Sa Pa, Vietnam

Sa Pa was the main reason we wanted to go to Vietnam.. The northern regions of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand have many hills that are full of tribes that live off the land.. Sa Pa looked to be very beautiful, and I read the tribes welcome tourist to show around.. 

So we flew into the capital, Hanoi, and rode and overnight train to far northwest Vietnam to meet these tribal people and to trek with them on their land.. The overnight train was a first for us.. It's not like the trains in Europe.. Imagine being on a boat that sways and and airplane going through turbulance at the same time.. It was a bumpy ride, but we slept well..  

I had arranged for a black h'mong guide to trek with before we arrived, and she met us at our hotel once we checked in.. Her name was Maya, 26 years old, and married with two kids.. There are several tribes in the mountains, but the black h'mong tribe is the largest..

Maya's plan for us the first day was a light trek.. She took us through Cat Cat Village where we got to go inside a home.. A lady was there making rice wine in her kitchen and let us try a sip.. Rice wine isn't a good name for her concoction.. Rice moonshine would be much more appropriate.. It was so strong! Her house was made of wood and bamboo from the mountains.. She had a hundred or more ears of corn hanging from her ceiling for her family to eat  on for the whole year.. We thanked her, took pictures of her kids and headed to our guide's house.

Maya's house was very nice compared to others in the area.. She said it cost about $3k usd.. Her husband went into the mountains to chop trees down for the frame which took 10 men to carry down.. 

Our next day was a tough trek! It started raining during the night so everything was very, very slick.. Climbing narrow, muddy paths was pretty scary because one wrong step would send us tumbling down the steep mountain.. Luckily, Maya brought other h'mong women to help us.. They are seriously part mountain goat! They zipped through the muddy hills with ease.. At some parts, I had the ladies on each side of me holding both of my hands to make sure I didn't slip..  Those tiny women even had to help Joshua a couple times.. It was really rough but so very worth the amazing views of the mountains, rice terraces, and also to experience the company of the tribe ladies.. They really loved showing us around.. They were so proud of their land and culture.. They hand make their clothes from hemp, dye them with indigo plants and embroider beautiful patterns on them.. We purchased a couple of their handmade things, and they even gave us gifts as well- bracelets and small tokens they made from grass, flowers, and weeds along our trek.. 

Saying goodbye was a little more difficult than I thought it would be.. We will never see them again, but the memories they helped us make will always be cherished.

Wine Country in the Winter.. Cheers!

     We usually land in SFO for layovers to and from Asia, but this time we actually stopped for a second trip to the Wine Country- Napa and Sonoma.  Read about our first trip here.  Once we landed, we picked up our rental car and headed across San Francisco to drive over the Golden Gate.  The drive was beautiful, sunny and fog-free! 

     After the stop for a few pictures, we headed into Sonoma and spent the day there.  We were able to fit in 4 stops which included a couple we had visited before Viansa, a great place for a little picnic, and Jacuzzi which also has olive oil tastings. Both have incredibly beautiful grounds!  Joshua's favorite pinot noir is DeLoach Vineyards so we headed out there with a stop at BR Cohn along the way.  After a day in Sonoma, we were starving so we stopped at Super Burger in Santa Rosa on the way to Napa to finally check into our hotel. Super Burger has been voted best burger in Sonoma County, and we'd say the award is much deserved.  I honestly think it's the best veggie burger I've ever had, and Joshua loved his chicken sandwich too.  It's very worth the stop if you're in the area!  Later in the evening we headed to Oxbow Market to hang out at the Ca'Momi bar and wind down.  Also, another very highly recommended place. 

     Our next 2 days consisted of tasting wine, eating, tasting wine, and eating.  Here are the places we went: Markham, Merryvale, St. Clement, V. Sattui, Louis Martini, Whitehall Lane, Beringer, Franciscan, Girard, and Domaine Carneros, all mainly in the Rutherford and St. Helena areas.  All of those were just wonderful, but the ones not to miss are St. Clement for its setting, V. Sattui for a fabulous picnic lunch, Domaine Carneros for a bubbly tasting, and Girard for an amazing tasting experince.  Rick at Girard poured way more than the basic tasting menu and let us try several more unique wines while teaching us so much about it.  We loved the experience and the wine so much that we signed up for their club!  We also hit up Rutherford Grill which is a place we ate at last time and said we couldn't miss again.  

   Obviously, this post is mainly for our friends that ask about going as well so I'll share just a bit more.   3 days is plenty.  Seriously, plenty!  You will eat and drink so much that you think you can't anymore.  Rent a car and drive, but do it safely.  There's no need for the train, trolley or driver.  Just space out your tastings, eat plenty, and know your limit.  A lot of people ask which is better- Napa or Sonoma.  They're both great but very different.  Sonoma has a more country feel and has an abundance of low production wines that are really great.  If you do any tours, sometimes in Sonoma, the actual owner may be the one showing you around.  It can also cost less than Napa.  We love Sonoma because of the laid back atmosphere and the friendliness of the hosts.  They seem a bit more welcoming.  The only downside in our opinion is there can be a bit more drive time between wineries and less restaurants.  Napa has the bigger name wineries that you can find locally.  However, most of the big names do have a reserve tasting menu for their low productions wines, but expect those to be about $60/bottle if you plan on taking any home.  The wineries and restaurants are just everywhere and easy to find.  It is a bit pricier as well.  They're both fabulous and wonderful in their own way so make a stop to both since they're so close to each other.  A great planning tool I used was this site for printable maps and coupons to wineries.  Lastly, pack towels or throw blankets in your check in bag so you can take wine home!!   Happy planning!  Cheers!

From one side of the Middle East to the other...

Istanbul, Turkey!
Istanbul wasn't a destination we had dreams of visiting.  Basically, another traveler friend told us Turkish Airlines was running great deals so we jumped on it..then did our research to see what we were in for.
Istanbul is such a unique city in that it is sitting on two continents, Europe and Asia, which are divided by the Bosphorus River.  It's the largest city in the Middle East and is full of fascinating history and beautiful Ottoman architecture.  Another fabulous thing was Istanbul gave us a break from the insane heat of Dubai so we were able to enjoy temps in the 70's-80's. 
We started our tour with a breathtaking cruise down the Bosphorus River.  Our boat lined the European side heading up and then the Asian side heading back so we could get great views of both.  Both sides were full of beautiful mosques with their minarets beaming up from all the other buildings and bright red Turkish flags flying all over.  We also visited the historical Aya Sofya, a once mosque turned Catholic Church turned museum, and the Blue Mosque which I had to cover my hair for.  Topaki Palace was another hot spot we toured which I didn't know much about going into, but it turned out to be a highlight for us.  We actually saw Moses' staff!!  I was very suspicious if it was the real deal so I had to do research, and supposedly, it's actually the staff of Moses! Whoa!  It was supposed to have been passed through generations and was brought to the Topaki Palace from Egypt in the early 1500's.  Istanbul is full of amazing history, and I feel like we barely touched the surface.
It's also full of great food and people.  We ate lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and found a great spicy tomato dip, aicili ezme, that we ordered at just about every meal.  One thing we noticed about the people was that they seem so connected to each other.  Women and women and men and men link arms to walk which you rarely see in America, especially between men.  It impressed us that they don't have that invisible wall up and link arms with friends while walking.  How sweet that was to see!  And lastly, I mention the Grand Bazaar because it was my favorite thing to do.  We don't typically shop while vacationing, but we do try to get a few local goods to bring back, and the Grand Bazaar was the place to look!  I believe Joshua found it covered 61 streets which we only saw a very small portion of.  But we got our share of shopping for evil eye things, lamps, and embroidery for the house!
Istanbul is also a very walkable city if you're there touring the historical sites.  Everything from our hotel was within walking distance.  We took no other modes of transportation besides the river cruise, and we took a ferry to Kadikoy on the Asia side for a rooftop lunch.  Speaking of, the city is full of amazing views everywhere and has tons of rooftop terraces on top of restaurants to take in the views which we fully took advantage of!  The streets are also full of unique bohemian-looking cafes with men gathering for tea and conversation.  Turkish tea was everywhere!  That was the thing to do, gather around the table in the afternoon for tea and sweets with friends.  And at night, tea and shisha which is known as hookah to us. 
Overall, we both loved Istanbul- the city we didn't know much about but, luckily, bought tickets to anyway.

Dubai cont...

We only stayed on The Palm for a night because we wanted the experience, but it was too far away to be able to get out and enjoy the city.  So we moved hotels to the Park Regis Kris Kin.  We chose that hotel because the rooftop pool had an amazing view of downtown Dubai with the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

We'd gotten tickets to the observation deck at the Burj in advance so we headed straight there after checking in! We had to wait a little while for our time slot so we wandered around the Dubai Mall, the world's largest mall. That place is seriously insane!!!  We could not believe the size! Luckily, they had signs everywhere, but we still got turned around a few times.  Finally, our time came for the 'At the Top' observation deck of the Burj Khalifa.  This was a big moment for Joshua.  He's been looking up facts and videos on that building for a couple years now, and we actually got the experience of going inside.  It's 209 floors with the observation deck being on the 124th.  Up there, we towered over all the other skyscrapers even though we were only about halfway up.  I'm not sure why they put the deck on that floor since it goes so much higher, but I did get a nosebleed so maybe that has something to do with it.  Joshua was like a kid in a candy store...a little scared one though.  Poor thing doesn't like heights, but he still loved getting to see this amazing structure.  

We did so many other cool things in Dubai.  Souks are traditional middle eastern shopping areas so we visited a couple of those.  We saw the amazing Dubai fountains which happened to be one of my favorite parts! We went to the Medinat Jumeirah which is like a city in a city that has amazing views of the Burj al Arab, the sail-looking hotel building that is iconic to Dubai.  We saw the Dubai Marina with beautiful boats surrounded by tall skyscrapers, and luckily, most things we did were all indoors! That was heavenly considering it was 100°+ with crazy humidity!  It was much more intense than the heat back home!  

We also went out the nights we were there!  Our favorite place was Neos on the 64th floor of The Address Hotel.  We got an amazing window seat overlooking the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai fountains.  

Lastly, I have to mention the people!  They were all very nice and welcoming, and many wore their local attire which was so neat to see.  The men wore an all white thobe which is basically an ankle length robe with a guthra, a piece of fabric draped over the head held in place by a rope.  The women wore all black abayas which were flowing black robes with their hair completely covered.  Some women even covered their hands and face but only had their eyes showing.  We even saw a few that veiled their eyes with black lace. This is typical Dubai attire, but we also heard a lot of those people were from Saudi Arabia.  Even though the ladies were completely covered, they still carried high end designer bags and many had designer sunglasses too.   I saw a lady with a $4k Chanel bag, a Chanel shopping sack and a Rolex.. Oh the money in that city!!