Hello there,
Hope everyone's doing ok in the good ol' UK - nearly the end of our trip now! J goes home in 2 days, and H and I follow her in 28... scary! We're kind of winding down now from our trip - talking about what we're going to dump out of our rucksacks before heading home (despite being home a couple of months ago, I still have managed to accumulate far too much in my bag!) and discovering lost things at the bottom of our bags - J found 2 pairs of knickers this morning that she hadn't seen for months! I think they were clean...
Anyway, we've been having a wonderful time in Chiang Mai. We're taking things slowly at the moment - not sure if it's the heat and humidity (although luckily it cools down in the evenings), or general lethargy after travelling for so long, or in my case, the effects of a 2 year old dodgy stomach, but we have been catching up on sleep and taking things slowly. Perhaps the night buses have taken more than we thought out of us, as the 2nd time we saw Map, at the travel agency, he did say that we were looking far better than the first day he saw us - and that was after a 12 hour sleep! Oh well...
We've found cheap places to eat, have attacked the markets as much as possible and have been drinking lots of delicious and fresh fruit shakes. J has a funny foot from stepping on a sea urchin in the south of Thailand - about 6 weeks ago, and Haz cut her foot while tubing, so we've not walked huge amounts around the markets with them limping about. But they're doing well and that didn't stop us from retail therapy!
Both the night bazaar and the Sunday night market were huge, with indescribable amounts of gorgeous textiles, jewellery, umbrellas in wine bottle things, dolls, and delicious foods - rotees with nutella and banana, waffles, pad thai, fresh and addictive sushi, cripsy spring rolls... I could go on! We've been quite restrained so far on the buying front, but it would be so easy to fill 2 suitcases with things!
So... on Saturday we got up early and headed out on a day trip to the countryside. We can't drive motorbikes (definitely want to learn now) so can't do it ourselves very easily, so had to go with a tour. We went with an asian couple who joined in the more sedate activities, a dutch couple and an English girl who was very hungover! First stop - butterfly farm and orchid farm. Pretty, but seen nicer ones elsewhere, so quickly moved on.
(Ooo strange guy sat next to me started singing, very weird)...
Next stop - white water rafting. Really fun for the half hour we did it, but unfortunately nothing above grades 3 really. Had a nice guy in the boat with us (just J, H and myself in one boat), and we spent most of the time trying to splash the other boat with 'Johnny Depp' or 'Jack Sparrow' in - the other guide who was slightly mental but very good fun. Unfortuantely he was also very good at splashing us! The scenery was gorgeous - lushious green trees, palm trees and plants, a brown river (typical) and the sun was shining... pretty stunning.
Next stop, seeing a tiered waterfall, which provided us with a great opportunity to jump into the water (H was the bravest, jumping from a higher position than me!) and cool down. So tranquil, and very beautiful. Onwards and upwards to elephant trekking. It was amazing - the elephants are very comfortable to sit on as we had proper seats on them, and their stride is gentle and not too jerky, apart from you have to hang on for when they go downhill! H and I were on one elephant, who had a little baby that followed us and misbehaved everywhere! J was with Fiona, the English girl, and they were walking through the river, (we couldn't go as our baby was too little), meeting us and dodging the bamboo rafts that were also in the river and couldn't stop easily - just! It was amazing being so close to the elephants. Our mahout was sat on the elephant's head and using his feet behind the elephant's ears to steer it. And a slingshot to guide the little baby when it was being naughty!
Next stop, delicious lunch, before heading down the river on a bamboo raft (even had seats so our little bottoms stayed dry!) So relaxing and peaceful, with 2 guys on the end of the raft, steering it like gondaliers in Venice. Was very chilled out and a gentle way of seeing the countryside too.
Final destination, the Karen hillside villages where we met refugees from Burma, who have set up their villages as a tourist attraction (slightly strange, kind of felt like we were visiting a zoo in a bad way, but at least they rinse us of money!) as the tribe extend their necks with brass metal rings. The full neck piece weights 7 KILOGRAMS, and they work and sleep in them. They also have brass around their calves... all very different and very illuminating. But also made me very thankful we don't do that!
So a busy day... with a lot crammed in. Would have been nicer to spend a little more time rafting and elephant riding, but it was a great day out and the cheapest way to do it as well.
And Sunday we got the most amazing taxi (a plush 4x4 car with a lovely driver called Mel), who took us to Tiger Kingdom, a tiger sanctuary. We chose to see the biggest tigers and went in and petted them. Seriously. They aren't drugged at all but dopy during their siesta time. They are well trained and looked after, and tame. They were absolutely magnificent. Although before we went in, as a joke, one of the keepers asked us where we were from, and if we had contact numbers for next of kin... just in case! Luckily we survived and had such a great experiencing being with them. They were HUGE!
So the night market yesterday and meandering around the delicious food stalls (sushi was amazing!) We are having a gentle day today as well before catching the bus to Bangkok tonight. J flies to the UK late on the 2nd September, and H and I fly to India on 3rd to Delhi. So excited about it all - the final push before home. Got a few errands to run in Bangkok before the flight, but it's nice returning to somewhere we've been before, as we know what it's like, where to eat etc. And hopefully can return to the same guesthouse we were in before, as the family were incredibly friendly and nice.
Anyway more than time to stop writing! Check out the photos again - put new tiger ones up yesterday.
Lots and lots and lots of love from us all,
Al xxxxx
Sunday 30 August 2009
Wednesday 26 August 2009
Tubing... and more
Hey hey there,
Well... the following day we rented out our tubes, and got a tuk tuk with the tubes attached to the roof, to the river. Started at the first bar (actually the 3rd one, Banana bar), where the family were soooooooo friendly, offering us so much food - free bananas, and asked if we wanted to join them to have lunch (probably because she was so motherly and wanted us to line our stomachs!)
We started drinking buckets (whisky and soft drinks, I think), and were given free shots at every bar. A recipe for disaster! In fact the lovely motherly lady gave us the bottle of spirits to help ourselves to shots. With a huge millipede in it. Photos to follow.
We resisted the rope swings (having just met a girl who didn't 'swing' on it, fell straight down and horribly bruised her legs!) and started floating down the river, being hauled into different bars by people with ropes. So much fun! Mud swimming pools followed, as did 'tug of war', lots of drinking, lots of chatting to fantastic people, lots of floating and general mayhem.
When we woke up the next morning we had to do an inventory of ourselves... bruises, grazes, cuts and achyness, but we survived, and had a thoroughly great day. (Well as much as I remember)... Photos from my waterproof (and mud proof) camera to follow tomorrow!
Bus to Luang Prabang... so windy and 6 hours long. So windy! Beautiful scenery and stunning mountains. Luang Prabang is such a wonderful town... so beautiful, with many temples and a strange French feel. We had great fun just chilling out watching films, and meandering around the wonderful night market and food stalls. So many sumptuous and gorgeous textiles - from placemats to scarves to quilts. Beautiful. Spent a couple of days there relaxing, especially in our lovely hotel - so pretty. We even got fresh flowers on our beds! That's better than chocolates! We never get that, they are normally reserved for 'expensive' hotels. We felt very spoilt.
So... another overnight bus to the Laos/Thailand border. Not the most comfortable, and we then had to stamp out of Laos (no problem) and get a boat across the very fast moving river to Thailand, to get stamped in (luckily no problem either). Another local bus down to Chiang Mai, where we are now, in the north of Thailand.
Chiang Mai is 10 hours bus ride north of Bangkok, and is quite huge. We feel like we've hit civilisation again, with 7/11 shops and Starbucks! We can use Starbucks' vouchers and air conditioning, very exciting. The city is renowned as a trading place between countries and tribes, and has beautiful crafts here - much is taken down to Bangkok and sold at inflated prices. We're going to check out the famous night market tonight, and grab some food in the food hall there. Can't wait - Thai food is gorgeous and so cheap! Nothing like England... Pad thai for 50p, pretty great.
So many things to do here, finances permitting. Will put up more photos tomorrow of the tubing - the rest are up. Enjoy!
Loads of love to you all, from us all,
Al xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well... the following day we rented out our tubes, and got a tuk tuk with the tubes attached to the roof, to the river. Started at the first bar (actually the 3rd one, Banana bar), where the family were soooooooo friendly, offering us so much food - free bananas, and asked if we wanted to join them to have lunch (probably because she was so motherly and wanted us to line our stomachs!)
We started drinking buckets (whisky and soft drinks, I think), and were given free shots at every bar. A recipe for disaster! In fact the lovely motherly lady gave us the bottle of spirits to help ourselves to shots. With a huge millipede in it. Photos to follow.
We resisted the rope swings (having just met a girl who didn't 'swing' on it, fell straight down and horribly bruised her legs!) and started floating down the river, being hauled into different bars by people with ropes. So much fun! Mud swimming pools followed, as did 'tug of war', lots of drinking, lots of chatting to fantastic people, lots of floating and general mayhem.
When we woke up the next morning we had to do an inventory of ourselves... bruises, grazes, cuts and achyness, but we survived, and had a thoroughly great day. (Well as much as I remember)... Photos from my waterproof (and mud proof) camera to follow tomorrow!
Bus to Luang Prabang... so windy and 6 hours long. So windy! Beautiful scenery and stunning mountains. Luang Prabang is such a wonderful town... so beautiful, with many temples and a strange French feel. We had great fun just chilling out watching films, and meandering around the wonderful night market and food stalls. So many sumptuous and gorgeous textiles - from placemats to scarves to quilts. Beautiful. Spent a couple of days there relaxing, especially in our lovely hotel - so pretty. We even got fresh flowers on our beds! That's better than chocolates! We never get that, they are normally reserved for 'expensive' hotels. We felt very spoilt.
So... another overnight bus to the Laos/Thailand border. Not the most comfortable, and we then had to stamp out of Laos (no problem) and get a boat across the very fast moving river to Thailand, to get stamped in (luckily no problem either). Another local bus down to Chiang Mai, where we are now, in the north of Thailand.
Chiang Mai is 10 hours bus ride north of Bangkok, and is quite huge. We feel like we've hit civilisation again, with 7/11 shops and Starbucks! We can use Starbucks' vouchers and air conditioning, very exciting. The city is renowned as a trading place between countries and tribes, and has beautiful crafts here - much is taken down to Bangkok and sold at inflated prices. We're going to check out the famous night market tonight, and grab some food in the food hall there. Can't wait - Thai food is gorgeous and so cheap! Nothing like England... Pad thai for 50p, pretty great.
So many things to do here, finances permitting. Will put up more photos tomorrow of the tubing - the rest are up. Enjoy!
Loads of love to you all, from us all,
Al xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thursday 20 August 2009
Lovely Laos
Heylo lovelies,
- As Lonely Planet says, if countries were tuk tuks, Thailand would take you to your destination via a silk shop, Vietnam would run you down for your custom and in Laos you'd need to find the tuk tuk, wake up the tuk tuk driver and try to persuade him to do some work!
Laos is so French in feel (hardly surprising), with lovely bakeries, coffees and most importantly, the people are so nice! So gentle, friendy and helpful, such a contrast to horrid Hanoi. There is very little traffic in Vientiane or Vang Vien, so we can cross the road without praying first, we have pavements to walk on (rather than to park tuk tuks on), and accommodation and food is cheap and tasty.
Vientiane is so quiet and calming for any city, let alone a capital city. On the Mekong River, (the other side is Thailand), it is so hot it feels like 40 degrees celsius (according to yahoo weather) - no wonder we found it slightly on the sweaty side! A pleasure to be, to walk around and to sit and watch the world go by.
Unfortunately the first hotel we stayed in, in Vientiane, Syri 1, had awful bed bugs, so I hardly slept which wasn't helped by the bus ride the day before. Shattered and exhausted, we changed hotels to a beautiful one instead, and set about enjoying ourselves. The temple we saw had thousands of small niches, each with 2 Buddhas in them, (they were silver, now are clay painted gold) and was so peaceful and tranquil with its gardens, despite being in the city centre.
So this morning we took a local bus to Vang Vien. The bus was fine - for only 4 hours. Such friendly driver and ticket collector, and there were fans on the ceiling for when the bus was stopped. Haz and J were slightly confused until they realised that there were 2 chickens underneath their seat (luckily they didn't crush them!) but the journey passed without incident, although we did need to pick up the passengers from the earlier bus, which had broken down, and so was slightly squashed afterwards...
In Vang Vien at the moment, which is a small town catering for backpackers. Restaurants, bars, hotels, travel agencies and internet, - everything we could need, plus Friends playing constantly in the cafes and restaurants! (We didn't watch 3 hours of it this afternoon in the restaurant we had lunch in)...
So going tubing tomorrow - basically floating down the river, being pulled into various bars on the riverside before heading to Luang Prabang the following day. Time is getting rather tight so we're having to go relatively quickly. But Laos is gorgeous, and so much nicer to be in!
Lots of love from us all,
Al xxxxxx
- As Lonely Planet says, if countries were tuk tuks, Thailand would take you to your destination via a silk shop, Vietnam would run you down for your custom and in Laos you'd need to find the tuk tuk, wake up the tuk tuk driver and try to persuade him to do some work!
Laos is so French in feel (hardly surprising), with lovely bakeries, coffees and most importantly, the people are so nice! So gentle, friendy and helpful, such a contrast to horrid Hanoi. There is very little traffic in Vientiane or Vang Vien, so we can cross the road without praying first, we have pavements to walk on (rather than to park tuk tuks on), and accommodation and food is cheap and tasty.
Vientiane is so quiet and calming for any city, let alone a capital city. On the Mekong River, (the other side is Thailand), it is so hot it feels like 40 degrees celsius (according to yahoo weather) - no wonder we found it slightly on the sweaty side! A pleasure to be, to walk around and to sit and watch the world go by.
Unfortunately the first hotel we stayed in, in Vientiane, Syri 1, had awful bed bugs, so I hardly slept which wasn't helped by the bus ride the day before. Shattered and exhausted, we changed hotels to a beautiful one instead, and set about enjoying ourselves. The temple we saw had thousands of small niches, each with 2 Buddhas in them, (they were silver, now are clay painted gold) and was so peaceful and tranquil with its gardens, despite being in the city centre.
So this morning we took a local bus to Vang Vien. The bus was fine - for only 4 hours. Such friendly driver and ticket collector, and there were fans on the ceiling for when the bus was stopped. Haz and J were slightly confused until they realised that there were 2 chickens underneath their seat (luckily they didn't crush them!) but the journey passed without incident, although we did need to pick up the passengers from the earlier bus, which had broken down, and so was slightly squashed afterwards...
In Vang Vien at the moment, which is a small town catering for backpackers. Restaurants, bars, hotels, travel agencies and internet, - everything we could need, plus Friends playing constantly in the cafes and restaurants! (We didn't watch 3 hours of it this afternoon in the restaurant we had lunch in)...
So going tubing tomorrow - basically floating down the river, being pulled into various bars on the riverside before heading to Luang Prabang the following day. Time is getting rather tight so we're having to go relatively quickly. But Laos is gorgeous, and so much nicer to be in!
Lots of love from us all,
Al xxxxxx
The rice bus from hell
...Which leads me to our journey. It was so horrific it warrants its own entry. Sammy, you jinxed us wishing us a good journey!
Ok, here goes... Well, we were 30 minutes late leaving the hotel in a taxi, which was slightly disconcerting until we realised that we were being picked up in a full minibus with other backpackers. There was one seat left after we got on, (bags up round our ears and in the gangway), and we only needed to pick up 6 more people. Plus bags. We managed to cram everyone in (luckily) and got dropped off in a non descript muddy road somewhere in Hanoi.
My stomach fell when I saw the old, rubbishy bus, with boxes on its roof, under the bus and inside the bus, up to the ceiling, taking up half the seats. We all scrambled on, (uncomfortably), our bags were put in the aisle and we started off. With a helper guy continually smoking out of the front passenger door. The guy also continually shouted abuse at people we passed, and bribed the policemen who always pulled us over at security check points. We were convinced that there was something dodgy in the back of the bus.
A couple of hours later, with numb bums, we were all herded off the bus, our bags were put on the roof and more stuff was loaded onto the bus. Under the seats, over the seats and around the seats. Not great. Back on the bus again - at this point we were bonding well with the other passengers, who were all shocked at the 'International Transport and Freight' company we'd been shoved onto! We paid good money for these tickets! And not made any happier for seeing the plush sleeper buses passing us...
A few more stops, more things put on the bus, before we stopped again at 3am for our final major intake of goods. Wheelbarrows of rice. Literally. We now all had bags under our feet, the boxes had been readjusted (after a suitably long period of time of course), and there were so many bags of rice in the aisle, they came up to our SHOULDERS. We had to CRAWL along them to get out of the bus!
Luckily we continued pretty much straight to the border, which we managed to pass uneventfully, although because our bus looked so horrific, we were checked at every point. As soon as we got into Laos we felt much better - moving away from horrible Hanoi and at least we made it to Laos! Again, many security check; we were shouted at to get on the bus, off the bus - we were treated worse than animals. With few loo or food stops, most people extremely frustrated and angry. Such an uncomfortable bus! Also during the night, Haz had had a fat woman sit on her lap for hours and hours, despite Haz trying to get her to sit on her seat only! Not the best for a good nights sleep.
So we eventually made it onto the outskirts of Vientiane (the capital of Laos), where we were dropped off outside the city. Luckily made it into the place and got ourselves accommodation, and were very very glad to see the back of the bus!
xxxxxx
Ok, here goes... Well, we were 30 minutes late leaving the hotel in a taxi, which was slightly disconcerting until we realised that we were being picked up in a full minibus with other backpackers. There was one seat left after we got on, (bags up round our ears and in the gangway), and we only needed to pick up 6 more people. Plus bags. We managed to cram everyone in (luckily) and got dropped off in a non descript muddy road somewhere in Hanoi.
My stomach fell when I saw the old, rubbishy bus, with boxes on its roof, under the bus and inside the bus, up to the ceiling, taking up half the seats. We all scrambled on, (uncomfortably), our bags were put in the aisle and we started off. With a helper guy continually smoking out of the front passenger door. The guy also continually shouted abuse at people we passed, and bribed the policemen who always pulled us over at security check points. We were convinced that there was something dodgy in the back of the bus.
A couple of hours later, with numb bums, we were all herded off the bus, our bags were put on the roof and more stuff was loaded onto the bus. Under the seats, over the seats and around the seats. Not great. Back on the bus again - at this point we were bonding well with the other passengers, who were all shocked at the 'International Transport and Freight' company we'd been shoved onto! We paid good money for these tickets! And not made any happier for seeing the plush sleeper buses passing us...
A few more stops, more things put on the bus, before we stopped again at 3am for our final major intake of goods. Wheelbarrows of rice. Literally. We now all had bags under our feet, the boxes had been readjusted (after a suitably long period of time of course), and there were so many bags of rice in the aisle, they came up to our SHOULDERS. We had to CRAWL along them to get out of the bus!
Luckily we continued pretty much straight to the border, which we managed to pass uneventfully, although because our bus looked so horrific, we were checked at every point. As soon as we got into Laos we felt much better - moving away from horrible Hanoi and at least we made it to Laos! Again, many security check; we were shouted at to get on the bus, off the bus - we were treated worse than animals. With few loo or food stops, most people extremely frustrated and angry. Such an uncomfortable bus! Also during the night, Haz had had a fat woman sit on her lap for hours and hours, despite Haz trying to get her to sit on her seat only! Not the best for a good nights sleep.
So we eventually made it onto the outskirts of Vientiane (the capital of Laos), where we were dropped off outside the city. Luckily made it into the place and got ourselves accommodation, and were very very glad to see the back of the bus!
xxxxxx
Back to Hanoi
Hey hey there,
Another update for you, nearing the end of our trip! We loved Sapa, talking to the local villagers, whose knowledge of English was astounding. Such friendly people (if masters of the hard sell), but a beautiful area with steep mountains to walk around, and rice fields everywhere. A walk into a local village was gorgeous to look at, and we tired ourselves out for the trip back to Hanoi.
Spent another day in Hanoi waiting to catch our bus to Laos, and made use of our local knowledge to eat pasta buffets, and had a pizza evening in front of the TV (special deal!) chilling out in the air conditioning. Hanoi was sooooo hot and busy! Was very grateful to leave the city, (with many bought DVDs)...
xxx
Another update for you, nearing the end of our trip! We loved Sapa, talking to the local villagers, whose knowledge of English was astounding. Such friendly people (if masters of the hard sell), but a beautiful area with steep mountains to walk around, and rice fields everywhere. A walk into a local village was gorgeous to look at, and we tired ourselves out for the trip back to Hanoi.
Spent another day in Hanoi waiting to catch our bus to Laos, and made use of our local knowledge to eat pasta buffets, and had a pizza evening in front of the TV (special deal!) chilling out in the air conditioning. Hanoi was sooooo hot and busy! Was very grateful to leave the city, (with many bought DVDs)...
xxx
Friday 14 August 2009
Sapa
Hey hey,
Just thought (as I'd written this in an email) - that I might as well put this up. We weren't having a great time in Hanoi but luckily in Sapa now and it is lovely! Worth the overnight bus...
The bus company came 30 minutes earlier than we were expecting (well 2 hours earlier than the original time) so we ended up sitting in the bus terminal for 1 hour waiting for the wretched bus. But... the bus itself was looooovely. Three seats across, very comfortable, and managed to sleep well despite the crazy crazy driving and the winding roads! Even slept through the military coming on board to check passports etc... apparently they took a look at us and decided not to bother! (Although don't think H or J slept as well as I did as they told me about this!)
Had to wait 2 hours instead of the specified 10 minutes in Lao Cai town to transfer to a smaller bus for the hour journey up the mountainside to Sapa, but we eventually arrived and found a lovely hotel for $4 each a night. The climate here is soooo nice - we actually need jumpers even during the day, and the humidity is virtually nil. Hanoi at the moment is about 35 degrees celsius with 85% humidity, which feels kind of unbearable. So this is such a welcome for us, we keep on sinking back into bed and sleeping very heavily!
Sapa is so much nicer than Hanoi. The people here are friendly and helpful, and the traffic is much less. It is a little town in the mountains - we were 3km away from China when we switched buses in Lao Cai, and we can see mountains and rice terraces from our room, which is beautiful, clean and the beds (and DUVETS!) are wonderful too. Everything is easy here, shops sell souvenirs, as do the markets, there are lots of restaurants and internet, and we are going to walk to a village, Cat Cat, tomorrow morning sometime, as it's only 3km away.
The villagers here are wonderful and speak excellent English. They are dressed so crazily (to our eyes!) - really look incredibly different. I took some photos today of us with them, and they are very friendly (of course wanting you to buy their wares!). I will eventually put photographs up when we get back to Hanoi on Sunday.
So far happier in Sapa, where it is beautiful, easy, clean, friendly and we can sleep well. We will be around Hanoi for a day and a half before we go to Laos on Monday night on a 20 hour bus. Nice.
Lots and lots of love from us all,
Al xxx
Just thought (as I'd written this in an email) - that I might as well put this up. We weren't having a great time in Hanoi but luckily in Sapa now and it is lovely! Worth the overnight bus...
The bus company came 30 minutes earlier than we were expecting (well 2 hours earlier than the original time) so we ended up sitting in the bus terminal for 1 hour waiting for the wretched bus. But... the bus itself was looooovely. Three seats across, very comfortable, and managed to sleep well despite the crazy crazy driving and the winding roads! Even slept through the military coming on board to check passports etc... apparently they took a look at us and decided not to bother! (Although don't think H or J slept as well as I did as they told me about this!)
Had to wait 2 hours instead of the specified 10 minutes in Lao Cai town to transfer to a smaller bus for the hour journey up the mountainside to Sapa, but we eventually arrived and found a lovely hotel for $4 each a night. The climate here is soooo nice - we actually need jumpers even during the day, and the humidity is virtually nil. Hanoi at the moment is about 35 degrees celsius with 85% humidity, which feels kind of unbearable. So this is such a welcome for us, we keep on sinking back into bed and sleeping very heavily!
Sapa is so much nicer than Hanoi. The people here are friendly and helpful, and the traffic is much less. It is a little town in the mountains - we were 3km away from China when we switched buses in Lao Cai, and we can see mountains and rice terraces from our room, which is beautiful, clean and the beds (and DUVETS!) are wonderful too. Everything is easy here, shops sell souvenirs, as do the markets, there are lots of restaurants and internet, and we are going to walk to a village, Cat Cat, tomorrow morning sometime, as it's only 3km away.
The villagers here are wonderful and speak excellent English. They are dressed so crazily (to our eyes!) - really look incredibly different. I took some photos today of us with them, and they are very friendly (of course wanting you to buy their wares!). I will eventually put photographs up when we get back to Hanoi on Sunday.
So far happier in Sapa, where it is beautiful, easy, clean, friendly and we can sleep well. We will be around Hanoi for a day and a half before we go to Laos on Monday night on a 20 hour bus. Nice.
Lots and lots of love from us all,
Al xxx
Thursday 13 August 2009
Halong Bay
Hello hello,
How are things with you all? How's the good ol' UK at the moment? We are sheltering from the rainy season in an internet cafe filled with boys playing computer games.
So........ we left our hotel in Hanoi and after walking around a LOT with our rucksacks, finally ended up at the agency's office where we booked our Halong Bay tour. The guy was walking around collecting lots of different people, and when we realised this we said we'd meet him there. Three hours on a bus, and got to Halong City to get our boat. The boat itself was lovely, and we were met with a delicious lunch on board. The boat was wooden, and had a restaurant on it, with rooms underneath, and an open deck on top to sunbathe on the broken sun beds. We were doing three days and 2 nights, the first on Cat Ba island in a hotel, the 2nd on board the boat. Unfortunately the way the agency worked, we were constantly being transferred between boats and islands, so whenever we made friends with people we were shunted onto another boat without having a chance to say goodbye which was annoying.
Anyway the bay is filled with over 3,000 islands, that are very tall and very grey and silvery. The sun wasn't out when we were there, and it could often be quite misty, so it took on a kind of magical air. We stopped and saw 2 caves - the first was lit with multicoloured lights and very pretty, although reminiscent of Disney. This wasn't improved by our guide making up the stories as he went along! Still pretty cool though. We were convinced that one natural fountain in the cave was actually a hose pipe under the rock. The second cave was hardly lit and hardly filled with tourists, very natural and pretty.
Back on the boat and went to Cat Ba island. It started POURING down at this point, so unfortunately we could see nothing of the 28km drive through Cat Ba island to our hotel in Cat Ba town. The hotel was lovely - huge rooms and a TV that was getting no signal due to the storm and rubbish Vietnamese wiring! But if I could do cartwheels, I would've done. Loved staying there, although 2 hornets lost the right to live in our room after they flew back in after Haz released them through the window. She also fell off the bed onto her arse, which was funny for us, not so much for her...
Couldn't really go out that night as had little money and it was raining, and unfortunately it was raining the following day too. So we couldn't do the 3 hour trek up the top of the mountain for the view of Halong Bay. Our guide was still trying to get us to go up the mountain, but we refused as we wouldn't have seen anything! We did walk 2km to the beach to enjoy the sea in the rain, - which really cooled us down luckily. Cat Ba town was bigger than we expected and seemed to have most things, including beautiful and cheap pearls. Gorgeous!
Back on the boat in the afternoon, went kayaking in the evening (watching H and J in a kayak is hilarious, you should do it sometime) and chilled out on the boat that evening. The company, Love Planet, had overbooked the boat and so we offered (well H offered for us) to share the 3 of us in a 2 person room. Slightly close and hot, but we managed. Some people on the boat were absolutely lovely, and we just relaxed, watching the islands go by. The following day we sailed a bit more before heading back to Hanoi.
So back in Hanoi today before heading to Sapa this evening. The hotel we are staying in, while vastly better than our first one in Hanoi, is very annoying as we were woken up at FIVE FORTY-FIVE this morning by the staff, wanting to know when we were checking out, when we had already told them the night before! Absolutely ridiculous. They then knocked on our door at 7.20am wanting us to come down for breakfast. We were fuming. We made a bit of a stink this morning so they're letting us use their shower before the bus this evening. Hanoi is dirty, stinky and some people aren't very nice, so we're looking forward to going to Sapa. We've been threatened with wooden poles and metal sticks, and have been disturbed in our hotel, not really things to endear us to the place!
Saw Ho Chi Minh this morning - (Madame Tussaud's?!) He's preserved and looks very strange, and it's very weird how people are soooooooo reverential towards him. So many rules and regulations in the complex, was quite strange for us. Need to read up more about him!
So off to Sapa this evening, - tried uploading photographs but the computer crashed and so gave up! Will try another day when have more patience.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxx
How are things with you all? How's the good ol' UK at the moment? We are sheltering from the rainy season in an internet cafe filled with boys playing computer games.
So........ we left our hotel in Hanoi and after walking around a LOT with our rucksacks, finally ended up at the agency's office where we booked our Halong Bay tour. The guy was walking around collecting lots of different people, and when we realised this we said we'd meet him there. Three hours on a bus, and got to Halong City to get our boat. The boat itself was lovely, and we were met with a delicious lunch on board. The boat was wooden, and had a restaurant on it, with rooms underneath, and an open deck on top to sunbathe on the broken sun beds. We were doing three days and 2 nights, the first on Cat Ba island in a hotel, the 2nd on board the boat. Unfortunately the way the agency worked, we were constantly being transferred between boats and islands, so whenever we made friends with people we were shunted onto another boat without having a chance to say goodbye which was annoying.
Anyway the bay is filled with over 3,000 islands, that are very tall and very grey and silvery. The sun wasn't out when we were there, and it could often be quite misty, so it took on a kind of magical air. We stopped and saw 2 caves - the first was lit with multicoloured lights and very pretty, although reminiscent of Disney. This wasn't improved by our guide making up the stories as he went along! Still pretty cool though. We were convinced that one natural fountain in the cave was actually a hose pipe under the rock. The second cave was hardly lit and hardly filled with tourists, very natural and pretty.
Back on the boat and went to Cat Ba island. It started POURING down at this point, so unfortunately we could see nothing of the 28km drive through Cat Ba island to our hotel in Cat Ba town. The hotel was lovely - huge rooms and a TV that was getting no signal due to the storm and rubbish Vietnamese wiring! But if I could do cartwheels, I would've done. Loved staying there, although 2 hornets lost the right to live in our room after they flew back in after Haz released them through the window. She also fell off the bed onto her arse, which was funny for us, not so much for her...
Couldn't really go out that night as had little money and it was raining, and unfortunately it was raining the following day too. So we couldn't do the 3 hour trek up the top of the mountain for the view of Halong Bay. Our guide was still trying to get us to go up the mountain, but we refused as we wouldn't have seen anything! We did walk 2km to the beach to enjoy the sea in the rain, - which really cooled us down luckily. Cat Ba town was bigger than we expected and seemed to have most things, including beautiful and cheap pearls. Gorgeous!
Back on the boat in the afternoon, went kayaking in the evening (watching H and J in a kayak is hilarious, you should do it sometime) and chilled out on the boat that evening. The company, Love Planet, had overbooked the boat and so we offered (well H offered for us) to share the 3 of us in a 2 person room. Slightly close and hot, but we managed. Some people on the boat were absolutely lovely, and we just relaxed, watching the islands go by. The following day we sailed a bit more before heading back to Hanoi.
So back in Hanoi today before heading to Sapa this evening. The hotel we are staying in, while vastly better than our first one in Hanoi, is very annoying as we were woken up at FIVE FORTY-FIVE this morning by the staff, wanting to know when we were checking out, when we had already told them the night before! Absolutely ridiculous. They then knocked on our door at 7.20am wanting us to come down for breakfast. We were fuming. We made a bit of a stink this morning so they're letting us use their shower before the bus this evening. Hanoi is dirty, stinky and some people aren't very nice, so we're looking forward to going to Sapa. We've been threatened with wooden poles and metal sticks, and have been disturbed in our hotel, not really things to endear us to the place!
Saw Ho Chi Minh this morning - (Madame Tussaud's?!) He's preserved and looks very strange, and it's very weird how people are soooooooo reverential towards him. So many rules and regulations in the complex, was quite strange for us. Need to read up more about him!
So off to Sapa this evening, - tried uploading photographs but the computer crashed and so gave up! Will try another day when have more patience.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxx
Sunday 9 August 2009
Hanoi (and healthy!)
Hello all,
Well we went diving with Octopus diving, and they were absolutely fantastic. A beautiful boat, we had a dive master for the 3 of us (so many DMs and instructors, we were the largest group), and such a professional yet friendly service too. Even free coffee/hot chocolate and a chicken curry, can't beat that! It was fantastic to be back in the water again, and really enjoyed seeing a few things like the porcupine fish. Not as many fish as in some of our other dives, but great being underwater again.
Spent the afternoon asleep (shattered all the time at this point!) before waking up with a temperature of over 40 degrees celsius. Not good, incredibly sweaty before being ill! Haz and J were brilliant, bringing me back chocolate, water and coca cola (well I had to keep up my strength and not able to eat much!) Unfortunately I woke up with a temperature of 40 degrees again the following day, so we decided to brave the hospital. Didn't want to travel if I was contagious with swine flu.
So, the hospital was about 50 years behind. It was like a small medical centre, and I got ushered in to see the doctor. H very kindly came with me, and as soon as I was asked what was wrong promptly started crying, oops! He took my pulse, heart too fast so gave me an ECG. Not joking. I was strapped in by leather straps to my ankles, arms and funny poppers on my chest. Great. Then they gave me an ultra sound of my spleen, kidneys, liver etc. I now have a lovely photograph of my liver. Not that I was understanding what was really happening! The doctor saw me again... and looked in my throat. I had tonsilitis. Well, I don't think so as my throat wasn't sore, but very likely an ear infection. Brilliant! It wasn't swine flu/dysentry/malaria/any other tropical disease. And I could travel...
H and J were great, letting me stay on in Nha Trang for an extra day to recoup properly, and the magic tablets the doctor gave me were working well. They even brought me ice cream in bed, so kind of them! Luckily I wasn't actually feeling very ill in myself, just very drained, hot, cold and a very bad tummy. Managed to walk to the pagoda in Nha Trang the following day, we went to a great photography gallery, and chilled out on the beautiful beach, watching the locals come and cool down and play after a hot day working.
Night bus to Hoi An - sleeper bus again, yay! Hoi An a beautiful little town that we walked round in about 2 hours. Full of people making clothes of any kind, crafts, lanterns, - very crafty. A river flowing through contained huge models of a lotus flower, a dragon, and a strange cow with a flowerpot on its back. Life is strange here! We were staying in a beautiful hotel, very friendly, with a POOL! So lovely after being so hot for so long, and only costing us $4 a night. We also found a great little cafe, called Cafe 43, that did half pints of beer for 10p, beautiful food and a fraction of the price we normally pay. Great service, and we only wished we could stay the next day too!
Unfortunately ever onwards, we visited Hue for about 5 hours, and walked around the mainly demolished citadel. Not much to see in the city itself, we just meandered around the ruins and the newly renovated buildings (renovations usually 10 years old so not too impressive), before our night bus to Hanoi.
And we arrived today, eventually sorted out accommodation and avoided a little incident with some nasty hotel people in the city. We were with 2 guys at this point and they were really friendly and helpful. Been walking around the Old Quarter today, eating delicious Fanny ice cream, sorting out tickets and generally getting our bearings. Hanoi seems hectic, quite frenetic, and not quite as beautiful as we were hoping. Not actually that much to see, we only want to see the embalmed Ho Chi Minh's body before we leave here. Should be interesting!
So... off to Halong Bay tomorrow, and visiting Cat Ba island at the same time. For $45, it's a 3 day trip with a boat ride on the bay, staying overnight on the boat the first night, then the 2nd night we're staying on Cat Ba Island. So will be returning to Hanoi for a night on Wednesday night.
Hope all's well at home,
Loads of love from us all,
Al xxxxxxxxx
Well we went diving with Octopus diving, and they were absolutely fantastic. A beautiful boat, we had a dive master for the 3 of us (so many DMs and instructors, we were the largest group), and such a professional yet friendly service too. Even free coffee/hot chocolate and a chicken curry, can't beat that! It was fantastic to be back in the water again, and really enjoyed seeing a few things like the porcupine fish. Not as many fish as in some of our other dives, but great being underwater again.
Spent the afternoon asleep (shattered all the time at this point!) before waking up with a temperature of over 40 degrees celsius. Not good, incredibly sweaty before being ill! Haz and J were brilliant, bringing me back chocolate, water and coca cola (well I had to keep up my strength and not able to eat much!) Unfortunately I woke up with a temperature of 40 degrees again the following day, so we decided to brave the hospital. Didn't want to travel if I was contagious with swine flu.
So, the hospital was about 50 years behind. It was like a small medical centre, and I got ushered in to see the doctor. H very kindly came with me, and as soon as I was asked what was wrong promptly started crying, oops! He took my pulse, heart too fast so gave me an ECG. Not joking. I was strapped in by leather straps to my ankles, arms and funny poppers on my chest. Great. Then they gave me an ultra sound of my spleen, kidneys, liver etc. I now have a lovely photograph of my liver. Not that I was understanding what was really happening! The doctor saw me again... and looked in my throat. I had tonsilitis. Well, I don't think so as my throat wasn't sore, but very likely an ear infection. Brilliant! It wasn't swine flu/dysentry/malaria/any other tropical disease. And I could travel...
H and J were great, letting me stay on in Nha Trang for an extra day to recoup properly, and the magic tablets the doctor gave me were working well. They even brought me ice cream in bed, so kind of them! Luckily I wasn't actually feeling very ill in myself, just very drained, hot, cold and a very bad tummy. Managed to walk to the pagoda in Nha Trang the following day, we went to a great photography gallery, and chilled out on the beautiful beach, watching the locals come and cool down and play after a hot day working.
Night bus to Hoi An - sleeper bus again, yay! Hoi An a beautiful little town that we walked round in about 2 hours. Full of people making clothes of any kind, crafts, lanterns, - very crafty. A river flowing through contained huge models of a lotus flower, a dragon, and a strange cow with a flowerpot on its back. Life is strange here! We were staying in a beautiful hotel, very friendly, with a POOL! So lovely after being so hot for so long, and only costing us $4 a night. We also found a great little cafe, called Cafe 43, that did half pints of beer for 10p, beautiful food and a fraction of the price we normally pay. Great service, and we only wished we could stay the next day too!
Unfortunately ever onwards, we visited Hue for about 5 hours, and walked around the mainly demolished citadel. Not much to see in the city itself, we just meandered around the ruins and the newly renovated buildings (renovations usually 10 years old so not too impressive), before our night bus to Hanoi.
And we arrived today, eventually sorted out accommodation and avoided a little incident with some nasty hotel people in the city. We were with 2 guys at this point and they were really friendly and helpful. Been walking around the Old Quarter today, eating delicious Fanny ice cream, sorting out tickets and generally getting our bearings. Hanoi seems hectic, quite frenetic, and not quite as beautiful as we were hoping. Not actually that much to see, we only want to see the embalmed Ho Chi Minh's body before we leave here. Should be interesting!
So... off to Halong Bay tomorrow, and visiting Cat Ba island at the same time. For $45, it's a 3 day trip with a boat ride on the bay, staying overnight on the boat the first night, then the 2nd night we're staying on Cat Ba Island. So will be returning to Hanoi for a night on Wednesday night.
Hope all's well at home,
Loads of love from us all,
Al xxxxxxxxx
Monday 3 August 2009
Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Nha Trang
Hello hello,
Now in Vietnam, and how different it is! Cambodia was great - nicer than Thailand as less touristy, more 'raw' and fascinating. Vietnam is even better. The transport system works better here - well the roads are mainly tarmac, but this doesn't necessarily make them smoother... the people are friendly, their very fast jump into the technological and Western culture means that relatively fast internet is everywhere (very useful for us!) Many counterfeit products (Billabong boardshorts for less than 3 quid), Diesel jeans for next to nothing, whole series of TV shows for less than a fiver... they estimate that about 90% of products here are counterfeit, although many companies are trying to change that.
Ho Chi Minh City - HCMC - or still Saigon to people who live here - is great. Bustling, friendly, a little raucous, we stayed in the main backpacker area and were within walking distance of the Fine Arts Gallery (great exhibition, fantastic building), the Notre Dame Cathedral (seemed out of place in the middle of a busy road, no stained glass at all), the Reunification Palace (where tanks drove through the gates when Saigon was seized) and the War Remnants Museum. We had a busy day on Saturday walking around, (dodging the traffic on the roads, extremely difficult!)
The most harrowing experience was the War Remnants Museum (formerly called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes.... objectivity didn't really feature here!) I understand that the international media pretty much focused on the US perspective, and that horrific things happened here, but it was such a one sided museum, it detracted from its message. Especially difficult to stomach were the stories and photographs of the new generation of Vietnamese people who are growing (and dying) with incredible deformities, (allegedly?) caused by Agent Orange. Awful to see, it was a sobering experience.
The backpacker area is full of cheap accommodation - we were offered accommodation by a guy who met the bus (a lot of business is done by touts that way) - for $4 each, we had a lovely room with a TV, fridge(!!!), our own en-suite bathroom, and the loveliest family who looked after us extremely well. Lots of delicious and relatively cheap restaurants around too, and many tourist agencies and shops. (Not tried the snake wine yet - scared of the actual bottle which contains a preserved little cobra and scorpion in it)...!
So yesterday we went to see part of the 200km network of the Cu Chi tunnels. A bus for the 2 hour ride there and back, we had the best guide. Chister regaled us with information delivered in a very engaging way, jokes, - generally lots of things that helped us understand the country and people more. Asked how the Vietnamese think of the Americans and the war, he says:
a) the war never happened (for the young generation who have embraced Westernism and popular culture, and who are focused on the future)
b) the war never finished (for those who are scarred or traumatised, mentally or physically, without adequate healthcare or mental healthcare). Very illuminating.
The tunnels housed the Viet Cong for 20 years (in Vietnam, they say the war lasted for 20 years against the Americans, very different to the American version). These tunnels were so cramped you cannot walk upright in them. They slept, cooked, washed, went to the loo, everything - down these tunnels. Saw a tiny foxhole and spider hole, and passed up the chance to shoot an AK47 as it was rather expensive, loud, and I got scared when we got closer to the gun shots! A fascinating day, we finished it off with a coffee in a lovely cafe, chilling out for a couple of hours until we got our overnight bus to Nha Trang (only 10 hours away).
Last night we were waiting for our bus when a 'sleeper' bus arrived - with about 30 seats that go nearly flat. Somehow, we managed to get on the bus! Because there was space, they put us on the bus and we were at the very back where the seats went back even further! We hadn't paid for this luxury! It was absolutely great, and meant that we actually managed to sleep at night, until we arrived in Nha Trang at 6am.
Again, lovely accommodation - fan, TV, fridge, ensuite - $4 each. About 100m from the beach, we sorted our diving out first before getting very red on the beach. We're taking doxycycline antimalarial drugs again now, which makes us very sensitive to the sun. We forgot. I put sun tan lotion (factor 30) on 4-5 times over a couple of hours, and still got burnt! Next time the factor 50 comes out...
So going diving tomorrow morning, seems to be a great company (rather than a couple of other companies in the area who are having issues with PADI) with good dive shop banter, always a must! I'm going to do a 3rd and 4th dive (for only $10 each! Bargain!) on Wednesday before we head up overnight on Wednesday night to Hoi An.
Anyway lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxxxxxxxx
Now in Vietnam, and how different it is! Cambodia was great - nicer than Thailand as less touristy, more 'raw' and fascinating. Vietnam is even better. The transport system works better here - well the roads are mainly tarmac, but this doesn't necessarily make them smoother... the people are friendly, their very fast jump into the technological and Western culture means that relatively fast internet is everywhere (very useful for us!) Many counterfeit products (Billabong boardshorts for less than 3 quid), Diesel jeans for next to nothing, whole series of TV shows for less than a fiver... they estimate that about 90% of products here are counterfeit, although many companies are trying to change that.
Ho Chi Minh City - HCMC - or still Saigon to people who live here - is great. Bustling, friendly, a little raucous, we stayed in the main backpacker area and were within walking distance of the Fine Arts Gallery (great exhibition, fantastic building), the Notre Dame Cathedral (seemed out of place in the middle of a busy road, no stained glass at all), the Reunification Palace (where tanks drove through the gates when Saigon was seized) and the War Remnants Museum. We had a busy day on Saturday walking around, (dodging the traffic on the roads, extremely difficult!)
The most harrowing experience was the War Remnants Museum (formerly called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes.... objectivity didn't really feature here!) I understand that the international media pretty much focused on the US perspective, and that horrific things happened here, but it was such a one sided museum, it detracted from its message. Especially difficult to stomach were the stories and photographs of the new generation of Vietnamese people who are growing (and dying) with incredible deformities, (allegedly?) caused by Agent Orange. Awful to see, it was a sobering experience.
The backpacker area is full of cheap accommodation - we were offered accommodation by a guy who met the bus (a lot of business is done by touts that way) - for $4 each, we had a lovely room with a TV, fridge(!!!), our own en-suite bathroom, and the loveliest family who looked after us extremely well. Lots of delicious and relatively cheap restaurants around too, and many tourist agencies and shops. (Not tried the snake wine yet - scared of the actual bottle which contains a preserved little cobra and scorpion in it)...!
So yesterday we went to see part of the 200km network of the Cu Chi tunnels. A bus for the 2 hour ride there and back, we had the best guide. Chister regaled us with information delivered in a very engaging way, jokes, - generally lots of things that helped us understand the country and people more. Asked how the Vietnamese think of the Americans and the war, he says:
a) the war never happened (for the young generation who have embraced Westernism and popular culture, and who are focused on the future)
b) the war never finished (for those who are scarred or traumatised, mentally or physically, without adequate healthcare or mental healthcare). Very illuminating.
The tunnels housed the Viet Cong for 20 years (in Vietnam, they say the war lasted for 20 years against the Americans, very different to the American version). These tunnels were so cramped you cannot walk upright in them. They slept, cooked, washed, went to the loo, everything - down these tunnels. Saw a tiny foxhole and spider hole, and passed up the chance to shoot an AK47 as it was rather expensive, loud, and I got scared when we got closer to the gun shots! A fascinating day, we finished it off with a coffee in a lovely cafe, chilling out for a couple of hours until we got our overnight bus to Nha Trang (only 10 hours away).
Last night we were waiting for our bus when a 'sleeper' bus arrived - with about 30 seats that go nearly flat. Somehow, we managed to get on the bus! Because there was space, they put us on the bus and we were at the very back where the seats went back even further! We hadn't paid for this luxury! It was absolutely great, and meant that we actually managed to sleep at night, until we arrived in Nha Trang at 6am.
Again, lovely accommodation - fan, TV, fridge, ensuite - $4 each. About 100m from the beach, we sorted our diving out first before getting very red on the beach. We're taking doxycycline antimalarial drugs again now, which makes us very sensitive to the sun. We forgot. I put sun tan lotion (factor 30) on 4-5 times over a couple of hours, and still got burnt! Next time the factor 50 comes out...
So going diving tomorrow morning, seems to be a great company (rather than a couple of other companies in the area who are having issues with PADI) with good dive shop banter, always a must! I'm going to do a 3rd and 4th dive (for only $10 each! Bargain!) on Wednesday before we head up overnight on Wednesday night to Hoi An.
Anyway lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxxxxxxxx
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