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Hey everyone!
Right now I'm in Ho Chi Minh city. Here is what we did and how I got here...
First we took a very unpopular dodgey boarder crossing from Northern Laos over to Hoi An. Basically in the middle of nowhere and we had EVERYTHING searched and had passports checked over and over, heavy interagation....EVENTUALLY they let us in.
We got to Hoi An which is my favorite city I have ever been to so far. Very beautiful, big lake right in the middle (the lake is famous in that the emperor, way back when had this sword given to him by god...he obviously dropped it in the lake but he came up with this story about this turtle fighting it off of him haha), very busy crazy streets, great vibe to it. The next day we set out with BIG PLANS we WERE goning learn a bit about the Vietnam war by going to all these crazy museums, and you can see Ho Chi Minh himself ...yes his dead body at one of them, and see a water puppet show, and go to this jazz club.........BUUUUUT we didn't do any of that in the end as we got lost....ended up late to the museums that closed at lunch...puppet show was sold out....but we did have a fun time cruising through this chaotic city! We even found 2.000 Dong Beer....which is about 50 cents Canadian.
The next day we set off on a tour to Halong Bay. This was a good trip but not great. We got in a boat and cruised around for 2 days in the sunshine, stopping off at some very over touristy caves, and a bit of kayaking. Was really beautiful scenory and water, and good was a good laugh with the people we met on the boat and jumping off the top deck into the ocean in the middle of the day was fantastic! Topped up on my tan a bit too...why not?
From Halong bay I set off to Hue. Hue is just a small town, not much in terms of things to do there...just stopping off here to do the Demilitarized Zone Tour. The tour was not the greatest...most of the time we just sat in a bus going from one place to the next. Was pretty cool to see some old War planes, tanks, helicopters and to learn bit more about the 17th parallel aka Demilitarized zone that divided the north from the south. We also visited these really cool war tunnels where the Vietnese would hide during bombings...Was good except for the fact that they were made for Vietnamese people and me being 6'2 ...well was a bit awkward crawling through them to say the least...ALSO didn't help that these dutch guys who told us before hand about shooting a cow with a bazooka in cambodia for 200 USD decided it would be a funny idea to turn off all the lights as they went in the caves...so not only did i not fit but I couldn't see.
The next stop on the list was Hoi An. Here is where it gets a bit more exciting. The story goes was that I put my rucksack WITH EVERYTHING THAT I OWN INSIDE OF IT...CLOTHES PASSPORT, BANK CARD EVERYTHING!!!! i put it into the cargo of the bus....bus drove down from Hue to Hoi An and when I got to Hoi An.....NO BAG!!!!!! The bus company phoned everyone they could trying to find it...but no luck! They paid for my accomadation and a free bus back to Hue to talk to the police...only after I demanded it from them they really werent helpfull but were nice people. Anyways get to Hue...no bag still!!!! Went to the police...police say we can't help you....then they tell me to go to such and such address...i go there....these places either turned out to
a. not exist.
b. just be a place where cops hang out and play pool or watch football matches
c. a place that sells clothes
So after trying and trying I gave up and headed back to Hoi An. Lucky for me in my other small bag I had all the survial kit i needed...I had my camera...a frisbee...a book...and a dancing baby vietnamese doll that sings and dances dressed up in full army gear holding weapons....Unfortunatly I gave it away because it was too big.
In Hoi An still no bag...bag is gone forever...
Luckily my friend could get money sent over from my parents through his bank account that should hopefully get me through the rest of my travels, and have arranged for a new passport.
Hoi An was a good time...first night we got there we met some mafia who took a real liking to me and Tom. They took us around the town, bought us drinks, food, admission, festivals, was a good laugh. Bit scary though because I wasn't sure what they REALLY wanted from us and he kept wanting to go through dark alleys towards a river which after seeing many films I know is a good place to dump a body...hmmm? It turned out that they were just nice mafia guys and we had a great time.
The next day we got up early...headed over to the beach for some amazing squid breakfast. Did some hard-core sun bathing. Then out of the blue this fisherman asks us to go into his fishing boat (if you imagine a bowl....but really big one that is what it is) We went out for an hour and we caught A GRAND TOTAL OF.............2 small fish and 2 useless crabs. Was really cool to see how they fish and it was a bit of hard work....bit of a shock to the system.
Since we were in Hoi An a town known for its cheap tailored shops and I had NO CLOTHES...i decided to get some cargo shorts tailor made for ....3 DOLLARS to go along nicley with my new communist t-shirts.
Next stop on the tour was a place called Nha Trang. Took a 12 hour bus, arrived at 6:30 am and had our scuba diving booked for 7 am...no time for rest!! The diving wasn't as good as what I did in Malaysia but I really love just breathing underwater and being in a nice calm, blissful, relaxed, worry free state of mind...that is until i got stung by a GREAT BIG JELLY FISH!!!! that stung for about half the day and later smelled of pee...
The last stop for me looks like Ho Chi Minh....arrived here to get my passport sorted out. The Embassy really wasn't very helpful at all. It basically cost me 270 USD for a new passport, a new vietnamese visa, and a temporary passport. which basically robbed me of most of the money I had. On top of that I realized that I can't afford to go to Cambodia any more which I was really looking forward too. On top of that I had to say good bye to my traveling buddy who was on a tight time schedule and wanted to see cambodia. So now I'm on my own for about 7 days, hopefully sooner just wasting time as I have very little money to do anything with, just waiting for my passport to get sorted and to get off to England ASAP! Shame the trip had to end this way but it has been amazing so far and smooth sailing up until this point.
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Mum
non-member comment
Will I recognize you??
Hi, Dan .... sounds like you've done a lot of sunbathing! You must be very, very tanned, you'll loose it in the U.K as it's raining there! The singing doll, was that for Dad? Always good to read your blogs :) now I can let everyone know you've posted more info :) Take care, hurry back to England .... then home ... chicken pie awaits your consumption :)))))) Love, Mum -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-