There are probably about 100 spas in the small city of Danang. I spent quite a bit of time in them this trip, as I’ve tried sorting out the muscles in my leg, and I had an array of experiences from excellent to “what the heck just happened to me?”
These are just Danang’s most high end and fancy spas. Most spas are small, and just do the basics: foot massage, oil massage and hot stone massage.
Most of these spas are run by women who sleep during the afternoon while tourists are at the beach and work hard in the evenings, when tourists are walking around, looking for dinner and something to do.
One of the many small spas in Danang
The prices are astoundingly low. You can get a 1 hour foot and leg massage for about $10. A hot oil massage is usually around $15. The fancier places have larger packages with more options (facials, body scrubs, mud baths etc…), but even the high end places are reasonably priced when compared to Canada.
Dave and I got hot stone foot rubs here. The masseuses were lovely.
Of course, in Canada, you’re paying for a certified professional who went to school and learned about the body. In South East Asia, you’ll get some masseuses that know a thing or two but you’ll also get ones that don’t seem to understand that the human body isn’t just a large punching bag.
They forgot to advertise their UFC- Style massage…
We decided to go for Thai massages together on new year’s Eve at a little place called Kaly Spa. It was the worst massage of my life and anything but a Thai massage! They punched and slapped me, and dug their toes into my ribs. Multiple times I had to ask the woman to ease up. At one point it felt like she was trying to remove my shoulder blade. She dug her fingers under it and pulled and pulled until I actually got mad. And I’d like to say you get what you pay for, but this was the most expensive massage I went for the entire trip (it cost about $30).
Avoid this place …. It’s horrible!!
Of course, I also had some very good experiences. Thuy Nguyen Spa was fantastic. It was down a back street, a few doors down from our first Hotel. The women there were lovely, and they undercharged me every time I went. Vicky, the woman I saw there, was determined to help me, because she knew that I was in a lot of pain. She would work on me for 2 hours but only charge me for 1. Amazing and caring people.
I highly recommend this place!!
So if you’re heading down to Danang, be sure to stop into a spa or two! The hot stone massages are so nice, and there’s nothing like a nice foot rub after a day of travel (or leisure!)
There is nothing like a South East Asian market! They’re an endless collection of souvenirs, shoes, bags, clothing, with the odd live chicken to keep things interesting.
These are all barrels of snacks for purchase. In this particular market, coffee, mango candies and coconut crackers are the most common items for sale
It’s overwhelming being in these markets. Sometimes, shop keepers will try pulling you by the arm. Dave and I never purchase anything from anyone who does that. The market is crowded, noisy and full of strange smells. For some reason though, I love it. There’s such a buzz in these places and it’s almost like a game, trying to get a good price on things.
Open bags of food are the reason why it smells kinda weird in these markets. We only ever buy sealed stuff… Don’t worry!
This particular market had seamstresses making clothing for people right then d there. They take measurements, you choose a fabric you like, and then a style of dress or shirt… and they make it for you! I’m sure they get paid a far more reasonable wage for this than what they get paid if they work in an H&M or Walmart factory. It’s a pretty cool set up!
Speaking of name brands, you’ll find everything from knock off designer bags to ‘faulty’ H&M clothing. Shoes, purses and clothing, everywhere you look! Some of them actually have legit tags, which is why we figure they are either somehow faulty or an old model that didn’t sell. Other items, of course, are just blatant knock offs.
Pro Tip: try and get everything you need from just 1 or 2 sellers. The more you buy, the better of discounts you get! It can save you a lot in the long run.
I consider myself a strong supporter of ecotourism. When planning a trip anywhere the first thing I do is look for the best ecotourism destinations within the country we’ve decided to visit. Then I look for companies that provide eco-friendly and eco-conscious options. In Indonesia, we discovered Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking. In Thailand we discovered Elephant Nature Park.
As a strong supporter of Ecotourism, I am very opposed to the following activities:
Elephant riding (torture)
Tiger Parks (over-breeding & drugging animals as well as farming Tiger parts for TCM and other gross activities)
Any tour where wild animals are fed, touched or interacted with unnecessarily
Any experience that involves using animals as entertainment (unless you’re just watching them be animals…I find that quite entertaining, actually!)
Any tour that involves unnecessary damage to the environment
Any activity that promotes the destruction of natural habitats
Any activity that takes advantage of the poor, disabled or young
…..
Please don’t ride elephants! Chair or no chair… They were trained to do this through torture. It doesn’t matter if it’s fun or pretty or cool because it’s also cruel, and avoiding cruelty towards living things should be more important than “fun”. Have fun in a different way!
I typically do a lot of research before booking an eco tour with any company. I was in touch with the folks at Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking for weeks before I booked. I wanted to make sure that my presense in the jungle wasn’t going to be harmful to the animals and I wanted to make sure that I was working with an ethical company that pays its employees fair wages and gives back to the community.
Even after our tour was done, we got together with the owner of the company and 2 of our guides to share some laughs over jungle trivia. These guys were so great. Writing this post just made me want to go back to Indonesia again!!
Our trip to Vietnam this time around didn’t have much on the itinerary, to be honest. We just wanted a low key holiday to relax and enjoy some sunshine. Of course, a lot of our time here has been cloudy (and therefore a bit cold), so we’ve been finding non-beach related things to do as we go.
I’ve spent a lot of time with my feet sitting in tumeric and cinnamon. Both are good for bringing down swelling.
Our last morning in Hoi’an was spent doing something that was labeled an “eco tour”. Now, given the price of this tour I wasn’t expecting much. I figured we’d go out in a little coconut boat for a bit, paddle around, admire some coconut trees and that would be all. I was wrong (and I HATE being wrong!)
Warning: there was NOTHING ‘eco’ about this tour!
We’ve run into this before. Many companies like to use the word “eco” to attract people, but never give a thought as to what “eco” is supposed to mean. For example, on a good eco tour, your guide will speak softly, so that they don’t disturb the local wildlife. This is what we experienced during our Hong Tour in Phucket. It was lovely and we ended up seeing several wild animals because no one was shouting and scaring them away.
Here in Hoi’an, we were told to poke at crabs with a stick….
In Indonesia, our guides picked up any garbage they saw in the jungle. Sardi, my favourite of our guides, even kept his cigarette butts and didn’t leave them behind, even though he easily could have.
In Hoi’an, there was garbage everywhere. There was also a layer of oil and chemicals on top of the water. It was disgusting
In Bukit Lawang, Phuket and Chiang Mai, culture was celebrated. Staff were treated well and we were taught about traditions and customs. In Bukit Lawang we got to hear our guides tell stories about how they grew up in the jungle village. We learned about their families and we compared Indonesian culture with Canada’s and China’s. In Thailand we learned about the ancient custom of releasing lanterns into the water. Our guide taught us how to make them so that they are 100% biodegradable so that there is no pollution left behind.
In Hoi’an, we watched villagers humiliate themselves, singing loudly over a ktv track to Gangham Style… All to make a buck
The easiest way to tell if you are in a “mass tourism” situation or if you’re on a legit eco tour is this: Ecotours typically feel relaxing. You feel like you’re part of something good. You remember your guide’s names. You remember little details that made you smile. You have time to really experience things.
Our guide in Thailand made this with us. His name was Ole. He told us that he made one of these pretty Krathongs every year of his life, since he was a little child.
Mass tourism, on the other hand, feel rushed. You’re on an assembly line. No one tells you their names, or if they do, it’s a formality and they never call you by yours. You’re rushed from one point to the next, they ask you for money many different times for many different reasons, and then you’re on your way.
Straight up ahead, in the white shorts, you can see our driver. I’m walking with a pretty bad limp at the moment, and he never even noticed. He just sped on ahead, so that he could get rid of us a bit faster to get the next people through.
If you’re reading this and wondering about those Coconut Tours… Please don’t waste your time or your money. Spend a bit of time online and look for something that is more dignified, because I promise you’ll enjoy yourself more.
Pro Tip: if you’re online and confused about which companies are doing real eco tours and which are just using the words to lure people in, here are some good things to look for:
The definition of Ecotourism somewhere in there website
Mentions of conservation or wildlife protection
mentions of building up their community or community projects that the company is currently working on
Ethical employment
Slightly higher costs (because they’re looking at quality of experience… Not quantity of guests)
An animal’s job is to be an animal. Not to entertain you. I’m glad though, that this particular elephant allowed us a selfie. This was my first close up with them, and I almost cried I was so happy. There were nearly some tears shed on the coconut tour as well, but if a different variety
If I want to look at the bright side, at least I can say that this was a good reminder of why we don’t do stuff like this anymore!
We took a little trip today and visited some ruins near Hoi’an. I’ll be writing more about that later, but today, I wanted to mention the tasty lunch we had on our way back home.
Rice noodles, peanut sauce, spicy fish sauce and chicken
One of my favourite things about Vietnam is that we can stop pretty much anywhere and find good food. Every little shop has a dish or two that they do really well. There are always fresh vegetables involved and almost always noodles to order, and today’s rest stop didn’t disappoint.
The thing to remember about Vietnamese food is that there is almost always a side of veggies that you can either put into the soup, or that you can use to wrap meat in. The textures of Vietnamese food are my primary reason for loving it so much, so this sort of mix-it-yourself dining suits me just fine!
This particular dish also came with a nice sesame cracker. A perfect mix of textures!
We also ordered iced coffee today with our meal, but it turned out they didn’t have any. Now, it China, we would have just been told “Mei You” (don’t have), and that would have been the end of it. But not in Vietnam!
They take service (and coffee!) seriously here!
They didn’t even tell us they were out… The owner just hopped on her motorbike and drove to another restaurant to get us some. Best of all though, she drove that same motorbike back 10 minutes later, with 2 cups of hot coffee in one hand (she steered with the other)!! They take coffee SERIOUSLY here!!!
Her motorbikeOur coffees. That she carried. With one hand. On the motorbike.
The whole meal cost us about $5 Canadian. Best of all… I’ve had dozens of meals like this (sans the coffee/motorbike experience), and no matter how small the little shop and no matter how far out of the city we go…I never get sick. Anyone who reads my blog knows I’m prone to travel-related digestion problems… But these pit stops are never what do me in.
The Thai food we had for dinner a few nights ago wasn’t so kind to me…
So, here’s another pro-tip for anyone reading this and thinking about going to Vietnam:
Stop at those little mom and pop restaurants on the side of the road! The food is good and cheap plus, you’ll experience things you never would otherwise!!
Also, travel by motorbike. You get to see some pretty funny stuff!
Lanterns can be found all over Asia. Different cultures have different shapes, sizes and colors of lanterns, but they seem to be everywhere we travel in Asia, and they’re always beautiful!
Lanterns vary in size, colour and shape
Chinese lanterns are mostly red, except for during the lantern festival each winter (usually in February, depending on the lunar calendar).
An example of the Chinese lantern festival in Philadelphia. They use many smaller and large lanterns and make huge parade-style floats of bright colors. I was lucky enough to experience Xiamen’s lantern festival in 2006, but I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as theirs since.
Hoi’an has had lanterns as a cultural artform for centuries, but historically, they were mostly circular and red, like traditional Chinese lantern. With increases in tourism in the 1990s though, Hoi’an started adding more shapes, colours and designs to their lanterns. The effects are spectacular.
Now, the lanterns in Ho’ian are a big draw for tourism. I’ve always wanted to see the lanterns of Ho’ian (I actually sort of booked this trip with them in mind!), and they didn’t lack in “wow factor”.
You see them in the shop windows for tourists to buyYou’ll see them hanging from Palm trees to decorate the cityYou’ll see them on the boats that take tourists up the river
During celebrations, the city of Ho’ian instructs shops and houses to turn off their lights so that you can only see these beautiful lanterns along the river. I imagine it’s quite the sight!
This was River side during our stay. The camera doesn’t quite capture the beauty.They’re also used to decorate restaurants all over the Old Historic part of town
Our time in Hoi’an has been filled with light!
Stay tuned for more on this beautiful lantern city!
Vietnamese coffee is some of my favorite coffee on Earth. It’s strong, rich and delicious whether served hot or cold. One of the first things we did when we woke up our first morning was to find some coffee.
Two coffee lovers
So, it always annoys me when I see those signs that Starbucks has everywhere claiming that Arabica beans are far superior to all others. In fact, most Vietnamese coffee is made with Robusta Beans… Which happen to be delicious!
Now, Starbucks is an important part of my survival living abroad. I’m not knocking the Coffee Siren or her magical Arabica beans, but to state that Arabica is “better to drink” is simply wrong. It might be smoother and lighter, but if you want coffee that’s going to kick you in the pants and get you going, Robusta’s your bean!
A little bit about beans
Of course, there’s more to coffee than just the type of bean it’s made with. One crucial element of Vietnamese coffee is the sweetened condensed milk that’s served instead of regular fresh milk. It adds to the richness of the Robusta bean, packing your coffee with flavour!
This is how coffee is often served in Vietnam. They also bring you a bucket of ice for if you want it cold. Because Robusta Beans are so strongly flavoured, adding ice doesn’t water down the coffee the way it does with Arabica beans
There are also all sorts of specialty coffees served in Vietnam. My personal favorite is coconut coffee. They freeze coconut cream and blend it in with the coffee to make a sort of frappe. It’s delicious!!!
Egg coffee is one of Dave’s favourites. During wartime, dairy became scarce in Vietnam, so people started whipping eggs to create a meringue of sorts. It’s still served in Hanoi now, and you can find it in some cases further south as well.
We don’t seem to have any photos, so here’s some stock footage of this delicious Vietnamese specialty!
Today, Dave something new: a salted cheese coffee. We aren’t 100% sure not, but it’s likely made of a mixture of cream and cream cheese, frozen together into cubes and then added to iced coffee.
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!!!
Even instant coffee here is more bearable! The only coffee we avoid in Vietnam is the weasel coffee. This isn’t because of how it’s produced, but rather because of the animal cruelty involved in producing it.
In the wild, civets eat coffee cherries as part of their diet, and then they poop them out, mostly whole and interact. Apparently, these beans taste great, so naturally, people have found a way to industrialize it. Unfortunately for the civets, they’re often kept in terrible conditions and are force fed the berries with little other food, more or less making the poor things sick. I won’t touch civet coffee based on the ethics behind how it’s produced
Vietnam has taught me that there’s more than one way to make a good cup of coffee. At this point, as long as my caffeinated beverage doesn’t come at the cost of an animal’s well-being, I’ll try any coffee Vietnam throws my way!
In every country, you’ll meet friendly and welcoming people, and you’ll also meet people who are looking for ways to rip you off. And of course, there are always the locals who find foreigners extremely amusing and just want to get their attention. Today, we seem to have met them all.
Our bartender at the pool today was keeping busy by practicing his bottle throwing. All I ordered was an iced coffee so he was pretty bored. He’s pretty good at tossing those bottles! I’m glad none of them broke!
The Good
With the pain in my leg being so bad lately, I found my way down to one of the many spas in Danang for a deep tissue massage. When the masseuse saw me flinch as she worked near my damaged shin (I was hit by an ebike nearly 4 years ago and have dealt with nerve damage ever since), she asked me about it…. Then, instead of avoiding the area, like most masseuses do… She dug in. She worked on that area and used Tiger balm and tried to bring down the swelling. In the end she did not charge me for the extra 15 minutes she spent on that leg. To her…I was not a piggy bank. I was someone in pain that she could help. So she did.
The compression socks have been helping but they’re no where near enough. I’m planning to go back to see her a few more times before we leave Danang.
I can honestly say that I’ve met people like her in every country I’ve visited. There’s always someone who goes the extra mile and is extra helpful or extra nice to you; they see you as a guest in their country and try to help where they can. Whether it’s helping you find your way when you’re obviously lost (like we saw in Taiwan) or helping you choose the most representative dessert to bring back to your family (at a bakery in India), we always find kind people.
Something else we find is ridiculous t-shirts…. Everywhere we go in Asia…
The Annoying
As we arrived at the night market tonight, we parked the motorbike that we rented and the girl who takes payment for the parking came over and asked for 20,000 Dong. I laughed and said “no, the sign says 5,000…”. Her face stayed straight and she said “20,000”. I saw an older woman walk by who also worked there and I asked how much the fee was and she confirmed the price I had understood: 5,000. She gave the young girl heck for trying to rip us off, we paid our 5,000 Vietnamese Dong and carried on.
This giant helmet is worn to protect my giant brain. You’re not tricking THIS foreigner kiddo! This ain’t my first rodeo!!
It was nice that the older woman was being honest but it bothers me that a young kid, probably 14 or 15 is actively trying to rip people off. She learned that somewhere…
The other type of “annoying” we deal with involves “awkward laughers”: people who get uncomfortable around foreigners and laugh loudly and awkwardly as a result. We sat across the street from 4 or 5 of those types of people today at lunch. They were VERY amused that we were eating at a local food stand and not in the usual touristy area. The food was good… Everyone was happy. No laughter necessary. And yet…
My $3 lunch
The Less than Nice
20 minutes after renting our bike today, we were pulled over for a traffic violation. We had turned left onto a one way and hadn’t moved over to the right lane quickly enough, so we got ticketed for our infraction. It was rotten luck and we simply just didn’t know, but that’s not what made the situation “less than nice”.
In Vietnam, if you get pulled over by these guys, you pay the ticket right away. It’s nice having it over and done with but it all happens pretty quickly
Before we left the motorcycle rental agency they warned us that if we are pulled over and don’t have valid international driver’s licence, that the police would impound the vehicle and charge us 250USD.
An international driver’s license is not the same as your regular licence, by the way. No matter which country you’re from. It also needs to be renewed yearly for it to be valid. In Canada, you can do this at any CAA
I swear you could see the look of disappointment on that police officer’s face when we had our papers in order. He was hoping for a bribe, but we had been through this before, in Thailand, so we were prepared.
Our brief time in the left lane cost us 500,000vdn…. The equivalent of $30 Canadian
There are several morals to my story:
There are good people, annoying people and not so nice people EVERYWHERE.
Always renew your international licence if you’re going to drive in a different country.
Pay attention to signs so you can know what to expect to pay (and avoid getting ripped off)
Smile! Life is short and traveling is mostly a lot of fun. Don’t let every bad interaction get you down. After all… The police are trying to keep the streets safe and those kids at the parking lot are probably not getting paid very well and just trying to get some extra pocket money.
Tomorrow, we’ll be spending Christmas sight seeing and soaking in the beautiful views!
At the end of the day…I still got to swim in a rooftop pool in Vietnam… So how could I really complain!?
We’ve been back in China for a few days now, and the new term is underway, but I still wanted to write about our last day of holidays. It was, after all, one of our best days in Spain!
Poe is happy to have us home!
I scheduled one day in Madrid for the end of our trip for shopping, but as it turned out, we didn’t have much shopping to do, so we went sight seeing instead.
A part of the Berlin Wall
My favourite way to see a city is on foot. You see so much more than you would if you were driving around. There are so many little things to notice when you’re up close and personal with a city.
This building was behind a bunch of other buildings and I loved the lion.
Dave and I considered a few places for our final day. There are so many art galleries, museums and Historical buildings to explore in Madrid, but we really wanted to be outside, enjoying the sun!
That sky!!
Suzhou is either polluted or rainy in winter, so we wanted to take advantage of the sun and clean air as much as we could before leaving Europe.
We went through from a different area of the park and saw some new things. We also saw some old things from a new angle, which is always important!
We also walked our way through dinner, stopping at several of our favorite Tapas Bars.
We found ourselves back at Claxon for more pork belly!Across the street there is a tapas bar that is more than 100 years old! They make wicked Spanish omelettes and their mushroom caps were great too!
By the end of the day, we had taken nearly 30,000 steps, but had seen so much more of the city. I wouldn’t change a single thing about the way we spent Valentine’s Day! It was truely a Dave and Marie sort of way to celebrate!
Such a romantic spot!
I’m back in Suzhou now. The pollution has been bad enough the last few days that my eyes are itchy and watering. At least the rain stopped…
Now I’m working on a new idea that synergizes two of my biggest passions in life: Staying healthy enough that I can continue doing awesome things and helping animals in need!We have 43 contestants so far! Can’t wait to see how many more sign up this week!!
I’ll be back soon with some more in depth posts about our travels. I’ll be writing about:
– Madrid City and all its sights
– Segovia, Avila & Toledo: City Walls, Castles & Cathedrals!
With budget airlines charging so much for luggage, Dave and I opted to pack light and save all of our shopping for the way home (international flights get better luggage allowances).
Ryan Air: too cheap in include a pocket for you to keep your stuff in during flights…
To make that happen, I scheduled a “bonus day” in Madrid after Poland, which worked out really well because we LOVED Madrid! It also meant we got to divide our flights home to make our travel days easier.
I did use our travel time well… Making posters for a couple of puppies that need homes
On this trip, we had the following flights:
– Shanghai to Paris (12 hours)
– Paris to Madrid (2 hours)
– Madrid to Barcelona (1 hour)
– Barcelona to Warsaw (3 hours)
– Warsaw to Lisbon (4 hours)
– Lisbon to Madrid (1 hour)
– Madrid to Paris (2 hours)
– Paris to Shanghai (12 hours)
That’s 37 hours of flying. When you add in layovers, we easily spent 2 full days of our holiday in airports. I Actually much prefer taking the train when possible, but flights save so much time that it’s often a no-brainer.
Our airport Facebook posts are My least favorite selfies lol. Dave always makes me, but I always look tired and cranky. This one was at least for a short flight so it wasn’t too bad
Still, flight days are useful… I often spend the time catching up with my journal, or writing up post cards. I also read. This year I reread The Diary of a Young Girl, while we were on our way to Poland. I feel like it was a good way to set the mood for some of the things we saw there.
Sometimes our post cards arrive in Canada before we make it back to China!
All of this is to say that flights and travel days are a necessary part of traveling the world.
I am grateful that we missed the bulk of the Chinese New Year Travellers! I’ve been in stations and airports this busy…. It is not a fun time!
Krakow is an amazing city, so we decided to spend most of our time in Poland there. We’d also read about plenty of little day trips you can take from Krakow, so we knew we wouldn’t have difficulty filling the time.
History, architecture, food….Krakow has it all!!
For our last day in Poland, we knew we wanted to do a day trip, but we were torn between two very appealing options.
Zalipie is about an hour and a half from Krakow. The town is full of beautifully painted houses. The artwork is all done by women in traditional Polish fashion.Zakopane is a a resort village about 2 hours from Krakow. It’s known for winter sports and hot springs
We loved the idea of spending our last day in Poland relaxing a bit, so after a lot of hemming and hawing, we decided to drive the 2 hours to Zakopane, where there are several thermal spas to enjoy.
Termi Bukowina has several saunas, different temperature baths and waterslides too.
When we set out in the morning, it had already started snowing, but being from Winnipeg, that didn’t exactly phase us. It DID worry a lot of other drivers though, and the result was a whole lot of slow moving traffic. Our two hour drive became a 3 hour drive.
It was a beautiful 3 hour drive!
When we finally arrived, we realized the town was a terrible place to try and drive in the snow. The roads are quite narrow and confusing, and there was NOWHERE to park. Finding a restaurant away from the congested city center proved to be difficult as well.
I was busy trying to help Dave navigate down the main streets, so I didn’t get pictures of the traffic, but it was bumper to bumper all the way through the town. Everyone was just crawling along
We finally found some lunch, and then head to Termy Bukowina. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well… On top of the place being an absolute zoo, they don’t rent towels and expected guests to buy towels in the gift shop for $15 Canadian each, instead.
Picture about 100 kids running around this place along with a whole lot of annoyed looking adults
We tried one other (smaller) hot spring, but that one was just as packed. So…. We ate some cake and drank some coffee and then drove the 2 hours back to Krakow (traffic wasn’t bad on the way back!).
I did get to see the wood cottages though! Unfortunately, the mountains surrounding Zakopane were hidden in the falling snow so we didn’t get to see that either
So that’s how we spent our last day in Poland …
On the bright side, I did manage to mail our postcards while we were there, so if you get a postcard from Poland from us, we drove 5 hours to get those to ya!!!!
I’m just going to have to come back to Poland some day to see Zalipie!
