Hoi An and Back

Hoi An was amazing. I'm glad I went and cried at the airport so that they would let me come back to Ho Chi Minh. I had two full suits and a suit dress custom-made at Lana on Le Loi Street. The women were friendly and my tailor did a great job. You can and should definitely bargain with them. I paid $335 for my pieces, which I'm pretty happy about.

We had dinner at Morning Glory the first night and tried a few local dishes, including the white rose, spring rolls, cau lau, crispy tofu, and curry. Everything was delicious. The cook is stationed in the middle of the restaurant so you can watch her cook your meal (or you can just order a bottle of wine and drink instead). Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site so the town looks like it was frozen in time. There is a big market on Bach Dong Street where the locals sell anything from lettuce to key chains.

We stayed at the Hoi An Beach Resort, which is just about ten minutes out of the center of town. I would 100% recommend it and would definitely go back again. The ambience is excellent, the entire place clean, and the breakfast is soo good. There are about three pools (maybe more) on the resort and a private beach across the street. Breakfast and a free shuttle into town are included in your stay. I just loved it. Everyone was so helpful and nice.

Now I'm back in HCMC. I finally got to the Embassy and was able to obtain a temporary passport but now I have to worry about getting another visa. I just came back from Immigration and have to return on Friday (the day before I leave!) to go pick up my visa. I am hoping I don't have to pay again. This trip has gotten so expensive and I am getting so home sick. I miss my family and my boyfriend :( And of course my friends back home. I hope the rest of this stay will be less stressful. I just hope those thieves remember that karma is a bitch.

Ho Chi Minh City

I arrived in Vietnam on Friday. G and I explored the town a bit, buying some souvenirs and stopping in for some amazing pho and banh mi. It was a spot in the financial center but a lot of these places don't have names. There are a lot of open eating areas where you stop in and there are food stalls scattered throughout the space. Most of the food at these places are going to be delicious because that is where all the locals eat.

Yesterday I got my purse stolen from me, with my passport, credit cards, id, and about 5 million Vietnamese Dong inside. Two guys drove by in a scooter and the one on the back snatched my purse off my shoulder, literally breaking the chain. He then looked back and smiled. F-ing a-hole. I started hysterically crying but none of the locals knew what I was saying and no one chased him. We saw the guys drive into a parking lot of a cinema so we went inside. The lot was huge and there were a ton of people. I started speaking to whoever I could find and one lady who spoke English finally came to help me. She took me to the police station, where I filed a report but the police did nothing else. She then took me to the U.S. Embassy but they close on the weekends. Our flight to Da Nang airport (to Hoi An) was at 8 p.m. so I had to risk it and go to the aiport hoping they would let me on the flight.

Fortunately, I got on the flight and am now in Hoi An. My next obstacle is getting back to Ho Chi Minh, hoping they will let me on the flight from Da Nang. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that corruption does not get in the way.

Going out in Taipei

Last night was our first real night out in Taipei. We decided to go to Taipei 101 and check out Spark. That didn't happen. We went to Taipei 101 and bought six small bottles of Absolut and two club sodas. We then sat in the food court and drank our vodka while security stared at us. Feeling uncomfortable, we went outside and continued our drinking. After we were done, we decided to head to Spark. The club was closed until 1 a.m. because they were hosting some event and we didn't feel like paying hundreds of dollars for a table for just the two of us. We decided to go to Roxy 99 instead because I had read some review about it being free on Wednesdays. Also not true.

Roxy 99 is a bar with really bad American music and drunk Taiwanese guys who will send lemon drops over to you. Then these same guys will come up to you and call you names for drinking beer instead of the manly lemon drops they sent over. We took the (several) lemon drops and I pretended I didn't speak any Chinese. It's definitely entertaining but I would probably not go back. However, although entrance was no longer free, it was only $100 NTD, which included a free beer. 

Hungover, we woke up for our last day in Taiwan and went to Beitou Springs. We went to the only outdoor springs. Entrance is about $20 NTD and you can buy a towel for $50 NTD. There are three hot springs and two cold water pools. The place is filled with older people who soak in the springs for hours. I couldn't stay in one spring for more than 5 minutes so I kept going in and out. I also felt weird for wearing a bikini in front of old Taiwanese men. It was a cool experience though (the springs, not the bikini part), and you feel like you are far outside of the city, even though you're really only a few train stops away. 

If you walk up the main road you will also hit a small row of restaurants. We stopped in one of them for noodle soup. There are only a few to choose from so it's the one right next to the coffee shop. I'm going to miss Taiwan! Will be back soon. Off to Vietnam tomorrow!