We got up early to go the twin towers skybridge but unfortunately after waiting 10-20 minutes in the line, we found out that the earliest time was 4:45pm andwe had to leave for the airport at 2:30 so we missed out. After that we walked around te shopping mall. Mum and Dad bought an international power adaptor. Then we went to look for the Rapid KL but after quite a while we couldn't find it. Luckily a man came up and told us the directions. Our checkout was noon so we packed our bags and left. We had a bit of a walk around and then went to catch a train to "Sentral". At Central we took the Skybus to the international airport. After getting through customs we aited for 1 1/2 hours for our plane. During this time there was monsoonal rain and thunder which concerned us and we were worried our plane would be delayed but the storm passed quickly. This plane is much smaller than tyhe previous one and it doesn't have a TV on the seat in front. When we were descending over Ho Chi Minh City I loved looking at the view from the airoplane at night as the lights were in the millions. It took forever to get our visas. Finally we were out and Madam Cuc's driver picked us up and took us to the hotel. As soon we arrived we had dinner made for us which was spicy soup with noodles plus mini spring rolls. I really like our room as we have our own bathroom and a TV with 72 cable stations.
6/3/10
In the mornng we walked to the Ben Tanh markets. Along the way we were practicing crossing the road as tere are thousands of motorbikes everywhere you look! We walked around the mnarkets for a couple of hours. After that we walked around some backstreets for what felt like forever. Finally we came across a park although we were not looking for one. Nim and I played on the playground for a while then Dad talked to some school girls as they were wanting to speak English. He encouraged me go over to talk to them so they could practice English and I could try some Vietnamese. Then we got lost! While trying to find the markets again, we found a nice place for lunch. Back at the markets we bought some fruit and returned to our mini-hotel. That night Simone, Andre and their kid Elijah (friends of Oliver P in grade 4) took us to their favourite restaurant for dinner. The dinners they chose were pretty nice while others were disgusting! The atmosphere was nice becauise there was pools, bamboo and lanterns. I really liked Elijah. Following dinner we went to Fanny's. I got choc-chip mint ice-cream in a cone. We walked back to Madam Cuc's after dessert.
7/3/10
We walked to Centro tower in the city and then on to the History of Vietnam Museum. Inside there was heaps of old statues and utensils dating back over 1000 years ago. There were also elephant tusks which were nearly 2 metres in length! The last thing we saw was a Mummy who was a 60 year old woman. She had been an impoirtamnt person and therefore Mummified. Some of hair was still on her jead and her feet were tiny. She was a very petite woman just under 1 1/2 metres tall. Then we cauight a taxi to the centre of town where we serached for a map of the country. For lunch at Pho 2000,Dad, Mum and I had chicken Pho (pronounced fir) which is a traditional soup served with herbs including vietnamese mint. Ni'mah had noodles with prawn and mushroom springrolls. After lunch we returned to the Ben Tanh Markets for Ni'mah to buy some hairclips and then we walked home. At Madam Cuc's we were invited into their kitchen for a special dinner. The owner had a soup made for us with macaroni noodles, potato and carrot soup! They had spoilt today as in the afternoon they kept making us fresh lemon juices.
8/3/10
We caught a taxi to the bus depot. We then boarded a 6 hour bus to Dalat. On the outskirts of the cuty, I loved looking at all the ramshackled huts on the side of the road. Just as I was trying to get to sleep, a man behind me was snoring weirdly behind me. At our first toilet stop, after two hours, we had to take off our shoes and ut on provided thongs to enter the bathroom. Whenb I put on the thongs and started to enter th men's toilets ("nam") a man stopped me and pointed to the girls and then I pointed to the men's sign and to myself. He started laughing and patted my hair. People are always feeling my hair! After yet another 2 hours we stopped at another bus stop for lunch -we had some pork, rice, salad and Vietnamese dressing. When ascending the mountains it was quite scary looking out over the windy road. When we arrived at Dalat we alked to a hotel that Mum found in the Lonely Planet book. In the evening we went for a walk and lost our bearings. We retraced our steps back to the markets and had some snacks of an omelette on rice paper cooked on a fire in on some steps.
