June 16, 2005
Hell - Laos to Vietnam border crossing
Warning-this travelogue may cause heart palpitations in our parents. Best read while sitting down or while consuming mass quantities of booze. Very long post.** Today we make t... continue reading
June 17, 2005
Quan Son - Getting out of dodge
After about 4 hours of interrupted sleep we woke up at 3:30 am to catch the first bus out of this sketchy town. There wasn't a single person up at this hour and since there were o... continue reading
June 18, 2005
Hanoi - Relaxing in Hanoi
Today we took it easy exploring the Old Quarter area of Hanoi. We walked several laps around Hoan Kiem Lake to get some exercise. We talked with several other Westerners who compla... continue reading
June 19, 2005
Hanoi - Temple of Literature
Today we explored Hanoi some more which included a tour of the Temple of Literature. We also our train tickets for Sapa. ... continue reading
June 20, 2005
Hanoi to Sapa - Train ride to Sapa
Today we had to check out of our guest house in Hanoi by noon. As we checked out the guy decided to slap on a 10% tax on our bill. We knew this tax was going directly in his pocket... continue reading
June 21, 2005
Sapa - Arrival to Sapa
Our train arrived in Lao Cai at 7:00 in the morning. The two guys in our cabin disappeared too quickly for us to even say goodbye. They booked a 3 day trekking tour and had transpo... continue reading
June 22, 2005
Sapa - Relaxing in Sapa
We spent the next couple days just relaxing and walking around this beautiful area. It rained almost everyday so we spent a lot of time watching really bad movies in our hotel room... continue reading
June 24, 2005
Sapa to Hanoi - Hard Seat on the Train to Hanoi
Today we woke up early to catch the 9:00 am train back to Hanoi. The day trains didn’t include a soft sleeper initially so we bought the hard seat for the 10 hour trip back to Ha... continue reading
June 26, 2005
Halong Bay - Cruising the high seas
After hearing rave reviews of a boat tour to Halong Bay we decided to book a 3 day/2 night tour. We left Hanoi around 8:00 am and while we were picking up the others we saw our bu... continue reading
June 30, 2005
Hoi An - Arriving in Hoi An
We arrived in Hoi An on the 30th after a 15 hour train ride. We accidental booked a hard sleeper but it truly wasn't that bad. The beds all come with comforters so we used that f... continue reading
July 1, 2005
Hoi An - Shopper's paradise
Today we were in heaven. As you may already know Hoi An is renowned for its tailors and they are everywhere. For pennies you can have an entire wardrobe made which is customized ... continue reading
July 2, 2005
Hoi An - More shopping
Today we got our first round of clothes back and we were pleased overall. There were only a few slight alterations that needed to be fixed but our suits and my wool coat turned ou... continue reading
July 3, 2005
Hoi An - Chillin at the beach
We started our day today meeting Danny outside our tailor shop so I could help him pick out a couple of shirt ideas for his 18 year old sister. What a nice guy. After deciding we... continue reading
July 4, 2005
Hoi An - Happy Fourth of July
Happy 4th everyone!!! Today we got our first and second round of clothes and headed off to meet Selena and Cory at their tailors. After trying a couple of tailors out each Selena... continue reading
July 6, 2005
Hoi An - Hells Angels Vietnam style
Today we all got together and rented some motorbikes to visit China Beach and the area around Danang. After checking on the progress of our clothes we all grabbed a motorbike and ... continue reading
July 8, 2005
Nha Trang - Little Vegas
Today we arrived in Nha Trang and were amazed at the development here. Neon lights and karaoke bars were predominant. Usually this would put us off a bit but it was actually refr... continue reading
July 9, 2005
Nha Trang - Booze cruise
Today we woke up around 7:00 so we could grab a quick breakfast before the van picked us up to take us to our boat. We are finding that when they say 8:00 pickup they mean 7:45 so... continue reading
July 10, 2005
Mui Ne - Paradise found
Today we took a 4 hour bus ride from Nha Trang to Mui Ne. Upon entering the town the landscape got very dry and resembled Mexico in many ways. We noticed the sand dunes as well w... continue reading
July 13, 2005
Mui Ne to Saigon - Leaving Mui Ne
Today we woke up around 9:00 am to the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach. Of course our last day here the sun decided to shine. We took off right away for a nice hour long ... continue reading