So, I kind of love Vietnam. It’s beautiful both naturally and architecturally, and the Vietnamese people are really nice (contrary to what I had heard from numerous people). Many other westerners have asked us if we have felt uncomfortable or any sort of hostility as Americans here, and I can honestly say that my experience with the Vietnamese has been really positive (even after we tell them that we are from the USA). We’ve met some great people along the way, and have had some ridiculous escapades. I hope that I can transfer at least a bit of the hilarity through this post.
After leaving Hoi An, we headed down the coast to a beach town called Nha Trang. NT has a long, beautiful beach, and is more built up/Western than I had expected (there’s a Novotel across the street from the beach). There’s also a palm-tree lined highway-type road that runs along the water, and it reminded me of any Florida or SoCal beach town. There are lots of things to do in Nha Trang, and we took advantage of as many of them as possible.
The beach
Just like the Hollywood sign
Morgan and all of her friends in the park
Beautiful beach in the park
We also went on the most surreal booze cruise ever; it was a mix of Asian tourists and backpackers, and the cruise involved a Vietnamese‘boy band’ playing on the boat, karaoke, impromptu entertainment by ladyboys, and a make-shift float up bar which required us all to jump off the boat and float on inner tubes. The day was so random and crazy, and I think I said more than once, “I have no idea what is going on right now!” We met some fun people on the boat though, and had a great time that night meeting up with everyone and crawling from bar to bar.
Our crew out at night
Our last day in Nha Trang, a large group of us went to the town’s mud spa. I’ve never done anything like that before, and it was really fun and different. They also have mineral water showers and a large thermal pool; really cool place to spend the afternoon for $10!!
Mud is fun!
It was time to leave Nha Trang, and Morgan and I headed even further down the coast to another beach town called Mui Ne. Mui Ne is the windsurfing/kitesurfing capital of Vietnam, but it’s a little off season now for those sports, so the town was kind of dead (again, except for tons of Russian tourists…many of the signs and menus here are written in Russian). There’s a long coastline, and the town is really spread out, magnifying the fact that it was kind of deserted. It’s kind of a shame because there were dozens of waterfront restaurants and bars that were all but empty; not sure how any of them remain in business. We managed to find a few places with crowds though, and had a fun time exploring Mui Ne’s impressive sand dunes, one of the main reasons people visit here.
Riding, sliding, and boarding down sand dunes!
Morgan
Putting my snowboarding skills to work. I didn't actually look this good; Morgan is just talented with a camera
Chin-chin (cheers) as the Russians say! The only other people in the bar on Sunday night; they kept buying us drinks and telling us that we were beautiful. Eh, why not?
We are currently in Ho Chi Minh City, though it seems that most people still refer to this place as Saigon. We arrived yesterday morning and visited the War Remnants Museum in the afternoon. This place was really, really moving. To see the pictures of all of injuries and casualties of the war, as well as the hundreds of children born with birth defects as a result of Agent Orange..it was definitely an intense place to spend a few hours. We visited the Hoa Lo Prison and the Army Museum in Hanoi, but it was nothing like the Remnants Museum here in HCHC. Really sad stuff. Today, we visited the Cu Chi tunnels, an intricate, underground system where the Vietnamese used to hide during the war http://www.mishalov.com/Vietnam_Cu-Chi.html. Again, a really moving sight.
We went down into one of the tunnels and it was so cramped and hot! We had to exit early.
It's been an incredible 2.5 weeks in Vietnam and I'm sad to leave. I feel like we got a great feel for the place though and really made the most of our time in this beautiful country. It's off to Cambodia tomorrow for more antics and adventure! Stay tuned. Until next time....Sawatdee kah!
