Fort Collins, Colorado.

I moved to Fort Collins, a small city in Colorado last Fall (2014) for my senior year in college. The school I go to is Colorado State University, or, like we refer to ourselves, The Rams.

There are thousand of reasons to not like Fort Collins, but there are also billion reasons to fall in love with Fort Collins. The city has a pretty high living standard; people are nice, and where there are college kids, there are bars and night life, you bet.

Things you need to do in Fort Collins:

1. Spend a day in Old Town.

Old Town is where all of the best stuffs are! They have the best food and coffee, and when the weather is beautiful it is the place to get to know people and make friends! Go to Old Town on a sunny day, walk around, window-shop, drink coffee, eat good food and enjoy yourself. I fall in love with Fort Collins more and more everyday simply just by spending time in Old Town. And when the sun goes down, kick-off a couple bars (if you’re 21+, of course). I fall in love with Fort Collins simply by spending a day like that. (More information about coffee places, food, and bars in Old Town)

2. Go on a brewery tour.

Beers are what Fort Collins famous for! Brewery tours are available to be booked in advance here. Tours are approximately 2 hours and it takes you behind-the-scenes of some best beer places in town.

3. Bohemian Night at New West Fest.

This was the very first event me and my friends went to when we first moved here. It is a free, three-day music festivals that showcase Colorado Music Scene. It is one of the most exciting thing in town, and besides music, there are also vendors, food, beers and kids’ entertainment. You can find more information here, but I assure you, you’ll never regret going to New West Fest. And it’s FREE, I mean, music festival and FREE!

4. Tour de Fat at Fort Collins.

One of the most awesome parades in town! Sure enough, every parade in Fort Collins is worth going to, but this one brings excitement to every part of the city. You can find more information and sign up for free here to be a part of this bike-ride-in-a-costume, and enjoy a beer or two (or more, for sure). Here are some photos I took last year, had SO much fun!

5. St. Patrick Parade.

If you’re in Fort Collins, you’ll see how much people love parade here! St. Patrick is sure a big enough occasion for everyone to go on a parade, then enjoy some Irish music before ending the night (or begin a new day, depending on how you define it) in an Irish bar! I was not on the parade this year so I didn’t have photos of it, but I do have some photos of the music stage after the parade.

6. Go hiking

It’s not even a recommendation; if you’re in Fort Collins, you HAVE to go hiking. I mean, that’s the whole point of being here, isn’t it? And if you’re here for CSU, dude, you HAVE to go hiking. If you ask your college friends who are from here, they will tell you they have been hiking since elementary or so. Anyway, GO HIKING.

One of the favorite CSU spots to go is The A. It is right above Horsetooth Reservoir, looking down to the beautiful Reservoir and Hughes Stadium. It is an easy hike, you probably can do it alone in about 2 hours or so. And it is a CSU tradition to hike up to the A at the beginning of school year with the hope of a straight-A year. CSU also offers a free “Paint the A” trip, which you get to hike up and paint the beautiful “A” letter on the mountain, then receive a nice green T-Shirt. It is fun, and you totally should do it.

Some other popular spots to go hiking include Rockies Mountain, Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, not that far from CO but you will need to hitchhike or carpool with someone)

7. FoCo Music Experiment (FOCOMX)

Another music festival, but this one is so lovely and so awesome at the same time. I was a volunteer for FOCOMX last year, being their MC for 2 nights at 2 different venues, and MC-ing for about 7-8 performances. FOCOMX is a festival that lasts for 2 days at several different venues around Fort Collins. There were around 200 bands and artists participating last year, from all over Colorado. They could be high school students, CSU kids, working adults, or middle-aged citizens. They could be a rock band, an orchestra, a pop band, a country singer, any genre of music you could possibly think of. Seriously, you should check it out.

The ticket price was around $25 or $30 maybe, I did not remember because I got it for free. Yes, if you want free ticket, VOLUNTEER. You can be an MC (it was great and not scary at all), you can be a door guard, helping with checking the wristbands and letting people in and out, or you can be a floater, fill in anywhere that need you.

(to be continued. Photos coming soon)

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[Fort Collins, CO, U.S] Coffee, coffee, coffee

Well, as I have always said, I am a huge coffee drinker. Pretty much like a coffee addicted. So ever since I moved to Fort Collins, I have always been on a mission to seek out the best coffee places.

My run – away trip: Vientiane and Vang Vieng (Laos)

So sorry again for a post that not related to Vietnam, but the excitement from my “Laosgetaway” trip makes me want to write about this lovely country and my experiences during my stay there.

I have only been to Vientiane – the capital and Vang Vieng – the backpackers’ centre, but I definitely loved both of them, and I’m planning to come back soon. For me, Laos is a relaxed country, at least comparing to Vietnam.

The airport

Wattay airport is quite a small one, not far from the city center ( 7km). There are only few coffee shops, one or two restaurants, with quite an “airport price”, so if you’re not starving, it is better to get to your hotel/hostel first and get food at the city center. The taxi costs about $7, and tuk – tuk is about 40,000K. You can try to find someone that is heading to the same direction to share the cost with.

Visit

Vientiane

I arrived at Vientiane at noon, and the street was quite empty as it was crazily hot outside. My first impression is that Laos is quite Vietnam – alike, though much more peaceful.

After renting a bicycle, my plan was to go to the center and get a SIM card at the M – point Mart ( a kind of 7 – eleven), and then food. But finally I got lost, cycling by a lot of tourist attractions on my way, and saw half of the city on my first afternoon there. Fucking tired after that, but worth it as I had such a wonderful day. (P/s: After cycling around in the hot weather, getting back to the hostel, grabbed a beer and chatted with the manager Stevo really made my day)

 

Tha Lat Dam

 

Presidential Palace

 

Fruit court – Talat Sao

I didn’t visit many temples (though I passed by them a lot on my way), because as a Vietnamese they looked quite familiar to me. So most of my second day was spent to enjoy myself.

 

 

Wat Sisaket

I went to COPE center, a center for victims of bomb ( they were quite surprised to see me there actually, not many Vietnamese know this place according to them). It was an absolutely impressive place, their ideas are brilliant. They had pictures on the wall telling the stories of bomb victims, plastic legs hanging around, big screen showing documentaries, a corner where you can listen to story of a 9 – year – old boy who died when a bombie exploded, and another corner who showed the equipment designed to support the victims ( you can tried it yourself). It was touching and so impressive, though for me I had seen so many things like that in Vietnam. Actually I though Vietnamese government should consider an idea like COPE, we have so many victims from the Vietnam War, but their stories are never to be told.

 

COPE center

The night market was the end of my second day. It was nice, you can get lots of souvenirs and clothes there (bargain is required!), and a must – have thing is a ( or some) baggy trousers ( around 40,000K) for the burning weather of Laos. Finally, a drink in the Rooftop Bar would be perfect to cool you down.

 

The night market, taken from Roof Top Bar

Vang Vieng

The next day, I was heading to Vang Vieng. That was the beginning of a frustrating story, and I thought it was just not – my – luck, as it didn’t happen quite often ( so don’t worry). I booked the 9am bus for 50,000K at the hostel ( though as I said, you can book in other travel agency for 40,000k and they will offer free pick – up). The tuk – tuk ( to pick us up) arrived at 10:45 a.m, picked up two travellers ( Stevo told me that mine one was coming), then after 5 minutes the same tuk – tuk driver came in and picked me up. We three went around the city center, coming back to our hostel to pick up another two girls, then another round in the city center, finally back to a place that was 500 METERS away from OUR HOSTEL. So finally I can only started my journey to Vang Vieng at 12. We arrived at 4p.m, and that was why I couldn’t go tubing as my plan.

 

Vang Vieng – a nice countryside

I was quite angry, but Vang Vieng was still well – worth a visit, and I wished to come back soon ( this April I hope). This place was full of backpackers, famous restaurants showing Friends series all day and night ( I love that brilliant idea, it was a shame that there was nothing like that in Hanoi). But another side of it, Vang Vieng is a beautiful countryside, pleasant weather ( quite cold during the night) with a so pretty river ( perfect place to tan and watch the sunset).

 

Beautiful river

Vang Vieng is most famous for tubing and Happy Pizza, and because I couldn’t go tubing, I decided to try the pizza. For those who don’t know, it is “happy” because they put a thing like marijuana on your pizza. The owner of my hostel warned me over and over again that it might freak me out if I never used drug before, but it only made me wanna try it more. So there was only one place selling it, the Falcony, quite near the Central backpackers hostel. They had the “Happy Menu” and “Normal Menu”, and you can order every “happy” thing, from fruit shake, pizza, to coffee and tea, and you can also ask for ” a little bit happy”, “medium happy” or “very happy”. I ordered the “a little bit happy” pizza ( because of the warning from this guy), and also because I went alone, so it would not be so cool if I got “really happy”, but then it actually didn’t have much effect on me. It was quite expensive though, 100,000K. But it is well worth a try, and the guy in this restaurant was nice with really good English.

 

Happy Pizza

I went there on Friday, perfect time for the Jungle Party, the most excited event in Vang Vieng and started at around midnight. Beforehand I went to Fat Monkey, another famous bar and met 3 British guys, together with the two girls from my hostel in Vientiane ( I recommend that you should make friends if you travel alone as you have to go to the Jungle party by tuk – tuk). The party was nice but not as much as Hanoi, so it was more like a place to talk and make friends ( or love, for that matter. Actually two of the three guys I met hooked up with two girls, luckily one of them was a really nice guy, and when I said I wanted to go back to my hostel he and his girl left with me). I felt pretty weird and definitely fucking tired, mostly because of the “happy pizza” I had.

So that was end of my Vang Vieng trip, the next day the bus came on time ( but it was a mini bus and there was not enough space for everyone so my seat was, well, not so nice).

( to be continued…)

A run-away trip – Vientiane and awesome Sihome Backpacker Garden

Sooooooo I’m back! Sorry for not updating anything, it was Tet holiday in Vietnam and everything just went crazy. And for some reasons, it is also really hard to get access to wordpress in my house so basically I always have to go to a coffee shop just to write things.

Sorry again because this post is not gonna be about Vietnam. I have just been back from my get – away trip to Laos, and I love the hostel I was staying in so bad that I promised myself I would write about them. So if you are planning to go to Vientiane, it is a good option for you. Trust me!

That’s it, Sihome Backpackers Garden Hostel. One reason why I loved this place is that it is located just in the center of Vientiane, and there are food places, supermarkets, coffee shops nearby. It is also near the night market and all famous tourist attractions as NamPhou fountain, Tha Lat Dam, Wat Sisaket Temples,etc. But the Garden (that’s how we call) is not located on the main street, so it’s like super calm and quiet, and you will never be bothered by the noise of cars and tuk – tuks running around. What could be better?

This place is full of inspiration and creativity, as the walls are decorated by the artist – backpackers (you can be one of them, just talk to Stevo, the manager!)

So I will start naming what I love about this place!

1. The coolest garden and video room ever. We call it “Garden” because the hostel actually has a garden, with comfortable couch and chairs. Perfect place to enjoy the sun with a beer Laos (12,000K, 10,000k during Happy Hours from 5pm – 7pm), reading books, chatting or even sleeping. And inside the lobby, it is a video room, with AC and a laptop. You can choose movies and lying there watching them all day and night, you can also sleep there (perfect during noon where it is so hot outside).

2. Best breakfast: You can choose what you wanna eat and drink (coffee or tea), and just wait for few minutes. A big breakfast will be made right away, brought to you by a cool guy ( I like this guy a lot, he is funny and always willing to give you another tea or coffee for free), just like in a restaurant. During “rush hours” (8-9am) you may have to wait for around 15 minutes, ’cause everyone tends to wake up at that time.

Way to the second floor (female dorm room)

3. Cool staffs and relaxed atmosphere: So during my stay there were 3 staffs, Philip – the manager of two Sihome ( they have 2 hostels  – Sihome Bacpacker Hostel or Home, and the Garden), Stevo – the manager of the Garden and does the day shift and David – night shift staff ( he actually just arrived a few days before me). All of them are super cool! Philip knows a lot about the city, you can ask him everything, Stevo is full of energy all day, and if you just don’t want to sleep ( which is my case), David is up all night to drink and chat.

Everything is relaxed in Vientiane, and in the Garden, it is even more relaxed. You pay everything when checking out, no deposit for key, and you can stay even if you don’t have any room. I stayed there for two days, checking out for Vang Vieng and then coming back to Vientiane at noon for my flight in the evening. The bus dropped me off just near the Garden, and it was crazy hot at that time. Before I realized it, I was standing in front of the Garden already. So I just walked in and asked Stevo if I could stay
(He was looking at me like “Of course, why you have to ask?”), and I slept in the video room until around 3pm. I met Philip after that and told him about my flight, and after a while he found me two other guys to share the tuk – tuk to the airport with. Awesome, isn’t it?

Tips:

– They have 2 hostels, Sihome Backpacker Hostel and Sihome Backpacker Garden. Most taxi and tuk tuk will drop you at the Sihome Hostel (or Home as they call it), so you can just get off and ask the staffs there, they will take you to the Garden.

– If you walk to the Garden, pay attention or you will miss it. Look on the left side and notice the gate (which is the first picture I posted above)

– If you need to book a bus or rent a bike, you can do it there but it will be a little bit more expensive (it is hostel price, not their faults anyway). Or you can walk around and find other places with cheaper price. Every bus ticket place should offer a free pick – up at your hostel.

So it is everything I wanna say, do stay in Sihome Garden when you go to Vientiane. I didn’t stay in the Home so can’t say anything about it, but at least I know it is noisier and the staffs barely speak English.