The Bumpy Road South: Vietnam

First things first... we've been working on our itinerary some and realizing how tight we are on time we booked a flight from Kuala Lumpur back up to Shanghai to catch our flight home. So now we have until Aug. 8th to get to Malaysia without having to back-track, which is still a TON of territory to cover in just a month! Our new map itinerary will be posted as soon as the internet stops freaking out! ah!

SUNDAY, July 6:
After an early morning of updating the blog we heading into Hoi An with expectations of riding bikes to the beach before taking an overnight bus south... but by now we should know that expectations never pan out. We found out that the bus was full, so in the spirit of winging-it we decided to take up the recommendation of another traveler from a few days back to head to China Beach. A stop we didn't think we had time for, but so glad fate intervened. For the rest of the morning we relaxed in Hoi An, picked up Jennifer's custom-made dress (picture later in the post!), and then caught the 2pm bus to China Beach. We stumbled off the bus in the middle of nowhere it seemed but after a small adventure we found our way to Hoa's Place where we had called ahead to book a night. We had heard it was a little bit outside of actual China Beach, but away from tourists, which was perfect. Hoa himself greeted us and showed us to our room (which there were only 4 rooms in the whole place!). Then Hoa, the old Vietnamese guy, insisted that we join him for a beer and he chatted away for at least an hour about running the hotel for 14 years now- such a great guy.
We walked 2 minutes down this little side street to the beach and relaxed for while on the deserted beach- except for a few Vietnamese people enjoying the waves. Jennifer walked in the water up to her waist, saw a jelly fish, and decided to stick to the shores for now! Then we got cleaned up for dinner at 6:30. At Hoa's everyone eats together in family style dinner. So we quickly became friends with the 5 other people staying there. An older couple from US/Korea and their daughter, and our newest friends Steph & Laine, from Canada. It turned out that Steph is 1/2 Trinidadian! Small world! After our wonderful meal of Vietnamese Cuisine we decided we all wanted to find the Wimbledon Championships on TV... an interesting decision since we were at a deserted beach... but we got Hoa's Place to call a cab who agreed to drive us into Da Nang and wait for us there to take us back to Hoa's! 30 minutes later we were searching Da Nang for any bar/restaurant with satellite... and finally we happened upon a place labeled "pub" and made ourselves cozy in front of the TV and a big fan. An hour later we were the only people in the place... and 4 hours later we had made friends with the wait staff, gotten to know our new friends even better, and thoroughly enjoyed some quality tennis. A fun night with great friends and a wonderful start to Jennifer's birthday celebration.

MONDAY, July 7:
Happy 22nd Jennifer!! Not the birthday plan we started with, but that just means we had to spread out the celebration, which Jennifer loves to do anyway! haha. Breakfast at Hoa's around 10am, with Jennifer's favorite Vietnamese dish- Banana Pancakes!! Then relaxing on the beach all morning where the only other people around were Vietnamese fishermen in their cup-shaped dingy. That afternoon we had lunch at Hoa's (hamburgers!!), relaxed a bit more, and finally had to say "goodbye" to our new friends as we headed in a taxi back to Hoi An. Luckily we left with time to spare because our taxi broke down on the way, but his friend picked us up and took us the rest of the way- quite an adventure as always.
We arrived in Hoi An with a little time to walk around, then caught out 6:30 pm bus down to Nha Trang. For the next 12 hours we attempted to rest on our "sleeper bus" along the bumpy roads of Vietnam.
TUESDAY, July 8:

We arrived in Nha Trang at 6am sharp, awoken by loud music over the speakers of the bus. It felt good to walk around the stretch our legs, even if we were up at sunrise. We walked a bit and found a hotel not too far away. We checked out scuba diving, but opted instead for a day at the spa we had heard a lot about. Another morning of banana pancakes for Jennifer as we found a fun oceanside restaurant to hangout at. Chris took advantage of the opportunity to rest his eyes for a bit... haha. Jennifer went to the beach a while to enjoy the gorgeous surroundings, and then that afternoon we hopped on the back of motobikes and adventured to the mineral springs spa! For a birthday splurge we each got the mud bath package along with a 45 minute massage for only $11 each! What a deal! It was so much fun- hot mineral water showers, mineral mud bath, jet-spray mineral water, and a hot tub to soak in. After all we've been through lately we had no idea we could be so clean! After all that we each got a 45 minute massage (slightly painful for Jennifer with a sun-burnt back!) but a great treat. And then another thrilling motobike ride back into town. Then back to gorgeous Nha Trang- where the Miss Universe Pageant will be held this week! We had no idea! We had another splurge of ice cream sundaes to celebrate Jennifer's birthday. While eating at a restaurant kids were constantly begging us to buy cigarettes and gum... here is one example.

Then showers and out for a fun dinner to a Mexican restaurant where we had huge burritos (another fun splurge!). This is Jennifer at the restaurant in her fun new dress made in Hoi An :)
WEDNESDAY, July 9:
On the move again, we were back on another bus by 7:30am heading towards Saigon. We slept some, listened to music, and watched the gorgeous countryside pass by outside our windows... village after village, children running through the ride fields, chickens running amongst the houses, cows so skinny you could clearly see their rib cages. We plowed along the long and twisty road- seriously our driver must not have know where the brake was. Then we approached Mui Ne, a gorgeous beach town, and the sand dunes surrounded the road. A 30 minute stop for a noodle lunch and then we hoped back aboard for the second half of our journey... the last leg was suppose to just be 4 hours, but with traffic it turned into 5 1/2. 11 hours in total sums up another successful travel day... arriving at 7:30pm, we found a guesthouse after a few minutes of walking, and settles into the backpackers district of Saigon, Pham Ngu Lao. We wandered a bit, picked up a bunch of travel brochures to start planning our time in Saigon, and ate pho dinner at a night market, then sat down in the refreshing air conditioning of "Highland Coffee" where we had some cool coffee drinks and looked through brochures before calling it a night.

THURSDAY, July 10:
Last night we booked a full-day tour for today, starting at 8am. Back on another bus for a 3 hour trip to the Cao Dai Temple... we're getting better at sleeping on buses, but having the back seat, on back roads made for an extra-bumpy ride. We arrived around 11:30 to the temple, where we quickly got to walk around the temple before the noon mass began. We watched from the balcony as the colorful temple filled with monks. The religion is a mix between Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The music played, worshipping began, and it was so unique to be able to watch. Next we headed to a nearby restaurant for lunch break where we met more people from around the world, and then off for another 1 1/2 bus to the Cu Chi Tunnels. So surreal to see the strategy behind the Viet Cong... All the traps and tunnels used in the war. We had the opportunity to shoot machine guns, which we declined, but even hearing the shots in the nearby field really put things in perspective. We also got to climb down into a 100m stretch of the tunnel, which was tiny enough- but that has been enlarged for tourists! Great to be able to see... then another 1 1/2 bus back to Saigon. After showers we went out to enjoy Saigon a bit. We found a fun restaurant where we grabbed a balcony seat and ate a delicious pizza. We wandered the backpackers district a bit more then headed to bed by midnight.

FRIDAY, July 11:
Our only full day to explore Saigon, so we got going around 8am to see all we could. We made it to the post office (the best place to make international phone calls) where we caught up with our parents and Jennifer got a letter from her mom :)

(THANKS MOM!)...
Jennifer grabbed breakfast from a street vendor... in this cart she fried up an egg, cut open a fresh baguette and spread on some laughing cow cheese- delicious! Then we wandered over to the Notre Dame Cathedral where we enjoyed the neon-lights around the statues. Afterwards we walked to the Was Remnant Museum where there were tons of pictures and mementos from the Vietnam War. Powerful to see- some great photography in the exhibit along with helicopters, tanks and planes. Then over to the Ben Thanh Markets where they had anything you could imagine!! We did a bit of souvenir shopping, wandered the fresh fruits and meat section, and ate some pho at the restaurant section- the markets were huge! Next we walked to the Reunification Palace where we enjoyed the 60s decor and a free hour-long tour... mostly we enjoyed the refreshing AC in the theater at the end of the tour (just kidding- it wasn't our favorite part, but still near the top). We headed back to the backpackers quarter through the busy street. We stopped in the center of the main round-about to take in the craziness.

Seriously though, none of the pictures capture how crowded the streets are... no matter what time of the day the motos are everywhere. There are 10 million people in Saigon and 3 million motos to put it in perspective a bit- so crazy here. Crossing the street is an art. Then we went and relaxed at a pub for a bit where we caught up on journals and Jennifer took advantage of the incredible Vietnamese coffee (maybe that is why I'm still awake at 1am rewriting this blog entry for the 3rd time after it keeps deleting!!). Anyway... we then found a great place with cheap chicken burgers for dinner where we relaxed for even longer and enjoyed the Saigon surroundings. Now bed time as we have more traveling early tomorrow.

A tour of the Mekong Delta and then into Cambodia we go!