Nha Trang-Hoi An, Vietnam: 30 Apr 07

Hello! Hong

i woke up at 6.30am, except for the hard bed, the night was fine. I got my things packed and left the guest house. The hotel mama was very kind. Hugged and said good bye to me. We both busying bid fare well and forgot about my passport. i found that i did not take my passport when i got to the bus company in the town centre. Then walked back to the guesthouse again.

The bus was at night, so i had a walking tour in the town. i first when to the local small museum and then the market. i felt so funny when the shopkeeper quoted me a T shirt at 90000 D. i got one at 25000 D in Saigon, so i knew this was a few times of inflated price. i then said 20000 D and i got the T shirt at this price then.

Little did i expect that i would meet this kind Vietnamese girl, Hong. She approached me while i was visiting the town church. She came here with her mother to visit her relative and she invited me to join her in walking around the town. So we went to a temple together, the Cham ruins and chilled out at a small island. It was a nice tour and we got to one after another destination on her motorbike. However i felt sorry that she had to pay the inflated foreigner rate because she was with me.

Towards this stage of my trip, i think i like Vietnamese coffee. However it was kind of like really strong. Normally if i asked them to make the coffee less strong, then the aroma was really good then. i bought a small coffee maker at 20000 D. It would be useful to make a cup or two of coffee when i got back home.



Street scene, near to Dam Market.



Across the street, the castle-like building is Nha Trang Cathedral.
The Catholic cemetery not far from the church was disinterred to make room for a new train-station building. The ashes were brought to the catherdral and rebureid in the cavities behind the wall of plaques that line the ramp up the hill.



The 14-m high huge white Buddha of Long Son Pagoda. We took the 152 stone steps to get to the platform.
The top of the hill has great views of Nha Trang and nearby rural areas.



The Cham towers of Po Nagar stand on a granite knoll and on the banks of the Cai River.



One of the Cham towers built between 7th and 12 centuries. This site was used for Hindu worship but today, both Chinese and Vietnamese buddhists come to pary and make offerings.



We took a short boat ride to get to this isle. There is a buddhist temple on this small isle.

MONEY MATTER:
1.) Food: 62000 D
2.) Transport: 30000 D
3.) Others: Shopping T shirt - 20000 D

Chau Doc-Can Tho, Vietnam: 21 Apr 07

The breakfast started at 6am. We took breakfast and there was a guide from Saigon to entertain us. After all logistics and bla bla bla, we set off at around 7.30am, if i remember correctly. We took rowing boat to fishing farm and Cham (a muslim ethnic group) weaving village. Then it was almost 1.5 hours bus ride to an incense making 'factory' (it doesn't look like a factory at all) and crocodile farm. After this, another hour of bus ride to Can Tho. It was 1pm by then. Free and easy (you are one your own) for the rest of the day.

My first lesson learnt in Vietnam, if you write the price, don't write "D". It will be mistaken as "0" (zero). Just write "Dong" or just ignore the currency sign. The story went by (short version), i lost my way after i went inside to a market and used different exit to come out. So i hired a moto driver to bring me to river side. He lost his way but managed to send me there by getting another driver to lead us the way. Upon arrival, he demanded 30,000 Dong. i said we agreed on 3000 Dong! So it was ten times the price! Then i finally realized that, he got my "D" mistaken as zero. For such a short journey, i was really a great over charged (around USD 3). Since he got me to the place and obviously he couldn't understand me, so i saw no point to fight over a few dollar. i just paid him and walked away. Learnt my lesson with 2 USD, not a big deal.

i took some kind of pan cake and drink at the river side restaurant. i wasn't willing to pay that much of money for my meal again, main course was around 90,000 Dong (USD 5, while the normal meal could be 10,000 Dong, less than one USD). The breeze from the river was a bliss to the heat. i then took an hour's walk to walk back to the guesthouse. Went to two modern shopping malls on the way. Not very big but i wonder in a place like this, can supermarket survive? i personally would prefer to get the vegetable from market rather than supermarket. May be aircon is the selling point then.



A buddhist cum taoist temple in Chau Doc town.



Rowing boat.



"Kelong" or fish farm on the lake.



The Cham girl weaving clothes.



Incense making.



Well, the very touristic crocodile farm.



Can Tho town.


MONEY MATTER:
1.) Food - 35,4000 Dong
2.) Transport - 30,000 Dong
3.) Others: Internet - 3500D