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Since our last blog we seem to have crammed a fair bit in, thanks in part to the arrival of Ruth and Marie on a two week holiday, who have seemingly had more energy than us!
We spent a few days in Chiang Mai, which proved to be really relaxing. We walked around touring some beautiful temples and a fair share of markets - Andy has thoroughly been enjoying shopping with three girls! We also took part in a cookery course on an organic farm just outside the city - it was excellent, particularly when we watched another participant muck up when he added fish sauce to his sweet banana pudding - our teacher found this hilarious, and made me feel a bit better when I couldn't quite get the hang of making a perfect spring roll (top marks for Ruth though).
The sleeper train took us to Bangkok and we spent a couple of days exploring the sites there. I was expecting some variation of hell on earth, but the city wasn't half as chaoctic or smelly as I feared it might be. The grand palace and the neighbouring Wat were excellent, and we were all in awe
of the reclining Buddah.
A plane ride later found us in Hanoi, Vietnam. Straight away, both Andy and I thought this was the most 'different' place we have been on our trip so far. The city is fast paced, with the narrow old city streets teeming with scooters and push-bikes, cyclos and cars, making a simple road crossing seem like a military exercise. The pavements are used for scooter parking so there is no respite there either. Peddlars of all kinds of things also vie for road space, with their long carrying baskets hoisted over their shoulders. I've enjoyed it here, but am slightly in fear of Ho Chi Minh, which is meant to be far more choactic.
We've also taken two excellent trips out of Hanoi. The first to Halong Bay, an area of over 1000 tiny islands in the gulf of tonkin. We took a 2 day cruise on a replica junk boat soaking up the scenery which is best left described by the pictures. We also went out to Tam Coc, which the vietnamese are trying to sell as 'Halong Bay on land'. Tam Coc has karst scenery, similar to what we saw in the
south of thailand, but with the addition of miles of rice paddies and waterways. We took a cycling tour through the countryside, and then a trip on a sampan boat, throughly enjoying a good look at vietnamese country life.
Ruth and Marie are homeward bound tomorrow and Andy and I are back on the night train again, this time to Hue, about half way down the country.
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anonymous
non-member comment
> I couldn't quite get the hang of making a perfect spring roll > (top marks for Ruth though). Ruth, is the W.I. calling?