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Published: March 16th 2009
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Halong Bay
A bit misty,,, but amazing!!!! Hi all,
Finally, after 2 failed attempts here's the blog for the last couple of weeks. Ok, since the last time we wrote we've moved into
Vietnam, and have almost gone from the top to the bottom over the last couple of weeks. Its so beautiful in places and yet still so rugged and basic in others. Definitly somewhere we'll come back to one day.
We arrived in
Hanoi Wedneday week ago (4th March), after flying from
Vientiane in Laos. The flight was,,, er,,, interesting as it was a turbo prop that made so many, 'not plane like' noises, and what with no visibility for the entire descent we were very happy that the 4x1 cm tuna sarnies took our minds of it for a short time. Landing we thought we'd arrived back at Heathrow, it was raining, and about 10 degrees.... nasty. Only when the cab driver narrowly avoided a series of cow's, goats and 4,382 mopeds from the airport to the hotel did we know we were definity in Vietnam. The chaos kept up all day and we sat high up in a local cafe watching the mopeds some how managing to interchange from everywhere and yet
Halong Bay Scenary
From Titop Mountain,,,, 425 steps to get this pic! it seems to work.
We spent a couple of days in the town, wandered around, Kev had some gutter side meat (not dog,, we think) when we were sitting in child size seats on the edge of the road. Also caught the (famous,,, apparently) local Water Puppet show. We then headed out to
Halong Bay on the Saturday morning (see pics). One of the places we were really looking forward to. The scenary was stunning, even though it was a bit overcast and misty. We went to some caves and viewpoints and did some kayaking and trekking over the 3 days. Also met some really nice people on the boat that we've since bumped into in several places down the coast which has been great too. We went to Cat Ba National park for the trekking and stopped off at a local farm for tea and payaya. Stayed in the town with some people from the boat and had the World Championship of Jenga!! (See pic)
On the Monday when we got back to Hanoi we jumped on the sleeper train to a place called
Hue. The train was not as comfy as the ones in Thailand, but
Junk Boats in Halong Bay
Ours was the one with the orange sails! shared a 4 bed cabin with two Germans, a guy and his father. They were good value and Kevin managed to get in the fact that Norwich were the only English side to beat Bayern Munich at home,,,ever. (Maria is yawing again at that stat!) We arrived in Hue which has a massive Citidel in the town and lots of historic places. We walked for most of the day around it all and sealed it all with a Cornetto,,,classy huh! Comedy moment was being picked up by a guy in his 70's with his 1 seater cylco to get to the bus station, with both of us in the seat, our large rucksacks and a steep hill with the locals laughing at us.
Early next morning (Wed 11th) we were on the bus to
Hoi An through some stunning scenario (Marble Mountains) with everything so lush and green. Also the wierdest tourist hamlet that had every shop selling 6 foot marble statues for your garden. Kev was tempted as he knows his mum n dad would love one,, but there wasn't enough room in the minibus. Also Maria was so side tracked by some puppies, its amazing they didn't
Jenga Championships
Delicatly does it! A beer at stake! end up in the rucksack. Hoi An is probably the most picturesque place we've seen in Vietnam, lots of old colonial buildings along the river with lots of restaurants, gallaries, bars and tours to be done. We did a day tour out to some local ruins (My Son),, but it was sooooooo hot. Really interesting,, but soooooooo hot. The boat trip back was much fresher and the local ferries full of mopeds were funny. Talking of Mopeds',,, you've never seen so many, ever in your life. We had to get in on the act so our last day there we hired one and met up with some of the people from Halong bay at the local beach. Maria wasn't too sure to start with, but wanted to go around the block again before we handed it back. We did look cool in our helmets,,, Kev in his flower power one,, Maria in her Pawprint design.
From Hoi An it was a sleeper bus on Friday (13th) night to
Nah Trang. Now we hadn't been on a sleeper bus before, and were wary. Though we should not have been,,,, Kev loved it. 'was like having your own capsule to sleep
Tired Feet
Yep we were feeling lazy! in', he said. Though after 13 hours, it kinda wore off, and Maria even discovered she cannot sleep anywhere!!! As we rolled into Nah Trang most of the town were all at the beach (5.30am), either swimming, playing badminton, kicking shuttlecock type things to each other or just running around. Madness!!!! Surely they should still be in bed. This was the first real beach type place we'd been too, and we managed to find a guest house 30 seconds from the beach. Though the first day was like being at Cromer in Autumn so not so much sunbathing as dodging the spray and any heavily laiden coconut trees. (Not like Cromer) So Sunday was on the beach, and to our credit we stuck it out... luckily it was more like 30 and sunny. We both went in the sea, was a bit rough and were knackered when we got out. The waves were about 6 foot and more like Newquay.
So on Sunday night we set off again on a sleeper bus to arrive here in
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The journey was made amusing due to 3 Canadians playing the english version of 'Who wants to be
Moped Chaos
On your phone, with a wardrobe, no rules... How come no accidents? a Millionaire' on their PSP. Maria got bitten about 12 times in the 10 hour journey, some kind of record we think. So has been itchy today. We found our Guest House, though our room is on the 5th floor, so tired and sweaty from walking up and down the narrow stairs a few times (especially with the backpacks) and we went out for a wander. Headed to the Vietnam War museum which was very enlightening, giving the Vietnamese side of the story. Some touching stuff what with all the photos and accounts of what was going on that they don't show in the movies. Tomorrow we're off to the Cu Chi tunnels which formed part of the Viet Cong bases where they had the minute tunnels they used to hide in from the Americans. So should be good. Planning to head to
Cambodia on Wednesday for country no. 4!
Hope you're all well, next blog from Cambodia.
Maria and Kevin
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