"Backwater" Trip in Bến Tre

On Wed morning, our two canoe paddlers were waiting for us by 9am at the harbor in front of the hotel! One of them told me later that she awoke at 2am, worrying about the wind and the strong currents...but once she had committed to do something, she wouldn't back out (even I gave her the hotel's phone # to call if there was any changes...) so she prayed for the our safety. So kind of her! I bet they left home at 7am.

We got our wishes: doing the backwater trip without tourists, going into the very small, quiet, peaceful canals for long ride... It was risky crossing the river, but I  conquered my fear on the water! I was wearing a life vest for the whole time, G and I tried to take turns to paddle to help the two ladies out, because 3/4 of the trip they had to go against the current! I am sure they have arms and shoulders of steel to be able to do that task! I paid them double of what they asked once we arrived. That was hard work!

It was an amazing feeling to just float for 2 hours through the canals, seeing some locals setting jumbo shrimps traps, passing a coconuts processing plant, feeling of being shielded by "a curtain" of water coconut trees, just being immersed in nature...If India's Kerala Province deserves the name "God's own country", Ben Tre is more deserving of this title! (G's opinion)

We arrived at our "paradise" for lunch again. The owner asked his daughter to take us around to visit his relatives where we had a chance to set foot inside 3 local homes, 2 of them very basic and primitive. (G was so appreciative to see all that), One of the homes along a jungle canal was a homestay where they offer a bed to sleep with outdoor bathroom, plus breakfast and dinner included in the fee. Even though the offer sounded interesting, we declined.

Well, the plan to return by canoe was changed to motorbike ride instead. It was 35C and we were tired by 5pm when we got back to the hotel, but surely we had another amazing day!

My cousin came from HCM city to spend time with me the next day, took me to get the best coconut/banana candies in Ben Tre, we talked, walked to market, ate... as G went to do his own thing...

We will say goodbye to Ben Tre and return to Saigon this Friday but will miss it. Beach time should be coming soon. We planned to go to Vung Tau, and if we don't like it there, we would go to Mui Ne, Phan Thiet.  Will see.

"This Is Paradise...

... and then God created mosquitoes!"

Our day started with a good breakfast which was included in the room rate. Then we rented a motorbike and had an awesome ride with my dear husband who kept me safe through the countryside route  :)

We had no destination but went back to memory lane as a part of exploring, then the rest we just kept cruising through the most peaceful scenic narrow roads along the many canals, stopped by a Buddhist temple, had a break at a sugarcane juice stand, encountered a Coconut Processing Plant by the river. Got more info from locals...(Knowing the language is the biggest asset when travelling!) We reached a beautiful place for lunch that G and I were in awe of how lucky we were in finding these places where there were few tourists.

Another delicious lunch (Elephant Fish) at a private open hut with hammocks in a total jungle setting, listened to the rustling sound of palm trees leaves, felt the fresh air of the peaceful surroundings...G kept saying:"This is paradise... What did I do to deserve this...no pics or videos could tell how we feel right now...got to be here!..." I said:" This is what we call a real vacation!" Definitely, Ben Tre is one of our favourite places in VN.

We already booked a boat trip with some local people, avoiding the tour agencies.  So tomorrow, two ladies from the village will pick us up via a canoe right in front of the hotel, take 1hr+ canoe ride back to the village, rent a motorbike there to explore more before having another unknown lunch (?) then we will travel back the same way. Gotta put all my important papers in a plastic bag just in case I sink ;)

Another awesome day and it has not ended yet! Hmmm, what's next?

An Awesome Day!

After parting with my cousins on Sunday afternoon, we rested, then took a cab to a restaurant outside Tra Vinh city for dinner. The place looked impressive with individual huts floating on a swamp of different sizes with dining tables. We thought we came to a great place on the last day in Tra Vinh, unfortunately the food we ordered wasn't great. Well, we learned that deluxe did not guarantee good food.

We decided to go to Ben Tre on Mon afternoon, so we took a nice walk through Tra Vinh market for breakfast and leisurely browsed there in the morning.

We each took a 30-min motorbike ride through a beautiful scenic country route to Pha Co Chien to a ferry boat which took us across the river, part of the Mekong. From there we got on a local bus to Ben Tre where we found a very nice hotel facing the river...for $18/night. Had a delicious lunch...  We really enjoyed every type of transportation we took, feeling the new adventure which was smooth sailing all the way! Soaking in each moment!    

We are now settled in Ben Tre for the next 3-4 days. Love being here! This morning we are planning to rent a motorbike to ride around the country side, and a boat ride the next day through some of the thousands of canals in the Mekong Delta, go with the flow to explore...

Visiting My Roots

After a few well-rested days in HCM city, I reunited with my two cousins for the first time after 30+ years since I left VN. There is so much to reminisce that I became very emotional when I got back to the hotel that night.

On Sat morning, my two cousins (one with her daughter), G and I boarded a comfy bus--AC and sleeper seats for a 5-hr ride to Tra Vinh, my Dad's birthplace. The purpose of this trip was to visit my grandparents' graves and their home to pay respect. It has been 50 years since I set foot in Tra Vinh as a little girl at my Grandpa's funeral. I also did this on behalf of my Dad, I wanted to take home some images for his memories since he had no desire to travel to VN.

We found a nice, new hotel right downtown, dropped off the luggage and hired a taxi to the graves in the afternoon.  Luckily, one cousin and my sister from Reno (who was in VN a month ago) already went through the toughest part in searching for the graves, so it was easy this time. At first, I thought we were going to a cemetery, didn't know that my grandparents were well-off people in Tra Vinh in their era. The graves were untouched after all these years on their own big piece of land in the country site, which is now legally owned  by only one grandson. My Dad didn't have the rights to claim it either! Presently there is a poor family (generation passed on) who live there by planting peanuts and selling lottery tickets for a living; who are also responsible to look after the graves occasionally.

During our conversation, I mentioned to my cousins about an aunt who loved and cared for me for 5+years when I was given away for that period of time. Due to circumstances, I completely lost contact with her since my teen, not even had her picture. They were able to lead me to her grave! This was the unexpected blessing!

The whole afternoon was exhausting and emotional for me, feeling like I was re-living my childhood (which wasn't all good) However, it was a closure for me to be able to complete this task and I was finally at peace!

On Sun morning we walked to the temple where the other cousin's mother's resting place (urns of ashes on the shelves), to the market for food... Just simply spending time together as they were happy to see me again:) My cousins returned to HCM city on Sun afternoon, G & I decided to stay in Tra Vinh for another day or two to explore more before heading to Ben Tre (been there last time and love it!)

Return to Vietnam

This is the 4th time--every 2-3 years since 2005. No more "home sick" for G as every winter in Canada he always said: "I am home sick, let go back to VN".

Ready to cross?

We arrived in VN on Mon evening. What a switch from Chennai to Ho Chi Minh City! Of course, with business class flights, our luggages came out first, custom and immigration check was a breeze, the airport was clean and peaceful. It's paid to travel with someone who could speak the language, or better yet marry to one ;) No more culture shock, got to our usual hotel with a pleasant taxi drive, had quick shower then we were on the street to Ben Thanh night market for "real" dinner.

Eating inside Ben Thanh Market

Eating in the ally

Finally we both felt like our vacation had just begun! In the last few days we rested, walked, ate whenever we felt like it, had no definite plan or place to go. I am sure our bodies thank us for our choices. 

As we returned to our "comfort zone", for some new friends who may see or read less interesting stuff for a while, because we would not snap pictures constantly like new tourists. G already felt like to adventure again, but we were taking time to plan our next legs--we have a whole month. For sure, one of the plans will be the visit to my grandparents' graves in Tra Vinh. That will be interesting, for me at least. 

Stay tuned... 

The Last Leg In India

Feb 14
- enjoyed the camel ride!
- while waiting for our train to go back to Kochi from Alleppy (Alappuzha), we accepted an offer for a 2hr taxi ride with AC directly to the Kochi airport for $20US (he took care of the train tickets refund with small commission--fair enough :)
- had uneventful 1.5 hrs flight to Chennai.
- got culture shock once we were out of the airport! Had no clue where we were going to stay.
- endured a horrendous non-AC taxi ride for 1hr+ on highway which was down to two lanes, traffic jams, breathing in exhaust fumes...
- got to an area where it should be full of tourists as we asked. Hmmm, not a soul!
- grabbed a nice hotel just to get in regardless of the price $45/day, no restaurant, just room service (we didn't know where the food come from) Wifi charge was 2$ /100MB,  uploading pics was draining my pocket so fast so I stopped.

- ate street food with fingers while standing late at night.
Feb 15
- didn't feel well, got a chest cold  but agreed to go for a walk with G to find a money exchange. Still couldn't find a proper restaurant for breakfast. We bought a samosa and a pastry to keep walking on dirty streets (Chennai is the 4th largest city in India???)
-The hotel only accepted cash so I desperately needed US$ exchanged. Took a while to find a bank but it was not authorized to do the task!  People are still nice here even they look, act, speak differently than in Kerala. The bank had to call another bank and they promised to deliver money in 1/2 hr but it turned out to be almost 2hrs! For the whole time I stayed in the most dirty bank I have ever seen, a bank of India Branch. G went out finding food and came back with a small apple which I had no desire to eat. I was getting sick without realizing it.
- That was it! I hit the bed for the afternoon. Ordered room service for a bowl of soup which  made me even sicker that night!
Feb 16
- in my condition, we had to stay put. Couldn't plan to see places like Mamalapuram 60km from Chennai. G was very supportive, wandered around close to the hotel to check on me. That was when he felt he had enough of Chennai (and India as a whole): no good food, had to get beer illegally. dirty streets...so he agreed to get out at any price.
- I was in bed on the hunt for airline ticket to VN and the earliest we could get out for the price "I" would pay was Mon Feb 18 at 3am! $200/each more than planned.
- we were content to stay another day because we knew the end of our India trip was near.
Feb 17
- to our surprise, I was feeling better in the morning! We decided to take a short day trip to a closer temple & beach. Boy! This beach was the worst compared to any  beaches we had been to. It was so dirty along the shore! But the temple was nice. The locals began to come around 3pm. On the way back unexpectedly we saw another nice temple. (Please see temples and beach  pics on slideshow on the right)
- we ended the day by eating in the room a takeout half roasted chicken. The first time in two days I felt hungry.

-checkout at 10pm and to airport by 11pm. The autorickshaw driver tried to get more money from us with his children story up to the point of begging. Even I had been tipping generously, we didn't like his behavior, no good tip for him.

- Chennai didn't give us any good impression including its airport, my pic said it all. BUT the great thing we found out was we were flying in business class. I couldn't explain how it happened because I was sure I booked economy class???
-we missed the Lounge Invitation so only me turned around to use it and went through the security check twice. G didn't want to do it, but understood that I needed to do so--my first time ever to enjoy the business class service.

The Noodles Bar

-We both were so happy getting out of India AND getting in business class cabin on both flights  to Vietnam without knowing whatever the germs we got from Chennai was following us onto the plane!
-Augh! I was feeling sick again on the first flight, and G felt the same the minute we landed on Hong Kong airport. We both decided to take antibiotic pills!  Gladly we had 6hrs to rest and recover at another Cathay Pacific's Lounge where we had forgo all the good free foods  they served and settled with soup and light drinks only. It paid off, we felt much better by the time we boarded the second flight to VN.

What all the Yo-Yo experiences we both have in the two weeks in India after my one-month ashram life! Hmmm, reflection on this trip will come later when we get home!

VN here we come!

A Happy Valentine's Day

Actually this morning high spirit had helped us make it through the day on our way to Chennai--Tamil Nadu.
I fed the camel banana and G video taped it :)

It Was Worth Turning Back

Wow! Another learning experience when we took the 5:30 am train to Alappuzha! At Palakkad railway station, we saw a lot of local people slept on the floor overnight. They must be waiting for the boarding time, we wondered? And the urine smell from the tracks was obnoxious that we had to find a spot to sit where the wind blew the opposite direction!

Because we bought unreserved sleeper class tickets we had to grab the first seat in sight. G hopped on one of the upper beds, I stayed on a lower bench, only one person already there so I had the space of 3 seaters to lie down. Thought we were settled in, but by 8am, people who were going to work, school...started to fill up the train. They didn't like to see an inconsidered foreigner who took 3 seats, I realized that but I had a chest cold and another 3 hrs to go, I delayed sitting up for another hour. G was just being a good traveler, curled up in his upper bunk bed!

We arrived in Alappuzha by noon without breakfast, so we had lunch right away at the nearest restaurant. We got a referral from the restaurant owner and ended agreed to some info( room, boat trip) from an agent whom we soon know we might overpay. We stayed in a nice and small homestay type room for $20US/night with AC, one block away from the beach where we headed right away once we dropped off our luggage. It sad to see some dirty, full of garbage sections of the beach where locals come to enjoy after 3pm. The sections close to resorts or homestay places were much better.

  

The next day we went to a small boat backwater trip for two cost $60US/6hrs. For sure Alappuzha deserved the name Venice of the East. Gosh! We almost missed this place if we didn't decide to turn around. We so much enjoyed the whole time floating on the water, the delicious lunch as we stopped along the way! All the challenges to get back here seemed forgotten. We took so many perfect pics and videos of this place. There are a lot of tourists here. Some booked overnight big house boats from Kochi or Kollam.
The big house boats just like small cruises; they have bedrooms, bathrooms, chef to cook all meals....ours is smaller called Shikkara, could take 6 people for less cost/person with 4 chairs and 2 lounge chairs but we didn't know that! Some also stayed in the hotels or homestay places facing the backwater (something we didn't know when we arrived; but either way, one just needed to take an autorickshaw to get to the other end-either beach or backwater.

We couldn't ask for a perfect sunset to end the day!

On our last day at Alapuzha, after breakfast and short time at Internet cafe, we went visit a Hindu Temple named Mullakal Temple where they allowed non-Hindu visitors. The rules were: only males devotees or visitors had to take their shirts off when going inside, and no cameras allowed. Then we went for quick lunch and headed back to the beach for the last time. We found a hotel which was renovating and allowed to use the umbrella and lounge chairs as long as we bought a drink from the restaurant. Yah! I got it made for my afternoon leisure, while G walked along the shore, documented the fishermen's daily activities.



We had booked a flight from Kochi to Chennai on Thurs afternoon.  We still had to take 1hr+ train ride to Kochi, 1hr taxi to Kochi airport... I wished by the time you read my posts meant I got Wi-Fi again in Chennai as I got none for days in Alappuzha!

There was a highlight of Thurs morning--Valentine's Day. After breakfast we saw two camels walked along the beach. Of course, I couldn't pass the opportunity so we went for a ride. My favorite pic of riding a camel will be in the next post :) BTW, we were too busy planning our move, didn't realize it was Valentine"s Day until someone told us and we saw so many couples came out for the camel ride. Glad we joined them!

G said the unexpected events were always the best. How true!

In Transit

Out of all the suggested tourist destinations we asked around, my dear good traveler decided to take a 4-hr train to Palakkad which is unknown to us (not even on Lonely Planet) except it is on the way of the planned route to Chennai.

Again, we have had many "angels" help us along our journey every time we seemed at lost. The train ride to Palakkad was still pleasant except it was hot in a non AC cabin. I saw a young mother (with her little daughter) who swept the train floor to get few rupees  donation from us, instead of being a beggar!

A different model cab took us to a fancy hotel called Fort Palace $30US/night. This place is big, has nice rooms and service. It serves mostly the local people who attend conferences...so we were in our comfort zone again. The meals here are good too except we sat in a not well-lit bar for dinner, so we used iPhone as candlelight which was another laughable experience :) We went for a town festival that night just a block from the hotel.

We first were told there was no wi-fi in this hotel, but I was allowed to use a computer to E-mail for 40 Rupees/hr.  I am telling you, it's paid to marry a electronic geek (not sure about a good traveler though because the unknown does not suite me well ;)  The next morning as I was asking my nephew to publish a post for me through e-mailing, G spotted a modem under the manager's desk. Voila! We got Wi-Fi for ourselves and the reception still didn't know about it. G didn't tell them a thing ;)))

Sat morning, we walked to explore the city market for few hours. I didn't feel well from the day before with a chest cold and was loosing my voice as the day progressed. So far, I only had 4 bowls of hot & sour soup. There was not much to see in this city even it is close to the mountain range. In the evening, we went to see Alamuzha Dam, nice view of the mountains from afar, but the place looks like a Disneyland, especially on Sat we saw a sea of people!

Holly Cow!

We knew then we had to move on, so we went to book an night train to Chennai. Unfortunately, the overnight sleeper train was booked out for a week ahead, so the plan fell through! We just made the best of our day by going to see an old Fort (1745), and later had KFC-like Indian chicken that was delicious!

We discovered that Chennai does not have backwater trips as I researched, and something G hasn't experienced yet, so we decided to turn around to go back passed Kochi to Alappuzha--Venice of the East, they say (?) That meant we had to take the 5:30am morning train! We may be taking a flight from Kochi to Chennai as our last leg in India, this will include a 80-km train ride from Alappuzha back to Kochi. Well, we realized we didn't plan well, but many yin/yang experiences made it all worth while.

Happy Chinese New Year to All!

Leisure Days

After settling in an A/C hut at Kadalkkara Lake Resort, we were really feeling at ease: watching fishermen at work early in the morning, enjoying a nice lunch with fried fish, fried rice... (no more curry for me, except G ordered a "roast" chicken leg but ended with a curry chicken??? It was beyond our understanding but we ate it) Took a walk to the beach on Tues evening seeing lots of local people gather there to view the sunset and relax. finished the day by sharing a big trout for late dinner at a western style restaurant. To me, Cherai beach is not as nice as Varkala beach, that must explain why they have less foreigners here. Its busy season ends by mid Feb.

On Wed we rented a motorcycle for a day but only used it in the morning. We didn't feel safe on the busy city roads without helmets, so we cruised pleasantly on the side roads along the beach for couple hours, stopped by fishing harbour,  then came back to our favourite fish lunch again! The KLR's cook taught me how to marinate this fish dish because we love it so much that we ordered it again and again! Went to the beach again in the afternoon for a dip in the water, I pigged out on egg and banana fritters. Not sure I had lost any weight during the ashram month (Avelino did);  but I won't be able to tell until I get home as I know I will gain more with the way I am eatin,g and still have not reached Vietnam yet!  We also booked massage appointments for both of us. G had a Relaxation massage for $20, I gave myself a treat with a combination of Abhyanham-Sirodhara-Medicated bath for $44US. Experiencing Sirodhara is something to remember, but the rest was not impressive for the price we paid (but still cheap compared to home). I didn't think I had the medicated bath except a shower; but after 2hrs treatment loaded with oil I had enough to question the missing service. BTW, We had laundry service from the resort, cost $2-3/load max :)

Sirodhara

I think we both slept well here the last two nights, no mosquitoes with AC on, yah!
We were planning to leave here on Thurs afternoon back to Ernakulam by taxi, stay there overnight and will take the train on Fri morning to Palakkad--don't know what the place is about, it is just on our planned route to the final destination Chennai. "Go with the flow!" my loving good traveler said ;)

I am personnally not good at saying Goodbye, and at every place we stopped, we had met many nice people so it is emotionally hard moving onto the next destination.

Until next stop...

Hut To Hut In Less Than 24 Hours

We left Panmana Asramam on Mon morning (I was the last), boarded a regular train to Ernakulam with a plan to head to Agastya ashram. What was I thinking at that time by want to go to another ashram after just finished my time at one? Well, I checked the website from the recommendation of the other students and it looks and sounds impressive--into nature! http://agastyaashram.com/gallery.html
Even G agreed to go along, this plan was a disaster! Don't let the pics on its website fool you!

Besides the pleasant 3hr train ride to Ernakulam, we got an over-aggressive autoshaw driver who drove erratically for another 2 hrs to get to Vypin island (crossing a ferry), he asked for more money for the unexpected distance (?) Once we got there, the ashram people were so unorganized to arrange a room for us while G & I were feeling exhausted for another hr before we got our hut! The dinner was worse than the previous ashram's. I saw one student In my group was there for a week, Bhooma and his team were there to rest and to prepare for the next training in Mar... I already felt I didn't belong there in the first few hours, but tried to rough it up or to make the best of what we got; watching G looked so tired, I felt worse every minute! We didn't have bathroom in our hut, had to go down to used the public shared one...The last draw which pushed us to leave was the  price.  They wanted to charge us 35Euro = $50US/night for what we were getting??! G and I were furious and shocked, we couldn't rest so we went to the Swami and asked him to get us an auto-shaw to go to any hotel that still opened at 10pm. I still paid him $20US for the crapy meal, shower, and the sheets they would have to wash...
To be reasonable, G and I had nothing to against what they are trying to establish there--back to nature! We think the place would be suitable for someone who needs to hide away from the world...with quiet beach, yogic lifestyle... But not for us, we are on vacation.

It was late at night, when the driver dropped us off at a fancy hotel--Cherai Beach Resort, we just took the lowest rate hut named Thottaruvu to get a proper sleep. We got a $75 no AC room which was really nice, except I still got tons of mosquitoes bits though ...but its surrounding was a paradise!

Ours is on the right

The next morning, we enjoyed the nutritional breakfast at CBR, then we were on the hunt for a cheaper hotel and we found one--Kadalkkara Lake Resort. First we settle with the no AC room for $20  but ended switch to a single hut with AC which has no adjoin wall, less noise from neighbor--$30. The lunch here was great too!

I just felt bad to put  G & myself into the very unpleasant situation last night, but he was very supportive by saying:"all of what happened are part of our adventure" So in hindsight, we had to said because of one bad experience, we more appreciated what we got after.  As of this moment,  we are in a nice AC room, looking out the lake, feeling like we are on a houseboat and I am writing this post because we got Wi-Fi unexpectedly!

What's next?  But for sure there will be no more ashram life for me. I can now wear short, tank top on a hot day, order food that we like...no more restriction or rules.