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After our frustrations with the somewhat 'tight' meal servings we have experienced here, we were craving a decent fill. We both spotted a buffet breakfast on offer from a hotel restaurant nearby and we agreed to check it out in the morning. We both woke up rather peckish and I decided to head our first to assess the worthiness of this so called buffet. On first inspection it looked rather good, different breads, fruits, rice/noodles, freshly made omelettes, bacon and actual apple juice!! I was sold and went back to retrieve Laura. We arrived and gorged on a fusion of western and Asian style foods. My god it felt good to be absolutely stuffed for a change, got to love the carbohydrates. Laura could not get enough of toast piled with cheese spread, bacon and omelette... Bliss. After washing it all down with coffee, tea and juice, we headed (rolled) back to the hotel and collapsed on the bed. We delved into our novels again and allowed our mammoth feast to settle.
At around lunchtime, still completely stuffed, we wandered into town and decided to soak in some culture. This included a few temples and historic buildings, although we took snaps from the outside to avoid the entrance fees, the usual backpacker syndromes. We got a few evil glares from the ticket booth attendants which is always fun to see. On our rounds we spotted a cute cafe which had a wide variety of cakes on display out front. I had promised Laura a french style coffee and cake experience since her birthday but were yet to find one... until today. We wandered back and browsed the selection before choosing the chocolate and banana tart. Just be looking at the meaty slice you could tell it as going to be rich. My god it did not disappoint, it was bloody sickly but amazing at the same time.... A dark thick chocolaty grenache. Laura enjoyed a refreshing tea with fresh milk whilst I had a coffee, which was filtered into a mug in front of my eyes. They use this little filters which sit on top of the mug, they are pretty cool. After our sweet tooth had been well and truly satisfied we wandered down to the riverfront where things were relatively calm.
We walked past the usual hordes of restaurant owners trying to lure you in their establishments by shouting at you from across the street. This gets rather tiresome and we always chose the quietest person out of some sort of principle I guess. We stopped in the quietest for a fresh beer and finally the kind owner explained the free shuttle bus service to the Big C supermarket in Da Nang. We would use this tomorrow to go back there for a few days.
After watching the world go by we visited a few shops were Laura was getting lured in my the prospect of china tea sets and other little trinkets. She noted a few potential candidates and swore to come back later tonight for possible purchases. We headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the break from the humidity outside.
Laura was reading 'game of thrones' which seems to always go into great detail about lavish feasts and banquets and was as a result giving her an amazing appetite... Surprising even me lol. We showered and put on our finest (the usual shirt and shorts for me) and decided to visit our usual lady for the last time. The old town was busy as usual with tour groups marching over the bridge like a clan heading into battle, after bypassing them we headed to the market where we were welcomed warmly by the lady and ordered two noodles dishes, chicken rice and the 'white rose' (as explained in a previous blog entry). We devoured the food quickly and yet again it was delicious as always.
After eating we walked up and down the adjacent market, dealing the usual hassle that comes from over zealous traders. One man who was trying to sell us a bowl was dropping prices dramatically, grabbing my arm even though we didn't want it. Moving on from the market we decided to got the relative sanity of the shops where you don't get harassed..... as much. Here I bought a cool Vietnam hat and Laura eyed up some really good Chanel fakes, which at one hundred dollars were still way to expensive.
We walked around town enjoying the atmosphere and watching the locals play their carnival games before heading back to our guesthouse. After reading reviews on trip advisor we were concerned about the amount of thefts from rooms by staff and there fore liked to check on the room regularly... I even left a trap, which wasn't touched so all good.
The evening was spent chilling briefly downstairs as the wifi was rubbish in the room but we soon headed upstairs when a fellow tourist came down to complain about a Vietnamese man trying to get into his room (on our floor)... I freaked and ran upstairs as we had left everything in our room, after all we were only downstairs. We decided to go to bed and were glad to be leaving tomorrow.
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