Blogs from Northwest, Vietnam, Asia - page 52

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!! After a short flight, I arrived in Hanoi and realized I was a definite minority in such a large city. Despite my travels throughout the rest of Southeast Asia, this was the first time I’ve experienced a great language barrier. I filed through customs around 7 pm and my plan was to make my way to train station. After closing on a price with a cab driver in Vietnam Dong, I was off in the nations capital and I found the traffic really overwhelming. Picture if you can a four-lane highway packed with noisy scooters swarming angrily in and out cars, trucks, and Tuk-Tuks. Now add a symphony of grade three instruments or vehicle horns all performing different songs in a small room, and a cloud of un-breathable carbon monoxide, and you’ve ... read more

Aparantly dark haired dog tastes better than light haired dog!The last few days have been pretty relaxed after a hectic 3 weeks in China. Sapa is a lovely little mountain village in the North West of Vietnam, not far from the border with Laos (pronounced to rhyme with how - silent s). The tallest mountain in Vietnam, Fanxipan, is just up the road and there are tours that hike up itin 3 days (we opted not to). Instead we toured the villages on the back of a 50cc motorbike. The people out in the mountains are pretty self sufficient. The lands are very furtile and they make their own clothes. They alll go around with smiles despite the fact they have nothing else. The only thing they cannot provide for themselves is medicine, hence a life ... read more

And we cross the border into the second country. 22 days in Hong Kong and China have come and gone. I have seen some of the most fantastic sites in the world, with many more to come. This morning we walked over the bridge of friendship from Hekou, China into Lao Cai, Vietnam. It is the first time I have been over a land border since crossing from Spain into France. That time we barely even stopped the car, this time we signed exit papers and underwent a thorough dressing down on exiting China: walked 100m over the bridge, then repeated the entire process to enter Vietnam. Its lucky we gained an hour because that's how long it took! Then we went on the wierdest bus ride ever: we got picked up outside the border control ... read more

url='/Videos/2544.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2544.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' bumpy road down to one of the villages from sapaurl='/Videos/2545.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2545.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' Water Buffalourl='/Videos/2546.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2546.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' On the Trekurl='/Videos/2547.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2547.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' School Children So we are currently in Sa Pa, at the end of our journey through the countryside. We took our overnight train, which took about 9 hours. We had hoped we would be lucky and have a 4-sleeper car to ourselves, but we shared it with two German women whom were harmless. The bathroom was fairly fascinating in that it was literally a hole in the train and no TP. Upon arr... read more

I lost this blog when the website went down...some of the pics are still there. I'll upload it again when I can find it...... read more