Central Highlands Motorbike Trip

Mui Ne

Was so happy to find a nice little guest house right on the beach at Mui Ne, what a beautiful place! The beach is about 11km long lined with coconut trees and lovely warm water. I stayed at Saigon Cafe Guest house good room with shower for $9 only few meters from bed into ocean in the mornings. I bumped into a nice girl Martina on the beach, I originally met her on a bus in Laos, she recommended a guide Mr Water who does sunrise tours to the massive sand dunes out of town and offered to introduce me later that evening. I met another couple of friendly travelers Vathson and sybilla who invited me to a seafood BBQ later on as well. Spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and watched a beautiful sunset. Later walked up the beach to Mr Water's house, instantly liked him, so friendly and generous I arranged day trip for the next day with pick up 5am in the morning. Went to seafood BBQ with Vathson and Sybilla who I met earlier had one of the best meals! fresh cooked Scallops, prawns and fish with a delicious seafood rice soup was such a great meal and the guys were so friendly and had so much great travel advise to share. My day trip was great, the massive white sand dunes were really breath taking, watched the sun rise over the dunes, slide down a massive slope on a piece or plastic board, very fun! also visited some red dunes, the fairy springs - a river carving its way through the sand dunes with beautiful coloured sands exposed. I saw how they dry anchovies on the road side to use in making fish sauce (tasted a couple) and visited a fish sauce factory tasting fresh fish sauce out of a barrel (yum!!!). We also had a quick walk around the fish markets which were amazing! every kind of seafood imaginable and so cheap!! We picked out a big spotted eel which Mr Water offered to cook me for lunch. Was dropped back at my hotel had a swim and shower then walked up to Mr Water's place for a fantastic lunch on the beach we shared a big bottle of rice wine infused with honey and grilled banana had a few swims and shared some laughs. His family are so lovely, his wife kept bringing out fruit drinks and fresh fruit all afternoon. I had mentioned I liked mussels while we were at the markets so when I left that evening Mr Water invited me back for lunch (fresh BBQ mussels) the next day. Lunch the next day turned into an entire day full of BBQ seafood, fresh fish, mussels, clams and other shellfish, I spent about $6 all day. Later on a lovely Vietnamese family arrived for dinner and asked me to join them for some Scallops and a couple of beers. They were such a funny family, we managed to communicate using my very little Vietnamese and their much better English they refused to take any money from me. On the way back to my room a bunch of young guys called out hello! and waved me over to sit in their circle for a few more shots of rice wine and a laugh. Had such a nice day eating and drinking with local Vietnamese people, I found them so friendly and giving I felt very lucky to have had that experience. I arranged for a 3 day motorbike trip with Mr Water around the central highlands leaving in the morning, luckily I felt fine in the morning.

Drinks With Vietnamese Guys, Mussels, Mr Water and His Wife, Fish Drying for Fish Sauce, Eating Eel with Mr Water, Fish Sauce Farm, Sundried Fish, Sand dunes, BBQ Seafood, Mui Ne Beach, Fairy Springs, Sunset on Main Beach.

Ho Chi Minh City

What an incredible place! There are millions of people in this city, maybe 10 no one seems sure of the actual numbers, but they all seem to own a moto. The traffic is amazing to watch, the way people weave through streets, around pedestrians and other vehicles is marvelous. The city has some beautiful architecture, the opera house and the central post office especially beautiful. I really enjoyed my few days in the city, it was great having Beth's place to stay, it was so comfortable and homely. I did a day trip out to Tay Ninh a Cao dai temple a couple of hours out of town, the temple was beautiful the walls were adorned with brightly coloured sculptures and paintings. The temple is the headquarters of the Cao Dai religion, this is a combination of religions including Buddhism, Christianity and Confucianism. We were fortunate enough to arrive during a prayer ceremony so the temple was filled with people in traditional dress and musicians playing beautiful music. On the way to the temple our guide was telling us that there used to be a lot of physically and mentally disabled people begging in the streets, the government thought this was bad for tourism so they moved them all out of the city he wasn't sure where to. These days they provide them with work in factories. We stopped at a factory where people with disability were making art, they were sticking pieces of broken egg shell onto big ceramic urns or wooden boards making beautiful designs and then painting them. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the place, I guess its good the people are off the streets and have work, the conditions weren't bad but they were still locked away in a factory. We also visited the the Chu Chi tunnels, built during the Vietnam war forming tunnels a massive underground network spanning more than 200 Km. I climbed into a very small section of original tunnel, so small I only just fit inside. We also walked through an 18m section of tunnel which had been widened for foreigners, still quite a squeeze in sections and a little claustrophobic. I got back to town quite late, I bought an open bus ticket which allows me to hop on and off all the up to Hanoi, I remember the french guys I met in Koh Tao had recommended buying one only and only $40 so good saving. I booked a ticket to Mui Ne for the following day about 4 hour trip north on the coast.




Traffic in Ho Chi Minh, Prayer Ceremony in Tay Ninh, The divine Eye - Representation of God, Egg Shell Art, Being a Tourist In Chu Chu Tunnels, Delicious Vietnamese Coffee!!!

Can Tho

Hello Friends, been a while between posts! Have been busy, busy with no time to write. Im really well, really getting into traveling and having a blast! Had about 3 days in Can Tho down in the Mekong delta, I had a nice hotel with a hot shower and a big double bed so I decided to stay a few days and relax. I did a day trip to the floating markets, It was so nice I had my own little wooden boat and guide who. We started at 5am and slowly motored up the Can Tho river into the most beautiful sunrise arriving at the Cai Rang markets about 30mins later. The markets were great the river was buzzing with small wooden boats stacked with vegetables and families going about their daily shopping, a little coffee boat pulled up and made me the most delicious fresh Vietnamese coffee. We motored fufther up the river to Phong Dien markets, they were smaller than I expected I think many people were still away on holidays for Tet, it was still a very exciting experience. We then wove our way along some small canals past many basic little houses got a little peak into the lives of the people of Vietnam. The rest of my time in Can Tho was not so good as I started to get sick with the flu again, I decided to get dosed up on medication and get rid of it for good this time. I also had hot cups done on my back as I read that they help to get poisons out of your body, was a strange experience a little painful at times, most of you have probably seen before but they heat little glass cups with a flame then put on your back, this creates a vacuum and sucks the skin. Next stop was Ho Chi Minh city where I was staying with Jordan's sister Beth for a few days.

Sunrise on The Can Tho River, Coffee Boat, Pineapples, Potatoes, Traveling Down Canal, Cupping.

Shianoukville - Ha tien - Can tho

Caught minibus from Shianoukville to a little town called Kampot where we all got off bus, everyone else was staying there so I waited for bus to the border. There must have been a change of plans as my backpack was taken off the bus and thrown in boot of a car and I was told get in don't worry money. So I got in the car with a little Cambodian family and hoped for the best, it was unclear if this was a family car or a shared taxi? We drove for a while before turning off on a dirt track, was very bumpy and dusty ride for ages, I was a little worried I may end up in the middle of nowhere so I just relaxed and trust everything would be ok. I arrived at the border crossing quite relieved, the border has only recently opened up for tourists so not many people cross there. It was all very straight forward at I already had visa and getting quite used to border crossing. After getting through customs I discovered my ticket stopped there and I would have to pay for a moto bike for 15km trip to Ha tien, I tried to argue that I had bought a ticket to Ha tien but no point, I had to pay or stay at border. Got to Ha tien and was introduced to a guy who was supposedly a travel agent, he told that all boats to Phu Quoc island were full and if I didnt get bus straight away to next town I would be stuck for 3 days as all buses full. Decided to trust the guy so he drove me to bus stop out of town, when the bus arrived they rushed me onto the bus getting me all confused and flustered then charged me 700,000 Dong, which I realised later was almost $50 for a 2 hour trip. Arrived in Rach gia and went in and out of ticket offices discovering that all the boats to Phu quoc were full too, and would be for the next week due to TET. I decided that if that many people were going to the island there would be no chance of accommodation and it would be too busy to relax, so I thought F*$# this and went straight back to bus station and booked ticket to Can tho to see the floating markets. I arrived in Can tho bus station around 9Pm exhausted after a pretty stressful day jumped on the first moto and got a lift into town. Expected to have trouble getting a room with TET madness but found a nice big room, aircon, hot shower and double bed for $10 I took it straight away!

Shianoukville and Bamboo Island

Arrived in Shianoukville and thought I would treat myself to a nice bungalow on the beach for a couple of days to relax. I found a nice place with ocean views and a hammock for $30/night was only avaliable for 1 night, as it is TET new year everthing is really busy and lots of accomodation is full so it was going to be hard to find somewhere to stay the next night. I found a place offering boat trips to Bamboo Island including accomodation for $25 return decided that would be easire than looking for a place on the mainland. Had a great day on the beach in Shianoukville it was so nice to be back on the coast! I didnt realise how much I had missed it! I spent the day on a deckchair reading, eating seafood and getting massaged having pedicure and swimming. The beach was very beautiful but quite touristy and there was a bit of rubbish in the water, especially down one end, very sad but most places I have visited so far there is lots of litter thrown everywhere. In the evening the length of the beach is full of restaurants serving fresh BBQ seafood, I ate a delicious grilled snapper and sat back feeling the waves at my feet. In the morning I got a boat out to Bamboo Island, was about an hour trip, we stopped for some snorkelling along the way and saw some beautiful fish. On the island there were max 10 Bungalows right on the beach, it was busy with day trippers but mannaged to find a little beach all to myself where I read and swam all day. By the evening most tourists had gone and the island was so quiet it was beautiful, I sat under the stars and ate some fresh seafood chatting to a lovely swiss couple about motorbike adventures in Cambodia. In the morning I woke up and jumped straight into the ocean then ate banana pancakes for breakfast so good! I could have stayed for days but visa for Vietnam started already and very excited to get there. I got back to mainland and booked minibus for the morning to Ha Tien which is just over the border in Vietnam.


View From my Bungalow, Sihanoukville Beach, Beach Cat, Sunset on Main Beach, Bungalows on Bamboo Island, My Private Beach, Bamboo Island.