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Published: February 14th 2009
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Hello all ... just a quick update - we in Nha Trang in Vietnam now enjoying the sun and spoiling ourselves esp today - but back to that later...
We got a little scammed in Siem Reap with our visas - the travel place got us a two week visa for the same price as the 30day visa we wanted - very gutted we complained and got $6 back but now we have to apply AGAIN for a proper 30day tourist visa and this time its $55!! AHHHH!! Read a bit on the internet and this is a known scam in Cambodia apparently - so anyone reading this.. be warned - make sure you get a Category C visa which can be extended and not a Category D which gives you two weeks only and is only for transit.... anyway enough of that - we are over it now (honestly!) ...
So we had a long bus journey from Siem Reap which went surprisingly quickly - 13hours seems like a breeze for us now! 😊 Going over the border was a bit of a parlarva but was good to do a land crossing and see how quickly the place
changes...
Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) is a completley crazy city (not helped by us trying to figure out a new currency - Vietnamese dong/ US dollar) - we had read it was known for many motorbikes but we dismissed this as it sounded like every city we have visited so far... however, well you have to see it to believe it - everyone gets round on a bike, cars are rare, whole families travel together and it often looks like the red devils are in town! 😊 When crossing the road we could imagine our families having heart attacks to see us weaving between the traffic (kinda crossing the M25 but with only motorbikes) ... only Tanya was having enough of one herself - ended up just holding Pilch's hand, shutting her eyes and hoping for the best!! Surprisingly though the maddness seems to work - no one gets run over and everyone gets out of everyone way - AND no one gets stressed... only westerners trying to join in the chaos by renting out a bike!!
We went to the local market - worst yet for selling technique as they grapped your arm as you went
past to get you to go in their stall. We decided pretty quick to get out of the city (as we had been in Siem Reap so long) and booked a bus ticket to Mui Ne...
Mui Ne is basically a long stretch of road with resorts on one side and some resturants on the other.. most of the beach has been lost to erosion and has been taken over by big resorts. We stayed for two days - one day spent roasting on the sand/then swimming in the pool outside our room (bit drunk at night). That night we walked for ages along the road which stretchs for 10km looking for somewhere to eat - we had a drink at every place whilst looking at got a bit drunk.. when we finally found a cheapish place we ordered a big bottle of rhum (for $2), some chicken for Tanya and some snails for Pilch - the bottle came quick, then the chicken, then the waiter came back 30mins later and told us how much the snails would be - we said ok - he went off. Then 20mins later he came back and said they didn't have any
snails!! We heard the table behind trying to order some rice and the waiter told them they didn't have any food!! We walked to the exit to pay and then kept on walking (shameful) as no one noticed anyway... there's no such thing as a free dinner - apparently!! We are ashamed tho... honest! 😊)
The second day we went on a tour and saw beautiful sand dunes, and a fairy stream... we were promised a red canyon as part of the package but when we got to the entrance it looked like it had been closed since WW1 with barbed wire and a danger "keep out" sign! Oh well.. the rest of the tour was incredible - although we couldn't quite figure out why we needed a 4x4 as advertised - the driver took us on some crazy dirt tracks that we didn't actually need to drive on! 😊 Amusingly tho we had to reverse TWICE coz Pilch lost his hat!!
Pilch has been seeking oyters since we left England... he found an oyster bar in Siem Reap and it was closed when we got there (on our last night), we went to a sushi bar in
Ho Chi Minh who advertised huge juicey oysters on the internet but they had sold out!! But in Mui Ne he finally got two big plates two nights in a row (although they were about 1pound each - 25.000 dong).. so he was chuffed and his luck has continued as the oysters are plentiful and lots cheaper!
So we have been in Nha Trang a couple of days now… we are getting our visas sorted and decided to be by the sea instead of waiting in a city. We bought ourselves three days membership to a gym over the road from our hotel which include steam/sauna/Jacuzzi - waking up, getting brekkie, sunning on the beach, gyming it then eating lots of fish (oysters specifically for Pilch - they are much cheaper here only 50cents each) but there is also a sushi bar here which we have already visited.
Today (Valentines Day…although this was entirely unplanned and we weren’t intending on celebrating) we went to the local hot springs with mud baths! Yummy warm mud bath first to share… followed by heart shaped mineral bath… then 38degree swimming pool which made outside seem cool when we got out! Sorry
to make you feel sick - but it could be worse… you could be receiving mugs with photos of us in the baths on it with lots of little love hearts!! Shame they would have broken in the post! 😊
We have decided esp for valentines day to have separate meals in different restaurants (as we eat out together every day, three times a day!) Pilch has already had snails and is about to have more oysters… think it will be sushi for Tanya….Still debating whether to try thit cho (dog) … Pilch is always on the look out for somewhere that sells it but you prob get more in the kebab houses in worthing than round here!
We have until Friday to wait for the visas - its slightly annoying as we have less than three months now and it is slowing our travels and we may see less… however the plan is still to go to Loas, through Thailand (Krabi province), then Malaysia but we don’t know how much more we will fit in! Its all going too fast…. Luckly Nha Trang has lots to offer - the beach is nice, there are islands to explore
(including one full of monkeys) and there is a cable car to experience along with the gym to try and undo the wrong we did ourselves in India!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Tanya's mummy for tomorrow too - hope you have a good one! xx
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Chloe
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Yay! you got to have a proper mud bath!!! lol..about crossing the road in saigon...madder than madness....have you found any snake to eat yet?? saw it on tv the other night and thought of you both..they drained the blood at the table in front of the customers and ate something green inside...make sure you eat the chicken burger at the sailing club in nha trang....its to die for...think me and chrisssy ate most of our meals there! see you soon xxx