We stayed in dusty Da Tong for one night and one very full day, this was more than enough. The CITS agent mentioned that we could, then we couldn't, then we could get a direct train to Xi'an, his story continued to change hourly, or he could possibly get us a direct train to a place called Pingyao, which I had noted in my note book some weeks ago as 'Pingyao a promising place of much interest and real red paper lanterns' but then I forgot about it. So me thinking this was fate in part gave him some cash to [View Full Entry]

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One hundred evil ones should be forgotten. The Chinese have not had a great 2008 year so far. The Chinese New Year kicked things off in February with freezing sub zero blizzards that killed off a lot of the countries live stock and farming produce, this devastated the countries food supplies. In March the violent rioting escalated with the monks and lay people in Tibet then Chinese security forces moved in killing many which shocked the world. April brought angry demonstrations as the Olympic torch relay got pelted around the globe especially in London by pro-Tibet demonstrators. Ap [View Full Entry]

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It seemed that the one hour time difference from Vietnam to China thankfully didn't really put us in that jet lagged zone, it was the 43 hours of virtually no sleep, lying horizontal on the same train that did. There were no touts at Beijing station to push us around, screaming 'cheap price' grabbing all our bags insisting they take us to their cheap hotels, I actually felt slightly at a loose end as this is normally how we find great places to stay. With Lonely Planet still unopened in my shoulder bag we headed for the taxi rank, some one [View Full Entry]

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I had been in a total head spin for weeks regarding the cheapest and most time effective way of entering China then touring China, all within 30 tight visa days. Where to start? I had checked out flights while in Cambodia back in March which were roughly around $150 from Hanoi to Hong Kong, suddenly in May they had jumped to $350 inclusive of tax from anywhere in Vietnam to anywhere in China. Although we try our best to live like flash packers on a basic backpackers budget, spending $700 felt insane. The buses were quoted at $79 and changed at [View Full Entry]

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67 things I noticed while back in 'Nam 1. A Vietnamese superstar recently sued a Vietnamese blogger for defamation of character! 2. An alien was found in Vietnam it looks like a semi melted plastic silver blow up, bought from The Pound Shop, sprayed with metallic car spray, surrounded by the cast and crew from the Asian version of Ant & Dec's 'Autopsy' film. 3. Miss Universe 2008 is to be hosted in Nha Trang Vietnam, last year Miss Vietnam Global 2007 was won by Ngo Phuong Lan, who has not actually lived in Vietnam for 10 years but in her [View Full Entry]

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.....Take My Hand & Come With Me. I knew the minute I opened the tour bus from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay that we were in for a great time. The energy from the other travellers radiated, even though some had just got off the night train from Sapa and were whacked out from trekking. Stu had to have a couple of days rest between these two trips as he got very sick, which meant I got to play Florence Nightingale for a while. Ha Long means descending dragon, which came about many many moons ago when the Chinese fought the [View Full Entry]

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The tour operator showed us photos of two classes of sleeper train, the first was a beautiful wood lined cabin with sultry low lighting, clean looking mattress, pillow, finished off with a vase of fresh flowers. The second option was a grey blue Formica interior with low lighting, clean looking mattress and pillow but was much cheaper, so we booked the Formica cabin as dwindling budgets dictate. The photos were of course staged, I should have known this as the Formica cabin had no flowers but it did have harsh strip lighting and looked more like an old prison cell. Two [View Full Entry]

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Người Trồng Trọt Linh Hồn - Soul Cultivation The vile sleeper bus dumped us off somewhere just out side the city of Hanoi, I hobbled around trying to find a toilet as my bladder didn't quiet know what to do with itself, weather it needed to piddle, burst, bleed or burn like fire as I had to hold it in for a mind numbing 10 hours. We found Hanoi's old quarter by the means of a very rude and greedy taxi man, who held us to ransom for a tidy sum of $10 (150,000 dong) just for the privilege of getting [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Hoi An and laying horizontal in a sleeper bus for seven brisk hours we arrive in the town of Huế. The English pronounce it 'Hugh' the Americans pronounce it 'Huuuuuu' as if half way through an awkward sneeze, the Vietnamese pronounce it 'Hoooaaaay' like they are clearing their throat. If I were to walk completely naked through perfumed air I would still be wearing too much, it is hot here and getting hotter. Our first evening in 'Hugh' we tried to find something edible to eat, our hotel only served breakfast not dinner and was a little out of [View Full Entry]

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We took the 13 hour sleeper night bus from Na Trang up the coast to Hoi An. Some points to know about these night buses....... 1. It is best to get a lower bunk near the front, as there is more max head room to sit up and it doesn't make you feel sick. I think the leg room of the lower bunk is longer than the reclining leg length of the upper bunks as all the tall people from Sweden laying on top bunks looked like they were in a lot of pain 2. Every one is given a pillow [View Full Entry]

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