Trip back to Saigon

Over the past few days we've visited a couple of places.

We spent a few days in Hoi An. A fairly small place with alot of character. One thing that is quite apparant as soon as you get there - the number of tailors in town. The streets are lined with shops only too willing to custom make western clothes. The trick is finding a pre-made sample and getting them to make that. Because if you start getting too creative you may not like what you end up with. The other trick is to ensure that the tailor is actually making the clothes on site so that when you go in to get fitted they can make adjustments right there and then. I learned this after getting a number of items made including a suite , coat, top and even some silk running shoes.

We rented a motor bike in Hoi An and went to see China beach along with the marble mountains which had spectacular caves with religious relics in them and pagodas.

After Hoi An we headed off to Mui Ne. It took us about 17 hours to get there. It was a very long and sleepless night on the "sleeper" bus as we lay in our highly air conditioned coffin like beds rolling around trying to get some rest.

Mui Ne is a resort town - resorts are spread out across the beach which is about 14 km long. It's a place that we thought would be good for some rest and relaxation before returning to Canada. Mui Ne appears to be big on kite surfing - something we did not know until we got there. It is low season there right now so there weren't alot of people. We got a room on the beach which was nice albeit expensive at $23 - average prices so far for guesthouses/hotels has been about $10-15. While in Mui Ne we rented a motor bike and went to see the sleeping buddha. Carved on top of a mountain which you can either hike up for 2.5 hours or take a cable car - we opted for the cable car. The buddha lays 50 meters long from head to toe. Set amidst it's natural environment - it's really impressive.

Mui Ne is also known for its sand dunes - white and yellow sand dunes. We had visions of prestine dunes as we headed out thinking we'd be the first ones there at 5am to watch the sunrise. Not the case. When arriving at the dunes, the visitor is swarmed by entrepreneurial children wanting you to pay money to use their crazy carpet to slide down the dunes. Not wanting to get sand in our crevices and not wanting to hike back up the dunes we opted out. It was also a little disappointing to see all kinds of footprints in the dunes so early in the morning. We went to see the Fairy springs which were very spectacular. Fresh water springs running through sand. Kind of looked like we were on mars - with reddish and yellow sand lining one of the sides of the stream and vegetation lining the other. The idea is to walk for 15-20 minutes through the stream until you get to some waterfalls.




While in Mui Ne we met some cool travelers which we shared dinner and drinks with. Our bus back to Saigon left at 1am in the morning. Yup another "sleeper". After entertaining ourselves at the bar until 1 with our new friends, getting spit out at 5:30 am in Saigon has been a rude awakening. We have about 10 hours here before we fly back home. Shopping and massages are on the agenda but first we must eat. Hopefully restaurants are open now. Mike is falling asleep as he waits for me to get off the computer.

We will be back in Canada on June 1st.

Things worth noting in Vietnam -

- many women cover themselves from head to toe - wearing surgical facemask type getups, long gloves, socks with flipflops - it's sweltering here but it's all in an effort to keep themselves looking white. Not sure if they are aware that white people are trying to look tanned!
- gas "stations". There are actual gas stations and then there are gas kiosks. These kiosks are set up willy nilly all over the place. They pump gas out of a barrel type apparatus, which has a gage that looks something like a beaker with litres marked off up until the 4 or 5 litre point.
- hotels/guesthouses - as mentioned - average prices have been about $10-15 USD per night, that normally includes free internet (if you're lucky the hotel will have more than one computer) and sometimes free breakfast
- the Vietnamese love tv - not only do they own tv's but they appear to be constantly be watching tv. I've even seen people rig up a tv so that they could watch it on the street while selling their goods.
- this is the only country I've been to where I can say I was a millionaire. $1 USD = 16000 VND. So for every $100 we converted we received 1,624,500 VND. Most common bills come in 100,000, 10,000, 5000 and 2000 increments. We mainly use travelers cheques when we travel - it was a bit of a pain in some places to get them cashed. USD are widely accepted.