Phu Quoc

We spent a week relaxing on Phu Quoc Island in South Vietnam. Stayed the first 2 nights in a place in the middle of the jungle called Freedomland. Bungalows with no hot water, but probably our favorite place we've stayed and definitely the best food we had in all of Vietnam. Our first day there, we took a 15 minute walk to Ong Lang beach. It was about 2-3 miles of untouched beach. We were the only ones there. We were excited...

We transferred over to the Beach Club for the next few days, ate a lot more good seafood, watched a lot of sunsets, and spent a day exploring the island on a motorbike. For our year anniversary we rented out a boat for a little fishing, snorkeling, and scenery.

Bai Sao Beach

BBQed Sea Urchin for lunch. Pretty damn good actually...

Freedomland!

Mango Bay

Piggy - the Freedomland owner's Phu Quoc dog. We loved her

Communal dinner table at Freedomland

More Ong Lang

Hoi An

Next stop in Vietnam was Hoi An. Really kitschy and touristy, but we both loved our 6 nights here. We spent a day exploring (and getting very lost) on nearby Cam Kim Island on bikes.

We visited some of Hoi An's famous tailors and got some custom-tailored clothes. $17 shirts, $24pants, $20 shorts, $55 shoes, and $118 suit, all custom fit to my skinny, lanky ass. Sheri got a jumper, 2 dresses, shoes, and a shirt (all for about $200). We had fun, and had to resist buying more.

One of our favorite parts was the Bia Hoi - fresh beer. Made fresh every morning (and only good for a day). At $.10 - $.16 a glass, we had quite a few. Kind of tasted like a Japanese beer like Kirin mixed with a bud light. Not bad at all.

The face of the monster....

Sheri devouring her 1st Bahn Mi (Vietnamese sandwich). We went to the place that Anthony Bourdain went to on his Vietnam episode in the Hoi An market.

Biking day on Cam Kim Island

Cooking class - this guy is serious about his noodles

Herb Garden pictures

underbite sunbathing dog doesn't really need a caption

Hoi An scenery

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

It's been a while since our last post... been traveling in vietnam and cambodia, and we haven't had much internet access. On to Ha Long Bay.

After 10 days in lazy Laos, Vietnam was a big shock. We spent 2 nights in Hanoi, and then headed out to Ha Long for a 3 day, 2 night cruise through the bay. Although we had read that it wasn't the best time of year to visit, we definitely weren't prepared for the weather. It was cold and overcast the entire time. Pretty cool way to see it. Eerie, creepy, mysterious. The bay was still unbelievably beautiful, but it was tough not to think what it would have been like on a warm, tropical day. We only have 1 pair of pants, and 1 long sleeve shirt each, so we actually wore the same thing for 3 days straight. haha

The boat cruise was really nice. We visited "Amazing... or Surprising" Cave, hiked up a mountain for views, kayaked, and did a little squid fishing. We also biked around Cat Ba national park and spent a night on Cat Ba island. We particularly liked our guide - Long. The guy was extremely enthusiastic about telling us all the legends of the bay, and was a great storyteller.

Overall - an amazing experience and a must-see in southeast asia, despite the weather.

View from the cave, looking out at other boats in the harbor

Cat Ba National Park

Our boat!

View from Titop Island

LAOS: ELEPHANTS!

I had been looking forward to this part of our trip for a while....elephants! We both wanted to make sure that we found a place that wasn't the typical tourist riding overworked elephants on baskets. We wanted to be able to experience something more and also make sure we were giving money to a good cause. Elephant Village in Luang Prabang is an eco friendly organization that buys overworked and abused elephants and rehabilitates them. They literally have to buy the elephants from the businesses/people who are abusing/overworking them. Each elephant costs around $20,000 to buy...not a cheap operation. So all of the money spent at Elephant village goes directly to what it should be going to...the elephants!!

They offer a few different packages. We decided to do the 1 day mahout training experience (a mahout is the elephants trainer. They are basically with the elephant all the time.) We were picked up by our guide who gave us a few fun and serious facts about elephants. Laos was once called "The land of a million elephants". Now there are only about 3500 elephants left. Once we arrived at the village, we learned the basic Mahout commands to use with the elephant. Then we learned how to get onto the elephant's neck for riding (you kind of have to be a monkey). We took a ride down to the water and around the village. When we got back to the village, we were able to feed them some bananas for treats. After lunch it was bath time. Our elephants clearly were excited and you could tell this was there favorite part of the day! We each rode our own elephant down to the river with the mahout and we were given a scrub brush. The elephants submerged their heads and bodies into the water so we could wash them... also splashing with their trunks for fun!

It was a great day and a great cause that we got to support. We really got to experience how giant but gentle these animals are and it was one of our favorite moments of the trip!

LAOS: MUANG NGOI

As we mentioned in our Luang Prabang post, it is very difficult to travel in Laos. We chose to do less things so we had time to enjoy them more. Based off a recommendation from someone we met in Thaton, Thailand, we chose Muang Ngoi as our off the beaten path Lao adventure. A 3-hour bus ride and 1-hour boat ride ended up taking up an entire day. It was well-worth the effort. Muang Ngoi is without a doubt the most beautiful place we have been. Accommodations were very basic (no hot water and electricity from 6:30 - 10:30 pm only). $5 a night.

At dinner on our first night, the family that ran our guesthouse introduced us to Jae. He is 20, speaks good english, and has recently started organizing "treks". We debated about what to do, but it was clear that he recommended one thing in particular - a day of fishing.

He picked us up with his uncle around 9 am. His uncle is 59 and fishes everyday, same way his father and grandfather fished - with nets in the Nam Ou river. We rode about an hour north through some absolutely beautiful mountains (hope the pictures remotely do it justice). While Jae's uncle and cousin got the fishing nets set up, he walked us through a hilltribe village that specializes in handmade silk products. Pretty cool. Sheri got some presents here.

We spent most of the morning fishing with the nets. They had about 5 different kinds, ranging from short throwing nets to some for the rapids that were over 200 yards long. Very fun and very interesting. Caught about 15 fish (about 5 different kinds). We pulled over to a bank and they started preparing our lunch. Started a fire, cleaned the fish, cut some river weeds and herbs from the side of the river, made bamboo skewers, put a soup on the fire (all river water), and grabbed a banana leaf for a table. The fish was delicious. We enjoyed it all. They even convinced us to try the catfish intestine and some fish eggs.

We relaxed by the river with the 3 of them and started pouring Lao Lao shots (oldest to youngest each round). Jae's uncle was the number 1 drinker in his village in his prime. Ended up drinking the whole bottle. Really interesting sharing a day of fishing, relaxing, and eating with them. Keep in mind - Laos is the most bombed country in the world. All at the hands of the United States. 9+ years of bombing, and many people Jae's uncle's age lived in caves for almost 10 years to stay safe. Pretty amazing to get to share some drinks, fishing, laughs, and food with his family. Unforgettable.

Nice tan!