So the weekend has arrived and all the volunteers are very lucky that we finish up at 10.30am and dont have work at the weekends so most usually go away for the weekend. We decided to hike a mountain on Fri, I know a crazy idea in 35 degrees heat but we knew the views would be worth it and its good for the bikini body!!So we all squished into the taxi and off we went. The roads were crazy on the way to the mountain and I asked one of the volunteers did they see many accidents and they said they have not in the last 2 weeks and then 2 mins later we saw a truck with a motorbike underneath its wheels and then a 100 meters down the road there was a man lying in the middle of the road :-O I hope I did not jinx it! We then got to the mountains which were beautiful with temples scattered throughout. It was a steep stair climb which really worked our butts and thighs but we stopped loads to admire the views and take photos.We saw people absailing of the mountain cliffs so when I go back next time in proper footwear I am going to give it a go! It was a real enjoyable hike and the exercise felt good. We then did a bit of shopping and headed back.
We decided to go and stay at a beach resort in Hoi An so Sat am myself and 8 other volunteers took an hour taxi ride to Hoi An. There is a good mixture of us; a few from Oz, NZ, Norway, Canada, Switz, Spain, UK and then Im the only Paddy!! We obviously look like tourists but Linda is from America but has Vietnamese parents so instructed that all the "white people" stayed in the house and she haggled with the price which worked as it only cost us 3 euro each! We arrived at the hotel which was beautiful and had a nice big pool! There was a bit of a problem with the rooms because I had rang up and booked for 6 with 2 rooms of 1 dbl and 1 single in each room but surprise surprise they did not understand me so they had booked us 1 single room and 1 dbl room. Thankfully it all got sorted and we went to our rooms which had the best thing of all.............AIR CON!! We then went for a stroll through the market which was an experience itself!! so many people selling all sorts of things, was so crazy! We even saw frogs getting skint and their heads being chopped off and them still hopping about!! Hoi An is famous for getting dresses taiolered for you so we found a nice stall and the ladies through piles of magazines into our arms and said "you choose and I'll make" It had every dress imaginable and in the end I opted for a nice summery one and chose a blue satin material and then a dress Lauren Conrad had on and I choose a black and lace material. Needless to say it did not look quite the same on me as it did on L.C but they did a good job. We then met up with the others and went for a lovely lunch overlooking the river. Alot of the volunteers have a strick rule of Vietnamese food during the week and Western at the weekends and ordered pizzas, pastas, burgers etc but
I much rather Vietnamese food so ordered a green mango, shrimp and chicken salad.....yummy!! We then went back to the hotel and rented out bikes for 50 cent (bargain or what) and took a lovely ride to the beach through paddy fields. We were so hot when we got there so we all jumped into the sea and then spent the rest of the bright hours sunbathing and getting fruit and drinks delivered to our beds.........HEAVEN!! Returned back to the hotel and took a little nip in the pool and ordered some mojitos, were on holiday after all!! Then off for dinner we went and went to a fab restaurant, sticking to vietnamese food I ordered this dish (cant think of the name) but it was like marinated pork that you wrap in rice paper with green mago and loads of different types of herbs and then dip in a satay sauce.......DELICIOUS!!We then just strolled around the streets and were all amazed to see how different it looks at nights with lit up lanterns everywhere!! We were pretty exhausted by then so just wandered back to our hotel and went to sleep in a cold room, fab!! The next am we had arranged to go on a boat to an island and go snorkelling but our transport never came so we just went back down to the beach after a bit more shopping! we stopped off at this really quaint restautarant that was on decks in the lake called "slow lives slow food" was so cute and I got another gorgeous Loftus root salad, no idea what was in it but it was so tasty!! As myself and another 2 volunteers were placed in Tam Ky we had to get the hour and half taxi ride there while we said goodbye to the others who were all returning to Da Nang. We all got on so well and we have all ready planned another weekend away next weekend!! You see even Mother Teresa has fun at the weekends.
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