Easy Riding in Da Lat

Da Lat is a typically Asian, quaint, countryside, bustling metropolis. As soon as someone tells you a town in a Communist country is "quaint", know that this is a very subjective term. I think this is because Communism forced large numbers of people into the countryside, to areas they wouldn't usually have settled. But, thats certainly not to say this place isn't cool anyway.

Da Lat is situated about 6hrs inland from Nha Trang, in the southern half of Vietnam. I wasn't planning on being here so soon but even after a very rough 14hr bus ride from Hoi An, Nha Trang didn't appeal to me at all. I thus linked up with Larissa and Noll in heading straight on to Da Lat.

One thing that Da Lat has become famous for is the Easy Riders biker club. These outgoing biker locals offer cheap tours of the area and also trips to more remote spots. A number of them can speak English, French or German. Which is cool since Larissa is German and Noll is French. I'm also known to understand the odd bit of English every now and then.

The three of us thus signed up for a trip today and had a wonderful time. The guys are so passionate about their home area, and love taking you to more out of the way spots. We visited many local craft places - but not at all touristy - these are small businesses run by the locals out of their backyards. Wevisited a coffee farm, silk worm farm, fruit farm, silk factory, rose farm (add that to the French cafes mum!), basket weavers and even a distillery that doubles as a pig farm! (Apparently the rice that is used to brew the local "happy water" is then fed to the pigs after fermentation. The residual alcohol causes the pigs to sleep and then wake up hungry again - don't we all know that feeling?)

Some "Easy Riding".

The girls and Easy Riders inspect some persimmon trees on the roadside.

Work in the terraced vegetable gardens around Da Lat. I like this photo.

I thought I was back in Guatemala for a second! She's apparently from a Vietnamese ethnic minority group, largely squeezed out of the area when the Communists started settling people here.

One of our guides explains the intricacies of silk worm cultivation.

Larissa and Noll sample some passion fruit (granadilla!)

He even looks a bit drunk... One of the pigs at the distillery/pig farm.

We're meeting up with the guides for a few beers tonight, then tomorrow I'm heading back to the coast at Mui Ne. Apparently there is some cool sandboarding there.

Made in Vietnam

I really dig this town! Hoi An is a quaint little Vietnamese town on the coast about half way down between Hanoi and HCMC. There is a definite French feel to some parts of the town, and somehow this mixes well with the Vietnamese parts. The beach nearby is great, and there are wonderful little French cafes down by the river. But the main attraction is definitely the shopping...

Tailor shops abound here by their hundreds. You can have absolutely anything made at rock bottom prices. Today alone I have ordered 3 suits ($40-$77 each), 4 pairs of hand made leather shoes ($8-$30), a funky jacket and tailor made jeans. This whilst driving around on a cute little scooter between coffee shops in the sunshine.

Decisions, decisions. Eric at the tailor's.

Getting some shoes made (just for good measure...)

The trip down from Hanoi was wonderful too. I joined Eric (from my Ha Long trip) and his buddy Eytan, also from Montreal, on the late night train out of Hanoi. I was in a different carriage to them but the cabins were comfortable and the Vietnamese locals were very friendly so i enjoyed myself anyway. The journey to Hoi An took just over 16 hours and passed through some gorgeous countryside. I really do love traveling by train.

Some of the lovely Vietnamese countryside en route from Hanoi

The train runs along the coast between Hue and Da Nang

My cabin mates on the train...

We're staying in a great hostel (more like a hotel). It has a swimming pool, free internet and free breakfast, and our rooms have cable TV, hot water, air con and fridge. All this for $7 a night. I think I'll stay a while...

Finding Charlie

Yip, I'm in Vietnam... Gonna shoot me some Gooks!

I finally managed to sort out my visa in Bangkok and flew to Hanoi on Saturday evening. I was hoping to find some cable TV at the airport so I could watch the Sprinboks, but no such luck. Instead I decided to fork out a few extra dollars for a taxi, rather than the bus, so I could at least catch the last half hour or so. In the end that didn't work out so well either. The taxi driver picked up a mate and together they tried to rob me! They were adamant that I owed them over a million Dong (about $60). I managed to persuade them that I only had 200,000 on me (which is the correct fare) and that the rest was in my pack locked in the trunk. Obviously as soon as the trunk was open I grabbed the pack and made a dash for it... Welcome to Nam.

And at least I got to the hostel in time to see Francois Steyn sink those pesky Aussies.

Hanoi is actually pretty cool. The French influence is still very obvious, with some large churches, French architecture, and baguettes for breakfast. I spent the first two days just chilling in the city, the hostel I'm staying in is very nice. Beer here is insanely cheap too. The local draft, Bia Hoi, is sold at street stalls in the evenings for 2000 Dong a pint. That's less than one Rand! Its pretty rough stuff though.

Tranport in Hanoi is pretty hairy...

The last three days have been spent on an awesome trip out to Ha Long Bay. This involved a 3 hour bus out to the coast, a day trip out on a junk to a private island resort, great accomodation, and all meals included. Life has been tough. The scenery there is spectacular and the small group of people I was with were fantastic. I think we'll go out tonight for a few Bia Hoi's to celebrate before we all go our separate ways.

Junks on Ha Long Bay

"Hi mom!"

I've just managed to organise a train ticket to Da Nang for tomorrow night. From there it's a short hop to Hoi An, and the cheapest tailors in the world...

Bangers 'n a flash

Timmy is back to his independent traveller persona.

Meegs left today from Bangkok on the first of her many flights en route back to Joburg via Bahrain and Abu Dabi (ouch). I'm still in Bangers as my visa for Vietnam was delayed. I fly tomorrow evening to Hanoi (at the same time as the SA v Oz rugby game - bugger!).

Its been cool to spend a bit of time in Bangkok though. Well, cool probably isn't the right word... it was still 35 degrees at midnight last night! Meegs had a chance to get a work suit made, and I even threw in a few shirts for myself (just in case someone actually gives me a job one day). We also got to see some more of the city via the riverboats and skytrain, did some shopping around Siam square, and had the most amazing cocktails on the roof of a 61 storey 5 star hotel.

Venice of the East.

An amazing spot for a drink. Even if they did cost more than our hotel room!

Meegs gets kitted out for Monday morning back in SA.

Although Thailand is undeniably beautiful, I'm excited to be moving on. There are just too many travelers here. Thailand is like a backpackers package tour in that transport and accomodation are so readily available, and many people speak good English. Apparently Vietnam isn't much different these days though. But we'll soon see.

Cheers Meegs! Thanks for joining me. Its been a blast!

Spling Lolls at a stall in Klabi.

OK, now does anybody else's warped mind and mangled Afrikaans find that name funny? Please own up.

No comment needed. Khao San Rd is such a classy place.

Scuttling sideways to Krabi

I'm so sorry to disappoint the likes of Tim Browne who I know was eagerly waiting to see what blog title I came up with for Phuket. But out of respect for my younger readers, I decided to avoid the temptation altogether by heading east to Krabi instead.

Meegs and I left Phi Phi yesterday and stayed here in Krabi last night, giving us a chance to check out the awesome night markets. We take an overnight bus up to Bangkok this evening. That'll give us a day and a half to do some shopping and for me to sort out my Vietnam visa.

We really enjoyed our time on Phi Phi. I definitely recommend the little resort we found, called Viking, to anyone who might venture there in the future. It made the trip for us! Its now the end of the beach holiday part of my trip, for now at least, but I'm really looking forward to Vietnam. And Meegs certainly has the tan to prove she's been on holiday.

The view down over the twin beaches of Koh Phi Phi, where the tsunami wreaked most of its damage in 2004.

Meegs doing the Long Beach thing.

A spot of Thai massage right on the beach... ag shame but life has been tough for Meegs these past 3 weeks.

A special note to my Gogo: please get better soon Gran, I need you well when I get home so we can share our adventures!


Here's the sunset I mentioned to you Gran. The colours in the evenings are just gorgeous here.

White sand, Sharks, and Leonardo di Caprio

Its now halftime in the SA vs Samoa rugby test. I'm watching in a bar on Koh Phi Phi. Meegs and I have been here since leaving Railay on Thursday.

The view from Long Beach out to Phi Phi Leh. Straight out of the movie...

Koh Phi Phi is beautiful. We're currently staying in a very shweet little bamboo hut on a tiny private beach, near Long Beach, on Koh Phi Phi Don (the larger of the two islands). We spent our first day diving around Phi Phi Leh, with a lunch stop on Maya Beach (made famous by the movie The Beach, starring Leo).

Meegs in the beautiful waters of Maya Beach.

That was awesome, but I think today was even better... We woke early and went snorkeling with Black Tip Reef Sharks, just off Long Beach, and after a glorious day in the sun, went back for more! And now I get to watch the Bokke! Awesome. Meegs definitely has me puzzled. She's terrified even by the thought of spiders or crabs, but nonchalantly swims with a pack of feeding sharks... OK, maybe not so nonchalantly... the first inquisitive shark found her perched on my head!

We're taking a boat tour of the surrounding islands tomorrow, and then, after another day lounging here, we plan on heading back to Bangkok via Krabi on Wednesday as Meegs flies home on Friday.

Our great little spot near Long Beach.

I Railay need to Phi Phi

OK, so thats officially the worst blog title yet...

Meegs and I left Koh Lanta on Tuesday after a great couple of days of beaches, elephant riding and cooking courses. We are slowly making our way back up the Andaman coast and have spent the last 2 nights here in Railay near Krabi. The place is gorgeous with beautiful limestone karsts towering above white sandy beaches.

Railay's west beach.

Apparently the traffic on the M1 into Joburg was horrible today...

In a short while we board a boat to Koh Phi Phi. We hope to spend a bit longer there as we'd love to do some dives together. And the surrounding islands are supposed to be stunning.

Sorry about the lack of decent and regular blog updates but internet is seriously expensive here.

Loitering in Lanta

Meegs and I left Koh Tao on Friday night after spending an awesome few days there. We took the night boat south to Surat Thani and from there made our way by bus, bakkie, minivan and ferry via Krabi to the island of Koh Lanta. This place is very chilled, especially as it's way out of season. Its supposed to be middle of monsoon season on this coast but so far the weather has been gorgeous, and we have the added bonus of getting everything half price!

Exploring Koh Tao by scooter was awesome fun.

Meegs leading me astray in the pub after finishing her dive course on Thursday night.

We still need to make our final decisions about our itinierary for the next 2 weeks. We've been contemplating heading north to Chiang Mai at some point for some trekking, but with limited time I almost feel it would be better to skip it in favour of some more beach time and island hopping. Maybe we should just settle all decisions by saying whoevever can eat the hottest Thai curry gets to decide! At this point though we're looking at heading to Railay beach either on Tuesday, after some elephant riding here tomorrow, and then we'll head from there out to Koh Phi Phi for some more sun and scuba. Sucks to be us!

The view from our beach side bungalows last night.

The benefits of coming out of season... a beach all to ourselves.