At last, Southeast Asia!

After a fun, but intense and tiring, few weeks in China, we finally made our way into our next Communist state, Vietnam. Despite the similar political philosophies, Vietnam has actually not been very similar to China at all so far! (I'm certainly not a history buff, but for those who are, I'm guessing this might not come as a big surprise... I don't think China and Vietnam are very good friends.) First, and most obviously... China blocked our blog, while Vietnam doesn't filter the internet at all (as far as we know)! Second, and more importantly, finding food in Vietnam has been MUCH easier. In China, I used to call it our Thrice Daily Challenge. There were very few restaurants in China that had English menus, and even in the restaurants that did, the waiters and staff almost never spoke English, so asking questions about the dishes was out of the question. In Vietnam, MANY people speak English and there are lots of restaurants that have English menus (not to mention stores, hotels, street vendors, and even beggars who have signs and information in English!). In fact, except for the ad hoc sidewalk restaurants that are usually set up by neighborhood families with little plastic tables and chairs and that usually only serve food that appeals to Vietnamese locals, almost all restaurants can accommodate non-Vietnamese visitors. As a side note, eating out in Vietnam is also very cheap! We usually spend about $2/person/meal here for mid-level restaurants. Third, the "backpackers trail" in Vietnam is a bit more clear than it was in China. As soon as we arrived in Hanoi, our hotel (which was only $10 with a nice bed, private bathroom, AND A/C!) and all of the surrounding travel agents (which made up about 25% of all of the surrounding commercial establishments) began to tell us about the local tours we could take and all the destinations we would want to go to next on our trip. We also discovered something called an "Open Bus Ticket," which Amit and I recently purchased, that will take us from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (commonly referred to as Saigon, with no perceivable tension) with several stops in different cities where we can get on and off as we please for as many days as we please. Overall, our time in Vietnam so far has been much easier... and very enjoyable! We started off in Hanoi, where we spent a few days taking in the city sights, and then we took an organized tour (not our usual mode of travel, but this seemed like a good buy) to Halong Bay, a very scenic coastal area about two hours from Hanoi. On our three-day Halong Bay trip, we spent a day cruising the bay on a restored "junk" (fishing boat) and kayaking through the grottoes, a day hiking up a mountain on the largest island in the bay (Cat Ba Island), and a day biking along a mountainous road on Cat Ba Island. All very cool adventure activities... and topped off by nights sleeping in a beach bungalow on a private island in the bay! See pictures to the right... After our Halong Bay trip, we briefly stopped back in to Hanoi to swap out clothes, and then we set off on another short, four-day trip to the mountainous region in Vietnam's northwest, casually referred to by travelers as Sa Pa (actually the name of the most visited city in the area). The exciting things to see in this area are hill tribes (small groups of Vietnam's ethnic minorities who still live according to their ancient traditions), the local markets (which also provide a lot of hill tribe exposure), and the beautiful scenery... rolling, lush green hills/mountains and lots of beautiful rice paddy terraces. And on our visit, we got a lot of all of these things! Our first two days were spent visiting markets, which are only set up on certain days- Saturday, we took motorbike taxis to the Can Cau Village market and then on Sunday, we spent the morning wandering in the Bac Ha Sunday market, the largest and most exciting market in the area. At the Bac Ha market, you can buy local traditional clothing (this is where most of the women do their clothes shopping), vegetables, rice, meat, tourist souvenirs (e.g., purses, scarves, table clothes, chop sticks, Buddah statues), rice liquor, storage baskets, a plow or other farming tools, water buffalo, chickens, ducks, pigs, puppies, and pretty much all other life necessities. It was a terrific experience, but maybe more for the people-watching than the shopping. Amit got a bit tired of my obsession with the hill tribe women, but they were so unique in their dress and amazing to watch in their socializing! See more pictures to the right... Finally, on our third and fourth days in Sa Pa, we hired a local guide who is a member of one of the hill tribes to take us trekking through the hills and rice paddies. We started off the trip with a visit to the market to buy our food (much of the food in the villages is bought in the city and carried or biked in), and then we began our trek, taking the local "commuter" path that the hill tribe people take to get in to Sa Pa city, rather than the normal tourist route (hurray for having a great guide!). Our guide's aunt walked with us from town, and we ended up stopping at her home for lunch. Although we had brought our own food, the family of our guide's aunt asked us to join them for lunch and share their food. It was an amazing experience... about 10-12 family members came in from the fields to have a lunch of steamed rice and stewed vegetables. This was one of the most unique experiences of our two-day trek, because we got to experience a normal family in their normal life... not a special set-up just for tourists (as some of the things in these villages are). After lunch, we continued our trek through some terribly muddy but beautiful hills, and ended in a village of the Dzay people, where we stayed for the night. The next day we trekked through a Red Dzao village, again off the normal tourist trail, and despite my unfortunate fall into a rice paddy, it was an amazing day of scenery and people! In total, we saw five different hill tribes, all within 10 km of each other, all speaking different languages, wearing different clothes, and following different traditions. It was truly an amazing few days! In our first ten days in Vietnam, we've had some very positive, unique, and beautiful experiences. On the flip side, however, we have also been regularly fighting the unfortunate tourist price inflation (which many people warned us about in Vietnam), and I thwarted two attempts by pickpocketers to steal my wallet from my backpack (while it was on my back!) in Hanoi. So all is not roses and bon bons here, but overall we have gotten off to a great start in our second country in Asia. Please stay in touch, comment on our posts, and send us emails... we miss you! Lots of love, Dena (& Amit)

A neighborhood sidewalk restaurant in Hanoi (not for foreigners) Halong Bay One of the restored "junk" boats that litter Halong Bay Kayaking in Halong Bay Posing with my motorbike taxi driver, overlooking beautiful mountain scenery Amit at the Can Cau Market Hill tribe women selling fruits and vegetables at Can Cau The crazy Bac Ha Sunday Market Hill tribe girls shopping for new skirts Amit in the animal section of the market (those are pigs in the cage beside him) Our guide on the left and her aunt on the right (both of the Black Hmong tribe) The house of our guide's aunt Beautiful Sa Pa rice paddies and mountains Amit and me on our trek through Sa Pa

Scenic China (plus Amit's return to blogging)

Hi All, After a brief 2 1/2 month hiatus, I (Amit) am finally ready to blog again. Fortunately, Dena has held down the fort admirably in my absence, but now that we're both posting again (and we're out of internet-filtering China), we will strive to keep you all updated more frequently. We are currently in northern Vietnam, but for this post I'll stick to our last week in China, which we spent in the more scenic southern part of the country. Our first stop after Shanghai was a mountain called Huang Shan, the location where the final scene of the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed. As advertised, the misty mountain scenery there was truly stunning, the way I imagined more of China would be. It was a very steep climb to the top, but hiking in China is a little different than hiking in the US. First, there are no trails, only concrete steps. If you get tired, you can hire a two guys to carry you up the mountain in a "sedan chair" (approximately $10-$20 / kilometer, depending on your weight). Second, whereas in the US, national parks tend to be places for connecting with nature in peace and quiet, this park was anything but. Huang Shan is an incredibly popular attraction for Chinese tourists, so it was literally filled with Chinese tour groups. A few things we don't like about Chinese tour groups (I don't like to generalize, but the following characteristics were pretty universal): Tour group leaders use loud, obnoxious blowhorns (or more modern microphone / speaker systems) to guide and explain Many chinese tourists carry little boom-boxes, blasting music as they climb the trail At every turn, somebody in the group would inevitably shout at the top of his / her lungs to test the echo. Somebody else would then respond, equally loudly from the other side of the cliff / mountain, to confirm the first person was heard. The spitting, almost always preceded by a loud, prolonged phlegm huck The pushing and shoving at view points, and the complete disregard for the peace and quiet of others All that said, the hike was still very enjoyable. There were three options for ascending the mountain: the easy way (gondola), the long hard way, and the longer harder way. We opted for the middle option, saving the longer harder way for the way down. Once at the top, we wandered around to several of the various peaks and view points and then spent the night on the mountain in an overpriced hotel (options were limited). We woke up very early the next morning for a pre-sunrise hike (i.e., stair-climb) so we could witness the magnificent sunrise, but as with our pre-sunrise hike way back in Chile, the weather did not cooperate, so we missed out on the magnificence. Our last adventure in Huang Shan was scaling Heavenly Peak. We scampered up about 1300 steep steps, straight into the clouds (hence the name, as you are supposed to feel likey you're ascending into heaven). The real challenge, however, was getting down on the back side of the mountain. The trail winded through incredibly narrow channels in the rock (some narrower than my shoulder span), each one getting steeper than the next (steep enough that my backpack would bump into the stairs behind me). Shortly after the picture on the right was taken, I lost my footing, and slipped down 5-10 steps before getting my feet under me and scampering down another 10-15. It was pretty nerve-wracking (there was a steep drop off not far from where I stopped), but other than a jammed thumb and a few scrapes and bruises I was fine. The remaining two hours climbing down stairs were not so fun, but eventually we reached the bottom! From Huang Shan, we continued further south to a town called Yangshuo, located in another very beautiful area of China. The highlight of our time there was a cruise down the Li River in a "bamboo raft" (actually made of PVC piping). It was pouring rain the whole time, but the clouds and mist only added to the mystique and allure of the landscape. Another fun excursion we did in Yanshuo was renting an electric scooter. We were hoping they would not require a motorcycle license, but in fact, no driver's license of any kind was required! On a side note, a driver's license is useful in China because it can be used a student ID, thereby halving the admission fee at most sites. Since we are jobless and soon-to-be students, we figured it was morally acceptable. Yanshuo was our last stop in China, and from there we made our way to Vietnam. On the map it doesn't seem that far, but the trip required a short bus ride, an overnight train, another bus ride, a golf cart to get across the border, then another bus, and finally a taxi (24 hours in total). All went smoothly except we had a slight mishap at the border (of all borders in the world to have a mishap, the Chinese / Vietnamese border would probably be at the bottom of my list). The problem was that my Chinese visa was in my Israeli passport (much cheaper than getting a visa as a U.S. citizen), and my Vietnamese visa was in my American passport. When the Chinese border official asked me where my Vietnamese visa was, and I had to take out my other passport, he did not seem to pleased. He called over his supervisor, who took me into the "waiting room" (actually a very comfortable lounge), and then disappeared with both my passports. Fortunately, a few short minutes later he returned, said everything was okay, and they let me through! That's all the news for now. Stay tuned for an update on our first week in Vietnam!

A sedan chair going up Huang Shan (Dena did not let me take one, despite my strong interest) On the way up the long, hard stairs to the top Misty mountain scenery on Huang Shan Dena and more misty mountains at the top Within less than 5 minutes, a beautiful scene could become completely fog covered, like this picture Our Huang Shan sunrise hike (not too bad, although not the perfect sunrise we'd hoped for) The mountains in the early morning, before the fog rolls in If you squint, you can see me standing by the upright rock Stairway at the top of Heaven's Peak Right before my near-death experience Li River cruise near Yangshuo on the "bamboo" raft A brief moment without rain Our electric motor bike A Yangshuo farmer in the rice paddies with his water buffalo

From Beijing to Shanghai

I apologize for those of you who have already seen these pictures, but now that we are able to access our blog again, I wanted to post this album. If you didn't hear, after we posted about Beijing on our blog, the Chinese internet filters started blocking all of www.blogger.com! Maybe it was because of us, maybe not... but pretty coincidental! So in lieu of a post, we created this Picasa Web Album to share some of our adventures after we left Beijing. These pictures will take you up to our visit to Shanghai, and then we'll post about our more recent adventures soon.

Click on the picture below to get to the album in Picasa:

From Beijing to Shanghai

Love (and more to come!),
Dena & Amit

Spring in the 'jing (aka Beijing 90210)

As one of fellow travelers in Beijing said, "Being in China is a constant internal battle between your eyes and your mind." For the last week, we've been visiting my best friend from college, Courtney, who works for the State Department at the US Embassy in Beijing, and we've had to do a constant reality check to remind ourselves that we are actually in China! WOW! It is a shock to the system to be in a country so dramatically different than ours (politically, culturally, materially, environmentally). But simultanously, because of the complete distinction from our normal Western lives, it has been one of the most unique experiences we've had so far on our great adventure. Let me first put out there that we were pretty spoiled during our Beijing week. We stayed with Courtney in her gorgeous apartment, with plush white towels, a luxurious bed, a beautiful kitchen and bathroom, and a wonderfully helpful concierge at the front desk. Not to mention that Courtney had every day of the weekend and every evening of the week scheduled with fun social activities for us with her friends, and even in the downtime, getting to hang out with Courtney was a big bonus. So our first China experiences were a bit atypical for normal backpackers. The first weekend, we visited some cute neighborhoods of Beijing, the Olympic village, and a cool open-air market (with TONS of crazy and fake Chinese goods), then we went on a really neat, four-hour hike along the Great Wall of China (from one restored/tourist part of the wall, through a non-restored part, to another restored area... see our pictures to the right). Each night, we got together with Courtney's friends to enjoy ex-pat life (a social scene somewhat akin to Beverly Hills 90210... hence the second title of this post). We had a great blend of traditional Chinese eating experiences (Peking duck, dim sum, "hot pot") and non-traditional ones (Mexican and Indian food). A few "notable" food experiences: Courtney took Amit to her favorite "meat on a stick" stand on a side street near her apartment and got Amit lamb kabobs for $0.15/kabob; despite dining with four fluent Chinese speakers who were ordering "vegetarian food" for me, I still managed to have at least 3 different accidental mouthfuls of non-vegetarian food (oy!); at our Peking duck restaurant, Amit (as the honored guest) got to eat the duck's head. We also went snack shopping, a very interesting experience in a country that only carries a few (unhealthy!) American snacks and where we can't read what the packaging on any of the Chinese snacks! So here's what we ended up with: dried yams that we thought were dried mango, cookies that ended up tasting like Saltine crackers with vanilla and chocolate cream in between the layers, and some peanuts coated with spices and flavoring that said on the package, "Have these, and the world will bring you endless pleasure." What an auspicious label for a snack!!! Some other (often funny) experiences from our time in Beijing... Amit and I were stopped about a dozen times during the week by local Chinese tourists who wanted to take pictures with the funny-looking, tall, round-eyed Westerners. Frequently, the entire family would want to take individual pictures with us, and then they would want to take a picture with every possible combination of family members, so we would pose for about 6 or 8 pictures with each family. We thought about starting to charge... a good way to pay for our adventures! Although you don't see tons of children in China (population control successfully implemented), the babies you do see wear what are called "split pants." I'm sorry I don't have a picture to show you (although it would have been embarassing to take one!), but the name says it all... there is a big split in their pants in between their legs and their parents hold them out over the sidewalk, butt facing down, when the child needs to pee (or otherwise, I guess). We have been told that it is cleaner and cheaper than diapers... but a little awkward for tourists, who are constantly being exposed to little Chinese tushies! Finally, the transportation and general road rules in China are even crazier than they were in South America or Israel (where we were shocked at how aggressive the drivers were!). In China, might makes right... the buses are the kings of the road, followed by the vans, large cars, small cars, bikes, and then pedestrians. So you actually have to do more aggressive walking than you do driving! NO ONE yields to pedestrians, even if we have the right of way or a walk sign! And to ensure that everyone is aware of this pecking order, ALL of the vehicles honk as loudly, obnoxiously, and often as they possibly can. They honk to get you out of their way, to tell you they are coming, to tell you they are going, to try and sell you a ride, or just to say hi (well maybe not to say hi, but it seems like they are always honking!). So the roads are pretty crazy and LOUD places! I don't think we'll trying renting a car here! There are also these funny little vehicles on the road in the cities that Courtney affectionately calls "Death Boxes." I have a picture to the right... they are motorbikes or bicycles with VERY small passenger seats enclosed in a box on the back... and these are just one of the many funny bike-based taxis around the streets (I will work on capturing more pictures of these crazy vehicles). The good news is that despite this craziness, we have managed to stay safe and healthy, see all the great sites of Beijing, and make it to our next destinations (Pingyao and Xi'an). But I won't ruin our transit adventure or our newest exciting sites in this post... you'll have to hold tight for the next one! Please leave us comments when you can. We miss everyone at home (and friends around the world!) and want to hear from you. And we hope you like the new header picture... this one is from Iguazu Falls (we figured we would stay with the waterfall theme). Lots of love and happy Mother's Day to all of our Moms and Grandmas! - Dena & Amit

The Olympic Village Our first request for a photo with local Chinese tourists (this is when we still thought it was a novelty!) Funny Chinese traffic signs Amit and Courtney with meat-on-a-stick Posing on the Great Wall of China (look between us to see how extensive the wall is!) Cool shot of the Great Wall Another cool shot (we didn't realize how many steps we would have to go up and down as we walked along the wall) Posing on the Wall again (our Wall hike was one of the neatest things we did in Beijing) Courtney and Amit on the unrestored part of the Wall Eating Hot Pot (you cook your own veggies and meat in a boiling pot of spicy broth) The Death Boxes Posing at the Summer Palace (the summer home of the Emperors, right outside Beijing) Beautiful colors on the buildings at the Summer Palace A cool pagoda at the Summer Palace Mao outside the Forbidden City One of the many huge stone courtyards of the Forbidden City in Beijing

Our Last Crusade in Israel!

Good news! We got to add another country to our list of places visited on this trip: Jordan. In the last few days of our month in Israel (most of which I will skip in our blog because it was a lot of relaxing and visiting with Amit's family around the country), we spontaneously added in a three day trip to Eilat (the southernmost city in Israel, close to the boarders with Jordan and Egypt). From Eilat, we took a day-tour across the boarder to Jordan to see the famous ancient city of Petra, the site of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade final scene. The whole trip to Eilat was wonderful... good weather, nice pool and sunny days to lay out, and the visit to Petra did not disappoint either! This post will probably have more pictures than words because there were so many great shots from our trip. Petra is a stunning place to visit, and if any of you get a chance, it is probably worth a two day visit rather than just one. There are so many cool ruins to explore, and the Jordanians are actually pretty good (for better or worse) at letting you get very close to all the various parts of the city's excavation. One of the best stories from the day was actually the boarder crossing. Apparently, you can buy a tour to go to Petra while you are in Israel, but the Israeli tourist companies cannot (or do not) cross into Jordan. Early in the morning on the day of our tour, we were driven to the boarder between Israel and Jordan (a 10 minute drive) and the Israeli staff gave us some loose instructions ("When you get through the boarder control, just shout 'Abu Tariq!!!' and a little old man will take your passport from you and process it with the Jordanian officials") and left us there. After getting our passports stamped, we walked across a 1/4 mile paved road that stretch between Israel and Jordan, feeling a lot like we were hostages walking from our captors to the negotiators who just secured our release... it is really quite funny! I tried to take a few pictures (see right) so you could get an idea of the set up. To be a bit more descriptive, Petra was a very touristy, but very cool and beautiful place. The entire city is built in this desertous valley, and many of the important buildings are carved into the rock with gorgeous front facades. The most impressive one (and the primary focus of the Indiana Jones movie set) is the Treasury, meant to be the location of the most valuable goods of the community and the burial site of the most important people. Leading up to the Treasury from the main entrance to the city is an incredibly impressive natural pathway between two huge stone cliffs. Created by an earthquake, as well as wind and rain over thousands of years, this pathway makes the whole Petra Treasury experience all the more spectacular. Okay, so that's all for now. A few more pictures from Israel to the right, and hopefully another blog entry about Beijing (where we are right now!) coming soon. LOTS of love, Dena & Amit

The Israel-Jordan boarder crossing... like a hostage negotiation Amit crossing the boarder with other "hostages" Posing in front of one of the sites in Petra The "Siq"... the beautiful and mysterious entryway into Petra Dena in the Siq Our first glimpse of the Treasury The full beauty of the Treasury Another beautiful part of Petra (with a camel) Amit in front of some of the other beautiful building facades (these were actually tombs of important people) A night out in Tel Aviv (from left to right: Amit's cousin's girlfriend Ma'ayan, Dena's sister Talia, Dena, Amit's other cousin Abby) Dena, Amit, and Dena's sister Talia in the Old City of Jerusalem

A picture is worth a thousand words...

So clearly, we aren't going to win any blogging prizes this year! We fell a bit behind, and we've gotten an earful about it, so here's my logic... since we aren't doing such a great job with words, I thought we would try pictures. We have taken hundreds of pictures on our trip, and since the pictures usually interest you more than our rambling stories, I thought we would put together a photo album of our last two weeks in South America (with descriptive captions) and post that to catch us up.

Here is a link to the photo album on Picasa, as well as a few more quick updates so that we can start fresh:

• Amit and I have made a decision on business school... University of Chicago Booth School of Business will be our home for the next two years!
• We are currently in Israel visiting Amit's family and relaxing before our Asia adventure.
• We were able to go home to Boston for a few days between South America and Israel, and we had an awesome visit with Paula and Gidi, as well as Dorit, Shimrit, and Daniel, who trekked up from Philly to hang out for the weekend!
• We've solidified our Asia plans (for the final 3 months of our travels).  We are excitedly heading to Beijing first to visit with my friend from college, Courtney, and then we'll make our way down the eastern side of China to Vietnam, then Cambodia, and finally Thailand (to relax on the beach before we have to re-enter the real world).
• Happy birthday to my cousin, Shylie!  Her birthday is TODAY!

Northwest Argentina, Iguazu Falls, and Buenos Aires

I hope you like our pictures and will forgive us for having neglected you for so long!  No promises, but we will try to be better.  Our visits to Jerusalem, Masada, and Nes Ziona in the next few days should produce some stories and more pictures to share.

Lots of love,

Dena & Amit