Beer, Beer, Everywhere and Oh So Much to Drink!

So, you thought I was finished with my Vietnam posts, but there's still one last pressing matter, and it is oh so important: beer. Now, I am a huge fan of beer, but as many of you many know, I am an equal opportunity employer: I love my wine, I love my beer, and on occassion, I love my gin. Now, wine in Vietnam -- not the best idea. First of all, where does it come from? Second of all, how much does it cost? (If it doesn't cost a lot, then it's definitely not a good idea) Third of all, is it even possible for it to taste good? Of course not. Luxury wine in Vietnam is basically the equivalent of box wine.  It doesn't even meet our standard of 5 dollar juice wine (aka wine that tastes like juice) that comes in a jug (yes, that's for you, Cats).  Gin would be a good option, but, as I've stated in earlier posts, the strength of mixed drinks in Vietnam is not even worthy of describing them as mildly alcoholic. Nor are they tasty.  So, all that is left is my beloved beer.  It's cheap, for one: you can get most beers in a bottle for under a dollar (depending on where you are). And let me tell you, I was shocked at the many varieties available. And guess what? I tried them all. :)

Now, what is interesting about beer in Vietnam, is that it is not all available everywhere.  For example, in the US, you can get Coors anywhere, not just in Colorado and Bud Light is by no means limited to the greater St. Louis area.  Basically, you can get the big beers anywhere.  Not so in Vietnam.  Therefore, below, I will provide a detailed account of the quality and types of beers available by region, that I encountered in Vietnam.

HANOI

Tiger (Singapore beer):  I'm a big fan of this beer. It's got a clean, crisp taste, and it's not too bitter.  It's definitely got a little bit of a heavier flavor than lots of Asian beers, like Sapporo. (Image)

Biere LaRue: This is a Vietnamese beer that I first encountered in Hanoi.  I wasn't entirely taken by its flavor, but it comes in a significantly larger bottle than most beers, which is an enticing thought until you remember that it's merely a result of its lower alcohol percentage. Lol. (Image)

HUE

Huda: So, I never actually had a chance to taste this beer, but from what I gathered, it was more or less the equivalent to the standard Vietnamese beer.  It doesn't have any kind of overpowering flavor, but it's good enough to get the job done. (Image)

333 (BaBaBa in Vietnamese): Now, this beer is pretty gross.  I had it for the first (and only) time on the train from Hanoi to Hue.  It is specifically made in Vietnam for export, and the locals won't even touch it.  Needless to say, our group had no qualms with purchasing this seriously subpar beer.  Also, I think this beer only comes in a can. Lol. (Image)

HOI AN

Bia Hoi: Now, this beer I would easily compare to a solid Bud Light, except, it's not a light beer. But at 25 cents per glass, who could resist? On that one epic night in Hoi An, I think I managed 11 of my 17 strikes from Bia Hoi alone.  Furthermore, this is the only beer that I found in Vietnam that you can consistently get on tap.  Everything else I drank from a can or a bottle. (Image)

SAIGON

Saigon: This was probably my favorite beer of all of the beers we tried in Vietnam.  It had a sharper and crisper flavor than the others, and it was thicker too.  Now, Saigon beer is interesting because it comes in several varieties.  There's a green label, and a red label.  Then there's another kind called Saigon Export which is actually a little better tasting than the other two.  The main difference among the three is alcohol content.  Basically, the better tasting ones happen to be the more alcoholic ones. Go figure. (Image, Image)

Zorok: So, I only got to taste this beer out of a can, and I wasn't all too impressed, except that the can held about two cans worth of beer, which was pretty awesome.  Again, it tasted more or less like all of the other beers I had tasted in Vietnam.  (Image)

San Miguel (Phillippino Beer): I didn't actually get a chance to try this one either, but it used to be known as a luxury beer.  While it is widely available, I don't think it's all that popular. (Image)

Okay, well, now that I've convinced all of you that I paid a lot of attention to beer while in Vietnam.  I hope I have also been able to convince you through my prior posts that I paid attention to other things as well.  Needless to say, there really wasn't anything about Vietnam that wasn't interesting.

Over and Out.

-- Priya/Pri/P/Preesh/Pixi/LPJ/P-Money/Baibiya

Good Morning Saigon - Farewell Vietnam

Our flight to Saigon was only an hour or so, and when we arrived and boarded our bus, we were all thrilled to discover that it was huge! After boarding smaller and smaller buses as we headed south, we finally found relief in Saigon.  When we got to the hotel, Pong told us to "open our minds" (his way of saying, be open minded) because some of the rooms in the hotel were quite small and windowless, due to the good location of the hotel.  Natasha and I lucked out with a HUGE room with a GIANT window. I don't know how, but it was fantastic.  Our first task upon arrival in Saigon was to visit Fanny Ice Cream, which is, I guess, a famous chain with multiple locations.  It was pretty epic. They had ice cream sushi (ice cream shaped like sushi - no raw fish involved), as well as ice cream spring rolls, fondue, the works! And everything was gigantic.  The ice cream that I got (which happened to serve as our lunch) was called Autumn Leaves.  It had green tea, coconut, and chocolate ice creams with almonds and caramel sauce.  It was huge and almost unfinishable. 

Fanny Ice Cream aka "late lunch"

Yummmm

Then Pong led us around Saigon a bit, to show us around so that we wouldn't get lost when we were wandering on our own.  Saigon is completely different from Hanoi.  First of all, it is starkly evident that Saigon was not always under a Communist regime.  It is much more commercialized than Hanoi, with bright lights, tall buildings, and flashy signs.  Hanoi had more of a hutong-like feel, characterized by short, drab buildings.  Although people had suggested that crossing the street would be more brutal in Saigon than in Hanoi due to the fact that it's a larger city with more vehicles, I am not convinced that that is the case.  First of all, the roads in Saigon have lines. Lots of them. Cross walks, lane dividers, meridians, etc.  There are more traffic lights with walk and do-not-walk signs, and once you have gotten used to the principal of crossing the street amid swarms of motorbikes, the number of vehicles is less unnerving.  Basically, I never felt like I was going to die in Saigon, unlike in Hanoi.

Saigon traffic

Silvan looking normal

Saigon

Uncle Ho

Saigon

Saigon street at sunset

Yummy rice in all colors being sold on the street in Saigon

Our bizarre hotel

For dinner, I tried a traditional Vietnamese rice pancake.  It was stuffed with mushrooms, sprouts, tofu, and spring onion.  It came with a pile of lettuce and other greens on the side, as well as a dipping sauce.  It was kind of like Chinese lettuce wraps, in that we were supposed to tear off pieces of the pancake, wrap it in some lettuce, and dip it in the sauce.  It was kind of bizarre, but yummy, and a nice change from the noodles and rice that had become a staple in my diet.  After dinner, Pong took me to the international clinic to have my wound checked out.  I had started taking some antibiotics (that are actually for stomach trouble) the day before, hoping that it might kill any bacteria in my wound.  The doctor said that I should continue taking them and gave me more medicine, since I only had one more day's worth.  Then she had the nurse clean my wound and apply some medicated ointment.  Then they gave me several wound-cleaning sets that I could use over the course of the next few days to help along the healing of my wound.  Needless to say, I am fine now - all better.  It was definitely good to go to the clinic and validate that amputation would not be in my future. 

Then, true to form, I went out to meet up with my friends at a local bar called Crazy Buffalo.  Of course a little visit to the hospital wasn't going to keep me from saving babies.  Crazy Buffalo was across the street from another bar called Go Go Bar (also sometimes called Two Go Bar, although, I, being my nerdy self, would call it Go Squared Bar, if I had my way).  Both bars were on the backpacker's street, which meant that they pretty much only catered to foreigners.  As we approached the bar, representatives from both bars swarmed us and tried to get us to go to their bar by quoting special prices and deals on drinks and the like.  Basically, we were able to negotiate our way into these bars, which was a bizarre experience.  For no particular reason, we chose Crazy Buffalo -- I think because they offered free hookah, which appealed to the group.  Crazy Buffalo wasn't anything special.  Despite the fact that it was five stories, the second floor dance floor was empty, and decidedly unfun, so we ended up sitting on the ground level outside.  I think we were all pretty tired, because we decided to leave after only one drink.  Plus, the next morning was to be an early one, and none of us was interested in repeating another day of severe sleep deprivation.

The group at Crazy Buffalo

Child playing pool at Crazy Buffalo - and he was good!

The next day, we headed out to the Cu Chi tunnels, the famous tunnels that the Viet Cong ("VC") dug and used during the Vietnam War.  For those who might not know, the VC were guerilla fighters who pretended to support the Southern Vietnamese and the Americans by day but who were actually loyal to the Viet Minh ("VM")(the Northern Vietnamese Army), and would therefore attack the Southern Vietnamese Army and the Americans at night.  Our tour guide for the day was a Vietnam War Vet named Mr. Hai.  He fought for the Southern Vietnamese Army and also served as a translator for the US.  He had some very interesting stories to tell us as well as some interesting perspectives.  After he worked with the US, he was trained as an officer with the Southern Vietnamese Army, which meant that after the South fell to the North, he was sent to a reeducation camp for three years for some hardcore Communist brainwashing.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to fall under Communist rule after years of democracy.  The Northerners definitely treat the Southerners poorly, and there must be a lot of hostility towards the North amongst the Southern people, although it is veiled due to the heavy repercussions that arise out of any kind of slander of the Communist regime.  The Southerners continue to refer to Ho Chi Minh City as Saigon because the changing of the name symbolizes the city's fall to Communism.  In fact, the name of the city was changed because before Ho Chi Minh died (in 1969), he decreed that when the North won the war, they should change the name of the city from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City.  Uncle Ho - what a stand-up guy.  One thing that was particularly of interest, was that Mr. Hai didn't seem to have a solid understanding of why the US got involved in the war in the first place or why it evetually pulled out.  I think that Mr. Hai believes that the US got involved purely to help the Southern Vietnamese (as opposed to US involvement in order to halt the spread of Communism, i.e. fear of the domino effect), and although he understands that the US pulled out for political reasons, I'm not sure that he understands that it was mostly a result of the discontentment of US citizens that their soldiers were dying protecting a people and a region in which the US had no direct interests.  The South fell only a couple of years after the withdrawal of the US, and it is very clear that Mr. Hai was under the impression (probably the correct impression) that there is no way the North could have won if the US had stuck around.  Needless to say, it was a little awkward being an American on that bus ride.

Our guide - Mr. Hai

Once we arrived at the actual tunnels, we had to watch an informational video that was very Communist/propagandist; it referred to the Americans as "angry devil enemies," and it emphasized that heroes amongst the VM were defined by their ability to kill large numbers of Americans.  It was so blatant that it was ridiculous, but again, awkward to be an American.  Our guide then took us around the grounds above the tunnels.  Most had been destroyed by the incessant B-52 bombings in the area, but he showed us the size of the holes in the ground that marked the openings to the tunnels themselves.  They were tiny! (pictures to follow).

He showed us how to climb in and out of the tiny hole,
which was the entrance to the VC tunnels

Where did he go?

There he is!

And he got out in one piece!

We were also shown the kinds of traps that the VC set to ensnare the Americans and the Southern Vietnamese Army.  They were generally composed of a set of trap doors and involved long sharp spikes of various sorts.  Additionally, the VC would contaminate the spikes with feces in order to encourage infection in the wounds of American and Southern Vietnamese soldiers.  They were super terrifying and the concept is so unimaginable, but on the other hand, the VC were very resourceful and clever.  We, then, had the opportunity to crawl through a short section of the actual Cu Chi tunnels, which had been enlarged for tourists.  Now, I am not the biggest fan of small spaces.  I get freaked out when I have trouble getting a bathroom stall to open!  But I thought, well, maybe it won't be so bad.  I made sure I was the last person to go in (so that I could back myself out if necessary), and it became clear to me pretty much immediately that there was NO WAY I was going into that tiny airless tunnel!  I wasn't the only one who decided against it.  I figured elephants, kayaks, and motorbikes were enough new experiences for one trip! 

Spikey VC traps - Ouch!

Now, apparently during the war, the VC didn't have a lot of access to food, since the Cu Chi area was constantly under threat of bombings and the vegetation and supplies were scarce.  So, they mostly survived by eating boiled tapioca root, which was more or less void of nutrition but at least filled their stomachs and dulled hunger pangs.  We got to try some of the boiled tapioca root, and let me tell you, I wouldn't want to survive on that stuff for even one meal! The taste is pretty bland, and it's kind of sticky, which accounts for how it gives a sense of fullness.  It is nothing like the delicious tapioca balls in bubble milk tea (yum!).

At some time over the course of this day, Pong introduced another Pong-tour-specific-tradition: the Pong salute.  This is basically a reverse military salute.  So, take your right hand and hold it up to your face as if in a normal salute.  Then, move your hand across your face to the other side (the left side) and reverse your hand (swing it 180 degrees in a clockwise direction - yes, I am referring to that ridiculously uncomfortable position that you now find yourself in), and that is the Pong Salute.  Now, imagine holding it while your guide takes tons of pictures. Exactly.  And another thing... At the end of every explanation that Pong ever gave...or really any conversation in which he was involved, he always ended with "my name is Pong."  An example: "So, the North Vietnamese won the war, but the people in the South aren't super happy about it because before they were a democracy and now they are under Communist rule...blah blah blah...and now the Communists oppress the Southern people but they can't do anything about it for fear of retribution. Okay, so now I will let you sleep. My name is Pong."  You get the picture.
 

PONG SALUTE! Is this what you were imagining?

Once we got back into the city, we went to Pho 2000 for lunch.  Now, thanks to SS, I love pho.  But I didn't discover this until only a few months before I left DC (where I lived less than a mile from an awesome pho joint!), and I had only managed to have it once in Vietnam, mostly because chicken pho is a little harder to come by than beef pho (which I won't eat).  Well, Pho 2000 is famous because when President Clinton visited Vietnam after resuming diplomatic relations with the country for the first time after the Vietnam War, he ate pho at Pho 2000.  So, there are pictures of him plastered all along the walls.  Additionally, the pho was AMAZING. Oh man. I could eat that stuff all day every day.  For those of you who may not be familiar with the gloriousness that is pho, it is basically a chicken (or beef) noodle soup.  The broth is pretty clear and the initial flavor is quite light.  But my favorite part is that you get all these awesome things to add to it so that you can flavor it exactly to your liking.  These toppings include bean sprouts (so amazingly delicious!), hot sauce (an absolute necessity), lime, a dark, sweet sauce that is similar in flavor to plum or hoisin sauce, cilantro, and sometimes even basil.  I pretty much add everything so that my soup ends up spicy and rich in flavor.  If you've never had it, you need to go get one right now. Actually right this second.  I'll even give you permission to stop reading the blog, go grab some soup, and then resume reading.
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Okay, great. Ready? Let's go.  I also ordered a red bean drink that was sweet, icey, and delicious.  I've pretty much craved red bean 24/7 since returning from China, so that was a nice treat.

Self-explanatory

 
After lunch, a few of us decided to go to the War Remnants Museum -- basically a museum of the Vietnam War, put together by the Vietnamese Communist government. So, you can probably guess what it was like.  First of all, our cab could not find the museum! I mean, it's not like we were trying to find some obscure shop that only two people had ever tried to find before.  The museum is more akin to the Holocaust Museum in DC.  In short, the cabbie should have known where he was going.  When we decided that we were close enough, we hopped out of the cab (which basically cost one US dollar, and then that was split between 5 people!) and walked the rest of the way.  The museum itself was nothing short of horrifying.  It seems as if the concept of visual sensitivity that we have in the states doesn't exist in Vietnam.  As a result, the images were quite harrowing.  There were entire rooms dedicated to the after-effects of the use of Agent Orange, which are horrific.  Furthermore, there was photo documentation of the torture that went on during the war.  Of course, all of the images depicted Americans torturing VM soldiers.  Now, I am clearly aware that this museum depicted a wholly one-sided representation of the war, but it was still difficult to swallow.  Furthermore, it's clear to me that the atrocities displayed in that museum were not specific to the Vietnam War.  In actuality, the museum was simply depicting accurate representations of war itself, to which we are not privy in the US out of consideration for, what I assume, is human decency.  Needless to say, I left the museum feel depressed and downtrodden, but I did manage to learn a few new things during my tour of the museum as well.



First of all, in school, I remember learning about the intense protests against the war that went on in the states, but I never realized how anti-war protests had spanned the globe.  This museum documents intense protests in countries all over the world.  Furthermore, I was kind of shocked, in general, at how little other people on my tour seemed to know about the Vietnam War and Vietnam in general.  Aside from the four of us Americans, it seemed like many people were clueless about what kinds of foods could be found in Vietnam, what Vietnam was known for, the colonial history, the communist history, none of it.  Now, I know some of this is because certain things, such as the Vietnam War is a very US-centric topic that would probably only be addressed in schools in the US and in Vietnam.  Furthermore, because the US has such a diverse population, we have more exposure to different cultures and cuisines.  Still, I had never realized just how vast the difference would be.  Finally, I figure some of it might have had to do with myself as an invidivual.  I'm generally pretty fascinated by all things Asian and can't help but try to learn as much as possible.  But it was weird to feel as if I was one of the people on the tour group with the most knowledge of Vietnam, when I felt that my knowledge was actually very limited.  That's another thing that I loved about this tour; it was so much fun to interact with people from different cultures and learn about all of the differences that exist even between the US and Europe.  I actually ended up spending most of my time with the Europeans, and I had an absolute ball!

That night was our last night together as a group.  In the morning, Natasha, Felipe, Matteo, and I would leave the group; four others would take our place and the entire group would continue through Cambodia and end in Bangkok.  For our last night together, we decided to all don the fancy clothes we had made in Hoi An and go out for a fancy dinner.  It was a super cute idea and fantastic to see all the guys looking quite dapper in their suits, and all the girls looking pretty in their dresses.  Too bad the newbies had to feel left out in their backpacking clothes. Lol.  Once again, the cabs had a hard time finding the restaurant (even though it was inside a big Saigon hotel!), so that seemed to be a theme in Saigon.  I don't understand how you can be a cabbie in a city and not know where anything is. The food at the restaurant was great, but the service was terrible.  Oh well, you can't have it all.  We all returned to our hotel after dinner to change back into normal-ish clothes and then went out for our "last night out" together -- last chance to save Vietnamese babies.  This time we opted for Go Squared.  It was, again, pretty mediocre.  But it was nice to just enjoy the night and chat with my new friends who I would soon part with.  We left sometime around 1:30am, and Natasha and I said our goodbyes to everybody before heading back to our room, where we frantically packed, were in bed by 2:30am, and then up at 5:30am to grab breakfast and head to the airport.  Pong met us for breakfast and helped us get a cab.  As it turns out, the airport is the one place that Saigon cabbies seem to know, so we had no trouble getting to the airport.  

I think they were trying to dance?

View from the restaurant rooftop

View from the restaurant rooftop

Felipe at Go Squared - 'Nuff said.

In the end, I was sad to leave Vietnam and my new friends.  It was definitely the best trip I've ever taken (and here's a shoutout to Gap Adventures, the tour company that I used -- if you ever want to hop on a tour of anywhere, they were awesome!).  Although I felt sad about leaving my friends, and a little as if they were leaving me behind since most of them were continuing on together for another week through Cambodia, I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of Vietnam and ready to shift gears.  And shift gears I did!  The next two weeks would be a phenomenal experience that allowed me to learn about my heritage in a way I was never able to before. Over and Out!

-- Priya/Pri/P/Preesh/Pixi/LPJ/P-Money/Baibiya  

A Hop, Skip, and a Jump to Hoi An

The morning after my birthday festivities was a bit rough since no one had slept for more than three hours.  On the other hand, since everyone felt terrible, it wasn't so bad because we could all commiserate!  And we had a long bus ride from Hue to Hoi An, on which we all planned to sleep.  That didn't actually happen.  First of all, as we ventured south through Vietnam, the size of our buses steadily decreased.  I'm pretty sure that the bus that we rode in from Hue to Hoi An was the smallest bus ever made.  Which made for uncomfortable sleeping conditions.  Hoi An is close to Danang, which is the third largest city in Vietnam, after Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi.  On our way to Hoi An, we passed through the mountains and stopped at a former Viet Cong bunker.  The bunker had amazing views of some of Vietnam's gorgeous beaches, and it was nice to get out and stretch our legs.  Once we got back on the bus, Pong was unstoppable on the bus microphone.  I'm pretty sure he talked for two hours straight, sometimes saying things of substance (for example, his view of the Vietnamese Communist regime), and at other times babbling nonsense.  It was hysterical, but also exhausting because it prevented any of us from getting any sleep!  Because his English isn't very good, he has a hard time pronouncing the word "fish."  Well, one of his former tour members taught him to say fish slowly while shaking his head back and forth, as if it was a fish that was swimming.  Absolutely hilarious.

VC Bunker near Danang

View of Danang Beach

VC bunker near Danang

Yes, those are bullet holes!

Silvan and Daniel were trying to look cool - not sure they succeeded?

After we arrived at the hotel in Hoi An, we went into town to grab a late lunch.  Our hotel was on a little island across a bridge from the town itself, and to get to the restaurant we had to walk through the local market.  Now, normally I'm all for walking through local markets because you generally see some pretty cool things and have great photo opportunities.  Well, not this market. It was pretty gross, actually, and it was covered with tarps that were, at times so low that I had to bend over double to get through.  And people drove their motorbikes through the market. No joke. Through the very tiny spaces available for walking, and the lack of available head room.  It was pretty awful. To make things worse, they were selling raw meat right next to the fresh produce! Talk about health hazard.  I tried not to think about the fact that all the food I would be eating over the next three days had come from that market!  Lunch itself wasn't great. I had eggplant, which turned to be green, and therefore quite bitter, although it wasn't a huge deal since our late lunch was only a few hours before we planned to eat dinner. After lunch, Pong took me to try and find some medicine for my kayak-inflicted wound.  Unfortunately, the combination of swimming, motorbiking (lots of dust), and excessive dancing had resulted in a swollen and painful foot, and I had no doubt that my wound had become infected.  Of course, since Hoi An was quite a small town, it was not a good place to go to the doctor, and so instead I tried to go to the pharmacy to get some antibacterial cream. I was quite dubious of what I ended up buying and instead elected to use a different ointment that one of my friends had given me the night before.  Unfortunately, although I didn't really let the injury get in the way of my trip, it definitely put a damper on things.

Hoi An is such a charming little town.

Boat on the river that runs through Hoi An

Before dinner, a bunch of us decided to go and get massages.  I elected for an 80 minute herbal massage, which was a normal massage, with an additional herbal rub.  It was pretty amazing, and only 25 bucks!  There were 8 of us that went together to get massages, and they split us into two different rooms (three in one and five in the other).  What we didn't realize was that the rooms would be coed. So, as soon as four of us girls got undressed and settled in our room, they let Silvan in too!  I think he probably felt super awkward about it, but I guess that's how things go in Hoi An!  The massage prepared all of us (who were still exhausted) to eat a quick dinner and then head back to the hotel and crash. Needless to say, no babies were saved that night.

The next morning, my roommate Natasha and I decided to sleep in to try and recover from all of the excitement, and didn't end up heading into town until around noon.  We grabbed some breakfast and coffee and then headed off to find a tailor.  Hoi An is known for its tailors and cobblers.  The town (which is tiny) has over 300 tailors!  We went to An tailor, which Pong had recommended, and flipped through countless magazines and catalogues looking for dresses that we liked.  These tailors are amazing. You can give them a picture of anything and they can reproduce it for you in 24 hours, sometimes less, for super reasonable prices.  Natasha and I each selected different looking black dresses.  The one she picked happened to be shown on Halle Berry.  The one I chose happened to be shown on Jennifer Aniston.  We also altered the dress designs slightly according to what we wanted.  It's actually really hard to design a dress and to decide how long it should be and where the sash should go or how thick the straps should be, etc.  Thank goodness the tailors were super helpful and gave us great suggestions.  My dress is a halter dress made out of black silk with a drapey cowl neck type top and an A-line skirt.  The tailors took my measurements and had it ready for me to try on the next morning.  I only had a few adjustments to the top, which they took care of on the spot, and then it was done.  And it only cost 50 bucks! Natasha's dress was more form-fitting and therefore required that we return a couple more times for fittings, but both dresses turned out really well.

After the tailor, I went to get shoes made (duh).  As many of you may know, I have a shoe problem (just ask Kate), and so naturally I needed more shoes.  And I had them made especially for me.  I got one pair of suede moccassin-like boots (which I can't find in the right style in my size in the States), and then a simple pair of black flats.  The shoes were a little more expensive, since I chose nice leather, but it was totally worth it.  It's a cool experience to be able to choose exactly how high your boots rise up your leg, and to get the right toe shape to avoid discomfort.  My shoes, again, were ready the next evening, and after I tried them on to ensure the right fit, they had them delivered to my hotel so that I wouldn't have to carry them around with me all night.

We had one epic night in Hoi An as well.  The evening began at 4:30pm.  Pong had told us about a beer particular to Hoi An called Bia Hoi (Bia means beer in Vietnamese, and Hoi is for Hoi An).  It only costs 5000 Vietnamese Dong (~25 cents in USD) for a glass. Crazy cheap.  So Pong said he would pay for all of the Bia Hoi that our group drank between 4:30pm and 7:30pm.  Natasha and I were right on time to start drinking, but the rest of the group had gone to the beach and didn't arrive until closer to 6pm.  Basically, we drank the restaurant out of Bia Hoi! We all started tallying beers on our arms, which was pretty hilarious, especially to see how quickly some of the guys caught up to me and Natasha, seeing as how we had started an hour and a half earlier!  The restaurant tried to get more Bia Hoi for us, but since that night happened to be the night of the Full Moon, it is customary that the roads in downtown Hoi An are shut down for all motor vehicles, and as a result, the motorbike carrying our beer was barred from reaching the restaurant! Bummer.  The Full Moon festival itself was kind of cool.  All of the shops and restaurants turned off the lights, and only candelight was allowed.  Then, vendors sold candles that you could float down the river.  It was pretty cool to see.

Our lantern once they turned out the lights.

In the restaurant after lights out.

Our fearless leader, Pong! His bandanna was actually a gift from one of his groups.
It is embroidered with the following: Save the Babies

Natasha and I were the first to arrive! We had a head start saving babies!

Woman selling lanterns for the full moon.

The moon is hiding.

Full moon celebration in downtown Hoi An

Me and German Daniel at the beginning of our epic night...

After we moved onto another bar that still had Bia Hoi available, Pong taught us a drinking game and insisted that we play it. It consisted of clucking like chickens. A LOT. And really loud. So that everyone around us thought we were crazy. P-Caaaaaahck. P-Caaaaaaahck. Something like that. If you're curious, I'll teach you one day.

We then experienced, what appears to be the norm for large groups of tourists, in Hoi An.  Representatives from different bars come by your table and try to lure you to their bar with drink specials.  They also offer to drive you there on the back of their motorbikes for free.  So naturally we did this.  And because there were so many of us, we had to hop onto the backs of these bikes two at a time, which is kind of scary and generally uncomfortable!  The first two bars we hit were pretty mediocre, and the drinks were weak and unappetizing.  However, we were told that there would be a Full Moon Party on the beach at 1am.  So, we hired the motorbikes that had been driving us around all night to take us out to the beach. When we got there, it was not actually a Full Moon Party, but rather a bar on the beach, which was still lots of fun.  We did a lot of dancing and drinking, and some of the braver members of our group went skinny dipping in the ocean.  I stayed on shore, electing only to dip my feet into the water, which was much cooler and nicer than the beach water that I experienced in Thailand.  When we were ready to leave, I couldn't find Natasha.  She seemed to have disappeared with another of our group members, so even though I felt terrible leaving her behind, we all returned to the hotel without them.  Felipe (Colombian) decided to stay behind but sent his shoes home with me in my backpack (I still don't understand why he did this).  We got home around 3:30am. He didn't get home until 8am that morning! Natasha showed up about 45 minutes after I got home.  But she had left her backpack on the beach unattended and had all of her money stolen.  Not smart, is all I can say about that.  By the end of the night, I had 17 strikes on my arm.  That's a record for me, although I will also add that the beer couldn't have been more than 3 percent alcohol, each glass was probably only 8 ounces, and I was drinking over the course of 10 hours or so. But still. That's a pretty big number for me.  And it wasn't just me! I'm pretty sure Natasha made it to 17 too! I don't even want to think about what number some of the boys got to!

So this was epic night number two in Vietnam, and as I have said before, none of us were ever really able to recover.  We just kept getting more and more tired as the days went on, although never too tired to have a good time.  And it was an amazing time.

The day after this epic night, I spend the majority of the afternoon in a coffee shop in town, just relaxing, writing postcards, chatting with friends, and journaling.  By the end of the afternoon, I was shocked to discover that my entire foot had swollen up to an incredible size, which led me to start freaking out a little. Well actually more than a little.  That was when I decided that upon arrival in Saigon the next day, I would absolutely have to hit up the international clinic.  The next morning, we got up, packed, and drove to Danang for our flight to Saigon. Over and out.

-- Priya/Pri/P/Preesh/Pixi/LPJ/P-Money/Baibiya