Bye-bye Viet-CRAZY-nam

After all the 'fun' in Hoi An it was time to head to the beach. Nha Trang for a day, well enough said, off to Mui Ne for some real relaxation time. I found a nice little bungalow right off the ocean to call home for the next couple of days. Mui Ne is a 11km stretch of beach, and the people here are more relaxed then anywhere else I have travelled so far in Vietnam. I decided to take in the usual tourist sites of the Red Sand Dunes, where I tried the sand-sledding and managed to get sand in every oarface (sp?) of my body! When you arrive you get attacked by little kids asking your name and wanting to sell you a ride on their crazy carpet because it is the best one, and for a fee of course. For the day my name was sugar and I lived on banana island and the kids couldn't get enough of me...they laughed and laughed and so did I really. I also walked walked up the Fairy Stream which was relaxing and fun before taking the last bus trip for me in Vietnam.

In Mui Ne I also decided to put an end to my life of no lobster. I met Toby from Australia and to my surprise we shared our first lobster dinner together, and really I would love to know why I held out for so long cause I was in HEAVEN!!! I also had to treat myself because I was missing Baba's perogies on Christmas Eve, and I had to try something new even though I know nothing can beat your perogies Baba!!!

If it wasn't for my lovely french girl, I could have stayed in Mui Ne for at least a week. The people and the scenery are at a much better pace then the rest of Vietnam. But alas, Ho Chi Min City/Saigon awaits my arrival. And what a city it is!!! The traffic here is nuts. I saw 3 accidents just coming into the city...eeeeee. Hanoi and HCMC are similar and dissimilar in their own ways. It is too bad it is at the end of Vietnam, because at this point I am a little tired of the way of life here and am ready for new faces and places.

In sticking with traditional Caroline and Jen tradition, a bottle of wine and a lot of laughs were shared before parting ways in Vietnam. Jusqu'à ce que nous rencontrons encore mon ami! But just when you say good bye to someone you meet someone else, or my Pinza family again. We spent our last day visiting the War Remnants Museum (which demonstrated the aftermath of the war on the Vietnamese people), eating at local restaurant (where I made the mistake of ordering squid and was given the whole squid on a pan to cook in front of us!), and just walking around the city before taking in a 2 day tour of the Mekong River and entering Cambodia. Here we saw the amazing river side of both countries and it was a perfect ending to Vietnam. We visited local markets where they made rice paper, popcorn type desserts, maybe ate the best coconut candy ever, and took an amazing paddle boat ride before having to cross the border to Cambodia....what a different experience. We literally checked out of Vietnam into no-man's land and then walked maybe 20m into Cambodia.

More interesting was viewing the difference in the river banks in each country. Vietnam had much more development compared to the desolate banks of Cambodia. Vietnam was a huge history lesson for me and real life changing place. I met amazing people and experienced so many wonderful things. I am so excited to see what Cambodia has in store for me!

(Vietnam) (Cambodia)