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Blogs from Hanoi, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 8
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October 28th 2012
We took our first sleeper bus from Hong Kong to Nanning (China). Wed originally planned to use the train but the bus worked out so much better - faster , cheaper and less connections. It was a bit confusing at the HK/China border though – everyone got off the bus and like sheeps so did we, then panicked that we maybe should have brought our rucksacks with us – we didn’t know what the F was going on and no one spoke English – we were the only white men on the bus! Anyway we made it to Nanning and the bus was so much better than we expected since wed heard so many horror stories about the buses in southeast Asia (im sure well have the pleasure of experiences these soon enough). After 15 hours ... read more
A temple of literature, a theatre of water puppets, motorbikes and birdcages.
Published: October 28th 2012Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi
October 27th 2012
I have changed my plans slightly and decided to travel from Vientiane the capital of Laos to Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. It makes for a more seamless route travelling down Vietnam (following the passage of the war) into Cambodia and then i'll be ideally placed to keep on heading straight into Thailand for the New Year. It also means i'll be able to coincide my tour of Vietnam with Christine the 42 year old French woman from Cannes I met in Nong Kiau and hopefully do a bit of travelling with her. For quite a while i've decided to fly from Vientiane. It costs about 150 dollars and means you can purchase an approval letter for the visa online and then get a visa on arrival at the airport. For some reason I speak to The ... read more
October 19th 2012
Oh boy - if we thought Sai Gon traffic was bad, try this then in Hanoi. No road rules hardly at all, and those that do exist, like the pedestrian crossings, are simply ignored. Very scary for these aged chickens. Still, we must be intrepid, and must carry on. So, hearts in mouth we slowly wend our way between a thousand speeding motorcycles, two hundred push bikes and sundry cars - all tooting and looking like they'd seriously like to do in a couple of fat cat capitalists from the west. Hanoi is the capital, 4m people, and resting place of Uncle Ho at the massive mausoleum, and symbolic heart, for many centuries, of Vietnam. I forget - this is the ONLY nation that defeated both the French and the Americans at war - how weird ... read more
October 9th 2012
Its amazing to me how out of the loop I am already...thankfully for Facebook (once I was out of China and allowed to go on it), I realized it was Thanksgiving. It seems every year I have more and more to be thankful for. Either that, or I am just more aware of how blessed I am. Even though my Thanksgiving dinner consisted of two airplane dinners, it was still not too bad! So, backing up a bit, I left the beautiful city of Beijing to Shanghai via the super duper fast train (I'm sure that is the technically correct term:). It is pretty amazing being on a train that goes 300 km/hr. That whole experience of getting on the train was a tad stressful. Basically, traveling in a large group means that we were late, ... read more
October 5th 2012
"Vietnam is the land of heat and noodles". That is what an American friend wrote to me in an email when he said he missed Vietnam. While in English, there may be only some words "noodles", "vermicelli" or "noodle soup", in Vietnamese, we have various names "Phở, Bún, Miến, Bánh đa, Bánh canh, Mỳ" to describe our noodles. The Vietnamese noodles have different colors (white, red, yellow), shape and thickness, depending on the types and regions. Each of the said noodles has one more word next to it, like beef, chicken or other material, or name of a location to emphasize their specialty. For example, Phở gà (noodle soup with chicken), Phở bò (noodle soup with beef), Bún bò Huế (Huế city's beef noodle soup), Mỳ Quảng (Quảng Nam province's noodles) etc. We often eat noodle ... read more
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October 1st 2012
We left Vientiane on Friday evening by bus. The journey took an amazing 24 hours and this does not include the transfers we needed to endure before we got to the bus. In Vientiane we visited the Cope centre which is an organisation that provides support and help to victims of UXO cluster bombs. Many victims lose at least one limb or eyesight or use of limb. The centre rehabilitates victims and provides them with prothstetic limbs to make their life easier and so they can continue working or school. We learned that many victims are children as alot of poorer villages use these unexploded ordenance items to make things for the house so when a child comes accross an unexploded cluster bombs they regard it as harmless. It was really really interesting and i'm sure ... read more
September 30th 2012
Rano som vstal uz o 7/00 hod vyspaty do ruzova,spal som asi 4 hodiny.V lobby este stretavam slovakov,nakoniec zobrali trip na halong bay za 75USD.Ja to asi tiez kupim tu.Este stale rozmyslam nad sapou.Na ranajky som si dal to iste co vcera na veceru,3ks plnenych buchiet. Idem k severnemu cipu jazera,je tu zastavka busu c14 co ide do etnologickeho muzea.Soferovy ukazujem ulicu kde chcem vystupit,vraj ma ohlasi.Zapinam GPS a sledujem trasu.Listok na bus ma stal 3kD.Vybera to dalsi clovek v buse.Uz sme na ulici kde mam vystupit,stavam sa ale sofer,ukazuje ,ze mam este cas. A som tu,na pokyn vystupujem.Muzeum je este asi 10min pesi smerom na juh,v pohode ho nachadzam.Po ceste furt na mna pokrykuju mototaxi hello,uz ma s tym seru.Pred muzeum je nenormalne vela ludi.Prebijam sa k pokladni a kupujem listok za 25kD.Su tu prave ... read more
September 29th 2012
Vo vietname je iny casovy posun,takze uz len +5 hodin oproti svk.Rano oznamujem recepcnemu,ze tu ostavam do utorku.Hadam ma pochopil,ang nula bodov.Viet fun hotel to je nazov ubytka. Vyrazam pozriet pamiatky,zapinam gps a ide sa.Leninov park nic moc,cez cestu je military muzeum,vstup 20kD,skusam student.zlavu,nezabralo.Fotak nehlasim aj ked sa ma na nho pytaju,srat ich.Este si treba odlozit batoh do skrinky,ale aj na to serem,cakam kym ma prestanu sledovat a idem aj s nim.Za tu cenu je to fajn muzeum.Vnutri su zbrane a rozne military veci z minulosti a vonku bojova technika,tank,lietadlo,vrtulnik a este par diel.Da sa vyliest aj na flag tower,ale iba na druhe poschodie.Vyhlad slaby.Do muzea sa da dostat aj zadarmo,vedla je kaviaren a tade sa da prejst,je to spojene,ale to som zistil az po opusteny arealu.Dalej som siel na sever k citadele.Vstup je free.Je tam ... read more
September 28th 2012
Vcera som nakoniec nepil sam,z partie dosli dvaja,trochu sme pokecali. Na izbe som dalsie pivo dal cinanke.S nu som tiez v ramci moznosti kecal.Skoncila v robote a ide prvy krat do zahranicia,do vietnamu.ked som uz tvrdo spal,dosla dalsia cinanka.Totalna krava,buchotala,hrmotala,robila bordel a to uz bolo okolo 23/30.Nakoniec opustila izbu a nechala rozsvietene.Prvy raz co som stretol nevychovaneho cinana. Rano som stal 6/15,oholil sa ,dobalil a isel na recepciu.Tam odo mna chceli blocky aby mi mohli vratit depozit 100rmb.Jasne,ze som to mal uz zbalene vo velkom batohu.Tak zas vybalit,zbalit a smer stanica.Nasiel som to nasupu.Tu som sa pytal do akeho busu mam nastupit.Nik nevedel.Zbadal som jednu bielu,ta ma navigovala.V buse vedla mna sedel vietnamec,ktory vyhodil zo sedadla akurat tu staru pani.Nevim naco si sadala na jeho miesto,ked bus bol miestenkovy.Cesta po hranice v pohode.Mi... read more
