I was incredibly excited about breakfast when I woke up on
Sunday morning. I’m not really a fan of Asian styled breakfast, mostly because
it’s not breakfast food at all, its rice, and noodles, and meat dishes. The
last hostel I was at also offered toast but their jam selection was quite
limited so when I heard from multiple people that the breakfast at this hotel
was amazing I couldn’t wait to check it out. I bounded down the stairs like a
kid on Christmas morning and this buffet certainly lived up to the hype. I have
seen better, but for Asia, this was amazing. There was toast, cereal, pancakes,
fruit, and an omelet station, as well as several Vietnamese options including
cao lau (the noodle dish I had for dinner the night before). I filled up many
plates and bowls and left feeling stuffed.
After breakfast I decided to head out exploring. I checked
out the markets briefly the day before so I decided to turn the other way out
of the hotel and go check out the beach. The map I had was not to scale. It
looked like the markets and the beach were approximately the same distance from
the hotel but they weren’t at all. I walked for about 3 kilometers and was
still nowhere near the beach. I was really thirsty and hadn’t brought anything
to drink with me since I didn’t think I would be walking to far so I decided to
give up on the beach and head back home. I had a few swigs of water, grabbed my
sunglasses that I had forgotten earlier and headed back out.
Hoi An is known for its tailors. Most of the streets are
lined with tailor shops. So many of them had beautiful jackets on display along
with suits, dresses, and a few other random pieces of clothing. I was toying
with the idea of having an outfit made but it wasn’t really in the budget.
After thinking it over for a while I realized I’m going to need something
suitable to wear to interviews when I start my job search in Australia so maybe
I could justify this after all.
I went into a few different shops, looked at what they had
on display and walked out before finally sitting down at one and browsing
through several catalogues. I probably spent about half an hour flipping
through the pages and bookmarking possibilities. While I saw a lot of things I
like the only things I liked that were suitable to wear to an interview were
suits and it is far too hot to be wearing a full suit to an interview. And
probably a little too formal for the types of jobs I am applying for. I thought
about getting a skirt and a nice shirt but I don’t think I would feel
comfortable in a skirt and you really need to exude confidence at interviews so
I decided that would probably be a bad investment. I kept coming back to the
jackets, they all looked so smart, and pretty. I managed to convince myself
that I don’t NEED a jacket no matter how badly I want one and told the lady I
would need to think about it and might come back later. She looked very
disappointed as she handed me her business card and I walked away. I did
actually mull it over for the next few hours but in the end I knew I was right
to walk away without buying anything.
I wandered back through the markets taking a different route
than the day before and checked out a few temples and a church before heading
back to the hotel. I was feeling exhausted so I ate lunch by the pool then went
and chilled in my room for a little bit. While I was relaxing I decided I
should probably figure out my next move as I was due to check out the next
morning. Someone had told me that flying to Ho Chi Minh was actually cheaper
than taking the train so I looked into it and they were right. I weighed the
pros and cons of both options and decided on the one hour flight over the 20+
hour train journey.
After booking my flight and my hostel I headed back into
town. I had seen several signs earlier in the day advertising a shuttle to Da
Nang airport for 80,000 Dong, which is about $4. I found the office advertising
this service and the doors were wide open so I walked in only to find that
there was no staff. I called out several times thinking maybe someone was hiding
in the back and didn’t hear me come in but no one appeared so I left to keep
wandering. I checked out another temple and a few more shops and went back
hoping maybe the staff had just stepped out quickly but there was still no one
to be found.
I made my way back to the hostel and checked my email to
find that the hostel I had booked had decided to move me to another property
they owned but did not give me the name or the address of the new property
making it more or less impossible for me to get there on my own so I would have
to pay their ridiculous $15 fee for airport pickup. I also found out that Dom
had finally contacted AirAsia about rerouting us to Bali through KL instead of
just giving us a refund and learned that he would need to submit a form online
and wait a minimum of five days to find out if it had been approved or not. My
frustration with this company is through the roof at this point. They cancelled
our flight on October 1st and waited until mid January to tell us
when the flight is scheduled for the beginning of February then dicks us around
when we ask them to fix it. Dom sent the request but since their customer
service skills seem to be lacking we decided to look up other options just in
case. All of the other options suck and cost a ridiculous amount of money. My
head is pounding by this point so I decide to forget about the matter for now
and wait to see what happens with the rerouting request.
I head back to the office advertising the cheap airport
shuttle and once again the door is wide open and there is no one inside.
Several hours have passed since my first two visits and nothing has changed. I
am not impressed. If you are going to close your office to customers shut the
doors! It’s really not that difficult a concept.
My headache is only getting worse and now I also feel like
I'm going to vomit. I make my way back to the hostel, take some Tylenol, and
curl up in a ball. It’s 8pm and I haven’t had dinner but I really don’t think I
could handle food at this point so I pull the covers over my head and sleep
until morning.
When I woke up this morning my headache was gone and I made
my way downstairs for another delicious breakfast. Its still fairly early so
after I finished breakfast I lounged around until 9am then made my way back to
the stupid office. It’s a new day surely there will be someone there now. The
doors are wide open; I walk in, and still no one. Are you freaking kidding me?
This has to be some kind of joke! All of the signage says you need to book the
day before, I thought maybe I could get away with doing it first thing in the
morning but now that no one is here there is no point in even trying for a
fifth time.
Feeling angry and defeated I make my way back to the hotel
where I check out and book a car to the airport costing me $15. I had
originally planned on renting a bike today and riding down to the beach but I
have now just blown my budget for the day on a ride to the airport so that’s
not longer an option. I lounge by the pool for a while then make my way inside
where I spend most of the afternoon applying for jobs in Australia. I guess
having a productive day isn’t the most horrible thing in the world but I was
kind of looking forward to the beach and I’m just so annoyed with the way
people do business in this country.
Eventually it’s time to head to the airport and I can barely
keep my eyes open. How can I be so tired? I haven’t done anything all day! The
ride to the airport is long and quiet. I stare out of the window and wish I had
found a way to spend some time in Da Nang because it looks pretty awesome. The
airport is tiny and there are no line ups so I check-in and make it through
security with ease.
The flight took just under an hour and my bag is one of the
first ones to be loaded onto the belt. I love it when that happens. I grab my
bag and make my way out of the airport to find a young man holding a sign with
my name. I feel kind of important until I see the sign has been scribbled with
magic marker and the guy doesn’t offer to help me with my bags. Instead he throws
a piece of garbage up in the air and jumps, spins, and kicks it then turns back
and looks at me as though looking for approval before racing through the
parking lot. Um hey guy, I have 16kg on my back and another 10 on my front, if
you’re not going to help me carry them the least you could do is not sprint to
your car when I have no idea where we’re going.
His Daewoo is full of clutter and I find myself fearing for
my life before we even leave the parking lot. This kid is probably the worst
driver I have ever seen, he just drives in a straight line and honks until
others get out of his way. I'm trying not to hyperventilate in the backseat
when his phone starts to ring; his ringtone is ‘show me the meaning of being lonely’
by the Backstreet Boys. Are you freaking kidding me? It’s all I can do to stop
myself from bursting into laughter, so it takes me a minute to clue in that now
I am surely going to die, this guy is a terrible driver without the distraction
of talking on his phone. He quickly hangs up and I take a deep breath.
After the longest ride ever we arrive at the hostel and he
manages to find the tiny once of chivalry that was buried deep inside and he
carries one of my bags for me. I check in and head to my room. It is now just
after 10pm and my bed isn’t ready. Um are you kidding me? You’ve known all day I
was coming what the hell did your housekeeping staff do today? On top of that I
paid for a 10-bed dorm and am sleeping in a 12-bed dorm. There is no way I should
be paying as much as I did. Whatever there is no point even trying to discuss
it with the staff it isn’t going to get me anywhere. I am so over Vietnam.
I’m feeling very frustrated and can feel my headache
creeping back. I think I should probably get some sleep and hopefully tomorrow
will be better.
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