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Published: February 12th 2008
To celebrate Chinese New Year, we traveled to Vietnam for some much needed tropical relaxation. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in the afternoon and headed straight to the Caravelle Hotel. We were immediately struck by the number of motorbikes on the road, some carrying entire families with babies sandwiched between adults. It was truly like a video game as our taxi honked and weaved through the crowds. We also realized that we had arrived on the eve of the new year, or Tet as it is called in Vietnam, and thus the city was unusually crazy. We figured we might have some trouble experiencing the real Saigon so we decided to spend the afternoon at our hotel relaxing by the pool. Then we headed up to the restaurant with a great view of the city. Finally, we went down to explore the streets and engage in the festivities. As we had anticipated, most of the things we were interested in seeing were shut down. We basically wandered through the center of the city just observing the chaos. The number of motorbikes continually whizzing by was crazy! As such, the pollution was also pretty bad and we both
got a bit of a headache. We sat down for a beer from one of the street vendors and tried to talk over the noise. We learned quickly that the only way to cross the street was to move out into traffic and pray that the bikes went around you. I admit I was scared, so Todd basically strong-armed me each time! After an hour or two we decided to go back to the hotel and find some peace. They had turned down our bed and even left us money, the standard new years gift. We showered to get the grime off and ordered room service, including traditional Vietnamese pho noodles, which were yummy! We called it a night since we had to be up around 5am to avoid major traffic getting out to the beach.
Our taxi out to the resort town of Mui Ne turned out to be a lot of fun. We got to see a lot of the countryside and small villages along the way. Though the extreme poverty was very apparent, so was the pure happiness of the people. They are always smiling and are very friendly to foreigners. Cars are a luxury here,
so many people waved to us on our journey. After about two and a half hours, we passed through the town of Phan Thiet and headed into the stretch of beach resorts. The scenery was unspoiled and breathtaking. We arrived at the Sailing Club Mui Ne, which is supremely tranquil and feels like a boutique hotel. We laid on the beach and waited for our room to be ready. This part of the country is very popular for kiteboarding due to the strong winds, so we got to see some amazing tricks. A little later, we went to rent a motorbike so we could explore the area for the next few days. The basic model costs about $7 a day, but we chose the bigger, comfier Italian version. Apparently, we rented the Ferrari of motorbikes because Vietnamese people pointed and stared at it in amazement all week. We took the motorbike up the coast to a great restaurant called Moonfish, where our entire meal plus drinks cost less than $8. Then we stopped at a little beach bar and laid in hammocks for a couple hours. We showered up and found a little place called the Sanddollar Pub, which would
become our favorite evening spot. There isn't much nightlife in this area, as it's lots of couples and families, but this place stayed open late and the staff was very welcoming. We went to sleep in our cozy bed surrounded by a mosquito net.
The next day we took the motorbike further up the coast to the old fishing village of Mui Ne. The photos really don't do it justice. It's a gorgeous little cove harboring hundreds of traditional Vietnamese boats. Amazingly, the fishermen get out to their boats in strange, circular dinghies made of bamboo. We drove through the town and realized not many tourists venture that far, since we were gawked at. We had lunch at a great little restaurant, this time costing around $3. The owner of the restaurant circled our bike several times and wasn't sure what to make of us! We veered off the main street and drove past rows of houses with their doors wide open. Families were gathered on the floor eating and we felt like we got a real glimpse of Vietnamese life. On the way back, we stopped to take a hike up Fairy Stream to the waterfalls. We left
Todd makes a new friend
This little girl was infatuated with Todd and grinned from ear to ear as they walked along together.our shoes at a little restaurant and started walking up the stream along with Vietnamese children. It took us a while because we kept stopping to take pictures of all the beautiful rock formations and red sand. The sun was oppressive, so we wrapped our heads in bandanas and reapplied sunscreen every few minutes. We finally reached the falls and headed up above them to a rest area with vendors. We passed some rice fields and then chose a little table in the middle of the stream to have a beer. We watched the children play and then headed back downstream. A little girl who was enamored with Todd took his hand and walked with him for a few minutes. It was a precious moment and Todd didn't want to let her go. We finished the hike and drove back to our hotel, where we had dinner overlooking the ocean. By this point, we were pretty tired from the sun but we tried to head out for the evening. I didn't make it very far and Todd took me back to the hotel to put me to bed. When I woke up an hour or so later, I tried to
go meet up with him but realized our door didn't unlock from the inside! He had locked the room to be safe, not knowing I would be stranded if I woke up. I wound up watching a movie and waiting for him to come home so we could laugh about it!
It was off on the motorbike again the next day, this time to the famous red sand dunes. We had lunch at a little place at the bottom of the dunes, where we met some children who didn't speak English well, but were better at writing. We communicated by writing back and forth on a napkin, which was pretty amazing. The girls were in love with Todd and just kept smiling at him. We bought them all sprites and watched their eyes light up as the waiter served them. After that, we trekked up the dunes and were swarmed by kids trying to get money out of us. It was overwhelming but funny because they had some great English lines, such as "You very beautiful for 30!" We took some photos and then drove back to the hotel for our massage appointments. I must say, the most hilarious
part of this was Todd trying to get out of wearing the "underwear" given to him. They were quite girly and concealed nothing in front, but he swallowed his pride and emerged in a tragic display of manhood. We were wrapped in fresh, gooey aloe and then massaged for an hour. Then we went out to the pool to have some wine and watch the sunset. We tried a place called Double Wheel for dinner, which was highly recommended to us. We sat under a mango tree and were very impressed with the traditional meal of spring rolls, lemongrass chicken & rice and baked bananas smothered in Vietnamese whiskey lit on fire. After the meal, we went to a beach bar called Wax. We had a few drinks and sat out on the sand in front of a big bonfire.
On our last morning, we played in the pool and hung out on the beach. We bought some handmade jewelry and Vietnamese paintings from a lady passing by. We also returned our motorbike and agreed it was the most fun we had the whole trip. We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi back to Saigon, which
took around four hours this time because of traffic. By the time we got to the airport for our red-eye we were so tired we crashed at our gate and didn't wake up for two and a half hours. All the other passengers were leaving so we figured our gate had been changed. We followed the crowd, but noticed they were heading back to immigration. At this point we realized something was up. After lots of Korean and Vietnamese announcements, a representative who spoke English was able to tell us that our flight had been cancelled due to mechanical problems. Though we were bummed, they took us all to a nice hotel in the city and we got to sleep for another five hours. We got a new plane the next morning and finally made it out of Vietnam. We missed a day of work, but who's complaining?! We had a fantastic trip and hope to do Northern Vietnam in the future.
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Mom
non-member comment
fun!
Hi, you two! It was great reading your story and looking at your pix. Looks and sounds like you had a fabulous trip! It won't be long and I will be able to hear about it all first-hand! Can't wait! I miss you and love you!