The Beginning of the End: Temple Street

Saturday night, I joined Lex, Anna, Kat and Kat’s mom for dinner at Temple Street. Temple Street is famous for its night market, so we decided to grab dinner before strolling through the market. While Ladies Market in Mongkok is mainly for women, as it’s mostly clothes, scarves, etc., Temple Street is the “men’s Market” and focuses on electronics, cds, videogames etc. It had a few vendors selling souvenirs and t-shirts, but not nearly as many as Mongkok. The market at Temple Street opens around 4pm and stays open until around midnight; we were there between 7 and 10pm and it wasn’t too busy, which was nice- there was actually room to walk around! 

 The entrance to Temple Street

We grabbed dinner at a restaurant on a side street. At these types of restaurants, patrons eat outside at small tables and on little stools. We shared a few dishes- sweet and sour shrimp, broccoli, some sort of noodles and veggie spring rolls. It was delicious! I will definitely miss the classic Cantonese/street food!

 Kat, Anna, Lex and I at dinner! (Lex's photo!)

We said goodbye to Kat before heading back to campus, since she was staying with her Mom and heading to India on Tuesday we wouldn’t see her again before leaving for the States. Although it was sad, we all know that since we all live relatively close this wasn’t the last time we’d see each other. We’re already planning a reunion in the future!

Stanley Market: Now and Then

Four years ago when I traveled to China with People to People, my delegation was scheduled to spend 2 or 3 days in Hong Kong. Due to a lovely typhoon though, we had less than 24 hours, and of those 24 hours, we had to sleep and leave China for good. So we only got to see Victoria Peak and Stanley Market.

Last Saturday, I went back to Stanley Market with Kat and Lex. We took the MTR to Causeway Bay and then hopped on a minibus to get to Stanley. When we first arrived, I was taken aback. The first thing I said was “Wow. They’ve definitely done some reconstruction since 2006.” Of course, this was before I noticed that I was not in the same area of Stanley when I arrived in 2006.

We strolled along a promenade before choosing a little seafood place for lunch, where we all feasted on fish and chips. And then we made our way to the market. And I realized I was where I was when I came in 2006 when I saw the Haagen Dazs ice cream store where I stopped for ice cream with a few friends from my delegation.

Stanley Market in 2006:

Stanley Market in 2010:

Lex, Kat and I strolled along the little shops, purchased a few gifts and goodies. This market sells a lot of different ‘souvenir’ type items. Unlike Ladies’ Market, which focuses around clothing’s and purses, Stanley has a lot of tourist things- like the “I Love HK” shirt I brought back in 2006, or pictures/names with Chinese calligraphy. And Stanley wasn’t too crazy. Although the main aisle was small, we weren’t breathing down each other’s neck.

It was great to actually explore and walk around Stanley; there were many Westerners so in addition to reminding me of my experience with People to People, I was reminded of home. J

Vietnam: Saigon Day 1

Anna G., Kat and I left Hong Kong on Monday night for Vietnam! We took a later flight (we flew United- it was a great little taste of America as an episode of The Office was shown and Lays potato chips were served) and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City around 10pm; we ordered our visas online and picked them up before going through customs and the baggage claim area. Unlike all other airports I’ve been through, our bags were required to go through another security/scanner check before leaving the airport. We were able to easily find our hostel driver/taxi guy and were on our way. Drivers here are on the left side (like in the States) and drive on the right side of the street- it was great to be back on the correct side.

Our hostel is located down an alley and surrounded by many other hostels. It’s a skinny building but very tall- we’re somewhere above the third or fourth floor- there are no exact floor levels here.

Tuesday morning we woke up ready to explore Ho Chi Minh City. We ate breakfast at the hostel and were going to be on our way when our room key broke so we were held up for about a half hour.

When we left we walked to Ben Thanh Market.  It was this huge inside market with thousands of stalls selling everything from towels to purses, fruit, coffee beans, and clothes. (Apparently Northface is extremely cheap here- we saw backpacks at the market for less than $20USD when they go for more than $100 in the States). We are planning to go back and do some shopping Friday morning.

{Sidenote: $1USD = ~20,000 Vietnam Dong; meals go for around 40,000 to 100,000+ Dong, a can of Diet Coke is usually around 10,000 Dong, bottles of water is between 7,000 and 10,000 depending on the size}

When we left the market we decided to do something like the tuk-tuk in Bangkok but is a tricycle and the ‘tourist’ sits in the front chair (see picture for better explanation). We were able to get up close and personal with HCMC traffic on our way to the Jade Emperor Buddha.

The Jade Emperor Buddha wasn’t too exciting or different from the Buddha’s I’ve seen, but it was still interesting. On the way in to the temple, numerous beggars came up to us and we passed various vendors, including one who was selling goldfish in bags!

We were then on to Notre Dame Cathedral. Unfortunately though it was closed, but the exterior of the building was gorgeous.

Our drivers dropped us off at the War Remnants Museum and when it was time to pay we were RIPPED OFF BIG TIME. Literally, crazy. Stupidly, we didn’t agree on a price when we first got on the bike, but still we were RIPPED OFF BIG TIME.

The War Remnants Museum was still closed for another half hour so we wandered over to the Reunification Palace. The Reunification Palace was the site of the end of the Vietnam War, when the North Vietnamese troops came through the gates and during the war it was the site of the South Vietnam government. Nowadays, it’s just a museum.

Ho Chi Minh and I

We then made our way back to the War Remnants Museum. Outside the museum were various US airplanes and tanks that we used during the Vietnam War. The museum consisted of three floors, filled with pictures, remnants and stories from the war. During my senior year of high school I briefly learned about the Vietnam War and throughout the museum information came back to me but I was still completely amazed at the whole ordeal. It was a basically an anti-America/look what America did to us museum, so it put a unique spin on the whole war, but some of the stories and pictures still blow my mind. In most museums, you see people taking pictures, and I took a few pictures inside of the museum, but I just couldn’t bring myself to take pictures at a certain point. I think we spent close to two hours in the museum, and I personally was glad we saved it for our last activity of the day.

One section of the museum focused on before and after pictures of areas effected by the Vietnam War

We made our way back to the hostel before heading out to dinner and went to bed early because we have a tour to the Mekong Delta early Wednesday morning!

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Thailand is famous for its floating markets, but there are only a few remaining and they’re all about an hour outside of Bangkok. Kat and I signed up for a half-day tour through our hotel; we were picked up just before 7am on Tuesday morning. We had to pick up a few other people for the tour, and then made the hour trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.

When we arrived, our tour guide told us we would be taking a “James Bond” speedboat to the floating market; apparently it’s a similar boat to a scene in a James Bond movie, but since I’ve never seen a James Bond movie I can’t say for sure. The boat reminded me of the boats we use for crew- long and skinny, seats for about 8 or 9 people, but this boat had a motor and rudder instead oars. The fifteen-minute ride over to the market was great. We went through all these different ‘streets’ and got to see what life was like living in this area. The houses are right on the water and have steps that go right into the water. There were a handful of people on their steps doing laundry in the water. 

When we got to Damnoen Saduak, I was rather surprised. I had seen all these pictures of floating markets and well, it wasn’t exactly what I had expected. We were dropped off at what turned out to be a strip of stores and were given an hour and a half to walk around in the stores. On the other side of the water/stream, there were little stores that were reachable by boat, but you had to pay 150 baht to get over there/for a 30-minute ride. Kat and I decided against the boat ride because we figured we could get anything we wanted on this side of the stream. At one point we sat down and just observed the dynamics of the floating market. Another tourist was interested in buying some fruit from a lady who had her little shop set up in her boat on the water. The shop owner maneuvered her boat closer to the land, weighed the fruit on her little scale and gave them to the customer in exchange for money. Afterwards, the shop owner proceeded to move her boat back away from the land so other boats could get through when necessary.

After the floating market, the tour us to an elephant farm where a few people rode elephants, but Kat and I just hung out. Then we went to a wood-carving studio. This studio was amazing. We were able to freely walk around the factory and store. The factor allowed us to see the carvers at work as well as the pieces they were working on. Some of the pieces were so elaborate and intricate. We also met another traveler on our trip; he was from Liverpool and was making his way around the world. He had already been to the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and was still looking to go to Hong Kong. It was great hearing about his travels and experiences abroad.

We were then on our way back to Bangkok; Kat and I were dropped off at a shopping center by our hotel, where we proceeded to waste time before leaving for our overnight bus to Samui. We grabbed some lunch at a food court; I got pad thai- it was delicious! We wandered around the mall, did some window-shopping and spent some time looking around a bookstore before heading back to our hotel to grab our bags and go to the train station where we were meeting the bus.

•   •   •

We purchased tickets through a travel agency our first day in Bangkok for an overnight bus and boat ride to Koh Samui. We met the bus at a train station on Tuesday night; the bus was rather simple, a double decker with the first floor for VIP people, luggage and the driver while the top level was for the rest of us and just like a coach bus. The ride wasn’t too bad, took about nine hours and we stopped 2 or 3 times for a half hour each. We were dropped off somewhere around 6am and then picked up again after 8am. We were then taken to the dock and after an hour boat ride, we made it to Koh Samui. We had to bargin with the taxi drivers on a price for driving us to a hotel; even though the taxis are labeled “Taxi-Metered” they’re not. For a 2.5km ride, the cheapest taxi we got was 200 bhat, which is still less than $10USD, but expensive compared to what we were paying in Bangkok.

Upon checking in at the hotel, we were surrounded by the beautiful resort and beach. J

Festival Walk

Last weekend (I am so behind on updating) I went to Festival Walk with a few friends. It was a rainy day and as an indoor mall, Festival Walk gave us something to do while still experiencing the culture of Hong Kong.

The mall was huge. It was connected to the MTR station- there are actually a lot of MTR stops with malls connected- so we didn’t even have to walk outside. There were about 6-8 floors and hundreds of high-end stores and various eating establishments. When we arrived, we briefly walked around the mall, checking out some stores and places to eat. We came across an ice-skating rink- yes, an ice skating rink in the mall- with hundred of little Chinese kids learning to skate and taking lessons. It was amazing. We had planned on eating when we arrived and decided to eat in the food court and found seats just overlooking the ice skating rink.  For lunch I got a bowl of rice, chicken and egg. It was pretty good.

We meandered around the mall for a while. I was looking for an agenda book for school but could only find 2011 ones. We walked into a few of the higher-end stores, like Marc by Marc Jacobs, just to check out the prices.

{A note about prices- the majority of things here are cheaper than the U.S. Food is rather cheap, I've gotten meals for less than $3 U.S. but then again I've also splurged on some meals. Material goods are usually cheaper than in the U.S., but some things were more expensive, for example some of the 2011 agendas I found were more than $25USD, while in the U.S. the same one would be less than $15. The only things that I've found to be more expensive here than in the U.S. are things in the high-end stores- a few bags in Marc by Marc Jacobs were almost twice as much as they would be in the U.S.}

We found this huge department like store- they were selling everything- from food, to calendars, to umbrellas and sandals, to luggage and travel necessities, and jewelry. It was great to walk around and check everything out.

There was a grocery store that looked and smelled much nicer than the one by our school, so we checked it out before leaving. Wow. They had a great selection of American food at relatively cheap prices. It was nice walking around a store and seeing a lot of American brands. 

Mong Kok

On Sunday I went to Mong Kok with Anna, another exchange student from HWS. Neither of us had been but so many other international students had and highly recommended it.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon in Mong Kok, just roaming the streets, looking at the vendors and shopping. First of all- it was so crowded- I felt like I was in Times Square; I think it was because we went on a Sunday. The MTR was packed, you could barely move.

We roamed through the famous Ladies’ Market, where there are lots of little vendors selling anything and everything from clothes to purses to jewelry to electronics. The skill of bargaining is necessary here.

We found a little restaurant and bakery to go to for lunch- where I had beef and pineapple over rice. We had ordered a thing of spring rolls to split but they never came.

We continued to meander around the area, coming across a variety of shops and hourly hotels. We also found this playing field where some kids/teenagers were playing soccer.

Mong Kok was a great place to spend the afternoon and I’m interested in going back, but probably not on a Sunday.