October? I'm turning 25 this month how?
It's the first time I've actually been away in October, it feels slightly odd. Especially as in a couple of weeks I'll (hopefully) have a job, settled in Hanoi, but yet have no idea how Megan and I will be celebrating turning a quarter of a century.
Today is our last day in Hoi An, the pretty riverside town that sits half way between Saigon and Hanoi. It has been a pretty chilled few days here too which is nice. After arriving from our epic motorbike trip on Tuesday, we wondered the lantern filled streets through the ancient town, rustic and yellow from the earlier European influence. We've made ourselves known at the local Ice Cream Parlour, where you can pick and mix from their 60 flavours of ice cream, self service, topped with Hershey's chocolate sauce and sprinkles, yum. We made a new pal in our dorm room too, a very funny well travelled guy who offered us tips and stories and high class mineral water and any weed if we fancied it too. Don't worry mum we did politely decline. On his recommendation we headed to Ganesh, an Indian restaurant with a mean chickpea curry and peshwari naan. Ordered far too much, ate it all, loved it, then waddled home with food triplets before collapsing in a food coma.
I'm not sure if it was laying on a full stomach, or dehydration from the day before, but that night I fell suddenly very ill, writing off the next day in bed feeling like the worst hangover ever. And it couldn't have been the food as Megan ate the same dishes as me. A massive shame as the sun was shining, but I could only just manage to go out for some pho noodle soup that evening before collapsing on the bed with exhaustion again.
Luckily a good nights sleep sorted me right out, so the next day we got out and about, getting back my appetite and enjoying time to read in the hammocks. On Friday we rented bikes and headed for a day of coconuts and more reading on An Bang beach, getting home just in time before the heavens open up to torrential rain. After we waited a while with a cocktail for the downpour to ease, we decided to give in, grab our bikes and pac-a-macs and embrace nature pouring down on us. We ordered a load of local dishes - White rose dumplings and Quang Nam noodles and Bánh Xeo pancakes - which were so scrummy, although the staff had to teach us how to eat them!
So today we decided to rent the bikes again, check out Hoi An Museum and cycle the maze of streets with tailors and street food and cyclists around every corner. Finally, of course, one last trip to the ice cream parlour, where my salted caramel scoop now sits deliciously in my taste buds!
9.45pm
We are on our next night bus, a whole jolly 21 hours to our destination. Jealous? Thought so.
We are heading to Mui Ne, one of my favourite places last time I was in Vietnam, with its immense red and white sand dunes unexpectedly bordering the coastal road. So far the journey has flown quite quick, setting off at 6pm then we got chatting to the guy in front from York, who amused us with his stories of ladyboys and cheddar cheesecake. We managed to get in a great meal before we left Hoi An; chicken coconut curry, bánh xeo and fresh shrimp and mango spring rolls. No missing dinner for us this time Mr Bus! We've got a pretty long way to go though until our stop in Nha Trang, where we'll have time for breakfast before hopping on our final bus which'll get us there mid afternoon tomorrow. Plenty of time to catch up on rest!
8.30am
After a couple of hours kip, we got lugged off the bus in Nha Trang at an unearthly hour of 4.30am, sat on the kerb with our bags being told 'You bus 7am'. Great fantastic thanks. As the sun first showed its light and the vendors awoke, we took a stroll to the beach, shocked to find it was already completely packed with hundreds of Vietnamese heads bobbing away in the sea! It was a very unexpected and amusing sight, there was plenty of stretching and aerobics going on too. After an avocado shake and a delicious street bánh mi roll we waited patiently for our final bus of the day. Are we there yet?
Day 115 - Monday 3rd October 6.07am
We missed the jeep. We walked past all our dorm mates having fun last night and we went to bed early and we set an alarm for 4am and we missed the jeep.
It is my second time here in Mui Ne, I was absolutely buzzing about coming back to do the sand dunes again, even more excited that we could see it at sunrise. And we missed the jeep. Feeling frustrated and deflated, waiting for an hour on the road and trying to find alternatives, we hung our heads and climbed to the roof to watch the East turn pink over the hill and the lightening flash over the sea. We missed the jeep.
Trying to stay positive, but we also spent our last pennies on it and have already booked our bus and hostel for later. Everything happens for a reason. Lesson learned. Don't miss the jeep.
12.13pm
After deliberating our options (hacking out the rain, forking out for a motorbike or skipping the legendary dunes) we gave up and settled for our tours' complementary breakfast. Which turned out to be amazing - who knew a splash of soy sauce would deliver excellently on a poached egg baguette? We watched the rain pour whilst job hunting from the comfort of a cosy sofa, when the guys from our tour arrived back. Hearing them say that it bucketed down the whole morning, soaking them in the jeep and preventing them from quad biking, even persuading them to get a taxi home early from the Fairy Springs which turned into a flooded muddy river; hearing them say that was the biggest relief and immediately evaporated our self-frustration. See, maybe it does all happen for a reason! Lesson learned though, you'll be real pissed off if you miss another jeep.
8.00pm
Arrived in Saigon. Feeling low and deflated, it's been one of those days. Time to head to Burger King.
