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Published: January 4th 2008
Where did we last leave off? After the cramped and damp bus journey down south from Hue to Hoi An, we were curiously wondering whether the rain would follow us or not. Fortunately the streets were dry where the bus pulled up, so no wadding through knee high, smelly water, however, it start to spit 30 seconds later. Throughout the course of our stay in the city most notorious for flooding during the rainy season, it rained at least once every day, but the sun did came out to play more and more each day.
I was really impressed with this little city. It managed to survive reasonably undamaged from the horrors of war, so is the place that most represents what Vietnam used to look like before modern architectural designs and western influence. The old town is protected by security guards at night to ensure that it is respected and no damage will be done to the property, probably a wise idea considering the degree of drunken backpackers in the area. The walls are all painted yellow, and the streets are narrow. Cafes, restaurants and shops add colour to the lower halves of the buildings, making it an
extremely aesthetically pleasing place to look at.
The most noticeable thing about Hoi An though, is the sheer amount of tailors that there are dotted along the streets. Every other shop is a tailor, makes you wonder how they have enough business to stay open. Some are really expensive, where some are really cheap, and the price does not necessarily equal quality. We found a nice little place where the staff seemed really friendly, and I am glad with our choice. We just had to get more tailored clothes made, when in Rome. Since I have difficulty finding trousers that fit my short legs, and upon the first two pairs being perfect fits for me, I got another two pairs made, along with four long sleeved shirts. All kitted up for starting work when I get home now! I don't want to think of that right now though. When we went back for our first fittings is the first, and probably only time, that I have seen Chivo in a suit! The young girls were flirting with him too. The girls are the daughters in the family business, they run the shop form 8am until 9pm, as they
Cham Tower
My Son, Hoi An.speak really good English. They rest of the family are back at their house making the clothes, and the extended family even make tailor made shoes. The girls were trained at the age of 12 to make clothes. Just goes to show how important family is in Vietnam, to survive in business and life. No wonder that they flirt with all the single men that come into the shop either, if they have no time for friends and to meet a prospective husband. They probably expect that a western man will be able to save them from their hard working lives. Chivo has had many marriage proposals since we have been travelling.
The main actual attraction in Hoi An, other than the absorbing the amazing atmosphere, is the Cham temples of My Son. We took a trip out there. They are similar in style to the temples of Angkor Wat, but not to such a grand scale. Part of the ancient Kingdom of Champa, it was the most important Cham intellectual and religious center at it's height, and Vietnam's largest centre of Hinduism of past years. It is set in a valley surrounded by the Cat's Tooth Mountain,
In The Tailors
Hanh and Chivo, doesn't he look smart! Hoi An. and many small streams are scattered around it, making it very atmospheric amongst the clouds of rain. It became a religious site from the late 4th century, and was occupied until the 13th century. Most of the temples were dedicated to Champa Kings with associations to divinities, and were decorated accordingly. Shiva in particular was honoured, since he was regarded as the founder and protector of Champa dynasties. During the American war the Viet Cong used the area as a base, therefore, the Americans dropped many bombs there. As a result, the area was devastated and depopulated. Although archaeologists have found traces of 68 structures, only 25 survived the centuries of pillaging from the Chinese, Khmer and Vietnamese. Twenty structures avoided damage from the US bombs. It was interesting to look around, although very busy with large groups of tourists, which deterred from the fantasy of it.
You would have thought that we would have learnt our lessons before about the sleeper buses. This time, on the journey from Hoi An to Nha Trang, we got excited at the prospect of having prebooked the beds that we wanted, so we wouldn't have to face sharing the back section
next to a whole group of people. However, this time the bus didn't have a toilet, and the bus driver kept refusing to stop to let people have a piss, and when he finally did, it was just beside the side of the road and not at proper facilities. To top it off, they kept playing that awful music at random times during the journey, I even woke up to it at 4am. And what was even worse was the fact that the group of drivers were smoking on the bus, how rude. In the morning, the girl next to me discovered that her iPod had gone missing at some point through out the night, probably when one of the men in the driving group (what did they need four people for anyway, when only two of them actually drove?) was sleeping on the floor between the two beds. She fell asleep with it on her chest, which was a little silly anyway, he must have seen the opportunity to take it and indeed did so. This was confirmed by his act in the morning when she questioned the drivers about it, the bus stopped at a corner, and he
ran off into a crowd of people. I couldn't believe it. Lucky it was the last sleeper bus that I will ever have to get.
Nha Trang is a pleasant little place. Being right by the seaside, it is a very popular holiday spot for the Vietnamese and foreigners, so is very touristy. We really wanted to dive here, as a popular spot, however, the visibility was only 3-5meters. Even though we have dived in those conditions before, you really don't get to see much, so reluctantly decided that it was not worth spending the cash on. The beach was very nice, but far too many peddlers wanting you to buy something every five minutes.
We hired bicycles and cycled around the whole city pretty much. The first place we stopped at was the Oceanographic Institute, basically an aquarium and specimen room. Some of the tanks were a bit filthy, but there was a very wide selection of fish, some of which I have only seen on fish i.d cards before and have longed to see. Some of these were the Picasso and clown trigger fish and seahorses. Adam really enjoyed tapping on the glass of
the trigger fish tank and making them all defensive, as they are really viscous when they believe that their territory is being endangered, and we have never seen them this way in the wild, and thankfully so. The specimen room is filled with 60,000 dead specimens of sea life, mostly pickled in jars, but some stuffed. Didn't much like seeing that. They all look grey when they are dead, and I really dislike the look of uncooked dead fish.
We visited the Long Son Pagoda in the center of the city. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, cycling through the city, weaving in and out of the traffic. Sometimes I even overtook motorcycles! The pagoda was really well decorated with mosaics of dragons, constructed with ceramic tiles and glass. Constructed in the late 19th century, it still has resident monks and even a woman's quarter. At the top of the 152 steps going up the hill behind the pagoda, is a massive white statue of a Buddha. At 14 meters high it is visible from most places in the city.
On the outskirts of town is another example of Cham towers, built
between the 7th and 12th centuries. Initially used for Hindu worship, the Po Nager Cham Towers are still visited by Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhists to pray and make offerings. Extraordinary looking buildings, really makes me wonder how they managed to build such detailed constructions that long ago.
I found that the best things about Nha Trang were the quality of restaurants and the extremely happy hours in bars. There were too many excellent restaurants, and not enough time to eat in all of them, and we got completely slaughtered on about two pound fifty pence. Neither myself or Adam remember leaving the first bar, or being in the sailing club, luckily we got home!
Dalat was the next destination, 1475 meters above sea level. We have had some scorching days here, but the nights have been very cold. There is a real European feeling about this city, the architecture and the scenery make it seem like a ski resort town. Except for the major fact that there were hardly any other tourists around, and hardly anyone spoke English. Strange to see beanies and jackets on stalls, rather than swim wear and base ball caps.
We did the most amazing adventure trip on the first full day that we were there, otherwise known as canyoning. After a short trek through a National Park, we were instructed on advanced absailing and safety techniques. My experience in caves in New Zealand soon came flooding back to me. The first absail was down an 18 meter cliff face. We had been shown how to jump down the wall, rather than just walking down it, so I gave it my best shot, and bounced my way down the wall. I absolutely loved it, made it much more fun than the walking. Charged up, we trekked a little further to get to the next absail of 15 meters into a swimming hole. We followed the river down it's course, and found some natural waterfalls as they like to call it. In other terms, it was a small waterfall that you can sit in and let the flow of the river push you down, into the eddy below. Looked a little mental really, but we had to wear life jackets and these silly little helmets, so we were quite well protected. I managed to stay unharmed through out the day, although
The Three Muskateers At the Aqarium
In front of the skeleton of a whale. Nga Trang. Adam managed to bang himself on many occasions, and his helmet even fell off and banged him on the nose. So much for the safety! It was loads of fun, despite the dump into the freezing cold river being a shock to the system. We went down these water slides forwards and backwards, really crazy when I think back on it! After lunch, we started at the top of a 25 meters waterfall and absailed down it. It was incredible, and some what terrifying. The top section was really slippery. The power of the falling water made me feel as if that alone would take my feet out from underneath me, but it never happened. The water was incredibly powerful, and proceeded to get even more so the further down the waterfall that I got. With the increased momentum of the flowing stream, and since the wall was slightly further back after I reached a ledge, the water pounded into my face and and neck. It felt like I was being beaten up. Five meters from the bottom we were instructed to let go of the rope and jump backwards. Such an incredible feeling. After a 7meter cliff jump, we
Nga Trang Beach
Complete with Tricorn style building in skyline. got to the last absail of the day. This was kept a secret from us until we went over the edge of the cliff, we didn't really know what we had to do before hand. It turned out to be a dead hang descend into the canyon of another waterfall, after passing an overhang on the cliff. It was incredible, something that I have always wanted to do. Not using the wall, but absailing through the air, from a hang. The canyon at the bottom spun me round and spat me out into the calmer part of the river in a matter of seconds. So exhilarating and such fun, definitely something that I am going to do again.
This was a great place to hire bikes and mission it around the city. The first place we stopped was at the entrance to the National Park that we started the canyoning from the day before. The reason was for the toboggan ride. It was really fun, I flew down it as fast as I could, not putting the brakes on until I got to the bottom, where the beautiful Datanla falls are situated. We then visited the crazy house,
Giant White Buddha
Overlooking Nga Trang. as nicknamed by locals and tourists, officially known as Hang Nga Gallery and Guesthouse. It looks like something from a Alice in Wonderland, a Salvador Dali painting, a Gouda painting, or an E.S.Escher sketch. It's fantastic. A maze of guestrooms are amid the tree trunks, giant wire spiderwebs, caves and statues of animals. A beautiful garden hosts giant mushrooms and pretty flowers. The rooms looked ultra comfortable and really interesting. You will have to look at the photos to see what I really mean.
A further activity that we partook in was the cable car ride through the forest, up to a really impressive pagoda at the top of a hill, surrounded by an equally beautiful lake. I know which neither was called, but the experience was certainly enjoyable. Chivo's first time in a cable car, aahhh.
Our last day in Dalat was the first day of the local annual flower, wine and tea festival. The streets were lined with displays of flowers and tents were erected for the pleasures of drinking. The town was absolutely buzzing and completely packed out with people, the majority of whom were Vietnamese. We actually only saw a handful of
western looking people on this day, we joked around that it was actually a cover up for the anti tourism festival, and unbeknown to ourselves, we were latter going to be hunted down and killed as sacrifice. This obviously was not the case. I actually felt like a celebrity for the day. Everyone stared at us all day and night, and many people asked for photographs with me. I've never felt so popular. In the evening the main celebrations began, the streets were chockablock with people. It was so busy it was similar to when the main stage ends at Glastonbury, or the main arena kicks out at Reading festival. Much less raucous than that though. We met a local university student who asked us if she could hang around with us for a while, so be bought a box of the local red wine and tried to get her pissed! The funniest thing though, later, as the celebrations were dying down, and the fireworks had already exploded, we were looking around for a place to finish the wine, to keep absorbing the electrifying atmosphere. We found this spot where other people were sitting so we sat there. We were
12 meter Absail into Water
Chivo mid jump. Canyoning, Dalat. then bombarded with loads of questions form 15 year olds, we sat in the center of their weekly hangout. We chilled with them for a bit and drank the wine, and not a single one of them wanted to drink. Good for them, that certainly wouldn't happen in England.
That same day was also the start of the new law requiring that helmets are worn whilst driving a motorcycle. It went from only seeing a handful on the previous day, to every single person the next day wearing a helmet. Communist conformity. Probably too frightened of the repercussions of not complying with the law to rebel against it. At least it works for this sort of law.
I have loved this last leg of travelling, and now, after a long, hot and sweaty journey down the winding roads from Dalat, I am safely back to the scorching beach of Mui Ne, and once again saying hello to Lovell. Luckily, they had loads of wind after we left three weeks previously, and hopefully we have hoped to not bring back the no wind curse with us this time. We have already spent a few days sunbathing and
Natural Water Slide Fun
Adam going down backwards. Canyoning, Dalat. swimming at the Wax pool, and have given Chivo the tour of the sand dunes and fairy stream.
Christmas Eve Eve was Lovell's 26th birthday, so the night before we had a party at the dunes at the back of our home, and then headed down to Wax to continue. We left when the music stopped, and had to carry our friend Jeff back to his house and stop him from setting the fire extinguishers off. On the actual day we went out for a slap up meal with traditional dancers and musicians, then headed down to the casino. Wasn't really much of a casino, just some slot machines and an electronic roulette wheel, but still fun all the same. We all put $30 down, me and Adam left evens, Lovell lost all his, and Luna doubled hers, semi successful. Lovell started seeing the spinning wheel as he closed his eyes, so a few days later we returned, but where not as successful, since then we have not returned.
Christmas was quite surreal. Although the town is decorated with pretty lights on trees and inflatable snowmen and Santas, it didn't really feel much like Christmas. We did boycott
25 meter Absail Down Waterfall
Me versus the powerful waterfall. Canyoning, Dalat. the presents and missed out on the roast dinner, which probably had something to do with it, but we had a brilliant time all the same. Christmas Eve we went out for drinks at several places around town, with Lovell and Luna dressed up as Mr and Mrs Santa Clause, starting off the festivities. Christmas Day was spent on the beach, soaking up the sun, and finally getting an hour and a half tuition from Lovell at kite surfing. It was so much fun. After practicing on land for a bit, remembering how to control it from when we were here before, we did some body dragging in the sea, getting used to flying the kite in the water. I got the hang of it by myself, so now I am waiting for more wind to progress with the board. Since then, the only wind has been on new years day, when no one is in a fit state to do anything at all! I loved it! We had a Christmas curry at the curry house, traditionally eating a bit too much and not being able to drink easily later in the evening. A fabulous place to be.
We've
Dead Hang Absail into Waterfall
Adam dead hanging. Canyoning, Dalat. had a few other nights out partying. What else is there to do when there is no wind and no sun? For a few days between Christmas and New Year we have had some dull weather, but as a result, Adam has deejayed in several bars, and I am now known as fire girl.
Then Lewis turned up, out of the blue. He said that he may turn up, but we had lost all hope that he would. Surprise! Being a really busy period, there was no room at the inn, or any other inn for that matter. So he slept in our hammock for two nights, until the mosquitoes got too much for him, and he the family who owned the rooms let him stay in their house! Adam's brother's mate Emma arrived for the festive season too, we had a big Pompey party crowd.
New Years Eve was epic. We started the evening at ours, getting dressed up in fancy dress and painting each others faces. Luna painted my face white and drew black tears running down my face from by black eyes, and pouty black lips. I found a pair of white disposable gloves in
the bottom of my bag from the fruit picking days, and I wore all black, I was a mime! Adam wore his black suit and a white tie with the mask of Zorro painted on his face. Chivo was Mr Suave in his black suit and white tie, Lovell was one of the Streetfighters, and Luna was the cheerleader from Heroes.There were some fantastic costumes, we had two Incredible Hulks, a mermaid, Lewis was a Roman solider, and Die was the backwards man. Hilarious! Adam was deejaying from 9.30 until midnight, playing everything from reggae to drum 'n' bass. He had to tone down his set, wasn't allowed to play anything too hard as the manager was paranoid about the noise. He defiantly rocked the joint though, regardless, and sneaked a few fat tracks in there too. Meanwhile, I fire poied along with a stunt man spinning a staff. We also rocked. Suddenly the bar and beach filled up with hundreds of people, all who danced the night away. Several hours later we moved further along the road to another party at Pogo where Adam played another set. This time it wasn't watered down, and he played the heaviest, dirtiest
set of the night. We watched the sun come up there. The atmosphere was completely different, a much smaller crowd, and mainly all the people that were there we knew. It was an amazing night, had loads of fun, and then spent the next day sleeping it off and recovering.
Now we are waiting for the wind, once again. When will it arrive?
I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas and New Year, and I look forward to seeing you all again very soon. Lots of love. XXXX
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christine
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oh my goodness! I can't believe you absailed down waterfalls ... amazing ... so glad you're still having such a great time .... can't wait to see you and give you a big hug .... love you sugar ... take care ... mum xxxxx