This is when we had a bit of a run of bad luck. We left our hotel in Hoi An rather hung over and arrived at Da Nang airport to some confusion. Our flight was scheduled for 16.15 but all the boards were showing it as leaving at 22.20, strange, nowhere did it say delayed. Everyone else around seemed to be just as confused as we were, so we followed the crowd and joined the que to check in in the hopes of being enlightened.
We waited over an hour in this que which wasn't very long just very slow moving. This would not be such an issue had the yager (jagermeister) shenanigans of last night not been sending waves across us every few minutes and further unaided by little tit bits of information filtering through the que! Basically our flight and the next were delayed until 22.20. Instead of updating the board as such they explained the situation to everyone individually so everyone in the que could have their own moan, the stewart at the desk would then apologise and go and see if there were seats available with other airlines, a pointless exercise which only kept us in the que longer.
We listened as the two ladies in front of us discussed how this always happened with this bloody airline, "like, seriously this happened the last five times with bloody Jetstar!!" This leaves you to wonder why a person would choose to book with the same airline given that there are a number of budget air lines available. Having gotten to the desk, they took the dumb route and were in a desperate situation as the woman's imaginary daughter was getting married in the morning and they simply must be allocated another flight! Good effort, but to no advantage.
When we finally reached the desk we were informed of the delay but to compensate us for the inconvenience we were given a meal voucher for the airport restaurant and a discount for our next flight with jetstar. Great! At this point we only had 6 hours to hang about. There were several flights delayed so we decided to head straight to the airport restaurant and nab a seat before the rest of the crowd followed and reconsider our original plan.
The original plan was to get to Saigon early and possibly get straight on a night bus to Cambodia or failing that head to the Saigon Inn where we'd stayed previously and arrange a bus through them for first thing in the morning. With no other option we decided we'd better just book the hotel and sort our onward travel in the morning, great idea if the bloody internet worked at the airport! Besides not being able to book a hotel 6 hours with no internet to entertain us made for a very long wait.
We chatted for a while with some other passengers before ordering our free meal. Despite the restaurant serving several different dishes we were given the option of "chicken" noodle soup or "beef" noodle soup with a bottle of water. Unfortunately it appeared to be parts of animals you don't normally find in food! The soup was more oil than water and confirms quite the theory that there is no such thing as a free meal. Realising that we were in the airport for some time yet it seemed logical not to spend our time in the bathroom so we tasted it and left it and the restaurant.
After some time to recover our appetite and with few other options in the check-in area for food we decided on a change of scenery and went through to departures where thankfully we found a burger king. Despite the portion sizes being much smaller than we're used to it was very edible and the first real fast food we'd had in weeks. At this stage we'd had an update on the flight and learned we were delayed by another hour which made us a little nervous about the time we were finally going to arrive in Saigon.
The hotel we intended to stay in didn't operate a 24hr reception and while we were familiar with the area we were heading to we didn't fancy trying to find an alternate at 12 at night so we thought we'd try and call the hotel and make a booking in the hopes that they'd stay open until we arrived, but how to make that call.
Our mobile for some reason while we were in Vietnam wouldn't connect to a network so we thought a pay phone, obvious right, wrong! The airport didn't have payphones and thinking about it I'm not sure they exist in Vietnam, all the currency is in notes so I'm not sure how they'd work. Anyway we thought it was jetstars fault we were in this mess so we went to their desk and thankfully they made the call for us and the hotel agreed to wait for us.
All we'd left to do now was wait. We were eventually the last flight to leave the airport at around 11.30 that night and finally arrived at the hotel just after 1 for a sleep before rising early to organise our onward travel.
On waking the next morning I went straight down to reception to organise a bus to Ha Tien, the most straight forward route back to Kampot. Luckily there was availabilty on a bus at 12.30 which gave us time to shower and eat before boarding, great until the next incident accurrred.
I headed back to our room to have a shower and instead of unpacking my bag to get to everything I used the sachets of shower gel and shampoo provided by the hotel, bad idea. Struggling to open the first sachet I used my teeth and broke my front crown! (I've had a front crown for 17 years after breaking my tooth playing hockey) I was devastated, what was I going to do. It had broken in three and left me with a stump as a front tooth.
Thankfully after calming me down Shane took hold of the situation, cancelling the bus which we hadn't yet paid for thank God and getting the details of a dentist which the hotel recommended. After getting myself together off we went.
Unfortunately the dentist the hotel had recommended was closed but we'd passed some on the way so left the taxi with Shane doing all the talking while I stood there with my hand over my mouth. The first place we tried after showing them the problem were very eager to help and even drew pictures of a new tooth and also wrote the cost alongside. Suspicious of the lack of talking and artistic display, Shane took the piece of paper and wrote "any English??" The response was not verbal, just a sorry looking head shake! Whilst having no English on its own could never be a detriment to the ability to do a job, not being able to quickly and effectively communicate with someone in this position is definitely a deal breaker so we left to try another.
The second place we tried looked like a dental hospital but we couldn't find anyone to speak to believe it or not. Shane tried speaking to the security guard but he presumably had no English either as the only response received was the all encompassing twist of the hand so we carried on up the street.
The third place we got lucky. The young girl on the desk had perfect English and shows me to the treatment room. I did get a little nervous at this point, was she the dentist? She looked about 18 definitely not old enough to be qualified. Thankfully a much older man arrived, fortunately he was the dentist and appeared to have good English and a friendly attitude. With Shane standing at the viewing window arms folded intently studying the dentist, he explained that he'd examine me and then explain my options which put me at ease. A half hour later he'd prepped what was left of my original tooth, taken the impressions needed for me to return the following day for the new crown to be fitted.
Disaster averted we got some lunch and considered our options to get back to Kampot in Cambodia. Our visas were about to expire in two days but we didn't really want to leave the following day in case there was any issues with the crown but didn't want to over stay our visa and make things complicated at the border so we decided to book a bus for the last day on our visa and hope for the best.
If only it was that simple, we didn't realise, and we should of given how much we'd learnt about the Vietnam war while in Vietnam but there was a three day holiday coming up. This meant there was no available buses going to Hat Tien until at least the 1st May. Our options were to go via Phnom Penh or over stay our visas so reluctantly we opted for Phnom Penh. Decision made the agent tried to make the booking but there was nothing available! Could we have any more bad luck! After explaining our predicament wearing our best sad faces, the agent made a few more calls and managed to get us on a bus but it wouldn't be a sleeper bus. We could live with that, it wasn't that long a journey and it was early in the morning and would eliminate visa issues.
Plans made we went back to hide in our room or at least that's what I was doing for the afternoon. Unfortunately I had to eat so that night we went for dinner and bumped into Shane´s ´snuggle buddy´ Ben from the night bus and his other half Emily (you might remember Ben who we mentioned in our Hue post). After a beer or two we then met another couple we'd spent some time with at the airport in Da Nang and had two more beers as you do before heading back to the hotel where we had yet more bad luck.
Our hotel was down an alley and didn't have 24hr desk so on arriving at the hotel we had to ring the bell. While waiting for the door to be answered disaster struck and my bag was snatched. The guy cut the strap and before I knew what had happened he was off. Shane took off after him but it was a futile exercise, the alleys are like a maze and he had the upper hand. On the bright side which I couldn't quite see at the time he didn't get much, thankfully we always separate everything and Shane had the bulk of our money but he did get my bank card which was another drama to sort out.
Once we got over the fright of what happened we went about phoning the bank to cancel the card. We asked to use the hotel phone as our mobile didn't work only to find you couldn't dial international numbers from their phone, ridiculous if you ask me! I then had a brain wave and thought we can put credit on our Skype account but even that wasn't straight forward.
We logged on and went about adding credit only to be told that because of our location the option wasn't available. At this stage we'd no choice but to call home on viber, explain our predicament and ask for them to put credit on our account. We were then finally able to call the bank and calm ourselves down enough to get some sleep.
The following day we didn't do very much before heading to the dentist. After much pushing and pulling my crown was finally fitted and I was pleasantly surprised. It looks as good if not better than what I originally had. With a sigh of relief we were able to head back and pack up to finally move on the following day.
Our final journey in Vietnam thankfully was incident free and we arrived in Phnom Penh that evening checked in to a hotel for the night and then straight on to Kampot the following day where we could relax and take in everything that had happened over the last few days.
Vietnam conclusion
Despite the ending we had to our visit to Vietnam we did enjoy it and both Halong Bay (despite the mist) and the Hai Van pass were real highlights on our travels so far and we met some great people. It's a much more developed country than you might think and has really embraced the tourist industry but not always in a good way. Scams await you everywhere and unlike India in a lot of ways are well disguised. There must be more travel agents than anywhere in the world especially in Hanoi but they're not always legit.
We also learnt a lot about the Vietnam war and its long term effects still present today. War is pointless and the more I've learnt about the Vietnam war the more I realise just how pointless it was. It should never have happened, but the Vietnamese are very resilient. While the country may be poor in parts it's never squalid and as a race they've come out the otherside of some serious atrocities, the village at the Vinh Moc Tunnels being a case in point.
The Vietnamese are very social and like to party and there are karaoke bars everywhere. The bar scene particularly in Hanoi and Saigon is huge where people sit on little plastic stools on the street outside the often just an open shop front with a beer tap or cooler.
Vietnam was the first space where we struggled a bit with food. Their food is quite basic and lacks flavour but they serve a type of fish sauce with most dishes. If your on the coast and like seafood however there's plenty of fresh options to choose from. The best food we had was in Hoi An which is probably to be expected given its largely a tourist town. For coffee lovers though Vietnam is the place to be, it's very strong so beware.
Other things I'll take away from Vietnam is that there is nothing that cannot be transported on a motor bike. Across Asia you'll see everything and anything being taken on a moto but I think some of the funniest things we've seen have been in Vietnam. A 20ft. ladder being dragged along by the driver with his foot through the top rung, a whole family on the back with a babyseat to the front for the youngest and even uncaged animals balancing happily on the back.
There's nothing that can't be put in a plastic bag either, soup, coconut milk absolutely anything, the bag is filled and tied with a straw in the knot for you to drink the liquid.
One big irritant while in Vietnam was the ATMs, because everything was so cheap most bank machines would only allow a maximum withdrawal of 2,000,000 dong which is about £55. This means you use them more and are consequently charged a currency fee and a charge for using your card abroad which can add up over a month especially when you consider how far the charges will get you here.
It really is a very beautiful country with some breathtaking scenery and has so much to offer the world. It definitely should be on everyone's list for a visit and unfortunately the sooner the better as is the running theme in South East Asia it is changing fast and not entirely for the better.
We waited over an hour in this que which wasn't very long just very slow moving. This would not be such an issue had the yager (jagermeister) shenanigans of last night not been sending waves across us every few minutes and further unaided by little tit bits of information filtering through the que! Basically our flight and the next were delayed until 22.20. Instead of updating the board as such they explained the situation to everyone individually so everyone in the que could have their own moan, the stewart at the desk would then apologise and go and see if there were seats available with other airlines, a pointless exercise which only kept us in the que longer.
We listened as the two ladies in front of us discussed how this always happened with this bloody airline, "like, seriously this happened the last five times with bloody Jetstar!!" This leaves you to wonder why a person would choose to book with the same airline given that there are a number of budget air lines available. Having gotten to the desk, they took the dumb route and were in a desperate situation as the woman's imaginary daughter was getting married in the morning and they simply must be allocated another flight! Good effort, but to no advantage.
When we finally reached the desk we were informed of the delay but to compensate us for the inconvenience we were given a meal voucher for the airport restaurant and a discount for our next flight with jetstar. Great! At this point we only had 6 hours to hang about. There were several flights delayed so we decided to head straight to the airport restaurant and nab a seat before the rest of the crowd followed and reconsider our original plan.
The original plan was to get to Saigon early and possibly get straight on a night bus to Cambodia or failing that head to the Saigon Inn where we'd stayed previously and arrange a bus through them for first thing in the morning. With no other option we decided we'd better just book the hotel and sort our onward travel in the morning, great idea if the bloody internet worked at the airport! Besides not being able to book a hotel 6 hours with no internet to entertain us made for a very long wait.
We chatted for a while with some other passengers before ordering our free meal. Despite the restaurant serving several different dishes we were given the option of "chicken" noodle soup or "beef" noodle soup with a bottle of water. Unfortunately it appeared to be parts of animals you don't normally find in food! The soup was more oil than water and confirms quite the theory that there is no such thing as a free meal. Realising that we were in the airport for some time yet it seemed logical not to spend our time in the bathroom so we tasted it and left it and the restaurant.
After some time to recover our appetite and with few other options in the check-in area for food we decided on a change of scenery and went through to departures where thankfully we found a burger king. Despite the portion sizes being much smaller than we're used to it was very edible and the first real fast food we'd had in weeks. At this stage we'd had an update on the flight and learned we were delayed by another hour which made us a little nervous about the time we were finally going to arrive in Saigon.
The hotel we intended to stay in didn't operate a 24hr reception and while we were familiar with the area we were heading to we didn't fancy trying to find an alternate at 12 at night so we thought we'd try and call the hotel and make a booking in the hopes that they'd stay open until we arrived, but how to make that call.
Our mobile for some reason while we were in Vietnam wouldn't connect to a network so we thought a pay phone, obvious right, wrong! The airport didn't have payphones and thinking about it I'm not sure they exist in Vietnam, all the currency is in notes so I'm not sure how they'd work. Anyway we thought it was jetstars fault we were in this mess so we went to their desk and thankfully they made the call for us and the hotel agreed to wait for us.
All we'd left to do now was wait. We were eventually the last flight to leave the airport at around 11.30 that night and finally arrived at the hotel just after 1 for a sleep before rising early to organise our onward travel.
On waking the next morning I went straight down to reception to organise a bus to Ha Tien, the most straight forward route back to Kampot. Luckily there was availabilty on a bus at 12.30 which gave us time to shower and eat before boarding, great until the next incident accurrred.
I headed back to our room to have a shower and instead of unpacking my bag to get to everything I used the sachets of shower gel and shampoo provided by the hotel, bad idea. Struggling to open the first sachet I used my teeth and broke my front crown! (I've had a front crown for 17 years after breaking my tooth playing hockey) I was devastated, what was I going to do. It had broken in three and left me with a stump as a front tooth.
Thankfully after calming me down Shane took hold of the situation, cancelling the bus which we hadn't yet paid for thank God and getting the details of a dentist which the hotel recommended. After getting myself together off we went.
Unfortunately the dentist the hotel had recommended was closed but we'd passed some on the way so left the taxi with Shane doing all the talking while I stood there with my hand over my mouth. The first place we tried after showing them the problem were very eager to help and even drew pictures of a new tooth and also wrote the cost alongside. Suspicious of the lack of talking and artistic display, Shane took the piece of paper and wrote "any English??" The response was not verbal, just a sorry looking head shake! Whilst having no English on its own could never be a detriment to the ability to do a job, not being able to quickly and effectively communicate with someone in this position is definitely a deal breaker so we left to try another.
The second place we tried looked like a dental hospital but we couldn't find anyone to speak to believe it or not. Shane tried speaking to the security guard but he presumably had no English either as the only response received was the all encompassing twist of the hand so we carried on up the street.
The third place we got lucky. The young girl on the desk had perfect English and shows me to the treatment room. I did get a little nervous at this point, was she the dentist? She looked about 18 definitely not old enough to be qualified. Thankfully a much older man arrived, fortunately he was the dentist and appeared to have good English and a friendly attitude. With Shane standing at the viewing window arms folded intently studying the dentist, he explained that he'd examine me and then explain my options which put me at ease. A half hour later he'd prepped what was left of my original tooth, taken the impressions needed for me to return the following day for the new crown to be fitted.
Disaster averted we got some lunch and considered our options to get back to Kampot in Cambodia. Our visas were about to expire in two days but we didn't really want to leave the following day in case there was any issues with the crown but didn't want to over stay our visa and make things complicated at the border so we decided to book a bus for the last day on our visa and hope for the best.
If only it was that simple, we didn't realise, and we should of given how much we'd learnt about the Vietnam war while in Vietnam but there was a three day holiday coming up. This meant there was no available buses going to Hat Tien until at least the 1st May. Our options were to go via Phnom Penh or over stay our visas so reluctantly we opted for Phnom Penh. Decision made the agent tried to make the booking but there was nothing available! Could we have any more bad luck! After explaining our predicament wearing our best sad faces, the agent made a few more calls and managed to get us on a bus but it wouldn't be a sleeper bus. We could live with that, it wasn't that long a journey and it was early in the morning and would eliminate visa issues.
Plans made we went back to hide in our room or at least that's what I was doing for the afternoon. Unfortunately I had to eat so that night we went for dinner and bumped into Shane´s ´snuggle buddy´ Ben from the night bus and his other half Emily (you might remember Ben who we mentioned in our Hue post). After a beer or two we then met another couple we'd spent some time with at the airport in Da Nang and had two more beers as you do before heading back to the hotel where we had yet more bad luck.
Our hotel was down an alley and didn't have 24hr desk so on arriving at the hotel we had to ring the bell. While waiting for the door to be answered disaster struck and my bag was snatched. The guy cut the strap and before I knew what had happened he was off. Shane took off after him but it was a futile exercise, the alleys are like a maze and he had the upper hand. On the bright side which I couldn't quite see at the time he didn't get much, thankfully we always separate everything and Shane had the bulk of our money but he did get my bank card which was another drama to sort out.
Once we got over the fright of what happened we went about phoning the bank to cancel the card. We asked to use the hotel phone as our mobile didn't work only to find you couldn't dial international numbers from their phone, ridiculous if you ask me! I then had a brain wave and thought we can put credit on our Skype account but even that wasn't straight forward.
We logged on and went about adding credit only to be told that because of our location the option wasn't available. At this stage we'd no choice but to call home on viber, explain our predicament and ask for them to put credit on our account. We were then finally able to call the bank and calm ourselves down enough to get some sleep.
The following day we didn't do very much before heading to the dentist. After much pushing and pulling my crown was finally fitted and I was pleasantly surprised. It looks as good if not better than what I originally had. With a sigh of relief we were able to head back and pack up to finally move on the following day.
Our final journey in Vietnam thankfully was incident free and we arrived in Phnom Penh that evening checked in to a hotel for the night and then straight on to Kampot the following day where we could relax and take in everything that had happened over the last few days.
Vietnam conclusion
Despite the ending we had to our visit to Vietnam we did enjoy it and both Halong Bay (despite the mist) and the Hai Van pass were real highlights on our travels so far and we met some great people. It's a much more developed country than you might think and has really embraced the tourist industry but not always in a good way. Scams await you everywhere and unlike India in a lot of ways are well disguised. There must be more travel agents than anywhere in the world especially in Hanoi but they're not always legit.
We also learnt a lot about the Vietnam war and its long term effects still present today. War is pointless and the more I've learnt about the Vietnam war the more I realise just how pointless it was. It should never have happened, but the Vietnamese are very resilient. While the country may be poor in parts it's never squalid and as a race they've come out the otherside of some serious atrocities, the village at the Vinh Moc Tunnels being a case in point.
The Vietnamese are very social and like to party and there are karaoke bars everywhere. The bar scene particularly in Hanoi and Saigon is huge where people sit on little plastic stools on the street outside the often just an open shop front with a beer tap or cooler.
Vietnam was the first space where we struggled a bit with food. Their food is quite basic and lacks flavour but they serve a type of fish sauce with most dishes. If your on the coast and like seafood however there's plenty of fresh options to choose from. The best food we had was in Hoi An which is probably to be expected given its largely a tourist town. For coffee lovers though Vietnam is the place to be, it's very strong so beware.
Other things I'll take away from Vietnam is that there is nothing that cannot be transported on a motor bike. Across Asia you'll see everything and anything being taken on a moto but I think some of the funniest things we've seen have been in Vietnam. A 20ft. ladder being dragged along by the driver with his foot through the top rung, a whole family on the back with a babyseat to the front for the youngest and even uncaged animals balancing happily on the back.
There's nothing that can't be put in a plastic bag either, soup, coconut milk absolutely anything, the bag is filled and tied with a straw in the knot for you to drink the liquid.
One big irritant while in Vietnam was the ATMs, because everything was so cheap most bank machines would only allow a maximum withdrawal of 2,000,000 dong which is about £55. This means you use them more and are consequently charged a currency fee and a charge for using your card abroad which can add up over a month especially when you consider how far the charges will get you here.
It really is a very beautiful country with some breathtaking scenery and has so much to offer the world. It definitely should be on everyone's list for a visit and unfortunately the sooner the better as is the running theme in South East Asia it is changing fast and not entirely for the better.
great read keep it up
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