Nha Trang / Russia

I arrived around 6.30AM to Nha Trang, they pulled my bike out from under the bus put the front wheel back on and off I went in search of the "True Friends Inn" somewhere in the city, it was bloody freezing and took me ages to find I have on offline GPS but its quite basic and couldn't get me exactly there after about an hour I found it. I wasnt able to check in until 11AM so I dropped my bag off and went for a scout about. The first thing I encountered was that everything is written in Russian, I had heard from many, in fact all, that Nha Trang was Russian Russian Russian and many people were boycotting the seaside destination because of this. I have had several personal bad impressions of Rusians and was hoping that I might perhaps meet one who would change my mind but I didnt. I sat down at a table one night to say hello to some and instantly one stood up and started touching my face. Ermm what?!. That aside, the fact that 90% of the tourists were from Russia it didnt really affect me I had a great time in Nha Trang.

I didnt do a great deal in Nha Trang, in fact i didnt even go to the beach, my time here was spent a lot on my bike and I liked to just get lost in the city and venture further out to explore. I would buy a baguette each day from Tung who was a kid with his family who had a small shop set up on the street they greeted me happily each time. Perhaps the best day I had in Nha Trang was when we went snorkeling in a very random place of some rocks far out of the city. A girl I met at the hostel knew a vietnamese guy who was a diving master who she had worked with before, his name was Son and he was a very friendly guy although his English was not perfect. We had actually asked him to take us to the waterfall but this got lost in translation to snorkeling, he was very apologetic but he needn't have been it was a great day, the water was quite choppy so visibility wasnt great but it was still fun, we stocked up on some beer before we left too which always helps. When we were done with snorkeling we headed to a cool little bar where we spent a few hours playing cards, it was a really decent spot. Our evenings in Nha Trang we spent mostly at the "Why Not Bar" as this is latest open. We also spent some time the ozzy bar "Booze Cruise" it was Australia day when I arrived and around 3PM the place was already packed with plenty of drunken people dancing on the street with thier wizard sticks, it was pretty funny. One evening I went for a another scout around just out of the main city where I sat down with some Vietnamese guys who kindly offered me to sit with them and gave me beer free at thier restaurant.

It was now time for me to make a move further south to Dalat I had met an Australian in my dorm who was driving too so it worked out well. Before departing I went to say goodbye to Tung and his family and donated a hoody to him. I had lost my thin one in Hanoi at a club but had been given another by a vietnamese guy which was much bulkier and as I travel with just a 45L backpack I needed to get rid of it. I figured its getting warmer the further south and I wouldnt need it anymore, plus I still had my jacket with me. He was happy with it although it was a little big for him. We were now on the start of our epic journey through the mountains, this was the most incredible motorbike journey I had ever been on ever, the roads were in great condition and we, for some time, were riding high up in the clouds. Words cannot describe how beautiful the scenery was, I was in total awe. This was the reason I had come to Vietnam.

Nha Trang is definitely worth a visit, yes its heavily geared for Russian tourists but it is still a very beautiful place.

Hai Van Pass and Hoi An

Our next stop after Hue was Hoi An, of course thihis is perhaps the most famous scene from the Top Gear Vietnam Special. The route on Google maps said around 130KM and the journey ended up taking us 8 hours but it was seriously a great adventure. The first couple of hours the three of us drove through some villages as we didn't want to take the highway the whole way. The roads in some spots were close to non existent and luckily we had bought face masks as it was very dusty and smokey in places. Once we got onto the main highway, well this was pretty terrifying, huge container lorries zooming past honking their horns at a million decibels gave us a huge rush. Once we reached the Hai Van Pass we were very excited,  for the next 22KM we would be ascending and descending the mountain true Top Gear style, we stopped where they would have stopped and took a few snaps, basically loving life. We had various other interesting sites before my bike broke down, right outside a mechanic (everyone in Vietnam is a mechanic), the shift had snapped again so I got the whole thing replaced for about $2.50 it took 3 minutes and the mechanics friends then filled my pockets with some sunflower seeds as a complementary gift before we were on our way again. Darkness had approcahed now and here we were at our destination in Hoi An, the town most known for tailer made suits.

Lex had checked out some places online and booked at the "Sunflower Hotel, which is basically a hostel, it was pretty good and had a pool, although it was freezing so we didnt bother with it. We stayed in the dorm so this is pretty much always the same basic bunks, the only thing was they only had three outlets for eight beds which was difficult. Dan and Lex wanted suits made so they spent a lot of time at the tailors, I already own a decent suit and because my budget is getting much tighter I didnt opt for one, instead whilst they did that I took Mike my bike for a scout around with another guy who was staying at our hostel. We drove through a small village where a drunk local put me on the phone to his daughter as a translator to talk to me which was very bizzare we then ended up at a section of the beach where we observed some local fishermen bringing in thier nets. I cant remember exactly the series of events because im very behind on my blog but on one of our days in Hoi An we drove to the Marble Mountain which was pretty cool, it was more of a big hill but was hot climbing the stairs to the top, there was a great view there. We then had a rather humorous time looking at all the marble statues in the shops, the same place they bought James May his one in the Top Gear special, some of the designs of these things were absolutely hilarious and some had very hefty price tags in the thousands of dollars, we started to annoy some of them when we pretended to be interested in buying a huge one and asking how we could get it on our bike. Following our visit we headed back via the beach where we took to the sand and sea, Dan fell off a couple times which was pretty funny, he wasnt hurt so it was all good. On another day we drove to My Son which is a marvellous place with old ruins, that were constructed without the aid of any morter and over time the bricks had now fused togeter from the weight.  It was pretty impressive. The rest of our time in Hoi An we just spent wandering the markets and eating some delicious food in the local restaurants all of which were selling "fresh beer" for just 3000 dong (less than 10p) a glass of course we took full advantage of this its hit and miss on each days batch but it was definitely drinkable.

I now had a decision to make on my next movements south, Mike the bike was still having a bit of a hard time and I didn't fancy driving him the long distance to Nha Trang so I cheated a bit and chucked him on the night bus and off we went. Hoi An was a delightful quaint town, though somewhat touristy. There was no significant night life but we did find a couple good bars ignoring Vietnams rather strict closing times. Its definitely worth a visit.

Huế

The night bus to Hue from Hanoi was actually pretty good, better than buses in Thailand, the layout is different with a single story bus with upper and lower bunks. As I am small I fit into the Vietnamese seat/beds ok but if you are quite tall though it may be a diffrent story. We arrived at 9ish dropped right outside Hue Backpackers which looked alright so we took it, a bit pricier than Hanoi but still cheap. It was here we spent three nights in total to explore the city. The first thing I did in Hue was buy myself a motobike, it was something I had planned on doing with the intention of driving it to Saigon and I had an idea of $250 in my head (the going rate according to fellow travellers). After some bargaining with the dealer this is what I paid but perhaps rather hastily. The bike (like 99% of bikes in Vietnam) are banged up Hondas but they still go well, the dashboard didnt work but I got him to fix a few bits up, obtained the green registration card without signing anything and the bike was legally mine. Thats how it works here, so long as you have the registration card the bike is yours.  You legally need a Vietnamese license to drive in this country but unlike Thailand they dont pull foreigners over, and if they did so long as I produced the registration its a simple 'fine' to be on my way. I was somehwat gutted with the bike when after just a few hours of having it my shift changer bolt snapped but was fixed immediately for less than a dollar buy someone on the side of the road, I also took it to a diffrent mechanic who done an oil change and checked everything else over for me, again this cost just a few dollars so all wasnt so bad.

Hugo whom I'd been travelling with has a profile on coachsurfing.org which he used to meet up with Hana a local Vietnamese girl who kindly took time off from work to show us around her city. She took us to some of the major tourist attractions as well as another place a bit further away which was a spectacular religious grounds with amazing gardens walkways and bridges,  it was very peaceful here. She also took us to dinner where the locals hangout and we enjoyed some delicious food. Our evenings in Hue we spent drinking at the hostel and hitting the local night club which was a great laugh.

This post is very short as I am incredibly behind on my writing and need to get up to speed. Hue was a cool city but specifically the best part about it was Hana showing us around, she even bought Fai a small present. She was very kind indeed. My bike after the visits to the mechanic seems to be staying alive and now Dan, Lex and I were to drive south to Hoi An via the famous Hai Van Pass.

Good Morning Vietnam

Crazy, chaotic and incredibly intriguing, this is my first impression of the wonderous country that is Vietnam. I flew from Bangkok to Hanoi very smoothly and got my visa on arrival with my letter of approval I had paid for online. I had booked a taxi pick up from the hostel which didnt show so I took a $2 shuttle bus directly to my hostel which worked out much better. It was on the bus that I meet Hugo from Portugal my first travel buddy in Vietnam. Im a bit behind on writing this so unfortunately I will have to skim through a few things but firsty the "Hanoi Central Backpackers Hostel" was excellent, $5 a night including breakfast and free beer for an hour each day, well you just cant beat it, it also had the best shower I had ever come accross in all my travels. Along with that the staff were freaking awesome too. So now, Hanoi itself, in my opinion is my favourite capital city out of all I've seen in asia, it was just completely diffrent to anything it is impossible for me to describe and of course, the traffic! Wow! Motobikes everywhere utter chaos with continuous sounds of honking horns, I was absolutely blown away. Me and Hugo spent 4 nights here meeting various other people and our time was spent walking the city visiting the various sites and museums and attractions, we also played badminton with some locals in a temple very randomly one afternoon. The best thing to do in this city though is people watching, you just cannot belive your eyes here. We rented bikes one day and you can only imagine what this was like, our mission was simply to stay alive. We succeeded just. We did have one encounter with a dodgey taxi driver with a very rigged meter but this was the only negative I can think of. I had read and heard vietnamese people are not as fredindly as their neighbours but I didnt find this at all, they perhaps dont smile as much as Thais but I found them just as pleasant as any other.

Following Hanoi our destination was Halong Bay, we had booked the cruise tour via our hostel as it had great reviews on trip adivisor. It was clear why, at $85 for the one night/two day cruise it was pretty pricey but it was worth it, the cabins where nice and clean with hot showers and all food (which was plentiful and delicious) was included,  drinks were not unfortunately.  We spent the first part visiting the suprising cave which was great although a bit crowded. We then got back on our boat to take a meander though the stunning islands of Hạ Long Bay before anchoring at our spot where we would stay for the night. Shortly after stopping a Vietnamese man from the small floating village towed over our kayaks in his small craft and we spent a good hour going around one of the islands, there is no place like this that I had ever been, it was phenomenal.  That evening was party night and another boat joined up with us to get involved, although there weren't that many people it got pretty messy, at one stage during the night a couple of us wondered in the kitchen to find all the staff munching away on 10KG of mussels which they were happy to share with us, although I thought I wouldnt like it I tried one and it was pretty good. The following morning we had breakfast and set off back to the mainland, mid morning we had a demonstration on how to make vietnamese style spring rolls, we each made one which was then sent to the kitchen to be fried and these were served as part of our lunch. They were tasty. Once we got back to the mainland we had to wait for our bus to take us the three hour or so journey back to Hanoi, it was here I haggled very hard with a vendor selling hammocks I got it for 45,000 dong (just over $2) when she was asking for 100,000. Just after we figured out a place to hang it at the bus stop I had a few minutes to sit in it and the bus came. The whole situation, mostly the haggling was worth it in itself. Very funny indeed. That night I took the night bus to Hue to await my next adventures.

Christmas and New Year Celebrations

I had a few days in Ayutthaya before Christmas where we were due to go to Bangkok to celebrate, in this time I didn't do much, mainly practised with my band for the NYE party and spent a few nights at the pub meeting various backpackers. On one day though we decided it would be a very festive thing to bring some ice cream to the kids at a local school/temple which was under funded and housed several orphans. We headed to the cash and carry and ended up spending around 3000 baht £60 between three of us on enough ice cream that ended up feeding a few hundred kids. I had met a woman the night before from Belgium whom I had told my plan and she was really keen to come along with us which was great. When we got there there were still in a lesson so we set up our stall, we had a huge box of ice keeping the ice cream cold so we had no problem with this melting anytime soon. There were also some other Thai people who had the same idea as us who had bought a load of snacks and drinks in for the kids so they really were in for a treat today. When the children entered each and everyone of them gave a 'wai' and had big smiles on their faces. They first ate their lunch and then lined up for their ice cream with a choice of chocolate of strawberry, I'm not sure exactly how many kids there were but it was well over a hundred and by the end of it we still had loads of ice cream left, we had a whole box of chocolate left and a box of chock chip cookie too. The Belgian lady had also bought a big huge tub of biscuits which we offered to the monk so we were thus blessed before we left. We weren't exactly sure what to do with the rest of the ice cream so we decided to go to another school where one of Fais mum and her friend work so give it to those kids, as before they were incredibly cheerful about this. It was money well spent.

My only real mission for this year was to get a Roast Dinner on Christmas Day, unlike last year where sadly I never got one. I had looked online at various 'British' pubs in Bangkok and ended up choosing 'The Robin Hood' they had three courses for 995 baht (just under £20) when bearing in mind I pay 200 baht a night for accommodation this is tremendously expensive but this is what I was expecting to pay if not more on Christmas Day. Fai and I decided to stay near Khao San road, I have a love hate relationship with that place but it can always guarantee some entertainment. We stayed a short walk/tuk tuk away in Boonsiri Place Hotel, which was OK but in my opinion over priced for what it was, the reason we picked it was because it said they had parking, really what they meant was they had a place to park outside on the road assuming it wasn't already taken, luckily though we did find a space. We arrived on Christmas Eve and were to stay here until Boxing Day. On Christmas Eve we started our night by having an absolutely delicious stone oven pizza at a really nice pizzeria we completely stuffed ourselves by going all out on the sides too. We then had a little walk over to the Grand Palace before heading to Khao San road where we spent a good few hours consuming buckets on the street just people watching, we got a bit nerved at one point when a Thai guy decided to kick some chairs around, but somebody finally had a word to him and he calmed down. We continued on with the buckets when at some stage around 11PM the police had a 'sweep' of the road shutting down the various vendors who obviously wern't paying a big enough bribe so we moved our chairs off the street itself and sat outside the macdonalds where we ended up talking to three guys who had been in the country mearly a few hours, it bought me back to my first day in Thailand on the very same road. They seemed like cool guys and picked my brains for a few tips and tricks about travelling. We then headed off together into a really cool bar (I dont know the name) where we carried on until the early hours of Christmas Day itself after we left the bar we had a little wonder on the street again which is when the police came back (around 3ish I think) to shut everything down.

The following morning it was safe to say I was a little worse for wear but fully exited about my roast, I made the reservation for 2PM it was a half hour or so ride on the BTS Skytrain and we made it just in time, thats Thai time, we were a little late and I was worried they might have given up our seat but all was fine. At first glance I was impressed with the Robin Hood Pub, we even had crackers on the table, something I had not even thought of. Fai had absolutely no idea what they were so it was great fun for her, we pulled them together to retrieve our hat, shit joke and terrible toy. Thats when it sunk in that it was Christmas Day. The meal itself really lived up to my expectation, I started with a spicy pumpkin soup while Fai had the prawn cocktail, we then had our turkey with all the trimmings (minus yorkshire puddings though) the main meal was a big portion and filled me right up, I also splashed out on a bottle of prosecco and made up some bucks fizz. For desert I took the vanilla creme brulee and Fai, the christmas pudding, I'm not a huge fan of dessert but gave it go and it was pretty good. Following our meal we headed to Siam Discovery to do some shopping, I had mentioned to Fai I wanted a new wallet for Christmas but I wanted to pick one out, we headed to the top floor where there was an extensive collection to look through, I ended up settling on a nice brown leather one from polo world, I was very happy indeed. We then wondered around for a while and had a look at the Christmas tree and lighting outside before heading back to the hotel. In the evening we met up with a friend of Fais and headed to Khao San road again, much like before we consumed buckets on the street until the police came to close it. The following morning we checked out, and found out our car had been clamped by police with a 500 baht (£10) fee to have it released, we told the the hotel and the called the police who ended up unlocking it for free luckily, not sure how but they did. We then grabbed a bite to eat before heading back to Ayutthaya. My Christmas celebrations in Thailand this year were great, the roast dinner making all the difference.

There were just a few days left now before the Countdown Party at the Streetlamp in Ayutthaya so we had some last minute practise to do with the band. The line up was: Mr Phillipe, an older French guy who had been coming to Ayutthaya for many years, our band 'Spring Low Band' and Zerum band who are a fantastic heavy rock band. The morning/afternoon of the 31st was spent setting everything up taking basically everything from inside outside onto the street where the stage would be set up, then there was a lot of sound checking all afternoon to get everything just so. I spent my last new years eve here and the set up was the same, we offered a free buffet from 6.30PM and the entertainment was also free. My pay for performing, like any other night I perform in the pub was free whiskey and plenty of it was consumed. The night ran smoothly as far as I can remember, up until just after the countdown when the police and army decided to parade themselves down the street to shut everyone down. I was furious by this to say the least, there was no explanation for it either, other than the orders had come from high up. Technically establishments are to shut at midnight, and the Streetlamp always abides by this, the other bars on the street don't and normally get away with it assuming the place looks closed (the shutters can be down but if people are still drinking the police ignore it) but tonight of all nights they came in full force with no exceptions. Once everything had been bought inside they left and we could continue drinking but without the music. I literally cannot comprehend why they would do this on NYE when already tourist figures are plummeting in Thailand due to political unrest and various attacks on foreigners making headline news. Silly move!

So another year over and now we are onto 2015, my plans and goals for this year are clear and simple, I will obtain my TEFL certificate in March, and get myself a job in May as a full time foreign English teacher where I will officially no longer be a backpacker but a functioning person in Thai society. Bring it on, I cant wait!!