Vietnam

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Should've started this blog at the beginning of this trip oveer a month ago, but better now than never!

Well Ive been in Vietnam for over 2 weeks now, and feel like ive really seen a broad range of the country- started in Saigon which was hugely disappointing. There really is just 1 sight to see here: the war remnants museum. Quite liked it though, I must say. Did a day trip out to the Chu Chi Tunnels (all organsied through the hotel), but wouldve preferred to have done the day trip to the Meekong- didnt have the time to do both though. Saigon really seems like a business hub, not a sightseeing hub, and I still cant come to grasps with the fact that the motorbikes go on the footpaths too! Not really padestrian friendly.

Anyway, took a bus from Saigon to Mui Ne- only took 3and a half hours, and the bus was a cozy sleeper bus (even though we took it in the day)- a bus full of bunk beds! Made for a really nice bus ride and at USD$9 I couldnt fault it. Organised it through my hotel, but the hotel had basically made themselves a thrid party through Hanh Travel Company, so im sure if you were to book through Hahn directly I'd be even cheaper. The only problem was that the bus didnt tell us when we were at Mui Ne- we were just kind of expected to know where to jump off. Lucky for me I have a keen idea for detail so knew exactly where we were and yelled at the driver to let us get out. God knows where we wouldve ended up otherwise- I think the bus was headed to Nga Trang!

Mui Ne was lovely- clear beach and nice deep warm sea water. Impressed with the hotel (Sunny Beach Resort) though disappointed with what they called a gym, so had to opt for running along the beach instead, which was absolutely lovely! Because Mui Ne is Windsurfer and Kitesurfer paradise, when the wind was up the beach was FULL of both, so no chance of swimming in the sea, but thats fine because it seemed to work out that every other day was good for swimming, between each windsurfer day- besides we had a great pool as a second option.
Was really suprised to see a beahc security guy tell a girl to do up her bikini straps (he seemed really angry too!) because she was indecent, so made me a little cautious to rememebr that even though we are on a beach, this is Vietnam and not Thailand.
Mui Ne had the appeal that it wasnt yet over run with chain stores/eateries and wasnt yet run down, as Koh Samui Thailand is- Mui ne really was lovely. Stayed a week and totally felt like itd finally relaxed and gotton back to my spiritual One.

Did a day trip out to the RedSand dunes- booked it through this guy at the Dragon Fly Cafe who was working 2 jobs, so he did us a better deal than if we had gone to his travel agency office. Worked out at $8 per head - a lot cheaper than the hotel offered- and we did all the sights in a jeep. Must say though, glad we didnt pay more because they arent exaclty brilliant sights. Having travelled through Morocco, the red sand dunes didnt impress, and you really cant slide down them on plastic sheets- we tried. The fairy stream is alctually just an ordinary old stream. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, not quite sure how it became a tourist attraction, but still it was nice to get out of the village and I enjoyed cruising along in the jeep- the fishing village was a good photo opprotunity too.

Got the overnight bus from Mui Ne up to Da Nang. Again it was the bus with the bunk beds, which is just great! Booked it at Sinh Cafe on the main road and got USD$21 each- not bad I reckon, especailly when the train was gonna work out close to a hundred bucks for the 2 of us.
I really enjoyed wacthing the countryside out the window- some of it is really prettym especially when its sun set. Stopped at Nga Trang for round 30minutes- enough time to grab something to eat and stretch the legs. Then slept right trhough to Hoi An (arrived there at 6.30am)- was pretty gutted that the toilet on the bis had a padlock on it though! Lucky we stopped at midnight for a short break, so got some water and used the toilet. Really noticed the change in temperature at this point- Mui Ne and Cambodia had been really warm.
The transition at Hoi An to get up to Da Nang was hassle free, which is nice. SO the bus dropped us at Hahn Travel in Da Nang and from tere we got them to order us a taxi to our hotel.

Turns out Da Nang was a BAD choice. the city has absolutly no appeal to it at all, and clearly doesnt get many travellers because there really werent many restaurants of decent hotels. The hotel we were booked in was the worst hotel I have even stayed in in my entire life- Xuan Hung Hotel- whatever you do stay clear of this hotel. Its a complete waste of money.

Had planned to stay in Da Nang purely as a transit stop to visit the marble mountains, Hoi An, and then get a flight up to Hnoi. In hindsight shouldve stayed in Hoi An and just commuted in for the Aiport when necessary. Anyway, took a taxi (asked it to be fixed price, paid something like USD$15 for return to the marble mountains and to wait for us- probably couldvt got it cheaper but I didnt really mind the price, and had been looking forward to seeing Marble Mountains the whole trip thus far). Marble Mountains were lovely- the ticket lady automatically bumped up the price with map and postcards included, but I had noticed the price was more expensive than loenly planet had mentioned, so when I enquired she took the postcards and map out, and the price came down- something like 17000VND or thereabouts- she wasnt happy about my observation though I must say.
Was really cool being in the trees, and overlooking the city-villages below- not to mention the amazing caves and crevaces theyd made statues and shrimes in- really cool looking around the marble mountains. A good emmory for sure.
Next day I got the hotel to organsie us getting a bus out to Hoi An.USD$5 each to get out there- pretty reasonable I thought. Got picked up by a flash car and a vietnames guy who spoke good english, to take us to where the bus would pick us up- and low and behold, we end up back at the place the sleeper bus had taken us to (Hanh Travel). The guy who picked us up was enquiring about how we would be getting back that night and said he'd bring a car out to collect us t 7pm for only USD$12.50. Bargain I thought, so we booked him in.

Hoi An was just gorgeous! Totally couldve stayed there a night. Found the place totally romantic, and really peaceful, and so much to look at. Just gorgeous! Wish we had of gone a day earlier and gotton some clothing made- it was just torture seeing all the clothes and leather shoes that could be made everywhere and not being able to indulge. We paid for a ticket to get into 5 attractions, and althouh we did go into 5, we only used tickets for 3 because some of the places were pretty slcak on the ticketing. Went over the Japanese bridge, and into an old house, and a temple- all really good choices. I just loved it!
Finally got a flight out of Da Nang- Da nang was really strating to rain on my parade! What a disappointment.
As soon as we landed in Hanoi got back into the travlling vibe. Back to the culture....

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