Vietnam and Cambodia 2018

Well the adventures begin again. We have been very fortunate this past 12 months as we have been on 4 trips. Mexico, Newfoundland, Greece and now Vietnam and Cambodia. All have been very different but very amazing. This one however has been on my bucket list for a while. It’s been 6 Years since we have been in Southeast Asia so it’s time we came back. This part of the world is very cool, the people are amazing,the food is fantastic and the scenery is breathtaking.

We tried something different this trip and broke the long flight into two segments on the way here. I’m way to old to do 17 hours in a plane all at once. So we flew to Narita Japan and spent the night at the Hotel Nikki Narita in Tokyo. I have to say we were pleasantly surprised at our short stay in Japan. Our flight was uneventful which is a plus when flying out of the Okanagan in January and we breezed through immigration and customs which for us is extremely lucky, one of us usually gets searched. The hotel was very close to the airport and the shuttle was free. That is a bonus in Japan as everything is very expensive. Our room was lovely, the bed was comfortable and it was very quiet.

We arrived at around 6 pm so went for dinner at a restaurant called “Serena”. The raw tuna was very good and the tempura just right. Bill was exhausted so we called it a night at about 8:30 which was about 1:30 am our time. The problem with that was I was awake at 4 am this morning.

Oh well I remembered to bring my Starbucks instant coffee and Baileys because you only get tea in Japan. So we had coffee in bed at 5 am.   We couldn’t check in online with Vietnam Airlines so went to the airport early. Hence the noodles and beer for breakfast at 8 am. (this tasted much better than it looks)

It still amazes me that Narita Airport has smoking rooms!  As a matter of fact so did the hotel. Bill went for a smoke outside the hotel and was told “ no no no sir you have to smoke inside”. WTF!  

As we say good by to Japan and head to Vietnam I leave with a better memory than I did previously and will use it as a stop over on future trips to Asia. 

We are really excited to get to Vietnam this afternoon as we have a street food walking tour booked in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Walking around the city for 3 hours eating Vietnamese food is going to be good for my body, soul and belly!

We arrived at the Hanoi airport after about a 6 hour flight with Vietnam Airlines to a very full airport. Getting our entry visa was an experience I do not want to repeat. We handed off our paper work and passport and waited in line for about 2.5 hours to receive our visa and make our way through immigration to then discover Bill’s backpack was not on the carousel.  With a little investigating we found it and walked through customs without even scanning our bags or filling out any declaration forms.  By this time I really didn’t think our driver would still be waiting for us, but he was, which was a relief.  Half an hour later we were checked in to Hanoi Little Town Hotel just in time to join our walking street food tour.  I was really looking forward to this so was thankful we had made it on time. 

A young tour guide named Derek picked us up and we were joined by another couple from San Francisco and a mom and daughter from Australia. The tour was 3 hours long walking through the very narrow and busy streets of the old quarter. Good thing we had Derek as I was lost with 2 blocks. We weaved our way from stop to stop eating the most amazing food from little stalls that were no bigger than our entry way in the house. All the food was cooked by family members who lived on the upper floors, they used tiny little stoves at street level. Good thing we both have good knees as the stools and tables we sat at were only 12 inches off the ground. Squats are the main exercise of the evening.

 The food we ate was a variety of noodle soups called Bun bo and Pho ga. One was beef and one chicken with rice noodles. We then watched a lady make us Banh cuon, a steamed rolled pancake filled with pork,mushrooms and black fungus (different kind of mushroom). We dipped this in fish sauce with basil and cilantro.

 Next was a pork egg roll and Banh cha which was rice noodle with bbq pork.

                     

 Good thing we were walking because our next stop was a Banh mi, a Vietnamese pork sub that was to die for. We are definitely going back for one of these.  Next was desert, Cafe Trung  this was a very strong coffee with whipped egg yolk with sugar and vanilla. OMG so good. We finished the tour with Kem Xio ( green sticky rice with mango).


Afterwards Derek walked us back to our hotel and we rolled into bed. Our challenge will be to find some of these places when we get back into town after our boat tour in Halong Bay. 

Hoian

Our train ride from Dong Hoi to Da Nang was surprisingly good. We were dropped off by our farmstay driver and got our tickets no problem. I had reserved soft seats and we were in coach #3. The train arrived and we soon realized half the coach seats face one direction and the other half the opposite direction. Our seats happened to be facing backwards in relation to the direction the train was travelling, not good. The next thing we realized was there was not a lot of room between the seats if the person in front reclined their seat. Guess what, Bill could not even get into his seat. Luckily the train was not full so we just moved one row back, but travelling backwards was not working well for me. Bill went to look in the coach #2 as it did not appear there were many people in there. He came back smiling as he had found seats facing the other direction with a table and everything. We grabbed our bags and moved. If we got asked we would just play dumb. Lol.

 We were able to stay in these seats all the way which made the trip quite enjoyable. The scenery was beautiful and as long as the train was moving we had A/C. We had been told not to eat the food on the train so had brought some snacks which was a good thing as the food carts did not look appealing at all.








6 hours on a train through Vietnam was a good experience but we both agreed flying between cities was a much better way to travel. We like sleeping in a stationary bed not one that is moving.

 We arrived at our Airbnb about 2:30 after a very interesting transport from the airport. Our new home for the next four days was located on the river just across the bridge from Ancient City on Can Nam island. It was about a 10 minute walk into the market where all the shops and restaurants were located, but far enough away that is was quite quiet. 

We decided to get to know the area by taking a walking food tour again, so I went online and booked one off trip adviser.

 A couple of hours later we were walking through Hoian with 11 other participants tasting all the street food of Hoian.

 We started with one of our favorites Banh Mi. This yummy sub sandwich was created in Hoian and we were at one of the best Banh Mi restaurants in town. It had also been recommended by our host. Next we went into the market and had Vietnamese pancakes which were a baked rice pancake with shrimp and vegetables which you then rolled in a second rice paper and dipped in peanut sauce.





Next we had a white rose dumpling and a wonton. The wonton was quite different than what we get at home. The wonton wrapper is deep fried flat and then a filling of shrimp,carrots, pineapple and a sweet and sour sauce is placed on top. Very tasty.  We them stopped at a street stall and had a dish called chicken rice. Desert was a husband/wife cake  which was a mung bean covered in a sweet jelly. Not our favorite but we tried it.

We finished off with a beer along the water. We were quite surprised they did not include Cau Lau which is also a Hanoi signature dish which you can only get in Hanoi. But we were quite sure we would be able to find it on our own. After our tour we were both wiped so headed back to our hotel for the night. Hoian was spectacular by night but we had 3 more nights to enjoy it. 

The next morning we enjoyed coffee on our deck before we headed across the bridge in search of a tailor. As we were walking down the street we were approached by a lady who said she had a shop. She seemed friendly so off we went. Her shop was one of many located in a stall within the market. Her sister was running the stall and we sat down to have a chat. By the end of our chat we had been measured up, picked our fabrics and had ordered 5 shirts and 3 pairs of shorts for Bill and 2 dresses for me as well as getting a bathing suit top altered. What an experience. If Nim didn’t have the fabric you liked she simply took you to another stall to choose from. There were so many it was overwhelming, but fun. We left by 11:30 and were to be back for our first fitting by 5pm that night. 

We then headed back to our Bahn Mi restaurant to try the chicken version. We both liked this one better than the pork and we had our first iced Vietnamese coffee. To die for, they are the best coffee ever, especially on a hot afternoon. It was finally warming up. Yay!

We wondered around the market and all the shops and then decided to grab some cold beer and relax on our deck for a couple of hours before our fitting.  While we relaxed I did some research on cooking classes. As I found out these are very popular and fill up quickly. We were lucky and the Red River cooking class added an evening class for Friday so we booked in for 1:30-8:00 pm.







 Ang, our host has told us if we wanted a massage she could book them and the girls would come to our room to do them. We thought we would see if they were available and to our surprise they could be there in an hour. We had just enough time before our fitting so had them come. It was a very relaxing massage in the comfort of your room for $15.00 each.  

After our massage we had our first fitting. These guys are amazing in 6 hours they had all 5 of Bill’s shirts done as well as his shorts and my two dresses. His shorts needed to be made smaller and they had to tweak my dresses a bit so we made arrangements to come back the next morning.   For dinner we found the Morning Glory restaurant that had been recommended by Ang  and enjoyed another great meal. I’ve even been able to order imported wine which makes me very happy!

Friday morning we were able to book a cooking class from 1:30 - 8:00pm with the Red Bridge cooking class. So excited!  Before we went we had to go for another fitting, Bill’s shorts were perfect this time and my dresses as well. Nim talked me into purchasing another little black dress I had my eye on so we had to come back tomorrow for more fittings.   We wondered around the market and headed to the restaurant where we were to meet for our cooking class. We were about 1 hour early so sat and enjoyed another iced coffee. 

There was only 4 of us in our cooking class. Nadia and Hamlisch, a couple from London. Our first stop on the tour was a huge local herb garden that was run by 200 local families. It was irrigated but all the planting etc was done by hand. It was amazing. Each morning they harvested the herbs and sold them in the fresh market starting at 4am.

We had a lovely fruit drink and then headed to the market to pick up the vegetables we were going to cook with.  Sung our tour guide was very informative and we were able to purchase a few unique cooking tools, herb seeds, and dried lemon grass.

Then we jumped in a san pan boat and cruised down the river. We arrived at this beautiful location with a pool and everything, too bad it was too cold to swim. Drinks were included in our tour so we all had a beer before beginning to cook.

Our cook was a lively lady who handed us each an apron and we started with a banana flower salad. We each grated a different vegetable with the best little grater I’ve ever used. (One of my new tools).

 Once this was done we started the Pho stock. They began by searing the beef bone on the BBQ and then rinsing it it hot water and then into the stock pot with onion, ginger, salt,pepper and sugar. This stock would normally cook over night. We then went onto making shrimp in a banana leaf and fish in a clay pot. All four dishes were amazing. We received copies of the recipes however finding some of the ingredients will be a challenge when we get home. We ended the evening with fresh fruit and a glass of wine and we were taken back to town by vehicle.

It was al lovely evening and we now have a travel contact in London who has an Airbnb in the south of Italy. Nadia had boots delivered while we were there so I got the ladies business card and may get my custom tote made tomorrow if we have time. 

Our last day in Hoian was spent ordering my new red leather tote, having my final fitting for my little black dress and then picking them up at then end of the day. During our down time Bill actually agreed to renting peddle bikes to ride around Can Am island where we were staying and then ride back into town for my fittings and pick ups.

 While we were walking around in the afternoon we stumbled across this great little back ally restaurant that served Cau Lau noodles. Yay we were going to be able to try them. They did not disappoint, they were delish and so was everything else we tried.   So much so that we decided to go back for dinner. The only challenge was that we were on bikes and it was dark. After a few wrong turns and a near miss I was able to spot the alleyway. Dinner was just as good as lunch and we were able to find our way home without incident and get the bikes back on time. We even timed our stops so we were not caught in the afternoon down pour. 

Hoian was quite touristy but quant at the same time. The city is very beautiful at night when all the latturns are lit up and the canal is set up for the evening. We are off to Saigon tomorrow morning which should be quite different from here. 

IOS

 Niki offered to drive to the bus station a short drive away so we could catch the bus up into chora. This entailed a 10 minute ride up a very narrow windy one lane roads is a very big bus.  Once we reached the top we decided to hike up to the top of the mountain to the church in time to see the sunset. 

The town of Chora is built on the side of the mountian and resembled a maze of tiny little streets that intertwine one another with many shops, bars and restaurants. The route up was marked in white steps so it made it fairly easy to find.  So we set off and made it just in time to see a spectacular sun set   On the way down the shops had opened up again foe the evening so we were able to do some shopping before finding the restaurant Lisa had recommended.  This particular restaurant was a tapas bar so we decided to order 5-6 dishes to share. This it seams is how most Greek meals are eaten.  The food was very flavourful and by the time the last plate was served we all were rolling out the door.  We decided to walk down the mountain instead of taking the bus which turned out to be a very well lit pathway down uneven stairs providing great views of the island along the way. 

The hotel we were staying at on IOS was called Brother's and was run by Niki and his wife Lisa. Niki's parents had built the place originally and still lived on the property. His dad tended the garden daily and his mom chatted Greek to the guests and spoke to everyone who drove by the property. They had been on the island all their lives.  

We had breakfast served every morning down on the terrace. The Greek yogurt and honey was to die for. The preserves were home made as well as the tiny cakes. Greek coffee is also very good.   Once we had a leisurely breakfast we decided to go check out the beach in town. We wondered to the far end and mocked the beach chairs under the shade of the trees. There was a restaurant across the street that sold cold beer and had a clean toilet so we were set for a few hours. Lisa had recommended another restaurant that wasn't far from the beach or so we thought so that was the plan, spend the afternoon at the beach and then head for an early dinner as the place was run by a local family that cooked 8 different dishes each day and when it was gone it was gone. 

The beach was right next to the harbour so we watched all the high speed ferries coming and going, swam in the warm sea and relaxed.  After spending the afternoon we had one last swim and started our walk up to the restaurant. They told us it was just around the corner. So off we went up down and around, up down and around, up down and around and after about the fourth corner we found xxxxxxxxxx. By the time we got there we were all very hot again but they had shade, water and cold beer. 

After we cooled off we were invited to go into the kitchen to see what was cooking and decide which dishes we would like. It all looked amazing. Bill was brave and picked the rabbit and we all shared various other dishes. Again we were stuffed and just as we were about to leave they brought out desert and raki with honey. Desert was baklava with honey which just melted in your mouth. The raki with honey we found out is homemade and cannot be purchased. Each restaurant makes their own version and serves it on the house with desert. 

It was still early so we thought we would walk back and stop at a resort we had passed to see if we could have a swim.  When we arrived we were the only ones there so we bought a round of drinks had a swim and relaxed until it cooled off enough to walk the rest of the way back to the hotel.  As we were leaving Bill scooped a souvenir for the trip. A very cool little ashtray the clips to the table. 

It was still early when we arrived so we sat by the pool and visited with some of the other guests. 

We decided that in order to see the rest of the island we would rent a car. Niki made the arrangements for us and they picked us up the next morning at 10 am.  Driving in Greece is fairly easy as they drive on the same side of the road as we do.   So off we went. Brian and Bill took turns driving and there was only one main road around the island so not too difficult. Lisa had given us some suggestions so we toured around from beach to beach with stops along the way.  Again her recommendation for lunch was great. We shared various dishes which were all delish at a small little taverna on the road. 

We saw some very interesting sculptures along the way as well as spectacular views.  At the end of the day we used the car to go to a seafood restaurant Lisa had told us about. It was located right on the beach and we were able to pick from the fresh catch of the day. The only drawback was we had to purchase the entire fish. We looked at the grouper but it was just too much for the 4 of us to eat so we settled on the sea bass. 

The next morning we returned the car and went to the beach for the rest of the day. We had arranged to have our luggage stored so had most of the day to relax. When we returned to Brother's Niki informed us the ferry was about 1.5 hours late so we hung out by the pool finishing our wine until it was time to go. Niki took us to the port in time to catch our high speed to Santorini. 

I must say Brothers Hotel exceeded all of my expectations and was one of the best places we stayed in Greece. If we ever go back to IOS we will definitely stay here again. 

(Backup) Greece September 2017

Hello from Greece. Our trip over was fairly uneventful. We flew from Kelowna to Calgary, had a 3 hour layover so met up with Brian's brother Ross and his wife Lauri Ann for a glass of wine and a bite to eat. It was great to catch up with them and hear all about their quick trip to Germany. We flew into London and then into Athens. We were all glad to get to our Airbnb place in Athens for the night. We found a great little Greek street restaurant a couple of blocks away that had fantastic sulvaki, Greek salad, pitas, grilled halumi and cold beer. 

Our our day in Athens started with a food walking tour with "Alternative Athens". We walked around the streets of teens with our guide stopping at about 10 places to taste Athentic greet food and beverages. Geeks certainly like their sweets so Bill was in heaven, but no chocolate. The heat and the humidity were very intense but we worked our way back to the market to buy more nuts, spices and fresh fruit. Most paces we had passed in the morning were now closed for a few hours in the heat of the afternoon reopening at about 6 in the evening.  We thought we might take in the acropolis but it was so hot and humid and I was not feeling well we decided to head back to the condo for a rest instead. 

Bill, Joyce and Brian headed out to find someplace for dinner and I stayed to rest and hopefully get rid of my cold.  Joyce was also on the hunt for some imported wine which we had not been able to locate yet. They arrived back with cold beer a Greek Red wine!  No imports to be found. We tried it but it was not very good. It was an early night as we had to catch a 7:15 am ferry to IOS the next morning. 

Athens had been fun but very hot and humid and we were all looking forward to getting out of the city and to the islands. 

We had booked VIP seats on the Hellenic high speed ferry which turned out to be great. Very comfortable seats with our own table   Started the ride with Geek coffee and oso' then breakfast and a 4 hour ferry ride to ISO. We arrived on schedule and Niki picked us up and took us to "Bothers Hotel."  It is a 19 room boutique hotel with a lovely pool and shade area. Lisa offered us a cold beer and she then told us about everything on the island. Due to the heat most places shut down in the afternoon and reopen at 6. We decided to hang out at the pool until it cooled off and then head up into town to see a 360 view of the sunset and then go for dinner

NEWFOUNDLAND

May 2017

Ferryland NLd

We are off on a new adventure in a few days.  This time we have decided to explore our own beautiful country Canada, and travel to the furthest east coast of Newfoundland.  It has always been a dream of mine to see the ice burgs that float by the east coast every spring. 

 The pictures my friend Shirley has been sending me over the years have been spectacular and this year they have caught the attention of the world.  We booked our flights well before the media attention hit and now the excitement is mounting as it is forecasted to be a stellar year for ice burgs. 

We are flying into St. John's, then renting a car and driving up to Fogo Island for two days.  Then back to Twillingate for 2 days and then Bonavista and back to St. John's to spend 5 days with my friend Shirley.


This area is known as ice burg alley and should be the best places to watch them float by or jump in a boat and get up close.  However the big one pictured above is located 75 km south of St. John's. This particular ice burg is grounded at the moment in 300 ft of water and rises 100 ft above.  So if there are no big winds in the next week we might get lucky and actually see it in person.

Lobster season begins May 1 so Shirley tells me we should be able to find it everywhere.  Mmmmm can't wait.  She has also suggested seal flipper pie which has me intrigued.

Stayed tuned as the adventure begins!

Cheers