This week, our family went on a road trip with two of Dad's workmates and some of their family. We got up at 6:30 on a Saturday (Can you believe it?), had cereal and a steamed bun for breakfast, then headed off. It was a loooooong trip: we left at about 7:30 a.m. and arrived at Buôn Ma Thuột at around 5:30 P.M., just before it got dark. On the way, we made a few stops; after meeting Tam's family at their house, we drove for an hour or two, then stopped at a petrol station to stretch and use the loo. Vietnamese public toilets are NASTY. The smell alone could knock a man out at 50 paces. Some are small squat toilets, others are similar to NZ in design, but the similarity ends where the stench and the puddles begin.
For lunch, we stopped at a place that had a large area filled with hammocks. Sadly, we didn't actually eat on them, but we had a tasty lunch of duck, watermelon and bread at a table next to the road. Once we'd eaten, off again. The road from Ho Chi Minh to Buôn Ma Thuột is in extremely bad condition; we were shaken so much that Dad frequently had his head slammed into the roof when he rode in the back. This was the main factor in turning what might have been a 4 hour drive into a 7-8 hour drive.
Finally, we arrived at the hotel we would be staying in. Since we were trying to save money for a guitar for me and motorbikes for me and Mum, it wasn't exactly top-end, only $10 a night and a bit run-down, but it was manageable. For dinner that night, we went to Tam's brother-in-law's house for a home cooked meal that included such delicacies as jellyfish and bamboo.
The next morning, we went to see what the city had to offer. Our first stop was a coffee village. These interesting places are pretty much huge cafes owned by a single coffee company. This particular one was owned by Mehyco Coffee. Of course, my sisters and I (doesn't that sound so formal?) only had iced chocolate, but the adults happily ordered teacup-sized black coffee (with the exception of the ladies, who had plain iced coffee). Around the place were decorations such as this fellow here:
Fablehaven readers will know what I mean when I say Olloch the Glutton!
Next up: elephant riding! When we arrived at an out-of-the-way village, we saw the elephants standing around, with a long chain attaching them by the foot to a tree or post.
After a few minutes' wait, during which we stood close to them and took photos, us three kids climbed the stairs onto the platform and hopped onto the padded steel-frame seat seen in the picture. It was quite cramped for me, sitting in the middle. The ride seemed to only last 5 minutes and was fun, but I'd say that standing next to the elephants was more interesting than riding them. They're pretty magnificent. Mum even went so far as to say she disliked the ride!
Our third stop for the day was a large park which was traversed by long walkways like so:
As I was crossing, I made the mistake (to some) of looking down...
I enjoyed the bridges, Mum didn't. The swaying motion threw her off (metaphorically). Imagine the trouble getting her out again if she had!
Once we'd reached the end of one of the branching paths, we arrived at an area containing some captured animals such as monkeys, caimans/alligators/crocodiles and a large unidentified snake. The cages obscured the shots somewhat.
Our last stop was another coffee village; this time owned by Trung Nguyen coffee. It was a lot larger than the Mehyco one, containing such visual attractions as this mountain scene:
While we were there and Mum and Dad were taking a tour sampling coffee along the way, Lena found a lizard that decided it liked the look of her hand and stayed there for a few minutes before jumping off again. She was over the moon.
Outside the entrance was this replica of the Eiffel Tower, not full size (I think) but still quite tall.
Tired after a busy day, we headed to a bún bò place that Dad's workmates friend ('s sister's cousin's third niece twice removed) had recommended. Little did we know what was to come...
The first giveaway was the fat guy in the string shirt that appeared to own the place. That alone should have rung warning bells. The flies on the food and later found dead IN the food were what tipped us off that this place may not have been
quite up to scratch. Then once we'd eaten and I saw the amount of fat and bone left in my bowl (Dad had eaten most of his, which may be why he came off much worse), I was quite disturbed. Imagine having THIS lot left in your plate after a meal:
That's all bone and fat, folks!
Next morning, at first all felt fine, but then I found myself unable to eat more than a few mouthfuls of my breakfast phở. I assumed it was just because we'd eaten so much of it lately that I was sick of it; it wasn't until lunchtime rolled around and I wasn't able to stomach anything more than a watermelon juice that I realized I was
actually sick and that it was probably the bún bò that had done it. Dad was also unable to eat anything. Still, at least I managed to get a couple of pics of the lovely beach where we (they, really) ate lunch:
That day was all travelling as we were on our way to
Tuy Hòa, a place known for it's lovely beaches. I was feeling a little queasy on the first league before lunch, but halfway to Tuy Hoa I threw up out of the window. Well, I tried to throw up out of the window. I wasn't entirely successful. I got the window halfway down then started upchucking. About a third went through the gap, leaving an impressive 5 metre long splash, but the rest hit the pane and rebounded. I won't go into any more details, but it was nasty. Thankfully, it was only a rental and the floormats were easy-clean. Once we reached the hotel at about 3, Dad threw up like he'd been holding it in all the way there (which maybe he had). We could hear it from the next room. Both he and I (Again with the grammar! It sounds like I'm writing a letter to the queen!) were too tired to go anywhere else that day, so the others left without us to go to dinner. We weren't hungry anyway. By the time they got back, I was feeling fine again, just very tired, but Dad was still too sick to get up off the bed. Luckily, we were travelling with a doctor who happened to have family at a nearby pharmacy, so he popped by and got Dad an IV drip for an energy boost:
It was a stroke of luck that he'd been travelling with us. He also got me a drip, but I refused point blank. No way was I going to have a whopping great needle stuck into my arm at 10:00 P.M.!
Day 4 made it worth the whole thing though. We spent nearly the whole day at a beach that looked like something straight out of a travel magazine. Pearly white sand, great bodysurfing waves and a cheap but tasty restaurant right next to it: who could ask for more? Sadly, Dad was still too sick to come with us, so we had to be content with telling him all about it when we got back (all red as lobsters).
The last thing we went to see in the evening was the Champa Temple on Nhan Mountain. It looked like something you'd see on the cover of a National Geographic magazine (although Dad took a slightly better photo than me). While we were there, there was some sort of celebration/ceremony going on, there were people dressed up in bright clothes and burning incense.
Tired again, we headed back to the hotel for another night. This one was a lot better than the first one, although the "wet floor" system was still there.
Next morning , we headed back home to HCMC. We left in the morning about 7-8:00 ish, made a couple of stops for meals, then arrived back at out apartment at 10:00 P.M. That's 15 hours start to finish, at least 8 of which were driving on slow, extremely bumpy roads. Mum couldn't sit down again for the next day or two. We all had a great time, but were all very glad to be home.
