From gloomy to long awaited SUNSHINE!

A 15 hour bus ride later from Noi An to Nha Trang (beach capital of Vietnam) and there was still NO sun.  It was definitely a whole lot warmer here but still misty rain, so much for swimming and sun bathing at the beach capital.  So how did we keep busy on a rainy day?  Went to a photography museum, saw a BIG Buddha, meditated to a prayer, and crammed into a small taxi with our new friend Phillipe from Switzerland, who we actually met at Cat Ba Island and have seen at almost every city we stopped at after that.


Not much to write home about here so I made a list of some "did you knows" about Vietnam.

*Most public bathrooms are squatters, there is a place for each foot and a ceramic type bowl where you do your business and it drains off - who knows where - far from sanitary or comfortable for that matter, BUT if you went to college (girls) you learned how to pop a squat - except for here you actually have somewhere to aim and the smell is far worse than the random alley you pick while bar hopping or finding your way back to the dorms.

*Usually you have to pay 10 cents, there is NO toliet paper and sometimes no sink for you to wash your hands.

*Bottled water only, about 30 cents for 1.5 liters if you bargain them down.

*Most places facebook is prohibited.

*They LOVE karaoke here.

*This internet cafe asks you to take your shoes off before you enter.

I will add on more to this list as I go.

HERE IS THE SUNSHINE PART!!!! ----- we are currently in Mui Ne - another beach town that is far more beachy than the last town.  It's FINALLY SUNNY here - woooohoooooo!!!!  It's warm, it's sunny, the feel good hormones are kicking in and we are happy!  Last night Rachel and I ate and drank coconuts on the street.  I was so excited! It was my first coconut with real coconut juice and then we ate the inside out with a spoon...sooo filling and hydrating.  Later on, we met some French guys and went to a bar on the beach where I ended up pretty much falling asleep on the bean bag chair because I was exhausted from our past two long hauls.  I'm NOT complaining...it was perfect being on the beach, drinking a beer and watching some guy play with fire.  We had to call it an early night because there were no blankets for us to actually sleep on the beach, otherwise I would have bc our hostel is not the best, but we have air conditioning!

Today we walked through a red stream and saw red sand.  We walked up to a waterfall and ran into some school children who wanted to talk to us in english, super cute!  On the way back we snuck into a resort and took a dip in their pool and layed on their pool chairs.  The ocean was RIGHT there also. Rachel and I decided to take a cab back to the hostel and before we got in we agreed that it would cost 10,000 dong (50 cents) when we got out he pointed to the meter and said it was 56,000. NOT what we agreed on (we didn't even negotiate a meter!) so we started arguing and he got some guy to translate, who barely spoke english, and we ended up giving him the 56,000 because I guess in the end arguing over 50 cents or about $3 was not worth it, because it was still cheaper than ANY cab ride in America (although I could buy lunch with that money and probably include a beer).

Today is a rest day and we plan on going out later.  Tomorrow it's another bus ride to Saigon.

Here's a link to my pics, right now this computer won't let me load any new ones, but I will soon!

http://annabanana26.shutterfly.com/pictures/5