back to Vietnam and home again

Posted by Jef Stott / at 5:20 PM / /

Vietnam Part 2
Our ride back to Saigon was two bus rides long and took all day and all night but was very comfortable and well coordinated. We ended up back in district one in Saigon checked into our old hotel, booked our tickets for the next part of our trip and went to bed.
We left for the Central Highlands the next morning and after winding thru the mountains on a bus for several hours found ourselves in the cold somewhat dreary town of Dalat. I think every trip has it's lull and this was ours. Many people along the way had recommended this town saying it was "charming" and "quirky". Well that was a very sunny view of a very boring place. It was cold, raining, and moldy (kind of like SF!) and we could not wait to get out. We passed a day on a tour seeing some small agrarian villages, silk farms and a couple of fabulous pagodas along with a huge waterfall. All very nice but as we where running out of time we cut our plans and headed for the resort beach town of Nha Trang.
Good choice! After a lovely ride down the mountain we arrived back into the sunshine and the bright blue waters of the China Sea into a swanky little beach town. We got dropped of at one of the nicest hotels in the area and went straight to the seaside, swimming until the early evening in the warm water. It was Saturday night and all the families were out along the beach enjoying themselves.
We spent a few short days here which was highlighted by a day long boat trip for snorkeling , swimming and exploring several of the small islands in the bay. Perfect way to end the trip. The best part of this outing was after diving and a massive lunch on the boat, the crew picked up a bunch of old electric guitars, bass and plastic jug drums and totally jammed out! Hotel California in Vietnam on the boat, yes! And as if we could not get any better, a floating bar pulled up to the boat! The drummer of the band, a total bohemian guy in his 50's jumped over board with a case of sweet wine from Dalat and beckoned all of us into the water. We all jumped in and after several rounds of wine, got quite puckered. It seems the traditional phrase for "down the hatch" is Yo! and so as we were knocking back this really strong brew at the floating bar in the turquoise water we were shouting Yo!Yo!Yo! at the top of our lungs.
So fun!
Back in town found a really cool night club/ lounge with a British Dj spinning mellow house tracks. The drink special was a frozen Bellini and they went down easy.

As we prepared to leave town we discovered that the train tracks had been washed out in the recent rains and so all of the flights were booked so we ended up taking a new sleeper bus back to Saigon, which was cool and pretty funky. Rebecca slept well but I spent the night rolling along the highway saying goodnight to this fabulous country and plotting my return.
Flight back to Taiwan although in first class was super bumpy and pretty nerve wracking.

Last few days in Taiwan were very quiet, catching up on sleep and doing laundry and of course eating with the family.

And as if the Gods wanted to extract on last bit of adventure out of us, as we took off from Taipei airport a massive lightning storm surrounded our plane and stuck with us until we broke thru the clouds and settled into cruising altitude.

Home now, jet lagged and feeling the world outside my window is pretty flat in comparison to what we have been through. Slowly getting motivated to get back into the studio to finish up the new album, Grad school starts in a month etc...had a great weekend with friends who eased our transition (thanks to the Numi crew, Angelic Aromas and all the Ambisonic folks!)
Already planning the next big trip. Looking into Western China and the Xing Xang region- a frontier area where all of the Muslims in China are located as well as Lhasa and Tibet.
Perhaps Morocco, Egypt and Turkey again?
Who can say, all I know is I just want to turn right around and get out there again.

thanks for all the posts and support along the way. You are the best...
caio
Jef

photos up at
http://flickr.com/photos/jefstott/sets/