North Vietnam

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well hello again,

We have been busy since the last entry, we arrived in Hanoi and immediately got coerced into a hotel by a tout, i know i thought i was strong minded but there persistant little buggers. The hotel was nice and it worked out at around 2.50 a night so we couldnt really complain, untill we got thrown out after the second night because we wouldnt book a trip with them. Standard vietnamese service. We spent the first day getting our bearings of the city and learning how to cross the road, the traffic is unbelievable it feels like you are risking your life everytime you step off the pavement but they say as long as you make eye contact you will be ok, quite difficult when your facing a few hundred oncoming bikes. We managed to fight our way to the water puppetry theatre which was really interesting, the control they have considering there positioned behind a bamboo curtain is mind boggling.

After 2 days of hanoi we were pretty fed up of the constant ear ache of bike horns so we decided to book a tour to halong bay for 2 nights. The tour operator might as well of been called dodgy bobs scam tours as we got nothing that was promised in the description. We were told that we would spend the first night on the boat which once we got on figured would be impossible given there were 28 people and only 14 beds. So we were shipped off to a bug ridden hotel after an hour on the boat not the 4 hours that were promised. I then spent most of my time flat on my back as the food they fed me supprise supprise was dodgy, i suppose my experience wasnt as bad as some aussie and french couple's who had been stung $61 for the experience so they just did what all westerners would do and pinned the tour guide against the wall, i love this place, who needs tv! To rub some extra salt in the wounds the bus broke down on the way back and the driver decided to try and repair it with a pair of scissors.

After getting back to hanoi we decided it was best to get the hell out of there and headed on to Hue.

Hue was the old capital of viatnam, and was the previous devide between the north and south during war times. There was alot of military memorabilia scattered round the hillsides mainly consisting of french turrets guarding the perfume river. We enjoyed a moped tour of the surrounding area which was really good fun, we had a crazy tour guide who took us to places that you would never find on your own. Really felt like you were seeing it all the local way. We only spent one night here as we pretty much saw what we needed to on the bike tour so we moved on to Hoi an, four hours south by bus.

Hoi an is a small town on the coast really quaint sort of looks like it hasnt been touched for 150 years, suprising as every year the town gets flooded by the various typhoons that pass through. It is most certainly the place to get stuff made with over 200 tailors in a town no bigger than Abergavenny, i swore i would keep to budget but for the price, i just couldnt resist, i had 2 shirts handmade for me for 7.50 a piece, absolute bargain, fits like a dream! We stayed for a few nights here and really just chilled out, took a vietnamese cooking course which was fun, mum would be proud, i now know how to cook fish in banana leaf, spring rolls and calamari salad. I might share my culinary knowledge with you when i get back, for a cheap price.

Thats all for now will be back in touch soon. oh and i managed to post a few pictures of hong kong on the previous blog. Will do the same for this when i find a decent p.c.

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