Adventures in Vietnam: Part I

It's a lazy Sunday and I just finished putting away groceries, throwing on some laundry, and blowing up a beach ball that came free with a recently purchased box of cereal (it says "Kellogg's" on one panel and "Special K" on another"). So since I'm hanging in today it seemed like a good time to finally share some pictures and details from our trip to Vietnam!

We left on a Saturday morning and made it to Noi Bai International Airport in the early afternoon. From there we took a cab to our hostel in Hanoi which took a little under an hour. We stayed at the Little Hanoi Hostel Le Thai To which is right on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi's Old Quarter. I would absolutely suggest this hostel if you're staying in Hanoi. Not only is it conveniently located but it's clean and well maintained and the staff were friendly. They helped book our tickets down to Hue and back which probably would have been a pain to figure out otherwise and someone was always around if anyone needed anything. 

After dumping our bags in our room we set off to explore.

 Turtle Tower.

 The Dharma Initiative is everywhere.

Travel days are always pretty tiring and we'd been up early so after looking around a bit more and grabbing dinner later on we called it a day. The next morning we had breakfast at the same spot we'd had dinner because it was close and we didn't want to be wandering around trying to find food. One of the most awesome awesome awesome things about Vietnam is that they have Western breakfast. Well, lots of Western food in general but breakfast is what interested me most. Finding somewhere in Korea that serves up pancakes or omelettes or french toast is pretty difficult so I was more than happy to indulge in Western breakfast all week long. We realized later, after hitting up a few more restaurants, that this place was a bit overpriced but it was right on the lake and had a nice view so it was worth those two meals.

After breakfast we went in search of a particular temple but when we got there it was closed. One thing to note if you're sightseeing in Hanoi is that a lot of places close from 10 or 11am to 1 or 2pm. Instead of setting out around that time like we did, try to catch places earlier and then spend those hours getting lunch or street shopping. 

Bach Ma Temple.

Lenin Park.

Big old statue of Lenin.

 Flag Tower.

 The Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum. It's only open from 9am to noon but we passed on this because we were never in the area at the right time and seeing a dead body wasn't exactly high on the list.

One Pillar Pagoda.

While waiting for the Hồ Chí Minh Museum to open we checked out the Military History Museum which truth be told isn't really worth seeing. It's small but even still there wasn't a whole lot and everything seemed sort of thrown together. Lots of items were just left out in the open instead of being behind protective glass and most of the labels had been taped up. 

Once it was open for the afternoon we headed back to the Hồ Chí Minh Museum which was one of my favorite stops on the trip.

Before this trip I didn't know a lot about Vietnam's history or even the war. I never read much about it on my own and I'll save my rant about how US schools fail to teach anything past 1950 for some other day. So everything was pretty new to me and I felt like I learned a lot. The Hồ Chí Minh Museum is especially thorough and nicely mixes the history of the man himself and the country with various works of art. I highly recommend making a stop there.

 A cool exhibit that was running while we were there.

More to come soon!

Trivia of the Day: Hoan Kiem Lake (Vietnamese: Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, meaning "Lake of the Returned Sword" or "Lake of the Restored Sword", also known as Hồ Gươm - Sword Lake) is a lake in the historical center of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. According to the legend, emperor Lê Lợi handed a magic sword called Heaven's Will which brought him victory in his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty back to the Golden Turtle God in the lake and hence gave it its present name. The Tortoise Tower standing on a small island near the centre of lake is linked to the legend. Large soft-shell turtles, either of the species Rafetus swinhoei or a separate species named Rafetus leloii in honor of the emperor, have been sighted in the lake. The species is critically endangered and the number of individuals in the lake is unclear.

Adventures in Taipei: Part I

I'm back from the Lunar New Year break and couldn't be happier with my vacation. Taiwan was wonderful. Taipei is a cool, beautiful city and I really enjoyed spending a few days exploring it.

Heather, Jim, and I left just after noon on Wednesday and headed to Incheon International Airport. I didn't get to see much of it when I first arrived here but it really is an awesome airport. I can see why it's consistently named the best airport in the world. 

After checking in we waited in the first class lounge which was wicked nice. There was another lounge that was for like, super first class people, but this one was still great. Mini sandwiches, soups, salad, candies, croissants, pasta, and a little bar area to mix your own drinks. They also had a section with private showers and those leather vibrating massage chairs. Swanky. 

Obviously the best part about flying first class though is actually flying first class. 

Look at all that leg room! I can't even imagine how amazing it would have been to do the long flight from Boston to Incheon with that kind of personal space. The seats looked like spaceship pods or something and with all the purple and pink I felt like I was in Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. It was so nice to be able to fully recline and adjust my seat every which way. They served a three course meal and lounging with noise canceling headphones on and a book in hand it was easily the most comfortable flight I've experienced. Hey I'm new to this whole first class thing and doubt it will become a habit, indulge my geek out. 

There was a very pretty sun to see us off but mostly I posted this because I just realized that that Korean Air plane has an ad for StarCraft (a video game) on the side. StarCraft is hugely popular in Korea. I mean huge. Korea has professional StarCraft players. No wonder they put it on the side of their airplanes.

So after an extremely comfortable flight we touched down at Taoyuan Airport and took a cab to our hostel in Taipei. This was my first hostel stay and it definitely assured me that it'll be a good way to do travel on the cheap again. 

If you're ever staying in Taipei I recommend JV's. It was bright and friendly and an easy 10-15 minute walk from the subway. There were only the three of us but we stayed in a four bed room (we bought out the fourth bed) which came with bunk beds and clean sheets and comforters. The shared bathrooms were clean and for the most part we had hot shower water. On the top floor there was a public lounge with a couch and bean bag chairs and two public computers hooked up to the internet which came in handy. We had a key to our room as well as to the front door of the hostel so it felt pretty secure. Overall a good place to rest your bones. 

Wednesday night after we were settled we went poking around the closest night market which was just up the street. Basically it was crowds of people sandwiched between stores and booths running up the middle of the street selling everything from slippers to foods. 

We didn't stay out too late since we wanted to have an early start so on Thursday we got up and out and made our way to the nearby subway station, Luizhangli Station. The Taipei metro is really nice. Like I said, I'm pretty much in love with the Korean subway but Taipei's is right up there too. Trains arrive within minutes of each other and the single journey tokens are convenient. 

We ended up at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, the monument honoring the former president. Unfortunately because of the holiday the hall itself was closed which was too bad because there's a big statue of Chiang Kai-Shek inside that would have been cool to see. It was a gorgeous day though and the outside was eye candy plenty. 

From there we walked for a bit while trying to track down a particular park. The city pretty much empties for New Year as everyone goes back home so it was very quiet in some areas.

We came across this park and popped in to take a look around. At the time I couldn't find any signs in English to indicate who this statue is of but after some googling it seems to be of Lin Sen,who was the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) when it still controlled what is today the People's Republic of China (my understanding of the political history between Taiwan and China is pretty hazy but I think that much is right). 

Though you may desperately want to, in Taipei you just cannot get your launder on in public parks. Don't get caught carrying a stick of Tide to Go or a portable clothesline, the results could be dire!  

The 228 Peace Park was actually the park we'd been looking for and is right across the street from Jieshou Park. The park's name comes from the 228 Incident:

Also known as the 228 Massacre, the 228 Incident was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that began on February 27, 1947, and was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang government. Estimates of the number of deaths vary from 10,000 to 30,000 or more. The Incident marked the beginning of the Kuomintang's White Terror period in Taiwan, in which thousands more Taiwanese vanished, died, or were imprisoned. The number "228" refers to the day the massacre began: February 28, or 02-28.

The park was really beautiful. Not too many people were around and there was a lot to see.

The Taipei 228 Monument.

I'm really grossed out by fish (and most sea creatures for that matter) but this blue fish was just the coolest. I love the colors. It looks like a piece of China, you know those blue and white ones which Wikipedia is helpfully telling me are called "Blue and White wares". Unlike fish, I love pieces of dish ware and such made in that style. I like to think that if the fish in this pond were a mafia, China Blue here would be their Don.

I took over 800 pictures on this trip and have a lot more to share and say about Taipei but for now I think this should suffice. This doesn't even cover our entire first day and maybe I'm in the habit of being too excessive in terms of sharing pictures and information but if you're still hanging around to read this I'm sure you know that by now.

If this blog were a network television show this would be the part where you'd get a vague and dramatic sneak peek at the upcoming episode. So to wet your whistle:

A real cliffhanger, I know. 

Trivia of the Day: Formosa or Ilha Formosa is a Portuguese historical name for Taiwan, literally meaning, beautiful island. The name Formosa was given to Taiwan by the Portuguese when their explorers sailed past in the 16th century. In the early 17th century, when the Dutch East India Company came to build a commercial post at Fort Zeelandia (today's Tainan City), they allegedly adopted the name of an aboriginal tribe transliterated as "Tayouan" or "Teyowan" in their records.