South Africa: Electrofied, Poolside, Razorwire Delight

So the news from South Africa that peppered the main section of the paper we read on the way to Jo'berg was not the most reassuring. Page after page of luridly described crime reports were interspersed with political scandals. We weren't optimistic. Landing at the airport didn't exactly raise our expectations either. The airport is in the middle of, what appears to be, slapdash renovations with signs posted everywhere (including Customs) saying that the police were not responsible for your safety. Not optimistic.

But once we got out of the airport, the surroundings take on an entirely strange feel. My best analogy is that parts of the city looks like the fancy parts of Miami with the addition of electric fences and razor wire surrounding the manicured lawns and beautiful houses. Sun-drenched, post-apocalyptic architecture to be sure. But when we pulled into our compound, suffering jet-lag, we have to admit that the presence of a pool and the nicest room we had stayed in in quite some time was a pleasant surprise.

Since we were only in Jo'berg to connect to Victoria Falls, we were okay with just relaxing poolside for half of our time. It was nice to not have to run around and figure buses, etc out. But we did have one site that we were told was a "can't miss" and that was the Apartheid Museum. So we tore ourselves away from the compound lifestyle and went into town.

The experience of the museum begins when you purchase a ticket and are handed your identity card. Kristi was Non-White and I was European. So, we had to use separate entrances, received separate information, were treated differently. A powerful way to begin. The museum lives up to all of the good things we had read. It is informative and moving and the architecture is quite visually arresting.

After a brief tour of some of the poorer sections of town, including squatter settlements, we returned to our compound to finish off our South African sojourn by the pool. A tad schizophrenic, but I suppose that is one of the themes of the country.
-d

p.s. The photo is "Stretch," our poolside companion.

Hong Kong

It's probably a good thing that we went straight from Tokyo to Hong Kong, because we were able to get used the the crushing crowds at practically every hour of the day. Tokyo's way of dealing with so many people in such a small space was to build the most amazing and extensive Metro system we'd ever seen. And of course it's Tokyo, so you've got very clean and heated seats to make your commute that much more pleasant.

In Hong Kong, their solution is to build elaborate walkways above the actual streets, and also to create barricades along most streets to make walking more cumbersome, but the chances of getting creamed by the non-stop traffic less likely. Oh, and you usually have to walk through at least two malls to get anywhere you need to go. Perhaps this would have been a relief in summer, but it seemed more like a depressing form of run-away commercialism at the time. However, we did enjoy the escalator--literally a series of escalators lined with shops and restaurants that takes commuters to/from their tiny and expensive apartments in the mid-level hills to downtown. We walked up the steep streets and took the escalator, so can objectively say it's much more pleasant to take an escalator!

Besides being jam-packed with people, Hong Kong also has a lot of sights to see. Our five days here were pretty non-stop, with visits to the markets of Kowloon, the madness of downtown Hong Kong Island, the many international choices of restaurants in the mid-levels, the parks, and the peak, which of course you access by taking a tram that ends at a mall. We also made it out to one of the outlying islands to get in some hiking, viewing of the recently-constructed giant Buddha, and eating at the Buddhist monastery. And even though the city can be really expensive, we still found some free stuff to do like a one hour t'ai chi class on Hong Kong harbor to the soundtrack of 'Once upon a Time in China.' I'd like to think Bruce Lee and Jet Li would be proud...
-K

Tokyo a Go Go

So I lived in Tokyo in the late 1970's and returning to the city always seemed a pipe-dream. But actually getting back here has been a true highlight of the trip. Apart from being far too expensive for mere mortals, the city has everything that I love in a place. Beautiful parks, bustling subways, sushi and udon shops everywhere, strange subcultures and, most importantly, the ability to have a perfect day just aimlessly walking around back streets.

Over the course of our 5 days here, we have walked Shibuya, Harijuki, the Royal Palace, Asakusa, Raponggi, Ginza, Electric City (or, for the Eddy Grant fans, "Electric Avenue") and have seen young boys who look like a cross between a Japanese Animation Character and Michael Jackson, leather shorts wearing business men, more thigh-high boots than the entire 80's video culture produced, young women dressed as maids and police officers serving pastries to computer geeks, and at least 2 million cell-phones per day in use. And that is just on the subway. We've also discovered that the entire metropolitan area seems connected by underground tunnels giving rise to our belief that the city is rife with J-CHUDs (perhaps only Gabe Robinson will appreciate the reference).

To think that we are going to be in Hong Kong in 24 hours and that the constant input won't stop for the next week is a little worrisome. K and I have been so relaxed I'm worried that being around 30 million people in a confined area for 10 days might break us. Bring on the nuttiness.

-d

Eugene, Oregon to Tokyo, Japan

One of the great things about this trip is the fact that we've had a chance to meet up with so many friends. To wit, Tokyo happens to be the Town de Jour of James, a friend from my Eugene days. It also happens to the be the town of James' wife Mamiko and two adorable boys Ray (3) and Louis (1 & a half). A lot can happen in 10 years, it turns out.

James and Mamiko warmly welcomed us into their Urawa home (Urawa Reds for the footie fans out there) and fed us the finest meal we have had on this trip. We caught up on old times, learned from Ray and James about Japan's cultural icon "Ultraman," and chatted books.

In addition to a fantastic evening, James and Mamiko were kind enough to forgive the fact that the chocolates we brought were wrapped in Valentines paper.

-d

Rockin' the Lunar New Year, Hanoi-Style

After our less-than-exciting New Year's eve in a Laos border town where we didn't quite make it till midnight, we were really looking forward to Tet, the lunar New Year in Vietnam. We had heard it's the craziest party of the year--with tons of fireworks and general merriment.

I guess it's not surprising that a few days in the cold and rain without a chance to warm up would lead both of us to get nasty colds. Just to clarify Dennis' post about Nihn Bihn: It's not that our guesthouse here lacked heat, it's that every building in northern Vietnam lacks heat. When people from South Vietnam joke that northerners are hard-asses, I'm convinced that it's true, and it's because they freeze their asses off 4 months a year. Anyway, as Tet rolled around, we weren't really feeling up to the festivities. The nice folks at our guesthouse made up a Tet dinner and drinks for us, which was very nice, and we did make it to midnight-just barely.

Tet wasn't really what we expected. The government outlawed fireworks in the mid-90s, so the pro and amateur displays of fireworks only went on for a couple of hours on either side of the New Year. Most of all, the holiday is a time when businesses shut down for a few days, and many Vietnamese take vacations or visit family for about a week. In essence, it's less about the party and more about frantically cleaning the week before Tet (that's what those 6:30 am gov't announcements are about, BTW) , getting your drink on with your extended family on New Year's eve, and then staying home the week after. Not the most exciting time to be in the city for a tourist.

Despite some of the inconveniences of being in Hanoi this time of year, and being sick, we really enjoyed our time here. We had several days, so we explored in a pretty laid-back way. We even ended up running into our friend Channi, who we first met way back in the Delta, again in Saigon and Hoi An, and finally in Hanoi. He gave us the excellent idea of buying a hair dryer, both for drying clothes and for warmth, and it helped us ring in the New Years comfortably--thanks Channi, and safe travels in snowy China!

-Kristi

Halong Bay

With the weather not cooperating and Tet limiting the transportation and lodging options, we cut back on our original plan to tour Halong Bay and stay on Cat Ba Island. Instead, we decided to do a day trip from Hanoi to Halong Bay and spend five hours on the water. The downside is that you spend more time on a bus getting there and back than you do on the boat, but the upside is the cost savings.

So we have gotten used to seeing the UENESCO World Heritage description throughout our travels, and rarely do the places disappoint. Halong Bay is certainly no exception. As much as we enjoyed Tam Coc, Halong Bay is in another league. The limestone formations are gigantic and dot the horizon. Again, the presence of a foggy mist improved the land/seascape. Even with a number of boats on the water, the places seems tranquil and slightly spooky. And, unlike Tam Coc, the boat we were on had a sheltered area below deck to warm up in.

Apart from the bay itself, the tour included a visit to a cave on one of the uninhabited islands. The cave itself is impressive with one major caveat--it is not exactly in it's natural state. There are neon lights under various rocks, they have cemented over the ceiling of the cave (which, ironically, will destroy the cave) and have installed fountains throughout. I imagine it looked like what Carlesbad Caverns would look like if it was run by a Disney/P.T. Barnum joint venture.

But back on the boat, we completed our tour with a large meal and some good company. The day seemed the perfect calm before the impending storm of Tet.

-d

Three Day Weddings, No Heat, Frostbite, Free Candy: It's Ninh Binh

So, what does Southeast Asia mean to you? Sunny weather, sweltering days and steamy nights? Rainy seasons filled with flooded streets? Well that ain't Ninh Binh. After the second 18 hour overnight bus in three days, we got to Ninh Binh just in time to step out into 35 degree (Fahrenheit this time) sleet. I know, we can't really complain after months of perfect weather but it comes as a shock when you check in at a hotel, drenched and freezing and find out that there is no heat. None. Plus, there is a three day wedding outside of the window where karaoke is a 24-hour event. A shock after sunny days and wonderful flophouses.

Ninh Binh is not a tourist town, per-se, but rather a jumping off point for the natural wonders that surround it. As such, the town is not really friendly to persnickety eaters who want to avoid, say, meat. After walking around for the better part of an afternoon, we located one restaurant that advertised veggie friendly food. A pile of beef in a brothy bowl later, we resorted to the market as our caterer of choice.

You know that you are not the usual market goer when any teenage local who spots you immediately alerts all of her friends of your presence. And, your presence is the funniest thing that they have ever seen. But I suppose one of the rules of funny is that it can always be funnier. So how can a couple of foreigners buying bread and tofu at the market be even more hysterical? Well, it involves vendors force-feeding Kristi candy. Lots of candy. Lots of the funny. But really, a win-win.

So, as I mentioned, Ninh Binh isn't really a tourist town and by this point we had spent 2 full days in the city basically trying to feed ourselves and stay warm. But on third day (when the sleet briefly waned) we decided to bike to the nearby Tam Coc.

Tam Coc is described-quite accurately-as Halong Bay on the rice paddies. Basically, it is a collection of towering limestone formations with a shallow river/irrigated rice paddies flowing through them. After arriving at the dock only for the rain to pick up again, we boarded a boat to get a close-up view of the remarkable surroundings. The entire trip is about an hour during which Kristi and I were ferried through grottos, around naturally sculpted limestone and through the most luminescent green rice paddies we had ever seen. Even the pissing rain couldn't dampen the experience. But the rain and slightly blue-black toes did limit the biking around the levies afterwords. With a short trip to a Buddhist temple we were back to the karaoke ice box of our hotel and the welcoming pile of blankets, towels, and dirty clothes that we nested in.

-d