Marble Mountain - Very Hot but Worth the Trip

We hired a motorbike and driver each, and got ourselves a trip from Hoi An  to the other side of Danang to visit Marble Mountain, and the close by beautiful China Beach.

A large statue of Buddha carved into a smaller cave at Marble Mountain

After a short distance, but slow journey on Vietnam roads and traffic, we were dropped off at a marble sculptor shop nearby the entrance to the mountain – and made our way up the steep 200+ stairs to the top of the mountain. There is an elevator for a fee if you don’t like the stair option. Its 15,000 dong per person ($0.75 USD) this gives you entrance to wander the mountain as long as you like. It takes about 2 hours to explore everything properly.

Marble Mountain from a distance. Surrounding Marble Mountain are about a million stores selling marble sculptures, jewellery, and anything you can possible think of that can be made of marble.

There are several temples, and about 5 caves spread out throughout the mountain. The tracks around the place, especially to the very top viewing point – are pretty rough going with skinny tunnels out of the cave, to steep, and slippery marble rocks to climb, so be prepared for a bit of an off road hike if you want to view these parts. It is worth the view!

Climbing out of the cave to the top of the mountain. It was very-very hot.

Inside many of the caves are various Buddhist statues, hand carved straight from the natural marble in the cave – still connected to the main cave walls and floor. Just amazing to stand in front of it realize the huge size of these statues, and the time it would of taken to create.

Very large statue of Buddha carved into the cave at Marble Mountain

A lot of the caves have little openings through to the outside, and you can see the rays of sunlight, just beaming down deep into the cave with some beautiful lighting effects.

It’s such an amazing sight to visit, and only half an hour from Hoi An. Just be prepared for the heat trooping up and around the mountain! J 

On top of one of the mountain peaks. If we look hot it's because we were. Maybe we went through 4 litres of water while we were there.

While so close by, we then visited China Beach, still mostly uninhabited and peacefully natural and empty  for now, but there are literally hundreds of resorts being built at the moment, so it’s soon to be inundated with tourists. 

At China Beach wearing a motorbike helmet.

Dave's helmet didn't fit him at all. Our motorbike driver said his was the first head that that helmet didn't fit, ever.

All of our photos from Marble Mountain and Hoi An can be viewed here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/HoiAn?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now - 

Pamela and Dave

Hanoi – My Introduction to Vietnam

Wow. Hanoi. Wow. My (DW) first time to Vietnam so I had no idea what to expect and I must say it’s turning out to be a unique and wonderful place.

Looking out to Hoan Kiem Lake in the Old Quarter of Hanoi

We arrived via plane in the late evening. Thankfully we pre-booked our airport transfer through the hotel at a cost of 15 US dollars and a duration of 45 minutes. I would recommend anyone coming to Hanoi to pre-book your arrival transportation for two reasons, the first is that it’s nice and convenient to have the driver waiting for you, the second is that there are quite a few running airport scams which could involve a taxi taking you to the wrong hotel or not using the meter and demanding more money at the end of the ride.

We stayed at the Heart Hotel Hanoi which has a great location right next to Hoan Kiem Lake in the Old Quarter.  The room was okay and the location good but I personally would not stay here again. The price, about 40 US a night, seemed quite a bit more than nearby hotels. Also the shower was a terrible design and tended to leak everywhere.

The Old Quarter of Hanoi is an assault on your senses, non-stop blaring horns keep your ears busy all day and night, street food vendors keep your nose and taste buds busy, an endless amount of shopping gives you plenty to look at and walking across a busy street will ensure your nerves are in working order. Crossing the street was a bit hectic at first but is best done slow and steady so the motorbikes (coming from every direction) dodge you accordingly.

Vietnam Telecom hard at work. 

A photo can't do justice to the madness that are the streets of Hanoi.  Right of way might be decided by who can honk the most or loudest. Lights are often ignored and one way streets are open to interpretation.

While in Hanoi we did quite a bit of shopping where the streets are organized by what they sell, for example we spent quite a bit of time on a street that sells silk item, a street that sells eyeglasses, a street that sells paintings and a street that sells wood products. We also saw some temples, the best being The Temple of Literature where we spent a warm afternoon outside. Last and not least we ate some really good food. I'm sure we'll be writing more about Vietnamese cuisine in future posts.

Roaming around the Temple of Literature

See all of our photos from Hanoi: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/Hanoi?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now –

Pamela and Dave

Halong Bay

Halong Bay - Meaning “Bay of the descending dragon” in Vietnamese.

A beautiful and spectacular bay of over 3000 islands – set amongst the green waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Such an amazing sight it was World Heritage listed in 1994.

Enjoying the views of Halong Bay from our cruise boat "Poseidon"

It’s a good 3.5-4 hour drive by minibus from Hanoi to get there, which is a very slow and bumpy ride, as the distance you are travelling is only actually 175km! The bus’s vary depending on what tour company you are on, and some are fancier than others – as long as you have air conditioning, it’s definitely worth the trip!

We did an overnight tour of Halong Bay on the “Poseidon” ($85 USD per person). You can do longer trips, or even just day trips, but I think a 1 night stay is long enough. Once we finally got off the bus, we boarded a tender, which took us out to the actual boat we were cruising on, as it is too big to come into the actual docking harbor. From there, we were on our way and set sail. We checked into our cute little deluxe room on the top floor. It was small (as to be expected on a boat) but very nice! Everything was clean and tidy, and our own ensuite with toilet and shower. We even had a TV and DVD player to watch movies at night if you wanted (only we didn’t have any DVD’s L, and didn’t really fancy watching any Vietnamese ones!)

Dave in our deluxe room on the boat

A seafood lunch was then served, which was mostly enjoyed by everyone (except for non sea food eaters like me-PW, there was not many choices., so that was a bit of a shame. I’ve never had so much tofu in all my life as I have in the last few days, as they eat mostly pork and seafood in Vietnam).

After lunch we boarded another tender boat to  visit “the amazing cave” as our tour guide called it (he wasn’t very informative in terms of actual facts –  his most important fact on the cave, as stated by him “A ladies best dream” is what he /the locals call a large rounded stalactite… that was sprouting from the side of the cave wall?!). I have found out since, the cave is actually called the Wooden Stakes Cave. Although the French tourists that first discovered the cave in the 19^th century called it ‘Grotte des Merveilles’. It’s a HUGE cave, with 3 main chambers. It’s still quite impressive, even though it hasn’t been very well preserved, allowing visitors to pretty much do as they like when visiting – so where everyone has touched the walls, it is all black, and has lost any of the crystal like sheer appearance.

From inside the cave looking out to the entry

Our silhouettes in the amazing cave 

From there we went to the nearby remains of an old dock, (it had more missing planks, than actual wooden planks) which actually doubled as a family of 4+ adults, and 2 small children under the age of 3. The smallest baby was learning to walk/stand in a baby walker on this magnificent dock with no edges…I guess they learn to swim at the same time they’re learning to walk? It was quite a sight to see. Anyhow, we were on this dock as we were using the kayaks which was the family business. Marveling at the state of the dock, and their way of life was just an extra side bonus. We kayaked for about 30 mins, around a few of the different islands, and through a little tunnel cave on one of the small islands. It was so hot, and  very tempting to just jump in and have a swim to cool off, but being so close to the caves, many of the boats dock here, and the water was covered in a thick coating of oil, and not to mention we also saw quite a few BIG jellyfish, so we decided staying hot was a better option?! (the jellyfish are only there part of the year though, and you can escape the oil in the water out in the rest of the bay where not so many boats accumulate.)

Kayaking in Halong Bay

Back onto the Poseidon, we cruised through the little islands into the sunset! Such a beautiful, relaxing and peaceful part of visiting the bay. This was our favorite part, just to cruise and relax and take in the sights. As things get a bit too hectic in the caves and kayaking, as there are just so many junk boats, and so many other tourists! After docking close to Cat Ba island, dinner was served. Very similar to lunch – OK if you liked seafood.

After dinner, there was fishing with a bamboo stick traditional Vietnamese style ( no reel, or length of fishing line, you just had to dangle the bait of the end, and hope for the best that it stays on the line while you fling it into the boat) OR you could also enjoy some Karaoke singing. We decided for neither, and went to watch a movie on our laptop in the room. After being active in the hot sun 40+ heat all day, we were more than happy to get to bed.

On the top deck enjoying the sunset

Sunset over Halong Bay

Breakfast was served at 7.10am sharp, despite no one actually getting there to eat it until 7.15 and onwards, so if you like your fried eggs hot – you better get there on time!

There were no act ivies or cruising on the last morning, just sun baking on the rooftop sun beds. We stayed docked until about 11, which was a little disappointing, as we would have preferred to go and visit one of the beaches, but we had to wait to pick up guests staying on Cat Ba island. After they boarded, we were off and sailing again, and quick lunch was served at 11.30am, and we were onto the tender by 12.15 and on the mini bus by 12.20 for a LONG slow and bumpy ride home.

Even with the tedious bus trip, it was still a great sight worth seeing. Just spectacular. However, if there is anyone out there looking for a business venture  - a helicopter or seaplane transfer/scenic flight from Hanoi to Halong Bay would certainly be popular and in demand!

All our pics from Halong Bay can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/HalongBay?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now - 

Pamela and Dave

Chiang Mai - Thailand at it's Best

We rolled into Chiang Mai, Thailand on the 13th of August via a bus from Chiang Rai. The trip aboard the Green Bus Thailand bus was 3 hours long and cost us 263 baht each (8.75 USD). Once in Chiang Mai we caught a songthaew taxi (60 baht or 2 USD) from the bus terminal to the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel where we stayed for six nights.

Getting Around Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai isn't a huge city but the different sites and activities are all very spread out so you really need to rely on some type of transportation other than your two feet. We used a Tuk-Tuk driven by Mr. Bin just about the whole time we were in Chiang Mai. Mr. Bin was great, he would drive us wherever we needed to go, wait for us at the place and then drive us to the next place. It was like having our own personal tour guide, all for very reasonable prices. If anyone is making a trip to Chiang Mai I would definitely recommend Mr. Bin and his Tuk-Tuk. He can be contacted by phone 086-188-6793 or email kaifah.cnx@gmail.com.

Pamela with our Tuk-Tuk driver Mr. Bin

Things to Do in Chiang Mai

To list all the things to do in Chiang Mai would take all day. We've already written about the Elephant Camp and Tiger Kingdom but here's a list of some of the other activities we hope to write about in the near future:

• Baan Thai Cooking School 

  

  We leaned how to make pad thai, coconut soup, thai fish cakes and Chiang Mai chicken. All in a kitchen that was about a million degrees.

• Chiang Mai Night Safari

  

  Giraffes and other animals will eat our of your hands as you drive through their enclosures.  If you can understand 50% of the tour narration then you've done a good job.

  
  
• Chiang Mai Monkey School
  

  

  These poor monkeys are treated like garbage then paraded in front of you for tips. We had a bad feeling after we left and would not recommend this place at all.

  

  This monkey rode a bike around in circles.

• Doi Suthep Temple

  

  The Doi Suthep Temple is a pretty nice excursion up to the mountains above Chiang Mai. 

  

  The temple gives a pictorial history of Buddha and sees many -many visitors every day.

• Mae Sa Snake Farm

  

  Pamela having a go with a python. The trainers love to play tricks on you while you're holding the snakes. Their favourite seemed to be to stick you in the back of the leg with a two prong stick to simulate the biting of a snake. Bastards.

  
  

  

  Petting a Siamese Cobra. 

  

  If you hate snakes then you would HATE this place. Behind me is a tree full of snakes. I like snakes and even felt a bit squeamish.

  

  The "trainers" would take your camera and get up close shots of the cobras.  This wasn't zoomed in at all. Crazy!

  
  

Hopefully in the near future we will write more detailed stories of some of our adventures above. Probably not about the monkey school, even talking about that place gives us the creeps.

Some links to more pics if you're interested:
Mae Sa Snake Farm: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/MaeSaSnakeFarm?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Around Chiang Mai including our Cooking School and Doi Suthep Temple: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/ChiangMai02?authuser=0&feat=directlink

From Chiang Mai we flew back to Bangkok then on to Hanoi, Vietnam. 

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

Mae Sa Elephant Camp - Our day with the Elephants

Mae Sa Elephant Camp is one of the bigger elephant camps of Chiang Mai. Located in the Mae Rim area, about 40 minutes from the city center, the camp has grown significantly since the last time I visited them about four years ago. The camp now has close to 70 elephants! Still a great show, but due to the high demand an increasing tourists in the area, it is somewhat commercialized, and also caters for big tour groups, so don’t expect a quiet intimate time with the elephants by any means.

Each elephant and it's trainer are listed on the board.

In saying this, they put on a great show for a price of 110 baht per person (4 USD) –  starting with watching the elephants bathe in the river with their mahouts (elephant trainer – each elephant has their very own personal trainer), and then continue on to do an hour long show, showing the talents and intelligence of the elephants. I (PW) was even picked out from the big audience, to play darts with one of the elephants – undoubtedly, the elephant won! (his darts were 5x as big as mine though!!) They finish the show with 5 or so elephants each painting a quite impressive painting with their trunks, which then sold from 3000-6000 baht each (100 to 200 USD)!! Quite a good little money making venture for them!

Pamela playing a game of darts with an elephant during the main show.

This elephant was a fantastic painter.

Once the show is finished, it’s time to get up close and personal with the elephants, taking pictures with them while they wrap their trunks around your neck and pose with you. They then keep poking you with their trunks, or tapping their trunks on the ground asking for tips,(all under direction of the mahout of course!) this is quite cute at first – until you realize how carried away you get putting the money in their trunks having a great old time! 

The elephant put the hat on Pamela's head.

After that, we looked around the elephant camp while we were waiting for our elephant ride, as there were a few big tour groups in that day, they were booked out until 1pm to get a ride straight after the show. It worked out well though, as you can walk around the camp and check out the elephant gallery containing all the different elephant’s artworks for sale. They also have an elephant nursery – where they had a few elephant babies around 6 months old. SO cute! Not so well trained though at that age – he liked to grab your fingers and hands while you were feeding him bananas, and try and pull them out of there socket if you were not careful! Just being playful, but unaware of his own strength!

The baby elephant was a bit rough.

We chose to do the 1hr elephant ride at a cost of 600 baht per person (20 USD), as opposed to the half hour option at 400 baht per person, as the hour tour took you into the actual jungle surrounding the camp, instead of  just through the elephant camp/village. As it is the wet season here, the path through the jungle we took was quite swamp like and muddy, and quite amazing to watch the elephants being such big elephants, so eloquently step through the thick mud, using all the same foot holes as each other. Towards the end of the trek, the elephants wash off in the river, and cool down, the fastest our elephant walked on the whole trip was to get into the water! While the elephants were all drinking and cooling off, someone spotted quite a big snake on the river bank – next thing one of the mahouts was jumping off his elephants and down onto the snake, pegging him under the hook of his elephants stick, grabbing him by the tail, and then hacking his head off with the hook. Crazy, just no fear at all!

Going into the river on the elephants.

Riding the elephant through the jungle.

All in all, a great experience. Dave loved it too, it was his first time to ride an elephant, and get so up close and personal with these friendly giants. It’s just amazing to see how well trained they are, and how much they love human interaction.  There is such a trusting and great relationship between the mahout and the elephants, it’s hard to understand and really see that without experiencing it in person.

Here’s a link to all of our Mae Sa Elephant Camp photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/MaeSaElephantCamp?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now –

Pamela and Dave

Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai

Sitting with a tiger named Jackie Chan

Like an interactive zoo just for tiger lovers! Tiger Kingdom is absolutely amazing, and like nowhere else in the western world. This place lets you get right up close and personal with the tigers. Of course, you have to sign a disclaimer before buying your tickets, stating that you are entering at your own risk, that they are not responsible for your safety. It’s a pretty humbling feeling you get when cuddling up to a 180kg tiger cat (and this is still only half of its potential size when fully grown) as after all, even though they have been raised by humans in captivity, they are all still wild animals, and their natural instinct is to hunt and kill.
                             

SAFETY - Of course, there are basic safety precautions you have to abide by, and listen to the trainers at all times, as they spend a lot of time with these animals, and know how there behaviors better than anyone – so they can keep a look out for you, and get you out of the way, or distract the tigers where needed.

With the "small" sleeping tigers.

THE TIGER’S EXPERIENCE - It’s an indescribable feeling, giving a tiger a bear hug, and resting your head on its stomach, listening to its heart, and hear it breathing in and out, and its stomach gurgling. You are putting yourself in absolute trust of the tiger, that it’s not going to decide it’s had enough of you, and turn around bring you down in one strike of its massive paw. For the most part, they are super sleepy, and just laze around (especially in the heat of the middle of the day) so many people think that they are drugged etc. in order for them to be around people safely, but after spending a few hours there, you start to see the tigers in all the states of their daily cycle. Sometimes they sleep, but that very same tiger 5 minutes later can be pouncing up on a table to get the palm leaves the trainer is hovering around for them (just like  a cat chasing after a ball of string). So you see, that they just sleep when they want, and play when they want, everything revolves around there natural life/sleep cycle. If they do get too overactive, then they can take that particular tiger out into another caged area, and switch it out with another one, as they have many tigers there. This also means that the tigers get some nice time off to themselves, and aren’t being patted and loved all day long, even though you can clearly see that the tigers do truly love human interaction, just like a dog or a cat. Remember that these ones have been bred in captivity, and it’s all that they are used to.

Pamela and the tiger called Jackie Chan

ENDANGERED SPECIES - Bengal tigers are extremely endangered, and very rare to see in the wild, as there are less than 2,500 left in the world, due to poaching, and destruction of their habitats. So this breeding program helps increase numbers of Bengal tigers, and populate our zoos, increasing our knowledge and research on them  – helping this endangered species.

This looks like a good place to lay your head.

Relaxing with the 4-6 week old cubs.

OUR EXPERIENCE - Upon getting to Tiger Kingdom, you can choose what size tigers you want to play with, you can buy a package that includes all sizes if you want: newborn, smallest, small, medium and big. Once you’ve got your ticket, your into the park to visit these amazing animals.

The smallest tigers at Tiger Kingdom. 

We originally played with the smallest, and big, but after visiting the newborns, I (PW) had to play with them as well, and this was for me the best experience by far.  It takes out the humbling and fearsome side of it somewhat, and just lets you enjoy playing with one of the cutest baby animals you will ever see. Seeing how small and vulnerable they are, after just playing with their parents – knowing just how big these babies are going to grow up to be is amazing. They really are like oversized kittens, only with much sharper teeth, and bigger claws!

This tiger loved it when we rubbed his belly.

The small-medium tigers are probably the most dangerous to be around, as they are still young enough to be so playful just like a kitten or puppy, but they are still big enough that if they playfully bite you, it does really hurt, and can be dangerous. ( I got quite a few scratches and teeth marks, but nothing serious!)

You normally visit the tigers for 10-15 mins in small groups of 5 -8 people at a time. But when I went back to visit the newborns, no one else was there – so I had a room full of six 1-1.5 month old tigers all to myself. Dave didn’t want to pay to visit these ones, as they weren’t active enough to interest him so much. So, he did a great job of videoing me with the babies instead! 

Check out the two videos in this post if you haven't already done so. They will show you more than words could ever explain how happy and excited I was to be with the baby tigers. If you are an animal lover, you will want to be on the next plane to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

You've got to see the rest of our pics from Tiger Kingdom: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/TigerKingdom?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Possibly one of the most incredible things you could ever experience in life!

In October we're going to India for a two week tiger safari. Hopefully we'll be able to spot these magnificent animals in the wild and post some pics to prove it. 


Cheers for Now - 

Pamela and Dave

Chiang Rai - Short but Oh So Sweet

Stepping off the plane in Chiang Rai I right away knew I would love
it. From the fast and easy baggage claim to the one minute walk to the
waiting hotel car, you get the strong feeling you're not in the
madness of Bangkok anymore.

Pamela had already been to this part of Thailand (well known for it's
proximity to the Golden Triangle or borders of Thailand, Laos and
Burma) so she knew to expect a chilled-out kind of place. Both of us
were looking for a relaxing weekend and that's what we got and more.

We stayed at the Le Meridien Chiang Rai Resort which sits right along
the Mae Kok River. The resort literally flows with tranquility, whether
it's the multi-layer infinity pool, attached pond or dual showerheads
in the bathroom it would be hard not to relax and enjoy yourself.
Although the resort was 100% full while we were there, the service
provided by all the hotel staff was exceptional and we always felt
like we had the place to ourselves.

View of the pool and river from our room.

After checking-in we were sooo surprised to find a beautiful selection
of desserts in our room consisting of chocolate cake, maccaroons and
langan fruits. Needless to say we loved every bit of it that night and
for breakfast the next morning.

Honeymoon Surprise in our Room!

The White Temple
The resort arranged a taxi to Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple) for us.  The White
Temple, named for its bright white color, was designed by local
artist Chalermchai Kositpipat with many parts still under construction. No
description I write could ever do the temple justice so I will let the
pictures speak for themselves.

We had to Eat!
Pamela and I had a beautiful dinner at Favola which was the Italian
restaurant in our resort. We were greeted by the Executive Chef and
recommended an appetizer of caprese for starters. Pamela followed this
up with pot roasted chicken and I had spaghetti carbonnara, both of
which were very good. Saturday we lunched at Latest Recipe and had
some of the best Thai food we've had on the trip.

Pamela feasting on pot roasted chicken and caprese at Favola

A huge thanks to Justin and his whole staff at Le Meridien Chiang Rai
for helping to make our weekend in Chiang Rai so special and worry
free. We can't wait to go back, next time for longer, and would highly
recommend Le Meridien to anyone going to Chiang Rai.

All our pics from Chiang Rai can be found using this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/ChiangRai?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Chiang Mai is our Next Stop - Cheers for Now!

Pamela and Dave