Day 9 Sam Son to Huang Mai

 Lovely posh hotel but a case of all fur coat and no knickers. The hotel supposedly had a restaurant and breakfast was included in our booking, but...,. Little did we realise that the receptionist had to go out and buy our evening meal and breakfast. We were given four 2 minute noodles, four apples and what seemed like a wheelbarrow pile of cucumbers. She was so young and so engaging one just had to smile - even grumpy old me.

The journey was rather dull by normal standards passing through village and town along a very linear route and a lot of busy main road. A couple of highlights  were the times we touched the sea shore and saw the fisher men at work. Their boats are made of bamboo and there is no way any sensible westerner would go out in one. They are obviously effective though, as the day's catch filled the street market stalls.

At 11am (pay attention now as this info is significant) we stopped at a shop on a street corner for what has now become our drink of preference, Lipton's Lemon tea (a Vietnamese copy). We were charged more than the usual price as the young boy justified it by saying it was the Vietnamese New Year- everything is dearer.  Having quickly guzzled our drinks we set of again at 11:18  - but in fact we didn't. Schools work in shifts 7am to 11:15 and 1:00 to 5pm. We sat for 5 minutes as pubescent teenagers raced down the street on their scooters, escaping the drudgery of lessons. Jenny caught the teacher's pets ( the tail enders) on film (see below).

Again we are staying at a swanky hotel but again no restaurant (out of season). Tonight we did find a restaurant that served mainly fish, but we settled for fried tofu, boiled cabbage, carrots, corn on the cob and a bowl of rice- surprisingly tasty! Had to wash it down with two beers. Hoping that the route tomorrow keeps us off the main roads and hugs the coast.