Tues 26th Feb
So I got the bus to Hoi An on Tues morn, turns out it wasn't the same bus as Ella and her friend as they had the hop-on hop-off tickets and I didn't! Nothing much to report other than it was just a plain seater bus, lots of stunning views along the way and the aircon had broken so it was super hot!
Arrived in Hoi An around 1pm, got a taxi to take me to a few places first to see if there were any rooms as me and Maura would be sharing when she arrived tomorrow but the backpacker place to be - Sunflower Hotel - was fully booked so I ended up getting dropped off at the Sleepy Gecko Chillout Bar and Hostel, which I'd seen advertised at Hue Backpackers. I was introduced to Paul who was from Wilmslow, Manchester and had been working at the bar for the last couple of weeks, so he showed me to the dorm room which was the one nearest to the pool - awesome! (This place had a pool, bar, chillout area with an awesome river view of Hoi An and awesome staff all for '$7 on your first night and $6 every night after' - one of Paul's ever-welcoming speeches to new guests). So after checking in I went to the bar and had a couple of beers, got chatting to Paul and discovered this was his 2nd trip out in S.E.Asia, first time he was a backpacker like myself, this time he'd biked through most of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Had some pretty awesome stories so we just chatted all afternoon and he kept trying to feed me the free shots that went with the beer but it was way too early for that!
Was introduced to Jon, an Aussie who'd been in Hoi An a week already (apparently this place sucks u in and you never leave!) Established that Paul didn't like people and like Steve the owner, liked it when the Sleepy Gecko was 'Sleepy'. Established he mumbles a lot so I learnt to just nod my head and say 'yeah yeah yeah' lol. Then we needed food so he offered to take me on his bike (he tried many times during my week here to learn to ride again but I had none of it!) to China beach where he knew a local place with cheap and good food. So we had food, chatted some more, he played cards with one of the locals then we went to sit on the beach for sunset before heading back to the hostel, where I sat around drinking beer and chatting with the people at the bar before bed, and Paul 'worked' - it wasn't exactly working, probably the best job in the world for free accom and food! 'Beer? Here you go. Not busy? Game of pool or chat with people at the bar - he didn't really do much at all! ;-)
So I got the bus to Hoi An on Tues morn, turns out it wasn't the same bus as Ella and her friend as they had the hop-on hop-off tickets and I didn't! Nothing much to report other than it was just a plain seater bus, lots of stunning views along the way and the aircon had broken so it was super hot!
Was introduced to Jon, an Aussie who'd been in Hoi An a week already (apparently this place sucks u in and you never leave!) Established that Paul didn't like people and like Steve the owner, liked it when the Sleepy Gecko was 'Sleepy'. Established he mumbles a lot so I learnt to just nod my head and say 'yeah yeah yeah' lol. Then we needed food so he offered to take me on his bike (he tried many times during my week here to learn to ride again but I had none of it!) to China beach where he knew a local place with cheap and good food. So we had food, chatted some more, he played cards with one of the locals then we went to sit on the beach for sunset before heading back to the hostel, where I sat around drinking beer and chatting with the people at the bar before bed, and Paul 'worked' - it wasn't exactly working, probably the best job in the world for free accom and food! 'Beer? Here you go. Not busy? Game of pool or chat with people at the bar - he didn't really do much at all! ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment