123 Day Journal

Journal 16 May - 27 May 2008

27 May 2008 - Day 96, Mui Ne

Verity's Mui Ne pedicure

Notes: lazy day, reading 'Catfish and Mandala', bacon, eggs, beans & baguette for breakfast, swim and tan, club sandwich with fries for lunch, bath, long walk up the beach with Adriane and Verity, seafood dinner - two for one Mojitos, BBQ fish, spring rolls, and beer.

26 May 2008 - Day 95, Mui Ne

Full Moon Resort, Mui Ne

Coffee with condensed milk

Interior of old military watch tower

Notes: 7am swim, omelete and baguette with coffee, sunbaking and swim, beach chair ("sun lounge") dramas from the sea, funny dogs barking, rent motorbike, wind picks up at midday, ride South 15km to town, stop at temple, drive North 15km with Adriane, they had massages, Jef's birthday at the restaurant we had eyed, homely food instead at a road side restaurant, runny noise

25 May 2008 - Day 94, Doc Let to Mui Ne

Notes: rose at 5:30am and went for a swim, suprised to see hundreds of local Vietnamese swimming and playing sport, bobbed in the water for an hour, 6:45am and all the Vietnamese left, 7am and the Haywards were up for a swim, one baguette short breakfast, drive with Mr. Doc from Doc Let to Mui Ne - 9am to 2pm, Full Moon Resort, windy beach, windsurfing and kite surfing, seafood restaurant

24 May 2008 - Day 93, Hoi An to Doc Let

Cam Ranh Airport, Vietnam

Notes: 7:30am taxi to Danang airport, resort development strip, fly to Nha Trang - Cam Ranh Airport - old American airbase, no shuttle from Paradise Resort, arrange with taxi to drive the 85km to Doc Let, stop at Doc Let Resort to have a look but end up staying, a couple of hours later and the family is not impressed with school camp like atmosphere, rubbish and food scraps, limited activities and food options, Adriane and I slept off the afternoon then went for a swim before dinner, joint birthday party at the restaurant, decision to go to Mui Ne the next day, no cheap travel so arrange for car

23 May 2008 - Day 92, Hoi An

View from Mango Café, Hoi An

Portrait taken by a bad smelling kid wearing a helmut polishing shoes, Hoi An

Conserving My Son temples

Notes: Rent a motorbike while females do more shopping, Mango Cafe waitress and internet, ban on scooters in town for the afternoon, ride through mystery lanes, kid taking pictures with my camera, afternoon on the beach, friendly beach sellers, dinner across the river in town - country pancake, white rose, satay pork, clams, grilled chicken, crispy squid

21 & 22 May 2008 - Day 90 & 91, Hué to Hoi An

Cua Dai Beach, 5km from Hoi An

Its 8:40 am and I can feel the sweat build on the top of my forehead and temples. The five of us have just boarded an "open tour" bus to Hoi Anh. Four hour trip from Hué. The airconditioning has not come on and the regular stopping to pick up passengers isn't circulating enough air. Mind numbing reggae music is tweeting out of portable speakers at the back of the bus, two inconsiderate assholes. Nevertheless spirits are high as we bump and roll out of a city which did not live up to expectations. Although it was also a relief to be sleeping on a bed not moving anywhere.

I haven't posted the journal for over five days now. Monday was an overnight soft-sleeper train from Hanoi to Hué, Sunday we slept on a boat in Ha Long Bay, Saturday I was tired after an overnight train, Friday was the overnight train from Sapa to Hanoi, and Thursday I was again too tired. With five of us travelling the days have grown longer. The itinerary is compressing as dates fold into yesterday.

Internally I have also been dealing with what seems to be a virus. In Ninh Binh I started to get strange aches over my head and face. A doctor in Hanoi diagnosed a possible ear infection and gave me some drops. The aches continued sporadically. In Sapa I developed an extremely sore throat. I managed the pain with ibuprofen but what I found strange was it never formed mucus or cough. On leaving Sapa the sore throat exchanged itself for an occasionally runny left nostril. I hope this is the last symptom of the intrusion before it leaves my body. Otherwise I feel good and enjoying rolling through Vietnam.

Thursday the 22nd, 7:54 am and the two Haywards I'm sharing a room with are deep in slumber. Our hotel in Hoi Anh is clean and modern and also boasts a pool. This morning I woke to a pressing urge to write about the last few days and to get this journal posted as soon as possible. I received an email from my mother yesterday asking if I was ok. Yeah I'm ok, just fell behind a bit. Up to Sapa, floating through Ha Long Bay, goodbye Hanoi, and strolling past Hué.

I'm very glad we made it to Sapa. Ominous mountains lined with rice paddy terraces characterised the landscape. As the bus climbed our thermometers subsided by the minute. Sapa town is quaint with colonial style hotels and an assortment of restaurants. However its character echoes down the streets "You buy from me". Hundreds of Black Hmong women swarm between stumbling tourists dazed by the smiles and overwhelming friendliness of these colourful salespeople. From what I've been told these women often trek for hours to reach the town to sell their traditional clothing and trinkets to wealthy tourists. Share rooms are available for those needing to stay in town for about 50 cents per night but I've heard this is just a space on the floor next to 19 other women. Sometimes it is difficult to grasp the honesty of these charming locals. The conversations they open with you are very sweet and funny but they do get upset if you don't "Buy from me" and they even get angry if "You buy from her but not from me". When we went on a 14km trek to some nearby villages a group followed us the whole way offering assistance as we hobbled down mountain paths and crossed creeks. When we reached the end of our journey my personal Hmong guide didn't accept a tip and insisted "You buy from me". Anyway it was great fun and the countryside was magnificent.

Sapa was the first time we've employed a tour guide. Over the three days in the mountains we met four Vietnamese tour guides with very strange accents. We have since come across the accent again with our Ha Long Bay guide. The Viet-guide English (for convenience sake) sounds like a mixture of American, South African, British, and Australian accents. I've heard similar accents in some Norwegians learning to speak English. One guide, Tony, confessed his accent was strange because he learnt English from all the different tourists coming through Sapa. Another guide told us his English teacher was Vietnamese and didn't have good pronounciation. Added to the accent is an often humerous formality to the way guides address you - even when you are by yourself - "Can I have your attention please" and "Presently I would like to show you..." or advertisement like phrases such as "I hope you will return to the mystical delights of Vietnam".

The second humerous tour experience was a night on a junk in Ha Long Bay. Again our guide possessed a unique command of English which he wielded to elaborate folklore surrounding bits of limestone with the slightest resemblance to anything other than stone. There were tragic stories of lovers drowning, dogs escaping from cats, and a large cave wedding where everything from turtles to dragons attended. The dozen or so fellow tourists on the boat fell into convenient stereotypes. There were three young Singaporeans that worked in telecommunications, wore comfortable modern clothes, spoke in whispers, and the single male of the three frequently pulled out his Playstation portable. An old hippy woman from New York, attending the Buddhist VESAK celebrations, seemed to be lost in her own world as she chatted about nothing in an enlightened tone. The wide eyed man from Wales was keen to discuss travelling and compare notes on the world. One of the more interesting couples, for our gossiping, was a man from former Yugoslavia constantly locked in arms with a young Vietnamese woman. Their frequent disappearance together and persistant honeymoon cuddling was thrown into confusion when we heard them question each others age. The woman barely spoke English and the man did not speak Vietnamese. Had they just met? How was this relationship arranged? Was she an escort? Perhaps a dating agency introduced them. Then there was the family of five Australians, us, with our bickering, laughing, card games, and general inappropriate behaviour.

Ha Long Bay itself was quite beautiful. The weather was a bit gloomy but didn't prevent us Kayaking and lazing on the ship's roof. Like all major tourist attractions there are elements of theme park style treatment - coloured lights spilled over cave walls, exorbitant boat tours, mass produced food, and convenient stops at large stores specialising in ceramics and emroidery. The limestone formations are magnificant and thankfully there aren't any jetskis or powerboats piercing the gently bobbing wooden junks.

We returned to Hanoi for the afternoon. Have a shower and some dinner before boarding a soft-sleeper train to Hué at 11pm. I've mentioned my fond feelings toward Hanoi many times already and it was sad to say goodbye. We had a great dinner at a restaurant called Mocha near the Cathedral. I had chicken breast stuffed with goats cheese, with vegetables and mashed potato. Verity had the same. Adriane ordered a delicious Carbonara. I think Andrea ordered a duck l'orange and Doug a Bolognese.

After twelve hours aboard the freezing train we arrived in Hué. Not sure if I missed something but I found the "sights" of Hué extremely uninteresting and the city itself lacking the character of the rest of Vietnam. The ancient Citadel and Imperial Enclosure seemed to be half heartedly under re-construction having been leveled by American B-52s over thirty years ago. Furthermore much of the reconstruction being done appears humerously inapproprite such as the restoration of the Imperial tennis court followed through as a brand new concrete court under lights with plastic seating. In fact the highlight of Hué was a speciality dish of beef wrapped in mint leaves.

Hué

3:30pm, Adriane and Verity have just charged through the door of room 304 where I have been writing for the last hour. The three females of our group have been relishing the amazing tailors of Hoi An. Each of them have just spent hundreds of dollars on jackets, suits, shirts, and dresses. All tailor made in under 24 hours and costing a quarter the price of designer labels. Hoi An town is loaded with charm. The Old Town is preserved as a Unesco World Heritage site and surprisingly also maintains a quietness you can imagine an "old town" to traditionally possess. Touts are kept out of town, bicycles bump slowly along uneven roads, sticks of cane juiced by gossiping old ladies on the banks of a sleeping river, only to be woken later at night by the dancing lanterns of homely restaurants. Apparently the nearby beach is worth a visit. Two more nights here before flying to Nha Trang.

I couldn't find any wireless internet in town so posting the journal will have to wait.

20 May 2008 - Day 89, Hué

Train from Hanoi to Hué

Notes: Bath in hotel, Citadel - unimpressive, tennis court, which restaurant, OngTao - beef wrapped in mint leaves, garlic prawns, chicken in fish sauce, veges, beer

19 May 2008 - Day 88, Ha Long Bay to Hanoi to Hué

Notes: possessing experience - "our crash", end of tour restaurant, ceramic outlet, hotel for the afternoon with shower, soft-sleeper to Hué

18 May 2008 - Day 87, Hanoi to Ha Long Bay

Notes: Tour experience, embroidery factory - humanity, expensive, port, English speaking guides have strange accents - self taught or taught by Vietnamese, group of 14 - each falling into convenient stereotypes, natural wonder of Ha Long Bay - theme park, opportunity, limestone beauty, 3 Singaporians

17 May 2008 - Day 86, Sapa to Hanoi