Vietnam - Hoi An to Saigon

So we made it to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City yesterday, which brings us to reality that we only have 2 weeks left on our trip! We are planning on staying here for a few more days, visiting the Cu Chi tunnels, and the Mekong Delta, and then we are headed to Phnom Phen, Cambodia.

We had a really nice Christmas. It was a beautiful hot day, so in all honesty, it didn't really feel like Christmas - besides all of the Christmas trees, Santa hats and tinsel everywhere! A lot of children were dressed up in Santa suits wandering around the town. Christmas Eve seemed to be the big celebratory night, as lots of Vietnamese and tourists took this as an excuse to have a few drinks. As we hoped, we found an amazing Indian restaurant (the only one in Hoi An), which slightly took away our turkey cravings. We spent most of Christmas night and Boxing Day on Skype with our families - it was so nice to hear, see, and talk to everyone!

We discovered that Dalat, a town in Southern Vietnam, makes a delicious (at least to our deprived taste buds) wine, which was a perfect find for Christmas. Vietnam also has some of the cheapest beer we have come across. Brewed independently by the different restaurants, a pint of the fresh beer "bia hoi" ranges from 3,000 to a more expensive 5,000 VND (about $0.16 to $0.28) - it really is some of the better beer we have had too!

Below are a few pictures since Christmas...

China Sea, beach in Hoi An. Christmas Eve.

Cultivating the rice fields, bare foot. We rode bikes this day, and saw many people in the fields, all doing different rice farming processes.

Outside a typical building in Hoi An.

Hat shop in Hoi An. Matt had a special hat made for him, and needless to say, it fits perfectly! They really do custom make everything here, but it is easier to guarantee how something will turn out when they have an example in the shop already.

My Son ("beautiful mountain") ruins, from the ancient Cham empire of Vietnam - about 45 KM outside of Hoi An. It is a Hindu religious area, and was built in stages from the 4th to 13th Century. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sleeping bus. Our feet fit comfortably which was amazing! Except for the non stop honking for the first 5 hours of the 12 hour journey, it was the best overnight journey yet!

A sunrise upon our arrival into Nha Trang at 5:45am, overlooking Hon Tre Island. There were so many Vietnamese people out and about exercising. From Tai Chi, badminton (which seems to be a very popular sport), to running and working out on the jungle gyms, there was so much energy this early in the morning.

An old fishing boat that we took on a snorkeling tour in Nha Trang. After leaving a busy fishing port in the morning, where the boats were jammed in side by side, we were taken to three different islands, passing fishing farms along the way. The fishing farms had little houses on the water, where the fisherman apparently lived. Unfortunately the snorkeling wasn't the greatest, as the coral had been damaged. There was also a lot of garbage in the water, specifically at one island, which was really hard to see - and our guide spent some of his time picking up what garbage he could. The experience was still fun though - our boat had a rooftop for sunbathing, and jumping into the water. Our meal was the biggest array of fresh seafood! Fresh calamari, fish steaks, prawns, etc - Matt survived this one on rice and tofu!

On New Years Eve, we rented bikes, and set out in search of the Thap Ba Hot Springs - complete with a mud bath! We ended up getting quite lost (didn't see the above sign until we had come back after biking 5km up a road, until we came to a dead end at dirt road, where not one single person spoke English - you try explaining mud baths using charades!) We found them eventually, and it was the ideal way to see the local way of life along our journey. Anyways, the mud baths were a really cool experience! It was mostly Asian tourists there - the baths are known for their "healing powers" for the skin, muscles, and joints. First you soak in a mud tub for 15 minutes. They open up a tap, and the mud just comes pouring out. It is extremely smooth with light grains. Next, you bask in the sun for another 10-15 minutes so the mud completely dries. You then take a deep pressure mineral water spray, soak in a mineral hot water tub for half an hour, and finish off in the hot springs waterfall / swimming pool! All this for $5 - not bad at all! That evening we met some awesome people from South Africa and Australia, and spent our countdown to 2010 on the beach at the Sailing Club, and extremely packed open concept bar with tourists and locals. They had a live band and fire shows to bring in the New Year.

The "Fairy Stream" in Mui Ne, our next stop as we made our way down the south coast of Vietnam. The water was really shallow, you could follow it the whole way along to a waterfall. Children follow you, speaking very good English, hoping to be your guide ("the water gets very deep"). They would run all along the edge of the ravines, some bringing wooden swords to help entertain themselves for the day.

Fairy Stream.

Fish sauce in the making - famous in Mui Ne! The smell was so potent, it was unbelievable. Not wanting to ruin anyones taste for the sauce, all I will say is that the fish are kept in these canisters for 1-2 years before being deemed ready for market...

Fishing Village in Mui Ne. The round baskets on the sand are one of the types of fishing boats they use.

Thousands of tiny fish lay basking out in the sun, drying out before being thrown into the fish sauce pots!

We took a jeep tour to reach the Sand Dunes - famous in Mui Ne.

The sand dunes.

Sledding down the sand dunes! Kids sold little crazy carpet type sleds. The secret to mastering the art of maneuvering these sleds (after hiking back up the hill, with ferocious winds blowing sand everywhere) was the running start - too fast to go anywhere but straight down!

Slight holdup.

The beach in Mui Ne - a kite surfing mecca because of the strong winds, especially this time of the year. It is basically wake boarding, attached to a kite instead of a boat. The air that some of these surfers caught was unbelievable.

In Saigon/HCMC at the War Remnants Museum. Inside, this museum is not for the faint of heart.

Fruit being sold at the Ben Thanh Market.