Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Heading to Morocco-Casablanca to Marrakech for Christmas
For those of you who followed us in Vietnam in 2011, we are continuing our adventures in January 2015 to Morocco. Tonight we fly to Casablanca and head directly to Marrakech for the holidays. We will keep you updated if you'd like to follow our posts. It is a nice way to share this adventure with our friends and family. Happy Holidays and much love to all--Duncan, Jesse and Belle
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Ho Chi Minh!
The first few days in Ho Chi Minh City have been better than expected! It is not to loud and very sunny compared to Hanoi which is the capital of Vietnam and I don't know why because it is much nicer here!
I woke up at 7:00 and mom and Dad had already packed so I went out side with my soccer ball and juggled for a little before a mini-bus came and picked us up from the side walk (by this time mom and dad had come out with our bags) and put our bags it the back of the bus which was really hard because it was tiny and was filled with some briefcases. There were a few people on the bus (which meant it was full because it was a mini) but not many people were traveling with so many bags. We got to the bus station and there were like 2 buses and a lot of people. One even drove away but more came so the bus we went on was not as full. I took my ticket from dad and got on to the bus and walked to the 21 seat and sat down.
We stopped and all the passengers streamed out and got some food from the Vietnamese restaurant. But unfortunately we don't speak Vietnamese so we had to go to a little shop with fruit and popcorn and eat that.
We did not want to go to Ho Chi Minh city yet though because we had a night in Ben Tre' first. So they just let us off the bus and we got picked up by a taxi and we were pretty close to Ben Tre' any way so we hopped in a taxi and drove to our hotel.
Ben Tre' was nice and quiet. We rented bikes and went around an island and saw a lot of coconuts and a fish sculpture made out of a tree! We were tired and when we got home I stayed and Mom and Dad went out to get a little lunch and then came back. Our hotel was nice and we enjoyed it. There was a TV so I was content. My bed was a mere mattress with 1 blanket and a fan pointed right at me and I was freezing!!! In the middle of the night I got up and moved the mattress out from under the fan. After that I was cold but I fell asleep and woke up the next morning.
We went down stairs and had breakfast at a little cafe and I got a beef rice thing and bacon. Then we rented bikes again and did the same thing we did yesterday except we took the littler paths and the rickety bridges. We stopped once and got water from a little store in the middle on no where. They had some cold water and before long we were off again. We went to the other side of the island and saw the coconut candy factory and got a sample. It was too sweet. That is why there were so many coconuts every where. We got back to the hotel and mom and I rented a Chaly. It is a 50cc bike that is smaller (for me!!) and for the first time I could ride comfortably! The bikes mom always gets are a bit to big but I can still ride them. So we rode that for a little bit and then came home and got onto a mini bus to a bigger bus then we rode that to another bus that took us to the city of Saigon then a taxi to our hotel called Saigon Star and plopped our stuff there and walked to the park which was next to us and then went to a cafe and had mongo smoothies. The next day we got up and went to the south Vietnamese former Presidents "White House". The bomb shelters were cool but the other bed rooms were not. We saw the landing pad where the people from the government lifted off in there helicopters to escape the north.
We also went to the war museum and saw the "jail" and all the pictures about Agent blue or red or something. They also had a big jet and tanks.
We took a taxi to a really good ice cream shop called X-CREAM. They had really good ice cream and then we walked to the market and shopped around and got some presents and I got 2 soccer jerseys for $10 with matching shorts. Then we took a speedy motor bike taxi with a funny driver and got home in "a record time"!!
I fell asleep and woke up to room service.
Mom and dad ordered some fries and beef and the guy brought it right up! I never had room service so I was astounded and ate the dinner and went back to sleep.
The next morning mom rented a motor bike, I wrote this post and dad read. After that stretch of boring mom drove us to a cafe and we had some good smoothies.
Then mom and I explored and found a street with a lot of animals and looked at some dogs, cats, snakes, lizards, birds and a monkey! You could get a cute dog for $11. We gazed at them till we got tired of the little barks then drove back to Saigon Star. (PS our camera broke so we can't post any pictures.) JM :)
I woke up at 7:00 and mom and Dad had already packed so I went out side with my soccer ball and juggled for a little before a mini-bus came and picked us up from the side walk (by this time mom and dad had come out with our bags) and put our bags it the back of the bus which was really hard because it was tiny and was filled with some briefcases. There were a few people on the bus (which meant it was full because it was a mini) but not many people were traveling with so many bags. We got to the bus station and there were like 2 buses and a lot of people. One even drove away but more came so the bus we went on was not as full. I took my ticket from dad and got on to the bus and walked to the 21 seat and sat down.
We stopped and all the passengers streamed out and got some food from the Vietnamese restaurant. But unfortunately we don't speak Vietnamese so we had to go to a little shop with fruit and popcorn and eat that.
We did not want to go to Ho Chi Minh city yet though because we had a night in Ben Tre' first. So they just let us off the bus and we got picked up by a taxi and we were pretty close to Ben Tre' any way so we hopped in a taxi and drove to our hotel.
Ben Tre' was nice and quiet. We rented bikes and went around an island and saw a lot of coconuts and a fish sculpture made out of a tree! We were tired and when we got home I stayed and Mom and Dad went out to get a little lunch and then came back. Our hotel was nice and we enjoyed it. There was a TV so I was content. My bed was a mere mattress with 1 blanket and a fan pointed right at me and I was freezing!!! In the middle of the night I got up and moved the mattress out from under the fan. After that I was cold but I fell asleep and woke up the next morning.
We went down stairs and had breakfast at a little cafe and I got a beef rice thing and bacon. Then we rented bikes again and did the same thing we did yesterday except we took the littler paths and the rickety bridges. We stopped once and got water from a little store in the middle on no where. They had some cold water and before long we were off again. We went to the other side of the island and saw the coconut candy factory and got a sample. It was too sweet. That is why there were so many coconuts every where. We got back to the hotel and mom and I rented a Chaly. It is a 50cc bike that is smaller (for me!!) and for the first time I could ride comfortably! The bikes mom always gets are a bit to big but I can still ride them. So we rode that for a little bit and then came home and got onto a mini bus to a bigger bus then we rode that to another bus that took us to the city of Saigon then a taxi to our hotel called Saigon Star and plopped our stuff there and walked to the park which was next to us and then went to a cafe and had mongo smoothies. The next day we got up and went to the south Vietnamese former Presidents "White House". The bomb shelters were cool but the other bed rooms were not. We saw the landing pad where the people from the government lifted off in there helicopters to escape the north.
We also went to the war museum and saw the "jail" and all the pictures about Agent blue or red or something. They also had a big jet and tanks.
We took a taxi to a really good ice cream shop called X-CREAM. They had really good ice cream and then we walked to the market and shopped around and got some presents and I got 2 soccer jerseys for $10 with matching shorts. Then we took a speedy motor bike taxi with a funny driver and got home in "a record time"!!
I fell asleep and woke up to room service.
Mom and dad ordered some fries and beef and the guy brought it right up! I never had room service so I was astounded and ate the dinner and went back to sleep.
The next morning mom rented a motor bike, I wrote this post and dad read. After that stretch of boring mom drove us to a cafe and we had some good smoothies.
Then mom and I explored and found a street with a lot of animals and looked at some dogs, cats, snakes, lizards, birds and a monkey! You could get a cute dog for $11. We gazed at them till we got tired of the little barks then drove back to Saigon Star. (PS our camera broke so we can't post any pictures.) JM :)
Bougainvillea of Ben Tre
We loved Ben Tre--it is a small town on the Mekong Delta--just 2 hours south of HCMC. In hindsight, we could have stayed here for several days. We found it to be an excellent town to experience Vietnam and all of it's splendor...active markets with good prices, very friendly people, a superior traffic situation conducive to exploring by bike or motorbike, surprisingly good food at our Hotel-Kach San Huong Vuong, wonderful weather and fabulous exploring in bright sunshine, bougainvillea and whispering palms. Of course the tributaries of the Mekong bustle with boat traffic and the tour boats will take you along the canals as well. The network of bridges and the gestures and expressions of surprised locals seeing us there were amusing indeed. Our trip is winding down and our final blog will be from Ho Chi Minh City, a.k.a. "Saigon"-- of days gone by. BTM
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
sugar cane juice on the rocks
One of our lasting memories of Vietnam will be the sugar cane juice that is sold by street vendors for .20-.25 cents! It is super cold and filled with ice so it is very refreshing on those 35 degree C days after bombing around Vietnam on our bikes taking in the sights. When you come to Vietnam don't miss it! We are now in HCMC and on our last few days of the trip. Today we will see the "Reunification Palace", the "War Remnants Museum" and the famous Ben Thanh Market in District 1. Last night we had a raucous dinner at the Ngoc Suong Restaurant... serendipitously...we were attracted to the chaos... it was described as "the place that well-to-do Saigonians would recommend for the best seafood in the city".... I thought maybe there was a wedding going on as we passed by, but it was just the regular wednesday night crowd of families and boisterous outings with friends. We were intrigued to see the buckets of ice cold beer that they bring to the tables full of cans consumed during the meal. So many things to see when you are a stranger in a strange land. Ciao--BTM
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Haircuts and Ear Trims
Just one small slice of life in Vietnam. Yesterday I had been cruising the streets of small town of Ben Tre, in the Mekong Delta, looking for a barber. Twice I had gone into a shop where women worked. They looked shocked and gave the Vietnamese sign for NO (the hand motion you use to screw in a light bulb). Then I passed a solo barber who was flourishing his scissors like an artist. His open-air shop was 8 x 10 feet, and led to his family's home. While I waited for his one customer to be done I watched the passing traffic. I counted at least 200 bikes or motobikes for every car or truck that passed. In the countryside two wheels rule.
When it was my turn for a haircut I tried, in sign language, to indicate what I wanted. The barber didn't speak a word of English. I tried to show I wanted only a trim for my hair and my beard. So much for my sign language abilities. He gave me a major haircut and was on his way to taking off my beard before we negotiated a severe trimming. I would bet I was the first foreigner ever in his chair. He was on a side street in a small town. His scissors were snipping a mile a minute, even when they were nowhere near my head. At times three or four passerby hovered a few feet away asking questions, or making comments, just watching the unusual procedure.
By the time I was done I had received a major haircut, a major beard trimming, and had my neck, forehead, and cheeks shaved. It's common in Vietnam after a haircut to have your ears cleaned. When in Rome... So he took out his long, somewhat sobering tools, switched on an old flashlight, and started excavating my eardrums. With pride he placed little balls of earwax on my arm. He also shaved my ears. Total time elapsed - 1 hour, 20 minutes. Haircut and beard trim - $1.50. Ear cleaning 50 cents. He bowed and gave my hand a hearty shake when I left. I think he'll be talking about this hairy foreigner for some time to come.
When it was my turn for a haircut I tried, in sign language, to indicate what I wanted. The barber didn't speak a word of English. I tried to show I wanted only a trim for my hair and my beard. So much for my sign language abilities. He gave me a major haircut and was on his way to taking off my beard before we negotiated a severe trimming. I would bet I was the first foreigner ever in his chair. He was on a side street in a small town. His scissors were snipping a mile a minute, even when they were nowhere near my head. At times three or four passerby hovered a few feet away asking questions, or making comments, just watching the unusual procedure.
By the time I was done I had received a major haircut, a major beard trimming, and had my neck, forehead, and cheeks shaved. It's common in Vietnam after a haircut to have your ears cleaned. When in Rome... So he took out his long, somewhat sobering tools, switched on an old flashlight, and started excavating my eardrums. With pride he placed little balls of earwax on my arm. He also shaved my ears. Total time elapsed - 1 hour, 20 minutes. Haircut and beard trim - $1.50. Ear cleaning 50 cents. He bowed and gave my hand a hearty shake when I left. I think he'll be talking about this hairy foreigner for some time to come.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Getting here
Most of the days that we get on a plane and fly 4 hours are hard a bit but when you are in Vietnam with people all around you yelling in there language it is a bit harder.
The first time that was hard was getting to Vietnam. I woke up at 3 in the morning and picked my bags up from my room where I had put them and had a really amazing breakfast (compared with the ones we have here) then get driven to the air port by Nathon who is our house-sitter which was really nice at 3am. We got there and checked our bags at the desk, said good by to Nathon and got on our flight to Chicago and (still tired) got to our next gate and waited for 2 or 3 hours till our next flight. I passed the time by playing games and Skyping. The plane came and we got on a deadly flight (aka 15 hour) to Hong Kong. It was a 747 and it was huge!! There were a lot of people! We were in the middle of it all and out of the 15 hours I napped 4. I was about in a coma when we made it to Hong Kong and got out to Chinese people yelling strange sounds and smoking. I looked out side and saw at least 800,000 motor bikes because it was the international airport. 9 in 10 people have at least 1 motor bike in Vietnam because cars are expensive. People still have cars though. Then we waited at least 3 or 4 hours it the airport and played soccer with a mini world cup ball I got for Christmas, got fast food from the Hong Kong fast food (which was delicious...) and played rummy 500 with cards.
Our flight arrived and we got onto a 1 hour flight to Hanoi. The police checked our papers to see if he wanted to let us into Vietnam. He did so we caught a taxi to hotel Tung Trang. The driver was crazy and I did not get a good first ride in a car in Vietnam.
All in all traveling to Vietnam is wicked hard and I am excited to come back but I fear the plane ride!! because it is so tiring!! :) JM
The first time that was hard was getting to Vietnam. I woke up at 3 in the morning and picked my bags up from my room where I had put them and had a really amazing breakfast (compared with the ones we have here) then get driven to the air port by Nathon who is our house-sitter which was really nice at 3am. We got there and checked our bags at the desk, said good by to Nathon and got on our flight to Chicago and (still tired) got to our next gate and waited for 2 or 3 hours till our next flight. I passed the time by playing games and Skyping. The plane came and we got on a deadly flight (aka 15 hour) to Hong Kong. It was a 747 and it was huge!! There were a lot of people! We were in the middle of it all and out of the 15 hours I napped 4. I was about in a coma when we made it to Hong Kong and got out to Chinese people yelling strange sounds and smoking. I looked out side and saw at least 800,000 motor bikes because it was the international airport. 9 in 10 people have at least 1 motor bike in Vietnam because cars are expensive. People still have cars though. Then we waited at least 3 or 4 hours it the airport and played soccer with a mini world cup ball I got for Christmas, got fast food from the Hong Kong fast food (which was delicious...) and played rummy 500 with cards.
Our flight arrived and we got onto a 1 hour flight to Hanoi. The police checked our papers to see if he wanted to let us into Vietnam. He did so we caught a taxi to hotel Tung Trang. The driver was crazy and I did not get a good first ride in a car in Vietnam.
All in all traveling to Vietnam is wicked hard and I am excited to come back but I fear the plane ride!! because it is so tiring!! :) JM
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Can Tho Kids Soccer
Jesse and I love playing 'football' (called soccer in the US), and it's a fantastic way to meet local children and adults and get great exercise. Fortunately, all the men and some of the women in Vietnam and Laos are football fanatics, so we keep our eyes peeled for dusty fields, wide street corners, or decaying local stadiums where we can scare up a game, and we rarely are disappointed. Here in the Mekong we've found a fantastic new venue -- outdoor centers with 4-6 small astroturf fields where men and boys play almost all day long. We've found two such centers here in Can Tho, and have joined many fun and sweaty games in recent days.
Yesterday at 6:30 am when I went for a run I stopped at a nearby center and watched some 25-40 year-old men playing. They had 11 players, and when one man saw me he motioned for me to jump in and make it an even 12. We played for a sweaty hour and had lots of laughs. Jesse has made 14 new friends his age, and at 5 pm every night they jump on any unused fields and start a pick-up game. There are night lights so they can play quite late. Here are two videos from Jesse's game last night. In one video, the kids are trying to select teams, and Jesse is showing them the Laotian technique he learned of having one team wear half-body shirts, and the other have full-body shirts. See you on the field! Duncan
Saturday, February 12, 2011
A new type of video--an experiment in video!
Scuba Diving on Phu Quoc Island Slideshow: "TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Scuba Diving on Phu Quoc Island Slideshow ★ to Phu Quoc Island, Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City by Jesse McDougall. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor"
This is an application we found while reading other people's blogs. We decided to have some fun and try it. BTM
This is an application we found while reading other people's blogs. We decided to have some fun and try it. BTM
Day 2 on the Mekong Canals
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| The Ho Chi Minh Statue at the waterfront in Can Tho |
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| finding "Vui" --a capable skipper navigating the narrow canals |
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| canals of commerce |
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| pulling up the water lily-type plants |
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| freshly painted boats with the eyes in the bow seeing the waters ahead |
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| all morning we saw people doing their wash in the river...not sure about the water quality but they do apparently have a plumbing system running through these areas. They do not drink any of the water but wash with hit... |
Can Tho
Can Tho is the biggest town/ city of the Mekong Delta.
At 7:00 in the morning I got up (in Phu Quoc) and got a baguette from the little restaurant at our hotel called The Beach Club. The Beach Club was not like an American beach club but it was nice and homey. We walked out with our luggage to a taxi and drove to a local slow boat dock and walked out the 1/2 mile pier to where the water got deeper and the boat could park. I was really tired and surprised that the boat that we were going to be on was wooden and was literally a "local" boat. People were smoking left and right and it was crowded. Mom and I choose to sit up on the top of the boat which was cooler and not as smelly! There was a lot of fiber glass up on the top deck--so I got a lot of cuts on my bum! I was tired from waking up at 7 and I slept the whole time till we got to a town next to Cambodia called Ha Tien.
We got a taxi ride to the bus station and caught a few hour bus ride on a big taxi bus thing to Rach Gia. "The driver was crazy and honked 1000 times" but mom gave me a head rub and it was all good. We got to the next bus station in a bit bigger city and played soccer for we had 1 hour till the bus picked us up. We started to pick up a game of soccer but a cop was sitting there and made a big deal about not letting us play because he thought we were drunk or something. (I thought they liked soccer?)
The bus arrived and it was just like the last one. It said Can Tho on the back so we knew it was ours. We got on to the bus and got our seats. They were split according to the woman at the desk but she said we could get them together. We ended up doing just that and that was ok. The bus driver was crazy again and we had to endure honks. We saw a lot of lights on the side of the road for Tet--Chinese new year. The trip was bad but we got to the Can Tho bus station and caught yet another taxi to go to our final destination at our hotel. I was down for the count…sleep wise.
The next day we woke up and went to a restaurant called HOP PHO! and got a smoothie and then went to look for a place to rent a motor bike and finally found one and rented a Honda Dream ll (which is a terrible bike. We used that for 24 hours and got a new one that was much better.) We explored around till we found an astroturf feild(s) and got a game going and played till we got tired and got smoothies at the GOAL CAFE! (which were really good!!)
Mom and dad covered the last few days of Can Tho so I will stop for now (and I really want to play a new game I found called Corporation inc. online, it is awesome!!) :) JM
At 7:00 in the morning I got up (in Phu Quoc) and got a baguette from the little restaurant at our hotel called The Beach Club. The Beach Club was not like an American beach club but it was nice and homey. We walked out with our luggage to a taxi and drove to a local slow boat dock and walked out the 1/2 mile pier to where the water got deeper and the boat could park. I was really tired and surprised that the boat that we were going to be on was wooden and was literally a "local" boat. People were smoking left and right and it was crowded. Mom and I choose to sit up on the top of the boat which was cooler and not as smelly! There was a lot of fiber glass up on the top deck--so I got a lot of cuts on my bum! I was tired from waking up at 7 and I slept the whole time till we got to a town next to Cambodia called Ha Tien.
We got a taxi ride to the bus station and caught a few hour bus ride on a big taxi bus thing to Rach Gia. "The driver was crazy and honked 1000 times" but mom gave me a head rub and it was all good. We got to the next bus station in a bit bigger city and played soccer for we had 1 hour till the bus picked us up. We started to pick up a game of soccer but a cop was sitting there and made a big deal about not letting us play because he thought we were drunk or something. (I thought they liked soccer?)
The bus arrived and it was just like the last one. It said Can Tho on the back so we knew it was ours. We got on to the bus and got our seats. They were split according to the woman at the desk but she said we could get them together. We ended up doing just that and that was ok. The bus driver was crazy again and we had to endure honks. We saw a lot of lights on the side of the road for Tet--Chinese new year. The trip was bad but we got to the Can Tho bus station and caught yet another taxi to go to our final destination at our hotel. I was down for the count…sleep wise.
The next day we woke up and went to a restaurant called HOP PHO! and got a smoothie and then went to look for a place to rent a motor bike and finally found one and rented a Honda Dream ll (which is a terrible bike. We used that for 24 hours and got a new one that was much better.) We explored around till we found an astroturf feild(s) and got a game going and played till we got tired and got smoothies at the GOAL CAFE! (which were really good!!)
Mom and dad covered the last few days of Can Tho so I will stop for now (and I really want to play a new game I found called Corporation inc. online, it is awesome!!) :) JM
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