1.3.23
Onward to Dong Hoi. We felt very sad leaving Tam Coc, we loved our time here so much.

The train took 8 hours, we arrived in Dong Hoi exactly as scheduled at 4.35pm.

Nothing remarkable to say about the journey, poor for people watching blogging apart from the man who offered us some cognac from his huge white container inside a huge plastic bag.
He was sipping his from a plastic cup with a straw and looked understandably mellow.

The journey went all through farmland and was surprisingly comfortable on the soft seats watching films on our tablets.
Johns tablet is working now, still a few things left to install but looking good.

I finally got round to watching Bank of Dave. I watched the series a few years ago and the film by its own admission was far from the truth of how it all panned out, but enjoyable all the same.

You would never ever starve on a Vietnamese train, there were trolleys up and down regularly with a huge variety of things, the hardest is knowing what anything is.

Johns still not eating, I had thin baguettes, with something coconutty inside, and pre purchased crisps and nuts.
Later John couldn’t resist his newest addiction, chocolate chip cookies called Cosy a few hours later.
They are very good.

From the train station we got a taxi to Dolphin Homestay, about a 15 minute drive.

I’d struggled with planning this part of the journey. Originally I booked a homestay in Phong Nha, the area where the caves are, but then worried there wouldn’t be enough to see and be too remote.
So I changed it to the beach and riverside area of Dong Hoi.
There wasn’t a lot of budget accommodation in the area, but the photos and reviews were really good for Dolphin Home.

I’m sure we have the tiniest room in the house from what we’ve seen of the others and deliberately didn’t book the Brettest Class one.
Anyway, for 3 nights it’s fine and I’m sure we’ll get used to the smell of damp. There’s no sign of any and the room is spotlessly clean.
We made use of their laundry service and set off to explore.

Not too sure what to make of Dong Hoi. Somehow it lacks personality.
They have very few international tourists yet there’s a lot of hotel building work and some incredibly luxurious ones already.
It’s the cleanest place we’ve been to so far and like other places very blingy at night.
After a few photos in the dark and a long leg stretch we stopped for food in a very modern looking place with loads of people inside.
Ordering was a challenge but we got there in the end
My shrimp spring rolls and vermicelli were fabulous, John had the same with pork but didn’t risk eating his lettuce.
Thank goodness it wasn’t beer or pork thats made him ill.

Back at the room it was noisy. There’s a small grizzly child, but worse is grandma who shouts so loud it makes me jump.
Suddenly it went quiet, they must all move into a different part of the house.

Then it was more technology battles time, John is still installing and my sleep apnoea machine is refusing to find the app after an app update.
Oh the joys.
I got there eventually and have no idea when John finished his dramas.

The bed is extremely low down but amazingly comfy.
Looking forward to whatever tomorrow brings.