Monday 31 December 2012

Cham Towers

Aside from the beach I'm pretty sure the Cham towers is the best bit about Nha Trang. The buildings were incredible, old and obviously made and restored with love. 


You know those days when the sunlight is perfect and all seems right with the world, even though you're still hot and sweaty? Yup that was this day. 








Wednesday 19 December 2012

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Home of really really pushy hotel vendors that follow you down the street and laugh when you trip. 



Thousands upon thousands of Russian tourists who like to wear teeny tiny Speedo bathing suits. And the ladies like to tuck their bathing suits up their bums to create an unsightly thong.


Far too many drunken backpackers doing pushups in the middle of the street. And far too many bars selling "buckets of drink" to these fools. 


But also the beach is gorgeous. The water is gorgeous. The weather is gorgeous. 


And the massage places really know what they are doing! 




We took our very first night bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An. The bus was about 13 hours long. It was a sleeper so we thought that it might be a good thing. We forgot that the bus would not be built for large Canadians but small Asian people. 


The seats were like 3 rows of bunk beds with no place to put your carry on luggage but on your lap. It was an interesting journey. 




Monday 10 December 2012

Da Lat


We went to DaLat for two reasons. 1) Da Lat By Night was a great restaurant when I was a kid. 2) We met a nice girl who grew up in Da Lat and she said that it was beautiful. 


Women are carrying everything around with them. And these things are heavy. The men aren't doing the heavy lifting... they are drinking coffee and smoking. And driving motos. 


Da Lat is the Paris of Vietnam. They even have an Eiffel Tower. 



I discovered a new love: iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Best treat ever!


We followed the map to get to the gondola. The map was wrong. But we are smart and eventually found it. However we took so long to get there that it was closed for lunch. For 2 hours. 


When the gondola opened up again it began raining. And we shared our little swinging carriage with a Russian couple who liked to move around and make the whole thing swing unpleasantly.  


We went to a pagoda and it rained. We walked a long way to a lake and it rained. 


And it rained.  


We saw this gorgeous lake and it rained. 



And we were over being outside in the rain. So we went back to our amazing hotel and had a nap. Probably. 

Friday 7 December 2012

Ho Chi Minh City

Everyone calls it Saigon except for government officials. 
It is busy and hot and the traffic is crazy. 

Our first Vietnamese meal. It was pretty delicious. And for $4 each, a pretty good deal. 


Look at these cool maxi-bonsai by the river. 


This is just a small sample of all of the scooters in this city. I wonder how old you have to be in order to ride one. 


We went to the zoo in the middle of a park. It was a bit run down but they were working on it. I felt bad for the big animals like the elephants. They were pretty cute though. 


There are signs everywhere. It's information overload. I can't imagine trying to find a specific business, there is just too much to look at. 


I tried to get a good photo of the madness of the traffic but it all moved so fast and just flows in and around everything. 


The telephone and electricity cords are everywhere. Some are held up with other cords that are wrapped around them. 


But the good news is that the food is delicious.