A Happy New Year?

Every story has 2 sides and here's 1 side from 6 pairs of eyes...

My sister, her fiance, my cousin and my good friend came to travel and visit us for dooms day, Christmas, my birthday and New Years, little did we know what was ahead of us.

In Saigon, we had a pretty good time, we went clubbing and got bottle service. We went to Mekong Delta a floating market (3 hours away).  We visited several flea market and shopping centers.  We ate at the famous Lunch Lady that premiered on the Anthony Bourdaine show.  Oh and of course we had to karaoke in Vietnam.  We did a great deal of celebrating and drinking and after 3 days we headed for Hanoi.  Part I of III was going well and we had a great group traveling together.

In Hanoi, it was a lot colder and we arrived on Christmas Eve and bought 6 pairs of raindeer ears and walked through the blocked of streets of Hoan Kiem.  At our hotel there was a party and we stayed there for a brief time.  We had to wake up early the next morning and catch a 3 hour bus ride to Halong Bay where we jumped on a cruise for 1 night. The cruise was relaxing and the food was amazing.  They had the usual cruise activities like; learning how to cut fruit and vegetables as garnishes, squid fishing, kayaking, board games etc.  We had an opportunity to walk up 400 steps to an amazing view of Halong Bay a natural wonder of the world.  Later we got to enter one of the rock formation and inside was a cave that was spectacular (pictures to come).  We spent Christmas on the cruise and it was nice to have friends and family near.

Another bus ride to the airport to catch a 3 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.  When we arrived to Malaysia my sister and I sure got a lot of stares.  Apparently we both look Malay.  It is extremely hot and humid here so we had on shorts and a tank top.  In a country that has 85% Muslims, this dress attire was not acceptable.  The next day we covered up with long skirts and a tank top and actually brought scarves to tie as head scarves to try to blend in.  That still wasn't enough, we got hissed at, dirty looks from men and women.  I used my head scarf as a shoulder wrap and that put them at bay a little. My sister and I looked like local rebels.

We went to a temple that was described as one of the best temples to visit.  We thought it would be a good idea to walk it and after sweating profusely and arriving at a very steep heel we finally reached the temple.  We were surprised to hear trance music coming out of this "sacred temple".  There was going to be an event and there were several tables covered with expense linen and center pieces.  We were all irritated  because it was highly recommended online and in travel books.  A small sign in the corner pointed us to the temple we had to climb several more staircases and we finally got to the temple where there were several guys putting up laterns.  The whole temple appeared as if it were under construction.  I certainly did not feel like a temple.

What a dissapointment!  We left shortly after.  Half of the group didn't mind walking and catching the monorail.  But I was over it and so was my sister, also her fiance had just sprained his foot and it was still in a cast.  So half of us jumped in a cab and the other half decided to catch the monorail a km away.  Of course the people in the cab got home first.  When my friend and cousin finally got back they looked pretty wiped out, it wasn't the heat, I almost wish it was.  We got what we thought was the worst news!  They had just gotten robbed.  Earlier that day I wanted to get our hotel room cleaned so my friend didn't feel comfortable leaving his valuables and money in the room, so he took it all with him.  So they both got robbed of all the money they had brought on the trip.  SO the light at the end of the tunnel, they didn't get hurt.  So here's what went down, they were walking along the freeway just 5 minutes away from the monorail and a car marked Polis aka Police pulled up and yelled for them to come over.  They said they were cops flashed a badge and asked them to empty their pockets.  We later find out that this is a common scam and tourists are targeted.

We decided that we were only going to travel by taxi.  At our crappy hotel the Prescott Inn (never stay here), there is a taxi service and we thought that it would be the safest and cheapest method to get around.  Taxi scams are high in Kuala Lumpur and even the government admits it, but has no control of it.  Anyway we wanted to go 3km to Jilan Alor to eat at a famous street market and we asked our hotel to hire a taxi van and it cost us 65Ringgits.  Here's the conversion 1USD to 3 RM, so that taxi ride cost 21USD.  After eating at this wonderful place, oh by the way food is extremely cheap but alcohol in a Muslim country is 3x the price.  We caught a cab to go back to our hotel and it cost 15RM.  Our freaken hotel ripped us off.  We were so mad when we found out.

Then my sister got sick with a sore throat and cold and of course it was passed on to me.  So for my birthday, we stayed in.  We did a lot of that in Malaysia because it was so hot out, rained alot, and my sister were constantly judged.  We ended up staying in and watching 5 movies together. 

Batu Cave was highly spoken of and after a long ride we arrived and again it was such a huge let down.  The cave was filled with vendors on the way to the cave and literally inside as well.  There were huge iron stands and bars that appeared as if they were trying to rennovate the place.  The only cool thing about this were the monkeys that were pretty aggressive but the most entertaining part of that experience.

So New Years night, that was probably the best night out of 5 nights and we were all probably really celebrating that we were going "home" the next day.

We decided to use our hotel to book a taxi because it would be the most reliable and the quote was the same as the airport so we figured that was an acceptable price.  We booked the night before and paid in advance.  We specifically told them 6 people and 6 luggages.  In the morning we asked the front desk to confirm our cab to the airport and they confirmed.  When the cab arrived it was a small van.  We couldn't even fit 3 luggages in.  No way were we going to miss that flight, none of us wanted to stay another day in Malaysia.  We ended up yelling at those poor receptionists, but they did really screw this up.  I don't know what it is but getting toilet paper or towel was difficult and we should have known that booking a van would have been rocket science for them.  Anyway we finally conviced them that they needed to get a 2nd cab out and we would split up however we should not have to pay.  The driver of the first cab asked how much we paid and when I said 200RM, he laughed in my face.  Long story short (the Malaysia part anyway), we got a 2nd cab to come 20 minutes later, after it was promised that it would arrive in 5 minutes...but it was free of charge.

The flight to Saigon was comfortable.  Billy, Paul and I just had to clear customs and we would be home free.  Of course it was not a Happy New Year, Billy's visa was a single entry although we all assumed it was a multi entry because his agent booked his flight where he was going to vietnam, leaving vietnam to malaysia and returning to vietnam for an extra week then departing for the US.  Paul and I had multi entry visas and recently got it extended and for whatever reason, the visa was not good.  We tried to argue with gthe custom agents and lost that fight.  We ended up having to pay $160 USD per person to get a landing Visa in Vietnam.  It took an hour and I could only imagine that our luggage would have been stolen or lost by now.  We were told we could pay by credit card, and when it came down to it, cash only.  WTF!  Paul had to run around the airport to find an ATM where he could withdraw that much money.

In the custom line, I couldn't hold it in anymore, I started to cry, and I'm glad I did because I needed to let it all out.  So much bad luck had come upon us and we had just gotten robbed again.  I hope those custom guards felt some sort of guilt as I cried in line.

Hailed a cab and headed "home".  Of course the worst wasn't over, I hit the open button to our garage and nothing happened.  We had left a light on and of course it was off.  Our electricity bill came and was not paid, so guess what our electricity was cut off.  It's New Years Day, so everything is closed and there's nothing we can do so we got a hotel and here I am writing this blog with a very bad outlook on 2013...