So long, Vietnam!

Today marked the beginning of the end for me, as I'm now in the home stretch of my trip. Parting ways with Vivian, Carl, and Jocelyn was really quite sad - they are such a great travel "family," and we've had so much fun together! It was really a privilege to spend the majority of my vacation with Saucy, Dub Dub, and Vivouac, as well as with Dave, Maddy, Christi, Mike, Aaron, Ben, Kurt, Brendan, Allison, and Katie.

Luckily, our goodbyes were mixed with a good bit of humor. Just as my taxi pulled up in front of our Nha Trang hotel, the young boy who had tried multiple times to sell us postcards (or, if you are Carl, the chance to lose to him in a game of pool!) showed up as well. This kid was a real kick, and the sight of him standing next to my friends, mimicing their good-bye waves as my taxi pulled away, made me laugh like crazy.

For my last true stop in Vietnam, Nha Trang was a delight. The beach was lovely, we had a great time with Brendan and Allison, and we visited the mineral mud baths for an authentic spa treatment. We even went to a brewpub on the beach for a fancy dinner to celebrate my last night.

Who knew Louisiana-style microbrews are so big in Nha Trang?

Maybe it started with the idea that sat in mud for a half hour to cleanse my skin, but on my journey south to Saigon, I continued thinking about some things that have struck me over the past couple of days. Call them ironies, or contradictions, or just plain rambling ... but bear with me:

-- "Safe" is a relative term.

I was white-knuckled for at least 50% of my short Vietnam Airlines flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Due to some terrible weather, and despite being in a large Airbus jet and not the ATR-72 prop plane, I had one of the bumpiest descents of recent memory.

It's not night time...it's just a big rainstorm that makes landing extra exciting

I'm generally a pretty stoic flyer, but as the plane jolted around, I had to repeat my mantra of "it's nothing worse than a road filled with potholes" many times. Strange, though, that when I hopped in a taxi in torrential downpour to travel the chaotic streets of Saigon (where "traffic" should be called "lunacy"), I was completely unfazed! The reality is that I was in far more danger in a taxi without a seatbelt, but I guess I've become accostomed to honking motorbikes and near-misses.

-- Getting there is more than half the fun.

I think this applies best to our time in Hoi An. On the way into town, we watched the mountain-filled sky turn from blue, to amber, to blazing orange, before it faded into dusty pinks and dusky blues reflected in rice paddies and tributaries.

A gorgeous sunset on our trip from the Da Nang airport into Hoi An...

... and it just kept getting better!

Our driver was kind enough to let us hop out and take pictures. We had been so excited to arrive in Hoi An that it was a surprise to see such a great sight before we even crossed the town line. When it came time to leave town and head back to the airport, we left early to give ourselves time to hit Marble Mountain and China Beach. Marble Mountain is actually 5 separate mountains, all mined for their different colored marble. We climbed up one of the mountains to see its religious caves and pagodas, as well as panoramic views of the mountains, countryside, and ocean.

South China Sea seen from Marble Mountain

Then, we dipped our feet in the warm, sparking waters of China Beach and watched super-shy crabs digging their way into the sand.

Viv frolics in the China Beach surf

China Beach may be the prettiest beach I've seen in South East Asia, and it was certainly the most deserted and least built-up. It's funny how these memories will float to the top, even if they weren't in Hoi An proper.

Hoi An streetscape

Likewise, as Viv described so perfectly in her entry on our tailoring experience, we learned to relish the process more than the end product. While I'm really quite happy with my suit, two dresses, and four pairs of pants, in the long run, it's the memories of being like a kid in a candy store, selecting fabrics and styles with all my friends, that will last.

-- Girl, you'll be a woman soon.

What I'm getting at here is that being an MBA graduate-turned-backpackers is kind of a weird phenomenom. We don't quite fit into the 21-some crowd, which becomes clear when we can't stay up past midnight and party at the clubs/beach parties/karaoke bars to save our lives. (OK, I'm speaking for myself here.) Yet, we share the "trail" with the shoestring travelers, staying at budget hotels, booking economical tours, etc. Mostly, this works out just fine, but on occasion, it's a bit of a mismatch. Case in point: I was thrilled with our decision to upgrade to business class, for a mere $44, on our flight to Hoi An. It was great to arrive a day earlier, and it was even better to do it in such style.

OK, so we don't LOOK like we're business class travelers. Is it because we ate everything in sight in the airport lounge?

Later that night, we arrived at the Vinh Hung 1 Hotel -- which, according to our book, was an "atmospheric old Chinese trading house... an institution in budget hotels," but which in reality offered dark, musty rooms and the occasional cockroach. I found it hysterical, as I fell asleep in a sleepsack, cowering from bedbugs, that I had been flying high in business class earlier that same day.

It's time for me to sign off so I can get a good night sleep before my Saigon-Bangkok-Hong Kong journey tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures of the Victoria Harbour skyline on my last night in Southeast Asia. Speaking of pictures, I've uploaded a bunch and added them to some to our entries below, including Halong Bay and Hoi An tailoring. Plus, Aaron has some good ones on his site, too: http://www.aaronshouse.shutterfly.com. Enjoy!

Follow that fish!!

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam