Siem Reap

From Hanoi, we flew to Siem Reap. It was a breath of fresh air after the chaos of Hanoi. It was busy and there was the bustle of tourists all over but it felt less chaotic and I felt like I could cross the street without a death wish.


One of the things nobody told us before we left the states was that they take USD in Cambodia. Almost all the prices are listed in USD and you can pull it out of the ATMs. We had changed some money to Riel before we left the airport but actually had a hard time using it. And with all the prices listed in USD, we had to covert the Riel before we could pay with it. Except for the grocery store. The computer had prices listed in both Riel and USD. But if you paid in USD, you got Riel for change.I ended up bringing home some of the small bills that are only worth cents. I think I'm making bookmarks out of them.


We stayed at the Memoire d'Angkor Boutique hotel and really liked it. It wasn't very big but our room was nice.

And as it turns out, I don't seem to have a lot of pictures of Siem Reap, the city. We didn't see a lot of it though. We spent the mornings at the temples (which I'll do in another post) and would rest in the afternoon and then spend the evening around the night market and Pub street.

The night market was just full of tons and tons of stalls with all kinds of cheap tourist junk. And I'm not trying to put it down. We bought stuff there. You just had to look around. Most of it was the same and then you would find that one thing that was different and worth buying. I ended up with a bracelet, scarf, and sarong to take home and then we got the family some little gifts there as well.

Bai Tu Long Bay

Very early in our planning, I knew I wanted to go to Halong Bay. As I was researching which tour to take and how long, etc. I read how crowded the bay can get and issues with trash in the water. After a little more digging I found "the bay less traveled". Bai Tu Long Bay is north of Halong Bay but still has the same karsts and views.

We booked the tour with a company called Indochina-Junk for 3 days and 2 nights and it was perfect. I would highly recommend them.

Our boat was the Dragon's Pearl II

The tour started with a pick up in Hanoi and then we had to travel for about 4.5 hours until we got to Halong Bay city where we got on the junk. I'm not sure what the actual distance is but I think most of the travel time was because the speed limit isn't that high and there are lots of other vehicles and obstacles on the roads.

 

On the way we stopped for lunch and got to see a traditional water puppet show.

 

 

The junk was so much fun. Not very big, only 11 cabins. We had one of the cabins at the back of the main level. We just sailed around the karsts and got to stop to kayak and swim. It was really a perfect time and so relaxing.

Here I am relaxing on the sun deck

 

The sky was hazy a lot of the time (really, through our entire time in Vietnam) and I don't have the knowledge, or the camera, to really capture the water but I loved it when it was this jade green color.

Beach time after which we had dinner in a cave

View from the entrance of the cave

This cruise is going down as one of my favorite things we've done on our trips. The food was great, it was relaxing, the views were fantastic, our fellow cruise-mates were so nice, the weather was perfect...I could go on and on. I don't even have the words to describe the butterflies and the fish jumping or the feeling of cruising in the dark and relaxing on deck looking up at the stars.

Loved the views

 

 I'd recommend this to anyone thinking of going to Halong Bay. Go to Bai Tu Long Bay for 3 days and 2 nights with Indo-china Junk.

Hanoi

My sister and I did our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia last month. I was a little anxious about this one but it was all for naught. We were safe, had only very minor travel issues, and just had a great time.

We chose Hanoi because that's where the tours to Halong Bay leave from and that was the big draw for us to go to northern Vietnam.

Temple of Literature - Vietnam's 1st University

 

We were actually in Hanoi too many days. The city is chaotic and busy and is not really friendly to foot travelers. Walking takes a lot of concentration just so you don't get hit by a car or scooter. We could have cut out almost 2 full days there and been perfectly fine. Chalk that one up to experience.

The food was excellent! And cheap. That alone was worth a visit.

Pho!



 

Ho Chi Minh's memorial

 

We didn't get to go in because it was closed but it was one of the things on my list to see and didn't disappoint. We didn't stay much longer than just getting a few pictures. The sun came out from the clouds and it got hot. The sun and humidity just did us in.

 Hoa Lo Prison

 

We didn't do too many historical sites from the Vietnam war. This prison was much older than the Vietnam war, but was nicknamed "Hanoi Hilton" during the war.



Presidential Palace

 

The office government buildings were all this lovely cheese color.

 

Ho Kiem Lake

 

All things considered, if I ever got back to Vietnam I would go see central and southern parts, or even more northern like Sapa. But Hanoi was ok to visit once.

 

Farewell Home

My parents sold their house. They bought a smaller place in a retirement community. It's all on one level, they don't have to do yard work, etc. They've needed to downsize for years now as they've gotten older. We all used to balk when mom would bring up selling the house but it's a good thing for them and seems like the time was right.

But even so, it's a little bit sad at the same time. We moved to that house right before I turned 8 and even though I haven't actually lived there for years now, it's still home. I've had a great life in that house. And it's enough. It's really the people who make the home so even though we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving (probably) and Christmas (definitely) in a different place, I'll still be with the people who matter most.

Quick Trip to Oregon

I love the Oregon coast. It’s truly one of my favorite places. I love how you can feel like you’re in the mountains and at the beach almost at the same time.



Near Devil's Churn

Cape Foulweather

Cape Foulweather



My parents rented a house just south of Waldport and I decided they couldn’t let that second bedroom go to waste so I flew up on Sunday and spent a few days there with them. It was great weather. The wind came up on the beach a little bit and I wished I had taken my ear muffs (or that great alpaca wool hat I bought in Peru) because they got cold, but other than that it was perfect. Seriously, waking up and taking a walk on the beach every morning is the best feeling. We did a little shopping, went to the cheese factory in Tillamook, walked on the beach, and just generally relaxed and had a good time.

View from the house

If I was ever going to own a vacation house, it would be somewhere along the Oregon coast. A girl can dream….
 

Seal Rock

PiYo Week 8 and Final Thoughts

Yesterday I finished the 8 weeks of PiYo workouts.  I have lost 8 lbs (yay!)  and I tried taking measurements but none of them have gone down. However, I’m wearing my smaller pants today so I’m not too worried about that (and for all I know I could totally have missed the spot I measured last time since it’s not something I can pinpoint exactly).  I can definitely feel the difference in my clothes.  The goal was to be able to wear my hiking pants and one of the pairs is going to fit.  I’ll take it!

Final thoughts:

Overall, I liked PiYo although I still think it moves a little fast for beginners to get the correct form. My knees didn’t like it so much. Toward the end I had knee pain and my right knee is still creaking when it bends.  I have seen my flexibility improve, which I love.  I also ended up with a little definition in my arms. That hasn’t happened in a long time. I like Chalene as an instructor.  I’d do more of her workouts, ha ha, except the clips I’ve seen online look hard. Don’t think I’m quite ready for that level of intensity. Besides my knees hurting the other real issue I had was that I got bored because you are essentially doing the same moves in almost every workout. By this last week, I kind of hated doing it.

I’m pretty happy with what I accomplished in the 2 months. I’m sure I could have had better results had I been putting that much effort into my eating but it got me to the point where I’m ready to keep going with getting regular exercise. Right now I’m tired of PiYo workouts (and my knees need a break) so I’m going to go back to walking and other things for a while.  Then I’d like to try it with more variety so I’ve put together my own PiYo hybrid schedule based on some I saw online and using DVDs and the treadmill I already own.  I will go 2 weeks without repeating a workout so hopefully that will help with the repetitiveness and the knees will feel ok.

I’ve decided to do a little hike tonight after work and I’m kind of excited to get some exercise that isn’t PiYo. I feel good and life is good.

PiYo - Week 7 Recap

This week started out as probably the hardest so far. I had to talk myself into not quitting. Honestly, I think I’m just tired of PiYo. I love how I’m feeling but would like to mix it up a bit. I want some variety. However, these two months have flown by. I have a saying on my bathroom wall that says something to the effect that the time is going to go by anyway so I can either be healthier in that time or not. On Friday I put on a pair of jeans straight from being washed and they are definitely loose. Like, pull them up loose. And on Monday I wore an old pair of jeans that I couldn’t wear earlier this year. It seems like it happened overnight but it’s a great feeling and what I’m concentrating on to finish up strong.

I’ve learned that I definitely have time to exercise and I can do it at random times if I have to. To complete these workouts I’ve gotten up in the morning, used my lunch break, right after getting home from work, and even right before bed or other random times in the evening. It’s really about telling myself there are no excuses. I still really want to be more of a morning exerciser but there are very few days when I literally don’t have time somewhere in the day.