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Published: February 19th 2013
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Arrived and was very happy to see a guy waiting with my name on a sign (love that!) - there was another person on it too, but they couldn't find him so left without him! New international airport here - huuuuuuge and deserted practically.
Seastar resort - resort is quite a grand name for it, as there is no pool, but big rooms, enormous bathroom, mosquito net over the bed (although I haven't found one in the room yet), excellent food in the beach restaurant and my room, one of the furthest, is only 25m from the beach, so not too arduous! I have a semi-detached bungalow with interconnecting door, which can be a real pain as you hear every cough, sneeze and much, much worse, but luckily my neighbours are v quiet. At $50 a night it isn't a backpacker place - mainly older couples and families with small kids, so not quite as easy to chat to people, but absolutely no problem being here on my own. Haven't felt uncomfortable for a moment, unlike in some other countries. The beach here is wide, with lots of palms and banyan trees for shade, which is why I chose it.
Further towards town the beach looked much narrower and not as clean. Clearish sea - don't like to think where the sewerage goes, so as usual I don't! Plenty of sunbeds, although a lot seem to be reserved at the crack of dawn with towels, but if you want to move them in and out of the shade they weigh a tonne. There is one fruit seller on the beach - lady with a pole and 2 baskets, but she doesn't hassle like in Thailand, and one other handing out tour leaflets, so very relaxing all round.
Yesterday, after a day on the beach turning an unattractive fried red colour, I went nighttime squid fishing, for a new experience. The tours here are much more than in Saigon (twice the price and not as good). We were picked up at 5.30 (me and 2 Swedish couples), driven to the port in the only town Duong Dong (that is not how you say it) and got on the boat. Ridiculous seating on the top. Deckchairs with the saggiest fishing net seats, only possible if you were 7ft tall, so I gave up and sat downstairs where it was less rocky.
Sign on bed
I have performed a lofty act - how cool is that!!!!!! We paused at a floating fish farm to look. Gobsmacking Heath Robinson affair of barrels and wonky planks lashed together - 3 platforms in total, and they LIVE on it. It was bobbing up and down like apples at Halloween. I tried to find out what they did in a storm. Not clear, but no way could the construction survive! The lady on it was ignoring us (don't blame her) and cutting the spines off sea urchins. We then went out a bit further and were given a sandwich (random!) and a line with hook, no bait. You let it out until it hit the bottom and then jerked it up and down until a squid stupid enough took a bite. I was obviously surrounded by clever squid, as they didn't. After 30mins or so I gave up and read my book. Out of 20 of us, about 5 squid were caught, and one poor little octopus, bless it. We had to wait ages for the food, the dreaded squid porridge, instant noodles jazzed up with a few green items, grilled squid (yuk, and I normally love it) and water melon. Then we chugged back, home at 9pm. £10 -
Hey ho!
Today I walked into town early to find the market, which an English lady from the hotel now living in Israel, Sarah, had been to yesterday. This turned into a bit of an adventure. For a start, it wasn't where I thought - that is just the night market. So I followed my nose, which is quite reliable, over a rickety Heath Robinson bridge and found it. Blimey, and other expressions of amazement. I thought I'd seen it all, market-wise, but this was something else. I was the only westerner in sight (great - I prefer that) and was ignored as clealry I wasn't going to be buying anything to cook anytime soon. Only downside is that that makes me a bit reluctant to take photos, as I feel like a voyeur, but just smiling at everyone seems to work a treat here, so I took some. The main problem was walking along, as it was jammed, and I mean really really jammed, with people on scooters/bikes/walking - made it so difficult, wits about you and try not to get in the way. There were lots of squid for sale, all nicely lined up, and other things
like prawns hopping about and having to be recaptured after escaping. Managed about 20mins and retraced my steps, found a cafe for coffee and met a Dutch couple who came with their bikes to Hanoi and have cycled all the way through Laos to here, missing out a few bits by taking trains or buses (no problem - their bikes go on the roof or underneath). 2000km, no punctures and nothing stolen. Hats off! Now going back to Saigon, and good luck with cyling there, people!
CBAed to walk back, so took bull by horns and negatiated for a xe om (motorbike taxi). Price was d30,000, so I walked off and he followed me - d20,000. OK. Hanging onto the badly-fitting helmet we were here in 5 mins. No insurance, flipflops, skirt, bag swinging around - excellent. I loved it. The roads are not busy here. do not fear, little poppets - you still have a mother in one piece!
Wifi works here, even in my room, just about, but can't get facebook on notebook, only on my iphone, so can only put pics on here until I get to Hoi An.
Thank you for reading, especially
my lovely sister-in law Val - i'm glad you are enjoying it!xx
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Not so weljel today!
It's a beautiful day here in Ongar, with the sun out in its full glory, so I'm not quite so jealous when I here of you sunbathing :-) Vietnam sounds beautiful. Enjoy xx