Snakes, Tiny Tunnels, Chicken Villages, and Vietnamese Vegas

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Hello everyone!! Greetings from the South Central coast of Vietnam!

I am currently very far behind in updating my blog, so I'm going to attempt to get everything out in one gigantic swoop.

HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON):
We arrived in HCMC on June 7th from Phnom Penh, as we thought Chip and Tiffany were getting in that day (they were actually getting in two days later - still no idea why we were convinced of the 7th). Our introduction to Vietnam started off a bit rough, however, as about 2 hours before we got to the city, Christina turns to me on the bus and simply states, "I'm going to throw up when this bus stops." Unfortunately, she was right. Thankfully, the place we were dropped off was just around the corner from the backpacking area, so we were able to walk to our guesthouse. However, a few steps from the front lobby, Christina's earlier statement came to fruition... into a small plastic bag. She had a bug for the next 24 hours or so and was fairly out of commission, so we didn't do much. However, Chip and Tiffany got in on the 9th and Christina was feeling spritely again, so we decided to go to the Reunification Palace, where a communist tank crashed, signifying the fall of Saigon in 1975. The tour was actually really boring and we left early, but it was a historical site nonetheless. We then went to the War Remnants Museum, which was AMAZING. It was SUCH a trip to see U.S. tanks on Vietnamese soil, and the pictures were obviously shocking. It was also really interesting to see the Vietnamese viewpoint on the "American War". I couldn't imagine trying to go back as a veteran though - between the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi tunnels, it was a bit difficult to deal with. However, I would definitely recommend a trip to the museum... just take a few deep breaths before, during, and after your time there.

That night, we were all very glad that we were feeling well because what we saw/ended up doing definitely required a strong stomach. We all decided to partake in the savage, brutal murder of a cobra.. and then eat it. Including it's heart and blood. Well, we each took a shot of snake blood with vodka, and I chose to take the shot of the heart. (Chip took one as well because there were two snakes involved... the owner accidentally killed the first one before we had a chance to hang out with it.) Side note: I know this sounds really messed up, but you had to be there. Prior to the event, we were like, "Yeah! Cool! Cultural! Fun!" Afterwards, looking at the videos (in which we're all cheering as a snake gets it's freaking head cut off) we were all like........ What did we just do?! Regardless, it WAS a cultural, crazy experience. The guy who ran the restaurant was a really outgoing, snake-loving Bosnian guy who gave us a ton of deals on beer and did a whole show with the snake. The actual food (i.e. snake) wasn't too great... really, really bony and not a lot of meat, but we were served it in three different styles - curry, a minced type dish (which was actually really good), and grilled. The grilled was difficult to eat and by the time the curry dish came, most people just ate around the snake itself. It was a really fun time all in all though... in a very weird way. Apparently dog is really good in Northern Vietnam, so we'll probably give that a try when we're there, although I may cry afterwards.

The next morning we started our Mekong Delta tour. The tour was really fun, although it was a bit odd - after spending a month in Cambodia, we were used to very relaxed, non-organized tours, but this tour had a full bus and a tour guide with a microphone. On this tour, we did see a ton though: we went to a coconut candy factory, drank some local honey tea stuff, listened to WAY too much Vietnamese pop music (sung by our tour guide who called himself Number One), took a really awesome little tour through a canal with a local guide, saw a floating market, and a rice paper making factory. Everything was really fun, although we did have a bit of a traumatizing event at the rice paper factory - we had to watch as some local guys were lifting pigs up into a truck to get slaughtered. The noise that they made seriously made me want to go back to vegetarianism, and one of the girls we were with actually started crying. It was awful. Everything else was great though!! =) Mom, Dad, and Tommy: I bought you some coconut candy, but I can't promise it'll make it home =) We also stayed overnight (it was a 2-day tour) in a town called Can Tho and managed to find a karaoke bar, where we got a private room for an hour at $1 each. Singing pop music in Vietnam together? Definitely good times.

When we got back to HCMC, Christina and I decided to leave the following afternoon after doing a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels constitute the network of underground living space that the Viet Cong used during the Tet Offensive. Basically, the tunnels were a huge contributing factor to the Vietnamese victory. The tour, however, was pretty.. intense. They show all these different traps that they used to capture "the enemy" (read: us), told stories of how they awarded medals to good "American killers" and described us as "those white devils". It was definitely an odd switch from the museum, which makes you pretty ashamed to be American, to this place where you can't help but feel really sorry for the American soldiers. At the end of the day, the tunnels were absolutely ingenious though, and it was really cool to see. You can waddle around in the tunnels that were expanded for Westerners, but you can't try to get into the original Vietnamese tunnels - we're simply too big.

MUI NE:
Next, we left for Mui Ne, which is the start of the beach towns along the coast of the South China Sea. The town is a sleepy little place where most people go to just relax and chill out. We didn't do much here aside from laze around on the beach, work on our tans, and drink really really cheap rum. We did, however, have a brush with a celebrity! On our second night there, we were at the restaurant we ate basically every meal at (it was way cheaper than everywhere else) and it was starting to close. Some guy from another table came over and sat down and whispers, "Do you know who that guy over there is?" So, of course, I look up and all of the sudden, I realize that not only is there a full camera crew setting up for something, but Gordon Ramsey from Hell's Kitchen is looking over at our table. Long story short, instead of kicking us out so he could tape his show (he was doing a Southeast Asian special on local food), he bought everyone in the restaurant (about 30 people) about 5 rounds of drinks. (Heineken too - a serious luxury here!) Not only did we hang out with his crew and watch the filming of this show, G.R. ended up sitting next to me for a while, and we "took the piss" out of each other (a British term for giving each other grief). It was a very, very good time.

DALAT:
After we said our goodbyes to Chip and Tiffany (they were headed back to HCMC to get Tiffany on her flight home), Christina, Jade, Becky, and I left for Dalat. To give you an idea of the kind of place Dalat is... they have a village about 20 km outside of town that people take tours to in order to see a giant statue... of a chicken. The village is actually called Chicken Village. Needless to say, the place is WEIRD. There really isn't much of a backpacking culture, and the city itself is actually pretty big. The night market is fairly extensive, but other than that, there's not much going on. We took a day tour of the countryside which was actually really cool though. We went to a silk making factory that slightly blew my mind, got to see some beautiful scenery (a lot like Monteverde in Costa Rica plus pine forests), and went to this place called the Crazy House (of course it would be in Dalat). The woman who created the house (it's actually still in the process of being built) is the daughter of the former Prime Minister and spent a great deal of time in Barcelona, so the house is very Gaudi-inspired. It reminded all of us of a modern-day Alice in Wonderland. Pictures will be coming soon... although facebook is actually banned in Vietnam, so I can't promise anything too soon - we've been able to get it some places but haven't been able to get it here!

NHA TRANG:
We only spent two nights in Dalat and then decided to get over to Nha Trang. This town is where I am typing from today.. we're taking the overnight bus out tonight to Hoi An. Although we had a great time here, I'm definitely ready to go. This town is seriously the Vietnamese version of Las Vegas. Money goes out the window, drinking at 9 a.m. is completely normal, and sleeping through half of a booze cruise can go entirely unnoticed. We met a bunch of people on the way here, so we've basically all just been going crazy for the past 3 or 4 days (they're all blurring together) and yesterday was the climax of the full-on binge. Although we had to check out of our room at noon and our bus doesn't leave until 7p.m., I've been in pursuit of a dark, quiet, air-conditioned (the latter bit is much more difficult to find than one would think) all day. It hasn't worked out too well. I really, really need a nap.

NOTE to anyone planning on traveling to Nha Trang: While Dalat is odd, Nha Trang is just... difficult. Firstly, you can't get into other people's rooms (our friends were staying at the next hostel over and we tried to sleep in their room today - after about 30 minutes of arguing with the front desk woman, we all basically slumped into a heap in the corner and tried not to cry from exhaustion... it didn't work). Secondly and most importantly, they turn off all electricity in the entire city EVERY OTHER DAY UNTIL 5 PM. If you have ever been to Vegas, you can imagine the sheer horror of living a Vegas-like lifestyle WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING. IT IS NOT PLEASANT, especially when the ONE day you have air-con, you decide to do a booze cruise that you have to be awake at 8 a.m. for. In other words, plan accordingly.

Alright, well, this has been a very long post, but I am finally up-to-date!! I'm looking forward to Hoi An - it's the place that everyone goes to get custom clothes made. I need to be careful with my money after four days in Nha Trang, but apparently you can get heels made for about $10, so I may have to splurge a bit on that. (Because I'm obviously going to wear heels in Southeast Asia... just kidding, I'll be sending them home!) I'll update more soon.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!!! Love you (more)!

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