Blogs from Vietnam, Asia - page 1339

5 am is early where ever you are in the world and after a bottle of Dalat Red wine and sangria it is even earlier. We met up with our American travelers and jumped on the motor bikes and headed out in a pack to chase the morning sunrise. The air was still fresh from the wild downpour during the evening and we sped along hoping to beat the clouds to the dunes. Our fears were fufilled as we raced along the coast only to to find a massive cloud obscuring the rising sun. There was a beautiful rainbow appearing above the cloud but, we will have to return to catch the sun next time. As we began a 30 minute walk to the peak of the magnificent sand dunes, the sun broke from the cloud ... read more

We felt we should make a trip to see the Mekong Delta and the kind man at our hotel talked us into doing a 3 day tour which ended up in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The first day we were bussed 2 1/2 hours to the Mekong River where we went to see a fruit and fish market on the riverbanks. Here we tried banana wrapped in rice batter with coconut sauce for breakfast (really nice). From here we took a cruise down the river for lunch at Tortoise Island and to see a coconut candy factory, where we sampled rice wine which we think is just methylated spirits. We also visited a bee farm, where we had honey tea and were treated to a performance of traditional Vietnamese music, which we were informed was not rock ... read more

I’m laughing at tfaduh’s height now. He keeps bumping into everything on the street, signposts, trees, umbrella stands, etc. Right here in Vietnam, he’s probably one of the tallest persons around. I don’t really know how tall he is. But after all his teasing about me being short, revenge is sweet. Our room has a tiny little dresser that looks like a child’s toy. And the bathtub is just hilarious. The showerhead is too low for me, and standing at full height, I am just level to level with the shower curtains. “I think you’re going to feel very tall in the shower,” I said cheekily to tfaduh. “Oh no”... read more

Our time in Mui Ne (pronounced Moo Nay) started much like our time in Ko Samet, Thailand - at a budget guesthouse which left us unsatisfied. This hotel was actually a great value for the money and was clean and right on the beach but it did not have air conditioning and was located on the center beach which is relatively narrow and steep because of erosion. We are slowly starting to realize that we are just not happy at the beach if we’re staying in budget digs. So after arriving by bus from Saigon and eating lunch, we spent a couple of hours looking at the more deluxe hotels close to our budget guesthouse. Eventually we decided on Blue Ocean Resort which was $55/night and had lovely grounds (including a great pool) and a very ... read more

Today we joined Mr. Binh and his Easy Riders for a day of touring around Mui Ne. If you're ever in Mui Ne, look for Mr. Binh, his tours are fun, safe, and worth writing about in travel blogs! :-) Mr. Binh has a great crew of guys working for him, even if he himself can get a little lazy! We had planned to do a 2 hour trek up Tac Cu Mountain to see the 49 metre lying buddha on top of the mountain. However, after an almost 2 hour motorbike ride to the mountain, our "numb bums" made us think otherwise. A two minute cable car ride up the mountain for 50,000 dong (about US$3.50) made more sense! The view from the cable car was spectacular. We saw villages, bambo forest, and the seascapes ... read more