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Published: October 21st 2006
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Hey there roundeye
Maybe I'll become a rice farmer. Well ok technically I am back in New Zealand now, I didn't have time to get this posted before I left Asia. We left China on the 16th and flew to Bangkok from Beijing, and now it's the 20th and I am in Auckland. But mostly this blog is about China. That place is freakin crazy, and so I figured I'd get the last entry from Asia posted before anything nutty happens here in NZ. Returning to Bangkok a few days ago was great, I have a new appreciation for that city after the countries we've just been through. It also marked my 4th stay there along my haphazard travel route in SE Asia. It's amazing, Bangkok is a city that offers so much and still remains so cheap. And I kinda know my way around so it's nice. But the real story is that Bryan came back out on the road with us and the three of us were reunited for the first time in 3 months. Awww. This reunion lasted a grand total of two and a half days. Bryan and Alan are in Nepal right now. I'm really excited about being back in NZ though, even though the
Riding the train to Hanoi
Overnight sleeper car from Da Nang to Hanoi. mission is to find work and save money. I'll find an apartment or something, I guess, but I've reserved a hostel for the first couple nights while I figure out what I'll try to do. I don't really have much of a plan, but what could possibly go wrong?
I posted my last entry the day before wrapped up our tour of Vietnam with a few action packed days in Hanoi and a trip to Halong Bay. We did get off to a bit of a rocky start though. The night we got to Hanoi, Alan got pickpocketed while we were riding back to our guest house on the back of a couple mopeds. The girl sitting behind Alan on their bike took the money out of his wallet during the ride. The sequence of events that followed went something like this: The bikes stop and Alan yells to me that the girl took his money, I try to grab her, Alan is screaming to give him his money back, then 20 Vietnamese onlookers rush around us and start shouting. They detain the girl and the driver of Alan's bike. One of them is hitting the girl across the
Halong Bay
Boats on the water. face and I am yelling at him to stop. Nobody speaks a word of English. Two of these Vietnamese people are trying to tell us they are undercover police and show us credentials that looked like they came out of a cracker jack box. Then they take away the 2 theives but we refuse to go anywhere. But then a few minutes later uniformed police show up and pushed us onto the back of their paddywagon. I wasn't about to make a fuss with these guys. At least we knew they were actually cops after all. They bring us to the precinct a block away that is more or less an empty storefront with a desk and two benches. One bench for me and Al, and another where the two thieves were sitting, shackled by their ankles to a huge iron bar fastened to rivets in the floor. The cops are talking to us, but we don't speak Vietnamese. So one of them runs to a hotel and brings back an employee to be an interpreter. I'm guessing this guy understood maybe 1 in 500 words we were saying in English. And at the time, our passports were at the
Our boat
Dining area. Chinese embassy waiting for our visas to be approved. Try explaining that, impossible. Alan and I are brought separately into a room and write several statements, and then are made to sign a few blank ones just for good measure. Apparently, the two thieves are facing 3 years in prison for stealing about $150. At 4:30am they let us go, but we had to return the next day with our passports. When we showed up around 2:00pm they were still sitting there shackled to the bench. Fortunately, the owner of our guest house was able to call in some favors and after a few more hours of sitting around, Alan got his money back (less a couple bribes) and we didn't have to press charges against the two crooks.
Anyway, shortly after our release we got word that Kate was on her way to Hanoi to meet up with us, so we had her back again for awhile. Spent a few quality days exploring Hanoi, Kate's friend Hung took us to his family's house for dinner and that was really cool. We went north to Halong Bay for an overnight boat tour and went to see caves, did some
Halong Bay Islands
Tons of tiny islands jutting up from the water. kayaking, swimming, drinking, and relaxing. Some great times. Then we went back to Hanoi for a night before Al and I had to say goodbye to Kate again and headed off to Hong Kong.
Went overland to Hong Kong so we had to pass through mainland China. Entering China is like a whole new level of being lost. The language barrier is ridiculous, sometimes you really feel like there is no hope. Something as simple as catching a bus at a bus station is next to impossible, especially at first. All the boards and timetables are in Chinese characters and barely anyone speaks more than a word of English. There are hundreds of buses coming and going and everything is so crowded. You look at your ticket to figure out where to go find the bus but it's all written in Chinese also so it doesn't help much of anything. But you ask enough people, get a tiny bit of info from each, and eventually you'll have your questions answered.
Finally made it to Hong Kong though, it's an amazing city. The food is sooo good. Shortly after arriving, Alan and I found ourselves feasting at some amazing
Yahtzee
Bringing Yahtzee to Vietnam, drinking rules apply of course. dim sum place. We caught a fireworks display over the city skyline which was really impressive, although crowded. Then we met up with a guy Alan's family does business with. He's from Hong Kong and his name is Jose, I found that pretty funny. What a great guy though. He hooked it up big time. Showed us around, took us to some great restaurants, and when we were ready to leave Hong Kong, he conveniently was able to give us a ride across the border to Shenzhen, China because he was going there on business anyway. Sweet. So we spent the day with him and his work friends again, more awesome and strange food, and then buys us our plane tickets to Xian and puts us up in a 5 star hotel. Alan and I did some celebrating at the hotel that night for our good fortune. I believe I wound up on stage with the lounge singers in the lobby bar. Good times.
It was nice to fly to Xian rather than deal with a 2 day train journey. So much easier, and we got to witness Chinese in-flight seated stretching led by the stewardesses. Very funny. Xian
Bearded Alan the Caveman
Check out the stalagtites. is a big city but most famous for the nearby Terra Cotta warriors archeological site, which are these legions of ancient stone carvings of soldiers more than 2,000 years old. Too bad they turned it into Disneyland but whatever, still cool. Did some more exploring in Xian, ate more weird food, did some karaoke TV with people we met at our hostel... I'm telling you, my voice is phenomenal.
Next and final stop in China was the capital city of Beijing. We got to see the Great Wall which was really really cool. We saw the Forbidden City where the rulers of some of the ancient dynasties lived, and walked through Tiananmen Square. We got ripped off by two Chinese girls wanting to practice their English, they were showing us around and suggest we stop for tea and the tea house they chose treated us to a bill of $125 each. I was extremely pissed off but I really didn't want to go to Chinese prison, so I paid it. But not everyone is so conniving, we also were treated very nicely by a girl from Beijing that Al met in Hanoi, she took us out for a really
Walking between caves
People from our boat. amazing meal at a local spot. The food in China is incredible.
That wrapped up Beijing, we went back to Bangkok after that and reunited with Bryan, had a great time. So that's it for Asia, it was an incredible 5 months of travel unlike any other I've had.
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AlanZ
Alan Zapolsky
Ahhhhh Hey Dude...
Blog looks good dude. Normally never comment but I've got to get used to this you're in one country and I'm in another thing...miss you dude, later.