At checkout time, I did feel a little better, just a little. I headed to the Oasis bar for an omelette and sunk three large pineapple juices straight after each other. The little Vietnamese waitress thought this was highly amusing. She should have seen the way I put those jam jars away last night!!!
Atfter breakfast I headed to the beach and got a lounger and there I stayed all day, snoozing, woken up occasionally by a group of raucous middle age American wankers shouting about how many kamikaze hookers they had shagged the previous night.... Nice...
The sun was going down over the mountains as I got my stuff together. A rat the size of a pony ran across my foot as I made my way off the beach. I had been speaking to a guy the previous night who had been bitten by one a few days ago and is now on a course if anti rabies injections.
An early dinner at the sailing club beach restaurant, watching the dusk fall over the south china sea and the said rat scurry backwards and forwards across the beach picking up bits of food left during the day.
As I headed back to my hotel, I reflected on the last couple of days. I quite liked Nha Trang. It hadn't been on my original list but I was pleased I had visited.
The guy who owned the hotel was a charming bloke. So helpful and friendly. I didn't need to be at the Sinh office to catch the bus till 8.00pm. I was intending to walk, it was only just over a couple of blocks away (which a robbing taxi driver had charged me 150,000 dong for when I arrived.
He wouldn't have it
' I will drive you - sit down and we can talk'
I had a very interesting hour discussing the war, what the world thought of Vietnam. He was fascinating, his father, an army officer had spent 18 years in jail after opposing the Vietcong after the French withdrawal in the North. There is a huge divide between the North and the South. The north not forgiving the south for siding with the US.
My lift, as suspected was on the back of a scooter. I have not seen the record of 6 people beaten, although it has been equalled a few times. I did see a three piece suite yesterday and a dozen crates of beer.
I was left at the Sinh bus station ready for an 8.30 departure. We left on time, I was the only non Asian aboard this time. The beds are not that comfortable but was snoozing after reading a few chapters of my e-book
(
a scooter has just gone past the cafe I'm in with three trees on the back - priceless)The roads were not too good, damaged by the recent floods so there I am, drifting on and out of sleep when, what can only be described as an explosion from the back of the bus! We pulled up and the driver and his mate got out with torches to inspect the back of the bus.
They got back in looking a little concerned, we crawled along for another few km till smoke was billowing out of the rear and an audible alarm was sounding on the dashboard. Something was clearly amiss!
Once stopped, they both undressed into their boxer shorts and taking a toolbox, a rope and some Vietnamese ingenuity set about repairing the damage.
I must have dropped off, I awoke at midnight and got off the bus, they had removed what looked like one of those huge calor gas tanks (it wasn't though) and were sat at the side of the road, in atrocious rain looking resigned to defeat. We were going nowhere!
About 2.00am another bus arrived. We all marched off ours and onto the new one, which wasn't a sleeper. According to my estimations we still had another 10 ish hours to go.
The seats on the new bus did have reclining seats but the next 10 hours were at best uncomfortable. Not helped by a woman a few seats back wailing like a banshee while throwing up into a plastic bag. Thankfully this was my last overnight transfer of this trip.
The urban area of Saigon starts miles out. It must have taken at least 90 mins to reach the centre. I was surprised by the number of catholic churches as we weaved into central district number 1. Around 30% of the population are Catholics I learned last night.
At about 11.00 we landed, this time I asked how far the hotel was from the bus station, it was just around the corner. So I walked. At the hotel I was greeted by Mrs Grumpy from Saigon (related to Mr Angry from Hanoi?).
She barked something at me which I've no idea what it was. Pushed a key at me and took my passport.
I intended to get a couple of hours shut eye before going to check out the sights. 10 minutes later a rep from the travel agent tipped up and gave me my instruction for the Mekong Delta trip tomorrow and also my bus ticket for the transfer to Phnom Phen on the 14th. One less thing to chase up. I couldn't sleep so got my stuff together . I needed some laundry doing as I now had nothing at all that was clean. Mrs Angry obliged, 10,000 dong a kilo. I had a small bet with myself that a pair of underpants would be missing when it was returned.
Breakfast next door and then a wander to the sights. The nice lady that brought my trip and bus tickets had also given me a map and highlighted the areas of interest. All walkable.
'keep hold of your money, very bad city' were her parting words.....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Bui Vien,Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam
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