Vietnam update

The last two weeks have been super busy and quite the adventure leaving me very little free time to update the blog. Danny and I had a great time traveling together from Saigon in the South all the way North to Hanoi. We played at the beach, road motorbikes for days, got custom tailored clothes and shoes made, and cruised along Halong Bay while sleeping on a junk boat. There were many fun times, stressful times, sick times, and funny times. I got my first case of EXTREME food poisoning which of course came at the worst possible time…the first day of a four day motorbike ride through the Central Highlands! I seriously thought I might die! Worst of all…Danny caught the freaking MUMPS?!?! Apparently it is possible to get a mild case of the mumps as an adult even if you were immunized as a child? We suspect that he might have caught the virus from one of the children at the orphanage we visited in the Central Highlands.

The Vietnamese love Australians and I can understand why as Danny is the friendliest person I know. He won over everyone he met and made great efforts to talk to the locals in their own language. Little kids loved Danny and I laughed when I saw him kung fu play fighting with five little boys at a temple. Hmm…I wonder if one of those little boys gave him the mumps?! I got mixed reactions from people who learned I was American, some were very kind and others not so much. There were many situations with cab drivers and tour operators that attempted to rip us off and became quite agressive when we refused to pay… I was glad to be traveling with a guy at those moments. I feel Danny and I were able to experience more of the “Real Vietnam” as we got away from the main tourist circuit and ate at many authentic Vietnamese “restaurants”.

Danny flew back to Sydney yesterday after almost missing his flight, and Nicole arrived in Hanoi after almost missing her flight! She is feeling quite refreshed after spending a week in luxury in Hong Kong. I on the other hand am completely exhausted. Nicole and I leave tomorrow on a night train to the mountains of Sapa.

I plan to write more details about my Vietnam travels once I get to a place where I can stay put for a while and the internet connections are not so painfully slow!