Vietnam Journey - Day 3 - from Phan Thiet to Saigon (Sept 25, 2007)

Had a good sleep on the 2nd night and woke up at 10am when Denis was already out for swimming already. Joined Denis and Qing in the beach but I didn't swim. After that, we checked out, had some food and then boarded thew bus departing for Saigon.

Unlike the Saigon-Mui Nei bus ride - which was a loooong journey, this return journey looked like a pretty short one. The driver pressed his horn every other minute, meaning that I heard a few hundred times throughout the ride. I guess all passengers were annoyed. But this is normal 'cos as an Australian passenger said to me 'Vietnam is a fun place but when it comes to traffic, there is no rule'.

We boarded a taxi and sent Qing to her friend's home and then settled in a noddle shop nearby. Tried for the first time in this journey authentic Vietnamese beef noddles - Pho. We also ordered some more food and drinks + desert. Everything altogether cost us VND80000 - which is around HKD40!!! Yes HKD40!!! Very good food indeed!

After dinner, we took a taxi and randomly found a hotel for tonight. Bought some Durian and Mango and have just finished them off. Pretty tired now ... About time to go to bed in preparation for the last day of this journey.

Vietnam Journey - Day 2 - from Saigon to Phan Thiet (Sept 24, 2007)

Denis and I woke up pretty early in the morning. Had some light breakfast in hotel and then waited outside the infamous travel agency - Sinh Cafe - for the bus departing for an overnight journey to Mui Ne of Phan Thiet, about 5.5 hours drive from Saigon.

The bus was full of people of different nationalities. We bumped into 2 girls - one from Beijing and one from Korea both travelling on their own. On arrival, we had lunch in the Mui Ne Resort Hotel and then proceeded to a pretty remote area in Mui Ne for sand-sliding. Originally we intended to go fishing but for unknown misunderstanding, we boarded the wrong bus and thus joined the wrong group for a wrong activity - sand-sliding. It turned out to be not bad though probably fishing in a boat might be more fun.

In the evening, Denis, Qing (the lady from Beijing) and I had dinner together and then moved on to play snooker before we had fun in the swimming pool. After so much laughter in the pool, we went outside to join 2 Korean ladies in a beach bar called Pogo for midnight drinks. I then noticed that the bar is owned and run by a German lady who has been staying in Mui Ne for 2 years. She leased the land for 12 years and invested some money to build the pub nicely.

And then I bumped into a Swedish-French who has been staying in Mui Ne for 8 years. In fact, Mui Ne is really a small town technically without any fun. But I really admire the two foreigners who are able to let go everything at home and then live in a super remote small town for the rest of their life. I asked myself what I'm looking for? My desire grows as I get more and more. There is never an end. For now, my dream is to earn a reasonable living for the rest of my life and then I can 'retire' early and do something that I like.

Cast Away ... Episode II

Haven't been a sporty boy for quite some time. Wing, my brother Anthony and I spent the best part of yesterday (Saturday) in Sai Kung for sailing.

This time, we didn't go to any public water sports centre nor the Outward Bound Centre. We deliberately paid a premium to try private facilities in Sai Kung - and indeed it was not bad at all! All we need to do were to bring ourselves, some water and money there without any hassle to set up (before the sail) and dismantle/clean the boat (after the sail). You know sailing itself is fun ... but the dirty work before and after the sail is killing!

Wind speed was reasonable yesterday but the extra sunshine was too much for me, considering that I didn't bring suntan oil (and thus my arms and neck are all red now like roasted pig!). The sail was great fun really. I even jumped into the sea to swim ... life can be fun like that. It could also be boring like hell. It all depends on what we choose ...

Read my previous post Cast Away Episode I