A little surprise in the laundry

Recently at one of our hotels, Aspen and I got some laundry done. The thing is you have to be certain about what you throw in your laundry bag and then check it after you get it back because sometimes items of clothing go MIA (missing in action). Luckly for us this time nothing of ours went missing. But I had an extra gift waiting for me in my bag of laundry. Some dude out there is now short a pair of boxers.

Rain, rain go away come again some other day, preferably after we leave!

So its probably the first lazy day we have had on our trip. Its raining buckets outside right now, but the temperature is still warm. It's too bad though, we can't enjoy the beautiful beach we found the other day. There will be plenty to enjoy in Thailand, on the bright side. I'm just sitting on the computer in our local hotel looking information up about the different islands we go to in Thailand. Hopefully the wet season doesn't hit us too hard there and prevent us from going to snorkeling and diving!

Yesterday was interesting enough too. We had a big beach day planned out and we arrived at the beach around noon. Aspen and I got settled in and rented some kayaks to paddle around the bay with. I'm surprised my arms aren't sore today, because that was a work out! At one side of the bay, we went right though a large school of jelly fish! Blue ones and clear ones, I was very happy I was in a kayak at this point. We tried finding information out about the various jellyfish we saw but couldn't find anything too useful. So after seeing all those jellyfish we changed direction and went to the other side of the bay. The clouds at one side of the island were getting very dark with rain but it didn't bother us much because rain usually lasts a hour or so at the longest and then the sun comes out. Although Aspen was worried once the rain started, her kayak would fill with rain water and sink. Interesting analogy Marty party.

The kayak held my interest longer than Aspens, and while she loafed in the water and drooled over the local boys playing volleyball, I paddled around for awhile longer until the rain hit. Once it hit, we took cover under a little beach umbrella, but then decided to go swimming in the rain. The water felt so much warmer in the rain and it was relaxing just hanging out in the ocean while it poured. That is until the loudest boom of thunder erupted and we took that as our cue to get out of the water. The rain didn't let up. We got some grub at a local restaurant on the beach, and although I didn't try something very crazy, my meal turned out to be very good. Very spicy.

Our moto's had just hung out at the beach too and when we went looking for them earlier than we had planned, they had no issue leaving too. It was still drizzling when we drove back, which made for a messy trip and a longer one because extra care had to be taken while driving down the muddy roads.  Both Aspen and I were covered in red mud by the time we made it back to our hotel. For the first time on this trip, I took a hot shower. I was so chilly from the rain and being wet the entire drive back to our hotel. It felt fabulous.

We finished the night with a beer and some Thai soup on the beach at a little local restaurant. It was beautiful, so many people came right before sunset and were snapping pictures of the beautiful scenery. Right behind us were two rainbows too, I didn't even know which way to turn to snap pictures! After the sun went down they put little gas lit lamps on the table, dinner by candle light! I loved it.

Hopefully the rain dies off and tonight we can hang out there again. Although I have heard back at home, in little old Medicine Hat, it has been rainy weather too. So when it comes down to it, I much rather would be stuck in the rain here than there. The beaches and warm weather make it like paradise. Maybe I'll "miss" my flight home, not on purpose of course...

First sunburn of the trip!

It was slightly overcast when we met our friend Do to began our tour of the southern part of the island. At first we were leary about going on the tour with him because we thought it might just be a better idea to rent a scooter on our own and explore. Cheaper. But since we had called him already and what not we just went with it. Best idea of the trip!

Our tour started with stopping at a couple pearl hatchery places.  They grew their own pearls, and we actually got to see them crack open a clam and find a pearl! It takes 3 to 4 years to make a small pearl, and 8 to 9 years to make a large one. Talk about a tedious process.  The color of the pearl depends on the inside of the clam shell, and black pearls are the most rare. Of course they would be my favorite ones, for that reason.

We continued on and went to another local city, An Thoi, on the island and went down to their harbor.  We got to go right up to one of the boats and see what they fish.  The boat we went to fished little minows, and from what I understood, they were bait for other fisherman and bigger boats. They had so many though, huge bags full of minnows. It was slightly stinky in the area so we left in a hurry.

By this point we had been driving around and the tour had lasted an hour so we figured from here we would just go back to our hotel.  Instead we headed to the prison on Phu Quoc.  It was a prison run by French Colonists who captured Vietnamese people and tortured them.  The prison is also known as Coconut Prison, and held up to 40 000 captured individuals.  They were put through various torture methods that were the most cruel and inhuman processes I have ever seen or heard of. One of the tortures these prisoners were put through would be having their knee caps removed by just a simple stake being driven into the knee. Another method would be putting boiling fish sauce or water in the inmates mouth and burning their mouth to such an extent they couldn't eat and would starve to death.  It amazes me how sick the Americans were to even come up with torture methods such as these.

While we we reading about various torture methods, a Vietnamese man came up to me and tried teaching me how to read the Vietnamese portions of the sign.  He was having a time and half trying to teach me how to properly pronounce all the words when I decided if he was teaching me Vietnamese I would teach him some English. I tried getting him to read the English portion but he just laughed, and then walked away.  I always get stuck in those situations! Aspen was standing a ways away just laughing, while i was standing there painfully reading Vietnamese.

Apsen and I escaped from the prison finally, and jumped back on the motos. We ended up hitting up the most beautiful beach I have seen yet here! It was called Sao Beach, and the waters were a beautiful turquoise and the sands were a brillant white and so soft! The water was the perfect temperature to cool off from the humidity and the heat.  There was a little beach restaurant, that served fresh seafood.  Both Aspen and I indulged in a cocktail and had the best meal I have had on our trip yet. It was squid made in chilli and garlic sauce and some steamed rice, so amazing!

Our guides had dropped us off for a couple hours at the beach and it was time to go, although we plan to spend the rest of our time on the island at this beach.  By this time it was almost supper, and I was very impressed at how much these men had showed us on the Southern portion of the island.  I thought it was time to go back, when the guys told us we were going to a waterfall now!  We took off on the motos, and I couldn't help but notice we were driving straight into a rainstorm. I mentioned to my driver that my bag couldn't get wet because it had my camera and what not in it.  He said no no, we won't get wet and then looked over beside and us and acknowledged that it was raining pretty hard.  Then he stepped on the gas and we took off flying, I guess his attempt to beat the rain. It didn't work.

Luckly we found cover within 2 minutes of the downpour and nothing got wet in my bag.  We sat under a little shelter until the rain died off and then hiked up a mountain path with stones of various sizes as the walkway.  I didn't even fall once! Which is surprising for me, considering how uneven the ground was, I was almost certain that I was going to roll an ankle.  Especially since we were doing this hike in flip flops.

We made it to the top of the waterfall and it was beautiful, so serene just nestled in the rain forest.  Our tour guide was attempting to catch water snakes and I had no interest in that so I just snapped pictures for awhile. Some more Vietnamese people were there and they were snapping pictures of Aspen and I! I find it so funny how people stare so much at us here. We motored down the mountain after to hit up our next destination.  I couldn't help but overhear the tour guide asking Aspen if she had a boyfriend and I started chuckling. She answered no but she said I did and then he asked her again but you have no boyfriend? Totally hitting on Aspen!

Our last stop was a pepper farm.  They grew their own pepper with no pesticides or preservatives! It was a neat place to see.  And the pepper smelled amazing and they had white and black peppers. Very interesting.

Finally we got dropped back off at our hotel, the entire day tour cost us ten dollars! Such a great day. We saw so much and found the perfect beach to spend the rest of our days. Which we plan to go to right now actually! Have to even out the burn we got yesterday from riding around on scooters all day. Sun tanning time for me!

Georgina of the jungle

First off I want to give a big shout out to my friend Sharrese for accepting my facetime call at about 5am and waking from her slumber to chat with Aspen and I and get a little taste of Ho Chi Minh!  Hope you Mexico trip is going fantastic! As for Kevyn, you let us down bud!

Our bus ride to Rach Gia was interesting to say the least.  The bus we hopped onto at the station was roomy and so comfy, not to mention we snagged the very front of the bus with the most leg room.  I got all settled in almost snoozing when the bus pulled over and we learned we were switching to another bus, with a lot less leg room.  I think the entire 7 hour bus ride I maybe got 1 hour of sleep, but that was alright because I was slightly worried how we were about to find our way from the bus stop to the boat dock.  The bus drive told us we would get to the boat dock but failed to mention how.  Luckly a whole family on vacation took us under their wing and informed us we had to catch a free van ride to the boat dock, no one told us this on the bus though!  They were a very friendly family and let us share a van with them.  It was a very mixed family, some from Taiwan, India, and Vietnam.  The only language universal among them was English, so that made communicating with them very easy.

While we were waiting for the boat, our adopted family let us know they had a van waiting on the island for them and that we could share it with them too! Such nice people here.  As for on the boat I made another friend too! Aspen doesn't think she counts as a friend because we might never talk again but I count it for sure! Her name was Yo (I'm not certain about spelling but thats how it sounded) and we chatted about traveling and what not.  She was telling me we are lucky to be Canadian because it's easy for us to get visas for other countries.  She said she has a hard time being Vietnamese and trying to get a visa, but she hopes to travel one day!

We got to the island and ended up finding our hotel very easy.  Wow. Our hotel was once again 5 dollars a night but I dont think it can fall under the catigory of hotel.  It was a grass hut with walls that didn't even reach the roof and a sliding door that had left huge cracks between the wall and itself, perfect for little critters to wander in.

We wandered around town for a bit and ended up having the opportunity to meet Phu Quoc's famous Tony.  Or so he claimed.  Apparently Aspen caught him on her video camera when she was taking one of the town.  He became famous for helping travelers that were short of cash get off the island, and apparently so famous he was in the Lonely Planet travel books but asked to be removed because he recieved so many phone calls a day about it.  Of course I didn't miss a opportunity for a photo with the famous Tony!

After exploring town we went to the beach and grabbed some food and drinks.  I got a plate of fruit but ended up sharing most of it with a local boy that was hanging out at our table entertaining us. He claimed to be 9 but that was highly unlikely considering he was like a foot tall and so tiny.  But cute none the less.  We also met a couple from Sidney, Australia and they told us Cambodia is awesome and said we would love it.  Can't wait to go there now!

So back to critters, wow did one wander in, not even a small one either. The toilette here has to be filled manually with water before you can flush so I had just used the bathroom and was filling the top with water when all of a sudden the mother of giant spiders scurries up the wall right in front of my face. Luckly I didn't drop the porclin lid of the toilette as I screamed and darted from the room.  Aspen went into the bathroom to investigate my story of the king kong size spider and agreed it would eat us in our sleep if we didn't kill it.  This began a huge ordeal of squishing it.  Aspen turned out to be a bigger man than I am and squished it with her shoe.  We weren't sure at first she got it but the evidence was on the bottom of her shoe. Thank God.

The spider hunt made us famished so we headed to the local night market for some grub.  We got a plate of seafood and noodles for 60 000 dong (less than 2 dollars :)). It was the most delish meal ever!

We were slightly leary about going back to the hut in fear that there would be a bunch of giant spiders waitng to avenge the death of the one we squished but our room was free of any bugs.  Although all night we were paranoid something would crawl into our bed with us and we both had dreams about bugs and snakes. But on the bright side we switched hotels to a very nice, clean, bug free hotel for the next few days. Time for a trek in the forest on the island, adios amigos!

Final days in Ho Chi Minh City!

So tonight is the night we catch a night bus to Rach Gia and then a boat to Phu Quoc! I'm super excited to see the island, because it looks beautiful and it's just exciting to move and see another new place.  I'm sad to leave Ho Chi Minh, the city is wonderful, so much to do and always something going on.  Not to mention its super cheap.

Last night Aspen and I ended up going to a water puppet show.  Very cool, the puppets did all sorts of effects on the water like spit water into the audience and blow fire and even smoke came out of the water! I am under the impression there was a story line but it was hard to folllow considering the characters talked in Vietnamese.  I took plenty of videos still, to give folks back home a taste of a water puppet show.

Before the show started, two guys sat behind us and one guy broke the seat he sat in.  They were younger guys and I started laughing at the guy and we ended up chatting.  After the puppet show we all met up at a local bar and got to know eachother.  One guy, Gergely (pronounced something like gargar) was from Hungary.  He had a thick accent and we had guessed he was French at first, were we ever wrong.  The other guy, Micheal, was from Ireland and had called us out on being Canadians right away.  Mostly because I apparently gave it away by saying eh alot.  I'm working on not saying it anymore.

While we were sitting at the bar, a young Vietnamese boy was entertaining everyone in our area.  He must have been around 7 or 8 and had so much charisma it was unbelievable.  He was dancing and chatting the tourists up like nothing.  He even told one tourist that the police walking around were "his" police and they answered to him! He was conning tourists into buying stuff he was selling by playing rock paper scisors with them. Best out of 5.  I lost so I bought something but the kid was so cute people bought stuff from him regardless if they won or not.  I deffinitly got some great videos of this kid chatting everyone up too.

Gergely had just came through Cambodia and apparently hated it but that hasn't dampered our spirits about going there.  If its as dirty as he said we will have to see it for ourselves and can just motor through and go right on through to Thailand.  Micheal had been traveling for 9 months already and had been to many countries.  South America and India to name a few.  He planned to continue through Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos in Asia and then onto Australia and New Zealand too.  Maybe I'll cancel my flight home and just continue my world travels too...

Apparently I had a very thick Canadian accent too and sounded like a female version of bubbles of trailor park boys.  So flattering to hear that.

We spent our last day in the city by going to the Cu Chi tunnels.  They were tunnels the Vietnamese created during the war to escape the Americans and hide from them.  They were so tiny they had to build bigger ones that allowed tourists to be able to crawl through.  They also had AK47's to shoot as well as other war artillery but we decided to wait until Cambodia to shoot guns because it most likely will be cheaper.

We had the opportunity to crawl through the tunnels and we took advantage of it.  There were escapes about every ten meters or so and we had planned to do the full 100 meter crawl.  While we were in the tunnels at about the 20 meter mark, the lights went out and then a few more meters we passed an escape and then the tunnel dropped. Aspen was in front of me and she passed the escape and realized it was going down and didn't want to go on.  People are crawling right behind me as she turns and around and announces she won't go any farther.  So I stop and created a little traffic jam and then push my way backwards until we can exit.

It was crazy though, my heart was racing just from hearing Aspen panick in the tiny tunnel! I didn't mind getting out either considering it was so hot and stuffy in the tunnel and my shirt was almost all wet with sweat. Yummy.

At the end of the tour we al climbed back onto our bus to go back to the city when we realized the largest man was missing! We couldn't leave him so our guide went searching for him.  He was a larger man so I was thinking it was a good possibiliy he had a heart attack from the heat or something! Nope turns out he missed the educational video we got to see at the end of the tour and was watching it again by himself.  Not a thought in the world for the entire tour bus waiting for him, what a guy.

Anyways its about time to head out of this internet cafe and maybe find a bite to eat before the bus picks us up! Later alligators!

Ps. Chayse Rembowski, I know you read this and if not mother will pass the message on and I do plan to come home eventually, if anything is out of order in my room, I will send all your wonderful gifts back to Vietnam. DO NOT think this is an empty threat my friend!

Sam dun water park!

In our attempt to beat the heat, Aspen and I decided to hit up the local water park in Ho Chi Minh. The only problem was when we woke up it was pouring today! Luckly it stopped later on in the morning giving us some time to relax and enjoy the cooler weather the rain brought.

Once it stopped though we heade out and grabbed a moto. A moto is a local who drives you on their scooter or motor bike. Remember how I said the cyclists were crazy? They have nothing on these guys. I thought more than once that we were going to crash into another scooter or get run over by a bus! It was a scenic drive though and showed us just how big this city is. It was like a twenty minute drive and these guys only charged us 35 000 dong! Dirt cheap.

It only cost us 100 000 to get into the park. I love the cost of living here! It turned out this water park had its own section of lockers and chairs for sun bathing for foreigners. We are so special. The waterslides were deffinetly crazy. They had one called the boomerang where three people sat on a tube and went down one side of a steep slide and slid up the oter side of another steep wall, so fun. This random asain boy, named Lee, offered to come with us. It was a nice gesture but when we got off the slide he went over to his friends and theh high fived him and were congratulating him. Maybe it was a dare but he was a nice kid anyways.

Out of the 500 asains at this water park I'm 95% sure we were the only white people. It truly made us famous amongst the locals. One group of kids came up to us and asked to have their picture taken with us because were so "beautiful". Good one. Another girl sat beside us with her friend and they were secretly taking pictures on their camera phone of us. Not so sneaky, I might add.

They had a zip line in the park where you dropped off into a pool. It slightly scared me cause people were doing flips and belly flops off it. Not too mention no girls were doing it but since aspen and I stood out enough already we thought why not. Well I had to go first and when I got up there people got off their chairs to come to the pool to watch the white kid do this. I grabbed the bar and swung down and people were yelling and cheering! People are crazy.

We finished the day with a bite to eat st the waterpark. 125 000 dong, 5 dollars, bought us each a plate of fried rice, a plate of fries, a beer and an iced coffee!
I love it here!

Rule number 2: Never trust the cyclists. Ever.

A 5 am wake up call today got things started bright and early. Aspen and I startes by grabbing a bite to eat from a street vendor. It was a chicken sandwich but the meat honestly remained a mystery to me. For some reason, in any foreign country I have a tough time stomaching the meat. So in other words it most likely will be the first and last time I eat one of those sandwiches. But hey, at least I tried it!

After breaky, we wandered the streets until we stumbled into a market that had so much live seafood. Eels, fish, squids, frogs, etc. After that we did more walking and made our way to the mekong delta, for a look at the river. We didnt see too much when we got there so we headed back toward our hotel in search of a beverage because we both we nearly dying of thirst!

This is where it gets interesting. After our experience the first day with the cyclist tours, you think we would have learned. Oh no. While we were searching for a drink we decided to go to the war reminents museum, which was quite aways away and we were already tired and sweaty. Two men offered us rides on their bikes for 50000 dong ( about 2 dollars) and since we were exhausted we took the bait.

They were so nice though we couldnt refuse! So they took us to our destination, which was amazing by the way so much information about the vietnam war, and then waited for us to come out. They said they would take us to a chinese market so we hopped on and went. They told us we could decide a price so we were excited that we got a deal.

Nope, too good to be true, and this time they charged us per hour and included the hour that they waited while we were in the museum! 1 000 000 dong later we had them payed up. That was nearly a 50 dollar tour, whoops. No ass grab this time though!

So here we are at this chinese market and dont exactly know where we are and decide to walk back, thank god we had a map! A nice little stroll for about 45 minutes brings us back to our hotel.

So to finish our night we are sore an tired and think a vietnamese massage sounds like a lovely idea. Well let me tell ya, these massages were nothing like the ones I have had back in canada. First of all we are brought upstairs to a room with four massage tables, two of which are occupied already. They give us towels and tell us to get naked. Aspen grabs the bathroom leaving me in this room with the two folks being rubbed down and my massage lady. She insists I get undressed right there! So she holds the towel up and I strip, I leave my bathing suit bottoms on for some added comfort.

The massage started with the lady walking on my back, right on the table. Then she pulled the towel down, along with my bathing suit bottoms. So much for added protection. I'm laughing inside cause I know aspen is probably freaking out beside me. The massage overall was alright minus feeling violated. She made me roll over and I'm sure everyone got a peep show. And the entire time all the ladies working on their people are chatting and laughing in vietnamese! She finished the massage by takin my hair out of its bun and braiding it. Aspen didnt get her hair done, I guess I got lucky?

Its a different world down here, we grabbed a bite to eat after our massages and a random man in the street came up to aspen and started massaging her again! Two for one deal tonight? Nah, he massaged her till our food came and then told her she had pay him. A bunch of scam artists here! I laughed though cause it was pretty darn funny, aspen getting another full massage right at our table while im enjoying our egg noodle soup. She said it was even better than our first massage though! I bet it was because she didnt feel quite so violated.

Rule number 3: nearly every one is a scam artist, just gotta deal with it!

Jet lag sucks.

Well once again its 530 in the morning and aspen and I have been awake for the last hour if not more. We might have actually gotten our sleeping pattern on track last night if it wasn't for the 6 hour nap we by accident took from 4 till 10!

I guess the hunt for a new hotel tuckered us right out. We accomplished a lot yesterday though! Including finding a new hotel ( after our little adventure with the cyclists ) for 5 dollars a night each! Steal of a deal my friends. And it has a cute little belcony for some great people watching.

After that we went on a cellular device hunt. And wow, they have every phone you could ever think of wanting here! Being backpackers, we just wanted the cheapest phone possible. Something to call the worried mother hens back at home with. Well good news is we found one for 20 dollars. Done and done. So oh yeah, mom if your readin this, I have a real phone now!

After we had our nap session 3000 we woke up and decided to try and get somewhat on track so we went for a walk. If I was to compare this city to one back home, it would be something like New York I think. Its the city that never sleeps! At 10 at night the streets were alive with children running around, scooters zig zagging through people, and plenty of tourists exploring their way around.Its amazing. We headed down the street to a local tourist spot that was hopping and had a drink and hung out on the street watching the various people go by.

After we had our nice cool beverage, we went back down the street toward our hotel and grabbed a bite to eat. Spring rolls and rice paper rolls made upbour late night supper. I was so hungry though I ate one of the spring rolls while it was hot and burnt my mouth so bad I got a blister. Rule number one, let your food cool before eating it.

Anyway time to hit some street vendors up for breakfast! Peace and blessings.

40 degrees of sweaty fun = day 1

A cold shower is a mans best friend here. Its pure crazyness just how humid the weather is. I even felt the need to change my clothes mid day because they were that sticky. I bet I'm painting a great picture in your head right now. So this morning started out great. Our hotel served us and omlette and a entire loaf of bread pretty much. The omlette was outstanding though. With full bellys, Aspen and I embarked on an adventure to find a new hotel since the one we previously stayed at was all bookes up for the following night. The second I stepped outside I started to sweat like a dog. So here we are two sweaty messes walking around trying to find a new hotel. Two guys on bikes that have been converted to a kind of tour bike( a little chair on the front for the unsuspecting tourist who ends up being ripped off) take pity on us and start asking where we are from and what not. Of course I chat with them, making new friends! They find out we are looking for a new hotel and they convince us they know a great one and will take us for free! Aspen and I figure we have nothing to lose so we hop in these basket seats and hang on. And I am not exagerating, these men drive their bikes like maniacs! Flying through intersections without looking, going through lights, and weaving in and amongst the 10 thousand other individuals that drive scooters, motercycles, bikes, etc. Finally, to my surprise and wonder, we make it to this hotel. It ended up being too pricy for us ( pricy here is anything over 10 dollars ) and decide to go back to where we started our search for hotels. The only issue is that we are a long ways away from where we started and we both know its going to be a long walk back. Our "tour guides" offer us a ride back and fail to mention the cost. We just take it anyway and end up getting another little tour of the area. Finally these guys pull over and say they are too tired to bike anymore. They proceed to tell us that the tour we just went on was two ways and we owe them 500 000 dong ( about 23 us dollars). I am shocked! That is a lot of money here! But we had no choice so we had to pay them. Those con artists were in pretty high spirits then and offeredbus a hug before we left. So we were polite and hugged them and the one old man grabbed my ass! Extra tip for him I guess. First scam of the trip people!

Creating a blog, vietnamese style.

So this summer I decided to spend it a little different than the average college student. No summer job for this gal, nah I would rather go halfway around the world with only a backpack on my back. Southeast called my name, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand!
I want everyone to have a little taste of what this trip is like too so I created this blog. Let me tell you, it would have been a ton easier if I would have decided this back in Canada where the website would be english. A vietnamese website made it difficult to navigate around. But I figured it out with the help of my handy dandy travel buddy martina, otherwise known as aspen. Anyway its 717 am and we both have been awake since 5 am! Breakfast time people!