Phu Quoc and First Tet Party

Last weekend, Nikki and I celebrated MLK's legacy with our friends Samanthe and Liz on the island of Phu Quoc, off the southern coast of Vietnam near Cambodia. We stayed at the gorgeous Chen La Resort, which had a quiet little beach, an oceanside bean bag bar, and beautiful 2 story villas with private swimming pools. The first night we signed up for "nighttime squid fishing," which turned out to be awesome. We watched the sunset while buying fresh crabs from a floating aquaculture farm, tried our luck using a handline, and marveled at the random creatures the crew pulled from the deep (Nikki cuddled with an octopus that ended up biting her!). Dinner consisted of beer-boiled crab, squid porridge, and fresh lemon/mustard seasoned sea urchin, washed down with copious amounts of Tiger draft.  

The next day, Nikki and I got up early to check out Phu Quoc's marine life. The dive boat picked us up on the beach and we headed north into a pretty stiff headwind. While the visibility could have been a little better, we did see a nice big tuna, some pretty cool nudibranchs and other colorful invertebrates. We spent the rest of the day on the beach; we swam, read, wakeboarded, and puttered around in the resort's little laser sailboat (they had a hobbiecat too – which I nearly flipped the next day!). After enjoying a fantastic sunset sipping pina coladas in our beachside bean bag chairs, we headed to town and hit up the food stalls at the night market. Oh, how we love street food!

No trip to Phu Quoc would be complete without a visit to one of the islands famous fish sauce factories – so on our last day we hired a taxi and followed our noses to the site of one of the smelliest production processes around. For the uninitiated – fish sauce (or nuoc mam) is a classic (and I'd say delicious) Vietnamese condiment , which is made by packing tons of anchovies in salt and essentially letting them rot. We peered into the huge festering vats of soon-to-be sauce and even sampled the fresh stuff. Yummy. After a quick visit to a pearl farm, we headed back to the resort and soaked up some rays, before making our way back to the airport. It was a perfect long-weekend trip, and I've posted some more of our pictures on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/evanwfox/PhuQuoc#

While we were enjoying Phu Quoc, the rest of Ho Chi Minh City was gearing up for the lunar new year ("Tet"), which is February 3 this year. Every day more lights and decorations appear in the streets, as stores blast music ushering in the year of the cat. The consulate threw a big Tet party on Friday, with food, drinks, music and lots of performances. Like most of the staff, Nikki and I had traditional outfits made for the occasion, which consist of a dress-like tunic called an ao dai (pronounced "ow-yay"). While Nikki looks pretty good in one, I'm not sure I'll be incorporating the man-dress as a regular part of my wardrobe, though I did rock it for karaoke and at several bars later that night…

We are taking it relatively easy this weekend – brunch, massage, soccer, pilates at our new favorite yoga studio, and maybe some rock-climbing – and gearing up for a big trip to Thailand and Cambodia next week.

Happy New Year from Bali!

We just returned from 10 days in Bali, Indonesia for Christmas and New Years (and a much belated honeymoon!). Bali is known for art, diving, surfing, and a unique Hindu-influenced culture with amazing music, dance, and architecture. We tried to absorb as much as possible! Our itinerary included:

- 4 days in Ubud - relaxed artistic center amidst picturesque rice fields. We took a cooking class, drove a scooter to temples, and hiked Mt Batur (2 am wake up call!). We also enjoyed shopping in local markets and beautiful musical and dance performances.
- 4 days in Pemuteran - three days of scuba diving and one morning dolphin watching from a traditional boat. Visited local hot springs and one of the only buddhist monasteries on the island. Enjoyed a new years eve feast with dancing and traditional music and avoided blowing our hands off with local fireworks.
- 2 days in Seminyak - beach town on the south side with plenty of waves, international restaurants, and shopping. Lots of surfing for Evan, cute purchases for Nikki, and delicious food for both.

Thanks to Nikki's planning, we stayed in the most amazing hotels we have ever seen. Balinese-style places with big windows, outdoor showers, and in two cases, private swimming pools. Even our travel around the island was fun, and we made time to visit many temples, a clove/coffee plantation, stunning rice terraces, and some cool surf spots. The food was, of course, amazing and we enjoyed all the ginger, lemongrass, and chili infused dishes. We even learned how to make a few things during our cooking class in Ubud (a major highlight of the trip).

We had a wonderful, romantic, and overall super fun vacation and are already trying to figure out when we can get back!

Quick Holiday Update!

Wow it has been really busy! Apologies for only a quick update - we are on our way to the airport to enjoy Christmas and New Years in Bali!

I spent last week in the coastal city of Nha Trang helping to teach a training course for Vietnamese MPA managers. The course was put on by NOAA and I had a really great time getting to know all the participants and other instructors. I was able to share some of my experiences from MLPA in California and also practice my Vietnamese quite a bit. Every night I went out with some of my new Vietnamese friends and tried a different small food stall - these ranged from tiny tables on the street to the couches of living rooms. We had excellent Pho, Banh Xeo, and seafood. One evening, I played badminton with my friend Vy and learned that it can be a pretty competitive sport! I'm still sore. I also visited a couple of the local early morning fish markets to see what they were bringing in - Tuna, Gar, Marlin, as well as sharks and manta rays at the pelagic market, and every small fish you can imagine at the more local markets. At one market, some local fishermen rewarded my ability to speak Vietnamese with a fish - of course I was unable to refuse, so I took my little Christmas present back to the hotel and we had it for lunch. It was a fun week with many new friends (I even earned a nickname) and hopefully I'll be able to take part in similar trainings in the future! While I was teaching marine resource management in Nha Trang, Nikki was down south in Can Tho escorting some high level officials to talk with professors in the Mekong Delta about climate change. Though it was a great opportunity, it sounded exhausting! The good news is that it's looking like we will have the opportunity to collaborate on projects together in the future - fun! The next week, Nikki had a nice girls' weekend with several of her new friends - shopping, shoes, brunch, and mid-day sangria - the usual!

Holiday season here in Ho Chi Minh City is in full swing. All the stores are decorated with lights and nativity scenes (most of the nativity scenes are strangely in huge constructed caves). The consulate had a Christmas party last week with food, caroling performances, and of course Santa. I was both the MC and one of the 5 elves, so helped to dole out presents to 106 very excited children, many dressed like Santa themselves! Last night, Nikki and I went with the post language program to an area in the north part of the city that is famous for its decorations. There were soooo many people! The decorations definitely lived up to expectations - my favorite was sequin veiled Mary and baby Jesus under a disco ball. We sang carols in Vietnamese and English, had fun playing with the local kids, ate all kinds of street food, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Nikki and I came home to our decorated apartment (complete with a fake tree and stockings) and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas eve eve together opening presents. And this morning we are off to Bali! 

Happy Holidays to all our friends and family and hope you are well!!!