Mega Mashup

I have not posted for a long time and there is much to catch up on.  I will section this entry off into separate stories to make it less confusing... but before I do this here are some random things that have been happening.

There is a coffee lady that has a small cart with an umbrella on it, at the end of my street.  Sometimes I go there and buy an iced coffee.  One time when I was there, I noticed a small creature holding on to the umbrella pole.  It was a slow loris!  A pet slow loris!
A few days later I went back to the same coffee lady with Alex and showed it to him.  It was then that the coffee lady's daughter plucked the slow loris from the pole and shoved it into my arms.  It was super cute!

sleepy slow loris

:D

Alex and I went to the Black Cat Cafe and shared "The Big Cheese".  It was the biggest burger I have ever seen and was supremely tasty.  It had lots and lots and lots of bacon on it.

The Big Cheese

Having previously mentioned the bare-foot, shirtless tree gym that costs $7 a month, I finally took a picture of it... so behold... TREE GYM.

Tree Gym

CROCODILE FARM

Recently, myself, Alex and Sean went to visit a crocodile farm here in Saigon.  I was a short ride away and well worth the visit.  I grew up in the Northern Territory in Australia, but I never saw such large and powerful crocodiles up close before.  They were really quite scary, especially when the large adults in one pond started powerfully snapping their maws and then letting out a terrifying guttural roar to which others would respond from the same pond, but also from other ponds all around us.

MEKONG DELTA

I was fortunate enough to be invited to go along with Alex and a group of three other Germans on a trip to the Mekong Delta, where we stayed with a local family in their house, in a small village.  It was so good to be out of Saigon and in the quiet of of the country side.
It was quite an interesting trip!

We were treated to quite an array of different foods including, fermented fish, fish soup, home made spring rolls (which we helped make), fresh fruit straight from their garden, chicken (also straight from their garden :( ), snake, rat and two fish that Alex caught.

The river outside our host's house

Grilling rat!

Snake and papaya

This picture sums up rural Vietnam for me - motorcycles and chickens

Some of the local scenery

 DA NANG AND HOI AN

Alex and I recently flew to Da Nang with the intent to hire motorcycles and ride to Hoi An.  Da Nang has an awesome "dragon bridge".  On the weekends at 9pm, this bridge shoots out fire and water, much to the delight of the large crowds gathered to watch it.  Da Nang was another nice change from the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.  Considerably less traffic, quieter and sleepier.  We found a small park with marble statues in it, by the river; we could even see the dragon bridge in the distance.

The marble statues in the park were amazingly carved and the detail in some of them was really impressive.  Nothing like the sculptures in St.Peter's Basilica, but impressive none the less.  Having been a huge monkey magic fan as a kid, one statue of a lion that I remember seeing a lot in that show took my fancy.

Ye olde lion statue!

Da Nang had a nice feel about it and I wouldn't have minded spending some more time there... but we had things to do!

Da Nang Dragon Bridge

After hiring our motorbikes, we decided to ride out to the Ba Na Hills resort.  On the way out there we road along the river and Alex noticed this on one of the ships moored at a dock.

Safety Firts

It was a pretty awesome ride out there through the country side to where we would catch a cable car up a fairly big mountain.  It was a twenty minute ride in the cable car and we were treated to some spectacular views as well as being scared little girls when the capsule started swinging back and forth and vibrating when it passed over the suspension towers and their little wheels.

Once we got to the top of the mountain and to the Ba Na Hills "Resort" we realised it more resembled a theme park than any sort of resort.  It seemed to be oddly themed in a medieval castle / fairytale motif and only really being about restaurants, most of which were closed (this probably explains the strange looks we received when we were going up the escalators to the cable car, while everyone else was coming down).

Welcome to Ba Na Hills Resort....

It was really quite nice up there, despite 95% of everything being closed and the rides and attractions either being closed or under construction.  I guess the big draw card was the awesome views from the high vantage point.  It was probably the only time in Vietnam that I have felt cold without it being at night and raining, simply due to the elevation.

Giant Buddha

We had to wait over an hour for the cable car ride back down and by that time it was pretty much night time.  Once we left the cable car station and escaped the range of the bright spot light shining out over the mountain side, the ride down was quite surreal, yet awesome at the same time.  We just drifted, through the darkness, slowly descending with the only lights being Da Nang city in the distance, glittering like a million cats eyes.  It was dead quite apart from the wind and the gently hum of the cable car moving along the cables.  It was such an awesome experience.

Once we reached the bottom, got our bikes back and headed off back to Da Nang, disaster struck.  Alex's bike (aka Blackie Chan) decided to conk out then refuse to start.  We tried for a while to start it; including me picking the rear end up and slamming it on the ground to try and clear a suspected fuel blockage.  No love.  Eventually a local man approached us and tried to help, but he could not figure it out either so he pointed us down the road to what we understood was a mechanic.

Once we got there, the mechanic tried to start the bike, then just began taking it apart.  We were given the usual Vietnamese plastic chairs to sit on while we waited.

Mr.Mechanic working his magic

I didn't dare take photos of what I saw, however just down the road from where we were waiting while the bike was fixed, was a large group of police.  I walked out to the road and watched, then a local man came to me and started talking full speed in Vietnamese at me.  Eventually, with body language, I understood that there had been a fatal accident there and those police were there to investigate.

After about 45 minutes of work, the mechanic cleared the fuel blockage and everything was good to go.  It cost a grand total of $7.50.  We made it back to our hotel in Da Nang without further incident.

The next day, we planned on riding to Hoi An.  On the way, however, we stopped at a place called The Marble Mountains.  There is a large marble quarry there, however there is also a pretty interesting attraction as well.  We caught an elevator to the top of the mountains and walked around looking at the various old Buddhist pagodas, caves, statues and so on.  It was really quite cool.

A view near the top

A confused and worried looking cat being ridden by some dude.

Buddha in the main cave

The top!

Upon returning to the ground from our Marble Mountain expedition, we walked back to our parked bikes, past the many many shops selling carved marble statues.  This scene caught my eye in particular.

And we were off, to Hoi An, to the town famous for it's authentic old style buildings and atmosphere in the ancient town area.  Also famous for it's stunning beach.  Good times ahead for sure!

We had both planned to have suits and shoes tailored for us as this is another thing for which Hoi An is renown.  There were tailor shops everywhere in this town; almost on every street!
Having done some research online, we decided on using Sesan tailor, as Trip Advisor rated them highly.

After choosing our fabrics, being measured and mildly groped by the tailor.... it was off to the shoe tailor for a matching pair of shoes to be made.  It was a pretty straight forward, process; we had our feet traced on some paper, then measured all over with a tape.  We chose our design from several tomes of printed our pictures of shoes, then picked our leather from a massive wad of choices.

We rode back to Da Nang after finishing with the shoe tailor, as it was getting late and we wanted to make it back in time to see the dragon bridge breath fire and spit water.  While we waited for the aforementioned dragon, we were mobbed by a group of locals on the bridge, all wanting their photos taken with us.  It was a very surreal experience, like we were famous or something.

On top of that, a TV camera and reporter decided to interview me on the bridge about the dragon and what I thought of Vietnam, adding to the sense of strange and misplaced celebrity.

Worst freeze ever!

The next day we set off on our bikes back to Hoi An; Alex had replaced Blackie Chan to avoid another breakdown.  On this trip I decided it would be a good idea to speed maniacally and soon realised I had left Alex behind.  I got all the way into Hoi An and to the tailors shop before I stopped, checked my phone only to realise that Alex's replacement bike had also broken down!  I rode back to try and find him but by the time I got there he had already organised a new bike and was mobile again. Now he had a yellow bike (Betty).

Ginger and Betty

We eventually arrived in Hoi An and checked into a hotel, so we could explore the town properly.  Hoi An was my favourite place in Vietnam; it reminded me of an Asian version of the small town I grew up in, except a lot of tourists and a slightly nicer beach.
We were in Hoi An in time for the full moon festival.  During this festival, only lanterns are used to light up the old ancient town area, giving the throngs of eager tourists a glimpse into the past of what old Vietnam may have been like.  It was an awesome experience and not something I will soon forget.

The beach was quite spectacular and we scored an awesome sunset swim in the warm ocean.  I almost didn't go because I was so tired and laying on the hotel bed, but Alex insisted.  So glad I went!

On our last night in Hoi An we went out drinking (surprise!).  After a decent amount, we were walking back towards our hotel when we were stopped on the bridge by a guy handing out flyers for "Why not bar?" - a bar... somewhere around.

"Free motorbike to get there!" he said.

"Why not!"

While attempting to jump on the back of my ride, misjudged it and caught the groin area of my shorts on the back of the bike and put a decent tear into them.  Fail.

The ride to the bar was extremely fast as it seemed our drivers were racing each other.  The bar itself was very small, most of the space taken up by a pool table in the centre upon which about 6-7 people were dancing.

We paid $8 each for unlimited drinks of either gin, whiskey or rum.  Needless to say we both indulged.
After a while of knocking back cheap drinks, I thought it would be a good idea to show the Vietnamese bar girl the hole in my shorts.  She laughed and immediately put both her hands into the hole and tore it completely open.  It was hilarious.

Vietnamese bar girl : 1  -  Pants : 0

The rest of the time in the bar smeared into a blur of madness.  I have no memory of leaving, getting back to the hotel or going to sleep; I just woke up thinking... what the hell happened.

Luckily Alex had a photo journal of the nights events.

I felt pretty wretched and tired that day, but it was a fitting goodbye to Hoi An.  We collected our suits and shoes and rode back to Da Nang to catch out flight home to Saigon.

Visit Hoi An, you won't regret it!