Good morning :)
Hoi An was as I'd expected, relaxing and great!! I
spent a couple of days there, a half day at the beach
and "suit creation", a day at Marble Mountains/China
Beach and another day at My Son.
Marble Mountains are exactly that, moutains containing
marble inside. There are 5 of them, named after the 5
elements, fire, earth, wood, metal and water. I
toured around, there was a huge cave carved into the
moutain which was used as a hospital by the Viet Cong
(north) during the war. The area is covered in
pagodas, caves and splendid views of the ocean and
city below. It's also supposed to be a spiritual
retreat for monks but I didn't see many :)After, I
descended and went to China Beach, which is believed
to be where the Americans entered Vietnam. Now, it's
just a beach. That evening, I was wondering around
and came across a local event - my best description of
it is singing bingo. The callers sing words out and
if you get three words in a row, then you win. I
played twice and got two flags (words) but never
managed the third. It was fun to walk the locals - I
was there with two Viet kieus (expats from Vietnam
living in Vancouver) and we had a great time!
Then on to My Son. These are the best set of ruins
that I've seen in Vietnam, though when comparing them
to Angkor, they're rather disappointing. It was a
nice relaxing morning to wander around the Cham ruins.
Many of the previous temples had been bombed during
the war but there were a few still standing. There
was even a hole, about 10 feet in diameter, which was
still very obvious from where a bomb fell so many
years ago.
From there, I caught an overnight bus to Nha Trang,
Vietnam's party-beach town. The overnight bus was
crowded and slow and not nearly as comfy as the train
but time passed. I met up with an American girl on
the bus and we ended up sharing a room for the few
days that I was in Nha Trang.
The first day was "recover from the overnight bus at
the beach day" and then out partying until 1am. The
second day, we did a island boat cruise where they
started serving alcohol at 9:45am. It ended messy but
it was a fun time. We swam, ate, drank, sunned and
relaxed all around. They had a "boy band" which was
horrible and good all at the same time but they
certainly added to the entertainment :) We arrived
back in Nha Trang, I had a dinner of fresh crab and
was heading back when I ran into some friends from the
boat and ended up partying until 2:30am. The third
day, I went diving at 8am. Had two great dives for
$30 USD. The visibility was fair and the fish were
plentiful. Had dinner with an English guy and then up
until around 1:30am. Needless to say, I had to leave
Nha Trang as it was killing me slowly :) Not enough
sleep and too much drinking.
I'm now enroute south to Saigon and then the Mekong
Delta. I've done the math and I'll have 4 or 5 days
and then back to Saigon, 3 days in Saigon and then
home. I'll probably send one more e-mail for those of
you who are getting sick of hearing about my trip :)
Take care,
Sarah
P.S. For all those curious, the suit (jacket, pants
and skirt) cost me $55USD and after a few minor
adjustments, fit fairly well. (I'm happier with the
skirt than the pants). I also bought a corduroy
jacket (love it), a dress and a shirt and a suit for
the boy (which I'm curious to see on him). All in,
I'm about 7 or 8 lbs heavier than when I started this
trip but it was all a good deal :) I keep telling all
of the vendors "No more shopping for me" :)
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