Hi all,
So sorry it has been so long between "stories". I've found an internet cafe in Sapa...some internet, you can't even log onto facebook. So I'm having to back-track a bit in my memory with what we did on Contiki (as you can guess it's all a bit hazy).
I managed to find my way to the meeting point for Contiki, a hotel on Pham Ngu Lao. I got there pretty early so crashed in the lobby and began to read a bit more of my new best friend...Lonely Planet's guide to southeast asia on a shoestring. Then a guy wearing a Contiki shirt approached me and asked if I was on his tour. We did our intro's and his name was Dean and he'd been with Contiki doing the Asian tours for a couple of years. We got through some admin stuff to save time later and he told me I could check-in...apparently my room mate had already settled in to the room. So I checked in and headed to the room and Kirsty was there, an English girl travelling alone and heading to Hong Kong to see family after the tour. We chatted a bit and prepped before meeting the rest of the group. That evening was spent going over admin stuff then a trip to the Ben Thanh Markets for dinner. Average food, I had some dish of 2-minute noodles with vegies. Downed a few beers and got to know some people. We headed to the bar Allez Boo (was becoming a regular at this place now) and we had many drinks and danced a bit. Fun first night.
Day 2 was a bit of a sleep-in and after lunch we headed off on a tour to the War remnants museum and had a look at the Reunification Palace. I instantly recognised the gate of the palace as the one that was rammed by a tanker I guess in 1975. The War museum was as horrible as is to be expected. Confronting images of the war and even now of people suffering the effects of Agent orange. Millions of litres of agent orange and other toxic liquids were dumped all over Vietnam. Apparently it alters your chromosomes in some way so you can pass on defects to your children. There were photos of vietnamese and american children who were affected due to their parents exposure to Agent orange. Millions of vietnamese died in the war that lasted 10years...most of them innocent farmers, elderly and children. Photos documented these atrocities. There was also lists of journalists who died in the war. We headed to the airpoirt to catch an afternoon flight to Nha Trang. We landed around 6pm and it took an hour to drive to the hotel. We got ourselves ready to head out to the sailing club....and that was the beginning of a massive night!! It was ladies night so we had free alcoholic concotions before 11pm...then moved on to anything and everything...shots, cocktails, jam jars...the lot! Complete with a bonfire drinking right on the beach was amazing. Danced a bit and a few injuries happened. A couple of twisted ankles and a casualty from excessive alcohol consumption! Dean the tour guide was run off his feet! Most people went to bed around 1am but a few of us stayed at the Sailing club til we were kicked out at 3am. Then we wondered up the beach and ended up at the swimming pool. And stayed there until 5am when the sun came up. We legged it to the beach and it was the most amazing sunrise I have ever experienced! Because we had arrived at night we had no idea the bay was surrounded by mountains and undulating green islands. Incredible!! There were lots of people out for a swim that morning....and we were all in awe of what we had witnessed. We headed to breakfast, still under the influence and went to bed to sleep for a couple of hours!
Day 3 we had a cruisy free day in Nha trang. The weather was beautiful so we hung out at the beach. I went for a bit of a walk with a couple of younger girls from Queensland and bought some things. We headed to the Brewhause brewery for dinner which was amazing and so cheap then others went out to another bar and scored heaps of free shots and drinks. I had a quite one!!
Day 4 we were up early for breakfast and took the bus to the airport. We flew to Hoi An and it was stinking hot, but not as humid as HCMC. The sun was out and sweltering!! We were too ealry for check-in so we had an early lunch at the Cargo Club and did a little tour of the Old quarter. Gorgeous. Had a look at the Japanese Bridge and an Old house. Saw some photos of flooding, it's incredible what these people endure! Next stop we checked out the infamous Yaly tailor shop. Then we picked up our bicycles and headed to the hotel. After a cool-off in the pool I was ready to hit-up Yaly's. I had no idea what I wanted yo have made for me but I thought a nice long dress would come in handy! So they fitted me for one and I chose the material and design etc. Imagine someone telling you "If there was any dress in the world you would like made what would it be??" This is how hard it was!! Back to the hotel I went for a bicycle ride outside of Hoi An. Very hot work but we got to check out some of rural vietnam, rice fields and buffalo etc. Awesome. Tonight we went to a cooking class and I had a ball (as you can imagine!!). We made fresh rice paper rolls, green papaya salad, marinated chicken skewers and they extra food for us....too much to eat!! Have to say mine came out pretty well and I think I was the only one to eat my food! LOVED IT!
So now Im half-way....Day 5. This was a free day after we did a tour of some ancient ruins (most of which were bombing casualties of the war) we basically checked out some more tailors and looked at other souvenirs. Went...somewhere...for lunch and I had my usual stirfried noodles and vegies. Never get enough noodles!! Some more poolside chatting and we headed to Green Chili for dinner. This place had only been open 3 weeks and the head chef had studied in Milan for 3 years so the focus was on Italian food. I strayed from my preference of the local cuisine and had ravioli in a creamy sauce with ham and mushrooms. DIVINE! The ravioli was freshly made and absolute heaven! The sauce also reminded me of home so it was a damn good choice! Some of us headed to a bar and then back to the pool for a chat and reasonable early night.
To be continued...
