Last week in Vietnam

Is there a better way to spend the last week in a different country than adventuring? If there is I couldn't think of one. I won't give you an overly detailed play-by-play of my last week in Vietnam as I would hitherto have done because that would be boring for you. Instead I'll summarize each location and give you the highlight from each.

Nha Trang

As you can see from the map, Nha Trang is a beach town and a beautiful one at that. However, I've seen plenty of beaches in Vietnam so I wasn't interested in lounging away my last few days in Vietnam on another beach, beautiful as it may be.

Buon Me Thuot & Yok Don National Park

This mountain town and park are not as popular amongst foreign travellers as Nha Trang, I therefore became quite attached to my 'traveller's dictionary' as English was less commonly spoken here. I decided then and there I would never travel to a country with an unknown language without a 'traveller's dictionary'; they're worth every penny. I have to say I had a little child-like satisfaction at my own independence.

Parks in Asia (and in the UK for that matter) are not the same as parks in North America. Nonetheless I enjoyed my trip to this park immensely for reasons that need no more explanation than the associated picture. Pictures say a thousand words so why add another to this unforgettable moment? This will certainly stand out as one of the most memorable moments of my life.

Dalat

Unlike Buon Me Thuot, Dalat is very much a tourist town. Its nicknamed “Le Petit Paris” because the architecture is reminiscent of its French colonization: villas, a mock Eiffel Tower, horse drawn carriages etc. Its supposed to be a very romantic town... personally I never really understood how a town could be romantic, and I found attempted atmosphere a little forced, but its a nice mountain town regardless.

Dalat is also home to the most accommodating hotel owner in the world! The night I checked in he and his son refused to let me go out searching for food by myself late at night and insisted they would bring something up to me. As I walked back to my room I saw the owner get on his motorbike and no more than 10 minutes later he brought up bread, a bunch of bananas and a bottle of water. Typing this out now that combination doesn't sound overly appetizing but at the time I was so hungry and grateful after a long bus ride I thought I'd never seen anything so wonderful. When I asked him how much I owed him (I knew he had just made a special trip to the store for me) he said I didn't owe him anything. The next day after eating something from the market I got quite sick and spent the evening in my room. He noticed that I'd been in my room for several hours so he came and knocked on my door to check on me. When he realized I was sick he brought a glass of warm milk up for me. The sweetest man alive!


Ho Chi Minh City

Its in HCMC (aka Saigon) that I went outside my usual travel spectrum and decided to pamper myself from the inside out; and it is possibly one of the best travel decisions I've ever made! I started by treating myself to my first international restaurant all summer (don't go to Italy to eat Mexican). At first I was skeptical about Indian food in Vietnam, but the owner turned out to be Indian and a fantastic cook. Next I went and had my hair “did” as my fellow Cole Harbour High graduates would say. I was pleased with the end product but as always the best part of any hair cut is the hair washing. Now guys you may not know this but at salons, its not just a hair wash its a head message, and in Vietnam its an extra long head, face and neck message... hmmmm so good. And it only cost me $5! That's a good slushy!