Quy Nhon

Feeling adventurous, we decided to go somewhere that was not mentioned in the guide book. We arrived by bus late and took two motorbike taxis 15 km to the nearest guesthouse. Everything was closed and it looked like a ghost town. The hotels had shut their metal doors for the evening and we were in need of a bed to rest our heads. Eventually a man lifted the door after a few minutes of knocking. We were relieved!

The next morning we rented a bike and headed out to explore. It was raining, part of the huge typhoon headed for Ha Long Bay. We geared up with our ponchos and headed out in search of an authentic Vietnamese lunch of beef noodles.

Quy Nhon doesn't get many tourists. There is one expat hangout were all 10 of them congregate in the afternoon for a beer. This is the first time we pulled out the food section of the Vietnamese translation section in our book.

The people were very friendly and helpful. After a recommendation, we found a local restaurant that serves what we know as "bun". We figured out that it is called "bun thit nuygen" (meaning noodles with grilled pork) Dishes are severed differently in the north and south so it took us a few attempts to get it right. They also had fresh spring rolls that you roll yourself, and homemade peanut sauce for dipping. The owner kindly showed us how to roll it.

Every morning we awoke and headed to a cafe for our ritualistic "cafe sura daa" (Vietnamese iced coffee with milk) Then we got back on the bike and explored the small country roads.

We spotted a small fishing village along a cliff and headed straight for it. The entrance to the village was a small sidewalk and all of the village children greeted us with "HELLO!!" They lead us down to the shore where their fathers kept the hundreds of fishing boats. They loved admiring my bracelets and looking at the pictures we took of them.

We drove down a small dirt path to a group of bungalows along a rocky beach. The waves were rough that day and they were splashing up 20 feet in the air. We found two hammocks and spent the rest of the afternoon talking over a few beers.

It was nice to get off of the main tourist path and immerse ourselves in true Vietnamese lifestyle.

Hoi An, a town full of tailors

Hoi An has found it's niche. It's a small town of only 80,000 but I think almost everyone of them is a tailor. Shop after shop of clothing, ready for the tourists. It's just incredible. You can take in any picture and they will make it for you over night. The trouble was finding a quality shop and reasonable price. We felt very overwhelmed the first day.

Each shop had cabinets full of fabric. Silk, wool, cashmere, cotton, polyester....You select the material and style, take a few quick measurements and return the next morning for a fitting.

Alex had been looking forward to getting a suit and tux made. We selected the material after some grief and research on the internet. The fun part was choosing the interior silk lining! For the suit we selected a lovely purple with Chinese good luck symbols and a nice bold red for the tux. He looked like a model at the fitting.

I opted to get an Asian inspired silk dress made. We had some trouble with the alterations but I was happy with the finished product. It fits just perfectly. At one point we actually went to the tailor's home to finish it up. She was a young girl. Apparently as long as you have a sewing machine and work space, you are in business.

We spent most of our time in Hoi An going from fitting to fitting. We did really enjoy the food here. Fried spring rolls were a must at every lunch and we found the best bakery ever. Alex gets the "Opera" cake and I get the White Kahlua. Yummmm!! I've craved it ever since and nothing has compared.

I also had a leather purse specially made and designed an awesome pair tennis shoes. I selected the purple silk flowered material at a fabric stand and took it across the street to the shoe maker. (You'll just have to see them!!) Alex got some tuxedo shoes to complete the outfit. Now we just need somewhere to wear all of this!!!

We did manage to get away to the beach for a few hours in between appointments and take a motorbike ride through the countryside, our favorite thing to do. There was also a large outdoor market. Unfortunately it rained most of the time that we were there but that didn't stop business as usual.

Hue, Full of history and memories of war

Hue is a quaint little town, overfilling with historical sites. We arrived by sleeper bus. That in itself is pretty cool! It's a charter bus with beds! It looks comfortable at first until you get in. They are clearly made for short Asians because our feet were cramped after the first 5 minutes and our heads hang off the end! We did meet some other travelers and were able to share a few laughs. As we were leaving town, our driver decided to drive through a construction site for some reason and we thought we were going to fall out of our bed! We were literally hanging on!! I was crying because it was such a funny concept!

The first day we rented a motorbike and decided to drive around ourselves. Alex was driving and I was on the back of the bike with a map out, trying to figure out where the heck we were. A man flagged us down and said that he had a few hours so he would show us around the King's Tomb and Pagoda. We took him up on it. First we went to the Pagoda. It was ornately decorated, with Chinese pottery and figures of Buddha that were hundreds of years old.

Next we went to the King's Tomb. It was amazing how good of shape the stone carvings were. We walked along the moat and came to a tall gate with a pad lock on it. That area is blocked off to tourists because there are still live rounds in the area. We stayed clear of that! There were also 2 lightening rods that stood tall, we were impressed that this was taken into account so long ago.

Our friend Mr. Dung spotted a buddy of his who was cleaning a pellet gun and sharing a giant cucumber with some teenage boys. They invited us over. Mr. Vin invited Alex to take a few shots with the pellet gun. Being from Texas, Alex couldn't refuse. He laid out 3 bottle caps about 30 feet away. Bang....bang....bang. Bullseye! Alex was a pro. (It's all that video game playing!) Because of his excellent aim, we were accepted and invited to join the group. After a game of suraides, (only our guide could speak English) Mr. Vin suddenly said "Shhhh!!!" grabbed his gun and ran off to the hundred year tree near by. He shot, and down fell a beautiful green parakeet, it's heart still thumping. One of the boys grabbed the bird and started pulling it's feathers out one by one in frond of us. Then he ran off into the distance. Just then rain fell from the sky, and we moved undercover, next to the King in his Tomb. Ten minutes later the boy returned with a cooked bird. Mr. Vin pulled off a leg for Alex and the breast for me. He gave us a pinch of spicy salt and we were expected to eat the bird "for good luck." I must admit, after I got over the initial shock, it did taste delicious. I just needed to get past the sight of the beautiful wild parakeet who once lived in the tree....

We waited for the rain to stop with a few bottles of rice wine and hopes that someday Mr. Vin and Mr. Dung would visit us in Texas. They made an appointment to meet us at our wedding...they have always dreamed of visiting the states but had no money to afford the ticket. Mr. Dung had fought next to American solders and drove Doctors around during the war. He had great respect for Americans.

After the rain slowed, we followed him back to his home in the countryside. He wanted us to meet his daughter. She was studying English at university and dreamed of being an interpreter. She was about my age and spoke perfect English. His wife served us fresh fruit on the front patio and then asked for a donation for the daughter's tuition. We knew something like this was coming but we were happy to help since we knew it was going for a good cause.

The next day we rented a bike again and followed another guide 170 km north to the DMZ. The demilitarized zone was the border line between the north and south Vietnamese. We passed several historical sites, including Hamburger Hill. We took a short swim at the beach and quickly learned that in these parts, we were Canadian. Next we marched under ground to the Vihn Mock tunnels. Hundreds of people lived underground for years. There were three levels, complete with family rooms (maybe 4x4) a nursery were babies were born, supply rooms and security posts. We had to duck down as the tunnels were only 5 feet tall in some areas. They were made of thick clay and protected hundreds from the bombs that fell overhead. You can still see the intentions in the land after all this time. At the 17th parallel there is a memorial on the South side. It's a statue of a woman standing next to her children. She is looking off into the distance for her husband who has gone to war. The nothern side has about 100 loud speakers pointed directly at the south. They were used to spread propoganda across the border. There is still a lot of tention in this area.

Going there and back we managed to get 2 flat tires. Good thing there are small stands that repair them for $2 about every mile or so, so we were never far from help. Only an hour and a half left and we would be back in the citadel of Hue for sunset.

From there we left on short sleeper bus to Hoi An.

Sapa, a charming village in the rice fields of Vietnam

Sapa is just magical. It's high up in the mountains of northwest Vietnam, close to the Chinese boarder. The sides of the peaks are covered in rice fields, green in the sunlight. Hill tribes spot the horizon and children tend to the water buffalo around every bend. The H'mong girls are the friendliest people we've met. They really are special- full of energy, charisma and character.

We took an overnight sleeper train from Hanoi to Sapa. (Much more comfortable than our first train ride!) We trekked through the rice fields in the heart of the villages for 2 days. The first night we slept at a home-stay with a young family. We had 7 people in our group and we were presented with a feast for dinner. As far as home-stays go, the accommodations were very comfortable. We actually had a pad to sleep on, a thick blanket and pillow and a warm shower! Our guides Lang and Pan poured the rice wine freely over a game of cards. We slept well that night!

We awoke to a scene out of a picture book. The sun rose over the fields and we set off again on a fun filled day. We stopped in a each village to rest and chat with the girls. They all wear traditional hill tribe attire, with colors that represent their particular tribe. The guides are young girls, between 15-19 years old and they became close friends as the days went on.

The second and third night we slept in Sapa town at a hotel. Ben was our guide the third morning and took us to Cat Cat village where they were having a cultural festival. We were able to see how silver jewelry was made, basket weaving, farming, etc.

Later that day, Ben invited us to come with her and her friend CC to Ban Ho village. We rented a motorbike and cruised around sharp curves and high cliffs. We went to a waterfall and hot springs. Just the day before, there was an American tourist who was only 25 years old who drowned in that waterfall. When we arrived, the entire village was out to help rescue him. His body was found 3 days later. It was heart wrenching to been so close to such a tragedy. The village pulled together and used whatever resources were available however there were no true emergency personnel present. We are relieved that his body was found so it could be returned to his family. It just makes you appreciate just how fragile life is...

Ben is a beautiful girl who speaks extremely good English. She has only been speaking for 2 years and never went to school to learn. She has a very large vocabulary simply by speaking with tourists. She was very informative about village life, rice fields, and culture. It's really great that the girls get to be guides, it appears that they make a very good living and are able to assist their families with necessities. We had a wonderful time with her and will miss her deeply.

As we walk along, the girls ask us our name, age, number of brothers and sisters we have and how long we have been together. As you can imagine, this opens up the conversation and we became very close with them after hearing about their family life. All of the girls wear silver necklaces with charms that tourists have given them. Before we left, my mom gave me a silver necklace with the state of Texas on it. I've carried it around with me everyday and then I decided that Ben would love it. She was very happy when I presented it to her, as she had never even heard of Texas before! Now every time she looks at it hopefully she will remember Alex and I.


We definitely want to return to Sapa. The girls made it such a wonderful experience that we will not forget. The countryside is picturesque and the people are so friendly.