Arriving back at the hotel from the trip to the tunnels in Cu Chi, it was time to leave Saigon and head to central Vietnam. Now, when I traveling I am typically not of the improvisational sort, but this time, we hadn't quite figured out how we were getting to our next destination, NhaTrang. We had two options: train or plane. Back at the hotel, we checked to see what flights to Nha Trang would cost, only to be told that flights to Nha Trang were not operating because tropical storm Noul was bearing down on the town. Oops. Guess we were going to be skipping that. So, we would simply head to the next planned stop early, which was Hoi An. Luckily, the flight to Da Nang (the nearest airport) cost a grand total of $62. Southwest can kiss our ass.We landed in Da Nang and got a taxi for the 30 minute drive to Hoi An. I can't tell you how nice of a change it was to be on a road without 300 buzzing moped encircling us like flies on shit. We then arrived at the Golden Sand in Hoi An, a wonderful 5-star resort. Here I felt the "vacation" part of my trip was beginning (you see, unlike the rough and tumble world adventurer/hostel braving girls, I am a princess and demand luxury and coddling). While waiting in the lobby to check in, we were greeting with fresh sugarcane cocktails, which we immediately fortified with more vodka. Our room was a spacious ocean view suite complete with a college football game blaring on ESPN (the mostly showing soccer Hong Kong version, but at least it had some football tonight).
The next morning we woke to brilliant sun and took in breakfast. One thing I think the girls appreciated, the hotel had a true western breakfast (aka eggs, pancakes, omelettes, cereal, etc) that they were unable to enjoy for quite a long stretch during the trip. We finished breakfast and headed for the pool. In the midst of all this, we had been a few cocktails down during the morning and continued so at the pool. I'm telling you all this because yours truly decided to throw a wrench into the entire rest of the day via what I call "the incident". This basically consisted of me developing a case of severe dehydration so much so that I needed to seek medical attention, which in Vietnam (let alone in a smaller town Vietnam) was a scary prospect. (The doctors were first rate though).Fortunately the girls were great and took very good care of me through my ordeal. I was down for the count for a full day though, and missed what was left of the sun for the remainder of the trip. The girls managed to get some additional time at the pool however. The next day we planned to head into Hoi An, but the tropical storm which had hit Nha Trang decided to hang a right and move up the coast. We woke to 40 miles and hour winds and rain. And rain. And rain. Remember when Forrest Gump was talking about what it was like in Vietnam. Yeah, pretty much that. So, we were landlocked in the hotel for a while, during which time we read quite a bit, played massive amounts of Mahjong and finally figured out what happened at the end of the movie "Outsourced".
FINALLY, the rain cleared enough for us to head into Hoi An. The town is what is called a UN World Heritage Site, which is a fancy title for "place that hasn't been greatly disturbed by mass modernization, McDonalds and the like". Hoi An is also renound for being the textile capital of Vietnam, which is a fancy title for "getting custom made clothes really cheap." And that we did. 3 suits and 6 shirts for $250 cheap. The girls got a bunch of clothes made too. We walked all over the town for two days, taking in historical old buildings, the town market (complete with $3 polo shirts thanks to the haggling of the blonde). Central Vietnam retains a great deal of their French heritage, and it certainly shows up in the food, which was outstanding.
All too quickly, it was time for me to head back to the US (complete with a bag containing all the clothes so large that it looked like I was carrying around a dead body) and we said our tearful goodbyes. Yours truly flew back to Saigon and prepared for a long flight over the Pacific. Before I left Saigon though, the airport got hit by one of the worst thunderstorms I'd ever been in. And the funny part....the airport continued operating normally, even as lightning as hitting all over the place. Sitting in your seat waiting to push from the gate and looking out to see a funnel cloud forming knowing you're about to take off into the weather, well good times.But all was without incident (as you can tell since I'm here writing this). The girls headed up the coast to the ancient capital of Hue. And with that, I will hand the blog back over to them. Despite the rain, it was a truly amazing trip and I highly recommend visiting Vietnam soon before McDonalds gets in there and ruins it.
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