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Published: September 27th 2009
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Its been over a week now since I started my Gap year and I can hardly believe how much has already happened! I am writing to you from the Son and Daughter Hotel in Nha Trang and, like the other places we have stayed in, it is very comfortable for a cheap price. The days of grotty hostels seems to be ending as all the places we have stayed so far have had internet, an ensuite bathroom and air conditioned rooms, and we havent paid more than five dollars a night in any either!
But let me tell you about my time in Hoi An. Totally different to the hectic, crazy cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, Hoi an was a sleepy idyllic little town on the beach. Although I have to say this may change in years to come, as in our taxi ride from the train station to the hotel, i have never seen such massive development! Row after row of giant hotel complexes were being construced on the long beaches there, it seems Vietnam wants to get in on some of the Tourist Action that Thailand has been profiting from recently. However our time was tainted there
by the weather. As I ended my last post I said how it had started to rain - it did not stop once from then in our entire time in Hoi An. We were hoping to spend some time on the beautiful beach there but obivously this wasnt possible. Undoubtedly the two best things about Hoi An were getting tailor made clothes and the food. Honestly it would be mad to come to Hoi An and not get some sort of item of clothing made for you - they can pretty much make anything you want. My suit and jacket turned out really nice and Tom and myself were thinking of wearing them when we go to a swanky hotel in Singapore for a cocktail!
Now I know I keep saying it about every place ive been to, but the food in Hoi An was the best yet. Our first night we went to this small restaurant run by a sweet elderly woman and she cooked us the local speicality called "white rose" which is effectively a vietnamese version of Dim Sum. However our second night in Hoi An we went to this hidden away restaurant called the Ba Le
Well. As we approached we were a little sceptical about eating there as the place was extremely dirty and messy, but it was jam packed with locals and I always take that as a good sign for a restaurant, and so we thought we'd give it a try and boy did we make the right decision. There was no menu, but rather you sat down and they just served you what they had prepared on the day, which for us was a make your own spring roll with pork, satay sauce, salad, and chillies. Now i had never made a spring roll before and Tom and myself at first had no idea what we were doing, but the family who were serving us took a liking to us and sat and chatted on our table, and made pretty much all our spring rolls for us and were almost putting into our mouths for us too! And they just didnt stop feeding us! Everytime we finished a plate of pork they would come out with another and another and another! I was starting to get worried that we were going to end up paying a bomb for this amazing meal, but
in the end it only came to 2 pounds! Was amazing, and a must if you are there, Tom and I have both had dreams about this meal since then, it was that good.
Hoi An was where Ive seen the most westerners so far, and it was a great place for socialising in the evening, with several nice little bars scattered around the old town. It was in one of these bars that I had my first experience of snake wine too! Sat on the bar top was a massive jar filled with snakes in a clear liquid. Naturally Tom and I asked what it was, and apparently snake wine is supposed to be extremely good for your heart if you take it once a day after your dinner. So we plucked up some courage and did a shot of it, and personally I think my heart will be just fine if I dont do a shot of that everyday. We asked how on earth they made snake wine, and we were told that it was simply vodka, herbs, snakes and birds all aged together in a jar for 10 years... I think it would be a tough thing
to sell back in England.
It was only when arrived at the train station to leave that it finally stopped raining, undoubtedly the biggest shame about our time in Hoi An. We then took a 9 hour train down to Nha Trang, where we were joined by a little family of mice in our cabin! Nha Trang is effectively the Vietnamese version of Brighton or Blackpool, a fun beach side resort with a good nightlife. Not being ones to shy away from a night out, Tom and I embraced the Nha Trang vibe and went to a couple of bars and clubs last night which was great fun, the Nha Trang Sailing Club was particularly nice, set on the beach overlooking the scattered islands in the sea. Today we have been chilling out on the stunning beach here as the next few days ahead are probably gonna be quite hectic as we attempt to get to Chau Doc in order to get a boat to cross into Cambodia up the Mekong river. The only ticket we could get on our train out of Nha Trang was a "hard sleeper" one, so that should be interesting... apparently the mattresses arent as
thick as the "soft sleeper" trains which we have been taking, and i wouldnt have used the word soft to describe them!
So a couple more days in Vietnam then Cambodia awaits! Exciting Times!
Much Love
xxx
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Iris
non-member comment
Hi
Hi both of you, What an adventure so far. The snake wine sounds interesting, I don't think I would have the courage to give it a go. The pictures are amazing, like Southern Europe thirty years ago. Can't wait for the next installment. Take care.