Middle-aged flash packers

Breakfast was a bit of a mixed bag today. There were pancakes -hurrah- and horrible coffee -boo.

Today was a trip to Cuc Phoung, the oldest national park in Vietnam. We’re not keen on tours, we much prefer to do stuff independently, but Vietnam is the Land of Tours so off we went.  Also you need a guide to go into the jungly bit so we didn’t have much of a choice. Billed as an active tour with walking and steps involved, we looked forward to stretching our legs.

We were second to last being picked up so the best seats had been nabbed. Time has taught us that sitting right at the back of a minibus is not a good place to be from a bone-shaking point of view, but never mind.

We’re beginning to get used to being the oldest people ever in the world of independent travel. People rush to open the door for you, give up their seat (not this lot though) for you etc etc. I feel a bit like Maggie Smith (God rest her soul) and that I’ve reached some sort of Grande Dame status in the youth dominated arena of travel. But we were still surprised to be asked by a young lady if we were on the right bus. As if we’d been wandering along in a demented fug and got parted from our Saga tour group. (We do wander around in a demented fug actually but even so.) Cheeky  little minx. 

It takes about an hour to get to the park. Along the way one couple got dropped off at the bear sanctuary. I was quite jealous as I’d have liked to have gone there. Maybe we can arrange a taxi and go by ourselves. Not sure how Cheeky Minx  would feel about this though. 

I’m not going to go into great detail about the trip. The best part of it was the gibbons, specifically the lady ones who entertained us by swinging in the trees and making one helluva racket. They were having a fabulous time.  Otherwise it was the usual stuff and a reminder why we don’t like organised tours – too much info on boring stuff (the cave and three trees) , not enough time spent on the stuff you actually wanted to see (animals, walking in the jungle) and a lunch provided that’s the equivalent of Russian roulette – I’m hungry but if I eat it will I have my head over a toilet for the next three days? The other people  in our group had no such qualms re food. Obviously all on the tiniest budget possible, they filled their bellies to the brim. Even a girl who was crying in the morning because she had food poisoning managed to shovel down some rice and chips.

We did bond with our fellow travellers during the day. Grandpops had a stugeron pill that he gave to the sick girl and in return her friends told us about kayaking through bioluminescence and where to find it. Gratifyingly they seemed to think we were up to this challenge but they were Danish, more polite than our French Minx, who we did chat to once we’d shown we were actually capable of climbing the 250 steps to the cave. 

Once back at the hotel, we went to our new room as we had to move from the other one. It’s nice but you can hear the train more clearly from it, so earplugs tonight. (Yes, there is a train line close by and the trains hoot loudly every time they go by which is a lot. All through the night.) 

Needing a break from Vietnamese food, we decided to go into Tam Coc and find something different.

Wow! Tam Coc at night is a revelation. Think bright colours, flashing lights, row upon row of restaurants and shops. Honestly the contrast between the gloom of the day and this little town at night was unreal.

We had pizza from a wood fired oven! We couldn’t even get one of these in Italy the last time we went, they’d gone all electric. (Probably health and safety reasons). 

We managed to grab a Grab for the journey there and back but taxis are in short supply round here for short hops, so if you want to be in the thick of it stay in Tam Coc. 

Tomorrow will hopefully be a more leisurely day with a bit of exploring thrown in, and hopefully a bit warmer too.