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Published: June 11th 2011
Right so it’s been ages since I last caught up, and as always it’s been pretty hectic. But I’ve finally settled down again for a little while so now it’s time to tell you all what I’ve been up to over the past two months!! The last time I wrote I had just finally gotten out of Deqin in China where we had been snowed in for a week. Well the bus journey out was thrilling to say the least. It was amazing the morning we heard the roads were open there was a mad dash to pack up and get bus tickets and get out finally. We set off at 10am on a Sunday morning in a sleeper bus. However just my luck the bed I got was right at the very back of the bus where there is pretty much a communal bed for 5 people at the top and five at the bottom, each with our own duvets but apart from that you are basically lying in beside complete strangers. Adrian and Mel got their own beds up the front which added to my anger at having to be all by myself down the back with random Chinese
people. However I was getting out so I took a deep breath and got on with it. The journey was immense, as the road had been closed for days the traffic was crazy and the snow was still pretty bad vehicles kept getting stuck and there would be hold ups for up to an hour at a time where we’d get out and wander, the American girls were on a bus ahead of us and we’d go for a chat, they even made a snowman during one of the stops! It was definitely the longest bus journey ever. Then to make things worse night fall came as we were still on the side of the snowy mountain just to add to the precariousness of the journey as if things weren’t bad enough. The only thing to make this journey a little more bearable is when I got a text message from Shane informing me that he’d got engaged. It was a great shock that took my mind of where I was for a while as I text back to find out the details. So after 29hours on the bus with a ridiculous number of stops along the way we finally
made it to Kunming! Here we were very excited to do some laundry, shower and finally feel clean in clean clothes. So of course we went out to celebrate had a lovely dinner and just hung out in a bar, this turned out to be our last night altogether.
After a month with Mel and Adrian we bid farewell and went our separate ways, quite a sad moment as we’d done a lot together. Now I was off on my journey to try and get to Vietnam before my Chinese Visa expired.... Of course another train journey, then a quick stopover in the border town of Nanning where the hostel completely got my Vietnamese Visa sorted for me and then I was off to Vietnam. I got to Vietnam on the 31st of March and my visa expired on the 1st of April so it was a close call to say the least. So now I had 11days to make it from the North of Vietnam down to the Southern city of Ho Chi Minh (formerly known as Saigon) as I had a flight booked to Bangkok and then onwards to Australia. It’s an amazing country and I would
like to have spent longer here but I did make the most of it I think!
I’m not going to go day by day but just highlight the best things I did. I started in the city of Hanoi and one of the first things I did was go to a place called Le Mat snake village. The village of Le Mat is famous for the talent of catching snakes but it is also well-known for serving dishes made from the reptiles. So myself and some guys I’d met in the hostel I was staying at decided to go and check it out. It was here that I held a snake for the first time, it was pretty small only a grass snake but it was still pretty daunting holding a snake they actually aren’t at all slimy like you’d imagine but actually feel really nice and leathery. So after we handled the snakes for a while we were asked did we want to try some.... We had the opportunity to see how the snake is prepared. Its heart and gall are poured into glasses of wine to drink. Then other parts of the snakes are cooked in different
ways such as grilled, fried, wrapped in leaves, rice soup etc. Snake alcohol is apparently quite popular as it is believed to be healthy for you!! However we decided to pass on this enthralling event for two main reasons number one it was working out pretty expensive and number two none of us we THAT interested in eating snake. (Just to note here I did actually eat snake head soup in China not my favourite dish ever!!) We all had a night out that night together where we went to bucket bar, ah yes the infamous buckets of South East Asia were back and oh man were the back with a vengeance.....
The next morning I was off on a 3 day/2 night trip around Halong Bay with an 8am start, needless to say after my first night drinking buckets in a long time I slept in and had to be kindly awakened by the receptionist. So I had a hell of a start to the day threw my stuff together and ran downstairs to the awaiting bus. Hạlong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it consists of a dense cluster of limestone monolithic islands that rise
spectacularly from the ocean. Many of the islands are hollow with enormous caves one of which we visited. There are two bigger islands with permanent inhabitants one of which called Cat Ba Island where we stayed on the second night of the trip. The first night of the trip we slept on the boat in the middle of the ocean. One of the best things about this trip was the food it was amazing, all meals were prepared for us, the seafood especially was fabulous, and definitely not something a backpacker is used to!! It was amazing to see the floating fishing villages where people lived on the water, and there were the boats that went round the houses selling groceries and such, such a simple life, it was really cool.
Hoi an was the next stop in Vietnam a small quaint little town famous for tailored made clothing and shoes at ridiculously cheap prices. I didn’t get any made however as there was no space in the backpack, but it is definitely logged in the memory for a future visit to get a whole wardrobe revamp! Didn’t do too much here just chilled out, hired a bike and
cycled around definitely could have spent longer here but time was an issue.
Then it was on to Nha Trang, Vietnam’s most famous sea-side resort town. Here on the first day I got pretty badly burnt not my fault however. I was sitting in the SHADE not realizing the wind was still burning me. Had a lot of fun here, met some really cool people and did a lot of drinking. Definitely my most memorable day here was the day of the Funky Monkey boat trip or as we renamed it the funky monkey booze cruise. The night before the boat trip as we were sampling some of the local bars we kept recruiting people to come on the trip for the following day so by the next day I knew over half the people on the boat before we ever set off so it was definitely set to be a good day and that it certainly was. Beers began at 9.30am, it was a crazy day, half way through the day there was the free floating bar (check out the photo!) we all had to jump into the water to get our free whiskey cocktails which of course
we all did! One of the guys in charge of the trip was awesome he knew a song for all the different nationalities and each group of different nationalities had to go up and join him. There were two Irish on board, myself and John and our song was “The fields of Athenry” which were sang to the best of our ability..!! That night after the boat trip we all headed out together and finished the night of with some karaoke!!
After a lot of partying in Nha Trang it was on to Ho Chi Minh for a day then on to Bangkok for a day and a half before I flew to Australia. So I’d resolved to have a few quiet days in preparation for what was to come in Australia. Mmmmh best laid plans eh.... So I landed in Ho Chi Minh at 7am found my hostel easily enough and sorted out my day. I booked a half day trip to go see the Cu Chi Tunnels that morning. These were underground tunnel systems which were a military base during the Vietnam War. They were an unbelievable system of tunnels located deep in the ground with numerous
floors, and corridors branching out like a cobweb some over 200km long with separate areas for sleeping, eating, cooking, meetings and fighting. The people fighting from these tunnels used guerrilla warfare and they were fighting on a totally voluntary basis for the survival of their country. Some lived underground here for years at a time. On this tour I met Jenny from Cardiff and here ended my thoughts of no alcohol until I got to Australia!! That afternoon Jenny and I went to the War Museum together which was another sobering affair. That evening I guess we deserved a night out right?? A bunch of girls Jenny had met on her travels were getting into town that night and we all went out together. I ended up being out to 4.30am with two of the girls even though I’d an early flight to Bangkok the next morning..... So after going to bed for two hours I was back up on my way to the airport with Jenny who happened to be on the same flight as me!
In Bangkok Jenny and I decided to have a girlie day, we went to a beauty parlour where I got a full
body oil massage for an hour it was absolute bliss and only cost my 250Bhat which is around €6 and Jenny had a manicure, pedicure and a massage, after we went shopping:D!!! These are two of the main reasons why I love Bangkok! That evening we met up with another friend of Jenny’s and we went out for dinner and a drink or two. However as we were returning to our hostel at around 1am for a quiet night the madness started.... It was the eve of the Songkran festival, this is when the Thai’s celebrate New Year and they do this by “the throwing of water”. I’ve no idea of the reason why, maybe something to do with the fact that the festival falls in the hottest part of the year?! So as we walked down Khaosan rd the main backpacker street to get to our hostel we got soaked by water guns!! And even though we were both wrecked considering we had hardly any sleep the night before me and Jenny reckoned we couldn’t miss out on an opportunity like this, after all what are the chances you are in Thailand for Thai New Year. So we bought
a water gun each and joined in the fun. It was a hilarious night, buying a bucket of alcohol from the street vendors for a free water gun fill up!! We came home like drowned rats but it was a brilliant nights craic!
The next day I was an absolute wreck, 2 nights out in a row on practically no sleep, but I had to head to the airport as I was off to Australia that evening. So much for my abstaining from alcohol until I got to Australia, needless to say I arrived in Australia pretty exhausted! Currently been here in Australia for 8 weeks now but I’ll keep those stories for the next blog which I’ll write in the next few days.
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Vietnam Update
Nice to get another travel update and to know that you are still having time to party!!! Photos are fab - must be great to see it all for real..............