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Published: November 7th 2008
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Well our tour of Vietnam has ended today and i'm taking a flight from Hanoi to Vientianne, Laos tomorrow at 16.30. REally enjoyed my time in Vietnam and probably preferred it to Cambodia.
Last Wednesday we got an overnight train from Nha Thrang to Danang and then we took a bus on to Hoi An. The train journey wasn't as comfortable as the first one and was difficult to get some sleep. We had a nice bus trip along the coast with lots of Vietanamese out exercising and swimming in the sea at 6am. The rainy season really hit home in Hoi An. Some of the town by the river was flooded and it was pouring rain on our walk around town. Its a pretty small town and the old quarter hasn't changed much in last 150 years.
On Thursday we hired bicycles for the day ($1) and went on a bit of an adventure with our guide! He took us into the country across these little dirt tracks a lot of which were flooded and full of muck. Was tough going in the heat. Came across some water buffallos, water snakes and went through a few geese farms.
I fell off my bike into a mini-stream but was ok. Lost my flip-flops which flowed away and the guide kept shouting to watch the water snake so i belted it out quick as i could! One of the girls was terrified of the water buffalo and wouldn't pass it for ages. So all in all was an interesting morning. Most of our legs were covered in mud by the time we got back to our hotel. We kept our bicycles and went to beach for the afternoon (about 3km away). That night 4 of us did a Vitanamese cooking course! Learnt to cook spring rolls, papaya salad and fish in banana leaf. The course cost $9 but was only ok as we didnt actually get to do that much cooking ourselves.
The next day 3 of us went to My Son, part of the ancient Cham Empire. Some of the buildings were bombed during the war but was pretty impressive. We toured the sites for about an hour and half. Mostly brick buidings held together with some kind of paste. Its been a World Heritage site since 1999. Its in a really beautiful area, a bit jungle like
with lots of clear streams about. Went to beach for afternoon and got to watch Ire v Australia international rules match later on.
On Saturday we headed for Hue by bus passing some amazing scenery, Hai Van Pass, on the way. Lots of green vegetation, mountains and brilliant sea views. Stopped at a deserted beach on the way which was pretty cool. Hue served as political capital from 1802 to 1945 under the emperors of the Nguyen dynasty. We rented bicycled here and headed for the countryside in the morning. Later we visited the Citadel (another World Heritage Site), Imperial Enclosure and Forbidden Purple City. Much of it is being reconstructed and will be really impressive when its finished!
On Monday we afternoon we took another overnight train up to Hanoi. The train had to stop about 10km south of the city due to floods and we took a bus the rest of the way. I went for a stroll around the Old Quarter in the morning and stumbled upon the market. I had a lovley fried egg baguette on the streets and witnessed the execution of a chicken while having my breakfast!! (prob had a bit of
that chicken later on too..tasted pretty good!) In the afternoon our guide took us on orientation walk around city. We visited Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace and his lodgings. Later that night found a place with street beers for about 20cent a glass...not much alcohol in them but was really really cheap. While there saw my first bit of violence in Vietnam. 2 local girls started to fight and began throwing plastic chairs at each other. Others were trying to hold them back, then a guy throws a puch at another guy, lots of shouting and roaring going on, then another guy appears down some stairs with a massive butchers knife and went chasing a guy down the street. Things kinda calmed down anyhow and the police arrived. Hanoi closes really area and all bars shut at 11.30.
On Wednesday we left Hanoi for Halong Bay. We had a boat to ourselves (8 of us) and set out at 11. Stopped and visited some caves which was pretty cool and then had a fantastic lunch on our boat. The boat anchored a bit after that and we did some swimming in the ocean which was fantastic. We
spent the night on Cat Ba island and took a local boat back the next day. We had our last dinner together last night and headed for some beers after. I'm having a relaxing day today and the heading on for Loas tomorrow!!
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