All done Our travel blog has finally come to a conclusion.

I finally put up a gallery of all our pictures, here.

Here are some lessons we learned from the trip:

• Everyone in southeast Asia rides motorcycles.


• Living in poverty doesn't prohibit one from being happy; it's all in your outlook on life.


• Nobody exchanges Lao Kip. I still have US$5 worth of Lao currency sitting around (I heard a rumor of a place in San Diego that accepts it though).


• Americans don't really travel that much. Seeing an American in southeast Asia was always a suprise.


• The kung fu section at Fry's has a better selection than Hong Kong.

Thanks for reading our blog, your feedback has been great. See you on our next travel blog! :)

- Mike   ¶ 12:39 PM

  Last night in Hanoi It's been a month and the end (of law school applications) is nowhere in sight, so I thought I should just do the humane thing and end this puppy once and for all. :P

Hanoi, Vietnam

Our last day in Vietnam was spent wandering the streets of Hanoi, picking up some last minute souvenirs, savoring our last cup of Vietnamese coffee (sob sob!) and generally just enjoying the ambiance of the Old Quarter.

To be honest, it was quite a sad day for me. The end of a trip as memorable and wonderful as ours was really tough on me emotionally. I miss having Mike around, even if it is as mundane as playing a game of gin or laughing over some awful pun (and yes, some of them were truly awful). Best friends like him are hard to find in this world and one that is willing to transverse the world with you (and whom you are willing to transverse the world with!) is even harder to find. Most relationships come and go, but I am crossing my fingers I will never lose sight of him.

Okay, less sap.

So that evening, being Thanksgiving evening, we decided to splurge on a Thanksgiving dinner at the most expensive French restaurant in Hanoi. We had the typical fancy schmancy dishes expected, from foie gras to filet of beef, at the Sofitel Hanoi. The restaurant was very nice for Hanoi (okay, not up to par with the States, but come on, we are in Vietnam, for crying out loud!) and we are really dining with the elite of Vietnam, but the food was really poor. I thought everything was overly salted and to add insult upon injury, they served Stilton as an end course!!! Oi, one of the saltiest cheese known to man. All I gotta say is that no one should serve Stilton and foie gras at the same sitting. Darn frenchies (as Mike would say).

Mike and I lamented over the fact that our meal that evening cost as much as most Vietnamese make in six months. We drowned our sorrow with a bottle of wine that only cost merely a month's salary. After that, we felt a bit better.

Okay, now Mike (and oh so many others) can stop whining about how I have not been updating. :P

Your turn, Michael!

- Angel

  ¶ 8:28 AM

  Still in Hong Kong (sigh...) I wonder if anyone is still reading this now that we are both back in our respective countries...

Anyways, I promised myself that I would finish updating regarding Hanoi as soon as I have the chance. I have been just so busy with law school applications and panicking over law school tuitions that I had to put this blog on the back burner.

Besides, it's hard to update this blog without my blogging buddy! No more tag team blogging... "No... write this... but wait, take that out. No one cares about that! Here let me do it!" I can't write a blog entry without my backseat blogger. ;c)

So anyways, sorry for the delay and I will finish up as soon as I can.

Ciao!

- Angel
  ¶ 6:44 AM

  Back in Hong Kong Hello everyone!

I just got back to Hong Kong a few days ago and still trying to recuperate from everything. Everyone I have seen since I have been back has remarked on how much healthier I looked (probably due to the nice tan I got). Ironically, I actually am suffering from a nasty cold right now. Interesting how people think I actually look healthier when I am sick. ;P

Let me try to recap the last few moments in Hanoi (bear with me, for I am under the influence of lots of cold medication).

Hanoi, Day 2

(Post in progress... will finish later)

- Angel  ¶ 2:25 AM

  Hanoi Part II Angel and I have been enjoying Hanoi the last couple of days. It's a more relaxed atmosphere than the rest of Vietnam, and retains many of its French colonial roots. There's an abundance of coffee and French bread, and Angel says that the foie gras and pate here are particularly good. As Angel and I found out, it's a good place to just sit at a cafe and play gin.

Here's yet another paragraph about coffee. Hanoi is probably the best coffee town we've been in, for the sheer number of quality French-inspired cafes. We went to Vietnam's equivalent of Starbucks called Trung Nguyen, which is famous for a type of coffee called "ca phe chon". They used to feed coffee beans to a weasel, and then roasted them when they, uh, came out to make ca phe chon. The owner says that he now uses enzymes that are similar to the ones in a weasel's stomach. Either way, it's pretty good.

Historically speaking, it's strange going from HCMC to Hanoi. My dad was here just a few decades ago, when he was younger than I am now. Thinking of that tinges everything here with melancholy, but also makes me feel extremely fortunate that, unlike the 2 generations of my family before me, I'm not serving in a war and I'm able to enjoy a vacation in such a beautiful place.

We saw a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show last night. We were both suprised by how good it was. Today will be spent just hanging out in Hanoi. Playing gin, discussing her philosophy book, drinking slow-drip coffee. Now we're really vacationing, rather than travelling.

I haven't gotten homesick since being in Asia, but for some reason I really miss reggae music. When I get back the first thing I'll do is put on a King Tubby album.

By the way, the impetigo is almost gone already. When I called my mom to tell her about it, she told me that I also had it when I was 5. I'm glad that instead of worrying, it was old hat to her.

- Mike  ¶ 11:13 PM

  Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 2 Alright, after another cup of fresh Vietnamese coffee (yeah i know you guys are probably salivating by now), I am ready to roll.

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 2

During low travel season, hotels around town often offer special promotional prices, thus enabling Mike and I to stay in a NICE (well, nice for cheapie backpackers such as ourselves) hotel room with .... a POOL! The early morning was absolutely gorgegous (compared to the downpour we experienced the day before), so I decided to kick Mike out of bed and dragged him out for an early morning swim. Afterwards, we pigged out during the buffet breakfast (yes, we are definitely living it up), where Mike and I agreed that taking food from a buffet does not constitute theft. We decided to walk off all those extra calories by taking a leisurely morning stroll around Hoi An.

Now that's what I call a holiday! :c)

The train ride up to Hanoi

The train ride was interesting, to say the least (or else why would it merit a section of its own, right?).

Mike and I decided to take a train up from Danang to Hanoi to save money and to see the rest of the countryside. We bought "first-class" tickets, which offers two beds for the 18 hour trip.

Since the schedules were characteristically eratic, we almost got on the train bound for Ho Chi Minh City. We were lucky to have found people already occupying the room we were assigned to or else Mike would be the one who would have to explain to his co-workers why he has a black eye on Monday morning. :P

Okay, I must admit I was a little bit shocked by the train's conditions. We found ourselves jammed pack in a small room with two other women (one of whom bought small children with her) on a rickety train. We are lucky compared to the rest of the passengers. When Mike and I decided to explore the train a bit, we saw people sleeping on the floor, cars without air-conditioning, and just general mayhem. It made me appreciate our little tiny beds even more.

We spent most of our time reading "Sophie's World" together (a book on the history of philosophy. Linh, if you are reading this blog, thanks for recommending that book. It has been quite an awesome read) and taking naps.

Still, in retrospect, I am really glad we took the train ride (and even more glad we survived the ride itself). Watching the water crash against the rocky beaches of Vietnam is not something one sees every day, and we were fortunate to see some of the more rural parts of Vietnam.

Alright, Mike's turn to regal ya'll with stories of Hanoi... Until tomorrow then.

- Angel
  ¶ 11:10 PM

  Finally in Hanoi We are fresh off the 18 hour train ride from Danang to Hanoi. We're staying at: Room 404, Prince 79 Hotel, 79 Hang Bac, Old Quarter of Hanoi. Telephone : 9260628.

Danang, Vietnam

It was here where we found a winner to the "weird disease Mike and Angel will catch first" contest: Impetigo! It's actually very minor. It's a bacterial infection on the skin, so it just requires industrial-strength Neosporin. Angel only has a couple of small rashes that will go away in a couple days, but I got it under my eye so it looks like someone punched me. A waitress in Nha Trang amusingly asked if Angel was the culprit.

The impetigo should be all gone in the next day or two, but congratulations to this bacteria for winning the contest. It had some stiff competition from malaria, food poisoning, and traveller's diarrhea. In fact, we consider ourselves lucky that it's all we got.

Until we diagnosed it, though, we were starting to worry. I first noticed it in Cambodia, and we decided to seek medical advice in Nha Trang. Despite its modern facade, Nha Trang is still a remote town with no medical facilities, so we had to wait until we got to Danang. In Danang, we had to go to a dermatological hospital on the other end of town, where there were no tourists around. So when we walked in, people were looking at me like I was a black guy at a KKK meeting. For some reason, I kinda liked the attention.

- Mike

Although it was obvious that the doctors have seen conditions such as the one Mike experienced, the language barrier prevented us from knowing exactly what Mike had contracted. Luckily we were able to cross reference the medicine he gave us on the web to find out the English name.

Hoi An, Vietnam

It is supposedly one of the most scenic towns on the coast of Vietnam, but both Mike and I thought it was very commercialised. While other cities we have visited have been bombarded with commercialism, this little town appeared to be only preserved for the sake of consumerism. Plus, it's still rainy season, so it was constantly raining and some of the town was flooded.

There are more things to say, but I really need a cup of coffee.

- Angel

  ¶ 6:28 PM

  Hoi An, Vietnam We're in Hoi An, Vietnam. We're staying at: Thanh Binh III Hotel, Room 219.

Nha Trang, Vietnam - Part II

The second day of Nha Trang was mostly spent on one of its famous boat rides. They're basically boat parties that last from 9 to 5. We've both been looking forward to this, so we were pretty pumped.

When our party boat left the dock, it looked very similar to this:



That's right, November is central Vietnam's rainy season. The rain wasn't too bad for the first couple hours so we got to snorkel a bit, and eat some freshly caught seafood (Angel ate at least 7 sea urchins). And the boat crew also double as musicians, so they rocked it like a magikist for a while.

Plus a girl got seasick, so I had a good laugh (yes, I am a big jerk). She spent the whole trip keeled over, similar to the "pretending to write while sleeping at the school desk" position.

Apparently the band was doing a rain dance, because soon it looked like the intro to Gilligan's Island. Much to the delight of the shivering passengers, we ended up going home early at 3. But Angel and I still had a fun and memorable time.

It must have been the worst day of Seasick Girl's life. I feel sorry for her husband who probably suggested going on that trip. He'll have to tell his coworkers next week that he fell on a doorknob.

- Mike

Btw, regarding our previous post : our prediction was correct. We really did end up having a beer before heading back to the guesthouse at 11. So much for "partying it up".

The rest of the evening was spent just wandering the streets of Nha Trang. We had ice cream yet again (I am starting to notice a pattern here). It is kind of funny that the only word that Mike and I learned in Vietnamese is the word for ice cream : "Look ... Kem!"

We did end up playing pool at a local billiard palour, which was kind of off the tourist track. As soon as we started playing, the locals gathered around the table to watch. When it became evident that we sucked, they laughed and left.

Yeah, we are THAT bad.

This is a good time to mention that we also played pool in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Yes, we played pool in two different countries. We are sooo cool. Well, we thought we were heading into a pool hall. What we didn't know is that it was actually a SNOOKER hall, a game which neither of us played before.

Danang, Vietnam

Mike and I learned the correct way to pronounce the word "pho".

More later. The rain finally stopped for awhile, so we should book it back to the hotel before the downpour resumes.

- Angel


  ¶ 4:23 AM

  Nha Trang, Vietnam Hello!

First and foremost, I would like to say thank you for the kind encouragements people have been sending us regarding this blog. Hopefully most people (okay, some people) find reading this blog to be less painful than having a root canal.

I finally realise how tough it is to write a blog. It is hard to even schedule the time to write (once you find an internet cafe), and once you do, it's even tougher to decide what to include or leave out.

Okay, so for the boring part : Mike and I have finally reached Nha Trang, Vietanam, after surviving an evening in Ho Chi Minh City (more on that later). A normally scenic beach town community, we have arrived during their rainy season (go figure), but we are crossing our fingers for better weather tomorrow. We plan to stay til Monday morning, but if the rain does not let up by tomorrow morning, we might just head up to Hoi An earlier than anticipated. Of course, we will keep you guys posted. We are staying in the Thien Thanh Hotel at 03 Hung Vuong in room 302. In case of an emergency, please call 058 814304.

Okay... on with the show!

Siem Reap, Cambodia

"Temples, temples, and more temples". That's how another tourist described his trip to Cambodia, and I must concur. I am still not sure if there are more bugs or temples there, but tourists definitely outnumbered both. It is obvious that tourism has taken a hold on Siem Reap in a BAD way. We were accosted everywhere we went and were overcharged time and time again. It was tiring after awhile, but both Mike and I tried to bear with it with a sense of humour and a little patience.

But yes, back to the temples. After our first visit to Angkor Wat, we spent the following day visiting Angkor Thom (with the impressive Bayon temple), followed by the ancient Ta Prohm temple (which offers an amazing view if you dare climb to the top, which both Mike and I did) and another visit to Angkor Wat in the afternoon. I must say, I am pretty proud of myself for climbing up these temples. :c)

While I was at the temples, I was surprised to learn that many monks are eager to speak with tourists to practice their English. While many other tourists were absorbed by the ruins around them, I was more than willing to speak to the monks (or maybe I was just getting bored with the temples by then). It was during one of these conversations that Mike and I met a police officer who works on the Angkor Wat premise who spoke pretty fluent English. He has led an extraordinary life and it was really interesting to listen to life about Cambodia during the civil war. He and his friend took us to where the locals ate (luckily Mike and I both like frog) and we sat next to the moat at Angkor Wat, talking til the bugs drove us home. After being surrounded by tourism in Cambodia, meeting them left us with a more enlightened perspective on Cambodia.

Yesterday was spent in Beng Mealea (another temple in Cambodia) and an evening out in Ho Chi Minh City. With my fingers sorely tested (after all, I haven't typed this much since I left Hong Kong), I must leave the rest of this blog to Mike. Even as I am working on this blog, my hypochrondriac friend here is browsing the web for any possible diseases he might have contracted during this trip. So far, I am afraid he has contracted the bubonic plague, river blindness and Chagas disease.

Still waiting for the weather to clear up...

- Angel

The Angkor Wat temple is one of the 7 Wonders of the World, and we somehow only wrote like 1 sentence about it. Go figure.

The Beng Mealea temple was straight out of Indiana Jones; it hasn't been restored at all, so it's been overtaken by jungle. It was very cool, and what I imagined the ancient temples to be like. By the way, Angel hasn't seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, so every time I mention something that reminds me of it (bats, bugs, meals that look like the Indian town's offering, holes that shoot out arrows) she doesn't get it. Oh well.

Anyway, the ride out there was 2 hours long, and we passed by the Cambodia that we've seen on TV- miles of people living in straw huts. The friend we made at Ankgor Wat makes 50 cents a day, but he's rich in comparison to these people. Having spent all my life in the U.S., it's amazing seeing people live in such poverty.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We flew into Ho Chi Minh city last night. We heard that it sucks, but we both think it's actually really cool. Especially the pho we had, which was excellent (ha ha, suckers). And we think that Vietnamese coffee is even better than Lao coffee.

The traffic in HCMC is the scariest I've ever seen. In Hong Kong, I remarked that everyone drives like my friend Jason; that is, kinda scary but totally in control. It's frightening for the uninitiated but there aren't many accidents in Hong Kong. The same applies in Cambodia. But Vietnam kicks it up a notch, as Emeril would say. Crossing the street involved praying, so we didn't walk around too much.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Like Angel said, we're in Nha Trang right now. In Laos, there were mostly scruffy backpackers and European travelers. In Nha Trang, it's mostly party people. I'm beginning to miss the scruffs and Euros. Heck, even the Frenchies.

We're planning to "party it up" tonight and tomorrow. For us, that means maybe having a beer before heading to bed at 11. Or smoking 20 joints. Okay, just kidding (about the beer).

Seriously, there's supposedly the world's best banana splits here (for 20 cents) so we'll check that out now. Hopefully it can compare to the world's best blueberry muffin in Laos.

- Mike

I guess I know what we're having for dinner tonight!

- Angel  ¶ 2:51 AM

  In Cambodia A quick post today:

1. We are in Siem Reap, Cambodia


2. The weather here sucks


3. We are staying in a guesthouse next to the Rosa Guesthouse on Phlauv Sivatha Rd., room 108

We took a quick look around Angkor Wat last night, and we're about to go see it again, along with some other temples.

Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Beng Mealea temple before we head out to Ho Chi. We'll try to reschedule our flight to give us more time in Cambodia, and less time in Ho Chi, since neither of us are particularly excited about HCMC.

I've been suffering through a flu or cold the past couple days. The symptoms are very similar to the ones Angel had last week. Hmm... Angel has been nice enough to put up with my grumpiness though, so I can't hold anything against her.

- Mike

I am going to quote him verbatim the next time he gets ME sick.

To Bro and Mo - Geesh... Allan has the time to write me a short email (btw, hi Allan!) and not even a word from either one of you to acknowledge you guys are reading this blog. ANYWAYS, Allan told me that at least Louie has been reading, so that's good. Btw, don't forget to call the family to let them though we are still alive and well here (despite Mike being a grump for the most part).

FYI, we did not add a comment section because it costs $$$, so unless you want to contribute, i don't want to hear a peep from y'all (not that I AM hearing a peep from you two!)

- Angel  ¶ 8:00 PM

  In Vientiane again... To Mo and Bro - Can you guys email me so that I can make sure you guys are actually checking this blog and thus are informed about our whereabouts? Also, please ensure you call the folks / Tata! Thanks kiddos.

Lodging details - We are in room 14 of the Sihom Guesthouse in Vientiane, Laos. The phone number is 021/214562. We will be taking an early morning flight tomorrow (6 am!) to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Luang Phabang, Laos

We spent the last couple days in the small town of Luang Phabang. You know you are no longer in America when your alarm clock is a rooster. It's really bizarre to see chickens running around, pecking at what could possibly be your lunch in a few hours.

So we didn't end up going on the elephant ride right after we ended our last post. Instead we rented two bikes and rode around town the whole day. We decided to be all hardcore and drank Lao coffee with the locals. Mike says that it is the best coffee he has ever had. It is sweeter than sugar dipped in honey. Yeah, let's just say we were both pretty hyper for the rest of the day.

We shopped at the local markets (we only did it to help the economy with our tourism dollars, i swear!) and ate at some food stalls around town. We also went sight seeing at the Royal Palace, a much hyped religious temple (which i thought was over-hyped, to be honest) and walked up a billion stairs to catch a glimpse of the panaramic (if this is mispelled, it's Mike's fault) view of Luang Phabang. I must say, watching the sun set on the Mekong and Luang Phabang was a sight I will never forget. We ended the day with a lovely Lao massage, which helps fund the local Red Cross. See, we are so selfless. ;c)

While yesterday was spent exploring the city, today was spent adventuring. We rode an elephant for the hour trip to the beautiful Tad Se waterfall. It looked like an Evian commercial. The waterfall is in the middle of a Laotian jungle, which is something we never thought we would see.

So here we are again in Vientiane. We decided to splurge and had dinner at a fantastic French restaurant. In fact, it is definitely one of the best French meals I have ever had, and because of the cheap living standard here, I paid the equivalent of what I would have paid for a dinner at Sizzler's back home.

Sweet. Just as sweet as those darn Lao coffees.

- Mike and Angel  ¶ 6:38 AM

  In Laos - Day 1 and Day 2 Alright, logistical details for those who care:

Famil(ies) : Sorry for not calling yesterday evening, but Mike and I are now safely in Laos. In case of emergencies, we are staying at the Jaliya guesthouse (room 209) on Visounalat Road (+071 / 252154), Louang Phabang, Laos. We'll be there until Tuesday evening, when we leave for Vientiane, for our connecting flight to Cambodia.

Okay, now on to the juicy stuff.

Saturday - 15 November 2003 - Vientiane, Laos

After our connecting flight to Hanoi, Vietnam, we finally reached our first destination, Vientiane, the capital of Laos. With a few hours to kill before our flight out to Louang Prabang, we decided to spend the time on the mainfare, Samsenthai Road. We spent our time eating at a cafe (where Mike and I both agree that their blueberry muffin was the best we have ever ate) and watched the sun set on the Mekong while enjoying a Beer Lao (a darn good beer, I might add).

Laos is beautiful. The wide open spaces made me ache for California.

Laotians are very, very friendly people. It also made me sad though that it was painfully obvious that Mike and I are spending our vacation in the poorest country in Southeast Asia. Every dollar meant so much to them and yet so little to us. (Yet, I am ashamed to admit, I still continued to haggle hard despite that little piece of knowledge... but hey, I am Cantonese!)

Even though the proverty was evident, the people are just so ... happy. The sound of laughter could be heard everywhere and people are just generally having a good time all the time.

Mike and I then head over to the "airport" to wait for our connecting flight to LP. I use the word airport very loosely. It was just absolutely surreal to see lizards and a mouse running around nearby while you wait for a plane to arrive. I must say, it is nothing like LAX.

Although Vientiane is nice, Luang Phabang is definitely the highlight so far. It's so perfectly preserved and despite the omnipresence of "Farangs" (foreigners) and western technology (like motorcycles and video games), you can tell that their lives have not changed much. The languid speed of life that the Laotians enjoy matches perfectly with the peaceful Mekong that runs through the city.

We spent today wandering the city, enjoying Laotian cusine (which is very similiar to Thai food) and taking a slowboat ride to a cave that is used to store damaged Buddha statues (for one cannot throw away any Buddha statues). It was quite a long ride, but the scenery cannot be described. (don't worry! we have pictures we will upload once we get back home!).

I gotta get going for tomorrow, we plan to head down to a waterfall on an elephant! :c)

- Angel

For a second, I thought she said, "head down a waterfall on an elephant." That would rule.

- Mike  ¶ 5:50 AM

  Hong Kong Recap (part 2) I did finally find some old movies, but none of the rare ones I was expecting. When I showed Angel's parents what I bought, they called it them "old fogie movies". So the USA actually does have a better selection of these movies, because Hong Kong isn't interested in them anymore. Kinda like David Hasselhoff I guess.

This picture is for Sean Ojakian.

So Hong Kong does indeed have some of the best food ever. Even stuff like intestines, which I thought I didn't like, tastes good in Hong Kong. The food was so good, in fact, that it made me grow. As this picture shows, I am now the same height as Yao Ming. Angel is not doing badly either.

I won't bore you with descriptions of everything I ate, so you can do this at home: roll 1 die with animal names written on it, and another with body parts written on it. You'll get combinations like Duck-Penis, and it will be correct (ok, I'm kidding about that one).

I have decided that Chinese deserts are my all time favorite. Just look at this:



I got one that was hot off this stand on a street corner. Oh baby. If you've ever had any of these egg tarts, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Much props to Angel's parents. They're really some of the coolest parents ever. They let me stay at their place, they showed me the best local places, and even paid for most our meals. I'm still trying to think of ways to repay them. I guess a good start will be making sure their daughter comes home in one piece. So if I see her poking an elephant with a sharp stick, I will quickly grab the stick to make it look like it was me.

- Mike

Awww... now boys, THAT'S chivalry for ya! Now I gotta go and find a darn sharp stick for tomorrow's elephant ride.

=P

- Angel  ¶ 5:33 AM

  Hong Kong Recap (part 1) Because of some visa stuff we had to take care of, we had to reschedule our flight till tomorrow morning. So, I will use this time to update the blog.

Angel's parents have a sweet apartment. Here's the view from the balcony (click on images for large view):



While Angel worked, I went up to Sham Shui Po market. This met some of my preconceived notions of Hong Kong; a busy, crowded street market with lots of haggling going on. This area pictured is actually pretty sparse.



I once actually said, "[US $3.85] for a watch? He must be crazy." Anyway, I ended up buying a new watch for US $3.21, along with some clothes that were usually around US $4 a piece. It's like industrial-strength Rosarito. I went to the indoor food market there, which was packed with vendors breaking every PETA rule in the book. Then I saw this:



It's a fish that's cut in half, but it's still breathing. This is why I came to Hong Kong, baby. Oh, and here's a picture of some normal looking fish heads. Except... they're still breathing!



After showing these pictures to Angel, she wondered why I was taking pictures of such ordinary things.

Just for the heck of it. Here's a picture of some toads-in-a-box:



For Angel, here's some normal Hong Kong tourist pictures. I took this from a ferry:



And this from a tall building across from Angel's work:



-Mike  ¶ 4:21 AM

  Off To Hanoi We're about to leave for Hanoi, but it's just a 1 night stopover on our way to Laos. So we shouldn't get too used to the high falootin' luxuries of Vietnam.

I've been running all around Hong Kong the last couple days, almost to the point of exhaustion, so I haven't had time to update the blizog. And true to form, I'm almost running late right now, so I'll post a big HK update (with pictures) as soon as I find a computer.

-Mike  ¶ 7:44 PM

  In Hong Kong - Day 3 The dancing robot! It's all about the dancing robot. :c)

Sorry to disappoint those who have come to expect witty and humorous posts from yours truly (okay, okay, from Mike). He is slightly groggy from having such a busy (but fun!) day, so yeah, he is out of commission. No worries folks, he will be back tomorrow! Until then...

- Angel





  ¶ 9:47 AM

  Still in Hong Kong - Day two Being the nice person that I am, I took Mike shopping in the "ghetto" shopping district, Mongkok, while I am sick as a puppy. My mom kept calling to remind us to be careful of our wallets (I would be too if I actually had money in mine).

Mike bought a lot of stuff (of which I am sure you will be hearing about soon in the following section) and I just played tour guide. All in all, a good time. :c)

Mike's turn!

- Angel

Lots of waiting today. First we went to the Ministry of Waiting Around, where I waited a couple hours for Angel to fill out government paperwork. Then she took me to her doctor's office where she got a placebo acupuncture, where I was exposed to all these new strands of diseases. She points out that I am paranoid about diseases; I guess she's right.

I bought some pirated DVD's and such. The 3 movie places I went to didn't have any of the old kung fu that I want to buy. Angel says that I probably won't find any in Hong Kong, because all the stores only sell trendier movies. I'm refusing to believe her at the moment; if HK has a worse kung fu selection than Fry's Electronics, I'll have to rethink a lot of things in life.

We went to a clothes store, and the biggest pair of pants (XL) was too small for me. If I was a girl, I would think I'm fat. Luckily, I know I'm the shiznit.

-Mike  ¶ 8:26 AM

  In Hong Kong Yay, I'm in Hong Kong. I somehow didn't lose my passport, nor my plane ticket.

The flight went well, except for one thing: I had the song "Northwest Airlines", by Wesley Willis, stuck in my head for most the trip. The jet lag isn't bad, but imagine having Wesley Willis stuck in your head for 10+ hours. (I flew on United Airlines, by the way.)

Angel's parents took me to the best Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong, or so they say. We ate goat intestines, shell fish, tofu, noodles, rice porridge, and some fruit unknown to the western world. It was indeed good.

So I've been wondering which weird disease I'll get first in Asia. Most people think malaria, but my money is on some rare intestinal disease. Since I ate shellfish an hour after reading in my guide book, "don't eat shellfish here", I'm liking those odds.

I'll spend tomorrow honing my chopstick skills, and also my Chinese manners so I don't look like a jerk to Angel's parents. For example, "No" means "Yes" here. I'll learn.

We'll be here until Friday, when we leave for Hanoi.

-Mike

Bear with me. I am slightly delirious right now from being sick with the flu. With any luck, Mike will end up catching the flu from me before we leave for Hanoi.

So yeah, I picked Mike up from the airport. Took him out to eat at one of them "old-style" Chinese restaurant with my parents... and the waiter spent the whole time talking to him about horse racing... in Cantonese, no less. All Mike can do is to smile and nod like he understood what's going on. I have a feeling we will be doing that quite often during the trip.

... btw, Mike is a way better blogger than I will ever be.

-Angel  ¶ 9:39 AM