Our last day in Nha Trang included renting a motorbike and riding out 25 km north to Ba Ho Waterfall. The ride along the coastline was spectacular, especially at sunset. Whee! That evening upon returning the motorbike and grabbing dinner, we packed our sweaty, stinky bodies and gear into a cramped sleeper bus en route to Hoi An, about 510 km north. It was a very long, bumpy 12 hour ride. Imagine riding and trying to sleep in a large bus driving down undeveloped double lane roads shared with trucks and scooters. In Vietnam, it is normal for vehicles to cross over into the opposing…

Many Americans I know who have been to Vietnam often exhale a sigh of disdain when mentioning Nha Trang. “It’s too touristy,” they say. “It’s overrun with Russians,” they say. Although true facts, there is still more to Nha Trang (at least for me!). Over the past several years Nha Trang to Vietnam has become what Waikiki is to the U.S. Real estate has skyrocketed, the number of high-rise hotels have doubled since I was here 2 years ago, and there are even more hotels under construction. So why have we spent the majority of our time in Nha Trang so…

For $15 each, we hired a private jeep and driver for 5 hours to take us 34 km out of Mui Ne to watch the sun rise over the white sand dunes. Off we went at 4:30am, and we arrived at the white sand dunes at 5:30am, which gave us about 16 minutes to hike to the sand dune of our choice. Here are some photos below. We even released some of Walden’s ashes here: After we watched the sun rise, we checked out the fishing village and  “fairy stream.” The fairy stream was quite small, but the rock and sand formations…

Mui Ne is a little touristy beach resort in Southern Vietnam, known for its sand dunes pushed up against the ocean. In my opinion, the main tourist attractions are the red sand dunes at sunset, the white sand dunes at sunrise, the fairy stream, and the fishing village. I name this post “The Textures of Mui Ne,” and you’ll see why in the pictures below. Wind-blown sand in the red dunes: Sand and water flowing through the fairy stream: A mixture of wind-blown yellow and red sand along rock formations: A water-flow mixture of red and black sand: Sand and…

We briefly returned to Hanoi after Sapa for just 1 night before heading out again…this time to Saigon. The plan was to stay in Saigon just for 1 night, and then leave on Sunday, March 30 to Mui Ne. Our time in Hanoi and Saigon was brief, but there are still pictures worth posting here. We arrived in Hanoi early on Saturday morning, at about 6:30am. After killing some time at Hoan Kiem Lake, we were fortunate to be able to do a super early check-in into our hotel at around 8.  We then ventured out into the streets in search…

The picture below pretty much sums up our entire experience at Sapa, especially after the trek we did from March 25-26: Mao showed up in front of our hotel at 9:30am, as promised. She told us that we would trek a total of 15 km to Lao Chai and Tan Van, sleep overnight in a H’mong home, and then trek back the next day. Photos below show the beginning of our trek: After lunch, Mao pointed out her house to us when we walked through the village of Lao Chai. She was born and raised in this village, and now…

Our first full day in Sapa was spent exploring Ham Rong (Dragon Jaw) Mountain and nearby Cat Cat Village. Ham Rong Mountain was part of a larger park and included a steep, rocky climb to the top with views that made the trek worthwhile. Below are pictures of our hike to the top of Ham Rong Mountain. From the top were spectacular views of the town of Sapa, the mountains, and rolling fog. On our way to Ham Rong, H’mong girls were already lined up on sidewalks, stitching away: Ham Rong Mountain: There were some super tacky statues on the…

After our lovely dinner with Bao and his family, Chris and I got dropped off at the Ha Noi Train Station via scooter, thanks to Bao and his dad. Despite it being dark and drizzly, we made it safely. We took the overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai, located in the far north-western region of Vietnam just about a mile south of the Chinese border, which took about 10.5 hours. The time table said it should have taken 8 hours (10pm-6am), but it arrived closer to 8:30am local time. It wasn’t surprising to learn later that the trains here run on “Vietnamese…

Our first week in Hanoi was spent settling in, getting accustomed to the time zone, hanging out with friends, and most importantly, eating the best Vietnamese food in the world. Below is a quick summary. Tuesday, March 18: First meal of Hanoi: Xôi xéo lạp sườn (sticky rice with mung bean, Chinese sausage, and fried shallots). One of our favorite comfort food dishes. We later met my cousin Bao and his friends Kim and Quan for some French fried (that’s how French Fries are written on menus here), beer, gin tonic, and trà chanh. Hanging out on the sidewalk and…