20/05/2014

Got bus in the morning. Only a short one down the road of around 3/4 hours. A really popular way of doing it is hiring a motorbike and driving there yourself, giving it back to the same company at the other end. The road follows the coast and its super beautiful, and does some high pass at the top. The route is famous as it was part of the Top Gear special episode in Vietnam. You can also get them to send all your bags down there in a bus, so you can drive freely without your pack, and just pick it up at the other end. Met loads of people who done it. However in the end I decided to opt against it. I don't think we done the pass in the bus, but we went through a really really long tunnel instead. En route we passed Da Nang. This place was really quite modern, and had some stunning bridges, one of which was a big yellow dragon lol. Continuing just out of town we went down a strip along the beach of some of the most insane hotels I have ever seen, all 5 star bad boys, Dubai style. Looks like theyre really trying to make it take off, and there was an advertisement saying Da Nang got voted one of the top 10 beach spots in the world.

Found digs. There was one with a swimming pool for $5, but it was an inside one and wasn't very good. Went next door for $4. Had explore round town on the night. Was so beautiful and chilled out. Hoi An is an old colonial town by the French on a tiny river. The old buildings on the front are all restaurants where people sit and drink watch the world go past. The place is full of Chinese lanterns everywhere and there's a real nice vibe. There was lots of tourist everywhere and I think my folks would have enjoyed it.

I found a nice spot and enjoyed 4k bia hoi, that's 12p a glass. Vietnam is famed for having the cheapest beer in the world.

21/05/2014

Had a full explore of the city during the day time. Very very nice. As for food the main dish in Vietnam is pho, pronounced fur. Which is a beef noodle soup. Pretty good. I also got some sesame seed donuts which were covered in sugar, great snack. It was so roasting as well and couldn't resist but keep buying loads of cans of pop, perhaps two a day. I think because I was getting a real lack of sugar in my diet, mainly because I was eating just baguettes as they were the cheapest thing I could get my hands on.

Done some research into jobs on the night.

22/05/2014

Wandered around again, seen Jeanne in the street on a bike ride. She was staying at a place called the sunflower, very popular with the backpackers. Apparently they do a breakfast buffet which is out of this world. We had a nice chat.

Waited for my bus. Read Dune. Bus eventually turned up late, and when it arrived it was rammed. By the time we all got on we got the remaining beds, and I among with four others had the back beds which went all the way across. I was in the corner against the window, which was actually better as it was next to the aircon and it was sandwiched in against another person. There was a bed at the end of my feet and it was so cramped the whole night, and really couldn't find a good way to lie as the back was irreclinable. Worse of all was being at the back of the bus and it bouncing like crazy. Like a bouncy castle. Probs the worst nights kip of the night.