April showers and May flowers.

happy May! this is the last month of my amazing journey and I'm already loving it.
I can't believe I've been gone for two full months already. how time flies. and yet...every day seems like a week. my life has been so jampacked with fun activities, cool people, amazing sights and awesome adventures that I've hardly had time to breathe...let alone sleep! I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in almost a month last night and it felt amazing!

I'm currently sitting in some odd hotel on the oceanside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam. yes...I'm in Vietnam! I love it here already and can tell that the next 9 days are going to be amazing.

so...I don't know where I left off, but I'm going to say what I can remember in my limited internet time.

our last day in Cambodia was really busy. we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh in the early am, checked out the Killing fields and S-21 prison, got some lunch, talked and read up on some Cambodian history...particularly pertaining to the genocide, and then wandered a bit at night. I feel like I've already written this. hmmm. yeah...so we had a nice dinner and then I scooted off to an internet cafe/international call cafe via motorbike (it took forever to find one open at midnight!) and made an impromptu phone call to Brian at work. he seemed pleasently surprised. =D we talked for about 20 minutes and then I called it a night. my driver took me back to my hotel and I passed out in our tiny little room beside the Phnom Penh river.

we left pretty early the next day to hit up Vietnam. 8 hours later we were in Hoh Chi Minh City and scouting out hotels. we finally found one that seemed quite nice (thanks Lonely Planet!!!) and rented a room for a whopping $18 a night. it's a bit pricy in Saigon. seriously. at least breakfast and dinners were free and tea/coffee was available free at any point of the day. we always missed breakfast, but we got two decent ramen noodle dinners in and a few cold tea breaks.
while in the city for two days we managed to hit up some sweet markets, visit the War Remnants Meuseam (oh boy was that intense...both Marissa and I were brought to tears. I was a bit ashamed to admit I was an American upon leaving the Meuseam.), get some yummy Vietnamese food, eat loads of fresh fruit, ride a million different motorbikes, chat eachother up for HOURS (I feel like we're finally in the swing of things and getting along better now than ever before. it's a bit of a relief because I feel like we were butting heads for a little while there. I'm still excited to get some alone-traveling in, but I'll be enjoying her company for her last few days with me.), watch a million episodes of Sex And The City (I bought all 7 seasos for us$6...oh yeah! haha. we rented a DVD player and had a mellow girls night of all American R&R. Ritz crackers, Oreos, Coke and NYC style entertainment. if we could have added pizza we might have ignored the time difference and thought we were home!) and fall in love with Vietnamese hospitality.

Saigon is a beautiful bustling city that is always full of excitement and energy. with motorbikes zipping around everywhere, everyone honking a cautious 'hey, just letting you know I'm right here' and pedestriand truly having the right of way it seems more chaotic than anything else. but, step into trafic and watch the sea of vehicles part like the red sea and reach the other side as safely as if there hadn't been 1.6 thousand people flying past either side of you. it truly is an experience that everyone needs to have for themselves at some point. I've never seen such organized chaos in my entire life. there aren't street lights, only a portion of the intersections are roundabouts, and everyone has the right of way...simultaneously. you can drive on either side of the road (although technically the right side is the corrent side) and if the road gets busy...don't fret! there's always the sidewalk available.
I only really thought about it today, while taking the notorious motorbike to the train station, that accidents can easily happen. I was on the back of the bike trying to maintain balance with my pack perched atop my back. it's getting a bit heavy as it's now laiden with two months worth of souvineers...ugh, and it's absolute dead weight at all times...especially on a motorbike. at one point a zippy little bike cut us off and in doing so he grazed my left leg a bit. it wasn't until that monent that I really thought about how bad it could potentially be to get into a motorbike accident in such heavy traffic. especially with the bag on...I would never be able to bail off the bike with that huge pack on...which seems odd to me because I'm so used to being able to hop off to prevent myself from getting stuck between the bikes. I felt a bit exposed and it got me thinking...how safe is safe really?
we take for granted that we have cars back home, but this is obviously a lifestyle that is maintainable, and there don't seem to be an obsene amount of accidents daily. I'll continue to use the bikes as they are the fastest, cheapest and most efficient method of getting around in these busy cities even though they are a bit dangerous. and fun. =D

it has been quite rainy here lately...it rains at least once a day here, but everything is starting to get greener and soon I'll be in China for the most beautiful time of the year...to see the flowers blooming everywhere! I'm very excited.

okay...to finish this off and walk back across town to my hotel and go to bed. I'm sure Marissa is already dreaming by now. haha. I'm always out way past her bedtime. she marvels at how I'm usually awake before her as well. I guess everyone needs different levels of sleep, and currently my requirement is next to nothing. hers runs at around 6-8 hours for maximum happiness the next day.

today we left Saigon around noon and boarded our train to the infamous Vietnamese coast. we patiently waited our 7 long hours until finally we had arrived. we hired a few eager motos (leaving an ever greater hord of dissappointed drivers behind) and headed into the hotel area of our new home away from home...Nha Trang...beach city extrodinare. we sterted hotel hunting and realized that everywhere seemed to be booked because it's a national Vietnamese holiday. gee...great. haha. I decided that we needed to lose the packs and look a bit less desperate. we headed into a travel agency and asked very politely if they could watch our bags while we found a hotel and that we're looking to do a tour the next day. they seemed happy to help (and maybe make some money off us) and we kept shpooing for our glass slipper hotel (...or to be honest any slipper!). we found a hotel that kindly offered us a mat and pillow in the hallway for free with a hot shower in the morning if we couldn't find anywhere to stay. we thanked them and continued on. (I really would have stayed but I think Marissa was keen on a bed. ahh...to have a free place to stay!) oh well...eventually we found a run down overpriced hotel that I haggled down the room rates to an unworthy $15 a night. we took the room out of desperation and groaned a bit at the current holiday that was taking all the overnight train tickets (we hadn't wanted to waste a day traveling), jacking up the hotel prices, taking all the stupid hotel rooms and as we would later find out...really really jacking up the tour prices. oh well. we can't have it all. we settled in a bit, headed out to book our tour, Marissa gave in and bought a personal pizza, we sat on the beach and talked for a while and now here I am. Marissa opted for the shower/sleep sort of night and I decided to take a different path and wander the city looking for internet. after much wandering I found another hotel boasting internet. I happily sat down and started typing this incredibly long blog. and now you're completely up to date.


okay...I need to head out and get some sleep. we have a full day island hopping tour tomorrow that leaves at like 8am or something silly. I hope everyone has a wonderful day (as it's hardly noon there) and I really hope to hear from everyone soon. it makes my day to get all your emails and comments. keep up the good work. <3

I'm going away now
but I'm not giving up
I'm miles and miles away
but I'm not giving up