More mopeds and Indian.....

Woke up early yet again but didn't need to as today we have no plans except to catch a bus to Hanoi at 5.30pm. So we packed our bags and went downstairs for some breaky. We checked out, paid our bill and hired a moped to go for a bit of a look around and check out the beach to kill some time. We headed out to have a look at a Pagoda about 10 kms out one side of town. It was very old and set up high overlooking the river which was really nice. Then following our hotel ladies directions we headed out the other side of town in search of the beach.....just follow this road and head straight out for about 12, 13, 14 or 15 kms she said....really easy she said......no worries she said.....pffftttt......as we have learned nothing is real easy here and she failed to tell us there was a turn off (with no sign) so after about 20 minutes of riding and even asking directions we realised we were nowhere near a bloody beach. So back we go and head back the same way and even manage to get a few people to understand us when we were asking where the beach was. Had to put another dollars worth of fuel in now to cover our getting lost.....lol. So by the time we get to the beach we were so bloody hot and I was sunburnt (& yes I had sunscreen on) & the moped was soooooo uncomfortable our arses were killing us, we looked at the water, said "yep, it's a beach....lets go".....so off we went back to town. We took the moped back and decided that it was not the best 3 hours we had spent so far. So with 5 hours still to kill we decided to go back to the great little Indian restaurant from last night and hang out there. We stayed there till 5pm and ate and drank steadily and paid the huge price of $25.....we were pretty happy with that. Back to the hotel to wait for the bus which was an hour late and then an hour driving round picking people up. We are on the bottom row this time and the guy behind us has really smelly feet. Good lord we have to put up with the smell for 13 hours....eeewwwww. There are certainly some downsides to budget traveling. So at 8.30pm we stop for a break and this is where the OMG moment comes in. At a pretty ordinary roadside stop where the toilets are still in last century and are a hole in the ground and are really dirty and stinky.....BUT they have WiFi......gotta love their priorities......lol. So now we are traveling along in the dark, there is a guy sleeping on the floor in the aisle right next to me as I am assuming they double booked a seat, a Vietnamese guy is talking loudly on his phone and I am smelling stinky feet...aahhhhhhhh....I know you all wish you were here....LOL. Alvo xoxo

Being Bicycle Bandits......

Today we decided to hire a push bike each before heading out for breakfast at the market. Bikes are about $1.50 each to hire for the day and it was great to get some exercise. The market was an easy 15 minute ride and we were advised by the lady in our hotel to use the parking lot when we get there and put a lock on our bike so we left our bikes with the parking guy for a massive parking fee of 5000 Dong or $0.50 and ventured into the bustling market place. It is unbelievable the amount of shops in the market and I don't think there is anything they don't sell. There are stalls upon stalls of fresh produce, herbs, vegetables and fruits then salted seafood of all kinds and any cut of meat you can think of from pigs ears to beef fillet. We had no idea where to eat and as we are learning quickly, not many people speak English so it is difficult to ask. We were shuffled into an eating place and the lady there gave us a kind of overview of what we were eating.....I think it was fish cake thingys, fresh frog or pork spring rolls (not sure which one as with a Vietnamese accent it sounds the same same but different) and bbq frog or pork (again it could have been either) skewers with two types of dipping sauce that she just poured on for us so there was no option if we didn't like it. She told us things cost 20,000 Dong each ($1) and she just kept putting things in front of us, I had to firmly say "no more" so she would stop. Then the lady next door to her just put some Che in front of me, which I like but didn't really want but had no choice and for $0.50 I couldn't be bothered arguing. The market was hot, lucky we put sunscreen on and soon enough we decided to push on. We collected our bikes and just wandered into more adventure. We thought we would go into a bank to see if we can withdraw any more than the $2,000,000 Dong ($100) limit at most ATM's. Of course if you work in a bank you must be educated right......wrong, very little English was spoken in the bank and Alvo just came out more frustrated than ever so back to the ATM method we go. After the bank experience we needed to sit at a cafe and chill out, we found a nice one and Alvo had her regular iced coffee and I had mango juice. A bloke rocked up with his girlfriend and parked his scooter out the front and here it doesn't matter if there are no tables left out the front because you can just bring one out of the cafe and put it in the middle of the footpath. He pulled out a long bamboo bong looking thing and started packing something into it, I later found out this would have been either marijuana or opium because.....that is ok here. Time to ride on..... We randomly rode around on that side of town passing the royal dynasty place which is surrounded by a big wall and a moat.....must be important. Negotiating the traffic is becoming a snap and we are fitting right in. It is even ok to go through red lights here, who would have thought. We stopped in to organise our bus trip to Ha Noi, our tour to Ha Long Bay and an extra bus to Sapa. The girl there was easy to communicate with which was a relief. Alvo was leading the way all day and she turned us into some random alley way that was lined with cafes which we thought was cool....until.....we tried to order something. No one spoke English, they didn't even know the word menu so off we rode again passing random things like, chooks, turkeys and even a few cows grazing and wandering on the footpath. We found a place to sit and have a drink and sat just in time for the rain which was great. Food was coming out and we had no idea what it was, so I took a chance that the girl at the next table could speak English and although a little broken we could understand each other. She was eating noodles with mussels, it had pork crackling, peanuts, noodles and little bits of mussels in it with a separate broth to pour in. We gave it a go, can't go wrong for $0.50. It was good....phew. She also urged me to try this little meat roll looking thing that was sitting in a container on the table, we worked out that it was cured buffalo wrapped in some sort of leaf....I know Gran, you said nothing weird but I couldn't say no. It tasted like salami so I was happy with it and...no squitty bum....yay. I am hanging for a curry, this Vietnamese food is not living up to our expectations so we couldn't go past the Indian Restaurant partly for the fact that it is going to cost a fraction of the price it would if we were in Oz. Ahhhhh Chai tea, the best I have ever tasted and curry to die for, finally my tastebuds are having a party. The service was awesome so we took a photo of the staff, boss included, and posted a great review on Trip Advisor. They were very grateful and we will return there for something to eat before we get on the bus tomorrow. The cyclo rider from last night came past and recognised us so I called him over and told him that we would find him later for a ride, it is important to negotiate a price before doing anything here and we sorted that out pretty quickly. After leaving the restaurant he rode up again and brought another cyclo rider with him and still only made us pay the same price.....sweet. We needed to go to the bank so he took us. We chatted along the way about just about anything which made the ride fun. They dropped us off right at our hotel and we took their photo, it kinda feels like they are our mates. They were cool. Tomorrow we will hire a motorbike and ride to the beach but for now it is time to rest. Tanya xxx.

Heading to Hue......

So after our late night last night and a few too many scotches, I awoke slightly dusty at 7am. I had to read yesterdays blog to make sure it made sense as I wrote half of it a little bit inebriated. Kong took us to one of his friends (who we met last night) mothers restaurant in a quiet area on the river. It is a Japanese/Vietnamese fusion and was just beautiful. We then went to the Organic Vegetable Garden Village for a look and it was really interesting. It is 400 years old and all the people in the village tend the massive gardens and it was just really cool. After walking through the gardens we were given this really delicious water drink that had fresh mint and lemon basil seeds which go a little bit like Chia seeds when wet. Unfortunately we could not stay long as we were catching a bus at 1pm. We headed back to Kongs place where we said our goodbyes to everyone. We had such a great stay with Jason & Co and were a bit sad to leave. Hopefully one day they will come to Australia and we can return their hospitality. We took our backpacks to the bus stop and then took our neat little moped back to the hire place. It was only a short walk to the bus and we needn't have hurried as we sat there for nearly 2 hours as the bus was getting fixed. And sitting on a vinyl lounge in what felt like 50 degree heat with 100% humidity was not pleasant. I don't think I have ever been so hot and sweated so much.....ever. Finally the bus came which is just a normal bus this time as it is only a 3 hour trip. And yipee, vinyl seats and bad airconditioning.....and it was the most uncomfortable bus trip ever. We drove though a big storm which was great because when we got off the bus it had cooled down heaps. We got shown a room in a motel right near the bus stop and for $10 it was pretty good....although we are changing rooms tomorrow for a bigger one with a balcony, a shower over the bath and free breakfast for an extra $4. After a desperately needed shower we went in search of food and finally settled on a traditional Hue and vegetarian restaurant. The food was nice and just what we needed as we hadn't eaten since the morning. Walking back to the hotel a Cyclo rider asked if we wanted to have a ride but as were only a block from our hotel he jumped off and told Tanya to ride and me to get in and he also sat on the front too....it was really cool and he didn't even try and scam money out of us. So hopefully we will see him tomorrow night and we will pay him to take us for a ride around the city.

Loving Hoi An....

No plans today so we didn't have to get up early although we still woke up at 7.30....and considering I didn't get to sleep till about 2am (damn you mega strong vietnamese iced coffee) it was way too early. Anyway we decided that we would just ride around and see what we could find. Tanya wanted to get her nails cut so we stopped at a little beauty place and splashed out $3 for her manicure. We rode all over the place and stopped several times for drinks and food. The sun finally came out today and even though I put sunscreen on I still got burnt, so now I have a stupid t-shirt line on my arms and red knees and feet. We came across a very colourful cemetary in the middle of a rice field and saw a few water buffalo wallowing in a waterway next to it which was really cool. I have to say that getting the moped was the best thing we did and it has provided us with plenty of OMG moments. Here is my Guide to Motorbike Riding in Vietnam 101: 1: When you come to a red light you can A: Go straight through it. B: Go around the corner on the footpath or C: Stop. 2: Beeping of your horn is compulsary for A: I'm overtaking you so move over. B: Even though you are over I am letting you know I am overtaking you or C: Look at me I'm on a moped/car/truck/bus. 3: Talking on your phone or texting while riding is quite acceptable. 4: When you need to cross the road into another street, riding up the wrong side for 50 metres before hand is normal. 5: Actually, riding on the wrong side in general is even normal. 6: Towing trailers and carrying things twice the size of your bike is A OK. 7: Having 3, 4 & in extreme cases 5 people on your bike saves 2 trips. 8: Riding 3 abreast having a chat is also normal. 9: Pedestrian crossings mean absolutley nothing........ And I am wondering if it is a "shame job" if I get overtaken on the moped by a girl on a pushbike????? So I hope this helps for anyone planning on a trip here or has given a laugh as you can so relate to this to anyone who has already been here....... Another OMG moment was when I went to an ATM to get money out it is a little telephone box like room and it is air conditioned...LOL..... When we went home for a rest we got talking to Jason's house mate Kong and he invited us to come along to a wine tasting tonight. Now a wine tasing in Vietnam is something we never even considered so of course we had to say yes. Kong firstly took us to have dinner which was beautiful chicken and rice and then we headed to the bottleshop for the wine tasting. I have to say we were very impressed with the wine selection and even more so when he told us the tasting was sparkling wine from 5 countries. And wouldn't you know it, Australian wine was on top of the list. I have to say for the $8 each it was well worth it. We had such a great night and met some really nice people.....even the Mayor of the Hoi An district was there. When we finished we headed home with Kong and as Jason had returned from his trip to Denang he was up for a game of Poker. Now we are no poker players but with a few scotch and cokes and lots of prompting I have to say I kicked arse and beat everyone....lol...much to the boys disgust. We will be sad to leave Hoi An as we really like it here but new adventures await us.....Till tommorrow. Alvo xoxox

Cooking up a storm......

Someone needs to tell the roosters here that they are only meant to crow when the sun comes up....not all night. When we did get up it was raining lightly but we didn't mind as we were off to meet our cooking class guy (Thai) to start our private cooking class. We walked to the end of the lane we are staying in and he picked us up right on time to take us to the markets where we would buy all the ingredients for the dishes we would cook today. It was 8am and the markets were bustling with excitement. It was so cool there and we were like a couple of kids in a lolly shop, pointing at stuff and oohing and aahing at everything. Thai spoke perfect English so he was able to answer all our questions and give us heaps of info. Everything was so cheap there too....and if we said that we liked something he would buy it and tell us what we would make with it. Our 2 shopping baskets were overflowing after an hour and we got in a cab to go to the beach where the place was we would do the class. The view was beautiful and we were in heaven. Fresh passion fruit juice was served to start and topped up all day....it was delicious. We spent all day making dishes and eating all of them as well. Dish one was tiger prawns in tamarind, then grilled clams, whole grilled sea bass with shallots, beef rice paper rolls, crab cakes, bbq pork belly & patties, spring rolls, duck and pineapple salad, crispy fried quail with green papaya salad, pork belly clay pot and last but not least tamarind soup.....phew.....it was a mammoth effort to eat all that food I can tell you. By the last dish we were both so full we actually felt sick. After the duck salad we both had a bit of a belly ache which required several trips to the bathroom :-\ And talking about the bathroom....they had the neatest dunny we have seen yet....it was a little hut with cool saloon type doors, 2 big ceramic urns with the water for flushing, a huge mirror and enough room for 20 people. And if you are thinking getting excited about a bathroom is weird then you have never travelled in Asia and seen some of the disgusting toilets you have to use....lol. Anyway back to the food......All the dishes were good...some better than others but we decided that it was all a bit too much food so next time we will only do a half day. Beer was also supplied all day if you wanted but after drinking half a one I got another dreaded headache so obviously I can't drink any type of beer here. We went for a walk along the beach when we had a break, which was really nice. Although we ate way too much we would definitely recommend doing a private class instead of a group one at least once. It cost a bit more but was well worth it. It was very hands on and we did most of the preparation and all the cooking. We even had to do some gross stuff like killing the crab, which I made Tanya do, so when it came time to cut the ducks head off (yes it was already dead), it was my turn....we may be traumatised forever.....lol. We also got a couple of sets of cooking chopsticks as a souvenir which was really cool. By 4pm we had finished our mammoth cooking expedition and said our goodbyes. We went back to Jason and Jess's place where I had to lay down as not only did I feel like my stomach was about to blow up, my head was absolutely throbbing. Tanya hooned down the road on the moped and got me a Vietnamese iced coffee which did the trick yesterday for my headache. After half an hour of napping I was good as gold.....we can't believe that caffeine is helping, although if you buy panadol here the and get the panadol extra it has caffeine in it so we are not going crazy. By 7.30 we decided we would go for a walk to get a cold drink (obviously we didn't need dinner) and on our way out Jason and Jess said they were going for dinner and asked us to join them so we did. We just had coffee and iced coffee (i think I am getting addicted to them...lol) and even looking at their food made me sick. Today has definitely been the highlight of the trip. Alvo xo

Hello Hoi An....

Overnight on the bus is good, it saves us accommodation and you get to wake up in a new place. When we arrived in Hoi An this morning we contacted our friend Jason and he rocked up on his Virago motorbike looking all tough and stuff. As we both had a backpack he was unable to take us to his place where we will be staying while we are here so he suggested that we rent a motorbike and whisked Alvo away to go and get one from a place he knows to be reliable. Minutes later Alvo arrives on a flash black number ($6 per day to rent) and I climbed aboard so we could follow Jason. The roads here are a lot quieter and we feel confident riding, this will give us much more freedom to check this little place out. Jason took us to the Old Quarter which is the old part of Hoi An and we walked around all the old buildings which are now filled with shops, cafes and restaurants. It is really nice there and after walking through the market we stopped at a cafe for a well deserved beverage. Alvo and Jason had an iced coffee which has condensed milk in it so it turns the strong Vietnamese coffee into sweet deliciousness, Alvo really likes it and it seems to be keeping her headaches at bay. I had watermelon juice which is freshly squeezed and contains only watermelon which is so great. Jason was heading off to have lunch with his girlfriend so we were on our own.....scary stuff, but we made our way back to the house without getting lost or hit by any crazy road users. We did some googling to find some cooking classes and went to An Bang Beach to meet the man who teaches them, after chatting to him we decided to do a private all day class so that we can ask plenty of questions and spend as much time as we need to learn. He even gave us a discount so Hoi An is restoring our faith in Vietnam. We got caught in a bit of a rain storm on the way home but it wasn't too cold so didn't mind getting wet. It does however dictate dinner time as going out in the rain after having showers isn't fun. Oh, we have met Jason's other roomies, Levi as in jeans and Kong as in Hong Kong and they are both great blokes so will be chatting to them more over the next couple of days. Jason's girlfriend, Jess, also made an appearance after finishing work and she is lovely. She offered me a rain jacket to wear when we head out for dinner just in case.....she must know I am a bit of a sook that way. We ended up heading to the Old Quarter for dinner as Jason recommend we try Cao Lao there, we found it and it was pretty nice. A mix of noodles, greens and some crispy crouton like thingys. We also tried the White Rose which is a small dumpling/wonton with a sweet dipping sauce, also nice. We walked along again looking at the old buildings, this time in the dark and it is so different and lots more people. The lights there are really beautiful and you can buy a lantern with a candle inside to float in the river if you like. We have been told by a couple of people to go to the Cargo Club and try the deserts, although they are similar to ones you would buy in Oz.....things like chocolate brownies, cheesecake, mousse and even the good ole pav we had to do it for doing it's sake. We were recommended the passion cheesecake which was delicious and not too sweet all for the whopping price of about $2.25 and it looked like something you would get for desert at a fancy restaurant. There were so many things to try, sweet potato, coconut bbq cake thingys (very nice) and bbq pork skewers. I reminded myself that we have 2 more weeks to try food, I dont have to taste everything in one night. We couldn't go past the ice cream shop that allows you to scoop your own and then pay by weight at the end. There are about 45 different flavours ranging from chocolate to coconut coriander and we tried heaps. Another one of those things we can say we did but don't need to do it again. Can't wait for cooking class tomorrow, we will be picked up from the end of our laneway at 8am so a good sleep is needed for our culinary adventure. OMG of the day.....The garbage truck here plays a tune like an ice cream truck in Oz, oh and Alvo was shat on by a bird as we hurtled along on our moped at 40kph....lol. Tanya xxx

Learning many lessons.....

Vietnam is becoming the land of many lessons learned. We tried to sleep in this morning but it didn't happen, I woke up at 6am and while Alvo wanted earplugs to go back to sleep (that didnt happen) I took the washing to our hotel lady to get done. The cost is $1 per kilo and I thought my pack was getting a little heavy, the laundry was 3kg and would be finished by the afternoon. We thought about visiting some islands tomorrow but decided that we don't really like it here and are going to get the bus to Hoi An tonight. So we needed to fill in the day so we visited the mud and spa baths. A man picked us up from the hotel and took us....god knows where, to the baths. It seemed like such an ordeal to get a locker, get changed, leave our valuables at the desk and get started but it was worth it. We started off with a hot mineral shower then moved on to what looked like an inground spa where the muddiness began. The mud makes you bouyant and it is hard to sit up, you lay there and rub mineral rich mud all over you, including your face, it was great. Then back to the shower, into a water massage walkway thingy and then to lay in the hot mineral water to relax......mmmmmm, nice. We met a couple of cool Vietnamese chicks who were up for a chat which was nice. Ok, so back to the hotel and we weren't sure what to do next so we hopped on a cyclo, which is like a bike that a bloke behind you pedals and you sit and enjoy the view. After negotiating an hour for $8 we had a tour of Na Trang. We stopped at the Big Bhudda which our rider assured us was free to go to....he wasn't totally wrong, there was no entry fee but there is a donation of $10 for some postcards which is pretty well compulsory....so much for them being Bhuddist....they were very pushy. We checked out the rest of the city and when we got back the rider tried to tell us a different price because he got us back late but we weren't having a bar of that so $8 was the final price. Vietnam is certainly teaching us a few things and we are a bit disappointed that everyone seems to try and scam you....something we didn't find in Thailand at all. Oh, Alvo finally got rid of her headache with a can of red bull, I know that sounds stupid but the extra strength panadol here has caffeine in it so we thought we would try something with a heap of it and it worked. We need to be at the bus by 7pm so we had an early rice porridge with chicken dinner along with a coconut shake for me and a mixed shake for Alvo, it was good. We went back and found the crazy desert called Che, it looks strange but tastes pretty good. It is a mixture of different coloured jelly looking stuff each one is quite distinguishable despite being all mixed in a glass and topped up with coconut milk and ice. We have contacted a friend who is living in Hoi An (someone we worked with in Alice) and he has offered for us to stay with him which will be awesome so we are looking forward to seeing him and meeting his girlfriend. Well it is time to get this posted before the bus arrives, will check in again tomorrow. Tanya xx.

And the open bus trip begins.....

Farewell Ho Chi Minh, the city of a million mopeds and a million and one people. A very chaotic and crazy city that i do not think we will hurry back to, the time has come to move on so, Nah Trang here we come. Another early morning as we needed to catch our bus to Nha Trang. The buses here are called sleeper buses and instead of normal seats they have two storeys of 3 isles where the seats lay almost completely flat, they are really comfy and Australia should catch on as bus travel would be sooooo much more bareable. They even give you a little blanket, which came in handy as the air con was freezing, and a bottle of water. Although the trip is only 440km it took 12 hours due to the chaotic traffic here but this allowed us to catch up on some much needed sleep. The scenery along the way was interesting and ever changing from rice paddies to busy roadways. Lunch was a very rushed 20 minutes and just as we pulled in there was a downpour that flash flooded the street but i am guessing that is normal. There was a girl who took our order and we had it bought to us and eaten in under 15 minutes.....now that is fast food, and it was delicious. Upon arriving in Nha Trang we were showed a room right where the bus dropped us off and for the large sum of 210,000VD or $11 it will be where we stay for a couple of nights. It is a block from the beach and everything is close. We walked to find some food and stumbled across a little market where we sat and ate Vietnamese Pancake and Vegetable Noodles. The food in Vietnam isn't exciting us yet but we will keep trying different things and see how we go. We saw snake, frog and hedgehog on the menu so there is hope yet. I was told by a Scottish bloke on our tour the other day to make sure we try Che and bugger me we found it in the market so will have a go tomorrow and let you know. The cankle situation improved with the resting but soon returned after walking around tonight....hopefully it will get better. Alvo xo

The Mighty Mekong

So I was woken up by roosters crowing and thought wow I slept well, it's morning already.....but no....it was 11.30pm......and they crowed...ALL BLOODY NIGHT...geez, do these chooks not know it's night time. So needless to say I didn't have great sleep....and as usual sleeping beauty didn't hear a thing. My calves still hurt like hell and I also discovered I have cankles.....god I'm falling apart and it's only day 3. There were a couple of down pours before breakfast which cooled it down as it was already warm. Back on the boat for an hour and seeing the water in daylight was a bit disappointing with all the rubbish in it. We met the rest of our tour group and got on their bigger boat and went around the floating markets. We stopped off to have a look at a rice paper and noodle factory where at is all made by hand. It was really cool. Then off up the river to have a look at a cool orchard where for about 5 minutes we thought we had been left behind and panicked ever so slightly but we found everyone and all was good. There was another massive down pour which luckily we were undercover for. Back in the boat and back to the town for lunch then on the bus again. This is where I started getting another massive headache and have decided that the only thing I did the same as Wednesday when I got one was have a Saigon beer......so no more of that for me. The trip back to Ho Chi Minh was uneventful. We went back to the same motel and got our same room. I was on a mission to get some panadol as I thought my head was about to explode, along with my now elephant sized feet and ankles. After a shower and a lay down I felt a bit better so we went and had some dinner and as soon as we got outside it rained on us......lucky it's hot so the rain is nice. We decided to go back to the massage place and both got a hot rock foot massage which I am hoping will do wonders for my calves and feet. We are off on the first leg of our bus trip tomorrow heading to Na Trang. Alvo xo

Gooooood Mooooooorning Vietnam..........

Now I hope you all said that in your best Robin Williams voice. We were up at 6.30 to pack up, get some breakfast and head off on our 2 day tour to the Mekong Delta.....one of the biggest things on our bucket list. It took a few hours by bus to My Tho where we got on a boat on the Tian River, which is part of the Mekong. We went to an island where we saw coconut candy being made and got to taste it and also coconut wine. We had lunch on the island, had a bike ride and of course I got the mental bike that's chain kept slipping and made really wierd loud noises, saw some crocodiles, had a row boat ride down the canals, saw traditional singing and did alot of walking. When we got back to My Tho we had another 2 hour bus trip to get to Can Tho. We had opted for the home stay so we were dropped off with 5 others and started walking with a Vietnamese man. We had no idea where we were going and it was getting dark but after about 10 minutes we got on a boat and headed off. It was a bit of an adventure and the best thing was getting to see hundreds of fireflies for the first time. They are very cool. Finally after about half an hour we pulled into Minh Fin Homestay. It wasn't quite what we expected as we thought it was going to be a bit more personal but it was ok. We shared dinner with the others who were an Italian couple, a Canadian and Scottish couple and a guy from the Czech Republic. They were really nice and interesting to talk to. We headed to bed by 10pm as we had to be up by 6am. We both suffered very sore calf muscles today due to all those bloody stairs yesterday. I bought a cool Vietnamese hat also which can double as a little shopping basket if need be...lol We had a really good day and our tour guide is very funny which makes it even better. Alvo xo

Not a great start.....

So the day has finally arrived to head off on our adventures. We left Tamworth waved of by Danielle, Lorraine, Gran & Brownie and arrived in Sydney with hours to kill. We found a great bar with cheap cider & steaks which was great. Then off to the check in counter & unfortunately this is when everything turned to shit. Having been to Thailand before and not needing a Visa for under 30 days, we assumed that Vietnam was the same.....that was our biggest mistake...NEVER assume anything. Words do not describe the feeling you get when you are told 2 hours before your flight that you can't get into the country. Luckily we got a great Aussie check in guy who helped us. So off we run to Flight Centre to get emergency visa's and yet another set of passport photos....$480 thank you very much PLUS an extra $200 as our flight got in before 9am and they would have to get someone to come early to give us our visa in Vietnam PLUS another $100 when we get there......soooooo as you can imagine we were not very impressed but had no choice. Once again the check in guy was great & even gave me a hug cause I was a bit of a sook. I even asked him if we were on an episode of Airport :-/ We weren't the last to get on the plane but we did cut it very fine. I know you are all reading this saying that everyone knows you need a visa for Vietnam......well OBVIOUSLY NOT.....and why the hell did I not read this anywhere or someone tell us. So needless to say this has not started off our trip on a high and i have decided that I can't think about it and I am not going to mention it again so please refrain from telling us what idiots we are......lesson learnt.....the hard way. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was uneventful and sleep deprived and I have to say that children on planes that can't stop crying should be drugged.....that is all. Alvo xo

Hello Ho Chi Minh

I must say we were impressed when we got off the plane & there was an official with our names on a sign ready to whisk us off to process our visa & relieve us of $110. Thank god that drama was over & they let us into the country. After a small hiccup with our travel cash card we finally got some money out & caught the bus (for 25 cents each) into the city. Wow what an eye opening 40 minutes that was.....we thought Thailand was crazy but it has nothing on this place. I have never seen so many mopeds in my life, and the traffic is mental. Serena, you would have heart failure for sure.....lol. We got off where we were told was a good place & just had a bit of a wander until we were convinced to have a look at a hotel room, then looked at another one to compare & went back to the first one. Nothing flash, up a hundred stairs but for $11 one can't be too fussy. The manager recommended a little place to get good Pho & we weren't disappointed. Had a bit of a stroll around & were very worried about crossing the road but we mastered it in the end. Had some awesome rice paper rolls & fried tofu with a local rum & beer ($1 for 450ml....damn I love this place). Bought a couple of beautiful paintings from a local street seller & then spent hours trying to get yesterdays blog to upload. OMG it was doing my head in but as you can see I have managed to get it to work....not to mention that half of the writing on the site has converted to Vietnamese which makes it all just that little bit harder. We went downstairs & booked a couple of tours & an open bus ticket to Hanoi, ate another great Pho & decided to get pampered with Tanya getting her nails & toes done & I got a head, neck, back massage & facial. Unfortunately it didn't help my splitting headache so it's time for bed. Up early in the morning heading to the Mekong for a couple of days. Alvo xo