Dalat

 

Arrived dead in the night again!

Unless you are an extremely patient person and has a butt of steel(literally). Do not take the hard seater of the trains in vietnam!!. By hard seat, they are REALLY hard!! like Wood hard! Even though the price is really cheap, its just not worth it.

14hours later, at 10pm. Arrive at nha trang to connect to dalat. The last bus for the day had left and i will have to catch the bus the next morning. During long endurance on the train, i promise myself to lie down comfortably on a nice clean bed after a hot shower. This is also where i paid the most a night of lodging.

Most expensive lodging award! Nha trang Prince hotel!

Nice hotel with air con, glass toilet, mini fridge and clean bed. All for just 10 USD. (actually i found out the next morning that i overpaid. But WHO CARES!! I needed it!

Plus i saved quite a bit staying with ivy the last week.

My once and only stay in a hotel in my 7 months. Most expensive lodging award USD10!

Wow clean glass toilet!

 

Beautiful beaches

1 bus ride up to dalat. 6 hours later. Back to familiar grounds.

 

A little coal, a wire mesh and some stools. All that you need to be an entrepreneur.

 

Weird looking but tasty snack

My agenda for coming back is to attend my friend Hoa’s wedding.

 

The wedding couple!

A typical wedding dinner in vietnam would have about 5-7 dishes. Surprisingly the customs is somewhat similar to that in Singapore as well. :D

Hao looked really pretty and happy on this day. Her family including her parents, sister and brothers were there.

Even though it was held in a 4 star hotel in dalat. The food however was average. even Uyen said so.There were about 15 tables in total.

 

Uyen(i first met her and Hoa together while eating beef lungs at a motorcycle vendor) and her friend on her right

 

Hoa’s Sister(R)

 

Looks very much like a Singapore style wedding

6 course Menu. LOOK at the 2nd last item.

STEWED PORK TONGUE

 

Actually the wedding is very similar to what we experience in SG

TADA! Pork tongue! EWW

I had planned to leave the next day but was convinced by my friends there to stay another day. I had travelled 500km all the way back here and would take another 500km to head to my next destination. In total that would be more than 20 singapore length!!

 

Long distance bus again. –_-"

i was told i would reach my destination hoi an at 5am.

at 3.30am. I saw a familiar sight. DANANG 15km away. it means i overshot again!

Arrive in Danang dead in the night again. Same time, same situation!!

Bus sign.

Bus service hour: 5hour to 16hour

Frequency: 20 mins

Fare: 3000Dong/short trip?

             7000Dong/full trip?

Nope nobody teach me how to read :D

So i started walking, walking 2 hours till i reach the river bank and watch ladies shake booties.

 

Waited till people start coming out for exercise

Her food looked pretty good and even though i had a breakfast appointment with Ivy and Kat later, i couldn't resist not getting any

Chicken with glutinous rice

Called and woke ivy and Kat up for breakfast.

and i am a bumpy rust decorated bus ride towards hoi an!

BACK BACK BACK!!

Hey people i am back!!

My blog is actually just halfway through my journey and i am already back in singapore. School has started and it is doing everything it can to keep me busy. Nonetheless, this blog is still always in the back of my mind and i want to complete this!! So lets begin!!

I left off my last post when i was in dalat where i met 2 ladies who were going to get married. The wedding was 2 weeks away so i decided to move on to other places first. Next stop. Boun Ma Tout.

Back on the disgusted minibus again! This time round, the driver thought he was a F1 driver. He was going 90km/hour while doing mountain bends!! The rear of the van literally turned into a puke factory!!
Damm you bus!! I swear never to take you again!!Toilet break. Pick your coffee plant.

I was starved by the time i reached Boun Ma Tout and i immediately went in search for food with my backpack still with me! Turns out BMT is a pretty small town and is very unlike the other modern cities i have been before.Nem Ran. "Wrap your own rice paper meal"
Plus i had a bowl of steaming Bun.Pronounced "boon". Like thick beehoon in singapore.

Dropped my bag at a cheap guesthouse and off i go wandering off again armed with nothing but my courage. I knew there was a decent waterfall around the area and i gave myself a challenge to take the public transport there.Hm..Dray Sap waterfall.... Which bus to take?

I went to the "bus stop" and turned to a guy. "Dray Sap??" and he looked at me with a puzzled face. I repeated a few other times and he still didnt get it. Disappointed, i went to take a sit at the "bus stop".

Beside me was a girl who gave me a smile and said "blah blah blah blah dray sap blah blah blah" *blah=unknown vietnamese word.

YES!!! finally!! so she started to talk and motion to me, apparently trying to tell me which bus to take. I told her i did not understand what she said and she ask me to sit down and wait. I patiently did and when a bus came forward, she pulled me up the bus. She is very very chatty. And even though 95% of the time, we didnt understand each other, she still kept talking!! Maybe cause i kept nodding my head in agreement that she took it that i understood her. With my mere knowledge of vietnamese, i managed to got her name. Duyen is a 23 year old student and she is going from school back home in the village. The water fall i wanted to go is near her village. So with her help, she told me where to drop off and where to take the return bus back. Thanks alot!! before she left, she even send me an sms! In VIETNAMESE!! oh well, i will get my friend to translate for me when i get to the next city. Meet Duyen!
The waterfall.Damm good fruits with ice and milk while waiting for my return bus.

I had to wait a longggggg time before my bus finally came. Unlike singapore where we have ezlink and just tap when boarding. Buses over there are manned by a bus attendant. The fare would be based on where you tell the attendant you are going. Thankfully for me, i was on the same bus and the attendant girl recognise me from all the commotion i was causing on the way there!

She flashed me a big wide grin and i slip her my fare for my ticket!

Hired an old man with a bike to ferry me around the city and saw this BEAUTIFUL wooden church.
My rider brought me to visit some natives villages.
Thats me!
House with a huge and tall roof
The villages were cooking something in the pot and trust me, it looked really gross...
My rider took me to meet this old man who plays music with his home made bamboo instrument. Very interesting hobby too!

A fruit called Vu Sau. Literally "Breast Milk" They didnt say whom breast though
After eating, i saw worms... Look on the right side. See a hole? it was crawling out!! EWWW

Boring capital of Laos - Vientiane

Upon reaching Vientiane, i had a very difficult time looking for a place to stay. Being a big city, i would expect there to be a big range of different lodgings. The 3 that i narrowed down to be the cheapest were either full, closed for renovation or is a rubbish dump. The rest of the guesthouse is just downright expensive for its worth. After an hour of searching with my 10kg backpack, I have to bite the bullet and settle for a very basic and clean Joe Guesthouse (50k kip=$10). For this price i am paying, i dont even have a toilet of my own. :(
Joe Guesthouse(50k kip=$10) Ouch!
Decided to talk a walk to the main market in the capital, Talat Sao market. Which also comprises of a bus station and a shopping mall. On the way there, i saw Oliver (Shanghai guy i met in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng) riding a pink bicycle in his bright orange jacket! And the weather is super hot!

Talat Sao shopping mall really resembles MBK shopping center in Bangkok. Lots of clothings, gifts and many pirated stuff to be found.

Openly selling pirated movies!
Talat Sao Shopping Center. Paradise for the female gender
Much-needed chocolate waffle
Many Vietnam-influenced food here

While scouring the streets, i came across this sign Yensabai Show and decided to go check it out. While buying the tickets for the show (US$7), i was greeted by yet another Anehasayo!! by 2 middle age korean ladies who are waiting for the show. Through them, i came to know that this show is partly sponsored and supported by the Korean community and that explained why half of the audience are Koreans and there is even a Korean description about the show. Traditional Laos dance
Stick dance
Little gift at the end
Piece of orange string haha!
And they invite you for a short intro to Laos dance at the end
The end!

Being the capital, Vientiane is rather bland in terms of sights and attractions compared to other towns. For me, the main focus of my stay here would be trying the different varieties of food here. Usually when i eat, i always choose the one full of locals. Even though this noodle soup looks commonly bland, it is by far the best soup i have tasted in Laos. And cheap too 10k kip=$2
Be warned that most shops have menus that look like this, unless you can read Laos. The only way is to point to a random one and hope for the best.
Another popular hole in the wall shop with tasty food. Crispy noodle with beef gravy, my 2nd dinner for the night. (13k kip=$2.50)
Vietnamese food! (again it was very crowded the night before)

The next day i hopped on a bus to Xieng Khuan Buddha Park (5k kip=$1 admission). One of the few sights available in this place. packed to the brim mini bus(5k kip=$1). Take bus no. 14 from Talat Sao bus staion
Weird statue considering this is buddha park. Is this even a buddha?
Arrow to the head!!
Many morecheeky monk! Anyway he was the one who told me that the structure we were on is called the Tree of Thorns where sinners would have to climb. Ouch!
Remember this picture i took for CNY
This is where i was when i took it. We entered through the mouth, climb a series of narrow stairs and emerge at the bottom of the tree at the top! Phew!
Great Stupa, Phat That Luang. An iconic monument in Laos

It cost another 5k kip to go into the compound and i would seriously recommend saving it. There is nothing inside at all, just the fact that you can get close to the Stupa. Truth be told, it looks far more grand from afar.

After just 2 days, Vientiane is starting to bore me. There really is very little to do here and so i decided to move on the next day. My last dinner in the capital of course had to be something special. Went to Ban Anou night market which is a small 20m side alley with a dozen stalls selling all kinds of food. Dinner for tonight? BBQ by the riverside sunset. Street snack made of coconut
BBQ meat, a favourite of Lao people. You can find this practically EVERYWHERE in Laos
Delicious meat jerky. One of the tastiest meat i ever had
Of course, the famous BBQ chicken with a big bag of sticky riceCycled to the riverside together with my food for a sunset picnic!

Next destination, adventourous Tha khaek!