One night in Bangkok

After Vietnam, we flew to Thailand, spent a day in bangkok and quickly moved north to Chiang Mai where we participated in the Thai New Year, rode elephants, went zip lining through the jungle, and got ripped off more than once. It was amazing and I'll show you everything.

Halong Bay, Vietnam - Caving

 

Halong Bay, Vietnam

The last time I was in Vietnam, we spent the majority of our time in Hanoi and Halong Bay. Unfortunately when I returned, boyfriend in hand, and ready for sunshine and adventures, we were greeted by the WORST weather. Cloudy, rainy, cold and no chance of going swimming. We made the most of it and still managed to have a good time. Here are some random photos from the trip.

Even with nice cameras and photo-editing you can still tell what kind of weather we experienced. Blah! We did visit a cave and went hiking so I'll share those pictures too.

Where we are now...

Ko Chang, Thailand (Paradise) 

Hue, Vietnam

We only had one day to explore Hue, and since there are many different things to see, we splurged and hired a tour guide and private car. After finding a restaurant that organizes tours, a frantic waitress/travel agent(?) set up a tour and introduced us to Mr. Trung, our guide for the day. Having a car proved beneficial as we were able to see 2 tombs, incense makers, a pagoda, and an old rice farming village and museum.

Adventures in overnight transportation: Part I

While in Vietnam, we took 2 overnight buses and 1 overnight train. This is the overnight train we took to Hue. It was pretty awful. Our first mistake was insisting to the woman booking our tickets that we'd like to be on level 2. Assuming level 2 meant a second floor on the train (the kind you take stairs to get to) we agreed that was the way to go in order to catch some scenery. After giving us an "Are you sure?????" look, she booked the tickets. We arrived at the train station early, picked up some vietnamese sandwiches and waited for our train. It arrived and we jumped on, only to find our cabin was occupied by a large Vietnamese family. Confused and worried, we began frantically looking around for help from an employee. Just then, a friendly man (not employee) asked for our tickets and informed us that we were on the wrong train. What!!?? We jumped off right before it pulled away, narrowly escaping a 14 hour adventure in the wrong direction with no where to sit or sleep. Relieved but still slightly jarred, we boarded the correct train, and immediately looked for the stairs. No stairs. Anywhere. We found our cabin on the first, and only, level. ATTENTION: Level 2 means TOP BUNK. We willingly booked ourselves top bunks and the "Are you sure?" look began flashing in my brain. Luckily, the bottom beds were taken by a sweet and quiet German couple who shared cookies with us in the morning. However, top bunk means you sleep with all of your stuff. Large backpack, small backpack, purse, food....

And someone's left-behind, used q-tips.

Obviously, this is how we felt. Oh yeah, and the air conditioner vent covers were broken off about four different vents so I had a steady stream of freezing cold air blown on me all night. Have you ever tried to keep warm with a patchwork of summer clothes as your blanket? The next day, we weren't supposed to arrive at our destination until 1pm. All the scenery we hoped to see on the second level? Sorry, you can't see anything from the top bunk. Just used q-tips. The only good things about this trip were (1) I took benadryl and it mostly knocked me out, and (2) this sandwich...

Banh mi. Mmmm.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Entrance to our hostel

In front of the cable cars we decided not to ride

Construction sight

Street Lobster

View from the Sheraton

Drinks at the Sheraton, the only people in the entire place

Due to the speediness in which we did Vietnam, we only had about a day and a half in Nha Trang. We both agreed it had a nice, resort-y beach vibe. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great and in order to take the cable cars to a nearby island you had to purchase a ticket to the amusement park. What is that?  Next Stop: Hue.