Good Ol' Vietnam

It's been 12 days since my last post. It's not that I haven't had the time, but most of the days in Vietnam were spent on the beaches. So the whole blog post would be..."slept on a beach, went out. Repeat." So I waited until I have enough material to make the post a little bit interesting.

Since Phu Quoc, my first destination was Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it used to be called, and this is the second largest city in the country. After much frustration with a local bus and incessantly naggy motorcycle drivers, I finally made it to the center of the backpacker's area, which was bustling with activity in the ever-so-bright neon lights.



An excursion out to the Cu Chi Tunnels was the main attraction of the city. These 250 km winding tunnels in the city next to Saigon was the last line of defense against the Americans during the Vietnam War (or American War as it is known here). Being American, it was hard to watch the propaganda video that repeated the phrase "Killing Americans" at least 10 times. Nonetheless, our tour group crawled through 60 meters of a tunnel, a dire claustrophobic experience to say the least. In addition to these tunnels were underground kitchens, hospitals, etc.





Throughout Vietnam, I've been traveling with a UK girl named Natasha that I had met back in Cambodia because it seems like everyone has the same tourist destinations as Vietnam is a narrow country. I had met up with her in Saigon, and we went to Mui Ne and Nha Trang, 2 beach towns, with the former being the calm serene beach town and the latter being the loud, party mecca of Vietnam. In Mui Ne, we pretty much did nothing but eat, go to the beach, sleep, and enjoy the sunlight. On the second day there, we went to the red sand dunes that it's famous for, and managed to do a little bit of sand sliding (which was actually PATHETIC).





In Nha Trang, I met a lot of good people through the hostel, bars, restaurants. It's supposed to be a big party town, but it doesn't compare to anything in Thailand or even Cambodia for that matter. The good thing about going out in Vietnam is that it seems like everybody goes to the same bar and moves in a pack to the next bar and has an after-party at the same place. I also went scuba diving in Nha Trang as I'm diving at least once in every country. The dives in Nha Trang were a bit disappointing as the current was so strong and the fish hid away in various crevices. The corals were still beautiful, and the visibility was great.



And then there was Hoi An. By far my favourite town in Vietnam. Unlike the other places, this town has a very charming, old town feel to it, and it is home to 400 tailor shops! Girls go to Hoi An to get 6 tailored dresses, 3 tailored boots, while guys get 2 tailored suits and 4 tailored shirts. This is probably average. I bought 1 tailored cashmere suit, and 4 tailored shirts for 125 dollars. It's amazing how fast they work too - they can take your measurements in the morning, finish the trousers and shirts by the afternoon, get them fitted, and finish the jacket by night. Other than that, the town had the best nightlife in Vietnam so far, and there's a very nice beach nearby, easily accessible by bike.





I'm in Hanoi, the capital, right now, but I'm a little sick. I caught a cold (hopefully it's a cold) on the 20 hour bus ride from Hoi An to Hanoi on an overpacked sitting bus. That's another thing about Vietnam: traveling takes A LONG time. Here's another thing about Vietnam: The food has been the best here compared to other countries. There's not much special about the food here, but I have absolutely loved the rice stalls and the french bread sandwich stalls here.

In a few days, I'm off to China! A little bit of fear, a little bit of excitement. We'll see how that ends up...

- Ryoji