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Published: January 20th 2013
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Time to leave Mui Ne today we have booked an open tour sleeping bus to Nah trang. We are picked up from the road side about 1.30pm. This is an unusual mode of transport, the bus has 3 rows of you could call them bunk beds down the bus, windows for the top and bottom bunks. We head to the back and find 2 top bunks together, Richard takes the bunk in the centre of the bus and I have the window, these buses are called sleeping buses as the seats recline right back and you have a compartment in which your feet fit into. They're pretty cool allow not really designed for the taller person as Richard discovers....bless him he site there with his knees bent. The bus is very new and comfy (for me). The journey starts for me great, its nice sitting back and watching the landscape wizz past. Although the constant beeping by the bus driver is starting to grate....
We thought we are well prepared with food for our journey, we pre-made lunch boxes of fruit, most of the fruit was good....but we made the mistake of putting a lot of Jack fruit in the
containers aswell, for those of you that have never had it, it tastes really nice and sweet.....but the smell left for a while is foul! The smell put us both of eating it.
Luckily we stopped at what we would I suppose class as a service station, very same to the UK in that they openly try and rip you off with the costs, they charged us $5 for some Ritz biscuits and some coconut biscuits, bargain!
We are running behind time when we eventually reach Nha Trang at 7.30pm, our next bus was due to leave at 7, thankfully they are late picking us up. The next bus is also a sleeping bus aswell, although this one turns out to a tad bit older...works in Richard favour he can finally get his legs straight!
We get pretty cozy as we set off to Hoi An, apart from the occasional annoyance by the resident mosquitoes.
We discover the roads are worse further up north and as the terrain is a lot more mountainous the driving was interesting, poor Richard was had taken a centre bed again was being thrown up and down his bunk
every time the driver braked, I'd managed to curl up into a ball to keep warm. Both getting hungry we settle down with the promise of a stop at midnight for food and toilet..... I came too middle of the night very disorientated, the bus is stationary I get worried I've missed the stop for food and rush to get up when I look out the window.... There's flashing lights and lots of men standing around. It appears we've broken down...2 tyres bust.
3 hours later we are still at the side of the mountainous road.
We eventually get off and by god is the driver on one and driving and beeping like a lunatic. At 8 am we have to literally beg him to stop at the next toilet as there's a few crossed legs on board!
We arrive in Hoi An at 12.30 pm that's only 23hours on a bus.... Nothing to it!!!
A short moto ride later and we arrive (probaly looking like something out of a new living dead film) at our hotel Thanh Binh 1, set just on the outskirts of the old town.
Lovely place, the bed is calling
us but we resist the urge and head for some much needed food, I feel like I've been cheated out of at least 2 meals so there's a lot of making up to be done.
Asking at reception for a recomendation on where's good to eat and she sends us off in search of a local food restaurant called Balle Well. Little tables set up in a back ally, this looks interesting. Its a set meal and they place in front of us, a plate of rice paper, a plate of lettuce leaves, a plate of stir fried vegtables, a plate of grilled pork on sticks, some prawn spring rolls and some peanut dipping sauce. The lady working shows us how to assemble the first one, basically everything in the paper and roll.... Easier said than done. I would say that after rolling a few we seemed to get the knack, but then I'd be lying! Lol it was messy let's just out it that way but it was bloody tasty!
A much needed stroll around the old town is needed after lunch. Hoi An has got us under its spell, it seems ton have a very laid
back feel to it, the old town is row after row of Tailor shops and shoes shops, they'll offer to make you anything if you give them time. Hoi An used to be one of Vietnam's main ports but the river silted up preventing ships to access the city's docks.
In the 1990's the tourism boom revived the city and enabled the city's old town to be preserved. Wandering around the old town it almost doesn't feel real, more like a film set. We are loving it. The Hassel from the people in the shops is already getting annoying. We wander along the river front and over the bridge to An Hoi Peninsular, very lovely along here, the river front lined with little restaurants and cafes and bars with the odd lantern stand dotted in between. Heading back ton the hotel we bump into Georg and Marie who we met in Madam Cucs in HCMC. Arranging to meet for dinner we head off back to the hotel.
We meet Georg and Marie at a restaurant they have booked for dinner, ranked top on trip advisor, Miss My Cafeteria 22. The food definitely lives up to its rankings, I have the seasonal Macrel baked in a banana leaf and Richard goes for a papaya salad.
After saying our good byes we head our separate ways, Richard is after a cut throat shave so we head back to a barbers that we saw earlier.
This barber does nit only do cut throat shaves, whilst waiting for him to get ready we noticed the photos of something very unusual....ear cleaning....and yes Richard had his done. Looked like a very technical process, the guy really took his time, Richard even said it felt weirdly nice??!!
So squeaky clean we've just headed back to our room and a very comfy bed calling our names.
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