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Published: March 8th 2007
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Well Folks.....what can i say? its been a mixed bag the last few days! From the highs of meeting loads of amazing people and having a great time seeing the city, to getting arrested over Gin and Tonics, freezing to death on a boat for 2 days and getting totally ripped off!! HAHA......Yeah I can laugh about it now!!
I arrived in Hue safe and sound after my last blog and I met a dutch girl called Chris who I had some food and a few bevvies with, We were both doing the same route over the following few days so we arranged to travel together for a few days! We met the next morning and had a look around some of the sights of Hue (there aren't that many). It was sooooooooo humid, i was literallly perspiring out of places i didn't know i had! Its a pretty small city and to be honest one day was enough for me. There wasn't much to do apart from look at some temples and pagodas of which I've now seen about 40 million so they're starting to lose their appeal slightly! I felt quite homesick in Hue and was not looking
forward to the night train ahead of me!
That night I was getting the night bus to Hanoi and meeting Chris there in the morning as she was booked on the night train! The journey was horrific!! I had no sleep, the air con broke, the journey took 5 hours more than it should have done and the seats didn't recline, GREAT! I got to Hanoi the next morning and had to get to my hotel where i was meeting Chris. I got totally ripped off by a taxi driver and there was nothing i could do about it, you live and learn hey! I got out of the taxi feeling really miserable after my lack of sleep and i burst into tears (first tears of the trip so far so not bad i think).
Anyway, went out with Chris for lunch and a few G&T's and nearly got arrested!! They accused us of not paying and called the police! We were trying to explain that we had paid but that we had no proof but the language barrier proved a problem. eventually they realised their mistake and let us go (without and apology may i add) and
my initial impression of Hanoi was not good, I wanted to get out of the place straight away! That night we met a friend of Chris', Abs, she was lovely, she works in hanoi but is from Oxford and we went out for a gorgeous meal and saw a better side of Hanoi so things started to improve!
The following morning me and Chris were booked on a 2 day boat trip of halong bay which is meant to be really beautiful with 2000 isalnds in the sea! it was indeed an amazing sight but was kind of spoilt by thre fact that it was about 8 degrees, raining and misty....I thought I was back in England! we made the most of it though and had a really good group of people on the tour but we literally sat on a boat for 2 days eating and drinking as most of the activities were cancelled apart from the caving! When we were shown our room i noticed a cockroach in my bed, I lifted up the duvet and about 10 fell onto my bed, they were all over!! They were in everyones rooms, it was disgusting!! Needless to say
Halong Bay
Floating village we didn't egt much sleep that night as we were too scared of bugs climbing on us in the night! We all complained the next day and managed to get half our money back for the tour which was a bonus!
Yesterday i arrived back in hanoi and Abs let me stay at hers which was cool. Went out for some really nice local food and met some of her friends for drinks, then had an earlyish night. I'm so glad that I had a good couple of nights as my impression of Vietnam was being soured by the last few adys but all is good again! Vietnam has been great, very different to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The food has been amazing, the beaches gorgeous and the people (apart from my horrible taxi driver) have been really friendly! So I bid it a fond farewell!!
Today I've taken 2 flights and have arrived in Krabi (Thai southern islands) about 2 hours ago. I'm in the town at the moment but go out to the beach tomorrow which i'm soooooo Looking forward too. I'm spending 2 weeks on the islands to relax and not be on the move
so much which is going to be a welcome break. I'm sure all you guys think this travelling thing is easy but its actually really hard work moving on every day! I'd still rather be here than working though anyday!! haha....
Anyway, bye for now, enjoy the pics and I'll write my next installment from some tropical paradise!!
Miss you all.....
Love
Suzie xxxx
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Anne
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Catch up
Just had a major catchup on your travel blog. You have been busy! Glad you are still coping ok and having more ups than downs during your amazing experience. It is hard (and I only went for 2 months to easy countries) but its all worth it :) Take care xxx