Nha Trang :: 12/04

Greetings from Nha Trang!

Sorry for the late blogging, but, for some reason, we couldn't find any internet cafes in Ho Chi Minh City. However, we DID find about ten million people on motorbikes in what can only be described as organized chaos. It's absoltely mind blowing to see how these people move in and out of traffic, and I wouldn't dare attempt it. Crossing the street is like playing Frogger, as the rule of thumb is YIELD TO THAT WHICH IS BIGGER. So, for those of you doing the math, cars are bigger than motorcycles, motorcycles are bigger than pedestrians. That said, in Ho Chi Minh city I still rule most of the animal kingdom.

The flight into Vietnam was, amazingly, a piece of cake. Nathan and I first flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles and then L.A. to Hong Kong. That second leg is about 15 hours... or, if you have happy-sleep-pills, it's about five hours. Hopa!

Hong Kong to Ho CHi Minh City is just another two hours, so that was nothing. Once we arrived, we went straight to our hotel in the heart of town, checked in, and went to the famous Rex Hotel to have a beer on their rooftop and watch the end of the Tottenham/Birmingham soccer match. There, we met a guy named Alex from Montreal who, with his knowledge of the city, joined us for a night on the town.

The next day, December 3rd here in Vietnam, we purchased train tickets in the morning for an overnighter in the evening, and then hit up the city's big market to gaze at cheap crap. Always fun. Usually smelly.

Vietnam is sort of like Spain in that businesses sort of tend to take a break mid-day for whatever they might call a siesta. So we had a couple of beers at a cafe near a park and waited for the War Museum to open up. It's not Smithsonian good, but it did have many great photos and lots of old military weapons and vehicals to check out. Overall, it seemed very anti-America, but I suppose it is what it is.

The overnight train to Nha Trang (along the coast) was quite nice as Nathan and I shared a four person sleeper cabin by ourselves. We arrived here around 9am, checked into our beachfront hotel (yes, $23 gets you a balcony overlooking the South China Sea), and wandered around a bit before sitting on the beach, staring at the water, and drinking cans of Tiger and 333 (the local swill).

It's nap time, now, and then hopefully a big time in this big town that has a small feel to it. Like I said before, internet is sort of hit or miss, so I'll blog again when I can. Cheers!