Up and about, we pack up and head out with ease as standard check out persists to be midday ????

First stop is for some lunch and coffee – we head around the corner, on foot, to Phuc Long Coffee

It’s a bit of a hassle ordering as they have cappuccino but it’s only cold; we get americanos instead but they just won’t add any milk – black coffee it is!

We take them over to KFC for a cheeky zinger burger, popcorn chicken and fries – the staff here are much more friendly and we even get plates and cutlery ????

We get a Grab to the Vu Linh Bus Office to pick up our transport for the next destination – it’s a minibus with nice, leather reclining seats and lots of space for just four of us, and seven seats for customers in total

2.5 hours on the bus and we make it to Rach Gia ???? the minibus even drops us off straight to our hotel, Seaside Hotel – an added bonus!

After checking in, showering, etc, we head out to stroll into town

The area we are staying in is a bit under construction, but peaceful – we stroll past the port, we’ll be going to tomorrow, and over a couple of bridges to get to the nicely done up water front

We go past a jazzy lighthouse and watch the sunset on the promenade

Finally, we stroll down past a few places in search of food and end up at Nhà hàng Gió Biển – it’s a restaurant sticking out right on the water

Some issues with the language barrier – they asked if we want Rice or seafood when we tried ordering beers ???? – but they’re all pleasant and we get started with two Bia Saigon beers, which have the Chinese Dragon Year special on them

Our main consists of grilled Water Buffalo, steamed in-season veggies and pork ribs… we avoid ordering the roasted Pigeon for now, we can’t bare to eat our beloved Barries ????

It comes in stages: veggies come first and we’re not liking all of them but it’s good to try; next are the ribs, which are small but very yummy; finally is the Buffalo, which is a little disappointing as it’s like jerkied beef and quite chewy – again, very glad to be able to try!

We have another beer to polish off what we can and then venture onwards back down the waterfront

Dinner wasn’t overly filling so we’re hunting for another snack to tide us over until the next morning – we stop at Pizza Nong where an adorable lady cooks us a 20cm pizza with sausages, though it actually comes covered in seafood – poor Dave! – and 2 iced teas for less than £1.70 ????

Of course, we don’t make it too far down the road before we are enticed by a cheeky draft beer, though something was lost in translation and we end up with 3 litres of it! KGB beer!

So a few pints and some games of uno later, we head towards home – only coming to about £4.50 of damage

On the way, we see a lovely little scurrying Ratty ????

So close to home, we see a jazzy spot serving draft beer with some good tunes and plenty of people, so another cheeky beer it is!

Pickled and beer-ed out, we wander the last stretch home however, there’s a small technical issue: the back of the hotel has been fenced off and padlocked, so we must walk around to the front…

This is followed by another small technical issue: the front has also been fenced off – oh bugger

We scream for someone to let us in, but it seems nobody is home, and no phone numbers to call… it’s looking grim

Back around to the original side, we go to try thinking the fence is less spiky in the hopes we might be able to get through

Some banging and clattering later, we fail to break in, but finally wake a doddery old lady to come and unlock the fence – there are many padlocks and many keys – but we are finally in, woooo ????

Now into the room, there is a light we just can’t turn off!! No switch to be found, so Daisy heads down to the old lady whilst Dave rearranges the room following the wires

Finally, with the light situation resolved, we try to sleep – but it’s still extortionately bright as the blind seems to start halfway down the window… bugger

Anyhoo, let’s try to sleep and see what tomorrow brings…