Patience Marathon

We are once again reporting to you from Saigon. We feel glad to be able to do so, as it was a real challenge to get back here. I (Jason) think we mentioned before that we were unable to get a train ticket from Da Nang (near Hoi An) to Saigon. Plane tickets did happen to become available, but we could not justify their cost. During the Tet holidays, everyone around here does a lot of travelling, and it shows. Anyway, we were able to get a bus ticket, though we were horrified at the schedule. It was to leave at 6:00pm, and arrive the next day at 3:00pm. We were assured; however, that this was one of the fastest buses, a direct trip to Saigon, that would forgo the usual layover in Nha Trang.

Before our bus was to leave, we wanted to do a few more things in Hoi An. First, we took a boat trip ($2, private boat, 1.5 hours) down a river, the name of which I cannot remember. The boat driver took this picture of us sitting in the front of the boat.

There were boats of all shapes and sizes carrying all sorts of exotic loads. We enjoyed watching some people fish for awhile.

After I snapped a few photos; however, they came over our boat for some money. So, I paid about $.50 for the photo shoot.

On our way back to our hotel we grabbed some baguettes and pastries in case times got rough on our bus ride. We also stopped by to pick up Larissa's custom made $12 shoes. She is happy with them. They are red and white of course.

We were worried all day that we were going to be on a cramped and stinky bus for 21 hrs. So, as we sat in the lobby of our hotel, each time a overfilled bus came by we crossed our fingers that it was not ours. Then, a big beautifl bus with hardly a soul on it showed up. We were told that this was the bus to Saigon, so we grabbed our stuff and tried to get on. Just then, the girl at the front desk, who sold us our ticket, came running up to us. She said that this was not our bus, and that our bus was "right over here." Behind the big beautiful empty bus, was a small ugly bus with all but one seat taken. I quickly started objecting. The girl was obviously concerned with our dissatisfaction, and started spouting off to the driver. She assured us that while this was a smaller bus, we wouldn't want to go on the large bus because it was to take a layover in Nha Trang, and thus it would take a lot longer to get to Saigon. Everyone seemed eager to accomodate us on this little bus, just as the big beautiful bus drove off. With shifting of luggage, a seat barely wide enough for two undernourished children was revealed in the back of the bus. At least we can sit together, we thought. As we were seated on the bus, the girl assured us that it would only be 12 hours to Nha Trang, where some of the passengers would be dropped off. With that, we drove off. "Whait a second," I thought, "Nha Trang?" I hoped that her mention of Nha Trang meant that we were just passing through, very quickly, as we had passed up the big beautiful bus to avoid a layover there.

I thought it a good idea to make friends with the people that were sitting inches in front of us. They were a young couple, students from Saigon. The girl translated the driver's updates for us. We would stop in Nha Trang for two hours, then switch to a big bus before heading to Saigon.

We listened to audiobooks for awhile, and then tried to fall asleep. We found out that when you are fearing for your life, it is really hard to sleep. Several times, during the night, as we had near misses with huge honking vehicles, I considered begging the driver to let us off the bus. It was truly a scary ride. I could not believe all of the traffic that were on the roads in the middle of the night. The especially terrifying part of the trip was a mountain pass. We were somewhat delerious at this point, due to lack of sleep, but it seemed like every couple of miles the paved road would give way to a narrow section of dirt and gravel road guarded only by the mountain on one side, and a deep dark abyss on the other.

We arrived in Nha Trang early, about 4:00am. We slept on the bus for ahwhile until we were told to get off and wait inside the tour agency's office. It was raining hard (as it had been most of the night) so we didn't walk around much. First we were told that we would be leaving at 6:00am. When it was about 6:30, they told us that we would be leaving by 7:00. We finally got on the bus around 8:15, and then proceeded to circle the city for an hour while they tried to fill up every last seat on the bus.

We were frustrated on this ride with the all to frequent and lengthy snack and bathroom breaks. Then, when we were just outside of Saigon, we got a flat tire. Luckily, we were in an area loaded with tire stores when it happened. Actually, we may have been driving with a flat tire for quite awhile. They didn't tend to keep us informed very well. In fact, we didn't even know we had stopped to fix a flat tire until the driver got out of the bus an ran accross the street to talk to a tire salesman. He ran back and forth across the street for about 15 minutes, between two tire vendors, probably until he got the best deal. Then, he got one of the passengers to front the cash to pay for the tire.

This ride was a lot less stressful than the first. We enjoyed a few episodes of Lost and got through the first thirty-some chapters of The Da Vinci Code audiobook. So, with that for entertainment, and a nap here and there, the trip from Nha Trang to Saigon went faster than it otherwise would have.

Arrival in Saigon, 6:30pm. There are tons of hotels and guesthouses in the backpacker's district of Saigon, where we were dropped. We toured 6 or 7 of them before settling on one for $9/night. We settled half because we thought it was a nice room, and half because we were hot, sweaty, tired, and sick of bargaining.

We got cleaned up and headed out on the town. For dinner, we stopped at a place called Margherita. Larissa got some pasta while I got some burritos. Very good. Then we went out for ice cream. Larissa got what they call a honeybee. It was a dish with coconut, avacado, and strawberry ice cream. Lariss says it looked more llike a caterpillar. I got the passionfruit sundae. It was basically a bowl full of fresh passionfruit pulp with a scoop of lemon ice cream in the middle. The passionfruit beat the socks off the honeybee.

Okay, I need to move on. Today we got up with the intention to go to the Ben Than market. We visited it once before, but activity was slow due to the holidays. After about a twenty minute walk, we arrived at the market to find it bustling. You can buy just about anything there, from clothes, to jewelry, to handicrafts, to fruit,

to pigs feet,
to live catfish (some baby ones pictured in the tray),to cow tongues,etc. etc. etc. It is a real eye-opening experience best undertaken with closed nostrils. The smell, especially in the meat market can dissolve even the most hearty appetite.

We came away from the market with a couple of avacados and some lychees, assuming that we would feel like eating later on.

On the way back to the hotel, we happened accross a back-alley with a nice looking restaurant by the name of California Burrito. The sign made claims to "true vegetarian food," with no MSG. We both got vegetarian burritos, which were quite good and interesting. They contained, along with the usual suspects (beans and rice) broccoli, cauliflower, and tofu. While in the restaurant, we noticed a sign advertising a sister restaurant called California Pizza. Marking its' location on our map, we decided to take a walking tour there in the afternoon. First, we had to return to the hotel to take care of some things.

With no clean clothes left, we arranged to have some laundry done, which cost around $.50 per kilogram. Then we arranged a tour of the Mekong Delta, which will take up our last two days in Vietnam. We don't know how good the tour will be, but it seems like a bargain at $15, supposedly including meals, hotel, boat and bus rides.

Now for the walking tour. Saigon is a bustling city, with more mopeds and motorcycles than I knew could exist in one place. There are few crosswalks, so to cross the street you just kind of start walking, and watch the motorcycles weave around you. Here is Larissa in the midst of them, while on her concrete island of safety.

In a way, we came to find out, Saigon has a defined commercial arrangement. It seemed that all of the stores selling electronics were on one street, while stores selling such things as antiques, motorcylcles, clothing, or souveniers were restricted to their own respective streets. We are not sure whether this is a result of zoning, or what. We noticed the same sort of thing in Hoi Ann. Store after store advertising custom tailored clothes. Surely someone would want to put a convenience store in the midst of them, but no. If someone is making money selling something, I guess his neighbor decides to do the same thing next door. It is good for the consumer though. Once you decide what you want, you can have an entire street of vendors competing for your business. Sometimes you can just sit back while they do the bargaining for you.

We ended up walking all over the city, but still full from our burritos, we never stopped at California pizza. We stopped by the river for awhile, and then dropped by a bakery where we purchased a nice long baguette.

Back at our hotel, we made a lunch of bread, avacados and lychees. Here is Larissa making lunch on the bed.

We had never tried lychees before. For those of you who are unfamiliar with them, they are round and colored like a strawberry, but covered in soft spines. Once peeled, a greyish ball is revealed, with the look and feel of an eyeball. I think they taste like a mix between a pear and a grape. Good.

This is the fastest internet connection that we have found yet. Also, it is the only one that has allowed us to view our blog. I think Larissa replied to some of your comments. Thanks for letting us know that you are reading! Perhaps we will be able to come here again and make a post after the trip to the Mekong, and before heading to Thailand. Our tour leaves at 8:00am tomorrow, and gets back the next afternoon. That night our flight leaves for Bangkok.

Tonight we are going to eat out, again. All of this eating out has not even come close to getting old yet. I think we might just stop by and get another passionfruit sundae.