Hoi An's Charming Vietnamese Architecture

We took an overnight sleeper bus to Hoi An to relax in the French colonial ambience of the once bustling port city before slipping (not so gracefully as you will soon find out) into Laos. The buildings and views in this touristy city were marvellous as was the food. Here we indulged in some of our favourite Vietnamese food that we encountered on our trip. The fish wrapped in banana leaf was to die for!

It was so peaceful walking the markets and shops near the canal in the misty rain of early morning. Shopkeepers made their routine morning offerings and women in traditional straw hats floated on by as wedding photos tried to capture the moment that could as well happened a hundred years before.

Visiting the Cham Ruins and a Secluded Waterfal Outside of Nha Trang‏

After spending the morning on Monkey Island, we hopped back on the motorcycles and were off to a secluded waterfall. It took us awhile to reach the destination located way up in the mountainous jungle. We scooted past rural farms and its people on the way. We traveled quite a ways off the main highway, before getting off the motorcycles and hiking the rest of the way. A long slender black snake slithered out from the path to the excitement of our guide. He reassured us that it was a sign of good luck... Lucky Us!

We broke through a clearing in the forest and were in awe of the flowing turquoise falls. The guide left after telling us to hike back down in a few hours. Deep in the forest it was quite hot, much hotter than the costal temperature and with this little paradise to ourselves we spent the next few hours swimming and climbing about in the waters. Actually, we were quite lucky indeed as no tourist seemed to make their way to our privet falls. Hours later we managed to narrowly avert a charge of public indecency, as we were almost caught changing out of our swimwear! Close call!

After a few hours at the falls we got dropped off at the Cham Ruins in Nha Trang. The architecture of these structures was markedly different than anything we had encountered thus far in Vietnam. Even today these grounds are still used by the Cham minority in Vietnam. We managed to first take in a few modest Cham traditional dances such as the jar dance pictured here. The beauty and mystery of these dances were only augmented by the backdrop of the crumbling, but still active, brick temples and the sound of live Cham music played by rugged men on instruments much older than them. The spectacle seemed to bring one back to the rule of the Champa empire.

The temples were as active as ever as old Cham ladies in traditional garb mumbled chats and recited verses that reverberated an undeniable peacefulness among all those within earshot. As the scent of incense consumed us, we walked into the main hall where cult gods of Yan Po Nagar, idols of the female and male genitalia, and the Hindu God Shiva were given their respects. The faithful's prayers echoed deep within the high brick interior of the main hall and their rhythmic, wavy hand motions and bowing was an experience we will soon not forget.

Monkey Island: Adventures With A Shit Load Of Wild Vietnamese Monkeys

From nonchalantly sipping Vietnamese iced coffee on a patio while listening to the waves crash against the shore to the faint sound of the Beach Boys in Mui Ne, we travelled north to the most famous resort beach town in Vietnam, Nha Trang.

When we got there we were a bit surprised by the cool temperatures. Mui Ne was a bit windy and cool but we were warned in advance about that. We were happy that we got a good four days on glorious Phu Quoc Island.

Actually, the beach wasn't the real reason we came to Nha Trang anyways. We really looked forward to exploring the surrounding attractions. We were especially curious of a little island ever so bluntly named "Monkey Island".

So once again we found ourselves on the back of a motorbikes ripping down busy city centres then costal roads. Soon we came to a small dock, boarded a local ferry which was just a wood boat a bit bigger then the local fishing boats with a big diesel engine out back, and made our way to Monkey Island.

The journey on the boat was only maybe twenty minutes but it was made quite memorable by the vast scenery of many rocky islands that each looked like mountains jutting out of the sea. These small mountain islands shared our glances with the traditional, handmade wood and string nets and fishing traps. The wind was quite strong that morning as it shook the boat quite violently from side to side. The waves were large and flanked the blue painted sides of the boat, spraying us with a thin mist from the sea. On occasion a wave would even make it on board soaking all those in it's path. All of this only added to the sense of adventure as we loudly putt-putted to a small island that supposedly has a community of about 1000 wild monkeys calling it home (I wonder if the monkeys named the island?).

When we pulled up to the island and docked there were a few rundown, old buildings and a few new wood cabanas. We marched off the pier and were free to explore the island at will.

There was a strange dog circus in a building in the center of the island filled with an attentive Vietnamese audience that caught our eyes for only a few seconds before making a B-line to the rocky mountainous side of the island- the place we thought wild monkeys would like to chill.

Before we got too far we were approached by a man who warned us of the dangers of such wild monkeys. He also explained the technique of feeding the monkeys by hand in such a way that they wouldn't bite or attach you. While the man was giving us the crash course in wild monkey safety, a few monkeys started to approach. In the distance we could see many, many more.

We confronted the cute little monkeys cautiously as they slowly skipped toward us. We carefully fed them bread by hand then made our way to a clearing in the trees.

As we walked through the clearing we were met by hundreds of stares. We felt quite intimidated by such a sight. The gang of monkeys were clearly in charge as they circled us looking just a reluctant as we were.

So slowly we reached for the pieces of bread in our pockets and held out the food in outstretched hands. The mounting tension was broken as their small monkey hands accepted our offering of peace.

A few interesting observations from our time with the monkeys:

Sometimes monkeys fight for food. It's a little freaky but hilarious to watch.

Sometimes monkeys reach into your pockets. This happened to us but luckily they couldn't get their sneaky monkey hands on anything important.

Sometimes monkeys shriek loudly then climb up your leg. This happened to both of us and scared the shit right out of us!

Sometimes monkeys eat batteries. STUPID TOURISTS! We may just have saved this poor monkeys life by swapping him a delicious AA for some bread!

Mui Ne and A Bunch of Sand Dunes

Four days of pure heaven elapsed in a blink of an eye and it was time for us to move on. Next destination was the small town of Mui Ne.

Mui Ne is know for its chill atmosphere and its wondrous sand dunes. We took the opportunity to arrange a motorcycle tour from "Bi" Hoang Quoc Phung, a recommendation from our friend we taught with in Korea, Jaclyn. He was the shit, if you are in Mui Ne give him a call (091 957 2477).

'Bi' and his friend drove us all around on the back of their motorcycles. First we checked out the small fishing village and some windy beaches. Then we hit up more sand dunes than anyone could possibly want to see.

As we walked across them, we could swear that we were walking in the middle of a dessert. White sand dunes, Red sand dunes, Yellow sand dunes, so many sandy sand dunes!

It was a lot of fun but at the end of the day we were ready to not see a sand dune for the rest of our lives!

Bliss On Phu Quoc Island

After our happenings on the Mekong we deiced to take a trip to paradise. The phallicly named Phu Quoc Island was where we headed. Escaping one of the biggest scams we've stumbled into thus far, and Alissa throwing up all over the dirtily named "SUPERDONG" speed ferryboat, we finally arrived on the island!

We did nothing but relax on the near empty tropical whitish-orange sand beach that seemed to stretch on for miles. This is how we spent four fabulous days.

Shots From Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam: Solo Adventures On The Mekong

Internet is almost unbearably snail here in Southeast Asia (we're talking mid 1990s speeds)! Consequently, we have only done the minimal of online work. Now we're in Laos. But I wish to tell a tale of one of our adventures on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

So as you read before we decided to take on the Mekong solo. The following is an account of our mis-misadventures.

We hopped on the back of motorbikes that scooted us to the public bus station. This in itself was a adventure in and of itself in a city that has more registered motorbikes then any city in the world!

From there we boarded a public bus and was instantly greeted with coy smiles and modest nods of approval by the common folk of Saigon. Sellers of fresh loaves of bread pushed their way onto the eary 1980s ear bus that was adorned with small patches of rust and coated with a patchwork of white paints that boar signs of coarse-bristled paint brushes barely visible under the thin layer of dust that covered it. The bread sellers, usually of the stereotypical Vietnamese variety- old, toothless, with their faces shaded in the conical weave of rice farmers hats, sold bread and everyone (I mean it EVERYONE) on the bus purchased at least one loaf. Alissa and I, although full, gradually collapsed under peer pressure (cultural pressure???) and purchased a few loaves. The locals smiles now beamed with the ultimate acceptance and approval.

We took that bus to a small city, Mytho, near the mouth of the Mekong. From this touristy city we hired a local lady to take us around to the small islands nearby on a rickety wood boat. Traveling down the small tropical canals of the Mekong, were truly surreal. With the tropical vegetation almost engulfing our small wood boat, we felt that at any given moment the Viet Cong would pop out of the shady foliage with guns pointed to kill. It was a scene right out of Apocalypse Now!

After visiting a few islands, we decided to spend the night on one. There was a small run down hotel located on this extraordinarily small tropical island. There was something odd about this island but we couldn't quite pin it down. Either way it was cheap, secluded and quiet.

The sun soon set as we unpacked our stuff for the night. As we walked the hotel grounds we discovered why it was so quiet, we were perhaps the only ones staying in this hotel. And as the darkness descended upon night, the few families on the island disappeared, and the creepy crawlies and other animals of the night seemed to take over.

Rats emerged and crawled freely about darted past our every stride, geckos and lizards scampered across our walls, and crocodiles splashed about in nearby waters. We were a bit freaked but with the whole island shut down for the night we were stuck.

Unable to sleep we, decided to roam the hotel. We stumbled upon dusty show room that explained the history of this hotel and the island. As it goes, this island was once home to a man named the Coconut Monk. The French Collage educated Coconut Monk left his wealthy family and pursued a meditative life surviving off only coconut milk for 3 years. He believed in the peace of all creatures and pressured the Vietnamese government to unite peacefully during the war. He had quite the following and built a temple. As it turns out the current ground of the hotel we now stayed at is the lodging for his past followers. Consequently, this hotel now displays the his wacky Apollo Space shuttle Pagoda among other architectural bazzarities.

In the corner of the show room we saw a picture of the Coconut Monk with many cats and rats on his lap. The write-up under the picture explains that "if he could teach rats and cats to be friends so could the world achieve peace"... well that explains everything!!!

Our Plan Is... There Is No Plan!

We have been drinking $1.50 beers at a pub for the last three hours feeling well, a little bored or at the very least in a state of deep irresponsible state of relaxation.

After nearly getting hit by motorcycles since early this morning and doing a pretty concise walking tour of Ol' Ho Chi Minh where old French architecure seems to be the forte, we are now just kickin' it. Maybe it's the Bryan Adams and Anne Murray that seems to be in constant rotation here at this pub, but we're feeling pretty squirly.

It takes a lot to jump from busy but fairly easygoing 10 hour work days in Korea, to a lifesytle of no plans, no work, and, consquently, no thought.

So we decided to create a little adventure for ourselves...

Tomorrow we have vowed to make the two hour trip Southwest to the Mekong Delta by ourselves forgoing the cheaper but excessively cheesier 'tour package' for the much more unpredicable self excursion. Then it's on to the serene but phallically named Phu Quoc Island.

Stay tuned... ahhh.. no more Anne Murray.... EEEE...

ABBA!!!

We're in Ho Chi Mihn!

That's right. Say good bye to Kimchi Jeagae and hello to fresh rolls and pho noodles.