Da Lat and Nha Trang

6:45AM Friday June 1st, 2012 Hoi An, Vietnam
With each passing day I learn so much about Vietnam.  I've witnessed some of the kindest people, and some things I'd be frightened to see in the U.S.  I'm instantly aware that people here live not only in a different place, but they also live with a different mindset.  The pace of life here is slower, and you'd never see a Vietnamese person speed walking to their next destination.  It's not hard to find groups of men lounging about midday.  Hammocks are seen in droves, often providing the illusion that all people do here is nap.  I can understand this to a point as it gets dreadfully hot, and there's no means to avoid the heat other than air conditioning, which many people don't have.  The way of life is slower though, and as an American who wants to rush around, and most importantly not miss out on anything, I feel slightly out of place.
Another thing I've noticed is the differences in language.  I find it somewhat enjoyable trying to communicate with people here.  It's not always an easy task, and often it requires a lot of finesse.  Charades seems to be a game I'm constantly playing whether I like it or not.  We had a pleasant experience with our hotel manager in Nha Trang though.  She taught us some interesting phrases to repeat.  Some were useful while others were not.  We learned: bad boy (she kept asking us if we were bad boys and we all got good laughs from this), pretty girl (she was of course the pretty girl and we were the bad boys), how much does this cost, I love you, contacts, hello, goodbye, etc.  Though many of them were random I can say that the hotel manager was so helpful, and in the process of learning bits of Vietnamese I experienced a transcendent moment where both of us were connected in our experience of mutual learning.  It was truly a pleasure.  Anyways there's more to discuss from our time in Da Lat and Nha Trang.

Me at the reins of the moped.

If I recall correctly Bo and I had just returned back from the market to our hotel in Da Lat after getting lost.  The next day turned out to be much more of an adventure than that.  Of all of the smart, safe things to do in Vietnam we chose well..... not the smartest and safest thing to do.  We decided to rent mopeds and jet off into the surrounding lush mountains in search of the Elephant Waterfall.  After meeting up with a couple girls who were doing the same thing as us we grouped up into a pack.  The five of us rented 3 mopeds (automatics).  This would have been much more difficult with a manual which would have required us to understand how to use the clutch, and being the uneducated man about motor vehicles that I am this would have been insane.  Regardless I'd still never ridden a moped.  Yet with my overconfidence and habitual lying I told Bo that of course I'd ridden one before.  With this information Bo thought it best to put Marlowe on the back of my moped to leave the city and head into the countryside.  Although he had no knowledge due to my convincing lies this was most definitely a stupid thing to do.  We made it safely to the outskirts of town to get petrol (gasoline) already running on fumes as they were provided with literally just enough fuel to make it to the petrol station.  The next five hours of my life were some of the more exhilarating hours I've experienced.  Zipping through the winding roads of the mountains we laughed, cheered, and examined the sheer, unadulterated beauty around us.

This truly doesn't do that countryside around Da Lat justice.

Bo and I on the mooped.

We even did some no hands action.

Having minimal directions to reach the Elephant Waterfall we of course got extremely lost.  None of us complained as everywhere we looked was a sight to see.  The rolling hills and foliage and the open air on our faces as we raced around was enough for us.  After an hour or two of being lost we ended up in front of a strawberry stand, and we were informed we were going the wrong way, again.  Upon turning around with Marlowe on the back of the moped I got us into some sand and in an act which only an extremely inexperienced tourist would perform I managed to fall over on the bike revving the engine as far as it could go in an attempt to not get crushed by the bike or be burned.  Marlowe made it off safely as did I, but having the strawberry stand attendant and all of his local friends laugh at me was a serious injury to my overconfidence.  What can I say.  I pulled off one of the worst touristy moves.  I crashed a moped.  And I was laughed at.  Luckily those things are extremely sturdy so no harm no foul I guess.  Another hour and a half and more conversations with locals who spoke no English at all and we finally found the Elephant Waterfall having been turned around en route to the waterfall earlier.  The falls were impressive no doubt and so was the accompanying temple, but much more exciting was the act of riding through more rural areas surrounding Da Lat.

Elephant Waterfall

Temple near Elephant Waterfall.

After returning quickly and just missing the torrent of rain that was about to fall we went out to dinner with our new found friends enjoying a Vietnamese tradition, the hot pot.  These are very tasty, and I recommend that everyone try one.  They're great for groups of people to eat together.  We went to the market, had a couple of beers with a friend from Saigon named Barbara.  It seems like you can't help but run into travelers you've met before, as was the case in Nha Trang.
The next day we headed off on a bus through the mountainous region towards the beach in Nha Trang.  The bus ride out of the mountains like the bus ride in was inexplicably beautiful.  I wish any pictures did it justice. Upon arriving in Nha Trang I instantly realized that it was likely even more transformed by the influx of tourists.  We entered an internet shop to determine the location of our hotel, and after seeing the smallest time, 10 minutes, was 3,000 Vietnamese Dong we gave him 10,000 expecting change.  When he put 10 minutes on the computer and I said, "3,000" he basically threw the money back at us, walked away giving us the ultimate, 'Fuck you tourists' look.  When beaches are involved I always expect local people to be jaded, but this was a harsh introduction to Nha Trang.  Regardless we found our hotel by walking into another hotel and asking them where it was.  This is definitely not the best method.  Nha Trang it turns out is so damn hot that all anyone would want to do in their right mind is stay inside with the air conditioning blasting away.  But this was not what we did.  Instead we went off to the beach after lathering on sunscreen as if it was a requirement for stepping outside.  The beach was pretty, though the second day sediment from the nearby river made the water murky and slightly unappealing.  The first day though was great, too hot, but great.  We sat in the shade and enjoyed the water.

The beach is extremely long.

After getting some curry Bo, Marlowe, and I prepared to go out to meet other travelers.  As it turns out finishing a bottle of red wine champagne to yourself is a rough way to go about starting a night, but who knew until it was done.  A couple bars later and we found ourselves sufficiently drunk and chatting up some other travelers.  Again we ran into the girls from Da Lat and a few other people from Da Lat.  It was fun for sure, and the cheap/free drinks clearly added to our oppressing hangovers the next day.  We still managed to see Po Nagar, a temple right on the outskirts of Nha Trang.  It was here that I experienced my first American pictures, for lack of a better name.  I was walking around the Po Nagar complex when someone yelled at me, "Eh, Eh, Eh."  I looked around not sure the man was yelling at me and continued to walk.  Again the "Eh, Eh, Eh," rang out in my direction.  Before I knew what was happening the man had come up to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.  I was slightly confused at the spectacle, but quickly caught on that the man was posing.  Within 10 seconds or so a camera had been withdrawn and a picture was being taken of us.  I smiled not knowing what was happening, but always hopeful to give America a good name went along with it and made a good time of the random encounter.  This happened one other time during my walk around the complex.  On our second trip to the beach I decided it was time to buy a coconut.  I knew the price was 30,000 Dong, but I figured if I went up with 23,000 they would still take it.  I got a fresh, cold coconut for the 23,000 Dong, a little over $1, and headed off into the water to enjoy floating as I sipped on my discounted coconut.  Bo experiencing travelers woes as all do during their time abroad (it can't be avoided) provided some comedic relief as we all hoped the bus to Hoi An last night would provide us with enough stops to meet his demand for bathrooms.  I've been lucky enough to avoid this so far, but I'm sure it's looming, waiting to strike at the most inopportune moment.  

Po Nagar Temple.

The side view of one of the towers as they're called.

We had a sleeper bus last night, and I managed to get good enough sleep in my top bunk, but Bo and Marlowe both got very little as the road was extremely bumpy, and as per usual the horn blared into the night.  I woke up at one point to our bus driver texting.  Scary for sure, but what am I to do to tell him not to.  Well we arrived safely, and I was greeted by picturesque rice fields as we approached Hoi An.  One thing I've noticed is the interweaving of agriculture, an unfettered beauty, and the development of a modern economy.  It is so obvious and extremely recognizable.  Areas that were once more 'simple' are becoming 'advanced'.  Not that this is a bad thing, it's just something I've come to see over and over again.  Vietnam so far has been a land of shifting sands.  I'm not trying to be cliched, but this place has a feel of drastic opposites.  It's changing though, and this change is very evident.  Anyways I am trying to enjoy all of Vietnam for all of its wonder.  And believe me there is a lot of it.

Bo and Marlowe in their sleepers.  Clearly happy.

My view of the driver's seat from my sleeper.

Captured from our bus as we neared Hoi An.

Rice paddies are always beautiful.

Ho Chi Minh to Da Lat

Tuesday May 29^th, 2012 7:19 AM Da Lat, Vietnam

The past couple of days have made a few things clearly evident to me.  First off the road transportation in Vietnam, at least up to this point, is hectic and dangerous at best.  Travelers that I’ve met continuously quote some numbers about deaths on the roads in Vietnam each year.  Most say that something around 9,000 people die every year in moped accidents.  We even happened to witness a minor moped accident.  With how many mopeds there are on the road, and witnessing the recklessness of the bus drivers, and all of the drivers for that matter, it’s no surprise that many people are injured every year.  I watched from the back of our bus as it traveled from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat as countless mopeds were forced off of the road as we zoomed into oncoming traffic to pass someone, often just blaring on the horn and avoiding head on accidents by as little as an inch.  Here lanes mean next to nothing, and you will almost always find someone coming into oncoming traffic and just hoping for the best.  The second thing that I can say with certainty is that Vietnamese food is some of the best I’ve ever had.  Maybe the fact that a good meal is $2.5-3 is skewing my view, but the aromas of the pho that wafts from shops lining the streets, the wonderfully prepared fish, and so much more has converted me to somewhat of a fanatic.  I’d say we eat out at least two times a day, but with prices as they are I don’t feel too bad about it.  The third thing that I know is that meeting other people out traveling may be the easiest thing to do in the world.  I’ve never felt so much confidence walking up to a random group of people and knowing that I will have a great conversation with them.  Everyone has been so willing to discuss anything and everything, and all groups will welcome new people in just to find out where they’re from, what they’re doing, where they’re going, etc.  I find myself just walking up to people, intending to ask a random question or for directions, and I’m suddenly in a long conversation about someone’s travels.  Anyways the last day in Ho Chi Minh was fun, though not filled with many sites or excellent adventures as the first couple days were.  We went to get some pho, which as per usual far surpassed anything I could have ever dreamed of.  Also on a side note I may be addicted to Vietnamese coffee, but if you don’t know what I’m talking about order it on your next visit to a Vietnamese restaurant.  It’s magnificent, tasty, and strong.  After some pho we went out to buy some essentials that I didn’t have: a phone, sim card, and a SD card reader so that I can save photos on Google Docs along the way.  We made our fourth and final visit to the central market, and this time I spent some time bartering, working my way to 40% off at the very least.  The bartering is fun for the stall owners and for me, and we both get what we want out of the interaction.  I grabbed a couple trinkets and then we headed back to the hostel.  The central park, while functioning as a place of respite and relaxation for locals, could be fairly annoying as a tourist.  We knew that locals would come and practice English with us if we just sat in the park, but I don’t think we were prepared to be approached within a couple minutes.  We definitely weren’t prepared to be surrounded by 15 people.  Bo, Marlowe, and I were quickly engrossed in 3 separate conversations with groups of locals attempting to learn English.  One of the men I talked to had been teaching himself English in the park for seven months, and he had a fairly good grasp of the language though he made a point to have me write down words in his book that he hadn’t encountered, and he often mirrored my pronunciation to make sure he was speaking correctly.  It was very interesting, and we got into a discussion about ex pats who visit for young Vietnamese women (I expressed my disgust at the ex pats using their money and influence in such a sad manner), but the man hadn’t ever heard anyone speak negatively about these men and he seemed surprise at my openness.  I will say that talking with locals has been very eye opening in many ways.  Anyways we made it back to the hostel avoiding the park for our last day, and the hostel staff had prepared Vietnamese fair for the guests and arranged some games.  These games included passing and apple down a line of people using only our mouths, putting out a candle with a banana that dangled between our legs as we were blindfolded and given directions, carrying two balloons placed between two peoples’ heads and stomach and scooting along sideways being careful to not drop the balloons, and my favorite fitting a piece of spaghetti into a straw with a partner and without the use of anything but our mouths to fit them together.  Rice wine was handed out generously to the losers of each round (as punishment they had to take 3 shots of rice wine in a row), and in the final round each person got to blast baby powder on to the heads of the losers.  After that they just brought out more rice wine and all enjoyed some drinks on the house.  The group of 10 of us who had played games all went out to enjoy some ever present cheap beer.  The appeal of 50 cent beer is crazy, but we found a place that had 6,000 Vietnamese Dong beers or approximately a 30 cent draught beer.  It may have been completely terrible, but that’s the cheapest beer I’ve ever had.  After winding down around 2 AM we headed back to the hostel, and I prepared mentally to wake up in 4.5 hours.  Upon getting up promptly to get on a bus to Da Lat I found that I was sadly the first person up, even though Bo and Marlowe had retired earlier than I had.  We checked out and headed off to the bus station, not realizing that we needed to head to another bus station to catch our bus to Da Lat.  We caught the 10AM bus to Da Lat, just barely making it in time following our long journey on the public transport to the second bus station.  Our A/C was very weak on our 8 hour trip from Saigon to Da Lat, and Bo and I found ourselves sweating even still on the cooled bus.  The aforementioned craziness of the bus driver made the trip to Da Lat extremely interesting and often quite terrifying.  Once we arrived we headed into town finding a hotel quickly with a double room (enough for the three of us), booking it for $15, we went pretty much next door finding a place where they had amazing food.  Marlowe had a whole fish that literally simmered in a broth at the table above flames.  It was some of the best fish I’ve ever had.  Next Bo and I headed to the market on a mission to get mimosas which we’d been thinking of for the whole bus ride up.  Bo and I having stated that mimosas being the drink of the Gods and unlike any other would stop at nothing to find champagne and orange juice in the vastness that was the night market in Da Lat.  After 15 minutes of searching we located what was labeled Champagne, but what turned out to be sparkling red wine.  We then needed our orange juice.  This was the catalyst that led us to meet another group of travelers at the market equivalent of a food court, though food was available at almost every other stall, whom we spent the night with after I approached them inquiring about orange juice.  The market spread across a large roundabout and the streets surrounding it.  Bo and I successfully located some in a supermarket type store and then headed back down to the fellow travelers to share in our random celebration.  I popped the bottle of champagne in the market scaring both myself and everyone around me.  We then poured sparkling red wine mimosas with syrupy orange juice drinks into some beer bottles for our new found companions and sat down in the market to talk.  After our newfound friends retired to their hostel we attempted to find ours.  This proved to be much more difficult, and I found myself walking around with a third of a bottle of wine and orange juice concealed in a bag as Bo and I failed at finding the hostel.  We searched far and wide, walking up alley ways, turning this way and that, until we conceded and used the hostel card and many locals to point us in the right direction.  At one point we were right across the street from the hostel and had to get pointed in the right direction as they just laughed at us.  I guess that’s how it goes in unknown cities sometimes.

Here are some pictures from earlier to give you an idea.

Here's Ho Chi Minh as I flew in.  You can see how the houses are packed and the streets are filled with mopeds.

I find this ridiculous, but see the necessity in rule number five.

Those are the peppers that wrecked me when I ate one.

Not tasty, but also not expensive.

The cobra wine.  Supposedly it makes my sperm like Usain Bolt.

One of the games at the hostel.

And if you are the loser of the final game everyone does this to you.

In Da Lat at night, bottle in hand.

 

The Beginning

10962 Meters in the air about the Gulf of Alaska en Route from LA to Tokyo Wednesday May 23^rd, 2012 8:19 PM LA Time

I’ve been spending my time saying goodbyes to Lorien and my parents.  As I sit on this plane, an A380 (as far as I know the largest commercial jet), I’ve already been in for a treat on this journey.  I left the U.S. around 4:30 PM Pacific time on a mission to experience something amazing, and most importantly to create great stories and memories.  As I spent my time earlier today crying as I held my girlfriend I had no idea the flood of emotions that come with ending a relationship.  That was by far one of the most heart-wrenching, terrible things I’ve been through.  It’s by no means easy, and the healing takes time.  On top of this, international travel has not been easy so far.  Upon arriving in LA I found out after waiting in one of the slowest lines ever that my flight to Tokyo, which is connecting to Singapore, was overbooked.  I got what might have been the last ticket.  Hurrying through security I heard the last call for the flight blaring on the speakers.  I sprinted with my bags and my flip flops on my feet just making it to the plane.  At least I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the free drinks and food along with the free movies at my fingertips on this 11 hour flight to Tokyo.  I’ve had 2 red wines, a Singapore Sling, and a Cointreau on the rocks all for free.  Thank you Singapore Airlines.  Free movies will propel me towards Tokyo where hopefully I’ll make it on my flight to Singapore.

Unknown Time (Approximately 9:20 AM Singapore time) Singapore Friday May 25, 2012

Well I made it to Singapore.  After an 11 hour flight from LA to Tokyo and a 6 hour flight from Tokyo to Singapore I’ve arrived.  Singapore’s Changi Airport is one of, if not, the best airports I’ve been in.  It’s extremely large.  There are computers with free internet access available everywhere.  There’s a swimming pool, a butterfly garden, a koi pond, and many upscale shops like Gucci, Prada, etc.  The moving walkways start up when you walk on them and stop when you get off.  It’s been cool having a 6 hour layover here.  Next stop Ho Chi Minh City.

Saturday May 26, 2012 8:47AM Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The first day here in Vietnam was awesome.  The cars and mopeds don’t stop for crosswalks so I’ve just been crossing slowly with confidence and so far the cars have avoided me.  Just walking around I recognize that this culture is so much different than mine.  When I walked out of the airport I was assaulted by requests to be my cabbie.  I knew that $10 or 208,000 Vietnamese Dong was a reasonable price, and Bo had instructed me to just walk to the last cab and show them the address and make sure the cabbie turned on his meter.  Instead someone came up to me and sad from behind, “$10 to downtown.”  I jumped on the offer, and my cabbie turned out to be just a man with a car.  Clearly he was not associated with any cab company.  He was friendly, and surprisingly he spoke a little English and tried to talk with me the whole way and give me advice as well as tell me some Vietnamese phrases.  While I walked around yesterday once I met up with Bo and Marlowe I managed to see a man peeing in public in the middle of the day on a plant near the central park area.  That surprisingly wasn’t the only time I saw someone peeing in public as later in the night a mother helped her son undo his shorts on the side of the street in front of our chairs on the sidewalk as we were grabbing a beer.  It seems to be that peeing in the street is totally acceptable here, though I’m not gonna risk it.  In my time here so far I’ve already managed to meet a ton of other travelers.  Conversation is started with ease with fellow travelers, and it seems that everyone has something to share.  As Bo, Marlowe, and I walked around the market I decided to purchase some cobra wine (rice wine with a cobra in the bottle).  I think I’ll try it tonight.  I also got some pho from a shop near the central market.  I tried a slice of the peppers that they give with the pho, and my mouth and face became so hot and pained that it felt numbed by my body’s reaction to it.  It felt so numbed that Bo and Marlowe commented on how I wasn’t enunciating well.  After getting some food we walked around, finding a shop that sets up tiny seats on the sidewalk and sells drinks for extremely cheap though no one really strays from the 50 cent beers, even though they are terrible.  At least they’re 450 mL so they’re about 30% bigger than beers in the U.S.  Talk about a good deal, that puts 12 fl. oz. of beer at about 40 cents.  Anyways after being slightly jetlagged from my 36 hours of travel going from Denver to LA to Tokyo to Singapore to Ho Chi Minh and after 5 beers or so I was asking Bo and another traveler we were talking with to slap me to keep me awake.  There’s a lot to do and see so I think this’ll be it for now.  Oh I got to experience my first 8 person dorm last night.  That was fun too.