Soaking wet thanks to a lovely tropical downpour! Was nice for most of the day however so I guess I'd better not complain too much! Went to the lanugage school again to see how long it takes to walk there from this part of the city however I got lost again so I'm still not sure. I wasn't as lost as yesterday - I didn't add an extra hour onto my journey today - but it still took me longer than it should. I then had a look around the area trying to find somewhere to stay nearby but the only places I could find were quite expensive. After that I walked back towards my hostel and came to the conclusion that it probably takes roughly 45 mins to walk to the language school from here. This means that I am going to have to brave the taxis, or even the motorcycle taxis to get there each morning as I have 8.30-9.00am starts each day and don't fancy having to get up early to walk that each day. I think I will walk back though in the afternoons as it's not too traumatic, bar one major road with vehicles coming at you from every imaginable angle.
Once I was back at the hostel I had a look at some hotels on line then went out to try find them as I don't want to stay in the dorm whilst doing this course, and the private rooms here are kinda pricey. Most of the places I found online are near the lake and the touristy shopping streets in the old quater so I walked around there trying to find hotels that looked promising. Some were way out of my price range and others just weren't very appealing. In one place they showed me a room with no window; in another they showed me the standard room and then the deluxe room and tried to sell the deluxe based on the fact it had a balcony - not good when the streets are as noisy as those ones! It then started to tip it down, plus I was getting hungry and so I gave up the search. I got some food - have now finally sampled the local dish, pho, and it is GOOD! Noodles and veg and beef. Yummy!
After that I couldn't face walking round in the rain any more trying desperately to find somewhere to stay so I came back towards the hostel. Then I had the bright idea of cheking out some of the hotels on the same street as the hostel which it now turns out I should have done all along! They are a bit cheaper than most of the other plces as its about 5 mins walk from the really busy touristy streets rather than right in the midst of it, plus they are competing with this backpackers I'm staying at (which is part of hostelling international and therefore has fairly high standards) so the prices are a bit lower. This street is also too narrow for cars and so is a bit quieter than the rest. One place showed me a nice room for $18, and another has rooms for $14 that I'm gonna go and have a look at tomorrow.
Once the course starts I'm going to see where the other people doing it are staying and if they've found somewhere closer to the school or cheaper then I might move but for now I'm gonna stay in this area. I'm slowly learning where everything is right now and no longer need to pull my map out every 2 mins so if I stay here then it saves me having to get to grips with a new part of the city!
Friday, 7 November 2008
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