Arriving early after the night bus at Tam Coc Sunseekers Hostel, I felt tired but inspired to start writing something I'd been thinking about for a while. The outline had formed in my mind whilst sailing through the mountains on the bike & I managed to start it. I had time to kill before checkin but the weather was not suitable for 'sunseekers' and was wet and drizzly.
Still the area was very pretty - more lush green rice fields & limestone hills. Also this graveyard set amongst the rocks
I didn't do much the whole time I was there. I needed some time to relax & rest. The homestay was run by a family who lived across the road, and used the reception area as their TV lounge. The guy I assumed was the Grandad would sit watching TV a fair part of the day, then do odd jobs like pump up the bike tyres or fill the swimming pool.
The young lad delt with guests & bookings.
The town at night from where I had dinner:
It was funny as I met a French girl, Elia and then two Italians, Franco & Pepe and it turned out Elia was also half Italian. There was also a Spanish guy who spoke Italian & an Armenian girl who lived in Italy.
It seemed so many of the hostel guests had an Italian connection.
Elia had Italian cards with her so we played a game called Scopa which I learnt from my Dad as a kid.
I won the first night we played 😊.
The following day I spent exploring the town & surroundings.
I had lunch near this temple/old town museum area:
There were lots of boats on the river & the drivers - mostly ladies - would use their feet to pedal
Baby goats:
Thai Vi Temple
Here I met a local man who wanted to chat to me. He spoke some English but we then embarked on quite a long chat using Google translate. He was 61 years old and also had a son & daughter in their 20s, both studying at University.
He told me that people in the villages would live very basically, all the family working on the land together, & that 3 or 4 generations of a family would live together in one property. This is not the case as much now.
It was so interesting, his view of England & the people. He said they call England 'The land of the fog' and wanted to know if we ever saw the sun. He talked about the coal mines & I said that London was very 'smoggy' in the 1800's for that reason, and that in January & February the sky is often grey all the time.
He thought the people from England aren't as reserved as expected and he was a big fan of English Scientists like Edison.
I said I could see how hard it must be working in the fields & he said farmers were struggling to sell their crops competitively. I said there were similar problems in England.
I showed him some pictures of the countryside around Oxfordshire. It was a really enjoyable chat.
The following day, and my last, I just hung out with the 'Italian crew'. I was practicing my Italian as much as possible 😅.
We went for coffee & breakfast by the river & stayed there until lunchtime, when we moved to another place for lunch. It was a perfect lazy day.
Vietnam is famous for its different types of coffee and I've tried a few and they're all delicious.
Most you drink over ice, like the Salt Coffee, and the Coconut coffee.
The egg coffee you have hot and it's like a cappuccino but with a frothy creamy top, sort of like a crême bruleé. I thought I wouldn't like it but it was amazing!
Later, before I got my night bus, we had a final game of Scopa. I was winning until the very last round, when Franco took all the points.
Ciao Amici!
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