Umhlanga, Singapore and arriving in Hanoi

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban
February 25th 2008

Published: February 25th 2008

Edit Blog Post

Lynz 22

P2132502

Myles and Dyl off for a surf

Ended up staying with Myles for nearly 2 weeks as I didn't really want to leave! although we didnt really do much worth talking about, just went to the beach and went out in the evenings! spent most of the time with him and his best friend Dylan, they both work at a restaurant so when one of them wasn't working shifts then I would be with the other one, also went for lunch and for drinks a few days with his mum, Joy, and her partner Paul, and spent time with his brother Hilton too which was cool. So just had a nice couple of weeks with them, then I got on the bus on friday to Johannesburg which took most of the day. The journey took us through the Drakensburg mountains which were beautiful and I was originally planning to spend a few days there but ended up not doing so....! I stayed on friday night at myles' auntie's house in jo'burg which was great and a lot safer than staying elsewhere in the city as it's a bit of a dodgy place depending on the area you are staying in! Went to the shopping mall with his auntie

P2202538

Me and Milo

and cousin, then had a nice dinner back at their's and they took me to the airport the next morning.

I flew 10 hours out to Singapore airport and had to spend the day in singapore yesterday before getting my flight up to Hanoi in Vietnam. Singapore was a bit strange actually, I did a cheap bus tour just to get an idea of the city as a whole and at each stop they tell you 3 or 4 cultural things you can do in the area, then name 5 or 6 shopping malls! There are so many malls there with thousands of shops, from topshop and mango to louis vuitton etc so quite upmarket, but then there is the Little India district of Singapore and also the Chinatown area so quite a diverse range of economic areas.
I got the shuttle bus back to the airport and flew out to Hanoi on the budget airline Tiger Airways - seriously budget, the boarding card just looked like a receipt from a shop! The flight was fine though and I got chatting to the mum and daughter next to me who are originally english but live in vietnam and they

P2192524

Dyl and Milo - no we didn't drink that line of beers behind them.....no way...

were making sure i filled out my landing card right and feeding me and asked me to come in their taxi with them as they live close to the hostel i was staying in last night! So that was nice. Slept like a log last night having been awake for 24 hours and had free breakfast in this hostel this morning - which also has free internet that I am taking advantage of! We drove through the city from the airport to the hostel last night and it was crazy, so many people everywhere, so many cars and scooters, it was so hectic!! The temperature is a bit cooler than SA and singapore tho which is nice, altho it is a bit muggy and a bit grey today and even a bit of rain this morning! I'm off now to find the meeting point hotel where i'm meeting the group who i will be travelling with for the next 3 weeks, I think this next 2 months is going to be a totally different experience than my first 5 weeks....!!

Additional photos below

Photos: 49, Displayed: 24