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In the morning I walked over to the huge China Beach. No one there, but the cold weather didn’t help. The waves were fairly big though. Then I walked over to the Marble Mountains, which were surprisingly across the street. It was a interesting place with caves and tunnels and stairs going up this mountain. Then I decided to get away from this beach and find someplace better to stay.

I went out to the road where the buses are supposed to drive by and one went to the downtown of Da Nang. I took it and went to a hotel I found yesterday. In the afternoon I went to the Cham Museum in town. Named after the Cham Empire, it has a collection of ancient stone sculptures.

Today I ate Mi Quang noodles twice today since they are so good, fast, and is a local speciality. I also visited a Cao Dai temple and a old man showed me around a little bit and took me up into the bell tower.

Some things are getting back to normal here in the city. People are coming back and businesses are opening back up. I had my eye on a few laptop speciality stores and was able to go in one today that advertised “LAPTOP BATTERY.” To my surprise they had the exact batteries for my model, but at $120 for a 6-cell and $160 for a 9-cell it was well over double the price of the batteries on E-Bay. And on E-Bay, those batteries being sold from Hong Kong so maybe I can try to find a place to buy them direct next time I’m there. My battery power has been getting worse and worse since I use the battery so much.

I decided to save some money and take the public bus to the airport today. If you take a full taxi it costs $7, but by looking at a bus route map I walked to the bus station and boarded a bus for 19 cents. Except the bus dropped me off a mile from the airport terminal (there was a different bus that went directly there, my mistake). My 7:50PM flight was delayed to 8:20PM.

Once I arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam, I found a motorcycle driver and bargained for a while trying to get to Hoa’s Guesthouse on China Beach. It was night and he didn’t know the place I was asking for. I didn’t like this situation. He had to ask other taxi drivers for help, but finally I pulled out my computer and showed him the street address. I think that helped. After what seemed like a half hour of driving through the cold wind, he got me close to the place I wanted. Actually next door to Hoa’s Guesthouse, but I couldn’t see Hoa’s since it was dark.

Things weren’t going that great. My room came without heat, electric plugs, or a key. The TV made a harsh sound when I tried to turn it on. I ended up sleeping with all my clothes on since it was so cold. There is no heat in this part of the country since it is not supposed to get this cold here.

Today I wanted to book a train ticket up to Da Nang, Vietnam. So I went to one of the many travel agencies around. The guy said it is probably hard to do and showed me a $48 plane ticket that can get me there. I went to another travel agency and the woman called for a train ticket, but there was no answer. It wasn’t surprising since the trains are supposed to be booked full all week due to the Chinese New Year. I heard the highways aren’t very safe during the holiday for buses so  I figured going by air would be my best bet.

Minutes after I paid the money for the plane ticket, I realized which airline he was talking about (Pacific Airlines) and I found out I could have just ordered the ticket myself on their web site. I checked a different Vietnamese airline and they didn’t have online booking, so I wasn’t sure before. The travel agent left on his motorcycle, went someplace else where he could go to the web site, type in my name and print out the confirmation page. He charged me 33% over the ticket price to do what I could have easily done myself. And also I could have got a flight at a better time if I did it myself. I think this is the first and last time I use a travel agent without exhausting every other option.

I leave tomorrow evening for Da Nang.

Today I decided to rent a bicycle to get around the city. I think it was a good opportunity since traffic is light in the city due to the holiday. I rode my bike over to Cho Lon (Chinatown). My map in the guidebook didn’t list most of the names of the streets, so it took a while to find what I was looking for.  But I made it to Thien Hau Pagoda, Phuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda, and Quan Am Pagoda.

After stopping for some lunch, I rode my bike over to the Reunification Palace. This was where the president of South Vietnam before the south lost the war. In the basement there were a lot of 1960’s military radio hardware.

I rode my bike down to the Saigon river, even though the handle bars seemed wobbly.. Going through downtown I was amazed how little traffic there was, so it was a good choice taking the bicycle, even though there are almost 7 million people in this city.

I started my day going down the maze of alleyways near where I’m staying. All the local people have their homes in these narrow alleys. Most have their doors wide open so you see families watching TV and things like that. I found some good food at a vendor in one of these. Lettuce, tomato, pasta, beef, and fried egg.

After walking some more and cycle rickshaw driver started asking me if I wanted me to hire him for a few hours. After a good 10 minutes of negotiations, I decided I would try it. I don’t think it was a good idea since the streets were empty, all the shops were closed, and the cycle was so slow, near walking speed. So there wasn’t much to see and it took so long to get to the destinations. But I did end up visiting the War Remnants Museum, Jade Emperor Pagoda, and Quoc Tu Pagoda.

After I was done, I tried paying but then he said he had no change! All he needed was the equivalent of $1 in change. So I decided to pay in a combination of US Dollars and Vietnamese Dong. Of course he was trying to cheat me and giving me a wrong exchange rate, but I knew exactly how much to give him. I came here prepared, gave him exactly what we agreed (A little over $5) on based on the current exchange rate and then left. I don’t think I’ll try that again. I think I’ll stick to something with a motor or at least something I’m pedaling.

For dinner I had some Pho Bo, or beef noodles. It is supposedly the most common dish here in Vietnam.

The two Finns, one Swede, and one Australian took the bus to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat before continuing on to Laos. I got on a different bus to Ho Chi Menh City, Vietnam for $12. The 6 hour ride was comfortable and quiet. The border crossing was surprisingly efficient. On the way there, I filled out the paperwork then gave away my passport to the bus conductor. At the border, we got off the bus and collected our stamped passports (not sure when they were stamped). Then we drove a little more and sent our bags through an x-ray machine. We boarded the bus again, an Vietnamese official double checked the passports and we went into the country. It was nice since there were no lines to stand in and we got on the same bus again.

The first thing I noticed in Vietnam was every house had a 30 foot mast on their house for a TV antenna, like a bamboo forest. Entering Ho Chi Menh City, I noticed entire families riding motorcycles: husband, wife, son and daughter. All on one small motorcycle.

I was dropped off in the area of the city with all the guesthouses. I had one in mind because they have Wi-Fi in all their rooms, but it was full. I checked a few others and they were full and a lady from one called me and she said she had a room. Luckily the hotel next door has Wi-Fi and I can “borrow” it. At $13/night the prices here are a lot higher than Cambodia (where my last room was $4/night). I wish I had someone to share the room and cost since all the rooms are setup for two people.

I went out and found an ATM and took out 1,000,000 Dong. But got a $1.50 fee for using it, which it tells you afterwards. Then I had a cheeseburger and chicken from Lotteria fast food. And then I walked some more and found some street vendors and had some noodles with some internal organs (I didn’t want to know exactly what they were).

It seems like $100 bill slipped out of the pocket of one of the guys last night at the bar. But I seem to have better luck. Today we all went to the Pizza place again since I had a 15% off coupon for Chinese New Year.

Then I noticed a restaurant near our guesthouse was showing “Tomb Raider” on their TV in the afternoon. We wanted to see the movie that was filmed here in Cambodia, but no it wasn’t. All they had was the sequel movie that had nothing to do with here. My guesthouse had a pile of DVDs so I checked to see if they had it, but nope.

Later we all ate at the $2 Indian Restaurant. Everyone was surprised with how much I was eating. I also bought a bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

Late last night, one of the Finnish girls here left her purse on a hook in the bathroom here at the guesthouse before going to bed. During the night, it was stolen and then returned to the reception desk. Everything except $40 was accounted for.

Everyone else went to do the Killing Fields tour today and I stayed around the guesthouse since that wasn’t something I wanted to do twice in one week. I heard they went to the Shooting Range here where one of the guys shot a AK-47 for $30.

For dinner, we tried a nearby Indian restaurant offering this $2 all-you-can-eat type meal, including water. It was pretty good for the price. They gave you rice, 3 different curries, and some nan bread.

Tonight is Chinese New Year Eve and everyone decided to go to a nightclub called Heart of Darkness. It went OK, but the Swede threw the injured Australian’s crutch over a fence at the end of the night. I ran into the construction area with my flip-flops in the middle of the night and got it back. However I did hit my toe on a brick laying on the ground and it started bleeding. When I got back I rinsed off my foot in the shower and put on a bandage. Hopefully I won’t get any complications from that.

In the morning I got word some Finns came into town. I’ve been in contact with one of them for quite a few months. I didn’t know exactly where, but I knew the general area where they were staying. I started checking the bigger guesthouses and the ones that were mentioned in the travel guides. I checked the guest books where people wrote down their names but didn’t see the their names. I think it was almost 10AM and at the 5th guesthouse I saw them sitting at a table getting ready to eat breakfast: Two Finns, one Swede, and one Australian. They were kind of surprised since I showed up uninvited.

After breakfast, all of us crowded into a Tuk Tuk and went to the National Museum. The Australian had a motorcycle accident a week ago so he had to walk with some crutches. After the museum, we walked to the river, and then to the mall.

In the evening we watched “The Killing Fields” with everyone since I bought it today on DVD for $2. Unfortunately, it was like watching it in a nightclub since there was so much loud music at this guesthouse on the lake. I’m staying here for $4/night. There’s a bathroom in my room, but it isn’t that great. The water from the sink just empties onto the floor, splashing all over my feet.

I’m spending some time in the capital of Cambodia. It was a 6.5h bus ride to get here from Siem Reap. I stayed the first night in Okay Guesthouse, the following two nights in Burly Guesthouse, and the next night in Spring Guesthouse.

I visited the Killing Fields, a site of mass graves of thousands of people who were killed in the 1970’s here. As a reminder they have hundreds of skulls stacked up in a monument building and you walk around them a few inches away. I also visited the S-21 prison where these same people were held as prisoners. You could see torture rooms and crude jail cells which featured the prisoner’s ankle chained to the wall.

I visited the Royal Palace, Wat Phnom, the Central Market, the Russian Market. I tried pizza one night. Not bad $7 for a large supreme. I’m hoping to meet up with the new Finnish travelers soon.