Category: travel

Sapa Unique Hotel

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

This might just be my favourite hotel of all time. (I’ve stayed in thousands of hotels.)

As I’m doing constantly these days, I found the Sapa Unique Hotel on Trip Advisor.

$35 / night single is far more than I normally pay in Asia. But the Unique was well worth it.

Here’s the view from the balcony terrace.

Sapa Unique balcony

On arrival, you’ll find the bedspread and bathroom shower scattered with flower petals.

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In a tourist trap town where it’s near impossible to get information, front desk staff are helpful and thoughtful answering questions. They sent me to the most reputable trekking agency in town, unlike the official government tourist information office.

Before bed, they surprise guests with fruit or caramelized bananas drizzled with chocolate. What a treat.

If you are departing on a night bus or train, they pack you a snack for the trip.

Even better, they keep a room free so guests can take a shower at the end of day before climbing on to the sleeper bus.

Thank you Sapa Unique Hotel. 🙂

Peter Hessler – driving in China

On By Rick McIn books, travelLeave a comment

Peter Hessler (born June 14, 1969) is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of three acclaimed books about China …

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze 2001

Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present 2006

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory 2010

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Amazon

I read his third book while in China. It’s excellent. Hessler does a terrific job of painting a picture of how China has changed since he first arrived 1996 with the Peace Core.

Emulating the USA, China built many roads before the population had cars to drive them.

Chinese road

Surprisingly, the stories of what happens to him while driving rent-a-cars across the new roads of the emerging nation are fascinating and informative.

Every Province is different. Every town within a Province is different. And every Chinese citizen he meets is a unique individual with their own story.

So different than the simplistic stereotypes assumed by myself and most other westerners.

In 2011, Hessler received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in recognition and encouragement of his “keenly observed accounts of ordinary people responding to the complexities of life in such rapidly changing societies as Reform Era China.

Those 3 books are highly recommended for anyone visiting China.

Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, in 2010, posted a review of all the writing by foreigners who have lived and traveled in China. She rates Hessler high.

Vietnam – adventurous eating

On By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

Bun Bo Nam Bo

Finally, an eatery in Vietnam where I’d be proud to bring Anthony Bourdain.

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It’s a cheapo, yet ranked #11 of 943 Restaurants in Hanoi.

Always crowded, this hole in the wall in the old quarter pretty much sells one dish. Rice noodles with beef in broth.

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Roasted peanuts, bean sprouts. A few other things.

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As I entered, I just held up one finger, meaning … ‘one bowl’.

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Mine wasn’t spicy. But you can add Soy and Chili to taste.

Vietnam – Pho

On By Rick McIn food, travel1 Comment

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat. Pho is a popular street food in Vietnam and the specialty of a number of restaurant chains around the world. It is primarily served with either beef or chicken. …

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese refugees brought pho to many countries. Restaurants specializing in pho appeared in numerous Asian enclaves and Little Saigons, such as in Paris and in major cities in Canada, the United States, and Australia …

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my first Pho in Vietnam $2

Fresh. Tasty. Safe. 🙂

Though I’ve been to KFC (twice in Hanoi, once in China) I’ll make more of an effort to try the local staples.

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Hanoi.

… Today’s Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition.

The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen …

When the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other using this form of puppet play. …

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It seems all puppet theatre script is simplistic. Punch & Judy simple. The puppets are crude. Therefore the plotting is crude.

Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.

Eisenhower was wrong

On By Rick McIn economics, government, travel2 Comments

It’s as if you can’t trust a President / Commander in Chief. 😦

Though he never directly used the term “domino theory“, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower put the theory into words during an April 7, 1954 news conference, when referring to communism in Indochina:

Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the “falling domino” principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.

Introducing the domino theory, that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would soon follow. Press conference, April 7, 1954.

wikipedia

Today Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Canada? are NOT Communist.

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Eisenhower was wrong.

… Hanoi will be the fastest growing city in the world in term of GDP growth from 2008 to 2025 …

On February 2013 Dubai-based property developer Global Sphere announced a mega-project to build about 70 residential towers in Hanoi in an area dubbed the Hanoi Wall Street. The first phase, valued at $10 billion, is expected to be finished by 2020. …

Fall of Saigon - evacuation of CIA personnel 1975
Fall of Saigon – evacuation of CIA personnel 1975

The USA could not win in Vietnam. Nor can they win in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, …

Santayana
George Santayana – The Life of Reason

When you hear a leader call for armed intervention, follow the money. Who’s going to profit in the proposed military action?

Good Morning Vietnam

On By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

Rick in Vietnam

I arrived Hanoi very early morning, via the soft sleeper night train from Nanning, China. And slept well on the train, especially after drinking half a Coke Zero bottle of red wine chatting with a young Frenchman who’d traveled by train all the way from Europe. The trans-Siberian express was an excellent experience, he told.

Unfortunately we twice had to troop out of our sleeper cars hauling luggage for two inefficient border crossings.

Showing up at Little Hanoi Diamond hotel at 5:30an is normal. All kinds of tours arrive and depart the Old Quarter Hanoi early morning. I found this one hotel amongst hundreds of alternatives with Tripadvisor. Booked with Little Hanoi directly. $15 / night including a wonderful breakfast and all the Vietnamese (hot) coffee I can drink all day long.

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Sweetened condensed milk is the dream ingredient.

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After breakfast I headed over to Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Hoàn Kiếm Lake

Only 400km from modern Nanning, old Hanoi feels far different. A nice change.

I’m living large on this trip. Check my room.

room Hanoi

In 2014, Hanoi ranked #8 in TripAdvisor’s list of World Best Destinations (by Travellers’ Choice).

I’m going to have trouble leaving. 🙂

farewell Nanning

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, travelLeave a comment

After 18 days in Nanning, I departed by sleeper train to Vietnam.

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Aside from the fantastic World Gymnastics Championships hosted here, I’ll best remember the many hours I spent walking and running along the river parks.

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Locals come to the river to exercise. And swim like Mao.

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Somebody here was selling bags of fish.

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The Chinese lie down and sleep when they are tired. Regardless of where they get tired.

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China, and especially new cities like Nanning, are orderly. Even the graffiti is orderly.

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Parts are ultra modern. But lifeless. Many of the beautiful architectural creations are more form than function.

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Twice I walked to the Museum of Science and Technology. Twice it was closed.

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Though the traffic on foot and motor vehicle IS chaotic, I only saw 2-3 accidents over my days there. Remarkable.

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As much as possible, I stayed away from vehicles,  shopping near exclusively on this pedestrian mall.

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Farewell Nanning. 🙂

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more Nanning photos

China – unadventurous eating

On By Rick McIn food, gymnastics, travel2 Comments

I spent 18 days in Nanning, China. As in most subtropical climates, the local food is spicy.

First night Dvora and I headed for the famed night market.

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The fresher, the better. Some of the delicacies on offer were still wiggling.

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I’m not very adventurous at the best of times. And most visitors in China find the taste of the seasonings used here odd. This was the last time I ate street food.

Most of my meals were provided at the World Gymnastics Championships cafeteria. The self-serve dishes had names like:

Bone Soup with White Gourd (Rib, Soybean, Mushrooms)

Purple Sweat Potato

Braised Beef in Wine (Beef Knuckle Meat, Carrots, Wine, Onion, Celery, Flour, kitchup and Vanilla)

Hakka Braised Pork (Soybeans, Streaky Pork)

Stir Fried White Fungus with Macadamia Nut and Celery

Catering to palates from all over the world, most were quite bland. All were overcooked as many foreigners fear getting sick from the food in China.

I tried a bite of most everything. Except for stews. Who knows what actually in this?

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Some offerings were interesting and colourful, thought I often could not identify what they were.

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Sadly, I have to report that my very favourite cafeteria food was European white bread with New Zealand Anchor butter.

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Watermelon and melon for desert as sweets in all of Asia are NOT to my liking.

After our first restaurant had a rat run between the tables, I ended up instead buying groceries at Wal-Mart (Coke Zero from Atlanta and Sultana biscuits from Singapore) and snacking in my room.

My go to meal in downtown Nanning was a delicious Chicken sandwich at … McDonalds.

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Hopefully I’ll be a bit more adventurous in Vietnam.

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more food photos