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Tom Round the World 2006
Hoi An, Nhatrang and Da Lat (7/2 to 16/2)
On leaving Hanoi we decided to splash out on a flight to Hoi An to avoid the 13 hour bus/train journey. Probably wont be flying too often though because it makes it a little too easy to blow the budget. Hoi An was a bit of a shoppers paradise set alongside a river, packed full of tailors offering to make suits, shirts, jackets and shoes etc in just 2 days. In the end I managed to resist most of the temptation and spent only 85 quid. Not bad to say we met some people who were splashing out over 500 dollars. When we wern't getting measured up at the tailors we spent our time playing pool in the bars. On the first evening after a few drinks, we were locked in battle with the Aussies (Bonnie and David) at the pool table. A few tense games were played out with national pride at stake. Australia eager to avenge its ashes defeat. In the end me and rich dished out a beating 5 -3 it finished and "pomme Law" was declared in the bar. The following day me and rich saught to find out who the better man was at the pool table. But he was no match for me, a 4-0 hammering. We spent the next two days relaxing in bars. One evening while enjoying a drink by the river me and rich were the subject of an arranged marriage to the owners daughter. When asked which one of us she preferred the 18 year old vietnamese girl replyed, "not him, he's too tall", so its official in Vietnam, small is beautiful, tall is ugly.
We left Hoi An on an overnight bus to Nhatrang. After a much better journey than I had expected we arrived at 6am. After inspecting about 15 hotels we eventually decided on one about 50m from the beach. After a few more hours sleep we headed down to the beach to show off our tans, two pristine white bodies strolled onto the white sands. It was clear that we did not have the correct gear for the beach and that a sarong was necessary. Dont think blokes wearing sarongs has quite taken off in Vietnam yet, (not what the guidebook said) but it makes a handy beach towel for lying on. The next day we headed off on a trip to the mud baths and hot springs. This involved sitting in a pool of mud for 15 minutes then standing in the sun until the mud dried onto your skin. Once it had dried on you washed it off in the shower and finished off relaxing in a hot spring or 40 minutes. Very relaxing and good for the skin apparently. While in a relaxing mood we decided to finish off the afternoon with a 45 min massage. Spent the last day in Nhatrang on the beach, rich sampled a few cocktail buckets in the evening, one contained all the goodness of vodka, whisky, rum, tequila and coke and was the most horrible thing I have ever tasted.
We left Nhatrang after 3 days and caught a 6 hour bus to Da Lat in the central highlands. Spent the first day in Da Lat wandering round the lake and market, bought about 15 bananas for 20p. The following day we booked a trekking trip in the surrounding area. Along the route we trekked through some fantastic scenary and visited a minority peoples village and coffee plantations. The highlight of the trip was crossing two 50m rope bridges across the river, built vietnamese style, with a slant and some steps missing. The scariest thing on the trek though was our guide, a thrillseeker who looked for the steepest downhills he could find and sent us down them. He was loving watching us slide down the hill until he climbed a tree stump sticking about 3 metres out of the ground at a 45 degree angle to the slope. When he got right to the end of the stump it snapped and he went flying down the hill. Battered and bruised, he loved it.
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