It is the 30th yet?

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I've had enough time in Hue. I'm ready to move on to the next leg, staying on a ride paddy. There is a very top-secret farmstay that is not in the guidebooks run by an Aussie guy and his Vietnamese wife and I'm looking forward to a few days away from city life. There isn't much to do here anymore and frankly I'd like to be on the move again. We're supposed to take some ours of the DMZ and Ho Chi Minh trail as well as see one of the earth's biggest caves (think Planet Earth). We will take cooking classes and help them harvest the rice. It should all be very hot and humid, but really how many people get this opportunity? It was complete chance that we ran into a couple who stayed there a few weeks ago. After we get started on that part of the trip, it's pretty non-stop to the end. We have a month left, and a ton to see.

After the farmstay, we're planning on heading up to Hanoi, the capital city. Seems like there's a ton to do there, especially because we're meeting up with Myami, our Vietnamese friend we met on a tour boat in Nha Trang. She's my new best Vietnamese friend and she gives us a lot of street cred here 😊 Nothing like a personal tour from a local. We're going to hang out with her for 4th of July and maybe a little after if she can stay in Hanoi with us. There are a bunch of day trips to be had from that point, the best one being a 3 day trip to HaLong Bay. HaLong Bay (go ahead, google it) is one of the most beautiful places in the world and if you come to SE Asia and don't see it, you're a sucker. We'll spend about 3 or 4 hours driving there from Hanoi, then get on a boat and stay overnight at one of the beautiful deserted islands on the bottom of these giant mountains sticking out of the sea. We have 2 nights there, then head back to Hanoi. It'll be a great opportunity to take some photos.

After that we were going to fly to Cambodia to see Ankor Wat, but instead we're going to fly back to Saigon and take the bus from there. It saves about $150 doing it that way, so we'll have enough to take a helicopter trip over the site at sunrise for some more amazing pics. At that point we'll have about 2 weeks left so we can either stay in Cambodia if we like it (we heard last night about an amazing HUMANE elephant sanctuary so I'm interested) or go down to do some Mekong Delta river tours or laze around on the beach at Phu Quoc Island (one of the more beautiful beaches in the world). Then back to Saigon, and home to real life.

For now though, my stomach's grumbling so I better go get some lunch along with delicious iced coffee. Here they serve you this slow brewing espresso-type coffee that brews on top of your cup at your table. It drips slowly, ever so slowly down onto a heap of sweetened condensed milk. Finally, when you are pretty sure that it's done, you add ice and mix the white layer with the black layer of your drink and you're ready to enjoy. It's probably the best way to have coffee ever.

Cheers!

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