Final Week in Vietnam (Week 11)

After visiting the amazing national park we started our journey to the beautiful city of Hoi An. Hoi An is an ancient port town most famously known for its old town area. We made our way through the hectic streets to old town and began exploring with the Canadians at our side. Yes we met up with Canadians again (turns out they had a kick ass itinerary and we LOVED not having to do any planning!) We spent the afternoon playing cribbage and drinking beers that were slightly warm but only 3,000 dong (about 13 cents a beer). Even warm beer tastes pretty good when your only paying $0.13!!

The next day we set off on rickety bikes in search of the beach. We enjoyed the ride through rice paddies and swamp lands and even made a pit-stop to grab a drink and do some fishing! Corbin didn’t give us much of a choice in the matter. But... we ended up having a blast and everyone caught a fish (is it cheating if the pond is stocked? Probably). We finally made it to the beach and spent the afternoon swimming and lounging in the sand.

A highlight of Hoi An was scuba diving at Cham Island. During the two tank dive we saw Christmas tree worms, sea slugs, star fish, scorpion fish, and lots of beautiful coral. Other than Corbin's brief episode of sea sickness it was a great day.

Guys... WE RODE A WATER BUFFALO! Our trip is now complete!

After another looonnng travel day (16 hours on a bus and 4 hours sleeping on a travel agency floor) we finally arrived in Mui Ne, a coastal town in southern Vietnam. The landscape of Mui Ne is much different from the rest of Vietnam, with large sand dunes just a short distance from the beach. We got to see it all including a fishing village in the morning (tea cup boat ride included) and sledding down the sand dunes in the afternoon. We were finding sand everywhere for the next week!

The best food we ate in Mui Ne were some scallops. These weren’t just any scallops though, they were grilled on the beach right in front of us by a local lady. Due to the language barrier we weren’t quite sure what we were getting or how many but before long we had a sizzling plate of 30 scallops! Our mouths water just thinking about it...

Our time is Vietnam was running out and we needed to reach Ho Chi Minh city before our visa’s expired. So... we mentally prepared for yet another bus ride. We grabbed our backpacks and approached the bus with tickets in hand. To our surprise when we went to board the gentleman simply shook his head, said no, and instructed the driver to leave. Shocked, we stood on the curb waving our arms as we were left behind by our bus. There was nothing else to do but sit on the curb, laugh, and wait for another bus. The epitome of Vietnam travel... haha!

Tatum after the bus incident!

Vietnam was one of the most challenging and rewarding countries we visited during our backpacking trip. And we have barely scratched the surface. I have a feeling we will return very shortly.

With Love,

Boots Abroad

Corbin’s

Highs: Sledding down the sand dunes, fishing, riding a water buffalo, how we reacted to getting left by the bus (we have really learned to go with the flow) and scallops (so damn good!!!!)

Lows: Travel day from Hoi An to Mui Ne, sea sickness and missing the second dive.

Tatum’s

Highs: Scuba diving, fishing village, foot massages, tailor made swim-suit, & riding the water buffalo.

Lows: Sleeping on the travel agency tile floor, border-line heat stroke in Mui Ne.

We did make it to Ho Chi Minh city and explored for one brief afternoon before flying back to.... THAILAND!