Vietnam

5 June 2008
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam
                At Vietnamese border we had to unload all of our bags and wander into the office.  We stood there with all of our luggage and had to wait for them to call out our names.  This is easier than it sounds when there are around 100 people standing around talking and at the far end of the room you are trying to listen for a 100 lb Vietnamese girl to try and pronounce our name.  It would have been easier if they just let us line up like at the airport.
                The bus arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, what was formerly known as Saigon (even though all the locals still call it Saigon).  As we got off the bus we were harassed by only a couple drivers and they seemed to understand that “no thanks” meant, “no thanks.”  Thankfully our hostel was just around the corner and after walking by the little alley it was down, we eventually found it.  The room had two separate single beds and they didn’t have any rooms with a double.
                We headed out to get a bite to eat and found a pizza joint.  The pizza was descent.  Next we decided to take a walk around the block.  We found a little market and went through it.  When we came out we must have taken a wrong turn because we spent the next 2 hours or so walking around completely lost.  Finally we decided to buy a map and see how far off the chart we were.  We located where we needed to be and then asked the store clerk where we were.  She pointed two blocks away.  We weren’t as lost as we thought.
                Our room had free Wi-Fi so we rested and did some internet stuff before calling it a night.

6 June 2008
HCMC (Saigon), Vietnam
                Our bus to take us to the Cu Chi tunnels was about 45 minutes later.  Our first stop on the way to the tunnels was at a handicapped craft shop.  They brought us through the work spaces and we saw a number of people all creating different polished wood products.  Then they brought us to the show room where we could conveniently purchase them.  The prices looked a bit high, so we bought just one small piece.
                Next we were brought to the tunnels.  They started by bringing us into a room that was dug a couple yards deep in the ground.  We sat down and they started a film that we quickly recognized as a propaganda film.  It went something like this:  “One day the Vietnamese were farming, then the Americans came and bombed them for a decade or so.  But thanks to a 13 year old girl, the valiant farmers were able to repel the Americans.”  We both nearly walked out, unfortunately it was like driving by a car wreck, you can’t help but keep watching.  Thankfully the people we had met (and would continue to meet from Vietnam) weren’t nearly so brainwashed.
                Next they brought us by a small tunnel entrance that people were getting into for photos.  We were both a little fired up still so we passed on that photo op.  They took us by some common booby traps and a “captured” tank.  As we continued on we neared a shooting range they had put in.  People could purchase ammunition and shoot a M-60, M-16 or AK-47 (there might have been others too…we didn’t shoot).  If they hit the target a certain number of times they would win a prize (a Vietnamese officer’s cap and other similar items).
                Next they brought us by a rice paper and rice wine booth.  Then we finally got to crawl through a tunnel.  The guide said the tunnel had exits at 30 meters, 50 meters, 100 meters and 150 meters.  Inside the tunnel was quite cramped and hot.  At the first exit Anna got out, feeling a bit claustrophobic.  At the second exit everybody else got out.  Doug continued and the tunnel only got smaller and deeper.  At points he had to get on his stomach and crawl in order to keep going forward.  Despite the fact they installed some lighting, there were large sections with no light at all, it was pitch black.  Eventually Doug ran out of tunnel and was able to get out.  He came out covered in dirt and sweat.  It is pretty hard to imagine not only living but fighting in such conditions.
                We had a rest period after the tunnel and we ended up sitting with a guy from Vietnam who had moved to Australia.  When he asked where we were from and we said, “America” he laughed and said, “That is the past.”  It was a nice thing to say especially since we had felt on the defensive since we had arrived at the tunnels.
                Back in town we stopped for a bite to eat.  The restaurant had three floors and we went to the top.  From up there we had a nice view of the streets below.  We ordered some pizza and potato jackets (potatoes covered in cheese and bacon).  Then we walked around a bit and did some window shopping.
                After a rest in the room we went out for a drink and after shopping around for a while until we found a beer house.  They only had two micro-brews, a light and a dark.  We both tried the “light” and found it quite good.  Although when our check came we found that we were charged for two wet wipes they brought us (odd).  Then it was back to the room for the night.

7 June 2008
HCMC (Saigon), Vietnam
                The day began without an alarm for the first time in a week.  We went for breakfast at a café around the corner.  Doug had a surprisingly good hot chocolate, Anna had her coffee, and we shared a piece of cheesecake (mmm…cheesecake for breakfast).  After breakfast we walked towards the Reunification Palace.  It was only about a 20 minute walk away. 
                The entry fee to the palace was only about 16,000 dong, or $1US.  It was defiantly interesting to see.  This was an important place for the Vietnamese during the war.  Here is where a lot of the war planning was done. 
                After visiting the palace we wandered around and found the Notre Dame Cathedral.  It wasn’t open for this portion of the day, so we just walked around it.  The famous Post Office was across the street.  We walked in on what was probably the fanciest post office we have ever seen.  Then we began walking back to the room.  It was a very hot and humid day.  The both of us were tired and sweaty. 
                Walking towards our guesthouse it began to rain.  We took cover underneath a shop awning.  Once the rain lightened up a bit we began walking back.  Soon the rain began to drop harder and harder.  We took cover in a nearby bar/restaurant for about an hour.  When it finally lightened up enough to walk back, we left.  At the room we relaxed and rested for a couple hours. 
                It was early evening.  We decided at the last minute to mail a few items home.  The post office was supposedly still open.  So we began walking and reached it around 6:00pm.  It was still open this late even on a Saturday night.  After mailing the stuff we decided to go to a sushi restaurant we had walked past earlier. 
                Sushi was pretty good.  After dinner we headed back to the room for the evening.

8 June 2008
HCMC (Saigon), Vietnam
                The alarm went off at 6:00.  Anna lay there for another 20 minutes, while Doug gathered his things together.  At 6:45 we were out the door to where we needed to catch the bus to Dalat.  Once we reached the bus stop, Anna unloaded her bags, and headed out to get coffee/hot chocolate.  She went back to the place we had been to the day before.  Anna ordered an iced coffee for herself, a hot chocolate for Doug, and got some goodies for breakfast/snacks.  Arriving back at the bus stop the bus had arrived. 
                We all loaded onto the bus, and were off.  There was a French girl (Natalie) sitting kitty-corner to us.  The three of us began chatting.  She had been in Cambodia volunteering for a month, and then was going to travel for another 3 months throughout SE-Asia.  The bus stopped 2 hours later for a bathroom break.  Then we were back on the road.
                The bus stopped a couple hours later for a lunch break.  This lunch spot was crazy.  There were at least 5 or 6 buses parked, along with a bunch of mini-vans.  This was certainly the spot all the tourist transportation stopped for a food break.  There were hundreds of people throughout the 3 restaurants.  The three of us settled on a place selling rice.  Doug and Anna shared a Cantonese rice dish, Natalie ordered the same.  45 minutes later we were on the bus. 
                The bus arrived in Dalat around 3:00pm.  It was only supposed to be a 6 hour bus ride, but it turned out to be 8 hours with the stop overs.  There was a hotel that looked nice from the book.  We decided to check it out, The Dream Hotel.  It was about a 15 minute walk from where the bus dropped us off.
                Arriving at the hotel we checked in.  The rooms were too steep for Natalie.  But the woman said her brother ran a hotel a half mile down the road, which was a bit cheaper.  And her brother would come to pick her up.  We settled in our room and Natalie was picked up.  The three of us agreed to meet an hour later to get some dinner.
                Our room was fabulous.  There was a fancy shower head, with 3 shower heads (normal, hand sprayer and 6 jets that shot water straight out), a view of the city, and two large beds to play with.  We were in the nicest place since the Holiday Inn, in Santiago.  There was even a Jacuzzi and sauna at our disposal on the top floor.
                Natalie arrived around 5:30 and we headed out to a place the woman at the hotel recommended called the Art Café.  We all ordered our meals.  This place seemed really fancy.  It had table cloths, music, dimmed lighting.  There was only one other table in use while we were there.  After dinner we walked Natalie back to her hotel, and then headed back to our room for the night.

9 June 2008
Dalat, Vietnam
                The alarm went off at 7:00.  We needed to time gather ourselves together and have breakfast before the shuttle was to pick us up for the tour.  Breakfast was pretty standard.  It included a small baguette, butter, jam, vegetables (tomato, avocado), fruits (pineapple, watermelon), passion fruit juice (which Anna loved), eggs (cooked how you liked), and coffee or tea. 
                The mini-van picked us up around 8:30 and we all headed north.  There were 5 of us for the tour, a couple from Singapore, Natalie, and the two of us.  The guide seemed to know what he was talking about.  The first stop was at the side of the road to see the countryside.  Dalat is where a lot of the organic vegetables are grown and shipped to Europe.  Next we stopped at some flower green houses.  This is something we had all see before.  Then we went to a coffee plantation and saw some red chili pepper plants along with the coffee trees.  Here the guide also introduced us to the silk worms.  The worms sit in a woven bowl for a couple weeks before they cocoon.  Once they cocoon, they allow the cocoon to grow and then extract the silk from the cocoon.  The guide also told us they save the dead worm to be sautéed and served as an appetizer.
                We then went to the silk worm factory to see how the silk is extracted from the cocoon.  It was quite interesting to see the people extract the silk and weave it into thread.  There was also a couple women weaving the silk thread into material with a “weaver thread machine” (as Doug calls it). 
                Next we were taken to the elephant waterfall.  There was a short hike down the hill to view the waterfall.  The next stop was the chicken village.  Here Anna gave in and purchased an 80% silk bed spread or table cloth.  We stopped at a second waterfall which was much “touristier,” there were people everywhere.  It was now time to eat.  The guide had the driver take us back into Dalat to a local overpriced Vietnamese restaurant.  The food wasn’t that good and cost much more than it should have.  Anna came to the conclusion the guide took us here because he would get a free meal out of it (lunch wasn’t included in the tour).  The last stop of the tour was the crazy house.  This is an Alice in Wonderland type place where you can stay overnight.  The rooms all have different themes.  The themes included the eagle room, the kangaroo room, the ant room, and many others.  We asked the guide have us dropped off at the botanical garden on the way back.
                The botanical garden ended up being some well manicured plants.  We walked around for 30 minutes and then headed back to the room.  We decided to check out the Jacuzzi.  It was 6:30pm, and it closes at 7:00.  So we hopped upstairs for a quick dip in the Jacuzzi before dinner.
                There was a restaurant in the book whose owner is friends with the woman who owns the crazy house.  The restaurant is called 100 roofs.  It took us a little while to find it.  It was interesting to walk around inside and see the architecture of the place.  We had a little bite to eat.  On the way back to the room we decided to get a shake somewhere and then back to the room for the night.

10 June 2008
Dalat, Vietnam
                We got up around 7:30, and headed down for breakfast.  Anna told Natalie to be at the hotel no later than 9:00am to leave for a nearby village for a hike.  Natalie showed up around 8:40am, and then we went out to catch the local bus.  The woman at the hotel told us not to bother with a tour guide for this trip, we could do this much cheaper and just as easy by ourselves.  The bus arrived about 20 minutes later.  At the last bus stop we all got off the bus.
                The three of us paid the entrance fee and began walking.  After walking up a paved road for about 45 minutes we came to a sign and a dirt trail going off of the road.  We decided to take the trail, and go up the tallest mountain in the area, about 2169meters.  Another 30 minutes went by before we came to three forks in the trail.  We decided to take the middle way.  After another 45 minutes of walking we thought we would turn back.  We seemed to be skirting around the peak, and not finding the top anytime soon.   Not to mention the trail we were on was not very well marked, nor cleared.  We felt like we were bush walking in Vietnam at this point. 
                After taking an alternate route back we found what we thought looked like the real trail.  After another 30 minutes of going almost straight up we reached the peak.  Thank goodness we found the right trail.  It would have been a bummer to go back without having found the right trail.  The three of us admired the valley for a while then headed back.
                We reached the bottom about an hour and a half later.   Our legs were now tired.  We all bought a cold soda, and went inside the next bus schedule to leave and waited.   The bus left 10 minutes later and we were back at the hotel within 20 minutes.
                At the room Doug decided to stay and rest while Anna and Natalie borrowed bikes to explore the city.  Natalie wanted to visit the palace in the city.  We got the bikes and headed to the palace.  It wasn’t as exciting as we thought it would be.  We stayed about 20 minutes then headed to the city market.  Anna really liked the woman running the place she was staying at.  And since she was so helpful with the tours and everything she wanted to get her a little gift.  Anna ended up getting a bouquet of 10 roses at the market for a total of $20,000dong, or $1.20US.  This was a steal.  Natalie and Anna hung out a little while longer before heading back to the room to meet with Doug.
                After the long day the 3 of us decided to take advantage of the Jacuzzi again.  The three of us went in the Jacuzzi for a little while.  Natalie wanted to go into the sauna so Anna joined her.  We hung out here for another 10 minutes, then back to the room to shower, and get dinner. 

11 June 2008
Dalat/Nha Trang, Vietnam
                The alarm went off at 6:00.  We packed our things together, and went down for breakfast.  The shuttle for the bus was to pick us up around 7:30.  After breakfast we waited and waited.  The shuttle finally arrived at 8:00.  The bus was waiting for us, as we were the last passenger to arrive.  Natalie had already arrived, and was on the bus.
                The bus stopped twice before arriving in Nha Trang.  We had an idea where to stay but nothing was reserved.  Anna was given a card of a hotel in Dalat, so we decided to check this one out first.  The room was nice, but it was $25 a night.  Anna was skeptical about this one.  Natalie was going to share a room with us because she was only going to stay one night, and this would be cheaper for all of us.  We left, and checked out a recommendation from the book.  The Mai Huy hotel was our choice.  It was $14US for the room.  The room had two big beds, A/C, TV, and a balcony.  This was a good choice.   The three of us unloaded our things, and went out to see the city.
                Natalie needed to find a bank, and Doug wanted to check out Rainbow divers to possibly do the National Geographic course.  Rainbow divers, was a block away, so we went here first.  After Doug got the information he needed for the course we headed out to find a bank.  We soon found a bank, and Natalie did her business.  We wandered around for a little while longer, and then headed for the beach for a short while.
                After hanging out at the beach for a short while, we headed back to the room for a shower due to strong blowing wind and sand.  Natalie had a friend of a friend who was Vietnamese.  He was going to meet up for dinner with us.  He showed up with his scooter thinking it was Natalie, and one friend.  When he saw it was 2 friends, he suggested we go to a restaurant around the corner.  It was a seafood restaurant.  We all ordered our meals, and began chatting with Natalie’s friend about the Vietnamese culture.  He was able to answer some questions we had.
                Once dinner was over we all headed to the beach for a night walk.  The 4 of us walked for a while before settling on a brewery for a drink.  Anna and Doug left shortly after due to the mosquito bites they were getting and settled in for the night.

12 June 2008
Nha Trang, Vietnam
                Anna and Doug woke up around 7:00 to see Natalie already up and showered.  She was going with her friend to see the countryside.  We got ourselves up as well for the day.  We said goodbye to Natalie, and made plans to meet up later that afternoon.
                First we needed to make a couple phone calls.  Next Doug wanted to go back to Rainbow Divers and schedule his class for the next day.  Anna decided she would go snorkeling while he did his class.  Once the errands were done we got the camera and headed out to see a couple of sights.  There was the pagoda with a leaning Buddha.  This was first.
                The pagoda was about a 30 minute walk away.  It was quite beautiful.  When we arrived it appeared the monks were having a ceremony of some kind.  No one around spoke enough English for us to ask what was going on, but people were motioning us to go inside and watch as well as take photos.  We hung out inside for a short while, then walked around looking at the different things. There was a big white leaning Buddha, and up a bunch of stairs in another even bigger white Buddha sitting Indian style.  We hung out here for a short while longer then left.
                The Cham towers was another sight to see in the city, so we headed towards them.  It took us a while to find the towers but we managed to find them. This was also a good way to see the non-touristy parts of the city.  After the towers we were hungry.  We walked back towards the city and to the market.  Doug found a little café and ordered some rice.  The market was not as exciting as most other markets, so we only hung here for a short while before heading back to the room.
                We reached the room around 3:00pm; it had been a long hot day.  Natalie soon showed up, and the three of us went to the beach to relax for a bit.  Around 5:00 Natalie headed back to the room to shower, and we soon followed.  She was going to meet a couple other friends for dinner, so we decided to join her.
                The three of us got showered and went down to a café right next to where Natalie was going to catch her bus.  The two guys soon showed up.  They were from the states.  We hadn’t met many travelers from the states, so it was nice to exchange stories.  The 5 of us chatted for a while.  Natalie had to leave at 7:15 to catch her bus.  The four of us hung out for another 20 minutes or so chatting about different things.  We didn’t find anything too appetizing on the menu so we decided to take a recommendation from these guys, and try a Mexican restaurant a couple blocks away.  The 4 of us said our goodbyes and we walked to the El Coyote.
                We shared an order of the chicken fajitas.  They were not too back, except we had to ask for sour cream, and it was extra.  Also it didn’t come with cheese, even though we asked for it when we asked for the sour cream, it never came.  The girl most likely didn’t understand what we were asking for.  After dinner it was back to the room for the night.

13 June 2008
Nha Trang, Vietnam
                After getting dressed and checking out of the room we went to Rainbow Divers down the street.  Doug had signed up for the National Geographic Specialty dive course.  The course teaches divers to be more of an underwater explorer more than a tourist. 
                On the boat we met the dive crew.  Doug was teamed up with a guy from Holland for the course.  They discussed the course and the two dives.  The first dive was going focus on navigation and also buoyancy control.  At the dive site Anna hopped in the water and checked out the nearby reef.  Doug went down for his dive and did a triangle navigation exercise and then did some buoyancy control exercises (hovering, hovering head down, hovering head up).  As for the dive site the reef was nice, but the fish weren’t as abundant as in Thailand or Honduras.  The snorkeling was decent enough.  There wasn’t too many fish/wildlife, but there was some nice coral.
                For the next dive Doug had to do a project of some sort.  The purpose of the project was to get the student diver to think of exploring rather than looking.  During the planning process Doug asked to look at some of the other students to get an idea of what was available.  Nearly all of the examples that were shown were fish identification dives.  They wrote on a piece of paper what fish they saw and drew little examples of them.  Doug did a fish ID dive in Thailand for the advanced course so this seemed pointless.  The guy then suggested doing a coral reef health check instead.  Doug was given a chart with different colors on it and during the dive he would go to different parts of the reef and compare the chart to the darkest and lightest color of the sample.  Record the findings and then upload the results to a reef watch website.  During the dive Doug took around 28 different recordings.  Unfortunately as far as fish go, there were even less to look at than the previous site and Anna hardly saw any at all.  Once we returned to the main land Doug uploaded the findings. 
                After diving we had a bite to eat and then got changed back at the hotel.  We wandered around for a bit and decided to get a foot massage.  We were taken up to a room upstairs.  They brought in bowl of hot water with flower petals for each of our feet.  They washed our feet and legs and then proceeded with the massage.  After the massage they washed our feet again (to get off all the massage oil).  We left feeling pretty good.
                After walking around for a bit we grabbed our bags and went to a restaurant across the street from the bus stop.  We traded out some books and had some happy hour beers before getting on our night bus.
                The bus was much different than any we had been on before.  The bus was three rows of bunk beds.  Our legs were straight out and the bed reclined to about 30 degrees from being completely flat.  Unfortunately the bus was designed for short people and Doug could sit down with his legs straight.  The bus wasn’t as comfortable as it looked, but it was much better than being on a normal bus for an overnight bus ride.

14 June 2008
Hoi An, Vietnam
                The bus arrived around 6 am in Hoi An.  We were greeted by two motor bikes ready to take us to the hotel we had booked.  The driver took our big bag and put it in between him and the handle bars and we rode on the back.  They went down the block took a left, went another half block and pulled into the hotel.  If we had known the hotel was one block away we would have just walked.
                The staff checked us right into a temporary room because our “real” room wasn’t ready yet.  We took showers and changed before heading out.  Our hotel was a little less than a mile from the center of town.  Along the way we passed by a bunch of tailors.  We decided to stop in at one the hotel recommended (it was one owned by the hotel).  We went through some magazines and both picked out suits to be made.  We picked out the material and had our measurements.  We both picked nice wool and silk linings for the suit and some good cotton for the shirts.
                We wandered into town to look at cooking classes for Anna and to find the Hoi An branch of Rainbow Divers for Doug.  After poking our heads into a few different places for the cooking class we hadn’t decided on one yet.  We did discover though that the dive shop was way outside of town.  Back at the tailor shop we did our first fitting for the suits and shirts.  After marking us up they said to swing on back the next day.
                Back at the hotel we switched to our real room and then borrowed bikes from the front desk.  Then we pedaled a couple miles on down to the beach where Rainbow Divers was located.  At the resort where they were located, the security guards told us they located around the corner and they were closed.  As we left we saw they were in fact not closed.  Doug booked a dive and then we hopped back on the bikes and made it back to the room before sunset.
                For dinner we set off to a small place a couple blocks away.  Anna’s noodles were alright and Doug’s beer battered prawns sounded excellent, but proved to be more trouble than they were worth when they arrived with legs and the head still attached.

15 June 2008
Hoi An, Vietnam
                Our tour to My Son started with us being picked up in the lobby of our hotel.  We loaded up on a bus with a bunch of others.  We arrived nearly an hour later at the ruins and purchased our tickets.  Our guide gave a run down on the ruins.  These ruins were some of the oldest in the South East Asia.  They originally had up to 70 buildings making up the ruins.  However due to things like earthquakes and B-52’s, the number now is down to around 20 structures.  The ruins were purposely built in a valley with dense vegetation in order to keep it secluded.  This meant during the war many VC hid in this same area, so it became a favorite target for bombers.
                When we finally got to the ruins we were a bit disappointed.  After seeing places like Palenque, Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat, these sort of paled in comparison.  What was impressive was the forest around the ruins. While walking we were able to get ahead of the group and just listen to the trees and birds.  The forest here is beautiful and serene. 
                On the way back we transferred to a boat.  The boat stopped at a wood carving village where they showed us where a family created everything from small animals to entire bedroom sets.  Shortly after, the boat brought us across the river and back into town.
                Anna wanted to pick out a place for a cooking class.  The place we initially had picked out didn’t have enough on the menu.  We decided to go down the street and pick another location.  We settled into another place that had a good cooking class menu.  We decided to try their steamed spring rolls as a test.  When they came out cooked to perfection Anna decided to book the class.
                Back at the tailors we got fitted again.  Anna’s suit was coming along very well but Doug’s had a strange wave in the material on his right shoulder. 
                Back at the hotel we decided to get some room service because it wasn’t too expensive and we weren’t terribly hungry.  We ordered up some spring rolls and French fries.  The spring rolls were nearly inedible and the French fries came with a bucket of grease (which helped put us right to sleep).

16 June 2008
Hoi An, Vietnam
                Doug had a dive booked first thing in the morning so he kissed Anna goodbye and headed off.  Doug was brought to the dive company and then brought out to the boat.  There were only two other divers they booked us a medium sized speed boat.  We were out at the dive site about 30 minutes later.  The reef had some excellent hard coral but very few fish.  Unfortunately Doug’s regulator was malfunctioning.  On four occasions instead of getting a mouth full of air he got a mouth full of water instead.  Back on the boat he had them switch out the regulator and the next dive went much better.  On the second dive Doug did get to see a lion fish which was a first (besides in an aquarium).
                Back on the boat after the dive they couldn’t start the boat.  The boat was really pitching and rolling.   After an hour they finally had another boat show up and we moved ourselves and all the gear over to it and headed back to shore.
                While Doug went diving Anna decided to borrow a bike, and go for a ride down to the beach.  It was a pleasant morning, and the weather wasn’t too hot yet.  She road to the beach and back.  On the way back to the hotel, she found a place to call her brothers.  After checking the price at 3 places, she settled on the third price of $3000 dong a minute.  The first place quoted 8000, and the second quoted 6000.  The saw she was a foreigner and raised the price.  After the calls back it was back at the room for an hour, then off to the cooking class.
                Doug met Anna at the restaurant during her cooking class.  Anna learned how to make shrimp spring rolls, chicken pho (soup), sweet and sour chicken, and shrimp cake (shrimp in a wanton thingy).  All of them turned out excellent.
                Our next stop was a cobbler where Anna had some flip flops made up.  They turned out pretty good for $10USD.  Next we went back to the tailors and Anna’s suit was finished but Doug’s suit still had a wave in the fabric.  They said to come back in an hour.  An hour later the problem was still not resolved and they said to sit and wait while they tried to fix it again.  About 30 minutes later they brought the jacket back and it was more or less fixed.  Doug wasn’t 100% pleased but if they couldn’t fix it the first 4 times, it wasn’t going to get any better.  Thankfully they threw in a free silk tie which sort of smoothed things over.
                We went back to the room for a bit and then went to dinner.  We found a place that served up an excellent bacon cheese burger (hard to find in SE Asia).  While we were waiting for the food our new American friends wandered by and we chatted with them a bit before they headed off.  Soon after, we were back at the room for the night.

17 June 2008
Hoi An/Hue, Vietnam
                Our front desk arranged for our bus to pick us up (despite the bus company telling us that they wouldn’t).  The bus pulled out of its garage right next to our hotel and loaded us up (first ones on!).  We stopped and picked up a few others but the bus was only half full.  Then we began our 4 hour trip up to Hue.
                We were so pleased with our hotel in Hoi An we decided to book their hotel in Hue.  We were greeted at the bus stop with a new Toyota SUV.  They loaded up our bags and brought us to the hotel.  The room was quite nice.
                We wandered into town and saw the Citadel, an ancient walled city.  It was quite impressive.  There were numerous temples and gardens.    Next we visited a locals market and Anna was able to find some specific brands of toiletries.  Then we came across a grocery store and Doug headed in to get some drinks and snacks.  Oddly enough the locals here were amazed to westerner in the grocery store.  People would sneak peeks into the hand basket to see what western people eat and drank.  Many others also stopped Doug and would start up small talk.  While in the checkout line a German lady got behind him.  Doug asked her if she noticed everybody looking in her basket.  She said she did not notice.  Just then three girls were looking in the German ladies basket.  Doug pointed at his eyes and pointed at her basket and the girls started a giggle, embarrassed.
                After a rest in the room we headed to a French restaurant and had a slightly expensive, but quite good dinner.  The highlight was Doug’s chicken with chili and citronella (which apparently isn’t just a type of candle).

18 June 2008
Hue, Vietnam
                The day began later than usual.  We were going to explore the city a little more today and get our night bus tickets arranged for the following evening up to Hanoi.
                Anna had a little breakfast at the free buffet provided by the hotel.  Doug didn’t seem interested in anything they had to offer.  Then we got our open bus tickets and walked over to the office.  Once again the man said they would not pick us up from our hotel.  We are very confused by what they told us when we purchased the tickets, and it says it right on our tickets, “we will pick you up from your hotel in every destination except Saigon.”  But everyone keeps telling us they won’t pick us up.  This was becoming very frustrating.  Thank goodness the bus ride up to Hanoi would be the last time we would be using this bus company.
                After sorting out the tickets for the following evening, we booked a tour with a tour company cheaper than the one at the hotel.  The place we found to take the Perfume boat tour was only $3US.  And the same tour through our hotel was $6US.  Next we just wandered the city.  We found after walking around for 2 hours there wasn’t too much else to see.  So we wandered back to the hotel.  After about an hour in the room, the power goes off.  We left the room to go wander around some more.  Doug found a woman standing outside from a hair cutting place, so he asked how much it would be for a cut.  Her first bid was 70,000.  He looked at Anna, and Anna said, “No, too much.”  (Anna had Panama City in her head, this was Doug’s best hair cut since the states, and it only cost $1.50US.)  She then began to go down to 60,000, then 50,000.  Anna said, “how about 40,000.”  (Doug didn’t want to go any lower, you don’t want to upset somebody that is about to cut your hair)  The woman nodded, and we went into her shop. After the hair cut we went back to the room, hoping the power was back on.
                Unfortunately the power was still off.  The both of us read for a while until it was too dark in the room to read.  So we went downstairs to get some light and check email.  At the computers we met an Australian who had just begun a 6 week journey.  The three of us got to talking.  About 5 minutes later the power went off, and then turned back on again.  The other guy had just written a long email to his parents, and he just lost it with the power outage.  We all decided it was time for dinner. 
                There was a restaurant around the corner the book recommended called “Little Italy”.  The pizza was supposed to be pretty good.  We decided to share 2 large pizzas between the three of us.  (The large pizzas in every other country except the States is about medium size)  Each of us ordered a beer, and we began chatting.  Soon the beers arrived; the pizza was soon to follow.  We hung out at the restaurant for a couple hours then headed back to the hotel for the night.

19 June 2008
Hue, Vietnam
                The both of us were awake before the alarm went off at 7:00am.  We gathered ourselves, our things together and went downstairs to check out.  The tour people were supposed to pick us up from the hotel at 8:00am for the Perfume boat tour.  And the bus to Hanoi was to leave around 5:30pm.  So we needed to have our bags packed to check out of the hotel and leave our bags downstairs for the day.
                Anna had some juice from the buffet breakfast.  Doug just looked at the food as he walked by, and then sat down at a nearby table.  The tour people were prompt, and picked us up a little after 8.  Doug put on a helmet, got on a motorbike.  Anna did the same with the second motorbike.  The bikes took us about 3 blocks down to the river, and dropped us off.  We got into the boat with the others.  Once the boat was full we left for the trip.
                On this tour the boat was going to take us to several tombs (of different emperors), and a couple pagodas.  The tour was also supposed to include lunch.  So when we saw the girl walking around with a menu with prices on it we were a little confused.  When the girl came to us we asked her, “Doesn’t the tour come with lunch?  We were told the tour included lunch.”  She went over to a guy outside the boat.  The guy wrote something on a piece of paper and she brought it back to me to read.  The note said there was a “small” lunch included with the tour, but anything additional would cost.  We were a little irritated by this gesture, and declined any additional food.
                The first place the boat stopped at was a pagoda, which didn’t cost anything.  The next place was one of the tombs.  To visit this tomb, people had to take motorbikes from where the boat dropped us off to the tomb.  This was also an additional cost.  Before reaching the stop the girl came around asking if we wanted to pay the extra fee for the motorbike.  There were two tombs we would need to take a bike to.  It would cost us 50,000 Dong for the two bike rides.  When we bought the tickets from the tour agency the woman told us it would be $5US extra each for the bike rides.  Now this girl is telling us it would only be roughly $3.2US for the two bike rides.  (This pricing was getting ridiculous).  So we opted for the bike rides.   By buying the motorbike tickets on the boat instead of in the tour office we saved a total of $3+. 
                The day was long but went by pretty quickly.  The last tomb was the best and then we headed back to town around 2:00pm, arriving around 3:30pm.  We got off the boat, and walked back to the hotel to gather our bags.
                Then we walked to where the bus was going to pick us up, dropping off our bags.  It was also time to eat.  The “Free” lunch on the tour boat ended up being; stir fried sprouts, and rice with soy sauce (surprisingly good but a little sparse).  We found a café around the corner from the bus station with free Wi-Fi.  Anna got some noodles, and Doug ordered some rice.  About an hour later we paid the bill and headed to catch the bus.
                Getting on the bus we met an Australian, named Matt.  He was sitting/laying behind Anna’s bed. (This was a sleeper bus)  We began chatting about different things before settling into our seats for a while.  The bus stopped a couple hours later for a 40 minute dinner break.  We all got out, and went inside the restaurant the bus had stopped at.  There was also a German couple who had been on the last sleeper bus we had been on from Nha Trang to Hoi An.  The five of us sat down and had a beer.  They all got some food.  We had already eaten.  It is always nice to meet new people, and chat about different things.
                Everyone loaded back onto the bus about 40 minutes later, and we were off.  Thankfully the next hour or so, Matt kept us entertained by creating an Angkor Wat disco ball to decorate his bus seat. 

20 June 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam
                Our bus arrived early in the morning.  Immediately we were harassed by what felt like dozens of taxi drivers/hotel representatives.  Their approach is so overwhelming we just push by them and ignore them.  We stopped with the Germans and Matt at a café around the corner from the bus stop.  After some time spent drinking coffee and looking at the map we plotted the way to our hotel.  We had a reservation booked on the other side of town.  We said our farewells and caught a taxi to the other side of town for a couple bucks. 
                When we got to the front desk there was a big sign on the desk that said, “$1USD to 18,500 Dong.”  The going rate is right around 1USD to 16,500 Dong.  We said that the exchange rate was too high and we asked why it was that way.  Her response was, “Because that what it is on the black market.”  That was her quote, word for word.  We were shocked.  We told her we would pay 16,500 per dollar, nothing more.  She refused and we walked out.
                We stopped at one other hotel and they said did their exchange at $1USD to 19,000 Dong, we laughed and walked away from them as well.  Finally we got to another hotel that ultimately cost more than our first hotel choice, but they said they did their exchange at 1 to 16,500.  That was enough for us.  We took the room on principle.  The hotel said they offered Laos Visa support and that they didn’t charge a commission.  They said however that the Visas wouldn’t be available until Monday (today is Friday).  We decided we would take care of it ourselves.
                After walking to the address of the Laos embassy we got from our guide book, the security guard told us they didn’t process Visa there.  Thankfully the place that did was a couple blocks away.  We arrived around 10am and the gentlemen working the desk told us we could pick up our passports at 3pm.  And for $2 less than the guy quoted us at the hotel, not to mention getting the visa today rather than Monday.
                Back at the hotel we took well deserved showers and relaxed for a bit.  Then we took a scenic route back to the Laos Visa office.  When we arrived at 2:30 the Visas were ready.  On our way around one of the lakes we came across the Hanoi Hilton (the actual one, not the famous American POW camp…that is tomorrow).  Then while walking next to the lake we stumbled across our German friends.  They invited us to join them and Matt at 7:30 for dinner. 
                As we left we decided to check out the hotel the Germans and Matt were in and possibly change.  We found their hotel and checked out a couple rooms.  The place looked ok, but the jury was still out. 
                While we were in the hotel Matt ran into us.  We decided to go get a beer.  Our first stop was a little café with beer at 15,000 Dong per pint ($0.90USD).  After a couple beers we found a place on the corner that sold pints of beer for 3,000 Dong ($0.18USD)…yes, you read that correctly, less than 20 cents for a beer.  The drawback was it tasted like 20 cent beer.  But at this point we were on to quantity, not quality.  While we were relaxing a huge rain storm came and soaked the town. 
                At 7:30 Doug ran to the hotel to grab the Germans.  Back at the 20 cent beer place we met an American that was living in Vietnam (and who spoke Vietnamese).  He said he knew a couple good restaurants and we all headed to an Italian place for dinner.  The food was alright, but at least it was expensive (sorry, Doug joke). 
                Then it was back to the room for the night.

21 June 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam
                It is Doug’s birthday tomorrow so we were thinking of possibly upgrading the room we were in.  We spent about an hour looking at reviews on online until we found a place that sounded pretty nice, but not too expensive.  Doug went to go see the place in person (it was only a few blocks away).  The room was nicer, better floors, better sheets and comforter, better shower, and the bathroom wall didn’t have a “decorative hole” to the outside world.  On the way out Doug asked what they used as the Dollar to Dong exchange rate and they said 1 to 16.5 (perfect).
                Back at the room we packed up our stuff and went down to check out.  The front desk rang up our bill and asked for dollars.  “We don’t have dollars, only Dong,” we replied.  Then on his calculator he took the bill and multiplied it by 18,000 Dong.  “No, the exchange is 1 to 16.5,” we said.  Then he started on how if he goes to a bank the exchange is 18,000.  We told him that was not the case and we pulled up an exchange website and looked at the most current rate.  For today the exchange was 1 to 16,600.  The guy seemed to realize that was the best he was going to get and agreed.  We left frustrated because they said before we checked in that they would use a normal exchange.
                We settled into our new room and then headed out to see the famous “Hanoi Hilton.”  During the Vietnam War the Hoa Lo prison was used for American POW’s (pilots mostly).  Most notably Senator (and presidential candidate) John McCain spent a few years here.  We found the prison but there didn’t seem to be a way inside.  There was no sign about it being closed either for lunch or for good.  How odd, John McCain couldn’t get out of this prison and we can’t get in!  Finally a western couple walked by and said the prison was closed for lunch and to come back at 1:30.  We went around the corner had a cold drink and came back.
                The prison was initially used by the French back in the 19th century and it wasn’t until 1964 that it was used for American POW’s.  The grounds of the prison have been reduced dramatically and where about 2/3’s of the prison once was, there now stands a huge hotel (and no, not the Hilton).  We walked through some of the holding areas and they had examples of how they would have held prisoner in the past.  Most were held in a large room that had a long metal apparatus to hold one foot in so they couldn’t even stand (see Hanoi 23 in the pictures).
                The section on the American POW’s was small but interesting.  All the photos that were shown had the Americans decorating Christmas trees, being treated by a doctor, playing guitar.  They didn’t mention the torture practices that the Americans went through (John McCain can’t lift his arms over his shoulders because of his treatment there).
                After a rest back at the room we set out for some highly recommended sushi.  Apparently American sushi and Vietnamese sushi is quite different.  The place that was highly recommended had a strange menu and we decided to check out the new place next door (how convenient).  This next place looked more like what we were used to.  We ordered a roll and a shrimp tempura and tried a salmon thingy off their little “train” that moves food around the bar.  The salmon was quite good and the roll we ordered was good as well.  Our shrimp tempura though was a little different than we imagined.  It came out on two plates.  One plate had raw shrimp (grey and very jelly-like).  The second plate were the heads of the shrimp, with little eye balls and everything.  We each tried the grey jelly looking shrimp and didn’t have another.  Anna went a step further and gutted one of the heads and tried that…and didn’t have another.
                The evening before we agreed to meet the others at what we were now calling “The Beer Corner.”  We found our way over there and quickly found Matt and our Chilean friend, Guerillermo (sorry bro, we know we spelt it wrong).   We had all agreed to go and check out the water puppet show.  We had sprung for the first class seats which were 40,000 dong (about $2.50 USD).  This put us in the third row, dead center.  The water puppets originated in the past during the flood season.  The farmers would put on these shows to entertain the kids (and probably to keep them calm about the fact they now have a river going through their house).  The show started with a demonstration of the local music and then the puppets started.  Some of the script was in Vietnamese but there is very little speaking and most of the story is told through the actions of the puppets.  The puppets are controlled by their handlers from behind a screen but they are also in the water.  The show was really entertaining and quite funny (little kid humor).  Unfortunately Matt was a bit under the weather and had to leave halfway through the show.
                After the show, the rest of us decided to check out the night market.  We spent most of the time walking by the stores just talking.  After completing a full lap up and down the market we said our farewell and headed back for the room.  On the way Anna stopped at a bakery and bought a small cheesecake for Doug’s birthday (in a few hours).  She told the lady behind the counter and once they understood what Anna was saying, they wrote Happy Birthday on the cake with whipped cream.  Back at the room we realized there was no way we were going to eat a whole cake tomorrow, why not start on it now.  So after some birthday cake we turned in.

22 June 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam
                Most of the morning was spent updating the website.  It was Doug’s birthday and relaxing in the room sounded like a good present.  Once it was all updated we headed off to go see if there was anything good to see at the movie theater. 
                On the way we spoke with a couple travel agents about bus tickets to Vientiane (the capital of Laos).  All of them had different prices and different ways of getting there despite all being the same company.  Our guide book warned that this particular border crossing was a royal pain in the you-know-what.  They talked about overcharging, dropping people off at the border with no transportation on the Laos side, or even worse, dropping you off in the middle of nowhere.  The fact that nobody could give us a straight answer (or even an answer that matched somebody else’s) left us distrustful of all of the travel agents.  We considered two options.  The first was to fly to Vientiane.  However, the tickets are about $130 USD each and we are trying to stick to a budget.  Also we like to think of ourselves as travelers and not tourists.  Tourists fly, travelers brave getting kicked off on the side of the road in Vietnam.  We decided to go with our second option, take a train to Vinh (a small city south of Hanoi but where every one of these Laos bound busses drive through), and cross to Laos from there…somehow.
                At the shopping center we found the movie theater and decided to watch the soon to be Oscar nominated “When in Vegas.”  The movie was actually funnier than we thought it would be and it was nice to see a little bit of home for a couple hours.
                On the way back we purchased our train tickets to Vinh and then headed to our hotel.  When we arrived we met up with our friend Natalie.  She had just come back from visiting Ha Long Bay and Sapa (two very beautiful areas of Northern Vietnam).  She had met Vietnamese guy (he was her tour guide in Halong Bay), so we all decided to head out for a drink.  We picked a café up on the fourth floor that overlooked the lake.  The view was quite nice and a 450ml beer was less than a dollar (tough to argue with).  After our drinks we went our separate ways and said goodbye to Natalie.  She had other plans for the evening.   
                Back to the room to finally shower up and then back to the “beer corner.”  We met Matt and Guerillermo and took them to a brewery we passed on the way to meet them.  The brewery/restaurant only brewed one beer, but it is always nice to try something new (especially beer).  Unfortunately Matt was still really sick and he didn’t stick around long before heading back.  The rest of us had dinner and drinks and then said goodbye and we went back to our room.  We finished up our birthday cake and went to bed.

23 June 2008
Hanoi/Vinh, Vietnam
                Our train wasn’t scheduled to depart until 1:05 in the afternoon.  We strung out our checkout until after 11:00 and then headed out.  Of course they asked for dollars (here we go again) and we said we didn’t have any.  So he tried to charge us 18,000 Dong per dollar and we protested.  After a little debate he relented and charged us 16,500 per dollar.  We got our passports back and left.  We were very disappointed that both of our hotels agreed to one exchange but on checkout tried to use another.
                The train station waiting terminal was hot.  Thankfully after about 30 minutes they let us load our luggage on the train and sit by the train in the shade where it was cooler and had a breeze.  When we did finally get on the train they had turned on the air conditioning and despite the fact the car was falling apart, it was pretty comfortable.
                We arrived in Vinh around 6 hours later.  Our guide booked didn’t mention anything about the city other than it existed.  There was a hotel nearby and a room only cost $11.  We told the woman at the front desk we needed to get to Laos and asked where the bus station was.   She then offered for us to take a bus that would be here at 1am (why would we want a room if we are going to leave in a few hours?).  The deal was she was going to call the bus driver for us.  But she still would not tell us where the bus station was.  We said no thanks and she called somebody and then said she could call a bus at 7am to take us to Laos and it would only cost us $25 (this was the highest price we got in Hanoi…and Vinh is closer).  We told her we would think about.  She said she was leaving work now but would be back in the morning.  She asked us to pay for the room which we did and then we set off to find the bus station.
                After some wandering around we decided to stop in a 3 Star hotel and ask for help.  The guy working the desk was great and he gave us a map (which was on the back of a business card) and showed us where the bus station was at.  We set off and after a kilometer or so we ran into a guy trying to sell tickets to Hanoi.  When we explained we wanted to go to Laos he then tried to sell us on his bus to Hanoi and then we could get a bus to Laos.  We said no we had just come from Hanoi (why would we want to go back) and then he showed us where the bus to Laos was across the street.  We didn’t recognize the name of the place in Laos that this bus was going to, but at this point we didn’t care.  We had one goal, get to Laos.  The guy guarding the bus said it left at 6 am. 
                Back at the room we realized that we didn’t get a receipt for the room.  We had an image of us trying to check out and them demanding payment…again.  We decided to head this one off at the pass and went downstairs.  The lady working the desk didn’t understand what we were saying so she called the lady we spoke with earlier.  The desk lady put Doug on the phone with her but all she could talk about was trying to get us to “border Laos,” as she put it.  Doug kept saying no, and repeated that all we wanted was a receipt for the room.  Finally we came to a mutual agreement.  The lady wasn’t going to write a receipt but she acknowledged that we had paid (not the best of agreements when they have custody of your passport, but it would have to do).  We turned in for the night.

24 June 2008
Vinh, Vietnam
                The alarm went off at 5:00am.  Neither of us had slept much.  Anna was worrying about the chain of events that could happen.  Anything might happen once getting on this bus.  We could be dropped before the border, at the border, or in the middle of the forest.  We gathered our things and checked out of the room.  Luckily everything went smooth.  The girl was asleep on the floor behind the front desk.  She woke up, gave us our passports and said goodbye. 
                Leaving the hotel we needed to find some water and snacks.  There was a lady selling water close by.  Then we got into a taxi to take us to the bus station.  The taxi ride only cost us 15,000 dong ($1), for 1.5km.  The bus was waiting for us to arrive.  We got on and thankfully were able to take our bag on the bus with us.  With our bad language skills we attempt to ask the driver where in Laos we were going.  All he said was, “Laos,” and nod.  Then sitting at the back of the bus a girl close to Anna’s age came to collect the bus fair.  She said it would cost $14US, or $300,000dong.  Once again we explained we didn’t have any dollars only dong.  And $300,000dong is about $18US.  She was giving us a really bad exchange rate.  Doug was getting pretty irritated at the overcharging.  We ended up paying the bus fair after trying to argue with her. 
                The bus left promptly at 6:00am.  Yes!!!!  We are finally leaving Vietnam.  We still had no clue as to where the bus actually went in Laos.  After a couple hours on the bus we came to the town about 25km from the border and everyone was getting off.  A guy gave us the eating motion.  Ah…the bus was stopping for a meal break. 
                We got off and went inside the restaurant where the bus had stopped.  The menu was pretty sparse and we didn’t have a lot of cash on us.  Anna ordered a plate of rice, a plate of steamed vegetables, and a warm Coke to share with Doug.  Anna went to use the toilet.  As she was coming back to join Doug, a guy from the next table came and sat down.  He brought with him a bottle of rice wine, and two shot glasses.  When he saw Anna was joining them, he grabbed another shot glass and he poured us shots of the rice wine and then another.  When he tried to pour another one, Anna said “not me, only you two pointing,” throwing Doug under the bus.  So Doug and he had another shot.  Then Doug began declining any additional shots.  After the shots the guy began speaking to us in rough English.  He said he is a school teacher in the village we were in.   Soon he went back to his table.
                Doug was not feeling comfortable with the amount of cash we had on hand.  Our guide book said there were 5 ATM’s in all of Laos and we were pretty sure we weren’t stopping anywhere near them.  After the meal Doug set off to see if there was an ATM he could get some Dong that could then be exchanged for Kip (Laos dollars).  About 30 seconds after he left the rice wine guy came back to sit down next to her, and offered her a shot of the rice wine.  She didn’t decline.  The guy was pretty drunk at this point.  He began talking about a few different things.  Anna thought she heard him ask if she had a boyfriend or something, then she pointed to the ring on her finger.  He said he understood, and sat back in his chair.  Another one of his friends soon joined him.  Thankfully Doug came back (unable to find an ATM) shortly after the second guy sat down.  Once Doug sat down, the guys stood up, and said their goodbyes. 
                Soon we all got back on the bus, and headed to what we hoped was the border, and thankfully it was.  The bus stopped at the border and we all got off.  The girl motioned for us to take our bags with us, but oddly everyone else left their luggage.  We walked into the Vietnamese border check point, and handed them our passports to be stamped out of the country.  About 10 minutes later one of the border guys went to nearby table and motioned for us to join him.  (We were a bit nervous at this point, why was he singling us out from everyone else)  He asked for Anna to place her large bag on the table, and for her to open it up. So she did.  After she closed her bag back up, he gave us our passports, and said we could go.  We walked out of the building and across the bridge into Laos.

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