Stormy at the Seaside

Today has been a relaxing day, which has been quite nice after the depressing day yesterday. We got up early and got a very cosy 10 seater mini bus to Sihanoukville. It took about 5 hours and we were dropped off outside our hostel around half 1 in the afternoon.

We checked in to our hostel, which is basically a corridor of rooms round an uncovered pool on the middle, and dumped our stuff, relaxing on the bed for a bit.

Around 3pm we went out for a wander to arrange some trips and transport. We headed down to the beach and had a little paddle.  It wasn't the most picturesque beach we've seen but it was nice. We wandered along the front for a bit and then back to the road and back to the hostel. It was very hot and even the minimalist time outside made us too hot.

We went back to the hostel for a bit and then headed out to dinner. On the walk back to the hostel, flashes of lightening lit up the whole sky and as I write this huge crashes of thunder are going off. Hopefully it will clear by tomorrow.

The Killing Fields

**This post may be distressing for some. It has some pretty horrific descriptions and a couple of graphic in it**

This morning's activities were interesting but quite depressing. I learnt a lot but it was so sad to see the horrible atrocities humans can commit. We were picked up by a bus from our hostel at around 8:45. There was about 10 people in our group, but we only really did the journeys together as the rest was more of a self-guided visit.

Our first stop was at S21 prison within the city of Phnom Penh, where we did a self guided audio tour. S21 is a former school transformed into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. During its four years of operation it held about 17,000 prisoners in total, of which the majority where Cambodian, but held about 1250 at a time in either tiny single cells or in mas detention cells with up to 60 other prisoners, all shackled together. Most prisoners were held for 2-3 months, before meeting a horrendous end.

Outside the first building we came to as we went in were 14 graves of the last prisoners that were held at the prison. They were murdered as the staff fled as Vietnamese troops defeated Pol Pot. These prisoners were unable to be identified due to the way they were killed. Their bodies were cremated and the simple concrete graves were erected in memory.

The prison had been preserved as it was left. We wandered through the first building that had metal beds with shackles attached to them. Outside the front of this building was a wooden frame that had originally been used by school children for playing and exercising. During the years that the buildings were a prison it was used as a torture device. Prisoners were hoisted by their bound wrists until the passed out, and then they were lowered and dunked into one of 3 large concrete jars that were filled with human waste and dirty water until they came round. This procedure was repeated several times.

We wandered through the other buildings. There were hundreds of photos of the prisoners and there were many instruments of torture displayed. There were single cells for prisoners who were being interrogated and big cells for those who weren't. The buildings looked so ordinary from the outside but held such a horrible history. Methods of interrogation where perfected and routinely applied until innocent people 'confessed' to their crimes. Woman and children weren't immune from this either. And the next stop of the trip was even more depressing.

*continued below photos*

On the bus to the next stop we watched a documentary of the so called killing fields. Essentially the best and brightest Cambodians, anyone who had the potential to start a uprising, were rounded up and murdered. As many as 300 killing fields were discovered all over Cambodia. We visited the Cheng Ek killing field, the largest. As many as 20,000 people died here. For the first few years 50 - 70 people every couple of weeks were brought on trucks bound and blindfolded during the night to be executed. They were told they were being taken to a new home. During 1978 it was around 300 a day.

As many as 129 mass graves were found in 2.4 hectares at this site. The largest held 450 bodies. Bone fragments are still being uncovered today. Bullets were seen as too expensive to waste on executing these victims. Instead they were taken to the edge of a large pit blindfolded ad made to kneel. Then using a multitude of different weapons they were beaten about the head or hacked to death before being pushed into the pit. One particularly disturbing point of the visit was at a large tree where it was reported that babies were held by the legs and swung against the tree. The tree was reportedly found covered in bloods and brains. It was heartbreaking and shocking how people could do this to others. Around 1 in 4 Cambodians were killed. It was reported that no family remained untouched. The killing field these days is so green and peaceful it's hard to comprehend, but as I walked around I could see fragments of bones sticking out the ground.

In the centre of the killing field centre was a monument to the victims. Inside it contained around 9000 skulls, across ten layers, many bearing signs of the method used to kill them.

*continues below photos*

We left the killing field centre in quite a sombre mood. As you can imagine it wasn't exactly a happy place. But hopefully it can serve as a reminder and warning so something like this never happens again.

We returned to the hostel around one and spent a couple of hours relaxing. We got changed into more conservative clothes and got a tuktuk to the royal palace for a slightly less depressing visit. We wandered round the ground and building. There were some very fancy buildings and statues. We then went for an early dinner before heading back to the hostel to shower and pack.  

Phnom Penh Walking Tour

Today we walked our feet off. We had a bit of a lay in and headed out around 9:30am to do a self-guided tour of the landmarks of Phnom Penh. We walked probably around 9km on total. And it was around 35° today. We sweated a lot and I got sunburnt. And we have to go back to some places tomorrow!

The first thing we saw was the independence monument, which wasn't particularly remarkable, followed by a statue to the late king Norodom Sihanouk, who died in 2012 aged 89. We wandered along past the Cambodia Vietnam friendship monument and along to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. We had trouble knowing which was which as there only seemed to be one complex on the street but they seemed two distinct building on the map. Additionally the National Museum was marked on the map as next to the Royal Palace and it didn't seem to be. We were however informed by the many many tuktuk drivers who asked if we wanted a ride that the Palace is shut until 2pm. And it was only around 11. So went and had a five minute sit down on the river front across the road, which was not that picturesque  (we saw a rat!) before continuing on to the market which was a fair walk from the Royal Palace area. On the way we stopped for a drink and sat there outside the shop for around 20 minutes trying not to melt.

The market was in an interesting building,  with a dome shaped roof in the centre and then four corridor type things coming off the middle. The stall in the centre mainly sold jewellery whilst the ones in the corridors sold clothes. Outside there were more stalls,  mainly selling glassware or kitchen items. Lauren bought herself a bracelet and I got a new pair of flip flops to replace both the flipflops I already had and the birkenstock type white sandal things that I've already had to superglue once.

After we left the market we tried to find the nearby Sorya shopping centre. We walked in circles round the area the shopping centre was marked on the map before eventually finding it. It was a bit of an anticlimax as it was beng renovated and it only had about shops and 5 restaurants. Nevertheless we bought a drink and sat on the bench to cool down.

By the time we left it was almost 2pm so we headed back towards the royal palace. On our way we stopped off at OunaLom pagoda, having a look at the inside and outside. It was quite a beautiful building. The temples/pagodas here seem to be a bit fancier than the ones in Vietnam.

We then headed to the palace. As we went in we saw signs saying no shorts or sleeveless shirts, which of course both Lauren and I were wearing. A couple stopped us and told us, having attempted to get in themselves, that you had to lay to buy a tshirt and pay to buy trousers, before paying to be allowed in. We don't actually know whether this was the palace or pagoda we were trying to get into, but either way we decided it wasn't worth it, and that we would come back tomorrow fully covered. We headed back to the hostel, slowly dying from exhaustion and heat, arriving back around half 3.

Around 5:30pm we went out for dinner and decided just to go to the first acceptable place we saw. Lauren had carbonara and I had pork satay and rice which was really nice. It was such a huge portion I couldn't eat it all.  As has been the norm throughout Vietnam, despite ordering together and sitting on the same table, the meals came separately. Lauren almost finished hers before mine arrived. It's a strange thing to happen when you're used to the English way of doing things. We went back to the hostel via a shop after dinner and just collapsed onto our beds.

The Royal Palace (potentially)

Mural inside the OunaLom Pagoda

Crossing into Cambodia

Today we didn't really do much. We got up late and packed our stuff, checking out of our hostel at around 11:20am. We were collected from our hostel at around 11:45 and walked over to the bus station where we got on a bus headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  It was actually a very comfy bus which we were delighted about as we had to spend a long time on it. The seats were spacious and comfortable and there was little leg rest that popped out when you pulled a lever. The bus was no where near full and we were able to recline our chairs back.

The bus departed at 12 and it took two and a bit hours to reach the border. We had all given our passports to a dude on the bus soon after departure, and Lauren and I had paid $35 for a tourist visa. When we got to the border we all had to get off the bus and go to a border patrol desk, where they already had our passports. They were checked and we were waved through and given our passports back. We assumed that was it, as we now had Cambodia visas in our passports but the dude from the bus asked for our passports again. He didn't really speak English so we just gave them to him. We then saw him give them to a man who also had the bus company shirt on, who then got on a moped and biked off. We were a bit concerned as we were ushered back on the bus and the bus departed. However the bus only drive about 100 metres round the bend where we had to get off again, and it soon became clear that that was probably the border leaving Vietnam and this was the actual Cambodian border. We saw the guy on the moped as we entered the immigration office and he gave us our passports back. We then had to queue up to go through the border patrol, where they took everyone's fingerprints and stamped passportd. Once we were through we got back on the bus and off we went, passports in hand. It was actually a really simple process and the bus dudes took care of everything for us, such as getting Cambodian visas and exit cards for Vietnam, and the journey was comfortable.

The journey took around 7 hours in total, including two stops. Just as we arrived in Phnom Penh it started raining. We got off the bus and immediately headed to a cash point, which gave us American dollars and then we got a taxi to the hostel. We then just spent the evening showering and relaxing.

Meager Markets

This morning we got up at 7am to make use of our last full day in Vietnam. We were picked up at 7:30am (ish) to get a bus to do a Mekong Delta day trip. We had the same driver as yesterday but thankfully a different guide, called Lan.  

Our first stop was to be a floating market, which is made up of people who live on boats selling their products. Lan was telling us the pros and cons of living on the river. He made a comment about how on land no money means no honey, where as on the river you can still have a honey without any money.

We arrived in Cai Be where we were to catch the boat at around 11:20 and we sailed along to the floating market. We had read reviews of the market on TripAdvisor before we booked the trip so we weren't hoping for much as many people said there was by a couple of boats selling their fruit and veg as the market is dwindling due to new bridges being built making it easier to access the main cities. We still managed to be disappointed by what we saw. There was a couple of boats moored up in the middle of the river,  but you wouldn't know they were selling anything. If Lan hadn't have said that was the market I would have thought we missed it out all together. We didn't stop at any of the boats or even get near them, just sailed past slowly. So it was a bit of a disappointing start to the day.

After what was supposed to be the market we stopped at a place to see various rice products being made. We were shown how rice paper, caramel popped rice and rice wine was made, as well as candy made from coconut. We got to try all the different things. Neither of us tried the wine but I thought all the other things were really nice. The coconut sweets were like caramels. Then we walked along the road to a place to try lime and honey tea which was actually bearable. It was very limey.

Next we got back on the boat and sailed to an island where we got on smaller boats, 4 per boat, put on the pointy hats and were rowed by a Vietnamese lady to another island where we had lunch. Lunch was chicken and rice, and soup.  After lunch we had to (motor)cycle 10 minutes down the road to get back on the boat. We sailed down the river which was lined in some parts with houses on stilts and in others with lots of greenery. 

The boat took us to our last stop which was a little homestay where we were treated to fruit (of which neither of us had any) and a few songs by a Vietnamese family. We then hopped back on the boat and went back to the bus for the three hour journey back to the hostel, arriving around 7pm. We went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Cu Chi Tunnels

Today we went on a half day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, which are left over from the Vietnam war. We were picked up from our hostel at around 8:15am and set off towards the tunnels. It was quite a long drive. Our tour guide looked utterly miserable when he picked us up, despite wearing a tshirt that said 'peace and happiness' on the back. He turned out to be a bit of a nutcase. He told us he was a veteran of the war who fought alongside the Americans for 'dirty money'. He kept saying all Americans were fat and ugly, despite there being American people on the tour. But he also kept saying he spoke American, not English, and anyone who spoke English was stupid. Mr Bin, (sp?) as he told us to call him, claimed numerous times to have famous American friends and kept saying 'do you believe me? I'll call him now', without ever actually calling anyone.

Mr Bin showed us round the tunnels and above ground area which had a lot of interesting features that we weren't really told much about. We saw dog traps, booby traps designed for humans and tiny entrances into tunnels. Every now and then we would hear gun fire and it later turned out this was from the shooting range that you could have a go at.  Neither Lauren or I did. At one point Mr Bin was showing something to us and suddenly declared "don't make jokes. 4 of my friends died here. So don't make jokes". I'm not entirely sure anyone was making jokes, and during his explanations Mr Bin kept getting overly animated and emotional to the point where it felt like he was going to start flipping out. He was almost shouting whilst staring directly at people at some points. The whole thing was a bit of a disappointment. I felt it could have been a lot more interesting if we had had a different tour guide which was a shame.

One cool thing though was that we got to go through the tunnels for about 100m. The tunnels are really small and dark and you had to be almost doubled over and crouched to get through them. I didn't make it all the way through as my legs hurt so much but Lauren did. After this we watched a 15 minute film which was overly biased and a bit boring, before heading back to the bus.

We got back to the hostel around 3pm and just collapsed onto the beds. The weather was so hot this morning that even just walking was a lot of effort. We did some planning for the Cambodian leg of our trip, went for dinner and retired to bed.

Sightseeing in Saigon

Today we got to our last stop in Vietnam. We got a flight to Ho Chi Minh, formerly known as Saigon at 10:10. We got picked up from our hostel at around 8:15 by an airport shuttle that took around 45 minutes to get to Da Lat airport. We checked in and whizzed through a very relaxed security check. The flight took about 40 minutes at most. The bus would have taken six hours and after hearing reports of a horrendous journey we thought better of it. It was 34° when we landed. We were picked up from the airport by a shuttle from our hostel and we arrived at around 12:30. We had to hang round for a bit before checking in as the rooms weren't ready.

Once we eventually had checked in, we planned our two full days here, booked some trips and headed out for food. After eating we headed to the big market in the centre. Or at least we attempted to but we couldn't find our way despite having a map. We obviously looked lost as some nice girl who was visiting the city stopped to ask if we were OK.  We told her we were looking for the market and she told us to follow her. On the way we passed to other girls who also looked lost. I told them if they were looking for the market then to follow us as we were headed that way. It wasn't actually that far to the market, just down one road. We thanked the girl and said goodbye. The market was rammed and very stuffy. It was full of stalls selling clothes, shoes, coffee, food etc etc. We wandered round for a bit before I had to leave as the lack of fresh air and the heat was making me feel ill.

After the market we headed to the reunification palace. It was first built in 1871, but after being bombed in 1962 was rebuilt with a different design. After looking at pictures of both designs, we concluded it was more fancy before the bombing and now just looked like a big posh hotel. We wandered round the rooms and the gardens and then headed up to the roof. We sat for a while to cool down as we were very hot, then we headed on to the next sight to see. 

Just down the road from the palace was a fairly big church with a big statue of Jesus outside. It was right next to the post office, which was quite a grand building. Then we wandered down to the committee building which is basically the town hall. It was very fancy, more so than the palace. Out the front was a statue of the man himself; Ho Chi Minh.

After seeing all these sights we wandered back to the hostel, absolutely knackered, and collapsed onto our beds.

Another Day, Another Motorbike Tour

Today was our only full day in Dalat. It was planned this was as we had heard the only reason really worth visiting was for the waterfalls.  We had tried to arrange a tour of the three different main waterfalls around Dalat but neither of the two Easy Rider companies offered the option to hire a driver and bike for you to go where you wanted. We could have hired our own bike(s) but neither of us really felt comfortable driving. But after a lot of negotiations yesterday, we has agreed to do an organised tour that one of the companies offered, with an extra water fall thrown in and the potential to skip coffee related stops, as neither of us like coffee. So at 8:30am we headed off with our two guides for the day.

Our first stop was Datanla waterfall. At this place we were able to get a 'rollercoaster' down to the waterfall and then sit in it to get back up to the top, so for lazy people like us you didn't have to walk. It was basically a plastic sled, like children use in snow, with a back and added selt belt, attached to a track. You controlled it yourself with a lever; forward to go and back to brake. It was pretty fun but calling it a rollercoaster is a bit of a stretch. The actual waterfall wasn't that big but it was quite nice.

Our next stop was at a monastery/temple. We wandered round and had a look at the gardens which were very colourful. We wandered round the monastery's fish pond and saw a couple of turtles just hanging out on the side, whilst others swam around nearby.

From the monastery we rode round Paradise Lake, which looked lovely but we didn't stop unfortunately. Instead we drove on to a stop called 'Chicken Village'. Chicken Village is apparently named as such due to a story about a girl from the village who wanted to marry a boy but his parents said she had to bring them a chicken. She went off in search of one ad didn't come back for a long time. Or at least that's what I understood from our guide. The village has a huge statue of a chicken to commemorate the story.

After Chicken Village we rode on to Pongour waterfall. This was probably the nicest waterfall we visited all day. We walked abut 400m down a hill to get to it. The waterfall itself was coming down rocks that were like steps and it had a large flat rocky area across from it where we sat and dipped our feet in the water. We were sitting for quite a while, which was obviously too long according to the guides as just as we got to the path to walk back up, one of them came down on his bike to find us. He told us he would drive us back up to the top and tried to ring the other guide to come as only the bike I'd been riding had come down. However the dude had no signal. I told Lauren I'd walk and she could ride, and she said she would walk and I could ride, and the guide decided we should all just squish on the one bike. It was a very tight fit; I was squished in the middle,  practically sitting on Lauren. But the guide just speed us all up the hill. It was quite funny, but you probably had to be there....

Our next stop was lunch. We stopped at a restaurant popular with locals. There was many different dishes on offer but there were all just out behind a counter and there was no description of any kind as to what they were. Lauren and I both played it safe and asked for chicken, as the guide had said there was some. The chicken was really nice and came with rice and green beans. I couldn't eat it all.

After lunch we stopped at a place where they turn old tyres into bungy cords. I think we only stopped there so the guide could buy some as he told us as we left the restaurant that the next stop would be a waterfall, which it was after the tyre place.

We stopped at Elephant waterfall, which had a whole load of paths to different places that involved scrambling over rocks. I squeezed through a gap into a little cave that opened up behind/at the bottom of the waterfall but Lauren decided not to. I got a bit wet but it was pretty cool. Then we had a look at the waterfall from a rocky area that doubled as a little viewing platform, before scrambling down to the bottom of the waterfall. We had been led to believe we would be able to swim at this waterfall but the water was not enticing in the slightest, which was quite disappointing.

As we left Elephant waterfall our guide told us that the tour we had done was not the usual tour but as we had seemed so keen to see waterfalls when we had spoken to him yesterday that he would take us to one more. This waterfall was by far the least attractive waterfall we had seen all day but we appreciated the gesture. The waterfall was called Cam Ly waterfall and had a much more man made feel to it and the water was disgusting. We had a quick wander round and then hopped back on the bikes to return to the hostel. The tour was really enjoyable. I loved riding the bikes and the weather had been fab all day despite being forecast for thunderstorms in the afternoon. We did have quite numb bums by the end of it however! We also travelled quite a distance, as at one point we were almost 50km away from Da Lat. 

When we returned to the hostel we chilled for a bit and then went out for dinner. When we returned we had to pack as we are leaving tomorrow for our last stop in Vietnam!

The Crazy House and the Cathedral

We said goodbye to Nha Trang this morning, getting a 7:15am bus to Da Lat. We were expecting a sleeper bus and I was almost disappointed when a normal coach turned up. The journey was a lot shorter than we had expected, arriving around 12pm, instead of 2. It was not a particularly smooth journey. The roads over the mountains were in awful condition and the driver was swerving across the road to avoid potholes, in a manner that had me convinced we were going to die, going round blind corners on the wrong side of the road.

On the way we had two toilet stops. The first was at a service station which was actually quite picturesque. The second stop, we pulled up to the side of the road on the side of a mountain, the driver got up and got out the bus, shouting toilet as he went. We watched him go over to the grassy verge on the other side of the road and find a spot to have a wee on the side of the road. Everyone was a bit stunned at first, but eventually a couple of others, Lauren included, decided they couldn't wait and went and squatted behind various bushes at the side of the road. Once everyone was done they all got back on board and off we went.

When we arrived in Da Lat we decided to get a taxi to the hostel as it was a 20 minute walk and it was so hot. The taxi cost less than a pound and we had no trouble getting into one as there was a whole load waiting at the side of the road for our bus to arrive.

We checked in straight away to our room, which is a twin ensuite, costing us $6 each a night. Then we went for a tour of all the sights in Da Lat the hostel recommended to us.  There was a whole 3 sights. The first was a bizarre house designed by some female architect who is now in her 70s. It's been credited as one of the top ten most bizarre buildings in the world. We didn't really know what to expect when we were told to visit the crazy house but we went to check it out anyway. It was basically a series of houses/rooms built in the shape of trees with random staircases leading off in random directions to random levels. You have to see it to understand what I mean. We did get quite a good view of the city from the top floor though.

Next we wandered along to the cathedral which was quite a nice building. We weren't able to go inside but we had a walk round the front. Then we went to the market which was a bit of a disappointment. Every stall was selling the exact same and it wasn't anything interesting.

After the market we arranged a trip for tomorrow and then made our way back to the hostel. We relaxed in our room for a while before heading out to dinner. I had chicken in mushroom sauce and Lauren had pizza. Then we went back to the room, showered and packed our bags for tomorrow.  It was a fairly relaxing day.

Last day in Nha Trang

Today we had a very chill day, following a late night last night. We went for dinner around half 7 and then onto a rooftop bar, on the 43rd floor of a hotel. It was ladies night so we got in free. The bar was like a nightclub and we had cocktails and had a bit of a dance, getting back to the hostel sometime around 2am.

We spent pretty much all day just relaxing at the hostel, before showering and making ourselves presentable and going to get food. We got takeaway pizzas which were really nice and sat on a bench next to the beach to eat. Then we returned to the hostel, packed up our stuff and went to bed.

Easyrider Tour Nha Trang

Today we got up at 8am, had breakfast and waited in the lobby for our designated tour guides for today. We were doing a tour round the Nha Trang area on motorbikes. Obviously we weren't driving the motorbikes, although there was the option to.

The first stop was just on the side og the road overlooking what I think the guide said was a fishing village. There was a whole load of boats just moored up. Apparently they go fishing over night and bring in the catch the next morning to sell.

The second stop, again at the side of the road was overlooking Turtle Island, named after its shape rather than its inhabitants.

The third stop was at a harbour where the mornings catch was being unloaded off boats and sold. It stank of fish (obviously) and there were loads of women sitting around peeling prawns.

We hopped back on the bikes after having a wander round and headed off, before stopping again to look at Monkey Island. This time it was named after its inhabitants but unfortunately we didn't get to go to the island to meet any of the 3 different types of monkeys.

Our next stop was at a salt farm, where there were big pools of sea water that were left to evaporate, leaving fairly sizeable rocks of salt. At the edge of the farm was a little concrete building where a family lived. It was really small and in the middle of nowhere and it was quite an contrast to all the other houses we'd seen. It was also a big contrast to the house we visited at our next stop.

We pulled up outside a house and looked at the rice fields. I had know rice was grown before I came here but I didn't have a full knowledge of how it grew but we saw the grains and plants and our guide picked us some to eat raw. We then went into the house where we were offered a coconut. I literally chopped it from the tree, the woman cut the top off and gave me a straw and I drank the contents. I didn't drink it all; there was a hell of a lot. When I'd had enough the woman emptied the rest into a glass and I was quite surprised the liquid was actually clear. Then she chopped it in half and gave me a teaspoon so I could scrape the inside to eat. I tried a little, which was alright but I didn't eat it all.

Our next stop was probably my favourite. We rode out to the side of a river and parked up. Then one of the driver guides lead us on what seemed like a hike, scrambling over huge rocks, in totally inappropriate shoes, to the bottom of a waterfall. There was people jumping off the rocks into a deep pool of water. Lauren and I got in the river and sat on a slightly submerged rock for a while, with the water keeping us cool in the burning sun.  The fish kept nibbling at our toes which was not that pleasant. After a while we got out and trekked back to the changing rooms near the car park. It was a really nice waterfall and the water was really clear.

After the waterfall we rode to a little restaurant on the side of a road for lunch where we sat with the guides. I had really nice BBQ pork and rice and Lauren had chicken and rice. After we'd eaten we went round the back of what was essentially someone's house to try and get to the beach to take a photo. The guide told us the toilet was round there as well.  We found a toilet but it was in the backyard of someone's house so we weren't sure if we could use it. But we did anyway. We never made it to the beach as the gate down was shut.

After lunch we headed back towards Nha Trang. We stopped on the way at a temple which was by far the nicest temple we have seen so far. A lady unlocked it especially for us so we could have a look inside.

Once we were back in Nha Trang we stopped at probably the ricketiest (?) bridge I have ever seen. The guide told us that it gets washed away quite frequently only the wet season and it takes a couple of weeks to rebuild. We then got back on the bikes and rode over it. You have to pay a toll at the end, that goes towards rebuilding it.

Our next stop was at a random little house where they were weaving mats of all varieties out of dried plant. We had a quick go and then headed off to our last stop, which was a pagoda with a huge white Buddha statue on the top of a hill behind it. We looked in the pagoda before climbing up loads of stairs to see the statue. You could also go through some doors in the back of the Buddha where there was a little temple type set up. From the top of the hill you could also get quite a good view of Nha Trang city. We then hopped back on the bikes for the last time and headed back to the hostel.

We had such a fun day. The tour was through an organisation/company/set up (not really sure which) called Easyrider that does different tours of different lengths all round the country, either as the driver or siting behind. It's such a fun way to get about and see things and the guides were so nice. We got up to 60km/h at one point which was pretty cool.

When we got back we showered and got ready and now we are heading out for the evening. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

 

Too Hot To Handle

We had a lie in this morning, getting up at 9, having a breakfast of chocolate pancakes and then heading to the beach as it was a lovely day again. Similar to yesterday we got straight into the sea ad just floated about for a bit. We sunbathed for around an hour and a bit before getting too hot and paddling in the sea. Lauren was really sunburnt from yesterday and we were both very hot so decided to grab our stuff and head for a cafe. It was around half 12 by this point.

We had a drink in the cafe and decided to just head back to the hostel, shower and relax, as we just weren't enjoying the heat.  Around 5pm we headed back out with the intention of watching the sunset, only we couldn't really see the sun due to the high rise buildings. We wandered along the front and then through the very small nightmarket before heading to a restaurant for dinner. I had pork satay and chips which was really nice and Lauren had pizza. We then headed back to the hostel around 8pm.

We took today very easy. We've got a couple more days in Nha Trang as we planned to stay here a tad longer to take advantage of the beach. Tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing.