My Khe Beach: Da Nang

Otherwise known as the beach right outside of hotel #1...

Which just happened to be the Tourane. It was a bit nicer by the light of day. Behind me is a row of "Seafood Restaurants." Or, tents with grills inside.

Marble Mountains

This was our tour guide through the mountain. He just sort of followed us up, and before we realized it, we had agreed to pay him a hefty sum of 50,000 dong. That's a little over $3, but he spoke 4 languages and kept us amused.

The top! What can I say, it's old and stuff.

Even Emma made it, depsite her reputation for greatly disliking hiking. You show 'em Em! =)

Inside caves in the mountain were these breaks where natural light came streaming in. The other tourists liked the idea of this shot so much, they hella copied us afterwards. Sheep.

Oh look! A temple! But seriously folks, check out the view.

Hail to Buddha... (who wants to take bets on whether or not he's made of marble?)

Non Ngoc Beach

After climbing the mountains, Emma and I got taken to our own private beach. That's right. It was OURS. Private. And it was $1 to rent the chairs and umbrellas for 3-4 solid hours of a strip of heaven.

Blonde hair + white skin = SUCKERS...

Actually these ladies were kind enough to allow me to photograph them... after we bought some necklaces.

Caodai Temple

I had read about this temple in the Lonely Planet (what a freaking great book). They basically preach love and understanding of all religions. Very new agey and cool, so I had to pay homage. That's our taxi driver, aka chauffer for the day.

The outside of the temple, which as it turns out is pretty standard fair in templedom. But hey, it's all new to me.

Officially the first group of kids to follow Emma and I around. The peace pose was lended to them with love from Japan. They were pretty cute, and their hello's were impeccable. My students could learn a few things from them.

Hoi An Hotel: Hoi An

The view from our balcony... not a beach, but hey, we're not picky. Any body of water and sun will do for vacation time.

One of the MANY clothing shops in town who will taillor make basically anything you want. I walked away with an entirely new suitcase full of goodies and still feel like I could have done better. Bah.

Just a nice capture from one of the smaller streets in town. And I mean town in the literal sense. Like, old skool.

April 30th, Vietnam Liberation Day

All hail communism! On this day in 1975, American troops pulled out of Vietnam. Cool. How's that for cathartic timing?

These painting shops were everywhere as well, and it took every ounce of mental energy to walk away from furnishing the walls of my future apartment.

The cyclos were fantastic. Love em. Want one of my own so I can cart lazy ass tourists around Sagamihara.

No, your eyes do not deceive you; that is in fact a cartload of HAY. As it passed near us, I half expected to see the hay move as someone secret being carted inside shifted. Or for heavy arms to be stowed inside only to be brought out for a hit. Life should be a movie.

Before leaving town, we went back to the Marble Factories to pick up a small souvenir. This picture that the dudes let us take was way better than the crappy statues in the shops. After this, they palmed us some marble shavings in four different colors. Sweet.

The Furama Resort

Vietnam's premiere 5 star resort on its own private strip of beach. It wasn't that impressive really. For less money, you can still have a private beach. Only without the rich ladies slathering on tanning oil under thatched umbrellas. Bonus.

See? Not that impressive. But hey, as the foremost resort, it deserved a photo at least.

Champa Museum

I am Siva, biotch!

This is what happens when museums are on low budget and can't afford glass containers or security cameras...

That's right, that's Emma leaning ON the ancient Champa statue.

Heh. There are so many more of these that didn't get posted.

Well, what else do you do in a museum when you can't read the explanations?

Da Nang International Airport

International my patoot. That's Kwai (pr. Qu-eye) our second and by far coolest taxi driver. He saw us off after buying us matching commie shirts and intriguing us with stories about the war, of which he fought on the American side... happily. "Hey Kwai, did you have a good Liberation Day?" "No." Oops.

Hanoi

Our first night in Hanoi, we split to Old Town and found a quaint French influenced corner where we had good grub and met a bunch of fellow travelers from all over the place. Reminds me a lot of what I assume New Orleans looks like.

Yeah right buddy.

Our final hotel was around the corner from the Hanoi Opera House. Slightly reminiscent of the Paris Opera House, except for the after dark loiterers drinking beer on the steps and pawning motorscooter rides.

The Backpackers

L to R: Carolina from Spain, Carlos and Melanie from Chile. No words to describe how cool these folks were. Chill, worldly, and full of interesting stories from their travels.

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

This is only a hint of the enormous sum of people waiting for a glimpse of the embalmed Ho Chi Minh. Many consider it a pilgrimage, but for us, it was more like waiting for a new Disneyland attraction in 80% humidity.

Awww. Aren't we special? And sweaty?

Ho Chi Minh's Childhood House

They call it Uncle Ho's House on Stilts... the stretch to Uncle Ho's Cabin is far too tempting.

Our persistent cyclo driver gets a break while Carlos points out all the good restaurants with cheap beer. Funny shit.

The Army Museum

Emma struggling to uproot a ground cannon. This place was FULL of historical goodies and warped one-sided propaganda. Good times. =)

Hail to Uncle Ho...

The outlook tower, not much inside, but a keen photo op.

The ex B-52 bomber. Trippy.

Is this guy not the SPITTING image of Ho Chi Minh?? I had to take this picture in secret, behind the busted up bomber.

The famous facade of the Ho Chi Minh tomb, which we missed out on waiting in the long ass line.

It's pretty pimp actually.

Pham Loc Pagoda

With a Buddha on every level. And all the reachable levels have money shoved into the crevices from worshippers. There were monks running around, it smelled of incense, and it was right on a lake... all in all, a spiffy end to our sightseeing.

We had a glorious time!