Vietnam - Nhatrang and Dalat

I arrived in Nhatrang early in the morning a little drowsy from a bus ride with out much sleep. Yannick (my friend from France I met in Hue) and our friend Matthew from Whales who we met in Hoi An were both on the bus with me and we set out together to find a room.

After getting settled we got ready for the beach (Nhatrang is a beach town, well more like a beach city). On our way we ran into one of the Holland couples we met in Hue (as you can tell you are constantly running into the same people while traveling in Vietnam) and joined them on the beach for a day of relaxation. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best, not much sun, but it was still very hot out making the water very inviting.

Hanging out on the beach

That night I went out for a pitcher of beer with my new roommates. In Vietnam the best place for cheap beer is going to a little "bar"(more like a store front the size of a large walk in closet with local beer on tap) where the tables and chairs are made for 5 year old. The photo below is taken by a standing Australian about 6 feet tall, so you get the idea.


After one of the best dishes I've had yet (fish in clay pot) and a beer on the beach we called it a night.
The next morning we got up early for our boat cruise, the tourist thing to do in Nhatrang. Yes, touristy things can be very annoying but hey I'm a tourist and I was in the mood.
We met up with the couple from Holland again and were escorted to our boat over flowing with Westerners. The day was spent snorkeling, eating yummy food, enjoying some live entertainment, swimming, and ended with a trip to the aquarium.

Snorkeling

Yummy feast on the boat

The next day I split ways with my friends who headed for Saigon while I decided to do a stop over in the mountain town of Dalat before heading further south. After a miserable bus ride due to the fact that i had a delicious caphe sua that morning but forgot to relieve myself before the 4 hour bus ride (woops!).

Dalat

I arrived in a city that looked like a cross between a Euorpean and South American Village. Dalat is known as a hub in Vietnam for outdoor sports such as mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, abseiling.....hmmmmm abseiling never tried that before.
Next thing I knew I was on a abseiling (kind of like repelling) tour through the woods of Dalat. We had a good group and the guides were awesome. After a lesson the abseiling began. Kind of scary but really fun. The pictures say it all below.


After returning to town I rented a motor bike with a Canadian couple from Vancouver that were on the tour with me. We first went to the "crazy house", a silly tourist attraction but pretty cool.

Staircase in the crazy house

After that we went to this cafe that was in their guidebook called "stop and go cafe". We didn't really know what to expect and we pulled up to what looked more like a house than a cafe. We were greeted by the cutest and friendliest puppies and were then ushered into the living room by the woman of the house. We were the only ones there. The room was just covered in poetry, well more like inspirational sayings. Mr. Viet who owns the house came out to greet us, he's an old Vietnamese man with quite a style about him. Long gray beard, barret, and a warm smile. We ordered some snacks and beer (which he had to go out on his motorbike to get, typical Vietnam) and visited with him. He played is guitar and we sang songs and he showed us an article that was published in the Japanese Esquire that featured him and his poetry. I was a fun couple of hours spent with a man I certainly will never forget.

Puppies!

Me and Mr. Viet, note the peotry on the walls behind us. He was also all about giving us flowers from his garden to take home and put in our hair.

Vietnam - Hue and Hoi An

Hue, the old imperial capital of Vietnam until 1945. For this reason my stay here was filled with lots of walking around and learning of Vietnam's old imperial history. My first day was a very memorable one. The date was November 5th (as you can tell I'm a little behind on my blogging but that's beside the point) meaning it was November 4th in the US. Once I got to my hotel room I immediately put on the television and fortunately had CNN. I was lucky enough to watch about an hour of the election unfold until Obama was announced as the next president elect of the United States. So I left my hotel room on my way to the citadel with a huge smile on my face. I spent most of the day walking around there and admiring its beautiful architecture and learning more and more about Vietnam's history. Unfortunately there are parts of the citadel that were ruined because of bombing during the Vietnam war, another part of history I have been learning more about since my stay here.

I was determined to celebrate that night and went out with a friend I met at the hotel who was meeting up with some other friends. Our group ended up being 5 Dutch, 1 French, and 2 Canadians and each drink we had was for Obama. It was a fun night to say the least.

The next day I went on a half day tour in order to see the different tombs of the past Vietnamese Kings outside the city, the pictures will do my explaining. Just know that they were more like mini citadels than what you might think of a tomb.

Between tombs we stopped at a little village to see how they make incense.

From Hue I went to the charming town of Hoi An. Hoi An is known for it's old architecture and the many tailors around town that make pretty much anything. To start things off when I got there I went to a tailor to get some things made. But to back track really quick in order to get to the tailor I had a very "Vietnamese" experience....

When ever I get off the bus in a new city I, and every other tourist, is bombarded by guys on motor bikes telling me about their hotel. Usually I try to ignore them but sometimes I give in. In Hoi An I hopped on the back of a motorbike to take me to their hotel and was shown around by the girl who reeled me in. She was very sweet and I ended up liking the place so I decided to stay. She then asked if I was getting clothes made and told me of her sisters shop. She mentioned the direction of where it was but when I made it downstairs she wasn't there. Well there a million of these shops so I just walked in the direction she told me, stopped at an internet cafe on the way, and when I got out there was a guy I had never seen before on a motor bike waiting for me. He asked if I had talked to his sister about his other sister's shop. I sort of nodded half confused and before I knew it I was on the back of his motor bike and was promptly dropped off at his sisters shop....classic.

OK now back to where I was. I spent most of the day just walking around Hoi An, the town is very charming. I later met up with what remained of the group from Hue (along with some others we accumulated) and went out for dinner.

Streets of Hoi An

The next day I rented a bicycle and rode to the beach (about 3km away). It wasn't the best beach day, very windy, so I just hung out at a little restaurant on the beach and read my book and had a few beers. On the way back to town I tried to find little side streets to get lost on which was fun. Then that night I hopped on an overnight bus headed for Nha Trang which is the next entry to come....

Beach at Hoi An

One of the side streets I explored

Vietnam- Halong Bay and Ninh Binh

There truly is no other place on earth (as far as I can tell) like Halong bay. It is madness at first getting out of the dock with hundreds of other boats but then once you work your way out you find yourself surrounded by jutting limestone formations coming right out of the water. Every where you look they are there and each one is unique in it's natural architecture and beautifully complimented by the blue green water.

The "junk" we stayed in

To see Halong Bay properly we booked a two night cruise on one of the many "junks" as they lovingly call them. I don't really need to go into a day by day account because all we really did was enjoy the landscape. However on our second day we were given the freedom of leaving the boat and doing our own thing on Kayaks. It is easy to find little lagoons tucked within these limestone rocks by entering through natural archways that look like you're going through a cave. Reid and I found one of these archways into a lagoon where we couldn't see a soul and after jumping in for a swim we noticed some monkeys. We paddled over and watched them for at least 30 minutes (monkeys are rare to see here) and it was at this time I noticed what looked like a narrow cave our kayak would barely fit through. So us being the adventurous type decided to paddle through and when it looked like we would be in pitch darkness there was light at the other end and we found ourselves in our own private lagoon. This was for sure the highlight of the cruise, we felt like we stumbled upon an undiscovered paradise or something. It was quite a feeling.

Monkey!

Our private lagoon, note the entrance we came through

Going back out the way we came through our "secret passage way"

Fish market Halong Bay style

After the cruise on our way back to Hanoi it was pouring rain and by the time we got to the outskirts of the city there were certain areas that had been flooded. Even though it's technically the dry season in Vietnam right now they saw the worst rains they've had in 25 years (just my luck). So buses and trains weren't leaving due to the flooding so we were stranded in Hanoi for the night (not the worst place to be stranded, we made the best of it). The next day the three of us headed south to the town of Ninh Binh.
We of course were greeted with more rain and weren't able to get out of the hotel room until mid afternoon. That was spent just walking around and checking out the market and stopping for cafe sua here and there. By the way cafe sua is on of the best things on earth (thanks Tien). It's Vietnamese coffee which is closer to espresso than coffee, mixed with sweeetened condensed milk, mmmmmmm.

Pagoda beautifully framed by limestone outside Ninh Binh

Women working in the rice fields outside Ninh Binh

Tom Coc

The water was so high from all the rain that it was difficult to get under some of the bridges...

"Mama", as the other women called her, who rowed me around Tom Coc (with her feet at times!)

Anyway the next day Reid and Jason headed back to Hanoi to fly to Cambodia and I rented a motor bike to go to the site of Tom Coc. Imagine Halong bay but on a river and in a small row boat with a really cool old woman paddling you around who doesn't speak English. It was fun to ride around on the motor bike and the trip through Tom Coc was beautiful. Next stop Hue.

I saw this guy on my way home from Tom Coc, I thought it was picture worthy

Vietnam- Hanoi and Sapa

In order to avoid a 30 hour trip by bus I decided to fly from Laos to Vietnam which was only 1 hour, much better in my opinion. In Hanoi I met back up with Reid and Jason and with no time to spare uppon my arrival hopped on an overnight train north to the town of Sapa. Sapa is similar to Luang Namtha where I was in Laos in the sense that it's the place to see local Vietnamese villages. It is also known for it's terraced rice fields dug into the mountain sides. It is a beautiful place but unfortunately known for its overcast weather making the views not their best but still better than nothing. Our first day in Sapa we went on a hike through one of the villages. We were never alone on our walk and were constantly joined by the local women and young girls in their traditional wear (which unfortunately I'm sure is only worn for tourist reasons). They conversed with us to practice their English and of course tried to sell us various crafts. We made good friends with one girl named Soa who we kept running into in town as well. She is 17 and speaks excellent English considering she only learned it from tourists.

The next day we ran into Soa again and she took us on another hike that was more scenic without as many villages. We had a great time visiting with her and she would show us various things along the way. For example the indigo plants that grew everywhere which they used to die their traditional clothes (see photos). It was a beautiful walk and filled with lots of smiles from exchanging different stories about our very different cultures.

Me and Soa

Beautiful scencery on our second day in Sapa

Once again we took the night train back to Hanoi where we arrived early in the morning. I was fortunate enough to tag along with Reid and Jason because one of their co-workers in Alaska is Vietnamese and her family lives in Hanoi so we got to stay with them. They spoke no English which made things not only difficult but fairly entertaining. We had a Vietnamese phrase book and they had an English one but our accents still made it impossible. So we mainly relied on drawing pictures or hand gestures. Anyway they were more than happy to take me in (Reid and Jason had stayed there while I was still in Laos). They cooked us meals and made sure all of our transportation was taken care of. It was quite a unique experience to be able to stay in a traditional Vietnamese home (amazing coffee included, oh it's so yummy!)

I only had one day in Hanoi before we left for Halong Bay the next day (that entry to come next). I went and ventured on my own since Reid and Jason had seen quite a bit already. I went to the temple of Literature, the oldest form of a university I think in all of Vietnam. After that I just walked around the old quarter for a few hours and then later that evening did the touristy thing and saw the water puppet show. Yes I know first Morgan is staying in tree houses and now she is going to see a puppet show, I swear I'm 24. It is a traditional performing art here in Vietnam, just imagine marionettes without strings performing on a water stage. The live music it went along to was really nice as well.

This was one of the strange things being carried on a motor bike that I was able to take a photo of. See the guy with the huge mirror sandwiched between him and the driver?

Women were selling fruit like this all over Hanoi

After the performance I took a motor bike taxi home sitting side saddle because of my dress and with a bouquet of roses for my host mother (I was quite a site). Then after a delicious home cooked Vietnamese dinner I passed out for my early morning bus ride to Halong Bay.

The Gibbon Experience / Luang Namtha

Remember that childhood dream you used to have when you could live in a tree house and fly from tree to tree? Well I just came about as close to living that dream as I believe is humanly possible. In Huay Xuay (where I left you last) there is an organized trip called the Gibbon Experience where they take you into the jungle where you trek around, zip line around, and stay in tree houses for the night. To say the least it was amazing (thanks Andrew!).

I could go into a day by day account but really it's the pictures that will do the most justice. Over all the experience was really fun, except for the giant spiders the size of my fist that came out at night and the leech infested jungle we had to hike through (I guess it makes for a better story though).

Our tree house for the first night

A typical meal we had delivered to the tree house by zip line. Tea, cabbage, chicken, cucumbers, eggplant, and of course a mound of sticky rice.

Me on one of the many zip lines, I think there were about 15 all together

Our guides hanging out at one of the tree houses

Our tree house for the second night

Our group for the trip: 3 Americans, 1 Australian, 3 Canadians, 1 Englishman, and 2 Laosian guides (all male except for little old me)

After the Gibbon Experience I headed North to Luang Namtha with one of the guys from the group, Leroy while Reid and Jason took off for Vietnam. Our first day there we went on an all day tour with a local guide. We first did a jungle trek (can't get enough of those in SE Asia) with a guide from the nearby village. It was really interesting because he would show us all the edible things in the jungle which we also got to try. After the trek we went to a few villages in the area where we got to see how most Laosians live their day to day lives (80% of Laos' population lives outside of the cities).

Our lunch on the trek surved on banana leaves. We had local cusine which included bamboo, pork laap (Laos dish which I guess is comparable to a meat salad), larva, various greens and of course the token sticky rice.

Our guide and his village

Making lao lao (the local whiskey) in one of the villages. It basically tastes like a very strong sake and you apparently don't need to be of drinking age to bottle it....

Woman at one of the villages harvesting ginger

The next day I spent with my friend Niamh and an Irish couple we met. Niamh is the friend I met on the slow boat and she came up to meet me for another day of traveling. So something I should mention about Niamh. She has been traveling for about 7 months now and spent the last 3 of them on a motorcylce she bought in Vietnam. So for our day in Luang Namtha I hopped on the back of her bike and drove about an hour north to a town called Muang Sing. Muang Sing is known for being a hub to go visit various villages of different Laocian tribes. The drive up was beautiful and fun on a motorcycle (don't worry Mom I wore a helmet). After lunch in Muang Sing we got directions to a Katang village, a tribe known for their headresses and needlework. After another beautiful drive we arrived at the village.

Me and Niamh on her bike

The road out to the village
Arriving at the village

Niamh shrouded in the crafts the villagers were selling us

What we drove up to was a small village of bamboo houses on stilts with the usual live stalk running wild through its dirt walkways. We would say hello to people as we slowly walked through and they returned the greeting with a smile and then a curious stare. Once the villagers caught onto our presence we were offered some food by one of the women (we were told this is a typical gesture for visitors). At this point we were surrounded by half the village (about 30 people) trying to sell the few crafts they had. This was all done in a friendly fashion and not in a pushy way by any means. We observed, even bought a few things, took pictures and laughed with them at our interesting way of communicating (mainly hand gestures because even with a Laos phrasebook it was hard for them to understand us). The exchange was friendly and unreal at the same time. I hate to be cliche but it was like something out of National Geographic. When we left we were chased by a group young boys waving and laughing. It was a very unique experience to anything I've had and was a nice way to end my travels in Laos. Next stop Vietnam....

One of the boys running after our bike as we left