Southeast Asia Threevisited Luke Bradley [email protected] September 7, 2020 Abstract Contents [NB: What follows is a mixture of two original 2019 documents from two different trips, with Accommodation 2 some personal information removed. The inten- tion is simply to showcase the document design.] Acquisitions during trip 3 This is but an echo of a document I prepared in Austroasiatic Languages 4 2016, which was considerably longer than this one. The abstract of that document was as follows: Bus travel 4 “Cultural, linguistic, geographical, Chamic languages 4 sociological, anthropological, musical, philosophical, religious, practical Champa 4 and personal notes pertaining to the Southeast Asian voyage undertaken Exchange rates 5 by L. Bradley and J. Luff in June of the Two Thousand and Sixteenth For Next Time 5 Year of the Common Era. Content mainly pertains to Việt Nam, with Flights, Internal 5 occasional notes on the Philippines reflecting the contingencies of the day. Giáo Trình Lịch Sự Tiếng Việt 5 All costings, except for visa, increased by ~10% relative to estimates garnered Hà Nội 5 from the web. Entries are arranged in alphabetical order for minimal Heat 6 efficiency.” Hmong-Mien Languages 6 My principles in this 2019 edition remain basi- cally the same. This document was originally more Insurance 6 practical than the last, with less starry-eyed prepa- ration for a wondrous trip resulting in fewer his- Islands 6 toric and linguistic flights of fancy, and more fo- cus on the non-niceties of cost, transport, and ac- Languages of Laos 6 comodation. However, the excitement ramped up Languages of Yunnan 6 as the trip approached, and there is now plenty of side material within. Clickable within-document Languages spoken en route 6 links in magenta (not Magenta!); clickable URLs in Cerulean. Luggage 9 I have sprinkled Traditional Chinese 正體字/繁 體 字 equivalents of subheadings and headings Money 9 throughout the document, in honour of the Tai- wan 臺灣 component of the trip. Not that it par- Music / Audio 9 ticularly matters, but this will simultaneously1 be my eighth trip to Asia, my sixth trip to Southeast Photography 10 Asia, my fourth trip to Vietnam, my third trip to Phrasebooks 10 Thailand, my second trip to Japan, my second trip to Cambodia, and my first trip to Taiwan. Hence Provinces of Việt Nam 10 the ‘threevisited’ of the title is a misnomer. 1Not literally simultaneously. Scripts 11 1 Accommodation List of Tables Sino-Tibetan Languages 11 List of Tables Tai-Kadai Languages 11 1 Six exchange rates as of 05.05.2019 .... 5 2 Luggage .................. 10 Thai Cuisine in Việt Nam 12 Abbreviations Tourism statistics 12 ĐN Đà Nẵng Travel: General 13 ĐV Đồng Văn Travel: Vocabulary 13 HA Hội An Travel Risks 13 HG Hà Giang Travel within Switzerland 13 HN Hà Nội Travel within Vietnam: Buses 13 KL Kuala Lumpur LC Lũng Cú Tự Điển Tiếng Huế 15 MSEA Mainland Southeast Asia Tự Điển Chữ Nôm Dẫn Giải 15 MV Mèo Vạc Vietic 16 TPHG Thành phố Hà Giang Vietnamese Linguistic Collection 16 VN Việt Nam Visa & Visa Waiver 17 Japan 日本 ................... 17 Taiwan 臺灣 .................. 17 h[YnabXcamZ\g Vietnam 越南 .................. 17 Laos 寮國 .................... 17 Cambodia 柬埔寨 ............... 17 Thailand 泰國 ................. 17 Accommodation VN Express 17 (NB: Booked accommodation in ForestGreen; unbooked or still to be determined in BrickRed) VOV4 17 Wordlist Recordings 17 Update: All properties now booked! List of Figures Tokyo, 26.05–31.05: Hostel wahaku kura, 111-0051, 1 Languages of Central and Southern VN . 4 Tokyo, Taito Ward, Taito-ku Kuramae 2-17-10. 2 Languages of ‘Eastern Indo-China’ .... 4 (hostel 和箔蔵, 111-0051, 東京都, 台東区, 台東 3 Distribution of Katuic languages ..... 4 区蔵前 2-17-10). Superior bunk bed. booking.com. 4 Giáo Trình Lịch Sự Tiếng Việt ...... 5 Pay JPY 12,730 at property. Free cancel until 22 May 5 Languages of Northern Việt Nam .... 7 2019, 23:59. 6 Languages of Laos ............ 8 7 Languages of Northwestern Việt Nam .. 12 Taipei, 31.05–01.06: Meander 1948, No.42, Taiyuan 10 Where to catch the bus to HG ...... 13 Road, Datong District , Taipei, 103, Taiwan. (漫步 8 Where to catch the 86 .......... 14 1948, 太原路 42 號, ⼤同區,(台北市, 103)). 4-bed 9 When to catch the 86 ........... 14 dorm. booking.com. Pay TWD 730 at property. Free cancel until 27 May 2019, 23:59. 11 Where to catch the bus to HN ...... 15 12 Tự Điển Tiếng Huế ............ 16 Xincheng, 01.06–03.06: Taroko Susi Space, No.20, 13 Tự Điển Dhữ Nôm Dẫn Giải ....... 16 Zhongzheng Road, Xincheng, 97144, Taiwan. (太魯 14 Distribution of Vietic languages ..... 16 閣蘇西小空間, 中正路 20 號 (新城 , 97144)). 1 15 Taipei to Xincheng by train ....... 18 room. booking.com. Pay TWD 1,890 at property. 16 Xincheng to Taipei by train ....... 18 Free cancel until 28 May 2019, 23:59. Southeast Asia Threevisited 2 L. Bradley Version of September 7, 2020 Acquisitions during trip Where I stay will make a large difference to my enjoyment over booking.com for CHF 45; prepayment day of arrival of the trip. If I spend too much on luxurious beds, I won’t (I think); free cancel until 18:00, Mar 5. experience enough of the landscape and people. This is not In Mèo Vạc (MV), I will stay in the Ong Vang Meo Vac a trip to spend hermit-style—except when reading, contem- Hotel, as it seems to be the only one with private bath- plating nature, or working.2 rooms (although the Giac Xua guesthouse also looks good, It could be worth sticking with Agoda; Airbnb is moving as does Little Yen’s Homestay). This seems to require book- past its sell-by date, perhaps? They certainly have one of the ing through booking.com, which mysteriously has 5 beds slowest websites known to man. Here is the distribution of remaining at the time of writing, while Agoda has none. nights: Per-site allocation, I suppose. It’s worth thinking about which languages are spoken: Giac Xua seems to be Giáy- 1-1-3-2-1-3-1½ run, whereas Ong Vang is probably not. However, a mes- sage I sent to Green Karst brought a reply assuring me that In Emerald are those occasions on which I am likely to be exhausted, or on which a very good night’s sleep is oth- multiple local languages were spoken by their staff. Booked booking.com erwise desirable. This applies principally to the first Hà Nội for Fri 8 over for CHF 20; payment on arrival (HN) stopover. I have also highlighted the last night(s) of in cash; free cancel until Mar 6. the trip, in Đà Nẵng (ĐN), as it seems sensible to be well- Coming back through HG, I will stay in Creekside once rested before the long voyage home. The final ‘½’ represents more and try to sample any local dishes I hadn’t before. the Saturday evening, upon which I don’t want to be walk- Booked for Sun 10 with SB over Agoda for CHF 10; ing the streets of ĐN up until midnight and my flight. I will charged on Mar 7; free cancel until Mar 8. therefore keep a room to relax in until I leave for the airport I then fly to ĐN, where I need a simple room for the around 21:00 or 22:00. night before heading to Hội An (HA) the next day. This room should be rather cheap, in case I miss the flight from For the first night, I have come across the excellent op- HN and have to get a train down instead. The Green Bal- tion of the Executive Suite at Tomodachi House. I have cony hostel looks fine. Booked for Mon 11 with SB over great memories of that hostel, and reviews indicate that it Agoda for CHF 13; payment processed Mar 8; free cancel has maintained its quality over the past few years. Since this until Mar 9. is a ‘penthouse suite’ offered for only 32 CHF (with private pool, supposedly!), with great reviews, I think it will be the For HA, Pearl Beach House (Airbnb) or Sun Paradise perfect way to relax after a journey which commences with Villa (Agoda) look like good possibilities, although things me leaving my house in Basel at 05:00 (11:00 VN time) on are starting to get a bit pricey. But overall, there is an em- Saturday; i.e. a 26-hour journey altogether. Booked for Sun barrassment of riches. It would be nice to have a place ac- 3 with SB over Agoda for 36 CHF inc. fees; charged Feb 28; tually on the beach. An Bang Garden Homestay is right on free cancel until Mar 2. the beach. The Cashew Tree also looks great (again sold out on Agoda). Away from the beach, Hoi An Discovery Villa The next night, I’m tempted to take Ha Giang Creekside, looks particularly tempting, but also quiet. I think I would which has shared bathrooms but private rooms. It looks prefer quietness on this leg. And if the beach hotels don’t perfectly adequate in terms of comfort and is only 9 CHF actually own the beaches, then I don’t see the problem with / night. The owner is supposed to be friendly, so I can ask a 10-minute bike ride. So, the Discovery Villa! Booked for him for help with the onward journey. Booked for Mon 4 Tue12 with SB over Agoda for CHF 81; payment at hotel; with SB over Agoda for CHF 10; pay at property; free can- free cancel until Mar 6.