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Published: February 8th 2008
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Firstly I'd like to clear up the issue with the blogs arriving in your inboxes out of order, it is because they have been written out of order. We have decided to take each topic/destination to write about alternately. I am ahead of Stuey by about 2 blogs I think, although he is catching up today......Although his blogs make compelling reading, mine are much shorter (informative but not beautiful! Powells) therefore I am able to write them quicker. And (start of a sentence...) to all of you who are teachers, and those of you who just know everything....well who cares? about grammar and spelling, as long as you understand what we mean and its fun to read. So here goes.
We took an overnight bus from Hoi An to Danang. It took about 12 hours +3 hours for delays. These buses have beds of sorts, although really they are reclining seats that lie flat - ish. They are perfectly comfortable if you are less than 5ft 2in (lisa you would be fine!) but anything above Vietnamese height made for an uncomfortable ride. The toilet stops were interesting, they surpassed the train station experience by far. Thank you to Stu for
the graphic description. We experienced another unpleasant side to crazy Vietnam driving. We awoke at around 5am as the bus had come to a standstill. We had arrived in the aftermath of a terrible crash. 2 buses, and probably some mopeds. It must have been bad judging by all the debris and people standing around. Anyway the bus was ushered on by the police. Next time we will take the train.
We arrived later than planned in Nha Trang and at last it was sunny and hot. Yeah! We booked into the Perfume Grass Inn for $15 a night, for 2 nights. They wouldn't allow us to stay over Tet, so after booking in we had to find another hotel for the 3 days of Tet. The prices for everything goes up at this time, so the next hotel cost us $25 a night - the Trinh Luch. The Perfume Inn was lovely, high ceilings, old fashioned heavy furniture +ceiling fans. We explored the beach which was across the road. Long and sandy with green water ( a little polluted, but better that Wales!!) Nha Trang is generally more expensive and has a more western feel to it. It
is a holiday resort for travellers and Vietnamese, so the place is full of shops, restaurants, hotels. It has been good to just relax here for a few days. We also found a great place to eat, the Cyclo Cafe, our favourites so far being marinated beef BBQ at the table , and chicken and coconut curry served in the coconut, which arrives flaming! We have photos, but we picked up a virus on our memory stick in Hanoi and we are a bit cautious about where we download photos now + its really slow.
Another thing of note, whether you eat in a street cafe or restaurant, or whether you buy from shops or hawkers, everything is to be haggled over. There are 2 prices to everything, Vietnamese and Western, but it all adds to the experience I guess.
We hired a moped for a day, Stu's middle name is now 'Evil'. I rode pillion, and closed my eyes a lot. It was loads of fun especially when we got lost in the backstreets of a shanty town. We visited the giant white buddha (photos to follow) and the Tham Ba Pagoda. The best bit was just having
the freedom to ride around. I will never make fun of Matt again for his moped!
Max riders on 1 moped: 4 Vienamese (more if they are children!)
Strangest item carried on a moped: 1. A cow ( I hope it was dead but I am not sure....) 2. A mattress - double.
The second hotel was also very good. We were on the 5th floor and had a balcony with great views over the city and countryside. It's been really good to have some sun and to relax before we hit the road again. The people in the south are very different to the north, definitely less serious and easy going. The food is better here, they use more spices (perhaps too much Chinese influence in the north, do you think Mum?).
Daddy O - kayaking was fine...blog fine as long as we can find an internet cafe. Stu has been surfing see other blog.
Anyway, we are due to leave on Saturday after Tet, another overnight train....to Saigon.
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