Filling in the Gaps

We have been struggling to write and keep you all posted on many of our experiences but here are some photos and short stories to fill in the gaps from the last month.  I'm going to start by bringing it all the way back to Mui Ne, Vietnam!  We spent most of our time here enjoying the beautiful beach and eating at Lom Tom, the best seafood place to date. However, we also explored the country and I saw my first sand dunes!

From Mui Ne we headed into the mountains to a town called Dalat.  The truth is we didn't find much to do while we were there, and were a little bitter because we did a tour that in retrospect we may not have done, but we made the best of it.  We saw how rice wine is made and tried some (we recommend not trying the 60%- yikes).  We went to the local silk factory, which was our favorite part- it was fascinating to see the whole process.  The tour ended with a visit to one of the larger temples and waterfall.  The whole tour was done on the bike seat of two motorbikes.

There were two highlights from Nha Trang.  One was having an amazing microbrew which Tad wrote about, the second was going on a $5 boat trip.  Our guide was very enthusiastic, so much so that he decided to bust out a drum set and guitar and proceeded to serenaded us with his own live band.  Following the act he had people sing karaoke and then had an after party with a floating bar where he served free "all you can drink fruit wine" (turns out you don't need much cause its one of the worst things I have ever had).  We had a great time in Nha Trang, met some wonderful friends from Australia and even stayed in a room at a scuba dive shop for free through couchsurfing!

From Nha Trang we headed north to Hoi An.  We didn't love the 200 tailor shops always haggling you to buy something, but we did love the the french architecture and the cafe bakeries.  We also found the most beautiful beach just outside of the town.  It was so calm and peaceful their compared to the other towns in Vietnam.

There were several days in a row of pouring rain and since there are only so many hours that can be spent in a coffee shop reading or playing cards, we said forget it!  Let's rent a motorbike and just get soaked. So we drove for about an hour in the pouring rain, it felt like millions of little needles poking us but we did it with giant smiles on our faces.  We made our way up to Marble Mountain in Danang and it was beautiful.  The stairs looked like a waterfall and the wats and caves were stunning.

All that rain caused the river to flood into the city spilling over the riverside into the streets, but luckily the rain subsided and we went exploring and came across this woman who had a great smile and was perfectly regal.

Our last update for Vietnam was our time in Hue.  We were blessed to have our friend Renee visiting us there for a week!  She was doing some work there, but we were able to squeeze in lots of great adventures.  We rode bicycles around the city to the market and citadel, went to a wonderful French restaurant where we had incredible pasta with REAL cheese.  We also took a bike ride to the ocean where Renee bravely went into the raging waves that were crashing into the coast.

From there we headed up north to Hanoi and the bay so that should fill in most of the gaps for our time in Vietnam!  We are now in Luang Prabang, Laos and there are several things we plan to write about.  We absolutely love it here.  We've been meeting some incredible people and learning about different businesses and non-profits.  More to come soon!!

Lots of love!

M and T