After our last update, we rented the crappiest bicycles I have ever ridden, strapped small day packs to the rack on the back, and took off on a three-day bike trip from Ninh Binh to Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam, about 65 kilometers. We spent some time convincing the hotel staff in Ninh Binh that we weren't crazy before they let us take their bikes.
The first ten kilometers of the ride wasn't spectacular. We hugged the shoulder and tried not to breathe as fully loaded eighteen wheeler trucks blasted past us spewing black exhaust. I think Asia is due for some smog checks, I can understand why everyone wears little face masks when they are out and about, we need to get some of those.
We made it the first 45 kilometers, all the way to the park entrance, in about 3 hours. Not bad considering our bicycles. The next day, we rode the last 20 kilometers to the center of the park. This was the most spectacular portion of the ride (see video below). The road was alive with butterflies, lizards, and flowers. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves. We checked in to our stilted house in the jungle and went off on foot to explore some more. The next day, we woke up early to tackle the 65 kilometer trip back, and found to our surprise, that steel bicycles that weigh 50 pounds are a lot quicker going downhill. We made it back in about four hours.
After Ninh Binh, we spent four days in Hoi An, on the central coast of Vietnam. Hoi An is famous for its tailored clothing and after a full day of convincing Kerri that she didn't need to buy anything, I decided it was pointless, and told her that she really did need three new dresses, two new jackets, three new dress shirts and a suit. After all, who would even think of hiring a professional young woman without a pant suit? I even splurged myself. I know, Kellen, you are shocked, that's where the money went that I was saving as a kid. All those M&Ms that went unpurchased as I exercised my amazing will power as a ten year old. It's paying off now.
Next, we set off on another wonderful 20 hour bus ride to the "Alps of Vietnam", a town called Da Lat. We found a nice two-star hotel with a view of the valley, which turned out to be more like rolling hills with pine trees rather than snow-capped peaks, but we weren't disappointed, it was really nice to see pine trees for the first time in a few months.
From Da Lat, we spent a few days exploring a the countryside and took a tour around a silk factory and learned how silk is made from start to finish. I didn't really believe it came from worms until I saw it, I thought it was just an advertising trick that Marco Polo used to get Europeans to buy it. I don't know if you can really call them worms, though, they are more like the kind of oversized maggots that Bear Grills eats to gross people out. It turns out, the worms are a large part of the diet of the people who work at the silk factory. Apparently they taste just like nuts. Check out our pictures of the factory.
Once we had our fill of the alps, we hopped on a bus to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), formerly known as Saigon, before Ho Chi Minh rolled over the South Vietnamese forces in Saigon, during the American War, as it is referred to in Vietnam.
We met up with our Canadian travel buddies Jen, Lyle, Darious, and Nick (who we met in China), as well as one of Michiko's (Kerri's sister) friends who lives in HCMC, Nhan (sp?), pronounced "Nyoung". It was great to meet up with someone who could speak the language and he was incredibly generous and showed us all around the city.
Since the Canadians had a hankering for snake, he took us to a restaurant where they brought out a live Cobra, chopped its head off, ripped out the heart and gall bladder and put them in shot glasses. Since nobody was volunteering for the heart, I threw it down the hatch. Kerri got stuck with the gall bladder, which is about twice as big and slimy. Once we got that over with, the waiters held the beheaded snake upside down and funneled the blood into a bottle of vodka, which we all shared in shot glasses. Yum.
Next up was porcupine followed by fried crickets. I wouldn't recommend the porcupine, I would have preferred chewing on my dirty shoes. The crickets, however, were awesome, very nutty and crunchy.
We went out with a bang in HCMC and spent the last of our Dong before we were off to Cambodia on the 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh seems like a pretty busy and bustling city, so we only spent one day there before going to Sihanoukville, where we are now. It's a beautiful beach town, but a little touristy for our tastes, lots of white, short term, intoxicated, vanilla-faced vacationers here. No offense to any vanilla faces out there.
Tomorrow, we start our first day of our PADI Open Water SCUBA class. We are going to be certified divers!
We love you all.
Check out these videos:
Rocky VII, Great Wall, China
In case it doesn't work, click here
Heeeeelllllloooooo! Kids at the Panda Rescue Center, Chengdu, China
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Cutest Kids Ever, Tiger Leaping Gorge, China (Kerri almost ate them)
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Motorcycling in Northern Vietnam
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Halong Bay, Vietnam
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Biking through Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam
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Here are the photos:
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| Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Cambodia |
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