I crossed the bridge over the Song Hong along with the Chinese merchants going over the border to Vietnam for a day of commerce. I walked slowly taking it all in as I neared the immigration station. The mist was starting to break and on the banks of the river I could make out the French colonial architecture of the buildings in Vietnam. It was a bit surreal for me as I was entering this far off country I had read and seen so much about and was now actually entering. I'd been told that travelers sometimes get a complete going over at this border crossing. The Vietnamese border station at Lao Cai was completely different from the one in China. The Hekou, China immigration station was modern while the Lao Cai station was an old building with an open air window. I was lucky, passed through in matter of minutes and was on my way. I exited the station and was immediately surrounded by touts wanting to provide me with transportation and lodging. My only requirements in Lao Cai were to get some money changed and to find the bus station. I quickly walked away from the border area toward central Lao Cai. It took about 3K of walking before I was clear of the border touts and in the center of Lao Cai. It was starting to get hot and I had no idea where to find what I needed. I was in no hurry so I just walked through the streets taking in the sights. I was hoping to stumble upon a money changer or the bus station, I did pass a place that looked like a bus area but I wasn't certain. Even though it was quiet away from the border area I still stood out with the large pack on my back. Eventually another couple of touts came upon me and badgered me to go to their nice hotels. I got away from them and looked for a quiet place to get my bearings. I ended up walking over the top of the river levee and down onto the bank of the river. I sat in the shade of a tree and broke out the Vietnam Lonely Planet (LP) I'd been gifted in Kunming by "Lucky" & "Nutmeg". I read the section on Lao Cai and saw that being Sunday the only place I would be able to change money was with the black market guys near the border, I also noted that the place I'd seen previously was in fact the bus station. I rested in the shade of the tree for a time while looking back across the river at China. I then got up and made my way back through the touts to the border. This time I quickly noticed some money changers and converted $40USD. Then it was back to the bus station, actually a dirt lot. I didn't think it was the bus area on the first pass as it looked more like a staging lot. It was full of old buses and mini vans and the moment I walked on the lot I was grabbed and hustled over to one of the mini vans. You see if you're in Lao Cai and an obvious traveler there's a 99% chance you're going to only one location, Sapa.

This was true for me and I learned that the 30K trip would only cost the equivalent of $1.75 USD. I'd heard from Jean-Philippe in Kunming that this was a must see town so after a bit of waiting to make certain we had a full load I was on my way. We climbed out of Lao Cai and began to wind through the hills towards Sapa. We passed rivers and fields as we went and soon began to see large mountain peaks in the distance. Eventually we crested our climb and made a short descent into Sapa. Sapa was an old French colonial hill station and the architecture of the old buildings was remarkable. I gave the driver the card for the hotel Jean-Philippe had recommended, the Hai Khanh Hotel. When we arrived the driver accompanied me inside and spoke with the proprietors before leaving. I didn't really expect more than simple lodging but was in for a nice surprise. I was taken up a couple flights of stairs to a small room with a comfortable bed, small bath room, fireplace and a nice sized veranda. Not only did it have a veranda but it looked out over a river valley and a large mountain range (Hoang Lien Mountains) that included Vietnam's highest peak, Fansipan (3134M). I had no idea what it might cost but eventually negotiated a price of 40,000 dong/night, that's only $3.75 USD! After I settled in I walked back down and out onto the streets of Sapa.

I was near a cluster of hotels and a couple of them looked to have relatively new tourist type vans in front. I then began to walk up a slight hill away from the hotels. By now it was the mid afternoon of a Sunday in early November and the main road that my hotel was on seemed to be bustling with activity. There were hill tribes from all about the area selling all manner of practical and tourist items. It was a very colorful sight as their traditional dress is a variety of bright colors. The predominant group was Hmong wearing dark indigo colored fabric clothing accented with bright colored stitching and hats. I continued on eventually coming upon the local football (soccer) field. Children were playing on the field and others were just sitting on the simple concrete stands enjoying the afternoon. There was an interesting old Catholic church across from the field. I took some time and walked around the grounds of the Nha tho Church before taking in the rest of the town. I walked all about the mostly dirt streets of Sapa enjoying being in a completely new environment. As I made my way back towards the hotel I came upon an open stretch of land at the edge of the river valley. It was a serene view looking down onto the rice paddy fields, river and up at the mountains as the sun was quickly setting on the day. I was getting pretty hungry so I began to look about the main street for a place to eat.

All seemed pretty quiet but the hotel next to mine had a nice restaurant and a small number of people inside. I walked inside the hotel and noticed a small group of travelers enjoying a meal. As I began to sit down I noticed that 2 of the travelers were people that I had met in Kunming. They were a couple of Danish guys traveling in the same direction I was at the time. They noticed me as well and I joined the group for dinner and drinks. We stayed for a good while but all went back to our hotels around 10:00 pm. As I walked out of the hotel I was hit by the cold crisp air of the mountain town. As we were in the mountains and in late autumn it was not too much above freezing and all I had on was a thin fleece, burrrrr. But it was just a short walk to my hotel under a fantastic star filled night. I went back to my room and started up the fireplace which was very nice given the temperature outside. I read my Vietnam LP for a time as I wasn't ready for bed but I unfortunately quickly became very sleepy. I say unfortunately because I had by chance fallen into an ideal situation on this cold night in Sapa. I was in the mountains with a brilliant clear view of millions of stars in the sky and it just happened to be the night when the Leonids meteor shower was to be at its apex. The ideal viewing of the Leonids is based on what hemisphere of the world you happen to be in on a particular year, well this was the right night and place. The shower was set to peak between 1:00 and 3:00 am and here I was falling asleep. I did have a small travel alarm and set it for 1:00 before crashing for a couple hours nap. I woke when it went off, splashed some cold water on my face and warmed up by the dwindling fire. I then bundled up in some warm clothing and went out onto the veranda. I sat in the darkness staring up at the countless stars in the sky and shortly noticed a couple of average falling stars. I remembered I'd forgotten my camera and went to get it. As I got settled again I began to notice more and more falling stars, the meteor shower had begun. By 1:30 the sky was filled with meteors and many were so big that their tails remained glowing in the night sky for nearly a minute after they had burned out. I finally pulled out my camera and took a few time lapse photos of the shower hoping they would come out half way decent. I just sat mesmerized for over an hour until finally, even with the cold, sleep began to overcome me and I crawled into bed.

The next morning I woke and walked outside to a cool but quickly warming day. I wanted to see the outlying areas of Sapa. One place I wanted to go was up a small highway towards the mountain peaks which went over the top of the highest paved road in Vietnam (Tram Ton Pass). The pass was about 16K outside of Sapa and I tried unsuccessfully to find a motorcycle to rent. I was able to find plenty of local drivers who wanted to take me up on their Honda om for a fee. A Honda om or xe om is just a motorbike owner hiring himself out for transportation. I agreed on a price of 15,000 dong (VND) with one of many and was soon on my way. We rode out of town and up through the mountains towards the pass, Sapa quickly became a small sight in the distance. The driver was friendly and we passed a nice waterfall going up with plans to stop on the return. We reached the top and I got off and walked around for a good while taking in the panoramic views on both sides of the pass. There was a small cement marker at the top designating the altitude and name of the pass. I then went back to the driver where things started to go a little bad. I attempted to pay the driver before we headed back and handed him the agreed upon 15,000 VND, unfortunately he indicated that I had misunderstood and that it was 50,000 VND not 15,000. Still a small sum but in the relative prices of Vietnam too much. I could have just paid but given that he had purposefully deceived me I wasn't going to pay him the greatly raised sum. We argued for a few minutes and I finally just told him that he'd get 15,000 VND or could leave with nothing. He figured I was far enough away from town that I'd pay up so he slowly rode away stopping on occasion to look back but I just waved him away, he got nothing. I wasn't concerned as I planned on just catching one of the buses I saw passing us as we rode up to the pass. I began the 3K walk down to the waterfalls enjoying the views but shaking my head at what had transpired. The falls (Thac Bac Falls) are also a popular place to visit while in Sapa. I was soon at the falls and walked up the stairs that were built up to its midpoint. It was a nice climb aside a beautiful cascading flow of water. The view directly behind me was of the Muong Hoa river valley, the same valley that was directly below my hotel veranda. There were a couple of Vietnamese guys enjoying the falls as well. They were well dressed and when I reached the bottom I noticed they'd come up on their motorcycles. I sat and drank some water while I waited to see if a bus would soon be coming down the mountain road. In a short time the two guys came down as well and I said hello. They began talking to me and I learned that they were university students from Hanoi and had traveled to Sapa for the weekend. During the conversation I told them that I was waiting for the bus and they offered me a ride back to town. We were back in no time and they left me near the football field, I waved goodbye happy that all had turned out well in the end.

I walked back towards the main street and passed through a small version of the weekend market, as I was going through one less traveled alley I passed a Hmong man who quickly asked me if I wanted to buy some opium. I'd expected this might happen at some point but was still a bit surprised, I said no and continued on my way. Afterwards I began walking down the road past my hotel to explore. I noticed that the hotel was near the edge of Sapa and I was quickly outside of town on the road directly above the river valley. After just a short time I noticed a hill nearby and began to climb up off the road towards it. When I reached the base I found that it was a park with trails and interesting stone gardens, the Ham Rong Tourism Area. After trekking around the park I came across flower gardens, a mock minority village and picnic grounds. When I reached the top of the hill there was a fantastic view down onto the town of Sapa. I made my way down after enjoying the view for a time and was back at the Hotel as the sun was setting behind the mountain range. That evening I decided to eat at the hotel and realized that it was very empty. It seemed from my observations that many of the busy hotels had arrangements with tour groups out of Hanoi; this seemed to be the way most got to Sapa. There were few travelers like me who were there independently. I sat down and ordered some Vietnamese noodles and chicken and talked to the owner as I waited. We talked a bit about where we were from, he was originally from Hanoi but had come to Sapa to open the hotel. I told him that I was from California which really piqued his interest. The reason he was so interested is that he had relatives in California, many refugees from the war ended up settling in Orange and Santa Clara counties of California. He told me the name of the city in which they lived and was surprised to hear that I knew of it. The city was Garden Grove in Orange County and I lived there for a year as a child; the city has formally been given a second name "Little Saigon". We continued our discussion as my meal was being prepared and I was served at the same time as the family was sitting down to eat. Since I was the only one dining at the hotel they invited me to join them and I had what I'd ordered and a good deal more in the company of an incredibly nice family. During dinner I mentioned how I learned of the hotel and that I'd be certain to tell others to stay when visiting Sapa. They remembered Jean-Philippe but I could tell they were a little surprised at how I learned of the place. It turned out that the reason the mini-van driver had followed me in when I arrived was to collect a commission for bringing in an independent traveler, they'd been misled and weren't too happy. One of the primary reasons people visit Sapa is to go on treks through the nearby hill tribe villages. As I mentioned earlier they are predominately Hmong but also others such as Red Zao. The hotel owner sat down with me and gave me a map of the river valley and the inside scoop on the places to go that I wouldn't have been able to find on my own. Most people go on organized treks with guides and it was great to have the information to be able to do it on my own.

In the morning I woke at first light and headed out of Sapa and down into the river valley below. I reached the bottom of the valley which was full of terraced rice paddies and grazing water buffalo. The trail down ended at the Muong Hoa River with a well built bridge over to the other side; the bridge is known as the Cau May (Cloud Bridge). I walked down to the river's edge and splashed my face with water before just sitting on the rocks to enjoy my surroundings for a time. When I finally got up I began to follow the trail along the rivers edge through the valley. I walked for about a half hour when I came around a small hill and entered the first Hmong village. There were children waving hello and laughing and I also enjoyed a friendly wave from a couple of the women. Everyone was just going about their day to day life cooking, tending the animals and looking after their modest bamboo huts. I continued through the valley and after a while came upon two young boys on the trail. The first seemed very shy but the second was amusingly forward. He walked up to me and said "take my picture one dollar" and that was a statement not a question. Many tourist and travelers are keen to take pictures of the hill tribe people so he knew quite well what to do. I said OK and snapped a quick shot before giving him a US Dollar. He was pretty happy to get that and not payment in VND. I also noticed while taking the picture and before he left that there was a rather large watch on his wrist, this young entrepreneur must not be doing too bad. I stopped around noon and ate lunch on the edge of another village while watching some very small children herd a fair sized group of water buffalo. It seemed as much play as work to them with laughter fading in the distance as they went. After another hour I had made it a good way through the valley and had passed through 3 villages since first crossing the bridge. I'd noticed villagers making traditional clothing but in bulk for sale to the tourists in Sapa. They were dying fabric in a deep indigo and hanging them to dry while others were sewing pieces together and adding color threaded accents. I'd also noticed many of the village men who unfortunately looked to be addicted to opium. They were just lying on the porch of the hut, head on a wooden pillow and smoking opium pipes. I looked at the hour and realized I needed to get back to Sapa as I was leaving that evening. It was a steep climb up the trail out of the valley and I was hot and sweaty by the time I made it to the road. It was the same road that skirted the valley from my hotel in Sapa. It was about a 10K walk back but the hotel owner had told me I was certain to be passed by a Honda om looking to give someone a ride. I walked for a time cooling down from the climb up and just as advised a motorbike came by shortly. I waved him down and asked for a ride to Sapa. I was lucky in that it turned out to be a local going into town and he didn't ask for any money. He dropped me off right in front of the hotel when we arrived and I gave him 20,000 Dong for his kindness. My experiences with this man, the students from Hanoi and the hotel owner more than made up for the unfortunate incident on the mountain pass.

I could have stayed in Sapa for at least a week but there were more things to see in Vietnam. The initial plan was to take a mini-bus back down to Lao Cai and then catch a train to Hanoi. I stuck to the plan but because of a posting I'd seen in a hotel window I decided to sign up for a tourist type package back to Hanoi. The posting at the hotel I was walking past indicated that for $15USD you'd get a ride down to Lao Cai and a berth in a first class sleeper car, not my preferred way of travel but I signed up anyway. After returning to Sapa I showered and checked out of my room before walking through town to enjoy my last couple of hours in Sapa at the football field. I was sitting down on the cement stands writing in my journal when I noticed three Hmong girls looking over my shoulder and giggling, I smiled and 2 of them went off down the road. However one stayed and sat down next to me. She wanted me to buy some of her stuff and gave me a big smile as she brought out a hat while repeating the word chapeau. It was a copy of the traditional hats worn by the Hmong but it didn't interest me. She did have a lot of other items so I took a look and eventually settled on an indigo neck purse with bright designs sewn on the front. She was happy but figured since I'd bought one thing she night be able to convince me to purchase some more. She sat next to me for a good while singing and practicing a little conversational English; she also somehow got me into a game of patty cake for a while. I wasn't up for buying anything else but I stayed writing and talking. Eventually she did something that actually shocked me a bit but also gave me a good laugh. She kind of leaned over a little and put her thumb and forefinger together at her mouth and gave a big inhale, and then she said "buy ganja?" I said no and then she continued by bringing out a small bag and said "opium?" I again laughingly declined and got up to walk towards my hotel, it was getting close to departure time. She followed me all the way back just singing and laughing. Half way back I asked if I could take a picture and she said yes but put her hand up in a please wait gesture. Then she quickly combed her hair, straightened her dress and stood for a classic photo. I continued on and she followed me all the way back to the hotel. I collected my pack from the behind the front desk said goodbye to the hotel owner and went over to the van to Lao Cai. Since I'd paid a lot more than the cost of local transportation the van was a full sized newer model with plenty of room for all the travelers. Soon we had all of our packs strapped to the roof rack and began to drive away. The young girl was still there next to the van waving at me as we began our drive down to Lao Cai.

The van arrived at the train station in Lao Cai about an hour before departure and the tour operator distributed our car and berth assignments. The whole group consisted of travelers like myself but most had come to Sapa on a round trip package tour from Hanoi; I was back to traveling with my fellow westerners for a while. It was a festive mood when we got on the train with many of the group already drinking. It was as stated a first class tourist car attached to the end of the standard train to Hanoi. I got settled in my cabin and then I began to hear some loud singing down the way. It turned out that a representative from each country in the car was being asked to sing their national anthem. I soon heard an Australian girl looking for an American so I tried to lay low, it was a lost cause as I was soon ratted out by my cabin mates. So I gave rather poor but heart felt rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner and was rewarded with a beer for my efforts. All were pretty tired and we went to sleep early.

The train arrived in Hanoi in the pre-dawn hours and everyone groggily stumbled out of their cars and into the small station. There were a large number of touts surrounding the station looking to take people to hotels and guest houses. I had one in mind but not knowing Hanoi and it being so early I decided to wait at the station until dawn before going out to look for a place to stay. I sat reading a novel and my Vietnam LP until the sun's light slowly began to fill the station hall. I left the station at about 7:30 am and ventured into the streets of Hanoi. I'd tried to memorize the directions to the guesthouse I was looking for because a backpacker with a guide book in hand might as well be a giant money sign in any SEA city. I actually did pretty well but still got lost in the general vicinity of the place I was looking for. I pulled out the trusty LP with a map of Hanoi to get my bearings and was quickly swarmed by about 5 touts before I turned down a small side street and found the place I was looking to stay. They were just opening the front desk and I was told that they had no room. They did however call to find me another place. A man showed up and led me a few blocks over to a small dank looking place. I had some really good accommodations up until this point but not having any tips on where to stay, I was being shown what amounted to a large closet for $5 USD/night. I just wanted to get showered and have a place to store my bag so I took it. After freshening up I made my way into the now bustling morning streets of central Hanoi. The store fronts were all open, motorbikes were zooming by everywhere like mosquitoes and a new experience had begun. There were women on most every corner selling fresh baguettes and water so I bought both and had a nice but light breakfast. As I walked along the streets became progressively busier until I could scarcely cross the street within the controlled madness. I quickly learned to cross the street without being flattened, slow and steady. The Old Quarter was full of narrow streets and buildings of quaint French colonial architecture and was built around Hoan Kiem Lake. I enjoyed walking around the park on its shores. I was just taking in the city but I did have 2 things I wanted to accomplish, finding an ATM and getting my Cambodian visa. My initial search for an ATM was a lost cause as it didn't seem to be where my map indicated. I gave up for a bit and had lunch at a trendy café near the lake. It had an interesting mix of clientele: travelers, tourist and international business people. After lunch I resumed my search and found an ATM just a couple of blocks from the café. I took out the equivalent of $100 USD which amounted to 1,500,000 VND; I was an instant millionaire!

I then took another quick look at my map and was much more successful in locating the Cambodian Consulate than I was an ATM. As I walked past the guard and onto the grounds I noted a sign pointing towards the appropriate office to obtain a visa. As I approached the door I passed a group of girls who didn't seem too happy. I entered, filled out the application and paid a $20 USD fee; I also paid an extra bit in VND for an immediate turn around to avoid the 2 days wait. I went back outside and sat waiting for my visa and soon learned why the girls were so upset. It turned out that even though we were in Vietnam the consulate would only accept payment in USD. The girls would have to complete a couple of currency exchanges and probably lose 25% in the process. I walked about the city some more and soon started to notice that counterfeits of all sorts of things were being sold all about the city. At near every street corner there was someone selling popular novels and travel books for the equivalent of $1 or $2 USD, obviously copied but relatively well done. Music CDs were also everywhere to be found. Since I was in some pretty dismal accommodations I decided to leave Hanoi on a side trip after my first full day and check into a better place upon my return. That evening I booked a 3day/2night trip to Halong Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin. This is a UN World Heritage area that I'd read a lot about. After booking the trip I went to look for a place to eat and relax. I stumbled upon what seemed to be one of the more popular backpacker hotels in Hanoi and sat down for some food and drink. As I was waiting for my food I was approached by someone and quickly noticed that it was Stanley who I'd met in Xi'an, China. We sat and talked for a bit and were soon joined by some others he'd met in Hanoi including Tony and Natalie from England. We went off later that evening to meet up with some others and do a bit of bar hopping in Hanoi. When we got to the fist place It turned out that 2 of the people they were meeting were the same 2 Danish guys I'd run into in Kunming, China and Sapa. All roads lead to Hanoi or so it seemed. We stayed out until most of the bars closed, which was relatively early, and headed back towards our hotels through the now quiet streets of Hanoi's Old Quarter.

The next morning I met up with the bus leaving northeast out of Hanoi and towards Halong Bay, I made certain to buy some more of those delicious baguettes before boarding as well. It was 3 hours before we arrived at the docks used for tours of Halong Bay. There were a lot of buses in the area with people departing and returning from the boats. We ate lunch at a beach side café while our ferry was made ready for departure. It was soon time to board and we got onto a unique red ferry with a distinct Asian architecture. It had seats inside and a large area on top where you could sit and catch some sun. We were off by 1:00 pm and began to approach the magnificent limestone islands and rock formations that make Halong Bay so famous. Our destination was Cat Ba Island and in route we passed many a floating village and stopped on one occasion as a woman in a small row boat came over from one of the villages to sell refreshments. We also stopped a while for those who wanted to take a swim in the bay. It was a refreshing dip and a couple of us were taking dives from the roof of the ferry, great fun. The ferry arrived at Cat Ba Island near dusk and the views of the surrounding limestone jutting out of the bay in the light of the setting sun were amazing. We were driven a short distance to the town of Cat Ba and checked into our hotel. All were paired up with others on the trip into some decent rooms. Most of the meals on the tour were included so we all met shortly afterwards in the hotel lobby for dinner. We were quite a mixed group of travelers and tourists; Spaniards, English and a retired French couple to name a few. On the trip over the 2 Spanish women in the group had kept pretty much to themselves, they spoke perfect English but preferred Spanish. At dinner I began to speak to them in Spanish which they enjoyed immensely. They opened up a bit to the rest of the group from that point forward. I also practiced my very limited French with the retired couple and we all enjoyed a nice meal under what soon became a star filled sky. After dinner I joined 3 girls from England and explored the small town of Cat Ba. It had a fair number of bars and even nightclubs but all were pretty empty. We entered one nightclub and had a bit of a laugh at the large and empty dance floor with an enormous disco ball suspended above and deafening Vietnamese disco blaring from the speakers. We left and enjoyed some drinks at a smaller outdoor bar enjoying the evening.

The one full day we had on Cat Ba was slated for a tour and trek. We boarded some mini-vans and went winding into the interior of the island. The first stop was at a cave with a very unassuming entrance, however once we entered it was amazing to see what had once been at this location. Inside the cave mouth the area opened into a large number of rooms and hallways, an entire complex built inside this limestone mountain. It had been used as a hidden command center during the war. Many of the rooms were quite large and one even contained a now empty swimming pool. Another very large chamber was said to have been used for meetings and on occasion for the showing of films. The tour was led by a former North Vietnamese Army officer and was entirely in Vietnamese, it was translated for us by the tour leader. Our next stop was at the entrance to the Cat Ba National Park. We were going on a moderate trek through the jungle to the top of one of the hills in the park. It was a good trek, steep at times and ending at the top of a hill with an observation tower. From the top of the observation tower you could see many jungle covered mountains all about the island. We returned to our hotel by mid-afternoon with just enough time to enjoy the beach. Just over the hill from the town's waterfront were 2 beautiful coves with great beaches, they were known as Cat Co 1 and 2. In order to get to the second cove there was a walkway built on the side of the limestone. It was a nice walk taking in the ocean lapping at the rocks beneath our feet. I got my first bit of beach time in SEA that day and enjoyed a good swim out into the middle of the cove. Unfortunately the shadows of the quickly setting sun came too soon and it was back to town for our last night on the island. On the next morning's ferry ride back to the mainland we stopped once more to swim, enjoy the bay and catch some more sun on the roof of the boat.

It wasn't long before we had boarded the bus along with some new people and were headed back for Hanoi. This was also to be the beginning of a little health problem for me. I'm not certain what did it, the diving or swimming in Halong Bay and Cat Co beach but during the last hour on the ferry I noticed I had water in my ear that wouldn't dry out. By the time we began the bus trip back to Hanoi I not only had a soggy ear canal but was also in some pain. I sat next to an interesting retired man from the Italian Alps on the way and he gave me a number of recommendations on what I might do to remedy the situation. By the time we reached Hanoi I was in significant pain, I followed one of the other travelers on the tour to what turned out to be a nice hotel; much better than the one I'd experienced upon my arrival. I checked into the room and then proceed to try a few of the recommended home remedies for my ear. Nothing worked including pouring alcohol in my ear and also trying a stint at standing on my head (my own idea). Needless to say I didn't go out that night and got very little sleep. I woke the next morning in unbearable pain and began to look at my Vietnam LP to see what my options might be for medical attention. There was something listed nearby in the Old Quarter but when I arrived it turned out to be a dentist's office. The dentist was very helpful and explained that I should to go to the international hospital and he showed me where it was on my map. I exited the building and hailed down the first Honda om that passed. I was soon at the French run international hospital and It wasn't long before I was escorted to the examining room of a rather attractive French female physician; my ear hurt not my eyes. She gave me a good looking over and indicated that I had a case of swimmers ear with the beginnings of an infection. I was given a couple of prescriptions for pain and infection and was on my way, all this for only $35 USD. I returned to my hotel room by late morning, quickly used the ear drops I'd been given and took a nap. I woke a few hours later with a still soggy ear but the pain had subsided significantly.

I went out that afternoon for a bit more site seeing in Hanoi. I walked past the former Hoa Lo Prison which has now been turned into a museum. It is better known to many by the name given to it by American POWs, "The Hanoi Hilton". I also walked by the main gate of Lenin Park with a (to be expected) Soviet looking architecture. On the way back towards my hotel I stopped inside one of the many travel shops in the Old Quarter. It was time to start planning my journey south through Vietnam. I'd considered buying a motorcycle as I'd seen several postings in some of the backpacker hangouts but given my ear condition I decided to take the bus. The pain was mostly gone but the hearing was pretty muffled from the swimmers ear and didn't seem to be clearing too fast. I'd also noticed on the ride back from the hospital that wind blowing over my ear only made it worse. So the options were to take the local bus or the popular travelers bus via an open ticket. The travelers bus tickets are good for 6 months and allow a good number of stops between Hanoi and Saigon, or the reverse, for about $30 USD. You can get off at any city on the standard stops and stay as long as you'd like. I purchased a ticket and reserved a spot for a departure the following evening. I was still feeling pretty bad so my last night in Hanoi was spent finally getting a full nights sleep. The last day I spent walking about the Old Quarter enjoying the parks and some time at a café. I also visited the multi level Dong Xuan Market selling everything imaginable, meats both alive and dead, fruits, vegetables and a good amount of tourist souvenirs. The conical hats seemed to be quite popular with people on Holiday and shirts with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag being popular with travelers. That evening the bus left around 8:00 pm with most going on an all night journey to Hué. I was only going on a couple hours of this segment to the city of Ninh Binh.

The bus arrived in Ninh Binh in what seemed like a very short time, we'd traveled through the darkness down the Highway 1 that links Hanoi to Saigon. The stop was in front of the Star Hotel right on the highway and a few people were on the roadside waiting to board; I was the only one to get off at this stop. Given that it was 10:00 pm I chose to stay at the Star Hotel and once in the room I was pretty pleased. It did turn out to be a bit noisy as it faced the highway but once I had settled in and gotten into bed the noise had subsided significantly; I got a very good nights sleep. One of the primary reasons travelers tend to stop here is that there are a couple of tourist sites in the general vicinity. The most popular is Tam Coc which is an area of rice paddies surrounded by the same type of limestone formations found in Halong Bay.

I hired a Honda om the following morning to take me around the area and rode with one hand over my still aching ear all day. The trip through Tam Coc took me by row boat through flooded rice paddy fields surrounded by shear limestone formations and in a couple of instances through short tunnels in the limestone. The only annoying part was the strategically placed vendors selling t-shirts and refreshments as you went along. I met my driver on returning from the tour of Tam Coc and we continued down some scenic dirt roads to Hoa Lu. Hoa Lu was one of the ancient capitals of Vietnam during the Dinh and Le Dynasties. The complex that was left was small but interesting and had a Chinese style architecture. At a spot not too far down from the complex was an old monastery built into a hillside. I walked over and began to walk about the grounds. There were few people to be seen but I was followed by a group of children from a nearby village who wanted to give me a personalized tour for a bit of money. I was in the mood for looking around on my own so I declined the offer and began to climb the stairs through the monastery. I was followed for a time by the children until they realized I truly wasn't interested and they went back down the mountain. I walked through a couple of caves with shrines and recently burned incense. I arrived near the top of the monastery grounds and then scrambled over some rocks to get a better view of the valley below. I sat on one of the rocks and enjoyed the panoramic view down onto the valley and Hoa Lu. I'd taken quite a while and when I returned I couldn't find the driver. He turned up after I'd walked around a bit and he looked as worried as I did. Turns out we both thought we'd left the other, although I'm not certain where I could have gone to as we were pretty far off the main highway. After that it was back to the hotel. I was scheduled to catch the same 10:00 pm run of the bus I'd arrived on so I decided to walk around the small city of Ninh Binh. It was much different than Hanoi or even Sapa as there were few foreigners to be seen. I stumbled upon its small train station at the eastern edge of town and then began to walk back towards the main highway. After only a couple of blocks I noticed a quiet hotel/restaurant and stopped to get some dinner. When I entered there were only 2 travelers in the lounge. I ordered my food and was quickly served. As I ate another couple arrived and sat at the table where I was eating. It turned out that they were Americans and from San Francisco. The real coincidence came when we began to chat a bit about home and I told them I was from Santa Cruz, California. They said that they had a good friend from Santa Cruz and then asked me a very unlikely question. They wanted to know if I paddled Polynesian outrigger canoes, I think they were just taking a wild chance with the question but the answer was yes as that is one of the sporting activities I like to do at home. They asked because their friend from Santa Cruz also paddled and was actually someone I knew relatively well and had raced canoes with on occasion. Quite a chance happening in this small Vietnamese town. We talked a bit more and I soon said goodbye and walked back through the now dark streets of Ninh Binh to my hotel and my 10:00 pm departure south.

The night bus to Hué arrived a little later than expected but I was on board before 11:00 pm and on my way. I got a pretty good nights sleep just sitting in the relatively comfortable bus and awoke just after dawn to overcast skies and a flat straight stretch of Highway 1. Again on this segment my intention was not to go all the way to Hué but to stop in the town of Dong Ha. The bus was not scheduled to arrive at its final destination until 10:00 am and I was making a hopeful assumption that we would stop for a rest and breakfast at or near Dong Ha. It ended up being a good assumption as the bus stopped a little after 7:00 am on the northern outskirts of Dong Ha. We stopped at a small restaurant on the side of the highway for about 45 minutes. I stretched my legs a bit and looked up and down the highway to try and see if there was a hotel or guesthouse nearby, there were none in the immediate vicinity. I then talked to one of the restaurant workers who was more than happy to help me find a place to stay in Dong Ha. I also asked him about renting a motorcycle but he said that wasn't possible. In the end it may have been possible somewhere in central Dong Ha but I settled for an agreement that I'd have a Honda om take me where I wanted to go for the 24 hours I was going to be in the area.

The reason I wanted to stay a day in Dong Ha was that it is the closest town on Highway 1 to the Ben Hai River. The Ben Hai River was the former line of demarcation between North and South Vietnam and also the center of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two. There was a lot of interesting but sad history here. I arranged for a reserved seat on the bus coming the next morning and headed off on the Honda om to a small hotel in central Dong Ha. It was an OK room in what looked to be a completely empty place but on the ride into town they'd all looked to be about the same. An hour after dropping me off at the hotel the driver returned and we headed west down dirt roads heading out of Dong Ha and into the Vietnamese countryside. It was a cool overcast day with a light drizzle falling now and again. We passed some rice paddies with water buffalo and also a couple of small villages. As we worked our way northwest towards the Ben Hai River the landscape changed dramatically. Even after almost 40 years the area was pock marked with craters from the battles that had taken place. I soon started to notice signs along this stretch in Vietnamese but that needed no translation, danger don't enter this area there are still unexploded ordnance (UXO). I think the skull and crossbones helped a little. Along the south side of the river we passed the remnants of Camp Carroll, Con Thien Firebase and Doc Mieu Firebase. We then turned north and crossed a small bridge on the Ben Hai. I asked the driver to stop and I walked back and forth across the bridge stopping midway and looking across the horizon contemplating the history of the area. Just on the north side of the bridge was a small village where we stopped again to look at some old rusted out artillery and bomb casings. We then moved on to the Truong Son National Cemetery, a Vietnamese war memorial. Thousands of grave markers were in this remote location arranged roughly by province and village; it was a strange feeling to be an American in this setting. Afterwards we rode west down the red dirt roads towards the coast. We ended up in the village of Vinh Moc and I went on a tour of its very different location during most of the war. The coastal village of Vinh Moc was moved underground after being bombed during the war. This was not just an underground hiding place but an entire village that had been moved underground. It was 3 floors built into a hillside and had rooms for villagers, army quarters and even an area that was used as a hospital. Since I was traveling pretty much independently my tour group consisted of only 4 people and I was the only foreigner. The other 3 were a Vietnamese family, the entire tour was in Vietnamese but I had a basic written English guide and many of the key areas of the underground village had plaques that were translated into English. It was an amazing yet simple complex of dirt hallways, stairs and rooms. We had entered through a passage at the top of a seaside bluff and exited after walking down to the lowest level at the beach below. Even with it now being a historical site and well traveled you could tell how hidden the beach entrances had been during its use. On the way back to Highway 1 we got caught in a short rain shower and managed to stay relatively dry save our faces and hands, we just laughed after it stopped.

As we headed south on the highway we came to the main bridge over the Ben Hai, the replacement for the formally well bombed Hien Luong Bridge. We stopped on the north side of the bridge and walked down towards the waters edge. There was still a small bullet ridden pill box in the area. I just stood for a while longer in silent contemplation of this surreal setting and then jumped on the bike and headed back to Dong Ha. We stopped at the restaurant I originally got off the bus at and had a mid-afternoon meal. Afterwards I was left at the hotel with a promise to be picked up early the next morning in order to catch the bus. I walked around Dong Ha for a while after returning on the still overcast afternoon. It was quiet with no other westerners but me to be found, a bit of a nice change after being in Hanoi and Halong Bay. At one point I came across the remains of a tank that was on the side of one of the main roads in town. As there was nothing much to do in town and I had to be up and ready to go by 7:00 am I went to bed early. In the morning the Honda om was waiting for me as promised and I was back at the restaurant and on my way to Hué by 8:00 am.

I arrived in Hue' after only a couple hours ride on the bus and we pulled into the grounds of the Queen Hotel. There are three predominant companies that do the backpacker open ticket runs and in most towns they have an agreement with a particular local guesthouse or hotel. You're not obligated to stay at the one they are affiliated with but it's often an OK place and convenient. I checked into a dorm style room which I shared with two Irish girls and then quickly went out to explore the city. Dirt roads were the norm but the homes and buildings were all well set and comfortable looking. Most buildings were rebuilt since the end of the civil war as Hue' was the center of one of the most infamous battles of the Tet Offensive; the city was left in ruins. The atmosphere of Hue' was calm and pleasant compared to Hanoi and I eventually began walking up the tree lined main boulevard towards the Song Huong (Perfume River). On arriving in central Hue' the most prominent structure was Kinh Thanh (The Citadel) and as I approached the river I could see it looming in the distance. I crossed the bridge over the river and noticed that there were more bicycles than motorbikes in Hue', a stark difference from Hanoi. I turned after crossing and walked along a parkway on the river bank while admiring the citadel across the road. I came to the point where the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) flag was raised and crossed the street. I approached the ramparts of the citadel and then climbed some stairs to the top. One level up and inaccessible was the flag tower. I was able to get a good view of the river and the inside of the citadel from up high. After I came down I entered the citadel and walked around for a time looking at the compound. I noticed when looking at the walls that there were still bullet holes from during the war. Kinh Thanh began construction in the early 1800s at the beginning of the Nguyen Dynasty during which time Hue' was the capital of Vietnam. There was a smaller walled compound within the main walls of the citadel, Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden Purple City). This imperial area was reserved for the emperor. I exited after a time and walked into the nearby neighborhood, it was more suburban than village with cool tree lined streets and corner markets. People were going about their business and it was nice just walking for a while and taking in a bit of day to day life in Hue'. At one point I stopped at the small Tinh Tam Lake and sat down watching an old woman fishing from a small canoe in the afternoon sun. I then ran into my first little bit of mischief in Vietnam. As I was walking back towards the river I came across a large group of kids in their early teens. The one who seemed to be the leader began to ask me for some money and the followers began to laugh a bit. I laughed as well, shook my head no and began to walk away. He then made a half joking grab for my back pocket, I gave a quick turn and planted a moderate side kick into his bottom. He was startled and embarrassed while the others looked scared out of their minds and ran off down one of the streets. I then walked back to the hotel to grab a bite to eat as I hadn't had much all day and was famished.

At the hotel café I was joined by a young couple from Finland who happened to be heading in the opposite direction as me, towards Hanoi. We talked a little about what they had done between Saigon and Hue' and then I headed off again for a late afternoon walk. My first impression of Hue' was positive as it was nice and tranquil but it didn't strike me as a place I'd want to stay at for more than a short time. Two of the more popular things to see while in the city are the Nguyen Dynasty tombs and the Thien Mu Pagoda on the Perfume River. Many also use Hue' as a starting point for tours of the Ben Hai River area but since I'd already done that alone (as I prefer) I was able to avoid the tour group scene. It was late afternoon by the time I made my way towards the Thien Mu Pagoda. I crossed the river again and headed west along its banks. The northern bank of the river in the city was a nice park with many trees and benches on which to relax. It was about a 5K walk in each direction and about half way out I began to pick up the pace as I was cutting it close on getting back before dark. Soon I had left the city and was walking through the village of Duong Kim Long. The village was moderate in size with several store fronts and outdoor food stands. One very memorable moment of this walk happened as I was nearing the pagoda. I was passing the grounds of a Buddhist monastery and passed a monk sweeping the steps to the entry way. He turned as he heard me pass and then gave me smile and wave. It's hard to put into words but it was more than just a kind act of a stranger and I could sense how extremely heartfelt and genuine it was, a simple but outstanding experience.

I arrived at the monastery grounds of what is said to be one of the most beautiful Pagodas in Vietnam. It was quite a sight especially in the light of the late afternoon sun. I walked the grounds for a while and enjoyed the serenity; there were not a large number of people given the time of day. When I left the sun was quickly setting on the day. I walked back enjoying the sounds of the evening and the lights coming on in the village as a passed on my return. The sun soon set and I continued in the twilight of dusk; I reached the edge of the city as darkness fell. As it was December it was early and I arrived back at the hotel just after 7:00pm. I walked back into the restaurant and shared some beers with the Finnish couple and some other travelers before heading to my room for a much needed shower. I spent the time before bed sharing some travel stories with my Irish roommates before we switched of the light and slept. I left Hue' the very next day at about noon.

The bus left on time and we made our way out of Hue' and south down HWY 1 towards Hoi An. We passed through flat agricultural land, over small mountains and along the coast. Eventually we left the highway and drove through Danang in route to Hoi An. I half thought of getting off in Danang to look around but the city looked dirty and unappealing so I stayed on until Hoi An. The bus arrived in the early evening into what looked to be a very nice town. It turned out that Hoi An was a very popular tourist destination (for a variety of reasons) and I had a difficult time finding a place to stay. After over an hour of hearing no room I crossed the Thu Bon River to a nice looking hotel on its southern bank. I'd been staying in very modest accommodations since Beijing as I was traveling cheaply. This hotel was inexpensive by western standards but more than the average backpackers lodging I'd been staying in at about the equivalent of $18 USD. After walking around for over an hour in the humid night I was happy to have it. It turned out to be very nice and spacious with a great river view, too bad I was traveling alone at the time. But, as I checked in I began what was probably the most 24 stressed filled hours of my Asian travels. In Vietnam you are asked to check in your passport when arriving at almost all hotels and guesthouses. When I was asked for my passport in Hoi An I realized that I'd forgotten to get it back from the hotel in Hue'! Every bad possibility that can be imagined was going through my mind. I explained my situation and showed them a photocopy I had of my passport and checked in, no worries. I freshened up a bit from my sweaty hotel hunt and quickly went back into town to the local agent for the open ticket bus I was on. They made a call and promised that the passport would arrive on the morning bus from Hue' the next day. It only slightly lessened my stress level but I thanked them and also booked a tour of the Hoi An area for the next day.

I'll admit I hadn't even heard of Hoi An before my arrival but after I left the booking office and began to walk around town I realized everyone else seemed to have known of it. There were a large number of westerners enjoying dinner and walking about town on this warm evening. Hoi An has been given UNESCO World Heritage status and was a former Chinese settlement and port within Vietnam. Obviously much of the architecture of the buildings was reminiscent of China. It made for a quaint town on the river. Another thing that makes Hoi An popular is that it's renowned for its stylish and inexpensive tailors. Every other store front in the historic center was a tailor with touts trying to drag you in to buy something. As I didn't know this beforehand I wasn't of a mind to get any clothes. The touts weren't necessary due to a lack of customers; it was that there are so many of them that the competition was fierce. Unless you've had a recommendation you really have no idea which tailors are good and which ones to avoid. I walked around town taking in the sights and finally sat for a while at a river front café for a cold drink. I was enjoying just people watching when I was joined by a young Vietnamese woman. She was a tout for one of the shops and I was a little annoyed at having my relaxed time on the waterfront interrupted. She initially wasn't to forceful as she was using general conversation to soften me up. She told me a bit about Hoi An and how she enjoyed the area but every so often the shop was brought back into the conversation. She wouldn't leave and I wanted to enjoy the spot so I stayed longer than I normally would put up with. Finally she became more insistent on the shop and I'd had enough so I was forced to get up and be on my way. It was a nice walk through the night away from the old town center and towards my hotel. By the time I reached the bridge I was the only one around and I crossed the Thu Bon River in the quiet of a warm and star filled night.

In the morning I was picked up at the hotel and we headed out for a tour of the outskirts of Hoi An. We started in town on a small covered boat for a ride up the Thu Bon River. We were a group of about 12. After a while we stopped and were met by a mini-van at a small landing on the river. We then headed east a bit to a valley which contained a large complex of Cham Dynasty Ruins (My Son), a former Javanese Hindu based occupation of Vietnam. This was not to be my best day during my travels. Just after we arrived I went to use the toilet and while walking towards it slipped on an unnoticed moss covered concrete step. I fell hard and almost broke my lower leg, the cement had not been finished after being poured and a jagged edge punched an eraser sized chunk out of my shin! The owners of the modest home and small tourist food stand noticed and ran over. Lucky for me they had a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide and bandages. The wound needed more than that but I was not disabled so I did what I could and rejoined the group. This just was not my day, a lost passport, punctured leg and a still soggy ear. What remained of the complex was pretty spectacular especially in the valley setting, mountains jutted up on all sides but what time had not caused to decay was bombed during the war. Some structures had been reconstructed while others had withstood the test of time. There were many Hindu religious stone carvings from depictions of Shiva to lingam.

As we'd started first thing in the morning we were back in Hoi An by mid-afternoon. I made my way straight to the travel office and was extremely relieved to have my passport waiting for me; the agent just shook his head and smiled as he returned it. I then found a spot to take out my small medical kit and clean my wound again with bottled water and alcohol. Had I been anywhere near a doctor I would have gotten stitches but I did have butterfly bandages. I loaded the puncture with antibiotic cream and closed the sides of the wound tight with a butterfly bandage; I covered that with a standard bandage strip and was ready to go. I spent my last hours walking about town again taking in the interesting Japanese Bridge and Chinese temples. It was then one last walk through the town center beating off the tailor touts before getting to the travel office and café. I had some dinner while waiting for the bus to arrive; my next stop was to be Nha Trang.

It was to be an all night journey and there were a good number of people booked for the trip to Nha Trang. When it was time to leave there was a bus and a mini-van, unfortunately I somehow ended up on the mini-van. A comfortable sized van for 6 but crammed full of twelve people. I was tired and began to drift off to sleep even in the cramped conditions but that was not to last. Once we reached HWY 1 it turned out to be one of the most pothole filled stretches I'd yet encountered and in the mini-van we felt every bump. So I drifted in and out of sleep as I was jolted awake on many occasions. There was a positive note to the night's journey in that there was a full moon. When I was awake I would peek out the window to a spectacular moonlit landscape of agricultural lands and the sea. The highlight was a rest stop near 3:00 am at a beachside food stand. It was very basic but the view of the beach and sea with the full moon above was spectacular. I just got some water to drink and sat on the beach with a couple of other travelers to enjoy the view before we continued south. The remainder of the journey was pretty bumpy but I did enjoy a beautiful sunrise.

We finally made it to Nha Trang after a long 12 hour journey. I settled into a guest house and quickly fell asleep for a few hours. I woke around noon and ventured out into the streets of Nha Trang. The first thing I did was try and sort out my open ticket as there seemed to be a couple of option on getting to Saigon. One nearer the coast and through Mui Ne Beach and the other up into the Central Highlands and Dalat before heading down into Saigon. I found out an interesting bit of information when I went to check on the situation. I'd assumed from the sign on the store front in Hanoi that I had purchased an open ticket with Sinh Café which seemed to be the most reputable of the Vietnamese owned travel companies. Well I walked into their Nha Trang office and they laughed a bit and informed me that I had not purchased a Sinh Café ticket. I learned that this is a common mistake made by travelers since many offices in Hanoi try to advertise themselves as the "real" Sinh Café. I had actually purchased a ticket with Kim/Hanh Café, lesson learned. I found the correct office and asked about my options for going to both Mui Ne and Dalat. This turned out not to be possible with the open ticket; I had to choose one of the two routes. I decided to give it some thought and book later after seeing how long I'd stay in Nha Trang. I'd heard rumor and was even told by the guest house manager that there was a lot of petty crime in Nha Trang.

I decided to go to the beach and took only board shorts, a towel, sandals, a book and a small sum of pocket money. Nha Trang had a beautiful stretch of beach with a view out across nice crystal blue waters. I laid out reading, enjoying the sun and napping. I fell into a deep sleep towards the end of my stay on the beach and when I woke the rumors were shown to be true. I had brought nothing at all to the beach but I found that my sandals had been stolen from right next to me, unbelievable. I walked back to the guesthouse a few blocks in from the beach in only board shorts. Half way back I bumped into Tony and Natalie who I'd met in Hanoi. We talked for a bit and they indicated that they would be at one of the popular beach clubs (Nha Trang Sailing Club) later that night. They also told me of two Danish girls they'd met who had their bags snatched on the way home from the club the night before. I told them I'd meet them later and decided that a day and a night were enough for me in this place. The beach was nice and it was once infamous for a hedonistic party boat but with the crime and the fact that I wanted to see Vietnam and not just party my way through I decided to leave. I booked a ride to Dalat for the next day and decided to use the standard bus system to back track a little afterwards to get to Mui Ne Beach.

I woke from a nap in the early evening and took a shower before heading out. I was in a four person common room and when I got out of the shower I met the one girl that I was sharing the room with. We talked a little about the Nha Trang situation and she indicated that she'd also almost been robbed. She was on a beach chair and fell asleep as well with a day pack under the chair. Lucky for her another traveler was being observant and shouted at a young man who was crawling on his stomach and within seconds of stealing the pack. We both just shook our heads after sharing stories. It was a warm evening as I walked back towards the beach and the small club. I arrived relatively early and it was pretty empty with no one in sight that I knew. I drank some water and enjoyed the moon light shining across the sea as the warm breeze blew across the outdoor patio. After about an hour Tony and Natalie arrived and the club began to fill up. They had met up with a good number of people and our group was soon taking up a good portion of the patio. It turned out to be a big night out as Tony had befriended the new Aussie manager of the club and the drinks were stiff and sometimes free. We talked, danced and laughed into the early hours of the morning. Even though we stayed long after official closing it was soon time for even the diehards to leave and we bid the manager a thank you and goodnight. Our final group included Tony, Natalie and the two Danish girls they'd mentioned earlier. The streets were near empty and we were all on edge from our experiences with crime while in the city. We walked down the streets in a near back to back circle and the Danes jumped at the sound of every motorbike. Luckily we made it back without incident. I've read and heard that there's most likely been an off and on again theft cartel in Nha Trang. The interesting thing about many people who are robbed of important items (such as passports and credit cards) is that they often get them back after checking with the police a day or two later, interesting. The speculation is that if all these travelers were to start showing up at their consulates in Hanoi or Saigon there'd be a lot of attention pointed at the city so these items invariably get returned.

I got to bed between 3 and 4am with a scheduled departure to Dalat at 8:00am. I don't know how I expected to get up but I quickly fell asleep. Somehow I woke with a start at 8:00am and began scrambling to quickly gather my things and freshen up. At 8:15 the guesthouse manager was knocking on the door and I spent a last few minutes throwing stuff into my backpack before dashing to the bus, I even remembered my passport this time. I was bleary eyed as I boarded the bus but noticed a few familiar faces from the Hoi An bus; I wasn't the only one that wasn't too impressed with Nha Trang. I quickly fell asleep in my seat and when I woke again we were an hour out of Nha Trang in route to Dalat.

We turned west off the main highway after a while and quickly stopped for a rest. The spot was a small set of Cham Dynasty ruins like those in My Son. This small site was atop a hill and I chose to admire it from afar after buying some water from a vendor on the road side. We were soon back on the bus and began to wind our way southwest into the mountains of Vietnam's Central Highlands. It was a panoramic view back down onto the flat agricultural land below once we reached the top of the first climb. After this we wound farther into the highlands and began to enter forested terrain; by early afternoon we had arrived in central Dalat. Dalat was completely different from anything else I'd experienced in Vietnam. It was somewhat upscale with many restaurants, nice homes, gardens and even a small amusement park. I'd read that it would be like this but it was strange to see. Besides exploring the city there is trekking in the highlands and opportunities to visit minority villages. I'd done a bit of this already in the north so I decided to just explore the city for a day or so before moving on. The first thing I did after settling into a hotel was head for the city center. In the center there was a multi-tiered market full of fresh produce and almost everything one would need to buy. It wasn't much different than other markets I'd already visited in Asia save for the fact that it was much cleaner, even more so than the one in Hanoi. There were also some incredible French pastry shops and many cafés nearby. As I walked around the city I noticed that this was the norm throughout, the architecture was a remnant of the French colonial days that even post war Vietnam did not feel a strong desire to change. I enjoyed some time on the shores of Xuan Huong Lake. It had ducks and paddle boats much like any city you'd find around the world. Now there are many things I could have done during my short time in Dalat; visit the gardens, pagodas, tourist train or even visit Lam Ty Ni Pagoda which is said to be popular due to its resident eccentric monk but I was drawn to the home of the local modern artist known locally as the "crazy house".

My map showed the trip to the house to be within walking distance. The streets of Dalat however are twisting and confusing so to save time I got a ride from a Honda om. The driver knew exactly how to get there and in no time at all I was on a nondescript street standing in front of the strangest tree I'd ever seen. The walls surrounding the "House" were a simple stucco and about 8 feet tall but a large tree like structure loomed out of the center. I paid a small entry fee, entered and was greeted by a very odd adaptation of a tree house. The tree was a mix of flowers, animals and strangely twisted branches and leaves all constructed from the ground up. The animals included a giraffe, eagle, tiger and bear. The stairs twisted all about the main trunk to several rooms that were built into the structure. All could be rented and I was persistently asked if I'd like to rent the Tiger room. I spent a good amount of time exploring every nook and cranny before heading back to central Dalat; it was well worth the visit. The sun had set but there was a good amount of twilight when I departed. I had remembered the route on the way in and decided to take a nice walk back. By the time I was half way back it had gotten completely dark and I was on the outskirts of the city center. I stopped for a moment to take in the city lights and noticed the nearby Dalat Cathedral. They were beginning an evening mass so I walked to the entrance to take a peek. Having been raised Catholic I'd seen mass given in several languages but it was interesting to see one being given in Vietnamese. I made it back near the central market and stopped at one of the cafés for dinner. I enjoyed the cool evening breeze and watching people milling about a city that was quickly closing down and becoming quiet, quite a contrast from mid-day. I went to bed after walking the now quiet streets of Dalat one last time having decided to head onward the next morning.

Since my open ticket only allowed transportation directly to Saigon I decided to take local transportation to Mui Ne Beach. I woke early and caught a short taxi ride to the bus station about 7 kilometers outside the city; there were no Honda om drivers awake that early. I was uncertain what would happen as I'd read that in the recent past foreigners were not allowed to take local transportation in or out of Dalat. There were some things I'd read that said that this policy was on the way out so I was making a go of it. When I entered the taxi the driver didn't seem to see a problem with taking me to the station so things looked good from the start. There were security guards and a gate at the entrance to the dirt bus lot but they let us in without a problem. Once they saw a westerner the drivers were very happy to see me, they asked my destination and I was quickly escorted to a mini-van but there seemed to be some heated debate in the process. As usual the van waits until there are a good number of people before leaving so I sat and bought a baguette and water from one of the vendors while waiting. After a few minutes I noticed that the debate had turned into an argument between two of the drivers and soon they were fighting right in front of the mini-van. A security guard soon ran up to break them apart and had a bit of a talk with the driver of my van. I'm not certain but I think the short of it was that he should get going, so he entered the driver's seat and we were off down the winding HWY 20 back the way I had come. I was being charged a good sum more than the local passengers but even with the fare requested it was still pretty inexpensive for about an 8 hour journey. We were soon out of the highlands and at the crossroads of HWY 1; we then turned south and I was back into uncharted lands again. The van was full but not crowded when we left Dalat but once we reached the main HWY we began to pick up more passengers. My travel partners were very friendly and shared their snacks with me along the way, they seemed to enjoy having someone different on the trip for a change. We began to get more and more crammed full as we went until we were quite literally smashed into one mass of humanity. Not much different than a university student phone booth cramming contest. The funny thing was that every time I though we could not possibly fit one more person we'd stop for an additional passenger. Some of the people getting off along the way would just slide open the side window and crawl out instead of trying to make it to the door. I was interested to see that at one point we picked up a Buddhist monk who was given transportation free of charge, a nice custom. We stopped once in route for lunch at a simple roadside restaurant where I had another bowl of some delicious Pho noodles. It was an overcast day and even though we were crowded the trip went along relatively quickly with my friendly traveling companions. We finally reached the end of the line in the town of Phan Thiet just inland from the Mui Ne Peninsula.

It was a strange arrival at the Phan Thiet bus lot as there was some celebrity or politician who had just arrived as our mini-van pulled into the lot. There were a couple of new limousines, men in black suits all about and plenty of cameras. The moment I exited the van I was quickly surrounded by Honda om drivers. I haggled on a price for the short distance to Mui Ne Beach and eventually chose the one who showed me a business card from the beach bungalows I had planned on staying at. Off we went over still overcast skies towards the Mui Ne Peninsula but once we got to the long stretch of beach I noticed that we passed the place at which I wanted to stay. We stopped at a nice place about a kilometer further down the beach which would have been OK since I'm not too particular but the woman who greeted me quoted a price twice what I expected to pay, I mentioned a lower price and she said no so I asked to be taken to the agreed upon destination. We quickly went back but neither the driver nor the woman looked very happy. We stopped at the Small Garden Bungalows and I was greeted by an interesting Swiss expat who booked me in without a problem. Afterwards I noticed the Honda om driver haggling with the man but he didn't leave happy. It turned out that even though he had a business card for where I was staying they didn't want to give him a commission for bringing me. The bungalows were all comfortable and on the beach but mine was near the back and about 30 meters removed from the sea shore. I had just settled in when the Vietnamese wife of the Swiss man came and said that the price he had checked me in at was too low and that I had to pay more. I was already a bit tired of haggling so I said that I'd already paid an agreed upon price and would leave otherwise, to where I don't know but I was hoping for the best. See angrily said that she was the one who decide the price but when I picked up my things to leave she acquiesced and left in a huff. After settling in I walked towards the cabana style front desk and dining area, I passed one of the workers who looked at me shook her head and circled her finger next to her head in the universal sign for crazy; referring to the owner. I'd heard there was the possibility of surf in Mui Ne and walked out to the sea shore to be met by a completely flat crescent shaped bay. It remained overcast but it was a nice long stretch of beach with beautiful waters and large baskets for the fishermen's nets all along the beach. Although it was a very nice beach my two nights stay had overcast skies the entire time and a completely flat bay, no surf for me in Vietnam. I relaxed on the beach my first afternoon and enjoyed the calm waters and quiet surroundings. That night the guests that were staying at the bungalows all ate together with the owners and we had an interesting meal smirking at the strained and abrupt relationship between the married owners.

I woke early the next morning to find a still calm bay full of fishing boats, a nice picturesque view of local life in Mui Ne. Later I spent almost the entire day walking the very long stretch of beach with a mix of local housing across the road and tourist accommodations on the beach. The beach accommodations ranged from simple bungalows to some relatively nice hotels with pools and seaside restaurants & bars. At the far end of the beach is a large dune area that had a variety of colored dirt and sand, I didn't climb it as I'd already trekked for a good amount of time so I just admired it a while and then began an enjoyable return trip back down the beach. I stopped now and again to get a look at the fish nets, net baskets and boats all simple but functional. With the overcast there was no opportunity to enjoy the stars from the beach my second evening so I read a while before going to bed. I was nearing the end of my stay in Vietnam and was trying to determine the best option for getting to Cambodia. I wanted to travel on the Mekong for as long a stretch as possible and it looked like at least the stretch from the Mekong Delta to Cambodia would be no problem. The bungalows were very quiet so I spent my last morning reading on the beach under still gray skies until the bus to Saigon came through in the early afternoon. The bus came right down the road into Mui Ne so I didn't have to go back to Phan Thiet for transportation; the bus was also part of my open ticket so I did have to pay for it. Right at about 1:30 pm the bus arrived right in front of the bungalows and I waved goodbye and was on my way to Saigon. Time had passed quickly and it seemed like just a week since I crossed into Lao Cai, Vietnam from China. The bus was near full and I settled in for my drive south. It was a pretty calm and uneventful drive as we approached the city but as we got closer you could sense the population growing with each passing town.

It was dusk as we approached Saigon and the traffic began to become heavy. We crossed the bridge over the Saigon River and entered Saigon where we were promptly met by an unbelievable mass of humanity on the streets. The first round about we came to had literally thousands of motorbikes and a few cars all trying to make their way through in what was an almost choreographed dance of vehicles. The traffic remained the same as we made our way towards the city center. We passed through Cong Vien Van Hoa Park and by the Reunification Palace, former Independence Hall and South Vietnam's presidential palace. The bus finally stopped at the Pham Ngu Lao backpackers district and hotel touts surrounded the bus the minute we rolled up. I did not want to be bothererd so I quickly grabbed my backpack after it was unloaded and walked away from the madness. I had a general idea of the place I wanted to stay at but I walked about for near 45 minutes and couldn't find it. It was an unbearably humid night and I was soon soaked in sweat and I may as well have had a red flag on my head as the backpack I was lugging around drew every tout within 50 meters. I finally noticed one place I'd remembered hearing about that just so happened to be right in front of where we were let off the bus, oh well I thought I was doing the right thing by getting away from the crowd. I checked into a dorm style room with an OK veranda overlooking the hustle and bustle of De Tham Road. I quickly took a cold shower and jumped in bed for a bit of a nap before venturing out.

I'd like to say that I explored a good portion of the mysterious Saigon but the truth of it is that besides what I saw from the bus on my arrival and departure I only walked around the Pham Ngu Lao area. I seemed to be in a hurry, probably because my scheduled departure from SEA was in 6 weeks via Singapore and I still had Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia to go. I walked around the myriad of shops, cafés and bars catering to backpackers. I quickly bumped into Tony and Natalie again and agreed to meet them at a popular bar later in the evening. After walking around for a while I just couldn't shake the feeling of haste in continuing my travels so I walked into the Sinh Café office to book a departure to the Mekong Delta the next morning. After talking to the agent for a bit I found I could book for transportation and a small tour through The Delta with onward transportation by boat to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had planned on going it alone once I reached The Delta but this put it all together in one inexpensive package. I left the Sinh Café office and went out to enjoy one night in Saigon.

I walked down to the end of De Tham Road and entered the bar Tony had mentioned. It was already becoming a bit crowded. I grabbed a draft Tiger beer and sat down next to a couple from London and some girls from Australia. Shortly afterwards I noticed Tony and Natalie enter and they joined us at the table. It turned out that they had already met the group I had coincidentally sat down next to. They'd met before on a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels. This was an extensive network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the war that stretched from the outskirts of Saigon to near the Cambodian border. I'd heard that they were very touristy and I had already been to the underground village of Vihn Moc so I passed on that bit of travel. We sat and enjoyed a fun evening drinking and sharing stories until closing time. At one point during the evening I gifted my Vietnam LP book back to someone heading north, who knows it probably ended up back in Kunming before heading south again. The bar closed relatively early so I bid Tony and Natalie continued safe travels and went of to bed.

I was up well rested the next morning and grabbed my stuff to cart it across the street to the departure point. I grabbed some breakfast at one of the many backpacker cafés and waited. There was a large crowd of backpackers in front of the Sinh Café office waiting to leave for differing destinations: north, Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta to name a few. Eventually my bus began to board and we were on our way through the quickly awakening streets of Saigon to the Mekong Delta. I got more of a view of the city as we went, passing through Cholon and the outskirts before entering the countryside once more. I began to wish I'd stayed a little while longer to explore.

The bus was quiet with some travelers still in a drowsy state. This particular group really made me feel like I was a tourist which I didn't like but I made the best of the situation. We drove until mid-morning as the very amicable driver gave us bits of information on The Delta, total area (60,000 sq km), start of the Mekong (Tibetan Plateau), length (4,500km) through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Southern Vietnam, primary crop (rice) and the like. Our first stop was along one of the fingers of the Mekong Delta. Cuu Long is the Vietnamese name for the Mekong River Delta which means "Nine Dragons". It's a reference to the nine exit points of the Mekong River as it flows into the sea. We boarded a couple of medium sized wooden boats and began to make our way up the waterway past small villages and fishermen. We worked our way up smaller and smaller waterways until we reached our final destination. This was a national outdoor museum of sorts in the Rung Tram Forest that had formally been a base of operation for the Viet Cong, its name was Xeo Quit. Not to say that I wouldn't have come here as an independent traveler but as an American touring through this area it was a little unsettling. We got off the boat and walked across a small wooden bridge to the edge of a lush jungle area. There at the edge of a very narrow waterway were several shallow dugout style canoes with women dressed in the full uniform of the Viet Cong; black. We got onto the canoes that fit about 3 people each and began to paddle into the jungle. You could immediately tell how difficult it could be to find anyone in this wet area with jungle all about. We could hear wild birds calling in the foliage and would occasionally paddle out of the tree canopy into a bit of open air. During the journey the jungle didn't change much but we saw several original and recreated living and command quarters for the Viet Cong. The paddle was no more than half an hour but in the end I found it to be an interesting experience. We grabbed some lunch at a simple restaurant near the site and then began our boat journey back towards the bus. We then continued our journey into The Delta region.

We drove until mid-afternoon during which we had to board a large ferry to cross a section of the Mekong. The bus stopped for a short break and snack at a small reptile zoo with all manner of snakes and some baby crocodiles. We were soon all loaded and on our way towards the Cambodian border and the town of Chau Doc. It'd been a long day and we didn't arrive until nightfall. At one point just before arriving it was so dark that I was beginning to wonder where the town could be hiding, I finally saw lights in the distance and we pulled into the medium sized town of Chau Doc. The day had been warm and somewhat humid but not unbearable with overcast skies. As we exited the bus we were hit with the hot humid air of the Chau Doc night, it was thick and almost difficult to breath. We were all checked into a comfortable hotel with plenty of AC. Since I was not paired up with anyone I was lucky and got my own room. After checking in we ate dinner as a group and then I went out exploring the town for a while. There seemed to be several tour groups and I noticed a few familiar faces from my journeys since Hanoi. There were town's people out enjoying the night at the small restaurants and in the city center. The center had a small but interesting pagoda that was lit up all around. I eventually made it back to my hotel room at the edge of town. On the way back I noticed something I hadn't before, a military guard and a small road stop just before our hotel. I was a little apprehensive since I wasn't with the group any longer but I passed without being given a second glance. I'm not quite certain what it was for, probably due to our close proximity to Cambodia.

I was the only one in my group going on to Cambodia the rest were on a 3 day/2 night tour of the Mekong Delta and were going back to Saigon afterwards. I was told to wait in the lobby and that someone would come and escort me to the boat docks and the beginning of my trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After a while I noticed a couple of other backpackers waiting and asked if they were going on the same journey and they all said yes. Soon a guide showed up in a van and drove us the short distance through town to the boat docks. We unloaded and began to walk down to the waters edge. When we arrived there were two others waiting and we all gave a start of surprise when we saw the boat we were asked to jump into. It was nothing more than a large row boat and even though we were pretty certain it was not the boat that would take us to the border we joked as we pushed off that it was going to be a long slow row up river. The boat took us for a slow row across the river where there was a good sized ferry waiting for us. It was covered and had an open area on the top. On the way from the hotel I had begun to chat a bit with an attractive backpacker from Hamburg, Germany named Alexandra (Alex). When we loaded onto the ferry Alex and I went to the top deck to take in some sun and enjoy the ride. We got to talking about how long the journey might take as we'd both been given the impression that it would only be about 3 hours in total to Phnom Penh. We thought about what was actually happening and came to the quick determination that it would most likely take the entire day. It was a 3 hour journey but only to the Cambodian border station on the Mekong. How long it would take after that we were uncertain. It was a great day and the boat began to slowly start its way up river, we passed the floating markets as we left the outskirts of Chau Doc. Once we were away from the town we were surrounded by lush green rice paddy fields as far as the eye could see contrast by bright blue skies. Alex and I got along well and we enjoyed the sights, took in lots of sun and shared taking photos of the ferry ride. During the journey I found out that Alex actually lived in California for a summer as an exchange student. The interesting thing was that she fit the profile of every other European exchange student to California I had ever met. For those who have never been to California it can often be thought of as being one big beach between Los Angeles and San Francisco with little else, it is much more diverse. Alex had unfortunately been placed with a family in the central valley town of Fresno about as far away from the television and film portrayal of California as you can get. I find it incredibly interesting that all these poor exchange students are expecting to come to California for the beach and sun and end up in these uninteresting towns in the middle of nowhere. After a little over 3 hours of beautiful scenery and enjoyable company the ferry began to pull up to the Cambodian border station.