Halong Bay and a 22 Hour Bus Ride

We finished Vietnam with a trip to the famous Halong Bay. We decided to spend the extra money and stay on a boat on the bay in a classic tour. We were not the only foreigners seeing the bay that day; the place was crowded with people from all over the world all being led around by screaming guides and being distributed to different cruise boats. The place was crazy. The bay itself was beautiful once we were out on the water, but it was very crowded and we were not too fond of the scheduled activities we were supposed to partake in as part of our package tour. 3pm-4pm cave tour, 4:30-5:30 kayaking, 7:30-9:30 Karaoke. (The Vietnamese are crazy about Karaoke)

After Halong Bay we hopped on a bus to Lao. we had heard it was a hellish bus-ride, and it was terrible from the very start. We were waiting for the bus at our hotel when a man showed up on a motorcycle and told us to follow him to the bus. He jumped on his bike and we had to chase him through the crowded streets of Hanoi. After waiting there for some time, and following a few more false starts and misdirection, we finally found ourselves on a mini bus heading out of town to our final bus that would be taking us across the border to Lao, a trip that was expected to take 22 hours.  The bus trip was made worse due to the fact that my seat was only half the length of a normal sea and both our seats were next to the overflowing toilet.  Eww.  We eventually made it to Lao safe and sound.

We are both very happy with how relaxed and beautiful Lao is. It is only a line on a map that separates it from Vietnam, but it is an entirely different place.  We are now planning to spend some time exploring the country and have decided that we are never going to do do a 22 hour bus ride ever again.

Moon Festival and Marble Mountain

Well.....we still haven't left Hoi An. We have been having too much fun here.

The other night while me and John were enjoying a romantic sunset on the beach, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by 87 happy Vietnamese college students. First they took a hundred photos of us and then invited us to play "solidarity games" with them. John lost on his turn and had to be"punished" by going into the middle of the group and he had to do a type of hip shaking dance. I was killing myself laughing as you will see in the pictures. Me and John were celebrities of the night, everyone was so excited that we were playing along. (Including myself, or more like especially myself)

John looks cool. I am not sure what I am doing here.

Before

After

Last night was the full moon celebration in old town. The old section was blocked off from vehicles and scooters and was walking only. It was beautiful.

Today we rented a scooter and rode out to Marble Mountain. We explored these amazing caves that were built by monks and we took some videos.  The atmosphere was truly magical.  The sqeaking bats in the darkness overhead made Megan nervous, but we couldn't resist exploring every nook and cranny.

Hoi An! We like you!

Today we are in Hoi An, a beautiful old town on the Thu Bon River.  Hoi An Old Town is a Unesco world heritage sight.  It is beautiful and rather other-worldly at night, with hundreds of silk lanterns lighting up the narrow walkways and restored buildings.  You feel transported to another age while exploring, despite the hordes of tourists. This town is our dream, we can relax at the beach all day and spend our evenings riding our rented bikes through the old town's narrow, secretive alleyways. Our hotel is nice and at 8 dollars a night it is totally reasonable. We could be here for a while. We also heard of a storm that is in the Philippians right now and might be coming this way, arriving tomorrow or the next day, which might influence our travel plans.


John greeting a wave



John holding fruit

The highlights of our day:

A very sweet and very little banana.

These are lanterns...beautiful

A sample of food at the market in Nha Trang.

Outside the Pagoda

A beautiful Dragonfruit at the market.

This Buddha is bigger than your house.

Living in the rain

We have left the roar of the city and are now in the beach town of Mui Ne on the Vietnam south coast. Mui Ne is known as the 'Sahara' of Vietnam because of it's beautiful red and white sand dunes. There is also 6 km of beach. The weather has been hot and cloudy, with giant rain bursts.

On the white sand dunes. The sun is really strong.

Our scooter. This picture was taken when we were lost in the country side after taking a wrong turn and almost running out of gas. That's why John looks so happy.

The beach looks beautiful but the beaches out of town are littered with syringes, bottles, styrophone, plastic bags, etc. We didn't swim here. Sometimes it is hard to look past the garbage to see the beauty.

Learning how to cross the street

When me and John drove into Ho chi minh Vietnam and saw the traffic the first thing John said was "Holy Shit! Holy Shit! Holy Shit!" Crossing the street is amazing, you just walk into the trafic very slowly and it moves around you. Or you hope it will.

Traffic Ho chi minh Vietnam

Cambodia's South Coast

After visiting Siem Reap we took an overnight bus heading South to Sikouville. We found the town fairly disappointing; it was crowded, dirty and we were hounded mercilessly by touts , so we stayed one night and the next day arranged for a minibus  to Kampot. The mini bus was packed, John counted 16 people squished inside when it was really meant for 10.  We spent a night in Kampot, walking along the river boardwalk, eating green Khmer curry and drinking really cheap beer while watching the sun set over the river. We found a really cool restaurant in Kampot that works with kids that are deaf; they run the restaurant providing  employment  and also help raise awareness and change people's perception about living with a disability through art and dance. I read at the restaurant that 1 in 10 people in Cambodia have some type of disability. Approximatly 3 people a day in Cambodia are injured or killed by a land mine. Still!

On a lighter note, here are some pictures of Sikouville, Kampot and Kep.

  Today we are in the seafood eating town of Kep. For lunch I ordered prawns in pepper. The pepper came from a pepper plantation somewhere close to here.The pepper was cooked fresh: little green berries on a vine mixed into my stirfry.  It was beyond good, I wanted to lick my plate good  (There is also a salt production place close by -ha) The pepper is known as Kampot pepper and is supposibly word famous in the foodie world.  If we end up driving by the plant I will pick up some of this superior pepper to bring home. (Carly) Although it will not be fresh by that point.