April 2, 2013

This morning we woke up early to go on our canyoning adventure.

We were picked up from our hotel by a lively group of 3 young Vietnamese guys. Our main guide spoke English quite well, and was pretty hilarious. He joked about how tired us westerners are in the morning - over here everyone seems to wake up at dawn, we were yawning and asking for coffee at 8:30. He joked about one of the other guys being a ladyboy. He joked about two friends being on their honeymoon. Etc, etc. It was early.

We drove about 45 minutes out of the city and into the wilderness. There were three pairs of tourists - one couple from England / US, two friends from New Zealand and Australia, and Tomas and I. We were given harnesses, life jackets, helmets. And then we had a very quick, vaguely incomprehensible lesson in how to repel down cliffs.

After practicing on some steep hills, we were "ready" to go into the canyon. I didn't feel ready.

But I survived! (I'm the one on the left.)

We landed in the water. We had been told we would get wet today - but we weren't exactly told the extent of it. Basically, we were trekking through streams and waterfalls in our shoes and clothes. That kind of wet.

At points, we had to lay down and go over the waterfalls, water slide style. Had to. Got to! After some initial trepidation (Wait, aren't there rocks? Will I get sucked under? Really? We go down backwards and head first?) it turned out to be great fun.
After some more trekking (and wading, and floating) we got to a much bigger waterfall, where we were meant to repel down the waterfall itself. It was so. Scary.

You are holding your weight on this rope and trying to walk backwards down a vertical rock face. The vertical rock face is slippery. It is also covered in water. The water is rushing over you, trying to push you down the waterfall. You cannot let go. There is water pouring into your face and your 5$ sneakers were the wrong choice but you cannot let go, you are in this, you lowered yourself into a damn waterfall and now you have to follow through.
It was exhilarating. It was incredible. When you get three meters from the bottom, you let go and fall backwards into the water. Splash! I'm alive! I did it! Holy shit!
At the bottom, our guides prepared a delicious and much needed lunch of ban mi, vietnamese sandwiches. I was too hungry to take a picture before eating. Here are the dregs...
After a satisfying lunch, when we were just about dry, it was off again through the jungle. We got to a cliff, and this time, the plan was to just jump off of it. Oh! Haha! Yeah, we just jump? Ok.
I felt less than graceful. I have never jumped off a cliff before. Not literally. It is insane how long it takes you to actually hit the water. It was such a crazy adrenaline rush, I practically ran back up to jump off again. So cool!

We floated down the stream a bit more, and got to the last repelling of the day. This one was truly nuts. From the top, you could not see at all what the cliff was like. You could hear the waterfall, but you couldn't really see it. The instructions from our guide made no sense. Yet, over we went.
Once you got far enough down, the water start hitting you so hard it makes you spin on the rope and lose your footing. The locals call it, "the washing machine".
Yep. The Washing Machine.

Afterwards, soaking and exhausted, we climbed out of the canyon for about 30 minutes. The day's only casualties were my terror, and our guide's right shoe, both left in the waterfalls, somewhere.

In the evening we went out for drinks with two of our fellow canyoners. It's amazing how fast you make friends under the right circumstances.

Tomorrow morning, we are off to Nha Trang, a coastal city with a big strip of beach. Back to relaxation mode!

Until next time,
Jessica


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Location:Dalat

April 3rd - 5th

We took an early bus to the beach city of Nha Trang. We arrived pleasantly early, in time for lunch. Though we generally opt for local food, this time we caved and had some pizzas. Melted cheese was SO satisfying. Oh man.

We quickly realized that Nha Trang is fairly touristy and a big city. Full of Russians. The menus are in vietnamese and Russian. There are russian signs everywhere. All the white people are Russian. It feels like some weird dystopia.

After lunch, we still had time to go to the beach. The beach was ok - we've been spoiled in SE Asia, and now are not easily impressed. The beach itself was nice enough, but the water was speckled with garbage which was kind of gross. Didn't swim much, but spent some time relaxing on the shore.

That night we went out for a delicious dinner at a lovely little restaurant. One of the tastiest I've had in Vietnam, but it gave me really bad food poisoning! I spent the night vomiting... and stayed home all day the next day watching tv in bed. Disappointing. But the air con and the horizontal day was much needed.

The next morning, on our third and last day in Nha Trang, we went on a boat trip for some snorkelling, swimming, and a floating bar. We were treated to a hilariously terrible musical performance, where one of the boat's crew members dress up as a lady boy and sang us some songs.



We met some really fun English boys. We tired some decent snorkelling. We jumped into the water from the top of the boat, and the crew threw everyone floating rings that we held together, creating the "floating bar". One of the boat's crew had a bigger floating ring that he could fully sit in and pour drinks - he made us some kind of vodka punch that we all drank in our floating fortress. It was pretty hilarious, and pretty random, and pretty fun.

We got back to the pier at sunset. That night, we packed up our things and got ready for an 11 hr overnight bus to Hoi An.

Overall, I kind of failed at taking pictures of Nha Trang.... But I was sick and bedridden! Hoi An is meant to be very photogenic, so if I survive the bus trip, I will be sure to take extra photos in the next few days.

Internet is sketchy again, but I will post more next time I find a decent connection!

Jessica


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Location:Nha Trang

March 30 - April 1 - Mui Ne

We left Saigon around 8 in the morning for Mui Ne, a beach retreat 5 hrs or so out of the city. The bus was the same reclining bus that we had to Saigon, which is quite pleasant! I actually enjoy our bus rides of late - they've been relatively short, and I'm super into my book (Game of Thrones, book 5).

We arrived in the late afternoon. Outside Mui Ne is a charming little fishing village.



Mui Ne itself is definitely a resort town. The whole place is one long street parallel to the ocean. Resort after resort. We drove by some very fancy places before the bus dropped us off on the cheaper end of the strip.

What I hate most about travelling these days (after months and months!) is getting off the bus. We don't book accommodation ahead, so we have to wander the new city looking for a place to stay with our backpacks and everything. We stand out like sore thumbs, and the locals hassle us, trying to get us to stay at their hotels. We are generally so brain dead and discombobulated after getting off the bus that it gets really annoying. Mui Ne was particularly hard because of the heat! Eventually we found a really basic place for $10 a night, set our bags down and went to the beach. Finally!

We spent the late afternoon on the beach, until the sun set.


We grabbed some dinner at a nearby market, and then called it a night. Bus rides are exhausting, even when they are comfortable.

The next day, we rented a moto and drove out to some sand dunes. First, there were red sand dunes.



They were INCREDIBLY hot on the feet.



Next, we drove another 20 km out to find white sand dunes. The landscape was incredible - it's called the Sahara of SE Asia.




In the distance, we spotted giant white sand dunes. Almost there!


The white dunes were bigger than the red, and walkable in bare feet.



We went sand sledding, which is more fun that it sounds.... ice sledding is far superior.




We played around in the sand.









On the way back, THIS HAPPENED. SO RIDICULOUS! Hahaha.



Yeah, I rode an ostrich. It was SO MUCH FUN. I couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Actually it was far more comfortable than riding a horse. Like riding on a feather pillow.... Though the bird itself was a bit terrifying.

We got back to town just on time to catch the sunset.



We had a lovely dinner, and then spent the rest of the night relaxing, interneting, and planning our trip onwards.

Today we got on another bus, bound for Dalat. It was not a sleeper bus. It was not a tour bus. it was a tiny, tiny, inhumane hot little bus that took us on very winding roads through the mountains for 4.5 hrs.

But finally, we arrived in Dalat.



So far, i love it here. It's high enough in the mountains that the air is actually COOL. What a relief after a month of 30+ weather! I am wearing jeans right now for the first time in months, and it feels great.

This evening we wandered around a bit, had dinner, and booked an activity for tomorrow... We are going "canyoning". Basically, we are being taken to some cliffs, tied to some ropes, and told to climb down. I'm terrified. The last one of the day is not only a cliff.... But a WATERFALL. We will be repelling down waterfalls. I think it's pretty crazy, and booking this tour may have been a serious lapse in judgment. I guess we'll see tomorrow!

Wish me luck.

Jessica


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March 29 - Saigon

The passed few days have been a bit of a blur! First, we took a 2.5 hr ferry ride from Phu Quoc Island to back to the mainland. The boat had a pretty great name...



Next, we had a 6 hr bus ride to Ho Chi Min City. We got on the bus, and were pleasantly surprised to see it was a sleeping bus of sorts. Much better than the Cambodian ones. A little weird, but pretty comfortable once you get used to it! Unfortunately, in Vietnam they like to play terrible music videos the whole time, and the volume was too high to sleep. Can't win 'em all.



We finally arrived in Ho Chi Min in the late afternoon, and headed to the backpacking district downtown in District 1. It has tiny, narrow alleyways jam packed with tiny hotels and guesthouses. We found a hotel room for 16$, dropped off our bags and went to have a beer. The alleyways open up to a normal sized street, which in the evenings is converted to a street bar of sorts... The road stays open, with scooters and cars driving through constantly, but little hole-in-the-wall places put out plastic chairs on the sidewalk and into the street. Beer is bout 50 cents... Very little overhead cost, I guess.


We hung out and met some cool people from Germany, South Africa, Denmark, and even Montreal! Ended up staying late into the night.

The next morning (ok...afternoon) we went to the War Remnants Museum. It was pretty heavy. The museum mostly consists of 4 stories, each wih of rooms full of photographs. Some are well known, were featured in Time magazine and such. Others were terribly graphic and I'd never seen them before. For example, this one really got to me. It's a picture of 4 US soldiers posing with 2 decapitated vietnamese men.



The caption reads, "The above picture shows exactly what the brass want you to do in the Nam. The reason for printing this picture is not to put down G.I.'s but rather to illustrate the fact that the Army can really fuck over your mind if you let it. It's up to you, you can put in your time just trying to make it back in one piece or you can become a psycho like the Lifer (E-6) in the picture who really digs this kind of shit. It's your choice."

There was also some crazy propaganda posters. This one features Nixon riding a B-52 bomber, waving a nazi flag...?


There were rooms dedicated to the effects of agent orange and dioxin, which were incredibly difficult. I had to leave after awhile actually, it was just too much.

Outside of the building were American planes, tanks, boats, etc. I wasn't sure how I felt about them after seeing all the destruction inside.



We left the museum feeling pretty solemn. But in the streets of Saigon, the action never stops. Dodging scooters quickly took our minds off things. Definitely the kind of place that only has room for here and now - gotta stay focused.



We went to a market near the river and had some noodle soup, and decide to go up the Bitexo Financial Tower, by far the tallest building, and watch the sunset. It was beauuutiful.

I ordered a Saigon fizz. It was delicious.



We met a couple from Alaska who are bicycling through Cambodia and Vietnam for 3 months or something. They were totally great and we got along quite well. We all went out for dinner afterwards, and then back to the street bar for another crazy, fun night. We are paying for it today - my activities today were limited to eating a cheeseburger in my hotel bed. This evening we did go out and have some great pho, but now we are back "home" again, packing up our stuff and enjoying the air conditioning. Tomorrow morning, we leave on a 6 hr bus ride to Miu Nee. Back to the seaside!

Until next time,
Jessica

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March 26 - Vietnam

Today we rented scooters again, and toured the island!....ok so actually we meant to go to a beautiful beach, like the one we found yesterday:



(Don't let this woman's outfit fool you - It was about +35, and she was selling ice cream out of that cooler.)

Alas, today we got incredibly lost. We ended up just riding around for a few hours, which was fun in it's own right! Most of the island is red dirt road.



A lot of this island is under construction - it's in the midst of massive development. Made for some scary motoring...



Then certain areas were long stretches of paved highway, where we could really let loose! And try not to drop my iPhone from a moving scooter!...


After a long day of riding around, we came back to town for a final dinner at the delicious food market. The market consists of about a dozen virtually identical outdoor restaurants with plastic chairs lining the street, and each one has a crazy selection of seafood. Check out those crazy lobsters!



We had oysters yesterday that were probably the best I've ever had.


We've tried the scallops, clams, oysters, sea snails, fish, and other tasties I couldn't identify that were shared from nearby tables, heaping with too many crustaceans. Generally, there has been at least one table each night of vietnamese men getting pretty drunk off local liquor that they bring in old water bottles. They do shots every five minutes, toasting to everything under the sun (between cracking open a giant prawn or a crab leg). Things get pretty rowdy, but at least they like to share!

Anyway, despite the passed two days of scootering around and adventurous eating, I remain safe and sound, healthy and happy. I better sign off now - tomorrow we are embarking on an early morning taxi/boat/bus saga to Ho Chi Min City! (I have to make an effort not to call it "Saigon", mostly because otherwise I start singing Ms Saigon lyrics.) We haven't planned a thing there, and I really don't know what to expect or what we will do. So stay tuned.

Cheers,
Jessica

Location:Phu Quoc

March 25 - back in the game.

So far in Vietnam, Internet has been great. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to reinstate my travel blog!

My last post was early February, and since then I've been a bit all over the place. Quick rundown:

Since enjoying the southern islands of Thailand, I've been back to Bangkok, then to Lophuri to see a gaggle on monkeys (not sure of the technical term, but i'm deeming this either a "troop" or a "gaggle", they were just hilarious).



Then we took an overnight train to Chiang Mai.



Then a slow boat along the Mekong to Luang Prabang in Laos.



Laos was absolutely beautiful! We spent about two weeks travelling Laos.


then moved into Cambodia.

In Cambodia, we started with Siem Reap, and saw the temples of Angkor Wat (and surrounding, less touristy temples).



Then we went to the southern coast of Cambodia and spent a week relaxing on the beaches.





Next, we visted Phnom Phen and toured the Killing Fields and the S-21 prison, which was a moving and harrowing experience. An Israeli guy we were with said it was much more intense that even the comparatively sanitized holocaust memorials in Europe. It was just incredibly raw.



There were human skulls piled high.


Chains and blood stains left on the floor of tiny prison cell.



There were instruments of torture just right out on the floor rather than in a glass case or something as it would be in a western museum. When we were walking through the killing fields, there were large pieces of human bone littering the grass, as many of the mass graves have not been dug up and when it rains bones and such float up to the surface. It was very intense. I shudder just thinking about it.

Whoa. Ok, so, after that, we went to a sleepy, relaxed oceanside town in Cambodia called Kep. There were still reminders of the Khmer Rouge - the town had once been a sea side resort for affluent Cambodians and French nationals, and there were skeletal remains of burned out French villas shattered along the seashore. But there were also lively Cambodian families picnicking along the ocean, and the seafood we ate at a restaurant on bamboo stills over the ocean rivals any I've ever had! Here's my buddy Tomas enjoying the tasty fare.



Yesterday, we left Cambodia and moved into vietnam. Today, we rented scooters and rode for over an hour down a red gravel road along the coast to a beautiful secluded beach where we spent the afternoon. I love scootering!



It is actually pretty dangerous, I know, but with locals breezing past me on scooters loaded with mom, dad, baby 1 and baby 2.... I can't help but try! I love that the south East Asian "family vehicle" is a scooter, and we in the west feel we need SUVs or minivans... I am trying to hard to get a good family scooter photo, but honestly, they move so fast!!

Anyway, hopefully I can keep this up again. I will be spending the next three weeks or so making my way up the coast of Vietnam. Hopefully Internet works around here!

Cheers,
Jessica


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Location:Cambodia, and Vietnam.

February 7 - scooter drama and bootle beach

After staying up late last night, we had a bit of a sleep in today. When i finally woke up, I had a delicious pad thai for breakfast. (Pad thai is such a good hangover cure 😉)

Next, we had to return the scooters. Karyn's got a bit scratched up in the fall, and so we were all nervous having heard crazy stories about scooter renter's charging exorbitant amounts for nominal damage. Sure enough, the guy tried to charge us 24,000 baht, which is about $800 dollars. To rent the scooter is 150 baht... So I guess we know where they make their money! The damage was only surface scratches, but the guy was really scary. He was covered in tattoos, including a large nazi tattoo with a swastika and an eagle on his bicep... He started yelling at us when we refused to pay, and things got pretty heated! He had our passports though, so we were kind of stuck. Karyn eventually went to the police, and even they wouldn't go near the guy because apparently he is involved in the thai mafia and had pull a gun on a police officer? Anyway.... Eventually he cut the price to 16,000 baht, and we got our passports. Still, a bit of an ordeal.

While Karyn, Tomas and Josh were dealing with the police, etc, Artus and I decided to go to Bottle Beach and get settled in (five of us in taxis to and from the station, with Karyn having to keep her leg straight, was pretty impossible). We tried to get a water taxi, but the price was higher since we were only two. So Artus ran around the bay convincing people to go to Bottle Beach until we had 6 passengers, and the water taxi driver was so impressed with the industrious German that he let the two of us ride for free! Yay Germany!

Bottle Beach was a perfect respite from the ordeals of the passed few days. So calm, so relaxing.






We each had our own beach side bungalow. They were very "rustic" (read: cheap)! At least there was mosquito netting. Though mine had holes, patched up with band-aids... but you can't beat the view!






Hours later, Artus and I started feeling bad about having left the others in town, and we worried that they weren't going to come after all. With Karyn's injury, getting in and out of the water taxi would not be easy - she can't bend her knee nor get her leg wet. Finally, they arrived, though the boys were a bit angry with us for leaving them, with all their luggage, to carry Karyn onto the boat. They had had a really awkward time of it getting her in, with one holding her legs, one her arms, etc. So Artus and I ran into the water to meet them, and I carried a bunch of backpacks to shore (bikini-clad, no less) while Artus picked up Karyn like a damsel in distress and carried her to shore. The other two boys were aghast at the ease with which he lifted her. Another point for Germany!

Finally we could all sit together and relax on bottle beach.



Karyn could put her leg up.


We lingered into the evening.



After dinner, we played pool with the hotel staff and had a few beers. Before bed, I went for a midnight swim in the ocean. It felt great.

The next few days we will be hanging around here, letting Karyn recoup, and soaking in one of Thailand's relaxing beaches. Not a bad place to rest up for a few days!

Cheers!

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