Fili’s world

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(This post wasn’t suppose to be posted here. Weird. Anyway, since it’s here, I’ll keep it)

Every once in a while I get some questions about my traveling on email. Here are some of the answers I wrote:

Thailand - Chang Mai

> we read your tips on chang mai. we would like to know more about your trck, who was your guide? do you recommend him? if yes, how do we contact him from Israel. is this treck suitable for kids(7 years old)? we are 6, is the car big enough?

I did my treks on my own on the back of a motorbike with a fellow American, which might be very difficult for you and your family to follow. In your case, I would recommend using Red Brick’s services. They are extremely nice and professional, but you’re likely to have a somewhat Israeli experience (sometimes to reach 4 Israeli jeeps together), depends on when you’re going. The Jeeps they have should be able to carry 6 people, but note that the ride from Chang Mai is VERY long and sometimes bumpy (it’s a jeep on a rough land). Kids, especially spoiled ones, might have a hard time, but that’s also true for most Thai bus rides, I guess. If you do want to do it alone, go to Pai, rent a bike and drive around. Most ofthe treks are about 1 hour drive and last half to a full day. Should you required any - guides are avaiable for cheap rent in most places.

Laos

> I read your advices about Vietnam, and I have a question to ask you. So I hope you don’t mind. You wrote that you have been in Laos too. I wanted to know how did you passed from Laos to Vietnam? I want to do the opposite way (from Vietnam to Laos) and I don;t have a lot of time… What do you think is the best for me?

I was a bit lazy, so I took a flight from Luang Probang through Vientiane to Hanoi which costed me around 120$ (I don’t remember exactly). I must say that flying in a small 8 people plane from Luang Probang to Vientiane on top on the Laos mountains and countryside was breathtaking! Some people do the bus+motorbike ride that takes over 22 hours and if I remember correctly it costs around 20-30$ - if you’re lucky, and is mostly on a Lao bus (which is of low quality and breaks down a lot). Up to you, if you got the money for it or not. I couldn’t imagine my self doing that ride, but lots of backpackers do it.

Doing the opposite way should offer the same options, but should be a bitcheaper.
Northen Laos is wonderful, but in my opinion not much to see aside from LaungProbang and VangViang. Vientiane was awful…

Vietnam for women

> I read all your recomendations about Vietnam and i am anvy… so envy I go there myself tomorrow night.
> Well, I wanted to ask you, regarding your vast knowledge of the country so far how it is for a woman to travel alone there comparing to other places? I am just packing - should I wear modest cloths or gufia is ok? how cold is it in Sapa area in this season… I go first to Hanoi. Is there a place in Hanoi where I can meet other travellers?

I’m not big expert, but I’ll let you know what I think. I take no responsibility, though For a male Vietnam is very safe. I never felt at any danger. I’ve met a few women traveling on their own, some of which have traveled places like India and all were in the opinion that Vietnam is a relatively safe place for a woman to wonder around alone. Nothing like India, that’s for sure.

Yet, you need to be fully aware of the fact that you’re a major attraction to the Vietnamese males and that they have different love rituals than we do. Some of them come on to you ‘very strong’ relative to the average Israelis. I don’t think they’ll touch you or anything, but they might express extreme words and actions of affection (”I love you” comes before asking a girl out for a date, for example). If you express the least form of interest then they might take it one step further to keep on ringing you or looking you up. If I were you, I would just apply the rules you have in Israel to Vietnam in a strict way. When not interested say “I’m not interested” fiercly, when interested - take caution to understand how things work over here with the guys since they are VERY different. I would state that Vietnamese men consider western women more ‘openminded’ (some would say “easy”) and would expect from you what they would never expect from their Vietnamese girlfriend.
Buttom line - it’s not what you wear, which could be anything you like, but more the way you act. As for the weather - I wouldn’t take more than one (maybe two if you’re a gal) pair of long clothing, but make sure you buy a raincoat (costs 3000dong here). The only places that might be a little cold, especially starting November, are Sapa and Dalat which are high up on the mountains.

With all that said - if you stay away from the nasty looking westerners-seeking Vietnamese and relax with the authentic locals then you’re in for a wonderful experience. They had a rough life, but they are charming people and they are extremely curious of everything that comes from the west.

Hanoi is a good place to start. I wouldn’t know about meeting other backpackers since I wasn’t into that, but you’ll see them hanging EVERYWHERE. Together with Saigon, Hanoi’s center is western oriented with loads of tourists. If you want to meet locals, which was more of my thing, then I suggest Vietnamese Bia Hoi (street beer places) or Ca-phe (coffee) hangouts as well as the obvious streetfood. If you sit alone by the Hanoi lake for about 10 minutes then you’re bound to be approached by English students from Hanoi University (usually girls approach girls) who would love to show you around while you allow them to practice their English and learn about the west.

Good luck, have a great time. I do LOVE this place.

Vietnam - hotels

> Hi Gilad,
> I saw your tip regarding hotels in Vietnam (lametayel.com) and would like to ask a question that might look silly but is bothering us a lot :
> We are planning a 14 days trip to Vietnam and are struggling with the question of hotel reservation - On one hand we can “play it safe” and order everything from Israel (Internet or travel agency) but that looks much more expensive then what you (and other) describe. On the other hand, we can just arrive and look for something as we go along.
> The real question is if it would not take too much time and effort out of the very little time we have to find and coordinate everything on-site. What do you say ? How did you reserve hotels ?
> I am curious to know why you say “ignore the rates” that are posted on the Internet ? did you gust arrive at the hotel and ask for a room ?
> Thanks very much in advance,

Hi,

Going to Vietnam, eh? I’m jealous, it’s a wonderful country, and I’ve had a great time there…

As for your question - it depends what kind of a traveler you are, and I totally understand the dillemma. If money is an issue then I would say that I found that booking was NEVER an issue, always being overprices and unneccessary. But then again - I was staying at 2 star hotels (which most in Vietnam are of very high standard, but you could fall on really crappy ones). If money isn’t a big issue, then booking in advance would save you a lot of trouble, but expect to pay ALOT more, sometimes double or triple the money you might get if you’d just walk there.
The reason for that is that competetion in Vietnam is extremely strong, anywhere. The possibility of you leaving to the next door hotel would drop the prices down a lot. I’m not very good at it, but if you’re good at bargaining, then you might get very good hotels for redicioulos sums. Also, people make money by suggesting hotels and receive commision, which is a good thing if you’re pressured and don’t have a place, but might be a drag if you know where you’re going already.

A small example of a rates/bargaining might be found here:
http://filination.blogspot.com/2005/06/womens-heaven.html (the same hotel I
wrote ‘ignore the rates’ about).
I would always be willing to get recommendations from people, but always went to see it first to make sure I like the room and that the hotel lives up to the recommendation.

All the hotels I wrote about should be sufficient for the average 3 star folks in Israel, being very clean and friendly, so you could just stick to that - they don’t require reservations. Up to you (and you might want to check ME out once or twice… ;).

Good luck.

Taiwan - Taipei

> היי גלעד אני מצטער שלקח לי זמן להגיב אני אכן מגיע ורציתי המלצות על מלון טוב
> במרכז הבילויים של טייפה איפה שכל הברים
> כמה זה יכל לעלות בערך ואיך המחיה בטייפה אתה יודע מקדונלדס נסיעה במונית וכל
> השאר
> אגב אני ראיתי את ההודעה שלך בפורום המטייל כמעט ואין שם מידע על טייוואן
> הבנתי שאם המזג האוויר באפריל אני יהיה בבעיה חם וגשום
> ועוד שאלה האם בטייוואן מדברים אנגלית או שזה בעיה כמו בסין ואיך העיר הדרומית
> התיירותית שכחתי את שמה אבל הבנתי שזה מקום מדהים

Yeah, not too many Israelis coming here, that’s for sure.

Some good starting information on Taiwan is available on the web and in guides like Lonely Planet. The guide that got me started was this one :
http://taiwan.8m.net/ as it had an intro on costs (http://taiwan.8m.net/costs.html) and travel tips (http://taiwan.8m.net/travel.html). There are also some really good tips and discussions in English in a site called forumosa (http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/index.php).
Note that Taipei could be really cheap, if you’re into the Taiwanese/student kind’o life, or really expensive if you’re into the western/businessperson style. The second type could be a lot more expensive than the most expensive city in Israel.

April does get pretty hot, but you get used to it. It was when I did my Thailand
tour and I enjoyed it alot.

The thing about Taipei is that it doesn’t really have a down town and there are several locations that host really lively nightlife. It really depends on what you’re looking for. But, if it’s Western shick nightlife that you’re looking for I would suggest heading to the area between ZhongXiao Fuxing and the Taipei 101 (tallest building in the world). It’s an extremely fashionable area with
neverending bars, restaurants, pubs, and dance clubs.

English here is no problem. Like I wrote in the Lametayel tip, people here are shy about their English, but if you approach them first and show up a smile you’ll find that most of them know pretty good basic English, some with better English than most Israelis. Signs in Engilsh exist, but are well hidden. Either way, I do suggest getting some basic phrases in Chinese ready, not to get around but rather to show that you’re also making an effort (Hello - ni hao, how much - duo shao qian, and stuff like that).

Haven’t been out of Taipei yet, sadly, so I wouldn’t know much about any southern city. If you’re interested, look up or post at Forumosa.

Taiwan - Study Chinese

> Some questions about studying Chinese in Taiwan

I think it’s pretty obvious that I enjoy Taiwan very much, and will therefore highly recommend anyone to come have a look, though I take no responsibility - some foreigners are miserable here. You should take into account the fact that Mandarin studies are time consuming and exhausting. Unlike learning languages such as Spanish - studying Chinese wouldn’t be easy, especially at first. I’ve seen plenty of brilliant folks just give the whole thing up.

Do you really want to STUDY Chinese or do you just want to see your self speaking Chinese? are you up for an interesting challenge or do you just want to get to the point where you can make money of the Chinese market promise? Are you interested in the culture and people or just want the language as a tool? You can tell that I think most people start studying Chinese for the wrong reasons, right? It affects how quickly you learn and how easily you give up. If you’ve answered with the first option to all questions, I vote - come here.

I got another month for this term (in total - 3 months), and I need to consider whether I want to go on for another one. I still don’t know, we’ll see.

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