Vietnam and Cambodia in pictures part III

Mui Ne is on the South East coast of Vietnam and chosen by some of us for its kitesurfing. No surprises there. Luckily for the rest of us, I picked up a fantastic page turner in Saigon and spent most of the stay immersed in a story about Chinese girls in the 19th Century getting their feet bound and married off to men in neighbouring villages.

Mia Resort - mosquito nets and sunset happy hours

Fishing village nearby - famous for its round boats

Women take charge on the shore while men hang out on their mopeds and boats

Dunes. Dunes?? Yes, dunes. People were up here at 6am in their cocktail attire posing for pictures. One girl wore her wedding dress

Here's where my book came in handy

Additional info:

Mui Ne is rather heavy on the Russian tourism side of things. Our hotel (Mia Resort) wasn't, but everywhere else was, so practice your Spasibas before hitting the supermarket

Mui Ne can only be reached by car - see previous post

Addictive reading material for kitesurfing groupies: Snowflower and the secret fan

The drive

After Saigon, we took on the 5 hour drive down to Mui Ne. To say that was one of the most terrifying times in my life wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Our driver's (and everyone else's) attitude seemed to be: keep your foot on the accelerator and hoot every time you see anything going slower than you or heading straight into you, which is often the case. So, there was much hooting, glaring headlights from oncoming traffic (in the same lane) and the occasional swerve to avoid entire families stacked on mopeds. What a nightmare.

There was even a fire on the road at one point, which our driver barely missed thanks to a last minute pull on the wheel. I don't think I've ever feared for my life as much as I did on that drive.

And, to make matters worse, the driver was listening to a "learn English" tape and following the exercises with great enthusiasm, often taking his eye off the road to look at us for approval. Believe me, the words "handbag", "school" and "cinema" won't ever be the same again.

Vietnam and Cambodia in pictures part II

Cambodia was followed by Vietnam, where we went to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Mui Ne. Ho Chi Minh involved strolls along tree-lined streets, visits to rather harrowing museums and delicious Pho and lattes in various spots.

The exhilaration of jaywalking

Noodles at Pho Hoa (pronounced "Fur" as in "ry")

Coffee and cupcakes at L'Usine

Temporary lunch and coffee bars on the sidewalk, with fresh mandarin juice, sliced mangoes and coffee with condensed milk readily available

Reunification Palace - not quite clear who was reunified. Filled with ostentatious meeting rooms. The library included the following books, "Planning and operating motels" and "The game of doubles in tennis". Odd

Some extra info:

If you like swimming pools and padding around in soft gowns, then stay at the Park Hyatt

Skip hotel breakfast for coffee at L'Usine, Annam Market (think Bon Marche supermarket) or the pavement

Eat at Pho Hoa for lunch and Temple Club for dinner

If you're French, finish your evenings with the Creme Brulee at the Park Hyatt

Vietnam and Cambodia in pictures part I

Given that Vietnam and Cambodia are only a couple of hour's flight from Hong Kong, they seemed the obvious Easter break choice. The fact that United Airways made it 12 hours away (thanks to bumping us off the flight) is a detail I'm just mentioning in passing in case any of you are thinking of ever-flying-United. I just-want-to-say: don't.

Anyway, flights aside, both Vietnam and Cambodia were wonderful. Cambodia lived up to its self-promoted "7th Wonder of the World" reputation, awarded to itself because it has so many bloody temples. Vietnam offered more surprises, which isn't saying much given that all I knew about the country before going was what I'd learnt in Form Four history class.

We started our trip in Siem Reap in Cambodia, which, by the way, has the most efficient visa system known to mankind (speaking of 7 Wonders).

Hotel in Siem Reap - think teak floors, fans and vintage cars. Rooms have a bath in the middle of them, a shower off to the side, another shower in the garden and a steam room. Needless to say cleanliness wasn't a problem.

The next two days then involved a lot of panting our way up and down stairs in temples, taking pictures of other temples from the temples we were on and having a guide talking with the most impossible accent on earth about how King Suryavaran II who ruled from 1113 c, sorry no, 1110 c, built Angkor Wat to worship Vishnu but then King Jayavaran VII took over and made it Buddhist which is why (pointing at the 100000th Linga) this Linga is etched over an original engraving of a Buddha (and vice versa). And so we went.

Bayon Temple - one of many ancient Khmer temples suffering from a Hindu/Buddhist personality disorder

Angkor Wat

Setting for the famous "hollywoo" movie: Lara Croft

Lots of bushwhacking here

Mildly useful info for anyone thinking of going to Siem Reap:

Stay at Heritage Suites Hotel

Don't get a guide to take you around the temples unless you want to hear the same thing over and over again

Eat at Hotel de la Paix for slightly over-rated South Beach Miami food, The Sugar Palm for "true" Cambodian fare. Hotel food was also delish

Rock 'n' Roll

Who needs lipstick when you have a Gretsch?

Everyone knows that the key to male success with the other sex (or anyone really) is to stand somewhere looking lost with one of the following: a baby, a dog or a broken leg. Today I discovered a similar accessory for women - the guitar.

As I traipsed through JFK airport last night with a guitar case in one hand and my suitcase in the other, I realised the unleashed potential of musical instruments in the art of seduction. What was I doing with a guitar, one may ask. The short story is I was earning brownie points with T by offering to buy him a guitar and schleping it back to Hong Kong for him. Points have been earned and have been stashed away for later use when nice shoes, bags and back rubs are needed.

Anyway, as I walked through the airport, I noticed that all eyes zoomed in on the guitar case. I could see them lighting up and then glazing over, as they dreamt of rock concerts, fame and fortunes. I could also see them Photoshopping me into whatever musical icon they revered.

The guitar case not only got me a whole lot of unnecessary attention, but its "beer goggle" effect on my persona also got me past a bunch of red tape about 'not-being-allowed-fly-with-guitars-in-the-cabin' or something. An outburst of a few celebrity tears, and I was through, guitar and all.

Rock 'n' Roll, baby.

What's the point?

Much to T's despair, I'm a Lady Gaga fan. I wouldn't go as far to say I'm a "Little Monster" but when I received the "exclusive priority booking invitation to all American Express holders" to buy advanced tickets to her Hong Kong concert, I couldn't resist.

But here's the problem. What's the point of sending out an "exclusive priority booking invitation to all American Express holders" if you're not going to prepare your call centre and website for the hoards of American Express holders who are clambering on top of one another to get their tickets??

I mean, why bother if all Amex has achieved through their "exclusive invitation" is to seriously p** me off. How many times can I refresh their overloaded website? How many times can I call their busy call centre? If you want to lose a customer, here's how to do it: over promise. under deliver.

Thanks, Amex.

One very annoyed customer.

Tao Bao

Bertoia chair

This is it! We have finally tapped into the art of Chinese bargain online shopping! ebay and Amazon are now things of the past thanks to Tao Bao. For those of you who don't know it, Tao Bao is the biggest online shopping site in Asia. You can buy anything on it, quite literally, and at any price point.

After starting our furniture hunting for our new apartment, we quickly realised there are two types of furniture shops in Hong Kong: IKEA and overpriced rip off millionaire shops for the terribly rich or terribly unimaginative. So, once we'd bought every possible item at IKEA (think glasses and jam jars), we then needed to find something with a bit of "charm" without the price tag. In comes Tao Bao - home of all trendy furniture knock-offs that have been lovingly made in China.

Z lamp care of Tao Bao

The funny thing is that while we perceive getting incredible designer furniture from China as being a blessing from heaven, my Hong Kong colleagues are all shocked and appalled that I would "buy dangerous and bad quality products from China" as "everything from China is terribly made and really really bad".

Another colleague of mine said, "Look, g, it's ok if you buy things that look pretty, but don't buy anything that has to carry weight or that might kill somebody if it falls. Because if it's from Tao Bao, then it probably will."

Great. So with that local vote of confidence, T and I threw ourselves into buying low-danger, high aesthetic appeal items. The only teensy weensy detail is that you have to understand Mandarin to use Tao Bao. And Google Chrome only gets you halfway there e.g. "product" is translated as "baby"... slightly confusing.

You also need to be able to chat online with the sellers to find out important things like "well, if you buy the eames chair in white, then it's made out of white plastic, but if you buy it black, then we spray paint it black for you." Good to know.

Another tall lamp thing

p.s. Yes, I finally got an iPhone after I left my Nokia in Cape Town and my Blackberry got stolen in the sheet section at IKEA

p.p.s Many thanks to our friend M.A. who introduced us to the Tao Bao shopping experience