Toot toot tooter on a vietnam scooter

Oh man Viet Nam is amazing!

So wed night we went for a nice vietnamese dinner at the markets and then Krista showed me "shoe street" filled with shoe vendors.. I will be back! We walked after dinner to Fanny's which is a cute ice cream shop, yum!

Thursday I went to work out at the gym and swam in the pool here.. lovely weather :)
Had a great dinner at home, then took my 1st scooter ride W/ krista and I riding on the same scooter, driven by Dung her personal driver..... lol... not like that, just that she uses the same guy each time so its easier, and nicer for him!
We went to Blue Gecko which turned out to be an Austrlian bar-cool.. but WAY too smokey :( Also lots of older american/canadian (white) men with young hot asian girls-very weird!
We met 2 french guys there to pay for the race on sat! Biked home and bed!

Friday I did gym and pool again but it rained :( Couldn't work out too hard either had to save energy for the race on sat. Friday night we walked to a quaint place for pizza... I had a chixken n rice bake thing, was yum! home and early to bed!

SATURDAY- The day I will NEVER forget :P

So we get up at 4:30am.... meet friends to take a cab to FV hospital to catch our bus, the bus then goes to another stop to pick up a fwe more people and we are on our way heading toward the BLACK VIRGIN MOUNTAIN for our race!
I asked Krista all about it of course cuz she did it last year....... she said I'd do fine and it took them 45 mins up the mountain and 1 hours down... so prob!
Ok so I am set... I can do this... have my water and my ipod ready for this "hike" race up the black mountain!
Krista goes running when we start... I knew she would, hence my ipod!
So it starts with MANY MANY stairs and it just keeps going and going... finally comes to a temple and I swear the asians there thought we were all CRAZY for racing up a mountain!
After the stairs and more stairs came rocks and more rocks... ya very steep trek up this mountain.... I was sweating to death and stopping to catch my breath, as i got higher n higher it got harder and harder!
The mountains elevation is 996 m (3,268 ft) at the top! Which took me 2.5 hours JUST to get to the top..... man I was hating krista as I climbed :P (not really but I was not ready for this)
On our way.. I sort of trekked with some fellow Canadians and we would stop n break together etc.... anyways there was like a line up at one point and so we asked wzup and they were waiting on a territorial MONKEY that was blocking the path (only way up) and looked a lil mean!
One girl was terrified and so I was offereing to go with her past the monkey and we'd be ok.... well she took off before me and so the girl in front of me goes and I follow and the monkey runs at us.... straight to her, right at her face... she screams and falls backwards on the hard rocks.. as the monkey is right in her face... I grab her hand and pull her my way as the sneaky monkey grabs her granola bar that is in her backpack!
She was fine.... she was just scared the monkey would scrath her face... thankfully he did not and he just wanted her food- whew!
Ok survived that... now just need to survive this mountain!!!
SO happy when I made it to the top.. we rested and took pics and enjoyed the view... no rush now :P
Prob stopped for 10-15 mins..then headed down.... which in its own way was very hard as well.
Hard on the knee and ankle joints as we stepped down this steep mountain on rocks and cement like stairs... very strenuous!
They had stopped a few times but my legs were like Jello and so I couldn't stop or it hurt more... so I just kept going... down down down, past american group, past engligh girl who monkey stole her granola bar, past a father and lil son.. ya kids were beating me on the way up!
I just kept going... following along the power lines and luckily the poles were numbered so I sort of new or hoped that the end was near!!!
Noticed the poles at 89 ish and went down to 1!!! Very steep way down! I got to the bottom and an organizer game me some more water and said the rest is about 1km flat land- HOORAY!
I trekked it, passed 2 french ladies on the last bit in!
MADE IT ALIVE!!! So proud of myself!
Got water and went to find Krista who had been done like an hour ago :P
She was proud of me too... and she had realized on her way up that it was HARD and that it tooker them 1hr 45 mins to get up last year not 45 mins....oopsie :P I still love her!
Shaky legs, we sat and ate lunch they made us!
Krista won 2nd female over all!! Cheritein (her roommate) got 3rd overall... I was just happy to finish! :)
Bus back to town.... you think we'd go home and crash but no.... we shower and head to dinner with Hang a Canadian teacher here as well. Beautiful dinner w/ wine and now we are ready for bed!
Sunday- Soooooooooooooooooo sore.. wow... every muscle hurts.
We went to swim at the pool and it rained...but wet is wet. then we got ready and headed to YOGA which Hang leads! Intense, and very hot in there... was great... we needed that stretch!
Ate dinner at the BLACK CAT (top 10 in the world) it was ok! We then met up with Kristas friend who used to teach with them at CIS (Canadian International School) for dessert!
Sore and ready for bed.

Monday(today for 15 more minutes) I slept in and then went on scooter with Dung for 4 hours.... he took me everywhere to see the city and its amazing to see it by scooter and be IN the organized chaos!
We saw a bike crash right in front of us and had to stop so we didn't run over the lady.... everyone was ok :)
I went to markets, museums, shops, and the independence palace! Such a GREAT experience to ride around Saigon and see the local culture! I bought a few fun things.... gifts :)
Home to work out and pool, read one of many books I have on the go!
Came back to upload pics to facebook etc.
Krista and I cooked a stir fry dinner then went to fivi mart to buy kettle corn and we watched Slum Dog Millionaire - the FIRST time to see it for both of us... crazy eh!

Life is good.... so thankful for these traveling opportunities... I def would not be in Viet Nam if Krista was not here.... amazing how things work out!
Her life here is busy and good... I am happy to join it for 10 days!
Lots planned for this week.... spa day, massage and more yoga! Shop for fun things and new shoes of course and even a lil INK surprise for fri night!!!

I LOVE LIFE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL SEESTOR TRISH!!! (tues) Much love to you today and always!

Cam on (thank you in vietnamese) bye bye