Happy Lunar New Year Vietnam!

After December 10th we began biking toward the border to Vietnam, the Bavet-Mac Bai border crossing. After our first day of biking east we stayed in Neak Loeang, a town on the east side of the Mekong River. We had to cross the Mekong by ferry, two tickets for bicycle riders cost a total of 6 cents! We barely made it onto the ferry as it was leaving when we got there, it was literally pulling out as we boarded. Halfway across the river a big cart of trash was emptied into the water, Mason and I looked on in shock.
The following day we biked to Svay Rieng. The guidebook, Lonely Planet, told us there was "literally nothing to do" in Svay Rieng. We had an extra day on our visas so we spent a full day there hoping to prove Lonely Planet wrong. It turns out they were pretty much right. I tried going for a run at sunset but was attacked by dogs. I did run my fastest ever as a result of the dogs chasing me. After two nights there we got up early in the morning and biked to the border by lunch. We ate our last meal in Cambodia, rice with a very boney, but strong tasting fish.
Going through the border was frustrating as no one seemed to care about their job, a worrisome first impression of the country. Eventually we got through; Mason seemed to have better luck than I did. Speaking of Mason, he crossed the border without realizing it for a few moments when we were taking pictures of the crossing.
After the border we biked towards Ho Chi Minh City, better known as Saigon, but couldn't make it in time so we stopped somewhere, probably Trang Bang. On the way to Trang Bang we stopped to get water and, after drinking two bottles, the lady filled our bottles back up for us for free. Later when we had decided to stay for the night, a girl working at an Internet place was very kind girl who gave me two names of nearby cheap hotels. This was a nice change after the not so good border experience. We stopped at a small food vendor for dinner and a lady buying fruit translated for us. After the transaction the translator gave us a bushel of bananas, we still don't understand why since we should have been the ones giver her something, perhaps it was a "welcome to Vietnam" gesture.
The next day we again woke early and biked into Saigon. We got there in the early afternoon and got Pho (pronounced fa as in father) at a place with free wifi. We found a place from HostelWorld and used it to get to Bui Vien Street, backpacker district. We then decided to stay in Vietnam for longer than a month and began working on extending our visas. We were able to extend them for an additional 3 months for $25 each. This was a fantastic deal, as the visas originally cost us $35 each for one month. It turns out $25 was the flat government price and the girl working at the travel agency we went to had made a mistake when talking to us, but she liked me so she paid the extra herself. (She has since sent me several emails that I have ignored.)
I contacted Tim Nguyen through Facebook and found that he lives in Saigon but wouldn't be there until Christmas, so we decided to wait for him and spend Christmas and New Years in Saigon then leave. Since we would be in one city for a while and since we were going to be in Vietnam for so long we decided to take some Vietnamese classes. Tim put us in contact with his sister Rose and she showed us around, bought us food, and brought us to awesome live music bars, most notably a place called Acoustic which had some crazy awesome performers. Rose also put us in contact with Thuy An, who became our Vietnamese tutor. We took 12 hours of classes over two weeks. December 26th we moved to Tim's house and stayed until the early morning of January 5th. All this time we also developed a relationship with three girls from a Milk store and three girls from an outing goods store we never bought from.
On December 24th and 28th Vietnam won against Thailand in soccer, giving them the title champion for the first time in decades. The entire city went crazy each night with nearly 5 million people crowding the streets until 4 AM. Most were on motorbikes carrying big Vietnam flags and shouting, honking, cheering, dancing and throwing confetti. The scene was wild and unbelievable each time. I felt jealous I am not from a country that would ever celebrate as one the way Vietnam did.
On January 5th we took the train to Phan Thiet. We stayed two nights because we both had developed colds. We then biked to Bac Binh, we started out in a tropical area with lush rice fields and live stalk everywhere, then by midday we were biking through a desert with nothing for miles but a few 10 inch high cacti scattered around. Then around 3 we were biking around mountains like back home. We were looking for some shade to break under for the hottest part of the day, of course at that time we were in the desert so it was a hard task. We came across a small shack that seemed to be blowing apart in the wind but somehow managed to keep its form. The guys in the shack invited us in and after a conversation half in their poor English half in our even worse Vietnamese they made us lunch and offered us beds to rest on. We continued on and found a cheap guesthouse to stay in. The following morning Mason's front tire was blown so we brought it to be replaced and the guy replaced it for free. That day we biked to Ca Na, pronounced Ka like car Na like none, and stayed at a place right on top of the sea with a great view. As tired as we were from battling the winds on our bikes we pressed on early in the morning but in over 3 hours we had only covered 28 Km due to the winds blowing south.
Eventually we made it to the very touristy area of Nha Trang City. We found a place to stay for $5 a night and stayed there, I got sick the first night and vomited twice during the night so we decided to stay a few days to allow me to get back to full health.
After Nha Trang we biked to Dai Lanh, a place famous for its beach and fishing, where we spent the night. It seems all of the hotels in Dai Lanh were owned by one man thus giving him a monopoly which he happily took advantage of. It wasn't a pleasant stay as it was expensive and the people we encountered were not so kind. In the bathrooms of our hotel were two magazine size pictures of western girls in bikinis, very strange.
The next day we made it to Quy Nhon where we stayed four nights and two days. It was nice there, we stayed at Ha My hotel, which was a bit on the expensive side, but we were able to enjoy this city for very cheap as there are no hagglers and such in the beautiful town. It is really quite a wonder why such a nice city has no tourists, but the lack of tourists is perhaps my favorite part of the town.
We made it to Hoi An on the 24th. It rained that day and we got soaked biking in, fortunately it was lunch time during the rain and we were able to sit out most of it. It was the first day since we left Saigon that it rained.
The following day was Lunar New Year's Eve. We went down to the riverfront and saw a magnificent lantern display. Sadly we didn't bring the camera, just Google Hoi An lanterns and you'll see it.
At midnight we went back to our guesthouse and the owners gave us candy and other sweets. We also saw the incense ceremony at midnight. A table is placed at or in front of the entrance of the house/store and on the table are offerings, rice, a drink in a cup, sometimes candy, fake money, and cigarettes and so on. Then candles symmetrically and burning incense. Then the eldest I assume would grab a handful of incense, burn it, raise it and lower it while facing the table from the house side once on the left, right and middle. Then hold it in front and probably pray. Then they would count at least 12 sticks of incense and place the remaining on the table. With the 12 they would split them into 4 or more groups of 3 and place them around the entrance symmetrically. I think we were very fortunate to see the ceremony.
That wraps things up for now, thanks for keeping with it, sorry about the long wait between blog entries. I’ve got my tickets home; I’ll be flying into Boston March 26th.