We can’t believe it has been 1 month since we have left the good ol’ US of A. Since then a lot has happened! Sorry for the delay but here is what’s been going on.
As our adventures continue on our way to Dubai, UAE we stopped in Vietnam for vacation. We really had little to no expectations of what awaited us there. With our lives packed in 2 suitcases each, we dusted our feet off at the Bandas and we were on our way!
After a day of flying and a stop in China we stepped off the plane to what I like to call “organized chaos.” It’s hard to describe millions of little Vietnamese skillfully operating motor scooters and Vespas in and out of traffic with little to no regard for signals, stop signs or even on coming traffic. As we made our way to the hotel through this “organized chaos” I could only giggle to myself, for I knew an amazing adventure was about to start!
Our good friend Joe who is currently a pilot in Vietnam was going to be our tour guide while we were in Nam and had an itinerary all printed out for us when we arrived. Our good friends George and Teresa came along for the adventure as well.
Here is what we did with some pictures to go with it!
September 13th
Our first night, we checked into our hotel and then went out to dinner at this really good sushi restaurant. We walked around for a little while taking in all the craziness the city had to offer. Everything was so cheap there and I was really looking forward to getting into some good haggling wars. I was formally trained in the art of haggling at the University of TJ, so I was pretty excited to strut my stuff!!! After I haggled my way into getting 2 pairs of Ray Bans for $4.50 we called it a night.
September 14th-16th
We woke up early and headed out to the airport for our 6:30am flight to a quiet little island called Phu Quoc. On our way to the Airport Joe surprised us with telling us that we were going to be able to fly jump seat (it’s a seat in the cockpit) one of us would do the take off and we would switch half way and the other one would do the landing. I was so shocked and never thought I would ever be able to do this. But we learned very quickly rules didn’t really apply in Vietnam, they were more suggestive and were not taken very seriously by any one. Again I giggled to myself when I found this out; I don’t know why I just knew there were endless opportunities for good times. The experience of riding cockpit was indescribable and was a real highlight of our trip.
We landed on Phu Quoc, and headed off to our hotel to began our island adventure. It started off with us renting motor bikes for only $7 a day! The island really isn’t a tourist island and not very populated, so it was a great place for us to learn to ride motor bikes with out the chaos of the big city.
We rode around for a couple hours just getting the feel for the bikes then retired to the beach in front of our hotel were we discovered the $3 an hour messages!!!
The next morning we made our way to a private beach an hour bike ride away. It was an amazing ride with beautiful scenery. As we were riding Michelle noticed Teresa, who had gone ahead was stopped looking straight at a herd of cows. Joe said, "oh don't worry, just go for it the cows will move out of your way" I watched as Michelle with Joe on the back of her bike maneuvered and made there way through the herd. All of a sudden the cows got spooked and Michelle lost control of the bike tossing Joe off and Michelle gracefully landed on her feet but not before gashing her leg. I watched in disbelief as I saw Joe laying on the dirt road and my wife bleeding down her leg. Everyone ended up fine with no serious injury. We hoped back on our bikes and made our way to the beautiful deserted beach called Sao Beach:
After 3 days in Phu Quoc we headed to the airport in the afternoon and made our way back to Saigon. We went to Joes place and repacked, ate and then back to the airport for our flight to Nha Trang. Woohoo!
Nha Trang is the opposite of Phu Quoc but still a lot of fun. There are lots of restaurants and other attractions. The shopping is good and the diving is the cheapest in the world... Guaranteed! $38 for 2 dives and lunch on the boat! It was AMAZING!!! For the non-certified divers its $45 for 2 dives and you have a guide who pretty much takes care of everything for you and all you have to do is breathe, you don't even need to swim, as the guide drags you around! Nha Trang also has the mud baths which were super fun and very relaxing... And as always, there were massages!!!
After 4 days of Nha Trang our journey was coming to an end. We got on the plane and flew back to Saigon one last time. We arrived in the evening where we just relaxed with some dinner and more massages. The next morning we woke up and went shopping and sight seeing in Saigon. It was a really nice way to end an amazing trip to Vietnam!!!
As our adventures continue on our way to Dubai, UAE we stopped in Vietnam for vacation. We really had little to no expectations of what awaited us there. With our lives packed in 2 suitcases each, we dusted our feet off at the Bandas and we were on our way!
After a day of flying and a stop in China we stepped off the plane to what I like to call “organized chaos.” It’s hard to describe millions of little Vietnamese skillfully operating motor scooters and Vespas in and out of traffic with little to no regard for signals, stop signs or even on coming traffic. As we made our way to the hotel through this “organized chaos” I could only giggle to myself, for I knew an amazing adventure was about to start!
Our good friend Joe who is currently a pilot in Vietnam was going to be our tour guide while we were in Nam and had an itinerary all printed out for us when we arrived. Our good friends George and Teresa came along for the adventure as well.
Here is what we did with some pictures to go with it!
September 13th
Our first night, we checked into our hotel and then went out to dinner at this really good sushi restaurant. We walked around for a little while taking in all the craziness the city had to offer. Everything was so cheap there and I was really looking forward to getting into some good haggling wars. I was formally trained in the art of haggling at the University of TJ, so I was pretty excited to strut my stuff!!! After I haggled my way into getting 2 pairs of Ray Bans for $4.50 we called it a night.
September 14th-16th
We landed on Phu Quoc, and headed off to our hotel to began our island adventure. It started off with us renting motor bikes for only $7 a day! The island really isn’t a tourist island and not very populated, so it was a great place for us to learn to ride motor bikes with out the chaos of the big city.
After the massages, we watched the sunset and made our way to the night market for the best fish buffet you could ever imagine:
The next morning we made our way to a private beach an hour bike ride away. It was an amazing ride with beautiful scenery. As we were riding Michelle noticed Teresa, who had gone ahead was stopped looking straight at a herd of cows. Joe said, "oh don't worry, just go for it the cows will move out of your way" I watched as Michelle with Joe on the back of her bike maneuvered and made there way through the herd. All of a sudden the cows got spooked and Michelle lost control of the bike tossing Joe off and Michelle gracefully landed on her feet but not before gashing her leg. I watched in disbelief as I saw Joe laying on the dirt road and my wife bleeding down her leg. Everyone ended up fine with no serious injury. We hoped back on our bikes and made our way to the beautiful deserted beach called Sao Beach:
By the way, Michelle wasn't the only one to get hurt the day we went to Sao Beach. George, Joe and I were reliving our high school days racing (running) on the beach, on very uneven sand I might add, when I tripped and broke my arm in 2 places. Thank God we were traveling with Dr George & Dr Teresa! I opted out of a cast because I wanted to be sure I was going to be able to go scuba diving the next day.
After 3 days in Phu Quoc we headed to the airport in the afternoon and made our way back to Saigon. We went to Joes place and repacked, ate and then back to the airport for our flight to Nha Trang. Woohoo!
Nha Trang is the opposite of Phu Quoc but still a lot of fun. There are lots of restaurants and other attractions. The shopping is good and the diving is the cheapest in the world... Guaranteed! $38 for 2 dives and lunch on the boat! It was AMAZING!!! For the non-certified divers its $45 for 2 dives and you have a guide who pretty much takes care of everything for you and all you have to do is breathe, you don't even need to swim, as the guide drags you around! Nha Trang also has the mud baths which were super fun and very relaxing... And as always, there were massages!!!
After 4 days of Nha Trang our journey was coming to an end. We got on the plane and flew back to Saigon one last time. We arrived in the evening where we just relaxed with some dinner and more massages. The next morning we woke up and went shopping and sight seeing in Saigon. It was a really nice way to end an amazing trip to Vietnam!!!
Looks like a great time! The artist at the end is pretty amazing too, how much did that cost? And how's Steven's arm doing?
ReplyDelete--Mike
Ok so I finally took the time to figure out this comment thing and I think I made it now so its easier to comment on (which is why I was never able to reply to your comments before) :] yay!
ReplyDelete- Michelle