Vietnam

"Green... means go. Yellow... also means go. Red.... that, too, means go." It is unnerving to hear the person driving your moto say this. But this is actually how people drive in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We started the Vietnamese portion of our trip with a moto tour of the delicious street food scene of Ho Chi Minh City. We raced through the frenetic streets with our guides Tran and Phuc weaving around cars and pedestrians and moving onto the sidewalk when necessary. I was thankful that we were passengers because driving in those conditions would have been terrifying!

Vietnam quickly grew on us. We met a lot of locals through the active Couchsurfing community here. Throughout the rest of SE Asia we didn't have much luck with the Couchsurfing infrastructure, but in Vietnam it was really easy to use. The people we met really made the experience. In Saigon we stayed with Duy and his three roommates. They live in a one bedroom apartment together. Duy typically sleeps on the floor in the living while the other three guys share the bedroom. We enjoyed a nice night of playing music together, eating and drinking (a bottle of vodka doled out into a tea cup and sent around the circle, then... straight to bed).

At our next stop, Hoi An, we met up with our host Xuan and her entire family. She lives with her husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and 14-month-old baby boy. It was a real homestay kind of experience that required us to rent a moto to get to her place 7 km outside the city every day. They cooked us delicious food, and one evening we spent down on the dock with Xuan and her husband drinking beers and hearing about his childhood memories playing on that same river.

And finally in Hanoi we stayed with three siblings, Thuy, Trang, and Thao in their apartment. As we found is typical in Vietnam (sample size = 3), they had very few items of furniture. Dinner was shared each evening sitting on the floor around a small, short table. It is unbelievable to us how gracious the Vietnamese people are towards Americans. All of ours hosts shared meals with us, as well as gave up their beds and bedrooms for us. Mattresses do not seem to be very popular - a mat of bamboo or wooden tiles is laid on top of a wooden bed frame for "comfort." Our delicate Western bodies weren't quite up for it, although I'm sure it's great for your posture, but luckily we had our inflatable camping pads with us.

In between time spent with our hosts we saw the sites, visited museums and ate delicious food from street vendors. We will miss Vietnam, but it's time to leave. We're in the final throes of our journey, about to embark upon a huge flight to London then on to Glasgow. The Scottish Highlands and a quick visit with Jenn's second cousins up next!

Couchsurfing host Duy and his roommate Dong. (Saigon)

Burning incense in a Chinese temple (Saigon)

Some random guy tells Tim to carry his coconut cooler

Couchsurfing accommodations in Hoi An. No mattress. 

Hoi An riverfront at dusk.

Old town. (Hoi An)

The final moto rental of the trip. (Hoi An)

Tim "helping" to weave a sleeping mat during a stop on our bicycle tour of a rural village outside of Hoi An. The mat was woven from long grasses, some of them dyed red, green or yellow.

The mother-in-law of our Couchsurfing host in Hoi An. Three generations under one roof!

Exploring the limestone karst formations of Lan Ha bay.

A beach where we did some climbing in Lan Ha bay

Climbing trip to Lan Ha bay.

Couchsurfing hosts Thao, Thuy and Trang in Hanoi. Plus their Japanese friend Tanaka (right). We ate while sitting on the ground at a small table. They prepared a couple delicious dinners while we were there.