Update South East Asia

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Hey,

I've been rubbish with the blog recently so again lots to say. Firstly we've just got into Cambodia so that means we've done Vietnam completly going from Hanoi to Hue to Hoi an to Nha Trang to Muine and then finishing in Ho Chi Minh City.

I left last time at Hong Kong which was brillant, from there we went to Yangshou where we rented bikes and went around the padi fields and up moon hill. The limestone outcrops make the beauty and mystery to this place you can get around so easily by bike as its flat but at the same time you are surrounding by mountains. We managed to do a cooking class which as pretty good and my food actually turne out alright!! We also did a little bit of teaching in what was called the English coner we spent around 2 hours talking to the school kids so they could practice their English it was really interesting to learn their opions on things as everyone else is a little quiet on the opioniated situation! They didn't like learning Enlish but they saw Chinese history as being the most important subject and the most interesting.

To get to vietnam we stopped over at the Chinese border at Nanning a place which MacDonalds own. I've never seen as many MacDonlds resturants in one small place!

We got the bus to Vietnam to Hanoi and the bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere so we accepted to get a metered cab to the hotel. Turns out the driver was weaving his way around hanoi to get there and charged an extortionate price for the cab. We later learned that the cabs fix there meters to go quicker than they are meant to. Hanoi was really nice we had a hotel next to the lake and we treated really well, anyone who wants to know it was called the Jasmine hotel $10 a room and well worth it. Though we are on a very tight budget we did move a couple of days later to the Driftpackers hotel again really good place with breaky inc. We met Laura on the first night and we had a power cut just like being in Nepal again! Apparently it doesn't occur regularly and because of this they did have a backup generator.

From Hanoi we went to Halong Bay and stayed a night on a Junk boat. Halong bay is a place where a series of small Islands lie just off the coast. It was really good but a little more than I expected though we got food included, the next day we went to Sapa on the night train. We got 2nd class train and it was really comfortable but the doors were a bit arkward to open. Sapa is a place where you see the traditional tribes working in the villages. There still is local dialects for each tribe and they find it easy and more valuable to learn to speak English then Vietnamese. The local villages where just what we were looking for and although the tribe women bug you they still are in their traditional dresses and you see plently of people in the rice fields.

We sent one more day in Hanoi seeing the Ho Chi Minh Museum and then headed to Hue which we got our first overnigh bus, which was pretty uncomfortable but was cheap!! Hue is nice buth there's not much to do we did a tour along the river which is a must if you come here, you got to see the tombs of leaders gone by, and they are impressive one guy was buried in a unknown location within his burial grounds so that the enemy couldn't dig him up. The more impressive one was more recently built at cost alot more to build and took 5 years to build, but was really impressive.

Our next stop was Hoi An, and although a lot of road works were going an the place didn't look like much it was really good. We all got some clothes made which were a little more expensive then I though but really good they bashed them out in a day! and we rented some bikes and went to the impressive China beach which is lined with palm trees and pretty much a deserted white sandy beach.

Next stop Nha Trang, famous for its beutiful beaches and parties. We all thought that the China bach was better but the Islands were really good for snorkelling we managed to fit in a day of snorkelling along the coral reefs and after that we had taken up a teaching role which we sighned up for the day before. I highly reccomended teaching in any country you learn so much more than doing anything else. I did some pronouncation tests for them and then just continued with conversation. I learned about their attitudes to the poor people being left behind by the fast moving economy and tradional features to the Vietnamese life.

Muine was the most relaxing place, we got a place right on the beach and hired motorbikes to see the impressive sandunes. The beach was nice but again I preffered China beach.

Finally we got to Ho Chi Minh city motor bikes are everywhere apparently there are 8 million people in Ho Chi Minh and 7 million motorbikes!! i think Hanoi was a little more chaotic but this was close. We went to the war remnants musuem which was pretty horrific seeing what the French and the Americans did there. We also went to the Chu Chi tunnels just outside Ho Chi Minh although it was about 1hr 30mins to get there and we only spent about an hour there it was still worth it. It amazing to see the environment where the fighting was going on and the network of tiny tunnels (which have been expanded for tourist) that were built.

Today we finally made it into Cambodia and its seems to be alot poorer than Vietnam already been pestered by beggars and the comptetion on tuk tuks is fierce. We've'only got a week here so we will again be racing through.

Sorry the blogs a bit rushed but I think the main points are there.

I'll update again soon,
Mark

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