flashpackers

hola ninos, been a while since i rapped at ya.

cath and i are in hoi an, a beach town on the central coast of vietnam. we took a flight from saigon this afternoon. we're staying at a really nice place near the beach with a balcony overlooking a pool. quite a change of pace from last night, when we stayed at divey hostel. the room, $12/night, featured a double bed with bed spread, AC and little else. we had to ask for sheets - eesh. the location was really good, though crossing the streets of saigon was a leap of faith. scooters are like flies. you just start walking across the street at a steady, slow pace and have them swerve around you, hoping they don't hit you.

it took a few times to get used to it. cath and i nearly divorced after one street crossing. today, i was crossing easily back and forth as cath tried to take a picture of the scooters whizzing in front and back of me. the hotel staff and taxi drivers standing around got a big kick out of the stupid americans.

anyway, we decided to skip out of saigon after less than a day. we were getting pretty tired and the bustling city wasn't the place to relax. we opted against the 14 hr overnight bus for the (relatively) pricey 1 hr flight, leaving our backpacking brethren behind. it illustrates what cath and i have been doing since we got here - mixing the good life with a bit of the backpacker mentality. we fall into a breed of folks called "flashpackers" - backpackers with good jobs who take a break and travel for a few weeks.

i have a lot of respect for folks who can backpack around for months at a time - my sister and cousin amy, for instance. but there are times when it's great to hit the "easy button" and catch a flight, hire a taxi and stay at a real nice place on the beach. after all, it is our honeymoon ...

just don't tell the backpackers, they might look down on us :)

-- updated with a pic