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South East Asia

February - June 2024
An open-ended adventure by Sam Read more
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  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 41

    Day 41

    March 17 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Koh Rong

    We headed to a restaurant close by for breakfast and we all ordered some French toast, turns out it was with slices of a baguette instead of bread but it was still beautifully cooked - especially with the chocolate sauce. I also grabbed a mixed fruit smoothie from the nice lady on the street which was as beautiful as ever - she's definitely perfected her craft.

    Afterwards, we were gonna rent a scooter to head to some other parts of the island but we decided to walk along the road in the other direction to yesterday to Long Set beach. I guess all the beaches are quite long on this island. After a very hot walk along this road we made our way down onto the beach which had a few more people than yesterday as their was a mad monkey hostel but it was still pretty chill.

    We basically spent the next few hours swimming, floating about, snorkeling and sunbathing. It was a very relaxing time which I spent trying to figure out how to get to the Alps this summer. Unfortunately I had forgotten to put suncream on my face so I had become like a tomato. I was lucky compared to Daisy who decided to nap laying down in the sun instead of the shade like Alfie and I - which lead to alot more burning than anyone would like. I did try and warn her.

    We grab some food slightly off the beach, and I grab some chocolate cookies which were melty but still yummy. We then walk back along the road which was alot nicer than the way out as the sun was almost set. Our plan today was to pay for the boat to go and see the glowing plankton which left at 7. We paid $7 each (which we should have haggled a bit for) and got on the boat heading out into the sea. We stop and are given snorkels and then the lights and cut and told we're good to get in. I took the initiative and jumped straight in. To be honest it was a little disappointing, but that's probably because the sun was still quite bright. There wasn't any magic blue glowing water but as you moved your hands around infront of you there were loads of little white glowing specs. After swimming around for a bit I started climbing the ladder and took my snorkel out. Forgetting it wasn't properly attached to my goggles it fell straight into the sea and sunk before I could rescue it. In good news I didn't have to travel with as much and we were done with island and beach travel for a while. Plus a snorkel was cheaper than the goggles.

    We get back, change into some dry clothes then head to "The Lucky Leprechaun" - an Irish Pub as it was St Paddy's Day and Daisy was half Irish. We asked for some Guiness but unfortunately they had none as it would have probably been fairly hard to get on a random Cambodian island. Instead I settled for some green dyed Carlsberg. We chilled on some comfy chairs on the beach listening to music whilst I planned my few days solo. Eventually Daisy and Alfie head to bed and I meet this nice 52 year old guy from London who was enjoying life to the max and happy to be here. Eventually I call it a night and head to sleep in a slight busier room than before.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
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    Day 42

    Day 42

    March 18 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Koh Rong > Kampot

    After waking up and packing, I headed to the same place for breakfast as yesterday and ordered some French toast with honey and whilst waiting I grabbed a smoothie and a bottle of water. Alfie came and joined me a little bit after, this time without Daisy as apparently she was suffering the consequences of her sunburn. My food ended up being forgotten and I had to get it to go before I rushed to the pier to catch my ferry. Turns out the ferry wasn't there for another 15 minutes anyways so there wasn't a massive rush. This was the start of 4 days solo travelling and I was quite excited to be honest.

    I arrived in Sihanoukville about an hour and a half before my bus was due to leave so I wandered over to the bus company building and dropped my big bag off so I could chill for an hour beforehand. I grabbed a slice of pizza from a bakery and found myself a comfortable chair on the beach I could lounge on for a while. On my way back I grabbed a doughnut from the same place and got back ready to board. Turns out their "bus was broken" so we'd have to wait an extra hour for the replacement. I'm not sure how accurate this actually was as sometimes they say this to delay enough to pool a couple bus loads together if none of their busses are that busy.

    Eventually we get on and we start making our ways towards Kampot - a roughly 3 hour journey. We stop about halfway at a rest stop where I go to the toilet and grab an ice cream. We hop back on and as I'm the closest to the sliding door of the minivan I try and close it. Big mistake as I managed to break it. This wasn't entirely my fault, I think they were trying to fix it before we boarded but I definitely did something that pulled it out of its rail. After 10 minutes of our driver finally getting it properly shut, I vowed not to touch the door again. The 2nd half of the journey was super bumpy as the road was more of a gravel trail with lots of pits that our driver tried his best to avoid.

    When we arrived I was hounded by tuktuk drivers but I thought I'd rather do the 50 minute walk to save some money and take in the city a little bit. I arrived at my hostel after a walk along a main road and was very excited. This hostel had 2 cool things going for it. 1) I could sleep in a hammock which sounded awesome. 2) It had become a dog sanctuary for now over 40 dogs, and I love animals so I was so excited to spend time with all these dogs. 90% of these dogs had been rescued from some type of difficult past but they were now living a peaceful life at this hostel.

    I get talking to a few people (and meeting some of the dogs) and eventually I get invited to join them at a skate spot in the city which sounded awesome as I hadn't skated in ages. 2 of them ride over, whilst me and another get a tuktuk. We then chill at this large flat spot with a ramp, a couple rails and a platform dotted about. It was a good mix of locals and travellers and I got to have a go on one of their skateboards. In good news, I hadn't lost any of my skills I had a couple years before. In bad news, I hardly had any skills to begin with.

    Afterwards, much to my delight, we head and grab some food where one of the local guys who worked at the hostel ordered my food for me and mixed a good combination of chilli and other things. We then head to grab some juice and we head back to the hostel. A couple grabbed this selection of guava, apple, and unripe mango with different chili dips which I tried but wasn't a fan of the combination. I chatted with a couple other people (spending most my time on the floor cuddling the dogs of course) before I shower and head to my hammock. My hammock was super close to the guy next to me so I had to be careful not to adjust too much that I'd swing into him, but eventually I found a comfortable position and got some sleep cocooned in my hammock.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 43

    Day 43

    March 19 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Bokor National Park

    I'm writing this a couple days late and because I suck at remembering I'm sure I'm gonna forget alot.

    I woke up nice and early to the sun beaming down on me in my hammock. It was a surprisingly good sleep especially as I was so close to the guy next to me. I spent a while just chilling while everyone (dogs included) started to wake up and met Joe - the owner - I let him know that I wanted to swim with the dogs and he said let him get sorted and he would get the right dogs in the water with me. Eventually I didn't wanna annoy him any more so I just jumped in the water and went for a swim solo whilst some dogs watched me from the shore.

    Someone I had met offered to give me a ride into town on his bike so I didn't have to call a tuktuk. We rode in and met with someone else who had just returned their bike and went to find some breakfast together. We ended up going to this slightly expensive Mexican place where I got a breakfast burrito and a mango juice (was meant to be a shake but I messed up). This breakfast burrito was unreal- so many flavours I hadn't had in so long like salda and CHEESE. My first bit of cheese in so long and it was as beautiful as I had ever remembered.

    I then rented a scooter - giving my passport as the deposit for the first time ever while was a little scary- and headed towards the mountains. There was no phone holder so getting the mountain road was a little bit of a task but once I was on it, it was smooth sailing. The road was a nice one to ride on, with good turns and sights along the way. I got to a point where a monkey was chillin on the side of the road so the people infront decided to stop infront of me, making me have to quickly swerve out of the way. Luckily all was good.

    The first stop was a giant Buddha statue which had an entrance round the back with a ladder going up. I went up a little bit and sensing that I had overstepped, went back down and kept going along the roads. The next set of buildings were basically all abandoned from the times of the French colonies. The first was an old church, which was pretty basic but the view from the cliff behind it was quite relaxing - though to be honest it was super cloudy and I couldn't see much.

    I went on and walked around some more abandoned buildings - which to be honest was a bit creepy and eerie. I also climbed up the ladder of this concrete tower before getting sketched out and heading back down. I could have now turned around the way I came but I wanted some adventure. After some unsuccessful and dodgy off roading I decided to head down a different road to see where it would take me. With almost no GPS signal I headed down and found a place called 500 rice field which had no rice and just lots of small stone towers in a field. Very odd. I kept going and definitely ended up getting lost. With the option of turning back always available I kept going, passing a construction site before asking a passer by how to get to Kampot. He pointed in the direction I had already assumed and I went on my way.

    I stopped at a store to grab some snacks and then headed back to the hostel. When I arrive I decide to chill with the dogs (obviously) before meeting some other people and we decide to head into town for some food. We go to a recommended place and I order some ginger, garlic and onion chicken noodles which was divine, I absolutely adore the taste of ginger and garlic. We head back and just chill with the dogs until it was time to go to sleep. I had also found out that the guy who gave me a lift into town earlier caused a 5 scooter crash later that day where luckily no one was hurt but alot of scooters were damaged. I'm gonna be a bit more careful who I get on the back of for sure.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    1
    Day 44

    Day 44

    March 20 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Kampot > Phnom Penh

    After another early wakeup from the sun, I got out of my hammock and got ready to leave. Saying goodbye to the dogs, I hopped on my scooter and headed towards the rental place which I barely remembered where it was. After no inspection he gave me back my passport (phew) and I headed towards the bus office which luckily was only a couple minuted away for my bus which I was about an hour early for. I dumped my bag and went to find some breakfast. I ended up in a nice little café and went for some ramen and a brownie.

    We boarded the bus and headed towards Phnom Penh. Unlike some of my recent journeys, this was very uneventful. We arrived and I ordered a grab tuktuk to take me to my hostel as I didn't want to walk an hour. I was able to check in about an hour early, and rent a scooter directly from the lobby. I change into some trousers and ride out towards the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. The ride out was definitely interesting, but I feel as if I've adjusted to the chaos of driving in South East Asia. Not only was there loads of traffic, but the road was under construction so I was weeving betwen cars on a dusty gravel road all the way.

    When I arrived I paid $6 for the entry and audio guide and went round. This was the 2nd half to S21 that we went to a few days ago, and was where prisoners were sent to be executed. There wasn't as much to listen to or see as S21 and it was eerily peaceful but seeing the mass graves and the glass walled stupa filled with 1000s of skulls and bones was very somber. I grabbed a mango smoothie and sat for a while before riding back to the hostel.

    I was in dire need of a haircut as it had been about 2 months and the sides were getting pretty messy. I walked about and very quickly found a barber who would cut my hair for $2. I've actually never been to a barber before in my life so explaining what I wanted to a Cambodian barber was fun. I got the sides cut shorter and the top tidied and he did a pretty good job, except that he cut pretty high around my ears which was an interesting experience.

    I met an Irish lass called Vanessa in my dorm and it was both our first days here so we headed up to the rooftop bar / restaurant / pool together to explore a bit. I go for a swim which was really nice under the night sky with the colourful LEDs shining over the pool then go and chat with Vanessa for a while whilst enjoying a Cambodian beer. We head downstairs and play a couple games of pool where I make some incredibly lucky skillful shots but end up losing both games (because I am awful at pool). Getting hungry we walk towards the night market for some food, but it was almost 11.30 now and most places were packing up. We find one place who just were open enough to cook us some food.

    When we head back to the hostel the bar had closed. Being the old man I am, I was thinking it was a perfect opportunity to go to bed. Vanessa wanted to head to a bar for "1 drink" so I went along with it. 4 hours later it was 4am and we had met this guy from Savannah, Georgia who had lived in Vietnam for over 10 years and was full of so many interesting facts. He was also fairly drunk and kept buying us drinks and shots. The bartender was a super cool Welsh / Australian dude who let Vanessa pour some Baby Guinesses and let's people play whatever music they like. Throughout the night we talked about so many different things and listened to so much music I had never heard from so many times and genres it was pretty mad. I was tired by 2am but 4am is where I called the limit and paid my tab and headed back. After showering I fell asleep almost instantly.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 45

    Day 45

    March 21 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Phnom Penh Cat Café

    Admittedly I'm not proud but I ended up waking up at 2pm after last night's late night. So now I have no time to go to the animal sanctuary as I had planned. New plan: I was hungry and thirsty and I needed somewhere to chill so I Googled cat cafés in Phnom Penh and was pleased to find 4 different choices. Not knowing what I was looking for, I picked the closest one and rode over.

    I ended up paying way too much for a blueberry smoothie and they didn't really have any food so I just committed to being hungry and sneakily eating the snacks I had in my bag. Once I had ordered I had to chose a pair of socks to wear which was included with my entry fee. They were all cat based socks so I spent a while making sure I went for the right pair. I ended up with a brown pair with a cute little grey cat on it. After sanitising my hand I was allowed through the cat-lock (think airlock but with cats) and into the room. It was a fairly small room but that was okay as it meant the density of cats was even higher. I have no idea how many cats they had but they were all so cute. The first one I decided to stroke for a while I decided to call grub as he was a little grubby and wearing a little jacket.

    I spent 4 or 5 hours in total, spent between stroking the cats, taking their picture, doing Duolingo, and writing my blog. When I left I was very hungry as I hadn't ate anything but a few biscuits all day so first priority was a good dinner. I searched online and found a cheap taco place that was highly rated. I ended up only getting one as enough to fill me up would have sent me over budget. As Riel is a closed currency I had to get rid of as much Riel and keep as much dollars as I could as I couldn't exchange Riel when I got to Vietnam tomorrow. The taco was gorgeous, with the filling piling up much larger than the mini tortilla, it was lucky I ate it without any spillage.

    Still being hungry I headed to the night market to grab some noodles which were good as usual. Still having some money left over and fancying a dessert, I grabbed some ice cream. 3 littx1 qle scoops of chocolate, coconut, and tuti fruti served in a coconut. It was gorgeous except for some reason they put Iiteral sweetcorn as a topping which I very quickly took off. After that I headed to 7-11 to spend the rest of my money on some water and some snacks before heading back to go to bed as we were leaving early for Vietnam tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    3
    Day 46

    Day 46

    March 22 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Phnom Penh > Ho Chi Minh

    I woke up a little anxious as I had an hour between returning my bike and getting on the bus to Vietnam. I got reception to call the bike place and I got my passport back without a hitch (phew). I ordered a grab and headed to the bus station. Once I was in the grab I got Alfie and Daisy (who had been in the city since before 6am) to order me some breakfast to go from the place they were at. I arrived with plenty of time.

    Our bus was kinda funky. It was a sleeper bus with half seats half beds which were luckily just long enough for me and was fairly comfortable to lie on - only issue was that we couldn't sit up straight. Oh well. The breakfast was a bit difficult to eat on a bumpy bus half lying down but I made it work though I was incredibly stressed about the pot of soup spilling everywhere. I tied my trash in a bag and hung it on a hook praying the soup didn't go rogue.

    Just before the Vietnam border we had some complementary lunch. For being our last Cambodian meal it was also the worst. The rice was wet and boiled and the pork was like a well seasoned slab of leather. When we got to the border we all hopped off our bus with all our luggage and walked through. Starting by queuing in the regular line our guide told us to use the VIP line. That's how cool we were. After making it through no man's land and into Vietnam we boarded our bus again and headed towards Ho Chi Minh City.

    With no longer working SIMs we eventually got off and abused the bus companies WiFi to 1) find an ATM without withdraw fees 2) find somewhere to buy a SIM (unsuccessful) 3) order a grab to our accommodation.

    When we arrived at our accommodation our hope of a lovely 2 bedroom private apartment fizzled and we slowly walked into a rundown concrete apartment complex that looked likes God's toilet paper after a dodgy curry. We find our host and her first look is very confused. Bad sign. She takes us up another flight of stairs and opens up a small 1 bed studio. She says she can bring another mattress in and discount the price. Not wanting to find another accommodation at this time, we agreed. Atleast the room itself was fairly clean and seemingly bug free.

    She leaves and we laugh at the shithole we had booked. Atleast it was only for 1 night and we could find somewhere else for the next couple nights. We still hadn't got a SIM so we ventured to a local cellphone store and got a SIM each for pretty much no money. After that we were free to explore so we headed to the Bui Vien Walking Street which seemed to be the main street for bars and clubs. We chose the first place we saw and went for the inaugural local beer tasting - this time one called Tiger. It was okay and we sat right on the road for a while saying no to every person trying to sell us some trash.

    It was now time for food. Being in South East Asia I've been determined to try some cheap Michellin recommended / star food so I downloaded the app and selected "on a budget" and headed towards the closest place that served Pho - a popular Vietnamese noodle soup dish. It was pretty busy but we got seated and I ordered the classic beef. My review is... meh. It was good individually, the beef was soft and the noodles were even softer but the flavour was a bit plain. But I'm not the biggest soup guy so who knows. I did order a strawberry shake which was so so good.

    After that we headed back to our crack den where I fashioned a pillow for my floor mattress and after showering we got to sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 47

    Day 47

    March 23 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Ho Chi Minh

    After waking up in our crack den apartment, realising it wasn't some nightmare, I got up off the floor and we packed our bags. Before "checking out" we decided to head towards the Café Appartments - a big block of very cute cafés and other similar shops. We climbed some stairs and picked one of the first cafés we saw. This café was nice but pretty much only served sweet treats meaning my breakfast consisted of a lemon curd doughnut, a fancy matcha thing, and a chocolate cheesecake-esque thing. It was safe to say I let my stomach do the buying and by the end I was stuffed. It was all super yummy though - I don't think I could ever give up sugar to he honest it's too addictive.

    After that we headed back to Crack Den Accommodation™ to pick our bags up before getting out of there and walking 15. minutes to our new hostel. It was too early to check-in but we could drop our bags. Our first stop was the War Remenants Museum which we lazily got a grab to to save on a 30 minute walk but for 50p each we couldn't really complain. The Museum was about the Vietnam war which was pretty cool to see but there was alot of reading and alot of photos. When you first enter they have loads of American tanks, planes, helicopters, artillery, and bombs to walk around and have a look at. After that I went to have a look at the Tiger Cage exhibition. Honestly, I knew very little about the Vietnam war but hearing about what the Americans did was pretty horrifying. After reading, I got to walk around the mock prisoner of war camps and saw the conditions that they kept them in, often putting them through torture and being fed drabs of rotten fish and rice - stuffing them in small barbed wire cages. All of this permitted by the US - absolutely insane.

    Inside the main building was - as I said - alot of photos and information. I didn't read everything but there were 2 main rooms that I spent most of my time in. The first was the exhibition about the use and effects of Agent Orange - a chemical weapon that the US used in mass (over 20 million gallons) all over Vietnam who's effects will still be seen for another 100 years. Another room was dedicated to the pictures and evidence of the war crimes committed by US soldiers - slaughtering many many innocent people - burning villages to the ground along the way. Eventually I decided I had enough of reading as my head was getting frazzled so I met Alfie and Daisy outside at a Banh Mi place nearby. Banh Mi is a classic Vietnamese sandwich baguette thing. All I know is I've missed having bread - especially for lunch - and I liked it so much I ordered 2. Well okay I ordered 2 because I was hungry and they're not super big.

    Afterwards we decided to check out the Notre Dame and the Post Office. I know what you're thinking... Sam surely they don't have post in Vietnam. Oh you were actually wandering why there's a Notre Dame in Vietnam. Yeah that makes alot more sense. Well basically Saigon (the previous name for Ho Chi Minh) used to be a French colony and the French love the Notre Dame so they built another. This one was just like the original - in the sense that it was covered in scaffolding so who could even tell anyways. The Post Office was a fairly uninteresting building where I think the main attraction is the European style architecture but for us it wasn't anything new.

    We wandered down Book Street which had a really nice vibe of loads of stores selling new and used books from all sorts of languages. If I hadn't brought Lord of the Rings and still not read a single page I would have been tempted to get something but I know how bad I am at actually reading any book I buy. I do see some funny cat notebooks made from local handmade paper which were really cool but I knew it'd be wasted on me as I wouldn't know where to start with a notebook. Afterwards we thought we'd wander over to the night market and do some planning. This night market was pretty sweet. Stalls with cuisine from all over the world, a live band playing awesome songs, and hilarious stickers in the toilets (see pictures). I wasn't hungry straight away as I had brought and ate a whole packet of passion fruit sweets. Eventually when my appetite came back I went for another classic Vietnamese dish - Banh Xeo - a crispy stuffed rice pancake served with way too much salad that I didn't bother touching. For dessert I finally had some STICKY MANGO RICE again. It wasn't as good as it was in Thailand but I'm still glad I had it.

    We head back to our hostel - walking through what felt like Vietnamese Time Square. When we get back we actually check in and I'm shown to my dorm whilst they're shown to their private room. I end up chatting with some British guys who were preing with a bottle of vodka and coke. They offered me some but as I'm officially in my old man phase of life I said no, opting for a shower and sleep instead.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    3
    Day 48

    Day 48

    March 24 in 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.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    2
    Day 49

    Day 49

    March 25 in 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.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 50

    Day 50

    March 26 in 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.    Read more

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