The Final Days of SE Asia

The last ten days of Vietnam and Bangkok were certainly bittersweet. After leaving Jungle Beach, we took a grueling and miserable night bus to Hoi An where we were supposed to meet my parents at a nice hotel. The overnight sleeper bus beds were clearly meant for non-western people. They were all too small with a box for your feet to go in. Not to mention someone had gone through our bags in search for valuables. The bus was cramped and uncomfortable. Those on the top bunks had a constant fear of falling out to the narrow passageway below. Valium and sleeping pills helped only a little. To make matters worse, the dates at the hotel were mixed up and we had to trek around looking for a new one and letting the parentals know where we were.

Tailored Clothes Galore!
Hoi An is a wonderful place, quaint and infested with millions of tailor shops. You can get anything you want made for any price. Alison and I got jackets made (without which we'd be dying in freezing Tokyo). I also got a dress made. The last time I had anything tailored was when I went to Venezuela about eleven years ago for my cousin's first wedding. Our friends, Steve and Tyler, got all too many things made for them: suits, shirts, jeans and.... Team Zissou suits from Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic. Hilarious.

Aside from tailor shops and various markets, Hoi An is host to ancient Buddhist ruins called My Son. We did a tour there and found out that the temples would've been more complete if the U.S. didn't bomb them during the Vietnam-America War, known to the Vietnamese as the American War. After being in Southeast Asia for over four months, the ruins weren't that impressive. After seeing Angkor Wat, you really don't want to see another temple. Still, My Son is interesting and beautiful.

Driving through the DMZ
From Hoi An, we took a four hour bus up to Hue. There we walked around the citadel but skipped out on the tombs and other attractions. We took an all day tour to the Demilitarized Zone, aka DMZ. The tour was miserable. We spent all day in a sauna, aka our bus, driving across the country and stopping at minor sites to take pictures. If you are a history buff or someone who enjoys scenic bus rides, this tour is for you. All in all, I learned a lot from the tour and the Vinh Moc tunnels were cool, but I've had it with bus rides especially since we had to board a night bus to Hanoi right after the tour. This was another miserable bus ride where my ipod got stolen as well. Hopefully, travel insurance will be able to compensate me for some of the cost.

Hanoi and Halong Bay
Hanoi was relaxing and pleasant. The weather there is cooler than in the south and the people more localized. It does not have much of a westernized feel like Ho Chi Minh City had. Here, we booked a one night two day tour to Halong Bay on a deluxe boat, which was not deluxe but still very nice. Basically how these tours work is you get what you pay for and everyone pays a different price for the same thing. Unfortunately, our trip was dawned with gloomy weather, a few arrogant guests and a crew that kept super over-charging us for random things. The rest of Hanoi was fun, just some shopping and saying goodbye to Vietnam and my parents.

Bangkok... the last three days
So Bangkok is, well, Bangkok. The one cool thing is that we were on Khao San Rd. for the 60th hour, also known as Earth hour, which is an event that supposedly took place worldwide, a simple concept: one hour lights off. It was pretty cool to be there.