Kim's recap

On the menu

Here we are sitting on a plane from Hue to Hanoi, only takes one hour as opposed to a 16 hour train ride and costs about $100 AU, money well spent I say. Anyway here is a recap of the last few days from my perspective. I really liked Nha Trang, even if it was full of tough looking Russians. I had been to Nha Trang 10 years ago and it has certainly expanded and was much more touristy. The food was great and heaps of variety. From cobra and turtle to mashed potatoes with garlic. I remember last time I was in Nha Trang my friend and I were dying for mashed potatoes and paid heaps for the privilege, now it is on every menu, I think we gave them the idea back then. 😜

Just opposite where we were staying was a massage place run by blind people, I grabbed a pamphlet on my way past and decided to give them a go. On looking at what was on offer I decided not to for go a manicure or pedicure with your choice of polish or the slimming massage with the slimming cream. I did have a full body massage which was interesting. I was a bit dubious about whether they were really blind but looking at their eyes there was definitely something wrong with them. I was taken into a room that had 3 other beds with curtains between them, kind of like in a hospital.

Multi-lingual blind massage menu

At first glance I could see that the curtains were opened and I could see other customers having a massage, mmm I thought I guess they are really blind and don't even know all the customers can see each other 😄. This bloke gave me a massage and it was just but cheap enough. I was cackling away to myself when a Russian came in and I'm not sure what happened but I could hear the bloke massaging saying ohh sorry sorry sir. Every now and again the people massaging would bang into each other moving around the massage tables, it was quite entertaining 😜 Anyway I was sure to tip my massage bloke as I left, there was a lady with sight taking the money so as I left I went over to my bloke and put some money in his hands, as I was putting my shoes on, the "sighted" lady was telling him how much I gave him, he had a big smile on his face as he put it in his wallet, from then on, every-time I walked passed the "sighted" ladies would wave and smile.

We did a snorkelling tour  the next day and I decided as it started at 7.30am and we would be out of the water by 11.30 am I wouldn't need sunscreen and also as we were snorkelling around coral, the less chemicals the better  Ôi chúa ơi (OMG) I got soooooo sunburnt. We had to catch the train that night for an 11 hour trip to Danang and let me tell you it was a very uncomfortable trip in more ways than one, the sun burn and trying to sleep the worst!!!! We were in a sleeper cabin with 6 bunks, 3 on each side. I was originally on top that had a little alcove that you could  put your luggage and Tony in the middle but he had to have his case at the end of his bed and couldn't put his legs out straight so I swapped him and went in the middle. This also meant I couldn't sit up, so had to lay there for 11 hours cringing with my sunburn every time I moved. We boarded the train at 9.30pm and on the four remaining beds there were 5 Vietnamese cramped in there with all their boxes and luggage, one of them heavily pregnant.  She was up at 4.00 am with the door open so light could come in eating her breakfast 😄 it was an interesting trip. Thankfully I only had to go to the toilet once and that was early in the evening.  I hopped out of our cabin wondering which way to go, mmm but then I got a wiff or urine and was able to follow my nose. It was pretty gross, firstly the toilet had no lock so I walked in on a bloke, and there was wee everywhere on the floor and seat, urgggg, glad I can still squat 😁. I decided I would be holding on until we arrived at the train station at 8.30am the next morning and thankfully the train was in time.

Hoi An at night

Our next destination was Hoi An about 35 mins from Danang. Hoi An was beautiful and really hot. When in Hoi An you are hounded to have clothes "tailor" made which of course we did and were pretty impressed. They have all these dress making books and magazines and you just flick through picking what you want made.

The other thing I did was get my eyes tested, something I had needed to do this for the last couple of months but just hadn't had time. The women was really good and I ended up getting a pair of glasses, swarzkowski frames for $90 all up, very impressed. Hoi An was really hot and muggy and we decided to knick off to Hue, where it was a little cooler, well not actually cooler,  was 38/39 but not as humid. I had done some research and found there were two ways to go, through a tunnel which saved about 45 mins or over a winding scenic pass. When I asked at the hotel about the cost I was told $60 US for a private car, I said I would decide later and asked around at another couple of tourist places. They quoted $50 US so we decided for ease to go with the hotel. When I said we would go with the hotel driver, she informed me it was going to be $65, they had already annoyed me a couple of times, so I said no don't worry about it, we can get it for $50 elsewhere, the girl quickly changed her mind to the original $60, reluctantly I said ok. I then told her we wanted to go the scenic route and stop at a couple of places along the way which from my research was the norm. She told me if we went the scenic way it would take 7-10 hours as opposed to 3-4hrs, that was not my understanding, she then said it would be $80 US dollars, I politely told her not to worry I would book somewhere else. We went to another tourist office by this time it was 8.30 pm and we paid $55 to leave the next day at lunchtime, doing the scenic drive and stopping along the way which would take about 3hrs, I had great delight in heading back to our hotel to show the receptionist our ticket with added inclusions. The trip was nice and took about 3 hours!!!

Hoi An

Hue was certainly not as humid and a bit less low key. We met up with Huy, the bloke we had met at the airport in Ho Chi Minh and walked around Hue for a couple of hours with him, helping him with his English. He was rapt and kept saying this is very exciting!!!  My favourite food in Vietnam is Phó, a soup with noodles, Vietnamese mint, bean sprouts, chives, chile and a bit of lemon juice. In Hue there is a bit of a different take on it, called Bon Bo Hue, slight difference has fermented shrimp paste and cubes of congealed pig blood. Was I game, I thought to myself I'll order it and just takes the cubes out 😁 when it arrives. I couldn't see any cubes, maybe it dissolves??? Anyway I ate it, I didn't think it was as nice as Phó but maybe I was put off by the idea of congealed blood😁😁

We have arrived in Hanoi and heading on a mini van, $2 each to the place we lived for a few months a few years ago, we are excited to catch up with our old friends again. Stay tuned.