Tofu

When booking our tour for Ha Long Bay we took the advice we had reiterated to us by a host of travellers as we travelled north, -”you get what you pay for”. So we booked from the tour office that was recommended to us and were amazed to find that they offer traveller services, a hot shower, toilet, internet, a kitchen and a comfy place to hang out. From this tour office we were able to spend time in Hanoi with out staying in a Hotel. But no time for much the first morning,

After arriving in Hanoi at 6am from the Sleeper bus we were already on our way to Ha Long bay on a very comfortable tour bus by 8:30am. Our tour to Ha Long bay was great fun, on the way we easily struck up conversations with every one on the Bus. Offering advice to an old Irish couple who had just arrived in Vietnam, and swapping travelling stories with an English girl we had seen the day before in Hue. There was a French couple a German couple, an Aussie couple from a country town in Gippsland (who study in Melbourne) and another Aussie girl and Kiwi girl who had some great stories.

By the time we arrived at the boat and sat down to eat a banquet on the boat everyone felt comfortable like sitting down for a family dinner. The boat was really luxurious with three decks, a bar and restaurant and cabins to sleep about 12 or so people, all decked out in ornate dark wood. As we had booked last minute there was no room for us to sleep on the boat, so we were spending two nights on the island. The island was a private island with a small bar and restaurant and about 12 bungalows set in between the cliffs and the beach, while it would have been nice to stay on the boat, we were pretty happy with the island.

For our lunch on the boat we were served a feast of Crabs, Prawns, Calamari, Fish and numerous other culinary delights. The old Irish couple had been told by their travel doctor not to eat Shellfish in Asia and as they were going to Australia after Vietnam they were more than happy to just eat beef and chicken. So we were more than happy to make sure the surplus Crabs and Prawns didn‘t go to waste. The only annoyance on the boat was the drink prices were a little high. But complaining that beer is expensive when it is still only $1.50 is a bit pointless.

On the way through Ha Long bay we were flanked on either side by the most amazing cliffs and islands jutting out of the sea. Our guide told us their was 1969 islands in Ha Long bay, but Ha Long bay is just one of three bays covered in thousands of islands and spectacular scenery. Unfortunately for us on our first day there was quite a heavy fog, or maybe sea mist or maybe it was pollution. Either way the entire horizon was shadowed with the hazy silhouettes of the islands. But by the time we were halfway through lunch we were surrounded by magnificent views and it was a dilemma whether to finish eating the amazing food or run outside and take photos from the top deck.

After lunch we stopped in an inlet surrounded by tall islands but protected from the sea. The water was a calm and beautiful crystal clear pale blue. We hopped into to Kayaks and paddled amongst the cliffs and through an open cave to hidden lagoon, spending most of the time just drifting along with our jaws open bewildered by the scenery. Our guide said that each year he only ever sees two or three monkeys. We were lucky enough to spot two monkeys playing in the tree-tops high above.

Around 5pm we had to say goodbye to the other people we had met as they were staying on the boat and we were transferred to the island. Our transfer was another large, beautifully carved wooden boat which we had all to our self, with only the captain and first mate aboard. Prue and I danced around on the top deck as we basically rotated around taking in the 360 degree views for the hour and a half trip to the island. We arrived at the island and found another group already there but the people travelling didn’t really seem as much fun as our group from the boat. So after eating a yummy BBQ and retiring to our cabin we weren’t too upset to wake up the next morning to find everyone had left, and we had the entire place to our self.

Our own private island was actually exactly as nice as it sounds. We spent the day just chilling out, Prue sat in her rocking chair on the balcony and read a book while soaking up the view. I went for a bit of a paddle in the sea kayak, then played a couple of locals at pool while sipping Black Russians. For lunch we got a sea taxi, which was no more than a wooden dingy with an engine and an tarp for a roof, to take us to Cat Ba island.

Then after returning to our private island we were greeted by our group from the boat the previous day. Needless to say we spent the night laughing and drinking and telling stories of our travels on our own private island paradise. Our last day was spent cruising back through the cliffs soaking up the sun on the top deck of the boat, while soaking up the amazing views. The sea mist pollution fog had cleared a lot more and the depth and the sheer size of the islands was incredible and surrounded us in every direction with a magical view.

We arrived back in Hanoi and said goodbye to the Irish couple who were rushed off in a taxi to catch a flight to Hoi An. We made use of the travellers lounge area at the tour office and chilled out on the cushions and Skype’d home, repacked our bags and freshened up. Then we joined the Aussie couple for a quick dinner before another goodbye as they caught the sleeper train south to Hue. Again we had no time to explore Hanoi as by 9pm we were settling into the firm bed of the sleeper train heading north to the mountain village of Sapa…

Tomb Raider.

After two hours sleep and with a heavy head we devoured a minimalist breakfast on the run to absorb the alcohol still afflicting us and jumped on the Bus bound for Hue. After an hour or so cruising from Hoi An and through Danang, the road opened up to a beautiful beach side mountain pass. Almost in unison with every one else on the bus (For the first time mostly full of Westerners) I reached into my bag and pulled out the camera, switched it on and lined up a snap. A collective “Ohhh” rang through the aisles of the bus as we drove straight into the mountain by way of a very, very long tunnel.

Twenty minutes later we emerged from the tunnel to look back over our shoulders to see our beautiful views disappearing behind us. It was at this exact point that we realised we had missed one of the moments we had looked forward to the most. Not long before leaving Australia the guys from Top Gear did a Vietnam special which heavily inspired our trip. There was a moment in the show where Clarkson and Hammond sat by the side of the road waiting for May to catch up while overlooking the most spectacular view. The exact spot was visible up the old coast road behind us to the left. The tunnel we emerged from had bypassed that from the right. Oh well, next time Gadget, next time.

We arrived at Hue and again as we alighted the bus we were instantly set upon by a horde of Hoteliers, Taxi drivers and Motor Bikers each one pleading, nay, pushing for our business. One went so far as to follow us all the way to the hotel area, nicely agreeing to walk on the other side of the road to leave us alone, yet still directing us from every corner to his hotel. Needless to say when we did get to his hotel, we chose to stay in the one next door, the one we had picked from our guide book.

Right next to our hotel was a delicious Indian restaurant, which we gorged ourselves at and compared favourably to every other Indian restaurant we’d been to, yes, even “Priya” near Watergardens. Deciding to spend only one night in Hue I walked down to the local travel agency and booked the sleeper bus for the following night to take us to Hanoi. We decided to use Sinh Cafe้ bus company as we had seen their buses and been recommended them as they were the most modern and comfortable looking option for a long haul trip. With our exit strategy planned we decided to make the most of the small time we had in Hue and see the sights. Opting for the relaxed approach we hired a Cyclo each to take us on a tour around the Citadel.

Hue was once the Center of the Vietnamese Empire, and previously home to the Emperors. The Citadel is the Palace of the Emperor, or at least it was, until the Americans bombed the shit out of it, as they do. We decided not to pay the $5 entry fee as it was late in the day and we were going to have more time to explore the next day, so we got our Cyclo drivers to take us on a peaceful trip around the Citadel and back through the town to the restaurant strip. So peaceful was the ride in our Cyclo I could help myself nodding off a few times in the middle of traffic. But hey, I’d only had two hours sleep.

Our Cyclo drivers organised to pick us up the next morning on motorbikes for a tour around, and we spent the rest of the night wandering though the town with a feeling of “whatever” about it all. I think around this point we were starting to get a bit tired of people trying to sell us shit, scam us, beg from us and con us, but then again we’d only had four hours sleep. After another pleasant (but not seedy) massage, we found a cafe้ next to the hotel for dinner and swapped traveling stories with a few backpackers, before retiring for a relatively early night. The Cafe้ we went to was called “Cafe้ on Thu Wheels” and specialised in motorcycle tours. Our enthusiastic and friendly host, became introverted and moody after we told him we’d hired a guide off the street. Oh well, next time Gadget, next time.

Checking out of our hotel brought up our reoccurring feeling of being ripped off. With the hotel charging an extortionate exchange rate for paying in Vietnam Dong, rather than US Dollars. After a small pointless argument we paid the bill on our Travel Card in US dollars and saved ourselves a few pointless dollars out of spite of being rorted.

Our motorcycle tour of Hue’s surrounding Tombs and Pagodas started with a hitch as Prue’s guide stopped for Petrol and I went ahead with my guide. After waiting about ten minutes for her to catch up my guide realised they weren't coming and left me waiting on the side of the road where I was mocked in Vietnamese by a small school boy after I refused to give him a cigarette. A minute or two later my guide came flying back around the corner and whisked me off to the site that Prue had been taken to. Ok, well organised tour so far.

The Tombs of the previous Emperors were quite impressive although the $5 entry fee at each site for both of us seemed a little bit high. Again we felt reinforcement in the feeling that everyone in Vietnam is just trying to get money out of us. The Pagodas were free to enter and the last one we went to was quite impressive although it housed a somber mood in a garage at the rear of the temple. There we found the Austin driven to Saigon by the Monk who Self immolated (Burned himself to death) in protest to the South Vietnamese Government’s treatment of Buddhists, the same Austin is visible in the iconic photo of the event.

After a few hours of riding around on narrow back roads our drivers took us to a local place for lunch where we were fed suspicious food that thankfully never made us sick and then they dropped us at the front gate of the Citadel. Trying to pay for the Guides started an argument as we believed we were paying $5 each for what was supposed to be a two hour tour. They believed that as the tour had taken nearly four hours (not our fault) we should pay double. Originally it was only going to be $8 each for the whole day. So we bluffed calling the Tourist Police and bailed out at the original price of $5 each. Needless to say our patience with the Vietnamese constant attempt to make us part with extra (or any) cash was starting to wear thin.

The Citadel was a bit disappointing, most of it was destroyed, so everything that couldn't be restored was still in the process of being rebuilt. The majority of the grounds felt like a work site, although a few areas that had either been repaired or were never destroyed were quite impressive. Hue was a lovely city with some amazing old sites to visit and I’m sure given a bit of extra time to absorb the atmosphere of the town we would have enjoyed it a lot more. Unfortunately a few irritable incidents put it on the back foot, and we boarded the bus eagerly looking back at the city of Hue with a strong sense of nothing much at all.

The 13 hour trip between Hue and Hanoi was relatively comfortable. I found myself about 4 inches short on leg room in my sleeping berth. Prue on the other hand slept fairly soundly. The ride itself was a lot smoother than some of our previous bus trips. The large Sinh Cafe้ coach strategically lined itself in the middle of the road and blazed a trail to Hanoi letting all other traffic flow around it. We arrived at Hanoi at 6am, walked around the corner to the office of a tour company we had been recommended, only to find that it didn't open until 7am. Not much of anything was open for breakfast and we waited patiently until the tour office opened, purchasing a three day tour to Ha Long Bay that left at 8:30am then treated ourselves to a delicious breakfast before setting off on our next adventure...

Facebook is working where we are, the photos from Hoi An and Hue can be found [HERE].

More photos should come in the next day or so now that we have facebook again. It takes a bit of free time to organise the photos and write the blogs and lately we haven't had much free time...

Primitive Vehicle Users Only.

The Archaeological history of the places we are visiting is something that I am finding most fulfilling. At Quy Nhon we saw the wonderful Cham sites that were fairly unvisited yet largely restored. This makes sense as the Vietnamese people take great pride in their history. We were heading to Hoi An next and this promised to be interesting for it’s great old city centre and for the ruin that lie outside the city in a site called My Son (pronounced Me Sun).

We climbed on the train and travelled to Hoi An via Danang on a soft seat in air conditioning this time. This wasn’t by choice, the hard seat wasn’t available at the time we wanted to travel. It was only an extra 40,000 Dong so we were complaining. Surprisingly, we were again, the only westerners on the train. This is fun because we get to be the only ones immersed in with the locals. At the same time though we are getting to the stage where we want to meet some people who speak English and are in the same backpacker boat as us.

We decided that in Hoi An we’d make more of an effort to meet and hang out with backpackers and with that in mind our driver and his sister (who was in the front seat) talked us into staying at the An Phu hotel in Hoi An. The place was a cool old building that had been turned into a hotel. We walked in and were shown a few rooms and after picking one of the cheaper ones with a private balcony we settled in. There was something a bit creepy about the hotel though and over the course of the first day we saw bats, rats and cockroaches. Granted the roaches are pretty common in SE Asia, but the bat flying in the hallway and the number of large rats I saw gave me pause. We were there now though and we were only staying 3 nights so I decided to stick it out.

We headed into town which was just down the road from the hotel (which was another reason to forgive them the animals). The centre of Hoi An is like the South East Asia that we had read about in old novels and see in old movies but just doesn’t really exist anymore. After walking down the first street we quickly realised that tailors were the main enterprise in Hoi An. One after the other the tailors line the streets with mannequins out the front clothed in their designs and even more hanging from every conceivable location inside the stores walls and from the roof. With much bemusement and a chorus of “come in sir/madam, see my store” or “you want a new suit, I make for you 12 hours” we headed towards the river and grabbed an early dinner at a cute little restaurant called cordon blue.

I’d like to note that I am enjoying the fact that we are finally in a part of Vietnam where you don’t have to search to find Pho Bo (pronounced fo ba, or at least that‘s how it pronounced here). I’ve been told that it’s more of a dish from northern Vietnam so I look forward to eating more of the fabulous beef noodle soup in future.

We were treated to a sunset like nothing else we’ve seen so far I think. The strong pinks and oranges were breathtaking and the view from one of the bridges with it setting over the old city just reinforces all of the old SE Asia images you didn’t even know you had. Walking around the city at night is just beautiful and at night there seems to be a rule where no motorbikes are allowed to be ridden. This means that you can walk around in the middle of the street with just push bikes around you and everyone is dressed beautifully.

We later found out that another rule for locals states that in the old city ladies must be dressed either in traditional attire or at least in clothes that covers them up conservatively. No one seemed to bothered with it though and it really did add to the relaxed feel of the city centre. In the end we made it an early night and headed back to the hotel for a drink. It was at this point that we saw our first huge rat and a bat flying through the hotel.

We headed out the next morning with an aim to get me an outfit for Laura and Headly’s wedding in Austria. Thanks to our exploration last night we were able to narrow down the areas we saw that looked like they had nice clothes shops. We headed into the city centre and after wandering around and seeing all the outfits that everyone had out, I hadn’t seen too much that I was hanging out for. I liked some of the Chinese style tops and there were lots of winter jackets, but nothing that screamed out that it was what I wanted…or needed. Drew finally suggested a tailor that had some beautiful jackets.

It was just inside the door that I found a lovely knee length jacket in a forest green that did up on an angle and had a really cute neckline. This was my first time buying anything to be made and I was worried that the price would be more that we could budget, in the end the lady said $37 US and agreed to make it up in a dark red with cute black buttons. She also threw in a think extra lining for free and said to come back the next day to check it. This was amazing!

We headed off to be inspired by something else for the wedding and finally found a shop that didn’t look quite as nice but had some great examples in the windows. In the end we settled on Thai Silk, also in red. We came up with a nice design and then after some consideration I agreed to get a suit jacket to go with it that could double for work when we got to England. I looked and looked with the girls for a design for the jacket, but could only find a few parts that I really liked. In the end I picked some parts from other jackets and designed a cute pleated part at the back that I had dreamed up myself. I was a bit nervous, but in the end with the Thai Silk outfit and the suit jacket was $59 US. Pretty nice if I do say so myself.

With all the outfits I could possibly need ordered, Drew and I headed back to the hotel and rented a motorbike and headed down to the beach. I wasn’t really in the mood to swim so I paid 10,000 Dong and rented a sun bed. The beach is under reconstruction after a large typhoon which wiped most of the beach out. It’s being rebuilt by moving sand down to the shore and planting big palm trees to try to stop the sea washing away. The water was nice, but the waves were mainly dumpers and the rips were really strong. In the end it got overcast and cold so we headed back to the hotel and then headed to a second hand bookstore.

It was run by an American expat who stocked some romance novels!! Finally. I ended up buying the 3rd in the Clan of the Cave Bear series, the first in the Mercy Thompson series and a Susan Elizabeth Philips book called Ain’t She Sweet. I got a discount because we ended up swapping them for some of the books that we’d finished. We then dropped the motorbike off and headed out to dinner at a place we’d seen the night before called the Before and Now bar. It ended up giving us one of the best Western meals this far. The Brusetta was lovely and I had a spag boll that was fantastic. We wandered to a bar and had some drinks and played some pool and then headed home to bed.

The second full day in Hoi An we headed out on a tour to see My Son (pronounced Me Sun) which is one of the most extensive Cham sites in Vietnam. The bus was a really dodgy tour that gave us a bus with a hole in the floor, but it was cheap at $6 so we didn’t complain. My Son was meant to be one of the main capitals of the Cham culture that migrated from Indonesia many many 100’s of years ago. We got a ride from the gate up to the walking trail in old American Army jeeps. We had an a very enthusiastic explanation of the site from our guide and then headed up the track to the first site.

The site is extensively damaged and you can still see the bomb craters. The site is intriguing to Archaeologists because the bricks that make up the towers and rooms you go into are not held together by any visible cement or glue. The most recent suggestion says that they were held together by honey and some other ingredient from the forest. The site is quite overgrown and the parts that have been cleared are beautiful, but the extent of the damage is devastating. The buildings that remain have had a lot of work and there is still work going on with the help of UNESCO.

The buildings are a light brown stone and are all dedicated to a Hindu god. There were some intriguing stone alters that I would suggest would be sacrificial stones that were the same as some we’d seen at Angkor. The guide on our tour that we were only following and listening to occasionally finally confirmed my theory, though in Angkor they swore it wasn’t for sacrifice but they couldn’t tell me what it was for.

Site A at My Son was clearly at one time the centre piece for the culture. It would have been huge if the dimensions of the destroyed portions of the part that remains is an indication. It would have had a temple that was easily three or four times the size of the other temple we had seen at another part of the site. The floor plan looked like it would have been similar and the carvings that remain on the base were of a similar style to the other existing temple. This is one of the sad losses in the war with America, they had bombed this site and when they couldn’t destroy it they sent a helicopter in to hover over it and blast it till there was nothing left.

The VC never occupied the site during the war and the USA only destroyed it to make sure they couldn’t occupy it in future or for some twisted psychological reasons. After looking at some more destroyed temples and some bomb craters where temples were, we headed back to the bus and then got transferred to a boat for lunch and a cruise down the river back to Hoi An. We stopped by an artists village and watched some amazing wood workers creating wonderful things.

When we arrived back in Hoi An we went to the coat shop called 'Na Na' first. The jacket was beautiful and fit me perfectly first time. With many thanks and a spring in my step we headed to the next tailor to pick up my jacket and silk outfit. The jacket was perfect and the skirt was lovely, but it needed a little tightening. The top was nice, but sadly was nothing like what I thought I’d asked for. In the end they said they’d remake the outfit to be what I wanted and the jacket was so lovely that I ended up getting a work skirt to match, we agreed to head back there in four hours and pick it all up.

We ended up renting a motorbike and heading to the beach again. The weather was a little warmer so I decided to go for a swim with Drew, sadly it was still dumping and had a strong rip so I didn’t stay in long. We headed back into town and picked up my clothes that were all fixed and fitted perfectly and I dropped some clothes off that needed to be taken in, we were told to come back in about 2 hours. We then we headed out to dinner at the Before and Now bar again. The last time we ate upstairs in the restaurant and this time we decided to eat in the more relaxed bar. It was just as good as the first night. We just needed a few good comfort meals to allow us to continue on our way.

On the way back from the restaurant we walked past a cute skirt, I decided to try it on, it was a little too tight and the girl agreed to let it out a little. As it was already 9pm she said she’d drop it at our hotel reception for me, after she was finished. Then we picked up the pants I was getting taken in from the tailor which was the shop next to the hotel. We headed out to have a drink at a bar around the corner from the hotel called the "Why Not?" bar. This is not the only 'Why Not' bar we’ve seen, but they don’t have anything in common. (Well... Other than booze -Drew)

We had some drinks and started talking to the people in the bar, there were people from France, Canada, Germany, a fat guy from Russia that knew no English and a few Aussie’s. We drank and chatted for hours until we found the bar closing. We then got "free shuttle" to a place called the "Last Stand Bar". The 'free shuttle' was three to a motorbike so a girl I’d just met and I climbed on the back in the rain and headed for the bar located just over the short bridge from old town on Cham island.

It was a great night fun and the next time I checked my watch it was 3am. We were catching a bus at 7am and I hadn’t even gone to bed yet. I left Drew at the bar and headed home on a motorbike taxi and after picking up my package of clothes from reception, I headed to bed. I hoped Drew would come back before the bus left for Hue in the morning…

Note: At this point we are about a week or so behind in our blog posts after travelling to Hue, then to Hanoi were we took a tour to HaLong Bay and have just returned to Hanoi from a tour to Sapa. Later today we take a bus to Laos and we have a bit of time near the internet to hopefully catch up, Facebook is still not working so hopefully we'll upload a bunch of photos when we get to Vientiene in Laos.

Comfort Food.

There have been a few times on our tip where we have found ourselves out of our comfort zone. While walking the streets of Dalat after dinner we stumbled into a night market in the middle of the road. The market was no more than a few rows of canvas bags spread out across the ground selling all of the seconds clothing. There wasn’t anything particularly special about the market itself, but as the vendors went about selling their wares they all had a unique chant like sales pitch which when combined with all of the market vendors created an orchestral rhythm. It reminded me of walking through Ankor Wat and listening to the band of landmine-victims playing local instruments on the side of the path. When you single out one instrument to listen to it, it just sounds like noise, but when collaborated as a whole it creates music.

Browsing the market stalls I turned to Prue and asked “are you out of your comfort zone yet?”. No sooner had she replied “no” with a shake of her head and a bewildered smile when suddenly all of the vendors starting yelling frantically and grabbed their canvas bags running and dragging them off the street, over the top of us, and retreating to the edges of the sidewalk. Within ten seconds the entire street had cleared of market stalls and while Prue and I stood in the middle of where the market had been, a truck with a tray full of baton wielding police officers roared around the corner charging into the empty space the market had occupied. Prue grabbed my arm and said “ok, now I’m out of my comfort zone” and with that we decided it was best to leave the area.

Mostly being out of your comfort zone doesn’t necessarily mean being uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is the only word I would use to describe our bus ride from Nha Trang to Qui Nhon, I might even add a curse word to the front of it. We were booked on a 16 seater mini-van for the five hour trip, 16 seats might work for tiny little Vietnamese, but when you try and shoehorn the two of us into the back seat, sealed in by two more locals, with one leg up in the air and our bags sitting on our laps in a mini van that decided it needed to be parked in the sun for fifteen minutes before leaving without the aircon on… Well it’s fucking uncomfortable

We had an opportunity to bail about ten minutes into the trip heading out of town, again the bus decided it needed to be parked on the side of the road for fifteen more minutes. Prue and I sat and debated whether or not we would get off, and after much debating we finally though “fuck it, lets get out of here”, we moved to get out, which would involve literally climbing over people. Suddenly fate raised its hand and bitch slapped us back down into our seat as the door slammed shut and the bus speed forward to Qui Nhon with 14 locals and us, crammed in the back sweltering, sweating, squished and so terribly uncomfortable.

We had decided to take the bus against our better judgment, as bus rides in Vietnam tend to be more like a death defying rollercoaster when compared to the safer and smoother option of the train. The train timetable didn’t have an appropriate departure time for us so we ended up crammed into our mini-van as we twisted and winded our way up through mountain trails along the beautiful ocean road, with gorgeous beaches and off shore islands on one side and gigantic mountains and cliffs on the other side. The Vietnamese could be forgiven for not bothering to visit our own Great Ocean Road, they have one, and it’s very bloody beautiful.

Or at least, we’re pretty sure it was. It’s hard to sit and enjoy the views. Not because we were squished uncomfortably into the back of the mini van. It’s hard to enjoy the view because you just cant take your eyes away from the road and the certain death that honks its way toward you at every turn, on every straight and always on your side of the road. Unless of course it is you who driving is on their side. We may have been under the impression our driver was Australian as he actually spent more time driving on our side of the road (the wrong side) than he did using the imaginary middle lane. Driving into darkness didn’t offer much relief either, as now their was no view to distract you from the road, and you are always wondering if the headlight of the scooter you are approaching head on to bully off the road, is actually a truck with one blown light.

It’s a bit of an adrenaline rush escaping death over and over, occasionally muttering an “oh shit!” or gripping the edge of you seat. It is truly frightening however, when the locals who seem mostly oblivious or desensitised to the road mayhem start popping their head up going “oh oh oh…” as the narrowest of margins saves you from being worm food. In the end we made it safely albeit uncomfortably to Qui Nhon.

Qui Nhon is a beach side city in the foot of the mountains and a place with little to no western tourism. it’s a bit of a shame that there isn’t much tourism as it is a lovely place. But I suppose it is made a little lovelier because of the lack of tourism. We were able to walk down the street without vendors pleading with us to come in and have a look, and we were able to sit and have a meal without peddlers walking up to us selling crap. We decided to do what anyone in a place without tourism would do, we checked into a resort.

Using modern technology we negotiated a cheap rate by bringing up the internet on Prue’s iPhone while standing at the reception desk, we found the resort mostly deserted as it is the off season and it kinda made us feel like the whole place was for us. So we relaxed in our complimentary bath robes, ordered Australian steak from room service, had a swim, a massage, a sauna and pottered around the quiet town of Qui Nhon, checking out a few nearby Cham sites. After two relaxing nights we set sail for the clothes tailor capital of South East Asia, Hoi An. This time we took the train.

Facebook is working sporadically in Vietnam at the moment, so here are the links to a couple of new photo albums:

The first album is our days spent in Dalat... [Click HERE]

The second album is our days in Nha Trang and Qui Nhon... [Click HERE]

We'll post a new blog post in the next day (hopefully), at the moment we are in Hoi An, clothing tailors paradise.

Mot, Hai, Ba, YO! (1,2,3, Cheers!)

We arrived back in Nha Trang to shitty weather, the clouds were thick and low and the wind was blowing with gale force, the patches of light rain came at us so far sideways it almost fell upwards. Prue and I were hungry from our long bumpy Bus trip down the mountain from Dalat and found the closest restaurant to have a burger each. We had an argument about spending time relaxing, Prue said she wanted to chill out and read a book, but I argued that I didn't want to spend all my time sitting in our hotel room. This statement when teamed up with our burgers, came back to bite us in the arse, quite literally.

Our first night in Nha Trang we learned quickly that the Gold Coast image that masks the appearance of the city, actually hides a deeply rooted dark side below its facade. We walked the street dodging the usual street peddlers and waving away the dodgy men on scooters who would offer all sorts of nasties, from massages with "boom boom" to Weed and Cocaine. Although we found a nice bar to chill out with a drink while we planned a tour for the day after next, we later returned to our hotel with the feeling that Nha Trang wasn't just the family friendly resort town we'd first assumed it to be.

Waking up the next morning we planned to spend the day unwinding and chilling out, maybe rent a scooter and see a few sights around town, but at a slow pace. Unfortunately our burgers from the previous day had other plans and by midday we were both feeling like shit and, well, feeling like shitting, a lot. We were pretty sure it was dodgy salad from our burgers the previous day and as I had picked out my tomato and cucumber I was only hit at one third strength. Prue however, having eaten all her salad like a good girl, was pretty much confined to quaters for the whole day.

The next day we were supposed to be picked up for a tour but as Prue was still really sick we postponed it for the next day, inevitably prolonging our stay in Nha Trang, the weather was still miserable and matched the way Prue was feeling, so I went out and explored the town on a scooter, checking out a few of the back-street locals only areas before stopping at one seaside cafe to drink dodgy coffee, then moving to another sea side cafe to drink more dodgy coffee.

Not all the coffee is dodgy in Vietnam, but when you are served coffee it comes as a glass with some condensed milk in he bottom and then has a metal contraption that sits on top of the glass and coffee grains are poured into. Hot water is poured into the metal cup holding the coffe grains. Then you sit and wait as drip by drip your glass slowly fills. Normally you also get a flask of hot water to top up your glass with. The coffee is usualy delicious (although the condensed milk makes it pretty sweet) however sometimes the coffee filter just doesn't work and you'll sit there for 20 minutes tapping the glass to get it to drip out, meanwhile it goes cold.

A little after lunch Prue was feeling a bit better so we jumped on the scooter to go and visit the local Cham site. The Chams were a local culture that inhabited most of Vietnam hundreds of years ago before being oppressed or moved out by the Chinese. Similarly to the Angkors of Cambodia the Chams built whopping great temples all over the country side and many of them still stand today. The architechture is different to the Angkors with the buildings constructed of small bricks similar in size to common bricks we use today and the style resembles the Indian Hindu temles with Spade shaped pyramids on the top. The Cham site was pretty cool although the dark insides of the temples had a very eerie atmosphere. It was interesting to see that many people still practise the Cham religion today.

Prue had only been eating dry biscuts and steamed rice, but for dinner I ventured out to get takeaway Pho Bo for her on the scooter. It was a new experience trying to cart home soup on a scooter which came in plastic bags, but I managed to get the bags home without tearing the plastic and the Hotel lent us a bowl and chopsticks, but the only spoon they had was a large ladle. With a smirk I left Prue to happily eat her Beef Soup and watch a movie while I ventured out to eat "real food" alone.

Our experiences with massages in our travels have been fantastic up until now, from foot massages in a market to blind massuers, We have found them to be such a great way to re-energise and super cheap. All of these experiences were tainted when we decided to get a massage in Nha Trang. Prue had found a nice cheap place (about $5 per hour) and it wasn't until we had reached the point of no return that we realised we were in a massage "parlour". The girls wearing short skirts was probably the first giveaway, then they asked for tips as they were not paid any money, the money we paid for the massage just got us to them.

Luckily I didn't have a cent in my pocket (as I'd been embarrisingly short on the bill when paying for my dinner earlier and hadn't yet been to an ATM) and Prue escaped with only a small tip. The seediest part was halfway through the lady massinging me pointed to my crotch and winked at me saying "massage?". I eagerly declined and spent the last half of the massage feeling less than relaxed, although it atleast explained why the massage wasn't actually very good. We left the place feeling slightly violated and went back to the hotel and watched "The Beach" on TV. Spending a bit of time locked in the Hotel room hadn't been so bad after we found the TV played two movie channels. the first night we were treated to a Lethal Weapon marathon, the next night was Karate Kid and Twilight, the last being a movie that I hated the first time, but still managed to get absoulelty sucked into. God damn Emo kids.

Waking to another day of shitty weather we grabbed a quick breakfast before heading out to our "four islands" tour. About 3o of us crammed onto a boat, the first island was no more than a pier that led to an aquarium on the island, with the rest of the island completely inaccesable. We didn't want to pay for the Aquarium so spent 45 mins sheltering from the wind, before we set off again for the next island. On the way we passed floating villages of lobster farmers before stopping just offshore from the island for some snorkeling.

I dove from the top of the boat into the deep water and swam off to snorkel around. I couldn't tell if the water was really cloudy as again my snorkel was pretty crap, but the coral and fish were really pretty, and I got some cool photos of the fish underwater. Prue stayed on the boat as it was still fairly windy and she didn't want to get sick again. As we moved to our next stop we were protected from the wind by the islands and the sun even managed to poke it's head out a little bit.

The crew served us a feast before entertaining us with their own band, featuring a makeshift drum kit a fender and a bass. The band was really entertaining although a little out of time with each other. They asked our nationalities and played songs to suit, we were treated to Waltzing Matilda and the Canadian (who was actually Brittish) got Celine Dion. The most impressing part was when they played a German and Russian song sund entirley in their own respective languages, and they finished the jam with a bit of table dancing to La Bamba courtesy of the Spaniard.

Thus began "Happy Hour", the crew threw a bouy with a seat in the middle and a metal ring all the way around it into the water. We jumped into the ocean where we were thrown rubber tubes to sit in, and paddled over to the bouy, in which one of our guides sat and we all held on to "The Floating Bar" (all of the Western people anyway, all of the Vietnamese tourists stayed on the boat and watched). The floating bar had one rule; you could not say the word "no". This caused a bit of a problem for Prue, having braved the water she didn't really want to drink much, and each time she was asked if she wanted a refill, her reply of "no" was swiftly followed by a call to skull. Needless to say the floating bar got a little messy, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Our last stop was an island that we had to pay to walk onto. Seeing as the other option was just sitting on the boat we decided to pay the money and I became instantly intrigued with the Jet Skis waiting on the beach. The Jet Skis cost about $15 for fifteen minutes and after negotiating with the operators who were only going to let us take turns on the back while they drove it, we managed to convince them that I would drive and prue would go on the back. Naturally they made me sign a waiver, a waiver that included paying damages if anything happened and they couldn't fix it.

The Jet Ski was fantastic fun, for about four minutes. Perhaps it was the fact we'd never been on one before, or because Prue was clawing at my sides or maybe it was the dozen or so shots of vodka at happy hour... Either way I managed to capsize the Jet Ski, and we couldn't start it again. They sent out a boat to pull us to shore, and the guy accidentaly kneed Prue in the lip while she was being pulled onto the boat, for whch she now has a cut on her upper lip. We nervously avoided the operators while they tried to get the Jet Ski started on the shore, and I was advised to back to the boat and "make myself scarce" while the operator walked around looking for me holding the waiver I had signed... Ooops.

Our last night in Nha Trang we went and had dinner at a place where Prue ate the first legitimite steak we had seen so far. I played some locals at pool (Vietnamese are BIG pool players) and then pretty much passed out back in our hotel room after booking a bus to take us to Quy Nhon at 3pm the next day. Ironically we woke on our last day in Nha Trang to find the weather had cleared up, the wind had died down and it was beautiful and sunny. That would be fucking right.

NOTE: Either the Vietnam Government has blocked Facebook or maybe it's Aliens, either way we can't access the full features of Facebook at the moment. This means there wont be any photos for awhile. Maybe I'll upload some to a different website soon, but for now there is none.

The Fish are Communist.

Dalat is a quirky little place set in the central highlands of Vietnam at an altitude of around 1400m. Dalat is blessed with a climate of eternal springtime, the days are lovely and sunny mid twenties (with occasional wind and rain) and at night time the temperature drops to the mid teens. The landscape surrounding Dalat is covered with farms and greenhouses growing vegetables that are only available in this region and flowers, flowers and more flowers. All of this is set amongst panoramic mountains and valleys painted in a lush green hue. The city of Dalat itself is like nothing we have seen so far, more like the idealistic European mountain village, the city sprawls across the hills covered in French style villas, not just one or two, every house fronting the narrow and winding streets is in some way an architectural work of art.

Dalat is known locally as the Honeymoon city. Before we even arrived at Dalat we found the truth in the statement as we boarded the bus to take the “new road” we noticed that all of the other passengers on the bus were young Vietnamese couples, possibly on their honeymoon. Our other observation was that the level of wealth had risen amongst our fellow travellers and again we were the only westerners on our bus, a trend we have noticed while travelling through Vietnam is the rise in domestic tourism. With the bus mostly empty we spread out across two berths and enjoyed the scenery as we travelled the “new road” to Dalat.

The new road is the four hour trip between Nha Trang and Dalat, the other option is the “Old Road” which is a five to seven hour journey via Phan Thiet? The new road is actually quite new, only opening a year and a half ago and winds its way through the beautiful mountains and valleys, reaching into the clouds at its highest point and dishes out panoramic splendour at every turn. There is one catch… The “new road” is so new, they haven’t actually finished it yet. For the majority of our trip we bumped and bounced and gripped the armrests as we narrowly missed oncoming trucks, buses, scooters and bulldozers while the driver crunched the gears and mashed the brakes as bitumen gave way to gravel, and gravel gave way to dirt all the way avoiding giant holes in the road and certain death from a drop off the cliff. It was a great adventure though… Today as I write this we are on our way back from Dalat on the old road as two days ago the new road collapsed (again), and I must say from the two hours we’ve travelled so far, the old roads isn’t much better and is quite difficult to type this while sliding from left to right, not top mention being distracted by the view.

We were transferred to our hotel by the bus company and the ride through Dalat was another trip full of “ooohs” and “aaaghs” as we soaked up the atmosphere of this tranquil city. We chose our hotel from the Lonely Planet guide book based solely on the promise of Vegemite for breakfast, and were delighted to find a nice comfortable hotel. We hired a scooter for three days and set out to explore the town, our first stop was to the local markets as we were in urgent need of warmer clothing as Dalat was actually quite cool, especially when riding the scooter. Prue managed to get a pair of pants that were taken up for her while we explored the rest of the markets for a warm jumper each.

Our time in Dalat was spent mostly relaxing, Prue had caught a flu and was feeling shit, a flu she probably got from me a week earlier, although my ear had cleared up after poking it with toothpicks at a rest stop on the way to Dalat while a very friendly bird hopped around on our shoulders… Either way we spent our first two days going at an easy pace, heading out to indulge in the local restaurants and exploring the surrounding hills and town at cruise pace on the scooter. The traffic was a lot thinner in Dalat although the narrow winding streets created a new challenge when turning so we stuck to our mantra of “don’t look, just go”. With a decent wireless connection we also found time to Skype home and touch base with our family.

A couple of solo explorations of the town presented a few interesting occasions. Leaving Prue at the hotel curled up with a book feeling sick I ventured out on the scooter. Wringing the neck of the scooter I played “Vietnamese Slalom” ducking and weaving through the streets and hills of Dalat and at one point found myself launched twenty centimetres off the ground after getting air from a pothole down a dirt road that led to nowhere… On my pink scooter! My other solo adventure was to find a bar to have a quiet drink. Dalat isn’t well known for bars and even the guide book mentions its lacking nightlife. With this in mind I headed out to find myself a pub, I passed up the multitude of seedy looking Karaoke bars and local cafes and eventually stumbled on a place advertising a “Beer Dungeon” with free pool and music. Walking past the front I was pulled inside by an eccentric French-man called Nono with a genuine smile behind his long pointy beard. At the back of the building I was led downstairs to the dungeon hidden behind a large padded door.

The bar inside wasn’t much more than a brick room with a bar on one side, a pool table at the end and a few barstools scattered around tables. However the atmosphere was exactly what I was looking for, with a room full of like-minded travellers, an Aussie Ex-Pat publican, pumping tunes and walls covered in the scrawling graffiti of every traveller who had passed this way before me.

I found a little sanctuary to chill out before the infectious insanity of the bar absorbed me. I watched as Nono the French-man tried to convince an English girl that you can’t crush an egg with one hand by squeezing it, then watched as egg exploded in every direction across the pub followed by cries of astonishment and a barrage of insults from the Aussie Bartender who cried bloody murder as that was the last egg and someone upstairs had ordered a Carbonara 45 minutes ago. I had to defend my Bic lighter from being pocketed after it was explained that Bic lighters are a valuable commodity in Vietnam and upon the Aussie Bartender learning that I had a full black Bic at home in my backpack he swiftly offered me any bottle from behind the bar in exchange. Knowing the value of my lighter I declined his offer and left the bar at the strike of midnight and the start of curfew for the pub to close.

For our last day in Dalat we hired an Easy Rider Motorcycle guide named “Joseph” to take us on a tour around Dalat and the surrounding countryside. I rode my trusty pink scooter and Prue (still not feeling well) rode on the back of Joseph’s ‘big’ 125cc Honda. Big bikes aren’t common in Vietam (or much of anywhere in SE Asia) the Police ride 250cc bikes which are considered “big” by locals and I had a chuckle when negotiating our guide as he asked if I could handle a “big bike” like his 125cc. The main reason is the cost of the licence for a larger bike being roughly the equivalent of US$1000.00.

Joseph spoke English, French and Vietnamese and was an absolute gold mine of local knowledge as well as a very informative political commentator. Wherever we stopped he would tell us stories about the war, the government and its communist doctrines. I felt a little left out as Joseph liked to talk so much he Chatted away to Prue while cruising through the winding mountain trails surrounding Dalat. Of course I could hear none of this following behind on my scooter, but Prue filled me in the important parts later on. We visited a local temple with a gigantic flowing statue of a Dragon that largely resembled Bendigo’s Sun Loong and travelled out of town through the hills covered in tiered fields of Vegetables to a scenic spot by a lake.

Travelling up again into the mountains we stopped at a panoramic lookout of the valley and mountains with a small town perched in the cradle of the hills in the distance. Joseph explained about the effects of Agent Orange and how the Pine Trees we were seeing everywhere were planted by the US many years later as they had destroyed the jungle with napalm so that VC Snipers picking off convoys using the mountain roads had nowhere to hide. We slowly wound our way down the mountain dodging the occasional truck and into the small town occupied by the local ethnic group Kho (Koho).

We scrambled down a make shift staircase engraved into rocks, clambered over and between more rocks and squeezed through a small opening to reach a cave behind the Elephant Waterfalls where the spray swept back on us cooling us off. Then we clambered back around to the front of the waterfall along a path, that wasn’t really a path, more like a collection of stepping stones placed at random heights and the challenge wasn’t just finding the next one, but also trying not to fall off the slippery and muddy stones.

Back at the top of the falls we chatted to Joseph for a bit while we caught our breath and he told us stories of Police corruption before directing us to some local Kho people weaving ornate designs by hand. Prue fell in love with one of the scarves (which she bought for about $10) once she learnt the larger pieces can take up to two months to make. We were then treated to a massive spread of lunch in a nearby café where we sat next to a small lake full of very hungry fish that ate all of the scraps that the local dog didn‘t want. Our lunch was a large spread of about a dozen different local dishes which were place on the table for the three of us to sample. Our meal cost just 30,000 Dong each (about $1.70).

After lunch we went to a Silk factory where we saw silk worm cacoons being turned into rolls of fine silk, we rode through the fields of coffee stopping to watch an 84 year old lady weaving baskets and then riding through hills covered in greenhouses we called in to wander through the flowers and watch the local family prepare the flowers to me shipped off to the markets in Saigon. We had a fantastic day with our guide Joseph and his relaxed pace and wealth of knowledge made the day so much more enjoyable and after a cruise back through the mountains and into Dalat, our day was topped off with a trip to the Crazy House.

The Crazy House is one of Dalat’s tourist attractions, it is actually a house and the lady who designed and built it still lives there, she also rents rooms out for the night like a hotel. But the Crazy House is not a house. The crazy House is like its namesake, absolutely crazy. Prue giggled and squealed like a four year old as we explored the labyrinth of free flowing staircases leading to rooms with strange themes like the kangaroo room which has a large sculpture of a kangaroo with sinister looking glowing red eyes. There are no square traditional rooms or windows as everything has been rendered and sculpted with concrete and gives the place an almost organic feel.

After eating dinner for our last night in Dalat I dragged Prue to the Dungeon Bar “Subterrain” where we played a few games of “Prue’s-rules-pool” and chatted to the Aussie bartender where we played “who do you know that I know” only to find that even though we both lived in the same places in Melbourne we didn’t know anyone. Prue gave Nono the French-man optometry advice (as you do) and we left again just on the strike of curfew leaving behind my trusty (but almost empty) blue Bic Lighter to much thanks and shouts of victory by Nono the French-man.

As I type this I’m still on the “old road” bus heading back to Na Trang, we’ve survived the hazardous mountain pass road, dodged cows, scooters and ox drawn carts while bouncing up and down all the way back to the coast. We have started heading north sitting behind a truck while the driver continues to mash his horn at all of the oncoming traffic. The TV on the bus is playing the Vietnamese version of “Dancing with the stars“ and again we are the only westerners...

Sorry 'bout the long post, we have photos to post but Vietnam has no access to Facebook at the moment, although the Government has denied blocking it. Will put some photos up again when it is working.