Vacation from Travel

Everyone thinks that what we're doing, living abroad, traveling, seeing the world, that it's the life. We're told pretty regularly how lucky we are. And it's true. We are lucky. And fortunate. And we are living an incredible life that most people only dream of! But even "the life" can get taxing and wear on you, so we decided it was time for a vacation.

What's the difference between our regular life and a vacation, you ask? You have no job, you go where you want, when you want, with little to no restriction or boundaries limiting you. So why, oh why, would you need a vacation from that?! That IS a vacation! 

Well, it sounds like one, yes, but truly, we are traveling, not vacationing, and travel takes a lot of work, energy, and effort some days. Some days it's exhausting, frustrating, or even miserable. Just like any one else's daily life. So just like anyone else, we too need to be able to just take a break and turn off. No stress over traffic, roads, where to stay, what food to order since we can't read the menu, or worse yet, there is only one thing to eat, all day, each meal. Just quiet, calm, no where to go, and not much to do. And we found just the place for it.

A little seaside area called Doc Let in southern Vietnam. There are a number of little resorts in the area; some expensive and exclusive, some for backpackers and partiers. We found a perfect little place aptly named Paradise Resort. Off the beaten path and drawing more of a laid back, yet economically aware crowd, Paradise is exactly that.

There are no tvs in any of the rooms. They serve three meals a day of more westernized food. There is an honesty board for beers and cokes. And we had a second story balcony over looking the sea. 

The number of guests rose and dipped but never reached an overwhelming amount, nor was it ever just Steve and I at any meal. 

We got to rest, relax, even out the tan lines from days of riding, swim in the ocean, meet some wonderful people and exchange travel tales and stories from life back home. We also talked a lot about what was to come with our travels and what we really wanted to do. What was supposed to be 3 or 4 nights effortlessly doubled into 8 before we finally paid our tab and said our goodbyes. 

From our balcony overlooking the beach and cozy property

Our balcony with sea view

One of the things we'd decided was next would be an open water certification course for Steve. Luckily for us, the nearest and cheapest location for diving was a no less than 30 miles from our beachside vacation spot in a place called Nha Trang. We had heard less than ideal things about the city: it's touristy, it's busy, it's tacky. We found these to be fairly true. But we had also heard that there was great western food to be had there at reasonable prices. This came as very happy news for us because eating pho or street noodles had really begun to wear our love of food down. 

Because SE Asia has loads of great places to dive, Steve decided to go on and get his advanced open water certification to increase his diving abilities as we move on to the coming countries. This, coupled with the desire to be somewhere with good food and nice drinks available to us on Christmas seemed like reason enough to stay in Nha Trang. 

Celebrating Christmas Eve at one of the many bars in town

In Nha Trang w/ friends we met at Paradise

So for Christmas eve we spent the morning diving in santa hats. And Christmas day was spent lounging around and eating a lovely steak and seafood dinner that would have easily cost us 70USD back home, but only cost us half that much here. We followed that up with drinks and dessert at a rooftop bar with Home Alone 2 on the television in the corner. Not a traditional Christmas, but then again, we haven't had a traditional holiday celebration in about 2 years, so this should come as no surprise to anyone! 

And though it's late, we hope that all of our friends and family had a wonderful Christmas holiday and are looking forward to the new year as much as Steve and I are. Happy holidays! And we'll be updating you in 2013!!

Steve, his instructor Phil, and Santa in the background

Christmas eve with Santa and Scuba Steve

 

Oh the Things We've Seen!

As is common with my blogging, it's been awhile. Oops. There are reasons for this, but I'll get into that later.

What you really want to know is where the heck are we and what in god's name have we been doing!?! Right? We're still in Vietnam, still riding the motorcycles, and have covered a lot of ground. And apart from a few close calls and one minor incident, we have made it from Hanoi to (not quite there yet) Ho Chi Minh (HCMC) with no major issues on or with the bikes. Once we arrive in HCMC, which is about a two days ride from where we are currently, we will sell the bikes and make our next move accordingly. 

Vietnam is a beautiful country, with varied scenery and picturesque landscapes. There are mountains, rivers, valleys, limestone karsts,  lakes, hills, waterfalls, palm trees, pine trees, super tall skinny trees, ferns, red dirt, brown dirt, no dirt because the vegetation was too thick to see it, fields, rice patties, farms, dirt roads, winding roads, straight shots, paved highways, unpaved-one-lane highways, road construction without warning, potholes, traffic, times when there was no one else coming or going for upwards of an hour. Riding in Vietnam is unlike riding anywhere else in the world. For such a small country, being about the size of New Mexico, it packs a lot of variety. The scenery can change as fast as from one mile to the next.

Riding in Vietnam has been a once in a life time kind of experience. Even if we did it again, it wouldn't be the same as the first time. 

Some may say what we deal with on a daily basis here is nuts! Buses passing on blind curves, people turning corners without looking, and potholes large enough to swallow a motorcycle whole! But we tell ourselves nearly every day how fortunate we are to be doing what we're doing. We may not be living the dream, but we're living our dream.