Hello Vietnam (Day 7-8: Hanoi)

Well, if it was chaos we were loking for, we got plenty of it as soon as we arrived in Hanoi. The taxi ride into the city was full of honking and passing, and the streets of the city were filled with cars, motorbikes, bicycles, cyclos, pedestrians, and general mayhem that after Bali seemed greatly magnified. The streets are filled with commerce from stores and street vendors, often spilling onto the sidewalks and even the streets. It took us a day or so to get used to it, but we've grown quite fond of the lively cities during our time in Vietnam.

Farewell to Bali

On our last night in Bali, we had a beautiful meal cooked just for us down near the water at sunset. The food was incredible and used many local ingredients in innovative ways. It was the perfect, peaceful ending to our stay, and it gave us energy to meet the chaos in the cities of Vietnam.

Day 4-6: Bali (Alila Manggis)

On Sunday, November 18, we transferred from our hotel in the hills to another Alila hotel on the beach in eastern Bali. Before we left, we did a trek through the rice paddies and down into one of the forested valleys. It was good hike with a tough steep drop, a river crossing, and a steep climb back up, but we were rewarded with a beautiful picnic lunch overlooking the fields.

The new hotel is just as nice as the last one, with a beautiful view of the ocean replacing the view of the valley. We did take a slight step down in our accommodations, but with the view from our deck being the picture here, we can't complain at all.

On Monday, our "experience" was called Paradise Lost by the Sea. In the morning, we were taken by motorized outrigger to a spot on the other end of the bay that has great snorkeling. The coral was plentiful, colorful, and shallow, and we saw lots of great fish. When we got back, the staff drove us out to a hidden white sand beach, where we got to enjoy another fabulous picnic lunch on cushions under an umbrella, and an afternoon lounging on the beach and swimming in the warm ocean.

Today, we got up early to go on a trek called High Trek to Heaven. The hike began halfway up a mountain called Lempuyang near Bali's highest volcano, Gunung Agung, and it basically went straight up the mountain for an hour and a half until we reached the temple at the top at 4000 feet. The Hindus believe in worshipping the gods at the highest point, so praying often involves some exercise. It was a tough and steep hike, probably the hardest Dee has done since her knee injury, but she did very well. When we reached the temple, we put on sarongs so that we could go inside. A group was just sitting down to pray, and they asked us to join them. Our guide presented an offering, and we sat and got blessed by the holy water as everyone prayed. We took a different route back, down many stairs, and ended at the amazing temple pictured here, with serpent creatures guarding the stairs up to the prayer area. The bodies of the serpents formed the undulating railing of the stairs. With the view of the volcano behind it, it was quite magnificent.



This is our last full day in Bali, and we are a little sad to leave. This is a beautiful island, and the people are gentle, friendly, and very hardworking. We would recommend it to anyone, whether you are interested in relaxing on the beach, trekking, surfing, diving, or experiencing a great traditional culture. Of course, we are looking forward to our travels in Vietnam, but it has been a great beginning here in Bali. We end tonight with a meal cooked by the chef at Alila Manggis specifically for us, using many local ingredients and flavors. We can't wait!

Day 1-3: Bali (Alila Ubud)

After the usual crazy day before a long trip, Dee and I made it to the airport for our 12:15am flight on Wednesday (really Tuesday night). It was a 13 hour trip to Taipei, 2 hours at the airport there, another 5 hours to Bali, and an hour drive to our hotel, and when we got there, it was Thursday afternoon. Still, probably because we slept well on the first leg, it didn't actually seem that long.


Our hotel here, Alila Ubud, is in a beautiful and peaceful spot along a ridge overlooking a lush valley. We decided to begin our trip luxuriously, so we got a suite with a wrap-around deck and views of the valley and distant mountains. We spent the afternoon settling in, sitting on the deck, and checking out the grounds of the hotel.

Later in the afternoon, as I was reading from our guidebook, I noticed something our of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a monkey staring at me from right outside the window. We're at the edge of a monkey forest here, and we've seen monkeys sitting in the trees and playing in the grass at the hotel. Soon, one monkey turned into three, and they all jumped onto the railing of our deck. Not bad for our first day. We crawled into bed that night very satisfied but exhausted.

The next morning, our leisure concierge (like I said, we're starting in style) took us on a tour of the surroundings to see aspects of the Balinese Lifestyle. In one of the villages, he saw that the community was gathering for a cock fight and stopped so that we could check it out. We were a bit apprehensive, but we figured it would be rude to say no. It turned out to be really interesting, because this was very much an all-community social gathering, with men gathered around the ring gambling and cheering, and women further out selling food. Apparently, communities put these on to raise money couple of times a year on special occasions (this was for the temple anniversary). I don't mean to be glorifying the practice, but it's always different when you see it from the inside. The fights are really not as brutal as you might expect, and the loser is killed quickly right there and cooked that night.

From there, we drove through the rice paddies, visited a public temple, had lunch with a view of the volcano, which is still occasionally active, went inside a Balinese family compound, and saw Balinese artists creating intricate wood carvings and silver jewelry. At night, the hotel had arranged a cocktail party and special dinner down by the pool, complete with gamelan music and Balinese dancing.





On Saturday, we got to ride an elephant. Sumatran elephants are the smallest species of elephant, but they are still quite big. Our elephant, Melanie, did a great job showing us the park, where they rescue elephants who can't survive in the wild and try to teach people about their plight.

After the ride, there was a show, where the elephants showed off their skills, including dunking a basketball. For the last trick, one of the elephants sprayed water into the crowd. Dee was standing directly in front and got completely soaked.

Mate

Before leaving Argentina, I feel compelled to talk about Mate. This drink is enjoyed all over Argentina and it has a ritual associated with it that makes it a very social drink. I first noticed our porters in Patagonia drinking a brew out of a decorated gourd and passing it around. Our guide explained a bit about how it worked, and one day I got to try some. It is a bit like a strong green tea and apparently contains a checmical similar to but not the same as caffeine that gives a stimulating effect. I immediately liked it, and I liked the idea of the ritual behind it.

The gourd, called the Mate, is filled with a leaf called Yerba Mate, and a filtering straw called a bombilla, usually made of metal, is used for drinking. There is one person, called the sebador, who serves the drink to those who want some by pouring hot water into the mate and passing it to the drinker. The first mate, called the fool´s mate, is drunk by the sebador himself, and the next one is offered to the person to his left. The new drinker then sips as much as he wants, usually finishing what´s in the mate, then says ¨gracias¨ and passes the mate back to the sebador. The sebador then continues to offer the mate in a clockwise direction, refilling with water when necessary. At some point, the sebador may appoint a new sebador, which is considered an honor. Apparently, one mate full of yerba mate should last about 14 fillings.

I liked it enough that I found myself a mate I liked in Buenos Aires, along with some Yerba Mate to fill it. So far, I´ve mostly been drinking by myself, as Dee will usually just have a small amount, but I haven´t acquired the custom of some Argentinians of carrying around a thermos full of hot water so they can keep refilling their mates. Hopefully, some folks in San Francisco will enjoy it as much as I do, and I can practice being a real sebador. Look for some mate parties when I get back.

Day 26-27: Iguazu Falls

We arrived in Iguazu midday. We were staying in the Sheraton inside the park, and our room actually had a view of the spectacular falls. Since we only had two days here, we decided to start right away with a tour. We started by going through the jungle in a four wheel drive vehicle, the guide explaining everything in three languages.
I didn´t understand his English very well, so I used my knowledge of Spanish and French to fill in the gaps. Then we walked down to the water, where we saw boats returning full of very wet people. We promptly put the camera in a zip-loc and our dry clothes in a water-proof bag, and our boat took off toward the falls.
They took us pretty close to the falls on one side and then went to the other side to get an even more panoramic view. Then they steered the boat towards one of the side falls and drove right through it. We got wet, but I thought, that wasn´t too bad. Well, they took us back over to the first side and plunged us directly into a raging fall three or four times. Nothing was dry after that. We got dropped off at the bottom of a set of walkways and walked up along those back to the hotel, getting some stunning views of the falls along the way.

Niagara may have more water, but the setting of these falls in the jungle, the way so many rivers come together and form several sets of falls, and the walkways that take you to the middle of the action definitely make Iguazu more spectacular. Apparently, Eleanor Roosevelt visited both, and upon seeing Iguazu, said, ¨Poor Niagara.¨

The second day, we explored all the walkways on the Argentinian side. We briefly considered going over to the Brazilian side as well, since the panorama was supposed to be the best from there, but Dee would have had to pay $100 for the visa, and that seemed a little steep for one day in Brazil. There is an island in between the two major sets of falls, and we took a boat over and hiked around there to get one of the best views. In addition, we took the train to a spot where the walkway takes you over a long stretch of water just to the edge of the biggest fall. It was all spectacular.

Eating and Drinking in BA

We enjoyed a lot of great food and visited a lot of great bars and cafes while in Buenos Aires. I feel the need to mention some of the best. Argentina is known for large amounts of very high quality beef. Apparently, Argentinians eat three times as much beef as Americans, which is saying something, but pretty much all of it is very high quality meat from grass-fed cows. Restaurants that are labelled ¨parilla¨ offer different kinds of barbecued meat, but especially beef. We had a lot of good beef while in Buenos Aires, but the best was at a place called Las Lilas that had been recommeded by several people. It was down at the docks (Puerto Madero), and we stuffed ourselves there one of the last nights in the city.

Maybe our favorite restaurant was right in our own neighborhood, Palermo, and was called Olsen. It offered creative drinks and food of Scandinavian and local origin made with very fresh ingredients, and everything was delicious. We also liked the building the restaurant was in, and the funky signs for the bathroom.





One of our favorite bars was a place called Milion, which was located on all three floors of an old mansion. Every floor was different, with an outdoor patio on the first floor and several different rooms with different seating options on the upper two floors. It felt so cool to be inside an actual old home, and the place was packed both times we visited. Another favorite was again in our neighborhood, right on our block in fact. Mostly we liked it for the sign out front, but it also had interesting drinks and good music, and you can´t beat having a good drinking establishment half a block away.