Shady train deals

Well it's one difference we've noticed for sure from four years ago is how much more busy it is.  Including the train... even though we were booking in advance we still couldn't land ourselves in a sleeper car.  Grr.  Setting ourselves up for a long train ride from Hanoi to Hue (ended up being fifteen hours and left an hour late), we board coach three and sit down in our respective seats.  They are a class below what we've the paid for and Missy's seat is wet, great start.  The girls make themselves comfortable, Missy using a plastic bag to protect her from said unknown wetness and fall asleep.  I stay awake playing games on my phone.  The train rocking me gently but definitely not to sleep. 

Just after midnight (about two hours after departure) a young man approaches me with an inquisitive look.   He's wearing a train attendant's uniform and thinking he's asking about my current level of candy crush I proudly show him my phone screen.  He smiles and whispers, "Where are you going?"  "Um, Hanoi" I reply.  He looks side to side and asks, "You want to sleep in a bed?"  At this point Missy and Ang have awoken and are looking at us confused.  "No, thanks, we are four," I decline.  "I know, I have four beds in car five, 200 000 dong each" says he.  I look at Missy who is shrugging and nodding at the same time, she does have a wet seat after all.  I go check out the room telling the girls I will be back in 5 min.  Situation seems legit, seems like each coach has its own company and/or operator.  He's just looking to make a few bucks on a no show or vacated room (although he does kick one women out when I arrive to take up next door).  He assures me we have the room to ourselves all the way to Hanoi.  I return to the girls to find out not only has Kimberly not awakened during the whole discussion but is also now sleeping beside a complete stranger who has taken up residence in my seat.  We girls discuss the situation and decide yes, Ang checks out the room with me and then her and Kim ferry the bags across two cars as I stand guard in the new room and Missy in car three.  All settled in we are all pleased and speak proudly of our good fortune.  Bonus, car six's washrooms are discovered as wonderfully clean!  We fall fast asleep at last comfy on our beloved train ride.  In the end paying less for our beds then if we had booked them lol.

We arrive in Hanoi well rested and as Kim would say, feeling quite chuft with our deal we brokered.  The next few days are filled with good food, hectic non stop city life, coffee and bia hoi.  Hello Hanoi,  I've missed you so.

A stroll through the purple city

From Hoi An to Hue we travelled in style by private car, enjoying stunning views from mountain passes.  Killer beach front with huge stormy waves but with the temperature dropping as we travelled north we didn't enjoy much beach time.  We arrived in Hue with enough time to explore the Royal Palace for the day.  It has it's own moat!  It was an interesting mix of old and new as it is undergoing restoration.  Even though the day was dreary and rainy out we enjoyed our exploration and had a lot of it to ourselves.  I couldn't help but imagine it full of people in its prime as the emporor and his family would have supported a small city within the capital city of Hue.  Complete with elephants.

Shopping anyone?

Our visit to Hoi An with the girls was a moment for them and us to relax for a few days in a beautiful town.  We cycled out to the beach through the rice paddies and chilled out with a few drinks.  The water was pretty chilly but jumping around in the waves was fun, the ocean was super strong.  Not quite surfable but close.

Picking out styles and getting measured for clothing was a big event for everyone.  There are so many tailors it can be overwhelming but we connected with Sinh's friend Lam and were absolutely spoilt.  We received the best treatment, chose from some of the finest fabrics and after several visits they made us look dope. Look out Victoria!

Strolling through the streets, the girls shopped till they dropped stopping occasionally to recharge for some yummy food and drink.  

The perfect pilsner

Well Nha Trang lived up to my expectations, a complete tourist trap.  Not worth going too other then the brewhouse (a god send) and 100! Egg Mudbath.  The four of us girls spent an amazing and most hilarious day in the mud and relaxing mineral pools and showers.  LOL.  We shared our own bath with fresh mud pumped in which was super fun and made our skin extremely soft.  It was a great escape from the heat and all the tourist hustle.  Kim and I capped off the day to a visit to Nha Trang's only brewhouse,  Louisiane Brewhouse, where we were spoilt with a red ale, dark lager, witbier and most delicious, a proper pilsner.  The saving grace of Nha Trang.

After the overwhelming tourist spot of Nha Trang we decided to try the sleepy town of Quy Nhon just up the coast, half way between Nha Trang and Hoi An.  Sleepy is right but escape from foreigners even more on point.  While the girls recovered from our overnight train ride I went on a walk and tried to blend in.  Lots of welcoming smiles and cheap prices!  A most perfect and delicious banh mi was only fifty cents with complimentary tea.  Coffee was a steal.  I could have stayed for weeks (the little pink hotel was ours).  But we are on the move, there's still more to show the girls before they have to fly home.  Hoi An is next... pretty sure we will get stuck there, lots of clothes to be made for the girls.

Up in the mountains

According to Kim it's freezing in Dalat, high of 30 and a low of 15, can't wait till she gets back to Canada.  We are enjoying having the girls with us as it's fun to finally share Vietnam with our friends up close and personal.  Da Lat is a weird collision of Vietnam fused with the French Alps... there's a distinct European feel to it.  The countryside is beautiful and the town a collection of hills, tight corners and cute side streets.  Well known for its flowers, veggies and sweets it was a gardener's paradise.  I have never seen so many greenhouses in my life!  The rolling hills around the town are covered in them!

In one day we explored the countryside and saw pagodas, roses, veggie fields, waterfalls,  silk factory, cricket farms (yup you guessed it, we ate them) and a rice wine distillery.  We capped the day off with an evening at an amazing hidden gem of a bbq joint for locals only, no English lol.  It was hoppin!  We did quite well, ordered and everything arrived quickly with our coals and a terracotta tile to cook on.  Delicious.  Only problem we kept getting in trouble with the bbq patrol mama for not using enough oil to keep our tile clean enough.  Bad foreigners.   Super fun, complete with a big cheers from our next door table.

Next day we spent the morning walking around the lake and strolling through a mini Butchart.  A few slight differences... cost $1 to get in, they offered pony rides and carriages to get around, odd Disney themes at times and the gardeners were free to be seen, water at will and listen to pop music.  Beautiful.

Heading to the beach next.. Nha Trang here we come.  We are four now, look out world.

Lost in Saigon

Saigon was amazing as usual.   Five days there, ate like a fool for the first two, sick as a dog for the last three.  Picked up Missy and Ang along the way and strong like lion by day six boarded a bus to Da Lat.  I ate pho, banh mi, snails, crab, quail eggs, chicken wings and the list goes on.  Meet up with old friends and made new ones.  As always Saigon is a bit of a blur.  Topped it off with catching a live performance at the opera house of Vietnam's version of Cirque de Soliel, AO Productions My Village.  Phenomenal.

Culinary adventures

Phnom Penh was a great stop for some culinary adventuring.  From dim sum to Japanese to traditional Khemer it had a little of everything.  We even tried tarantula!  Which just went to prove that everything is good deep fried lol.  The street food was delicious and cheap, travelling breakfast carts with fried egg and noodles to yummy fresh juice shops that spring up all around the markets.

But by far our best meal was on our last night there.  Kim convinced me to try something called Dine in the Dark where after you choose the theme of your three course meal you are led by your blind waiter into the pitch black dining area.  I was completely unsure of the idea and quite nervous but our guide/waiter Jojo made us feel very comfortable.   I choose the Khemer menu while Kim chose the international.  Jojo explained to us where everything was on the table and reassured us we just had to call and he would come to assist us.  We ordered a bottle of wine which he expertly poured for us just before our appys arrived.  We both got a type of salad which we took great fun in describing to eachother and being pleasantly surprised by all the flavor components and textures.  Next was our main where Kim got the most unexpected and wonderful surprise of biting into perfectly cooked lamb.  Without telling me what she had she offered me a bite... it's so incredible to have such flavor burst over your palate when you're not expecting it.  After our main we were served a amuse bouche of three different shot glasses of chilled soups.  Delicious.  We took a moment to sip our wine and converse with Jojo and another server about working and living in Phnom Penh and they were super chill and talkative.  Dessert arrived and we quickly realized Kim's had both bananas and chocolate in it so we switched.  For the best too cause Kim loved mine with sesame, coconut sticky rice and papaya.  After we were finished and Jojo had informed us our bottle of wine was now empy we were led back downstairs.  It's important to let your eyes adjust as it is quite a shock being back in the light.  The hostess then showed us photos of what we had eaten and we could see how much we had figured out.  We scored pretty close to a hundred!  I have to say it was one of my best dining experiences ever, combined with the pleasure of discovering your meal and our constant chatter with ourselves and our servers, it was phenomenal.  Little did I know how fun it would be, thank you Kim for challenging me.

Keep it real Kampot

Kampot has been the toughest place to leave yet, seriously.  Yesterday as we were about to get into our taxi to Phnom Penh, we were invited to join Cambodia's biggest music superstar, Preap Sovath, and his entourage on a boat trip.  Let me explain...

We spent time both in town and out in the country along the river this past week.  Swimming, spa time, enjoying delicious food and great company.  One of our favorite activities was paddleboarding.  We have gone out with our guide/friend Annie in a few different spots along the river.  Paddling both up and down the river and through the mangroves is super relaxing.  Annie is campaigning to Kampot and the government to clean up the river and keep it clean.  Her landlord and Preap are interested in helping her.  So when we went out for a free paddle yesterday morning because Annie is so generous, they were discussing a boat trip.  Sponsored by Angkor beer, he had just finished a music tour and was still celebrating.  Unfortunately we couldn't let down our taxi driver who had just arrived so we couldn't take him up on his invitation.  God Kampot, give us a break!

Kampot has definitely been one of our favorite spots so far.  It's beautiful and super chill.  And with a new dock and ferry in the future with a direct route to Phu Quoc, hmm...

Thanks to everyone who made us feel welcome and helped us discover all the good bits.  Keep it real Kampot!

Salt and pepper

From Kep it's just a short trip to Kampot where we've managed to feel absolutely welcome and settle down for a week again.  Kampot is actually a big spralling community on the river that still maintains a small town feel.  Everyone is so friendly and connected it's easy to get passed on from one local to another.  Always big smiles and lots on English spoken but lots of Khemer passed on as well.

Our tuk tuk driver, Mosa, from Kep to Kampot was actually originally from Kampot and spoke perfect English so we got absolutely spoiled.  He took us to a huge salt farm where an enormous amount of salt is produced and dried all on site.  They sell the salt to the market for about $2 for 50kg.  They can only produce during the dry season so they also raise sparrows in these giant concrete houses and sell off the nests for $1000/1 kg to the Chinese and wealthy Cambodians for bird's nest soup.  The spit used to make the nests is considered to bring luck and prosperity.  Ew.  The kids at the salt farm were super cute and helped show us around.  After the salt farm Mosa took us to a pepper plantation where we learned all about organically growing pepper in Cambodia.  And the pepper is good!  Mosa took us to his favorite spot in Kampot market to pick up some, red, white and black with some free salt thrown in.

Now we are chillin on the river at a great backpackers called Arcadia.  Great people, good food and lots of swimming.