Will post more tomorrow, but hope y’all have a happy new years!♥️🍾
Monthly Archives: December 2023
Rain, Day Drinking, Lanterns, and Fittings
Rainy day, but still warm and awesome. After breakfast we watched some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the room, then set out after noon when the rain slowed down.
One of the region specialties is “Egg Coffee”. It used to be rare (and hard) to have and keep dairy, so locals instead whipped up egg whites instead of latte foam. Delicious!
Its pouring rain again, now forced to day drink $2 Long Island Ice Teas and hard ciders while we await our slot in the Lantern making class
What else to do in the Lantern City, but join a lantern making class!
Choosing a lantern size, shape, and fabrics is one of the toughest parts!
Bending and building the bamboo frame
Frame built, now threading the reinforcement
Is that fabric on right side up?
Shawn bragging that he’s ahead of me
Shawn is beating me in progress, but he also chose a smaller lantern 😂
I forgot how to do arts-n-crafts
Glue, tighten, snip, trim, repeat. Also love that Shawn always catches me mid blink 😂
holy shit, these actually look like lanterns, and we made them from scratch!! (took about 2 hrs)
After was time to go to my blazer fitting, I can’t believe they did this in 24hrs!!
Fitting went great, I can’t believe they make these blazers in less than 24 hours! Can’t wait to see both tomorrow.
Oh no… not more $2 long islands on the way back to the hotel…😎
Crazy Boat Rides & Custom Clothes
Besides lanterns, Hoi An is known for getting custom tailored clothes, shoes, and leather goods, along with riding in the Vietnamese round basket-boat.
Since the we had a break in the weather, we decided to head to the Coconut Forest for a basket-boat ride. We knew this was going to be a crowded tourist trap, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought and we had a blast. History of the basket-boats here: https://youindanang.com/hoi-an-coconut-forest-enjoying-the-basket-boat-rides-on-the-river/
This is a busy part of the river cause everyone is here to go on a basket-boat cruise
Our basket-boat guide was all about the ‘Gram, and insisted on taking (and being in) a bunch of pics 😂
There’s a point in the river that turns into a water-rave, where the solo captains show off their crazy boat dancing skills, while other boats paddle around with massive speakers blasting dance music.
If you want, you too can hop in with the boat dance folks and they’ll give you a tamed version of the ride. Hell yes, I was in, but Shawn passed as he tends to get green in the gills. It was a lot of fun, but also pretty crazy. This is just a short video of my ride, and I was thrilled the song was the old hit ‘Gangnam Style’.
beers after surviving the round boat ride, my head was still spinning
There’s places in the world where they still make pull-tab beers
After the boats it was time to go find our tailors and cobblers to get our custom clothes and shoes. We’d researched before, and had an idea of which ones we wanted to use. Then it’s a really quick process of selecting your style, materials, and getting measured. We go back in 24hr for the fitting, then pick up our finished products in another 24hrs. I got two custom blazers for $180 total, and Shawn got leather dress shoes with matching belt for $120.
Liquid fortification before heading to the tailor shops
Thousands of fabrics and patterns to choose from!
getting measured for custom toilored blazers, got two for $80 each. takes 48-72 hours to make.
Shawn wavering on getting custom boots instead
getting fitted for custom shoes and belt, takes about 2.5 days to make, and total cost was $120
Choosing the shoe and belt leather
Dinner time!
Cao Lau & Bahn Zao for dinner
its also laundry time! filled the tub with water and detergent, then stirred it around awhile with a long umbrella
Hoi An
The beaches were amazing, but gad to get out of hustle of Da Nang. We’re now in the much much smaller historic town Hoi An. It’s pouring rain here, but its warm too so we’re still having a good time. This town is very picturesque, especially at night when all the shops, restaurants, and boats are lit by thousands of colorful lamterns at night.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BB%99i_An
its raining, so we’re killing time and having cocktails by our Da Nang hotel pool before our afternoon checkout time. heading to Hoi An next
Some flashy club in Da Nang. The city really reminds me of “Miami”, but doesn’t have all the good things, like the Miami Dolphins
Passed several water buffalo and rice paddys on the way to Hoi An
more lanterns
Strolling along the Hoi An river
Lanterns starting to come on at sunset
Its POURING here today, and I didn’t want my shoes soaked so I wore my flip-flops. but I was still having a problem sliding around, and wanted something more secure for my feet. I ended up buying a pair of Crocs for $10. Can’t believe I am saying this, but they are AMAZING, especially for the puddles, muddy spots, and also has great traction. I am now a member of the Croc-Cult! 🤣
Yes, yes it was a fucking good dinner from here.
Shawn is sad he didn’t buy Crocs, but is enjoying his new shorts without a hole in the butt
“Don’t be a pussy, be a Tiger” 😂 we’ll have to check this place out another evening
launching floating candle lanterns that people buy and make a wish on
Did we time travel to Oklahoma??
Last day in Da Nang
Last day here, its a bit rainy so we slept in, went to a museum. Then ended up at one of the markets to get Shawn a new pair of cargo shorts, since his got a hole in the booty. Heading next to a much smaller town, Hoi An, for some better sight seeing and get out of the big city.
Museum of Cham Sculpture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Cham_Sculpture
Yep, those are boobs. this was a base of a pillar, and ta-tas were good fortune.
Museum on a rainy day
Creepy abandoned hospital. We need to send Zach Bagins and the Ghost Adventures team here
had to try this crazy pizza with cheese and sausages baked into the crusts
Walking down the sidewalks is not easy. Most are blocked with mopeds and merchandise
Walking in Vietnam is a sport! Sidewalks are blocked and crosswalks are merely a suggestion. Stop signs and pedestrian rights do not exist here. You wait for a bit of a lull, but basically you just cross. Mopeds will weave around you, but the busses,trucks, and cars won’t. It’s basically life-size game of Frogger.
Da Nang
Sleeping in was amazing today after all the travel. Luckily a lot of things still happen well into the evening including the night markets that don’t even open until well after sunset.
Beautiful day, time to explore Da Nang
Started out our day going to view the tallest buddah statue Lady Buddha and the surrounding temples,statues, gardens, and pagodas. http://www.ladybuddha.org/
Bonsai
Da Nang skyline
Watching these concrete artists hand build and sculpt new intricate stair banisters
my kinda man, six pack abd AND a buddah belly.
Shawn is wary of the evil monkeys, they were trying to steal people’s food from their hands.
more evil monkeys
Later we went to check out the Dragon Bridge and nearby Night Market for some food and shopping. Unfortunately the dragon bridge fire show only happens on the weekends now, so here’s a video https://youtu.be/UMrqcep-dUc
Son Tra Night Market
Pork, mushrooms, chicken, vegetables, and squid
Tried a piece of the infamous Durian Fruit. Its not as bad as people make it out to be. Shawn was too chicken to try it. Google it if you’ve never heard about it’s reputation.
$100,000 Dongs ($4) for an amazing 30 min foot massage
Time for a night cap, so we found a Tiki Bar with some delicious cocktails.
Happy Hour! Only $99,000 Vietnamese Dongs ($4) for a cocktail!
Vietnam!
Today was a travel day. Red eye from Tokyo to Saigon, some flight delays, and then finally got on a plane to Da Nang. Glad to be here, it was HOT and MUGGY, but it was about 74 here when we landed.
Made it to our hotel, and just relaxing until tomorrow cause it’s been a looooong day.
Flying over south east Vietnam it looked like there were miles upon miles of Christmas lights. It was a really amazing site. Looked it up later and it’s from the Dragon Fruit farms. Each plant in the field gets its own light to keep it growing round the clock, and makes for a magical view when flying over in the dark.
Pic I borrowed from the internet showing the field of dragon fruit plants with individual lights
After a redeye flight, landing in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
After some flight delays, finally boarding for Da Nang
On the bus to get out to the tarmac and our plane. SGN isn’t big enough to handle all the flights, so you board most of them via air-stairs far away from the terminal.
Ocean view from our Da Nang hotel. Time for some much needed sleep
Shawn has platinum hotel status, so they had a delicious tray of Christmas goodies set up in our room when we checked in.
Vietnamese version of White Claw (left) is terrible, but the beer is good and washing down the lobster chips
Spicy Lobster chips, not horrible…
Akihabara Shopping, Claw Machine Winning, and Creepy Vending Machines with Mystery Boxes
Last day in Tokyo, flying out tonight for Vietnam. Headed to Akihabara, aka”Electric City”, with miles if endless shopping possibilities. Stores are 8+ stories tall and range from high-end electronics to flea market type deals. Our favorite was a mega store, Don Quijote, which literally has everything from trinkets to oddities, practical goods, food, clothes, and everything in between. You could spend a few hours there and not see it all. There’s also several pachinko parlors, casinos, and tons of massive arcades with claw machines. The claw games have prizes from ice cream, snacks, toys, and household items.
We also hit up the infamous Creepy Vending Machines in a hidden corner of the neighborhood. Below I will unpack our mystery box that we bought from one, get your tin foil hats ready!
Shawn making coffee in the morning to get us moving.
Akihabara!
found out where the builder of the fateful Titan Submarine got his controllers from 😂
Claw game arcades everywhere!
Cat Butt plush toys anyone?
I played once, and won a plush shrimp toy. Weird but cute somehow
Creepy vending machines are so infamous they are on Google maps
Fortifying ourselves for conquering the creepy vending machines and Akihibara shopping. Spam and wontons on a stick.
Found em, and yeah it’s creepy AF
spaghetti in a can anyone?
tube of bells
yeah, let’s trust family planning to a vending machine in a sketchy alley…
random mystery boxes, a tube of rubber balls, juice, crackers, and a zippo lighter
random mystery boxes, a tube of rubber balls, juice, crackers, and a zippo lighter
I chose this one since it said “Banksy” in English
Mystery Box wrapping
Google translate of the mystery box wrapping
Note attached to the underside of the mystery box
Google translate of the note on the underside of the mystery box. Could the last line refers to mike lindell and his my pillow conspiracies? 😂
Interior of the wrapping, is this another nutty clue?? Let’s see what google translate says…
Interior of the wrapping translated, seems to be a property information sheet. at least conspiracy man recycles!
Just like Oak Island, there’s no treasure here. Just a questionable box of animal crackers. And no, hell no we didn’t eat them. They went to the rubbish.
Back to Shibuya Crossing to go to a cigar bar Shawn had his eye on
Suntory Whisky and a cigar before heading to the airport for our flight to Vietnam
Shibuya, Roppongi Hills, & Shinjuku
Welcome back and thanks for tuning in again. We’re stopping in Tokyo for 48 hours cause it’s a really fun city with great food and things to do. It’s been a while since we’ve been here, and still doesn’t disappoint! Next flight is to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), where we’ll then transfer to Da Nang.
Comments are active,I just have to approve your first one. Stay tuned!
Fun fact, the flight from Hawaii to Tokyo is the same as flight from Hawaii to Dallas
cold view of Mt Fuji! third time here, first time where it was clear enough to see the famous mountain from a Tokyo rooftop
Very rare view, pretty awesome even though its hazy.
Hot delicious ramen lunch on a chilly day
Lunch
weird sticker
some fucked up stuffed animal toy that sucks on your finger! 🫣 Normally I don’t kink-shame, but I may have to make an exception here. 😂
Segorni Weaver better hope she’s on the nice-list
Roppongi Hills lights, they allow pedestrians in the street for 15 seconds at a time, and everyone rushes out to take selfies, then it’s a fun madhouse as police usher everyone back to the sidewalk. had us laughing hard and was fun to do it once
Roppongi lights crowded crosswalk selfies. fun insanity for the ‘gram
Waiting in line hoping for a cool prize
Coke had some xmas monstrosity where you could pull a string and light up ornaments to win prizes. We both only won a free Coke, and the shitty thing is it was a Coke-Zero. Oh well, it was free and interesting.
Christian Dior’s bougie xmas tree
Cartier with their own bougie xmas tree
Fucking bullshit scam. Supposedly “the largest and best xmas market in Tokyo, with ‘authentic’ German Christmas Market”
LIES, it was approximately 1300sqft with four “German huts” selling overpriced sausages and ornaments. It was an hour wait to enter and then long lines for the huts offerings. We just took pics from outside and hopped back on the subway for another district
People behind us crammed in the “market”
One of the many very narrow alleys packed full if tiny Izakaya restaurants serving quick snacks of grilled yakatori meat on skewers
IKEA, in Shibuya, but two days before xmas it was a mad house,and we didn’t feel like waiting in line to get in
Famous Shibuya Crossing, always a fun time and fun area to explore.
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/2177/
Someone made a bar with Shawn’s picture on it
Too much fun, Shawn napping on the subway ride home
TV in the hotel is all in Japanese but it’s no problem. Plenty of really fucked up (hilarious) game shows, and anime like “Oshiri Tantei” (translation “Butt Detective”) who fights his nemesis which is poop in a latex hood, and his weapon is farting on enemies through his “nose”.
He is getting a full movie soon https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-12-21/butt-detective-gets-new-anime-film-in-march/.205748