Time Locked

Luang Prabang, Laos - Idyllic is often the word use to describe Luang Prabang and while that is certainly true, I am again troubled with what is real and what is a thick layer of tourism topcoat. The houses of Luang Prabang whisper of its royal past and waft of its French colonization but every building's purpose is to cater to tourists. It's English speaking menu after internet cafe after tour vendors. In the evening when

the market is open, all the items sold are souvenirs.  Is it then accurate to describe Luang Prabang as an idyllic village where time stood still? Where the wearied tourist can go to see how life has been for the past hundred years?  Clearly, fifty years ago, the women of Luang Prabang were not selling t-shirts that read "Sabadee" in Lao (hello) and no local were purchasing day tours of the Plains of Jars, lunch included. 

I understand the wealth that visitors can bring to a place like Luang Prabang and to give credit where it's due, every historic town should adapt tourism in the graceful and unassuming manner that Luang Prabang has done, but I don't think its accurate to describe anywhere that I've been in Southeast Asia as a place where time stood still. A cruel oxymoron of tourism is that if you make it into the pages of the guidebooks and the travel articles, you have already lost the luster that brought you there. A more appropriate description is a town that succeeds in preserving the integrity of its identity.  Which to a traveler who's purpose is to observe, is enough.

Floating Down Frat Row

Vang Vieng, Laos - I had been warned about Vang Vieng in all the guide books.  It is the hedonistic paradise of the backpacking crowd.  The main activity in Vang Vieng is river tubing where you go down the Nam Song river and get pulled up to river bars along the way to drink Lao beer and jump from rope swings.  Finding ourselves unable to make it to the Gibbon Experience (trekking and ziplining in the jungles), we decided to fuck it and go revel on the world's only floating frat row.  

Tourist and locals co-habitate on two parallel planes.  They share the same streets and weather the same sun but that is about it.  As a tourist, you have no concept of  time other than feeding, sleeping and checking out.  You have a completely different set of needs. For example, how many times while on vacation have you inadvertently planned an activity only to discover the place is closed because it is Sunday?  Now how many times have you made the same mistake at home? Because you are conscience of the day of the week and the operation time of businesses when you're home.  We take pictures of people going about their daily lives because it is new and interesting.  We pay exorbitant amounts to see what locals see every day.  The two planes rarely meet and when they do, it's only in the tourism industry where by now, all the locals speak passable English.  

Never has my two plane theory been so evident as in Vang Vieng. Backpackers arrive in long distance buses from Vientiene or Luang Prabang and descend on the small river village that is the love child of Animal House and Woodstock. They cram themselves into guesthouses and ride down the Nam Song in river tubes upwards of 3 times a day.  Along the 5 km journey, they get pulled into riverside bars to drink, jump off the rope swings and play muddy games of "volleyball".  By the end of the day, everyone is sloshed, wet, muddy and ready to go at it again the next day. In full disclosure, I loved it and recall drunkenly declaring an extension of stay to go tubing again. The ride was exhilarating, the bars are fun and the view was beautiful.  

It was however, glaringly obvious the distance between local life in Vang Vieng and the playground created for the backpackers.  Just as quickly as we descended, we packed ourselves back on buses and in less than 2 minutes, our floating playground has transformed into the village life of local Lao farmers going about their day.  It was almost like for about 3 miles and 24 hours, a parallel universe opened up, we reveled, and left in the morning with monstrous headaches and list of new facebook friends with whom to share pictures later on.  

You Buy Later, You Buy From Me

Siem Reap, Cambodia.  I will sheepishly admit that I'm a victim of travel porn.  When I see a glossy picture of a place in one of those travel magazines, I get it in my mind that it will look exactly like that when I show up - oblivious to the fact that the photographer spent hours getting the shot just right; photoshopped out all the tourists and peddlers; and mosquitoes and fire ants don't bite through a picture.  The reality is usually a little less idyllic and I am stupidly disappointed.  It's like when you got a toy that doesn't talk, dance or sing like the cartoon on the commercial.  

Angkor Wat is one of those places that is at par in person as with its travel porn. Even with the Taiwanese tourist groups and their fluorescent hats marching like ants through your line of site, Angkor Wat is breathtaking.  You can't help feeling like Angelina Jolie (before she sold out to only weepy, serious movies) standing in Ta Phrom in her daisy dukes, guns ablazing.  I'd probably be swatting mosquitoes rather than trying to turn back time to thwart the evil doings of the Illuminati but that's just the way I roll. Regardless of Hollywood, climbing the ruins of the temples is still mystical.  Unlike some of the other "ruins", the ones in Siem Reap have only felt the destructive forces of nature and man. Huge trees grow amidst piles of fallen stones giving you a timeline of when these temple stood in magnificent glory and when they met their demise from earthquakes, floods, storms and bombings.    

At the gate of each temple are Cambodian children waiting to sell their wares. At first they seem to speak teriffic English but by the time you get to your 5th temple, you realize they just speak 10 phrases really well.  The usual repertoire goes:

"Hello lady, you want cold drink"

"No, thank you"

"You, buy later?"

"Maybe"

"You buy later, you buy from me.  I remember you, you remember me?"

"Sure"

"What is your  name?"

"Christopher Columbus"

"Where are you from?"

"I am commonly and inaccurately accredited to discovering America but really I just got lost,  tired and called it quits on an All-Inclusive resort in Punta Cana"

"America, capital Washington, DC.  You want postcard? 10 for one dollar"

"No thank you"

"You want to hold bracelet?"

Imagine where these kids will be if they could demonstrate that level of tenacity in school.  I guess you can't eat an education.  For a culture that believes strongly in karma, you have to wonder who the heck Cambodia pissed off to be so unfortunate.  Squeezed between two giants in Asia, Cambodia experienced very little peace.  King Jaya-something-or-other must have been so sick of his military briefings.  It's like "oh my Vishnu, who's conquering us this time?" No wonder they built so many temples. I'd triple up on deity protection if I were them too.  

Cambodia didn't fare so well in modern times either, with ongoing border disputes and a civil war that led to the reign of the Pol Pot, the baddest of all the baddies.  Pol Pot is not just a member of the Evil

Dictators Club, he's the president. Our driver told us his harrowing story of being torn apart from his family when he was 14 and forced to guard the boarder under heavy enemy fire and landmines.  He had barely any education but taught himself English through a dictionary which he still kept in his car to read while he waits for his passengers. His English is surprisingly good and he's constantly trying to learn new idioms and vocabulary.  Most shocking is the matter-of-fact, cheerful way he told his story. Tonally, it sounded like he grew up in the suburbs, became an accountant, drove a Honda Odyssey and had a dog named Muffy.  All of Cambodia was like him, cheerful, laughing, going through their day with an exclamation mark rather than an ellipsis.  It's like someone took the smile out of Vietnam and gave it to Cambodia. There is a foci with suffering I guess; after a certain tipping point you just laugh and go on.  

I'll Show You My Cu Chi If You Show Me Yours

Cu Chi Tunnels, Saigon-area.  What was once the elusive underground network of dastardly Vietcong is now the Disney World of Saigon.  First you're treated to an informative and non-partisan documentary about the tunnels, the war and the displaced villagers.  You learn that the Vietnamese military does not bother with the silliness of distinguising levels of valour. You are either a Top American Killer or just a regular American Killer. I feel for the other nations also fighting in Vietnam.  I don't think they made flairs for Top Kiwi Killer.  

You also learn that American troops only bombed women, elderly and children with a keen eye for those from the poorest villages.  (Where is this highly accurate missile lock function and can we re-program it to find richly follicled Al Qeada operatives in the hills of Pakistan?)  In the afternoon you'll be walking through the Madame Tussaud of a Vietcong's life in the jungle including various torture devices used on those Americans brought down by undoubtedly a Top American Killer.  

Finally you'll be shown a few openings in the tunnel where your guide will continuously remind you of your capitalist gluttony by pointing out that the tunnel had to be enlarged by 40% so your tubby, processed-food eating asses can fit through them to get your moronic grinning pictures taken at the other end of the ride. 

Ho Chi Mama Says: Fakes For Real

Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon (yes, if you have a date in HCMC, she'd be waiting in Saigon), the denouement of America's fight against the iron curtain.  Like Shanghai, there is not much to see in HCMC but what it lacks in history it makes up well with the trifecta (eating, drinking and shopping).  

The Ben Thinh Market sells just about everything you could ever need and everything you would never need.  It is also the mecca of fake luxury goods. I'm almost positive I saw a couple of American tourists drop to the floor five times and pray facing the Louis Faux-tton stalls. I know all designers hate the counterfeit market but I have to say, it's really a milestone in the longevity of your brand to have made it into the hallowed stalls of Ben Thinh.  No one is rushing to copy Girbaud jeans. Ho Chi Mama didn't raise no fool here. 

Conversely, the designers left out of this race to authenticity must feel pretty shitty.  Do they berate themselves for not being good enough for PVC and the shoulders of an overweight British lass? Any designer worth his French seams know these days, it's not about the 1% profit margins of the haute couture, but about mass merchandising. And what better way to reach the masses than through stall number 1024 at the Ben Thinh Market?  Not to call myself out but oftentimes I rely on the bag hawkers on Canal St. in Manhattan to keep me in the loop of what's trendy now. Those motorcycle bags with the tassels from a few years back?  Walked into Saks one day and exclaimed "Oh my god, I've seen those on Canal and West Broadway!"  Didn't know Anya Hindmarch from the moving musak of Enya until Auntie Wang started selling those fake I'm not a plastic bag totes.

What I don't understand are the people who rush past the imitation l'ombre Prada bags and beeline straight for the embroidered signature Coach totes.  Those glorified Nine West bags sell like Pho after a late night of partying.  If you're going to support child labor and organized crime, dream big!  It's not like that Coach is any less fake than the Gucci.  I think it's a believability factor.  No one back at home would believe you went from Jaclyn Smith to Balenciaga overnight but a good Christmas bonus and that 65 Year Anniversary Coach bag is all yours. 

Phu Quoc is that Smell?

Phu Quoc, Vietnam.  A little teardrop shaped island off of southern Vietnam made famous during the "American War" for it's large "Re-Education Center".  The Sylvan Learning Institute for the wayward bourgeois, if you will.  

Phu Quoc Re-Education Center At-A-Glance Statistics:

Student Enrollment: 13,000 give or take (mostly take) comprising of approximately 55% educated middle class, 25% merchant capitalists; 15% high-browed academics; 5% filthy rich landowners

Academic Departments: Art of Persuasion (Mental and Physical)

Mechanical Engineering (Artillery only)

Chemical Engineering (Testing center only)

Biological Engineering (Testing center only)

Physical Re-education

Tuition: Reclaimed property

Mission Statement: We strive to enable our comrades to unlearn years of capitalistic greed through physical and mental persuasion.  

Today, Phu Quoc is only famous for its fish sauce, inflicting torture of a different kind on visitors. I personally love the pungent condiment; could bath in that shit. A British couple said Phu Quoc is what Phuket was 10 years ago: pristine white sand beaches so isolated that you want to find a volleyball and call it Wilson.

Hue A Minute

[Disclaimer: The author concedes that she is a close-minded, racist, one-sided bitch. Yes, she thinks anything Chinese is by birthright better than anything non-Chinese and if she ever concedes that something not of Sino origin is superior, she will find a way to argue that the Chinese invented it first.]

Vietnamese relics suck ass. They are not completely void of charm and quaintness (euphemisms for suck ass) but as a whole they are not awe inspiring and basically looks like a poor man's China. Ali makes a fair point that I can't compare Vietnam to China, with is larger size and longer history of self rule, but hell even the Native Americans managed to carve some cool totem poles and their monetary system comprises of melon seeds, sea shells and wampum. Alas, I am a hopeless optimist who ceaselessly tries to see the positive so let's not dwell on Vietnam's sucktitude.

It is nice however, to see what Chinese-style buildings would look like today if not for fervent restoration and that is what you get out of Vietnam. There comes a point where the Chinese sites are so restored that you really looking at Benjamin Moore #462 instead of the original facade. If a piece of the wall is missing, the Chinese will just call up the local cement maker and order a replacement wall. Vietnam hasn't had the luxury (or the demand) to restore its Imperial City so what you see is what the Forbidden City would look like true to age. The Purple Forbidden City in Hue was the seat of power for the Nguyen Dynasty and all that remains is really a big stone wall. There is the front gate and not much else beyond that. You can't complain about paying the ticket price to look at an empty field because as the Vietnamese shrewdly points out, the Americans flattened the area with bombs during the American War, destroying much of Nguyen's crib. So suck it up, pay the entrance fee and repent for the mistakes your nation's mistakes.

Hoi-te Couture

Hoi An, Vietnam. Old town Hoi An is a cute riverside city and is closed off to most motorized vehicles. Unfortunately mopeds (aka chariots of death) and their horns are permitted. Not quite ready to join the Hogs of Heaven club just yet, Ali and I rented bicycles to get around town and I'm quite certain that my lungs now look like that of a 50 year old chain smoker. As god as my witness, I will never mock the surgical masks again.

I try to stick to just complaining on this farce of a blog and shy away from giving actual travel advice but I have to just this once. If you are ever in Hoi An, do not buy the entrance fee to the old town unless you want to spend 75,000 dongs to repeatedly come out asking "is that it?" You can walk the old town without having to buy a ticket. The guide books make it seem like you have to pay the entrance fee to get in but the fee is just to see 5 special "sites" in old town. Given a choice of watching a blind man thread a needle or going to these 5 sites, I'd pick the blind man. I almost missed the Japanese covered bridge completely if it wasn't for the ticket collector running after me to collect my ticket. Color me surprised to find out old town is a UNESCO world heritage site. Honestly, Russian whores are more discriminant than UNESCO.

In addition to underwhelming relics, Hoi An is home to a huge number of tailor shops who will fit and sew anything for you. Each tailor shop is just a store front with some sample designs and fabric. The actual tailoring is done in a few factories outside of town and motorbiked back in amazing turnaround time. Don't expect french seams or exquisite darting here (come on, what do you expect out of a 6 year old?) and Fashion Week ready it's not but $10 to $20 for a fake Catherine Malandrino dress made out of highly combustible nylon isn't too shabby. Also, if you are genetically asymetrical, this is your heaven because everything is made to your measurements. Tara Reid, can your lopsided boobies hear me?

Halong Bay - When Good Nature Goes Bad

Oh Halong Bay. You beautiful land of the descending dragon you. So inherently majestic that even with Bob's big head in my face, you're still a stunner. So magnificent that tour companies and hotels didn't have to trick us into voting for you as one of UNESCO's next Seven Natural Wonders. While we're on that topic. I have two pieces of bo (Vietnamese for beef) with UNESCO. First, everything is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I'm surprised grandma from my banh mi cart didn't make the cut. Second, UNESCO really needs to stop this "New Seven Wonder" shit. The whole point of SEVEN wonders is their rarity. No one is going to say "hey honey, how about going to 39th wonder for vacation?" I'll make allowances for the New Seven Wonders of the World because lets be honest, the original list makers were a wee bit racist. (Seriously though that Jesus statue in Rio is not a "New Wonder".) In fact, let's set some guidelines here. Nothing after the industrial revolution, nothing rebuilt, nothing constructed with power tools and nothing made out of metal, concrete, fiberglass, plastic, rubber or yarn can qualify.

Ali and I went kayaking in Diesel Juice (ahem Halong) Bay and found a rock in a cave that looks suspiciously like a pair of something-that-rhymes-with-malls. Displaying new found poise and maturity that comes with experiencing poor people, we only took 85 pictures each and only turned our kayaks around three times to "capture the right light".

Sapa - Rice, Rice and More Rice

Ali and I took an overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa on the luxurious Victoria Express (don't judge, we're easing ourselves into budget traveling). It felt like a scene from China Beach when Catherine Deveneux glides along French Indochina with her native porters in tow. Except Ali would be Catherine and I would be the porter or the handmaiden if I'm lucky.

In Sapa we took a guided trek to the village of Cat Cat ("villages" in asia usually mean only 2 things, peeing in a ditch and fowls). The trek provided magnificant views of rice paddies and introduced us to various Vietnamese hill tribes. The local farmers carved beautiful congruent tiered paddies into the slopes of the mountains. It had just rained recently and the paddies glowed like layers of mirrors. It is exhilarating to see both in Yunnan and in Sapa that sometimes the human footprint can actually enhance nature rather that just destroy it.

The Black Hmong tribe that dominates the hills of Sapa were given their ominous moniker from the black dye they use to color all their clothes. The plant used for dying is actually indigo so after a few washings the outfits look more blue than black. I see the potential for a great laundry detergent ad here. Tide: Helping minorities retain their identity. What's more impressive is the means the Black Hmongs still go through to make their clothing the traditional way from planting the indigo to weaving the cloth. I don't think its the prohibitive costs of modern clothing that prevents them from dressing in a t-shirt and shorts (please, the Nike sweatshop is probably an ox cart ride away). I think once they lose their way of dressing, they lose their identity.

Oh Hanoi You Didn't!

There is no love loss between the Vietnamese and the Chinese. In the days of yore, we conquered and subjugated them to second class status. In more modern times, we took hold of their economy and infrastructure (China currently builds many of the much needed power plants in Vietnam). While the worst of this hatred has subsided, a little bit still lingers on. For example, hawkers only approach Ali and never myself. When talking to us, everyone is only interested Ali's name and what she has to say and directs all their questions and explanations to her (i.e. at the Metropole, only Ali was told by the receptionist that breakfast was served on the top floor).

I know some might think that I'm being paranoid but really, I've never met anyone in Asia THAT interested in Canada and how a group of people who can't pronounce "L's" always manages to remember Alison's name over the Asian friendly "Connie" is beyond me. It could just be because Alison is so different from them that stokes their interest but I think it's a little more than just innocent curiosity. When inquiring about vacancies in hotels, the front desk clerk won't even talk to me until they see Ali standing outside. I know they are always weary of prostitutes but I'm pretty sure my piss poor Vietnamese and perfect English pretty much eliminates the oldest profession from my resume.

I don't mind their apathy. In fact I enjoy it. I don't get harassed to buy trinkets and I get to enjoy Vietnam without someone asking me when Canada gained independence from the United States.

Chinese Exclusion Act aside, Hanoi was somewhat of a disappointing city that looks like any other over-populated, polluted Asian city. The hyped French influence was lost on me (except maybe the smoking and the funky b.o.) and it's not like the French to leave an invisible footprint in their colonies. Heck, they changed the entire written language of Vietnam. The oppressive heat and humidity probably stoked my dislike even more. I swear, I would have defected to anywhere that had A/C in those few days in Hanoi. So basically, if you're white and visiting Hanoi during their cool season, this might be a fabulous city after all.

Shanghai - Propaganda Forever! Free Speech Never!

The only reason to go to Shanghai is for the shopping and/or the drinking. Since the prospect of taking on more luggage was as appealing to Ali and I as a case of Scarlett Fever, we were left with just the allure of drinking. The plan was to party until 6 AM, sleep to 2 PM, eat, rinse and repeat. Luck be with us, we ended up in Shanghai right at the beginning of the 3 day mourning period for the Sichuan earthquake. By decree of head commie, all leisure activities (bars and clubs but not restaurants) were to be closed during the mourning period. Unlike NYC, Shanghai clubs do not serve overpriced dinners to those not hot, rich or famous enough to get into the club during regular hours. Now I feel for the earthquake victims, I really do, and I'm fully supportive of the idea of a MOMENT of silence. Heck, I even think the mourning period is a great gimmick to increase philanthropic contributions but honestly, isn't drinking the best cure for suffering (I believe it falls right after denial in the Wheel of Pain and Suffering and right before anger)? I mean, just look at the the poor Brits... drunkards, the whole lot of them.

I think this is just the governments way of forcing people to stay home to watch the 24/7 propaganda ridden coverage on how well relief efforts were being handled by the People's Liberation Army (PLA). One news radio reported that "the PLA was so strong and gallant in the moments after the devastation that a westerner called them the new great wall of China". First gag me. Second, can we please be more specific? Everyone is a "westerner" to my people. That's why China is called the Far East. Finally, like all walls built to keep out the enemy (ahem Maginot Line), the Great Wall of China systemically failed. Every invading northern horde scaled that wall with as much effort as Yao jumping over chihuahuas.

The Shanghai Daily had some even more hyperbolic and sickening quotes but I just had some awesome noodle soup and I don't want to lose it.