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Published: December 17th 2005
Vietnemese Farmer
Not sure what she's harvesting. I did the motion for "do you eat it?" and she laughed and shook her head "no." That's as far as I got with the conversation though.....Well, after 2 1/2 weeks in Vietnam, Leslie and I are off to Cambodia tomorrow or Monday. But what a couple of weeks it's been!!! Aside from the insane amount of rain we've had (guess that's why they call it the rainy season!!), Vietnam has been absolutely wonderful. When we left Hanoi, we purchased an open-tour bus ticket for $18 that included stops in Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Dalat and Ho Chi Minh City. Pretty amazing system that the have set up for tourists, you just get off when you want and on when you want to leave. So, here is a summary of these stops:
Hue (pronounced Who-eh) is a cute little town 12 hours south of Hanoi. We were in this town for less than 24 hours but we made the most of it, renting a couple of bicycles and giving ourselves our own city tour. With recommendation from our hotel, we rode to the Citadel (a large, walled compound used in the war), a pagoda (temple) and one of the many tombs along the Perfume (doesn't smell like perfume) River. We liked Hue a lot even if we were only there for a short time. While
Hue Pagoda
The main and oldest temple in Hip Hop Hue!!!! we were cycling home in the rain, Leslie and I made up a new remix to a classic song...."Hip Hop Hue!!" (If that's even the title....not sure).
The next morning, we boarded a bus and 7 hours later we arrived in Hoi An, the cutest little river city I've ever seen. With a population of 150,000, I'd say 75% of them are tailors. Shop after shop of tailor made clothes...make you anything your heart desired! Saw the most amazing wool winter coat for $25 but had to resist the urge since my pack has somehow shrunk!!! So, I settled on getting a pair of custom-made leather flip-flops for $5.50. Leslie got a pair too and within the day, she had them ready! Amazing!! Our first afternoon in Hoi An, we were also treated to a wonderful (and well needed) manicure (no, I still don't have any nails) and pedicure for $1 each!!! I know......honestly, sometimes you feel bad paying so little! After, she started threading my legs and at first I was like "no, no, it's OK" but gave into the pain and ended up with smooth legs. What a technique! Just simple sewing thread wrapped around their fingers
Streets of Hoi An
With all the rain, the riverside street was flooded. But it made for a good photo! and twisted around the hairs and yanked (that still doesn't sound as painful as it is) out!! Leslie watched in enjoyment and took picutures of the pain!!
Our second day in Hoi An, we booked a tour to My Son Holyland where there are ruins of ancient temples. The rain had thankfully stopped for the 2 hours we were touring so that was helpful and Leslie and I had some fun with some of the decapitated statues....oh, the joys of being a tourist!!! That afternoon, we arrived back to Hoi An and met a guy from Whistler while we were having a late lunch. He joined us and gave us a bunch of useful information on the southern part of Vietnam and Cambodia. So, after a couple of 3,000 dong (that's about 25 cents) pints of beer we boarded the bus to Nha Trang....another fun-filled, leg- cramped 12 hours away!!!
Well, Nha Trang is a place that we could've probably stayed for 2 weeks had it been sunny. The cutest little beach town (reminded me of Peurto Vallarta) with funky restaurants and numerous bars with Happy Hours from 4pm till close......that's more like a Happy Day!!! We had
Pain, Pain, Pain
If you're going to get threading done....my suggestion is to have a couple shots before you go! OUCH!! Didn't help that there were 2 of them ripping out the hair at the same time! one goal in Nha Trang and that was to get our scuba diving license so 3 days, 4 ocean dives and 1 final exam later....we are now Open Water Divers....YIPPEE!!! It was amazing! The first day we spent in the pool and it was only Leslie and me and our instructor, Ludo, so we learned a lot! Ludo was super nice and had a lot of patience, which helped since I couldn't clear my mask when he'd put water in it for the longest time! Eventually, I got it (Leslie was a natural) and the next day we took to the ocean! WOW! We dove 2 times/day and started at a depth of 12m and got to 17m on the last day. With the weather conditions, the visibility (or "vis" as us divers call it....what a nerd!!) wasn't very good and we could only see about 2m infront of us. But that was enough, and we saw some great corals and sea life!!
Before the course, Leslie and I went to the Thap Bha Hot Spring to soak in some mineral mud!! Wasn't quite as natural and serene as we had hoped but more like an theme park with
My Son Holyland
The temples are situated in an east-west position. The doors open to the east to worship the gods and the west direction is to worship their ancestors. 60+ pastel-coloured tubs that are connected by white plastic pipes to the mud source! We were told to sit in the mud for 20 mins, have a mineral shower and then swim in the 38 degree swimming pool. It was a great way to spend 1/2 day that was otherwise....yep, you guessed it....rainy!!!
After 5 days in Nha Trang, we left for Dalat, which is up in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. There was a Flower Festival on that Leslie and I checked out for an hour or so. We didn't arrive until 3pm and only had a couple hours of daylight, so we didn't see much of the city. We got the impression that, with all the hills and brightly coloured villas and the numerous amount of honeymooners that flock to the hills, that it resembled a cute, little European hot-spot.
On Wednesday, we left Dalat and arrived in Saigon (the historic name and the one still used by the locals)/Ho Chi Minh City late in the afternoon. There is an area here just for backpackers, like Bangkok, and this is where the bus dropped us. We walked to the Mini-Hotel Alley and checked into the hotel
Ancient Artifact
Ok, if a statue has no head...you're gonna have some fun with it, right? and then checked out the sights (by that I mean, stuffed our faces on delicious pizza!!) The next day, we met up with Peter, a friend of our priest back home. He was nice enough to take us for lunch, a beer and then dinner and dancing in the evening all on the back of his, and his friend David's motorcycle! And let me tell you, the drivers here are crazy!!! Insane the number of motorcycles (3 million in the city) and no traffic lights! They just go! But they must know what they are doing cause we haven't seen any accidents! Funny because at lunch, we ordered chicken (yep, determined to get the Bird Flu!!) and Peter was like "Aren't you scared?" Then we looked around and none of the locals were even eating the chicken!!!! Ok, so maybe we'll hold off on the chicken now! We ended the night with a delicious Vietnemese BBQ beef dinner and a couple of drinks at a local club called Gossip! Great music and the DJ was awesome! We think that they were playing the latest UK dance tunes (never heard any of them before).... but regardless, the locals were dancing up
Stonehead
Maybe if Leslie stands here long enough, people will pay to come see her!! a storm!
Yesterday, we went to the Cu Chi tunnels about 70 km from town. These tunnels were built during the war for the people of Cu Chi Village to hideout in since their area was highly bombed. There were over 200 km's of tunnel built at 3 different levels (3m, 6m and 9m) with the last level exiting to the Saigon River in need of a quick evacuation! Amazing! They also have a shooting range here so for a couple of bucks, Leslie and I each shot an AK-47 bullet! Don't think either of us would've made good soldiers since we both missed the target and hit the dirt!!! In the afternoon, we visited the War Museum, which is a photo history of the war. It displays photos from the journalists that were there and then some of the weapons, etc. Pretty sad and near the end, we both couldn't look at anymore of the photos. We arranged to meet up for drinks with a couple of Canadians from Canmore that we met at the tunnels. That was fun, they're travelling in the opposite direction as us so again, gave us some great advice on the next stop!
Mineral Mud
If sunny, you're supposed to bake in the sun after the mud so that it cakes onto your skin. We opted for the hot shower to rinse off!! Today, we are meeting up with Peter again and he's going to give us a city tour. It's really nice to have him here to show us around because lately, we've both been feeling like all we're seeing is tourist stuff. But Saigon is amazing and the sun is shining here so we're happy, happy, happy!!!
We love you lots and miss all of you! We will be traveling through the Mekong Delta for 2 days into Cambodia and will hopfully be in Phnom Pehn on Monday or Tuesday. Then we'll travel to the south and be back in Phnom Pehn for Christmas. Since we probably won't update again before Christmas, we want to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you and have a safe and happy holiday season.
Lots of love, Melissa and Leslie
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Debbie & Dan AND Shadow
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MERRY CHRISTMAS
Hello ladies, We want to wish you both a very Merry Christmas. Shadow sends a big lick and Dan and I send our love. Your stories are so amazing you have no idea. I get to escape from work and read and I love it. Have a wonderful Christmas and we'll all have a drink for the both of you when we all get back to Kamloops. Loads of love...