Day 52 18th jan
6 o'clock and I'm awake.... Awoken by a sound I've begun to hate... Shirees alarm clock.... It's always set around an hour earlier than id set mine, apparently so we can "snooze"
We pull ourselves together and head down for an early breakfast... Heads banging, and with stomachs that feel like they could easily be emptied into a bucket.... Oh the irony....
The breakfasts across Asia have rarely met with my approval and despite the staffs best efforts, this place has proved no different....
Ordering a cup of tea is a total lottery.... Sometimes you'll get it hot, sometimes cold, sometimes with tea bag, sometimes with tea bag removed, sometimes with sweetened milk already added, sometimes without the option of any type of milk at all..... And all this is assuming you haven't been given "Green tea" or some other funky Asian alternative.. So if tea can be this complicated I fail to understand how breakfast can be so easy, and then, whilst reading the menu I remember...... you only get two choices..... Egg with bread, or Bread with egg... That's it, and although I'm not feeling like eating anything at the moment I've had enough... It's agreed that today we buy breakfast cereals and milk ourselves... Problem solved....
We find ourselves waiting in the hotel reception area for our "City Tour" collection, I'm sure we are both making silent vowels with ourselves never to drink again.... Or maybe it's just me...... Our collection time has come and gone... This is far from unusual in Asia, so after waiting an additional 30 mins the reception staff reluctantly start to make calls to the tour company to find out what's going on.... The guy gets off the phone and asks us to follow him, he'll walk us to the collection point... So we follow this guy across a dual carriageway amidst a sea of horns and bikes, then across a park area where we find ourselves waiting on the edge of another dual carriageway... The guys been in a hurry, as he's had to leave the hotel reception unmanned in order to help us.... There are a number of coaches and buses parked along the road and he starts to work his way along the line asking if there's is our bus.... In the end, after another more heated phone call it transpires that we have been forgotten.... Personally I'm thinking "Thank God" and take rest on a road side barrier, happy to sit there and not move all day, or at least until I feel half human again... I figure Shiree must be feeling pretty similar when she pipes up to tell the guy to just re rebook us for the following day.... He was trying to get the tour company to return for us, so after a final phone call it's agreed we go tomorrow......
With day bags on our shoulder we decide to wonder off, back in the direction of the market from yesterday.... Shirees decided she'd like some sun glasses and I've been keeping an eye open for a pair of shoes.... I'm not looking for anything fancy, just a pair that'll go with shirt and jeans better than the green trainers I've currently got, so after more haggling from Shiree on her glasses than I thought possible we leave... Shoes and glasses in tow... We aimlessly wonder around and end up back near the hotel... We walk into a cafe and order a coffee... I use the wifi to check online to see if there's any emails about the bike... There nothing, but I do notice that the guy who contacted me a few days ago, the guy that's now looking for a 1963 classic Honda is advertising his iphone.... I know Its money generated from this sale that'll fund his bike purchase so I email him again to see if he'd be interested in a swap... Bike for phone... He is, and we arrange to meet in the cafe in 5 mins... He is on the same road we are already, and he's just about to hire a bike.... So I shoot back to the hotel, grab the bike and gently ride it 300 meters up the road to the cafe... I set back down for 20 seconds and a guy walks in carrying a helmet...
We go outside and he checks the bike over... I hand him the keys and he takes it for a spin... On his return he gives the electrics a once over and we agree a deal.... Bike or phone, plus 500000dong, with is around £15.... I'm of been happier with a straight swap, but I phones as good as English currently in my eyes were as local currency will need changing... Which will cost us, plus he is the only person to show any interest so we do a deal... I think the phones worth about £165 so I'm happy enough... The bike owes us around $350 in total so we are close enough as £165 is around $320
Later that evening a few phones exactly the same as ours sell on eBay for around the £185 mark so overall we break even which pleases me.....
All the exertion of bus chasing, shopping, bike selling and the market cartel has warn us out.... Not to mention last nights antics so it's off for an afternoon snooze for us....
This works well for me, I'm fixed come 19.00 when we leave the room in search of food, Shirees not yet firing on all cylinders and the prospect if food hasn't worked its normal magic... But I'm quietly confident.... And besides, I'm starving.... I give Shiree full choice of where we go... "Anywhere you want to eat, I'm happy to go to" I say, in the hope she'll find something that interested her....
We wonder past a few places, an Indian, a Mexican, a Vietnamese and there's barely any recognition at all.... Then she spots a sign for a "Roof Top" bar..... 7th floor !
This prospect obviously lifts her spirits somewhat as the first thing we do once seated is order a cocktail.... "Miss Saigon" catches my eye and that's what we have.... It would appear that "Miss Saigon's" ability to put a smile on your face is quite remarkable...... And it's worked wonders on Shirees, She's smiling again !!
The night time skyline view here is amazing..... There's coloured lights covering whole buildings everywhere and your privileged to a silent birds eye view of some of the tightly packed local streets, theres movement everywhere... Bikes, People and smoke from open stoves on the street are dominant and in the distance high rise buildings lights twinkle all night....
The Vietnamese people living in The main city's have no choice but to build up... And they do..... But because the ground floor building is usually pretty small the extra floors usually are too... Singles rooms precariously balance on top of each other high into the sky maybe 5 or 6 stories high... In the distance there's an impressively lite, curved, tall building that loosely resembles a tall wave, it's an office building that's maybe 60 floors high with a huge helipad protruding from it.... There is money in Vietnam, but it's the minority that have it....
After a good look around, and a browse if the menu we take the lift back down to ground and wonder into the Indian that's finally had the pull on Shiree I expected it to earlier....
The place is run by an Indian guy and its brilliant.... It's like having an Indian at home and although pretty hot it's lovely with a menu with some familiar dishes and many deferent choices too....
On our way home we find a shop selling Kellogg's cornflakes and stock up !!
I'm finally looking forward to breakfast.