Waking up in Vietnam!

My 1st authentic PHO!

Finally hit the hay here at the Rising Dragon Hotel at 1am VN time (after a 20 hr. transit marathon and 27 hrs. with precious few snatches of sleep) - whew!  The hotel's nice and quiet, and woke to my first official, authentic Vietnamese PHO!

Still fighting an acky head cold, but ever so relieved to *finally* be here in my new adopted home.

Stray bits 'n pieces:

I now have my itinerary nailed down for the next 8 days here in the North.  It pays to do the digital research as I knew what things should cost.  So when bartering w/ the hotel for Ha Long Bay tours, train reservations to Sapa, and plane to Saigon, I was able to strike a good bargain for all.  Special kudos to "David" at the Rising Dragon - ever so helpful and I believe his recommendations will prove excellent.

Street view from in front of my hotel

Meanwhile, I have the day to just explore - first stop a pharmacy for some drugs for this cold, then a stroll around the Lake, buy tickets for the famous Hanoi Water Puppet Show for tonight.  Then tomorrow I'm off to Ha Long Bay for 2 nts.

 (TECHNO ACK NOTE:  Much seems to be haywire here - can access Twitter and this blog but not Facebook (compliments of the Great Fire Wall) .  Might have to use an intermediary to post on fb for me once in awhile - until I can figure out how to disguise my IP address.  Also, I seem to have lost a bunch of my iPod apps in the translation/latest sync so who knows what that's all about...

Already in love with the Pho and the Vietnamese coffee (can you spell S-T-R-O-N-G and S-W-E-E-T???)

SUPER wifi here in my room at the Rising Dragon - woo-hoo!  THAT alone is worth 20 bucks!

Temps in Hanoi today in the mid 70's - perfect!

Whew! I'm on my way!

Goodness, what a difference an hour makes. Frantic flurry to tie up last minute loose ends, Tweak the packing one FINAL time, and whiz to the airport. All a blurrr. Then check in w/ Asiana (crossing fingers that my pre-VOA - Visa On Arrival - will suffice to allow me to board on a ONE WAY ticket - and the answer Isssss.... YESSSSS - Yay!!!) Then wrestle w/ the two computers (laptop + net book), shoes, liquids, and a full-body scan for good measure, and...




FINALLY utter peace and quiet here in Asiana Gate S15.

Did I mention... WHEW!!!

Truly on my merry way now, with absolutely nothing to worry about (well o.k., save for crashing into the blue Pacific) for the next 16+ hours. Then a 50 min layover in Seoul, Korea and onward to Hanoi, Vietnam.

KEWL - testing out this nifty BlogPress app. Easy-peasy to peck a post (even on this bitty iPod Touch keypad), add a quick pic, and simply push "Send"....


- Posted from my iPod Touch (please excuse the handwriting)

Location:SEATAC airport

72 Hours and Counting...

YIKES!  Will ya just look at that countdown clock there on the upper right!  Verily 2 days: 1 hr: 30 minutes to go and I'll be (can you spell F.I.N.A.L.L.Y???) winging my way in that silver chariot (ONE-WAY!) to Hanoi!

The printer goes to a chum on Saturday

Can you hear the ECHO as I peck these keys here in my utterly EMPTY (save for this laptop and a lawn chair)?  Yup, just this morning I rented a UHaul truck (and hired a couple of dear, burly street-side workers) and moved every remaining bit of  "stuff" (incl. my bed, etc.) to my wee storage locker (just $30/mo. for a 6' x 6' - yay!)  And... miracle of miracles - it all FIT with room to spare!

DEEEEEEEEEEP breath here, Dyanne - inhale... exhale... as it truly sinks in that I've now completely dismantled my entire comfy life here in my beloved Seattle - in favor of...

Heading off into (literally!) the "Wild Blue Yonder" on what is sure to be (if nothing else) my zaniest travel adventure yet.

WARNING -  All that follows (hereafter, for... perhaps eternity) shall (must necessarily) come with the following disclaimer:

My mots here may well soon (indeed, kinda have already) get/gotten mighty sparse and/or likely will prove very disjointed.  In short, no way do I guarantee what you might find here (if anything) at any given moment.  Certainly coherence may even prove elusive at times.  But do please bear with me, as I'm certain there will nonetheless be many interesting - nay nutso - adventures in store.

That said - onward to stray bits 'n pieces:

I arrive Hanoi on Sunday, Oct. 30th, and the "Plan" is to spend a week up north playing "tourist".  To wit:  1st two nts. accommodations HERE (not too shab for 20 bucks a night with wifi and a/c, no? - ah yes, gotta love Southeast Asia cheeep.) ;)

Then it'll likely be a 2 nt. Ha Long Bay tour (a World Heritage site and presently on target to be on the list of "7 Wonders of the Natural World") aboard a Chinese junk (a.k.a. kewl sailing ship) - will probably just book this through my Red Dragon hotel, but want to wait to see what my options are after I arrive.

Indeed, (as usual for me) I haven't pre-booked anything save the 1st 2 nts. lodging, but have done a ton of research, and after Ha Long, I plan to take the overnight train to Lo Cai (soft-sleeper thankyouverymuch - a mere $31) then a microbus to Sapa. One nt. in a hotel there, to buy me time to set up an authentic (as opposed to a "toursty") trek and 2 nt. homestay with the Hill Tribes people (the link, just some random - wowzer - pics to give you an idea of what it's all about.)  Then another o/n train back to Hanoi (the Red Dragon hotel btw, will keep my excess baggage while I'm off to Ha Long and Sapa - nice!)

THEN... about Nov. 8th, fly down to Saigon which will give me about 6 nts. to get settled into a long-term hotel before starting the (predicted: grueling) month-long CELTA course on the 14th.

Toodle-loo dear Luna...

Th-th-that's it.  That's all I half-way know for certain at this point.  But that's the way I like to roll when I travel.  ;)

Oh and... before I go - just had to post a sweet pic of my dear blue-eyed Luna - happily I found her a really great home out in the country, where I'm sure she'll be loved as much as she was here.




Stay tuned.... (just don't hold-yer-breath!) 

Eating Live Cobra: What I WON'T be doing in Hanoi soon...

Holy Freekin' Furballs!   Little more than two weeks to go!

And here I sit, surfing all manner of Vietnam trivia to calm my nerves after...

Woo-HOO (and YIKES!) I sold the car last night!

This honey is headed for Belize!

(Interestingly, to a dear Belizean gentleman who's up here visiting his brother on a 6 month visa - who plans to drive it from Seattle down, down, down to the tropical jungles of Belize.  Rather ironic, given that I spent most of my professional life running/guiding trips to the funky land of Belize.  Kinda nice to think that... while I'm skipping around Vietnam on the other side of the Planet - my sweet little Toyota Corolla DX Wagon will be bouncing over dirt roads down in Belize.)



So yup, I'm now wheel-less, and my apartment looks like a bomb shelter. Verily the bare basics of a bed, my desk and this laptop.

Ah but a chum is lending me a car for the next 2 weeks, and tomorrow night my friends are throwing me a "Going-Away" party (my first, - and no doubt last - ever "Facebook-orchestrated" party).

So I'm chugging along here - albeit in a bit of a surreal stupor - as I dismantle my entire life in favor of jumping off a virtual cliff into the Southeast Asia unknown.

And thus, I'm inspired to devise a new blog post "label" here, dubbed "WTFHIGMI" (WTF-Have-I-Gotten-Myself-Into)!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with a peek into what I may well have to look forward to when I land in Hanoi:

Photo credit: Augapfel

Eating Cobra in Hanoi: A step-by-step guide

(and be sure to watch the "beating cobra heart" video)

Note to self:  Pack plenty of Cliff bars should you perchance find yourself in sudden need of a quick snack.