Jun 2009

Monday we were up by 8.30am for another delicious buffet breakfast then we packed & chilled, taking in the view at Sea View Cafe on the top floor.
When it came to checking out we realised we hadn't done as well keeping to our budget as we were charged for 3 days instead of 2 because we had checked in before 2pm which meant 350,000 dong extra!
Disheartened by the loss we decided instead of stopping at Song Cau village we would go straight to Nha Trang. There were no public buses unless we wanted to catch it from the highway where we had been dropped off - which we didn't. So, we paid our hotel for minivan tickets which came to 180,000 dong, including a taxi to the station & a 60,000 dong discount for the mix up with the room.
The Mailinh Express Taxi pulled up at 1.50pm to take us to the bus station. From there we took a Mailinh Express minivan to Nha Trang at 2.20pm. It made a nice change not having to scrunch ourselves into a ball feeling stifled & squashed. It was a nice, clean, roomy vehicle (no livestock) & the journey was comfortable & pleasant with us seemingly chasing a cargo train most of the way as the paths converged at bridges & level crossings. We passed Song Cau & were glad of our decision as although there was a nice view the place looked downright boring.
We arrived in Nha Trang at 6.20pm & caught moto taxis to Ba Tu Guesthouse. The drivers were holding our rucksacks in the footwells & struggling to steer because of this. The trip took a fair while with us heading into town & through the centre of it. What didn't help was neither moto driver seemed to know where our guesthouse was & took us down a number of side roads before we found it, a small french villa-style place surrounded & almost hidden by the huge towering hotels.
We paid our drivers 30,000 dong & checked in to our hotel for 150,000 dong. The room was really nice & on the top floor. This time there were no lifts!
We couldn't be bothered looking too far for dinner so we just ate boiled rice with chinese pork across the road at Loc Tho restaurant. Vicky then went back to the hotel whilst I found an internet cafe to occupy myself until 11pm. Unfortunately I became disorientated walking round the crowded streets in the dark & it was another hour before I found our guesthouse. Thank heavens they'd given me a business card as I couldn't even remember the name!

Tuesday we were up at 9ish & felt totally uninspired to go anywhere with the rain pelting down. We had breakfast at Nha Trang Bakery & Tea Room - 3 cakes (2 chocolate croissants & 1 banana cake) for 22,000 dong.
Feeling better with the rain dropping to a slow drizzle we walked 5 minutes to the internet cafe & finally sorted our return flights on skype, ringing Thailand Emirates office to push the date back to 11 Feb 2010 for free - result!
We grabbed baguettes & some biscuits & headed for the Photographic Museum/Gallery. The place was tricky to find hidden amongst the maze of side streets & busy roads but we were glad we had tried. The gallery wasn't very big - just a couple of rooms but the photographic portraits were stunning. There were pictures of local people from the area in various 'natural' poses - happy, thoughtful, sad, upset, lost. Also there were the magical shots taken - of a boy running over the backs of water buffalo in the river, of children playing & of 2 young girls walking down the street in the rain huddled under an umbrella with a mysterious shaft of light shining on them in an almost angelic way. All these pictures were taken by one man - Long Thanh - an incredibly gifted photographer who has won numerous awards all over the world.
We left the gallery & walked along the main road until we reached the entrance to Long Son Pagoda, a beautiful temple with 2 Buddha statues. We got to these by walking up a set of steps above the temple. One was a smaller version of the Bangkok Reclining Buddha in stone & the other was a huge Sitting Buddha that was adorned with the pictures of self-proclaimed martyrs - monks who had set themselves on fire in protest of the harsh ruling Dien government. Inside the Buddha statue we found a small shrine where you could worship, covered with brass carvings of religious events & a giant turtle column at it's centre. Thankfully we didn't have to deal with the groups of screaming kids begging for money as guides (the rain seemed to take care of that).
We walked back through town & lost our way for a bit, taking a stroll by the beach & after changing had dinner at Pho Cali. The 3 course set menu was absolutely gorgeous consisting of: vegetable soup, rice, stir fry vegetables & chicken at a cost of 35,000 dong, all cooked in an open plan kitchen/restaurant.
We were walking back to the guesthouse & stopped off for BOGOF cocktails at Red Apple Bar - a not exactly happening backpacker bar but at least it was cozy & cocktails came to 35,000 each.

Wednesday we were up by 9am & did a quick shop at A Mart up the road to take care of breakfast. We polished off the Frosties with milk & pieces of dragon fruit, realizing how much we missed the taste of milk (even if it was longlife), having been used to the sickly, syrupy, condensed variety.
We had a walk along the beach on a mission to find Lousiana Brewhouse just past the Sailing Club, (a quiet by day but wild after hour bar with expensive drinks). We found the Brewhouse after thirty minutes walking then paid for 2 sunbeds by the poolside for 25,000 dong each for the day. Our first order of business was to try the pool which was a decent size & pretty deep. It was lovely & cool in the baking sun. I reluctantly climbed out & fetched a couple of baguettes from one of the many foodstalls. We also had some kind of rice popadoms which tasted like brandy snaps & washed it all down with the Four Flavours Sample Tray consisting of Pilsner, Red Ale, Dark Larger & Witbier. All were nice but even the tasty Witbier didn't encourage us to pay another 75,000 dong for the tray.
Once lunch had settled we both took a dip in the sea & completely underestimated its power the surging waves knocking us both down & submerging Vicky. Panicking I held onto her as a second larger wave smacked into us & I yanked Vicky out of the sea before she could drown or be swept away.
We both rested before I dared go back into the fray & like before was knocked flat, this time shoved face down into the sand. It took a couple of minutes to register that it was breezy & bright, then I knew that I had lost both my prescription sunglasses & my hat! I teamed up with 2 British lads called George & Marcus to look for them & as we chatted my watch was taken by the sea as well! At this point I was furious with myself & sheepishly got out of the sea to face the wrath of Vix!
we walked back to the guesthouse, cheered up a little by ice creams until Vicky stubbed her toe on a metal frame jutting out the pavement.
Back at the guesthouse the 3rd disaster of the day happened. My favourite chinese-style black & silver vest top had a big mark on it after being laundered. I asked them to clean it again & we ate fried rice dishes at a street cafe.
When we got back I was shown a top with the same pattern as my favourite chinese one only it wasn't black & silver it was a kind of mucky grey & rusty red. Turns out the mark had been a bleach mark & they had now bleached the entire thing! I furiously refused to pay for the laundry &, as we went to bed I prayed for a better day tomorrow.

Thursday we were up at 9ish again & enjoyed cereal & dragon fruit for breakfast. Deciding to go sightseeing we got a cyclo to Cham Towers across town & over the estuary towards the harbour where the towers stood on a hill.
I was expecting something spectacular from what I'd heard & read but to be honest once we had climbed the steps to the top of the hill where the towers are I was a little disappointed. The towers were mostly intact & housed small shrines but my vision was obscured by the Vietnamese obsession with incense. I'm sure the quantity they use is unhealthy. Apart from this there was nothing interesting inside. It was all the outside that was worth seeing - the statues & decoration. An hour was spent at the towers where Vicky had to wear a funky white robe to cover her 'indecent bits' before we took the cyclo back to the guesthouse.
We picked up our usual lunch of baguettes & biscuits & walked along the beach to Louisiana Brewhouse. We paid for the sunbeds - this time on the beach as all the poolside ones had been taken. We swam in the pool & dared to venture into the merciless sea again. Once again I was tossed around like flotsam & slammed into the shore losing my prescription goggles in the process. Luck this time was on my side as an hour later just when I'd given up looking I was knocked flat by another wave & panicked as I felt something wrapped around my foot. Unbelievably it was my goggles! Not wanting to push my luck I got out of the sea & we played a game of pool.
After changing we walked for about 8 minutes to the supposedly cheap Cyclo Cafe (thanks Lonely Planet). I ordered a disappointing pizza whilst Vicky had fried rice with pineapple & chicken, all the while having to contend with vendors coming into the restaurant trying to sell us books, paintings & other curios. This became immensely annoying as we were trying to eat but it was amusing when 2 little Vietnamese girls had a bit of a cat fight over who's territory it was. The gangsters in their hoods have nothing on these 2!
We compared prices for the Four Island boat trip & found a tourist agency selling tickets equating to around 9 pounds for 2 people. With an early start now in order for tomorrow we had cocktails at Red Sun, another backpacker bar this one a lot more lively & were giving free Mojito cocktails as we played Connect 4 & Pool before getting back to the hotel at 9.50pm.

Friday we were up at 7.30am, had our breakfast & awaited our bus from 8.25am. We started to worry as it got to 8.50am but just as we were about to go to the tour agency it arrived. Once on the bus the journey only took about 20 minutes but it was strange as we were all perched on beds. For some reason we had been picked up by a sleeper bus & the beds were bunks stacked in threes & way too short for lanky beanpoles like me.
We arrived at the harbour not long after 9am & were on a small passenger boat with only one level, on our way to the first island at 9.30am. We stopped an hour later just off the island for our first session of snorkelling which would have been a bust had I not brought my prescription goggles as a lot of the masks were too small & leaked badly (possibly childrens). The snorkelling was fun if a little lacking of fish but the sea was so clear I could see the coral (& water snakes) at the bottom. Vicky just chilled out in the sea enjoying a swim.
When I got back to the boat I realised that the bigger, more interesting fish were at the coral reef further along the shore.
We had lunch on the boat, the central seats folded down to make a big table & nearly 30 of us shared plates of rice, vegetables, tofu, squid, spring rolls & instant noodles - surprisingly filling!
Following the meal we were treated to a 'boyband' experience as the 4 crewmen/tour guides unleashed some great tunes playing guitars, drums & plastic bottles & singing a strange, varied selection of songs including "Hotel California" & "What's Going On" in an entertaining way. Our promised "happy hour" followed, with everyone jumping in the sea & swimming to the "bar", a raft with a guy serving free red wine, handed to us in plastic cups & tasting more like smoky sherry. The "hour" lasted 20 minutes then we were taken to Hon Island where we paid 20,000 dong each to relax on the sunbeds on the beach. We felt a little cheated as the beach was full of pebbles & sharp rocks, & the volleyball game we had been promised was cancelled due to the ball convieniently being swept away by the sea the previous night.
The final island, Hon Mieu, we reached a couple of hours later & we just spent it exploring the shore along with Pamela, a Chilean lass & a fellow Brit called Ashley, as we refused to pay the entry fee into the aquarium. Our attempt at sneaking in from the beach was fruitless as a security gate prevented us entering.
Back on the boat several people we had been talking to including Brits Jo & her husband Tej told us that the aquarium hadn't really been worth it - a number of big tanks built into a huge galleon sculpture - we saw the best from the outside!
We chatted to Jo, Tej, Pamela, Ashley & 2 Canadian girls called Brianna & Hannah & arranged to meet later that night as we reached Nha Trang.
We got back to the hotel & after a quick change we watched Heroes on the internet. We walked to Omars Indian Restaurant, a lot further than we thought & were 20 minutes late for our rendezvous. Saying that we were still the first to arrive & along with Hannah, Matt & Sam (2 other guys from the boat trip) were on to our second beer by the time everyone else arrived. They had also underestimated the time to get to the restaurant (their hotel was much further). We got to know each other better & shared a selection of spicy indian dishes then had drinks at Why Not bar for a couple of hours before heading back to our hotels.

Saturday we had our breakfast & caught moto taxis to Cau Dau harbour where we intended to catch a cable car or ferry to Hon Tre island, sight of the luxurious Vinpearl resort. However, on arrival at the station we found it was too expensive to cross at 300,000 dong each. We caught the local bus back to the beach & spent the day swimming in the pool & the sea at Louisiana Brewhouse. The sea was much calmer than the past few days & so nothing was lost or broken.
We left around 4pm & on our way back to the hotel checked out a few tour agencies for buses to Dalat. We found one for 85,000 dong. We ate dinner at a cafe restaurant a few buildings along from our hotel where we were the only customers & had pork fried rice & chicken with noodles.
We packed & sorted our pictures on the internet till midnight.

Saturday we reached our drop off point, a town just outside Quy Nhon at around 1am. We were both knackered & not in the mood for the 10km moto ride into Quy Nhon centre. Arriving at our intended hotel we found it to be full & so snapping tiredly at each other spent nearly 2 hours wandering round the seafront & surrounding urban areas desperate to find a place. However, they were all full due to the Vietnamese independence weekend. We were left with only one choice (unless we wanted to sleep on a bench or on the beach), Saigon-Quy Nhon Hotel, a beautiful, towering, luxurious 4 star hotel. It was a nice idea but we didn't want to have to take out a loan to pay for the night. After arguing with the receptionist we were offered a room for 350,000 dong per night. We accepted & went up to the 3rd floor in a posh, mirrored lift, across soft carpet to our room. Wow we had never seen such luxury, never mind experienced it (not including our honeymoon hotel in Cyprus). We had a huge king-sized soft comfy bed, plush carpet, big T.V, delicious air conditioning, wardrobe containing our soft fluffy towels & robes & fridge. The bathroom was just as nice. Marble tiled floor & sink unit, western-sized bath & shower, lots of toothbrushes/shampoo, etc to nick. I passed out after a quick shower from 3am till 8am.
I was awakened by my alarm I'd set earlier so I didn't miss the complementary breakfast. I'm glad I hadn't as it was a huge spread. Set up buffet style you could have fresh omelettes, or fried eggs, sausage, bacon, cereal with fresh milk, various types of bread & brioche, Vietnamese food, rice & noodles, fruit & CAKE!
I managed about 4 platefuls, tried a bit of everything & deliberately filled myself up so as not to need lunch (saving money the Russ way).
When I had done I was fit to burst & spent the rest of the morning & afternoon on the free internet as it had started raining heavily so there was no point going anywhere! Vicky met me briefly once she was finally up & went to have lunch at the Sea View Cafe on the 8th floor after an unsuccessful walk around outside to find somewhere to eat. It cost her 60,000 dong just for a toastie & chips!
We both had a snooze early evening as we hadn't caught up on our sleep yet then went for a walk together, following the seafront road to the left then heading towards the city centre where we found a local street cafe. We couldn't believe the price. For rice, chicken, pork, beef, squid & morning glory it was only 24,000 dong for the 2 of us!
We worked out afterward that despite being in a 4 star hotel we had saved money. The free breakfast took care of breakfast & lunch & with tea that cheap we were at least 100,000 dong better off.
We ended the day talking to our families on skype which we hadn't done for some time.

Sunday we were both up around 8am & straight down to the restaurant for our buffet breakfast. It was mostly the same as before but with the addition of macaroni. We both filled our boots.
After breakfast we took a walk around town & noticed that the people were very friendly, smiling & waving at us. We were on a sightseeing mission to make up for the previous day's washout & we walked to the massive tiered pagoda, newly built, but unfortunately closed at the top with impressive decoration outside but very little inside. Next to it was a huge white Buddha several hundred feet high. Then we walked all the way along the main road/highway leading out from the city centre called Tran Hung Dao, a name we had encountered in other Vietnamese towns. Many roads are given the same names due to being named after heroes. There are over 2,000 Vietnamese heroes.
After asking people we got to the Cham Towers & paid 2,000 dong each. The towers were 2 impressive brick stupa ruins with small shrines inside. Twenty minutes later we then walked back, stopping to check out the monument then back to the hotel to swim in the pool until 3.45pm when the rain began again. I lost an hour & a half of my life watching a bad, cheesy horror film & we ate dinner at Pho Hanoi in a similar area to where we had eaten the previous night. We had chicken noodle soup.
We talk a long walk on the beach past the fitness fanatics, eastwards spotting the delightful image of a man crapping & another weeing on the sand. Suffice to say we walked back on the path & watched T.V.

Tuesday we were up at 9am, following a very bad, disjointed sleep as the bed was so hard you could only manage 1-2 hours sleep before waking up feeling an aching numbness incomparable to even the Hanoi sleeper train. Not wanting to spend another night in the busy miserable city we packed & checked out.
Across the road we attempted to get a taxi but the driver seemed unable to agree to the price HE quoted of $3 (60,000 dong). Our arguing got us nowhere so we opted for 2 motos for 60,000 instead. I nearly regretted my decision as we had a near miss with a van & my bike collided with another driving alongside, locking them together & the sheer combined weight almost toppled me off the bike!
We reached the bus station & were on our way to Hoi An at 10.20am.
We arrived in the town around 11.45am but then had to take 2 motos to get us to the Old Town as the bus station was at the top edge of town. Unlike most Vietnamese towns we had visited Hoi An seemed to be more "old town" than modern commercialism with its beautiful teak buildings along narrow streets housing as well as restaurants & cafes a multitude of specialist trade crafts from silk clothing to marble stone masonry. It runs alongside the Thu Bon River & stretches both sides, although across the bridge it becomes endless streets of cafes in more modern architectural style. The town was originally a 17th century port & influenced by Chinese, Japanese & European cultures as evident in the local architecture & art.
We had the Hoi An special, Can Lai, a noodle & pork dish for 25,000 dong each at Banana Split Cafe & whilst Vicky was finishing hers I went looking for a hotel. I eventually found Pho Hoi Hotel behind the endless market on the riverfront, where I parted with 200,000 dong for a less than average double room. It seemed all the other hotels were fully booked due to the Independence Day festival on later that week.
We took a long walk over the bridge to Cam Nam village, passing the spectacular Pho Hoi 2 Riverside Hotel, a luxurious array of villas & well-tended gardens, even a swimming pool - at $20 minimum.
Returning from the 4km walk crossed back over the bridge, ignoring ladies trying to sell us boat trips, & cut through the market selling the usual fish & fresh meats, rice, vegetables & various locally made trinkets & clothing. We got to the Japanese Bridge, an exact replica of the one near Hue - except it had a hidden room flush with the far right hand side for worship.
We had dinner at Treat Bar Restaurant , a stylish backpacker place, at 7ish of chicken fried rice, penne pasta, banana pancakes & beer.

Wednesday we were up by 10ish. We ate jam & peanut butter baguettes (not together) at Banana Split Cafe & chatted to a group of English girls who'd been voluntary teaching in South Korea. We compared advice on Sapa, Nha Trang, etc then they told us a horrific story about what had happened to an Australian guy. Apparently the guy had been involved in an accident, had been taken to a Vietnamese hospital & left in the corridor (quite a common occurrence we were told). Days later the girls' friend had seen him in the recovery room waiting to find out what organs had been taken out of him! After that story we became more wary about taking risks.
We got to the post office situated just outside of the Old Town on the main road & posted Mum's present for 89,000 dong.
We got a couple of baguettes & headed out of town pass the bus station to visit Chuc Thamh Pagoda & Phuoc Lam Pagoda. The two were only 5 minutes apart, one in a beautiful tended garden with a stream & 2 wooden bridges one either side giving it a Japanese water garden feel. The other was next to a cemetary in more of a dusty sandy location. There was no denying both were beautiful buildings though.
Back in town we found the Assembly Hall of Hainan Chinese, another amazing teak building that had been built on the orders of the Emperor as a memorial to the lives of Hainan merchant sailors lost through the treachery of the Emperor's own military. The story goes that the Emperor's force had been informed of a pirate menace terrorising the seas & had been sent to stop them. Getting to the site the men realised that they'd been misinformed, but instead of withdrawing they attacked an unarmed Hainan merchant ship,even when they had shown their identity papers, & killed everyone on board then scuttled the ship. The laziness of the military as seen by the Emperor himself along with a confession from one of the participants saw that justice was served & the memorial built.
We got back to our hotel & asked to be swapped rooms due to the heavy rain the night previous that had leaked through the air conditioning & saturated some of our clothes. The inner room wasn't much bigger but at least we had escaped the rain.
We found a cheap Vietnamese kitchen to eat revolting chicken fried rice - dry & instant rice. During our meal the rain came down heavily, roads became deep, muddy rivers & the power went out to the block.
Once finished we used my head torch to make our way to the original Treat Cafe, (the other was a newer more recent version) had a banana pancake & beer, & played pool. Vicky was evidently getting better at the game!

Thursday we were up at 9ish but both felt a bit ill, don't think it was from the beer, & took a while to come around. When we did we had breakfast at Minh Hui which did very cheap breakfasts for 10 - 15,000 dong & coffees at 7,000. Just up the road we also found a cheap laundry place, 10,000 per kilo.
We paid 75,000 dong each to do the Old Town Tour & found that we had to pick only 4 places out of 12 to visit! What a con! To see as much as we could me & Vix took it in turns to visit different places, taking pictures for each other to see. She began at the Tran Family Chapel (a 200 year old mandarin house with a beautiful back garden, unchanged today) & for me the House of Tan Ky (a 200 year old private residence full of generations of Family memorabilia that also has marked the flood levels of the river over the years). Vix then went to Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, built by Chinese merchants in 1697. Both of us went to the museum of History & Culture & Quan Cong's Temple (the mueum & 17th century temple were next door & you could enter one from the other). The rain broke as we browsed museum exhibits covering 2000 years of various areas of
hoi An history & meant we had to leg it to somewhere for lunch. We chose Trung Bac on 87 Tran Phu where we ate delicious tomato soup & egg fried rice for 30,000 dong.
I visited the Cantonese Assembly Hall (the 1786 meeting place for the congregation) & we bought some pieces of sugary coconut, some shorts & a rain mack.
Our last place of choice was the Handicraft & Traditional Music Workshop. It was another beautiful teak building that held a bizarre dance & music workshop performance lasting a good 20-30 minutes incorporating singing, a band playing strange & familiar musical instruments. There were costumed dancers, a guy dressed like some kind of ancient warrior, tossing his long beard, women dancing with huge pots on their heads & almost poetically with fans. Once the performance was over we walked round the rest of the building astounded by how skilful the artisans were, making lanterns, sculpting marble (using their feet to hold the marble blocks) embroidery, making bags, clothing, pictures & painting stunning scenes onto canvas. If we had had the money we could have bought most of the shop! On the way back to the hotel we picked up some food from the market - a mung bean jelly like dessert wrapped in banana leaf & BBQ corn on a cob. Vicky exchanged her book at the hotel & after a quick change we had dinner at Nha Han Bar & Restaurant on Pham Hong Thi Street.

Friday we were up at 8am but took ages to pack, so weren't ready to check out for another hour. We left our stuff in storage, had breakfast at Anh Thy & headed for the bus station at 11am. We arrived at our destination, Marble Mountains, a huge mountain range half way between Hoi An & Danang, of five marble and limestone hills located in Ngu Hanh Son ward. The five 'mountains' are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth).
The next three hours we spent climbing stone steps to pagodas & entering huge caverns also containing pagodas. The experience was amazing if a little crowded with Vietnamese tourists. The from the highest lookout point of the province, the cities & the China Sea was even more amazing!
We caught the bus back to Hoi An at 3.05pm, after avoiding the dozens of shopkeepers trying to sell us huge marble sculptures by the mountain.
Back in Hoi An we went in search of the elusive Sinh Cafe, mentioned in our L.P, to take us to our next destination. As luck would have it the hour trek led us to where it used to exist! (Thanks once again Lonely Planet)
We ate a very late lunch at Lame Cafe where we did the unthinkable & ordered burgers & chips which were delicious, & went up the road to Linh Cafe & booked a bus to Quy Nhon at 300,000 dong.
The rest of the day was spent purchasing souvenirs (silk tie, 2 sets of chopsticks & a bamboo bowl) & looking round the specialist handicraft shops selling model boats & exotic clothing plus various other things. After this we walked with our rucksacks back to Linh Cafe, got a takeaway pizza from Lame Cafe at 55,000 dong & caught the bus at 6.30pm.
It was a long journey & I was thankful for my downloaded audio book & other English travellers to chat to.