Hoi An

One of the most popular sites to see in Hoi An is the old Japanese bridge.

But with no English signage, only a discerning eye can pick out Vietnamese Santa. 

Lots of sites do have signs in English. And some shops even have English names.

We had the veggie version of the local noodle dish, cao lao. 

Delicious. Ali also had "the white rose" at a couple restaurants which was wonton that had dressed up as a ravioli for Halloween. 

Here's the view of a farm across the river from our hotel.

And some fishermen.

And here are some fish traps just upstream towards town. 

As luck would have it we arrived the night before the full moon, which is a festive night for lighting floating lanterns in the river. Most of the shops on the river in town turn down or turn off their normal lights. I forgot to make a wish but Ali nailed it.

It was pretty magical, in someways kinda like lighting trash on fire and throwing it in a river, but also totally different.

We walked along the river and found a traditional game played at this festival. It's something like musical bingo http://youtu.be/qUH1E7PGgUo

 But the real lesson on Vietnamese culture came from trying to buy the lanterns. A little girl, maybe 6 years old tried to sell a lantern to me for 20k Dong. I said 10k, the going rate.

"Ok,ok" I reach toward my pocket. "50!"

"50?! No 10"

"Ok, ok" back towards the pocket. "30!"

"No I'm going to buy one down there."

"20!"

"That's where we started!"

"ok 10"

It didn't end there but you get the idea. Ali was later short changed by a 105 year old looking lady who then shooed her away. 

Vietnam and especially Hoi An have been the worst for price changes, over charges, short change, and general dishonesty and scams. We've been told it is generally worse as you go north. I'm not sure selling one's integrity for a nickel was the intended communist utopia. This is most likely a few bad apples giving everyone a bad name. I have accidentally tried to over pay for items only to be corrected by vendors. I gave one street vendor two 20ks for a 5k snack and she told me so. 5k is about a quarter. 

Anyway, to get back to our happy place we visited Santa again. This time there was a Vietnamese piñata game set up. For a quarter, you can get blind folded with a stick three meters from a hanging clay pot. Break it in one swing to win. Good way to lose a quarter. Unless you remember how MJ did it. Stare at it, close your eyes but keep staring at it and http://youtu.be/JdH3vRSU870.

"What did I win?!"

Why yes, I believe that is a Xmas tree ornament won right next to Vietnamese Santa. 

Scoot or Die

Two wheelers are a way of life in Vietnam, even more so than Thailand. The most people we have seen on a scooter is six which included a baby, toddler, and small child. I didn't have my camera ready for that mind expanding feat. But we were determined to get some good shots after that. The Vietnamese will put four on a bike without blinking.

They will also use it with a trailer. 

But you don't need attachments to haul major cargo.

Just another day in Vietnam. 

Ho Chi Minh City

I had spent less than two hours of my life in a communist country when I accidentally stumbled upon my former employer's parent company flying commie colors. 

Man that place went downhill fast. I guess they really did need me. Oh well, good luck comrades! Crossing the streets in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is a rite of passage. Below is me on a pretty busy road at a not too busy time of day.

http://youtu.be/d_yS8iG3WGE

Disneyland needs one of those! Quite a rush the first time round. The next morning we took a car on a tour. First cultural site in the agenda (not!) were the motorcycles, scooters, and motorbikes.

Yes they like to wear masks in Vietnam. They wear it as protections against bugs, pollution, and sun. But might as well do it in style like the little guy above. Burberry's new ad campaign: Fashion for your face. Or you can just look like a love child of the Grinch and that guy from the last Batman movie.

Nice. Next stop was the war memorial museum. I had to go to Vietnam to know how a German feels when WWII comes up. Oh bother. To bring happiness back into our lives we went here.

Which was turned out to be this.

http://youtu.be/a26veu6g5n0 and http://youtu.be/fI1kf8fN2M0 and http://youtu.be/5Lj8Z7_QNLA

Let's take a step back for a moment. Here's a better view.

Vietnam has some great coffee too. While it isn't a cup of joe, it is strong and dark and can be locally produced for a tasty cup of coffee. This place looked good. 

But the wife preferred this place in stead.  

I guess it wasn't my lucky day. But at least we got to see all of the sites. Here's Reunification Palace where the South's executive branch held office. The first president that lived here was so popular he won 600,000 votes in one district of 450,000. 

The property is largely unchanged from 1975 when these guys came rolling into town.

I don't know what this place is. 

This is an old post office. The French built it but Ho Chi Minh looks after it from his giant portrait.

Good to see ya again Uncle Ho. That one city block since your last picture was treacherous. It's also good to know that you have been mummified and I can view your remains at your personal mausoleum from 8:30-11AM. Ali hid from him in the phone booth.

As far as American rulers go, the Vietnamese prefer Bill Clinton. Slick Willy reestablished diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995 and made an apology about the war. He ate at Pho 2000 and so did we. Not sure our picture is going on the wall though. 

Videos

I have obtained the computer literacy of a 4th grader and uploaded videos to YouTube.This is a link to a video from the elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai. If you want to see more videos just click on "David Born" on that page. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fwzledyjlc

Kuala Lumpur

We reached Malaysia in the morning, checked in to the hotel and headed to the iconic Petronas Towers for our trip to the "Sky Bridge" and observation deck. 

Then we had lunch in the food court in the mall beneath the towers where we met a Hungarian cellist who had lived here for a year while working in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. They were performing a combination of classical and twenty Beatles songs that night but we couldn't make it fit in our brief stay. 

Food courts are big in Malaysia but not as big as Singapore's hawker centers. After lunch we headed back to the hotel where we could see the towers from the lounge floor. 

Then back to the towers for dinner in the food center and pictures...

...of the towers...

...from all angles...

...including the back.

I saw a man and his wife in a burka stop to take pictures here too. Most women here just wear shawls but if you go to a crowded area you are sure to see some burkas too. There was a park in the back with a fountain.

After dinner we could hear the orchestra playing Something in the Way She Moves. The auditorium is in the base of the towers. But there is more to this city than the Towers so the next day we did a Hop On Hop Off tour. First stop, local handicraft. Second stop, Chinatown where we got a coconut pancake that was a little sweeter and less savory than the old school Thai variety. 

We walked through Chinatown to the Central Market. Ali like these houses.

Then my favorite, Little India. 

I was ready for lunch two hours before we got to Little India so can you really blame me for eating a lunch and a half? The lunch was a thali set and the half was a roti set. 

We picked the busiest restaurant and ordered what we saw on a lot of other tables. It was a veggie restaurant which made me a very lucky boy. A lot of the Restaurants in Little India were vegetarian and almost all were southern Indian style. Ali had an aloo paratha set and it all came to five delicious dollars. I ate some of Ali's too. OK I ate most of it. But we did make it back on the bus, the air conditioned bus with seats and soothing commentary on the city. We both decided staying on the bus was the way to go. We made it back at five. Relaxed and went to... the Towers for dinner. But first Ali took a picture of me in front of a tree.

Wow what a shot Ali. All together now!

Ok now back to the towers for a lovely dinner. And by lovely dinner I mean I will eat a chappati set (yes more Indian) in the food court while Ali goes to the spa. 

For the record we did eat some nasi lemak dishes (non-Indian Malay food) but we had already tried some in Singapore. The hotel had donuts and precariously close to a chocolate fondue fountain on the first morning. As you know I don't eat that stuff. But they had it again on the second morning and I'm neither superman nor a masochist. 

This one's for Homer.