hello again, and thanks so much for the many wonderful emails and comments we have received! it is so much fun for us to share our journey with you.
and a journey it has been. we just spent several days in the highland town of dalat, after eagerly escaping the congestion of saigon. dalat is an amazing garden of flowers and vegetables, surrounded by mountains and streams. the air was cool and damp, the people were much more engaging and laid-back, actually amused at our attempts at vietnamese as opposed to the blank-stares we got in saigon.
in order to immerse ourselves more fully in the vietnamese culture we rented a motorcycle, a 110 cc suzuki "smash" to be exact (essentially a scooter in a motorcyle costume, and a slight downgrade from the harley back home). to make things more interesting stin gave kendra her first driving lesson, and was brave enough to ride on the back. she navigated her first obstacles (men dragging chains across the road, a waterbuffalo) like a pro aside from distinct squealing that only she can make.
we rode off to explore the highlands for a day, stopping at remote waterfalls and cruising through acres of fragrant coffee plantations. we were so happy to be free from the confines of buses that we neglected to notice the fierce sunshine bearing down on us. we arrived back at our hotel dusty, exhausted, sunburned in patches(the back of stin's hands, the sides of kendra's neck, etc) and totally stoked.
today we grudgingly took a bus to the beach town of nha trang, which seems like a groovy place so far. from here we are headed north, resigned to renting motorbikes as we go along as we were unable to rent them for the whole trip. life is not so bad...
a few notes on vietnam. in addition to being fun, enriching and exhilarating, it is cheap to travel here. we spend $8-12 on fabulous rooms with balconies, hot water and ac, often including breakfast. most meals are around $1, and as implied before is absolutely amazing. there are so many vegetables and flavors in the food, a bowl of noodles can be quite scrumptous. although it is (to say the least) painful at times to declare ourselves american, the people are pretty friendly and love to practice their english.
thats all for now, don't forget to check out the pictures we have attached when you get a chance. we do love hearing from you and hope all is well.
