Separated at birth...

It's a small world. When we were in Hoi An (central part of Vietnam), we ran into the same couple 4 times at the store we were getting our suits made . We also ran into them at dinner one night! At this point we started joking about stalking each other. About 5 days later, we're in Sapa, a mountain town in northern Vietnam and run into this same couple! Apparently we were on the same schedule. Two days later, we're in the capital Hanoi (an overnight train ride from Sapa) and run into this couple at lunch! So at this point we make plans to meet for Happy Hour and dinner that night (we probably would've run into each other anyway) - haha.

We met them - Amy and John - at their hotel - the Sofitel (swank) - enjoyed some cocktails and felt slightly weird about being there as we're currently assuming our backpacker identity. The coincidences get even stranger: we both were thinking of going to the same place for dinner and we both preferred the same kind of wine. When ordering dessert, Cath and Amy had both been eyeing the same one. Amy had just finished her MBA at Kellogg and they were vacationining for 4 weeks (they currently live in Tennessee). John decided we were couples "separated at birth".

We had a pretty big night out with them - after dinner we went to a "Bia Hoi" which is basically a keg set up on a street corner w/ lots of plastic chairs & tables. They're all over the place in Hanoi. There was a soccer team having "bia" (beer) and Matt & John had shots with them & then they bought us a round. We went out to a couple bars later and ended up getting kicked out of the last bar around 1am when Communist cops showed up and shut the place down. It was a blast! The next morning, or umm, afternoon to be more exact, we nursed our hangovers with coffee milkshakes & pizza at a place called "Pepperonis" by our hostel.

Tonight we have a flight to Singapore and tomorrow off to Bali - 13 nights in paradise! Since we don't get into Singapore till 1:30am, we're planning on sleeping at the airport! It's been voted one of the best airports in the world - there's "nap areas", a pool, gym, salons, free city bus tours if your layovers more than 5 hours...we're actually looking forward to a night at the airport!

PS - we're having trouble uploading pics, but check back b/c we'll keep trying!

sapa

NOTE: technical difficulties in vietnamese internet cafes are preventing us from uploading pics so readers will have to suffer through more prose.

after a 3hr bus ride from halong bay to hanoi we sprinted to our hostel, showered in the communal bathroom, changed and made our way back for our overnight train to sapa. i was a bit leery about the overnight train after my experience in india. turned out to be grand, we slept like fat babies and, upon arrival at 6am, took a van to sapa. sapa is a village in the mountains quite close to china and home to the black hmong people, who looked like a cross between native americans, vietnamese and chinese.

it rained the entire time we were there. at times, heavily. during our 14km trek into a local village, we were pretty much soaked head-to-toe as waterfalls poured down from the hills onto the roads, making them nearly impassable. cath and i were joined by a friendly aussie, mitch, ceig, our black hmong tour guide and 5 young village girls who followed us the entire time in hopes we'd buy something from them (which, we did). we splashed in the puddles with the little girls and threw water on each other.

despite the rain, maybe because of it, the hike was fantastic. we were truly immersed in the natural landscape, which was awe-inspiring, a postcard everywhere you turned: mountains shrouded in mist loomed over a rice paddies in patchwork patterns. a swollen river rampaged through the middle and village men fished with nets on long poles. (didn't see them catch anything so maybe they were just doing it for our benefit :)

it was very cool to see authentic village life though one wonders how long it will remain as tourists will inevitably change the very thing they're going to see. one oddity was seeing the black hmong teenage girls hanging out in the streets filled with shops and restaurants, touting their goods. shouldn't they be back in their villages? as tourists, especially in poor asian countries, we've constantly questioned whether our presence and spending power are having a positive effect on their lives. its a complicated subject. i digress.

the next day, we hiked to an amazing waterfall, which was raging due to the heavy rains. we took another overnight train back to hanoi. i actually lost our train tix but the angels were smiling on us as the family sitting next to us in the cafe had 2 extras on the same train. "and, hey since you're on your honeymoon, you can have them for free"

indeed, it seems the gods are smiling on us and our trip. for this, we're grateful. it's been an amazing few weeks though quite removed from the real world. i'm happy to report that cath has proven to be a robust travelling partner and we're doing a fine job of celebrating our high points (many) and being patient and helping each other during the inevitable low points (few, fortunately).

Halong Bay

We took a 3-day trip to Halong Bay earlier this week. We almost didn't make it as our flight from Hai An (via Danang airport) was delayed, delayed, delayed and finally cancelled. We managed to get onto a different airline and after running through the airport to get our luggage and make the flight, we got into Hanoi at 1am - to be picked up at 8am for the trip to Halong Bay.

We were quite exhausted, and when the van picked us up, we were very relieved to see an elderly couple in the van - this would be quite relaxing we thought! The tour guide went through the itinerary which included many leisurely boat trips around the 3,000+ islands of Halong Bay and an overnight stay on a private beach. Except... "Matthew" had a different itinerary. "Matthew" was going to be "working very hard the next few days", according to the tour guide! Apparently we were the only ones on the van who had booked an "adventure trip" which included climbing mountains and cycling...oops! Duon, our tour guide, seemed confused and asked if it was our honeymoon (we had indicated on the form that it was). When Matt confirmed that indeed it was, he shook his head and said "no, i don't think so". He couldn't believe honeymooners would book such an arduous tour. (We didn't realize what we were booking at the time either.)

Halong Bay was excellent! It's basically a ton of these limestone formations (islands) jutting out of the waters, over 3,000 of them! Our boat went around many of them and we also kayaked through some of the caves. We stayed in a bungalow right on the beach, and went to sleep & woke up to the sound of waves crashing. There was about 25 of us on this private beach on one of the many islands in Halong Bay, and we had dinner directly on the beach one night. We kayaked, hiked, mountain biked, dove off our junk boat into the bay and even drove the junk boat through the islands. We met some cool English, Dutch and German backpackers along the way.

hoi an

(ửitten by cath)
Hoi An is a small port town along the coast in the central part of Vietnam. We "escaped" from the hustle and bustle of Saigon to spend a few restful days in Hoi An. We did a lot of relaxing and hanging out by the beach and pool. There's a river running through the town, with a lot of bars and cafes along it. The restaurant we ate dinner at the first night (Mango Rooms - all of their dishes incorporate mango in some way & it was deeelicious) made ice with mineral water. We were SO excited! Since we've arrived in Asia, we've had to avoid drinking anything with ice in it since we can't really drink the tap water here. It's been tough considering how hot it is & how many places have very enticing (and quite cheap) cocktails. So, you can imagine that we enjoyed our 'Mango Fandango' and 'Mango Mojito' drinks very much!

The first night we were there we went to a backpacker bar & met a German guy named Ralf who was travelling around the world for a year after selling the hostel he owned in Germany. He was quite inspiring (and entertaining) to talk to - though he did most of the talking himself...he made crazy hand motions, or facial contortions constantly - I guess a good tactic to communicate non-verbally, and it was at times difficult to not laugh out loud while chatting with him.

We also rented a scooter to get us around the few days we were there. Apparently it was more than twice as powerful as the scooter Matt had owned in DC, so he was quite excited & had no difficulties quickly adjusting to the erratic local traffic patterns. I just hung on and closed my eyes... ;-)

And, last but not least - believe it or not, there was a lot of shopping involved. The big draw of Hoi An is the countless expert tailors that have shops all over the town. You can have anything made - bring in a pic from a magazine, or pic something from one of the floor dummies, or bring something you already have to duplicate - they do it all, and for next to nothing! So - Matt is now the proud owner of two new suits made of "Dolce & Gabbana" and "Louis Vuitton" materials. I also had two suits made, in addition to quite a number of skirts, dresses and shirts...lol

brief update from hanoi - updated 8/8/08

hi everyone,

just wanted to let peeps know we're alive and enjoying all that vietnam has to offer. we just returned to hanoi from halong bay, where we stayed on a private island (with 25 other folks) in a bungalow just a few feet from the ocean. we did some hiking, mtn biking, swimming, diving into the bay off our boat and after i (matt) drove said boat for a few minutes.

we're off to sapa, a town in the mountains. its meant to be cold there, which will be a welcome respite from the omnipresent heat ... we're taking an overnight train so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

hope to have some pics and more stories posted when we return to hanoi on friday ...

lots of love, cath and matt.

--- updated: here's a pic from a busy city street in hanoi. see if you can find matt, he's wearing a white polo shirt and waving :)

On the road to Halong Bay & Sapa

After 3 nights in Hoi An, we have now moved to Northern Vietnam. We're currently in Hanoi, the capital, and about to leave for a 6-day expedition to Halong Bay (where we will cruise around on about around limestone formation and stay on a private beach) and Sapa (where we will take an overnight train to visit hte mountain people).

Hoi An was a great time - reminded us of a little of being in the South of France. We have to go now because our bus is about to pick us up, but will update the blog with pics when we're back.

flashpackers

hola ninos, been a while since i rapped at ya.

cath and i are in hoi an, a beach town on the central coast of vietnam. we took a flight from saigon this afternoon. we're staying at a really nice place near the beach with a balcony overlooking a pool. quite a change of pace from last night, when we stayed at divey hostel. the room, $12/night, featured a double bed with bed spread, AC and little else. we had to ask for sheets - eesh. the location was really good, though crossing the streets of saigon was a leap of faith. scooters are like flies. you just start walking across the street at a steady, slow pace and have them swerve around you, hoping they don't hit you.

it took a few times to get used to it. cath and i nearly divorced after one street crossing. today, i was crossing easily back and forth as cath tried to take a picture of the scooters whizzing in front and back of me. the hotel staff and taxi drivers standing around got a big kick out of the stupid americans.

anyway, we decided to skip out of saigon after less than a day. we were getting pretty tired and the bustling city wasn't the place to relax. we opted against the 14 hr overnight bus for the (relatively) pricey 1 hr flight, leaving our backpacking brethren behind. it illustrates what cath and i have been doing since we got here - mixing the good life with a bit of the backpacker mentality. we fall into a breed of folks called "flashpackers" - backpackers with good jobs who take a break and travel for a few weeks.

i have a lot of respect for folks who can backpack around for months at a time - my sister and cousin amy, for instance. but there are times when it's great to hit the "easy button" and catch a flight, hire a taxi and stay at a real nice place on the beach. after all, it is our honeymoon ...

just don't tell the backpackers, they might look down on us :)

-- updated with a pic

cambodia - siem reap

We spent 2 nights in Siem Reap, a town that has made it's mark on the map by servicing the explosion of tourists flooding into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and the other temples. The temples were truly mind-blowing and worthy of their status as one of the man-made wonders of the world. They were built centuries ago with nothing more than manual labor, a mountain 50+ kilometers away from which to obtain stone and some elephants for moving the stone...the results are insanely beautiful & almost unfathomable except that we actually did see them. There are over 300 temples, though you can't visit all. They were just discovered a little over 100 years ago by the French! (previously hidden by jungle) We saw about 8 temples in two days, including one where Anjelina Jolie shot Tombraider (fun fact!). To no ones surprise I'm sure, we took a few hundred pictures & will be boring you with stories about each one when we return!

So our stay in Siem Reap was great. We ate the best pad thai of our lives in the hotel restaurant (first day of touring wore us out! As did the 3:45am wake-up time...). Anyway, back to the pad thai - it was so good we had it for lunch and dinner that same day! The temples were beautiful and our taxi driver from the airport (Heng) was our personal chauffeur all day & we had a guide, Peah. Both were super kind, with permanent grins on their faces. :) It has also been an emotionally tough few days because of the poverty. It's overwhelming and unnerving what the appropriate response should be. At the temples, the most adorable, witty children are selling you everything imaginable under the sun for "one dollar". We gave away a few bills, only to realize today that likely these kids are most likely being forced to give them money to a "pimp" (for lack of a better word) of sorts. They are adorable, but the begging and vying for the American dollar is everywhere. When we got off our bus today, there were hordes of tuk-tuk drivers ready to pounce so you'd take their ride. Tuk-tuks are fun though - it's this open wagon & you're pulled by a man on a scooter. They drive like maniacs here - swerving all over the road - there's no traffic laws or signs or anything that one can see... but since it's low season here, you can have a tuk-tuk driver take you anywhere you want, all day long, for $15 bucks!

cam-boh-dee-uh

after a gritty 6 hour bus ride from siem reap, cath and i arrived in phnom penh, the capital of Cambodia, this afternoon. our tuk-tuk driver drove us to about 6 different hotels/hostels before we settled on one that's right on the river, quite convenient to the bars and restaurants.

cambodia - the country and the people- has been lovely. the temples, of which angkor wat is the most famous, are worthy of the hype. we spent 2 days exploring the different temples with peah, our guide and de-facto photographer.

interesting factoid: siem reap, the city of angkor what, literally means "defeat of the thais" .. many of the temples were built to honor the gods after winning this battle.

i included some pics so you don't forget what we look like.

cath in singapore (singapore sling not pictured)
matt in singapore with crab
matt and cath at angkor wat
cath and the concubines at angkor wat

also, here's a link to link to pictures ege took at the wedding (thanks Pete!): http://picasaweb.google.com/egepeter/MattAndCathyWedding

more later ... off to swim in the pool and find some food and adventure ...

selamat singapore (i think that's "goodbye")

After 24 hours in Singapore, we find ourselves at CHANGi airport again, waiting for a 6AM flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we will be touring temples for 2 days. This required us to wake up at 3:45, but oh well, we got a decent deal on a flight.

Our one-day in Singapore was great. We had some delicious local food & refreshing freshly-squeezed fruit-juices at a "hawker center" which is an open-air cafeteria with lots of vendors. We knew it was authethentic when we were the only white people there. We spent the afternoon wandering around Little India and Arab Street in humid, at-times rainy weather. The consensus was that this part of Singapore was like a "crappy fleamarket", though quite colorful.

In the evening we had drinks at a great spot on the Riverfront. Lots of al fresco dining restaurants around the river, with massive sky-scrapers everywhere you looked. I had the mandatory "Singapore Sling", a concotion made of gin, cherry brandy, grenadine, bitters, pineapple liquor & some other stuff - it was delicious! We ate a really nice restaurants full of business-folk - had the "national dish" - chili crab & black pepper crab. This morning we got taken to the airport in a Mercedes limo cab, so we haven't been "roughin' it" too much yet. Cambodia here we come!

singapore -> cambodia

(typed at the singapore airport):

the drive to the airport this morning looked familiar. the streets were empty, only a few cars on the road - we were telling our taxi driver we had just done it 2 nights prior before realizing it had actually been the night before. time and days are getting a bit blurry. our wake-up call was at 3:45AM so it's understandable. we'll end up having spent 26 hours in singapore. time well spent- we ate authentic chinese food (dim sum and noodles) and had the local delicacy (crab cooked in pepper in chili) for dinner. our waiter took good care of us as we had a godawful mess. he lied and said it wasn't too bad then made us promise to remember him on our honeymoon. also, walked through the little india and little arab neighborhoods and had adult beverages by the marina, which afforded a cool view of the nighttime skyline. cath had another local delicacy, the singapore sling.

the cambodian temples (angkor wat) await. hoping we can check in early to our hotel in cambodia. 3 hours of sleep isn't going to cut it.

touchdown in asia

cath and i arrived in singapore at 1am last night after the 20 hour flight. the mission to upgrade seats was unsuccessful as it seems the asian flight industry is unmoved by the idea of marriage. i watched 3 movies, a few episodes of arrested development. cath finished a 400+ page book in addition to her 3 movies. we both slept quite a bit on the plane thanks to the neck pillows heather sent us ...

we had a layover in seoul where cath remarked that she was "starting to feel really white". jetlagged today but our hotel is nice and in close proximity to a number of things. we just booked our flight to cambodia (4am wake-up call tomorrow) so a bunch of activities to pack into one day here ... or we may just pass out.

good to go

hey everyone,

typing this from the allum-poons' house in san francisco on uncle johnny's solitaire machine ... cath wanted to show off how little she's packing for this trip (the picture shows all of our stuff, not just cath's). this AM, she showed me three little sticks of something or other and said "this is all the make-up i'm bringing!" maybe another girl would appreciate the sacrifice, but i wasn't impressed.

aunt becky is making us breakfast then they're taking us to SFO for the 20 hour flight to singapore via seoul. we're shooting for an upgrade to 1st class since it's our honeymoon. probably a long shot but def worth the effort (cath's wearing a "just married" t-shirt to increase our chances).

married ...

a few more pics here: