Top 10 Things I've Learned About Vietnam

I struggled to keep this list at 10. I think within our first 3 days in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), the list was already at 10. It's been a while since I've done a "big trip" so maybe I've gone soft. Maybe I've grown too comfortable with my "first world problems"... nothing like a good dose of Asia to remedy that. So here we go:

1. Street crossing is an act of faith (which Katina never had) and skill (which Katina never learned).
2. You will be molested within your first 24 hrs of arrival in HCMC, regardless of gender. Take a deep breath, and move on.
3. If you thought New York City was hectic, try the Binh Tay market in Cho Lon. Think swarms of locusts let loose in Costco.
4. No matter how many times you say "no beef, no pork", you will inevitably still bite into beef and pork. The seafood had pork... the vegetables had pork... the pumpkin flowers were stuffed with beef. It's like navigating a mine field. God bless the good people of Hue and their Buddhist, vegetarian eating ways.
   
5. Pagodas and tombs are like giant Escher paintings. From the outside they don't look very big, but on the inside they are warped space-time continuums that will suck hours out of your day by keeping you in a looped reality.
6. You will likely be quoted 4x the real price for anything. You can bargain them down to 2x, then just accept the rest as your tourist tax. It will only be on the order of $1-2 anyway. The bargaining is good-natured if you shoot them a wink and a smile.
7. Be careful what you wish for when seeking the "authentic" Vietnam experience... especially when it comes to thing like oh, massage parlors, small town restaurant serving thit cho (woof woof), and snake wine!
   (Despite my own self proclaimed food adventurousness, I had to pay homage to the Colonel not once, but twice on this trip. Katina is forcing me to mention at this point that she fearlessly attacked the street food and did NOT succumb to the Colonel. I will politely interject here that some of us have certain dietary restrictions of a beefy/porky nature).
   
8. Freshly made warm coconut candy, O... M... G...
   
9. Just because the pharmacist "seems like a nice sweet old lady", doesn't mean you shouldn't read the drug labels (or in our case, stare blankly because the ingredients are unknown, the distributor is Vietnamese and there was something not quite right about the Panadol label).
10. The food is amazing
    The sights are incredible
    And the people are warm and welcoming. All in all... a good trip!

Cafe Nomad

I have no idea how our driver found this cafe... because as you can see in the video... it is in the middle of nowhere. No roads... no signs... no GPS... nothing.

Top 10 Things I've Learned About Tunisia

For the past few days we've been trekking around Tunisia. From the camels, excuse me, "dromedaries", to the 4 wheeling across the Sahara, to the bustling marketplaces where you are accosted by eager vendors at every turn, I have to say this vacation has been vastly different from anything I've ever done before. So without further ado, here are my Top 10 Things About Tunisia:

1. The men are surprisingly affectionate with each other and spend all their time lounging at cafes. "The tea will not drink itself" our friend says.
2. Don't take pictures of people without their permission. Doing so can lead to some awkward social situations with fiesty arab teenagers.
3. Tunisian men are disappointed in me due to the constantly reoccurring sequence of events:
1. We walk into a place and their eyes light up because they think one of their own has got a white woman.
2. They approach me in a very animated fashion, only to realize that I have no idea of what they are saying... arabic or french.
3. My status as a man is revoked as they realize I am wholly dependent on a woman has to translate for me, order my meals, shop for me, etc etc.
4. If you're like me, and never liked couscous in your life because you think it's like eating sand... then the problem is that you've just never had real couscous.
5. There is an Arab version of every suspect looking hispanic person you know.
6. Always count your change.... because I apparently have "sucker" written all over my forehead.
7. Things likened to "viagra" by various shop vendors on this trip:
1. Ginger - understandable... I've heard that one before in several other cultures (including my own).
2. Harrissa (a spice mixture with a good hot kick to it) - Kinda understandable. Lots of spicy things have historically been deemed manly or said to "put hair on your chest", so I get that one.
3. Gazelle horn - A pastry filled with ground nuts, fried, then coated with honey. Yeah... this is where they analogy falls apart. Either that or there must be some really fattening viagra out there...
8. Do not buy anything in the local markets unless you are REALLY good at haggling. Otherwise, you'll be ripped off. Incidentally, I have learned that I am not as good at haggling as I thought I was...
9. I got better cell phone reception in the Sahara than I do sitting at my desk at work. I'm not kidding. A full 5 bars while riding my dromedary. Tmobile can stand to learn a few things from "Tunisiana".
10. And the final thing I've learned about Tunisia...
    
    A Saharan sunset is a good moment to pop the question. We are engaged!

Top 10 Things I've Learned About Trinidad (Guest Post)

Blogging about one's home country in a top 10 list could be considered poor form, so to this end I have a guest post from one Katina Rogers. More pics are embedded below as well.

So without further ado, here are the Top 10 Things I've Learned About Trinidad and Tobago:

1. Visiting friends or family entails engaging in extensive mango trafficking. While you and all the people you visit probably have mango trees growing in the yard, you will still bring mangoes of several varieties with you, and return home with several other (strangely similar) mangoes. If mangoes are unavailable or undesirable, other fruit or sweets can be acceptably substituted.
2. If approached by Anaconda in Castara (Tobago), don't believe a word the man says, but do take his restaurant recommendations. Anaconda, by the way, is his "science-tific" name. Just in case you were wondering.
3. If approached by Tallman in Store Bay (also Tobago), don't bother booking a tour on his glass-bottom boat. Go straight to the Cool Runnings boat - it's where Tallman's customers end up anyway when he cancels his tours. Cool Runnings has the added advantage of blasting loud music on board, which can lead to some interesting behavior among your co-travelers.
   
4. Traffic in Trinidad is so bad that if you want to go out to dinner, it's probably faster to fly to Tobago than to navigate Port of Spain. In fact, if you have any qualms about driving on the left, driving over the center line, passing cars within inches, dodging randomly parked vehicles, or being alert to cars that decide to dart the wrong way down a one way street, you should probably just head straight to Tobago anyway.
5. Beware of sun and mosquitoes if you don't want lots of brightly colored reminders of your trip all over your body. SPF 30 is not enough - my sunburned shoulders are proof. And when choosing a bug spray, the higher the concentration of DEET, the better. Don't be scared off by the fact that it can melt plastic.
6. Any drama you may witness in Indian families or relationships is a direct influence of the singing, dancing, and weeping that fills Bollywood films. The drama of Bollywood films stems in turn from even more abundant singing, dancing, and weeping in Hindu sacred texts. Growing up on stories like that, who wouldn't feel their lives were dull without a little drama?
7. You may think you speak English, but you'll still undoubtedly need a language lesson before you arrive if you hope to (a) correctly use terms like "lime" and "vex;" (b) use pronouns as they should be used; (c) identify any of the fruits and vegetables you thought you knew (paw paw?).
   
8. The food is amazing - but if you wish to fit into your clothes at the end of your trip, the best strategy is to always claim you have already eaten when entering someone's home, even if you're starving. That way, you have some hope of being served only a reasonable portion of food (instead of a whole lotta food plus all kinds of extras that you just have to try - many of which are the results of the mango cartel noted above). I wish we had discovered this strategy earlier in the week.
9. All the crafts you see being sold on the beaches were made by the guy selling it and his father. Or maybe his cousin. And no, I don't think that's just their story to snag the tourists. The bamboo windchimes I came home with were definitely made by the guy and his dad... never mind that they look exactly like the ones being sold all over Tobago...
10. All in all, the people are welcoming, the beaches are lovely, and the food alone makes the trip worth it. My shoulders may be peeling, but I've gotten a major fix of deserted beaches, mangoes, and wonderful hospitality. I think it's a good trade-off!

To see a larger slideshow you can go directly to my Picasa Web Gallery

Inspiration

There are moments in history where someone stands up, and says things that are truly meaningful. They are the things that we all know but no one wants to hear... or no one wants to say it because we fear that if we say it, we'll say it wrongly, and make ourselves look bad. It takes a certain level of courage to stand up for your beliefs, and a certain eloquence to say it in the right way.

Yesterday, Barack Obama made such a speech about the issue of Race in America. Whatever happens in these elections, we cannot afford to let his words slip into the deep recesses of memory and fade away. It's important that we all hear them... right wing, left wing, black, white, yellow, purple, whatever. This speech is carried on the NYTimes and CNN, but of course agencies like Fox News don't deem it worthy. Thus, there is a section of the population that this speech is NOT going to reach... but it's important that EVERYONE hear it. So I'm trying to do my part to distribute it.

Greece - Sheep Crossing

While driving through the mountains on our way to Samaria Gorge (and on the way back as well), we encountered numerous herds of sheep and goats crossing the road. This is a brief video of an especially large herd that had us stalled on the road for quite a while. I thought it was pretty funny :).

Greece - Eating In Athens/Chania, Crete (Part 2)

The list of (good) restaurants we ate at in Greece:

1. Taverna tou Psara - located in the Plaka district in Athens... very romantic. Great place to dine after spending the day at the Acropolis. I had lamb cooked in a clay pot!
2. Taverna Leventis - located in the town of Stalos about 20 min outside of Hania. A bit hard to find but worth it. Great service and great food. We went there twice. I had rabbit.
3. Peinaleon - Really nice atmosphere, cheap. Seemed to be a pretty popular local place.
   
4. Doloma - Great ready-to-order dishes. Good for a quick lunch.
5. The Central Market - There are 2 restaurants in there, the fish restaurant is the better of the 2. Great seafood. Better than most things you'll find on the port.