Vietnam Continued…

From Nga Trang Hamish and I caught the overnight bus to Hoi An. Was an awful nights sleep! Trying to get comfortable while sitting upright for 12 hours, and trying to sleep with the bus driver continually on the horn, as well as Vietnamese comedy blearing from the TV, we arrived into Hoi An a weeny bit on the weary side. After a quick shower, and side of the road noodle soup for breaky we recovered and discovered how great this small little place was. We hired a motorbike again and explored. Hoi An is a World Heritage site, and the architecture has been maintained very well. All the streets and buildings in the old quarter are quaint and French like. Pink Blossoms grow everywhere, and this place is an artists dream. There are countless galleries in town, and Hoi An is also known for its tailoring abilities. There are stores making you hand tailored suits, dresses, shirts, pants, and jackets. Even shoes, for ludicrously low prices. Not that im complaining… Its brilliant to have a clothes that fit me perfect! We both got a few extra bits and pieces handmade for us, and after the morning looking around we took off to the beach. The beach was one of the best we have seen, white sand stretching for miles, and tropical blue water. Ah, totally living the life… That night we were spoilt as the little town was having its annual lantern festival, and the town was a buzz of lights, lanterns, traditional music, and people.
From Hoi An, we had another overnight MARATHON bus trip up to Hanoi. I think it was about 15 hours in total. However somehow the bus company stuffed up and we got put on a sweet sweet sleeper bus where the seats reclined and was no dramas getting to sleep which was great as somehow I had adapted an awful cold and hadn’t been feeling 100%. Arrived in Hanoi early in the morning, found some accommodation then explored the city. Like Phnom Phen, Hanoi was full noise with trillions of scooters and horns, however there is a real charm of the place and lures you in. I KO-ed for most of the avo that day, and Hamish did quite a bit of sightseeing. That night, after sleeping for the afternoon, we caught up with Hamish’s friends from NZ, Sarah and Matt, who are teaching English at a school in Hanoi. Was such a pleasant evening with happy hour drinks and nibbles followed by dinner in a tiny wee family run vietemese restaurant beside Matt’s flat. It was great to get an insight into the way living in the city for them is, and learn a bit more about the vietemese lifestyle is.
The following morning Hamish and I took off too Ha Long bay. Another World heritage sight, and it is truly incredible. Once we finally got there that is. The roads were pretty shocking to get there, and what is usually a 3-hour bus trip, took about 5. Nethertheless, once we got there we were not disappointed. Impressive Limestone formations, popping out of the water, crusing on the boat around all the different islands, relaxing and eating more sensational food than you can imagine, limestone caves like we haven’t encounter before, swimming as the sun was setting, sunbathing, kayaking in the morning… you kinda get the picture?? Just bliss, and was what we needed!
Once back in Hanoi we spent a few more days doing the sights of the city, buying artwork, and caught up with Hamish’s friends again. As well as that we went to a water puppet show, which is a definite MUST if you are there. Its classic and they have a band using all the traditional instruments. Really thought it was worthwhile.

From Hanoi we then caught a flight back to Bangkok, and meet up with Hamish’s dad Guy at the airport. Was very uncanny as he flew in about 10minutes before us from Taiwan, and it was just by a lucky fluke! It was so nice to see a friendly face from home, and I sure he felt a bit bombarded with us talking a hundred miles an hour about our travels! We went into the city and checked out the apartment he was staying in, and it was Lush. Up about 30 stories with a supreme view over Bangkok! Much nicer than our 1 star accommodation we had been staying in! We got our washing done – almost everything in our packs, and took Guy into the city. It was very strange as I look back and remember thinking Bangkok was sooooo crazy and busy and overwhelming, but well it really wasn’t the second time round. Its much more developed and built up, the roads are much less chaotic and everything is just more westernised than other parts of South East Asia. It kind of felt like we were coming home. We showed Guy the city hotspots and a bit of what we knew of Bangkok, and then headed back to his apartment for Happy hour drinks and nibbles. From there, we then went onto the nicest most civilised place we have been to for dinner in months and had a lovely authentic Thai Dish. We spent the following day shopping – Bangkok has unbelievable shopping malls! We packed and repacked our backpacks trying to get them under 20kgs, and squeezing as much as we could into our carryons… somehow it worked, and I after a little bit more shopping and pack compressing and squeezing, I went and got a proper reflexology foot massage and a manicure. Yup I’m really going to miss South East Asia, however, not the squat toilets, or the feeling of guilt when you accidentally flush toilet paper down the loo and forget to put it in the basket, or the moving from place to place every two days…
Ah it’s been full on, probably a bit rushed, but we have done it and survived! Bring on the next adventure. Londontown here we come!

New Photos Cambodia / Vietnam

Good morning Vietnam!

We have reached the last leg of our Journey up the Vietnamese coast from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in the south to Hanoi in the North. Its by no means a small distance we have to cover 1600 km in 10 days. So we bused into HCMC and the first thing we noticed was the number of motorbikes/scooters. It was unbelievable at a typical intersection there would be like 20 across by 30 deep. You can imagine that crossing the road is no easy task, you almost have to close you eyes and start walking and the all encompassing swarm will just move around you. HCMC has around 6 million people. Not wanting to spend too long in another big city we took the first available bus 200 km North to Mu Nei. A smaller seaside/fishing town with a few resorts and hotels in the mix. It was really nice spending a day and half relaxing on an idyllic beach under the swaying palm trees. The water was really warm too. On the bus again (we purchased an open bus ticket so we could pretty much hop on and off whenever we liked) and 4 ½ hours up the road to Nha Trang. Nha Trang is about the same size as Wellington and right on a really nice beach. We booked a boat trip when we got there which explored some of Nha Trangs Islands. Snorkling was a highlight for me the coral and aquatic life in the crystal clear water was primo. Our boat was the party boat and we had a really great day, singing, eating and swimming.

Cambodia

CONTRAST is what I think of when I reflect on Cambodia. Rich and Poor, Brillant and Bloody, amazing and tragic, history and current, old and new… It’s really the biggest eye opener that hamish and I have ever had. The poverty in Cambodia broke my heart, children shamelessly begging, landmine victims without legs, woman with a child in her arms filthy and begging for money on the street. It was too shocking to believe, and gave hamish and I the biggest wakeup call as to how lucky we are to come from little old NZ. Our hearts raced at the sights of the famous Angkor temples in Siem Reap, unforgettable sandcastle like creations, but we were shocked at how black humankind can be, as we learnt about the Khmur Rouges genocidal rule ( 1975-1979) under Pol Pots direction whereby almost 2 millon innocent Cambodians were killed under the regieme. It was bloody and awful and seeing the killing fields, and S-21 (the prison where people where torturted and kept before being taken to be killed) was airy and made me feel sick. Despite their bloody history, the Cambodian people are very warm, and we found them to be the loveliest we had encounted so far.

We flew into Siem Reap and spent the first few days there marvelling at the temples, and absorbing all the Grandness of the Khmer Empire… truly heart stopping, and we got up super early and watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat. The temples, are all different and each has so many orate carvings and statues, and things to marvel at… Ones we think worth checking out are Angkor Wat – you wont believe you eyes!!
Angkor Thom(bayon is amazing!), - there are hundreds of faces carved into the stone, quite strange!
Ta Prohm – the place were Indian Jones and Tomb raider was filmed, has crumbling stone work, tombs and looks enchanted as the jungle is devouring the temple.

From Siem Reap we decided to go to Battambang a smallish town, a days boat trip from the city. It was well worth it. The boat trip was extreamly senic as we passed floating village, after floating village, and got to see the ‘real’ Cambodia. Once in Battambang we meet up with a couple of guys from the UK and hired motobikes to checkout the area. Hamish was a wee bit rubish to begin with on the motorbike, and its not that great when you stall going through a BUSY intersection!! But by the end of the day he had mastered it. We hired a guide to take us through the Killing Caves, where over 100000 people were slaughted, killed then pushed down a 20m cave, was awful, there were all their bones still there and had an Eeiry feeling…

From Battengbang we then went onto Cambodia’a Capital – Phnom Pehn. We hired a cab for the day and he took us round the sights. We spent our time going to the S-21 prision. The prison used to be a school but was turned into a place of torture and death. When prisoners where brought to S-21 they got their photo taken, and there are rooms and rooms fill of photos from all the men, woman and children who had been there. The most chilling thing is that, all those people where killed, out of the hundreds of thousands that went there taken there, only 6 survived. What I cannot fathom is that this happened less than 30years ago!! One awful regime, stuffing up the future of Cambodia, so much so they are still trying to make up for it today. There is a heaviness of Heart in Cambodia.
From the Prison we then went on to the killing fields. Very distirbing. There are still bones on the ground and lose bits of fabric from the victims. The whole day made me feel sick!
Phnom Pehn was a big busy city, and we found some great places to eat, and checked out loads of markets and the grandpalace, and little nooks and crannies to enjoy while we were there…
It was nice to move on though, I love and loathe Cambodia at the same time…

viang vieng / vienteine

Nong Khiaw – Vang Vieng (VV). A long days travelling left at 2 pm and didn’t get into VV until 3 in the morning. The roads were terrible! It was like the Waiwoeka gorge multiplied but 8 hours of it! When we arrived we all piled into this very small Tuk-Tuk and with its tires flat and bottom scraping along the ground we made it to some accomodation.
V.V was the adventure tourist meca of Laos, with a lot to offer the hoards of tourists. We went tubing, but it wasn’t like your normal tubing, it had multiple stops at riverside pubs. They kind of latched you in with big sticks. There was also rope swings into the river which was great fun. I perfected my backwards flip off the rope swing, but when I tried to do it again with half twist the result was disasterous, I slammed into the river from a fair height on my side, and ended up with some bruising (but I am fine now) It was quite funny apparently I got a real groan from the watching audience. The drinks flowed freely and you had to be careful about getting too carried away. But we made it back to the G.H in one piece. Went out to Dinner in V.V and sat on the ground to eat our meal, that was pretty crazy. Had a nicer bus trip to Viantiene the following day. Viantiene is the Capital city of Laos, another riverside city, which is on the border with Thailand. There are approximately 200,000 people in Laos made up of locals and a large Expat community. There is again a real french feel to this place (according to SK as I have never been to France) with the architecture, roading and restaurants. I do love the chocolate croissants! And Sarah has turned into a local with having Chicken noodle soup for brekkie every morning. Have been wandering around checking out a few wats, the Laos version of the Arc De Triumph and trying to dodge the down pours. But we a really enjoying this place. We are flying out to Siem Reap (Cambodia) tomorrow. We are really looking forward to that.

Mekong / Laung Prabang / Nong Khiaw

So we are now onto the second of our four country excursion, Laos. We stayed our last night in a place called Chiang Khong. The next morning we took a ferry over the river to Huay Xai (in Laos) and sorted out our Visa’s. What shambles! There were people everwhere, there was not much of a system, but finally we got it sorted. Next we jumped on the slow boat, a flat bottom wooden boat used to transport people up and down the Mekong river. The boat had these very hard wooden seats, which after 7 hours became very painful. This boat took us to Luang Prabang via an overnight stop in Pak Beng. In Pak Beng we changed boats. And they tried to fit all the people from the day before in a smaller boat. Eentually they gave in and we went in two boats. As we neared Luang Prabang (LPQ) the terrain was very rugged with massive limestone hills along side the river.
LPQ. Our first real stop in Laos. According to the guidebook you can breathe a sigh of relief here as the pace here was alot less frantic, the streets were clean and the people were really friendly and didn’t hassle you for money all the time. LPQ also has a distinct french feel. The food here is just as good as Thailand. Its probably a wee bit more expensive than Thailand in terms of accommodation and food. Went out in LPQ with some Irish mates I met Mountain biking in Chiangmai. Had a beaut of a night, curfew in LPQ meant we had to be back at the guesthouse by midnight. On the way home I accidently walked into a ditch much to SK’s amusement.
The second day in LPQ we organised our travel plans and went to this pretty amazing waterfall. It rained heavily again that day. We stopped at a touristified village on the way home. We also climbed the main hill in LPQ and got some amazing views. Had dinner at the street markets and spent about $2 NZD between us for our meal. Shopped at the night markets after tea and got some really cool stuff.
Next day in LPQ I had troubles with a cash machine, thought it had run out of money, and charged me anyway, turns out it hadn’t Phew! Got picked up from the Guest House (G.H) by a minivan for our trip north to Nong Khiaw. They drive on the left side of the road in Laos which we are struggling with. Scenic drive to Nong Khiaw (NK) saw wandering buffalo all over the road, scorpions, cars in ditches, hitch hiking tourists and spectular green scenery. One thing quite entertaining was our minivan driver who beeped at almost everything we passed on the road. NK was the Laos version of Queenstown, but way less touristy and no snow on the spectacular hills. We went to a cave were the locals hid during the war and I swam in the river with the local boys. Also tried to organise a fishing trip but the river was too high. We went to the pictures at NK as well, we watched a really bad movie which was pirated, oh well.