Thursday, 26 August 2010
Friday, 20 August 2010
Good Morning Vietnam!
(I know, I know, but it's hard not to say it...)
We have now been in Vietnam for around a week after spending a few days in Nanning waiting for our visas. The border crossing was a bit of a mission involving changes in bus, buggies to take us what turned out to be about 100 metres and a complete lack of queueing system which did the impossible - made China look like they know how to queue! Once we made it across the border first impressions were good - for about 10 minutes. At which point, our bus stopped by a railway line where a train had stopped and lots of people were milling about. Of course, when Kev said 'Don't look', there's only one reaction. I looked. I don't think I'll be walking on the train tracks in Vietnam, because I don't want to end up that squashed. Obviously we English were the only ones to react to the body on the line, noone else on the bus seemed to blink.
Next stop - toilets. We have experienced the very worst in toilets since we went away, from large holes leading to a pit to a row of 5 holes with no partitions. The first toilets we encountered in Vietnam made me laugh as they had doors (non lockable) which were about shoulder height. How did people check if the toilet was engaged? By looking over the top to see if someone was sitting there of course!
We arrived in Hanoi and made our way to the hotel we had booked - advertised on hostelbookers at 2 pence a night. Obviously this was a mistake but made a good bargaining tool to treat ourselves to a very nice hotel for a very nice price. Hanoi itself is a lovely city and made a welcome change from the endless shopping malls and new developments of most of the Chinese cities we had visited. The traffic on the other hand makes crossing roads in India look easy. Everyone drives motorbikes and parks them on the pavements so there's no option but to walk on the road. With all the motorbikes. It's truly crazy. We spent our 2 full days in Hanoi mostly just wandering around soaking up the atmosphere seeing the sights and enjoying the French influence which means that baguettes are sold everywhere - a welcome change from endless noodles! The French quarter of the city is particularly nice to wander through with wide, tree lined streets and colonial buildings.
And so to Halong bay, which came highly recommended by many people. After a bit of initial confusion where we thought we had booked a bus just to Halong city, discovered (too late) that our bus also involved a tour taking us to Cat Ba island (where we wanted to end up) and paid for another boat to the island, we were finally on our way across the waters. The scenery with limestone karsts is very similar to what we saw and loved in Yangshou, but on the water. The boat trip was beautiful, although would have been far better if it hadn't started to rain! This was the theme for the next couple of days - rain, rain and more rain. We decided against a night on the boat (due to the rain) and instead found a hotel in Cat Ba town. This turned out to be a good decision as Kev spent that day and the next with serious man-flu. This left me on my own to take a trip out to nearby Monkey Island to do some kayaking. The kayaking was fun, although I was a bit alarmed to get there and find out I had a 2 man kayak to myself as Kev hadn't come. Fortunately I found a nice Dutch girl to join me. Less fortunately, on the way back I managed to burn my leg on the exhaust of the motorbike taxi taking me back to the hotel...Ooops! The day after, not only did the man flu improve bu so did the weather, so we walked down to the beach (which we shared with only 4 other people) and spent a relaxing day sunbathing and swimming.
That takes us to yesterday, when we started our journey here to Hue, a total of 3 buses and a boat which has taken nearly 24 hours in all. The sleeper buses here beat India hands down as they are actually comfortable. This however doesn't guarantee sleep as the roads are pretty terrible and they seemed to turn the lights on and off at will all through the night. Still, we made it and have just had a lovely lunch and a much needed shower before exploring the town.
We have now been in Vietnam for around a week after spending a few days in Nanning waiting for our visas. The border crossing was a bit of a mission involving changes in bus, buggies to take us what turned out to be about 100 metres and a complete lack of queueing system which did the impossible - made China look like they know how to queue! Once we made it across the border first impressions were good - for about 10 minutes. At which point, our bus stopped by a railway line where a train had stopped and lots of people were milling about. Of course, when Kev said 'Don't look', there's only one reaction. I looked. I don't think I'll be walking on the train tracks in Vietnam, because I don't want to end up that squashed. Obviously we English were the only ones to react to the body on the line, noone else on the bus seemed to blink.
Next stop - toilets. We have experienced the very worst in toilets since we went away, from large holes leading to a pit to a row of 5 holes with no partitions. The first toilets we encountered in Vietnam made me laugh as they had doors (non lockable) which were about shoulder height. How did people check if the toilet was engaged? By looking over the top to see if someone was sitting there of course!
We arrived in Hanoi and made our way to the hotel we had booked - advertised on hostelbookers at 2 pence a night. Obviously this was a mistake but made a good bargaining tool to treat ourselves to a very nice hotel for a very nice price. Hanoi itself is a lovely city and made a welcome change from the endless shopping malls and new developments of most of the Chinese cities we had visited. The traffic on the other hand makes crossing roads in India look easy. Everyone drives motorbikes and parks them on the pavements so there's no option but to walk on the road. With all the motorbikes. It's truly crazy. We spent our 2 full days in Hanoi mostly just wandering around soaking up the atmosphere seeing the sights and enjoying the French influence which means that baguettes are sold everywhere - a welcome change from endless noodles! The French quarter of the city is particularly nice to wander through with wide, tree lined streets and colonial buildings.
And so to Halong bay, which came highly recommended by many people. After a bit of initial confusion where we thought we had booked a bus just to Halong city, discovered (too late) that our bus also involved a tour taking us to Cat Ba island (where we wanted to end up) and paid for another boat to the island, we were finally on our way across the waters. The scenery with limestone karsts is very similar to what we saw and loved in Yangshou, but on the water. The boat trip was beautiful, although would have been far better if it hadn't started to rain! This was the theme for the next couple of days - rain, rain and more rain. We decided against a night on the boat (due to the rain) and instead found a hotel in Cat Ba town. This turned out to be a good decision as Kev spent that day and the next with serious man-flu. This left me on my own to take a trip out to nearby Monkey Island to do some kayaking. The kayaking was fun, although I was a bit alarmed to get there and find out I had a 2 man kayak to myself as Kev hadn't come. Fortunately I found a nice Dutch girl to join me. Less fortunately, on the way back I managed to burn my leg on the exhaust of the motorbike taxi taking me back to the hotel...Ooops! The day after, not only did the man flu improve bu so did the weather, so we walked down to the beach (which we shared with only 4 other people) and spent a relaxing day sunbathing and swimming.
That takes us to yesterday, when we started our journey here to Hue, a total of 3 buses and a boat which has taken nearly 24 hours in all. The sleeper buses here beat India hands down as they are actually comfortable. This however doesn't guarantee sleep as the roads are pretty terrible and they seemed to turn the lights on and off at will all through the night. Still, we made it and have just had a lovely lunch and a much needed shower before exploring the town.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
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