by Tuesday 1st August
Sleep in this morning. Simon decided he needed to go for a run but it is too hot outside, so we got dressed to go to the hotel gym, only to find that when he tried treadmill No.1 a notice came up on the screen saying the belt needed lubrication, treadmill No.2 each step he took stopped the belt from turning, so he tried the stationary bike only to find the seat was twisted and half falling off – maybe today was not the day for the gym!!!
After a late breakfast we packed our bags and were met by Ra who took us to the floating villages. There is a difference in height of the water of 9m depending on the time of year. We thought the water level was quite high but apparently it can cover the trees and the lake can increase in size 4 times between high and low season.
In 2011 there was a big storm and over 100 village people were killed, leaving behind around 600 orphaned children. The village supports these children and they go to school each day and are given 3 meals a day so they can study. Tourists are encouraged to give rice and vegetables rather than money so that the children are the beneficiaries of the donations. Many families send their children out to beg and don’t send them to school – our guide seemed quite disgusted buy this, and rightly so.
We then made our way to the airport for our flight to DaNang – our flight was delayed another hour so now instead of arriving into Da Nang at 5.35pm we were now set to arrive at 8.45pm. Nothing to do but play cards and drink beer!
We were picked up at the airport for our 35min drive into Da Nang – a lot has changed in 18 years, feeling so old!! Arrived at our accomodation – Simon and I stopped at the bar before heading to bed.
