We spent 2 nights in Hanoi, having arrived back from Halong Bay around lunchtime. We went for a wander with Kris who took us down through the old quarter and to the lake. The old quarter was like a market of sorts, where every street sold a different product – shoes one street, DVD's another, one dedicated to Christmas decorations. We had to walk in the road, because every shop extended their wares onto the pavement. You're quickly used to putting your faith into the scooter riders to avoid you. On the first night, we went to see a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show. It was really weird, the puppeteers behind a screen, frantically thrashing wooden puppets about in a green pool enacting Vietnamese fairytales and religious stories – most odd.
The next day, we went to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum – there was drama on the way as we thought we were going to miss the opening hours – we ured our taxi through the traffic and ran in, only to find we'd gone into the Ho Chi Minh museum instead! We found the right place and saw the man himself – it's strange, apparently he wanted to be cremated. Next was the post office, and Sara and I dragged our stuff across town to put in a big package and send back – literally weight off our backs! That evening was the last for some of our group, so we saw them off with a nice meal, and then hit the hay for a monster travel day to Laos.
Up at 5.30am for the bus at 6, we began an 11 hour bus ride to Lac Sao, a town just past the border. We travelled through some stunning scenery, Vietnam is incredibly beautiful, the mountains go on for ever. We wound our way up to one of the highest points, where a lady was renting a toilet with one of the best views I've ever seen – the gents' at least!
The border crossing was easy, but the guards were a bit pervy over the ladies of the group, and from there we made our way to Lac Sao, a town 45 mins from the border with an amazing view of a sunset over a mountain and not much else!
Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts
Monday, 7 December 2009
Friday, 4 December 2009
The Long Road to Ha Long
This morning we arrived in Ha Long Bay, and have a room with the most amazing view. We had a couple of hours to chill before heading out on a boat into the bay to get up close and personal with some of the limestone rock formations.
We spent yesterday in morning in Hue, and went on a brilliant scooter tour of Hue and its surroundings, led by a legend of guide, Mr.Cook - it tanked it down with rain for the first part of the ride which was an experience, and Mr. Cook lent Sara a Poncho because he was a pro! The tour encompassed the tomb of the Emperor, local handicrafts, a large Buddhist pagoda and monastery, an elephant and tiger Colosseum, and a phenomenal vegetarian lunch at a nunnery followed by some time with the orphans who live there. We saw incense and conical hats made, learnt about Buddha's seven steps to enlightenment, and rounded off in a way that touched all of us. The nunnery hosted many children, from two weeks old all the way up. They were adorable, and obviously happy with their lives there. We learnt that some of them were orphans, while others where there becuase their parents simply couldn't provide a life for them. The motorbike tour brings tourists to the nunnery and supports the local community in a positive way, so was a perfect way to spend the morning, and got us both thinking about volunteer work somewhere.
From Hue, we left on the train to Hanoi at 3pm, due to arrive at 4.15am. The train was comfortable, and there was even complimentary tea and biscuits...the biscuits were actually make them yourself cheesy breaded hotdogs...most odd. We got off the train, bleary eyed and made our way to the bus, waiting half an hour as Kris had unfortunately misplaced his ticket! Our dear leader! It was then a 3 hour bus ride to Halong bay, where we arrived, planned a nap but rather watched the boats go by from our amazing room with a view!
At midday, we set off aboard a junk of sorts to go out to the rock formations and have lunch, which was a bit of a seafood banquet, only ruined by the spotting of mouse droppings around the seating area just as we were finishing...
Some of the group wanted to see the Top Gear bar from the Vietnam special, so a stop was arranged for us to hop on a small boat and whizz past it for an extra 40,000 Dong each. We ended up whizzing in a circle on a suspect boat, going through one of the rock formations and then coming back to the junk, with no sign of Clarkson's footsteps. As a whole, we thought this wasn't on, so held the smaller boat hostage while we got half our money back. In the end it was entertainment, but everyone was a bit stressed out by it!
From there, we chugged round some more rock formations which seemed to get bigger and bigger, and then stopped at one to look round some caves. The stalagmites and stalactites were amazing, and it was all lit up in different colours. A Japanese party off older tourists went round giggling at rude shaped rocks, which was ridiculous! As we we're on our way back to the hotel, the sun finally peeked out over the top of one of the rock stacks and we sunbathed our way back to the mainland!
We spent yesterday in morning in Hue, and went on a brilliant scooter tour of Hue and its surroundings, led by a legend of guide, Mr.Cook - it tanked it down with rain for the first part of the ride which was an experience, and Mr. Cook lent Sara a Poncho because he was a pro! The tour encompassed the tomb of the Emperor, local handicrafts, a large Buddhist pagoda and monastery, an elephant and tiger Colosseum, and a phenomenal vegetarian lunch at a nunnery followed by some time with the orphans who live there. We saw incense and conical hats made, learnt about Buddha's seven steps to enlightenment, and rounded off in a way that touched all of us. The nunnery hosted many children, from two weeks old all the way up. They were adorable, and obviously happy with their lives there. We learnt that some of them were orphans, while others where there becuase their parents simply couldn't provide a life for them. The motorbike tour brings tourists to the nunnery and supports the local community in a positive way, so was a perfect way to spend the morning, and got us both thinking about volunteer work somewhere.
From Hue, we left on the train to Hanoi at 3pm, due to arrive at 4.15am. The train was comfortable, and there was even complimentary tea and biscuits...the biscuits were actually make them yourself cheesy breaded hotdogs...most odd. We got off the train, bleary eyed and made our way to the bus, waiting half an hour as Kris had unfortunately misplaced his ticket! Our dear leader! It was then a 3 hour bus ride to Halong bay, where we arrived, planned a nap but rather watched the boats go by from our amazing room with a view!
At midday, we set off aboard a junk of sorts to go out to the rock formations and have lunch, which was a bit of a seafood banquet, only ruined by the spotting of mouse droppings around the seating area just as we were finishing...
Some of the group wanted to see the Top Gear bar from the Vietnam special, so a stop was arranged for us to hop on a small boat and whizz past it for an extra 40,000 Dong each. We ended up whizzing in a circle on a suspect boat, going through one of the rock formations and then coming back to the junk, with no sign of Clarkson's footsteps. As a whole, we thought this wasn't on, so held the smaller boat hostage while we got half our money back. In the end it was entertainment, but everyone was a bit stressed out by it!
From there, we chugged round some more rock formations which seemed to get bigger and bigger, and then stopped at one to look round some caves. The stalagmites and stalactites were amazing, and it was all lit up in different colours. A Japanese party off older tourists went round giggling at rude shaped rocks, which was ridiculous! As we we're on our way back to the hotel, the sun finally peeked out over the top of one of the rock stacks and we sunbathed our way back to the mainland!
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Vietnam So Far...
So, today we're in Hue, having had another day in Nha Trang, shopped till we dropped in Hoi An, and then bussed it up and over a mountain to make our way to Hue.
The mudbath in Nha Trang was great, and fun experience was had by all. We also met another English couple there, who followed us on our scooter up there. Yes we had a scooter, it was a great way to see the town and get around, as the traffic wasn't too bad there. That said, there were a couple of moments when going straight on at a roundabout seemed the easier option than going left, even though I was then going the wrong way. Anyway, these guys were doing a similar trip to ours but without the South American leg so we got their details and might see them in Oz, NZ and possibly Koh Phangan.
From Nha Trang, we got the night train up to Danang and transferred to Hoi An. This train wasn't as swish as the fist one by any means, and needed a bit of TLC all over. It had the added bonus of a direct link between the smoking area and the air con system which gave a pleasant working men's club aroma to our cabin throughout the night. Stinky as it was, I think our tickets are first class - we saw the same cabins with 6 bunks further down the train, and even further away were simple high backed wooden bench seats. This trip does make it easy!
Hoi An was tailor town. We both got made to measure suits, shirt, and dresses...only Sara got dresses. We went to a few different tailors, choosing fabrics and styles and then getting measured up to come back tomorrow. In the morning, we had fittings, where the clothes were further adjusted to our liking, they knocked the suits up over night! The second day we found our way to the cloth market, where I got 2 shirts tailor made for $5 a go, and Sara got a lovely white cotton dress. They had them ready in 3 hours, it was incredible. The one error was a yellow shirt I bought. It's not yellow, more mustard/cack brown so I'm not sure what I'll do with that! It was a great experience, and they've got our measurements so we can email them for more and they'll send them back. For the price it seems a shame not to!
We left Hoi An this morning and for Hue on a smallish bus. We stopped an half an hour in to go up a mountain to see a temple. It was incredible, there were these caves in the mountain which housed Buddhas, one of them absolutely huge but smoky with incense. From the top of the mountain
were great views of the coast, and some noisy kids that wanted photos with us but didn't really say thank you and generally were a bit annoying and rude - we told one off for throwing stones off the top of the mountain!
Hue itself seems smallish, it used to be the capital city in the c19th and we went round the Imperial Citadel which was a bit of a let down to be honest - it's quite run down and not that impressive when compared with the way Ankor Wat is kept. On the way there, we had a kickabout with some school kids, sly scamps kicked the ball into a slippy bit and guess who ended up in the mud...
Heading out tonight for Sian and Signe's birthdays tonight, 21 and 22. Was thinking about whipping the suit out but it's started raining...maybe next time...
The mudbath in Nha Trang was great, and fun experience was had by all. We also met another English couple there, who followed us on our scooter up there. Yes we had a scooter, it was a great way to see the town and get around, as the traffic wasn't too bad there. That said, there were a couple of moments when going straight on at a roundabout seemed the easier option than going left, even though I was then going the wrong way. Anyway, these guys were doing a similar trip to ours but without the South American leg so we got their details and might see them in Oz, NZ and possibly Koh Phangan.
From Nha Trang, we got the night train up to Danang and transferred to Hoi An. This train wasn't as swish as the fist one by any means, and needed a bit of TLC all over. It had the added bonus of a direct link between the smoking area and the air con system which gave a pleasant working men's club aroma to our cabin throughout the night. Stinky as it was, I think our tickets are first class - we saw the same cabins with 6 bunks further down the train, and even further away were simple high backed wooden bench seats. This trip does make it easy!
Hoi An was tailor town. We both got made to measure suits, shirt, and dresses...only Sara got dresses. We went to a few different tailors, choosing fabrics and styles and then getting measured up to come back tomorrow. In the morning, we had fittings, where the clothes were further adjusted to our liking, they knocked the suits up over night! The second day we found our way to the cloth market, where I got 2 shirts tailor made for $5 a go, and Sara got a lovely white cotton dress. They had them ready in 3 hours, it was incredible. The one error was a yellow shirt I bought. It's not yellow, more mustard/cack brown so I'm not sure what I'll do with that! It was a great experience, and they've got our measurements so we can email them for more and they'll send them back. For the price it seems a shame not to!
We left Hoi An this morning and for Hue on a smallish bus. We stopped an half an hour in to go up a mountain to see a temple. It was incredible, there were these caves in the mountain which housed Buddhas, one of them absolutely huge but smoky with incense. From the top of the mountain
were great views of the coast, and some noisy kids that wanted photos with us but didn't really say thank you and generally were a bit annoying and rude - we told one off for throwing stones off the top of the mountain!
Hue itself seems smallish, it used to be the capital city in the c19th and we went round the Imperial Citadel which was a bit of a let down to be honest - it's quite run down and not that impressive when compared with the way Ankor Wat is kept. On the way there, we had a kickabout with some school kids, sly scamps kicked the ball into a slippy bit and guess who ended up in the mud...
Heading out tonight for Sian and Signe's birthdays tonight, 21 and 22. Was thinking about whipping the suit out but it's started raining...maybe next time...
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Ho Chi Minh City and the Night Train
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| From 6 Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City |
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| From 6 Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City |
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| From 6 Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City |
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| From 6 Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City |
Last night we departed Ho Chi Minh City, having been there a night and seen one of the most manic cities in Asia. There were people everywhere, 99% of whom were on scooters, which made for some hairy road crossings. We've also noticed the horn seems to be preferred to the brake almost every time! Our journey there was a long one, not helped by a driver running off to the loo and a traffic accident, but we eventually arrived late afternoon on the 26th. We went out for a brief walking tour and all got incredibly hot in the sticky heat of the evening. For dinner, we went to a place visited by Bill Clinton in 2000 that specialises in Pho - noodle soup. It's very nice, I've even had some for breakfast! After dinner a la Clinton, we wandered back through the park, to see all the cool kids dancing to various latino dances in the band stands. Sara was right in there with a few of the others, showing off their best moves. There we're some real snake hipped chaps in there, wiggling about so much it was actually pretty funny! Leaving, it started to rain, so we conga'd out and back to the hotel at which point the heavens opened and temporarily cooled the city down.
The next day we got up at our leisure, popped out to buy a patch for the bag, and then went for lunch in a very smart old place with Kris, Louise, Sian, Penila and Tia. The food was cheap and great, and the surroundings very colonial! We then went to the War Museum, which informed us a great deal more about the Vietnam War. I was particularly interested by the photographs of Larry Burrows, an Englishman who was one of the first to take colour images for Western publications. After the War Museum, we popped into the Palace of Independence, where numerous important people had met their Vietnamese equivalents. It was a little bit of a socialist style building though, and not that interesting to look at!
We then popped back to get some grub and have a beer before heading to the overnight train to Nha Trang. Sara and I shared a cabin with the two Kiwi girls, Gill and Lisa. It was cozy, but comfortable enough, and we all slept quite well all in all. We arrived in Nha Trang at 6.30 this morning, had breakfast and are now relaxing until 12 when the plan is to go for a mudbath - apparently it's the done thing...?
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The Mekong Delta and a Scooter Ride Up a Mountain
We left Sihanoukville this morning headed for the Vietnamese border town of Chau Doc. The bus ride was longish and a bit hairy at times, with some prolonged overtaking resulting in some rollercoaster style screams. We also did 17km on a red dusty dirt road which was pretty exciting what with the at times blind driving due to the dust! We arrived in Chau Doc just after lunch, got some cash (we're now both Dong millionaires, 31,000 Dong to the pound) and at 4pm went on a Moto Tour of the town which led us up a nearby mountain (Nui Sam). It was brilliant. After the initial fear of being on the back of a bike, we soon got into the swing of things, with Sara even filming a few choice bits of the ride from the back of her bike! From the top of the mountain we watched the sunset over the Mekong Delta. Everywhere you look there's water, it's quite surreal really. After a beer and some hammock related gymnastics in the mountain top bar, we headedc back down, tryng not to swallow too many flies. We're off shortly for our first experience of Vietnamese food, and then tomorrow, Ho Chi Minh City is an 8 hour bus ride away.
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