Japan & Vietnam 2K15: Part 6, Hoi An & Ho Chi Minh

Well folks this is it! The final installment of the epic Japan & Vietnam 2K15 trip. I can't believe this is the last post of the trip. Apologies for how long it's taken me to get this up, but I guess I prolonged it because it means that the trip is really over. I don't believe in coincidences, so it doesn't surprise me that I just so happened to "find the time" to post this on the first official day of the online class I registered for haha.

Anyway on to the trip.

As previously mentioned, I decided to lump the last two cities together because we had such a short amount of time in each and we had no major tours or trips planned. Also, it being the end of the trip we put a lot of emphasis on resting so there wasn't quite as much activity as in the previous cities (this was planned purposefully).

Hoi An
We arrived in Danang in the early afternoon after a very interesting (and short) flight on VietJet airlines. We quickly found a taxi and negotiated a price with the driver and headed to our hotel. Similar to Hanoi, the streets near the airport were buzzing with activity and tons of people on mopeds/scooters, but as we drove into Hoi An and neared our hotel it definitely quieted down a bit.

Lunch by the pool

The Victoria Hoi An is absolutely breathtaking and although it was a bit cloudy out this didn't discourage us from enjoying some relaxation time and a delicious meal by the pool. The hotel offered a complimentary shuttle to the center of town where there was tons of opportunity for shopping and eating. Hoi An is home to many, MANY shops offering tailor-made clothing, which can be ordered on the spot and are ready within 24 hours. The shops display samples of their work outside, and most have books and books filled with catalogs showing other options. They can also make an outfit based on a picture or sketch brought in. After selecting fabric and discussing price and details of the outfit you desire, the shopkeeper takes your measurements and tells you what time to report back the next day for your first fitting (usually some time in the late morning/early afternoon). Final adjustments are made, if necessary, after this initial fitting at which time you are asked to return one more time later that afternoon/early evening for the final fitting. It's all such a quick process and prices are much more reasonable than ANY department store. Additionally, most stores hold on  to your measurements and have some sort of online program/web site through which you can make future orders. My parents and brother all participated in the process and walked away with beautiful suits and dresses (unfortunately no pictures were taken, but my mother plans to wear her dresses in the near future and I will update this post at that time).

The rest of our time in Hoi An was spent purchasing gifts for friends and co-workers and simply enjoying the time together as a family. It was our last two days with Brandon so we really wanted to enjoy it.



Ho Chi Minh
 Our final stop of the trip was Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, which many in the country still refer to it as today. Brandon took the flight into Ho Chi Minh but left early the next morning to meet up with friends in London. After he left, the three of us set off to see as much of the city as we could in one day. Our biggest stop was the Vietnamese War (American War to the Vietnamese) Remnant Museum. The visit was extremely intense as the museum was filled with graphic imagery and descriptions of the war itself so I have chosen not to post much from our visit. I will say that it is a very powerful experience and one that should not be missed if you ever find yourself in Ho Chi Minh.

*Note: Mother Rose's bonus clip was too large to put into the blog so you can find it on the brand new Ivy Rose Facebook page!

Coconut candy making process

Our final tour of the trip was to the Mekong Delta. Similar to the Ha Long Bay tour, we got on a bus with about 10 other tourists and traveled a few hours to the Delta where we were led by a guide through various sights. The trip began with some fresh fruit and live music, after which we hopped into 4-person canoes and traveled a short distance down a portion of the delta. We stopped briefly to learn about and watch the production of coconut candy. a major export of this area. I'm not a fan of coconut but I did try it and found that it had more of a caramel taste than anything. Of course there were many other coconut products, the most exciting of which was the pure coconut oil, which my mother and I bought two bottles of. Finally, we all got into a bigger boat and traveled down a larger portion of the delta ending at a house where we were served the greatest feast. The day ended with a peaceful visit to a nearby Buddhist temple featuring three very large Buddhas.

I couldn't think of a better way to end this epic trip. This was such an amazing adventure, and the travel bug has definitely bitten me once again. I don't think I'll ever take this long of a hiatus from traveling again. I hope you've all found the videos and posts both entertaining and inspiring.

Take a peek at the final video below (it's a bit longer than the other videos but also includes some footage of my solo journey back home).

Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections, etc. are welcome of course. Thanks for following along and as always...

Enjoy the journey...

Ivy Rose Travels: Japan & Vietnam, Part 5, Ha Noi/Ha Long Bay

Ok so normally I'm able to bounce back from jet lag pretty quickly, but this time I really got my butt kicked. As you can probably tell from the posts and videos my family goes pretty hard when we travel, and I was a bit out of travel-shape. I handled it like a champ while on the trip (although admittedly there were way more cranky moments/days than a 30-year-old probably should have two weeks), but the recuperation process has definitely been interesting.

Basically, all of that was a long-winded way of explaining why I've taken such a long time to put up the last two videos and posts. I guess we should just jump right in at this point so as not to waste any more time. 

My parents and I arrived in Ha Noi relatively late at night (I believe it was some time between 10 and 11). What immediately struck me was how active the city was. Actually, that's a lie, what immediately struck me was the intense heat and humidity. I'm from Miami, so it wasn't anything I hadn't experienced before, but Miami at least cools down a bit at night. Stepping out of the airport that night it was clearly still in the upper 80s and very very humid. But once we got acclimated to that and stepped into the car the hotel sent for us, the NEXT thing that struck me was the amount of activity at this time of night. The main mode of transportation in all of the cities we visited in Vietnam are mopeds, or what some might call, scooters. For all of my Gators out there just imagine your typical day on campus except EVERYONE is riding a moped/scooter on their way to and from class--not just the athletes and brave freshmen who miss their cars.

Anyway the drive to the hotel was fairly quick and although he was sleeping when we got there, we were all very excited to finally get to spend some time with my younger (but much taller) brother, Brandon! Our hotel, The Viet View,  was very nice and had a beautiful restaurant on the top floor that had fantastic views of the city. Our suite was also very lovely, with a master bedroom and a separate sleeping area for 2-4 more people down the hall and an amazing balcony with similar views as the restaurant. Our bathroom was also very nice, although we did have some issues with flooding from the shower. The hotel management was very accommodating and provided us with a separate room down the hall where we could take our showers without having to give up our suite, which I thought was a nice compromise.

So normally I split the trip into the "stops" we made within the city, but this time it seems more fitting to use the term "adventure" since we did a couple of tours in which we made a few stops along the way:

Adventure 1: Ha Long Bay Boat Tour

My brother and our Tour guide, Tu

Our first adventure was a two-day, one-night cruise along Ha Long Bay. We crammed into a van (that luckily had pretty decent air conditioning, with two tour guides and 12 other tourists (from all over the world) and set off on a 4-hour drive to the bay. Most of our travel companions were backpackers, many were traveling as couples, but there were also quite a few single travelers, which I will note here as I plan to write a commentary/reaction piece on traveling alone in the near future. The drive wasn't too bad as I slept for most of it and our tour guide, Tu was great! We made one stop half-way through the drive for restrooms, snacks and shopping....AND BOY COULD YOU SHOP! I'll just let the pics speak for themselves.

The tour company we chose was Ha Long Dagong Sail, which is one of the mid-priced bay tour companies and overall we were very pleased with the accommodations and service. All meals are included in the package price, but any drinks on board are extra-and they push them all day. The first day on the boat we did quite a bit of exploring and made two major stops:

Stop 1:  Sung Sot Cave
Sung Sot Cave, or the Surprise Cave/Cave of Surprises was absolutely mind-blowing. We had to make a pretty decent hike up what felt like a million steps in the heat, but we were rewarded with breathtaking views and a much cooler environment inside the cave. Again, I think I'll just let pictures do the talking here.

Stop 2: Kayaking
Our next stop was kayaking around the bay, which we all felt a little too tired for due to the heat and the fact that we were repeatedly told that we couldn't swim because of jellyfish. However, we were once again rewarded with magnificent views and our guide ultimately felt that it was safe enough in our particular area for a quick swim and we all literally jumped at the opportunity to cool off. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the actual swimming because-well I was in the water-but my parents do and I'll link to their blogs once they put them up.


Then it was back to the boat for a sunset cruise, with one complimentary beverage and delicious fruit, followed by dinner and socializing/bed time. The next day was spent entirely on the boat and most of us tanned, tried to stay cool and slept until it was time for our cooking class and final meal. We met up with some people who were on a 3-day trip, which includes an overnight stay on a nearby island in the bay and then we all got into two vehicles (my family was lucky enough to get placed on the larger bus) and made our way back to our hotel.

Adventure 2: Food on Foot Tour

Fresh fruit

Happy Father's Day Dad!

The day we returned from Ha Long Bay was Father's Day and my mom had booked a food on foot tour as a special surprise for my dad. The tour package includes a guide who takes you through the streets of Old Quarter in Ha Noi, visiting 5-6 local restaurants so that you can sample the local cuisine. The guide also provides history of the Old Quarter and the people living there. Our guide was amazing and took us to some really awesome spots,  although he loved to play the "guess what you're eating" game, which we only failed once when we ate a mixture of meat that included ground up worms....which was surprisingly delicious.

Delicious rice cake

The tour was a great way to get a lot of information on the city in a short period of time and I highly recommend it.










We were exhausted from our boat trip and adventurous eating experience and had to head off to our next city-Hoi An, which my mother promised would be filled with tons of time to relax by the pool or on the beach. Since the last two cities were both pretty quick stops (about a day and a half in each city) with no pre-planned activities, I am going to merge them into one final blog and vlog. Hopefully I'll have them both up by Monday night at the latest.

Comments/questions/suggestions are welcomed and encouraged. Also, take some time to watch the video above.  If you think anyone else might find this post interesting and/or useful please pass it on. Make sure to follow (this blog) and subscribe (to the youtube channel) for future posts and vlogs. Many of my other series are picking back up now that I'm back in the states. As always...

Enjoy the journey...

Ivy Rose Travels: Japan & Vietnam Part 2, Kyoto

So when I last left you, we just arrived at our hotel in Kyoto. We quickly dropped our bags off and headed out to explore as we only had two days in Kyoto,  and my parents had quite a schedule planned for us. I'll briefly run through the six major stops we made throughout the two days along with pictures and my general thoughts. Each name of a stop is linked to a site that provides much more detailed information, including specific locations, nearby restaurants and shopping opportunities, travel info, etc. As I am setting out to present a much more personal account of my experiences, I went ahead and found some wonderful resources for the previously mentioned vital information. Please make sure you click on the links and visit these other sites. We used blogs and sites similar to these throughout the trip and they were life (and time) savers!



Day 1
Stop 1: Kinkaku-ji Temple (a.ka. The Golden Pavillion/Temple)
We decided to take the city bus to this location since our hotel sold one-day unlimited passes and it was more cost-effective than taking the train or a taxi. The 40-minute bus ride gave us a nice opportunity to rest a bit after our morning of travel and we were REALLY energetic and ready to take in our first sight in Kyoto. Kinkaku-ji is accurately nicknamed the Golden Pavillion/Temple and although I took a million pictures it really is much more impressive in person (either that or my camera skills need a little work). I definitely thought this was a great first stop for the trip although I could tell that there was potential for the crowds to get really overwhelming so I would stick to a visit closer to opening or closing time. We were a bit hungry around this time but didn't want to stop for a full meal so we decided to have our very first taste of green tea ice cream. Check out the video at the end of the post for our reactions!



Stop 2: Gion & Higashiyama Districts

Entrance to the Yasaka Jinja shrine

Yasaka Pagoda

In order to get our money's worth from our unlimited passes we had to take at least three bus trips (each trip was 230 yen/person and an unlimited pass was 500 yen/person at the hotel).  We spent some time figuring out the routes and hopped on a bus that took us to the Gion District of Kyoto. Before we even reached the bus stop I could tell that this spot was extremely popular with tourists, many of whom were dressed in traditional geisha-style clothing as this part of Kyoto boasts the title of "most famous geisha district" in the city. During our stop here we browsed around the Yasaka Jinja Shrine, and meandered through the surrounding side streets taking in the traditional architecture that remains preserved in much of this area. About a 10-15 minute walk later we found ourselves at the Yasaka Pagoda and the Yasaka Koshindo Shrine (located in the Higashiyama sightseeing district). Both were extremely breathtaking and I put my brand new Nikon D3300 to work once again. We set off exploring the various side streets attempting to locate an interesting area my mother remembered from a previous trip to Japan 10 years ago and wound up back at the Yasaka Jinja Shrine. This time we walked further back behind it and stumbled upon Maruyama Park. In need of a break we sat on some benches and enjoyed live music from a street performer (a piece of his performance is included in the video below!). Around this time we were STARVING and began the search for food. As Gion is known for its restaurants and theaters with geisha performances we found it difficult to locate a reasonably priced meal in the area. After over an hour of searching and our energy quickly fading we decided to walk away from the Gion area and luckily came across a cute little place that served delicious noodle dishes and even Japanese Pancakes (SO GOOD!). Unfortunately we were so hungry and tired we forgot to take a picture of the spot and none of us can remember the name but it is only about 4 or 5 blocks from the Yasaka Jinja Shrine and one of two places in the area that we saw offering the Japanese Pancakes. I have footage of it's interior in the video below, which might help identify it if any of you should find yourself in Kyoto in the future.

Day 2
Stop 3: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (a.k.a. The Bamboo Forest)
We started day 2 bright and early with a delicious Japanese-style breakfast at our hotel. I much prefer this over traditional Western breakfasts that are often served in hotels (heavy on items such as bread, pancakes, bacon, etc.). I left completely full and yet not weighed down. I'm definitely incorporating some of the components of this approach to breakfast into my daily routine. We decided to take the train this time as we had A LOT of sights to fit into one day and couldn't afford another 40-minute bus ride so early in the day. Although my mother told me exactly what the bamboo forest was, I had no idea just how gigantic the bamboo would be and the landscaping of the forest was just perfect. I think for this portion of the post I'll let the video footage and photos do the talking for me.

Stop 4: Togetsukyo Bridge
The bridge is about a 10-15 minute walk away from the bamboo forest and boasts more stunning views of the area. As a Florida girl I am always so blown away by mountainous terrain and I honestly could have stood on that bridge all day taking in the view of the water and the lush mountains in the background. However, there were many more sights to see, so after taking a few selfie-stick pics we were off and running to stop 5.

My sashimi rice bowl

Stop 5: Nashiki Market
I'm not a huge shopper but Nashiki Market provided a wonderful opportunity to note the variety of food in Japan. It was an amazing cultural experience and as much of it was seafood I was definitely in my happy place! However, I must note that if crowded spaces are not your thing you might want to skip this stop. Nashiki Market is PACKED with tourists and locals attempting to buy everything from fish to "I heart Kyoto" t-shirts. Often times we were shoulder-to-shoulder with those around us, all attempting to make it through the market. Personally, this was a bit of a struggle for me as I don't do well in big crowds, but all my worries and anxiety were quickly forgotten once I took my first bite of the greatest rice bowl w/fresh sashimi from a sushi spot near the center of the market.


Stop 6: Kiyomizu-dera Temple

View from the upper balcony

We definitely saved the best for last, heading back near the Higashiyama district where we climbed up the steep, tourist-packed street to reach our final temple visit of this portion of our trip. At this point I was kind of templed-out and definitely feeling the effects of the jet lag due to the 13-hour time difference. However, this temple was like nothing I had ever seen and we spent the next 2 hours or so exploring the massive temple, taking in the views from the various landings and balconies, and exploring the preserved streets in the surrounding areas. I'm usually not a big fan of the super touristy stuff, but coming to Kyoto without stopping at this particular temple would be a huge mistake.



I know this seems like a lot to cram into two (well 1.5) days,  but it was an absolutely amazing experience. Check out the video below for another glimpse into our experiences in Kyoto:

 Although I could barely walk or keep my eyes open by the end of the day I really feel like we got the essence of the city. I definitely recommend taking public trans (city bus and/or subway) over taxis or guided tours as you get to feel the vibe of the city and get to know it on a much more personal level. We have since headed to Hakone, which provided a nice change of pace. I'll be uploading a post and video of our very special time there in the next day or so. Make sure you keep your eyes on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram to ensure you don't miss it! Please leave your comments/questions/feedback* below and pass this info on to anyone who might find it useful, and as always...

Enjoy the journey....

*I'm beyond exhausted and had a ton of technical difficulties attempting to get this post and corresponding video up by my self-imposed deadline. I'm sure there are a ton of tiny mistakes and there will probably be some edits to this post in the very near future. Bare with me folks :-)

Ivy Rose Travels: Japan & Vietnam Part 1, NYC to Kyoto

After two long years I finally made time to join my family on their annual summer vacation. This year's trip is a 14-day exploration of eight cities in Japan and Vietnam! Throughout the trip I will take a total of eight flights, two boat trips (one overnight) and many trains and buses (both within and between cities).

Boarding our flight to Toronto

Comfy & Ready to take off for Tokyo

As I mentioned in the previous post my parents' trip to NYC was planned so that the three of us could travel to Kyoto together (my brother is meeting us in Vietnam). We began the journey with a flight from LaGuardia to Toronto where my dad insisted we have a Tim Horton's donut. I got a maple frosted one and I must admit it was life changing (so delicious, in fact, that I could not stop eating it long enough to snap a photo). We then got cozy for our 12-hour flight to Tokyo. I usually get pretty restless and anxious on long flights, especially when we experience a bit of turbulence like we did on this flight, but the Air Canada crew kept us well-fed and the in-flight entertainment was so good that I was pretty comfortable and relaxed the entire flight.

My delicious soba noodle meal

Upon landing in Tokyo we had to make our way through customs, which was (unsurprisingly) quick and well-organized and we even got bumped up to an earlier flight for our final leg of the journey into Osaka. We floated around the airport like zombies during our 4.5 hour layover, each one succumbing to a 30-60 minute nap at various points. Mom and I decided to fuel up on delicious udon and soba(pictured below) noodles to keep our energy up.

Once we arrived in Osaka we made our way to the currency exchange as we hadn't been able to accomplish this in Tokyo as we had planned and then walked across the street to the Osaka Nikko Kansai Airport, our home for the night. We all struggled through showers and then passed out.

Haruka train

The last leg of the journey required us to navigate through the purchasing of tickets for the Haruka train into Kyoto Station. The ever-prepared parents of mine had a step-by-step set of instructions they found on a travel blog and we made it through the process effortlessly (it's REALLY simple and although we didn't need it, I am sure the Kansai airport staff would be more than happy to help guide you through the process if necessary). The train ride wasn't anything out of the ordinary, although I was REALLY impressed by the fact that all of the seats turned around in response to the train changing directions. I get dizzy and nauseous when I have to sit in a seat with the train going backwards so this was a nice touch and is a great example of the attention to detail and consideration for the customer within Japanese culture.

Kyoto Station was much larger and busier than I expected it to be, but as usual my parents navigated through like pros, quickly located an information booth and got directions to our hotel so that we could make the journey on foot. The Matsubaya Ryokan has a much more traditional feel, as you can see in the pics and vlog. With only two days in Kyoto we were anxious to get out and start exploring so we left our bags in the lobby (check-in wasn't until 3 and we arrived around 1), bought some 1-day unlimited passes for the city bus and headed off to our first round of sight-seeing...but you'll have to read the next entry to find out how that went (you can watch the vlog below for a sneak peek).

 

Kind of a long post, but trust me reading this wasn't nearly as exhausting as going through it (although I enjoyed every second). As always feel free to leave comments/questions/feedback below and make sure to check out the video and pass it along! Throughout the trip I'll post summaries of my experiences in each city here with corresponding vlogs and of course tons of photos (as long as I have access to wifi), so check back often. Enjoy the journey....