Don't get Hanoi'd with the scooters...join them!

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Hanoi

So we arrived in Hanoi from the airport and our minibus dropped us at a random point in town. As the doors opened about 10 taxi drivers climbed into the minibus to try and get you to take one of their taxis and stop you getting out of the minibus until you had agreed. This continued as we fought our way out of the minibus, through the throng of taxi drivers and to the boot where we got our bags. We decided the best approach would be to pick a direction and keep walking and stop to find out where we were once the coast was clear so off we walked. We were instantly greeted by incessant horn honking and more scooters than you can imagine in one space - we were fairly convinced we were going to get runover instantly but took the advice of our guidebook and just walked slowly across roads (not easy with our backpacks - as I proved by falling over and sliding across my face!). We eventually made it to where our hostel was supposed to be only to find it wasnt there so we went to a fancy hotel where a man gave us directions (opposite end of town obviously) and called us a taxi! Got ourselves a nice room for the night and went for a walk around Hoem Kiem lake which was very pretty - we then stopped in a bar for a drinky poo before bed. The next morning we walked the City going around the lake and to the Frech Quarter, walked to Ho Chi Minh's Mausauleum (HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT??) but it was closed so we went around the Presedential Palace and saw Ho Chi Minh's House. Next we headed to the Literature Museum which was beautiful and then we walked back towards the Old Quarter where our Hotel was. That evening we went to the Water Puppet show whioch was very very odd, traditional but Odd - the music, and the qhole performance was a little disturbing and hard to follow but we experienced this part of the culture so all is well (until the nightmares return).

Halong Bay

The following morning we were up early for a 2 day trip to haylong bay, was lots of natural limestone outcrops in the water and very pretty despite it being a bit misty. We had a good group on our boat including a guy called noel who was giving everyone shots of vodka! We also went into a huge cave which was pretty impressive but partly because of the coloured lights they had put in there! It was a really good trip if slightly impeded by the weather but we've learnt to deal with that by now! We went canoeing too which was fun albeit a little wet! It was also entertaining to see that even in the middle of open water you cant escape people trying to sell you things - there was even a lady with her little row boat full of goodies waiting for us one morning which was quite the treat for Jon when he stepped outside in his boxers to 'hello you want to buy someting'. With Halong Bay being the no.1 tourist destination for visitors to vietnam it was understandably busy - where we stayed over night we counted about 50 boats each with at least 15 people on and the cave was more like a queue for a disney ride where you could only take a step forward when the person in front of you had - we would say this affected the enjoyment of the trip but it was still pretty all the same. We then returned to hanoi and caught an overnight bus down to Dong Ha.

Dong Ha, the DMZ and Hue

After an overnight bus we stopped in Dong Ha on our way to Hue for a little rest (the overnight bus was horiffic - our minibus got us there over an hour late so there were no seats left except some on the back row which were right above the engine and so boiling!! We sat with a couple from texas and the four of us were not the happiest of people - particularly as the bus never took toilet breaks. After the rest in Dong Ha we simply couldnt face the rest of the journey and so decided to do a trip round the DMZ from here instead. The trip was really interesting we saw one of the American Army bases, some of the destruction caused by Agent Orange (although the jungle is starting to grow back now), some unexploded bombs, a US tank, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, we crossed the border from North to South Vietnam and we also went in the tunnels which was very indiana Jones and pretty impressive that they were built by hand - really hard to imagine what it must have been like in them with so many people. There were 6 of us on the trip and we all got on well and once it was over we got driven to Hue, we all found ourselves some accommodation and Jon and I went for a walk along the river, then for dinner. We then met up with the others for a drink in a bar - except the bar had moved locations so the owner paid for us to get a cyclo to the new location - they gave us a free shot and some nibbles and we stayed chatting for a while before bed.

Hoi An

Another early start for another bus to Hoi An. Jon then parked me in a cafe while he went on the bac of a motorbike looking for accommodation. Once that was sorted we went for a walk round the mass of tailors (and I mean mass - they are everywhere but it makes the whole place really colourful which is nice. After a good tour we went for some dinner then returned to our favourite tailor to get measured up. The next day was spent wandering round the markets and the town which was surprisingly big. The following day we took a trip to My Son which is the home of the ancient temples of the Cham people - they were pretty impressive and our guide gave us lots of interesting info about them. They dated between the 4th and 13th century but the destruction of some parts proved another harsh reminder of the brutalities of the war (U.S. bomb scars everywhere). We then got the boat back along the river stopping at a carpentary village. We then raced around collecting items and doing odd and ends having made the rapid decision to catch the bus that night!

Da Lat

We couldn't face 24 hours on a bus to Saigon so decided to stop 17 hours in at Da Lat for the night. It was a hill station so a slightly cooler temperature which was nice. We went for a walk and a coffee by the lake then hired scooters for 2 hours to cruise around - debbies was a bit dodge though and kept cutting out! We then had dinner and went for a fre voga session - this was a talk on vietnamese culture, and tea drinking ceremony and an introduction to meditation. It began with the rampage of appreciation where we had to stand holding hands saying what we appreciated about our day!! We then had several cups of tea discussing 'spiritual things' then we had to lie back close our eyes and listen to some plinky plonky music - was quite relaxing really - so much so that Jon had a little snooze not to reawaken until about 30 mins after everyone else. We then had to all hug each other before heading home 3 hours later. Was quite an interesting session in parts and certainly gave us some entertainment for the evening! Then off we went to bed before another early bus to Saigon

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

We arrived after a slightly distressing journey (dead man in the road) and found ourselves somewhere to stay. We then went for a walk around the town and the market. We had dinner at the market and sat with 2 gay guys from the phillipines who were really nice and very entertaining - camp! We then went to a rooftop bar for a few drinks and on our way down saw them again sitting at the bottom of this bar so we joined them for a while with 2 of there friends getting tips about thing to do then off we went to bed. The next day we went to Reunification Palace which was a rather grand building with a lot of beautiful furniture inside. We then went to the War Remnants Museum which was really upsetting - the photos of the war are so no holds barred you really get a picture for how horrific it must have been - there are also pictures of the after affects such as the effect of agent orange and the napalm used by the US including pickled deformed phoetuses. We cant really describe what it was like in there as its like nothing you had ever seen before. We then went to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. The next day was spent visiting the Jade Emperor pagoda which was nice - really ornate wooden carving but a bit run down compared to other temples we had seen. we tried to use the swimming pools in fancy hotels but they wanted to charge us $25 so we abandoned that plan for an afternoone of chilling out watching the world go by (read: eating cake) (and a crazy world it is in Saigon) before catching abus the next morning to Pnomh Penh (Cambodia).

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Photos

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Hanoi by night

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Yummy Hawker street vendor spring rolls

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Ho Chi Minh's house

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Boat sellers in Ha Long Bay

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Kayaking in Ha Long Bay

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Ha Long Bay by night

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Mist in the morning (Ha long Bay)

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US Army post, DMZ

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Mass Graves

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Beach lunch stop

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Tunneling with the V-C

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Tuk Tuk ride

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Lunch with the locals in Hoi An

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Talior-made suits

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Sewing me in

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Full Monty

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Scooters EVERYWHERE in Hanoi