Advertisement
Published: March 3rd 2009
lanterns in Hoi An
I kept joking about where the USA lantern was...can't believe they actually had 1!!Sorry I have been slacking a bit, but I have been having a blast and just have not had the time to update my blog...I will try to be better in the future, but I am not making any promises! I would love to blame by slackerdom on a lack of computers or faulty internet, but then I would be just plain lying. And lying is just not nice.
I think I last had written towards the beginning of my week in Hoi An. I can't remember the exact order of events since it has been awhile, but I will try my best. I spent some more time shopping, running along the river, getting clothes made, eating delicious food and hanging out with fun people. Friday afternoon, my friend Nancy came to join me in Hoi An and we spent the day biking to the beach and just relaxing on Cui Dai Beach. Friday night, we went to dinner with her friend Hal (who is from Hoi An) and then to the party that he had planned as a goodbye to her. The 2 of us hopped on Hal's motorbike (don't worry, I insisted on wearing a helmet) and we
Motorbike!
Don't worry...I am not actually driving! ventured through the crowded market where the vendors still tried to sell us stuff even though we were in constant motion. It was a bit crazy, but we made it to our destination alive. And luckily we were travelling very slowly so I didn't get too scared! The party began at a karaoke place (this is Asia afterall) and 8 of us horribly sang for hours! It was great! I even tried my hand at singing in Vietnamese which was pretty hilarious. We sang everything from The Hokey Pokey to We Are the Champions and everything in between.
After karaoke, we headed out to the beach party where we did some pool playing, dancing and swimming in the pool. It again was tons of fun. We had a pretty late night, but were able to sleep in until check out the next morning. We checked out of the hotel which had felt like home at this time and ended up chartering a boat on the river to take us out to the sea. Nancy, Hal and I decided to jump in the water once we got to the sea and hadn't really thought this decision all the way through.
The boats are mainly used in the river (which is dirty!) so people don't ever jump into the water...meaning...no way back in! There was no ladder so we had to come up with a method of climbing back into the boat. It was pretty tricky, but we were able to figure it out. We then headed back into town to prepare for our overnight busride to Nha Trang.
The overnight buses here are amazing...you get an actual almost flat bed to yourself! It is very comfortable, but for some reason, I was not able to fall asleep. I fell asleep sometime in the morning and then woke up again when the bus stopped and we were at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean with the sun rising...it was so beautiful! We arrived in Nha Trang around 6:30am, dropped our bags, had some breakfast and then headed out on the "Funky Monkey" boat trip.
We were brought to the pier to get the boat and saw the people who would be joining us on the boat. The first group we saw was a family with a baby and we thought it might not have been as fun
as others had told us. We then got on the boat and realized we were with a great group of people! "Funky Monkey" was the guide and he was hysterical! We went to one island for a little while, then went snorkeling off the boat (pretty, but not the best) and then had lunch. Just before lunch, I was walking down the steps and slid and completely fell down the entire thing from the 2nd step! Ouchy!! It was very painful, but luckily I was only left with a few bruises across my back, a bruised heel, a cut toe and a strained subscapularis. Once I landed and was able to get up, I felt very lucky that I had not broken anything after such a fall...I am such a klutz! And I hadn't even had a thing to drink!
In order to serve lunch, they rearranged the benches that we had been sitting on to be one giant table. They put out tons of food and somehow my end of the table ended up eating all of ours and then having to get some more from the other end! It was 3 of us who did the most
Vinpearl Island
just like Hollywood...ha ha! Can't stay on this island on a backpackers budget!! Rooms are 400-5,000 USD! eating and I am pretty sure all the Vietnamese people on the boat probably now understood why westerners are much bigger people! I can't help it if I am a hungry girl!
After lunch, they turned the bench turned lunch table into a dance floor! The instruments were really funny and the performance was by the "Nha Trang boy band"! They started us off by dancing to La Bamba which progressed to the twist and many others. We then all sat down for some slower songs and then a lady from Australia was brought up and forced to sing "Waltzing Matilda". They then called up "Miss America" and I totally was convinced they were going to make me sing "The star spangled banner" or something. Funkey Monkey asked if I know the Bangles and I was still wondering what I was going to have to sing. He then asked about "Eternal Flame"! Ha! So there I am, in a boat in Vietnam singing "Eternal Flame" alongside the "Funky Monkey" to a group of about 35 strangers from all over the world! Poor people! Everyone loved the performance, but I am thinking maybe the microphone wasn't that great and so
Boat cruise!
Photoshoot on one of the islands! they were unable to tell how horrible my voice is. I was sure to move the microphone far away from my mouth for the high notes! And I am pretty sure my acting out skills were top notch! I was then known as "Miss America" for the rest of the day. They then sang Fera Jaca (I have no idea how to spell that) in every language that was on the boat including Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and German. It was pretty funny!
After that, it was time for happy hour! We all jumped back in the water and were given tubes and the funky monkey passed out drinks for the floating bar! It was pretty funny to try and not float away with your drink! We then went back on the boat, stopped off at another island and then headed back to town.
I came back and had a nap before going for some dinner and then meeting some of the people from the boat for drinks. We went to the Sailing Club which is a really fancy bar located on the beach and spent a few hours dancing it up. Unfortunately they play a lot of techno
boat cruise!
more kodak moments! here which I really can't tolerate but I danced anyway.
The next day, Nancy and I headed to the hot springs and mud bath! It was crazy...I have never rolled around in mud before purposely! Apparently it is really good for you and the signs say it can even cure tuberculosis. I was hoping that there was nobody there who actually had active TB! It started to rain while we were soaking so we were unable to lie in the sun and allow the mud to dry as you are supposed to do. We then had to go in all different mineral showers and pools.
Afterwards, we shopped around town a bit, had some dinner and then I had to say goodbye to Nancy becuase she was heading down to Saigon before going off to Thailand for the Full Moon Party. I met back up with my new friend Anh for some drinks and met some Aussies also. Anh is from Nha Trang, but has been stuyding hotel management in Switzerland. He currently has 2 of his Vietnamese friends and 1 of his Thai friends staying with him and they have been travelling around Vietnam. Today, they picked
boat cruise!
Nancy and I on one of the islands! me up in the morning because he wanted to bring us all to his favorite breakfast spot in his old neighborhood. We went early and had these little rice pancake like things that are normally eaten with egg or beef. Luckily, he was able to explain to them that I wanted them plain and would use soy sauce instead of fish sauce. They were really good and it was fun hanging out with all of them again. We then brought the Thai girl to the airport because she was heading back home to Bangkok. We got to the airport and it turned out her flight was delayed by 2 hours and being such nice friends...they choose to wait with her. We hung out at the airport which was actually very fun. They are such an interesting group...they all have studied or are currently studying in Switzerland and have all lived in the US for 1 year for internships. It was great talking to them and learning even more about Vietnamese culture. I feel that typically most locals I meet are trying to sell stuff or are tour guides so this was a completely different perspective. I am looking forward to
Snorkeling!
I heart my waterproof camera! spending some more time with them over the next few days. We might go to a waterfall tomorrow if it stops raining before 2 of them head off the Hoi An. And I will definitely try to visit the Thai girl if I go to Thailand!
Now I am just trying to figure out how and where I want to spend the next few days...and most importantly where I want to be for a very special day that happens to be coming up....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0592s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
lukas
non-member comment
did you just say
they turned the table you ate on into a dance floor? hahah you know that freaks someone out! i love it though... awesome pictures you beautiful thing all muddy and stuff.. O_o woowee.. so the bangals, what happened to the snuggles?? they didnt know any snuggle songs? umm could you not fall any more cause that would be bad if you hit that cute head and get all amnesia on us and then you forget who you are and all your great friends and then next thing you know your miss viet nam instead of miss america... and oh yeah i think we all miss ya............. hootie hooo....