Modern. Mopeds. Madness. The clean, trendy port city, Ho Chi Minh City / aka Saigon, was a pleasant surprise. During a four hour layover between buses we hit the city on foot to explore. The city hall was beautiful and the potted bonsai trees in front elegant. A city with as many mopeds as people (at least it appeared this way), we perfected our tactics in successfully crossing the road, a sort of live version of Frogger. Like Frogger, at times not even the cross walks remain safe. In an attempt to bypass red traffic lights, the mopeds who are turning take to the sidewalks. So it then becomes vital to look both ways AND behind you when walking. The other highlight was getting our first taste of Vietnamese food at a bumping local restaurant. Although our food was great we were shocked at the diversity of the menu - snake, cuddle fish, boar, duck, of course odd parts of common animals (bull penis and intestines), frog legs, and a numerous variety of the usual and not so usual sea food. What we instantly loved about Vietnamese cooking is the use of fresh herbs and delicious sauces.

Opting to spend more time at less destinations we again took to the road. After 2 consecutive 12 hour stints on night buses and a day layover in Nha Trang, we arrived in Hoi An exhausted. A French influenced old town that has been deemed an Unesco World Heritage site, this enchanting spot was a great place to enjoy some finer things in life - food, sleep, and tailored clothing, all at incredible prices.

Our first meal in town, we discovered why the local dish of Cao Lau is so popular. This treat is created from flat doughy noodles, mixed with fresh herbs, sprouts and leaf lettuce, flavored with an amazing sauce, and topped off with slices of pork and fried noodles (sort of like a crouton). The next culinary delight of this town was their version of fried wantons with veggies. Over time we discovered the fried spring rolls and fish baked in banana leaf. At the small restaurant, where we discovered these great dishes,we decided to take a short Vietnamese cooking course that taught us 3 of our favorite dishes so that we are now able to bring the best of Vietnamese cooking home to our friends and family.

With rain accompanying us for 2 of the 3 days while in Hoi An, outdoor activity was pretty limited. So other than eating, we enjoyed just ambling downtown past the quaint buildings displaying fantastic art work, stops at the market, and numerous trips to the tailor. The last being the other specialty of this small town. With over 200 tailors, almost every other store displays their talent at reproducing the latest fashions. Everything from shoes, dresses, suits, bathing suits, and jeans - their specialty is recreating your wardrobe favorites at a fraction of the cost. With Mike about to return home to his first job and the beginning of his career as a pharmacist, we got sucked into the experience. It was more stressful than we would have thought to decided which fabrics we wanted, which design to choose, to describe what needed to be adjusted, and so on and so forth. In the end Mike got two suites and I was able to get some work pants and shirts - all of which we were extremely happy with and pleased that we had saved money despite needing to air mail all of it home.

After such a relaxing time in Hoi An it was hard for us to get excited about traveling again, especially b/c traveling north towards our next destination meant a 16 hr. overnight bus. In the end the 16 hour bus ride stretched into 22 since the bus broke down during the night - thankfully this time we were on a sleeper bus which meant we were able to stretch out our legs and lay semi-reclined (sort of like a lawn chair). The good thing about overland travel is that it allows us to view the country side. Rice paddies with cone hatted locals, colorful concrete houses with perfect vegetable gardens, and lots of coastline; overall it was a nice ride (also helped that I was reading the latest Harry Potter and ecstatic about being able to sit and read, without interruption, for hours).

Sticking to the original plans, we stepped off one bus and an hour later stepped onto another towards Halong Bay. Seeing a photo of this place during the planning phase of our trip resulted in it being a top priority for us while in Southeast Asia. The Wikipedia description aptly describes this jaw dropping landscape, " The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. " The other fascinating thing about this area are the inhabitants of the bay. Off of Cat Ba island, our base in Halong Bay , we were able to kayak through one of numerous floating fishing villages.

The village consisted of at least a hundred or more small wood houses floating atop a boarded space of about 40 ft by 40 ft. Like netted gardens in a watery lawn, many houses also had sectioned off areas for fish breeding and raising. Like a stain in a beautiful garment however, these floating houses also contained numerous large growling and barking dogs. This definitely prevented us from getting too close to any house and also further solidified my ever growing fear of these beasts. For me it is a redeeming thought to think that these dogs are mostly likely used for their meat (otherwise it really doesn't make sense for houses so small to have 3-4 German Shepherd / lab mix dogs as pets - also the Vietnamese believe it is good luck to eat dog at the end of the month). Another interesting aspect of the village was witnessing how some of the younger men/boys row makeshift boats with their feet! Now that is talent!

So far two of the three spots that we had choose to visit in Vietnam were absolute gems. We decided to push our luck by choosing to continue to the northwestern region of Vietnam where weather had reputedly been foggy, rainy and cold. Sapa, ended up being the cherry on top. Literally sitting up in the mountains, Sapa is a small touristy town surround by breath taking views of terraced mountain slopes and glimpses into traditional ethnic villages. Our first 2 days were perfect; clear, warm and sunny. We took advantage of 3 days by hiking for hours along paths that meandered through valleys with villages of the Hmong and Dao people, past terraced mountain slopes and under layers of mountain peaks. To be respectful of the local beliefs we were unable to capture many of the unique glimpses into the traditional life of these mentioned minorities - however please check out the following website for an accurate idea of what we saw. It's also a good website for many other pictures of what we experienced in Vietnam that we just don't have the skills nor the camera to capture). One of the most memorable things we saw was a 60ish Hmong man pushing a handmade wooden and cloth baby stroller, that functioned sort of like a small wheelbarrow, transporting a pantsless 1 year old toddler - adorable.

March 6th - 22nd
Vietnam