5-day weekends?

Just received my teaching schedule. I work Tuesday mornings and afternoons, and Wednesday mornings and afternoons. The rest of the week is mine to do with as I please. (Granted, more responsibilities will arise over the course of the year, as I begin to participate in the English club and put on American holiday parties - two of the requests from the University here)

Therefore, I have the longest weekend that I could possibly imagine, and plenty of free time to explore Ha Tinh Province, and also the rest of the country. I am constructing a list of destinations for me to hit with all this free time:

• Sa Pa
• Hanoi
• Ha Long Bay
• Hue
• Da Lat
• Da Nang
• Hoi An
• Saigon
• Nha Trang
• Phu Quoc
• Vinh

Of course the north-central regions (Vinh), Central Coast (Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang), and Central Highlands (Da Lat) are probably easiest/most reasonable for me to go to in terms of travel, but I am setting some lofty goals to hit all of these places, and even some places outside of the country. (Elephant sanctuary in Thailand? Yes please. Angkor Wat in Cambodia? Yeesssss. Motorbike trip through Laos? Okay!)

I think my first stop will be Vinh, as soon as my fellow Fulbrighter, Sasha, gets settled there. Then I'd like to visit another Fulbrighter, Maria, in Da Nang.

What a year I have ahead of me...