Cambodian Menagerie: Monkeys

If nothing else, this trip has taught me two things: I feel most relaxed when I'm on the beach and I LOVE MONKEYS. I'd always though they were cute, funny, little guys, but seriously, I think they may be my favorite animal of the entire kingdom. Thus, nothing could be more exciting than to motoscoot through Sinhoukville and find a colony of monkeys, conveniently located across from a small soda/snack stand on the side of the road.
We initially pulled over to buy a Coke and maybe take a picture or two, but were thrilled when the mom/snack stand owner offered us peanuts, and told us to feed the monkeys and "take lots of photos."
Her daughter, the sweet two year old above, graciously supplied us with peanuts and salt, while the baby monkeys would run up to us and eat out of our hands.
We weren't allowed to feed the adults, as they were much to aggressive, but that was fine by me.
Their teeny paws would grip the peanuts and quickly shovel them into their mouths, before any of the other monkeys could greedily snatch them away.
This one in particular took so many, that he started storing them in a pouch off to the side of his mouth, to eat later.
While we fed the baby monkeys, the road-side snack owner defended her shack from big guys like the ones above. They would swoop down and try and steal the bananas, but she would scare them by thrashing at the tarp with a large stick. The final score: 0 monkeys harmed, 1 banana absconded.

Saigon Stories

As much fun as traveling can be, it gets tiring moving around all the time. It's exhilarating to see new places, but sometimes you just want to sleep in the same bed for more than two or three nights. Bearing this in mind, we decided to slow down our pace and stay in Saigon for a little over a week. We figured we'd really be able to explore the city, and with so many food and sightseeing options, we were sure to stay occupied.

We split up our time visiting some of the more classic sights like the Reunification Palace, which has been left in the same condition, since 1975. My favorite rooms were the shooting gallery

and the eerily empty type writer room.

We made sure to set aside some time to tour the beautiful temples in Chinatown, filled with pink slips for good luck
and huge cones of incense hanging from the rafters.

Having had a lot of fun at previous zoos, we were excited to check out the HCMC zoo. Unfortunately, it turned out to be pitiful, as it was filled tiny, unclean cages and with animals that were hotter than we were.

We spent an afternoon at the ridiculously kitschy Dansen park, whereMorgan posed with the stone sculptures,

I barely survived a dinosaur attack (seriously the ride was TERRIFYING)

and we chanelled cool thoughts at the ice sculpture park.

We visited Cholon, the Chinatown section of town, where every section of the market was jam packed with specific goods. Witness the shoe/flip flop section,

the wok section,
and the rope section.

We attempted a multi-day motorcycle Mekong delta trip, but it was foiled due to passport issues. Note to future travelers: make sure you ALWAYS have your passport if you want to stay in a hotel in Vietnam, they're real sticklers about it. We got as far south as Ben Tre, and made sure to pick up some famous coconut candy while we were there, but unfortunately had to turn back around and head home the same evening.

Lastly, the best part about being someplace for a while, is starting to feel familiar with the streets and restaurants. Since we can't cook for ourselves, we're always looking for meals that are so good we can't wait to go back.
The slam dunk of Saigon was Nhu Lan, which we found through the amazing blog eatingAsia. We quickly became addicted to the yummy spring rolls and

some of the best doner (it tasted a lot like NYC pastrami) I've ever had.

We ended our time in Saigon, having dinner with a fellow couchsurfer, who is a food scientist for Nestle. He took us to a delicious banh xeo restaurant and we followed it up with milk tea near the park by our hostel. We had a wonderful time in Vietnam, despite the incessant heat and humidity. We've got one more country to explore, Cambodia, before we head home in June, so stay tuned...

Nha Trang Deliciousness

I generally don't like cooking my own food in a restaurant. This trip has changed that. First with hot pot in Chengdu, and now with Lac Cahn in Nha Trang. We arrived there on a Tuesday evening following a ten minute cab ride from the tourist ghetto. The place was filled with Vietnamese families, and on each table was a terracotta brazier filled with red hot charcoals. On top of this is placed a grate, and on top of that you cook your food.

We ordered three proteins. Each came slathered in a fiery marinade.

Eel. Skin on, bone in. All they do is gut it for you:

Beef. Nice tender chunks, really flavorful:

The pork, which we neglected to get a picture of, was (unsurprisingly) the star of the show. Unbelievably tasty. The pieces were quite fatty, which crisped up nicely on the grill.

Cold beer and sauteed morning glory rounded out our meal:

This happened every time we added something to the grill:

Here's the end result. Delicious meat, happy eaters:

Unfortunately, I don't think that this will ever make it to the US. Filling every table in a restaurant with glorified campfires is a law suit waiting to happen. Until some clever restauranter figures out how to make this concept a reality, it's just one more reason to visit Vietnam.

Fun Day in Mui Ne

We were sad to leave the beautiful beaches of Nha Trang and Hoi An, but eager to continue traveling south to visit "the Sahara of Vietnam" (at least, according to Lonely Planet). We took our penultimate bus ride to the home of fish sauce, Mui Ne, and cozied up at a guesthouse a few feet from the beach.

After settling into our new accommodations, we rented a motorbike and hit the open road. We passed by little fish drying in the sun and dozens of fishing boats, as we headed out to the red sand dunes.


We knew we had arrived, when we were greeted by a large group of kids jumping up and down and waving blue plastic sleds at us. We ditched the bike and were joined by an old Vietnamese woman, who helped us up the burning sands of the dunes. We never learned her name, but she was THE sweetest in the whole world.
She went back to help Morgan up the dunes and lent him her very small sandals,

coated our sleds to make them slide faster, before pushing us down the dunes,



and was eager to take lots of scenic photos of us.

Drenched in sweat and with red hot feet, we got back on the bike and went for a long loop around town. We stopped a few times along the way, once to check out this gem (which is straight out of roadside America)
and to drink our new favorite thirst quencher-- sugar cane juice.

Slightly citrusy and sweet, it tastes like un-carbonated Joy Juice or Mello Yellow, and is delightfully refreshing.
We only spent a few days in Mui Ne, as we were eager to get to Saigon, for the last leg of our Vietnamese adventures.

Best Day Ever

The morning was spent roaming around the lovely city of Hoi An, drinking iced coffee and meandering through the streets.

We rented a moto scooter and headed out to the locals' beach, which turned out to be paradise.

Beach chairs and cabanas were free, as long as you agreed to buy something from the restaurant they were owned by. Easy breezy.

We set to work sunbathing, swimming, and reading (GNK: Shantaram)

MWS: The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo series

The South China sea was pristine, warm and beautifully changed from green to blue.

We had a delicious lunch of butter grilled shrimp with salt, pepper and lime dipping sauce

Tiny grilled clams with salt, pepper and lime dipping sauce

Teeny fried potato wedges with real (!) ketchup

Two small friends took captive of this ship and were quite entertaining as they practiced being pirates

Let's just say life is pretty easy these days.