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Published: April 2nd 2006
K.Roo & Kid.K
getting upto no good!Hello all!! we are currently in the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, vietnam. But before I begin telling you lot about the joys of this place, i must go back some 7 days and describe the hardest thing that my body has ever been through, which occured back in borneo, when we climbed south east asia's tallest peak, mt kinabalu. To get straight to the point, it was by far the toughest thing, physically, mentally, and emotionally, difficult thing we have ever attempted!
we started the climbed with our guide at just after 0930, and 5 minutes into the ascent it started to rain. Lucky for us the rain did not ease until we reached the lodge, some 6km, 5 hours later. Only then did it decide to stop. The climb was initially an enjoyable one, where we were gradually getting accustomed to a few steep steps, but slowly and surely the became more frequent and a belive it or not even more steep! The jungle was immensly dense, from what we could see, as we were basically walking up through the clouds, and you couldn't see further than 20-30 metres ahead. After some 4.5 km of arduous trekking, the
terrain and temperature slowly changed. As we were getting higher, the mercury dropped, and to help matters we were soaked through to the core. It was great to see that the track was turning from a muddy and slippery one into a rocky and slippery one!
By about km 4.5 we just wanted to reach the lodge! By now we had both had enough! (and i was also lucky that it was that time of the month and was having horrible cramps to boot!). Once we eventually reached the lodge we brought out the "high 5!", but those joyous cheers soon turned to anger and sheer dissapointment, as we discovered our actual sleeping quarters were a further 200m up the track, and if we wanted any food or warmth we had to return to lodge. At this point ali burst into tears and had the sooky la la's big time!!
Dinner was pretty average, but what was special that evening was the sunset. By far the most most amazing, natural event that i have witnessed in asia!! after a very early night, followed by a very shit nights sleep, in fact the worst in my entire life (it
Half way up......
not feeling so good!! was cold, hard bumpy beds, and extremely sore muscles), a dreaded alarm woke me at 0215am, (Ali decided not to climb to summit for the sunrise, the previous day had just been to much!)
After a quick cup of coffee, i met my guide and we head for the summit along with all the tourist, mainly slow japanese. it was tough from the get go. stairs, and when i say stairs i mean steep stairs! a full moon was out, so the visibility was good, but nearly every trekker had a tourch suplied to them. interesting sight to see this moving snake-like light traveling up the mountain.
from the lodge it was a steep ascent of just under a km, but the path travelled was actually 2.5km long. after 500m i was struggling. the air was getting thinner, the path was getting steeper, and i'm thinking to myself that i payed to this, and why? after a final checkpoint 1.5km from the summit the terrain changed to complete granite rock. the going was tough, my guide kept a steady pace some 50m ahead of me, and by now all the other trekkers had spread themselves out. so all
2/3 rds of the way.....
really struggling now!! i had to keep my senses sane was my walking stick. if it wasn't for this simple item, i would have been screwed.
at 3, 500m the air was so thin that i had to stop every 20m to get my breath back, and it was my walking stick that was my saviour. by me resting all my weight on it whilst i caught my breath back. and then another 20-30m, followed by another rest, and so. this process continued for 2 hours. i actually had to think left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. and every time i stopped to get my breath back, all i could think of was why am i doing this?, and how could ali leave me to this on my own?, and why am i doing this?, and much further to go?, and why did i pay to do this?, and i can't take any more steps?, and should i head back?, and these thoughts continued all the way to summit.
the final 200m to the summit was the steepest part of the entire climb, utter hell to be honest. it was starting to get lighter by now, and through sheer
Finally!
the amazing sunset from the lodge! guts and determination did i reach the top before the sun rose over ther horizon. i had some 10 minutes to spare. i cried upon arrival of the summit, bloody hell, i did it. i collapsed onto the nearest rock which wasn't occupied by another exhausted, flakked out trekker. i didn't even have the energy to take my camera out andget some wicked photos, let alone drink some water or eat some chocolate.
the best thing was being to watch peoples faces as they reached the top. facial expressions changed from horrific pain to pure pleasure. i'm guessing mine was the same. it was around after 25 minutes of being up there did i realise that half my task was complete. i now had to walk down!!! lucky me!!! initially the going was ok, just zigzaging my my down along the marked path. with every step i could notice the air was becoming more rich in oxygen which my body loved. however it was after passing back through the final checkpoint that my legs started feel like jelly. now i had to focus on every step going down, as one wrong move would mean that most likely fall some
The summit....
as close as ali got!! 100m. yeh, lucky me. i had run out of water, my mouth was so dry, so i basically switched my mind off, and walked. the next thing i realised was that i had arrived back at the lodge, totally and utterly exhausted!!!!!!!!!!
When dave arrived back at the cardboard cabin, he was pale and had blue tinged lips, and i have to say, after seeing that, i was so so glad i had decided not to go. I did however get up for the sunrise, which even from where i was was pretty awesome! The whole valley below covered in clouds, the pinks coming in over the mountain, pretty cool considering how shitty i was about the whole deal!!
Then came the decent. Which by all means was a little easier, but my goodness, talk about jelly legs!! We left at the same time as another couple so we all just kept ourselves chatting, which helped pass the time, but it still took us three hours to get down. All i kept thinking was if i never see a bastard step agian in my life it will be to soon!!!!!!!!
Truely ruely the hardest thing i have had
The view below
felt like heaven up there! to make myself do to date!!!
When we finally made it back to KK we decided the next day and a half would be spent to doing sweet f*#& all!! And thank goodness because for the next week i was walking like i was 80yrs old! The pain my god the pain!!!
On the morning of the 18th we got up about 4.30am to catch our flight to vietnam. Which i thought very rude, considering we are on holidays we have not had many sleep ins!! The day was spent in transit, KL airport, and mini bus ride from the airport, all up taking us 12 hrs, and i was still walking like an old lady!!
The next two days were spent just walking around the old quater of hanoi, taking it all in and learning how to cross the road! For those of you who have been to asia, you will know what i am talking about! For those of you who dont, imagine busiest road you have ever seen, times that by 10, put mopeds instead of cars, (wearing no helmets mind you!) take away all the traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and with everyone
of them on the horn the whole time and take away all traffic laws!! ah, hows the serenity!! Just mind blowing how they manage to have such few accidents considering the amount of people on the road. I was initially a little concerned about losing weight while travelling, though i should not have, all we have done is eat, drink, eat, sleep, eat, walk, eat, drink etc etc!! Having about 4 meals a day!! I have even had to send my jeans home 😞 !! The food is so good, everytime we finish one meal i am asking dave where we should eat next!!!
It really is a beautiful quaint city, with an almost eery feel as it has been misty and foggy the whole time, although 30 degrees aswell, so very very sticky!!
We then went on a 3 day tour of halong bay (the bay of 1569 islands). The boat we went was just gorgeous!! All made of dark wood, and the food was great!!! we had our own little cabin and bathroom and was very comfy!! However the first day we didn't see much of the islands once again because of the fog and mist!!
Crossing the road
dave gets amongst it!! When the islands finally showed themselves it was spectacular!! The water there is excactly the colour of jade and crystal clear!! The islands just pop out of the water, with no seeming attatchment to land!! Really spectacular (and nessy, i finally made it!!). It really was a dream come true to for me to experience this. We also did some kyaking and more trekking, although this time it was easier and more picturesque! We even came upon the forest guards little farm and his wife made us tea and fried peanuts, yum! They were a great couple of days and we met more great people to chat to and get email addresses and great travelling tips from!!!
The next day was spent waisting time as we had to catch a train that night and arrive in sapa the net morning. We went to the post office and sent off some plates and bowls that ali had bought, along with a pair of her jeans, they got to small!! (ali was not to happy about that!). Then just had lunch and wondered around. We were so exhausted, and just felt like going home!! The thought of getting on the
The boats on halong
ours is in the back.. train to sapa was not the happiest for us! The train berth had 2 bunk beds, and we were lucky enough to share with a 6month old baby, her mother and grand mother. Luckily it didn't even blink an eyelid throughout the night. I slept on the top bunk, and had and aircon blowing full boar at me all night long, which was lucky for me, as now i'm sick as a dog with a sore throat, dry cough, and a nasty headache. (dont worry mums, we are taking lots of garlic and echinaecia!)
We arrived in lao cai just after 7am, jumped into a van, and our group arrived at our hotel in sapa just after 8. After a yummy breaky which consisted of bread rolls, eggs, juice, and coffee, we were showed to our rooms, some 175 steps from the reception. we had a couple of hours to kill before we went on our first little trek to see some waterfalls.
After the overnight train, I was exshausted!! Dave still had some energy, i have no idea where he gets it from, so i got into the comfy bed and read for a while then had
Halong Bay
felt like a ghost town of islands! a sleep while dave went for a look around town.
At 1 we headed down stairs and met our guide, lala mi. She is so beautiful!! She is 15 and from the lao chi tribe. We headed downhill to the cat cat village, and just did a big loop, which ment , yes, back up the hill again!! (Im going to have the best legs ever by the end of this!!) The village was really neat, but at this stage did not realise it was just a taste of what we were going to experience!
We had a relaxing evening, with a yummy dinner, and headed straight to bed!!The next morning we didnt have to head out until 9.30, which i feel is a much more reasonable hour to get ready for!! We gave in our big bags, and headed for the hills!! There is such spectacular scenery here, you feel like you are walking through a lonely planet guide!! every photo we take looks like it comes straight from a book, and we get to be in it!!
The kids are a little grubby and snotty, but still so cute!! The women and girls do alot
The paddy fields
just one of the incredible veiws!! of following and "you buy you buy" but they are harmless and can even have a joke with you! They'd make great sales people, even by the age of 7!! Although alot of it is based on guilt sales i'm sure!!
There were so many baby animals!!! Baby chickens, puppies, these tiny little baby pigs, and because the locals take the chook eggs, they give them the duck eggs to look after, so alot of the chooks had at least 6-10 ducklings with them aswell!! so so cute!!!!
The two nights were spent in different huts in different villages,but basically the same. Our mattresses were in the loft parts of the huts, not to bad actually, then again i put two mattresses together, dave was a little uncomfortable(whats new?). The food was really good, lala mi did all the cooking, she was great!! A real character! She played alot with us and loved her card games, with every new game she learnt, she was kicking our butts within a couple of hands!!! I have to say again how amazing the scenery was, really magnificent!!! In total we did about 20kms of up and down, through rice paddys and
bamboo forests. Not to mention all the beautiful little villages and locals along the way!!
today we're killing time, doing all the shit jobs like laundry, sending emails, killing time untill our train leaves for hanoi tonight. Hope you all enjoy reading our adventures. and if you are reading this, well then i'm sure you can send us a reply message. this took us up to 3 hours, a little message from you guys telling us whats going on, only takes a few minutes.
So untill the next time kiddies, be safe and keep smilin'!!
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Jemima
non-member comment
You are both so lucky! It sounds as though you are having such a wonderful time Alison adn Dave. We all miss you back here in the Can though! Hope you're both well and happy...Not much going on here-same old. Love Jezz.xxx