Salvador de Bahia – The culture capital of Brazil

The state of Bahia is located in NE Brazil & its capital of Salvador is the historical capital of Portuguese Brazil. The city is perched high above the bay & celebrates its predominant African heritage with its colored colonial architecture, narrow cobbled streets, incredibly delicious food, nonstop samba music & drums, & proud fun people. I’m writing this after having visited 4 states in Brazil & 3 different locales within Bahia & I can say without a doubt that the Bahia people certainly seem to be the most proud, banding around its Bahia statehood. It definitely feels like a special unique culture & has an electric fun energy. Nowhere is it better on display than Salvador. I felt it as well in Morro de Sao Paulo & Boipeba, no doubt, but I returned for my second stay in Salvador after my jaunt to the islands, to find the locals setting up for Sao Joao festival. It was still a few days away but the city was already bursting with color, the drum beats were never louder as all day long, small drum corps held impromptu street marches to get everyone on their feet dancing, & the main town square in the Pelourinho neighborhood was littered with tables & an even-larger-than-normal stage had been erected for the bands that play nightly as the crowds gathered for music & dancing. Celebrating Sao Joao in Bahia is definitely high on my list of future trips.

Just 2 blocks from my pousada & on a steep hill was a plaza featuring this stunningly ornate blue church surrounded by multi-colored buildings & buzzing with people. While not the main square, it was my fave as I wandered through several times a day. A bit obsessed.

São Joao decorations. My pousada owners said São Joao was just as big as carnival for locals & maybe more so bc it didn’t attract as many tourists.

[caption width="4032" id="attachment_2793" align="alignnone"] The main square with lots more churches

Caju, or cashew, fruit juice is my fave new addition to the traditional caipirinha

I LOVED this lady. I typically steer clear of folks dressed in costume as they’re preying upon tourists who just want to snap a quick selfie. I was minding my own business taking a photo when this lady did a sneak attack & started talking to me before I realized I was ensnared. She started telling me about her “traditional dress” & I apparently was feeling a bit saucy as I told her, in my embarrassing Spanish-Portuguese mix, that her traditional dress didn’t seem very practical bc it was so big. She paused, as it was clear she wasn’t accustomed to being challenged & especially by a smart-ass gringo, looked me up & down & then burst into laughter. She tried to convince me, I remained skeptical. She refused to take any money from me, gave me tips on Salvador to-do’s & made me send her this cool photo I took of her. She was fabulous.

These guys were practicing capoeira in the main square. It’s a Brazilian martial art that incorporates dance, acrobatics & music. I was watching them, mesmerized, when I made the mistake of creeping a little too close to try to capture it on video. Then they went into “tourist performance” mode posing for pics & trying to get me involved which was a whole lot LESS cool than the actual art form they were practicing before.

The elevator, the most famous of transport options between the upper city (historical center) & lower city (port & market but not much else).

Moqueca, a famous Bahia stew, made with seafood, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, cilantro, palm oil, coconut milk & served with the traditional hot sauce called piri-piri (it’s actually hot!!!), rice & farofa, a toasted cassava-flour mixture served all over Brazil with many different meals. Delicious!

El Chalten, Argentina – my kinda trekking town

So I’m just going to come out & say it. El Chalten in Argentina is my favorite place I’ve visited on this trip. Yes, that just happened. It’s this perfect little quaint charming town of 1,000 situated inside the Northern end of the same Parque Nacional Los Glaciares that El Calafate borders from the South. In its backyard are these unbelievable mountains dominated by Mount Fitz Roy & Cerro Torre. The hiking trails start right from this darling town. You just throw on your daypack & walk out the door. You don’t have to give a thought to transport. It’s so easy. Well not the treks but the accessibility. It’s obvious I am a massive fan of Torres del Paine. But Torres del Paine is not nearly as accessible as El Chalten. The closest town to Torres del Paine is Puerto Natales, 2hrs away. Unless you’re tent camping in the park, nearby lodging is quite expensive & it’s still a 45-75 min transport to/from the trails (or ferries leading to the trails). I would also argue the treks, mountains & views in El Chalten are just as challenging, rewarding & beautiful as those in Torres del Paine. That’s why it’s number 1.

Merely 30 minutes into the 4hr drive from El Calafate, the bus comes around a bend & perfectly highlighted by the sunrise 75 miles away is Fitz Roy sparkling far above everything else in sight. Fitz Roy getting increasingly large as we neared town only made the rest of the ride go pretty quickly as did passing an estancia previously owned by Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid where they chilled for a few years prior to heading to Bolivia (where they supposedly weren’t killed – I never before knew there was controversy here – now I don’t have to cry anymore at the end of that movie).

The town itself is only 31 years old & still small but I’m told is unsurprisingly expanding. It already has some wonderful tiny local restaurants, cervecerias, supermercados & 1 lovely spa I frequented & made friends w the owners. But the town is solely focused on the trekkers. The quarter-full bus arriving makes its required first stop at the national park’s visitors center for a debrief, trail maps & open Q&A session. They know why you’re visiting & want to make it as easy as possible & also make clear they care about preserving the park. But unlike El Calafate, which is much bigger & not shy about sticking it to you, there’s no fee in El Chalten for the SAME national park (the one where I paid $35 a day to visit on top of the expensive glacier tours). In fact, El Chalten is in a fight with the Argentine Parks system to keep it no-fee as the town itself is within the park’s borders.
After a 15min walk from the bus station to my hotel, where I had already booked for 3 nights, I immediately doubled my stay before I even ventured on a single hike. I just had a feeling about the place. And because I’m so enamored, there’s going to be a few blog posts – based on my 3 favorite treks. The first was a hike to a vantage point w a lovely panoramic view of the area. Then after seeing that view, I of course, had to get up close & personal to Mount Fitz Roy together with Mount Poincenot, Mount Torre & the chain of mountains that surround them.

The view arriving to town. Was there ever a doubt I’d get stuck here?

The tiny little town backed by the big ol’ mountains

The afternoon I arrived, I did a little 2-hr hike to get me real excited for the next day

My fave part of every (clear) day (& I was blessed w a lot) was the 5 mins just as the sun is about to peek over the hills at 8:30am (right before winter, days start late). Fitz Roy is this crazy cool glittering sparkling pink. For 5 mins only. I’d purposely get up early & start hiking w my headlamp while dark so I could make it to a place (maybe not quite the best spot but I had 8-10hrs of hiking each day) so I could enjoy it. Since I visited in the offseason, I usually had trails to myself that early. But everyday there was an exception & while this amazing magical event was happening, I was firmly planted in one place to enjoy it, but a group of hikers would trod past me barely looking up from the trail. I sometimes wanted to shake them & yell that life isn’t about the destination people, it’s about the journey & you’re missing the best 5 mins of every day!!! But I’d keep my mouth shut & silently enjoy it while they beat me to the top to enjoy a lovely view – but one not quite as beautiful as the one they missed.

5 mins later. The sun is fully up. It’s still spectacular but it’s not glittering sparkling magical pink

There she is. I couldn’t see her for awhile. Nice to know where I’m headed.

How happy do I look? I’m even genuinely smiling for a selfie after an all uphill 4hr hike.

There’s nothing better after a long day of hiking than digging into a rich, delicious, warming bowl of stew – or “locro” – served in a red clay earthenware bowl with white beans, sweet potatoes, hominy, carrots, beef, pancetta, onions, red peppers, garlic, paprika, cumin, etc. It reminded me so much of a French cassoulet & so I thought a lot about my bro, as we’ve enjoyed a few lovely cassoulets together in Seattle at the cafe. The locro & the most perfectly homemade empanada along w a couple of freshly brewed beers or a glass of an Argentine Malbec was the perfect end to amazing days. Did I write a post lately bitching about the food in SA? Bc that seems so preposterous right now. Perhaps Argentina will save me after all. I must say, I’ve been stomach-problem free for the last month… knock on wood.

La Paz – Bolivia is 2 for 2

By the time I hit La Paz, I was ready for a big city. I’m a Chicago girl & I LOVE me a big city so I was super excited to wander, explore, chill in cafes & enjoy some good food. I was most excited about having no plan. Between wine tours, sand surfing, vomit-inducing flights, Machu Picchu, Rainbow Mountain & Isla del Sol… I’ve kept awfully busy touring my time away. So having nothing on the agenda was exactly what I needed. La Paz delivered in full. It’s stunningly located in a sprawling valley surrounded by mountains & features a charming old city feel with new city spoils.

The city, at 3500m, it situated in a canyon surrounded by mountain peaks.

Mountains mountains everywhere. The only way to gain perspective on how big the city is & for the best mountain views, hop on the dope new telefericos. The city is still adding lines so they don’t all get connect but it’ll be soon.

One of the main city squares always jammed w people. It’s bisected by the massive main thoroughfare, El Prado.

During the La Paz visit, we were lucky enough to witness the fiery spirit of Bolivians as rural coca farmers staged protests of new laws increasing competition by shutting down the massive main thoroughfare El Prado. For the most part it was a quiet seated peaceful protest but for the occasional fireworks. The resulting traffic was gridlocked but as we were strictly pedestrians wandering the city, it didn’t impact us. I rather enjoyed walking down the middle of the street with no cares.

We visited the coca museum (duh) & afterwards sampled some beverages from the coca museum’s bar. The “original recipe” for Coca Cola featured cocaine but I’m almost positive the drink just included a shitload of coca. And also coca beer cuz why not? They were both delicious.

Massive Sunday markets. These tented stalls scattered in every direction for blocks & blocks.

The tented stalls sold everything from unattractive oddly fitting & unflattering length skirts that every local woman wears (like above) to auto parts, school supplies, etc. You name it, they had it.

The market also featured this odd little building housing witches. Each door was a separate witch’s lair / witch’s haven (?!?! I’m not up on my witch lingo!) where you can have your fortune read & other good stuff. You know if they’re open for business if there’s a fire burning outside. It seemed like a slow day for the witches as there wasn’t much activity but we finally found a fire (which was a little disturbing… something may have previously been alive). So we knocked to see if they were available, but there was someone ill inside (& it was really creepy) so we moved along. Perhaps it’s more of a night thing?

So instead we went to this way more accessible witch hangout as there’s this little street known as “Mercado de hechiceria” – or witches’ market. So we found a stall we liked & disappeared inside to wander around. There’s weird shrunken llama heads & a random assortment of remedies, potions, herbs, etc. it’s so cool.

At first I intended to ask for a remedy for my horrendous cough. Then after snooping around a bit, I thought better. Instead I gave the witch a problem to solve – that didn’t involve me ingesting weird things – attracting a man. Bwah haha. Somehow I said it with a straight face cuz I need a guy just about as much as I need a hole in my head but boy did she go to work. She sorted through her stash to offer me several items. It was so much fun so I ended up buying this crap to show her my appreciation. It included a couple potions (or essential oils I typically use as perfume) & a tiny gold amulet (which seemed to be a couple amorously embracing) wrapped with neon pink died llama hair for good luck.

You can find help for your colon right next to some sort of bedroom performance enhancement.

We sought out the best resto in La Paz & enjoyed a fabulous tasting menu. The resto is Gustu, the sister resto of Noma, the Copenhagen resto consistently ranked as world’s best. So obviously the Dane joined us & was super excited. Quite possibly my fave part of the whole experience was the cocktail I started (& ended) with. Gin (what else!?!), cucumber & smoked rosemary (that you smell after unscrewing the capped jar & then pour the gin & cucumber mix on the smokey ice). The name? A Fucking Cocktail. And yes, I REALLY enjoyed ordering it.

The mix. Maybe one of my other fave parts of the resto visit, again besides the food? I’m pretty sure a famous boy band was eating there at the chefs table & then having drinks after while we lingered. They kinda looked the type – you know, boyishly handsome. Not many young guys splurge on a fancy dinner like that. People – patrons & the staff – were making quite a bit of fuss. But I don’t have a fucking clue. I’m not up on my boy bands. All I know is the staff gave us free drinks after dinner so they weren’t the only fun group dining that night.

Quito in 1 day 2 times

I visited Quito twice on this trip. The first time with Gina for 1.5 days. The second time with Kristin & Amy for 1 day after the rest of our Ecuador adventures on our way to Peru. I played the role of tour guide the second time during our 10hr layover. So while I know there’s more to see, I’m fairly confident I can give a pretty good overview of Quito’s old town in a day, including plenty of time for food & drink, as we all came away loving the city.

Teleferico ride up to the mountains surrounding Quito, specifically Volcan Pichincha, for a fabulous lookout over the city & hike. Or in G&I’s case… a closer look at the cloud enveloping the mountain top.

The view from El Panecillo, a hilltop overlooking the old town, featuring a statute of the Virgin Mary.

Climbing stairs & frighteningly steep ladders to the top of a gorgeous Basilica del Voto Nacional w stunning views of the old town & El Panecillo. Due to my bizarre fear of ladders, this was no easy task for me so I chose to sit out the second round & grabbed a drink at the base while waiting for the girls.

The basilica may now be my fave church toured due to the unusual concrete animal statues diving off the facade. How boring are gargoyles when you can instead have anteaters, monkeys & alligators? I’m a big fan of the unusual.

Unlike G, I did NOT have a smile on my face when tackling the ladder

Wandering the streets of the old town & exploring its lovely plazas including Plaza Grande featuring the Presidential palace & political rallies (especially the week before the national election) & Plaza San Francisco.

Traditional Ecuadorian lunch of fritada sitting outdoors in the lovely Plaza San Francisco (my personal fave Quito plaza) & perhaps a game (or 5) of triangle dominoes, the addicting game I discovered in Bottle Beach, Ko Pha Ngan that G heroically stashed in her backpack to Ecuador.

Drinks on the rooftop of Vista Hermosa restaurant overlooking the old town, it’s plazas & El Panecillo.

Wandering La Ronda, a beautifully quiet pedestrian street during the day featuring shops & art galleries that transforms at night into a raucous array of cafes, bars & live music.

Bogota – better than expected but go for the street art

I admit, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from Bogota. It’s a big city of 8 million & I had heard it was very well established, as opposed to Medellin’s growth arc, lots of traffic & smog, frequently rainy & overcast, & not much to see. Most of that is probably true although perhaps I lucked out in terms of weather as I enjoyed sunny beautiful days & no rain. The city was far prettier than I expected with much less smog. It featured stunning views from Monserrate overlooking the city. IMHO the old town leaves a lot to be desired, is unsafe at night & relatively uninspiring during the day so I stayed north near the great restaurants & nightlife. Perhaps it’s a sign of my humble digs during the prior 2 weeks, but I greatly enjoyed my Bogota hot showers & great experimental food but it’s also the first McDonald’s I’d seen on the trip.
By far my fave part of the city is all of the street art. Bogota is known for having the most street-artist friendly laws (i.e. it’s not illegal & building owners often commission murals) attracting famous street artists from all over the world. Of course this is the case after a truly unfortunate event in which a 16yo kid was shot in the back by police in 2010 when caught late at night painting a building. But since, the close knit street art community worked hand-in-hand with law enforcement & now in the eyes of the law, it’s viewed as an art form, so they’re allowed to do their thing with full support of the community & during the day when it’s saf. So I took a graffiti walking tour of Bogota & learned about the various artists & their signatures & then just had fun wandering the streets on my own in search of other artwork.

Monserrate, reached by cable car or funicular, & Bogota city views

Rewind… to Trinidad

It’s not often to be lucky enough to find yourself smack dab in the center of profound world changing events so I haven’t had time to post some already written blog entries on Trinidad, the hippest place to visit outside of Havana & only a short 1.5hr bus ride from Cienfuegos. It’s a lovely city set in a valley surrounded by Cuba’s version of mountains. It has small winding cobblestone streets w very picturesque vistas of lovely colored casas against the lush green mountains, that is, if you can stop watching your feet for fear of tripping & falling flat on your face due to the vastly uneven cobblestones. I wandered for hours in local hoods past parks w kids playing. Came across kids flying kites – right above the same power lines which seem to have made a habit of collecting a lot of former kites. I guess no one really does ever learn. Or they think they can beat it.
There’s a lovely town square Plaza Mayor & nearby a big wide set of stone steps perfect for people watching & after 10pm nightly, the steps are transformed into the music center of the city w multiple salsa singing & dancing acts performing while competing storefront bars selling “the best mojitos in the world” allow you to enjoy a cocktail while taking in the scene. My one gripe w the music scene in Trinidad is it was very clearly catering only to tourists, no locals. In both Havana & Cienfuegos, I found higher quality music in venues w a good mix of tourists & locals so you felt like you were experiencing real Cuba. But I think I’m in the minority here as everyone seemed to absolutely love it.
The primary thing about Trinidad that left a lot to be desired was the food. I read somewhere that in 2011, before the change in laws regarding private restaurants, there were 3 private restos. Now there are over 90. So it seems as if everyone is trying to throw their hat in the game & reap the awards that come w increased tourism. It certainly doesn’t mean they all have good food. Far from it. The best meal I had in Trinidad was cooked by my friendly casa owners as I found even the LP recommended restaurants to be shit. It really is a beautiful city but between the food & what seems to be a nonstop focus on making a buck, I wonder if the city has lost some of its local charm due to its newfound trendiness. Havana & Cienfuegos had loads of it. I’m hopeful it will sort itself out w time.

Some of you know I stink at taking selfies bc I don’t ever do it so you’re lucky the intended tower is in the photo & I’m somewhat looking at the camera. After a summer full of rainbow colors (pink, purple & Cub blue), my early-retirement-hair in Cuba has essentially faded back to platinum w a hint of pale blue & purple near the roots. I’ve found the platinum isn’t super ideal in a country full of Latin men. So I try to keep it hidden everyday under my new World Series Cubs cap that’s quickly getting broken in & I certainly intend to return to my natural brown before South America bc the attention is just ridiculous.

I was awakened at 7am to what sounded like a marching band & found this outside my casa. After they finished playing a few songs, they all started drinking rum. A lot of it. At 7:15. I have no idea. Nor did my casa owners. https://youtu.be/6u7y3tn9Nmk

Santa Clara BEFORE the world changed

After a day of touring Santa Clara, I found myself on Friday Nov 25 in the early evening sitting in the town’s massive square, Parque Vidal, writing down my thoughts on the city & its people in my stream of consciousness methodology. As I was rereading them for purposes of writing a blog post describing my observances since Fidel’s passing, I noted that while I’m sure they may seem unimportant at face value, they seemed very relevant & poignant to me given the changes that happened overnight. For purposes of remembering this historic time in years to come, I think I’ll present it here as things unfolded for me in Cuba.

A 9pm arrival in Santa Clara could’ve been much later due to a broken down bus were in not for a handy group of 4-5 Cubans huddled at the back of the bus fixing this smoking engine in just under an hour. If anyone can fix vehicles, it’s the Cubans right? After foiling a plan by a couple jineteros to scam me on the way to my casa, my casa owner directed me to a great restaurant. Well the food was good but the best thing about this place was the hired band they had playing. After sitting down w only 2 other tables filled, they played almost-acoustic versions of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah followed by Michael Jackson’s What About Us!!?!!!? Then they played a medley that featured about 10 songs from Stand By Me & Hey Jude to finally some fun Cuban music. They put their own twist on everything. It may sound silly, but I’ve been hearing the same traditional 3 Latin songs from every band I come across in restaurants & outside in tourist locales which is several times throughout the day bc music is so central to the way of life down here. They play them the same way & it’s just become less & less interesting. These guys have a fresh unique take on everything & just given the song choices, they had me so they wrote down where they play for the next 3 days bc depending on what else is going on, I may become a stalker. In Havana & Cienfuegos, I had a lot of success finding good music but it was generally late night spots known for music & frequented by a mix of locals & tourists. The music here has been maybe my favorite part of the trip so I really look forward to seeing this band again.
Returning after dinner, the city center was empty but for pockets of young people looking to be heading out for the night. While it was dark, I could tell these young people looked different. They seemed to be hipsters. I hadn’t yet seen that pocket of people in Cuba. This morning while re-reading my travel guide on Santa Clara, I was reminded per LP that this is the “edgiest city in Cuba”. Roaming about town today confirmed it. Near my casa is the central Parque Vidal, the city’s massive city plaza, & it is hipster central. My oddly colored hair that captivates everyone else is no big deal here. Half of the park seems reserved for “normal” folk lazing about & gossiping. The other half features various pockets of different types of hipsters congregating in certain corners. The goths wearing black Megadeth & Iron Maiden vintage tees w dark eye liner, tattoos & crazy piercings huddle on one side drinking the local Bucanero beers at all hours (I must not be cool as I’ve been drinking Cristal). They must bond solely on a love of rock & black tees as I also saw Nirvana, Beatles & AC/DC tees mingling. The punk rock spiked mohawks, colored Ramones tees, studded jean vests & bandana wearing crowd gathers in another area. The guitar playing traditional hippies seem to have teamed up with the beanie wearing dreaded reggae fans. At any point in time, I almost expect a musical street battle a la West Side Story to break out. Yes, I watched for hours while reading & jotting down notes. I would’ve loved to get pics but they would never have captured my intrigue & would only serve to make me look like a narc.
A couple hours later, I ended up w a few of these hipsters at Club Menjune, this hippy joint I walked past earlier & this dude grabbed me & invited me to this poetry reading. Why not? I hadn’t yet been to a poetry reading in Cuba. I found out the next night they were hosting “Cuba’s only official drag show”. Umm why wouldn’t I go?!?! Actually, the friend of my Havana casa owner, whom himself owns several Havana casas & does quite well, said as recently as 5 years ago, being LG was very frowned upon in Cuba, as of today it is generally accepted, & he joked that in 5 years, it would be compulsory. Trans, less so. Which is why I wasn’t at all surprised to find out the edgy, welcoming, liberal & open Santa Clara featured THE show in Cuba.
Overall thoughts on first 1.5 days in Santa Clara – I walked a lot today. Covered the main Che memorial, museum & mausoleum – biggest thing to see in SC. It dawned on me that while I’ve taken photos of tourist monuments, I haven’t really taken many photos of the city itself. Maybe bc it’s just not very picturesque. But I really wanted to come here to visit. My Havana & Trinidad casa owners told me to skip it or limit the visit to 1 night max. I refused to listen. While it may not be a picturesque city, there’s so much revolutionary history here, including the key battle in Fidel’s revolution, & I can be a big history nerd. I’m pleased & not that surprised to see the same city w such a massive revolutionary history feature citizens of such a diverse nature. I like the feel of this city.

Back to Vietnam… the country that stole my heart

I’ve had a wonderful time exploring all of these countries but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking, somewhat obsessively at times, for the last 2 months about getting back to Vietnam. I think it’s a combo of the people, the food & the variety of places the country has to offer. So I’m going to hit a couple spots I couldn’t squeeze in during the first 3+ weeks as well as one of my faves from round one.
As an aside… you know you’re traveling a lot when you run into 3 different couples & one solo traveler (the New Zealander from Mandalay) you’ve previously met in the Saigon airport. Three of the encounters happened in quick succession & all were venturing into Vietnam for the first time & wanted some travel advice. So I did introductions & held a sort of Vietnam travel info session at an airport coffee shop to help them plan their trips. They exchanged info in hopes of connecting later. I was going in a different direction but it was a pretty proud moment. Not gonna lie.
My first stop in Vietnam was the island of Phu Quoc, off the southern coast for some R&R on the beach for 4 days after my 1.5 week sprint through Myanmar. It was gorgeous. I had previously heard it was pretty well developed & a not-so-secret stop on the tourism circuit. Perhaps I would’ve thought that after enjoying those nearly deserted beaches on my previous jaunt north along Vietnam’s SE coast but certainly not after after having visited Bali recently. A very good indicator I was going to like it was the fact that I was the only non-local on the connecting flight from Saigon. So it’s still very much a domestic Vietnamese holiday destination. Generally, I’ve found that I really like those places. This was more of the same.
Second stop was Dalat, a city in the central highlands that provides a reprieve from the heat. While the rest of the country is sweltering, it tops out at 75 here & gets down to 69 at night. So I’m freezing of course since now I’m accustomed to 90+ degree weather. But I wanted to visit as I’ve heard lovely things. It’s nestled in the mountains with lakes & is a good spot for some serious trekking & adventure mountain biking. Since I ditched my tennis shoes in Bali in favor of some hippy pants, I didn’t come equipped with serious trekking gear & I wasn’t really feeling the land-based adventure sports, I instead focused on exploring the adorable city of Dalat. I couldn’t shake my laziness from Phu Quoc as I spent 2 full days wandering aimlessly & hopping from one quaint cafe w a great view to another, stopping to read a book & enjoy a smoothie/tea/coffee/beer. The city screams of French colonialism & there are delicious little French pastry shops everywhere that drew me in by selling macarons, my fave. Lazily touring the city, in addition to delicious meals out, was the gist of my time in Dalat & I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps I’ll be back one day & motivated to do the adventure stuff. It’s funny, other places (like KL especially) I’ve felt the need to rush through the city, knocking out all the major sites as I think subconsciously I figured I likely wouldn’t return. That is so not the case with anywhere in Vietnam. I don’t feel any pressure to knock things off someone’s supposed “top 10 things to see” list maybe bc I know deep down that I will definitely be back.
Saigon was my first repeat stop on this trip, deservedly so. It’s such a cool city. It was a welcoming feeling in a taxi headed to my hotel as I recognized landmarks & parks & intersections. Despite staying in the same area as last time, I discovered new charming areas of the city I had previously missed. I spent zero time at tourists sites. All I did was eat. And walked, wandering the city, discovering new neighborhoods, parks, cafes & pastry shops to work off the prior meal so I could look forward to the next. I had to enjoy as much of this food as possible. I had a lengthy list of restaurants to tick through as this Saigon-based couple I met 2+ months ago in Vietnam at Doc Let beach provided recommendations for the best local dining. Going off that list, I had incredible pho breakfasts (oh how I had missed those), great lunches at street food restos & perhaps the best meal of the trip so far at a lovely little hole-in-the-wall resto in a house on an alley that I never would’ve otherwise found. Absolutely delicious.

Oh how I have missed my morning pho breakfasts

The Phu Quoc view I awake to from my beach villa

Holy thunderstorm rolled in one afternoon. It was dope.

Kuala Lumpur super tourist

I only planned limited time in KL, primarily bc I didn’t hear great reviews of the city, it’s only 115 years old & I wasn’t super psyched to see another typical big Asian city (hence why I ruled out Singapore, Tokyo, etc in favor of smaller less oft-traveled places). But I did want to visit some Malaysian islands & flight times from S Thailand were such that I was going to spend a night in KL anyways, so I extended it a bit to check out the city. Seemed like a waste otherwise. Due to the limited time, I played super tourist while in town in order to check off all of the key tourist sites. I figured out the underground & monorail system in short order so I could hop stops around the city & yet still spent hours upon hours walking the city. In 2 brief days, I had it figured out & decided I liked the city but the food left something to be desired. Fellow travelers had raved about Malaysian food but I think perhaps it was primarily due to the variety & availability of international cuisines as Malaysia is home to not only Malays, but also a significant number of Chinese & Indians (but that fails to explain the Red Lobster & Longhorn Steakhouse in the mega mall across the street). I of course tried the traditional curry laksa & it was good but traditional Malay restos were pretty hard to come by so I had to do some searching. Oh well. The city sites were impressive including the 60s-chic National Mosque, a cool Central Market & the jaw dropping Petronas Towers (tallest twin towers in the world & tallest overall building until 2004). I usually am not floored by skyscrapers but I found them to be even more gorgeous from the outside than their stunning views from the 41st floor skybridge & 86th floor lookout. The people were lovely & the hotel concierge, front desk & valets were very concerned about my enjoyment of the city & were quite helpful w directions & advice (they seemed a bit protective of single white female solo traveler & also impressed at my whirlwind tours). It felt nice being back in a Muslim country, first time since Turkey a few years back, as I forgot how much I loved hearing the mosques’ calls to worship throughout the day & as an early morning wake up call. Overall… pleasantly surprised & a totally worthwhile stopover.

KL in the morning light. The view to which I awoke each day. Not bad.

Craziest looking mosque I’ve ever seen. I loved it.

I walked around in 95+ degree weather in pants, a short sleeve black tee & toted a long scarf to be respectful of Muslim traditions & hopefully gain entrance to the mosque. What a waste. Unless you were wearing a full burkha, you had to don this costume. Pretty dope.

So turns out, I am totally obsessed w 60s style architecture, even in mosques. Apologize for overload.

This pic was taken on my stroll through the lovely Perdana Botanical Gardens. Immediately after this, I passed a sign asking that you refrain from feeding the monkeys. As I was laughing to myself at the thought of running into monkeys in downtown KL, I rounded the corner only to run face-to-face into, not a monkey, but a giant mf lizard (similar to pic I posted in Koh Pha Ngan) immediately in my path. It glanced at me, I froze & w a flick of its tongue, it scampered into the trees. Hysterical.

Famous Chinese temple. There’s some weird shit in there. Like painted statues of massively big breasted women & women w mustaches… both pretty atypical in my temple-touring experience. I did happen upon the temple at an opportune time as there was some sort of ceremony wherein painted naked men walked around only in waist towels lighting candles & incense everywhere while this crazy quartet band feverishly played oversized drums & bamboo horns. I felt pretty lucky.

Merdeka Square, locale of Malaysia’s independence from who else but GB.

Foreground is Merdeka Square but you can see KL Tower & Petronas Towers in background.

Koh Pha Ngan island tour… Beautiful beaches but I’m still waiting for that special one

Since I had some time on my hands & enjoyed the locale of the hippy Sanctuary on Haad Thien in Koh Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand, I decided to spend awhile further exploring the island. While we somewhat enjoyed the destinations in the Andaman Sea (Krabi, Railay, Koh Phi Pho, Phuket), the sheer volume of international tourists there was intimidating & while I considered visiting the supposedly-less-oft-traveled Andaman Islands of Koh Lanta & Koh Lipe, my fear was tourists now flock to those places as well (yes, I know I’m also a tourist but my goal is to find places where there’s few of me). While Ko Pha Ngan may be known as a “party island” w it’s late night/early morning raves for the monthly full moon party, that hoopla really is centered in/around Haad Rin & once you get out, it’s just beautiful, relaxing & quiet. At least that’s what I was counting on.
I did stop for a couple nights just outside Haad Rin, after an adventure leaving Haad Thien, to do some laundry & to ride out a storm that never really materialized excepting large waves preventing any boats from accessing Haad Thien & thus leading to a very ridiculous/exciting/borderline dangerous 4×4 large pickup truck ride up & then down a mountain in order to leave the Sanctuary. I was sitting w 3 others on benches lining both sides of the rear of the truck w everyone’s luggage at our feet (3 others plus driver in cab). The “road” was actually a severely rutted dirt road dotted w intermittent boulders and ski-jump steep hills where I couldn’t see the bottom over the top of the cab. The benches were flush w the sides of the truck & there was nothing to hold onto but for the heaviest piece of luggage I could find within grasp, which was very necessary as several of the bumps came close to bouncing me right off the side of the truck as I was catching a lot of air. It was a bonding experience as we were all laughing hysterically, while holding on for dear life, & warning one another to duck in the event oncoming branches were aimed for your head. We made it, clearly, & I talked the driver into dropping me directly at my new hotel so pretty smooth sailing.
After Haad Rin, I went to the far NE coast to stay on Thong Nai Pan Noi & Thong Nai Pan Yai beaches. They’re in nearby coves & rated by Trip Advisor as the top beaches on the island. They didn’t disappoint but also provided reasonably quick access to where I really wanted to go once the wind died down…