Sarah Turns 30 & Other Urban China Adventures

So we still know only three Mandarin words (hello, thank you and dumpling) and the temperatures drop with every city we stop in, but we are still enjoying China a lot.

We had an excellent time in Shanghai thanks mostly to our amazing tour guides & hosts, Jesse & Christy. They took us all over the city - from the tops of huge skyscrapers to the older, much less developed neighborhoods to a propaganda poster museum with artwork from China's early communist period through the Cultural Revolution. They also treated us to some of their favorite food spots in the city, which were all delicious. For those of you who know Christy, we want to tell you that anything that she has probably told you about her progress in learning Chinese has been way too modest. We would have been lost without her (and a few times, when we were on our own in the city...we were), and we are so impressed with how well she is able to talk with and understand people in a language that is totally opaque to us.

One of the best things that we did while in Shanghai was attend a Chinese acrobatics show. Sarah left the theater determined to practice yoga more often so she, too, can be that flexible, and Gus left a little obsessed with this guy who could balance a huge ceremic pot on his fingertip, toss it 20 feet in the air and catch it on the back of his neck.

On Friday, the four of us headed up to Xi'an, a small city by Chinese standards even though it is home for 7.5 million folks. There was a great section of town known as the Muslim Quarter, and under Jesse & Christy's guidance, we dove into many tasty street food treats there without worrying (too much) that our bellies would later regret it. (And they haven't yet...)

Xi'an is an ancient capital of China and is surrounded by a 13 kilometer wall that you could climb up onto and rent bikes to ride along the top. The 2004 guidebook that we were using said that parts of the wall had collapsed and not yet been rebuilt, so we didn't think that we would be able to ride all the way around. So we were pleasantly surprised to learn that we could circle the entire city on the wall - with great views to boot! We also went out to see the famed Terracotta Warriors.

Christy & Jesse had to head back to Shanghai on Sunday evening, so we said our sad goodbyes to them and were then on our own in Xi'an. As some of you know, yesterday was Sarah's birthday, bringing her into a new decade. Without our trusty translator Christy, we were unsure of how our day would go (since very few people in Xi'an speak English). However, we had a great morning in the city. We successfully arranged a birthday massage for Sarah without also signing her up for full body hair removal, liposuction or collagen injections (all possible options, we think, had we pointed to the wrong set of characters on the brochure). Gus succeeded in navigating a department store to purchase a new pair of socks for Sarah (if you could see the current state of her other three pairs, you would appreciate what a great birthday present this was), and we also bought dumplings from a street vendor and actually got the fillings for which we had hoped.

So we were feeling very good about ourselves when we headed out to the bus station to catch a bus to some nearby tombs. Yet this was when our pride in our charades and massacred Mandarin phrases evaporated. There was a long row of buses, all looking very promising, but none with the number that we needed. After much pointing and gesturing and some friendly but thoroughly unhelpful advice from some bystanders, we gave up and decided our visit to the tombs just wasn't meant to be. So we did the next best thing - went back to our room and took a nice nap!

As many people that we've met in the past days have reminded us, China is a developing country, but it is developing very fast. Being here as the nation really starts to transition, what has stood out more than anything else for us are the number of seeming contradictions that you see all around you. A Louis Vitton store packed with eager Chinese shoppers right beside a pay squat toilet without available toilet paper. Business men in nice suits talking on $500 cell phones while hawking giant loogies that come inches from hitting our feet. A young mom sporting the latest runway fashions encouraging her toddler to squat on the sidewalk to pee. And, of course, the craziest contradiction of all - China is a communist nation that actively restricts freedom of information (no Wikipedia for us!) and yet it is simultaneously a hyper-capitalist society, with sprawls of malls and enterprising vendors that definitely rival those of the U.S. It's very interesting to see all this and to think about what will happen next.

Now we are in Beijing, enjoying the wonderful hospitality of Thaddeaus Law. We are looking forward to spending the next few days seeing some of China's most famous sites. We were greeted at the Beijing airport by an ad for the Olympics promising to, "Convey civilization and share dreams together." Not exactly as we'd have said it, but we get their point. And we appreciate it.



Space efficiency in Old Town Shanghai. Frankly, we prefer "Bounce."



Looking out at Shanghai's changing waterfront from the historic Bund.



Christy and Sarah pose with their bikes on the Xi'an wall.



Christy and Jesse surprise Sarah with some tasty cake a few days before her 30th on their last night in Xi'an.



Sarah's 30th birthday night out took a turn for the memorable when a Chinese engineering student named "Mark" struck up a conversation with us. While the initial conversation revolved around Mark's proclamation that Brad Pitt is the greatest actor, it soon turned to a wide range of topics, including Mark's requests for romantic advice. Soon Mark had introduced us to nearly everyone in the bar, including the manager, the owner, and some guy who loved coming up to us and yelling, "Happy New Year!" at the top of his lungs. Before we knew it, they were all sending shots of Mongolian rice wine and Chinese brandy our way. The bar started out as a nice place with some live music but turned into a karaoke hotspot after midnight complete with a "regular rotation." Our rendition of "Summer Lovin'" was foiled when the DJ put on "Summertime and the Livin's Easy." Our "Friends in Low Places" fared better but we're pretty sure that our new friends didn't quite get the humor in that selection.

Hong Kong and Yangshou, China

Ni Hao from Yangshou, China! We have officially passed the mid-point of our little adventure and it seems like it is moving faster and faster.

First off, we would like to give a little shout out to Dan Gestwick. His generous gift of Holiday Inn points set us up very well during our time in Hong Kong. More importantly, his great advice pointed us to a taquaria owned by a former resident of So-Cal who flies in her ingredients and makes a mean carnitas burrito. Oh, what a fabulous Mexican fix right in the middle of the trip.

The big story here in China is the Lunar New Year. In Hong Kong, we watched the whole city setting up and rehearsing for their annual equivilent of the Macy's parade complete with floats, dancing children, and an unlikely guest appearance by the Arizona Cardinals' cheerleaders (for some reason, their publicity photo - Lycra uniforms and all - was one of the more visible on the parade ads).

New Year's eve here in Yangshou was like festive little warzone. Our hotel looks out over the Li River and it was a perfect spot to launch very big rockets and light off meter-long strands of fireworks. After getting through that first night we thought that it might calm down a bit as the week wore on, but no, we were mistaken. Two days later, kids are still sling-shotting little bombs at one another while their parents look on and laugh. Initally, we felt that maybe Americans are just a little wimpier than people in China when it comes to chaotic celebration with potentially maiming devices. And then, when a man lit fireworks into the tree directly outside of our hotel window, we gained a renewed appreciation for the illegality of fireworks in most parts of the U.S.

In order to get out and do a few things that weren't just "on the beaten path" and to temporarily escape the endless explosions, we arranged for a guide to show us around the areas outside of Yangshou where it would be rare for folks to speak English. Stephen was great to us and taught us a lot about Chinese culture. He was also excited to chat about Chinese and U.S. history and politics, which we of course enjoyed as well. We hiked alongside the Li River, ate lunch in a little village, rode bikes 4 hours out into the countryside and rice fields, and visited a small buddist temple with an amazing view of the karst landscape. Sadly, we did learn that fireworks are enjoyed everywhere in China.

Throughout our time in Cambodia and Vietnam, we were always amazed that nearly every sign and menu was written in both the local language and in English. While we see much less English here, they are trying, particularly in places visited often by foreigners. But, for some reason, there are wonderful mistakes everywhere. Some of our favorites: "Please place trashery in the bin," "Wonderful shopping place for your face soil" and "Jack Naniels."

Tomorrow we head to Shanghai to reunite with Jesse & Christy. We are very much looking forward to seeing them again and are bracing ourselves for the big city fireworks that undoubtedly lie ahead.

More Karst, this time on the Li River. The scene behind us is shown on the 20 Yuan bill. Speaking of, we discovered the pain in the butt that is counterfeit money the other night. Turns out it sometimes comes out of the ATMs. Lots of places check and reject it but it didn't turn out to be hard to get rid of it later on. We guess some merchants figure there will always be another gullible foreigner coming down the pike.

Sarah and Stephen pose in their borrowed flip-flops and helmets before we head into a limestone cave that houses an underground lake and mud-bath. After shimmying through tight spaces and wading in knee deep water, we realized that a similar attraction in the U.S. would require a minimum of 40 pages of liability waivers.

Gus, never before a huge fan of Chinese food nor a practiced user of chopsticks, shows off newfound skills while taking his malaria pill.

Vietnam: Hue Tour in a House(boat) and Lots of Limestone

Happy Valentine's Day! Before we head out for our last Vietnamese meal, we thought we would take advantage of the free internet at our hotel to give a little update.

From Hoi An, we took a bus up the coast to the city of Hue, where we spent just one afternoon. On our way to lunch, we were approached by a young guy offering us a tour on his boat down the river to a famous pagoda. While we've declined literally thousands of other tour offers during our time in Vietnam, we didn't have much else planned for the afternoon. So we worked out a good price and headed for the boat. We quickly realized that it doubled as the family home, and so in order to take his house out on tour, our "guide" had to kick half his family out (the other half came along for the ride), throw clothes in the closet, and clean up lunch dishes. Although the tour itself wasn't necessarily all that informative (after getting the boat off its mooring & turning the driving over to his mother, our "guide" took a nap on the floor), it was an interesting insight into the life of one Vietnamese family.

From Hue, we took a quick flight up to Hanoi. Hanoi is a nice city with a lot of history and culture (we visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and saw a water puppetry performance), but its streets are incredibly narrow and are exceedingly busy right now due to the upcoming Tet festival. Our experience walking around the city led us to coin a new term: Hannoying (adj.) - the needless, excessive and loud honking of horns in the midst of a complete and total gridlock of motos, cars, street peddlers, bicycles, pedestrians, and scared-out-of-their-wits tourists.

Thankfully, the next day brought a refreshing break from crowded Hanoi as we journeyed up to Halong Bay. We did an overnight cruise on a very cool boat with only six passengers and got to spend the afternoon kayaking among the magnificent limestone karst islands (oh, how Gus wished he had his climbing gear). Our cruise manager was great and we learned a lot not just about Halong Bay but about many aspects of Vietnamese life. Language has definitely been a barrier in having many meaningful conversations with a lot of the other Vietnamese people that we've met, so it was great to get to ask him all the questions we've gathered up over the past few weeks.

Tomorrow we set off for Hong Kong. While we're looking forward to the next part of our adventure, we are definitely sad to be leaving Vietnam behind (not to mention Vietnamese food).

Could you imagine a more typical Vietnamese scene? We found out that a typical rice-farming family makes about $600 per year and is allocated their land by the local communist party office every five years.


The youngest inhabitant of our "tourboat." She liked the game "gather up all the shoes into a pile and kick it."


Tet is celebrated with Kumquat Trees. Above is a strong contender in our "Best Of" category: craziest-thing-carried-on-a-moto. This one was only average-sized.


The karst islands of Halong Bay were incredible in the mist.

Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, and Hoi An

We began our time in Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), a city with 8 million people and 4.5 million moto-bikes which, at times, it seemed must all have be on the road at once! While we were at first overwhelmed with the prospect of crossing the streets amidst all the motos, we soon mastered (almost) the art of walking directly out into a street with motos and cars speeding by. Our quickly-adopted theory of "follow the locals" also helped, although we undoubtedly unnerved a few of the people that we hovered behind to get across the larger intersections.

We spent most of our time in Ho Chi Minh City just walking around - past many of the historical attractions, such as the Reunification Palace, but also exploring neighborhoods off the beaten tourist track. We really loved the city and all its activity and energy, and we also found some amazing Vietnamese cuisine in our wanderings.

As part of our time in Ho Chi Minh City, we visited the War Remnants Museum, a reflection on the Vietnam War (known as the American War here) that is fairly one-sided and obviously from a different side than we as Americans normally experience. Sides aside, the museum shows the horrors of war for everyone involved. We were left wondering if our own kids will someday be visiting a similar museum in Iraq.

From Ho Chi Minh City, we set out on a two-day tour of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Previously not knowing that the Mekong Delta is one of the most populated regions of Vietnam, we had expected to see only rural river life. Instead, we saw how, in many places, city life coexists with traditional ways of life like rice farming and floating markets. We also saw how much the river is a part of people's daily lives, from transportation to a food source to a place for tasks like washing clothes.

Now we are in Hoi An, a lovely town alongside the vast stretch of beach that comprises Vietnam's eastern coast. We have very much enjoyed a few days of relaxing in the sunshine and wandering around the charming old town area of Hoi An. Today we biked out of town and into some of the smaller villages nearby. We got a few surprised looks when we pedaled through neigborhoods that don't get many tourist visitors but almost all of the kids shouted an enthusiastic "Hello," to which we responded with a butchered "Xin Chao."

Tet, the major Vietnamese holiday, is on the 17th of February, and so there is an extra sense of excitement right now in each place we have visited. Tet is like New Year's and 4th of July all rolled into one, along with the celebration of every single Vietnamese birthday! (We've also noticed many signs reading, "Merry Christmas & Happy New Year," but we think that is more likely attributed to the bargain costs of acquiring Western holiday paraphanalia in January than to anything else.) So, needless to say, people are gearing up for their celebrations, and it's a fun time to be here.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! (Happy New Year!) Enjoy the pictures below.

Sarah doing her best "Old Hollywood" pose in front of Ho Chi Minh City's Reunification Palace.

On a canoe trip down a side canal on the Mekong River. Sarah wore her borrowed hat very well, don't you think?

Boats big and small ply the Mekong river buying goods from farmers and co-ops and bring them to the Cai Rai floating market near Can Tho to sell to everyone from restaurants to wholesalers. There are literally hundreds of boats tied up to each other selling everything imaginable.

Gus gets schooled by the Mekong Delta's top foosball team.


The view from our hotel in Hoi An. Rice paddies one direction, fish farms the other, and the beach right down the road.

There is no doubt that Vietnam is an amazing vacation spot. All you need to do is look down the 60 mile long beach from Danang south (we're taking this from Hoi An), to see why.


A little afternoon bike ride outside of Hoi An took us through palm swamps where locals were raising fish and cutting fronds for thatching. We interrupted a Vietnamese couple trying to get some time away for this photo. We doubt they were too happy.

Cambodia Photos

Finally! Here are a few photos from our time in Cambodia.

Sarah and Christy share some sodas at an off-the-beaten path restaurant in Phnom Penh.

Clothes scattered around the excavated burial pits that the Cheung Ek "Killing Fields" outside of Phnom Penh. For Gus, this was the most powerful image of the whole trip. Stomach turning.

Our wonderful travel companions Jesse and Christy in front of the amazing Angkor Wat.

Our rented steeds for our second day at Angkor. They would take us far but our rear ends would not be happy at the end of the day. Not pictured: Gus' powder blue "City Rider" girl's bike complete with a pink basket and broken pedal.

We are standing in front of one of the famous fig trees that has swallowed the ruins of Angkor. This was a fairly crowded locale for a few minutes and Sarah had just finished being the unofficial photographer extrordinare. Someone would ask her to take a photo of them by this tree, she would and then be promptly asked to do the same for another group. Our favorite was a group of 5 Slovenians who attempted model-like poses in strange scattered positions on the rubble in front of the tree. Yes, gustook a photo of them at the same time, but it is too weird to waste blog space on.


A gratuitous photo of a kid in Siem Reap village, just outside the Landmine Museum. Make love not landmines, is what we think he is trying to say. Either that, or "I need a smaller bike."

Cambodia

Well, our time in Asia started off with a bang when we unintentionally hired two moto taxis to take us from the airport to downtown Phnom Penh, rather than the more traditional taxi-with-four-wheels-and-doors that we thought we were getting (sorry, moms!). Our drivers escorted us to our vehicles, stuffed our bags into the frame between their legs and instructed us to hold on (which we did - tightly!). The surprisingly low speed ride right through the center of town will definitely be a highlight of our trip.

Along the way we saw a microcosm of Cambodia: kids playing a game similar to hacky-sack, but played with a feathered shuttlecock; little roadside moto repair stations; a number of cell phone outlets right next to stalls selling live chickens; and ox carts packed with fruit on their way to the local market. We were most impressed at how a family of four can ride a single moto, all without really holding on (unlike us).

After an afternoon of wandering and watching the city's activity from the balcony of our hotel, we met up with Jesse and Christy, our friends who are currently living in Shanghai. We caught up over our first yummy taste of Khmer food (very similar to Thai) that night.

The next day was spent touring Phnom Penh, a busy city with lots of street markets and relatively few tourists. Sadly, many of the key sites that we saw were not necessarily that uplifting. We visited both Tuol Sleng Prison and the Cheung Ek "Killing Fields" where thousands of Cambodians were tortured and killed in the late seventies during the reign of the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge. Tuol Sleng had been a high school prior to the take-over and amazingly sits right in the middle of town. The killing fields are still being excavated and you have to be careful not to walk on half buried clothes that litter the paths between the pits. The two "museums" are very rudimentary. Not very surpising when you think about it since the history is so recent and Cambodians are themselves just coming to grips with it.

Early the next morning, we headed north through the countryside to Siem Reap to spend three days touring the HUGE site at Angkor. Wait, HUGE doesn't even describe it. There are HUNDREDS of sites in addition to the well known and quite crowded Angkor Wat. Almost everywhere you walked, you ran into some amazing monument just sort of half buried by the jungle, Indiana Jones style. Highlights included spending a whole day on rented bikes tooling around in the dust seeing the sites and watching the sun rise over the rice paddies from a tower that we had entirely to ourselves.

After three days filled with lots of rock (beautiful rock, but rock just the same), we visited a small landmine museum run by a Khmer man who teaches villagers how to spot and avoid the many millions of mines that still exist in the country. It was unnerving to see the piles of landmines that this small group has disarmed in the last few years, but also inspiring to see the work that they have accomplished with few resources.

Cambodia has an extremely turbulent recent history that has impacted nearly all Cambodians. At times, we have been overwhelmed by some of the poverty that we've seen and by the inequity between our lives in the U.S. and the daily lives of many Cambodians. And yet, we are trying to be careful to not put our lens for what equals happiness onto a completely different part of the world. Then again, we see so many kids working in street markets during the day, and the teacher in Sarah just wants to scoop each kid up and plop them in a classroom.

There is a lot of construction in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and you get the sense that tourism within Cambodia will soon explode. We feel very lucky to have had the chance to visit before this happens and to experience Cambodia as we have. We also feel very lucky to have been able to spend our time here with Jesse and Christy. We couldn't have asked for better travel companions, and we can't wait to meet up with them again in China!

Due, once again, to a slow connection, photos will be postponed for a little while. But we have some great ones!