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Published: November 29th 2007
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The gang
The first night, we tried frog here! xin chao!
So we arrive in Hanoi, and in the queue for baggage we met this lad from Cairns in Australia called Jesse! He was on his own and a bit unsure, so we decided together to get a bus from outside the airport that goes straight to Hanoi centre. We all crammed onto this mini bus for just $2, where when finally crammed we met Ronda from New Zealand. She was meeting friends at a hostel in town and having lived in Korea for 2years she seemed pretty worldly wise, so we went to the same hostel as her.
We all jumped off the bus to beeping horns, hundreds of mopeds rushing past, and the tuk tuk drivers passing asking "you want moto, you want moto" constantly! Always on the watch for tourists in need. After half an hour of map reading and wandering, dazed in this strange little, place we reached the hostel. unfortunately they were full but we were able to check into a newly refurbished cheap little hotel just down from the hostel, ideal! Dropping off our stuff we met Ronda in the hostels rooftop bar, there we met her friends; Kate who she had
Lady selling fruit
they really do carry the shoulder scales! just worked with in Korea from Canada, Penelope(P), and Rob who are a couple from newzealand who Ronda went to school with. Rob and P were doing the same route as us through cambodia and vietnam, hmmm...
The following day we went for a wander round and took some cool pictures. We visisted a prison that was used during the French reign, pretty horrid but interesting all the same! After, we did a little bit of shopping which was awesome, soooo much fakey stuff and for so cheap! We ate in a small traditional place that many of the locals used. Hanoi isnt a particularly clean place and in the locals little street restaurants everyone sits on little plastick chairs, like youre back at school again - weird. On return too the hotel we got our key, opened our door to find none of our things there, they were gone! Im pretty sure both our hearts just missed about 3 beats. I stormed downstairs with rob close behind and tried to explain that all our stuff was gone and would like to no where the hell it was now! After a few minutes they told us the cleaners thought
The street where our hotel was
health and safety would have a field day! we were checking out that day and that we just hadnt bothered to pack our stuff up, so they did it for us and it was all upstairs! they brought it all back down to the room and the relief was well welcomed. we couldnt believe it. Only us! its funny because other travelers always say as long as you have your passport and a credit card youre fine, but at that moment in time when we had no stuff-we didnt feel fine!
The following day all the girls agreed it was time for some more serious shopping. We picked up some Dior sunglasses and D&G belts all for just 5.50! We booked ourselves up on a trip to Halong bay, which from the pictures you will see is just amazing! You visit caves, go kayaking, have amazing food and stay on a junk for a night. So we got a day bag packed, left our packs at the hostel and were ready to go at 8am the next morning. We travelled by bus to Halong bay which took 3 hours and borded the chinese deluxe junk, it realy was amazing. A beautiful boat.
We set sail for
They wear the pointy hats too!
these women carry a phenomenal amount of weight on the shoulders its quite impressive! the caves and the views of all these rocks in the water, that almost look like a grotto of a broken up gorge. We then visited some of the biggest caves ive seen, and went kayaking just as the sun was setting, absolutely incredible. Rob and I were in a two man kayak so co-ordination between us to go straight was amusing! We got back to the junk, had a quick shower and then upstairs for tea in the boats restaurant. We had fresh seafood with huge tiger prawns and other vietnamese dishes. It was delicious. Then the tour announced they were putting on a party for the boat, we all got drunk, sang karaoke, danced and had so much fun with everyone. The following morning everyone was feeling pretty sorry for themselves and we were ready to head back to land.
We chilled out in the sun on the deck loungers as the boat headed back. Arriving at the port, we had lunch and then made our way back to Hanoi on the minibus. Next we jumped onto a coach to take us further south to Hue. We had only been back from Halong bay for a couple
pose!
rob, jesse, rob, P, ronda (rod of steel!) of hours before we were back on the coach for 13 hours overnight! It was comfortable enough but very bumpy, the driving is a bit irratic, so we were glad we were advised not to sit directly behind the driver! Bit scary! At 1am after being asleep for a couple of hours we got woken up by the driver, we had stopped for a toilet break. Rob and Rob went first and then me and P. We were shocked! You walk into a communal block with walls only knee height between each hole in the ground. You just had to stand on these two bricks to pee, it was grose! So, on with the journey then..
Party on dudes
Rob and Han
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Dopes
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Xin Chao!!
Hya guys, how's it going!! looks like ya having an awesome time!! Sounds excitting and i can't believe ya nearly lost ya stuff!! I woulda died!!! Speak soon Chow for now guys!!