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Leaving Ho Chi Minh and hello Da Lat!
Despite religious overtures, Ho Chi Minh City is a godforsaken place; from the bent taxi drivers, who take you round in circles (even when your watching them on a map), to the snatch a run petty thieves, from the lazy nose picking police, to the rude crowds who shove us out of the way at the palace!!
So we are more than happy to be leaving this place for the cooler clims of Da Lat. Apart from being much, much colder, Da Lat isalso the centre of kitch and tackiness in Vietnam! Da Lat is relaxed, friendly and fun.
We have now got company in the form of Cat and Phil, who have the same timetable as us and provide excellent travelling companions! Although, some scary comparisons are already immerging between Cat and Fay, who display the same love of shopping! And the same love of spending money, which they both taunt tightfisted Chris about!
Da Lat is a charming place up in the hills, at an elevation of 1500m. Our guide book refers to Da Lat as the centre of kitch in Vietnam. And it certainly
is, they even turn a pretty waterfall into a tacky theme park, complete with fancy dress, ponies and a toboggan run! Despite this there is real pleasent feel to the place, the people are friendly and the views are briliant over the surrounding mountains. And in all honesty, the children inside us have no problem with the toboggan run!!
On our first day in Da Lat we make use of the hotels free bicycles. In fact the whole hotel needs a special mention, Thien An hotel is fantastic with free bikes and a great free breakfast. Back to our bike ride, we decide to cycle to "Crazy house" which is exactly what the name suggests, a up and down building and garden which resembles some of Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona.
Not long after arriving the heavens open, reminding us that the climate of Da Lat is more like the Uk than the tropics! After rain stopped play we head to the summer palace, formally used by the Royal Family in the 1930's. The bizarre the fancy dress theming is present here where we both dress up, for 50p, as a King and a Princess and pose for photos on a
throne!
The palace is unimpressive, and the bike ride back into town is evenless so, as Fay discovers she has a puncture! Luckily for Fay, Half way back daredevil Phil decides have wants to brave the manic traffic on one tyre!
Nha Trang, and interesting encounters!!
We left Da Lat the next day on our way to Nha Trang, via some hair raising hairpin turns as we snake our way down the mountains. The Vietnamese, like many people in Asia, don't travel well. Wherever you look you're sure to catch a glimpse of someone with their sickbag!
By the time we arrive at the rest stop, smells of smoke fill the coach. Not the usual roadside fires, that are commonplace here, instead it's our brakes which have been in constant use!
Our first impression of Nha Trang, despite another bad experience with a taxi driver, is that this is quite a fun place. The art of deception is a skill many taxi drivers, and other con- artists have tried to perfect, with varying success. The problem is the short term thinking is so obvious, their more money today thinking will surely come back
to bite them in the arse in the long run!!
Nha Trang is a seaside town, a vietnamese holiday resort, devoid of the tackiness of Da Lat and British seaside resorts. The beach is magnificent, but it's not really why we are here. Although it provides a great setting for a lovely lunch break in the middle of what was an incredibily busy day!
The pace of our trip is really begining to pick up. We have so much to fit in during our **planned** 20 days in Vietnam! This means fitting in as many attractions as we can in one full day.
We wake early to visit the Cham Towers, on what seems to be an important day - the place is mobbed. Elderly people carry their offerings to the lords. Insense fills the air and paper money fills the ground!
Our next stop after the towers was the mineral mud baths. The boys (Chris and Phil) enjoy getting stuck in, both of them leave the bath covered head to toe in thick brown stuff! The medicinal benefits barely a second thought when boys get a chance to roll in mud!! The mud is finally
cleaned off with, a short but sweet, hydrotherapy massage!
After a brief rest for lunch, (at the beautiful restaurant previously discussed, see pictures) we head to Vinpearl, which is Vietnams answer to Sentosa in Singapore. A fun filled island with a theme park, waterpark, beach and night time entertainment. The prohibitive pricing, at about half a months wages for the average Vietnamese person, means the island is virtually empty! We "brave" a rollercoaster - see picture of Fay!! We also meet an Isreali gentleman who is so enthusiastic about life and the waterpark!! Every time he departs a slide his face is beaming with excitement more befitting a small child!
His excitement extends to the lazy river, where he attempts to pick up a lizard by its tail - Only to look distraught when the tail breaks away from the lizards body! The poor reptile was left swimming in water.... The girls (Fay, Cat and Chris!) were horrified.
Some of the science behind the rides at the water park was a bit questionable. The rather tame looking "Family Raft Ride" turned out to be the most hair raising of them all. After nearly flipping over three
times, we left the ride with slightly higher blood pressure, and Chris with a bruised head!!
With our full day in Nha Trang nearly over it was time to depart our new excitable friend. Time to get on the road again..... by a new and altogether more chlostrophobic method of transport..... "The Sleeping Bus." Uncomfortable upright chairs have been replaced by lay flat beds stacked two high and three across. What looked like a comfortable experience turned out to be anything but in our lower berths. The upper berth was about 30 cms from our heads..... The journey became even worse when a family, of about ten people, made the end of chris' bed their home for the night!
Beautiful Hoi An!
Well the pain of the overnight bus was most certainly worth it, Hoi An is a beautiful place recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Its also a very captivating place for shopping. Que a slight tightening of grip on Chris' wallet (wheres my padlocks!). Nevertheless even Chris got in on the act. Hoi An is famous for its fine Tailoring, there are over one hundred tailors here, although not all of
them are reputable. Fay, Phil and Cat all have clothes made for them - Fay has a beautiful fitted winter coat, Phil has some great suit jackets made, and Cat (who i have decided is a bad influence on Fay!) has three dresses made and a winter coat.
Oh wait, we forgot - with some important events coming up, such as; weddings, a Christening and hopefully some job interviews Chris also splurged $108 (or 73 rapidly depreciating pounds) on a suit!
The Town looks like what one might imagine Havana, Cuba to look like. The Town has beautiful old buildings, slightly worn by age, with palm trees swaying in the distance. A walk off to some smaller streets has even more international feel, with chinese laterns and Japanese bridges.
Having clothes made means that we get to spend 3 days in Hoi An, allowing us enough time for the fittings. We travel to My son, a series of Cham ruins which date back to the 4th Century. The site is dubbed as Vietnam's Angkor Wat, but comparisons would have been much easier to make if the Americans hadn't bombed this beautiful site into oblivion. Only 20 of
the 70 ruins are still intact.
((On our way back to Hoi An from the ruins Fay notices an itchy red patch on her leg, which might not seem significant now..... And complaints of the itchiness fell on deaf ears!!!! More blogs on this insignificant patch of red will follow!))
That night we head on down to "Karaoke Da Cat" where we hire a both for the four of us. Despite the absence of alcohol we have a great night - and Chris impresses with his own version of "I'm Henry the 8th I am"!
The next day we all return for our final fitting for our clothes, before heading off the the ancient city of Hue. After trying on our clothes we leg it down to the post office with alot of other crap we could no longer be bothered to carry with us! A joint parcel, no parcel isnt the right word, a joint container (with Cat and Phil stuff too) was sent to Fay's house weighing a whopping 14 kilos!! And costing a staggering 117 pounds!!
We realise there is so much more we could have talked about in this blog, but we
dont want you all to fall asleep!! But up to this point, we are having a much better time of it! Away from Ho Chi Minh City the people are friendly - and we are having a great time, with our fantastic travelling companions!!
Another blog will appear very shortly!
Hope your all well!
Love Fay and Chris
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Sandra
non-member comment
Ouch!
Hi Both, so glad to hear that Fay is out of hospital, we've all been really worried about you Fay. Sounds like Chris has done a excellent job of looking after you though well done Chris. Can't believe that you'll both be home soon but it sounds like you've had an amazing time and really looking forward to hearing all about it. I think maybe now is the time that your Dad gets on with decorating your room ~ he's been a bit way laid by the footie play-offs!! take care and see you both soon ~ much love and hugs xxx