Travelog

Not satisfied with his purchases, thus far, we headed to Pantip Plaza, which is a huge electronics store in Bangkok.  We were more keen on seeing the place, then actually making any purchases.  Although Philipp walked away with a handful of more software.  I wasn’t as overwhelmed by what they had available, although the prices for a few things were good.  Ran into Lucy, from the trek and cooking class in Chiang Mai, who was looking for the Apple store.  She fell in a well (happens to the best of us), and her ipod didn’t survive the bath. 

It was noon, so we headed to Lumphini, but much to our dismay it wasn’t open.  We figured the person we’d asked must have thought we were asking when the market was closing, and said twelve as in midnight, not noon.  Alas.  Philipp still needed some souvenirs, so we headed to the Nana area (near where I stayed my first time in Bangkok).  Philipp managed to anger more vendors than acquire any purchases, so we decided to head back to the MBK.  Sadly the skytrain was closed, but we managed to get a pretty cheap taxi.  Philipp grabbed a bunch of t-shirts, and then we headed back to the hostel so he could be packed and ready for the airport.

After saying our goodbyes, I headed to Siam Paragon, and bought a ticket to see Indiana Jones 4.  I had some time to kill, so I wandered through the mall, and grabbed some food.  The movie was okay – and we had to stand up in honour of the king beforehand.  Very nice theatre, to boot.  I had inquired beforehand to make sure the movie finished before the skytrain closed, but I was lied to, it seems.  I had to walk home, but then noticed the buses were still running so I hopped on one that I hoped would get me close enough to my destination.

Up early, first we had to switch rooms for some reason, then we too the skytrain to the JJ market.  As I suspected, I’d missed a bunch the first time, and with a map at our disposal this time we faired a little better.  I bought a CD that Josh in Laos had recommended, but that was it.  Philipp faired a little better, buying a few things for himself, and for others.  He’s on his way home, so the extra weight won’t be a burden for long.

Visited the MBK next, so Philipp could get some software, and look for a watch for his dad.  He wasn’t impressed with the mobile prices, so he didn’t bother getting one.  I ended up getting an ipod charger, for a pretty good price.  Checked out the Billabong store at Discovery Centre Mall, to see if I could find a shirt to replace the one I bought in Australia and had stolen in Laos.  No luck – I really liked that shirt, too. 

Headed back to the hostel to nap/relax and shower, then made our way to Lumphini Night Bazaar.  Wandered around there – Philipp buying some shoes, me buying more cds.  Philipp wanted to see more of the market, so we asked if it would be open tomorrow afternoon, and were told it was open at twelve.  We decided to return the next day, and made our way to the Muay Thai kickboxing stadium next to the market.

As we were walking there, a security guy (or someone dressed as such), asked if we were heading to the stadium.  We said yes, and he told us to follow him.  He lead us to a co-ordinator for the stadium who arranged to get us our tickets.  Prices were about double the already expensive price we were expecting to pay, so we contemplated for a bit on whether we wanted to bother.  In the end, we decided it would be worthwhile.  We met two other Canadians, Kevin and Kyle, who were having the same dilemna, and they gave in as well.

The kickboxing was pretty fun, with some fairly even matches (except two very young fighters – where one really dominated over the others).  We even got to see some blood, which is important.

After the fighting, we figured we’d head to the Patpong district.  It’s essentially the red-light district, but it didn’t seem as crazy as I thought it might be.  We had picked up some fighting moves at the kickboxing, anyhow, so we were prepared if things got rough.  We had a couple of drinks at a couple of different bars, then finished off the night with a beer on the steps – which seemed to be the thing to do. 

After a long day, we headed back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.

A travel day, which is pretty much second nature at this point.  Wandered around in the morning, and did a bit of reading in various cafes and parks.  In the afternoon I headed back to the hostle, and caught a cab to the airport with an Irish guy who was also heading to Bangkok (but on a different flight).  He’d been travelling for 364 days, and was heading home from Bangkok.

Didn’t do much at the airport in Saigon.  Roamed the duty free shops for a bit, then eventually got on my Air Asia flight to Bangkok, although it was delayed about one hour.  First come first serve seating, but it wasn’t too crowded anyhow. 

In Bangkok, I grabbed an express bus into town.  Took a long time, considering it was an express bus, so I was about an hour late for meeting up with Philipp at the hostel.

It was late, but we decided to go grab a drink, and get me some dinner (no food on the plane).   We hit a local restaurant but the prices were outrageous, so we just grabbed something to drink from the 7-11, and drank in our room.

My plan was to have breakfast then get a motorcycle to take me to the War Remnants Museum – figuring I could walk home from there. Since it was still cool, I decided instead to walk to the museum, and then see about getting a motorcycle back.

On the way I stopped at a few computer stores to see what they offered. Prices seem a little good, but I’m more inclined to wait until I get home to get anything. Apparently my computer at home is no longer working, but I don’t know that the problem is yet.

I visited the War Remnants Museum, which was pretty sobering. Mostly photos – of the war, and people who’d been affected by it afterwards (thanks to Agent Orange, mostly). I bought some postcards from a living remnant, a fellow with arms that stopped at the elbows, and a damaged right eye. He told me he’d been unlucky, and stepped on a landmine when he was young. Unlucky, indeed.

Headed towards Independence Hall (or Reunification Palace, as it is also called). It was closed, so I just took a photo, and moved on. Didn’t sound like there was much to see there, but if I am bored tomorrow, I have time to check it out. Walked around for a good while after that. Grabbed a coffee, and wrote a few postcards. Most likely the last batch before I head home – otherwise I may as well just personally deliver them, as it’ll be quicker. Checked out the theatre, and the town hall after my coffee, then headed back to the guesthouse and got some lunch nearby.

It was hot, so I had a shower to cool down, then hopped onto the internet. Not too surprised to see the Americans again. If I’m lucky I can shake them in Bangkok, but they seem to find me wherever I go.

Checked out Semi-Pro at the theatre in the evening.  Mildly amusing, but not recommended.  Killed some time, in a nice air-conditioned room, on a comfy couch.  Did a bit of reading, but not really getting into my book.

Tour for Cu Chi Tunnels was supposed to depart at 8:00am, but it was closer to 8:30 when we finally rolled off. I think I’d had too much coffee in the past 24 hours, because I was extra fidgety. The driver also refused to go over 30km/h, which was making me antsy as well.

I thought we’d head straight to the tunnels, but there was a detour to a lacquer ware manufacturer run by people handicapped in (or as a result of) the war. Wasn’t really into it, so I was happy when we were back on the bus and heading to the tunnels.

At the tunnels, we bought our entry ticket, and headed to a partially submerged area, to watch a film on Cu Chi. It was pretty hilarious, with some interesting phrasing, such as “Like a batch of chickens with their heads cut off, the Americans shot into women and children, pots and pans…” and “Their motto was a hoe in one hand, and a gun in the other”. Didn’t paint the Americans in a very nice light.

Tunnels themselves were pretty cool – we only got to crawl through a small portion, but considering how uncomfortable they were, it’s probably for the best. The way back we drove a little faster – passing loads of rubber trees on the way. Our driver redeemed himself by managing to finagle the bus around a major traffic jam.

Back in Saigon, I went to the market with Craig, a Kiwi I met on the tour.  We had some pho for lunch, then headed back – stopping at a big electronics store so Craig could look for a computer (he’s after an EEE – the same computer I had stolen from me).

I was going to watch Semi-Pro at the theatre across the street, but when I got there, Iron Man was still playing.  I didn’t feel like waiting around for the next movie to start, so I wandered around at night, and then hopped on the internet for a bit.  Was going to update this journal, but ended up chatting with a few people online instead.  Watched some tv in my room (program on cricket fighting was a little odd), and then went to bed.

Up early to get a taxi to Danang airport.  Not a bad drive, with some nice mountains dotting the scenery.  In Danang, I checked in, and grabbed a coffee from across the street – managing to spill a bit of it on my book, the second time I’ve spilled some coffee on the same title.

It was a short flight, and I spent most of it finishing my book (“A Fine Balance”, which was excellent).  As I was waiting for my bag to round the conveyer belt, I noticed a small plastic bag float by.  It looked like the same bag that carried my camera charger.  I grabbed it and peeked inside – yep, my charger.  My bag showed up next, with an open pocket that once held my charger and my memory card reader. No sign of the memory card reader, so I waited around.  The belt was nearly clear, and my reader was nowhere to be found.  I was about to give up hope, when a french man placed the plastic bag holding the reader on the belt.  I ran and grabbed it, and headed to the exit.  The french guy asked for a dollar for his services, but he was only kidding.

I inquired about buses to the city, and found one for super cheap.   50 times what I would have paid a cab, most likely.  Took about half an hour, so not too slow either – and dropped me off exactly where I wanted to be.  I was the only foreigner, and a Vietnamese guy said he was impressed that I was taking it, as he’d never seen a white person on it before.

Checked out some guesthouses, before settling on one that seems pretty good.  It’s about seven or eight floors up, so climbing the stairs for the next few days should prepare me for any treks into the Himalayas I may undertake in the next little while.

I wandered around for a bit, hoping to find the post office – but it seems to be hidden somewhere.  I booked a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels for the next morning, then killed some time before getting some Indian for dinner.

After dinner I headed to a place across from my guesthouse, to watch Iron Man.  They play movies every night.  It was a fancy theatre, but a not-so-great copy of the movie.  Good, except for when it got too dark.  Decent movie, regardless.  Robert Downey Jr. was great.  Talked to Mike on the internet for a bit, after the movie – then noticed the doors to my guesthouse being shut, and made tracks over there before I would be forced to scale the outside walls to reach my room.

My schedule is completely off, so I’m up early once again.  I have a trip to My Son scheduled for 8am, so I figure I may as well get some breakfast at the place across the street.  On the way back, I spot Philippe, who tells me he’s moved into my guesthouse, after being visited by some unwelcome visitors of the 6-leg variety in his guesthouse the night previous.  He’s also going on the My son trip, so we wait together for the bus, which arrives late.

En route, our guide, Spider, gives us a bit of a history of the temples we’ll be seeing – insisting that we can’t compare them to Angkor Wat, because they’re much older.  He repeats himself a lot, so I eventually tune him out.  At the temple, we have to switch to a minibus and head to the site.  We get a rundown on the history, but it’s mostly the same thing we’ve already heard, and once again I tune him out.

We look around the temples, which are definitely nothing compared to Angkor Wat, and not even as impressive as Ayutthuya.  John had warned us that it was pretty small, and he was right.  After less than an hour, we head back to the bus to wait for the rest of the group, who isn’t far behind.

We’re dropped off near enough to the guesthouse, but we go looking for food first.  I have fish wrapped in a banana leaf, which gets an enthusiastic response from the waitress when I order.  After lunch, we decide we’ll rent some bikes, even though it looks like it could rain at any time.  We get our stuff to head to the beach, and as we’re leaving the guesthouse the rain starts to pour.  We stop at the internet cafe to kill some time while the rain dies down (if we’re gonna get wet, we want it to be in the sea.

We finally make our way to the beach, and spend a good hour or so in the water, trying to do some body surfing.  When we get back to our stuff there’s a hawker selling her wares.  I watched her sitting by our towels th entire time we were in the water.  I buy some mentos, figuring she has had a slow day on account of the weather.  We get hammered by some other hawkers after that, all complaining about the slow day.  We order a pineapple each from two other hawkers, and then get accosted by another, who uses a lot of foul English idioms on us.  “Tourists teach me.” She tells me.  The bike ride home is nice, with the sun setting over the rice paddies.  Sadly, I didn’t bring my camera to the beach.  Possible theft trumps nice picture, this time.

We grab Vietnamese (go figure) for dinner, and since I have to be up for 6am, decide to call it a night after Philippe does some shopping for silk lanterns.

Woke up and headed to the internet cafe to have some dvds copied and a new dvd burned. I’m going with a two dvd system, now that I no longer have a hard drive. Got all of them done, except one copy – which failed, and seemed to have messed up the only computer with a dvd writer.

I wandered around old town, checking out the many art galleries, and grabbed some breakfast. I got an email from John and we decided to meet for a drink at Treat’s Cafe at 1pm. I headed there for 1, and waited around but he was nowhere to be found. After 20 minutes, I checked my email and there was nothing from him, so I figured I’d best check to see if there was another Treat’s Cafe in Hoi An. In Vietnam, there’s no copyright law, so there’s nothing to stop a company from opening another store/company with the exact same name. Turns out John was down the street at Re-Treat cafe, which is same same but different (Later I stumbled across a third Treat’s Cafe, so it’s really a problem).

Had a lemon juice with John, and sat around and talked. He was heading to the beach, so I figured I’d wander through old town, then have a shower to cool down. Very hot day – and probably a better day for the beach. I read in my cool room, then got ready to meet Philippe (who just arrived in Hoi An) and John down by the river.

Met up with the boys, had a shake, then headed to Before and Now for dinner – which was recommended quite highly by Stefan and Magnus from the rock climbing in Van Vieng. After dinner (Italian, quite good), I headed back to the hostel to do some reading.

Woke up way too early.  Walking around old town for a bit, I gave in to the countless tailor shops, and had a pair of shorts made to wear around Asia, and more importantly at the gym when I get home.  I ordered another pair from another location, figuring if I really liked one, I could have a third pair ordered.

With time to kill before my shorts were finished, I grabbed some breakfast, then rented a bike and headed about 6kms east, towards the beach.  At the beach I ran into the American’s, Yasmine and Natalie, who’ve been following me since Krabi, Thailand.  I asked them where we were headed next, and they seem to be making a couple more stops than I had intended – I may have to revisit my itinerary.

Lay on the beach, reading and getting some sun.  Eventually, after both sides seemed warm enough, and my chapter was done, I headed into the water.  The water was great, and it was possible to walk very far out without the water getting  too deep. I attempted some body surfing for a good while, then headed back to do some more reading.

After spending a lot longer than I expected at the beach, I headed back to the hotel for a shower, then grabbed some dinner.  My shorts were nearly ready to be tried on, so I headed down.  Not as great as I was hoping, but they might do the trick.  At least they weren’t too expensive.

I got my next pair from the other shop, and they were a little better.  I wasn’t so pleased that I ordered a third pair, but they’ll do the trick, I think.  I checked my email back at the hotel, and saw that John (from Vientiane) was in Hoi An, and that he’d be watching football near my hotel.  I went in search of him, but didn’t have much luck finding him.  I wandered around a bit, and ran into some local kids who wanted to practice their English (or were just very friendly).  Chatted with them for a bit, then saw Thierry, from my cooking class, so I interrupted to talk with him for a bit.  They were heading out for a drink, but my clock was all messed up, and since I’d gotten up so early, I was in need of an early sleep.