So much time, not Dalat to do!

Ok, so DaLat was the latest city that Sara and I ventured off to in Vietnam. It is a cool, quiet, countryside-esque town - designed entirely by the French. There were flowers pots as round-a-bouts and people wearing puffy jackets (think Polo brand in the late 90s) because they were so "cold". It was definitely cooler than HCMC, but don't let the puffy jackets fool you, they were entirely unnecessary. Sara and I were under the impression that there was not much to do in DaLat except eat, get massages and sit in saunas. Well, turns out there is more, so much more. Apparently there are these beautiful waterfalls and pagodas that we kind of just missed. I know, we're lame. We had a great time anyway though - except for me getting a bad head cold - but other than that, DaLat was a relaxing, enjoyable time! Not convincing? Well, it actually was nice to just read and eat - a nice change from HCMC.

Oh Dang, Nha Trang!

Another week gone in Vietnam and another adventure had. Nha Trang was a beautiful, calm (well, calmer than HCMC) beach town. Think Vietnamese Santa Monica. My friend Sara and I left early Friday morning and arrived to a cooler, less humid, less noisy, and more spacious Vietnamese city. It was such a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of everyday life in HCMC. Another American girl, Elana, decided last minute to come along and arrived before we did. Our hotel was very quaint, comfortable and clean. But most importantly it had a gelato shop downstairs and rooftop bar.

Making Friends, Making Plans...

As most of you know, I found out about Vietnam right before I began studying for finals. This means I put pretty much zero thought into the fact that I was going to be in a foreign country for 6 weeks where I really had absolutely no point of reference in the language and knew no one. Everyone would ask me if I was nervous and I thought, "no way, just excited!" I might have been wrong to not be at least a little nervous. Because, as you've already read about, I went to DaNang and Hoi An right after I arrived in HCMC, I didn't really feel alone....quite yet. As the next week went by, I realized I had no friends, no one to travel with, eat with, shop with, get my cheap mani/pedis with. I'm not saying that I am Ms. Popular, however I've been known to have a friend or two under normal circumstances. HCMC was different. I didn't even know how to go about making friends because even if I learned to say "hello" in Vietnamese, that would be the extent of my conversational skills, and back I'd be at square one. As with all things, it got better. I began to meet some people at work. My vegetarian friend Joey from West Virginia became a good lunch buddy, Mimi from the VinaCapital Foundation showed me a great yoga studio (which I am now a proud member of), but finally Thao introduced me to my new travel buddy, another American law intern, Sara.

As Luck Would Have It...

It just so happened that the day before I was to start work was the day that my boss Thao was off to the Ocean Villas in Da Nang for a managers meeting for VinaCapital. It also just so happened that VinaCapital owns these villas and that there was an extra room...for yours truly. I wasn't going to be able to start work until Wednesday anyway, so Thao suggested I book a flight for the hour or so trip to Da Nang. We arrived at the villas just a couple hours after leaving busy, bustling Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

This is what the $1 million dollar 4 bedroom/4 bath villa looked like.

Vietnam, Day 1

I woke up early because Thao had class for his MBA program. We had breakfast at this adorable French cafe (whatever, they were a huge presence in Vietnam at one point so it's ALMOST like eating locally). Then Thao and I parted ways and I was off on my own for the very first time. I went to check out a couple of apartments and ended up finding one that was perfect. Then I took to wandering around the center of the city taking pictures, which I will post as soon as I can find a way to upload them onto my Mac. (For those of you who don't know or forgot, like me, Macs don't have a convenient memory card slot built in - and I forgot my USB cord.) I'll figure something out, don't panic. It's better this way anyway because it was my first day with this new camera and the pictures did NOT come out the way I had thought. I like to fancy myself a bit of a photographer, however, today my ego took a bit of a hit. The one good picture is of me (so clearly I didn't take it) in front of Notre Dame, the church in the center of town. A nice policewoman (and clearly professional photographer on the side) was nice enough to take it of me and not steal my, er Daich and Masako's, camera in the process. I considered asking her for some photography tips, then I remembered that the only way we were communicating was in slang sign language.

The center of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in front of the Notre Dame