We spent ten days in the laid back town of Pokhara in central Nepal. Positioned on the south east shore of the large Phewa lake, Pokhara is a big destination town for foreigners and Nepalese tourists alike. The big things to do there are para glide over the lake and rent a boat and explore the lake. While we had neither the interest nor the budget for the former, we decided to rent a small paddle boat and spent the day relaxing on a pebbly beach on the far side of the lake.
After several less than impressive experiences at local restaurants, we decided our favorite place to eat was the Moon Dance Cafe. We ate several meals there until we were forced to leave due to a couple overly aggressive cockroaches.
While in Pokhara, Cat decided to embellish on her current tattoo and had the Nepalese protection mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum" inked in a circle around the eye. The new tattoo turned out very well and she is excited about it.
After finishing the book Born to Run (which is excellent, READ IT!!!), I was convinced that Cat and I could go on a day long run to see some of the local sites. After about five km though, she informed me that it was slightly overzealous; I relented.
After much relaxation (and a little boredom), we finally took the bus back to Kathmandu and flew to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
HCMC was a very pleasant surprise. We had heard that it would be overwhelming with so many people and scooters as well as overaggressive vendors. To our surprise, we found it to be very clean with the vendors being not too difficult. After India, it was a piece of cake. We started experimenting with the local cuisine but it wasn't very long before I had my first debilitating food illness of the trip.
After a full night and day of recuperation, we headed on a tour to the Cao Dai temple followed by the Cu Chi tunnels. The temple is the biggest temple of the Cao Dai religion in all of south east Asia. The religion is very unique in that it blends the beliefs and deities from several major religions including Buddhism, Confucionism, Taoism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The temple was very colorful and ornately decorated. We viewed a local prayer ceremony where some fifty parishioners, garbed all in white, kneeled in similar fashion to Islamic prayer.
Next we headed to the historic Cu Chi tunnels. For those of you from my generation, these were a series of complex underground tunnels used by Vietnamese fighters and other villagers to escape from US bombing raids. Located about two hours north east of HCMC, the tunnels extend underground for some fifty km and are complete with rooms, booby traps, and three levels of tunnels. The most impressive part of the tour was seeing the many different types of booby traps inflicted on US forces.
There were many different types, varying in complexity, but they all were very painful and very well designed. The majority included some swiveling contraption that was weight triggered and consequently would stab long steel poisonous barbs through specific parts of your body. The barbs were poisoned with cobra venom or when that was unattainable, the Viet Cong would use human fecal matter.
There are sample tunnels left from the war that have been slightly widened for western tourists but even so it is a tight and uncomfortable fit.
Next we stopped in the Mekong Delta, south east of HCMC, for a couple of days. We visited the towns of My Tho, Ben Tre and Can Tho. In Can Tho we got on a tour boat and floated amongst the largest floating market in the delta. There are copious amounts of boats selling and buying all sorts of produce; it's pretty impressive.
We then booked an overnight sleeper bus ten hours north to the beach city of Nha Trang. There were fully reclining tiny little beds on the bus that would be perfectly comfortable for a a Hobbit but posed slight problems for Cat and I.
In Nha Trang, I spent three days getting my Open Water Dive Certification while Cat snorkeled, sun bathed and picked up some of the local sites including a dilapidated aquarium set in a pirate ship and some impressive Champa ruins. Tonight we are taking another sleppless sleeper bus to Hoi An, where we will spend several days getting fitted for clothes, enjoying the local culinary experience, and taking in the supposedly beautiful and historic scenery. Cheers!
After several less than impressive experiences at local restaurants, we decided our favorite place to eat was the Moon Dance Cafe. We ate several meals there until we were forced to leave due to a couple overly aggressive cockroaches.
While in Pokhara, Cat decided to embellish on her current tattoo and had the Nepalese protection mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum" inked in a circle around the eye. The new tattoo turned out very well and she is excited about it.
After finishing the book Born to Run (which is excellent, READ IT!!!), I was convinced that Cat and I could go on a day long run to see some of the local sites. After about five km though, she informed me that it was slightly overzealous; I relented.
After much relaxation (and a little boredom), we finally took the bus back to Kathmandu and flew to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
HCMC was a very pleasant surprise. We had heard that it would be overwhelming with so many people and scooters as well as overaggressive vendors. To our surprise, we found it to be very clean with the vendors being not too difficult. After India, it was a piece of cake. We started experimenting with the local cuisine but it wasn't very long before I had my first debilitating food illness of the trip.
After a full night and day of recuperation, we headed on a tour to the Cao Dai temple followed by the Cu Chi tunnels. The temple is the biggest temple of the Cao Dai religion in all of south east Asia. The religion is very unique in that it blends the beliefs and deities from several major religions including Buddhism, Confucionism, Taoism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The temple was very colorful and ornately decorated. We viewed a local prayer ceremony where some fifty parishioners, garbed all in white, kneeled in similar fashion to Islamic prayer.
Next we headed to the historic Cu Chi tunnels. For those of you from my generation, these were a series of complex underground tunnels used by Vietnamese fighters and other villagers to escape from US bombing raids. Located about two hours north east of HCMC, the tunnels extend underground for some fifty km and are complete with rooms, booby traps, and three levels of tunnels. The most impressive part of the tour was seeing the many different types of booby traps inflicted on US forces.
There were many different types, varying in complexity, but they all were very painful and very well designed. The majority included some swiveling contraption that was weight triggered and consequently would stab long steel poisonous barbs through specific parts of your body. The barbs were poisoned with cobra venom or when that was unattainable, the Viet Cong would use human fecal matter.
There are sample tunnels left from the war that have been slightly widened for western tourists but even so it is a tight and uncomfortable fit.
Next we stopped in the Mekong Delta, south east of HCMC, for a couple of days. We visited the towns of My Tho, Ben Tre and Can Tho. In Can Tho we got on a tour boat and floated amongst the largest floating market in the delta. There are copious amounts of boats selling and buying all sorts of produce; it's pretty impressive.
We then booked an overnight sleeper bus ten hours north to the beach city of Nha Trang. There were fully reclining tiny little beds on the bus that would be perfectly comfortable for a a Hobbit but posed slight problems for Cat and I.
In Nha Trang, I spent three days getting my Open Water Dive Certification while Cat snorkeled, sun bathed and picked up some of the local sites including a dilapidated aquarium set in a pirate ship and some impressive Champa ruins. Tonight we are taking another sleppless sleeper bus to Hoi An, where we will spend several days getting fitted for clothes, enjoying the local culinary experience, and taking in the supposedly beautiful and historic scenery. Cheers!
Love the facial/head hair Brian! 60% of the time it works every time (ha ha). Anyways, I didn't see any pictures of the floating market and one of my economists told me all about it. Please post some pix of these boats if you get a chance. Miss you guys! Love the new attire, Pat is so jealous that you are getting such a deal on these suits.
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