Day 57
We've both got itchy feet for the beach so we are leaving the cheap drinks and heat of Hue for the hopefully cooler and more sandy DaNang. We walk back to the train station, though I think we both forgot how hot it was to lug our bags and we are both streaming with sweat when we get there. Lucky for us this train is air conned and although we have to have our bags on our laps again, it's not a bad trip with some quite pretty scenery.
We normally stay close to the train/bus station so it was unusual for us to get off and need to find a taxi but we've arrived nowhere near the beach so we need to grab one. A guy approaches us and offers 100,000 (£3) for the trip which seems a fair price as the only thing else we've been offered is a motorbike! We do both look at each other though when we see the car he'll be taking us in, it's unmarked and as Ben whispers to me in the back seat has a boot big enough to fit a body. We have no need to worry though and arrive at our hotel all in one piece.
We haven't learnt from the other day and we got on the train without any food so are both pretty peckish so the first thing we do is head out to find some munch. To my disappointment but Ben's delight, it's all sea food. Now although I'm a pescetarian (I eat fish but no meat) I've never really been a fan of sea food, it all looks a bit slimey or fishy tasting, urk. Saying that is trip is all about trying new things so I give it a go....and fall in love.
We pick a restaurant which seems busy and have big tanks of fish for you to pick from. Ben goes for a whopper of a crab and some shrimp for us, I pick some spinach (not in a tank, mind) and just hope for the best. 10 minutes later our shrimp turn up, Ben starts to crack the, as I don't have the stomach, when a waitress turns up with gloves and a bucket and looks offended we started without her. She de skins them all and puts 4 in a bowl for me and 4 for Ben, I manage to put off eating them whilst she was around but as soon as she's gone Ben looks expectantly at me. Oh what's the harm, I dip one in sea salt and pepper and pop it in my mouth and I'm met by a delicious taste explosion. Oh my, I moan, why haven't I had these before? I polish my 4 in record time and I'm eyeing up Ben's when the waitress reappears with the crab, bowl and gloves ready this time. I also try this and am again impressed but I don't think anything will overtake my love for shrimp, devine!!!
We finish up the crustations and the spinach and I feel pretty smug with my new found food adventure until the bill arrives, it costs us £30! And we both aren't even full, teach us for not checking the menu. It also swipes all of our money out as we never thought we would spend this much. We head off down the beach to see if we can find an ATM but after an hours walk and a few bewildered looks from bar staff we realise the nearest cash point isn't that near and we are both getting very hungry again. To advert disaster, we go back to the room and find some cash machines on Google which are only a
10 minute walk from our hotel. On the way back we grab pizza, nowhere near as delicious as our first meal but a hell of a lot cheap at £2 for both and drinks.
Day 58
Even though we put the do not disturb sign on our door, we get woken up this morning at 8am by the manager and his maintenance team. I obviously have my "fuck off" face on when I open the door but he persists and it really annoys me. Why couldn't they wait 20 mins for us to get ready and get breakfast? All they wanted to do was flush the air con unit which we weren't using and it really winds me up.
It probably doesn't help that I'm hungry so once they finally get out of our room, we dress and set off looking for some munch. We noticed a bakery the night before near the pizza place so wander up and I grab a fresh baguette with laughing cow cheese and cucumber, nom and only 30p. That's more like it. After doing a little research last night, Ben has found some cool caves that he wants to explore, so we grab a taxi for the 6km journey there but decided to not get him to wait as it can get expensive. You should have seen the faces of the hotel receptionist when we said if worst came to worst, we'd walk back. Walking in not the done thing in Vietnam, I swear they would take their mopeds to their bedrooms to save their legs.
The place we are going is called the Marble Mountain and it's a pretty cool way to waste a few hours. The first cave we go into is huge and full of damnation statues to warn visitors of what waits if you don't play nicely in this life. It's also full of bats which we can hear squeaking above us but I didn't spot any yet. Once we've explore the cave and I've tested my cave fear (Don't know if any of you remember the 90's BBC program called 999, but the first episode was about a boy nearly dying in a sand tunnel and I haven't liked small dark spaces since seeing that) we grab some snaps and then head up a steep stair case to what we think will take us to the top of the mountain. Nope, just a balcony and we have to walk all the way back down as my legs are shaking. (Fatigue not fear)
That walk up and down has knackered my unfit slobby body so when we go out of that cave and see a lift that can take me to the top for 50p, I jump at the chance. Old Mr Fitness takes the stairs but I can see the jealousy in his eyes when I'm not a sweaty mess at the top. It's got a few pretty statues and gardens but it's the caves we have the most fun in. Ben wants to climb up a slippery looking on but I really don't fancy my chances so I wait at the bottom and am rewarded for my guardedness with one of the coolest animal encounters I've had so far on this trip. As Ben and a few other tourists scramble out of site the cave, which has a shard of light coming through, becomes quiet and still. I rest of a rock when I suddenly hear familiar squeaking above, I look up and 5 metres above my heave, I'm rewarded with a swoop of a little bat. I gasp as 2 more come out and play with each other, diving and flying around. It's truely cool and it's only interrupted when a noisy Chinese tourist comes in with a camera. I'm still gawping open mouthed when Ben comes back down and I fill him in on my bat discovery and we both vow to search for some more.
We carry on and look at a few more caves and although we hear some squeaks we don't see any more of our furry friends. We've been wandering around for about 2 hours when we hit our limit and decide to start walking back. We aren't walking for more than 2 minutes when a taxi pulls up, brilliant, I didn't really fancy the 6km back in this heat. We grab some lunch then go back to the hotel to cool off. Ben over heats very easily (putting it mildly) but in the last few days he's felt awful and we both decide it's his hair that's doing it. Now I'm not a hair dresser and Ben's not got a good record of hair trims (last time he had to shave it all off and wear a hat) so it probably wasn't a brilliant idea to let him take out a chunk of his locks with a trimmer. But, I obviously have hidden hair cutting talents (another string to add to my bow) as an hour later with the use of scissors, a comb and a lot of patience he has a decent hair cut and we are both a little impressed.
We go off to test his new cool head with a walk on the beach which finishes in a bar with cocktails, american food and a pool table. The tournament is now at 19-8 and I win 2 out of the 3 tonight, I finally feel like I'm getting my game on.
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