Can't believe our vacation is half over!

I sure will miss this life style! :)

Mui Ne, Vietnam

It has been awhile because we have had company which has just been a blast. But I will get you all up to speed on what we have been up to. We finished up our travels in Vietnam on the beach in a town called Mui Ne. We decided to just chill out for a bit before heading to Ho Chi Minh City to catch our flight to Bangkok. Our misfortune continued the second day, it poured the entire day and the locals said it had not rained in 9 weeks! Of course that is the case! But, we did have one nice day and we able to check out the sights and the second day I worked on my scholarship applications so I guess it all worked out.

Mui Ne was really neat because it is a costal town with red, yellow and white Saharan sand dunes surrounding the area. I felt like I was in Africa.

Getting to Mui Ne was quit the journey. We ended up taking an overnight sleeper bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang. It was nothing less than horrible I must say. We were one of the last to get on the bus so we got stuck in the back where there were 5 beds lined up and the beds were much shorter than both Justin and I. What really got me fired up was that the lady who sold us the tickets told us we would have plenty of room and we even each paid more for the VIP bus. Anyways, it was 14 hours of tossing and turning, trying to find a place to put my legs to keep them from sleeping. Once we got to Nha Trang we had an hour wait before we boarded another bus to take us the rest of the way. What I thought was suppose to be a 3 hour ride turned into a 6 hour ride, again in the back of the bus. Justin said he felt like Rosa Parks. That is horrible!

But when we arrived it was beautiful! Mui Ne beach is famous for kite boarding. There was an international kite boarding competition taking place while we were there. If I had better travelers insurance we may have considered lessons. I just don't understand how all those kite boards avoid getting all tangled up.

The second day we went on a jeep tour. The guy tried to sell us on the deal by telling us we would be riding in a proper American jeep! Tee hee! It was good, he drove us around to all the sights. We first stopped at the red sand dunes. We walked down this river to a waterfall.

It was really cool, I felt like I was on a jungle safari.

I felt like I was walking in a giant pumpkin pie!

Oh yes, we rode an ostrich too. It was a very strange experience, seemed so wrong but at the same time we could not help ourselves! I felt like I was going to fall off the back the entire time.

They tired to charge Justin and I twice the amount because of our height! We put the smack down on the them. Seriously, they will say anything to make some extra dough!

Fish sauce in the making! It smelt like wet cat food passing through here. Gag!

The Mui Ne Harbor.

Photo by Justin

White sand dunes

We rented these plastic boards to sled down the hill with. It ended up not really working and in the process my camera fell out of my purse and drown in the sand. I climbed back up to find the blue strap poking out of the sand but the camera will not turn back on do to "lens error". Sadly, most all of my electronics have died on this trip. First, I sat on my Kindle and it died. Then my Ipod stopped working and now my camera is full of sand. Sheesh, my computer is still holding on but barely. I just received warning that my hard drive is now full so I no longer can up load photos till I get my delete on! My oh My!

We also had the best meal ever in Mui Ne. We sat on the beach and ate 2 plates of fresh grill prawns and Justin had a half kilo of grilled clams, noodles, french fries, salad and some beer all for less that $14.00. It was so crazy. The same meal back home would have been well over $50 for sure. We also treated ourselves to an hour full body massage for about $8.00. Life is good!

We only stayed 2 nights in Mui Ne and then took another sleeper bus to Ho Chi Minh City. We stayed 1 night in Ho Chi Minh before we met Chris and Collin in Bangkok. I wish we had more time in Ho Chi Minh but I did get a Mexican meal out of the deal. I have been dying for a burrito. I know I should have had Vietnamese food on our last night but I just could not help myself! Plus, I think I have an allergy to fish sauce.

Vietnam- Hoi An

I just love Hoi An not just because it has been so sunny and beautiful but also because the town is just so darn cute and charming. I love all the lanterns hanging, the fact that you can't drive any cars in the proper town and all the fun shops and tailors.

We flew from Hanoi to Da Nang and then took a city bus to Hoi An. We heard lots of bad stories about cabs so opted for the bus. At first, I was regretting our decision but then talked to a couple once we got here and was glad we took the city bus. Their cab driver agreed to take them to Hoi An, however the city limits starts several miles outside of where all the hotels and where the action is. The cab driver pulled over at the "Entering Hoi An" sign and was demanding more money if they wanted to continue into the downtown area. Can you believe it? Anyways, the bus ride was very entertaining and again almost caused me to have multiple heart attacks! First, we wondered around Da Nang for at least 2 hours trying to locate the bus station. People were giving us mixed directions and we did not realize our guide book had a section called "around Da Nang" so the whole time I was cursing the guide book for the pathetic map they gave us. So about 2 hours later we saw a sunflower yellow city bus about to pass that says Hoi An in the window so we jumped on. Actually, he pulled us on, I am not sure the bus stopped moving. But then the bus went back to the terminal for another 30 mins as the bus was at the end of the route. They will do anything for money and they charged us 3 times the actual price but it was still cheap and we were just happy to get on a bus. I think on our way the bus driver must have honked the horn over 1,500 times, it was a wild ride. I even had people sitting on my feet on pieces of card board. But the good news is we made it without hitting a biker, motor bike or any cattle crossing the road!

Oh but wait there is more drama. Once we arrived in Hoi An we discovered there was a International Choir Festival taking place and there was not a room available in all of Hoi An. We spent another few hours going from hotel to hotel looking for a room. We ran into other backpackers in the same dilemma. The guide book says that there are so many hotels that they will lower the price if you agree to stay so we didn't think to book ahead. It turned out to be our lucky day for some reason or another. We were walking up to a hotel that another couple walking out told us was full but we thought we would go in and see if they could call us a cab to take us to the next city for the night and it turned out they suddenly had a room for us! It was a bit strange and confusing why they told the other couple no just moments before. I was so happy!

The river in Hoi An

The food in Hoi An is outstanding. It has been good elsewhere but is it SO good in Hoi An. This is by far my favorite meal so far. It was a prawn hot pot. It was so fresh and just the right amount sweet and spicy!

It is so colorful with all the flowers for sale!

The town is really neat with all the old buildings. It is one of the few cities that survived the war.

They never let up! There is always someone trying to sell you something.

Grilled chicken with lemongrass and chili sauce = TASTY!

Beef grilled in a banana leaf

Yesterday we rented bikes for only a $1.00 for the whole day. We rode down to the beach for lunch.

Hoi An's beach

I have been looking forward to getting clothes tailor for over a year. Now, that it is all said and done we have mixed reviews. Yesterday was like a roller coaster. Justin went to try on his first suit and he was pleased but not super thrilled. Then we went to Kimmy's a well known tailor to try on our orders. I ordered 2 dresses and a shirt and Justin ordered another suit and we both were really happy. Then we went to get Justin's sandals and they were okay but the real downer was the 2 shirts and shorts Justin ordered at another tailor. Just really poor quality and after looking over the shirts we found a lot of errors and decided he probably could have picked those shirts up at Wal-mart for half the cost. I still have an order to pick up there today so we will see. It has been really fun going in and designing your clothes and picking out the fabrics but the quality is lacking. But I think it was a really fun experience and we will wear everything we got.

Justin thought he looked so dorky in his new shirt because of how short the sleeves are. I agreed and so he ended up taking them back to be altered, they should be ready today!

The tailoring experience is addictive though, you just want to keep trying to get things made and see how they turn out. I will post some more pictures of our creations once I pick them up today!

Tonight, we take a 15-17 hour bus ride (BUH) to Mui Ne for two nights before we head down to Ho Chi Minh city to fly out to Bangkok. I can't believe how fast this trip is passing by.

Vietnam- Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa

Warning: Long post with lots of pictures!

We have been in Vietnam for 9 days now. We spent our first 3 nights in Hanoi. We arrived on my birthday which was lovely. I treated myself to a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries at 2 in the ayem in the Singapore airport and then about 4-5 hours later Justin bought me a McGriddle breakfast sandwich ( an egg, cheese and a sausage patty stuffed between two pancakes with maple syrup pockets! WOW!) Started off my 27th year with a bang and a few extra pounds!

The hostel we booked in Hanoi over booked so they put us up in their sister hotel for the night. That was a great birthday gift and it was so nice to have a big clean room to catch some z's in, oh and to take a looong hot shower in, which I will never take for granted again. We were both so pooped when we arrived we tucked right in for a power nap. We hadn't really thought through our consecutive travel plans when booking so we were on a all night bus backed with a late flight and night in the Singapore airport. I guess at the mere age of 27 I am too old for that kind of thing! ;)

To be completely honest, I don't think I would recommend Hanoi. Around the old quarter and the lake was charming but there are so many scooters/motor bikes that I could hardly breathe. I had to wear a hanky around my face. It really was that bad!

Our hostel to hotel upgrade! We had a great view of the city!

Water puppet show!

I think it is kinda of neat, around the city they have tons of bird cages just hanging in random places. I feel sorry for the birds but it is adds a nice touch to the city!

Veggie bike!

She wanted me to pay her to take Justin's picture holding her baskets! Ha!

Crossing the intersection is a little risky! We found that you just have to go and keep walking, everyone swerves around you!

We visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. That was an interesting experience. I guess they went against his wishes as he wanted to be cremated. We also toured where his lived as President.

Next stop: Halong Bay

Halong Bay- we were all about it so we signed up for a 2 day, 1 night cruise with AClass. Once we boarded our junk we sailed through the natural wonder of limestone islets to the floating village of Vung Vieng. Vung Vieng is a functioning village that survives from the seafood industry. Every morning boats come into pick up their stock and trade them for other supplies.

Our room! We were really impressed with it. We heard tons of horror stories about these junk boats being full of rats and cockroaches but ours was really nice and we did not have a sighting of either so I was happy about that!

There was even a red rose tucked in the bed!

Pure beauty!

Living the ultimate life of relaxation.

By the way, I am no longer a nail bitter. Really, it is the truth. I have not bitten my nails since we got back from Japan in Jan. I did have an episode on our way back from Sapa that caused some tearing but not bitting! ;)

We went for a bamboo boat ride through the floating village and around the limestone.

These poor cats were tied up!

It really would be a beautiful place to live among all the limestone.

Our "junk" boat

I loved that a short cooking class was part of the package, something fun and hands on. We made fried pork spring rolls and they were mighty tasty! Afterwards, we enjoyed them with some local wine.

Floating market passing by, she had everything from beer and wine to snacks and toilet paper. However, we were told by our boat if we purchased something from her they would charge us a service charge to bring it on board. I thought that was kind of lame of them.

Sunset on the bay

In the morning we got up bright and early to check out Sung Sot cave. I was really surprised at the size of this cave, it was enormous and really cool to walk through.

Next stop: SAPA

From the moment we arrived until the moment we departed it rained in Sapa. Not only did it rain it SNOWED. We were stunned to wake up to a light dusting of white. I surely was mistaken in only packing a pair of yoga pants and a light zip-up. Needless to say, we bucked up put our rain ponchos on (best purchase yet) and went and did a bit of trekking in the rain.

Cat Cat Village

Sapa is a hillside town located in the northern part of Vietnam. On a sunny day there are suppose to be spectacular views and magnificent scenery of rice terraces and mountains towering above the town.

Members of the local hilltribe H'mong. The H'momg women are all over town urging tourists to buy their handicrafts and trinkets. They follow you around saying "You buy from me". This one girl wanted me to pinky swear that I would buy from here the next day because I said "maybe tomorrow". Sure enough she tracked me down the next day and even waited outside a restaurant we were in.

The traditional H'Mong clothing. Most of the tribe members we saw had blueish hands from the dye in their clothing.

This is the last thing I thought I would be using on this trip. We had to rent a heater for our room it was so chilly! It was $4 for the night. We spent a good chunk of time tracking down places to hang out in with fire places. At one point we really bought our time by the fire by ordering drinks, appetizers, main courses, dessert and more drinks!

Justin spent a lot of doing this and I.....

spent a lot of time doing this! (Photo by JTH)

Sopping Sapa was not really a crowd-pleaser in my opinion. But even with the "downs", at the end of the day, I always find myself laughing and I know that the ruff edges do file themselves down and know my blood will return to a normal temp and that is just part of the fun and experience.

Note: All my pictures are taken with my wimpy ol' point-and-shoot. So PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out Justin's flickr account for more photos! Here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/kungfuji