Phu Quoc Island Part 1

After the momentous victory in the previous post, Jordi, Nish and I were up at 6:30am to catch our flight to HCMC. Once in HCMC we met up with about 6 other AYADS and caught our flight to Phu Quoc Island, in the Gulf of Thailand. The plan was to have a bit of a break from the city and ring in the New Year together.

HCMC by air

In the air over the Gulf of Thailand (left) and Phu Quoc Coastline by air (right)

The island was just gorgeous. Long beach (the main beach on the island) was a 300 metre walk from our hotel. There were quite a few tourists there (compared with what I'm used to in Da Nang anyway) but it never got annoying which was good.

Monday night we went into town and went to the night markets for some street food. Meals were 20,000 dong each (about $1.80 approx) and delicious. There were a few disasterous attempts by the un-initiated at rolling rice paper spring rolls. There were some interesting shapes taking place, none of which looked like a spring roll should.

Tuesday was our day for exploring. We hired 4 motorbikes for 8 people (they cost about $3.50 AUD each for the whole day) and we explored all over the island. We headed north as we planned to snorkel and boat tour in the south the following day.

Along the ride we came into contact with lots of local kids who were very excited to see us. I think we were taking the back roads. And 8 foreigners on motorbikes probably attracts attention! We also found some gorgeous beaches and stopped for swims along the way.

Then we found another little beach and had lunch. It was here I broke my own self-inflicted rule "Don't eat anything bigger than your own head".

Stay tuned for part 2 - including snorkelling and NYE beach party.

V is for Victorious Vietnam!

So Vietnam made it to the final of the South East Asian Cup (football/soccer for the unaware) and in the first of the two matches, they beat Thailand 2-1 in Bangkok. Believe me, that was a big deal, in and of itself.

Sunday 28th of December 7pm, was the second final, this time in Hanoi. Although away goals didn't count for more, Vietnam only needed a draw to take the cup. So Jordi and Nisha (2 Hanoi based AYADS) and I decided to take in the final with the locals at a coffee shop on my street.










We arrived just prior to kick off and had to pay the lady in the restaurant next door to rent her plastic chairs. We had to sit on the footpath but still had a pretty good view. People would drive up on motorbikes and park at the shops along the street and take in the game. I have honestly never seen the streets of Da Nang so quiet before!! We were kitted out in our Viet Nam Vu Dich (Vietnam Champions) headbands and Vietnamese flags and the locals were loving it.

Vietnam were down 1-0 for most of the match until scoring an equaliser in the last play of the game, I think it was around the 93rd minute. The whole place went nuts and everyone literally just jumped on their motorbikes with flags, saucepan lids, drums and took to the streets. Nisha and I followed the crowd on foot and these videos are really the only way to do justice to the noise and the atmosphere.


This is the moment Vietnam scored, in the coffee shop on my street. Notice the crowds and our headbands!!

This next video if just further down my road. We were kind of following the crowd.

Then we hit the streets proper and watched more people than I though lived in Da Nang do a loop around the city. The noise and the crowd had to be seen to be believed but I hope this video conveys it.

Up next my trip to Phu Quoc Island and HCMC in 2 parts because there is so much to tell.

Xmas in Da Nang

So first of all, we had the decorating of Ian's tree at the TASC office and adjoining house. Some families Ian knew came over and the kids decorated the tree.

Then on the 22nd of December I had Mark and Genevieve (AYADS from Hanoi and somewhere near the Laos Border) fly into Da Nang for Xmas. Then on the 24th Jordi and Nish (another two AYADS based in Hanoi) also flew to Da Nang. My house was full which is exactly what I wanted over Xmas (even though I only had the 25th off).

Xmas eve was spent 10 minutes down the coast at Bac My An Beach (Sandy Beach) which is on "the road to Hoi An" (which is going to be either the title of my memoirs or the name of my first album). There is a great hostel called Hoa's Place here and Genevieve had conned the owner into cooking up a storm on Xmas Eve and making a bonfire down on the beach. The place was full of other travellers and I was requested to bring my laptop. We then subjected some very confused and disoriented travellers to the extent of my Xmas themed music collection (Hilary, Xtina and Mariah Carey Xmas albums downloaded for the Kinky Xmas party at Myrtle Street exactly 2 years previous).

Xmas day was spent exchanging secret santa gifts left under the "tree", and eating chocolate, juice and homemade french toast. We then headed to China Beach for a couple of drinks before going our separate ways and meeting up for a traditional Xmas dinner at one of the western restaurants in Da Nang.

Merry Belated Xmas to all my friends and family. I will be away from Da Nang for a week from Monday, heading to Phu Quoc Island in the Gulf of Thailand for Western New Years with the AYAD crew. Full post on our adventures when I return.

xoxox Amy

Disco Bridge and Disco Lights

Even though Christmas is not a big deal in Vietnam, due to the small Christian population, there are plenty of lights on display in Da Nang currently in preparation for the lunar new year. This year it falls on Australia Day, January 26th.

Tonight, as I took a taxi across the river to the beach side of town, I was finally able to capture on video two things I love about Da Nang.

• Firstly is the Disco Bridge (real name Han Bridge), the main bridge to cross the river which splits the town in two. This bridge is one of 3 (soon to be four when the suspension bridge is finished) but is the busiest with an entirely logical and seriously murderous roundabout at the end on the town side. We came the closest to an accident in Da Nang that I have had yet, as our bike clipped another at this roundabout. Seriously... I hate this roundabout. But I have nicknamed it the 'disco bridge' as it has brilliant strobe lighting. Very Gold Coast. I didn't catch much of the strobe, but you get an idea of the traffic and the layout along the river, as well as the mental traffic and constant honking.

• Secondly, council workers have been working furiously and in quite treacherous conditions, to string up about a million fairy lights along the main street the disco bridge is on. It's definately enough to give you a seizure but it's brilliant to drive under and hopefully when the rain stops I will walk under it also and get some more photos. Its up for lunar new year so it should be around until end of January. Enjoy in all it's strobey goodness.

P.S. Mike stop trying to shift the blame for the creepy anonymous comments from you to me...

Coming up next: Xmas in Da Nang

My house - a video tour

And so the blog goes audio-visual. Inspired by the recent video update on my old room that Blake posted on facebook, and because for once it is not raining here in Da Nang, I thought I would finally make good on my promise to take you all on a video tour of my house. It's not a very big house and therefore the video is not too long.




I hope you all enjoy it. If anyone has any other suggestions for videos they would like to see from Nam, let me know.

Amy

Housewarming - now with extra $5 a bottle Vietnamese vodka

So I eventually found a house on Nguyen Hoang Street (well I should say off that street). Thats the main road you use to find my house and it's about 5 minutes away from Da Nang airport. However my house is off a little alley way a row of houses back from the street. Once I get around to it (and if it ever stops raining) I will make a video tour of the house for those of you back in Australia to enjoy!

It's a really cute 1.5 bedroom place, with western style bathroom (read normal toilet but no shower recess) and hot water (thank goodness). It has terracotta coloured tiles on the floor and white walls and ceiling. Gorgeous shuttered windows at the front and back of the house and wrought iron work on the door. Very secure with a lockable gate out the front. My walkway also has bamboo plants, which are very lucky apparantly.

So to celebrate and to get to know my new workmates from the Hanoi School of Public Health I had a housewarming party which was warm-up drinks before hitting Phuong Dung disco on the 30th of November.

Here are some of the pics:




































I had to be talked into purchasing the $5 bottle of Vietnamese vodka, made in Saigion, but it was suprisingly good.












Then we hit Phuong Dung disco which is the best disco I have found in Da Nang so far. There was a dance floor with lights underneath it a la Saturday Night Fever, good beats and an excellent mix of locals and foreigners. The pole dancing girls were also not too obvious and less scantily clad than Las Vegas so all in all I was quite pleased with the place. Word to the wise, avoid the fruit platters and the imported beer (v. expensive, at least for those of us on a volunteer budget!).

The road to Hue Part 2

Ok so I'm finally back to finish my post about the trip Tim and I took to Hue. After we wandered around the Imperial city we walked over to the big markets where you could buy pretty much anything. I took a photo of all the shoes. If my feet had been a little bit smaller you would never have gotten me out of there!!

After that we went for a beer on a floating restaurant. It was here in Hue that I discovered what remains my favourite Vietnamese beer... Huda!!! And at about 90 cents AUD a bottle, the price kept me happy also.














I stupidly told Tim I would buy him a cocktail at the swankiest hotel in town, because Lonely Planet had told us it had an awesome rooftop bar. We did get the opportunity to explore the rooftop however it being cold and wet, there was no table service on the roof. The cocktails were uber expensive and not that great, but the view was awesome so that was ok.

Sunday morning we were woken by drumming and Chinese dragons in the parking lot. Apparantly there was going to be a wedding at our hotel. There were people and motorbikes.













On Sunday we spent the day on a boat on the Perfume River that we had hired. For about $15 AUD each, we hired a boat for about 6 hours and it took us by river, to some of the sites along the river. We felt pretty cool because all the other boats that passed us on the river had lots and lots of people on the boat. And we were chilling out on the river in the sun with only two of us on the boat!

Our first stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda. This place was gorgeous and is known as one of the most famous landmarks in Hue. Therefore it was crawling with tour groups, however I stalked a group whose guide was speaking English and got to learn some of the history of the place. There is a big bell tower and a number of monks still reside here. It also has a seven tiered monument at the entrance. It was quite spectacular!





























Next stop was the Tomb of Tu Duc. It was the final resting place of the Emperor of the same name. There is a lake, a pavillion and a theatre on the grounds of the tomb and it was quite spectacular as well. It was a long walk away from where our boat docked and it was really hot and humid but it was definately worth it.


























After looking around the tombs we went to another pagoda and then headed back to the hotel for a rest. We went for some dinner and spent the night in. Monday morning we headed back to Da Nang on a bus that left 30 mins late and then mysteriously made an unscheduled stop for food at 10am in the morning and then continued to stop along the highway after the bus made some mysterious smells. Eventually we arrived back in Da Nang about 3 hours late, tired but happy to have seen Hue.






























Housewarming post coming up next. Stay tuned


Amy xoxox