Vietnam - Travelling with Smart Phone

Early this year was one of our first backpacking trips, post the information explosion era of smart phones.  We took off on our two month long trip to South East Asia with our usual trusted companion LP guides, albeit in the electronic form.

Day 1 we realised that the hotel descriptions and prices were way out of date. However the good news was that as soon as we landed in Cambodia we got a SIM card with 1 Gb data and some ridiculously high amounts of text and talk for the princely sum of $5.00, which would se us through our planned 1 week there.  So now we can not only what's up and FB, but more importantly on the fly chcek reviews of fellow travellers on the hotels, travel trips etc.

"Need to have a re-think our strategy on travels.  Guide books for planning, on the road have access to the internet :) "

Here are some unique uses the smart phone came in handy -

Vegetarian food in Cần Thơ - Cần Thơ is one of a must see little villages in Mekong Delta and is famous for its floating markets. This was our first stop in Vietnam. Got here by boat, and hence did not have a local SIM we arrived. This is where the local farmers/fishermen bring their wares on long boats and wholesalers and retailer buy while in the river. 

After an early morning visit to the market realised that this place was nothing more than a very small town at best and that there is nothing much else to do. However had to spend 24hrs to go on to Ho Chi Minh.. So we did what we love, went for a walk off to the town proper. No tourists here, that can almost read as "no English understood"
Anyway, managed again to get ourselves local SIM for $10 that would take care of data for a month and had about $4 worth of calls. Armed with this wandered through the streets looking for lunch and found this little restaurant that looked very clean and the young chef/owner was very attentive and asked us in.  The menu was all Vietnamese, fortunately Vietnamese use the PInYing scrip (that is english alphabets) So tried using google translate and realised that it had nothing vegetarian. 
Next half hour went something like this me showing the google translate, the guy typing in the Vietnamese words and agin I look at google translate. 
Here is a gist of what went on
Me into Gtranslate -  No meat no fish only vegetables 
Gtranslate - Không có thịt không có cá chỉ rau
He into Gtransalate - Tôi co the lam cho ca bot khuay voi bap cai
Gtranslate -  I can make stir fry cabbage
Me - Want some tofu and noodles and other vegetables
Gtranslate - Muốn có một số đậu hũ và mì và các loại rau khác
He did not quite get that,  so typed in .. Xao voi bap cai, rau bina, dau hu va mi
Gtranslate - I can make stir fry with corn cairau spinach, tofu and noodles
or some such thing...
Anyway, decided to go for it, and wow was I happy... It was the yummiest stir fry I had in Vietnam.

"Google Translate may not be the best translator to use as phrase book and try saying things in other languages, BUT with current popularity of mobile phones with youth in most countries the showing the message on phone and getting them to type in works"

The next best use of the phone was selecting and being on the Halong Bay cruise. Selecting a cruise is really hard as every one of them on paper sounds same. BUT when walking around in hanoi and talking to few of the tour operators, we surreptitiously checked for reviews in Trip advisor etc, and the result got this really good one. 

 Also, having a local phone helped us contact the tour lead when things went wrong ( the second day was disaster due to bad weather) and  get a real fix/pay back. Yep scored a free night in Sapa :) 

AND google maps have most of the streets even in the little towns, thta definetely surprised us.  

Cruising the Vietnam highlands on Mobikes

The incredible easy rider trip started of as a day trip. The day was amazing where we started of visiting the pagoda and elephant falls, before heading back to Hang Nga Crazy house. The day trip gave us an amazing insight on seeing Vietnam riding on a motorbike, and we visited a pagoda, the Elephant falls, a few other things before heading to the crazy house.
This place was really a place that felt like Guadi on steroids for anyone who has been to Barcelona.  The best part was the ability to walk on most of the areas including the bits that were still being built and on some really high and narrow parts. Many parts would have seriously questioned the Health and Safety officers :).

The outcome of this trip was that we were sold on the three day trip from Dalat to Nha Trang, and managed to cancel our already booked bus tickets to Danang so we can do this three day trip.

The trip was for three days and two nights. Started of on 6/2/14 with two mobikes, and the two of us and our bags.

All set for the three day trip

It started with first stop at Tuyen Lam Lake , the other side of the Truc Lam Pagoda and the cable car ride. After that it was time to drive through some amazing sceneries and vegie farms, including a visit to the Turnip farm, mushroom farms, rice paddies and what not. The best part of this trip was meeting the locals. Here are some of those amazing experiences.

• Meeting this amazing woman in "chicken village" who had her little baby girl strapped to her back and could even say "good day mate" with the perfect aussie twang. 
• Meeting this really old tribal matriarch who could not speak a word of english or vietnamese but wanted some smoko money. She was so alive...

• Even our own guide could not understand what vegetarian food was... He would order for us and could not understand that we would be happy with extra serve of the soup and side vegies rather than the morning glory :)
• The little kids and the high houses with the awesome steps

• The greatest way to recycle an old TV, what about an high tech alter guys?

• Meeting the local entrepreneurs from brewers to noodle maker and having tea  and a chat (well sort off) with a few of them in their home that they happily throw open with a huge welcome
• Trying extremely strong rice wine and managing to refuse the snake wine (wine with snake marinating), that's considered to make men very strong.
• Sore bums and thighs, result of the many times you had to put your legs over and above the bags to take your seat 

Great trip to meet truly local people and appreciate how the simple things in life makes these hill tribes so happy. Will highly recommend to any fellow traveller. 

First Supper

Well I was reading some of the blogs written by my now grown up nieces, Incessant Musings: Take Me Along! and decided to add to the blog world with my own stories..

However, like them, I do not have the patience to maintain multiple blogs...so am going to add my stories to this one. -----here it goes.

Everyone has heard of 'The last supper'. Why does no one write about the 'First Supper'? I think I know why. Here is the story of a young Indian vegetarian.... YB (Young Bride) is all excited. She is finally getting a chance to do what she has always wanted. Escape from the very loving, but old fashioned (read it orthodox and over protective) Tamil Brahmin household.. to the wide world . She is getting married to this bloke who claims his ambition in life is not to settle in one place. Ho what a great idea... I will just keep travelling.... The wedding is over, and she is off, her first flight ever to Delhi - to get the visa and stuff sorted out... All set now. The first adventure begins in Bali. YB arrives to this lovely hotel completely jet lagged with her loving caring new husband. he is all concerned, and excited himself. He is excited to have company at last, in a country where he was plagued on his previous visit...(more about that in a separate story) He is excited to see this young naive wife who thinks everything is awesome... and has childish appreciation. He is very satisfied, that he has found his soul mate ( so far so good says his brain). Then it starts. The first attempt to get food.
The young couple go to this Five Star hotel (where the husband was impressing his young wife) for a meal. YB... looks at the menu, and cant see anything without 'meat' in it. She looks woebegone, and says...
' DH, do you think they will have a special vegetarian menu?, there is nothing here'
DH says, "ho... I don’t think so, do you want to try meat? You know it is not that great, but sometimes when we travel to some countries you don’t have much else...'
She .. the ever open to new experience says.. 'OK what do you suggest?'
DH Well we can try the chicken... and if you don’t like it there is always desert...

The chicken arrives, she takes one bit... and chews, and chews and chews... before escaping to the loo to spit it out. DH eats away, (he is a young red blooded bloke who is always hungry)
The desert menu arrives, and YB pigs out on chcolotae cake and icecream...

They finally arrive to her new home in Melbourne, Australia. The Indian friends in Melbourne, want to feed the newly wed couple for the first few days. After a few tiring days, they get home and in true Tam Braham style decide that dinner will be just '’Thaayir Sadaam' The Thaayir (yoghurt) has already been bought from the supermarket. YB goes into the kitchen, she looks for the rice, finds it, the next thing she does is look for the 'cooker' . She is clever, she can cook rice with either a rice cooker, or a pressure cooker, but finds neither...
Calls out to DH, and says, where is the cooker, I cant cook rice!
DH ; Laughing out loud, why do you need a cooker?
YB :How can you cook rice?
DH : How long do you think cookers have been around...
YB : Ohh I don’t know about 100yrs?
DH : How long has rice been eaten...
YB: Hooo May be 10000... Well I don’t know all that, how can anyone cook rice without a cooker? (with a hint of tear in her eyes...)
Dh: Don’t worry, I will make it, and he does with just a regular saucepan. That night is saved...

The next week or so, DH cooks most days, and is feeling sorry for himself, as he now not only has to work, but come home and cook for the two of them, as the lovely wife will not eat out, as she wants 'vegetarian'. YB, herself is also bored, of the same old meal of Roti, Rajma, and Thaayir Saadam (the sum total of DH's culinary skills)

So two weeks down the line, She is now equipped with a cooker, and some Indian groceries, and decides to surprise DH. Tucked away in the pantry, is this little bottle labelled 'Sambaar powder' She remembers her mums 'podis' in their kitchen at home, and the times when mum had gone to temple, saying on her way out (Cooker is done, the vegies are cut, just make the sambaar, so grandma can eat... I will be late getting back)She thinks great I will make a simple south-indian meal, and makes a sambaar, and stir fried vegies (kari) and rice.

She has the table all set beautifully and awaits DH to arrive. Sure enough he is impressed, and after the general appreciation of the place setting and love... etc sit down to 'The first Supper' DH is hungry as always and is through his first course of sambaar/rice and has started on Thaayir Sadaam, when he realises that YB is very quiet and has hardly had a spoonful... This DH already knows is not normal, for one-thing our YB is not is shy/quiet So he thinks ohh..ohh poor thing is home sick... and starts asking 'yennama enna achu... (what's it dear, what's wrong?)', and
YB comes back "How can you eat this Shit?'

PS : There was quite a bit spent on phone bills where the YB (now the not so young nomadic couple) learnt that spices after a couple of years (that sambaar powder was two years old) loose all flavour and are akin to sand... Also, she realised she had to learn cooking and has done so, with some help from the very loving family of older siblings and parents, who spoilt her all through....