Lost in Hanoi

I've spent the last few days in Hanoi. It's a great city to wander in, lots of great things to see. I've been to see Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh is seen as the great liberator of Vietnam and is held in very high regard. The funny thing is, he had requested a simple cremation before he died. His request certainly wasn't heeded. He is laid to rest in a giant glass 'cage' in a monster of a building. Hardly simple. It was interesting to go though, I was surprised to see that I was one of the few foreigners. Most of the visitors were Vietnamese, who visit to pay their respects.

My Friends Joe and Hannah left a few days ago for Laos, it was great traveling with them if for the simple reason I had someone navigating my way. I have been lost so many times in the past few days. This morning I headed out to an area around the lake, and wanted to wander through all the narrow market streets. Once again, I got severely off track and ended up in a completely different area of the city. I know this must sound humourous, but when you suffer from the 'direction disability' it can be very frustrating, especially when you're wandering in hot humid weather.

Tomorrow I'm off to Singapore to meet up with some friends and just a week later to Melbourne, Australia.

Halong Bay, Northern Vietnam

I'm doing a very bad/LAZY thing, I went on an amazing tour of Halong Bay in northern Vietnam. I went with a great couple Joe and Hannah from England. She wrote about it on her blog and did such a great job, I thought I would copy parts of it. Thanks Joe and Hannah.

I've put some pictures on Facebook again, you can see then with this public link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=234147&id=763065018&l=2930a089f8

At 8am we took a very small (and quite precarious looking) boat to our new home / boat for the next 2 days. Our crew Bin, Tim and Fi, made us feel instantly at home by bringing us a cup of traditional Vietnamese Tea. We sat up on the roof deck, lounging in our reclining chairs feeling like lord and lady muck! Shame the tea had been boiled in the same utensils they use for tea, as it had a very fishy taste! The three of us (Max has come with us, and the 3 of us have a huge boat all to ourselves) dutifully drank the tea, making the correct, polite um and ahh noises until Bin had gone down below, and we threw it over board, hoping the crew would think it was a fish jumping!

We motored out of Cat Ba Town Bay and just went around lots of different islands, each new turn providing a beautiful scene, fit for a kodak moment. Although the weather isn't great (its the low season, a bit cold and misty) it added to the magical sense. After a few hours of lounging about, admiring the scenery, we docked at one of the floating houses. The only other boats we have seen have been local fishermen and their floating houses / fish farms where they keep lots of dogs to amuse them. The fishermen keep fish in nets to fatten them up, an also grow muscles and other shell fish, but it can take 3 years for them to grow so they have a lot of spare time on their hands! We picked up some kayaks and donned our swimmers, before taking off on an hour long kayak tour around the bay we were in to a lovely beach which was covered in purple shells. There were all different types of shells, yet they all ranged from light to dark purple, it was quite bizarre, but very beautiful. There are so many little beaches where no one goes all around this area.

After the feast called lunch (fresh fish, veggies, spring rolls, rice and seafood - which Max ate, he's so happy he's on a tour with us, as he gets to eat all the stuff we don't like!) we once again motored out, the boat is called a junk, but it doesn't have those lovely red sails we were hoping for but its still a wonderful experience. After taking loads of photos, we once again kayaked in the afternoon, this time going though a cave complex (which got a bit dark and scary at one point!) which has been hollowed out of the cliffs by years of erosion, to bring us out into a lagoon.

The afternoon involved more motoring between the small islands. We just relaxed and enjoyed the views, soaking up the scenery. We visited a fish farm in the afternoon where our lads got a fish for tea -so fresh it tried to escape!

In the evening we ate yet another feast before retiring to bed down below at about 8pm! There isn't really too much to say, as most of the day has been spent up top, just relaxing! Perfect!

Day Two on Halong Bay

Arose at about 8 am, (Max rose just after 6:00) and we were promptly fed a lovely fried egg butty by the boys on our boat. Soon after we were underway with Captain Fi and his very cool quiff hairdo pushing us on further and deeper into the huge limestone monoliths. This morning he took us to some floating fishing villages and we all hopped in the kayaks for a closer inspection.

The trip over the shallows was fantastic and we managed to see some pretty interesting coral through the vivid jade coloured waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The crabs all take on a lovely purple colour as do most of the other shell fish and we loved getting close to the edges of the karst towers to see them scatter away when we paddled near. Once back in the boat we were taken to Thien Cung grotto which is a huge cave complex comprising of three large chambers containing large numerous stalactites and stalagmites. After 40 mins of walking around the caves it was time for lunch and once again it was a feast fit for kings - except the tea we had yesterday was twice as strong and fishy this time!

At about 1 ish we dropped anchor at another limestone tower that had some more interesting coral and a lovely beach and spent a good 50 min paddling slowly up and down the edges taking in the surroundings. Sadly our Halong Bay time was coming to an end and the junk we have been on for the last 2 days set course for Cat Ba island. It took us no time to get back as we reflected on the great couple of days we've just had and we were back at the hotel for 4:30pm. For anyone considering coming here - do it! - t'was superb - maybe check out this website and see what you think - http://www.catbaventures.com/ - get thee to Phong Lan hotel and Mr Tung will sort it!

Vietnam

I have been in Vietnam for just over a week. I first went to Ho Chi Minh, it is most commonly called Saigon. I have never seen so many motorcycles in all of my life. The Lonely Planet guide book warns you about getting across the street. You literally have to weave in and out of hundreds of motorcycles. It's crazy. I had no idea where I was going from Saigon, I looked at the my trusty Lonely Planet and found a small 'beach' town called Mui Ne. It was about four hours north, I got there and it was indeed by the ocean, but there was no beach. Apparently the beach washes away for certain months of the year, well March is one of those months. I had a good two days there just the same, I rented a bike and wandered around from one end of the town to the other. It was a very hot day, so I bought a pool pass at a really nice hotel and hung out poolside. From Mue Ne, I took the bus to Da Lat. This town is in the mountains, about 1500m above sea level. You can notice the difference in temperature right away, especially at night. Today I hired a local guide named Vu. He was great, he took me on his motorcycle to all the different areas around town and out into the country side. We were having an amazing day until about 3:00 when it started to rain, 'pouring out of the Heavens' kind of rain. By the time I got back to my hotel, I was soaked to the skin. I've posted some pictures again on Facebook, I figure since I can post the public link on here, it will be easier.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=229412&id=763065018&l=3ce0e

Links for Pictures from Facebook

For those non-Facebook users, here are the public links to photos that I have posted in the past few months on my Facebook page. You do not have to be a member to view the pictures. Just cut and paste the address. The most recent pictures are listed first.


Cambodia
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=226374&id=763065018&l=a5a55

Thailand
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=225615&id=763065018&l=d2e2a

India

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221701&id=763065018&l=561cc
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218680&id=763065018&l=98171
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=217922&id=763065018&l=f47f8
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=215667&id=763065018&l=88cbf
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210997&id=763065018&l=721e0
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205822&id=763065018&l=640e4

Africa and India

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205231&id=763065018&l=3e75e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189016&id=763065018&l=8fafd
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=184785&id=763065018&l=35b7e

Thailand and Cambodia

The difficulty when waiting a long time between posts is figuring out where the the time has gone since the last post. I flew from Calcutta to Bangkok a few weeks ago. It was strange to be in a city with lanes on the roads and shopping malls. Although I didn't see the insides of any shopping malls. I stayed in Bangkok on Khao San road, it is the backpacker place to go. It wasn't my scene, the street was packed with people, big party atmosphere. I just spent two days here, enough time to do some laundry and sort out my visa for Vietnam. It would have made way more sense to go north and then gradually make my way south through the other countries, but the southern beaches were calling my name. I headed to a small island in the south called Kho Phangnan, it was about 80km off the Thai mainland. I found a little place there called Bottle Beach. It was very isolated, no roads going there, so I had to take a long boat (fishing boat). It had no stores and only a few places to stay. I stayed at Smiles Bungalow. It was a wonderful four days. My bungalow had a great view of the beach and the people that were staying there and working there were amazing. Many interesting people. I was sad when I had to leave and head back to Bangkok. From Bangkok I went east to Seim Reep, Cambodia. Seim Reep is famous for Angkor Wat, its like the biggest church in the world. It's a collection of temples that are spread out over about 40km, some of which are absolutely immense and dating back over a 1000 years. I do tend to suffer from a bit of temple fatigue though after a full day of wandering through them. Today, I'm heading out for my second day of temple gazing. My visit in Cambodia will be short, hoping to head to Vietnam tomorrow. I will try to post pictures soon, I've put some on Facebook, if you are interested.