Jun 06

Hi Bloggers,

Our amazing plan to get the night bus from Nah Trang to Hoi An didn't go exactly to plan. When the bus arrived to collect us from our guesthouse it was pretty much full apart from the back seat and two other seats midway own the bus. Being one of lifes natural risk-takers we decided to opt for the backseat over the other reclining seats on the basis that no more people who be getting on amd we could lay across the seats securing ourselves 12 quality hours of shut eye (it seemed like a wicked idea at the time - don't ask why). About 5 mins after we got on the bus stopped again and a load of locals boarded taking all the remaining avaialable seats leaving us sat bolt upright on non-recliners for the next 12 hours. To make matters worse the bus was really bouncy so I started to feel pretty sick after about 45 mins, the driver constantly beeped his horn at moto drivers, the battery on my MP3 player gave up the ghost after about 1 hour and girl sat next to me had a double jionted neck so whilst she slept like a baby for the entire journey she kept on swishing me in the face with her hair. It was pretty much the most painful 12 hours of my life and I was pretty relieved to arrive in Hoi An after a sleepless night.

On a positive note we soon discovered Hoi An is a beautiful little place. The architecture is a mixture of Chinese, Japanese and European culture with the old town (a Unesco World Heritage site) and marketplace being made up of quaint, narrow little lanes. The place just oozed charm. Made to order tailored clothes are the speciality of Hoi An with there being over 200 different shops. We managed to resist the being lured into anywhere for the first first few hours but eventually we caved and soon found ourselves sat down with a very nice lady who presented us the Spring/Summer 2004 edition of the Next Directory and told she could copy anything we liked in the colour and material of our choice. I ended up getting a few tops and some shorts bearing in mind I am essentially unemployed I figured a few tailored suits and shirts my be jumping the gun.

The following day we went to collect our garments with slight nervous anticipation, it was pretty hectic in the shop and I was concerned that my vital statisitics may have been lost in translation. My worries were completely unfounded, I am now the proud owner of the best fitting linen shorts in the world.

The following day we decided to do the cultural thing and check out the Cham ruins of My Son which date back to the 7th century. It was an early start and a baking hot day and to be honest they were abit of anticlimax, I appreciate that they are very old and a significant part of Vietmanese history. The first site was pretty good but the other three sites we visited were just looked like a pile of old brick which has fallen down. I think we were abit templed out so kind of lost interest. We got talking to two girls from Bradford who were even more unimpressed than us so we went and sat in the cafe for the last hour to share travelling stories.

That afternoon we headed for the beach so we hired the most knackered bicycles you have ever seen and off we went. Mine was knackered but masculine where as Mark's was very girly complete with a basket on the front, it was only missing some streamers off the handle bars and a set of hokey-spokey's. The beach was very chilled with only a few westerners using it but as soon as it hits 5pm and the sun goes in all the locals flock down. It's really cool as they bring chairs, tables and loads of food and whilst the kid's and Dad's play in the sea the Mum's cook up masses of food. Its a proper family affair and great to just sit back and watch. After 3 really good days in Hoi An it was time to move on.

The bus from Hoi An to Hue is only a measly 5 hours - a complete joy. We found ourselves a guesthouse and went out to grab some lunch. Whilst we were eating one of the guys who ran the motorbike tours came over. We had really enjoyed the "Easy Rider" tour we did in Dalat so we agreed to do a city tour that afternoon. An excellent decision, the guys showed us some stunning sights and all the drivers were really knowledgable of Hue and it's history. The highlights were going to look at an ancient bridge where all these really old guys and ladies were chilling there in thier P.J's. The guys were all smoking these massive cigars and the ladies getting giddy on betelnut. We also went to a monastery and the guide explained the routines and procedures of becoming a monk. We learnt that the amount of hair they have shaved off their head and the colour of their robes is reflective of how long the have been there. Some of the "novice" monks were as young as 12 years old, they are all really into football and one of the really young ones had made a replica world cup - it was really good. We were invited for a kick about, I still need abit of practice.

The following day we went for a cruise down the Perfume River, it didn't have pettles floating in it like I had imagined a perfume river would but it was very relaxing a good way to take in some more sights.

Last night was a pretty random night, we went for drinks with some friends and we got on abit of a roll so we agreed to go to a late bar. Some Vietnamese lads took us there on thier Cyclo's and we all started playing pool. We've been playing quite alot so I was on much better form than I was at the annual Seymour Pool Competition. We were each paired up with one of the Vietnamese lads, mine was called bullshit apparently, but he was a nice enough guy. Mark's partner had lost an arm in a motorbike accident but he was the best one armed pool player I had ever seen - really amazing. He did keep stroking Mark's leg throughout the night but he just shruged it off. We wrapped up at about 4am and all went for beef noodle soup, it was at this point that Mark's pool partner announced he was infact a lady-boy and wondered if he fancied heading back to his place! He politely declined and we headed home.

Our next stop - Hanoi

Whats up Bloggers...?

A word of warning from the outset, I am attempting this blog entry with a raging hangover so I may be abit more dyslexic than usual!

My first impressions of Nha Trang weren't that great, you could be anywhere really. It's your typical beach resort, lots of bars with neon lighting, a complete contrast from Dalat but it has really grown on me and we have ended up having a great time!

The night we arrived was the England match night and with me being a born again football hooligan we were straight to a bar with the Canadians for pre-match drinks. We had seen alot of people wearing these "Crazy Kim" bar T-Shirts so we decided to check it out.

Crazy Kim is an absolute star. The whole child sex industry continues to be a major problem in SE Asian contries such as Cambodia and Vietnam so she has taken upon herself to launch what she calls a "one woman war on Paedophiles" via a school and bar. She provides an environment for children who wouldn't normally be able to attend school get an education and makes them aware of the potential dangers. This is funded largely through the sales of her "Hands off the kids" T-Shirts which also helps to increase awareness as well as a percentage of takings from the drinks and food in her bar. So we had a few beers, bought our T-Shirts and felt good knowing that we had done our bit for the kids.We later went to go and watch the football at the Sailing Club as they had a massive screen on the beach. It was almost abit short lived as a rather drunk Mark stumbled across the sand to jion in with the half time entertainment and literally pulled the plug on the game. The screen went as blank as his facial expression as four of the bar staff battled to get it sorted in time for the secand half. I was preparing to do a runner just in case...

We visited the mud baths a few days ago which was great fun. When you arrive you have a hot mineral shower and then you sit in a massive tub which fills with mineral mud, soak in there for half an hour, let the mud dry in the sun, have another hot mineral shower and then soak in a hot mineral pool. We felt pretty healthy and detoxed afterwards - just what the doctor ordered!

Our diving debut since graduating Scuba School went without a hitch, it was really good to be back in the water. We did two dives yesterday and saw some really decent stuff. There is alot more coral here than in Egypt and some very tropical looking fish and sea life. On our secand dive the divemaster found this octopus hiding behind some rocks so he poked it with his stick and it squirted ink everywhere before speeding off (you kind of had to be there but it was pretty cool) We also went through some caves which we hadn't some before which was also pretty exciting. There were a load of people on our boat we had met in Cambodia so we all went out last night for a few drinks hence the bad head today, it was a very good night!

Later today me and Mark move further up the coast to Hoi An, it's a 12 hour bus ride so we have decided to take a night bus so not to waste a day. In theory it's a good idea if we get some sleep. We have only got 11 days left on our Vietnamese Visa's and alot of ground to cover so the Canadian's and the guys we met in Cambodia are going to meet us there in the next few days.

Our next stop - Hoi An

Good Morning (from) Vietnam,

After 5 crazy days in Ho Chi Minh City it was time to cool off and dry out so we began our journey north up Vietnam to Dalat.

We had booked an open bus ticket (with our Canadian mates) so we all hopped on the bus and nothing exciting really happened, we just sat there for 5hrs and then we were there - abit unusual for us but a refreshing change all the same.

We found ourselves a guesthouse that had been recommended but they were full booked apart from the attic rooms. By mistake we let Mark check out the room, I have come to find we have pretty different ideals of comfort. The room was really creepy, it was a big attic with two solitory beds and a TV which showed only one channel of Vietnamese cartoons. There was a shared bathroom down the hall. It was late, the room was cheap so we agreed to take it as a last resort but only for one night!

We spent the evening drinking beer Saigon in the cafe next door and I learnt how to play Poker, we figured if we had a few drinks we would be happy to crash anywhere.

The next morning we had arranged to do an "Easy Rider Tour". The Easy Riders are a group of blokes all about 40ish who do tours around Dalat and Vietnam. It was possibly one of the best decisions we had made so far. We headed out at 8:30am and got back at 4:30pm covering 80kms in the day. They take you well off the beaten Lonely PLanet track and show you as they call the "real Vietnam".

We covered amazing waterfalls, mushroom production, a flower farm, this crazy house, pagoda's, rice wine production and I now know that silk worms actually make silk! They take you into the homes of locals so it was a fantastic experience. Some of the scenery you see when your driving through the mountains was absolutley breathtaking. We took loads of photo's but haven't as of yet worked out how to get them onto my blog.

We did some exploring on foot today, Dalat as a place has some real charm - I really like it. As we have only got short of 3 weeks left on our Visa's we are heading off tomorrow to Nah Trang on the coast. It is Vietnam's premiere diving site so it will be a good opportunity to make by debut dive since graduating Scuba-School back in Dec-05. Hopefully I can remember how you do it....

Next stop Nah Trang

How's it going Bloggers -

Typically for us we had a pretty eventual journey from Cambodia over to Vietnam. We decided that in order to save both time and money we would use a less known border crossing so we didn't have to travel back up Cambodia from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh.

Our guesthouse organised a taxi (there isn't a bus - honest) for us to the Vietnamese border for $40, we get stamped out of Cambodia and stamped into Vietnam - what can possibly go wrong..? It's a 4 hour journey and and first 2 hours went without a hitch, we did have to change taxi's but we had our ticket saying we had paid so we thought mothing of it. So after about 2 hours the driver pulls over in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere to get some petrol and this Cambodian guy who spoke really good English gets in the passenger seat says we owe the driver $20 for the petrol. So we are like, "no we dont we have paid our $40 to the border we don't owe him anything" plus we only had $20 left to pay for somewhere to crash that night and get something to eat. We ended up having this arguement for about 25 mins via this Cambodian guy who was translating between us and the driver but he was insisting that he wouldn't take us any further until we paid him.

By this time we had attracted pretty much the entire village to the "show-down" most of whom I dont think had seen a westerner before. We figured if we stayed in the taxi we were fine - that was until the driver went to the boot and chucked our rucksacks down the road.

Whilst we got out and recover our worldly possessions, he span the taxi round and started to drive off. We were getting pretty worried by this point as we really were in the middle of no where and this guy was really going to just leave us in the baking mid-day heat with hardly any money and no means of getting anymore. In the end we negoicated him down to $15 for his petrol and he drove us to the border. This left us with just $5 to get into Vietnam and get somewhere to stop the night. We were pretty worried as we have always been fleeced for money at our previous border crossings so it gave us no bargaining power at all.

At the border we met another English couple and a Canadian couple who were in exactly the same position as us financially, we had $20 between the 6 of us. We decided to all stick together, safety in numbers and all that. As it turns out we got through without a hitch and managed to find a guesthouse in Chau Doc who gave us a cash advance until we could get to an ATM in the morning - happy days.

The following day we all got the bus to Ho Chi Minh City. We have been in HCMC for the past 5 days and its absolutely brilliant! It's probably my faverite place so far. It's like a smaller, less smelly, alot less seedy version of Bangkok - really buzzing place. There are loads of great places to eat (the food is top notch) and excellent bars for a few beers in the evening. It has nothing to do with the fact that a beer is cheaper than a bottle of water! (Don't worry Mum, I'm still doing my 2L of water per day)

We have been pretty cultured too (it's not all about the 40p beers you know) we have done the War Remnants Museum, the Reunifaction Palace, the Fine Arts Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels which is a series of undeground tunnels the people of Cu Chi built in order to survive the Americans attack. You can actually go down into part of the tunnels which has been restored for tourists - it was absolutley tiny but very cool to think it was all man made and they lived down there.

Yesterday we accidently went to a theme park, we though it was just a regular park, it wasn't quite on the same scale as Alton Towers but fun all the same. I discovered I was really good at rock climbing - who'd of thought..!

Tomorrow we start to head north up Vietman, the plan to arrive in Hanoi the capital in about a 2-3 weeks time. We have booked a bus ticket with has 5 stops we can hop on and off as we please and see as much of Vietnam as possible before our Visa's run out. We are going to contine travelling with our mates we made at the border as we're all having a great laugh together.

Something very bizarre has also happened to me, I have suddenly got really into footie (got there in the end hey) was jumping all over the place last night watching the boys - almost split my beer!

Next stop - Dalat.

Alright Bloggers,

Ok - abit of a funny story, well sort of. Remember on my last blog entry we were making our way down from Phnom Penh to Kampot so we could get this "magical Hogwarts Express" style train through the Bokor National Park to Sihanoukville? Well we arrived in Kampot where there is pretty much nothing to do, got settled into our guesthuse for the night all excited about the big train ride the following day. We asked the guy at the guesthouse the best way to organise a ticket for the train and to our horror were advised that the train hasn't actually run for 2 years! Apparently the tracks are all worn out and there is no money to replace them. To be fair we are using a Lonely Planet which was published in 2004 but we were still pretty disappointed.

We got a taxi to Sihanoukville the following day instead (there are no buses before you think I'm flashing the cash) but in typical Cambodian style they cram as many people as possible in every vehicle. You pay by the seat so Mark and myself splashed out an additonal $3 for a seat and a half each meaning there was Me, Mark and some old dear in the back. This meant there were four people in the front, two in the passenger seat and two in the drivers seat. It was pretty wierd sat in the back looking the these four heads in front of you trying to guess who was pushing the peddles and who was steering.

Sihanoukville is really, really nice we were both really surprised that Cambodia could have such great beaches - just goes to show that Lonely Planet doesn't get it all wrong. So we have just kind of been relaxing on the beach and having a few beers with some peole we have met in the evenings. I must admit I caved in the other day and bought first travellers accessory, one of those friendship style bracelet things (although when you buy it for yourself does it still count as a friendship band or does it mean your trying abit too hard to look cool?) Anyway the girls came in with a very strong pitch of "buy a bracelet get a fruit salad free" so how could I say no. She even let me choose my own colours and design and then chatted non stop for an hour while she perched at the end of my deck chair making it, the Cambodian kids have got a real sense of humour.

Naturally I'm all psyched for England's World Cup debut tonight, we went to watch the Germany match last night and I survived that so there is hope for me still - COME ON THE LADS...!

Our next stop - Vietnam.