THE END OF VIETNAM

Hoi An was the next stop on our journey. This was probably not a good place for us considering it is where everyone goes to get clothes made! We spent too much money but had some really cute clothes designed and tailored to fit us perfectly...very exciting! It was a really cute town, located right on a river. One night we decided to go out and ended up at this beach bar that everyone went to once all the bars closed. We had read in Lonely Planet that you haven't done SE Asia right if you haven't had at least one near-death experience....and it was here that it happened!! When we decided it was time to head home we hopped on the back of a motorbike for about a 10 minute drive back. We were both crammed on the back seat together and it was the scariest 10 minutes ever! He took off and was going sooo fast we were both screaming at him to slow down! It was so late, there was no one on the street and we were flying past everything. We were screaming "Oh my God!! Slow down!!" He would just mimic us and say "Oh my God!" in a really high pitch voice. This, of course made us laugh so I don't think he realized how scared we really were. But basically, we were happy to have made it home after being convinced the entire time we were going to crash or simply fly off the back of the bike!

In Hue we had a few days of culture. We spent a day exploring the Citadel and the next on a boat ride down the river, stopping at a tomb and pagoda along the way. The pagada was the home of a Buddhist monk who publicly burnt himself alive, sitting in the lotus position, to protest the government's oppresion of religious freedom. We had also seen the memorial in Ho Chi Minh where he had done it. Both days were about a million degrees so it was a little hard to enjoy the sites, sweat was literally dripping off us.

After another night sleeping (or at least attempting to sleep) on the bus we made it to Hanoi. We spent the first day exploring the city sites. We went to Hoa Lo Prison which was where John McCain and other American pilots were held prisoner during the war. They had his pilot suit and some of his things on display. The interesting thing about it for us was that despite the fact that they were in fact held captive, they were made to seem like they pretty much enjoyed themselves there. All of the pictures showed them playing chess, decorating for Christmas, cooking for each other, smiling, etc. They even had a display of all of the games they played, the gifts they were given when they were released, and so on. Prior to this, the prison was used by the French to imprison the Vietnamese. But, in this circumstance the prison was portrayed as being awful. Prisoners were constantly chained to cement by their ankles and basically tortured. It was very interesting to see.


From HoiAn we booked a two day trip to Halong Bay. It was absolutely gorgeous. We spent the night on this big, old wooden boat with a group of people. We toured around the Bay where there were thousands of limestone islands of all different sizes. Some of the islands are hollow and we were able to walk through the caves. It looked like we were in outer space. After, we went kayaking through some of the islands where we were surrounded by the islands. It felt like we were in a scene from Jurrasic Park and we were waiting for a Teradactyl to fly over us. We were very impressed with our kayaking skills-basically, that we didn't tip over! It was such an amazingly beautiful place. Spending the night on the boat with everyone was really fun, too.

Next, we took an overnight train to Sapa, our last stop on Vietnam (a much better experience than our bus rides as we were actually able to sleep)! This actually ended up being our favorite town in Vietnam. The town is adorable and surrounded with beautiful, green mountains. All of the women are in traditional dress and very talkative and sweet. I think we were asked about a thousand times "What's your name? Where do you live? How old are you? How many brothers and sisters do you have? What are their names?" This was ALWAYS followed by "Do you want to buy a purse? bracelet? earrings?" (which we ended up buying too many of because they were just so sweet!) The first day we went trekking to a local village. The views are incredible and women of all ages offer to walk you around-with hopes that you will buy something from them after. It is great, though, because we were able to talk for hours to the people that live there and learn all about their lifestyle (and, of course, ended up with bracelets and wallets that we really didn't need!) The next day we hired a local guide that took us trekking to 3 more local villages. Instantly, we were followed by groups of women and little girls who did the whole tour with us, asking us questions about our lives and telling us all about theirs. They were so cute, they would grab our hands and walk with us and they made us crowns made of flowers. Yes, we ended up with more bracelets! It was a really great experience for both of us!

THE START OF VIETNAM

We started off our Vietnam adventure in Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City. Our first night we were very surprised/excited at how nice our hotel was and for so cheap-our own bathroom, tv, two beds, air conditioner....it was amazing, it definitely wasn't a 5-star hotel, but for us, we were stoked! Hitting town, first thing we noticed was how out of control the motorbikes were! They were literally everywhere! First time we tried to cross the street we just stood there thinking 'well how is this gonna happen!?' Finally we saw a local guy starting to cross so we just copied/ followed him, weaving in and out of motorbikes flying past! We would have been on the side of the street for hours otherwise because we quickly learned you don't wait for a clearing in traffic, you just cross and pray the motorbikes will go around you! haha (don't worry moms, we've mastered this now-and Sydney was nothing compared to this hah!) So, somehow, we don't know how this always happens, but we ended up shopping at a market again. We were supposed to be going to the War Museum but got a little distracted on the way and ended up with some great buys!

Next day we went on a day tour to the Mekong Delta where we cruised the Mekong River on a rickety old boat. We felt like we were on the Jungle Cruise boat ride at Disneyland! We did a few stops at some different islands. The first one we watched locals making coconut candy and ended up buying three bags of them, they were amazing! We also got to hold their pet python! Then we hopped on a small 4-person row boat where we paddled our way through the Mekong jungle, stopping and eating fresh local foods along the way. It was a great way to experience the lifestyle of the Vietnamese people.

We also did a day at the Chu Chi Tunnels, which was one of the craziest cultural experiences we have ever had. It was where the Vietcong based their operations to fight off Americans...basically we saw why it ended with an American withdrawl. There was a complicated network of connecting underground tunnels in which the Vietcong faught from. We got to see different traps they used-all of them were pretty gruesome. We were able to crawl (literally) through a portion of the tunnels to see what it was like for the Vietcong; basically it was awful. Later, we had the opportunity to fire a gun of our choice if we wanted. So we chose an M-16, bought 10 rounds and headed out to the shooting range. It was actually very intimidating and we were both shaking trying to make a straight shot! It was so loud we thought we were going to burst an eardrum and when you get down there they hand you headphones to help...but they were literally headphones you would listen to your i-pod with and they did nothing! We were still shaking after but a really cool thing to say we've done. Throughout the entire day our tour guide, knowing we were the two Americans in the group, made it a point to assure us there were "no hard feelings...the Veitnamese are very forgiving people and think of US only as friends."

In Saigon we decided to book a "sleeper" bus that stops at all the main cities all the way up the coast to Hanoi. This meant that we were supposed to actually have a bed on the bus for the all-nighter bus rides. Really, you pray when you get on board that you will have one of the seats that somewhat resembles a bed and not be crammed into the back two rows like sardines, sleeping next to stangers drooling on you (yes, it happend!) First stop was Mui Ne. We hired a jeep to go visit the sand dunes nearby. When we got there we were instantly surrounded by little kids trying to rent us mats to sled down the steep hills of the dunes. The little girls were adorable and about a fourth of our size, trying to position us on the mats while using all their body weight to hold us up! It was great fun, followed by a lot of work climbing back up the dunes!

That night we ended up walking 40 mintues to go to a bar right on the beach that we had read about. All of the sudden there were performers clearing off the dance stage and minutes later there were acrobats standing on top of each other and people dressed as dragons in our face! We also had our first bucket of booze (literally a bucket), which we now know is the cheapest way to drink around here!

We spent the next few days in Nha Trang, a really fun beach town. Most of our days pretty much went like this: wake up and eat at the most delicious breakfast place we have ever eaten at, head to the beach and spend $1 to rent a nice, cushioned lounge chair and umbrella, eat 1, sometimes 2 massive $4 lobsters cooked right on the beach (as an appetizer), shower, have an occcasional $5, 60 minute massage, head back to our favorite breakfast place (also our favorite dinner place), and finish the night out at one of the many fun bars in the town!!! We loved this town and we love our lives-not to rub it in or anything haha!!

We did, however, stray from our usual routine one day and went on a boat tour around the surrounding islands. Being 2 of about 8 westerners with a group of about 30 on a Chinese tour, we realized we were outnumbered and really wouldn't be able to understand anything, seeing as it was mosting in Chinese. The guide would speak on and on and on in Chinese and everyone would be laughing away...and then he would say about 10 words in English and we would all just sit there confused haha. We managed to have a great day though! At one point everyone was shouting and a little Vietnamese man jumped in the water and climbed into his tube, aka the floating bar. Everyone else jumped in after him and floated around the bar drinking his nasty shots! Shortly after three of the guides got on the front of the boat and started singing rediculous songs. They called people up, country by country to sing a song from back home. We got dragged up to represent America and had to sing " Everybody Let's Twist" in front of everyone...it was pretty embarassing! An interesting, but altogether fun day!

Singapore and Detour to Honk Kong

After leaving Bali we flew into Singapore for a few days, which was a very impressive city! The people were extremely friendly, everywhere was noticably clean, there was amazing food, a fun night life and overall it was just a great place to explore. We stayed in Little India in a really nice hostel. We loved all the Indian food we had, which neither of us had really ever had back at home. The first day we wandered around the city. We went to see a temple that had a huge, massive Buddha in it which was cool and just wandered around checking out the city.
The next day we went to the Singapore Zoo. It was an awesome zoo-they allowed you to get so much closer to all the animals than they do at home. We finally got to see Kangaroos, too (nevermind the month we spent in Australia, searching for them with no luck. )
We went out that night to a really fun bar/club area. However, we quickly found out that a beer was about $13-definitely not on the backpacker budget! So, being the budget girls we are haha, we headed to 7-11 and bought beer there instead haha It was great though because you can wander the streets with open containers so we just cruised around with our beers and then headed back into the bars. It ended up being a really fun night out! Our last day in Singapore we headed to Sentosa Island. Basically, it felt like Disney created a beach! It's hard to explain; it was really pretty and there were rides on the beach and everything seemed kind of man-made. When we both called home to tell our moms we were planning on detouring a little and flying from Singapore up to Honk Kong and back down to Vietnam (so we could fly on their United passes and not have to pay) almost simaltaneously both of our moms said "why don't you stay in Hong Kong a few days, it's such a great city!?" So we took their word for it and decided to throw in one more country to the mix and check out Hong Kong. We were really glad we listened to them because it was such an awesome city! The skyline at night was absoultely incredible, as was the food and shopping. Although, our hostel was pretty horrible. It was small and dirty and just not nice at all (it's the fifth floor of the picture of that gross-looking building below). We went out to watch the laser/light show they put on every night on the skyline. We ended up taking a ferry across the harbor and stumbled upon a really fun stip or bars. There were tons of people and it's great because everyone spills out from the bars into the street and it's like a massive block party. They even have servers who take your drink order from the middle of the street, it's amazing!
Of course of all times, though, we were here in our gross hostel when Shanna got the flu-or something Asian that made her sick. So she spent the next day in the dirty hostel and Britt explored the city while she was asleep, going to a nightmarket and spending way too much money without another voice of reason! All in all, a really cool city!

End of Bali: Mt. Batur

I know it may be hard to believe, but yes, this is the active volcano, Mt. Batur, we hiked at 3:30am. We left from Kuta at 2am and reached the beginning of the volcano at 3:30am. We were met with an english speaking guide and a coke man. (We later found out at the top that the only purpose of the "coke man" is to try and sell us drinks at the top of the volcano. They are a complete rip off, and you don't really want a coke at 5am but you can't help but buy one.) The four of us began our hike in the pitch black with only small flash lights and the two other men to lead the way. The beginning of the hike was no big deal and we thought "this was going to be a piece of cake". The guy we had booked this trecking adventure with the day before said the hike was slightly up hill, but really easy. About 30min into the hike we were dying and still had an hour and a half to go! We looked up at the top of the volcano and our guide and thought there was no way we were going to make it. At some points through the hike the english speaking guide was literally dragging Shanna by the arm and the coke man was dragging Brittany. There isn't a really clear trail and the rocks on the side of the mountain are really slippery and difficult to climb up.


WE MADE IT!!! At about 5am we had reached the top and even quicker than expected! We bought a $5 coke (should have been $1, but figured it was a tip for dragging Britt up the mountain!) and waited for the sunrise. Surprisingly, it was freezing at the top of the volcano so we wrapped ourselves in our surongs to try and keep warm. We both decided that were pretty sure that was the 1st time we had ever intentionally been up early enough to watch sunrise! Once the sun was out we were served breakfast and watched the monkeys play in front of us.


After we had eaten we headed off to see some of the craiters. It was incredible to see the steam coming up from the ground around us. Apparently in some of the really small craiters created from the steam you can hard-boil an egg by just sticking it into the ground.



The hike down was interesting to say the least. All of the really steep parts we had hiked up, we now had to hike down. You basically just feel like you are going to face plant down the mountain every step you take. The first 30 minutes you are waking in black sand and your feet sink all the way down to your ankles. Our shoes had enough sand to build a playground with by the time we had finished the hike.

Here is a picture with us and our guide:

After the hike our driver took us to a hot springs where we could let our muscles relax. It was so amazing after the hike!

Looking at the Mt. Batur after the hike, we both still can't believe we actually made it to the top!

Our next stop of our trip will be Singapore but we are going to be sad to leave Bali. The people here have been so nice and it has also been really nice to relax and not be on such a time schedule. It has also been pretty interesting interacting with the local people. New Zealand and Australia for the most part are very similar to home culturally.

In Bali, basically everywhere we go people ask you three questions. What is your name? Where are you going to? Where did you come from? It isn't meant to be nosey, it is just their general concern for your welfare. If you don't have an answer to these questions they are concerned for you (that you are lost, either literally, or in life in general). As soon as you answer that you are from California, USA. They either say "ARNOLD!" or "Tell Obama I said hi!" Obama we guess is expected, but its pretty funny to hear people's fascination with Arnold. Our names are another funny one. People generally have no clue what Shanna is and when Brittany says her name they go "OH! Britney Spears!" and are extremely excited.

It has all be AMAZING here the food, the people, the beaches, the sunsets, the diving and the snorkling! We hope the rest of SE Asia is equally as amazing!

Shipwreck diving, Balinese New Year, and Nusa Lembongan

Since we are now scuba certified, we decided to try our skills in Bali! We went to a place called Tulamben to the U.S. Liberty shipwreck. We hired a guide and some scuba gear and we were off! For $40 we got to go on two dives throughout the afternoon, have a guide with us the whole time, and get transportation to the site! (Too bad this hobbie is so addicting because it is going to be much more expensive at home!) Both dives were absolutely amazing! We saw a starfish, some kind of fish that looks exactly like the coral except occasionally his mouth moves or he will swim to a new spot, a Moray eel, yellow and red clown fish, a school of thousands of silver fish, not to mention we got to swim through a sunken ship! We both said we feel like little kids again everytime we get back from a dive...its the most exhilarating feeling! After getting both of our laundry done for about $8 (hand washed and hung dry) we headed back to Kuta where we originally started our Bali trip. On the 26th it's the Balinese New Year! That night the streets were filled with thousands of people, all ages, to see the parade through town. The people here spend months making these floats and creating a whole performance where there is a a guy narrating in a scary voice and music playing. They all make their floats dance and tell a story (not that we understood the Balinese but we got the idea). After the parade they march all the floats down to a temple on the beach and burn them. We are not exactly sure how good our Balinese-English translating is but the festival represents something about purifying all of the negativity from the years past, getting rid of any bad energy or evil spirits and starting over. The celebration goes on until about midnight and then the streets are dead until 5am on the 28th. We had to go grocery shopping the night before to get anything we wanted because from 5am on the 27th until 5am on the 28th no one is allowed to be seen in public, use lights, work, talk (or make any noise), eat (if your Balinese). Basically you are locked in your room for 24 hours. If you violate any of the rules it is possible for you to be handcuffed and taken away by the police (guess they take their holiday's pretty serious)! We spent the entire day watching the 15 DVD's we bought the night before on the lowest possible volume setting and eating cups of noodles. Needless to say, we were excited to start a new adventure the next day and see the outside world!
So after our lock down, we headed to Nusa Lembongan, a small island off the southern coast of Bali. We just got here this morning but spent all day laying out at an infinity pool where if you are laying on your lounge chair it looks like the pool runs into the ocean. After the pool we headed back to our bungalow, which we are paying a total of about $7 a night, to watch the sunset. Around 5pm the tide goes out about 1/2 mile from the shore leaving all the boats stranded and just small pools of water left. As the sun sets it reflects the red and orange colors into the little pools left behind by the tide. We have seem a million sunsets here but this is definitely one of the most amazing!

Tomorrow we hired a boat to take us to another part of the island to snorkle for a couple of hours....can't wait!