My Travels: Vietnam Part 6

I am very sad I don't have pictures from our second day in Nha Trang.  The reason for that is I got sick.  I started feeling sick the night before at dinner and that whole night and the next morning I was sooooo sick.  I still have no idea what it was that made me sick but I am so sad I got sick.  Jojo and her cousins went to a place where you lay in mud because it is good for your health.  Who wouldn't want to do that?

Jojo being the amazing friend that she is stopped at a drug store and talked to them about how I felt.  They gave her magic pills that made me feel good enough I could drive back with them that afternoon.  I had to get back because I needed to catch my flight back to Korea.  I am so glad that Jojo was there because she found out my symptoms and got me medication fast.  If I was alone I don't think I could have done it.

When we got back to Da Lat and we where dropping off her cousins one of their moms grows flowers and found out that Gerber Daisies where my favorite so she gave me these to thank me for letting her girls come with us.  I was so touched, it was so nice of her.  Really I should have thanked her for sharing her cute girls with me.

I was so sad to leave Jojo and her family, but at the same time I was also ready to head back to Korea.  Vietnam was the trip I needed to get out of my rut!

Oh and Jojo's mom gave me one of their traditional hats they wear while in the fields as a gift for visiting them.  It was so nice of her!

Thanks Jojo for being so wonderful to me and for taking your time to show me your beautiful country.

My Travels: Vietnam Part 5

The next day Jojo and I went to Nha Trang to go and visit the beach.  To get there Jojo hired us a driver who had a big enough car to take us and some of her cousins.  I was so excited to go to a beach.  When I moved to Korea I thought I packed a swimming suit but as I was packing for this trip I found out I was wrong.  I couldn't find one, so I ended up finding the biggest one I could in Korea and had to make do with it.

The drive from Da Lat to Nha Trang was absolutely beautiful!  Along the way the driver stopped because she knew a beautiful stop we had to take pictures at.  She said I was lucky because you can't see this from the road and no tour buses stop here.  I'm so glad we stopped there because it was beautiful.

Jojo and her cousins that came with us.

Exploring around the rocks.

A little later as we where driving I couldn't believe the view from the top of the mountain.  It was so beautiful I was so glad that we stopped so I could take pictures. 

When we got to Nha Trang the first thing we did was go to the beach.  We had so much fun at the beach and it was so beautiful.

I was so surprised when one of Jojo's cousins wrote this for me with out any help.  I was so impressed she remembered how to spell my name.  She saw it written once the day before.

Such a beautiful beach.  I haven't been to one this beautiful before.  I was in love.

After spending hours at the beach we got tired and went back to our hotel.  We had a yummy dinner, they ate fresh fish and I found me some pizza to eat.  The sad part was part way through dinner I started feeling sick and left the dinner to go lay down.

Our hotel didn't let you take your key when you leave, you give it to the front desk and they check your ID.  I told Jojo to stay with and eat I would be okay without her getting into the room.  I went to the front desk to get the key and the lady asked what room I was in.  She called the room and then told me no one was there.  I told her I know nobody is there it is my room.  The problem is she spoke very little English and I know NO Vietnamese.  Finally she pulled out the drawer that had our ID's and my passport.  I pointed to my passport and she opened it to the picture.  She asked 'Friend?'  I was like, no that is me.  Finally I took the passport from her and held the picture up to my face and said 'Same same' pointing from the picture to me.  In Korea I knew that would work and just my luck it also works in Vietnam.  She handed me the key and I was finally able to go lay down.

My Travels: Vietnam Part 4

After all our fun in Ho Chi Minh Jojo, her brother-in-law and I took a night bus back to Da Lat.  We left Ho Chi Minh at 11:30 and arrived in Da Lat around 4 a.m.  When I got back to Jojo's house I was so tired I slept in really late.  Jojo finally had to come wake me up.  It was Sunday and I didn't realize I had come during a very important day for them.  It was the anniversary of the death of Jojo's grandfather.  This is a very important day for the family, they have a big meal and remember the dead.  I know this is a very important day for families and I was worried I would be an inconvenience on the family.

Lucky for me Jojo has one of the most amazing families ever.  When her grandmother saw me she was so excited I came to the lunch.  She said it was an honor to have me there.  Everyone was so nice to me, all of Jojo's aunts, uncles and cousins.  After lunch her cousins wanted to show me some sights close to the house.

First we went to a church and there was a museum full of animals from the area.  

Me with Jojo's cousins at the museum.

Now Jojo with her cousins.

They where so excited I wanted to take a picture with them.

Outside in the store they sell plants to make money for the church.

Later in the afternoon Jojo took me around on her scooter.  She took me to this beautiful church.  She said this is the Chicken Church because it has a chicken at the top of the church.

The chicken on top of the cross.

The view of the valley from the church.

The inside of the church.

Next we went to the De Lat Market.  It was really crowded but I was fascinated by the buildings all around it.

To end the day we went to the lake and paddled around on the duck boats. 

It was a beautiful day to be out on the lake.  We got so tired we had a hard time to paddle back to return the boat because of a slight wind.

All in all I loved Da Lat, it is such a beautiful place to visit.  If all of the people in Vietnam are as nice as Jojo and her family then it is one of the nicest countries around.  I am so glad that I got the chance to visit.

My Travels: Vietnam Part 3

On my second day in Ho Chi Minh Jojo's cousin and her brother joined us.  Her brother and Jojo took most of the pictures so sadly they aren't in many pictures.

The first stop we went to was the War Remnants Museum.  On the outside there are a lot of airplanes and tanks left over from the war.  We had to take pictures with them.

Please don't run us over!

She has good aim so watch out.

I hope I can hit my mark ;)

We didn't stay for very long at the war museum because when we got inside it was full of anti-America pictures and news articles.  My friend Jojo was worried I was being offended so she said we should probably go to the next museum.

The next place we went to was the Ho Chi Minh Museum.

This is a picture of Vietnamese traditional clothes.    

Here is what they wear when they are getting married.

The amount of money that the brides family must pay to the grooms family.

Look at the happy couple.  Oh wait the groom doesn't look to sure that he wants to go on with this marriage.

Preparing the wedding.

Awesome masks that have been saved over the years.

We went to Chùa Phước Hải.  I'm not sure what the English name is.

  The first thing I loved about it was all the turtles it had.  The turtles have wishes written on their shells.

Taking a break and taking some pictures with random things we find.

We went to a mall and we where so excited because we found a store with Jojo's name, so we had to get a picture with it.

For dinner we meet up with Jojo's brothers friends and had the most amazing meal.  You start with a piece of rice paper and put a ton of different kinds of greens on it.

Then you add some meat that was grilled at your table.

You roll it up and then eat it.  It was one of my favorite things that I age there.

Having so much fun eating amazing food.

I wanted to get some video of all of the scooters at the intersections but it was too dangerous to do it while driving.  Jojo's brother stopped for me to take this to show how many scooters there where driving around.