The Pee Pees!

Actually spelt Phi Phi, these tropical islands were featured in the movie The Beach. Arriving by ferry from Phuket we took a long tail boat around the island to our beach side bungalow. We are our own castaways in our tree house room with a mosquito net and the gentle crash of the waves right outside the window.

We spent our couple days sleeping, reading, snorkeling in the crystal aqua waters, and laying on the flour like sand. After diving we weren’t expecting too much from the snorkeling but were impressed on our morning trip to Phi Phi Ley, spotting lionfish, crown of thorns, and plenty of little Nemos. Another day we hiked up the 186 meter viewpoint to see the sand inlet between the turquoise seas that had been destroyed during the 2004 tsunami.

We didn’t want to leave our quite island oasis but the bustling nightlife of Phuket is waiting.

Sand in All the Wrong Places!

It was hard to drag ourselves away from the beach, but we must head on to our next destination, Mui Ne. As we spent extra time in Nha Trang we only had one day to explore the town. We joined a half day tour to the local fishing village and the white and yellow sand dunes. It seems that we’ve done more tours in Vietnam than anywhere else. Perhaps it’s too bad that they make the tours so easy and cheap, but it would cost much more money and stress to go about ourselves; although we quickly get reminded why we try to avoid tours as we’re herded around like cattle.

Our first stop was the fishing village, which was quite impressive with the entire horizon dotted with hundreds of fishing vessels and basket boats. We watched as locals mended their nets and packed their boats for the night. One could easily spend hours admiring the daily activities throughout the village, however, a large sand dune was calling our names.


We tried our hand at sliding down the sand dunes with minimal success as Jason stopped after 6 inches. The trick apparently is to lie on your back to distribute the weight as we watched others sail past us. Regardless of the embarrassing attempts of sliding, the view over the dunes was magnificent.


Our tour ended just in time to catch sunset falling across the ocean. We watched as several fishermen were returning to the harbor with their days catch. It was a long day of traveling and touring, but we’re glad to have taken in the sights. Our next stop is Saigon!

Nha Trang

As we leave the rain behind we board our 12 hour “sleeping bus” to the seaside resort town of Nha Trang. And by “sleeping bus” we mean Vietnamese sized sleeping bus as we cram ourselves into our sleeping pods for the night. It was actually quite cozy having three rows of beds stacked two tall with extra drivers/riders sleeping in the aisles to maximize capacity.

After a few hours of sleep we reached our new home for the next four nights. Surprisingly as it sounds this was the first time in our 6 months on the road that we spent an entire day doing nothing but lounge on the beach. Although the beach wasn’t suited for swimming it was pleasant to relax listening to the waves crash.

We teetered back and forth on whether we should dive Nha Trang as it’s supposedly the best diving in Vietnam; however, it was the off-season with low visibility and cold water. So we compromised and did a snorkeling/sighting seeing cruise around the nearby islands. We chanced upon several large Blue Starfish, a cleaning station, and a pair of Octopi (that weren’t too happy to see us).


We sailed past a fishing village where locals were paddling their thuyen thung (basket boats) to their favorite fishing spots. It was quite interesting to learn that these boats were invented under French rule when a new tax was levied on all boats. Leave it to the clever Vietnamese to turn a basket into a pseudo boat to evade foreign taxes.


We made several friends during our cruise; some were traveling around the world similar to us, others just a few weeks here. We met up at the Louisiana Brewhouse (don’t quite know why Louisiana) for some homemade brews before parting ways for the time being. We had to eat dinner at the “Good Morning Vietnam” restaurant simply for the name. Although one would think they would serve American food, they severed some of the best Italian we’ve had on the trip. Its sad to say, but our pizza here was better than Italy!

Shop till you drop!

That seems to be the main theme of Hoi An, a town littered with shoe shops, lantern makers, and over 400 tailors. You can get some great deals for a chic new ensemble; while tempting, we decided to explore the other side of Hoi An.

Downtown is full of character as you stroll past the alleys of dilapidated mellow yellow houses adorned with colorful lanterns. Along the riverside women sell fresh fruit and knick-knacks and others wash their clothes or lazily fish. After seeing the red washed Japanese Covered Bridge our tummies were rumbling and a traditional dish specific to Hoi An sounded like it would hit the spot. Cao lau is rice noodle dish that uses water from a special well in the city. It is then topped off with pork, fried dough, and stems of herbs. We also enjoyed some fresh spring rolls and deep fried wantan dumplings; washing it all down with some local brew. We like to call it ‘tree tree tree’ beer but it’s really ‘Ba Ba Ba’ in Vietnamese.

The next day we got out of town on some rickety bikes and pedaled our way out to the rice paddy fields and beaches. Vietnam will surpass Thailand as the top rice exporter in the next couple years, and it is easy to see why as flooded paddies line the country side roads. Families and neighbors head out in the morning to plant this life crop spending most of the day bent over sowing the delicate green blades in tidy rows.

A couple more kilometers down the road we find ourselves at Ang Bang Beach, said to be the local beach. There are a couple basket boats made from weaved bamboo dotted along the beach. After walking down the vacant strand we hopped back onto our bikes and started for Cua Dai Beach. The sun finally came out and we took another walk amongst the breezy palms and mild surf. Jenny even went for a swim!