World Trip: October 2011

WOW our first experience of a sleeping bus, it has bunk beds how funny...10hrs and between us probably only got 4hours sleep, road very bumpy indeed. Here we are now in Hue our first stop in Central/South Vietnam. Quite a big town with a few sights, the main one being the Citadel. Others we visited included the Perfume Pagoda and Royal Tombs. Got around these places by bicycle, roads scary but good fun!!

Our Groovy Bikes!!!

Citadal (Hue)

Citadel (Hue)

Further down the coast to a Beach Town of Hoi An we go, very nice town, Influences from Chinese, Japanese and European cultures are well preserved in local architecture and art. The beach is only 5km away, oh yes we hired bush bikes out again to get there. What a great beach it is too, runs down all the way from Danang where it's marketed as the legendary China Beach.

Hoi An

Hoi An Beach

While here in Hoi An we had a day trip out to My Son pronounced meson. The ancient Cham city of My Son is one of the most stunning sights in the area, and another Unesco World Heritage Site. The ruins are nestled in a lush valley surrounded by hills. We went there by bus and had a boat trip back calling into a local crafts village making wooden boats, furniture and gifts...

My Son

Craft Village

We are on the move again, another sleeping bus for 12 hours to Nha Trang the beach capital of Vietnam. Great place for diving and snorkeling here. We hired some push bikes out yet again to Thap Ba Hot Springs and Mud Baths, oh how good this was getting in muddy water and soaking in it for a while then washing it off with Natural Hot Spring water, wonderful, what a day!!!!! Relax Relax Relax.......

Mud Baths

Hot Water Springs

Hot Water Pool

We then decided to have a day trip out on a Snorkeling Boat Tour. Going to a couple of Islands and the boat mooring up so we could have some snorkel time. WOW it was great, saw some butterfly fishes, zebra fishes, long thin fishes, small fishes, and lots of different types of coral. Also some jelly fish, not nice!!!! Got a little burnt though from being in the water all that time. Very good day out.....

Snorkeling Nha Trang

We then moved to the mountain city Dalat. The temperature was cooler than what we have been used to and had to put extra clothes on, all the locals had hats, scarfs and big winter coats on, it was like an English summer!!!!! Dalat was bigger than what we expected and certainly more developed. We went and had a look around the "Crazy House" which is like Alice in Wonderland....

Crazy House, Dalat

There is a large lake in the middle of Dalat which is about 5km all the way round, oh yes we decided to walk all the way round in the heat of the day....How silly are we..

Dalat Lake

While here in Dalat we booked a motorcycle trip with Easy Riders Sinh and Kim to explore the surrounding area of Dalat taking in real Vietnam. Visiting rice fields, where Andrea had a go at cutting some rice with the local ladies, he he what fun!!! Vegetable farms, minority villages, giving the children pens for school, mushroom farms, silk factory, rice wine making (happy water) 80% proof, Steve purchased a litre, oh dear!!! Also tea and coffee plantations including weasel seeing the process of making weasel coffee the most expensive type costing $3000 a kilo...Basically they feed the weasel coffee beans and then wait, think you can guess what happens next.....We also visited 2 waterfalls, one with a roller coaster getting you to the bottom of the falls then you walk back up to the top again, the 2nd being the most spectacular and less touristy, elephant falls. All in all we had a great day, Andrea still trying to overcome her fears of motorbikes, not quite there but she enjoyed her ride... Easy Rider Trip Dalat

Easy Rider Trip, Dalat

East Rider Trip, Dalat (Sinh)

After our exciting day trip out we moved back to the south coast to Vietnam's premier beach resort of Mui Ne, kite surfing and wind surfing along the 15km beach front. The place itself consists of one road, with multiply resorts on one side and shops, bars and smaller guest houses on the other. The road leads into the fishing village of Mui Ne, the village was in stark contrast to the resort strip it seemed like a very poor area, having hired mopeds out again and exploring around. Apart from the beach the next big attraction here is the sand dunes which you can sledge down, oh yes Steve had a go....

Kite Surfing, Mui Ne

Steve pretending to Kite Surf!!!

Mui Ne, outside our room

Mui Ne

Steve sand sledging....

After relaxing in Mui Ne we headed for the big smoke city of Saigon(HCMC)which was not as bad and as mental as Hanoi infact we quite liked it here. Cheap beer food, that sounds good to us!!! While here we thought we would find out a little more about the Vietnam War and visited the Chu Chi Tunnels and War Museum.. These were informative but also pretty moving. Outside of the museum there was a collection of war tanks, helicopters and planes. Steve was like a little child he was all excited about a Shinoock helicopter..