This is going to be my first time out of the country! Can't wait to spend my Holiday in Cambodia and Say Good Morning Vietnam! My only goal is to avoid being stranded at butterfly reserve.
Catherine and Nick are friends of ours who are on a month into a world trip. We were fortunate enough to arrange our trip to allow Jane and I to meet up with them in Sai Gon, and journey with them to Cambodia. They were only able to spend a couple of days in Sai Gon with us but since we were now familiar with the city we showed them around some and were able to play scooter bingo, a game like slug bug, only instead of searching for VWs we were trying to top each other by being the first on to spot the most random or many things on their scooters. Some top finds included, for people on one scooter, the Heineken beer guy, the picture is in one of my other posts. The guy with a refrigerator strapped to his scooter and so many others! Scooter watching is just one of the many things that makes this city so great! Here are a few random, yet happy, special, smiley sights we saw while in Sai Gon.
A mini van smaller than a mini cooper.
Their communication system
A foil manger?!? These things are everywhere. At least its comforting to know our lord and savior is surrounded by fire retardant material.
Rain. No problem, just cover your self and your scooter with you rain poncho!
Cats at the crying zoo.
This guy sells shoes and broken kiddie rides.
Last but not least, Cat has seem to have been inspired by the Hollywood trend to find her own developing nation baby to love and hold. I hope you can make out the words, posters of white babies like this are everywhere! Oh Sai Gon, you've stolen my heart with your tacky ways! But here are some of my favorite not so tacky things...
Dalat is a town located inland in south central Vietnam. The air is cool and clear of the hazy smog that surrounds Sia Gon. It is known for it's strawberries, wine a destination for honeymooners. While there we visited a place called Flower Park. A theme park with no other attraction besides painted statues of fairy tails and flowers. It was super kitchy, but super cute at the same time.
Along with flower park we also visited some awesome temples that were placed to overlook the river! It was breathtaking
Our last stop before heading back to Saigon there were some waterfalls that we heard about and we decided to check out. We were told that the only way to view them is by Ariel tram, but that didn't seem to be the case instead we were told that the only way to get down to the falls is to take a sort of toboggan thiny which the breaks were controlled only by the passengers riding them. And here's what it was like on the ride down...
We finally made it down to this...
It was really beautiful though! And that marked another adventure in Vietnam! http://raelovesdirt.blogspot.com
On our first day back from our trip to south central Vietnam, we were able to explore the streets of Sai Gon once more. We leisurely roamed the streets where Jane's dad, Paul suggested a massage. The massage parlor was, interesting and very relaxing! An hour and a half massage for 100,000 dong, which equals 5 bucks. Once home, Go Hoa, my adopted Vietnamese mom then suggested we go get our hair washed at the local salon. For 2 American dollars we got our scalp massaged for another hour! It was awesome!
The next morning we woke up early to grab some coffee before we set sail on the South China Sea. Only a couple of yards from our hotel was a beautiful ocean sun rise!
That day Jane's dad, Paul rented a boat for us. We took it to one of the neighboring islands you see in the picture above. We had planed to snorkel, but when we arrived it was too windy and cold. While docked we were accosted by a number of islanders trying to get us to purchase any one of the recreations they were pedaling, from jet skiing, to parasailing they just wanted to get us to do something. Jane wasn't having any of that, but a man sailing on what I can only describe as a floating bowl, came up to our boat and asked us if we wanted to look at some coral from his "glass bottom bowl" I'm sure it has a name, but whatever. Here's a video of our maiden voyage...
After our bowl ride we stopped at a beach resorts on one of the islands. We were told that we can only dock there if there we did one of the activities offered. So Paul asked if we would go parasailing, Jane quickly said no. I said I'd go only if someone went with me. So Paul agreed. He did try to back out once there but I wouldn't let him.
Now I have never been parasailing before so I don't really know the protocol and safety instructions involved when it's done back in the states
We are on the road to Dalat, a town located in the highlands of south central Viet Nam. The views are breathtaking, a complete 360 from the views in the cities and coasts. It is mountainous jungle, with steep cliffs of all different colors. At one point on the side of the road there was a small group of children where perched atop of a dirt mount to wave to all the passersby. They were adorable. Soon after there was a traffic jam on the road where we got out and stretched our legs. The local children would poses for pictures and as soon as the camera was up to my face they would run. You can tell they wanted to tease us, they were so cute. There were waterfalls everywhere!
Nha Trang is a resort town full of tourists; it's a common place for Russians to escape from the cold. For Jane, it had reminded her of Waikiki. Having only been to Maui, a laid back island void of any real hustle and bustle, I couldn't relate. When we arrived I didn't think it looked that different from Sai Gon. But it was, the storefronts looked similar, with restaurants everywhere, though being a sea side town there is mostly tubs of freshly caught marine life most of which was still alive swimming around in tubs with an air stone or two. Not being a fan of seafood this sight was unsettling. Jane's dad asked if I like seafood, I replied honestly and said no. When it was time to eat he ordered this
And this
He said you can't order something other than seafood when you're in this kind of town. So when in Rome, I shut up and ate up! The meal was delish! When we were done I took a photo of the damage....
By the way these tables are about a foot off the street floor.
Who said Asians are bad drivers?! In the morning we set out to tour the city. Jane's dad and lady friend, who I love but still can't say her name, made us Vietnamese iced coffee before we left the house. It blows away any coffee I have ever tasted back home! But I digress, Once we were done they gave us our helmets they had bought for us. And so our adventure began. Scooters dominate the streets of Sai Gon. Every type of person rides a scooter. Young, old, men or women, they all ride. Tiny girls in high heals, older ladies with their little helmets, super adorable! All beeping their horns every two seconds. Lane markers mean nothing to drivers, one way streets, no matter, people are hopping up curbs to get ahead of the traffic, the streets of Sai Gon are a beautifully choreographed dance of scooters, cars, buses, and people all managing to avoid killing one another! http://raelovesdirt.blogspot.com
