Farewell Vietnam, Hello India

Second farewells are slightly awkward and it was weird saying good bye for a second time to Pam, Maree and Ebony. 'Us 4' had our farewells straight after breakfast and soon everyone was gone - well almost. Pauline's tour guide didn't show up for another 30 minutes and as she left Simon, Tricia, Jill and Bev came down for breakfast, so I joined them and we had a good long chat. An hour later, we all said our good byes and I walked out to explore Saigon on foot. I have to say I didn't get very far in the searing heat.

Last night I'd asked Tan for recommendations for a good place to have Pho as I wanted that to be my last meal in Vietnam. After roaming around for a couple of hours I decided that I was hungry enough for some pho and managed to find 'Pho Hung' near the hotel and it  was indeed a nice discovery that I was the only foreigner there. There were so many varieties of pho that I was confused and ultimately ended up ordering Pho with meatballs - the bowl was huge and it was yummy even though I wasn't that great a fan of the meatballs. Definitely highly recommended for a good bowl of pho - even though I miss the coriander in it.

I arrived at the airport bang on time but didn't see my flight listed there and I thought 'Oh shit!!!'. The airport help desk pointed out that my flight was not till 4.30 and that my check in time was 2 PM. I kicked myself for not checking the times properly - it was stuck in my head that my flight time was 2 PM and hence arriving a good 4 hours before my flight. Going back into the city was not an option and neither was sitting in the airport for another 4 hours, so found a locker to store my bag and headed out to a shopping mall nearby to pass some time.

While at the local convenience store within the food court, I got some water and was waiting for my turn to pay the cashier when 3 little kids cut me off in the line. Their mom saw what they'd done and asked them to say sorry - which they did and then they started practicing their english on me. It was fun and once they paid they waved a big goodbye to me. I roamed around in the food court to see if I wanted to eat something light. The food court was packed to the brim and the air conditioning couldn't cope with the crowd as it was pretty hot in there. After much deliberation i settled on another bowl of pho but this time from one of their fast food chain outlets called 'Pho 24'.

The pho was good - not great but what made it fun was all the shopkeepers watching me eat plus the kids I'd met earlier were running around the food court and they'd stop by occasionally to ask me further questions. When I told them I was from New Zealand - they pointed at their ice creams and said it was from New Zealand and they loved it. Later found out that there was an ice-cream shop called 100% New Zealand - which is where they probably got their ice creams from. I loved the fact that the kids were so exuberant and full of life and were so curious about the world around them. After finishing off my pho - I roamed the shopping mall a little more and then headed back to the airport since it was super hot and there wasn't much else I could do around the airport.

Time just passed away as I kept walking around the airport to burn off the 2 meals I'd had in such a short duration. I lost my favorite cap during one of the security check in processes and once I realized that I'd lost it i kicked myself mentally for it as it was my second mistake I'd made at the airport. There was no way that I could go back out to get it, so I walked around the airport for another hour or so and by the time we boarded I was ready for the on-flight meal.

I loved Vietnam - my favorite place would've to be Hoi An - just because it is so beautiful and small despite the fact that you see a lot more tourists because it's size.  People in Hue were really friendly and Hanoi had it's own charm and Halong Bay was just stunning and my least favorite - relatively speaking - would be Saigon - it is like any other big city and I guess I am not a big city guy anymore or maybe it takes time to get used to Saigon. And I'm lucky that our group was a good group and we all got along really well - almost all of us. :-)

2 hours to kill at KL Airport was another big ask. I again walked off my on-flight meal but then saw this really tempting malaysian restaurant and the smells coming from it were amazing, so ended up having my 5th meal of the day. The check-in process for the flight to Hyderabad was a good shock to the system as to what I was going back to. Most of the people boarding the flight were Indians and some of them had no civil sense - they'd cut across the line and join the queue wherever they wanted - ignoring the fact that the flight wouldn't actually leave without everyone on board. It was so annoying and it forms such a bad impression on everyone.

The lady sitting besides me was also super annoying and I had to deliberately start ignoring her, so that I could watch a movie in peace. The in-flight meal was alright but it's a personal best of having a full 6 solid meals in a day. The flight landed 10 minutes before scheduled arrival and I was out in a jiffy as I didn't have to wait for any luggage.

It's so good to see mum and dad after ages. Not sure if i'll keep a daily blog in India - will see how things go.
Amit

Delta Adventure

A 2 hour drive from Saigon to the port from where we were catching a boat to go deeper into Mekong Delta was definitely an apprehensive start to the day as it meant 4 hours of the day gone on the road. To top that Libby's situation had deteriorated further as she only slept for 2 hours and kept Simon and Tricia awake for most of the night by constantly knocking on their door and ultimately Tricia went and slept in her room for the 2 hours that Libby was asleep. By this stage she had become slightly delusional as well as in the mini bus she kept asking if all of this was a dream or if it was real.

Multiple exposure shot

All those apprehensions disappeared as soon as we boarded the boat to Mekong Delta. The water is muddy brown because of all the rich soil it is carrying downstream into the sea and the distributaries are wide. Our first stop was at a local coconut candy making workshop. Our guide said that one of the things that we would try would be drink some snake wine, so en route to the workshop I was teasing Maree if she would try it since she was a wine connoisseur and this was an exotic kind of wine. The thought of snake and wine together obviously didn't go down well with her, so after a while she told me to stop pulling her leg.

Equipment for gathering coconuts

Our guide was explaining to us how people get the coconuts and stuff - having seen such stuff during childhood I was kind of phased out and taking photos when she asked me if I would like to climb one of the trees later and I said why not. The coconut candy was nice and we also tried other small delicacies that they put out. Next in line was trying out liquor made from various kinds of things - first was rice wine and then it was coconut wine and finally it was snake wine. Not everyone had a go at drinking the exotic wine shots. It's hard describing the taste but snake wine was definitely the best of the lot.

Coconut candies being made

Stirring the pot

Scorpion wine and more

Next up was handling a python and I think everyone tried it except Tricia.  The feel and weight of the snake on the body was an awesome feeling. You could feel the power of the snake even though it was calmly crawling around your body. I'd hate for it to be around me when it was hungry.

Tricia keeping her distance from the snake

Enjoying holding the python

As we were walking to catch our 'Vietnamese Mercedes' tour followed by some local lunch our local guide asked me if I wanted to climb the tree - I asked her what about the rope and stuff and she said that there was no rope. Since everyone had stopped for it I figured I might as well give it a shot. All I could hear was an audible gasp from everyone as I climbed a little by counter balancing my weight outwards against the tree. Not wearing shoes, not having a rope and sweating on a hot, balmy day are the reasons I'd give for not being able to climb further up plus Tan was slightly worried that I might injure myself by falling off the tree, so I slid back down to terra firma. Gayle gave me another nickname after the attempted tree climbing - 'monkey boy'.

Climbing the tree (photo courtesy: Ebony)

Locals and foreigners

Forgotten places

Everyone had one question when we were given helmets while boarding our 'Vietnamese Mercedes' - why do we need helmets? And the answer was 'coconuts' - you didn't wanna die from a falling coconut. The ride was fun - the back streets were narrow and there was ducking and weaving to avoid overhanging leaves and branches. We even ran out of fuel in our little buggy in the middle of nowhere and some ingenuity later we were up and running again. We had a quick fruit stop at a local outlet and it was a welcome break considering it was baking hot on the day.

Another local mode of transportation

Pauline, Bev, Gayle and Jill

Vietnamese Mercedes

Fueling up in the middle of nowhere

Catching up on news

We proceeded further part of the distance by 'mercedes' and the rest of the way by foot to the place where we were having lunch. One of the locals smoked out the bees from one of the beehives they had and another girl got us to put our finger right into the bee hive to taste some fresh honey. The taste of honey was amazing, even though putting your finger into the hive wasn't as exciting because we weren't sure if we'd get stung.

Smoking out the hive

The hole is where we put our fingers to taste honey

At lunch we got split into couple of groups - people who ate fish and those who didn't. I think it was the cooked elephant fish that arrived on our table that triggered another Libby meltdown. Jill and then Tricia took turns to calm her down and support her. The whole incident even changed the behavior/demeanor of the girl who was serving us - she'd be fine while serving the other table but as soon as she got to our table she would be hectic and rushed. It was another awesome feast and I really can't imagine what we'd have done without Tricia and Jill. For that matter I think Libby is lucky that she was in our group as everyone did their fair share of work taking care of her. If it was a younger group then she'd have crashed and burned and no one would've even blinked as everyone was there to have a good vacation and not take care of someone else. What was confounding was how on earth did Libby's parents allow her to travel on her own and that too to a country that did not have English as it's main language.

Elephant fish

A canoe-boat ride through the small streams along the delta got us back to our boat and we headed back to port from where we caught our bus back to Saigon. The bus trip was not as long going back but maybe it was because it rained on the way back and that instantly cooled the temperatures down.

Through the streams

Getting to work

Afternoon nap

Are you ready or what?

Opening some coconuts to cool us off

Pauline and Gayle enjoying the coconut water

Simon taking a photo while Ian being contemplative

Transporting rich soil from the delta for trade

Constant phone calls and email interaction with Libby's parents through out the day by Tan and Jill meant they were able to book a direct flight to Sydney for Libby leaving later that evening. If that hadn't happened then Libby would've been in deep shit as she had an extra 3 days in Saigon by herself and in her current condition there was no way she could have lasted even in an hour on her own.

Once we got back into Saigon, everyone bid farewell to Libby and Tan dropped her off at the Airport personally and made sure that she got through security alright. Everyone decided to chill out a bit while Ian and me walked over to the markets, so that I could pick up some souvenirs and also an 'iPho' t-shirt since everyone was insistent that I needed to buy one for myself since I love pho so much.  On way back to the hotel I dragged Ian to the Bo Bia Ngot street vendor, so that I could buy myself some more of that delicacy. I tried convincing Ian to try it but he wouldn't have any of it, especially since his tummy was feeling slightly fragile. We got ourselves the same savory bread from the bakers just around the corner to tide us over till our last group dinner in the evening.

The choice of restaurant for the last meal was kinda odd. At first glance it had a lot of western foods on the menu and we looked at Tan in confusion. It turned out to be a western-vietnamese fusion cuisine and the food was again good but would've preferred something more traditionally vietnamese. Tan had passed his exam and this was his last trip before a 2 month study break to finish off his studies, so we said goodbye to him and his wife. Last dinners are always a weird thing - just like saying goodbyes but everyone had a good time.

Gayle, Tricia, Simon and Ebony

Pauline, Bev and Jill

Ebony, Pam and Maree

On way back to the hotel I fell behind the group as I was trying to take a slow exposure photograph that would be in focus - which was a challenge without a tripod but I got one. As I was trying to catch up with a group a motorbike stopped in front of me and the guy asked me 'Boom Boom Girl' - to which I said no and kept walking. What is it about being a single male traveler that some people just assume that you are on look out for paid sex? Or is it that the percentage of single male travelers constitute their biggest consumers, so maybe they are justified in making that assumption?

City lights

The following morning Pauline was off to do a homestay in Mekong Delta while Ian and Gayle along with Pam, Maree and Ebony were off to do Cu Chi tunnels. Simon, Tricia, Bev and Jill had their flight around 6PM or so. Everyone said farewells in front of the hotel and then Maree, Ebony, Pam, and 'us 4' went for one final drink at a pub just up the road. The pub was expensive by Vietnamese standards - what had cost us less than a dollar usually cost us $4, so 'us 4' called it a night.

Another eventful and wonderful trip comes to an end and it's always sad leaving new friends but you always hope that you'll keep in touch because of technology. Tomorrow I've got half a day to myself before flying to Hyderabad to spend 3.5 weeks with mum and dad.

Amit

Chaotic Saigon

The official name is Ho Chi Minh City but even the locals call it Saigon, so I'll call it Saigon as well. We caught the morning flight from Danang to Saigon and Tan frightened us by saying that it'd be a Vietnam Airlines flight - whose times are always flexible to the last minute but when we got to the airport it turned out that we were flying Jetstar Pacific.

En route to the airport Tan told us his family history and it could easily act as a catalyst for a bigger story. His mother was Vietcong while his dad worked for the Americans during the Vietnam-US War. He was conceived and born in prison. Vietcong shot his dad while the Americans were responsible for his mother's death. And his grandmother was buried alive by American soldiers as she was also Vietcong - the only way they knew about it was her personal body guard had gone further up to check if there were any american soldiers but in the meantime the Americans caught her. She couldn't run or escape as her eye sight was poor and she was also old. They only found her remains in 2005 - after which they had a massive funeral celebration in her honor. The thing that stayed with me from the talk was how Tan's mother described to him why she joined Vietcong - 'Fighting America wasn't one of the options available to us but it was the only option.' You've got to give Vietnamese credit for their resilience and attitude for standing up on their feet so quick and making headway in today's modern world without holding a grudge (atleast not apparently so) - even though America messed up real bad there. Tan also told us he was doing his MBA papers part-time while doing his tour leader job, so as to get a managerial job instead of being away on tour for extended stretches of time. And later tonight he had an exam paper once we got to Saigon - which kinda explained his disappearance on a couple of nights earlier during the trip.

The current airport in Danang is small but there is massive construction happening for a bigger airport. While sitting there we saw a fighter jet take off and then land and then after a little more time another one took off and another one landed - we joked that it must've been the same plane but different pilots taking it for a spin one after the other. It might or might not be true as most of the air force is operating on cold war era technology supplied by the Russians and the Chinese and it is only now that they are undergoing the modernization drive - hopefully as a preventative measure for any future conflicts {by nature south east asia has always been a hot zone through the centuries}.

Waiting for our flight

More waiting

Our flight was bang on time. While getting ready to board the plane I decided that maybe I should take a pee before getting on the plane to save myself and fellow passengers some hassle incase I ended up with a window seat. I asked Ian to look after my bag but as soon as I put the bag down on the table it sent a glass on the table crashing onto the floor. I apologized profusely to the cafe lady and Tan was near by so he said something in Vietnamese to her, so she let me off the hook. I'm not clumsy per se but on this trip I seem to have outdone myself and got teased a fair bit by Pauline, in particular, for my awesome balance skills. So I got Ian to swear not to tell anyone about the broken glass incident and thankfully he kept his word.

Almost everyone had a nap on the flight (I won't put up any sleeping pics for fear of getting beat up for it) including Libby - which was a relief for the group as a whole. First impression about Saigon was that it was hectic and hot. The roads are wider and the buildings are taller and it definitely felt like any other big asian city rather than being the Vietnam we've become used to on this trip. Another thing that came to mind was that it was a lot like New Delhi as far as the feel of it was concerned. We dropped off our bags at the hotel and went off on a cyclo ride in the city.  If there is one thing I'd highly recommend doing in Saigon it'd be visiting the War Remnants Museum. It was a moving experience. The history in the building about the US-Vietnam war is amazing and the thing that was most moving were the photographs taken by war photographers from all different countries. It was a sombre experience.

Pauline enjoying the cyclo ride while Ian is absorbed

Gayle trying to cope with the heat

Cyclo through Saigon

Machine of War

Entering War Remnants Museum

Simon waving at his loyal subjects

Cathedral 

After roaming around some more on cyclos (which helped in getting oriented)- we were all starving but didn't want to have a sit down lunch, so Tan arranged some Vietnamese sandwiches for us all. We got off at the hotel and Libby was having another minor crisis with paying her cyclo driver. She'd already paid the guy US$10 and was about to pay more (when you are only supposed to pay $2), Maree and me walked over to help her out with it. I managed to get one of the $5 bills back but he wouldn't give back change for the rest by falling back upon the 'No english' phrase. It was infuriating but nothing much we could do about it since Libby was having further issues.

Libby wanted to get to her medications and was caught in a loop. It was all a blur as to who helped Libby out - Jill or Tricia- with getting to her luggage to get her medication but it was starting to get more and more annoying - even though you felt sorry for her condition. The sandwich was nice and disappeared within minutes right in the hotel lobby. All our bags were in Pam's room, so we picked up our bags and settled into our own rooms. A small break later 'us 4' decided to catch a cab to Ban Than market. In the cab I had this overwhelming smell of waffles and it was making me hungry even though I'd just eaten. At first I though it must've been a mistake - you know how sometimes you smell something and no one else does but then I reluctantly asked anyone else if they smelt waffles and it turned out that everyone else did too - it was coming from the american flag air freshener hanging in the cab. They obviously love America in Saigon.

The plan was to do some souvenir/gift shopping and initially our attempts at negotiating were completely shit and the shopkeeper wouldn't budge on the price for a t-shirt even though we all knew that the asking price was way too expensive by any stretch of standards. Things got better as we were able to barter for t-shirts, caps as well as table runners and got some good deals. All the walking around had me hungry, so as soon as we got back to the hotel Ian and me went exploring nearby for a bakery. We found one just around the corner and got a couple of savory pieces to eat - which turned out to be nice and just what the doctor ordered to fill the tummy till the evening dinner.

Walking through the streets

There was still another couple of hours before we were all supposed to meet up to head out to dinner and I didn't feel like sleeping, so I decided to head out and do some exploring and photographing. In the lobby - the internet computer was available, so I decided to check my mails and all - and as I was doing it I heard Libby's voice at reception. I turned around and over heard her saying that she wanted to withdraw money as she felt she was ripping people off in Vietnam and wanted to give away money to all places we've been to. The front desk staff were confused, so I quickly jumped in and tried sorting out the issue. After almost 15 minutes of hard slog- I managed to convince Libby that she should talk to Tan about which places she could donate money to before doing any such thing. Just at that moment Simon came down into the lobby and the whole thing repeated itself except this time around it was Simon trying to tell her the exact same thing I'd said. Just as he got through to her - Tan came down the stairs and it took him another 30 odd minutes to tell Libby that she should go up and write on paper how much she wanted to donate to which organizations etc. The problem ofcourse being that Libby had no concept of value of money and that she wanted to put cash in an envelope so that Tan could deliver it to the people she wanted. After Libby went upstairs - Simon and me tried explaining to Tan the issues with Libby but I'm sure that was the last thing on his mind - especially with his exam looming on his head.

Since Simon was going out for the same reason as I was - we decided to do the exploring and photographing together. The evening rush hour traffic was an experience and absolutely mind blowing. 2 wheelers using the footpath, the constant zig-zag motion, the order within chaos was just stunning. When you cross the street you are like a leaf in the water - the traffic just weaves past you. We didn't really get to explore much as we were short on time but we did photograph around a fair bit.

Footpath is for everyone

A traffic cops worst nightmare

Poultry

Chilling out

While coming back to the hotel - there was this really interesting street food thing that was being made with the title 'Bo Bia Ngot', so we started photographing it. The Vietnamese gentleman who was buying the stuff, looked at us and said that we should try it. I was a bit apprehensive and Simon said no but when the guy said that it was the best in Saigon and that i'd enjoy it. To convince us to try it - he said that it was on him. I said yes and ate the delicacy  straight away. It was amazing - it had nice taste, it had various levels of texture and it was just right. It was some kind of soft crepe filled with shredded coconut and sesame seeds and some kind of sugar cane confectionery  Seeing me enjoying the delicacy - Simon decided he wanted to try it as well. I think he liked it as well. The Vietnamese gentleman left us as soon as we'd tried the dish and I was thankful and appreciative of his openness as well as willingness to convince 2 foreigners to try something we wouldn't usually have tried.

Vietnamese gentleman who got us to try the local delicacy

It was soon time for us to head out to dinner, so we headed back to the hotel. The first thing that Ebony said when we told her we had some delicious street food was 'You idiots.' and cracked up laughing. All of us soon caught a cab to Lemongrass Restaurant - located on the 14th floor of Palace Hotel for a dinner and Tan had already made reservations for us. The ambiance, the setting and the food made up for the slow service but it was still an expensive outing. I personally would've preferred to eat at a place frequented by locals. I made my way upto the terrace to see if I could get some good shots and have to say Saigon is rising up fast and is spread out - you can see sky scrapers far into the distance.

Rising skyscrapers towards Saigon River

Saigon skyline from Palace Hotel

It was an early night in for everyone as tomorrow is supposed to be a busy day on Mekong Delta. I'm not sure I like Saigon as much as I loved the rest of Vietnam but will reserve my opinion till the end of this trip.

Amit

Photography, cooking and beach

You'd think that 5 AM would be an early start for a photography tour but it's the perfect time for it. It was also good that I wasn't the only person waking up at 5 in the morning everyday :-). The morning air was cool and it was already coming to light. Tan, Simon, Libby and me got onto a boat and cruised down Thu Bon river to a fish market.

Early morning in Hoi An

Cruising down Thu Bon river

Sunrise

Fuel boat returning to dock

The sunrise was beautiful but came out earlier than predicted which meant that some of the fishing boats were returning slightly later so that they could catch their full quota of fish. The boat ride was stunning and the fish market was busy. Tan knew a fair bit of photography and was happy to share his knowledge through out the trip. Libby had a near meltdown as her memory card filled up and she didn't know what to do but Tan managed to handle it by talking to her and deleting some useless/repetitive pics from her camera.

The fishing sales system is awesome and it is ridiculous how the amount gets inflated 5-6 times and sometimes more by the time it reaches consumers in the city plus we pay a shit load more money for fish in western countries than in developing countries like Vietnam, who knows why - cost of compliance, labor rates maybe? The honesty system works great and what also impressed me was the personalized business ethic where a relationship is not just limited to business but goes beyond that. Also observed the most basic form of futures trading there - which obviously is an integral part of the system here. You look at size of some of the fish and you wonder how the sea is still providing for us but apparently this kind of fishing has been going on for ages and everything still seems to be working fine. I guess the biggest advantage is that they are not deep sea trawling and neither are they using illegal techniques like dynamite fishing (hopefully!!).

Quota allocation

Catching a ride into town

Fish

Waiting for the next boat to come in

Anchovies getting dried in sun

Fresh catch changing hands

Fisherman checking his fishing net

Fishing

We returned to the old town and were supposed to have breakfast at Cargo Club - which is supposed to have amazing breakfast but unfortunately for us they had just opened and said they would take another 30 minutes before breakfast would be served. Since we were feeling hungry, we decided to return to the hotel where we would get free breakfast and apparently it was supposed to be much better than the other hotel we stayed at.

Romantic Hoi An

Getting started for the day

Dogs enjoying the morning sun

Libby was stuck in a loop while walking back to the hotel but again Tan managed to somehow calm her down a bit. Tan was also taking the cycling tour and their trip started at 09.00 AM, so Ian, Gayle, Ebony and a bunch of others left soon after we got there. The breakfast at the hotel wasn't bad at all and the setting of the restaurant was really nice. We had an hour and a bit before we got picked up for the cooking course, so I whiled away time at the breakfast table before I popped over into my room to get changed and all.

By the time I came down it was 4 minutes past 10.30 and everyone was waiting for me - it was slightly more embarrassing than normal as I was the only guy in the cooking class. I remember lying down on the bed and looking at my phone and the next thing I knew I woke up at 10.30 by accident - with the phone casually lying by my side. I must've needed that nap. We, Bev, Jill, Maree, Pam, Pauline, me and Hahn (the girl teaching us) caught a cab to the local market where we bought some of the ingredients for the cooking class and Hahn taught us a fair bit about selecting the right kind of vegetables.

Hahn explaining about various spices

At local vegetable market

Our group following Hahn - our cooking teacher

Vegetable seller

Once we had our ingredients we walked over to the cooking school [Gioan Cookery Classes] which was in a big house. Han is crazy but very funny and knew how to run the class and also knew her cooking inside-out. She also kept referring to me as 'hot guy' throughout the class. The cooking class was informative and partially hands on but unlike the cooking classes I had done in Thailand & Borneo - you were more of a passive participant as it was a group effort rather than an individual effort, so that the dishes could still be cooked in time. I tried becoming an active participant but every time I picked up the ladle to stir something - everyone would step back a couple of steps as no one trusted my cooking skills and/or co-ordination skills. It didn't help that I had stepped on Maree's feet a couple of time during the class by accident and also managed to get some oil splash while turning over some aubergine.

Maree, Jill & Bev (following behind) walking to school

Pauline and Pam competing 

We learnt some awesome tricks to make sure the dishes came out better than expected even when deep fried. Once cooked we ate all the dishes and they were amazing - the best one was papaya salad - which disappeared very quickly, followed by the remaining 4 dishes. It was a real treat and would highly recommend the course.

After the cooking class we caught a cab back into old town and Pauline and me headed off to Yaly to pick up her jacket. It took ages for them to come around to delivering the jacket, so we sat in the shop when Tricia and Simon came into the shop as Tricia had to pick up clothes that she had ordered. Tricia got her clothes first and they were gone before us but Pauline did get her jacket and she was happy with it. We returned to the hotel where Gayle and Ian were waiting for us. We rented out a couple of mangy looking bikes from the hotel to go to the beach and they lived up to their reputation as the chain on mine came undone after 1 KM. Ian helped me out with putting the chain back on, before we could proceed any further. It feels great biking on flats - I am tempted to start biking to work once I get to Auckland - let's see how that goes. as I'm never thrilled with the hills and the inconsiderate motor vehicle drivers.

The beach was like any other beach in the world. We noticed a fair few dodgy characters around, so we decided to take turns in taking a dip in the sea - Pauline and Ian went first & then it was Gayle and me. Gayle and me tried to imitate and tease the way Pauline walked back from the sea but she wasn't even looking. Around that point we noticed Libby sitting on her own and a street seller trying to sell her something. Ian promptly walked over to help her out of the situation but Libby had already bought some stuff and hopefully didn't get ripped off. Ebony, Pam and Maree had returned from the sea by that point, so Ian came back. Sometime later a whole lot of street sellers turned up and started laying out mats on the beach and one of them tried to vacate us from our spot but we stayed put, so they worked around us. Within 5 minutes most of the beach was covered by various mats - it must be for the locals coming in later in the evening or something. Since we had our quota of the beach time, we pedaled back to the hotel and had a shower and all before meeting up again to go into town.

'Us 4' at the beach

It was hot even though it was evening, so we had to walk slow. We started searching for a place that Tan had recommended but after walking around for eons we still couldn't find it. We bumped into everyone else except Simon and Tricia and they were as lost as us while trying to find that recommended restaurant. While walking around I recognized a beautiful Vietnamese girl from the afternoon but this time around she had a foreigner sitting on the pillion and it got me thinking if it was again part of hidden Vietnam that we got a glimpse of in Hue. After roaming around some more and checking out the menus of various restaurants [actually Pauline was assigned that responsibility somehow] we ended up at a restaurant which looked nice and the food was reasonably priced.

The food specialties of Hoi An are White rose; Cau Lau and Wonton. I'd already tried white rose as part of my set menu the night before, so ordered the other 2 dishes for dinner and both of them were delicious. I really liked Cau Lau and that brought to end another wonderful day of food in Vietnam. We bumped into Tricia and Simon who were searching for a different restaurant where they had booked a meal for themselves and we parted ways once we figured out that they needed to go the opposite direction.

My usual aim when visiting new places is that if I get one picture that I am really happy with I am a happy man and since I got a few that I was happy with for the day I decided not to take my camera with me. I was kicking myself mentally as I saw a lot more things I'd like to have captured that night and made a mental note  never to do such a silly thing like that again. We all ended up at Cargo Club and ordered pastries and also bought Ian one as a belated birthday thing. The pastries were amazing but mine was so rich that there was no way I could finish it off and had to sweet talk Ian into finishing off the rest of mine.

The guilty pleasures (photo courtesy: Ian)

Ian wanted to check out the pub right across the road from there as it was chilled out and had a cool ambiance. We had a drink there before we headed back to the hotel as we were feeling pretty tired by that point and that brought an end to a memorable day in Hoi An.

Tomorrow we fly out to Saigon.
Amit