One Get, One Free

Big man on a little train.

Heyo!  It's been a while because I was taken down with some tummy issues - (Chipoodles withdrawal? We may never know) probably from two weeks of foods I don't usually eat.  I am feeling much better today and Dr. Sarah Wild prescribed a beer to help - and I think it is working.

We took a night train down 16 hours or so from Hanoi to Hoi An (weird, right?).  With names like that I was afraid I was on a train going in a circle, but this town is much different from the one we left.  We also thought this would be a great experience - you get to your cabin, fall asleep for a while, and wake up in a new town.  That isn't exactly what 16 hours on a hard pallet felt like - and the bathroom on the train. (shudder)  Which led to me not eating or drinking much for about a day, which led to the tummy issues - and here we are!

HoiAn is a very touristy town and seems to be the place to go if you want something tailored to you (suits, ties, dresses, pants, shoes, sandals, you name it).  Since it is a touristy town, and now that I'm feeling better we decided to get massages!  There was a place proudly boating "one get, one free" - and even if our guide book advised against such places, we thought heck, let's roll the dice.  I would maybe equate the experience to me giving someone a massage for an hour if I was also multi-tasking and yawning a lot.

Basically I got walked on a lot by a small woman, Jefferson (from the sounds of it two feet away) got slapped around a lot, and there was an important phone call or two my lady had to take.  I assume she received dire news on the call because the massage got a bit aggressive after that.

Because of my tummy we haven't gone more than two blocks from our hotel so we've done a lot of what we do best - sit around and read.  That has been great but means no pictures - boo!  The only ones we have are from Jefferson taking a half day cooking course on Vietnamese cuisine at Miss Vy's school.  He enjoyed it and got a ton of food to eat.  Oh and of course, we had some Mexican food while we were here (not enough beans).  We're venturing out further tomorrow so we promise more pictures!  G'night!

Jefferson made cabbage soup with shrimp dumplings.

Hanoi beer, mmmmmm.

Jefferson made this Vietnamese pancake (savory).

Halong Bay in the fog!

Halong Bay

Our tour guide kept apologizing for such crappy weather, but it was beautiful in its own way. I like it when it is overcast, so I was pretty happy - but it did mean a limited view of the 2,000 islands of Halong Bay (see the many foggy pictures below).  I even busted Domo and Tigerduck out (finally) for scenic shot from our boat hotel room.

We stayed on the Glory Cruise (the type of boat is called a Junk) and the food was delicious.  I never did get to order the drink "Tequila Sunrice", but I was tempted.  I also thought our tour guide was joking when he said we'd feel fat afterwards, but they really pummelled us with all sorts of local dishes and I liked most of them.  Jefferson even got to roll his own spring rolls (while I drank a beer - typical).  The rooms were really nice - nicer than our hotel in Hanoi - and I didn't even get sick from the boat rocking - wahoo!  At night they set up squid fishing rods for us and one guy caught one!  The crew was so shocked that they all came out to fish for a while after - but we only ever caught that one.

Jefferson making a spring roll!

There were 19 other folks on the boat with us and I don't think any other group was of the same nationality - so that was pretty cool.  We had Aussies, French, Sri Lankan, German, Japanese, Spanish, English, Malaysian, and Filipino - and we had a great time with them.  The tour guide kept saying we would "party with our friends" and I just rolled my eyes (internally), but we did exchange some info with a few folks and may meet up with them again - so I stand corrected.

At the top of the caves.

Since it was so foggy there was no swimming or kayaking, but let's be honest - I wouldn't do either of those.  The bay was gorgeous but was so filled with trash and litter that it was a bit sad.  We did a paddle boat with the local folks that live on floating villages and it all felt very remote and peaceful until one of the older local ladies ring tone went off with some pop song and she answered her cell phone.  Us and just about every other cruise ship in the bay decided to tour the three caves instead - named the Surprising, Amazing and Shocking caves (I'm still not sure if our guide made that up).  They were pretty but I had to walk over 800 steps up and down to get there - and we all know how much I hate steps.  It wasn't that bad, actually - but it sure was crowded.

In general we like to avoid taking guided tours like this, but we were pretty pleased with how this one turned out. 

Halong Bay islands

Domo and Tigerduck at Halong Bay

  

Jefferson at Halong Bay

Karen posing on the junk (boat)

Excited cave faces

"Shocking" cave at Halong Bay

Excited (ish) faces riding a boat

I am allergic to Hanoi.

Hanoi Flag Tower

Chao Ban!  We are in Vietnam and have spent time in Hanoi and Halong Bay so far.  We're waiting on my visa for India (just getting that out of the way so we can travel at-will from here on out), so we are spending a week in Hanoi.  I think I may be allergic to the intense smog here, but we took a two-day/one-night tour to Halong Bay and I feel much better now.

I'm more comfortable with Hanoi having been here a few days and walked along almost every confusing street - but I'm not in love with the city.  There are two million motor bikes here and crossing the street is like that scene in Indiana Jones (#3 - Holy Grail) where he has to step out onto the invisible bridge - you just have to brace yourself and walk - slow and steady.  The many motorbikes and cars will flow around you - it's fascinating and a bit scary - but I am getting good at it.

Tasty Hot Chocolate!

Our food list is growing and I'm getting braver about trying weirdness (some of it is even good!).

• Good stuff: squid, buffalo, cooked oysters, duck, Vietnamese spinach, pomelo, jicama, cat fish spring rolls, ban my (sandwiches), hot chocolate, Hanoi beer.  
• Not good stuff (in my opinion, not Jefferson's): snails, fully clothed prawns (eyes and all), scallops, Son Tinh (Vietnamese liquor - Jefferson tried four kinds), hot kakao, and Saigon beer.

We have two more days and have a few more goals in the city (like try street food and maybe see a water puppet show) - but mostly just relax!  We'll probably spend a lot of time at Jamocha - a tasty little coffee shop we found with really good hot chocolate (not kakao - that was meh) - and per Jefferson, really tasty lattes.  I shall plan our next destination from here!

In front of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (we did not go in)

Arrigato, Japan!

For our last day in Japan we did as the locals do and put on some super sweet facemasks. Maaaan, we look good. They are also pretty uncomfortable.
EVERYONE CALM DOWN. I found Domo. He was tucked away in an shop under the weird Nagoya oasis (a third story observation deck with a glass bottom pool in the middle). It is also his 15th birthday and he is celebrating by dressing as a strawberry. As you do.
Today we leave the land of cute for Vietnam - which neither of us have been to - woohoo!  Byeeeeeee.

Andy, Karen and Jefferson with masks - so sexy.

Andy and Jefferson looking quite handsome.

Us at the Nagoya Oasis.

Meatlaaaand!

Andy took us to one of his favorite restaurants last night, Meatland, and it sure was tasty! Delicious lumb, tasty t-born, (honestly really good food) and a cool atmosphere at a tiny modern place. Nom nom nom. Plus the lady gave us hand warmers as we left to use in the cold weather - how freaking nice!

Tasty T-born steak, mmmmm

Delicious Lumb!

Go ahead, it won't kill you.

Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, Japan

NOM NOM NOM

And with that ringing recommendation, (which so far is true) we have had raw horse meat (three kinds - none good), beef stomach stew, lots of different kinds of octopus, plenty of sushi (none with cream cheese, dangit), donuts (mister donut!), Zima (it still exists!), squid, tempura, chicken skin (straight up), Mexican food our first night (it's tradition), and the list goes on.  Last on my list before we go is kobe beef - and we'll hopefully find that tonight.

Mexican for dinner! (with zebras)

We've been in Japan for six days now and are doing really well with the time change.  I really liked Tokyo a lot and we did a ton of walking around there - through Harajuku, Shibuya, Yebiso and Shinjuku.  We only got to see a few of the Harajuku girls (who are famous for their super crazy dress - like anime cosplay) probably because IT IS COLD HERE.  I knew it'd be in the 40's and 50's - but it's been more like the 30's and 40's and I packed for a more tropical climate.  Tokyo also had their first snow in about 15 years - we must have brought that from Chicago.  You're welcome, Japan. 

Harajuku candy shop

We found a candy shop that let us watch them make the little hard candies - which was pretty cool (plus we got free samples).  And of course, we went to a beer museum that also had free samples (I really like the beer here - right up my not-much-flavor-alley), but the whole tour was in Japanese so we just nodded and smiled a lot and drank our beers.  They had us play one game on the tour that really confused me - "five-two-zero" - until I realized (much later) that it was rock-paper-scissors.  Perhaps the beer was stronger than I thought. 

Zima ztill zucks in Japan

A list of things from the states that I find amusing to find here: Frishes Big Boy, Garrets Popcorn, Denny's, Krispie Kreme (NOM NOM NOM) and Zima (I know, second mention, but who has had that in the last 20 years besides Jefferson yesterday?). We also watched a crazy documentary on the host bars in Japan called, "The Great Happiness Space" - and then we saw real hosts on the street (men with hilarious hair-do's trying to attract women) - I highly recommend watching this.

 

Yebisu Beer Museum

We are staying with Andy Lee right now at his Nagoya apartment - which is the same size as our apartment in Chicago - so we feel right at home. Today we're on our own to explore Nagoya so we're going to hit the cat cafe (where you sit with cats while you drink your tea/coffee), shop for things with funny English on them and try desperately to find anything with Domo on it.  Andy says he rarely to never sees Domo and thinks he may have gone out of style for now UNTHINKABLE.  Unacceptable, JAPAN.  You may rest easy at night knowing that Beavis and Butthead live on strong here, though.
 

We will be avoiding bunny island, cat island and monkey park, but we'll let you know of anything else post worthy happens to us in our last two days in Japan - and then we're off to Vietnam on Monday - woo!

Jefferson at a noodle shop

Jeff Drank The Water!!!

AHH! Ha. It's been a while since we traveled, I guess. Usually travel rules like that are second nature to Jefferson (or Yelfrey like they called him here), but while at the movies yesterday he drank out of a water fountain. Twice. After the second time he realized what he'd done and now we await - but so far, he's good to go.

We are having a great time in Cancun - we're here for our honeymoon - and it's beautiful here - not too hot, not cold, and not that many people (which I love). The first day we just explored all the different shops, restaurants and places the hotel had to offer - and drank an assortment of anything they threw at us (champagne, frozen drinks, beer, etc.). We also (see pic) attempted to squish our new flip-flops into the sand to show everyone that we're "Just Married" - but it's harder than you'd think. Our room had rose petals and swan shaped towels on the bed the first night - that was sweet. And our mini bar is awesome - everything is all inclusive so we have lots of pop, water, beer and 4 bottles of full size booze options in the room. I only touch the beer and water, but it's cool anyway.

Day II was a lot of the same - with that fateful drinking fountain incident at the movies. Plus we sat around and read a lot. It's just like home but a better view. And more booze options (although at home right now there is a lot due to the wedding). I've gotten to sign my new name a few times now - and that's fun but very different. Currently I can just do "Karen H" - but I'll work on finishing the name Hansen in a signature style I like. Get this - we even worked out on Day II. What WHAT?

Day III is today! We got our couples massage on the beach! It was awesome, but the guy that gave me the massage told me next time I need to relax more. He should try being totally naked in a gazebo on the beach where everyone can see. Sure - there was a towel, but still. Tonight we have dinner reservations at 10 pm (it's the only time we seem to be able to get) for Asiana - their Asian fusion restaurant. I have a feeling it's going to be a lot like Beni-hana. I'll let you know if there's an onion tower.

No sunburns, no hangovers, and sadly, no mangy dogs here. But I have seen a toucan and a bunch of lizards. Perhaps tomorrow we'll actually go into the water...maybe. Definitely not during peak hours. I would blind people.