Well, it seems to have been a while since we wrote!
We have travelled down the coast of Vietnam...and are currently in Saigon. We spent the Lunar New Year's Eve and Day in Nha Trang, and celebrated with 2 dives off the coast! Felt good to be back under the water - I was a bit scared at first but by the second one was fine...We flew from Nha Trang to Saigon to save ourselves a 12hr overnight bus ride and lucked out by taking the city bus from the airport and then finding our desired hotel had a room available after all (we had called earlier and they had said they were full - and it is a great little place - free breakfast and dinner and clean and tidy and airconditioned for 14$)..so we were very excited. We do like Saigon - much more than expected.....
It is now around 9:00pm, and we have eaten the free spring rolls and noodle soup from our Hotel, Madam Cuc's, and are enjoying the heat of the city and catching up on e-mails and writing etc.
Today, we took a walking tour around the city to see the sights and go to some museums about town (and escaped the direct heat by popping into a few AC'd malls we discovered on our way). We had expensive pasteries for lunch, and then deciding we were still hungry, headed and had some fabulous vietnamese food down the street (despite it not being what I had ordered - or so I thought, it was delicious - noodles with lettuce and herbs and sping rolls on top - so yummy!).
We went to the Reunification Palace (buitl in the 1960's) and the War Remnants Museum. In the Musem, there are a lot of photos and exhibits about the Vietnam War and the USA's participation in it. The most heartbreaking for me were the statements and exhibits on chemicals used during the war (Agent Orange)used and the outcomes shown in photos of children born after the war with deformations and of photos of adults who were exposed during the war (whether by fighting or tending the fields where the chemicals were used) and their state now as well as, the most grusome to me, real (dead) babies born (in the early 1980's)with horrible deformaties in jars - broke my heart.
We headed back towards the area of our hotel and had a few fruit shakes and went to chill out for a bit and have showers (stinky heat) and have now headed here to this Internet Cafe to catch up with you.
We are going on another journey in the am - we leave via bus at 9am from Saigon bound for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The trip should take about 8hrs (including stops at the borders, exit and entry). We expect to stay in Phnom Phen for a day or two, before heading off again (probably to head towards the ocean to Sihanoukville for a week or so and then up to Battambang and Siem Reap - or vise versa)....
Anyways, hope all is well wherever you are - we do love hearing from home and what you are up to...we miss our families and friends!
Ciao for now...
Lots of love, Karrie and Kiev
