So the way this works at this make shift bus station is that you pay $1 and you are given a tuk tuk driver who will take you in to town. Seems fair enough to me, that's not an extortionate price and I can live with that no problem. I have managed to pick no hostel whatsoever, despite my research yesterday. Luckily the way that it works here is that you let the tuk tuk driver take you to his friends place, which is too expensive, then I tell him my price range and he takes me to another place and if I don't like he will take me somewhere else. I have already paid and so there will be no additional cost. The roads here are terrible, I mean they are non even roads, just dirt. The potholes are so significant that we have to slow to nearly a stand still to navigate or way through. Being in the back of this tuk tuk is a fairly bouncy experience. It is ok for my driver, Mr T, he is on the Moto, I on the other hand am being jostled around like a dog toy in the back. He eventually takes me to a hostel that is reasonably priced and so I get my stuff out and check in. Then Mr T tries to sell me the tour of the temples for today. Not something I'm interested in as I'm feeling tired after my journey. I do agree on tomorrow though, I will do the sunrise, so Mr T will pick me up at 5am. Hopefully I can find some people who are interested in coming with me, then I can make my tuk tuk cheaper.
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In my dorm I have a girl from New Zealand, Gemma. She had been living and working in London for the past year and so her accent is all over the place. So seems pretty cool, and kind of invites herself along with me in my tuk tuk tomorrow. I am starving and so we head out for some breakfast. Just casually wandering we stumble across a market, it's a covered market with little thin walkways, yet rammed to the hilt. Definitely not designed for a couple of westerners with bags. We manage our way through, eyeing up all manner of things, though nothing breakfast worthy. Then, just in the middle of this market there is a couple of eating places. You pull out a small chair, though the walkway is just as narrow. People bumping in to you all the time, we just sit down and motion for 2 something's. We have no idea what we are going to get. When it arrives, I think the best way I can describe it is chicken porridge. It was pretty nice, and I gobbled mine right up. After our porridge we leave the market and I'm in need of some coffee. On the way back, Gemma needs to ask about a Vietnam visa. In one of the travel agents she asks, but they only organise it for day tours, next thing she notices a sign for quad biking, so ends up negotiating the price down to $15 each and puts me on the spot. I decide, yeah why not, so we are quad biking through the paddie fields at sunset tonight. On the way back to the hostel we stop somewhere for a coffee. I'm stupid, I order an iced coffee and forget to say no milk or sugar. So I now have a sugary, milky mess in front of me! Brilliant.
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We head upstairs in the hostel and there is a bar and pool table. We grab a seat and it isn't long before we are all sitting round a larger group of English speakers. There is good banter as we exchange travel stories for the afternoon until it is time for us to go quad biking. We go downstairs and have to phone because nobody has come to get us. We eventually get picked up and this guy Si, from England comes with us to see if he can just pay when he gets there. A short tuk tuk ride later and we are at the place, we hand over our receipt and the guy tells us that he can't do it for that price. Turns our we shouldn't have been given the cheaper price. I say to him that we were told we could get for this price, he said that the tour operators shouldn't do business with him as they always get it wrong. In the interests of customer service I thought he was going to offer us some form of discount, but no. Not a thing, though he allowed us a free tuk tuk back to the place where we got the ticket so we could get a refund, then back to our hostel. All the excitement, dashed! Aww well.
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I head out later on to get some deodorant, I am in need. I end up chatting to this Chinese girl in the supermarket, Lily, she is staying in some swanky hotel up the main street and is travelling alone. She asks me if I have done the temples, I tell her I'm going tomorrow and that she can come if she likes. She invites me back to her hotel to use the swimming pool. I jump at the idea, nothing better than a fresh dip in a pool after a long hot day. I go back to the hostel and grab some stuff and then we go back to her hotel. Super fancy, I think she said she was paying $58 for the night. Expensive, that's like 2 weeks accommodation for me right there. She doesn't even have a room, it's an apartment, kitchen and living room. She said she booked it online and didn't know it was an apartment! Lies, she is rich I think! Anyway, down to the pool, it's outside and there is a waiter in a corner bar who asks if we want anything. The water is crystal clear and fresh. I jump in! It was great, splashing around and cooling myself down. We are in the pool for over an hour before I start to get hungry, so we get changed an head out for some food. I get some squid and a fruit juice before heading home. I want to be fresh for tomorrow. As I'm walking home I meet Gemma who is heading out, turns out she has invited 2 people already to my tuk tuk, so I have to tell Lily that she can't come. Let's just hope everyone is up tomorrow morning!