20 hours on a train to Saigon

Another train. This time 20 hours down country to Saigon. It is a pretty journey. I am lacking a bit of sleep though that’s for sure. A bit of snoring and the people on the bunks below us opened the curtains and cabin door as light came, which would have been fine if the train had left on time so we had got to sleep before midnight. The journey is less bumpy than the Sapa one though. 

Spike in his bunk

After the trip to the beach in Hoi An I managed to get sunburnt cycling around town. Pretty silly of me really, but dam it hurt. Stupid Doxy (anti malarial) making my skin extra sensitive.

Picking up the tailored suits and shoes was a lot of fun. I got things made at some many different places that I can see the difference between the good stuff and the great stuff.  I have never had anything tailor before so it was a fun experience. Now all I need is a job to wear them to in August.

Me making rice milk

We also attended a cooking class, as we had heard they were great in Hoi An. After a bit of research we found a good one online, which also happened to be in the booklet in the hotel. So we signed up. Turns out upon getting there that it wasn’t the same course. Heading in still excited it we first saw signs of cracking when the couple we were on it with starting asking questions about the market, the villages, what we would be doing etc. The guide was anything but a guide. He ignored questions and skipped two of the four activities promised on the brochure. The cooking was ok, but there was not enough of the actual cooking side, too many fresh foods. But we did get to see how rice milk is traditionally made (they still do it like this in villiages) and husk rice.

All in and all a good day, but not even close worth what we paid for it, so a significant disappointment. It is sad how often we are disappointed with tours. It would never happen at home, there is no way a tour guide could be a bad as some we have had and the tours as promise breaking. They would simply have no business.

Spike and his yummy Vietnamese pancake roll

Throughout Vietnam they have speakers attached to the street lights, they blast propaganda (I mean, the ‘news’) in the mornings and evenings and music some of the other time. They also have guys who ride motos around playing the ‘news’ too. A further example (after facebook) of how the Vietnamese government takes away it’s peoples freedom.

Like Laos, the ladies outside of the cities really love their Pj’s. They were them very often. I figure it is to protect from the sun as they are made of light and comfortable material. Something that would be seen as rather strange at home though.

After another good Indian feed we hit the train in Danang (and we are back to where I started this entry).