North Into the Monsoon

You may have noticed we aren't as consistent in our blog postings as we once were. Maybe we're lazy now, maybe it's the unpredictable internet connections of SE Asia. Regardless, accept our most humble apologies.

After our stint in Ho Chi Mihn City we veered off the beaten track a bit and visited Dalat--the honeymooners capital of Vietam. Set amid man-made lakes, concrete statues of various animals, and green terraced hills as far as the eye can see, this is the first place we've visited in the past two and a half months where we haven't been dripping sweat around the clock. In fact, at several thousand feet above sea level, we actually got to enjoy putting on our shoes and long sleeve shirts for a few days. Praise Buddah! Unlike it's ill-mannered alter-ego that we visited in India, Mt. Abu, Dalat was a pleasant town with a colorful (yet smelly) market, nice waterfalls nearby, and a generous helping of the strange touch Vietnam puts on areas of interest--such as neon halos around Buddah or the Virgin Mary, swan-shaped pedaloos for the lake, or 15 foot high concrete tigers.

We spent one day cruising the cool hills, checking out the sites, and weaving through traffic, and I'm proud to report I've become quite the master of the Asian motorbike. Luckily, there are only a fraction of the people in Dalat as there are in Saigon, so the ride was reasonably safe. As a funny side-note, people wear very fashionable helmets in Vietnam--they're equipped with attachments that shade from the sun, or add a nice personal touch. In fact, they seem to be so popular that people rarely seem to take them off. Whether at the market, walking down the street or fishing on the lake, a good percentage of the people seem well prepared to step into a construction zone. When all else fails, do as the locals do when visiting your friendly local pagoda.

Regardless of the strange structures around town and the excessive head protection, the cool climate was the relief we needed. If only it could last all the way to Hanoi. We stayed an extra day in Dalat because we didn't want to go back to the heat and humidity, but we've since moved down from the hills to Nha Trang, on the coast of the South China Sea. Needless to say we've back to scorching heat, and countless moto-bike drivers who are all competing to give you a ride somewhere. It seems as thought the further north we go the more frequent the rain is becoming, too. We actually had one night that the rain started about 6:00 pm, and by 7:30 we were crossing the main road in town with the water nearly up to our knees--we've never seen anything quite like it. Further along down the coast we made another quick stop in a less toursted area and enjoyed a day and a half of hard rain while cruising the quiet coast on bikes. With not much to do and not many menu's in English we moved on after just two nights, but Shanon and I did look good in plastic bags.

Up the coast we go...we will try to be more diligent about the blog, in this our final month overseas. We fly back to Bangkok on the 3rd of June, and then should be stateside on the 14th, and in SLC on June 15th. Yikes!
A few minutes of r&r between thunder storms.