Dalat and Near Death (very) Adventures

Yesterday we left Mui Ne. We were both sort of ready to leave- as ready as you can be when you have a 10 dollar beach front cabana that opens up on a daily basis to brilliant blue skies 30+ degrees and a a pristine turquoise South China sea.

At 1 o'clock we packed our stuff and headed across the street to a little shop where I bought my new "outfit" for the week. The Paul Scurfield way of South East Asian packing first got legs 7 years ago in Thailand. At one point, a visionary by the name of Neil Horne got so sick of carrying his pack full of useless clothes in 35 degree heat he simply took it and dumped the contents on a hotel bed about 2mins before we left town. He had an empty bag save his toiletries From then on, it was buy as you need and at 2 bucks for a shirt and 3 for shorts, who can argue!

When we left NY for Vietnam, my entire pack consisted of a rain jacket, sandals, 2 t-shirts and 2 pairs of shorts. Now i have all sorts of fake "high quality" merchandise that suddenly disappears when it gets dirty.

Now for the danger part. Vietnam is full of motorbikes. Maybe motorbike is a bit aggressive as they are all about 20cc's and have trouble climbing steep hills, but with a top speed of about 85km/h (wind aided and downhill) you can do some damage and damage we did when our 20 seat ford van nearly had a head-on collision with 2 Vietnamese fellows. However, instead of hitting them head on, we sideswiped them. They skidded to a stop in a very, very scary 3 seconds of which I had a front row seat (they bounced off my window at about 50km/h) and then it was over. The two very shaken and bloody guys that had gone flying off their bikes were okay...sort of. Their bike on the other hand was not in such great shape and for people who often make about $1000 a year that may be some of the worst news.

As a westerners, perhaps the weirdest part was the fact that we were travelling on the wrong side of the road when we hit them and yet when we hit them it did not seem like such a big deal. No licences, no insurance papers & no police. If you are not dead then no worries- that is life. Tough luck if i nearly killed you and drove over your bike with my 20 person bus while I was travelling in the wrong lane on a crazy mountain road. This is all very interesting when you come from a society that yells a screams at each other when you cut them off in city traffic even- when no damage is done. There was not a single elevated voice the whole time. In New York you would have a had a one heck of a scrap!

Anyhow, we are now checked in to our $44/night restored French colonial hotel complete with golf course. Built in the 1930's and beautifully restored in the late 90's it is one of the nicest places I have ever stayed. It is a genuine throwback to the Colonial times. It is complete with cage style elevator, haute french restaurant, bistro, proper cocktail bar and a staff ratio of about 1:1. Oh and did i mention golf course...absolutely beautiful and empty. We just played 18 holes, had a cocktail and then had the complimentary hotel chauffeur drop us home all in under 4 hours. A far cry from Toronto/NY! $44 plus golf. Not bad.

Tomorrow it is back to reality. No more luxury! We have to keep the budget in check and $44/night for 2 nights really threw us for a loop. The $12/night average really suffered. White rice 3 meals a day and sleeping on the beach for the next 2 nights...that should get us back on track! What do you think Annie?

Paul and Annie