First stop in Mekong Delta was supposed to be My Tho, but once we got there the town looked so dark, ugly and depressing (also the people was super weird), that we decided to go directly to the next town, Ben Tre. And it was a nice decision; Ben Tre was much nicer and quiet.
The sunset was so beautiful.
Saigon is a cool city, I personally liked it more than Hanoi. I just stayed there for a day and a half, but I found it has the perfect mix of traditional-old style neighborhoods and modern ones, with all kind of restaurants and shops, and also has a lot of new and cheap taxis. In other words, I could live there perfectly.
We found a hotel at Pham Ngu Lao (where most of the cheap hotels and restaurants for tourists are), and right after we went to visit the War Remnants Museum. The Museum has several rooms displaying pictures of the American phase of the Vietnam war, also has some weapons, and a lot of information and pictures about Agent Orange and other toxic weapons used during the war. Visiting the museum it wasn’t a pleasant experience, but it makes you understand better all the craziness that went on during the war, and how much Vietnam people have suffered.
Next stop was the Reunification Palace. That place is amazing, it’s like being in a James Bond movie from the 70s. Continue reading
Last night I dreamt I was pregnant, and when I had the baby, it was not a baby, it was a dog… it was Pepe. I decided to name him Malcolm, but after a while I wasn’t sure that name was good enough. I had a talk with my friend Mònica and she also thought Malcolm was quite an ugly name. After some thought I decided to change his name for Leonides, Mònica agreed Leonides was a much beautiful name, and she told me if she ever had another baby she was gonna name him Leonides too.
The dream finished with me, Mònica and a bunch of my ex-classmate from school (that I haven’t seen for more than 10 years) sitting in a 70s style living room watching tv. Leonides was sleeping, and I forgot to put the diaper on him, suddenly he started to pee all over the walls of the living room and the people who was also in the room got mad angry at me, starting to tell me that I was the worst mother in the world and how could I have forgotten to put the diaper on my son…
I guess my friends pregnancies are really affecting me.
Our original plan was, after visiting Hoi An, to visit Nha Trang and spend there a few days sunbathing at the beach. But since it was raining cats and dogs everywhere, and we were tired of tourist destinations, we decided to go somewhere not that popular, such as Quy Nhon. We headed there with the hope of enjoying at least a day of sunshine.
The journey from Hoi An to Quy Nhon was a nightmare. Eight hours inside a van driven by a fucking kamikaze that kept me praying for my life during the 8 hours of the journey. It was heavily raining the whole time and I couldn’t see any of the landscape from the side window, also I didn’t dare to look through the windshield, because the kamikaze driver kept driving in the opposite direction and I was almost having a heart attack every time i saw a car coming toward us. The van had 15 seats, but at times we were up to 22 people inside… Also the driver had the volume of the radio at maximum, 8 hours with bad Vietnamese techno music bursting my eardrums. I really thought we were never going to make it to Quy Nhon…
But we arrived safely, and it was also pouring rain. The next morning the weather didn’t seem to get any better and we decided to go directly to Saigon and from there jump to the Mekong Delta.
So, all I got to do in Quy Nhon was to have a walk around the Municipal Beach and the streets around our hotel. Below are some of the pics I took.
The Municipal Beach
Hoi An is a beautiful town, and I guess it was an amazing place to spend your holidays ten years ago. Nowadays, the town has become a huge souvenir shop, crowded with tourist groups, tailors, shoemakers and lanterns shops. The town is the perfect example of how mass tourism can destroy a place. I guess the surroundings of the city must be beautiful, but since we were caught in the heavy rain, we couldn’t check it out.
The Cam Nam Bridge over the Thu Bon River.
Doing the laundry.
My Beijing 