Blogs from Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 25

Checking out of Golden Wings was not the drama I was expecting. I think the lads on the front desk realised there were not going to be commissions coming their way from us. We walked the now familiar blocks down to Hoan Kiem Lake and across to Kangaroo Cafe, arriving about 0715. Breakfast was a bowl of Pho and a soft drink each D80,000 all up (NZ5) from a tiny roadside cafe. The bus to take us to Halong Bay arrived just after 0800 and eight of us (three Kiwis, an Aussie and four Poms) headed out on the four hour journey. I kept myself intermittently amused between the fine tunes of Megadeth and keeping an eye on how many head on collisions we avoided. The driving outside of the city was no better than in ... read more

As I write this blog we’re in Hue, 1/3 of the way down the East coast of Vietnam. It’s the 1st November and we’re waiting to check into a backpacker’s hostel. There was a Halloween party last night and it seems people are reluctant to get up and check out. It has been a fairly busy 10 days so here goes.......! The 50 minute flight from Laos to Hanoi was fairly painless on the evening of the 20th October, compared with the thought of a 24 hour bus ride over the mountains and a border crossing point that would make the North Pole look busy. ‘Apparently’ the bus drivers have a habit of refusing to cross the border unless you pay them a huge wad of cash, if they haven't robbed you first, then ‘apparently’ the ... read more

Halong Bay…..what can I say!! Absolutely beautiful. If you ever get the chance this is a must see destination on your itinerary, the photos do not do it justice and the beauty and serenity are endless. We departed our hotel at about 8.15am for the 3.5 hour journey (it’s only 180kms) and boarded our “junk boat” The Dragon Pearl #3 owned by Indochina Junk. Not a bad boat but a few improvements could happen. But would highly recommend it anyhow. Lunch was served once we had boarded the junk boat and it was certainly plentiful. Plenty of course and very tasty! We set sail and headed for the very secluded islands in Halong Bay, there are thousands of islands to look at and you spend all day just cruising and staring at their beauty. Once we ... read more

Sorry for our delay in writing our next post, we haven't had any reliable internet access in the last week because of our remote locations, but please read on, we have so much to share. We can't say enough about beautiful Cat Ba Island and Ha Long Bay, we enjoyed a full week of sunning ourselves on beaches and eating fresh seafood. We met a fantastic British couple the night of our bonfire on the beach and we had several dinners and drinks with them a few days after. When they asked us how long our holiday was we felt proud to say "3 months" but soon choked on our words when they said they would be traveling for an entire year, taking in SE Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America and lots of other ... read more

Uong Bi! Nu har vi varit i Uong Bi lite drygt 1 vecka, kom hit förra måndagen, men det känns som vi varit här ganska länge redan! Det är en liten stad, men sjukhuset är ett centralsjukhus och har ett ganska stort upptagningsområde. Det känns som att varje dag är ett litet äventyr, eller ett litet projekt. Allt tar låång tid, bara att få mat- efter att först varit på marknaden och försökt handla och pruta, till att försöka tillaga maten tar mycket tid! Sen blir det väldigt lätt missförstånd har vi lärt oss..inte lätt med språket! Bussresan hit från Hanoi var också ett äventyr, vi hade hört att det skulle ta 2-3 h att åka de 10-12 mil det är mellan Hanoi och Uong Bi. Men efter att ha stannat ett hundratals gånger och frågat ... read more