Marble Mountain

Finally I have some pictures for you! I haven't been able to upload pictures from my camera because I don't have the USB chord and I can't get another one in Vietnam. But I just uploaded all of Ben's pictures from his camera, so I'll post some up for you!

Anyway, I went to marble mountain two days ago, located just ten minutes away from our house in Da Nang. As you might have guessed, Marble mountain is a mountain made entirely of marble. Throughout the mountain are a series of caves, temples, sculptures, and amazing views of the surrounding area. It is surrounded by five other mountains, and each of the six mountains represents an element: water, wood, fire, air, metal, and earth. Marble Mountain represents water. Here is are some views from the top:










Our Vietnamese tour guide and I touching the belly of "Happy Buddha":




The "Gate to Heaven":




A Pagoda on top of the mountain:




Another Pagoda built into the mountain:




"Sleeping Woman Buddha"




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I think I'll use the rest of this post to show you some other pictures from other parts of our journey in Vietnam. Enjoy!

My house in Da Nang:




The living room leading into the kitchen:




View from our roof:




Me driving my motor bike down Monkey Mountain:




Monkey Mountain:




The cable guy installing our wifi:




A view from a cafe built over a river in Hoi An:




Da Nang from the air:



A view of Da Nang city from Monkey Mountain with the Buddha statue in the bottom left:




View of HCMC from a bar at the top of the Sheraton:




Mui Ne beach:




And last but not least, me in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City!!




That's all for now.. keep posted!

Hi Hue, Hi Hue.....

... it's off to Hue we go!

Yep, I didn't get the job with ILA, so we're moving to Hue! Apparently ILA was just accredited by some stupid organization in Australia that requires all of their teachers to have a special TEFL certificate- one that I don't have. On top of that, our land lord wants to sell the house we're living in regardless of our 6 month contract. We could give them hell for it, but instead, since we've already been in Da Nang for about 3 weeks without finding a worth while job, we're taking this opportunity to get back our rent money and move 3 hours north up to Hue. Ben's friends, currently teaching in Hue, are leaving their job August 5th, so our plan is to walk into the school on the 6th and take their jobs! The plan seems flawless, but I've learned that nothing is for certain in Vietnam...

So the plan is to tell the English Academy, where I'm "working" now, next Monday that we're leaving in one week. I think they will understand, they seem pretty down to earth. Although I'm disappointed to leave the beautiful beaches in Da Nang, Hue has a beach 15 or 20 minutes away, plus it's known as the cultural "hub" of Vietnam (not to mention also as having the best and cheapest food in the country). So we'll see how that works out!

Still job searching

Hello everyone. So I've been frantically looking for more full time job, and it seems as if my search might be coming to an end. I do have that one job with Da Nang University, but its very part time and doesn't really pay that well. The job with the golf course is even less hours and wont start for a few weeks. BUT, the other day I had an interview with a language school downtown called ILA Vietnam. The boss wants to hire me, but because ILA is a big international language training company, they only accept certain TEFL certificates, and of course mine is not one of them. But they are still trying to convince upper management to allow me to teach for them.

If it all works out, I'll have an AWESOME full time job with great benefits like health insurance, 30 days of paid leave, and a contract completion bonus. WOOO! But I'm trying not to get my hopes up...

Everything else is going pretty well here. I miss everyone back home.. and yes I was serious when I said that any visitors can stay in my house!! My plans today are to do laundry, go to the beach, and go the food market to get some groceries. Catch you all later.

Update on Da Nang

Hey everyone. I'm sorry for not writing in the past week, but it's been pretty busy and I don't yet have internet where I'm staying. So here is a quick update until I have more time to write:

Da Nang is AWESOME! It's even nicer than Mui Ne was.. the ocean is a deep aqua color, and warmer than any pool I've ever swam in. The past week I've been looking for jobs and been getting acquainted to the area. So far I think I have a job lined up at Da Nang University teaching English to upper-level college students and possibly another part-time job at a golf course next to the beach training the staff and management to speak English to customers. Both seem like great jobs, but I'd like to find one or two more just to fill up my time. I'm currently renting a pretty nice house two blocks from the beach, the one I mentioned previously. It does have a pool on the roof, but it's not in operating condition. The bedrooms and kitchen are really nice though, and if anyone would like to visit, we have extra rooms that you can stay in! Anyway... I'm in an internet cafe at the moment cause we haven't gotten wifi set up in our house yet, so I gotta go. I'll try to catch you up more within the next few days. See ya.

Off to De Nang tomorrow

Last night I had the best crab dinner. We went to our favorite restaurant just down the road from our guest house, and since it was our last dinner there before leaving for Da Nang, they threw in some free beers, my favorite water spinach salad with beef, and Ben's favorite tamarind sauce with fresh bread. And for the first time, we saw some other foreigners there. I don't remember her name, but I met this woman from NYC who is here on business, she is an international communications consultant. And she took my contact info for when she starts a project developing English training for Vietnamese companies. Woo!

So yea, I just bought my plane ticket today for Da Nang. Da Nang is only about 10 miles from Hue, where I have a possible part-time job starting towards the end of September. So the plan is to find a job in Da Nang and take the part-time job in Hue as well. Ben's friend living in Da Nang moved out of his house today, so we will hopefully move in there. It's two blocks from the beach, has five bedrooms, and is 4 or 5 floors! Oh, and there's a pool on the roof. Hell yea! It's supposedly only 600/month and an extra 60 for a housekeeper/cook. Hopefully it's not too good to be true.

I hear Da Nang has nice beaches, islands you can take a ferry to and go snorkeling, and amazing seafood. Hue is apparently also very cultural, laid back, and less touristy than Saigon. Anyway, my flight leaves tomorrow at 4pm, and I have to pack. See ya!