Same Same...but Better

Hello from phenomenal Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam! We are writing to you slightly sunburned and full from a decadent dinner of grilled shrimp and pork with delicious Vietnamese seasonings - life is good! It feels like years since our last blog. Since we last wrote, we spent a grand total of 14 hours in Nha Trang before impulsively hopping on another overnight bus to get to Saigon and Ms. Caitlin Blodget. Our second overnight bus was much like the first, although we got top bunks this time and arrived at our destination at 5am (2 hours earlier than expected) to our driver blasting what sounded like Jock Jams Volume 3 (Venga Boys, Aqua, vintage Britney Spears). Bleary eyed, we took a cab to the hotel where we planned to meet Caitlin and learned that we would not be able to check into our room for several more hours so we laid out in the lobby until it was the sun was up and then set our in search of food, only to come back to the hotel and splurge on the breakfast buffet. Caitlin arrived late in the morning and we had a joyous reunion filled with US Weekly and Lauren's long awaited Vanity Fair. Since we were all exhausted from our travels, we spent most of the afternoon lounging by the rooftop pool (Thank you Pam and Dudley!!) before setting our to explore Saigon. The traffic in Saigon is mind blowing, we could watch it for hours and not get bored, but we were all surprised by how manageable the city still felt. Our second day in Saigon we moved into a guesthouse in backpackerville and did some more exploring, including a trip to the War Remnants Museum. The museum was fascinating yet depressing, it inspired us all to read more about the Vietnam War since none of us had since high school. While Saigon was a nice city, by the end of the second day we were definitely ready to leave city and hit the beach!

We hopped a flight to Phu Quoc Island on Sunday and have been living it up here with $4 beach massages, gorgeous sunsets, delicious food and daily adventures ever since. Our first full day on Phu Quoc, we rented motorbikes and set our exploring the southern half of the island. Despite the fact that we were all motorbike virgins, the day was a great success and we got to see many beautiful sites, go to some lovely beaches and we topped the day off with finding the New Zealand ice cream shop in town (could this place get any better?!). The next day we dedicated to lounging on the beach and enjoying massages, we did a really good job with that assignment. Today we took an all day boat ride to several islands off the southern coast of Phu Quoc for some fishing and snorkeling. We had tons of fun jumping off the boat, snorkeling around some lovely reefs, lounging on deserted beaches and creeping on the cast of characters that were also on our trip - joyous. Tomorrow, Lauren and Trish are going scuba diving off the north shore of the island while Caitlin tries to catch up to their level of tan on the beach. Clearly we are having a great time! We really love Phu Quoc and feel so lucky to be here now before its tourism industry gets more built up. Sadly, we hear they are planning to put in several golf courses and turn it into a new Phuket. We really hope that doesn't actually happen. This island is still quite undeveloped, only about half of the roads are paved, and many of the locals are still living the way they have been for years and most don't speak English, which is refreshing after being in more touristy areas. The only real gripe we have is the trash, it is everywhere. The beaches and the ocean are the dump for the island, which is heartbreaking. Maybe we will move back and try to raise some environmental awareness!

We can't believe it is almost time to leave Vietnam, our whirlwind tour of this country has been a blast and we wish we could stay longer! We may or may not get to see more of the Mekong Delta on our way to Cambodia, we are working out our border crossing logistics now. However, we are quite excited to get to Cambodia, where we plan to visit Kampot, Kep, Phonm Penh and Siem Reap! We will blog when we get there and will try to post more pictures soon, although that may just have to wait until we get back to Bangkok or to Shanghai. We miss all of you and wish you could all be here with us on our adventure!

xoxo,
T, L & C

P.S. Trish would like to note that she came up with the slogan "Same Same...but better" so if you see it on some tshirts, perhaps being sold by a Vietnamese man named "Toto," you know where it came from!

Good Morning Vietnam

Good Morning Everyone! We have had quite the eventful few days in Vietnam. After flying into Hanoi from Luang Prabang we quickly discovered that Vietnam roads are full of motorbikes, cows, and kamikaze bus drivers. We were instantly exhilerated yet terrified by the streets of Hanoi. But the Backpackers Hostel we stayed at made everything okay. We got delicious food at Little Hanoi (the original not the copy-cat) and booked ourselves on a possible booze cruise to Halong Bay. The trip to Halong Bay ended up being a delight, minus the 3 hour drive there which was like a path to hell. But once we were on board and handed sombreros we knew we had booked on the right boat. Halong Bay can only be described as mystical and enchantingly beautiful. The weather is almost always hazy so the 3,000 karst islands pop out like something you would read about in a fairytale storybook. We had a fun group of characters which really contributed to the overall experience. We kayaked, spelunked, feasted, and treated ourselves to many Hanoi Vodka cocktails. After two days on the Bay and another car ride from Hell we returned to Hanoi for some divine street food and a 14 hour overnight train ride to Hoi An, which we shared with a nice smelly French couple.

Hoi An is another UNESCO World Heritage Site like Luang Prabang and we enjoyed it to the fullest. Hoi An is famous for its tailors and we took full advantage of their services. We each had two winter coats made to our measurements for "Cheap Cheap" and they look like something out of a J.Crew catalog ("Same Same...But Different" as they say in Southeast Asia). We are so pleased that we want to come back with the actual catalog and have everything copied for a fraction of the price. Not too sound too fatty but the food is amazing and Hoi An's specialities are just as good as we had heard. We feasted at the Blue Dragon, which not only has scrumptious grilled fish wrapped in banana leaves, but also gives a portion of their proceeds to programs for street kids. By happy coincidence we were in town the night of the Full Moon which meant we enjoyed a Lantern Festival on the river. Lucky us. Our second day in Hoi An we rented bikes and cruised down to a secluded beach and enjoyed our first dip in the South China Sea. We picked up our jackets which, we can't wait to show off back in the States, and boarded a bus that took us around the block and put us on another bus (typical Asia) which was our overnight bus/chariot to Nha Trang. The bus consisted of rows of three bunk beds across with pods for our feet. To give you a mental image, neither of us could fully stretch our legs and it felt like we were lying in dentist chairs. As characters of all different kinds packed into the bus we handled the situation by cracking open some beers, munching on some Ritz crackers and Oreos and peanut butter, and setting up shop in the aisle with our cards. We were continuously interrupted with new guests but halfway into the 12 hour tumultuous bus ride we picked up a permanent "aisle mate," an adorable Vietnamese boy who literally slept in the aisle in between us. We were nice enough to give our blankets to him to use as a pillow instead of the water bottle he was currently using. Still wasn't a comfortable ride for any of us, but we made it in one piece, although Lauren wasn't sure she would be able to wake Trish out of her drug-induced slumber. We are now in Nha Trang "the Cancun of Vietnam" and going to take a nap on the beach before we book ourselves on a night train to Saigon, and more importantly, to Ms. Caitlin Blodget.

All in all Vietnam is wonderful and we can't wait to spend the second leg of our journey here with Caitlin. We plan to treat ourselves to a few days on Phu Quoc Island before exploring the Mekong Delta and heading to Cambodia. Now time for breakfast and beach naps.

Xoxo,
T&L