No shit happens

It’s April 1st, Easter, April Fools Day and Tim and I’s 9th wedding Anniversary. Rough day emotionally with my thoughts. Tough when they don’t celebrate Easter. 

Happy Easter USA!

So, yesterday we tried finding out about getting some laundry done, need 24 hours to dry. Anyway couldn’t get them done so, When in Asia, do what the Asians do.... Hand wash and hang on the balcony. So, then we went and laid on the free beach chairs in the shade for awhile just relaxing and enjoying the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore. A Vietnamese girl named Bea, came up to us and started chatting and her English was pretty good. Telling us about her family and the coast/Typhoon etc. Most vendors are quite pushy, she was not. I think she really enjoyed talking to us as much as we did her.  Her "dream" is to work in a resort. She is persueing that dream. She Made a couple sales from us. I bought a black bracelet made of fishing line from her dads profession as fisherman. The 2 small beads are from Mango trees, the bigger green bead means "no shit happens"  and for luck. I prolly paid way too much for it but, 7$ to her is a lot! And I like it. My few bracelets I have silk, mango and rice :) pretty much sums up Vietnam :)So, here we are in bathing suits on the beach in 85 degrees and she’s all dressed for winter. Davina and I were getting knocked around by the waves.Had pizza for dinner and enough left for snack later. 

It is time to say "see you again soon" to Luann. She has a long 3 day journey to get back to the US. I’m gonna Miss her.

This is Thi (T) owner of our Homestay saying Bye to Luann. Now, I have to repack my backpack as Davina and I will continue on to Ho Chi Min (Saigon) very early tomorrow morning. 

Not always fun

After breakfast Luann realized that her flight from Vietnam to Bangkok was to the other airport, not the one she is flying out of to go home. The time she has was way too short to even attempt to get to the other airport. Not worth the risk of missing a international flight to the US so, we all got online and hunted for flights and fees to change etc sorry to say she has to buy another flight, and leave a night early And spend the night at the airport in Saigon. But, it could have been alot worse if she had realized this after she had gotten to the other airport. With little or no chance for redemption.
Then we walked n walked, halfway towards Ancient town, it was hot and I had sweat dripping from unmentionable places. In search of a ATM that would accept my card.. nope BUT We got our Vietnam Geocache!!!


We then decided to hail a taxi to the ATM we know worked. Success! The. He took us to the Silk village that we were in search of,  Turns out that we had to be on a tour to go thru. They were very sweet to us and got us a tour guide.


This tiny village has a spa resort built within it and was not at all what we had experienced in the other villages we have been too. A bit disappointing but interesting. Pretty neat how the process is. Very tedious work and takes a long time.


Taught us about the looms 

And the different types of silk 
silk worn cocoons


silkworms some are sleeping. They Sleep 1 day and eat for 3 days.

mating silk moths. They mate for 24 hours!!!


life cycle, they have to kill them before they become moths or the silk thread is ruined.

We decided to have dinner here at the restaurant. Pretty fancy to Vietnam standards.

I promise you I had rather go swimming in the lovely pool!!! I 

It was time to go so, we crossed the street for a taxi. There are none! Davina then hailed a Uber and as soon as she clicked it. It said car has arrived. We looked and he is sitting directly across the street from us!  A Uber from God

We got back to our homestay, Davina went to the beach, Luann took a nap, I sat on balcony enjoying the evening with my thoughts. All of a sudden our room door opened and a Chinaman was there. He had the wrong room but still freaky.
Luann woke up and Davina came back with chocolate ice cream and we spent some time on the next leg of our trip. Flight to Saigon and  4 nights at a Airbnb, 5 hour Bus to Phom Pehm Cambodia and a homestay for 1 night then a 7 hour bus to a Siem Reap homestay. Tedious work but Davina did transportation and I did the housing. We make it work!
I helped Luann pack her backpack for her long journey home and we did very well! We then talked for hours.
All in all, it’s been an ok day.

Lantern Festival

We ate breakfast and by lunchtime, we headed out for our day. We grabbed a taxi to Hoi An Ancient town. 

Hard at work! It costed 120 dong to enter ancient town.Locals getting ready for tonight’s events so pretty herelanterns everywhereWe had a great lunch, chicken wings and roasted veggies and I had coffee A Bride and Groom posing for their photographer.Husband Daycare! And seen a boat parade look out Pai Thailand !! You have a run for your money! 

Full moon Lantern festival My lantern Davina and I took a 20 minute boat ride on the river and lanterns in a Sampan boat for 2$. It was amazing !! pictures don’t do it justice (I did go pro most of the ride;) We each put a lantern in the water and made a wish or dedicated it to someone. Mine was to Ken-who told me about his adventures in Asia and peaked my interest 12 years ago. It was a  beautiful night with a soft beeze. Music and chatter in the background.

Street food for dinner.Making my personalized Vietnamese street art.Live Love Travel :) Lanterns, I am bringing 2 small (foldable to squeeze on backpack) lanterns home to hang on my RV awning. $7 each. There goes my budget again ! Haha

Did a little too much shopping today! But, I couldn’t pass up this bracelet with 1 tiny peice of rice, where I had them write Gypsy on it. 30 dong= $1.30 USD 

Several hours went by so fast. We ended our evening grabbed a Uber and headed back to our homestay and they were also in celebration of the full moon.Hoi An, Vietnam has definitely changed my perspective of Vietnam quite a bit. Giving my favorite place so far, Pai Thailand a run for its money!