The next morning we boarded the Superdong for a 2.5 hour ride to Phu Quoc Island:

We arrived at the island, boarded a bus into town, and started the walk to our hotel.  We made it about half way when we of course had to stop for pizza and beer after which we decided to take a cab the last 1.5 miles...I know...lazy, but we are on vacation now!

We arrived at Daisy Resort around 1:00 PM on Tuesday and didn't leave it until 7:00 PM on Thursday.  The only thing that got us out on Thursday was we met some people at happy hour who were walking down the road for dinner, so we decided to join them.  Up until that point we slept in, at breakfast, sat by the pool, drank beer, went to happy hour at the pool bar, ate dinner at the resort, went to sleep, and repeated for 2.5 days until we went out to dinner which wound up being a great idea:

We then went back to the resort and didn't leave it for another 2 days when it was time to check out.  Here is a tour of the resort:

Believe it or not, one of my favorite parts of the resort is our bathroom that is outside:

Now you understand how we pretty much spent 4 full days here without leaving (except for a couple hours for dinner one night).

Unfortunately, tomorrow morning we fly back to Ho Chi Minh City for one for one last night in Vietnam before we fly back to the US.

After an amazing tour of Can Tho with Susan we are now going off on our own for a couple of days in the Mekong.  This will be one of our most adventurous trips so far since we are going to an area with very little tourists meaning little to no people will be able to speak English.  We said goodbye to our kite...yes it was still there and went to the pier to catch our boat to Ca Mau:

The inside of the boat wasn't too bad with cushions on the seat and the back.  We think the trip is about 5 hours, but we don't know for sure since no one speaks English.

I don't know how fast the boat went, but it left a pretty good wake:

After about 3 hours on the boat the ticket guy came to us and said "Sông Dốc" and we said no..."Ca Mau".  He said "Ca Mau" and we nodded.  He said "Sông Dốc" and we shook our heads no.  He then looked troubled as did the other passengers around us.  I then pulled out our map and noticed that Ca Mau really isn't on the way from Can Tho (where we left from) to Sông Dốc.  Now what?!?  Sông Dốc is way down on the tip of the Mekong Delta and looked way out of the way from where we needed to go.  

After much thought, I wrote down on a paper:

8/3/15 Táu ==> Ca Mau
9/3/15 Táu ==> Rach Gia

Meaning today's date we take Táu (Boat) to Ca Mau and tomorrow we take boat to Rach Gia.  He then wrote down:

9/3/15 Táu Sông Dốc ==> Rach Gia 6h20'

Ahhh...got it.  We can take a boat tomorrow from Sông Dốc to Rach Gia leaving at 6:20 AM tomorrow morning.

We pulled into Sông Dốc around 5:30 PM, after only a 4 hour ride.

Now the hard part...to find a hotel.  We started walking down the one main street that looked more like an alley as the sun was setting fast.

As we were walking people stopped and stared.  Adults ran into the shops and grabbed their kids to see us walking down the street.  After almost 4 months of traveling we were used to children stopping and looking at us, but in this town the adults stopped and looked as well.  It was a bit dangerous as people driving motorbikes were steering right at us as they were staring at us....luckily they slowed down to a crawl to get a really good look at us.  I just kept waving and saying hello as Tim felt more and more uncomfortable.  We must have been the first white people that have visited this town in like forever!

We finally found a hotel and they were so, so excited to have guests.  Through pointing and nodding we picked the most expensive room in the hotel for 250,000 Dong ($12 USD) and then the conversation got more difficult. They kept saying "ho chi-ow" and we didn't understand and they kept saying "ho chi-ow" and we still didn't understand.  They asked us to sit and he got on the phone, obviously trying to find someone that spoke English. Finally after a couple of minutes I thought...they probably want our passports.  Yes..that was what it was.  I don't know why we didn't realize it sooner since we always have to show our passports when we check into hotels.  Anyway, we gave our passports, dropped our bags in the room, and went out looking for something to eat.

After walking around a while..and getting stared at a lot...we finally had to settle for a street-side soup stand.  We got our soup and then some teenager, who wasn't 100% there, kneeled down by our table and stared at us as we ate.  The shopkeep must have thought it was OK since they let him just sit there.  Oh well...file this away as quite an experience!

We returned to the hotel and went to bed since we had to be at the pier around 6:00 AM.  We definitely didn't want to miss our boat and stay another day in this town that just keeps staring at us.

The next morning we walked to the pier and it was still pretty dark. The only good thing is that people couldn't see us to stare:

We arrived at the pier with plenty of time to take in the sunrise:

We boarded the boat which was pretty much the same as the boat yesterday except without padding on the backrest, but it was still comfortable enough and there was plenty of room.  We left right on time and then went about 100 yards and stopped to get a fresh shrimp loaded on top of the boat:

Finally we were off:

There were a couple of interesting passengers onboard with us.  Check out this kids jacket...his rank is Senior Airman in the US Air Force, and this woman brought her pet bear:

We both really enjoyed the boat rides where we got a feel for what life is like in the Mekong both by the people getting on and off the boat and by the scenery looking outside the boat.  These people really does live the River Life.

At 11:00 AM we arrived in Rach Gia.  We decided to walk to the 2 miles to the area we wanted to go since we were sitting in the boat for almost 5 hours.  As soon as went ashore we were bombarded with taxi and motorbike drivers that wanted to take us to town.  We tried to tell them we were walking and they all looked at us like we were crazy, but walk we did.  After almost 1 hour...it was very hot and we had our bags on our back...we arrived at the pier that tomorrow's ferry takes off from.  We actually did try to get on the ferry today, but it was sold out, so we checked into the first hotel we saw then went off looking for lunch.  We saw what looked like a supermarket so went inside and found some fast food.  I had fish and Tim had chicken.  We then found a food mall upstairs that had an ice cream stand.  Tim was very happy to get a 3,000 Dong ($0.14 USD) ice cream cone...he actually had 3!

After lunch we went back to the hotel to rest since we woke up early and there really wasn't anything else to do in this town.  Later we left the room to find dinner which wasn't too easy.  Just as we were going to give up and buy some cookie and chips at a store we came across a place that made vegetarian soup, so we got a couple of bowls...which were really very good, and headed back to the hotel. 

Tomorrow we head the island of Phu Quoc for 4 days of R&R...that's rest and relaxation for you non-military types...before we head back to the US.

The Mekong Delta is a part of Vietnam that I have been excited to visit.  I picture the Mekong Delta as lots of water, rural, less tourists, and traditional living.  In other words, I picture the Mekong Delta being authentic Vietnam.  At first the plan was to go down there and explore on our own, but while doing research on the area I found a review on a local tour guide name Susan Bui that provides private tours.  I emailed her and received an immediate reply saying that she was available on the dates I was interested and the cost for a 2 day private tour with a home-stay was $110 USD.  At that price I couldn't resist, so we booked the tour.  Susan then replied with information on the exact bus to take and what station to get off of and that she would meet us at the station.

We woke in the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, ate breakfast, and took a taxi to the bus station..well...it wasn't the bus station, but is is where a van will take us to the bus station.  As expected, the van took us to the station and we got off to find us being the only Europeans there.  There were buses coming and going and a guy on a microphone outside announcing where each bus was going...of course this was all in Vietnamese.  Every time a bus pulled up I showed someone our ticket and they just shook their head "no".  Finally some official looking guy asked to see our ticket and just held out his hand in a wait position and walked away.  I was pretty confident that this guy was now going to take care of us, but Tim was a bit worries.  I can't believe that after all this traveling he is still a nervous traveler.  He is fine when we get on the transportation, but he worries about us getting on the right transpiration and then worries about getting off at the right location.  Me on the other hand is like don't worry...it will all work out.  I guess this is why we are good travel companions.  Anyway...after about 20 minutes that official looking guy pointed at a bus that we should get on, so we did.

At this point we are traveling blind.  All I know is to tell the bus driver that we need to get off at the Bình Minh bus station and we are supposed to meet a girl named Susan...even I was a bit nervous about this all working out, especially since I didn't have to leave any deposit for this tour and we don't have a phone to contact Susan if she was not there.  Three hours after boarding the bus the ticket guy pointed at us to get off and there was Susan ready to greet us...AWESOME!  After saying hello and introducing ourselves so talked to a van driver and told us to get in.  She said that the van will drop us off where we need to go and she would be behind us on her motorbike.  Uhm...OK.  The van pulled out and went down the road as I saw in the window Susan still walking to her bike.  Again that, what if the driver stops at the wrong place or forgets about us, feeling came over us.  After only 10 minutes the van stops in front of a gas stationnand the driver points to us to get out.  As soon as we got out a gentleman approached and asked if we were Tim and Gerri.  He was the owner of the home-stay and will walk us back there...AWESOME!

We walked back to our home-stay, was given our room, and was told that lunch would be served in 1 hour.  We had some time to relax, so we found the hammocks and relax we did: 

One hour late we were told lunch was ready, so we joined Susan and our home-stay host for an incredible meal consisting of fish baked in banana leaf, grilled okra, green beans with shrimp, duck and taro stew.

After lunch we relaxed for a couple of hours waiting for the temperature to cool before heading out for a bicycle tour of the area.  Around 3:00 PM we left the home-stay, rode a couple of minutes, and then caught a ferry across the river:

Once on the other side Susan showed us different fields and orchards:

We then stopped at a schoolhouse where some of the kids were outside for PE class.  The kids loved us being there:

Next stop was a temple built in the shadow of the Can Tho Bridge.  During construction of the bridge in 2007, the bridge collapsed killing around 60 people and injuring 140.  This temple was built to commemorate those killed:

Speaking of the bridge...the Can Tho Bridge was open on 24 April 2010 and is currently the longest main span cable-stayed bridge in Southeast Asia at 1.7 miles long.

Next we rode our bicycles to a Khmer village.  We came across these children playing in the field as their parents harvested the rice:

We then visited a beautiful Khmer temple that was just repainted gold and had very brightly colored murals inside telling the story of Buddha's life:

Last stop for the day is the market where we bought ingredients for tonight's dinner:

We returned to the home-stay and helped prepare the food while the local kids were being kids:

And then on to the feast of sweet potato fries, vegetarian spring rolls, pumpkin blossoms with squid, morning glory with garlic, and sweet and sour soup with catfish, okra, and taro root.  By the way...we were so full from lunch that we didn't eat dinner till almost 9:00 PM.

After being sufficiently stuffed we called it a night since we had to be up and out of the house by 7:00 AM.

The next morning, before leaving I took these pictures of the home-stay:

We walked to the river and there was a boat waiting for us.  This boat was all ours...just for Tim, Susan, and I:

Here are some views from the ride:

We then transferred to a smaller boat:

The first stop on the smaller boat is a floating market.  This market is predominantly a wholesale market for restaurants and shopkeepers with the minimum purchase being 20 pounds of produce.  The way you know what each boat is selling is to see what is hanging on the pole sticking up from the boat:

It was finally time for breakfast, but we didn't have to leave the river:

Here are a couple of videos showing the craziness of the floating market:

By the way...this isn't us, but it is what we look like if someone took a picture of us:

After the floating market we went up down river to see rice noodles being made:

We then went to an orchard that pretty much grew every fruit that you can possible grow in the Mekong Delta:

After walking around the orchard we sat down and had a sampler platter of the fruit grown there.  Everything tasted so fresh and juicy...the fresh tropical fruit is definitely one of the things we will miss about Southeast Asia!

After the snack we went back to the boat and headed back to Can Tho.  What an amazing couple of days we had with Susan.

We arrived back to Can Tho around noon, said goodbye to Susan and checked into our hotel.  Our plan is to spend the night here in Can Tho and then try to catch a boat south to Ca Mau to put us even deeper into the Mekong and see what life is really like. From Ca Mau we will take a boat the following day to Rach Gia where we will be catching a ferry to the island of Phu Quoc for a 4 night stay.

We figured we better go to the pier and try to get information for tomorrow's trip.  We get to the pier and of course no one speaks English so I show them the tour book and point to Ca Mau where we want to go tomorrow.  He nodded and pointed at the board that said there was a boat leaving at 1:30 PM going to Sông Dốc.  I said no Sông Dốc...Ca Mau, and he just nodded.  Through pointing and nodding we understood that the boat going to Sông Dốc will stop at Ca Mau.  Great!

Now time for lunch and beer:

After lunch we walked back towards our hotel and saw a lot of children flying kites.  We also noticed that the market was selling kites, so we thought, why not.  For less than $4 USD we purchased a kite and string and a local kid was all too happy to help us set it up and fly it with us:

All was going great and then Tim decided to take over:

And then...

Well...that was fun!  We told the kids that if they could get it down it was theirs, but there was no way.

After the crash, we went back to the hotel to relax a bit.  In case we missed our kite all we had to do was look out the window of our hotel room.  That bright orange kite sure stands out!

I got online to research what we should do tonight and found a place called Tiny's Corner.  From the description I thought it was a bar where local people go to practice English with tourists.  I thought this sounded interesting, so we went out to find the place.  It took us a really long time to find and when we finally did we were the only ones there, so we sat down with our beers and thought, oh well...the beer is cold.  Then slowly the young people started coming.  Each one was excited that there were English speaking people here so they crowded around us.  Finally the place was packed.  A woman took over saying that the discussion today was on woman since it was International Woman's Day this week  She had people stand up and tell what women they looked up to.  Would you believe that multiple guys said, beside their mother, that Hilary Clinton was a woman they looked up to?!?

Anyway, I was invited to get up and talk about the role of women in the US.  They were very surprised that I spent 20 years int he military and that I was an officer and a leader...in Vietnam women are not allowed to join the military.  I pretty much gave the "If you want something bad enough and you are willing to work hard enough,  you will be able to achieve it" speech.  We wound up spending over 2 hours there and really enjoyed the experience:

After Tiny's we called it a night and went back to the hotel.  Tomorrow our adventure really starts when we head out into the Mekong Delta unguided.

We "woke up" in Nha Trang after a pretty restless sleep.  I woke up around 2:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep, so I read until about 5:00 AM and dozed on and off until we pulled into Nha Trang around 7:00 AM.  If you ask Tim how his night was he would tell you that he didn't sleep either, but every time I looked at him he was sound asleep.

We boarded another sleeper-bus to Ho Chi Minh city about 1 hour later.  This time our seats were all the way in the back where there were 5 seats across.  We actually lucked out on this one since the 2 seats there were in the aisle didn't have a pod to put your feet in, so Tim was much more comfortable.  Plus, the other 3 seats had small, skinny Vietnamese so we had plenty of room.

We made it to Ho Chi Minh City around 6:30 PM and walked to our hotel.  The hotel staff began apologizing that something was wrong with our room, but they have a sister hotel down the street, so they walked us there.  We spent the night but wasn't satisfied since this hotel was older than the one we originally booked, so we checkout in the morning and went back to the original one where they put us in a really nice room.

After re-checking in we finally left the hotel around 11:00 AM for the suggested self-guided walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City. This walking tour is a 2.5 mile route that is supposed to take us 3 hours.  Of course we knew that it was going to take us 5-6 hours the way we take our time.  

First we walked down a street that was turned into a market.  We were amazed at how many different items they can stuff into a small space.  As usually there were many fresh fruit vendors and vendors selling at least 10 different types of rice.

As we continued walking we passed a typical food vendor that had tables and stools spread out on the sidewalk.  We have seen this kind of "restaurant" all over Southwest Asia:

One thing that was surprising about Ho Chi Minh City was the modern skyscrapers amongst the classic French architecture.  We didn't really expected all this modernness.

We then came across the Central Post Office designed by Gustave Eiffel...yes the same one...and built between 1886 and 1891.

Directly across the street form the post office was Notre Dame Cathedral, built between 1877 and 1883.

We now doubled back and walked to the address 22 Ly Tu Trong, the building used for a US helicopter rescue the day before the fall of Saigon.  It is commonly believed, including Tim and I, that the building was the US Embassy, but this building actually housed CIA staff.

Next stop is an interesting roundabout with a weird flowerlike sculpture with water around it called Ho Con Rua (Turtle Lake).  The best thing about this roundabout is that there was many restaurants around it, and just in time for lunch...and our first 333 beer. 

After lunch, which was at 2:30 PM, we decided to walk back towards the hotel when we came across the "War Remnants Museum".  Our initial plan was to go to this museum tomorrow, but since we were here we may as well check it out.  The only down side of doing it today is we only had 1.5 hours till it closed.

Outside the museum had the typical displays we have come to expect with US armored vehicles, airplanes, and helicopters:

The inside of the museum was arranged on 3 floors were you started at the top and made your way down.  Here is the name of the very one-sided exhibits found inside.

I found this introduction to the "Aggression War Crimes" exhibit to be interesting:

Another interesting exhibit on how the rest of the world was against the US:

After learning how evil Americans are we left the museum and headed back to the hotel for a little rest before going out to dinner.  For dinner we headed to the backpacker area.  After walking around for at least 45 minutes we finally picked a restaurant.  The interesting thing about this restaurant is that the kitchen is across the alley as you can see in the picture below...the kitchen is in the back left:

Next day we headed out to the Reunification Palace.  This place was made famous by photographs taken on the morning of 30 April 1975 when tanks crashed through its wrought-iron gates after which the VC entered the palace and accepted the surrender of General Minh.

The inside of the building was left exactly how it was when the VC took over.  This includes the 60's style furniture in the game room to the war room with maps still hanging on the walls:

We thought was was really cool was the old technology left on display including movie projectors and military communication systems:

After the palace we walking around a bit, had some beer (and pizza) and just took in the sites around us.  Here are some of the highlights:

We then returned to the hotel for our last night in Ho Chi Minh City.  Here is a picture out our window of the night skyline and a picture of the breakfast area on the top floor of the hotel.

Tomorrow we take a bus south to the Mekong Delta that promises to be quite interesting.

We went down to check out of our hotel at noon and our driver from Hoi An was already there to take us to our next hotel...well...it isn't really a hotel, it is more of a homestay, but not like the homestays we have done in the past.  This homestay is in the city of Hoi An.  45 minutes later we pull into Charming Homestay.  This place is run by a woman named Nhi and her elderly mother.  Before we even got there I felt like I knew Nhi since we emailed back and forth for a couple of days, and she even friended me on Facebook and had read through this blog before we even got there.  We were quite happy that we were staying here for 4 nights.  We got to our room (they only have 3) which was the only one on the second floor and it was really nice...again...we are happy to be staying here for 4 days.

After a little break in the room we went down to get on our bicycles...every room comes with 2 bicycles free of charge...and road to a seafood restaurant that I read about that was supposed to be good.  After 20 minutes we arrived at said restaurant.   Here is where you would expect a picture of this wonderful seafood meal we had, but you are not going to get that since the food wasn't very good.  We had high hopes with the review I read and the live seafood in tanks, but it just wasn't, so I'm not even going to bother uploading the pictures.

After eating, we rode back to the homestay and chilled in the room.  We signed up for a tour tomorrow that picks us up here at 8 AM, so we have to be up early.

The next morning we ate breakfast...made to order eggs, fruit, juice, green tea, and baguette and got into the tour van at 7:50 AM.  Today we are visiting My Son, Vietnam's most extensive Hindu temple remains although only 20 of the 68 structures remain mostly due to US bombing during Vietnam.  Don't feel bad that the US bombed a ancient temple site since the reason is that the Viet Cong used the site as a hideout.

After touring My Son we got back on the bus.  We had a choice when we signed up for the tour to take the bus back to Hoi An or to take a boat ride with lunch for an extra $3 USD, so we went for the boat ride:

Before making it back to Hoi An, the boat stopped at an island that is known for its woodworking and boatbuilding.  Here is just a peak since we signed up for a tour tomorrow that goes to this same island.

When we got back to Hoi An we found out that the boat drops us off in town and doesn't take us back to our hotel, so we now have to make our way back to our hotel which is about 2 miles away.   So, we walked around Old Town, Hoi An known for lanterns and century old architecture.

As we were walking around we saw a sign that said, "Fresh Beer = 7 K/bowl" with an arrow pointing into an alley:

Of course we figured the work "bowl" was a typo, but a beer for 7,000 Dong or $0.33 USD...we had to check it out.  We ordered a couple of beers and some famous dishes of Hoi An called bánh vạc (white rose made of rice flour and minced shrimp) and hoành thánh chiên (fried shrimp wonton cakes topped with sautéed mixed vegetables).  A few minutes later we were served 2 bowls of beer and 2 awesome plates of food:

The bowls of beer were awesome as was the food.  This was definitely one of our favorite places we found in Vietnam so far.  Before it was done we had 7 beers and 4 plates of food for a grand total of 179,000 Dong or $8.33 USD...what a find!

After the great food and beer we continue our walk back to hotel when I took a couple of "artistic" pictures and stopped to play some basketball with a couple of local kids.

We then came across an unbelievable sign..."FRESH BEER 3000vnd/1 glass".  That's $0.14 USD for a beer!!!  Needless to say I was quite overjoyed.

Just as we were approaching our homestay we noticed a few Westerners hanging out a a small restaurant and they waved us over.  The place is owned by a local woman and her boyfriend from Minneapolis.  The couple hanging out there was from Fairhope, Alabama, not far from where we live in Florida.  As a matter of fact, we have been to Fairhope a few times since they have a really good brewery.  Anyway, we got to talking, and drinking beer then Tim looked at the menu that had a pulled pork sandwich. He just had to order it and he was very happy to have a taste of home for a change:

After the excessive of beer we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.  The next morning we forced ourselves awake for the included breakfast then went back to the room to relax.  We finally left the room around 2 PM in search of lunch.  Tim wanted pizza, so I went online and found a review of Luna d'Autunno that some people said was the best pizza in Vietnam.  We jumped on the bicycles to find it.  We did have some trouble finding it since it was not where the map said it was, but we finally found it after 1.5 hours of riding around. It was definitely worth the trouble...great pizza with a great view:

We then went back to the homestay and of course went back across the street to our new favorite bar called Circle where we met back up with the Alabama folks and enjoyed a few 17,000 Dong ($0.80) bottles of beer.

For the next day I signed us up for a free bicycle tour.  It was free because the tour guides were university students majoring in English and tourism.  They provide a free tour so they can practice their English and get a foot in the door for a future job as a tour guide.  

First stop was back to Kim Bong Island and the ship builders.  If you look at the boat you will notice the eye painted on it.  This is characteristic of all the boats built here.  Our tour guides told us that the eye is for many purposes....first...it is to scare the river monsters such as crocodiles, second...it gives the boat a soul, third...it led the way so you can see where you were going.  Kind of neat.  Oh...by the way...the boats are made out of solid mahogany.  The ones in the picture cost $7,000 USD.

Next we stopped at a family temple:

Next...we went to house that made paper items for the people to burn for their ancestors.  I mentioned a couple of blogs ago about the people burning money, but they also burn paper clothes, horses, cell phones, and even motorbikes: 

We then learned how to make rice noodle and sleeping mat and even got to participate:

We then road back to the ferry and stopped to take some pictures of the island:

Then back on the ferry to return to Hoi An:

Before riding back to the homestay we made a stop at our favorite beer bowl place and then stopped at our new favorite place to hang out in the whole world, Circle Cafe.  As a matter of fact...this is the picture Circle Cafe posted on their Facebook page with the caption "Anh with Circle's first regulars--Colin, Gerri, Tim, Lovelace. Thank you."

The next day we just need a break so slept in and chilled out in the room all day.  Tonight we have quite the "experience" to experience...a 24-hour bus ride to Ho Chi Minh City.  I know...we aren't too excited, but the flights and train were both sold out so we had no choice.

But first a farewell to Circle Cafe and then a 1.5 mile walk to the bus station.  The bus left at 7 PM.  We arrive in Nha Trang at 8 AM where we transfer to another bus to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow night around 6 PM...oh joy.  The only good thing is that this is a sleeper bus where we get our own compartment to "sleep" in.  We just got on the bus and Tim is already not very happy since these seat were not made for 6 foot tall people.  Oh well...this will be an experience if nothing else.

We woke up bright and early and got in a taxi around 5:50 AM and boarded the train at 6:30 AM.  This trip should take only 2.5 hours but the scenery is supposed to be awesome...and it wound up that it did not disappoint:

After arriving in Danang we took a taxi to our hotel as was actually able to check-in even though it was still before noon...this is something that would NEVER be happen in the US.  There is no way a hotel would let you check-in before 4:00 PM, no less noon.  Anyway, the guidebook mentions a brewery in town which will be our first stop.  The brewery is about 3.5 miles from the hotel so we decided to take a taxi there and then walk our way back for the rest of the day.

Tulip Brewery did not disappoint.  They had BIG beers so we ordered a couple and really enjoyed the German lager.

After the brewery we walked over a really cool suspension bridge and to the left was the Dragon Bridge that was incredibly cool as well:

After the long walk across the bridge, the big beer was wearing off, so we stopped for another beer and was there just in time to witness the beer delivery motorbike showing up.  He had 9 cases of beer and a case of bottled water on board...WOW!

We continued headed east towards the South China Sea and wound up at My Khe Beach, AKA China Beach.  This is the where American troops took R&R during the Vietnam War.  I don't know if it is correct, but I read somewhere that Danang was the most protected city during the Vietnam War which makes sense to me since it was an R&R destination.

After a very early morning and the long walk today we decided to make it an early night, so had a bite to eat and were back in the hotel room by 7:00 PM.

The next day we rented a couple of motorbikes to see the sites outside of Danag.  We rode north along the coast and then started climbing Nui Son Tra (Monkey Mountain).  First stop was a 220 foot tall statue of what the locals call Linh Ung or Lady Buddha:

We then continued the ride up Monkey Mountain and stopped once in a while to take in the view:

The ultimate goal we were riding to was an observation point a the top of Monkey Mountain.  We arrived at an intersection with the point to the left, but there was a sign pointing to the right that said "Tree 6 KM".  What the heck...20 minutes later we arrived at an amazing Banyan tree.  The sign by the tree stated that it was 72 feet high, with a circumference of trunk and aerial prop roots is 280 feet, and is approximately 800 years old.  All I know is that it was quite impressive:

Onward to the summit.  Parts of this road were some of the steepest I have every been on.  Both of our scooters were struggling, but we made it:

From the observation point we noticed that the road continued so we decided to try to go back an alternate route.  We rode a couple of miles and came across a guy in a shack on the side of the road.  I was second guessing so stopped and asked the guy and he pointed down the road.  I know what you are thinking...these guys are going to take this road and wind up getting lost or having to double back...well...you are all wrong.  We actually didn't make it past this guy in his shack because Tim got a flat tire.

After all the days and miles we have spent on motorbikes I was quite surprised that this hasn't happened before, but this is not a great place to have a flat.  We are on the top of a mountain with no town anywhere close.  Luckily we had a guy to watch the bike, so we used hand signals telling him that we would be going down the mountain and we would return to get the bike.  Tim jumped on my back and we rode 4 miles down the mountain.  We were able to find a mechanic who loaded up his motorbike with a flat tire kit.  I decided to stay back when Tim and the mechanic took up off the mountain.  I hung out with the mechanics daughter who loved practicing talking English with me

As we were hanging out I just realized that we screwed up.  Once the flat tire is fixed how is Tim going to ride my bike and his bike down the mountain...what were we thinking?!?  I jumped up from the table and watched the road for someone that might be able to take me up the mountain.  Finally I saw two Europeans and waved them down...it was a German couple on two bikes.  Of course they would ride me up...so I jumped on the back of the guy's bike.  

Remember how our bikes struggled to get up the hill...well..with two of us on the bike there was no way it was going to make every incline.  There was at least 5 times that I had to jump off the back of the bike and run up the hill before jumping back on.  After an exhausting run/ride we made it to Tim and the mechanic who was struggling with the tire.

The issue was that he could not get the wheel off so he decided to try to patch the tube instead of replacing it.  The next issue is that the rear wheel has been stuck on the bike for so long that the tube had at least 5 patches on it already.  As a matter of fact, it was determined that there wasn't a new hole....it was a patch that leaked.  This mechanic worked on the bike for at least an hour before finally determining that it was ready to ride down the hill.  He stuck with us making me feel like he was questioning if his new patches would hold.  I really do think he was surprised when we made it back to his shop where there were a bunch of new customers waiting so he got straight to work: 

I wish I can now say that we left the shop and rode back to the hotel and everything was OK...unfortunately this was not the case.  We rode about 4 more miles and Tim got another flat, but this time it was right near the giant Lady Buddha so there were plenty of people to help us...make that too many people.  Luckily a gentleman, who worked for tour companies in the past and spoke great English, stopped to help.  He called our hotel who told him to tell us to stay there and they would be here in 20 minutes.  They showed up, Tim took one of their bikes, and we returned to the hotel.  They apologized and apologized.  All was OK except we didn't get to see everything we wanted to, but oh well.  The good news is that we found a great place just down the street from the hotel that had great Indian food at a great price, so I was happy:

Tomorrow we go to Hoi An, one of the favorite towns for tourists to visit...and it is only a 45 minute drive south.

The next morning we decided to sleep in a relax a bit before heading out.  We finally left the hotel around noon to go to the The Citadel and the Imperial Enclosure.  During the 45-minute walk we crossed a bridge that was blown up during the Vietnam War, passed people burning money, and walked through a park with an awesome bonsai tree display.   About the money burning...around Tet, people burn money to send to their dead ancestors...its pretty interesting that they burn US looking $100 bills. 

We finally made it to the Citadel and the Imperial Enclosure.  Back in 1802 during the Nguyen dynasty the emperor moved the capital from Hanoi to Hue.  Over a moat and within the 6.5 foot thick walls is a where the royals of the Nguyen dynasty lived.  We walked around for over 2 hours and just loved the landscape and the Asian architecture.  By the way, this area was heavily bombed and napalmed when the North Vietnamese seized Hue in 1968 during the Vietnam War.

After over 2 hours of walking around in the heat, we were ready to grab a beer and relax.  However, as we were walking back towards the hotel we caught a glimpse of the Hue Military Museum.  I wasn't too excited by it, but we (Tim) couldn't pass it up, so in we went.  First was the outside display of equipment left behind by the US.  As you can see, I was pretty much done:

We then headed to the inside displays that included Vietnam's struggles against the French and the US.  Talk about communist propaganda...I loved this sign that states "Life was difficult for the Thua Thien Hue people because of colonialism and feudalism in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.  A bit more disturbing was a display of ID cards taken from US servicemen during the Vietnam War:

Finally, Tim allowed us to be done and we continued walking back to hotel.  We came across Timmy's shop, and of course we had to stop and try out some new beer brands:

After the beers we grabbed some dinner and returned to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we rented a couple of motorbikes from the hotel and headed out to visit four extravagant mausoleums of the Nguyen dynasty emperors.

The first is the Tomb of Khai Dinh, about 6 miles south of Hue:

Next, is the Tomb of Minh Mang, about a 20 minute ride west of Khai Dihn tomb:

Finally, we rode to the Tomb of Tu Due, about 30 minutes away:

After visiting the tombs it was still early enough to go and visit Thien Mu Pagoda, the symbol of Hue.  The pagoda is impressive and the grounds are beautiful.  Behind the pagoda is a functioning temple and is also the home to the Austin automobile that a monk, in 1963, exited in Saigon and set himself on fire to protest again the Ngo Dinh Diem regime.  This act was caught by a photographer who won the Pulizer Prize for the picture he took (the photograph is hanging up behind the car).

After the pagoda we rode back to the hotel, returned the bikes, and had some dinner.  Tomorrow we take a train to Danang at 6:30 AM, so it is was an early night.

21 February 2015

As I was saying...we boarded the train yesterday hoping that Tim would be OK and he was.  He wound up sleeping through the night on the train.  The problem now is that we arrived in Hanoi at 5:30 AM and planned on walking around the city all day before we fly out at 5:40 PM to Hue.  That gives us around 10 hours and Tim, although he slept, still doesn't feel 100% and shouldn't walk around all day.  We returned to the hotel we left a few days ago and after giving them my sad face they agreed to give us a room for the day at a discounted price...what great customer service here!

Tim might be sick, but I'm not...so off I go on my own to explore parts of Hanoi we missed on the past 2 visits.  First stop, a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  But first I must find some breakfast.  The tour book mentions a dish called "Mien Xao Luon" that I just have to try.  After a 30 minute walk and looking the area I knew it was supposed to be, I finally spotted exactly what the tour book said "a humble stall trimmed with mini-mountains of fried eel", so I ordered myself...actually pointed at...a bowl of rice noodle soup topped with fried eel.  It was so good!

After breakfast I head toward the mausoleum and passed by the military museum that we visited a few days ago, but this time I took pictures of the communist-style posters around the outside of it:

Right across the street I noticed a great looking Harley and went over to talk to the owner.  I love this picture of a USA themed Harley-Davidson with the Vietnamese owner in front of a flower display with a Soviet flag with a statue of Lenin in the background:

As the other past communist leaders, Uncle Ho (as the locals calls him) is embalmed and on display for people to pay their respects.  You are not allowed to photograph inside the mausoleum, but here are pictures of the outside.

The mausoleum is built on the same grounds as the Presidential Palace used by Ho Chi Minh.  Of course there was also a gift shop with Uncle Ho on everything.

Next I decided to walk back to the hotel, but I took the long way back where I passed some pretty cool sites:

I then noticed a stall with a mini-mountain of fried eel so I just had to try it one more time...but this time I ordered it dry without the broth and it was just as good as the bowl I had this morning for breakfast:

I finally made it back to the hotel and Tim was feeling better.  I went out to his new favorite fast food restaurant, Lotteria, and grabbed him a couple of chicken sandwiches.  We then left the hotel for the airport where we flew to the city of Hue for our next Vietnam adventure.

We arrived in Hue (pronounced Who-way) about 1 hour after taking off from Hanoi.  Our hotel had a car waiting at the airport and we arrived as our room just before 8:00 PM.  We thought about going out, but instead we just stayed in the room and enjoyed the evening.  Tomorrow we will explore Hue.

Wow...I slept really well.  The rocking of the train is quite soothing making for a nice sleeping environment.  The train pulled into Sapa right on time...6:20 AM:

Oh...I guess I didn't tell you...we signed up for a 4-night, 3-day trip to Sapa (2 of the 4 nights are the night train there and back).  I know...what is with all these organized trips?  Yeah...we usually like doing 1 or 2 organized trips per country and then travel around on our own, but Tet is tonight and we wanted to celebrate it somewhere, so we organized this trip to be in a smaller town for the celebration and then doing a homestay with a family on what is considered New Year's Day.

Our tour guide met us at the train station and drove us the 1 hour to our hotel in Sapa.  Today we do a short trek in the morning, explore Sapa in the afternoon, and sleep in a hotel in Sapa.  First the short trek to the textile town of Cat Cat.  On the way down we were approached by a vendor.  She was very persistent so we bought a chain purse and she agreed to pose for a picture.  She is dressed in the traditional garb of the Hmong people.  In this area the minority population is 49%.

This area is just amazing...check out this scenery:

We walked around Cat Cat village known for its textile work.  Here are some pictures of their work.  I wish I had the room to buy some of these blankets and take them home with me.

And an adorable girl wearing clothes made in the village:

Like every good trek, this one ended at a waterfall:

The rest of the day we walked around Sapa, had a new beer brewed in this area (Lo Cai), and took in a New Year's Eve celebration:

We thought about staying up till midnight to celebrate New Years, but since we didn't even stay up for our own New Year's Eve, why would we stay up for Vietnam's.  We returned to the hotel around 9 PM and the workers stopped us in the lobby and had us join them for some tea, candy, and sunflower seeds while we watched some variety show special for Tet.  After about 45 minutes we were able to excuse ourselves and went to our room.  At midnight we were awaken by what sounded like church bells that went off for 5 minutes...Chúc Mừng Năm Mới...Happy New Year!

The next morning we had the provided breakfast and checked out of the room.  Today we go on a 8 mile hike through the rice paddy fields to our homestay.  The walk started on a road lined with bamboo, and just down the road was an awesome view:

Finally, we left the road and entered the rice paddy landscape:

Finally, after about 8 miles we made it to the house we are staying at, around 4:00 PM.  They were waiting for us and were anxious to sit down with us to a New Year's feast...rooster heads and all:

Let me tell you...this family was out to celebrate Tet big time.  The rice wine was flowing very freely and neighbors came and went throughout the night.  The evening pretty much went like this...fill shot glasses with rice wine, raise said shot glasses, yell "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới", drink entire shot glass of rice wine, shake everyone's hands, repeat, repeat, repeat.  We made it to 10:00 PM till we called it quits, but heard "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" going on till after midnight.

Here are some pictures of the house:

The next morning they served us some really yummy crepes with banana and honey and we were on our way for the return 5 mile trek.  Even though we spent all of yesterday walking through this landscape of terraced rice patties, we were still not bored of the scenery:

After about 3 hours we arrived at a village on a main road.  This is where a van will pick us up and drive up back to Sapa.  While waiting we watched the teenagers of the village strut back and forth along the road showing off all their new clothes that they received as Tet gifts.  Our tour guide told us that just after Tet is the time that the teens try to find girlfriends and boyfriends since they have new clothes and they have one week off from school and the rice paddies are still dormant.  In one month the entire village, children included, will be busy preparing the paddies for planting.

We arrived back in town to see a different city than we left.  When we left for our 2-day, 1-night trek the town was quiet because everyone was at home with their family celebrating Tet.  Now today, 2 days later, everyone seems to have taken to the street to celebrate in the city center park and children were running around playing:

We had some lunch and then our tour guide picked us up to drive us the one hour back to the train station for our overnight train ride back to Hanoi.  We arrived to the station 1.5 hours before our train arrived so we figured we better eat something before boarding.  All of a sudden Tim didn't feel well....not good timing since we have a 10 hour train ride in front of us.  He went back to the restroom in the noodle shop we were in and came back saying that it was a squatter and he needs a "sitter".  He ran out the street looking for a better bathroom.  He returned and we took his temperature and he had a fever...great.  We filled him with all the medicine he took last time and hoped for the best.  He ran back to the bathroom one more time before we boarded the train. We apologized in advance to the couple sharing our berth that Tim would probably be getting up to use the bathroom regularly.  Let's just hope he doesn't get any sicker!

Tonight we leave on a night train north to Sapa, Vietnam, but first we have a full day to spend in Hanoi.  A few days ago we did a walking tour of the old city...today we wonder outside to visit a few sites we want to see, starting with Hoa Lo Prison, AKA "Hanoi Hilton."

On the way to the prison I caught a whiff of some yumminess.  I followed my nose that brought us to this corner storefront that sold these delicious warm pastry, cooked in a pizza oven, filled with sweet cream or chocolate.  We got one of each and I would definitely go back again.

Finally, after a 30-40 minute walk we arrived at Hoa Lo Prison:

Oh...by the way...that red sign says "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" meaning "Happy New Year".  It is Tet (Lunar New Year) in a couple of days, so we see these signs everywhere.

When we started walking around the museum most of the displays focused on the the French using the prison for political prisoner during their occupation from the late 1800's till 1954. 

That was all interesting, but what we really came for is the Vietnamese use of Hoa Lo Prison for prisoner's of war (POWs) during the Vietnam War.  After passing thorough a hallway with pictures of anti-American protests that occurred throughout the world during the Vietnam War, we finally came to 2 rooms focusing on the American POW's.  I took this picture that explains that Vietnam took care of the American POWs, the other picture shows the charges against them:

Here is Senator John McCain's flight uniform he was wearing when he was captured and the best part of the display showing photos of how well the POWs were treated with plenty of time for sports:

All in all, the displays were pretty much what we expected.  A bunch of propaganda showing how awful the American's were and how nicely the Vietnamese treated them when they were prisoners. 

We left the prison behind and walked to the Temple of Literature.  As we walked there we noticed calligraphers filling a park.  I guess it is a New Year's tradition to get calligraphy done as gifts and to decorate your home.

Next stop the Temple of Literature originally built in 1070 and served as a temple of Confucius, but most interesting is that it was Vietnam's first university in 1076.  Here are some cool pictures:

On the way back to the hotel we stopped and had a new beer brewed in Hanoi:

Throughout the day there were signs of the Tet (Lunar New Year) celebration:

At 9:30 PM we boarded a train north to Sapa.  We are scheduled to arrive at 6:15 AM.  Luckily they have sleeping cars that have 4 beds in each cabin.  We shared our cabin with 2 young business men who live and work in Hanoi and are going home to Sapa for Tet.