2018年2月2日金曜日 - 
Joss Winter Holiday 2017, part 1
At
the end of last year I was lucky enough to take a trip with my girlfriend to
Vietnam and Thailand, where we stayed in Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok respectively.
We started in Vietnam and arrived at
around midnight on the 27th of December. The manager of our
accommodation had kindly offered to pick us up from the airport and was there
to meet us. When we pulled up near the
hotel he explained that we would have to walk down a small alley to reach the
entrance. It didn't exactly look inviting in the dark. However, the hotel
turned out to be in a very convenient location near most of the things we
wanted to see in the city and not as dangerous as it first appeared.
The first day in Vietnam we spent
visiting the famous landmarks, such as the old post office and Notre-Dame
Cathedral, and wandering the streets and local markets. We ate many delicious
meals (all of which I have forgotten the name of), my favourite consisting of a bowl of flat noodles topped with
deep-fried crispy tofu, puffed rice and
fried greens. We also found a tour office and booked a tour of the nearby
Mekong river for the next day.
The tour started at the tour office at 8
a.m. We were part of a group of twenty-two people in total. On the highway it
only took around one hour and thirty minutes to reach the first stop on the
tour. This was a small port where we would take a motor boat over the river to
the other side. The area we arrived at was a honey farm and we were quickly
shown the bees and given a chance to hold a piece of their nest (which was
covered in them). We were then led to one of many tables where we could taste
the honey in some tea along with some dried food snacks. We later watched a
traditional Mekong musical performance and tried many local fruits, and visited
an area where they make coconut candy. The highlight of the tour was getting on
a small canoe and joining the masses down
a tight stream, which we followed back to the river. We were served a great
lunch, with elephant fish, cat fish, rice noodles, fried greens and fruit. All in all it was a fantastic tour and definitely
worth the money.
The following
day we were scheduled to leave for Bangkok at around 5 p.m. so we
spent the morning visiting the more classy
shopping area in the city, a stark
contrast to the market stalls of Ben Thanh, and later buying some souvenirs
from a local supermarket. We took a taxi to the airport at around 14:30 p.m.,
checked in and relaxed until the plane was due to depart. The flight was short
and we had a great view of Bangkok at night as we came in to land.
At Bangkok airport we inquired at the
information desk about the best way to get to our hotel. We were told to first
take a bus, then change to a train and then get a taxi. So we started by
heading outside to the bus stop. The bus was cheap and on time and we arrived
at the train station in no time at all. We were very hungry by now as it was
around 9 p.m. and we hadn't eaten anything since lunch. Luckily, there was one
shop open at the train station, a Yamazaki bakery, so we grabbed a savoury snack and felt much better. The train
seemed modern and clean although the high-powered air conditioning made it
uncomfortably cool. Halfway to our destination the train stopped, and after
waiting for fifteen minutes there was an announcement in Thai causing most of
the passengers to get off. Thankfully, there was an English speaking family who
seemed to know what was going on and they told us the train was changing
direction! We swapped to the other side of the tracks and shortly arrived at
our stop. We headed down
The staff greeted us at the hotel and
showed us to our room. After a short rest and a shower, I was actually feeling
pretty terrible. I thought I must have been really tired so went to bed soon
after. The next three days were not good for me.
To
be continued...
pulled up：車を止める
consisting of：～で構成されている
puffed rice：ポン菓子
masses：
All in all：大概
The following day：翌日
classy：高級な
stark：著しい
savoury：ピリッとする
attempted to：しようとした
ended up：結局～することになった
nauseous：吐き気