Vietnam and Siem Reap

[a330j]

I've had many a beer around the lake. A great spot

 

[puppysparkes]

On 10 October 2015, we flew on VJ473 from Hanoi to Cam Rahn airport with Vietjet. The cabin crew have an interesting uniform which is worth a google.


Airside in the domestic terminal Noi Boi airport, Hanoi. There are plenty of cafes where you can grab a cheap meal any cold or hot beverage.


http://i.imgur.com/cough5BNX.jpg

The crew did the usual safety announcements in both Vietnamese and broken English. A baby in the opposite row was allowed to remain unrestrained for the takeoff and was seated on the armrest. It was a face palm moment. The deplaning and baggage collection was super quick. I’ll post some shots of the airport terminal on our way out.


There was a slight delay in locating our driver for the hotel transfer but no major dramas. The airport is situated 40 min drive by car to Nha Trang. The drive gave us a chance to see how little progress has been made in developing the land zoned for major resorts. We checked into the Novotel and got upgraded to a superior room on the 17th floor. This time they gave us a corner room with a 180 degree view of the beach. 3/3 proactive upgrades gets two thumbs up from us. I’ll post room shots later.


The balcony views

Looking across to Vinpearl land.

 

[puppysparkes]

According to our Lonely Planet guide Nha Trang previously hosted a Russian naval base in 1905 after the war with the Japanese. The Americans also built a base here in the 1960’s. The Russians were back in Nha Trang following world war 2 and decommissioned their base in 2002. The attraction for the Russian and American navy’s is the deep water in Cam Ranh Harbour. These days tourism seems to be the primary industry and the Russians absolutely love Nha Trang and it is easy to see why. Dotted along this 6km stretch of amazing beach are bars, masseurs, cafes, restaurants, resorts, pools and even a brew house. Nha Trang is also known for its seafood and you can eat lobster for breakfast lunch and dinner almost anywhere if you wanted to. A lady on the street corner will grill you a lobster for around 27AUD per kilogram. If you are looking to be a bit more active you can go scuba diving, snorkelling, sailing, jet skiing or down hill mountain biking. We’ve been opting for seafood cheap beer and coughtails.


The sailing club has been a favourite for us. While it is slightly more expensive the location, service and swing bar are fantastic.

Just across the street you can pick up cheaper meals and drinks. The oysters here are not the best and lack the creaminess found in Australian or New Zealand oysters. Most signs and menus are in Russian, Vietnamese and english. Otherwise you can point at the large menu on the wall.

 

[puppysparkes]

A few shots of a walk along the beachfront today.

 

[puppysparkes]

We wandered down to the Louisiane brewhouse for a okonomiyaki and to try the craft beer; unfortunately the beers are seasonal. I did manage to get a handle of their smoked beer which was light on flavour. The pool looked great but a storm rolled in soon after the photo was taken.

 

[puppysparkes]

The happy couple walking through the job site.

A mobile butcher

 

[wazza888]

Are some of the sign boards in russian?

 

[puppysparkes]

Too right, we found it slightly more expensive for rooftop views of the lake but still cheaper than back home.

I've had many a beer around the lake. A great spot

 

[puppysparkes]

Are some of the sign boards in russian?

Yes. Sometimes just Russian but I got a shot of a sign in Vietnamese, French and Russian yesterday. We walked past a chemist yesterday and most of the medication was Russian branded. Unfortunately I'm having difficulty posting to the forum and keep getting logged out, so I'll try again later.

 

[puppysparkes]

 

[puppysparkes]

No harness no problem. These guys are 16 floors up on a construction site behind the hotel.

We headed for the Dam Markets today to find a bbq grill that we’ve seen everyone using to cook street food. It was far cheaper than the one sold by Webber. It can get hot in the markets so I grabbed some bottled water to keep us both hydrated. While it may seem confusing the markets have a layout similar to your regular super market. All the clothes are in one section, souvenirs in another, material, cooking utensils and so on. It’s great to shop and haggle but after a while I just pay what they ask. I recently jumped on to youtube and learned a few basic words such as hello, no, no thank you, please and I can slowly count to ten. I am not a master in the Vietnamese language but the touts move on and give me a smile when I politely reply.

Dried seafood

 

[puppysparkes]

Now to show my lack of culinary insight with vietnamese cooking; I have no idea what this is but my guess is it goes in soup.

The laundry and beauty aisle

Fruit and veggies

 

[puppysparkes]

1km away is a shopping centre which is more westernised. It had four levels of retail with a food court and kinds entertainment centre at the top. I purchased a chicken and rice dish which turned out to be a bad call. I ended up with food poisoning for the next three days and spent most of the last day in the hotel room. I should have eaten street food instead. Here are the room photos I promised earlier.

Overall Nha Trang is not for everyone. You can be as energetic or relaxed as you like. We opted for non energetic.


On 15 October 2015, we flew out of Cahm Rahn airport with Vietnam Airlines on VN 1942 (VNA-338) and headed for Danang.


A few shots of Cahm Rahn airport


Domestic check in on one side and International on the other

 

[puppysparkes]

I'll upload a few more photos soon.

 

[a330j]

Enjoying the photos. Bringing back a lot of memories. Those beer prices looked pretty good!

 

[puppysparkes]

Airside

There is only one lounge here and it is owned by Vietnam Airlines

 

[puppysparkes]

The safety briefing was played on the overhead monitors without the usual cabin crew demonstration. The total flight time was forty five minutes which was enough time for the crew to hand out a bottle of water before the captain alerted the crew that we were at 10,000 feet. We were in for more rain during our four hour stop over and this dashed our hopes of a quick trip to marble mountain. There are no storage lockers in the airport however for a small fee you can leave your bags at a restaurant just outside the arrival terminal; the price varies depending on bag size. The restaurant requires you to sign disclaimer paperwork which suggests you inspect your bags before checkin in.


We caught a taxi down to My Khe beach which is another seafood hub in Vietnam. However at 127AUD per kilogram we decided to skip lobster and opted for a kilogram of prawns which cost 46AUD. So what do you get for your hard earned dollar? The prawns were medium sized, chilli flavoured and the waitress pealed every single one of them. The flavour wasn't ideal for a person recovering from food poisoning.


We headed back to the airport and collected our bags and headed to a quiet area on the lower level to perform the necessary bag inspections before heading to check in upstairs.

We boarded an ATR 72 and with only half the seats sold you could select any seat you wanted after take off.

Airside Danang airport

It was a smooth flight until we passed through clouds and encountered turbulence on the decent in to Siem Reap airport. I could see lightening bolts out of the windows and once we landed we could see how massive the storm front was.

We opted for visa on arrival which was a debacle in the end. While there is an ATM in the arrival terminal I would have preferred to have cash on hand. Actually I would’ve preferred we had visas before arriving. This was the most anticipated part of out trip but in probably the best planned.


We took a pre-paid taxi to the Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf and Spa Resort which cost 7USD. Along the way the driver was very informative so much so that I thought he was a tour guide. Sure enough on arrival at the hotel he asked if we would be interested in hiring his car for 30 USD per day for private tours, we took his card and advised we might call. Our bags were collected by the porter and we were ushered into the foyer where we were greeted with that instantly recognisable Sofitel fragrance. A staff member appeared with cold towels scented with lemongrass and a cold beverage. The Executive Assistant Manager appeared and introduced himself and invited me to contact him if we had any concerns. He enquired about our flight and plans while in Siem Reap then handed me his business card. We were escorted to our room and shown around the room; another upgrade of course. By this time it was 8:15pm and we decided to stay in and eat at the Citadel restaurant. A burger for me and the infamous local fish amok for Ms Sparkes. I did not expect to have one of the the best burger patties I’ve ever had in Cambodia but I did. Being her first taste Ms Sparkes did not know what to make of her first taste of fish amok. According to the local tradition it was as authentic as you can get. It was wrapped in banana leaf and had a dry texture. We also managed to catch a performance in the restaurant.


A late night was not on the cards so we headed back to the room for an early night.

 

[puppysparkes]

Obligatory hotel photos. They upgraded us again..

Balcony view

Looking across to the over water library

Cake day for Mr Paul!

 

[RooFlyer]

Love the Sofitel! What level are you at Accor?

 

[puppysparkes]

Love the Sofitel! What level are you at Accor?

WP here. 7/7 proactive upgrades at 6 properties. Ms Sparkes need a night off from my snoring so I booked a second room at Le Veranda in Phu Quoc.