Ninh Binh
Decided to head to Ninh Binh for 1 night, a cool place with national parks. It is referred to as the Halong Bay of the rice paddies. Huge limestone cliffs rising up out of rice paddies. We went on a river boat tour for 2 hours through the cliffs and some caves for about $2. Next day we went to a national park, Cuc Phuong National Park. We heard they had a endangered primate center, so paid the $40 to get there with a private car, mostly to see the monkeys. When we got there, driver dropped us off at the other end of the park, and told us to do a 2 hour hike to go see a thousand year old tree. After arguing to try and get him to take us to the monkeys, and him not understanding, it was pointless and we decided to do the hike anyways. Turned out to be nice scenery, but just hot and sweaty with lots of stairs. After the hike, we finally got to the monkey center....tour ended up being about 5 min, we were expecting at least 30, and we only saw about 4 kinds of monkeys....oh well, still a decent day.
Hoi An
Hoi An is a small, touristy beach town, with about 500 tailor shops! This is supposed to be the best place in Asia to get a suit made. So, we ended up visiting our tailors everyday for the 4 days we were here. If you know how picky Kyle can be, you can just imagine how much bickering was going on between him and three nice (sometimes pushy) Vietnamese ladies. It was amazing how quick they can turn out a suit (we got sized up at 7 at night, suit ready to try on by 11am the next morning). They normally can get a suit finalized in about 2 days, for Kyle....4, and he still wants changes done when we get home, haha. I guess he gave up with the bantering, they were happy to see us leave i think. In the end, we spent so much money on a few suits and shirts that the owner had her neices (all the tailors) take us out for dinner. Seemed like a fun time, until we saw the raw, or really undercooked buffalo (with about half an inch of thick, chewy skin...YUM) Was still a fun time, they were genuinely nice ladies.
Didn't do too much else in Hoi An, but layed on the beach and by the pool at our cheap, but nice hotel.
Motorcycle Diaries (4 day tour through Central Highlands - Hoi An to Nha Trang)
From Hoi An, we decided to look into an "Easy Rider". A guy we met in Thailand told us about this motorcycle tour and a good guide, so we thought it would be a good way to get to Nha Trang - better than the buses.
We called Mr. Dung, and he was at our hotel in Hoi An the next day, giving us a sales pitch. We were hesitant at first due to the price, was a little out of our budget, but decided we wouldn't get to do something like this again, so agreed to it.
Next morning he picked us up, packed up all our bags for us, and we were off. I was on the back of Mr. Dung's bike, Kyle was driving his own chopper, and probably the stupidest helmet in all of Asia. It was about a 750km trip that went straight West towards Laos border, then south through the highland mountains, then back East and down the coast. All areas were virtually untouched by tourism. We definately got some second looks by the locals, but the kids were always so excited when we waved at them. Kyle had quite the time trying to maneuvre through some of the towns with traffic circles and busy intersections (few close calls with other vehicles, dogs, etc and a few stalls at red lights)
It turned out to be the experience of a lifetime. We saw so many things. Here's most of it: rice paddies, Cham ruins, war memorials, pineapple farms, cinnamon trees, pepper farms, mushroom farms, flat tires, tea & coffee plantations, incense operation, smuggled wood carvings, waterfalls, orphanages, tribe and village people, hundreds of smiling kids waving at us (they rarely see foreigners), Vietnam war veterans & landmarks, huge python, scorpions, and a monkey. We also sampled some "real Vietnamese food", including deer, porcupine & ostrich.
In the end, the trip was worth every dollar, and we became good friends with our tour guide, who treated us like family and always made sure we were safe and comfortable, even though it was hard to understand his english sometimes. We learned to nod and agree with him...:)
Nha Trang
Arrived in Nha Trang...not what we were expecting. Busy beach city, lots of development and beach vendors constantly trying to sell you something on the beach, even when we say no, they still stand there until you are on the verge of telling them to F-off, haha. I guess everyone is trying to make a buck though...
Since we became good friends with Mr. Dung, he invited us over to his house for a seafood BBQ and to meet his family. He has such a beautiful family, 3 cute kids and a really nice wife. We wanted to be good dinner guests, so Kyle picked up some beer (20 - 450ml bottles for $7) Good deal! So hung out, laughed with his 3 year old son who tried drinking some of the beer, and ended up drinking cigarette butts! Was a good night - BBQs here are definately a LOT smaller than ours back home.
Next night, Mr. Dung fullfilled Kyle's Vietnamese quest for eating SNAKE! He came to pick us up with his whole family, who came to watch the big white guy choke down some snake...Apparently his kids love eating it! Turns out when you go to eat snake in Vietnam (and especially if you're a foreigner), you get a whole lot more than what you'd expect... So it started with watching the cook scoop about 10 snakes out of a crate outside the restaraunt, then we sat in the back of the restaraunt and watched as the cook: cut snakes' heads off with scissors, (heads still moving after severed from body for about 5 min), cut their stomachs open and pulled out beating hearts, pulled out 10 baby snakes from 1 pregnant snake (a nice surprise, even for the cook) squeezed blood from snakes into bottle of vodka, squeezed kidney juice into a different bottle of vodka. So quite an appetizing ordeal....
Next, we were told to sit down, and wait for snakes to be cooked. First dish that comes out, 7 little beating snake hearts on a tray. Kyle orders BIG beer, then him & Mr. Dung take a shot of snake blood vodka, with beating heart in it. Managed to keep it down and was a bit shaky for a while after. Next was snake rolls (crushed up snake, including bones wrapped in banana leaves). Then, snake burger patties! YAY! Not quite like the burgers back home....Finally...snake soup! Oh, and more shots of kidney juice in vodka. By this time, we had had enough snake (mostly Kyle eating), we decided to leave. Next day, we headed on a bus to Mui Ne. Had to wake up at 6:30...not feeling so good, and still not feeling so good (snake karma). But at least we have a good story! :)
Now we are in Mui Ne, the last week has been an unforgettable adventure!
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