Good Morning Viet Nam!

Bye Bye to Sarah
She flies to Perth today
Just me and Claire left!

Well, it is time to say farewell to Sarah today. Claire and I will still be in Ha Noi for a bit longer but tomorrow evening I go on tour to Sa Pa to check out the hilltribes etc. But I'll be back in time to spend some of Saturday with Claire before we part ways again..me off to Sai Gon and Claire back to Tam Ky for more Volunteering. If it wasn't such a hassle it would be neat to "pop" into Tam Ky and see the kids one last time...

Geez it's been a long time since I've written in my blog I'm not sure where to start. I guess from more or less where I left off...

Okay, let's go back to one week ago today! That's when Sarah, Claire and took a crazee taxi up to Da Nang to catch the overnight train up north to Ha Noi.

Overnight train ride
Pleasant but icky bathrooms!
Da Nang to Ha Noi

We found our train carriage relatively easily and once we board the train with the awfully narrow passageways with a couple of other dozen people trying to crowd on with luggage and other stuffs we eventually get "settled" into our beds. We were in a sleeper with six bunks. Luckily I got the bottom bunk because you seriously need to be an acrobatic gymnast to make it up to the very top bunk and I just don't think I'm that agile. haha In my cabin Sarah was in the bunk above me. There was a family of four - Dad, Mom, son about 7 or 8 yrs old? and a new born baby. The newborn barely made a peep which was great and amazing! Then on the two top bunks were a couple of guys. Well, it started off with two guys but then when it came time to go to bed there were three when one of their "friends" came along. I don't know how they could sleep two to a bunk.

I slept amazingly well considering how loud the train is. Then again I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. I swear just sitting there with nothing to do I'll be asleep in 4 minutes flat..don't even ask me to stay awake if I'm in even a semi-reclined position. lol

The ride was pretty uneventful. It was amazing when we were going through Ha Noi being so close to all of the shops and stuff. From the train we went directly to our accommodations and were all happy campers once we had hot showers!

February 2nd we spent the day exploring parts of the city. We were a bit late to check out the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum but we did manage to see the HCM Museum which was pretty interesting. The One Pillar Pagoda on the otherhand was a bit disappointing! We also fit in some shopping at the market and did a lot of walking. The walk around the lake would have been nicer if the weather was sunny. But the weather at the moment has been pretty overcast with some rain and drizzle. I could easily get lost in the Old Quarter here in Ha Noi since everything seems to look the "same, same but different." After a relaxing dinner of Indian we headed off to the Water Puppets. I hadn't really heard many rave reviews for the show but we wanted to check it out for ourselves. I'm glad I really wasn't expecting that much because the performance was actually turned out to be okay! I was tempted to pick up a few puppets after the performance so that we could recreate the show in our hotel bathtub. haha

Hmm, impressions of Ha Noi...I think that I'd be more impressed with the city if it were actually sunny so as to enjoy the lake and surrounding areas a bit more. Or perhaps it is all the "extra" hustle and bustle happening around the city because of Tet. I guess I'm just comparing Ha Noi to Sai Gon (keep in mind I was only there for one day and was jet lagged when I was there!) There certainly seem to be more cars here than down in Sai Gon. The people also seem less "friendly" than down South. (Or perhaps I was just really lucky that one day when I was in Sai Gon!)

Anyhoo, I'll write more about my impressions after I tell you more about what I've been doing this week...

Thursday to Saturday we took a tour to Ha Long Bay. It was about a three hour bus ride to Ha Long City...

DOH! This will have to be continued. Sorry to keep you in suspense but Sarah will be off to the airport shortly...

More soon.
Hugs and stuff.
Bonz

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