Best news of all!

The most exciting thing about the last two days is that we got our bags back! It was just like Christmas all over again!

August 5

Hello!!!! We come to you from the coastal city of Nha Trang. This city does not feel like Vietnam at all, but it does smell it!!! (I think the smell is getting to both of us.) It has so many tourists, we kind of blend in here but it's also much too noisy for our tastes.

On our trip here, we tried real sea food, but both of us were feeling queasy so it wasn't the most enjoyable meal. I (Nikki) didn't even try the squid for fear of hurling. To make the nausea worse, shortly after eating we passed the sight of a major motobike accident. The accident must have just happened shortly before we passed. They were picking up a man and putting him in the back of a taxi and we think the other teenager was dead. As we passed, I kept thinking that we should have stopped. Both of us know first aid and it didn't look like anyone was helping, but all were standing and watching. It's just amazing that there aren't more accidents. I mean, the more time we've spent on the road, the more we understand a little bit of order to the traffic, but different vehicles have different speed limits and you can pass at anytime. My stomach and head still hasn't settled from the nauseated feeling which has put a damper on the last two days.

Once we arrived in the city we bid goodbye to our guides. It makes me laugh when I think about one of our guides. I think he picked up two new phrases from spending time with us because he would say it a lot and then laugh. The phrases were "sounds great" but he would say, "sound GREAT" and the other phrase was "have a blast". They were fun but our bodies were happy to have a day off from riding the bikes.

Today we spent most of it diving out by some islands. The boat trip was about 40 minutes and for our first dive we were supposed to be held by our dive masters. Mine did a great job and pointed out a lot of underwater life to me. Bradyn wasn't so lucky, but he did get to see an octopus that I didn't see. The second dive was much better. Not only did we get to swim by ourselves, but there were caves to look into and there was also more to see and explore!Now we can say we've seen Vietnam from the air, from the land, and under the water. All that's left is in the ground (which we'll do in Cambodia). We've travelled by plane, bus, motorbike and boat. Now we need a train, which we'll also do in Cambodia.

Tomorrow we fly to Cambodia and begin our adventures there! Adios!

I encouraged Nikki not to do this, but she would not listen to me. So now she is Buddist. I blame myself for this because I could have got her out of that situation sooner but didn't. I never imagined it would come to this.

I was wondering why there was not very many dogs running around. I know now. And if they don't die this way. Then they get eaten by the maggots that are next to them here in this picture of the market here. And the live frogs here are headed for the same fate. In some poor souls belly

Day.... August 3!

It's us again! We're in a city called Buon Ma Thuot, one of the stops on the way to the coast. The good news is that neither of us have gotten malaria yet, we haven't been in a motobike accident yet, haven't stepped on any poisonous bugs, haven't been drowned by the rain (but felt like we went swimming), haven't gotten traveller's diarrhea or food poisoning, haven't been trampled by the elephant, or been kidnapped by a monkey! So I guess you could say, the trip is going well and our future's looking bright!
The last couple of days have been really busy ending in a sore bum! The last two days we've spent on the backs of motorbikes seeing Vietnam. We're with a group called "the Easy Riders" and while we travel, they stop and show bits and pieces about life here in Vietnam. So far we've seen flower greenhouses, jungle, how they make rice wine, the silk factory, coffee plantations, making pots for bonsei trees, minority villages, riding elephants, stopping in rice patties, stopping and watching a type of fishing, seeing waterfalls and staying in luxury hotels along the way. We've eaten silk worm larvae, bamboo shoots and whole fish! None of which we've particularly enjoyed!!! But it's all part of the experience right?
One of my favorite things about Vietnam is the children and the people! I know I've only been here a few days, but most of them outside the cities are so friendly. The children love to yell "hello" to us as we pass and they have such beautiful smiles! Oh they're so cute! And happy! Life here is so simple but so happy! The people work hard but love to play as well. We often pass kids playing ball or badminton and everyone rides a bike!!! The children are on peddal bikes and the adults use motorbikes. Often the children are riding bikes much too big for them. I have fallen in love with the children! I just wish I could speak their language and communicate with them! They all work so hard too! We often pass cows being herded by children and see children in the rice fields or they're watching their parents work.
In the minority villages, the people have literally nothing but the necessities! They sleep on bamboo mats! But they love each other! The village supports each other. Today we saw part of a funeral and most of the village was out for it! The people ride these tractor like things called "highland taxi's" (at least that's what our guides called them). I just love how simple life seems for them. They're happy to spend their day collecting food and returning in the evening. We also had a chance to ride an elephant today. The driver took us around a lake and then right through it! The water was so deep it came up to our feet! The poor elephant had to keep holding its breath and then lifting its trunk up out of the water to breath. Bradyn and I decided they are sure ugly animals! It was neat to watch how agile the driver was as he would take one step on the elephant's knee and be up up on it!
As far as adventure goes we went canyoning a few days ago where we go repelling through waterfalls and loving every minute of it. The trip also included cliff jumping, and watersliding in the waterfalls. The water was so dirty I'm surprised we haven't gotten sick! But life is good! One more day and we should have our bags. I feel so gross! We've worn the same clothes for a week! We have washed our garments using shampoo but then had to wear them wet because we had no other pair to wear! We're excited to see our bags tomorrow! The day after that we're going scuba diving! After that we're trying to decide because the transportation isn't working as smoothly as we had hoped. But we're having a good time and flying by the seat of our pants! All that really matters is that we get on the plane back home in time!

Look at their roads. This is why the speed limit is max 60 kms per hr. This also shows the rain a little bit. We would drive by houses and see pools of water. We put on 2 rain coats and another rain resistant jacket to stay dry, but you cant swim in a raincoat so that means you cant stay dry in one during their rains. And added on top of all that. They were out washing their dishes in the VERY dirty rain water as it went by. Good thing we are eating at restraunts!!!

Here we are canyoning. It was so fun, and the water was SO dirty. Not sick yet. Might be soon

Pictures

This is Billy the elephant, we rode him for about an hr. Riding a elephant is similar to the motion of riding a bucking bull. We did not incourage our driver to go very fast for fear of being launched off the front. He took us around and through a lake on it. At one point it was so deep that the water was up to our feet. The elephant would stick its trunk out of the water breath and then put it under and hold its breath.
Here is Nikki's unbrella to keep the sun and rain off of her. But it couldn't do a very good job at keeping her dry, because she was sweating so bad that she was wet, and there was no rain.

Friday Aug 1st

Last night we could not sleep very well so we decided to get up at 5am and go for a walk. Our hotel owner pointed us in a direction, so we just started to walk. When we rounded a corner we saw all these people in one spot, so we walked over to check it out. It was the morning market for the Vietnamese people. When we got there we just stared in awe and watched them with all their products. After a few minutes police officers drove up and we saw everyone grabbing their things and scattering in all directions as the officers threw all the produce in the back of their truck. I suppose it is a communist country eh! As we walked farther it was street after street of VERY crowded venders and shoppers filling the streets. We were the ONLY tourists up, so EVERYONE stared at us. We saw everything from fresh fruit to fish jumping out of buckets full of fish and water, also crabs and chickens, shrimp, pork, and i think dogs, (we were not sure.) And they were chopping all the meat up with big knives, bones and all. It was fun because old ladies with no teeth and bamboo hats would sit there, stare and smile and laugh at us. We thought that we might finally be able to buy food without being ripped off, but we were mistaken. We bought 3 little bananas for 5000D (33 cents). We fortunately forgot our camera, so we will be up at 5 am tomorrow to go and see it again.
The rest of the day was full of adventure as we spent it repelling through the canyon and its waterfalls. We got nice and wet in the dirty water, but had a blast. Now we're exhausted and ready for bed. Packs still aren't here but should meet us in the next town 3 days from now. Thank goodness for complimentary toothpaste and toothbrush in our first hotel! Take care!