Monthly Archives: June 2012

Restaurant at Sapa Rooms Hotel

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The hotel where we stayed while visiting Sapa, Vietnam, the Sapa Rooms Hotel, has a restaurant at its lobby that serves its guests with breakfasts (included in the room price) as well as other meals during the day. Typically I would avoid eating at the hotel’s restaurant as the food is usually not that great and the price might be inflated. But the restaurant at Sapa Rooms Hotel is an exception; they actually have very good food that I think I would consider having even if I wasn’t staying at the hotel.

Our first taste of the Sapa Rooms food was for the breakfast right after our arrival in Sapa. Even though we didn’t stay there the night before, apparently the breakfast was included as part of our stay since that’s a very typical time that guests from Hanoi arrive in Sapa. They had both western and authentic Vietnamese menus available. During our stay, we went mostly with the Vietnamese menus. The food seemed to be quite authentic and were very tasty. The most memorable part for us, however, was not the food, but the beverage. Sapa Rooms restaurant served several mixed fruit juice drinks that were very tasty and refreshing. I think between Kristi and I we ended up trying almost every item on the fresh drink menu.

The photo below was one of the appetizers they served during the day. We had this for lunch on our second day. These spring rolls had grilled snails, fried shallots, spring onions, mixed herbs, and vermicelli noodles for fillings.

Tasty rolls

Imitation

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There is a saying that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.’ While this might be the case in the context of someone imitating the behavior of others, in the case of commercial products especially in the western world you may end up with lawsuits and complex intellectual property issues. No matter how flattering it is to have one’s design imitated by others, if this meant market share erosion or others profiting from one’s design without attribution, one would feel violated and there is law that can help enforcing the right to the intellectual property. When you go to developed countries, however, this becomes harder to enforce, and sometimes it may not be worth the effort trying to seek protection from local law.

When traveling in Southeast Asia, we saw such violation in many places, especially with brand name clothing or footwear. It ranges from something that imitates the design but has different brand (e.g., the three stripes design from Adidas that were imitated by local clothing manufacturers), some that has similar look and feel as the original and even has brand name that is similar to the original (I had seen shoes with brand ‘Rebok’ with one e), or others that looked exactly like the original, and even had the original brand’s name, but with price that is a fraction of the original merchandise.

One thought that came to my mind was how to react to this as a consumer. Should we be avoiding buying these merchandise and only purchase the original articles (that might be much more expensive), or should we take advantage of the lack of enforcement and purchase the merchandise there? For clothing or footwear, sometimes it’s more difficult decision to make when you find out that even when you purchase the merchandise at the official company store in the US, you would find that the merchandise was made in the developed country anyway.

The photo below was taken at a store in Sapa, Vietnam, where Kristi and I stopped by to look for souvenirs. They had these sandals on display. They looked very much like the unique Keen sandals design (with the toe protector and all), but if you pay a close attention, you see that the brand was actualy 5-ten (but from far away, it looked very much like Keen logo). Would I buy these? Probably not, as I purchased my original Keen sandals not because I care for its looks, but more for the reliability of the original product (so getting something that looked the same at cheaper price but wouldn’t last long was not really an option I considered).

Keen knockoffs

Hiking Shoes

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One of the important considerations to make when preparing for a trip is the footwear to bring. You need to consider the activities you’re going to do during your trip to make sure you have the proper footwear, otherwise it may result in a miserable experience or even worse increasing risk of injury while you’re going on the trip.

Few years ago, I rarely went on hikes or long travels, so having the correct footwear was not really much of a consideration to me. It changed about three years ago when I was about to go on a trip to South Dakota for a couple of weeks, and I needed to have something to wear that was comfortable to wear in the hot summer, light to carry, and easy to clean. I had a pair of hiking boots at home, but they were quite heavy weight and better suited for going out during the snowy winter time. And my other pairs of shoes were good for work or formal occasions, but not for somewhat rugged use.

As I searched online to find out what people recommended, I came across a brand that I never knew before as I wasn’t really a serious hiker. Keen makes footwear that were designed to provide protection and comfort for various outdoor conditions. They had a line of sandals that looked like a hybrid between hiking boots and sandals that are rugged enough that you can wear them on a hike but light and comfortable enough to wear even when going out for casual outings. Their unique design includes a black toe protector in front of the sandals that would protect your toes well when you go hiking on rugged, rocky terrains. The sandals interior were made with antimicrobial material that reduces the possibility of bad odor forming when your feet are sweaty, and it’s made so it’s easily washable and quick to dry when it get wet. Many serious hikers recommended it. All of these came with a price however. At more than $100 for a pair, it was the most I had ever spent for a pair of footwear. After wearing the sandals for a while, I purchased another pair of Keen footwear, a pair of hiking boots that also featured the rugged toe protector and lightweight design. The big selling point for me was the comfort that came from having a wider footbed in Keen’s design. It makes a big difference especially when you wear it on long walks or hikes.

Now fast forward more than three years later, I still own both pairs of Keen footwear (I actually added a third one last year, getting a pair of ‘urban shoes’ that has some trait of the other Keen footwear — including the toe protector and the wide, comfortable footbed — to wear on day-to-day basis for work). I only wear the hiking boots during the winter time especially when it’s snowing outside since it provides a nice waterproof protection to keep my feet dry. But at other times I wore the sandals everywhere I go when I don’t need to wear any formal footwear — I would say about 80% of the time. Even during the cooler seasons (fall, spring, and even parts of winter) I often wear the sandals with socks layering. And even after the constant wear and tear, it’s still in good shape — I’d say well worth the amount I paid for it.

During the Southeast Asia trip, I brought both the sandals and the shoes. In most cases I had the sandals on, except when we went to Sapa, where I had the hiking boots on (which was a good choice given the wet and muddy condition that we went through during the trek). During the hike back to the town of Sapa after visiting the Cat Cat village, we were passed by the couple on the photo below. As the gentleman passed me, he said ‘nice shoes!’ I smiled, and when I looked, it turned out that he had exactly the same model of shoes on.

Hikers with Keen shoes

Toddlers

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At home in the United States, I help out with the Childrens Ministry at my church on Sundays. The age group that I work with is the preschool age (ages 3 and 4 years old). While I don’t have a child of my own, I get to observe these kids every week when they’re learning, playing, and interacting with others in class. I also get to see them interacting with their parents when they were dropped off or picked up before and after the class; some were more attached to the parents than the other, and some parents were more protective of their children than the other. It’s interesting to compare this to what I saw in other countries / cultures, especially those that may not have as much resources as the United States.

When I was traveling in Southeast Asia, especially as we went to villages in Cambodia and Vietnam, we encountered local children there. Some were a bit older (around 10 years old), but we also encountered kids that were in toddler age (5 years old and younger). I thought what’s interesting was to see these kids running around freely without much supervision from their parents. I suppose from one perspective, when you live in small village, you know everyone who lives there, so it’s probably okay for the kids to go around on their own. However, there are places around the village where it seemed to be dangerous for these kids to go (mountain cliffs, streams, even rice fields). I know if I had my own child with me I would be very careful and don’t want them to go to these places lest they hurt themselves. However, it seemed that the kids were going around fine and no one was worried they would get hurt. Compare this to the United States, where I saw many parents were very protective and for legal reasons we even have to have a strict policy for checking in and checking out kids (even simply to go to rest room, a volunteer cannot take a kid alone due to the worry of child abuse or potential issue around that).

Another aspect that was interesting to note was to see how everything in the United States seemed to be clean and sterilized. Children from young age were taught to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer, etc. All good behaviors to have, but sometimes I wonder if we’ve gone too far in the direction of being dependent on chemical substance that the children’s body were never trained to build their own immunity. Compared to the kids I saw in Vietnam, they pretty much run around, play in dirt, etc. I’m sure when they get home their parents tell them to clean up as well, but I doubt they have all kinds of cleaning supplies like what we have in the more developed country to clean up everything. One thing I noticed from the children in my class was that many these days also have allergies (to peanuts, lactose/milk, eggs, etc.) that even when we want to give them snacks during the class we have to be very careful and only give them a certain brand and kind of snacks that we know is safe from the allergies. This was unheard of in the developed countries — you’re very happy if you can even give kids snacks. So I wonder, is this problem existing everywhere, but only detected in ‘sophisticated’ countries like the US, or has the sterilization of everything caused the immune system of the children in the US to be worse than their counterparts in developed countries?

When Kristi and I were enjoying our little snacks at the food stand during our trek to the Cat Cat village near Sapa, Vietnam, we saw several kids (likely in toddler age) coming by. It doesn’t matter where you are or what culture you’re in, seeing young kids like that makes everyone smile. I wonder, what do these kids think of the foreigners going through their village on daily basis. One thing I learned from my preschool class was that at this early part of their lives, the kids grow and learn quite exponentially. I wonder how seeing these foreigners going through their village at such early age affect their perception of the world as they grow up.

Toddlers

Condiments

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Condiments are spices, sauces, or some concoction served with dishes to enhance the flavors. They are usually served on the side, and the diner would apply as little or as much of the condiments to enhance the taste. I think what’s interesting to note when visiting places in the world is the variety of condiments used. Various cultures have diverse taste in their cuisine, but very likely each has something they use as condiments, and typically the presence of the condiments is so integral to the dining experience that the diners would always look for those condiments and you would see them everywhere you go within that culture.

The condiments used in Vietnam is very similar to those used in nearby countries like Thailand, Cambodia, and China. The ubiquotous condiments are soy sauce, nước mắm (fish sauce), hoisin sauce, and chili sauce. With nước mắm, there are different grades of quality that some very discerning people could taste and rate the quality just like a sommelier would with wine. The chili sauce is often home made, though there are some widely popular bottled brands that you would find virtually everywhere you go.

When we stopped by at a food stand during our trek to the Cat Cat village near Sapa, Vietnam, we noticed the bottled chili sauce below that was as ubiquotous as Heinz ketchup bottles in the American restaurants. The brand was called Chin-su, and we tried a little bit of it with our grilled skewered meats. It was good, nothing special to me, but I’m sure for the locals who are used to its taste, they couldn’t have a meal without it.

Chin-su