North to South

Although Halong Bay is the big draw to Vietnam for most tourists, there are plenty of other parts of the country that have a lot to offer. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are loaded with history, delicious food, and even a little bit of charm. 

Unfortunately, my time spent in Hanoi was accompanied by a typhoon, so I hid under my raincoat for a good portion of my visit. I stayed at the Essence Hotel, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting. This place has top notch service, a great location in the Old Quarter near Hoan Kiem Lake, a killer breakfast spread, and is a steal at a mere $60/night. For those looking for a one or two night stop over before heading to Halong Bay, this is a great pick.

After Halong Bay, I headed down to Ho Chi Minh City. I stayed at the Lotte Legend Saigon, which was very conveniently located, and I walked just about everywhere on my stay. After a good nights rest, my first stop was the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, which is one of the many architectural manifestations of the French influence in Vietnam. 

After that, it was just a short walk to the Reunification Palace. I would definitely recommend taking one of the free tours that they offer at the main entrance. It lasts about an hour and the tour guide has a lot of interesting information, but may only be meaningful if you have a basic understanding of the history behind the war. 

For a more thought provoking experience, I headed over the the War Remnants Museum. It is a bit emotional wandering through the halls looking at pictures of everything from the My Lai Massacre to the victims of Agent Orange. But, all in all, I think the experience helps put the culture and overall feeling of Vietnam in better perspective. 

Almost everyday I was in Saigon I ate lunch at Quan An Ngon on Pasteur St. in District 1. The pho, vermicelli, and rice dumplings were some of my favorites, but everything was delicious and they have something on the menu for everyone. My dinner highlight would be my meal at Opera located in the Park Hyatt. While it's not traditional Vietnamese cuisine, it's still absolutely delicious and worth a visit.

Hong Kong in Black & White

I really loved my time in Hong Kong. The city was full of color and character. Because it is an amalgamation of so many different cultures, you got the best that every one has to offer. I can't think of another city where you can go from the best dim sum, to the best charcuterie shop, to the best sushi in a couple of metro stops. The city can certainly be a little overwhleming, so instead of my first round of photos in color, I decided to simplify things a little. Photographing in black in white forces you to see the world more graphically; taking in shapes, textures, and in this case, some movement as well. 

Typhoon Tangents

Unfortunately, my last few days in Shanghai I managed to find myself in the midst of a typhoon. While there were some sights that I still wanted to see, I had no intention of soaking through three layers of clothes in the process. So, I resorted to plan B: eat my way through Shanghai. Collin, a friend who I had made earlier that weekend, introduced me to some delicious takeout and probably the best soup dumplings I have ever had in my life. Miraculously, the takeout was delivered by hand in the poruing rain, but I guess to the people of Shanghai, it was just a light drizzle. 

View of Century Park and Shanghai skyline from my hotel in Pudong. 

My last meal was soup dumplings from Jia Jia Tang Bao with Collin.  This is a no frills dumpling house with made to order dumplings of all kinds. I managed to peak my head back into the kitchen to catch a few shots. I don't think I've ever seen fingers move that fast! I'm pretty sure we ended up going through 5 trays of dumplings on our own. And while I had to be practically rolled to the train to get to the airport from how full I was, my taste buds hadn't been that happy all trip. And, besides, I'm sure the dumplings were calorie free...

I ate up until the very last minute before I had to head to the airport, where I took the Maglev, which hits speeds hovering around 400 km/h (roughly 230 mph). I was a little sad to be leaving Shanghai after getting a sneak peak into the city. There are plenty of sights left to see, so I guess there will just have to be a next time. 

Shanghai'd

For my first full day in the city I decided to roam around the Bund, drink an obnoxious amount of tea, and eat lots and lots of street food. That seems reasonable enough, right? 

It was fun just to people watch for a while. Shanghai is so drastically different from my first stop in China. You don't get an overwhelming sense of history, or the Party, like you do in Beijing. I think the youthfulness of the city paired with the modern skyline puts people in a different mindset all together. Everyone is ready to shop, eat, drink, and just have a good time. So, that's what I did.

A quick note on the tea 'ceremonies': agree on a price before you start.
Often they are looking to totally rip you off, so better to be safe than sorry.

 As far as the street food goes, just line up where a lot of locals seem to be going.
 I ended up only paying a whole $0.70 for lunch. Can't go wrong with that!

As a Duck Takes to Water

My overall impression of Beijing is a mixed bag. The city is very spread out and quite difficult to get around. Luckily, cabs are cheap and your hotel will usually write addresses in Chinese to avoid any confusion. Because of this, Beijing is the only city that I never took public transportation. In addition, the Chinese culture is very conservative and reserved and often came off as harsh. That, paired with the polution made for a difficult introduction to the city. But, once properly settled in, the history and cuisine balance out scales. While you might need someone to help translate and a tour guide for the major sights, Beijing is the gateway into the China that still remains somewhat of a mystery to most of us Westerners.

For my last dinner in Beijing, we had some very traditional cuisine at Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant. There are plenty of places to order duck in the city, but according to my sources, this is the very best restaurant to enjoy Peking's signature dish. The duck is carved table side and served with a large assortment of a accouterments including sugar, garlic sauce, and melon. To me, those were some unlikely combinations, but boy, I'm glad I tried every single one. 

Lots of other smaller dishes, with ingredients I have never heard of, were ordered as well. The highlights were a pear and vegetable soup and a traditional preparation of Chinese cabbage.

At the end of the day, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had a friend who works in the city and took time out of his holiday to show me the sights. I think without this, I would have had a tough time appreciating all Beijing has to offer, which is more than meets the eye.

Forbidden City

I'm so excited to finally update you all on my recent adventures in mainland China! For those of you who don't know, the major social media and networking websites are blocked, which made it next to impossible to access most means of communication. As someone traveling alone, it can definitely be tough not to have access to most of your friends and family. Luckily, I had already generated some connections to show me the ropes in Beijing and give me a great tour of the the city's most popular sights, which made for a perfect distraction. On my first full day my friend He Gang and I headed to the Forbidden City. It was really helpful to have him along because he pointed out the subtle nuances and details in the construction of the Forbidden City. If you plan on visiting, I definitely recommend having a tour guide to show you around.

Be warned, though, tour groups can be quite large. If you can swing it, I would suggest getting a private tour. You can move at your own pace and ask all of the questions you want.

The central line of the Forbidden City. This line runs through the center of all of Beijing.
It also serves as the division between the men's and women's side of the city. 

One of the lions guarding the palace. This is the female lion, holding the cub under her paw, on the left side of the central line.

You can find 308 of these copper pots spread around the city. They were constantly filled with water in case of a  fire.
In winter time, these vats were covered with quilts to prevent the water from freezing.

This shot was taken in the Imperial Gardens. In all four courners of the gardens you will find pavilions that represent each season.

All of the gates to the city are outfitted with doors that have nine rows of nine golden door nails.
As He Gang described it, the number nine is considered the most powerful and important number in China.

Once you leave the Forbidden City through the rear exit, there are a set of royal gardens which I definitely recommend taking a walk through. If you climb to the top of the peak, you get a great view of the whole area. Unfortuantely, the pollution was on the high end of the scale that day, limiting the visibility, but it was still worth a hike up. 

The Forbidden City is definitely worth at least half of a day of your time. Before I visited, I didn't realize how massive the whole place was. You could easily spend your whole day there exploring the different halls, bridges and gardens.

For lunch, I went to Lei Garden in the World Trade Center. They have delicious dim sum!! None of the menu was in English, which prompted lots of communication via Google Translate, but it was worth fighting through the language barrier.

More posts on China to come!

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