Sunday 31 January 2010

A Weekend in Hanoi

As the sun went down on Saturday night, we prepared ourselves for the onslaught of the party atmosphere here in Hanoi. In Vietnam they work jolly hard, but they play even harder, and Saturday night here is the new Saturday night... Needless to say, we lived life to the full!

We went to the 11 a.m. French Mass on Sunday morning at St. Joseph's Cathedral. Despite not knowing any of the music, we joined in lustily and sang our little hearts out: "Fait lever le soleil, notre terre attend l'aurore; fais lever le soleil, notre vie promet d'éclore!"
After all that singing and concentration (trying to understand French after not practising for so many years is NOT easy) we did the usual thing and sought some delicious grub! We walked past a bakery, and took two steps back as we were attracted to the chocolate tarts, brownies and pains au chocolat! Soon after scoffing, Simon started getting "drowsy" so we went on a mission critical search of Ca phe den (very, very strong black coffee). We had a cup in a petite, old fashioned corner shop where all the wooden tables and chairs were in miniature. It was just like being at primary school, actually. It was great to soak up all of the surrounding Vietnamese community, communicating in such an alien language!

Beautiful bunches of flowers like these are traditional components of major family occasions such as funerals and weddings. Seeing the women put these works of art together in the street makes us realise the time and effort required to make someone's day. As well as cut flowers being transported, we also saw a middle-aged chap nip by on his scooter with a whole orange tree that he must have dug up himself from somewhere!

Saturday 30 January 2010

At the Music Shop


Jon plays one of his hits to the shop assistants and the street!


A quick reminder: 0084 164 9507 254
Yes, it's a cell phone number, but saying "Hi" is just as easy as counting up to two in Vietnamese!

North Vietnamese Cuisine


One of the great dishes here is called Bun Cha: It's noodels with pork. We had it at a restaurant called, wait for it: "Bun Cha". It's not quite as simple as just noodles of pork though. Here's what happens:
Up the grimy looking staircase we go to sit at a table in not much of a better state. But the friendly waitresses bring over a large tray piled high with fresh mint, coriander and lettuce along with a large plate of rice noodles and freshly chopped limes. They disappear for a second and return with the desired "Bun Cha", which is floating on top of beautiful chopped green papaya in beef stock. The pork comes two ways: in little fritters, and as a sweet-cure bacon. Yum! and if that's not enough, there's a vast side helping of spring rolls. It's then up to us to decide how much of the raw chopped garlic and chilli we want to mix into the Bun Cha! Admittedly we both got a little carried away today and the result? World record smashing garlic breath! We even tried eating toothpaste later in the afternoon once our extreme cases of halitosis had somehow gone from bad to much worse! It did not work, by the way. This place is permanently packed with locals, but shuts early...

At the weekend Night Market, the Canadians Ti and Marc join us for Pho and spring rolls.


Another great thing to have for lunch is Bun Bo: this is noodles with beef. Of course it's not that simple. Ours came with some spicy chopped peanuts.

Hanoi Explorers



The first day in town was spent exploring almost everywhere, from the beautiful lake to the massive Long Bien Bridge. Due to the fact that Hanoi is such a maze to find yourself again when you're lost, the lake is a very welcome orientation point! It's our second day here and we can now find our way back to the hostel without a map! Success! But every avenue looks the same to us. Signs in Tieng Viet, hoards of nifty mopeds with the occasional car or truck trying to barge through and small fires that the locals make to burn their litter. The coals are aerated by electric fans that locals place on the pavements anywhere they like and, of course, it's up to us to watch out for the leads in case we trip over! At the same time there are motorbikes parked, and sometimes even moving, on the pavements.

Market Day!






The markets lining the streets of Old Hanoi gave us some idea of just what makes this place tick. For us, getting right off the well-trodden tourist path, down the side alleyways to where the real people live their lives is what travel is ALL about. And the economic powerhouse that is modern day Vietnam is refreshingly absent from this part of town!

Blending In




To commemorate 80 years of the Communist Party in Vietnam, and in anticipation of our our visit to the mausoleum of Uncle Ho, do you think we did the right thing when the cap vendor thrust these two pieces of headgear in through the open window of the cafe? A snip at 80,000 Dong, and maybe we can blend in a little bit more....

Vietnamese Street Bakery!



Look at this cute harmless lady with her welcoming smile and her yoke full of weird and wonderful shaped doughnuts! She spotted us a mile off and she just knew how vulnerable we were! We gazed in temptation at her two baskets of goodies and couldn't resist (as she jolly well knew!). We took three small ones and asked her how much it would come to. She charged us 40.000 Dong and, as we weren't familiar with the currency at this point, we thought we were getting a good deal! We, in effect, paid US$2 for 3 small pieces of dough! Result (for her)!

And, talking of getting ripped off, how can it cost 190,000 Dong for a short taxi ride from the Old Quarter to the Myanmar embassy? It seems that some shady operators have meters which can run fast. And fast it ran for us. But the good news, for us, is that now our passports are well and truly lodged with the Burmese authorities for our visas to be processed!

Vietnamese Bakery!



After spending a little while in this exotic area of the world, it was impossible for us to resist a stop in the French style bakery we stumbled upon. They had all sorts of goodies from french-style baguettes to pains au chocolate, from chocolate brownies to cute little cakes with teddy bear toppings on top. Tempting! As Jon was craving icing (for some reason) we had to opt in for the teddy bear cakes! We let our teeth sink into what we thought was the sweet icing that would recreate some of the home comforts! Wrong! Instead it was like chomping on a stick of semi-melted butter, only slightly sweeter! And I mean slightly! The cake underneath was gorgeous though! It consisted of a beautiful light, fluffy sponge and was absolutely loaded with sugar! Perhaps the sugar from the icing leaked out into the sponge cake below?

Friday 29 January 2010

Call us in Vietnam!

Would you like to hear first-hand just what life is really like in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam?
Do you want to hear an exciting description of the vibrant city of Hanoi?
You'd like to ask the guys on the ground some questions about this amazing country?
Or maybe it's time for you to get an up-to-date recipe for Pho Bo?

Then give us a call within the next 7 days! Or just send us a text to make sure the number works. It would be great to hear from you either way!

0084 164 9507 254

Thursday 28 January 2010

To Hanoi we go!

It was another tense journey by tuk tuk to begin with. Mopeds weaving in and out of each other without a care and the richer with cars beeping aggressively to remind everybody that they are the kings of the road. It was at this time where we realised that we really are obsessive back seat drivers! On every frequent occasion where we were just millimetres away from neighbouring vehicles that would fight to push past us, our feet were pushing down helplessly on our imaginary brakes as we sat in fear! But what an adventure! How was it possible to be so excited, scared and exhilarated all at the same time?
We saw more of Phnom Penh as we left in both good and bad lights. We marvelled at extra golden symbolic sculptures nearby the waterfront along with the cheerful people of Cambodia going about their everyday life. On the lower end of the spectrum we viewed the mould-infested slums that stood high above roadside markets. The run down apartments had very little going for them as there were no windows, just dirty-looking clothes that were drying in with the dust that was being thrusted up from the busy road below. In fact, we sometimes had to cover our mouths with our t-shirts to avoid inhaling dust clouds ourselves.
Once we had reached the airport, there was very little waiting around before checking our luggage in. The whole process ran smoothly (apart from realising that we had to pay twenty-five dollars departure tax… no biggie). The rumbles in our stomachs by this point were way above the deadly 8 on the Richter scale so we went to see what we could find. The cheapest thing in the airport was a western McDonald’s kind of meal where we had a hotdog with chilli con carne inside. We didn’t forget dessert either! Simon had an ice cream with Pineapple flavour, whereas Jon needed to kill a chocolate craving thus diving into ice cream with crumbs of Oreos inside. As the lady handed over the ice creams she said, “If they can’t be served upside down, then they’re free.”
That sounded like a great deal! She quickly turned the tubs over and not a single drop of the ice cream fell out! Why couldn’t they have just fallen all over the floor???
Following consumption of our delicious lunch, the tannoy warned us that our plane was getting ready for boarding passengers! With that we picked up and went.
Our flight from Phnom Penh to Hanoi was not a direct one however, which was great because we had an awesome half an hour in Vientiane airport, Laos. We didn’t do much there during the forty-minute wait, but it was a beautiful landscape to see on our descent. Mountains fringed the horizon, whilst plains of luscious green rice paddies, coconut palm trees and woodland stretched for miles and miles. Luckily for us we are planning to go back to Laos later in the trip, but to see more than just the airport.
On the other half of the journey from Vientiane to Hanoi, we were able to watch the night creep up in the east at the same time as watching the warm, red sun roll itself over to you in the west.
The landing in Hanoi was possibly the worst landing we had both experienced! It was nothing major besides a sharp jolt as the wheels touched down onto the tarmac of the runway, accompanied by a loud bang! The most impressive sensation was being released from the plane into a slightly colder climate. These few days in Hanoi are going to be a fantastic break from the fiery heat of the sun, which we have experienced in both Cambodia and Thailand especially.
The minibus to the Old Quarter of Hanoi was an equally thrilling ride as what we have experienced previously. Our driver was having to toot his horn constantly to warn others that he was there and that there was no stopping him coming through. He was a friendly enough guy though and he assisted us in reading signs in Vietnamese after we amused him by trying to read them ourselves. He dropped us in the Old Quarter where we began talking to two Canadian backpackers, Ti and Mark, who were also interested in finding the “lowest of the low” accommodation. We scored ten out of ten on the accommodation we found though as the rooms are spotless, fantastic views, free internet (though there are only two computers for about fifty people) and great service! Oh! And very cheap considering!
The night had to end by going out for a Vietnamese chicken and noodle soup, seasoned with plenty of coriander and pepper! We even added extra chilli just for the extra kick. Dipping the deep fried bread into this dish (Pho) was a thrill to the tastebuds. This was what we had been waiting for and it was a bonus to have our two new friends joining us! From them we learned a lot about Laos and the fantastic activities available for us to do there. We will hopefully be meeting up with them tomorrow after we have handed our passports to the Myanmar embassy in the hope of obtaining a visa.

Lia suhn hao-y Kampuchia!



Farewell Cambodia! The sunset here is always wonderful, but it doesn’t quite happen where you’d like it to be: sitting in a café with an ice-cold Angkor beer looking over the Tonle Sap, the sun goes down behind you. This means that it casts an orange glow onto the opposite bank, but in order to see the sunset at its best you need to see it sinking down behind the Royal Palace.


Well, we’re on our way to Vietnam. But let us tell you about our final day here in Phnom Penh. You have to pronounce the name of this city quickly, as if it were just one word, with the stress on the final syllable, which is quite nasal. Say it quickly like this: “Pnompain”. OK so far? Then here’s the report from our fact-finding mission to the Psar Ta Pang:

Of all the myriad stalls here, three took our fancy. Firstly, an amazing BBQ with hot, glowing charcoals and tasty kebabs.

The sauce which is constantly being pasted over these little sticks is not at all spicy, but sweet, fruity and tangy. Needless to say, we had quite a few of these miniature skewers.

Next, we tried some different types of dumplings! Did the French introduce this when they were the colonial power? Imagine a steamed dumpling about the shape and size of a pork pie, but the outer casing is white. The charming girl opened the lid of a massive steamer to reveal a huge hoard of them. The filling was minced pork, sweetened with dried fruit and various spices. Awesome! The next variety was a filling of egg yolk whisked with sugar, and a perfect way to accompany our daily ingestion of Doxycyline.

Then it was on to the juice bar. Tropical fruit juices are simply the best way to enjoy the flavours of travelling, as well as boosting the vitamin C intake! There are some important rules to follow, which, from time to time, we blindly disregard. Most importantly, you must never eat a fruit that you have not peeled yourself. Put another way, the water that may have washed the otherwise visually appealing mouthful will almost certainly make you very, very ill. Remember our unfortunate incidents last year? But here, it seems that the fruit is safe to order in portions and in shakes. After all, we’re not ill. Yet…

We ordered Durian. Just two small platefuls to say that we tried it. We waited. And waited.

And then IT arrived. “Eeeeeeew”. What a peculiar smell! And the texture: very strange. And the taste……..The best way to convey all this to you (in the comfort of your own home; thank God they haven’t invented scratch-and-sniff computers yet) is to think of the smell of rotting garbage, with the texture and flavour of thick vanilla custard with a slightly sour note: very cloying and unctuous.

They look far more interesting though with their numerous vicious spikes that cover their large, heavy mass. What’s more is that they grow high up in trees and could be fatal should one fall on somebody as they walk beneath it, which is rare but not unheard of. We needed soothing shakes to wash the durian down and get rid of the taste. Simon had a custard-apple shake, but Jon played it safe with the ubiquitous coconut shake.

The Cambodian’s aren’t short of a sweet tooth. Condensed milk is used plentifully in these shakes as they pour it into the mixture of ice and the chosen fruit, plus heaps of sugar just to make sure that you and your dentist keep in touch.

Thirst struck again a little later so we stopped for a couple of Cokes on the way back to the hostel, which turned out to be a bad idea as it gave us the burps and with each one came the strong aftertaste of the durian. Yuck! It couldn’t have been pleasant for anybody with whom we talked. No wonder it’s banned from airlines and hotels. Oh, wait, we’ll be using both in just a few hours…

Just before setting off for the airport, we made a quick morning dash to the amazing market of Psar Tuo Tom Pong. Here amidst hundreds of stalls selling household goods and hardware were some fantastic souvenir stalls, and right at the heart of the market was the food section, with fruit and vegetables to tempt all the senses, and numerous species of fish and fowl, together with their entrails, being prepared for grateful consumption. The smoke of cooking fires, charcoal and steam filled the dense air under the corrugated tin roofs.


At this point we thought it would be a great time to sit down with the locals at the tiled counter and join them in a hearty breakfast! This consisted of a large omelette filled with prawns, spring onions etc, laced with a spicy sauce and washed down with an iced coffee with a layer of condensed milk at the bottom. Not just great, but another successful exercise in total cultural immersion!
We even managed to find a stall selling wonderful ethnic musical instruments:

Ron, our fantastic American friend from Michigan who accompanied us all the way through Cambodia from the very first hour at the border town of Poipet, managed to buy a set of Cambodian coasters to take back home, whilst Simon invested in chopsticks: two pairs each of wooden and silver ones. Something tells us that these will be put to good use in the eating of traditional Khmer food… in Cornwall.

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Khmer Classics

Here in Cambodia, the cuisine is absolutely amazing! Above is a simple basket of everything you will need to create an authentic Cambodian stir-fry.
Jon's taking a close look at all the produce on offer at the bustling Psar Chaa; "Psar" means market. We tried Khmer sour soup with lemongrass and fish; Amok curry with chicken (it's very fragrant and a little like the Thai red curries); sweet and sour chicken; fried rice with vegetables. Actually the fried rice rules above all: tasty and filling. Later tonight we're off to the little Psar Ta Pang night market for a nibble from each of the street stalls!
If you eat a little too much, you'll end up like this! Don't forget that Phnom Penh is a city of vast contrasts: the regal architecture and sculpture doesn't sit well with the grinding poverty and hardships. Just below the surface of urban life is the usual poverty of the favelas, with all its attendant sights and odours. The French may have let Cambodia fester, whilst the evil regime of the Khmer Rouge has cast a shadow over the chances of the drive to modern development. We can still feel this down on the street with every step we take.
Tomorrow brings new experiences, for we are to fly up to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. So watch this space!

Tuesday 26 January 2010

The Perfect Rambuttan shake


Well here it is! The essence of Indochina in a glass: after you've been pounding the pavements of Phnom Penh all day, what you need is the most tasty fruit experience, all whooshed together with ice. Yum!
You don't want rambuttan? Ok, why not select from custard apples at the top, to mangosteen.
We can't wait to try this, both as a shake and as something to nibble on. I wonder what it smells like.....

The Killing Fields


The era of the Khmer Rouge is far too complex to sum up in our blog, and still demands a fair amount of background reading for us on our return. If you don't know what happened here, the wiki is fairly comprehensive, so paste this into your browser: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields
Otherwise, just let these simple pictures tell the story of our day exploring the reality of this holocaust.

Some Monkey Business?


Yesterday we managed to take in a massive swathe of the city of Phnom Penh. Here, at the base of the Wat Phnom, we encountered a troupe of cheeky monkeys. The older members of the group were extremely well fed by all the visitors, whilst the youngsters couldn't resist performing for us with some nifty acrobatics in the trees!
Next it was time to explore the markets of the city, from malls to local produce markets: the contrast between the two was both stark and fascinating!