New Blog: http://isstevelost.blogspot.com/
I've decided to move my main blog to blogger by Google because of various features that they offer. Please go to the new site going forward. Cheers!
Travel, photography, food. mmm!
I've decided to move my main blog to blogger by Google because of various features that they offer. Please go to the new site going forward. Cheers!
When you arrive in Sapa you can’t help but wonder if you’re still in Vietnam. The first thing you notice is the cooler temperature. Sapa is at an elevation of 1650m and boasts a much more temperate climate when compared to the rest of Vietnam. The next thing you notice is the architecture of the town; it feels like you’re in the a ski town in the Alps. To add to that effect, there’s a plethora of Italian and French restaurants offering affordable fine dining at approximately 5USD per dish.
The main attractions in Sapa are the treks to nearby hill tribe villages and to the summit of Vietnam’s tallest mountain, Fansipan (3143m). Given my prior trekking experience I wanted to give Fansipan a shot so Dasha and I signed up for a 2day/1night trek. We were joined by an Austrian couple on a rock-climbing holiday through SE Asia. After I spent a few hours ridding myself of the nasty computer virus I got off someone’s memory card the previous day we then spent the first day in Sapa exploring the town and sleeping since we arrived at 05:30 via the overnight train.
The Fansipan trek started with an 08:00 pickup from our hotel followed by a 30 minute drive to the starting point (1900m). We were accompanied by an English speaking guide and 2 porters. I quickly realized that my fitness level had fallen off sharply in the last 3 months since completing the Annapurna Circuit. It was impossible for me to keep up with the Austrian couple and our guide. It wasn’t the difficult terrain or the altitude that slowed me down; it was my poor level of cardio fitness that held me back. I kept thinking to myself how I was able to trek for 2 weeks straight. The walk from the starting point to the camp site (2800m) took about 4.5 hours. We took lunch there and then headed for the summit. Once again, I quickly fell behind the Austrian couple and our guide (Dasha wasn’t feeling well and stayed at the camp). Thoughts of giving up floated through my mind but I took frequent breathers and kept going. The terrain on this stretch was very steep and involved quite a bit of rock scrambling. After nearly 2 hours I finally reached the summit and was ecstatic that I could finally rest and take in the view. The trek back down to camp took about 1.5 hrs and was by far much easier than the way up but still required quite a bit of care since the track was very muddy and steep.
Back at camp we all huddled by the fire as the sun fell and the temperature dropped. Dinner was surprisingly really good and even more surprising the portions were so massive that the 4 of us couldn’t finish it all. A glass of the local rice wine was included as well. After dinner we chatted for a bit then the entire camp went to sleep. Sleeping bags were provided however they were rectangular summer bags and were totally inadequate for the 5C weather. Everyone was freezing and in the morning no one said they got a good night’s sleep. Other groups of trekkers were also provided summer sleeping bags and shivered throughout the night as well. I think I maybe slept about 1 hour all night and feared that I might lose a toe to the cold. I also had to pee but held it all night since it was pitch black outside, freezing cold, and I would have to change back into my dirty trekking clothes and could possibly fall into the mud.
The following morning we had breakfast then made our way down the mountain, stopping for lunch at the 2200m campsite. From here it was another 2 hours to the end where our ride was waiting for us thanks to our guide who phoned ahead. Back in town we decided to stay another night to rest, shower, and launder our dirty trekking clothes. Then I treated myself to a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant for 7USD J
Halong Bay is one of 3 places in the world where there are natural limestone formations that rise out of the water. The other 2 places are the Phi Phi islands in Thailand and Guilin, China. Halong Bay has the distinction of having the most rock formations, somewhere near 9000 such mountains. It's truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth and holds dozens (if not hundreds) of secluded beaches tucked away behind towering limestone outcrops.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5856840_access-blocked-facebook-vietnam.html#ixzz128kjEfV0
These days, the famous social networks like Facebook or Twitter have been blocked by ISPs in many Asian countries (including Vietnam and China). In a recent article, I presented 7 Ways To Access Blocked Facebook. These tips helped us a lot, but there are some problems we still have to face, such as some tips are quite complex whereas some are not so efficient (in speed and other functionalities). Today I have a good news for Facebook users in Vietnam.
These are the elaborate steps to configure in Windows:
Go the Control Panel.
Click Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center, then Manage network connections.
Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
* To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click Local Area Connection, and click Properties.
* To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click Wireless Network Connection, and click Properties.
Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties.
Click Advanced and select the DNS tab. If there are any DNS server IP addresses listed there, write them down for future reference, and remove them from this window.
Click OK.
Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
Restart the connection you selected in step 3.
All done! Have a good time with Facebook and Twitter.
The only way to travel direct between Vientiane and Hanoi is via bus or plane. The flight costs about 130USD vs the bus which costs 40USD. We gathered more information about the bus and heard the 22 hour ride wasn't so bad so we went for the bus which also saved us a night of accommodation. We were picked up at 17:00 for the 19:00 bus but were taken to their travel agency to wait for others. We waited there for about an hour which seemed completely pointless since they could've just picked us up at 18:00 and we would've been fine. At about 18:15 a bus arrived from Vang Vieng and a load of people got into our minibus and we headed off for the bus park. There was quite a bit of confusion as to which bus to get on but eventually we found the right one and go on. Unfortunately since we were the last group to arrive we got stuck with the seats in the back of the bus, several of which were much smaller than the ones in the front. We squeezed ourselves into the sleeper seats and due to there being absolutely no space between any of us we got to know each other pretty quickly. I still can't believe how many sleeper seats they crammed into the bus. For the first time in my life I quickly located where the emergency exits were and how to open them.
Look at the little fishies go! It tickles at first but my feet have never felt so clean!
Every morning at 6am in Luang Prabang the local monks walk the main street collecting alms from the locals. The alms usually come in the form of homemade sticky rice and other foods. It's a local custom that's been around for ages. Tourists are welcome to witness the alms procession however from what I've been told it's best to witness it from a distance. There are plenty of women trying to sell sticky rice to tourists but you shouldn't buy it because the food they're selling is of dubious quality and also because you didn't prepare the sticky rice yourself. The monks also know that the sticky rice that they receive from tourists is of questionable quality.
When we walked up to the main street I was surprised to see about 100 people lined up with alms to give to the monks and loads of tourists ready with their cameras for the monks to arrive. As we walked around some more I realized that the long line of alms givers were not local Lao people; they were Chinese package tourists. There must've been about 300 of them in total who had just arrived the day before. And even worse, they all brought their cameras and were being obnoxious Chinese tourists. Some were literally putting their cameras right in monk's faces and obstructing the procession. And just when you thought it couldn't get worse another bus full of Chinese tourists arrived.
I managed to get away from them and their incessant photo posing and took some shots from a distance using my 18-270mm lens. The alms procession is a really beautiful thing to witness and thankfully even the hoards of Chinese tourists couldn't ruin the experience.
Despite me refusing to do anything that involved swings or slides while tubing, I gave in and did this rope swing after a bunch of people went and confirmed that the water was deep enough to be safe.
The published time for the minibus ride was 5 hours but all travel in Laos takes forever so it's pretty much a given to tack on 3 hours to any published time. Since all the passengers on the bus spoke English we typed stuff out on my blackberry to communicate...
