25/04/2024 - And the beat goes on.

    Processing through BKK (Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport) was the quickest I have ever known there, and probably by some margin. Whilst I have rarely experienced the sort of delays that I have seen reports of others having to contend with (barring one notable experience from Ha Noi in 2013), this time it was barely 30 minutes from landing to collecting my luggage off of carousel 5. It would seem that one advantage of being on a flight that required a shuttle bus from the plane to the terminal was that (here at least) it dropped us almost at the door of immigration. There was no long walk through the airport before reaching where I had to get to in order to present and get my passport stamped. 

            

    The route through to central Bangkok is now so familiar that I could probably do it in my sleep, which is a good thing given my absence of that in the preceding days, with worry and stress being the most uncomfortable of bedfellows. The walk to the hotel from the station I left the BTS line at was a little further than I envisaged, and given the temperature was now hanging at about the mid thirties, I arrived once again with sweat running down my arms and off of my brow. I have been assured though from others that I have spoken with here that even the Thais themselves are finding the heat a bit extreme. I seem to be able to handle it for short periods of time, but only with very limited exertion. 

    I don't know if it was the break from the city, but thankfully I felt more at ease there than I had done back in December and January. One thing that was concerning me a little was a bit of discomfort on the left side of my chest, but given the trauma that it had been subjected to over the last couple of years, I could not be sure if it was anything that I needed to be overly concerned about or not. I had been hankering after a particular smartwatch for a while, so now with these latest developments in mind, I justified the spend. This new purchase I hoped would be able to give me a set of readings I could compare against my aging fitness watch and perhaps help set my mind at rest. The shop assistant gave me a sizable discount of 3000 baht (against the 11990 rrp) and was also good enough to throw an extra strap into the deal.

The readings that the new watch provided me with however did little to settle my nerves.

    I decided now to push my return flight to the UK back just a few more weeks. I had allowed for a certain amount of flexibility when booking the trip last October, extending the travel insurance that past that initially scheduled return date, and paying extra for flights that would allow a change without additional fees being incurred. This now gave me a little more time to prepare for the journey and make sure that there wasn't any heightened risk involved before I embarked on the long trip back to somewhere in the UK.

    Whilst the process itself wasn't as smooth as would have been ideal (I don't really understand why everything still seemingly requires a traditional international phone line call in 2024) with dropped connections, questionable call quality and (reportedly) a system problem, I was able to get a new departure date confirmed. With this out of the way for now, my attention turned to getting the condition of the heart investigated.

    The first two places that came to mind were ones that I had reason to visit previously with regards to health, Bumrungrad hospital and the WellMed clinic. Bumrungrad was somewhere that I registered at in order to to get an x-ray done in 2016, with that registration card still being stowed away safely in my bag in case of emergencies. Online research seemed to suggest however that the heart care services that they offered were more tailored towards care packages and ongoing treatment, which is something I hoped that I wouldn't need. WellMed on the other hand seemed to be more in line with what I was looking for. For only 500 baht (or around £10.80) they would complete an ECG/EKG on me and get a medical professional to look over and interpret the results. I had visited WellMed at the end of 2023 in order to get a simple blood test done on my iron levels, and had found it at the time to be a good professional clinic and easy to get to. I sent an email to enquire if it was something that they would be able to offer me any time soon and received a prompt and polite reply stating that it would be better to make an appointment rather than just turn up, but it was something they could do. I got back in touch and scheduled an appointment for only a couple of days later.

      I was due to be seen at 9:30 am, but I decided to leave my hotel a couple of hours before this to give myself an abundance of time to get to the approximate area in a non sweaty state. The day before I had really struggled in the heat, but this morning thankfully despite the temperature already being over 32 degrees, I wasn’t having the same issue. After a fifteen minute walk I then took the MRT (underground) train from Silom to Sukhumvit (Asok) and then walked a short distance to where not only the clinic was located, but also a very conveniently placed Starbucks. I had come her to sit and stay cool for an or so hour before the appointment, to ensure that me and my newly de-fuzzed chest stayed dry and ready to have whatever pads applied that were necessary to get the job done.

    The procedure itself didn’t take long, with the only issue being that the bed that I was laid upon not being on that had been constructed with someone of 6 ft 1” in mind. I had to slide down and have my legs dangling off of one end of the bench so that my head could then be positioned with some kind of support at the other. After this and with barely enough time to get my shoelaces tied again, I was sat chatting with the doctor in an adjoining room looking over the results. Luckily the chart showed that nothing going on at that time was untoward. The dull ache that I have had the past weeks was in all likelihood something muscular (I didn’t realise that I had any any of those), whilst the sharper stabbing pains were probably down to the internal wiring catching once again. The latter is something that I have gotten used to in the most part and not anything that causes too much discomfort. It is more of a brief "hello there" now and then that is both quick to come and go, but acts as a reminder that it's still there, The thing is when these greetings are mixed in with the dull, heavy ache that has also made itself known recently, it can become a little more difficult to cut through all the noise.

Thankfully on this occasion, it seems that everything is doing ok.

So the beat goes on. 

     

  

          

       

             

19th April 2024 - Sitting tight in Da Nang

Perhaps I could have left Da Nang earlier than I did, but I didn't. I had spent the majority of my time staying at the same hotel and visiting the same coffee shops, interspersed with long walks and mostly being powered by banh mi's and matcha lattes. There was the occasional Vietnamese coffee in between, but for the sake of my own health I had decided to keep these treats to a minimum. I wasn't sleeping well enough as it was.

    There is an obscene number of coffee shops in Da Nang, many of which look great and will undoubtedly serve a good brew. However I seemed to have struck gold with the hotel that I had stayed in, aptly named as it happened "The Gold Hotel". Its location was not far from the busier, more tourist focussed side of town (more recently becoming a popular destination for Korean visitors in particular), but it was also in close proximity to a decent laundry, surrounded by great food options and had a coffee shop opposite that was close to perfect for what I wanted at the time. The Coffee House was spacious with a relaxed environment, with plenty of good places to sit with a laptop and full of locals doing just that. I spent many hours there over those days and weeks, comfortably working on what I could that would hopefully lead somewhere. Drinking and eating whilst also racking my brain about how I could possibly start bringing an income back in to offset my depleting funds. I have not managed to nail that last part yet. I should have drank more coffee, or maybe I should do less thinking and, like Betty Boo, just find a way of doing the do.

    I did briefly consider moving up through the country, maybe going to Ha Noi for a couple of days and then dropping back down to Ninh Binh, but ultimately I decided that I would just sit tight and head directly back to Bangkok nearer the time of my flight back to the UK. A large part of this decision was down to the long overdue realisation that I was no longer enjoying doing these things alone any more, or and also not doing so in the same enthusiastic way as I had in the past (although even then I had been lucky to have spent periods of time with awesome people). There has always been times on previous travels where I have thought how nice it would be if someone else was at the same place and able to experience the moment that I was experiencing. The sights, the sounds and the smells. The changes of temperature at altitude or when the day shifted to dusk and beyond. I have been witness to some truly amazing things, but if it's only me that knows first hand what it was like to be there, then can anyone else ever fully relate to it, past perhaps an imaginative or empathetic response.  Any medium that I use to try and paint a picture to cover an event or a time and place, this is all it ever is. No matter whatever merits it may to may not have, without a personal connection, it will only ever be just a picture. 

So there. 

    As I looked back towards Bangkok, the idea of being there over Songkran started to fill me with unease. The temperature there was also sitting at around the 37 degree mark on most days, which when directly compared to Da Nang's 32 degree peaks, further made the idea of heading there early less tempting. My decision to wait until after the festival though brought other implications. The cost of flights between the 2 locations suddenly became much more expensive over the coming days and beyond,with the usual one and a quarter hour flight more quadrupling (or more) from what would usual be a £70 ticket. Eventually though I had to break cover and the price didn't look to be dropping any time soon. Exploring various routes and options (it was actually cheaper to travel to Singapore and then Back up to Thailand on some days), I eventually booked to fly directly back on the 19th April, giving me then 5 days grace in the capital.  £170. Ouch.

    Apart from the cost, the flight was pain free. Da Nang airport is small enough to navigate quickly and easily with enough shops and coffee places to spend a little time and use up the rest of the local currency. I was the last to board, suddenly remembering that I needed to get some overpriced water for the VietJet air flight, so that's one more off of the experience list. All this meant for me was that there was no space left in the cabins overhead locker for my carry on bag. Instead this now had to go in front of my seat and sun-kissed two-toned legs. A place that was also a little cramped.

    At least if we crashed (I thought) I was already positioned in such a way that I wouldn't have to waste anymore energy bracing for impact.   

 

29/03/2024 - (A not so) Quick trip to Hoi An.

I was told that I was to be picked up from the hotel that I was staying at 10am, but at 9:41 the phone rang loudly and the voice on the other end informed me that the bus was waiting for me outside. Luckily I was mostly prepared, I just took an extra bit of time to collect a second injection pen with needle as backup, just in case something was to happen to the primary one that I was using. Thankfully it’s not an overly common occurrence for something to go wrong, but sometimes a pen may break or a needle bend and weaken, so having another in reserve and in easy reach is sometimes bast practice. This is especially true when going further away from where the rest of the supply is being housed.

Outside the hotel I was ushered into the front passenger seat of an awaiting car where my knees were soon to be pressed firmly against the dashboard, allowing for space in front of the seat directly behind. I wondered if perhaps there had been a slight mistranslation with regards to what I had been told about the vehicle type, as the driver drove around Da Nang collecting a few more people at different hotels locations. I began to hope that maybe the journey might just be a short (albeit slightly cramped) trip to Hoi An for those of us now confined within the car itself.

Those hopes were soon, much like my knees. Dashed.

At the far end of Da Nang the driver pulled into the last of his hotels and signalled towards the full size coach that now sat in front of us with luggage doors wide open. With a bit of a confusing scrum happening outside, I sought reassurance that this bus was going to Hoi An, and not Ha Noi which I think I kind of received. I wasn’t overly happy though. The bus itself was a sleeper, meaning that rather than simple seats being in place, there were instead a bunch of beds at both floor and upper levels on each side and down the middle, all seperate bays. Once inside with shoes removed and bagged, it was a case of locating a bay that I would feel comfortable getting into, most of which had probably been slept in and vacated from just before. I found one that I thought was acceptable enough and hauled myself up and into it whilst still contemplating the notion of getting back off and writing the trip off as a bad endeavour. I could try try again at some point over the next few days maybe. This wouldn’t be the only time that my mind filled itself with similar thoughts. 

At just after 10:15 am the bus pulled away and for what I expected to be a 30 or 45 minute trip along the coast, hoping that I could still make it Hoi An at a reasonable time for breakfast. But it wasn’t long before I felt those hopes slipping slowly away. We had been on the road for just under twenty minutes until we stopped and pulled over, not far from the Marble Mountains but still a way away from where I had envisaged I would be by now. With doors now open again, discussions then started to take place outside between the driver and a some of the passengers, and then the luggage compartment was opened and the passengers took out their bags and placed them onto the pavement beside them. It seemed for a short while as though they were just going to be abandoned there, far from any notable hotels or obvious destination, but following more discussions everyone was soon back on board and we set off again. Only this time we were headed back towards Da Nang.  

My best guess is that the driver had missed a drop off point a few miles before, and at this stop I again contemplated just getting off and walking back to my hotel as it would still only take about half of the time that I had spent on the journey so far.  I decided however to stick with it though as it was time I wasn't going to get back. Twenty minutes after the first turn around, we again started to make headway with new scenery passing by, finally arriving at 11:34 am. 

I put my shoes on outside the coach whilst minding the school of taxi drivers that were beginning to circle around their newly delivered chum. Everytine I have visited Hoi An it has felt like the drop off point has gotten further and further away from where you want to get to, and I have started to wonder whether if being dropped so far out from the centre of things is part of a grander scheme to help drive the local transport economy. As usual I decided to make my way to where I was going by foot, although it was nearly a mile before I came across a landmark that I recognised with the temperature starting to rise considerably. The local museum which also had a bunch of taxis around it was somewhere I had spent time at some years before. 

The central Hoi An area itself (ancient town) is still distinctly Hoi An. Some shops and restaurants may have moved or been created in places that they weren't before, but those newly created businesses were utilising buildings that had long been in place rather than new constructs. The whole waterfront area felt like it had received a new lick of paint however and the riverside area now sported many more tour boats than I remember there being, but memory alone can be a flawed measure. There had definitely been changes though and everything felt a little more organise, tidy and accessible, at least as far as the water edge went. The main riverside drags seemed to be both wider and less cluttered for both pedestrians and vehicles alike. Whilst tourism had undoubtably grown over the decade since I had first visited, everything seemed a little less chaotic at the same time. I was only here for a few hours though, so this was only a snapshot and perhaps isn't a as true a reflection as the times I have spent longer there,

The one big surprise I had when revisiting was to see the Japanese Bridge fully covered over as I stood on the other side of the river looking at it. I had never really managed to get a decent picture of this most famous of landmarks before, and it seemed that today was going to be no exception. Passing it by in close proximity however I was truly shocked to see that most of the bridge itself was no longer there at all, having been dismantled in the name of preservation and restoration. Whilst the work was initially projected to be finished by the end of 2023 (taking no longer that 360 days), it seems that this target was not achievable. It’s obviously when being there just how much work has had to have been undertaken and I feel somewhat fortunate to be able to witness and observe these efforts first hand. I can only imagine that the quality of repair and workmanship was always going to be of paramount importance for such an iconic structure and and integral part of Hoi An's identity.
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/hoi-an-restores-heritage-for-longer-life-2109731.html

Another thing that Hoi An has a reputation for is the food, and whilst I had managed to miss the opportunity for breakfast, that wasn’t going to stop me finding something else on which to feast upon. My initial plan was to visit “Cargo”, a place that I had eaten at many years before on more than one occasion and a place at which I had fond memories, but upon arrival there it had changed a little more than I had anticipated. Again, if my memory had served me correctly, it was previously somewhere that was split into 2 linked parts, a restaurant on the right and a more relaxed cafe just to the left (and where I was hoping to sit). Whilst the restaurant side was still present and correct, the cafe had been fully replaced by their bakery, which although I am sure is an awesome place to get food from, it wasn't the kind of experience that I had been after. 

A couple of streets away I found one of the Hoi An Roastery cafes, a small local chain where I would have drunk coffee previously, This time however it was the food menu that caught my eye and I was soon sat inside in the cool waiting on my food and drink to be presented. I had chosen both Cau Lau (noodles) and White Roses (parcels) as well as a matcha, the foods being known as local specialties. I may have over ordered somewhat, but the food itself was even better than I had hoped. The cuisine in Vietnam is very often amazingly good. That found in Hoi An has all too often been this and a little bit more.

The only disappointment of the visit for me was that the hotel that I had stayed at on previous occasions hadn't been available to book whilst I was planning on going, and if it had maybe I would have tried to stay in the town for a few more days, rather than few hours I had decided on. Unfortunately (I was to learn before I went) this hotel (and its sister hotel in Da Nang) had not reopened fully since covid had forced closure a few years prior. Both were amazing hotels with amazing staff and I would have loved to have had the opportunity to visit them again and to say hello to those that had looked after me so well at those times, and had added so much to my previous travel experiences, but it was not to be. I hope that all that were involved in both the Nhi Nhi and Orange hotels are doing well. Maybe I will be able to drop in cakes again in the future. Unlikely maybe, but you never truly know.

I decided to get a taxi back to Da Nang, but in order to do this I needed to head back away from the hub Hoi An and back towards the museum. The centre of the ancient town does not allow motor vehicles at certain times of day, so to make my life easier and and seeing as the museum was where I had noted taxis picking up earlier that day, I decided that was the location to get to and order a Grab.

The trip back was not as eventful or as frustrating as the one in the morning. The driver was young and eager to communicate with me, but again I unfortunately know little Vietnamese and he wasn’t exactly fluent in English (although was still more adept at my language than I was at his). We did manage though, partly using google translate and partly using broken english and photographs to show where I had or had not managed to get to during my past visits to the country. The conversation, although limited, was warm and friendly.

But then in Vietnam, they mostly seem to be that way for me, and  I am going to miss it for sure.               

It definitely still feels a little too much like a farewell tour.