My bike rides...

We arrived in Hue to the Google Hotel, which we had previously booked online, at 5pm- just in time for the free beer happy hour! The google hotel was really great- friendly staff and lots of cool other travelers to meet and hang out with. After having a few beers we took the 5 minute walk down to the river looking for dinner. We walked through the market to the restaurants and settled down for our seafood feast. We ordered clams, shrimps, rice, fish and a few beers; all for $13. The food was so good and fresh! Perfect first impression of Hue. 

We headed back towards our hotel and ended up at a street bar close to Google. This is where we met Ing Ahn, the young girl who worked at the restaurant there. Since Conor and I were the only people there, she sat with us for a while. Ing Ahn was awesome. She is studying English at university and she spoke so well. We talked for a while, she showed us pictures from her brothers wedding. We ended up back there the following night, just to hang out with Ing Ahn again. 

The following day we rented bikes from our hotel for 30,000 Vietnamese dong (1.50$). We rode around town to the ruins of the citadel with two friends from our hostel. It was nice to ride around and see the town for a little. We walked around inside the citadel and saw some old palaces. The buildings were from the Japanese rule in Vietnam. It was beautiful but it was so so sweltering hot. After a few hours we decided to find some shade and grab some lunch. We chose a restaurant on the river and were the only people there. The waitress gave us what appeared to be the "foreigner" menu. All of us had been in Vietnam long enough we felt confident ordering off the local menu AND the prices were cheaper. We all headed back to Google to relax in the air conditioning for a bit before happy hour time!

The next day Conor and I rented bikes again. It really was so great to just cruise around and see the town that way. The traffic wasn't as bad as other places and in Hue there weren't too many specific places we were dying to see so getting lost on a bike was perfect. Our first stop was at a cafe on the river. We've both enjoyed the local coffees in Vietnam, so we sat and had two each. We continued to ride around for a while looking for good street food for lunch. We ended up at a place close to our hotel. I got stir fried noodles with veggies and Conor got soup- yum yum!

That night we had a wonderful dinner with an Australian and English couple. We met the Australians at our hotel a few nights before. Paula and Chris were traveling for a few weeks in Vietnam. They were great and easy to talk too. That night they planned to meet up with Amelia and Andy to bring them to the river for seafood. Conor and I decided to join them for another great feast. It was really fun- great food, great conversation!  We all headed back to Google for a few more fresh beers for dessert. There we met some girls from Canada who were also really cool. Our hotel was really fun this way, everyone just hanging out getting to know each other. 

Our final day in Hue we went for a bike ride once again. Like the days before we rode and stopped at different places for drinks and snacks. One cafe we found was surrounded by lily pads! After a few hours we headed back to figure out our bill at the hotel. We were taking the night bus to Hanoi and wanted to relax for a bit before. After having a drink with Paula and Chris our bus arrived. A few people from our hotel were also taking the bus, which was nice to have some friends to go with. 

Hue was really fun, chill and relaxing. We met a lot of good people there, ate some really good food and just got to relax. Another place I can't wait to go back too!

My love affair...

Don't tell Conor, but I just had an affair. I fell in love with Hoi An. I'm not sure if it was the cute streets, the friendly people, the beach, or the food. Something about this place just made me feel good, happy and peaceful (not that I haven't felt that way this whole trip). We stayed for 4 nights and I was sad to go. 

From Nha Trang we took an overnight sleeper bus. I've actually started looking forward to sleeping bus rides over day rides. It's more comfortable and easier to get a little bit of sleep in. We left at 7:30pm and arrived in Hoi An at 7:30am the following day. Thanks to Conor's map skills, he was able to navigate us through streets and alleys to our hotel- Hoa Binh. 

We were exhausted after a half sleep from the night before. So after grabbing something to eat we took a 3 hour 'nap'. When we woke up we explored the town for a bit before settling down for some dinner. Originally we were attempting to find a Banh Mi (sandwich) stand that we had seen on Anthony Bourdain's show. We ended up eating shrimp pancakes in a food court of a market. The kind people there showed us how to roll our pancakes up in rice paper and what sauces to use. Vietnamese people always seem to look out for you, especially when it comes how to eat and enjoy your food. 

We FINALLY ate Indian food. I have been craving it and Conor was ready too. After an amazing feast, we stopped for a drink on our way  back to the hotel. We ended up meeting a young Canadian couple and just hung out with them for the rest of the night. They were great. We all had a shot of "snake wine", which is basically alcohol fermenting in a jug filled with snakes- don't worry, I took a picture. 

The next day we rented bikes for a dollar and took a 15 minute ride to An Bang, a nearby beach. It was a beautiful ride through some rice fields- we ended up going back 3 days in a row. At the end of each day when we returned our bikes, the bike lady would say "see you tomorrow", with a big smile.  

The beach has about 6 restaurants and you basically just choose a chair to sit in which is in front of the restaurant. The chairs are free; but if you do eat lunch, you're expected to eat at the restaurant providing your chair.  One day for lunch we had a seafood extravaganza! We shared clams in tamarind sauce, grilled shrimps, steamed fish and morning glory (basically spinach). It was all delicious, even for Conor, who isn't the biggest lover of seafood. The lady who worked at the restaurant brought us a special pepper/lime sauce for the shrimp. Again, Vietnamese people really want you to enjoy your food. The beach was so relaxing and a perfect way to spend the hot hot days. 

Hoi An is very famous for all the tailor shops that line the streets. It was hard to choose which shop we wanted to buy from. On tripadvisor we found a place with good reviews and went there. Conor got a suit made. I went a little nuts and got basically a new wardrobe. It was so fun choosing styles and fabrics, I just couldn't stop myself. And everything is custom to fit my body- especially great for the 4 dresses I had made! The women at the tailor shop were so kind to us- giving is water, not being grossed out by our profuse sweating. Overall it was a great time. 

At night we just walked around stopping in different places for appetizers and others for dinner. A wonderful thing in Vietnam is the "fresh beer". It's a draft beer that is brewed here and delivered to restaurants each day. And for whatever reason, it is about 25 cents for a glass. The beer is good too! We also found a self service ice cream place. It had any flavor and any topping you could think of.  There were celebrations going on at night for Buddha's birthday. Beautiful lanterns, lights, music and parades were happening. There is a river that runs through the city that was just lit up with floating lanterns. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out good. 

The highlight of Hoi An was the walking food tour we did our last morning there. A retired Australian man and his wife run this tour. He takes you through markets and backstreets to taste the "real" Hoi An. After, he takes you to two different tasting rooms to try over 40 Vietnamese dishes. It was amazing. I got to try so many things I wouldn't have ever though to try before. My only wish is that we had done this tour earlier so we could've gone back to some of these places! We heard of this tour from the Canadian couple we had met, and even extended our Hoi An stay a little to be able to do the tour. Neville, the man who ran the tour, was so kind and passionate. I was so glad we got to experience all of the foods he showed us. 

Hoi An was a perfect balance of beach and city. It's hard to explain in words why I loved it there so much. Like I said before, just the feelings I had being there were so good and positive. I can't wait to go back and continue to build my wardrobe, try more foods and ride to An Bang again. I love you Hoi An, never change!

My vacation...

Now I know it's not really fair to title any of my blogs as a "vacation" because I've been on a 3 month vacation this whole time. But traveling can be exhausting and stressful. So every once in a while its nice to have no plans somewhere. 

Nha Trang is a beautiful beach town. Like Mui Ne, it kind of reminded me of a resort place back home. Although Nha Trang felt less cheesy than Mui Ne. For some reason, it is a very popular vacation spot for Russians. One day a man asked me what time it was in Russian. 

We didn't do much for our few days here. Which was exactly what I wanted. We found a brewery restaurant on the beach and posted up there for 3 days. They have beach chairs, which you have to rent of course, but for $2 a day it was worth it. 

We lounged, read, went swimming and of course ate (and drank deliciously brewed beers). The restaurant had an extensive sushi menu, so we had a fancy sushi beach picnic one day. 

Really not much happened the past few days, in a good way. I think we both were happy to just chill out of a little. After a few days, we took another sleeper bus to Hoi An.

My spring time...

After a not so fun, cramped, 6:30am bus ride from Mui Ne we arrived in Dalat. Dalat is a cute little city up in the mountains of Vietnam. The weather is 20 degrees cooler (hence the title). It was refreshing and we immediately knew we would like it.

Once again, Conor's research paid off and he found us an amazing hotel. Dreams Hotel is located in the center of town. It's owned by a sweet older Vietnamese woman and her husband. Our room was so nice. The hotel has a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. Also, the family style breakfast every morning was so good. This was one of the best hotels we've stayed at so far. 

Our main reason for visiting Dalat was to do a canyoning tour. So once we were settled in, we signed up for a tour the next day. We explored the little town for a bit and ate lunch at a cute art cafe. The owner of the restaurant is a finger paint artist (which sounds weird), but he painted us a small picture before we left. It was interesting and really good! 

The following day was our adventure day. Since it is low season for tourists, Conor and I lucked out and were the only people on our tour. We got picked up and drove up a little farther into the mountains. We did a few practices of abseiling before hiking a bit to the waterfalls we were going to repel from. It was so fun and not too scary! We repelled from 3 or 4 waterfalls, some more dry than others. Also, we went down "natural" water slides which are just rocks you can slide down. It was so fun, and for some reason I found it hysterical. I couldn't stop laughing. We jumped off some cliffs, which was the scariest part. This was such an awesome experience that I would've never done in any other circumstances. Just another reminder of how lucky Conor and I are for all these new experiences!

That night we ate some delicious street Pho for about $1. It's always better on the street than in a restaurant. We found a great bakery that sold home made chocolates. Obviously we bought an embarrassing amount and ate it all (and went back the following night for more). Another exhausting day and another night early to bed. 

On our final full day in Dalat we went to go for a ride in a cable car. We got to see some beautiful views. At the top of the ride is a beautiful pagoda with beautiful gardens. Afterwards, we walked around a lake and took a paddle boat out for a little. It started thundering so we headed back to our hotel area. We had a good lunch, and got stuck inside the restaurant for a while due to the heavy downpour. 

That night we met the grand kids of the woman who owns the hotel. They were so adorable and entertained us for a while. They have learned English just from their grandmother. At 4 years old, the girl was basically fluent (as fluent as a 4 year old could be) and her 2 year old brother was not far behind. Seeing them made me miss my students in Korea!

After another great breakfast it was time to say goodbye to Dalat. The people here were so nice and kind to us, we were sad to leave. But we are off to Nha Trang, back to hot weather and beaches. 

My windy beach...

Conor and I left Saigon bright and early on May 13. We ended up taking another sleeper bus, but during the day not at night. This one was much nicer than our original sleeper bus, and the beds were separated. Honestly, I enjoyed it much more than traveling by a regular bus. I could lie down and get comfy and actually sleep. 

We arrived in Mui Ne that afternoon. Mui Ne is a beach town that's full of resorts. It kind of reminded me of Florida or somewhere else in the States. I didn't feel like I was in Vietnam. The biggest thing to do in Mui Ne is kite surfing. Basically you're surfing while holding a kite. Conor and I had no interest in trying this, especially since the water was rough due to the strong winds. 

We chose a place we wanted to stay and they ended up being full for that night. However, we booked a room there for the next night and stayed down the street. We laid out in beach chairs provided by our hotel for a while. That night we walked around the town for a bit. We ate not so good Mexican nachos, but then a good Vietnamese dinner down the road. We were exhausted and went to bed nice and early. 

The next morning we moved our stuff into the Mui Ne Backpackers hotel, which is where we wanted to stay originally. This place was so nice, owned by an Australian man and his Vietnamese wife. The girl running the front desk was actually from Massachusetts and had just worked teaching in South Korea too (small world). That morning we relaxed on the beach and even ventured into the rough warm waters for a bit. In order to get into the water you walk down steps from hotel. The tide is so high you can't even see the sand. It's so windy by the beach so you don't feel too hot. It was nice and relaxing. 

That afternoon we booked a small tour through our hotel. Basically you just pay for a guy in a jeep to drive you around to the touristy spots in town. We went to fairy springs, which was a beautiful walk through nature. You walk through a small stream of warm water. The orange sand surrounds you. It kind of looks like the Grand Canyon (or what I image the color of the Grand Canyon being). Next we saw fisherman's village. Which is just a lookout point of all the fishing boats in the water. Finally we went to the sand dunes. It was nice to walk around for a while and get to see some different parts of town. I know Conor agrees with me when I say my pictures don't do it justice. These spots were quite beautiful. 

We had a nice dinner that night. I ate barracuda which was so delicious! Conor had home made pasta which he gladly (?) shared with me. We were off to bed early again this night. Exhausted from a day in the sun and we were leaving for Dalat the next day at 6:30am. 

My beginning of the end...

By the time we left Cambodia I was ready. We had heard so many great things about Vietnam I was anxious to get there. Although it was a little bittersweet because Vietnam feels like the end of our trip, I was mostly excited. We got our visas for Vietnam while we were still in Cambodia. Basically, you pay a travel agent $60 to take your passport and get the visa for you, then you pick it up the next day. Very easy!

We rode the bus, stopped at the Cambodia border to get stamped out. A few feet later at the Vietnam border we waited in a mosh pit of people for our names to be called. Once called, you walk through a mini airport security type thing, scan your bag and then you're in Vietnam. 

Conor and I are traveling from southern to northern Vietnam. Our first stop was Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City). The names are interchangeable. I'm going to stick with Saigon because it's faster to type. 

When we first got into Saigon is started pouring rain. Vietnam is beginning their rainy season now. It's not too bad, it rains really hard for an hour and then it stops. The rain was letting up when we got dropped off in Pham Ngu Lao, the popular backpacker section. We walked down an alley and got approached by a guy in front of his hotel. He showed us a room- great, clean, air conditioner, $16- sold. Our hotel turned out to be awesome. The staff was so nice, the guy gave us a detailed map with places to go in town. They even gave us orange soda.  Thanh Thuong hotel, I love you. 

Conor and I walked around for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We saw markets, the Opera house, went to a fancy happy hour. After a while we went back towards our street for dinner. We decided to eat at this tiny "restaurant" on the street. It was a small cart where you order by quantity because they only serve one thing. We had 2 Pho dishes (the popular noodle soup served everywhere in Vietnam). It was delicious. I knew I loved this soup before I came here, but I am trying to make it a point to eat it at least once a day. Our dinners of 2 soups, water and a beer cost 70,000 dong, about 3 dollars. 

The common and cheapest way to hang out at night is to sit in plastic chairs set up outside convenience stores. The whole street is lined with red and blue chairs just on the sidewalk. You can drink cocktails for a dollar, beers for 50 cents and everyone just hangs out together. It's awesome. Every once in a while a police truck drives by and the people panic and make everyone stand and move back. There is a faint painted line on the sidewalk the stores aren't supposed to cross. It's hilarious because the second the police is down the road everything continues as normal and the chairs are reset back on the street. 

The two touristy things we did here were the War Museum and a tour of the Mekong Delta. I'll start with the museum. I'd like to think that I'm semi knowledgable about the Vietnam War and I get it, America messed that one up. But once inside the museum, I felt like a bad person. Conor and I decided that if anyone asked, we were Canadian. This museum was very much one sided and totally bashed on America. There were a lot of depressing photographs and facts. It wasn't the most fun activity to do. Our Mekong Delta tour was also disappointing. We drove 3 hours away to a "floating market", which was basically empty. A woman huffed and puffed as she towed us down the river for a bit on a small boat. Everything was rushed, we couldn't enjoy it. I was glad we did these things, but not my favorite day trips so far. 

Conor ended up getting a slight infection in his food after scratching a mosquito bite too much, so we took it easy for a few days. We walked around mostly in our neighborhood, hung out, read and watched some TV. However this didn't stop us from visiting a food stand we saw on Anthony Bourdain's show.

 The Lunch Lady is a foot cart a cab ride away from where we were staying. She makes one dish a day, all fresh ingredients from the market she visits in the morning. The day we went she was serving pho, I was in heaven. It was the best soup I've ever had and I wish we could've eaten there everyday. 

Saigon was awesome, amazing and currently one of my favorite cities. There's something about it here I just love. Maybe it's the crazy traffic, or the awesome food. The people here are kind and friendly. It's a place you could just walk around for hours in. We went to some fancy happy hours and drank cheap on the streets. I am truly going to miss it here, but I know I'll be back again some day.  

My third time in Phnom Penh...

Conor and I have been in Phnom Penh three separate times throughout our stay in Cambodia. The first two times we only stayed a night or two, PP was our stop on the way to somewhere else. The last time was when we really got to see the city.

Phnom Penh is Cambodia's capital. A big city filled with Tuk Tuks, cars and mostly motorcycles. The traffic here is crazy, but somehow everyone seems to know what they're doing. Crossing the street feels like a death sentence, but if you hold your breath and just go for it somehow you make it to the other side unharmed.

Streets here are numbered, although sometimes looking at a map the numbers don't make sense. We stayed on 172 street for a few nights. This is a street filled with hotels, cheap restaurants and walking distance to the busy river front street (where we spent a lot of our time).

On our second trip to Phnom Penh we went to the war museum. Before coming to this part of the world I didn't even know a lot of what had gone on here. In the 70s Cambodia went through a horrible war and genocide. A museum in Phnom Penh was a famous war/slave camp of the time. Originally a high school, it was turned into a place of torture. It was sad and felt haunted. After reading the book, First They Killed My Father, I was glad to have some knowledge of this tragedy that happened only a few years ago.

Because it was so hot outside, we thought it might be a good idea to see if there were any movies we could see. Conor found this place called, Flicks. Flicks was a small co-op place, a room with a screen attached to a computer, a few comfy lounge pillows and seats. They were showing some Game of Thrones episodes- so we went to binge on TV in air conditioning. We got microwaveable popcorn!! I didn't even realize how much I missed a bag of popcorn from the microwave. Needless to say, we loved it there. Cool, casual, comfy vibe. The following night they were showing Rocky and the newest Game of Thrones, of course we went.

If you didn't know this about me, I love noodles. Being in SouthEast Asia I have gotten to eat noodle soup for breakfast almost everyday. However, I've found that most places in Cambodia use ramen noodles and not fresh. In Phnom Penh there are a few scattered restaurants advertising fresh noodles. Conor and I had dinner one night at one of these places and I was in heaven! The noodles and dumplings we got were so good, some of the best I've had. We only went once. I can only hope that Vietnam uses fresh noodles.

The main attraction of our visit to Phnom Penh this time was our trip to the Wildlife Rescue Center. There were 7 people in our tour group, great small size. We got picked up in an open top jeep and drove an hour outside of PP. This place is different from a zoo, they take injured or endangered animals in from people and nurse them back to life to replace them back into the wild. If the animal is in endangered it will stay for a breeding program. Although zoo like, the animals all seemed happy and active here. There were wild monkeys running around not enclosed, this was Conor's dream come true. We got to feed and pet so many different animals- gibbons, otters, deer. Our lunch was amazing, our guides (a Cambodian woman and her Dutch husband) really hooked us up. She cooked while we walked around in the morning- making curry, sweet and sour pork, and noodles for us. It was probably one of my best meals in Cambodia. On our way back the jeep stopped working for a bit, minor setback. This was such a great day and tour we chose to do. A last hurrah before leaving for Vietnam.

Leaving Cambodia felt a little sad. We are coming to an end of our trip (although we still have a month left). Off to Vietnam for 30 days, Japan for 3 days, then home (on June 11th).

My week in paradise...

After some minor complications, we had to take a taxi at 4am from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, which is where we took a ferry to the Island we were staying at. After about a 2 hour ferry ride we arrived on the Island of Koh Rong Saloem.

Conor had researched a really cool place for us to stay, Sun Island Eco Village. We stayed in a big tent on a resort which was solar powered. The tent was awesome, it had a small living room area and a separate bedroom. I have never been camping or slept in a tent, but if I ever do now I know it will never compare to this tent.

This Island was seriously heaven. And I've seen some beautiful places so far. But it was quiet there, our resort had good food, there weren't many people, no wifi which was kind of relaxing. All the food and water was delivered daily by boats. We both really loved it.

We stayed for 3 nights and then took the ferry back for a night just to go to an ATM so we could come back to Eco Village for a few more days. We did a whole lot of nothing for the week that we stayed there. Read, ate, swam- it was so relaxing.

There was a path in the jungle that lead to another beach on the island. One day we walked through it looking for wildlife. We saw monkeys- Conor's dream come true. A herd of water buffalo just casually walked through the beach another time.

The people that ran our resort were so kind to us. Especially since we were one of the only people there everyday. The man was French and owned it with his Cambodian wife and her family.

It was one of the most relaxing times in my life. I could have stayed forever, but our Cambodian visa was running out and we actually had some activities planned for Phnom Penh. No matter how many bug bites I got, I would recommend this place to anyone.

My bamboo train ride...

I have to give Conor credit for planning the majority of our trip. He is awesome and looks everything up and figures most of it all out for us. I am so lucky that I just get to mooch off all his hard work.

He found this place in Cambodia called Battambang, which has this semi famous bamboo train ride. Battambang was kind of on our way back to Phnom Penh so we decided to go for one night. At the bus stop in Siem Reap we ended up playing and making goofy faces at the cute kids in the bus next to us. They were adorable.

The train ride was cool. It's outside of town a bit so we got to drive around in the Tuk Tuk for a little to get there. Sometimes I love riding in these things and just watching everyone in their normal lives. The scenery on the bamboo train was beautiful- open fields with cows roaming. The train is interesting. It is one way so if someone is coming the opposite way you have to get off and the drive disassembles the train to move it off the track. I should probably define 'train' as a bamboo car, sitting on wheels.

After a good nights sleep we made our way back to Phnom Penh for the second time. We stayed two nights again before heading down to the beautiful Cambodian Islands. Our second night in PP, Charlotte messaged me saying she was there too! So we got to have dinner and see here again. It was great and I was so happy because it was unexpected.

My birthday...

We got in late to Phnom Penh and stayed only 2 nights. (We will return back to Phnom Penh later). There's not much to tell, I was sick for the one full day there. We stayed at a nice place with a pool. I will discuss Phnom Penh more in a later entry.

Our bus to Siem Reap was so nice in comparison to others. It had a toilet and wifi- it felt like first class. We got in late at night and a Tuk Tuk drove us to the hostel we had booked based off Mikes recommendation. Jack, our Tuk Tuk driver, asked if he could be our driver for our trip to Angkor Wat the following night. We agreed.

The next day we walked around Siem Reap not doing much. We went to Dr. Fish, a small tank of water and fish. You put your feet in and the fish eat the dead skin off your feet. It's very popular in Korea too, but I had never tried it. It was hilarious and so ticklish.

That night we went to see the beautiful temples of Angkor Wat. The place is just huge, and Angkor is only one of the massive temples. A "day pass" includes a sunset tour and a half day tour starting at sunrise the following morning. Jack drove us there around 5 and we explored for an hour or two Angkor Wat while the sunset. After a delicious Mexican meal we went to bed. We had to be up bright and early the next day.

The following morning (my birthday) Jack picked us up promptly at 4:30am. Even that early in the morning, Cambodia is hot! We drove back to the temples and got to watch the sunrise for an hour. It was so beautiful. I haven't seen many sunrises in my life, but I'll bet this will be the best one I'll ever see. The temple is so big with so many parts and buildings on this one ground. There were so many tourists there too, but it was still breathtaking. I don't think my pictures do it justice.

For the rest of the morning Jack drove us all around to different grounds and different temples. Each one had special features. My favorite was a temple famous for all faces carved into the sides. We saw a temple that was featured in the Tomb Raider movie. My one complaint is that in every temple there are people (and children) trying to sell you things. Books, postcards, tshirts, magnets- whatever. That definitely took away from the sights and pleasure of it all. But by now in my travels I have learned that these people are just part of it all. I did my best to ignore them.

We went back to the Mexican restaurant for lunch and then went back for a well needed nap. There was only one other thing I wanted to do on my birthday and that was get a massage. After a few hours of sleep we walked around and came across a nice looking spa. We had amazing massages, in a nice, clean spot- $13 for each massage, which is expensive for SE Asia. But I was a diva and wanted a nice one for my bday.

Conor found a great, fancy spot for dinner. We had a romantic, delicious, 3 course meal. We headed back to the main tourist street (Pub Street), had some birthday drinks and then went back early. We were still exhausted from our early morning! It was a great birthday!

After one more day of relaxing, eating and hanging we decided to move on. We were heading back to Phnom Penh, but had one stop we wanted to make on the way.