Hainan Association and Temple

Today was my first day in Penang, Malaysia. I actually started my visit to Malaysia over the weekend but I’ll have to write more about that exciting weekend in another post.

I woke up much later than I usually do in Asia because the guesthouse I’m staying in has no windows. It turns out that windows in guesthouses in the center of Georgetown, in Penang, are somewhat of a rarity. I’m staying at the Banana guesthouse and besides the windows situation it’s very clean and conveniently located in the middle of the backpacker strip, complete with a travel agency, cafe and free WIFI.

For breakfast I picked up a steamed bun with vegetables in the middle. I’m not sure what they call them here but they’re called bun bao in Vietnam. I was still hungry but I didn’t want to delay my walk around Georgetown since the day was already hot and was rapidly getting even hotter. I walked down a small street called Love Lane which leads into Chinatown and I passed several other guesthouses and homes. My first stop was to the Hainan Cultural Center where I was the only soul to be found. Even the person tending the desk at the entrance was off on a break somewhere. It’s always nice when you can wander into a place, snap some photos and hear the sound of silence around you.
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We’ve been in Pai since Sunday afternoon when we arrived by bus from Chiang Mai. The name of the town is pronounced with a hard “B” sound, as in, “Bye Bye”, not, “American Pie”. The weather is quite different up here in the mountains of Northern Thailand and we wake up to the chilly morning air protected by a couple of blankets and a mosquito net in our cabin. The cabin is the ideal setting for a little morning stretch and exercise, complete with a straw mat and a beautiful view of the gardens.

We decided to skip the included “American Breakfast” as it’s called and cross the street for something a bit more interesting and healthy. We first dropped off our dirty laundry, also across the tiny street, where they wash your clothes for 20 Baht (50 cents) and it’s ready by 6PM the same day. The breakfast cafe was small and charming with statues, flowers and little offerings of food in dishes which the passing dogs seemed to enjoy very much. Tamar had a fruit, yogurt and muesli cup and I enjoyed a mushroom crepe and some very strong and good coffee.
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More Than Just A Diagnosis

Philipp, a co-worker at MSS, had a motorcycle accident yesterday. This is quite common in Vietnam and is not really a big deal. This time, however, Philipp got pretty scratched up and decided to go to a hospital. Considering he wasn’t wearing a helmet during the time of accident, he was very lucky to only have a few scratches here and there. This morning he showed up in the office (after driving his motorcycle to work of course) bruised yet cheerful and we were talking about his accident. He showed me the doctor’s note he received at the hospital and it was just so funny I had to take a photo. Take a look at the last item under treatment!

My Friend Trang at Dinner

I met my friend, Trang, for dinner at one of the Banh Trang restaurants in the city. At a Banh Trang restaurant you order meat or fish and get a huge basket full of herbs (some are quite exotic), cucumber slices, bean sprouts, dry rice flour crepes, pickled carrots/shallots and fish sauce of course. The fun part is assembling your meal: you take a little of each ingredient using chopsticks, place it on the rice paper and transform it into a nice roll. Some do it a little more gracefully than others (mine kinda looked like a Vietnamese Burrito) but either way, it is super yummy.

View of Saigon River from my Apartment

This city is exactly as I remembered it – fun, energetic and HOT. After settling into my apartment this morning, I hopped on a Xe Om (motorbike taxi) and went to District 1, to start the day at my favorite place – Cafe Centro. After a quick breakfast, I hopped on another Xe Om and went to MSS office located at Zen Plaza. I got to meet the great team I’ll be working with and do some actual work. I love my new office, especially the excellent Sushi bar on the 5th floor…

It turns out that Santa, like me, can’t really stand the winter and has decided to spend Christmas in Vietnam this year. The whole city is overly decorated with elaborate holiday themed installations and lights. In a country where only 5% of the population is Christian, this makes very little sense but is oh so fun to look at.

Spending nearly 23 hours on planes yesterday left me no choice but to get a full body massage today. It was heavenly. To end the day, I met up with Aryeh and Jesse at a great Vietnamese restaurant housed in a beautiful French villa.

Not bad for a first day!

Phu My Hung Neighborhood

Today we decided to explore another residential neighborhood in the south of the city at District 7 called Phu My Hung. This fairly large, new area features newly built buildings atop stores, cafes and beauty salons. There are wide streets shaded by trees and an 8 lane highway leading to it. It reminded me a lot of “Ramat Aviv”, the affluent north Tel Aviv neighborhood where Tel Aviv University is, only missing a fancy mall (for now). After a fruit shake in one of the nice places at Phu My Hung, we drove back to the city and headed to Ben Thanh market. The large and colorful market has not changed a bit since the last time I was there 6 years ago. There are still lacquer souvenirs on top of clothes on top of shoes right next to food stands. The whole market is very crowded and after an hour of navigating the narrow alleys (and a close encounter with a huge cockroach) we got out to eat lunch elsewhere.

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Hotel Continental in HCMC

Today we woke up especially early to get the most out of our last morning on Phu Quoc Island. After eating breakfast and snapping some photos of the resort we had a last tan and swim on the beach at Mango Bay. The taxi to the airport was a welcome change from the dust of the road by motorbike and we boarded our plane back to HCMC.

We returned to the city very hungry and promptly ate a meal of delicious crab/asparagus (Tamar) and melon/pork (Kevin) soup and other goodies at Vietnam House, a restaurant in the Don Khoi area. In the evening we met up with our friends, Aryeh and Jesse, at Jesse’s house in District 1 where we enjoyed excellent Indian food take-out. It’s great to be back in Ho Chi Minh City!

We were in the mood for some pho in the morning and drove into town searching for a place serving that wonderful morning dish. It seems pho is not as popular here as it is in HCMC and we ended up having baguette with egg. We drove once again to Vietnam Airlines and this time we got lucky-we were able to get tickets for a flight back to HCMC for the following day! Although we could have easily stayed on the island for another 2 weeks, we were relieved that we won’t need to spend a whole day journeying back by boat and bus.

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Today was our first day of pure relaxation on the beach. We woke up to the calm sound of the waves and decided to spend the whole day reading, sleeping, eating and sun bathing. We stayed here at Mango Bay and got off our long chairs just to order food. The island has a magical power that makes you feel totally and utterly relaxed and happy. The speed of talk is slowed down and all thoughts seem to focus on how we could possibly live on an island permanently…

Kevin decided to explore the Phu Quoc “night scene” and go squid fishing in the evening. He drove the motorbike down to the docks alone where he joined up with a boat that was about to leave. He caught one squid the whole night but ate a great squid congee dinner washed down with a Vietnamese “333” Beer. He nearly got lost on the long, dusty, unlit and mostly deserted road late at night (went a couple of kilometers too far) which he said was the spookiest driving experience he’d ever had!

Driving through Fishing Villages

A friend we met in town, Nguyen, recommended driving north to see the beaches and forest on that part of the island. We read that you could drive through the forest with a motorbike and planned to take shelter beneath the shady trees at the hottest time of the day.

After driving for about an hour, we were covered in dust and ready for a break. We stopped at Vungbau Beach to look at the great view and had lunch there. Kevin ordered BBQ squid marinated in salt and chili and a few minutes later he got his own personal grill to cook his lunch on. It was so yummy!

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Riding around Phu Quoc Island

We rented a bike and drove to Duong Dong, the island’s main town. We decided to check with Vietnam Airlines office across from the airport if there were any available seats flying back to Saigon. So far there are none and we may have to stay here forever.

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