So I've finally returned to the U.S. and am currently in Colorado. Being in Cambodia without internet access, then traveling to California, then coming to Colorado..these are my excuses for not keeping the blog updated. :) I'll write more about my trip home and my feelings about being back in the U.S. as soon as I get caught up on Vietnam, uploading pictures, etc.
After a couple days in Da Lat, we took a bus to Nah Trang, a more touristy, coastal town. The bus trip was only a few hours but the scenery on the trip was incredible. We were driving down windy mountain roads, jungle everywhere, cliffs with waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet. The only way I can think of to describe it was to say that it felt like we were in Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs of course. Despite the views, the bus ride wasn't particularly pleasant, featuring a typical Vietnamese driver who drove too fast, took corners to fast, hit the brakes too fast, so yeah, we were thrilled to listen and smell the result of his driving skills as a few of the other Vietnamese passengers took advantage of their sick bags. Good times.
Nah Trang was a beautiful town, much more touristy and catering to travelers with travel agencies, guesthouses, hotels with great beach views, a variety of delicious restaurants, and even a really cheap gym/fitness center. The beaches weren't too crowded and the water was a beautiful bluish green color. We spent some time on the beach, spent a lot of time eating at different restaurants and just relaxed for the most part. Looking back, Nah Trang was one of my favorite parts of the trip and I wish we would have stayed there longer.
From Nah Trang we took a train overnight to a town called Hue. Hue is known for having a citadel which has a bunch of famous monuments and temples. We wandered around the outside of that area and didn't find much to do before hopping on an evening train to Hanoi. Our entrance to Hanoi wasn't the most pleasant as we arrived to pouring rain early in the morning and were greeted by guesthouse owners who believed that they could charge us anywhere between 18 and 27 dollars, during the non touristy season, for rooms that were clearly worth 10 or less. We eventually found a decent hotel that was willing to negotiate with us and gave us a decent rate. Needless to say I didn't get a great first impression of the capital, the biggest city, and northern Vietnam. The next few days in Hanoi consisted of us being rained on, having a hard time finding a nice place to have a cheap beer, and aside from a delicious French restaurant named 'Cafe de Paris', finding a decent place to eat. It was around this time that we decided it wouldn't make sense to go to Laos and that we should fly back to southern Vietnam instead of spending another 24 plus hours on the train. We landed some pretty cheap tickets through Jetstar and set about planning our trip to Ha Long Bay.
I almost don't want to write about the trip to Ha Long Bay because I don't want to remember how maddening and ridiculous it was. We arranged a trip with a tourist agency for a really good price (first mistake) that would consist of a bus ride to the bay, a boat ride and one night on the bay, meals, a room on the boat, and a couple of stops at some scenic areas, kayaking, etc. The trip was going ok until a number of us purchased some beers on one of the islands to bring on to the boat. The prices for beers on the boat were absurd and when you are trying to travel on a budget, you take advantage of cheap beers whenever you can. The boat 'manager' explained to us that we would be charged for bringing the beers on the boat and when we explained to him that we had not been informed of that supposed 'policy' he told us we wouldn't be getting our passports back unless we paid. This is where the boat experience started going downhill. There were some great moments, doing some kayaking in the beautiful water, surrounded by massive rock islands covered in greenery, one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen, jumping into the water from the top of the boat, and late night karaoke and drinking games. The rest of the trip consisted of the manager and crew being incredibly rude and abrasive towards us and the other passengers, arguments about paying for drinks that either were never purchased or had already been paid for and being mislead about air conditioning, fans, food, etc. I took a lot of great pictures though. :)
After another day in Hanoi, we flew to Ho Chi Minh, spent some time buying gifts and souvenirs, and boarded a bus back to Phnom Penh. The last few days in Cambodia were spent with some friends and shopping at the market for more gifts and souvenirs. On the night of September 5th, Hanna took off for Los Angeles and the next day around noon I did the same. I've copied links to my two Facebook albums with pictures from the Vietnam trip below. I'll be back on to write a bit more soon. In the meanwhile, please enjoy the pictures. :)
Vietnam part 1 (Ho Chi Minh, Da Lat, Nah Trang, Hue)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098492&id=72206395&l=2f6ece7e9c
Vietnam part 2 (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099409&id=72206395&l=23c8e08b63
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