What's Worse Than a Sleeper Train?

We've continued to enjoy our time here in 'Nam, and have been taking tons of pictures, some of which have blotches in them from our cursed camera, but we'll talk about that later.
Our last day in Hanoi was spent hoofing around in the relative sunshine until it was time to leave for Hue by night...transport. These teeny tiny stools and tables can be found all over Vietnam at street-side restaurants. This was a coffee shop on a non-touristy street.








During our walk we found our way over to "Bia Hoi Junction" which is an intersection where open air mini marts sell glasses of fresh beer.















Bia Hoi is supposedly (according to Nick's "research") the cheapest beer in the world. These two beers set us back a whopping 8000 Dong, which sounds like a lot, but is actually only 40 cents. Yep, 20 cents each.














Donuts. Don't they look delicious? As my italics would suggest, they weren't.












The reason these warranted space in the blog, and the dazzling expression from Nick, is because there's a story. Nick's gotten into a bad habit of agreeing to a purchase before asking, "how much?" On our walk toward Bia Hoi Junction we passed by a doughnut (trying out both spellings) vendor. And by vendor I mean lady who buys them from a market early in the morning, puts them in a bucket, and carries them around all day selling them to tourists. After Nick made the gesture toward the sugar-coated fried bread balls the vendor filled the bag fuller than preferred, handed the bag to Nick and then asked for 160,000 Dong. We looked at each other as we did mental currency conversion. Eight dollars?! We tried to hand the bag back several times with a "you've got to be out of your blinkin' mind" look on our faces, but she just wouldn't take them back and instead asked us how much we'd pay. Nick finally put on his bargaining hat and said $1 precisely at the same time as I said $2. Surprisingly, she accepted my offer. Too much for old, stale donuts, but we considered it a wash with the fresh, cheap beer.

This was our view from our street-side chairs while we sipped our beer. We also were approached by several other donut vendors, who insisted on asking us how much we paid, then tried to sell us more! Obviously we're not eating the ones we have, so I really think another bag would be superfluous!

Check out the bicycle chairs in the pic. Those contraptions are called cyclos and you can hire a driver (can I call them that?) for a city tour.


This is our post-hospital trip, pre-departure pic with two of our favorite (actually they were all amazing) staff members at Golden Wings II.












The answer to today's title: a sleeper bus.

Check out how narrow those beds are! The backrest is actually hollow and the person behind puts their feet in the hollow space alongside any valuables they don't want stolen during sleep. After 14 hours of "sleeping" on this bus, we could think of nothing other than getting into bed and wasting our first morning in Hue.




Glorious.













On day 2 in Hue (pronounced who A), we took a private boat up the river to see the tombs and pagodas. The people who own the boat actually live on it. There was a t.v., a cat and cat-box, clothes, etc.









First stop. This is where Nick offered to take a picture for two Vietnamese tourists. After handing Nick their camera, the two girls grabbed me and pulled me in for a picture. They then gave me the camera and tugged Nick over. Good times. :)








Ruins from American bombs.













Outside one of the tombs.













Atop Emperor Tu Duc's tomb is his autobiography written in Chinese characters. Tough to read, but impressive nonetheless.















Auto-timer on the camera. Man, we're dorks!













Tu Duc's estate was vast and beautiful.













Artsy.













In case you can't read the sign, it says:

"A relic. In this car The Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc went from An Quang Pagoda to the intersection of Phan dinh Phung street and Le van Duyet street on Jun 11, 1963 in Saigon.
As soon as he got out of the car, The Most Venerable sat down in the lotus position and burnt himself to death to protest against the Ngo dinh Diem regime's policies of discriminating against Buddhists and violating religious freedom."







Can you even imagine?













Ha ha, Nick's small.


















A snap of Danang from our day bus to Hoi An.












Cute little munchkins in Hoi An. They got a kick out of Nick.

















The "central market" in Hoi An.













It's believed by some people that, should you take a picture of certain locals in Vietnam without paying them or getting their permission, that they will curse you. We've also heard this from a couple Vietnamese people we've met.

Perched on a balcony overlooking the river during my birthday breakfast, Nick got the bright idea to "sneak" a picture of these two ladies. Apparently he wasn't sneaky enough. Upon returning to the hotel at the end of the day, we noticed the blotches in all of our photos, which first appear in this shot.


Try to ignore the blotches as you check out the fisherman in the bamboo bowl boat.












I wanted to spend my birthday playing in the waves so we rented a couple of bikes and pedaled the 4 kilometers to the beach. I was clearly stoked (and slightly tanned) after our day at the beach.










Nick on his two-wheeler next to the Japanese covered bridge.












Hoi An is beautiful and it reminds us of Disneyland.


























Out on the town for my birthday. Thirty-one's not so bad.

















Beautiful Hoi An at night.



























































Most restaurants in Hoi An summon you in as you walk past. Quong won our b-day dinner money with his great personality.











Then it was off to the french bakery for dessert and singing.



























We meant to call it a night after dinner but right outside our hotel this group of gentlemen were playing the guitar and singing. "I just want to go listen to them for a minute," turned into us sitting down for an hour or so. They were quite generous, sharing quail eggs, dried fish, and that blasted rice wine with us. In return they really, really wanted us to sing, despite our excuse of being truly awful singers. Neither of us could think of a song that we knew the lyrics to, so the guy in green and white stripes started playing jingle bells. A touch of Christmas on my birthday.


December 11th constituted day 2 of my birthday, and because I wasn't born in this timezone I was entitled to more pampering.

We figured one day of the curse was probably enough and we made it our mission to seek out the two ladies, ask for a picture, and then pay them 10,000 Dong (50 cents). The lady on the left still looks pissed, but the blotches seem to be gone.




December 12th - day 3 of my birthday celebration (I really milked it). We set out on a Heaven and Earth bike tour through the surrounding areas of Hoi An. This tour put the Hue boat tour to shame.










The first stop on our 9 kilometer ride was to see how the local boats are made.












Then it was off to a shop that specializes in mother of pearl crafts. These intricate cuts were made with something that resembles a wire cheese cutter.










The pieces are laid into wood, engraved and finished. This is a finished piece.












This woman is dyeing dried reeds turquoise, which will eventually be woven into mats that the locals use as beds. The little girl in the background was so adorable.

Side note: During our ride, most of the kids we met shouted "Hello!" Some, however, shouted a phrase that can be translated to, "Hello. Give me five dollars!"





Why would they make boats in a bowl shape? The French used to come around and tax boats, so the crafty Vietnamese used the bowl shape to pass them off as, well, bowls. Smart, huh?

Nick would like me to inform you that the crevices in the bamboo bowl boats are crammed full of cow dung, preventing the boat from sinking. In this photo the man is using a coconut shell paintbrush to apply the tree sap glue that's used as a sealant.



We even got a chance to try one out in the river!













Unfortunately for Nick, he decided to go first and therefore did not have the benefit of seeing technique. Yeah, he had to be rescued.




I, on the other hand, felt victorious at having mastered (not really) the motion.











We cycled over this bridge to reach the poorest island in the region.













Prawn farm. Last year it produced four tons of prawns.












The kid in the yellowish hat enthusiastically waved his fish in the air so Nick could see.












These women are deftly making the reed mats I talked about earlier. The lady on the left is 85 and has been making making mats since she was 10. She's fortunate to have a loom in her house which enables the two women to weave two mats per day. Each mat takes 4 hours to make and brings in 20,000 Dong ($1) in profit when sold at the market, so each woman earns a dollar a day, putting them among the 60% of the world that survives on less than $2 a day.




The beautiful finished product.














The next house we visited on the island had doors make from old American bomb casings. You can see the info and loading date.





























Just when our hearts were aching for the women who work tirelessly for $1 a day, we met this lady. She's unmarried and stays home to care for her sick 95 year old mother who was laying in the adjacent room. To make money, she creates the string that is used to weave the reeds together from a kind of tree bark. One kilo of the string takes two days to make and yields 30,000 Dong of profit, which means she's supporting herself and her mother on 75 cents a day.

She also raises chickens to sell at the market, which bring in around $5 each. We learned this family can only afford to eat their own chickens on special occasions.





This is her kitchen.













This is the bathroom / laundry area of her house.

Our heart went out to the families we met during our ride, and we were happy that we went with the Heaven and Earth tour company, as they give back to the communities they visit.








It was an amazing experience which left us beaming during the boat ride back.

























Bryan, this one's for you.



Tonight we get to board another beloved sleeper bus to Nha Trang! More soon.

Hugs, kisses, and misses!