ScottishGuy, if you have not booked your return ticket to Saigon yet, there is actually a train you can take also.
Takes eight hours but it might be a bit more comfortable than the bus.
ScottishGuy, if you have not booked your return ticket to Saigon yet, there is actually a train you can take also.
Takes eight hours but it might be a bit more comfortable than the bus.
in Saigon what are the coffee houses that gays hang out in if anyone know?
Great posts SG, keep em up, really enjoying reading them, sounds like you're having a blast - well apart from that bus ride, but hey we've all been there on those ridiculously long uncomfortable bus trips, but don't worry just think of it as character building !! :-)Originally Posted by scottish-guy
As for your above I was half expecting you to come back and say " Shit I was tired, the sign actually said VIEWPOINT" lol - and if so I would have creased myself laughing :-)
Following on from my last post, breakfast at hotel was good, with mix of Asian and European food. I've discovered that Vietnamese life seems to revolve around eating at least 5 or 6 times a day. So, within 3 hours of what I considered a substantial breakfast, BFs two sisters (yes, they came too - and I'm glad because it makes for more variety) have propelled me into a restaurant to buy me lunch! Well, I was so surprised because up to now it has all been Vietnamese food, but this was a French bistro imaginatively called Le Petit Bistro. It was SO stereotypical - with French accordion music playing in the background - I half expected Rene Dubois to be our host and for Madame Edith to appear and burst into song (ref: BBC TV's "Allo, Allo"). I has a spaghetti bolognese starter, Coq Au Vin main course, and profiteroles for dessert. I can't remember what the girls had. I also ordered a bottle of Chardonnay at 500,000 dong so I thought it fair to alter the plan and for me to foot the bill.
Got back to hotel at about 2pm (at a stiff-legged trot - something had clearly disagreed with my colon and I feared an explosive expulsion could have happened right there in the street, but thankfully not!) This was the second time I have felt unwell. On the boat trip yesterday I took a dizzy turn and was close to collapse until helped by the crew up to the top-deck and sat on a crate under some shade. Once I had sat there and drank 2 litres of plain water I was okay. I 'm putting it down to the searing heat (must be well into the 40s here), being in direct sunlight a lot of the time, and losing litres of fluid a day in copious sweating.
Then at about 5pm I was taken to the Nha Trang municipal beach. Very clean and non-polluted as far as I could judge. Boys playing volleyball, a few men sailing a remote- controlled model of the boat-trip vessels. Some boys loitering on the benches, looking at me but I think I'm just novelty value, I don't think there's anything going on there. That passed an hour and it was eating time yet again, so I was pushed into a taxi and taken to one of those open-air industrial sized eating places you can see across from the gay bars in Phuket. My God, did it stink of fish and meat etc. All manner of small dishes duly arrived, and if I never see anymore cockles or weird shellfish in my life I'll die happy. I ate very little of this, I felt as if stuffed with straw already.
Once this latest feeding frenzy was over, I decided to get my oar in! The previous night in transit, I had noticed us passing the "Jolly Leprechaun", so I had done a little research in the afternoon and when the taxi arrived to facilitate our escape from the eating factory, I told the taxi driver to take us to JL. Of course this drew an entirely blank look from all in the taxi, but I had the address in my phone so, off we went.
On arrival at the JL I had expected one of those god-awful "Irish Bars" and that is certainly what the theme was meant to be, but the management perhaps didn't fully understand the concept. Firstly, it was empty - but the seriously weird thing was that the staff patently did not understand that the Irish theme bar concept requires compulsory Riverdance-type music to be played from opening to closing every night. I can only assume that something became seriously lost in translation, because they had opted to play an entire CD album of Christmas Carols through the sound system! Anyway, it was happy hour 2for1 so we had Mojitos and for my free one I had a Tequila Sunrise - all of which the cute and efficient barman mixed very well. Nobody else took a 2nd drink. We left just as "Good King Wenceslas" struck up!
Back to hotel about 8pm and then at 10pm it was time to go out again! Surely not more food? But no, we went to Havana Club nightclub on the beachfront. The attraction that night is some elfin female pop sensation (she's world-famous in Vietnam, I surmise) belts out a set of her greatest hits, none of which is any way recognisable, but it's all good. 4 hours and 2 bottles of Johnnie Walker Gold Label later, we staggered out. Have a vague recollection of going somewhere else for last drink but really can't swear to it.
So, back to hotel. Nobody mentions food for a change. Drink-fuelled slumber ensues.
Next morning (Sun) I'm shaken awake. "Get up, Get up, have breakfast!" Who am I to argue?
oooOooo
Lego, you're correct - the cable car I saw the day before goes right across the sea to Vinpearl Land. Went there Sun afternoon. Booked tickets in the hotel, after breakfast, which included taxi pick-up from hotel, delivery to cable-car station, day ticket to VP Land, and taxi drop-off back at hotel. Ticket price 550,000 dong per person (less than ┬г20). Also it's been decided not to go back to Saigon for 3 days in preparation for leaving - instead I'm to go to Da Lat because BF fears I may die from sun-stroke if I go back to Saigon, and I'm told Da Lat is in the mountains and cool. But we have left it too late to book a flight so....with great dread another bus trip is booked for 4pm
Meanwhile, off to Vinpearl Land. Taxi takes us to cable car station. The cable car across the South China Sea (guessing) is amazing -it must be about 2 miles long' and with great views. VinaPearl Land is basically an amusement park - but it's as if they bought one from the 60/70s and transplanted it there. Well, 60s/70s was my era for amusement parks anyway!
I doubt the high-tech hyper-critical kids of today from the 1st world would be impressed - Disney-world it isn't - but I loved it and BF is easily-pleased (no insults necessary) so we had a good time. All the old-fashioned carousel rides, hobby horses, chair-o-planes, a very basic roller-coaster, and a cable-car skiing ride which on the downward run must have reached all of 5mph! Good afternoon of nostalgia for yours truly. I'm asked if I want to eat - I decline in favour of a pokey-hat instead (ice-cream cone)
So.....the dreaded bus journey to Da Lat will be the subject of my next spot (or blemish, as you may prefer )
Well now you're just showing how unhip and not down with the cool kids you are there SG as I'll have you know that all the cool bars have been playing Christmas music in the bars and clubs all year here now for YEARS don't cha know, hell it was only last Friday night that we were all up rocking the place to Once in Royal Davids City complete with the Hark the Herald Angels sing and Away in a Manger remix medley ! :-)
Enjoy your bus trip - and DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS this time ( of the non alcoholic variety perhaps even just for a short while :-) )
hey, Scottish-guy, I just discovered this thread (I don't often venture over here) and I'm really enjoying your reports. Hope this last bus trip was not as hellish as the first. Keep having fun.
Hitchhiking's more of a challenge on the road less travelled.
Ok, so I was told a minibus would be picking us up from the hotel in Nha Trang and taking us to Da Lat, a journey of about 3.5 hours. So I had expectations of a private air-con minibus.
Well, strike that. A rickety old char-a-banc showed up with no air-con whatsoever - only open windows which I was invited to sit at, presumably to catch a 40c breeze mixed with diesel fumes, for the good of my health
This excuse for a vehicle then limped from hotel to hotel picking up 2 ppl here, 3 ppl there, until full. "Well, at least I'm not lying down trapped in a plastic coffin like the sleeping bus" I thought. Until it pulled into a yard and everybody got off, so we felt obliged to follow suit. After much excited yapping in the way Vietnamese do, I was delivered the news that we were now to transfer onto the coffin-bus. " Same last, time, sure!" my insanely grinning BF told me with an air of exhilaration that suggested he had somehow done exactly the one thing in the world that would please me.
Well, I must admit I briefly lost it - head on hands, exclaiming "No, No, No - for fuck sake! Cannot do! Not again! As seasoned observes of the Thailand scene will know, such a reaction only results in a bemused look, not any understanding of what you are trying to convey. "Go here, wait here" I was told. Around 10 minutes later standing under the raging sun you could have fried an egg on my head, but we are directed to a bus. Joy oh joy - it's not a sleeping bus at all! Don't get me wrong, it's not anything built before 1970 provably, but it has seats rather than glorified plastic bathtubs and I am grateful. Not so the BF - "Not happy" he says "I pay for sleeping bus, this is not right bus"! "Oh dear, how sad, never mind" I say "let's just get on".
On board the bus, any brief elation disappears. We have not only been allocated but I strongly suspect he ASKED for the 3 back seats. You know the ones - right against the engine, right? Did I mention the vinyl seats last time? Well you can draw your own conclusions as to how ideal those are on a non air-con bus. I feel like bursting into tears frankly but hey, ho - I sit on the very end seat which has at least the benefit, not of air-con as BF would have me believe, but forced air ventilation so that at least there's air from outside is blowing in your face. Unfortunately at this point it's hot air, rather like a hairdryer. Get the picture? Sitting there with my shirt stuck to me, I console myself with the thought that if the bus ever moves, the air might become cooler - and it last it does so.
As the bus travels along, it folks down to the point at which it's almost bearable. One hour later, it stops at a roadside canteen and the doors open (and remain open for 30mins whilst ppl pee or eat, or both, and hot, fetid air re-fills the bus.
I'd say it was about 2 hours into the trip that something miraculous happened - it got cooler! Furthermore, the more we travelled up these winding, mountain roads the cooler it became! Four hours into the trip and I feel like laughing hysterically - the windows are steaming up because it's cold outside! My shirt, shorts, underwear have all actually separated from my skin, and the Vietnamese are putting on overcoats. "Too cold, I think I die!" says BF. You don't know how close you were when you mentioned that sleeping bus, I think to myself.
So, 4.5 hours after leaving hotel in Nha Trang we have arrived in Dah Lat!
PS Must apologise for spelling errors, not used to ipad.
Thank you very much for sharing. As a fan of public transport, I had some unpleasant bus rides. But still more interesting to travel with locals in a bus than airplane, and cheaper.
There was a more than one-hour ride from Srisaket to Khun Han to visit the Million Bottle temple, bus was full, I had to give up my seat for a disabled/pregnant/elderly (don't remember exactly) person, but managed to squeeze one butt cheek on the seat, which meant I had to hold on somewhere to keep balance, but still better than standing.
A truly horrible trip was the overnight bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, the bus had seats (different styles) recovered from old airplanes, but they were put with less space than in an airplane.
Can you elaborate, or better take a picture, of that sleeper bus? I can't sleep well in reclining seats, but there was one real sleeper bus (no seats, only beds, two stacked above, steel frame) from Vientiane to Xiengkhouang (Plain of Jars, will post full report some time), which was fine for me, I slept well (feet and head touching ends, but no problem).
Near the engine is not a good place. I know this from Bangkok buses: the cover is hot, sometimes so hot you can't touch it. And even 10 or 20 cm away, you can still feel the radiated heat. And if you sit above the engine, you have all the heat creeping up through your feet and butt.
I absolve you from your spelling errors.
[attachment=0:2p9hu3iz]1609679_10152138365634651_129258330_n.jpg[/attachment:2p9hu3iz]
SG, you experienced some of the same scams that I wrote about on this forum.
First of all, I also got the "Sorry, have problem with room. But we have other hotel," excuse. Many others in my hotel in Hoian were told the same lies and ended up being sent to an alternative and cheaper hotel. What they do is send you off somewhere cheaper for a night or two and resell the more expensive room to another guest. I reported this to the hotel booking site on the internet but they didn't want to know about it and would not post my review on their website. They only do it to customers who have prepaid via a hotel booking site, as people who just walk in have the alternative of going to another hotel.
I also paid for a sleeper bus but was put on a rusted out, dirty bus with no sleeping seats.
And I paid for a deluxe cruise in Halong Bay on a beautiful yacht but ended up on a boat that was barely seaworthy and did not resemble the photo of the boat I'd paid for.
They are just a few of the many scams I came across all over Vietnam. I'll never go back.
Christian - I did not take pictures but let me tell you - your pics represent LUXURY compared to what I experienced
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote