Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Last day in Hoi An (26/2/14)

I decided to stay an extra day than planned just to make sure everything with the suit was sorted and it gave me time to relax. I wanted to do some sightseeing today as I hadn't got round to that the last couple of days. I arranged to go into town with Sylvia and Barbara early, then leave them so I could go back and check out of the hotel. There's a few sights in Hoi An to see, some free, some requiring tickets. For the ticketed ones you buy a voucher from one of the kiosks around town and that allows you entry into 5 sights. The three of us bought our tickets and between us picked some sights we wanted to see. The options were temples, old houses, clan assembly halls, museums, communal houses and family chapels. We decided we'd had our fill of temples and so opted for the communal houses and assembly halls instead. They are still used so were all in good condition with bright colours and decorations inside with an ornate exterior. I think Rolly enjoyed the visit too! We all got a couple of places done before I had to leave them. I needed to buy Vietnamese coffee from the market and some filters to send home for the family. It is absolutely the best coffee I've tasted and I hope I can buy more from home once this supply runs out. With the haggling game complete and my purchases made I returned to the hotel to pack and check out. I was done by 12 and realised I'd already bought too much stuff and needed to send more than the coffee home. I spoke to reception and they arranged for a person from the post office to come to the hotel and sort it all for me. You don't get that service in the UK! The woman turned up, scales and all, with a box to put my bits in and we went through the paperwork. She told me the price for postage, it was about 5 times the cost of the contents, but that was to be expected, and I realised I didn't have enough cash on me. She then gave me a discount, took me to the cash point on her bike, brought me back to the hotel, and made out like it was me doing her a favour by posting something. I was stunned at the service. She then gave me my tracking number and her personal email address to contact her if it wasn't delivered in 3 weeks! Once all that was complete I took my bike to a mechanics to have the oil changed and siphon the fuel into a water bottle, ready for my night bus that evening to Nha Trang. I'd decided that riding to Saigon was possible but wouldn't give me time to actually see the places I would stop at so the night bus would get me further and save me time. With all that done I went back into town to finish doing the sights. I picked a family chapel as one of them and was met by a very polite girl, who's family chapel it was, who gave me a guided tour and told me some of the family history. At the end she showed me some family paintings and said they would be signed by the artist if I wanted to buy one. I said no but thank you. We moved on. More history. She then tried to sell me a "lucky" keyring, again I said no. More history. And finally onto the "lucky" scrolls. I thanked her again, she was quite persistent, and said no. She finished her talk and I left soon after feeling a little guilty but glad I hadn't given in. After this I visited a museum and an old house and then made my way back to the hotel. I met Sylvia and Barbara in the hotel garden by the pool and spent the rest of the time chatting to them till my bus left at 5.30 pm. I arranged to meet them in Saigon on Sunday and we exchanged details to make sure we could contact each other. The bike loaded I got on the bus, found my somewhat dirty bed and settled down. I chatted to a family from the Czech republic briefly and then got comfortable as the bus departed. I realised the space next to me wasn't actually a bed and was grateful I could spread out. Shortly after the bus left, the Czech family and me realised there was an annoying squeak coming from the bunk above us. Upon closer inspection we saw that the mounts holding the upper bed in position at the back had sheared off and the bed, although still sitting on the metal support was free to vibrate slightly from side to side. This squeak was going to get annoying but at least the bed was unoccupied. A short while into the journey the bus stopped and some more passengers got on. The bed was no longer unoccupied. The mum from the Czech family pointed the problem out to one of the staff, he gave the bed a shake and said it was fine. The space next to me then got filled with luggage as there wasn't enough room underneath and I was limited with my movements but could still get out thank god. The bus carried on. The squeaking became a horrible grating noise I sat up to look but the bed didn't look like it would collapse and so I settled down again. Another few kilometres down the journey another stop. I'd been sleeping to this point but was disturbed by someone now filling the space next to me which wasn't a bed. The luggage was now in the gangway. The bus carried on. Within minutes the lump next to me, I thought was a bloke, started snoring. Like serious scoring. I looked. His nose was massive. This wasn't going to stop. He didn't even wake himself up. The bed grinding, the nose snoring, my bed smelling and my exit blocked, I didn't get much sleep. I'm sure I'm being filmed. I managed to get a little sleep after the wee stops, before the nose started again. This was a 12 hour journey. It felt longer.

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