Phong Nha Hotel Dong Hoi

... for daliga betyg. Vi fragade om vagvisning fick en handritat karta, detta dog savi borjade varan laaanga vandring i tokvarmen.

Efter ca 30-40 min kom vi fram till hotellet som vi hade spanat in pa internet. HELKASST, personalen kunde inte engelska och rummet var sunk.
Vi hade sett nagra andra skyltar till hotell sa vi kollade in dem. Pa nasta hotell kunde de inte heller engelska, men de var mycket vanliga mot oss ...

... about a mile and there was not a soul! We stumbled across a resort which was clearly very pricey but also completely deserted except for a handful of staff (who appeared to find it amusing to have us there!). We had (a very expensive) lunch as there was nowhere else to eat! We then hit what turned out to be their private beach... Only to get turfed off once they realised we weren't staying at the resort. So we walked down the beach but it turns out that we hadn't walked far enough so ...

... and were really great. They even offererd to drive us to Saigon on a 3 day tour. I didn't fancy 3 days on the back of a bike with my bag hanging off the back.

Went out for dinner and had a hot pot. The restaurant was a local one and they didn't speak english so we just had to point and gesture. The hot pot was great - we got a plate of fish, pork, calamari, prawns and veg and had to throw it all into a little pot and cook it ourselves. Good fun.

... t been touched by the Western influence so we didn't have anyone hassling us "you buy something", they were more interested in where the 6ft tall white people came from and asking to take pictures. We stayed right on the beach which was a really long stretch of sand where you can find your own private spot for a swim. At night they all sit along the beach having a BBQ and a drink, just like home. Most travellers we have met have never ...

... our second home during our stay. Refuelled and raring to go. We embarked on a 6 kilometre round trip to the train station. The mission was to purchase our onward train tickets to Hue. Luckily for us the way to the station was straight forward, apart from one intersection where we picked the wrong turn. Adding a very scenic 2 kilometres to the total distance. Arriving at the station, armed with some written Vietnamese from the phase book ...

... Kerry and a couple from Sweden. As we were one of the first there all our bags were put in the luggage compartment of the bus. Told to get on the bus and get our seats only to find that the aisle was filled with huge sacks of rice and the footwell of each seat had 3-4 pallets of carnation milk in it (clearly that's why you don't see it in Europe any more as it's all going between Laos and Vietnam by bus!). When we tried to complain they ...

... as the cave in Ha Long Bay. We then got to get off the boat and explore. We took loads of pictures. I am really glad despite it all that we came to the caves. So one more thing to make me dislike the Dong Hoi....at motorbike guy and I got into it...long funny story at the end so make sure to ask me about it when I get back. miss you all! Heading to Vinh hopefully it is a little better than here.

... in 234 rooms and 50 luxury villas!) We were paying US$25 for a run down mini hotel (with no cartoon network!!!) For Dinner, we thought the Saigon Quangbinh Hotel was the go -also 4*. Strangely, this big, new hotel, part of one of the biggest chains in Vietnam only had two menus in the whole hotel (so they said!). We also thought we would be the only diners until another family came in. A very, very quiet town.... Well, we had an OK night in our crummy hotel, but were ...

... Phong Nha. Inscrites au Patrimoine Mondial de l'UNESCO, les grottes ont environ 250 millions d'annees. En realite, il s'agit d'un reseau de 300 grottes calcaires qui existent dans la region, mais seulement 2 sont accessibles au public. Superbes, tres sombres. Je pense avoir foire toutes mes photos mais ca ne me perturbe pas plus que ca. Apres tout, ce n'est que de l'eau calcaire, je pense pouvoir reproduire la meme chose avec l'eau de Montreuil ...

... en bois. Arrives a la gare ferroviere Dong Hoi, on decide de partir directement pour Son Trach pour pouvoir etre dans le 1er bateau pour la visite des Grottes de Phong Nha. On croise une gare routiere pas loin, celle de Nam Ly (alors que celle de Dong Hoi est a 2km) : par chance, des bus partent pour Son Trach dans l'apres-midi. Sur les marches de la gare ou on attend le depart du bus, nous ...