Monkey Island

Today we took a boat out from Nha Trang to visit three of the nearby islands. The first stop was feeding ostriches and little non-native deer and horses- you could also elect to ride the ostriches which were saddled up and ready to go. When I first approached them with a leafy branch, it was as if I had entered the "Lord of the Rings" as five long-necked heads darted for the food less than 10 inches away from my fingers. And you want me to ride one of these things?!

The next stop was an island where you could visit waterfalls "just around the corner" and swim through them. Well, foolish Adam and I were joined by an Irish couple our age to go search for them. Driven on and on and on by a silly pamphlet picture the girl had, we trekked through the forest until our clothes were drenched in sweat and we agreed to accept that there was actually no waterfall. We made friends with the Irish couple under the circumstances, so we had twice the number of people to enjoy the rest of the quirky events on the tour.

Monkey Island was full of monkeys, hundreds of monkeys. Monkeys in the trees, monkeys at your feet, monkeys on your clothes. Angry monkeys, baby monkeys, monkeys doing flips though hoops. And in the middle of the island was a Go-Kart track. Bizarre.

The tour was fun because of the good company and the goofy guide. But just being on the clear water surrounded by mountains makes anything enjoyable.

On the road again

We packed up our stuff and hit the road. However, our rough and tough trip through the countryside of Vietnam is now a luxurious sightseeing vacation of the central provinces. With the tiniest peep of a vacation to Adam's Aunt who works for the big government run tourist agency, we quickly received a complete itinerary with nearly every day planned out for us. She arranged four and five star hotels for us "free of charge" along almost the entire route and booked tours and activities for most of our days. Where did we arrange this tour? At the elegant Caravelle Hotel, of course, over a buffet dinner and rooftop drinks with the director of the hotel "free of charge". Some menu items:

Seafood chowder
Lobster boiled in coconut juice
6" long tiger shrimp in garlic butter white wine sauce
Bacon wrapped pork medallion
Tenderloin Medallion with sauteed onions
Grilled salmon with teriyaki sauce
Broiled tilapia in orange cream mushroom sauce

Lamb Stew
Sushi Bar

Desert: Chocolate Mousse
Lemon Meringue Pie
Dragon Fruit, Lychee, Longan
Creme Brulee
Flan
Strawberries & Real whipped Cream
Ice Cream- Coffee, Mango, Vanilla, Blackberry, Chocolate

And we didn't even touch the Bread and cheese table or the already prepared meat and seafood area.

Now we are in Ninh Chu Resort on the beach. It is a new hotel and we have the place to ourselves. There are maybe eight other guests and we never see them. I asked the front desk if he could unlock the fitness center and he quickly replied that "all of the machines are broken because so many guests are using them." THERE IS NO ONE HERE! I had to turn away because I almost burst out laughing...five minutes later he found me and informed me that the fitness center was now open.

The hotel is beautiful, and the gray weather adds to the fun, eerie, Shiningesque feeling of being the only guests in a huge building in a desolate town. Around every corner I half expect to see twin little girls in blue dresses at the end of the hall.

We went on a tour to visit the Po Klong Cham towers today and climbed around the Tien Waterfalls. The itinerary included monkeys, bears, and hot springs, but none of these actually exist here. The tour was really funny because the guide and driver had never taken anyone on a tour to these areas so they didn't know where to go or what to do when the places weren't open or when there was nothing to see. We got to roll up our pants and cross a river to get to the springs and the climbing was not something that any tourists could have done, but the spot was amazing. The tour director is a nervous, kind man who approached us this morning, apologizing for the goofy tour and the 31/2 hour early return and this evening we get a complimentary massage! I didn't even think the tour was that bad since I got to play with a little baby at a restaurant where we killed time for 21/2 hours and the guide didn't speak English well so I learned a lot of Vietnamese.

Emily-if you were getting jealous about the buffet, here is a picture of the bruschetta at the hotel- it is wonder bread with one slice of American cheese and half of a black olive. Yup- that's it:)

The sign reads " Typical Vietnamese Alcoalic For Sell"

The tour bonus.

The Future

The Honda Future is now the most important item that we own and makes getting around exciting, cheap, and fast. Adam is my chauffer for now but I am learning to drive late at night when there is no traffic. People bump us, we bump them, we brush mirrors, step on each others toes, bonk heads- it is quite funny actually. Today I caught a girl's arm in our backpack as we drove past her, she kind of yelped- that was less funny.

I learned which side to dismount the bike quickly by burning my leg on the exhaust the second day of riding around. It takes a millisecond to singe a nice second degree burn, luckily, I had everything with me to care for a burn since this is something I deal with often...recall campfires, fire poi, sunburns.

But who cares about a burn? It feels WONDERFUL to actually be healthy enough to go out and do things!!! I feel like life here has just started after a month of being nearly bedridden. We have been seeing the city sights and we took a trip to visit Adam's Aunt's modest thatched roof house in the countryside with Ha and her mother. She has a gorgeous flower and fruit garden with bananas, mangoes, starfruit, jackfruit, and blooming lotus flowers.

Yesterday we started Vietnamese lessons. I had to drag Adam kicking and screaming by his...ears, but we made it and spent two hours trying to change the form of our mouths to make noises that we have never even heard before. We start University classes when we get back from our trip.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Adam and I were sitting downstairs the other night listening to of one of our greatest monsoons yet when all of a sudden there was a loud crash accompanied by the sound of an indoor waterfall. We ran upstairs to find about 100 gallons of water pouring into the bedroom from a hole in our roof. Water had been building up on the flat roof and the pressures of the storm pushed through the ceiling and onto everything in the upstairs rooms. We threw everything out of the room as quickly as possible and the worst of the damage is destroyed bedding and mattress and a horrible smell on everything we own. It was all very fun and exciting since it was nighttime on a holiday and no one was around to do anything about it, so we cleaned up the water, dirt, rocks, and other rubble that fell from the roof and stayed awake all night since there is no where else in our house to sleep!

Unfortunately, the entire roof is leaky and moldy and a simple patch in the roof over the hole won't clear up the years of mold built up there, so we have four days to find someone to take over the lease and we are going to travel until Adam's uncle's house is finished! Can something be called a disaster when it culminates in vacation and a move to a brand new home with no rent?