Nha Trang- or "Yay, I have a title!"

God,I really can't understand why some computers here do cooperate and some don't. Oh well.
Anyway, I am in Nha Trang at the moment- a city which is famous for it's great beaches and water sports. I arrived here 2 days ago, after 13 hours on a bus (including a flat tire), and after arriving, it took me almost 3 hours to find a place to crash. It is that packed.
The beach is rather nice, though I must admit I liked Hoi An's beach much better,but the water here are clear, and lovely, and it is quite nice.
Yesterday morning I took a tour to the near by islands, along with two Israeli guys I met- I'm sure the tour could have been great, if only I wasn't THAT sea sick. It never happened to me before, but  it was rather windy, and like 5 or 6 people got sea sick. The scenery was amazing, and every time the boat wasn't moving it was very nice. We went Snorkeling and got to see some fish, and later a bunch of us just sat at the beach at one of the Islands. On the way back we stopped at the aquarium- and got a glimpse of some water creatures. All and all it was nice, but again- being nauseous did not leave such a great impression.
Today I decided to take a "day off"- just hang out, find a book to swap and chill. I went to see a great sculpture of a sitting Buddha- 25 meter tall. Tt wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be, but hey, I am not messing around with no Buddha.
anyway, that's it for now... tomorrow I will be heading toward Muy Ne- and I hope it will be good. Check out my photos!

You are not going to believe his, but guess what? I have uploaded photos! yay for me!
Enjoy:-)

And yet, another title-less post:-) It getting better and better...
So I am now in Hoi An, a small town by the river side and the ocean.
It is well famous for its tailors- there are over 200 tailors and clothes shops. I promised myself I won't cave in and get some stuff made- and of course, I failed miserably- I guess that's where my feminine side kick in. I am getting 3 pairs of pants, 3 skirts and a coat, and trust me- It's NOTHING compared to the wardrobes other people are getting. Insane!
Other than that, the town is pretty mellow- it has a nice "old town" thing going on by the riverside, where one can find restaurants, shops, and of course- lots and lots of tailors. I must say it is rather pretty.
Today I decided to check out the beach- oh man, what a beach. It is located about 3 KM from town, which I gladly biked to until I almost fainted from the heat, but it was so nice, and peaceful, and quite surprisingly uncrowded at all. I spent about an hour and a half- until it had to start raining... Yeah, Murphy is getting a real kick out of this one.
Also, I am glad to say that I finished "Lost In Translation" (nice, but not the best) and that I finally found someone to swap books with, and will be reading "The Kite Runner", which I must admit- I started once and never got to finish. So that's exciting! And I am such a geek. But who cares?
Tomorrow evening I will be heading toward Nha Trang- a good 12 hours bus ride.. But it should be amazing, so I am looking forward to it.
So, that sums up this addition of "My traveling- why would anyone care? I don't know, but what the hell".
Enjoy!
oh, yes- still no photos. sigh.

OK, first thing's first- I thought once I leave China my Blogspot issues will be over, but NNNOOO... I think the computers of the world are united against me. So that's why my last post looks the way it does, and why I cannot view other blogs (Doron, Alon, Erica, James etc.) as well as why there are no new photos (though I my camera is loaded) and why there is no title.
I have left Hanoi on Saturday and after what appeared to be a life time, though it was only 13 hours, I got here. On the way the driver stopped for fuel- then couldn't restart the engine and like 10 passengers had to push the bus to help him start. It really was funny.
Hue is a small town, located about 110 Km from the DMZ. They also have that annoying habit to hover around you with "you want hotel?" "you want food?"- but at least here they did realize I am female. so I guess that's a good development. I arrived at 8:00, obviously crashed for a few hours and then just wandered around, and today I went to the DMZ. The DMZ (DeMiliterzied Zone) is the 10KM strip that separated North Vietnam and South Vietnam until the war ended. It crosses the country from west to east- From the South China sea to the Lao border, and during the Vietnam war there were American forces located there.
I saw the famous Hi Chi Minh trail, which was heavily bombed during the war, and also the Vinh Moc tunnels- 3 levels of tunnels, hidden in the mountain by the coast, where Vietnamese villagers hid during the heavy bombing on their villages.  It's quite amazing- they have "family rooms"- holes on the main trail of the tunnel, tiny hole for 3-5 people. They also had a maternity room, where 17 babies were born in the time period of 6 years. There is also a crater in the forrest, which was created with the great help of a B52 bomb.
I think what made it most interesting for me was the fact that amongst the group there was a Vietnamese man who was a helicopter pilot during the war, it southern Vietnam. He later immigrated to the states and that was his first trip back there with his family- was very interesting.
Later I went to see the Dahkron bridge and the combat camp- they have American helicopters and a museum- some Vietnamese guy tried to sell me an American dog tag- how low can you go?
As said, I've get many photos, I am just waiting until the hostile electronic device forces will seas fire.
Tomorrow I am hopping back on the bus and heading toward Hoi An- also knows as the tailor town- there are more than 200 of them and you can get clothes especially made for ridiculous prices. Now that's going to be fun....
So this is it. Nothing witty or sarcastic this time. Sorry...

Hanoi- or "Hey mister, you want motorcycle"?

Yep, apparently I look like a man, or so the Vietnamese motor cycle riders thinks.
So yesterday and today I have appeared to be in every freakin museum in Hanoi- and there are quite a few, must I say. I went to the women's museum, which I am sure in nice, only it was renovated so only two exhibitions were opened, and then to the Hoa Lou prison- also known as "Hilton Hanoi". It was actually rather interesting to see- they have lots of stuff from the French period and from the American one- when the prison was used to imprison American pilots whose planes got knocked down by the Vietnamese.
Today I went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum- unbelievable security - they made me turn in my bag, as well as electronic devices- apparently the noise disturb Ho Chi Minh... just kidding. Actually I thought the entire concept was rather creepy but I have to say that it was impressive- though I read Ho Chi Minh himself asked to be cremated. And when you pass by, there are 4 guards making sure you are quiet, and of course- that he won't run away:-)
the Museum near by was weird. Wasn't entirely sure what the message was, but I found the exhibits quite interesting. To complete the the experience I later visited the Army museum. I must say that they have given it quite a lot of thought, locating the national flag tower right next to an exhibition of of Air crafts taken down from by Vietnam from the French and American periods.
Other than that I decided to skip Halong Bay and Sapa and tomorrow night I will be heading toward Hoa- on the open bus. Hopefully I will upload photos shortly..or not.

Gooooood Morning Vietnaaaaaaaam!!!

So predictable, but I was SO going to use this line. Actually, I think it's rather ironic for me to be in Vietnam on July 4th...Happy independence day all you Americans, by the way!
So here I am in Ha Noi- the capital of Vietnam, which after Beijing looks like a neighborhood.
Actually I had an awful experience on my way out of China- no one alerted me that liquids are prohibited on board- So all of my shower stuff- soap, toothpaste,body lotion and the brand-new-haven't-been-oponed shampoo and conditioner were confiscated by the security. man I was bummed. And they were extremely rude too...well, at least some security officer at the Beijing airport is going to have a real shower party now. The most ridicules thing was that I was given a bottle of water, and then the plane landed in Guanxou for a connection flight, I had to get off the plane and wait, and of course they confiscated my bottle by the time I wanted to go back. JEES!
But here I am, back to the tropical-so-damn-hot-and-humid-I-want-to-live-in-a-refrigirator weather. FUN!
I went exploring and wandering around. Serious flashbacks to the old city of Beer Sheva, only with cooler people. But I have to say it's nice and rather cool.
I am desperate for a book! I swapped Im Yesh Gan Eden yesterday for "Angles and Demons"- yet again- and finished it this morning. See, now that's when reading fast is bad! So I am stuck with an English copy of "Lost In Translation"- I just started it, but I don't really have any expectations. Though I must say it's a safe candidate for the "What the hell were they thinking when they translated it into Hebrew?" award- In Hebrew it's called "lLost in Tokyo". Man.
Anyway, more to come on my adventures (?) in Ha Noi.. but meanwhile Happy 4th of July all you Americans!

Last day in Beijing!

Which is actually today, seeing as I am leaving tomorrow.
Apparently, yesterday was Canada day. Now, under any other circumstances I would never have known that, but last night I was hanging out at the hostel with an American guy and a Canadian guy, and there was another Canadian girl there and they brought my attention to that fact- the best part was when they were slightly drunk and stood up, hand on their heart and sang loudly the national anthem of Canada. The second highlight of that night was hearing a Scottish guy saying, in what appeared to be Hebrew- "Sak ashachim gvinati masriach". For those of you who don't get that- you're better off that way. It was SO funny. There were Three Israelis there, and we cracked up. The dude was awfully proud of himself.
Today I went with a dutch guy named Juri (Yuri) to a local amusement park. They charge 5 Yuan admission, but apparently you have to pay for each ride... Chinese math.  Anyway I had a great time, we did really cool roller coaster, and seemed to be the only western people at the park.
Anyhow, tonight is my last night in China, so my next post is very likely to be from Vietnam. Hope all of you are doing good...