Blue Sun

Days 20 & 21 - June 29 & 30

In the interest of time, I've decided to lump some of my experiences into 1 entry

Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Temples of Angkor.

Laura and I awoke early to meet the guide we hired at 7am, Naam. Naam had been a guide for about 10 years, initially hosting journalists and specific tours, but now was available for anyone since the Cambodian government opened up Angkor Temples to the public in the mid to late 1990s. He had also served in the Cambodian army and had all of his brothers and sisters killed by the Khmer Rouge.

The temples were built from the 9th - 13th centuries by a series of Khmer kings, honoring the buddhist and hindu religions (more the latter than the former). Typically the took from 50 - 80 years to construct. The temples were "lost" to the jungle for centuries as invading armies neglected any upkeep, to the point where the French rediscovered them at some point in the 1940s. Over the last few decades, restoration of the temples has been led by the French (the French!!!) in what appears to be a self-less act. They don't get the steep entrance fees to the park. Maybe they are doing it out of guilt for having colonized modern-day Cambodia and screwing up a large portion of Southeast Asia with their imperialism, as they did in Vietnam.

Anyway, the temples.

Our first stop was Angkor Thom, a 10 kilometer city built by Jayavarman VII (I couldn't pronounce his name either, so we'll call him J7 -- he was the most prolific builder, so he was important) in the 12th century. Angkor Thom had a large moat, long walkway to the city and 5 gates to enter. During the morning, Laura and I saw several of the temples, including The Bayon, The Baphuon, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King -- the last devoted to a king who had leprosy. Attractive! Angkor Thom was impressive as a testament to what 1 king could build. The structures were enormous and intricately designed. Back in its hey-day, Angkor Thom was home to tens of thousands of inhabitants, a testament to J7's planning.

For me, easily the highlight of the morning was the Buddhist temple, Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm has been losing a battle against nature for centuries; trees have grown from inside the structure, decimating the walls and ceilings. What remains are bits and pieces of the foundation, walls and towers, all at the mercy of enormous tree roots... massive roots growing out of and shifting bricks, while enveloping everything in sight. To conceptualize their size, these roots support trees that range from 20 - 40 feet high of trunk. If I had to guess, I think I snapped more pictures on my digital camera than an Asian tour bus at the Eiffel Tower.

The afternoon was devoted to Angkor Wat -- the crown jewel of the Angkor complex. To quote the Lonely Guide, "Angkor Wat, with its soaring towers and extraordinary bas reliefs, is considered by many to be one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived by the human mind." Ditto.

My words will never be able to do it justice, so I really won't try. It's enormous. Long walkway to get to the front of what looks like half-temple, half fort. Inside, there are several Hindu temples that rise to 3 stories high. Additionally, there is a remarkably ornate carving in sandstone of mythological Hindu battles of gods, angels and demons along the hallway walls of 2 sides of the building. It tooks us several hours to go through it... especially in the 105 degree heat, but it was well worth it. The highlight was a climb up a series of steep steps 3 stories high top level of the central temple that provided a view of the vast surrounding jungle that resembled serene landscapes created by Hollywood's of grazing lands in African safaris.

Wednesday morning Laura and I arose at 4:30am to meet Naam to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. Sunrise at Angkor Wat trumps even Ta Prohm for photo ops. I should have bought at 256 MB memory card solely for it. Just breathtaking to see how the sky glows behind the vast temple. Once again, words won't do it justice. It's one of those things you have to see for yourself. After that, we went to a few more temples -- Pruah Khan, Neak Poan, Preah Rup -- before spending our afternoon taking a ferry to see the floating villages of Lake Tonle Sap. Very cool stuff.

My thoughts on the Temples of Angkor. Two words -- simply amazing. It will be regarded as one of those must-see places, like Pyramids, as more tourists are able to get into Cambodia. In fact, I think it is more impressive than the Pyramids because of the effect nature has had on the monuments and that only part of the restoration process has been completed. What really fascinated me was the struggle between beauty by the hand of man and beauty by nature. A thousand years ago, man created a true work of art. In the following years, nature surpassed man's efforts. The jungle totally enveloped the temples of Angkor to the point that these massive structures had to be "discovered." And now, what makes the temples of Angkor -- particularly Ta Prohm -- unique is the constant battle between nature's attempt to destroy the structures and man's attempt to conserve them. It's not something that man can do easily since tree roots are at the core of the bricks of many of these buildings... and have reduced several to ruins. If you ever have a chance to get near Siem Reap, Cambodia, go to the temples -- all you need is two days, and for your efforts, you're rewarded with a lifetime of images and memories.

Wednesday night I flew to Bangkok to hop on a flight to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Fortunately, I made it; unfortunately, my backpack didn't.

Hotel: Mom's Guesthouse (I recommend it); $20 room/night for 2 people, good-sized beds, A/C, good bathroom; found Mom's through Lonely Planet
We got our guide through the hotel -- only way to do it

Day 19 - June 28

Monday.

My last day in Vietnam.

I mostly spent the day running errands, picking up a few tidbits around my hostel. And eating. It was my last chance to go Pho Boa, the soup that's really the official meal of Vietnam. Much like a good set of pancakes, you can have Pho Boa anytime of day -- it's equally good for breakfast as it is for dinner.

While in Vietnam, I had decided to change my itinerary. Instead of heading to Thailand directly afterwards, I decided to visit Cambodia -- specifically the Temples of Angkor near the town of Siem Reap. So Monday night I hopped on a plane to meet my friend Laura from Wharton, who would also be there. She was flying in from Thailand after having spent a some time in Myanmar (or, Burma if you don't want to acknowledge the tyrannical government's name change). Fortunately we were able to meet up at the airport Monday night without a hitch. That was my first time my plans went well in my recent 3 trips.

Some thoughts on Vietnam:
The country is a complex, yet appealing mix, between a 3rd world nation and one that is focused on moderizing or developing. It's still very communist as there is strong government influence over everything. Decisions are really made centrally. People -- particularly in the north -- refuse to question or talk negatively about it. At the same time, the government is committed to building an infrastructure for trade and tourism. And in the South, entrepreneurship is everywhere.

What I liked:
1. It's cheap. Food, clothes, travel -- all great values for the money.
2. Saigon is a very cool city; there's a good vibe there. It's relatively easy to navigate. It's history as the South Vietnamese capital has people wanting a free-er life, which I think will come in the next decade.
3. Hoi An, Nha Trang, Halong Bay -- all were enjoyable places to visit. Hoi An was charming. Nha Trang had good diving. Halong Bay incredibly relaxing. I could definitely see myself spending more time in the first two places.
4. In general, the Vietnamese people are very friendly.
5. Good places to stay. The minihostels had A/C, private bathrooms, satellite TV for $10 - $15/night, which sometimes included breakfast.
6. Vietnam still retains its agrarian heritage which is great to see while touring the countryside.

What I didn't like:
1. Roads -- psycho drivers and motos are down-right scary. Crossing the street is just like the video game Frogger. I'm surprised Fox hasn't made a reality show out of this whole experience.
2. Begging/hawking. There are people hawking services and products everywhere. And it's often very hard to avoid. After a very short while, it gets bothersome, to the point where many tourists (myself included) become rude. It's one thing to ask someone if they want to buy a bracelet, book or ride on a moto; it's another to follow them or ask them repeatedly while they are dining. I think it would greatly help tourism and the government's goals if there was some crackdown on the continual hawking.
3. Public transportation has a long way to go to improve. I either heard or experienced horror stories with trains and buses. I'd highly recommend flying from between town since tickets are rather cheap.

My only regret was that I didn't have more time to check out a more of the Vietnam War history. I would like to have gone to the DMZ, Khe Sahn and China Beach as well as historical towns of Hue and Dalat. Maybe next time.

So Goodnight Saigon (sorry couldn't pass that up)... hello Angkor Wat!

Hotel: MC Guesthouse; $13/night, cash only; A/C, TV; nice rooms, though a little small; very helpful staff; good location

Day 18 - June 27th

Sunday.

Continuing my Vietnam War experience, I headed out with a tour group for a day on the Mekong Delta. I was looking forward to the trip and the day didn't disappoint. The Mekong is an extraordinary river, starting in China and flowing through Laos and Cambodia on it's way to Vietnam, eventually emptying into the South China Sea. It's also about 1.5 hours from Saigon and home to much of Vietnam's rice production. I believe Vietnam is the 2nd largest rice exporter globally, after Thailand, so it's a sizable operation.

Our trip started with a ride to the Delta's major markets, where locals buy/sell fruit, fish, rice, and everything else a house or $1 junk salesmen on the new york city trains could ever want. From the hour wondering around the markets, we hopped on a few ferries to cruise up the river for about another hour before stopping for lunch. The first thing that jumps out is the width of the river; it easily rivals that of the Mississippi, with the banks stretching 2 kilometers apart at many points. The second thing is that it is very brown. That's not from pollution (though it might contribute), but the silt in the water from the annual flooding that churns the floor of the river. But the river's color doesn't stop locals from bathing or cleaning dishes in it.

After lunch we visited a coconut candy factory (soooo good!) and a honey farm. I hate insects, particularly those that sting, so I was not happy about this stop. To get out of having to touch the honeycomb with the bees still on it, I conveniently went to the bathroom so as to maintain the perception of my manhood. The bee farm also had a python that we could "wear" around our neck/shoulders and take a picture with; since I'd already exhausted my get out of jail free card, I had to go for the photo-op. I don't like snakes, but it was infinitely better than the alternative. Infinitely. Once the bee farm finished, we took a long ferry back to our bus to head into Saigon.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Mekong. Maybe it was because every Vietnam movie I've seen has soldiers on a boat chilling out, and it seems like the only time they were happy to be in Vietnam, so there's a sense of peace there. It was also great to see the way Vietnamese not in a major city or tourist trap live; the Vietnamese rice farmer gets very little benefit from the scores of tourists who roll through. And it was definitley refreshing to get out of the city; a wonderful way to finish off my activities in Vietnam.

Sunday night I met up with a Wharton classmate, Jen Hsieh and her boyfriend PJ who was a year behind me at Duke, for dinner. I had run into them at the War Remnants museum and we agreed to have dinner, Saturday and Sunday nights. They were the first familiar faces I'd seen in 10 days. We had good conversation and passed along a few travel tidbits to each on the places we were respectively headed.

Day 17 - June 26

Saturday.

Big sightseeing day -- it was devoted to the Vietnam/American war.

I started off in the morning with a half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, the vast 250 kilometer network near Saigon that the South Vietnamese resistance (against the french initially and then the government supported by the US) used extensively. The tunnels themselves are incredible -- tiny so that western bodies have incredible difficulties getting through, they are comprised of 3 levels to avoid major impact from US bombs. The network connected villages and towns around Saigon including an opening within a US base for the Viet Cong to pick-off US soldiers through sniping. There were secret entrances and booby traps; they used simple but innovative means to throw off American dogs (for example, VC would use American made soap, or put the uniforms of dead GIs near an entrance so that dogs thought there were US soldiers in the holes). The network had kitchens, store rooms and even bathrooms -- so that living in the labrynth for months at a time was possible. In fact, the US employed Agent Orange to burn away the plantlife above the tunnels in the hopes of catching VCs coming out... and yet had little success penetrating the tunnels. It was absolutely an amazing engineering marvel.

After the tunnels, I went to the Reunification Palace, where the administers and presidents of South Vietnam had their headquarters. The Palace is most famously captured in pictures on April 30, 1975 as North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the property's gates on the day that the South surrendered to the North. The Palace itself was rebuilt in the 1960s, and in that style, more resemebles a terminal at JFK than a building I would have associated with government leadership. And true to the words of Jim Rogers that 3rd world leaders always have a Mercedes, on display is the former President's 1964 model.

My last stop was the War Remnants Museum, probably the most fascinating tourist attraction in Saigon. The museum originally documented the "attrocities of the American and Chinese aggressors," but since Vietnam's liberalization in wooing western tourists, the museum has softened its tone. It is still critical of the US, but goes into great depth on the escalation of the war and battles that ensued. There are segments on Khe Sahn and the Tet offensive. There are also details on the My Lai massacre. But the museum doesn't confine itself to the war's toll on the Vietnamese population. For instance, there is a detailed section of many of the photo and print journalists killed in action, including several over a 10 day stretch in April 1970 in Cambodia. Yet, not surprisingly, the most striking photos are those of the effect of the war on the larger Vietnamese population. Highlighted are the affects of the US' use of Agent Orange and Napalm. Well after the war, many were still ravaged by the toxins that created birth defects or early development of different cancers. It was a lot to take in for one day, but well worth it.

My take-away from the Cu Chi Tunnels and War Remnants museum are somewhat mixed. If anything, I walked away thinking about the remarkable difficulties average US troops faced. The Cu Chi Tunnels and parts of the War Remnants Museum proudly exhibit the contributions that women and children made to the cause -- including wearing uniforms and fighting with automatic weapons. And both tourist sites comment on the ways the VC was able to deceive the South Vietnamese government and the foreign armies that assisted it, particularly through espionage. There were many villagers who supported the South Vietnamese Army (SVA) during the day, and then the VC at night.

Unlike prior wars where soldiers knew the enemy because it was wearing a different colored uniform, Vietnam was a fight against people who didn't clearly identify themselves. And with women and children actively -- whether overtly or covertly -- involved in fighting, it is easy to understand how an event like the My Lai massacre could occur. I'm not saying it was justified and definitely am not supporting it, because it was gruesome and disgusting; but what I am is that I don't think it was a simple black & white issue. US soldiers were fighting in a very gray area -- and as a result, I came away from my day confident that it is unfair and wrong unequivocally criticize their actions. With bullets, landmines and bombs potentially taking a soldier's life at any moment, quick actions were necessary; and unfortunately, they were sometimes the wrong ones.

Day 16 - June 25

Friday.

It was one of those days... a traveling day where things out of my control messed up my plans, and as a result, my itinerary had to change. What to do?

I took a night train in from Nha Trang to Saigon that was supposed to get in at 6am and I had booked a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels (about 30 minutes outside Saigon by car) leaving at 8am. I thought 2 hours buffer for an 8 hour train was enough. Well, I was as wrong as putting a french in an army uniform and expecting him to fight. We pulled into the Saigon train station promptly at 8:40am.

So I used the day to book my flights and hotels in Thailand as well as to catch up on the sleep I didn't get on the train. I also re-booked my Cu Chi Tunnel trip for Saturday and then shortened my Mekong Delta trip to just a day on Sunday. Then I took my newly found day in Saigon to explore a bit on the back of a moto, seeing what the city's less popular dwellings have to offer (turns out it offers a little chaos on the roads and in the markets). Friday night I decided to check out some of the nightlife, going to the Blue Gecko (an Aussie bar -- those guys always have lively bars) and a few establishments in Pham Ngu Lao, the main backpackers' stretch. All in all, not a very exciting day... but sometimes those are the best kind.

Day 15 - June 24

Thursday.

I had an overnight train to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City schedule for to leave 10pm, so Thursday was my last day in Nha Trang. I spent the day hitting the few truly tourist sites in Nha Trang, which like so much of Vietnam, revolves around Pagodas and other religious sites. Nha Trang's contribution to the world of tourist bus locations are the Po Nagar Cham Towers and the Long Son Pagoda with large Buddha statue. The Cham Towers were constructed over 6 centuries (5th century - 11th century) and are still actively used for individual Buddhist prayer. They were interesting but I didn't feel comfortable spending much time walking into these towers as people were praying and the incense was overwhelming. There were about 100 tourists walking around -- 99 were Asian, 1 was a white jewish guy from the States.

The second site I went to was the Long Son Pagoda with 60 foot Buddha. As soon as I entered, I was approached by a young girl who decided to give me a tour of the place... of course this meant that she would ask for a donation at the end. She said she was a student in the school that was literally next door, and since the building resembled a school, her story seemed plausible. Her english was good and she knew the history of the pagoda well; she even took my picture on the steps leading up to the giant Buddha statue. As we were walking around, we were joined by a boy who claimed to also be another student. He chimed in occassionally with more tidbits. But I didn't like that I now had two guides. And for some reason, there weren't any other tourists around, which was surprising. It could have been that I picked the hottest time of day to go, but I didn't feel totally comfortable.

And when the young girl and boy took me to the scenic overlook of Nha Trang -- which was also the most remote part of the campus -- they hit me up for the donation in exchange for 10 post cards. The surprising part wasn't that they were asking for money, since that seems to be the tradition in Vietnam; rather it was how much. They wanted 100,000 Vietnamese Dong, which was $6 for 10 postcards. Each! And they had the same post cards! So here's the deal they were offering -- $12, 20 postcards of Nha Trang, which were doubles. I wasn't paying $12 per night for a room with air conditioning and satellite TV. I laughed, which only made them feel worse. In the end, I gave them 50,000 Dong, took 10 postcards and told them to fight about who got credit for the donation. I would have felt bad about the whole thing but 1) the audacity to ask for 100,000 since I was tourist, 2) that I had not asked for the tour, 3) that they each wanted the absurd amount of money and 4) that the girl said the 50,000 Dong was ok for a donation but that she wouldn't give me the post cards unless I gave the 100,000, cleared my conscience that I was doing anything wrong. I actually think I got taken by them since the postcards were really rather crappy.

And then after the transaction, on our walk down to the exit, the teenage boy asked if where I was from. "America" I answered, since they don't understand USA or the States here. His response was to loudly say "Osama bin Laden," and then with his hands mocked an airplane crashing into a building, smiled and laughed. I wasn't sure how to react. I wanted to actually deck the kid, since he'd been so obnoxious the entire time he was around. But I also didn't know if he knew the gravity of saying that name, of making those gestures, to not just an American, but a New Yorker. It'd be impossible for him to know the depth of those wounds, the scars that still exist for many of us. But even not knowing that, it would take a jackass to make such a comment. And I did really want to deck him. But I told him to stay where he was and just walked away, yelling at him not to follow me as I would find the exit myself. I think that was the better alternative. So while the Pagoda and statue were impressive, the experience was anything but. As the Brits that I've met on the trip would say, "unlucky." And it was a clear sign of how America is viewed by many in the third world -- excessively rich, expected to donate to any cause, and the overwhelming target for third world enmity.

Hotel: Golden Hotel (I would recommend it); negotiated $40 for 3 nights; new building, A/C, TV; didn't eat breakfast there; found hotel from walking around, not through Lonely Planet

Scuba diving: Jeremy Stein's Rainbow Divers; very strong recommendation; highly professional; PADI 5-star; owners also own a bar intown (Rainbow Pub) where divers and staff meet up for happy hour of the night of the dive

Day 14 - June 23

Wednesday.

So after my day of diving, I decided to enjoy Nha Trang's beautiful beach and relax at the Louisiane Cafe. The cafe has its own set of chaise-lounges, full waiter service and a relaxation center with staff masseuse all the while prohibiting beach-side hawkers from approaching guests. The cost -- 10,000 Vietnames Dong, which works out to about $0.60 for the day. You have to pay additionally for the food and masseuse, but just eliminating the hawkers is worth the price of admission. I spent my day reading James Michener's The Covenant, which is historical fiction novel about the history of South Africa from the migration of initial African through 1979, in preparation for my trip there later this summer. By the end of Wednesday, I was a full 400 pages in, which means I'm about 30% done.

As for night time activities I met back up with Meghan, Tom, Tony and the other backpackers at the Nha Trang Sailing Club. The night was rather tame, as I mostly heard about Tony's 2-year stint in the Peace Corps in Tonga. I also had a very long conversation with a Vietnamese employee, Thuah, who worked at the club and spoke phenomenal english (let's face it, with the extensiveness of my Vietnamese, english was the only way we were going to communicate). I learned how difficult it was to save up money in Vietnam, even for great english speakers who are paid higher wages, as well as about Vietnamese dating life and the pressure for early marriage. After the Sailing Club, Thuah took me and another guy for Pho Boa, the traditional Vietnamese dish of noodle soup, beef and vegetables; this was the late night equivalent of Waffle House or hitting a late night diner.

Day 13 - June 22

Tuesday.

Sorry for the delay between postings. It is now Sunday, June 27 and I'm in Saigon. For some reason, I've had a hard accessing the site here.

Back to Tuesday.

My morning was great -- I was on the dive boat by 8 and in my wetsuit by 9. There were about 15 people on my boat and 6 instructors, which is a great ratio. When I thought things couldn't get any better, I found out that I'd be paired up with an instructor for myself, Marc; for those of you like me, it took me a minute or two to do the math, but apparently 1 to 1 is an even better ratio than 2.5 to 1 (good thing I'm not a big betting man). Could you ask for anything more?

I had two dives, the first at a site called Madonna Rocks and the second at Moray Beach. Madonna Rocks had much better visibility, with reasonably cool sealife and great hues to the coral. It was a reef that reminded me of diving on the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns, Australia in terms of the fish and plantlife. Not quite as good as the GBR, but a fun warm-up dive nonetheless. I was underwater for 50 minutes with my lowest depth 19 meters (or about 60 feet).

Moray Beach had poorer visibility, but better sealife, namely Moray Eels. This time Marc and I dove together, but merged our group with another for a total of 4 divers, 2 instructors. The incredible part of this dive was that Marc and the other instructor brought some sort of chum and fed it to Moray Eels on three different occassions, including enticing one of them to pop its head out of a cove for feeding. Just really cool to see. And we also had a couple of swim throughs -- where we'd swim through holes in coral formations. Usually these have less light, and thus, very different sealife. For instance, with one of the swim-throughs, we crossed through into a school of approximately 100 fish about the size of a potato. Amazing to have them just swim by you like you're another rock formation or animal. All told, I was down below for 57 minutes with a maximum depth of 17 meters.

One of the many things I love about diving is the closeness with the environment. Specifically, I feel like just another part of nature -- right there with the schools of fish, the swaying coral, the current. Man was not intended to be a part of this environment, but through our ingenuity, we've found a way to do it without causing much harm. And no matter what is going on in the world above water, the actors in this environment just go on with their lives. Witnessing the existence of this submerged world has a very peaceful and calming effect on me. It's like anything that could cause you trouble above ground can be escaped deep beneath it.

So after my morning of diving, I just spent some time on the beach, watching the water from above. That evening, I met up with Meghan, an American from Atlanta who was on my dive boat, and some of the Canadian and American backpackers she's met in her journey, for drinks. It was a fun night to hang out with other backpackers, since I was in a stretch of 10 days of traveling solo. We discussed the great joys and challenges of backpacking, laughing throughout the night.

Day 12 - June 21

Monday.

I awoke in a Saigon hotel after the adventures in travel of the prior day. My flight wasn't until 1pm, so I had a good portion of the morning to do anything. I decided the best way to use my time was to go down to the backpackers area to book tours for my return later in the week.

I thought the cab ride from the hotel would be about 10 minutes. I was only off by a factor of 3. A half an hour later -- battling through Saigon rush hour traffic -- my cab dropped me off in front of several travel shops. Long story short, I price my tours for a half-day trip to the Cou Ci Tunnels and an overnighter to the Mekong Delta and then find the first internet phone I can to call Mom and Dad to wish them a happy anniversary and father's day, since it was still Sunday in the States.

To head back to the hotel, I decided to skip the cab and hop on the back of a moto. That was one of my better decisions on this trip, as I quickly learned that Saigon and Hanoi are very different cities with regards to who owns the road. In Hanoi, cars trump motos; the reverse is true in Saigon. Since there are 5.5 million people and probably 70% have motos, motos literally are everywhere. And they don't get out of the way of cars, so cars crawl along while the agile, fleet motos zoom between cars, sidewalks and other motos. Makes for a fun, video-game like experience. Fortunately for me, my moto driver took me another route back, so I had the chance to see more of the residential and non-touristy side of the city. So far, I like what I've seen -- it was a good preview of the 4 days I'll spend in the city later this week and early next.

Eventually I made it to Nha Trang and spent the latter part of the afternoon getting acquainted with the town. Very nice public beaches. My main objective was to find a good dive shop to book my trip the following day, Tuesday. I settled on Rainbow Divers because they appeared the most professional and was staffed with a guy from California, Ben, so there was no possibility of mis-interpreting anything he said. My evening activites were relatively quiet as I had to be up at 6am for my 2 dives. I had dinner and happy hour drinks at The Sailing Club, a nicely designed bar/restaurant on the water that has a happy hour from 6 - 10. The Chicken Satay was damn good and spicy -- highly recommended!

Day 11 - June 20

Sunday.

First things first -- Happy Father's Day

But just as, if not more importantly, Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad (see, I remembered)

Sunday was supposed to be a travel day for me. I had a 2pm flight from Danang (the closest airport to Hoi An, about a 30 minute drive) to Nha Trang, a beach town between Hoi An and Saigon which also has the best diving in Vietnam. Well, as often happens when traveling, the best laid plans of mice and men often fall awry.

I started off the morning with one of my favorite travel activities - negotiating. I was trying to get some odds and ends and had a fun time trying to play several merchants off each other. I think the primary reason I enjoy negotiating is that it makes me feel like I acquired an applicable skill at Wharton -- since it was the I spent half of my bidding points on (Prof Diamonds class was well worth it too!). My main difficult with negotiating while traveling is that I had a hard time telling if I really got a good deal or still got ripped off just having paid slightly less from one merchant than another. In the grand scheme of things, it's literally only a few dollars anyway.

Walking around Hoi An is truly an experience because there are so many clothes shops, restaurants, art galleries and merchants that want you to come into their establishments. They all have young women outside who ask people as they walk by "what country are you from?" and then "you come into my store?" A no to the 2nd question is followed up with the ubiquitous "you have girlfriend?" And that happens several times a day -- you have girlfriend? Now as a Western guy in his 20s, that question could be asked from several directions:

1) "will you come into my store if I make you smile?"
2) "will you marry me, take me to America and give a shot at a big house, nice car and everything I've seen on those real-life American TV shows like Baywatch and Melrose Place I see on Vietnam TV?"
3) "you want to go to Madam Boom-Boom's room?"

And with a big smile on my face, I mutter the most frequently stated 3 words heard out of tourists in Vietnam "No thank you."

The Madam Boom-Boom is actually a quote from a driver of a moto who asked me if I wanted to buy some pot and then if I wanted to go see Madam Boom-Boom. I don't think there was anything lost in translation there.

Back to Sunday. I find out at noon that my 2pm flight was cancelled from the travel agent I booked it through (she actually hunted me down throughout all of Hoi An). She booked me on a 12-hour bus to Nha Trang, which while cheap ($5) and air conditioned, had me nervous. I asked her if it was a tourist-only bus, and she said yes. I had read about the Open Tours bus in Lonely Planet and assumed it was that one -- which had a pretty good write-up. She said she would pick me up at 6pm to take me to the bus station. So I headed back to Cua Dai beach for a little day in the sun. On the way, I ran into 2 guests from my hotel that they were able to re-book and are flying through Saigon with Vietnam Airlines putting them up in a hotel for the night, as the flight to Nha Trang wouldn't leave till morning.

I went by the travel agent's office, but no luck, she wasn't there. So I just headed out to the beach, realizing that I was going to spend a night on a bus -- I thought it would be cheap sleeping accommodations. Fast forward a few hours and the agent picks me up (a little late) and I mention to her that other fliers got a deal where Vietnam Airlines was making arrangements for them. She said it wasn't possible. We get to the bus stop, and while waiting for the bus, she goes to check again -- same story, not possible. Bus comes and it's not a nice Open Tours bus -- it's one of those you'd expect to see chickens, goats and sheep in the aisles -- and my jaw drops. 12 hours of hell I'm thinking. And since the plane flight was cancelled, now all 45 seats are taken. I get one in the last row. I'm sitting there, sweating to death because the A/C is negligible at best, thinking I might actually melt before I arrive.

And then an angel appeared... or at least that's how my travel agent looked, halo and all. She said in her best English as a 2nd language that she yelled at Vietnam Airlines that they were making deals for other people, so they should do it for her passenger. And they relented! So I got on a 10pm flight to Saigon with a 1:30pm flight to Nha Trang booked for Monday. Vietnam Airlines put me up in a nice hotel for the night in Saigon -- king sized bed, A/C and tons of cable channels. It was funny -- the only people who were re-booked and given hotel rooms were white, western tourists. I don't think it is in the nature of the Vietnamese people to question authority -- such is life under communism. In contrast, the Westerners were raised on questioning... Or maybe we just have a large sense of entitlement? Or more likely, we are used to the games the airline industry plays.

Even though I lost about a day and a half of travel, things worked out for the best. I went to sleep on a very cushy pillow... at least I think it was because I was out before my head hit it!