Trip Report: Eat, Sweat and Feel Like A Royalty in Saigon…

With minor exhaustion (at least on my part), Vanessa and I boarded the budget carrier Tiger Airways bound for Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon) from Singapore Changi Airport. I had flown for about 20 hours from New York and had arrived in Singapore the night before. Vanessa is a friend of mine from elementary school and had traveled from Kuala Lumpur to meet up with me in Singapore. We both love to travel and had decided to pay a visit to the economic capital of Vietnam that is quickly becoming a favorite holiday destination of many travelers.

After two hours on the new Airbus 320 with in-flight service that will put any American carrier to shame, we finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The first thing that greeted us as we stepped out of the airport was the intense heat. The humidity was so thick that a knife would not do the job of cutting it. You needed a cleaver to do so. I was sweating within seconds of stepping out of the terminal (not surprising for those who have seen me eating spicy food before).

On our cab ride from the airport to the hotel, we saw throngs of locals riding their motorcycles without helmets. Like Hanoi, this is definitely a city of motorcycles. We saw families on it, we saw women in their farmer hats and Ao Dais (traditional Vietnamese wardrobe for women) on it, we even saw three guys sitting on it (yes the Vietnamese men are skinny – ugh!). Also like Hanoi, the challenge in this city, besides the heat, is crossing the streets. These motorcycles will fly by without slowing down, and it seems like they have the right of way more so than the pedestrians do. Vanessa and I had to adopt the local way of crossing the streets quickly within one day of being there – just keep walking and the motorists will swirl past you and avoid hitting you. The locals didn’t even look as they crossed the streets. Amazing to say the least.

HCMC is located by the river and is divided into a few districts. District 1, the oldest district, is known as Saigon. This is also the unofficial name for the city preferred by foreigners. HCMC is a city with about 7 million people. It is here where the rapid economic changes sweeping Vietnam, as well as their negative social implications, are most evident. There were not many sights to see in HCMC, nor were there great places to shop (clothing wise), but there were many great restaurants serving very inexpensive and scrumptious Vietnamese cuisine for those who love them.

Vanessa and I love to eat. So the highlights of our trip were the many great restaurants we went to, ranging from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant selling Pho (traditional beef/chicken noodle soup) to a five-star French restaurant with bad dressed waiters. The cost of food was unbelievable too. We had appetizers, entrée, desserts and beverages at an upscale restaurant and the check was only US$18 including service charge for the two of us. A glass of fresh fruit juice would cost US 50 cents or so. A manicure would cost US$2. A pedicure, US$3.5 (don’t ask me why I know this). I remember tipping the bellboy at my hotel 20,000 dong (US$1.30) for carrying my bags and he was so happy and appreciative. I later learned that amount could be half a day’s wage for a local here. A dollar can really go far here.

Besides eating, Vanessa and I did manage to do some sightseeing (only some, since our primary focus was on the food). We went to the Cu Chi Tunnel, the Ben Thanh Market and the War Remnants Museum. Cu Chi Tunnel is definitely a must see for tourists who visit this city. The tunnels of Cu Chi were built over a period of 25 years that began sometime in the late 1940s. They were the results of a poorly equipped peasant army trying to beat the high tech ordinance, choppers, artillery, bombers and chemical weapons of its enemy (namely the Americans). It is located about 40 miles from the city so we hired a tour guide to take us there (transportation and tour guide for, get this, US$10 a person including tips). After touring the sites and climbing into the narrow tunnels that I could barely fit in, it dawned on me that in order to be successful in guerrilla warfare, you will need a typical slim Vietnamese body. After all you cannot be agile in the tunnel if you are five feet eleven and weight two hundred pounds like me. Jokes aside, I really have a lot of admiration for Vietnamese people after touring the tunnels. These people are tough. The tunnel army really demonstrated wit and perseverance.

The War Remnants Museum was quite an unforgettable visit too. Looking at the pictures of the victims from the Vietnam War was gut wrenching. This was once known as ‘The Museum of the Chinese and American War Crimes’ but was later changed to its current name in order not to offend the Chinese and American tourists. Vanessa didn’t have the stomach to view those pictures and documentaries so she was sitting outside checking out other more important objects (like guys) while I learned the ugly side of war. I could not believe some of the atrocities coming out of this war. Wonder if Iraq will have a similar museum a few years from now.

Ho Chi Minh is a city of great fun, if you look past the heat and the typical setbacks that a developing country would have, like women offering you messages on every city block, kids selling you chewing gums, or panhandlers grabbing your arms and asking you for money. You don’t really come here for the sights, but you come here for the food, entertainment and the experience to live like a royalty without burning many holes in your wallet.

Trip Report: Love The Danish.. And I Don't Mean The Pastries!

When I first learned that I could travel to Copenhagen, Denmark for a mere $360, thanks to the wonderful offer by SAS (Scandinavian Airline System), I was simply elated. After all, you usually pay that amount to fly to Los Angeles or San Francisco from New York. So it was between the choice of seeing my friends in either one of the two Californian cities or befriending tall blue eyed and blonde haired guys named Gukki or Per. Clearly that was a very tough decision to make.

Disappointingly, after spending four days here, I didn’t see many tall, blue eyed and blonde haired guys. Apparently I got the countries mixed up. It is Sweden that breeds those high cheekbones, model-like specimens. I did see a lot of sunshine and picturesque sites however. Believe it or not, the weather was nice throughout my stay here. In fact, I got a tan on my last day here. Yes, a tan from a Scandinavian country in early April! The weather was chilly (40s-50s) but the sun kept shining.

Being the first country to legalize gay marriage back in the early 80s, Denmark is a liberal and progressive country that has always adopted a "live and let live" policy. It is a country with approximately 6 million people. About 2/3 of them live in the capital city, Copenhagen. There are no must see monuments or structures here, but the city is definitely worth a long weekend trip. From sitting in a café to walking around the old city, you will experience the side of Copenhagen that the locals seem to enjoy.

Danes love to bike. You will see bicycles everywhere. It is very much like Amsterdam in that regard. It also has a few canals, but nothing that rivals those of Amsterdam. But what makes this city so special is the friendliness of its people. In fact, many Danes would claim that they are the friendliest people of the three Scandinavian countries. According to them, perhaps a tad biased, the Norwegians are reserved and the Swedish all have attitudes (after all, they all look like models so they must act the part too). You will also find it easy to communicate with the Danes since most speak English fluently. You can even find a few English channels on the Danish telly. This was very much unlike Turkey, where I had a VH1-like Turkish channel on 24/7 and fell in love with one of those Turkish dance tunes that were overplayed.

I found Copenhagen to be a very expensive city. To experience the warmth of the Danes you will have to put up with the super high cost of visiting the city. A hotel room the size of a closet costs US$70 a night, a cup of small regular coffee costs US$3, a lunch with three open-faced sandwiches and a small bottled water costs US$30, and a train ride that lasts up to half an hour costs US$22. In fact, this is one of the countries with exceedingly high income and sales taxes. But some locals told me that when they retire, the government would take care of them. So the high taxes are all worth a secured retirement I guess.

I also found Copenhagen to be a very safe city. Of my four-day visit here, I only saw a handful of homeless people. You can walk on the street in the wee hours of the morning without being mugged, but most people would rather pay the high cost of taking the cab because it is usually too cold to be walking outside.

On the third day of my visit, I took a half-day trip to Malmo, Sweden. I was hoping to meet some tall blonde Swedes but unfortunately, due to its proximity to Copenhagen, many people there looked like the Danes. There was really nothing spectacular in Malmo. They had some streets for shopping and a couple of town squares. There were also some museums and palaces that were not that historically significant. I guess you have to travel up north to meet the stereotypical Swedes or flip open a fashion magazine.

All in all, I enjoyed my short and costly trip to Copenhagen. For those who are interested in going, check out the SAS website for off-peak season fares that start at US$360. Off-season periods are anytime with the exception of late spring and summer (May-Sep). Even then it could be a little breezy in Copenhagen, or any Scandinavian cities for that matter.

Trip Report: Istanbul, A Mystical and Historic City

Hi folks, hope all of you had a great President’s Day weekend. My five-day getaway to Istanbul was definitely worth every penny that I had paid. The city was such a mix of Eastern and Western Civilization. It was not as inexpensive as I had thought however. For example, a can of Pepsi would cost about a dollar at the grocery store but would go up to about $2.50 at a restaurant and $4.00 at the cafeteria of a tourist trap, like the Topkapi Palace.

After going on a number of trips by myself in recent years, I think I am getting the hang of traveling by myself which frankly worries me a little. As those of you who have visited Istanbul would agree, this is such a picturesque city, rich with history and culture. There is nothing like being able to travel from Europe to Asia in ten minutes, or find a historic mosque with the dilapidated mural of Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ with his compatriots. During my brief stay in Istanbul, I visited all the must-see sites (Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia and Topkapi Palace), cruised up the Bosphorus (the throat shaped river separating Europe and Asia, hence the name in Turkish), shopped at The Grand Bazaar, ate at great century old restaurants serving Ottoman dishes and paid a visit to the main city on the Asian shore, Uskudar (which I find a tad more conservative than its European counterpart). I also did a fair amount of nightlife activities in the Taksim Square area (it’s expensive to club in Istanbul by the way!). Of course, an Istanbul experience would not be complete without visiting one of its century-old Hamams (bathhouses). However it is important to note that the messages and scrubs I got from these places were not equivalent to those offered at a full service spa. The strength applied by these big sized Turks (most of them exhibiting great sumo wrestling potentials) would make you scream for help (the trick is, never resist, always give in).

Like any major cities, Istanbul has its fair share of recent immigrants whose sole mission in life is to annoy and harass the tourists. Since I stayed at the tourist-heavy Sultanahmet area, I was approached by these persistent plebians every five minutes on the street, offering me anything from escort services to knock-off colognes. I swear if I had a dime for everytime when these people asked if I came from Japan or Korea (they are common Asian tourists there), this trip would be entirely paid for! Fortunately being the savvy solo traveler, I quickly came up with a few effective ways to fend off these people:

1. Wear your headphone and pretend not to hear them calling you (thank you, I-pod)

2. Pretend you speak no English. Answer them in one of your native languages or simply make one up.

3. Pretend you are mute and just smile at them

Believe me, all these tricks worked for me so you should give it a try if you happen to be in this situation next time.

Besides these aggravating street traders, Istanbul has its fair share of robbers and thieves as well. This Belgium guy that stayed at my hotel was robbed after he followed some young Turks home. Not a smart move, if you ask me (What was he thinking!?).

I find the Turks to be warm and generous people but given a choice, they would not want to have our current President at their dinner tables (who would blame them honestly?). I was pretty cautious with my safety when I was there so I decided to tell everybody I was from Malaysia (which was not a lie really). That was undoubtedly well received. I did tell this Australian that I met on the cruise that I was from New York. We got into this disagreement about which city was the most international of all. While I highly proclaimed it to be the Big Apple, she said it was Geneva, to which I promptly asked, "why, do they hold fashion weeks there?". I did not argue further in order not to perpetuate the negative stereotypes they already have on Americans.

Aside from the expensive soda/alcohol and the pesky people who harassed me on the streets, I had a really great time at this wonderful city which is a crossroad between Europe and Asia. I spent my last night in Istanbul at a local bar near my hotel. As I conversed with the locals and smoked my hookah, I thought to myself, "this is life, I have got to do this more often!"

Trip Report: Weep for Me, Argentina!

Weep for me Argentina, for this diva is leaving town!

I think I should be doing the crying actually. After my week-long trip to Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls, I really find it hard to leave these two wonderful places.

Buenos Aires reminds me of a European city like Paris or Madrid. Never mind the dog poops on the sidewalk, this Port City of Argentina is beautiful, energetic and seductive in every sense. From the cobbled streets to the old cafes, travelers will get to experience and appreciate the uniqueness of this city that the Portenos (a term used when referring to the locals, it means "People of the Port") take so much pride in. In fact, the Portenos look very European too, mainly due to their Italian and Spanish roots. These folks are mighty attractive.

I was really looking forward to Buenos Aires after having spent a few days in Santiago (honestly Santiago is nothing to write home about). Actually, to be fair to Santiago, Bush was there for the APEC meeting when I was there so naturally there were many anti-war protests. I did not enjoy the choas, road blocks and the closure of numerous important tourist attractions (just because Bush was dining in the vicinity). I left Santiago with slight disappointment and was hoping to have a much better time in Buenos Aires since it was Bush-free and all. Sure enough I did.

Where to start? First of all I did what a typical tourist would do. I checked out Casa Rosada, attended a performance at the Teatro Colon, visited the sunday market at San Telmo, saw Eva Peron's graveyard at the Recoleta Cemetery, went to Eva Peron's museum in the Polermo district (that woman had some outstanding outfits I have to say), enjoyed a traditional tango performance at the historical Cafe Tortoni and purchased a leather jacket from my favorite store Bensimon (www.bensimon.com).

The Portenos lead a Spaniard lifestyle. They don't have dinner until 10pm or so and they stay up until 2am-3am even on a week night. You will feel this late-night vibrancy if you stay in the Palermo Viejo area. There are many great boutique hotels and B&Bs here. One of my favorite is the Malabia House (www.malabiahouse.com.ar). Book early and it tends to fill up quickly. If you desire more elegance and tranquility, you should consider staying in the Recoleta district. The century old buildings here will no doubt remind you of the buildings in old European cities like Paris or Madrid.

As expected I partied a lot in Buenos Aires. I also ate a lot. Meals in Buenos Aires are very inexpensive. A nice meal consisting of grilled meats and a bottle of wine at a local restaurant would cost you USD8-10 or so. My most humble and memorable experience in Buenos Aires would be a dinner I had at a local steak/buffet house. Since I didn't speak any Spanish and the staff there didn't speak much English, I had problem ordering from the menu. The owner of the restaurant, an asian lady, came out and started conversing with me in Spanish. I gave it a shot and asked if she understood Mandarin. She did and we started conversing in Mandarin. She told me how she came to this country from China and started working as a cashier at a grocery store (and her experience during the riot in the city). She saved up enough money to open this restaurant. It may be a classic immigrant story, but for an Asian like me who does not exhibit any positive Asian stereotypes such as hardworking, smart and modest, I find this story awe-inspiring. Ha ha!

No trip to Buenos Aires is perfect without a side trip to Iguazu Falls. Stretching along the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, this famous fall is often chosen by many as a side trip destination when visiting Buenos Aires. A modern circuit of footbridges and natural paths allow visitors to penetrate into the dense jungle, as well as to contemplate the fall of the water from inside the cascades. There are boat trips that will take you to the biggest waterfall (The Devil's Throat) that reaches a 80m height. You can also travel to the Brazilian side (you will need a visa) to enjoy the spectacular views of the fall. Believe me, Iguazu Falls put Niagara Falls to shame. The falls are located in Puerto Iguazu which is a 2 hour flight from Buenos Aires.

If you get a chance, please visit Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls soon. Enjoy the devaluation of the country's currency (Peso) before the country becomes a more expensive place to visit. I guarantee you will have a blast here. I sure did. In fact, I am planning on another trip down there soon. The clothes at Bensimon are calling me...