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South East Asia

febrero 2024 - junio 2025
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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia
    1

    Day 57

    2 de abril de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Coconut Boats

    We woke up and grabbed some breakfast from "The Banh Mi Queen" which was super yummy before heading to the tailors for another set of adjustments for Daisy's clothes. After that we had some time to kill before our coconut boat tour we had booked for 2pm. We headed to a café slightly out of town which also some kind of workout / dance studio too. It was pretty expensive but I grabbed a mixed fruit yoghurt bowl with chocolate chunks, granola, and nuts which was so so tasty but now I had effectively had 2 breakfasts and was far too full to move. It was quite crowded so we didn't really have to chance to sit there and chill as they needed the table for more people so we headed out back into the ancient town. We happened upon a cool handmade wooden ship model store which had loads of intricately made ships, with the big boy in the middle being as large as a small elephant. Very impressive.

    We wandered back to our hostel to wait for our 2pm pickup. He arrived a bit early and we made the short drive over to where we were to board the little coconut boats. It was max 2 per boat with the rower so it meant I was riding solo. We were given a conical hat and a life jacket and away we went under a bridge (which definitely had something wrong with it as one end was a lot lower than the other). Once we passed through it was like we had gone to a different world. 100s of colourful coconut boats found their way going up and down the river. Larger groups of tour guides were singing their hearts out and it was a party atmosphere I really didn't expect. Little did I know what was coming. After taking an offshoot along with a heard of other boats we emerged into a small area where the speakers were blasting and there were boats spinning like a tsunami. For a little extra fee you could hop into a spinning coconut and let the dude do his magic. I decided to pass but Alfie and Daisy took the opportunity and had a nice little spin. What I thought was funny is that the rowers used their wet oars to stick money to them to pass it between boats.

    After that we went a bit along to the karaoke section where they had mini floating stages where you, again, could pay a small fee to get up on stage and sing your heart out. Again, I passed but looked like alot of fun, especially in a big group. On the way back she tried to get me to row solo but I ended up just spinning us round in circles. Assumedly ashamed we ended up rowing together and she kept insisting we went faster but my shoulders were so pumped. She must have been mega jacked under her hoodie. Eventually we go back under the bridge and get back into the car and are driven back. Turns out our 2 hour experience clocked in at just about 1 hour - oh well was still fun.

    I can't super remember what we did between 3pm and 6pm but I think it involved sitting on our asses in our room. Daisy had another fitting so they did that whilst I continued doing a whole lotta nothing in our room. I eventually met them for dinner and there were a few places that we wanted to check out, but they either didn't have vege options or had a queue so we went for "Good Morning Vietnam" an authentic Itallian restaurant... because everyone knows Vietnam is where you find the best Itallian food in the world. It was pretty spenny but I went for a nice little margherita. It took a while for our food to come and the smells of the restaurant were making me so so hungry but we had some bread sticks to keep us occupied. The meal itself was beautiful, I enjoyed and savoured every single bite - something I've been trying to do more with every meal recently - and by the end I was definitely full. The Itallian owner gave us some limoncello shots to finish of our meal and away we went.

    On the way back we passed this really fancy chocolate shop that made its own chocolate in house and you could watch how some of it was made. Plus there were loads of tasters for their chocolate - my favourite being the ginger and lime. I didn't go for a chocolate bar I instead went for an awesome looking cookie. I decided I'd save the cookie till I got back to the hostel. We walked back and passed the river which was lit up with so many beautiful lanterns on these little boats where people were queuing to cruise on the river and release little burning paper lanterns. Alfie and Daisy decided to go for it but I headed back instead. The cookie was decent and I definitely enjoyed it but I think I built it up too much in my head.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia

    Day 56

    1 de abril de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Hoi An

    We arrived in Hoi An at about 6am after a very bumpy bus journey where it was a little bit difficult to get off to sleep whilst being thrown about. After some minimal sleep we had to actually get into Hoi An as we were dropped on the side of the road so we grabbed a taxi and headed into the Old Town. Initial impressions were actually very high, all of the buildings looked quite pretty and I was excited to explore. As it was so early we found a Café that was open and had some drinks whilst we waited. Luckily we were able to check in super early so we headed over to where our Homestay was and got situated. Our hosts were really nice and kept insisting that if we needed anything we could ask them but honestly what I needed was a shower and a nap. The room was super nice and modern, with a lovely shower too. After cleaning myself up, I hopped straight onto my double bed, played some Elvis and drifted off.

    A short while later I jumped awake and we headed out to find some proper breakfast. We went to a little vegetarian Banh Mi place that Daisy had found and enjoyed a very cheap and tasty sandwich. Hoi An is famous for its tailoring services so that was our mission today as we had little energy and it would take some time. Some guy called Quoc from the bus company had texted me a bunch of suggestions for places out of nowhere, one of which being a tailoring place who had great reviews. We sat down at a table and was shown some Next catalogues from 2020. They were meant as inspiration so we could get an idea of what we wanted but I still thought it was hilarious - especially as this was the first time I had seen prices in pounds. They asked what I want but I wasn't too sure but I knew that I didn't want to spend too much money so I asked about a tailored shirt. Unfortunately even for cheaper materials, it was still out of my budget for something I didn't really need. It was left for Daisy to get measured for some clothes that she had wanted. Shout out to the creepy half headed mannequins.

    After that we grabbed some lunch at a random place, where I ordered some local Hoi An wontons which I still don't know exactly what they were but they were very yummy. I also ordered my 3rd drink of the day - going way over my personal limit of 1 but I was tired and thirsty so I didn't care. After lunch we wandered round the quaint little streets, admiring the cute architecture before heading back to our hostel again. This time when I went for a lay down it turned into a many hour long nap and I was woken by Alfie and Daisy coming back at 9 or 10pm. A little disorientated, I quickly grabbed some food from the night market before heading back, having a shower and going to bed for real.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia
    21

    Day 55

    31 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    New Alpine Coaster

    I woke up in time for a nice breakfast but as it turned out Alfie and Daisy stayed up too late to wake up in time. I had a little emergency of my own, my phone was on 1% and my portable charger had decided to stop working. Honestly I couldn't be too surprised with the water damage, sand everywhere, and me throwing my bag around without a care it shouldn't have been such a gut punch as it was. Luckily the lady at reception loaned me her phone charger and we chatted for a while whilst waiting for Alfie and Daisy to get out of bed in time for checkout.

    Eventually we all paid, and had our bags packed and left at the hostel. Our plan was to go straight back to Datanla for the Alpine Coaster but they hadn't had breakfast so we had to spend a while searching for the right place then eating. Luckily we found a nice place that served these yummy egg Banh Mi and we were good to go. We got a Grab over to the park and paid for our tickets for the Datanla New Alpine Coaster - a 2400 meter track through the forest and passing waterfalls, making it the longest in Asia. This was one of the manually controlled ones so you could go as slow or as fast as you wanted. Obviously I wanted speed so I held the brake off for as long as I could before the track slowed me down by itself.

    At the bottom we could hop off for a while and explore the waterfall. There was a little archery setup so I gave it a go, where I would win a bottle of wine if I hit the centre. Unfortunately I'm trash and so were the bent arrows so I had no chance. After saying hello to the massive dinosaur model (who for some reason had been given to scale testicles), we grabbed a smoothie and went for a wander back up the stairs. We could have grabbed the coaster back up but we went for an adventure instead. This turned out to be a massive mistake as without much warning the heavens opened up and rain hurtled down towards the ground. I have no idea how it went from sunny to torrential downpour in a matter of minutes but here we were sheltered under a roof with everyone else. Unlike everyone else their guides had ponchos ready for them but none of us had our ponchos on us. Wishing I had brought mine, we tried to out wait the rain. Unfortunately this lead to nothing but heavier rain. Luckily our tickets were valid for the other coaster that went up to the top so we braved the rain and made our way up. The staff looked at us very funny and I tried to protect my bag as much as I could. We got the top and ran for the entrance where I decided the best thing to do would be to leap onto the wet smooth tiles in my sliders with 0 grip. I proceeded to slip over like a cartoon and smack my back on the tiles. I was absolutely fine but definitely caused a stir with everyone at the café as it looked like I may have hurt myself.

    Our next mission was to order a Grab back into town but after 5 minutes of searching, no cars were available. We weren't really sure what to do so we tried searching again and luckily a car magically appeared right outside. We ran in soaking wet, apologised for being soaking wet and made our way back to Da Lat. We made our way back into our hostel (with me being much more careful not to slip on the wet tiles) and got changed into some dry clothes. Whilst Alfie and Daisy went for some more food, I charged my phone and played some more pool again the local master - losing every game I played. I head out for some lunch too, getting some more Banh Mi with meatball soup from a local place right next to our hostel.

    With that, it was time for all of us to get to our stuff and head to the bus station for our over night bus to Hoi An. It was somewhere between a 12 and 14 hour bus so we decided to pay a bit more and go for the VIP experience (an actual bed instead of the ones we had been on recently). However, when we arrived fear struck me as we weren't sure whether it was 1 bed each or between 2. We had to wait around for a while and anxiety slowly crept up. This would be the difference between a wonderful comfortable experience and me getting to know a stranger super well. As we boarded I saw some people sharing beds. Uh oh. Surely they're choosing this I tried to reason. Between the 3 of us we were shown to 2 beds. A small wave of relief struck as I wasn't sharing with anyone yet (unlike Daisy and Alfie who were squeezed together). Slowly everyone else boarded and no one else came to join me. We departed and I prayed we had no more stops to pick anyone else up. There were still some beds left so one of the staff gave us a 3rd bed so we were luckily able to all have our own private pod. Thank fuck for that.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia
    1
    12

    Day 54

    30 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Canyoning

    We booked onto the canyoning tour through our hostel which was $82 (ouch budget) and we were ready to see whether it was worth it. At 7.30 we headed to breakfast where I enjoyed a really nicely cooked omelette then at 8am on the dot one of our guides for the day came to collect us. His name is Na and he let us know that we were lucky enough that it was only us 3 today and the groups could usually get as big as 12. We drove over to Datanla Waterfall where we met our second guide, Harry. Both these chaps were super excited and happy and I was hyped to start canyoning. We get changed into our wet suits and given harnesses, helmets, and bouyancy vests. With that we were ready to learn to absail. Me and Alfie had done this plenty before but it was good to see that they were being safe with a backup line and not letting us clip ourselves in.

    After some practice we were ready to head down to the waterfalls. A short walk later we headed to the first abseil, which was on the rock next to the waterfall. We abseiled down and fell off the end of the rope into the water below which was a very strange concept to me. I can't remember exactly the order of what we did for the rest of the day (I'm writing this a few days later oops) but there was a mix between abseiling down through waterfalls, zip lining, water sliding, and floating through a lazy river. Luckily as there was only 3 of us we had time to do some of these a couple times. Unfortunately, the cliff jump had suffered a land slide so we wouldn't be able to jump unless we fancied ourselves some broken limbs.

    This lead to the penultimate event, abseiling down a 25m waterfall which meant that as you got over the edge the water would beat down on you and throw you about. The final abseil was called 'The Washing Machine" where we would abseil a bit then fall underwater, being thrown about until popping back up downstream. After all of that, we trekked back up a hill to the road to be driven back to the main area to shower and change. After that we drove back to their main offices to share a massivw family lunch with Na and Harry.

    We get driven back to our accommodation and whilst Alfie and Daisy nap I go for a walk around. First I walk around a pagoda but decided not to stay long as I wasn't sure how allowed I was to wander around in my shorts. I then take a slow meander around the lake in the middle of the city, stopping every now and again to fuel my Facebook Marketplace addiction. Eventually the sun was setting and I got a Grab bike to the hostel just in time for family dinner.

    There wasn't alot of people, only us 3 and 2 others but the dinner was really really nice and it was good, plus meeting the 2 other people (a Canadian guy called James and a British girl called Cordelia) was nice too. Dinner lead into Happy Hour which meant a free "cocktail" which really meant a spirit and mixer. I went for the classic vodka redbull and then the karaoke started. Vietnam is known for its love of karaoke so we knew there was no avoiding it. The guy working there, Hoang, was leading the night as well as pouring our drinks and was very enthusiastically encouraging the karaoke. What ensued was countless terrible renditions of some classic karaoke songs - solos and duets.

    Eventually it hit 10 and it was time for the shuttle bus into town to Maze Bar. What I thought would just be us turned out to be a packed minibus with many hostels jammed in - probably doubling the intended capacity. When we made it to the bar we had to order a drink to enter so I went for the classic Blue Lagoon. What I thought would just be a quirky little bar turned out to be one of the coolest places I had been to. The Maze Bar was actually a maze, with narrow corridors, steep staircases, crawl spaces, hidden rooms with too many floors to count and amazing decorations. I must have said "I'm so lost" about a million times before finding people again. Our ride back was at 12 so I managed to hop on the first bus back. Most people were heading towards the after party on our roof but I have become old man and headed straight for a shower then into bed.

    It wasn't long before the others got back and convinced me to join them for a little bit on the roof. It turned out to be quite packed and a decent party but was a very odd experience to get out of bed straight into a party, though I didn't stay long.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia

    Day 53

    29 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Mui Ne > Da Lat

    Similar vibe to yesterday, wake up, go for swim, go for breakfast (mango pancake this time), then ride out. But this time we were checking out and heading out. Our bus was a fairly standard half sleeper half seat, fairly narrow, and slightly too short setup. What was different was that this road was bumpy as hell almost the whole way but what made up for it was the beautiful mountain views as we climbed in altitude.

    We arrived slightly ahead of schedule at about 5 and decided to make the 30 minute walk to our hostel whilst it was still light. We pass through a quaint little flower garden before walking along busy roads. As we were slightly more North, further inland and at a higher altitude it meant that the weather was a lovely cool mid 20s which was a nice break from south Thailand, Cambodia, and south Vietnam - especially with our big bags.

    We are greeted by a nice sign at the bottom of the elevator to our hostel, so we take it up to the 5th floor and ride up. We check in and I get shown to my dorm, whilst Alfie and Daisy are shown their room. I end up playing pool with one of the guys who worked there and he completely whooped my ass (no suprises) before we asked for some food suggestions for the evening.

    We wander into the city, passing a live band playing what seemed to be an authentic Vietnamese instrument. We were about to head out until we head the distinctive start to Despacito play so we stay another song. I was super hungry at this point so I stopped for some meatball soup with bread (as suggested by the dude from earlier) and then followed it up swiftly by a folded "pizza". They were both super yummy and my folded pizza was served in what seemed to be used pieces of paper from a notepad which was quite funny. Daisy needed something vegetarian so after heading around the 2nd hand market we went to a vegetarian restaurant where I watched them struggle to ask for the bill as they were too scared to interrupt the people's own dinner. Finding this hilarious but also slightly frustrating as I wanted something from the bakery - they eventually pay and we head towards the bakery we were so excited for (having passed it earlier).

    We eventually get to the awesome bakery where you grabbed your own tray and tongs before picking whatever you wanted. We all opted for 2 things each before heading back to our hostel to eat them. What was hype turned into disappointment as all of our things were either viciously moderate or a bit shit. With that we headed to bed.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia
    121

    Day 52

    28 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Sand Dunes

    Mui Ne is known for its sand dunes and tours are pretty standardised so we ended up booking a sunset tour through our hostel. It started at 1.30 so we had some time to kill in the morning. We grabbed a heart breakfast where I ended up having 1 and a ahalf banana pancakes as they got our order wrong and delivered us one too many. We went to go and explore the beach which was nice but the highlight would have been the various windsurfing schools. Unfortunately it was $50 per hour lesson - a bit above my budget. After that we played a little ping pong before realising we were too terrible so we ended up chilling in the pool for a while attempting to play volleyball.

    We then grabbed some lunch where I went for the super authentic cheeseburger and fries which was a bit of a mission as we had really only just had breakfast. We get picked up in a bright blue jeep by our driver (who didn't speak any English) and we were on our way to the first of 4 destinations for the day.

    Destination 1 was called Fairy Stream which is a shallow stream that weaves through some red and white sand. It was quite nice to walk barefoot through it. We accidently ended up in a mini zoo labelled a garden and was kind of forced to pay a small entry fee. I felt quite bad as it wasn't alot of space for the animals but we got to see some crocodiles - the biggest of which was stood so still with its mouth agape I thought it was a statue but you could just about see it's eyes moving. There were some hedgehogs, porcupines, and chickens too. We wandered back and found our driver and headed to destination number 2.

    Destination 2 was more of a stop than a destination as we pulled over on the side of the road to look over the fishing village - loads and loads of concentrated fishing boats and floating tubs. After getting a picture we headed onwards.

    Destination 3 was an exciting one. It was the white sand dunes. We had to pay extra to hop on the back of some quad bikes which kinda sucked as I thought we'd be cruising in the jeep across the dunes. It wasn't until I was on the back of the quad that I no longer cared how much it was as it was fucking awesome. I was solo as Alfie and Daisy shared another but I didn't mind because we absolutely zoomed up, down, and across the dunes. I held on as tight as I could thinking to myself "no wander why my insurance doesn't cover this". We made it to stop 1 which was the sandboarding spot. It was more sand sledding than boarding but I was immediately down for it. I was given a little plastic sheet with a handle, laid back and absolutely propelled down this big slope. When you hit the divots at the bottom you go tumbling off the sled into the sand but sand is luckily pretty soft. Now you had to climb back up the slope which was pretty akin to trudging up a snow slope of fresh powder. Absolutely exhausted at the top I thought to myself that I need to get fitter for the Alps. I bombed it down the slopes a total of 4 times. Go 2 and 3 I felt more in control than the last attempt and landed pretty smoothly, managing to land on my feet pretty quickly. I was still covered in sand but it wasn't until my final one where I must have hit a divot with too much speed and I ended up tumbling a fair bit ending up with sand everywhere. Sand in my nose, ears, mouth and every bit of skin - I was crunching on sand for a good while afterwards. After that it was time to head down the slope I had just been bombing down on the quads which I must admit was a little worrying but very fun. Bombing up and down some hills we stopped next to some water for a while before heading back to go to our last destination.

    Destination 4 was the red sand dunes. This was more of a stop and watch the sunset kinda place but we got there about an hour before sunset so we went for a little walk first. It wasn't massive and was very close to Mui Ne so we sat along the main ridge with everyone else to watch the sunset. It was pretty cloudy but we still managed to catch some of the orange rays casting across the sky.

    After our tour we swam for a little bit longer again before heading out for dinner. This time I went for some authentic spaghetti and garlic bread before we planned our next couple days and headed back.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia

    Day 51

    27 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ 🌬 33 °C

    Mekong Delta > Mui Ne

    After getting our final breakfast and paying for everything, we hopped on the back of some scooters and raced to the local bus station (saving us from going all the way back to Can Tho). After paying what seemed like a local fare as our hostel had booked it, we arrived back in Ho Chi Minh. We had some time to kill so we head back to the Ben Thanh Market to get some more quality knock offs. Having left my sliders behind I thought I'd try a bit harder for some crocs. Unfortunately, depsite my attempts, they only had the boring colours in my size. Anything interesting was "for women" so I said goodbye to the chance for a cheap pair of yellow, blue, or pink crocs. Alfie managed to swap his duffel for another colour, plus pick up some Patagonia bum bags. Before we knew it we were done with the market and headed across the road to a Café Amazon and chilled for a while sipping on our drinks (I went for a strawberry cheesecake frappuccino which was very very good).

    We grabbed over to our bus office and waited then eventually got on a transfer bus to our real "VIP" bus. The VIP bus was pretty comfy but the seat / beds were quite narrow and didn't really allow me to sit up. Plus my seat was missing its pillow. Oh well it was still comfy, clean, and cheap so no complaints from me. By the time we arrived we were able to check in, and head out for dinner before it was time to sleep.

    Pretty uneventful day overall, only ended up taking 1 picture the whole day. But in good news, I got on committee for the mountainairring at Bath next year so very hyped for that!    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia

    Day 50

    26 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Mekong Delta

    We got up for breakfast at 7 because we had signed up for the boat tour this morning. Breakfast was simple but beautiful: a soft baguette with a tomato and onion omelette with little bits of cucumber cut into heart shapes. Sitting right on the riverside but now in the daytime was really nice as we could actually see out across the river. We hopped on our boat and headed out. Moving at a slow pace it let us really take in the quaint scenery - well except for the loud as hell engine that I sat right infront of.

    Stop number one was actually a stop to a different set of boats. We hopped on the classic sampan boat (small wooden paddle propelled raft that are used alot on the Mekong) and each given a reed conical hat to wear. They miscalculated the numbers so I ended up sitting on the very front of our boat. Feeling like an Instagram influencer, we floated down a small offshoot and passed lots of floating plants until we got to a bamboo bridge and then we headed back the way we came.

    We hopped back on our engine powered boat (not that the other ones had anything wrong with them but may have been a bit slow for the whole tour) and unknowingly headed towards some factories. This might sound like an odd stop, which at first I thought so too but it was actually quite interested. We got to see how they made different things like rice wine (which I had a sip of at maybe 10am and was POTENT especially for the time of day, so unlike Daisy, I decided not to finish my shot. They also had different falvoured ones aswell as a jug FILLED WITH SNAKES? I have no idea what it was but I wasn't touching that. Next we saw how rice was popped like popcorn to make something very close to rice crispies, then they were put into blocks and sometimes flavoured to make quite a nice snack - probably what that Thai farmer offered us when we were in North Thailand. After we saw how coconut flesh was crushed down and heated to make these little candies. They had loads of different candies to try and I ended up buying a small bag of banana candy. Finally, outside the shop they had a (unfortunately probably heavily sedated) snake chilling in a cage where you could pick it up or stroke it. It took me long enough to be bold enough to touch it let alone pick it up and it felt weird but also quite nice.

    After we were heading to a "local floating market" and I don't know about you but in my opinion a floating market had to be... well... floating? This was just a local market for fresh (or maybe not so fresh) produce and meat. It was cool to see but to be honest I didn't really want any half alive fish or chicken that was sitting out in the open. After, we headed to a fish farm which was mostly just some water and the occasional dead fish before heading back to our homestay.

    Back at our place, some people brought over a couple new dogs who were somehow smaller than the other dog I met yesterday. These must have been weeks old as they were so so tiny and kind of still learning to walk properly. After spending arguably too much time cuddling the little dudes (also arguably not enough time), I tracked down my swim shorts from our washing load and went for a dip in the pool. I ended up playing catch with a couple German dudes who were pretty chill. I had some grilled chicken and rice for lunch before chilling for a little while, admiring the waves rock the plants.

    As you may know I'm not a big chiller so decided to see if I could go for a swim in the Mekong itself. It was a bit brown which put Alfie and Daisy off but I took the initiative and went by myself before meeting a Dutch girl who had been travelling for about 6 months and was going around painting her travels which I thought was awesome. Loads of little sketchpad that she had to keep posting back home. She ended up jumping in the water with me, as well as an English dude who had just arrived. The 3 of us swam in the river (carefully not to get hit by a boat) as the sun set. One of the German dudes had a drone and got some quite cool videos that I'll try and upload.

    After a while, the orange sun had fully set (this time not even disappearing under the classic Asian haze) and I went and found Alfie and Daisy in the pool. After informing them they had missed the sunset, we ended up playing a botched game of volleyball where strategy went out the window and it was more of a mad dive for the ball before it hit the water. We had dinner then planned our onward travel whilst playing uno. Alfie and Daisy were tired so they went to bed and I aimed to follow right behind them but ended up getting sucked into a pool game with 3 Germans, an English, and a Vietnamese dude who we referred to as 'boss man' as he lived here and also didn't speak a word of English.

    What followed were a few of the most intense games of German rules 3 verses 3 pool I had ever played. A mix of insane shots as well as massive whifs made for a tense set of games. I had gotten a few lucky shots right at the start which gave everyone a false impression I was a wildcard player. Boss man decided to bring out some rice wine aswell which I didn't want but you can't say no to a shot that had already been poured for you. Luckily this one was more tame than the one this morning. It was also no longer morning which helped a damn lot. Boss man went to bed and we wrapped up after another couples games before I tried to sneak into our room without waking anyone. This failed immensely but I got showered and headed to bed.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia
    2

    Day 49

    25 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Ho Chi Minh > Mekong Delta

    For breakfast we thought we'd go back to the Café Appartments as we quite liked it last time depsite it being a little spenny. We grabbed over and explored the whole building looking for a different café. The issue is alot of them either did full meals or no food atall so we went back to the old classic. Yet again I went for the drink and 2 cakes strategy - this time a berry tea with an apple crumble doughnut and a "Ferrero Rocher" cake. They were both super tasty of course but so sickly.

    Afterwards it was time for some hardcore haggling at the Ben Thanh Market. Infamous for its busting narrow corridors between the stands selling all the fake merchandise that your heart could desire. But this wasn't time to mess around. No sir. Strategy was of the upmost importance. Step 1: know what you're looking for. For me, I wanted some colourful crocs, a patagonia mesh back cap, and a big and bright North Face duffel bag. It was going well, I scored a nice looking Patagonia cap for just over £3. But that's when the plan started to go awry. I happened to clock some neon yellow Nike running shorts. Now if anyone knows anything about me, 2 of my favourite things are bright colours and pretending that I run. Me and the lady enter a fierce battle of negotiation. I was fierce but she was flirting with me probably just to drive the price up. Her slapping my ass aside, I stayed strong and we settled on just less than £6.50. Decent deal but if I stayed stronger I could have driven it down a bit more. Okay its croc time. I didn't know exactly what colour I wanted but it had to be bold and bright. Unfortunately as they all stock very similar knock-offs, the crocs were are the same mundane colour (atleast the ones that would fit me) and I had to abandon ship.

    It was now time for the final showdown for a duffel bag. Me and Alfie both wanted one so we could use that to our advantage. We also both wanted a bright colour in the largest size which let us narrow our choices a bit. Eventually we found a seller who had a bright large duffel as most of the brighter colours were for the smaller ones. Unfortunately we both wanted the yellow one so either we matched or someone had to get a different colour. Deciding to accept the future confusion when we had our climbing gear in the van, we got matching duffs for just over £11 each. We'd have liked to have knocked it below a tenner but Alfie showed our hand too early that we wanted 2. Que sera sera!

    We grabbed some lunch (more banh mi for mi) and grabbed our bags before leaving to get our bus to Can Tho. Unfortunately this was where I made the grave mistake of leaving my sliders behind - to be continued! We hop on this bus and lemme tell you - it was nice. I would argue the nicest bus / minivan we had been on so far oooh we were living la vida luxury and I made sure I enjoyed that trip the best I could. We ended up in Can Tho, passing where our homestay is so we had to get a grab back up. Google Maps said we needed to get a ferry up to cross the river without having to do a big loop so hopefully a driver would accept our ride. Luckily it wasn't long before he cruised up in his sleek new car and we were on our way. Not knowing what he was planning, I saw that he continued following the GPS towards the river crossing. It wasn't until we got there that he looked very confused and asked us for the address. For a tense little while we weren't sure what was gonna happen. He spent some time looking up something on his phone, then calling someone, then he ended up leaving the car and running over to presumably the ticket office. He came back with a receipt and gave us the thumbs up. Onwards! Well onwards when the ferry was ready to board.

    Eventually after a crossing and another drive we had been delivered to our guesthouse and we tipped decently after probably ruining this guy's evening. As we checked in we were given the menu straight away to order our food as it was somewhere between 8 and 9. Whilst we waited we checked into our room where it seemed that our triple room was designed for a couple and a kid and not a fully grown adult. We played some darts whilst we waited - which was more of a throw and pray instead of play but it was actually quite fun hurtle the darts and try and get them to stick. We say hello to the cute little dog on the property and eat our yummy dinner then head to bed. It was an expensive day with all the travel and shopping but worth it I think.    Leer más

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  • ViajeroSouth East Asia
    3

    Day 48

    24 de marzo de 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Cu Chi Tunnels

    Yes it's pronounced exactly how it sounds! After waking up in a normal hostel this time, me and Alfie went to go find some breakfast - without Daisy as she was tending to her sunburns which were alot worse than I had thought. We find a place close by and as we weren't sure whether or not we were gonna be able to eat any lunch at our Cu Chi Tunnels tour later in the day I went for a double serving - one Banh Mi and one chocolate and banana pancake. Both were lovely and I was nice and full after ready to attack the day.

    We picked up a grill cheese for Daisy and got to reception at 12, ready for our tour. Turns out we were there way too early so we played a bit of darts to pass the time. I say we played but it was more of a throw 2 darts at the board and see how high you could get. It was a terrible display of athleticism but by the end I had reigned victorious hitting a triple 18 and a 2.

    They were finally ready for us to get on the bus for the tour so we hopped on and got ready for our hour and a half journey out of town. We did a stop on the way to this really cool "handicapped handicrafts" place. All of the artists were victims of Agent Orange in one way or another and the process of their art was awesome. Each piece took atleast a month and they used rose wood that they painted black with tree sap multiple times each time having to wait 3 days for it to dry. Afterwards they decorated with a mix of paint, small pieces of carefully broken duck egg shells, and exact pieces of nacre sawn into shape. After that it was covered in layers of clear resin which gave it a strong smooth finish. Some of the art was really beautiful and if I owned a house / wasn't backpacking / had money to spend it'd be awesome to buy a piece - especially one of the sunset on the mekong delta.

    After grabbing some cup ramen (which was really good actually) we headed towards the tunnels. We arrived and after our guide Mike sorted our tickets for us we made our way into the grounds. First we checked out the different traps that the Vietnamese would set up for the Americans. I can't imagine how nerve wracking it would be for the Americans to walk through the jungle not knowing if they were about to fall through the ground. We also and saw the hidden holes were the Vietnamese soldiers would hide and pop out, where I got a go to jump in to see what it was like. Right after me a woman jumped in and somewhat funnily struggled to get out and had to get pulled upwards. I felt bad but I couldn't help find it funny too. We got to see trenches, American tanks, and Vietcong camps. It was quite eerie walking through the jungle knowing of the secret traps and tunnels all around and knowing the fear anyone walking around would have felt too. We could hear gunshots in the background which was from the gun range where you could shoot a range of weapons from a something pistol, M16 rifle and even an AK47. It was 2 pound a bullet so we were gonna shoot 1 each but it was minimum 10 bullets and it was all a bit rushed so we skipped it, opting for a smoothie and ear defenders instead as the guns were so fucking loud.

    After this it was time for the main event, crawling through a 100m section of tunnel. There were kilometers of tunnels all around, many had collapsed from bombing or flooding but this one allowed people to bail every 5 or 10 meters. Alfie hopped in first, then Daisy, then me but right as Daisy looked in she decided to bail which I can't blame her for. It was crazy how people would spend so long living in these tunnels. They were cramped and honestly a little freaky especially if you thought you were lost. After popping out the end I brushed off my knees and hands and we made our way to watch a movie or documentary. This thing was honestly terrible. Eventually it finished and we got the bus back to Saigon.

    We get dropped at the Ben Thanh Market which is somewhat famous for its plenty knockoff clothes with the opportunity to haggle till your heart was full. Unfortunately it was getting late and everywhere was closing up but it was a good idea for tomorrow. We headed back to the night food market that we went to the day before and we chilled there for a while. I ended up getting a cheesy garlic naan (I miss cheese so much) and then some goi cuon, a Vietnamese type of fresh spring roll. I went for a mix of shrimp, beef, and chicken. They were okay, but had loads of lettuce and I much prefer the fried ones. I grabbed some ice cream for dessert then we headed back for bed.    Leer más

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