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Hello all and welcome to my final blog.
Question : How many Vietnamese can you fit on a motorscooter ?
Answer : 5
Question : Name 3 things you can put on the back of a motorscooter.
Answer : Your brand new and very expensive plasma TV, a dead calf, 20 plastic patio chairs - yes 20, I struggle to put 6 in the car.
Anyway on with the show :
The day before I went to Halong Bay, I did a couple of 'must sees' in Hanoi. In the morning I went to see Ho Chi Minhs body at the mausoleum. There were hundreds of people queing up to get in and it took about half an hour to get inside. Once inside you are not allowed to stop and the soldiers make sure that you keep moving. They also confiscate your camera before you queue so no photos of the interior are possible. Quite interesting seeing the man himself. He looks really small and reminds me of Gadalf the wizard. In the afternoon I went to Hoa Lo prison. This prison was built by the French in 1893 to detain and torture the Vietnamese
who opposed them. During the Vietnam war it was used to house American POW's. If the photos and texts are to be believed, the Americans had it pretty good in there. They were allowed mail and presents from home and they played sports and were fed well. As soon as the war ended they were all released with their belongings and sent back home. Its a shame but you only get to see a third of the original prison as the rest was demolished in 1993 and a huge hotel built in its place. I leant a lot about the history of Vietnam too and you can't help but simpathise with them. Basically the French took over in 1800's and treated the locals like shit, in the second world war the Japanese kept trying to invade, when the second world war finished the French took over again. After finally getting rid of the French in 1954 there was about 10 years of calm and then of course the Americans came. So pretty much anyone over the age of 32 has only know war with other countries trying to take over Vietnam.
The next day I was off to Halong
Bay. I was lucky as the first 2 days at Halong Bay were filled with blue skies and sunshine. It pretty much hasn't stopped raining since. The first day was spent on the boat meeting my co travelers and taking in the scenery. We stopped to check out a cave which was huge so no worries there after my cave tubing incident. The islands around the bay are very scenic but the water is a very brown colour and is full of rubbish. The locals pretty much just pile up trash where ever there is space, and of course the sea is the biggest space they can find. Despite that I did get to do some night swimming and a short kayak trip to an island. The first night was spent 'sleeping' on the boat. But of course before that some drinking was the order of the day. Unfortunately with the help of 3 english girls and 4 Irish travellers we drunk the boat dry shortly after 10:00pm. Not much to do after that so of to bed we went. The rooms on the boat consist of twin beds, fans, a bathroom and very little space. As there are only
a few rooms on the boat people had to pair up and I shared a room with one of the English girls ( clean thoughts people ). She was asleep in minutes but I lay there for 3 hours sweating like a racehorse because the room was an oven. About 2am I moved onto the deck and had just got comfortable when the rains started. Bugger ! So I then moved into the dining room to sleep on a bench seat. The crew were already sleeping in this area and just as I was cooling down from the breeze they closed all the doors and windows because of the rain. Bugger again ! In the end I did mange to get 3 hours sleep.
The next day we were taken to Cat Ba island and did a 2 hour hill trek in 37 degree heat. After that little jaunt it time for lunch on a floating seafood restaurant and then another short kayak trip to a remote beach for a swim. We were all staying on Cat Ba island that night and were put into a really nice hotel. The island itself is quite big and apart from this
one small town there is nothing else there except hills for trekking and so on. The Hanonians were there in the the 1000's as it is their eqivalent of Rottnest island and currently its the summer holidays and therefor peak time. I met up with the rest of my travellers that night in a karaoke bar where I dicovered, quite to my surprise 😊, that my singing talents were not as good I thought. I only did a couple of songs and most were left up to one of the Irish girls who sang really well. Good enough infact that as the night wore on, it was possible to dance to the songs - but I think the beer may have helped in a big way too 😊 Incidently, I have not had one single beer free day since I left Perth. Im not happy about it but what else are you to do in the evening ? Im going to try and restrict myself to Fridays and Saturdays only when I get home....... The next day everyone left for the mainland but I had opted to stay another couple of days. I actually did very little in those two days and it was a bit of a waste of time but I enjoyed the rest. Got back to Hanoi yesterday evening and and am here till Thursday and then its back to Singapore and I arrive back in Perth Friday night. I would like to catch up with everyone so Im thinking the Paddo about 2:00pm on Sunday. Just call my mobile and let me know if your up for it. I won't be able to check or answer it of course until Friday night.
So thats about it. To sum up my trip, its been exciting, tiring, hot, dangerous, adventurous and I have met many interesting people. So I'll end on a philisopical note. If you are sitting behind a desk wishing you were somewhere else, but feel you cannot because of friends, family, mortgages, debt, career or any other excuse not to do it, then I say just go and do it !
I'll end with the infamous quote from Ferris Bueller :
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while - you could miss it"
Bye all - see you soon.
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Pommie Mum
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That's my Boy!
Our last great blog. Have so enjoyed them all and think you would make a good travel writer - humorous an all an all. But, only if you don't do no more dangerous stuff!! You will find it strange gettin back into harness again, especially in front of your computer. Bet your mind will be wandering to all the experiences you have had instead of on the screen. Don't know if I can make it on Sunday as I have the ironing to do but will be with you in spirit (gin and tonic that is). Will give you a ring when you have had time to shake out the bugs and get over the hangover that you are going to have after the get together on Sunday. Have a safe journey home. Luv Mum and Tony