The BEACH!

Ok, People we decided at 4 pm to get the heck out of Ho Chin Min so we are on a 7:45 pm bus in about an hour on our way to the Beach of Nha Trang. We are both looking forward to reading and hanging out.

Currently our bellies are full of Pho. The food has been delicious here and we look forward to more to come. We (ok I...) ordered too much food tonight since I had not eaten all day and wanted to load up before we were sleeping on a bus. Suffering from some rebellious stomach Qi and food stagnation as I write this.

I made it to the Chinese section of town today (District 5) to see two last pagodas and hang out with the herbalists. It was great despite the fact that Wei had stood me up twice and I was waiting over an hour for him to take me today. I finally took an air-conditioned car which was exactly what I was supposed to do and got there in comfort and true safety. One of the Pagodas was a Taoist Pagoda...not too many of these around as the entire Taoist population of Ho Chi Min is reported as being around less than 6000. It was amazing. The depiction of the Five Elements was right on and interesting. Then I made my way over to the Tom Sam something something pagoda that is known to be the pagoda that women go to when they are trying to conceive and also it is known for Mothers and children. I spent a long time here today lighting bundles of incense for friends, patients...maybe even myself. There were not that many people at this pagoda which made me think that maybe fertility is more of a western issue....still, I appreciated the quiet and peaceful space to be able to pray.

Once back on the street my nose easily lead me to the herb section which was more than a block away. Smelled like a really well stocked herb room to me! So many huge bags of any kind of herb you wanted....plant or animal parts....no problem. I did not buy anything as I am certain a smelly bag at the LAX will only open me to scrutiny and I already have some items I have picked up that I want to keep and not surrender to an agent.

We are happy with the decision to move on and are really counting the days. We were booked on a 745 am bus and decided to go back to check to see if there was a night bus as we could easily get good sleep tomorrow on the beach and we should not waste valuable hours at this point. We are starting to worry about having enough time in Laos but I think we will be fine. Just costing a few things out at this point and I am looking to find a DHL stire to send a parcel back to America as my bag is already heavy. This does not include the bag I left in Bangkok either!

OK, more sometime tomorrow after we hit the beach. It is a 12 hour bus ride! But the busses in Vietnam are super sweet and cozy with air and a bathroom if you choose to be brave enough to enter one.

More later!

willandCODY