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.

Nha Trang Day 1

A couple of minutes after I posted the previous post, some more guests arrived and the man awoke and showed us where to store our luggage and a little sleeping area and toilet for people to use before they could check in. There was only 6 bed and more than 7 people. I didn't feel tired so I left one of a group of three girls have the bed I was sitting on and sat at the desk. It turned out later we are sharing a room with those three girls. At around 9am I went and had breakfast whilst Lauren slept. Then just as we were about to head out to the beach, the lady told us our room was ready and we could check in early. So Lauren and I, and the three girls trekked up four flights of stairs to our 6 bed ensuite room. Thankfully both Lauren and I have bottom bunks which we are grateful for as we are here 4 nights.

We dumped our stuff and headed off to the beach.  The nearest beach is about a 3 minute walk from our hostel which 's excellent. Once we were on the beach, we could have been anywhere, with the blue skies, palm trees, sand and sea with skyscrapping hotels along the front.  We got straight into the sea, which was really calm and not too cold and we just floated about for ages before getting out, suncreaming up and sunbathing. It was so hot,  around 30°, that we weren't sunbathing for long before attempting to get back in the sea. This time however it was a lot more choppy. Lauren went in but before I even had a chance I was knocked over by a wave and cut my knee. I just stood with my feet in the water, which cooled me down plenty.

We stayed on the beach for around 4 hours before heading to a nearby cafe for a drink. We went back to the hostel around half 3 and got showers. The other three girls were also using the one shiwer so we had to hang around a bit waiting. We then chilled out until around half 6 before going to a restaurant called 'The Local' for dinner. I had a really nice chicken noodle dish and Lauren had BBQ pork skewers. Then we headed back to the hostel and got an early night to make up for a serious lack of sleep last night.

My Son

Today is our last day in Hoi An. We got up at 7am, packed all our stuff, had breakfast and got on a coach trip to go to My Son. My Son (pronounced May Son) means beautiful mountain. They are ruins of Hindu monuments and temples dating back over 1000 years. My Son was built by the Kingdom of Champa and rediscovered by the French in the mid 1900s. The Champa people came to My Son to pray to the God Shiva. Many architects and experts have studied My Son and tried to work out how it has lasted so long and how it was built as no cement or mortar was used but, if it wasn't for the US airforce bombing the site, the temples would still be standing.

There was originally 71 monuments/buildings. The site was bombed for ten days and over 50 were destroyed. We toured round the ruins. Some buildings are still standing almost whole, elaborately decorated with statues and patterns. Unfortunately after the French discovered the site, before leaving Vietnam they stole the heads off.many for the statues. The head from the statue of the God Shiva is now in the Louvre.

It was very humid and sticky as we walked round. It was a very interesting place. The ruins were pretty cool. The guide was a bit eccentric, but I'm not sure if that's just the way his accent made him sound when he spoke English. He sounded like a robot that dramatises everything. He kept laughing at his own jokes and seem to find the phallic symbols absolutely hilarious, at one point talking to a statue of a Lingam (you can Google yourself what that is in Hindu symbolism). We wandered round for two hours, passing many cobwebs and one huge poisonous spider on the way, before heading back to the bus. 

We went back to the hostel to chill for a bit before getting our bags and heading to a restaurant near the bus stop. We had some food and sat there for a while until we had to get the bus. The process of getting on the bus was a lot more organised than any other the oher trips. We were given tickets and bed numbers which hasn't happened before. We set off at 6pm. Thankfully the bus had wifi. We stopped twice before 11pm for loo breaks and then drove right through to 5:20am. We managed to get some sleep but not a great deal so will just be taking it easy today. We walked to the hostel and found a man who may or may not be the receptionist asleep on the sofa. We debated whether or not to wake him up. Now we are sitting on the couches waiting for him to arise. It's 5:50am.

Assembly Halls and Spring Rolls

We had breakfast at half 9 today and then headed out to the old town. We bought a combo ticket for less than a fiver that allowed us to visit 5 out of a list of around 20 historic building. The first building we went to was the Phuc Kien Assembly house. It was a bit like a temple in my opinion. There wasn't much information about it so I can't tell you much about it. It had a pretty cool dragon sculpture and was nicely decorated.

The second stop was Tan Ky house. It is an occupied house that has belonged to one family for seven generations. A woman have us a very quick tour. You could only go round the ground floor as the family were living on the upstairs floors. It has elements of Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese architecture. The house opens out onto the river front and consequently it floods every year. There were markings on the wall to show the height each year. In 2009 it flooded to almost twice my height. There wasn't much to see in the house and every opportunity was taken to attempt to flog something. For example the little tour went over to a table and asked you what year you were born, told you the animal and what it signified, and then tried to sell you a pendant with the animal on. Lauren was born in the year of the horse, which apparently symbols prosperity. I was born in the year of the rooster. I was having trouble understanding what she was saying it symbolises. It sounded sympathy. Please feel free to correct me if you know. There wasn't actually much to see in the house which was a bit of a shame.

Next we went back to the Japanese Bridge we saw yesterday and actually went on to it. It had a little side room that had a shrine type thing in, but the bridge was more interesting to look at from the outside.

Our fourth visit was the Quang Trieu Assembly Hall. Again it looked like a temple but it was a pretty nice building. There were some interesting dragon and goat statues in the back garden. We sat on a bench in courtyard for a while, slowly dying from the heat. There were only a couple of other people there so it was quite peaceful.

Our final stop was at the Quang Cong temple. All the building and assembly halls were fairly similar. Or maybe that's just because I wasn't paying close enough attention. The colours and patterns were all very similar and the shrines were also quite similar. They were nice places to visit though.

We returned to the hostel around 2pm to have a break from the heat.  Then at 4pm we went to cooking class at Cafe 43. Well, it was called a cooking class.  I was a little disappointed in the amount of participant we had. We chopped a few things up ad did some stirring but that was about it. We were making 3 dishes: chicken with chilli and lemongrass, sweet and sour pork, and pork spring rolls. After we had finished we got to eat them. It was just us and the teacher. She showed us how to cut up the veg, measured out the spices/sugar/salt and added them in to the pre-cut and weighed meat. We then mixed the meat round with the spices and chopped the rest of the veg. Then we stirred the pan while it cooked. For the spring rolls the same happened, but Lauren had to use her hands to mix all the ingredients together, then we spooned the mixture onto rice paper, rolled them up and fried them in a huge amount of oil.  The most disappointing thing was when we were making the sweet and sour pork; the sauce was already pre-made. We essentially just added veg and meat like you would do with a jar from the supermarket at home. Even worse, within about 2 minutes of turning up I saw a huge rat running across the cafe floor behind us, and it spent the whole time scurrying back and forwards.

After the cooking class we headed back to the hostel for a bit. The lady at reception found some glue for me to use to fix my shoes which had started coming apart, and being the genius I am I managed to get glue everywhere and almost stuck my hand to the shoe with hot glue. I managed to pull my finger away just on time, with some resistance and I spent the rest of the evening with dried glue on my finger. But my shoes are now firmly fixed.

Around half 6 we wandered down to the night mkaret. It was so pretty. There were hundreds of different coloured lanterns along the river front. The pictures just aren't the same. We had a very quick wander round the market before returning back to the hostel, showering and packing.

Homestays and Heinz in Hoi An

We got up at 6:30am this morning to get the bus at 8am from Hue to Hoi An. The bus turned up late and when it arrived we were a bit disappointed to discover it wasn't a sleeping bus and we had to sit up like normal people. It was quite cramped. We headed straight through to Hoi An and arrived around 12pm. We walked for about ten minutes to the place we are staying, which is actually a home stay rather than a hostel. Homestays were traditionally when you stay in a local person's house rather than a hostel, although more modern ones are almost like mini hostels. The one we are in has 4 rooms. We are in a 3 bed ensuite. All the bed are side by side with only a wooden cabinet thing separating you from the person next to you. They are high enough though to keep you out of sight. It's a very nice room.

We got the low down about Hoi An from the host, had a drink and some crisps and went for a wander. It was very hot again today.  Hoi An has a lot of tailors but we didn't get any clothes. We wandered down the main streets and past the Japanese Bridge. We dipped into the central market, which is a covered market. It was very quiet and half the stall owners were lying asleep on the floor. Hoi An is quite different from all the other places we have been. It's very cute and the buildings are in a different style. It's right on the river front. There are lanterns hung all over the place.

After wandering around for a while we stopped for a drink in a cafe and then headed back to the accommodation. I showered and we did some research for the next few days and then we headed out around 6:15pm for dinner. Having had a lot of rice in the last few days, we opted fr a place called the kebab shack, run by a British man named Tim.  We both had sausage, chips and beans, with real Heinz ketchup,  followed a chocolate brownie for afters. Lauren had strawberry ice cream and whipped cream with hers. It was a nice taste of home and only cost £4.97, including drinks.

After dinner we wandered back to the homestay, Lauren showered and then we just relaxed.

Hue's Imperial City

Today we had a lie in, sort of. I got up at half 8 and Lauren got up at 9:15. We got ready and went down for breakfast, same as yesterday. Then we walked over to Hue's Imperial City/citadel. It was so hot. It wasn't even that sunny, but we were sweating just standing in the sun.

During the Nguyen Dynasty, which ended in 1945, Hue was the capital city, ad the citadel was where the emperors lived. The citadel is on the UNESCO world heritage list. Construction started in 1804 and was completed in 1833. It was badly damaged in the war and has undergone major reconstruction. It's surrounded by moats and split into different quarters. One section was for royal ceremonies. There was a worshipping compound that contained 5 temples, a compound for the mother and grandmother of the emperor to live, an eastern internal affairs compound, the royal gardens for entertaining and relaxing, and the forbidden purple city where the emperor lived. Although the citadel looked quite large in the map we saw, when we wandered around I didn't think it was. Maybe we missed a large section out but we seemed to make it from one side to the other no trouble. We sat on a bench next to a pond for a while in the shade and wandered in and out of some nicely decorated and some not so well kept building. It was quite nice but I did get the impression that it needed a lot of a work doing. There were some particularly nice red and gold buildings, which are also the colours on the Vietnam flag, seen in the pictures, flying outside the citadel.

After having a good look round and getting very hot we headed back to the hostel where we sat with a drink for a while. Around 4pm we went to get our toe nails painted. It cost 20,000 dong. That's 72p. I bought a new pair of sunglasses for 70,000 dong, my third pair of sunglasses this trip. 

Then we went to the mandarin cafe next to our hostel for dinner. We had been buying drinks from there to takeaway and the old man was really nice, letting me off 1000 dong earlier as I didn't have the right change when I bought a drink. We had also seen it recommended in some reviews. I had sweet and sour chicken which was nice, but not anything like English sweet and sour. Lauren had chicken wings and chips.

After dinner we went and got head, shoulder, neck and back massages. They were about £11 each for 45 minutes. They were pretty good. Then we went back to the hostel, via the mandarin cafe for a drink, to sort ourselves out for moving on tomorrow.