Apparently the Vietnamese celebrate the New Year at the same time the Chinese do - this year the holiday (Tet) officially landed January 23-26, but most Vietnamese took an entire week off of work to go on vay-cay (causing prices to fly outrageously high during the week). We spent the past 2 weeks traveling north up the coast, definitely happy to get away from the madness of Saigon. And we guarantee some good stories for you this time around...
First up, Mui Ne...a little remote beach town 3 hours away from HCMC. The best part of Mui Ne was probably getting to meet some awesome swedes named Peter and Andreas - both late 20's, one a Swedish language teacher and the other a customs official.
Because Mui Ne is so quiet and the place virtually shuts down at around 9pm, we ended up making our own Swedish/American party, playing texas hold 'em with toothpicks for chips and hitting up the happy hour to get buy 2 get 1 free Saigon beers to play 3-man. They came up with a couple new rules for the "make your own rule" portion that we'll bring back to the states with us...(note: for those clueless to 3-man, we'll teach you when we get back :)
1) When you take the "little man" off the rim of your beer, you have to place him on top of your head, and look at him while you gulp.
2) When you slam your mug back down, you have to say "Heja Sverige" = pronounced "heya sveria" =Go Sweden
Here's some pics of other good times in Mui Ne...
Our casa - HUGE! And CHEAP. It was like a private apartment for $10 a night.
The view from the beach looking out toward the fishing village, with a local fishing basket in the foreground:
Apparently all of the local women must have grouped together to discuss new ways of getting money out of tourists..."hmmm what would those whitey's want?" Those hairy beasts would want baby smooth legs! So now they go up and down the beach, squatting down and scanning each woman's legs to try and find even a single stray hair just to convince her to let them remove it. She worked on this woman by twisting her two strands of string together for 2 solid hours. They even brought in two hair strippers at one point. She must have been a gorilla:
Sunset:
Erik being a floating ball:
On to NHA TRANG...we took a gamble on not booking accomodatings ahead because it's a decent sized beach-side city with countless hotels, but after arriving their around 9pm and walking around for over an hour asking every single hotel if they had an available room, we realized we made a big mistake. Seroiusly, the entire vietnamese population was vacationing to celebrate Tet in Nha Trang. The funny thing is, at the start of our search for accomodation, we approached a hotel that offered to let us stay in the manager's office (basically a computer, plastic chair, and mattress in a room, behind broken blinds above to the front lobby). We brushed it off and were like Oh no way, we can find something better. Even if it was only $10. The guy that presented the offer looked at us and said, "You will walk around for the next hour and look for a room. And then you will come back, and stay with me." And he was so right. No private bathroom (we had to use the employee bathroom downstairs), but hey, at least we got free internet in our room!). Check it ouuuuttt:
The beach:
The Vietnamese always swim with their clothes on. These two were shortly joined by another girl dressed in nice jeans, heels, designer leather belt, and a sweater vest with button up shirt. Don't forget your purse! Erik is thoroughly offended, and says that this is one instance of actual "cultural stupidity":
We met up with Andreas and Peter again :)
That night the 4 of us decided to celebrate our next leg in Nah trying by parking at a local bar - tag lined "Very good, very cheap, very Vietnam". Pitchers of beer for 14,000 dong (less than $1)! After a few pitchers, we decided to go even more local, and check out one of the beer "stands" - basically plastic kiddie chairs set up on the side of the street in between piles of rat infested garbage. The place was run by husband/wife team named Lo (who claimed to have been shot in the leg by an American during the war during the 80's...?) and Ha (who brought us beer and fed the boys pieces of hardboiled egg that she was boiling in a big pot on the street (...?). We were occasionally visited sternly by a seemingly grumpy man named "Wee" who gripped and peered through iron gates that protected a building right behind the "stand". For some reason, we found him kind of funny, so when we weren't cheersing to "mot, hai, ba, zo!" (1, 2, 3, cheers!), we chated "Lo, Ha, Wee! Lo, Ha, Wee!", slamming down our bottles of Saigon. We must have looked like lunatics. But Lo and Ha ate it up and Wee continued to look like a grump, so we were doing our job. Afterward, Peter and Erik went to go find a prime urination location, and spotted a nice looking rusted gate that they could pee through and avoid the splatter effect provided from peeing on direct concrete. With willies in hand, milliseconds away from the splendor of releasing that glorious yellow stream, all of a sudden, a Vietnamese guard with a viet cong-like rifle equiped with a bayonet came dashed out of the shadows from behind the gate. Horrified, Peter and Erik relocated further down the street to pee on a wall instead, leaving with glistening feet. What a night. [Note: Will update with pics as soon as Peter and Andreas email us their pics from that night!]
The next day, we decided to take Mama Linh's boat cruise. Peter and Andreas opted out, but we were pretty excited - for $9 a person, it promised an all-day cruise to 4 different islands, with music, dancing, entertainment, lunch, a floating bar, snorkeling with psychadelic fish (equipment provided), and an overall rucus time where kids should be left at home. Here's what we actually got: a rickety rusted over boat, jam packed with rows of bench seating, cringe-inducing vietnamese slow ballads blaring over the crackling speakers. The composition of the crowd: 50% Vietnamese, mostly families with children. 40% Chinese, all strapped with cameras and palm leaf sunhats. And 10% whiteys. Fortunately, that 10%, made up of Aussies and Brits, were like-minded souls. What could have been a drag ended up being probably the most fun day of our entire trip. The 8 or so of us all kept the beers in fun flow starting at lunch time - there was Scott (who, when intoxicated, became his alter-ego "Scotty McNasty" or "McNasty" for short), Ian (alter ego: Bushy), James (Jim), Heledd (Hells Bells), and one of the most fabulous couples ever, Sebastian (Seb) and Peter. I was Megsy and Erik was, Erik! View good times below:
Eating lunch on the rooftop of our ghetto rig:
Floating bar! We all jumped off the boat into the water and hopped into floaty life rings. A Vietnamese guy with a crate full of bottles of local red wine and a bag of pineapple slices hopped into his own life ring. Oh yes. We hooked up like a big train, with one person grabbing onto the floating bar and the rest hanging on, trailing behind so that he would always be within our reach. Because the number of drinkers was small, there was plenty to go around. "MORE WINE!" McNasty would holler, and we would pass another little cup full down the line. Because Erik was a strong swimmer, whenever he'd rocket toward the floating bar, everyone would try and grab on and catch a ride. "I'm catchin' that express train", Bushy said. Whenever we started drifting away, you'd have to hold your cup between your teeth so that you could swim effectively with both hands and catch back up to the action. Amazing times:
We even made the semi-lame aquarium stop exciting. There were like 80 eels packed into 3 small tanks and a couple of turtles. But we ran around and had a good time. Here's a pic of us goofing around outside of the entrance (and McNasty pretending to hurl on Jim's shoe):
When the Mama Linh's boat trip ended, the party couldn't stop. We carried on to Why Not and the Sailing Club for some late night dancing. YES
The view from our hotel: 
Old Town:
You can't walk more than a half block without seeing a tailor or shoe shop. We definitely walked away with a total of 3 shirts, 2 long wool coats, a skirt, and 6 pairs of shoes (2 for each of us, plus 2 for kiwon OH YEAH). Shipping it home hurt, but they will make great souvenirs: 
Local transport (fit for one foreigner or two vietnamese):
Our favorite meal spot: Mr. Hung's! He serves all of Hoi An's local specialties: Cao Lau (doughy flat noodles mixed with flat croutons, bean sprouts and greens, topped with pork slices and served in a savory broth), Wonton, and White Rose (a little steamed dumpling stuffed with shrimp).
A woman taking a midday siesta at the market:
And I definitely landed myself in a Vietnamese hospital...got too dehydated from traveler's diahrrea. Plus I had an ear infectoin. boo. Maybe I shouldn't have dranken that last sugar cane juice? Here were my symptoms: nausea, headache, high fever for over 24 hours, achey body, diahrrea, dizzyness, difficulty breathing, high blood pressure, high pulse, ear pressure. Diagnosis from Dr. Quang: "Have a cold". He actually ended up infusing me with 3 bags of hydrating electrolyte solution, shooting injections of other medicines straight into the drip bag, saying things like, "This one make a the strong lung". "This one make a good heart". I was like "okaaaay". We made sure that he used new needles and it all turned out fine. He and his nurses were really good hearted people. I feel soo much better now. Here's a pic of my hospital home for those few hours:
much love guys,
Floating bar! We all jumped off the boat into the water and hopped into floaty life rings. A Vietnamese guy with a crate full of bottles of local red wine and a bag of pineapple slices hopped into his own life ring. Oh yes. We hooked up like a big train, with one person grabbing onto the floating bar and the rest hanging on, trailing behind so that he would always be within our reach. Because the number of drinkers was small, there was plenty to go around. "MORE WINE!" McNasty would holler, and we would pass another little cup full down the line. Because Erik was a strong swimmer, whenever he'd rocket toward the floating bar, everyone would try and grab on and catch a ride. "I'm catchin' that express train", Bushy said. Whenever we started drifting away, you'd have to hold your cup between your teeth so that you could swim effectively with both hands and catch back up to the action. Amazing times:
We even made the semi-lame aquarium stop exciting. There were like 80 eels packed into 3 small tanks and a couple of turtles. But we ran around and had a good time. Here's a pic of us goofing around outside of the entrance (and McNasty pretending to hurl on Jim's shoe):
When the Mama Linh's boat trip ended, the party couldn't stop. We carried on to Why Not and the Sailing Club for some late night dancing. YES
Okay Amazing times in Nha Trang, definitely needed some time to wind down in Hoi An. It's a gorgeous old town set on the Thu Bon River, originally used as an international trading port as far back as the 17th century. It's well known not only for it's amazing Chinese, Japanese, and European-influence architecture, but also for being the cheapest place to get hand tailored duds made for cheap. It's also a World Heritage Site.
The view from our hotel:
Old Town:You can't walk more than a half block without seeing a tailor or shoe shop. We definitely walked away with a total of 3 shirts, 2 long wool coats, a skirt, and 6 pairs of shoes (2 for each of us, plus 2 for kiwon OH YEAH). Shipping it home hurt, but they will make great souvenirs:
Local transport (fit for one foreigner or two vietnamese):
Our favorite meal spot: Mr. Hung's! He serves all of Hoi An's local specialties: Cao Lau (doughy flat noodles mixed with flat croutons, bean sprouts and greens, topped with pork slices and served in a savory broth), Wonton, and White Rose (a little steamed dumpling stuffed with shrimp).
A woman taking a midday siesta at the market:
Just had to put this one in here. A chubby dog cooling his kibbles and bits on the pavement:
Erik getting a haircut. They shaved the back of his neck with a razor that looked like the one that Johnny Depp used to slay his victims with in Sweeney Todd. But hey it was only $4.
And I definitely landed myself in a Vietnamese hospital...got too dehydated from traveler's diahrrea. Plus I had an ear infectoin. boo. Maybe I shouldn't have dranken that last sugar cane juice? Here were my symptoms: nausea, headache, high fever for over 24 hours, achey body, diahrrea, dizzyness, difficulty breathing, high blood pressure, high pulse, ear pressure. Diagnosis from Dr. Quang: "Have a cold". He actually ended up infusing me with 3 bags of hydrating electrolyte solution, shooting injections of other medicines straight into the drip bag, saying things like, "This one make a the strong lung". "This one make a good heart". I was like "okaaaay". We made sure that he used new needles and it all turned out fine. He and his nurses were really good hearted people. I feel soo much better now. Here's a pic of my hospital home for those few hours:
By the way, after spending a good 3 weeks here in Vietnam, we've started to pick up on some Vietnamese English. Here are some of our favorite phrases:
Water, you?
Motobike, you?
Where you go now?
You buy something?
Welcome to my shop, please.
That one good. Make a good smell.
You liiike? I make-a fo' you.
There was also this woman who sold peanuts outside of our hotel in Hoi An who, starting at like 5am would start advertising her goods by yelling what we discerned to be "Waaaahhhh!" in a that shrill, whiney Vietnamese old woman voice. "Waaahhhh!!"
So now, whenever we talk to a Vietnamese person, we get in the habit of trying to talk like they do to make conversation easier. Example:
Receptionst: Where you go now?
How Erik wanted to answer: We are going to the shoe store to get hooked up with some duds.
How Erik answers: We go to shop for the shoe.
YES. we are getting so good at it. We never do it sarcastically, it really does help facilitate conversation!
And as you can see, we're fitting right in! JUST KIDDING
much love guys,
peace
Megan and Erik
