The sun has been out this weekend and Hanoi looks so much nicer in the sun! Sadly, earlier on in the week it was absolutely chucking it down and I got soaked. I've been told that it's only going to get worse - heavier and more frequent. Lovely! Can't wait til my lane floods and all the street become even more chaotic than usual.
As always, after work on Friday I headed off to meet Alison, Calder and Nat after work, and Lyle was there too. We went to an Irish pub next to an Indian restaurant and were able to get tasty Indian food delivered to us in the pub. This place stocked raspberry vodka and had staff who spoke enough English to understand what I was after so I finally managed to get a vodka with lemonade, rather than a slice of lemon or red bull (as has happened in the past when I've tried to order a vodka lemonade) and the food was great so it was a nice evening. At one point we agreed with Lyle that it would be a good idea to have shots, and we also got given some of the owners home made booze. It was good fun!
On Saturday I ventured out to a place called Big C. It's kinda like Walmart on steroids and was full of Vietnamese people paying no attention to where they were walking and crashing into me all the time. It stocked so much random stuff (this seems to be fairly common here - a random selection which changes every time you visit, from the tiny shops in peoples houses right up to the big supermarkets) but it was a good place to go to stock up on weapons for a war against mosquitoes. They keep biting me at night so I am on a crusade to kill them. One of the things I picked up was a tennis racket device that electrocutes bugs that fly into them. It works really well and is a good way to get revenge on the buggers.
On Saturday night I headed into the Old Quarter and met Alison and Calder at Bia Hoi corner. Beer only cost 3000 dong but it tastes pretty bad, plus the place is full of backpackers having an 'authentic travel experience' by drinking Bia Hoi with the 'locals'. The only problem with that is that the only locals at Bia Hoi corner are the ones trying to sell stuff. You have to head away from the tourist centre to drink with the locals but this doesn't stop them rambling on about how great it is. I hope I wasn't ever as obnoxious a backpacker as those guys!
We then went on to Little Hanoi for dinner but the place was full so we headed next door to a bar called Mao's place and ordered food from Little Hanoi to eat there. Once we were done we went to a place called Tet Bar to settle in somewhere for Earth Hour. There was a rumour that the government were gonna pull the plug for an enforced Earth Hour but that didn't appear to happen in the end. The bar we were at turned the lights off but thankfully left the fans going to keep us cool so we had a couple of drinks by candlelight. Later on Lyle joined us and we spend a nice night just drinking and chatting.
This evening I went to Alison and Calder's place for dinner. I went last week too and we had home made burgers then, and tonight we had chicken, potato and some Mexican fritter things. I hardly ever eat potatoes here so that was sadly quite exciting! I made dessert earlier so we rounded the meal off with some chocolate based dish. Had lots of food that I don't usually eat tonight and it was good! I'm now looking out for any recipes for desserts that I can make that don't require any cooking beyond a stove top, as I don't have an oven or a microwave, so that I can make more desserts in future. Alison and Calder cook dinner every Sunday for Lyle and I've kinda gatecrashed it now too!
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Today I went to the silk village in the south of Hanoi with someone from work. I now have so many scarves!!
I got the bus down to Hanoi university, which is near where Minh lives. She then drove us the rest of the way out to the silk village. We browsed in heaps of shops, and saw some silkworms as well as the machines that make all the pretty silk designes. I found so many cool types of scarves that I've never seen before - ones with two different coloured thin pieces sewn together with butterflies sewn in between, really nice embroidered scarves with two different colous on each side, sparkly scarves, multi-coloured scarves with really strange textures just so many scarves! What's even better is that they're all so cheap! Yu=ou can buy some for under £2, and even the more intricate fancy scarves that would cost heaps back home are only a few pounds here. Primark prices for much more than Primark quality!
I got the bus down to Hanoi university, which is near where Minh lives. She then drove us the rest of the way out to the silk village. We browsed in heaps of shops, and saw some silkworms as well as the machines that make all the pretty silk designes. I found so many cool types of scarves that I've never seen before - ones with two different coloured thin pieces sewn together with butterflies sewn in between, really nice embroidered scarves with two different colous on each side, sparkly scarves, multi-coloured scarves with really strange textures just so many scarves! What's even better is that they're all so cheap! Yu=ou can buy some for under £2, and even the more intricate fancy scarves that would cost heaps back home are only a few pounds here. Primark prices for much more than Primark quality!
Monday, 16 March 2009
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Working every evening last week wasn't actually too bad in the end. I've got a couple of new classes this term as well as the evening class from last term. My afternoon class consists of 15 boys and only one girl but thankfully there are a few older guys in the class who keep the rest in line and they're not too boisterous for me.
I went out on Friday night after work again and yet again I succumbed to peer pressure and stayed out a lot later than I intended. This was a bad idea as I had to get up early yesterday morning to go to Halong Bay. It was quite a hideous journey out there on a cramped mini bus with an incredibly enthusiastic tour guide. We also had to stop at a random tourist rip off store on the way where they were charging ridiculous prices for things. I tried to sleep on the bus but it was uncomfortable, plus Vietnamese driving doesn't exactly ease you to sleep. I saw so much retarded driving yesterday, some of it courtesy of our driver. The stupidest thing of all is the way drivers overtake on a blind bend or when there is something coming the other way. They go at such speed that the only option is to pray that there is space for all 3 vehicles on the road otherwise someone is going off the road or crashing into someone else.
It was worth enduring the journey though as Halong Bay was really nice.
We headed out on the boat into the bay and stopped at one of the floating village places. People spend their whole lives living out on the water and never set foot on land. Weird. They are all set up with satellite dishes though!
We then got back on the boat and had lunch - lots of sea food, some rice and noodles and some chips (?)- and then had a choice between going in a boat around the village and caves with a guide or hiring a kayak and exploring by ourselves. We opted for the kayak and paddled though a cave into a lagoon place. It was good fun.
After that the boat sailed around for a bit more...
...then we visited a bizarre cave system. It looks man-made but is all down to nature. It has been fitted out with lots of coloured lights and looks pretty cool in a weird sort of way.
We walked through the cave system with a billion tour groups full of Asians who kept holding evyone up to get a photo. If you visit a popular tourist place back home you fully expect to have random people in your photos. Apprently that isn't acceptable to Asian tourists though so instead everyone else has to clear out of the way and wait for them to get their photo without any randoms in it. This gets annoying after a while!
The cave was the last stop of the day so we got back on the boat and sailed back to the mainland for another ling bus ride to get back to Hanoi. It's even more ridiculous at night. All the lorries and buses seem to have souped up their full beam headlights to even fuller beam lights and leave them on their brightest setting the entire time they are on the road, blinding everyone else. There were also a good few motorbikes going along with no lights whatsoever so you can't see then until you're practically driving into the back of them. They also drive the wrong way along the highway with no lights on and swerve out of the way at the last minute. This is just stupidly pointless - its not a one way street, theres no central reservation to get across, just one lane either way so why not drive on the correct side of the road?!? They also keep up their deadly overtaking craziness after dark. We did pass a pretty bad motorbike accident on the way. There were two incredibly mangled bikes in the middle of the road along with a big pool of blood and some police officers with tape measures recording distances between various parts of motorbike. I sincerely hope that any Vietnamese people who head to places like England aren't allowed to get behind the wheel of any vehicle at all as based on what I saw yesterday they would dramatically increase the accident rates. They just do so many ridiculous things that aren't necessary. I see it in Hanoi too - people will go through a red light and cut across the flow of the traffic just to save 30 seconds on their journey, and if they are approaching a set of lights just as they are about to turn green they won't sit patiently at the back of all the waiting traffic. Instead they cross the middle of the road and drive down to the lights on the wrong side of the road to be the first through when the lights change, even if this means driving into the path of an oncoming bus. Why would anyone think driving like this is a good idea?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Why risj your life to get to you destination a few minutes quicker? This stupid driving along with blaring horns and a bumpy ride meant that I didn't sleep on the way back to Hanoi either. After only 3 hours sleep the night before this wasn't good! And yet despite being exhausted I went along to a party down the road on a random person's roof terrace for a bit last night before finally giving in and going to bed. There were some cool people there but I just couldn't stay awake any longer.
I also had to get up at 6am this morning to escort Zoe to the bus stop so she could get out to the airport for her flight to Thailand. I would've had to get up anyway due to the fact we have several locks between us and the street and so there is no way to get out of the house and lock it up again without a set of keys. As Zoe was leaving Vietnam for good she couldn't exactly take a set of keys with her and so I had to get up to unlock everything anyway so decided to go to the bus with her. There was a market in full swing just down the road on the way and I got to see the wonderful sight of a chicken being killed and sliced up for a customer. What more could you hope to see at 6am?!
This afternoon Alison let me have a ride of her bike as I think I'm gonna try and get myself a motorbike soon. Once I'm sorted with a bike I'm going to be driving like a granny rather than a local and I'll use my Western driving skills such as stopping at red lights, looking both ways before pulling out across a road and using my mirrors to reduce my chance of having an accident. That still doesn't stop me being caught up in other peoples stupidity but I'm gonna be hyper aware of other people around me so that hopefully I'll avoid any dodgy situations. I only rode Alison's bike up and down an access road that was fairly empty but it was good to get a feel for how a bike works. I'm going to cycle around Hanoi a bit to try and get a bit More of an understanding of how the traffic works before doing much more with a motorbike as I don't even have to think about what I'm doing on a cycle so I can devote all my attention to working out what to do on the road. Then I'll rent a bike for a bit and see how that goes. Fingers crossed it doesn't kill me!
I went out on Friday night after work again and yet again I succumbed to peer pressure and stayed out a lot later than I intended. This was a bad idea as I had to get up early yesterday morning to go to Halong Bay. It was quite a hideous journey out there on a cramped mini bus with an incredibly enthusiastic tour guide. We also had to stop at a random tourist rip off store on the way where they were charging ridiculous prices for things. I tried to sleep on the bus but it was uncomfortable, plus Vietnamese driving doesn't exactly ease you to sleep. I saw so much retarded driving yesterday, some of it courtesy of our driver. The stupidest thing of all is the way drivers overtake on a blind bend or when there is something coming the other way. They go at such speed that the only option is to pray that there is space for all 3 vehicles on the road otherwise someone is going off the road or crashing into someone else.
It was worth enduring the journey though as Halong Bay was really nice.
We headed out on the boat into the bay and stopped at one of the floating village places. People spend their whole lives living out on the water and never set foot on land. Weird. They are all set up with satellite dishes though!
We then got back on the boat and had lunch - lots of sea food, some rice and noodles and some chips (?)- and then had a choice between going in a boat around the village and caves with a guide or hiring a kayak and exploring by ourselves. We opted for the kayak and paddled though a cave into a lagoon place. It was good fun.
After that the boat sailed around for a bit more...
...then we visited a bizarre cave system. It looks man-made but is all down to nature. It has been fitted out with lots of coloured lights and looks pretty cool in a weird sort of way.
We walked through the cave system with a billion tour groups full of Asians who kept holding evyone up to get a photo. If you visit a popular tourist place back home you fully expect to have random people in your photos. Apprently that isn't acceptable to Asian tourists though so instead everyone else has to clear out of the way and wait for them to get their photo without any randoms in it. This gets annoying after a while!
The cave was the last stop of the day so we got back on the boat and sailed back to the mainland for another ling bus ride to get back to Hanoi. It's even more ridiculous at night. All the lorries and buses seem to have souped up their full beam headlights to even fuller beam lights and leave them on their brightest setting the entire time they are on the road, blinding everyone else. There were also a good few motorbikes going along with no lights whatsoever so you can't see then until you're practically driving into the back of them. They also drive the wrong way along the highway with no lights on and swerve out of the way at the last minute. This is just stupidly pointless - its not a one way street, theres no central reservation to get across, just one lane either way so why not drive on the correct side of the road?!? They also keep up their deadly overtaking craziness after dark. We did pass a pretty bad motorbike accident on the way. There were two incredibly mangled bikes in the middle of the road along with a big pool of blood and some police officers with tape measures recording distances between various parts of motorbike. I sincerely hope that any Vietnamese people who head to places like England aren't allowed to get behind the wheel of any vehicle at all as based on what I saw yesterday they would dramatically increase the accident rates. They just do so many ridiculous things that aren't necessary. I see it in Hanoi too - people will go through a red light and cut across the flow of the traffic just to save 30 seconds on their journey, and if they are approaching a set of lights just as they are about to turn green they won't sit patiently at the back of all the waiting traffic. Instead they cross the middle of the road and drive down to the lights on the wrong side of the road to be the first through when the lights change, even if this means driving into the path of an oncoming bus. Why would anyone think driving like this is a good idea?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Why risj your life to get to you destination a few minutes quicker? This stupid driving along with blaring horns and a bumpy ride meant that I didn't sleep on the way back to Hanoi either. After only 3 hours sleep the night before this wasn't good! And yet despite being exhausted I went along to a party down the road on a random person's roof terrace for a bit last night before finally giving in and going to bed. There were some cool people there but I just couldn't stay awake any longer.
I also had to get up at 6am this morning to escort Zoe to the bus stop so she could get out to the airport for her flight to Thailand. I would've had to get up anyway due to the fact we have several locks between us and the street and so there is no way to get out of the house and lock it up again without a set of keys. As Zoe was leaving Vietnam for good she couldn't exactly take a set of keys with her and so I had to get up to unlock everything anyway so decided to go to the bus with her. There was a market in full swing just down the road on the way and I got to see the wonderful sight of a chicken being killed and sliced up for a customer. What more could you hope to see at 6am?!
This afternoon Alison let me have a ride of her bike as I think I'm gonna try and get myself a motorbike soon. Once I'm sorted with a bike I'm going to be driving like a granny rather than a local and I'll use my Western driving skills such as stopping at red lights, looking both ways before pulling out across a road and using my mirrors to reduce my chance of having an accident. That still doesn't stop me being caught up in other peoples stupidity but I'm gonna be hyper aware of other people around me so that hopefully I'll avoid any dodgy situations. I only rode Alison's bike up and down an access road that was fairly empty but it was good to get a feel for how a bike works. I'm going to cycle around Hanoi a bit to try and get a bit More of an understanding of how the traffic works before doing much more with a motorbike as I don't even have to think about what I'm doing on a cycle so I can devote all my attention to working out what to do on the road. Then I'll rent a bike for a bit and see how that goes. Fingers crossed it doesn't kill me!
Monday, 9 March 2009
I spent the weekend in Hanoi this week rather than heading off to a random place in Vietnam. Friday was the last day of term for my full time class so I had a pretty easy day on Friday. On the last day we show a film at a cinema so beforehand I went for lunch at a nice Italian restaurant nearby. Bizzarely they were playing an obscure kiwi song whilst I was there. When I went back a couple of days later they were playing Crowded House - the place must be run by a kiwi!
After lunch on Friday I then had a (soft) drink with the fellow teachers outide the cinema then we watched Happy Feet with the students. I then got a lift back to work woth Alison where I had to give the students their certificates and have a little party with them before sending them off on their way. I had to teach my evening class but it was only for two hours. After work I went for dinner with Alison, Caroline, Air and Calder as we got paid on Friday. We went to a really nice Japanese restaurant and had some sushi and other random dishes, and then we went to the bar near me, Ete to have a cocktail or three. It was a nice night!
On Saturday I got up kinda late and then made my way into the Old Quarter to go to Le Pub for a nice Western breakfast. I then made my way down to the cinema for a bit of Western escapism. Before the film started there was a ad for road safety with a family of three on a motorbike, with the kid standing at the front without a helmet. They got to a red light and stopped at the white line then slowly edged forward into the intersection then a truck came out of nowhere and crashed into them killing the kid. The entire audience gasped in disbelief as if it had never occured to them that going through a red light and riding helmetless might not be a great idea. That is the thing that annoys me most about Vietnam - their complete inability to drive safely on the roads and consider the consequences of their retarded actions.
After the film I went back up to the Old Quarter and had a look at pretty scarves, then I went to a cafe for a drink. Whilst there I flicked through an English language newspaper and saw an ad for a day of music in Hanoi with a kiwi band Minuit. That excited me greatly as I miss live music! That might be the week Im going tp Laos but if I'm in Hanoi I think I'm going to go along as there are a few other bands and DJs. I then met some history people from Sussex, Nick and Katherine, and we went for dinner at a place called Bia Minh with beer for 40p a glass! Met some people I worked with there too and they went on to a place called Green Mango for an open mic night. We went along too but it looked a bit pricey for our liking so instead we went to Le Pub and had some cocktails. It was another fun night and again I got home after curfew and had to get down my lane in the pitch black. Bizzarely there were a bunch of construction workers dumping carts of sand and pebbles for their work but they were doing it in the pitch black. It's crazy!!
Yesterday when I got up I had to meet potential new housemates and we decided on the one we wanted then I had to head back into the Old Quarter to pick up some badges I'd ordered the other day. I got a badge from each country I've been to and I'm going to get some fabric to sew them onto. I didn't feel up to much more the rest of the day so I watched movies and spoe to people on Skype. Finally got to talk to Nina which was nice.
I have to work this evening and every evening this week which is why I didnt go anywhere this weekend. I might be going for a day trip to Halong Bay next weekend though with Zoe as she is leaving on Sunday to go to Thailand. I need to try and sort out my trip to Laos too this week. Yay travel!
After lunch on Friday I then had a (soft) drink with the fellow teachers outide the cinema then we watched Happy Feet with the students. I then got a lift back to work woth Alison where I had to give the students their certificates and have a little party with them before sending them off on their way. I had to teach my evening class but it was only for two hours. After work I went for dinner with Alison, Caroline, Air and Calder as we got paid on Friday. We went to a really nice Japanese restaurant and had some sushi and other random dishes, and then we went to the bar near me, Ete to have a cocktail or three. It was a nice night!
On Saturday I got up kinda late and then made my way into the Old Quarter to go to Le Pub for a nice Western breakfast. I then made my way down to the cinema for a bit of Western escapism. Before the film started there was a ad for road safety with a family of three on a motorbike, with the kid standing at the front without a helmet. They got to a red light and stopped at the white line then slowly edged forward into the intersection then a truck came out of nowhere and crashed into them killing the kid. The entire audience gasped in disbelief as if it had never occured to them that going through a red light and riding helmetless might not be a great idea. That is the thing that annoys me most about Vietnam - their complete inability to drive safely on the roads and consider the consequences of their retarded actions.
After the film I went back up to the Old Quarter and had a look at pretty scarves, then I went to a cafe for a drink. Whilst there I flicked through an English language newspaper and saw an ad for a day of music in Hanoi with a kiwi band Minuit. That excited me greatly as I miss live music! That might be the week Im going tp Laos but if I'm in Hanoi I think I'm going to go along as there are a few other bands and DJs. I then met some history people from Sussex, Nick and Katherine, and we went for dinner at a place called Bia Minh with beer for 40p a glass! Met some people I worked with there too and they went on to a place called Green Mango for an open mic night. We went along too but it looked a bit pricey for our liking so instead we went to Le Pub and had some cocktails. It was another fun night and again I got home after curfew and had to get down my lane in the pitch black. Bizzarely there were a bunch of construction workers dumping carts of sand and pebbles for their work but they were doing it in the pitch black. It's crazy!!
Yesterday when I got up I had to meet potential new housemates and we decided on the one we wanted then I had to head back into the Old Quarter to pick up some badges I'd ordered the other day. I got a badge from each country I've been to and I'm going to get some fabric to sew them onto. I didn't feel up to much more the rest of the day so I watched movies and spoe to people on Skype. Finally got to talk to Nina which was nice.
I have to work this evening and every evening this week which is why I didnt go anywhere this weekend. I might be going for a day trip to Halong Bay next weekend though with Zoe as she is leaving on Sunday to go to Thailand. I need to try and sort out my trip to Laos too this week. Yay travel!
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
I spent this weekend down south and it was ace! I flew to Danang but didn't spent any time there. I headed along the coast 20kms to a nice little beach place and spent some time on the beach as well as visiting Hoi An and a tiny Vietnamese version of Angkor Wat. I was far enough south to be in the tropical kinda zone so it was really hot and humid. Sadly this also meant the sun was more powerful and despite an excessive amount of suncream I still had a slightly red glow going on.
On Friday night I went for a drink after work with Alison and Caroline again (and partners, and Nat was there for a bit too) which was nice. I nearly didn't go as I finished work at 8 and had to pack and get sorted for Saturday and my horrible early start to get to the airport but in the end I decided to go and be sociable for a bit. I'm glad that I did as besides being good fun I also got a recommendation from Caroline of a place to stay (I had been meaning to book something in Danang during the week but I never actually got round to it. This turned out to be a good thing!) that was ace and helped make my trip so fun.
I wasn't so enthusiastic about the night before when I woke up at stupid o'clock on Saturday to head to the airport. I couldn't doze in the taxi as VN driving just isn't conduce to a nice restful nap. You spend the entire journey on the edge of your seat unable to believe the crazy things you are seeing on the roads. I planned to sleep on the plane but sadly all the vomiting Vietnamese around me stopped that happening. Every time is was drifting off I'd hear someone puke into a bag which jolted me back awake. Thankfully the flight was only an hour and then I could escape the vomity hell. I got a taxi from the airport to the place Caroline recommended - Hoa's Place. It is in a tiny hamlet between Danang and Hoi An and really just consists of a couple of tiny hotels, a few houses, a cafe or two and a police training place. It was right next to the beach (you could walk to the beach in less than a minute from Hoa's Place) and was really quiet and peaceful - hardly any motorbikes! The hotel itself was nothing special in terms of the rooms but Hoa and his wife were really nice people and had a good setup going on. His house was small and the front area had become a kinda dining room place that was open on two sides and was set up with a bunch of tables and a chiller full of drinks that you could help yourself to as and when you pleased. They cooked food in their kitchen and everything worked on an honours sort of system whereby you wrote down everything you had and paid up at the end. The accommodation was provided in the other hotels in the hamlet and Hoa pimps them out to the guests. I guess he acts as a go-between as there wasn't much English spoken by anyone other than him. The accommodation in my hotel was very basic - a small windowless room with a bed and an en suite but for $5 a night it's a pretty good bargain. I didn't spend much time in my room other than to shower and sleep so it wasn't really a problem. Maybe there are some nicer, more expensive rooms available but I didn't mind my tiny musty room too much. Plus the atmosphere at the place more than made up for it.
The first thing I did once I'd dumped my stuff was go to the beach. It was nice to be by the sea agian. It's a really quiet stretch of beach and its really pretty. White sand and blue sea is always a winner!
I didn't do much else on Saturday expect cross the highway to explore the marble mountain area. There is a small village where every other house doubles as a workshop for marble carvers and there are some hills with various assorted caves and temples going on. The biggest one has been made tourist friendly and so I walked up and had a look around. Stupidly I did this at the hottest time of the day and the humidity was a total killer. Everything was such hard work! It was nice and cool in the caves though, and there were some nice views from the top of the hill. Once again I was struck by how much effort you have to go to if you want to worship at one of the temples - they don't like to make it easy for you to pray here.
Once I was done with marble mountain I finally gave in to exhaustion and had a nap and then I went to the dining area for dinner. This is what made the weekend for me. Each night Hoa's family cook up a meal and its served at communal tables. Admittedly by the third night it was kinda boring having the same food again but it was good food, particularly the spring rolls. However, the atmosphere is what really stood out. You're forced to interact a bit more when sitting around a table to eat from a bunch of dishes in the middle of the table so it was a good chance to chat to other people. There were some really good people staying there whilst I was there which made the evenings so much fun. I guess if they had all been lame people it would have sucked and I would have resorted to spending time in my dingy room but everyone was interesting and it was good fun. I didn't last too long on the first night though before I had to give up and go to bed but I did have a good chat with a Japanese girl and a Finnish couple which was nice.
On Sunday I went down to Hoi An and ha a look around the place. It's an old place with narrow streets and really old buildings, plus a lot of temples and assorted otehr buildings. It's on the river and is a nice place to wander around for a bit. There are also a lot of tailors there and eventually I caved and got a dress and a skirt made. I really regret not bringing my dresses over with me but now I finally have another dress! I also did a bit of shopping as there were lots of pretty things available there. I got a scarf or two and some oil and watercolour paintings. It was a nice place to spend a day and a bit of money and it was really hot and sunny so provided me with an excuse to eat lots of ice cream.
I got back about 6 and was going to head into the village to see what sort of local food I could find but before I went I decided to go get a banana shake at Hoa's Place. I got chatting to people and then the food came out so I gave up on the idea of going to the village and instead ate at Hoa's again. After dinner I joined in a game of uno with some other Brits and two crazy Aussies. We combined two decks to get a monster uno game going on. It was good fun! Then at about 9.30 we headed to the beach and sat around a bonfire! I love beaches and I love bonfires so it was the perfect mix. The company was good too and the Aussies provided that sort of entertainment that only comes from drunken Australians. After about an hour it started to rain so we stole a couple of beach umbrellas and tried to set them up which didn't go so well so soon gave up and just resigned ourselves to getting wet instead. It's warm rain at this time of year down in that part of the country so its all good. It was a really nice night!
Monday was another early start which was hard work but I feasted on banana pancakes which helped get the morning going before heading back down to Hoi An to join a tour to My Son. The tyre on the motorbike had a puncture so we had to stop a couple to times to fix it, and the third time it happened just outside of Hoi An the driver flagged down a random passing motorbike and got the driver to take me to the bus! As soon as we left Hoi An it started to chuck it down and it was still raining when we arrived at My Son. This wasn't promising but thankfully by the time we'd got our tickets and made our way up to the first set of ruins the rain had stopped and the sun came out for the rest of the day. We spent a couple of hours exploring the ruins and learning a bit about the Champa belief system before getting the bus back to Hoi An. I then got a lift back to the beach and spent the rest of the day sitting either on the beach or at Hoa's Place with my book. The beach was really quiet as there's not much around that area- there are resorts some way away on either side but the beach by the village is not at all developed and is really quiet. There were some fishermen pulling in nets and there were a few people at the small cafe next to the beach but that was it. It was so nice and peaceful, and clean! Sadly that might not last for much longer. The area is being developed for tourism and a lot of the land along the sea front is all walled off and earmarked for development. That might soon mean the end of Hoa's Place as the developments are quite fancy - the one up the beach cost $200+ a night - and so the hamlet might not survive. That would be a shame as Hoa's Place is awesome!
I stayed around for dinner again last night and then kept a couple of English guys company whilst they waited for their plane. They were supposed to fly out at 14.30 but their flight had been delayed until 1.30 so they were killing time til they could go back to the airport. Another British couple joined us and we spent about 2 hours playing cards and chatting. As we were all British this was the first conversation I've had in a while where I've not had to explain random British phrases or deal with accent issues and it was nice to chat about British things with British people!
I'm definitely going back there when I need to escape the noise and mania of Hanoi and just want to chill on a beach. I'll also probably go to Hoi An and get some more clothes made - they can make anything you want so I can pull some designs off the net and get them custom made to fit. Sadly next term I am working 5 days a week (admittedly only 2 hours on Mon and Tues) but this means my random travels will have to be put on hold for a term. Maybe the following term I'll get a chance to go away to more places, and back to the beach and Hoi An.
As I've been writing this I've been listening to a link my mum sent me a while back - http://www.radionz.co.nz/popular/music/live?473894_result_page=F - and the Neil Finn and friends one starts with a Split Enz song. Now I regret not bringing my DVD with me as I'm really in the mood to watch it now! Maybe I'll go check out some of the DVD stores in Hanoi and see if I can find a bootleg copy. It seems unlikely it will be available here but you never know! I walked into my class one day to hear Crowded House playing on the radio which was certainly very unexpected!
On Friday night I went for a drink after work with Alison and Caroline again (and partners, and Nat was there for a bit too) which was nice. I nearly didn't go as I finished work at 8 and had to pack and get sorted for Saturday and my horrible early start to get to the airport but in the end I decided to go and be sociable for a bit. I'm glad that I did as besides being good fun I also got a recommendation from Caroline of a place to stay (I had been meaning to book something in Danang during the week but I never actually got round to it. This turned out to be a good thing!) that was ace and helped make my trip so fun.
I wasn't so enthusiastic about the night before when I woke up at stupid o'clock on Saturday to head to the airport. I couldn't doze in the taxi as VN driving just isn't conduce to a nice restful nap. You spend the entire journey on the edge of your seat unable to believe the crazy things you are seeing on the roads. I planned to sleep on the plane but sadly all the vomiting Vietnamese around me stopped that happening. Every time is was drifting off I'd hear someone puke into a bag which jolted me back awake. Thankfully the flight was only an hour and then I could escape the vomity hell. I got a taxi from the airport to the place Caroline recommended - Hoa's Place. It is in a tiny hamlet between Danang and Hoi An and really just consists of a couple of tiny hotels, a few houses, a cafe or two and a police training place. It was right next to the beach (you could walk to the beach in less than a minute from Hoa's Place) and was really quiet and peaceful - hardly any motorbikes! The hotel itself was nothing special in terms of the rooms but Hoa and his wife were really nice people and had a good setup going on. His house was small and the front area had become a kinda dining room place that was open on two sides and was set up with a bunch of tables and a chiller full of drinks that you could help yourself to as and when you pleased. They cooked food in their kitchen and everything worked on an honours sort of system whereby you wrote down everything you had and paid up at the end. The accommodation was provided in the other hotels in the hamlet and Hoa pimps them out to the guests. I guess he acts as a go-between as there wasn't much English spoken by anyone other than him. The accommodation in my hotel was very basic - a small windowless room with a bed and an en suite but for $5 a night it's a pretty good bargain. I didn't spend much time in my room other than to shower and sleep so it wasn't really a problem. Maybe there are some nicer, more expensive rooms available but I didn't mind my tiny musty room too much. Plus the atmosphere at the place more than made up for it.
The first thing I did once I'd dumped my stuff was go to the beach. It was nice to be by the sea agian. It's a really quiet stretch of beach and its really pretty. White sand and blue sea is always a winner!
I didn't do much else on Saturday expect cross the highway to explore the marble mountain area. There is a small village where every other house doubles as a workshop for marble carvers and there are some hills with various assorted caves and temples going on. The biggest one has been made tourist friendly and so I walked up and had a look around. Stupidly I did this at the hottest time of the day and the humidity was a total killer. Everything was such hard work! It was nice and cool in the caves though, and there were some nice views from the top of the hill. Once again I was struck by how much effort you have to go to if you want to worship at one of the temples - they don't like to make it easy for you to pray here.
Once I was done with marble mountain I finally gave in to exhaustion and had a nap and then I went to the dining area for dinner. This is what made the weekend for me. Each night Hoa's family cook up a meal and its served at communal tables. Admittedly by the third night it was kinda boring having the same food again but it was good food, particularly the spring rolls. However, the atmosphere is what really stood out. You're forced to interact a bit more when sitting around a table to eat from a bunch of dishes in the middle of the table so it was a good chance to chat to other people. There were some really good people staying there whilst I was there which made the evenings so much fun. I guess if they had all been lame people it would have sucked and I would have resorted to spending time in my dingy room but everyone was interesting and it was good fun. I didn't last too long on the first night though before I had to give up and go to bed but I did have a good chat with a Japanese girl and a Finnish couple which was nice.
On Sunday I went down to Hoi An and ha a look around the place. It's an old place with narrow streets and really old buildings, plus a lot of temples and assorted otehr buildings. It's on the river and is a nice place to wander around for a bit. There are also a lot of tailors there and eventually I caved and got a dress and a skirt made. I really regret not bringing my dresses over with me but now I finally have another dress! I also did a bit of shopping as there were lots of pretty things available there. I got a scarf or two and some oil and watercolour paintings. It was a nice place to spend a day and a bit of money and it was really hot and sunny so provided me with an excuse to eat lots of ice cream.
I got back about 6 and was going to head into the village to see what sort of local food I could find but before I went I decided to go get a banana shake at Hoa's Place. I got chatting to people and then the food came out so I gave up on the idea of going to the village and instead ate at Hoa's again. After dinner I joined in a game of uno with some other Brits and two crazy Aussies. We combined two decks to get a monster uno game going on. It was good fun! Then at about 9.30 we headed to the beach and sat around a bonfire! I love beaches and I love bonfires so it was the perfect mix. The company was good too and the Aussies provided that sort of entertainment that only comes from drunken Australians. After about an hour it started to rain so we stole a couple of beach umbrellas and tried to set them up which didn't go so well so soon gave up and just resigned ourselves to getting wet instead. It's warm rain at this time of year down in that part of the country so its all good. It was a really nice night!
Monday was another early start which was hard work but I feasted on banana pancakes which helped get the morning going before heading back down to Hoi An to join a tour to My Son. The tyre on the motorbike had a puncture so we had to stop a couple to times to fix it, and the third time it happened just outside of Hoi An the driver flagged down a random passing motorbike and got the driver to take me to the bus! As soon as we left Hoi An it started to chuck it down and it was still raining when we arrived at My Son. This wasn't promising but thankfully by the time we'd got our tickets and made our way up to the first set of ruins the rain had stopped and the sun came out for the rest of the day. We spent a couple of hours exploring the ruins and learning a bit about the Champa belief system before getting the bus back to Hoi An. I then got a lift back to the beach and spent the rest of the day sitting either on the beach or at Hoa's Place with my book. The beach was really quiet as there's not much around that area- there are resorts some way away on either side but the beach by the village is not at all developed and is really quiet. There were some fishermen pulling in nets and there were a few people at the small cafe next to the beach but that was it. It was so nice and peaceful, and clean! Sadly that might not last for much longer. The area is being developed for tourism and a lot of the land along the sea front is all walled off and earmarked for development. That might soon mean the end of Hoa's Place as the developments are quite fancy - the one up the beach cost $200+ a night - and so the hamlet might not survive. That would be a shame as Hoa's Place is awesome!
I stayed around for dinner again last night and then kept a couple of English guys company whilst they waited for their plane. They were supposed to fly out at 14.30 but their flight had been delayed until 1.30 so they were killing time til they could go back to the airport. Another British couple joined us and we spent about 2 hours playing cards and chatting. As we were all British this was the first conversation I've had in a while where I've not had to explain random British phrases or deal with accent issues and it was nice to chat about British things with British people!
I'm definitely going back there when I need to escape the noise and mania of Hanoi and just want to chill on a beach. I'll also probably go to Hoi An and get some more clothes made - they can make anything you want so I can pull some designs off the net and get them custom made to fit. Sadly next term I am working 5 days a week (admittedly only 2 hours on Mon and Tues) but this means my random travels will have to be put on hold for a term. Maybe the following term I'll get a chance to go away to more places, and back to the beach and Hoi An.
As I've been writing this I've been listening to a link my mum sent me a while back - http://www.radionz.co.nz/popular/music/live?473894_result_page=F - and the Neil Finn and friends one starts with a Split Enz song. Now I regret not bringing my DVD with me as I'm really in the mood to watch it now! Maybe I'll go check out some of the DVD stores in Hanoi and see if I can find a bootleg copy. It seems unlikely it will be available here but you never know! I walked into my class one day to hear Crowded House playing on the radio which was certainly very unexpected!
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