Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Kep

Saturday 25th

We left Phnom Penh at 9:30am for our 3 hour trip to Kep on Cambodia's South Coast, very close to the Vietnam border. Cambodia's roads have one of the worst reputations in South East Asia but it wasn't too bad on the way to Kep. I would say it was better than Vietnam simply because there wasn't so many people on the road and so many villages/towns along the way. The bus was 50/50 Cambodians and foreigners, with several locals getting off at stops along the way.

We got off in the centre of town and got a tuk-tuk to take us to our hotel of choice - it was only available for tonight, booked out thereafter. So we went to a some places up the road. One was the same situation, another was absolutely terrible (fit for a dog) and others too pricy. We decided to check out the place that our driver recommended, we tend not to listen to them because they get commissions to do so. It was suitable, only $10 with a fan but no hot water and no tv. Alot of places didn't have it so we had to settle.

Small town, buddhist country = nothing for Christmas.

Sunday 26th


Had a very lazy day today. Went for a walk for lunch and did alot of reading, which was good because i haven't done any and now i've got right into it - The Silmarillion (again, very difficult and confusing book the first time). We had dinner at the crab market restaurants again at sunset, took some great photos. The water looked like liquid silver (think Stargate portal/event horizon). We had Kampot pepper crab, fried squid and grilled fish. The other thing about Kep is that you can see the stars so clearly at night.


Monday 27th


Hired a bike today and went all around Kep.We went down to the market, which was so small, not worth it at all. We went to a Wat up in the mountains, it was very hard going up steep dirt roads on a 110cc bike with Kay and I on board, i had to go into first at one stage.

We then went to a small village off the main road where i helped a man get the rice out of the rice plant, ten locals came to watch (and laugh). Next stop on the other side of Kep was a Cham village. The Cham are a minority in Cambodia, you can tell because they're Muslims. Saw a far few (of the women) around Kep.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Sunday 19th

We were on the bus at 7:45am to leave for Saigon but we didn't leave til 8:15am for some reason, if we knew this, we would've had breakfast. About an hour from Dalat I realised that i didn't have my passport, Kay didn't have hers or mine either...the Dalat hotel forgot to give them to us and it didn't cross our minds. Not good. We had their card so we rang and they would send it to Saigon to arrive tomorrow.

The ride wasn't too bad but it was quite long considering the distance we needed to travel, particularly as we got close to Saigon where the traffic was very heavy and slow. We arrived around 3pm, went to our hotel of choice and relaxed. We went out for dinner in the area, hit up by several people asking if i wanted (low voice) "marijuana" and plenty of sunglasses and book salespersons.

Monday 20th

We slept in and headed to Ben Thanh market to have lunch and shop. There were many street style stores within the market. The one we ate at tried to rip us off, our meals were 35 000VND each and we had a drink each plus Kay had some Durian. They wanted 210 000VND, how is it that two drinks and some fruit could cost 140 000VND? We debated this and they gave us a better price, although i still feel we were ripped off. We informed some German girls who sat down as we were leaving about the rout.

We spent 2.5 hours shopping! I got some shirts, hunted for a gucci bag but the belts were two short, Kay got sunglasses, make up and some bangles. There was alot more touting from the shopkeepers than in previous markets, some were very forceful. One lady actually grabbed my forearm with some force trying to get me in. Once again the t-shirt person tried to rip me off. First offer was 950 000VND, i stayed firm on 300 000VND and we finished on 310 000VND. They always try to tell you how it's better quality and all that bullshit.

On the way back we went round the travel agencies to get quotes for  Mekong and Cu Chi tours plus our ticket to Cambodia. We got our Mekong tour for $7, Cu Chi for $4 and our ticket to Phnom Penh for $10. We also got a $2 discount overall. We wanted to go straight to Vietnam's lowest border crossing since we wanted to start off on Cambodia's southern coast but we had to go to Phnom Penh first and connect from there. We could've done what we wanted but it would mean a combination of local transport on both sides of the border and would certainly cost more than $10 each.

Tuesday 21st

We went to the Mekong Delta today, left early in the morning, almost missed our bus due to bit of a stuff up but the agency. It felt like we never left Saigon because they was continual shops and houses on the road all the way to the Delta.

Once we arrived we got on a boat and headed to Tortoise Island where we had lunch. Lunch was fairly poor. The set lunch was fried pork with rice, funny considering there was a group of 10 Malaysian Muslims within our group. 14 people ended up not getting pork and had to settle for good 'ol tofu, unless you wanted to buy something else of course. Kay doesn't like pork so we had a beef dish to share.

From there we got back on the water and went to a place that made coconut lollies, which were pretty nice. We also had coconut whiskey and lemon honey tea (really nice). They had a python which people were allowed to have on there shoulders (15kgs) . It was an interesting experience since it wrapped itself around 80% of my neck and was either looking at me or trying to, not a nice feeling. It was incredible to feel the snake's muscles move.

We got onto smaller boats this time and got to our bus. The day went so fast, it would seem that half the time was actually travelling to and from the Delta. No wonder they offer two and three day trips. I think it was better the last time i did it.

Wednesday 22nd

Today we went to the Cu Chi tunnels which were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Another long journey considering it wasn't too far away. On the we way we stopped at a factory where disabled people made handicrafts, a good cause yes, but $20 for a wooden card holder? I can bet that the workers don't get even half of that.

For some reason our group of 20 became 40 as we merged with another group. It was our tour guide who was 'guiding' everyone. This was absolutely terrible. Imagine trying to listen to someone with an accent and see what he is pointing out when you are surrounded by 40 odd people. By the time you could have a look and/or a picture he would be onto the next item.

I was expecting not to go into the tunnels because i was just small enough when i was 15 let alone now. However since then the first tunnel had been widened and made higher. It was still had for me, at some points my shoulders were wall to wall. It was very hot and yucky inside, quite tiring aswell.

Surprisingly when we got to the gun range i was the only person who wanted to shoot. It was $13 for 10 bullets on the AK-47. I did 6 shots on semi-automatic trying to hit the target then the last 4 on automatic. I remember the gun being alot stronger last time. Kay couldn't handle the gun fire at the range, it's loud but bearable.

We were there two hours and we were already returning to Saigon. We decided to go to the War Remnants museum on the way back since it was offered to us. It was now 3pm and we had not eaten since breakfast, we found a place called Latino bar and restaurant, it sold no Latin/Spanish food at all. By the time we ate, we didn't have time to go to the palace as it closed at 4pm, we would do that tomorrow. We went straight to the War Museum, which worked out fine as we were there til it almost closed at 5pm.

It had been done up since i was last there, it actually had a proper building and you could call it a proper museum, another notable absence was the still born babies that were preserved in jars, although there were pictures of them. The museum contained old weapons, artillery, tanks, planes and many photos of the War. A must see in Saigon.

Thursday 23rd

Slept in til 10am today, had lunch (left hotel at 12) and headed for the palace. We arrived after 1pm, which was when it reopened after the Vietnamese siesta from 11:30am-1pm. The clouds looked stormy but it was still very hot. The Reunification Palace as it is called now was the old South Vietnamese Presidential Palace pre-1975. We explored all the levels, it wasn't much to be honest. Alot of rooms for hosting people etc. When we were in the lower ground floor we heard rain, so we headed into a video room about the Vietnam War. We spent around 25 minutes watching and headed out. It had stopped raining thank god (alot of walking still to come).

We headed to the near by Notre Dame Cathedral, wanted to see the People's Committee Building but we got lost. This part of town is very fancy with Louis Vuitton and Rolex shops (real ones), as well as top 5 star hotels. We walked way too far and ended up at the Saigon River. So we double backed a bit and finally got to the market where we knew our way back.

I spoke to Steven Vo from school, who is back living in Vietnam now about meeting up. We had dinner with him and his girlfriend (yum cha) and went to a coffee shop where they were having a fashion show at the time. We didn't have long together because the traffic was hell (Steven has a car) and we had to be back before 12 midnight as we were to get up at 6am to get ready to go to Cambodia. Good to see him nonetheless.

It was very hot in Saigon the whole time. Would've been above 30 degrees without a doubt combined with humidity.

Friday 24th

Another early start for our journey to Phnom Penh. The bus was absolutely pumping the air con, everyone had shoved something in there air vents to stop it. Getting through the border was a breeze, they had x-rays and the sort but didn't use them at all.

We arrived in Phnom Penh around 2:30pm, got a tuk tuk to our hotel of choice and went straight to bed. Woke up before 6pm and headed out for dinner. The dinner was at a place full of Cambodians and a few tourists. The meals were huge and the Angkor beer very nice.

We leave for Kep tomorrow morning.

p.s already Kay has been mistaken for a Khmer three times!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Dalat

I forgot to mention in my last entry that i got sunburnt on the top and bottom of my back (the middle was fine) whilst snorkeling in Nha Trang, the top wasn't too bad, the bottom was quite red.


Thursday 16th

Left Nha Trang at 7:45am for our journey into the Central Highlands. It was a slow trip and we were winding up and down mountains and had to deal with dirt, pot-holed roads along the way. We arrived in Dalat around 12:30pm at a hotel/Sinh Cafe travel agency office. We went across the road and decided to stay at the Hang Nga Guesthouse, pretty big room, bathroom a little shabby and only $7 a night!.

We went to the market to have a look and have lunch as they had a proper food section upstairs. We were approached by many vendors wanting us to eat with them but all spoke little English and the signs/menus were in Vietnamese. Sure i could make out the key words of the meat but we had no idea what else it entailed, we could've chosen cow's heart soup. We found a place with a full English menu, but it was still a quasi-street stall. We ended up having all lunch here three times. For both of us having food and drink it was only 90 000VND ($4.50). It was good, didn't make us sick, cheap and had variety, so why not? :)

We went down to the lake, which was empty, so much for going on a paddle boat. They seemed to be building a bridge across it which required it to be dammed. It got chilly at night but nothing like Sapa. The locals all have coats and jackets on but i was out in shorts and a t-shirt. We went to V Cafe (two doors down) for dinner. Full of Westerners, over-priced but not too bad. The mashed potato was great.

Friday 17th

Just had a lazy day today. Went through the market for a better look, got some cashews and lollies. The lolly shops mostly sold dried fruits as opposed to the lollies we think off, although it was gummys that we bought. We tried some dried/sweet flower petals/buds, it was alright but i wouldn't buy it. We booked our ticket to leave for Saigon on Sunday and enquired about tours around Dalat. I would've preferred not to do a tour but Dalat's sights are not within walking distance and the streets are all over the place, not a grid like Nha Trang, so renting a motorbike was out of the question.

A tour would be $12 each and included alot of crap we didn't want to do. Whilst looking for more agencies we were approached by a local motorbike guide belonging to the 'Easy Rider' group, who have a good reputation. We negotiated with him to do what we wanted, it would cost $7.50 each and would take three hours. So we booked for tomorrow morning.

We went to a Korean place for dinner (first we've seen), they didn't have much on the menu and it was quite pricy for some of the meals. We both ordered Bulgogyi but both ended up with some soup, which luckily was pretty good. The lady's here had no English at all. I wanted to try Soju (Korean rice wine) since it was only $5 for a bottle (it's about $15 in Sydney). Wasn't that nice, luckily Kay helped to drink it, otherwise i would've been drunk. It was 19.5% and 365ml. Basically equivilant to eight shots of hard 40% liquor. Would not do it again unless it was shared among four people.

Saturday 18th

We meet our guides at 9am, grabbed some banh mi ga (Chicken rolls) for breakfast and were on our way to the 'Crazy House'. The whole house looks kind of like a tree, it's likened to Alice in Wonderland. There was giant spiderwebs, fake tigers and eagles in the bedrooms too. Weird but not worth seeing to be honest.

Second stop was Bao Dai's summer palace. Bao Dai was the last emperor of Vietnam. By palace standards it wasn't that big or grand at all. It looked more like a Government building inside and out. Another place that wasn't really worth seeing. There were alot of Vietnamese here so it holds some significance for them it would seem.

The third place we went to was Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest) monastry which was situated next to a huge lake. It was the best monastry/pagoda by far that we have seen. Lots of flowers and a beautiful garden. Some hedges were even shaped into dragons. We both makes wishes and leaft incense at the Buddha. It was very busy here, our guides said that it is popular with Saigonese during the dry season on weekends.

Our final destination was Datania falls. We got the tabogen down to the falls. It was not a good experience. The idiots behind us were so stupid that they didn't look at ahead to see that the ride was over and crashed into us at full speed whilst we were stationary. My hat flew off and fell down into the bush. Both Kay and I had whiplash in our necks, it was not a nice feeling. I was in complete shock. The guy went and got my hat for me, although a punch to the back of his and his mate's necks would've sufficed. It ruined the whole experience for us. The falls were nice but not big by waterfall standards. We left and were dropped off at the market where we had lunch.

Overall Dalat doesn't really have that much to offer, it is different from other places in Vietnam. I would say it is worth visiting but only once.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Nha Trang

The bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang (12 hours overnight) was absolutely terrible! Much worse than the train to and from Sapa. At least with the train the bumps and jolts were consistent, this ride was so bad. I probably got four hours of sleep the whole night. I would recommend any future Vietnam travelers to fly to Nha Trang, it's worth the extra ~$40.

Monday 13th

As an introduction, think of Nha Trang as the Gold Coast of Vietnam - all about the beach and water based activities.

Arrived in Nha Trang around 7am, went into the backpacker alley (64 Tran Phu st) and went to our hotel of choice to find a room would not be available til 9am, we were not going to wait, no way. In this alley there is about 6-8 different hotels, all of which had people out the front wanting our business. The other hotel there which was in the LP guide was the An Hoa, which had rooms and it was only $8 a night! (No brekky though). We stayed here, only downside was the 63 steps up to the room (yes i counted), not nice when i've got to carry two ~20kg bags up (and down).

We did absolutely nothing today. Slept til midday, went to lunch, walked along the beach (right across the road) and had dinner at a grillhouse. It was a good meal although the most expensive so far for us, ~$24. Although the mixed grill i got would cost $30 minimum at any Hog's Breath style place in Australia.

There was very heavy rain and thunder overnight, but didn't last more than an hour.

Tuesday 14th

Today was another lazy day, we got our laundry done (100 000VND for 6.5 kg, which they ironed as well) and went to several travel agencies to inquire about tours. There was one called a "boat tour" which took you to the islands that lie off Nha Trang, but we found out this was like a "party" sort of thing and often had upto 40 people on board, no wonder it was only $5 p.p.

We thought about doing some diving ($38 one day, $60 for two) but decided we'll do it in Cambodia. The weather was quite gloomy in Nha Trang so we settled for snorkeling, the best price we found was $12 each and no more than 15 in the group. We booked for Wednesday.

In the afternoon we went to the beach, lazed on some armchairs (30 000VND each) and had a swim. The water was really nice, although there was rubbish in the water close to shore. Waves were not big and the water got deep enough for my feet not to touch the bottom around 10m in. We left just before sunset and found a lobster lady which we had been looking for. We had a lobster and a crab for 300 000VND ($15) on the beach, we both hadn't tried it before so what better opportunity, eventhough it was still expensive for something that had so little meat inside, it was undoubtedly cheaper than in Sydney i'm sure. We also bought a whole pineapple, mango and 6 bananas for 50 000VND ($2.50) just before we left.

Wednesday 15th

Up early to be picked up at 8am, had the pineapple for breakfast, got on a boat, the ride lasted 40 minutes during which time i put my sunscreen on. It was an absolutely beautiful day, hadn't seen the sun out like this for weeks, probably mid 20s with a nice breeze. Got to our first spot called Mun Island where we first dived off the top of the boat then got our gear on. Snorkeling was hard to get used to at first, i felt like i was at the dentist with the mouthpiece in my mouth. Getting water in your breathing thing wasn't nice either. It was a very good experience, will definitely snorkel in the future. We saw lots of coral (although not colourful) and lots of small fish. The second spot was Mot Island, not as nice as Mun, couldn't see as much in the water. For some reason alot of people didn't go in this time. The tour guides went fishing for sea cucumbers but found none.

We had a seafood lunch, although i didn't eat any of the seafood. Having had mouthfuls and nosefuls of sea water, which was the most 'sea' tasting i've ever experienced for a few hours put me off seafood well and truly for the day. On the way back to Nha Trang we went to a fishing village and had a look at what they were farming.

Arrived back around 3pm and decided to hire a motorbike before the sun went down and go to the Cham Towers and Long Son Pagoda. We got so lost on the way to the pagoda, it was alot busier on the road than Hoi An and some of the round abouts were quite odd, i almost went into on coming traffic 'cause i wanted to go straight but we had to go right to go straight ???.

Finally got there, we were greeted by four 'tour guides' who told us all about the pagoda. They were orphans who lived at the pagoda, although they were all young adults. They were so friendly...until we didn't want to pay $10 for a pack of postcards (the going rate is $1). We were willing to donate money to their orphanage but they wouldn't have a bar of it. After 5 minutes of discussion and us still not accepting a pack for $5 they stormed off, swearing at us in English and Vietnamese (i picked up on a "Du Ma"). It was quite disgusting behaviour. Mind you the money was for them - to pay for English lessons. Not in fact for the orphanage. It left a very sour taste in our mouths.

We soldiered on and got to the Cham towers. Very bad time on the roads not, parents were picking up their kids from school and whenever you got to a school you could see the traffic jam from 50m away. The towers are very much like the ruins at My Son but it was fully in tact and the tallest by far, there was a great view of the city from here. Got back to the hotel safely. Went to Bar Oz (run by an Aussie) for dinner, cheap but not that good (or filling). We packed our bags for Dalat, would be leaving at 8am the next day.

To add to a new pair of Canterbury pants that i need to buy back in Oz, i dropped my electric toothbrush and broke half of the metal part that moves, it still works fine but i might as well get a new one when i get back home.

In Dalat now but i'll keep that for a separate post.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Hue Day 4 and Hoi An

Tuesday 9th

Got a cyclo to take us over the river, first we went past the market and then over to the entrance of the citadel. Just like our last ride the driver asked how much i weigh, they do pretty well considering they're pushing over 250kgs combined.

The citadel is nice from the outside but once inside there isn't too much there. As a result of the Vietnam War the main palace in the citadel was completely destroyed, for the most part the surrounding buildings are mostly in tact. You can see bullet holes in a fair few places, including a giant metal urn. The emperors of old are still honoured here, like in there respective tombs.

We walked over to the market, for once actually got hassled by shopkeepers. Went upstairs and found a place (among many) selling Polo shirts, after all the trying on and tlaking they wanted 1.2million VND ( $60) for two! Just wandering past a store downstairs i was offered one for 80 000VND. These people had absolutely no idea, they're trying to sell us bullshit about they're shirts being of a higher quality. How much you want? I say 200 000VND ($10), which is more than fair and a tad belong or at par with the market rate. They kept lowering they're price, we kept walking, they're final price was 200 000VND each but no way was i going to pay that. It's quite disgusting that they can go from 1.2 million to 400 000 yet still try to rip me off. We also went through the meat market, which didn't smell that bad to be honest.

Time had gotten on, it was nmow 3pm and we hadn't had lunch. Kay didn't want to eat at the market eateries and they were no places on the street outside for some reason so we went to good old KFC which was close by. For both our meals it cost ~130 000VND ($6.50), much different to home. For one the chips were in fact french fries like Maccas and the large chips was like a medium at Maccas. The chicken piece was meatier than home and the zinger buger not as spicy. They also had tomato sauce and chilli sauce dispensers. Next door was a genuine supermarket and they were a fair few locals in there shopping. A sign of things to come i guess. Most notably was that the prices for things we had bought previously were cheaper. A 1.5L water was only 7500VND instead of 12000VND. I got my first packet of lollies since leaving home and Kay bought various sweets (not my sort). We went to Stop and Go Cafe (LP guide recommended) for dinner, i had tacos and Kay had a pasta. Nothing special.

Wednesday 10th

We got to sleep in today as check out was 12pm and our bus was due to leave at 1:45pm for Hoi An. It was raining the heaviest by far today. Arrived in Hoi An around 5pm, still raining but not as hard. We dragged all our luggage to our hotel of choice to find they only had one room left and it was more than we wanted to spend. So we headed back to the travel agency as we passe numurous hotels along the way. Went into one, good room, good price so we choose this one (Nhi Trung). Went out for dinner at a LP recommended place called Bobo's Cafe and had some of the Hoi An specialities. Cao Lau - a noodle dish with pork and herbs, the noodles weren't fried, Fried wontons with seafood and Kay had a wonton soup. The cao lau was very different to other noodle dishes but nice, the fried wontons were vey nice (the seafood and veges were on top of them) and the soup was alright.

Thursday 11th

Lazy day today. Slept in, had lunch and went for a walk around town. Heaps of tailors and shoe shops around. In the afternoon i rented a motorbike for two hours, Kay refused to get on with me until i was competent. It was a manual bike but it didn't have a clutch for some reason. The gear changing was like a normal bike. You could be in 4th gear doing 20kmph comfortably. Just like when i dorve for the fiorst few times, going along at a long speed was quite scary and felt so fast, i would'nt have gone more than 50kmph, even on the major roads. Within 20 minutes i was back at the hotel to pick Kay up. Overall a very good experience, although i won't do it again til we get to a smll town like this. The intersections was cars, trucks and bikes coming from all directions was daunting.

Before dinner Kay found a tailor she liked and after two hours being fitted and all that jazz we finally got to have dinner at 8pm. Kay ordered three dresses which she had picked out from ones she liked, not from the shop but from celebrities and the fashion show she worked at. Dresses would be ready for first fitting the next day. Cost was $100 all up. We were quoted $165 at a place packed full of Westerners.

Friday 12th
Today was totally devoted to shopping and the touristy sites within Hoi An. We went to a shoe shop and had a pair each ordered. Kay had a big pair of suede heels and i got a design off the internet to be made (Gucci copy) in full real leather (proven to us). Cost was origianlly $167 together but we got it down to $140, so $70 each. I was happy with this but Kay wasn't, she only wanted to pay in the 30-40 range. We had been quoted $30 for mine and $25 for hers at another store. Kay went to that store and had a pair made aswell for $25. I found more Polo shirts and got two, for $6 each.

We bought the required ticket to see the particular sights in town including the Japanese bridge old houuse of Phung Hung, Cam Pho communal house and Phuc Kien assembly hall. 90 000VND each for the ticket was a bit pricy all things considered.

Went to a place called Retreat Cafe for dinner, which was full of Westerners. Reason being was the very very cheap alcohol. We had several cocktails with dinner. I had a beef burger and Kay had a pizza, which was pretty good. At this stage we are really craving Western food, Vietnamese food gets very repetitive. Although we had vowed no more Western food til Cambodia.

Saturday 11h

Up early at 6:30am to get ready for our tour to My Son, the former holyland of the Cham Empire. We had Bun Bo for breakfast, whilst on the bus to My Son i felt quite ill. I thought i was going to throw up. By the time we got to My Son and started the tour i flet better, albeit not 100%.
My Son was another victim to American bombings so alot of it is in ruins or not as it should be, considring it's over 1000 years old. Although the site was not that big, if it had been left unscaved by the Americans and the French who discovered it and removed the heads of all the statues and carvings (some reside in the Louve currently) then it could've been the Angkor Wat of Vietnam (in a sense).

We got back to Hoi An at 1:30pm, had lunch at an Indian restaurant across the street from our shoe store. It was pretty good.  Kay's shoes were ready but needed tightening, mine were not. We were to return at 8pm. I had a shave done by cut throat razor, it took a few times because they didn't understand how i wanted my sideburns and chin. They also shaved my forehead (i didn't think i had heair there). Overall it turned out well, although not the way i usually had my sideburns and chin. We headed over to Kay tailor and then to their workshop for fittings again. The dresses weren't quite right so after two hours we were good to go. Kay was happy but the dresses weren't quite the way she hoped. One of the three was spot on though.

We had dinner at Bobo's again and went to the cheap shoe place to look at Kay's shoes. She was not happy. One of the shoes had effectively a lump on the side, think of a bunyen. The girl in the store was not helpful at all saying she couldn't fix it, wouldn't refund Kay's money and would still require the extra 100 000VND for Kay to take the shoes. Fianally she said she would do what she could and we were to return tomorrow. Straight over to the other shoe shop where they were done. My shoes looked great. Hard to explain in writing but they were meant to have two studs on the side, instead it was two holes with metal around them. There was no way i could wear them in the rain without swimming in my shoes. One of Kay's straps were a little loose too. We left for our hotel and within an hour they brought them to us all done.

Amongst all of the tooing and frooing from shoe shops we went to the busy tailor for me. I got a pair of dress/suit pants, a shirt and two ties. All up $72. I was looking at the pants purely on colour, it just so happened that i liked the $45 cashmere pants the best (the cheapest aailable was $25), i like it way too much so that's what i got. Would be ready for fitting 10am Sunday.

Sunday 12th

Went to my tailor, pants and shirt look great. Nothing needed to be changed, they just had to do the buttons and a few final touches. Looked great with my shoes as well. This tailor was called Kimmy Custom Tailor.Went to the cheap shoe place, they ahd fixed the shoes, all problems solved. Checked out of hotel. Now just to wait until 7pm for our 12 hour bus to Nha Trang.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Return form Sapa, Hanoi and Hue

I forgot to mention that Sapa was extremely wet and muddy, yet we didn't get any rain (unless it happened when we were sleeping). I still have a bruise on my foot from the 12km trek we did on Friday. Would've liked to stay longer in Sapa but to do another day's trekking would be hard. The Friday trek was very difficult with lots of mud, rocks in the road and steep ascents/descents. I ripped a 30cm hole in the front of my Canterbury tracksuit pants when i was going down a hill and spreading my legs from spot to spot.

Saturday 4/12
The train back from Sapa was a much worse sleep than going to Sapa. We coincidentally ended up in the same cabin as our friends from the journey there. We may meet up with them later. We arrived in Hanoi at 5am, there was not much open at all, saw a moto with four gutted pigs riding on it. We had to literally sit in the hotel lobby til 7:30am when we could go out for breakfast and go to the Hoa Lo P.O.W prison. The streets were dead til 6am (sunrise) then they just came to life. A guest at the hotel was up (and looking fresh) at 5:30am and went out on a motorbike, strangest thing.

I had Bun Cha (grilled pork in a noodle soup) for breakfast and it was to die for, the best meal i've had so far. The Hoa Lo prison was nothing special but still worth a visit if you have spare time. We headed to Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum after where there was a long but fast que to see him. We headed off to the airport to catch our flight to Hue at 12pm. It was $79 and a one hour flight, the other option was train (or bus) which was $44 (train) and would take 12 hours. We had had enough of long train trips thank you very much.

Got into Hue and it was raining (and has been on and off since then, albeit not hard or long at all), taxi to the city was 140 000D. We went to Binh Ninh Sunrise which was the "our pick" in the LP guide. Room was $16 p.n. Much nicer room than Sapa and very friendly staff. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and had pizzas. Not too bad considering it's in Vietnam and made by Vietnamese. Had an early night and enjoyed a proper sleep.

Sunday 5/12
We had effectively spent less time in Hanoi than planned so this day was devoted to absolutely no touristy type activities. We did alot of shopping along the streets (didn't get anything though), put our 4kg of washing into a laundry and put my pants in to be sewn up and another pair of cargo pants i had that needed the legs taken up, all up 125 000D and ready the next day. We had Indian for lunch and it was very very nice. Kay even enjoyed it and she is not big on Indian. It was mentioned in the LP guide.

Spent the afternoon watching TV shows, most notable was a telemovie (?) with Rosie O'Donnell called America, about foster kids. We tried to find another LP guide mentioned restaurant but we got totally lost so we settled for this Vietnamese place called Phoung Nam which was full of Westerners and locals. What a gem it was. I had Bun Bo Hue (beef noodle soup from Hue), Kay had a squid noodle dish, we shared a Hue pancake and each had fruit shakes, which were delicious. I mango-papaya, Kay had mango-banana. I also had a 'festival' beer, which only cost 8000d or $0.40!. All up it was 92 000D ($4.10) for all of that!!!!

Monday 6/12
Went on a tour (8am start) f the tombs of the Nguyen Emperors along the Perfume River and to Tien Mu pagoda. Tien Mu was quite disappointing considering it is the most famous one in Vietnam, Nam Tien temple in Wollongong is much larger and much nicer.

Lunch was included in the tour, lunch that was green beans, tofu and rice. Not happy. We saw a demonstration of Vietnamese kung fu, which cost 30 000D. Our guide was constantly talking about how the Chinese always wanted to take Vietnam but never could because the Viet people are too strong. He made the joke that "if all Chinese pee'd in the Red River (goes through Hanoi) then all of Vietnam would become flooded".

We only visited two of the tombs as you had to pay 55 000D admission fee to each. Considering we paid for the tour, we were slugged at every corner. We visited Minh Mang's tomb, who had ~600 women in his life, be it wives or concubines, although only had 128 kids. Second was Tu Duc's tomb which was a huge area but the tomb itself was small. He was a poor Emperor and the one that effectively allowed the French to annex Vietnam in the late 19th Century. Also had no kids. Useless?

We got back to our hotel at 4pm and went inside to relax. Picked up our laundry and had Indian again for dinner. Went to some travel agencies to get quotes for an open tour bus ticket, which will take us to Hoi An, Nha Trang, Da Lat and Saigon  for only $25 each. We can organise to leave on any date (depending if the bus is full or not though). The longest leg will be Hoi An to Nha Trang at 12 hours, but it;s overnight and a sleeper bus, literally you can lie down in it. We had seen many of these and they look good.

Tomorrow we will visit the Hue Citadel and the market over that side of the river. Plan to return to Phuong Nam for dinner. We leave for Hoi An Wednesday afternoon, 4 hour trip.

p.s having alot of trouble getting into facebook, it won't display on my firefox portable browser or the computer internet explorer. Also tried other computers and got the same result.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Halong Bay and Sapa (Day One)

Left for Halong Bay (Descending Dragon Bay) early Monday morning, the road was very bumpy and a tad dangerous since marked lines are ignored and trucks like to overtake on the wrong side of the road. We saw a semi trailer on it's side with the front axle half hanging off. Arrive around midday and had lunch on the three level junk boat whilst cruising around. Mixed group with Danes, Spaniards, an American (terrible Californian accent), Frenchies, Swiss' and Viet-Americans.
Spoke to two French blokes at lunch, these guys have a beer and share a bottle of wine lunch and dinner everyday. The look on one of their faces when we told them we only drink on the weekend and have soft drinks with dinner was priceless. The weather was quite gloomy.

Went through the limestone caves (called Surprising Caves), it was quite cool in there. After we went kayaking for an hour, not easy considering Kay had not done it before and it was my third time. It was far too cold to swim. Dinner was a mix of seafood, chicken and beef. The grilled fish was very nice, i thought it was chicken until i bit into it. Spent the night on the boat, the bed was so hard it felt like i was sleeping on the floor.

Breakfast was at 7:40am, those who were staying an extra night alighted, leaving six of us left to return to Hanoi. Much warmer day, unfortunate that we couldn't swim. Arrived back at our Hanoi hotel where we left our bags around 4pm, we went for a walk and had Thai for dinner (it's better in Oz). We saw this bakery which had a huge line and only sold something called a rotimexico - a bun with chocolate on the inside and a coffee sort of bread on top. We hung around the hotel until it was time to leave for the station. The overnight train to Sapa left at 9pm.

Out of pure luck we shared our cabin with not only two 21 year old Aussies from Sydney but the bloke came form Drummoyne and the girl from Ashfield. On top of that we had mutual friends. They were spending six weeks going through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The ride was terrible, nothing like a cityrail train. I can describe it as trying to sleep in Jeremy's car whilst driving on a bumpy road. I also happened to be the exact length of the bed in width and length, probably had five hours sleep. We arrived in Lao Cai at 5:30am, then got on an hour and a half bus ride to Sapa. Lao Cai was bearable in my shorts and t-shirt, Sapa was not. It was sooooooooooo cold. I didn't think it was this bad so i didn't pack anything warm.

When we left for our 6km trek at 9am i had a singlet, t-shirt and long sleeve rugby jumper on, it was bearable. Although once we started walking/hiking it was fine, in fact i had to take a t-shirt off from underneath after 45mins. As soon as we left the hotel i was swooped upon by three ethnic Zao women who shadowed me for half an hour, asking questions and finally talking me into buying things. Our group of seven were outnumbered by these women.

We saw how they live (i had to bow my head in the house), they would all be around Kay's height (150cm).
The landscape was beautiful, the clouds were sitting on top of the mountains. The trek took three hours and was very hard on the return leg, i was down to my singlet, yet still breathing steam like i was smoking a cigarette (the humidity maybe?). Arrived back at the hotel around 12, had lunch and a much needed rest. Went out in the afternoon in search of a bank and we both bought a The North Face rainjacket (fake of course but really good quality), the initial price was 1.4million VND for both ( 70AUD), we go ti down to 950 000VND (49.50AUD). It was so hard to find an internet cafe, the hotel has computer but they were always occupied and had a 30min time limit. The cafe was full of little boys playing games, it was 0.25AUD per hour!!! However we could not get onto facebook there (and therefore this blog). I'm currently using the hotel computer.

Tomorrow will consist of a 12km trek to different villages and areas of Sapa. We depart tomorrow night for Hanoi.

p.s the Viet staff here have the soccer on and are going nuts.

p.s.s not that many Aussies here, lots of varying Europeans, the French would be the dominant tourist group.