Vietnam... Done!

Greetings from Thailand!

After a full month traversing Vietnam from north to south, what an experience. I feel that more so now that when I was actually there.

Since my last blog, we spent 6 days in a coastal resort called Nha Trang in Vietnam. This is where the Vietnamese go on holiday, its like a sunny and hot Blackpool, but without the chavs. We met up with some long running friends Hayley and Dave and had a messy night on the booze, ending with swimming in the South China Sea at 4am. When we woke up the next morning, I had managed to get half of the beach in my bed! Not good.

Nha Trang Beach

After Nha Trang, we were meant to get the train to Ho Chi Minh City. After the last fiasco, we decided to cancel the tickets and fly instead. The ticket office at Nha Trang station gave us a full refund, no questions asked. Thats what I call service! We caught the flight the following day and it was only 40 minutes, saving us 6 hours. No sooner had we took off we were coming back down. How the hell can a train take 7 hours? Ah, thats right, Vietnam holds the world record for the slowest trains. Well worth the change of plans.

We caught a cab at Ho Chi Minh City airport to our hotel. After pulling up outside a very nice looking hotel, we realised the property number was not right. We had booked into the Mai Hotel at number 6. We had pulled up at the May hotel, number 26. Shit, we were looking at this super nice hotel only to realise it wasnt ours. Ah well, our hotel will be just as nice....

Wrong. It was right at the bottom of the street slap bang on a building site from all sides. One thing I have also realised since embarking on this trip is that all hotels cleverly manipulate the pictures of their property to a point where it looks nothing like the real thing. 

Drinking with friends, Nha Trang.

After checking in, it wasn't too bad in the reception area. When we went to our room, the key didnt work. Not a great start. The caretaker unhinged the door and took it to bits to fix the electronic lock. He didnt manage to fix the door so left us again to try and get a new card key. Great, we couldnt leave the room because we couldnt get back in! The room was tiny but comfortable, but then we saw right outside the window was the building site, I could literally touch it from the window. Bang bang bang, drill, scrape etc. We went to reception to demand a room change but the hotel was full so they assured us the building works cease at 5pm and that they would move us tomorrow. Fair enough we would wait until tomorrow.

Sure enough the building ceased at 5pm Great, we could settle in. Then at 7pm, the loudest night club ever opened its doors, and was 3 doors down from us! Fucking hell we couldn't have picked anywhere any noisier. Needless to say we declined the room change and checked out the next morning, instead checking in at the nice, posh May hotel that we were teased with the day before when the taxi pulled up outside it. 

Bitexco Tower, Ho Chi Minh City

The May hotel was fantastic, a proper luxury gaff with roof top pool, gym and sauna. Who said you have to rough it when back packing? After a good nights rest we were ready to party, and after being kept awake the night before by the night club down the road, that was naturally our first place to head for. We did some research, the night club was called Apocalypse now, one of Ho Chi Minh City's well established night clubs. After reading the reviews, we were lead to believe the place was full of prostitutes and gangs with knifings outside the door. We were shitting it to say the least, but decided to go anyway and decide for ourselves. It was Halloween, so we were going to party anyway!

What a night! It was packed, bouncing, great music, friendly people and free horror make up going on. We had a wicked night and an unexpected one at that. I aint danced that much in years. Come to think of it I haven't ben clubbing for years either. I really don't know what all them reviews were about but it was nothing like that when I went.

The following day was the usual sight seeing and walking about the city. We met up with Hayley and Dave again the following night, our paths crossing several times throughout the journey through Vietnam. Needless to say another messy night was had and as it was our last night in Vietnam we made sure it was one to remember. We decided to go back to Apocalypse now to dance the night away, but this time it was full of American graduate students. The vibe was totally different, full of cocky teenagers being, well, American. The club was also full prostitutes this time looking to pick up some young americans. Still, it was a good night apart from it closed down at 1am, a bit shit for a night club.

Feeling a little ropey in the morning, we headed for the airport ready for Thailand. We arrived at Bangkok airport and headed straight for the taxi. We had come prepared and had wrote the name and address of the hotel down. The taxi driver got us in his cab and started driving away only for us to realise he didnt have a clue where it was! He was speaking to his office trying to get the hotel details for quite some time, whilst me and Dave were thinking shit, we are going to be driving around for hours whilst he tries to find this hotel.

Eventually, we found it. The confusion being the hotel goes by 2 different names! How typically Thai, cant decide what it wants to be so it uses two names. The hotel was very 70's looking but it was clean and tidy so we didnt mind. We soon realised we were about 10 miles out of Bangkok city itself, which by night 2 was proving a problem becuase we were bored silly. We had spoken to several westerners who were staying on the resort who had advised they had been stung with Taxis going back and forth to the city, so we didnt really want to bother with cabs. We instead found the airport rail link a short walk from the hotel. Straight into the city centre on a modern, super fast rail link for only 30p. Bargain.

We hit Khoan San Road in Bangkok was busy, vibrant, full of people and people selling all sorts on the street. This is the main tourist hub for travellers and tourists alike.There wasn't as many bars as I though there would be, but we managed to find one and ordered the obligatory bucket of Sangsom. 3 buckets later we were chatting to some irish girls who had been travelling for almost 2 years and had no plans to go home, what an adventure.

Dinner with Ronald McDonald

Feeling a little worse for ware we set off back to the hotel, the last train being at mignight. Lucky for us, at the end of the line there was a 24 hour McDonalds. Having not seen a McDonalds for over a month (Vietnam does not have any) I was very excited to see one. Pretty sad really but its amazing what you miss away from home. I ate a mountain of food (because it is dirt cheap) and even had my photo took with Ronald McDonald (opposite) Im such a classy guy.

After Bangkok we grabbed a flight down to Trat, and made our way to Chanthaburi where I am now. It is an eco nature resort and we are staying in our first thai hut which is cute and very comfortable. The resort is in the middle of nowhere with a small beach a short walk away. You have to fight your way past wild dogs to get to the beach and they will 'escort' you through their territory. Thats right, escorted by wild dogs! Pretty scary shit really but as long as you don't make eye contact, you should be alright. Hey, I haven't been eaten yet. This is turning into a well earned break away from civilisation, in preparation for Koh Chang next week which we know will be a mad 6 weeks.

Anyway, goodbye from Chanthaburi for now and the next stop is Koh Chang!

Khoan San Road, Bangkok

           

     

                        Our Hut in Chanthaburi, Thailand