South Central Vietnam

In all honesty, there isn't much I can say about Hoi An. It was pretty, and the architecture was cool as it is a world heritage site and was not damaged during the war, but there are sooooo many tailor shops and tourists stores that it takes away from the whole vibe. You can't walk down the street without eyeing the endless things you can have made. Shoes, boots, bags, coats, dresses, suits, you name it, they can make it. So of course, I spoiled myself and got a few things.

On the days I wasn't getting fitted and picking stuff out, a group of us rented motorbikes and cruised around out to China Beach, which is a beach where US soldiers would get some R&R when they were off duty. It was a really pretty beach, but since there were a lot of locals, I had to swim fully clothed as bikinis are not standard attire for Vietnamese, and unless you want to get stared at even more than normal, its best to swim in your clothes.

Tourists deciding what to get made

One of the cool buildings

I also went to some Cham ruins outside town known as My Son. These ruins are even older than Ankor Wat in Cambodia. They were pretty amazing, but I twisted my ankle really bad getting out of the bus. The bus driver jumped out, sat me on a stool and started poking my ankle and twisting my foot at every ankle while almost screamed out loud in pain. He clapped his hands together, gave me a thumbs up and walked away. Thanks Dr. Bus Driver.

Ruins

Hah!

Cutest lady ever

After Hoi An, I decided to do my own thing and went to this town called Quy Nhon (pronounced Wee Non). It was awesome. There is one hostel there actually, so besides myself, there were about 6 other western tourists in the whole city. I met some nice Americans and we rented bikes and cruised out to the Leprosy Hospital which has an amazing beach. It was really weird being on hospital grounds on a beach.

View of Leprosy Hospital Beach

Local fishing boats

USA or bust!

Bike and me

Those white things are jelly fish

Another beach in town

This tank was in the water for a long time, and at low tide you could see it. But they recently took it out and moved it to the museum! It would have been so much cooler to see in the water!

One of the many amazing things I ate in Quy Nhon. This town was great cause the street food was soooo good, and I got local prices, not tourist prices since they aren't used to our kind being there. One of the few places in Vietnam where prices aren't jacked up for us.

Sunset in Quy Nhon

I took the overnight bus to Dalat, which is located in the southern highlands. Its a cute place, bigger than I thought, but MUCH cooler than everywhere else. I can actually walk around without being soaking wet with sweat. And I wear a sweater at night! Yesterday me and this danish couple went out with what is called the Dalat Easy Riders, which is a bunch of dudes with motorcylces who give you a tour of the countryside. It was really fun!

We went to a silk factory, this is where silk comes from!

Beautiful view. During the war, this valley was used by the communists to try to sneak attacks on the American troops. It used to be covered in jungle but we bombed the bejesus out it so we could catch those buggers... didn't work, we still lost. They have replaced the jungle landscape with pine trees, which I thought was weird, but I am no botanist.

Team Denmark, Mark and Fia and ME

This place is known as the Crazy House in Dalat. It is still under construction, but it is a hotel built by a Vietnamese woman who studied architecture in Moscow. Other buildings that were too crazy for communists were torn down, but since her father was second in line to Uncle Ho, the building will remain standing. Its a hotel where you can actually stay. It really is crazy.

Only a few days left in Vietnam, off to Saigon tomorrow morning, then into Cambodia!

They really do wear those cone hats here...

After two overnight bus rides, I made it to Hanoi. I was with this English guy Tom who I had met back in Thailand actually, and we went to meet some of his friends. The four of us booked a trip to Halong Bay right away since I was short on time up north.

Hanoi is crazy. I am glad I went up there. There are soooo many motorbikes and I hear that its even worse in Saigon (I know, Ho Chi Minh City, but Saigon is easier to write). I really liked Hanoi, it is very busy and lively. People just set up their food stalls everywhere. You can barely walk on the sidewalks cause they are so full of food places.

Bananas

Entrance to old city

Old ladies doing massages in the park

Halong Bay was really pretty. There isn't much to it though, they suffle you from a bus to a boat, where you hang out and enjoy the scenery, go for a swim, we went kayaking a bit. Its supposed to be a protected area, but there was a lot of pollution and garbage in the water... and a lot of jelly fish. But it was still really pretty.

Party on the boat

Halong Bay store

Limestone rocks

After Halong Bay, I spent another two days in Hanoi just touring around. We went to Ho Chi Minh's tomb thing, where he was preserved and put on display, it was crazy! It was the first dead body I have seen.

Food stall and cone hat!

Bia Hoi, little beer places where you can get home brewed stuff for like 25 cents!

I took another overnight bus down to Hue where I stayed three nights. Hue is very different from Hanoi, its quiter, cleaner, but there are still a lot of motorbikes. I toured the citadel, which is an old fortress in the city with a lot of temples. The whole area is just really beautiful ride your bike around in. While I was riding around, I met a nice couple who invited me for dinner. It was a little strange, cause when I got there, they had already eaten and just watched me eat... The wife was really nice and took me to a good tailor she knew and I had a suit made up for me. At the first fitting, I wanted to cry because everything was wrong. the suit made me look like an old lady with a pea head, so I asked them to re-do it. Since it WAS the design I had picked, I had to pay another $15 for a new jacket. But in the end, the suit looks awesome, a little pricey but awesome. For a custom made jacket, pants and skirt, it cost $175. I think its a good deal, but we'll see how long the suit lasts to decide. haha.

Citadel

Quy and Tho, my local friends

Thien Mu Pagoda

Since I was in the area, I decided to do a tour of the Demiltarized Zone. This is where Vietnam was divided between north and south and actually became one of the most heavily militarized areas during the war. Gary, I should have you write this part...

Me on the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Me at Khe San Combat Base, where one of the bloodiest battles took place

Picture of child carrying supplies

The Vinh Moc tunnels were a series of tunnels that went up to 30 meters underground where over 300 local tribes people lived during the war to avoid the constant bombing. It was a highlight of the day, absolutely amazing.

A standard family room in the tunnels

I have just arrived in Hoi An, which is probably the worst place to be if you like shopping because you can get ANYTHING made here. I just ordered a pair of shoes and I will probably walk away with a few dresses... I should leave. haha.

Southern Laos

After Gary left, I met up with some English girls and went out in Luang Prabang for one more night, went bowling, all the works. But I missed you babe!

I was supposed to catch a 6:30 bus to Vientienne, but I overslept and had to take the 9:00 one, it was a long day on a bus but I made it pretty late at night, and just walked around and went to bed. I flew the next morning to Pakse, which is southern Laos. I got there really early in the morning, put my bags in a hotel lobby, walked around and decided there wasn't much there so I went to the bus station to head to Tad Lo, which is this small town outside Pakse with a lot of trails and waterfalls, etc. I met a guy on the bus from Colorado, so we explored together. We walked to a waterfall and just around the area. There isn't much to the town, but it is very peaceful there, I enjoyed it.

The next day we woke up and went for a walk. We just walked for about an hour and enjoyed the scenery. We found a waterfall, went for a swim, took a nap by the water, and then walked around some more. We saw this restaurant on the water and decided to pop in, and what luck! It happened to be a gathering of all the local police officers from the surrounding "counties" all eating and getting absolutley wasted. They invited us to sit with them and have some beers, so we ate and drank and they gave me their cell phone numbers and said if I get in trouble in Laos, call them... hah. Thanks I guess!

Waterfall

TadLo

More Tad Lo

Head of Police

The pigs in Laos are HUGE

Andy playing the local game of volleyball/hackey sack. I tried too, but then fell on my ass while trying to kick the ball over the net and quit out of embarrassment

I left the next morning to head even more south to an area known as the 4,000 Islands (becuase there are 4,000 little islands all strewn through this area of the Mekong). When I got there, I ran into a couple I had met in Luang Prabang, so we found some bungalows on the water, which were like $2 a night! The island we stayed on, Don Det, is more of the backpacker island, but since we went in the off season, there was hardly anyone there. It was soooo nice and such a beautiful place. I absolutely loved it. We rented bikes and cruised around to the different islands, saw a cool waterfall, found a swimming beach, walked around the island, drank on our porches, read in our hammocks, it was so nice. I had planned on only staying a couple of nights but stayed 4. Since the electricity stopped at 10pm, there wasn't a lot going on at night, so it was a very relaxing few days... not like I have anything to relax from.

Bike riding

Riding over to Don Khon

A surprisingly large waterfall in the Mekong

Fishing Boats

One of the things the islands are known for are these freshwater dolphins, that are endagered because during the war, they were all bombed because the army thought they carried the spirits of the enemies or something weird like that. Anyway, we rented a boat and had a guy take us out at sunset to see the dolphins. We saw 6! We were lucky!

Brad, Me, Sicilia and Ben, technically in Cambodia waiting to see dolphins.

We stopped to check the fishing traps. Our driver was absolutely hilarious.

Local lady selling snacks

Ben and Sicilia on the Island

Local kid taking a nap, haha, I just thought he looked so funny since this was part of a kitchen at a food stand.

After I lef the islands, I took yet another long bus ride up to mid Laos to Savanakhet to cross the border to Vietnam. I stayed one night and actually really enjoyed this town. There are so many old french buildings that are just falling apart becuase they can't afford to fix them up, nor do I think they really care. But it felt like a ghost town almost because all the buildins were just these beautiful but crumbling structures.

Old radio tower I think

Buildings

Lady making one of my favorite snacks, papaya salad!

Another building

I ran into an English guy, Tom, who I had met in Thailand who was also crossing the border to Vietnam. We decided to take the local bus and what an adventure! We were the only two white people on the bus. We got to the border around 2am and had to sleep on the floor of this woman's house while we waiting for the border to open. We crossed over, made it to Hue and even though I had initially planned to skip the north and just spend three weeks in the south, I decided since I am nearing the end of my trip, I want to see and do as much as possible, sooooooooo, I hopped on another overnight bus up to Hanoi which is where I am now. Hanging out up north for a bit then heading south.

Our local border crossing bus