We make it to Laos (just)!

Well, we finally made it to Laos after the bus ride from hell! I'm sure there were more than a few moments when we both wondered whether we were going to make it or not.

We had spent a while trying to decide whether to just cough up the cash to fly to Vientiane from Hanoi (the cheapest flight that we could find was US$130) or take the bus (which was going to cost around US$15 - $20). In the end, we decided that we couldn't justify the cost of the flight, especially considering that it was only an hour long flight. That left us lookng forward to the prospect of a 20 hour bus ride.

There are so many travel agencies in Hanoi and half of them are really dodgy. There are only a few original travel agencies and then tonnes of copycats which offer the same types of things at less cost (and quality). They will just tell you absolutely anything to get a sale. We had the worst time trying to book our tour to Halong Bay and it was the same just trying to get a bus ticket to Vientiane.

We could never get a straight answer out of any of the travel agencies as to how many bus companies travelled the route, what the difference in the prices / standard of bus was, how long it would take etc. Half the agencies told us that there was only one bus company driving that route, the other half told us there were tonnes of different ones. All the agencies told us that the company they used was a "tourist bus" with aircon etc, not a dodgy local bus.

In the end, we ended up booking the cheapest ticket we could find which was about US$12. The lady assured us that the ticket was for the tourist bus which was a big bus with comfy reclining seats and aircon. (You probably think we were pretty naive and stupid buying her story. But hey, later we found out that one of the other tourists on the horror bus paid US$40 for her ticket! At least we weren't ripped off as well as lied to). The agency told us that the bus would pick us up at our hotel at 5.00pm. I knew that something was probably amiss when it hit 5.30pm and they still hadn't arrived to pick us up. When we checked our receipt, we noticed that neither the name of the company that sold us the ticket, or any of their contact details were on there. Luckily Paul remembered where their office was. When it hit 6.00pm, our hotel suggested that we go and ask them what was going on. So Paul dashed off to the office while I waited at the hotel.

About 10 minutes later, Paul was back with a couple of motos in tow. They had forgotten to pick us up! We had to jump on the motos (with our massive back packs I might add) and go to where the bus was waiting for us. We hooned through the streets of Hanoi at crazy speeds on the back of the motos trying to catch up with the bus. We must have been on the back of the motos for at least 20 minutes - it was pretty crazy. We finally turned into a dirt road in the middle of an industrial area and the moto drivers dumped us off on the side of the road. There was no bus there.

This other guy turned up who spoke a bit of English and he tried to tell us that we had to pay for the motos! I couldn't believe they were trying to rip us off like that when they were supposed to pick us up at the hotel over one hour ago! Needless to say, we refused. The guy started to yell at us but we just refused to pay so he ended up giving up. After a few minutes, the dodgiest looking bus ever pulled up! It was really old and it had a few Vietnamese people already onboard. A couple of guys jumped out and climbed onto the roof of the bus. They motioned for us to hand up our backpacks so they could put them on the roof with some other cargo that was already there.

Now bear in mind that we had been assured that this was a tourist bus. This was like no tourist bus we had ever seen! If the lady had told us this was a local bus we would probably have expected it to be dodgy - but we weren't warned. We didn't want our backpacks going on top of the bus. What if they fell off or it rained? We refused to put them on the roof and motioned towards the compartment underneath the bus, asking if we could put them in there. The guy who spoke English told us we couldn't put them in there because it was full. He opened the compartment to show that it was full of square white packages. Hmmmm, this was getting worse and worse.

In that case then, we said, we want to take the bags onto the bus with us. At this point it looked like there was plenty of room. The guy who spoke English refused again. He started yelling at us to put our bags up on the roof. Right about this point, about 5 other tourists rocked up. They weren't too keen on putting their backpacks onto the roof either but eventually a couple of the tourists did. After that, we all capitulated and all the bags ended up on the roof.

After the bags were up on the roof, we went to get on the bus. The inside was so dirty and cramped. The seats were all made out of plastic and they were filthy, as were the crazy curtains on the windows. (At one point during the bus ride, one guy must have been carsick because he threw up into a plastic bag, then wiped his mouth on the curtain. Eeeeeeeew!!! After that, I didn't touch the curtains for the rest of the ride). We started to walk down aisle of the bus. About 2 metres down the aisle, we saw that there were more of the square white packages all over the floor of the bus and under the seats. They were everywhere - packed in tight all over the floor of the aisle, up under the seats - even stacked up where you were supposed to rest your feet when you sat down. We had to climb over the packages to get down the back of the bus. Apparently this is where foreigners have to sit because they were yelling at us to get down the back.

About halfway down the bus, one set of seats had been taken out on either side. They were using this area for storing more luggage and packages. The cargo was stacked at least waist height on both sides. We chose seats down the back and sat with our knees practically up to our chest with our feet resting on the white packages. Because there was hardly any room between the seats and because of all the cargo, we each took one set of two seats for ourselves.

Eventually the bus took off. At this point, some of the tourists moved down to the front of the bus, where there was less cargo. There were still some of us up the back, and two tourists were right on the back seat. The aircon in the bus had been on while we were getting on, but soon after we started driving, it was turned off. We had to open the windows to get some air.

After a while, we realised that we weren't going to be the last people to get on the bus. The bus kept stopping to get more cargo and more people. At one point, they loaded these huge green rectangular packages onto the bus, bigger than a bale of hay (but not so wide). These they rolled up the aisle and stacked between the seats. This meant that we couldn't see the person on the other side of the aisle and we had to climb almost up to the roof to get out of the bus. They also loaded a tonne of cargo into the very back seat. The two tourists who were sitting there were surrounded on all sides by cargo and luggage up to the roof and even under their feet. A couple of times they tried to argue with the people putting the luggage on them but they just got yelled at.

One of the tourists, the only other girl on the bus at this point, decided to move to sit in the seats where all the cargo was stacked in the middle of the bus. This turned out to be a bad move as they just kept dumping more cargo on her. Sometimes she barely even had time to snatch her legs out of the way before they threw stuff on her! She tried to argue a couple of times but they just threw more stuff. At one point, when we stopped to pick up some more cargo, she tried to ask the driver whether she could get her backpack down off the roof. I guess she figured that if everyone else's luggage was going to go inside the bus (and on top of her), then so could hers. The driver refused to look at her and she told us later that one of the other guys on the bus had slapped her on the butt and told her to get moving back into the bus. All we heard was her yelling "Don't f****** touch me!".

Eventually so many people got on the bus that we had to relinquish our space and Paul came to sit with me. We moved out some of the white packages from under our feet but we still had hardly any room. If you tried to put your seat back, the people behind you would complain and push on it because they were also sitting there with their legs up to their chest with hardly any room. The other female tourist cut into one of the white packages with her little pocket knife - we could see it was some kind of small metal parts. At least it wasn't drugs! The bus ended up so full that there was barely room for anyone to move.

We then spent a very long, very cramped and very hot night driving to the border with Laos. I'm sure all the tourists wondered whether the bus was going to stop in the middle of nowhere and demand crazy amounts of money to get us to our destination. I was so fed up at this point that I figured I would rather be on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere than on a bus with people who practically assaulted you. Luckily, the more people that got on the bus, the less likely this was to happen. With a fully loaded bus, we were pretty safe in this respect.

We eventually reached the border around 5.00am. We were all exhausted as we had been sitting upright all night and it was very hard to sleep. I was near the window and because it was so hot we had it open all night. It was very hard to sleep with the wind buffeting me all night long and howling in my ears. Just as well it didn't rain.

After a few hours waiting at the border post, it finally opened at around 7.00am. We had to pay a US$1 "stamping fee" to have the Vietnamese officials give us an exit stamp. I was actually surprised the "stamping fee" wasn't more, especially when I saw that it took three officials to stamp the passport (one to scan the passport, one to stamp it and one to check the stamp). It took at least 15 minutes to get the stamp. Then we had to walk a couple of hundred metres down the road to the Laos border post to get our visas. This took about 45 minutes and we had to pay another US$1 "stamping fee" as well as US$30 for the visa.

This was another crazy rigmarole. First, we had to go to one window to fill out the application form, submit our passport and get a receipt. Then we had to go to another window to pay the fee and have the receipt signed. Then we had to go back to the first window with the receipt to collect our passport and another piece of paper. Then we had to take the passport and a piece of paper to a third window and submit it there. Then we had to go to a fourth window and wait to collect the passport! It was so woefully inefficient - we were all worried in case it took too long and the bus took off and left us behind! At this point we wouldn't put anything past them!

However, eventually we all got our visas and it turned out that the bus was still undergoing a customs inspection back at the Vietnamese border post. We waited around on the side of the road for the bus to come pick us up. The border post was very pretty - it was in the mountains next to a clear stream and it wasn't too hot at this point.

The bus finally arrived and that was the last of the excitement for the day. We eventually made it to Vientiane at around 5.00pm the next day - almost 24 hours after we were supposed to start the bus ride. We were sooooo exhausted we went straight to the hostel we had picked and checked in, even though I hadn't eaten since lunchtime the day before and all Paul had had to eat was a few biscuits (we did stop a few times at little shacks in the country but we were too scared to eat anything there). We jumped straight in the shower - our clothes were caked in dirt (mind especially) from sitting near the open window with all the dust from the roads coming in. My hair was filthy and when I washed it the water ran black. It was soooo gross.

Rural Laos was very pretty though. In Vietnam it seemed that no matter where we went there were people everywhere. Laos was a lot prettier as there were fewer people and the scenery on the drive from the border to Vientiane was very nice. Once we had had a shower, we headed down to the riverfront to get some food. There are a bunch of food stalls that overlook the Mekong and sell freshly grilled seafood and meat. We ordered so much food we could barely eat it all. We were so starving from having practically no food on the bus.

As a few days have passed now since we arrived, I have started to forget how horrible the bus was. The thing is, it wasn't actually that bad IF you had known what it was going to be like and could adjust your expectations. The reason it was so horrible was because we were expecting something completely different and weren't prepared for the reality. However, the whole thing was made a lot worse by the attitude of the driver and other people running the bus (it always seems to take between 3 - 5 people to run a bus). They were quite rude and aggressive towards the tourists and if I had have been travelling alone I would have felt very intimidated.

So far, we both like Vientiane very much. I was so excited when we first arrived and I went to Talat Sao (the main market in Vientiane). All around me were the wall hangings that I had admired while I was in Hanoi! They weren't Vietnamese after all - they were imported from Laos. The silk and cotton weaving that they do here is unbelievable - it is so beautiful. Paul gets so bored with me always going on about it but I find it so interesting. Today I went out to a training centre where women are trained to weave traditional Laos textiles. You can see how they do the weaving and create the dyes from natural products like flowers etc. I even got to dye my own scarf.

From Vientiane we will be heading to Vang Vieng which is apparently the action capital of Laos, and after that to Luang Prabang.

Sapa - Halong Bay - 24/05/2009

Sapa

Sapa really was a lovely place. Despite the constant rain in the first 2 days, the temperature was nice and cool compare to the 30s that we had experienced throughout Vietnam.

The train ride was also very cosy. It was a shame that I thought the train would arrive at 7am rather than 5am when I went to sleep at midnight. The bumpy ride did not help either.

The room we stayed in at the Darling Hotel in Sapa was seriously a bargain. We even had a bath tub which I used to have a nice warm bath.

Some of these hill tribe girls had the most persistent must-sell attitude I have ever see. We constantly saw lone tourists being swamped by these hard-core sellers in their traditional constume demanding that the tourists buy at least one thing from them. I took some pictures in which you could only see the tourists' feet and a LOT of colourful dresses.

It was also true that these Dutch tourists we met on the mini-bus to Sapa from the train left after only 1 night. I think they were a bit optimisitc wanting to climb the highest peak in Vietnam (Mt Fanxipan - around 3000m) without a rain-jacket or good shoes when it was raining like hell.

During the tour to the Bac Ha market, I was surprised to hear from our Hmong tour guide that Hmong husbands are the luckiest ones alive. Apparently the wives do all the cooking, cleaning, make the handicrafts and sell the handicrafts at the market and to tourists etc. The men go to the market on Sunday to get drunk on rice wine - the wives pick them up after the market closes at 1pm and carry their drunk husbands home (sometimes as far as 5 km). What a life! I am not exactly sure what the men do besides going hunting in the forest and growing rice.

The scenery was very spectacular there in Sapa. It is one of the most beautiful places I have been to in Vietnam. Mountains, waterfalls, rivers, rice terraces, colourful tribal outfits, fresh air...it was good all around.

Naomi decided to spend big in Sapa. I had no idea how much a woman can shop until I saw Naomi spending days/nights and more days just haggling for clothes/bags/dresses/earrings. I have no idea where her energy comes from especially since she was pretty sick from a cold at the time. I guess people do extraordinary things when they are in crisis. In Naomi's case, shopping gives her strength...

I did manage to find my parents some handmade wall hangings and a silk scarf. I really liked them. I also bought my sister a cheap handmade purse. I doubt she will ever use it, but hey, at least it was cheap and she won't know the difference anyway.

We did conquer a mountain while we were there - Ham Rong Mountain. It offered a great view of Sapa town and the surrounds. Except that when we got there, it was very foggy - we saw a lot of cloud though. Very exciting stuff.

It was sad to say good bye to Sapa. I think Naomi did wish that she could just spend a whole year just in Sapa and buy everything she can from the H'mong and the Red Dzao people.

Train ride back to Hanoi was ok. I did manage to squeeze in some sleep.

We got to Hanoi at 5am and had to sit outside the steps of our hostel for like 45 minutes waiting for them to open.

Halong Bay

Now, this is seriously the most controversial part of northern Vietnam. There are so many scams and dodgy travel operators doing this profitable route. Just about every single traveller come to Halong Bay. The 3 day 2 night package (what we wanted) started from $US30 to something ridiculous like US$180. I was actually happy to pay for cheaper end of things like maybe $40-45. But we ended up going with the original Sinh Cafe tour (allegedly a reputable tour operator) on Naomi's insistence for $60.

Just a side note, remember how everyone tried to rip off the deaf restaurant owner in Hue??? Well, there are literally hundreds of "Sinh Cafe" offices here in Hanoi. Just about 1-2 every single street in the Hanoi Old Square. And of course, there are only 2 real offices. Others are just there to make a quick buck trading of someone else's name.

Before we booked the trip, Naomi and I had so many debates on whether to do it ourselves or through a tour company and which one etc as we heard so many dodgy stories from fellow travllers and reviews we read on the websites. Apparently there were rats on some of the cheap boats, sand in the food and people couldn't sleep because of loud generator noise.

Anyway, so much for (the real) Sinh Cafe's promise that there would only be 16 people max on the boat and that the passengers were all booked through their Singh Cafe office - we counted 18 people on our mini bus plus 2 children and some randoms we picked up at the dock in Halong City, totalling 24 people. PLUS, we were put in a room right next to the engine/generator room. Amazing...

I was so frustrated abut the lies we were told by the supposedly original office. After we got on the boat, I complained to the tour guide who said there was nothing he could do about and that was the way it was. I rung the travel agency and complained to them and they offered to put us in a better room - this was also confirmed by the tour guide. After we had lunch, the guide then told me that the boat was full and there was not any other rooms....I was not sure how he would not know that there was no room before and only realised it later. He also offered us free air-conditioning provided that we didn't tell the travel agency in Hanoi that there was no change in room, which we relunctantly accepted. I think he may have done a deal with other operators at the dock and got some commission for it and didn't want the office in Hanoi know about it.

The boat ride was nice. We went to see Sung Sot (aka "Amazing") Cave and cruised around the bay. We also had most of the afternoon swimming in the sea which was perfect given the hot weather. It was stunning sitting on the top deck of the boat looking at these little rock islands sticking out from the sea. Apparently there are something like 1800 rock islands in the bay.

People on the boat also seemed very nice. We got into talking with quite a few European tourists our age. There was also an American couple, an Sri Lankan family and an Australian couple on the boat.

We overheard one of Sri Lankan guys talking to the American guy about the end of civil war that recently ended in Sri Lanka which went for 18 years. The American guy looked puzzled and asked him what country he was referring to and said he never ever heard of it before. The Sri Lankan guy (so did we) couldn't believe what the American guy just said. We thought maybe he was joking, but then he asked what Sri Lanka was again to the Sri Lankan guy. Everyone around us just couldn't stop laughing when they heard that.

At night, we just chatted with other passengers on the top deck while some enthusiastic people tried karaoke downstairs. It was soooo relaxing having few drinks on the top deck. It apparently cost $2 for a beer and $1 for corkage for beer if you BYO. As my beers only cost about $0.40, there was no way in hell I was going to pay $1 "service fee" for the beers. So I quietly put them in my empty water bottle and sipped on them all night long. It was great and definitely made me very relaxed in the end. :)

We stayed in a hotel in Cat Ba Island the second night. It wasn't anything flash...definitely wasn't the 2 star hotel that was shown in the pictures anyway.

We climbed a mountain in Cat Ba National Park in the morning. Walking in the rain was a little slippery, but fun nonetheless.

The sea-kayaking was good in the afternoon though. I really enjoyed that. We just kayaked around these little islands in the sea. Naomi got a little bit scared by the small waves that hit our boat and she thought we were drowning. As I sat down the back and paddled my guts out, she started screaming. I could not see what was in the front, so I automatically thought we must about to hit an island or something. Seconds later, I discovered that there was a jellyfish and a dead squid in the water.

We also stopped by this remote island for a swim by ourselves. It was really nice as there was no one there at all and just us and 2 other couples sharing this pristine beach.

Oh, before I forget, we also met these 2 Czech guys on our boat who were also on a 3D2N package. Some people came to Vietnam for food, for a suntan, for shopping, for scenery, these guys came to Vietnam for 1 thing and 1 thing only - working on their beer guts. They were those older generation Czechs - they had beers for breakfast, lunch and of course dinner. They kept saying Vietnam does not have good Vodka so they brought their own 53% alcohol content vodka from the Czech Republic as well as a Finlandia Vodka from duty free. Oh, I forgot to mention that they also had a bottle of wine each over dinner. I was very amazed that when most people had tea/coffee over breakfast, they walked over to a shop across the road and brought back 2 large bottles of Tiger beer. We had problems communicating in English, but understood each other well over a couple of drinks.

It was a pleasant experience overall thanks to the companiy we had. We exchanged email addresses with the Australians, the Dutch and the French. Hopefully we will see these guys again in the near future.

Hanoi

We have been back to Hanoi for the last couple of days now. Just doing some last minute sight-seeing and shopping etc. We went to see Uncle Ho's Masoleum where his body is kept. He goes to Russia for make-over from September to December every year. It was quite lucky that we got to see him. He's been asleep for like 40 years now. I think some Vietnamese people still think that he will wake up one day.

We are about to embark on a 20 hour bus journey to Vietiane, capital of Laos. The bus is like 50 minutes late to pick us up, so fingers crossed that it will eventually turn up.

Peace and out - Paul

Hanoi - Hue - Sapa

We rocked in from Hue on the day train and we had barely been there 24 hours before I had been manhandled by a crazy man on the street trying to sell me stamps (at least I think that's what he was trying to do) and almost robbed by a pickpocket when I was trying to cross the street. I was standing there focusing on the traffic and trying to pick my moment to cross when I felt a light tugging on my bag. I turned around to see a youngish guy snatch his hand back from the front pocket (which doesn't zip) and try to nonchalantly blend in with the crowd.

Luckily all I keep in the back pocket of my bag is toilet paper! Still, I felt like grabbing the roll out, throwing at his head (naturally scoring a direct hit) and shouting “Here, if you're that desperate, have it!!”. Of course I merely went on my way, nervously clutching my bag under my arm.

Maybe I had become a bit complacent having not experienced anything too unpleasant so far into the trip. Still, there's nothing like being the subject of an attempted robbery to throw some of the more unsavoury things about travelling in SE Asia into sharp relief. Suddenly all the things that I usually don't pay too much attention to seemed a lot worse. The girls using tweezers to pick headlice out of each other's hair in the market, the dogs pooing on the footpath right where people are serving food, the cats wandering in and out of the kitchens in restaurants, the pregnant woman on the train picking her nose and wiping it on the curtain, the girl in the bus throwing up into a plastic bag and then hurling the bag out the window, the constant hassling as you walk down the street (seriously, why ask me if I need a moto ride when I just rejected the last five guys all within spitting distance of you?)...

Anyway, with my impression of Hanoi tainted somewhat we caught the night train to Sapa in the northwest. We splurged on the soft sleeper class which is the most comfy and it was indeed a very nice ride, especially as we had a cabin to ourselves (there are usually four to a cabin). We left Hanoi at 9.15pm and reached Lao Cai at about 5.30am. We jumped on a minibus for the final leg to Sapa (about 28km from Lao Cai).

Well, Sapa is enough to restore anyone's faith in travelling. As we climbed and climbed and climbed in the minibus, I was thankful that it was (a) still darkish, and (b) extremely foggy, as it meant that I couldn't see over the edges of the cliffs as we went around the blind corners on the wrong side of the road. As it became light, we could catch glimpses of the mountains occasionally through the grey, all craggy and sharp like pyramids and terraced with rice paddies all over their steep green slopes.

We checked into the hotel that the minibus took us to as we couldn't be bothered to look for another hotel in the rain at 6.30am. It was a pretty good deal anyway - $10 for a double with a view and all the mod cons. (We have found throughout Vietnam that the minibuses are usually paid to take you to a particular hotel instead of the bus stop. If you don't want to stay there you have to walk or catch a moto to wherever).

For our first two days it rained constantly. I thought it was very romantic and ethereal, with the clouds constantly hanging in the fir trees and H'mong women appearing from nowhere out of the mist. The only downside was not being able to see the view from our balcony which we paid extra for. However, obviously everyone wasn't finding it romantic and ethereal – some Dutch people we met on the minibus left after one day.

Sapa is home to many of Vietnam's ethnic minorities and it is quite surreal walking around and seeing all the people in their different traditional dress. My personal favourites are the Red Dzao who have beautiful weaving on their clothes, wear tonnes of silver necklaces, bracelets and earrings, have silver money and beads sewn onto their clothes and wear a gigantic red headdress. The Flower H'Mong wear flouro pink and yellow outfits which are all embroidered by hand – the handbags made out of the same embroidery are a great hit with the tourists. You can guarantee that almost every single female tourist leaves Sapa with at least one. The Black H'Mong have indigo dyed clothes with red accents, round black hats and black leg warmers – you can buy all the clothes at the market.

As soon as we were able after recovering from the night train I ran straight to the market. I had been restraining myself from buying any handicrafts until I got to Sapa. I had seen this handwoven blanket/wall hanging in Hanoi and I was desperate to find one in Sapa that might be somewhat less than the fortune they were charging. Alas, that was not to be (I am still hunting for the elusive blanket). On the other hand, I did stock up on huge silver earrings and necklaces and hand-embroidered skirts. Of course I also invested in the obligatory Flower H'Mong handbag.

On Sunday we went on a minibus tour to Bac Ha market about 100km from Sapa. A lot of Flower H'Mong visit the market and it was hence very colourful. On the way back to Sapa we also visited a local village and saw the Chinese border (I didn't realise it was so close). Mid-morning that day the clouds and rain finally cleared and we had an opportunity to see the beautiful countryside from the window of the bus. Although the market was interesting, it was a bit disturbing to see all the tourists sticking their cameras right in people's faces, asking them to pose this way and that.

Things were even worse at the village - it seemed like every minibus tour from Sapa stopped at this one village and it seemed like hundreds of tourists were trooping around the houses and fields. Some of them were following around some of the kids trying to get them to smile - the kids were hiding their faces and turning away but they just didn't seem to take the hint. I asked the guide whether the village got any money from all the tour groups who came through but she said that they didn't. Simply due to the huge volume of other tourists I couldn't help but feel like we were intruding in the village - it was quite an uncomfortable feeling.

All in all Sapa was really lovely. If the weather was better it would have been great to venture a bit further afield with some trekking but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

Please explain...

Hmmm, these questions have been confusing me lately:

Why do all the cats in SE Asia seem to have broken tails?

Why do the ladies in Cambodia and Vietnam wear pyjamas in public? Are they actually pyjamas or are they some kind of day wear that just looks remarkably like pyjamas?

Why are some of the water buffalo pink? Are they albino? And why are the water buffalo always so fat while the other cows are so emaciated?

Hanoi at last - 13/5/2009

What has happened over the last 2 weeks? Gosh, where do I start?

Ok ok, Naomi's pervious blogs have already filled in most of the details, so I suppose I will just comment on some of the stuff that she'd missed.

My friends Angus and Debbie visited us from Australia over the past 2 weeks (28/04 - 11/05). It's been great to see some familiar faces after 3 months on the road. Always great to have someone to go out with and just have a few drinks and relax.

Apparently according to Angus, it wasn't as big a party trip as he had initially expected. But I suppose it's great to be out of the country and see something different.

Mui Ne

Mui Ne was a seriously nice and relaxing beach. Out of all the beaches we visited over the past 3 months in SE Asia, Mui Ne was the first clean, hassle-free, safe white-sand beach. The scenery was beautiful. We got to stay in a beach-front hostel. It was perfectly located.

Dalat

I went clubbing for the first time since I left Australia. It's hard to imagine that I didn't go clubbing in KL, Saigon, and all other major cities, but I went clubbing in Dalat. But the awesome music they played in the club was just too much for Angus and I to resist.

It's funny to watch some of the locals fully getting into dancing on the dance-floor. It would have been absolutely hilarious if they danced like that in Australia. However it seemed very normal in Dalat. Afterwards I realised that many men were holding each others' waists on the dance floor, I wasn't sure whether I was at the right place. Some of the patrons were drinking vodka straight. I am not sure how these kids afforded as it was very expensive (cost around $50 for one bottle).

There also didn't seem to be an age restriction for clubbing in Dalat, or Vietnam generally. Among the patrons, there were kids who seriously looked 10 years old wandering up and down drinking beer and joking around with the security guards. We were bewildred when we saw them walking in wearing sideways caps. At one stage, they even offered to buy security guards beers. Incredible!

I also went on a 2.3km cable car by myself which oversaw the whole of Dalat city and the surroundings. The view from the cable car was absolutely stunning. Everything was so green. The buildings in the town looked like little Lego toys on the canvas of trees and hills, it was a shame that the others couldn't join me.



I had an interesting encounter with my moto-driver which made him very upset in the end. This old man did not speak much English at all, and Naomi had my phrase book, so we communicated though simple sign language which as we found out many times, could mean something different to what we both tried to convey.


I thought we agreed on 30 000 VND (equivalent of $3.50) return to the cable car, but this guy thought we agreed on 30 000 each way. Both of us were stoked at the deal that we thought we made. After the cable car, he even accompanied me to this very touristy temple place which I already visited the day before on a tour. I tried a few times to tell him that I had already been, but I failed miserably. So I just let him play as my tour guide.

After we got back to the city, I thought I wanted to be generous and gave him a 10 000 tip on top of the 30 000. He stared at the money for 5 seconds and then stared at me then started talking in Vietnamese which I obviously could not understand. He then started to use sign language to tell me that I have to pay 60 000. I thought he wanted to rip me off so we both then started to argue in sign language and broken English. It did not work!


He ended up with his head in his hands almost crying. Who can resist an old man crying on top of his moto??? I had to give him an extra 10 000 to get out of there. That was really bizarre.


Nha Trang

It rained costantly while we were in Nha Trang. Debbie, Angus and I did a boat trip out to the island and did some snorkelling. It was wet, it was cheap, it was a party boat.


I am glad that we got to meet some people etc on the boat and share some travel stories. But seriously the host and the crew were just out of control. They were either high or just drunk. Some of the crew were dancing by themselves, swearing at each other and trying to hit on some of the girls on the boat. Besides their nonsense, the scenery was nice and the snorkelling was good.


We got back around 4pm for the sleeper to Hoi An.


Hoi An

I loved Hoi An. It's such a relaxing and pretty city. It's also one of the ancient cities. It reminded me of Melaka in Malaysia - when you dig a hole in the ground, you just never know what antiques or archaeologial sites you may find.


The food was seriously superb! Banh Xeo (shrimp pancake wrapped in rice paper roll with mint, lemongrass and lettuce), Cau Lau (special rice-noodle with pork slices and bean sprout), Hoi An spring-rolls. Yum!!! I think I ate Cau Lau for like 3 days in a row.


The girls were also very happy with the place. It's THE place in Vietnam people come to get suits, dresses etc made at a very reasonable price. And high quality as well. I think Debbie spent like $200 to have a suit made and 3 silk-cotton shirts. Naomi didn't do too bad either. I am not sure whether the damage was mentioned in her previous post - but I think she got 3 dresses made plus some souvenir shirts.


I just bought a few silk ties and a rip-off Lacoste polo shirt. All at around $5 each. Bargain!


We also stayed for the monthly Lantern festival when all the lights in the city centre were turned off and replaced by countles candle-lit lanterns. There were lanterns in the river as well. It was a very pretty view from the shore.


We also visited My Son (an ancient Cham civilisation temple remains). Debbie got up at 5am to get there for the sunrise, but the rest of us slept in till 7am for the 8am pick-up. It was nice to see these ancient temples (from the 4th century). Although the majority of the sites were destroyed during the Vietnam war, it's not hard to imagine the former glory of these temples in their prime days.


On the way back, we did a river cruise during which we saw some water buffalos. It was hilarious that when the tour guide spotted the buffalos for the visitors, everyone got their camera out as soon as they can and packed to the railing of the boat to take photos of them. Yes, sadly, I was one of these people.....


Hue

Hue was the ancient capital of the Nguyen dynasty. It was also where Debbie and Angus left us.
Debbie and Angus meant to leave Hue to go back to Saigon on Sunday morning. We even had our supposedly farewell meal at this lavish restaurant that served a 7 course imperial meal on Saturday night.

It turned out that Angus missed us so much that he energetically came back to the hotel from the airport and banged on our door at 10am on Sunday morning. He blamed Jetstar for cancelling their flight to Saigon. I seriously thought I was seeing a ghost when I saw him outside the door with my hazy half-asleep eyes.

Debbie decided to take a 16 hour train from Hue so that she didn't miss her flight back to Australia. We later got a message from her that she lost her sleeper ticket which cost around $50 and had to buy a new ticket (for a seat instead of a sleeper). Poor Debbie had to endure 16 hours on the train on a normal seat in the end. I would have just gone crazy if it was me. But at least she got the flight ok I suppose.

We had lunch with Angus at this Vietnamese restaurant that was owned by a man who was deaf and therfore couldn't speak (mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide). We were a little confused when we walked to the street that had 3-4 restaurants with very similar names all claiming that their restaurant was the one mentioned in the LP guide. Businesses in this country are seriously out of control. They make money by copying the names of famous bus companies, hotels and now even the name of the restaurant owned owned by someone who was deaf! Incredible!

We spent half a day walking around the Citadel of the former imperial palace. The palace was heavily bombed during the war. Half of the buildings were destroyed. The main meeting hall still remains intact and in perfect condition. The ceiling and the emperor's chair were all gold-plated and the hall was bigger than a tennis court. Apparently during the emperor's meeting with his mandarins, the mandarins were divided into the civil and the military sections with the most senior officials closest to the emperor.

The imperial palace itself was quite large in size. It took us 2-3 hours to visit all the halls/gardens and remaining buildings. The emperors of the past must had been pretty fit from walking from building to building.

I also spent 1 day on a tour to visit the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone). It was interesting to go inside the old Viet Cong underground tunnels at Vinh Moc and visit Khe Sanh and some well-known fighting sites.

The tunnels themselves were amazing of their own. Apparently 17 kids were born inside the tunnels. There were meeting rooms, bathrooms, 2 wells, and a hospital inside the tunnels. It was very humid and stuffy inside though. After around 15 minutes of walking inside, we were fully covered in sweat when we got out. Some sections of the tunnel smelt like cologne of human body odour. It was very refreshing. Not.

Besides some of these interesting sites, the rest of the tour was pretty boring. I think most of the people on the tour fell asleep during the tour and did not bother with the guide's commentary. Some people also didn't get off the bus to visit some sites at all because of the heat.

Hanoi

The train ride from Hue to Hanoi took 13 hours. The scenery was spectacular though. Endless expanse of rice fields, tens of massive rivers, sheer rock faces, water buffaloes and hundreds of small waterfalls. A very impressive view.

I was pleasantly surprised that half the people in our carriage were looking at me enquiringly and wanted to know about me. They must have all thought that I was Vietnamese at first then realised that I was not when they tried to talk to me or when I was talking to Naomi. It's quite normal that people stare at Naomi as she doesn't look Vietnamese. It was very weird now that I was suddenly THE celebrity in town. I liked it....

We also met this Vietnamese guy who sat opposite us and couldn't stop talking to us about anything and everything. He was either very bored and just wanted to talk to someone about Australia and Vietnam etc or he just wanted to practise his English. I think it was the latter. I think I eventually managed to yawned very widely and excused myself to the bathroom. I then came back and slept.

Hanoi is a big city. I didn't find it as attractive a city as Saigon. We pretty much spent the whole day walking around to check out tour companies for Halong Bay and Sapa. I suppose we will explore it a little more upon our return.

I think Naomi had some really bad experience on Hanoi though. I am sure she will mention it when she does her entry. Stay tuned.

Hoi An, Hue

It's hard to escape Hoi An without getting anything tailored. Apparently the town (which is only small) has over 500 tailor shops. The proprietors accost you mercilessly as you walk down the street past their shopfronts. It is so hard to choose one - they all look much the same but you live in fear of choosing one that's going to give you dodgy seams and polyester instead of silk.

In the end, I visited about 4 places. The first place quoted me US$80 for each dress that I wanted. I enđed up getting all three dơne for that price. Hoi An is like a shopping paradise - I could easily have gotten so much more made. One thing I found though is that it is much easier to get something copied than get something made from a picture. The items that I had copied turned out exactly as I wanted - the one that I had made from a picture also turned out well but not exactly how I had in mind (I guess I shouldn't expect them to be mind readers!).

All in all I was really happy with how everything turned out - I only wish that I could have afforded to get so much more made! Paul showed extreme resistance to temptation and only bought a couple of silk ties. Debbie ended up getting a suit and some business shirts made along with a traditional Vietnamese outfit.

Hoi An itself is a very lovely atmospheric town. There are heaps of old buildings and narrow cobbled streets. Along the waterfront you can sit upstairs in any one of these old houses and eat and drink under the fans while you watch the river glide by. While we were there there was some festival being held (Buddha's birthday perhaps?) and on the Friday evening there was a lantern parade through the town. All the shops and restaurants turned off their lights and the lanterns and floats which were lit up from inside paraded through the darkened cobbled streets. We ate by candlelight at a cheap food stall near the market and watched the parade pass by. They also set adrift heaps of lanterns on the river which was very pretty (if environmentally insensitive).

There is actually a fair bit to do in Hoi An but it was hard to get to it all between fittings at the tailor! One of the most memorable things though is the food. We made sure to fit in tonnes of the local specialties such as banh xeo (a type of pancake served with rice paper and salad that you roll up and dip into a sauce), cao lau (a type of fresh noodles served with pork and fresh salad) and white rose (steamed shrimp in rice paper).

After Hoi An, we all headed to Hue on the bus. The bus ride to Hue was beautiful. We passed by pretty beaches and then away from the coast and past lakes surrounded by rice fields and bamboo huts. All around there were mountains rising up from nowhere. The lakes were so clear and the sky was cool and overcast. I felt like shouting to the bus driver "Let me off, I'm sure I can find a spare bamboo hut that I can live in so I must never ever leave this place!"

Paul and I arrived in Hue in the afternoon (Angus and Debbie having arived in the morning as they had only one day before they had to catch a flight back to HCM City). As it was their last night with us we went out to one of the degustation type meals for which Hue is famous. It was interesting, with all the garnishes elaborately carved and the dessert cake shaped and coloured to resemble fruit. The only downside to our arrival in Hue was when Paul stumbled getting out of the bus and strained his ankle, which promptly puffed up to half it's size âgain and meant that he has had to limp everywhere for a few days now.

The next morning Angus and Debbie were supposed to leave early to catch their Jetstar flight back to HCM City. Imagine our surprise when Angus woke us up knocking on our door at 10.00am saying that their flight had been cancelled! They had arrived at the airport to find their flight cancelled without warning and had to come back to the hotel. Angus đeciđed to stay one more night as his flight back to Australia đid not leave from HCM City until 3.00pm the next day and he could get on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Hue to HCM City first thing in the morning.

On the other hand, Debbie's flight from HCM City to Perth left at about 8.00am the next morning. She had returned to the hotel where the helpful lady on the counter had jumped onto her motorbike and raced down to the train station to buy a ticket from Hue to HCM City on the overnight train leaving at 10.00am (all 24 hours of it!). Poor Debbie - we hope she made her flight. We haven't heard anything to the contrary so we can only hope she got there in time!

As for us, we are starting to run out of time on our 30 day visa. Paul has headed off today on a 12 hour tour of the DMZ (de-militarised zone) while I am trying to save money and make up for my extravagence in Hoi An by having a quite day in town. We will have to suffer through another 12 hour bus ride tomorrow as we head to Hanoi.

Hoi An

Am currently very tired after a hellish overnight bus ride from Nha Trang to Hoi An. There are "sleeper buses" here which basically have two storeys of beds in them. They are really cramped though and don't make for a good night's sleep. Paul and I are both exhausted at the moment but Angus and Debbie are still going strong!

We only spent one day in Nha Trang in the end and it rained pretty much the whole time. The beach was only mediocre anyway. Paul and the others went for a boat ride to some of the nearby islands but I thought I would spend my one day in town hitting the beach (until I woke up to the rain that is). Apparently the boat trip was less about snorkelling and more about dancing on the tables in the boat so I wasn't too upset that I didn't go.

Nothing else new to report - we will probably spend a few days here catching up on sleep and checking out the historic sights before moving on.

Mui Ne, Dalat

Well, we made it to Mui Ne after a very long bus ride. The roads out of HCM City were jam packed as it was the start of the public holiday and the bus just crawled along for a couple of hours before we escaped the city. Luckily we had booked accommodation at Mui Ne as we din't arrive there until nearly 1.00am - otherwise we would have been sleeping on the beach.

We only spend one day in Mui Ne as Debbie and Angus want to make it to Hue before the end of their two week trip so we needed to keep moving. It was a nice place though and I could have stayed longer. The hostel where we stayed was right on the beach. What was left of the beach was clean and pretty (it seems to be gradually washing away). The atmosphere was very laid back and there was hardly anyone hassling us to buy things on the beach or go for tours which made a nice change. We didn't end up going to see anything around Mui Ne as we just didn't have time but apparently there is some coloured sand there which is quite interesting to see.

The next day we headed to Dalat. We had decided to save time and money by going in a minibus. When the minibus rocked up to our hostel to pick us up there was barely enough room for one of our backpacks in the luggage compartment. There were a bunch of other backpackers getting on at the same time and it didn't look as if we could all fit in the bus! That was before we realised that there were extra seats which folded out into the aisle. As for the bags - they were piled up to the roof behind the driver. I think one unfortunate Vietnamse passenger had to sit on them. Sandwiched in like that there was no way that the door of the bus could even open - too bad if we needed the toilet! When we stopped to pick up another passenger, he had to get in the front seat and then climb over the bags to get into the back.

Stuck like sardines we bounced up some roads that were all washed out - pretty sure that wasn't the main highway. This is probably why the minibus gets there so much faster. When we reached Dalat we ended up in the courtyard of some hotel instead of the bus stop. Luckily Angus pretty soon figured out that we weren't that far away from the place we had booked - Dreams Hotel. Dreams was the ninth hostel that we rang in Dalat - all the others were full. Lucky we booked something though - another group on the minibus didn't have anything booked and Dalat is pretty hilly to be wandering around finding a hostel with your backpack.

On our first full day in Dalat we decided to take a tour around some of the local attractions. Although Dalat is famous for motorcycle tour guides we decided to opt for a tour in a minivan as there were four of us. Although not as exciting as getting around with an Easyrider, it turned out to be an inspired decision as it drizzled pretty much all day. We opted for the tour program that took us further away from town - being the holidays Dalat city was crawling with Vietnamese tourists. The tour took us to a silk factory, some waterfalls, some pagodas, to see rice wine being made, to see mushroom farming and to see coffee being grown. Most of the sights were pretty interesting but the sights closer to town were overrun with crowds of tourists.

Today, after checking out the market, we decided to hire tandam bikes and take a ride around the lake. Luckily the traffic around the lake was not so heavy and we caused no major traffic incidents. We stopped at the flower gardens on the way around the lake. After returning our bikes we headed back to the market for pho. As I write, Paul has headed off on the back of a moto to take a ride on a cable car near Dalat city.