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Published: June 30th 2007
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Hostel in Hanoi
Inside of the backpackers hostel in Hanoi Well here I am in Hanoi, Vietnam and the place is amazing. The streets are packed with motorbikes constantly sounding their horns, going the wrong was up the street and not looking before they turn the corner but I completely love it.
My last entry ended with me being in Kunming, China waiting for my visa. On the 22nd June I got my visa and went to the bus station for the 19:30 bus to Heku which is an official border crossing with Vietnam. I knew in advance that the bus journey would take around 10 hours and was psyching myself up for spending the journey without any sleep. When arriving I was happy to see it was a sleeper bus and there were 6 tourists there. Who I stayed with untill I arrived in Hanoi.
We arrived at Heku at around 7am on the 23rd. The border only opened at 8 so we had to wait for a hour. Within this time we had attracted a group of Chinese people standing around and believe it or not some actually stopped their motorbikes, turned off the engines, looked at us for a couple of minutes and then got
Taxi
I went of a bicycle trip, and this is what we used to cross the river. back on with their journeys. The border crossing was pretty east and within half an hour we were in a new country. Now in Vietnam we had no local money only US Dollars so we decided to take a risk and do a deal with some dodgy guy and swap a little money. It all turned out Ok and we paid for a 9 hour train to Hanoi.
While on the train I decided to be ill with the sweats and removing my breakfast from my stomach into the toilet which is not a good thing to do. After managing to sleep for a bit I felt better and put the whole episode down to not drinking enough water and eating too many cakes which I bought for the journey.
Arriving in the country I immediately noticed differences from China, to start off with the railway was not as good or professional and the street sellers were more stubbon. Hanoi itself is a crazy exciting place with a really good feel to it. The first thing you notice it the amount of motorcycles which completely outweighs that of anywhere I had been in China. The streets here are completely
These women work hard
Women here in the countryside tend to do the hard work while the men; well don't. Believe me this bike was heavy. crazy and nothing like I have ever seen before. To start of with we had to build up the courage to cross the road but after a while you realise that even though being packed with scooters everything flows very well and as soon as you step out into the road everything goes round you like in China.
After spending a few days walking around and seeing some sights I decided that I was going to adventure out and look at hiring a bike. I used a company recommended by the hostel and was served a young guy in his 20's who asked if I would like a city guide for the day. Originally I said no but when about to get on the bike and realising that there is no way I will ever find my way back again I asked how much he would charge to which he replied $25 for the whole day. There was no way I was turning that down and so he rode his bike and I had mine. We spend the whole day out visiting temples, museums and some villages in the surrounding areas arriving back at the hire shop for 6:30pm.
Like it or hate it.
This is a snake in a bottle, which was at the snake restaurant. Throughout the day I watched and filmed pottery being made in factories, ate snake learned about Vietnamese history and just enjoyed riding about. After arriving back the guys at the hostel were glad to see that I hadn't had an accident then I took my guide for dinner at his choice of restaurant which was a little hole in the wall but the food was excellent.
On Wednesday 27th June a few of us went on a trip to a small island called "ocean beach resort". The place was amazing and only half about 35 people at a time meaning that the beach was nearly deserted. The staff there were excellent I made friends with them pretty quick. On the fist night we asked if we could have a beach fire and in about 5 minutes they had chopped up the wood and got it going.
I don't have time to type any more so just take a look at the pictures.
See you soon darlings,
Jambo
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Joe Kennedy
non-member comment
Wow thats wicked
that place looks like real fun, and bein the centre of attention just for being a western european... you ate a snake.. ! how cruel, what have they ever done to you That photo of u on the bike is awesome, u will have to have that as ur display picture when you return from your travels