Hoi An - our favourite place!

We had an overnight bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An.  As the bus didn't have a toilet there were a few pee's had on the side of the road.  Luckily we could check into our guest house in Hoi An upon arrival at 7am.  We had a bit more sleep before venturing out into the Old Town.  We bought a concession ticket that allowed us entry into five old houses, temples and museums.  I enjoyed these as they were quite quick visits, only taking 20 minutes to look through. The old town is lovely - lanterns hanging up everywhere (which look amazing at night) & quaint little shops selling shoes, suits, lanterns, and lots of restaurants. We loved the food in Hoi An. The traditional pancakes are crispy and filled with bean sprouts and prawns.  We ate a very local restaurant on our first night that had a set menu.  We were given spring rolls, crispy pancakes, grilled pork, and pork meatballs.  We got a huge mountain of salad and rice paper.  We were shown how to make our rolls - the spring rolls even got rolled up! So yum! 

For our first full day we hired bikes from our guest house and after breakfast started pedalling towards the beach.  As it was only 6km away we got there fairly quickly and soon found ourselves a sun lounger. We liked the set up as all the restaurants had sun loungers and umbrellas set up which were free to use if we bought food or drinks with them - easily done.  After our day at the beach we headed back to the old town to check out another temple. 

On our way to dinner we went past tailor shops so we popped into one and before I knew it I had two dresses ordered to pick up the following day.  I liked them so much when I picked them up that I got a third one made! Three dresses for £50. Back to dinner - we found a little side road that was lined with road side eateries.  Each eatery was run by one family.  The prices were cheap and the food excellent. We ate here for the remainder of our meals, trying a different family stall each night.

Day two was another beach day after spending the morning doing some paper work for our shipment of goods soon to arrive in NZ, and me firing off a job application. When you have slow internet and old computers jobs that should be quick end up taking ages!  Grrr.  

In Hoi An there were many restaurants offering cooking classes and as we loved the food so much we booked ourselves a cooking class for the following day. That night when walking to dinner we past a suit shop called Mr Xê, where Nath ordered a tailor made suit.  Somehow, I also got talked into buying a blazer.

The cooking class was amazing! It started with a buffet breakfast at 7:45am and there were so many stations set up in the restuarant all dishing up something different.  I think it was the best breakfast I have ever had in my life! It was definitely more like lunch or dinner food but it was fun to eat something different for breakfast.  

After breakfast we were taken on a boat down the river to the local markets where we were given a very detailed tour. We were told that meat is ordered for the dish you want to cook.  For example you don't say you want chicken, you say I want chicken to make soup, or chicken to grill, as they believe old chickens, or male, or female chickens are best for certain types of cooking.

When we returned to the restuarant we were given another tour around all the different stations to see food being prepared and cooked.  We saw noodles being cut and I tried it but was no good.  We saw some pretty gross foods and got to try them.  I ate a silk worm from the silk worm salad, and we both ate frog legs from the lemon grass and chili stir fry.  We declined to eat the chicken embryos. 

Then the cooking started.  We had a cooking station each with all the ingredients set up.  Up front was one of the most famous chefs in Vietnam, Ms Vy.  She did a demonstration of each dish and then we had to copy her as best we could.  There were lots of assistants on hand to help out.  We made a soup, crispy pancakes, mango salad, and grilled chicken.  The food was delicious.   

After the cooking class it was time to visit Mr Xê and pick up our flash new gears.

This was our last day in Hoi An and we were gutted to be leaving early the next day.  To make up for my sadness at leaving I bought some lanterns to cheer me up! 

Nha Trang

Prior to our arrival we had spoken to a few couples who didn't rate Nha Trang - they all said it was packed full of Russians and was quite busy.  At the end of our five hour bus journey we weren't expecting much.

We arrived at 7pm (& had a lovely dinner) so had to wait til the morning to catch our first glimpse of the beach - it looked beautiful from our 12th floor breakfast spot.  After breakfast we hit the beach - and stayed in the shade! We were both too burnt to be in the sun.  We swam in the sea which was so warm.  After lunch we looked into a snorkelling tour for the next day but decided against it.  We then headed to heaven - a brewery on the beach front with four different beers and sun loungers by a pool or by the sea! We had a sample tray and swam in the pool. 

Day two followed a similar pattern to the previous day - hanging at the beach (in the shade) and swimming.  The beach is beautiful, white sand a warm clear blue water.  We enjoyed watching the kite surfers and want to try it ourselves! 

That night we had a long eleven hour bus ride to our next destination of Hoi An.  We had a nice big dinner at 5pm and bought some snacks to help us through the journey.  The silly thing is the bus company has new buses but the new buses don't have toilets on them! Eleven hours with one official stop! Twice the driver pulled over for people to pee at the road side.  I took these opportunities to pee and also to stretch my legs!

  

Mui Ne

It was our first time riding in the infamous sleeper buses of a Vietnam. For a five hour trip they weren't too bad but not sure how an 11hr trip will go. 

We arrivd in Mui Ne well before kick off for the All Blacks game.   The surf school/pub/cafe next door was advertising the game out front so we thought we were sorted.  Turns out that for some reason the game wasn't broadcasted by the regular channel and no other pubs in the area had the correct channel, so the end result was that our 5:40am wake up call was in vain. However, it was good to arrive at midday as we had the rest of the day to walk round.  We found a cool resort that would let us swim in their pool if we spent 200,000d at their restaurant. The service was comical - firstly we ordered Siagon Red and they bought a Green.  I askd for no tomato in my baguette and it came with tomato.  We ordered baguettes that were to come with a servng of fries - the fries didn't turn up on the plate.  We told them they didn't give us fries so they did bring a bowl out to us but then charged them as a side of fries on the final bill.  We also ordered spring rolls that never came.  After all this poor service we just wanted to leave, and we hadn't spent enough money for a swim anyway! 

That night we ate a very local restuarant popular with families.  I ordered sweet and sour pork and I couldn't eat it.  I have never had sweet and sour sauce made with chunks of fresh tomatoes - gross! 

When we woke up the sun was shining so we headed to the sun loungers at our back packers.  We swam in the sea which was so warm and alternated this with a bit if sunbathing, then a swim when we got hot. 

By midday the tide was coming in so we decided to walk around the beach before the tide got too high. We walked past many nice resorts along the beach front but we couldn't find anywhere to gain access up to the road.  In the end we just casually strolled through a resort to get to the road and look for some lunch.  When we saw we were nearly at the end of town we remembered there was a Czech brewery so we carried on walking until we got there for lunch.  When we first saw it in lonely planet we thought it was too far away but we were amazed at how far down the beach we had walked - guess we didn't notice how far we had walked. 

We also didn't notice how sunburnt we were getting! From sunbathing and walking along the beach I got really burnt and today I have been feeling rather sorry for myself.  Luckily the weather has been rather rubbish today so we have mostly been indoors.  The cafe next door makes lovely coffee.  Nath was hoping to play some mini put but it hasn't worked out with the rain.  Tomorrow we have booked a bus to Nha Trang - the beach capital of Vietnam.

Scooter madness

In Saigon it feels as if everyone owns and drives a scooter or motorbike.  Our tour guide to the tunnels, Pink (because we couldn't say her Vietnamese name), said tax on car purchases is 150% to deter people from buying cars.  Also car parking is a real problem as there is not enough spaces so that acts as further deterrent from owning a car.  

We have seen some pretty amusing things being transported on the back of scooters.  It amazes me that they are used to transport to whole families.  It's funny seeing business people all dressed up flash scooting to work.  You also see people riding and texting. Here are some pictures below to illustrate what I mean.  You may also notice people wearing face masks.  Pink told us that 15 people a day die in Saigon due to respiratory illnesses.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

We had a mission getting into Vietnam.  Everything was going well, and ahead of time, until we arrived at the Vietnamese boarder.  The computer system in Hanoi had crashed and as a result they were not able to process people entering into Vietnam.  What this meant for us was a 2.5hr wait in a packed, hot room, sitting on a hard floor.  Once the system was fixed we got through no problem.

From here on in I will refer to HCMC as Saigon, as HCMC is a name enforced from the North, and Southerners still refer to the city as Saigon.  

For a city the size of Saigon there is surprisingly little to do. Nth is is nice as it leaves time to wander the narrow alley ways and experience lots of different street food.  On our first day we did the obligatory War Remnants Museum and Reunification Palace.  The Museum was so propagandist - it made out the Americans were fighting a war with civilians, and not a single mention of the Viet Con who were carrying out the same atrocities as the Americans.  Of course there can be no mention of the Viet Cong as the Communists are still in power.  The museum closed for lunch so we had to leave ...... And we didn't go back after lunch, I was getting brain washed. The coolest thing about the museum was the war toys on display out front - tanks, helicopters and aeroplanes.  My aeroplane is much better than Nathan's! 

Reunification Palace was the President of the South's residence and office.  It was 'liberated' by the South in 1975 and has been left exactly as it was on that momentus day.  It is stuck in a timewarp! 

Our second day in Saigon we ventured out of the city on an organised day tour to the Cu Chi war tunnels and the Cao Dai Great Temple.  Coa Dai is a whacky indigenous religion of Vietnam and we saw the beginning of one of their ceremonies which takes place at midday everyday.  

Onto the war tunnels.  The Cu Chi villagers built a tunnel network of over 200km, to facilitate the advance of the Viet Cong.  The Americans heavily bombed the area and it now looks like a moonscape! The tunnels are very narrow and hot.  When inside you have to walk crouched over and several times I knocked my head on the roof as I tried to look up to see how far we had to go. My hamstrings were dying also! 

Last night we had BBQ street food for dinner.  It's was so yum, and so cheap at only 10,000d per kebab (30p) & beers for 12,000d.  

Today we had a nice sleep in and then casually wandered around Saigon. We went to the Ben Thanh market to look at all the fake rip offs but I got sick of people touching me on the arm to "look here lady" that we left. We found a cool French inspired cafe for lunch.  We walked to the river front but but it was not set up nice for people to walk along.  Our big 'win' of the day was at the Bitexco Tower.  In our lonely planet book it recommends going up to the Skytower on the 48th floor for views of the city costing 200,000d. Yesterday our tour guide said there is a Heli Bar that we could go up for free and just pay the price of a drink.  So we did that instead.  We got to the 52nd floor, and bought a beer each. It also happened to be happy hour so we got a free beer.  In total it cost 311,000d much cheaper than the Skytower and we were three beers better off.  Score.

Tomorrow we are off to Mui Ne.  Again we have an early bus at 7:15am (we have to be at the bus depot at 6:45am!,) as we want to arrive in time to watch the All Blacks game.  It is a big one against the Springboks.