Sun Spa Resort Dong Hoi

... ok rum for en billig peng och eftersom vi bara skulle stanna dar en natt sa fick det duga.<br> <br> Nu var det ut och leta mat och tripp till grottorna som var malet med resan.<br><br> Efter ha sett en sonderbombad kyrka sa letade vi efter hotell som kunde ordna tripp till Phong nha, detta var betydligt lattare sagt an gjort. Ingen kunde engelska i staden verkade det som.<br> Men tillslut sa hittade vi ett hotell som hade tva ...

... still on their (deserted) beach. So, the staff called security to escort us off their premises!!! A bit extreme, we thought. <br><br>Once we were finally off their beach, we enjoyed some time in the sun and surf on our own!<br><br>The next day, we visited the few sights they have at Dong Hoi; mostly American planes that they shot down during the war. Dong Hoi is very close to the North/South border so was massively bombed in the war. We also visited the ruined church where only the ...

After Hue, we travelled along the Ho Chi Minh Trail with our guide Luong ("Long but short, you know, Long") and stopped over at the Vinh Moc Tunnels. These tunnels are bigger than Cu Chi as they were used for living. As you can see though, not big enough for Luke and I. You can't help but marvel at how clever and hard working they were to build kilometres of tunnels by hand to hide from the bomb attacks during the war. There was even a small ...

... hotel and arrange a pick up by taxi. Our optimism soon turned into despair, as they claimed to have not even heard of Hostel World, and our reservation. A tense few minutes followed, as we both discussed whether to cancel this booking and go directly to Hue. As we calmed ourselves down, we headed downstairs to check out. As we heaved our bags, one step at a time, I heard my name being repeated incessantly. It seemed the Hoa Hong had ...

... gestured that we should sit with our feet on the milk - the fact that we're 18 inches taller than the average Vietnamese passenger didn't sem to matter. The closer it got to 7pm, more and more Vietnamese arrived for the journey along with, on average, 3-4 bags of food/oil/rice each. As it was clear that the bus was going to be full, they then decided to take all the westerners bags off the bus and then pile them up in the middle of ...

... sortant des grottes, on a fait la connaissance des employes du site, visiblement harasses par la surcharge de travail, vu qu'ils etaient tous en train de jouer a un jeu de plateau, une sorte d'echecs : Co Tuong. Tout le monde y joue au Vietnam, et je n'ai jamais su ce que c'etait avant aujourd'hui. On a passe un moment super sympa avec eux, a apprendre a jouer et a apprendre des nouveaux mots. Certains d'entre eux se sont ensuite leves en disant ...

... alors un autre touriste qui voyage tout seul. Et qui repond 'Bonjour' a mon 'Hello' ! Waouuu, un francais ! Ils se font rares par ici. Au fur et a mesure qu'on discute, on se rend compte qu'on a prevu d'aller a peu pres aux memes endroits dans les jours a venir, jusqu'q Hanoi. A commencer par les Grottes de Phong Nha. On verra bien apres comment ca se passe avec Mister Jean, de Clermont-Ferrand.

My Son and Marble Moouuuunntaaaaain Come on Charlie! We're going to Marrrble Mouuuuntaaaaain I met Quan on my first day here. He remembered my name yesterday and we set a tour for today. Quan taught himself english while giving tours to travelers. Vietnam was first open for tourism in 1992 (can you believe that?) and he started giving tours in 1996. He says he fought alongside the Americans and Kiwis on China Beach. Quan arrived first ...

Troy has arrived! I took a bus down here from Hue (everyone tells me they think it's a waste of time) The ride was uneventful. Disembarking from the bus, we were accosted by a swarm of touts. Three of us quickly made our way down the street - any street, saying we had a hotel already. Once away from the crossfire, we turned to each other, introduced ourselves and went to look for a hotel. I found a fabulous place for $15 with a balcony looking ...