Round The World in 777 Days: 3/23/08

Day 1025 – Nha Trang, Vietnam

Day 1025 – 28th March 2008 +7:00 GMT

Had a fantastic buffet breakfast at the hotel and then went for a walk along the waterfront, it is so hot and humid here. The town is not really made up of anything, lots of hotels and guesthouses but not really any shops. We walked back along the beach and when we arrived at the hotel we lay on the sun loungers on the hotels private part of the beach and had a beer and I went for a swim in the sea.

View From Our Balcony

Nha Trang Beach

Our Hotel The Sunrise

Nha Trang Beach

Sweeping Our Beach

Jill On Beach

We then went and had a siesta and then walked back into the town to drop off our washing.
In the evening we caught a taxi to an Indian Restaurant which was really good and the first place where I have been forced to sign the guestbook before they will let me pay. We then went to the Louisane Brewing Company for a beer. After the drinks we walked back to the hotel.

Me At Louisane Bew House

Our Hotel

Day 1024 – Hoi An - Nha Trang, Vietnam

Day 1024 – 27th March 2008 +7:00 GMT

Had breakfast at the hotel and then caught a taxi back to Danang and got on the train. This time we were in a four berth soft sleeper carriage. Although there were actually five in our carriage.

Jill On Train

Me On Train

The journey was about 10 ½ hours to Nha Trang. We arrived and got a taxi to the Sunrise Hotel which is another 5 star hotel, our last treat of the holiday. We had a lovely room with a balcony that looks over the south china sea. We went had a drink and a snack in the Irish Bar before calling it a night.

Our Room At The Sunrise

Day 1023 – Hoi An, Vietnam

Day 1023 – 26th March 2008 +7:00 GMT

Had a quiet morning in the hotel and then got the 11am shuttle into Hoi An town. We had a walk around all the temples and buildings of interest including the old bridge. In Hoi An you buy a single ticket and that allows you into all the historical buildings and temples.

Hoi An

Old Bridge Hoi An

Hoi An

We had a nice walk along the river and had a drink in a riverside bar. Then caught the shuttle back to the hotel. I had a swim and lay around by the pool and read my book for most of the afternoon and then we went back into the town for an evening meal.

Golden Sands Pool

Jill On The Beach

Golden Sands Beach

We ate at Tam Tam’s again and sat out on the balcony overlooking the street. We headed back to the hotel and watched TV for a few hours before sleeping. Just as I was going to bed I noticed we had no water in the bathroom, so used bottled water to clean my teeth and went to sleep. At 2am we heard this loud high pitched screeching coming from the bathroom. I phoned reception who sent someone up to look at it, but as soon as they arrived it stopped, then 5 minutes later once they had gone it started again. This carried on four or five times and then the hotel said they would move us to a new room, by this time it was 3am and we were booth very tired.

Jill With A Beer In Hoi An

Day 1022 – Hoi An, Vietnam

Day 1022 – 25th March 2008 +7:00 GMT

Woke up at 6am after a reasonably nights sleep, only woke up a couple of times on the bumpy train. The four year old was running round all morning like crazy and kept grabbing onto Jill and I. We arrived at Danang station just after 11am, the last 2 hours of the journey had spectacular scenery as the train followed the coast.

Vietnam Coast From Train

Back Of Our Train

Front Of Our Train

We got a taxi to our hotel which was about 40 minutes away near the Town of Hoi An. The hotel was lovely the five star Swiss-Bel Golden Sands Resort.

Swiss-Bel Golden Sands Resort.

It has a 150m Infinity pool which runs between the front of the hotel beach. The rooms are lovely and very comfortable.

The Hotel Infinty Pool

Our Room

We had some food at the hotel restaurant and then had a nap. In the afternoon I went for a swim and sat around in the Jacuzzi. About 6pm we got a taxi into the centre of Hoi An and had a wander around the streets. The town is beautiful and is made up almost entirely of art galleries and tailors, the area is famous for it’s silk. We found a nice restaurant called Tam Tam and I had the Hoi An local dish which is fish steamed in banana leaves and it was fantastic. We had another walk around then got a taxi back to the hotel.

Day 1021 – Hanoi - Danang, Vietnam

Day 1021 – 24th March 2008 +7:00 GMT

I had a walk into the old quarter and around Lake Hoan Kiem. I went to pick order some train tickets and they said come back at 4pm. So I headed back to the hotel. Jill and I were leaving tonight so we had a lazy day and just hung around the hotel. At 4pm I went back to the travel agents in the old quarter and they had got the wrong day on the tickets. After a few minutes they agreed to correct the problem and courier the tickets to our hotel before 5pm. At 5:15pm the tickets arrived and Jill and I checked out the hotel and got a taxi to the train station. We boarded the 19:00 SE1 train to Saigon and were in a 6 berth sleeper car, this was 3 high on each side and we were sharing with five Vietnamese people, actually 6 more as someone had their four year old son with them.

The people in the carriage next to us were from Luxemburg and Italy but were living in London so we spent several hours chatting to them. I read until I fell asleep.

Day 1020 – Hanoi, Vietnam

Day 1020 – 23rd March 2008 +7:00 GMT

We got up early and walked to the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh as it is only open until 11am. Unfortunately so had the rest of Vietnam, we had to walk for 25 minutes to find the back of the queue and decided we did not want to wait in a queue of thousands of people to shuffle passed Ho Chi Minh body.

Me Outside Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh

Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh

We did however decided to visit the museum and although it was very busy we got in. We were given an English guide who walked around with Jill and I and explained all the symbolism in the museum about explained about the life of Ho Chi Minh and how he travelled the world for 30 years before becoming the first president of Vietnam. It explained how he started the communist party and was a much loved leader how devoted a lot of time and the country’s resources to teaching the young.

Ho Chi Minh Museum

After the museum we saw the Dien Huu Pagoda

Dien Huu Pagoda

Then onto the Presidential Palace.

The Presedential Palace

Ho Chi Minh never actually lived in the palace but he preferred a small house next door and always lived on his own. The Palace was a magnificent sight and we then walked around the houses where Ho Chi Minh lived.