Zelma’s Trip

After my last entry I decided to head back to Olly’s house on a xe om. I showed the rider the name of the street written down as I still seem unable to pronounce it.  It soon became apparent that he was either illiterate or had a penchant for driving round in circles.  He also seemed to like going through red lights.  This is by no means uncommon here but people usually at least slow down.  I decided it was not the best lift in the World and asked him to stop.  Eventually he did but he still wanted the full fare.  As he had hold of my arm I decided it best just to pay him.  The only problem at this stage was that I was in an area of the city I didn’t know.  I managed to walk back to the centre, albeit after sitting down to have a cigarette and curse him under my breath.  Due to my traumatic experience I went to a bar to have a cocktail and wait for Olly to finish work so he could meet me and collect me.  I had two cocktails which are crazily stronger than cocktails at home.  It was actually relatively entertaining as one of the Vietnamese bar staff was learning English and also played football so I ended up teaching him all the English words for football terms.  He then drew an empty pitch and wrote them all out to show he had remembered.  He seemed to expect me to comment on his efforts so I drew a star on the page which he seemed very pleased with.  On the way back from the bar we managed to get lost and stopped to get some food.  Some locals decided it was a good idea to challenge us to a rice wine drinking challenge which was interesting, if not particularly tasty.  We then stopped off again and met an exceptionally cute young boy who Olly tried to teach English.  Vietnamese people really struggle to pronounce “S” and “Z” sounds so he called us “Olly” and “Elmo”!

On the Wednesday I went for a nice meal with Olly and we rode through the backstreets to  a lake with a B52 bomber in which was shot down during the War – a fact the Vietnamese are very proud of.

Following on from the manic motorcyclist and also the copious over consumption of cakes and cocktails I decided it was time to leave Hanoi for a while.  I went to some tour places and asked about buses to Thanh Hoa.  I was told where to head and took a xe om who took me to the wrong place.  He actualy took me to a station used to transport containers.  One of the containers was empty and I considered getting a free ride (as per the advert).  I then saw the next container was being loaded with sacks of white powder by men in plastic suits wearing masks.  I quickly decided I didn’t want to share my journey with the load.

I eventually got to the right place and was herded into a local bus.  The bus was an experience and it felt like they couldn’t have fitted any more people or luggage into the space if they tried.  A Vietnamese woman I sat next to fed me bread and they all tried to speak to me in very limited Engliash.  When I eventually arrived in Thanh Hoa I was told it was the right place to get off so obliged.  As I did so I was immediatly engulfed by motorbike riders who hovered around me as if they had never seen a Western woman by herself before.  Fortunately, or so I thought, I was next to a cafe and went and sat down to have a beer.  One of the men came and sat next to me and grinned profusely.  I tried to talk to the staff and asked one of them if they spoke English.  Both he and his friends gesticualted towards his beer bottle and did comedy “he’s too drunk to talk” actions.  I had my beer and got in a taxi.  Despite having to forcibly push a “friendly” man out of the taxi who got in after I did, I arrived at a hotel, eventually managed to check-in and slept.

The next day I was greeted by the same curiousity as I was the previous day.  I got a xe om to Sam Son which is a coastal town frequented by locals but not Western tourists.  It was off-season and the whole place was dead.  The”Lonely Planet” described the place as a “concrete jungle” and it was not far wrong.  The beach was nice though and I could see how it might appeal in fairer weather.  I was really hungry at this point and wandered into a couple of the few places that were open.  In one hotel a man came over and said “bed?” whilst doing a tired gesture.  I replied, “No, bus”.  After about 2 minutes of the “bed?”, “No, Bus.” conversation I decided I wasn’t getting anywhere and moved on.  I managed to find somewhere to eat and asked for eggs and bread – the other food on offer was somewhat less recognisable.  They cooked me two eggs (sunny-side somewhere) and brought them over.  As I was finishing the second they brought 2 more.  So I ended up eating four eggs and two small baguettes…..Hanoi has a lot to answer for!  There were a couple of tourists at the place (from China I think) and one of them spoke enough English to translate and I managed to book a car to take me to Cuc Phoung National Park.

and it’s not raining!  Hooray! It’s April Fools’ day too but I haven’t seen too many Vietnamese carrying out comedy pranks as yet. Maybe I should start a trend ;o)

 My travel and trips started with great momentum at the start and I seem to have settled into more of a not doing very much routine so far in Saigon.  I seem to be appreciating the food A LOT and am loving wandering around the streets.  Today I’ve been looking for a medium sized bag and have just been so overwhelmed by all of them, they’re soooo beautiful, that I haven’t bought anything!  The clothes are also amazing here and I want them all.  The wedding dresses, which appear to be everywhere, are out of this World.  I quite want to go and get one fitted and custom made but think it might be somewhat premature and inappropriate given I’m missing a vital ingredient!

I’ve been looking at ways to get to Sa Pa today which is a small town in the North from where you can trek into the local “ethnic minority” (as they call them) villages.  I’m not entirely sure whether to book a tour or just get the train up there and hope for the best.  The latter plan seems to have worked thus far!  Either way I -have- to get a guide as there is unexploded ordinance around in the North so it’s not a great plan to just wonder round on your own.

I think I might go and eat more cake now.  I had the most amazing chocolate mousse earlier.  Mmmmmm mousse!

After almost two weeks in Vietnam my grasp of the language is still non-existent.  Vietnamese is a very difficult (in my mind impossible) language to master, partly because it is tonal.  A good example of this is the word “ba” which can mean three, grandmother, poisoned food, waste, aunt or any all depending on the pronounciation.  It’s a language that makes you look extremely stupid when you try to pronounce something in, what you think is every possible way, the locals finally understand what you are attempting to evict from your throat and then repeat the word in a completely different way.

One thing I love here is the translations to English.  Some of the signs are excellent, so much so that I have taken pictures of some of them….yes I know!  I was sat in a Cafe in Hanoi yesterday and the menu was most appetising as follows:

Chao Suon Heo:  Pig’s rib gruel

Chao Bau Duc Heo:  Pig’s kidneys gruel

Chao Trung Muoi:  Salted Duck Egg gruel

and my personal favourite……..

Chao Tim Trang Ga:  Chicken’s internal Organs Gruel.

I ordered a bottle of Coke!

One of the tourist places in Nha Trang had tours which were advertised as “Funny, differently” which sounded somewhat intriguing to me!  All of the shops also seemed to have signs which said, “Sale Off” and then listed a percentage which didn’t really convey what I’m sure they meant!  One of my favourite signs in Nha Trang was in a restaurant and read, “Squid and only squid!”.

Perhaps the most worrying English I have seen since I got here was when a slightly fuzzy-headed Zelma got on the back of a motorbike to head to the waterfall from Nha Trang.  As I climbed on I noticed that the rider’s helmet read, “Enjoy your life” across the back which, I must say, didn’t fill me with hope!

One saying that all the locals seem to have mastered is “Same, same but different”.  This led to an interesting discussion about Communism on one of our tours.  I don’t think the guide was very impressed by the woman’s take on their saying!

Vietnam is about the first country that I have been to where I don’t think that each child is a genius.  I have this thing normally when I go abroad where I hear a child speak and think, “Oh my God, that child must be a genius, he’s only about 4 and he speaks French!”.  I then realise that this is not -quite- as impressive as I first thought as the child is infact French, German etc.  However in Vietnam it just sounds like all the children are talking jibberish; somewhat akin to their adult counterparts.  Okay, I have just realised how amazingly un-pc this is sounding.  Actually that should be in-pc, no actually p in-c.  Hmmm, on that note I think I’ve said enough about the Vietnamese language.  In all fairness if I could pick any language to be fluent in I think it might be this one as I haven’t got a cow’s chance in hell of learning it.  Is that a saying or another one I’ve made up?

I finally managed to meet up with Olly in Hanoi – hoorah!  He arrived at my guesthouse on his scooter and we went to a bia hoi..  Bia hoi are basically outlets here which sell extremely cheap lager which apparently comes straight from the breweries.  We then went to Olly’s on his scooter and he showed me around his rather wonderful abode.  When we were at Olly’s house there was the start of a storm and it suddenly got very wet.  On our journey back into town we managed to get rained on quite impressively.  After a few more beers, cocktails and some ketchup with chips (don’t ask I think Olly has something of a tomato fetish) I headed back to my guesthouse.

I am now staying in Olly’s house which makes a nice change from staying in guest houses I must say.  The shower is also somewhat of a godsend and omits more than two drips when you turn it on which is something of a novelty to me.  I’ve spent today acquainting myself with Hanoi, or should I say Hanoi acquainting itself with me?!  We went for breakfast at this lovely restuarant this morning that overlooks Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the centre on Hanoi.  I am still addicted to the fruit here and may try to cultivate dragon fruit on my return.  Yes, I’m sure that will be amazingly successful in the British climate.  Having said that it’s raining again here at the moment.  I hope this isn’t the future of the weather for my stay in Hanoi!

Just after I finished updating my blog yesterday I heard a, “Hello” and realised that Tony, an American guy I met who was in the cabin next to me on the sleeper train was at the same guesthouse.  He got off the sleeper train before me at Hoi An.  A lot of people seem to think these are massive coincidences but in all fairness it’s bound to happen occasionally with people generally following the same kind of pattern of routes.  It also seems to happen a lot of the time which is nice in a way as you meet friendly faces along the way.  Anyway he asked if I wanted to go for a beer and I agreed as there was plenty (well a bit) of time before my sleeper bus for Hanoi arrived.  We went and had a couple of beers at a local cafe/ eaterie which was really nice and I told him about my inability to sleep on moving objects.  He had some sleeping pills and offered me a couple when we got back to the guesthouse.  I sat and waited for the bus which was working on Vietnamese time (i.e. it was late) and drank a lot of water to rehydrate.  They said that bus had arrived and I thought they meant it was outside the guesthouse but it was actually down the road.  I presumed, in my ignorance, that there would be a toilet onboard, it being a sleeper bus and all.  Obviously there wasn’t and I had to sit cross-legged as we went over numerous bumps and lumps in the road.  I began reading my book and listening to my Ipod to distract myself but then they turned the lights out.  A helpful Czech (who I had been speaking to in the guesthouse) offered me a head torch.  I soon decided that, not only assisting in making me look like more of a plum, the angle was not particularly effective for reading purposes so held the light like a torch.

Finally we stopped and I have never been so grateful for a scummy Vietnamese toilet in my life.  I went into a nextdoor cafe to buy some cigarettes.  The woman informed me it was ten thousand dong, I still haven’t managed to find a place comparable to my sweet little shop in Nha Trang where it was 4000 for a packet (32,000 is roughly a pound so neither price is that painful).  Anyway so I pulled the note out of the back of my camera case and as I did so two little white pills flew out, hopped accross the table and came to a rest.  Everyone in the cafe went quiet, looked at the pills, looked at me, looked at the pills again then looked at me.  I was a little bit thrown, laughed nervously, picked them up and left.  I’m not quite sure if the locals thought this was some kind of strange currency but it was quite embarrassing.

We eventually arrived in Hanoi and for the first time I slept like a baby on a mode of transport!  I’ve checked into a central but slightly grotty guesthouse on the basis I will only be here for one night prior to meeting up with my mate Olly from Uni.  I’m in desperate need of a shower so think I might go and do that, sort myself out and then go and get some food.

Although I had booked a motorbike to take me around the sites today I ended up sharing a car with a Japanese guy. The hotel staff came and asked me about it this morning when I was packing up and I decided it was a good option.

The first place we went to was Tu Hieu Pagoda which was absolutely amazing. There were Buddhist monks wandering around and studying. I find it really hard to describe these places and keep saying wait for the pictures which will do them more justice than I will and may have to repeat myself again! I read some of the principles of Buddhism and also looked at some of the meditations. Apparently when bells are rung all the monks pause and contemplate. I actually had a bit of a moment at this place. It was so tranquil and beautiful and I didn’t want to leave.

The next stop was Tu Duc tomb. Tu Duc was one of the Emperors and was apparently a “romantic poet and weak King, who ruled Vietnam from 1847 to 1883”. There was a beautiful lake and large, elegant pavillions and pine trees. Apparently the place only took 3 years to complete which is amazing if you see the sheer scale of it. Although, there was a group of American tourists who may disagree with this assessment. As I was looking round one of the smaller temples one of them said, “Ooooh, it’s all falling apart”. I was seriously tempted to point out the fact that it was actually in quite a good state, the fact that it was -quite- old and the fact that they didn’t understand history as they didn’t have anything ancient in their country….however, I bit my tongue!

The next place we visited was Khai Dinh tomb. This was something of a contrast from the previous mausoleum comprising of European Baroque and ornamental Sino-Vietnamese architecture and styles. The tomb was up a large hill with far too many stairs for the temperature it was today. The principle temple was amazing with every inch seemingly decorated with ornate glass and porcelain mosaic. The ceiling had the most amazing mural which was based on dragons and was apparently completed by a local artist.

The fourth stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda. This was closer to the town itself than the other sites and, again, in an elevated position. The position enamoured me more to this site than the pagoda itself, although it did have some great statues of comedy looking chaps and funny animals. One thing which I loved in nearly all of the places was the staircases adorned with stone dragons, handle-rail stylee.

The final stop was the citadel which forms the centre of Hue. This was laid out in the early nineteenth centrury by Emperor Gia Long, however many of the buildings were destroyed in the War. There were still places to look around although this was by no means my favourite of the places visited, maybe partly as I was expiring in the heat at this point. I sat down on some steps and some guy decided to start taking photos of me. This has happened on more than one occasion and is something that I find very odd. Especially as I had sat down at the citadel as I was literally dripping with sweat. Maybe he wanted to take a photo to show his friends how weird Western women were. Women over here dress so modestly it’s untrue. They cover up to the extent of wearing long gloves if they have short sleeves on and even wear socks with toes when they are wearing flip-flops or sandals. I think it’s partly to do with the sun and heat and also for modesty. They also tend to swim with their clothes on! There are some local women who dress in more “Western style” and no I don’t mean stetsons and cowboy boots. That would be hysterical actually. I think that the more Western dressing is the influx of tourism and the Western influence and appears to be more apparent in bigger, more touristy areas – that and a style adopted by local prostitutes.

Whilst in Hue I have managed to stub about every single toe. Admittedly not as impressively as an Australian woman I met on the boat trip in Nha Trang who had broken her toe to great effect in a drunken stumble. I blame flip-flops myself and uneven pavements with big rocks on. I can’t help it when I’m looking around at scenery!

I’m now back at the hotel killing an hour and a half before my sleeper bus arrives to take me to Hanoi. I’m hoping I will actually be able to sleep. I appear to have an inability to sleep on anything that moves demonstrated by my insomnia thus far on planes, trains and buses. We’ll see, at least I won’t keep getting accosted by an old Vietnamese guy trying to give me hard-boiled eggs this time – I hope!

The sleeper train was an experience.  There were six in a berth

and I had the middle bunk which was probably the worst to be

fair.  With the bottom bunk you can put your bag underneath

and with the top bunk you have more head room as the train

has a curved roof.  I hardly slept but the section that was

meant to be fantastic (between Danang and Hue over the Hai Van

pass) was with the train crawling through the mountains and

views down over the bays.  All the other people in my cabin

were Vietnamese and one sweet old guy kept waking me up from my half sleep by

grabbing my feet to offer me hard-boiled eggs.  He also seemed

to get very distressed by the fact that I was wandering around

in bare feet and not accepting his flip-flops that he tried

to thrust upon me.

I arrived in Hue at around 8AM in the morning.  I slept when I

got here and then went for a wander around the city.  The Dong

Ba market was pretty awesome and I went into the outer citadel

area, so to speak.  It was stunning, shady and green.  I've

booked a Honda Om for tomorrow to take me to some of the other

sites like the mausoleums and a couple of temples.  I've also

booked a sleeper bus to take me to Hanoi tomorrow night.  Hue

is beautiful but outside the lovely inner walls it's a bit

sparse.  I've also got far more unwanted male attention than
anywhere else.  I think it's because there are far fewer

Western females here (despite it being a popluar site on the

tourist map)and even fewer who are traveling by themselves.

It's not been a problem but, in my slightly tired and grumpy

state has been somewhat of an irritation.  I was very conscious

of dressing conservatively before going to dinner tonight

(i.e. full on trousers and long sleeves) but it didn't appear

to make any difference.  Hey ho.

One reason that I am tempted to extend my stay in Hue is the

food.  The speciality dish here is a dish called banh Khoai

which is a small, crispy yellow pancake fried with shrimp,

pork and bean sprouts and served with peanut and sesame sauce,

star fruit, green banana, lettuce and mint.  I had this without

the pork and it was divine.  One of the best things I've ever

tasted to be honest!

I spent much of yesterday (Wednesday) doing very little.  I spent what felt like an eon uploading pictures only for them to then not go where I wanted.  There are some on the Flickr link of the website now though if you want to have a look.  I then went and got some lunch before heading to the beach where I went for a swim and chatted (well I say chatted, it’s often quite difficult but you make do) to locals. 

Having showered and changed I headed out to a local restuaruant.  When I say local I guess I really mean locals’ where the local Vietnamese eat rather than local as in proximity to the hotel.  I ordered Seafood soup and it was delicious, apart from the baby octopus which always freak me out so I fed them to the dog under the table!  In Vietnam soup with noodles seems to be one of the staple and speciality dishes.  Pho is the word for rice noodles (I think) but seems to be interchangeable for noodle soup.  I actually managed to eat the soup with chopsticks (I know, shock horror).  I kept looking up expecting locals and passers-by to stop and applaud and congratulate me on my efforts.  Needless to say none of them did, infact no-one took a blind bit of notice even when I dropped a chopstick load of noodles on my lap!

After I had eaten I came back to the hotel – it’s hard work eating you know – and watched a bit of telly whilst relaxing as I clealy had had a vey busy day.  I then headed out to a bar called “Crazy Kim’s” where I met a group of people who invited me to join them.  Here’s another hint, be very wary of going out drinking with a group of people comprising of bar workers and bar owners – lethal!  It was a great night though, we ended up at the Sailing club and, largely due to the people I was with, I only paid for two drinks the entire evening!

This morning I wasn’t best impressed to have to pack up having got in at gone 4AM and with a slightly fuzzy head.  I went and had breakfast – a cheese omelette and a fruit salad.  I strongly recommend the fruit salads here, actually the fruit in any capacity.  A fruit salad normally consists of water melon, mango, dragon fruit and pineapple and it’s always fresh and delicious.  Oh, I also had fresh grapefruit juice, the juices are equally gorgeous.

Having eaten breakfast I decided to visit a waterfall.  I asked one of the Honda Om drivers how far it was and how long it would take and he informed me that it was 30 kilometres which would take an hour.  I bartered him down to 100,000 dong (just over three quid) for the journey there and back and for him to wait for me while I visited the waterfall.  As soon as I got on the back of the bike I wondered which braincell had decided that an hour’s ride on the back of a crappy motorbike in the blistering heat with the makings of a hangover was a good idea.  I also had a helmet that I couldn’t adjust which kept threatening to blow off when he went over about 15 kilometres an hour.  Not that you know how fast any of them are giong as none of their speedos work, but that’s beside the point. 

The latter part of the journey was beautiful with lush green vegetation covering mountains and women collecting rice in the paddy fields below.  We arrived at the place where the waterfall was and I found that, like many other places, the Vietnamese had decided it would be a good plan to charge an entrance fee.  It was peanuts to be honest so I wasn’t too bothered, although I did wonder what exactly it was for.  I later realised it was for red paint!

As I started to walk up the mountain I cursed the aforementioned braincell.  For some reason I hadn’t really taken account of the fact that waterfall’s are generally up hills.  Suddenly my rubbish A level Geography result is all becoming clear.  Anyway, I digress…. I carried on plodding up this mountain and after about 5 minutes a couple walked the other way and the woman shouted, “Good Luck!” I gave her a bemused look and they both walked off lauging.  I must say this didn’t fill me with hope.  I passed several small waterfalls, erm actually they were more like rapids, and wondered hopefully each time if this was in fact the finale.  Needless to say none of the paltry efforts were.  As I got further up the montain I asked a man who looked like a security guard whether I was going the right way.  He told me to follow the main path and, “follow the red arrows”.  I carried on and there was not a red arrow in sight.  I cursed the ill-informed guard but then reached lots of boulders and a group of Vietnamese women.  One of them said, “follow the red arrows” (this was the only phrase the mountain folk appeared to speak in English) and then set off infront of me at a pace not dissimilar to something out of “Crouching TIger, Hidden Dragon”.  I followed her, albeit at some distance, and eventually we got to the waterfall.  Oh, another hint here, don’t grab trees to steady yourself when climbing over boulders to reach a waterfall.  I must have grabbed like 10 trees (yes I REALLY should have learnt sooner) and each time they turned out to be jelly trees which moved so much that it probably would have been better not to have grabbed them at all.  We finally got to the waterfall over all the boulders and it was worth the trek.  The only thing that spoilt my sitting, relaxing and listening to the sound of the tumbling water was the Vietnamese guide woman who insisted on sitting next to me, staring and grinning.  I decided to try and speak to her and chose the, what I thought to be, non-complex issue of water levels.  I asked her how high the water was when it was the wet season and she just looked at me, smiled, pointed at the water and said, “water”.  So I gave up on the plan of conversation and headed back down towards the entrance.

The motorbike ride back was a more enjoyable experience than the one on the way there, partly because I had a clear head and partly because I had figured out how to adjust the strap on the helmet so didn’t have to continually put my hand on it to stop it disappearing down the road in the wind.

I’m now sat in the hotel waiting for my lift to the train station and am not entirely sure either when this is due or when the train departs.  I’m getting a sleeper train to Hue which is my next stop prior to getting Hanoi.

I left the Perfume Grass Inn where I was staying previously, as I decided at $15 USD it was a bit expensive!  I checked into “Nice Hotel” which is very nice actually and am now paying $8 a night.  They have a wide range of rooms here up to a lot more expensive than mine and I’m happy with my double bed, fan and sea view (albeit if you crook your neck out of the window).

Having checked in I decided to find out about the mud baths and local springs visit.  I arranged for a Honda Om to collect me from the hotel.  Prior to going to the mud baths I was taken to the Po Nagar Cham towers which stand impressively on a hillside above the Cai River.  The Hindu Chams reportedly built ten towers (or kalan) between the 17th and 12th centureis but now only four remain.  The towers were truly amazing and the views down over the city were great.

After the towers my Honda Om rider took me to the mud baths at Thap Ba Hot Springs.  He decided to take a back route to get there and the state of the roads quickly declined.  I wouldn’t have minded the potholes too much but they were full of water (water in the streets in Vietnam is always somewhat ominous) and when he bounced through them it splashed up at my legs!  I commented that he seemed to like the potholes to which he laughed and, having seemingly interpreted this as me liking the potholes, proceeded to aim for every single hole and divot in the road!  At one point we actually took off, although he did apologise at this point.

We got to the  Thap Ba Hot Springs and I was informed that it was 200,000 dong for a mud bath for one.  This is very expensive (around 7 quid) and the whole place was slightly overly commercial for my liking in a weird Vietnamese way.  After the mud, which was a weird experience, you walked through this channel and got sprayed with high power water jets of natural mineral water. There was then an area to relax with a man-made waterfall and a swimming pool.   The swimming pool was heated to 38 degrees C (there were lots of signs around the pool testament to this fact like it was some big achievement) which was somewhat odd and hardly refreshing.   Somewhat bizarrely there were also lots of signs everywhere reading, “you are being insured”.  I think it was pertaining to the fact that they had lifeguards but I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to be insured!   The reaction I had to it was wanting to throw myself over a sun-bed or take a tumble on a slippery leaf to test them out!   To be honest the towers and the motorbike ride were much more enjoyable!

I left the springs and my rider/ driver brought me back to the hotel.  Having had a seafood pizza (yes I know, not very Vietnamese but I thought I’d treat myself and besides the seafood was Vietnamese, fresh and delicious) I went for an evening swim in the sea.  I’ve decided that morning and evening swims are preferrable.  Not only are the beaches relatively empty in comparison to other times in the day, you don’t tend to turn into a lobster quite as quickly.  These are the times that the locals swim (which should tell you something in itself) and you tend to get locals coming and sitting with you to chat to you which is really nice.

In the evening I went out to a local bar/ eaterie and met a guy from Canada and Caitlin (sp) a woman who was from London.  We decided to go for a cocktail or two and went to a bar called the “Blue gecko”.  I, somehow, managed to triumph at Jenga, however was less successful against a small boy at Connect 4 which led to me having to buy postcards from him.  A word of advice, never accept a challenge of ANY sort from a street-seller, particularly if they’re under the age of ten!  We went onto one final bar which appeared to be open until 4am (although we didn’t stay that long).  I was fasinated by the fact they thought they needed three Police stylee securtiy guards.  I soon realised that they did infact need three as they were all pretty ineffectual.  One of them appeared to just smoke cigarettes and look at the wall whilst one of the others disappeared every few minutes when he saw anyone he knew walk past.

It’s now Wedensday and I’m about to head out to get some breakfast and then think I might go for a swim, although this will defy my times for swimming rule as noted above!  I’m also tempted to go and see the white Buddha which presides over the town.  I’m planning on staying here tonight and then am hopefully getting the train to Hue tomorrow.

Thank you all for your kind comments on my site.  Long may they continue ;o)

I’ve spent today on a boat going between four islands off the coast of Nha Trang.  It was an amazing day although I think I’ve been slightly spoilt in terms of snorkelling in Egypt.  I’ve spoken to lots of Australians who have suggested good snorkelling spots where I will be in Oz so hopefully will get my fix there.  I’m planning on exploring Nha Trang a bit more tomorrow as I haven’t had a proper chance to look round yet.  I want to go to the temple, see the giant white Buddha and go to the natural mineral springs where you can bathe in the therapeutic waters and cover yourself in mud(although someone on the boat trip I was on today went there yesterday and came out in an all-body rash).  I spent a lot of today in the sea which was great and am considering heading down to the main beach in Nha Trang for a swim before dinner this evening.  We got a traditional Vietnamese lunch on the boat today and I was the only one who couldn’t use chopsticks.  It’s getting a bit ridiculous now, I think I just need to conquer my fear and do it.  There will probably be some places I go where there will be no option so I guess it’s best to master the art now!

I was planning on spending tonight here and probably tomorrow night as well.  I was then going to head to Hue by train but have just been told about an amazing beach location about 30km from here and am slightly tempted to head there on the way.  This will somewhat thwart my plan to get the train and I’ll probably have to head back here first.  We’ll see.

I’ve just tried to upload pictures unsuccessfully so you’re all going to have to wait a little while longer I’m afraid.