Blogs from North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 98

After a grueling 10 hour train ride from Sapa to Hanoi, we arrived at our glorious Metropole Hotel and our French rooms. While horribly long a ride, the country side of Vietnam was fascinating: neat and clean rural gardens, rice paddies, waterbuffalo pulling carts, everyone works, even the children! School is only in the morning so afternoons are for working on the farm or at the market. We had a cabin on the train which was lovely but claustrophobic and so naps and reading were our alternatives to watching the countryside go by. The next day we were off to Halong Bay, by car but only a few hours on a good road, through villages and more countryside. Amazing sights on the back of motorbikes: a live water buffalo strapped on, pigs in cages, and dogs ... read more

Right, well, brace yourself, this a bit of a long entry. It starts all the way back on 13th November, back in Chiang Mai, Thailand. ooh, well, it was just lovely to have a long lie in, and no cockrels to wake us up- woohoo!!! Our last day in Chiang Mai is a day of organising ourselves for our trip to Laos. We book our transfer with our GH, Eagle House (incl. accommodation, transport & 3 meals). We then try, in vain, to get hold of some kip (Lao currency), but no banks seem to have any, and the local ones have run out of US dollars (also accepted in Laos). So, off we wander in search of dollars! I hear someone shout "Amy!" as we are walking along. It didn't sink in for a minute ... read more

We are now in Vietnam. We have travelled many more miles since the last entry on a large number of modes of transport including boat, bus, plane, cyclo and foot. We are currently in Hue. We visited the Citadel this morning. It was badly damaged during the Vietnam War but is still lovely. It was raining so the whole place was misty. It looks how I would imagine the Forbidden City in Beijing to look (perhaps someone wants to take me so I can compare!) Not long left in Asia now. Off to NZ next...... read more

Moving South OK so I'm statrting to get a little bit beind in this thing so I will aspire to be briefer. I decided to get the open bus ticket that goes from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min (Saigon). The buses here can travel at a max speed of 50km/hr (30km/hr through the towns. The longer journeys take up to 14 hours but luckily they're generally over night (not that you can sleep with the bus honking and jolting every 20 seconds) Hue Hue is the old capital of Vietnam. The morning I arrived I jumped on the back of a motorcycle and go for a cruise around the sites. There are a lot of pagodas in Vietnam! After a whole day of siteseeing I finished up at the Citadel which is the the old home ... read more

Wednesday (I think...) I settled myself into my 4 berth, air conditioned sleeper destined for Hue. I was sharing with a Vietnamese family of 4. Mum and Dad worked for the Vietnamese Governement and spoke almost fluent English, their 7 yr old son could speak and pronounce better english than what I could, and their 2 yr old son who was just sooooo cute... (he couldnt speak english, but we'll let him off cos he couldnt speak Vietnamese either!) I had THE BEST nights sleep on the train ever! Until I was woken at 6am by some wailing Vietnamese woman's singing being piped through the speakers! We were served Beef noodles for breakfast (hey... I'll eat anything at any hour... not fussy!) Well, it was kinda like a pot noodle. There was a big tank of ... read more