Ali's Blog: 2007

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Townhome pics

Entryway:

Yoga room & bamboo:

Living room:

'Painting' between bedrooms:

New 'door' to my bedroom:

Bathroom:

Copied this idea from a friend, use a pretty hook to hang jewelry:

Monday, May 28, 2007

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday in gorgeous Halong Bay and Hanoi. The only thing I requested from my family and friends were haikus of any subject matter. I usually think about haikus when I'm traveling due to a trend that my friends Jody and Kenny started when we traveled to Ireland together. They always came up with the perfect haiku to summarize the day. Thanks to all for submitting their haiku's! If you would like to submit one, please email me or post it in the comments!

May 27th in Halong Bay

Birthday dinner at French/Vietnamese restaurant: La on 25 Ly Quoc Su.

(note: the blouse I am wearing is one that was made in Hoi An)

Last minute haiku writing!

set sail, Alison
the east wind holds mystery
go, adventuress!
John Godino

Ali cat lurking
Can you find life's answers, hm?
Mud baths distract you
Vince Han

Wonderful birthday
Alison is our princess
Successful dreamer!
Ken and Helen Han

Alison is Great
She is a really cool aunt
I want to see her!
Chris Han, age 10

Seeking harmony
Meditate in zen garden
Answer lies within
Iris Han

Alison so sweet
like flowers in spring and fall
Have an awesome trip
Michael Han, age 12.99

Ho Chi Minh City
Danger in crossing the street
Lots of motorbikes
Brian Waldram

Hey taxi driver!
This is not where I wanted
I don't want to pay!
Reiko Ishikawa

Jolie raids the tombs
And fights a Spanish mummy
With a jellyfish
Alan Courtay

Aqui estamos
en Hanoi de Halong Bay
en Alison's day
Elena Rodriguez

Farflung friends gathered
Celebrating Alison
Happy birthday friend!
Sarah Stachowiak

Happy birthday friend
I hope that its a big splash
It has been for me!
Tyler Hill

she understands the
journey is everything
joyful is her life
Jody Eddy

Hanoi and Halong Bay

Hanoi, the last stop in Vietnam and the perfect end to a gorgeous vacation! The Aliens and I arrived in Hanoi on Thursday evening and were immediately pounced upon by multiple taxi drivers offering to take us into town. The going rate seemed to be $10USD which sounded a bit steep especially having just come from Cambodia. So we insisted that we pay via the meter instead. We regretted that decision about 20 minutes into the drive when the meter mockingly flashed 1.6mil dong ($10) before rapidly continuing on. Our driver then managed to burn up even more meter time by what seemed to be the most indirect route to our hotel. Our second mistake was telling our driver that 2 of us did not have hotel reservations but had picked up a name from the guide book that they wanted to check out. The driver had been yakking on the phone to someone while we were on our way to the hotel. Apparently he had called his buddy who was waiting for us in front of the supposed hotel we had requested. Curiously the hotel name we were parked in front of did not match the one we wanted. The guy had a business card of the hotel and told us that the hotel name had changed and all of the rooms were booked but he could take us to another hotel across the street. Fortunately this exact scenario was described to us in our guide book where taxi drivers try to redirect tourists to shady hotels to benefit from profits. Elena, the revolutionary one in the group immediately sniffed out the scam and demanded that the driver take us to the real hotel. She also declared that we would not be paying the meter and that we would only pay $10. Our driver then got more agitated and starting cursing us (or so it seemed) and long story short we finally arrived at our desired destination and chalked the experience up to a lesson learned. At least we got a mini tour of the city with all the driving that we had done!

The next morning we met up with Sarah and Tyler at the Huc Bridge over Hoan Kiem Lake. We spent the morning walking around the Old Quarter and making arrangements for a tour to Halong Bay.

I finally got to try Mangosteen which is Sarah's favorite fruit. Look how pretty they are!

Scenes in the Old Quarter:

A blurry shot of the water puppet show:

I have to admit that I was not that impressed by the water puppets and found myself dozing off a bit (ha ha - I'm sure that my friends Joe and Jody would not be surprised by that) Everyone else seemed to love it though and Tyler says that I have lost "my sense of whimsy" Ha ha, perhaps I have but I blame my anti-puppet disposition on a long day and an empty stomach!

The next morning we awoke bright and early to hop on a van to take us to Halong Bay. It is about a 3 hour drive to get to Halong City where we boarded our boat. Our group had about 16 people - the others were from Israel, the UK and Japan. The boat was alot nicer than we were expecting as we had bedrooms with private bathrooms. The upstairs deck was where we spent most of our time:

Halong Bay was breathtakingly beautiful and the photos don't do them justice. I definitely want to go back here and spend more time cruising through the waters and soaking up more of the scenery.

Boat jumping time for brave souls. I was not so brave so happily took on the role of photographer:

Our final day in Hanoi was spent back in the Old Quarter looking for last minute souvenirs. Elena and Reiko found an awesome little boutique called Le Vent where I spent over an hour trying on their gorgeous clothes. I bought so much there and spent so little, I was in shopping heaven! I'll have to show and tell when I get home. If you are ever in Hanoi you must pay this store a visit! It is on 103 Hang Gai in the Old Quarter.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

After leaving Hue, I flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia to spend 3 days visiting the temples of Angkor Wat. It's been great traveling with different sets of friends on my trip and this segment was the one with the "PDX Aliens" They named themselves this as most are originally from other countries and now live in Portland. I met them through my sister Iris and I have slowly infiltrated into their various social functions during my many visits to Portland! Angkor Wat was the spot on my Asian Tour of which I had the highest expectations and I have to say that it did not disappoint. Despite the sweltering 100 degree + humidity heat, the temples were breathtaking and majestic.

If you're like me and did not know much about the history of Angkor Wat, here is a brief explanation that I am plagarizing from my visitor's guide:

"Angkor literally means Capital City or Holy City. Khmer refers to the dominant ethnic group in modern and ancient Cambodia. In its modern usage, Angkor has come to refer to the capital city of the Khmer Empire that existed in the area of Cambodia between the 9th and 12th centuries AD, as well as to the empire itself. The temple ruins in the area of Siem Reap are the remnants of the Angkorian capitals, and represent the pinnacle of the ancient Khmer architecture, art and civiliazation.

At its height, the Age of Angkor was a time when the capital area contained more than a million people, when Khmer kings constructed vast waterworks and grand temples, and when Angkor's military, economic and cultural dominance held sway over the area of modern Cambodia as well as much of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos."

I arrived a day earlier than the Aliens so I spent some time mapping out how to best utilize my time. There are dozens and dozens of temples in the Siem Reap area and one can easily spend a week here. The temples that my guide book deemed as 'must-sees' included: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Banteay Srey, Bayon, Phnom Bakheng, Preah Khan and Ta Prohm. Since I thought I could see those with the Aliens, I decided to spend my extra day visiting the Roluous Group which was the first capital of the Khmers before they moved to Angkor Wat. I hired a tour guide to take me there and thank goodness it was only for a few hours because I did not like him at all. He had a very abrasive personality and while I don't think it was his intent, he spoke like he was yelling at me. He was also very bossy and instructed me how and where to pose for photos.

"No no no no, stand in front, to the side, higher higher, one step up... NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!"

ARGHHHHHHHHHH Needless to say, I got rid of him pretty quickly.

Patience waivering, can you tell in my expression?

I was happy to see my friends when they arrived and we switched tour companies and luckily had a much nicer and gentler tour guide. The temples were amazing, here are some of my favorite shots.

Our tour guide