Yee Haw, Back in Action!

We can't seem to figure out why we are suddenly able to post to the blog again and have no idea what will happen when we reach Saigon (or even Nepal for that matter).

We escaped being run over by motorbikes quite successfully in Hanoi, although some woman clipped my elbow as she squeezed by on her bike and yelled at me. Go figure.


After being in chilly Hanoi (40 degrees colder than when we were in Laos!), we flew to Hue (which Paul just had to remind me about--it wasn't even that long ago--March 16th--but feels like an eternity ago).

Hue is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was heavily bombed during the "American War" as it is known as here. Hard to believe there were people fighting in the streets there, and it makes me sad to think about it. The Citadel is the main attraction of Hue; this is where the Emperor lived. It is a massive place, and very beautiful, heavily influenced by Chinese art and architecture. I didn't realize that Chinese characters were used in Viet Nam at one point, which explains why there is so much written in Chinese at historical sights.

Hue is way more toned down compared to Hanoi--you can actually cross the streets without risking your life. More bicycles and less motor scooters, which was a nice change.

We rented a private boat (all of $15 for the day) to take a trip down the Perfume River and first visited the Thien Mu Pagoda, famous residence where the monk Thich Quang Duc lived before his self immolation to protest the policies of President Ngo Dinh Diem (if you recall the famous photo of the burning monk who was sitting in the street, completely ablaze). After that the boat dropped us off on the river bank, where we had to negotiate prices with motor scooter drivers to take us where the boat could not--the tombs of previous emperors. The drivers got to wear helmets, and when I enquired where ours were, they just laughed. Great! Seeing as they were the only game in town, we each hopped on the back of one and drove through narrow dirt roads that went by neon green fields of rice paddys (paddies?) before heading onto a paved road. It was so uncomfortably hot that the breeze from the ride felt incredible and I no longer cared about wanting a helmet. We visited the tombs of Emperors Tu Duc and Minh Mang; both were pretty impressive. The latter had 105 wives and concubines, with tombs to hold them all. He had no children, apparently, as he was sterile due to having smallpox.

Viet Nam specializes in custom made silk clothing and we couldn't resist getting some stuff made. I could really go crazy with the enormous variety of fabric out here if I had the room to haul it around. Actually, we purchased a bootleg North Face bag to mule around our purchases. Bootlegged brands are huge out here. Our cheap plastic shower curtain in one of the hotels actually said "Versace--Paris--Italy"--ha! Give me a break.

After Hue we took the bus for 5 hours to Hoi An, a really cute town with a beautiful beach. We finally felt safe enough, street traffic wise, to rent bikes and cycled and easy 5km out to the beach every day. Thanks to JJ and Phil for recommending Hoi An; so far it has been my favorite place in Viet Nam. We felt really comfortable there and there are so many little streets to poke around in and get lost on. Locals seemed to enjoy messing with us on our bikes; that is one thing I will say about the Vietnamese--they are real wise asses. Twice we had people pull up from behind us on motor bikes and blare their horns, startling us. When we turned to look at what the commotion was, they just passed by and laughed. Other than those experiences, it is pretty apparent that they like to mess with each other and be pretty obnoxious, but in a friendly way. Not like I could understand what was said, but just by their body language and voice it seemed kind of obvious.

We took a day trip from Hoi An to the Cham ruins in My Son (pronounced MEE son) which took an hour to reach. The Cham people traded between Viet Nam and India, and through their contacts adopted Hinduism. The ruins were built between the 9th-12th centuries, but unfortunately the Viet Cong used them as a base to hide from American forces, and much of My Son has been destroyed. I wish I could have seen what it looked like in its heyday, and plan on researching it when we get back to the states to see if there are photos of it from before the war.

After Hoi An we took a taxi to Danang where we caught a train to Nha Trang. Not the most comfortable train I have ever taken, and after 9 hours I was pretty much ready for a cushy hotel room. We found one a block from the municipal beach for the whopping sum of $20 a night--and it was a suite--in our first hotel with an elevator (much appreciated when you are on the 5th floor)!! One and a half bathrooms, cable TV, a balcony overlooking the city, fridge, two beds, a make-up table of sorts, several chairs with a smaller table, A/C, and plenty of room to spread out. Nha Trang seemed like spring-break central for college-aged Australians, so we avoided that scene after our first night there. We spent the next day there on the beach and left the next day on a bus that took us to our current local, Mui Ne Beach, which is off the major tourist track. It is a one highway town along the beach and we really scored with a bungalow that is 5 steps from the beach--only $10 a night! Mui Ne is apparently renowned for its Asian kite surfing competitions. Today there must have been at least 30 people at any given time kite surfing, which looks like so much fun that I wish I had the patience to learn it out here. Some French guy I asked said it took him weeks to learn it, and the 10 hour lessons they give you here (which are actually really expensive--if we weren't already shelling out for the Nepal trek, I would do it) are not enough.

The hammock we have been hauling around since Thailand has finally come into good use again, as we strung it up right outside our door. It is easy to be lazy out here. Not much to do (if you don't wind or kite surf) but swim, read, eat and snooze. A constant breeze blows all day and it feels wonderful after the baking hot weather we were just experiencing in Hue and Hoi An.

Just to back track a bit here--ever since that crazy boat ride we took from Thailand into Laos down the Mekong, we have run into several people from the boat, whom we now practically consider family after being squeezed together for so long. It is really fun to run into our boat friends and we always stop and update each other on where we have been. In Hanoi, we ran into these 4 Irish women who were travelling together. Apparently they took some absolutely horrendous bus ride that was supposed to be 24 hours and ended up being 28 hours--the same trip that took us one hour by plane (going from Laos to Viet Nam--see, this is what I meant about the crappy roads in Laos!!). The bus broke down for 4 hours in the middle of the night; no one could communicate with them about what was going on due to language barriers; a man with a crocodile on board the bus was escorted off by police at the border (I am not making this up, and neither were they!), and some man with a broken leg was taken off on a stretcher. They seemed pretty relieved to be off the bus, to say the least, and called it "the bus ride from hell".

One week left in the heat and we are off to a new adventure in Nepal. I am welcoming the cold at this point and will probably eat my words in two weeks when my teeth are chattering.