Great food. Really good accommodation at a bargain price and gorgeous lanterned streets with some helpful friendly people.
We have had a great time here. Firstly we managed to bargain our hotel room down to $16 US from about $25 US. Everyone in the place had just checked out and we knew we would stay a few days so we hung out until she gave in. The room had clean crisp sheets, a bath, fridge and a TV with cable and the hotel also had pool in the garden out the back.
We didn't do much sightseeing, in fact we didn't even venture to the beach 5kms away. Our days consisted of eating until we felt nauseous (Em couldn't even finish her chocolate mousse desert which I think is unheard of), lounging in the cool room watching movies and going swimming in the pool.
We had some yummy croissants at the cargo cafe, scrumptious 5 course dinner cooked by Mr Kim (whose waiters were hilarious- one guy persisted in showing us how to eat each meal to the point where Jono was convinced he was going to try the aeroplane spoon technique), had genuinely friendly service from a family restaurant across the road from the hotel and one dinner at this collection of street styled vendors near the waterfront. Our waitress and cook were a sister team and we tried all the Hoi An speciliaties (white rose- shrimp wrapped in rice flour dumpling, cau lao- pasta like noodles with salad and tofu and beansprouts and fresh spring rolls). We also got a little tipsy on local beer (bia hoi is the fresh beer and is quite low alcohol and bia tuoi is the next step up, more alcohol but tastes about the same at 4,000 dong a glass- cheaper than water).
We also splurged on some clothes and even had to buy a bag to put them in. I justify this by saying the bag will be useful in Europe. That and it only cost AUS$14- even if the zippers don't work it's still good value.
We visited the Lifestart Foundation workshop, which was set-up by a Melbourne lady (Essendon) to fund orphanages and street kids training in skilled positions. Em got to meet the lady who made her stuffed elephant 'Eddie'. She had a treatable patentcy in her heart that went undiagnosed as a child and now needs a full heart-lung transplant. The foundation sponsored her because her previous job could not pay for the medications she needs. She was so good and enthusiastic at her job that she is now a supervisor. Makes you think you're a right loser when you're wishing you could buy more suits. You can look them up at lifestartfoundation.org. Great place.
As long as we ignore the bank balance it was a perfect few days. Next we are off to Dalat, where it will be cooler and they make quite nice wine.
Friday, 8 May 2009
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Hue
Needless to say arriving in Hue was a huge relief. I was even nonplussed by the constant touts from moto drivers for a few days.
We made up for a few days of living on chips and oreos by eating yummy food with some substance. Had a japanse dinner the first night which revived Jono's appreciation for chicken.The previous few days he (I'm sure) was served up some old jaundiced rooster that had been poached then left to dry out for a few days. We had breakfast a On Thu Wheels and one of the kids who was watching cartoons came over and tried to clear the table for us. Unfortuantely he couldn't quite balance the plates and ended up dropping one on the floor. That didn't worry him much though as his mother was cleaning it up he came over to the table again. He picked up our little dish of sugar and stuck his finger in to eat some. Jono tried to stop him and must have actually got the word for "no" spot on as he stopped and looked up. As if to say 'Well if I can't use my finger...' he looks down at the bowl and licks the sugar from the bowl. At this point the stern faces we were trying to keep cracked and we burst out laughing. He was a little confused but not that bothered.
The next day we wandered around the citadel and the citadel within a citadel and spent 30 mins trying to find the citadel within a citadel within a citadel before realising we had passed it on our way to trying to find it. It was quite pleasant in the imperial enclosure and Jono climbed up one of the tanks on display in front of one of the museums. A fairly laid back day and we again stuffed our faces at the Indian resturant in town.
Our plan for the third day was to cycle to the temple which has the car that the monk that burnt himself in protest to the Vietnam War is on display and then to cycle to the closet of the royal tombs. Tim and Steph had said it was the best one so we thought one would be enough.
The trip to the Thien Mu Pagado was strainght foward and we wandered about the temple for a bit before heading of the tombs.
The map in the lonely planet guide is useless and maybe we are a bit useless at following maps. We ended up cycling to the second furthest tomb Khai Dinh. We thought we were at Thieu Tri but had overshot and cycled 10km out of town. We looked at the tomb which was pretty impressive, very ornate and extravagant. The 36 steps that lead up to it were impressive but it is apparently a display of the decline of vietnamese culture, as it is unlike the other tombs and has much more European influence.
So we headed back towards town in search of Tu Duc. On the way we meet a group of school girls who came over while we were studying the map. They asked Jono to sing a song but he refused suggesting they should ask me. After a pretty tone deaf rendition of Row Row Row your boat we asked for a song in return. 5 girls say back 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine....".It was really lovely, very sweet and a little funny. So we were on our way again and again we overshot and had to cycle 3km back out of town up a fairly hilly section. We did eventually get to Tu Duc Tomb and it does have a lovely garden.
We splashed out on the degustation dinner at Y Thao garden which was an experience. We have a photo of the pineapple peacock our spring rolls came on. We also splurged on a cyclo ride home as the legs started to give in. I did feel a little sorry for the guy having to cycle two people up the hill on the bridge but he ripped us of at the end so I should have saved my pity for someone more derserving!
We made up for a few days of living on chips and oreos by eating yummy food with some substance. Had a japanse dinner the first night which revived Jono's appreciation for chicken.The previous few days he (I'm sure) was served up some old jaundiced rooster that had been poached then left to dry out for a few days. We had breakfast a On Thu Wheels and one of the kids who was watching cartoons came over and tried to clear the table for us. Unfortuantely he couldn't quite balance the plates and ended up dropping one on the floor. That didn't worry him much though as his mother was cleaning it up he came over to the table again. He picked up our little dish of sugar and stuck his finger in to eat some. Jono tried to stop him and must have actually got the word for "no" spot on as he stopped and looked up. As if to say 'Well if I can't use my finger...' he looks down at the bowl and licks the sugar from the bowl. At this point the stern faces we were trying to keep cracked and we burst out laughing. He was a little confused but not that bothered.
The next day we wandered around the citadel and the citadel within a citadel and spent 30 mins trying to find the citadel within a citadel within a citadel before realising we had passed it on our way to trying to find it. It was quite pleasant in the imperial enclosure and Jono climbed up one of the tanks on display in front of one of the museums. A fairly laid back day and we again stuffed our faces at the Indian resturant in town.
Our plan for the third day was to cycle to the temple which has the car that the monk that burnt himself in protest to the Vietnam War is on display and then to cycle to the closet of the royal tombs. Tim and Steph had said it was the best one so we thought one would be enough.
The trip to the Thien Mu Pagado was strainght foward and we wandered about the temple for a bit before heading of the tombs.
The map in the lonely planet guide is useless and maybe we are a bit useless at following maps. We ended up cycling to the second furthest tomb Khai Dinh. We thought we were at Thieu Tri but had overshot and cycled 10km out of town. We looked at the tomb which was pretty impressive, very ornate and extravagant. The 36 steps that lead up to it were impressive but it is apparently a display of the decline of vietnamese culture, as it is unlike the other tombs and has much more European influence.
So we headed back towards town in search of Tu Duc. On the way we meet a group of school girls who came over while we were studying the map. They asked Jono to sing a song but he refused suggesting they should ask me. After a pretty tone deaf rendition of Row Row Row your boat we asked for a song in return. 5 girls say back 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine....".It was really lovely, very sweet and a little funny. So we were on our way again and again we overshot and had to cycle 3km back out of town up a fairly hilly section. We did eventually get to Tu Duc Tomb and it does have a lovely garden.
We splashed out on the degustation dinner at Y Thao garden which was an experience. We have a photo of the pineapple peacock our spring rolls came on. We also splurged on a cyclo ride home as the legs started to give in. I did feel a little sorry for the guy having to cycle two people up the hill on the bridge but he ripped us of at the end so I should have saved my pity for someone more derserving!
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Dong Hoi, Dong Ha and the DMZ
The train ride to Dong Hoi was great for the first 5 hours, beautiful scenery and much calmer than the roads. However there were only hard seats left when we booked and we had to sit on different sides of the train. This left us open to the experience of locals with no concept of personal space. At one point Jono had one person sleeping under him and three people squeezed onto the two person hard seat (sized for two vietnamese people). The granny opposite me thought it was fine to put her feet up on the seat and lean them on me. Now I am not that worried by granny feet but both of us had been to the toilet before this.. the loo is a metal surface with a hole that goes down to the tracks, one of the lovely hoses included so the entire floor is wet. She had been twice and one of the trips she took toilet paper, so her feet as they slipped out of her plastic sandals and onto my leg were radioactive as far as I was concerned. Shaking that memory off will be hard.
So we did eventually arrive in Dong Hoi and managed to bargain our way down to 40, 000 dong for the cab to the hotel. The owner was really lovely and cooked us some noodles when we arrived.
We awoke to a downpour, and the owner explained it was Reunifcation/Liberation day which meant he was booked out and all the rooms would be double the price the next day and most are also booked out. So we thought we would go to Dong Ha and get to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) from there. We were aiming to avoid Dong Ha as lonely planet says there is no conceivable reason to visit save to go to the DMZ but the owner of the hotel said there would be more accommodation choices there. So off we went to the bus station. We arrived to have a very helpful chick tell us that there are no buses to Dong Ha (this we gleaned from the fact she said no to every question we asked, leaning back in her chair and trying to pretend we were not there). A nice guy thankfully explained to us that we could get off in Dong Ha (if we asked the driver) but we had to buy a ticket to Hue.
Our bus was a minivan which had probably survived the Vietnam war. It leaked from every possible corner, join and window. We were pushed to the back seat and the pimp who tried to run the show attempted to pack as many people and bags of stuff as possible onto the bus. At the high point we had our packs on our laps on the back seat breathing in not only passive smoke from some genius who thought it was okay to smoke on a fully packed bus with all the windows closed because of the torrential rain but also exhaust fumes flowing in through the rust holes in the floor.
Dong Ha was all lonely planet said it would be and then a little more revolting. The hotel had dead cockaroachs and cigarette butts on the floor and a shiny stretchy sheet that seemed to come off the bed leaving you sleeping on a bare mattress. Jono didn't even tell me about the used syringes on the window sill until after we left.
The owner of the hotel was very friendly though and he took us on a tour in a minivan to the DMZ (just us and the girl we met in Ninh Binh). The Vinh Moc tunnels were really amazing to see. There are 3 levels; the deepest is 24m underground and they extend an amazing distance. There were lots of little family rooms on the cilivian level and then rooms for soldiers on the military level. The tunnels were tall enough to walk through with a stoop for us but I would not want to be a tall european and try to get around. The tunnels had a few exits to the beach and there were a few ventilation shafts (one of which was made from the most succesiful US bomb attempt- it didn't explode). They gave you perspective on how deep down you were. It was impressive and very sobering to think people lived there for 4 years. 17 babies were born down there.
We also saw the Khe San combat base which doesn't really exist since the US destroyed the entire thing before they left so there was nothing for propoganda (they found some stiff though). We climbed onto one of the tanks and generally got a bit freaked out in the thick fog that surrounds the place. There was a combat helicopter and a chinook transport helicopter there. They were still very well intact but they didn't look like the kind of thing a government defense force would pay for, more like an enthusaists toy. We got to see the difference between AK-47s(Russian made for North Vietnamese) and M-16s(US). The AK was much smaller but apparently would work after being submerged in water or buried hidden underground for months, whereas the M-16 generally did more malfunctiong than actual firing.
A minor hick up with getting a bus out of Dong Ha to Hue but after a few kms of walking and some bargaining we got on a minivan. We had an amusing time trying to improve our vietnamese learning the phrases for no thank you, i don't want that, i don't like that and leave me alone to try to get rid of the persistent drink selling vendors.
So we did eventually arrive in Dong Hoi and managed to bargain our way down to 40, 000 dong for the cab to the hotel. The owner was really lovely and cooked us some noodles when we arrived.
We awoke to a downpour, and the owner explained it was Reunifcation/Liberation day which meant he was booked out and all the rooms would be double the price the next day and most are also booked out. So we thought we would go to Dong Ha and get to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) from there. We were aiming to avoid Dong Ha as lonely planet says there is no conceivable reason to visit save to go to the DMZ but the owner of the hotel said there would be more accommodation choices there. So off we went to the bus station. We arrived to have a very helpful chick tell us that there are no buses to Dong Ha (this we gleaned from the fact she said no to every question we asked, leaning back in her chair and trying to pretend we were not there). A nice guy thankfully explained to us that we could get off in Dong Ha (if we asked the driver) but we had to buy a ticket to Hue.
Our bus was a minivan which had probably survived the Vietnam war. It leaked from every possible corner, join and window. We were pushed to the back seat and the pimp who tried to run the show attempted to pack as many people and bags of stuff as possible onto the bus. At the high point we had our packs on our laps on the back seat breathing in not only passive smoke from some genius who thought it was okay to smoke on a fully packed bus with all the windows closed because of the torrential rain but also exhaust fumes flowing in through the rust holes in the floor.
Dong Ha was all lonely planet said it would be and then a little more revolting. The hotel had dead cockaroachs and cigarette butts on the floor and a shiny stretchy sheet that seemed to come off the bed leaving you sleeping on a bare mattress. Jono didn't even tell me about the used syringes on the window sill until after we left.
The owner of the hotel was very friendly though and he took us on a tour in a minivan to the DMZ (just us and the girl we met in Ninh Binh). The Vinh Moc tunnels were really amazing to see. There are 3 levels; the deepest is 24m underground and they extend an amazing distance. There were lots of little family rooms on the cilivian level and then rooms for soldiers on the military level. The tunnels were tall enough to walk through with a stoop for us but I would not want to be a tall european and try to get around. The tunnels had a few exits to the beach and there were a few ventilation shafts (one of which was made from the most succesiful US bomb attempt- it didn't explode). They gave you perspective on how deep down you were. It was impressive and very sobering to think people lived there for 4 years. 17 babies were born down there.
We also saw the Khe San combat base which doesn't really exist since the US destroyed the entire thing before they left so there was nothing for propoganda (they found some stiff though). We climbed onto one of the tanks and generally got a bit freaked out in the thick fog that surrounds the place. There was a combat helicopter and a chinook transport helicopter there. They were still very well intact but they didn't look like the kind of thing a government defense force would pay for, more like an enthusaists toy. We got to see the difference between AK-47s(Russian made for North Vietnamese) and M-16s(US). The AK was much smaller but apparently would work after being submerged in water or buried hidden underground for months, whereas the M-16 generally did more malfunctiong than actual firing.
A minor hick up with getting a bus out of Dong Ha to Hue but after a few kms of walking and some bargaining we got on a minivan. We had an amusing time trying to improve our vietnamese learning the phrases for no thank you, i don't want that, i don't like that and leave me alone to try to get rid of the persistent drink selling vendors.
Ninh Binh
So we spent our last morning in Hanoi purchasing weasel coffee. Weasel coffee is coffee that has been fed to weasels and then its excreted in the stool and the bean is reshaped or so the story goes...
It's only 3 or so hours from Hanoi which was great except the guy opposite us kept smoking in a non-smoking carriage. Took LPlanet's advice and stayed at Thanh Thuy Hotel. Apart from being pestered while eating your breakfast to go on tours they were unbelievably rude. Still we somehow got a good room for US$10/night with a little sad face routine. The only honest person that worked there was our tour guide Luc, who was from Halong Bay and had only been there 2 months.
The next day we headed out with Luc on motorbikes with Jono somehow being convinced to drive his own bike in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road!
We visited Tam Coc -basically a floodplain river, where women or man in our case paddle you along the river while old ladies try to sell you bottles of beer for extortionary prices. They even go so far as to embarass you into buying by asking you to buy a beer for the boat rower. Then the boat man asked us a for a tip even after we helped him row! We gave them a lesson in negative punishment - we won. It was a very beautiful trip, especially cool was the goats high up on the mountains either side of the river.
Ancient Capital Hoa Lu- lots of old buildings for very small people. Better visit it before progress ends up on top of it.
Floating Village Kenh Ga - not really a floating village anymore, everyone lives in houses on the banks of the river. Guy that paddled us around was genuinely a nice guy (after we paid anyway) and even helped us learn to count to ten (in vietnamese you doubters!!) not that we can remember it now without looking it up. Showed us the Catholic Cathedral in town. Wanted to show us inside but it was locked. Very lovely church none the less. Catholicism is the second biggest religion in Vietnam. He couldn't explain to us how it came to be the religion of the village though. We drank lots of tea with him and he evn tried to get us on the whiskey when we got back. At least Jono had the excuse he was driving.
Mua Cave - which is actually a really long staircase to the top of a mountain and a really small cave tunnel that looks over to Tam Coc. Breathtaking view from the top. Photos would never do it justice. Somehow survived US bombing very well. Able to see town of Ninh Binh from it. A bit like a Himalayan staircase to a hidden monastery except not very hidden.
Next day the powers that be at the hotel stole our trusty driver/guide and tried to palm us off to another driver so we decided to go ourselves to Cuc Phuong National Park and Primate Centre. We mainly just wanted to see the Primate Centre and had the pleasure of motorbiking in howling rain about 80kms to get there. When we got there the office told us it was better to wait till the afternoon to visit the primate enclosure and we should ride into the park to have a look. So we did and Jono nearly committed murder when they charged us 3000 dong to park our motorbike in the rain, even though you pay to enter the park before that and then proceeded to let all the Vietnamese visitors park undercover. So much so that he let the park ranger at the office have it....they'll probably be getting an email soon too. After we've left the country.
So we waited around to see the primates after turning right back around in the national park and was treated to a blindingly long 10 minute wander around the primate centre. Captivating is too strong a word. The fact they think people should visit this place is delusional enough to have them committed. So we got back on our bike and headed home in the rain. A bus overtaking another bus on a narrow bridge tried to run us over about 5km from the hotel. The tourist bureau will be getting an email about the standard of bus drivers in this country too by the way. They seem to have got their bus licenses from ACME School of Stunt Buses.
Booked our train to Dong Hoi for the next day. Only had hard seats available because it was Liberation Day in Vietnam and everyone was travelling to the country.
It's only 3 or so hours from Hanoi which was great except the guy opposite us kept smoking in a non-smoking carriage. Took LPlanet's advice and stayed at Thanh Thuy Hotel. Apart from being pestered while eating your breakfast to go on tours they were unbelievably rude. Still we somehow got a good room for US$10/night with a little sad face routine. The only honest person that worked there was our tour guide Luc, who was from Halong Bay and had only been there 2 months.
The next day we headed out with Luc on motorbikes with Jono somehow being convinced to drive his own bike in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road!
We visited Tam Coc -basically a floodplain river, where women or man in our case paddle you along the river while old ladies try to sell you bottles of beer for extortionary prices. They even go so far as to embarass you into buying by asking you to buy a beer for the boat rower. Then the boat man asked us a for a tip even after we helped him row! We gave them a lesson in negative punishment - we won. It was a very beautiful trip, especially cool was the goats high up on the mountains either side of the river.
Ancient Capital Hoa Lu- lots of old buildings for very small people. Better visit it before progress ends up on top of it.
Floating Village Kenh Ga - not really a floating village anymore, everyone lives in houses on the banks of the river. Guy that paddled us around was genuinely a nice guy (after we paid anyway) and even helped us learn to count to ten (in vietnamese you doubters!!) not that we can remember it now without looking it up. Showed us the Catholic Cathedral in town. Wanted to show us inside but it was locked. Very lovely church none the less. Catholicism is the second biggest religion in Vietnam. He couldn't explain to us how it came to be the religion of the village though. We drank lots of tea with him and he evn tried to get us on the whiskey when we got back. At least Jono had the excuse he was driving.
Mua Cave - which is actually a really long staircase to the top of a mountain and a really small cave tunnel that looks over to Tam Coc. Breathtaking view from the top. Photos would never do it justice. Somehow survived US bombing very well. Able to see town of Ninh Binh from it. A bit like a Himalayan staircase to a hidden monastery except not very hidden.
Next day the powers that be at the hotel stole our trusty driver/guide and tried to palm us off to another driver so we decided to go ourselves to Cuc Phuong National Park and Primate Centre. We mainly just wanted to see the Primate Centre and had the pleasure of motorbiking in howling rain about 80kms to get there. When we got there the office told us it was better to wait till the afternoon to visit the primate enclosure and we should ride into the park to have a look. So we did and Jono nearly committed murder when they charged us 3000 dong to park our motorbike in the rain, even though you pay to enter the park before that and then proceeded to let all the Vietnamese visitors park undercover. So much so that he let the park ranger at the office have it....they'll probably be getting an email soon too. After we've left the country.
So we waited around to see the primates after turning right back around in the national park and was treated to a blindingly long 10 minute wander around the primate centre. Captivating is too strong a word. The fact they think people should visit this place is delusional enough to have them committed. So we got back on our bike and headed home in the rain. A bus overtaking another bus on a narrow bridge tried to run us over about 5km from the hotel. The tourist bureau will be getting an email about the standard of bus drivers in this country too by the way. They seem to have got their bus licenses from ACME School of Stunt Buses.
Booked our train to Dong Hoi for the next day. Only had hard seats available because it was Liberation Day in Vietnam and everyone was travelling to the country.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Halong Bay
We went on a 2 day tour of the bay, one night on the boat and one night at a resort on Cat Ba Island.
We had some great seafood on the boat, even managed to crack apart a mini crab for starters. Unfortunately we were on the boat with only two other tourists, both English accountants. Not the most interesting people on the planet.
Again the understatement of the century. Imagine if you will, two people from an island that hasn't tasted real food for over a century and has then decided as a future profession a job so boring that it would bore the arse out of a wooden horse, you can probably conceive of the two people we spent two days on a boat. Not only that we found out when the Brits go on holiday they don't do anything! They sit around thinking about being on holiday but secretly wishing they were back in England at home in front of the tv, dipping biscuits into weak tea.
Kayaking became our personal mission to remove as much rubbish from the water as possible, this was quite amusing to the boat staff as Jono pulled can after bottle after bag of rubbish from the hull of the kayak.
The water and surrounding karst landscape was extremely beautiful. Very easy to get lost. We were a little dissapointed the guide couldn't show us a cave with an abandoned pirate ship...thems the breaks.
Halong Bay is a world heritage listed area. After seeing what Tasmania tries to do to some of its most pristine and beautiful environment I was hoping Vietnam, after being hammered with US pollution (Napalm, Agent Orange and UXO) would have a more advanced system in place to deal with environemntal pollution. Unfortunately poverty is too commonplace to allow sufficient funds to deal with it efficiently. Amazingly Tasmania (the government and Gunns that is) still thinks it's ok to pollute its waterways and drinking water with a close cousin of Agent Orange called Atrazine(banned in Europe). I smell a class action coming on!!!! Hence forth it was a mission to pick up as much rubbish out of the water as possible. People don't realise cigarette butts contain a plastic which takes up to 10 years to decompose. We gave the boat captain 20,000 dong as thanks for taking the rubbish away. Hopefully he didn't throw it over the other side of the boat.
It was quite misty which made it quite mystical and the resort was really plush which was nice for a night.
Our guide was the type that really made me see red but Jono wasn't really riled up at all and interesting reversal of roles for a few days. He gave us the itinerary which began, we will get up at 700, breakfast at 730 and leave for kayaking at 800 or 810. Sorry, the boat had four people on it but we have a 10 minute window! He actually knocked on our door to make sure we were up. Seriously dude what happens if we are 1/2 an hour late. He also liked to tell stories (which were long winded and devoid of punch lines) when we were in the middle of a beautiful lagoon when we made it plain that we could entertain ourselves. When we went 50m away from his kayak he starts getting upset and holding his hand in the air like a primary school teacher. Anyway I'll stop now.
On Cat Ba Island we hired a bike and rode to the hospital cave which was used during the war, solid concrete bunker underground which was really impressive. On the way back it rained which was a bit of a dampener on the day (we also helped two people who had slid out on their bike and broken the front plastic on their brand new bike- thankfully they were fine).
We had some great seafood on the boat, even managed to crack apart a mini crab for starters. Unfortunately we were on the boat with only two other tourists, both English accountants. Not the most interesting people on the planet.
Again the understatement of the century. Imagine if you will, two people from an island that hasn't tasted real food for over a century and has then decided as a future profession a job so boring that it would bore the arse out of a wooden horse, you can probably conceive of the two people we spent two days on a boat. Not only that we found out when the Brits go on holiday they don't do anything! They sit around thinking about being on holiday but secretly wishing they were back in England at home in front of the tv, dipping biscuits into weak tea.
Kayaking became our personal mission to remove as much rubbish from the water as possible, this was quite amusing to the boat staff as Jono pulled can after bottle after bag of rubbish from the hull of the kayak.
The water and surrounding karst landscape was extremely beautiful. Very easy to get lost. We were a little dissapointed the guide couldn't show us a cave with an abandoned pirate ship...thems the breaks.
Halong Bay is a world heritage listed area. After seeing what Tasmania tries to do to some of its most pristine and beautiful environment I was hoping Vietnam, after being hammered with US pollution (Napalm, Agent Orange and UXO) would have a more advanced system in place to deal with environemntal pollution. Unfortunately poverty is too commonplace to allow sufficient funds to deal with it efficiently. Amazingly Tasmania (the government and Gunns that is) still thinks it's ok to pollute its waterways and drinking water with a close cousin of Agent Orange called Atrazine(banned in Europe). I smell a class action coming on!!!! Hence forth it was a mission to pick up as much rubbish out of the water as possible. People don't realise cigarette butts contain a plastic which takes up to 10 years to decompose. We gave the boat captain 20,000 dong as thanks for taking the rubbish away. Hopefully he didn't throw it over the other side of the boat.
It was quite misty which made it quite mystical and the resort was really plush which was nice for a night.
Our guide was the type that really made me see red but Jono wasn't really riled up at all and interesting reversal of roles for a few days. He gave us the itinerary which began, we will get up at 700, breakfast at 730 and leave for kayaking at 800 or 810. Sorry, the boat had four people on it but we have a 10 minute window! He actually knocked on our door to make sure we were up. Seriously dude what happens if we are 1/2 an hour late. He also liked to tell stories (which were long winded and devoid of punch lines) when we were in the middle of a beautiful lagoon when we made it plain that we could entertain ourselves. When we went 50m away from his kayak he starts getting upset and holding his hand in the air like a primary school teacher. Anyway I'll stop now.
On Cat Ba Island we hired a bike and rode to the hospital cave which was used during the war, solid concrete bunker underground which was really impressive. On the way back it rained which was a bit of a dampener on the day (we also helped two people who had slid out on their bike and broken the front plastic on their brand new bike- thankfully they were fine).
Hanoi
We were picked up at the airport by the hotel to avoid the nightmare taxi scams. The drivers here are even more insane than Bangkok and like to use their horns whenever possible.
The rules I have gathered are:
When overtaking on the wrong side of the road you must honk just as you appear in someones bling spot. This is best if you area a freight truck and you are honking at a cyclist.
If you overtake on the wrong side of the road all you need to do is flash your lights at the people drivingh straight at you on the other side, this neagtes all responsibility for near fatal injuries.
If the traffic slows down it is obviously because no one is honking their horns.
We had a great dinner at Little Hanoi 2 which has roll your own fresh rice paper rolls with yummy herbs... delicious.
Next day we explored the old quarter and saw the water puppets.
The rules I have gathered are:
When overtaking on the wrong side of the road you must honk just as you appear in someones bling spot. This is best if you area a freight truck and you are honking at a cyclist.
If you overtake on the wrong side of the road all you need to do is flash your lights at the people drivingh straight at you on the other side, this neagtes all responsibility for near fatal injuries.
If the traffic slows down it is obviously because no one is honking their horns.
We had a great dinner at Little Hanoi 2 which has roll your own fresh rice paper rolls with yummy herbs... delicious.
Next day we explored the old quarter and saw the water puppets.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Vang Vieng and Vientiane
Sorry for the delay folks, it was so hot we couldn't write anything. We'll try to catch youse up as best we can. For your information we were in Lao PDR until 21.04.2009.
Vang Vieng is a small town inbetween Luang Prabang and Vientiane. That is the only reason it exists. We arrived in town with the Irish couple who we teamed up with. We found a cheap guesthouse after the Lonely Planet recommendation was taken. It wasn't as good as Lonely Planet stated anyway. Who pays to sleep on a 1 inch mattress, honestly! FYI a cheap guesthouse in Lao is 100,000 kip which equates to AU$16.00. This included AC and bathroom. Not really that cheap in the middle of nowhere and a country that lives on 100,000 kip/week. But that's the absurdity of the place, tourism lives in a different world to what the locals do.
Anyway, enough. Vang Vieng has two things going for it. It has caves nearby and a river that tourists since forever have gone tubing down. So the day after we arrived in ridiculous heatwave that was Lao for the entire trip we went tubing down the river. The tubing business is run by a mafia crew of Lao guys who have stitched up the whole operation. They rent you a tractor tyre tube and drive you about 3.5km to the start. If you get back after 6pm they fine you for being late. Yes, they charge you because the river flows too slowly...genius really. In the last few years a number of bars have set-up on the side of the river to tempt tourists to stop and have a drink by giving free shots of Lao whisky and various other illegal substances. Back in the 70's it was apparently easier to get opium than beer and some tourists still think it's that way. But believe you me they stand out a mile. (I'll tell you about my two favourites at the end of this blog) So the big attraction of these bars is the zip wires they have constructed from bamboo and steel lines. To be safe they have dug the river deeper. On the other hand they haven't thought about tourists drinking and jumping off 5 metre high bamboo constructions which at the start of the jump have rocks sticking out of the water. As Em put it when you arrive in Lao you sign away all insurance claims just by entering the country. So with that in mind we both had a go. Note to self: 5 metres is a long way to drop into a moving river when you haven't done it before. I did survive so much so that Em had a go on a slightly smaller zip wire. Unfortunately we don't have any photos of her being unusually brave because she said it was too risky to take the camera. But not too risky to jump off a ramshackle flying fox that was being operated by a 12 year old!
After a few jumps off we moved on down the river and came across lots more bars, one had a huge concrete slide into the river and the biggest zip wire on the river (about 10 metres). We didn't try that one. Em and I weren't drinking on that day and you get a real impression of why most people who visit Lao. They are there to drink very cheaply and a lot to procure said illegal substances. It is illegal in case you were wondering but there are plenty of offers to tourists.
The best part of the journey was the huge party the local people were having down the river a bit, with tables and chairs in the water and everyone having a blast. Unfortunately nobody invited us to hang out but we still splashed lots of kids with water.
We floated down the river some more and realised we were getting perilous close to being fined for missing our deadline. We started at 3pm and had to be back by 6pm. The river did us no favours, at one point it seemed to be floating the other way. We had to walk the last kilometre because the river was too shallow to float on and ergo were fined for the privilige. I did complain when we got back that they didn't turn the river on fast enough, but I think it was lost on the guy.
It was a lot of fun none the less. When the river is flowing fast it's apparently 4x faster, which would be really cool.
The next day we convinced the Irish couple to come with us to visit a huge cave six km from town with a blue lagoon inside the cave that u could swim in. Lonely Planet said it had a blue lagoon so it must have right? We hired some bicycles and knocked over the 6km quite easily considering it was about 37C. So get to the cave and there are about 200 people celebrating NY. Now when I say celebrating Lao style that involves the biggest speakers you can find and turning them up until the entire countryside is reverberating. Then everyone stands right next to said speakers and jumps up and down while everyone sprays water in the air. Think gentle mosh pit with mudbath.
So we head on into the cave to escape the mayhem and get about 20 metres in when we realise that even with headlamps you can't see a thing, so we got a kid to guide us around with the express instruction to show us the blue lagoon. He showed us the buddha statue, the bats (which we didn't ask to see), a second chamber but no blue lagoon. Then when we get out he asks for his money and we ask where is the blue lagoon? His reply "No lagoon." Backed up by the adult next to him. The only lagoon within coeee of the cave was a pitiful little kiddie pool right next to one of the biggest speakers. I can't wait to write to Lonely Planet about their exhaustive research policy!!!!! Hence the 6km journey back to town wasn't so exciting.
So all four of us decided to exit the town and booked a bus/kayak trip to the capital of Lao, Vientiane.
The tour involved being put in the back of a truck with said characters: 2 Aussies, 2 Irish, 1 English, 1 Canadian, 1 Austrian and 2 somewheres (they didn't talk to anyone). It seemed like a good crew till I asked the Pom how long he had been in Lao and he stared at me like I had provided him with some esoteric secret to join Oprah's book club. He told me he'd been there about a month. And he had really enjoyed it. Now I don't care who you are you can't enjoy Lao for a whole month without being drunk everyday (BeerLao is possibly the nicest beer I've ever drunk, and at AU$2 a 660ml bottle whose arguing) or smoking yourself into paranoid oblivion. In this poor boy's case both was the answer.
My suspicions were confirmed when I asked him what part of England he was from and he told me central London. Yet he had never heard of Chiswick!!@! After an hour and a half of being buffeted by water buckets and hard plastic water bombs (Part of Em's brain came out her ear at one stage) we arrived at the start of our kayaking expedition. Now I say expedition, I mean kiddie river floating. It was an 8km stretch and had one rapid, very small rapid. Surprisingly the English guy and the people who dare not speak still managed to capsize their kayak. We stopped at the rapid for lunch (wonderful Lao bbq of skewered vegies and chicken). The English guy further confirmed by suspicions of him being an idiot by rolling a joint that would have needed a tripod to maintain structure had it been any bigger. We continued on after lunch and a strange thing started to happen. The English (I know, he's my blog writing dream come true) guy on two seperate occasions jumped out of the kayak and floated behind for a few minutes. Maybe it's a cure for constipation in England but when there are other people in the river, it's just weird.
Just before we finished our kayaking trip the guide asked who wanted to do a cliff jump into the river. Now I know I shouldn't say yes before finding out what it involved but I did anyway. I thought it would be a relatively easy 3 metre drop into soft, cuddly water. It turned out to be a 10 metre suicide drop over a blind edge. My first look over the edge resulted in legs that went so weak, modern science hasn't yet found a way of replicating. Oddly enough my good friend the English guy jumped without a hint of concern. His Olympics sanctioned urine test comes back next week. My guess is...
While myself, the Irishman and the Austrian girl were up there panicking and hoping we would get the courage to jump, the English guy jumped again. After I had backed away the second time, the Austrian girl decided to walk to edge and I just reassuringly said, "I'll let your mother know you loved her." To which she replied "She's dead already." So not to be outdone I replied "Well, that'll save time." She gave up jumping soon after I said that. I don't think she was offended, but you can never tell with these Austrians, they always sound so upbeat, like their skipping along to the Sound of Music soundtrack.
Eventually I fell over the edge by accident, it did take about ten minutes to remind myself that I probably wouldn't die. Em got it on video, hopefully I'll have a chance to put it on youtube/blog before I do something stupid again without the camera. Falling ten metres into water does sting, don't let anyone tell you different, especially if their English.
The last section of our trip to Vientiane was by minivan, which was very fortunate considering how many people were out throwing water at cars nearby. We saw the most awful post-accident on our way into town. A bunch of people sitting in the back of a ute had been thrown out after the driver ran into two scooters. The ute was upside down but we don't know if anyone died. One ambulance did turn up to help and check everyone but medical services aren't very advanced in Lao. It's surprising more people didn't end up in accidents considering how wet the roads were during the NY celebrations.
My two favourite Tourists
1) The first one was the little guy we bumped into at the tubing zip wire. I was behind him in the line climbing up and had the fortune of being on the platform when he took off. Except he didn't take off and let go, he held on so he could push off the platform on his way back. Now I'm not the biggest fan of heights and I'm sure it appeared strange to everyone that the next guy about to jump into midwire was crouching down to hold onto the platform. The guy did eventually let go but he did have a severe case of wanting to chew his face off. He really needed a chuppa chup but they are hard to find in Lao.
2) Number two and my favourite space cadet tourist in Lao comes from Ireland. Not to be mistaken for the Irish couple we spent a few days travelling with. He was orginally from Cork but had spent the previous three years in Japan pretending to teach English. How can anyone from Cork teach English to Japanese students, they can barely speak English themselves! This guy was a redhead with a beard and the reason he wins my favourite tourist award is because he as straight as a post told me about the suit he had custom made in Thailand just a few weeks before to coincide with his return to Ireland for the wedding season. He had paid a bit more than he wanted to for the suit but as he said, " I got it just the way I wanted it." Now what you think when he says that is not what he was thinking when he said that. His perfect suit was a green velvet with thick purple pin stripes and a silver tie. I repeat a red headed with beard Irishman in a green velvet suit with purple pin stripes and a silver tie. I need say no more.
Vientiane was a low point of the whole trip. It was hot humid and didn't cool down at night. It was also overpriced (NY), booked out and the entire city was closed, presumably to recover from one massive collective hangover.
The highlights of the stay were:
1. The air con cafe called JoMa which was a wall of cool as you came in. The made a great banana cake and a lovely cuppa.
2. The buddha park which Mum you would love but would need to get a few buckets of colour and throw them around.
3. Minor highlights were the Arc de Triumphe and the shiny gold temple.
Oh and you can arrange a visa in less than 24hrs which we did and promptly left this place.
The international airport was the most laid back airport we have seen, even comparing to Hobart which is only a fake international airport anyway.
Vang Vieng is a small town inbetween Luang Prabang and Vientiane. That is the only reason it exists. We arrived in town with the Irish couple who we teamed up with. We found a cheap guesthouse after the Lonely Planet recommendation was taken. It wasn't as good as Lonely Planet stated anyway. Who pays to sleep on a 1 inch mattress, honestly! FYI a cheap guesthouse in Lao is 100,000 kip which equates to AU$16.00. This included AC and bathroom. Not really that cheap in the middle of nowhere and a country that lives on 100,000 kip/week. But that's the absurdity of the place, tourism lives in a different world to what the locals do.
Anyway, enough. Vang Vieng has two things going for it. It has caves nearby and a river that tourists since forever have gone tubing down. So the day after we arrived in ridiculous heatwave that was Lao for the entire trip we went tubing down the river. The tubing business is run by a mafia crew of Lao guys who have stitched up the whole operation. They rent you a tractor tyre tube and drive you about 3.5km to the start. If you get back after 6pm they fine you for being late. Yes, they charge you because the river flows too slowly...genius really. In the last few years a number of bars have set-up on the side of the river to tempt tourists to stop and have a drink by giving free shots of Lao whisky and various other illegal substances. Back in the 70's it was apparently easier to get opium than beer and some tourists still think it's that way. But believe you me they stand out a mile. (I'll tell you about my two favourites at the end of this blog) So the big attraction of these bars is the zip wires they have constructed from bamboo and steel lines. To be safe they have dug the river deeper. On the other hand they haven't thought about tourists drinking and jumping off 5 metre high bamboo constructions which at the start of the jump have rocks sticking out of the water. As Em put it when you arrive in Lao you sign away all insurance claims just by entering the country. So with that in mind we both had a go. Note to self: 5 metres is a long way to drop into a moving river when you haven't done it before. I did survive so much so that Em had a go on a slightly smaller zip wire. Unfortunately we don't have any photos of her being unusually brave because she said it was too risky to take the camera. But not too risky to jump off a ramshackle flying fox that was being operated by a 12 year old!
After a few jumps off we moved on down the river and came across lots more bars, one had a huge concrete slide into the river and the biggest zip wire on the river (about 10 metres). We didn't try that one. Em and I weren't drinking on that day and you get a real impression of why most people who visit Lao. They are there to drink very cheaply and a lot to procure said illegal substances. It is illegal in case you were wondering but there are plenty of offers to tourists.
The best part of the journey was the huge party the local people were having down the river a bit, with tables and chairs in the water and everyone having a blast. Unfortunately nobody invited us to hang out but we still splashed lots of kids with water.
We floated down the river some more and realised we were getting perilous close to being fined for missing our deadline. We started at 3pm and had to be back by 6pm. The river did us no favours, at one point it seemed to be floating the other way. We had to walk the last kilometre because the river was too shallow to float on and ergo were fined for the privilige. I did complain when we got back that they didn't turn the river on fast enough, but I think it was lost on the guy.
It was a lot of fun none the less. When the river is flowing fast it's apparently 4x faster, which would be really cool.
The next day we convinced the Irish couple to come with us to visit a huge cave six km from town with a blue lagoon inside the cave that u could swim in. Lonely Planet said it had a blue lagoon so it must have right? We hired some bicycles and knocked over the 6km quite easily considering it was about 37C. So get to the cave and there are about 200 people celebrating NY. Now when I say celebrating Lao style that involves the biggest speakers you can find and turning them up until the entire countryside is reverberating. Then everyone stands right next to said speakers and jumps up and down while everyone sprays water in the air. Think gentle mosh pit with mudbath.
So we head on into the cave to escape the mayhem and get about 20 metres in when we realise that even with headlamps you can't see a thing, so we got a kid to guide us around with the express instruction to show us the blue lagoon. He showed us the buddha statue, the bats (which we didn't ask to see), a second chamber but no blue lagoon. Then when we get out he asks for his money and we ask where is the blue lagoon? His reply "No lagoon." Backed up by the adult next to him. The only lagoon within coeee of the cave was a pitiful little kiddie pool right next to one of the biggest speakers. I can't wait to write to Lonely Planet about their exhaustive research policy!!!!! Hence the 6km journey back to town wasn't so exciting.
So all four of us decided to exit the town and booked a bus/kayak trip to the capital of Lao, Vientiane.
The tour involved being put in the back of a truck with said characters: 2 Aussies, 2 Irish, 1 English, 1 Canadian, 1 Austrian and 2 somewheres (they didn't talk to anyone). It seemed like a good crew till I asked the Pom how long he had been in Lao and he stared at me like I had provided him with some esoteric secret to join Oprah's book club. He told me he'd been there about a month. And he had really enjoyed it. Now I don't care who you are you can't enjoy Lao for a whole month without being drunk everyday (BeerLao is possibly the nicest beer I've ever drunk, and at AU$2 a 660ml bottle whose arguing) or smoking yourself into paranoid oblivion. In this poor boy's case both was the answer.
My suspicions were confirmed when I asked him what part of England he was from and he told me central London. Yet he had never heard of Chiswick!!@! After an hour and a half of being buffeted by water buckets and hard plastic water bombs (Part of Em's brain came out her ear at one stage) we arrived at the start of our kayaking expedition. Now I say expedition, I mean kiddie river floating. It was an 8km stretch and had one rapid, very small rapid. Surprisingly the English guy and the people who dare not speak still managed to capsize their kayak. We stopped at the rapid for lunch (wonderful Lao bbq of skewered vegies and chicken). The English guy further confirmed by suspicions of him being an idiot by rolling a joint that would have needed a tripod to maintain structure had it been any bigger. We continued on after lunch and a strange thing started to happen. The English (I know, he's my blog writing dream come true) guy on two seperate occasions jumped out of the kayak and floated behind for a few minutes. Maybe it's a cure for constipation in England but when there are other people in the river, it's just weird.
Just before we finished our kayaking trip the guide asked who wanted to do a cliff jump into the river. Now I know I shouldn't say yes before finding out what it involved but I did anyway. I thought it would be a relatively easy 3 metre drop into soft, cuddly water. It turned out to be a 10 metre suicide drop over a blind edge. My first look over the edge resulted in legs that went so weak, modern science hasn't yet found a way of replicating. Oddly enough my good friend the English guy jumped without a hint of concern. His Olympics sanctioned urine test comes back next week. My guess is...
While myself, the Irishman and the Austrian girl were up there panicking and hoping we would get the courage to jump, the English guy jumped again. After I had backed away the second time, the Austrian girl decided to walk to edge and I just reassuringly said, "I'll let your mother know you loved her." To which she replied "She's dead already." So not to be outdone I replied "Well, that'll save time." She gave up jumping soon after I said that. I don't think she was offended, but you can never tell with these Austrians, they always sound so upbeat, like their skipping along to the Sound of Music soundtrack.
Eventually I fell over the edge by accident, it did take about ten minutes to remind myself that I probably wouldn't die. Em got it on video, hopefully I'll have a chance to put it on youtube/blog before I do something stupid again without the camera. Falling ten metres into water does sting, don't let anyone tell you different, especially if their English.
The last section of our trip to Vientiane was by minivan, which was very fortunate considering how many people were out throwing water at cars nearby. We saw the most awful post-accident on our way into town. A bunch of people sitting in the back of a ute had been thrown out after the driver ran into two scooters. The ute was upside down but we don't know if anyone died. One ambulance did turn up to help and check everyone but medical services aren't very advanced in Lao. It's surprising more people didn't end up in accidents considering how wet the roads were during the NY celebrations.
My two favourite Tourists
1) The first one was the little guy we bumped into at the tubing zip wire. I was behind him in the line climbing up and had the fortune of being on the platform when he took off. Except he didn't take off and let go, he held on so he could push off the platform on his way back. Now I'm not the biggest fan of heights and I'm sure it appeared strange to everyone that the next guy about to jump into midwire was crouching down to hold onto the platform. The guy did eventually let go but he did have a severe case of wanting to chew his face off. He really needed a chuppa chup but they are hard to find in Lao.
2) Number two and my favourite space cadet tourist in Lao comes from Ireland. Not to be mistaken for the Irish couple we spent a few days travelling with. He was orginally from Cork but had spent the previous three years in Japan pretending to teach English. How can anyone from Cork teach English to Japanese students, they can barely speak English themselves! This guy was a redhead with a beard and the reason he wins my favourite tourist award is because he as straight as a post told me about the suit he had custom made in Thailand just a few weeks before to coincide with his return to Ireland for the wedding season. He had paid a bit more than he wanted to for the suit but as he said, " I got it just the way I wanted it." Now what you think when he says that is not what he was thinking when he said that. His perfect suit was a green velvet with thick purple pin stripes and a silver tie. I repeat a red headed with beard Irishman in a green velvet suit with purple pin stripes and a silver tie. I need say no more.
Vientiane was a low point of the whole trip. It was hot humid and didn't cool down at night. It was also overpriced (NY), booked out and the entire city was closed, presumably to recover from one massive collective hangover.
The highlights of the stay were:
1. The air con cafe called JoMa which was a wall of cool as you came in. The made a great banana cake and a lovely cuppa.
2. The buddha park which Mum you would love but would need to get a few buckets of colour and throw them around.
3. Minor highlights were the Arc de Triumphe and the shiny gold temple.
Oh and you can arrange a visa in less than 24hrs which we did and promptly left this place.
The international airport was the most laid back airport we have seen, even comparing to Hobart which is only a fake international airport anyway.
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