Hanoi, Vietnam
It reminded me of a smaller Ho Chi Minh City, but much better. We spent one day walking around by our hotel to a very pretty lake in the middle of the city. We also went to the Hoa Lo Prison or the Hanoi Hilton, which was very interesting. Lots of pictures of John McCain when he was held there! We ate some great Mexican food at a place called Al Frescos which was started by an Australian. Jeff had fajitas and I had quesadillas, which was a much needed break from noodles. We came back to stay another night to Hanoi after Halong Bay and we did not do too much. I have been trying to get over a slight cold so we spent most of the time lounging in the hotel room. We only went out for dinner that night.

Halong Bay, Vietnam
We took a private driver to Halong Bay was which is around 4 hours northeast of Hanoi. The boat we were on was beautiful! Only 6 rooms so it was nice and quiet. They served us gourmet meals which consisted of about 4-5 courses every meal. Our room was basically all windows and it had a private balcony. The first night on the boat we had cocktails on the top deck to watch the sun set and had a beautiful dinner. I had lamb and Jeff had beef! After dinner we went back up to the top deck by ourselves and sat under the almost full moon and the stars…it was beautiful. The next day we did some kayaking into caves and some swimming. The service on this boat was amazing and everyone was so wonderful. I didn’t want to leave…it was great to have such a peaceful experience in the middle of such beautiful scenery after being in the hustle and bustle of the other cities. This will probably be one of my favorite parts of our trip!

We have now made it to Koh Phangan, Thailand! This an island on the east coast of Thailand, near Ko Samui. I am looking forward to the rest of our trip on beautiful beaches!

Halong Bay

Jeff and I Kayaking

Sunset from our boat on Halong Bay

Sunset from our boat on Halong Bay

Our boat

Halong Bay

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), Vietnam

From Siem Reap we caught an early morning flight to Ho Chi Minh City. The flight was probably could seat about 100 people and there were only 9 of us on the plane! We were not very impressed with the city. It was very big and had a lot of traffic. I don't think there are any traffic laws there. On any given road there would be a few cars and about 100 motorbikes, with no lanes and no traffic lights at intersections, everyone just honks and tries to make there way through the maze of traffic..it was crazy. Riding in a taxi I did not know how we did not clip any of the motorbikes, but we did not seen any accidents. Crossing the street as a pedestrian was a real challenge since we did not have the right of way, and there were no traffic lights, you just kind of weave your way through! We did have some good Pho (Vietnamese soup with noodles) and we were able to watch the World Cup game at a Tapas Bar with some Americans! Most of our stay here consisted of hanging out at a coffee shop for free WiFi so that we could change some of our travel plans in Thailand. While we were in Laos we met some people who had travelled many different islands in Thailand and they suggested some places for us. So we will actually be going to both the east and west coast islands in Thailand. I feel like we could have skipped this city all together!

Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An was wonderful! A smaller town, but not as small as Luang Prabang. Hoi An is in the middle of Vietnam about two miles inland from the coast. The whole town revolves around the tailoring industry and making custom made clothing for a good price. They also will make basically any type of shoes you desire. I bought 8 custom made dresses, a couple made of silk and the other ones cotton for 150 dollars! We were there the night of the full moon and the town had a big celebration. They turned off all the lights in the restaurants on the river that runs through town, and only had lanterns lighting the streets and the river, there was also karaoke, and many people out on the streets celebrating the full moon! It was pretty cool! One day we rode bikes about 2 miles from our hotel to the beach, which was very pretty, the water was very clear and felt great. Jeff and I both are extremely sunburned! We ate some great food and had lots of cold beer! (for cheap of course)

We are now in Hanoi, Vietnam just for one night and we head off to Halong Bay tomorrow for a boat cruise for 2 nights. Then we head back to Hanoi for another day.

Pho in Ho Chi Minh City

Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City

Sunset on river in Hoi An

Baby on a motorbike!

Dinner in Hoi An

Typical store front in Hoi An

Final fitting for one of the dresses I bought

Sunset in Hoi An

Luang Prabang, Laos and Siem Reap, Cambodia

Luang Prabang, Laos
We were in Luang Prabang for 3 days and 4 nights, all of which were extremely hot! The first day the temperature said it felt like 118 degrees, with what seemed like 100% humidity. It was like Houston x 100 during the summer. Our hotel was about a block from the Mekong River, and each morning at 5:30 the monks in the town would walk down the road were they would receive rice from the townspeople. Being in this town was very “eye-opening”…..you could donate your old books to the town because many of locals really enjoyed reading but rarely have access to books. Luang was very charming and the locals were great! The town runs on tourism so there were many restaurants and outdoor bars where we watched the US game. We walked most of the time in the middle of the street and we could see millions of stars at night. We spent one day riding on the back of a truck to a waterfall to swim, which was beautiful. The next day we went on a boat ride to a cave up the Mekong River, followed by a one hour foot massage for 4 dollars! The 24 ounce BeerLao (the local beer) was 1 dollar! All in all, we loved the Luang Prabang, but wished for cooler weather…which we got on the way to the airport when it poured down rain (just a little too late)!


Siem Reap, Cambodia
From Luang Prabang we caught a short 1 hour 10 minute flight south to Siem Reap. We spent a lot of time at our hotel pool trying to cool off! We hired a private driver and tour guide to take us around the temples of Angkor Wat for 8 hours. We learned a great deal about the history of Cambodia and the Hindu and Buddhist religions. The town of Siem Reap is not much to write home about…it is small and dirty, but it does have a street with multiple pubs on it to please the tourist. You can get 50 cent draft beer all day! This town seems much poorer than Luang Prabang…we have seen many land mine victims playing musical instruments on the roadside that are asking for money; all of these people are missing limbs or eyes or something else...very sad. Yesterday we saw a child about 3 years old or younger sitting alone in the temple with no parents around, which was again very sad. We have been very tired of eating noodles and rice everyday of the week, but yesterday we got to eat some great (or maybe not so great) Mexican food!


We are now in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon which is in south Vietnam. Now off to watch the US kick some ass!

Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia

Ta Prohm Temple, Cambodia

Bayon Temple, Cambodia

Kuangsi Waterfall, Laos

View of Luang Prabang, Laos from above

Trip to Japan and Southeast Asia

At Golden Palace in Tokyo

Traditional Japanese Restaurant

Explanation on how to use a toilet that is a hole!

For those of you who don't know Jeff and I are currently on a trip for a month to Tokyo and Southeast Asia. Jeff just graduated from the UCLA MBA program and I just quit my job at UCLA so we decided what better time to take an amazing trip! We will be traveling to: Tokyo, Japan Kyoto, Japan Luang Prabang, Laos Siem Reap, Cambodia Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam Hoi An, Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam Halang Bay, Vietnam Phuket, Thailand Ko Phi Phi, Thailand Bali, Indonesia

Currently I am sitting in the Hanoi, Vietnam airport were it is about 100 degrees inside, waiting for our flight to Luang Prabang, Laos. So far, we have been out of the US for 5 days and have travelled to Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan.

We spent two of our first nights in Tokyo, one night in Kyoto, and our last night back in Tokyo. Jeff and I have both found it to be super hard to get over the jet lag coming over here. The first night we went to bed at 8 and woke up at around 5:30, we got off to an early morning start in Tokyo seeing the Imperial Palace and a couple of other famous areas. We got back to our hotel and took a nap at around 4 and didn’t wake up until 8 PM, decided to take a sleeping pill and sleep until 7 the next morning. Let’s just say it has been rough adjusting to the time change, in Japan we were 14 hours ahead of LA time. It rained almost the entire time in Japan, but we just had to suck it up and get wet..good thing we brought our Cetaphil umbrellas! We have been having a fantastic trip so far, seeing all the main sights in Tokyo and travelling about 2.5 hours south of Tokyo to visit Kyoto. Tokyo is like NYC on steroids, so many people and so many lights and sounds, it is very overstimulating! Our first experience on the subway in Tokyo was like being on Bourbon street on Fat Tuesday; I felt like I could not breathe we were stuffed into the subway car like sardines! Kyoto was a much different experience..it was a big city, which was not expected, but it did have many Japanese Temples and great Japanese culture. One night we ate ” Indian style” and drank green tea and had noodle soup for dinner in a whole in the wall restaurant. The next day we had sushi on a conveyer belt for lunch for only 5 dollars a person. Jeff had an encounter with a Japanese young school girl who approached him, probably about a foot away from him, to say hi and the giggle with all her school girl friends like he was an alien. Then in broken English she asked if we would take a picture with them, and we all held up the peace sign! All in all Japan was great to see! The people were friendly and very accommodating. The public transportation was fantastic in both cities making it very easy to see a lot all over each city.

We look forward to our next adventure which will be 3 days in Luang Prabang, Laos, which I have only heard great things about…