Advertisement
Published: April 5th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Got a lot of catching up to do. Well here it goes!
We started our trip in Northern Vietnam in the city of Hanoi. Hanoi is a strange city...The way of life didnt quite make sense, and with a city that is extremely fast paced you can only imagine how hectic it gets.
In the core of downtown Hanoi, the busiest intersection, had NO method of controlling traffic. Picture this: About 75-100 scooters trying to go through the same intersection; some turning, others going straight..buses driving full speed, while the people on the scooters swerve to avoid getting hit...pedestrians crossing not even looking at the traffic. And the only time they come to a complete stop is to have a chat with a friend on another scooter, they do not ever stop, instead slowing down or swerving.
Every street in downtown Hanoi is named after a specific product. For example, certain streets only had sunglasses or toys or shoes or hats. Doesnt make much sense, since this creates extreme competition amongst the stores, and is highly inconveniant for any shopper looking to buy a variety of different items. As well, they all seem to carry the exact same products.
We met
Halong Bay
Picture taken from the boat up with a couple of friends that we knew from home, and went partying one night...while the other night we went to a jazz bar and watched an incredible band.
After spending 3 nights in Hanoi, we booked a 3 day trip to Halong Bay. Just like Thailand, the visibility could have been better. (Halong Bay has approximately 3000 oddly shaped islands)
Highlights of this trip included
1-an early morning trek through the mountains - It was a challenging but enjoyable climb...and very rewarding!!!
2-Kayaking to monkey island - and all this time i thought monkeys were friendly little animals....These monkeys were possessed. If i had to choose to go face to face with either, one of these monkeys or Bin Laden, I would probably have to say that id rather meet Bin Laden. They surrounded us and chased some of the tourists around, which resulted with the tourist running for their lives full speed into the water.
Overall, the trip through Halong Bay was unbelievable!
Next up - Hoi An. A town based on its tailers and beach. Bought quite a bit, but I'm definately content with my purchases. We ended up spending a few days taking it easy
in this town.
From Hoi An we continued down south to Nha Trang...
Nha Trang was full of high rise hotels. It kinda felt like we were in Miami. First day, we once again spent on the beach relaxing. Second day, we took a boat tour. The boat tour was packed with typical Vietnamese locals, not what we were expecting. This resulted in many loud cheers amongst the crowd before and after lunch, jokes in vietnamese which we obviously had no clue what was going on, and some traditional Vietnamese karaoke! And thankfully, we also had a chance to go snorkelling. Saw some MASSIVE fish but nothing that deserves any special mention. We then bussed on over to Mui Ne. The first time on this whole trip that i enjoyed travelling from city to city! The view was spectacular. Huge mountains on the right, and the ocean directly to the left. We decided to stay out of the core of the city, and ended up in a tiny cabin in the northern end of the city. We lay by the sea the first day, again, and both of us paid for a massage. The next day we took a tour
to the sand dunes, which seems to be what most of the travellers do in this city and after experiencing them, i can see why! The sand dunes seemed soo surreal. Looking at them out in the distance, it almost seemed as if i was staring at a cartoon. They just didnt look real... While on the top of one of the dunes, a few local kids tried to make us go down an almost vertical dune which lead into a huge body of water. Without any thought, both myself and Kev tried it, although i didnt realize how hard it was getting back up. For every 5 steps up that i tried to take, the sand pulled me back 2. We then visited a red sand canyon.
Currently, Im writing from Ho Chi Minh right, the night before i leave for Australia. Had a chance to check out the tunnels and a museum pertaining to the war. Really looking forward to the next part of the trip. Cant wait to see the family on this side of the world. Will write again....
Sorry for rushing this email, but i have many people bugging me to update this site
and not a lot of time to write it...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.184s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0689s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb