In which we endure yet more sleeper buses, get wet, eat curry and get a round in.
Back at the hotel, while I slept some more, Juli uploaded some photographs and found that the internet connection was reasonably quick, so we took advantage and went onto the web site of the Singapore to Sydney cruise company to sort out a drinks package and looked at their excursion packages, in the end, booking only one: a tour round Bali, the ship’s only stop in Indonesia.
We met up with Adam and Corinne for an Indian in the evening, which was great and apparently cooked by the only Indian chef in Nha Trang. When we got back, having slept during the day, Ironically, I found I couldn’t sleep, so stayed up quite late writing for the blog. These sleepless sleeper busses really mess up my sleep patterns. They’re a good option for maximising daylight time at a given destination (and for combining transportation and accommodation on one ticket) but, in addition to knackering you for the next day, you don’t see anything of the countryside, as you pass through it in darkness.
***
Just off the coast from Nha Trang is an island resort called Vinpearl Land, which, in addition to having Vietnam’s largest aquarium and the world’s longest cross-water cable car, has an extensive water park with all sorts of slides, rides and flumes (with names like ‘Tsunami’, ‘Kamikaze’ and ‘Free Fall’), a couple of pools and an almost kilometre long ‘Lazy River’: a meandering canal with an artificial current that carries you around the resort on inflatable rings for one, two or three people. Brilliant.
The four of us – Juli, me, Adam and Corinne – got up extra early, breakfasted, took a taxi to the mainland cable car terminal and bought our day passes ready for when the cable car started running at 9.00 am.
***
The next day was taken at a much more leisurely pace: lie-in; late breakfast; picnic lunch, bought the day before and shared with Adam and Corinne on the private roof-top terrace our two rooms shared. After that our lazy day continued with catching up on diaries, blog posts and e-mails etc. Later we went out for a delicious seafood dinner – just the two of us – at the place with the veranda where we’d had breakfast the first day.
Six hours after leaving Nha Trang, we arrived at the old fishing village of Mui Ne, or rather somewhere along the belt of beach resorts between it and the much newer town (city?) of Phan Thiet. After changing more money and having lunch at our hotel, which was on the other side of the road to the smarter beach-front resorts, we strolled over the road to a likely looking hotel to ask at their reception desk if we could sit by their under utilised pool – none of the hotels were very busy, it being the end of the season – in exchange for us buying drinks there, but for some reason they wouldn’t hear of it. Guests only.
Instead, we wandered up the beach a little way then turned and walked back down again. When we got to the hotel that wouldn’t let us in, we spotted two of our truckmates sitting under one of their sun shades. “How did you get in?” “We just walked in.” They hadn’t asked and so weren’t turned away. So we joined them and ordered tea, which the pool bar waiter was more than happy to serve us.
The rest of the day was spent looking up excursions for our main cruise at the ports were we’d already decided we couldn’t easily organise our own tours (all far too expensive or not particularly interesting) shopping (unsuccessfully) for a new swimsuit for Juli, looking for dinner (a very nice fish curry at our own hotel, in the end) and looking at hotels in Singapore for between finishing the truck trip and embarking on our first cruise in to Sydney. Not long now: just one month, as I write.
***
I spent most the day between breakfast and dinner-time blogging: editing old posts and writing new ones. Juli was a bit more active, going out again in search of a new swimsuit, again unsuccessfully, but while she was out, she made two important discoveries. Firstly that there was a crazy golf course a short way up the road, and the second that a short way past that, there was an Indian restaurant.
We love a game of crazy golf, not that we’re any good at it, but a holiday just isn’t a holiday without one. We’ve been round crazy golf courses all over the world. This one was special, though: apart from the lush garden setting and the fact that we were playing by little more than moonlight, the unique selling point of this course were the cocktails – Mojito for me; Tequila Sunrise for Juli; brought to you as you play – and included in the ticket price. Now that’s class.
The score, you ask? Two drinks all. About par for the course these days.
TTFN - N
Days 125 to 127 (Nha Trang)
Our bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang arrived, after a sleepless night, at our hotel at 6.00 am, normally far too early to check-in, and yet our rooms were ready for us, which was just as well, as all any of us were fit for was to crash out and catch up on a few hours of sleep. We had a late breakfast at a restaurant next door and sat on their veranda out of the very hot sun.Back at the hotel, while I slept some more, Juli uploaded some photographs and found that the internet connection was reasonably quick, so we took advantage and went onto the web site of the Singapore to Sydney cruise company to sort out a drinks package and looked at their excursion packages, in the end, booking only one: a tour round Bali, the ship’s only stop in Indonesia.
We met up with Adam and Corinne for an Indian in the evening, which was great and apparently cooked by the only Indian chef in Nha Trang. When we got back, having slept during the day, Ironically, I found I couldn’t sleep, so stayed up quite late writing for the blog. These sleepless sleeper busses really mess up my sleep patterns. They’re a good option for maximising daylight time at a given destination (and for combining transportation and accommodation on one ticket) but, in addition to knackering you for the next day, you don’t see anything of the countryside, as you pass through it in darkness.
***
Just off the coast from Nha Trang is an island resort called Vinpearl Land, which, in addition to having Vietnam’s largest aquarium and the world’s longest cross-water cable car, has an extensive water park with all sorts of slides, rides and flumes (with names like ‘Tsunami’, ‘Kamikaze’ and ‘Free Fall’), a couple of pools and an almost kilometre long ‘Lazy River’: a meandering canal with an artificial current that carries you around the resort on inflatable rings for one, two or three people. Brilliant.
The four of us – Juli, me, Adam and Corinne – got up extra early, breakfasted, took a taxi to the mainland cable car terminal and bought our day passes ready for when the cable car started running at 9.00 am.
We had a brilliant time, did loads, stayed there till gone 4.00 pm and still didn’t manage to get round half of it. It wasn’t crowded, the food wasn’t overpriced, everything was clean and we can even say that we had a swim in the South China Sea. A great day out.
 |
| The view back to the main land from the world's longest cross-water cable car |
***
The next day was taken at a much more leisurely pace: lie-in; late breakfast; picnic lunch, bought the day before and shared with Adam and Corinne on the private roof-top terrace our two rooms shared. After that our lazy day continued with catching up on diaries, blog posts and e-mails etc. Later we went out for a delicious seafood dinner – just the two of us – at the place with the veranda where we’d had breakfast the first day.
Days 128 & 129 (Mui Ne)
The bus to our next port of call was yet another daytime sleeper bus, a fourth kind with no more leg room than any of the others, but seemingly harder seats, which sent our bums to sleep if not our heads. On the way, we saw acres and acres of rice paddy fields – most planted up, some just harvested with the rice spread out to dry and some being ploughed by water buffalos – also coconut palms and banana trees. In addition, we saw very many fields of what I think were Aloe Vera plants. The other thing we saw in great numbers that we hadn’t seen elsewhere were hammocks: singularly and in groups; in use and vacant. must be a South Vietnamese thing. |
| Aloe Vera plants? |
Six hours after leaving Nha Trang, we arrived at the old fishing village of Mui Ne, or rather somewhere along the belt of beach resorts between it and the much newer town (city?) of Phan Thiet. After changing more money and having lunch at our hotel, which was on the other side of the road to the smarter beach-front resorts, we strolled over the road to a likely looking hotel to ask at their reception desk if we could sit by their under utilised pool – none of the hotels were very busy, it being the end of the season – in exchange for us buying drinks there, but for some reason they wouldn’t hear of it. Guests only.
Instead, we wandered up the beach a little way then turned and walked back down again. When we got to the hotel that wouldn’t let us in, we spotted two of our truckmates sitting under one of their sun shades. “How did you get in?” “We just walked in.” They hadn’t asked and so weren’t turned away. So we joined them and ordered tea, which the pool bar waiter was more than happy to serve us.
The rest of the day was spent looking up excursions for our main cruise at the ports were we’d already decided we couldn’t easily organise our own tours (all far too expensive or not particularly interesting) shopping (unsuccessfully) for a new swimsuit for Juli, looking for dinner (a very nice fish curry at our own hotel, in the end) and looking at hotels in Singapore for between finishing the truck trip and embarking on our first cruise in to Sydney. Not long now: just one month, as I write.
***
I spent most the day between breakfast and dinner-time blogging: editing old posts and writing new ones. Juli was a bit more active, going out again in search of a new swimsuit, again unsuccessfully, but while she was out, she made two important discoveries. Firstly that there was a crazy golf course a short way up the road, and the second that a short way past that, there was an Indian restaurant.
We love a game of crazy golf, not that we’re any good at it, but a holiday just isn’t a holiday without one. We’ve been round crazy golf courses all over the world. This one was special, though: apart from the lush garden setting and the fact that we were playing by little more than moonlight, the unique selling point of this course were the cocktails – Mojito for me; Tequila Sunrise for Juli; brought to you as you play – and included in the ticket price. Now that’s class.
The score, you ask? Two drinks all. About par for the course these days.
Next time, I’ll tell you all about our time in Ho Chi Minh City, where we’ve just arrived.
TTFN - N
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