Monday 8th November

My 'itinerary' for the day had me starting at 8am at the local Canada Service Centre, but I didn't actually wake-up until 7:55am! I wasn't dismayed though - the fact that I slept from midnight to then was a relief - my jet lag is easing.

The three must-haves for the day were to get my SIN (social insurance number); open a bank account; and set-up a Canadian telephone number. I was expecting a big line at the Canada Service Centre for the SIN, but I was greeted immediately and walked out with the SIN 15 minutes later (the card will be sent to the Whistler Post Office for me to pick up in 2 weeks).

Conveniently, across the road was the Royal Bank of Canada. I'd decided to set my account up with them because a) they had a branch in Whistler Village and b) they were the largest and most trusted in Canada. The building was very old and opulent - a 'concierge' greeted me and directed me into an office to meet with my account manager. As we started the meeting, she gave me an 'agenda' and pencil so I could write questions, notes, and comments throughout the meeting!! Setting up the bank account was no problem (I didn't even have to put any money into it), although I didn't get a credit card. As a temporary resident, I would need to give them the amount of money I wished my credit limit to be as a safeguard (i.e., if I wanted an $8000 limit, then I'd need to give them $8000 placed in a term deposit I couldn't touch).


Next, I boarded the sky-train again to a beauty salon in South Vancouver. This was the only place in the whole of Canada which sold Napoleon products, and I desperately needed some lip gloss. (SInce I have lots of allergies - surprising to some people, maybe - I have to use Napoleon lipgloss, as it's the only lipgloss I don't break out with, vaseline excluded.) They only had two options, saying they could order it in for me, but I took what they had.

Back in downtown Vancouver, I now needed to connect my phone with a local company. There were three main options: Bell, Telus and Rogers. Bell had crap customer service so I didn't bother with them, and Rogers made you sign-up to a 12 month contract unless you wanted pre-paid, in which case you couldn't get data (I wanted data options as I would use my iPhone for surfing the web). Telus were great - friendly and professional - with great options. Unfortunately,  I couldn't sign up for a post paid plan as I didn't have any Canadian issued ID, so I settled for a pre-paid option initially (and will apply for post paid later). This ensured I had a Canadian phone number, ability to call local numbers, and could surf the web. I stopped in at the nearby 7-11 to pick up an international calling card (4.5c/minute to Australia).

I called in at Starbucks to replenish my energy - I'd been given a free voucher there previously since they forgot my order - and then was back into Sears (department store) to pick-up the final things on my list. On the way home, I called in at a 'loonies and toonies' store (that's what they call their $1 and $2 coins) and bought a cheap striped bag to transport all of my new clothes to Whistler in. (I think I'm only allowed one bag on the bus tomorrow, but can pay for a second bag).

Phew - shopping complete! (Well, until I get to Whistler at least). But it's no rest for the wicked, as I had to do my laundry (first time I've done it in 3 months!).

Sunday 7th November

After watching the sunrise (as per my previous post) and breakfasting at the hostel, I caught the sky-train to the Metropolis at Metrotown mall, about 20 minutes away. The sky-train was interesting - as I mentioned before, there were no staff about - vending machines disbursed tickets, and a line on the ground demonstrated where the 'fee paying users' area was. Whilst on the train, I managed to catch a glimpse of Stanley Park and the waterfront - with all this shopping, there was no chance for any sightseeing!

The mall was MASSIVE, bigger than any mall in Australia with over 450 stores. I'd read that you should be prepared to spend the whole day there - and half of Vancouver seemed to as well. After yesterday's purchases, my list was a little narrower, but more specific. Whereas yesterday's had been more like 'jeans', 'tops', 'jumpers', today's was based around what the gaps were from yesterdays purchases. For example, I'd bought 2 pairs of jeans but no jumpers; and I'd bought the boyfriend blazer but didn't have a top to wear with it.

HIgh on my list was pyjamas. I'd researched the mall during my sleep-deprived night, and decided to start with Old Navy, a cheap unisex clothing store. Score: blue flannel pyjamas and a fluoro red top, as well as a hoodie, for under $60.

One thing high on my list was a 'pea coat', which reached just below my waist. It was the kind of thing you need if you were walking around the shops - you don't need a snow jacket; you don't want a winter woollen coat; and you want more than a jumper. But do you think I could find one? (Insert answer here: no!)

I found another hoodie at American Eagle - I'd actually tried it on yesterday but abandoned it, thinking I'd find others (I didn't). By the end of the day, with a few more items purchased, I found Forever 21, a massive clothing store. I'd visited this in Singapore, but the Singapore one was completely different. The clothes here were amazing, and sooo cheap!! I purchased a dark purple, metallic skirt and a luxurious gold print t-shirt for only $40 (for both), ticking off the 'nice outfit' requirement off my checklist.

I was so tempted to get a taxi back to the hostel but I reminded myself that I'm poor, and took the Metro home instead. Walking out on the nearby eating streets, I ended up at one of the burger places (I am not kidding, every second store is either a burger joint or Starbucks). The vegetarian burger was listed on the menu at $5.95 - not too bad I thought. "What would you like on it?", the server said. "What does it come with?" I replied. "Nothing - you select whatever you like to go on it.? By the time I added on the basics, the whole meal ended up being more than $18!! (Fries and 'pop' included).

I spent the remaining hours of the day (literally - I fell asleep bang on midnight) playing on the internet on my iPhone and writing lists - what to do tomorrow, how to get there, what was left to buy, where I needed to go in Whistler. Tomorrow was to be another busy day ...

Monday 8th November

Saturday 6th November

Of my three days in Vancouver, I have two week-end days and one week-day. The week-day will be dedicated to getting a SIN (Social Insurance Number), setting up a bank account and finding a phone plane, whilst my week-end would be dedicated to - SHOPPING!


I was supposed to have started work in Whistler on the 15th of November, which would have given me 10 days to acclimatise, shop, and set myself up, but I had been requested to start a week early, thus leaving me with only 3 days to achieve this all. Considering I have been in Asia for the last three months, I am not equipped for Canadian winter conditions at all! And, all of the 'essentials' (i.e. shampoo, conditioner, soap) have just run out, so I need to replenish them all!

The day started with breakfast at the hostel. The free buffet breakfast was luxurious and very American - bagels with cream cheese, toast, scones, etc. I had wholemeal toast (healthy) with cream cheese (not so healthy) - but hey, I'm in North America so I need to blend in! (Ok, I admit, I did take my vegemite down with me but I didn't use it!)

The shops in Vancouver open later than in Australia - 10am on a Saturday  - so I did a loop of Robson Street (the main shopping strip) whilst waiting for them to open, wearing in my new boots. There were some amazing stores - like a chocolate shop whose whole window display was different flavours of toffee apples! (Toffee apples dipped in chocolate with marshmallow and nuts, for example).

My first stop was Zara, the British store that is all over Asia yet hasn't found its way to Australia. I had a big list of things to buy, and unlike at home I couldn't dilly-dally about buying things (I never impulse buy normally). I'd told myself that if I liked it, and it was 'on the list', then buy it. (Ski clothes I'd buy in Whistler, using my staff discount, but I needed things like tights, socks, jeans, long sleeve tops, jumpers, a nice outfit, winter coat etc as well as nail polish, make-up and so on.)

At Zara, I purchased a puffy, knee length winter coat and a long sleeve cotton top. One annoying thing here is that the price shown is without tax. So you may think you're getting a bargain, but then add 12% on top of that! (A combined federal and local tax). Second stop was to Levis for some jeans. Now, I have not worn jeans in about 3 years. In fact, I don't even own a pair of long pants. For me, I don't feel feminine unless I'm wearing a skirt/dress with tights/stockings and heels. My body just isn't made for pants.

I'd read in Asia that Levis had a new concept in store - rather than define jeans by their size (i.e. 10, 12) and cut (bootcut, skinny), they also introduced a 'curve fit'. The Irish girl (also on a working holiday visa) who assisted me was brilliant. I told her exactly what I needed, and what my body shape was, and she grabbed me the styles I should try - and they all fit and looked good! I was soo worried about buying pants, so to buy two pairs of jeans in the first store I looked at was brilliant. To top it off, they were cheap - costing me $150 for the two pairs, not bad for Levis).

At American Eagle Outfitters, I scored a boyfriend blazer, long and black (as opposed to the one I had made, which was silver and short). It looked great with the dress I had on, and I figured I could wear it with a pair of jeans as well for dressier occasions.

Along Robson Street I continued (OPI nail polish found - in Australia it's $20 a bottle, here less than $10 - and I even got a top and base coat at 2-1!) until I got to the Pacific Centre, where I'd found Nine West the previous evening. I took a pitstop for lunch (tacos - Mexican food is everywhere!) before continuing on. I found a great department store called "The Bay", where I scored the make-up I desperately required. They had a great department full of Canadian winter clothes (i.e., supporter clothes for the Winter Olympics), including the famous red gloves. I was so tempted to buy things but I had to concentrate on the task at hand!

After almost 7 hours of shopping (when you HAVE to buy clothes, you force yourself to try on anything that looks good - and even stuff that doesn't!), my weary feet dragged themselves back to the hostel, where I promptly fell asleep at 5pm. I didn't mean to, but I was soooo tired - and of course, I woke up at midnight and couldn't get back to sleep. Daylight saving ended at 2am, so I lived through that hour twice, eventually getting back to sleep at 2:30am. I awoke again at 4:30am and that was it - I listened to the person in the room next to me snoring and watched the sunrise (breakfast wasn't until 8am and the shops didn't open until 11am, so I had hours to kill!)

One interesting thing about my room: I share an ensuite. To use it, I unlock the door on my side, enter the bathroom, and lock the door on their side (then, vice versa on the way out). Only a toilet and shower is in there - sink and mirror are located in my room. Odd concept!

Saturday 30th October

After almost 12 hours in an 80cm space, I was glad when the bus finally pulled into Nha Trang bus station (not before it pulled in for petrol ... 1km from the bus station!)

The rain was pouring down but somehow, as everyone else sheltered in the roadside station, I managed to flag down a Mailinh taxi and went straight out to Diamond Bay Resort, home of the 2008 Miss Universe pageant, where I was to meet Kym, Debbie, Donna and Julie from Moree, as we had arranged in Hoi An.

Arriving at the resort at 7am, I was cautious about calling them up so early, but as Kym had said, she was an early riser and was well awake when I knocked on their door. I dropped my bag and showered, and then they managed to get me into the breakfast buffet by using one of their breakfast tickets for tomorrow (I ... ahem ... altered the date on the coupon).

They were due to leave at 1:30pm for their 3:55 flight, so we hade a few hours to kill after breakfast. As the rain was pouring down, there wasn't a lot we could do, so the ladies all retired to their rooms whilst I hit up the gym. I almost had to swim to the pool - the water was literally up to my knees, and of course my running shoes (which have a mesh front) were absolutely soaked, so I ended up doing weights and strength work barefoot!

We all had lunch in the restaurant - about the only two places accessible in the resort were our rooms and the restaurant, situated in the same building as the lobby - and then we got the bad news: we were stranded. The road to Nha Trang was flooded, the airport was closed, the train tracks were flooded and the buses were stranded. I had planned to leave to Ho Chi Minh City on a lunchtime train tomorrow, but on hearing that the tracks were flooded decided to purchase a flight first thing Monday morning (there were none left on Sunday). The ladies were stuck - our afternoon revolved around calling the airport and airlines to see if they were re-opening, but it was to no avail. They weren't going anywhere that night - but neither could I!

So, after travelling to Nha Trang to take up their offer of a free room, they all ended up staying in the resort for the night they'd paid for - so I bunked down with Kym in one of the double beds. The resort was very helpful though, offering all of the guests a free dinner due to us not being able to get out. I was starting to think it wasn't too bad - free breakfast and dinner, internet, water, a gym - what else could you ask for? (Provided I could get out on Monday!)

Friday 5th November

My biggest travel day so far started with a 5:30am wake-up call - well, actually it started even before that, because I was up at 5:15am. Effectively, this was 4:15am, as there was a one hour time difference between Malaysia and Vietnam which wasn't in my favour.

The Tune Hotel was at LCCT, the low cost carrier terminal of KL airport, but my flight to Hong Kong left from the main termainl at KLIA so I took a shuttle bus from the airport, taking about 25 minutes. I was one of the first to check-in, managing to score a window seat, and then filled in my time (surprisingly, quite easily), at the airport.

One thing I'd discovered last night whilst ensuring I had all of the required documentation for entry into Canada (Letter of Introduction for working holiday visa; proof of insurance; proof of funds) was that I'd printed out the wrong Letter of Introduction. When the Canadian consulate had first sent the letter, they'd put the wrong date on it, stating I must enter the country before Feb 5 2010 (this was actually the date they'd issued it - it should have read Feb 5 2011). They'd corrected it when I'd prompted them, but when I printed my documentation I must have given Mum and Dad the one with the correct date, and the other one to myself. I was fairly sure it wouldn't be a problem - hey, it would be in their system and they could tell by the issue date - but I didn't want to take any chances. But - where do you find a printer in an airport?

The only options were business centres, generally located within airline lounges. For economy class plebs like myself, the rates for entry to these lounges were sky-high - the 'budget' one I found was almost $40 for 1 hour's entry! Luckily, I found an alternative - there was a transit-hotel located within the international terminal, and I was able to use their business centre to print the correct letter for a much more reasonable rate (and even check the latest gossip on Perez Hilton whilst I was there!)

I've said this before, but I hate playing the 'how much money do I need at the airport' game. That morning, I'd known I'd need money for the bus, breakfast and a printer; optionally, I'd also like a magazine and chocolate, should money be left over. With the first three must-haves out of the way, I was left with exactly the right amount of money to buy two blocks of Aussie Cadbury chocolate, duty-free (hey, who knows when I will next see it??)

My flight to Hong Kong was with Cathay Pacific, the first time I'd flown with them (similarly, my next flight was with Air Canada, also an unknown quantity to me). The seats had plenty of leg room (I had Aussie seat mates) and an entertainment console in the back of the chair in front - having flown budget carriers for so long, I'd forgotten these existed! The flight passed quickly as I watched Salt (even though I hate Angelina Jolie, I must give her props - it was a great film) and half of some stupid movie with Paul Rudd, Dinner for Schmucks.

On arrival at Hong Kong airport, I made my way to the transfer desk of Air Canada to pick-up my boarding pass for the flight (my bags having already been checked through from KL). Unfortunately, my travel agent in Australia had failed to book the vegetarian meal for me, and I was told they needed a minimum 24 hours notice, so I would be stuck with a meat dish onboard!

Hong Kong airport brought back memories for me, having been the first international airport I'd ever flown into back in 2001 on my trip to Europe. Entering through the transfer area, you are deposited into an area with a handful of shops, and I was gobsmacked - I was sure there were heaps more shops than this! Eventually, I realised the 'main' shopping hall was about 300m away (yep, the airport is so big you can't even tell where the main bit is!) and headed for it. I had five hours to kill, so I was going to hit every shop there!

The shopping at the airport was great - all of the luxury brands, like Prada and Gucci; as well as numerous bookstores (I tried and failed to find a British Columbia guidebook), souvenir stores and make-up brands. The food selection is quite ordinary, though I was happy to see there were a number of "watch this space" areas for places like McDonalds, Ben and Jerry and a pizza parlour. (I remember the first time I came, I didn't have any Hong Kong money so I had to find somewhere to eat that took credit card - I ended up eating a hamburger with fries for $25!)

There are numerous free internet terminals situated around the terminal, so I made use of one for a while, and then waited to board the plane. Looking outside the window, I was worried we wouldn't be able to take off - it was cloudy and raining, with low visibility. I really couldn't afford any delays arriving into Canada!

As the flight departure time drew close, I held my breath that I would have no one seated next to me. Unfortuately, just before take-off two people ran down the aisle and stopped at my aisle - isn't that always the way! I was a little wary about flying Air Canada, as I'd heard some not so good stories about it, but it was fine. Similar to Cathay Pacific, it had inflight entertainment (this time on demand), and we were served three meals throughout the flight. One key point of difference between Asian/Australian airlines and North American airlines are the flight attendants - in Asia, they're all young and pretty; whereas for North America, they're quite old. (I'd first noticed this on a United Airlines flight to Los Angeles - the flight attendants were overweight and wore Texas bouffants, chewing gum whilst they chatted to their colleagues). There were 13 flight attendants and 4 pilots on-board - this sounded like a lot, but I guess it was a 12 hour flight.

After a 3.5 hour flight, 12 hour flight, and 5 hour stop-over, I finally set foot into Canada at 2pm, a mere 4.5 hours after I'd left KL (yep, there is a 15 hour time difference between the 2). I joined the immigration line for new students and workers to receive my working holiday visa (the letter of introduction needs to be produced to the customs officials, along with proof of funds and insurance). The customs officials were all young and good-looking but very serious about their jobs - I got the boss, who was very friendly, asking lots of questions about my trip in Asia. (I'm never sure if they're just being friendly or trying to suss me out - I'd like to think the first!)

One of the things that first struck me about Canada was how polite everyone is. Whenever you say "thank-you", they always reply, "welcome" (yep, welcome, not 'you're welcome'). Think about that in Australia - we either don't reply or we'll say, 'no worries' or 'no problem'. When I'd first approached an official at the airport to ask where immigration was, he asked me to wait a moment whilst he assisted someone else. When he came back, someone else came up to him to ask for directions, but he asked them to wait a moment as I was first. Simple things!

I noticed this more and more as I entered Vancouver city, and over the coming few days - it's almost like they're too good! Another example: their (driverless) sky-train has no staff at the stations or on-board - it's just expected that you'll buy a ticket.

Tipping my taxi-driver (aah, tipping, one negative to Canada), I checked into my room at the HI Downtown hostel. I'd make sure to book a single room, as I knew that with sleep deprivation from the flight, jet-lag, and the numerous shopping I would do, I would need a room to myself. The easiest way to get over jet-lag is to start adhering to the new destination's timezone immediately, so I headed out into the city straightaway.


It's no wonder Vancouver is consistently voted the most liveable city in the world (along with Melbourne). The streets were wide and clean; the autumnal leaves were falling form the sky; electric buses were zooming down the clean streets. I was in love!!

I was glad to find that I was a short walk away from the two main shopping areas: Pacific Centre (mall) and Robson Street. I wanted to leave the shopping until the next day, but one stop I did make was to Nine West, which I was delighted to find in the Pacific Centre. As I'd arrived into the country wearing a pair of jelly shoes, I thought it appropriate to be my first stop! $450 and 3 pairs of shoes later (a pair of heels, boots, and flats - all occasions covered), at least I had one item ticked off my list.

As I walked down the streets, I felt like I was in a movie. You know how you watch movies and they're shopping at Sears or Walmart; eating those monster burgers at a diner; driving Chevrolet pick-ups - well, that was real-life here! And, despite us both speaking the same language, the slang terms definitely have an impact. For example, my burger needed "ketchup" (not tomato sauce) and my softdrink choice was actually my "pop" of choice. Giving my date of birth was '1/12/83', not '12/1/83'. All these little nuances!

Across the road from the hostel was a 24-hour 'drugstore' (like a massive Priceline/chemist), and I stocked up on toiletries that I would need in Canada. Yes, I could get them in Whistler, but I know they're all expensive, so I was really saving money. I loved looking at all their food (frozen sandwiches!) and souvenirs (seriously, they have the best souvenirs ever - heaps of Winter Olympic merchandise; snowdomes, flag paraphernalia). As with everywhere else so far, all of the shop assistants are super-friendly, unlike Australia and the UK - you're always greeted when you enter; and when you ask for assistance, it's like you're the one doing them the favour!

Despite the numerous eating options around, I grabbed an easy dinner from Subway (I think because there were just too many options - so much Mexican food and so many burger joints!) and retired to my room, waiting for the jetlag to kick in ... which it did ... thank goodness the hostel has free wireless, because I was on my iPhone surfing the web for hours that night!

Thursday 4th November

Final day in Asia (I'm not counting tomorrow, as that's simply my flight from KL). I was awoken at 5am with a phone call from home - as I had spoken to my parents for a week (through a combination of them not being able to get a hold of me and vice versa), they had started to get worried and thought I must have already been in Vancouver (I guess ... which explains the time of the call).

I enjoyed a bit of a sleep in after that, packed my bags, and then headed down to the Post Office to post a parcel home. I was worried about how much money I had in my wallet, and the parcel ended up taking most of it - 611,000 dong (such a stupid amount!)

Months ago, I had read an article about a chocolate cafe in Ho Chi Minh, and had ripped the article out of the magazine, intending to find it once I arrived. I decided to treat myself to the cafe as a prize for my last day of travelling, however no taxi drivers knew where it was! (I think the world was trying to tell me something ....) I ended up at Gloria Jeans with a frappucino, which was nowhere near as nice as a Starbucks frappucino (there are no Starbucks in Vietnam, India, or Cambodia, so it had been a while since I'd had one).

Knowing I had only a little money left in my wallet, I walked for 40 minutes back to my hotel, past the Reunification Palace and to Bu Vien, the backpacker street, where I surfed the web for an hour. WIth another hour to kill, I had lunch at a fancy looking restaurant - fancy looking perhaps, but cheap indeed! A tasty toasted veggie baguette was my last meal in Vietnam, before I returned to the hotel for my bags and flagged down a taxi to the airport. (I had no trouble packing everything, I still had heaps of room left in my daybag!)

My flight to KL was uneventful, and a quick 2 hours. I cleared customs in Malaysia for about the sixth time this year (1 - work trip to KL; 2 - first entry to Borneo; 3 - entry from Singapore; 4 - flight to India; 5 - flight to Vietnam). I'm starting to wonder if they think I'm a drug mule, as my stays last generally less than 24 hours, and in some cases less than 2 hours!

I'd booked a night at the Tune Hotel (cheap AirAsia hotel), which was about a 15 minute walk from the arrivals hall. One thing that offsets the cost of the hotel room is floor sponsors - i.e., McDonalds might sponsor your floor, so whilst trying to fall asleep you stare at a picture of a Big Mac. This hotel was way better than that in KL city, even having free internet (albeit limited to an hour), and a few restaurants and a 7-11 within its courtyard. The vibe was fun - obviously, everyone was just in transit here.

I walked back to the airport to grab some dinner (kaya toast at OldTown Coffee - pathetic service and pathetic food!); use the free wireless; exchange my money (whilst at the airport in Vietnam, I'd exchanged my remaining dong for US dollars, as I'd been told that Vietnamese dong aren't excepted anywhere outside Vietnam); and buy some Aussie Cadbury chocolate. Returning to the hotel, I only read a chapter of my book before falling asleep ... I knew tomorrow would be a big day, and an early start at that!

Wednesday 3rd November

Tuesday 2nd November

Monday 1st November

I was quite excited when I woke up, as I was off to Ho Chi Minh City, my final destination before heading to Vancouver. Mostly I was excited about finally getting to a big city with some international fashion shops, in the hope I could buy some winter clothes!

I was at the breakfast buffet as soon as it opened, and as it was still too early to depart for the airport I went for a wander around the resort grounds, where the rainwater had finally started to subcede. (I'm so glad I bought my jellies - they have to be the most versatile shoes ever, especially in the rain!) The Moree ladies had failed in their attempt to find the "Miss Australia suite" (each suite had the name of the Miss Universe contestant who had stayed in it during the competition), and I was determined to find it. Heading down to the pool (beautiful and absolutely monstrous, apparently it's one of the largest in Asia), it ended up being easy to find - facing the beach and nestled near Miss USA and Miss Venezuela (the winner of the 2008 Miss Universe pageant). I was just hoping that no one was staying in it, as I walked up to the suite and started snapping photos - "I promise, I'm not a stalker!"

The shuttle bus arrived to take me to the airport, and though the rain was a lot lighter than the previous days, the roads still showed signs of flooding. One place in particularly was quite hairy, as the rocks that had been nestled into the mountainside had fallen, lying across the road - one boulder would have been several tonne at least, so it's lucky that no cars had been driving past at the time it fell.

The plane was delayed in taking off as the pilot (an Aussie - they all seem to be Aussie pilots around here!) advised that the small airport did not have the safety equipment (fog lights?) necessary for planes to take off in rainy weather. Luckily, it was only a short delay - I was just glad to be getting out of Nha Trang at all!

Arriving into Ho Chi Minh City, I took a metered taxi to my hotel, Green Suites in District 1 (the core of the city). It was located right next to 'Bu Vien', which is the Vietnam equivalent of Thailand's Khao San Road. I had heard mixed reports about the city: some said that the further south you went, the better it was; whereas others said that Ho Chi Minh was dirty, polluted, and had too much traffic (after all, it was a city of 10 million people with more than 5 million registered motorbikes).

I headed out to the shops as soon as I dropped my bag, the first stop being Vincom Towers. This was the biggest and glitziest mall in the whole of Vietnam, with stores including Nine West, Emporio Armani and Jimmy Choo. Unfortunately, Nine West in HCMC, like Hanoi, only has shoes up to a size 8, and none of the other clothes stores had winter clothes (or any that I liked, anyway), so I left empty handed. (I also experienced a mis-understanding here about what Vegetarianism means - it does not mean that seafood is ok!)

I dropped into Ben Thanh market on the way back, which was the largest tourist market in HCMC. The Moree ladies had told me to buy perfume here and bags at An Dong, and I didn't want to make any purchases until I'd checked out An Dong so I headed back to my hotel empty-handed for a rest. I had planned to head out to An Dong that night, but the receptionist advised me that the market didn't stay open late, so I simply had dinner and an early night watching How I Met Your Mother (all repeats, but it's such a funny show!)

Sunday 31st October

When I woke on Sunday morning, I wasn't sure if it was the air-conditioning or rain that I could hear. Looking outside through the window, it was rain - albeit lighter than yesterday. That wasn't to last long though, as the heavens really opened again. We waded through ankle deep water on the way to breakfast, where Kym again managed to get me in free.

Since it was still so wet, I decided it was safest to stay at the resort. I found a cheap rate online and asked if the hotel would match. They advised me to book online, which is stupid - they're effectively earning less because they have to pay out commission to the website! Although it was more expensive than my normal hotels, I figured I'd had (almost) no expenses the previous day and the rate was all inclusive of meals, Internet, airport transfer etc. Another lot of Aussies were negotiating at the reception so I jumped online and booked their rooms for them too - they were so happy at the 50% saving I scored them, and told me to find them at lunch/dinner if I wanted some company.

I've never seen somewhere so wet, and that was just in the resort. Here I was, staying in a beautiful resort with tennis courts, huge pool etc, and I couldn't make use of the facilities because they were underwater! People we had spoken to the previous day had been in Nha Trang city but had returned because they were worried about being stranded (rightly so, as the road soon flooded). They told us how they had seen rats and maggots floating down the street, and showed us pictures of the roads, motorbikes near submerged. I also heard a tourist bus, similar to the one I had travelled in the previous day, had been submerged, with the tourists inside feared dead. Scary!

The ladies from Moree decided that rather than continually calling the airport and airline, their best bet was to head to the airport, as they would be more likely to get on a flight to Ho Chi Minh City by 'being in their face'. We'd confirmed that the airport was open, but no one at the hotel could confirm when they could fly out - they were waitlisted for a 3:55pm flight. At 11am, Kim, Debbie, Donna and Julie all departed to the airport, leaving me on my own - it had been so nice, 'stalking' them over Vietnam! The Aussies I've met in India and Vietnam have really made my travelling experience great.

I needed to fill in the rest of the day, in a resort I couldn't get out of yet couldn't really make use of. I ended up at the spa, getting my hair straightened again (what am I going to do when it costs more than $1 to have my hair done?), before vegging out in my room, intermittently falling asleep.

In the evening, with dinner provided by the resort again, I headed to the buffet, where I had dinner with the Aussie group that I had scored the cheap hotel rooms for. They were all in their late 40s/early 50s (2 couples), who had been at a tyre convention in Cambodia and were now holidaying in Southern Vietnam. They were lovely as well, and I had a nice chat to them during dinner.

I spent a while on the internet once I finished dinner (you may have noticed this blog is quite out-of-date, thanks to the intermitten internet access I can get here. Facebook is almost never available, and I can't upload photos because I lost my camera cable somewhere ....) before heading to bed, for another early start the next morning.