Sleepless in Vietnam

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In Vietnam I feel like the princess in HC Andersen's tales who could not sleep because they had put a pea under a dozen mattresses, and she being a real princess could not sleep because her bed was too lumpy. I have a, literally hard time to sleep as beds are very hard, to hard for me anyway, might I be prince Charming then?

Leaving Nha Trang for the central highlands got me to Buon Ma Thout aka BMT.

Bmt as many other places in the world is nothing to write about so I won't.

Dinner was ok but by jove sitting in a restaurant with a 100 + shouting Vietnamese is not so much fun, especially as I don't know more than a few words.

Next day off to Kon Tum, a city much like BMT , the riding was good and I found a riding mate, safety in numbers.

The inland road is called the Ho Chi Minh road to to be confused with the HCM trail, the traffic is much lighter than on the coastal road where you fight with a zillion Vietnames trucks and buses.

The Vietnamese bus driver is like a nightmare straight from hell, which seems to be a common thing for all third world bus drivers, full speed and a bit more, honk your horns as much as you can and intercourse all and everyone else on the road.

Next stop was Kham Duc, probably a very nice place for the locals but a bit of a dump.

The rain and the mist didn't help to improve nor the ride nor the town.

For some strange reason I had an umbrella with me.

I'm happy I bought my riding gear with me, it kept me reasonably dry and comfy, my riding comrade, Seb the frog did not have any but a rain poncho and and sunglasses so he was not a very happy camper.

Another cold a lumpy night later it all went downhill from there. down to Hoi An a formerly quaint and quite little town turned into a tourist trap and could most probably be known as the selfie stick centre of Vietnam.

But there are many restaurants and bars and a lot of movement and very few are noisy Russians.

A beer here and a beer there and some noodle soup and what not keeps me happy, and also a lot of pretty girls, many Vietnamese are very good looking, a lot better than the Thai. In one of the hotels, in Kon Tum, I asked the waitress if I could have one more bread and on the bill it was itemised as one more bread!

I bumped into my mates from Australia again and spent some time with them, otherwise I've been enjoying my bed and comfortable room.

It's a hard job travelling but somebody has to do it. And it has not rained for the last four days, it's nice and warm in Hoi An but enough is enough, tomorrow afternoon will see me in Hue and another lumpy bed.

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