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... 'cos I just know you're just gagging to hear what I'm up to 🙂
Confession: I can't STAND Vietnamese food. My partner, who is Vietnamese, finds this hilarious as every other foreigner seems to adore the stuff. To me it's just inedible junk. I mean, who would put fermented fish sauce (mam nouc) with chicken (ga)? They're clearly insane. Dear god, they actually eat dogs up in Ha Noi. I walked past one stall to see a blackened dogs head staring back at me and almost freaked. Great people, totally weird taste in food.
I've taught myself to eat Pho, the national dish. It's basically a chicken broth with rice noodles. Damn, pictures would show you this so much better. I'll get hosting arranged so I can put up pics for y'all.
Anyway, I've had some Pho from a northern place (yup, VN still has a Northern/Southern split, even today. Northerners and Southerners are colleagues, not friends) for my breakfast, now I'm in Highlands Cafe on the corner of Pasteur for some meetings. It's weird, no-one has meetings in their offices here, they all take place in cafes. So you're siting next to guys with plans for multi $M developments spread out all over the tables, arguing about contract details. It's odd to me but it doesn't seem to trouble the Vietnamese.
My partner is renovating a building at the mo' so I'll probably wander down later and see how she's doing, then I'm going to see about replacing by bike - my scooter, not my Kona. The rainy season is coming and my current Honda Airblade dies every time it goes through the floods, which it shouldn't but they've never been able to track down the fault. I need a new one before the floods arrive. It'll be about 32M dong, and with 19,000 dong to the $, that's pretty cheap for a nice 110cc automatic Honda scooter.
Then off to the gym at the Rex hotel with some chums... the air con there is just w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l.
And that's my day!
hugs and kisses babes, r.xx.
i'm a dickhead, that should have been posted in the other forum. sorry 🙁
Sounds good. I'll be over there at the start of June for 16 days while we work our way up from HoChi Minh, to Nha Trang, Da Nang, three day Junk cruise up to Hailong then over to Hanoi and back to Singapore and home to Fremantle.
What's the weather looking like atm?
i'm a dickhead, that should have been posted in the other forum.
now that's just a big fat fib isn't ro?
naughty monkey..
aaaaargh! save yourself the money! AVOID ha long bay, it's a miserable tourist trap. go to ninh binh instead - scenically it's ha long bay on land. far prettier and less busy. and less wet.
na trang is ok, but why da nang? it's just a commercial city, nothing to see there. i presume you'll be stopping off at hoi an? fine for a morning shopping or cooking school (the red bridge one is best and it's run by an aussie, there's a pool there too), but for the love of all that's holy, go see my son. it's a fair hours mo'bike ride away inland, but possibly the best place in viet nam if you like spooky places and genuine cham culture. utterly unforgettable, especially if you stay around as it gets dark. whoooo! spirits! get the guys in the army jeep just after you cross the bridge over the river to give you a ride up. it's fun.
on second thoughts, go to my son by taxi. the 1A road you'd have to return on is a killer in the dark. we almost died on it twice, having to take to ditches to avoid trucks. don't be as dumb as we were.
weather is good in sai gon currently, though it looks like the monsoon is coming early as it's clouding over by 1 pm and we get thunder and lightning after 6 pm. it's more stable on the coast and up to ha noi.
i think i'm headed back to the uk for my annual hols in june, but if i'm not i'd be happy to meet up and show you around sai gon. i'm not as obnoxious in real life as i am on here. honest 🙂
hmm might well drop you an email
we're doing 3 days in each place and flying to some places and taking overnight train somewhere or other. im not 100% about the exact route as my mates in the uk who are meeting us in saigon. i've been remarkably laid back about it all and left it to them and my missus (though it does look a bit like the top gear route!).
no plans to motorbike anywhere. i'd be ok but i fear my wife and friends might die due to having no m-bike experience whatsoever.
be good to have a "local" guide if you could spare a day though. im sure there would be room for few beers.
mark
I lived in there for 2 years, came back in oct last year. Never thought there was another person on st living there.
I would second Hoi An as one of the best place to visit in Vietnam. Also Phu Quoc island to the south (resort called Mango bay) is a worth a trip. Really quiet and great seafood.
Never like pho much either!
Ain't nothing wrong with fish sauce. What makes me angry? People dissing the condiment of the gods, that's what.
Whats the mountainbiking like in Vietnam? Is it safe enough to head into the rural areas alone on just a bike? Have been dreaming of riding through vietnam, but would want to do it off road rather than on...
Solo MTBing in VN? Well, I'll be an adventure, that's for sure.
If you're serious I'll do a HUGE post on 'things you should think about before starting'. If not, save my fingers/brain the effort and don't ask again.
kisses,
r.xx.