Got up at 4AM, checked out of the hotel, and got a taxi to the airport. The flight to Da Nang was about 45 minutes. If we would’ve taken a bus it would be about 12-14 hours. Got a taxi to Hoi An, another 45 minutes. We checked into the Thuy Duong I Hotel and got breakfast at Nha Hang Quang Thang. Felicia wanted to get some clothes made, so we went to the tailor at 36 Le Loi. Felicia picked out some clothes from a catalogue, the fabrics, got measured, and they told us to come back at 6PM for the first fitting. Todd had two linen shirts made. Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and you have to buy a ticket to see the main sites in the town, which is a ... read more

Up early (notice the pattern?), had breakfast in the hotel and checked out. Took the bus to some small motor boats and then headed out into the Cai Rang Floating Market. Each boat that had something to sell would have it hanging on a bamboo pole to advertise their wares. There were all types of things being sold…we even had a tiny boat come up to our boat to see if anyone needed drinks. Boated down small canals to see “life on the Delta.” Stopped to see rice noodle making. Back on the boat and stopped to walk through a fruit orchard. Saw jackfruit, mango, pineapple, breadfruit, starfruit, longan, roseapple. Back on the boat to a rice processing facility, which was interesting. A word of advice, though—wash your rice. Always thought washing the rice was just ... read more

Up early to get to Sinh Café for the Cao Dai Cathedral/Cu Chi Tunnel day tour. The Cao Dai religion is a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. They are known for their very brightly colored temples and have worship every 12 hours starting at 6AM. The worshippers all wear white, except for some religious leaders, who wear red (Confucianism), yellow (Buddhism), or blue (Taoism). Had lunch and then went to Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cu Chi Tunnels were used by the VC during the war to escape American bombs, and for guerrilla warfare tactics and hiding. We got to go down a short tunnel; it was very small, hot, and dark. Todd had to squat walk all the way through. After getting back to HCMC, we had dinner at Lemongrass, then drinks at Saigon Saigon ... read more

Walked to Capitol to see if our day trip was a go, but no one else showed up, there had to be a minimum of 6 people. Had breakfast and walked back to Michelle’s. Read about Viet Nam and tried to form a rough itinerary. Went out to get Chinese massages and then back to Michelle’s to relax. These massages were different than any other massage that I had because in the beginning and end of the massage they pile on heaps of scalding hot towels all over your body, it actually got pretty hot and heavy, but then it was complete relaxation once they were taken off. Ordered a pizza for delivery and watched DVDs. By the way, if you haven’t figured it out, you can get anything for delivery in Phnom Penh. We went ... read more

This was our “Genocide Day.” Hired a tuk-tuk at the Golden Gate Guest House to take us to Choeng Ek (the Killing Fields). On the way out of the city, we saw that it doesn’t take very long to start seeing rural areas. We passed fields and a bunch of garment factory workers on our way out to the Killing Fields. Cambodia is home to many of the mass produced clothing that we wear…I won’t name any names, look at your labels. We were told it was a bumpy ride out there, but we had no idea it would be so bad, bone rattling would be a better description. If you’re going to go there, ladies better have your sport bras ready! It was also incredibly dusty, since half of the ride is on dirt roads. ... read more