Vietnam Chapter Closes and the China Chapter Opens . . . . .

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We've had some internet stability problems over the past fortnight which has limited our capacity to blog, poke people on Facebook, tweet our thoughts to our 6 followers and use our level 36 Spellcaster on World of Warcraft. Now, under the guidance of Uncle Mao and his band of merry men and their Golden Firewall, we'll endeavor to bring peace to the parents mind and provide the why's and wherefore's of our trip up until now.

Since we last blogged, we have travelled from Hoi An on the Central Coast to Guilin in China. Taken 6 bus trips, a couple of train trips and rocked our iPod playlists from start to finish at least three times! There has been some highlights, some eye opening experiences, plenty of frustrations and an unbearble amount of km's travelled.

Hoi An was one of the highlights for us. The Ancient Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is very beautiful and reminded us of Luang Prabang in Laos. Plenty of French, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese architectural influences in this part of town, with allegedly the best tailors in the world. (Funny, we've heard that statement from every tailor we have ever bought a suit from!!!) We found a place that served Vegemite on toast, which would've been awesome if the toast was hot, we took a cooking course at a restaurant called Blue Dragon- a not for profit Australian NGO that empowers disadvantaged Vietnamese children to gain employment through upskilling which was very good, and would've been better if we were given a recipe at the end of the course! I can imagine having some interesting tasting spring rolls in Australia when we forget a how to put the 'Spring' in the spring roll!

During our stay in Hoi An we were lucky enough to see the Full Moon Festival that also celebrated Buddha's birthday- a huge celebration of colour and smells and smiles on the streets, which were closed to traffic as the whole town and surrounding provinces converged for a night of festivities Buddha style! The road closures and density of people made it quite difficult to get back to our hostel with our bicycles.

We also were introduced to the counterfeit fashion industry down at the beach. As Kiara bought a pair of bikini's and Jez was trying to politely give reasons why he didnt want to buy some boardshorts (ie wants two pockets, likes Quiksilver not Billabong, doesnt like the design etc) and was swiftly taken down the alley to a factory line of ragtrade workers making shorts and told to pick his material, and if he wants two pockets that'll be 10k Dong extra and if there is anything else he wants just say so! Im sure the team at Billabong and Quiksilver would be interested in these places.

We went out to the My Son site as well, which is kind of like Angkor Wat but on a much smaller scale and accessible on a half day sunrise tour. Very nice to see ancient architecture outlive the modern buildings and a nice way to appreciate the sunrise.

From Hoi An we took a train ride to Hue and this was worth every minute of the three hours. Beautiful scenery as you are squashed between the mountain and untouched bays of blue water. We decided to break up our South-North Vietnam trip by overnighting in a town called Hue. There isnt much to see here apart from the Ancient Citadel- which is nice except we didnt have a tour guide so were quite blind to the context of the buildings and things presented here. Nonetheless, it is a nice snapshot into another time in history and you are immediately impressed by the size of the thing- spanning a huge footprint. But alas, we were starting to dread the next leg of our trip through to Vietnam- a 15hr train trip to Hanoi overnight. Beauty.

Lucky enough for us however, we were paired with a couple of English girls who were quite interesting and fortunately they had some speakers which we plugged into our laptop and watched a few episodes of the Inbetweeners which we managed to download with some free wifi from a cafe in Hoi An. Cheeky sods! The train trip came and went and was fun enough but when we arrived in Hanoi, a bit tired and ready for an airconditioned room, we werent on our game when it came to dodgy taxi drivers ripping unsuspecting tourists off. We were stooged by being taken the scenic route when we insisted on the meter being used and then when we got to the guesthouse we found out quickly that there was a reason that the room we booked was the cheapest in Hanoi. We're not sure what it was about the room, was it the mouldy shower curtain? Nup. It could've been the rising damp on the walls, the puddles left on the floor (read: your bag) after it rained or a combination of one of those and not having any wifi in the room or an operating tv. Is this what Hanoi has to offer, or was there more? Luckily it was a blessing in disguise however, as our hand was forced and we checked out the next day and went on an overnight trip in Halong Bay which was nothing short of excellent.

Halong Bay is very picturesque, the 4.5hr drive out there is not. We managed to get a competitive price and were fortunate to have an excellent, youthful and fun group to share the boat with. The three American girls new enough Spice Girls songs to keep the karaoke machine going, a couple of British lads snuck enough tequila onboard to get the staff drunk enough to forget to charge us for our drinks after midnite, and an Irish couple who were both doctors so if rice wine poisoning occurred we were in safe hands. Rice wine poisoning didnt occur, but the karaoke was infectious enough, with our boat being the last to turn off the lights on Halong Bay!

We spent a couple of extra nights in Hanoi when we got back and prepared ourselves for the China chapter. . . . . . worth waiting for the next blog to write about. Thank God we know what a dumpling looks like, and what KFC and McDonalds looks because this is going to help alot!!!

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Photos

Earcleaning:Clarity of Sound
The closest any knife has been to my brain!

Hanoi Backapckers
We knew somewhere we could find the State of Origin being telecast.

Kiara at My Son
Build it and they will come.

My Son Statue：
Yes they wore hats in ancient times

Halong Bay Karaoke Crew
Falcetto's and Stuff

Beach Soccer and Volleyball in Halong Bay
Can I blame being unfit on the sand?

Quail Eggs: Get it in Yer
Better than rare and endangered turtle eggs.

Halong Bay Hotties
Worth the trip.

All the ladies
Jez will buy your quail eggs if you come out to the clubs with me.

Comments

[JezandKiara]

Your write so eloquently.
You have such skill with the prose and your penmanship is second to none. Thank you wordsworth.

[Kellyansapansa]

Wow, times sure have changed. Imagine backpacking in the days before wifi!