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Published: November 12th 2009
Our camera memory card sadly corrupted the photos of our travels so far. I lost some remarkable pictures so you'll understand why I'm pretty sparse on pictures for this entry! I will add pics when I can and let you know when I do so.
Oriel and I are now tying up the loose ends of an interesting excursion in Vietnam. We haven't travelled around as such. In fact we've only been to two places: Hanoi and Sa Pa. As of putting this together, we are in Hanoi for the last few days before we get the plane to Cebu, Philippines, in order to travel to Apo Island for three weeks of isolation from the rest of the world and to get our diving qualifications.
In order to get here, we had to get a metro train from Central Hong Kong to a place, right near the HK/Chinese border called Lo Wu. Having crossed the border (twas a bit much, the Chinese customs) we walked the short distance to a big train station called Shenszen (probably... seems about right). After an hour long and rather revolting train trip (many native Orientals have that nasty habit of cleaning their sinuses
every few minutes... It makes for a pretty nasty aural backdrop on things) we arrived at Gangzhou. We cunningly got a metro to Gangzhou train station proper and were culturally obliterated from then on!
Gangzhou, we later found out, has a reputation for being one of the most unpleasant and risky in Southern China. Nice. We had to negotiate our way through a highly convoluted ticket buying process before then settling in to a mammoth 9hr wait for our train to Nanning (the connecting station for Hanoi).
After much waiting around, tired, dirty and scared, we got on the train at 9 o'clock at night only to find that we'd been given separate cabins - we were both sharing a cramped cabin with 3 strangers, none of which spoke any English!!! We calmed ourselves down with many bottles of beer and decided it would probably be fine which it was.
Morning and Nanning arrived. We had to (again) work out how to buy a ticket and then sit around for another goodness knows how many hours till our train to Hanoi at 18:45. We decided to explore and found a manky river. We sat and read. A
man on the other side of the river, walked down the steps to the edge of the water, turned his back to us, pulled his trousers down and, literally, dropped the kids off at the river for a swim (a deft backwards kick flicked them in to the water). Less than half an hour later, the local nutter went for swim in the river (this was a proper urban stretch of water - the LOCALS were astounded). We hurried back to the train station.
We got on the train eventually, having previously been shown the first class waiting room (we should have spent our day in there... they had arm chairs and everything... and a courtyard with Koi Carp!!! ARGH!). Mercifully, the soft sleeper bookings were so few that we had a cabin to ourselves! We felt elated. Our sleep was, however, interupted twice when we had to lug ourselves and our bags outside for customs both in China and Vietnam. The first time was at about 10pm, the second at 2 in the morning! It seemed sadistic. We weren't exactly treated with kid gloves (and that was just the cavity search...!).
Early in the morning we were
plonked at a station on the outskirts of Hanoi with no money (the amusingly coined - ho ho - 'dong'... later we saw a business which boasted that 'Your Dong is Safe in Our Hands!'). We decided to walk to the hotel which was a silly idea. Once we gave up and got a taxi, having got what we perceived was being tantalisingly close, we found that it was blimmin miles away. And it was not even 6 in the morning at this point.
At first, we were not taken with Hanoi. Leaving our hotel later that day, having had a nap, we were bombarded with people asking if we wanted a taxi, a moto taxi (jump on the back some dude's bike and have him take you goodness knows where), a cyclo ride (sit in a little chair that the poor sod has to cycle around for no good reason) and lots of different types of food, trinkets and pointless items. We decided to stay in the Old Quarter and the very small streets were filled with clamouring scooters, everyone honking in order to let other drivers where they were on the road. It was all a bit
much. We looked around the rest of Hanoi centre to see if we could find a better area to stay in. By the time we got back to our hotel after this excursion, we had discovered that we were in the best location and that, actually, it was merely a case of getting one's head round the commotion and the chaos. It was very easy to eat vegan and we have some fantastic ideas in terms of what to do with tofu. You can buy a beer here for 10p. In the early morning, the inhabitants of Hanoi gather to the Hoan Kiem Lake (a central land mark in Hanoi) to exercise. Most popular with the older ladies is Tai Chi although many of them just seem to flail their arms around in a rather amusing fashion. A continuous procession forms around the lake as hundreds of people take to a quickly paced walk - many of which flail their arms around which is equally as amusing. At night, groups of aerobics classes bop around with abandon. It is lovely sight to behold as these times highlight a firm sense of community in Hanoi.
After week of Hanoi we
travelled, by overnight train (we love it, clearly) to Sa Pa. Sa Pa is a mountainous town facing the peak of Fan Si Pan (although it would be more accurate to describe the mountains around Sa Pa as ridges - at least in an aesthetic sense). We stayed in a fantastic hotel with a balcony view of said mountains and it was a truly impressive sight to behold.
Every day, hundreds of women from local tribes (predominantly Black H'mong) flock to the town in order to sell their wares, typically textiles and brocade. They go through some lengths to do this. We were befriended by two such women (whether we liked it or not) who then accompanied us on a 6km walk down to the nearby village of Cat Cat and back just so they could sell us something at the end!
In the evenings, cloud creeps down from the hills and enshrouds Sa Pa in a wonderfully atmospheric fog. The climate is markedly fresher than the lower provinces and it was fantastic to escape the humidity of a while.
Five days in, having completed two walks and feeling a bit concerned that we'd run out of
The Old Quarter
in all its glorythings to do, we rented a scooter and had the accident. What happened waaaaaaas... we were tootling towards some kind of tourist attraction (involving waterfalls I think - none of Asia, by the way, has topped Wales yet. I see a waterfall and think of the joyous torrent of Devil's Bridge... you get the idea), Oriel on the back, me willing the damned thing go faster. We came to a more gravelly part of road and i sensibly ceased my endeavor for speed. A minibus was coming around the approaching corner so I let off the throttle. Despite this, it began to get a little close for comfort and then a bit closer than that. So I slammed on the breaks. Unfortunately, the most convenient brake to slam on is to be found on the right handlebar and it just so happens that this is the FRONT brake. The far handier back brake is to be found on the right peddle. In an emergency, one should apply both but I didn't think, in my immediate panic, and used the one I'd use if i was on a push bike. We lost control and fell over on to the right side
The Old Quarter
Taken from a lovely bar/restaurant. We ate tofu and onions with fried rice. where we skidded along for a bit. Needless to say it was pretty harrowing. We were pretty bloodied up. The minibus contained three Brummies, probably in shock, much like us. I was filled with self-damning thoughts, as you can imagine. Said Brummies patched us up and the minibus took us back to our hotel whereupon we hobbled to our room, showered as best we could and became addicted to a very bad movie channel for three days flat until the telly broke.
Alas this was a source of huge frustration to Oriel and I and, though we did our level best to amuse ourselves - budget be damned - we felt pretty stir crazy in the last couple of days. After a pretty hellish train journey back here, we've decided to forgo a trip to Ha Long Bay is it seems very expensive and we want to save our money for scuba diving etc.
In Philippines there will countless dive sites varying from reefs to ship wrecks. One boasts seven different species of shark (hurrah!) and there is also an island from which one can snorkle with whale sharks. Apparently, in season (Feb-May), it's not question of whether
The Old Quarter
A typical building/shop. Apparently, the average building shop is 2 metres wide. You can't see the bottom of this one because I took it from the second floor. you'll see a whale shark but how many. Up to fifteen have been sighted in one place.
Over two months since we left home, our travels are about to begin in earnest.
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Nicky
non-member comment
Reading your entry for Vietnam made me laugh so much I think we had a very similar holiday when I was there with Claude 3 years ago. We had the same train journey experience! Enjoy your trip to Philippines! I'm off there in 6 weeks but will be in Manila and Palawan. Safe journey. XXX