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Published: December 6th 2006
Ho Chi Minhs house
Outside Ho Chi Minhs resting place.Hi from Mark and Kate, wishing you seasons greetings and hope the Christmas capitalist bonanza isn't driving you mad! We're in Laos now but first i'll tell you about Hanoi and Halong.
After our whistlestop tour of Hue and the DMZ we boarded the nighttrain to Hanoi. 13 hours rattling along the coastal railway snug as a bug in a rug in our cabin. We arrived and successfully dodged the cheating ba$%*d of a taxi driver who wanted 5 dollars to drive us the 1.5 dollar trip into town. Funnily enough they always change their mind from meter to fixed price once the bags are in the boot! Arriving at 4.30 in the morning, the city was like a ghosttown, everything including all the hotels shut up for the night. We whiled away the few hours sitting by the lake and were able to watch the morning spectacle of Hanoi waking up. Within an hour there was hundreds of hanoians walking/jogging around the lake, doing Tai Chi, syncronised bat and ball exercises, you name it. After stuffing our faces with french pastries for b'fast we got a hotel and began our explorations of the city.
We took in the
Temple of Literature
Kate posing in front of Confucious's temple. beautiful/peaceful Temple of Literature, watched a water puppet show and were communistically marched around Ho Chi Minhs stuffed, waxlike body by the self-important guards which was an experience in itself. Shame for him that he wanted to have a simple cremation. If he only knew!!!!!!! Luckily he'd just come back from Moscow where he goes (probably kicking and screaming) for his annual maintanance.
Hanoi is a hotbed of craziness! Within hours the place was teaming with motorbikes, cars and people. For whatever reason they all see it fit to beep their horns CONSTANTLY which is not at all good for your nerves or karma. Add to this the CONSTANT touting, begging, selling etc etc and it didn't take long for us to upsticks and head for Halong bay for a two day cruise around the tranquil limestone islands. A truely beautiful place (unlike Hanoi with its lack of building regulations, disappearing french architecture and rubbish), and no horns to be heard anywhere. We went with Kangaroo cafe after having shopped around and had a very relaxed time. As during our Angkor wat and DMZ tours we managed to avoid the crowds to see the sites. In this we've been
Water puppet show
By all accounts, water puppeteers have a load of occupational water related illnesses related to long periods of immersion in mucky water. Thought you'd like to know that! lucky. The food on board was plentiful and delicious and company was in the form of only 4 other guests. Kate chickened out and avoided the water (yes the weather was unfortunately cool), so Mark (hero) managed to get everybody else into the water which was surprisingly warm once you got used to it.
Once back in Hanoi it wasn't long before nerves snapped and expletives were exchanged and we'd had enough so booked a flight to tranquil Luang Prabang in Laos. Its is like chalk and cheese for somewhere an hours flight away. We tried to get some dollars in Hanoi as were told to take them to Laos but you might as well try and find some rocking horse "poo" (edited by Kate as her Mum has to read this!) as they look at you stupid and pretend they don't have any! (And thats the main bank!) Even at the airport the tellers seemed put out to be giving you some. Anyway after half an hour managed to acquire said american currency and off we went. Looking back we had a fab time in Vietnam and especially liked the south with its more chilled out feel, better
Keen as mustard
Despite having seen hundreds of temples, Mark remains as keen as ever! food and nicer people and would go again but Hanoi was the straw that broke the camels back for us. Being seen as a walking dollar sign all day long soon takes its toll, and while most people are lovely, all the others are trying to cheat you out of few extra dollars whereever they can which grates.
So now we're in Luang Prabang and can feel our batteries speedily recharging for our next leg of the journey. Stay well, don't eat too many mince pies, lots of love Mark and Kate
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Caroline
non-member comment
Very cute pair
You two are gorgeous. I'm looking at taking my husband and 3 offspring to 'Nam and Siem Reap, and I just love the way that 'Mark' is seemingly having an absolute ball. What a great couple you are. Hope it's nice over there.