No more buses.....
Trip Start
Jun 09, 2003
1
41
169
Trip End
Jun 02, 2007
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Saigon/Ho Chi Minh,
Vietnam
Monday, September 29, 2003
Well we've reached the last stage of our Vietnam journey. We arrived in Saigon yesterday although I haven't seen much of it yet!
We left Hoi An on Wednesday night on another overnight bus. It was only 12 hours but this was the worst of all. The seat I was in had a huge rip in the headrest and everytime I moved my head my hair would get caught and rip out. The window rattled the whole way giving me a headache and I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. On arriving in Nha Trang at 6.00am I just went straight to bed. Woke up at about lunch time and spent the whole afternoon on the beach. The beach in Nha Trang wasn't quite as clean as the beach in Hoi An but it was still very nice - there weren't quite so many people hassling us. I bought a fruit salad for about 1GBP from a beach seller. We had a whole pineapple, mango, bananas, dragonfruit, and furry little fruits that I can't remember the name of - yummy! We had dinner and another early night.
Friday 26th September - NHA TRANG
Hamish and Mascha went diving this morning. I went for a walk around Nha Trang. After about half an hour I was already hassled by about 12 different guys on motorbikes wanting to take me to a waterfall or to a nearby island. They followed me along the streets asking, "Where you from?" "Where you go?" "Can I help?". I eventually walked down onto the beach and along the seafront back to the hotel where I fell asleep until about 2pm. In the afternoon we all went to a mud bath/spa place which was excellent.
At the Sailing Club in Nha Trang
We all got into a huge big bath which was filling up with a lovely green coloured mud. We all got completely covered from head to toe and had fun throwing it at each other. We then had a hot bath - very hot - a swim in the hot swimming pool and then cooled off in a waterfall before having the best massage I've had since coming to SE Asia. The girl used a pole and walked along my back - the cracking sounds were a bit scary but it felt good.After a lot of deliberation we decided to book the bus the following morning to go to Dalat. I refused point blank to get on another overnight bus. We'd decided to have an early night as it was a 6.00am start but as usual we ended up in a pub - they were having a bonfire party with free shots all night - how could we resist. We danced the night away with loads of american students, who were on a world cruise, before heading home at about 1.00am.
Saturday 27th September - NHA TRANG to DALAT
We managed to get up fine after only 5 hours sleep. It was 6 hours on the bus to Dalat but it seemed to pass very quickly and it was nice to see some scenery for a change. We found a lovely hotel and we noted that there was no air conditioning. We soon realised we didn't need it as it was very cold in Dalat, which is up in the moutains. It rained and was cold and it reminded me of being back home. We wandered around town looking for the Crazy House, which is actually a hotel designed by the daughter of a former Vietnam president. It was designed like a tree and the rooms were all inside the tree, it was like a maze wandering around the tree peeking into the bedrooms.
I ended up heading off myself for something to eat just as the heavens opened.
On the road to Dalat
I took shelter in a shop doorway. The rain didn't look like it was going to go off and the girl inside the Groovy Gecko Tour Company took pity on me and invited me in. We ended up spending an hour just chatting. Hoa (Vietnamese for flower) also taught me some Vietnamese. It's a tonal language so if you pronounce a word even slightly wrong it can mean something completely different - very amusing for the Vietnamese. I eventually braved the rain again and managed to find somewhere to eat. I was a bit lost as I didn't have a map and I didn't know the name of my hotel so it was quite fun trying to find my way back in the pouring rain. I also left my new t-shirt, I'd just bought, behind twice and had to walk back through the pouring rain to pick it up!! To say I was wet by the time I got back was a bit of an understatement. It was lovely going to bed in a nice comfy bed without a fan or air con droning in the background.Sunday 28th September DALAT to SAIGON
Another early start to catch another bus (the last) to Saigon. We got here at about 3.00pm and managed to find a nice hotel. Didn't do much. Booked our visa's and another bus for Cambodia, had some dinner, browsed around the shops and read a bit. I've just read a book called "First they killed my Father" about a young girl in Cambodia during the Pol Pot regime. It was quite a horrific but moving book and amazing that a five year child can go through so much and still survive. I'm actually quite glad we're leaving Vietnam on Wednesday. It's a beautiful country but the constant hassling does begin to do your head in after a while. I've also learnt a lot about the history of Vietnam and how they've been constantly at war. Cambodia is going to be an interesting contrast to Vietnam which I'm really looking forward to.
Hils
xxx
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