Goodbye Vietnam. Off to Cambodia...by boat!

We left Chao Doc by boat - there houses are "riverfront" property about half the year (during rainy reason) and during the dry season they are "rice field view property.

The water of the Mekong Delta...

is languid, moving slowly like milky coffee might at the bottom of your sink. When traveling by paddle boat, it is quiet here, save the occasional sound of the paddle dipping into the river.

Touring the DMZ

Today we toured the Demilitarized Zone of Vietnam - the 5km (on each side) "buffer zone" between North and South Vietnam. This was also the most heavily bombed area during the Vietnam war. The highlight was visiting the incredible Vinh Moc Tunnels - 3 sets of tunnels about 15, 30, and 90 feet below the ground where villagers lived for up to 6 years during the war, only emerging under the cloak of night. There was even a school operating underground in the tunnels. Even more astoundingly, 17 babies were born in these tunnels! We were able to walk through part of them, and saw the tiny spaces each of the families were allotted (see below - the statues are about life size so you can see how tight space was).

Touring Hue by dragon boat

We stopped at pagodas and tombs of 3 of the Nguyen emperors.

Incense Making outside of Hue

Ingredients: sawdust, tree sap, and either cinnamon or sandlewood

Pictured are the incense sticks before being rolled in the sticky scented mixture, and then one of the villagers rolling a stick of incense.

Does anyone else love sugarcane juice?

My Son

Today we visited the ruins of the Cham empire (from the 7th-12th centuries) outside of Hoi An. They are beautiful - sadly, many of them were destroyed by US bombs during the war.

Market, Hoi An

We meandered through the market early this morning and saw fresh noodles, fruits, veggies and lots more being sold. I had my breakfast at a market stall - tofu, veggies, and rice. It was huge! It has been difficult to say "I am vegetarian" in an understandable way in Vietnamese...but I still try. What ends up happening is I finally point to the words in the guidebook...sigh! :) Here's a shot from the market.

Sleeper Bus!

Why don't we have these in the US?! Awesomely comfy buses that you can take to travel up and down the coast of Vietnam.

War Remnants Museum

In Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), there is a peace-promoting museum with the remnants of the wars in the 50s, 60s and 70s, including US military artillery, photographs from international photojournalists, documentation of the international movement against the Vietnam war, photographs and stories of the after effects of Agent Orange, amongst other things. We spent the afternoon here - it was a roller coaster of an experience, and highly worthwhile. Ask me about this if you're interested - would love to talk more about it, but don't want to pontificate here. :)

The sun streams into the Jade Emperor Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh City

Village by bike

We took an amazing bike ride into a village outside of Yogykarta. Amongst other things, we visited some industries that make krupuk (crackers eaten with most meals), bricks (yup the kind you build buildings with), and tempeh (delish!). We also participated in rice planting and rice harvesting. Check us out planting a bit of rice (it was so fun to get knee deep in mud and push the tiny tendrils into the ground). Also, the last row of bricks were the ones we made (I put my initials in mine!). This was a beautiful glimpse into the hard work and community that made up this particular village.

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

And also at the Hotel Perwita Sari!

We're staying at a place in Yogyakarta that looks like it belongs in 1970s southern California! It's motel stylin' all the way with a pool in the center and pepto pink rooms.

Es Dawet

My first taste of Yogyakarta was a drink called Es Dawet - coconut milk, rice flour, and palm sugar. I will definitely be trying to recreate this at home.

Goodbye Bali - off to Jogja!

Another apt blog title...

Might be: Eating our way throught Southeast Asia. Most of you probably know I'll be spending a good chunk of time talking about food!

Today we took a walk through beautiful Balinese rice paddies and stopped at a restaurant that was built there called Sari Organik. It was an amazing oasis with lush paddy views. See part of the restaurant below, as well as my "happy potato salad."

Candidasa, Bali

Surreal start

We just attended the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. There is so much to say here...the Chinese Buddhists in Thailand view this as a period of purification and atonement - therefore they eat vegetarian and vegan food, wear white, and some even do extreme things like driving swords through their cheeks and then parade though the streets. It was a surreal experience, from the pouring monsoon rains to the smoke-filled streets (from fireworks set off to scare bad spirits away), to people possessed by some of the gods invited to descend for the 10-day festival, to the huge swords or other objects driven through people's faces. We didn't take any photos, but if you want to read more, check out the official site or this blog (warning: graphic photos).

1100 pairs of eyeglasses

Have been safely stored in Bangkok as of today! We'll be back in November to pick them up and take them to their final destination - in Patna, India where we'll be volunteering. Thank you so much to everyone who donated generously to restore sight to those living in poverty. I can't wait to share more when we get to Patna.