February 25 Thursday

Happy Birthday Breen!!!

I haven't been able to log on to my blog for the past three days.
Monday we piled into the van for 16, thank goodness there were only 9 of us, as that is all that fit. The drive was harrowing. vietnamese drive like maniacs. he who has the biggest vehicle rules the roadways. fortunately there are very few cars, but there are thousands of motocycles, and lots of bicycles, but they are completely bullied by the bigger vehicles. pedestrians are the lowest on the chain and you need eyes on the sides and back of your head. we arrived about 8pm in nha trang, checked in, grabbed a bite, and hit the sack.
Tuesday we spent at the beach. after driving through rice paddies, oxen, ducks and chickens goint to market, oh yes and even 2 goats on a motorcycle, nha trang was surreal. a georgous beach with beautiful huts and bars with delicious smoothies, it was like landing in another country. could have been the bahamas, the cote d'azure, or any other fabulous beach locale. the water was warm and the surf perfect. we all hooked up for dinner at the sailing club. a nice upscale beach on the water. i had soft-shelled crab.yum. we topped the night off with a pint at the australian brew pub just down the way. good times all around. pat brought up a picture of her dinner guest from the night before...a big rat right on the table top. gross.
wednesday we did more of the same. beach beach and more beach. we had dinner at a small fish place. decided to go cheap. a salad big enough to feed four, bar-b-cued tuna and fries, and i am talking a huge piece of tuna, and two bottled waters. 6 dollars total. amazing. at 8:30 we boarded the overnight bus to saigon and i went off to sleep. it was perfect.
we arrived in saigon at 7:30 this morning. checked in and went out exploring. we saw the fine art museum, 2 markets, the reunification palace and the war museum. the war museum was the best. there was an exhibition of photos taken during the war by embedded photo journalists. some we certainly remembered from magazines but lots were new to us. there was also a huge display of the birth defects as a result of chemical warfare. pretty awful stuff. after 2 hours i was propaganded out, and i am now finished with the vietnamese war, or the american war, as they call it.
tomorrow morning we are off on a 2 day boat and overland trip to phnom phen. nest message will be from cambodia.
keep well.