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Published: December 8th 2006
Heavy Travellers
This poor driver insisted he could fit both of us AND all our gear onto his one person cart...he had to get off and push!! :)Ok...its our lowest point yet, we'd love to tell you we went to Vietnam for a true cultural and life enriching experience, that we studied the amazing history and delved into a different way of life...but if we did it would be a lie...because Vietnam for us really became the land where we turned into fast-talking. high fashion designers...and spent a week in beautful Hoi An having the most AMAZING clothes made...just for us!
In our short space of time, however, we did learn a lot about this country...we loved it but at times it was definately a little trying, lets start with our journey from Laos...
A promised 18 hour bus journey that would take us direct to Hoi An turned into a 38 hour saga worthy of a Jerry Springer episode, complete with the evil stepmother (or in this case travel director!)...left abandoned in the middle of nowhere with 4 equally bewildered westerners and one non-english speaking token japanese guy, who we strung along for the ride. The journey promised an air-con V.I.P bus, which quickly turned into an overcrowded (just us, loads of men and tonnes of rice!!!!) uncomfortable journey across the border....we were then ditched
Bus time fun
Already we'd slept a night on this bus with snoring little Laos men perched on the blue seats...it was only going to get worse with the promise that "in 5 minutes" another bus would come...it never came, so we walked, then we taxied, then we walked, then took an overnight train, then we taxied....aaaaargh no showers, no real food, no english speaking anybody and not a smile in sight (except from our merry gang).
All was forgotten however when we finally arrived in the beautiful french-inspired fishing village of Hoi An.....oh and the fun began!!! Basically our next week was spent getting coats, clothes, leather boots made then posted off to join us in London. We LOVED our designer "Trang", and she loved us..."oooh your voices, your hair, your clothes...so pretty, so pretty!!"...hehe, and she thought how we said everything was "so cute" was hilarious.
On our final night we reunited with our bus catastrophe gang for a night of reminiscing and laughs. For a treat we splashed out on a devine hotel (the same one where they filmed 'The Quiet American')...but our night turned into a very late one and we got to bask in the splendour (asleep) for a total of 4 hours...eeeky the budgets better kick in soon!! 😊
An overnight train (and an excellent travel experience) took
Bus time fun
The evil lady who suddenly forgot how to speak english, once she had us trapped on her bus...and now ordering us off it! us to Hanoi for one day where we had a quick explore, 1950's alert!!, as half the city was out doing "jazz-a-size" by the lake. We got cultural here (for our Dad's) and went to see Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body but unfortunatly he wasn't at home.
A fleeting but fabulous time in Vietnam....we will definately be back!!!!...with a few Vietnemese phrases by our side to avoid the disdainful glares.
QUOTES OF VIETNAM....
Livvy, trying to get her head around 5 different currencies....
"Whats that in Baht?"....Thailand was sooo 3 weeks ago Livvy!
Emma, just before going to see Ho Chi Minh (and she was deadly serious!!!)
"Ohhh, I don't have a cute 'off-to-see-a-dead-body-outfit' on".....some things never change!
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Golden Boy and Amber
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Greetings
Nice to see You are still alive - ladies. Be strong and keep the faith. Greeting from Lithuania.