Haaaapppy New Year Vietnam!

vs. "Good Morning Vietnam" from the famous movie with Robin Williams of which you can see a clip here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKNZgDbLwGY

Mike and I spent the Lunar New Year Holiday travelling in Vietnam, better know as "Tet" in Vietnam. It marks the arrival of the new year based on the Lunar Calendar as well as the arrival of Spring. You can read more about the Vietnameses Lunar New Year here and I will save you from my plagerism of wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BA%BFt. It is the largest holiday in Vietnam and we had the awesome opporuntunity of sharing in these celebrations with parties in the streets, lights, parades, dragons, lantern festivals, music, fireworks, flowers and...did I say lights?!

In one week we did a quick tour of Vietnam from the South to the North, starting in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), then Danang (stayed on China Beach) in Central Vietnam and then up North to Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. Here is map to acquaint yourself with the geography. Note: Korea is off the map, up to the Northeast of Taiwan.

Some questions we usually get:

• Yes, it is pretty close to Thailand, which is where we just were less than 1 month prior.
• Ho Chi Minh is ~5 hour plane ride, Hanoi is closer and ~4 hours from Seoul
• Yes, Vietnam is one country and is communist and is officially called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, that is.
• It doesn't need to be said that Vietnam and the U.S. have a tough recent history, but fortunately the Vietnamese are extremely gracious and beautiful people and we never felt unwelcome or unsafe during our visit. In general, Vietnam currently has good international relations with most countries around the world.
• Vietnamese currency is the Viet Nam Dong (VND) or the "dong" and $1USD = 20,000VND approx. 
• Yes, Vietnam is very poor but has seen tremendous growth since the end of the Vietnam War. The average annual income is ~$1500 USD/ year. The cost of living is lower, but let's put this in perspective. Think of the clothes you are wearing today including jewelry, shoes and coat and many of us might reach $1500 in three, two or just one outfit...and they survive on, and are expected to save on that for 365 days. Yikes!

So, with all this background floating around our heads, let me take you into Vietnam.

We have to start with the Motorbikes...there is nothing I have seen in Southeast Asia quite like the motorbikes in Vietnam. They are everywhere and easily outnumber cars 20:1 (and that is in the cities). The only cars you usually see are taxis or high-end cars for those very small portion of wealthy in Vietnam.

Motorbikes are used for everything, from the family mini-van to motorized stores...let me show you a few.

During out Visit to Ho Chi Minh City, we visited the War Remnants Museum, which contains memorabilia from the Vietnam War (which the Vietnamese Govt calls the American War). Outside the museum were dozens of old U.S. Military vehicles that were left after the Vietnam War.

Inside the museum, there was a good deal of anti-war and anti-U.S. propoganda. American history books don't exactly tell you this side of the story.



Here are other things left in Vietnam after the war...U.S. soldier's dog tags for sale (sadly) for $4USD and the gas masks used by soldiers to protect them from the effects of agent orange during the war.

But, the Vietnam War is just the recent history in Vietnam. For many decades prior, the French occupied Vietnam, so there is alot of French influence in the architecture which has been preserved, especially in Central Vietnam and Northern Vietnam.

Hoi An is a small town that was just 15 minutes from our resort in Danang. As a UNESCO-protected town, they have been able to preserve it as it once was. It reminds you of a small European city. Our night in Hoi An town was New Years Eve, so there were many tourists, parties, lights and some of the stores were clothes so that the Vietnamese could celebrate with their families.

Here are some picture of Hoi An Town.

The eastern coast of Central Vietnam is mostly undeveloped. In Danang, we stayed on China Beach, where there are miles of privately owned coast-line, but only 3 or 4 resorts. It made for a very private beach. Unfortunately, these private investors ar Hyatt, Hilton, and intercontinental. Vietnam is shooting to become the next big tourist destination in Southeast Asia.

Here are some views of the beaches.

Someone described Hanoi and Ho Chi Mihn to me the following way and, after bring there, it matches my experience. Hanoi is San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh is LA. Hanoi is the cultural and political center of Vietnam.

The "Hanoi Hilton" that is not, or never has been a hilton, but was nicknamed that during the Vietnam war when it was a prison where U.S. captured soldiers were held.

And...finally the food and the beer. Vietnamese food is mostly noodle, rice, vegetables, lots of fresh herbs and sauces. The staple of Vietnam is Pho, a noodle dish in a light broth served with lots of fresh herbs and lime...yum!

There is so much more to Vietnam, but didn't want to overwhelm you in this blog. We had a wonderful time and may go back one day to adventure into some of the smaller towns. You can see many more pictures on our Picassa Page

New Years in Phuket, Thailand

After five great days in Chiang Mai, we hopped onto a Thai Airways flight and flew onto Phuket, Thailand on the southern tip of Thailand facing the Andaman Sea.

We were looking forward to a few days on the beach and welcoming in 2011 with the Thai! We did get three beautiful days on amazing beaches, but not many Thai people. We were told that 30% of Sweden comes to Thailand for Christmas and many others from other parts of Europe, Australia, etc. What was missing...were the Thai people.

We stayed on Kata Beach on Phuket, about an hour drive south of the airport. We didn't stay beachside, but up on the hill overlooking the beach. Here is our hotel, the Sugar Plum Grand Hillside.



These were the pools and our room was all
the way at the top of the hill



View of Kata from our room

Our Beach

Dinner on the beach the first night in Kata...may still have
the mosquito bites to prove it.

 Unlike Chiang Mai, Phuket is so much of a tourist destination, that I think all of the locals move out over the holiday to make room for all of the Westerners. The entire beach was Westerners and Downtown Kata in the evenings was hoppin'. It was completely different than what I expected from Phuket, but fun & relaxing.

View of downtown Kata at night

The beaches in Kata were European Beaches...tops optional and all!

Beach restaurants. We parked our butts on beach chairs for three days and didn't need to move for anything...not even for Thai food.

Where we parked our butts for three days...

Oh...I guess not really for three solid days. We took a break from the beach to ride an elephant. This is Molly, our elephant.

Phuket did not let us down for the New Year. Our hotel had a New Years Even celebration beginning with a huge buffet and some Thai entertainment.

Welcomed to the party with leis and drinks...good start!

 The buffets were amazing and never ending. Complete with chocolate fountain and the ENTIRE roasted pig.

Our entertainment ranged from this Thai dancers to a Thai cover band singing American Songs (to which he forgot or never did know all of the words). Summer of '69 was mostly just mummbling...and I think the lead singer was reading the lyrics from a book as well.

And then a short stroll down to the beach and the chaos ensued! Wow, there were fireworks EVERYWHERE. It was amazing. I cannot capture it in pictures here, but there were huge fireworks being set off every 20-30 feet down the beach, and only about 20 feet from where all of the people were standing. We actually feared for our own safety at several points throughout the night. Drunk people and fire never do seem like a great mix.

But the beach is where the party was happening, so, we stopped by the 7Eleven, grabbed some not-so-good Thai beer, parked ourselves back on the beach chairs we had frequented that day and watched the fireworks, welcoming in 2011!!! I am pretty sure I will never have a New Years Eve again like this...it was a great way to end out Thai vacation.

Our final day on the beach was just as beautiful as the rest. More sunshine, more great food and drinks, lots of relaxing and a few dips in the ocean.

Sunset on January 1, 2011 on Kata Beach in Phuket Thailand! Ahhhh!