Fancy Ladies Day

Jim and Greg had to work today, so Bonnye, Addi and I had a Fancy Ladies Day.

We started with some shopping, where I bought some gorgeous Jim Thompson silk to make floor pillows with, and then had a magnificent sushi lunch. We ate some of the best sushi I've ever had...and I've had alot in my day. Addi had her first California roll...and gobbled up all of the edemame. We did some more shopping afters that, where Addi got some Hello Kitty gifts from Tia Bonnye, and we concluded with pedicures. Addi got her toes painted in pink and was mesmerized with the entire process. How will she re-enter life in the US where three year olds don't get to go to the spa and get pedis!?

It was a tremendously luxurious feeling day...a nice change of pace. It also didn't break the bank, which made it all that much more luxurious!

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Top Ten Ways to Know You've Been Traveling in SE Asia for a Long Time

1. You actually crave rice-noodle soup for breakfast
2. You don't think anything of wearing the same clothes three days in a row
3. Your daughter asks for rice and chicken at every meal (instead of buttered noodles)
4. The only visual differences between you and the backpacker hippies you scoffed at 3 months ago are toenail polish and twenty years
5. Your eyebrows begin to look like Groucho Marx's because your hotel mirrors are too dimly lit to afford any tweezing-and you no longer care about looking like Groucho Marx
6. You can entirely pack and unpack in 4.5 minutes flat
7. Your miming skills are exponentially stronger and you can now communicate anything with this silent art
8. A $25 bill for dinner for 4 with drinks and appetizers makes you think "wow, that was an expensive meal!"
9. Crossing a street packed 8 across with motorbikes doesn't raise your adrenaline level anymore
10. The lenses for your glasses are so scratched you can barely see through them.

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Whirlwind of Mekong Delta

We landed in Saigon this morning, dropped our bags at our hotel, and took a chance on a "guide" who approached us on the street with a list of tour options. As quickly as we came into the chaos of the city, we left it and headed an hour+ out to the Mekong Delta.

Unfortunately, we missed the morning floating market due to our late start (these tours usually start at 7AM), but we putted around in a bright blue wooden boat and visited three islands. We didn't get their names, and really rushed through them, but we got a good taste.

After bouncing around in huge waves and playing chicken with boats much larger than us, our dingy turned off the main river and took us through narrow muddy canals lined with palm (or something) that Jim says is right out of a scene from Apocalypse Now. We stopped on the first island for lunch where we ordered ginger chicken and rice. When I say they gave us the ENTIRE bird diced up into chunks, I am not exaggerating...feet, legs, head, neck and organs. Jim was very chivalrous and gave Addi and I the recognizable chunks while eating the weirder chunks himself. It was delicious but really tested my meat-cut snobbery.

From there we went back to the main waterway and visited another island whose primary product was handmade coconut candy. They gave us a free sample that was still warm and gooey, and we were hooked. It tastes like saltwater taffy...only better. Mmmmm. I wish I could say we will bring some home to share, but we already gobbled down half of it!

The final island had a bunch of very fast crocodiles which you could feed raw meat to and a poor caged up monkey. There were also beautiful flower gardens and Jack Fruit trees. This island, as with the others, was fairly large- with a hotel and bikes and other things- but we weren't given the opportunity to see much.

Again, we started 4 hours late so it wasn't our guide's fault, but we wished we had more time. None of the places we went to are mentioned in our Lonely Planet book, so we know we got an 'off the beaten path experience'. We are glad we took a chance on Mr Minh!

We leave tomorrow and head to Bangkok to visit Greg and Bonnye (yea!) but we could definitely use more time in the Ho Chi Minh surrounds- there is a ton to do here!

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Silk

We had another full day today because we leave for Saigon (no one calls it Ho Chi Minh City) early tomorrow. We 'borrowed' a guided tour itinerary from the hotel and after some tense taxi negotiations, left Dalat proper for the surrounding countryside.

We drove for an hour...around mountain valleys, through gorgeous flower and vegetable villages and past motorbikes loaded with hundreds of roses. We finally stopped at what was described as the NamBan "rural market" but was really just a smaller version of the city markets- nothing remarkably different. From there we went to a small silk factory which was amazing. We saw the silk cocoons, the entire process for making silk thread, and the looming and dying process for creating the silk fabrics. Addi really wanted to see the worm inside the cocoon, but we couldn't figure out how to ask the question, so we never did.

Elephant Falls were not far from there. It was a very short but exceptionally treacherous hike to the bottom of the falls. We made it half way and were rewarded with a spectacular view. Apparently, the falls are exponentially more amazing during the wet season (in a few months) but we did not feel cheated! Here, as with most of the nature stops yesterday, we found odd oversized concrete statues- today in the shape of mushrooms, a weird mermaid and elephants. So very curious....

We stopped to see the hand woven silk crafts of a small minority tribe in the area and were welcomed with huge smiles and artichoke tea. We were instantly draped in silks and shown the hand looms. One of the women spoke fairly good english, so we were able to ask questions. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask about the silk worm!

Finally we went to tour the Lat minority village. I don't know what we were expecting, but there was really nothing to see. Unfortunately, we became the entertainment when Addi had a meltdown of epic proportion. (She has only had a couple on our entire adventure, so we will cut her some slack, but...) After 5 minutes, I think the entire Lat community had gathered around to giggle and shoot us empathetic glances (the international "Wow. I've been there!" look). We finally calmed her down with the prospect of feeding the baby chicks in the street, but we basically hopped in the car and called a day. We will never know if there was something amazing to see or do right around the corner, but I don't think so!

We got a good feel for the lifestyle of the mountain villagers today, which is what we were after. As an added bonus, there was a wedding at our hotel so we got to see a little bit of that action. Not very different from a USA wedding, which surprised me a little!

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No Paparazzi!

Dalat is a beautiful mountain town, almost a mile high in the south central part of Vietnam. It is a favorite Vietnamese honeymoon and holiday destination, and still shows early 1900s French influence in its architecture. The area is covered in either tall pine trees or in greenhouses growing vegetables and flowers intended for sale all over the country. There is some obvious wealth here that we have not noticed in other places we've visited.

We hired a car for the day and drove all around. We started with a great cable car ride dangling high over the hills and fields, and then wandered through the Truc Lam Zen Monastery and its beautiful gardens (Addi made a love proclamation prayer to Buddha with incense, all the while instructing me on how to pray).

Then we went to Datanla Falls which took a short steep hike to an amazing and wide waterfall. Jim managed to get bit by a pony there- don't worry, no skin was broken, but really- who gets bit by a pony?!

From there we went to Bar Dai's Imperial Summer Palace. It reminded us of Graceland in that we kept commenting on how small and plain it all was (times have changed the definition of grandiose) Unlike the insanely ornate palaces in Thailand, this place literally looked like Mike Brady designed and furnished it.

From there we visited the Crazy House which is nearly impossible to describe. It is a hotel on an acid trip. Most of the crazy narrow passages and bridges wouldn't pass US safety standards. I really can't describe it and do it justice...and I really couldn't capture it on film well either...but I tried. One of the photos attached!

We concluded a very full day with a visit to the Valley of Love which was described as kitschy and we added strange. It is a fun park of sorts, on a beautiful lake. What makes it odd are the strange sculptures and animals and elves and things all about. It was an odd place...but apparently a popular spot with Vietnamese vacationers!

The Vietnamese are much more aggressive in their approach to Addi than we have become accustomed to, and I don't much care for it to be honest. All harmless and based out of the same excitement at the blond hair blue eye toddler phenomenon, just too aggressive. On more than a dozen occasions today, Addi was literally swarmed, passed around, pulled and tugged. I told Addi it is ok to say 'no!' which she did a few times but was generally accepting (more than I was). Again, clearly no harm intended so it wasn't scary or anything, but super annoying. Jim got his share of Paparazzi action today too...but no one cared about the brown haired brown eyed annoyed mother. Oh well, Cinderella story for me, I know!

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Addi-Vietnam Looks Good on Her

Someone captured this shot in Nha Trang yesterday and emailed it to Jim. I thought it deserved its very own post!

Arrived in Dalat this evening after an exceptionally scenic bus ride through the mountains. More on that tomorrow!

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Nha Trang

We spent our first day in Nha Trang (yesterday) on the beautiful 4 mile long beach...sitting on lounge chairs under straw umbrellas...looking at turquoise waters, mountains and islands (there are 71 of them)...breathing the fresh air (Siem Reap was dense with wood smoke)...and listening to Russian (this is a major Russian tourist destination). The wind picked up in the afternoon so we mustered the energy to have a late lunch and go to the playground for a bit. We crossed the insane street packed with motorcycles and bicycles like locals (shoot the gaps- there are no traffic lights and no pedestrian right of way), and retired to the room before 5:00 where Addi and I promptly fell asleep for the night and Jim worked.

Today we went on an all day boat trip on the South China Sea. We stopped at three islands for some snorkeling that didn't have many fish but did have some of the most gorgeous corals we've seen yet- reds, blues, greens, whites, yellows and blacks- shaped like brain, lace, antler, fans, sticks, etc. We are a little bit spoiled by the warm Indian Ocean and thought the water was cold, but I know it wasn't! We had an amazing Vietnamese BBQ right on the boat which included fresh picked sea urchin. I have heard it described to resemble a newborns diaper...I agree with that description- even when served with cilantro and lime. I am proud to say I tried it, but I did not like it!

We wrapped up the day with a stop at a fishing village where Jim, Addi and I took a paddle ride between fishing boats in a round basket. We couldn't believe this basket stayed afloat with four people in it (the three of us and the woman who owned the boat) but it did! At one point, the woman dropped her oar, pulled out a machete, and started hacking at some coconuts I hadn't noticed earlier. Once my heart came out of my throat, I accepted the coconut, now with a straw in it, and took a sip.

Tomorrow we will enjoy the beach in the morning and then catch a 6 hour bus to Dalat, a town in the mountains/ central highlands. There are things to do in Nha Trang that aren't ocean focused, but we don't plan to do any of it. We aren't even exploring the city its self. Jim and Addi are lucky- this cold is slowing me down and we are taking advantage of the gorgeous beach for R&R. Maybe next time!

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