practiced their tai chi, kids ran around with whirlers while joggers dodged them. My favorite scene was watching a pair of grandmothers having a friendly match of badminton. All the while, the roar of traffic is just feet away.
After heading back to the hostel, I ran into my new Spanish-speaking Japanese friend and we went out to a street corner for pho and talked in broken Spanglish with the random Japanese or Arabic word tossed in. Afterwards, we wandered to the market and played the night version of Human Frogger.
I'm a little sad to have left Malaysia where I felt like I had an invisibility cloak on. While people on the street aren't menacing, it's quite obvious that I'm a foreigner and quite obvious that people notice.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Islam in Malaysia
Visiting Malaysia is an interesting follow-up experience to my life in the Middle East. Of course, my stay in Malaysia is pretty sure and limited mostly to tourist ghettos so my observations are skewed. While the dominant population of Malaysia is Muslim and there is a sense of conservatism in the atmosphere and the call the prayer can still be heard everywhere, it's totally different from what I experienced in the ME.
Muslim women in Malaysia have more of a presence in the public sphere and in roles that are usually occupied by males. They're behind the counters at the corner 7-11s and other convenience stores. I even saw one woman in hijab who was a bus control (the person who shouts out bus stops and destinations and collects fares). Muslim women even drive motorbikes (you'd rarely, if ever, see a woman on a bicycle in the rural ME.) Gender relations also seem to be more relaxed here. Teenage Malays hang out in mixed-gender groups (perhaps this is just a generational phenomena).
Considering the multiculturalism of Malaysian society, I do wonder about the racial and religious tolerance between the different racial groups here. On paper, it's a pretty tolerant society. You can find a Hindu temple, a mosque and a Buddhist temple all on the same street. A few shops down from an Islamic bookstore is a Chinese-run pub (with a government-posted sign warning Muslims of lashings if they're caught in such businesses). Everyone seems to be able to exist freely in this society though I have heard quiet grumbles from the ethnic Chinese I've spoken with.
Muslim women in Malaysia have more of a presence in the public sphere and in roles that are usually occupied by males. They're behind the counters at the corner 7-11s and other convenience stores. I even saw one woman in hijab who was a bus control (the person who shouts out bus stops and destinations and collects fares). Muslim women even drive motorbikes (you'd rarely, if ever, see a woman on a bicycle in the rural ME.) Gender relations also seem to be more relaxed here. Teenage Malays hang out in mixed-gender groups (perhaps this is just a generational phenomena).
Considering the multiculturalism of Malaysian society, I do wonder about the racial and religious tolerance between the different racial groups here. On paper, it's a pretty tolerant society. You can find a Hindu temple, a mosque and a Buddhist temple all on the same street. A few shops down from an Islamic bookstore is a Chinese-run pub (with a government-posted sign warning Muslims of lashings if they're caught in such businesses). Everyone seems to be able to exist freely in this society though I have heard quiet grumbles from the ethnic Chinese I've spoken with.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Singapore
After my failed attempt to escape from Melaka the first time, I impulsively decided to take a detour into Singapore to try to connect with some family long overdue for a meeting [both mine and others].
Since visiting Singapore was a spur-of-the-moment decision, I didn't know what to expect but I'm pretty surprised at the place. This is not a backpacker's paradise but rather a shopper's paradise. Shopping, shopping, everywhere. If you're not in a mall, you're probably in an air-conditioned underpass that not only connects two malls but looks like a mall. If you happen to be outside, it only takes a few seconds to realized that you're staring at a high-rise mall.
That being said, I was kind of bored in Singapore. If you have the right budget, I'm sure Singapore would be a lot more interesting but I'm not even sure if that's the reason I was bored. It was just so easy. Perhaps, it's the burgeoning psychopath in me, but I've grown used to a bit of chaos; the law, order and automation of Singapore threw me off a little bit.
I recently arrived from a country where under the "No Smoking" sign on a bus, the bus driver is casually puffing away. Human interaction (and usually the necessary language skills) are needed for any sort of transaction and crossing a street is an art form. Suddenly, I don't even have to talk to anyone. Press a button, ticket pops out. No need to play human Frogger because there are designated crosswalks and most of all, signs actually mean something. I do find the abundance of rules rather amusing. On the MRT trains, there's a sign that says "No drinking or eating" and "No Smoking" and "No Flammables" and "No Durian".
(I didn't know you couldn't drink on the MRT. Didn't get caught but I did attract a lot of horrified stares from other passengers when I took a sip from my water bottle - it almost felt like I was drinking a bottle of vodka in the middle of a bus filled with my Arab neighbors.)
I'm pretty grateful for having hosts there (otherwise, I probably would have turned around after a day due to boredom and bankruptcy). It's pretty expensive here and shopping is pretty much the main activity on the island for tourists (and locals) but now having a few days outside of Singapore, I've developed an appreciation for it. After getting uncertain responses from locals regarding boat departures in Malaysia or standing on a street corner trying to understand exactly the public bus system, you tend to appreciate the efficiency and order of Singapore. You might be lost in a seizure-inducing labyrinth of consumerism but signs and arrows are always there to guide you out.
The highlight of my impromptu trip was getting to know family. There was almost this sense of dread leaving Singapore because it was sort of like knowing a home for a few days.
Since visiting Singapore was a spur-of-the-moment decision, I didn't know what to expect but I'm pretty surprised at the place. This is not a backpacker's paradise but rather a shopper's paradise. Shopping, shopping, everywhere. If you're not in a mall, you're probably in an air-conditioned underpass that not only connects two malls but looks like a mall. If you happen to be outside, it only takes a few seconds to realized that you're staring at a high-rise mall.
That being said, I was kind of bored in Singapore. If you have the right budget, I'm sure Singapore would be a lot more interesting but I'm not even sure if that's the reason I was bored. It was just so easy. Perhaps, it's the burgeoning psychopath in me, but I've grown used to a bit of chaos; the law, order and automation of Singapore threw me off a little bit.
I recently arrived from a country where under the "No Smoking" sign on a bus, the bus driver is casually puffing away. Human interaction (and usually the necessary language skills) are needed for any sort of transaction and crossing a street is an art form. Suddenly, I don't even have to talk to anyone. Press a button, ticket pops out. No need to play human Frogger because there are designated crosswalks and most of all, signs actually mean something. I do find the abundance of rules rather amusing. On the MRT trains, there's a sign that says "No drinking or eating" and "No Smoking" and "No Flammables" and "No Durian".
(I didn't know you couldn't drink on the MRT. Didn't get caught but I did attract a lot of horrified stares from other passengers when I took a sip from my water bottle - it almost felt like I was drinking a bottle of vodka in the middle of a bus filled with my Arab neighbors.)
I'm pretty grateful for having hosts there (otherwise, I probably would have turned around after a day due to boredom and bankruptcy). It's pretty expensive here and shopping is pretty much the main activity on the island for tourists (and locals) but now having a few days outside of Singapore, I've developed an appreciation for it. After getting uncertain responses from locals regarding boat departures in Malaysia or standing on a street corner trying to understand exactly the public bus system, you tend to appreciate the efficiency and order of Singapore. You might be lost in a seizure-inducing labyrinth of consumerism but signs and arrows are always there to guide you out.
The highlight of my impromptu trip was getting to know family. There was almost this sense of dread leaving Singapore because it was sort of like knowing a home for a few days.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Loud American (or Backpacking While Asian)
I'm in Melaka now which is effectively a tourist ghetto. It has a lot historical significance having been under Portuguese, Dutch and British control. It's quite easy to forget you're in Asia (I like to describe it as a Chinatown dropped in the middle of the Carribean). Colonial architecture lines the river and there are restaurants with Portuguese, Malay and Chinese food. Tonight, the Chinese community burned fake money and incense along the streets to honor the dead.
Being here for a couple of days, I noticed a couple things. There are very few Americans out here (I've run into one). While this isn't that new to me, it is a bit alienating. Suddenly, I'm surrounded by westerners and I still can't relate. The other is that I'm ignored. A lot. Like everything, the third time's the charm. I got caught in a sudden downpour so in an attempt to escape I hailed a taxi. I got abandoned in the rain twice when the drivers could not comprehend that I couldn't understand Malay. The third time, I was ready, map in hand with a clear "Hello! How are you?" (in English) pointing at my destination on the map. The driver then realized that I wasn't local and we started to interact in English.
Same thing happens in restaurants. I wandered into a restaurant and the staff just stared at me. There must have some local protocol that I couldn't pick up on so I left and wandered into a hole-in-the-wall. Usually, these places are happy to help foreigners but again, I don't look foreign and looking like a local female, I suddenly felt out of place in a male-dominated cafe. Third time, I put on the loud American act. "Hello! How are you?" and I got handed the English language menu.
It's kind of ironic. Usually, travelers want to blend in, however impossible the task. They usually want to not be "The Ugly American" and learn a few local phrases. I've contemplated looking up a few greetings in Malay but realized it just might continue to confuse people. So now, I've taken up being the loud American. Well, not that loud.
Being here for a couple of days, I noticed a couple things. There are very few Americans out here (I've run into one). While this isn't that new to me, it is a bit alienating. Suddenly, I'm surrounded by westerners and I still can't relate. The other is that I'm ignored. A lot. Like everything, the third time's the charm. I got caught in a sudden downpour so in an attempt to escape I hailed a taxi. I got abandoned in the rain twice when the drivers could not comprehend that I couldn't understand Malay. The third time, I was ready, map in hand with a clear "Hello! How are you?" (in English) pointing at my destination on the map. The driver then realized that I wasn't local and we started to interact in English.
Same thing happens in restaurants. I wandered into a restaurant and the staff just stared at me. There must have some local protocol that I couldn't pick up on so I left and wandered into a hole-in-the-wall. Usually, these places are happy to help foreigners but again, I don't look foreign and looking like a local female, I suddenly felt out of place in a male-dominated cafe. Third time, I put on the loud American act. "Hello! How are you?" and I got handed the English language menu.
It's kind of ironic. Usually, travelers want to blend in, however impossible the task. They usually want to not be "The Ugly American" and learn a few local phrases. I've contemplated looking up a few greetings in Malay but realized it just might continue to confuse people. So now, I've taken up being the loud American. Well, not that loud.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Chinatown and Fireflies
Today, I wandered around Chinatown a little too early in the morning. I'm still in the mindset where it takes an hour to do anything (i.e leaving your village) so I overestimate the time it takes to do things or go places. With the efficient public transportation in KL, I can arrive at my destination in 15 minutes, leaving me puzzled and wandering aimlessly until things start opening up.
Petaling Street in Chinatown is famous for its counterfeit everything: purses, clothing, shoes, DVDs. I guess the law takes a lax attitude towards copyright infringement as I spotted a few officers also browsing the stalls for genuine imitations.
Sort of on impulse I decided to join a tour group to check out the firefly colony in Kuala Selangor. The trip itself kinda sucked but I'm glad I tried it anyway.
These monkeys hang out in Melawati Hill and have become so dependent on humans for their food because of so much exposure to tourists. Our tour guide, a pretty responsible fellow, basically forbid us from feeding the monkeys.
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| Entrance to Petaling St - The giant flat screen makes it seem like Chinatown from the future. |
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| Random sites around Chinatown |
Sort of on impulse I decided to join a tour group to check out the firefly colony in Kuala Selangor. The trip itself kinda sucked but I'm glad I tried it anyway.
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| Mangrove forest and the Straits of Malacca |
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| British lighthouse |
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| Mangrove forest |
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| Mother and child monkeys |
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| The cute baby monkeys are golden when they're young. |
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| literal street bums |
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| Much to the dismay of the Europeans in my group, we were brought to a fish market. At this point, I really wanted to take a picture of their faces rather than the dried anchovies. |
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| Dinner |
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| And it tasted good, too. |
We had dinner at a riverside seafood restaurant where our tour guide and I compared our Asian heritages (me: Filipino; him: Chinese, Thai, Korean and Japanese) and I tried to explain why I don't have an accent. (This seems to be a really difficult concept to explain.) Anyway, the guy was pretty excited when he learned of my background. I guess there is sort of an affinity between Filipinos and Malaysians as he cried out "Kababayan!" Then we compared my vocabulary of Arabic and my even more limited vocabulary of Tagalog to find shared words in the Malay language.
I also tried 'todee' (palm wine). That and a hot and stifling life jacket do not go together on a boat trip.
Despite it being a firefly tour, the monkeys and the food were the highlights of the trip. The fireflies were pretty cool but it would be pretty impossible to capture it on camera (basically, imagine lots and lots of tiny Christmas lights). I probably won't do an organized tour again. I enjoy myself a lot more wandering the streets aimlessly watching shopkeepers prepare for business than being dragged along with a random group of strangers but I'm glad I tried it anyway.
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