Not so far away, actually

Just got to Hue, north Vietnam.

It's cold and it's raining (feels a bit like Dublin on a Sunday night in November)... managed to organize a hotel, it's small and I'm on my own but it's okay.

Especially cause the telly in the room broadcasts Rai Italia, the international Italian channel... guess what I am going to do tonight - in this tiny town in Vietnam.

No, thanks.

I know I shouldn't be moaning, am still on holidays (and man, what a holiday!) and certainly not stressed about work and all rest... but I did get a bit pissed off when the weather got worse.

Especially cause I really couldn't lie down on the beach with a book.

Now, books. Been going through a lot of them and Vietnam has helped a lot with all the bus journeys and the photocopied books you can find pretty much everywhere.

Except that today the lady that was trying to sell me books wanted me to buy something in the lines of "solo - how travelling alone turn into a murder" ...

Ehm, no, thanks. And I'll skip that 12hours bus ride tomorrow in the middle of the night!

Do I look like I speak Vietnamese?

Border crossing, Cambodia to Vietnam.

Two English girls were with me, so allright.
Then they left. Still allright.
Then I changed the bus... and another bus, trying to be still allright.
Then they told me it was going to take 6hours to get to Saigon. Mhmm.
Then I realize I have no food and no Vietnamese money, no good.
Then no one speaks English anymore, I really don't know what's going on...
People on the bus speak to me Vietnamese, the only thing I can understand is that they want to know how old I am and they look at my clothes, my bag, my diary (WTF) and still to speak in Vietnamese... oh, dear.

Then I get to my hotel, down a beer and a vegetable fried rice and suddenly I like Vietnam all over again!

Hard day at the office

Ended up in Sihanouk Ville, "city" on the coast of Cambodia. Staying in a bugalow on the beach with no sink but a lot of sand (and a wi-fi spot just down the beach).

Otres Beach, the name of the place - hasn't got a lot to offer (unless you do drugs or a serious binge-drinker), not a shop, not a travel agent... but a internet café! Made me feel like I am not that far away from the rest of the world!

Things you've never thought you'd do...

... like getting up at 430am, cycle more than 5km through a city you've never seen in the daylight (I only got in the night before) and get to the temples just in time for sunrise!

Here's the Angkor Wat in Siam Reap, Cambodia at 622am.

It's amazing, yes, but what's more amazing is that's I've woken up at dawn for 2days in a row... and if I'm good I'll make it three tomorrow!

Stressful times

My visa runs out pretty soon... so after 8days in Koh Tao, I wanted to make my way up north and then out of the country.

• 14:00 - a taxi picks us up from the hotel
• 14:30 - ferry boat to the mainland
• 19:50 - bus to Bangkok (it stinks!)
• 3:00am - got dropped off in BKK, in Khao San Rd (full of bars...and drunk people at that time) ... so we start waiting and waiting and waiting...
• 5:00am, a bit hungry ... we get a Burger King (I know, I know!)
• 5:30am - been sitting outside the police station for 1.5hrs now, used their toilets a couple of times (and no, not even the police has toilet paper!) and saw a few ladyboys/prostitues being taken in.
• 8:00am -minibus comes to pick us up, all bags crammed in a 12seats bus, that was going too fast for my liking
• 10:30am -first stop, I couldn't resist Thai food so had a chicken curry at this time of the morning (I know, I know!)
• 13:45 -we get another ferry 
• 16:00- Koh Chang, finally!

Then obviously we had no accomodation, so we had to take taxis up and down the island to find a suitable bungalow, but that's another story!

The shoe issue

Taking your shoes off before going into a restaurant might seem pretty strange for some... but that's the way they do it over here.

Pharmacy, take your shoes off.
Hotel reception, take your shoes off.
Beach bar, take your shoes off.
Supermarket, take your shoes off.

Most of the time you find them when you're back...

(except New Year's Eve... left them outside the bar from 630 til 4am, they were gone! Had to walk barefoot til 12 the next day cause all the shops were closed!)

You just have to embrace this barefoot-ness! And buy new flip flops from time to time!