Sunday, August 23, 2026
Week 2, Sapa Vietnam
(I honestly chose it because it was the only option with a bathroom rather than scheduled bathroom stops.) The experience was interesting - from the really good provided food at the bus company station, to all the passengers bagging shoes on stepping onboard, to the tiny curtained cubicles complete with flat bed and non-functioning TV. As I dozed on the 5 hour overnight trip, I reflected on the difference between my hope to actually sleep on an overnight sleeper train, and the reality of a road vehicle's unpredictable movements and angle changes - imagine swerving sideways while heading uphill with your head lower than your feet as the bus drives uphill on windy mountain roads...
I took an epic nap on our arrival at our remote homestay about 5.5km north of the town of Sapa.
We thoroughly enjoyed our self guided trek through an abundant farming community (with terraced rice paddies, covered rows of tomatoes and peppers, creeping squash vines, fields of cabbages, fruit trees, etc) to the Ta Phin Commune about 5.5km north: home of Red Dao ethnic minority,
the Ta Phin Cave (where a local boy happily took ~75 cents each to turn on the lights inside the cave - there we walked, crawled and climbed through an expansive cave system which has important historical significance for sheltering soldiers, food, and weapons while protecting Vietnam's northern border in 1979), and multiple locations for relaxing in medicinal herbal baths ($7-8), drinking tea, and eating delicious local food. Would recommend!
The highlights were Fansipan Cable Car (which covers a horizontal distance of over 6km and a vertical rise of almost 1.5km into the clouds) followed by the ~700 step climb passing numerous Buddhist statues and shrines to the summit of Fansipan Mountain, the Roof of IndoChina.
There were moments when the clouds blew away and we could see back down into lush valley below (but we didn't manage to snap those pictures).
In town we've had some delicious food (Kepfram has more on that coming...) - including some of the best vegetarian food I've ever eaten at: SU Vegetarian Restaurant (@MichelinGuide, you missed something)....
Next we're heading north to the Chinese border in Lao Cai where we'll start our train journey back south on an 8 hour overnight sleeper to Hanoi, changing there for a 2 hour ride onwards to Ninh Binh ("Halong Bay on Land"). Stay tuned!
-Ellie
Labels: Vietnam
What I'm getting used to
Setting out I knew there were a few things to be prepared for that are very different from home: never flushing toilet paper (and always carrying some with me), always brushing my teeth with bottled water (and never in the shower!) - but here are a few other things I'm getting to know:
Outside of our first stop at small luxury boutique hotel (Hanoi Esplendor Hotel and Spa - where we'd stayed briefly when we first visited in 2023) - all the hotel/homestay bathrooms seem to be "wet rooms" - so I'm learning to limit shower spray and keep TP outside of the bathroom!
I need to get used to sweetened Coffee - not that the 3-in-1 instant coffee packs, the egg coffee, or the traditional Vietnamese Coffee with sweetened condensed milk aren't delicious, but I really miss my coffee with just milk (or soy milk)!
Shoes off inside - I love this, and always prefer it at home, but was not used to the provided slippers to enter hotel rooms, medical offices, some restaurants (SU Vegetarian with its pebble floor!), or the shoe bag on the long-distance sleeper bus!
Soup for breakfast!!!
Outside of our first stop at small luxury boutique hotel (Hanoi Esplendor Hotel and Spa - where we'd stayed briefly when we first visited in 2023) - all the hotel/homestay bathrooms seem to be "wet rooms" - so I'm learning to limit shower spray and keep TP outside of the bathroom!
Oh, and I didn't even mention the "bum gun" - my personal favorite style of bidet - present in every public/private bathroom!
Shoes off inside - I love this, and always prefer it at home, but was not used to the provided slippers to enter hotel rooms, medical offices, some restaurants (SU Vegetarian with its pebble floor!), or the shoe bag on the long-distance sleeper bus!
Communication - we've traveled quite a lot, but primarily in places where we could speak Spanish or where English was common - less so here, but with Google Translate/Google Lens voice<->speech it is SO much easier to communicate! (Interestingly, it is just that ease that makes it harder for me to remember to simply/remove nuance from everything I say to these non-native speakers!)
Technology - that brings me to travel with computer and smartphone - so different than 20 years ago with guidebook in hand! I do feel a lot more connected to my peeps at home, and it's much easier to research/book places to stay/things to do - but it also means less time talking to and meeting locals & fellow travelers - we shall see if we can change this!
(Need I say more?!)
-Ellie
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Week 1: Hanoi, Vietnam
Ellie lost a dental filling on the plane. [midway through our 27 hour 3 leg journey in a sleepless haze…] She thought she bit down on a walnut shell in an otherwise unremarkable brownie. Thankfully we found a dental spa near the hotel.
The rest of the week went okay. She fixed her tooth, we did a little sightseeing: Hoa Lo Prison (thanks for the suggestion Ahsaan!), walked around the Old Quarter, & ate some foods. Most meals were remarkable one way or another.
Ellie & Kepfram in Hanoi
Ellie reconnected with her egg coffee, I drank Vietnamese coffee, tried coconut coffee (delicious), iced jasmine green tea (new fav), & longan iced tea (sweet, but yummy). Most of the beverages were strong brews balanced with something sweet or creamy which I really liked.
We ate pho (obvs), Cha ca La Vong: grilled turmeric fish with herbs & greens; a weak veggie bahn mi that prompted me to learn about Vietnamese fermented tofu so I could make a sandwich I'd like more. I'm not sure if I'm happy or mad about having to develop a tofu recipe...
Labels: Vietnam
Thursday, August 13, 2026
A new adventure begins!
After 20 years sleeping, this blog is ready to awaken! We have landed in Hanoi, Vietnam!!
Ellie & Kepfram begin their year in SE Asia - after 20 years back living in NYC & raising a phenomenal kid (who's now beginning his solo adventures), it is time to explore, immerse, and reconnect!
We hope you will follow along as we slow travel! Our proposed itinerary: Aug-Oct 2026 Vietnam, Nov 2026 Cambodia, Dec 2026 Laos, Jan-Feb 2027 Thailand, Mar-May 2027 Malaysia, June 2027 Indonesia, July 2027 ???
We look forward to sharing the new things we do, see, taste, and learn - stay tuned!
Labels: Status Update, Vietnam
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
It's hard to believe that this aventura is over, and that we've been back home already for almost 2 weeks....
I feel blessed to have met so many great people along our journey: my fellow teachers (& co-Spanish students) from Universidad Latina (Katie & Mike, Rachael, Shiona, Denise, etc), friends we explored Costa Rica with (Omar & Lea, Elizabeth & Isaac, Kassi), my students (especially Rocío and Ernesto who started out as students but ended up as real friends - and there are so many more - too many to list), my Costa Rican/Argentine Spanish teacher (Monica - one of the best teachers I've ever had) & her husband (Monte - gifted musician & friend), our incredible hosts in Nicaragua (Marcela & Boris), our traveling companions in Bolivia & beyond (Yvan & Cécile, Rafael, Franck & Charlotte), our new friends in Argentina (Araceli, Claudia & her family), plus all those other people who were kind to us along the way. (I'm sorry I don't have pictures of everyone - how could that have happened?!! Come visit us in NY, we need to document our friendship!!)
We saw so many incredible places, tasted many unique foods, got sick several times as a result, learned tons Spanish, laughed at our fortunes and misfortunes, read some great books (highlights for me being: Mountains Beyond Mountains, and Nine Hills to Nambonkaha), and overall expanded our horizons.
To see where we've been look in our archives:
July 2005 - getting to know Costa Rica
August 2005 - settling into Costa Rican life and our Villa Lakshmi apartment, looking for work, our trip to Cahuita
September 2005 - exploring San José, Montezuma, Cartago, Volcan Irazú, plus an intro Nicaragua
October 2005 - recap of our trip to Nicaragua, info on our new apartment
November 2005 - a quick update from Costa Rica
December 2005 - more from Costa Rica including our trip to Rincon de la Vieja, plus the start our holiday in Guatemala
January 2006 - more from Guatemala
February 2006 - more updates from Costa Rica including apartment photos
March 2006 - we say goodbye to Costa Rica then visit Panamá, explore Ecuador, and enter Perú
April 2006 - our trips through Perú & Bolivia (will Kepfram ever finish his post about el Salar de Uyuní??)
May 2006 - our visit to Chile and our first weeks in Argentina (including Bariloche, Mendoza, our intro to Buenos Aires)
June 2006 - our Buenos Aires apartment and our visits to Igauzú Falls (post pending - are you listening Kepfram??) & to Uruguay
July 2006 - our last days in Buenos Aires and coming home
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Things I´ve learned in Argentina:- Always look down as you walk along the sidewalk or your bound to end up with doggie poo all over your shoes.
- I love going to the gym again (too bad we won´t be able to afford one like we have here once we get back to NYC - for $16 a month...).
- There are wild cats all over the place - the first time we've seen this in Latin America.
- Fútbol is a religion here - during Argentina's World Cup Games businesses close (restaurants only stay open because they set up TVs for customers and staff alike) - hell, even the stock market closes, & people crowd around on the street in front of any store window with a TV playing inside. When Argentina scores a goal the city erupts in honks and shouts and confetti comes raining down past our windows.
- Argentine Spanish (call it castillano, NOT español!!) is really cool!
- Both Kepfram and I can hold our own when speaking with locals (although most of the shop keepers will try very hard to practice their English on us).
- Argentina has abundant locally produced media (the first country we've noted this in on our trip) - and I can generally understand Argentine TV and movies (wooHoo!).
- But still (as I noted in a previous post), it is clear that the companies that provides cable TV here are simply vehicles for the disemination of US media content (quite a bit of it is CRAP).
- One interesting thing we noticed about Argentine television is that there are no older women actresses in the sitcoms - their characters are instead played (and generally not very well) by young women wearing wigs!
- There are a ton of really interesting neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, we explored all the major ones, but I'd love to see the rest of the city.
- It's cool to go exploring with friends, and we were really fortunate to have some time with Yvan & Cécile as well as Rafael.
- There is REALLY good ice cream to be had here (and really good chocolate too). Kepfram has explained to me that part of why the ice cream here is so good has to do with how it's made - it's not adding a flavoring to an unflavored ice cream, the flavors are in place from the beginning of the ice cream making process. Whatever. All I know is that it's GOOD, really GOOD.
- Kepfram thinks it's a good idea to make hot chocolate by mixing milk, cocoa, and dulce de leche.
- Produce is abundant and cheap, we eat WELL here.
- Argentine (grass fed) beef is better than any beef we've ever had.
- You can't buy natural yogurt here (or anywhere else in South America for that matter), so I had to learn to make it myself (thanks, Dad).
- The artisan markets have really great stuff. A friend told us that there are even more people creating artisanal goods since the economic collapse of 2001 - all these talented people needed to work, so they created a market. What we saw in Buenos Aires was better than anything we saw elsewhere in Latin America (where nearly everything is the same). You can find incredible and original work made of glass, leather, silver, bone/horn/hoof, and textiles.
- Ski season doesn't start until June in Bariloche and not until July in Mendoza (so seeing as we visited both in May, we did not get to go skiing in the Southern Hemisphere...).
- It's no fun to dance tango with a slowly healing sprained ankle.
- Non-smoking sections are almost non-existent, therefore Kepfram rarely wants to go out here.
- Six weeks are NOT enough time to get to know this country. We had to skip too many things....
- We met some really great people and now have friends here - Araceli (mentioned in this post), and Claudia (seen here with her family - our Spanish teacher, and former classmate of Araceli's daughter Monica). We won't be strangers when we come back.
Ellie
Our favorites in Buenos Aires:
The weekend brunch at Janio Restaurant
- with a huge buffet of fruit, yogurt, cereals, fresh juices, jams, hams, cheeses, eggs, cookies, and pastries... mmmmmMmmm
The selection included the BEST creamy chocolate mousse brownie thingy either of us have ever tasted
Conveniently located about 10 blocks from our apartment
La Flor
on a pretty day - it's a giant solar powered cyber flower.... cool!
If you go at dawn or dusk you can see the flower in motion - but we were equally impressed with the mid-day view
Ricoleta Cemetery (Map in Spanish & Info in English)
With tons of interesting architecture - it's a city within the city of B.A.
It's where many of Argentina's rich, famous, and infamous are laid to rest - not buried, mind you - the coffins are clearly visible in many of the tombs
Shopping at the Feria de Mataderos
where you can buy TONS of cool artisanal goods (foods, crafts, clothes, etc) for great prices from cool people & watch local gauchos participate in traditional competitions
Teatro Colón
- 2nd in the world in sound quality (after Milan's opera house)
We never got to see a show, but the tour was really impressive - although we were only permitted to take photos in the entry hall, the theater itself was fabulous and we even got to listen to the Symphony practicing on stage from the presidential box!
Botanical Gardens
a great free spot to relax in the city & only 4 blocks from our apartment!
The garden is home to many of Buenos Aires's feral cats
Japanese Garden
a lovely spot to sit and relax or to participate in any of the many programs offered - from bonsai to tea ceremonies - not that we went to any of their programs, but we did go to visit the garden and it was quite nice
MALBA
(El Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) - really good new museum with mostly modern pieces and an excellent permanent collection (artists include Freda Kahlo, Diego Revera, Fernando Botero, and many others including Cuban/French artist Wifredo Lam who painted the work to the left)
Kepfram didn't go with me to visit the museum, but he really missed out!
The museum is new since my last visit to B.A., I was really impressed, and I'll most definitely return
El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
- great mostly free museum including plenty of European (mostly French and Spanish) art from the 19th and 20th centuries
Kepfram was really digging the Impressionist exhibits, and I really went for the more modern stuff, but we were also both taken by the use of light in the work of 19th century Realist William-Adolphe Bouguereau
El Once in Barrio Balvanera
is the Buenos Aires garment district - we really enjoyed the super cheap shopping and the totally un-sophisticated flavor of this Jewish neighborhood
Amongst the multiple shoe stores, and casual to trendy clothing stores, you can find a men's suit and (even get it custom fitted) for U$S 30-50 (although it was difficult to fit Kepfram's body type in these suits cut originally for the stores' main clinentel of Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews....)
The commercial theater district
along Corrientes
I went with Monica's (my Spanish teacher from Costa Rica) Mom, Araceli (what a great, energetic person, if you ever need tourism advice for Argentina contact her at exploreargentina.com, she can surely help you out) to see the Argentine release of Visiting Mr. Green with the incredible talented Pepe Soriano who WAS Sr. Green for 2 hours...
What an amazing experience to see a beautifully acted play (tickets purchased night of show, 30 minutes before curtain for a nearly full house, but we got FRONT ROW seats!!) in Spanish and understand all but a few words!
Kepfram didn't join us (afraid his Spanish wasn't up to par), again, he really missed out...
Riding the Subte
- although we never got used to the trains going the WRONG way (at least compared to normal - which IS the New York Subway system) we loved the art
The weekend brunch at Janio Restaurant
- with a huge buffet of fruit, yogurt, cereals, fresh juices, jams, hams, cheeses, eggs, cookies, and pastries... mmmmmMmmm The selection included the BEST creamy chocolate mousse brownie thingy either of us have ever tasted
Conveniently located about 10 blocks from our apartment
La Flor
on a pretty day - it's a giant solar powered cyber flower.... cool!If you go at dawn or dusk you can see the flower in motion - but we were equally impressed with the mid-day view
Ricoleta Cemetery (Map in Spanish & Info in English)
With tons of interesting architecture - it's a city within the city of B.A. It's where many of Argentina's rich, famous, and infamous are laid to rest - not buried, mind you - the coffins are clearly visible in many of the tombs
Shopping at the Feria de Mataderos
where you can buy TONS of cool artisanal goods (foods, crafts, clothes, etc) for great prices from cool people & watch local gauchos participate in traditional competitionsTeatro Colón
- 2nd in the world in sound quality (after Milan's opera house) We never got to see a show, but the tour was really impressive - although we were only permitted to take photos in the entry hall, the theater itself was fabulous and we even got to listen to the Symphony practicing on stage from the presidential box!
Botanical Gardens
a great free spot to relax in the city & only 4 blocks from our apartment! The garden is home to many of Buenos Aires's feral cats
Japanese Garden
a lovely spot to sit and relax or to participate in any of the many programs offered - from bonsai to tea ceremonies - not that we went to any of their programs, but we did go to visit the garden and it was quite niceMALBA
(El Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) - really good new museum with mostly modern pieces and an excellent permanent collection (artists include Freda Kahlo, Diego Revera, Fernando Botero, and many others including Cuban/French artist Wifredo Lam who painted the work to the left)Kepfram didn't go with me to visit the museum, but he really missed out!
The museum is new since my last visit to B.A., I was really impressed, and I'll most definitely return
El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
- great mostly free museum including plenty of European (mostly French and Spanish) art from the 19th and 20th centuriesKepfram was really digging the Impressionist exhibits, and I really went for the more modern stuff, but we were also both taken by the use of light in the work of 19th century Realist William-Adolphe Bouguereau
El Once in Barrio Balvanera
is the Buenos Aires garment district - we really enjoyed the super cheap shopping and the totally un-sophisticated flavor of this Jewish neighborhoodAmongst the multiple shoe stores, and casual to trendy clothing stores, you can find a men's suit and (even get it custom fitted) for U$S 30-50 (although it was difficult to fit Kepfram's body type in these suits cut originally for the stores' main clinentel of Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews....)
The commercial theater district
along CorrientesI went with Monica's (my Spanish teacher from Costa Rica) Mom, Araceli (what a great, energetic person, if you ever need tourism advice for Argentina contact her at exploreargentina.com, she can surely help you out) to see the Argentine release of Visiting Mr. Green with the incredible talented Pepe Soriano who WAS Sr. Green for 2 hours...
What an amazing experience to see a beautifully acted play (tickets purchased night of show, 30 minutes before curtain for a nearly full house, but we got FRONT ROW seats!!) in Spanish and understand all but a few words!
Kepfram didn't join us (afraid his Spanish wasn't up to par), again, he really missed out...
Riding the Subte
- although we never got used to the trains going the WRONG way (at least compared to normal - which IS the New York Subway system) we loved the art
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Fuimos a Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay (es conocido solo como Colonia) durante un fin de semana tan feo que no pudimos disfrutarla mucho. Hacía muchísimo frió, había lluvia, y porque llegamos el domingo, muchas de las tiendas y todo de los museos estaban cerrados.Encontramos una cosa buena, un restaurante se llama el Drugstore con comida creativa hasta mucha pescado y mariscos. Pasamos unas horas adentro. Después elegimos ir a un spa para masajes, pero resultó que tomamos los peores masajes de nuestras vidas.
No quisimos pasar la noche allá y compramos boletos de ferry para regresar a Buenos Aires por la tarde. Por mala suerte el puerto estaba cerrada por el viento hasta medianoche y tuvimos que esperar en la estación del barco fríos y mojados por horas y no llegamos a casa hasta las 3 de la madrugara.
Sin embargo el pueblo parece bonito y nos gustaría conocerlo cuando haya tiempo bueno.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Hi everybody!
Sorry we've haven't been keeping up with this blog lately.
Argentina is an lovely place & we've been focused more on enjoying it than we have been on writing about it.
We'll try to publish all of our overdue updates before we return home next month.
See you all soon,
Ellie & Kepfram
Sorry we've haven't been keeping up with this blog lately.
Argentina is an lovely place & we've been focused more on enjoying it than we have been on writing about it.
We'll try to publish all of our overdue updates before we return home next month.
See you all soon,
Ellie & Kepfram
