Nha Trang and Da Lat

I cannot really say much about Nha Trang. The bus there was absolutely dreadful. Nothing like the one between Hanoi and Hue. It certainly didn't help that I was beginning to feel really ill and ended up throwing up as soon as we arrived. Were taxied to our hotel and I spend pretty much the whole day in my room. By the evening I was still no better so the lady at the front desk called a doctor for me and I had to go to a Vietnamese clinic. Not very nice but the doctor spoke good English and they were very good with me. I was very dehydrated so they stuck me on a drip - the most old-fashioned one I've ever seen! They ran some tests, including an ultrasound that was very bizarre and finally gave me some antibiotics. Heh fun times. The final verdict? Seriously bad food poisoning (something had got into my blood or something like that) >< Spent most of the next day running around sorting out insurance and my bus to Da Lat but I did make it onto the beach that afternoon for an hour or so just to relax. The boys moved hotel as our one was so far out of the centre it was ridiculous and they are staying in Nha Trang for Tet (New Year). There was no point me moving so I spent the evening with them before saying our goodbyes. My only impression of Nha Trang is as a beach resort. It's lovely, but it could be anywhere in the world. There was nothing particularly Vietnamese about it, even the food.

The next morning I caught the bus to the mountain town of Da Lat. The two British girls - Helen and Charlie - who I biked to Hoi An with were on the same bus which was a surprise! The bus broke down a couple of times and the road up the mountains was dreadful. Looks like they're trying to redo it but so far have only achieved in digging it up. We finally arrived in Da Lat to find the huge lake that's on all the photos was dried up! They dropped us off outside a fairly expensive hotel so Helen, Charlie and I grabbed our bags and walked into town. Despite warnings we wouldn't find anywhere (or at least, anywhere cheap) because of Tet we found a lovely little hotel that did us a three-person room for $9 a night. We went for lunch in the 'Peace Cafe' and met a guy on a motorbike who worked for the Da Lat EasyRiders. You get 'easyriders' everywhere but these guys are apparently the real ones. They had some very good recommendations so we agreed to do a day tour with them tomorrow. We took a walk to the market which was absolutely crazy and tried some aloe vera sweets (very odd). We walked back to the hotel via a lovely temple. We were the only ones there and just wandered about almost into the monks quarters! But they were very friendly. Tried to find food that evening and ended up at Tu Anh's restaurant, run by the craziest Vietnamese woman I've ever met. She was wonderful and so so funny. The food was also really delicious - chicken with cooked mango and rice.

The next day we met up with our EasyRider guides and jumped on the back of their bikes for a tour of the area surrounding Da Lat. Our first stop was at a gorgeous Buddhist temple, apparently the oldest pagoda in Da Lat. It had the most enormous dragon statue I've ever seen! My guide, Trung, had spent three years living in a pagoda so he gave us a Buddhist philosophy lesson! It felt like being back at school as he kept asking us questions, but it was incredibly interesting. Throughout the day he kept calling us girls the 'three princesses' and was very very flirty (which did begin to get a bit annoying). We also visited a flower farm, a coffee plantation and a rice wine making factory. They had us taste a little of the 65% proof stuff - it came out of what looked like a plastic jerry can! Our next stop was at Elephant waterfall which was amazing. Quite a difficult way down to it but was really worth it. Stood behind the water and had a nice shower :D After a look around another temple we had lunch with the guides and they ordered us some of the local foods. They also had us try some snake wine and I really wish they hadn't shown us the bottle first. It was a huge glass jar with at least three dead snakes curled up in it. I'm sure there were bits of dead snake floating in my glass so I only had the smallest sip but it was quite enough. Ew! Did not taste good at all, but at least the food was yummy. In the afternoon we went to a silk factory and an orchid farm before visiting the 'Crazy House'. It is almost impossible to describe this place in words - an Alice-in-Wonderland style tree house that could have easily belonged in Disneyland, albeit a Disneyland without health-and-safety! You could climb almost anywhere and some of the walkways were incredibly narrow, high up and with 'barriers' that only came up to mid-calf! Some of the stairs in the bedrooms were almost as bad - just high stepping stones. Mad, but it operates as a hotel so you can actually stay there in any of the ten themed rooms! We got back to the hotel at around 4pm exhausted but happy. All of the guides were lovely, very friendly, knowlegable and spoke fantastic English. Was definitely worth it. Ended back at Tu Anh's that evening as we couldn't find anywhere else and the meal was as hilarious and yummy as before. This time I tried the pineapple chicken and we tried her apple crumble. She was so proud of it and it was really good.

We left the next morning - the girls to Mui Ne and me to Saigon.

Hoi An

On my first day in Hoi An I woke to find the power was off for the entire street, and despite being reassured it would be on 'soon'it didn't reappear again until 5pm that night. There wasn't much point spending any time in the hotel as my room didn't even have a window so it was lovely and dark. Hoi An is renowned for its Old Town - lots of old buildings and tiny streets leading down to the river. The majority of these shops are tailors and as two of the boys wanted some clothes made we went for a look around. They can make anything here! Absolutely anything... shirts, shorts, dresses, suits, even custom-made shoes! I left Tom and Jimmy debating over watches and headed back to the restaurant we were at the night before to meet up with Danny and Andy to hire bikes. It is cheaper to hire a motorbike here for 24 hours than it is to hire a bicycle! Madness. We drove to a temple and then found the beach. It was gorgeous! White sand, palm trees with coconuts and people selling the nicest mangos! Unfortunately my sunburn from the bike ride down to Hoi An was still pretty bad so I sat in the shade but I did stick my feet in the sea. We got back to the hotel that evening to find the power still off so cold showers only. We were also told as we hadn't rented the bikes from the hotel we couldn't keep them there overnight so had to take them back down the road. Riding a motorbike in a dress is not easy let me tell you! That night we found a bar on the other side of the river that seemed so happy to have customers they gave us all a free 'bucket' drink.

The next morning everyone else was still asleep (or as I later found out, passed out as they ended up at a beach bar and didn't get back until 6am. Oh dear.) so I picked up my bike and had a lovely morning just pootling around the town. Finding somewhere to park was the hardest bit but a cyclo driver took pity on me and had me park in what looked like a temple! That threw me a bit but apparently it was ok. I acquired a Vietnamese boyfriend in the riverside market - well, a guy grabbed my hand, insisted I was his girlfriend and had me sit with him and his friends for a bit. It was actually very funny and they were really nice people. Managed to leave without causing insult and found a French-style pattisserie which did fairly good crossaints. I then decided to be clever and try and find the beach by myself. It's a straight road from the town so I didn't think I could get it wrong.... Well somehow I found myself on a motorway (nice road, pretty deserted) which I really didn't remember from yesterday and then two Vietnamese women on a motorbike rode us beside me to have a conversation, as we were still driving along, and told me I was heading back towards Danang. Ooops! Turned around and found my way back to the town. Also found the road to the beach but I was seriously low on fuel by that stage so I admitted defeat. Also, the bike had to be handed back by 1pm and it was getting on for that. Sadly handed the bike back and then met up with Tom and Jimmy as they had a fitting for their shirts. I went with them and gave in to temptation by ordering a pair of shorts. They are very thorough with their measuring! I was more than a little taken back. Went onto the main street in Hoi An - Le Loi Street - for lunch at a little street cafe. Noodles and a lump of pork. With baguettes :D That evening we had an impulsive boat trip on the river for an hour. The sunset from the water was breath-taking. Really beautiful. We ate that night in an Indian restaurant. We let Jimmy take charge and order a variety of curries for us, including a spicy chicken madras, extra hot. It was bright red and is the hottest thing I think I've ever eaten. We were all sweating after just a couple of bites and my lips stung so much! But it was very good food. Went into a bar on the main street that was opposite a tailors so Charlie and I popped in there to get linen shirts made. We'd seen Tom and Jimmy's and had been very jealous. Had an early(ish) night that night as we had plans for the morning!

Charlie, Andy and I were up bright and early to hire motorbikes as our plan for this day was to get to the Cham ruins at My Son, about 50km away from Hoi An. I had the directions(!) and we set off. Took us about an hour and a half to get there, though at the first fuel stop I realised neither my spedometer or my fuel gauge worked on my bike so I had to take my lead from the guys. The roads weren't too bad and the closer we got to My Son the more rural it was. It was fantastic to be able to stop where we wanted and actually see the country we were passing through. Most tourists only see these areas from their air-conditioned buses while we were actually experiencing and interacting with the locals. We left our bikes for free at a crazy man's restaurant just outside My Son as he'd waved us down saying we couldn't take them into the ruins. Walked to the ticket booth and found out that we could actually take our bikes up to the proper entrance but it was too late by then. Ended up getting a rickety, 1960s American army jeep up to the entrance and then spent two hours walking around the ruins. They're known as the 'Angkor Wat' of Vietnam but, while nice, they are no where near as complete or big as the Cambodian ones. They are however right in the jungle and it was incredibly hot and humid! We'd arrived just before lunch, when all the tour groups were leaving so we had the ruins almost completely to ourselves, so it was worth the heat. Drank so much water! Also saw a huge yellow spider (yuck) and hundreds of lizards - one of which gave me a fright by sticking his head at me and I thought he was a snake. Jumped so badly, silly thing. On the way back down, Charlie and I had a quick look in the souvenir shop which ended up quite embarrassing. The sales assistant came over to talk to Charlie and he said he wasn't going to buy anything but she should talk to me. She replied that first she would talk to him "so you buy for your wife"... Us: "We're not married"... She looked puzzled and then rallied "Your soon-to-be-wife"... "No no no, just friends"... "Just friends? But you look good together. Very suitable!" At that point we legged it. Note to anyone travelling around with a male friend, be prepared for in-depth questioning about your 'relationship'. Oh dear. Made it back to the bikes and then headed back to Hoi An. Somehow we missed a turning along the route and ended up at a toll booth that we hadn't passed on the way here. Luckily after asking for directions and driving over a rather dodgy-looking bridge (it was actually closed off but bikes just went around the blocks so we did too) we eventually got back to town. We booked the bus down to Nha Trang for the next evening and then went to find food. We all went to the 'Before and Now' bar which has a real hippy feel (Che Guevara pictures up everywhere, quite old fashioned but nice) and played pool. A rule is in use here that if your opponent pots all their balls before you pot one of yours you have to run around the table 'sans clothes'... Thank goodness I'm not that appauling at pool (though it did come close). There was also a really old-school foosball table :D At 1am the bar ran a free bus to the beach bar so four of us headed out for that. It was a really nice little bar, right on the sand so naturally we just had to stick our feet in the sea. But that meant we were all sandy so the logical thing to do was jump in the swimming pool! Really good fun. Charlie and I lost Danny and Tom soon after we arrived but we were entertained by a very drunk British guy and his Canadian friend who fell asleep on each other. Got the bus back at 4am and stopped at the little bakery near our hotel to grab a fresh baguette. Better than kebab!

The next morning there was slight worry as Tom was nowhere to be found. Turned out Danny and him had actually stayed at the bar until 5am and then Danny had left him with a girl... He didn't reappear until 1pm looking more than a little worse for wear. Cue some serious teasing. Tried a baguette for lunch at a little cafe but there were ants all through the bread which was seriously off-putting, so ended up at the market to try the local Cao Loa (noodles). Had a final walk through the Old Town before grabbing our bags from the hostel to get the night bus to Nha Trang. Hoi An is one of the best places I've been to so far! I think I'm going to miss it.

Hue

Another spare moment as I'm waiting for people to get ready so we can go eat! So here's an update of my past couple of days.

The bus arrived in Hue at 8.30am and we were met by a lady from the hostel who took us there, got us booked in and gave us breakfast while we waited for our room to be ready. The hostel is absolutely gorgeous! It's all open fronted with our rooms leading straight onto the veranda/balcony thing. There's deck chairs and sunshine and it was just bliss! We all practically jumped at the opportunity just to sit out in the sun. Tom pulled out his guitar (which everyone including me has now signed) so we had music to doze to. We really didn't do much that day, but it was needed!

We went for lunch at this little cafe and the waitress gave us an English menu where the prices were more expensive than the Vietnamese on the wall. When we pointed this out she straight away agreed to give us the 'local' price. This happens everywhere but she was lovely and wanted to practice her English with us. She showed us a book called 'Instant English for School Learners' - an English text book which contained the fantastic phrases "Hello, I am Tom Cruise. Is Mr. Bush at home? I would like to see him" and, under the food section, "It looks like you are gaining weight"!! The food was also delicious and the waitress tried to teach us 'thank you' and 'goodbye' in Vietnamese (cam on and cam bien).

Between 5pm and 6pm at the hostel it was free beer. Some lovely ice cold bottles from the cool box were just what was needed. I couldn't believe they just give away beer but the Australian guy who owns the hostel is very cool. We asked him if this Backpackers was better than the one we'd stayed at in Hanoi. His response? "Yep, the bar is open an hour and a half longer"!! It was really good to just chill out in the sun. We were told the temperature was 29 degrees. Woo! We met up with some Auzzies who thought they knew where some good food for dinner was so we followed them across the river and into the Citadel, but it seemed too far away so our group turned back. We went into the first cafe we found and sat down, expecting a menu but they just started bringing us food. Turns out the only food they serve there is a local speciality called bahn khoai, which are meant to be a bit like tacos stuffed with pork and shrimp. I gave my shrimp away but the rest of it was nice. The lady in the cafe took pity on us as we were not sure how to eat it so she showed us the correct way. All the women kept laughing at us and we're not sure why! It might have been because two of the boys tried to go into the bathroom at the same time, or it might have been because we were making a mess of the food. Either way, it was a little disconcerting. That evening we sat in the bar and Tom brought down his guitar so we could all have a sing-a-long (and he could get a free drink!).

Our second day in Hue was spent chilling out in the morning and then going on an afternoon tour of the Citadel and Imperial City, and visiting the Thien Mu Pagoda. There were real monks! There was also the blue Austin car that Thich Quang Duc drove (the monk that burned himself to death in Saigon in 1963 to protest against the treatment of Buddhists in Vietnam). We caught a boat back down the Perfume River to our hostel, just in time for free beer! ;) That evening me, Charlie boy and a Kiwi girl called Sylvia ended up back at the restaurant we ate lunch at the day before and we had the same waitress. Her name is Quynh and she was lovely! She came and sat with us through dinner to chat. We exchanged email addresses and I promised her I'd email her some of the photos we took. Charlie proposed to her, so it was a really funny meal. Later that evening a group of us went to a very bizzarre club called "Browneyes" just around the corner from our hostel. It reminded me of an empty Jesters. Funnily enough we didn't stay long!

At lunch the next day we went back to see Quynh and had a very entertaining meal. The boys got their hair cut at a Vietnamese salon. I went along to laugh. That evening Quynh showed up on her motorbike and took first Charlie and then me around the city. We were gone about an hour. Had a look at the Citadel and she took me to meet her friend, which was lovely. Spent the evening chilling back at the hostel. I've learned a couple of chords of guitar. Well, mostly just 'c' :D

The next morning we left our bags at the hostel and checked out. We decided to motorbike it down the 160km from Hue to Hoi An Top Gear-style so have got some little automatic motorbikes and a guide - Mr. Ty. We had a quick practice up and down the street outside the hostel, figuring out how to start it and (importantly) stop it. Is actually not as hard as I thought. No gears to worry about, just twist the handle to go and use the brakes to stop! At 9am we set off. There was eight of us in total - the four Londoners, Swiss Andy and two English girls called Helen and another Charlie!!!

Our first challenge was getting out of Hue, which really was a challenge as the main crossroads have no lights or directions, just a free-for-all. But once we were on the main road, apart from the occasional large trucks and buses it was fine. Oh and the animals. Charlie (boy) almost hit a chicken and I had to do an emergency stop as a stupid dog ran back into the road after nearly being hit by the bike in front of me. Luckily I didn't hit it but it gave me a very disapproving look. Crazy animal. We stopped off at a fishing village and then at a gorgeous waterfall for a properly needed swim as we were all super hot and sweaty! We also stopped off at some American outpost in the mountains along the coastal road where we were swamped by women trying to sell stuff. Not so fun, but the road itself was beautiful! Drove through Danang and had a brief break on the beach and at the marble carving centre.

In total the journey took us eight hours, arriving in Hoi An around 5pm. Ended up rather sunburned so we were all glowing nicely! It was amazing fun, though we wished our guide had been a little better. He stopped somewhere (fairly) expensive for lunch so none of us ate there. Our meal that evening was fantastic as a result though! Plus they did 600ml bottles of Tiger beer for 20.000VD (66p). :D And we all have the motorbike bug so chances are we're going to hire them again!