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Published: November 14th 2009
It's hard to believe that as of today, the 14th of November, we've been gone for one whole month already! At this point we are finally starting to feel like true vagabonds...the reality that "we're not going home" anytime soon has sunk in, and it's actually a pretty cool feeling. Everyone we've met while traveling that has been to or lived in New Zealand has nothing but wonderful things to say about it, making us quite eager to actually get there! We're probably three weeks away or so...still have two more cities to hit in Vietnam before crossing into Cambodia to see the famed Angkor Wat, then we'll begin making our way to New Zealand.
Yesterday we did a truly touristy, un-Jeremy-and-Amy-like activity and went to the beach! We asked the hotel owner to call us a taxi to the beach, and I swear about 20 seconds later, one arrived! Talk about service! Fifteen minutes later we stepped out onto a wide sunny beach, Cau Dai, and found it surprisingly empty for how beautiful the day was. It was still blistering hot out but on the ocean there was a nice breeze, so we got a little respite from the
heat. About a dozen islands with soaring peaks were visible on the horizon, and fishing boats with bright yellow nets sailed by under a near-cloudless sky. We got in the water - probably about 78 degrees or so - just a tad chilly but quite refreshing once we were in. About an hour later we called it a day (you know us, just not beach people!), though it's a good thing because I'm fairly sunburned for how little time we were actually there. We're getting much nearer the equator, though, about 15 degrees north, parallel with Honduras, so the sun is only going to get more intense the further south we go.
When we arrived back at the hotel, I had a pretty hilarious blond moment. Jeremy was asking about something at the front desk, so I took the room key and headed upstairs. As I inserted the key and opened the door, I thought, "Funny, I don't remember leaving the lights on inside..." Then I pushed the door open and saw a man sitting in his skivvies on the bed, typing away on his laptop, staring up at me with a mix of surprise and embarrassment. I gasped
in horror and immediately shouted, "Sorry!" and slammed the door shut. Confused, I looked at the number on the door to discover it was room 205 - and we were in room 305 one more floor up. DUH!!!!! Apparently he left his door unlocked for just such an occasion...
😱
Later in the afternoon we headed back to Lana and Duyen to see how our clothes were coming along. Amazingly, most of them were already done! Jeremy's suits looked fantastic; Duyen had made the waist just slightly larger than his current size, "Incase he gets Buddha," as she put it, demonstrating a big round belly with her hands. We all got a good laugh out of that one. My dress was fabulous, too, but needed to be taken in just a hair...the shorts were so comfy I ended up ordering one more pair! We left with the clothes that were done and fitted properly, and returned today to pick up the rest. It's unfortunate that it's the weekend and the post offices are closed, because now we have to haul all this stuff up to Hue' tomorrow and wait 'til Monday to mail it out...oh, well. It's worth it!
Today we awoke early and joined a day tour to "My Son" (meaning "Beautiful Mountain"), an ancient temple complex buried in the jungle about 30 miles outside of Hoi An. They're Hindu temples, dedicated to the gods Shiva and Vishnu, and many of them go back as far as the 4th century! They were damaged pretty extensively during the War, but a few of them are still in decent shape. This morning we saw rain for the first time on the entire trip (I was starting to forget what it looks like!), just a sprinkling, but it really helped cool everything down. We had a really obnoxious bus driver, though, who layed on his horn about every three seconds (hoking at air half the time), and a very rude French couple in front of us who tried to accuse the tour guide of stealing their money for the admission fee - way too much drama for so early in the morning! The day improved, however, once we got off the bus and piled into old army Jeeps to actually get into the ruins...six of us piled into these dinosaurs and the drivers took off like speed-racers down narrow jungle roads
- quite fun! Like Vietnamese Jurassic Park.
Ironically, we ran into a couple Danish girls we'd spent 3 days with in Ha Long Bay last week. Get this - for the same $30 we spent flying down here, they took the overnight bus, which broke down halfway through, and the 400-mile journey took them TWENTY-SIX HOURS before it was all said and done. All I can say is, "Thank God we took the flight!" One of them had also rented a motorbike and took a nasty spill - had huge gashes down both of her legs. I always chuckle at all the street vendors who try to get you to rent motor bikes - with these maniacal drivers, you couldn't PAY me enough to get on a motor bike in this country! Maybe if I had a death wish...but apparently some tourists take them up on it, which boggles my mind. I'll try a lot of things, but trying to maneuver a bike through these insane roadways between a million other bikes, taxis, buses, and water buffalo is just begging for a disaster...
Anyway, after the tour our obnoxious driver dropped us off at the edge of town,
which we've actually gotten kind of used to on this continent. Once we got our bearings, it was a good twenty-minute walk back to our hotel (sigh) to drop our stuff and head for the nearest restaurant. We stumbled into an Italian-owned-and-operated place called, "Good Morning Vietnam!" As we'd missed breakfast and were starving beyond belief, we didn't even make it past the daily specials - we ordered one of each. Mine was a heavenly homemade ravioli stuffed with pumpkin and sage and tossed in a little butter and parmesan...sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!!! Jeremy's dish consisted of pork stuffed with prosciutto and fontina cheese, served with a dazzling array of grilled veggies. It was a little taste of Carrabba's or Brio back home...and it was fabulous!!
After lunch we picked up the rest of our clothes and actually met (gasp!) fellow Americans, for practically the first time the entire trip. A guy from Denver and a couple from Colorado were in Lana ordering clothes from Duyen, who thought it was amazing that she had FIVE Americans in her shop at one time (apparently we Americans don't get out much, huh?)...anyway, we chatted for a while about our adventures so far. I
was honestly starting to forget what an American accent sounded like...
Dinner tonight was fried rice with shrimp and squid, and fish baked in banana leaves with garlic and lemongrass...both were delicious! Now we're gathering all our junk so we'll be ready to go in the morning for our 7:30 bus up to Hue', about 100 miles back to our north. There we'll spend three days before departing on yet another inexpensive flight down to old Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) to wrap up our tour of Vietnam! This country is exquisite in its charm and its cuisine...while it doesn't have the "big sights" like China does, it's such a pleasant country to travel through, the people are warm and very accommodating (and they all speak English - bonus!)...I swear we've barely had to lift a finger since we got here - the hotel staff does everything for you, for free, and willingly. Fantastic! This is total breeze compared to China...
So!! Hope all is well back home with everybody, keep the comments rolling, don't hesitate to drop us an email every now and then, and take care!! Catch you in a few from Hue'...
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mom powers
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scary jeremy and beyond
Jeremy's custom jacket is neat but the facial expressions are quite frightening for earth people. All that hair on top of your head makes you look like Buzz Lightyear - to infinity and beyond. The suit looks great Jeremy and Amy your dress and top are absolutely gorgeous. Hungry is lookin good - tell him to keep working out and maybe he'll find a girlfriend. Miss you guys - have fun - and keep eatin all that delicious looking food - I'm glad you have had access to pumpkin Amy. It looks so lush there - Stay safe