China: in 10 minutes

We're back! At least on the blog. I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post, but I've been working on creating some great content. :)

There's so much to catch everyone up on, so the next couple weeks might be a little scattered as I pull together all the pieces. I still need to finish up our adventures in Vietnam, my trip home to the US and our current Ladies Adventures trip out to Western China.

First up, a China recap. This video was given to us by a guide on one of our most recent trips and I thought it was hilarious. A perfectly succinct, stereotypical yet fairly accurate portrayal of China.

Hope you enjoy!

Video: China in 10 minutes

Travels: Eating our way through Vietnam

We've been in Vietnam over a week and the #1 thing I've learned so far, aside from the fact that the people are incredibly kind and entrepreneurial ;) and that every street has an unexpected charm, but the FOOD is DELICIOUS!!!

First stop on our journey was to Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon. And as soon as we hopped off the plane, the eating adventures began: (Luckily, Julia provided us with a list of some of the best spots!)

"Food Tour" Stop 1: Vietnamese BBQ @ 3T

giddy school kid...

"Food Tour" Stop 2: Beef Pho @ Pho Hoa

Super tasty Pho aka. Beef Noodle Soup. Better than any I've had before. Perfectly brothy, a bit tangy and bit spicy but a whole lot of comforting.

Also, apparently you're not supposed to throw in the herbs whole, but rather tear off the leaves... we gave people a couple good chuckles as we tried to gnaw our way through.

"Food Tour" Stop 3: Nha Hang Ngon. Food here was delicious, but the other amazing part was that we were hosted by our amazing waiter named "Phuc Yu" I kid you not... But he was lovely!

 

Our first, of soon to be many, Banh Xeo: "Vietnamese Pancake" (kinda like a crepe filled with noodles, lettuce, shrimp, pork, deliciousness)

How do you eat this? Just tear off a little with your fingers? Wrong!

Cut it up, place on rice paper & lettuce. Then roll up into... well, rolls. :)

Looks like this (pic from another Banh Xeo experience)

"Che" a conspicuous looking dessert. Described as like a pudding...

we ordered the "back bean" version that the waiter recommended which that surprised us both with it's tastiness! similar the flavors of mango sticky rice... sorta...

Food/Drink "Tour" Stop 4: Catina Cafe

I love a good balcony cafe

especially with tasty drinks!

Oh, plus we did some touristy stuff in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Ho Chi Minh City (previously known as Saigon) is the largest city in Vietnam. It didn't feel like way while we were there as it's pretty spread out and the tourist areas are centrally located so for our purposes it was incredibly walkable. Saigon was the capital of Southern Vietnam and was a capitalist / anti-communist state prior to the Vietnam War. However, based upon the propaganda & stories that the government shares, you would never know it. After the war, Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City after Ho Chi Minh, communist leader, Prime Minister & President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Here's just a couple snapshots from Ho Chi Minh City:

We felt right at home with all the motorbikes.

but everyone wears their helmets here! it's amazing! safety first. :)

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Vietnamese version of Dongtai Lu

ball marker anyone?

"Notre Dame Cathedral"

noted as a special spot for music videos and wedding shoots... so i obviously took quite a few pics here.

impossible to get a good selfie without a reverse photo bomb

"War Remnants Museum" presents a strongly pro-Communist, anti-American portrayal of the Vietnam War. I don't want to post too many pics because it was incredibly disturbing with graphic images of the generational effects of Agent Orange, the torture of "innocent" Vietnamese, and the overall devastation that the US Army caused through Vietnam. Interesting, but obviously one-sided.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum. Not a great museum, but again, a great place for wedding photos! There must've been at least half a dozen couples with their photographers here.

The creepy "Jade Emperor Pagoda" claimed to be one of Saigon's "finest" pagodas. I personally found it to be a little creepy.

see what I mean...

We also headed out to the "Binh Tay" market, which if I had read my Lonely Planet guide book more closely, I would've learned this was a wholesale market. While nothing we wanted to purchase, it was wild! Luckily, we got stuck here during  a downpour so we had plenty of time to ignore.

This is the start of the flip flop / sandal aisle. Yes a whole aisle dedicated to flip flops / sandals.

this is the hair accessories aisle. we didn't see many other tourists in this market... :)

a drive-by of Saigon Streets. I love the skinny homes in every color of the rainbow.

Colorful Saigon at night

we also appreciated the men hard at work...

Left: just a little ruler measuring ; Right: i think you missed a spot

but the real treat is the electrical work throughout the city... 

what? this can't possibly be effective... having a cluster of power lines wrapped around a pole with each line hanging over the street directly into each apartment.

Travels: Tokyo Sumo #cookiemonsters

We were lucky enough to be in Tokyo during the September Grand Sumo Tournament. When you hear the word “Sumo” I know the mental image of large men in colorful diapers come to mind, and you will be totally correct! And it's AWESOME. However, what I found most interesting is all the ritual and tradition involved in the sport.

Our arrival at Ryogoku Kokugikan

Origins of Sumo:

• The sport originated in Japan and continues to the be the only country where it’s competed officially.
• It was used a trial of strength for combat and Shinto religion ritual dances wrestling with the Shinto divine spirits
• Also can be traced back to the Edo period, where wrestlers were likely samurai or ronin looking for an additional form of entertainment

Life of a Sumo Wrestler:

• Sumo Wrestlers are required to live in “sumo training stables” under strict training and diet regimens
• They must grow their hair long to be placed in a top-knot.
• They must wear traditional Japanese dress / chonmage hairstyle so they can be identified immediately when in public
•  Junior wrestlers wake up at 5am , while the higher ranked wrestlers, sekitori wake closer to 7am.
• They are prohibited from eating breakfast to enhance training, and must take a nap in the afternoon after eating in order to increase weight gain. (More from CNN)
• Unfortunately, this dietary regimen leads to shorter life expectancies due to health complications such as diabetes.
• Salaries range from: ~ $11k - $30k per month plus prize and bonus money for successful tournaments
• Many sumo wrestlers are recruited to the professional ranks during high school as strong judo competitors or from collegiate sumo clubs.
• We were surprised that not all sumo wrestlers originate from Japan. In fact, even among the senior sekitori we witnessed the matches of a Russian and a Bulgarian.

Pre-Fight Ceremony: Once the wrestlers enter the ring, there are a couple rituals that the sumo-ers perform prior to any actual contact

•  The “Entry Ceremony” The wrestlers are divided into different classes based on skill with the best wrestlers competing at the end of the day. Additionally, there are “East” and “West” houses where wrestlers competing against a similarly skilled wrestlers from the opposite house. Before the top division of wrestlers competes, they enter the stadium in rank order and are introduced to the crowd.
• The fights take place in a ring called the dohyo with a roof resembles a Shinto shrine.
• Once a wrestler enters the dohyo: he faces the audience and claps his hands and performs the leg stopping “shiko” ceremony to drive evil spirits from the dohyo. (also demonstrating a surprising amount of flexibility!)
• 
• Then they step out of the ring to receive a ladle of “power water” and paper tissue “power paper” to dry his lips. These pieces are given to the wrestler by a fellow sumo wrestler from the same house, but this must not be given by a sumo loser, therefore it’s given by the winner of the previous round or the competitor in the next round.
• They reenter the ring and face each other with open hands to demonstrate they have no weapons
• Finally, from a bucket in the corner they take a handful of salt and toss it into ring to purify the dohyo

The Fight:

• Matches consist of one round and every wrestler only competes once a day. The total wins over the course of the 15 day tournament are calculated to determine the overall winner
• There are no “weight classes” and we saw many “smaller” wrestlers defeat those almost twice their size
• The fight begins when both wrestlers come up to the two lines in the middle and place both fists on the ground simultaneously. The wrestlers determine when the match will begin (after performing above rituals) but if they take too long the official will command them to compete at the next placement
• They then spring from their crouch (the tachi-ai) and attack. Sounds like an explosion and the tangle lasts only about a couple seconds.
• Winner is determined as the first wrestler to be the first to push his opponent out of the ring or force him to touch the ground with any part of his body other than his feet

ENJOY!

Adding my flipbook videos, but if those don't work, don't worry I've added the close-up shots.

you're out!

#wecantstop #wewontstop 

make sure you see the lower right corner...

wouldn't want to sit in the front row...

We LOVE SUMO! Matt's now in training mode...