Pics from Hoi An

Tet is also the time in Vietnam when everything gets cleaned from top to bottom, kind of like our spring cleaning. One shop had put all its furniture out on the sidewalk while they cleaned, including their mirror. In the reflection is the tree above and some of the holiday street decorations.


Dragon fruit, probably the coolest looking fruit around. The inside is white, similar in texture to watermelon, and full of little black seeds. It's kind of flavorless, but definitely visually appealing.

Lamps for sale.

A step up

I'm now in Hoi An, about halfway up the coast of Vietnam, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and therefore a very put together town. This place is by far the most charming little place I've seen yet in Vietnam, so I think I'll be riding out Tet here. Unfortunately I think all of the tailor shops close down tomorrow for at least four days, which means I likely won't be able to get any clothes made, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it means I won't be spending the money. And frankly the deals aren't that fantastic. It's incredible how many tailors there are here, though. Much like the malls in Bangkok, I have no idea how all of these places stay in business.

I'm now rooming with another American, Lizz, whom I met in Dalat. She's from "the other Portland," Oregon, and is a university student who's been studying international development and Vietnamese. We're staying at what is probably the cheapest place in Hoi An, technically part of the hosteling network, paying $12 a night for a room with a fan and cable TV. Not bad. The weather here is pretty darn hot and humid, which is a change from the much cooler Dalat. As they say, "It isn't the heat, it's the humidity," and Hoi An has plenty of that, meaning that you're pretty much sweating as soon as you step out of the shower. I think when I get home I'm gonna do some sort of detox and spa treatment to try and wash away all the ill effects of this trip.

Speaking of which, I had plenty of time during the 20-hour bus journey from Dalat to Hoi An to think about the things I'm most looking forward to when I return. The countdown has begun. In no particular order, here they are:

1- Whole grains. White rice and white bread reign supreme over here. Utterly lacking in nutritional value and just not good for your system.

2 - Grocery stores. I get the whole argument of specialized shops over the big box stores, but there's no matching the convenience, abundance, and quality of products available at American grocery stores.

3 - Toilet paper. No longer will I have to carry around a roll of TP or a package of tissues with me everywhere I go. That's always the great mystery when traveling through Asia - what kind of toilet will it be (usually a squat toilet) and will there be toilet paper (usually no).

4 - Going to the movies. I'm kind of a movie junkie and I've totally missed watching movies. I haven't been to one since I saw New Moon in Bangkok. On the bus to Dalat the other day they showed the movie 2012. For a moment I was completely transported and almost forgot where I was. Unforunately the movie was dubbed in Vietnamese. Dubbing itself is bad enough, but this one was dubbed entirely by one woman. Oddly enough they also didn't completely record over the original soundtrack, so I was able to strain to hear the English. Just not the same, though.

There's more, of course, but those are the big ones. :)


On the bus ride from Dalat to Nha Trang.


One of the shops in Hoi An.


I love all the mannequins and mannequin parts everywhere here.

Standards of cleanliness

A little tale about food hygiene, or how much do I miss America right now? I came to this little café this morning before leaving on my epic journey to Hoi An and ordered a white coffee and an omlette. The omlette was lookin' might fine, until I started cutting it and noticed a hair in it. Ironically I had just been discussing food hygiene with some fellow travelers the other day and they said their standards have really lowered on this trip; on more than one occasion they've eaten food even if they found a hair in it. Sometimes I can let it go, but for some reason I just couldn't this time. Do I say anything? Do I not say anything? I decided to flag down the manager and pointed it out to her. She smiled apologetically, removed the hair, and said, "sorry," and then walked away. I guess I was supposed to eat the omlette anyway, but I just couldn't do it. A small crowd of employees started gathering near the bar and assessing the situation from afar. When they realized I wasn't going to eat the thing, they actually brought me a new one. So nice! But... this one was undercooked. I tell you, if it's not one thing it's another here. Haha. Well, I ate around the uncooked parts, and that was the best I could do. I do think that sometimes America is an oversanitized culture, but I'll take that over this anyday.

Tet is coming

So this will be interesting, being in Vietnam during Tet, which is the New Year holiday. Prices for just about everything increase, as I just discovered when buying my bus ticket from here to Hoi An. So it may be that I find someplace I like and hunker down, as apparently some hotels even close around this time. (Again, different approach to customer service.) I keep waiting to find that place here that I really like. So far I've been pretty underwhelmed. To be fair, this is also likely due to the fact that I'm pretty much over the whole travel thing, which I guess is good; get it out of my system. Not that I never want to travel again, just not for such an extended period of time without a home base. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think I'm ready for some routine. A regular eating schedule, exercise, etc. I guess this is the ideal situation, really. I would hate to be going home feeling sad about it and like I "missed" something over here. I'm definitely ready... now I just need to get through two more weeks!

Dalat isn't a bad place to kill some time. It's a quirky town and it's got a lively market. It's a huge market, actually, where you can buy clothes, shoes, toiletries, produce, meat, dried fruit (I've never seen such an enormous collection of dried fruit), fabric, flowers, and currently a wide selection of gifts to celebrate the new year. I learned from a fellow traveler that everybody celebrates their birthday on Tet as well, which is an interesting way to do it. Gifts for this holiday seem to be mostly candy, cards, and flowers. On the bus ride here they were showing some Vietnamese variety show in celebration of the holiday. It was... entertaining.


Flowers galore.


Watermelon art. Chuc Mung Nam Moi = Happy New Year. It's going to be the Year of the Tiger.

Happy BIrthday, Paris!!!

Today Paris turns 5! So in honor of that I'm posting a picture of her from last winter. I can't wait to see her in a couple weeks and get caught up on big, wet, slobbery kisses. :D

Where am I?

I left my hotel yesterday morning around 8 a.m. with some bad info from a French woman who told me the bus station was about a 5-10 minute walk from there. 30-40 minutes later, with all my gear on and sweating like a sow, I got there. Begin the chaos. When you get to bus stations in Vietnam, the touts swarm, each one trying to figure out where you're going and get you to use their bus service. I was hoping to go to Ben Tre, the little town where they make the coconut candy, but had a hard time finding a bus that went directly there, so I bought a ticket to My Tho, a town about 30 kilometers from Ben Tre. Well... I ended up in Ho Chi Minh City. I had sort of imagined this scenario in my head and told myself if this happened I would just continue on to Dalat. Well, there were no obvious signs saying where I was and I couldn't find anyone who spoke enough English, or understood my sign language of pointing to my map, my feet, and the surrounding city with a look of question on my face. They all knew I wanted to go to Ben Tre, but the ticket cost the same as the price I had just paid, which didn't seem right. So finally one of the guards came up and said, "Vous parlez français, oui?" Oui, fortunately, but it turned out he also spoke pretty good English. In any case, we established that I was in HCMC and that now I wanted to get to Dalat. But buses to Dalat leave from the south station, and I was at the north station. He told me which bus I needed to catch and I was on my way. It was about a 40-minute ride to the other station, during which I met an Australian-Vietnamese guy who spoke perfect English.

There are a lot of French-speaking tourists traveling through Asia. I'm not sure what it is, but I've been mistaken for one on several occasions. Maybe it's the short hair. I guess I don't look like a typical American tourist, which is fine by me. And I guess I should start trying to use French first as opposed to English because I haven't really had much luck finding many Vietnamese people who speak English. In any case, I'm here, having arrived close to midnight last night. I found a great hotel room and I'm hoping to park it here for a few days, until I'm ready for the next leg of the journey, which promises to be even longer.

River livin'

One of the biggest draws for tourists to the Mekong Delta is a visit to the floating markets. Having visited some in Thailand that turned out to be geared solely for tourists, I was hesitant to do another such tour here. However, I’m so glad I did! The markets here are about as authentic as you can get. There were very few tourists floating about and it really felt like you were getting a peek into the daily lives of the locals. Laundry hanging out to dry, produce exchanging hands, all as the sun was rising.

We spent about 8 hours on the river, setting out at 5:30 a.m., with a few stops to check out some rice paddies and have lunch. Our boat driver was kind enough to offer us plenty of fresh fruit along the way - pineapple, papaya, and pomelo. I shared the ride with a Dutch couple who are three months into their trip. Like me, they bought a one-way ticket and aren't quite sure when they'll return home. We also met a woman from England who's been traveling for 9 1/2 months... solo. Impressive. Traveling alone is cool, but I don't think I could do it for that long. I wasn't sure if I'd feel sad about ending my trip, but as the end nears I'm definitely getting more and more excited to go home. It's time.




Our boat driver multi-tasks - steering the boat and making art out of palm fronds.


This is how people advertise what they're selling - they hang one of each of the fruits and vegetables they have from a pole on their boat.