We left Hoi An at 6pm on another mammoth 24 hour bus journey. The coaches arent bad really and fortunately this one wasnt full so we could spread out. You can’t really relax too much though as the buses stop every 3 hours or so for toilet and food breaks.
Eventually we arrived at Nha Trang, a big town along the coast, 12 hours later at 6am. Here we had an hour to wait while they changed buses so we took a stroll in search of some breakie. It was a glorious morning and I think it was a shame we didnt have the time to at least spend a night in Nha Trang. The beaches here are supposed to be very nice. It wasnt long before we found a tiny cafe that seemed to be serving the locals breakfast. We ordered exactly what the locals were eating, mainly by pointing at their dishes and giving a thumbs sign. You can never go far wrong using this base level of communication! Here we had what was probably the best beef noodle soup we’ve had in Vietnam. Imagine, beef noodle soup for breakfast with some hot chillis on top? Oh how our menus will change when we get back!
An hour and a half later it was back on the bus to continue the journey to Ho Chi Minh.
We finally arrived in the early evening after the mammoth 24 hour journey. The bus left us in District 1 on Pham Ngo Lao, which had a lot of hotels, guesthouses and bars. It wasnt long before we found a reasonable guesthouse down an alley for $8p/n.
Unfortunately we only had time for one full day in Ho Chi Minh so we started to try and organise a plan for the next day, as well as book up a route to Ko Chang via Cambodia.
Extremely hungry after the journey, we took a stroll around the block in search of some good ol’ local tuck. Fortunately the area was inundated with bars and restaurants and it wasnt long before we were drawn to a small cafe which had just started to bbq some meat. It was like the old bisto adverts, we just followed the smell, salavating as we went.
Through out South east Asia there’s always hundreds of places to eat along the sides of the streets. In Vietnam they all have tiny chairs next to low tables to match. You have to kind of squat down to sit on them. They remind me of the small chairs and tables you have at primary school, they’re the exact same thing. The only thing being, now at our age, they take some practice to sit on and even more to get up from!
The food was really delicious and mine didnt last long!
It wasnt long after we sat down that a group of kids came over to us begging. I’d already finished my food but Sandra was still eating (she takes ages, chewing a 1000 times!) so I was apologising to them saying that we couldnt give them any money. I think it’s better to not encourage these young children to beg, though it is very hard to not give them anything. Anyway one boy stayed as his friends went off to the next cafe and he started rubbing his belly and putting his hand in his mouth to emulate his hunger. With this, Sandra offered him her plate of food. The boy readily accepted and immediately squatted down, pulled the plate close to his mouth, which was now at the same level as the table, then preceded to grab a chicken drumstick and use it as a spoon to scoop all the rice and meat into his mouth. He did this in one full motion. He chewed a couple of times before standing up with the drumstick in hand and his cheeks bulging, he pressed both palms together and bowed as low as he could to us before making off to join his comrades in the middle of the street. What a hunger! My gaze followed him off down the road as he munched on the chicken drumstick. I’ve never seen anything like it. My gaze then shifted to the empty plate, there wasnt a trace. I was open mouthed, never before have I seen such a quick and methodical act of eating. I then looked at Sandra who was looking at the plate shaking her head. I asked her what was up and she just said “That poor boy, he even ate the bits of grissel I’d chewed and spat out”. She tried to tell him but it was just impossible to communicate…
First thing the next day we booked up our bus ticket to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We tried to get a ticket all the way to Ko Chang but this proved impossible, so the plan was to get another bus immediately from Phnom Penh onwards. We were on the 7am bus the next morning so we now had to see as much of the city as possible.
We had planned a route to walk but just a few yards down the road it wasnt long before we were offered a Xich-lo (chit lo), one of the many bicycle taxis. We refused at first but the guy followed us down the road showing us countless pages from an Autograph book that had pictures of him with his many customers who were absolutely delighted with his service! We soon bargained a price of $10 which would take the two of us on a journey to the Post office building, the war memorial and China Town. It seemed a fair price, much better than his initial $30!
It does feel strange riding on a Xich lo through such a busy city. The roads are packed with hundreds of mopeds and cars and they seem to come from all angles. No one stops or gives way for anyone else. Everyone wants to be first. I guess the trick is to keep moving, just like crossing a road, and you can’t go wrong. I felt a bit sorry for our driver. He must have been in his 60’s and he was now driving the two of us through these busy streets. Slowly but surely he navigated us around town to see the sights and it turned out to be a very interesting, but extremely busy day!