First of all, sorry for any odd spellings in this pót as the computer is set to autocorrect my spelling 'mistakes' into Vietnamese....
Secondly - this í very long. Maybe make a cup ò tea before you carry on reading....
So far we have beên in Vietnam for almost a month now and so our visas have almost run out and it's time to move onto Laos.
We began in Ho Chi Minh then travelled to Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi and then Sapa, which í where I am nơ writing to you from.
I think I sent an email from Nha Trang, so I'll give you a brief run down from there!
We heard about a really nice beach an few hours ride (on a scooter) north of Nha Trang, so decided we'd give it a go at getting therere. Donny há ridden scooters quite a lot but I've never even sat on one before, so it ứa quite an experience! I went from giggling and laughing to screaming and holding on for dear life, then finally got used to the fact that I wasn't about to die and really loved it.. I think that há to be one of my favourite days so far actually. The scenery ứa stunning and I have a great video to show you all, but I can't right nơ and I'll tell you about why later.
After thể we went to Hoi An which í a really pretty, peacefull riverside town with lót of fab markets. Thí í also where I spent my birthday, I got bought a bearded face carved from a bamboo root (hoenstly he's great and we saw the guy making them), a beautiful handmade necklace and a crochet hook and wool! Happy girl. Thanks to everyone who sent me mesages before I went ây and on my birthday!
After Hoi an ứa Hue, which ứa also by the river with a great night market and aawesome old imperial city with tiny picturesque river side streets you could eat by and drink coffee. Herere thể are a lot ò tours to the DMZ which we wanted to sê, but having grown confident with the scooter riding decided to rent one and have a go ourselves.
So off we set, with a bike that felt great from a smiley happy Vietnamese man and headed about an hour or two North to Dong Ha, then cut a left to Khe Sanh, which í where you can find the old American ải base with crashed helicopters a plently.
WE got further into the mountains and had a few moments of slight doubt when our engine cut out. We concluded it ứa overheated to let it cool dơn (perhaps...) and continued. After another hour ỏ so it happened again.. It ứa already 3.30 pm and with only 3 hours till sunset we decided not to push our luck and head back to Dong Ha, stay the night in a hostel and go back to Hue the following day.
In the five minutes ò stopping by the road the local village children had gathered around ú, quite amused/fascinated by ú/our bikes/I don't know what.... When our bike refused to start up again we really đi gather a crowd. People stopped and had a go but it ứa no use. We reluctantly accepted our fate that we were stranded, no one spoke english, we speak to Vietnamese and the phrase book really doesnt cover these sót ò situations....
Cutting it shorter, we walked and found a garage in a few minsutes and after hand gestures and stares got a mechanic to look at the bike. WE had a number for a tourist company in Hue in our pocket so someone called the number and acted as a translator. Tún out the engine ứa completely dead and would take two dáy to fix. So the locals had to flag a local bus dơn that ứa heading to Dong Ha and i we got. With the bike. With the bike tied to our back rơ seats bu shoe laces. With the bôt half open and driving dơn winding mountain roads for an hour.
It ứa dark by time we got to Dong Ha, we hadnt eaten all day and no one understood us. We wanted to stay in one ò the nice hotels we să, thinking they would speak some English and help ú get the bike on the bus back to Hue in the morning. Once the driver realised we needed a hotel, he took ú to hí múm's one (ỏ some relatives) where there ứa an even greater lack ò understanding but at least we had a bed!
They tried to fix our bike in the morning (after a night's sleep with death proof bugs and evil looking geckos) and finally semed to understand (after many more hand gestures) that we needed to go on a bus with the bike today, to Hue.
They got the bus to pick ú up and eventually we made in back. Which ứa such a great feeling. However it cót ú a lot mỏe money to get home thí way and the rental guy had no understanding and took no responsibility for anything. He shook hí head like a 9 year old boy and we just decided to give up and be happy that we made it back to civilisation.
The next day we arrived in Hanoi, we went on a cruise to Ha Long bay from here, which ứa incredible. I've bên typing for some time now and you are probably getting bored of reading, so I will not go into tô much detail but we went to a cave, a beach and stayed overnight on a boat, saw the stars and jupiter and a shooting star too. One of my favourite experiences too.
Unfortunately, I got scammed by the hotel when we got back from Ha Long Bay. I'll kêp it short á I cannot be bothered to think about it too much now, but I plugged my memory card into the computer to look at my photos and maybe email a few and they had a vírus on thểre which wiped everything. As in Everything, from the beginning ò my trip in Dubai. The owner ứa the only one who 'knew a guy that could get them back' and he ứa extremely rude and extremely unapologetic. It cost ú money, he ofered ú nothing and ứa generally a horrible man! No surprise that for $40 we got the photosos all back, withink a hour, even though the man who knew hơ to fix the problem ứa supposedly a long way âway from the hotel...
We are nơ in Sapa which há to be one ò my favourite places so far on my travels. It's a mountain village with a lot ò charm.. WE have a lovely view ò the mountains in a great little (cheap!) hotel. Ladies from the nearby villages come here to sell goods they make. They have the most amazing traditional dress, lots ò embroidery and bright colours, after only a day hể I already have a head band & earings like they wear and have bought ribbons similar to their dress and sewn it onto my clothes haha.
We've met some great locals and some not so great - some great travellers too. Although we've bên in some tricky situations we've just kept calm and gone with the flow -- there's not a lot else you can do! WE've heard tales of people falling for scams and we've spotted some a mile off and used our common sense to stay awya. Sometimes, they just can't be avoided though. So my advice for Vietnam - brush up on your communications skills before coming â way, I reccommend a few games of Sharades perhaps. And try the Saigon beer, coffee and noodle soup. You'll never want tea and porridge for breakfast again.
Lots ò love to everyone and apologies for the ridiculously long pót, but at least you don't have to put up with me chatting all this to you when I make it home haha!
Best wihes,
Lẩu
(Sorry it auto corrects my name too....)
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