A Visit to the King

Date: Friday, February 12, 2010
Travel: Rental Car
Lodging: Hampton Inn Southaven
Photos: 20100212 Elvis' Graceland

After full week at a client in Memphis, I made some time before my flight home to visit the king, Elvis, in Graceland. The area surrounding the site seems to be a bit shabby and old. The site itself was a definite tourist trap, with overpriced souvenir shops, glitz, and long lines. It was really cold outside with snow on the ground, yet there was still a pretty long line to get on the shuttle. I never really grew up as a fan of Elvis, so I suppose it was difficult for me to actually understand or appreciate the place. Maybe it was the admission ($35!!!!!) and parking price ($10!!!) I could not understand. I think it is definitely a generational thing, because 90% of the visitors seem to be seniors. Then again, many folks my age should have been at work. Nevertheless, it was still something to see. You get to see the lavish lifestyle that Elvis lived, at least it was lavish during his time, and you can see all the achievements that he had. I think my favorite room was the game room with the pool table, where the whole room was decorated and draped in fabric. Along with a tour of the mansion, you can tour his personal jets, and his automobile collection. After all of that, my favorite part of the day was to enjoy some Memphis BBQ. I went to a place featured on Food Network, Corky's BBQ. They are most noted for their dry rub seasoning on their ribs. I had the full rack with half wet, half dry, and it was all tasty, and all devoured. My server was surprised that I could finish all of that and my sides, but I can surely build a big appetite.

Nha Trang & Vinpearl Land

Date: Friday, January 15, 2010
Travel: Taxis
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Nha Trang Lodge Hotel
Photos: 20100115 Nha Trang Tour, 20100115 Vinpearl Land





My brother finally got to take in the beautiful beach of Nha Trang early in the morning. He was well rested, and was ready to go. In the morning, we decided to do a little tour of the city, starting with Hon Chong, followed by a visit to Po Nagar, and then the villas of Bao Dai. Some people were just feeling tired and wanted to rest up during the afternoon. Later that evening, the family takes the cable car over to Vinpearl Land, which for the longest time I thought people were saying "Vin Bun Lan." It's essentially a resort island, with an amusement park built on it. Getting off the cable car, we were dumped into an amusement area designed for children with slightly dated fair rides. However, there is a resort if we walk further (which we didn't), but we did go down to the aquarium, which is new, modern, and not half bad. There is a ritzy shopping area, and a stage used for water and light shows. It looks the area could be really nice with a lot of restaurants and cafes, but it all seemed very empty. It seems to be geared towards tourist, but it was not busy at all. Perhaps it cost too much, or its just not the high season. At least we as a family were able to taste a little bit of Nha Trang, even though we technically based out of there for 5 days.

Ha Long Bay

Date: Sunday, January 10, 2010
Travel: Touring Van
Party: Linda, Vu & Family
Lodging: Ha Long Hotel
Photos: 20100110 HalongBay


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Early in the morning we take a van including, another cousin working in Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. Even though the bay is not far from Hanoi, we have to wind through traffic and small roads for over 3 hours. Once we arrived, Chau had arranged an entire junk boat for just our family. The boat could probably sit over 100, but we only used up over just a dozen seats. The cruise was to be a half day long, and would include an entrance to a nearby cave. During the short cruise, there would be lunch served, and again, plenty of seafood.

As we returned back to the shore, we stayed around the coastal town of Ha Long for dinner and eventually for the night. What was strange was that Ha Long Bay is a known tourist destination, but yet the town seemed a bit empty. Granted that it was not the high tourist season, it still seemed to be too empty. We went to a nearby restaurant where there was not 1 customer inside. It was a fairly large restaurant. The food ordered was strange, and was not tasty. The Pho ordered had tomatoes in it, which is absurd. And then there was this oyster like animal. It was very expensive and tasted horrible. So horrible in fact that it would lead to a huge amount of troubles over the week, landing him in the hospital. (See post )

After waking up early in the morning the next day to listen to an NFL playoff game with the Cardinals, we shop by local artisan markets, where we end up purchasing crafts. Crafts which are a bit more pricier than other places, but with higher qualities. Spending so much time shopping, we did not have a chance to go back to Hanoi, and instead just went straight to the airport to fly out to our next destination of the beach town, Nha Trang.

Now to the North

Date: Saturday, January 9, 2010
Travel: Rental Van
Party: Vu & Family, Linda
Lodging: Hanoi Capital Hotel
Photos: 20100109 Hanoi

In the morning, the rest of my family goes out to the city and visits some of the attraction, such as Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where you can see the man preserved. I, however, went out to the airport to pick up my girlfriend, Linda, who flew overnight from Jakarta. She had only a few days off from work, and it would be a good chance to meet everyone. We meet up later at a restaurant near Ho Tay (Western Lake) and she would get to meet my family for the first time. Fortunately, Linda is able to enjoy every type of food, and thus was able to enjoy Vietnamese food, even the exotic stuff.

One of the nicer things about this part of the trip, is that my nieces had some other girls that they could be entertained by other than their mother. My female cousin, nicknamed Thi, and Linda were able to give Stella a break. We spent the next part of the day at the Phu Tay Ho temple. Outside the temple was some kind of snails for sell sitting in tubs. I think that after a week of nobody getting sick, we felt confident about eating more liberally. This would eventually bite us a few days later. We visited some other sites in town, like Van Mieu (Temple of Literature), even though the traffic during the day was bad. Motorcyclist were everywhere, but there were a lot of number of automobiles now, which make the congestion on the tiny roads even worse. Dangling on top of the poles are the spaghetti bunched wires for electricity. The infrastucture is bad, and it's difficult to see how the city can sustain a healthy growth.

In the evening, we ate at the well advertised Quan An Ngon, ( I think literally meaning good tasting restaurant ). It has a wide array of Vietnamese food, where you can watch food be cooked over a dozen stations. Unfortunately our party was large and we had to sit at the 2nd story, where we had to order food from the menu rather than just pointing. After a delicious dinner, we walk around town near ho giom, the temple, and the fun weekend night flea market.

Most of the hotels in the city have been retrofitted, and its usually done half ass. Typcially a bathroom is one floor, and you would have a nozzle to shower, a drain, and a squatting toilet. There was no tub, you would just shower and the water would just get all over the floor which would drain in one corner of the bathroom. So walking in to bathrooms of any home, even if it was to just use the toilet or wash your hands, the floor would be wet. Well the squatting toilets in the hotel would be replaced by wester toilets, and a bath tub would be installed. In the Hanoi hotel we stayed at, there was a bathtub, but it had no shower curtains for a stand up shower. So I would squat in the tub to prevent the whole floor from getting drenched. However, I noticed that the floor was still wet. I noticed a tiny PVC pipe coming out of the tub sticking about 1 inch, and water from the tub was actually being drained from the pipe, onto the floor, which would make its way to the corner drain. They never even connected the plumbing, but instead just let the water flow out of the tub into floor and into the drain.

Wedding in Hue & River Cruise

Date: Tuesday & Wednesday, January 5 &6, 2010
Travel: Rental Van
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Duy Tan Hotel
Photos: 20100105 Nhu Bich's Wedding Photo Journal, 20100105 Hue Huyen Tran Citadel



January 5,6. I set my alarm to 4:30 am, as this morning my cousin had the wedding at the church set for a 5 AM ceremony. 5 AM!! It was on a Tuesday, at 5AM. Driving down the streets of Hue, it seemed like there was a wedding at every corner. Apparently this was the wedding season of the area, as January has the most mild temperatures. If standing in suits under the sun still drew plenty sweat in the mild month of January, imagine how soaked we would be in warmest month of July. The 5 am ceremony was done in order to start the traditional ceremonies at 8am, followed by an immediate reception at the grooms house, where they actually had about 5 tables for guest. Following this meal and party, the bride and groom was actually scheduled to do it 2 more times, as another rotation of 5 more table worth of guests would come, followed by another rotation.
After all that, my family went out to pay homage to my grandmother's burial site, which rested on a nice piece of land. However this is a temporary site, and would be one day removed to make way for a resort or park. Something doesn't sound right about that. Nearby, we visited the Huyen Tran cultural center, which a memorial for a legendary princess. The place is newly constructed, and the complex was still being built, but was complete enough to marvel in the site. The rest of the time, we revisited the imperial city, which had just recently started reconstruction. We enjoyed some of the local fare, which was probably one of the better eating experiences of the trip. The rest of the night, I would spend time with the family and make the most of my time with my ailing grandfather, who seemed to be getting a little better while we were there.

The following day was a little more of the same, spending some time with the family visiting the nearby imperial sites, as well as spending some more time with the family. That evening we rented an entire boat, which we comfortably sat 30 or 40 members (we have a big family). On this river cruise, we would be entertained by folk music, but performed by a younger generation of people. The neatest part of the performance was with the percussions created by tea cups, harmonically coordinated between the fingers of the performers.

We make it to Ba Na

Date: Monday January 4, 2010
Travel: Family Car
Party: Vu & Aunt
Lodging: Duy Tan Hotel
Photos: 20100104 Ba Na Hills

I set my alarm to 5 am, which is brutally early for my standards. My aunt and I grabbed a bowl of pho, which was cheap and available at 6am. It's kind of like grabbing a breakfast burrito at Los Betos. It was decent, but its nothing like the pho at home.

We then returned back to Ba Na hills (after a failed attempt the night before) when the sun was breaking out and you could actually see why you would want to come here in the first place. The hills and the landscape overcast-ed by the hue of the sunrise was remarkable, and the agricultural presence of the country was alive. We arrived a bit early, and the first ride up was set at 9am...or so the sign says. Buses full of tourist were already coming in, yet no one even manned the ticket booth until 5 minutes after, and then there was a huge onslaught of workers roving through, on the count of about 150 or so. So even though the place was open at 9, there was no staff up at the top, they all came 5 minutes after, and then they have to take the cable cars up, creating a long line before any paying customers can go up. You would think that a tourist attraction like this or any larger scale business, staff members would be present a half an hour or hour before opening. Anyways, my aunt was able to talk our way through to the front of the line, ahead of the staff workers, and we were on our way. The tram ride on the longest cable car in the world was at least 15 minutes long, soaring above the jungled hills. You can see the the lush green jungles, the rapids rushing down the hills, and the recklessness of landscaping crews, who were picking up trash while scaling on the side of the mountains to where a slip would have them fall to their deaths. No safety here and it makes you wonder how safe those cable cars really were. Well..I suppose I am still here writing this post.

Once we get to the top of the first line, there is another line that gets you slightly higher, to the peak. At the top of this rests a nice mountain resort. This is where we would have stayed had we spent the night before. You can see the clouds roll through, unfortunately blanketing the city from here. The air was definitely clean and fresh, but the place was still being developed, and some coffee would definitely be ideal. There is a temple and a giant buddha nearby, which was in walking distance.

As the early morning came to an end, we go back down and go back to town, having lunch with the newly weds and sending my other cousin to work. In the evening my uncle and aunt drive out to Hue, where we try reach my other cousin's wedding (or pre-wedding) reception. Hue and Da Nang, doesn't seem that far looking at the the map, yet it was still a 2.5 hour drive, due to the 30-40 km/hr speed limits, windy roads (albeit pretty). We ended up showing up late (of course). After a shorter evening, I crash at the hotel for a hectic day.



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Good Morning Vietnam

Date: Friday & Saturday January 1, 2010
Travel: Flight LAX to SGN; SGN to DAD; Van
Party: Vu & Family
Lodging: Green Hotel
Photos: 20100102 HoiAn ; 2010010306 Nice Family Pictures In Da Nang & Hue Weddings

Happy new years from the airplane. I don't think we actually hit 12:00 AM Jan 1st at any point on our flight. We left on December 30 at about 10 PM, and we probably crossed the international dateline after midnight, making it officially January 1st. It's not like we were counting anyway, as we all fell asleep after the barrage of crying from Christine. She just does not like seat belts anymore.

After an 8 hour layover in Taipei, we arrive to SGN. Aside from a quick visit to my Ba Ngoai's (grandmother), we rest for the night to prep our travel the following day. The next morning, we had a nice Vietnamese breakfast buffet and then hopped on a Vietnam Airliner taking us to Da Nang. The aircrafts are just like any other commercial jets we fly at home, which is a big surprise compared to 15 years earlier, where we had duct taped up propellers gliding us to our destinations.

The agenda was tight, as we were supposed to rush to my cousin's wedding reception immediately after we landed. The Da Nang airport was small, and I don't think it even had doors. It had more of a feel of my high schools craft and shop class, only dirty with mosquitos. Yet with the tight schedule, I changed into my suit in the bathroom. I was expecting an airport bathroom to be a nicer place to change clothes (at least better than inside the van), but I forgot, this is Vietnam. Turns out the rest of the family ended up going to the hotel to change anyway... Oh well, at least I was already ready and probably even got a souvenir of molaria.

We came in fashionably late, and it looks like everybody was waiting for us. Oops. It was feeling like a typical Vietnamese wedding reception, until I hear it's not really the reception, but only a party for the mothers side, or something like that. The wedding and reception was continuing on the next day, and then 2 more days of weddings immediately following for my other cousin in Hue. I knew I should have brought more underwear. At least I can buy another tie for a different look.

At the end of the reception, the family along with a handful of extended family members went out to Hoi An to visit my great grandparents burial site, as well as visited the house where my dad grew up with his grandmother in. We've been to Hoi An before, and visited the family historic sites, but we never really got to understand why the town was a tourist destination. This time around we would actually go down by the river, and visit some of the historical sites and markets. The town was decorated in many of its lanterns, and made the night very inviting. Of course, with the little ones, we had to buy a lantern. The prettier lanterns unfortunately were a tad big, and were not collapsible so it would be difficult to pack home. We stopped by an interesting eatery, and it looked it would be tasty from the streets, but there were a lot of foriegners around, and it was catered to them. In other words, it sucked. Still trying to recover from the long journey, we break early in the night, but we make a driving tour around Da Nang. Da Nang seems to be a growing city, and is starting to become a little more modern. Its also seemed cleaner and more groomed in the busier parts of town.

The Blue Point & More Ubud

Date: Friday July 31, Bali
Travel: Rental Van
Party: Vu, Linda, Dan, Kim
Lodging: The Blue Point
Photos: 20090731BedugalTanahLot; 20090731BluePoint





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We stayed the night at the Blue Point resort in Uluwatu. It was gorgeous, and we were upgraded to a the presidential villa. This was already on top of the fact that we received a Indonesian discount which Linda was able to persuade in getting. There was a personal pool, and gazebo in the back, but the resort hosted its own infinite edge pool, with a view of the pacific. The resort was on top of the hill, above a popular surfing spot. It was beautiful. The stay also came with a 30 minute foot massage, so our feet were ready to go.
We were reluctant to leave the Blue Point, but we spent the day with our rental van, going back up the center of the island. We started with some shopping buying some local crafts and arts. If we had more time, I would have been out there bargaining for more stuff. We stopped at the sky restaurant of Pacung, with more wonderful views and another buffet lunch. We then made our way to Bedugul, which was serene and just take in the views.
Running late already, we did not want to miss a 2nd chance for an ocean sunset and drove on to Pura Tanah Lot. It was just beautiful. The area seemed to also have dark sand, but I don't know if it was necessarily black sand. I mentioned to Linda that I wanted to see that, and she just couldn't understand why. I don't think she understands that we live in a desert. The Bali trip had been nothing more then just enjoyment and relaxation.

Bali: From Kintamani to Uluwatu

Date: Thursday July 30, 2009
Travel: Rental Van
Party: Vu, Linda, Dan, Kim
Lodging: Pertiwi Resort
Photos: 20090730UbudKintamaniUluwatu
On our 2nd day, we hired a van and driver to take us around. Staying in Ubud, we visit a couple of temples, namely the Goa Gajah and Gunung Kawi. We get to trek some of the rice fields and get a nice peek of some of the rice terraces. The girls bought some sarongs, since at each of the holy sites, you were supposed to cover yourself in one. The site would give you one, but it made a nice souvenir anyway. One thing you will notice around here are the balinese hindu offerings, especially in front of any businesses. We visited the holy baths of Tirtha Empul, but notbody really wanted to take a dip in the water. We then drove up to Kintamani, where we enjoy a late buffet lunch overlooking the lake and Mt. Batur. The air was refreshing and the views were spectacular. Making our way back down, we make a brief visit at a larger rice terrace, one of the many rice terraces in the area. This was just one of the more intricate ones.

As it was approaching sunset, our driver tried to rush us to our destination before it was too late, which is at the southern tip of the island, at Uluwatu. It was nice that Linda was able to communicate with the driver, so that we really had no worries at all. We made it on time, and was able to enjoy a beautiful sunset. Although while admiring one, one of the monkeys took Linda's sunglasses right from her head. The little critter made it pretty far, but a little child ran the monkey down, and recovered the shades. Too bad those LV frames had bite marks all over onse side, but at least it was saved. While I was standing and taking a picture, one of the monkeys almost grabbed my glasses, but Linda caught it in time. I made sure I told the monkey who's boss (see video). Although we made the sunset, we were not able to catch the kechak dance this night. Kim and Dan had already seen one a few days before, but I had not seen it yet. Another day...

Bali Adventure Tour

Date: Wednesday July 29, 2009

Travel: Rental Van
Party: Vu, Linda, Dan, Kim
Lodging: Pertiwi Resort
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/vutang50/20090729UbudRaftingElephantMonkeyForest#

After a few days in Jakarta, I rejoined Kim in Dan on the island of Bali, accompanied with Linda. Kim and Dan were fully recharged from their stay at the grand hyatt, as I was from chillaxing in Jakarta. On the first day, we decide to do a little adventure and go rafting down the Ayung river. We had a raft guide who was really strong and probably did all the work, but he was really fun, and always smiling. It was a beautiful day out, and the area around the river was so lush. It was a lot of fun, and no one fell over board, but I almost did since I was focused with my camera. The guide allowed us to jump into the river, and Linda was the first one in without hesitation.


All the people on the island were very nice, and always smiling. The service was always a great experience. After a buffet lunch, we visited the elephant safari park, and get to ride one through the jungle (actually its just a path inside the park, but you can use your imagination). The ride was a little slow, but it was just bumpy, up and down. The rafting and elephant safari were a part of Bali Adventure Tours company. Later in the evening we visited the sacred monkey forest, which was just a short walk from our hotel, Pertiwi resort. The monkeys were all over the place, and you could buy mini bananas and feed them. Some of these monkeys are very smart, and they don't really care for just the one banana that you give them, they want the whole bunch. You would be standing there trying to hand 1 monkey a banana, while another monkey tries to steal the stash of bananas in your other hand.

A Night in Hong Kong

Date: Thursday July 23, 2009
Travel: Taxi; MagLev Train; Plane: Shanghai to Hong Kong; Subway; Trolley
Lodging: Cosmic Guest House
Photos: 20090723HongKong
This morning, I ended up sacrificing a chance to shop in the market early morning for some sleep. I would be flying out of Shanghai's International airport, meaning that I get an oppurtunity to ride the fastest train in the world, which is magnetically levitated, followed by some rest in the airport the lounge.

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Landing into Hong Kong's airport, the view outside the window was amazing, with all the modern skyscrapers on small mountainous islands. I arrive in Hong Kong by noon, where I would be staying at another hostel in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST). Located at Miradoor Mansion, which is really a big, old apartment building. The room was clean, but very very small. If I couldn't put my bag underneath the bed, then there would be no floorspace to get to the bathroom. The entire room must have been like 40 square feet, including the bathroom, since the long side of the twin bed went from wall to wall. It was clean though, and had a TV and AC.
I went up to the top of Victoria Peak, where there is a grand panorama of Hong Kong and TST. There is a light show every 8pm in Hong Kong, which I thought I would be able to enjoy from Victoria Peak, but I was wrong. Anyways, I cross the waters on the ferry back to the TST side and walked along the promenade, into the avenue of stars. In the TST area, there was plenty of nightlife and enough people that speak English to get around, and BS with.

I ended the trip just exploring much of the city the next day, making sure that I eat some dim sum while I was there. I remember asking one of Kim's friends in China, who spends a lot of time in Hong Kong, about Dim Sum, and she says that she never tried it in Hong Kong, kind of stating that her extended family was rich, and doesn't do Dim Sum. Well I guess I am poor, and I want some Dim Sum.
I didn't get a chance to visit DisneyLand park like I had in Tokyo, but I did get to see a Mickey exhibit in town. I also got to shop a bit and get some of my bargaining fix in, as I missed out in Shanghai. Taking the subway the next day all over the place, as I walked out, I kind of said to myself, "wow, I feel like I'm in a big china town." Well what did I expect...I was in China.

Find me in Shanghai

Date: Wednesday July 22, 2009
Travel: Taxi; Plane: Beijing to Shanghai Hongqiao; Subway
Lodging: Shanghai Hidden Garden Youth Hostel
Photos: 20090722Shanghai
After staring at the mosquito splats in the dorm in Beijing and the enormous bump on my forehead, I decided that I probably should not rough it any further, and just take the flight to Shanghai and not a sleeper train. I would be alone for a few days and there is no need to get myself sick or something. The only problem with this is that the flight would get me in sometime mid morning, which would be past the time of the solar eclipse of 2009, in which Shanghai would experience totality.
The other odd thing about leaving that morning is that some Government workers came by the dorm looking for me, so that I could have my medical check up. I didn't think that it really mattered what address I put in my immigration card, but apparently they were even able to read my hand writing. I wonder if my name will be on a black list now since I was absent in Beijing. Facebook was blocked, skype would not work for some reason, and now they were tracking me down. Now I feel more blessed with where I do live, near the border of Mexico.

As the the plane landed in Shanghai, while we were still on the runway, people in the seats behind starting walking towards the front. The flight attendants were in a craze to get the folks to sit back down. As the plane stopped, people started rushing and shoving their way to the front. My goodness.....I just couldn't understand it, and felt like there was no sort of order or class here. 1 would think that there is some sort of airline etiquette or something, but that just doesn't exist here.
I reached my hostel which did not have the best curb appeal, but with only a slight difference in cost, it was so much better than my dorm room in Beijing. It was clean and was quite modern. I called up a fellow coworker of mine, Deeporn, who was temporarily working in China the past 2 years with her husband. She gave me some suggestions on places to visit, as well as an invitation that evening.
At noon, I headed out to Yu Yuan bazaar and garden. I suppose it was a nicer traditional view of Shanghai. I noticed there was a long line for some food, and I just stood in it assuming it had to be for something good. It was the well known Xiao Long Bao (or as I like to think of it as Shaolin Bao). It was juicy, but I thought the meat could have been spiced up a bit.
As I made my way around the city and into People's Square, you can't help but notice how modern Shanghai is becoming with couple of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, modern architecture, and mass transit. There are 3 tall observation towers in Pudong, the Oriental Pearl TV tower, World Financial Tower, and Jin Mao towers. I decided on the World Financial tower, as it has the highest observation deck in the world. However, getting to it on foot while the rain was coming down turned out to be an obstacle. Shanghai was undergoing under a lot of construction, in preparation for the World Expo 2010, and it was not easy to get to the tower. You would think, just go toward the tallest building, but it was not the case. There were signs everywhere telling me to go in the opposite directions. Anyways, I eventually found my way there. Entering the tower and the observation deck area, I felt like I was in geek heaven. There was all sorts of eye candy, with LED's, and lights, and all the workers guiding you around were very beautiful women. Going up the escalators and elevators, I already felt like in a whole new world. The deck offered a great view of Shanghai.
Already being late from looking for the tower, I finally meet up with Deeporn to have dinner at a nice cantonese restaurant, which is a nice change up from the mandarin stuff. Deeporn then invited me over to her condo, as well as invited me to spend the night as she had plenty of spare rooms. The condo was in an excellent location in Pudong along the river, and was the top floor. It was an amazing experience, and it felt so luxurious. The living area was large, but the best part, was the living room, where the entire wall was a window offering a magnificent view of the Bund, and the Huangpu river. I had wished I actually stayed there, because I could just sit at that window sill all night. You can see all the boats, ships, cruises sail down 1 direction of the river. I was entertained all night with stories about China, and I was glad I made the most of my 1 day in Shanghai.